Ad Lectorem de Subiecto Operis Fui
Thomas Bastard (1566 - 1618)
The little world the subject of my muse,
Is an huge task and labour infinite;
Like to a wilderness or mass confuse,
Or to an endless gulf, or to the night:
How many strange meanders do I find?
How many paths do turn my straying pen?
How many doubtful twilights make me blind,
Which seek to limn out this strange All of men?
Easy it were the earth to portray out,
Or to draw forth the heavens' purest frame,
Whose restless course by order whirls about
Of change and place, and still remains the same.
But how shall men's or manners' form appear,
Which while I write, do change from what they were?
Limn -
Depict or describe in painting or words.
or suffuse or highlight (something) with a bright color or light.
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