Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden
George Herbert (15931633)The World
L
And spinning fancies, she was heard to say
That her fine cobwebs did support the frame,
Whereas they were supported by the same;
But Wisdom quickly swept them all away.
Began to make balconies, terraces,
Till she had weaken’d all by alteration;
But rev’rend laws, and many a proclamation,
Reformed all at length with menaces.
Whose leaves first shelt’red man from drought and dew,
Working and winding slily evermore,
The inward walls and sommers cleft and tore;
But Grace shor’d these, and cut that as it grew.
To rase the building to the very floor:
Which they effected, none could them withstand;
But Love took Grace and Glory by the hand,
And built a braver palace than before.