The Shepherds Hunting, Postscript
A Postscript To the READERS.
IF you hauehave read this, and receiued any content, I am glad (though it be not so much as I could wish you,) if you thinke it idle, why then I see wee are not likely to fall out; for I am iust of your mindes: yet weigh it well before you runne too farre in your censures, least this proue lesse barren of wit then you of courtesie. It is very true (I know not by what chance) that I hauehave of late beene so highly beholding to Opinion, that I wonder how I crept so much into her fauour, and (if I did thinke it worthy the fearing,) I should be afraid that shee hauing so vndeseruedly befriended me beyond my Hope or expectation, will, vponupon as little cause, ere long, againe pick some quarrell against me: and it may be, meanes to make vse of this, which I know must needs come farre short of their expectation, who by their earnest desire of it seem'd to be fore-possest with a farre better conceit then I can beleeue it proues worthy of. So much atleast I doubted, and therefore loath to deceiue the world (though it often beguile me) I kept it to my selfe, indeed not dreaming euer to see it published: But now, by the ouermuch perswasion of some friends, I hauehave beene constrayned to expose it to the generall view. VVhichWhich seeing I hauehave done, Somethings I desire thee to take notice of. First, that I am Hee vvho to pleasure my friend, hauehave fram'd my selfe a content out of that vvhichwhich vvould otherwise discontent me. Secondly, that I hauehave coueted more to effect what I thinke truely honest in it selfe, then by a seeming show of Art, to catch the vaine blasts of vncertaine Opinion. This that I hauehave here vvritten, vvas no part of my study, but onelyonly a recreation in imprisonment: and a trifle, neyther in my conceit fitting, not by me intended to be made common; yet some, and it should seeme esteeming it worthy more respect then I did, tooke paines to copie it out, vnknowne to me, and in my absence got it both Authorized and prepared for the Presse; so that if I had not hindred it, last Michaelmas-Tearme had beene troubled with it. I was much blamed by some Friends for withstanding it, to whose request I should more easily hauehave consented, but that I thought (as indeed I yet doe) I should thereby more disparage my selfe, then content them. For I doubt I shall be supposed one of those, who out of their arrogant desire of a little preposterous Fame, thrust into the world eueryevery vnseasoned trifle that drops out of their vnsetled braines; whose basenesse how much I hate, those that know mee can vvitnesse, for if I vvere so affected, I might perhaps present the vvorld with as many seuerall Poems as I hauehave seene yeeres; and iustly make my selfe appeare to be the Author of some things that others hauehave shamefully vsurped and made vse of as their owne. But I will be content other men should owne some of those Issues of the Braine, for I would be loth to confesse all that might in that kinde call me Father. Neyther shall any more of them, by my consent, in hast againe trouble the world, vnlesse I know which vvay to benefit it vvith lesse preiudice to my owne estate. And therefore if any of those lesse serious Poems which are already disperst into my friends hands, come amongst you, let not their publication be imputed to mee, nor their lightnesse be any disparagement to vvhat hath beene since more seriously written, seeing it is but such stuffe as riper iudgements hauehave in their far older yeeres beene much more guilty of.
I know an ▪indifferent Critticke may finde many faults as well in the sleightnesse of this present Subiect, as in the erring from the true nature of an Eglogue: moreouer, it altogether concernes my selfe, vvhichwhich diuers may dislike. But neyther can be done on iust cause: The first hath beene answered already: the last might consider that I vvas there vvhere my owne estate vvas chiefely to be looked vntounto, and all the comfort I could minister vntounto my selfe little enough.
If any man deeme it worthy his reading, I shall be glad: if hee thinke his paynes ill bestow'd, let him blame himselfe for medling with that concerned him not; I neyther recommended it to him, neyther cared whether he read it or no, because I know those that vvere desirous of it, will esteeme the same as much as I expect they should.
But it is not vnlikely, some vvill thinke I hauehave in diuers places beene more wanton (as they take it) then befitteth a Satyrist; yet their seueritie I feare not, because I am assured all that I euer yet did, was free from Obseaeuitie: neyther am I so Cynicall, but that I thinke a modest expression of such amorous conceits as sure with Reason, will yet very well become my yeeres; in which not to hauehave feeling of the power of LoueLove, were as great an argument of much stupiditie, as an ouer-sottish affection were of extreame folly. Lastly, if you thinke it hath not well answered the title of the Shepheards Hunting, goe quarrell with the Stationer, who bid himselfe God-father, and imposed the name according to his owne liking, and if you, or he, finde any other faults, pray mend them.
Valete.
FINIS.
End of the text · George Wither, The Shepherds Hunting (1615)