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And yet the Fate of all Extremes is such,
Men may be read, as well as Books, too much.
To Observations which our selves we make,
We grow more partial for th' Observer's sake;
To written Wisdom, as another's, less:
Maxims are drawn from Notions, those from Guess.
There's some Peculiar in each Leaf and Grain;
Some unmark'd Fibre, or some varying Vein:
Shall only Man be taken in the gross?
Grant but as many sorts of Mind, as [1]Moss.
That each from other differs, first confess;
Next, that he varies from himself no less:
Add Nature's, Custom's, Reason's, Passion's strife,
And all Opinion's Colours cast on Life.
Yet more; the Diff'rence is as great between
The Optics seeing, as the Objects seen.
All Manners take a tincture from our own,
Or come discolour'd, thro' our Passions shown,
Or Fancy's beam inlarges, multiplies,
Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.
Men may be read, as well as Books, too much.
To Observations which our selves we make,
We grow more partial for th' Observer's sake;
To written Wisdom, as another's, less:
Maxims are drawn from Notions, those from Guess.
There's some Peculiar in each Leaf and Grain;
Some unmark'd Fibre, or some varying Vein:
Shall only Man be taken in the gross?
Grant but as many sorts of Mind, as [1]Moss.
That each from other differs, first confess;
Next, that he varies from himself no less:
Add Nature's, Custom's, Reason's, Passion's strife,
And all Opinion's Colours cast on Life.
Yet more; the Diff'rence is as great between
The Optics seeing, as the Objects seen.
All Manners take a tincture from our own,
Or come discolour'd, thro' our Passions shown,
Or Fancy's beam inlarges, multiplies,
Contracts, inverts, and gives ten thousand dyes.
- ↑ There are above 300 Sorts of Moss observed by Naturalists.
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