Genre:

Poetry, Drollery

Subjects:

Religion, Religious Authority, Cosmology, Astronomy, Scientific Practitioners, Progress

    Begins by relishing the days when 'Europe was dark'—when 'The Church was at ease, / Men obeyed its decrees' and the world 'went very well'. Laments that 'When learning revived [...] Men opened the Book, / And thereunto did look', after which the world 'went very ill'. Believes the time 'When people believed [...] The Earth to be flat, / Heaven's vault above that' was when the world 'went very well', although the world went 'very ill' when Galileo Galilei 'Did prove the Earth spun / Around the fixed Sun'. Describes other times when the world went 'well' and 'ill' and concludes by arguing that 'Since we can't gag philosophers [...] then, / In this day of reverse, / Modern science let's curse' when 'You'll see how the world will go then'.