Ad Martialem. Lib. 5. Epigr. 21. Poem by John Ashmore

If that with thee, dear Martial, I might
Securely spend my dayes as I desire:
If vacant time we might dispose aright,
And at the last to a true life retire;
No Princes Courts, nor houses would we knowe
Of mighty men, nor irksome sutes would trie,
Nor unto greedy Lawyers would we goe,
Nor poare on a proud worm-gnawn Pedegree:
But, a well-pend, and lively acted Scene,
Small Brooks, Fields, Walks, fair Damsels, Bathes and Shades,
Should be the Labours we would entertaine,
Should be the Shops wherein we still would trade.
Now, neither of vs lives t'himselfe (Alas!)
But doth perceive with grief of minde, and see
How fair Suns rise, and how away they pass
Fruit-less to us, for which we blamed be.
Doth not a man, to live that knowes the way,
Cut-off encumbrances that thence him stay?