Classic Poem

To my kinde friend Mr Charles Best

C HARLES thou hast law and thou hast conscience too;
So dost in conscience what some others do
That thriue not by it; but be ruld by me;
Let law and conscience now so bee in thee
That thou maist liue by lawe, in lawfull wise,
Sith time now silenceth the too precise;
But if thou wilt be mute among thy letters,
Thou shalt be Best, but worse shall be thy Betters.