Thomas Humphry Ward, ed. The English Poets. 1880–1918.rnVol. II. The Seventeenth Century: Ben Jonson to Dryden

George Herbert (1593–1633)

The World

LOVE built a stately house, where Fortune came;

And spinning fancies, she was heard to say

That her fine cobwebs did support the frame,

Whereas they were supported by the same;

But Wisdom quickly swept them all away.

Then Pleasure came, who, liking not the fashion,

Began to make balconies, terraces,

Till she had weaken’d all by alteration;

But rev’rend laws, and many a proclamation,

Reformed all at length with menaces.

Then enter’d Sin, and with that sycamore

Whose leaves first shelt’red man from drought and dew,

Working and winding slily evermore,

The inward walls and sommers cleft and tore;

But Grace shor’d these, and cut that as it grew.

Then Sin combin’d with Death in a firm band

To rase the building to the very floor:

Which they effected, none could them withstand;

But Love took Grace and Glory by the hand,

And built a braver palace than before.