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| OFT have I wished a traveller to be: | |
| Mine eyes did even itch the sights to see, | |
| That I had heard and read of. Oft I have | |
| Been greedy of occasion, as the grave, | |
| That never says enough; yet still was crost, | 5 |
| When opportunities had promised most. | |
| At last I said, what mean’st thou, wandering elf, | |
| To straggle thus? Go travel first thyself. | |
| Thy little world can show thee wonders great: | |
| The greater may have more, but not more neat | 10 |
| And curious pieces. Search, and thou shalt find | |
| Enough to talk of. If thou wilt, thy mind | |
| Europe supplies, and Asia thy will, | |
| And Afric thine affections. And if still | |
| Thou list to travel further, put thy senses | 15 |
| For both the Indies. Make no more pretences | |
| Of new discoveries, whilst yet thine own, | |
| And nearest, little world is still unknown. | |
| Away then with thy quadrants, compasses, | |
| Globes, tables, cards, and maps, and minute glasses: | 20 |
| Lay by thy journals and thy diaries, | |
| Close up thine annals and thine histories. | |
| Study thyself, and read what thou hast writ | |
| In thine own book, thy conscience. Is it fit | |
| To labor after other knowledge so, | 25 |
| And thine own nearest, dearest self not know? | |
| Travels abroad both dear and dangerous are, | |
| Whilst oft the soul pays for the body’s fare: | |
| Travels at home are cheap, and safe. Salvation | |
| Comes mounted on the wings of meditation. | 30 |
| He that doth live at home, and learns to know | |
| God and himself, needeth no further go. | |
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