Sonnet 21: Cyriack, whose grandsire on the royal bench

Cyriack, whose grandsire on the royal bench

      Of British Themis, with no mean applause,

      Pronounced, and in his volumes taught, our laws,

      Which others at their bar so often wrench,

Today deep thoughts resolve with me to drench

      In mirth that after no repenting draws;

      Let Euclid rest, and Archimedes pause,

      And what the Swede intend, and what the French.

To measure life learn thou betimes, and know

      Toward solid good what leads the nearest way;

      For other things mild Heaven a time ordains,

And disapproves that care, though wise in show,

      That with superfluous burden loads the day,

      And, when God sends a cheerful hour, refrains.