For, ne were onely he hath your promocyon, Out of my bokis full sone I shulde hym rase; But sith he hath tastid of the sugred[1485] pocioun Of Elyconis[1486] well, refresshid with your grace, And wyll not[1487] endeuour hymselfe to purchase The fauour of ladys with wordis electe, It is sittynge that ye must hym correct.
The sum of your purpose, as we ar aduysid,[1488] Is that[1489] our seruaunt is sum what to dull; Wherin this answere for hym we haue comprisid, 80 How ryuers rin not[1490] tyll the spryng be full; Better[1491] a dum mouthe than a brainles scull; For if he gloryously pullishe[1492] his matter, Then men wyll say how he doth but flatter;
And if so[1493] hym fortune to wryte true and plaine, As sumtyme he must vyces remorde, Then sum wyll say he hath but lyttill brayne, And how his wordes with reason wyll not[1494] accorde;[1495] Beware, for wrytyng remayneth of recorde; Displease not an hundreth[1496] for one mannes pleasure; 90 Who wryteth wysely hath a grete treasure.
Also, to furnisshe better his excuse, Ouyde was bannisshed for suche a skyll, And many mo whome I cowde enduce; Iuuenall was thret parde for to kyll For certayne enuectyfys,[1497] yet wrote[1498] he none ill, Sauynge he rubbid sum vpon[1499] the gall; It was not[1500] for hym to abyde[1501] the tryall.
In generrall wordes, I say not gretely nay, A poete somtyme may for his pleasure taunt, 100 Spekyng in parablis,[1502] how the fox, the grey, The gander, the gose, and the hudge oliphaunt, Went with the pecok ageyne[1503] the fesaunt; The lesarde came lepyng, and sayd that he must, With helpe of the ram, ley all in the dust.
Yet dyuerse ther[1504] be, industryous of reason, Sum what wolde gadder in there coniecture[1505] Of suche an endarkid chapiter sum season; How be it, it were harde to construe this lecture; Sophisticatid craftely is many a confecture; 110 Another manes mynde diffuse is to expounde; Yet harde is to make but sum fawt be founde.
Madame, with fauour of your benynge sufferaunce, Vnto your grace then make I this motyue; Whereto made ye me hym to auaunce Vnto the rowme of laureat promotyue? Or wherto shulde he haue that[1506] prerogatyue, But if he had made sum memoryall, Wherby he myght haue a name inmortall?[1507]