364 [from A comparison betwixt a Whore and a Booke]
Me thinks I heare some Cavillers object,
That ’tis a name absurd and indirect,
To give a Booke the Title of a Whore:
When sure I thinke no Name befits it more.
5 For like a Whore by day-light, or by Candle,
’Tis ever free for every knave to handle:
And as a new whore is belov’d and sought,
So is a new Booke in request and bought.
When whores wax old and stale, they’re out of date,
10 Old Pamphlets are most subject to such fate.
As whores have Panders to emblaze their worth,
So these have Stationers to set them forth.
And as an old whore may be painted new
With borrowed beauty, faire unto the view,
15 Whereby shee for a fine fresh whore may passe,
Yet is shee but the rotten whore shee was.
So Stationers, their old cast Bookes can grace,
And by new Titles paint a-fresh their face.
Whereby for currant they are past away,
20 As if they had come forth but yesterday.
A Booke is dedicated, now and than
To some great worthy, or unworthy man:
Yet for all that, ’tis common unto mee,
Or thee, or hee, or all estates that bee.