It was, and still my care is, To worship ye, the Lares, With crowns of greenest parsley And garlic chives, not scarcely; For favours here to warm me, And not by fire to harm me; For gladding so my hearth here With inoffensive mirth here; That while the wassail bowl here With North-down ale doth troul here, No syllable doth fall here To mar the mirth at all here. For which, O chimney-keepers! (I dare not call ye sweepers) So long as I am able To keep a country table, Great be my fare, or small cheer, I'll eat and drink up all here. _Troul_, pass round. 675. DENIAL IN WOMEN NO DISHEARTENING TO MEN. Women, although they ne'er so goodly make it, Their fashion is, but to say no, to take it. 676. ADVERSITY. _Love is maintain'd by wealth_; when all is spent, _Adversity then breeds the discontent_. 677. TO FORTUNE. Tumble me down, and I will sit Upon my ruins, smiling yet; Tear me to tatters, yet I'll be Patient in my necessity. Laugh at my scraps of clothes, and shun Me, as a fear'd infection; Yet, scare-crow-like, I'll walk as one Neglecting thy derision. 678. TO ANTHEA. Come, Anthea, know thou this, _Love at no time idle is_; Let's be doing, though we play But at push-pin half the day; Chains of sweet bents let us make Captive one, or both, to take: In which bondage we will lie, Souls transfusing thus, and die. _Push-pin_, a childish game in which one player placed a pin and the other pushed it. _Bents_, grasses. 679. CRUELTIES. Nero commanded; but withdrew his eyes From the beholding death and cruelties. 680. PERSEVERANCE. Hast thou begun an act? ne'er then give o'er: _No man despairs to do what's done before_. 681. UPON HIS VERSES. What offspring other men have got, The how, where, when, I question not. These are the children I have left, Adopted some, none got by theft; But all are touch'd, like lawful plate, And no verse illegitimate. _Touch'd_, tested. 682. DISTANCE BETTERS DIGNITIES. Kings must not oft be seen by public eyes: _State at a distance adds to dignities_. 683. HEALTH. Health is no other, as the learned hold, But a just measure both of heat and cold. 684. TO DIANEME. A CEREMONY IN GLOUCESTER. I'll to thee a simnel bring, 'Gainst thou go'st a-mothering: So that when she blesseth thee, Half that blessing thou'lt give me. _Simnel_, a cake, originally made of fine flour, eaten at Mid-Lent. _A-mothering_, visiting relations in Mid-Lent, but see Note. 685. TO THE KING.