The ectype's better than th' original. But whilst your fame I labour to send forth, By the ill-doing it I cloud your worth, In something all mankind unhappy are, 60 And you as mortal too must have your share; 'Tis your misfortune to have found a friend, Who hurts and injures where he would commend. But let this be your comfort, that your bays Shall flourish green, maugre an ill-couch'd praise. CHARLES COTTON, Esq. [_You happy, &c._] 16 Cotton may have had several reasons for keeping the form 'maistry'--at any rate it should certainly be kept here, though 'mastery' with or without apostrophated _e_ would fill the verse properly.] [Line: 50 'Pindari_que_' or 'Pindariqu'' in the original throughout the Volume.] [Line: 57 ectype] Not uncommon even later for 'copy'.] [This piece is in the original about half italics, which, for the most part, express no kind of emphasis. The next is almost entirely free from them, and the difference continues throughout the Commendatory Poems in such a fashion as to show that they were used on no principle at all. Flatman's own text has very few, outside of proper names.] To my Friend Mr Thomas Flatman, upon the Publication of his Poems. I. As when a Prince his standard does erect, And calls his subjects to the field, From such as early take his side, And readily obedience yield, He is instructed where he may suspect, And where he safely may confide: So, mighty friend, That you may see A perfect evidence of loyalty, No business I pretend; 10 From all th' incumbrances of human life, From nourishing the sinful people's strife, And the increasing weaknesses of age. II. Domestic care, the mind's incurable disease, I am resolv'd I will forget. Ah! could I hope the restless pain Would now entirely cease, And never more return again, My thoughts I would in other order set; By more than protestations I would show, 20 Not the sum total only of the debt, But the particulars of all I owe. III.