יהוה
HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE

DU BARTAS HIS Deuine Weekes and Workes Translated:

And Dedicated to the Kings most excellent Maiestie by Josuah Syluester. Now thirdly corrected & augm.

[figure]

ANAGRAMMATA REGIA: Regi.

IACOBVS STVART: Iusta Scrutabo.

IAMES STVART: A iust Master.

FOr A iust Master haue I labour'd long:
To A iust Master haue I vow'd my best:
By A iust Master should I take no wrong:
With A iust Master would my life be blest.
In A iust Master are all Vertues met:
From A iust Master flowes aboundant grace:
But, A iust Master is so hard to get,
That A iust Master seems of Phoenix race:
Yet, A iust Master haue I found in fine.
Of A iust Master if you question This,
Whom A iust Master I so iust define;
My Liege IAMES STVART A iust Master is.
And A iust Master could my Work deserue,
Such A iust Master would I iustly serue.
Voy Sire Saluste

Au Tres-puissant, tres-prudent, & tres-Auguste IAQVES (par la grace de Dieu) Roy de la Grande Britaigne, de France, & d' Irlande: De­fenseur de lay Foy vnique Catholique, Apostoli­que, & Christiene.

*⁎*

VOY (SIRE) ton SALVSTE habillé en Anglois
( Anglois encore plus de Coeur que de language)
Qui, cognoistant loyal ton Royal Heritage
En çes beaux Liz dorez au Sceptre des Gaulois
(Cōme au vray Souverain des vrays Subiects François)
Cy a tes pieds sacrez te faict son sainct Hommage
(De ton Hoeur & Grandeur eternal tesmoignage)
Miroir de touts Heros, Miracle de touts Roys.
VOY (SIRR) tō SALVSTE, ou (pour le moins) son om­bre;
Ou l'ombre (pour le moins) de se Traicts plus divins,
Qui, ores trop noyrçis par mō pinçeau trop sombre,
S'esclair çiront aux Raiz de tes Yieux plus benins.
Donques d'vn oeil benin & d'vn accueil Auguste
Reçoy ton cher Bartas, & VOY SIRE SALVSTE.
Anagrammatisme de
IOSVA SYLVESTRE: de vostre Maiestè Tres humble Subiect & Seruiteur.

A l'istessa sua Mäestá serenisma.

NEptun', gielozo de La Musa Ingléze,
L'immura si del Braccio crystallino,
Ch'il piu divin del Canto suo divino
Poco s'intende fuòr del suo Paëze:
[...]erò (Signor) Come già la Francèze
T'à Celebrato di-quà l' Apenino;
Di-là, l' ITALICA al Peregrino
Anche farà l' alte tue Lodi intèse.
Siche, la Sèna, el Pàdo prestaranno
Lor Chori sacri, per Cantàr l' immenza
Alma Virtù, Valòr, Pietà, Prudénza
Di GIACOMO (gran SALOMON Britanno)
Per di tua Gloria (vdita qual [...]e quanta)
Rapir il Mondo in maraviglia santa.
L'istesso Osseruantissimo▪ I. S.

INSCRIPTIO.

To England's, Scotland's, France & Ireland's KING:
Great Emperour of EVROPE'S greatest Iles:
Monarch of Hearts, and Arts, and euery thing
Beneath BOOTES, manie thousand myles:
Vpon whose Head, Honour and Fortune smiles:
About whose brows, clusters of Crowns do spring:
VVhose Faith, Him Cham­pion of the FAITH en-stiles:
VVhose VVisdome's Fame O're all the World dooth ring:
MNEMOSYNE &
Her faire Daughters bring
The DAPHNEAN Crown,
To Crowne Him (Laureat)
VVhole and sole Soueraigne
Of the THE SPIAN Spring:
Prince of PARNASSVS, & Piërian State:
And with their Crown, their kingdoms Arms they yeelde
Thrice three Penns Sun-like in a Cynthian field.
Sign'd by TIMES-SELVES, and their high Treasorer
BARTAS, the great: Ingrosst by SYLVESTER.
Our SVNNE did Set, and yet no NIGHT ensew'd;
Our WOE-full losse so IOY-full gaine did bring,
In teares wee smile, amid our sighes we Sing:
So suddainely our dying LIGHT renew'd.
As when the ARABIAN (only) Bird doth burne
Her aged body in sweete FLAMES to death,
Out of Her CINDERS
A newe Birde hath breath,
[figure]
In whom the BEAVTIES
Of the FIRST returne;
From Spicie Ashes of the sacred VRNE
Of our dead Phoenix (dear ELIZABETH)
A new true PHOENIX liuely flourisheth,
Whom greater glories than the First adorne.
So much (O KING) thy sacred Worth presum-I-on,
IAMES, thou iust Heire of England's ioyfull VNION.
IAMES, Thou iust Heire of England's ioyfull VNION,
VNITING now too This long sever'd ILE
(Sever'd for Strangers, from it Selfe the while)
Vnder one Scepter in One Faith's Communion:
That in our Loues may never bee dis-vnion,
Throughout-all Kingdomes in thy Regall Stile,
Make CHRIST thy Guide
( In whom was neuer guile)
CLIO.
To RVLE thy Subiectes
In his GOSPEL'S Vnion.
So, on thy Seate thy Seede shall euer Florish,
To SION's Comfort and th' eternall Terror
Of GOG and MAGOG, Athëisme & Error:
So shal one TRVTH thy people train & nourish
In meeke Obedience of Th' Almightie's Pleasure,
And to give CEASAR what belongs to CAESAR.
And (to give CEASAR what belongs to CAESAR)
To sacred Thee (drad Soveraigne) deerest IAMES,
While sad-glad ENGLAND yields Hir Diadems,
To be dispos'd at Thine Imperiall Pleasure:
While Peers & States expose their pomp & treasure
To entertaine thee from thy Tweed to THAMES
VVith Royall Presentes,
And rare-pretious Gemmes;
THALIA.
As Mindes and Meanes
Concurre in happy measure.
Heer (gracious Lord) lowe prostrate I present you
The richest Iewell my poore FATE affoords,
( A Sacrifice, that long long since I meant you)
Your Minion BARTAS, masked in My words:
With Him, my Selfe, my Seruice, Wit and Arte,
With all the SINNEVVES of a Loyall Heart.
With all the SINNEWES of a Loyall Heart,
Vnto Your Royall Handes I humblie Sacre
These weeks ( the works of the worlds glorius Maker)
Diuinely warbled by LORD BARTAS Art
(Though through my rudenes heer mis-tun'd in part)
For, to whom meeter should This Muse betake her,
Than to Your Highnesse,
Whom (as chiefe Partaker)
MELPOMENE.
All MVSES Crowne
For Principall Desarte?
To whom should sacred Arte and learned Pietie
In Highest Notes of Heauenly Musike Sing
The Royall Deedes of the redoubted Dëitie,
But to a learned and religious KING?
To whom but You should Holy FAITH cōmend-her,
Great king of ENGLAND, christiā FAITH'S defender?
Great king of ENGLAND, Christiā FAITH'S defender.
No Selfe-presuming of my Witt's perfection
( In what is mine of this Diuine Confection
Boldens mee thus to You the Same to tender:
But with the Rest, the Best I haue to render
For loyall Witnesse of my glad affection,
My MITE I offer
To Your High Protection,
CALLIOPE.
Which MORE it needs,
The more it selfe is slender.
But, for mine AVTHOR, in his Sacred-fury,
I know your Highnes knows him Prince of Singers,
And His rare Workes worthy Your Royall fingers
( Though heer His lustre too-too-much obscure-I)
For His sake therefore, and Your Selfes Benignitie,
Accept my ZEALE, and pardon mine indignitie.
Accept my ZEALE, and pardon mine Indignitie
(Smoothing with smiles sterne Maiesties Seueritie)
Sith from this Errour of my bolde temeritie,
Great good may grow, through heav'ns and your benignitie:
For, farre more equall to your BARTAS Dignitie,
This may prouoke (with more diuine dexteritie)
Some NOBLER Wit,
To SING to our Posteritie
TERPSICHORE.
This NOBLEST Worke,
After it Self's Condignitie:
Or else the sweete Rayes of your Royall Fauour
May shine so warme on these wilde Fruites of mine,
As much may mend their vertue, taste, and sauour,
And Rypen faire the Rest that are behinde:
The rather, if some Clowde of COMFORT drop
Amid the Braunches of my blasted Hope.
Amid the Braunches of my blasted Hope,
Three Noble pearches had my Muse of late,
Where (Turtle-like) groaning Sad tunes she sate:
But (O!) curst ENVIE did vntimely lop
The First: the Next, bruiz'd with his Fall, did drop;
The Third remaines, growen a great arm of State:
Most WORTIE So,
But so prae—occupate
EVTERPE.
VVith other MVSES,
That OVRS hath no scope.
Wherefore for succour in her wearie flight,
Hardly pursu'd by that sharpe Vulture, WANT,
Shee's fain my Liege (with your good leaue) to light
Amid the Top-leaues of Your CEDAR-Plant:
Where, if you daign Her Rest frō FORTVNE'S wrong,
Shee shall more sweetely Ende her solemne Song.
Shee shall more sweetely Ende Her solemne Song
(If Heaven grant Life, and You give leaue to doo-it)
By adding fitly All those Partes vnto it,
Which more precisely to Your Praise belong▪
(Wherein expresly, with a Thankefull tongue,
To your great Self, APOLLO'S self applies-him,
Yeeldes YOV His Laurells,
And dooth all agnize-him
ERATO.
Rapt with the VVonder
Of Your Uertues, Young).
All the Posthumiall race of that rare Spirit
(His Swan tunes, sweetest neer his latest breath)
Which, of his glory their Childes-part inherit
(Thogh born, alas!) after their Father's death)
As Epilogue, shall PAYE our gratefull Vowes
Vnder the shaddowe of Your Sacred Boughes.
Vnder the shaddowe of Your Sacred Boughes,
Great, Royall CEDAR of Mounte LIBANON
(Greater then that great Tree of BABYLON)
No maruaile if our TVRTLE seek to House;
Sith CAESAR'S Eagles, that so strongly Rouze:
Th' olde H [...]gard FALCON, hatcht by Pampelon:
Th' IBERIAN GRIPHIN
(And not THESE alone,
POLYMNIA.
But euerie Birde and Beast)
With HVMBLE vowes,
Seekes roost or rest vnder your mighty Bowers:
So mighty hath th' Almighty made you now:
O Honour Him who thus hath Honour'd You,
And build His house who thus hath blessed Yours.
So, STVARTS ay shall stand (propt with His Power)
To Foes a Terrour, and to Friendes a Tower:
To Foes a Terrour, and to Friendes a Tower:
ERROR'S Defyer, and True FAITH'S Defence:
A Sword to Wrong, a Shielde to Innocence:
Cheering the mild; checking the wild with powr:
The Starre of other States, and Sterne of Our:
The Rod of Vice, & VERTVE'S Recompence:
Long liue King IAMES
in al MAGNIFICENCE:
VRANIA.
And (full of DAYES)
When (in his Blis-ful Bowr)
Heauens king shal crown thee with th' immortal flowr,
Fall all These Blessings on that forwarde Prince
HENRIE (our Hope) to-Crowne His Excellence
A KING at Home, abroad a CONQVEROR.
So Happily, that wee may still Conclude,
Our Sunne did Sette and yet no Night ensew'd.

SVBSCRIPTIO.

YOVR MAIESTIES Most loyall Subiect & Humble Seruant IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

The Order of the Bookes or Tracts of this Volume.

THE FIRST WEEKE containeth Seaven Dayes.
THE 1. Day.
pag. 1.
THE 2. Day.
24.
THE 3. Day.
59.
THE 4. Day.
91.
THE 5. Day.
114.
THE 6. Day.
144.
THE 7. Day.
175.
THE SECOND WEEK likewise Seauen DAIES: whereof Three were neuer finished.
  • ADAM, 1. Day,
    Eden.
    pag. 215.
    The Imposture.
    236.
    The Furies.
    254.
    The Handy-Crafts.
    276.
  • NOAH, 2. Day,
    The Arke.
    pag. 298.
    Babylon.
    315.
    The Colonies.
    335.
    The Columnes.
    358.
  • ABRAHAM, 3. Day,
    The Vocation.
    pag. 381.
    The Fathers.
    421.
    The Law.
    436.
    The Captains.
    477.
  • DAVID. 4. Day.
    The Tropheis.
    pag. 514.
    The Magnificence.
    551.
    The Schisme.
    590.
    The Decay.
    619.
  • Vrania.
    pag. 656.
    The Triumph of Faith.
    672.
    The Quadrains of Pibrac.
    697.
    The miraculous Peace of France.
    738.
    A Paradox against Liberty.
    780.
[figure]
CEs Tempes laurizez, du Laurier mesme honeur;
Ces Yeux contemple-Cieux, ou la Vertu se lit;
Ces traits au front, marquez de Scavoir & d' Esprit;
Ne sont que du BARTAS vn ombre exterieur.
Le Pinçeau n'en peut plus: Mais, de sa propre Plume
Il [...]est peint le Dedans, dans son divin Volume.
These laureat Temples which the Laurel grace;
These Honest Lines, these Signes of Wit and Art;
This Map of Vertues, in a Muse-full Face;
Are but a blush of BARTAS outward part.
The Pencil could no more: But his owne Pen
Limms him with-in, the Miracle of Men.

LECTORIBVS.

[figure]

ENGLAND'S Apelles (rather OVR APOLLO) WORLD'S—wonder SYDNEY, that rare more—than-man, This LOVELY VENVS first to LIMNE beganne, VVith such a PENCILL as no PENNE dares follow: How thē shold I, in Wit & Art so shalow, Attēpt the Task which yet none other can? Far be the thought, that mine vnlearned hand His heauenly Labour shold so much vnhallow: Yet, least (that Holy-RELIQVE being shrin'd In som High-Place, close lockt frō common light) My Country-men should bee debarr'd the sight Of these DIVINE pure Beauties of the Minde; Not daring meddle with APELLES TABLE; This haue I muddled, as my MVSE was able.

INDIGNIS.

Hence profane Hands, Factors for Hearts profa [...]e:
Hence hissing Atheists, Hellish Misse-Creants:
Hence Buzzard Kites, dazled with Beautie's glances:
Hence itching Eares, with Toyes and Tales vp-tane:
Hence Green-sick Wits, that relish nought but bane:
Hence dead lyve Idiots, drown'd in Ignorance:
Hence wanton Michols, that de [...]ide my Dance:
Hence M [...]mike Ap [...]s; vaine Follies Counter-p [...]ne:
Hence prying Critik [...]s, carping past your Skill:
Hence dull Conceipts, that have no true Discerning:
Hence envious Momes, converting Good to Ill:
Hence all at-once, that lack (or loue not) LEARNING:
Hence All vn-holy, frō the WORLDS BIRTH Feast;
VRANIA's Grace brookes no vn-worthy Guest

OPTIMIS.

But (my best Guest) welcom great King of FAERIE:
Welcom fair QVEEN (his vertue's vertuous Love):
Welcom right AEGLETS of the ROYAL Eyrie:
Welcom sound Eares, that sacred Tunes approve:
Welcom pure Hands, whose Hearts are fixt aboue:
Welcom deer Soules, that of Art's choise are charie:
Welcom chaste Matrons, whom true zeal doth move:
Welcom good Wits, that grace-full Mirth can varie:
Welcom milde Censors, that mean slips can cover:
Welcom quick Spirits, that sound the depth of Art:
Welcom MECAENAS▪ & each LEARNING-lover:
Welcom All good: Welcom, with all my Heart:
Sit-down (I pray) and taste of every Dish:
If Ought mis—like You, better Cooke I wish.

Intimo Iosuae Sylvestri, Hexasticon.

VTprodesse suis possit, Salustius offert
Gallis, quod nobis Iosua noster, opus:
Ille ergo eximijs hoc vno nomine dignus
Laudibus; at duplici nititur hic merito:
Quem simul Authoris famae, charae (que) videmus
Communi Patriae consuluisse bono.
Io: Bo. Miles.

Ad Ioshuam Sylvesterum, G. Salustij genuinum Interpretem.

(*⁎*)

FAre agê, divini cultissima lingua Salusti,
(SYLVESTER) Clarij ceu fuit ille Dei;
Elyzij qua parte Iugiconvenerat, & te
Edoc [...]it sensus & sua verba Senex?
An mage, corpored Herois compage soluta,
In te Anima Elyzium fecerat ipsa sibi?
Credo equidē; & Samij rata Dogmata sunt Senis; vnde,
Non Translata mihi, sed genuina canis.
Quin & Posteritas, si pagina prima taceret,
Interpres dubitet tune vel ille siet.
Car: Fitz-Geofridus Lati-Portensis.

Iosua Siluester Anagr: Uerè Os Salustij.

OStu SYLVESTER nostro cur Ore vocaris?
An quòd in ORE fer as Mel? quòd in Aure Mel-os?
An quòd BARTASSI faciem dum pingis et ORA,
ORA tui pariter quaelibet ora colit?
Nempe licèt duram praete fers nomine SILVAM,
Silvas et salebr as carmina nulla tenent:
Sed quod Athenarum COR, dux Salaminius olim
Dixit, Inest libris Os (que) vigor (que) tuis.
Ergo OS esto alijs, mihi Suadae LINGVA videris;
Musis et Phoebo charus OCELLVS eris.

Ad Gallum de Bartassio iam toto Anglicè donato.

Quòd Gallus factus modò sit, mirare, Britannus,
Galle? novum vide as, nec tamen invide as:
Silvester vester, noster Bartassius, ambo
Laude quidem gemina digni, vt et ambo pari.

In Detractores ad Authorem.

Tace at malevolum OS malè strepent is Zoïli;
Monstrum bilingue, septuplex Hydrae caput:
Dum Septimanam septies faustam canis
Te Septimana septies faustum facit
Quaevis, nec vlla deleat Iosuam Dies.
Nempe ORE fari Vera si licet meo,
OS ipse VERE diceris SALVSTII;
Qui si impetar is dentibus mordentibus
Impurioris ORIS, [...] Theon
OS non carere dentibus sciat tuum.
E. L. Oxon.

In duo Poetarum lumina, Bartam & Sylveste­rum, carmen Asclepiadeum Gliconicum, dicol. Distroph.

TE Barta caneret Melpomenes melos,
Vel Germana soror nympha Polymnia,
Musarúmu [...] potens pater,
Pulsans plectra sonantia.
Syluestere, meam tusuperas lyram,
Et linguam modulum, dum rudis obstrepit:
Vatem commeruit decus
Illustrem ingenij tui.
Nemo fronte ger [...]ns Daphnidis arborem,
Vel Martem valuit scribere bellicum
Digne, vel Veneris rosae
Vultum purpureae parem:
Nec vestram valeo tollere versibus
Laudem ter geminam Sicaelidum meis
Sacra progenies satis;
Non vos aequiparem modis.
Gallorum D [...]uidas hospites arborum
Bartas grandiloqui carminis alite
Praestat: noster amat sui
Ponti vincere Naiadas:
Ambo sic proprias viribus ingenî
Divas ruricolas ponticolas simul
Vicistis, trivij meum
Vicistis miserum melos.
Coelum percutiat Gallia vertice,
Ipsos coelicolas terra Britannica,
Quae vates tulerint duos
Claros prae reliquis novos.
G. B. Cantabrig.

EPIGRAM. To M. Iosuah Syluester.

IF to admire were to commend, my Praise
Might then both thee, thy work and merit raise:
But, as it is (the Child of Ignorance,
And vtter stranger to all ayre of France)
How can I speak of thy great paines, but erre?
Since they can onlie iudge, that can confer.
Behold! The reuer end Shade of BARTAS stands
Before my thought, ana (in thy right) commaunds
That to the world I publish, for him, This;
BARTAS doth wish thy English now were His.
Son ell in that are his inuentions wrought,
As His will now be the Translation thought,
Thine the Originall; and France shall boast,
No more, those mayden glories she hath lost.
B. Iohnson.

In prayse of the Translator.

IF diuine BARTAS (from whose blessed Braines
Such Works of grace, or gracefull works did stream)
Were so admir'd for Wit's celestiall Strain's
As made their Uertues Seate, the high'st Extream;
Then, IOSVAH, the Sun of thy bright praise
Shall fixed stand in Arts fair Firmament
Till Dissolution date Times Nights, and Daies,
Sith right thy Lines are made to BARTAS Bent,
Whose Compass circumscribes (in spacious Words)
The Vniuersall in particulars;
And thine the same, in other Tearms, affords;
So, both your Tearms agree in friendly Wars:
If Thine be onely His, and His be Thine,
They are (like God) eternall, sith Diuine.
Iohn Dauies of Hereford.

To M. Iosuah Syluester, of his Bartas Meta­phrased.

I Dare confesse; of Muses, more than nine,
Nor list, nor can I enuy none, but thine.
Shee, drencht alone in Sion's sacred Spring,
Her Makers praise hath sweetly chose to sing,
And reacheth neerest th' Angels notes aboue;
Nor lists to sing or Tales, or Warrs, or Loue.
One while I finde, hir, in hir nimble flight,
Cutting the brazen spheares of heav'n bright:
Thence, straight she glides, before I be aware,
Through the three regions of the liquid ayre:
Thence, rushing down, through Nature's Closet-dore,
She ransacks all her Grandame's secret store;
And, diuing to the darknes of the Deep,
Sees there what wealth the waues in prison keep:
And, what shee sees aboue, belowe, betweene,
She showes and sings to others eares and eyne,
Tis true; thy Muse another's steps doth presse:
The more's her paine; nor is her praise the less.
Freedom giues scope, vnto the rouing thought;
Which, by restraint, is curb'd. Who wonders ought,
That feet, vnfettred, walken farre, or fast?
Which, pent with chains, mote want their wonted haste.
Thou follow'st Bartasses diuiner streine;
And singst his numbers in his natiue veine.
BARTAS was some French Angell, girt with Bayes:
And thou a BARTAS art, in English Layes.
Whether is more? Me seems (the sooth to say'n)
One BARTAS speaks in Tongues, in Nations, twayn.
Ios. Hall.

To my good friend, M. Sylvester, in honour of this sacred Work.

THus to aduenture forth, and re-conuay
The best of treasures from a forraine Coast,
And take that wealth wherein they gloried most,
And make it ours by such a gallant pray,
And that without iniustice; doth bewray
The glory of the Work, that we may boast
Much to haue wonn, and others nothing lost
By taking such a famous prize away,
As thou industrious SYLVESTER hast wrought,
And heer enricht vs with th' immortall store
Of other's sacred lines; which from them brought,
Coms by thy taking greater than before:
So hast thou lighted from a flame deuout,
As great a flame, that neuer shall goe out.
Samuel Daniel.

To M. Iosuah Syluester. A SONNET.

THe glorious Salust, morall, true, diuine,
Who (all inspired with a Holy rage)
Makes Heav'n his subiect, and the Earth his stage,
The Arts his Actors, and the Triple-Trine:
Who his rich language gildes, and graceth fine:
His Countries honour, wonder of our age;
Whose World's blest Birth, and blessed Pupillage,
Gain him a world of fame for euerie line;
Hath heer obtain'd a true Interpreter,
Whom, fame, nor gaine, but loue to Heav'n and vs,
Mov'd to vn-French his learned labours thus.
Thus loues, thus liues all-loued SYLVESTER.
Forward, sweet friend: Heav'n, Nature, Arts, and Men,
All to this task prefer thine only Pen.
G. Gay-Wood.

Dilectissimo Io: Syluestri.

GAllica visa fuit Princeps modo lingua; necvlla
Illi vel similis, vel mihi maior erat:
Credideram magni nullo sermone referri
BARTASI ingenium posse, vel eloquium:
Cum subito clarum dedit alma Britannia solem,
Ingenij tenebras abstulit ille mei.
Carmina BARTASI SYLVESTER carmine vertit;
Et sisuccessu non mellore, pari.
O, ter felicem venam, Dulceis (que) Camoenas!
Queis tanto Vati contigit esse pares.
Incepto felix SYLVESTER tramite perge;
Tam bene ne coeptum destituatur opus.
Sic pia Sicaelides aspirent Numina Musae:
Sic faueat coeptis doctus Apollo tuis:
Sic tandem felix te gaudeat Anglia vate:
Sic te Virgilium norit et ipsa suum.
Io: Mauldaeus Germanus.

Amicissimo Iosuae Syluestri, G. Salustij D. BARTASII interpreti, Encomium.

QVod conspecta Pharus vario dat lumine vasta
Aequora sulcanti, cum vaga Luna silet:
Et quod lustratis Phoebi dat flammatenebris
Erranti in syluis dum manifestat iter:
Hoc dat praestanti methodo SALVSTIVS illis
Cognitio Sanctae queis placet Historiae.
Ille dedit Gallis quod nobis IOSVA noster,
Qui solus patrio ductus amore dedit.
Ingenium cupitis, non fictaque flumina Vatum?
Hic magnum doctis Hortus acumen habet:
Musa tua est BARTAS dulcissima: Musa videtur
Ipsa tamen NOSTRI, dulcior esse mihi.
Si. Ca. Gen.

Flexanimo Salustij du Bartas interpreti, I [...]. Syluestri, carmen Encomiasticon.

OFt haue I seen sweet fancie-pleasing facts
Consort themselues with swart misshapen features,
To grace the more their soule-subduing graces,
By the defect of such deformed creatures;
As Painters garnish with their shadowes sable
The brighter colours in a curious Table:
So, English Bartas, though thy beauties, heer
Excell so far the glory of the rest,
That France and England both must hold thee deer,
Sith both their glories thou hast heer exprest
(Shewing the French tongues plenty to be such,
And yet that ours can vtter full as much)
Let not thy fairest Heav'n-aspiring Muse
Disdaine these humble notes of my affection:
My faulty lines let faithfull loue excuse,
Sith my defects shall adde to thy perfection:
For, these rude rimes, thus ragged, base, and poore,
Shall (by their want) exalt thy worth the more.
E. G.

In Commendation of du BARTAS, and his Translator, M. IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

A SONNET.

WHile nights black wings the dayes bright beauties hide,
And while fayre Phoebus diues in western deep;
Men (gazing on the heav'nly stages steep)
Commend the Moon, and many Stars beside:
But, when Aurora's windowes open wide,
That Sol's clear rayes those sable clouds may banish,
Then sodainly those petty lights do vanish,
Vailing the glories of their glistring pride:
Sa, while du Bartas and our Syluester
(The glorious light of England and of France)
Haue hid their beams, each glowe-worme durst prefer
His feeble glimpse of glimmering radiance:
But, now th [...]se Suns begin to gild the day,
Those twinkling sparks are soon disperst away.
R. H.

In Commendation of this worthy Work▪

FOole that I was; I thought, in younger times,
That all the Muses had their graces sowen
In Chaucers, Spencers, and sweet Daniels Rimes
(So, good seems best, where better is vnknowen).
While thus I dream'd, my busie phantasic
Bad me awake, open mine eyes, and see
How SALVST's English Sun ( our SYLVESTER)
Makes Moon and Stars to vaile: and how the Sheau [...]s
Of all his Brethren, bowing do prefer
His Fruits before their Winter-shaken Leaues:
So much for Matter, and for Manner too,
Hath He out gon those that the rest out goe.
Let Gryll be Gryll: let Enuie's vip'rous seed
Gnaw forth the brest which bred and fed the same;
Rest safe (Sound truth from fear is euer freed)
Malice may bark, but shall not bite thy Name:
IOSVA, thy Name with BARTAS name shall liue▪
For, double life you each to other giue.
But, Mother Enuie, if this Arras spunne
Of Golden threds be seen of English eyes,
Why then (alas!) our Cob-webs are vndone:
But She, more subtile, than religious-wise,
Hatefull, and hated, proud, and ignorant,
Pale, swoln as Toade (though customed to vaunt)
Now holds her Peace: but (O!) what Peace hath She
With Vertue? none: Therefore defie her frown.
Gainst greater force growes greater victory.
As Camomile, the more you tread it down,
The more it springs; Vertue, despightfully
Vsed, doth vse the more to fructisie:
And so do Thou, vntill thy Mausole rare
Do fill this World with wonderment; and, that
In Venus Form no clumsie fist may dare
To meddle with thy Pencil and thy Plat;
I fear thy life more, till thy goale be run,
Than Wife his Spouse, or Father fears his Son.
R. R.
‘Malum patienti lucrum.’

An Acrostick Sonnet, to his friend M. IOSVA SYLVESTER.

I IF profit, mixt with pleasure, merit Praise,
O Or Works diuine be 'fore profane preferr'd:
S Shall not this heauenly Work the Workers raise,
V Vnto the Clouds on Columnes selfly-rear'd?
A And (though his Earth be lowe in Earth interr'd)
S Shall not du BARTAS (Poetspride and glorie)
I In after Ages be with wonder heard,
L Liuely recording th' VNIVERSAL Story?
V Vndoubtedly He shal: and so shalt Thou,
E Eare-charming Eccho of his sacred Voice▪
S Sweet SYLVESTER, how happy was thy choise,
T To Task thee thus, and thus to quight thee now?
E End as thou hast begun; and then by right
R Rare Muses NON-SVCH, shal thy Work be hight.
R. N. Gen.

To the Same.

HAd golden Homer, and great Maro kept
In enuious silence their admired measures,
A thousand Worthies worthy deeds had slept:
They, reft of prayse; and we of learned pleasures.
But (O!) what rich incomparable treasures
Had the world wanted, had not this modern glory,
Diuine du BARTAS, hid his heauenly ceasures,
Singing the mighty World's immortall story?
O then how deeply is our [...]le beholding
To Chapman, and to Phaer! but, yet much more
To thee (deare SYLVESTER) for thus vnfolding
These holy wonders, hid from vs before.
Those works profound, are yet profane; but thine,
Graue, learned, deepe, delightfull, and diuine.
R. N.
Du BARTAS His FIRST …

Du BARTAS His FIRST VVEEK, Or Birth of the WORLD: Wher-in In SEAVEN DAYES The glorious Work Of The CREATION is diuinely handled.

In the 1. Day, The CHAOS.

In the 2. Day, The ELEMENTS.

In the 3. Day, The SEA & EARTH.

In the 4. Day, The HE AVENS, SVN, MOON, &c.

In the 5. Day, The FISHES & FOVLES,

In the 6. Day, The BEASTS & MAN.

In the 7. Day, The SABAOTH.

Acceptam refero.

The first Daie of the First VVeek.

THE ARGVMENT.
GOD'S Ayde implor'd: the Summ of All propos'd:
World not eternall, nor by Chaunce compos'd:
But of meer Nothing God it essence gaue:
It had Beginning: and an End shall haue:
Curst Atheists quipt: the Heathen Clarks control'd:
Doom's glorious Day: Star-Doctros blam'd, for bold:
The Matter form'd: Creation of the Light:
Alternate Changes of the Day and Night:
The Birth of Angels; some for Pride deiected:
The rest persist in Grace, and guard th' Elected.
THou, glorious Guide of Heav'ns star-glistring motion,
The Poet implo­reth the gracious assistance of the true God of Hea uen, Earth, Ayrc and Sea, that he may happily fi­nish the work he takes in hand.
Thou, thou (true Neptune) Tamer of the Ocean,
Thou, Earth's drad Shaker (at whose only Word,
Th' Eolian Scoutes are quickly still'd and stirr'd)
Lift vp my soule, my drossie spirits refine,
With learned Artenrich This Work of mine:
O Father, graunt I sweetly warbleforth
Vnto our seede the WORLD'S renowned BIRTH:
Graunt (gracious God) that I record in Verse
The rarest Beauties of this VNIVERSE;
And grant, therein Thy Power I may discern;
That, teaching others, I my self may learn.
And also graunt (great Architect of Wonders,
The Trāslator knowing and acknowled­ging his owne insufficiēcy for so excellent a labor, craueth also the ayde of the All suffici­ent God.
Whose mighty Voice speaks in the midst of Thunders,
Causing the Rocks to rock, and Hills to tear;
Calling the things that Are not, as they were;
Confounding Mighty things by means of Weak;
Teaching dumb Infants thy dread Praise to speak;
Inspiring Wisedom into those that want,
And giuing Knowledge to the Ignorant)
Graunt mee, good Lord (as thou hast giv'n me hart
To vndertake so excellent a Part)
Graunt me such Iudgement, Grace, and Eloquence,
So correspondent to that Excellence,
That in some measure, I may seem t' inherit
( Elisha-like) my dear Elias Spirit.
CLEAR FIRE for euer hath not Ayre imbraç't,
The World was not from euerla­sting.
Nor Ayre for-ay inuiron'd Waters vast,
Nor Waters always wrapt the Earth therein;
But all this All did once (of nought) begin.
Once All was made; not by the hand of Fortune
(As fond Democritus did yerst importune)
With iarring Concords making Motes to meet,
Inuisible, immortall, infinite.
Th' immutable diuine Decree, which shall
Neither made by Chance. But created to­gether with Time by the almighty wise­dome of God.
Cause the Worlds End, caus'd his Originall:
Neither in Time, nor yet before the same,
But in the instant when Time first became.
I mean a Time confused; for, the course
Of years, of months, of weeks, of daies, of howrs,
Of Ages, Times, and Seasons, is confin'd
By th' ordred Daunce vnto the Stars assign'd.
Before all Time, all Matter, Form, and Place,
God all in all, and all in God it was:
God was before the World was.
Immutable, immortall, infinite,
Incomprehensible, all spirit, all light,
All Maiesty, all-self Omnipotent,
Inuisible, impassiue, excellent,
Pure, wise, iust, good, God raign'd alone (at rest)
Himself alone selfs Palace, host, and guest.
Thou scoffing Atheist, that enquirest, what
He consuteth the Atheists, questi­oning what God did before he created the World.
Th' Almighty did before he framed that?
What waighty Work his minde was busied on
Eternally before this World begun
(Sith so deep Wisedom and Omnipotence,
Nought worse beseems, then sloath and negligence)?
Knowe (bold blasphemer) that, before, he built
A Hell to punish the presumptuous Guilt
Of those vngodly, whose proud sense dares cite
And censure too his Wisedom infinite.
Can Carpenters, Weauers, and Potters passe
And liue, without their seuerall works a space?
And could not then th' Almighty All-Creator,
Th' all-prudent, BEE; without this frail Theater?
Shall valiant Scipio Thus himself esteem,
Neuer lesse sole then when he sole doth seem:
And could not God (O Heav'ns! what frantike folly!)
Subsist alone, but sink in melancholy?
Shall the Pryénian Princely Sage auerr,
That all his goods he doth about him bear:
And should the Lord, whose Wealth exceeds all measure,
Should he be poor, without this Worldly treasure?
God neuer seeks, out of himself, for ought;
He begs of none, he buies or borrows nought;
But aye, from th' Ocean of his liberall Bounty,
Hee poureth out a thousand Seas of Plenty.
What God did before he crea­ted the World.
Yer Eurus blew, yer Moon did Wax or Wain,
Yer Sea had Fish, yer Earth had grass or grain,
God was not void of sacred exercise;
He did admire his Glorie's Mysteries:
His Power, his Iustice, and his Prouidence,
His bountious Grace, and great Beneficence
Were th' holy obiect of his heav'nly thought,
Vpon the which, eternally it wrought.
It may be also that he meditated
The Worlds Idëa, yer it was Created:
Alone he liv'd not; for, his Son and Spirit
Of 3. Persons in one only Essence of God: of the eternall genera­tion of the Son.
Were with him ay, Equall in might and merit.
[Page 4]For, sans beginning, seed, and Mother tender,
This great Worlds Father he did first ingender
(To wit) His Son, Wisedom, and Word eternal,
Equall in Essence to th' All-One Paternal.
Of the Holy-Ghost procee­ding from the Father and the Sonne: The which three Persons are one onely and the same God.
Out of these Two, their common Power proceeded,
Their Spirit, their Loue; in Essence vndiuided:
Onely distinct in Persons, whose Diuinity,
All Three in One, makes One eternall Trinitie.
Soft, soft, my Muse, launch not into the Deep,
Sound not this Sea: see that aloof thou keep
From this Charybdis and Capharean Rock,
Where many a ship hath suffered wofull wrack,
While they haue fondly vent red forth too-far,
Following frail Reason for their only Star.
Who on this Gulf would safely venture fain,
How to think & speak of God.
Must not too-boldly hale into the Main,
But longst the shoar with sails of Faith must coast;
Their Star the Bible; Steers-man th' Holy-Ghost.
How many fine wits haue the World abus'd,
Because this Ghost they for their Guide refus'd;
The Heathen Philosophers lost themselues and others in their cur [...]osities: & weening to be wise, became fooles.
And, scorning of the loyall Virgins Thred,
Haue them and others in this Maze mis-led?
In sacred sheetes of either Testament
'Tis hard to finde a higher Argument,
More deep to sound, more busie to discuss,
More vse-full, knowne; vnknowne, more dangerous,
So bright a Sun dazles my tender sight:
So deep discourse my sense confoundeth quite:
My Reason's edge is dull'd in this Dispute,
And in my mouth my fainting words be mute.
This TRINITY (which rather I adore
God the Father, Sonne, & Holy-Ghost created of Nothing the Worlds goodly frame.
In humblenes, then busily explore)
In th' infinit of Nothing, builded all
This artificiall, great, rich, glorious Ball;
Wherein appears in grav'n on euery part
The Builders beauty, greatnes, wealth, and Art;
Art, beauty, wealth, and greatnes, that confounds
The hellish barking of blaspheming Hounds,
Climb they that list the battlements of Heav'n,
Lea [...]ing curious speculations, the Poet teacheth how to contem­plate God in his Workes.
And with the Whirl-wind of Ambition driv'n,
Beyond the World's wals let those Eagles flie,
And gaze vpon the Sun of Maiestie:
Let other-some (whose fainted spirits do droop)
Down to the ground their meditations stoop,
And so contemplate on these Workmanships,
That th' Authors praise they in Themselues eclipse.
My heedfull Muse, trained in true Religion,
Diuinely-humane keeps the middle Region:
Least, if she should too-high a pitch presume,
Heav'ns glowing flame should melt her waxen plume;
Or, if too-lowe (neer Earth or Sea) she flag,
Laden with Mists her moisted wings should lag.
It glads me much, to view this Frame; wherein
(As in a Glasse) God's glorious face is seen:
I loue to look on God; but in this Robe
Of his great Works, this vniuersall Globe.
For, if the Suns bright beams doo blear the sight
Of such as fixtly gaze against his light;
Who can behold aboue th' Empyriall Skies
The lightning splendor of God's gloriouseies?
O, who (alas) can finde the Lord, without
His Works, which bear his Image round about?
God, of himself incapable to sense,
God makes him­selfe (as it were) visible in his Workes.
In's Works, reueales him t'our intelligence:
There-in, our fingers feel, our nostrils smel,
Our palats taste his vertues that excel:
He shewes him to our eyes, talks to our ears,
In th' ord'red motions of the spangled Sphears.
The World's a School, where (in a generall Story)
Sundrie compa­risons, shewing what vse Chri­stians should make in conside­ring the workes of God in this mighty World.
God alwayes reads dumb Lectures of his Glory:
A pair of Stairs, whereby our mounting Soule
Ascends by steps aboue the Arched Pole:
A sumptuous Hall, where God (on euery side)
His wealthy Shop of wonders opens wide:
A Bridge, whereby we may pass-o're (at ease)
Of sacred Secrets the broad boundless Seas.
The World's a Cloud, through which there shineth cleer,
Not faire Latona's quiv'red Darling deer;
But the true Phoebus, whose bright countenance
Through thickest vail of darkest night doth glance.
The World's a Stage, where Gods Omnipotence,
His Iustice, Knowledge, Loue, and Prouidence,
Do act their Parts; contending (in their kindes)
Aboue the Heav'ns to rauish dullest mindes.
The World's a Book in Folio, printed all
With God's great Works in letters Capitall:
Each Creature is a Page; and each Effect,
Afaire Character, void of all defect.
But, as young Trewants, toying in the Schools,
In steed of learning, learn to play the fools:
We gaze but on the Babies and the Couer,
The gawdy Flowrs, and Edges gilded-ouer;
And neuer farther for our Lesson look
Within the Volume of this various Book;
Where learned Nature rudestones instructs,
That, by His wisedome, God the World conducts.
To read This Book, we need notvnderstand
Although the world discouer sufficiently euen to the most rude the Eternity and Power of God: Yet only the true Christians do rightly conceiue it.
Each strangers gibbrish; neither take in hand
Turks Characters, nor Hebrue Points to seek,
Nyle's Hieroglyphikes, nor the Notes of Greek.
The wandring Tartars, the Antartiks wilde;
Th' Alar [...]ies fierce, the Scythians fel, the Child [...]
Scarce seav'n year old, the ble [...]red aged eye,
Though void of Art, read heer indifferently.
But he that wears the spectacles of Faith,
Sees through the Sphears, aboue their highest heighth▪
He comprehends th' Arch-moouer of all Motions,
And reads (though running) all these needfull Notions.
Therefore, by Faith's pure rayes illumined,
These sacred Pandects I desire to read:
And, God the better to beholde, beholde
Th' Orb from his Birth, in's Ages manifolde.
Th' admired Author's Fancy, fixed not
On some fantastik fore-conceited Plot:
[Page 7]Much less did he an elder World elect,
God, needing no Idea, nor preme­ditatiō, nor Pat­tern of his work, of nothing made all the World.
By form whereof, he might this Frame erect:
As th' Architect that buildeth for a Prince
Some stately Palace, yer he do commence
His Royall Work, makes choise of such a Court
Where cost and cunning equally consort:
And if he finde not in one Edifice
All answerable to his queint deuice;
From this fair Palace then he takes his Front,
From that his Finials; here he learns to mount
His curious Stairs, there findes he Frise and Cornish,
And other Places other Peeces furnish;
And so, selecting euery where the best,
Doth thirty Models in one House digest.
Nothing, but Nothing, had the Lord Almighty,
Whereof, wherewith, whereby, to build this Citie:
Yet, when he, Heav'ns, Aire, Earth, and Sea did frame,
He sought not far, he swet not for the same:
A fit Simile to that purpose.
As Sol, without descending from the sky,
Crowns the fair Spring in painted brauery;
Withouten trauaile causeth th' Earth to bear,
And (far off) makes the World young euery year:
The Power and Will, th' affection and effect,
The Work and Proiect of this Architect
March all at once: all to his pleasure ranges,
Who Alwaies-One, his purpose neuer changes.
Yet did this Nothing not at once receiue
Of Nothing, God created the matter, where­unto afterward he gaue the form and figure which now we behold in the creatures▪
Matter and Forme: For, as we may perceiue
That Hee who means to build a warlike Fleet,
Makes first prouision of all matter meet
(As Timber, Iron, Canuase, Cord, and Pitch)
And when all's ready; then appointeth, which
Which peece for Planks, which plank shall line the waste,
The Poup and Prow, which Fir shall make a Mast;
As Art and Vse directeth, heedfully,
His hand, his tool, his iudgement, and his eye:
So God, before This Frame he fashioned,
I wote not what great Word he vttered
[Page 8]From's sacred mouth; which summon'd in a Masse
Whatsoeuer now the Heav'ns wide arms embrace.
But, where the Shipwright, for his gainful trade,
Findes all his stuffe to's hand already made;
Th' Almightie makes his, all and euery part,
Without the help of others Wit or Art.
That first World (yet) was a most formless Form,
A confus'd Heap, a Chaos most deform,
What that new created Chaos was, before God gaue it forme, fi­gure, place, and situation.
A Gulf of Gulfs, a Body ill compact,
An vgly medly, where all difference lackt:
Where th' Elements lay iumbled all together,
Where hot and colde were iarring each with either;
The blunt with sharp, the dank against the drie,
The hard with soft, the base against the high;
Bitter with sweet: and while this brawl did last,
The Earth in Heav'n, the Heav'n in Earth was plac't:
Earth, Aire, and Fire, were with the Water mixt;
Water, Earth, Aire within the Fire were fixt;
Fire, Water, Earth, did in the Aire abide;
Aire, Fire, and Water, in the Earth did hide.
For, yet th' immortall, mightie Thunder-darter,
The Lord high-Marshall, vnto each his quarter
Had not assigned: the Celestiall Arks
Were not yet spangled with their fiery sparks:
As yet no flowrs with odours Earth reuiued:
No scaly shoals yet in the waters diued:
Nor any Birds, with warbling harmony,
Were born as yet through the transparent Sky.
All, All was void of beauty, rule, and light;
Genes. 1. 2.
All without fashion, soule, and motion, quite.
Fire was no fire, the Water was no water,
Aire was no aire, the Earth no earthly matter.
Or if one could, in such a World, spy forth
The Fire, the Ayre, the Water, and the Earth;
Th' Earth was not firm, the Fier was not hot▪
Th' Aire was not light, the Water cooled not▪
Briefly, suppose an Earth, poore, naked, vain,
All void of verdure, without Hill or Plain,
[Page 9]A Heav'n vn-hangd, vn-turning, vn-transparant,
Vn-garnished, vn-gilt with Stars apparant;
So maist thou ghesse what Heav'n and Earth was that,
Where, in confusion, raigned such debate:
A Heav'n and Earth for my base stile most fit,
Not as they were, but as they were not, yet.
This was not then the World: 'twas but the Matter,
The Nurcery whence it should issue after;
Or rather, th' Embryon, that within a Weeke
The Chaos how to be considered.
Was to be born: for that huge lump was like
The shape-less burthen in the Mothers womb,
A simile.
Which yet in Time doth into fashion com:
Eyes, eares, and nose, mouth, fingers, hands, and feet,
And euery member in proportion meet;
Round, large, and long, there of itselfe it thriues,
And ( Little-World) into the World arriues.
But that becomes (by Natures set direction)
From foul and dead, to beauty, life, perfection.
But this dull Heap of vndigested stuf
Had doubtlesse neuer come to shape or proof,
Had not th' Almighty with his quick'ning breath
Of the secret po­wer of God in quickning the matter whereof the World was made.
Blow'n life and spirit into this Lump of death.
The dreadfull Darknes of the Memphytists,
The sad black horror of Cimmerian Mists,
The sable fumes of Hell's infernall vault
(Or if ought darker in the World be thought)
Muffled the face of that profound Abyss,
Full of Disorder and fell Mutinies:
So that (in fine) this furious debate
Euen in the birth this Ball had ruinate,
Saue that the Lord into the Pile did pour
Some secret Mastik of his sacred Power,
To glew together, and to gouern fair
The Heav'n and Earth, the Ocean, and the Aire,
Who ioyntly iustling, in their rude Disorder,
The new-born Nature went about to murder.
As a good Wit, that on th' immortall Shrine
The Spirit of God, by an in­conceiueable meane, maintai­ned, and (as it were brooding) warmed the shape-lesse Masse. Genes. 1.
Of Memory, ingraues a Work Diuine,
[Page 10]Abroad, a-bed, at boord, for euer vses
To minde his Theam, and on his Book still muses:
So did Gods Spirit delight itself a space
To moue itself vpon the floating Masse:
No other care th' Almightie's minde possest
(If care can enter in his sacred brest).
Or, as a Hen that fain would hatch a Brood,
(Som of her own, som of adoptiue blood)
Sits close thereon, and with her liuely heat,
Of yellow-white balls, doth lyue birds beget:
Euen in such sort seemed the Spirit Eternall
To brood vpon this Gulf; with care paternall
Quickning the Parts, inspiring power in each,
From so foul Lees, so fair a World to fetch.
For, 't's nought but All, in't self including All:
An vn-beginning, midless, endles Ball;
'Tis nothing but a World, whose superfice
Leaues nothing out, but what meer nothingis.
Now, though the great Duke, that (in dreadfullaw)
Vpon Mount Horeb learn'd th' eternall Law,
That there is but one World: con­futing the Error of Leucyppus & his Disciples, by two reasons.
Had not assur'd vs that Gods sacred Power
In six Dayes built this Vniuersall Bower;
Reason itself doth ouer-throw the grounds
Of those new Worlds that fond Leucyppus founds:
Sith, if kind Nature many Worlds could
embrace.
clip,
Still th' vpper Worlds water and earth would slip
Into the lower; and so in conclusion,
All would return into the Old Confusion.
Besides, we must imagin empty distance
Between these Worlds, wherein, without resistance
Their wheels may whirl, not hindred in their courses,
By th' inter-iustling of each others forces:
But, all things are so fast together fixt
With so firm bonds, that there's no void betwixt.
Thence coms it, that a Cask, pearç't to be spent,
Though full, yet runs not till we giue it vent.
Thence is't that Bellowes, while the s [...]out is stopt,
So hardly heaue, and hardly can be op't.
[Page 11]Thence is't that water doth not freez in Winter,
Stopt close in vessels where no ayre may enter.
Thence is't that Garden-pots, the mouth kept close,
Let fall no liquor at their siue-like nose.
And thence it is, that the pure siluer source,
In leaden pipes running a captiue course,
Contrary to it's Nature, spouteth high:
To all, so odious is Vacuity.
God then, not onely framed Nature one,
But also set it limitation
Of Form and Time: exempting euer solely
From quantity his own self's Essence holy.
Confutation of another Error of such as make Nature and the Heauens infinita
How can we call the Heav'ns vnmeasured?
Sith measur'd Time their Course hath measured.
How can we count this Vniuerse immortall?
Sith many-wayes the parts proue howerly mortall:
Sith his Commencement proues his Consummation,
And all things ay decline to Alteration.
Let bold Greek Sages fain the Firmament
To be compos'd of a fift Element:
Let them deny, in their profane profoundnes,
End and beginning to th' Heav'ns rowling roundnes:
And let them argue that Deaths lawes alone,
Reach but the Bodies vnder Cynthias Throne:
The sandy grounds of their Sophistick brawling
Are all too-weak to keep the World from falling.
One Day, the Rocks from top to toe shall quiuer,
A liuely descrip­tion of the ende of the World.
The Mountains melt and all in sunder shiuer:
The Heav'ns shall rent for fear; the lowely Fields,
Puft vp, shall swell to huge and mighty Hills:
Riuers shall dry: or if in any Flood
Rest any liquor, it shall all be blood:
The Sea shall all be fire, and on the shoar
The thirsty Whales with horrid noyse shall roar:
The Sun shall seize the black Coach of the Moon,
And make it midnight when it should be noon:
With rusty Mask the Heav'ns shall hide their face,
The Stars shall fall, and All away shall pass:
[Page 12]Disorder, Dread, Horror, and Death shall com,
Noise, storms, and darknes shall vsurp the room
And then the Chief-Chief-Iustice, venging Wrath
(Which heer already often threatned hath)
Shall make a Bon-fire of this mighty Ball,
As once he made it a vast Ocean all.
Alas! how faith-les and how modest-les
Against iudicial Astrologers, that presume to point the verie time thereof.
Are you, that (in your Ephomerides)
Mark th' yeer, the month and day, which euermore
Gainst yeers, months, daies, shal dam-vp Saturnes dore!
(At thought whereof (euen now) my heart doth ake,
My flesh doth faint, my very soule doth shake)
You haue mis-cast in your Arithmetike,
Mis-laid your Counters, groapingly yee seek
In nights blacke darknes for the secret things
Seal'd in the Casket of the King of Kings.
'Tis hee, that keeps th' eternall Clock of Time,
And holds the waights of that appointed Chime:
Hee in his hand the sacred book doth bear
Of that close-clasped finall Calender,
Where, in Red letters (not with vs frequented)
The certaine Date of that Great Day is printed;
That dreadfull Day, which doth so swiftly post,
That 'twil be seen, before fore-seen of most.
Then, then (good Lord) shall thy dear Son descend
(Though yet he seem in feeble flesh ypend)
In complete Glory, from the glistering Sky:
Millions of Angels shall about him fly:
Mercy and Iustice, marching cheek by ioule,
Shall his Diuine Triumphant Chariot roule;
Whose wheeles shall shine with Lightning round about,
And beames of Glory each-where blazing out.
Those that were laden with proud marble Toombs,
Those that were swallow'd in wilde Monsters woombs,
Those that the Sea hath swill'd, those that the flashes
Of ruddy Flames haue burned all to ashes,
Awaked all, shall rise, and all reuest
The flesh and bones that they at first possest.
[Page 13]All shall appear, and hear, before the Throne
Of God (the Iudge without exception)
The finall Sentence (sounding ioy and terror)
Of euer-lasting Happiness or Horror.
Som shall his Iustice, som his Mercy taste;
Som call'd to ioy, som into torment cast,
When from the Goats he shall his Sheep disseuer;
These Blest in Heav'n, those Curst in Hell for euer.
O thou that once (scornd as the vilest drudge)
Didst fear the doom of an Italian Iudge,
Daign (deerest Lord) when the last Trump shall summon,
To this Grand Sessions, all the World in common;
Daign in That Day to vndertake my matter,
And, as my Iudge, so be my Mediator.
Th' eternall Spring of Power and Prouidence,
Hauing spoken of the creation of the Matter, he sheweth how & what Forme God gaue vnto it, creating in six Dayes his admi­rable workes.
In Forming of this All-circumference,
Did not vnlike the Bear, which bringeth forth
In th' end of thirty dayes a shapeless birth;
But after, licking, it in shape she drawes,
And by degrees she fashions out the pawes,
The head, and neck, and finally doth bring
To a perfect beast that first deformed thing.
For when his Word in the vast Voyd had brought
A confus'd heap of Wet-dry-cold-and-hot,
In time the high World from the lowe he parted,
And by itself, hot vnto hot he sorted;
Hard vnto hard, cold vnto cold he sent;
Moist vnto moist, as was expedient.
And so in Six Dayes form'd ingeniously,
All things contain'd in th' VNIVERSITIE.
Not, but he could haue, in a moment, made
Wherefore God imployed six Dayes in crea­ting the World.
This flowry Mansion where mankind doth trade;
Spred Heav'ns blew Curtains, & those Lamps haue burnisht;
Earth, aire, & sea; with beasts, birds, fish, haue furnisht:
But, working with such Art so many dayes,
A sumptuous Palace for Mankinde to raise,
Yer Man was made yet; he declares to vs,
How kinde, how carefull, and how gracious,
[Page 14]He would be to vs being made, to whom
By thousand promises of things to-come
(Vnder the Broad-Seal of his deer Sons blood)
He hath assur'd all Riches, Grace, and Good.
By his Example he doth also shewe-vs
How men should imitate God in his workes.
We should not heedles-hastily bestowe-vs
In any Work, but patiently proceed
With oft re-vises; Making sober speed
In dearest business, and obserue, by proof,
That, What is well don, is don soon enough.
O Father of the Light! of Wisedom Fountain;
The 1. [...]reature extracted from the Chaos, was Light.
Out of the Bulk of that confused Mountain
What should (what could) issue, before the Light?
Without which, Beauty were no beauty hight.
In vain Timanthes had his Cyclope drawn,
In vain Parrhasius counterfeited Lawn,
In vain Apelles Uenus had begun,
Zeuxis Penelope; if that the Sun
To make them seen, had neuer showen his splendor:
In vain, in vain had been (those Works of Wonder)
Th' Ephesian Temple, the high Pharian-Tower,
And Carian Toomb (Tropheis of Wealth and Power)
In vain they had been builded euery one,
By Scopas, Sostrates, and C [...]esiphon;
Had All been wrapt-vp from all humane sight,
In th' obscure Mantle of eternall Night.
What one thing more doth the good Architect,
In Princely Works (more specially) respect,
Then lightsomness? to th' end the Worlds bright Eye,
Caree [...]ing dayly once about the Sky,
May shine therein; and that in euery part
It may seem pompous both for Cost and Art.
Whether Gods Spirit, mouing vpon the Ball
Of bubbling Waters (which yet couered All)
Sundry opinions concerning the matter, and cre­ation of Light.
Thence forç't the Fire (as when amid the Sky
Auster and Boreas iusting furiously
Vnder hot Cancer, make two Clouds to clash,
Whence th' aire at mid-night flames with lightning flash):
[Page 15]Whether, when God the mingled Lump dispackt,
From Fiery Element did Light extract:
Whether about the vast confused Crowd
For twice-six howrs he spread a shining Cloud,
Which after he re-darkned, that in time
The Night as long might wrap-vp either Clime:
Whether that God made, then, those goodly beams
Which gild the World, but not as now it seems:
Or whether else som other Lamp he kindled
Vpon the Heap (yet all with Waters blindled)
Which flying round about, gaue light in order
To th' vn-plaç't Climates of that deep disorder;
As now the Sun, circling about the Ball
(As Light's bright Chariot) doth enlighten All.
No sooner said he, Be there Light, but lo
Gen. 1. 3.
The form-less Lump to perfect Form gan growe;
And all illustred with Lights radiant shine,
Of the excellent vse and commo­ditie of Light.
Doft mourning weeds, and deckt it passing fine.
All-hail pure Lamp, bright, sacred, and excelling;
Sorrow and Care, Darknes and Dread repelling:
Thou World's great Taper, Wicked mens iust Terror,
Mother of Truth, true Beauties onely Mirror,
God's eldest Daughter: O! how thou art full
Of grace and goodnes! O! how beautifull!
Sith thy great Parent's all-discerning Eye
Doth iudge thee so: and sith his Maiesty
(Thy glorious Maker) in his sacred layes
Can doo no less then sing thy modest prayse.
But yet, because all Pleasures wax vnpleasant,
Why God ordai­ned the Night and Day alter­nately to succeed each other.
If without pawse we still possesse them, present;
And none can right discern the sweets of Peace,
That haue not felt Warrs irkesom bitterness;
And Swans seem whiter if swart Crowes be by
(For, contraries each other best descry)
Th' All's Architect, alternately decreed
That Night the Day, the Day should Night succeed.
The Night, to temper Dayes exceeding drought,
The commodities that the Night bringeth vs.
Moistens our Aire, and makes our Earth to sprout.
[Page 16]The Night is she that all our trauails eases,
Buries our cares, and all our griefs appeases.
The Night is she, that (with her sable wing,
In gloomy Darknes hushing euery thing)
Through all the World dumb silence doth distill,
And wearied bones with quiet sleep doth fill.
Sweet Night, without Thee, without Thee (alas!)
Our life were loathsom; euen a Hell to pass.
For, outward pains and inward passions still,
With thousand Deaths, would soule and body thrill.
O Night, thou pullest the proud Mask away
Where-with vain Actors, in this Worlds great Play,
By day disguise-them. For, no difference
Night makes between the Peasant and the Prince,
The poor and rich, the Prisoner and the Iudge,
The foul and fair, the Maister and the Drudge,
The fool and wise, Barbarian and the Greek▪
For, Night's black Mantle couers all alike.
He that, condemn'd for som notorious vice,
Seeks in the Mines the baits of Auarice;
Or, swelting at the Furnace, fineth bright
Our soules diresulphur; resteth yet at Night.
He that, still stooping, toghes against the tide
His laden Barge alongst a Riuers side,
And filling shoars with shouts, doth melt him quite;
Vpon his pallet resteth yet at Night.
He that in Sommer, in extreamest heat
Scorched all day in his own scalding sweat,
Shaues, with keen Sythe, the glory and delight
Of motly Medowes; resteth yet at Night,
And in the arms of his deer Pheer for goes
All former troubles and all former woes.
Onely the learned Sisters sacred Minions,
While silent Night vnder her sable pinions
Foldes all the World; with pain-less pain they tread
A sacred path that to the Heav'ns doth lead;
And higher then the Heav'ns their Readers raise
Vpon the wings of their immortall Layes.
EVEN NOVV I listned for the Clock to chime
Before he con­clude the first Day, he treateth of Angels.
Dayes latest hower; that for a little time,
The Night might ease My Labours: but, I see
As yet Aurora hath scarce smil'd on me;
My Work still growes: for, now before mine eyes
Heav'ns glorious Hoast in nimble squadrons flyes.
Whether, This-Day, God made▪you, Angels bright,
The time of their Creation not cer­tainly resolued.
Vnder the name of Heav'n, or of the Light:
Whether you were, after, in th' instant born
With those bright Spangles that the Heav'ns adorn:
Or, whether you deriue your high Descent
Long time before the World and Firmament
(For, I nill sti [...]ly argue to and fro
In nice Opinions, whetherso, orso;
Especially, where curious search, perchance,
Is not so safe as humble Ignorance);
I am resolv'd that onceth' Omnipotent
Created you immortall, innocent,
Good, fair, and free; in brief, of Essence such
As from his Own differd not very much.
But euen as those, whom Princes fauours oft
Some of thē are [...]allen, reuolting from God: and are cast into Hell▪ therefore called Euill An­gels, Wicked Spirits, and Di­uels.
Aboue therest haue rais'd and set-aloft,
Are oft the first that (without right or reason)
Attempt Rebellion and doo practice Treason;
And so, at length are iustly tumbled down
Beneath the foot, that raught aboue the Crown:
Euen so, som Legions of thoselofty Spirits
(Envy'ng the glory of their Makers merits)
Conspir'd together, stroue against the stream,
T'vsurp his S [...]epter and his Diademe.
But He, whose hands doo neuer Lightnings lack,
Proud sacrilegious Mutiners to wrack,
Hurld them in th' Aire, or in som lower Cell:
For, where God is not, euery where is Hell.
This cursed Crew, with Pride and Fury fraught,
Of vs, at least, haue this aduantage got,
That by experience they can truly tell
How far it is from highest Heav'n to Hell:
[Page 18]For, by a proud leap, they haue tane the measure,
When head long thence they tumbled in displeasure.
These Fiends a [...]e so far-off from bett'ring them
The insolent and audacious at­tempts of Satan and his Fellowes against God and his Church.
By this hard Iudgement, that still more extream,
The more their plague, the more their pride increases,
The more their rage: as Lizards, cut in peeces,
Threat with more malice, though with lesser might,
And euen in dying shewe their liuing spight.
For, euer since, against the King of Heav'n
Th' Apostate Prince of Darknes still hath striv'n,
Striv'n to depraue his Deeds, t'interr their Story,
T'vndoo his Church, to vnder-mine his Glory;
To reaue this World's great Body, Ship, and State,
Of Head, of Maister, and of Magistrate.
But finding still the Maiesty diuine
Too strongly [...]n [...] ▪t for him to vnder-mine;
His Ladders, Canons, and his Engines, all
Force-less to batter the celestiall Wall;
Too weak to hurt the Head, he hacks the Members:
The Tree too hard, the Branches he dismembers.
The Fowlers, Fishers, and the Foresters,
Set not so many toyls, and baits, and snares,
To take the Foul, the Fish, the sauage Beasts,
In Woods, and Floods, and fear-full Wildernes:
As this false Spiritsets Engines to beguile
The cunningest, that practice nought but wile.
With want on glaunce of Beauties burning eye
The diuers baits of the Diuell to entrap mankind.
He snares hot Youth in sensuality.
With Golds bright lustre doth he Age intice
To Idolize detested Auarice.
With grace of Princes, with their pomp, and State,
Ambitious Spirits he doth intoxicate.
With curious Skill-pride, and vain dreams, he witches
Those that contemn Pleasure, and State, and Riches.
Yea, Faith it selfe, and Zeal, be somtimes Angles
Wherewith this-Iuggler Heav'n-bent Soules intangles:
Much like the green Worm, that in Spring deuours
The buds and▪ leaues of choisest Fruits and Flowrs;
[Page 19]Turning their sweetest sap and fragrant verdure
To deadly poyson and detested ordure.
Who but (alas!) would haue been gull'd yer-whiles
Their Oracles.
With Night's black Monark's most malitious wiles?
To hear Stones speak, to see strange wooden Miracles,
And golden Gods to vtter wondrous Oracles?
To see Him play the Prophet, and inspire
So many Sibyls with a sacred fire?
To raise dead Samuel from his silent Toomb,
1. Samuel. 28. 14, 17.
To tell his King Calamities to-com?
T▪inflame the Flamine of Ioue Ammon so
With Heathen-holy fury-fits, to knowe
Future euents, and somtimes truly tell
The blinded World what afterwards befel?
To counter fait the wondrous Works of God;
Their false Mi­racles. Exod. 7, 11, 22. & 8, 7.
His Rod turn Serpent, and his Serpent Rod?
To change the pure streams of th' Egyptian Flood
From clearest water into crimsin blood?
To rain-down Frogs, and Grass-hoppers to bring
In the bed-chambers of the stubborn King?
For, as he is a Spirit, vnseen he sees
The plots of Princes, and their Policies;
Vnfelt, he feels the depth of their desires;
Who harbours vengeance, and whose heart aspires:
And, as vs'd dayly vnto such affects,
Such feats and fashions, iudges of th' effects.
Their Wiles.
Besides, to circumvent the quickest sprighted,
To blind the eyes (euen of the clearest sighted)
And to enwrap the wisest in his snares,
He oft fore-tels what he himself prepares.
For, if a Wise-man (though Mans dayes be don
As soon almost as they be heer begun;
Wherefore their effects are so strange & won­derfull.
And his dull Flesh be of too slowe a kinde
T'ensue the nimble Motions of his minde)
By th' onely power of Plants and Minerals
Can work a thousand super-naturals:
Who but will think, much more these Spirits can
Work strange effects, exceeding sense of Man?
[Page 20]Sith being immortall, long experience brings
Them certain knowledge of th' effects of things;
And, free from bodie's clog, with less impeach,
And lighter speed, their bold Designes they reach.
Not that they haue the bridle on their neck,
God restraines them at his pleasure.
To run at random without curb or check,
T'abuse the Earth, and all the World to blinde,
And tyrannize our body and our minde.
God holds them chain'd in Fetters of his Power;
That, without leaue, one minute of an hower
They cannot range▪ It was by his permission,
The Lying Spirit train'd Achab to perdition;
1. Kings, [...]2. 35
Making him marchagainst that Foe with force,
Which should his body from his soule diuorce.
Arm'd with Gods sacred Pass-port, he did try
Iust humble Iob's renowned Constancy:
Iob. 1, 15, &c.
He reaues him all his Cattel, many wayes,
By Fire and Foes: his faithfull Seruants slayes:
To losse of Goods he adds his Childrens loss,
And heaps vpon him bitter cross on cross.
For th' Onely Lord, somtimes to make a tryall
Why the Lord sometimes lets loose those wic­ked▪ Spirits.
Of firmest Faith; somtimes with Errors violl
To drench the Soules that Errors sole delight;
Lets loose these Furies: who with fell despight
Driue still the same Nail, and pursue (incensed)
Their damned drifts in Adam first commenced.
But, as these Rebels, maugré all their will,
T'assist the Good, befo [...]ç't t'assault the Ill:
Of the good An­gels seruing to the glory of God▪ and good of his Church, both in generall and particular.
Th' vnspotted Spirits that neuer did intend
To mount too high, nor yet too lowe descend,
With willing speed they euery moment goe
Whether the breath of diuine grace doth blowe:
Their aims had neuer other limitation
Then God's own glory, and his Saints saluation.
Law-less Desire n [...]'r enters in their brest,
Th' Almightie's Face is their Ambrosiall Feast:
Repentant tears of strayed Lambs returning,
Their Nectar sweet: their Musike, Sinners Mourning.
[Page 21]Ambitious Mans greedy Desire doth gape
S [...]ept [...]r Scepter, Crown on Crown to clap:
These neuer thirst for greater Dignities.
Trauail's their [...]ase, their bliss in seruice lies.
For, God no sooner hath his pleasure spoken,
Or bow'd his head, or giuen som other token,
Or (almost) thought on an Exploit, where in
The Ministry of Angels shall be seen,
But these quick Postes with ready expedition
Fly to accomplish their diuine Commission.
One followes Agar in hir pilgrimage,
Gen. 21, 17, 18.
And with sweet comforts doth her cares asswage.
Another guideth Is [...] mighty Hoasts;
Exod. 23, 23, & 33, 2.
Another, Iacob on th' Idumean Coasts.
Another (skill'd in Physick) to the Light
Tobi. 11, 7, 11▪ & 12, 14, & 15
Restores old faithfull Tobies failing sight.
In Nazareth, another rapt with ioy,
Tels that a Virgin shall bring forth a Boy;
That Mary shall at-once be Mayd-and-Mother,
Luk. 1, 26.
And bear at-once her Son, Sire, Spowse, and Brother:
Yea, that Her happy fruitfull woomb shall hold
Him, that in Him doth all the World infold.
Som in the Desart tenderd consolations,
Math. 4, 11.
While IESVS stroue with Sathans strong Temptations.
One, in the Garden, in his Agonies,
Luk. 22, 43.
Cheers-vp his fears in that great enterprise,
To take that bloody Cup, that bitter Chalice,
And drink it off, to purge our sinfull Malice.
Another certifies his Resurrection
Matth. 28, 25.
Vnto the Women, whose faith's imperfection
Suppos'd his colde limbs in the Graue were bound
Vntill th' Archangels lofty Trump should sound.
Another, past all hope, doth pre-auerr
Luk. 1, 13. Acts 12. [...].
The birth of Iohn, Christ's holy Harbenger.
One, trusty Seriant for diuine Decrees,
The Iewes Apostle from close Prison frees:
One, in few howers, a fearfull slaughter made
Of all the First-born that the Memphians had;
Exod. 12, 29.
[Page 22]Exempting Those vpon whose door-postes stood
A sacred token of Lambs tender blood.
2. Kings, 10. 35
Another mowes-down in a moments space,
Before Hierusalem (Gods chosen place)
Senacharib's proud ouer-daring Hoast,
That threatned Heav'n, and 'gainst the Earth did boast;
In his Blasphemous braues, comparing ev'n
His Idol-Gods, vnto the God of Heav'n.
His Troups, victorious in the East before,
Besieg'd the City, which did sole adore
The Onely God; so that, without their leaue,
A Sparrow scarce the sacred Wals could leaue.
Then Ezechias, as a prudent Prince,
Poizing the danger of these sad euents
(His Subiects thrall, his Cities wofull Flames,
His Childrens death, the rape of noble Dames,
The Massacre of Infants and of Eld,
And's Royall Self with thousand weapons queld;
The Templeraz'd, th' Altar and Censer voyd
Of sacred vse, Gods Seruants all destroyd)
Humbled in Sack-cloath and in Ashes, cries
For ayd to God, the God of Victories;
Who hears his suit, and thunders down his Fury
On those proud Pagan Enimies of Iury▪
For, while their Watch within their Corps de Garde
About the Fire securely snorted hard,
From Heav'n th' Almighty looking sternly down
(Glancing his Friends a smile, his Foes a frown)
A sacred Fencer 'gainst th' Assyrians sent,
Whose two-hand Sword, at euery veny, slent,
Not through a single Souldiers feeble bones,
But keenly slyces through whole Troops at once:
And heaws broad Lanes before it and behinde,
As swistly whirling as the whisking winde.
Now gan they fly; but all too slowe to shun
A flying Sword that follow'd euery one.
A Sword they saw; but could not see the arm
That in one Night had don so dismall harm:
[Page 23]As we perceiue a Winde-mils sayls to go;
But not the Winde, that doth transport them so.
Blushing Aurora, had yet scarce dismist
Mount Libanus from the Nights gloomy Mist,
When th' Hebrew Sentinels, discov'ring plain
An hundred foure score and fiue thousand▪ slain,
Exceeding ioyfull, gan to ponder stricter,
To see such Conquest, and not knowe the Victor.
O sacred Tutors of the Saints! you Guard
Of Gods Elect, you Pursuiuants prepar'd
To execute the Counsails of the Highest;
You Heav'nly Courtiers, to your King the nighest;
Gods glorious Heralds, Heav'ns swift Harbengers,
'Twixt Heav'n and Earth you true Interpreters;
I could be well content and take delight
To follow farther your celestiall Flight:
But that I fear (heer hauing ta'n in hand
So long a iourney both by Sea and Land)
I fear to faint, if (at the first) too fast
I cut away, and make too-hasty haste:
For, Trauailers, that burn in braue desire
To see strange Countries manners and attire,
Make haste enough, if onely the First Day
From their own Sill they set but on their way.
So Morne and Euening the First Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that All his Workes were good.

THE SECOND DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Lewd Pöets checkt: Our Pöets chast Intents:
Heav'ns Curtain spread: th' all-forming Elements;
Their number, nature, vse and Domination,
Concent, excesse, continuance, situation:
Aire's triple Regions; and their Temper's change:
Windes, Exhalations, and all Meteors strange;
Th' effects, the vse (apply'd to Conscience):
Mans Reason non-plust in som Accidents:
Of Prodigies: of th' Elementall Flame:
Heav'ns ten-fold Orbs: Waters aboue the same.
THose learned Spirits, whose wits applyed wrong,
With wanton Charms of their in chanting song,
A iust reproof of wanton & lasci­ [...]ious Poets of our Time.
Make of an olde, foul, frantike Hecuba,
A wondrous fresh, fair, witty Helena:
Of lewd Faustina (that loose Emperess)
A chaste Lucretia, loathing wantonness:
Of a blinde Bowe-Boy, of a Dwarf, a Bastard,
No petty Godling, but the Gods great Master;
On thankless furrows of a fruitless sand
Their seed and labour lose, with heedless hand;
And (pitching Netts, to catch I little wott
What fume of Fame that seems them to besott)
[Page 25]Resemble Spiders, that with curious pain
Weaue idle Webs, and labour still in vain.
But (though then Time we haue no deerer Treasure)
Less should I wail their miss-expence of leasure,
If their sweet Muse, with too-well spoken Spell,
Drew not their Readers with themselues to Hell.
For, vnder th' hony of their learned Works
A hatefull draught of deadly poyson lurks:
Whereof (alas) Young spirits quaffe so deep,
The danger of their seduced Readers.
That drunk with Loue, their Reason falls asleep;
And such a habit their fond Fancy gets,
That their ill stomack still loues euill meats.
Th' inchanting force of their sweet eloquence
Hurls head long down their tender Audience,
Ay (childe-like) sliding, in a foolish strife,
On th' Icie down-Hills of this slippery Life.
The Songs their Phoebus doth so sweet inspire,
Are euen the Bellows whence they blow the fire
Of raging Lust (before) whose wanton flashes
A tender brest rak't-vp in shamefaç't ashes.
Our Poets mo­dest purpose.
Therefore, for my part, I haue vow'd to Heav'n
Such wit and learning as my God hath giv'n;
To write, to th' honour of my Maker dread,
Verse that a Virgine without blush may read.
Again, he calleth vpon God, for assistance in the descriptiō of the 2. Dayes worke.
Clear Source of Learning, soule of th' Vniuerse
(Sith thou art pleas'd to chuse mine humble verse
To sing thy Praises) make my Pen distill
Celestiall Nectar, and this Volume fill
With th' Amalthéan Horn; that it may haue
Som correspondence to a Theam so graue:
Rid thou my passage, and make clear my way
From all incumbers: shine vpon This Day;
That guided safely by thy sacred Light,
My Rendez-vous I may attain yer night.
Which is, thè Fir mament mētio­ned by Mose [...] in the 1. Ch. of Gen. V. 6, 7, 8. Com­prehending the Heauens, and all the Elementary Region. Of the foure Ele­ments, simple in thēselues: wherof all things subiect to our sense, are composed.
THAT HVGE broad-length, that long-broad height-profound,
Th' infinite finit, that great moundless Mound,
I mean that Chaos, that self-iarring Mass,
Which in a moment made of Nothing was;
[Page 26]Was the rich Matter and the Matrix, whence
The Heav'ns should issue, and the Elements.
Now th' Elements, twin-twins (two Sons, two Daughters)
To wit, the Fire, the Aire; the Earth, and Waters
Are not compounded: but, of them is all
Compounded first, that in our sense can fall:
Whether their qualities, in euery portion
Of euery thing, infuse them with proportion:
Whether in all, their substance they confound,
And so but one thing of their foure compound:
As in a Venice Glass, before our eyne,
Diuers similes.
We see the water intermix with wine:
Or, in our stomack, as our drink and food
Doe mingle, after to conuert to blood.
This in a Fire-brand may wes [...]e, whose Fire
Doth in his flame toward's natiue Heav'n aspire,
His Ayre in smoak; in ashes falls his Earth,
And at his knots his Water wheezes forth.
Euen such a War our Bodies peace maintains:
For, in our Flesh, our Bodie's Earth remains:
Our vitall spirits, our Fire and Aire possess:
And, last, our Water in our humours rests.
Nay, ther's no Part in all this Bulk of ours,
Where each of these not intermix their powers;
Though't be apparant (and I needs must graunt)
That ayesom one is most Predominant.
The pure red part, amid the Mass of Bloud,
The Sanguine Aire commaunds: the clotted mud,
Sunk down in Lees, Earths Melancholy showes:
The pale thin humour, that on th' out-side flowes,
Is watery Phlegme: and the light froathy scum,
Bubbling aboue, hath Fiery Cholers room.
Not, that at all times, one same Element
In one same Body hath the Regiment:
A vicissitude of the Elements praedominance.
But, in his turn each raigning, his subiects draws
After his Lore: for still New Lords, new Lawes;
As sans respect how rich or Noble-born,
Each Citizen rules and obayes, by turn,
[Page 27]In chart'red Towns; which seem, in little space,
Changing their Ruler, euen to change their face
(For, as Chameleons vary with their obiect,
So Princes manners do transform the Subiect):
So th' Element in Wine predomining,
It hot, and cold, and moist, and dry doth bring;
By's perfect or imperfect force (at length)
Inforcing it to change the taste and strength:
So that it doth Grapes sharp-green iuice transfer
To Must, Must t'wine, and Wine to Vineger.
As while a Monarch, to teach others aw,
Excellēt Similes shewing the com­modity or discō ­modity of the proportiō, or ex­cesse of euery of the Elemente.
Subiects his own selfs-Greatnes to his Law,
He ruleth fearless: and his Kingdoms flourish
In happy Peace (and Peace doth Plenty nourish);
But if (fell Tyrant) his keen sword be euer
Vniustly drawn, if he be sated neuer
With Subiects blood; needs must his Rage (at last)
Destroy his State, and lay his Countrey waste:
So (or much like) the while one Element
Ouer the rest hath modest Gouernment;
While, in proportion (though vnequall yet)
With Soueraign Humours Subiect Humours fit,
The Body's [...]ound; and in the very face
Retains the Form of beauty and of grace:
But if (like that inhumane Emperour
Who wisht, all People vnderneath his Power
Had but one head, that he might butcher so
All th' Empires Subiects at one onely blowe)
It, Tyrannizing, seek to wrack the rest,
It ruines soon the Prouince it possest;
Where soon appears, through his proud vsurpation,
Both outward change and inward alteration.
So, too-much Moist, which (vnconcoct within)
Excesse of moi­sture.
The Liuer spreads betwixt the flesh and skin,
Puffs vp the Patient, stops the pipes & pores
Of Excrements; yea, double bars the dores
Of his short breath; and slowely-swiftly curst,
In midd'st of Water makes him euer thirst:
[Page 28]Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.
Of Drought.
So, too-much Drought a lingring Ague drawes,
Which seeming painless, yet much pain doth cause;
Robbing the nerues of might, of Ioy the heart,
Of mirth the face, of moisture euery part
(Much like a Candle fed with it own humour,
By little and little it own selfs consumer)
Nor giues mans Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be raked vp in a colde heap of stones.
So, too-much Heat doth bring a burning Feuer,
Of Heate.
Which spurrs our Pulse, and furrs our Palat euer;
And on the tables of our troubled brain,
Fantastikely with various pensill vain
Doth counterfait as many Forms, or mo
Then euer Nature, Art, or Chance could showe:
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.
So, too-much Cold couers with hoary Fleece
Of Colde.
The head of Age, his flesh diminishes,
Withers his face, hollowes his rheumy eyes,
And makes himself euen his own self despise;
While through his marrow euery where it enters,
Quenching his natiue heat with endless Winters:
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be taked vp in a coldheap of stones.
Of the continu­ance of the Ele­ments; maintai­ning that whatso euer is now n [...]w formed, hath stil his substance frō the Materia prima: & what soeuer dissolues, resolues into the same; changing onely forme: And also consu­ting the contrary Errors.
Yet think not, that this Too-too-much, remises
Ought into nought: it but the Form disguises
In hundred fashions; and the Substances
Inly, or outly, neither win nor leese.
For, all that's made, is made of the First Matter
Which in th' old Nothing made the All-Creator.
All, that dissolues, resolues into the same.
Since first the Lord of Nothing made This Frame,
Nought's made of nought; and nothing turns to nothing:
Things birth, or death, change but their formall clothing▪
Their Forms doe vanish, but their bodies bide;
Now thick, now thin, now round, now short, now side.
For, if of Nothing anything could spring,
Th' Earth without seed should wheat and barly bring.
Pure Mayden-wombs desired Babes should bear:
All things, at all times, should grow euery where.
The Hart in Water should it self in gender;
The Whale on Land; in Aire the Lambling tender:
Th' Ocean should yeeld the Pine and Cornell Tree;
On Hazels Acorns, Nuts on Oaks should bee:
And breaking Natures set and sacred vse,
The Doues would Eagles, Eagels Doues, produce.
If of themselues things took their thriuing, then
Slowe-growing Babes should instantly be men:
Then in the Forests should huge boughs be seen
Born with the bodies of vnplanted Treen:
Then should the sucking Elephant support
Vpon his shoulders a well-manned Fort:
And the new-foaled Colt, couragious,
Should neigh for Battail, like Bucephalus.
Contrariwise, if ought to nought did fall;
All, that is felt or seen within this All,
Still loosing somwhat of it self, at length
Would com to Nothing: If Death's fatall strength
Could altogether Substances destroy,
Things then should vanish even as soon as dy.
In time the mighty Mountains tops be bated;
But, with their fall, the neighbour Vales are fatted;
And what, when Trent or Auon ouer-flowe,
They reaue one field they on the next bestowe:
Loue-burning Heav'n many sweet Deaws doth drop
In his deer Spouses fair and fruitfull lap;
Which after she restores, straining those showrs
Through th' hidden pores of pleasant plants and flowrs.
Whoso hath seen, how one warm lump of wax
(Without increasing, or decreasing) takes
By an apt simili­tude, he sheweth the continuall Change of the World, in the matter and form therof, according to Gods pleasure; in such sort, yet, that the matter remaines, though it receiue infinite Formes.
A hundred figures; well may iudge of all
Th' incessant Changes of this nether Ball.
The Worlds own Matter is the waxen Lump,
Which, vn-self-changing, takes all kinde of stamp:
[Page 30]The Form's the Seal; Heav'ns gratious Emperour
(The Liuing God)'s the great Lord Chancellour;
Who at his pleasure setting day and night
His great Broad Seales, and Priuy Signets right
Vpon the Mass so vast and variable,
Makes the same Lump, now base, now honourable.
Heer's nothing constant: nothing still doth stay:
For, Birth and Death haue still successiues way.
Heer one thing springs not, till another dy:
Onely the Matter liues immortally
(Th' Almighties Table, body of this All,
Of change-full Chances common Arçenall,
All like itself, all in itself contained,
Which by Times Flight hath neither lost nor gayned)
Change-less in Essence; changeable in face,
Much more then Proteus, or the subtile race
Of rouing Polypes, who (to rob the more)
Transform them howrly on the wauing shore:
Sundry Similes to that purpose.
Much like the French ( or like our selues, their Apes)
Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes;
Who louing nouels, full of affectation,
Receiue the Manners of each other Nation;
And scarcely shift they shirts so oft, as change
Fantastik Fashions of their garments strange:
Or like a Laïs, whose inconstant Loue
Doth euery day a thousand times remooue;
Who's scarce vnfolded from one Youths embraces,
Yer in her thought another she embraces;
And the new pleasure of her wanton Fire
Stirs in her, still, another new desire:
Because the Matter, wounded deep in heart
With various Loue (yet, on the self same part,
Incapable, in the same time, at once
To take all figures) by successions,
Form after Form receiues: so that one face
Another faces features doth deface.
The chief motiue of this change of Formet in the matter.
Now the chief Motiue of these Accidents,
Is the dire discord of our Elements:
[Page 31]Truce-hating Twins, where Brother eateth Brother
By turns, and turn them one into another,
Like Ice and Water that beget each other;
Enigma.
And still the Daughter bringeth-forth the Mother.
But each of these hauing two qualities
(One bearing Rule, another that obayes)
Those, whose effects do wholly contradict,
Longer and stronger striue in their Conflict.
The hot-dry Fire to cold-moist Water turns not;
The cold-dry Earth, to hot-moist Aire, returns not,
Returns not eas'ly: for (still opposite)
With tooth and nail as deadly foes they fight.
But Aire turn Water, Earth may Fierize,
Because in one part they do symbolize;
And so, in combate they haue less to doo;
For, 't's easier far, to conquer one then two.
Sith then the knot of sacred Mariage,
Of the Situation of the Elements, & of the effects therof, compared to the Notes of Musick & to the letters of the Al­phabet.
Which ioynes the Elements, from age to age
Brings forth the Worlds Babes: sith their Enmities,
With fell diuorce, kill whatsoeuer dyes:
And sith, but changing their degree and place,
They frame the various Forms, wherewith the face
Of this fair World is so imbellished
[As six sweet Notes, curiously varied
In skilfull Musike, make a hundred kindes
Of Heauenly sounds, that rauish hardest mindes;
And with Division (of a choise deuise)
The Hearers soules out at their ears intice:
Or, as of twice-twelue Letters, thus transpos'd,
This World of Words, is variously compos'd;
And of these Words, in divers order sowen,
This sacred Uolume that you read, is growen
(Through gracious succour of th' Eternall Deïtie)
Rich in discourse, with infinite Variety]
It was not cause-less, that so carefully
God did diuide their common Signory;
Assigning each a fit-confined Sitting,
Their quantity and quality befitting.
Whoso (somtime) hath seen rich Ingotstri'd,
A simile liuely representing the separation of the Elements.
When forç't by Fier their treasures they diuide
(How fair and softly, Gold to Gold doth pass,
Siluer seeks Siluer, Brass consorts with Brass;
And the whole Lump, of parts vnequall, seuers
It self apart, in white, red, yellow Rivers)
May vnderstand how, when the Mouth Diuine
Op'ned (to each his proper Place t'assigne)
Fire flew to Fire, Water to Water slid,
Aire clung to Aire, and Earth with Earth abid.
Earth, as the Lees, and heauy dross of All
(After his kinde) did to the bottom fall:
Situation of the earth, and fire.
Contrariwise, the light and nimble Fire
Did through the crannies of th' old Heap aspire
Vnto the top; and by his nature, light
No less then hot, mounted in sparks vpright:
As, when we see Aurora, passing gay,
With Opals paint the Seeling of Cathay,
Sad Floods doefume, and the celestiall Tapers
Through Earths thin pores, in th' Aire exhale the vapours.
But least the Fire (which all the rest embraces)
Being too neer should burn the Earth to ashes;
As chosen Vmpires, the great All-Creator
Of aire & water plac't between the earth & fire.
Between these Foes placed the Aire and Water:
For, one suffiz'd not their stern strife to end.
Water, as Cozen, did the Earth befriend:
Aire, for his Kinsman Fire, as firmly deals:
But both, vniting their divided zeals,
Took vp the matter, and appeas'd the brall;
Which doubt-less else had discreated All.
Th' Aire lodg'd aloft, the Water vnder it,
Not casually, but so disposed fit
By him who (Nature in her kind to keep)
Kept due proportion in his Workmanship;
Why the aire was lodged next the Element of Fire.
And, in this Store-house of his Wonders treasure,
Observ'd in all things number, waight, and measure.
For, had the Water next the Fire been plaç't,
Fire, seeming then moro wrongd and more disgraç't,
[Page 33]Would sodainly have left his Aduersary,
And set vpon the Vmpire (more contrary).
But all the Links of th' holy Chain, which tethers
The many Members of the World togethers,
Are such, as none but only he can breake them,
Who at the first did (of meere nothing) make them.
Water, as arm'd with moisture and with cold,
The cold-dry Earth with her one hand doth hold;
With th' other th' Aire: The Aire, as moist and warm,
The disposing & combining of the Elements.
Holds Fire with one; Water with th' other arm:
As Country Maidens, in the Month of May,
Merrily sporting on a Holy-day,
And lusty dancing of a lively Round,
A Similitude.
About the May-pole, by the Bag-pipes sound;
Hold hand in hand, so that the first is fast
(By means of those between) vnto the last.
For, sith 'tis so that the dry Element
Not onely yeelds her owne Babes nourishment,
But with the milke of her aboundant brests,
Doth also feede th' Aires nimble winged guests,
And also all th' innumerable Legions
Of greedy mouths that haunt the Bryny Regions
(So that, th' Earth's Mother, or else Nurse of all
That run, or fly, or swim, or slide, or crawl)
'Twas meet, it should be it self's Counterpoize,
To stand still firm against the roaring noise
Of wrack full Neptune, and the wrathfull blasts
Of parching South and pinching Boreas.
'T was meet, her sad-slowe body to digest
Why the Earth is the lowest, and enuironed with the other three Elements, wher­of it is the center.
Farther from Heav'n than any of the rest:
Least, of Heav'ns Courseth' Eternall swift Careers,
Rushing against her with their whirling Sphears,
Should her transport, as swift and violent,
As ay they do their neighbour Element.
And sith, on th' otherside, th' harmonious Course)
Of Heav'ns bright Torches is th' immortall source
Of earthly life: and sith all alterations
(Almost) are caus'd by their quick agitations
[Page 34]In all the World, God could not place so fit
Our Mother Earth, as in the midst of it.
For, all the Stars reflect their lively rayes
On Fire and Aire, and Water, diuers wayes;
Dispersing, so, their powerfull influence
On, in, and through these various Elements:
But, on the Earth, they all in one concurr,
And all vnite their seuered force in her;
As in a Wheel, which with a long deep rut
Simile.
His turning passage in the durt doth cut,
The distant spoaks neerer and nearer gather,
And in the Navevnite their points together.
As the bright Sun shines thorough smoothest Glass,
Simile.
The turning Planets influence doth pass
Without impeachment through the glist' ring Tent
Of the tralucing Fierie Element,
Th' Aires triple Regions, the transparent Water;
But not the firm Base of this fair Theater.
And therefore rightly may we call those Trines
(Fire, Aire, and Water) but Heav'ns Concubines:
For, neuer Sun, nor Moon, nor Stars inioy
The love of these, but only by the way,
As passing by: whereas incessantly,
The lusty Heav'n with Earth doth company;
And with a fruitfull seed, which lends All life,
With-childs each-moment his owne lawfull wife;
And with her louely Babes, in form and nature
The Water, be­tween the Earth and Aire.
So diuers, decks this beautifull Theater.
The Water, lighter then the Earthy Masse,
Heauier then Aire, betwixt them both hath place;
The better so with a moist-cold, to temper
Th' ones over-driness, th' others hot distemper.
But, my sweet Muse, whither so fast away?
Leauing the Earth and Sea till the next Booke, hee comes to treate of the Aire.
Soft, soft, my Darling: draw not dry To-Day
Castalian Springs; defer the Cirque, and Seat,
The power, and praise, of Sea and Earth as yet:
Do not anticipate the Worlds Beginning;
But, till To-Morrow, leaue the enter-blinning
[Page 35]Of Rocky Mounts, and rouling Waues so wide.
For, euen To-Morrow will the Lord diuide,
With the right hand of his Omnipotence,
These yet confus'd and mingled Elements;
And liberally the shaggy Earth adorn
With Woods, and Buds of fruits, of flowers and corn.
'Tis time, my Loue, 'tis time, mine onely Care,
To hie vs hence, and Mount vs in the Aire:
'Tis time (or neuer) now, my dearest Minion,
To imp strong farcels in thy sacred pinion;
That lightly born vpon thy Virgin back,
Safe through the Welkin I my course may take:
Com, com, my Ioy, lend me thy lillie shoulder;
That, thereon raised, I may reach the bolder
(Before the rest of my deer Country-men,
Of better wit, but worse-applied pen)
At that green Laurel, which the niggard Skies
So long haue hidden from my longingeies.
Th' Aire (hoste of Mists, the bounding Tennis-ball,
That stormy Tempests toss and play with all;
The Aire distin­guished into 3 Regions.
Of winged Clouds the wide inconstant House,
Th' vnsetled kingdom of swift Aeolus,
Great Ware-house of the Windes, whose traffik giues
Motion of life to euery thing that liues)
Is not throughout all one: our Elder Sages
Have fitly parted it into Three Stages.
Wherof, because the Highest still is driv'n
With violence of the First-mouing Heav'n,
The High.
From East to West; and from West returning
To th' honored Cradle of therosiall Morning,
And also seated next the Fiery vault;
It, by the learned, very hot is thought.
That, which we touch, with times doth variate,
Now hot, now cold, and sometimes temperate;
The Lowe.
Warm-temp'red showers it sendeth in the Spring:
In Autumn likewise, but more varying:
In Winter time, continuall cold and chill:
In Sommer season, hot and soultry still;
[Page 36]For then, the Fields, scorched with flames, reflect
The sparkling rayes of thousand Stars aspect;
And chiefly Phoebus, to whose arrows bright,
Our Globy Grandame serues for But and White.
The Middle Re­gion of the Aire.
But now, because the Middle Region's set
Far from the Fiery seelings flagrant heat,
And also from the warm reuerberation
Which aye the Earth reflects in diuers fashion;
That Circle shiuers with eternall colde.
For, into Hail how should the Water molde,
Of the causes of Haile.
Euen when the Sommer hath gilt Ceres Gowne,
Except those Climes with Ycicles, were sowen?
So soon as Sol, leaving the gentle Twins,
With Cancer, or thirst-panting Leo Inns,
The mid-most Aire redoubleth all his Frosts;
Being besieged by two mighty Hoasts
Of Heat more fierce' gainst his Cold force then ever,
Calls from all quarters his chil troups together.
T'incounter them with his vnited Powr,
Which then dispersed, hath far greater powr:
As Christian Armies, from the Frontiers far,
And out of fear of Turks outrageous War,
March in disorder, and become (disperst)
As many Squadrons as were Souldiers yerst;
So that somtimes th' vntrained Multitude
With bats and boawes hath beat them, and subdu'd:
But if they once perceive, or vnderstand
The Moony Standards of proud Ottoman
To be approaching, and the Sulph'ry thunder
Wherewith he brought both Rhodes and Belgrade vnder;
They soon vnite, and in a narrow place
Intrench themselues; their courage growes apace,
Their heart's on fire; and Circumcised Powrs,
By their approach, double the strength of ours.
'Tis (doubt-less) this
Contrary Circumstance. The effects the [...] of in the middle Region of the Aire.
Antiperistasis
(Bear with the word) I hold it not a miss
T' adopt somtimes such strangers for our vse,
When Reason and Necessity induce:
[Page 37]As namely, where our natiue Phrase doth want
A Word so force-full and significant)
Which makes the Fireseem to our sense and reason
Hotter in Winter then in Sommer season:
'Tis it which causeth the cold frozen Scythia,
Too-often kist by th' husband of Orithya,
To bring forth people, whose still hungry brest
(Winter or Sommer) can more meat digest
Then those lean staruelings which the Sun doth broil
Vpon the hot sands of the Libyan soyl:
And that our selues, happily seated fair,
Whose spongy lungs draw sweet and holesom Aire,
Hide in our stomacks a more liuely heat,
While bi-front Ianus frosty frowns do threat,
Then when bright Phoebus, leauing swarty Chus,
Mounts on our Zenith, to reflect on vs.
Th' Almighties hand did this Partition form;
Why the air was thus distingui­shed in the 3. Regions.
To th' end that Mist, Comets, and Winde, and Storm,
Deaw, drizling Showrs, Hail, slippery Ice, & Snowe,
In the Three Regions of the Aire might growe:
Wherof som, pointed th' Earth to fertilize,
Other to punish our impieties,
Might dayly grave in hardest hearts the love
And fear of him, who Raigns in Heav'n above.
For, as a little end of burning wax,
Of exhalations and whereunto they are appro­priate, by the Sun and the Regions of the Aire.
By th' emptiness, or if it self attracts
In Cupping-glasses, through the scotched skin
Behind the Poule, superfluous humors thin,
Which fuming from the brain did thence descend
Vpon the sight, and much the same offend:
So the swift Coach-man, whose bright flaming hair
Doth euery Day gild either Hemisphear,
Two sorts of Vapours by his heat exhales
From floating Deeps, and from the flowry Dales:
Th' one somwhat hot, but heauy, moist, and thick;
The other, light, dry, burning, pure, and quick;
Which, through the Welkin roaming all the year,
Make the World diuers to itself appear.
Now, if a vapour be so thin, that it
Cannot to Water be transformed fit,
Of Mist.
And that with Cold-lym'd wings, it houer neer
The flowry Mantle of our Mother deer;
Our Aire growes dusky, and moist drowsy Mist
Vpon the Fields doth for a time persist.
And if this vapour fair and softly sty,
Not to the cold Stage of the middle Sky,
Of Deaw and Ice.
But 'bove the Clouds, it turneth (in a trice)
In April, Deaw; in Ianuary Ice.
But, if the Vapour brauely can aduenture
Vp to th' eternall seat of shivering Winter,
The small thin humour by the Cold is prest
Into a Cloud; which wanders East and West
Of Rain.
Vpon the Winde's wings, till in drops of Rain
It fall into his Grandames lap again:
Whether som boistrous winde, with stormy puff
Ioustling the Clouds with mutuall counter-buff,
Do break their brittle sides, and make them shatter
In drizling Showres their swift distilling water:
As when a wanton heedless Page (perhaps)
Diuers Similes shewing how the Rain is caused through the in­counter of the Cloudes, which are the matter of it.
Rashly together two full glasses claps;
Both being broken, so dainly they pour
Both their brew'd liquors on the dusty flour.
Whether som milder gale, with sighing breath
Shaking their Tent, their tears disseuereth:
As after rain another rain doth drop
In shady Forests from their shaggy top,
When through their green boughs, whiffing Winds do whirl
With want on pufs their wauing locks to curl.
Or whether th' vpper Clouds moist heauiness
Doth with his waight an vnder Cloud oppress,
And so one humour doth another crush,
Till to the ground their liquid pearls do gush:
As, the more clusters of ripe grapes we pack
In Vintage-time vpon the hurdles back;
At's pearced bottom the more fuming liquor
Runns in the scummy Fat, and falls the thicker.
Then, many Heav'n-flouds in our Flouds do lose-am;
Whence it pro­ceedeth, that sometimes it rai­neth Frogs.
Nought's seen but Showers: the Heav'ns sad sable bosom
Seems all in tears to melt; and Earths green bed
With stinking Frogs is somtimes couered:
Either, because the floating Cloud doth fold
Within it self both moist, dry, hot, and cold,
Whence all things heer are made: or else for that
The actiue windes sweeping this dusty Flat,
Somtimes in th' aire som fruitfull dust doo heap:
Whence these new-formed vgly creatures leap:
As on the edges of som standing Lake
Which neighbour Mountains with their gutters make,
The foamy slime, it self transformeth oft
To green half-Tadpoles, playing there aloft,
Half-made, half-vnmade; round about the Floud,
Half-dead, half-liuing; half-a frog, half-mud.
Somtimes it happens that the force of Cold
Freezes the whole Cloud: then we may behold
Of Snow.
In siluer Flakes a heav'nly Wooll to fall;
Then, Fields seem grass-less, Forests leafe-less all,
The World's all white; and, through the heaps of Snowe,
The highest Stag can scarce his armour showe.
Somtimes befals, that, when by secret powr,
Of Haile.
The Cloud's new-chang'd into a dropping showr,
Th' excessiue cold of the mid-Aire (anon)
Candies-it all in bals of Icy-stone:
Whose violent storms somtimes (alas) doo proin,
Of fume, Va­pours, or exhala­tions whirling in the Lowe and Middle Regions of the aire, and whereof the windes are in­gendred.
Without a knife, our Orchard and our Vine:
Reap without sickle, beat down Birds and Cattle,
Disgrace our woods, and make our Roofs to rattle.
If Heav'ns bright Torches, from Earth's kidneys, sup
Som somwhat dry and heatfull Vapours vp,
Th' ambitious lightning of their nimble Fire
Would so dainly neer th' Azure Cirques aspire:
But scarce so soon their fuming crest hath raught,
Or toucht the Coldnes of the middle Vault,
And felt what force their mortall Enemy
In Garrison keeps there continually;
[Page 40]When down again, towards their Dam they bear,
Holp by the waight which they haue drawn from her:
But in the instant, to their aid arriues
Another new heat, which their heart reuiues,
Re-arms their hands, and hauing staied their flight,
Better resolv'd brings them again to fight:
Well fortifi'd then, by these fresh supplies,
More brauely they renew their enterprize:
And one-while th' vpper hand (with honour) getting,
Another-while disgracefully retreating,
Our lower Aire they tosse in sundry sort,
As weak or strong their matter doth comport.
This lasts not long; because the heat and cold,
Equall in force and Fortune, equall bold
In these assaults; to end this so dain brall,
Th' one stops their mounting, th' other stayes their fall.
So that this Vapour, neuer resting stound,
Stands neuer still, but makes his motion round,
Posteth from Pole to Pole, and flies amain
From Spain to India, and from Inde to Spain.
But though these blustring spirits seem alwaies blow'n
By the same spirit, and of like Vapour grow'n;
Yet, from their birth-place, take they diuersly
A diuers name and diuers quality.
Feeling the fower Windes, that with diuers blast,
Of the Windes, whereof there are foure princi­pall, compared to the foure Sea­sons, the foure Complexions, the foure Elements, and the foure Ages of man: & assigned to the foure Corners of the World: And called East, West North & South
From the fower corners of the World doo haste;
In their effects I finde fower Temp'raments,
Foure Times, foure Ages, and foure Elements.
Th' East-winde, in working, follows properly
Fire, Choler, Summer, and soft Infancy:
That, which dries-vp wild Affrick with his wing,
Resembles Aire, Bloud, Youth, and liuely Spring:
That, which blowes moistly from the Western stage,
Like Water, Phlegme, Winter, and heauy Age:
That, which comes shiv'ring from cold Climates solely,
Earth, withered Eld, Autumn, and Melancholy.
Not, but that Men haue long ye [...] this found-out
More then these foure Windes, East, West, North, and South:
[Page 41]Those that (at Sea) to see both Poles are wont,
Vpon their Compass two and thirty count,
Though they be infinite, as are the places
Whence the Heav'n-fanning Exhalation passes:
But wheresoeuer their quick course they bend,
As on their Chiefs, all on these Foure depend.
One while, with whisking broom they brush and sweep
Diuers effects of the Windes.
The cloudy Courtains of Heav'ns stages steep:
Anon, with hotter sighes they dry the Ground,
Late by Electra and her sisters drownd.
Anon refresh they, with a temperate blowing,
The soultry Aier, vnder the Dog-star glowing:
On Trees anon they ripe the Plum and Pear,
In cods the Poulse, the Corn within the ear:
Anon, from North to South, from East to West
With ceas-less wings they driue a Ship addrest:
And somtimes whirling, on an open Hill,
The round-flat Runner in a roaring Mill,
In flowry motes they grinde the purest grain,
Which late they ripened on the fruitfull Plain.
Diuers effect of hot exhalations.
If th' Exhalation hot and oily proue,
And yet (as feeble) giueth place aboue
To th' Airy Regions euer-lasting Frost,
Incessantly th' apt-tinding fume is tost
Till it inflame: then like a Squib it falls,
Or fire-wingd shaft, or sulp'hry Powder-Balls.
Of Come [...]s.
But if This kinde of Exhalation tour
Aboue the walls of Winters icy bowr
'T-inflameth also; and anon becoms
A new strange Star, presaging wofull dooms:
And, for this Fier hath more fewell in't
Then had the first, 'tis not so quickly spent:
Whether the Heav'ns incessant agitation,
Into a Star transforming th' Exhalation,
Kindle the same: like as a coal, that winkt
On a sticks end (and seemed quite extinct)
Tost in the dark with an industrious hand,
To light the night, becoms a fier-brand:
[Page 42]Or whether th' vpper Fire doo fire the same;
As lighted Candles doo th' vnlight inflame.
According as the vapour's thick or rare,
Of other fiery impressions in the regions of the Aire.
Euen, or vn-even, long or large, round or square,
Such are the Forms it in the Aire resembles:
At sight whereof, th' amazed Vulgar trembles.
Heer, in the night appears a flaming Spire,
There a fierce Dragon folded all in fire;
Heer a bright Comet, there a burning Beam,
Heer flying Launces, there a Fiery Stream:
Heer seems a horned Goat environ'd round
With fiery flakes about the Aire to bound.
There, with long bloody hair, a Blazing Star
Threatens the World with Famin, Plague, and War:
To Princes, death: to Kingdoms, many crosses:
To all Estates, ineuitable Losses:
To Heard-men, Rot: to Plough-men, hap-less Seasons:
To Saylers, Storms: to Cities, ciuill Treasons.
But hark: what hear I in the Heav'ns? me thinks
A liuely descrip­tion of thunder and lightning.
The Worlds wall shakes, and his Foundation shrinks:
It seems euen now that horrible P [...]rsiphoné,
Loosing Meger, Alecto, and Tysiphoné,
Weary of raigning in black Erebus,
Transports her Hell between the Heav'n and vs.
'Tis held I knowe, that when a Vapour moist
How they are ingendred.
As well from Fresh as from Salt water's hoist
In the same instant with hot-Exhalations,
In th' Aiery Regions secondary stations;
The Fiery Fume, besieged with the Croud
And keen-cold thicknes of that dampish Cloud,
Strengthens his strength; and with redoubled Volleys
Of ioyned Heat, on the the Cold Leagher sallies.
Like as a Lion, very late exil'd,
A simile.
From's natiue Forests; spit-at and reuil'd,
Mock't, moov'd, and troubled with a thousand toyes,
By wanton children, idle girls and boyes;
With hideous roaring doth his Prison fill,
In's narrow Cloistre ramping wildely, still,
[Page 43]Runns to and fro; and furious, less doth long
For liberty, than to reuenge his wrong:
This Fire, desirous to break forth again
From's cloudy Ward, cannot itself refrain;
But, without resting, loud it grones and grumbles,
It roules and roars, and round-round-round it rumbles,
Till (hauing rent the lower side in sunder)
With Sulph'ry flash it haue shot-down his thunder:
Though, willing to vnite, in these alarms,
To's Brothers Forces, his own fainting arms;
And th' hottest Circle of the World to gain,
To issue vp-ward, oft it striues in vain:
But, 'tis there fronted with a Trench so large
And such an Hoast, that though it often charge,
On this and that side, the Cold Camp about,
With his Hot Skirmish; yet still, still the stout
Victorious Foe repelleth ev'ry push;
So that (despairing) with a furious rush,
Forgetting honour, it is fain to fly
By the back-door, with blushing Infamy.
Then th' Ocean boyls for fear; the Fish doo deem
Their effects.
The Sea too shallow to safe-shelter them:
The Earth doth shake; the Shepheard in the field
In hollow Rocks himself can hardly shield:
Th' affrighted Heav'ns open; and, in the Vale
Of Acheron, grim Plutoes self looks pale:
Th' Aire flames with Fire: for, the loud-roaring Thunder
(Renting the Cloud, that it includes, asunder)
Sends forth those Flashes which so blear our sight:
As wakefull Students, in the Winters night
Against the steel glauncing with stony knocks,
Simile.
Strike sodain sparks into their Tinder-box.
Moreouer, Lightning of a fume is fram'd:
Admirable ef­fects of light­ning.
Through 'tselfs hot-dryness, euermore inflam'd:
Whose powr (past-credit) without razing skin
Can bruiz to powder all our bones within:
Can melt the Gold that greedy Mizers hoord
In barred Cofers, and not burn the boord:
[Page 44]Can break the blade and neuer sindge the sheath:
Can scorch an infant in the Womb to death;
And neuer blemish, in one sort or other,
Flesh, bone, or sinew of th' amazed Mother:
Consume the shooes and neuer hurt the feet:
Empty a Cask, and yer not perish it:
My yonger eyes haue often seen a Dame,
To whom the flash of Heav'ns fantastike flame
Did els no harm, saue (in a moment's space)
With windy Rasor shaue a secretplace.
Shall I omit a hundred Prodigies
Of Crownes and circles about the Sunne, Moone, and other Pla­nets.
Oft seen in forehead of the frowning Skies?
Somtimes a Fiery Circle doth appear
Proceeding from the beautious beams and clear
Of Sun and Moon, and other Stars aspect,
Down-looking on a thick-round Cloud ditect;
When, not of force to thrust their rayes through-out-it,
In a round Crown they cast them round about-it:
Like as (almost) a burning candle, put
Simile.
Into a Closet with the door close shut;
Not able through the boords to send his light,
Out at the edges round about shines bright.
But, in's declining, when Sols countenance
Direct vpon a wat'rish Cloud doth glance
(A wat'rish Cloud, which cannot easily
Hold any longer her moist Tympany)
On the moist Cloud he limns his lightsom front;
Of the Rainbow and how it is made.
And with a gawdy Pencill paints vpon't
A blew-green-gilt Bowe bended ouer vs:
For, th' aduerse Cloud, which first receiueth thus
Apollos rayes, the same direct repells
On the next Cloud, and with his gold it mells
Her various coulours: like as when the Sun
Simile.
At a bay-window peepeth in vpon
A boule of water, his bright beams aspect
With trembling lustre it doth far reflect
Against th' high seeling of the lightsom Hall
With stately Fret-work ouer-crustod all.
On th' other side, if the Cloud side-long sit,
And not beneath, or iustly opposite
How it comes to passe that some­times appear di­uers Suns and Moones at once.
To Sun or Moon: then either of them Forms
With strong aspect double or trebble Forms
Vpon the same. The Vulgar's then affright
To see at once three Chariots of the Light;
And, in the Welkin on Nights gloomy Throne,
To see at once more shining Moons then one.
But, O fond Mortals▪ Wherefore doo yee striue
A check to mans Pride in striuing to yeeld reason in Nature, of all these accidents.
With reach of Sense, Gods wonders to retriue?
What proud desire (rather what Furie's drift?)
Boldens you God-less, all Gods works to sift?
Ille not deny, but that a learned man
May yeeld some Reason (if he list to scan)
Of all that moues vnder Heav'ns hollow Cope;
But not so sound as can all scruple stop:
And though he could, yet should we euermore,
Praysing these tools, extoll His fingers more
Who works withall, and many-waies doth giue
To deadest things (instantly) soules, to liue.
True Philoso­phy for Christi­ans, to apply all to their consci­ence for amend­ment of life.
Me thinks I hear, when I doo hear it Thunder,
The voice that brings Swayns vp, and Caesars vnder:
By that Towr-tearing stroak, I vnderstand
Th' vndaunted strength of the Diuine right hand:
When I behold the Lightning in the Skies,
Me thinks I seeth' Almighties glorious eyes:
When I perceiue it Rain-down timely showrs,
Me thinks the Lord his horn of Plenty pours:
When from the Clouds excessiue Water spins,
Me thinks God weepes for our vnwept-for sins:
And when in Heav'n I see the Rain-bow bent,
I hold it for a Pledge and Argument,
That neuer more shall Vniuersall Floods
Presume to mount ouer the tops of Woods
Which hoary Atlas in the Clouds doth hide,
Or on the Crowns of Caucasus doo ride:
But, aboue all, my perced soule inclines,
When th' angry Heav'ns threat with Prodigious Signes;
[Page 46]When Natures order doth reuerse and change,
Preposterously into disorder strange.
Let all the Wits, that euer suckt the brest
All the learned in the World cannot out of the school of Nature giue reason for many things that are created in the High and Middle Regiōs of the Aire.
Of sacred Pallas, in one Wit be prest,
And let him tell me (if at least he can
By rule of Nature, or meer reach of man)
A sound and certain reason of the Cream,
The Wooll, and Flesh, that from the Clouds did stream.
Let him declare what cause could yerst beget,
Amid the Aire, those drizzling showers of Wheate,
Which in Carinthia, twice were seene to shed;
Wherof that people made them store of Bread.
God, the great God of Heav'n, sometimes delights,
The true cause of these Prodigies.
From top to toe to alter Natures Rites;
That his strange Works, to Nature contrary,
May be fore-runners of some misery.
The drops of Fire, which weeping Heav'n did showr
Vpon Lucania, when Rome sent the Flowr
Exāples drawne out of the Histo­rie of the Romās, Iews, Turks, & French, both Ec­clesiasticall and profane.
Of Italy into the wealthy Clime,
Which Euphrates fatts with his fruitfull slime;
Persag'd, that Parthians should, the next yeer, tame
The proud Lucanians, and nigh quench their Name.
The clash of Arms, and clang of Trumpets heard
High in the Aire, when valiant Romans warr'd
Victoriously, on the (now-Canton'd) Suisses,
Cymbrians, and Almans, hewing all in peeces;
Gainst Epicures profane assertions, showe
That 'tis not Fortune guides this World belowe.
Thou that beheld'st from Heav'n, with triple Flashes,
Cursed Olympius smitten all to ashes,
For Blasphemies 'gainst Th' ONE Eternall-THREE?
Dar'st thou yet belch against the TRINITIE?
Dar'st thou, profane, spit in the face of God,
Who for blasphemers hath so sharpe a rod?
Iews (no more Iews, no more of Abr'ham Sons;
But Turks, Tartarians, Scythians, Lestrigons)
Say what you thought; what thought you, when so long
A flaming Sword ouer your Temple hung;
[Page 47]But that the Lord would with a mighty arm
The righteous vengeance of his wrath perform
On you, and yours? that what the Plague did leaue,
Th' insatiate gorge of Famine should bereaue?
And what the Plague and Famine both did spare,
Should be clean gleaned by the hand of War?
That sucking Infants crying for the teat,
Self-cruell Mothers should vnkindely eat?
And that (yer long) the share and coultar should
Rub off their rust vpon your Roofs of gold?
And all, because you (cursed) crucifi'd
The Lord of life, who for our ransom dy'd.
The ruddy Fountain that with bloud did flowe:
Th' huge Fiery Rock the thundring Heav'ns did throwe
Into Liguria: and the Bloudy Crosses
Seen on mens garments, seem'd with open voices
To cry aloud, that the Turks swarming hoast
Should pitch his proud Moons on the Genoan coast.
The Poet seuere ly taxeth his Countrymen for not marking, or not making vse of strange & ex­extrarordinary tokens of Gods imminent dis­pleasure.
O Frantick France! why dost not Thou make vse
Of strangefull Signes, whereby the Heav'ns induce
Thee to repentance? Canst thou tear-lesse gaze
(Euen night by night) on that prodigious Blaze,
That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star,
Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague, and War
(Th' Almighty's Trident, and three-forked fire
Wherwith he strikes vs in his greatest Ire)?
But, what (alas!) can Heauens bear threatnings vrge?
Sith all the sharpe Rods which so hourely scourge,
Thy sens-lesse back, cannot so much as wrest
One single sigh from thy obdurate brest?
Thou drink'st thine own bloud, thine owne flesh thou eatest,
In what most harms theethy delight is greatest.
O sens-less Folk, sick of a Lethargy,
Who to the death despise your Remedy!
Like froward Iades that for no striking stur,
But wax more restif still the more we spur:
The more your wounds, more your securenes growes,
Fat with afflictions, as an Asse with blowes:
[Page 48]And as the sledge hardens with strokes the steel;
So, the more beaten, still the less ye feel.
And want on ENGLAND, why hast thou forgot
Vpon like consi­deration the Trāslator sharp ly citeth Eng. & to rouze her frō her present se­curitie, proposeth fearfull exāples of her own trou­blous changes, & others terrible Chastisements.
Thy visitation, as thou hadst it not?
Thou hast seen signes, and thou hast felt the rod
Of the revenging wrathfull hand of God.
The frowning Heav'ns in fearefull Sightes fore-spoke
Thy Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman Yoak:
And since (alas!) vnkinder wounds then those,
The Ciuillrents of thy diuided ROSE:
And, last of all the raging Wolues of Rome,
Tearing thy limbs (Christs Lambs) in Martyrdom.
Besides Great Plagues, and grieuous Dearths, which (yerst)
Haue oft the Sinnews of thy strength reuerst.
But thou, more faulty more forgetfull art
Then Boyes that fear but while they feel the smart:
All this is past; and thou, past fear of it,
In Peace and Plenty, as a Queen doost sit,
Of Rods forgetfull, and for Rest ingratefull
(That, sottish dulnes: this, a sinne most hatefull)
Ingratefull to thy God, who all hath sent;
And thy late Queen, his sacred Instrument,
By whose pure hand, he hath more blessed Thine,
Esay Chap. 5. [...] 2. 3. &c.▪
Then yerst his owne Choice-planted Hebrew Vine:
From whence hee look't for Grapes (as nov from thee);
That bore him Crabs: Thouworse (if worse may be):
That was destroy'd, the wilde Boar entred in:
ENGLAND beware: Like punishment, like sinne.
But, O! what boots, or what auailes my song
To this deaf Adder that hath slept so long,
Snorting so loud on pillows of Securitie,
Dread-less of danger, drowned in Impurity;
Whose Senses all, all ouer-grow'n with Fat,
Haue left no door for Fear to enter at?
Yet once again (deer Country) must I call:
ENGLAND repent; Fall, to preuent thy Fall.
Though Thou be blinde, thy wakefull watchmen see
Heav'ns Irefull vengeance hanging ouer thee
[Page 49]In fearfull Signes, threatning a thousand Woes
To thy Sinn's Deluge, which allouer-flowes.
Thine vncontrold, bold, open Athëism:
Close Idol-seruice: Cloaked Hypocrism:
Common Blaspheming of Gods Name, in Oaths:
Vsuall Profaning of his Sabbaoths:
Thy blinde, dumb, Idol-shepheards, choakt with steeples,
That fleece thy Flocks, and do not feed thy Peoples:
Strife-full Ambition, Florentizing States:
Bribes and Affection swaying Magistrates:
Wealth's mercie-less Wrong, Vsury, Extortion:
Poore's Idleness, Repining at their Portion:
Thy drunken Surfets; and Excess in Diet:
Thy Sensuall wallowing in Lascivious Riot:
Thy huft, puft, painted, curld, purld, Wanton Pride
(The Baud to Lust, and to all Sinns beside)
These are thy Sinns: These are the Signes of Ruin,
To euery State that doth the same pursue-in:
Such, cost the Iews and Asians Desolation,
Now turned Turks, that were the Holy Nation.
Happy who take by others dangers warning:
All that is writ, is written for our learning:
So preach thy Prophets: But who heeds their cry?
Or, who beleeues? Then much less hope haue I.
Wherefore (Deer Bartas) hauing warned them;
From this Digression, turn we to our Theam.
As our All-welcom SOVERAIN (Englands solace,
Simile.
Heav'ns care, Earths comfort) in his stately Palace,
Hath next His Person, Princes of His Realms
Next him in bloud, extract from Royall Stems;
Next those, the Nobles; next, the Magistrates
That serue him truly in their seuerall States;
As more or less their diuers Dignity
Coms neer the Greatnes of his Maiesty:
So, next the Heav'ns, God marshall'd th' Element
Hauing suffici­ently discoursed of the Aire, he begins to handle the Element of Fire.
Which seconds them in swift bright Ornament:
And then the rest, according as of kin
To th' Azure Sphears, or th' Erring Fiers they bin.
Yet som (more crediting their eyes, then Reason)
From's proper place this Essence doo disseisin;
Against such as deny the Fire to be an Element.
And vainly strive (after their Fanciessway)
To cut the World's best Element away,
The nimble, light, bright-flaming, heat-full Fire,
Fountain of life, Smith, Founder, Purifier,
Cook, Surgeon, Soldier, Gunner, Alchymist,
The source of Motion: briefly, what not is't?
Apt for all, acting all; whose arms embrace,
Vnder Heav'ns arms, this Vniuersall Mass.
For, if (say they) the Fire were lodg'd between
Their Reasons.
The Heav'ns and vs, it would by night be seen;
Sith then, so far-off (as in Meads we pass)
1
We see least Glow-wormsglister in the grass:
Besides, how should we through the Fiery Tent,
Perceiue the bright eys of the Firmament?
Sith heer the soundest and the sharpest ey
2
Can nothing through our Candle-flames descry.
O! hard-beleeuing Wits! if Zephyrus
Aunsweres.
And Austers sighes were neuer felt of vs,
You would suppose the space between Earth's Ball,
And Heav'ns bright Arches, void and empty all:
And then no more you would the Aire allow
For Element, then th' hot-bright Flamer now.
Now ev'n as far as Phoebus light excels
Difference be­tween th' Ele­mentary fire and ours.
The light of Lamps, and every Taper els
Wherewith wevse to lengthen th' After-noon
Which Capricorn ducks in the Sea too soon;
So far in pureness th' Elementall Flame
Excels the Fire that for our vse we frame.
For, ours is nothing but a dusky light,
Gross, thick, and smoaky, enemy to sight:
But, that aboue (for being neither blent
With fumy mixture of gross nourishment,
Nor tost with Windes, but far from vs) coms neer
It's neighbour Heav'n, in nature pure and cleer.
But, of what substance shall I, after-thee
Heere for con­clusion of this second booke, hee commeth to dis­course of the Heauens, & first intreateth of their matter and Essence. According to the opinions of the Philosophers.
(O match-less Master) make Heav'ns Canapey?
[Page 51]Vncertain, heer my resolutions rock
And waver, like th' inconstant Weather-Cock
Which, on a Towr turning with every blast,
Changeth his Master, and his place as fast.
Learned Lycaeum, now awhile, I walk-in:
Then th' Academian sacred Shades I stalk-in.
Treading the way that Aristotle went,
I doo depriue the Heav'ns of Element,
And mixture too; and think, th' omnipotence
Of God did make them of a Quint-Essence;
Sith of the Elements, two still erect
Their course.
Their motion vp; two euer down direct:
But the Heav'ns course, not wandring vp nor down,
Continually turns onely roundly round.
The Elements haue no eternal race,
But settle ay in their assigned place:
But th' azure Circle without taking breath,
His certain course for euer gallopeth;
It keeps one pase, and mov'd with waight-les waights,
It neuer takes fresh horse, nor neuer baits.
Things that consist of th' Elements vniting,
Are euer tost with an intestin fighting;
Whence, springs (in time) their life and their deceasing,
Heauen not subiect to altera­tion, as are the Elements.
Their diuers change, their waxing and decreasing:
So that, of all that is, or may be seen
With mortall eyes, vnder Nights horned Queen,
Nothing retaineth the same form and face,
Hardly the half of half an howrs space.
But, the Heav'ns feel not Fates impartiall rigour:
Years add not to their stature nor their vigour:
Vse wears them not; but their green-euer Age
Is all in all still like their Pupillage.
Then sodainly, turnd studious Platonist,
I hold, the Heav'ns of Elements consist:
What vse of E­lements in the Heauens.
'Tis Earth, whose firm parts make their Lamps apparant,
Their bodies fast; Aire makes them all transparant;
Fire makes their rest-les circles pure, and cleer,
Hot, lighsom, light, and quick in their career:
[Page 52]And Water, 'nointing with cold-moist the brims
Of th' enter-kissing turning Globes extreams,
Tempers the heat (caus'd by their rapid turning)
Which els would set all th' elements a-burning.
Not, that I doo compare or match the Matter
Difference be­tween the Ele­ments, whereof the Heauens are composed, and these inferiour Elements.
Whence I compose th' All-compassing Theater,
To those gross Elements which heer belowe
Our hand and ey doth touch and see and knowe:
'T's all fair, all pure; a sacred harmony
Those bodies bindes in end-less Vnity:
That Aier's not flitting, nor that Water floating,
Nor Fire inflaming, nor Earth dully doating:
Nor one to other aught offensiue neither,
But (to conclude) Celestiall altogether.
See, see the rage of humane Arrogance:
Detesting the presumption of those curious wits searching these secrets, He limits him­selfe within the bounds of Chri­stian Sobriety.
See how far dares man's erring ignorance,
That with vnbridled tongue (as if it oft
Had try'd the mettle of that vpper Loft)
Dares, without proof or without reason yeelded,
Tell of what timber God his Palace builded.
But, in these doubts much rather rest had I,
Then with mine errour draw my Readerwry;
Till a Saint Paule doore-descend from Heav'n,
Or till my self (this sinfull roab be reav'n,
This rebell Flesh, whose counterpoize oppresses
My pilgrim Soule, and euer it depresses)
Shall see the beauties of that Blessed Place:
If (then) I ought shall see, saue Gods bright Face.
But ev'n as many (or more) quarrels cumber
Diuers opinions of the number of the Heauens.
Th' old Heathen Schools about the Heav'ns number:
One holds but one; making the Worlds Eys shine
Through the thin-thicknes of that Crystal line
(As through the Oceans cleer and liquid Flood
The slippery Fishes vp and down doos [...]ud.)
Another, iudging certain by his ey,
And seeing Seav'n bright Lamps (moov'd diversly)
'Turn this and that way: and, on th' other side,
That all the rest of the Heav'ns twinkling pride
[Page 53]Keep all one course; ingeniously, he varies
The Heav'ns rich building into eight round Stories.
Others, amid the Starriest Orb perceiuing
A triple cadence, and withall conceiuing
That but one naturall course one body goes,
Count nine, som ten; not numbring yet (with those)
Th' empyreall Palace, where th' eternall Treasures
Of Nectar flowe, where ever-lasting Pleasures
Are heaped-vp, where an immortall May
In bliss-full beauties flourisheth for ay,
Where Life still liues, where God his
Assises.
Sises holds,
Environ'd round with Seraphins, and Soules
Bought with his precious blood, whose glorious Flight
Yerst mounted Earth above the Heav'ns bright.
Nor shall my faint and humble Muse presume
So high a Song and Subiect to assume.
O fair, fiue-double Round, sloath's Foe apparant,
He stoppeth at the contemplati­on and praise of the Heauens. Which he consi­dereth as distin­guished into ten stages or Hea­uens.
Life of the World, Dayes, Months, and yeers own Parent▪
Thine own selfs model, never shifting place,
And yet, thy pure wings with so swift a pase
Fly over vs, that but our Thought alone
Can (as thy babe) pursue thy motion:
Infinite finite; free from growth and grief,
Discord and death; dance-louer; to be brief,
Still like thy self, all thine own in thee all,
Transparent, cleer, light; law of this lowe Ball:
Which in thy wide bout, bound-les all doost bound,
And clasp [...]st all, vnder, or in thy Round;
Throne of th' Almighty, I would fain rehearse
Thy various Dauies in this very Verse,
If it were time, and but my bounded Song
Doubteth to make this Second Day too-long.
For, notwithstanding, yet another day
I fear som Critick will not stick to say,
My babbling Muse did sail with every gale,
And mingled yarn to length her web withall.
But knowe, what e'r thou be, that heer I gather
The summe of what hath been handled in this booke, & what is to be vnderstood by the firmament which Moyses describeth in the first of Gen. [...]. 6
Iustly so many of Gods works together,
[Page 54]Because by th' Orbe of th' ample Firmament
Which round This-Day th' Eternall Fingers pent
Between the lower Waters and the higher;
I mean the Heav'ns, the Aire, and th' vpper Fire,
Which separate the Oceans waters salt.
From those which God pour'd o'r th' Ethereal Vault.
Yet haue I not so little seen and sought
Against those that think there are no waters a­boue the firma­ment: Whom he confuteth by diuers Reasons. Simile.
The Volums, which our Age hath chiefest thought,
But that I knowe how suttly greatest Clarks
Presume to argue in their learned Works,
T'o 'r-whelm these Floods, this Crystal to deface,
And dry this Ocean, which doth all imbrace.
But, as the beauty of a modest Dame,
Who, well-content with Natures comly Frame,
And native Fair (as it is freely giv'n
In fit proportion by the hand of Heav'n)
Doth not, with painting▪ prank, nor set-it-out
With helps of Art, sufficient Fair without;
Is more prayse-worthy, then the wanton glance,
Th' affected gait, th' alluring countenance,
The Mart of Pride, the Periwigs and painting,
Whence Courtisans refresh their beauties fainting:
1. The word of God to be preser red before the voice of man.
So doe I more the sacred Tongue esteem,
Though plain and rurall it doe rather seem,
Then school'd Athenian; and Diuinity,
For onely varnish, have but Verity;
Then all the golden Wit-pride of Humanity,
Wherewith men burnish their erroneous vanity.
I'l rather give a thousand times the ly
2. Gods word mētioneth wa­ters aboue the firmament.
To mine own Reason, then but once defy
The sacred voice of th' ever-lasting Spirit,
Which doth so often and so loud averr-it,
That God, above the shining Firmament,
Gen. 1, 7 Psal. 104, 3 Psal. 148, 4
I wot not, I, what kinde of Waters pent:
Whether, that pure, super-celestiall Water,
With our inferiour haue no likely nature:
Whether, turnd Vapour, it haue round embow'd
Heav'ns highest stage in a transparent Cloud:
[Page 55]Or whether (as they say) a Crystall case
Do (round about) the Heav'nly Orb embrace.
But, with coniectures wherefore strive I thus?
Can doubtfull proofs the certainty discuss?
I see not, why Mans reason should withstand,
3. The power of God ought to be of greater au­thority then Mans Reason.
Or not beleeve, that Hee whose powrfull hand
Bay'd-vp the Red-Sea with a double Wall,
That Israels Hoast might scape Egyptian thrall,
Could prop as sure so many waves on high
Above the Heav'n Star-spangled Canapy.
See we not hanging in the Clouds each howr
So many Seas, still threatning down to pour,
4. The conside­ration of the wa­ters which hang in the Aire, and of the Sea which compasseth the Earth.
Supported only by th' Aier's agitation
(Selfly too weak for the least waight's foundation)?
See wee not also, that this Sea belowe,
Which round about our Earthly Globe doth flowe,
Remains still round; and maugre all the surly
Aeolian Slaves and Water's hurly burly,
Dares not (to levell her proud liquid Heap)
Neuer so little past her limits leap?
Why then beleeue we not, that vpper Sphear
May (without falling) such an Ocean bear?
Vncircumcised! O hard hearts! at least
Lett's think that God those Waters doth digest
In that steep place: for, if that, Nature heer
5. Diuers effects continual & ad­mirable in Na­ture.
Can form firm Pearl and Crystall shining cleer
Of liquid substance; let's beleeue it rather
Much more in God (the Heav'ns and Natur's Father)
Let vs much more, much more lett's peiz and ponder
Th' Almighties Works, and at his Wisedom wonder:
Let vs obserue, and double-waigh it well,
That this proud Palace whear we rule and dwell
(Though built with match-less Art) had fall'n long since,
Had 't not ben seel'd-round with moist Elements.
For, like as (in Man's Little-World) the Brain
Doth highest place of all our Frame retain,
And tempers with it's moistfull coldnes so
Th' excessive heat of th' other parts belowe:
[Page 56]Th' eternall Builder of this beautious Frame
To enter-mingle meetly Frost with Flame,
And cool the great heat of the Great-Worlds Torches,
This-Day spred Water over Heav'ns bright Arches.
These Seas (they say) leagu'd with the Seas belowe,
Hiding the highest of the Mountains tho,
Had drown'd the whole World had not Noah builded
A holy Vessell, where his house was shielded:
Taking occasiō by his former dis­course he trea­teth of the incoū ter of the vpper waters with the lower: whence followed the ge­neral stood in the daies of Noah: Which h [...]re he liuely represen­teth.
Where, by direction of the King of Kings,
He sav'd a seed-payr of all liuing things;
No sooner ship [...], but instantly the Lord
Down to th' Aeolian dungeon him bestirr'd,
There muzled close Cloud-chasing Boreas,
And let loose Auster, and his lowring race,
Who soon set forward with a dropping wing;
Vpon their beard for every hair a spring,
A night of Clouds muffled their brows about,
Their wattled locks gusht all in Rivers out;
And both their hands, wringing thick Clouds asunder,
Send forth fierce lightning, tempest, rain and thunder.
Brooks, Lakes, and Floods, Rivers, and foaming Torrents
Sodainly swell; and their confused Currents,
Losing their old bounds, break a neerer way
To run at randon with their spoyls to Sea.
Th' Earth shakes for fear, and (sweating) doth consume her,
And in her veins leaues not a drop of humour.
And thou thy self, O Heav'n, didst set wideope
(Through all the Marshes in thy spacious cope)
All thy large sluces, thy vast Seas to shed
In sodain spouts on thy proud sisters head;
Whose aw-less, law-less, shame-les life abhord,
Onely delighted to despight the Lord.
Th' Earth shrinks & sinks; now th' Ocean hath no shore:
Now Rivers run to serue the Sea no more;
Themselues are Sea: the many sundry Streams,
Of sundry names (deriv'd from sundry Realms)
Make now but one great Sea: the World it self
Is nothing now but a great standing Gulf,
[Page 57]Whose swelling surges strive to mix their Water
With th' other Waves above this round Theater.
The Sturgeon, coasting over Castles, muses
(Vnder the Sea) to see so many houses.
The Indian Manat and the Mullet float
O'r Mountain tops, where yerst the bearded Goat
Did bound and brouz the crooked Dolphin seuds
O'r th' highest branches of the hugest Woods.
Nought boots the Tigre, or the Hart or Hors,
Or Hare, or Grey-hound, their swift speedy cours;
For, seeking Land, the more they strain & breath them,
The more (alas) it shrinks and sinks beneath them.
The Otter, Tortois, and fell Crocodile
Which did enioy a double house yer-while,
Must be content with only water now.
The Wolf and Lamb, Lions and Buçks, do rowe
Vpon the Waters, side by side, suspect-less.
The Glead and Swallow, laboring long (effect-less)
'Gainst certain death, with wearied wings fall down
(For want of Perch) and with the rest do drown.
And, for mankinde, imagine som get vp
To som high Mountains over-hanging top;
Som to a Towr, som to a Cedar tree,
(Whence round about a World of deaths they see)
But wheresoeuer their pale fears aspire
For hope of safety, th' Ocean surgeth higher,
And still-still mounting as they still do mount,
When they cease mounting, doth them soon surmount.
One therefore ventures on a Plank to rowe,
One in a Chest, another in a Trough:
Another, yet half-sleeping, scarce perceives
How's bed and breath, the Flood at once bereaves;
Another labouring with his feet and hands,
A while the fury of the Flood withstands,
(Which by his side hath newly droun'd his Mother,
His Wife, his Son, his Sister, Sire, and Brother):
But tyr'd and spent, weary and wanting strength,
He needs must yeeld (too) to the Seas at length;
[Page 58]All, all must die then: but
Parcae, à non parcendo: Thenone-sparing Fates; that is to say, Death.
th' impartiall Maids,
Who wont to vse so sundry tools for ayds,
In execution of their fatall slaughters,
Had only now the furious foaming Waters.
Safely the while, the sacred Ship did float
On the proud shoulders of that boundless-Moat,
Though mast-les, oar-les, and from Harbour far;
For God was both her Steers-man, and her Star.
Thrice fifty dayes that Vniuersall Flood
Wasted the World; which then the Lord thought good
To re-erect, in his Compassion great.
No sooner sounds he to the Seas retreat,
But instantly wave into wave did sink
With sodain speed, all Rivers gan to shrink;
Th' Ocean retires him to his wonted prison;
The Woods are seen; the Mountain tops are risen
Out of their slimy Bed: the Fields increase
And spread apace, so fast the waters cease.
And (briefly) th' onely thundring hand of God
Now Earth to Heav'n, Heav'n vnto Earth re-show'd;
That he again Panchaian Fumes might see
Sacred on Altars to his Maiesty.
He concludeth with a most god­ly prayer accom­modated to the state of the Church in our time.
Lord, sith't hath pleas'd thee likewise, in our Age,
To saue thy Ship from Tyrants stormy rage,
Increase in Number (Lord) thy little Flock;
But more in Faith, to build on thee, the Rock.
So, Morn and Euen the second Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that All his Works were good.

THE THIRD DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
The Sea, and Earth: their various Equipage:
Seuer'd a-part: Bounds of the Oceansrage:
'Timbraceth Earth: it doth all Watersowe:
Why it is salt: How it doth Ebb, and Flowe:
Rare streams, and Fountains of strange operation:
Earth's firmnes, greatnes, goodnes: sharp taxation
Of Bribes, Ambition, Treason, Auarice.
Trees, Shrubs, & Plants: Mines, Metals, Gemms of price:
Right vse of Gold: the Load-stones rare effects:
The Countrey-life preferr'd in all respects.
MY sacred Muse, that lately soared high
Among the glist'ring Circles of the Sky
Frō the Heauen & Regions of the Aire, the Poet descendeth to the Earth and Sea.
(Whose various dance, which the first Moover driues
Harmoniously, this Vniverse revives)
Commanding all the Windes and sulphry Storms,
The lightning Flashes, and the hideous Forms
Seen in the Aire; with language meetly brave
Whilom discourst vpon a Theam so grave▪
But, This-Day, flagging lowely by the Ground,
She seems constrain'd to keep a lowely [...]ound;
Or, if somtimes, she somwhat raise her voice,
The sound is drown'd with the rough Oceans noise.
O King of grassie and of glassie Plains,
He calleth vpon the true God be assisted in the description of th [...]se two Ele­ments, and the things therein.
Whose powrfull breath (at thy drad will) constrains
[Page 60]The deep Foundations of the Hills to shake,
And Seas salt billows 'gainst Heav'ns vaults to rake:
Grant me, To-Day, with skilfull Instruments
To bound a right these two rich Elements:
In learned numbers teach me sing the natures
Of the firm-Earth, and of the floating Waters:
And with a flowring stile the Flowrs to limn
Whose Colours now shall paint the Fields so trim.
All those steep Mountains, whose high horned tops
God in this third Day gathers to­gether the Wa­ters, & separates them from the Earth.
The misty cloak of wandring Clouds enwraps,
Vnder First Waters their crump shoulders hid,
And all the Earth as a dull Pond abid,
Vntill th' All-Monarch's bountious Maiesty
(Willing t'enfeof man this worlds Empery)
Commaunded Neptune straight to Marshall forth
His Floods a-part; and to vnfold the Earth:
And, in his Waters, now contented rest,
Thaue all the World, for one whole day, possest.
As when the muffled Heav'ns have wept a main,
By an apt cōpa­rison, he sheweth how the Water withdrewe from off the Earth.
And foaming streams assembling on the Plain,
Turn'd Fields to Floods; soon as the showrs do cease,
With vnseen speed the Deluge doth decrease,
Sups vp it self, in hollow sponges sinks,
And's ample arms in straighter Chanell shrinks:
Even so the Sea, to 'tself it self he took,
Mount after Mount, Field after Field forsook;
And sodainly in smaller cask did tun
Her Waters, that from every side did run:
Whether th' imperfect Light did first exhale
Much of that primer Humour, where withall
God, on the Second-Day, might frame and found
The Crystall Sphears that he hath spred so round:
Whether th' Almighty did new place provide
To lodge the Waters: whether op'ning wide
Th' Earth's Hollow Pores, it pleas'd him to conueigh
Of the lodging and bed of the sea.
Deep vnder ground som Arms of such a Sea:
Or whether, pressing waters gloomy Globe,
That cov'red all (as with a cloudy Robe)
[Page 61]He them impris'ned in those bounds of brass,
Which (to this day) the Ocean dares not pass
Without his licence. For, th' Eternall, knowing
The Seas commotive and inconstant flowing,
The Sea kept within her boūds by the Almighty power of God.
Thus curbed her; and, 'gainst her enuious rage,
For-ever fenç't ou [...] Flowry-mantled Stage:
So that we often see those rowling Hils,
With roaring noise threatning the neighbour Fields,
Through their owne spite to split vpon the shore,
Foaming for fury that they dare no more.
For, what could not▪ that great, high Admirall
Work in the Waues, sith at his Seruants call,
His dreadfull voice (to save his ancient Sheep)
Did cleave the bottom of th' Erythrean Deepe?
Exod. 14, 11 Iosuah, 3, 16 Gen. 7, 21 Exod. 17. 6
And toward the Crystall of his double source
Compelled Iordan to retreat his course?
Drown'd with a Deluge the rebellious World?
And from dry Rocks abundant Rivers purl'd?
Lo, thus the waighty Water did yer-while
With winding turns make all this world an Ile.
For, like as molten Lead being poured forth
A fit Simile shewing the winding turns of the Sea abou [...] the Earth.
Vpon a leuell plot of sand or earth,
In many fashions mazeth to and fro;
Runs heer direct, thear crookedly doth go,
Heer doth diuide it self, there meets again;
And the hot Riv'let of the liquid vain,
On the smooth table crawling like a worm,
Almost (in th' instant) euery form doth form:
God pour'd the Waters on the fruitfull Ground
In sundry figures; somin fashion round,
Some square, som crosse, som long, som lozenge-wise,
Som triangles, som large, som lesser size;
Amid the Floods (by this fair difference)
To giue the world more wealth and excellence.
Such is the German Sea, such Persian Sine,
Such th' Indian Gulf, and such th' Arabian Brine,
And such Our Sea: whose divers-brancht
Windings.
retortions,
Divide the World in three vnequall Portions.
And, though each of these Arms (how large soever)
The arms of the Sea distinguish­ed into smaller members with cōmodities and vse thereof.
To the great Ocean seems a little Riuer:
Each makes a hundred sundry Seas besides
(Not sundry in waters, but in Names and Tides)
To moisten kindely, by their secret Vains,
The thirsty thickness of the neighbour Plains:
To bulwark Nations, and to serue for fences
Against the inuasion of Ambitious Princes:
To bound large Kingdomes with eternall limits:
To further Traffick through all Earthly Climates:
T'abbridge long Iourneys; and with ayd of Winde
Within a month to visit eyther Inde.
But, th' Earth not only th' Oceans debter is
A Catalogue of most of the most famous Riuers in the World.
For these large Seas: But sh' owes him Tanāis,
Nile ( Aegypts treasure) and his neighbour stream
That in the Desart (through his haste extream)
Loseth himself so oft; swift Euphrates;
And th' other proud Son of cold Niphates:
Fair spacious Ganges, and his famous brother,
That lends his name vnto their noble Mother:
Gold-sanded Tagus, Rhyne, Rhóne, Volga, Tiber,
Danubius, Albis, Pô, Sein, Arne, and Iber;
The Darian, Plate, and Amazónian River,
(Where SPAIN'S Gold-thirsty Locusts cool their liver):
Our siluer Medway, (which doth deep indent
The Flowrie Medowes of My natiue KENT;
Still sadly weeping ( vnder Pensherst walls)
Th' Arcadian Cygnet's bleeding Funerals)
Our Thames and Tweed, our Severn, Trent, and Humber,
And many moe, too infinite to number.
Of him, she also holds her Silver Springs,
And all her hidden Crystall Riverlings:
And after (greatly) in two sorts repaies
Th' Humour she borrows by two sundry waies:
Fountains Springs and Ri­uers welling out of the Earth.
For, like as in a Limbeck, th' heat of Fire
Raiseth a Vapour, which still mounting higher
To the Still's top; when th' odoriferous sweat
Above that Miter can no further get,
[Page 63]It softly thickning, falleth drop by drop,
A Similie shew­ing how the wa­ters of the Earth are exhaled by the Sun & then powred into the Sea.
And Cleer as Chrystall, in the glass doth drop;
The purest humour in the Sea, the Sun
Exhales in th' Aire: which thear resolv'd, anon,
Returns to water; and descends again
By sundry waies vnto his Mother Main.
For, the dry Earth, having these waters (first)
Through the wide sive of her void entrails searst;
Giving more room, at length from Rockie Mountains:
How the Foun­tains come to breake forth of the Earth.
She (night and day) pours forth a thousand Fountains:
These Fountains make fresh Brooks (with murmuring cur­rents
These murmuring Brooks, the swift & violēt Torrents;
These violent Torrents, mighty Rivers; These,
These Riuers make the vast, deep, dreadfull Seas.
The increasing of Brooks and Riuers, and of their falling in­to the sea.
And all the highest Heav'n-approaching Rocks
Contribute hither with their snowie locks:
For, soon as Titan, having run his Ring,
To th' ycie climates bringeth back the Spring;
On their rough backs he melts the hoary heaps,
Their tops grow green; and down the water leaps
On every side, it foames, it roares, it rushes,
And through the steep and stony hilles it gushes,
Making a thousand Brooks; wherof, when one
Perceives his fellow striving to be gone;
Hasting his course, he him accompanies;
After, another and another hies,
All in one race; ioynt-losing all of them
Their Names and Waters in a greater stream:
And He that robs them, shortly doth deliver
Himself and his into a larger River:
And That, at length, how euer great and large
(Lord of the Plain) doth in som Gulf discharge
His parent-Tribute to Oceanus,
According to th' Eternall Rendez-vous.
Yet, notwithstanding, all these Streams that enter
Why the sea re­ceiueth no in­crease of all the Waters that fall therein.
In the Main Sea, do nought at all augment her:
For that, besides that all these Floods in one,
Matcht with great Neptune, seem as much as none;
[Page 64]The Sun (as yerst I said) and Windes withall,
Sweeping the sur-face of the Brinie-Ball,
Extract as much still of her humours thin,
As weeping Aire and welling Earth pours in.
But as the swelting heat, and shivering cold,
Gnashing and sweat, that th' Ague-sick do hold,
Come not at hazzard, but in time and order
Afflict the body with their fell disorder:
Of the Ebbing & Flowing of the sea: & sun­dry causes therof
The Sea hath fits, alternate course she keepes,
From Deep to Shoar, and from the Shoar to Deeps.
Whether it were, that at the first, the Ocean
From Gods owne hand receiv'd this double Motion,
By means whereof, it never resteth stound,
Simile.
But (as a turning Whirli-gig) goes round,
Whirls of it self, and good-while after takes
Strength of the strength which the first motion makes:
Whether the Sea, which we Atlantick call,
Be but a peece of the Grand Sea of all;
And that his Floods entring the ample Bed
Of the deep Main (with fury hurried
Against the Rocks) repulsed with disdain,
Be thence compelled to turn back again:
Or whether Cynthia, that with Change-full laws
Commands moist bodies, doth this motion cause:
As, on our Shoar, we see the Sea to rise
Soon as the Moon begins to mount our skies.
And when, through Heav'ns Vaultvailing toward Spayn,
Proofe of the third cause: viz. that the waxing and wauing of the Moon, cau­seth the flowing and ebbing of the Sea.
The Moon descendeth, then it Ebbs again.
Again, so soon as her inconstant Crown
Begins to shine on th' other Horizon,
It Flowes again: and then again it falls
When she doth light th' other Meridionalls.
We see more-over, that th' Atlantik Seas
Doo Flowe far farther then the Genöese,
Or both the Bosphores; and that Lakes, which growe
Out of the Sea, do neither Ebb nor Flowe:
Because (they say) the siluer fronted Star,
That swells and shrinks the Seas (as pleaseth her)
[Page 65]Pours with less powr her plentious influence
Vpon these straight and narrow streamed Fennes,
And In-land Seas, which many a Mount immounds,
Then on an Ocean vast and void of bounds:
Euen as in Sommer, her great Brothers Ey,
When windes be silent, doth more easily dry
Simile.
Wide spreading Plains, open and spacious Fields,
Then narrow Vales vaulted about with Hills.
If we perceive not in the Deep, so well
Why the tide is not so well per­ceiued at sea as by the shoare.
As by the shoar, when it doth shrink and swell;
Our sprightfull Pulse the tide doth well resemble,
Whose out-side seems more then the midst to tremble.
Nor is the glorious Prince of Stars less mighty
Then his pale Sister, on vast Amphitrité.
For Phoebus, boyling with his lightsom Heat
The Fish-full Waves of Neptunes Royall Seat,
And supping vp still (with his thirsty Rayes)
The cause of the faltnes of the sea
All the fresh humour in the floting Seas,
In Thetis large Cells leaveth nought behind,
Save liqvid Salt, and a thick bitter Brine.
But see (the while) see how the Sea (I pray)
Through thousand Seas hath caried me away,
In fear t' have drown'd my self and Readers so,
The Floods so made my words to over-flowe.
Therfore a-shoar; and on the tender Lee
Of waters sepa­rated from the Sea.
Of Lakes, and Pools, Rivers, and Springs, let's see
The soverain vertues of their severall Waters,
Their strange effects, and admirable natures,
That with incredible rare force of theirs,
Confound our wits, ravish our eyes and ears.
Th' Hammon [...]an Fount, while Phoebus Torch is light,
Wonderfull ef­fects of diuers Fountaines.
Is cold as Ice; and (opposite) all night
(Though the cold Crescent shine thereon) is hot,
And boiles and bubbles like a seething Pot.
They say (forsooth) the Riuer Silarus,
And such another, call'd Eurimenus,
Conuert the boughs, the barke, the leaves, and all,
To very stone, that in their Waters fall.
O! should I blaunch the Iewes religious River,
Which every Saboth dries his Chanell over;
Keeping his Waues from working on that Day
Which God ordain'd a sacred Rest for ay?
If neer vnto the Eleusinian Spring,
Som sport-full Iig, som wanton Shepheard sing,
The Ravisht Fountain falls to daunce and bound,
Keeping true Cadence to his rustick sound.
Cerona, Xanth▪ and Ceph [...]sus, do make
The thirsty-Flocks that of their Waters take,
Blacke, red, and white. And neer the crimsin Deepe,
Th' Arabian Fountain maketh crimsin Sheep.
Solonian Fountain, and thou Andrian Spring,
Out of what Cellars do you daily bring
The Oyl and Wine that you abound-with, so?
O Earth! do these within thine entrails grow?
What? be there Vines and Orchards vnder ground?
Is Bacchus Trade and Pallas Art there found?
What should I, of th' Illyrian Fountain, tell?
What shall I say of the Dodónean Well?
Whereof, the first sets any cloathes on-fire;
Th' other doth quench (who but will this admire?)
A burning Torch; and when the same is quenched,
Lights it again, if it again be drenched.
Sure, in the Legend of absurdest Fables
I should enroule most of these admirables;
Save for the reverence of th' vnstayned credit
Of many a witnes where I yerst have read it:
And sauing that our gain-spurr'd Pilots finde,
In our dayes, Waters of more wondrous kinde.
Of all the Sources infinite to count,
Which to an ample Volume would amount,
A continuation of the admirable effects of certain Waters.
Far hence on Forrain vnfrequented Coast,
I'le onely chuse som five or sixe at most,
Strange to report, perhaps beleev'd of few;
And yet no more incredible then true.
In th' Ile of Iron (one of those same seav'n
Whereto our Elders
Insulae fortu­natae.
Happy name had giv'n)
[Page 67]The Savage people neuer drink the streams
Of Wells and Riuers (as in other Realms)
Their drink is in the Aire; their gushing spring
A weeping Tree out of it self doth wring:
A Tree, whose tender-bearded Root being spred
In dryest sand, his sweating Leaf doth shed
A most sweet liquor; and (like as the Vine
Vntimely cut, weeps (at her wound) her wine,
In pearled tears) incessantly distills
A Crystall stream, which all their Cisterns fills,
Through all the Iland: for all hither hy,
And all their vessels cannot draw it dry.
In frosty Island are two Fountains strange:
Th' one flowes with Wax: the other stream doth change
All into Iron; yet with scalding steam
In thousand bubbles belcheth vp her stream.
In golden Perû, necre Saint Helens Mount
A stream of Pitch comes from a springing Fount.
What more remains? That New-found World, besides,
Toward the West many a fair River guides;
Whose floating Waters (knowing th' vse aright
Of Work-fit Day, and Rest-ordained Night,
Better then men) run swiftly, all the Day;
But rest, all Night, and stir not any way.
Great Enginer, Almighty Architect,
I fear, of Enuy I should be suspect,
Of Bathes and Medicinable Waters.
Enuy of thy Renown and and sacred glory,
If my ingratefull Rimes should blaunch the Story
Of Streams, distilling through the Sulphur-Mines,
Through Bitumen. Allom, and Nitre veins;
Which (perfect Leaches) with their vertaes cure
A thousand Greefs we mortals heere endure,
Old in th' April of our age therewith,
Whose rigour striues to ante-date our death.
Now, as my happy Gascony excells,
Of the excellent Bathes in Gas­cony.
In Corne, Wine, Warriours, every Country els;
So doth she also in free Bathes abound;
Where strangers flock from every part around.
[Page 68]The barren womb, the Palsie-shaken wight,
Th' vlcerous, gowtie, deaf, and decrepit,
From East and West arriving, fetch from hence
Their ready help with small or no expence.
Witnes Ancossa, Caud'rets, Aiguescald,
Barege, Baigners; Baigners, the pride of all,
The pride, the praise, the onely Paradise
Of all those Mountains mounting to the skies,
Where yerst the Gaulian Hercules begot
(Wanton Alomena's Bastard, meane I not)
On faire Pirén [...] (as the fame doth go)
The famous Father of the Gascons; who
By noble deeds, do worthily averr
Their true descent from such an Ancester.
On th' one side, Hils hoar'd with eternal Snowes,
And craggy Rocks Baigneres do inclose▪
The other side is sweetly compast-in
With fragrant skirts of an immortall Green,
Whose smiling beauties far excell, in all,
The famous praise of the Peneīan Vale:
There's not a House, but seemeth to be new;
Th' even-slated Roofs reflect with glistring blew:
To keep the Pavement ever cleane and sweet,
A Crystall River runs through every Street;
Whose Siluer stream, as cold as Ice, doth slide
But little off the Physick Waters side;
Yet keeps his nature, and disdaines, a iot
To intermix his cold with th' others hot.
But, all these Wonders that adorn my Verse,
Yet come not neer vnto the wondrous Lers:
If it be true, that the Stagyrian Sage
(With shame confus'd, and driv'n with desperate rage)
Because his Reason could not reach the knowing
Of Euripus his seav'n-fold Ebbing-flowing,
Leapt in the same, and there his life did end,
Compriz'd in that he could not comprehend.
Of the most won derfull Fountain of Belestat.
What had he done, had he beheld the Fountain,
Which springs at Belstat neere the famous Mountain
[Page 69]Of Foix; whose Floods bathing Masérian Plains,
Furnish with wood the wealthy Tholousains?
As oftas Phoebus (in a compleat Race)
On both th' Horizons shews his radiant Face,
This wondrous Brook) for foure whole months) doth flowe,
Foure-times-six-times, and Ebbs as oft as lowe
For half an houre may dry-shod past that list:
The next half houre, may none his course resist.
Whose foaming stream striues proudly to compare
(Euen in the birth) with Fame-fullst Floods that are.
O! learned (Nature-taught) Arithmetician!
Clock-less, so iust to measure Time's partition.
And little LAMBS-BOVRN, though thou match not Lers,
Nor hadst the Honor of DU BARTAS Verse;
If mine haue any, Thou must needs partake,
Both for thine Owne, and for thine Owners sake;
Whose kinde Excesses Thee so neerely touch,
That Yeerely for them Thou doost weep so much,
All Summer-long (while all thy Sisters shrink▪)
That of thy teares a million dayly drink;
Besides thy Waast, which then in haste dothrun
To wash the feet of CHAVCER's Donnington:
But (while the rest are full vnto the top)
All Winter-long, Thou never show'st a drop,
Nor send'st a doi [...] of need-less Subsidie,
To Cramm the Kennet's Want-less Treasurie,
Before her Store be spent, & Springs be staid:
Then, then, alone Thou lendst a liberall Ayd;
Teaching Thy wealthy Neighbours (Mine, of late)
How, When, and VVhere to right-participate
Their streams of Comfort, to the poore that pine,
And not to greaz still the too-greazy Swine:
Neither, for fame, nor forme (when others doo)
To giue a Morsel, or a Mite or two;
But seuerally, and of a selfly motion,
When others miss, to giue the most devotion.
The intermed­ling of the Earth and Sea, and of the commodities thence arising, & contrariwise of the confusion that would fol­low if they were separated.
Most wisely did th' eternall All-Creator,
Dispose these Elements of Earth and Water:
[Page 70]For, sith th' one could not without drink subsist,
Nor, th' other without stay, bottom and list,
God intermixt them so, that th' Earth her brest
Op'ning to th' Ocean, th' Ocean winding prest
About the Earth, a-thwart, and vnder it,
For the Worlds Center, both together fit.
For, if their mixt Globe held not certainly
Iust the iust midst of the Worlds Axle-tree,
All Climats then should not be serv'd a-right
With equall Counter poiz of day and night:
The Horizons il-leuell'd circle wide,
Would sag too-much on th' one or th' other side:
Th' Antipodes, or we, at once should take
View of more Signes then half the Zodiack:
The Moon's Eclipses would not then be certain,
And setled Seasons would be then vncertain.
The Masse of the Earth and Water together make a perfect Globe.
This also serueth for probation sound,
That th' Earths and Waters mingled Mass is Round,
Round as a Ball; seeing on euery side
The Day and Night successiuely to slide.
Yea, though Vespucio (famous Florentine)
Mark Pole, and Columb, braue Italian Trine,
Our (Spain's Dread) Drake, Candish, and Cumberland
Most valiant Earle, most worthy High Command,
And thousand gallant modern Typheis else,
Had neuer brought the North-Poles Parallels▪
Vnder the South; and, sayling still about,
So many Nex-worlds vnder vs found out.
Nay, neuer could they th' Artik Pole haue lost,
Nor found th' Antartik; if in euery Coast
Seas liquid Glass round-bow'd not euery-where,
With sister Earth, to make a perfect Sphear.
But, perfect Artist, with what Arches strong,
How it commeth to passe that the Sea is not flat nor leuel; but rising round and bowed about the Earth.
Props, staies, and Pillars, hast thou stay'd so long
This hanging, thin, sad, slippery Water-Ball▪
From falling out, and ouer-whelming all?
May it not be (good Lord) because the Water
To the Worlds Center tendeth still by nature;
[Page 71]And toward the bottom of this bottom bound,
Willing to fall, doth yet remain still round?
Or may't not be, because the surly Banks
Keep Waters captiue in their hollow flanks?
Or that our Seas be buttrest (as it were)
With thousand Rocks dispersed heere and there?
Or rather, Lord, is't not Thine onely Powr
That Bows it round about Earths branchy Bowr?
Doubt-less (great God) 'tis doubt-less thine owne hand
The second part of this 3. Book intreating of the Element of earth and first of the firmnes thereof.
Whereon this Mansion of Mankinde doth stand.
For, thogh it hang in th' Aire, swim in the water,
Though every way it be a round Theater,
Though All turn round about it, though for ay
Itselfs Fundations with swist Motions play.
It rests vn-mooueable: that th' Holy Race
Of Adam there may finde fit dwelling place.
The Earth receiues man when he first is born,
Earth is the Mo ther, Nurse, and Hostess [...] of man­kinde.
Th' Earth nurses him; and when he is forlorn
Of th' other Elements, and Nature loaths-him,
Th' Earth in her bosom with kinde burial cloaths-him.
Oft hath the Aire with Tempests set-vpon-vs,
Oft hath the Water with her Floods vndon-vs,
Oft hath the Fire (th' vpper as well as ours)
With wofull flames consum'd our Towns and Towrs:
Onely the Earth, of all the Elements,
Vnto Mankinde is kinde without offence:
Onely the Earth did neuer iot displace
From the first seat assign'd it by thy grace.
Yet, true it is, (good Lord) that mov'd somtimes
Of Earth quakes and of the ope­ning of the earth
With wicked Peoples execrablecrimes,
The wrathfull power of thy right hand doth make,
Not all the Earth, but part of it to quake,
With ayd of Windes: which (as imprisoned deep)
In her vast entrails, furious murmurs keep.
Fear chils our hearts (what hart can fear dissemble?)
When Steeples stagger, and huge Mountains tremble
With wind-less winde, and yawning Hell devours
Somtimes whole Cities with their shining Towrs.
Sith then, the Earth's, and Waters blended Ball
The Globe of the Earth & Sea, is but as a little point, in compa­rison of the great circumference of Heauen:
Is center, heart, and nauel of this All;
And sith (in reason) that which is included,
Must needs beless then that which doth include it;
'Tis question-less, the Orb of Earth and Water
Is the least Orb in all the All-Theater.
Let any iudge, whether this lower Ball
(Whose endless greatnes we admire so, all)
Seem not a point, compar'd with th' vpper Sphear
Whose turning turns the rest in their Career;
Sith by the Do­ctrine of Astro­nomers, the least Starre in the [...]rmnment is [...]8 times bigger then al the earth.
Sith the least Star that we perceiue to shine
Aboue, disperst in th' Arches crystalline
(If, at the least, Star-Clarkes be credit worth)
Is eighteen times bigger then all the Earth:
Whence, if we but substract what is possest
(From North to South, & from the East to West)
Vnder the Empire of the Ocean
Atlantike, Indian, and American;
And thousand huge Arms issuing out of these,
With infinites of other Lakes and Seas:
And also what the Two intemperate Zones
Doo make vnfit for habitations;
What will remaine? Ah! nothing (in respect):
Lo heer, O men! Lo wherefore you neglect
By consideration wherof, the Poet taketh occasion to censure sharp­ly the Ambition, Bribery, Vsury, Extortion, De­ceipt, and gene­rall Couetousnes of Mankinde.
Heav'ns glorious Kingdom: Lo the largest scope
Glory can giue to your ambitious hope.
O Princes (subiects vnto pride and pleasure)
Who (to enlarge, but a hair's breadth, the measure
Of your Dominions) breaking Oaths of Peace,
Couer the Fields with bloudy Carcases:
O Magistrates, who (to content the Great)
Make sale of Iustice, on your sacred Seat;
And, broaking Laws for Bribes, profane your Place,
To leaue a Leek to your vnthankfull Race:
You strict Extorters, that the Poor oppress,
And wrong the Widdow and the Father-less,
To leaue your Off-spring rich (of others good)
In Houses built of Rapine and of Blood:
[Page 73]You City-Vipers, that (incestuous) ioyn
Vse vpon vse, begetting Coyn of Coyn:
You Marchant Mercers, and Monopolites,
Gain-greedy Chap-men, periur'd Hypocrites,
Dissembling Broakers, made of all deceipts,
Who falsifie your Measures and your Weights,
T' inrich your selues, and your vnthrifty Sons
To Gentillize with proud possessions:
You that for gain betray your gracious Prince,
Your natiue Country, or your deerest Friends:
You, that to get you but an inch of ground,
With cursed hands remoue your Neigbours bound
(The ancient bounds your Ancestors haue set)
What gain you all? alas! what do you get?
Yea, though a King by wile or war had won
All the round Earth to his subiection;
Lo heer the Guerdon of his glorious pains:
A needles point, a Mote, a Mite, he gains,
A Nit, a Nothing (did he All possess);
Or, if then nothing anything beless.
When God, whose words more in a moment can,
God hauing dis­couered the earth commands it to bring forth euery green thing, hearbs, trees, flo­wers and fruits.
Then in an Age the proudest strength of Man,
Had seuered the Floods, leuell'd the Fields,
Embas't the Valleys, and embost the Hils;
Change, change (quoth he) O fair and firmest Globe,
Thy moutning weed, to a green gallant Robe;
Cheer thy sad brows, and stately garnish them,
With a rich, fragrant, flowry Diadem;
Lay forth thy locks, and paint thee ( Lady-like)
With freshest colours on thy sallow cheek.
And let from hence-forth thy aboundant brests
Not only Nursethine own Wombs natiue guests,
But frankly furnish with fit nourishments
The future folk of th' other Elements;
That Aire, and Water, and the Angels Court,
May all seem iealous of thy praise and port.
Of Trees grow­ing in Moun­tains and in Valleys.
No sooner spoken, but the lofty Pine
Distilling-pitch, the Larch yeeld-Turpentine,
[Page 74]Th' euer-green Box, and gummy Cedar sprout,
And th' Airy Mountaines mantle round about:
The Mast-full Oke, the vse-full Ash, the Holm,
Coat changing Cork, white Maple, shady Elm,
Through Hill and Plain ranged their plumed Ranks.
The winding Riuers bordered all their banks
With slice-Sea Alders, and green Osiars smal,
With trembling Poplars, and with VVillows pase,
And many Trees beside, fit to be made
Fewell, or Timber, or to serue for Shade.
The dainty Apricock (of Plums the Prince)
Of fruit-trees.
The veluet Peach, gilt Orenge, downy Quince,
All-ready bear grav'n in their tender barks,
Gods powerfull prouidence in open marks.
The sent-sweet Apple, and a stringent Pear,
The Cherry, Filberd, VVal-nut, Meddeler,
The milky Fig, the Damson black and white,
The Date, and Olyue, ayding appetite,
Spread euery-where a most delightfull Spring,
And euery-where a very Eden bring.
Heer, the fine Pepper, as in clusters hung,
Of shrubs.
There Cinamon and other Spices sprung.
Heer, dangled Nutmegs, that for thrifty pains
Yearly repay the Bandans wondrous gains;
There growes (th' Hesperian Plant) the precious Reed
Whence Sugar sirrops in aboundance bleed;
There weeps the Balm, and famous Trees from whence
Th' Arabians fetch perfuming Frankincense.
There, th' amorous Uine coll's in a thousand sorts
(With winding arms) her Spouse that her supports:
The Vine, as far inferiour to the rest,
Of the Vine, and the excellent vse of Wine tempe­rately taken.
In beauty, as in bounty past the best:
Whose sacred liquor, temperately taen,
Reviues the spirits and purifies the brain,
Cheers the sad heart, increaseth kindly heat,
Purgeth gross blood, and doth the pure beget,
Strengthens the stomack, and the colour mends,
Sharpens the wit, and doth the bladder cleanse,
[Page 75]Opens obstructions, excrements expels,
And easeth vs of many Languors els.
He preuenteth an obiection, and sheweth that notwithstanding mans fall, the Earth yeeldeth vs matter i­nough to praise and magnifie her Maker.
And though through Sin (wherby from Heav'nly state
Our Parents barr'd vs) th' Earth degenerate
From her first beauty, bearing still vpon her
Eternall Scars of her fond Lords dishonour:
Though with the Worlds age, her weak age decay,
Though she becom less fruitfull every day
(Much like a Woman with oft teeming worn;
Who with the Babes of her owne body born,
Having almost stor'd a whole Town with people,
Simile.
At length becomes barren, and faint, and feeble)
Yet doth she yeeld matter enough to sing
And praise the Maker of so rich a Thing.
Neuer mine eies in pleasant Spring behold
Of Flowers.
The azure Flax, the gilden Marigold,
The Violet's purple, the sweet Rose's stammell,
The Lillie's snowe, and Pansey's various ammell;
But that (in them) the Painter I admire,
Who in more Colours doth the Fields attire,
Then fresh Aurora's rosie cheeks display,
When in the East she Vshers a fair Day:
Or Iris Bowe, which bended in the Sky
Boades fruitfull deaws when as the Fields be dry.
Heer (deer S. BARTAS) giue thy Seruant leaue.
An addition by the Translator, of the rare Sun-louing LOTOS.
In thy rich Garland one rare Flowr to weaue,
VVhose wondrons nature had more worthy been
Of thy diuine, immortalizing Pen:
But, from thy sight, when SEIN did swell with Bloud,
It sunk (perhaps) vnder the Crimsin Flood
(VVhen Beldam, Medices, Valois, and Guise
Stain'd Hymens Roab with Heathen cruelties)
Because the Sun, to shun so vile a view,
His Chamber kept; and wept with Bartholmew.
For so, so soon as in the Western Seas▪
Apollo sinks, in siluer Euphrates
The Lotos diues, deeper and deeper ay
Till mid-night: then, remounteth toward Day:
[Page 76]But not aboue the Water, till the Sun
Doo r [...]-ascend aboue the Horizon.
Semper [...]adem
So euer-true to Titans radiant Flame,
That (Rise he, Fall he) it is Still the same.
A Real Emblem of her Royal Honour
That worthily did take that Word vpon-her;
Sacred ELIZA, that ensu'd no less
Th' etenall Sun of Peace and Righteousnes;
VVhose liuely lamp (what euer did betide-her)
In either Fortune was her onely Guider.
For, in her Fathers and her Brothers Daies,
Fair rose this Rose with Truth's new-springing raies:
And when again the Gospels glorious Light
Set in her Sisters superstitious Night;
She sunk withall vnder afflictions streams
(As sinks my Lotos with Sols setting beams):
But, after Night, when Light again appear'd,
Ther-with, again her Royal Crown she rear'd;
And in an Ile amid the Ocean set
(Maugre the Deluge that Romes Dragon spet,
VVith spight full storms striuing to ouer-flowe her,
And Spain conspyring iointly t' ouer-throwe-her)
Her Maiden Flowr flourisht aboue the VVater;
ELIZABETA REGINA. Anagram. Ei ben t' alza e gira.
For, still Heav'ns Sun cherisht his louing Daughter:
Bel fior d'Honor, ch'in Mare'l Mondo ammira,
Al Sole sacro, ch'E [...] BEN T' ALZA E GIRA
(So, my deer Wiat, honouring Stil the same,
In-soul'd an Imprese with her Anagramm):
And last, for guerdon of her constant Loue,
Rapt her intirely, to himself aboue.
So set our Sun; and yet no Night ensu'd:
So happily the Heav'ns our Light renu'd:
For, in her stead, of the same Stock of Kings
Another Flowr (or rather Phoenix) springs;
Another like (or rather Still the same)
No lesse in Loue with that Supernall Flame.
So, to God's glory, and his Churches good,
Th' honour of England, and the Royall blood,
[Page 77]Long happy Monark may king IAMES persist;
And after him, His; Still the same in Christ.
God, not content t' haue giuen these Plants of ours
Of diuers hearbs and Plants, and of their excellent vertues.
Precious Perfumes, Fruits, plenty, pleasant Flowrs,
Infused Physick in their leaues and Mores,
To cure our sicknes, and to salve our sores:
Else doubt-less (Death assaults so many waies)
Scarce could we liue a quarter of our Daies;
But like the Flax, which flowrs at once and falls,
Simile.
One Feast would serue our Births and Burials:
Our Birth our Death, our Cradle (then) our Toomb,
Our tender Spring our Winter would becom.
Good Lord! how many gasping Soules haue scap't
By th' ayd of Hearbs, for whom the Graue hath gap't;
Who, euen about to touch the Stygian strand!
Haue yet beguil'd grim Pluto's greedy hand!
Beard-less Apollo's beardy
Esculapius.
Sonn did once
With iuice of Hearbs r [...]ioin the scattered bones
Of the chaste
Hyppolitus.
Prince, that in th' Athenian Court
Preferred Death before incestuous [...]port.
So did Medea, for her Iason's sake,
The frozen limbs of Aeson youthfull make.
O sacred Simples that our life sustain,
And when it flies vs, call it back again!
'Tis not alone your liquor, inly taen,
That oft defends vs from so many a baen:
But euen your sauour, yea, your neighbourhood,
For som Diseases is exceeding good;
Working so rare effects, that only such
As feel, or see them, can beleeueso much.
Blew Succorie, hangd on the naked neck,
The vertue of Succorie. Of Swines-bread.
Dispels the dimness that our sight doth check.
Swines-Bread, sovsed, doth not onely speed
A tardy Labour; but (without great heed)
If ouer it a Child-great Woman stride,
Instant abortion often doth betide.
The burning Sun, the banefull Aconite,
The poysonie Serpents that vnpeople quite
[Page 78] Cyrenian Desarts, neuer Danger them
That wear about them th'
Mugw [...]rt. Peoni [...].
Artemisian Stem.
About an Infants neck hang Peoni [...],
It cures Al [...]ydes cruell maladie.
If fuming boawls of Bacchus, in excess,
Trouble thy brains with storms of gyddiness,
Put but a garland of green Saffron on,
Saffron.
And that mad humour will be quickly gon.
Th' inchanting Charms of Syrens blandishments,
Contagious A're ingendring Pestilence,
Infect not those that in their mouthes haue taen
Angelica.
Angelica that happy counter-baen,
Sent down from Heav'n by some Celestiall scout,
As well the name and nature both avow't.
So Pimpernel, held in the Patients hand,
The bloody-Flix doth presently with-stand:
Pimpernell or Burnet. Madder.
And ruddy Madder's root, long handeled,
Dies th' handlers vrine into perfect red.
O Wondrous Woad! which, touching but the skin,
Imparts his colour to the parts within.
Nor (powerfull Hearbs) do we alonely finde
Your vertues working in frail humane kinde;
But you can force the fiercest Animals,
The fellest Fiends, the firmest Mineralls,
Yea, fairest Planets (if Antiquitie
Have not bely'd the Haggs of Thessalie).
Onely the touch of Choak-Pard
Libbards bane
Aconite,
Bereaves the Scorpion both of sense and might:
As (opposite) Helleborus doth make
Helleborus.
His vitall powers from deadly slumber wake.
With Betonie, fell Serpents round beset,
Betonie.
Lift vp their heads, and fall to hiss and spet,
With spightfull fury in their sparkling eyes,
Breaking all truce, with infinite defies:
Puft vp with rage, to't by the eares they goe,
Baen against baen, plague against plague they throwe,
Charging each other with so fierce a force
(For friends turn'd foes have lightly least remorse)
[Page 97]That wounded all (or rather all a wound)
With poysoned gore they cover all the ground;
And nought can stint their strange intestine strife,
But onely th' end of their detested life.
As Betonie breaks friendships ancient bands,
So Willo-wort makes wonted hate shake hands:
Willow-worte.
For, being fastned to proud Coursers collers,
That fight and fling, it will abate their cholers.
The Swine, that feed in Troughes of Tamarice,
Tamarice.
Consume their spleen. The like effect ther is
In Finger-Fern: which, being given to Swine,
Finger-Ferne.
It makes their Milts to Melt away in fine,
With ragged tooth choosing the same so right
Of all their Tripes to serue it's appetite.
And Horse, that, feeding on the grassy Hills,
Tread vpon
Lunaria.
Moon-woort with their hollow heeles;
Though lately shod, at night goe bare-foot home,
Their Maister musing where their shooes become:
O Moon-wort! tell vs where thou hidst the Smith,
Hammer, and Pincers, thou vnshoo'st them with?
Alas! what Locke or Iron Engine is't
That can thy subtile secret strength resist,
Sith the best Farrier cannot set a shoo
So sure, but thou (so shortly) canst vndoo?
But I suppose not, that the earth doth yeeld
In Hill or Dale, in Forrest or in Field,
A rarer Plant then Candian
Dictaminum▪ Candiae.
Dittanie,
Which wounded Dear eating, immediatly
Not onely cures their wounds exceeding well,
But 'gainst the Shooter doth the shaft repell.
Moreover (Lord) is't not a Work of thine▪
Great varie [...]ie in colour and form of Plants, and strange cō ­trari [...]ty of ef­fects, according to the bodies that▪ they work vpon.
That every where, in every Turf we finde
Such multitude of other Plants to spring,
In form, effect, and colour differing?
And each of them in their due Seasons taen,
To one is Physick, to another baen:
Now gentle, sharp anon: now good, then ill:
What cureth now, the same anon doth kill.
[Page 80]Th' hearb
Fen [...]l gyant.
S [...]gapen serues the slowe Asse for meat,
But kils the Ox if of the same he eat.
So branched
Hemlock.
Hemlock for the Stares is fit;
But, death to man, if he but taste of it.
And
Rose-bay.
Oleander vnto beasts is poyson;
But, vnto man a speciall counter-poyson.
What ranker poyson? what more deadly baen
Then
Wolfes ban [...].
Aconite, can there be toucht or taen?
And yet his iuice best cures the burning bit
Of stinging Serpents, if apply'd to it.
O valiant Venome! O courageous Plant!
Disdainfull Poyson! noble combatant!
That scorneth aid, and loves alone to fight,
That none partake the glory of his might:
For, if he finde our bodies fore-possest
With other Poyson, then he lets vs rest,
And with his Rivall enters secret Duel,
One to one, strong to strong, cruel to cruel,
Still fighting fierce, and never over-giue
Till they both dying, give Man leave to live.
And to conclude, whether I walke the Fields,
Rush through the Woods, or clamber vp the Hills,
I finde God every-where; Thence all depend,
He giueth frankly what we thankly spend.
Heer for our food, Millions of flow'rie grains,
With long Mustachoes, waue vpon the Plains;
Heer thousand fleeces, fit for Princes Robes,
Of grain, si [...]ke, Cotton-Wool (or Bombace) Plax & Hemp which the Earth pro­duceth.
In Sérean Forrests hang in silken Globes:
Heer shrubs of Malta (for my meaner vse)
The fine white balls of Bombace do produce.
Heer th' azure-flowred Flax is finely spun
For finest Linnen, by the Belgian Nun:
Heer fatall Hemp, which Denmark doth afford,
Doth furnish vs with Canuass, and with Cord,
Cables and Sayles; that, Windes assisting either,
We may acquaint the East and West together,
And dry-foot daunce on Neptunes Watry Front,
And in aduenture lead whole Towns vpon't.
[Page 81]Heer of one grain of
Indian-wheat.
Maiz, a Reed doth spring,
That thrice a year, fiue hundred grains doth bring;
Which (after) th' Indians parch, and punn, and knead,
And thereof make them a most holesom bread.
Th' Almighty Voyce, which built this mighty Ball,
Still, still rebounds and ecchoes ouer all:
That, that alone, yeerly the World revives;
Through that alone, all springs, all lives, all thrives:
And that alone makes, that our mealy grain
Our skilfull Seed-man scatters not in vain;
But being covered by the tooth-full Harrow,
Or hid a while vnder the folded furrow,
Rots to revive; and, warmly-wet, puts-forth
His root beneath, his bud above the Earth;
Enriching shortly with his springing Crop,
The Ground with green, the Husband-man with hope:
The bud becoms a blade, the blade a reed,
An exact des­cription of the growing of wheat and other like kindes of graine.
The reed an ear, the ear another seed:
The seed, to shut the wastefull Sparrows out
(In Harvest) hath a stand of Pikes about,
And Chaffie Husks in hollow Cods inclose-it;
Least heat, wet, winde, should roste, or rot, or lose-it:
And, least the Straw should not sustein the ear,
With knotty ioints 'tis sheathed heer and there.
Pardon me (Reader) if thy ravisht Eyes
Have seen To-Day too great varieties
Of Trees, of Flowrs, of Fruites, of Hearbs, of Grains,
In these my Groves, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Plains;
Sith th' Ile of Zebut's admirable Tree
Of the Indian Cocos a most admirable fruit.
Beareth a fruit (call'd Cocos commonly)
The which, alone, far richer Wonders yields
Then all our Groves, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Fields.
What? wouldst thou drink? the wounded leaues drop wine.
Lackst thou fine linnen? dress the tender rine,
Dress it like Flax, spin it▪ and weave it wel,
It shall thy Cambrik and thy Lawn excel.
Longst thou for Butter? bite the poulpy part,
And never better came to any Mart.
[Page 82]Needest thou Oyl? then boult it to and fro,
And passing oyle it soon becommeth so.
Or Vineger, to whet thine appetite?
Then sun it wel, and it will sharply bite.
Or wantst thou Sugar? steep the same a stound,
And sweeter Sugar is not to be found.
'Tis what you will: or will be what you would:
Should Mydas touch't (I think) it would be Gold.
And God (I think) to crown our life with ioyes,
The Earth with plenty, and his Name with praise,
Had don enough; if he had made no more
But this one Plant, so full of wondrous store:
Save that, the World (where one thing breeds satiety)
Could not be fair, without so great variety.
But th' Earth not onely on her back doth bear
Abundant treasures glistering everywhere
( As glorious vnthrifts, crost with Parents Curse,
Wear golden Garments; but an empty Purse:
Or Venus Darlings, fair without; within
Full of Disease, full of Deceipt and Sinne:
Or stately Toombes, externly gilt and garnisht;
With dust and bones inwardly fill'd and furnisht)
But inwardly shee's no less fraught with riches,
Of the riches vnder or within the Earth.
Nay rather more (which more our soules bewitches).
Within the deep folds of her fruitfull lap,
So bound-less Mines of treasure doth she wrap,
That th' hungry hands of humane avarice
Cannot exhaust with labour or device.
For, they be more then ther be Starrs in Heav'n,
Or stormy billows in the Ocean driv'n,
Or ears of Corn in Autumn on the Fields,
Or Savage Beasts vpon a thousand Hills,
Or Fishes diving in the silver Floods,
Or scattred Leaves in Winter in the Woods.
Slat, Iet, and Marble shall escape my pen,
Of Minerals.
I over-pass the Salt-mount Oromene,
I blanch the Brine-Quar Hill in Aragon,
Whence (there) they pouder their provision.
[Page 83]I'le onely now emboss my Book with Brass,
Dye't with Vermilion, deck't with Coperass,
With Gold and Siluer, Lead and Mercury,
Tin, Iron, Orpine, Stibium, Lethargy:
And on my Gold-work I will onely place
The Crystall pure, which doth reflect each face;
The precious Ruby, of a Sanguin hew,
Of pretious stones.
The Seal-fit Onyx, and the Saphire blew,
The Cassidonie, full of circles round,
The tender Topaz, and rich Diamond,
The various Opal, and green Emerald,
The Agate by a thousand titles call'd,
The skie-like Turquez, purple Amethists,
And fiery Carbuncle, which flames resists.
I knowe, to Man the Earth seems (altogether)
No more a Mother, but a Step-dame rather:
Because (alas) vnto our loss she bears
Blood-shedding Steel, and Gold the ground of cares:
As if these Mettals, and not Man's amiss,
Had made Sin mount vnto the height it is.
But, as the sweet bait of aboundant Riches,
Bodies and Soules of greedy men bewitches:
The vse, or abuse of things, makes thē good or euill: helpfull, or hurt­ful to Mankinde
Gold gilds the Vertuous, and it lends them wings
To raise their thoughts vnto the rarest things.
The wise, not onely Iron well apply
For houshold turns, and Tools of Husbandry;
But to defend their Country (when it calls)
From forrain dangers, and intestine bralls:
But, with the same the wicked never mell,
But to do seruice to the Haggs of Hell;
To pick a Lock, to take his neighbours Purse,
To break a House, or to doo somthing worse;
To cut his Parents throat, to kill his Prince,
To spoyl his Country, murder Innocents.
Even so, profaning of a gift divine,
The Drunkard drowns his Reason in the Wine:
So sale-tongu'd Lawyers, wresting Eloquence,
Excuse rich wrong, and cast poor Innocence:
[Page 84]So Antichrists, their poyson to infuse,
Miss-cite the Scriptures, and Gods name abuse.
For, as a Cask, through want of vse grow'n fusty,
Makes with his stink the best Greek Malmsey musty:
So God's best gifts, vsurpt by wicked Ones,
To poyson turn through their contagious.
But, shall I baulk th' admired Adamant,
Of the rare ver­tue of the Load­stone.
Whose dead-live power, my Reasons power doth dant.
Renowned Load-stone, which on Iron acts,
And by the touch the same aloof attracts;
Attracts it strangely with vnclapsing crooks,
With vnknow'n cords, with vnconceived hooks,
With vnseen hands, with vndiscerned arms,
With hidden Force, with sacred secret charms,
Wherewith hee wooes his Iron Misteriss,
And never leaves her till he get a kiss;
Nay, till he fold her in his faithfull bosom,
Never to part (except we, love-less, loose-em)
With so firm zeal and fast affection
The Stone doth love the Steel, the Steel the Stone.
And though somtime som Make bate com betwixt,
Still burns their first flame; 'tis so surely fixt:
And, while they cannot meet to break their mindes,
With mutuall skips they shew their loue by signes
( As bashfull Suters▪ seeing Strangers by,
Parley in silence with their hand or eye).
Who can conceiue, or censure in what sort
One Loadstone-touched Annlet doth transport
Another Iron-Ring, and that another,
Till foure or fiue hang dangling one in other?
Greatest Apollo might he be (me thinks)
Could tell the Reason of these hanging links:
Sith Reason-scanners haue resolved all,
That heavie things, hangd in the Aire, must fall▪
I am not ignorant, that He, who seeks
In Romane Robes to sute the Sagest Greeks,
Whose iealous wife, weening to home-revoke-him
With a Love-potion, did with poyson choak-him;
[Page 85]Hath sought to showe, with arguing subtilty,
The secret cause of this rare Sympathy.
But say ( Lucretius) what's the hidden cause
That toward the North-Star still the needle draw's,
Whose point is toucht with Load-stone? loose this knot,
And still-green Laurell shall be still thy Lot:
Yea, Thee more learned will I then confess,
Then Epicurus, or Empedocles.
W'are not to Ceres so much bound for Bread,
Of the excellent vse of the Ma­riners Compasse.
Neither to Bacchus, for his Clusters red,
As ( Signor Flauio) to thy witty triall,
For first inuenting of the Sea-mans Diall
(Th'vse of the Needle, turning in the same)
Diuine deu [...]?e! O admirable Frame!
Whereby, through th' Ocean, in the darkest night,
Our hugest Caraques are conducted right:
Whereby w'are stor'd with Truch-man, Guide, and Lamp
To search all corners of the watery Camp:
Whereby a Ship, that stormy Heav'ns haue whurld
Neer in one Night into another World,
Knowes where she is; and in the Card descries
What degrees thence the Equinoctiall lies.
Cleer-sighted Spirits, that cheer with sweet aspect
My sober Rymes, though subiect to defect;
If in this Volume, as you ouer-read it
You meet som things seeming exceeding credit,
Because (perhaps) heer proued yet by no-man;
Their strange effects be not in knowledge common:
Think, yet, to som the Load-stone's vse is new;
And seems as strange, as we haue try'd it true:
Let therefore that which Iron draw's, draw such
To credit more then what they see or touch.
Nor is th' Earth onely worthy praise eternall,
Of medicinable Earthes.
For the rare riches on her back externall;
Or in her bosom: but her own selfs worth
Solicits me to sound her glory forth.
I call to witnes all those weak diseased,
Whose bodies oft haue by th' effects been eased
[Page 86]Of Lemnos seal'd earth, or Eretrian soil,
Or that of Chios, or of Melos Ile.
All-hail fair Earth, bearer of Towns and Towrs,
Of Men, Gold, Grain, Physik, and Fruits, and Flowrs,
The Earths En­comion.
Fair, firm, and fruitfull, various, patient, sweet,
Sumptuously cloathed in a Mantle meet
Of mingled-colour; lac't about with Floods,
And all imbrodered with fresh blooming buds,
With rarest Gemmes richly about embost,
Excelling cunning and exceeding cost.
All-hail great Heart, round Base, and stedfast Root,
Of All the World, the Worlds strong fixed foot,
Heav'ns chastest Spouse, supporter of this All,
This glorious Buildings goodly Pedestall.
All hail deer Mother, Sister, Hostess, Nurse,
Of the Worlds Soverain: of thy liberall purse,
W'are all maintained: match-less Emperess,
To doo thee seruice with all readiness,
The Sphears, before thee bear ten thousand Torches:
The Fire, to warm thee, foldes his heatfull arches
In purest flames aboue the floating Cloud:
Th' Aire, to refresh thee, willingly is bow'd
About the Waues, and well content to suffer
Milde Zephyrs blasts, and Boreas bellowing rougher:
Water, to quench thy thirst, about thy Mountains,
Wraps her moist arms, Seas, riuers, lakes and fountains.
O how I grieue, deer Earth, that (given to gays)
Commendations of the Country­life.
Most of best wits contemn thee now-a-days:
And noblest hearts proudly abandon quight
Study of Hearbs, and Country-lifes delight,
To brutest men, to men of no regard,
Whose wits are Lead, whose bodies Iron-hard.
Such were not yerst the reuerend Patriarks,
Whose prayse is penned by the sacred Clarks.
Noah the iust, meek Moses, Abraham
(Who Father of the Faithfull Race becam)
Were Shepheards all, or Husbandmen (at least)
And in the Fields passed their Dayes the best.
[Page 87]Such were not yerst Attalus, Philemetor,
Archelaus, Hiero, and many a Pretor;
Great Kings & Consuls, who haue oft, for blades
And glistering Scepters, handled hooks and spades.
Such were not yerst, Cincinnatus Fabricius,
Serranus, Curius, who vn-self-delicious,
With Crowned Coultars, with Imperiall hands,
With Ploughs triumphant plough'd the Roman lands.
Great Scipio, sated with fain'd curtsie-capping,
With Court- Eclipses, and the tedious gaping
Of golden beggers: and that Emperour,
Of Slave, turn'd King; of King, turnd Labourer;
In Country Granges did their age confine:
And ordered there, with as good Discipline,
The Fields of Corn, as Fields of Combat first;
And Ranks of Trees, as Ranks of Souldiers yerst.
O thrice, thrice happy He, who shunns the cares
Of City-troubles, and of State-affairs;
And, seruing Ceres, Tills with his own Teem
His own Free-land, left by his Friends to him▪
Never pale Enuie's poysonie heads doo hiss
To gnaw his heart; nor Vultur Auarice:
Free from enuy, ambition, & a­uarice: and con­sequently from the diuelish pra­ctises of Machi­auiliā Politikes.
His Field's bounds, bound his thoughts: he never supps,
For Nectar, poyson mixtin silver Cups;
Neither in golden Platters doth he lick
For sweet Ambrosia deadly Arsenick:
His hand's his boaul (better then Plate or Glass)
The siluer Brook his sweetest Hypocrasse:
Milk, Cheese, and Fruit (fruits of his own endeuour)
Drest without dressing, hath he ready ever.
False Counsailours (Concealers of the Law)
Not v [...]xed with counterfait wre­stings of wrang­ling Laywers.
Turn-coat Attourneys, that with both hands draw;
Sly Peti-Foggers, Wranglers at the Bar,
Proud Purse-Leaches, Harpies of Westminster,
With fained chiding, and foul iarring noyse,
Break not his brain, nor interrupt his ioyes▪
But cheerfull Birds, chirping him sweet Good-morrows,
With Natures Musick doo beguile his sorrows;
[Page 86]Teaching the fragrant Forrests, day by day,
The Diapason of their Heav'nly Lay.
His wandring Vessell, reeling to and fro,
Not dreading shipwracke, nor in danger of Pirates.
On th' irefull Ocean (as the Windes doo blowe)
With sodain Tempest is not ouer-whurld,
To seek his sad death in another World:
But, leading all his life at home in Peace,
Alwaies in sight of his own smoak; no Seas,
No other Seas he knowes, nor other Torrent,
Then that which waters, with his siluer Corrent
His Natiue Medowes: and that very Earth
Shall giue him Buriall, which first gaue him Birth.
To summon timely sleep, he doth not need
Not diseased in body through de­licious Idlenes.
Aethyop's cold Rush, nor drowsy Poppy-seed;
Nor keep in consort (as Mecaenas did)
Luxurious Villains (Viols I should haue sayd);
But on green Carpets thrumd with mossy Beuer,
Frendging the round skirts of his winding Riuer,
The streams milde murmur, as it gently gushes,
His healthy limbs in quiet slumber hushes.
Drum, Fife, and Trumpet, with their loud A-larms,
Not drawen by factions to an vntimely Death
Make him not start out of his sleep, to Arms:
Nor deer respect of som great Generall,
Him from his bed vnto the block doth call.
The crested Cock sings Hunt is vp to him,
Limits his rest, and makes him stir betime,
To walk the Mountains, or the flowry Meads,
Impearld with tears, that sweet Aurora sheads.
Never gross Aire, poysond in stinking Streets,
Not choaked with contagion of a corrupted Aire.
To choak his spirit, his tender nostrill meets;
But th' open Sky, where at full breath he liues,
Still keeps him sound, and still new stomack giues:
And Death, drad Seriant of th' eternall Iudge,
Coms very late to his sole seated Lodge.
His wretched yeers in Princes Courts he spends not:
Nor (Chamel [...] ­like) changing, with euery ob­iect, the colour of his conscience.
His thralled will on Great mens wils depends not:
He, changing Master, doth not change at once
His Faith; Religion, and his God renounce:
[Page 87]With mercenary lies hee doth not chaunt,
Praysing an Emmet for an Elephant:
Nor soothing Sin; nor licking the Tayl of Greatnesse.
Sardanapalus (drown'd in soft excess)
For a triumphant vertuous Hercules;
Thersites foul, for Venus louely Loue;
And every Changeling for a Turtle-Doue;
Nor lavishes in his lascivious layes,
On wanton Flora, chaste Alcestes prayse.
But all self-priuate, serving God, he writes
Fear-less, and sings but what his heart in dites.
No sallow Fear doth day or night afflict-him:
Vnto no fraud doth night or day addict-him;
Neither prest with Fear, nor plotting Fraud.
Or if he muse on guile, 'tis but to get
Beast, Bird, or Fish, in toil, or snare, or net.
What though his Wardrobe be not stately stuft
With sumptuous silks (pinked, and powne't, and puft)
With gold-ground Velvets, and with siluer Tissue,
And all the glory of old Eues proud Issue?
What though his feeble Cofers be not cramd
With Misers Idols, golden Ingotsramd?
He is warm-wrapped in his own-growen Wooll;
Of vn-bought Wines his Cellar's everfull;
His Garner's stor'd with grain, his Ground with flocks,
His Barns with Fodder, with sweet streams his Rocks.
For, heer I sing the happy Rustiks weal,
Whose handsom house seems as a Common-weal:
And not the needy, hard rack-rented Hinde,
Or Copy-holder, whom hard Lords doo grinde;
The pined Fisher, or poor-Daiery-Renter
That liues of whay, for forfeiting Indenture;
Who scarce haue bread within their homely Cotes
(Except by fits) to feed their hungry throats.
Let me good Lord, among the Great vn-kend,
My rest of daies in the calm Countrey end.
Let me deserue of my deer AEGLE-Brood,
For Windsor- Forrest, walks in Almes-wood:
Bee Hadley Pond my Sea; Lambs-bourn my Thames;
Lambourn my London; Kennet's siluer streams,
[Page 90] My fruitfull Nile; my Singers and Musicians,
The pleasant Birds with warbling repetitions;
My company, pure thoughts, to work thy will;
My Court, a Cottage on a lowely Hill;
Where, without let, I may so sing thy Name,
That times to-com may wonder at the same.
Or, if the new North-star, my Souerain, IAMES
(The secret vertue of whose sacred beams
Attracts th' attentiue seruice of all such
Whose mindes did euer Vertue's Load-stone touch)
Shall euer daign t'inuite mine humble Fate
T'approoch the Presence of his Royall State:
Or, if my Duty, or the Grace of Nobles,
Shall driue or draw me neer their pleasing-Troubles;
Let not their Fauours make me drunk with folly:
In their Commands, still keep my Conscience holy:
Let me, true Honour, not the false delight;
And play the Preacher, not the Parasite.
So, Morn and Euening the Third Day conclude,
And God perceiv'd that All his Works were good.

THE FOVRTH DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
The twinkling Spangles of the Firmament:
The wandring Seav'n (Each in a seuerall Tent);
Their Course, their Force, their Essence is disputed;
That they (as Beasts) doe eat and drink; refuted.
Heav'ns (not the Earth) with rapid motion roule:
The famous Stars observ'd in either Pole:
Heav'ns sloaping Belt: the Twelue celestiall Signes,
Whear Sol the Seasons of the Year confines:
Dayes glorious Prince: Nights gloomy Patroness:
His Light and Might: Her constant Change-fulnes.
PVre Spirit that rapt'st aboue the Firmest Sphear,
In the beginning of the fourth booke, calling vpon the God of Heauen, our Poet prayeth to be lift vp in the Heauens, that he may discours [...] (as he ought) of the starrs▪ fixed and wandring.
In fiery Coach, thy faithfull Messenger,
Who smiting Iordan with his pleighted Cloak,
Did yerst diuide the Waters with the stroak:
O▪ take me vp; that, far from Earth, I may
From Sphear to Sphear, see th' azure Heav'ns To-Day,
Be thou my Coach-man, and now Check by Ioule
With Phoebus Chariot let my Chariotroule;
Driue on my Coach by Mars his flaming Coach;
Saturn and Luna let my wheels approach:
That having learn'd of their Fire-breathing Horses,
Their course, their light, their labour, and their forces,
My Muse may sing in sacred Eloquence,
To Vertues Friends, their vertuous Excellence:
[Page 92]And with the Load-stone of my conquering Verse,
Aboue the Poles attract the most perverse,
And you fair learned soules, you spirits diuine,
To whom the Heav'ns so nimble quils assigne,
As well to mount, as skilfully to limn
The various motion of their Taperstrim;
Lend me your hand; lift mee aboue Parnassus;
With your loud Trebbles help my lowly Bassus.
For sure, besides that your wit-gracing Skill
Bears, in itself, itself's rich guerdon still;
Our Nephews, free from sacrilegious brauls,
Where Horror swims in bloud about our wals,
Shall one day sing that your deer Song did merit
Better Heav'n, better hap and better time to hear-it.
And, though (alas) my now new-rising Name
Can hope heer-after none, or little Fame:
The time that most part of our betterwits
Mis-spend in Flattery, or in Fancy-Fits,
In courting Ladies, or in clawing Lords,
Without affection, in affected words:
I mean to spend, in publishing the Story
Of Gods great works, to his immortall glory.
My rymes, begot in pain, and born in pleasure,
Thirst not for Fame (the Heathen hope's chief treasure):
'T shall me suffice, that our deer France doo breed
(In happy season) som more learned sced,
That may record with more diuine dexterity
Then I haue don these wonders to Posterity.
Much less may these abortiue Brats of Mine
Expect Respect (but in respect of Thine):
Yet sith the Heav'ns haue thus entaskt my layes
(As darkly Cynthia darts her borrow'd rayes)
To shadow Thine; and to my Countrey render
Som small reflection of thy radiant splendor;
It is inough, if heer-by I incite
Som happier spirit to do thy Muse more right;
And with more life giue thee thy proper grace,
And better follow great du BARTAS trace.
GOD'S NONE of these faint idle Artizens
Heere resuming his course, he pre­secutes the worke of the Creation.
Who, at the best abandon their designes,
Working by halfs; as rather a great deal,
To do much quickly, then to do it well:
But rather, as a workman neuer weary,
And all-sufficient, he his works doth carry
To happy end; and to perfection,
With sober speed, brings what he hath begun.
Hauing therfore the Worlds wide Curten spread
About the circuit of the fruitfull Bed,
In the fourth day, God crea­ted the fixed Stars, the two great Lights, (vid.) the Sunne and the Moone, together with the other fiue Planets.
Where (to fill all with her vnnumbred Kin)
Kinde Natures self each moment lyeth in:
To make the same for euer admirable,
More stately-pleasant, and more profitable;
He th' Azure Tester trimm'd with golden marks,
And richly spangled with bright glistring sparks.
I knowe, those Tapers, twinkling in the sky,
Doo turn so swiftly from our hand and eye,
That man can neuer (rightly) reach, to seeing
Their Course and Force, and much-much less their Being:
Of their Course, Force, Essence, and Substance.
But, if coniecture may extend aboue
To that great Orb, whose mouing All doth moue,
Th' imperfect Light of the first Day was it,
Which for Heavn's Eyes did shining matter fit:
For, God, selecting lightest of that Light,
Garnisht Heav'ns seeling with those Torches bright:
Or else diuided it; and pressing close
The parts, did make the Sun and Stars of those.
But, if thy wits thirst rather seek these things,
Opinion of the Greek touching the matter of the Stars.
In Greekish Cisterns then in Hebrew Springs;
Then I conclude, that as of moistfull matter,
God made the people that frequent the Water,
And of an Earthy stuff the stubborn droues
That haunt the Hills and Dales and Downs and Groues:
So, did he make, by his Almighty might,
The Heav'ns and Stars, of one same substance bright;
To th' end these Lamps, dispersed in the Skies,
Might with their Orb, it with them, sympathize.
[Page 94]And as (with vs) vnder the Oaken bark
The knurry knot with branching vains, we mark
Simile.
To bee of substance all one with the Tree,
Although far thicker and more rough it bee:
So those gilt studs in th' vpper story driven,
Are nothing but the thickest part of Heav'n.
When I obserue their Light and Heat yblent
Their substance is of Fire.
(Meer accidents of th' vpper Element)
I thinke them Fire: but not such Fire as lasts
No longer then the fuel that it wastes:
For then, I think all th' Elements too-little
To furnish them only with one days victual.
And therefore smile I at those Fable-Forges,
Resutation of such as haue thought that the Stars were li­uing creatures that did eat and drinke.
Whose busy-idle stile so stifly vrges,
The Heavn's bright Cressets to be living creatures,
Ranging for food, and hungry fodder-eaters;
Still sucking-vp (in their eternall motion)
The Earth for meat, and for their drink, the Ocean.
Sure, I perceive no motion in a Star,
But natural, certain, and regular;
Wher-as Beasts motions infinitely vary,
Confus'd, vncertain, diuers, voluntary.
I see not how so many golden Postes
Should scud so swift about Heav'ns azure coasts,
But that the Heav'ns must ope and shut som-times,
Subiect to passions, which our earthly climes
Alter, and toss the Sea, and th' Aire estrange
From it selfs temper with exceeding change.
I see not how, in those round blazing beams,
One should imagine any food-fit limbs:
Nor can I see how th' Earth, and Sea should feed
So many Stars, whose greatnes doth exceed
So many times (if Star-Diuines say troth)
The greatnes of the Earth and Ocean both:
Sith heer our Cattle, in a month, will eat
Seav'n-times the bulk of their owne bulk in meat.
These Torches then range not at random, o're
The lightsom thicknes of an vn-firm Floor:
[Page 95]As heer below, diuersly mooving them,
The painted Birds between two aires do swim.
But rather fixed vnto turning Spheares,
Ay, will-they, nill-they, follow their careeres:
Simile.
As Cart-nails fastned in a wheel (without
Selfs-motion) turn with others turns about.
As th' Ague-sicke, vpon his shivering pallet,
A comparison.
Delaies his health oft to delight his palat;
When wilfully his taste-les Taste delights
In things vnsauory to sound Appetites:
Even so, som brain-sicks liue ther now-adaies,
That lose themselves still in contrary waies;
Preposterous Wits that cannot rowe at ease,
On the smooth Chanell of our common Seas.
And such are those (in my conceit at least)
Those Clarks that think (think how absurd a iest)
That neither Heav'ns nor Stars do turn at all,
Nor dance about this great round Earthly Ball;
But th' Earth it self, this Massie Globe of ours,
Turns round-about once euery twice-twelue houres:
And wee resemble Land-bred nouices
New brought aboord to venture on the Seas;
Who, at first launching from the shoar, suppose
The ship stands still, and that the ground it goes.
So, twinkling Tapers, that Heav'ns Arches fill,
Opinion of Co­pernicus cōfuted
Equally distant should continue still.
So, neuer should an Arrow, shot vpright,
In the same place vpon the shooter light;
But would doo (rather) as (at Sea) a stone
Aboord a Ship vpward vprightly throw'n;
Which not within-boord fall's, but in the Flood
A-stern the Ship, if so the winde be good.
So, should the Fouls that take their nimble flight
From Western Marshes toward Mornings Light,
And Zephyrus, that in the Summer time
Delights to visit Eurus in his clime,
And Bullets thundred from the Canons throat
(Whose roaring drowns the Heavn'ly thunders note)
[Page 96]Should seem recoyl: sithens the quick career,
That our round Earth should daily gallop heer,
Must needs exceed a hundred-fold (for swift)
Birds, Bullets, Windes; their wings, their force, their drift.
Arm'd with these reasons, 'twere superfluous
T' assail the reasons of Copernicus;
Who, to salve better, of the Stars th' appearance,
Vnto the Earth a three-fold motion warrants:
Making the Sun the Center of this All,
Leauing to dis­pute farther vp­pon the former Paradox, he pro ccedeth in his discourse, and by a liuely compa­rison represen­teth the beauti­full ornament of the Heavens a­bout the Earth.
Moon, Earth, and Water, in one only Ball.
But sithens heer, nor time, nor place doth sute,
His Paradox at length to pros [...]cute;
I will proceed, grounding my next discourse
On the Heav'ns motions, and their constant course.
I oft admire Greatnes of mighty Hills,
And pleasant beauty of the flowry Fields,
And count-les number of the Oceans sand,
And secret force of sacred Adamant:
But much-much more (the more I mark their course)
Stars glistering greatnes, beauty, number▪ force.
Euen as a Peacock, prickt with loues desire,
Simile.
To woo his Mistress, strowting stately by her,
Spreads round the rich pride of his pompous vail,
His azure wings and starry-golden tail,
With rattling pinions wheeling still about,
The more to set his beautious beautie out:
The Firmament (as feeling like aboue)
Displays his pomp; pranceth about his Loue,
Spreads his blew curtain, mixt with golden marks,
Set with gilt spangles, sow'n with glistring sparks,
Sprinkled with eyes, specked with Tapers bright,
Poudred with Starrs streaming with glorious light,
T' inflame the Earth the more, with Louers grace,
To take the sweet fruit of his kinde imbrace.
Hee, that to number all the Stars would seek,
The number of Stars vnder both the Poles innumerable.
Had need inuent som new Arithmetick;
And who, to cast that Reck'ning takes in hand,
Had need for Counters take the Ocean's sand:
[Page 97]Yet haue our wise and learned Elders found
And why the ancient Astro­nomers obserued 48.
Foure-dozen Figures in the Heav'nly Round,
For aid of memory; and to our eyes
In certain Howses to diuide the Skyes.
Of those, are Twelue in that rich Girdle greft
Of the fignes in the Zodiacke.
Which God gaue Nature for her New-yeres-gift
(When making All, his voice Almighty most,
Gaue so fair Laws vnto Heav'ns shining Hoast)
To wear it biaz, buckled ouer-thwart-her;
Not round about her swelling waste to girt-her.
This glorious Baldrick of a Golden tindge,
Imbost with Rubies, edg'd with Siluer Frindge,
Buckled with Gold, with a Bend glistring bright,
Heav'ns biaz-wise enuirons day and night.
For, from the period, whear the Ram doth bring
The Zodiacke.
The day and night to equall ballancing,
Ninetie degrees towards the North it wends,
Thence iust as much toward Mid-Heav'n it bends,
As many thence toward the South; and thence
Towards th' Years Portall, the like difference.
Nephelian Crook-horn, with brass Cornets crown'd,
Aries in Mid-March begins the Spring.
Thou buttest brauely 'gainst the New-yeres bound;
And richly clad in thy fair Golden Fleece,
Doo'st hold the First House of Heav'ns spacious Meese.
Taurus in mid-Aprill.
Thou spy'st anon the Bull behinde thy back:
Who, least that fodder by the way he lack,
Seeing the World so naked; to renewg't,
Coats th' infant Earth in a green gallant sute;
And, without Plough or Yoak, doth freely fling
Through fragrant Pastures of the flowry Spring.
Gemini in mid-May.
The Twins, whose heads, arms, shoulders, knees and feet,
God fill'd with Starrs to shine in season sweet,
Contendin Course, who first the Bull shall catch,
That neither will nor may attend their match.
Then, Summers-guide, the Crab coms rowing soft,
Cancer in mid-Iune begins the sommer.
With his eight owres through the Heavn's azure lo [...]t;
To bring vs yeerely, in his starry shell,
Many long daies the shaggy Earth to swele.
[Page 98]Almost with like pase leaps the Lion out,
Leo in mid-Iuly.
All clad with flames, bristled with beams about;
Who, with contagion of his burning breath,
Both grass and grain to cinders withereth.
The Virgin next, sweeping Heav'ns azure Globe
Virgo in mid-August.
With stately train of her bright Golden robe,
Milde-proudly marching in her left hand brings
A sheaf of Corn, and in her right hand wings.
Libra in mid-September begin neth Autumn.
After the Maiden, shines the Balance bright,
Equall druider of the Day and Night:
In whose gold Beam, with three gold rings, there fastens
With six gold strings, a payr of golden Basens.
The spitefull Scorpion, next the Skale addrest,
With two bright Lamps couers his loathsom brest;
Scorpio in mid-October.
And fain, from both ends, with his double sting,
Would spet his venom ouer euery thing;
Sagittarius in mid-Nouember
But that the braue Half-horse Phylirean Scout,
Galloping swift the heav'nly Belt about,
Ay fiercely threats, with his flame-feathered arrow
To shoot the sparkling starry Viper thorough.
And th' hoary Centaure, during all his Race,
Capricornus in mid-December, beginneth Winter.
Is so attentiue to this onely chase,
That dread-less of his dart, Heav'ns shining Kid
Coms iumping light, iust at his heels vnspid.
Aquarius in mid-Ianuary.
Mean-whilethe Skinker, from his starry spout,
After the Goat, a siluer stream pours-out;
Distilling still out of his radiant Fire
Riuers of Water (who but will admire?)
In whose cleer channel mought at pleasure swim
Those two bright Fishes that doo follow him;
Pisces in mid-February.
But that the Torrent slides so swift away,
That it out-runs them euer, euen as they
Out-run the Ram, who euer them pursues;
And by renewing Yearely, all renues.
The names of the Principall stars of the North-Pole.
Besides these Twelue, toward the Artik side,
A flaming Dragon doth Two-Bears diuide;
After, the Wainman coms, the Crown, the Spear;
The Kneeling Youth, the Harp, the Hamperer
[Page 99]Of th' hatefull Snake (whether we call the same
By Aesculapius, or Alcides name)
Swift Pegasus, the Dolphin, louing man;
Ioues stately Aegle, and the siluer Swan:
Andromeda, with Cassiopeia neer-her,
Her father Cepheus, and her Perseus deerer:
The shining Triangle, Medusa's Tress,
And the bright Coach-man of Tindarides.
Toward th' other Pole, Orion, Eridanus,
The names of the Stars of the South-Pole.
The Whale, the Whelp, and hot-breath't Sirius,
The Hare, the Hulk▪ the Hydra, and the Boule,
The Centaure, VVolf, the Censer, and the Foul
(The twice-foul Rauen) the Southern Fish and Crown,
Through Heav'ns bright Arches brandish vp and down.
Thus, on This-Day working th' eightth azure Tent,
The fixed stars are in the eight Heauen.
With Art-les Art, diuinely excellent;
Th' Almighties fingers fixed many a million
Of golden Scutchions in that rich Pauilion:
But in the rest (vnder that glorious Heav'n)
But one a-peece, vnto the seuerall Seav'n;
And the seauen Planets vnder them each in his proper Spheare
Least, of those Lamps the number-passing number
Should mortall eyes with such confusion cumber,
That we should neuer, in the cleerest night,
Starrs diuers Course see or discern aright.
And therfore also, all the fixed Tapers
He made to twinkle with such trembling capers;
Why the Pla­nets twinkle not, and the fixed stars do twinkle.
But, the Scaven Lights that wander vnder them,
Through various passage, neuer shake a beam:
Or, he (perhaps) made them not different;
But, th' hoast of Sparks spred in the Firmament
Far from our sense, through distance infinite,
Seems but to twinkle, to our twinkling sight:
The firmament much farther from the Earth then the sphears of the Planets.
Wheras the rest, neerer a thousand fold
To th' Earth and Sea, we doo more brim behold.
For, the Heav'ns are not mixtly enterlaced,
But th' vndermost by th' vpper be imbraced,
And more or less their roundels wider are,
As from the Center they be neer or far:
[Page 100]As in an Egg, the shell includes the skin,
Simile
The skin the white, the white the yolk with-in.
Two similes re­presenting the motion of the eight inferiour Heav'ns, throgh the swift tur­ning of the ninth which is the Pri­mum Mobile.
Now as the Winde, buffing vpon a Hill
With roaring breath against a ready Mill,
Whirls with a whiff the sails of swelling clout,
The sails doo swing the winged shaft about,
The shaft the wheel, the wheel the trendle turns,
And that the stone which grindes the flowry corns:
Or like as also in a Clock well tended,
Iust counter-poize, iustly thereon suspended,
Makes the great Wheel goe round, and that anon
Turns with his turning many a meaner one,
The trembling watch, and th' iron Maule that chimes
The intire Day in twice twelue equall times:
So the grand Heav'n, in foure and twenty houres,
Surueying all this various house of ours,
With his quick motion all the Sphears doth moue;
Whose radiant glances gild the World aboue,
And driues them euery day (which swiftnes strange-is)
From Gange to Tagus; and from Tay to Ganges.
But, th' vnder-Orbs, as grudging to be still
Each of the 8. Heauens so trās­ported by the Primum Mo­bil [...] hath also his proper oblique, and distinct course each from other.
So straightly subiect to anothers will,
Still without change, still at anothers pleasure
After one pipe to dance one onely measure;
They from-ward turn▪ and traversing aside,
Each by himself an oblique course doth slide:
So that they all (although it seem not so)
Forward and backward in one instant goe,
Both vp and down, and with contrary pases,
At once they poste to two contrary places:
Like as my self, in my lost Marchant-years
( A loss, alas, that in these liues appears)
Wa [...]ting to Brabant, Englands golden Fleece
The same expla­ned by a proper Simile.
( A ritcher pryze then Iason brought to Greece)
While toward the Sea, our (then, Swan-poorer) Thames
Bare down my Bark vppon her ebbing streams:
Vpon the hatches, from the Prow to Poup
Walking in compass of that narrow Coop,
[Page 101] Maugre the most that Winde and Tide could doo,
Haue gone at once towards LEE and LONDON too.
Why som of these Heauens haue a slower course & shorter compasse then other some.
But now, the neerer any of these Eight,
Approach th' Empyreall Palace walls in height,
The more their circuit, and more daies they spend,
Ye [...] they return vnto their Iourneys end.
It's therefore thought, That sumptuous Canapy,
The terme of the reuolution of the Firmament.
The which th' vn-niggard hand of Maiesty
Poudred so thick with Shields so shining cleer,
Spends in his voyage nigh seaven thousand year.
Ingenious Saturn, spouse of Memory,
Of the seuenth, which is the Spheare of Sa­turn.
Father of th' Age of Gold; though coldly dry,
Silent and sad, bald, hoary, wrinkle-faced,
Yet art thou first among the Planets placed:
And thirty years thy Leaden Coach doth run
Ye [...] it arrive where thy Career begun.
Thou, rich, benign, Ill-chasing Iupiter,
Of the 6 which is the Sphear of Iupiter.
Art (worthy) next thy Father sickle-bear,
And while thou doost with thy more milde aspect
His froward beams disast'rous frouns correct,
Thy Tinnen Chariot shod with burning bosses,
Through twice-six Signes in twice six twelue months crosses.
Braue-minded Mars (yet Master of mis-order,
Of the 5. which is the spheare of Mars.
Delighting nought but Battails, blood, and murder)
His surious Coursers lasheth night and day,
That he may swiftly passe his course away:
But in the road of his eternall Race,
So many rubs hinder his hasty pase,
That thrice, the while, the lively Liquor-God
With dabbled heels hath swelling clusters trod,
And thrice hath Ceres shav'n her amber tress,
Ye [...] his steel whels haue done their business.
Pure goldie-locks, Sol, States-friend, Honour-giuer,
Of the 4. which is the Sphear of Sol.
Light-bringer, Laureat, Leach-man, all Reviver,
Thou, in three hundred threescore daies and five,
Doost to the period of thy Race arrive.
For, with thy proper course thou measur'st th' Year,
And measur'st Daies with thy constrain'd career.
Fair dainty Venus, whose free vertues milde
Of the 3. which is the spheare of Venus.
With happy fruit get all the world with-childe
(Whom wanton dalliance, dancing, and delight,
Smiles, witt [...]e wiles, youth, loue, and beauty bright,
With soft blind Cupids evermore consort)
Of light som Day opens and shuts the port;
For, hardly dar [...] her siluer Doves go far
From bright Apollos glory-beaming Car.
Not much vnlike so, Mercury the wittie,
Of the 2. which is the sphear of Mercury.
For ship, for shop, book, bar, or Court, or Citie:
Smooth Orator, swift Pen-man, sweet Musician,
Rare Artizan, deep-reaching Politician,
Fortunat Marchant, fine Prince-humour-pleaser;
To end his course takes neer a twelue-months leasure:
For, all the while, his nimble winged heels
Dare little bouge from Phoebus golden wheels.
And lastly Luna, thou cold Queen of night,
Regent of humours, parting Months aright,
Of the 1. which is the Sphear of Lun [...]. The lowest Pla­net nearest the Earth.
Chaste Emperess to one Endymion constant;
Constant in Love, though in thy looks in constant
( Vnlike our Loues, whose hearts d [...]ssemble soonest)
Twelue times a year through all the Zodiak runnest.
Now, if these Lamps, so infinite in number,
Should stil stand-stil as in a sloathfull slumber,
Then should som Places (alwaies in one plight)
Have alwaies Day, and [...]om haue alwaies Night:
Of the necessitie of diuers motions of the Heauens.
Then should the Sommers Fire, and Winters Frost,
Rest opposite still on the self same Coast:
Then nought could spring, and nothing prosper would
In all the World, for Want of Heat or Cold.
Or, without change of distance or of dance,
If all these Lights still in one path should prance,
Th' inconstant parts of this lowe Worlds contents
Should neuer feel so sundry accidents,
As the Con [...]unction of celestiall Features
Incessantly pours vpon mortall Creatures.
I'll n'er beleeve that the Arch-Architect
Of the force and influence of the C [...]lestiall body vpon the terrest­riall.
With all these Fires the Heav'nly Arches deckt
[Page 103]Onely for Shewe, and with these glistering shields
T' amaze poor Shepheards watching in the fields.
I'll n'er beleeve that the least Flowr that pranks
Our Garden borders, or the Common banks,
And the least stone that in her warming Lap
Our kind Nurse Earth doth covetously wrap,
Hath som peculiar vertue of it owne;
And that the glorious Stars of Heav'n have none:
But shine in vain, and haue no charge precise,
But to be walking in heav'ns Galleries,
And through that Palace vp and down to clamber
As Golden Gulls about a PRINCES CHAMBER.
Sens-less is he (who without blush) denies
What to sound senses most apparant lies:
And 'gainst Experience he that spets Fallacians,
Is to be hisst from learned Disputations:
And such is he, that doth affirm the Stars
To have no force on these inferiours;
Though heav'ns effects we most apparant see
In number more then heav'nly Torches be.
I nill alleadge the Seasons alteration,
Sundry proofes of the same. 1 The diuers seasons. 2 The fearefull accidēts that cō ­monly succeede Eclipses.
Caus'd by the Sun in shifting Habitation:
I will not vrge, that neuer at noon daies
His enuious Sister intercepts his Raies
But som great State eclipseth, and from Hell
Alecto looses all these Furies Fell,
Grim, lean-fac't Famine, foul infectious Plague;
Blood-thirsty VVar, and Treason hatefull Hag:
Heere pouring down Woes vniuersall Flood,
To drown the World in Seas of Tears and Blood.
I'l overpass how Sea doth Eb and Flowe,
3 The ebbing & flowing of the sea.
As th' Horned Queen doth eyther shrink or growe;
And that the more she Fills her forked Round,
The more the Marrow doth in bones abound,
The Bloud in Veins, the sap in Plants, the Moisture
4 The increase and decrease of marrow, bloud and humours in diuers creatures.
And lushious meat, in Creuish, Crab and Oyster:
That Oak, and Elm, and Firr, and Alder, cut
Before the Crescent have her Cornets shut,
[Page 104]Are neuer lasting, for the builders turn,
In Ship or House, but rather fit to burn:
5. The apparant alterations in the bodies of sick persons.
And also, that the Sick, while shee is filling,
Feele sharper Fits through all their members thrilling.
So that, this Lamp alone approoves, what powrs,
Heav'ns Tapers have even on these soules of ours:
Temp'ring; or troubling (as they be inclin'd)
Our mind and humours, humours and our minde,
Through Sympathy, which while this Flesh we carie,
Our Soules and Bodies doth together marry.
I'l only say that sith the hot aspect
Of th' Heav'nly Dog-Star, kindles with effect
A particular proose by the ef­fects of certaine notable stars, or­dinarily noted in some Moneth of [...]he yeare.
A thousand vnseen Fires, and dries the Fields,
Scorches the Vallies, parches-vp the Hills,
And often times into our panting hearts,
The bitter Fits of burning Fevers darts:
And (opposit) the Cup, the dropping Pleiades,
Bright-glistering Orion and the weeping Hyades,
Neuer (almost) look down on our aboad,
But that they stretch the Waters bounds abroad,
With Clowdy horror of their wrathfull frown,
Threatning again the guilty World to drown:
And (to be brief) sith the gilt azure Front
Of Firmest Sphear hath scarce a spark vpon't
But poureth down-ward som apparant change,
Toward the Storing of the Worlds great Grange;
We may coniecture what hid powr is given
T' infuse among vs from the other Seaven,
From each of those which for their vertuerare
Th' Almighty placed in a proper Sphear.
Reiecting the Stoiks, he shew­eth that God, as the first Cause, doth order all things, and what vse we should make of the force Course, & Light of the coelesti all bodies.
Not that (as Stoiks) I intend to tye
With Iron Chains of strong Necessitie
Th' Eternal's hands, and his free feet enstock
In Destinies hard Diamantin Rock:
I hold, that God (as The first Cause) hath giv'n
Light, Course, and Force to all the Lamps of Heav'n:
That still he guides them, and his Providence
Disposeth free, their Fatall influence:
[Page 105]And that therefore (the rather) we belowe
Should study all, their Course and Force to knowe:
To th' end that, seeing (through our Parents Fall)
T' how many Tyrants we are waxen thrall,
Euer since first fond Womans blind Ambition,
Breaking, made Adam break Heav'ns High-Commission:
We might vnpuff our Heart, and bend our Knee,
T' appease with sighs Gods wrathfull Maiestie;
Beseeching him to turn away the storms
Of Hail, and Heat, Plague, Dearth, and dreadfull Arms,
Which oft the angry Starrs, with bad Aspects,
Threat to be falling on our stubborn necks:
To give vs Curbs to bridle th' ill proclivitie
We are inclin'd-to, by a hard Nativitie:
To pour som Water of his Grace, to quench
Our boyling Fleshes fell Concupiscence,
To calm our many passions (spirituall tumours)
Sprung from corruption of our vicious humours.
Latonian Twinns, Parents of Years and Months,
Heer proceeding to the second part of this book, he treateth at large of the Sun and Moon.
Alas! why hide you so your shining Fronts?
What? nill you shew the splendor of your ray,
But through a Vail of mourning Clouds, I pray?
I pray pul-off your mufflers and your moorning,
And let me see you in your native burning:
And my deer Muse by her eternall flight,
Shal spread as far the glory of your Light
As you your selues run, in alternat Ring,
Day after Night, Night after Day to bring.
Thou radiant Coach-man, running end-les course,
Of the Sun: en­tring into the descriptiō wher­of, he confesseth that he knowes not well where to begin.
Fountain of Heat, of Light the lively sourse,
Life of the World, Lamp of this Vniverse,
Heav'ns richest Gemm: O teach me wher my Verse
May but begin thy praise. Alas! I fare
Much like to one that in the Clouds doth stare
To count the Quails, that with their shadow cover
Th' Italian Sea, when soaring hither over,
Fain of a milder and more fruitfull Clime,
They com, with vs to pass the Summer time:
[Page 106]No sooner he begins one shoal to summ,
But more and more, still greater shoals do com,
Swarm vpon Swarm, that with their count-les number
Break off his purpose, and his sense incumber.
Daies glorious Eye! even as a mighty King,
The Sun at Prince of the Ce lestiall lights marcheth in the midst of the o­ther sixe Planets which enuiron
About his Countrie stately Progressing,
Is compast round with Dukes, Earls, Lords, and Knights,
(Orderly marshall'd in their noble Rites)
Esquires and Gentlemen, in courtly kinde
And then his Guard before him and behinde;
And there is nought in all his Royal Muster,
But to his Greatness addeth grace and lustre:
So, while about the World thou ridest ay,
Which only lives by vertue of thy Ray,
Six Heav'nly Princes, mounted evermore,
Wayt on thy Coach, three behinde, three before,
Besides the Hoast of th' vpper Twinklers bright,
To whom, for pay thou giuest onely Light.
And, ev'n as Man (the little-World of Cares)
The Sun is in Heauen, as the heart in mans body.
Within the middle of the body, bears
His heart (the Spring of life) which with proportion
Supplieth spirits to all, and euery portion:
Even so (O Sun) thy Golden Chariot marches
Amid the six Lamps of the six lowe Arches
Which seel the World, that equally it might
Richly impart them Beauty, Force, and Light.
Praysing thy Heat, which subtilly doth pearce
His notable of­fects vpon the Earth.
The solid thickness of our Vniuerse,
Which in th' Earths kidneys Mercury doth burn,
And pallid Sulphur to bright Metal turn;
I do digress, to praise that Light of thine,
Which if it should, but one Day, cease to shine,
Th' vnpurged Aire to Water would resolve,
And Water would the mountain tops inuolve.
Scarce I begin to measure thy bright Face,
Whose greatness doth so oft Earths greatness pass,
And with still running the Coelestiall Ring,
Is seen and felt of every liuing thing;
[Page 107]But that fantastikly I change my Theam
To sing the swiftness of thy tyer-les Teem;
To sing, how, Rising from the Indian Waue,
Thou seem'st (O Titan) like a Bride-groom brave,
Excellent com­parisons borrow ed out of the 19 Psalme.
Who, from his Chamber early issuing out
In rich array, with rarest Gems about;
With pleasant Countenance, and lovely Face,
With golden tresses, and attractive grace,
Cheers (at his comming) all the youthfull throng
That for his presence earnestly did long,
Blessing the day, and with delightfull glee,
Singing aloud his Epithalamie.
Then, as a Prince that feeles his Noble heart,
Wounded with Loues pure Honor-winged dart
( As HARDY LAELIVS, that Great GARTER-KNIGHT,
The same exem­plified in an ho­norable perso­nage of our time now very aged; but in his yong years, the glory of Armes and Chiualrie.
Tilting in Triumph of ELIZA'S Right
( Yeerely that Day that her deerraign began)
Most brauely mounted on proud RABICAN,
All in gilt armour, on his glistering Mazor
A stately Plume, of Orange mixt with Azur,
In gallant Course, before ten thousand eyes,
From all Defendants bore the Princely Prize)
Thou glorious Champion, in thy Heav'nly Race,
Runnest so swift we scarse conceivethy pase.
When I record, how fitly thou dost guide
Through the fourth heav'n thy flaming Coursers pride,
Of Gods wonder full prouidēce in placing the Sun in the midst of the other Pla­nets, & of the commodities that come therof
That as they pass, their fiery breaths may temper
Saturn's and Cynthya's cold and moist distemper
(For, if thou gallop'st in the neather Room
Like Phaëton thou would'st the World consume:
Or, if thy Throne were set in Saturn's Sky,
For want of heat, then euery thing would dy)
In the same instant I am prest to sing,
How thy return reviveth every thing;
How, in thy Presence, Fear, Sloath, Sleep, and Night,
Snowes, Fogs, and Fancies, take their sodain Flight.
Th' art (to be brief) an Ocean wanting bound,
Whear ( as full vessels haue the lesser sound)
[Page 108]Plenty of Matter makes the speaker mute;
As wanting words thy worth to prosecute.
Yet glorious Monarch, 'mong so many rare
Of the Sunnes continuall and daily course.
And match-less Flowrs as in thy Garland are,
Som one or two shall my chaste sober Muse
For thine Immortall sacred Sisters chuse.
I'll boldly sing (bright Soverain) thou art none
Of those weak Princes Flattery works vpon
( No second EDWARD, nor no RICHVRD Second,
Vn-kinged both, as Rule-vnworthy recon'd)
Who, to inrich their Minions past proportion,
Pill all their Subiects with extream extortion;
And charm'd with Pleasures (O exceeding Pity!)
Ly alwaies wallowing in one wanton City;
And, loving only that, to mean Lieutenants
Farm out their Kingdoms care, as vnto Tenants.
For, once a day, each Country vnder Heav'n
Thou bidst Good-Morrow, and thou bidst Good-Ev'n.
And thy far-seeing Ey, as Censor, views
The rites and fashions Fish, and Foule do vse,
And our behaviours, worthy (every one)
Th' Abderian Laughter, and Ephesian Moan.
But true it is, to th' end a fruitfull lew
May every Climat in his time renew.
Of his oblique or By-course, cause of the foure sea­sons: and of the commodities of all Climates in the world.
And that all men may neerer in all Realms
Feel the alternat vertue of thy beames;
Thy sumptuous Chariot, with the Light returning,
From the same Portall mounts not every Morning:
But, to make know'n each-where thy daily drift,
Doo'st every day, thy Coursers Stable shift:
That while the Spring, prankt in her greenest pride,
Raigns heer, els-wher Autumne as long may bide;
And while fair Summers heat our fruits doth ripe,
Cold Wintets Ice may other Countries gripe.
No sooner doth thy shining Chariot Roule
A pleasant and liuely descriptiō of the foure sea­sons of the yeare.
From highest Zenith toward Northern Pole,
To sport thee for three Months in pleasant Inns,
Of Aries, Taurus, and the gentle Twinns,
[Page 109]But that the mealie Mountains (late vnseen)
Change their white garments into lusty green,
The Gardens prank them with their Flowry buds,
The Meads with grass, with leaves the naked Woods,
Sweet Zephyrus begins to buss his Flora,
The Spring.
Swift-winged Singers to salute Aurora;
And wanton Cupid, through this Vniverse,
With pleasing wounds, all Creatures hearts to perce.
When, backward bent, Phlegon thy fiery Steed,
With Cancer, Leo, and the Maid, doth feed;
Th' Earth cracks with heat, and Summer crowns his Ceres
With gilded Ears, as yellow as her hair-is:
The Reaper, panting both for heat and pain,
With crooked Rasor shaves the tufted Plain;
The Summer.
And the good Husband, that due season takes,
Within a Month his year's Provision makes.
When from the mid-Heav'n thy bright flame doth fly
Toward the Cross-Stars in th' Antartik Sky,
Har [...]st.
To be three months, vp-rising, and down-lying
With Scorpio, Libra, and the Archer flying,
Th' Earth by degrees her louely beauty bates,
Pomona loads her lap with delicates,
Her Apron and her Osiar basket (both)
With dainty fruits for her deer Autumns tooth
(Her health-less spouse) who bare-foot hops about
To tread the iuice of Bacchus clusters out.
And last of all, when thy proud-trampling Teem
For three Months more, to soiourne stil doth seem
With Capricorn, Aquarius, and the Fishes
(While we in vain revoke thee with our wishes)
Winter.
In stead of Flowrs, chill shivering Winter dresses
With Isicles her (self-bald) borrow'd tresses:
About her brows a Periwig of Snowe,
Her white Freez mantle freng'd with Ice belowe,
A payr of Lamb-lyn'd buskins on her feet,
So doth she march Orythias love to meet;
Who with his bristled, hoarie, bugle-beard,
Comming to kiss her, makes her lips afeard;
[Page 110]Whear-at, he sighs a breath so cold and keen,
That all the Waters Crystallized been;
While in a fury, with his boystrous wings
Against the Scythian snowie Rocks he flings,
All lusks in sloath, and till these Months do end,
Bacchus and Vulcan must vs both befrend.
O second honour of the Lamps supernal,
Of the Moon & her alterations
Sure Kalender of Festiuals eternal,
Seas Soueraintess, Sleep-bringer, Pilgrims guide,
Peace-loving Queen: what shall I say beside?
What shall I say of thine inconstant brow,
Which makes my brain wauer, I woat not how?
But, if by th' Ey, a mans intelligence
May ghess of things distance so far from hence,
I think thy body round as any Ball,
Of her roundnes and brightnesse borrowed of the Sunne.
Whose superfice (nigh equall ouer all)
As a pure Glass, now vp, and down anon,
Reflects the bright beams of thy spouse, the Sun.
For as a Husbands Nobless doth illustre
Simile.
A mean-born wife: so doth the glorious lustre
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, embright
Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light.
Yet 'tis not alwaies after one self sort,
Of her waxing & waning when she is in her last quarter, & whē she renues and commeth to her full.
For, for thy Car doth swifter thee transport,
Then doth thy Brothers, diversly thou shin'st,
As more or less thou from his sight declin'st.
Therfore each month, when Hymen (blest) above
In both your bodies kindles ardent love,
And that the Starrs-king all inamoured on thee,
Full of desire, shines down direct vpon thee;
Thy neather half-Globe toward th' Earthy Ball
(After it's Nature) is obserued all.
But, him aside thou hast no sooner got,
But on thy side a siluer file we noat,
A half-bent Bowe; which swels, the less thy Coach
Doth the bright Chariot of thy spouse approach,
And fils his Circle. When the Imperiall Star
Beholds thee iust in one Diameter,
[Page 111]Then by degrees thy Full face falls away,
And (by degrees) Westward thy Horns display:
Till fal'n again betwixt thy Louers arms,
Thou wink'st again, vanquisht with pleasures charms.
Thus dost thou Wax and VVane, thee oft renuing;
Delighting change: and mortall things, ensuing
(As subiect to thee) thy selfs transmutation,
Feel th' vnfelt force of secret alteration.
Not, but that Phoebus alwaies with his shine,
Cleers half (at least) of thine aspect divine;
Of the cause of the diuers aspect of the Moone.
But't sems not so: because we see but heer
Of thy round Globe the lower Hemisphear:
Though waxing vs-ward, Heav'n-ward thou dost wane;
And waning vs-ward, Heav'n-ward grow'st again.
Yet, it befalls, even when thy face is Full,
When at the highest thy pale Coursers pull,
When no thick mask of Clouds can hide away,
From liuing eys, thy broad, round, glistering Ray,
Thy light is darkned, and thine eys are seel'd,
Couered with shadow of a rusty shield.
For, thy Full face in his oblique designe
Confronting Phoebus in th' Ecliptick ligne,
And th' Earth between; thou losest for a space,
Thy splendor borrowd of thy Brothers grace:
But, to revenge thee on the Earth, for this
Of the cause of the Eclips of the Sunne.
Fore-stalling thee of thy kind Lovers kiss,
Somtimes thy thick Orb thou doo'st inter-blend
Twixt Sol and vs, toward the later end:
And then (because his splendor cannot pass
Or pearce the thicknes of thy gloomy Mass)
The Sun, as subiect to Deaths pangs, vs sees-not,
But seems all Light-less, though indeed he is not.
Therfore, far differing your Eclipses are;
For thine is often, and thy Brothers rare:
Thine doth indeed deface thy beauty bright;
Difference be­tween the Eclip­ses of the Sun, & of the Moone.
His doth not him, but vs bereave of Light:
It is the Earth, that thy defect procures;
It is thy shadow, that the Sunne obscures:
[Page 112]East-ward, thy front beginneth first to lack;
West-ward, his brows begin their frowning black:
Thine at thy Full, when thy most glory shines;
His, in thy Wane, when beautie most declines:
Thine's generall, toward Heav'n and Earth together;
His, but to Earth, nor to all places neither.
For, th' hideous Cloud, that cov'red so long since
Of the admirable & extraordina­ry Eclipse of the Sun, on the Day that our Sauiour suffered on the Crosse, for our Redemption. Mat. 27, ver. 45 Mar. 15, ver. 33 Luk 23. ver. 44
With nights black vail th' eys of the Starry-Prince
(When as he saw, for our foul Sinfull slips,
The Match-less Maker of the Light, eclipse)
Was far, far other: For, the swarty Moors,
That sweating toyl on Guinnés wealthy shoars:
Those whom the Niles continuall Cataract
With roaring noise for euer deaf doth make:
Those, that suruaying mighty
Quinzay.
Cassagale,
Within the Circuit of her spacious Wall
Do dry-foot dance on th' Orientall Seas;
And pass, in all her goodly crossing ways
And stately streets fronted with sumptuous Bowrs,
Twelue thousand Bridges, and twelue thousand Towers:
Those that, in Norway and in Finland, chase
The soft-skind Martens, for their pretious Cace;
Those that in Ivory Sleads on Ireland Seas
(Congeal'd to Crystall) slide about at ease;
Were witness all of his strange grief; and ghest,
That God, or Nature was then deep distrest.
Moreover Cynthia, in that fearfull stound,
Full-fild the compass of her Circle round;
And, being so far off, she could not make
(By Natures course) the Sun to be so black:
Nor, issuing from the Eastern part of Heav'n,
Darken that beauty, which her own had given.
In brief, mine ey, confounded with such Spectacles
In that one wonder sees a Sea of Miracles.
What could'st thou doo less, then thy Self dishonour
(O chief of Planets!) thy great Lord to honor?
Then for thy Fathers death, a-while to wear
A moorning Roab on th' hatefull Hemi-spheare?
[Page 113]Then at high-noon shut thy fair eye, to shun
A Sight, whose sight did Hell with horror stun?
And (pearç't with sorrow for such iniuries)
To please thy Maker, Nature to displease?
So, from the South to North to make apparant,
Of the going back of the Sun in the time of Ezechias. 1. King. 26. Ver. 11. Es [...]y. 38. Ver. 8
That God reuoak't his Seri [...]ant Death's sad Warrant
'Gainst Ezechias: and that he would give
The godly King fifteen years more to live:
Transgressing Heav'ns eternall Ordinance;
Thrice in one Day, thou through one path didst prance:
And, as desirous of another nap,
In thy ver million sweet Aurora's Lap,
Thy Coach turn'd back, and thy swift sweating Horse
Full ten degrees lengthned their wonted Course:
Dials went false, and Forrests (gloomy black)
Wondred to see their mighty shades go back.
So, when th' incensed Heav'ns did fight so fell
Of the Sunnes standing still in the time of Io­suah. Ios. 12. 13
Vnder the Standard of deer Israel,
Against the Hoast of odious Ammorites;
Among a million of swift-Flashing Lights,
Rayning down Bullets from a stormy Cloud,
As thick as Hail, vpon their Armies proud:
That such as scaped from Heav'ns wrathfull thunder,
Victorious swords might after heaw in-sunder;
Co [...]ur'd by Iosuah, thy brave steeds stood still,
[...] [...]ull Career stopping thy whirling wheel▪
And, one whole Day, in one degree they stayd
In midst of Heav'n, for sacred Armies ayd:
Least th' Infidels, in their disordred Flight,
Should save themselues vnder the wings of Night.
Those, that then liv'd vnder the other Pole,
Seeing the Lamp which doth enlight the Whole,
To hide so long his lovely face away,
Thought never more to haue re-seen the Day;
The wealthy Indians and the men of Spain,
Never to see Sun Rise or Set again.
In the same place Shadows stood still, as stone;
And in twelue Houres the Dials shew'd but one.

THE FIFT DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Fish in the Sea, Fowls in the Aire abound:
The Forms of all things in the Waters found:
The various Manners of Sea-Citizens,
Whose constant Friendship far exceedeth Mens:
Arions strange escape: The Fowls attend
On th' only Phoenix, to her end-less end:
Their kindes, their customs, and their plumes variety;
Som presidents of Prudence, som of Piety:
The gratefull Aegle, burning in the Fláme
With her dead Mistress, the fair Sestian Dáme.
LAtónian Lamps, conducting divers ways,
After a Poeti­call maner he craueth time & opportunity to discourse in this Day of the crea­tion of Fishes & of Fowles.
About the World, successiue Nights and Days;
Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Carrs,
And passing swiftly both th' opposed Barrs
Of East and West, by your returning Ray,
Th' imperfect World make elder, by a Day.
Yee Fish, that brightly in Heav'ns Baldrik shine,
If you would see the Waters waving brine
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion;
If he expect, in his prefixt Career,
To hoast with you a Month in every Yeer.
And thou, eternall Father, at whose wink
To which pur­pose [...]specially he calleth on the true God.
The wrathfull Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,
[Page 115]And stubborn storms of bellowing Windes be dumb,
Their wide mouthes stopt, and their wilde pinions num;
Great Soverain of the Seas, whose books can draw
A man aliue from the Whales monstrous maw,
Provide me (Lord) of Steers-man, Star, and Boat,
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:
Or rather teach me dyue, that I may view
Deep vnder water all the Scaly crew;
And dropping wet, when I return to land
Laden with spoils, extoll thy mighty hand.
IN VAIN had God stor'd Heav'n with glistring studs,
The first part of this Book, wherin he handleth how by the Comman­dement of the Lord, th [...] Fishes began to moue in the Waters.
The Plain with grain, the Mountain tops with woods,
Sever'd the Aire from Fire, the Earth from Water,
Had he not soon peopled this large Theatre
With living Creatures: Therefore he began
( This-Day) to quicken in the Ocean,
In standing Pools, and in the straggling Riuers
(Whose folding Channell fertill Champain severs)
So many Fishes of so many features,
That in the Waters one may see all Creatures;
And all that in this All is to be found;
As if the World within the Deeps were drown'd.
Seas haue (as wel as Skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars:
The Seas no lesse stored with priui ledges and pre­sidents of Gods glorious power then Heauen & Earth; and of the strange Fishes that liue therin.
(As well as Aire) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares:
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushroms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange then these)
As very Fishes living in the Seas:
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lions, Vrchins, Elephants, and Dogs,
Yea Men and Mayds: and (which I more admire)
The Mytred Bishop, and the Cowled Fryer:
Wherof, examples (but a few yeers since)
Were showen the Norways, and Polonian Prince.
You divine wits of elder Dayes, from whom
The deep Inuention of rare Works hath com,
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?
[Page 116]Which partly in the Waues, part on the edges
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,
Pikes, Percers, Needles, Mallets, Pipes, and Yoaks,
Owers, sayls, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,
Plumes, Cornets, Kniues, Wheels, Vices, Horns, & Hammers.
And, as if Neptune, and fair Pan [...]pé,
Palae [...]on, Triton, and Leucothoé,
Kept publik Roules, there is the Calamary;
Who ready Pen-knife, Pen and Ink doth cary.
As a rare Painter draws (for pleasure) heer
Why God crea­ted so many sorts of strange Fishes
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satyre there:
Heer a huge Cyclop, there a Pigmè Elf;
Somtimes, no less busying his skilfull self,
Vpon som vgly Monster (seldom seen)
Then on the Picture of fair Beauties Queen:
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's variety,
We might the more admire his powerfull Dëity;
And that we might discern by differing features
The various kindes of the vast Oceans creatures;
Forming this mighty Frame, he every Kinde
With diuers and peculiar Signet sign'd.
Som haue their heads groveling betwixt their feet
Examples▪ The Pour-Cut­tle. Cuttle. Crab. Sea Har [...]. Oyster.
(As th' inky Cuttles, and the Many-feet):
Som in their breast (as Crabs): som head-less are,
Foot-less, and finn-les (as the bane-full Hare,
And heat-full Oyster) in a heap confus'd,
Their parts vnparted, in themselues diffus'd.
The Tyrian Marchant, or the Portuguez
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees:
The Tortoise.
But of one Tortoise, when he list to float,
Th' Arabian Fisher-man can make a Boat:
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.
Shall I omit the monstrous Whirl-about,
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)
Are over-whelm'd and funken sodainly?
Shall I omit the Tunnies, that durst meet
The Tunny [...].
Th' Eöan Monarchs neuer daunted Fleet,
And beard more brauely his victorious powrs
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towrs;
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;
Or great Darius, that three Battails lost?
When on the Surges I perceiue, from far,
Th' Ork Whirl-pool, Whale, or huffing Physeter,
Diuers kindes of Whales.
Me thinks I see the wandring Ile again
( Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,
Meseems som Tempest all the Sea doth toss.
Our fear-less Saylers, in far Voyages
(More led by Gain's hope then their Compasses)
Of their mon­strous shape, and huge greatnes.
On th' Indian shoare, haue somtime noted som
Whose bodies couered two broad Acres room:
And in the South-Seas they haue also seen
Som like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;
And other-som whose monstrous backs did bear
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were
Much like the winged and wide spreading sayls
Of any Winde-mill turn'd with merry gales.
But God (who Nature in her nature holdes)
Not onely cast them inso sundry moldes:
But gaue them manners much more differing,
Of the diuers qualities of Fishes.
As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring
In admiration; that men euermore,
Praysing his Works, might prayse their Maker more.
Som loue fresh Waters, som the salt desire,
Som from the Sea vse yeerly to retire
To the next Rivers, at their own contenting,
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:
For Winter th' one, th' other for Sommers heat.
As Citizens, in som intestine braul,
Simile. Describing the custome of cer­tain Sea-Fishes frequenting the fresh Waters in some seasons of the yeare.
Long cooped vp within their Castle wall;
So soon as Peace is made, and Siedge remov'd,
Forsake a while their Town so strong approv'd;
[Page 118]And, tir'd with toyl, by leashes and by payrs,
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the ayrs:
So, dainty Salmons, Ch [...]uins thunder-scar'd,
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the Spring Season the rough Seas for sake,
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take:
And yet the plenty of delitious foods,
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystall floods,
The fragrant sents of flowry banks about,
Cannot their Countreys tender loue wipe out
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,
In th' irefull Ocean to go seek their Tomb:
Lik [...] English Gallants, that in Youth doo go
To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po;
Comparison.
Where though their Sense be dandled, Days and Nights,
In sweetest choise of changeable Delights.
They neuer can forget their Mother-Soyl,
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoyle,
Long languishing with an extream Desire
To see the smoak of their deer Natiue Fier.
One (like a Pirat) only liues of prizes,
That in the Deep he desperatly surprises:
The Fishes fee­ding.
Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam:
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating thieuing,
Eats nought at all, of liquor only liuing;
For, the [...]alt humor of his Element
Serues him (alone) for perfect nourishment.
Som loue the clear streams of swift tumbling Torrents
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents
Break Banks and Bridges; and doo neuer stop,
Till thirsty Sommer com to drink them vp:
Som almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools, and neuer brook the flood
Of Crystall streams, that in continuall motion
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:
As the most part of the Words Peers, prefer
[...]oyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:
[Page 119]And som again (of a far differing humour)
Holde Rest so deer, that but the only [...]umour
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;
And wanting Peace, they count their States accurst.
O watry Citizens, what Vmpeer bounded
Of the prouidēce of God in their diuers and nota­ble manner of liuing: affording many Lessons to Man-kinde.
Your liquid Liuings? O! what Monarch mounded
With walls your City? What severest Law
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain aw,
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders
Of your swim-brethren? as (against all Orders)
Men dayly practice, ioyning Land to Land,
House vnto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)
World vnto World, if they could work it possible.
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,
Or for your seeds securer propagation,
Doo somtimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;
What learned Chaldè (skill'd in Fortune-telling)
What cunning Prophet your fit Time doth showe?
What Herralds Trumpet summons you to go?
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions
Through path-l [...]s paths in vnacquainted Regions?
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,
Measures your course in your Adventures far?
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,
Who in your Nature som Idéas wrought
Of good and Euill; to the end that we,
Following the Good, might from the Euill flee.
Th' adulterous Sargus doth not onely change
Strange nature of the fish Sar­gus.
Wiues every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)
As if the honey of Sea-loues delights
Could not suffice his ranging appetites,
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassie shoar,
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before▪
Contrary to the constant Cantharus,
Of Cantharus.
Who, ever faithfull to his deerest Spouse
In Nuptiall Duties spending all his life,
Loues never none but his own onely wife.
[Page 120]But, for her Loue, the Mullet hath no Peer;
Of the Mullet.
For, if the Fisher haue surpriz'd her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shoar she followeth,
Prest to consort him both in life and death:
As yerst those famous, louing Thracian Dames
Simile.
That leapt aliue into the funeral flames
Of their dead Husbands; who deceast and gon,
Those loyall Wiues hated to liue alone.
O! who can heer sufficiently admire
That Gaping Fish whose glistering eyes aspire
Still toward Heav'n? as if beneath the skies
The Vrano-S [...]o­p [...].
He found no Obiect worthy of his eyes.
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lill
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,
To catch the Emmets; when, beguil'd with-all,
The busie swarms vpon it creep and crawl:
Th' Vrano-scope, so, hid in mud, doth put
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,
Most like vnto a little Worm (at sight)
Wher-at est-soons many small Fishes bite;
Which ther-with all this Angler swallows straight,
Alwayes self, armed with hook line, and bait▪
The suttle
The Ozena.
Smell-strong-Many-foot, that [...]ain
A dainty feast of Oister-flesh would gain,
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,
Wedging with stone his yet wide-yawning lips,
Least else (before that he haue had his pray)
The Oyster, closing, clip his limbs away,
And (where he thought t'haue ioy'd his victories)
Himself becom vnto his prize a prize.
The Cramp-fish, knowing that shee harboureth
The Torpedo.
A plague-full humour, a fell banefull breath,
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,
Benumming all that dare too-neer h [...]r venter▪
Pours forth her poyson, and her chilling Ice
On the next Fishes; charm'd so in a t [...]ic [...],
That shee not onely stayes them in the Deep,
But stuns their sense, and [...]ul [...] them fast a sleep;
[Page 121]And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;
Whose frozen limbs (stil liuing) seem but dead.
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took
Into her throat the sharp deceitfull hook,
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle
When they be prickt, and plunge, and striue, and struggle;
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,
Faster and faster on the hooke doo tangle:
But, wily, clasping close the Fishing Line,
Sodainly spews into the Silver Brine
Her secret-spreading, sodain-speeding bane;
Which, vp the Line, and all along the Cane,
Creeps to the hand of th' Angler; who with-all
Benumm'd and sens-less, sodainly lets fall
His hurtfull pole, and his more hatefull prize:
Simile.
Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)
Seems in his sleep to see som gastly Ghost;
In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost,
He cals his wife for ayd, his friends, his folks,
But his stuft stomack his weak clamour [...]hoaks:
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;
But sleep and fear his feeble hands doo hold:
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,
Hee feels his feet fetterd with heauy Gyues.
But, if the Scolopendra haue suckt-in
The Scolopendra▪
The sowr-sweet morsell with the barbed Pin,
She hath as rare a trick to rid her from-it:
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;
And, having clear'd them from the danger, then
She fair and softly sups them in again,
So that not one of them within her womb
Changeth his Office or his wonted room.
The thriuing Amia (neer Abydos breeding)
The Amia.
And suttle Sea-Fox (in Steeds-loue exceeding)
The Sea-Fox.
Without so vent ring their dear life and lyning,
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their vntwining:
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,
Aboue the hook they it in sunder shear;
[Page 122]So that their foe, who for a Fish did look
Lifts vp a bareline, robd of bait and hooke.
But timerous Barbels will not taste the bit,
The Barbel.
Till with their tails they haue vnhooked it:
And all the baits the Fisher can deuise
Cannot beguile their wary iealousies.
Euen so almost, the many spotted Cuttle
The Cuttle.
Wel-neer insnared, yet escapeth suttle;
For, when she sees her self within the Net,
And no way left but one, from thence to get,
She sodainly a certain Ink dothspew,
Which dies the Waters of a sable hew;
That, dazling so the Fishers greedy sight,
She through the Clouds of the black Waters night,
Might scape with honour the black streams of Styx,
Wherof already, almost lost, she licks.
And, as a Prisoner, (of som great transgression,
Conuict by Witness and his owne Confession)
Simile.
Kept in dark Durance full of noysom breath,
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;
Spies euery corner, and pries round about
To finde som weake place where he may get out:
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye,
The Golden-eye or Guilt-head.
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,
And thrusting-in his tail, makes th' Osiars gape
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:
But, if his fellow finde him thus b [...]ed,
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;
That thereby holding fast with gentle law,
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.
Or, (if before that he were captiuate)
He see him hooked on the biting bait,
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.
You stony hearts, within whose stubborn Centre
Sundry in stru­ctions that Fishes giue to men.
Could neuer touch of sacred friendship enter,
Look on these Seas my Songs haue calmed thus▪
Heer's many a Damon, many a Th [...]se [...]s.
[Page 123]The gilden Sparlings, when cold Winters blast
The Sparlings.
Begins to threat, themselues together cast,
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,
Liue; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th' Ocean scum; seeing themselues a pray
Expos'd in euery Water-Rouers way,
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold
Combine themselues, that their ioint strength doth hold
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieues sallies;
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Gallies.
As a great Carrak, cumbred and opprest
Simile.
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-bood and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers,
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers;
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Another.
Either of Friseland, or of German breed,
Can neuer manage half so readily,
As Spanish Iennet, or light Barbarie:
So the huge VVhale hath not so nimble motion,
Of the the Whale and his friend Musculus.
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But somtimes rudely' gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in som roaring Straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could liue a Twelue-month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend)
A little Fish that swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar:
Much like a Childe that louing leads about
Simile.
His aged Father when his eyes be out;
Still wasting him through euery way so right,
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.
Waues-Mother Thetis, though thine arms embrace
Strange League betweene the Pearl-Fish and the Prawne.
The World about, within thine ample space,
A firmer League of friendship is not seen
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn betweene;
Both haue but one repast, both but one Palace,
But one delight, one death, one sorrow, and one solace:
[Page 124]That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates
His Land-lords kindnes with all needfull Cates.
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,
Much Fry (allur'd with the bright siluerlustre
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth mak-her
That instantly her shining shell she close
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knowes):
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithfull scout.
And so the Sponge-Spye, warily awakes
Also betweene the Sponge and his Spye. The Galley Fish The Sayle-Fish. Boat-Crab. Sea-Vrchin.
The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.
But O! what stile can worthily declare
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexteritie
In Saylers Art, for safeness and celeritie?
If Iaffa Marchants, now Comburgers seem
With Portingalls, and Portingalls with them:
If Worlds of Wealth, born vnder other Sky,
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly
From North to South, and from the East to West,
Through hundred sundry way-less waies addrest:
If (to be brief) this World's rich compass round,
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece
That sayl'd to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowr [...],
To mate the Windes, Storms, and the Waters Stowrs;
What e'r he were, he surely learn'd of you
The Art of Rowing and of Sayling too.
Heer would I cease, saue that this humorous song,
The Hermite-Fish compels me to prolong.
The sea▪ Hermit
A man of might that builds him a Defence
'Gainst Weathers rigour and Warr's insolence,
First dearly buies (for, What good is good-cheap?)
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:
[Page 125]But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,
Or borrowing House, or paying Rent therfore,
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoar
Som handsom shell, whose Natiue Lord, of late
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;
Therein he enters, and he takes possession
Of th' empty Harbour, by the free concession
Of Natures Law; who Goods that Owner want
Alwaies allots to the first Occupant.
In this new Cace, or in this Cradle (rather)
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell
Wherin at Sea his later Daies to dwell.
But Clio, wherefore art thou teadious
In numbering Neptunes busie Burgers thus?
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth
Of the Seas Soverain, bring but only forth
One little Fish, whose admirable Story
The strange and secret property of the Remora, or Stop-ship.
Sufficeth sole to shewe his might and glory.
Let all the Windes in one Winde gather them,
And (seconded with Neptunes strongest stream)
Let all at once, blowe all their stiffest gales
A-stern a Galley vnder all her sails;
Let her be holpen with a hundred Owers,
Each lively handled by fiue lusty Rowers:
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,
Stayes her stone-still: while all her stout Consorts
Sail thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.
Then loose they all the sheats, but to no boot:
For, the charm'd Vessell bougeth not a foot;
No more then if then if three fadom vnder ground,
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:
No more then doth an Oak, that in the Wood
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) with stood,
Spreading as many massy roots belowe,
As mighty arms aboue the ground do growe.
[Page 126]O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose
Thy self alone against so many foes?
O! tell vs where thou doo'st thine Anchors hide,
Whence thou resistest Sayls, Owers, Wind, and Tide▪
How on the so dain canst thou curb so short
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?
Whence is thine Engin and thy secret force
That frustrates Engins, and all force doth force?
I had (in Harbour) heav'd mine Anchor o're,
And ev'n already set one foot a-shoar;
Dolphin.
When lo, the Dolphin, beating ▪gainst the bank,
'Gan mine obliuion moodily mis-thank:
Peace Princely Swimmer, sacred Fish, content-thee;
For, for thy praise, th' end of this Song I meant-thee.
Braue Admirall of the broad briny Regions,
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,
Who liuing, ever liv'st (for neuer sleep,
Deaths liuely Image in thy eyes doth creep)
Louer of Ships, of Men, of Melody,
Thou vp and down through the moyst World doest ply
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou louest so,
That lacking that, thy life thou doest forgo:
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th' happy Boat, of yore
Which safely brought th' Amiclean Harp a-shoar.
Arion, match-less for his Musiks skill,
Among the Latines hauing gain'd his fill
The strange ad­uenture of Ariō saued by a Dol­phin.
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain
To re-salute his learned Greece again;
Vnwares, imbarks him in a Pyrates ship:
Who loath to let so good a Booty slip.
Soon waighes his Anchors, packs on all his fail,
And Windes conspiring with a prosperous gale,
His winged Fregat made so speedy-sight;
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of fight;
And all, saue Skies, and Seas, on euery side;
Where, th' onely Compass is the Pylots guide.
The Saylours then (whom many times we finde
Falser then Seas, and fiercer then the Winde)
[Page 127]Fall straight to strip him, ryfling (at their pleasure)
In euery corner to finde out his treasure:
And, hauing found it, all with one accord
Hoist th' Owner vp, to heaue him ouer-boord.
Who weeping said, O Nereus noble issue,
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:
For, my chief Treasure in my Musick lyes
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prize
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,
That vnder-foot all worldly wealth they throwe.)
No (braue Triumphers ouer Winde and Waue,
Who in both Worlds your habitation haue,
Who both Heav'ns Hooks in your aduentures view)
'Tis not for That, with broken sighes I sue:
I but beseech you, offer no impieties
Vnto a person deer vnto the Deities.
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,
Be euer mute when you your voyage make,
And Tritons Trumpet th' angry Surges swage,
When (iustly) Neptune shall against you rage.
But if (alas!) cannot this obtain
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plain)
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,
My dolefull fingers to consort their noise:
That so, the Sea-Nimphs (rapt in admiration
Of my diuine, sweet, sacred lamentation)
Dragging my corps to shoar, with weeping showrs
May deaw the same, and it entoomb in flowrs.
Then play (said they) and giue vs both together,
Treasure and pleasure by thy comming hither.
His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent
Th' inchanting sinnews of his Instrument:
Wherewith he charm'd the raging Ocean so,
That crook tooth'd Lampreys and the Congers rowe
Friendly together, and their natiue hate
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgate,
And Lobstars floated fear-less all the while
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.
But among all the Fishes that did throng
To daunce the Measures of his Mournfull song,
There was a Dolphin did the best accord
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:
Who gently sliding neer the Pinnass side,
Seem'd to inuite him on his back to ride.
By this time, twice the Saylours had essayd
To heaue him o're; yet twice himself he staied:
And now the third time stroue they him to cast;
Yet by the shrowds the third time held he fast:
But lastly, seeing Pyrats past remorse,
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;
Who on the Oceans azure surges slid,
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)
One would haue thought him rather fly, then swim:
Yet fears he euery shelf and euery Surge
(Not for himself, but for his tender charge)
And, sloaping swiftly ouerthwart those Seas
(Not for his owne but for his Riders ease)
Makes double haste to finde som happy strand,
Where his sweet Phoebus he may safely land.
Mean-while, Arion, with his Musick rare,
Paies his deer Pylot his delighfull fare.
And heauing eyes to Hea'vn (the Hav'n of Pity)
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;
O thou Almightie! who Mankinde to wrack,
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,
And yet didst saue, from th' vniuersall Doom,
One sacred Houshold, that in time to com
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;
Look down (O Lord) from thy supernall rayes;
Look, look, (alas!) vpon a wretched man,
Half Toomb'd already in the Ocean:
O! bee my Steers-man, and vouch safe to guide
The stern-les Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;
So that, escaping Windes and Waters wrath,
I once again may tread my natiue path:
[Page 129]And hence-forth, heer with solemn vowes I sacre
Vnto thy glory (O my God and Maker)
For this great fauour's high Memoriall,
My heart, and Art, my voyce, hand, Harp, and all.
Here-with, the Seas their roaring rage refrain,
The Clowdy Welkin waxed cleer again,
And all the Windes did so dainly conuert
Their mouths to ears, to hear his wondrous Art.
The Dolphin then, discrying Land (at last)
Storms with himself, for hauing made such haste,
And wisht Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,
T' haue ioy'd the while his Musiks excellence.
But, 'fore his own delight, preferring far
Th' vnhoped safety of the Minstrell rare,
Sets him a shoar, and (which most strange may seem)
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.
But now (deer Muse) with Ionas lets vs hie
From the Whales belly; and from ieopardy
Of stormfull Seas, of wreakfull Rocks and Sand,
Com, com (my Darling) let vs haste to Land.
While busie, poaring downward in the Deep,
The second part of this book, trea­ting of Fowles.
I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)
See how the Fowls are from my fancy fled,
And their high prayses quight out of my head:
Their flight out-flies me; and my Muse almost
The better half of this bright Day hath lost.
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)
Seeming to flutter on the Waters face,
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.
But first I pray ( for meed of all my toyl
In bringing you into this HAPPIE ILE)
Vouch safe to waken with your various Notes
The sense-less senses of those drowsie Sots,
Whose eye-lids laden with a waight of Lead
Shall fall a-sleep the while these Rymes are read.
But, if they could not close their wakefull eyes
Among the Water's silent Colonies;
[Page 130]How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound
Through Heav'n and Earth and Ocean doth redound?
The Heav'nly Phoenix first began to frame
Of the admira­ble and Onely Phoenix.
The Earthly Phoenix, and adorn'd the same
With such a plume, that Pboebus, circuiting
Prom Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:
Such form, such fethers, and such Fate he gaue-her,
That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver:
Two sparkling eyes; vpon her crown, a crest
Of starry Sprigs (more splendent then the rest)
A golden doun about her dainty neck,
Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,
Her description.
Her wings and train of fethers (mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine.
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,
And Deaths cold kisses to restore her heer
Her life again, which neuer shall expire
Her life.
Vntill (as shee) the World consume in fire.
For, hauing passed vnder diuers Climes,
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;
Worn-out with yeers, wishing her end-less end,
To shining flames she doth her life commend:
Dies to reviue, and goes into her Graue
To rise again more beautifull and braue.
Perched therfore, vpon a branch of Palm,
With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm,
By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room)
Her Vrn, her nest her Cradle, and her Toomb:
Where, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting)
To burn her sacred bones to seed-full cinders
(Wherein, her age but not her life, she renders)
Her death.
The Phrygian Skinker, with his lauish Ewer,
Drowns not the Fields with shower after showr;
The shivering Coach-man with his Icy Snowe
Dares not the Forrests of Phoenicia strowe:
Auster presumes not Libyan shoars to pass
With his moist wings: and gray-beard Boreas
[Page 131](As the most boistrous and rebellious slaue)
Is prisoned close in th' Hyper-Borean Caue:
For, Nature now propitious to her End,
To her living Death a helping hand doth lend:
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildely sted
Her funeralls, her fruitfull birth, and bed:
And Sol himself, glauncing his golden eyes
On th' odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes
Th' immortall Phoenix, both her flesh and plumes.
But instantly, out of her ashes springs
A Worm, an Egg then, then a bird with wings,
Her re-genera­tion.
Iust like the first (rather the same indeed)
Which (re-ingendred of it'sselfly seed)
By noblely dying a new Date begins,
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:
End-less by'r End, eternall by her Toomb;
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)
Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:
Teaching vs all, in Adam heer to dy,
The best appli­cation.
That we in Christ may liue eternally.
The Phoenix, cutting th' vnfrequented Air,
Birds that follow the Phoenix and their natures.
Forth-with is followed by a thousand pair
Of wings, in th' instant by th' Almighty wrought,
With divers Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.
The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro,
The Swallow.
As swift as shafts fly from a Turkish Bowe,
When (vse and Art and strength confedered)
The skilfull Archer draws them to the head:
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,
Whose Plot may serue in rarest Arch'tecture:
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,
Whereof she Morter makes, and there-with-all
Aptly she builds her semi-circle Wall.
The pretty Lark, climbing the Welkin cleer,
The Lark.
Chaunts with a cheer, Heer, peer-I neer my Deer;
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rew)
Adieu (she sayth) adieu, deer Deer, adieu.
The Spink, the Linot, and the Gold-Finch fill
The Linot. The Finch.
All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.
But all This's nothing to the Nightingale,
The Nightin­gale.
Breathing, so sweetly from a brest so small,
So many Tunes, whose Harmony excells
Our Voice, our Violls, and all Musick els.
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oken Grove,
In the cool shadow haue I stood, and strove
To marry mine immortall Layes to theirs,
Rapt with delight of their delicious A [...]ers?
And (yet) methinks, in a thick thorn I hear
A Nightingale to warble sweetly-cleer:
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,
Anon the Trebble, then the Counter-Tenor:
Then, all at once; (as it were) chalenging
The rarest voyces with her self to sing:
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafie Sprayes,
Another Nightingale repeats her Layes,
Iust Note for Note, and adds som Strain atlast,
That she had conned all the Winter past:
The first replyes, and descants there-vpon;
With divine warbles of Division,
Redoubling Quavers; And so (turn by turn).
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:
So that the Conquest in this curious strife
[...]oth often cost the one her voice and life:
Then, the glad Victor all the rest admire,
And after count her Mistress of the Quire,
At break of Day, in a Delicious song
She sets the Gam-vt to a hundred young:
And, when as, fit for higher Tunes she sees-them,
Then learnedly she harder Lessons gives-them;
Which, strain by strain, they studiously recite,
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.
The Colchian Pheasant, and the Partridge rare,
Diuers other de­licate, and gen­tle Birds.
The lustfull Sparrow, and the fruitfull Stare,
The chattering Pye, the chastest Turtle-Doue,
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Princes Boords)
And the green Parrat, fainer of our words,
Wait on the Phoenix, and admire her tunes,
And gaze themselues in her blew-golden plumes.
The ravening Kite, whose train doth well supply
A Rudders place; the Falcon mounting high,
Rauenous Birds.
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle- Tercell,
Th' Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcell
Follow the Phoenix, from the Clouds (almost)
At once discovering many an vnknow'n Coast.
In the swift Rank of these fell Rovers, flies
The Indian Griffin with the glistring eyes,
Beak Eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,
White (Swan-like) wings, fiercetalons, alwaies prest
For bloody battails; for, with these he tears
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigres, Bulls, and Bears:
With th [...]se, our Grandams fruitfull panch he pulls,
Whence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:
With these, he guards against an Army bold
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;
As wroth, that men vpon his right should rove,
Or theevish hands vsurp his Tresor-troue.
O! ever may'st thou fight so (valiant Foul)
For this dire bane of our seduced soule;
Detestation of Auarice, for her execrable & dāgerous effects
And (with thee) may the Dardan Ants, so ward
The Gold committed to their carefull Guard,
That hence-forth hope-less, mans frail mind may rest-her
From seeking that, which doth it's Masters master:
O odious poyson! for the which we dive
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive
Our Mothe [...] Earth; and, not contented with
Th' abundant gifts she outward offereth,
[Page 134]With sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,
And ransak deeply in her bosom tender,
While vnder ground wee live in hourly fear
When the frail Mines shall over-whelm vs there:
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roule
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;
And, maugre Windes and Waters enmity,
We every Day new vnknow'n Worlds descry:
For which (alas!) the brother sels his brother,
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?
Neer these, the Crowe his greedy wings displayes,
Night-Fowles and solitary Birds.
The long-liv'd Rauen, th' infamous Bird that layes
His bastard Egges within the nests of other,
To have them hatcht by an vnkindely Mother:
The Skritch-Owl, vs'd in falling Towrs to lodge,
Th' vnlucky Night-Raven, and thou lasie Madge
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide,
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.
But (gentle Muse) tell me what Fowls are those
That but even-now from flaggy Fenns arose?
Water fowles.
'Tis th' hungry Hearn, the greedy Cormorant,
The Coot and Curlew, which the Moors doo haunt,
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,
And the Kings-Fisher, which so builds her nest
By the Sea-side in midst of Winter Season,
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)
Cannot devise, with all the withe ha's,
Her little building how to raise or raze:
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;
For, Aeolus, fearing to drown her brood,
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.
[Page 135]The Pirat (dwelling alwayes in his Bark)
In's Calender her building Dayes doth mark:
And the rich Marchant resolutely venters,
So soon as th' Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.
Mean-while, the Langa, skimming (as it were)
The Oceans surface, seeketh every where
The hugy Whale; where slipping-in (by Art)
In his vast mouth, shee feeds vpon his hart.
NEVV-SPAIN's Cucuio, in his forhead brings
Strange admi­rable Birds.
Two burning Lamps, two vnderneath his wings:
Whose shining Rayes serue oft in darkest night,
Th' Imbroderer's hand in royall Works to light:
Th' ingenious Turner, with a wakefull eye,
To polish fair his purest Ivory:
Th' Vsurer, to count his glistring treasures:
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.
But note we now, towards the rich Moluques,
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds)
With vs cald Birds of Para­dise.
Mamuques
(Wond'rous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or▪ Sky,
Saw ever wonder, swim, or goe, or fly)
None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:
Food-less they liue; for, th' Airealonely feeds them:
Wing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,
Till with their flight, their vnknow'n lives-date ends.
The Stork, still eying her deer Thessalie,
Charitable Birds
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and officious Childe.
Th' one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom she had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding vnder her warm brest
Their age-chill'd bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them vpon her back
Through th' empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.
The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood
To heal her young, and in a wondroussort
Vnto her Children doth her life transport:
For, finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rents her brest, and doth vpon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recouering heat,
They by her death, another life do get:
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thrall'd man to free,
Became a Captive; and on shamefull Tree
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to save-vs,
And salue the wounds th' old Serpent firstly gave-vs:
And so became, of meer immortall, mortall;
Therby to make, frail mortall Man, immortall.
Thus doo'st thou print (O Parent of this All)
Lessons for man­kinde▪ out of the Consideration of the natures of diuers creatures.
In every brest of brutest Animall
A kinde Instinct, which makes them dread no less
Their Childrens danger, then their own decease;
That so, each Kinde may last immortally,
Though th' Indiuiduum pass successively.
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)
But for his Deer Whelps taken from his Den
By Hunters fell: He fiercely roareth out,
He wounds, he kills; amid the thickest rout,
He rushes-in dread-less of Spears, and Darts,
Swords, shafts, & staves though hurt in thousand parts;
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)
When, over-layd with might and Multitude,
He needs must dy; dying, he more bemoanes,
Then his own death his Captiue little-Ones.
So, for their young our Masty Currs will fight,
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.
So, in the Deep, the Dog-Fish for her Fry
Lucma's throes a thousand times doth try:
For, seeing when the suttle Fisher follows-them,
Again alive into her womb shee swallows-them;
[Page 137]And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,
As from the Cabins of asafe defence;
And (thousandlyues to their deer Parent owing)
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.
I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry;
The Crane, Y
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,
By the brave orders practiz'd vnder her,
Instructeth Souldiers in the art of War.
For, when her Troops of wandring Cranes for sake
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take
Truce with the Northern Dwarfs, to seek adventure
In Southren Climats for a milder Winter;
Afront each Band a forward Captain flies,
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;
Two skilfull Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,
And with theirvoice hasten their tardy Flight;
And when the honey of care-charming sleep
Sweetly begins through all their veins to creep,
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Hoast,
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod:
Another doth as much, athird, afourth,
Vntill, by turns, the Night be turned forth.
There, the fa [...]r Peacock beautifully brave,
The Peacock.
Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-grave,
Wheeling his starry Tr [...]yn, in pomp displayes
His glorious eyes to P [...]bus goldenrayes▪
Close by his side stands the courageous Cock▪
The Cock.
Crest-peoples King, the Peasants trusty Clock,
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,
The Lyons terror, true Astronomer,
Who dayly riseth when the Sun doth rise,
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.
There, I perceive amid the flowry Plain
The Estridge.
The mighty Estridge, striving oftin vain
To mount among the flying multitude
(Although with fethers, not with flight indu'd):
Whose greedy stomack steely gads digests;
Whose crisped train adorns tryumphant crests.
Thou happy Witnes of my happy Watches,
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches,
Of Insects in the Creation wherof the wisedom of their Makershi­neth admirably.
To bear about, vpon thy paper-Tables,
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects (end-less to rehearse)
Limn'd with the pencill of my various Verse;
Sith These are also His wise Workmanships,
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:
And sith in These he showes vs every howr
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty powr
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.
For, if olde Times admire Callicrates
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermécides
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small
That with her wings a Bee can hide it all
(Though th' Artfull fruits of all their curious pain,
Fit for novse, were but inuentions vain)
Admire we then th' All-wise Omnipotence,
Which doth within so narrow space dispence
Of Flyes.
So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant hart,
So loud a voyce, so prudent wit and Art.
For, where's the State beneath the Firmament,
That doth excell the Bees for Government?
Of B [...].
No, no: bright Phoebus, whose eternall Race
Once every Day about the World doth pase,
Sees heer no City, that in Rites and Laws,
(For Equity) neer to their Iustice draws:
Not
Venice.
That, which flying from the furious Hun,
In th' Adri [...]n▪ Sea another World begun.
[Page 139]Their well-rul'd State my soule so much admires,
That, durst I loose the Rains of my desires,
I gladly could digress from my designe,
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:
But if, of all, whose skilfull Pencils dare
To counterfait th' Almightie's Models rare,
None yet durst finish that fair Peece, wherein
Learned Apelles drew L [...]ues wanton Queen;
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climbe,
And sing the Bees prayse in mine humble rime?
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?
Yet may I not that little * Worm pass-by,
The Silk-worm.
Of Flyturn'd Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:
Two births, two deaths, heer Nature hath assign'd-her,
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-live) seed behinde-her,
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaves
Of Th [...]sbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaves
(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, Silken flakes,
Which more for vs, then for her self, shee makes.
O precious fleece [...] which onely did adorn
The sacred loyns of Princes heertoforn:
But our proud Age, with prodigall abuse,
Hath so profan'd th' old honorable vse,
That Shifters now, who scarce haue bread to eat,
Disdain plain Silk, vnless it be beset
With one of those deer Metals, whose desire
Burns greedy soules with an immortall fire.
Though last, not least; brave Aegle, no contempt
Made me so long thy story hence exempt
( Nor LESS-E Xtold shall thy true vertues be,
For th' Eyrie's sake that owes my Muse and mee;
Wh [...]ar Iov's and Iuno's stately Birds be billing▪
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling
(Azure they hear three Eaglets Argentine,
A Cheuron Ermin grailed Or between)
WI [...]t, CHief [...]ie, RICHess, to THem all I Wish
In Earth; in Heav'n th' immortall Crown of Bliss.)
[Page 140]For, well I knowe, thou holdest (worthily)
That place among the Aëry flocks that fly,
As doth the Dragon or the Cocatrice
Among the bancfull Creeping companies:
The noble Lion among savage Beasts:
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Dyving guests.
I knowe thy course; I knowe, thy constant sight
Can fixly gaze against Heav'ns greatest Light.
But, as the Phoenix on my Front doth glister,
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.
On Thracian shoar of the same stormy stream,
A strange and notable story of the loue and death of an Eagle.
Which did inherit both the bones and name
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence
Whear love-blind Heros hap-less diligence,
In steed of Loves lamp, lighted Deaths cold brand,
To waft Leanders naked limbs to land)
There dwelt a Maid, as noble, and as rich,
As fair as Hero, but more chaste by much:
For, her steel brest still blunted all the Darts
Of Paphos Archer, and eschew'd his Arts.
One day, this Damsell through a Forest thick
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)
Vpon a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top
(Whear, one (almost) would fear to clamber vp)
Two tender Aeglets in a nest espies,
Which 'gainst the Sun s [...]te trying of their eyes;
Whose callow backs and bodies round about
With soft short quils began to bristle out;
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape
For wonted fees out of their Parents rape.
Of these two Fowls the fairest vp she takes
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes
Down from the Rock, and shiuering yet for fear
Tripps home as fast as her light feet can bear:
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,
And having stoln (at last) som Lamb away;
Flies with down-hanging head, and leereth back
Whether the Mas [...]y doo pursue his track.
In time, this Aegle was so throughly mann'd,
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand
At the first call't would com; and faun vpon-her,
And bill and bow, in signe of love and honour:
On th' other side, the Maiden makes as much
Of her deer Bird; stroking with gentletouch
Her wings and train, and with a want on voice
It want only doth cherish and reioyce:
And (prety-fondling) she doth prize it higher
Then her own beauties; which all else admire.
But (as fell Fates mingle our single ioyes,
With bitter gall of infinit annoyes)
An extream Fever vext the Virgins bones
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)
Consum'd her flesh, and wanly did displace
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her lovely face.
Then far'd the Foul and Fairest both a-like;
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick:
So that, to note their passions, one would gather
That Lachesis spun both their lives together.
But oft the Aeagle, striving with her Fitt,
Would fly abroad to seek som dainty bitt,
For her deer Mistress▪ and with nimble wing,
Som Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;
Paying with food, the food receiv'd so oft,
From those fair, Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,
During her nonage, yer she durst essay
To cleave the sky, and for herself to prey.
The Fever now with spitefull fitts had spent
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,
And Life resign'd to cruell Death her Right;
Who three dayes after doth the Eagle cite.
The fearfull Hare durst now frequent the Down;
And round about the Walles of Hero's Town,
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,
Dread-less of th' Aegle that so well they knew:
For shee (alas) lies on her Ladies bed,
Still-sadly mourning; though a-live, yet dead:
[Page 142]For, O! how should she live, sith Fatall knife
Hath cut the threed of her lives deerest life?
O're the deer Corps somtimes her wings she hovers,
Somtimes the dead brest with her brest she covers,
Somtimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,
Somtimes she kisses the cold lips and face;
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.
Thrice had bright Phoebus daily Chariot run
Past the proud Pillars of Aicmaenas son,
Since the fair Virgin past the fatall Ferry
Whear (lastly) Mortals leaue their burthens weary;
And yet this doleful Bird, drown'd in her tears,
All comfort-les, Rest and Repast forbears:
So much (alas!) shee seemeth to contend,
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.
But lastly, finding all these means too-weak,
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,
Vnnaturally her proper brest she gaged,
And tears her bowells, storming bitterly
That all these deaths could yet not make her dy.
But, lo the while, about the lightsom door
Of th' hap-les house, a mournfull troop, that bore
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their brests;
Who, taking vp the sacred Load (at last)
Whose happy soule already Heav'n embra'çt;
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatall Pile
With solemn pase: The silly Bird, the while,
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails,
Honoring with conuoy, two sad Funerals.
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame
Embraç't the Body of her tender Dame,
But sodainly, distilling all with blood,
Down soust the Eagle on the blazing wood:
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand
A hundred times to beat her from her stand;
[Page 143]For, to the midst still of the Pyle she plies;
And, singing sweet her Ladies Obsequies,
There burns herself: and blendeth happily
Her bones with hers she lov'd so tenderly.
O happy Payr! vpon your sable Toomb,
May Mel and Manna euer showring come;
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Herse,
And evermore live you within my Verse.
So Morn and Euening the Fift! Day conclude,
And God perceiv'd that All his Works were good.

THE SIXT DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Inuiting all, which through this world, aspire
Vnto the next, Gods glorious Works t'admire;
Heer, on the Stage, our noble Poet brings
Beasts of the Earth, Cattell, and Creeping things:
Their hurt and help to vs: The strange euents
Between Androdus, and the Forrest Prince.
The little-World (Commander of the greater)
Why formed last: his admirable Feature:
His Heav'n-born Soule; her wondrous operation:
His deerest Rib. All Creatures generation.
YOu Pilgrims, which (through this worlds City) wend
Toward th' happy City, whear withouten end
An exhortatiōto al which through the Pilgrimage of this life, tend toward the euer­lasting City, to consider well the excellent workes of God, heer re­presented by our Poet.
True ioyes abound; to anchor in the Port
Whear Deaths pale horrors never do resort:
If you would see the fair Amphitheatres,
Th' Arks, Arcenalls, Towrs, Temples, and Theatres,
Colosses, Cirques, Pyles, Ports, and Palaces
Proudly dispersed in your Passages;
Com, com with me: For, ther's not any part
In this great Frame, where shineth any Art,
But I will show't you. Are you weary since?
What! tyr'd so soon? Why, will you not (my friends)
Having already ventur'd forth so far
On Neptnn's back (through Windes and Waters war)
[Page 145]Rowe yet a stroak, the Harbour to recover,
Whose shoars already my glad eyes discover?
Almighty Father, guide their Guide along,
Inuocation.
And pour vpon my faint vnfluent tongue
The sweetest hony of th' Hyantian Fount,
Which freshly purleth from the Muses Mount.
With the sweet charm of my Victorious Verse,
Tame furious Lions, Bears, and Tigers fierce;
Make all the wilde Beasts, laying fury by,
To com with Homage to my Harmony.
OF ALL THE Beasts which thou This-Day didst build,
The Elephant.
To haunt the Hills, the Forest, and the Field,
I see (as vice-Roy of their brutish Band)
The Elephant, the Vant-gard doth command:
Worthy that Office; whether we regard
His Towred back, whear many Souldiers ward;
Or else his Prudence, whearwithall he seems
T'obscure the wits of human-kind somtimes:
As studious Scholer, heeself-rumineth
His lessons giv'n, his King he honoreth,
Adores the Moon: mooved with strange desire,
He feels the sweet flames of th' Idalian fire,
And (pierçtwith glance of a kinde-cruell ey)
For humane beauty, seems to sigh and dy.
Yea (if the Graecians doo not miss-recite)
His combat with the Rhinocerot.
With's crooked trumpet he doth somtimes write.
But, his huge strength, nor subtle wit, can not
Defend him from the sly Rhinocerot:
Who never, with blinde fury led, doth venter
Vpon his Fo, but (yer the Lists he enter)
Against a Rock he whetteth round about
The dangerous pike vpon his armed snout:
Then buckling close, doth not (at randon) hack
On the hard Cuirass on his Enemies back;
But vnder's belly (cunning) findes a skin,
Whear (and but thear) his sharpned blade will in.
The scaly Dragon, being else too lowe
For th' Elephant, vp a thick Tree doth goe;
[...] [...]
[Page 146]So, closely ambusht almost every Day,
To watch the Carry-Castle, in his way:
Who, once approaching, straight his stand he leaues,
And round about him he so closely cleaues
With's wrything body; that his Enemy
His combat with the Dragon.
(His stinging knots vnable to vn-ty)
Hastes to som Tree, or to som Rock, whearon
To rush and rub-off his detested zone,
The fell embraces of whose dismall clasp
Haue almost brought him to his latest gasp.
Then, sodainly, the Dragon slips his hold
From th' Elephant, and sliding down, doth fold
About his fore-legs, fetter'd in such order,
The true Image of Ciuill warre.
That stocked thear, he now can stir no furder:
While th' Elephant (but to no purpose) strives
With's winding Trunk t'vndoo his wounding gyves,
His furious fo thrusts, in his nose, his nose;
Then head and all; and thear-withall doth close
His breathing passage: but, his victory
Hee ioyes not long; for his huge Enimy,
Falling down dead, doth with his waighty Fall
Crush him to death, that caus'd his death, withall:
Like factious French-men, whose fell hands pursue
Simile.
In their own brests their furious blades t'imbrew,
While pitty-les, hurried with blinded zeal,
In her own bloud they bathe their Common-weal;
When as at Dreux, S t. Denis, and Mountcounter,
Their parricidiall bloody swords incounter;
Making their Country (as a Tragik Tomb)
T'interr th' Earths terror in her hap-les womb.
Or, like our own (late) YORK and LANCASTER,
Simile.
Ambitious broachers of that Uiper-War,
Which did the womb of their own Dam deuour,
And spoyl'd the freshest of fair ENGLAND'S Flowr;
When (WHITE and RED) ROSE against ROSE, they stood,
Brother'gainst Brother, to the knees in blood:
While WAKE-FIELD, BARNET and S t. ALBON'S streets
Were drunk with deer blood of PLANTAGENETS:
[Page 147] Whear, either Conquer'd, and yet neither Won;
Sith, by them both, was but their Owne vndon.
Neer th' Elephant, coms th' horned
Alias Gyraffa
  • alias Anabula:
  • an Indian Sheep
  • or a wilde Sheep.
  • The Hirable.
  • Camell.
  • Bull.
  • Asse.
  • Horse.
Hirable,
Stream-troubling Camell, and strong-necked Bull,
The lazy-pased (yet laborious) Asse,
The quick, proud Courser, which the rest doth passe
For apt address; Mars and his Master loving,
After his hand with ready lightnes moving:
This, out of hand, will self aduance, and bound,
Corvet, pase, manage, turn, and trot the Round:
That, follows loose behind the Groom that keeps-him;
This, kneeleth down the while-his Master leaps-him:
This, runns on Corn-Ears and ne'r bends their quills;
That, on the Water, and ne'r wets his heels.
In a fresh Troup, the fearful Hare I note,
  • The Hare.
  • The Connie.
  • Goat.
  • Sheep.
  • Swine.
  • Deere.
Th' oblivious Conney, and the brouzing Goat,
The sloathfull Swine, the golden-fleeced Sheep,
The light-foot Hart, which every yeer doth weep
(As a sad Recluse) for his branched head,
That in the Spring-time hee before hath shed.
O! what a sport, to see a Heard of them
Take soyl in Sommer in som spacious stream!
One swims before, another on his chine,
Nigh half-vpright, doth with his brest incline;
On that, another; and so all doo ride
Each after other: and still, when their guide
Growes to be weary, and can lead no more,
He that was hindmost coms and swims before:
Like as in Cities, still one Magistrate
Bears not the Burthen of the common State;
But having past his Yeer, he doth discharge
On others shoulders his sweet-bitter Charge.
But, of all Beasts, none steadeth man so much
As doth the Dog; his diligence is such:
A faithfull Guard, a watchfull Sentinell,
A painfull Purvayor, that with perfect smell
[Page 148]Provides great Princes many a dainty mess,
A friend till death, a helper in distress,
Dread of the Wolf, Fear of the fearfull Thief,
Fierce Combatant, and of all Hunters chief.
There skips the Squirrell, seeming Weather-wise,
Squirrel.
Without beholding of Heav'ns twinkling eyes:
For, knowing well which way the winde will change,
Hee shifts the portall of his little Grange.
Ther's th' wanton Weazell, and the wily Fox,
Weazell. Foxe. Monkey. Ciuit Cat.
The witty Monkey, that mans action mocks:
The sweat-sweet Ciuet, deerly fetcht from far
For Courtiers nice, past Indian Tarnassar.
There, the wise Beuer, who, pursu'd by foes,
Beuer, or Bezar.
Tears-off his codlings and among them throwes;
Knowing that Hunters on the Pontik Heath
Doo more desire that ransom, then his death.
There, the rough Hedge-hog; who, to shun his thrall,
Hedgehog.
Shrinks vp himself as round as any Ball;
And fastning his slowe feet vnder his chin,
On's thistly bristles rowles him quickly in.
But th' Ey of Heav'n beholdeth nought more strange
Then the Chameleon, who with various change
Chameleon.
Receiues the colour that each obiect giues,
And (food-les else) of th' Aire alonely liues.
My blood congeals, my sodain swelling brest
Can hardly breathe, with chill cold cakes opprest;
My hair doth stare, my bones for fear do quake,
My colour changes, my sad heart doth shake:
And, round about, Deaths Image (ghastly-grim)
Before mine eys all-ready seems to swim.
O! who is he that would not be astound,
To be (as I am) heer environ'd round
With cruell'st Creatures, which for Mastery,
Creatures veno­mous, and offen­siue to man.
Haue vow'd against vs end-less Enmity?
Phoebus would faint, Alcides self would dread,
Although the first drad Python conquered,
And th' other vanquisht th' Erymanthian Boar,
The Némean Lion and a many more.
[Page 149]What strength of arm, or Art-full stratagem,
From Nile's fell Rover could deliver them,
The Crocodile.
Who runs, and rowes, warring by Land and Water
'Gainst Men and Fishes, subiect to his slaughter?
Or from the furious Dragon, which alone
Dragon.
Set on a Roman Army; whearupon
Stout Regulus as many Engines spent,
As to the ground would Carthage walls haue rent?
What shot-free Corslet, or what counsail crafty,
'Gainst th' angry Aspick could assure them safety,
Aspick.
Who (faithful husband) over hill and Plain
Pursues the man that his deer Pheer hath slain;
Whom he can finde amid the thickest throng,
And in an instant venge him of his wrong?
What shield of Aiax could avoid their death
By th' Basilisk, whose pestilentiall breath
Basilisk.
Doth pearce firm Marble, and whose banefull ey
Wounds with a glance, so that the soundest dy?
Lord! if so be, thou for mankinde didst rear
Why God crea­ted such noysom and dangerous creatures: Sin the occasion of the hurt they can do vs.
This rich round Mansion (glorious every whear)
Alas! why didst thou on This Day create
These harmfull Beasts, which but exasperate
Our thorny life? O! wert thou pleas'd to form
Th' innammel'd Scorpion, and the Uiper-worm,
Th' horned Cerastes, th' Alexandrian Skink,
Th' Adder, and Drynas (full of odious stink)
Th' Eft, Snake, and Dipsas (causing deadly Thirst):
Why hast thou arm'd them with a rage so curst?
Pardon, good God, pardon mee; 't was our pride,
Not thou, that troubled our first happy tyde,
And in the Childehood of the World, did bring
Th' Amphisbena her double banefull sting.
Before that Adam did revolt from Thee,
And (curious) tasted of the sacred Tree,
He lived King of Eden, and his brow
Was never blankt with pallid fear, as now:
The fiercest Beasts, would at his word, or beck,
Bow to his yoak their self-obedient neck;
[Page 150]As now the ready Horse is at command
Simile.
To the good Rider's spur, or word, or wand;
And doth not wildely his own will perform,
But his that rules him with a steddy arm.
Yea, as forgetfull of so foul offence,
God hath giuen v [...] wisedome to auoid and van­quish them.
Thou left'st him (yet) sufficient wisdom, whence
He might subdue, and to his seruice stoop
The stubborn'st heads of all the savage troop.
Of all the Creatures through the Welkin gliding,
Walking on Earth, or in the Waters sliding,
Th' hast armed som with Poyson, som with Paws,
Som with sharp Antlers, som with griping Claws,
Som with keen Tushes, som with crooked Beaks,
Som with thick Cuirets, som with skaly necks;
But mad'st Man naked, and for Weapons fit
Thou gav'st him nothing but a pregnant Wit;
Which rusts and duls, except it subiect finde
Worthy it's worth, wheron it self to grinde;
And (as it were) with enuious armies great,
Be round about besieged and beset.
For, what boot Milo's brawny shoulders broad,
And sinnewie arms, if but a common load
He alwayes bear? what Bayes, or Oliue boughs,
Parsly, or Pine, shall crown his warlik brows,
Except som other Milo, entring Lists,
Courageously his boasted strength resists?
"In deepest perils shineth Wisdoms prime:
"Through thousand deaths true Valour seeks to clime;
"Well knowing, Conquest yeelds but little Honour,
"If bloody Danger doo not wait vpon her.
O gracious Father! th' hast not only lent
God hath set them at enmity among them­selues.
Prudence to Man the Perils to prevent,
Wherwith these foes threaten his feeble life;
But (for his sake) hast set at mutuall strife
Serpents with Serpents, and hast rais'd them foes
Which, vnprovoked, felly them oppose.
The Viper and Scorpion with their young.
Thou mak'st th' ingratefull Viper (at his birth)
His dying Mothers belly to gnaw forth:
[Page 151]Thou mak'st the Scorpion (greedy after food)
Vnnaturally devour his proper brood;
Wherof, one scaping from the Parents hunger,
With's death doth vengeance on his brethrens wronger:
Thou mak'st the Weazell, by a secret might,
The Weazell a­gainst the Basi­liske.
Murder the Serpent with the murdering sight;
Who so surpris'd, striving in wrathfull manner,
Dying himself, kils with his baen his Baener.
Thou mak'st th' Ichneumon (whom the Memphs adore)
The Ichneumon against the Aspick.
To rid of Poysons Nile's manured shoar;
Although (indeed) he doth not conquer them
So much by strength as subtile stratagem.
As he that (vrg'd with deep indignity)
By a proud Chalenge doth his foe defie;
Premeditates his posture and his play,
And arms himself so complet every way
(With wary hand guided with watchfull eye,
And ready foot to traverse skilfully)
That the Defendant, in the heat of fight,
Findes no part open for his blade to light:
So Pharaohs Rat yer he begin the fray
'Gainst the blinde Aspick, with a cleauing Clay
Vpon his coat he wraps an Earthen Cake,
Which afterward the Suns hot beams doo bake:
Arm'd with this Plaister, th' Aspick he approcheth,
And in his throat, his crooked tooth he broacheth,
Whileth' other boot-les striues to pearce and prick
Through the hard temper of his armour thick:
Yet, knowing himself too-weak (for all his wile)
Alone to match the skaly Crocodile;
Hee, with the Wren, his Ruin doth conspire.
The Wren, who seeing (prest with sleeps desire)
The Ichneumon and the Wren a­gainst the Cro­codile.
Nile's poysony Pirate press the slimy shoar,
Sodainly coms, and hopping him before,
Into his mouth he skips, his teeth he pickles
Clenseth his palate, and his throat so tickles,
That charm'd with pleasure, the dull Serpent gapes
Wider and wider with his vgly chaps:
[Page 152]Then, like a shaft, th' Ichneumon instantly
Into the Tyrants greedy gorge doth sly,
And feeds vpon that Glutton, for whose Riot
All Niles fat Margents could scarce furnish diet.
Nay more (good Lorst) th' hast taught Mankinde a Reason
God hath taught vs to make great vse of them.
To draw Life out of Death, and Health from Poyson:
So that in equall Ballance ballancing
The Good and Evill which these Creatures bring
Vnto Mans life, we shall perceiue, the first
By many grains to over-waigh the worst.
From Serpents scap't, yet am I scarce in safety:
Fierce and vn­tameable beasts.
Alas! I see a Legion fierce and lofty
Of Sauvages, whose fleet and furious pase,
Whose horrid roaring, and whose hideous face
Make my sense sense-less, and my speech restrain,
And cast me in my former fears again.
Already howls the waste-Fold Wolf, the Boar
The Wolfe. Boare. Beare. Ounce. Tigre. Leopard. Vnicorne. Hyaena. Mantichora, a kind of Hyaenae. Cephus, a kind of Ape or Munkey Chiurcae.
Whetts foamy Fangs, the hungry Bear doth roar,
The Cat-faç't Ounce, that doth me much dismay,
With grumbling horror threatens my decay;
The light-foot Tigre, spotted Leopard,
Foaming with fury do besiege me hard;
Then th' Unicorn, th' Hyëna tearing-tombs
Swift Mantichor', and Nubian Cephus coms:
Of which last three, each hath (as heer they stand)
Man's voice, Man's visage, and Mans's foot and hand.
I fear the Beast, bred in the bloody Coast
Of Cannibals, which thousand times (almost)
Re-whelps her whelps, and in her tender womb,
She doth as oft her living brood re-tomb.
But, O! what Monster's this that bids me battail,
On whose rough back an Hoast of Pikes doth rattle:
The Porcupine.
Who string-less shoots so many arrows out,
Whose thorny sides are hedged round about
With stiff steel-pointed quils, and all his parts
Bristled with bodkins, arm'd with Auls and Darts,
Which ay fierce darting, seem still fresh to spring,
And to his ayd still new supplies to bring?
[Page 153]O fortunate Shaft-neuer-wanting Bowe-man!
Who, as thou fly'st canst hit thy following foe-man,
And never missest (or but very narrow)
Th' intended mark of thyselfs kindred Arrow:
Who, still self-furnisht needest borrow never
Diana's shafts, nor yet Apollos quiver,
Nor bowe-strings fetch from Carian Aleband,
Brazell from Perù, but hast all at hand
Of thine owne growth; for in thy Hide do growe
Thy String, thy Shafts, thy Quiver and thy Bowe.
But (Courage now.) heers coms the valiant Beast,
The Lion King of Beasts.
The noble Lion, King of all the rest;
Who brauely-minded, is as milde to those
That yeeld to him, as fierce vnto his foes:
To humble suiters, neither stern nor statefull,
To benefactors never found ingratefull.
A memorable Historie of a Lion acknow­ledging the kind­nes he had recei­ued of Andro­dus a Romane Salue.
I call to record that same Roman Thrall,
Who (to escape from his mechanicall
And cruell Master, that (for lucre) vs'd-him
Not as a Man, but, as a Beast, abus'd-him)
Fled through the desart, and with trauail'd tir'd,
At length into a mossie caue retir'd:
But thear, no sooner gan the drowzy wretch
On the soft grass his weary limbs to stretch,
But coming swift into the caue he seeth
A ramping Lion gnashing of his teeth.
A thief, to shamefull execution sent
By Iustice, for his faults iust punishment,
Feeling his ey's clout, and his elbows cord,
Waiting for nothing but the fatall Sword;
Dies ye [...] his death, he looks so certainly
Without delay in that drad place to Die:
Even so the Slaue, seeing no means to shun
(By flight or fight) his fear'd destruction
(Having no way to fly, nor arms to fight,
But sighs and tears, prayers, and wofull plight)
Embraceth Death; abiding, for a stown,
Pale, cold, and sense-les, in a deadly swown.
[Page 154]At last, again his courage' gan to gather,
When he perceiv'd no rage (but pitty rather)
In his new Hoast, who with milde looks and meek
Seem'd (as it were) succour of him to seek,
Showing him oft one of his paws, wherein
A festering thorn for a long time had been:
Then (though still fearfull) did the Slaue draw nigher,
And from his foot he lightly snatcht the Bryer,
And wringing gently with his hand the wound,
Made th' hot impostume run vpon the ground.
Thenceforth the Lion seeks for Booties best
Through Hill and Dale, to cheer his new-com Guest,
His new Physician; who, for all his cost,
Soon leaues his Lodging, and his dreadfull Hoast;
And once more wanders through the wildernes,
Whether his froward Fortune would address,
Vntill (re-taen) his fell Lord brought him home,
For Spectacle vnto Imperiall Rome,
To be (according to their barbarous Laws)
Bloudily torn with greedy Lions paws.
Fell Canniball▪ Flint-harted Polyphem▪
If thou would'st needs exactly torture him
(Inhumane Monster, hatefull Lestrigon)
Why from thine owne hand hast thou let him gon,
To Bears and Lions to be giuen for prey,
Thy self more fell a thousand-fold, then they?
African Panthers, Hyrcan Tigres fierce,
Cleonian Lions and Panonian Bears,
Be not so cruell, as who violates
Sacred Humanity, and cruciates
His loy all subiects; making his recreations
Of Massacres, Combats, and sharp Taxations.
'Boue all the Beasts that fill'd the Martian Field
With bloud and slaughter, one was most beheld;
One valiant Lion, whose victorious fights
Had conquered hundreds of those guilty wights,
Whose feeble skirmish had but striv'n in vain
To scape by combat their deserued pain.
[Page 155]That very Beast, with faint and fearfull feet
This Runnagate (at last) is forç't to meet;
And being entred in the bloody List,
The Lion rowz'd, and ruffles-vp his Crest,
Shortens his body, sharpens his grim ey,
And (staring wide) he roareth hideously:
Then often swindging with his sinnewy train,
Somtimes his sides, somtimes the dusty Plain,
Hewhets his rage, and strongly rampeth on
Against his foe; who, nigh already gon
To drink of Lethè, lifteth to the Pole
Religious vows, not for his life, but soule;
After the Beast had marcht som twenty pase,
He sodain stops; and, viewing well the face
Of his pale foe, remembred (rapt with ioy)
That this was he that eased his annoy:
Wherefore, conuerting from his hatefull wildenes,
From pride to pitty, and from rage to mildenes,
On his bleak face he both his eyes doth fix,
Fawning for homage, his lean hands he licks.
The Slaue, thus knowing, and thus being knowen,
Lifts to the Heav'ns his front now hoary growen,
And (now no more fearing his tearing paws)
He stroaks the Lion, and his poule he claws,
And learns by proof, that a good turn at need,
At first or last shall be assur'd of meed.
THER's vnder Sun (as Delphos God did showe)
No better Knowledge, then Our self to Knowe:
Noscete ipsū.
Ther is no Theam more plentifull to sean,
Then is the glorious goodly Frame of MAN:
The second part of this sixt book: Wherein is discoursed at large of the creatiō of Man;
For in Man's self is Fire, Aire, Earth, and Sea;
Man's (in a word) the World's Epitomé
Or little Map: which heer my Muse doth try
By the grand Pattern to exemplifie.
A wit [...]y Mason, doth not (with rare Art)
And of the wonders of Gods wisedom, appea­ring both in his body and Soule.
Into a Palace, Paros Rocks conuert,
Seel it with gold, and to the Firmament
Rayse the proud Turrets of his Battlement,
[Page 156]And (to be brief) in every part of it,
Beauty to vse, vse vnto beauty fit,
To th' end the Skrich-Owl, and the Night-Rav'n should
In those fair walls their habitations hold:
But rather, for som wise and wealthy Prince
Able to iudge of his arts excellence:
Even so, the Lord built not this All-Theater,
For the rude guests of Air, and Woods and Water;
The world made for Man.
But, all for Him, who (whether he survey
The vast salt kingdoms, or th' Earth's fruitfull clay,
Or cast his eys vp to those twinkling Eys
That with disordered order gild the Skyes)
Can every-where admire with due respect
Th' admired Art of such an Architect.
Now of all Creatures which his Word did make,
Man was crea­ted last, & why.
MAN was the last that living breath did take:
Not that he was the least; or that God durst
Not vndertake so noble a Work at first:
Rather, because he should haue made in vain
So great a Prince, without on whom to Raign.
A wise man never brings his bidden guest
Fit comparison.
Into his Parlour, till his Room be drest,
Garnisht with Lights, and Tables neatly spred
Be with full dishes well-nigh furnished:
So our great God, who (bountious) euer keeps
Heer open Court, and th' ever-bound-les Deeps
Of sweetest Nectar on vs still distills
By twenty-times ten thousand sundry quills,
Would not our Grandsier to his Boord inuite,
Yer he with Arras his fair house had dight,
And, vnder starry State-Cloaths, plaç't his plates
Fill'd with a thousand sugred delicates.
All th' admirable Creatures made beforn,
Which Heav'n and Earth, and Ocean doo adorn,
All other crea­tures nothing in respect of Man made to the I­mage of God, with (as it were) great prepara­tion, not all at once, but by interims first his Body, and then his reasona­ble Soule.
Are but Essays, compar'd in every part,
To this divinest Master-Piece of Art.
Therefore the supream peer-les Architect,
When (of meer nothing) he did first erect
[Page 157]Heav'n, Earth and Aire, and Seas; at once his thought,
His word, and deed all in an instant wrought:
But, when he would his own selfs Type create,
Th' honour of Nature, th' Earths sole Potentate;
As if he would a Councell hold he cyteth
His sacred Power, his Prudence he inuiteth,
Summons his Loue, his Iustice he adiourns,
Calleth his Goodnes, and his Grace returns,
To (as it were) consult about the birth
And building of a second God, of Earth;
And each (a-part) with liberal hand to bring
Some excellence vnto so rare a thing.
Or rather, he consults with's onely Son
(His own true Pourtrait) what proportion,
Gen. 1, 16
What gifts, what grace, what soule he should bestowe
Vpon his Vice-Roy of this Realm belowe.
When th' other things God fashion'd in their kinde,
The Sea t'abound in Fishes he assign'd,
The Earth in Flocks: but, having Man in hand,
His very self he seemed to commaund.
He both at-once both life and body lent
To other things; but, when in Man he meant
In mortall limbs immortall life to place,
Hee seem'd to pawse, as in a waighty case:
And so at sundry moments finished
The Soule and Body of Earth's glorious Head.
Admired Artist, Architect divine,
Innocation.
Perfect and peer-les in all Works of thine,
So my rude hand on this rough Table guide
To paint the Prince of all thy Works beside,
That graue Spectators, in his face may spy
Apparant marks of thy Divinity.
Almighty Father, as of watery matter
It pleas'd thee make the people of the Water:
Mans body crea ted of the dust of the Earth.
So, of an earthly substance mad'st thou all
The slimy Burgers of this Earthly Ball;
To th' end each Creaturemight (by consequent)
Part-sympathize with his own Element.
[Page 158]Therfore, to form thine Earthly Emperour,
Thou tookest Earth, and by thy sacred power
So tempered'st it, that of the very same
Dead shape-les lump didst Adams body frame:
Yet, not his face down to the Earth-ward bending
(Like Beasts that but regard their belly, ending
For ever all) but toward th' azure Skyes
Bright golden Lamps lifting his louely Eyes;
That through their nerues, his better part might look
Still to that Place from whence her birth she took.
Also thou plantedst th' Intellectuall Powr
In th' highest stage of all this stately Bowr,
His head the seat of vnderstāding.
That thence it might (as from a Cittadell)
Command the members that too-oft rebell
Against his Rule: and that our Reason, there
Keeping continuall Garrison (as 't were)
Might Auarice, Enuy, and Pride subdue,
Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloath, and all their Crew
Of factious Commons, that still striue to gain
The golden Sceptre from their Soverain.
Th' Eys (Bodie's guides) are set for Sentinel
The Eyes full of infinite admira­tion.
In noblest place of all this Cittadel,
To spy far-off, that no miss-hap befall
At vnawares the sacred Animal.
In forming these thy hand (so famous held)
Seemed almost to haue itself excell'd,
Them not transpearcing, least our eyes should be
As theirs, that Heav'n through hollow Canes do see,
Yet see small circuit of the welkin bright,
The Canes strict compass doth so clasp their Sight:
And least so many open holes disgrace
The goodly form of th' Earthly Monarch's face.
These louely Lamps, whose sweet sparks liuely turning,
With sodain glaunce set coldest hearts a-burning,
These windows of the Soule, these starry Twinns,
These Cupids quivers haue so tender skinns
Through which (as through a pair of shining glasses)
Their radiant point of pearcing splendor passes,
[Page 159]That they would soon be quenched and put-out,
But that the Lord hath Bulwarkt them about;
By seating so their wondrous Orb, betwix
The front, the Nose, and the vermillion Cheeks:
As in two Vallies pleasantly inclosed
With pretty Mountains orderly disposed.
The Browes and Eye lids.
And as a Pent-house doth preserue a Wall
From Rain and Hail, and other Storms that fall:
The twinkling Lids with their quick-trembling hairs
Defend the Eyes from thousand dang'rous fears.
Who fain would see, how much a human face
A comly Nose doth beautifie and grace;
Behold Zopyrus, who cut-off his Nose
For's Princes sake, to circumvent his foes.
The Nose.
The Nose, no less for vse then beauty makes:
For, as a Conduit, it both giues and takes
Our living breath: it's as a Pipe put-vp,
Wherby the moyst Brain's spongy boan doth sup
Sweetsmelling fumes: it serueth as a gutter
To void the Excrements of grossest matter;
As by the Scull-seams, and the Pory Skin
Euaporate those that are light and thin:
As through black Chimneys flyes the bitter smoak,
Which but so vented would the Houshold choak.
And, sith that Time doth with his secret file
The Mouth.
Fret and diminish each thing every-while;
And whatsoever heer begins and ends,
Wears every howr and its self-substance spends;
Th' Almighty made the Mouth, to recompence
The Stomaks pension, and the Times expence
(Even as the green Trees, by their roots resume
Sap for the sap, that howrly they consume)
And plaç't it so, that alwayes by the way,
By sent of meats the Nose might take Essay,
The watchfull Ey might true distinction make
'Twixt Herbs and Weeds, betwixt an Eel and Snake;
And then th' impartiall Tongue might (at the last)
The Tongue.
Censure their goodnes by their savory taste.
Two equall ranks of Orient Pearls impale
The Teeth.
The open Throat: which (Queen-like) grinding small
Th' imperfect food, soon to the Stomack send-it
(Our Maister-Cook) whose due concoctions mend-it.
But least the Teeth, naked and bare to Light,
Should in the Face present a ghastly sight;
With wondrous Art, over that Mill doo meet
Two moouing Leaues of Corall soft and sweet.
The Lippes.
O mouth! by thee, our savage Elders, yerst
Through way-les Woods, and hollow Rocks disperst,
With Acorns fed, with Fells of Fethers clad▪
(When neither Traffik, Love, nor Law they had)
Of the excellent vse and end of speach.
Themselues vniting, built them Townes, and bent
Their willing necks to civill Government.
O mouth! by thee, the rudest wits haue learn'd
The Noble Arts, which but the wise discern'd.
By thee, we kindle in the coldest spirits
Heroïk flames affecting glorious merits.
By thee, we wipe the tears of wofull Eyes,
By thee, we stop the stubborn mutinies
Of our rebellious Flesh, whose rest-less Treason
Striues to dis-throne and to dis-sceptre Reason.
By thee, our Soules with Heav'n haue conuersation.
By thee, we calm th' Almighties indignation,
When faithfull signs from oursoules centre fly
About the bright Throne of his Maiesty.
By thee, we warble to the King of Kings;
Our Tongu's the Bowe, our Teeth the trembling strings,
Our hollow Nostrils (with their double vent)
The hollow belly of the Instrument;
Our Soule's the sweet Musician, that plaies
So divine lessons, and so Heav'nly layes,
As, in deep passion of pure burning zeal,
Ioues forked Lightnings from his fingers steal.
But O! what member hath more marvails in't,
The Eares,
Then th' Ears round-winding double labyrinth:
The Bodie's scouts, of sounds the Censurers,
Doors of the Soule, and faithfull Messengers
[Page 161]Of diuine treasures, when our gracious Lord
Sends vs th' Embassage of his sacred Word?
And, sith al Sound seems alwaies to aseend,
God plac't the Ears (where they might best attend)
As in two Turrets, on the buildings top,
Snailing their hollow entries so a-sloap,
That, while the voice about those windings wanders,
The sound might lengthen in those bow'd Meanders;
As, from a Trumpet, Winde hath longer life,
Or, from a Sagbut, then from Flute or Fife:
Sundry Similies expressing the reason of the round winding Mazes of the Ear [...].
Or as a noise extendeth far and wide
In winding Vales, or by the crooked side
Of crawling Riuers; or with broken trouble
Between the teeth of hollow Rocks doth double)
And that no sodain sound, with violence
Pearcing direct the Organs of this Sense,
Should stun the Brain, but through these Mazie holes
Conueigh the voice more softly to our Soules:
Another compa­rison to that pur pose.
As th'Ouse, that crooking in and out, doth run
From Stony-Stratford towards Huntington,
By Royall Amptill; rusheth not so swift,
As our neer Kennet, whose Trowt-famous Drift
From Marleborow, by Hungerford doth hasten
Through Newbery, and Prince-graç't Aldermarston,
Her Siluer Nymphs (almost) directly leading,
To meet her Mistress ( the great Thames) at Reading.
But, will my hands, in handling th' human Stature,
The hands.
Forget the Hands, the handmaids vnto Nature,
Th' Almighty's Apes, the Instruments of Arts,
The voluntary Champions of our hearts,
Mindes Ministers, the Clarks of quick conceipts,
And bodies victuallers, to prouide it meats?
Will you the Knees and Elbow's springs omit,
Which serue th' whole Body by their motions fit?
Ioynts, The Knees and Armes.
For as a Bowe, according as the string,
Is stiff or slack, the shafts doth farther fling;
Our Nerues and Gristles diuersly dispense,
To th' human Frame, meet Motion, Might and Sense:
[Page 162]Knitting the Bones, which be the Pillars strong,
The Sinews, Gristles and Bones.
The beams and Rafters, whose firm Ioynts may long
(Maugre Deaths malice, till our Maker calls)
Support the Fabrik of these Fleshly Walls?
The Feet.
Can you conceal the Feets rare-skilfull feature,
The goodly Bases of this glorious Creature?
But, is't not time now, in his Inner Parts,
To seeth' Almightie's admirable Arts?
First, with my Launcet shall I make incision,
To see the Cells of the twin Brains diuision:
The Treasurer of Arts, the Source of Sense:
The Seat of Reason; and the Fountain, whence
Our sinews flowe: whom Natures prouidence
Arm'd with a helm, whose double lynings fence
The brains cold moisture from its boany Armor,
Whose hardnes else might hap to bruise or harm-her:
A Registre, where (with a secret touch)
The studious dayly som rare Knowledge couch?
O, how shall I on learned Leaf forth-set
That curious Maze, that admirable Net,
Through whose fine folds the spirit doth rise and fall,
Making its powrs, of Vital, Animal:
Euen as the Blood, and Spirits, wandering
Through the preparing vessels crooked Ring,
Are in their winding course concoct and wrought,
And by degrees to fruitfull Seed are brought.
Shall I the Hearts vn-equall sides explain,
Of the Heart.
Which equall poiz doth equally sustain?
Wherof, th' one's fill'd with bloud, in th' other bides
The vitall Spirit which through the body slides:
Whose rest-les panting, by the constant Pulse,
Doth witness health; or if that take repulse,
And shift the dance and wonted pase it went,
It shews that Nature's wrongd by Accident,
Or, shall I cleaue the Lungs, whose motions light
Of the Lungues.
Our inward heat doo temper day and night:
Like summer gales wauing, with gentle puffs,
The smiling Medows green and gaudy tuffs:
[Page 163]Light, spungy Fans, that euer take and giue
Th' aetheriall Air, whereby we breathe and liue:
Bellows, whose blast (breathing by certain pawses)
A pleasant sound through our speech-Organs causes?
Or, shall I rip the Stomachs hollowness,
Of the Stomach.
That ready Cook concocting euery Mess,
Which in short time it cunningly conuerts
Into pure Liquor fit to feed the parts;
And then the same doth faithfully deliuer
Of the Liuer.
Into the Port-vain passing to the Liuer,
Who turns it soone to Blood; and thence again
Through branching pipes of the great Hollow vain,
Through all the members doth it duly scatter:
Much like a fountain, whose diuided Water
It self dispersing into hundred Brooks,
An apt Simili­tude.
Bathes som fair Garden with her winding Crooks.
For, as these Brooks, thus branching round about,
Make heer the Pink, there th' Aconite to sprout,
Heer the sweet Plum-tree, the sharp Mulberie there,
Heer the lowe Vine, and there the lofty Pear,
Heer the hard Almond, there the tender Fig,
Heer bitter Worm-wood, there sweet-smelling Spike:
Euen so the Blood (bred of good nourishment)
Of the Bloud & Nourishment.
By diuers Pipes to all the body sent,
Turns heer to Bones, there changes into Nerues,
Heer is made Marow, there for Muscles serues,
Heer Skin becoms, there crooking Veins, there Flesh,
To make our Limbs more forcefull and more fresh.
But, now me list no neerer view to take
Of th' Inward Parts, which God did secret make,
Nor pull in peeces all the Human Frame:
That work were fitter for those men of Fame,
Those skilfull sons of Aesculapius:
Hippocrates; or deep Herophilus:
Or th' eloquent and artificiall Writ
Of Galen, that renowned Pergamite.
'T sufficeth me, in som sort, to express
By this Essay the sacred mightiness,
[Page 164]Not of Iapetus wittie-fained Son,
But of the true Prometheus, that begun
Of the Creation of the Soule.
And finisht (with inimitable Art)
The famous Image, I haue sung in part.
Now, this most peer-les learned Imager,
Life to his louely Picture to conferr,
Did not extact out of the Elements
A certain secret Chymik Quint-essence:
But, breathing, sent as from the liuely Spring▪
Of his Diuinenss som small Riuerling,
Itself dispersing into euery pipe
Of the frail Engin of this earthen Type.
Not, that his own Selfs-Essence blest he brake,
Of her Essence and substance.
Or did his Triple-Unitie partake
Vnto his Work; but, without Selfs-expence
Inspir'd it richly with rare excellence:
And by his power so spread his Rays thereon,
That euen as yet appers a portion
Of that pure lustre of Coelestiall Light
Whearwith at first it was adorn'd and dight.
This Adam's spirit did from that spirit deriue
Which made the World: yet did not thence depriue
Whence it is pro­ceeded.
Of Gods self-substance any part at all;
As in the Course of Nature doth befall,
That from the Essence of an Earthly Father,
Diuers Similes.
An Earthly Son essentiall parts doth gather:
Or as in Spring-time from one sappy twig
There sprouts another consubstantiall sprig.
In brief, it's but a breath: now, though the breath
Out of our Stomacks concaue issueth;
Yet, of our substance it transporteth nought:
Onely it seemeth to be simply fraught
And to retain the purer qualities
Of th' inward place whence it deriued is.
Inspired by that Breath, this Breath desire
I to describe. Whoso doth not admire
His spirit, is sprightless; and his sense is past,
Of the excellēce of Mans soule.
Who hath no sense of that admired Blast.
Yet wot I well, that as the Ey perceiues
All but it self, euen so our Soule conceiues
All saue her owne selfs Essence; but, the end
Of her own greatnes cannot comprehend.
Yet as a sound Ey, void of vicious matter,
How she may know her selfe.
Sees (in a sort) it self, in Glass or Water:
So, in her sacred Works (as in a Glass)
Our Soule (almost) may see her glorious face.
The boistrous Winde, that rents with roaring blasts
Three fit com­parisons to that purpose.
The lofty Pines, and to the Welkin casts
Millions of Mountains from the watery World,
And proudest Turrets to the ground hath whurld:
The pleasing fume that fragrant Roses yeeld,
When wanton Zephyr, sighing on the field,
Enammels all; and, to delight the Sky,
The Earth puts-on her richest Lyuory:
Th' accorded Discords, that are sweetly sent
From th' Iuorie ribs of some rare Instrument,
Cannot be seen: but he may well be said
Of Flesh, and Ears, and Nose intirely void,
Who doth not feel, nor hear, nor smel (the powrs)
The shock, sound, sent; of storms, of strings, of flowrs.
The Soule not only vitall, but also diuine and immortall.
Although our Soule's pure substance, to our sight
Be not subiected: yet her motion light
And rich discourse, sufficient proofs doo giue,
We haue more soule than to suffice to liue;
A Soule diuine, pure, sacred, admirable,
Immortall, end-less, simple, vnpalpable.
For, whether that the Soule (the Mint of Art)
The Seat of the Soule.
Be all in all, or all in euery part:
Whether the Brain or Heart doo lodge the Soule,
O Seneca, where, where could'st thou enroule
Those many hundred words (in Prose or Verse)
Which at first hearing thou could'st back rehearse?
Notable exam­ples of excellent Memories.
Where could great Cyrus that great Table shut
Wherein the Pictures and the names he put
Of all the Souldiers, that by thousands wander'd,
After the fortunes of his famous Standard?
[Page 166]In what deep vessell did th' Embassader
Of Pyrrhus (whom the Delphian Oracler
Deluded by his double-meaning Measures)
Into what Cesterns did he pour those Treasures
Of learned store, which after (for his vse)
In time and place, he could so fit produce?
The Memorie, is th' Eyes true Register,
The Peasants Book, Times wealthy Treasorer,
Keeping Records of Acts and accidents
What s' ever, subiect vnto humane sense,
Since first the Lord the Worlds foundations laid,
Or Phoebus first his golden locks displaid,
And his pale Sister from his beaming light
Borrow'd her splendor to adorn the Night.
So that our Reason, searching curiously
Through all the Roules of a good Memory,
And fast'ning closely with a Gordian knot
To past euents, what Present Times allot,
Fore-sees the Future, and becomes more sage,
More happily to lead our later age.
And, though our Soule liue as imprison'd here,
In our frail flesh, or buried (as it were)
Of the quicke swiftnes, and so­dain motion of the Soule: com­prehending all things in Heauē and Earth.
In a dark Toomb; Yet at one flight she flies
From Caipè t' Imaus, from the Earth to Skies;
Much swifter then the Chariot of the Sun,
Which in a Day about the World doth run.
For, somtimes, leauing these base slymy heaps,
With cheereful spring aboue the Clouds she leaps,
Glides through the Aire, and there she learns to knowe
Th' Originalls of Winde, and Hail, and Snowe,
Of Lightning, Thunder, Blazing-Starrs and storms,
Of Rain and Ice, and strange Exhaled Forms.
By th' Aires steep-stairs, she boldly climbs aloft
To the Worlds Chambers; Heav'n she visits oft,
Stage after Stage: she marketh all the Sphears,
And all th' harmonious, various course of theirs:
With sure account, and certain Compasses,
She counts their Starrs, she metes their distances
[Page 167]And differing pases; and, as if she found
No Subiect fair enough in all this Round,
She Mounts aboue the Worlds extreamest Wall,
Far, far beyond all things corpóreall;
Where she beholdes her Maker, face to face,
(His frowns of Iustice, and his smiles of Grace)
The faithfull zeal, the chaste and sober Port
And sacred Pomp of the Celestiall Court.
What can be hard to a sloath-shunning Spirit,
Spurr'd with desire of Fames eternall merit?
Of learned, curi­ous, pleasant, marueilous, and more then hu­mane inuention of mans wit.
Look (if thou canst) from East to Occident,
From Island to the Moors hot Continent;
And thou shalt nought perfectly fair behould,
But Pen, or Pencill, Grauing-tool, or Mould,
Hath so resembled, that scarce can our ey
The Counterfait from the true thing descry.
The brazen Mare that famous Myron cast,
Which Stallions leapt, and for a Mare imbraç't:
The liuely picture of that ramping Vine
Which whilom Zeuxis limn'd so rarely fine,
That shoals of Birds, beguiled by the shapes,
Of Caruing and Painting.
Peckt at the Table, as at very Grapes:
The Marble Statue, that with strangest fire
Fondly inflam'd th' Athenian Youths desire:
Apelles Uenus, which allur'd well-neer
As many Loues, as Venus self had heer;
Are proofs enough that learned Painting can
Can (Goddess-like) another Nature frame.
But th' Art of Man, not only can compack
Features and forms that life and Motion lack;
The subtle con­clusions of the Mathematikes: witnes Archy­tas Doue.
But also fill the Aire with painted shoals
Of flying Creatures (Artificiall Fowls)
The Tarentines valiant and learned Lord,
Archytas, made a wooden Doue, that soar'd
About the Welkin, by th' accorded sleights
The Eagle and the Flie, of Iohn de Monte-Re­gio: or Regi-Montanus▪
And counterpoiz of sundrie little weights.
Why should I not that wooden Eagle mention
(A learned Germanes late-admir'd inuention)
[Page 168]Which mounting from his fist that framed her,
Flew far to meet an Almain Emperour;
And hauing met him, with her nimble train,
And weary wings, turning about again,
Follow'd him close vnto the Castle Gate
Of Noremberg; whom all the Showes of State,
Streets hangd with Arras, Arches curious built,
Loud-thundring Canons, Columns richly gilt,
Gray-headed Senate, and Youth's gallantise,
Graç't not so much, as onely This Deuise.
Once, as this Artist (more with mirth then meat)
Feasted some friends that he esteemed great,
From vnder's hand an iron Flie flew out;
Which, hauing flowen a perfect Round-about,
With weary wings, return'd vnto her Master,
And (as iudicious) on his arm she plaç't-her.
O diuine wit! that in the narrow womb
Of a small Flie, could finde sufficient room
For all those Springs, wheels, counterpoiz, and chains,
Which stood in stead of life, and spur, and rains.
Yea, you your selues, ye bright Celestiall Orbs,
Astronomy.
Although no stop your rest-less Daunce disturbs,
Nor stays your Course; yet can ye not escape
The hands of men (that are but men in shape)
A Persian Monarch, not content, well-nigh
The king of Per sia his Heauen of Glass.
With the Earths bounds to bound his Empery:
To raign in Heav'n, rais'd not with bold defiance
(Like brauing Nimrod, or those boistrous Giants)
Another Babel, or a heap of Hills:
But, without mouing from the Earth, he builds
A Heav'n of Glass, so huge, that there-upon
Somtimes erecting his ambitious Throne,
Beneath his proud feet (like a God) he saw
The shyning Lamps of th' other Heav'n, to draw
Down to the Deep, and thence again aduance
(Like glorious Brides) their golden Radiance:
Yet had the Heav'n no wondrous excellence
(Saue Greatnes) worthy of so great a Prince.
But, who would think, that mortall hands could mould
Admirable Di­alls & Clocks, namely, at this Day, that of Straesbourg.
New Heavn's, new Stars, whose whirling courses should
With constant windings, though contrary waies,
Mark the true mounds of Years, and Months, and Daies?
Yet 't is a story that hath oft been heard,
And by graue Witnes hundred times auerr'd,
That, that profound Briareus, who of yore
(As selfly arm'd with thousands hands and more)
Maintain'd so long the Syracusian Towrs
'Gainst great Marcellus and his Roman Powrs:
The Engines of Archimedes, and his Spheare.
Who fier'd his foes Fleet with a wondrous Glass:
Who hugest Vessels, that did euer pass
The Ti [...]rhen Seas, turn'd with his onely hand
From Shoar to Sea, and from the Sea to Land;
Framed a Sphear, where euery Wandring Light
Of lower Heav'ns and th' vpper Tapers, bright,
Whose glistering flames the Firmament adorn,
Did (of themselues) with ruled motion turn.
Nor may we smother, or forget (ingrately)
The Heauen of Siluer sent by the Emperour Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk.
The Heav'n of Siluer, that was sent (but lately)
From Ferdinando (as a famous Work)
Vnto Bizantium to the Greatest Turk:
Wherein, a spirit still mouing to and fro,
Made all the Engin orderly to go;
And though th' one Sphear did alwaies slowely slide,
And (opposite) the other swiftly glide;
Yet still their Stars kept all their Courses ev'n
With the true Courses of the Stars of Heav'n:
The Sun, there shifting in the Zodiack
His shining Houses, neuer did forsake
His pointed Path: there, in a Month, his Sister
Fulfill'd her course, and changing oft her lustre
And form of Face (now larger, lesser soon)
Follow'd the Changes of the other Moon.
O compleat Creature! who the starry Sphears
Of mans resem­blance to his first Paterne, which is God.
Canst make to moue, who 'boue the Heav'nly Bears
Extend'st thy powr, who guidest with thy hand
The Day's bright Chariot and the nightly Brand:
[Page 170]This curious Lust to imitate the best
And fairest Works of the Almightiest,
By rare effects bears record of thy Linage
And high descent; and that his sacred Image
Was in thy Soule ingrav'n, when first his Spirit
(The spring of life) did in thy limms inspire-it.
For, as his Beauties are past all compare;
So is thy Soule all beautifull and fair:
As hee's immortall; and is neuer idle:
Thy Soule's immortall; and can brook no bridle
O [...] sloath, to curb her busie Intellect:
He ponders all; thou peizest each effect:
And thy mature and settled Sapience
Hathsom alliance with his Prouidence:
He works by Reason; thou by Rule: Hee's glory,
Of th' Heav'nly Stages; thou of th' Earthly Story:
Hee's great High-Priest; thou his great Vicar heer:
Hee's Souerain Prince; and thou his Vice-Roy deer.
For, soon as euer he had framed thee,
Other testimo­nies of the excel­lency of Man, constituted Lord of the World.
Into thy hands he put this Monarchy:
Made all the Creatures knowe thee for their Lord,
And com before thee of their own accord:
And gaue thee power (as Master) to impose
Fit sense-full Names vnto the Hoast that rowes
In watery Regions; and the wandring Heards
Of Forrest people; and the painted Birds:
O too-too happy! had that Fall of thine
Not cancell'd so the Character diuine.
But sith our Soules now-sin-obscured Light
Wherein consist­eth Mans selici­tie.
Shines through the Lanthorn of our Flesh so bright;
What sacred splendor will this Starr send forth,
When it shall shine without this vail of Earth?
The Soule, heer lodg'd, is like a man that dwels
In an ill Aire, annoy'd with noysom smells;
Excellent com­parisons.
In an old House, open to winde and weather;
Neuer in Health, not half an hour together:
Or (almost) like a Spider, who, confin'd
In her Webs centre, shak't with euery winde;
[Page 171]Moues in an instant, if the buzzing Flie
Stir but a string of her Lawn Canapie.
You that haue seen within this ample Table,
Of the Creation of Woman made for an ayd to Man, and with­out whom Mans life were mise­rable.
Among so many Modules admirable,
Th' admired beauties of the King of Creatures,
Com, com and see the Womans rapting features:
Without whom (heer) Man were but half a man,
But a wilde Wolf, but a Barbarian,
Brute, ragefull, fierce, moody, melancholike,
Hating the Light; whom nought but naught could like:
Born solely for himself, bereft of sense,
Of heart, of loue, of life, of excellence.
God therefore, not to seme less liberal
To Man, then else to euery animal;
For perfect patern of a holy Loue,
To Adams half another half he gaue,
Ta'en from his side, to binde (through euery Age)
With kinder bonds the sacred Mariage.
Euen as a Surgeon, minding off-to-cut
Simile▪
Som cure-less limb; before in vre he put
His violent Engins on the vicious member,
Bringeth his Patient in a sense-less slumber,
And grief-less then (guided by vse and Art)
To saue the whole, sawes off th' infected part:
So, God empal'd our Grandsiers liuely look,
Through all his bones a deadly chilness strook,
Siel'd-vp his sparkling Eys with Iron bands,
Led down his feet (almost) to Lethè Sands;
In brief, so numm'd his Soul's and Body's sense,
That (without pain) opening his side; from thence
He took a rib, which rarely he refin'd,
And thereof made the Mother of Mankinde:
Grauing so liuely on the liuing Bone
All Adams beauties; that, but hardly, one
Could haue the Louer from his Loue descry'd,
Or know'n the Bridegroom from his gentle Bride:
Sauing that she had a more smiling Ey,
A smoother Chin, a Cheek of purer Dy,
[Page 172]A fainter voice, a more inticing Face,
A Deeper Tress, a more delighting Grace,
And in her bosom (more then Lillie-white)
Two swelling Mounts of Ivory, panting light.
Now, after this profound and pleasing Traunce,
Their Mariage.
No sooner Adams rauisht eyes did glaunce
On the rare beauties of his new-com Half,
But in his heart he gan to leap and laugh,
Kissing her kindely, calling her his Life,
His Loue, his Stay, his Rest, his Weal, his Wife,
His other-Self, his Help (him to refresh)
Bone of his Bone, Flesh of his very Flesh.
Source of all ioyes? sweet Hee-Shee-Coupled-One,
Their Epithala­mie, or wedding Song.
Thy sacred Birth I neuer think vpon,
But (rauisht) I admire how God did then
Make Two of One, and One of Two again.
O blessed Bond! O happy Mariage!
Which doost the match 'twixt Christ and vs presage!
O chastest friendship, whose pure flames impart
Two Soules in one, two Hearts into one Hart!
O holy knot, in Eden instituted
(Not in this Earth with bloud and wrongs polluted,
Profan'd with mischiefs, the Pre-Scaene of Hell
To cursed Creatures that' gainst Heav'n rebell)
O sacred Cov'nant, which the sin-less Son
Of a pure Virgin (when he first begun
To publish proofs of his drad Powr Diuine,
By turning Water into perfect Wine,
At lesser Cana) in a wondrous manner
Did with his presence sanctifie and honour!
By thy deer Fauour, after our Decease,
The commodities of Mariage.
We leaue behinde our liuing Images,
Change War to Peace, in kindred multiply,
And in our Children liue eternally.
By thee, we quench the wilde and wanton Fires,
That in our Soule the Paphian shot inspires:
And taught (by thee) a loue more firm and fitter,
We finde the Mel more sweet, the Gall less bitter,
[Page 173]Which heer (by turns) heap vp our human Life
Eu'n now with ioyes, anon with iars and strife.
This done; the Lord commands the happy Pair
Propagation by the blessing of God.
With chaste embraces to replenish Fair
Th' vnpeopled World; that while the World endures,
Heer might succeed their liuing Pourtraitures.
He had impos'd the like precept before,
On th' irefull Droues that in the Desarts roar,
The fethered Flocks, and fruitfull-spawning Legions
That liue within the liquid Crystal Regions.
Thence-forth therefore, Bears, Bears ingendered;
The Dolphins, Dolphins; Vulturs, Vulturs bred;
Men, Men: and Nature, with a change-less Course,
Still brought forth Children like their Ancestors:
Vnnaturall Cō ­iunctions pro­duce monstrous Births.
Though since indeed, as (when the fire hath mixt-them)
The yellow Gold and Siluer pale betwixt them
Another Metall (like to neither) make,
Which yet of eithers ritches doth partake:
So, oft, two Creatures of a diuers kinde,
Against the common course through All Assign'd,
Confounding their lust-burning seeds together,
Beget an Elf, not like in all to either,
But (bastard Mongrel) bearing marks apparant
Of mingled members, ta'en from either Parent.
God, not contented, to each Kinde to giue
Of things ingen­dered without seed or commix­tion of sexes.
And to infuse the Vertue Generatiue,
Made (by his Wisdom) many Creatures breed
Of liue-less bodies, without Venus deed.
So, the cold humour breeds the Salamander,
Who (in effect) like to her births Commander
With-childe with hundred Winters, with her touch
Quencheth the Fire though glowing ne'r so much.
So, of the Fire in burning furnace, springs
The Fly Pyrausta with the flaming Wings:
Without the Fire, it dies; within it, ioyes;
Liuing in that, which each thing else destroyes.
So, slowe Boötes vnderneath him sees,
In th' ycy Iles, those Goslings hatcht of Trees,
[Page 174]Whose fruitfull leaues, falling into the Water,
Are turn'd (they say) to liuing Fowls soon after.
So, rotten sides of broken Ships doo change
To Barnacles; O Transformation strange▪
'Twas first a green Tree, then a gallant Hull,
Lately a Mushrum, now a flying Gull.
So Morn and Euening the Sixt Day conclude,
And God perceiv'd that All his Works were good.

THE SEAVENTH DAIE OF THE FIRST WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
In sacred Rest, vpon This sacred Day
Th' Eternall doth his glorious Works suruay:
His only Powr and Prouidence perseuer
T' vphold, maintain, and rule the World for euer:
Maugre Mens malice and Hells raging mood,
God turneth all things to his Childrens good:
Sabbaoths right vse; From all Worlds-Works to cease;
To pray (not play) and hear the Word of Peace:
Instructions drawn from dead and liuing things,
And from our selues; for all Estates; for Kings.
THe cunning Painter, that with curious care,
By an excellent Similitude of a Painter deligh­ted with the sight of a curious ta­ble which he hath lately finished; our Poet sheweth how God rested the seauenth Day, and saw (as saith the Scripture) that all that he had made was Good.
Limning a Land-scape, various, rich, and rare,
Hath set a-work, in all and euery part,
Inuention, Iudgement, Nature, Vse and Art;
And hath at length (t'immortalize his name)
With weary Pencill perfected the same;
Forgets his pains; and, inly fill'd with glee,
Still on his Picture gazeth greedily.
First in a Mead he marks a frisking Lamb,
Which seems (though dumb) to bleat vnto the Dam:
Then hee obserues a Wood, seeming to waue:
Then th' hollow bosom of som hideous Caue:
Heere a High-way, and there a narrow Path:
Heer Pines, there Oaks torn by tempestuous wrath:
[Page 176]Heer from a craggy Rocks steep-hanging boss
(Thrumm'd half with Iuy, half with crisped Moss)
A siluer Brook in broken streams doth gush,
And head-long down the horned Cliff doth rush;
Then winding thence aboue and vnder ground,
A goodly Garden it be-moateth round:
There, on his knee (behinde a Box-Tree shrinking)
A skilfull Gunner with his left ey winking,
Leuels directly at an Oak hard by,
Whereon a hundred groaning Culuers cry;
Down falls the Cock, vp from the Touch-pan flies
A ruddy flash that in a moment dies,
Off goes the Gun, and through the Forrest rings
The thundering bullet, born on fiery wings.
Heer, on a Green, two Striplings, stripped light,
Run for a prize with labour som delight;
A dusty Cloud about their feet doth flowe
(Their feet, and head, and hands, and all doo goe)
They swelt in sweat; and yet the following Rout
Hastens their haste with many a cheerfull shout.
Heer, six pyed Oxen, vnder painfull yoak,
Rip vp the folds of Ceres Winter Cloak.
Heer, in the shade, a pretty Shepheardess
Driues softly home her bleating happiness:
Still as she goes, she spins; and as she spins,
A man would think som Sonnet she begins.
Heer runs a Riuer, there springs forth a Fountain,
Heer vails a Valley, there ascends a Mountain,
Heere smoks a Castle, there a City fumes,
And heer a Ship vpon th' Ocean looms.
In brief, so liuely, Art hath Nature shap't,
That in his Work the Work-mans self is rapt,
Vnable to look off; for, looking still.
The more he looks, the more he findes his skill:
So th' Architect (whose glorious Workmanships
God rested the seauēth Day, & contemplates, on his Works.
My cloudy Muse doth but too-much eclipse)
Hauing with pain-less pain, and care-less care,
In These Six Days, finisht the Table fair
[Page 177]And infinite of th' Vniuersall Ball,
Resteth This Day, t' admire himself in All:
And for a season eying nothing els,
Ioyes in his Work, sith all his Work excels
(If my dull, stutting frozen eloquence
May dare coniecture of his high Intents).
One while, hee sees how th' ample Sea doth take
A briefe recapi­tulation and cō ­sideration of the Works of God in the whole World and a learned Exposition of the words of Moses Gen. 1. 31 God saw that al that he had made, was per­fectly good.
The Liquid homage of each other Lake;
And how again the Heav'n sexhale, from it,
Aboundant vapours (for our benefit):
And yet it swels not for those tribute streams,
Nor yet it shrinks not for those boyling beams.
There see's he th' Ocean-peoples plentious broods;
And shifting Courses of the Ebbs and Floods;
Which with inconstant glaunces night and day
The lower Planets forked front doth sway.
Anon, vpon the flowry Plains he looks,
Laced about with snaking siluer brooks.
Now, he delights to see foure Brethrens strife
Cause the Worlds peace, and keep the World in life:
Anon, to see the whirling Sphears to roule
In rest-less Danses about either Pole;
Whereby, their Cressets (caried diuers waies)
Now visit vs, anon th' Antipodés.
It glads him now to note how th' Orb of Flame,
Which girts this Globe, doth not enfire the Frame:
How th' Airs glib-gliding firmless body bears
Such store of Fowls, Hail-storms, and Floods of tears:
How th' heauy Water, pronest to descond,
'Twixt Air and Earth is able to depend:
And how the dull Earth's prop-less massie Ball
Stands steddy still, iust in the midst of All.
Anon his nose is pleas'd with fragrant sents
Of Balm, and Basill, Myrrh, and Frankincense,
Thyme, Spiknard, Hysop, Sauory, Cinamon,
Pink, Violet, Rose, and Cloue-Carnation.
Anon, his ear 's charm'd with the melody
Of winged Consorts curious Harmony:
[Page 178]For, though each bird, guided with Art-less Art,
After his kinde, obserue a song a-part,
Yet the sole burden of their seuerall Layes
Is nothing but the Heav'n-Kings glorious praise.
In brief, th' Almightie's ey, and nose, and ear,
In all his works, doth nought see, sent, or hear,
But showes his greatnes, sauours of his grace,
And sounds his glory ouer euery place.
But aboue all, Mans many beautious features
Detain the Lord more then all other Creatures:
Man's his owne Minion; Man's his sacred Type,
And for Man's sake, he loues his Workmanship.
Not, that I mean to fain an idle God,
That lusks in Heav'n and neuer looks abroad,
That Crowns not Vertue, and corrects not Vice,
Blinde to our seruice, deaf vnto our sighs;
A Pagan Idol, void of powr and piety,
A sleeping Dormouse (rather) a dead Deïtie.
For though (alas!) somtimes I cannot shun,
But som profane thoughts in my minde will run,
I neuer think on God, but I conceiue
(Whence cordiall comforts Christians soules receiue)
Of the Proui­dence of God.
In God, Care, Counsail, Iustice, Mercy, Might,
To punish wrongs, and patronize the right:
Sith Man (but Image of th' Almightiest)
Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast.
Fond Epicure, thou rather slept'st, thy self,
Epicurus and his followers, de­nying the same, consuted by sun­dry Reasons.
When thou didst forge thee such a sleep-sick Elf
For life's pure Fount: or vainly fraudulent
(Not shunning th' Atheïsts sin, but punishment)
Imaginedst a God so perfect-less,
In Works defying, whom thy words profess.
God is not sitting (like som Earthly State)
In proud Theátre, him to recreate
With curious Obiects▪ of his ears and eys,
(Without disposing of the Comoedies)
Content t'haue made (by his great Word) to moue
So many radiant Starrs as shine aboue;
[Page 179]And on each thing with his owne hand to draw
The sacred Text of an eternall Law:
Then, bosoming his hand, to let them slide,
With reans at will, whether that Law shall guide:
Like one that hauing lately forç't som Lake,
Simile.
Through som new Channell a new Course to take,
Takes no more care thence-forth to those effects,
But lets the Stream run where his Ditch directs.
The Lord our God wants neither Diligence,
1 Gods power, goodnes, & wis­dom, shine glori­ously in gouer­ning the world.
Nor Loue, nor Care, nor Powr, nor Prouidence.
He prov'd his Power, by Making All of nought:
His Diligence, by Ruling All he wrought:
His Care, by Ending it in six Daies space:
His Loue, in Building it for Adams Race:
His Prouidence (maugrè Times wastefull rages)
Preseruing it so many Yeers and Ages.
For, O! how often had this goodly Ball
By his own Greatnes caus'd his proper Fall?
How often had this World deceast, except
Gods mighty arms had it vpheld and kept?
2 In him and through him, all things liue and moue, and haue their Beeing.
God is the soule, the life, the strength, and sinnew,
That quickens, moues, and makes this Frame continue.
God's the main spring, that maketh euery way
All the small wheels of this great Engin play.
God's the strong Atlas, whose vnshrinking shoulders
Haue been and are Heav'ns heauie Globes vpholders.
God makes the Fountains run continually,
3. All things particularly are guided by his Ordinance and Power, working continually.
The daies and Nights succede incessantly:
The Seasons in their season he doth bring,
Summer and Autumn, Winter, and the Spring:
God makes th' Earth fruitfull, and he makes the Earth's
Large loignes not yet faint for so many births.
God makes the Sun and Stars, though wondrous hot,
That yet their Heat themselues inflameth not;
And that their sparkling beams preuent not so,
With wofull flames, the Last great Day of wo:
And that (as mov'd with a contrary wrest)
They turn at-once both North, and East, and West:
[Page 180]Heavn's constant course, his heast doth neuer break:
The floating Water waiteth at his beck:
Th' Air's at his Call, the Fire at his Command,
The Earth is His: and there is nothing fand
In all these Kingdoms, but is mov'd each howr
With secret touch of his eternall Powr.
God is the Iudge, who keeps continuall Sessions,
4 God is the Iudge of the World: hauing all Creatures visible and invi­sible, ready ar­med to execute his▪ Iudgements.
In every place to punish all Transgressions;
Who, void of Ignorance and Avarice,
Not won with Bribes, nor wrested with Deuice,
Sins Fear, or Fauour; hate, or partiall zeal;
Pronounceth Iudgements that are past appeal.
Himself is Iudge, Iury, and Witnes too,
Well knowing what we all think, speak, or doo:
He sounds the deepest of the doublest hart,
Searcheth the Reins, and fifteth euery part:
Hee sees all secrets, and his Lynx-like ey
(Yet it be thought) doth euery thought descry:
His Sentence giuen, neuer returns in vain;
For, all that Heavn, Earth, Aire, and Sea contain,
Serue him as Sergeants: and the winged Legions,
That soar aboue the bright Star-spangled Regions,
Are euer prest, his powrfull Ministers;
And (lastly) for his Executioners,
Sathan, assisted with the infernall band,
Stands ready still to finish his Command.
God (to be brief) is a good Artizan
That to his purpose aptly mannage can
Good or bad Tools; for, for iust punishment,
Yea, he makeeh euen the wicked this instruments to punish the wicked, and to proue his Chosen
He arms our sins vs sinners to torment;
And to preuent th' vngodly's plot, somtime
He makes his foes (will-nill-they) fight for him.
Yet true it is, that human things (seem) slide
Vnbridledly with so vncertain tide,
That in the Ocean of Euents so many,
Somtimes Gods Iudgements are scarce seen of any:
Rather, it seems that giddy Fortune guideth
Againe, against Epicures, who hold that all things happen in the World by Chance.
All that beneath the siluer Moon be [...]ideth.
[Page 181]Yet, art thou euer iust (O God) though I
Cannot (alas!) thy Iudgements depth descry:
My wit's too shallow for the least Designe
Of thy drad Counsails, sacred, and diuine:
And thy least-secret Secrets, I confess
To deep for vs, without thy Spirit's address.
Yet oftentimes, what seemeth (at first sight)
1 Gods Iudge­ments past our search: yet euer iust in thēselues
Vniust to vs, and past our reason quite,
Thou mak'st vs (Lord) acknowledge (in due season)
To haue been don with equity and reason.
So, suffering th' Hebrew Tribes to sell their brother,
Gen 45. ver. 6. 7 and Gen. 50. v [...]. 20.
Thy eternall Iustice thou didst seem to smother.
But Ioseph (when, through such rare hap, it chanced
Him of a slaue to be so high aduanced,
To rule the Land where Nilus fertill flood
Dry Heav'ns defects endeuours to make good)
Learn'd, that his enuious brethrens treacherous drift,
Him to the Stern of Memphian State had lift,
That he might there prouide Relief and Room
For Abraham's Seed, against (then) time to com.
When thy strong arm, which plagues the Reprobate,
2. In executing his iudgements on the rebellious he sheweth mer­cie on his Ser­uants.
The World and Sodom did exterminate,
With flood and flame: because there liued then
Som small remains of good and righteous men,
Thou seem'dst vniust: but when thou sauedst L [...]t
From Fire, from Water Noah and his Boat,
'Twas plainly seen, thy Iustice stands propstious
To th' Innocent and smiteth but the vicious.
He wilfull winks against the shining Sun,
5 He sheweth his power in the cō ­fusion of the Mightiest: and in the deliue­rance of his Church.
That see's not Pharao, as a mean begun
Forth' Hebrews good; and that his hardned hart,
Smoothed the passage for their soon-depart:
To th' end the Lord, when Tyrants will not yeeld,
Might for his Glory finde the larger field.
Who sees not also, that th' vniust Decree
Of a proud Iudge, and Iudas treachery,
The Peoples fury, and the Prelats gall,
Serv'd all as organs to repair the Fall
[Page 182]Of Edens old Prince, whose luxurious pride
Made on his seed his sin for euer slide?
4 He turneth the malice of Sathan and his instru­ments, to his own glory, and the good of his: of whom he hath alwaies speciall care.
Th' Almighties Care doth diuersly disperse
Ore all the parts of all this Vniuerse:
But more precisely, his wide wings protect
The race of Adam, chiefly his Elect.
For ay he watcheth for his Children choice
That lift to him their hearts, their hands, and voice:
For them, he built th' ay-turning Heav'ns Theater;
For them, he made the Fire, Aire, Earth, and Water:
He counts their hairs, their steps he measureth,
Handles their hands, and speaketh with their breath;
Dwels in their hearts and plants his Regiments
Of watchfull Angels round about their Tents.
A remedy for temptation of the godly, seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of Gods children.
But heer, what hear I? Faith-less, God-less men,
I meruail not, that you impugn my pen:
But (O!) it grieues me, and I am amaz'd,
That those, whose faith, like glistering Stars, hath blaz'd
Even in our darkest nights, should so obiect
Against a doctrin of so sweet effect;
Because (alas!) with weeping eyes they see
Th' vngodly-most in most Prosperity,
Clothed in Purple, crown'd with Diadems,
Handling bright Scepters hoording Gold and Gems,
Croucht-to, and courted with all kinde affection,
As priuiledged by the Heav'ns protection;
So that, their goods, their honours their delights
Excell their hopes, exceed their appetites:
And (opposite) the godly (in the storms
Of this Worlds Sea) tost in continuall harms:
In Earth, less rest then Euripus they finde,
Gods heauy Rods still hanging them behinde:
Them, shame, and blame, trouble and loss pursues;
As shadows bodies, and as night the deawes.
Peace, peace, deer friends: I hope to cancel quite
The same cōfor­ted in diuers sorts: with apt Similitudes, cō ­firming the rea­son & declaring the right end of God; diuers dea ling with men.
This profane thought from your vnsettled Sp'rit.
Know then, that God (to th' end he be not thought
A powr-less Iudge) heer plagueth many a fault;
[Page 183]And many a fault leaues heer vnpunished,
That men may also his last iudgement dread.
On th' other side, note that the Crosse becoms
A Ladder leading to Heav'ns glorious rooms:
A Royall Path, the Heav'nly Milken way,
Which doth the Saints to Ioues high Court convay.
O! see you not, how that a Father graue,
Curbing his Son much shorter then his Slaue,
Doth th' one but rare, the other rife reproue,
Th' one but for lucre, th' other all for loue?
As skilfull Quirry, that commands the Stable
Of som great Prince, or Person honourable,
Giues oftest to that Horse the teaching spur,
Which he findes fittest for the vse of War.
A painfull School-master, that hath in hand
To institute the flowr of all a Land,
Giues longest Lessons vnto those, where Heav'n
The ablest wits and aptest wills hath giv'n.
And a wise Chieftain, neuer trusts the waight
Of th' execution of a braue Exploit,
But vnto those whom most he honoureth,
For often proof of their firm force and faith:
Such sends he first t' assault his eager foes;
Such 'gainst the Canon on a Breach bestowes;
Such he commands naked to scale a Fort,
And with small number to re-gain a Port.
God beats his Deer, from birth to buriall,
To make them know him, and their pride appall,
Affliction profi­table to the Faithfull.
To draw deuout sighes from calamitie,
And by the touch to try their Constancy,
T' awake their sloath, their minds to exercise
To trauail cheer'ly for th' immortall Prize.
A good Physician, that Arts excellence
Can help with practice and experience,
They are neces­sary to cure the diseases of the soule.
Applies discreetly all his Recipés,
Vnto the nature of each fell-disease;
Curing this Patient with a bitter Potion.
That, with strict Diet, th' other with a Lotion,
[Page 184]And sometime cutteth off a leg or arm,
So (sharply sweet) to saue the whole from harm:
Euen so the Lord according to th' ill humours
That vex his most-Saints with soule-tainting tumours)
Sends somtimes Exile, somtimes lingring Languor,
Somtimes Dishonour, somtimes pining Hunger,
Somtime long Law-suits, somtime Loss of good,
Somtimes a Childes death, or a Widdow-hood:
But ay he holdeth, for the good of His,
In one hand Rods; in th' other Remedies.
The Souldier, slugging long at home in Peace,
Without them Gods children decline.
His wonted courage quickly doth decrease:
The rust doth fret the blade hangd vp at rest:
The Moath doth eate the garment in the Chest:
The standing Water stinks with putrefaction:
And Vertue hath no Vertue but in action.
All that is fairest in the World, we finde
Subiect to trauail. So, with storms and winde
Th' Air still is tost: the Fire and Water tend,
This, still to mount; that, euer to descend:
The spirit is spright-less if it want discourse,
Heavn's no more Heav'n if it once cease his Course.
The valiant Knight is known by many scars:
The Crosse an honorable mark.
But he that steals-home, wound-less, from the Wars,
Is held a Coward, void of Valours proof,
That for Deaths fear, hath fled, or fought a-loof.
The Lord therfore, to giue Humanitie
Rare presidents of daunt-less Constancy,
God will be glo­rified in the con­stant sufferings of his Seruants.
And crown his deer Sons with victorious Laurels
Won from a thousand foes in glorious quarrels;
Pours downe more euils on their hap-less head,
Then yerst Pandora's odious Box did shead;
Yet strengthning still their hearts with such a Plaister,
That though the Flesh stoop, still the Spirit is Maister.
But, wrongly I these euils Euill call:
There is nothing euill in Mans life, but sinne: & vertue is best perceiued in the proofe.
Sole Vice is ill; sole Vertue good: and all,
Besides the same, is selfly, simply, had
And held indifferent, neither good nor bad.
[Page 185]Let enuious Fortune all her forces wage
Against a constant Man, her fellest rage
Can never change his godly resolution,
Though Heav'n it self should threaten his confusion.
A constant man is like the Sea, whose brest
True constantie liuely represen­ted by two com­parisons.
Lyes ever open vnto every guest;
Yet all the Waters that she drinks, can not
Make her to change her qualities a iot:
Or, like a good sound stomack not soon casting
For a light surfet or a small dis-tasting;
But, that, vntroubled, can incontinent
Convert all meats to perfect nourishment.
Though then, the Lords deep Wisedom, to this day,
God, Resting on the seuenth Day, and blessing it: teacheth vs that in resting one day of the Week, we should prin­cipally imploy it in his seruice: That we should cease from our worldly and wicked workes, to giue place to his grace, and to suffer his Spirit to worke in vs by the Instrument of his holy word.
Work in the Worlds vncertain-certain Sway:
Yet must we credit that his hand compos'd
All in six Dayes, and that He then Repos'd;
By his example, giving vs behest,
On the Seaventh Day for evermore to Rest.
For, God remembred that he made not Man
Of Stone, or Steel, or Brass Corinthian:
But lodg'd our soule in a frail earthen Mass,
Thinner then Water, britteler then Glass:
He knowes our life is by nought sooner spent,
Then having still our mindes and bodies bent.
A Field, left lay for som fewe Years, will yield
The richer Crop, when it again is till'd:
A River stopped by a sluce a space,
Runs (after) rougher and a swifter pase:
A Bowe, a while vnbent, will after cast
His shafts the farther, and them fix more fast:
A Souldier, that a season still hath layn,
Coms with more fury to the Field again:
Even so, this Body, when (to gather breath)
One Day in Seav'n at Rest it soiourneth;
It re-collects his Powrs, and with more cheer,
Falls the next morrow to his first Career.
But, the chief End, this Precept aims at, is
To quench in vs the coals of Covetize;
[Page 186]That while we rest from all profaner Arts,
Gods Spirit may work in our retired hearts:
That wee, down-treading earthly cogitations,
May mount our thoughts to heav'nly meditations:
Following good Archers guise, who shut one ey,
Simile.
That they the better may their mark espy.
For, by th' Almighty, this great Holy-day
Was not ordain'd to daunce, and mask, and play,
Against profa­ners of the Sa­baoth.
To slugg in sloath, and languish in delights,
And loose the Reans to raging appetites:
To turn Gods Feasts to filthy Lupercals,
To frantike Orgies, and fond Saturnals:
To dazle eys with Prides vain-glorious splendor,
To serue strange Gods, or our Ambition tender;
As th' irreligion of loose Times hath since
Chang'd the Prime-Churches chaster innocence.
We ought on the Lords Day, attēd his seruice & me ditate on the e­uerlasting Rest, & on the workes of God.
God would, that men should in a certain place
This Day assemble as before his face,
Lending an humble and attentiue ear
To learn his great Name's deer-drad Loving-Fear:
He would that there the faithfull Pastor should
The Scriptures marrow from the bones vnfold,
That we might touch with fingers (as it were)
The sacred secrets that are hidden there.
For, though the reading of those holy lines
In private Houses som-what move our mindes;
Doubtlesse, the Doctrine preacht doth deeper pearce,
Proves more effectuall, and more waight it bears.
The practise of the faithfull, in all reformed Churches, on the Sabaoth Day.
He would, that there in holy Psalmes we sing
Shrill prayse and thanks to our immortall King,
For all the liberall bounties he bestow'th
On vs and ours, in soule and body both:
He would, that there we should confess his Christ
Our onely Saviour, Prophet, Prince, and Priest;
Solemnizing (with sober preparation)
His blessed Seals of Reconciliation:
And, in his Name, beg boldly what we need
(After his will) and be assur'd to speed;
[Page 187]Sith in th' Exchequer of his Clemency,
All goods of Fortune, Soule, and Body lie.
He would, this Sabbaoth should a figure be
The Corporall Rest, a figure of the spirituall.
Of the blest Sabbaoth of Eternity.
But th' one (as Legall) heeds but outward things;
Th' other, to Rest both Soule and body brings:
Th' one but a Day endures; the others Date
Eternity shall not exterminate:
Shadows the one th' other doth Truth include:
This stands in freedom, that in seruitude:
With cloudy cares th' one's muffled vp som-whiles;
The others face is full of pleasing smiles:
For, never grief, nor fear of any Fit
Of the least care, shall dare come neer to it.
'Tis the grand Iubilé, the Feast of Feasts,
Sabbaoth of Sabbaoths, end-less Rest of Rests;
Which, with the Prophets, and Apostles zealous,
The constant Martyrs, and our Christian fellows,
Gods faithfull Seruants, and his chosen Sheep,
In Heav'n we hope (within short time) to keep.
He would this Day, our soule (sequestered
Meditation of the workes of God, especially on the day of Rest.
From busie thoughts of worldly cares) should read,
In Heav'ns bow'd Arches, and the Elements,
His bound-less Bounty, Powr and Providence;
That every part may (as a Master) teach
Th' illiterat, Rules past a vulgar reach.
Com (Reader) sit, com sit thee down by mee;
Exhortation to this Meditati [...], with the vse and profit thereof.
Think with my thoughts, and see what I doo see:
Hear this dumb Doctor, study in this Book,
Where day and night thou mai'st at pleasure look,
And therby learn vprightly how to liue:
For, every part doth speciall Lessons giue,
Even from the gilt studs of the Firmament,
To the base Centre of our Element.
Seest thou those Stars we (wrongly) Wandring call,
The Planets teach vs to fol­low the will of God.
Though diuers wayes they daunce about this Ball,
Yet ever more their manifold Career
Follows the Course of the First Mouing Sphear?
[Page 188]This teacheth thee, that though thine own Desires
Be opposit to what Heav'ns will requires,
Thou must still striue to follow (all thy dayes)
God (the first Mover) in his holy wayes.
The Moon tea­cheth that we haue not any thing that we haue not recei­ued.
Vain puff of winde, whom vaunting pride bewitches,
For Bodies beauties, or Mindes (richer) Riches;
The Moon, whose splendor from her Brother springs,
May by Example make thee vail thy wings:
For thou, no less then the pale Queen of Nights,
Borrow'st all goodnes from the Prince of Lights.
Wilt thou, from Orb to Orb, to th' Earth descend?
The Elementary fire and ours, where our hap­pinesse, and where our mise­ry consists.
Behold the Fire which God did round extend:
As neer to Heav'n the same is cleer and pure;
Ours heer belowe, sad, smoaky, and obscure:
So, while thy Soule doth with the Heav'ns converse,
It's sure and safe from every thought perverse;
And though thou won heer in this world of sinn,
Thou art as happy as Heav'ns Angells been:
But, if thy minde be alwayes fixed all
On the foul dunghill of this darksom vale,
It will partake in the contagious smells
Of th' vnclean house wherin it droops and dwells.
If enuious Fortune be thy bitter foe,
The Aire, that afflictions are profitable for vs.
And day and night do toss thee to and fro;
Remember, th' Aire co [...]reth soon, except
With sundry Windes it be o [...]t swing'd and swept.
The Sea, which somtimes down to Hell is driv'n,
The Sea, that we ought for no re­spect to trans­gresse the Law of God.
And somtimes heaues afroathy Mount to Heav'n,
Yet never breaks the bounds of her precinct,
Wherin the Lord her boisterous arms hath linkt;
Instructeth thee, that neither Tyrants rage,
Ambition's windes, nor golden vassallage
Of Auarice, nor any love, nor fear,
From Gods Command should make thee shrink a hair.
The Earth, which never all at once doth moue,
The Earth, that we should be constant.
Though her rich Orb received, from aboue,
No firmer base her burthen to sustent,
Then slippery props of softest Element;
[Page 189]By her example doth propose to thee
A needfull Lesson of true Constancy.
The Eares of Corne, that we should be hum­ble.
Nay, there is nought in our deer Mother found,
But Pythily som Vertue doth propound.
O! let the Noble, Wise, Rich, Valiant,
Be as the base, poore, faint, and ignorant;
And, looking on the fields, when Autumn shears,
There let them learn among the bearded ears;
Which still the fuller of the flowery grain,
Bow down the more their humble heads again;
And ay the lighter and the less their store,
They lift aloft their Chaffie Crests the more.
Let her, that (bound-less in her wanton wishes)
The Palme-Tree, that we should be chast.
Dares spot the Spouse-bed with vnlawfull kisses,
Blush (at the least) at Palm-Trees loyalty,
Which never bears, vnless her Male be by.
Thou, thou that prançest after Honors prize
Cinamon tea­cheth Diligence and Prudence.
(While by the way thy strength and stomach dies)
Remember, Honor is like Cinamon
Which Nature mounds with many a million
Of thorny pricks; that none may danger-les
Approach the Plant, much less the Fruit possess.
Canst thou the secret Sympathy behold
The Sunne and the Marigold, direct vs vnto Christ, the Sun of Righteousnes.
Betwixt the bright Sun and the Marigold,
And not consider, that we must no less
Follow in life the Sun of Righteousness?
O Earth! the Treasures of thy hollow brest
Are no less fruitfull Teachers then the rest.
For, as the Lime doth break and burn in Water,
And swell, and smoak, crackle, and skip, and scatter,
Lyme in water, teacheth vsto shew our vertue in extremitie.
Waking that Fire, whose dull heat sleeping was
Vnder the cold Crust of a Chalky Mass:
He that (to march amid the Christian Hoast)
Yeelds his hearts kingdom to the holy-Ghost;
And, for braue Seruice vnder Christ his Banner,
Looks to be crown'd with his Chief Champions honor,
Must in Affliction wake his zeal, which oft
In Calmer times sleeps too-securely soft.
And, opposit, as the rich Diamond
The Diamond exhorteth to Constancy.
The Fire and Steel doth stoutly both withstand:
So the true Christian should, till life expire,
Contemn proud Tyrants raging Sword and Fire.
Or, if fell Rigour with som ruth-les smart
A little shake the sinnews of his heart,
He must be like the richest Minerall,
Gold in the fur­nace, to magna­nimity, & puri­ty.
Whose Ingots bow, but never break at all;
Nor in the Furnace suffer any loss
Of waight, but Lees; not of the Gold, but dross.
The pretious Stone that bears the Rain-bowes name,
The stone Iris, to edification of our Neighbour.
Receiues the bright face of Sols burnisht flame;
And by reflection, after, it displaies
On the next obiect all those pointed rayes:
So whoso hath from the Empyreall Pole,
Within the centre of his happy Soule
Receiv'd som splendor of the beams divine,
Must to his Neighbour make the same to shine;
Not burying Talents which our God hath giv'n
To be imploy'd in a rich trade for Heav'n,
That in his Church he may receiue his Gold,
With thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold.
As th' Iron, toucht by th' Adamant's effect,
The needle in the Mariners compasse shew­eth that we shuld incessantly looke on Christ our onely load starre.
To the North Pole doth ever point direct:
So the Soule, toucht once by the secret powr
Of a true liuely Faith, looks every howr
To the bright Lamp which serues for Cynosure
To all that sail vpon the Sea obscure.
These presidents, from liue-les things collected,
Lessons from li­uing Creatures.
Breed good effects in spirits well affected;
But lessons, taken from the things that liue,
A liuelier touch vnto all sorts doo giue.
Vp, vp ye Princes: Prince and People, rise,
Bees, to subiects and to Princes.
And run to School among the Hony-Flies:
There shall you learn, that an eternall law
Subiects the Subiect vnder Princes aw:
There shall you learn, that a courageous King,
To vex his humble Vassals hath no sting.
The Persian Prince, that princely did conclude
The Marlin, to the vnthankeful
So severe laws against Ingratitude,
Knew that the Marlin, hauing kept her warm
With aliue Lark, remits it without harm;
And least her frend-bird she should after slay,
She takes her flight a quite contrary way.
Fathers, if you desire, your Children sage
The Eagle, so Parents.
Should by their Blessings bless your crooked age;
Train them betimes vnto true Vertues Lore,
By Aw, Instruction, and Example (more):
So the old Eagle flutters in and out,
To teach his yong to follow him aboue.
If his example cannot timely bring
His backward birds to vse their feeble wing,
He leaues them then som dayes vnfed, whereby
Sharp hunger may at length constiain them fly.
If that prevail not, then he beats them, both
With beak and wings to stir their fearfull sloath.
You, that to haste your hated Spouses end,
The Turtle, to Wedlock-brea­kers.
Black deadly poyson in his dish doo blend;
O! can ye see with vn-relenting eyes
The Turtle-Doue? sith, when her husband dies,
Dies all herioy: for, never loues she more;
But on dry bowghs doth her dead Spouse deplore.
Thou, whom the freedom of a foolish tongue
Wilde geese, to B [...]bblers.
Brings oft in danger for thy neighbours wrong;
Discreetly set a hatch before the door:
As the wise Wilde-geese, when they over-soar
Cilician Mounts, within their bills doo bear
A pebble-stone both day and night; for fear
Least rauenous Eagles of the North descry
Their Armies passage, by their cackling Cry.
O! Mothers, can you? can you (O vnkinde!)
Diuers Fishes, to vnnaturall Mo­thers, that will [...] not nour se their owne Children.
Deny your Babes your breasts? and call to minde
That many Fishes, many times are fain
Receiue their seed into their wombs again
( Lucinas sad throes, for the self-same birth,
Enduring oft, it often bringing forth)?
O! why embrace not we with Charity
Dolphins, to the cruell.
The living, and the dead with Piety?
Giving these succour, sepulture to those:
Even as the Dolphins doo themselues expose,
For their lyue fellows, and beneath the Waues
Cover their dead-ones vnder sandy Graues.
You Children, whom (past hope) the Heav'ns benignity
The wild Kid, to children.
Hath heapt with wealth, and heaved-vp to dignity,
Doo not forget your Parents: but behold
Th' officious Kids, who (when, their Parents old,
With heavy Gyues, Elds trembling fever stops
And fetters-fast vpon the Mountain-tops)
As carefull purveyours, bring them home to brouz
The tendrest tops of all the slenderest boughs;
And sip (self-thirst-les) of the Riuers brink,
Which in their mouths they bring them home to drink.
For House-hold Rules, read not the learned Writs
Of the Stagirian (glory of good wits):
The Spiders, to Man and Wife.
Nor his, whom, for his honny-steeped stile,
They Proverbiz'd the Attik Muse yer-while:
Sith th' onely Spider teacheth euery one,
The Husbands and the Huswifes function.
For, for their food, the valiant Male doth roam;
The cunning Female tends her work at home:
Out of her bowels, wooll and yarn she spitteth,
And all that, else her learned labour fitteth:
Her waight's the spindle that doth twist the twine,
Which her small fingers draw so ev'n and fine.
Still at the Centre she her warp begins,
Then round (at length) her little threds she pins,
And equall distance to their compass leaues:
Then neat and nimbly her new web she weaues,
With her fine shuttle circularly drawn,
Through all the circuit of her open lawn;
Open, least else th' vngentle Windes should tear
Her cipres Tent (weaker then any hair)
And that the foolish Fly migh easter get
Within the meshes of her curious Net:
[Page 193]Which he no sooner doth begin to shake,
But streight the Male doth to the Centre make,
That he may conquer more securely there
The humming Creature, hampred in his snare.
You Kings, that beare the sword of iust Hostilitie,
The Lion, to Kings.
Pursue the Proud, and pardon true Humilitie;
Like noble Lions that do neuer showe
Their strength and stomach on a yeelding Foe,
But rather through the stoutest throngs doo forrage,
'Mid thousands Deaths to shew their daunt-les courage.
Thou sluggard (if thou list to learn thy part)
The Emmet and Hedge-hog, to the sloathfull.
Goe learn the Emmets, and the Vrchins Art;
In Summer th' one, in Autumn th' other takes
The Seasons fruits, and thence prouision makes,
Each in his Lodging laying vp a hoord
Against cold Winter, which doth nought affoord.
But (Reader) We resemble one that windes,
Man may finde in himself excel­lent instruction.
From Saba, Bandan, and the wealthy Indes
(Through threatning Seas, and dangers manifold)
To seek far-off for Incense, Spice, and Gold;
Sith we, not loosing from our proper Strand,
Finde all wherein a happy life doth stand;
And our owne Bodies self-contained motions,
Giue the most gross a hundred goodly Notions.
You Princes, Pastors, and ye Chiefs of War,
The head teach­eth all persons in authoritie.
Do not your Laws, Sermons, and Orders mar;
Least your examples banefull leaprosies
Infect your Subiects, Flocks, and Companies;
Beware, your euill make not others like;
For, no part's sound if once the Head be sick.
You Peers, O doo not through self-partiall zeal,
The Eys instruct Princes, and Noble-men.
With light-brain'd Counsails vex your Common-weal:
But, as both Eys doo but One thing behold,
Let each his Countries common good vp-hold.
You, that for Others trauail day and night,
With much-much labour, and small benefite,
The teeth, such as trauaile for others.
Behold the Teeth, which Toule-free grinde the food,
From whence themselues doo reap more greef then good.
Euen as the Hart hath not a Moments rest,
The Hart, the Ministers of the Word.
But night and day moues in our panting brest,
That by his beating it may still impart
The liuely spirits about to euery part:
So those, to whome God doth his Flock betake,
Ought alwaies study, alwaies work, and wake,
To breathe (by Doctrin and good Conuersation)
The quickning spirit into their Congregation.
And as the Stomach, from the holesom food
The stomacke, the same.
Diuides the grosser part (which is not good)
They ought from false the truth to separate,
Error from Faith, and Cockle from the Wheat,
To make the best receiv'd for nourishment,
The bad cast forth as filthy excrement.
The Hands, all Christians, to Charitie.
If Bat or Blade doo threaten sodain harm
To belly, brest, or leg, or head, or arm,,
With dread-less dread the hand doth ward the blowe,
Taking her self her brethrens bleeding woe:
Then, mid the shock of sacrilegious Arms
That fill the world with blood and boistrous storms,
Shall we not lendour helping hands to others,
Whom Faith hath made more neer and deer then Brothers?
Nor can I see, where vnderneath the Sky
The whole body the whole society of mankind that euery one ought to stand in his owne vocation.
A man may finde a iuster Policy,
Or truer Image of a calme Estate
Exempt from Faction, Discord, and Debate,
Then in th' harmonious Order that maintains
Our Bodies life, through Members mutual pains▪
Where, one no sooner feels the least offence,
But all the rest haue of the same a sense.
The Foot striues not to smell, the Nose to walk,
The Tongue to combat, nor the Hand to talk:
But, without troubling of their Common-weal
With mutinies, they (voluntary) deal
Each in his Office and Heav'n-pointed place,
Bee't vile or honest, honoured or base,
But, soft my Muse: what? wilt thou re-repeat
The Little-Worlds admired Modulet?
[Page 195]If twice or thrice one and the same we bring,
'Tis teadious; how euer swect we sing.
Ther-fore a-shoar: Mates, let our Anchor fall:
Heer blowes no Winde: heer are we Welcom all.
Besides, consider and conceiue (I pray)
W'haue row'd sufficient, for a Sabbath Day.
THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK.
Du BARTAS His SECOND …

Du BARTAS His SECOND VVEEKE, Disposed (After the proportion of his First) Into SEAVEN DAYES: (viz.)

  • THE 1. ADAM,
  • THE 2. NOAH,
  • THE 3. ABRAHAM,
  • THE 4. DAVID.
  • THE 5. ZEDECHIAS,
  • THE 6. MESSIAS,
  • THE 7. Th' ETERNAL SABBATH.

But, of the three last, Death (preuenting Our Noble Poet) hath depriued vs.

Acceptam refero.

TO THE MOST ROYAL PATTERN AND PATRON OF LEARNING AND RELIGION, THE HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE, IAMES

(BY THE GRACE OF GOD)

KING OF GREAT BRITAINE, FRANCE, & IRELAND: TR VE DEFENDER OF THE TR VE, ANTIENT, CHRISTIAN, CATHOLIKE, AND APOSTOLIKE FAITH &c.

1. SONNET.
From ZEAL- Land, sayling▪ with the Winde of Loue,
In the Bark LABOVR, stirr'd by Theorems,
Laden with [...]ope and with DESIRE t'approve,
Bound for Cape- Comfort in the Ile of IHMMES;
In such a Mist, wee fell vpon the Coast,
That sodainly vpon the Rock Neglect
(Vnhappily) our Ship and Goods we lost,
Even in a Place that we did least suspect.
So, Cast▪ away (my LIEGE) and quight vn-don,
We Orphan-remnants of a wofefull Wrack,
Heer cast a-shore to Thee for succour run:
O Pittie vs, for our deer Parent's sake,
Who Honour'd Thee, both in his Life and Death,
And to thy guard his POSTHVMES did bequeath.
2. SONNET.
These glorious WORKS, and gratefull Monuments
Built by Du BARTAS, on the [...]yrenaeis
(Your Royall Vertues to immortalize,
And magnifie your rich Munificence)
Haue prov'd so Charge-full to Trans-port from thence
That our smal Art's-st [...]ck hardly could suffize,
To vnder go so great an Enterprize;
But is even beggerd with th' vn-cast Expense.
So that, except our Muses SOVERAIN
With gracious Eye regard her spent Estate;
And, with a hand of Princely Fauour, daign
To stay her fall (before it be too-late)
She needs must fail: as (lending Light about)
Self-spending Lamps, for lack of Oyl, go-out.
Voy (Sire) Saluste.

To the Right Excellent, and most hopefull young Prince, HENRY, Prince of WALES.

ANAGR.
  • Henricus Stuartus.
  • Hic strenuus ratus.

THE TROPHEIS, & MAGNIFICENCE.

THe gratious Welcome You vouchsaf't yer-while
To my grave PIBRAC (though but meanly clad)
Makes BARTAS (now, no Stranger in this Isle)
More bold to come (though suted even as clad)
To kiss Your HIGHNES Hand; and, with Your Smile,
To Crown His Haps, and Our faint Hopes to glad
(Whose weary longings languish in our Stile:
For, in our Wants, our very Songs be sad).
Hee brings, for Present to so great a PRINCE,
A Princely GLASSE, made first for SALOMON:
The fitter therfore for your EXCELLENCE
As oft to look-in, as You look vpon.
Som Glasses flatter: other-som deform:
This, ay, presents You a true PRINCE'S Form.
Voy Sire Saluste.

To the right Honorable, the Lord High Chancellor of England.

ANAGR.
  • Thomas Egerton.
  • 1. Gestat Honorem.
  • 2. Age mett Honors.
  • 3. Honors mett Age.
THE LAWE.
MOst humbly
Shewes to thy Great Worthiness,
Graue MODERATOR of our Britain LAWES)
The Muses Abiect (subiect of Distress)
How, long Wrong-vext, in a not - Need - less Cause,
Not at the Kings-Bench, but the Pennie-less)
By one, I Want (the son of Simpleness);
Vnable, more to greaze the scraping paws
Of his Attorney Shift, or oyl the iaw
Of his (dear) Counsell, Serieant Pensiueness;
He is compell'd, in forma pauperis,
To Plead, himself (and shew his (little) LAW)
In the free Court of thy milde Courtesies.
Please it thee therefore an Iniunction grant,
To stay the Suit between himself and Want.
I. S.
For Thee and Thine, for ay,
So He and His shall pray.

To the Right Honourable▪ the Earle of Salisburie, Lord high Threasurer of England.

ANAGRAMMATA.
Robertus Cecilius. Robertus Cecillius.
Cui ortus celebris: (vel) Cerebro sic Tullius.
Robertus Comes Sari. Carus est Orbisermo.
THE CAPTAINES.
ARms yield to Arts: the Trumpet to the Tongue:
Stout Aiax Prize the wise Vlysses wann▪
It will not seem then▪ that we haue mis-sung,
To sing of CAPTAINS to a Counsail -man:
Sith, without Counsail, Courage is but rage;
Rude in Resolving, rash in Acting it:
In which respect, those of the Antique Age
Fain PALLAS Goddess both of Warr and Wit:
Therfore, to Thee, whose Wit so much hath sted
(In Warr and Peace) our Princes and our STATE:
To Thee (whose Vertue hath now Triumphed
Of cause-les Enuy, and misgrounded Hate:
To Thee ( Witt's- WORTHIE) had it not bin wrong,
Not to haue sounded my War- WORTHIE's Song?
I. S.

To the right Honorable, the Earl of Dorset (late) Lord High Threasurer of England.

ANAGR.
  • Sacvilus Comes Dorsetius.
  • Vas lucis Esto decor Musis.
  • Sacris Musis celo deuotus.
THE SCHISME.
NOt with-out Error, and apparant Wrong
To Thee, the Muses, and my Self (the most)
Could I omit, amid this Noble Hoast
Of learned Friends to Learning, and our Song,
To muster Thee; Thee, that hast lov'd so long
The sacred Sisters, and (sad-sweetly most)
Thy Self hast sung (vnder a fayned Ghost)
The tragik Falls of our Ambitious Throng.
Thearfore, in honour of Thy younger Art,
And of the Muses, honour'd by the same,
And to express my Thankfull thoughts (in part)
This Tract I sacre vnto SACKVIL's Name,
No less renown'd for Numbers of Thine Owne,
Than for thy love to Other's Labours show'n.
I. S.

To the Right Honourable, the Earle of Pembroke.

ANAGR.
  • William Harbert.
  • With liberall arm.
THE DECAY.
FAr bee The Title of this tragik page
From Thee (rare Module of Heröik mindes)
Whose noble Bounty all the Muses bindes
To honour Thee; but mine doth most engage:
And yet, to Thee, and to Thy Patronage
(For present lack of other gratefull signes)
Needs must I Offer these DECAY ed lines
(Lyned with Horrors of ISAACIAN rage):
Whear-in, to keep decorum with my Theam,
And with my Fortunes ( ruin'd euery-way)
My Care-clogd Muse (still caried down the stream)
In singing Other's, sighes her Own DECAY
In stile, in state, in hap, in hope, in all:
For, Vines, vnpropped, on the ground do craul.
I. S.

To the Right Honorable, the Earle of Essex, Earle Marshall of England, &c.

*⁎*

EDEN.
GReat Strong-bowe's heir, no self-cōceipt doth cause
Mine humble wings aspire to you, vnknowne:
But, knowing this, that your renown alone
(As th' Adamant, and as the Amber drawes:
That, hardest steel; this, easie-yeelding strawes)
Atterrs the stubborn, and attracts the prone:
I haue presum'd (O Honors Paragon!)
To graue your name (which all Iberia awes)
Heer on the fore-front of this little Pile;
T'inuite the vertuous to a sacred feast,
And chase-away the vicious and the vile;
Or stop their lothsom enuious tongues (at least).
If I haue err'd, let my submission scuse:
And daign to grace my yet vngraced Muse.
I. S.

To the same Right Honora­ble Earle of Essex, &c.

*⁎*

THE ARK.
FRom th' ARK of Hope, still tossed in distresse
on th' angry Deluge of disastrous plight,
My silly Doue, heer takès her Second slight,
To view (great Lord) thy World of worthiness:
Vouchsafe (rare Plant of perfect Noblenes)
Som branch of safety, whereon she may light;
Som Oliue leaf, that may presage me right
A safe escape from this wet wildernes.
So, when the Floud of my deep Cares shall fall,
And I be landed on sweet Comfort's Hill;
First, my pure thoughts to Heav'n present I shall:
Then, on thy fauours meditating still▪
My Zealous Muse shall daily striue to frame
Som fairer Tropheis to thy glorious Name.
I. S.

To the Right Honourable Charles Lord Mount-ioy, Earl of Devonshire.

*⁎*

THE IMPOSTTVRE.
Though in thy Brook (great Charles) ther swim a Sw [...]
Whose happy, sweet, immortall tunes can raise
The vertuous Greatnes of thy Noble praise
To higher notes, than my faint numbers can:
Yet, while thy Lucan doth in silence scan
Vnto himself new-meditated laies,
To finish vp his sad Pharsalian fraies;
Lend ear to BARTAS (now our Country-man).
For, though his English be not yet so good
(As French-men hardly do our tongue attain)
He h [...]peth yet to be well vnderstood;
The rather, if you (worthy Lord) shall daign
His bashfulnes a little to aduance,
With the milde fauours of your countenance.
I. S.

To the same Right Honora­ble Earle of Deuonshire, &c.

*⁎*

THE HANDY-CRAFTS.
THe Mome- free Passage, that my Muse hath found
Vnder Safe-Conduct of thy Patronage,
Through carping Censures of this curious Age
(Where high conceited happy wits abound)
Makes her presume ( O Mountioy, most renownd!)
To bear again, in her re-Pilgrimage,
The noble Pasport of thy Tutelage,
To salue her still from sullen Enuies wound.
Let thy (true-Eagle) Sun-beholding Eyes
Glance on our Glowe-worm's scarce discerned spark:
And while Witt's towring Falcons touch the skies,
Obserue a while our tender-imped Lark.
Such sparks may flame, & such light Larks may flie
A higher pitch, than drosse-full Vanity.
I. S.

To the same Right Honora­ble Earle of Deuonshire, &c.

*⁎*

THE COLONIES.
REnowned Scipio, though thine Ennius
Still merit best the best of thy regard:
Though (worthily) his Trumpet be pre-ferr'd
To sound the Triumphs thou hast wonn for vs;
Yet, sith one Penn, how-euer plentious
(Were it the Mantuan or Meonian Bard)
Suffizeth not to giue Fame's full Reward
To thy great Deeds, admir'd and glorious:
Though Hee, thy Homer be; Thou, his Achilles;
Both by each other Happy: Thou (heer-in)
T'haue such a Trump as his immortall Quill-is;
Hee such a Theam as thy High Vertues been:
It shall (Great Worthie) no Dis-Honour be
That (English) Bartas hath Sung (thrice) to thee.
I. S.

To the Honorable, learned, and religious Gentleman, Sir Peter Young of S [...]ton, Knight, Almoner of Scotland, and one of his Maiesties Privy Councell there.

THE COLVMNS.
YOVNG, Ancient Seruant of our Soueraign Lord,
Graue Maister of thy Maister's minor-years;
Whose Prudence and whose Piety appears
In his Perfection, which doth Thine record:
Whose loyall Truth, His royall Trusts approue
By oft Embassage to the greatest Peers:
Whose Duty and Deuotion He endeers
With present Fauours of his Princely Loue:
In Honour of these Honours many-fold,
And for memoriall of Thy kinde regard
Of these poore Orfanes (pyn'd in Hope-les cold)
Accept these Thanks for thy firm Loues reward;
Wher-in (so Heav'ns prosper what we haue sung)
Through euery Age thou shalt liue euer YOVNG.
I. S.

To the right vertuous ( fauo­rer of Vertue, furtherer of Learning) Sir Thomas Smith (of Lonaon) Knight, ( late) Lord Embassadour for his Maiesty, to the Emperour of Russia.

IONAS.
TO thee, long tost in a fell Storm of State;
Cast out, and swallowed in a Gulf of Death,
On false-suspect of thine vn-spotted Faith,
And flying frō thy (Heav'n-giuen) Charge of late:
For much resemblance of thy troublous Fate
(Much like in Case to that he suffereth,
Though (in effect) thy Cause far differeth)
I send my IONAS; to congratulate
Thy (happy) Rescue, and thy holy Triall:
Wher▪by (as Fire doth purifie the Gold)
Thy Loyalty is more notorious Loyal,
And worthy th' Honours which thou now doo'st hold.
Thus, Vertue's Palms, oppressed, mount the more:
And Spices, bruz'd, smell sweeter than before.
I. S.

To the most Honourable, learned, and religious Gent. M r. Anthony Bacone.

*⁎*

THE FVRIES.
BOund by thy Bounty, and mine own Desire,
To tender still new Tribute of my zeal
To Thee, whose fauour did the first repeal
My proto-BARTAS from Self-doomed Fire:
Hauing new-tuned to du BARTAS Lyre
These tragik murmurs of His FVRIES fell,
Which (with the Horrors of an Earthly Hell)
The Sinn curst life of wretched Mortals tire:
To whom, but Thee, should I present the same?
Sith, by the breath of Thine incouragement,
My sacred fury thou didst first inflame
To prosecute This sacred Argument.
Such as it is, accept it, as a signe
Of Thankfull Loue, from Him, whose all is Thine.
I. S.

To the same most Honoura­rable Gentleman, Maister Anthony Bacone.

*⁎*

BABYLON.
THy friendly censure of my first ESSAIE
( Du Bartas FVRIES, and his BABYLON)
My faint Endeuours hath so cheared on,
That Both His WEEKS are also Ours, to-day.
Thy gracious hand, repriuing from decay
My fame-les Name, doom'd to Obliuion,
Hath so stirr'd-vp my Soule's deuotion,
That in my Songs thy Name shall liue for ay.
Thy milde acceptance of my simple myte
(Pattern and Patron of all vertuous drifts)
Doth heer again my gratefull Muse inuite
To re-salute thee with mine humble gifts;
Indeed, no Gifts, but Debts to Thy desart:
To whom I owe my hand, my head, my hart.
I. S.

ADAM. The FIRST DAIE Of The SECOND WEEK;

Containing

  • 1. EDEN,
  • 2. The IMPOSTVRE,
  • 3. The FVRIES,
  • 4. The HANDY-CRAFTS.
Acceptam refero.
יהוה

EDEN. THE I. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Our Poet, first, doth Gods assistance seek:
The Scope and Subiect of his Second Week.
Adam in Eden: Edens beauties rare;
A reall Place, not now discerned where:
The Tree of Life; and Knowledge-Tree with-all:
Knowledge of Man, before and since his Fall:
His exercise, and excellent Delights,
In's Innocence: of Dreams and Ghostly Sights:
Nice Questions curb'd: Death, Sins effect; whereby
Man (else Immortall) mortall now, must Dy.
GReat God, which hast this World's Birth made me see,
Inuocation of the true God for assistance in De­scription of the Infancie & first estate of the World.
Vnfold his Cradle, shew his Infancy:
Walk thou, my Spirit, through all the flowring alleis
Of that sweet Garden, where through winding valleys
Foure liuely flouds crauld: tell mee what mis-deed
Banisht both Edens, Adam and his seed:
Tell who (immortall) mortalizing, brought-vs
The Balm frō Heav'n which hoped health hath wrought-vs:
Grant me the story of thy Church to sing,
And gests of Kings: Let me this Totall bring
From thy first Sabbaoth to his fatall toomb,
My stile extending to the Day of Doom.
Lord, I acknowledge and confess, before,
This Ocean hath no bottom, nor no shoar;
[Page 216]But (sacred Pilot) thou canst safely steer
My vent'rous Pinnasse to her wished Peer;
Where once arriv'd, all dropping wet I will
Extoll thy favors, and my vows fulfill.
And gratious Guide, which doost all grace infuse,
The Transla­tor, cōsidering his own weak­nesse and insuf­ficiency for a Worke so rare & excellent, as all the World hath worthily admired: cra­ueth also the assistance of the Highest, that (at least) his endeuour may both stir­vp some abler Spirit to vn­dertake this Taske; and also prouoke all other good Wits to take in hand some holy Argumēt: and with-all, that Him-self may be for e­uer sincerely affected, and (as it were) throughly sea­soned with the sweet relish of these sacred and religious dis­courses. Simile.
Since it hath pleas'd thee task my tardy Muse
With these high Theams, that through mine Art-les Pen
This holy Lamp may light my Country-men:
Ah, teach my hand, touch mine vnlearned lips;
Least, as the Earths grosse body doth Eclipse
Bright Cynthia's beams, when it is interpos'd
Twixt her and Phoebus: so mine ill-dispos'd,
Dark, gloomy Ignorance, obscure the rayes
Of this diuine Sun of these learned dayes.
O! furnish me with an vn-vulgar stile,
That I by this may we an our wanton ILE
From Ouids heirs, and their vn-hallowed spell
Heer charming senses, chayning soules in Hell.
Let this prouoke our modern Wits to sacre
Their wondrous gifts to honour thee, their Maker:
That our mysterious ELFINE Oracle,
Deep, morall, graue, Inuentions miracle;
My deer sweet DANIEL, sharp-conceipted, brief,
Ciuill, sententious, for pure accents chief:
And our new NASO, that so passionates
Th' heroike sighes of loue-sick Potentates:
May change their subiect, and aduance their wings
Vp to these higher and more holy things.
And if (sufficient rich in self-inuention)
They scorn (as I) to liue of Strangers Pension,
Let them deuise new Weeks, new works, new wayes
To celebrate the supreme Prince of praise.
And let not me (good Lord) be like the Lead
Which to som City from som Conduit-head
Brings holsom water, yet (self-wanting sense)
It self receiues no drop of comfort thence:
But rather, as the thorough-seasoned But
Wherein the tears of death-prest Grapes are put,
Simile.
[Page 217]Retains (long after all the wine is spent)
Within it self the liquors liuely sent:
Let me still sauour of these sacred sweets
Till Death fold-vp mine earth in earthen sheets;
Least, my young layes, now prone to preach thy glory
To BRVTVS heyres, blush at mine elder Story.
GOD ( Supreme Lord) committed not alone
Narration.
Tour Father Adam, this inferiour Throne;
God, hauing Cre­ated and esta­blished Man Lord of the Crea tures, lodgeth him in the faire Gardē of Eden.
Ranging beneath his rule the scaly Nation
That in the Ocean haue their habitation:
Those that in horror of the Desarts lurk:
And those that capering in the Welk in work;
But also chose him for a happy Seat
A climate temperate both for cold and heat,
Which dainty Flora paveth sumptuously
With flowry VER'S inammeld tapistry;
Pomona pranks with fruits, whose taste excels;
And Zephyr fils with Musk and Amber smels:
Where God himself (as Gardner) treads the allies,
With Trees and Corn couers the hills and vallies,
Summons sweet sleep with noise of hundred Brooks,
And Sun-proof Arbours makes in sundry nooks:
He plants, he proins, he pares, he trimmeth round
Th' ever green beauties of a fruitfull ground;
Heer-there the course of th' holy Lakes he leads,
With thousand Dies hee motleys all the meads.
Ye Pagan Poëts, that audaciously
Haue sought to dark the ever-Memory
The Elysian Fields of the Heathen Poets, are but Dreams.
Of Gods great works; from henceforth still be dum
Your fabled prayses of Elysium,
Which by this goodly module you haue wrought,
Through deaf tradition, that your Fathers taught;
For, the Almighty made his blisfull Bowrs
Better indeed, then you haue fained yours.
A large Descrip tion of the rich beauties of the Garden of Eden or earthly Para­dise.
For, should I say that still, with smiling face,
Th' all clasping Heav'ns beheld this happy place;
That honey sweet, from hollow rocks did drain;
That fostering milk flow'd vp and down the Plain;
[Page 218]That sweet as Roses smelt th' ill-savory Rew:
That in all soyls, all seasons, all things grew:
That still there dangled on the self-same treen
A thousand fruits, nor over-ripe, nor green:
That egrest fruits, and bitterest hearbs did mock
Madera Sugars, and the Apricock;
Yeelding more holesom food then all the messes,
That now taste-curious, wanton Plenty dresses,
Disguising (in a thousand costly dishes)
The various store of dainty Fowls and Fishes,
Which far and neer we seek by Land and Seas,
More to provoke then hunger to appease;
Or should I say, each morning, on the ground
Excellent estate of the Earth & especially of E­den before A­dams fall.
Not common deaw, but Manna did abound:
That never guttur gorging durty muds,
Defil'd the crystall of smooth-sliding flouds,
Whose waters past, in pleasant taste, the drink
That now in Candia decks Cerathus brink:
That shady Groues of noble Palm-tree sprays,
Of amorous Myrtles, and immortall Bays
Never vn-leav'd; but evermore their new
Self-arching arms in thousand Arbours grew:
Where thousand sorts of birds, both night and day,
Did bill and woo, and hop about, and play;
And marrying their sweet tunes to th' Angels layes,
Sung Adams bliss and their great Makers prayse.
For then, the Crowes, night Rav'ns, and Howlets noise
Was like the Nightingals sweet-tuned voice;
And Nightingals sung like divine Arion,
Like Thracian Orpheus, Linus, and Amphion.
Th' Ayre's daughter Eccho, haunting woods among,
A blab that will not (cannot) keep her tongue,
Who never asks, but onely answers all,
Who lets not any her in vain to call;
She bore her part, and full of curious skill,
They ceasing sung, they singing ceased still:
There Musick raign'd and ever on the Plain,
A sweet sound rais'd the dead-liue voice again.
If there I say the Sun (the Seasons stinter)
All discommo­dities far from Eden before Sin
Made no hot Sommer, nor no hoary Winter,
But louely VER kept still in liuely lustre
The fragrant Valleys smiling Meads and Pasture:
That boistrous Adams body did not shrink
For Northren windes, nor for the Southren wink:
But Zephyr did sweet musky sighes afford,
Which breathing through the Garden of the Lord,
Gaue bodies vigour, verdure to the field,
That verdure flowrs, those flowrs sweet savor yeeld:
That Day did gladly lend his sister, Night,
For half her moisture, half his shining Light:
That never hail did Harvest preiudice,
That never frost, nor snowe, nor slipperyice
The fields en-ag'd: nor any stormy stowr
Dismounted Mountains, nor no violent showr
Poverisht the Land, which frankly did produce
All fruitfull vapours for delight and vse:
I think I ly not, rather I confess
Edens principal, and most excel­lent beauty.
My stammering Muses poor vnlearnednes.
If in two words thou wilt her praise comprise,
Say't was the type of th' vpper Paradise;
Where Adam had (O wondrous strange!) discourse
With God himself, with Angels intercourse.
Yet (over-curious) question not the site,
Of the place where the Gar­den of Eden was situate.
Where God did plant this Garden of delight:
Whether beneath the Equinoctiall line,
Or on a Mountain neer Latona's shine,
Nigh Babylon, or in the radiant East.
Humble content thee that thou know'st (at least)
That, that rare, plentious, pleasant, happy thing
Whereof th' Almighty made our Grand-sire King,
Was a choise soil, through which did rowling slide
Swift Ghion Pishon, and rich Tygris tyde,
And that fair stream whose silver waues doe kiss
The Monarch Towrs of proud Semiramis.
Now, if that (roaming round about the earth)
It was a certain materiall Place: howsoe [...] now a-daies, wee can exactly obserue neither the Circuit, nor ex­tent of it.
Thou finde no place that answers now in worth
[Page 220]This beautious place, nor Country that can showe
Where now-adayes those noted flouds doe flowe:
Include not all within this Close confin'd,
That labouring Neptunes liquid Belt doth binde.
A certain place it was (now sought in vain)
Where set by grace, for sin remov'd again,
Our Elders were: whereof the thunder-darter
Made a bright Sword the gate, an Angell Porter.
Nor think that Moses paints fantastik-wise
It was no alle­goricall nor my­sticall Garden.
A mystike tale of fained Paradise:
('T was a true Garden, happy Plenties horn,
And seat of graces) least thou make (forlorn)
An Ideall Adams food fantasticall,
His sin suppos'd, his pain Poeticall:
Such Allegories serue for shelter fit
To curious Idiots of erroneous wit,
And chiefly then, when reading Histories,
Seeking the spirit, they doe the body leese.
But if thou list to ghesse by likelihood,
It was defaced by the generall Flood.
Think that the wreakfull nature-drowning flood
Spar'd not this beautious place, which formost saw
The first foul breach of Gods eternall law:
Think that the most part of the plants it pull'd,
And of the sweetest flowrs the spirits dull'd,
Spoild the fair Gardens, made the fat fields lean,
And chang'd (perchance) the rivers channell clean:
Why the Situa­tion of the Gar­den of Eden is now hard to finde.
And think, that Time (whose slippery wheel doth play
In humane causes with in constant sway,
Who exiles, alters, and disguises words)
Hath now transform'd the names of all these Fordes.
For, as through sin we lost that place, I fear
(Forgetfull) we haue lost the knowledge where
'T was situate, and of the sugred dainties
Wherewith God fed vs in those sacred plenties.
Now of the Trees wherwith th' immortall Powr
Of the two Trees seruing as Sa­craments to Adam.
Adorn'd the quarters of that blisfull Bowr,
All serv'd the mouth, saue two sustaind the minde:
All serv'd for food, saue two for seals assign'd.
God gaue the first, for honorable stile,
Wherof the Tree of Life was a Sacrament.
The tree of Life: true name; (alas the while!)
Not for th' effect it had, but should haue kept,
If Man from duty never had mis-stept.
For, as the ayr of those fresh dales and hills
Preserved him from Epidemik ills,
This fruit had ever-calm'd all insurrections,
All civill quarrels of the cross complexions;
Had barr'd the passage of twice childish age,
And ever-more excluded all the rage
Of painfull griefs, whose swift-slowe posting-pase
At first or last our dying life doth chase.
Strong counter-bane! O sacred Plant divine!
The excellencie of that Tree.
What metall, stone▪ stalk, fruit, flowr, root, or ryne,
Shall I presume in these rude rymes to sute
I
Vnto thy wondrous World-adorning Fruit?
The rarest Simples that our fields present-vs
Heal but one hurt, and healing too torments vs:
And with the torment, lingring our relief
Our bags of gold void, yer our bulks of grief.
But thy rare fruits hid powr admired most,
Salveth all sores, sans pain, delay, or cost:
Or rather, man from yawning Death to stay,
Thou didst not cure, but keep all ills away.
O holy, peer-less, rich preseruatiue!
We cannot say what Tree it was.
Whether wert thou the strange restoratiue
That suddainly did age with youth repair,
And made old Aeson yonger then his heir?
Or holy Nectar, that in heav'nly bowrs,
Eternally self-pouring Hebé pours?
Or blest Ambrosia (Gods immortall fare)?
Or els the rich fruit of the Garden rare,
Where, for three Ladies (as assured guard)
A fire-arm'd Dragon day and night did ward?
Or pretious Moly, which Ioues Pursuiuan
Wing-footed Hermes brought to th' Ithacan?
Or else Nepenthé, enemy to sadnes,
Repelling sorrows, and repealing gladnes?
[Page 222]Or Mummie? or Elixir) that excels
Save men and Angels every creature els)?
No, none of these: these are but forgeries,
But toyes, but tales, but dreams, deceipts, and lies:
But thou art true, although our shallow sense
May honour more, then sound, thine Excellence.
The Tree of Knowledge, th' other Tree behight:
Of the Tree of. Knowledge of Good and Euill.
Not, that itselfly had such speciall might,
As mens dull wits could whet and sharpen so
That in a moment they might all things knowe.
'T was a sure pledge, a sacred s [...]gne, and seal;
Which, being ta'n, should to light man reveal
What ods there is, between still peace, and strife;
Gods wrath, and loue; drad death, and deerest life▪
Solace, and sorrow; guile, and innocence;
Rebellious pride, and humble obedience.
For, God had not depriv'd that primer season
Of the excellence of mans know­ledge before Sin.
The sacred lamp and light of learned Reason:
Mankinde was then a thousand fold more wise
Then now: blinde Error [...]ad not bleard his eys,
With mists which make th' Athenian Sage suppose
That nought hee knowes, saue this, that nought hee knowes.
That euen light Pir [...]o [...]s wavering fantasies
Reave him the skill his vn skill to agnize.
And th' Abderite, within a Well obscure,
As deep as dark, the Truth of things immure.
Hee (happy) knew the Good by th' vse of it:
How he knew good and euill before Sinne.
He knew the Bad, but not by proof as yet:
But as they say of great Hyppocrates,
Who (though his limbs were numm'd with no excess,
Nor stop this throat, nor vext his fantasie)
Knew the cold Cramp, th' Angine, and Lunacy,
And hundred els-pains, whence in lusty flowr
He liv'd exempt, a hundred yeers and foure.
Or like the pure Heav'n-prompted Prophets rather,
Whose sight so cleerly future things did gather,
Because the World's Soule in their soule enseal'd
The holy stamp of secrets most conceal'd.
But our now- knowledge hath, for tedious train,
O [...] mans know­ledge sinc [...] his Fall.
A drooping life, and over-racked brain,
A face forlorn, a sad and sullen fashion▪
A rest-less toyl, and Cares self-pining passion.
Knowledge was then even the soules soule for light,
The spirits calme Port, and Lanthorn shining bright
To straight steptfeet cleer knowledge; not confus'd:
Not sowr, but sweet: not gotten, but infus'd.
Now Heav'ns eternall all-fore-seeing King,
Why the Lord put man in the Garden of Eden
Who never rashly ordereth anything,
Thought good, that man (having yet spirits sound-stated)
Should dwell els-where then where he was created;
That he might knowe, he did not hold this place
By Natures right, but by meer gift and Grace;
That he should never taste fruits vn-permitted,
But keep the sacred Pledge to him committed,
And dress that Park, which God, without all tearm,
On these conditions gaue him, as in farm.
God would, that (void of painfull labour) he
Of his exercise there.
Should liue in Eden; but not idlely:
For, Idlenes pure Innocence subuerts,
Defiles our body, and our soule peruerts:
Yea, soberest men it makes delicious,
To vertue dull, to vice in genious.
But that first travell had no sympathy
With our since-travails wretched cruelty,
Distilling sweat, and panting wanting winde,
Which was a scourge for Adams sin assign'd.
For, Edens earth was then so fertile fat,
4. Comparisons.
That he made onely sweet Essayes, in that,
Of skilfull industry, and naked wrought
More for delight, then for the gain he sought.
In brief, it was a pleasant exercise,
A labour lik't, a pain much like the guise
Of cunning dauncers; who▪ although they skip,
[...].
Run, caper, vault, traverse, and turn, and trip,
From Morn till Even, at night again full merry,
Renue their daunce, of dauncing never weary.
[Page 224]Or else of Hunters, that with happy luck
2.
Rousing betimes som often breathed Buck,
Or goodly Stagge, their yelping Hounds vncouple,
Winde lowd their horns, their whoops, & hallows double
Spur-on and spare not, following their desire,
Themselues vn-weary, though their Hackneis tyre.
But, for in th' end of all their iolity,
Ther's found much stifness, sweat and vanity;
I rather match it to the pleasing pain
Of Angels pure, who ever sloath disdain:
3.
Or to the Suns calm course, who pain-less ay
4.
About the welkin posteth night and day.
Doubtless, when Adam saw our common ayr,
Adam admireth the beauties of the World in ge­nerall.
He did admire the mansion rich and fair
Of his Successors▪ For, frosts keenly cold
The shady locks of Forrests had not powl'd:
Heav'n had not thundred on our heads as yet,
Nor given the earth her sad Diuorces Writ.
But when he once had entred Paradise,
But most especi­ally of the Gar­den of Eden.
The remnant world he iustly did despise:
[Much like a Boor far in the Country born,
Who, never having seen but Kine and Corn,
Oxen, and Sheep, and homely Hamlets thatcht
(Which, fond, he counts as Kingdoms; hardly matcht)
When afterward he happens to behold
Our welthy London's wonders manifold,
In this compari­son my Author setteth down the famous City of Paris: but I haue presumed to ap­ply it to our own City of Lon­don▪ that it might be more familiar to my meere English and vn-trauaild Readers.
The silly peasant thinks himself to b [...]
In a new World; and gazing greedily,
One while he Art-less, all the Arts admires,
Then the faire Temples, and their top-less spires,
Their firm foundations, and the massie pride
Of all their sacred ornaments beside:
Anon he wonders at the differing graces,
Tongues, gests, attires, the fashions and the faces,
Of busie-buzzing swarms, which still hee meets
Ebbing and flowing ouer all the streets;
Then at the signes, the shops, the waights, the measures,
The handy-crafts, the rumors, trades, and treasures.
[Page 225] But of all sights, none seems him yet more strange
Then the rare, beautious, stately, rich Exchange.
Another while he maruails at the Thames,
Which seems to bear huge mountains on her streams:
Then at the fa [...]-built Bridge; which he doth iudge
More like a tradefull City then a Bridge;
And glancing thence a-long the Northren shoar,
That princely prospect doth amaze him more.]
For in that Garden man delighted so,
That rapt he wist not if hee wak't or no;
If he beheld a true thing or a fable;
Or Earth, or Heav'n: all more then admirable.
For such excess his extasie was small;
Not hauing spirit enough to muse withall,
He wisht him bundred-fold redoubled senses,
The more to taste so rare sweet excellences;
Not knowing, whether nose, or ears, or eyes,
Smelt, heard, or saw, more sauors, sounds, or Dies.
But, Adams best and supreame delectation,
Happines of the first Man before his fall.
Was th' often haunt and holy conuersation
His soule and body had so many waies
With God, who lightned Eden with his Rays.
For spirits, by faith religiously refin'd,
'Twixt God and man retain a middle kinde:
And (Vmpires) mortall to th' immortall ioyn;
And th' infinit in narrow clay confine.
Som-times by you, O you all-faining Dreams,
We gain this good; but not when Bacchus steams
Of the visions of the spirit.
And glutton vapours ouer-flowe the Brain,
And drown our spirits, presenting fancies vain:
Nor when pale Phlegm, or Saffron-coloured Choler,
In feeble stomacks belch with diuers dolor,
And print vpon our Vnderstandings Tables;
That, Water-wracks; this other, flamefull fables:
Nor when the Spirit of lies our spirits deceiues,
And guile-full visions in our fancy leaues:
Nor when the pencil of Cares ouer-deep
Our day-bred thoughts depainteth in our sleep.
[Page 226]But when no more the soules chief faculties,
Are sperst to sereue the body many waies,
When all self-vned, free from dayes disturber,
Through such sweet Trance, she findes a quiet harbour;
Where som in riddles, som more plain exprest,
Shee sees things future, in th' Almighties brest.
And yet far higher is this holy Fit,
Of the certainty of the visions of the spirit, the body being at rest.
When (not from flesh) but from flesh-cares, acquit)
The wakefull soule it self assembling so,
All selfly dies; while that the body though
Liues motion-les: for, sanctified wholly,
It takes th' impression of Gods Signet Soly;
And in his sacred Crystall Map, doth see
Heav'ns Oracles, and Angels glorious glee:
Made more then spirit, Now, Morrow, Yesterday,
To it, all one, are all as present aye.
And though it seem not (when the dream's expir'd)
Like that it was; yet is it much admir'd
Of rarest men, and shines among them bright
Like glistring Starrs through gloomy shades of night.
But aboue all, that's the divinest Trance,
Of diuine & ex­traordinary visi­ons and Reuela­tions.
When the soules eye beholds Gods countenance;
When mouth to mouth familiarly he deales,
And in our face his drad-sweet face hee seales.
As when S. Paul, on his deer Masters wings,
Was rapt aliue vp to th' eternall things:
And he that whilom for the chosen flock,
Made walls of waters, waters of a rock.
O sacred flight! sweet rape! loues soueraign bliss!
Of the excellen­cy of such visions and Reuelations
Which very loves deer lips dost make vs kiss:
Hymen, of Manna, and of Mel compact,
Which for a time dost Heav'n with earth contract:
Fire, that in Limbeck of pure thoughts divine
Doost purge our thoughts, and our dull earth refine:
And mounting vs to Heav'n, vn-mouing hence,
Man (in a trice) in God doost quintessence:
O! mad'st thou man divine in habitude,
As for a space; O sweetest solitude,
[Page 227]Thy bliss were equall with that happie Rest
Which after death shall make vs ever-blest.
Now, I beleeve that in this later guise
What manner of visions the first Man had in E­den.
Man did conuerse in Pleasant Paradise
With Heav'ns great Architect, and (happy) there
His body saw (or body as it were)
Gloriously compast with the blessed Legions
That raign above the azure-spangled Regions.
ADAM, quoth He, the beauties manyfold
Man is put in possession of Edē, vnder a conditiō
That in this Eden thou doest heer behold,
Are all thine, onely: enter (sacred race)
Come, take possession of this wealthy place,
The Earth's sole glory: take (deer Sonn) to thee,
This farm's demains, leave the Chief right to me;
And th' only Rent that of it I reserue, is
One Trees fair fruit, to shew thy sute and seruice:
Be thou the Liege, and I Lord Paramount,
I'le not exact hard fines (as men shall woont).
For signe of Homage, and for seal of Faith,
Of all the profits this Possession hath,
I only ask one Tree; whose fruit I will
For Sacrament shall stand of Good and Ill.
Take all the rest, I bid thee: but I vow
By th' vn-nam'd name, where-to all knees doo bow,
And by the keen Darts of my kindled Ire
(More fiercely burning then consuming fire)
That of the Fruit of Knowledge if thou feed,
Death, dreadfull Death shall plague Thee and thy Seed.
If then, the happie state thou hold'st of me,
My holy mildnes, nor high Maiesty,
If faith nor Honour curb thy bold ambition,
Yet weigh thy self, and thy owne Seeds condition.
Most mighty Lord (quoth Adam) heer I tender
Before Sinne, Man was an hū ble and zealous seruant of God.
All thanks I can, not all I should thee render,
For all thy liberall fauours, far surmounting
My hearts conceit, much more my tongues recounting.
At thy command, I would with boyst'rous shock
Goe run my self against the hardest rock:
[Page 228]Or cast me head long from som Mountain steep,
Down to the whirling bottom of the Deep:
Yea, at thy beck, I would not spare the life
Of my deer Phoenix, sister-daughter-wife:
Obaying thee, I finde the things impossible,
Cruell, and painfull; pleasant, kinde, and possible.
But since thy first Law doth more grace afford
Vnto the Subiect, than the souerain Lord:
Since (bountious Prince) on me and my Descent,
Thou doost impose no other tax, nor Rent,
But one sole Precept, of most iust condition
(No Precept neither, but a Prohibition);
And since (good God) of all the Fruits in EDEN
There's but one Apple that I am forbidden,
Euen only that which bitter Death doth threat,
(Better, perhaps, to look on then to eate)
I honour in my soule, and humbly kiss
Thy iust Edict (as Author of my bliss):
Which, once transgrest, deserues the rigor rather
Of sharpest Iudge, then mildnes of a Father.
The Firmament shall retrograde his course,
Swift Euphrates goe hide him in his source,
Firm Mountains skip like Lambs; beneath the Deep
Eagles shall diue; Whales in the air shall keep,
Yer I presume, with fingers ends to touch
(Much less with lips) the Fruit forbod so much.
Thus, yet in league with Heav'n and Earth, he liues;
Description of the beauties of the Garden of Eden.
Enioying all the Goods th' Almighty giues:
And, yet not treading Sins false mazy measures,
Sails on smooth surges of a Sea of pleasures;
Heer, vnderneath a fragrant Hedge reposes,
Full of all kindes of sweet all-coloured Roses,
Which (one would think) the Angels daily dress
In true loue-knots, tri-angles, lozenges.
Anon he walketh in a leuell lane
The Orchard.
On either side beset with shady Plane,
Whose arched boughs, for Frize and Cornich bear
Thick Groues, to shield from future change of air:
[Page 229]Then in a path impal'd, in pleasant wise,
With sharp-sweet Orange, Limon, Citron trees;
Whose leauy twigs, that intricately tangle,
Seem painted walls whereon true fruits do dangle.
Now in a plentious Orchard planted rare
With vn-graft trees, in checker, round and square:
Whose goodly fruits so on his will doe wait,
That plucking one, another's ready straight:
And hauing tasted all (with due satiety)
Findes all one goodnes, but in taste variety.
Anon he stalketh with an easie stride,
The Brooks.
By som cleer Riuer's lilly-paued side,
Whose sand's pure gold, whose pebbles precious Gemms,
And liquid siluer all the curling streams:
Whose chiding murmur, mazing in and out,
With Crystall cesterns moats a mead about:
And th' art-less Bridges, ouer-thwart this Torrent,
Are rocks self-arched by the eating current:
The Bridges.
Or louing Palms, whose lusty Femals (willing
Their marrow-boyling loues to be fulfilling,
And reach their Husband-trees on th' other banks)
Bow their stiff backs, and serue for passing-planks.
Then in a goodly Garden's alle is smooth,
The Alleis, beds and Borders.
Where prodig Nature sets abroad her booth
Of richest beauties, where each bed and border
Is like pide posies diuers dies and order.
Now, far from noise, he creepeth couertly
Into a Caue of kindly Porphyry,
The Caues.
Which, rock-fall'nspowts, congeald by colder air,
Seem with smooth anticks to haue sceled fair:
There laid at ease, a cubit from the ground,
Vpon a Iaspir fring'd with y [...]ie round,
Purfled with vains, thick thrumm'd with mossie Beuer,
He falls asleep fast by a silent Riuer;
Whose captiue streams, through crooked pipes still rushing,
The pleasant murmur of the Waters.
Make sweeter Musick with their gentle gushing,
Then now at Tiuoli, th' Hydrantik Braul▪
Of rich Ferrara's stately Cardinall:
[Page 230]Or Ctesibegrave;s rare engines, framed there
Where as they made of Ibis, Iupiter.
Musing▪ anon through crooked Walks he wanders,
The Maze.
Round-winding rings, and intricate Meanders,
False-guiding paths, doubtfull beguiling strays,
And right-wrong errors of an end-less Maze:
Not simply hedged with a single border
Of Rosenoary, cut-out with curious order,
In Satyrs, Centaurs, Whales, and half-men-Horses,
And thousand other counterfaited corses:
But with true Beasts, fast in the ground still sticking,
The wonderfull Plants.
Feeding on grass, and th' airy moisture licking:
Such as those Bonarets, in Scythia bred
The Bonarets.
Of slender seeds, and with green fodder fed;
Although their bodies, noses, mouths, and eys,
Of new-yeand Lambs haue full the form and guise;
And should be very Lambs▪ saue that (for foot)
Within the ground, they fix a liuing root,
Which at their nauell growes, and dies that day
That they haue brouz'd the neighbour grass away.
O wondrous vertue of God only good!
The Beast hath root, the Plant hath flesh & bloud:
The nimble Plant can turn it to and fro;
The nummed Beast can neither stir norgoe:
The Plant is leaf-less, branch-less, void of fruit;
The Beast is lust-less, sex-less, fire-less, mute:
The Plant with Plants his hungry paunch doth feede;
Th' admired Beast is sowen a slender seede.
Then vp and down a Forrest thick he paseth;
The Trees of the Garden of Eden
Which selfly opening in his presence, baseth
Her trembling tresses neuer-vading spring,
For humble homage to her mightie King:
Where thousand Trees, wauing with gentle puffs
Their plumy tops, sweep the celestiall roofs:
Yet enuying all the massie Cerbas fame,
The Cerbas.
Sith fiftie pases can but clasp the same.
There springs the Shrub three foot aboue the grass,
The Balme.
Which fears the keen edge of the Curtelace;
[Page 231]Whereof the rich Egyptian so endears
Root, bark, and fruit, and much-much more the tears.
There liues the Sea-oake, in a little shel;
There growes vntill'd the ruddy Cochenel:
The Sea-Oak. The Cochenel. The Chermez.
And there the Chermez, which on each side Arms
With pointed prickles all his precious arms:
Rich Trees, and fruitfull in those Worms of Price,
Which pressed, yeeld a crimsin-coloured juice,
Whence thousand Lambs are died so deep in grain
That their own Mothers knowe them not again.
There mounts the Melt, which serues in Mexico
For weapon, wood, needle, and threed (to sowe)
The admirable Melt.
Brick, hony, sugar, sucket, balm, and wine,
Parchment, perfume, apparell, cord, and line:
His wood for fire, his harder leaues are fit
For thousand vses of inuentiue wit.
Som-times ther-on they graue their holy things,
Laws, lauds of Idols, and the gests of Kings:
Som-times conioyned by a cunning hand
Vpon their roofs for rowes of tyle they stand:
Som-times they twine them into equall threeds;
Small ends make needles; greater, arrow-heads:
His vpper sap the sting of Serpentscutes:
His new-sprung bud a rare Conserue indures:
His burned stalks, with strong fumosities
Of pearcing vapours, purge the French disease:
And they extract, from liquor of his feet,
Sharpevinegar, pure hony, sugar sweet.
There quakes the Plant, which in Pudefetan
Is call'd the Shame-fac't: for, asham'd of man,
The shame-faced
If towards it one doo approach too much,
It shrinks his boughs, to shun our hatefull touch;
As if it had a soule, a sense, and sight,
Subiect to shame, fear, sorrow and despight.
And there, that Tree from off whose trembling top
Both swimming shoals, and flying troups doe drop:
A Tree whose▪ leaues transform to fowl and fish.
I mean the tree now in Iuturna growing,
Whose leaues disperst by Zephyr's wanton blowing,
[Page 232]Are metamorphos'd both in form and matter,
On land to Fowls, to Fishes in the Water.
But seest thou not (deer Muse) thou treadst the same
A modest cor­rection of our Poet vnwilling to wade farther in curious search of hidden se­crets:
Too-curious path, thou dost in others blame?
And striv'st in vain to paint This Work so choice,
The which no humane spirit, nor hand, nor voice,
Can once conceiue, less pourtray, least express,
All ouer-whelm'd in gulfs so bottomless.
Who (matching Art with Nature) likeneth
Our grounds to EDEN, fondly measureth,
By painted Butter-flies th' imperiall Eagle;
And th' Elephant by euery little Beagle.
This fear to fail, shall serue me for a bridle,
Or to wander vnprofitably in nice Questions, concerning the Garden of Eden and mans abode there:
Least (lacking wings and guide) too busie-idle,
And ouer-bold, Gods Cabinet I clime,
To seek the place and search the very time,
When both our Parents, or but one was ta'en
Out of our Earth, into that fruitfull Plain:
How long they had that Garden in possession,
Before their proud and insolent Transgression:
What Children there they earned, and how many,
Of whether sex: or whether none or any:
Or how (at least) they should haue propagated,
If the sly malice of the serpent hated,
Causing their fall, had not defil'd their kin,
And vnborn seed, with leprosie of Sin.
If void of Venus; sith vnlike it is,
Such blessed state the noble flowr should miss
Of Virgin-head, or folk so perfect chaste
Should furious feel, when they their loues imbraç't;
Such tickling flames as our fond soule surprise
(That dead a-while in Epileps [...]e lies)
And slack our sinews all, by little and little
Drowning our reason in foule pleasure brittle.
Or whether else as men in gender now,
Sith spouse-bedspot-less laws of God allow,
If no excess command: sith else again
The Lord had made the double sex in vain.
Whether their Infants should haue had the Powr
We now perceiue in fresh youths Iusty flowr,
As nimble feet, lims strong and vigorous;
Industrious hands, and hearts couragious;
Sith before sin, Man ought not less appear
In Natures gifts, then his then-seruants were:
And loe the Partridge, which new-hatched bears
On her weak back her parent-house, and wears
In stead of wings, a bever-supple down,
Follows her dam through furrows vp and down.
Or else as now; sith in the womb of Eue
A man of thirtie yeares could neuer liue:
Nor may we iudge' gainst Natures course apparant;
Without the sacred Scriptures speciall warrant:
Which for our good (as Heav'ns deer babe) hath right
To countermaund our reason and our sight.
Whether their seed should with their birth haue brought
Deep Knowledge, Reason, Vnderstanding-thought;
Sith now wee see the new-fall'n feeble Lamb,
Yet stayn'd with bloud of his distressed Dam,
Knowes wel the Wolf, at whose fell sight he shakes,
And right the tear of th' vnknow'n Eaw he takes▪
And sith a dull Dunce, which no knowledge can,
Is a dead image, and no liuing man.
Or the thick vail of Ignorance's night
Had hooded-vp their issues inward sight;
Sith the much moisture of an Infant brain
Receiues so many shapes, that ouer-lam
New dash the old; and the trim commixation
Of confus'd fancies, full of alteration,
Makes th' Vnderstanding hull, which settle would,
But findes no firm ground for his Anchors hold.
Whether old ADAM should haue left the place
Vnto his Sonnes; they, to their after-race:
Or whether all together at the last
Should gloriously from thence to Heav'n haue past.
Search whoso list, who list let va [...]t in pride
The decision of such Questions. is a busie idlenes.
T' haue hit the white, and let him (sage) decide
[Page 234]The many other doubts that vainly rise,
For mine owne part I will not seem so wise:
I will not waste my trauail and my seed,
To reap an empty straw, or fruitless reed.
Alas! we know what Orion of grief
Rain'd on the curst head of the creatures Chief,
Sin makes vs perceiue more then sufficiently what happines our Grand-sire lost, and what misery he got, by his shamefull Fall.
After that God against him war proclaim'd,
And Satan princedom of the earth had claim'd.
But none can know precisely how at all
Our Elders liv'd before their odious fall:
An vnknow'n Cifer, and deep Pit it is,
Where Dircean Oedipus his marks would miss:
Sith Adam's self, if now he liv'd anew,
Could scant vnwinde the knotty snarled clew
Of double doubts, and questions intricate
That Schools dispute about this pristin state.
But this sole point I rest resolved in,
But for sinne, man had not been subiect vnto Death.
That seeing Death's the meer effect of sin,
Man had not dreaded Death's all-slaying might,
Had hee still stood in Innocence vpright.
For, as two Bellows, blowing turn by turn,
Simile.
By little and little make cold coals to burn,
And then their fire inflames with glowing heat
An yron bar; which on the Anuil beat,
Seems no more yron, but flyes almost all
In hissing sparks, and quick bright cinders small:
So, the Worlds Soule should in our soule inspire
Th' eternall force of an eternall fire,
And then our soule (as form) breathe in our corse
Her count-less numbers, and Heav'n-tuned force,
Wherewith our bodies beauty beautified,
Should (like our death-less soule) haue neuer died.
Heer (wot I well) som wranglers will presume
Obiections a­gainst the estate of man, who had not beene subiect vnto death but for Sinne.
To say, Small fire will by degrees consume
Our humor radicall: and, how-be-it
The differing vertues of those fruits, as yet
Had no agreement with the harmfull spight
Of the fell Persian dangerous Acomte;
[Page 235]And notwithstanding that then ADAMS taste
Could well haue vsed all, without all waste,
Yet could they not restore him euery day
Vnto his body that which did decay▪
Because the food cannot (as being strange)
So perfectly in humane substance change:
For, it resembleth wine, wherein too rife
Simile.
Water is brewd, whereby the pleasant life
Is ouer-cool'd; and so there rests, in fine,
Nought of the strength, sauour, or taste of wine.
Besides, in time the naturall faculties
Are tyr'd with toyl; and th' Humour-enemies,
Our death conspiring, vndermine, at last,
Of our Soules prisons the foundations fast.
I, but the Tree of life the strife did stay
Answer to those obiections.
Which th' Humours caused in this house of clay;
And stopping th' euill, changed (perfect good)
In body fed, the body of the food:
Only the soules contagious malady
Had force to frustrate this high remedy.
Immortall then, and mortall, man was made;
Conclusion.
Mortall he liv'd, and did immortall vade:
For, 'fore th' effects of his rebellious ill,
To die or liue, was in his power and will:
But since his Sin, and proud Apostasie,
Ah! die he may, but not (alas!) not-dy;
As after his new-birth, he shall attain
Onely a powr to neuer-dy again.
FINIS.

THE IMPOSTVRE. THE II. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Iustice and Mercy modul'd in their kinde:
Satans proud Hate, and Enuie to Mankinde:
His many Engins, and malitious Wiles,
Whereby the best he many-times beguiles▪
Why he assum'd a Body, and began
With Eue; by Her to vndermine her Man:
Their dreadfull Fall: Their drousie Conscience:
Gods righteous Sentence, for their foul Offence,
On them (and Theirs): Their Exile: Eden barr'd
With flaming Sword, and Scraphin for guard.
O Who shall lend me light and nimble wings,
That (passing Swallows, and the swiftest things)
Euen in a moment, boldly-daring, I
From Heav'n to Hell, from Hell to Heav'n may fly?
O! who shall showe the countenance and gestures
Of Mercy and Iustice? which fair sacred sisters,
With equall poiz, doe euer ballance ev'n
Th' vnchanging Proiects of the King of Heav'n?
Th' one stern of look, the other milde-aspecting:
Th' one pleas'd with tears, the other bloud affecting:
Th' one bears the Sword of vengeance vnrelenting,
Th' other brings Pardon for the true-repenting:
Th' one, from Earths- Eden, Adam did dismiss,
Th' other hath rais'd him to a higher Bliss.
[Page 237]Who shall direct my pen to paint the Story
Of wretched mans forbidden-Bit-lost glory?
What Spell shall charm th' attentiue Readers sense?
What Fount shall fill my voice with eloquence?
So that I, rapt, may rau [...]sh all this ILE
With graue-sweet warbles of my sacred stile;
Though Adams Doom, in euery Sermon common,
And founded on the error of a woman,
Weary the vulgar, and be iudg'd a iest
Of the profane, zeal-scoffing Atheïst.
Ah! Thou my God, euen Thou (my soule refining
He hath recourse to God the onely giuer of all suf­ficiency and dex teritie in good and holy things.
In holy Faith's pure furnace, cleerely shining)
Shalt make my hap farr to surmount my hope,
Instruct my spirit, and giue my tongue smooth scope:
Thou, bountious in my bold attempts shalt grace-me,
And in the rank of holiest Poets place-me;
And frankly grant, that (soaring neer the sky)
Among our Authors, Eagle-like I fly:
Or, at the least (if Heav'n such hap denay)
I may point others, Honors beautious Way.
WHILE Adam bathes in these felicities,
The enemy of God enuieth Man and plot­teth his destruc­tion.
Hell's Prince, sly parent of revolt and lies,
Feels a pestiferous busie-swarming nest
Of neuer-dying Dragons in his brest,
Sucking his bloud, tyring vpon his lungs,
Pinching his entrails with ten thousand tongues,
His cursed soule still most extreamly racking,
Too frank in giuing torments, and in taking:
But aboue all, Hate, Pride, and Enuious spight,
His hellish life doo torture day and night:
For th' Hate he bears to God, who hath him driv'n▪
Iustly for euer, from the glittering Heav'n,
To dwell in darknes of a sulph'ry clow'd
(Though still his brethrens seruice be allow'd:)
The Proud desire to haue in his subiection
Mankinde in chain'd in gyues of Sins infection,
And th' Enuious heart-break to see yet to shine
In Adams face Gods Image all diuine,
[Page 238]Which he had lost; and that Man might atchieue
The glorious bliss, his Pride he did depriue:
Growen barbarous Tyrants of his treacherous wil,
Spur-on his course, his rage redoubling stil.
Or rather (as the prudent Hebrue notes)
'Tis that old Python which through hundred-throats
Doth proudly hiss, and (past his wont) doth fire
A hell of Furies in his fell desire:
His enuious hart, self-swoln with sullen spight,
Brooks neither greater, like, nor lesser wight:
Dreads th' one, as Lord; as equall, hates another;
And (iealous) doubts the rising of the other.
To vent his poyson, this notorious Tempter
His subtiltie in executing his Designes.
(Meer spirit) assails not Eue, but doth attempt her
In fained form: for else, the soule diuine
Which rul'd (as Queen) the Littl [...]-worlds designe,
So purely kept her Vow of Chastitie,
That he in vain should tempt her Constancy.
Therefore he fleshly doth the Flesh assay
(Suborning that) her Mistress to betray;
A subtle Pandar with more tycing sleights
Then Sea hath Fish, or Heav'n hath twinkling lights.
For, had he beene, of an ethereall matter,
Why he hid him in a Body.
Of fiery substance, or aiereall nature;
The needfull help of language had he wanted,
Whereby Faiths ground-work was to be supplanted:
Sith such pure bodies haue nor teeth, nor tongues,
Lips, artires, nose, Palate, nor panting lungs,
Which rightly plaç't are properly created
True instruments of sounds articulated.
And further-more, though from his birth h'had had
Why he appea­red not in his owne likenes: nor transfor­med him into an Angel of light.
Hart-charming cunning smoothly to perswade,
He fear'd (malitious) if he care-less, came
Vn-masked, like himself, in his own name,
In deep distrust man entring, suddainly,
Would stop his ears, and his foul presence fly:
As (opposite) taking the shining face
Of sacred Angels full of glorious grace,
[Page 239]He then suspected least the Omnipotent
Should think man's Fall scarce worthy punishment.
Much like (therefore) som theef that doth conceiue
Simil [...].
From trauailers both life and goods to reaue,
And in the twi-light (while the Moon doth play
In Thetis Palace) neer the Kings high-way
Himself doth ambush in a bushy Thorn;
Then in a Caue, then in a field of Corn,
Creeps to and fro, and fisk eth in and out,
And yet the safety of each place doth doubt;
Till, resolute at last (vpon his knee
Taking his leuell) from a hollow Tree,
He swiftly sends his fire-wingd messenger,
At his false sute t'arrest the passenger:
Our freedoms felon, fountain of our sorrow,
Thinks, now the beautie of a Horse to borrow;
Anon to creep into a Haifers side;
He hides him vnder diuers figures.
Then in a Cock, or in a Dog to hide;
Then in a nimble Hart himself to shroud;
Then in the starr'd plumes of a Peacock proud;
And least he miss a mischief to effect,
Oft changeth minde, and varies oft aspect.
At last, remembring that of all the broods,
Why he chose the Serpent.
In Mountains, Plains, Airs, Waters, Wildes, and Woods,
The knotty Serpent's spotty generation
Are filled with infectious inflammation:
And though they want Dogs teeth, Bores tusks, Bears paws,
The Vultures bill, Buls horns, and Griphins claws;
Yea, seem so weak, as if they had not might
To hurt vs once, much less to kill vs quite:
Yet, many times they treacherously betray vs,
And with their breath, look, tongue, or train they slay vs:
He crafty cloaks him in a Dragons skin
All bright-bespect; that, speaking so within
That hollow Sagbuts supple-wreathing plies▪
The mouer might with th' Organ sympathize.
For, yet the faith-less Serpent (as they say)
With horror crawl'd not groueling on the clay,
[Page 240]Nor to Mankinde (as yet) was held for hatefull,
Sith that's the hire of his offence ingratefull.
But now, to censure how this change befell
Sundry opinions hereupon.
Our wits com short, our words suffice not well
To vtter it: much less our feeble Art
Can imitate this sly malitious part.
Somtimes me seems (troubling Eues spirit) the Fiend
1
Made her this speaking fancy apprehend.
For, as in liquid clouds (exhaled thickly)
Water and Ayr (as moist) doe mingle quickly;
The euill Angels slide too easily,
As subtile Spirits, into our fantasie.
Somtimes me seems She saw (wo-worth the hap)
2
No very Serpent, but a Sepents shape:
Whether that, Satan plaid the Iuggler there,
Who tender eys with charmed Tapers blear,
Trans-forming so by subtile vapoury gleams,
Mens heads to Monsters, into Eels the beams:
Or whether, Diuels hauing bodies light,
Quick, nimble, actiue, apt to change with sleight,
In shapes or shewes, they guilefull haue propos'd;
In brief, like th' Air whereof they are compos'd.
For, as the ayr, with scattered clouds be-spred
Is heer and there, black, yellow, white, and red,
Resembling▪ Armies, Monsters, Mountains, Dragons,
Rocks, fiery Castles, Forrests, Ships, and Wagons,
And such to vs through glass transparent cleer
From form to form varying it doth appear:
So, these seducers can growe great, or small,
Or round, or square, or streight, or short, or tall,
As fits the passions they are moued by,
And such our soule receiues them from our ey.
Somtimes; that Satan (only for this work)
3
Fain'd him a Serpents shape, wherein to lurk.
For, Nature framing our soules enemies,
Of bodies light, and in experience wise,
In malice crafty; curious they assemble
Small Elements, which (as of kin) resemble,
[Page 241]Whereof a Mass is made, and there▪ vnto
They soon giue growth and liuely motion too.
Not, that they be Creators: for, th' Almighty
Who first of nothing made vast Amphitri [...],
The World's dull Centre, Heavn's ay-turning frame▪
And whirling Ayr, sole merits that high name:
Who (onely Beeing) Being giues to all,
And of all things the seeds substantiall
Within their first-borne bodies hath inclos'd,
To be in time by Nature's hand dispos'd:
Not those, who (taught by curious Art or Nature)
Haue giv'n to things Heav'n-pointed form and stature,
Hastned their growth, or wakened learnedly
The forms that formless in the Lump didly.
But (to conclude) I think't was no conceipt,
[...] ▪
No fained Idoll, nor no iuggling sleight,
Nor body borrowed for this vses sake,
But the self Serpent which the Lord did make
In the beginning: for, his hatefull breed
Bears yet the pain of this pernicious deed.
[...] ▪
Yet, 'tis a doubt, whether the Diuell did
Gouern the Dragon (not there selfly hid)
To raise his courage, and his tongue direct,
Locally absent, present by effect.
As when the sweet strings of a Lute we strike,
Another Lute laid neer it, sounds the like,
Nay, the same note, through secret simpathy
(Vntoucht) receiuing life and Harmony:
Or, as a sta [...], which (though far distant) pours,
Vpon our heads, hap-less or happy showrs.
Or, whether for a time he did abide,
Within the doubling Serpents damask hide,
6.
Holding a place-less place: as our soule deor▪
Through the dimlanthorn of our flesh▪ shines cleer;
And bound-less bounds itself in so streight space,
As fo [...]m in body, not as body in place.
But this stands sure, how euer else it went,
Th' old Serpent serv'd as Satans instrument
[Page 242]To charm in Eden with a strong illusion
Conclusion of the former opi­nions. A comparison.
Our silly Grandam to her selfs confusion.
For, as an old, rude, rotten, tune-les Kit,
If famous Dowland daign to finger it,
Makes sweeter Musik then the choicest Lute
In the gross handling of a clownish Brute:
So, whiles a learned Fiend with skilfull hand
Doth the dull motions of his mouth command,
This self-dum Creatures glozing Rhetorike
With bashfull shame great Orators would strike.
So, Faiery Trunks within Epyrus Groue
Mov'd by the spirit that was inspir'd by Ioue,
With fluent voice (to euery one that seeks)
Fore-tell the Fates of light-beleeuing Greeks:
So all incenst, the pale Engastromith
(Rul'd by the furious spirit hee's haunted with)
Speakes in his womb; So well a workmans skill
Supplies the want of any organ ill:
So doth the Phantike (lifting vp his thought
On Satans wing) tell with a tongue distraught
Strange Oracles, and his sick spirit doth plead
Euen of those Arts that he did neuer read.
O ruth-less murderer of immortall soules!
Alas! to pull vs from the happy Poles,
The sundry sut­tle and horrible end [...]uours of th [...] diuell, putting on diuers formes to ouerthrowe Man-kinde.
And plunge vs headlong in thy yawning hell,
Thy ceas-less frauds, and fetches who can tell?
Thou play'st the Lion, when thou doost in gage
Bloud-thirsty Nero's barbarous heart with rage,
While flesht in murthers (butcher-like) he paints
The Saint-poor world with the deer bloud of Saints.
Thou play'st the Dog, when by the mouth profane
Of som false Prophet t [...]ou doost beleh thy bane,
While from the Pulpit harkingly he rings
Bold blasphemies against the king of kings.
Thou play'st the Swine, when plung'd in pleasures vile,
Som Epicure doth sober mindes defile,
Transforming lewdly, by his loose impiety,
Strict Lacedaemon to a soft society.
Thou play'st the Nightingale, or else the Swan,
When any famous Rhetorician,
With captious wit and curious language, draws
Seduced hearers; and subuerts the laws.
Thou plaist the Fox, when thou dost fain a-right
The face and phrase of som deep Hypocrite,
True painted Toomb, dead-seeming coals, but quick;
A Scorpion fell, whose hidden tail doth prick.
Yet, this were little, if thy spight audacious,
Spar'd (at the least) the face of Angels gracious,
And if thou didst not (Ape-like) imitate
Th' Almighties works, the wariest Wits to mate.
The Poet resu­meth his Dis­course, touching the Temptation of Eue.
But (without numbring all thy suttle baits,
And nimble iuggling with a thousand sleights)
Timely returning where I first digrest,
I'le onely heer thy first DECEIPT digest.
The Dragon then, Mans Fortress to surprise,
Follows som Captains martiall policies,
Who, yer too neer an Aduerse place he pitch,
Comparison.
The situation marks, and sounds the ditch,
With his eys leuell the steep wall he metes,
Surueies the flanks, his Camp in order sets;
And then approaching, batters sore the side
Which Art and Nature haue least fortifi'd:
So this old Souldier, hauing marked rife
The first-born payrs yet danger-dreadless life;
Mounting his Canons suttly he assaults
The part he findes in euident defaults:
Namely, poor Woman, wauering, weake, vnwise,
Light, credulous, news-louer giuen to lies.
Eue, Second honour of this Vniuerse!
Sathans Oration
Is't true (I pray) that iealous God, peruerse,
Forbids (quoth he) both you and all your race,
All the fair Fruits these siluer Brooks imbrace;
So oft bequeath'd you, and by you possest,
And day and night by your own labour drest?
With th' ayr of these sweet words, the wily Snake
A poysoned ayr inspired (as it spake)
[Page 244]In Eues frail brest; who thus replies: O! knowe
Eues Answer
What e [...]r thou be (but thy kinde care doth showe
A gentle friend) that all the fruits and flowrs
In this earths-heav'n are in our hands and powrs,
Except alone that goodly fruit diuine,
Which in the midst of this green ground doth shine;
But, all-good▪ God (alas! I wote not why)
For bad vs touch that Tree, on pain to dy.
She ceast: already brooding in her heart
A curious wish, that will her weal subuert.
A [...]sit cōparison.
As a false Louer that thick snares hath laid,
T'intrap the honour of a fair young Maid,
When she (though little) listning ear affoords
To his sweet, courting, deep-affected words,
Feels som asswaging of his freezing [...]ame,
And sooths himself with hope to gain his game;
And rapt with ioy, vpon this point persists,
That parleing Citie neuer long resists:
Euen so the Serpent, that doth counterfet
A guilefull Call [...]allure vs to his net;
Perceiuing Eue his flattering gloze digest,
He prosecutes, and locund, doth not rest,
Till he haue try'd, foot, hand, and head, and all,
Vpon the Breach of this new-battered wall.
The Diuels reply
No, fair (quoth he) beleeue not, that the care
God hath, mankinde from spoyling death to spare,
Makes him forbid you (on so strict condition)
This purest, fairest, rarest Fruits fruition:
A doubtfull fear▪ an en [...]le, and a hate,
His iealous heart for euer cruciate;
Sith the suspected vertue of This Tree
Shall soon disperse the cloud of Idiocy,
Which dims your eys; and▪ further, make you seem
(Excelling vs) euen equall Gods to him.
O Worlds rare gloryl reach thy happy hand,
Reach, reach (I say) why doost thou stop or stand?
Begin thy Bliss, and doo not fear the threat
His audacio [...]s impudence.
Of an vncertain God-head, onely great,
[Page 245]Through self-aw'd zeal: put on the glistring Pall
Of immortality: doe not fore-stall
(As enuious stepdame) thy posteritie
The souerain honour of Diuinitie.
This parley ended, our ambitious Grandam,
The Apostas [...]e of Eue.
Who only yet did heart and ey abandon
Against the Lord; now farther doth proceed,
And hand and mouth makes guilty of the deed.
A nouice Theef; that in a Closet spies
A Comparison
A heap of Gold, that on the Table lies;
Pale, fearfull, shiuering, twice or thrice extends,
And twice or thrice retires his fingers ends,
And yet again returns; the booty takes,
And faintly-bold, vp in his cloak it makes,
Scarce findes the doore, with faultring foot hee flies,
And still looks back for fear of Hu-on cries:
Euen so doth Eue shew by like fear-full fashions
The doubtfull combat of contending Passions;
She would, she would not; glad, sad; coms, and goes:
And long she marts about a Match of Woes:
But (out alas [...]) at last she toucheth it,
And (hauing toucht) tastes the forbidden bit.
Another compa­rison liuely ex­pressing the Fall of Man, by the prouocation of his wife.
Then as a man that from a lofty Clift,
Or steepy Mountain, doth descend too swift,
Stumbling at somwhat, quickly clips som lim
Of som deer kinsman walking next to him,
And by his headlong fall, so brings his friend
To an vntimely, sad, and suddain end;
Our Mother, falling, hales her Spouse anon
Down to the gulf of pitchie Acheron.
For, to the wisht Fruits beautifull aspect,
Sweet Nectar-taste, and wonderfull effect,
Cunningly adding her quaint smiling glances,
Her witty speech, and pretty countenances,
She so preuails, that her blind Lord at last,
A morsell of the sharp-sweet fruit doth taste.
Now suddainly wide-open feel they might
(Siel'd for their good) both soules and bodies sight;
[Page 246]But the sad Soule hath lost the Character,
The effects of their disobedi­ence.
And sacred Image that did honour Her:
The wretched Body, full of shame and sorrow
To see it naked, is inforçt to borrow
The Trees broad leaues, wher of they aprons frame,
From Heav'ns faire ey to hide their filthy shame.
Alas, fond death-lings! O! behold how cleer
The knowledge is that you haue bought so deer:
In heav'nly things yee are more blinde then Moals,
In earthly Owls. O! think ye (silly soules)
The sight that swiftly through the earth's solid centres
(As globes of pure transparent crystall) enters
Cannot transpearce your leaves? or do ye ween,
Couering your shame so to conceal your sin?
Or that, a part thus clouded, all doth lie
Safe from the search of Heav'ns all-seeing ey?
Thus yet, mans troubled dull Intelligence
Had of his fault but a confused sense:
As in a dream, after much drink it chances,
Disturbed spirits are vext with rauing fancies.
Therefore the Lord, within the Garden fair,
The extraordi­nary presence of God, awakes their drousie soules swallowed vp of Sinne: and begins to arraign them.
Mouing b [...]times I wot not I what ayr,
But super naturall; whose breath diuine
Brings of his presence a most certain signe:
Awakes their Lethargie, and to the quick,
Their self-doom'd soules doth sharply press and prick:
Now more and more making their pride to fear
The frowning visage of their Iudge seuere:
To seck new-refuge in more secret harbors
Among the dark shade of those tusting arbors.
Adam, quoth God (with thundring maiesty)
Where art thou (wretch!) what doost thou? answer me
Thy God and Father, from whose hand, thy health
Thou hold'st, thine honour, and all sorts of wealth.
At this sad summon's, wofull man resembles
Description of the horrible ef­fects of a guilty Conscience, sum­moned to the presence of God.
A bearded rush that in a riuer trembles:
His rosie checks are chang'd to earthen hew;
His dying body drops an yeie deaw;
[Page 247]His tear-drown'd eys, a night of clouds bedims;
About his eares, a buzzing horror swims;
His fainted knees, with feeblenes are humble;
His faultring feet doe slide away and stumble:
He hath not (now) his free, bold, stately port;
But down-cast looks, in fearfull slauish sort;
Now, nought of Adam, doth in Adam rest;
He feel's his senses pain'd, his soule opprest:
A confus'd hoast of violent passions iarr;
His flesh and spirit are in continuall warre:
And now no more (through conscience of his error)
He hears or feesth' Almighty, but with terror:
And loth he answers (as with tongue distraught)
Confessing (thus) his fear, but not his fault.
O Lord! thy voice, thy dreadfull voice hath made
Adams answer [...]
Me fearfull hide me in this couert shade.
For, naked as I am (O most of might!)
I dare not come before thine awfull sight.
Naked (quoth God)? why (faith-less renegate,
God vrgeth the cause of his deiec­tion and feare.
Apostate Pagan!) who hath told thee that?
Whence springs thy shame? what makes thee thus to run
From shade to shade, my presence still to shun?
Hast thou not tasted of the learned Tree,
Whereof (on pain of death) I warned thee?
O righteous God (quoth Adam) I am free
Adams reply, excusing himself and couertly im­puting his Guilt to God. Examination of Eue, who excu­seth her self like­wise on another.
From this offence: the wife thou gauest me,
For my companion and my comforter,
She made me eat that deadly meat with her.
And thou (quoth God) O! thou frail treacherous Bride,
Why, with thy self, hast thousedu [...]'t thy Guide?
Lord (answers Eue) the Serpent did intice
My simple frailty to this sinfull vice.
Mark heer, how He, who fears not who reform
An example for Indges & Ma­gistrates.
His high Decrees, not subiect vnto form,
Or stile of Court: who, all-wise, hath no need
T' examine proof or witnes of the deed:
Who, for sustaining of vnequall Scale,
Dreads not the Doom of a Mercuriall;
[Page 248]Yer Sentence pass, doth publikely conuent,
Confront, and hear with ear indifferent
Th' Offenders sad: then with iust indignation,
Pronounceth thus their dreadfull Condemnation.
The Sentence of the supreame Iudge against the guilty Priso­ners: and first of all against the Serpent.
Ah cursed Serpent, which my fingers made
To serue mankinde: th' hast made thy self a blade
Wherewith vain Man and his inueigled wife
(Self-parricids) haue reft their proper life.
For this thy fault (true Fountain of all ill)
Thou shalt be hatefull'mong all creatures still.
Groueling in dust, of dust thou ay shalt feed:
I'le kindle war between the Womans seed,
And thy fell race; hers on the head shall ding
Thine: thine again hers in the heel shall sting.
Rebel to me, vnto thy kindred curst▪
Against the Woman.
False to thy husband, to thy self the worst:
Hope not, thy fruit so easly to bring-forth
As now thou slay'st it: hence forth, euery Birth
Shall torture thee with thousand sorts of pain;
Each artire, sinew, muscle, ioynt and vain,
Shall feel his part: besides foul vomitings,
Prodigious longings, thought-full languishings,
With change of colour, swouns, and many others,
Eternall fellows of all future mothers:
Vnder his yoak, thy husband thee shall haue,
Tyrant, by thee made the Arch-tyrants slaue.
Against Man.
And thou disloyall, which hast harkned more
To a wanton fondling then my sacred lore:
Hence forth the sweat shall bubble on thy brow:
Thy hands shall blister, and thy back shall bow:
Ne'r shalt thousend into thy branchievains
A bit, but bought with price of thousand pains.
For, the earth feeling (euen in her) th' effect
Of the doom thundred 'gainst thy foul defect;
In stead of sweet fruits which she selfly yeelds
Seed-less, and Art-less ouer all thy fields,
With thorns and burrs shall bristle vp her brest:
(In short) thou shalt not taste the sweets of rest,
[Page 249]Till ruth-less Death by his extreamest pain
Thy dust-born body turn to dust again.
Heer I conceiue, that flesh and bloud will brangle,
Obiection to ex­cuse the Sinne of Man.
And murmuring Reason with th' almighty wrangle,
Who did our parents with Free-will indue,
1.
Though he fore-saw, that that would be the clew
Should lead their steps into the wofull way
Where life is death ten thousand times a day:
Now all, that he fore-sees, befalls: and further,
Hee all euents by his free powr doth order.
Man taxeth God of too-vniust severity,
For plaguing Adams sin in his posterity:
So that th' old yeers renewed generations
Cannot asswage his venging indignations,
Which haue no other ground to prosecute,
But the mis eating of a certain fruit.
O dusty wormling! dar'st thou striue and stand
Answeres to the first obiection.
With Heav'ns high Monarch? wilt thou (wretch) demand
Count of his deeds? Ah! shall the Potter make
1.
His clay, such fashion, as him list, to take?
And shal not God (Worlds Founder, Natures Father)
Dispose of man (his own meer creature) rather?
The supream King, who (Iudge of greatest Kings)
By number, weight and measure, acts all things,
Vice-loathing Lord, pure Iustice, patron strong,
Law's life, Right's rule, will he doo any wrong?
Man, holdest thou of God thy frank Free-will,
2.
But free t'obay his sacred goodnes still?
Freely to follow him, and doe his hest,
Net Philtre-charm'd, nor by Busiris prest?
God arms thee with discourse: but thou (O wretch)
By the keen edge the wound-soule sword doost catch;
Killing thy self, and in thy loyns thy line.
O banefull Spider (weaving wofull twine)
All Heav'ns pure flowrs thou turnest into poyson:
Thy sense reaues sense: thy reason robs thy reason.
For, thou complainest of Gods grace, whose Still
Extracts from dross of thine audacious ill,
3.
[Page 250]Three vnexpected goods: prayse for his Name;
Bliss for thy self; for Satan endless-shame:
Sith, but for sin, Iustice and Mercy were
But idle names: and but that thou didst erre,
CHRIST had not com to conquer and to quell,
Vpon the Cross, Sin, Satan, Death, and Hell:
Making thee blessed more since thine offence,
Then in thy primer happy innocence.
Thē, might'st thou dy; now, death thou doost not doubt:
Now, in the Heav'n; then, didst thou ride without:
In earth, thou liv'dst then; now in Heav'n thou beest:
Then, thou didst hear Gods word; it, now thou seest:
Then, pleasant fruits; now, Christ is thy repast:
Then might'st thou fall; but now thou standest fast.
Now, Adams fault was not in deed so light,
As seems to Reason's sin-bleard Owlie sight:
But't was a chain where all the greatest sinns
Were one in other linked fast, as Twinns:
Ingratitude, pride, treason, gluttony,
Too-curious skill-thrist, enuy, felony,
Too-light, too-late beleef; were the sweet baits
That made him wander from Heav'ns holy straights.
What wouldst thou (Father) say vnto a Son
Of perfect age, to whom for portion
(Witting and willing, while thy self yet livest)
All thy possessions in the earth thou givest:
And yet th' vngratefull, grace-lesse, insolent,
In thine own Land, rebellion doth invent?
Map now an Adam in thy memory;
By Gods own hand made with great maiesty,
Not poor, nor pined; but at whose command
The rich aboundance of the world doth stand:
Not slaue to sense, but having freely might
To bridle it, and range it still aright:
No idiot fool, nor drunk with vain opinion;
But Gods Disciple and his deerest Minion:
Who rashly growes for little, nay for nought,
His deadly foe that all his good had wrought:
[Page 251]So mayst thou ghess, what whip what rope, what rack,
What fire, were fit to punish Adams lack.
Answeres to the second obiection.
Then, sith Mans sin by little and little runs
End-less, through every Age from Sires to Sons;
1.
And still the farther this foul sin-spring flowes
It still more muddy and more filthy growes:
Thou ought'st not marvail, if (even yet) his seed
Feel the iust wages of this wicked deed.
For, though the keen sting of concupiscence
Cannot, yer birth, his fell effect commence;
The vnborn Babe, hid in the Mothers womb,
Is Sorrow's seruant, and Sin's servile groom,
As a frail Mote from the first Mass extract,
Which Adam baen'd by his rebellious fact.
Sound off-spring coms not of a Kinde infected:
Parts are not fair, if to tall be defected:
And a defiled stinking sink doth yeeld
More durt then water, to the neighbour field.
While nights black muffler hoodeth vp the skies,
2.
The silly blind-man misseth not his eys:
Simile.
But when the day summons to work again,
His night, eternall then he doth complain,
That hee goes groping, and his hand (alas!)
Is fain to guide his foot, and guard his face:
So man, that liveth in the wombs obscurity,
Knowes not; nor maketh knowen his lusts impurity:
Which for't is sown in a too-plentious ground,
Takes root already in the Caues profound
Of his infected Hart: with's birth, it peers,
And growes in strength, as he doth growe in years;
And waxt a Tree (though proyn'd with thousand cares)
An execrable deadly fruit it bears.
Thou seest, no wheat Helleborus can bring:
3.
Nor barly, from the madding Morrell spring:
Simile.
Nor, bleating Lambs braue Lyons doe not breed:
The leprous Parents, raise a leprous seed:
Even so our Grand-sire, living Innocent,
Had stockt the whole World with a Saint-descent:
[Page 252]But suffering sin in EDEN him inuade,
His sons, the sons of Sin and Wrath he made.
For, God did seem t'indow, with glory and grace,
4.
Not the first Man so much, as all mans race:
And after reaue again those gifts diuine,
Not him so much, as in him all his line.
For, if an odious Traytour that conspires,
Simile.
Against a Prince, or to his state aspires,
Feel not alone the laws extremity;
But his sons sons (although somtimes they be
Honest and vertuous) for their Fathers blame,
Are hap-less scarr'd with an eternall shame:
May not th' Eternall, with a righteous terror,
In Adams issue punish Adams error?
May he not thrall them vnder Deaths command:
And sear their brows with everlasting brand
Of infamy, who in his stock (accurst)
Haue graft worse slips then Adam set at first?
Mans seed then iustly, by succession,
Conclusion of the former Disputa­tions, and exe­cution of Gods Decree against Adam & Eue. They are driuen out of Eden.
Bears the hard penance of his high transgression:
And Adam heer, from Eden banished,
As first offender is first punished.
Hence (quoth the Lord) hence, hence (accursed race)
Out of my Garden: quick, auoyd the place,
This beautious place, pride of this Vniuerse,
A house vnworthy Masters so peruerse.
Those that ( in quarrell of the Strong of Strongs,
Simile.
And iust reuenge of Queen, and Countries wrongs)
Were witnesses to all the wofull plaints,
The sighes, and tears, and pitifull complaints,
Of brauing Spaniards (chiefly braue inword)
When by the valiant Heav'n-assisted sword
Of Mars- like ESSEX, Englands Marshall-Earl
( Then Albions Patron, and Eliza's Pearl)
They were expulst from Cad'z, their deerest pleasure,
Losing their Town, their honour, and their treasure:
Woe worth ( said they) woe worth our Kings ambition;
Woe worth our Cleargy, and their Inquisition:
[Page 253] He seeks new Kingdoms, and doth lose his old;
They burn for conscience, but their thirst is gold:
Woe, and alas, woe to the vain brauados
Of Typhon- like-inuincible ARMADOS,
Which like the vaunting Monster-man of Gath,
Haue stirr'd against vs little Dauids wrath:
Wo-worth our sins: wo worth our selues, and all
Accursed causes of our suddain fall;
Those well may ghess the bitter agonies,
And luke-warm Rivers gushing down the eys
Of our first Parents, out of Eden driv'n
(Of Repeal hope-less) by the hand of Heav'n;
For, the Almighty set before the dore
The earthly E­den shut-vp for euer from Man­kinde.
Of th' holy Park, a Seraphin that bore
A waving sword, whose body shined bright,
Like flaming Comet in the midst of night;
A body meerly Metaphysioall,
Which (differing little from th' ONE vnicall,
Th' Act-simply-pure, the onely-beeing BEEING)
Approcheth matter; ne'rtheless, not being
Of matter mixt: or rather is so made
So meerly spirit, that not the murdering blade,
His ioyned quantity can part in two:
For (pure) it cannot Suffer ought, but Doo.
FINIS.
[...]
[...]

THE FVRIES. THE III. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
The World's tranform'd from that it was at first:
For Adams Sin, all Creatures else accurst:
Their Harmony dis-tuned by His iar:
Yet all again concent, to make Him war;
As, th' Elements, and aboue all, the Earth:
Three ghastly FVRIES; Sicknes, War, and Dearth,
A generall Muster of the Bodies Griefs:
The Soules Diseases, vnder sundry Chiefs:
Both, full of Horror, but the later most;
Where vgly Vice in Vertues Mask doth boast.
THis's not the World. O! whither am I brought?
Sin hath chan­ged and disfigu­red the face of the World.
This Earth I tread, this hollow-hanging Vault,
Which Dayes reducing, and renuing Nights,
Renues the grief of mine afflicted sprights;
This Sea I sail, this troubled Ayr I sip,
Are not The First-Weeks glorious workmanship:
This wretched Round is not the goodly Globe
Th' Eternall trimmed in so various Robe:
'Tis but a Dungeon and a dreadfull Caue,
Of that First World the miserable graue.
All-quickning Spirit, great God, that iustly-strange
Inuocation.
Iudge-turned-Father, wrought'st his wondrous change,
Change and new-mould me; Lord, my hand assist,
That in my Muse appear no earthly mist:
[Page 255]Make me thine organ, giue my voice dexterity
Sadly to sing this sad Change to Posterity.
And, bountious Giuer of each perfect gift,
So tune my voice to his sweet-sacred Clift,
That in each strain my rude vnready tong
Be liuely Eccho of his learned Song.
And, hence-forth, let our holy Musik rauish
All well-born Soules, from fancies lewdly-lauish
(Of charming Sin the deep-inchaunting Syrens,
The snares of vertue, valour-softning Hyrens)
That toucht with terrour of thine indignation,
Presented in this wofull Alteration,
We all may seek, by Prayer and true Repentance,
To shun the rigour of thy wrathfull Sentence.
The Trāslator heere humbly vaileth-bonnet to the Kings Maiesty; who many yeeres since (for his princely exer­cile) translated these FV­RIES, the VRANIA, and some o­ther Pecces of Du BAR­TAS.
But, yer we farther pass, our slender Bark
Must heer strike top-s [...]ils to a Princely Ark
Which keeps these Straights: Hee hails vs threatfully,
Star-boord our helm; Com vnderneath his Lee.
Ho, Whence your Bark? of Zeal-land: Whether bound?
For Vertues Cape: What lading? Hope. This Sound
You should not pass; sau [...] that your voyage tends
To benefit our Neighbours and our Frends.
Thanks, Kingly Captain; daign vs then (we pray)
Som skilfull Pylot through this FVRIOVS Bay;
Or, in this Chanell, sith we are to learn,
Vouch safe to togh vs at your Royall Stern.
YER THAT our Sire (O too too proudly-base)
Turn'd tail to God, and to the Fiend his face,
This mighty World did seem an Instrument
True-strung, well-tun'd, and handled excellent,
Happy estate of the World, before Sinne; set forth by a Similitude.
Whose symphony resounded sweetly-shrill
Th' Almighties prayse, who play'd vpon it still.
While man serv'd God, the World serv'd him, the lyue
And liue-less creatures seemed all to striue
To nurse this league; and, louing zealously
These two deer Heads, embraced mutually:
In sweet accord, the base with high reioyc't,
The hot with cold, the solid with the moist;
[Page 256]And innocent Astraea did combine
All with the mastick of a Loue diuine.
For, th' hidden loue that now a-dayes doth holde
The Sympathy yet appearing between certain Creatures, is but as a litle shadow of the perfect v­nion which was among all Crea­tures, before Mans Fall.
The Steel and Load-stone, Hydrargire and Golde,
Th' Amber and straw; that lodgeth in one shell
Pearl-fish and Sharpling: and vnites so well
Sargons and Goats, the Sperage and the Rush,
Th' Elm and the Vine, th' Oliue and Myrtle-bush,
Is but a spark or shadow of that Loue
Which at the first in every thing did moue,
When as th' Earth's Muses with Harmonious sound
To Heav'ns sweet Musick humbly did resound.
But Adam, being chief of all the strings
Of this large Lute, o're-retched, quickly brings
All out of tune: and now, for melody
Of warbling Charms, it yels so hideously,
That it affrights fell Enyon, who turmoils
To raise again th' old Chaos antik broils:
Heav'n, that still smiling on his Paramour,
Of the Discord that Sinne hath brought among all things.
Still in her lap did Mel and Manna pour,
Now with his hail, his rain, his frost and heat,
Doth parch, and pinch, and over-whelm, and beat,
And hoars her head with Snowes, and (ielous) dashes
Against her brows his fiery lightning flashes,
On th' other side, the sullen, enuious Earth
Sundry notable Antipathies.
From blackest Cels of her foul brest sends forth
A thousand foggy fumes, which every where
With cloudy mists Heav'ns crystall front besmear.
Since that, the Woolf the trembling Sheep pursues;
The crowing Cock, the Lion stout eschews;
The Pullein hide them from the Puttock's flight,
The Mastie's mute at the Hyaenas sight:
Yea (who would think it?) these fell enmities
Rage in the sense-less trunks of Plants and Trees:
The Vine, the Cole, the Cole-wort Swines-bread dreads,
The Fearn abhors the hollow waving Reeds,
The Olyue and the Oak participate,
Even to their earth, signes of their auncient hate,
[Page 257]Which suffers not (O date-less discord!) th' one
Live in that ground where th' other first hath growen.
O strange instinct! O deep immortall rage,
Whose fiery fewd no Laethé floud can swage!
So, at the sound of Wolf-Drums rattling thunder
Th' affrighted Sheep-skin-Drum doth rent in sunder:
So, that fell Monsters twisted entrails cuts
(By secret powr) the poor Lambs twined guts,
Which (after death) in steed of bleating mute,
Are taught to speak vpon an Yvory Lute:
And so the Princely Eagles ravening plumes
The feathers of all other Fowls consumes.
The First-mov'd Heav'n (in 'tself it self still stirring)
The estate of Man before Sin
Rapts with his course (quicker then windes swift whirring)
All th' other Sphears, and to Alcides Spyres
From Alexanders Altars driues their Fires:
But mortall Adam, Monarch heer beneath,
Erring draws all into the paths of death;
And on rough Seas, as a blinde Pylot rash,
Against the rock of Heav'ns iust wrath doth dash
The Worlds great Vessell, sayling yerst at ease,
With gentle gales, good guide, on quiet Seas.
For (yer his fall) which way so e'r he rowl'd
His estate after Sinne.
His wondering eys God every-where behold;
In Heav'n, in Earth, in Ocean, and in Ayr,
He sees, and feels, and findes him every-where.
The World was like a large and sumptuous Shop
Where God his goodly treasures did vnwrap:
Or Crystall glass most liuely representing
His sacred Goodnes, every-where frequenting.
But, since his sin, the wofull wretch findes none
Herb, garden, groue, field, fountain, stream or stone,
Beast, mountain, valley, sea-gate, shoar, or haven,
But bears his Deaths▪ doom openly ingraven:
In brief, the whole scope this round Centre hath,
Is a true store-house of Heav'ns righteous wrath.
Al creatures frō the highest to the lowest, enemies to Man.
Rebellious Adam, from his God revolting,
Findes his yerst-subiects 'gainst himself insulting:
[Page 258]The tumbling Sea, the Ayr with tempests driven,
Thorn-bristled Earth, the sad and lowring Heav'n
(As from the oath of their allegeance free)
Revenge on him th' Almighties iniury.
The Starrs coniur'd, through enuious Influence,
The Heauens, with all ther in.
By secret Hang-men punish his offence:
The Sun with heat, the Moon with cold doth vex-him,
Th' Air with vnlookt-for suddain changes checks-him,
With fogs and frosts, hails, snowes, and sulph'ry thunders;
Blasting, and storms, and more prodigious wonders.
Fire, fall'n from Heav'n, or else by Art incited,
Al the Elemēts. Fire. Aire.
Or by mischance in som rich building lighted,
Or from som Mountains burning bowels throw'n,
Repleat with Sulphur, Pitch, and Pumie stone,
With sparkling fury spreads, and in fewe hours
The labour of a thousand years devours.
The greedy Ocean, breaking wonted bounds,
Sea.
Vsurps his heards, his wealthy Iles and Towns.
The grieved Earth, to ease her (as it seems)
Earth.
Of such profane accursed weight, somtimes
Swallows whole Countries, and the airie tops.
Of Prince-proud towrs in her black womb she wraps.
And in despight of him, abhord and hatefull,
Earth brings forth weeds.
She many wayes proues barren and ingratefull:
Mocking our hopes, turning our seed-Wheat-kernel
To burn-grain Thistle, and to vapourie Darnel,
Cockle, wilde Oats, rough Burs, Corn-cumbring Tares,
Short recompence for all our costly cares.
Yet this were little, if she more malicious,
Venemous plants.
Fell stepdame, brought vs not Plants more pernicious:
As, sable Henbane; Morell, making mad:
Cold poysoning Poppy, itching, drowsie, sad:
The stifning Carpes [...], th' eyes-foe Hemlock stinking,
Limb-numming belching: and the sinew-shrinking
Dead-laughing Ap [...]um, weeping Aconite
(Which in our vulgar deadly Wolfs-bane hight)▪
The dropsie▪ breeding, sorrow-bringing Psylly
(Heer called Flea-Wurt) Colchis▪ banefull Lilly,
[Page 259](With vs Wild-Saffron) blistring byting fell:
Not Napell, making lips and tongue to swell:
Blood-boyling Yew, and costiue M [...]sseltoe:
With yce-cold Mandrake, and a many mo
Such fatall plants; whose fruit, seed, sap, or root,
T'vntimely Graue doe bring our heed-less foot.
Besides, she knowes, we brutish value more
Poyson hidden among the Me­tals.
Then Liues or Honours, her rich glittering Ore:
That Auarice our bound-less thought still vexes:
Therfore among her wreakfull baits she mixes
Quick-siluer, Lithargie and Orpiment,
Wherwith our entrails are oft g [...]awn and rent:
So that somtimes; for Body, and for Minde,
Torture and torment, in one Mine we finde.
What resteth more? the Masters skilfull most,
The excellency of Mans Domi­nion ouer the Creatures before his Fall.
With gentle gales driv'n to their wished Coast,
Not with less labour guide their winged wayn [...]
On th' azure fore-head of the liquid plains:
Nor crafty Iugglers, can more easily make
Their self-liv'd Puppets (for their lucres sake)
To skip and scud, and play, and prate, and praunce,
And fight, and fall, and trip, and turn, and daunce:
Then happy we did rule the sealy Legions
That dumbly dwell in stormy water-Regions;
Then fethered singers, and the stubborn droues
That haunt the Desarts and the shady Groues:
At every word they trembled then for aw,
And every wink then serv'd them as a law,
And always bent all duty to obserue-vs,
Without command, stood ready still to serue-vs.
But now (alas!) through our fond Parents fall,
The Creatures now becomn Ty­rants and [...]ray­tors to Him, whose slaues and seruants they were before Sin.
They (of our slaues) are growen our tyrants all.
Wend we by Sea? the dread Leuiathan
Turns vpside-down the boyling Ocean,
And on the suddain sadly doth in toomb
Our floting Castle in deep Thetis womb;
Yerst in the wel kin like an Eagle towring,
And on the water like a Dolphin scowring.
[Page 260]Walk we by Land? how many loathsom swarms
Of speckled poysons, with pestiferous arms,
In every corner in close Ambush lurk
With secret bands our sodain banes to work?
Besides, the Lion and the Leopard,
Boar, Bear, and Wolf to death pursue vs hard;
And, ielous vengers of the wrongs divine,
In peeces pull their Soverains sinfull line.
The huge thick Forrests haue nor bush nor brake
But hides som Hang-man our loath'd life to take:
In every hedge and ditch both day and night
We fear our death, of every leaf affright.
Rest we at home? the Masty fierce in force,
Th' vntamed Bull, the hot courageous Horse,
With teeth, with horns, and hooues besiege vs round,
As griev'd to see such tyrants tread the ground:
And ther's no Fly so small but now dares bring
Her little wrath against her quondam King.
What hideous sights? what horror-boading showes?
An admirable description of Mans miserable Punishments, tortured by him­selfe.
Alas, what yels? what howls? what thund'ring throws?
O! am I not neer roaring Phlegoton?
Alecto, sad Moger' and Thesiphon?
What spels haue charm'd ye from your dreadfull den
Of darkest Hell? Monsters abhord of men,
O Nights black daughters, grim-faç't Furies sad,
Stern Plutos Posts, what make ye heer so mad?
O! feels not man a world of wofull terrors,
Besides your goaring wounds and ghastly horrors?
So soon as God from Eden Adam draue,
To liue in this Earth (rather in this Graue,
Where raign a thousand deaths) he summon'd-vp
With thundering call the damned Crew, that sup
Of Sulphury Styx, and fiery Phlegeton,
Bloody Cocytus, muddy Acheron.
Com snake-trest Sisters, com ye dismall Elves,
Cease now to curse and cruciate your selues:
Com, leaue the horror of your houses pale,
Com, parbreak heer your foul, black, banefull gall:
[Page 261]Let lack of work no more from hence forth fear-you,
Man by his sin a hundred hells doth rear-you.
This eccho made whole hell to tremble troubled,
The drowsie Night her deep dark horrors doubled,
And suddainly Auernus Gulf did swim
With Rozin, Pitch, and Brimstone to the brim,
And th' vgly Gorgons, and the Sphinxes fel,
Hydraes and Harpies gan to yawn and yel.
As the heat, hidden in a vapoury Cloud,
Striuing for issue with strange murmurs loud,
Like Guns a stuns, with round-round-rumbling thunder
Filling the Ayr with noyse, the Earth with wonder:
So the three Sisters, the three hideous Rages,
Rayse thousand storms, leaving th' infernal stages.
The FVRIES with their furni­ture and traine, representing the Horror of Sinne [...] and the cursed e­state of an euill conscience.
Al-ready all rowle on their steely Cars
On th' ever-shaking nine-fold steely bars
Of Stygian Bridge, and in that fearfull Caue
They iumble, tumble, rumble, rage and raue.
Then dreadfull Hydra, and dire Cerberus
Which on one body, beareth (monsterous)
The heads of Dragon, Dog Ounse, Bear, and Bull,
Wolf, Lion, Horse (of strength and stomack full)
Listing his lungs, he hisses, barks, and brays,
He howls, heyels, he bellows, roars, and neighs,
Such a black Sant, such a confused sound
From many-headed bodies doth rebound.
Hauing attain'd to our calm Hav'n of light,
With swifter course then B [...]reas nimble flight,
All fly at Man, all at intestine strife,
Who most may torture his detested life.
Heer first coms DEARTH▪ the liuely form of Death,
1 Description of Famine with her traine.
Still vawning wide, with loathsom stinking breath,
With hollow eys, with meager cheeks and chin,
With sharp lean bones pearcing her sable skin:
Her empty bowels may be plainly spi'd
Clean through the wrinkles of her withered hide:
She hath no belly, but the bellies seat,
Her knees and knuckles swelling hugely great:
[Page 262]Insatiate Orque, that even at one repast,
Almost all creatures in the World would waste;
Whose greedy gorge dish after dish doth draw,
Seeks meat in meat. For, still her monstrous maw
Voyds in deuouring, and somtimes she eats
Her own deer Babes for lack of other meats:
Nay more, somtimes (O strangest gluttony!)
She eats her self, her self to satisfie;
Lessening her self, her self so to in large:
And cruell thus she doth our Grand-sire charge;
And brings besides from Limbo, to assist-her,
Rage, Feeblenes, and Thirst her ruthe-less sister.
Next marcheth WARR, the mistriss of enormity,
2. Of Warre & her traine.
Mother of mischief, monster of Deformity;
Laws, Manners, Arts, shee breaks, shee mars, she chaces:
Blood, tears, bowrs, towrs; she spils, swils, burns, and razes:
Her brazen feet shake all the Earth a-sunder,
Her mouth's a fire-brand, and her voice a thunder,
Her looks are lightnings, every glaunce a flash:
Her fingers guns that all to powder pash.
Fear and Despair, Flight and Disorder, coast
With hasty march, before her murderous hoast:
As, Burning, Waste, Rape, Wrong, Impiety,
Rage, Ruine, Discord, Horror, Cruelty,
Sack, Sacriledge, Impunity, and Pride,
Are still stern consorts by her babarous side:
And Pouerty, Sorrow, and Desolation,
Follow her Armies bloody transmigration.
Heer's th' other FVRIE (or my iudgement fails)
3. Sicknes exact­ly described with all her partakers and dependers.
Which furiously mans wofull life assails
With thousand Cannons, sooner felt then seen,
Where weakest strongest; fraught with deadly teen:
Blinde, crooked, cripple, maymed, deaf, and mad,
Cold-burning, blistered, melancholik, sad,
Many-nam'd poyson, minister of Death,
Which from vs creeps, but to vs gallopeth:
Foul, trouble-rest, fantastik, greedy-gut,
Blood-sweating, harts-theef, wretched, filthy Slut,
[Page 263]The Childe of surfait, and Ayrs-temper vicious,
Perillous knowen, but vnknowen most pernitious.
Innumerable kindes of disea­ses.
Th' inammeld meads, in Sommer cannot showe
More Grashoppers aboue, nor Frogs belowe,
Then hellish murmurs heer about doe ring:
Nor neuer did the prety little King
Of Hony-people, in a Sun-shine day
Lead to the field in orderly array
More busie buzzers, when he casteth (witty)
The first foundations of his waxen City;
Then this fierce Monster musters in her train
Fel Souldiers, charging poor mankinde amain.
Lo, first a rough and furious Regiment
The first Regi­ment sent to as­saile the Head Mans chiefest F [...]rtresse. Simile.
T'assault the Fort of Adams head is sent,
Reasons best Bulwark and the holy Cell
Wherein the soules most sacred powers dwell.
A King, that ayms his neighbours Crown to win,
Before the bruite of open warrs begin,
Corrupts his Counsail with rich recompences;
For, in good Counsail stands the strength of Princes:
So this fell Fury, for fore-runners, sends
Manie, and Phrenzie to suborn her friends:
Whereof, th' one drying, th' other over-warming
The feeble brain (the edge of iudgement harming)
Within the Soule fantastikly they fain
A confus'd hoast of strange Chimeraes vain,
The Karos, th' Apoplexie, and Lethargy
As forlorn hope, assault the enemy
On the same side; but yet with weapons others:
For, they freez-vp the brain and all his brothers;
Making a liue man like a liue-less carcass,
Saue that again he scapeth from the Parcas.
And now the Palsie, and the Cramp dispose
Their angry darts; this bindes, and that doth lose
Mans feeble sinewes, shutting vp the way
Whereby before the vitall spirits did play.
Then as a man, that fronts in single Fight
A similitude of the effects and endeuors of sick­nesse.
His suddain foe, his ground doth trauerse light,
[Page 264]Thrusts, wards, auoids and best aduantage spies,
At last (to daze his R [...]uals sparkling eyes)
He casts his Cloak, and then with coward knife,
In crimsin streams he makes him strain his life:
So SICKNES, Adam to sub due the better
(Whom thousand Gyues al-ready fastly fetter)
Brings to the field the faith-less Ophthalmy
With scalding blood to blinde her enemy,
Darting a thousand thrusts; then she [...] backt
By th' Amafrose and clowdy Cataract:
That, gathering-vp gross humors inwardly
In th' Op [...]ke sinnew, clean puts out the ey:
This other, caseth in an enuious caul
The Crystall humour shining in the ball.
This past: in-steps that insosent insu [...]ter;
The cruell Quincy, leaping like a Vulture
At Adams throat, his hollow weasand swelling
Among the muscles, through thick bloods congealing;
Leauing him onely this Essay, for signe
Of's might and malice to his future-line:
Like Hercules that in his infant-browes
Bore glorious marks of his vndaunted prowes,
When with his hands (like steely tongs) he strangled
His spightfull stepdams Dragons spotty-spangled:
A proof, praesaging the tryumphant spoyls
That he atchiv'd by his Twelue famous Toyls.
The second Regiment with deadly darts
Assaulteth fiercely Adams vitall parts:
The second Re­giment assaul­ting the vitall Parts.
Al-ready th' Asthma panting, breathing tough,
With humours gross the lifting Lungs doth stuff:
The pining Phthisick fills them all with pushes,
Whence a slowe spowt of cor'sie matter gushes:
A wasting flame the Peripneumony
Within those spunges kindles cruelly:
The spawling Emptem, ruth-less as the rest,
With [...]oul impostumes fils his hollow chest:
The Pl [...]urisi [...] stabs him with desperate foyl
Beneath the ribs, where scalding blood doth boyl:
[Page 265]Then th' In [...]ubus (by som suppos'd a spright)
With a thick phlegm doth stop his breath by night.
Deer Muse; my guide; cleer truth, that nought dissēbles,
The Ague with her train her k [...]n [...]s, and cruell effects.
Name me that Champion that with fury trembles,
Who arm'd with blazing fire brands, fiercely flings
At th' Armies heart not at our feeble wings:
Hauing for Aids▪ Cough, Head-ache, Horror, Heat,
Pulse-beating, Burning, cold-distilling-Sweat,
Thirst, Yawning, Yolking, [...], Shiuering, Shaking,
Fantastik R [...]uing, and continuall Akeing,
With many more: O! is not this the Fury
We call the Feuer? whose in constant fury
Transforms her ofter then Vertumnus can,
To Tertian, Quartan, and Quotidian,
And Second too; now posting, somtimes pawsing,
Euen as the matter, all these changes causing,
Is rommidged with motions slowe or quick
In feeble bodies of the Ague-sick.
Ah treacherous beast! needs must I knowe thee best:
Our Poet, hauing been himself for many yeers grie­u [...]usly a fl [...]ct [...]d with the Feuer, complaineth bitterly of her rude violence.
For foure whole years thou wert my poor harts guest,
And to this day in body and in minde
I bear the marks of thy despight vnkinde:
For yet (besides my veins and bones bereft
Of blood and marrow) through thy secret theft
I feel the vertue of my spirit decayd,
Th' Enthousiasmos of my Muse allaid;
My memory (which hath been meetly good)
Is now ( [...]l [...]s [...]) much like the fleeting flood;
Wheron no sooner haue we drawn a line
But it is canceld, leauing there no signe:
For, the deer fruit of all my care and cost,
My former study (almost all) is lost,
And oft in secret haue I blushed at
Mine ignorance: like C [...]ru [...]ne, who forgat
His proper name; or like George Trapezunce
(Learned in youth, and in his age a Dunce)
And thence it growes, that maugre my endeuour
My numbers still by habite haue the Feuer;
[Page 266]One-while with heat of heav'nly fire-ensoul'd,
Shivering anon, through faint vn-learned cold.
Now, the third Regiment with stormy stours
The third Regi­ment warring on the naturall Po­wers.
Sets-on the Squadron of our Naturall Powers,
Which happily maintain vs (duly) both
With needfull food and with sufficient growth.
One-while the Boulime, then the Anorexie,
Then the Dog-hunger, or the Bradypepsie,
And childe-great Pica (of prodigious diet)
In straightest stomacks rage with monstrous ryot:
Then on the Lyver doth the Iaundize fall,
Stopping the passage of the cholerick Gall;
Which then, for good blood, scatters all about
Her fiery poyson, yellowing all without:
But the sad Dropsie freezeth it extream,
Till all the blood be turned into fleam.
But see (alas!) by far more cruell foes
The slippery bowels thrill'd with thousand throes:
With prisoned windes the wringing Colick pains-them,
The Iliak passion with more rigour strains-them,
Streightens their Conduits, and (detested) makes
Mans mouth (alas!) euen like a loathsom Iakes.
Then the Dysentery with fretting pains
Extorteth pure blood from the flayed veins.
On th' other side, the Stone and Strangury,
Torturing the Reins with deadly tyranny,
With heat-concreted sand-heaps strangely stop
The burning vrine, strained drop by drop:
As opposite, the Diabete, by melting
Our bodies substance in our Vrine swelting,
Distills vs still, as long as any matter
Vnto the spout can send supply of water.
Vnto those parts, wherby we leaue behind-vs
Types of ourselues in after-times to mind-vs,
Ther fiercely flies defectiue Venery,
And the foul, feeble, fruit-less Gonorrhe
(An impotence for Generations-deed,
And lust-less Issue of th' vncocted seed)
[Page 267]Remorse-less tyrants, that to spoyl aspire
Babes vnconceiv'd, in hatred of their Sire.
The fell fourth Regiment, is outward Tumours
The fourth Regi­ment, forrageth, aud defaceth the Body outwardly
Begot of vicious indigested humours:
As Phlegmons, Oedems, S [...]yrrhes, Erysipiles,
Kings-euils, Cankers, cruell Gouts, and Byles,
Wens, Ring-worms, Tetters: these from euery part
With thousand pangs braue the besieged hart:
And their blind fury, wanting force and courage
To hurt the Fort, the champain Country forrage.
O tyrants! sheath your feeble swords again:
Comparison.
For, Death al-ready thousand-times hath slain
Your Enemy; and yet your enuious rigour
Doth mar his feature and his limbs disfigure,
And with a dull and ragged instrument
His ioints and skin are saw'd, and torn, and ren [...] ▪
Me thinks most rightly to a coward Crew
Of Wolues and Foxes I resemble you,
Who in a Forrest (finding on the sand
The Lyon dead, that did aliue command
The Land about, whose aw-full Countenance
Melted (far off) their yce-like arrogance)
Mangle the members of their liue-less Prince,
With feeble signes of dastard insolence.
But, with the Griefs that charge our outward places,
The Lowsi [...] Disease.
Shall I account the loathsom Phthiriasis?
O shamefull Plague! O foul infirmity!
Which makes proud Kings, fouler then Beggars be
(That wrapt in rags, and wrung with verminsore,
Their itching backs sit shrugging euermore)
To swarm with Lice, that rubbing cannot rid,
Nor often shift of shirts, and sheets, and bed:
For, as in springs, stream stream pursueth fresh,
Swarm follows swarm, and their too fruitfull flesh
Breeds her own eaters, and (till Deaths arrest)
Makes of it self an execrable feast.
Nor may we think, that Chance, confusedly
Diseases proper to certaine Cli­mats & Natiōs.
Conducts the Camp of our Third Enemy:
[Page 268]For, of her Souldiers, som (as led by reason)
Can make their choice of Country, Age, and Season.
So Portugal hath Phthisiks most of all,
Eber Kings-euils; Arné the Suddain-Fall;
Sauoy the Mumps; West-India, Pox; and Nyle
The Leprosie; Plague, the Sardinian-Ile:
After the influence of the Heav'ns all-ruling,
To som ages of man.
Or Countries manners. So, soft Childhood puling
Is wrung with Worms, begot of crudity,
Are apt to Lasks through much humidity:
Through their salt phlegms, their heads are hid with skalls,
Their Limbs with Red-gums and with bloody balls
Of Menstruall humour which (like Must) within
Their bodies boyling, buttoneth all their skin.
To bloody-Flixes, Youth is apt inclining,
Continuall-Feuers, Phrenzies, Phthisik-pyning.
And feeble Age is seldom-times without
Her tedious guests, the Palsie and the Gout,
Coughes, and Catarrhs. And so the Pestilence,
The quartan-Ague with her accidents,
The Flix, the Hip-gout, and the Watrie-Tumour,
To the Seasons of the yeare.
Are bred with vs of an Autumnal humour:
The Itch, the Murrein, and Alcides-grief,
In Vers hot-moysture doe molest vs chief:
The Diarrhoea and the Burning-Feuer,
In Sommer-season do their fell endevour:
And Pleurisies, the rotten- Coughes, and Rheums,
Wear curled flakes of white celestiall plumes:
Like sluggish Souldiers, keeping Garrison
In th' ye [...]e Bulwarks of the Years gelt Son.
Som, seeming most in multitudes delighting,
Some Diseases contagious.
Bane one by other, not the first acquiting:
As Measels, Mange, and filthy Leprosie,
The Plague, the Pox, and Phthisik-maladie.
And som (alas!) we leaue as in succession,
Vnto our Children, for a sad possession:
Some haeredita­ry.
Such are Kings-euils, Dropsie, Gout, and Stone,
Blood-boyling Leprie, and Consumption,
[Page 269]The swelling Throat-ache, th' Epilepsie sad,
And cruell Rupture, payning too-too bad:
For their hid poysons after-comming harm
Is fast combin'd vnto the Parents sperm.
But O! what arms, what shield shall wee oppose,
Some not known by their Cause, but by their Ef­fects onely.
What stratagems against those trecherous foes,
Those teacherous griefs, that our frail Art detects
Not by their cause, but by their sole effects?
Such are the fruitfull Matrix-suffocation,
The Falling-sicknes, and pale Swouning-passion;
The which, I wote not what strange windes long pause,
I wot not where, I wote not how doth cause.
Or who (alas!) can scape the cruell wile
Some by sundry Causes encrea­sing and waxing worse.
Of those fell Pangs that Physicks pains beguile?
Which being banisht from a body, yet
(Vnder new names) return again to it:
Or rather, taught the strange Metempsychosis
Of the wise Samian, one it self transposes
Into som worse Grief: either through the kindred
Of th' humour vicious, or the member hindred:
Or through their ignorance or auarice
That doe profess Apollos exercise.
So, Melancholy turned into Madnes;
Into the Palsie, deep-affrighted Sadnes;
Th' Il-habitude into the Dropsie chill:
And Megrim growes to the Comitial-Ill.
In brief, poor Adam in this pitious case
Comparison.
Is like a Stag, that long pursu'd in chase,
Flying for succour to som neighbour wood,
Sinks on the suddain in the yeelding mud;
And sticking fast amid the rotten grounds,
Is over-taken by the eger Hounds:
One bites his back, his neck another nips,
One puls his brest, at's throat another skips,
One tugs his flank, his haunch another tears,
Another lugs him by the bleeding ears;
And last of all, the Wood-man with his knife
Cuts off his head, and so concludes his life.
[Page 270]Or like a lusty Bull, whose horned Crest
Another compa­rison.
Awakes fell Hornets from their drowsie nest,
Who buzzing forth, assail him on each side,
And pitch their valiant bands about his hide;
With fisking train, with forked head, and foot,
Himself, th' ayr, th' earth, he beateth (to no boot)
Flying (through woods, hills, dales, and roaring rivers)
His place of grief, but not his painfull grievers:
And in the end, stitcht full of stings he dies,
Or on the ground as dead (at least) he lies.
For, man is loaden with ten thousand languors:
An amplificati­on of Mans mi­series, compared with other Cre­tures, seldomer sick, and sooner healed: and that by naturall Re­medies of their owne: hauing al­so taught Men many practices of Physike.
All other Creatures, onely feel the angors
Of few Diseases: as, the gleaning Quail
Onely the Falling-sicknes doth assail:
The Turn-about and Murram trouble Cattel,
Madnes and Quincie bid the Masty battel.
Yet each of them can naturally finde
What Simples cure the sickness of their kinde;
Feeling no sooner their disease begin,
But they as soon haue ready medicine,
The Ram for Physik takes strong-senting Rue:
The Tortois slowe, cold Hemlok doth renue:
The Partridge, Black-bird, and rich painted Iay
Haue th' oyly liquor of the sacred Bay.
The sickly Bear, the Mandrak cures again;
And Mountain-Siler helpeth Goats to yean:
But, we knowe nothing, till by poaring still
On Books, we get vs a Sophistik skil;
A doubtfull Art, a Knowledge still vnknowen:
Which enters but the hoary heads (alone)
Of those, that (broken with vnthankfull toyl)
Seeks others Health, and lose their own the-while:
Or rather those (such are the greatest part)
That waxing rich at others cost and smart,
Growe famous Doctors, purchasing promotions,
While the Church-yards swel with their hurtfull potions;
Who (hang-man like) fear-less, and shame-less too,
Are prayd and payd for murders that they doo.
I speak not of the good, the wise, and learned,
Within whose hearts Gods fear is wel discerned:
Who to our bodies can again vnite
Our parting soules, ready to take their flight.
For, these I honour as Heav'ns gifts excelling,
Pillars of Health, Death, and Disease repelling:
Th' Almighties Agents, Natures Counsellers,
And flowring Youths wise faithfull Governours.
Yet if their Art can ease som kinde of dolors,
They learn'd it first of Natures silent Schollers:
For, from the Sea-Horse came Phlehotomies,
From the wilde Goat the healing of the eys;
From Stork, and Hearn, our Glysters laxatiue,
From Bears and Lions, Diets we deriue.
'Gainst th' onely Body all these Champions stout
Striuesom, within: and other som, without.
Or, if that any th' all-fair Soule haue striken,
'Tis not directly; but, in that they weaken
Her Officers, and spoyl the Instruments
Wherwith she works such wonderous presidents.
But, lo! foure Captains far more fierce and eger,
Of foure Disea­ses of the Soule, vnder them cō ­prehending all the rest.
That on all sides the Spirit it self beleaguer,
Whose Constancy they shake, and soon by treason
Draw the blind Iudgement from the rule of Reason:
Opinions issue; which (though self vnseen)
Make through the Body their fell motions seen.
Sorrow's first Leader of this furious Crowd,
Muffled all-over in a sable clowd,
1. Sorrow des­cribed with her company.
Old before Age, afflicted night and day,
Her face with wrinkles warped every-way,
Creeping in corners, where she sits and vies
Sighes from her hart, tears from her blubbered eys;
Accompani'd with self-consuming Care,
With weeping Pitty, Thought, and mad Despair
That bears, about her, burning Coles and Cords,
Asps, Poysons, Pistols, Halters, Kniues, and Swords:
Fouls quinting Enuy, that self-eating Elf,
Through others leanness fatting vp herself,
[Page 272]Ioying in mischief, feeding but with languor
And bitter tears her Toad-like-swelling anger
And Ielousie that never sleeps, for fear
(Suspitions Flea still nibbling in her ear)
That leaues repast and rest, neer pin'd and blinde
With seeking what she would be loath to finde.
The second Captain is excessiue Ioy,
2. Ioy with her Traine.
VVho leaps and tickles, finding th' Apian-way
Too-streight for her: whose senses all possess
All wished pleasures in all plentiousnes.
She hath in conduct false vain-glorious Vaunting,
Bold, soothing, shame-less, lowd, iniurious, taunting:
The winged Giant lofty-staring Pride,
That in the clouds her braving Crest doth hide:
And many other, like the empty bubbles
That rise when rain the liquid Crystall troubles.
The Third, is blood-less, hart-less, wit-less Fear,
3. Feare & her Followers.
That like an Asp-tree trembles every where:
She leads bleak Terror, and base clownish Shame,
And drowsie Sloath, that counter faiteth lame,
With Snail-like motion measuring the ground,
Having her arms in willing fetters bound,
Foul, sluggish Drone, barren (but, sin to breed)
Diseased, begger, starv'd with wilfull need.
And thou Desire, whom nor the firmament,
4. Desire, a most violent Passion, accōpanied with others like: as Ambition, Auarice, Anger, and Foolish Loue.
Nor ayr, nor earth, nor Ocean can content:
Whose-looks are hooks, whose belly's bottom-less,
Whose hands are Gripes to scrape with greediness,
Thou art the Fourth: and vnder thy Command,
Thou bringst to field a rough vnruly Band:
First, secret-burning, mighty-swoln Ambition
Pent in no limits, pleas'd with no Condition,
Whom Epicurus many Worlds suffice not,
Whose furious thrist of proud aspiring dies not,
Whose hands (transported with fantastike passion)
Bear painted Scepters in imagination:
Then Auarice all-arm'd in hooking Tenters
And clad in Bird-lime; without bridge she venters
[Page 273]Through fell Charybdis, and false Syrtes Nesse;
The more her welth, the more her wretchedness:
Cruell, respect-less, friend-less, faith-less Elf,
That hurts her neighbour, but much more her self:
Whose foule base fingers in each dunghill poar
(Like Tantalus) starv'd in the midst of store:
Not what she hath, but what she wants she counts:
A wel-wingd Bird that neuer lofty mounts.
Then, boyling Wrath, stern, cruell, swift, and rash,
That like a Boar her teeth doth grinde and gnash:
Whose hair doth stare like bristled Porcupine;
Who som-times rowles her ghastly-glowing eyn,
And som-time fixtly on the ground doth glaunce,
Now bleak then bloody in her Countenance;
Rauing and rayling with a hideous sound,
Clapping her hands, stamping against the ground;
Bearing B [...]cconi, fire and sword to slay,
And murder all that her for pitty pray;
Baning her self, to bane her Enemy;
Disdaining Death, prouided others dy:
Like falling Towrs o'r-turned by the winde,
That break themselues on that they vnder-grinde.
And then that Tyrant, all-controuling Loue:
( Whom heer to paint doth little me behooue,
After so many rare Apelleses
As in this Age our Albion nourishes)
And to be short, thou doest to battail bring
As many Souldiers 'gainst the Creatures King,
(Yet not his owne) as in this life, Mankinde
True very Goods, or seeming- Goods doth finde.
Now, if (but like the Lightning in the sky)
These sudden Passions past but swiftly by,
The horrible ef­fects of the Pas­sions of the soule, far more dange­rous then the diseases of the body.
The fear were less: but, O! too-oft they leaue
Keen stings behinde in Soules that they deceiue.
From this foul Fountain, all these poysons rise,
Rapes, Treasons, Murders, Incests, Sodomies,
Blaspheming, Bibbing, Theeuing, False-contracting
Church-chaffering, Cheating, Bribing, and Exacting.
Alas! how these (far-worse then death) Diseases
Exceed each Sicknes that our body seises;
Which makes vs open war, and by his spight
Giues to the Patient many a holsom light,
Now by the colour, or the Pulles beating,
Or by som Fit, som sharper dolor threatning;
Whereby the Leach neer-ghessing at our grief,
Not seldom findes sure means for our relief.
But, for these Ills raign in our Intellect
(Which only, them both can and ought detect)
They rest vnknown, or rather self-conceal'd;
And soule-sick Patients care not to be heal'd.
Besides, we plainly call the Feuer, Feuer:
The Dropsie, Dropsie: ouer-gilding neuer,
With guile-full flourish of a fained phraze,
The cruell Languors that our bodies craze:
Whereas, our fond self-soothing Soule, thus sick,
Rubs her owne sore; with glozing Rhetorik
Cloaking her vice: and makes the blinded Blain
Not fear the touch of Reasons Cautere vain.
And sure, if euer filthy Vice did iet
The miserable corruption of our Times, worse then all former Ages.
In sacred Vertues spot-less mantle neat,
'Tis in our days, more hatefull and vn-hallow'd,
Then when the World the Waters wholly swallow'd.
Ile spare to speak of foulest Sins, that spot
Th' infamous beds of men of mighty lot;
Least I the Saints chaste tender ears offend,
And seem them more to teach, then reprehend.
Who bear vpon their French-sick backs about,
All riotous Pro­digalitie disgui­sed with the name of Libera­litie.
Farms, Castles, Fees, in golden shreads cut-out;
Whose lauish hand, at one Primero-rest,
One Mask, one Turney, or one pampering Feast,
Sends treasures, scrap't by th' Vsury and Care
Of miser Parents; Liberall counted are.
Who, with a maiden voice, and mincing pase,
Quaint looks, curl'd locks, perfumes, and painted face,
Effeminate cu­riofitie & luxu­vious Pride, mis­called Clean­lines.
Base coward-hart, and wanton soft array,
Their man-hood only by their Beard bewray,
[Page 275]Are Cleanly call'd. Who like Lust-greedy Goates,
Insatiate lust and Beast like Loosenes, surna­med Loue.
Brothel from bed to bed; whose Siren-notes
Inchaunt chaste Susans, and like hungry Kite
Fly at all game, they Louers are behight.
Who, by false bargains, and vnlawfull measures
Extream Ex­tortion, counted Thrist.
Robbing the World, haue he aped kingly treasures:
Who cheat the simple; lend for fifty fifty,
Hundred for hundred, are esteemed Thrifty.
Blasphemous Quarrels, bra­uest Courage.
Who alwaies murder and reuenge affect,
Who feed on bloud, who neuer doe respect
State, Sex, or Age: but, in all humane lyues
In cold bloud, bathe their paricidiall kniues;
Are stiled Valiant. Grant, good Lord, our Land
Inhuman Mur­der highest Manhood.
May want such valour whose self-cruell hand
Fights for our foes, our proper life-blood spils,
Our Cities sacks, and our owne Kindred kils.
Lord, let the Launce, the Gun, the Sword, & Shield,
Beturn'd to tools to furrow-vp the field,
And let vs see the Spyders busie task
Wov'n in the belly of the plumed Cask.
But if (braue Lands-men) your war-thirst be such,
If in your brests sad Enyon boyl so much,
What holds you heer? alas! what hope of crowns?
Our fields are flocks-less, treasure-less our Towns.
Goe then, nay run, renowned Martialists,
Re-found French-Greece, in now- Natolian lists;
Hy, hy to Flanders; free with conquering stroak
Your Belgian brethren from th' Iberians yoake:
To Portingal; people Galizian-Spain,
And graue your names on Lysbon's gates again.
FINIS.

THE HANDI-CRAFTS. THE IIII. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
The Prayse of Peace, the miserable states
Of Edens Exiles: their vn-curious Cates,
Their simple habit, silly habitation:
They finde out Fire. Their formost Propagation:
Their Childrens trades, their offerings; enuious Cain
His (better) Brother doth vnkindly brain:
With inward horror hurried vp and down,
He breaks a Horse, he builds a homely Town:
Iron's inuented, and sweet Instruments:
Adam fore-tells of After-Worlds euents.
HEavn's sacred Imp, fair Goddess that renew'st
The Poet heere welcometh peace which (after long absence) seems about this time to haue re­turned into France. The Benefits she brings with Her.
Th' old golden Age, and brightly now re-blew'st
Our cloudy sky, making our fields to smile:
Hope of the vertuous, horror of the vile:
Virgin, vnseen in France this many a yeer,
O blessed Peace! we bid thee welcom heer.
Lo, at thy presence, how who late were prest
To spur their Steeds, & couch their staues in rest
For fierce incounter; cast away their spears,
And rapt with ioy, them enter-bathe with tears.
Lo, how our Marchant-vessels to and fro
Freely about our trade-full Waters go:
How the graue Senate with iust-gentle rigour,
Resumes his Robe; the Laws their ancient vigour:
[Page 277]Lo, how Obliuions Seas our strifes do drown:
How walls are built that war had thundred down:
Lo, how the Shops with busie Crafts-men swarm;
How Sheep and Cattle cover every Farm:
Behold the Bon-fires waving to the skies:
Hark, hark the cheerfull and re-chaunting cries
Of old and young; singing this ioyfull Dittie,
Iö, reioyce, reioyce through Town and Citie,
Thanks-giuing to God for peace
Let all our ayr, re-eccho with the praises
Of th' everlasting glorious God, who raises
Our ruin'd State: who giueth vs a good
We sought not for (or rather, we with-stood)
So that, to hear and see these consequences
Of wonders strange, we scarce beleeue our senses.
O! let the King, let Mounsieur and the Sover'n
That doth Nauarras Spayn-wrongd Scepter govern,
Gratefull remē ­brance of the means therof.
Be all, by all, their Countries Fathers cleapt:
O! let the honour of their names be kept,
And on brass leaves ingrav'n eternally
In the bright Temple of fair Memory,
For hauing quencht, so soon, so many fires,
Disarm'd our arms, appeas'd the heav'nly ires,
Calm'd the pale horror of intestin hates,
And damned-vp the bi-front Fathers gates.
Much more, let vs (deer, World-diuided Land)
Extoll the mercies of Heav'ns mighty hand,
An imitation thereof, by the Translatour, in honour of our late graci­ous Soverain Elizabeth: in whose happy Raigne, God hath giuen this Kingdom so long peace and rich prosperity.
That (while the World, Wars bloody rage hath rent)
To vs so long, so happy Peace hath lent.
(Maugre the malice of th' Italian Priest,
And Indian Pluto (prop of Anti-christ;
VVhose Hoast, like Pharao's threatning Israel,
Our gaping Seas haue swallowed quick to hell)
Making our Ile a holy Safe-Retreat
For Saints exil'd in persecutions heat.
Much more, let vs with true-heart-tuned breath,
Recorde the Praises of ELIZABETH
(Our martiall Pallas and our milde Astraea,
Of grace and wisdom the divine Idea)
[Page 278]Whose prudent Rule, with rich religious Rest,
VVel-neer nine Lustres hath this Kingdom blest.
O! pray we him that from home-plotted dangers
And bloody threats of proud ambitious Strangers,
So many years hath so securely kept her,
In iust possession of this flowring Scepter;
That (to his glory and his deer Sonns honour)
All happy length of life may wait vppon her:
That we her Subiects, whom he blesseth by-her,
Psalming his praise, may sound the same the higher.
But, waiting (Lord) in som more learned Laies,
To sing thy glory, and my Soueraigns praise;
I sing the young Worlds Cradle, as a Proëm
Vnto so rare and so Divine a Poëm.
WHO, FVL OF wealth and honours blandishment,
Among great Lords his younger years hath spent;
An Elegant cō ­parison represen­ting the lamen­table Condition of Adam and Eue driuen out of Paradise.
And quaffing deeply of the Court-delights,
Vs'd nought but Tilts, Turneis, and Masks, and Sights:
If in his age, his Princes angry doom
With deep disgrace driue him to liue at home
In homely Cottage, where continually
The bitter smoak exhales abundantly
From his before-vn-sorrow-drained brain:
The brackish vapours of a siluer rain:
Where Vsher-less, both day and night, the North,
South, East, and West windes, enter and goe forth:
Where round-about, the lowe-rooft broken walls
(In stead of Arras) hang with Spiders cauls:
Where all at once he reacheth, as he stands,
With brows the roof, both walls with both his hands:
He weeps and sighs, and (shunning comforts ay)
Wisheth pale Death a thousand times a day:
And, yet at length falling to work, is glad
To bite a brown crust that the Mouse hath had,
And in a Dish (instead of Plate or Glass)
Sups Oaten drink in stead of Hypocras.
So (or much like) our rebell Elders, driuen
For ay from Eden (Earthly type of Heav'n)
[Page 279]Ly languishing neer Tigris grassie side,
With nummed limbs, and spirits stupefied.
But powrfull NEED (Arts antient Dame and Keeper,
The first Maner of life,
The early watch-clock of the sloathfull sleeper)
Among the Mountains makes them seek their liuing,
And foaming Riuers, through the champain driuing:
For yet the Trees with thousand fruits y-fraught
In formall Checkers were not fairly brought:
The Pear and Apple liued Dwarf-like there,
With Oakes and Ashes shadowed euery-where:
And yet (al as!) their meanest simple cheer
Our wretched Parents bought full hard and deer:
To get a Plum, somtimes poor Adam rushes
With thousand wounds among a thousand bushes.
If they desire a Medlar for their food,
They must goe seek it through a fearefull wood;
Or a brown Mulbery, then the ragged Bramble
With thousand scratches doth their skin be-scramble.
Wherefore (as yet) more led by th' appetite
Great simplicity in their kinde of life.
Of th' hungry belly then the tastes delight,
Liuing from hand to mouth, soon satisfi'd,
To earn their supper, th' after noon they ply'd,
Vn-stor'd of dinner till the morrow-day;
Pleas'd with an Apple, or som lesser pray.
Then, taught by Ver (richer in flowrs then fruit)
And hoary Winter, of both destitute,
Nuts, Filberds, Almonds, wisely vp they hoord,
The best prouisions that the woods affoord.
Touching their garments: for the shining wooll
Their Cloathing▪
Whence the roab-spinning precious Worms are full,
For gold and siluer wov'n in drapery,
For Cloth dipt double in the scarlet Dy,
For Gemms brightlustre, with excessiue cost
On rich embroideries by rare Art embost:
Somtimes they do the far-spred Gourd vnleave,
Sometime the Fig-tree of his branch bereave:
Somtimes the Plane, somtimes the Vine they shear,
Choosing their fairest tresses heer and there:
[Page 280]And with their sundry locks, thorn'd each to other,
Their tender limbs they hide from Cynthias Brother.
Somtimes the Iuie's climing stems they strip,
Which lovingly his lively prop doth clip:
And with green lace, in artificiall order,
The wrinkled bark of th' Acorn-Tree doth border,
And with his arms th' Oaks slender twigs entwining.
A many branches in one tissue ioyning,
Frames a loose Iacquet, whose light nimble quaking,
Wagg'd by the windes, is like the wanton shaking
Of golden spangles that in stately pride
Daunce on the tresses of a noble Bride.
But, while that Adam (waxen diligent)
Their Winter Sutes.
Wearies his limbs for mutuall nourishment:
While craggy Mountains, Rocks, and thorny Plains,
And bristly Woods be witness of his pains:
Eue, walking forth about the Forrests, gathers
Speights, Parrots, Peacocks, Estrich scattered feathers,
And then with wax the smaller plumes she sears,
And sowes the greater with a white horse hairs,
(For they as yet did serue her in the steed
Of Hemp, and Towe, and Flax, and Silk, and Threed)
And thereof makes a medly coatso rare
That it resembles Nature's Mantle fair,
When in the Sunne, in pomp all glistering,
She seems with smiles to woo the gawdie Spring.
When (by stoln moments) this she had contriv'd,
Leaping for ioy, her cheerfull looks reviv'd,
Sh' admires her cunning; and incontinent
'Sayes on herself her manly ornament;
And then through path-less paths she runs apace,
To meet her husband comming from the Chase.
Sweet-heart (quoth shee, and then she kisseth him)
My Loue, my Life, my Blisse, my Ioy, my Gemm,
My souls deer Soule, take in good part (I pree-thee)
This pretty Present that I gladly giue-thee.
Thanks my deer All (quoth Adam then) for this,
And with three kisses he requites her kiss.
[Page 281]Then on he puts his painted garment new,
And Peacock-like himself doth often view,
Looks on his shadow, and in proud amaze
Admires the hand that had the Art to cause
Eues industry in making a Gar ment for her Husband.
So many seuerall parts to meet in one,
To fashion thus the quaint Mandilion.
But, when the Winters keener breath began
To crystallize the Baltike Ocean,
To glaze the Lakes, and bridle-vp the Floods,
And perriwig with wooll the bald-pate Woods;
Our Grand-sire, shrinking, 'gan to shake and shiver,
His teeth to chatter, and his beard to quiuer.
Spying therefore a flock of Muttons comming
(Whose freez-clad bodies feel not Winters numming)
He takes the fairest, and he knocks it down:
Then by good hap, finding vpon the Down
A sharp great fish-bone (which long time before
The roaring Flood had cast vpon the shore)
He cuts the throat, flayes it, and spreads the fell,
Then dries it, pares it, and he scrapes it well,
Then cloaths his wife therwith; and of such Hides
Slops, Hats, and Doublets for himself prouides.
A vaulted Rock, a hollow Tree, a Caue,
Their Lodging and first buil­ding.
Were the first buildings that them shelter gaue:
But, finding th' one to bee too-moist a hold,
Th' other too-narrow, th' other ouer-cold;
Like Carpenters, within a Wood they choose
Sixteen fair Trees that neuer leaues doe loose,
Whose equall front in quadran form prospected,
As if of purpose Nature them erected:
Their shady boughs first bow they tenderly,
Then enterbraid, and binde them curiously;
That one would think that had this Arbor seen,
'T had been true seeling painted-ouer green.
After this triall, better yet to fense
Their tender flesh from th' ayry violence,
A building som­what more exact▪
Vpon the top of their fit-forked stems,
They lay a-crosse bare Oaken boughs for beams
[...] [...]
[Page 282](Such as dispersed in the Woods they finde,
Torn-off in tempests by the stormy winde)
Then these again with leauy boughes they load,
So couering close their sorry cold abode,
And then they ply frō th' eau [...]s vnto the ground,
With mud-mixt Reed to wal their Mansion round
All saue a hole to th' East-ward situate,
Where straight they clap a hurdle for a gate
(Instead of hinges hanged on a With)
Which with a sleight both shuts and openeth.
Yet fire they lackt: but lo, the windes, that whistle
The inuention of Fire [...]
Amid the Groues, so oft the Laurell iustle
Against the Mulbery, that their angry claps
Do kindle fire, that burns the neighbour Cops.
When Adam saw a ruddy vapour rise
In glowing streams; astund with fear he flies,
It follows him, vntil a naked Plain
The greedy furie of the flame restrain:
Then back he turns, and comming somwhat nigher
The kindled shrubs, perceiuing that the fire
Dries his dank Cloaths, his Colour doth refresh,
And vnbenums his sinews and his flesh;
By th' vnburntend a good big brand he takes,
And hying home, a fire he quickly makes,
And still maintains it, till the starry Twins
Celestiall breath another fire begins.
But, Winter being comn again it griev'd him,
T' have lost so fondly what so much reliev'd him,
Trying a thousand waies, sith now no more
The iustling Trees his domage would restore.
While (else-where musing) one day he sate down
How the first Man inuented Fire for the vse of himself & his Posteritie.
Vpon a steep Rocks craggy-forked crown,
A foaming beast come toward him he spies,
Within whose head stood burning coals for eys;
Then suddainly with boisterous arm he throwes
A knobbie flint that hummeth as it goes;
Hence flies the beast, th' il-aimed flint-shaft grounding
Against the Rock, and on it oftre bounding,
[Page 283]Shivers to cinders, whence there issued
Small sparks of fire no sooner born then dead.
This happy chance made Adam leap for glee,
And quickly calling his cold company,
In his left hand a shining flint he locks,
Which with another in his right he knocks
So vp and down, that from the coldest stone
At euery stroak small fiery sparkles shone.
Then with the dry leaves of a withered Bay
The which together handsomly they lay,
They take the falling fire, which like a Sun
Shines cleer and smoak-less in the leaf begun.
Eue, kneeling down, with hand her head sustaining,
And on the lowe ground with her elbowe leaning,
Blowes with her mouth: and with her gentle blowing
Stirs vp the heat, that from the dry leaves glowing,
Kindles the Reed, and then that hollow kix
First fires the small, and they the greater sticks.
Beginning of Families.
And now, Man-kinde with fruitfull Race began
A little corner of the World to man:
First Cain is born, to tillage all addicted;
The seuerall Occupations of Abel and Cain.
Then Abel, most to keeping flocks affected.
Abel, desirous still at hand to keep
His Milk and Cheese, vnwildes the gentle Sheep
To make a Flock; that when it tame became
For guard and guide should haue a Dog and Ram.
Cain more ambitious, giues but little ease
To's boysterous limbs: and seeing that the Pease,
And other Pulse, Beans, Lentils, Lupins, Rice,
Burnt in the Copses, as not held in price,
Som grains he gathers: and with busie toyl,
A-part hee sowes them in a better soyl,
Which first he rids of stones, and thorns, and weeds,
Then buries there his dying-liuing seeds.
By the next Haruest, finding that his pain
On this small plot was not in grately-vain;
To break more ground, that bigger Crop may bring
Without so often weary labouring,
[Page 284]He tames a Heifer, and on either side,
On either horn a three-fold twist he ti'd
Of Osiar twigs, and for a Plough he got
The horn or Tooth of som Rhinocerot.
Now, th' one in Cattle, th' other rich in grain,
On two steep Mountains build they Altars twain;
Their sacrifice.
Where (humbly-sacred) th' one with zealous cry
Cleaues bright Olympus starry Canopy:
With fained lips, the other low'd-resounded
Hart-wanting Hymns, on self-deseruing founded:
Each on his Altar offreth to the Lord
The best that eithers flocks, or fields affoord.
Rein-searching God, thought-sounding Iudge, that tries
God regardeth Abell and his Sacrifice; and reiecteth Cain and his: whereas Cain enuieth, and finally kils his Brother; whose blood God reuengeth.
The will and heart more then the worke and guise,
Accepts good Abels gift: but hates the other
Profane oblation of his furious Brother;
Who feeling, deep th' effects of Gods displeasure,
Raues, frets, and fumes, and murmurs out of measure.
What boots it ( Cain) O wretch! what boots it thee
T' haue opened first the fruitfull womb (quoth he)
Of the first mother; and first born, the rather
T' haue honour'd Adam first, with name of Father?
Vnfortunate, what boots thee to be wealthy,
Wise, actiue, valiant, strongly-limb'd, and healthy,
If this weake Girl-boy, in mans shape disguis'd,
To Heav'n and Earth be dear, and thou despis'd?
What boots it thee, for others night and day,
In painfull toyl to wear thy self away:
And (more for others then thine own relief)
To haue deuised of all Arts the chief;
If this dull Infant, of thy labour nurst
Shall reap the glory of thy deeds (accurst)?
Nay, rather quickly rid thee of the fool,
Down with his climbing hill, and timely cool
This kindling flame: and, that none ouer-crowe thee,
Re-seise the right that Birth and Vertue owe-thee.
Ay in his minde this counsail he reuolues,
And hundred times to act it he resolues,
[Page 285]And yet as oft relents; stopt worthily
By the pains horror, and sins tyranny.
But, one day drawing with dissembled loue
His harm-less brother far into a Groue,
Vpon the verdure of whose virgin-boughs
Bird had not pearcht, nor neuer beast did brouz;
With both his hands he takes a stone so huge,
That in our age three men could hardly bouge,
And iust vpon his tender brothers crown,
With all his might he cruell casts it down.
The murdred face lies printed in the mud,
And lowd for vengeance cries the martyr'd blood,
The battered brains fly in the murd'rers face.
The Sun, to shun this Tragike sight, a-pace
Turns back his Teem: th' amazed Parrs [...]ide
Doth all the Furies scourging whips abide:
Externall terrors, and th' internall Worm
A thousand kindes of liuing deaths doe form:
All day he hides him, wanders all the night,
Flies his owne friends, of his owne shade affright,
Scarr'd with a leaf, and starting at a Sparrow,
And all the World seems for his fear too-narrow.
By reason of the multiplying of Mankinde, the Children of Adam begin to build houses for their commodity and retreat.
But for his Children, born by three and three,
Produce him Nephews, that still multiply
With new increase; who yer their age be rise
Becom great-Grand-sires in their Grand-sires life:
Staying at length, he chose him out a dwelling,
For woods and floods, and ayr, and soyl excelling.
One fels down Firs, another of the same
With crossed poles a little Lodge doth frame:
Another mounds it with dry walls about,
And leaues a breach for passage in and out:
With Turf and Furse: som others yet more grosse
Their homely Sties in stead of walls inclose:
Som (like the Swallow) mud and hay do mix,
And that about their silly Cotes they fix:
Som make their Roofs with fearn, or reeds, or rushes,
And som with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes.
Hee, that still fearfull, seeketh still defence,
Cain thinking to finde sum qui­et for the tem­pests of his con­science, begins to fortifie, and builds a Towne.
Shortly this Hamlet to a Towne augments.
For, with keen Coultar hauing bounded (witty)
The four-faç't Rampire of his simple Citty;
With stones soon gathered on the neighbour strand,
And clayie morter ready there at hand.
Well trode and tempered, he immures his Fort,
A stately Towr erecting on the Port:
Which awes his owne, and threats his enemies;
Securing som-what his pale tyrannies.
O Tigre! think'st thou (hellish fratricide)
Because with stone-heaps thou art fortifi'd,
Prince of som Peasants trained in thy tillage,
And silly Kingling of a simple Village;
Think'st thou to scape the storm of vengeance dread,
That hangs already o'r thy hatefull head?
No: wert thou (wretch) incamped at thy will
On strongest top of any steepest Hill:
Wert thou immur'd in triple brazen Wall,
Hauing for aid all Creatures in this All:
If skin and heart, of steel and yron were,
Thy pain thou could'st not, less auoid thy fear
Which chils thy bones, and runs through all thy vains,
Racking thy soule with twenty thousand pains.
Kain (as they say) by this deep fear disturbed,
Supposeth to se­cure himselfe by the strength and swiftnes of a Horse, which hee begins to tame.
Then first of all th' vntamed Courser curbed,
That while about on others feet he run
With dusty speed, he might his Deaths-man shun.
Among a hundred braue, light, lusty, Horses
(With curious ey, marking their comly forces)
He chooseth one for his industrious proof,
Description of a gallant Horse.
With round, high, hollow, smooth, brown, ietty hoof,
With Pasterns short, vpright (but yet in mean);
Drie sinnewie shanks; strong, flesh-less knees, and lean;
With Hart-like legs, broad brest, and large behinde,
With body large, smooth flanks, and double-chin'd:
A crested neck bowd like a half-bent Bowe,
Whereon along, thin, curled mane doth flowe;
[Page 287]A firm full tail, touching the lowely ground
With dock between two fair fat buttocks drownd;
A pricked ear, that rests as little space,
As his light foot; a lean, bare, bony, face,
Thin joule, and head but of a middling size,
Full, liuely-flaming, quickly rowling eys,
Great foaming mouth, hot-fuming nosthrill wide,
Of Chest-nut hai [...], his fore-head starryfi'd,
Three milky feet, a feather on his brest,
Whom seav'n-years-old at the next grass he ghest.
This goodly Iennet gently first he wins,
The manner how to back, to break, & make a good Horse.
And then to back him actiuely begins,
Steady and straight he sits, turning his sight
Still to the fore-part of his Palfrey light.
The chafed Horse, such thrall ill-suffering,
Begins to snuff, and snort, and leap, and fling;
And flying swift, his fearefull Rider makes,
Like som vnskilfull Lad, that vnder-takes
To hold som ships helm, while the head-long Tyde
Simile.
Carries away the Vessell and her Guide;
Who neer deuoured in the iaws of Death,
Pale, fearefull, shivering, faint, and out of breath,
A thousand times (with Heav'n erected eys)
Repents him of so bold an enterprise.
But, sitting fast, less hurt then feared; Cain
Boldnes himself and his braue Beast again:
Brings him to pase, from pasing to the trot,
From trot to gallop: after runs him hot
In full career: and at his courage smiles;
And sitting still, to run so many miles.
The ready speed of a swift Horse presented to the Reader, in a pleasant and liuely description▪
His pase is fair and free; his trot as light
As Tigres course, as Swallows nimble flight:
And his braue gallop seems as swift to goe
As Biscan Darts, or shafts from Russian bowe:
But, roaring Canon, from his smoaking throat,
Neuer so speedy spews the thundring shot
(That in an Army mowes whole squadrons down,
And batters Bulwarks of a summon'd Town)
[Page 288]As this light Horse scuds, if he doe but feel
His bridle slack, and in his side the heel:
Shunning himself, his sinewie strength he stretches;
Flying the earth, the flying ayr he catches,
Born whirl-wind-like: he makes the trampled ground
Shrink vnder him, and shake with doubling sound:
And when the sight no more pursue him may,
In fieldy clouds hee vanisheth away.
The wise-waxt Rider, not esteeming best
To take too-much now of his lusty Beast,
Good Horse­manship.
Restrains his fury: then with learned wand
The triple Coruet makes him vnderstand:
With skilfull voice he gently cheers his pride:
And on his neck his flattering palm doth slide:
He stops him steady still, new breath to take,
And in the same path brings him softly back.
But th' angry Steed, rising and reaning proudly,
Striking the stones, stamping and neighing loudly,
The Countenāce Pride, aud Port of a couragious Horse, when he is chased.
Calls for the Combat, plunges, leaps, and praunces,
Befoams the path, with sparkling eys he glaunces,
Champs on his burnisht bit, and gloriously
His nimble fetlocks lifteth belly-high,
All side long iaunts, on either side he iustles,
And's wauing Crest courageously he bristles,
Making the gazers glad on euery side
To giue more room vnto his portly Pride.
Cain gently stroakes him, and now sure in seat,
The Dexteritie of a skilfull Rider.
Ambitiously seeks still som fresher feat
To be more famous; one while trots the Ring,
Another while he doth him back-ward bring,
Then of all foure he makes him lightly bound;
And to each hand to mannage rightly round;
To stoop, to stop, to caper, and to swim,
To daunce, to leap, to hold-vp any lim:
And all, so don, with time-grace-ordered skill,
As both had but one body and one will.
Th' one for his Art no little glory gains,
Th' other through practise by degrees attains
[Page 289]Grace in his gallop, in his pase agility,
Lightnes of head, and in his stop facility,
Strength in his leap, and stedfast managings,
Aptnes in all, and in his course new wings.
The vse of Horses thus discouered,
Each to his work more cheerly fetteled,
Each plyes his trade, and trauails for his age,
Following the paths of painfull Tuball sage.
While through a Forrest Tuball (with his Yew
The inuention of yro [...].
And ready quiver) did a Bore pursue,
A burning Mountain from his fiery vain,
An yron River rowles along the Plain:
The witty Hunts-man, musing, thither hies,
And of the wonder deeply gan devise.
And first perceiving that this scalding mettle,
Becoming cold, in any shape would settle,
And growe so hard that with his sharpned side,
The firmest substance it would soon divide;
He casts a hundred plots, and yer he parts
He moulds the ground-work of a hundred Arts:
Like as a Hound, that (following loose, behinde
Comparison.
His pensiue Master) of a Hare doth finde;
Leaues whom he loues, vpon the sent doth ply,
Figs to and fro, and fals in cheerfull Cry,
And with vp-lifted head, and nosthrill wide
Winding his game, snuffs-yp the winde, his guide:
A hundred wayes he measures Vale and Hill:
Ears, eys, nor nose, nor foot, nor tail are still,
Till in her hot Form he haue found the pray
That he so long hath sought for every way.
For, now the way to thousand works reveald,
Which long shall liue maugre the rage of Eld:
Caesting of the first Instruments of Iron.
In two square creases of vnequall sises
To turn two yron streamlings he deuises;
Cold, takes them thence: then off the dross he rakes,
And this a Hammer, that an Anuill makes;
And adding tongs to these two instruments,
He stores his house with yron implements:
[Page 290]As forks, rakes, hatchets, plough-shares, coultars, staples,
Boltes, hindges, hooks, nails, whittles, spokes, and grapples;
And grow'n more cunning, hollow things he formeth,
He hatcheth Files, and winding Vices wormeth,
He shapeth Sheers, and then a Saw indents,
Then beats a Blade, and then a Lock invents.
Happy device! we might as well want all
The excellent vses and commo­dities of Iron.
The Elements, as this hard minerall.
This, to the Plough-man, for great vses serues:
This, for the Builder, Wood and Marble carues:
This arms our bodies against aduerse force:
This clothes our backs: this rules th' vnruly Horse:
This makes vs dry-shod daunce in Neptunes Hall:
This brightens gold: this conquers self and all;
Fift Element, of Instruments the haft,
The Tool of Tools, and hand of Handy-Craft.
While (compast round with smoaking Cyclops rude,
Inuention of Musicke.
Half-naked Bronts, and Sterops swarthy-hewd,
All well-neer weary) sweating Tubal stands,
Hastning the hot work in their sounding hands,
No time lost Iubal: th' vn-full Harmony
Of vn-even Hammers, beating diversly,
Wakens the tunes that his sweet numbery soule
Yer birth (som think) learn'd of the warbling Pole.
Thereon he harps, and ponders in his mindo,
And glad and fain som Instrument would finde
Inuention of the Lute and other Instruments.
That in accord those discords might renew,
And th' Iron Anuils rattling sound ensew,
And iterate the beating Hammers noyse
In milder notes, and with a sweeter voice.
It chaunç't, that passing by a Pond, he found
An open Tortoise lying on the ground,
Within the which ther nothing else remained
Saue three dry sinewes on the shell stiff-strained:
This empty house Iubal doth gladly bear,
Strikes on those strings, and lends attentiue ear;
And by this mould frams the melodious Lute,
That makes woods [...]arken, and the windes be mute,
[Page 291]The Hills to daunce, the Heav'ns to retro-grade,
Lions be tame, and tempests quickly vade.
His Art, still waxing, sweetly marrieth
His quavering fingers to his warbling breath:
More little tongues to's charm-care Lute he brings,
More Instruments he makes: no Eccho rings
'Mid rocky concaves of the babbling vales,
And bubbling Rivers rowl'd with gentle gales,
But wyëry Cymbals, Rebecks sinews twin'd,
Sweet Virginals, and Cornets curled winde.
But Adam guides, through paths but seldom gone,
While Cain and his Children are busie for the World, Adam and his other Sons exercise themselues in Piety & iustice, and in searching the goodly se­crets of Nature.
His other Sons to Vertues sacred throne:
And chiefly Seth (set in good Abels place)
Staff of his age, and glory of his race:
Him he instructeth in the wayes of Verity,
To worship God in spirit and sincerity:
To honour Parents with a reverentaw,
To train his children in religious law:
To loue his friends, his Country to defend,
And helpfull hands to all mankinde to lend:
To knowe Heav'ns course, and how their constant Swaies
Divide the yeer in months, the months in dayes:
What star brings Winter, what is Sommers guide;
What signe foul weather, what doth fair betide;
What creature's kinde, and what is curst to vs:
What plant is holesom, and what venimous.
No sooner he his lessons can commence,
But Seth hath hit the White of his intents,
Draws rule from rule, and of his short collations
In a short time a perfect Art he fashions.
The more he knowes the more he craues; as fewell
Kils not a fire, but kindles it more cruell.
While on a day by a cleer Brook they trauell,
Seth questions his Father con­cerning the state of the World, frō the Beginning to the End.
Whose gurgling streams frizadoed on the gravell,
He thus bespake: If that I did not see
The zeal (deer Father) that you bear to me,
How still you watch me with your carefull eyn,
How still your voice with prudent discipline
[...] [...]
[Page 292]My Prentize ear doth oft reverberate;
I should misdoubt to seem importunate:
And should content me to haue learned, how
The Lord the Heav'ns about this All did bow;
What things haue hot, and what haue cold effect;
And how my life and manners to direct.
But your milde Loue my studious hart advances
To aske you further of the various chances
Of future times: what off-spring spreading wide
Shall fill this World; What shall the World betide,
How long to last: What Magistrates, what Kings
With Iustice Mace shall govern mortall things?
Son (quoth the Sire) our thoughts internall ey,
Adams answer.
Things past and present may by means descry;
But not the future, if by speciall grace
It read it not in th' One-Trines glorious face.
Thou then, that (onely) things to com dost knowe,
Not by Heav'ns course, nor guesse of things belowe,
Nor coupled points, nor flight of fatall Birds,
Nor trembling tripes of sacrificed Heards,
But by a clear and certain pre-science
As Seer and Agent of all accidents,
With whom at once the three-fold times doe fly,
And but a moment lasts Eternity;
O God, behold me, that I may behold
Thy crystall face: O Sun, reflect thy gold
On my pale Moon; that now my veiled eys
Earth-ward eclipst, may shine vnto the skies.
Ravish me Lord, O (my soules life) reviue
My spirit a-space, that I may see (a-lyue)
Heav'n yer I die: and make me now (good Lord)
The Eccho of thy all-cel estiall Word.
The power of Gods spirit in his Prophets: and the difference between such▪ & the distracted frantike Mini­sters of Satan.
With sacred fury suddainly he glowes,
Not like the Bedlam Bacchanalian froes,
Who, dauncing, foaming, rowling furious-wise
Vnder their twinkling lids their torch-like eys,
With ghastly voice, with visage grizly grim;
Tost by the Fiend that fier cely tortures them,
[Page 293]Bleaking and blushing, painting, shreeking, swouning,
With wrath-les wounds their sense-les members wounding:
But as th' Imperiall, Airy peoples Prince
With stately pinions soaring hy from hence,
Cleaues through the clouds, and brauely-bold doth think
With his firm eye to make the Suns eye wink:
So Adam, mounted on the burning wings
Of a Seraphick loue, leaues earthly things,
Feeds on sweet Aether, cleaues the starry sphears,
And on Gods face his eys he fixtly bears:
His brows seem brandisht with a Sun-like fier,
And his purg'd body seems a cubit higher.
Then thus began hee: Th' ever-trembling field
Adam declares to his Son, in how many Daiet the World was created.
Of scaly folk, the Arches starry seeld,
Where th' All-Creator hath disposed well
The Sun and Moon by turns for Sentinell;
The cleer cloud-bounding Ayr (the Camp assign'd
Where angry Auster and the rough North-winde
Meeting in battail, throwe down to the soil
The Woods that midling stand to part the broyl);
The Diapry Mansions where man-kinde doth trade,
Were built in Six Dayes: and the Seav'nth was made
The sacred Sabbaoth. So, Sea, Earth, and Ayr,
And azure-gilded Heav'ns Pavilions fair,
Shall stand Six Dayes, but longer diversly
Then the dayes bounded by the Worlds bright eye.
The First begins with me: the Seconds morn
How many A­ges it shall en­dure.
Is the first Ship-wright, who doth first adorn
The hils with Vines: that Shepheard is the Third,
1. Adam.
That after God through strange Lands leads his Heard,
2. Noah.
And (past mans reason) crediting Gods word,
3. Abraham.
His onely Son slayes with a willing sword:
The Fourth's another valiant Shepheardling,
4. Dauid.
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling,
And to a Scepter turns his Shepheards staff,
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph:
The Fift begins from that sad Princes night
5. Zedechias.
That sees his children murdred in his sight,
[Page 294]And on the banks of fruitfull Euphrates,
Poor Iuda led in Captiue heauiness:
6. Messias.
Hoped Messias shineth in the Sixt;
Who, mockt, beat, banisht, buried, cruci-fixt,
For our foul sins (stil-selfly-innocent)
Hath fully born the hatefull punishment:
The Last, shall be the very Resting-Day,
Th' Ayr shall be mute, the Waters work shall stay;
7. Th' Eternall Sabbath.
The Earth her store, the stars shall leaue their measures,
The Sun his shine: and in eternall pleasures
We plung'd, in Heav'n shall ay solemnize, all,
Th' eternall Sabbaoths end-less Festiuall.
Considerations of Adam vpon that which shuld be fall his Poste­rity, vnto the end of the first World destroyed by the Flood: according to the relation of Moses in Gene­sis, in the 4. 5. 6. and 7. chapters.
Alas! what may I of that race presume
Next th' irefull Flame that shall this Frame consume,
Whose gut their God, whose lust their law shall be,
Who shall not hear of God, nor yet of me?
Sith those outrageous, that began their birth
On th' holy groundsill of sweet Edens earth,
And (yet) the sound of Heav'ns drad Sentence hear,
And as ey-witness of mine Exile were,
Seem to despight God. Did it not suffize
(O lust full soule!) first to polygamize?
Suffiz'd it not (O Lamech) to distain
Thy Nuptiall bed? but that thou must ingrain
In thy great-Grand-sires Grand-sires reeking gore
Thy cruell blade? respecting nought (before)
The prohibition, and the threatning vow
Of him to whom infernall powrs do bow:
Neither his Pasports sealed Character
Set in the fore-head of the Murderer.
Courage, good Enos: re-advance the Standard
Of holy Faith, by humane reason slaunder'd,
And troden-down: Inuoke th' immortall powr;
Vpon his Altar, warm bloud-offrings pour:
His sacred nose perfume with pleasing vapour,
And teend again Trueth's neer-extinguisht Taper▪
Thy pupil Henoch, selfly-dying wholly,
(Earths ornament) to God he liueth solely.
[Page 295]Lo, how he labours to endure the light
Which in th' Arch-essence shineth glorious-bright:
How rapt from sense, and free from fleshly lets,
Sometimes he climbs the sacred Cabinets
Of the diuine Ideas euer-lasting,
Having for wings, Faith, fervent l'rayer and Fasting:
How at sometimes, though clad in earthly clod,
He (sacred) sees, feels, all inioyes in God:
How at somtimes mounting from form to form,
In form of God he happy doth transform.
Lo, how th' all-fair, as burning all in loue
With his rare beauties, not content aboue
T' haue half, but all, and ever; sets the stairs
That lead from hence to Heav'n his chosen heirs:
Lo, now he climeth the supernall stories:
Adiew, deer Henoch: in eternall glories
Dwell there with God: thy body, chang'd in quality
Of Spirit or Angel, puts on immortality:
Thine eys already (now no longer eys,
But new bright stars) doe brandish in the skyes:
Thou drinkest deep of the celestiall wine:
Thy Sabbaoth's endless: without vail (in fine)
Thouseest God face to face; and neervnite
To th' ONE-TRINE Good, thou liv'st in th' Infinite.
But heer the while (new Angell) thou dost leaue
Fell wicked folk, whose hands are apt to reaue,
Whose Scorpion tongues delight in sowing strife,
Whose guts are gulfs, incestuous all their life.
O strange to be beleev'd! the blessed race,
The sacred Flock whom God by speciall grace
Adopts for his, even they (alas!) most shame-less
Do follow sin, most beastly-brute and tame-less,
With lustfull eys choosing for wanton Spouses
Mens wicked daughters; mingling so the houses
Of Seth and Cain: preferring foolishly
Frail beauties blaze to vertuous modesty.
From these profane, foul, cursed kisses sprung
A cruell brood, feeding on bloud and wrong;
[Page 296]Fell Gyants strange, of haughty hand and minde,
Plagues of the World, and scourges of Man-kinde
Then, righteous God (though ever prone to pa
Seeing his milde-ness but their malice harden,
List plead nolonger, but resolues the fall
Of man forth-with, and (for mans sake) of all:
Of all (at least) the living creatures gliding
Along the ayr, or on the earth abiding.
Heav'ns crystall windows with one hand he opes,
Whence on the World a thousand Seas he drops:
With th' other hand he gripes, and wringeth forth
The spungy Globeof th' execrable Earth,
So straightly prest, that it doth straight restore
All liquid flouds that it had drunk before:
In every Rock new Rivers doe begin;
And to his aid the snowes com tumbling in:
The Pines and Cedars haue but boughs to showe,
The shoars do shrink, the swelling waters growe.
Alas! so-many Nephews lose I heer
Amid these deeps, that but for mountains neer,
Vpon the rising of whoseridges lofty,
The lusty climbe on every side for safety,
I should be seed-less: but (alas!) the Water
Swallows those Hils, and all this wide Theater
Is all one Pond. O children, whither fly-you?
Alas! Heav'ns wrath pursues you to destroy-you:
The stormy waters strangely rage and roar,
Rivers and Seas haue all one common shoar,
(To wit) a sable, water-loaden Sky
Ready to rain new Oceans instantly.
O Sonn-less Father! O too fruitfull haunches!
O wretched root! O hurtfull, hatefull branches!
O gulfs vnknowen! O dungeons deep and black!
O worlds decay! O vniversall wrack!
O Heav'ns! O Seas! O Earth (now earth no more)
O flesh! O bloud! Heer, sorrow stopt the door▪
Of his sad voice, and almost dead for woe,
The prophetizing spirit forsook him so.

NOAH. The SECOND DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;

Containing

  • 1. THE ARK,
  • 2. BABYLON,
  • 3. THE COLONIES,
  • 4. THE COLVMNES.
Acceptam refero.

The ARKE. THE I. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Noah prepares the Ark: and thither brings
(With him) a Seed-payr of all liuing things:
His exercise, a ship-board: Atheist Cham
His holy Fathers humble Zeal doth blame;
And diversly impugns Gods Prouidence:
Noah refells his Faith-less arguments:
The Flood surceast: Th' Ark-landed: Blood forbid:
The Rain-bowe bent; what it pre-figured:
Wine drowneth Wit: Cham scoffs the Nakednes
Of's sleeping Sire: the Map of Drunkennes.
IF Now no more my sacred rimes distill
A Preamble, wherin, by a mo­dest Complaint the Poet stirs vp the Readers at­tention, and makes himselfe way to the inuo­cation of the name of God.
With Art-less ease from my discustom'd quill:
If now the Laurell, that but lately shaded
My beating temples, be dis-leav'd and vaded:
And if now, banisht from the learned Fount,
And cast down head-long from the lofty Mount
Where sweet Vrania sitteth to indite,
Mine humbled Muse flag in a lowely flight;
Blame these sad Times ingratefull cruelty,
My houshold cares, my healths infirmity,
My drooping sorrows for (late) grieuous losses,
My busie suits, and other bitter crosses.
Lo, there the clogs that weigh down heavily
My best endevours, whilom soaring high:
[Page 299]My harvest's hail: the pricking thorns and weeds
That in my soule choak those diviner seeds.
O gracious God! remove my great incumbers,
Kindle again my faiths neer-dying imbers:
Asswage thine anger (for thine own Sons merit)
And from me (Lord) take not thy holy Spirit:
Comb, gild, and polish, more then ever yet,
This latter issue of my labouring wit:
And let not me be like the winde, that proudly
Begins at first to roar and murmur loudly
Against the next hils, over-turns the Woods,
With furious tempest tumbles-vp the floods,
And (fiercely-fell) with stormy puffs constrains
The sparkling flints to roule about the Plains;
But flying, faints; and every league it goes
One nimble feather of his wing doth lose:
But rather like a River poorly-breeding
In barren Rocks, thence drop by drop proceeding:
Which, toward the Sea, the more he flies his source,
With growing streams strengthens his gliding course,
Rowles, roars, and foams, raging with rest-less motion,
And proudly scorns the greatnes of the Ocean.
THE DOOMS of Adam lackt not long effect.
For, th' angry Heav'ns (that can, without respect
The comming of the Flood, and Building of the Ark.
Of persons, plague the stubborn Reprobate)
In Waters buried th' Vniuersall-state:
And never more the nimble painted Legions
With hardy wings had cleft the ayrie Regions:
We all had perisht, and the Earth in vain
Had brought such store of fruits, and grass, and grain,
If Lamechs Son (by new-found Art directed)
That huge vast vessell had not first erected,
Which (sacred refuge) kept the parent-payrs
Of all things moving in the Earth and Ayrs.
Now, while the Worlds-re-colonizing Boat
Noahs exercises aboord the Ark.
Doth on the waters over Mountains float,
Noe passeth not with tales, and idle play,
The tedious length of dayes and nights away:
[Page 300]But, as the Sommers sweet distilling drops,
Vpon the medowes thirsty yawning chops,
Re-greens the Greens, and doth the flowrs re-flowr,
All scorcht and burnt with Auster's parching powr:
So the care-charming hony that distills
From his wise lips, his house with comfort fils,
Flatters despair, dries tears, calms inward smarts,
And re-aduanceth sorrow-daunted harts,
Cheer ye, my children: God doth now retire
These murdering Seas, which the revenging ire
Of his strict Iustice holy indignation
Hath brought vpon this wicked generation;
Arming a season, to destroy mankinde,
The angry Heav'ns, the water, and the winde:
As, soon again his gracious Mercy will
Clear cloudy Heav'ns, calm windes, and waters still.
His wrath and mercy follow turn by turn;
That (like the Lightning) doth not lightly burn
Long in a place: and this from age to age
Hides with her wings the faithfull heritage.
Our gracious God makes scant-weight of displeasure,
And spreads his mercy without weight or measure:
Somtimes he strikes vs (to especiall ends)
Vpon our selues, our Children, or our friends,
In soule or body, goods, or else good names,
But soon he casts his rods in burning flames:
Not with the fist, but finger he doth beat vs;
Nor doth hethrill so oft as he doth threat-vs:
And (prudent Steward) giues his faithfull Bees
Wine of his wrath, to rebell Drones the Lees.
And thus the deeds of Heav'ns Iust-gentle King,
The Second Worlds good Patriarch did sing.
Cham, full of impiety, is brought-in, an­swering his Fa­ther; and diuers­ly impugning the wisdom & irre­prohensible Pro­widence of God Almighty and All-mercifull: and the humble & religious Zeal of Noah.
But, brutish Cham, that in his brest accurst,
The secret roots of sinfull Atheisme nurst;
Wishing already to dis-throne th' Eternall,
And self-vsurp the Maiesty supernall:
And to himself, by name of Iupiter,
On Afrik sands a sumptuous Temple rear:
[Page 301]With bended brows, with stout and stern aspect,
In scornfull tearms his Father thus be-checkt.
Oh! how it grieves me, that these servil terrors
(The scourge of Cowards, and base vulgars errors)
Haue ta'n such deep root in your feeble brest!
Why, Father, alwayes selfly thus deprest,
Will you thus alwaies make yourself a drudge,
Fearing the fury of a fained Iudge?
And will you alwaies forge your self a Censor
That weighs your words, and doth your silence censure?
A sly Controuler, that doth count your hairs,
That in his hand your hearts keys ever bears,
Records your sighes, and all your thoughts descries,
And all your sins present and past espies?
A barbarous Butcher that with bloudy knife
Threats night and day your grieuous-guilty life?
O! see you not, the superstitious heat
Of this blinde zeal, doth in your minde beget
A thousand errors? light credulity
Doth drive you still to each extreamity,
Faining a God (with thousand storms opprest)
Fainter then Women, fiercer then a Beast.
Who (tender-hearted) weeps at others weeping,
Wails others woes, and at the onely peeping
Of others bloud, in suddain swoun deceases,
In manly breast a womans heart possesses:
And who (remorse-less) lets at any season,
The stormy tyde of ragetransport his reason,
And thunders threats of horror and mishap,
Hides a Bears heart vnder a humane shape.
Yet, of your God, you one-while thus pretend;
He melts in tears, if that your fingers end
But akea-while: anon, he frets, he frowns,
He burns, he brains, he kils, he dams, he drowns.
The wildest Boar doth but one Wood destroy;
A cruell Tyrant but one Landannoy:
And yet this Gods outrageous tyranny
Spoyls all the World, his onely Empery.
O goodly Iustice! One or two of vs
Have sinn'd perhaps, and mov'd his anger thus;
All bear the pain, yea even the innocent
Poor Birds and Beasts incurr the punishment.
No, Father, no: ('t is folly to infer it)
God is no varying, light, inconstant spirit,
Full of revenge, and wrath, and moody hate,
Nor savage-fell, nor suddain passionate,
Nor such as will for som small fault vndoo
This goodly World, and his owne nature too.
All wandring clouds, all humid exhalations,
All Seas (which Heav'n through many generations
Hath hoorded-vp) with selfs-weight enter-crusht,
Now all at once vpon the earth have rusht:
And th' endless, thin ayr (which by secret quils
Had lost it self within the windes-but hils
Dark hollow Caves, and in that gloomy hold
To ycy crystall turned by the cold)
Now swiftly surging towards Heav'n again,
Hath not alone drown'd all the lowly Plain,
But in fewe dayes with raging Flouds o're-flowen
The top-less Cedars of mount Libanon.
Then, with iust grief the godly Father gall'd,
Answers of No­ah to all the blas­phemies of Chā, and his fellow-Atheists.
A deep, sad, sigh from his harts centre hal'd,
And thus repli'd: O false, rebellious Cham!
Mine ages sorrow, and my houses shame,
Through self-conceipt contemning th' holy-Ghost,
Thy sense is baend, thine vnderstanding lost:
And O I fear (Lord falsifie my fear)
The heavy hand of the high Thunderer
Shall light on thee; and thou I doubt shaltbe
His Furies obiect, and shalt testifie
By thine infamous lifes accursed state,
What now thy shame-less lips sophisticate.
I (God be prays'd) knowe that the perfect CIRCLE
1. Answer: God is infinit, immu­table, Almighty, and incompre­hensible.
Whose Center's every-where, of all his circle
Exceeds the circuit; I conceiue aright
Th' Al-mighty-most to be most infinit:
[Page 303]That th' onely ESSENCE feels not in his minde
The furious tempests of fell passions winde:
That mooveless, all he moves: that with one thought
He can build Heav'n; and builded, bring to nought:
That his high Throne 's inclos'd in glorious Fier
Past our approach: that our faint soule doth tier,
Our spirit growes spright-less, when it seeks by sense
To sound his infinit Omni-potence.
I surely knowe, the Cherubins do hover
With flaming wings his starry face to cover.
Nonesees the Great, th' Almighty, Holy-ONE,
But passing by and by the back alone.
To vs, his Essence is in-explicable,
Wondrous his wayes, his name vn-vtterable;
So that concerning his high Maiesty
So that men cā ­not speak of Him but improperly.
Our feeble tongues speak but improperly.
For, if we call him strong, the prayse is small:
If blessed spirit, so are his Angels all:
If Great of greats, he's voide of quantity:
If good, fayr, holy, he wants quality;
Sith in his Essence fully excellent,
All is pure substance, free from accident.
Why we cannot speak of God but after the manner of men.
Therefore our voice, too-faint in such a subiect
T' ensue our soule, and our weak soule her obiect,
Doth alwayes stammer; so that ever when
'T would make Gods nameredoubted among men;
(In humane phraze) it calls him pittifull,
Repentant, iealous, fierce, and anger-full.
Yet is not God by this repentance, thus,
2. Answere. The Repentance and the change which the Scripture at­tributeth to God, is far from Error and defect.
Of ignorance and error taxt, likevs:
His iealous hatred doth not make him curious,
His pitty wretched; nor his anger furious.
Th' immortall Spirit is ever calmly-cleer:
And all the best that feeble man doth heer,
With vehemence of som hot passion driv'n;
That, withripeiudgement doth the King of Heav'n.
Two comparisons explaning the same.
Shall a Physician comfortably-bold▪
Fear-less, and tear-less, constantly behold
[Page 304]His sickly friend vext with exceeding pain,
And feel his pulse, and give him health again?
And shall not th' euer-self-resembling God
Look down from Heav'n vpon a wretched clod,
Without he weep, and melt for grief and anguish;
Nor cure his creature, but himself must languish?
And shall a Iudge, self-angerless, prefer
To shamefull death the strange adulterer;
As onely looking fixly all the time
Not on the sinner, but the sinfull crime?
And shall not then th' Eternall Iusticer
3. Answer, Iu­stice being a ver tue in Man can­not be a vice in God.
Condemn the Atheist and the Murderer,
Without selfs-fury? O! shall Iustice then
Be blam'd in God, and magnifi'd in men?
Or shall his sacred Will, and soverain Might
Be chayn'd so fast to mans frail appetite,
That filthy sin he cannot freely hate,
But wrathfull Rage him selfly-cruciate?
Gods sacred vengeance, serues not for defence
4. Answer: God doth not punish Offenders for de­fence of his owne Estate: but to maintain vertue & cōfound vice.
Of his own Essence from our violence
(For in the Heav'ns, above all reach of ours,
He dwels immur'd in diamantine Towers):
But, to direct our lives and laws maintain,
Guard Innocence, and Iniury restrain.
Th' Almighty past not mean, when he subuerted
Neer all the World from holy paths departed.
5. The iniquitie of the world de­serued exereame punishment.
For, Adams Trunk (of both our Worlds the Tree)
In two fair Branches forking fruitfully,
Of Cain and Seth; the first brought forth a sute
Of bitter, wilde, and most detested fruit:
Th' other, first rich in goodnes, afterward
With those base Scyons being graft, was marr'd:
And so produced execrable clusters
Worthy so wicked and incestuous lusters:
And then (alas!) what was ther to be found
Pure, iust, or good, in all this Earthly Round?
Cain's Line possest sinne, as an heritage;
6. When all are generally depra­ved, all merite to be destroyed.
Seth's, as a dowry got by mariage:
[Page 305]So that, (alas!) among all humane-kinde
Those mongrell kisses marr'd the purest minde.
And we (even we, that have escaped here
7. The least im­perfect passe con­demnation, euen then when they are most liuely chasticed.
This cruell wrack) within our conscience bear
A thousand Records of a thousand things
Convincing vs before the King of kings;
Whereof not one (for all our self-affection)
We can defend with any iust obiection.
God playd no Tyrant, choaking with the floods
8. God destroy­ing the workmā, doth no wrong to the Tools, if he break, and batter them w [...]th their Maister.
The earthly Bands and all the ayrie broods:
For, sith they liv'd but for mans seruice sole,
Man, raz'd for sin out of the Liuing Roule,
Those wondrous tools, and organs excellent,
Their Work-man reft, remain'd impertinent.
Man's only head of all that draweth breath.
Who lacks a member; yet persevereth
To liue (we see): but, members cut away
From their own head, do by and by decay.
9. A Traytor deserues to haue his house razed to the ground.
Nor was God cruell, when he drown'd the Earth
For, sit hence man had from his very birth
Rebeld against him, was't not equity,
That for his fault, his house should vtterly
Be rent and raz'd? that salt should there besow'n,
That in the ruins (for instruction)
We for a time might read and vnderstand
The righteous vengeance of Heav'ns wrathfull hand,
That wrought this Deluge: and no hoorded waves
Of ayry clouds, or vnder-earthly caves?
If all blew Curtins mixt of ayr and water,
10. The Flood was no naturall accident, but a most iust iudge­ment of God.
Round-over-spreading this wide All-Theater,
To som one Climate all at once should fly,
One Country they might drown vndoubtedly:
But our great Galley hauing gone so far,
So many months, in sight of either Star,
From Pole to Pole through sundry Climats whorld,
Showes that this Flood hath drowned all the world.
Now non-plust, if to re-inforce thy Camp,
11. The waters of the Flood sprung not from a natu­rall motion only, but proceeded frō other then natu­rall Causes, which cannot produce such effects.
Thou fly for succour to thine Ayery Damp:
[Page 306]Showe, in the concave of what Mountains steep
We may imagine Dens sufficient deep
For so much ayr as gushing out in fountains,
Should hide the proud tops of the highest Mountains;
Sith a whole tun of ayr scarce yeelds (in tryall)
Water ynough to fill one little Viall.
And what should then betide those empty spaces?
What should succeed in the forsaken places
Of th' air's thin parts (in swift springs shrinking thence)
Sith there's no voyd in th' All-circumference?
Whence (wilt thou say) then coms this raging flood,
12. The conside­ratiō of the pow­er of God in sub­iecting the crea­tures to Noah: in sustaining & feeding them so long in the Arke (which was as a Sepulchre) confu­teth all the obiec­tions of Atheists.
That over-flowes the windy Ryphean Wood,
Mount Libanus, and enviously aspires
To quench the light of the celestiall fires?
Whence (shall I say) then, whence-from coms it (Cham)
That Wolves, and Panthers waxing meek and tame,
Leaving the horror of their shady home,
Adiourn'd by Heav'n, did in my presence com,
Who holding subiect vnder my command
So many creatures humbled at my hand,
And now restor'd to th' honour and estate,
Whence Adam fell through sin and Satans hate?
Whence doth it com, or by what reason is't,
That vn-mann'd Haggards to mine empty fist
Com without call? Whence coms it, that so little
Fresh water, fodder, meal, and other victuall,
Should serue so long so many a greedy-gut
As in the dark holds of this Ark is shut?
That heer the Partridge doth not dread the Hauk?
Nor fearfull Hare the spotted Tiger baulk?
That all these storms our Vessell haue not broak?
That all this while we doe not ioyntly choak
With noysom breath, and excrementall stink
Of such a common and continuall sink?
And that ourselues, 'mid all these deaths, are sav'd
From these All-Seas, where all the rest are Grav'd?
In all the compass of our floating Inns,
13. The Arke full of Miracles, which confound the wits & stop the mouthes of profane wrang­lers.
Are not so many planks, and boords, and pins,
[Page 307]As wonders strange, and miracles that ground
Mans wrangling Reason, and his wits confound:
And God, no less his mighty powr displayd
When he restor'd, then when the World he made.
O sacred Patron! pacifie thine ire,
Bring home our Hulk: these angry floods retire;
A-liue and dead, let vs perceiue and proove
Thy wrath on others, on our selues thy love.
Thus Noah sweetens his Captivity,
God causeth the Flood to cease.
Beguiles the time, and charms his misery,
Hoping in God alone: who, in the Mountains
Now slopping close the veins of all the Fountains,
Shutting Heav'ns sluees, causing th' ayr (controul'd)
Close-vp his channels, and his Seas with-hould,
Cals forth the windes. O Heav'ns fresh fans (quoth he)
Earths sweeping Brooms, O Forrests enmity,
O you my Heralds and my Harbengers
My nimble Postes and speedy Messengers,
Mine arms, my sinews, and mine Eagles swift
That through the ayr my rowling Chariot lift;
When from my mouth, in my iust-kindled ire
Fly Sulphry fumes, and hot consuming fire,
When with my Lightning Scepters dreadfull wonder
I muster horror, darknes, clouds, and thunder:
Wake, rise, and run, and drink these waters dry,
That hills and dales haue hidden from the sky.
Th' Aeolian Crowd obays his mighty call,
The Arke resteth on the Mountain Ararat, in Ar­menia.
The surly surges of the waters fall,
The Sea retreateth: and the sacred Keel
Lands on a Hill, at whose proud feet doo kneel
A thousand Hills, his lofty horn adoring
That cleaues the clouds, the starry welkin goaring.
Then hope-cheer'd Noah, first of all (for scout)
What Noah did before he went forth.
Sends forth the Crowe, who flutters neer-about;
And finding yet no landing place at all,
Returns a-boord to his great Admirall.
Som few dayes after from the window flyes
The harm-less Doue for new discoveries:
[Page 308]But seeing yet no shoar, she (almost tyr'd)
A-boord the Carrack back again retyr'd.
But yer the Sun had seav'n Heav'n-Circuits rode,
To view the World a-fresh she flyes abroad;
And brings a-boord (at evening) in her bill
And Oliue branch with water pearled still.
O happy presage! O deer pledge of loue!
O wel-com newes! behold, the peacefull Doue
Brings in her beak the Peace-branch, boading weal
And truce with God; who by this sacred seal
Kindely confirms his holy Couenant,
That first, in fight the Tiger rage shall want,
Lions be cowards, Hares couragious,
Yer he be false in word or deed to vs.
O sacred Oliue! firstling of the fruits,
Health-boading branch, be it thy tender roots
Haue lived still, while this strange Deluge lasted,
I doe reioyce it hath not all things wasted:
Or be it, since the Ebb, thou newly spring,
Prays'd be the bounty of th' immortall King
That quickens thus these dead, the World induing
With beauty fresh so suddainly renuing.
Thus Noah spake: And though the World gan lift
He exspecteth Gods comman­dement to goe forth: whereby, at the first hee was shut vp in the Ark▪
Most of his Iles above the waters drift,
Though waxen old in his long weary night,
He see a friendly Sun to brandish bright:
Though choak't with ill ayr in his stinking staul,
Hee'l not a-shoar till God be pleas'd with-all;
And till (devout) from Heav'n he vnderstand
Som Oracle to licence him to land.
But, warn'd by Heav'n, he commeth from his Cave,
(Or rather from a foul infectious grave)
With Sem, Cham, Iapheth, and their twice-two Brides,
And thousand pairs of living things besides,
Vnclean and clean: for, th' holy Patriark
Had of all kinds inclosed in the Ark.
But, heer I hear th' vngodly (that for fear
Late whispered softly in each others ear,
[Page 309]With silent murmurs muttering secretly)
Now trumpet thus their filthy blasphemy;
New obiectiō of Atheists, concer­ning the capacity of the Ark.
Who will beleeve (but shallow-brained Sheep)
That such a ship scarce thirty Cubits deep,
Thrice fifty long, and but on [...]e fifty large,
So many months could bear so great a charge?
Sith the proud Horse, the rough-skinn'd Elephant,
The lusty Bull, the Camell water-want,
And the Rhmocerot, would, with their fodder,
Fill-vp a H [...]lk fa [...]r deeper, longer, broader?
O profane mockers! if I but exclude
Answere▪
Out of this V [...]ssell a vast multitude
Of since-born mongrels, that deriue their birth
From monstrous medly of Venerian mirth;
Fantastik Mules, and spotted Leopards,
Of incest-heat ingendred afterwards:
So many sorts of Dogs, of Cocks, and Doves,
Since, dayly sprung from strange and mingled loues,
Wherein from time to time in various sort,
Dedalian Nature seems her to disport:
If playner, yet I proue you space by space,
And foot by foot, that all this ample place,
By subtill iudgement made and Symmetrie,
Mi [...]ht lodge so many creatures handsomly,
Sith euery brace was Geometricall:
Nought resteth ( Momes) for your reply at all;
If, who dispute with God, may be content
To take, for currant, Reasons argument.
But heer t' admire th' Al-mighties powrfull hand
An vn-answe­rable answer to all profane obie­ctions.
I rather loue, and silence to command
To mans discourse: what he hath said, is don:
For, euermore his word and deed are one.
By his sole arm, the Gallions Masters saw
Themselues safe rescu'd from Deaths yawning iaw;
And offer-vpto him, in zealous wise,
The Peace full sent of sweet burnt-sacrifice;
And send with-all above the starry Pole
These winged sighes from a religious soule.
World-shaking Father, Windes-King, calming-Seas,
With milde aspect behold vs: Lord appease
Thine Angers tempest, and to safety bring
The planks escap't from this sad Perishing.
And bound for ever in their ancient Caues
These stormy Seas deep World-deuouring waues.
Increase (quoth God) and quickly multiply,
Cömandements, Prohibitions, & Promises of God to Noah and his Posterity.
And fill the World with fruitfull Progeny:
Resume your Scepter, and with new beheasts
Bridle again the late revolted Beasts,
Re-exercise your wonted rule again,
It is your office over them to raign:
Deer Children, vse them all: take, kill, and eat:
But yet abstain and doe not take for meat
Their ruddy soule: and leaue (O sacred seed!)
To rav'ning Fowls, of strangled flesh to feed.
I, I am holy: be you holy then.
I deeply hate all cruell bloody men:
Therefore defile not in your brothers blood
Your guilty hands; refrain from cruell mood;
Fly homicide: doe not in any case,
In man, mine Image brutishly deface:
The cruell man a cruell death shall taste;
And blood with blood be venged first or last;
For evermore vpon the murderers head
My roaring storms of fury shall be shed.
From hence-forth, fear no second Flood that shall▪
The Rain Bowe giuē for a Pledg of the Promise, that there shall be no more gene­rall Flood.
Cover the whole face of this earthly Ball:
I assure ye no; no, no, I swear to you
(And who hath ever found mine Oath vntrue?)
Again, I swear by my thrice-sacred Name:
And to confirm it, in the Clouds I frame
This coloured Bowe. When then som tempest black
Shall threat again the fearfull World to wrack,
When water-loaden Heav'ns your Hils shal touch,
When th' ayr with Midnight shall your Noon be-pitch,
Your cheerfull looks vp to this Rain-bowe cast.
For, though the same on moystful Clouds be plaç't,
[Page 311]Though hemm'd with showrs, and though it seem to sup
(To drown the World) all th' Oceans waters vp,
Yet shall it (when you seem in danger sink)
Make you, of me; me of my promise, think.
Noah looks-vp, and in the Ayr he views
Description of the Rayn-Bowe▪
A semi-Circle of a hundred hews:
Which, bright ascending toward th' aethereall thrones,
Hath a lyne drawn between two Orizons
For iust Diameter: an even-bent bowe
Contriv'd of three; whereof the one doth showe
To be all painted of a golden hew,
The second green, the third an orient blew;
Yet so, that in this pure blew-golden-green
Still ( Opal-like) som changeable is seen.
A Bowe bright-shining in th' Arch-Archers hand,
Whose subtill string seems levell with the Land,
Half-parting Heav'n; and over vs it bends,
Within two Seas wetting his horned ends;
A temporall beauty of the lampfull skies,
Where powrfull Nature showes her freshest dies.
What it signifi­eth.
And if you onely blew and red perceiue;
The same as signes of Sea, and Fire conceiue;
Of both the flowing and the flaming Doom,
The Iudgement past, and Iudgement yet to come.
Then, having call'd on God, our second Father
Noah falls to Husbandry, and tills the Earth, as he had done before the Flood
Suffers not sloth his arms together gather,
But fals to work, and wisely now renew'th
The Trade he learn'd to practice in his youth.
For, the proud issue of that Tyrant rude
That first his hand in brothers bloud imbrewd,
As scorning Ploughs, and hating harm-less tillage,
And (wantons) prising less the homely village,
With fields and Woods, then th' idle Citties-shades;
Imbraced Laws, Scepters, and Arts, and Trades.
But Seths Sons, knowing Nature soberly
Content with little, fell to Husbandry,
There to reducing with industrious care,
The Flocks and Droues cover'd with wooll and hair;
[...] [...]
[Page 312]As prayse-full gain, and profit void of strife,
Art nurse of Arts, and very life of life.
So, the bright honour of the Heav'nly Tapers
Had scarcely boxed ali th' Earths dropsie vapours,
When hee that sav'd the store-seed-World from wrack,
Began to delve his fruitfull Mothers back,
And there soon-after planteth heedfully
The brittle branches of the Nectar-tree.
For, 'mong the pebbles of a pretty hill
To the warm Suns ey lying open still,
He plants a vine
He sets in furrows or in shallow trenches
The crooked Vines choice scyons, shoots, and branches:
In March he delves them, re-re-delves, and dresses,
Cuts, props, and proins; and God his work so blesses,
That in the third September for his meed
The plentious Vintage doth his hopes exceed.
Then Noah, willing to beguile the rage
He is ouer-taken with Wine.
Of bitter griefs that vext his feeble age,
To see with mud so many Roofs o're-growen,
And him left almost in the World alone,
One-day a little from his strictness shrunk,
And making merry, drinking, over-drunk:
And, silly, thinking in that hony-gall
To drown his woes, he drowns his wits and all.
Description of a drunken-man.
His head growes giddy, and his foot indents,
A mighty fume his troubled brain torments,
His idle prattle from the purpose quite,
Is abrupt, stuttering, all confus'd, and light:
His wine-stuft stomack wrung with winde he feels:
His trembling Tent all topsi-turuie wheels:
At last, not able on his legs to stand,
More like a foul Swine then a sober man,
Opprest with sleep, he wallows on the ground,
His shame-lesse snorting trunk, so deeply drownd
In self oblivion, that he did not hide
Those parts that Caesar covered when he died.
Ev'n as the Ravens with windy wings o're-fly
Fit Comparisons to set sorth the nature and pro­perty of Slande­rers, & Detract­ers imitating Cham.
The weeping Woods of Happy Araby,
[Page 313]Despise sweet Gardens and delicious Bowrs
Perfuming Heav'n with odoriferous flowrs,
And greedy light vpon the loath som quarters
Of som late Lopez, o [...] such Romish Martyrs:
Or as a young, vnskilfull, Painter raw,
Doth carel [...]sly the fairest features draw
In any face, and yet too neerely marks
Th' vn pleasing blemish of deformed marks,
As lips too-great, or hollowness of eys,
Or sinking nose, or such indecencies:
Euen so th' vngodly Sonns of Leasings Father
With black Obliuions sponge ingrately smother
Fair Vertues draughts, and cast despightfully
On the least sinns the venom of the ey,
Fru [...]p others faults, and trumpet in all ages
The lightest trips of greatest Personages:
Like scoffing C [...]am that impudently viewd
His Fathers shame, and most profanely-lewd,
With scornefull laughter (grace-les) thus began
To infamize the poor old drunken man.
Com (brethren) com, com quickly and beholde
His speech to his Brethren, seeing his Fathers na­kednes.
This pure controuler that so oft contrould
Vs without cause: see how his bed he soyls:
See, how the wine (his master) now recoyls
By's mouth, and eys, and nose: and brutely lo
To all that com his naked shame doth showe.
Ah shame-less beast (both brethren him reproov'd,
Both chiding thus, both with iust anger moov'd)
Their discreet behauiour.
Vnnaturall villain, monster pestilent,
Vnworthy to behold the firmament.
Where (absent we) thou ought'st haue hid before
With thine owne Cloak, but with thy silence more,
Thy Fathers shame, whom age▪ strong wine, and grief,
Haue made to fall, but once in all his life;
Thou barkest first, and sporting at the matter
Proclaim'st his fault on infamies Theater.
And saying this, turning their sight a-side)
Their hoarie Fathers nakedness they hide.
When wine had wrought, this good old-man awook,
Noah awaked curseth Cham and his posterity: & blesseth Sem and Iaphet, & their Issue.
Agniz'd his crime, ashamed, wonder-strook
At strength of wine, and toucht with true repentance,
With Prophet-mouth ganthus his Sons fore-sentence:
Curst be thou Cham, and curst be (for thy scorn)
Thy darling Canaan: let the pearly Morn,
The radiant N [...]on, and rheumy Euening see
Thy neck still yoaked with Captiuitie.
God be with Sem: and let his gracious speed
Spread-wide my Iapheths fruitfull-swarming seed.
Error, no error, but a wilfull badnes:
An execratiō of Drunkennes, de­scribed with its shamefull dan­gerous and de­testable effects.
O foul defect! O short, O dangerous madnes!
That in thy rage, doost harm-less Clytus smother,
By his deer friend; Pentheus by his Mother.
Phrenzy, that makes the vaunter insolent;
The talkfull, blab; cruell, the violent:
The fornicator, wax adulterous;
Th' adulterer, becom incestuous:
With thy plagues leauen swelling all our crimes;
Blinde, shameless, sense-less, quenching oftentimes
The soule within itself: and oft defames
The holiest men with execrable blames.
And as the Must, beginning to re-boyl,
Makes his new vessels wooden bands re-coyl,
Lifts-vp his lees, and spews with fuming vent
From his Tubs ground his scummy excrement:
So ruin'st thou thine hoast, and foolishly
From his harts bottom driv'st all secrecy.
But, hadst thou neuer don (O filthy poyson!)
More mischief heer, but thus bereft of reason
This Vertues Module (rather Vertues best)
We ought thee more then Death it self detest.
FINIS.

BABYLON. THE II. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Th' Antithesis of Blest and Cursed States,
Subiect to Good and Euill Magistrates:
Nimrod vsurps: His prowes-full Policy,
To gain himself the Goal of Souerainty:
BABEL begun: To stop such out-rages,
There, God confounds the builders Languages:
Tongues excellent: the Hebrue, first and Best:
Then Greek and Latin: and (aboue the rest)
Th' Arabian, Toscan, Spanish, French, and Dutch,
And Ours, are Honoured by our Author much.
O Happy people, where good Princes raign,
A preface, repre senting the selici tie & happy e­state of Cōmon­weales, gouerned by good and pru­dent Princes: & the misery of those that liue in subiection vnto Tyrants: which the Poet very fit­ly proposeth as his introduction to the life and Manners of Nimrod.
Who tender publike more then priuate gain!
Who (vertue's patrons, and the plagues of vice)
Hate Parasites, and harken to the wise:
Who (self-commanders) rather sin suppress
By self-examples, then by rigorousnes:
Whose inward-humble, outward Maiesty
With Subiects loue is guarded loyally:
Who Idol-not their pearly Scepters glory,
But knowe themselues set on a lofty story
For all the world to see and censure too:
So, not their lust, but what is iust they do.
But, 't is a hell, in hatefull vassalage,
Vnder a Tyrant to consume ones age:
[Page 316]A self-shav'n Dennis, or a Nero fell,
Whose cursed Courts with bloud and incest swell:
An Owl, that flyes the light of Parliaments
And State-assemblies, iealous of th' intents
Of priuate tongues; who (for a pastime) sets
His Peers at ods; and on their fury whe [...]s:
Who neither faith, honour, nor right respects:
Who euery day new Officers erects:
Who brooks no learned, wise, nor valiant subiects,
But daily crops such vice-vp braiding obiects:
Who (worse then Beasts, or sauage monsters been)
Spares neither mother, brother, kiff, norkin:
Who, though round fenç' [...] with gard of armed Knights,
A-many moc he sea [...]s, then he affrights:
Who taxes strange extorts; and ( [...]aniball)
Gnawes to the bones his wretched Subiects all.
Print (O Heavn's king!) in our Kings harts a zeal,
A Prayer sitted to the former discourse and giuing entry to that which fol­loweth.
First, of thy lawes; then of their publik weal:
And if our Countries now- Po-poysoned phrase,
Or now-contagion of corrupted daies,
Leaue any tract of Nimrodizing there;
O! cancell it, that they may euery where,
In stead of Babel, build Ierusalem:
That lowd my Muse may eccho vnder them.
YER Nimrod had attain'd to twise six yeers,
Nimrods exer­cises & essays to to make himselfe Master of the rest.
He tyranniz'd among his strippling-peers,
Out-stript his equals, and in happy howr,
Layd the foundations of his after-powr,
And bearing Reeds for Scepters, first he raigns
In Prentice-Princedom ouer sheep-heard Swains.
Then knowing well that whoso ayms (illuster)
At fancied bliss of Empires awfull lustre;
In valiant acts must pass the vulgar sort,
Or mask (at least) in louely Vertues Port:
He spends not night on beds of down or feathers,
Nor day in tents, but hardens to all weathers
His youthfull limbs: and takes ambitiously
A rock for Pillow, Heav'n for Canapey:
[Page 317]In stead of softlings iests, and iollities,
He ioyes in Iousts, and manly exercises:
His dainty cates, a fat Kids trembling flesh,
Scarcefully slain, luke-warm and bleeding fresh.
Then, with one breath, he striueth to attain
A Mountains top, that ouer-peers the Plain:
Perseuerance in painfull and la­borious exercises of Nimrod growne gracious with the people.
Against the stream to cleaue the rowling ridges
Of Nimph-strong floods, that haue born down their bridges,
Running vnrean'd with swift rebounding sallies
A-cross the rocks within the narrow vallies:
To ouertake the dart himselfe did throwe,
And in plain course to catch the Hinde or Roe.
But, when fiue lustres of his age expir'd,
Feeling his stomach and his strength aspir'd
To worthier wars, perceiv'd he any-where,
Boar, Libbard, Lyon, Tiger, Ounse, or Bear,
Him dread-less combats; and in combat foyls,
And reares high Tropheis of his bloody spoyls.
The people, seeing by his warlike deed
From theeues, and robbers euery passage freed:
From hideous yells, the Desarts round about:
From fear, their flocks; this monster-master stout,
This Hercules, this hammer-ill, they tender,
And call him (all) their Father and Defender.
Then Nimrod (snatching Fortune by the tresses)
Hee abandous his first petty Chase, and hun­teth wylier for a more pretious Prey.
Strikes the hot steele; sues, sooths, importunes, presses
Now these, then those, and hastning his good Hap
Leaues hunting Beasts, and hunteth Men to trap.
For, like as He, in former quests did vse
Cals, pit-falls, toyls, sprenges, and baits, and glews:
And (in the end) against the wilder game,
Clubs, darts, and shafts, and swords, their rage to tame:
So, som he wins with promise-full intreats,
With presents som, and som with rougher threats:
And boldly (breaking bounds of equitie)
Vsurps the Child-World's maiden Monarchy;
Whereas, before each kindred had for guide
Their proper Chief, yer that the youthfull pride
[Page 318]Of vpstart State, ambitious, boyling, fickle,
Did thrust (as now) in others corn his sickle.
In-throniz'd thus, this Tyrant'gan deuise
Tyrannicall rule of Nimrod▪ and his proud enter­prize.
To perpetrate a thousand cruelties,
Pel-mel subuerting for his appetite
God's, Man's, and Nature's triple sacred Right.
He braues th' Almightie, lifting to his nose
His flowring Scepter: and for fear he lose
The peoples aw; who (idle) in the end
Might slip their yoak; he subtle makes them spend
Draws dry their wealth, and busies them to build
A lofty Towr, or rather Atlas wilde.
W'have liv'd (quoth he) too-long like pilgrim Grooms:
Leaue we these rowling tents, and wandring rooms:
Let's raise a Palace, whose proud front and feet
With Heav'n and Hell may in an instant meet;
A sure Asylum, and a safe retreat,
If th' irefull storm of yet-more Floods should threat:
Lets found a Citie, and vnited there,
Vnder a King let's lead our liues; for fear
Least seuer'd thus, in Princes and in Tents,
We be disperst o're all the Regiments
That in his course the Days bright Champion eys,
Might-less our selues to succour, or aduise.
But, if the fire of som intestine war,
Or other mischief should diuide vs far,
Brethren (at least) let's leaue memorials
Of our great names on these cloud-neighbouring wals.
Now, as a spark, that Shepheards (vnespied)
Haue faln by chance vpon a Forrest side,
A comparison showing, liuely, the efficacie of the attempts of Tyrants, the Rods of Gods righteous ven­geance vpon vn­godly people.
Among dry leaues; a-while in secret shrouds,
Lifting a-loft small, smoaky-wauing clouds,
Till fanned by the fawning windes, it blushes
With angry rage; and rising through the bushes,
Climbs fragrant Hauthorns, thence the Oak, and than
The Pine, and Firre, that bridge the Ocean:
It still gets ground, and (running) doth augment,
And neuer leaues till all neer Woods be brent:
[Page 319]So, this sweet speech (first broacht by certain Minions)
Is soon applauded 'mong the light opinions:
And by degrees from hand to hand renu'd,
To all the base confused multitude;
Who longing now to see this Castle rear'd,
Them night and day in differing crafts bestirr'd.
Som fall to felling with a thousand stroaks
Aduenturous Alders, Ashes, long-liv'd Oaks;
Degrading Forrests, that the Sun might view
Fields that before his bright rayes neuer knew.
Ha 'ye seen a Town expos'd to spoyl and slaughter
Liuely Descrip­tion of the people occupied in som great busines.
(At victors pleasure) where laments and laughter
Mixtly resound; som carry, som conuay,
Som lug, som load; 'gainst Souldiers seeking Prey
No place is sure, and yer a day be done,
Out at her gate the ransack't Town doth run:
So (in a trice) these Carpenters disrobe
Th' Assyrian hills of all their leafie robe,
Strip the steep Mountains of their gastly shades,
And powle the broad Plains, of their branchy glades:
Carts, Sleds, and Mules, thick-iustling meet abroad,
And bending axels groan beneath their load.
Heer, for hard Cement, heap they night and day
The gum my slime of chalky waters gray:
There, busie Kil-men ply their occupations
For brick and tyle: there, for their firm foundations,
They dig to hell; and damned Ghosts again
(Past hope) behold the Suns bright glorious wain:
Their hammers noyse, through Heav'ns rebounding brim,
Affrights the fish that in fair Tygris swim.
These ruddy wals in height, and compass growe,
They cast long shadow, and far-off do showe:
All swarms with work-men, that (poor sots) surmise
Euen the first day to touch the very skies.
Which, God perceiuing, bending wrathfull frowns,
God displensed with the audaci­ous enterprise of Nimrod and his, resolueth so [...] break their De­signes by consoun ding their Lan­guage.
And with a noyse that roaring thunder drowns;
'Mid cloudy fields, hills by the roots he rakes,
And th' vnmov'd hindges of the Heav'ns he shakes.
See, see (quoth he) these dust-spawn, feeble, Dwarfs,
See their huge Castles, Walls, and Counter-scarfs:
O strength-full Peece, impregnable! and sure
All my iust anger's batteries to endure.
I swore to them, the fruitfull earth, no more
Hence-forth should fear the raging Oceans roar;
Yet build they Towrs: I will'd that scattered wide
They should go man the World; and lo, they bide
Self-prisoned heer: I meant to be their Master,
My self alone, their Law, their Prince, and Pastor;
And they, for Lord, a Tyrant fell haueta'en-them,
Who (to their cost) will roughly curb and rean them;
Who scorns mine arm, and with these brauing Towrs
Attempts to seal [...] this Crystall Throne of ours.
Com, com, le [...]s dash their drift; and sith, combin'd
As well in voice, as blood, and law, and minde,
In ill they harden, and with language bold
Incourage-on themselues their work to hold,
Let's cast a let 'gainst their quick diligence:
Let's strike them straight with spirit of difference;
Let's all confound their speech: let's make the brother,
The Sire, and Son, not vnderstand each other.
This said, as soon confusedly did bound
Through all the work I wot not what strange sound,
Execution of Gods Decree.
Aiangling noyse; not much vnlike the rumors
Of Bacchus Swains amid their drunken humors:
Som speak between the teeth, som in the nose,
Som in the throat their words do ill dispose,
Som howl, som hallow, som doe stut and strain,
Each hath his gibberish, and all strive in vain
To finde again their know'n beloued tongue,
That with their milk they suckt in cradle, young.
Arise betimes, while th' Opal-coloured Morn,
A fit comparison
In golden pomp doth May-days door adorn:
And patient hear th' all-differing voices sweet
Of painted Singers, that in Groues doe greet
Their Loue- Bon-iours, each in his phraze and fashion
From trembling Pearch vttering his earnest passion;
[Page 321]And so thou mayst conceipt what mingle-mangle
Among this people euery where did iangle.
Bring me (quoth one) atrowell, quickly, quick;
One brings him vp a hammer: heaw this brick
(Another bids) and then they cleaue a Tree:
Make fast this rope, and then they let it flee:
One cals for planks, another mortarlacks:
They bear the first, a stone; the last an ax:
One would haue spikes, and him a spade they giue:
Another asks a saw, and gets a siue:
Thus crosly-crost, they prate and point in vain;
What one hath made, another mars again:
Nigh breath-less all, with their confused yawling,
In boot-less labour, now begins appawling.
In brief, as those, that in som channell deep
An other elegāt comparison sho­wing that there is no Counsail, no Endeuour, no diligence, no might nor mul­titude, that can resist God.
Begin to build a Bridge with Arches steep,
Perceiuing once (in thousand streams extending)
The course-chang'd Riuer from the hils descending,
With watry mountains bearing down their Bay,
As if it scorn'd such bondage to obay;
Abandon quickly all their work begun,
And heer and there for swifter safety run:
These Masons so, seeing the storm arriu'd
Of Gods iust Wrath, all weak, and hart-depriu'd,
Forsake their purpose, and like frantick fools
Scatter their stuffe, and tumble down their tools.
O proud revolt! O trayterous felony!
Discommodities proceeding frō the confusion of Tongues.
See in what sort the Lord hath punisht thee
By this Confusion: ah! that language sweet,
Sure bond of Cities, friendships mastik meet,
Strong curb of anger, yerst vnited, now
In thousand drie Brooks strays, I wot not how:
That rare-rich gold, that charm-grief fancy-mouer,
That calm-rage harts-theef, quel-pride coniure-louer:
That purest coyn, then currant in each coast,
Now mingled, hath sound, waight, and colour lost,
'Tis counterfeit: and ouer euery shoar
The confus'd fall of Babel yet doth roar.
Then, Finland-folk might visit Affrica,
The Spaniard Inde, and ours America,
Without a truch-man: now, the banks that bound
Our Towns about, our tongues do also mound:
For, who from home but half a furlong goes,
As dumb (alas!) his Reason's tool doth lose:
Of if we talk but with our neer confines,
We borrow mouthes, or else we work by signes.
Vn-toild, vn-Tutord, sucking tender food,
We learn'd a language all men vnderstood;
And (seav'n-yeers-old) in glass-dust did commence
To draw the round Earths fair circumference:
To cipher well, and climbing Art by Art,
We reacht betimes that Castles highest part,
Where th' Encyclopedie her darlings Crowns,
In signe of conquest, with etern renowns.
Now (euer-boys) we wax old, while we seek
The Hebrew tongue, the Latin, and the Greek:
We can but babble, and for knowledge whole
Of Natures secrets, and of th' Essence sole
Which Essence giues to all, we tire our minde
To vary verbs, and finest words to finde;
Our letters and our syllables to waigh:
At Tutors lips we hang with heads all gray,
Who teach vs yet to read, and giue vs (raw)
An A. B. C. for great Iustinians law,
Hippocrates, or that Diuiner lore,
Where God appears to whome him right adore.
What shall I more say? then, all spake the speech
The Hebrew Tongue in all Mens mouthes before the confu­sion of Langua­ges.
Of God himselfe, th' old sacred Idiom rich,
Rich perfect language, where's no point, nor signe,
But hides some rare deep mysterie diuine:
But since that pride, each people hath a-part
A bastard gibberish, harsh, and ouerthwart;
Which daily chang'd, and losing light, wel-neer
Nothing retains of that first language cleer.
The Phrygians once, and that renowned Nation
A conclusion tri­ed, whereb ap­peareth that chil dren are natu­rally apt to learn to speak: not a­ble of themselues to speake, with­out example.
Fed with fair Nilus fruitfull inundation,
[Page 323]Longing to know their Languages prioritie,
Fondly impos'd the censuring authoritie
To silly Iudges, voyd of iudging sense
(Dumb stammerers to treat of eloquence)
To wit, two Infants nurst by Mothers dumb,
In silent Cels, where neuer noyse should com
Of charming humane voice, to eccho there,
Till triple-twelue months full expired were.
Then brought before the Memphians, and the men
That dwell at Zant, the faint-breath'd children,
Crie often Bek; Bek, Bek is all the words
That their tongue forms, or their dumb mouth affords.
Then Phrygians, knowing, that in Phrygian
Bek meaneth bread, much to reioyce began,
Glad that kinde Nature had now graçt them so,
To grant this Sentence on their side to go.
Fools, which perceiv'd not, that the bleating flocks
Which powl'd the neighbour Mountains motly locks
Had taught this tearm, and that no tearms of Rome,
Greece, Egypt, England, France, Troy, Iewry, com
Com born with vs: but euery Countries tongue
Is learnt by much vse, and frequenting long.
Only, we haue peculiar to our race,
Aptnes to speak; as that same other grace
Which, richly-diuers, makes vs differ more
From dull, dumb wretches that in Desarts roar.
Now, that Buls bellow (if that any say)
Answeres to the obiection taken from the consu­fused voice of Beasts.
That Lions roar, and slothfull Asses bray,
Now lowe, now lowd; and by such languages
Distinctly seeme to shew their courages:
Those are not words, but bare expressions
Of violent fits of certain passions:
Confused signes of sorrow, or annoy,
Of hunger, thirst, of anger, loue, or ioy.
To another Ob­iection, of the chirping of Birds.
And so I say that all the winged quiers,
Which mornly warble, on green trembling briers,
Ear-tickling tunes: for though they seem to prattle
A-part by payrs, and three to three to rattle;
[Page 324]To winde their voice a hundred thousand waies,
In curious descant of a thousand layes:
T' haue taught Apollo, in their School, his skill;
Their sounds want sense; their notes are word-less still:
Their song, repeated thousand times a day,
As dumb discourse, flies in the Woods away.
But, only Man can talke of his Creator,
Aduantage of Man endued with Reason, a­boue the rest of the Creatures.
Of heav'n, and earth, and fire, and ayr, and water,
Of Iustice, Temperance, Wisdom, Fortitude,
In choise sweet tearms that various sense include.
And not in one sole tongue his thoughts dis [...]under;
But like to Scaliger, our ages wonder,
Iosephus Scali­ger, skilfull in 13. languages.
The Learned's Sun: who eloquently can,
Speak Spanish, French, Italian, Nubian,
Dutch, Chaldee, Syriak, English, Arabik,
(Besides) the Persian, Hebrew, Latin, Greek.
O rich quick spirit! O wits Chameleon!
Which any Authors colour can put on.
Great Iulius Son, and Syluius worthy brother,
Th' immortall grace of Gascony, their mother.
And, as for Iayes, that in their wyery gail
Answer to a third obiection touching Tarot­resembling Ec­cho, and speaking without speech.
Can ask for victuals, and vnvictuail'd rail;
Who, daring vs for eloquences meed,
Can plain pronounce the holy Christian Creed,
Say the Lords prayer, and oft repeat it all,
And name by name a good great houshold call:
Th' are like that voice, which (by our voice begot)
From hollow vale babbles it wots not what.
In vain the ayr they beat, it vainly cleauing,
And dumbly speak, their own speech not conceiuing,
Deaf to themselues: for speech, is nothing (sure)
But th' vnseen soules resounding purtrature:
And chiefly when'tis short, sweet, painted-plain,
As it was all, yer that rough-hunters raign.
Now, when I note, how th' Hebrew breuity,
Euen with fewe words expresseth happily
The Hebrew Tongue the principall.
Deepest conceits; and leads the hearing part
Through all the closets of the mazy hart:
[Page 325]Better then Greek with her Synonimaes,
First reason.
Fit Epithets, and fine Metaphoraes,
Her apt Coniunctions, Tenses, Moods, and Cases,
And many other much esteemed graces:
When I remember, how the Rabbins fet
Second reason.
Out of the sacred Hebrew Alphabet
All that our faith beleeues▪ or eys behold;
That in the Law the Arts are all inrold:
Whether (with curious pain) we do transport
Her letters turn'd in many-various sort
(For, as in ciphering, th' onely transportation
Simile [...]
Of figures, still varies their valuation:
So th' Anagram strengthens or slacks a name,
Giuing a secret twist vnto the same):
Or whether wee (euen as in gross) bestowing
The numbers, which, from one words letters flowing,
Vnfold a secret; and that word again
Another of like number doth contain:
Whether one letter for a word be put;
Or all a sentence in one word be shut:
As Egypts silence sealed-vp (mysterious)
In one Character a long sentence serious.
When I obserue, that from the Indian Dawning,
Third reason.
Euen to our Irish Aetna's fiery yawning:
And from hot Tambut, to the Sea Tartarian,
Thou seest (O Sun!) no Nation so barbarian,
Nor ignorant in all the Laws diuine,
But yet retains som tearms of Palestine,
Whose Elements (how-so disguiz'd) draw-nigh
The sacred names of th' old Orthogaphy.
When I consider that Gods antient WILL
Fourth reason▪
Was first enrowled by an Hebrew quill:
That neuer Vrim, Dream, or Vision sung
Their Oracles, but all in Isaaks tongue:
That in the same, the Lord himself did draw
Vpon two Tables his eternall Law:
[Page 326]And that (long since) in Sions Languages,
His heav'nly Postes brought downe his messages.
Fift reason.
And (to conclude) when I conceive, how then
They gaue not idle, casuall names to men,
But such as (rich in sense) before th' euent,
Markt in their liues some speciall accident;
And yet, we see that all those words of old
Of Hebrew still the sound and sense doe hold.
For, Adam (meaneth) made of clay: his wife
Eua (translated) signifieth life:
Cain, first begot: Abel, as vain: and Seth,
Put in his place: and he that, vnderneath
The generall Deluge, saw the World distrest,
In true interpretation, soundeth Rest.
To th' Hebrew Tongue (how-euer Greece do grudge)
The sacred right of Eldership I iudge.
All hail, therefore, O sempiternall spring
Praise of the Hebrew Tōgue, Mother and Queene of all the Rest.
Of spirituall pictures! speech of Heav'ns high King,
Mother, and Mistress, of all Tongues the Prime:
Which (pure) hast past such vast deep gulfs of Time:
Which hast no word but weighs, whose Elements
Flowe with hid sense, thy points with Sacraments.
O sacred Dialect! in thee the names
Of Men, Towns, Countries register their fames
In brief abbridgements: and the names of Birds,
Of Water-guests, and Forrest-haunting Heards,
Are open Books, where euery man might read
Their natures story; till th' Heav'n-shaker dread,
In his iust wrath, the flaming sword had set▪
The passage into Paradise to let.
Adam gaue Hebrew names to all the Crea­tures.
For, Adam then (in signe of mastry) giuing
Peculiar names vnto all creatures liuing,
When in a generall muster ranged right,
They marcht by couples in his awfull sight,
He framed them so fit, that learned ears
Bearing the soule the sound, the maruails bears,
Where-with th' All-forming voice adorned fair
Th' Inhabitants of Sea, and Earth, and Ayr.
[Page 327]And, for each body acts, or suffers ought,
He inriched the Language with the composition of verbs and Clauses.
Hauing made Nowns, his Verbs he also wrought:
And then, the more t'enrich his speech, he brings
Small Particles, which stand in lieu of strings,
The master members fitly to combine
(As two great boards, a little glew doth ioyn)
And serue as plumes, which euer dancing light
Deck the proud crests of helmets burnisht bright:
Frenges to mantles; ears, and rings to vessels:
To marble statues; bases, feet, and tressels.
The Hebrew Tongue cōtinued from Adam to the tim▪ of Nim ro [...]: Since whē it rested in the house of Heber, of whom it is called Hebrew▪
This ( Adams language) pure persisted since,
Til th' iron Age of that cloud-climbing Prince:
Resounding onely, through all mortall tents,
The peer-les accents of rich eloquence;
But then (as partiall) it it self retyr'd
To Hebers house: whether of the conspir'd
Rebels, he were not; but in sober quiet,
Dwelt far from Shinar, and their furious ryot:
Or whether, thither by compulsion brought,
With secret sighes hee oft his God besought,
So with vnwilling hands helping to make
The walls he wisht deep sunk in Stygian Lake:
As wretched Galley-slaues (beating the Seas
With forced oars, fighting against their ease
Simile.
And liberty) curse, in their grieued spright,
Those, for whose sake they labour day & night:
Or whether else Gods liberall hand, for euer
(As it were) meeting holy mens indeuour,
For his owne sake, of his free grace and pleasure,
To th' Hebrew race deposited this treasure;
While the proud remnant of those scattered Masons
Had falsed it in hundred thousand fashions,
When euery one where Fate him called flew,
Bearing new words into his Country new.
But slippery Time, enuiously wasting all,
Disfigur'd soon those Tongues authenticall,
A sub-diuision of the Lāguages, first diuided.
Which 'mid the Babel-builders thunder, bred
On Tygris banks, o're all the earth were spred:
[Page 328]And, ay the world the more confus'd to leaue,
The least of them in many Tongues did cleaue.
Each language alters, either by occasion
Wherof proceede the sundry chan­ges in one selfe­same Language.
Of trade, which (causing mutuall commutation
Of th' Earths and Oceans wares) with hardy luck
Doth words for words barter, exchange and truck:
Or else, because Fame-thirsting wits, that toyl
In golden tearms to trick their gracious stile,
With new-found beauties prank each circumstance,
Or (at the least) doe new-coyn'd words in haunce
With currant freedom: and again restore
Th' old, rusty, mouldy, worm-gnawn words of youre.
Simile.
For, as in Forrests, leaves doe fall and spring:
Euen so the words, which whilom flourishing,
In sweet Orations shin'd with pleasing lustre
(Like snowe-white Lillies in a fresh green pasture)
Pass now no more; but, banisht from the Court,
Dwel with disgrace among the Country sort:
And those, which Eld's strict doom did disallow,
And damn for bullion, goe for current now.
A happy wit, with gracious iudgementioyn'd,
The liberty of a witty, learned, and iudicious Wrighter.
May giue a Pasport to the words new coyn'd
In his own shop: also adopt the strange:
Ingraft the wilde: inriching, with such change
His powerfull stile; and with such sundry ammell
Paynting his phrase, his Prose or Verse enammel.
One language hath no law but vse: and still
Runs blinde, vnbridled, at the vulgars will.
Anothers course, is curiously inclos'd
In lists of Art; of choise fit words compos'd.
One, in the feeble birth, becomming old,
Is cradle-toomb'd: another warreth bold
With the yeer-spinners. One, vnhappy-founded,
Liues in a narrow valley euer bounded:
Another 'mong the learned troup doth presse
From Alexanders Altars, euen to Fez.
And such are now, the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin:
Excellencie of the Hebrew, Greek and La­tine Tongues a­boue the rest.
Th' Hebrew, because of it wee hold the Paten
[Page 329]Of Thrice-Eternalls euer sacred Word:
And, of his Law, that is the first Record.
The Greek, as hauing cunningly compriz'd
All kinde of knowledge that may be devis'd.
And manly Roman, sith the sword vndaunted
Through all the world her eloquence hath planted.
Writing these later lines, weary wel-neer
A pleasant in­troduction to his following Dis­course, wherein Poetically He describeth and bringeth in the principall Lan­guages, together with such as haue excelled in each of them.
Of sacred Pallas pleasing labours deer;
Mine humble chin saluteth oft my brest,
With an Ambrosial deaw mine eys possest
By peece-meal close; all mouing powrs be still;
From my dull fingers drops my fainting quill;
Down in my sloath-lov'd bed again I shrink;
And in dark Lethè all deep cares I sink:
Yea, all my cares, except a zeal to len
A gainfull pleasure to my Country-men.
For, th' holy loues-charm, burning for their sake,
When I am sleeping, keeps my soule awake.
Gold-winged Morpheus, East-ward issuing
The God of Dreams.
By's crystall gate (it earlier opening
Then daies bright door) fantastick leads the way
Down to a vale, where moist-cool night, and day:
Still calms and storms: keen cold, and sultry smother:
Rain, and fair weather follow not each-other:
But May still raigns, and rose-crown'd Zephyrus
With wanton sighes makes the green trees to buss;
Whose whispering boughs, in Ouall form do fence
This flowrie field's delightfull excellence.
Iust in the midst of this enammeld vale
Rose a huge Rock, cut like a Pedestall;
Description of the House, & I­mage of Elo­quence: and of the principall Languages.
And on the Cornich a Colossus stands
Of during brasse, which beareth in his hands
Both fire and water: from his golden tongue
Grow thousand chains, which all the mead a-long
Draw worlds of hearers with alluring Art,
Bound fast by th' ears, but faster by the hart.
Before his feet, Boars, Bears, and Tigers lie
As meek as Lambs, reclaim'd from cruelty.
[Page 330]Neer hils do hop, and neighbour Forrests bound,
Seeming to daunce at his sweet voices sound.
Of Carian pillars raisd with curious Art
On bases firm, a double rowe doth girt
The soule-charm Image of sweet Eloquence:
And these fair Piles (with great magnificence)
Bear, foure by foure, one of the Tongues which now
Our learned Age for fairest doth allow.
Now, 'mong the Heav'n-deer spirits supporting heer
1. The Hebrew supported by 4. Pillars; (viz.)
The Hebrew tongue, that Prince whose brows appear
Like daunt-Earth Comet's Heav'n-adorning brand,
Who holds a green-drie, wither'd-springing wand,
And in his arms the sacred Register
Moses.
Of Gods eternall ten-fold Law doth bear;
Is Israels guide: first Author, he that first
Vnto his heirs his Writings offer durst:
Whose hallowed Pages not alone preceed
All Grecian Writ, but euery Grecian Deed.
Dauid's the next, who, with the melody
Of voice-matcht fingers, draws sphears harmony,
Dauid.
To his Heav'n-tuned harp, which shall resound
While the bright day-star rides his glorious Round:
Yea (happily) when both the whirling Poles
Shall cease their Galliard, th' euer-blessed soules
Of Christ his champions (cheer'd with his sweet songs)
Shall daunce to th' honour of the Strong of strongs;
And all the Angels glory-winged Hostes
Sing Holy, Holy, Holy, God of Hoasts.
The third, his Son, wit-wondrous Salomon,
Salomon.
Who in his lines hath more wise lessons sow'n,
More golden words, then in his Crown there shin'd
Pearls, Diamonds, and other Gemms of Inde.
Then, Amos Son, in threatnings vehement,
Esay.
Grace-fellowed, graue, holy and eloquent.
Sweet-numbred Homer heer the Greek supports,
2 The Greeke by Homer. Plato. Herodotus. Demosthenes.
Whose School hath bred the many-differing sorts
Of ancient Sages: and, through euery Realm,
Made (like a Sea) his eloquence to stream:
[Page 331] Plato, the all-diuine, who like the Fowl
(They call) of Paradise; doth neuer foul
His foot on Earth or Sea, but lofty sties
Higher then Heav'n from Hell, aboue the skies:
Cleer-styl'd Herodotus, and Demosthen,
Gold-mouthed hearts-king law of learned men.
3. The Latine by Cicero. Caesar. Salust. Virgil.
Th' Arch-Foe to factious Catiline and (since)
To Anthony, whose thundring eloquence
Yeelds thousand streams, whence (rapt in admiration)
The rarest wits are drunk in euery Nation:
Caesar, who knowes as wel to write, as war:
The Sinnewy Salust: and that Heav'n-fall'n star,
Which straggling Ilium brings to Tybers brink,
Who neuer seems in all his Works to wink;
Who neuer stumbled, euer cleer and graue;
Bashfully-bold, and blushing modest-braue:
Still like himself, and else, still like to no-man.
4. The Italian by Boccace. Petrarch. Ariosto. Tasso.
Sustain the stately, graue-sweet ancient Roman.
On mirthsull Boccace is the Tuscan plac't:
Bold, choice-tearm'd Petrarch, in deep passions graç't:
The fluent fainer of Orlando's error,
Smooth, pithie, various, quick affection-stirrer:
And witty Tasso, worthy to indight
Heroïk numbers, full of life and light;
Short, sharpe-conceipted, rich in language cleer,
Though last in age, in honour formost heer.
5. The Arabik. by Aben-Roes. Eldebag. Auicen Ibnu-farid.
Th' Arabian language hath for pillers sound,
Great Aben-Rois most subtill, and profound,
Sharp Eldebag, and learned Auicen,
And Ibnu-farid's figure-flowing Pen.
The Dutch, hath him who Germaniz'd the story
6. The Dutch by Peuther. Luther. Peucer. Butric.
Of Sleidan: next, th' Isleban (lasting glory
Of Wittenberg) with Peucer gilding bright
His pleasing stile: and Butric my delight.
Gueuarra, Boscan, and Granade, which sup
With Garcilace, in honey Pytho's cup
7. The▪ Spanish by Gueuarra. Boscan. Granada. Garcilaco.
The smiling Nectar, bear th' Hyberian:
And, but th' old glory of the Catalan,
[Page 332]Rauisht O syas, he might well haue claymed
The Spanish Laurell 'mong these lastly named.
Now, for the French, that shape-less Column rude,
8 The French. by Marot.
Whence th' idle Mason hath but grosly hew'd
(As yet) the rough scales from the vpper part,
Is Clement Marot; who with Art-les Art
Busily toyls: and, prickt with praise-full thirst,
Brings Helicon, from Po to Quercy first:
Whom, as a time-torn Monument, I honour:
Or as a broken Toomb: or tattered Banner:
Or age-worn Image: not so much for showe,
As for the reuerence that to Eld I owe.
The next I knowe not well; yet (at the least)
He seems som skilfull Master with the rest:
Yet doubt I still. For now it doth appear
Like Iaques Aymot, then like Uiginere.
Amyot. Ronsard.
That, is great Ronsard, who his France to garnish,
Robs Rome and Greece, of their Art-various varnish;
And, hardy-witted, handleth happily
All sorts of subiect, stile, and Poësie.
And this du Plessis, beating Athëisme,
Plessis.
Vain Paganisme, and stubborn Iudaïsme,
With their own arms: and sacred-graue, and short,
His plain-prankt stile he strengthens in such sort,
That his quick reasons wingd with grace and Art,
Pearce like keen arrows, euery gentle hart.
Our English Tongue three famous Knights sustain;
9: The English. by Sir Thomas Moore. Sir Nicholas Bacone. Sir Phil. Sidney
Moore, Bacone, Sidney: of which, former twain
( High Chancellors of England) weaned first
Our Infant-phrase (till then but homely nurst)
And childish toys; and, rudenes chasing thence,
To ciuill knowledge, ioyn'd sweet eloquence.
And (World-mourn'd) Sidney, warbling to the Thames
His Swan-like tunes, so courts her coy proud streams.
That (all with-childe with Fame) his fame they bear,
To Thetis lap, and Thetis, every-where.
But, what new Sun dazels my tender eyes?
What suddain traunce rapts me aboue the skies?
[Page 333]What Princely Port? O what imperiall grace?
What sweet-bright-lightning looks? what Angels face?
And the incom­parable Queene Elizabeth.
Say (learned Heav'n-born Sisters) is not this
That prudent Pallas, Albions Misteris,
The Great Eliza, making hers disdaign,
For any Man, to change their Maydens raign?
Her prudence, Piety, Iustice, Religion, Lear ning, and Elo­quence.
Who, while Erynnys (weary now of hell)
With fire and Sword her neighbours States doth quell,
And while black Horror threats in stormy rage,
With dreadfull down-fal th' vniuersall stage;
In happy Peace her Land doth keep and nourish:
Where reuerent Iustice, and Religion flourish.
Who is not onely in her mother-voyce
Rich in Oration; but with phrases choice,
So on the sodain can discourse in Greek,
French, Latin, Tuscan, Dutch, and Spanish eek,
That Rome, Rhyne, Rhone, Greece, Spayn, and Italy,
Plead all for right in her natiuitie.
Bright Northren pearl, Mars-daunting martialist,
To grace the Muses and the Arts, persist;
And (O!) if euer these rude rimes be blest
But with one glaunce of Nature's onely Best;
Or (lucky) light between those Yuory palms,
Which hold thy State's stern, in these happy calms,
View them with milde aspect; and gently read
That for thy praise, thine eloquence wee need.
Then thus I spake; O spirits diuine and learned,
Whose happy labours haue your lauds eterned:
O! sith I am not apt (alas!) nor able
With you to bear the burthen honourable
Of Albions Fame, nor with my feeble sight
So much as follow your Heav'n-neighbouring slight;
At least permit me, prostrate to imbrace
Your reuerend knees: permit me to inchace
Your radiant crests with Aprils flowrie Crown;
Permit (I pray) that from your high renown,
My freble tunes eternall fames deriue;
While in my Songs your glorious names suruiue.
[Page 334]Granting my sute, each of them bowd his head,
[...]the
The valley vanisht, and the pillers fled:
And there-with-all, my Dream had flow'n (I think)
But that I lym'd his limber wings with ink.
FINIS.

The COLONIES. THE III. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
To stop Ambition, Strife, and Auarice,
Into Three Parts the Earth diuided is:
To Sem the East, to Cham the South, the West
To Iapheth falls; their seuerall scopes exprest:
Their fruitfull Spawn did all the World supply:
Antiquites vncertain Search, and why:
Assyria sceptred first; and first imparts,
To all the rest, Wealth, Honour, Arms, and Arts:
The New-found World: Mens diuers humors strange:
The various World a mutuall Counter-change.
VVHile through the Worlds vn-haunted wildernes
Being heer to in­treat of the Transmigration of so many Na­tions, issued out of the loignes of Noah, our Poet desireth to be ad dressed by some speciall Fauour of God.
I, th' old, first Pilots wandring House address
While ( Famous DRAKE- like), coasting euery strand
I do discouer many a New-foūd-Land:
And while, from Sea to Sea with curious pain
I plant great Noahs plentious Vine again:
What bright-brown cloud shall in the Day protect me?
What fiery Pillar shall by Night direct me
Toward each Peoples primer Residence,
Predestin'd in the Court of Prouidence▪
Yer our bi-sexed Parents, free from sin,
In Eden did their double birth begin?
O sacred Lamp! that went'st so brightly burning
Before the Sages, from the spycie Morning,
To shew th' Almightie Infants humble Birth;
O! chace the thick Clouds, driue the darknes forth
[Page 336]Which blindeth me: that mine aduenturous Rime,
Circling the World, may search out euery Clime.
For, though my Wits, in this long Voyage shift
From side to side; yet is my speciall drift,
The true, & only drift of all his in­deuours.
My gentle Readers by the hand to bring
To that deer Babe, the Man-God, Christ, our King.
As WHEN the lowring Heav'ns with loudest raps
A comparison expressing the ef fect of the asto­nishment, which the confusion of Tongues brought into the Babel­builders.
Through Forrests thrill their roaring thunder-claps,
The shiuering Fowls do sodainly forgo
Their nests and perches, fluttering to and fro
Through the dark ayr, and round about there rings
A whistling murmur of their whisking wings;
The grissel Turtles (seldoom seen alone)
Dis-payer'd and parted, wander one by one;
And euen the feeble downie feathered Yong
Venter to flie, before their quils be strong:
Euen so, the Builders of that Babel-Wonder,
Hearing Gods voice a-loud to roar and thunder,
In their rude voices barbarous difference,
Take (all at once) their fearfull flight from thence
On either hand; and through th' Earth voidly-vast
Each packs a-part, where God would haue him plaç't.
For, Heav'ns great Monarch (yer the World began)
Why God would not that the seed of Noah should reside in the Plain of Shynar.
Hauing decreed to giue the World to man;
Would not, the same a nest of theeues should be,
That with the Sword should share his Legacie;
And (bruitly mixt) with mongrell stock to stoar
Our Elements, round, solid, slimie floar:
But rather, fire of Couetize to curb,
Into three Parts he parts he parts this spacious Orb,
'Twixt Sem and Cham, and Iapheth: Sem the East,
Cham South, and Iapheth doth obtain the West.
That large rich Country, from Perosite shoars
The Earth di­stributed among the Sonnes of Noah.
(Where stately Ob, the King of Riuers, roars,
In Scythian Seas voyding his violent load,
But little less then six dais sayling broad)
To Malaca: Moluques Iles, that bear
To Sem the South.
Cloues and Canele: well-tempered Sumater
[Page 337]Sub-equinoctiall: and the golden streams
Of Bisnagar, and Ze [...]lan bearing gemms:
From th' Euxin Sea and surge of Chaldean Twins
To th' Anian Streight: the sloathfull, slymy Fens
Where Quinzay stands; Chiorze, where Bulls as big
As Elephants are clad in silken shag,
Is great Sems Portion. For the Destinies
(Or rather Heav'ns immutable Decrees)
Assur t' Assyria send, that in short time
Chale and Rhesen to the Clouds might climbe,
And Niniue (more famous then the rest)
Aboue them raise her many-towred Crest:
The sceptred Elam chose the Persian Hills,
And those fat fields that swift Araxis fills;
Lud, Lydia: Aram all Armenia had:
And Chalde fell to learned Arphaxad.
Cham becam Souerain ouer all those Realms
To Cham the South.
South-bounded round with Sun-burnt Guinne streams,
Botangas, Benin, Cephal, Guaguametre,
Hot Concritan, too-full of poysony matter:
North-ward with narrow Mid'terranean Sea
Which from rich Europe parts poor Africa:
Towards where Titans Euening splendor sank,
With Seas of Fez, Cape-verde, and Cape-blanc:
And toward where Phoebus doth each morning wake,
With Adel Ocean, and the Crimsin Lake.
And further, all that lies between the steep
Mount Libanus, and the Arabian Deep,
Between th' Erythrean Sea, and Persian Sine,
He (mighty Prince) to's Afrik State doth ioine.
His Darling Canaan doth nigh Iordan dwell
(One-day ordain'd to harbour Israel):
Pheud peopled Lybia: Mizraim Egypt mann'd:
And's first-born Chus the Aethyopian strand.
Iapheth extends from struggling Hellespont,
To Iapheth the North & West.
The Tane and Euxin Sea, to th' double Mount
Of famous Gibraltar, and that deep Main,
Whose tumbling billows bathe the shoars of Spayn:
[Page 338]And from those Seas, where in the steed of Keels
Of winged Ships they roule their Chariot wheels,
To the Marsilian, Morean, and Thyrrhenian;
Ligurian Seas, and learned Sea Athenian,
Iust opposite to Asia rich in spice,
Pride of the World, and second Paradise:
And that large Country stretcht from Amana
To Tanais shoars, and to the source of Rha.
Forth of his Gomers loigns (they say) sprung all
The war-like Nations scattered ouer Gaul,
And Germans too (yerst called Gomerits):
From Tubal, Spaniards: and from Magog, Scythes:
From Madai, Medes: from Mesech, Mazacans:
From Iauan, Greeks: from Thyras, Thracians.
Heer, if I list, or lov'd I rouer-shooting,
According to his accustomed modesty & dis­tr [...]tion, the Poet chuseth rather Silence then to Speake vncertain ly of things vn­knowne.
Or would I follow the vncertain footing
Of false Berosus and such fond Deluders
(Their zealous Readers insolent Illuders)
I could deriue the lineal Descents
Of all our Sires; and name you euery Prince
Of euery Prouince, in his time and place
(Successiuely) through-out his Ancient Race:
Yea, sing the Worlds so diuers populations;
And of least Cities showe the first Foundations.
But, neuer will I so my sails abandon.
To euery blast, and rowing so at randon
(Without the bright light of that glorious Star
Which shines 'boue all the Heav'ns) venter so far
On th' vnknowne surges of so vast a Sea
So full of Rocks and dangers euery way;
Hauing no Pylot, saue som brain-sick Wrighters
Which coyn Kings names, vain fabulous Indighters:
Of their own fancies, who (affecting glory)
Vpon a Flyes foot build a goodly story.
Som words allusion is no certain ground
Whereon a lasting Monument to Found:
Reasons why the Search of such Antiquities is so obscure.
Sith fairest Riuers, Mountains strangely steep,
And largest Seas, neuer so vast and deep
[Page 339](Though self-eternall, resting still the same)
Through sundry chances often change their name:
Sith it befalls not alwaies, that his seed
Who builds a Town, doth in the same succeed:
And (to conclude) sith vnder Heav'n, no Race
Perpetually possesseth any place:
But, as all Tenants at the High Lords will,
We hold a Field, a Forrest, or a Hill:
And (as when winde the angry Ocean moues)
Waue hunteth waue, and billow billow shoues;
So do all Nations iustle each the other,
And so one People doth pursue another;
And scarce the second hath a first vn-housed,
Before a third him thence again haue rowsed.
Famous exam­ples to this pur­pose. Of the ancient Britains.
So, th' ancient Britain, by the Saxons chaç't
From's natiue Albion, soon the Gauls displaç't
From Armorik; and then victoriously
(After his name) surnam'd that Britannie.
So, when the Lombard had surrendered
Of the Lomb­bards.
Fair, double-named Isters flowrie-bed
To skar-faç't Hunnes; he hunteth furiously
The rest of Gauls from wealthy Insubrie,
Which, after fell in French-mens hands again,
Won by the sword of Worthy Charlemain.
Of the Alains Goths, and Vandals.
So, th' Alain and North Vandal, beaten both
From Corduba and Seuil by the Goth,
Seiz'd Carthage straight; which after-ward they lost
To wise Iustinians valiant Roman Hoast:
And Romans, since, ioyn'd with the barbarous troop
Of curled Moors, vnto th' Arabians stoop.
The causes of such Transmi­grations.
The sacrilegious greedy appetite
Of Gold and Scepters glistering glorious bright,
The thirst of Vengeance, and that puffing breath
Of eluish Honour, built on blood and death,
On desolation, rapes, and robberies,
Flames, ruins, wracks, and brutish butcheries,
Vn-bound all Countries, making war-like Nations
Through euery Clymat seek new habitations.
I speak not heer of those Alarbian Rouers,
Numidian Shepheards or Tartarian Drouers,
Who shifting pastures, for their store of Cattle,
Do heer and there their hayrie Tents imbattle:
Like the black swarms of Swallows swiftly-light,
Which twice a-yeer cross with their nimble-flight
The Pine-plough'd Sea, and (pleas'd with purest ayr)
Seek euery Season for a fresh repair:
But other Nations fierce, who far and nigh
With their own bloods-price purchas't Victory;
Who, better knowing how to win, then wield;
Conquer, then keep; to batter, then to build;
And brauely choosing rather War then Peace,
Haue ouer-spread the World by Land and Seas.
Such was the Lombard, who in Schonland nurst,
The originall remoues, voya­ges & conquests of the Lom­bards.
On Rugeland and Liuonia seized first;
Then hauing well reueng'd on the Bulgarian
The death of Agilmont; the bold Barbarian
Surpriseth Poland; thence anon he presses
In Rhines fair streams to rense his Amber tresses:
Thence turning back, he seats him in Mora [...]ia;
After, at Buda; thence hee postes to Pauia;
There raigns 200. yeares: tryumphing so,
That royall Tesin might compare with Po.
Such was the Goth, who whilom issuing forth
Of the Goths.
From the cold, frozen Ilands of the North,
Incampt by Vistula: but th' ayr (almost)
Being there as cold as on the Baltick Coast,
He with victorious arms Sclauonia gains,
The Transyluanian and Valacchian Plains.
Thence plyes to Thracia: and then (leauing Greeks)
Greedie of spoyl, foure times he brauely seeks
To snatch from Rome (then, Mars his Minion)
The Palms which she o're all the World had won;
Guided by Rhadaguise, and Alaric,
And Vidimarius, and Theodoric:
Then coms to Gaul: and thence repul'st, his Legions
Rest euer since vpon the Spanish Regions.
Such th' antik Gaul: who rouing every way,
Of the ancient Gaules.
As far as Phoebus darts his golden ray,
Seiz'd Italy; the Worlds proud Mistress sackt
Which rather Mars then Romulus compackt:
Then pill'd Panonia: then with conquering ploughs
He furrows-vp cold Strymons slymy slows:
Wastes Macedonia: and (inclin'd to fleece)
Spares not to spoyl the greatest Gods of Greece:
Then (cloyd with Europ) th' Hellespont he past,
And there Mount Ida's neighbour world did waste:
Spoyleth Pisidia: Mysia doth inthrall:
And midst of Asia plants another Gaul.
Most famous Peoples dark Antiquitie,
Is as a Wood: where bold Temeritie
Stumbles each step; and learned Diligence,
It self intangles; and blinde Ignorance
(Groping about in such Cimmerian nights)
In pits and ponds, and boggs, and quag-mires lights.
It shall suffice me therefore (in this doubt)
He affirmeth finally that the three Sonnes of Noah peopled the World, and sheweth how.
But (as it were) to coast the same about:
And, rightly tun'd vnto the golden string
Of Amrams Son, in grauest verse to sing,
That Sem, and Cham, and Iapheth did re-plant
Th' vn-peopled World with new inhabitant:
And that again great Noahs wandring Boat
The second time o're all the World did float.
Not that I send Sem, at one flight vnceast,
From Babylon vnto the farthest East,
Tartarian Chorat's siluer waues t'essay,
And people China, Cambalu, Cathay,
Iapheth to Spayn: and that profanest Cham,
To thirstie Countries Meder' and Bigam,
To Cephala vpon Mount Zambrica,
And Cape of Hope, last coign of Africa.
For, as Hymetus and Mount Hybla were
2. Fit cōparisont to represent the same.
Not ouer-spread and couered in one year
With busie Bees; but yearly twice or thrice
Each Hyve supplying new-com Colonies
[Page 342](Heav'ns tender Nurcelings) to those fragrant Mountains,
At length their Rocks dissolv'd in Hony Fountains:
Or rather, as two fruitfull Elms that spred
Amidst a Cloase with brooks enuironed,
Ingender other Elms about their roots;
Those, other still; and still, new-springing shoots
So ouer-growe the ground, that in fewe yeers
The sometimes-Mead a greet thick Groue appears:
Euen so th' ambitious Babel-building rout,
Disperst, at first go seat themselues about
Mesopotamia: after (by degrees)
Their happy Spawn, in sundry Colonies
Crossing from Sea to Sea, from Land to Land,
All the green-mantled nether Globe hath mann'd:
So that, except th' Almighty (glorious Iudge
Of quick and dead) this World's ill dayes abbridge,
Ther shall no soyl so wilde and sauage be,
But shall be shadowed by great Adams Tree.
Therefore, those Countries neerest Tigris Spring,
Why the first Monarkie began in Assyria.
In those first ages were most flourishing,
Most spoken-of, first Warriours, first that guide,
And giue the Law to all the Earth beside.
Babylon (liuing vnder th' awfull grace
Of Royall Greatnes) sway'd th' Imperiall Mace,
Before the Greeks had any Town at all,
Or warbling Lute had built the Dircean Wall:
Yer Gauls had houses, Latins Burgages,
Our Britains Tents, or Germans Cottages.
The Hebrews had with Angels Conuersation,
The Hebrewes and their next neighbours were [...]ligious & lear­ned before the Gr [...]c [...]ans knew anything.
Held th' Idol-Altars in abhomination▪
Knew the Vnknowen, with eyes of Faith they saw
Th' inuisible Messias, in the Law:
The Chaldees, Audit of the Stars had made,
Had measur'd Heav'n, conceiv'd how th' Earths thick shade
Eclipst the siluer brows of Cynthia bright,
And her brown shadow quencht her brothers light.
The Memphian Priests were deep Philosophers,
And curious gazers on the sacred Stars,
[Page 343]Searchers of Nature, and great Mathematicks;
Yer any Letter, knew the ancient'st Attiks.
Proud Aegypt glistred all with golden Plate,
The Egyptians, & Tyrians had their fill of Ri­ches, and Pomp, and Pleasure, before the Greeks or Gauls knew what the world meant.
Yer the lame Lemnian (vnder Aetna grate)
Had hammer'd yron; or the Vultur-rented
Prometheus, 'mong the Greeks had fire inuented.
Gauls were not yet; or, were they (at the least)
They were but wilde; their habit, plumes; their feast,
But Mast and Acorns, for the which they gap't
Vnder the Trees when any winde had hapt:
When the bold Tyrians (greedy after gain)
Durst rowe about the salt-blow Africk Main;
Traffikt abroad, in Scarlet Robs were drest,
And pomp and pleasure Euphrates possest.
For, as a stone, that midst a Pond yee fling,
About his fall first forms a little ring,
Wherin, new Circles one in other growing
(Through the smooth Waters gentle-gentle flowing)
Still one the other more and more compell
From the Ponds Centre, where the stone first fell;
Till at the last the largest of the Rounds
From side to side 'gainst euery bank rebounds:
So, from th' Earths Centre (which I heer suppose
About the Place where God did Tongues transpose)
Man (day by day his wit repolishing)
Makes all the Arts through all the Earth to spring,
As he doth spread, and shed in diuers shoals
His fruitfull Spawn, round vnder both the Poles.
Forth from Assyria, East-ward then they trauail
The first Colo­nies of Sem in the East.
Towards rich Hytanis with the golden grauell:
Then people they the Persian Oroätis;
Then cleer Choaspis, which doth humbly kiss
The Walls of Susa; then the Vallies fat
Neer Caucasus, where yerst th' Arsaces sate:
Then mann they Media; then with humane seed,
Towards the Sea th' Hyrcania [...] Plain they speed.
The Sons of these (like flowing Waters) spred
The second.
O're all the Country which is bordered
[Page 344]With Chiesel Riuer, 'boue Thacalistan;
Gadel and Cabul, Bedan, Balestan.
Their off-spring then, with fruitfull stems doth stoar
The Third.
Basinagar, Nayard, and either shoar
Of famous Ganges; Aua, Toloman,
The kingdom Mein, the Musky Charazan;
And round about the Desart Op, where oft
By strange Phantasmas Passengers are scoft.
Som Ages after, linkt in diuers knots,
The fourth.
Tipur they take, rich in Rhinocerots;
Caichin, in Aloes; Mangit, and the shoar
Of Quinz' and Anie lets them spread no more.
From that first Centre to the West-ward bending,
First Colonies of Iapheth in the West.
Old Noahs Nephews far and wide extending,
Seiz less Armenia; then, within Cilicia,
Possess the Ports of Tharsis and of Issea,
And the delicious strange Corycian Caue
(Which warbling sound of Cymballs seemes to haue)
[...]onia, Cappadocia, Taurus horns,
Bythinia, Troas, and Meanders turns.
The second.
Then passing Sestos Straights; of Strymon cold,
Herber and Nest they quaff; and pitch their Fold
In vales of Rhodopé, and plow the Plains
Where great Danubius neer his death complains.
Thrace, on the other side, subtle Greece beswarms;
The third diui­ded into many branches.
Greece, Italy (famous for Art and Arms):
Italy, France; France, Spayn, and Germany
( Rhines fruitfull bed) and our Great Britanie.
On th' other side, it spreads about Moldauia,
Mare-Maìour, Podolìa, and Morauìa,
With Transyluania, Seruia, and Panonia,
The Prussian Plains, and ouer all Polonia:
The verge of Vistula, and farther forth
Beyond the Alman, drawing to the North.
First Colonies of Cham, to­ward the South
Now turn thee South-ward: see, see how Chaldéa
Spews on Arabia, Phoenice, and Iudéa,
Chams cursed Ligne, which (ouer-fertill all)
Betweene two Seas doth into Aegypt fall;
[Page 345]Sowes all Cyrenia, and the famous Coast
Whereon the roaring Punik Sea is tost:
Fez, Dara, Argier, Galate, Guzol, Aden,
Terminan, Tombut, Melle, Gago, Gogden:
The sparkling Desarts of sad Libya,
Zeczec, Benin, Borno, Cano, Nubia,
And scalding quick-sands of those thirsty Plains
Where IESVS name (yet) in som reuerence raigns;
Where Prester Iohn (though part he Iudaïze)
Doth in somsort devoutly Christianize.
But would'st thou knowe, how that long Tract, that lies
Colonies of the North.
Vnder Heav'ns starry Coach, covered with yce,
And round embraced in the winding arms
Of Cronian Seas (which Sol but seldom warms)
Came peopled first? suppose, that passing by
The Plains where Tigris twice keeps company
With the far-flowing silver Euphrates,
They lodg'd at foot of hoary Nyphates:
And from Armenia, then Iberia mann'd,
Albania, Colchis, and Bosphorian strand:
And then from thence toward the bright Leuant,
That vast Extent, where now fell Tartars hant
In wandring troops; and towards th' other side
Which (neer her source) long Volga doth divide,
Moscouy Coast, Permia, Liuonia, Prussia,
Biarmia, Scrisinia, White-Lake, Lappia, Russia.
How the New­found World (discouered in our Time) came peopled. A double questi­on.
But whence (say you) had that New-World his Guests,
Which Spain (like Delos floting on the Seas)
Late digg'd from darknes of Obliuions Graue,
And it vndoing, it new Essence gaue?
If long agoe; how should it hap that no-man
Knew it til now? no Persian, Greek, no Roman;
Whose glorious Peers, victorious Armies guiding
O're all the World, of this had never tyding?
If but of late; how swarm their Cities since
So full of Folk? how pass their Monuments
Th' Aegyptian Spires, Mausolus stately Toomb,
The Walls and Courts of Babylon and Rome?
[...] [...]
Why! thinke yee (fond) those people fell from Heav'n
[...]. Answere.
All-ready-made; as in a Sommer Ev'n
After a swelting Day, som sultry showr
Doth in the Marshes heaps of Tadpals pour,
Which in the ditches (chapt with parching weather)
Lie crusht and croaking in the Mud together?
Or else, that setting certain slips, that fixt
Their slender roots the tender mould betwixt,
They saw the light of Phoebus lyuening face;
Having, for milk, moist deaws; for Cradle, grass?
Or that they grew out of the fruitfull Earth,
As Toad-stools, Turneps, Leeks, and Beets haue birth?
Or (like the bones that Cadmus yerst did sowe)
Were brauely born armed from top toe?
That spacious Coast, now call'd America,
Was not so soon peopled as Africa;
(Th' ingenious, Towr-full, and Law-louing Soil,
Which, Ioue did with his Lemans name en-stile)
And that which from cold Bosphorus doth spread
To pearl'd Auroras Saffron-coloured Bed.
Because, they ly neerer the diapry verges
Of tear-bridge Tigris Swallow-swifter surges
Whence our amaz'd first Grand-sires faintly fled,
And like sprung Patridge euery-where did spred;
Except that World, where vnder Castiles King,
Famous Columbus Force and Faith did bring.
But the rich buildings rare magnificence,
Th' infinit Treasures, various Governments,
Showe that long since (although at sundry times)
'T had Colonies (although from sundry Climes):
Whether the violence of tempestuous weather
Som broken Vessels haue inforced thither;
Whether, som desperat, dire extremity
Of Plague, War, Famin; orth' Authority
Of som braue Typhis (in aduenture tost)
Brought weary Caruels on that Indian Coast.
Who maketh doubt but yerst the Quinzay Fraights
Conictures tou­ching the Peo­pling of the same
As well might venture through the Anian Straights,
[Page 347]And finde as easie and as short a way
From the East Indies to the Tolguage Bay,
As vsually the Asian Ships are wont
To pass to Greece a-cross the Hellespont:
Spaniards to Fez, a-thwart the Straight Abilia:
Through Messine stream th' Italians to Sicilia?
From Tolm and Quiuir's spacious Plains (wherein
Bunch-backed Calues, with Horse-like manes are seen,
And Sheep-like Fleece) they fill Azasia,
Toua, Topir, Canada, Cossia,
Mecchi, Avacal, Calicuaz, Bacalos,
Los Campos de Labor (where Floods are froze).
On th' other side, Xalisco soyl they Mann
Wonders of the New-found World.
(Now new Galizia) Cusule, Mechuacan:
And cunningly in Mexik Sea they pile
Another Uenice (or a City- Ile).
Strange things there see they (that amaze them much)
Green Trees to wither with their very touch;
And in Nicaragua, a Mountain top,
That ( Aetna-like) bright Flashes belches vp.
Thence, reach they th' Isthmos of rich Panama,
And on their right hand build Oucanama,
With Cassamalca, Cusco, Quito: and
In famous Perv's very golden Strand
Admire the Lake that laueth Colle about,
Whose Waues be salt within, and fresh without:
And streams of Cinca, that with vertue strange,
To hardest stone, soft Mud and Chalk do change.
Then seiz they Chili, where all day the Deep
Runs roaring down, and all the night doth sleep:
Chinca, the Patagons, and all the shoar
Where th' azure Seas of Magellan do roor.
Left-ward, they spread them 'longst the Darians side;
Where through th' Vrabian Fields the Huo doth slide,
Neer Zenu's stream, which toward the Ocean drags,
Pure grains of Gold, as big as Pullets Eggs:
To new Granada, where the Mount embost▪
With Emeralds doth shine; Cumanean Coast,
[Page 348]Where noysom vapours (like a dusky night)
Bedimms their eyes; and doth impair their sight:
Therefore som troops, from Cumana they carrie
To Caripana, Omagu, and Pari:
By Maragnon, all over fell Brasile,
And Plate's fat Plains, where flowes another Nile.
Ghesse too, that Grotland yerst did Picne store,
And Ireland fraught Los Campos de Labor;
As Tombut, Melli, Gago and Terminan,
Planted the Plains and shoars of Corican.
Yet (happily) thou'lt gladly grant me this,
That mans ambition ay so bound-les is,
How it was pos­sible that Noah and his 3. Sonnes should so multi­ply.
That steepest Hills it over-climbs with ease,
And runs (as dry-shod) through the deepest Seas:
And (maugre meagre Thirst) her Carvells Lands,
On Afrik, Tolmon, and Arabian sands;
But hardly credit'st, that one Family,
Out of foure couples should so multiply,
That Asia, Europ, Africa, and All
Seems for their off-spring now too streight and small.
If thouset-light by th' everlasting Voyce,
1. Answere.
Which now again re-blest the Loue-full Choyce
Of sacred Wedlocks secret-binding band;
Saying, Increase, Flourish and Fill the Land:
And if (profane) thou hold it for a Fiction,
2.
That Seauenty Iews, in Aegypt (in affliction)
Within foure hundred yeers and half three-score,
Grew to fiue-hundred-thousand soules and more:
Consider yet, that being fed that while,
3.
With holesom Fruits of an vn-forced soyl,
And kindely meats, not marred by the Book,
And wanton cunning of a sawcy Cook:
Waigh furthermore, that being not cut-down
With bloody swords when furious neighbours frown;
Nor worn with Trauail, nor infeebeled
With hatefull Sloath: Our Grand-sires flowrished
Hundreds of yeers in youth; and even in Age
Could render duly Venus Escuage:
[Page 349]And that Polygamy (in those dayes common)
Most Men vsurping more then one sole Woman,
Made then the World so mightily augment
In vpright Creatures; and (in continent)
From fruitfull Loigns of one old Father-stock,
So many branches of man-kinde to flock:
Comparison to that purpose.
Even as an ear of Corn (if all the yield
Be yeerly sow'n still in a fertill Field)
Fills Barns at length; and spreads in spacious Plain
Millions of millions of like ears again.
Or, as two Fishes, cast into a Meer,
With fruitfull Spawn will furnish in fewe yeer
A Town with victuall, and serue (furthermore)
Their neighbour Waters with their Fry to store.
Haue not our Dayes a certain Father know'n,
An example of our dayes.
Who with the fruit of his own body grow'n,
Peopled a Village of a hundred Fires,
And issue-blest (the Crown of Old Desires)
In his owne life-time, his owne off-spring saw
To wed each other, without breach of Law?
So far, the branches of his fruitfull Bed,
Past all the Names of Kindreds-Tree did spread.
'Tis know'n that fewe Arabian Families
Another exam­ple.
New-planted Lybia with their Progenies,
In compass of three hundred yeers and less;
And Bugie, Argier, Oran, Thunis, Tez,
Fez, Melli, Gago, Tombut, Terminan
With hatefull Laws of Heathnish Alcoran.
If this, among the Africans we see,
Whom cor'ziue humour of Melancholy
Doth alwayes tickle with a wanton Lust,
Although less powr-full in the Paphian Ioust
For Propagation (for too-often Deed
Of Loues-Delight, enfeebles much their seed:
And inly, still they feel a Wintery Fever,
As outwardly, a scorching Sommer ever)
Ghess how much more, those, whose hoar heads approach
And see the turnings of Heav'ns flaming Coach,
[Page 350]Doe multiply; because they seldom venter,
And but in season, Uenus lists to enter.
And, the cold, resting (vnder th' Artick Star)
Still Master of the Field in champian War,
Makes Heat retire into the Bodies-Towr:
Which there vnited, giues them much more powr.
The North hath exceedingly multiplied in people: the South not so.
For thence indeed, Hunns, Herules, Franks, Bulgarians,
Circassyans, Sweues, Burgognians, Turks, Tartarians,
Dutch, Cimhers, Normans, Alains, Ostrogothes,
Tigurins, Lombards, Vandals, Visigothes,
Haue swarm'd (like Locusts) round about this Ball,
And spoyl'd the fairest Provinces of all:
While barren South had much a-doot' assemble
(In all) two Hoasts; that made the North to tremble:
Whereof; the One, that one-ey'd Champion led,
Who famous Carthage rais'd, and ruined:
Th' other (by Tours) Charles Martell martyr'd so;
That never since, could Afrik Army showe.
Whence our Au­thor taketh occa­sion to enter into an excellent dis­course of Gods wondrous worke in the diuers temperatures, qualities, com­plexions, and manners, of so many Nations in the World.
O! see, how full of Wonders strange is Nature:
Sith in each Climat, not alone in stature,
Strength, hair, and colour, that men differ doo,
But in their humours and their manners too.
Whether that, custom into Nature change:
Whether that, Youth to th' Elds example range▪
Or divers Laws of divers Kingdoms, vary-vs:
Or th' influence of Heav'nly bodies cary-vs.
The Northern-man is fair, the Southern foul;
That's white, this black; that smiles, and this doth scoul:
Th' one's blythe and frolik, th' other dull and froward;
Th' one's full of courage, th' other fearfull coward:
Th' ones hair is harsh, big, curled, th' other's slender;
Th' one loveth Labour, th' other Books doth render:
Th' one's hot and moist, the other hot and dry;
Th' one's Voice is hoarce, the other's cleer and high:
Th' one's plain and honest th' other all deceipt;
Th' one's rough and rude, the other handsom neat:
Th' one (giddy-brain'd) is turn'd with every winde;
The other (constant) never changeth minde:
[Page 351]Th' one's loose and wanton, th' other continent;
Th' one thrift-less lavish, th' other provident:
Th' one milde Companion; th' other, stern and strange,
(Like a wilde Wolf) loues by himself to range:
Th' one's pleas'd with plainness, th' other pomp affects:
Th' one's born for Arms, the other Arts respects.
But middling folk, who their abiding make
Between these two, of either guise partake:
And such haue stronger limbs, but weaker wit,
Then those that neer Nyles fertill sides doo sit;
And (opposit) more wit, and lesser force
Then those that haunt Rhines and Danubius shoars.
For, in the Cirque of th' Vniversall City;
The Southern-man, who (quick and curious-witty)
Builds all on Dreams, deep Extasies, and Traunces,
Who measures Heav'ns eternall-mouing Daunces,
Whose searching soule can hardly besuffiz'd
With vulgar Knowledge, holds the Place of Priest.
The Northern-man, whose wit in's Fingers settles,
Who what him list can work in Wood and Mettles,
Who ( Salmon-like) can thunder counterfait;
With men of Arms, and Artizans is set.
The Third (as knowing well to rule a State)
Holds, grauely-wise, the room of Magistrate.
Th' one (to be brief) loues studious Theory,
The other Trades, the third deep Policy.
Yet true it is, that since som later lustres,
Minerua, Themis, Hermes, and his Sisters
Haue set, as well, their Schools in th' Artick Parts,
As Mars his Lists, and Vulcan Shops of Arts.
Notable diffe­rences betweene the Nations of Europe.
Nay, see we not among ourselues, that liue
Mingled almost (to whom the Lord doth giue
But a small Turf of Earth to dwell-vpon)
This wondrous ods in our condition?
We finde the Alman, in his fight couragious,
But salable; th' Italian too-outragious;
Suddain the French, impatient of delay;
The Spaniard slowe, but subtle to hetray:
[...] [...]
[Page 352]Th' Alman, in Counsail cold th' Italian quick,
The French inconstant, Spaniards politik:
Fine Feeds th' Italian, and the Spaniard spares;
Especially the French, Ger­man, Italian, & Spaniard.
Prince-like the French, Pig-like the Alman, fares:
Milde speaks the French, the Spaniard proud and brave,
Rudely the Alman, and th' Italian grave:
Th' Italian proud in tyre, French changing much,
Fit-clad the Spaniard, and vn-fit the Dutch:
The French-man braves his Fo, th' Italian cheers-him,
The Alman spoyls, the Spaniard never bears-him:
The French-man sings, th' Italian seems to bleat,
The Spaniard whines, the Alman howleth great:
Spaniards like Iugglers Iett; th' Almans like Cocks,
The French goes quick, th' Italian like an Ox:
Dutch Louers, proud; th' Italian envious,
Frolik the French, the Spaniard furious.
Yet would the Lord, that Noahs fruitfull Race
Causes why the Lord would haue Man-kinde so dispersed ouer All the World.
Should over-spread th' Earths vniversall Face:
That, drawing so his Children from the crimes
Which seem peculiar to their Native Climes,
He might reveal his grace: and that Heav'ns Lights
Might well incline (but not constrain) our sprights:
That over all the World, his Saints, alwayes
Might offer him sweet Sacrifice of Praise:
That from cold Scythia, his high Name as far
Might ay resound, as Sun-burnt Zanzibar:
And that the treasures which strange Soyls produce,
Might not seem worth-les, for the want of vse;
But that the In-land Lands might truck and barter
And vent their Wares about to every Quarter.
The World com­pared to a migh­ty City, wherein dwell People of all conditions, cōtinually traffi­king together & exchanging their particular com­modities, for be­nefit of the Pub­like.
For, as in LONDON (stuft with euery sort)
Heer's the Kings Palace, there the Iunes of Court:
Heer (to the Thames-ward, all a-long the STRAND)
The stately Houses of the Nobles stand:
Heer dwell rich Merchants; there Artificers;
Heer Silk-men, Mercers, Gold-Smiths, Iewellers:
There's a Church-yard furnisht with choise of Books;
Heer stand the Shambles, there the Rowe of Cooks:
[Page 353]Heer wonn Vp-Holsters, Haberdashers, Horners;
There Pothecaries, Grocers, Taylours, Tourners:
Heer Shoo-makers; there Ioyners, Coopers, Coriers;
Here Browers, Bakers, Cutlers, Felters, Furriers:
This Street is full of DRAPERS, that of Diars:
This Shop with Tapers, that with Womens Tyars:
For costly Toys, Silk Stockings, Cambrick, Lawn,
Heer's choice-full Plenty in the curious PAWN:
And All's but an Exchange, where (brieflie) no-man
Keeps ought, as priuate. Trade makes all things common.
So com our Sugars from Canary Iles:
From Candy, Currance, Muskadels, and Oyls:
From the Moluques, Spices: Balsamum
From Egypt: Odours from Arabia com:
From India, Drugs, rich Gemms, and Iuorie:
From Syria, Mummie: black-red Ebonie,
From burning Chus: From Peru, Pearl and Gold:
From Russia, Furres (to keep the rich from cold):
From Florence, Silks: From Spayn, Fruit, Saffron, Sacks:
From Denmark, Amber, Cordage, Firres, and Flax:
From France and Flanders, Linnen, Woad, and Wine:
From Holland, Hops: Horse, from the banks of Rhine.
In brief, each Country (as pleas'd God distribute)
To the Worlds Treasure payes a sundry Tribute.
Man, lord of the World: which for the commodity of his life contri­butes bountifully all maner of ne­cessaries.
And, as sometimes that sumptuous Persian Dame
(Out of her Pride) accustomed to name
One Prouince for her Roab, her Rayl another,
Her Partlet this, her Pantofles the tother,
This her rich Mantle, that her royall Chain,
This her rare Bracelets, that her stately Train:
Euen so may Man; For, what wilde Hill so steep?
What so waste Desart? what so dangerous Deep?
What Scaso wrackfull? or so barren shoar
In all the World may be suppos'd so poor,
But yields him Rent: and free from enuious Spight,
Contributes frankly to his Lifes Delight?
The same more especially dila­ted in the parti­culars.
Th' inammell'd Valleys, where the liquid glass
Of siluer Brooks in curled streams doth pass,
[Page 354]Serue vs for Gardens; and their flowerie Fleece
Affoords vs Sythe-work, yeerly twice or thrice:
The Plains for Corn: the swelling Downs for Sheep;
Small Hills for Vines: the Mountains strangely-steep
(Those Heav'n-climbe Ladders, Labyrinths of wonder,
Cellars of winde, and Shops of sulphury Thunder;
Where stormie Tempests haue their vgly birth;
Which thou mis-call'st the blemish of the Earth;
Thinking (profane) that God, or Fortune light
Made them of enuie or of ouersight)
Bound with eternall bounds proud Emperies;
Bear mighty Forrests, full of Timber-Trees
(Whereof thou buildest Ships and Houses fair,
To trade the Seas, and fence thee from the Ayr)
Spew spacious Riuers, full of fruitfull Breed,
Which neighbour-Peoples with their plenty feed;
Fatten the Earth with fresh, sweet, fertill mists;
Driue gainfull Mills; and serue for Forts and Lists
To stop the Furie of Warres waste-full hand;
And ioyn to th' Sea, the middle of the Land.
The Wyldes and Desarts, which so much amaze-thee,
Are goodly Pastures, that do daily graze-thee
Millions of Beasts for tillage, and (besides)
Store thee with flesh, with Fleeces, and with Hides.
Yea, the vast Sea (which seems but only good,
To drown the World; and couer with his Flood
So many Countries, where we else might hope
For thrifty pains to reape a thankfull Crop)
Is a large Lardar, that in brynie Deeps,
To nourish thee, a World of Creatures keeps:
A plentious Victualler, whose prouisions serue
Millions of Citties that else needs must starue
(Like half-dead Dolphins, which the Ebb lets lie
Gasping for thirst vpon the sand, a-drie):
'Tincreaseth Trade, Iournies abbreuiates,
The flitting Clouds it cease-les exhalates;
Which, cooling th' ayr, and gushing down in rain,
Make Ceres Sons (in sight) to mounta-main.
But, shall I still be Boreas Tennis-ball?
Here (as it were) wearied with so long a voyage, from so broad & bottom-les an O­cean (in imitati­on of the inimi­table Author) the Translator hoping kind en­tertainmēt, puts in for the Port of England: whose happy praises hee prosecutes at large; Conclu­ding with a zea­lous Praier for preseruation of the King and prosperity of his Kingdoms.
Shall I be still stern Neptunes tossed Thrall?
Shall I no more behold thy natiue smoak,
Deer Ithaca? Alas! my Barkis broak,
And leaks so fast, that I can rowe no more:
Help, help, (my Mates) make haste vnto the shoar.
O! we are lost; vnless som friendly banks
Quickly receiue our Tempest-beaten planks.
Ah, courteous ENGLAND, thy kinde arms I see
Wide-stretched out to saue and welcom me.
Thou (tender Mother) wilt not suffer Age
To snowe my locks in Forrein Pilgrimage:
That fel Bresile my breath-les Corps should shrowd,
Or golden Peru of my Praise be prowd,
Orrich Cathay to glory in my Verse:
Thou gav'st me Cradle, thou wilt giue me Herse.
All-haile (deer ALEION) Europ's Pearl of price,
The Worlds rich Garden, Earths rare Paradise:
Thrice-happy Mother, which ay bringest-forth
Such Chiualry as daunteth all the Earth
(Planting the Trophies of thy glorious Arms
By Sea and Land, where euer Titan warms):
Such Artizans as do wel-neer Eclipse
Fair Natures praise in peer-les Workmanships:
Such happy Wits, as Egypt, Greece and Rome
(At least) haue equall'd, if not ouer-com;
And shine among their (Modern) learned Fellows,
As Gold doth glister among paler Yellows:
Or as Apollo th' other Planets passes:
Or as His Flowr excels the Medow-grasses.
Thy Riuers, Seas; thy Cities, Shires do seem;
Ciuil in manners, as in buildings trim:
Sweet is thine Ayr, thy Soyl exceeding Fat,
Fenç't from the World (as better-worth then That)
With triple Wall (of Water, Wood, and Brass)
Which neuer Stranger yet had power to pass;
Saue when the Heav'ns haue for thy haynous Sin,
By som of Thine, with false Keys let them in.
About thy borders (O Heav'n-blessed ILE)
There neuer crawls the noy som Crocodile;
Nor Bane-breath'd Serpent, basking in thy sand,
Measures an Acre of thy flowry Land;
The swift foot Tiger, or fierce Lioness
Haunt not thy. Mountains, nor thy wilderness;
Nor rauening Wolues worry thy tender Lambs,
Bleating for help vnto their help-les Dams;
Nor subtle Sea-Horse, with deceiptfull Call,
Intice thy Children in thy Floods to fall.
What though thy Thames and Tweed haue neuer rowl'd,
Among their grauel, massie grains of Gold?
What though thy Mountains spew no Siluer-streams?
Though euery Hillock yield not pretious Gemms?
Though in thy Forrests hang no Silken Fleeces?
Nor sacred Incense, nor delicious Spices?
What though the clusters of thy colder Vines
Distill not Clarets, Sacks, nor Muscadines?
Yet are thy Wolls, thy Corn, thy Cloath, thy Tin,
Mines rich enough to make thee Europes Queen,
Yea Empress of the World; Yet not sufficient
To make thee thankfull to the Cause efficient
Of all thy Blessings: Who, besides all this,
Hath (now nine Lustres) lent thee greater Bliss;
His blessed Word (the witnes of his fauour)
To guide thy Sons vnto his Son (their Sauer)
With Peace and Plenty: while, from War and Want,
Thy neighbours Countries neuer breathed scant.
And last, not least (so far beyond the scope
Of Christians Fear, and Anti-Christians Hope)
When all, thy Fall seem'd to Prognosticate,
Hath higher rais'd the glory of thy State;
In raysing STVARDS to thy regal Throne,
To Rule (as Dauid and as Salomon)
With prudence, Prowess, Iustice, and Sobrietie,
Thy happy People in Religious Piety.
Otoo-too happy! too-too fortunate!
Knew'st thou thy Weal: or wert thou not ingrate.
But least (at last) Gods righteous wrath consume-vs
If on his patience still we thus presume-vs:
And least (at last) all Blessings had before
Double in Curses to torment-vs more:
Deer Mother ENGLAND, bend thine aged knee,
And to the Heav'ns lift vp thy hands with me;
Off with thy Pomp, hence with thy Pleasures past:
Thy Mirth be Mourning, and thy Feast a FAST:
And let thy soule, with my sad soule, confesse
Our former sins, and [...]oul vnthankefulnes.
Pray we the Father, through th' adopting Spirit,
Not measure vs according to our merit;
Nor strictly weigh, at his High Iustice Beam,
Our bold Rebellions, and our Pride extream:
But, for his Son (our deer Redeemer's) sake,
His Sacrifice, for our Sins Ransom, take;
And, looking on vs with milde Mercies Ey,
Forgiue our Past, our Future Sanctifie;
That neuer more, his Furie we incense
To strike (as Now) with raging Pestilence
(Much less prouoke him by our guilt so far,
To wound vs more, with Famine and with War).
Lord, cease thy wrath: Put vp into thy Quiuer
This dreadfull shaft: Deer Father vs deliuer:
And vnder wings of thy protection keep
Thy seruant IAMES, both waking and a-sleep:
And (furthermore) we (with the Psalmist) sing
Lord giue thy iudgements to (our Lord) the King,
Psalm. 72.
And to his Son: and let there aye be one
Of his Male Seed to sit vpon his Throne,
To feed thy Folk in Iacob, and (aduance)
In Israel thy (deer) Inheritance,
And (long-long-liued) full of Faith and Zeal,
Reform (like Asa) Church and Common-weal;
Raysing poor Vertue, razing proudest Vice,
Without respect of Person or of Price;
That all bold Atheists, all Blasphemers, then,
All Popish Traytors may be weeded clean.
And, Curst, be All that say not heer, Amen.
FINIS.

THE COLVMNES. THE IIII. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Seth's Pillars found: Heber instructs his Son
In th' vse therof, and who them first begun;
Opens the One, and findes on seuerall Frames,
Foure liuely Statues of foure louely Dames
(The Mathematiks) furnisht each apart,
With Equipages of their seuerall Art:
Wonders of Numbers and Geómetrie:
New Obseruations in Astronomy:
Musiks rare force: Canaan (the Cursed) cause
Of Hebers stop; and BARTA swittie pause.
IF euer (Lord) the purest of my Soule
Being about to treat of the M [...] ­thematicks, our Poet he [...]r implo­reth especiall assistance in handling so high and difficult a Subi [...]ct.
In sacred Rage were rapt aboue the Pole:
If euer, by thy Spirit my spirit inspir'd,
Offred thee Layes that learned France admir'd:
Father of Light, Fountain of learned Art,
Now, now (or neuer) purge my purest part:
Now quintessence my Soule, and now aduance
My care-free Powrs in som celestiall Trance:
That (purg'd from Passion) thy Diuine address
May guide me through Heav'ns glistring Palaces;
Where (happily) my deer VRANIA'S grace,
And her fair Sisters I may all imbrace:
And (the melodious Syrens of the Sphears,
Charming my senses in those sweets of theirs)
[Page 359]So rauished, I may at rest contemple
The Starrie Arches of thy stately Temple:
Vnto this end, that as (at first) from thee
Our Grand-sires learn'd Heav'ns Course and Qualitie;
Thou now mai'st prompt me som more lofty Song,
As to this lofty Subiect doth belong.
AFTER THAT Mens strife-hatching, haut Ambition,
The occasion and ground of this Discourse.
Had (as by lot) made this lowe Worlds partition;
Phalec and Heber, as they wandred, sand
A huge high Pillar, which vpright did stand
(Much like a Rock amid the Ocean set,
Seeming great Neptunes surly pride to threat;
Whereon, a Pharos bears a Lanthorn bright,
To saue from Shipwrack those that sayl by night)
And afterward, another nigh as great;
But not so strong, so stately, nor so neat:
For, on the flowrie field it lay all flat,
Built but of Brick, of rusty Tyles, and Slat:
Whereas the First was builded fair and strong
Of Iasper smooth, and Marble lasting long.
What Miracles! what monstrous heaps! what Hills
Phalecs Que­stion.
Heav'd-vp by hand! what Types of antike Skills
In form-les Forms (quoth Phalec)! Father showe
(For, th' Ages past I knowe full well you knowe):
Pray teach me, who did both these Works erect:
About what time: and then to what effect.
Old Seth (saith Heber) Adams Scholler yerst
Hebers answer.
(Who was the Scholler of his maker first)
Hauing attain'd to knowe the course and sites,
Th' aspect and greatnes of Heav'ns glistring Lights;
He taught his Children, whose industrious wit
Through diligence grew excellent in it.
For, while their flocks on flowrie shoars they kept
Of th' Eastern Floods, while others soundly slept
(Hushing their cares in a Night-shortning nap,
Vpon Obliuions dull and sense-les Lap)
They liuing lusty, thrice the age of Ravens,
Observ'd the Twinkling Wonders of the Heav'ns:
[Page 360]And on their Grand-sires firm and goodly ground
Asumptuous building they in time doo found.
But (by Tradition Cabalist [...]k) taught
That God would twice reduce this world to nought,
By Flood and Flame; they reared cunninglie
This stately payr of Pillars which you see;
Long-time safe-keeping, for their after-Kin,
A hundred learned Mysteries therein.
This hauing sayd, old Heber drawing nigher,
The openìng of the Pillars.
Opens a Wicket in the Marble Spire,
Where ( Phalec following) soon perceive they might
A pure Lamp burning with immortal light.
As a mean person, who (though oft-disgraç't
By churlish Porters) is conuaigh'd at last
Simile.
To the Kings Closet; rapt in deep amaze,
At th' end-les Riches, vp and down doth gaze:
So Phalec fares. O father (cries he out)
What shapes are these heere placed round about,
So like each other wrought with equall skill,
That foure rain-drops cannot more like distill?
What Tools are these? what diuine secrets lie
Hidden within this learned Mysterie?
These foure (quoth Heber) Foure bright Virgins are,
The liberall Sciences.
Heav'ns Babes, and Sisters the most fair and rare,
That e're begot th' eternall Spirit (ex-pir'd
From double Spirit) or humane soule admir'd.
This first, that still her lips and fingers moues,
Arithmetike.
And vp and down so sundry-wayes remoues
Her nimble Crowns; th' industrious Art it is
Which knowes to cast all Heav'ns bright Images,
All Winters hail, and all the gawdy flowrs
Wherewith gay Flora pranks this Globe of ours.
Shee's stately deckt in a most rich Attire:
All kinde of Coyns in glistering heaps ly by-her:
Vpon her sacred head Heav'n seems to drop
A richer showr then fell in Dan [...]es Lap:
A gold-ground Robe; and for a Glass (to look)
Down by her girdle hangs a Table-book,
[Page 361]Wherein the chief of her rare Rules are writ,
To be safe-guarded from times greedy bit.
Mark heer what Figure stands for One, the right
Her Numbers.
Root of all Number; and of Infinite:
1
Loues happiness, the praise of Harmonie,
Nurcerie of All, and end of Polymnie:
No Number, but more then a Number yet;
Potentially in all, and all in it.
2
Now, note Two's Character, One's heir apparant,
As his first-born; first Number, and the Parent
3
Of Female Payrs. Heer now obserue the Three,
Th' eldest of Odds, Gods number properly;
Wherein, both Number, and no-number enter:
Heav'ns deerest Number, whose inclosed Center
Doth equally from both extreams extend:
The first that hath beginning, midst, and end.
The ( Cubes-Base) Foure; a ful and perfect summ,
4
Whose added parts iust vnto Ten doo com;
Number of Gods great Name, Seasons, Complexions,
Windes, Elements, and Cardinall Perfections.
Th' Hermaphrodite Fiue, neuer multipli'd
5
By'tself, or Odd, but there is still descri'd
His proper face: for, three times Fiue arriue
Vnto Fifteen; Fiue Fiues to Twenty- fiue.
The perfect Six, whose iust proportions gather,
6
To make his Whole, his members altogether:
For Three's his half, his Sixt One, Two his Third;
And One Two Three make Six, in One conferd.
The Criticall and double-sexed Seav'n,
7
The Number of th' vnfixed Fires of Heav'n;
And of th' eternall sacred Sabbaoth;
Which Three and Foure containeth ioyntly both.
Th' Eight, double-square. The sacred note of Nine,
8. 9.
Which comprehends the Muses Triple-Trine.
The Ten, which doth all Numbers force combine:
10.
The Ten, which makes, as One the Point, the Line:
The Figure, th' Hundred, Thousand (solid corps)
100. 1000.
Which, oft re-doubled, on th' Atlantik shoars
[Page 362]Can summ the sand, and all the drops distilling
From weeping Auster, or the Ocean filling.
See: many Summes, heer written streight and euen
Addition.
Each ouer other, are in one contriuen:
See here small Numbers drawn from greater count:
Subtraction. Multiplication.
Heer Multiplid they infinitly mount:
And lastly, see how (on the other side)
Diuision.
One Summ in many doth it self Diuide.
That sallow-faç't, sad, stooping Nymph, whose ey
Still on the ground is fixed stedfastly,
Seeming to draw with point of siluer Wand
Geometrie.
Som curious Circles in the sliding sand;
Who weares a Mantle, brancht with flowrie Buds,
Embost with Gold, trayled with siluer Floods,
Bordered with greenest Trees, and Fringed fine
With richest azure of Seas storm-full brine:
Whose dusky Buskins (old and tattered out)
Showe, she hath trauail'd far and neer about
By North and South; it is Geometrie,
The Crafts-mans guide, Mother of Symmetrie,
The life of Instruments of rare effect,
Law of that Law which did the World erect.
Heer's nothing heere, but Rules, Squires, Compasses,
Her Instrumēts and Figures.
Waights, Measures, Plummets, Figures, Ballances.
Lo, where the Workman with a steddy hand
Ingeniously a leuell Line hath drawn,
War-like Triangles, building-fit Quadrangles,
And hundred kindes of Forms of Manie-Angles
Sraight, Broad, and Sharp: Now see on th' other side
Other, whose Tracts neuer directly slide,
As with the Snayl, the crooked Serpenter,
And that which most the learned do prefer,
The compleat Circle; from whose euery-place
The Centre stands an equi-distant space.
See heer the Solids, Cubes, Cylinders, Cones,
Pyramides, Prismas, Dodechaedrons:
And there the Sphear, which (Worlds Type) comprehends
In't-selfit-self; hauing nor midst nor ends:
[Page 363]Arts excellence, praise of his peers, a wonder
Wherein consists (in diuers sort) a hundred:
Firm Mobile, an vp-down-bending-Vault,
Sloaping in Circuit, yet directly wrought.
See, how so soon as it to veer begins,
Both vp and down, forward and back it wends;
And, rapt by other, not it self alone
Moues, but moues others with its motion
(Witnes the Heav'ns): yea, it doth seem, beside,
When it stands still, to shake on every side,
Because it hath but one small point wher-on
His equal halves are equi-peiz'd vpon,
And yet this goodly Globe (where we assemble)
Though hung in th' Ayr) doth neuer selfly tremble:
For, it's the midst of the Con-centrik Orbs
Whom neuer Angle nor out-nook disturbs.
All Solids else (cast in the Ayr) reflect
Vn-self-like-forms: but in a Globe each tract
Seems still the same, because it euery-where
Is vniform, and differs not a hair.
More-ouer, as the Buildings Amblìgon
May more receiue then Mansions Oxigon
(Because th' acute, and the rect-Angles too,
Stride not so wide as obtuse Angles doo):
So doth the Circle in his Circuit span
More room then any other Figure can.
Th' other are eas'ly broke, because of ioints,
Ends and beginnings, edges, nooks, and points:
But, th' Orb's not subiect vnto such distress,
Because 'tis ioint les, point-les, corner-less.
Chiefly (my Phalec) hither bend thy minde,
And learn Two Secrets which but fewe shall finde,
Two busie knots, Two labyrinths of doubt,
Where future Schools shall wander long about,
Beating their brains, their best endeuours troubling:
The Circles Squareness, and the Cubes Re-doubling.
Print euer faster in thy faithfull brain,
The certainty of Geometry.
Then on brass leaues, these Problemes proued plain,
[Page 364]Not by Sophistick subtle Arguments,
But euen by practise and experience:
Vn-disputable Art, and fruitfull Skill,
Which with new wonders all the World shall fill.
Heer-by the Waters of the lowest Fountains,
Her rare inuen­tions. Mills.
Shall play the Millers, as the Windes on Mountains:
And grain so ground within a rowling Frame,
Shall pay his duty to his niggard Dame.
Heer-by, a Bullet spewd from Brazen brest
In fiery fume against a Town distrest,
Gunnes.
With roaring powr shall pash the Rocks in sunder,
And with the noise euen drown the voice of Thunder.
Heer-by, the Wings of fauourable Windes
Shall bear from Western to the Eastern Indes,
Ships.
From Africa to Thule's farthest Flood,
A House (or rather a whole Town) of Wood;
While sitting still, the Pilot shall at ease
With a short Leauer guide it through the Seas.
Heer-by, the PRINTER, in one day shall rid
Printing.
More Books, then yerst a thousand Wrighters did.
Heer-by, a Crane shall steed in building, more
The Crane.
Then hundred Porters busie pains before:
The Iacobs-staff, to measure heights, and Lands,
The Staffe.
Shall far excell a thousand nimble hands,
To part the Earth in Zones and Climats euen;
And in twice-twenty-and-foure Figures, Heav'n.
A Wand, Sand, Water, small Wheels turning ay,
Dials and Clocks.
In twice-twelue parts shall part the Night and Day.
Statues of Wood shall speak: and fained Sphears
Sphears.
Showe all the Wonders of true Heav'n in theirs.
Men, rashly mounting through the emptie Skie,
With wanton wings shall cross the Seas wel-nigh:
And (doubt-less) if the Geometrician finde
Another World where (to his working minde)
To place at pleasure and conuenience
His wondrous Engines and rare Instruments,
Euen (like a little God) in time he may
To som new place transport this World away.
Because these Two our passage open set
To bright Vrania's sacred Cabinet,
Wherin she keeps her sumptuous Furniture,
Pearls, Diamonds, Rubies, and Saphires pure:
Because, to climbe starrie Parnassus top
None can, vnless these Two doo help him vp
(For, whoso wants either of these Two eyes,
In vain beholds Heav'ns glistering Canapies):
The Caruer (heer) close by Geometry
Astronomie.
And Numbring Art, hath plaç't Astronomie.
A siluer Crescent wears she for a Crown,
A hairy Comet to her heels hangs down,
Brows stately bent in milde-Maiestik wise,
Beneath the same two Carbuncles for eyes,
An Azure Mantle wauing at her back,
With two bright Clasps buckled about her neck;
From her right shoulder sloaping ouer-thwart-her,
A watchet Scarf, or broad imbrodered Garter,
Flourisht with Beasts of sundry shapes, and each
With glistering Stars imbost and poudred rich;
And then, for wings, the golden plumes she wears
Of that proud Bird which starrie Rowells bears.
Bur what fair Globes (quoth Phalec) seems she thus,
Her 2. Globes.
With spreading arms, to reach and offer vs?
My Son (quoth Heber) that round Figure there,
1. The Terre­strial.
With crossing Circles, is the Mundane Sphear;
Wherin, the Earth (as the most vile and base,
And Lees of All) doth hold the lowest place:
Whom prudent Nature girdeth ouer-thwart
With azure Zone: or rather, euery part
Couers with Water winding round about,
Saue heer and there som Angles peeping out:
For, th' Oceans liquid and sad slyding Waues
Sinking in deepest of Earths hollow Caues,
Seek not (within her vast vnequall height)
The Centre of the wideness, but the weight.
Ther, should be th' Ayr, the Fire, and wandring Seauen,
The Firmament, and the first-mouing Heav'n
[Page 366](Besides th' Empyreall Palace of the Saincted)
Each ouer other, if they could be painted.
But th' Artist, faining, in the steed of these,
His 10. Circles.
Ten Circles, like Heav'ns Superficies;
To guide vs to them by more easie Path,
In hollow Globe the same described hath.
'Mid th' amplest Six, whose crossing difference
1 The Equi-nocti­all.
Diuides in two the Sphears Circumference,
Stands th' Equinoctial; equi-distant all
From those two Poles which do support this Ball.
Therefore each Star that vnderneath it slides,
A rest-les, long and weary Iourney rides,
Goes larger Circuit, and more speedy far
Then any other steady fixed Star
(Which wexeth slowe the more it doth aduaunce
Neer either Pole his God-directed Daunce)
And while Apollo driues his Load of Light
Vnder this Line, the Day and dusky Night
Tread equall steps: for, learned Natures hand
Then measures them a-like in euery Land.
The next, which there beneath it sloaply slides,
And his fair Hindges from the World's diuides
Twice twelue Degrees; is call'd the Zodiack,
2 The Zodiak.
The Planets path, where Phoebus plies to make
Th' Yeers Reuolution: through new Houses ranging,
To cause the Seasons yeerly foure-fold changing.
Th' other, which (crossing th' Vniuersall Props,
3 The 1. Colure.
And those where Titans whirling Chariot sloaps)
Rect-angles forms; and, crooking, cuts in two
Heer Capricorn; there burning Cancer too;
Of the Sun's stops, it Colure hath to name,
Because his Teem doth seem to trot more tame
On these cut points: for heer he doth not ride
Flatling a-long, but vp the Sphears steep side.
Th' other, which cuts this equi-distantly
4 The 2. Colure.
With Aries, Poles, and Scale, is (like-wisely)
The Second Colure: The Meridian, This
5 The Meridian.
Which neuer in one Point of Heav'n persists;
[Page 367]But still pursues our Zenith: as the light
6 The Horizon.
Inconstant Horizon our shifting sight.
For the foure small ones: heer the Tropiks turn,
7 and 8 The Tropiks.
Both that of Cancer and of Capricorn.
And neerer th' Hindges of the golden Sphear,
Heer's the South-Circle; the North-Circle there:
9 and 10 The South and North Circles.
Which Circles cross not (as you see) at all
The Center-point of th' Vniuersall Ball;
But, parting th' Orb into vn-equall ells,
'Twixtth' Equi-nox and them, rest Parallels.
The Celestiall Globes.
The other Ball her left hand doth support,
Is Heav'ns bright Globe: for, though that Art com short
Of Nature far, heer may ingenious soules
Admire the stages of Star-seeled Poles.
O what delight it is in turning soft
The diuers a­spects of the ce­lestiall Bodies.
The bright Abbridgement of that Vpper Loft,
(To seem) to see Heav'ns glorious Host to march
In glistring Troops about th' Aethereal Arch!
Where, one for Arms bears Bowe and Shafts: a Sword
A second hath; a trembling Launce a third:
One fals: another in his Chariot rowles
On th' azure Brass of th' euer-radiant Bowles:
This serues a-foot, that (as a Horseman) rides:
This vp, that down; this back, that forward slides:
Their Order order-less, and Peace-full Braul
With-child's the World; fils Sea, and Earth, and All.
I neuer see their glaunces inter-iect
Simile.
In Triangle, Sextile, or Square aspect;
Now milde, now moody: but, me thinks I see
Som frollik Swains amid their dauncing glee;
Where Men and Maids together make them merry,
With Iigs and Rounds, till Pipe and all be weary:
Where, on his Loue one smiles with wanton eye;
Wher-at his Riuall frowns for Iealousie.
But why (quoth Phalec) hath th' All-Fair, who frames
Question.
Nought heer below, but's full of Beauties flames;
Ingrav'n on th' Orbs of th' azure 'Crystalline
(Where Beauties self, and Loue should euer shine)
[Page 368]So many hideous Beasts and Monsters fell?
Fellows, more fit for th' vgly Fiends in Hell.
Surely (saith Heber) God's all-prudent pleasure
Answere.
Makes nothing Art-less, nor without iust measure:
And this the Worlds chief praise of Beauty carries,
That in each part it infinitly varies.
Our learned Elders then, who on this Sphear,
The reason of the names giuen to the 12. Signes of the Zodiak.
Heav'ns shining Signes imagin'd fitly-fair,
Did vnto each, such Shape and Name deuise,
As with their Natures neerly symbolize.
In form of Ram with golden Fleece, they put
1. Aries.
The bi-corn'd Signe, which the Yeers bounds doth 'butt;
Because the World (vnder his temp'rate heat
In fleece of flowrs is pranked richly neat.
Of Bull the next: because the husband-men
2. Taurus.
With yoaks of slowe-paç't smoking Bullocks then
Tear-vp their Fallows, and with hope-full toyl,
Furbush their Coultars in the Corn-fit soyl.
Of Twins the third: because then, of two Sexes
3. Gemini.
Kinde-cruell Cupid one whole body mixes:
Then all things couple, then Fruits double growe,
Then Flowrs do flourish, and corn Fields do showe.
The fourth a Lobstars name and frame they made,
4. Cancer.
Because then South-ward Sol doth retrograde,
Goes ( Crab-like) backward, and so neuer stinteth,
But still his wheels in the same track reprinteth.
The fift a Lion: for, as Lions breath
5. Leo.
Is burning hot; so likewise, vnderneath
This fiery Signe, th' Earth sparkles, and the streams
Seem sod-away with the Suns glowing beams.
6. Virgo.
The sixt a Maid: because with Maid-like honour,
Th' Earth loatheth then the Suns Loue-glances on her
T'inflame her loue: and (reclus'd as it were)
This Virgin Season nought at all doth bear.
Ballance the seuenth: because it equall weighs
7. Libra.
Nights louing-silence, and grief-guiding Daies;
And Heat and Cold: and in Must-Month, the Beam
Stands equi-poiz'd in equipeizing them.
[Page 369] Scorpion the next: because his percing sting
8 Scorpio.
Doth the first tydings of cold Winter bring.
The ninth an Archer both in shape and Name,
9 Sagittarius.
Who day and night follows his fairest game;
And his keen Arrows every-where bestowes,
Headed with Yce, featherd with Sleet and Snowes.
The next a Kid: because as Kids do clime
And frisk from Rock to Rock; about this Time
10 Capricor­nus.
The Prince of Planets (with the locks of Amber)
Begins again vp towards vs to clamber.
And then, because Heav'n alwayes seems to weep
Vnder th' ensuing Signes; on th' Azure steep
11 Aquarius. 12 Pisces. A deeper and more curious reason of the same.
Our Parents plaç't a Skinker: and by him,
Two silver Fishes in his floods to swim.
But if (my Son) this superficiall gloze
Suffice thee not: then may we thus suppose,
That as before th' All-working Word alone
Made Nothing be All's womb and Embryon,
Th' eternall Plot, th' Idea fore-conceiv'd,
The wondrous Form of all that Form receiv'd,
Did in the Work-mans spirit divinelyly;
And, yer it was, the World was wondrously:
Th' Eternall Trine-One, spreading even the Tent
Of th' All-enlightning glorious Firmament,
Fill'd it with Figures; and in various Marks
The repourtray'd Tables of his future Works.
See heer the pattern of a silver Brook
In heauen are patterns of all things that are in earth.
Which in and out on th' azure stage doth crook,
Heer th' Eagle plays, there flyes the rav'ning Crowe,
Heer swims the Dolphin, there the Whale doth rowe,
Heer bounds the Courser, there the Kid doth skip,
Heer smoaks the Steer, the Dragon there doth creep:
There's nothing precious in Sea, Earth, or Ayr,
But hath in Heav'n som like resemblance fair.
Yea, even our Crowns, Darts, Launces, Skeyns, and Scales
Are all but Copies of Heav'ns Principals;
And sacred patterns, which, to serue all Ages,
Th' Almighty printed on Heav'ns ample stages.
Yea surely, durst I (but why should I doubt
A third witty, pleasant, and ele­gant reaso of the names aforesayd.
To wipe from Heav'n so many slanders out,
Of profane Rapin and detested Rapes,
Of Murder, Incest, and all monstrous Scapes,
Wher-with (heerafter) som bold-fabling Greeks
Shall foully stain Heav'ns Rosy-blushing cheeks?)
Heer could I showe, that vnder euery Signe
Th' Eternall grav'd som Mystery divine
Of's holy City; where (as in a glass)
To see what shall heer-after com-to-pass:
As publik and autentik Rowles, fore-quoting
Confusedly th' Euents most worthy noting,
In his deer Church (his Darling and Delight).
O! thou fair Chariot flaming braue-ly bright,
Plaustrum.
Which like a Whirl-winde in thy swift Career
Rapt'st vp the Thesbit; thou do'st alwayes veer
About the North-pole, now no more be-dabbling
Thy nimble spoaks in th' Ocean, neither stabling
Thy smoking Coursers vnder th' Earth, to bayt:
Bo [...]tes.
The while Elisha earnestly doth wayt,
Burning in zeal (ambitious) to inherit
His Masters Office, and his mighty Spirit;
That on the starry Mountain (after him)
He well may manage his celestiall Teem.
Close by him, Dauid in his valiant Fist
Hercules.
Holds a fierce Lions fiery flaming Crest:
Heer shines his golden Harp, and there his Crown:
Lyra. Corona Borea­lis. Vrsa minor. Pleiades. Cuspis.
There th' vgly Bear bears (to his high renown)
Seav'n (shining) Stars: Lo, heer the whistling Launce,
Which frantick Saul at him doth fiercely glaunce.
Pure Honours Honour, Prayse of Chastity,
O fair Susanna, I should mourn for thee,
And moan thy tears, and with thy friends lament
Andromeda. Cassiopeia. Cepheus.
(With Heav'n-lift-eyes) thy wofull punishment,
Saue that so timely (through Heav'ns prouidence)
Yong Daniel saues thy wronged Innocence:
Perseus.
And by a dreadfull radiant splendor, spread
From Times-Child Truth (not from Medusa's head)
Caput Medusa.
[Page 371]Condemns th' old Leachers, and eft-soons vpon
Their cursed heads there hayls a storm of stone.
Also, as long as Heav'ns swift Orb shall veer,
A sacred Trophee shall be shining heer
In the bright Dragon, of that Idoll fell,
Draco.
Which the same Prophet shall in Babel quel.
Wher-to more fit may Pegasus compair,
Pegasus.
Than to those Coursers; flaming in the ayr,
Before the Tyrant of less-Asia's fury,
Vsurps the fair Metropolis of Iury?
Wher-to the Coach-man, but Ezechiel
That so well driues the Coach of Israel?
Wher-to the Swan, but to that Proto-Martyr,
Cygnus.
The faithfull Deacon which endureth torture,
(Yea death) for his dead Lord; whom sure to meet,
So neer his end sings so exceeding sweet?
Wher-to the Fish which shineth heerso bright,
Piscis Borealis.
But to that Fish, that cureth Tobies sight?
Wher-to the Dolphin, but to that meek Man,
Delphinus.
Who dry-shod guides through Seas Erythean
Old Iacobs Fry: And Iordans liquid glass
Makes all his Host dry (without boat) to pass?
And furthermore, God hath not onely graven
On the brass Tables of swift-turning Heav'n
His sacred Mot; and, in Triangle frame,
Trigonos.
His Thrice-One Nature stamped on the same:
Ophiucus.
But also, vnder that stout Serpent-Slayer,
His Satan-taming Son (Heav'ns glorious heir)
Who with the Engin of his Cross abates
Th' eternall Hindges of th' infernall Gates:
And, vnder that fair Sun-fixt-gazing Foul,
Aquila.
The God of Gods deer Minion of his Soule,
Which from his hand reaves Thunder often-times,
His Spirit; his Loue, which visits earthly Climes
In plumy shape: for, this bright winged Signe,
In head and neck, and starry back (in fine)
No less resembles the milde simple Doue,
Than crook-bild Eagle that commands aboue.
What shall I say of that bright Bandeleev,
Which twice-six Signs so richly garnish heer?
Th' Years Vsher, doth the Paschal Lamb fore-tell:
Aties.
The Bull, the Calf, which erring Israell
Taurus.
Sets vp in Horeb. These fair shining Twins,
Gemini.
Those striving Brethren, Isaacs tender Sons:
The fourth is Salomon, who ( Crab-like) crawls
Cancer.
Backward from Vertue; and (fowl Swine-like) fals
In Vices mire: profanest old (at last)
In soule and body growen a-like vn-chaste.
Leo.
The fift, that Lion, which the Hair-strong Prince
Tears as a Kid, without Wars instruments.
Virgo.
The sixt, that Uirgin, euer-maiden Mother,
Bearing for vs, her Father, Spouse, and Brother.
The next that Beam, which in King Lemuels hand,
Libra.
So iustly weighs the Iustice of his Land.
The next, that Creature which in Malta stings
Scorpio.
Th' Apostles hand, and yet no blemish brings;
For 'tis indifferent, whether we the same,
A spotted Scorpion, or a Viper name.
Th' Archer, is Hagars Son: The Goat (I ghess)
Sagittarius. Capricornus. Aquarius.
Is Arons Scape-Goat in the Wildernes.
The next, the deer Son of dumb Zacharias,
Gods Harbinger, fore-runner of Messias:
Who in clear Iordan washeth clean the sin,
Of all that rightly do repent with-in.
These Two bright Fishes, those wher-with the Lord
Pisces.
(Through wondrous blessing of his powtfull Word)
Feeds with fiue Loaues (vpon Asphaltis shoar)
Abundantly fiue thousand Folk, and more.
But, turn we now the twinkling Globe, and there
Let's mark as much the Southern Hemi-sphear.
Ah! know'st thou not this glorious Champion heer,
Orion.
Which shines so brightly by the burning Steer?
Eridanus.
'Tis Nun's great Son, who through deep Iordan leads
His Army dry-shod; and (triumphant) treads
Canis. Canicula. [...]epus.
On Canaan Currs, and on th' Ammorrean Hare,
Eoyl'd with the fear of his victorious war.
See th' ancient Ship, which, over windes and waues
Triumphing safe, the Worlds seed-remnant saues.
Lo, heer the Brasen Serpent shines, whose sight
Hydra.
Cures in the Desart, those whom Serpents bite.
Heer th' happy Rau'n, that brings Elias cates;
Corvus.
Heer the rich Cup, where Ioseph meditates
Cratera. Centaurus.
His graue Predictions: Heer that Heav'nly Knight,
Who prest appearing armed all in white,
To Maccabeus, with his flaming spear
So deep (at last) the Pagan Wolf doth tear,
Lupus. Ara.
That on Gods Altar (yerst profan'd so long)
Sweet Incense fumeth, and the sacred Song
Of Leuits soundeth in his House again;
Corona au­stralis. Piscis australis.
And that rich Crown th' Asmonean Race doth gain,
To rule the Iewes. Lo, there the happy Fish
Which payes Christs Tribute (who our Ransom is):
And heer the Whale, within whose noysom breast,
Balaena.
The Prophet Ionas for three dayes doth rest.
A notable corre­ction of the Poet vpon these last Discourses.
But while (my spoaks-man, or I rather his)
Thus Heber comments on Heav'ns Images,
Through path-less paths his wandring steps doth bring,
And boldly quavers on a Maiden string;
Suppose not (Christians) that I take for grounds
Or points of Faith, all that he heer propounds;
Or that old Zeno's Portall I sustain,
Or Stö [...]k Fate (th' Almighties hands to chain):
Or in Heav'ns Volume reading things to-com,
Erroneously a Chaldee-Wise becom.
No, no such thing; but to refresh again
Your tyred Spirits, I sung this novell strain:
That hither-to having with patience past
Such dreadfull Oceans, and such Desarts vast,
Such gloomy Forrests, craggy Rocks and steep,
Wide-yawning Gulfs, and hideous Dungeons deep;
You might (at last) meet with a place of pleasure,
Wher-on the Heav'ns lavish their plentious treasure,
Where Zephyre puffs perfumes, and silver Brooks
Embrace the Meads, smiling with wanton Looks.
[Page 374]Yet (curteous Readers) who is it can say
Whether our Nephews yet another-day
(More zealous than our selues in things Divine)
This curious Art shall Christianly refine;
And giue to all these glistring Figures then,
Not Heathen names, but names of Holy men?
He [...]roc [...]edes to discouer the se­crets of Astro­nomie.
But, seek we now for Heber, whose Discourse
Informs his Phalec in the Planets course:
What Epicicle meaneth, and Con-centrik,
With Apogé, Perigé, and Eccentrik:
And how fell Mars (the Seedster of debate)
Dayes glorious Torch, the wanton ( Uulcans Mate)
Saturn, and Ioue, three Sphears in one retain,
Smooth Hermes five, fair Cynthia two-times-twain.
For, the Divine Wits, whence this Art doth flowe,
Finding their Fires to wander to and fro,
Now neer, now far from Natures Nave: above,
Confusion, voyd; and rupture to remove,
Which would be caused, through their wanderment,
In th' Heav'ns inclos'd within the Firmament;
Have (more then men) presum'd to make, within
Th' Eternall Wheels where th' erring Tapers been,
Sundry small Wheels, each within other closed,
Such equi-distance each-where inter-posed,
That (though they kiss) they crush not; but the base
Are vnder th' high, the high the lowe imbrace:
Simile.
Like as the Chest-nut (next the meat) within
Is cover'd (last) with a soft slender skin,
That skin inclos'd in a tough tawny shel,
That shel in-cas't in a thick thistly fell.
Then taks he th' Astrolabe, wher-in the Sphear
The vse of the Astrolabe.
Is flat reduced: he discovers there
The Card of Heights, the Almycantharats,
With th' Azimynths and the Almadarats
(Pardon me Muse, if ruder phrase defile
This fairest Table, and deface my stile
With Barbarism: For in this Argument,
To speak Barbarian, is most eloquent).
On th' other side, vnder a veering Sight,
A Tablevcers; which, of each wandring Light
Showes the swift course; and certain Rules includes,
Dayes, names of Months, and scale of Altitudes.
Removing th' Alhidade, he spends som leasure
To shewe the manner how a Wall to measure,
A Fountains depth, the distance of a place,
A Countries compass, by Heav'ns ample face:
In what bright starry Signe, th' Almighty dread,
Dayes Princely Planet daily billeted:
In which his Nadir is: and how with-all
To finde his Eleuation and his Fall.
How long a time an entire Signe must wear
While it ascendeth on our Hemi-sphear:
Poles eleuation: The Meridian line:
And divers Hours of Day and night to finde.
These learned wonders witty Phalec marks,
And heedfully to every Rule he harks:
Wise Alchymist, he multiplies this Gold,
This Talent turns, encreasing many-fold:
And then prsents it to his Noble seed,
Who soon their Doctor in his Art exceed.
But, even as Mars, Hermes, and Uenus bright,
Simile.
Go visit now the naked Troglodite,
Then Iaue, then Guynney; and (inclin'd to change)
Oft shifting House, through both the Worlds do range
Astronomy, by whom, and how maintained.
(Both Worlds ev'n-halv'd by th' Equinoctiall Line):
So the perfection of this Art divine,
First vnder th' Hebrews bred and born, anon
Coms to the Chaldes by adoption:
Scorning anon, th' olde Babylonian Spires,
It leaves swift Tigris, and to Nile retires;
And, waxen rich, in Egypt it erects
A famous School: yet, firm-less in affects,
It falls in loue with subtil Grecian wits,
And to their hands awhile it self commits;
But, in renowmed Ptolomeus Raign,
It doth re-visit the deer Memphian Plain:
[Page 376]Yet, Thence re-fled, it doth th' Arabians try;
From thence to Rome: From Rome to Germany.
O true Endymions, that imbrace above
Vpon mount Latmos your Imperiall Love
(Great Queen of Heav'n) about whose Bed, for Guard,
The prayse of learned Astro­nomers, and the profit of their Doctrine.
Millions of Archers with gold Shields do ward.
True Atlasses: You Pillars of the Poles
Empyreall Palace; you fair learned soules;
But for your Wrightings, the Starrs-Doctrine soon
Would sink in Laethe of Oblivion:
'Tis you that Marshall months, and yeers, and dayes:
'Tis you that quoat for such as haunt the Seas
Their prosperous Dayes, and Dayes when Death ingraven
On th' angry Welkin, warns them keep their Haven:
'Tis you that teach the Plough-man when to sowe:
When the brave Captain to the Field shall goe;
When to retire to Garrison again;
When to assault a batter'd Peece; and when
To conuoy Victuals to his valiant Hoast:
'Tis you that shewe what season fitteth most
For every purpose; when to Purge is good,
When to be Bathed, when to be Let-blood:
And how Physicians, skilfully to mix
Their Drugs, on Heav'n their curious eys must fix.
'Tis you that in the twinkling of an ey
Through all the Heav'nly Provinces do fly:
'Tis you that (greater then our greatest Kings)
Possess the whole World in your Governings:
And (to conclude) you Demi-Gods can make
Between your hands the Heav'ns to turn and shake.
O divine Spirits! for you my smoothest quill
His sweetest hony on this Book should still;
Srill should you be my Theam: but that the Beauty
Of the last Sister drawes my Love and Duty,
For, now I hear my Phalec humbly crave
The fourth Mayds name: his Father, mildely-grave,
Replyes him thus; Obserue (my deerest Son)
Those cloud-less brows, those cheeks vermilion,
[Page 377]Those pleasing looks, those eyes so smiling-sweet,
The description of Musike.
That grace-full posture, and those prety feet
Which seem still Dancing: all those Harps and Lutes,
Shawms, Sag-buts, Citrons, Viols, Cornets, Flutes,
Plaç't round about her; prove in every part
This is the noble, sweet, Voice-ord'ring Art,
Breath's Measurer, the Guide of supplest fingers
On (living-dumb, dead-speaking) Sinnew-singers:
Th' Accord of Discords: sacred Harmony,
And Numb'rie Law, which did accompany
Th' Almighty-most, when first his Ordinance
Appointed Earth to Rest, and Heav'n to Dance.
The Heauens Harmony.
For (as they say) for super-Intendent there,
The supream Voice placed in every Sphear
A Syren sweet; that from Heav'ns Harmony
Inferiour things might learn best Melody,
And their rare Quier with th' Angels Quier accord
To sing aloud the prayses of the Lord,
In's Royall Chappell, richly beautifi'd
With glist'ring Tapers, and all sacred Pride.
Simile.
Where, as (by Art) one selfly blast breath'd out
From panting bellowes passeth all-about
Winde-Instruments; enters by th' vnder Clavers
Which with the Keys the Organ-Master quavers,
Fils all the Bulk, and severally the same
Mounts every Pipe of the melodious Frame;
At once reviving lofty Cymbals voice,
Flutes sweetest ayr, and Regals shrillest noyse:
Even so th' all-quickning spirit of God above
The Heav'ns harmonious whirling wheels doth move;
So that-re-treading their eternall trace,
Th' one bears the Treble, th' other bears the Base.
A foure-folde Consort in the humors, seasons, and Elements.
But, brimmer far than in the Heav'ns, heer
All these sweet-charming Counter-Tunes we hear:
For, Melancholy, Winter, Earth belowe,
Bear ay the Base; deep, hollow, sad, and slowe:
Pale Phleagm, moist Autumn, Water moistly-cold,
The Plummet-like-smooth-sliding Tennor hold:
[Page 378]Hot-humid Bloud, the Spring, transparent Air,
The Maze-like Mean, that turns and wends so fair:
Curst Choler, Sommer, and hot-thirsty Fire,
Th' high-warbling Treble, loudest in the Quire.
And that's the cause (my Son) why stubborn'st things
The power of Musike towards all things.
Are stoopt by Musick; as reteining springs
Of Number in them: and they feeble live
But by that Spirit which th' Heav'ns dance doth drive.
Sweet Musik makes the sternest men-at-Arms
Let-fall at once their anger and their Arms:
Towards Men.
It cheers sad soules, and charms the frantik fits
Of Lunatiks that are bereft their wits:
It kils the flame, and curbs the fond desire
Of him that burns in Beauties blazing Fire
(Whose soule, seduced by his erring eyes,
Doth som proud Dame devoutly Idolize):
It cureth Serpents bane-full bit, whose anguish
In deadly torment makes men madly languish:
The Swan is rapt, the Hinde deceiv'd with-all,
And Birds beguil'd with a melodious call:
Towards Beasts, Birdes, Plies, & Fishes.
Th' Harp leads the Dolphin, and the buzzing swarm
Of busie Bees the tinkling Brass doth charm.
O! what is it that Musik cannot doo!
Sith th' all-inspiring Spirit it conquers too:
And makes the same down from the Empyreall Pole
Descend to Earth into a Prophets soule:
With divine accents tuning rarely right
Towards God himselfe.
Vnto the rapting Spirit the rapted Spright?
Sith, when the Lord (most moved) threatneth most,
With wrathfull tempest arming all his Hoast;
When angry stretching his strong sinnewy arms,
With bended back he throwes down thundry storms;
Th' harmonious sighs of his heart-turning Sheep
Supple his sinnews, lull his wrath a-sleep;
While milde-ey'd Mercy stealeth from his hand
The sulph'ry Plagues prepar'd for sinfull Man?
But, while that Heber (eloquently) would
Conclusion of the 2. Day of the 2. Week.
Olde Musikes vse and excellence haue told;
[Page 379]Curst Canaan (seeking Iordans fatall course)
Past by the Pillars, and brake his Discourse,
And mine with-all; for I must rest me heer:
My weary Iourny makes me faint well-neer:
Needs must I craue new ayd from High, and step
A litle back, that I may farther leap.
The ende of the Second Day of the Second Week,

ABRAHAM. The THIRD DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;

Containing

  • 1. THE VOCATION,
  • 2. THE FATHERS,
  • 3. THE LAWE,
  • 4. THE CAPTAINS.
Acceptam refero.

The VOCATION. THE I. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
ABRAM from Chaldé is Divinely CALL'D:
How Blest abroad: His (parted) Nephew Thrall'd
(In Sodom's ayd) to Chedorlaomer;
Rescu'd by Him: Type of that bloudy War:
Melchisedec His Hap congratulates:
Ismael great; but GOD confederates
With (promis'd) Isaak, and his ( CHRIST-kin) Seed
Which shall in number even the Stars exceed.
Lot harbors Angels; sav'd from Sodom's Fire;
His Wife Transform'd: His Daughter's foul Desire.
VNtill this Day (deer Muse) on every side
Within straight lists thou hast been boundifi'd,
Pend in a Path so narrow every-where,
Thou couldst not manage: onely heer and there
(Reaching thine arms over the Rails that close
Thy bounded Race) thou caught'st som fragrant Rose,
Som Gilly-flowr, or som sweet Sops-in-Wine,
To make a Chaplet thy chaste brows to binde.
But now, behold th' art in the open Plain,
Where thou maist liuely (like the Horse of Spain,
Simile.
That having burst his halter and his holde
Flings through the field, where list him, vncontrol'd)
Coruet, and turn, run, prance, advance, and pride-thee,
As sacred fury of thy Zeal shall guide-thee.
Th' whole World is thine: hēceforth thy Sythe may mowe
The fairest Crop that in Fame's fields doth growe;
And, on the Sea of richest Histories
Hulling at large, a hundred Victories,
A hundred Rowts, a hundred Wonders new
Com huddling in, in heaps before thy view:
So that I fear, lest (trayn'd with various sent)
Thou be at fault in this vast Argument;
And least the best choice in so bound-less Store,
Painthee no less now, than did Want before.
But wotst thou what, my Muse (my deer delight,
My care, my comfort)? we will follow right
The modest hand of a fair Shepheardling,
Simile.
Who doth not rudely spoyl the flowry Spring,
Of all her painted beauties; nor deface
All in one day a pleasant Gardens grace;
But mannerly amid the Quarters seeks
Such rarest flowrs as best her fancy likes:
And heer a blew one, there a red she pulls,
A yellow heer, and there a white she culls,
Then bindes them with her hair, and blessed over
With a chaste kiss, she sends them to her Lover:
Wee'l ouer-run the Annalls of all Ages,
And choosing-out the chiefest Personages,
And Prodigies amid the Hebrew Story,
Wee'l offer them on th' Altar of Gods glory.
For He (I hope) who, no less good then wise,
First stirr'd vs vp to this great Enterprise,
And gaue vs heart to take the same in hand,
For Level, Compass, Rule, and Squire will stand;
Will change the Pebbles of our puddly thought,
To Orient Pearls, most bright and bravely wrought:
And will not suffer in this pretious Frame
Ought that a skilfull Builders ey may blame:
Or, if he suffer ought, 't shall be som trace
But of that blindnes, common to our Race;
T'abate my glory, and to giue me proof
That (mortall) I build but with mortall stuff.
IAMES, richest Iem of Scots, and Scotland's Praise,
Dedication to the Kings Ma­iestie.
Who, with the same hand that the Scepterswayes,
On Heav'n-faln paper in a golden stile,
Doost happily immortall lines compile;
And (new Apollo) vnder Others names
Singst in thy Childehood thine Ownefuture Fames:
To whom but thee should I these Verses vow?
Who through the World hast made me famous now,
And with a liberall learned hand indew'd
My Muse with lustre of a Royall Sute;
Before, so ragged that she blusht wel-neer
That her chaste Sisters should so homly see-her
The scorn of Art, of Helicon the shame,
Vsurping (wrong) VRANIA'S sacred Name.
Through thee she's Heav'nly. O wise, worthy Prince,
May'st thou surmount all those in Excellence,
Which haue (before thee) Rul'd th' hard-ruled Scots,
And ruder Picts (painted with Martiall spots)
That, first Fergusius (glory of his dayes)
Ev'nus and Donald may enuy thy Praise;
And even the Scott'sh, or (rather th' Hebrew) Dauid
( Iesses great son, so holily-behaved)
Give place to thy Renown, and therewithall
Give thee his Zeal and Heart heroïcall,
And all his best (which doth thee best belong)
As he hath given thee his sweet Harp and Song.
THOVGH profane service of Idolatry
Had drown'd the whole Earth vniversally:
Though shame-less sin (born with the COLONIES
Through all the World) through all did Tyrannize:
Yet in Chaldea was their chiefest Seat,
Their strength in Shinaar; and that City great,
Built on the slymy strand of Euphrates,
Was the proud Palace where they held their Feasts.
So that, even Sem's and Heber's sacred Ligne
(Where God his grace yet seemed to confine)
Sucking the Sin-bane of Assyrian aire,
Did (like the Heathen) every day impaire:
Simile.
[Page 384]Forgot the true God: followed (rashly-rude)
The gross grand Error of the multitude:
Degeneriz'd, decay'd and withered quight:
Likesom rare Fruit-Tree over-topt with spight
Of Bryers and Bushes which it sore oppress,
With the sowr shadow of their Thorny tress,
Till choakt withall, it dies as they do growe,
And beareth nought but Moss and Misseltoe.
But God, desirous (more for vs, then him)
The Calling of Abraham.
In som one stock to saue Faith's sacred stem
(Like as before from the All-drowning Flood
He sav'd the worlds seed in an Ark of wood)
Marks Abram for his owne: and from false Rites
To men, to Beasts, to Stocks, to Stones, to Sprights,
Him gratiously to his owne Service drawes;
Not by meer Conduct of exteriour cause,
As by contempling th' Artship richly-rare
Which gilds the Seeling of this Globe so fair;
Earthsfruitfull power, producing (goodly-green)
From so small seeds so huge and mighty Treen,
Flowrs fragrant aier, so fresh and divers-died;
Seas foaming Course, whose ever-Tilting Tide
(Ebbing or flowing) is confin'd to Season,
Bounded with lists, guided with reans of Reason:
But, by the motion of his Spirit, which seals
In our hearts Centre what his word reveals,
And prudently in his fit time and place
(Dispensing frankly his free gifts of Grace)
Doth inwardly bear-witnes, and aver-it
Vnder our Spirits that' [...]is God's Holy Spirit.
The sacred Faith of Abram languisht not
In Idleness, but alwayes waakt and wrought,
The fruits of a true faith and the effect there­of.
And ever lively, brought forth Patience,
Humility, Hope, Bounty, Innocence,
Love, fervent Zeal, Repentance, Temperance,
Sincerity, and true Perseverance;
Fruits that (like Load-stones) haue avertue given
(Through Faith) to draw their Father-Tree to Heav'n,
[Page 385]And guide the soules to God (the spring of life)
Of's kins-man Lot, and Sara his deer Wife;
Who with him following the Almighti's call,
Wend to the strand where Iordans course doth craul,
Their owne deer Country willingly forsake,
And (true-religious) less account do make
Of goods and lands, and quiet-lifes content,
Than of an end-les, friend-les Bannishment.
O sacred ground of Vertu's sole perfection!
O shield of Martyrs! Prophets sure direction!
Soule's remedy! O contrite heart's Restorer!
Tears-wiping tame-grief! Hopes guide, hunting▪ horror,
Path of Salvation! Pledge of Immortality!
O lively FAITH! through thy admired quality,
How many wonders doost thou work at once,
When from Sin's slumbers thou hast waakt vs once,
And made vsmly in our spirits conceiue
Beauties that never outward eyes perceiue!
Alas! said Abram, must I needs forgoe
Natural conside rations to haue stopped the Iour­ney of Abraha.
These happy fields where Euphrates doth flowe?
Heer, first I drew this vitall air, and (pleas'd
With my births news) my Mothersthroes I eas'd:
Heer, from her tender brest (as soft as silk)
My tender gums suckt my first drop of milk:
Heer, with the pleasure of mine infant-smile
Her Cares and Cumbers I did oft beguile:
Heer, my chaste Sisters, Vnkles, Aunts and Kin,
My prity prattling haue delighted in:
Heer, many a time I want only haue clung,
And on my Fathers wrinkled neck haue hung:
Heer, I haue past my Lad-age fait and good;
Heer, first the soft Down on my chin did bud:
Heer, I haue learn'd Heav'ns Motions and the nature
And various force of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water:
Heer, I haue show'n the noblest tokens forth
Both of my Mindes and of my Bodies worth:
Heer, I have spent the best part of mine age:
Heer, I possess a plentious Heritage:
[Page 386]Heer, I haue got me many friends and fame;
And by my Deeds attain'd a glorious Name:
And must I hence: and leaue this certain state,
To roam vncertain (like a Runnagate)
O're fearfull Hils, and thorough foaming Torrents
That rush-down Mountains with their roring currents,
In dreadfull Desarts, where Heav'ns hottest beam
Shall burn without; within vs, Thirst extream:
And gloomy Forrests full of ghastly fear
Of yelling Monsters that are dwelling there?
To seek a Country (God knowes where, and whither)
Whose vnknowen name hath yet scarce sounded hither?
With staff in hand and wallet at our back
From Town to Town to beg for all we lack?
To guise ourselues (like counterfaiting Ape)
To th' guise of Men that are but Men in shape?
T' haue (briefly) nothing properly our owne
In all the World; no not our Grave-place knowen?
Is't possible I should endure to see
The sighs and tears my friends will shed for me?
O! can I thus my Native soyl forsake?
O! with what words shall I my farwell take?
Farwell Chaldea, deer delights adieu:
Friends, Brothers, Sisters, farwell all of you▪
Farwell for ever: Can I thus (alas!)
Rudely vnwinde me from the kinde embrace
Of their deer arms that will me faster holde
2. Comparisons.
Than trembling Ivie doth the Oak enfolde;
Or then the Vine doth with her crawling spray
The boughs of Elm, her limber limbs to stay?
Can I expose (with perill of my life)
Th' vn-vulgar beauties of my vertuous wife,
To the none-sparing lust of that loose Nation
That brutely burns in all abhomination?
Besides, what rigour? nay, what paricide?
To hale from Tygris shoat to Iordans side
A weak olde-man, a man so weak and olde,
He scarse can creep without our help and holde?
Yet, 't must be so: for so the Lord commands.
His resolution a­boue al discour se of reason.
A carnall man on carnal reason stands:
But, for all Reasons, Faith suffizeth me.
Who lodge with God can never House-less be.
Then cheerly marcht he on, and though the age
And death of Terah slow'd his pilgrimage;
Therest of His he doth conduct (in fine)
To Canaan (since called Palaestine):
Where God pours down such flouds of goods vpon them,
The great bles­sing of God on his obedience.
And bountiously bestowes such blessings on-them,
That their abundance shortly seems t'exceed
God's Promises, and their desires indeed.
Their fruitfull Heards, that hill and dale do haunt,
Resemble not the breed of th' Elephant,
Which (slowe in coupling, and in calving more,
Pyning her Master so long time before
Simile.
With lingring hope) brings-forth with painfull groans,
But once in twelve yeers, but one Calf at once:
All's white with their wool: all their Cattle proves,
Stil, stil increasing, like to Stares and Doves.
Their Wealth so growes, that wantoniz'd withall,
[...]arre begun be­tweene his Ser­uants, and the seruants of Lot.
Their envious Shepheards broach a civill Brawl.
But, least this Mischief by the Grooms begun,
Between their Masters might vnkindely run,
The grave-milde Grand-sire of the Faithfull (there)
And Ammon's Father, to cut-off the fear
Of farther strife, and to establish rather
Their Mindes then Bodies in a league together;
Divided duly with a deep fore-sight
Their Flocks and Heards in number infinite.
Then pleas'd, and parted; both go liue a-part:
Abram & Lot to shun conten­tion, part com­pany.
The Vnkle kept the Mountain for his part;
For, 's Nephew chose the fat and flowery Plain,
And euen to Sodom stretcht his Tent and Train;
And, dwelling there, becam a Citizen
Among those monstrous, Nature-forcing Men.
O Lot (alas!) what lot hast thou elect?
Lot dwels at Sodome.
Th' eternal verdure, and the trim prospect,
[Page 388]The plentious Pastures, and the purling Springs
Whose fibrous silver thousand Tributes brings
To wealthy Iordan, watering so the soil
(Like Gods owne Garden) doth thy sense beguile,
Blindeth thy iudgemet, makes thee (miserable)
To seat thee with a People execrable,
Whose War-thrall'd woes, and odious villanies
To springs of tears shall turn thy tender eyes.
Elam's proud King, great Chedor-laomer,
The battaile of Siddim fought by the king of E­lam, with his cō ­federates, against the Kings o [...] So­dome and Go­morrha with theirs.
(Leagued with Arioch, King of Ellazar,
The Soveraign of the Nations, Thadael,
And with the King of Shynaar, Amraphel)
Made war against the Kings of Sodoma,
Gomorrha, Zeböim, Zoar, Adamah;
Who, subiect to him for twelue years before,
Rebelled now, and cast the yoak they bore.
Both Camps appoach, their bloudy rage doth rise,
And even the face of Cowards terriblize;
New Martial heat inflames their mindes with ire,
Their bloud is moov'd, their heart is all on fire.
Their cheerfull limbs (seeming to march too slowe).
Longing to meet, the fatall drums out-goe;
And even already in their gesture fight:
Th' iron-footed coursers, lusty, fresh, and light,
Marying their Masters cause and courage both
Snowe all the field with a white foming froth,
And prancing with their load (as proud withall)
With loud-proud neighings for the Combat call.
Now both the Hoasts march forward furiously,
The Plain between soon shrinketh equally:
First in the aire begins a fight of dust,
Then on the Earth both Armies bravely ioust.
Braue yet it was: for yet one might behold
Bright swords and shields, and plumed helms of gold▪
Vn-goard with bloud; no Cask had lost his head,
No Horse his load, no scattered Corps lay dead,
But, on our Corn-fields towards harvest-time
Comparison.
(For punishment of som in gratefull crime)▪
[Page 389]Th' incensed hand of Heav'ns Almighty King
Never more thick doth slippery Ice-pearls fling,
Than heer the arrows showr on every side:
An iro [...] Cloud Heav'ns angry face doth hide
From Souldiers sight; and flying weapons then
For lack of ground fall vpon horse or men:
Ther's not a shaft but hath a man for White,
Nor stone but lightly in warm bloud doth light:
Or, if that any fail their foes to hit
In fall; in flight themselues they enter-split:
The wounds com all from Heav'n: the bravest hee
Kils and is kild of him he doth not see:
Without an aim the Dart-man darts his spear,
And Chaunce performs th' effect of Valour there.
As two stout Rams, both Ieloux-phrensie-sick,
Simile.
A front two flocks, spurr'd on with anger's prick,
Rush-on each other with tempestuous shock,
And butting boisterous, horns and heads do knock:
So these two Armies enterchanged blowes,
And doubling steps and strokes vpon their Foes,
First flesh their Launces, and their Pikes imbrew,
Then with their swords about them keenly heaw,
Then stab with daggers; standing brauely too-'t,
Till Foe to Foe they charge them foot to foot;
So neer, that oft ones Targets pike doth pearce
Anothers Shield, and sends him to his Herse.
And gawdy plumes of Foes (be-Cedered braue)
Oft on their Foes (vn-plumed) crests do waue.
Of all their stroaks scarce any stroak is vain;
Yet stand they firm, and still the fight maintain:
Still fronting Death, they face to face abide,
None turn their backs, no neither shrink a-side,
Of their owne blood, as of their Foe's as frank.
But, too-too-tyred, som at last dis-rank:
Then, Threats, and Cries, and Plaints, redoubled ay,
And so pel-mel rage-blinded Mars doth play,
That now no more their Colours they discern;
But knowing none, to all are strangely stern.
[Page 390]The Palestine fights vnder Elams Standard,
The Shinarite with Sodoms Ensignos wander'd:
Euen as two swarms of busie Buzzers mounting
Simile.
Amid the ayr, and mutually affronting,
Mingle their Troups; one goes, another coms,
Another turns; a clowd of Moatlings hums
Aboue our heads, who with their cipres wings
Decide the Quarrell of their little Kings:
Either of which, a hundred times a minute
Doth lose a Souldier, and as oft re-win-it.
But, may one hope in Champions of the Chamber,
A martial braue of an olde Cap­tain against the e [...]feminate soft­nes and delicacie of Carpet Knights.
Soft Carpet-Knights, all senting Musk and Amber
(Whose chief delight is to be ouer-com)
Vn-daunted hearts that dare to Over-com?
In Woman-Men a manly Constancy?
In wanton Arms vn-wearied Valiancy?
No, no, ( Gomorrha) this is not the place
For quav'ring Lutes a warbling Voice to grace:
No (filthy S [...]dom) 'tis not heer the game
To play with Males, inspight of Natures name:
No ( Zeböim) heer are no Looking-Glasses
For Para-Nymphs to gaze their painted faces:
To starch Mustachoes, and to prank in print,
And curl the Lock (with fauours brayded in't):
No ( Adamah) we spend not heer the day
In Dancing, Courting, Banquetting, and Play:
Nor lastly ( Zoar) is it heer the guise
Of silken Mock- Mars (for a Mistress-Prize)
With Reed-like Launce, and with a blunted Blade,
To Championize vnder a Tented shade,
As at your Tourneys. Therfore to your Mew:
Lay-down your weapons, heer's no Work for you▪
'Tis heer the Fashion (and the pride of Wars)
To paint the face with sweat, dust, blood, and scars▪
Our Glass is heer a bright and glistring shield:
Our Satten, steel: the Musick of the Field
Doth rattle like the Thunders dreadfull roar:
Death tilteth heer: The Mistress we adore,
[Page 391]Is Victory (true Soveraign of our hearts)
Who without danger graceth no Deserts:
Dead carcasses perfume our dainty Nose:
Our Banquets heer, be Banquets for the Crowes:
Fly therefore (Cowards) fly and turn your backs,
(As you were wont in your thought-shaming acts)
But with our Swords and Launces (in your haste)
Through-thrilled (Villains) this shall be your last,
Said Amraphel: and charg'd them in such sort,
That't seems a suddain Whirl-winde doth transport
Their fainting Troups. Som (best-aduised) fly
Defeature of the Sodomit [...]s.
To tops of Mountains, that do neighbour by;
Som through the Plain: but, neither (in the chace)
Dares once look back (no, not with half a face)
Their fear had no restraint, and much less Art:
This throwes away his shield, and that his dart;
Swords, Morrions, Pouldrons, Vaunt-brace, Pikes, & Launces,
Are no defence, but rather hinderances:
They with their hearts, haue also lost their sight,
And recking less a glorious end, in Fight,
Than thousand base deaths, desperatly they ran
Into the flood that fats rich Canaan.
Then, Iordan arms him 'gainst these infidels,
With rapid course, and like a sea he swels;
Lakes vnder ground into his channel range,
And shallowest Foords to ground-less gulfs do change:
He fumes, he foams, and swiftly whirling ground,
Seems in his rage, these bitter words to sound:
Die (Villains) die: O more than in famous
Foul Monsters, drench your damned soules in vs.
Sa, sa, my Floods: with your cold moisture quench
The lust-full flame of their self-burning stench.
Drown, drown the Hel-hounds, and revenge the wrong,
Which they haue done our Mother Nature long.
The River swiftly whirling-in the slaues,
Aboue with Bowes, beneath with Bodies paues:
The gaudy Plume, yet floting light and soft,
Keeps for awhile, the hollow helm aloft;
[Page 392]But yet (at length) even those that smim the best,
Down to the bottom sink among the rest,
Striving and struggling (topsi-turuy tost)
While fain they would, but cannot yield the ghost;
Because the flood (vnwilling to defile
His purest waues with spirits so foul and vile)
Re-spews them still into themselues, and there
Smoothers, and choaks, and rams them, as it were:
Then both at once (Bodies and Soules) at last
To the main Sea, or his own shoar doth cast.
The Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha then,
Their own Am­bush serues a­gainst them­selues.
Hoping to train the King of Elams men,
Among the Clay-pits which themselues before
(T'intrap the Foe) with boughs had covered or'e,
Ran thither-ward: but their confused flight,
In their owne ambush made their owne to light,
Wherin they lost the flowr of all their rest,
Sooner of death, then of deaths fear possest.
One, as he flies with trembling steps the dart
Which (from behinde) nigh pearst him to the heart,
Tangling his foot with twyning tendrels tho
Of a wilde Vine that neer a pit did growe,
Stumbles, and tumbles in, hung by the heels
Vp to the waste in water: where he feels
A three-fold Fate: for there (O strange!) he found
Three deaths in one; at once slain, hangd, and drownd:
Another, weening ore a Well to skip,
From the wet brim his hap-less foot doth slip,
And he in falls: but instantly (past hope)
He catcheth holde vpon a dangling rope,
And so at length with shifting hands gets-vp
By little and little to the fountains top:
Which Thadael spying, to him straight he hies,
And thus alowd vnto the wretch he cries;
Varlet, is this, is this the means you make,
Your wonted yoak of Elam off to shake?
Is this your Skirmish? and are these your blowes,
Wher-with t'incounter so courageous Foes?
[Page 393]Sir, leaue your ladder; this shall serue as well,
This sword shall be your ladder down to Hell:
Go pay to Pluto (Prince of Acheron)
The Tribute heer deni'd vnto your owne:
Heer-with he drawes his Fauchin bright and keen,
And at a blowe heaws both his arms off clean;
His trickling hands held fast, down fell his Trunk,
His blood did swim, his body quickly sunk.
Another (roughly pushed by the Foe)
Falls headlong down into a Bog belowe:
Where, on his head deep planted in the mud
With his heels vp-ward like a tree he stood;
Still to and fro, wauing his legs and arms,
Simile.
As Trees are wont to waue in windie storms.
Another heer (on hors-back) posting ouer
A broad, deep clay-pit that green boughs do couer,
Sinks instantly; and in his suddain Fate
Seems the braue Horse doubly vnfortunate:
For, his own neck he breaks, and bruzing in
(With the keen scales of his bright Brigandin)
His Masters bowels, serues (alas!) for Tomb
To him that yerst so many times did comb
His crispy Crest, and him so frankly fed
In's hollow Shield with oats and beans, and bread:
Simile.
Even so somtimes, the loving Vine and Elm
(With double domage) ioyntly over-whelm;
Shee wails the wrack of her deer Husbands glade;
He moans his Spouses feeble arms and shade:
But most it grieues him with his Trunk to crush
The precious Clusters of her pleasing Bush;
And press to death vnkindly with his waight
Her that for loue embraceth him so straight.
Yet Lot alone (with a small troup assisted)
Lots valour.
The Martiall brunt with Manly breast resisted,
And thirsting Fame, stands firmly looking for
The furious hoste of Chedorlaomor:
But as a narrow and thin-planted Cops
Of tender Saplings with their slender tops,
[Page 394]Is fell'd almost as soon as vnder-taken
By Multitudes of Peasants Winter-shaken:
Lot's little Number so environ'd round,
Hemm'd with so many swords, is soon hew'n down.
His vndanted resolution.
Then left alone, yet still all one he fares;
And the more danger, still the more he dares:
Like a strange Mastif fiercely set vpon
Simile.
By mongrell Currs, in number ten to one:
Who tyr'd with running (growen more cunning) gets
Into som corner, where vpright he sets
Vpon his stern, and sternly to his Foes
His rage-full, foaming, grinning teeth he showes,
And snarls, and snaps; and this and that doth bite,
And stoutly still maintains th' vnequall fight
With equall fury, till (disdaining Death)
His Enemies be beaten out of breath.
Arioch, admiring, and (even) fearing too
What Lot had done, and what he yet might doo;
Him princely meets, and mildely greets him thus:
Cease (valiant youth) cease, cease t' incounter vs.
Wilt thou (alas!) wilt thou (poor soule) expose
And hazard thus thy life and Fame to lose,
In such a Quarrell, for the cause of such?
Alas, I pitty thy mis-fortune much.
For, well I see, thy habit and thy tongue
Thine Arms (but most) thy courage) yet so yong)
Showe that in SODOM's wanton walls accurst
Thou wert not born, nor in Gomorrha nurst.
O chief of Chivalry, reserue thy worth
For better wars: yield thee: and think hence-forth
I highly prize thy prows; and, by my sword,
For thousand kingdoms will not false my word.
Past hope of Conquest (as past fear of death)
Lot taken priso­ner.
LOT yields him then vpon the Princes Faith;
And, from his Camel quick-dismounting, hies
His Royall hand to kiss in humble wise:
And th' Army, laden with the richest spoyl,
Triumphantly to th' Eastward marcht the while.
No sooner noyse of these sad novels cam
Abraham with his family of 300. goes to res­cue Lot.
Vnto the ears of faithfull ABRAHAM,
But instantly he arms to rescue LOT,
And that rich prey the heathen Kings had got.
Three hundred servants of his house he brings
(But lightly arm'd with staues and darts, and slings
Aided by MAMRE (in whose Plain he wons)
ASCOL and ANER (AMOR's valiant sons)
So at the heels he hunts the fearless Foe,
Yet waits aduantage yer he offer blowe)
Favour'd by streightness of the ways they took,
And couer'd close with nights deceitfull cloak.
A liuely descrip tion of Sleep, with his Cel, Seruants, furni­ture & company
In Groon-land fields is found a dungeon,
A thousand-fold more dark than Acheron,
It hath no door, lest as it turns about
On rusty hooks, it creak too lowdly out,
But Silence serues for Port and Porter there,
A gagged Vsher that doth never wear
Stif-rustling silks, nor ratling chamlet sutes,
Nor gingling spurs, nor creaking spanish boots;
But, that he make no noyse (when ere he sturs)
His high-day sutes are of the softest Furs,
At other times (less-stately-service-ful)
Hee's only clad in cotton, shod in wool:
His left fore-finger ore his lips he locks,
With th' other beckens to the early Cocks,
The rushing streams, and roaring Eölus,
Seeming (though dumb) to whisper softly thus:
Sleep silver Torrents; cease, sweet Chante-cleer,
To bid Good-morrow to the Morning heer:
Be still, ye Windes, keep in your natiue nest,
Let not your storms disturb this house of Rest.
In midst of all this Caue so dark and deep,
On a still-rocking couch lies blear-ey'd Sleep,
Snorting alowd, and with his panting breath
Blowes a black fume, that all envapoureth:
Obliuion lies hard-by her drowzy brother,
Who readily knowes not her self, nor other:
[Page 396]Then solitary Morpheus gently rockt:
And nasty Sloath self-pyn'd, and poorly-frockt,
Irresolute, vnhandsom, comfortless,
Rubbing her eyes with Poppy, and doth press
The yellow Night-shade, and blew Gladiols iuice,
Wher-with her sleep-swoln heauy lids she glewes.
Confusedly about the silent Bed
Fantastick swarms of Dreams there hovered,
Green, red and yellow, tawny, black, and blew:
Som sacred, som profane; som false, som true;
Som short, som long; som diuelish, som divine;
Som sad, som glad; but monstrous all (in fine):
They make no noyse, but right resemble may
Simile.
Th' vnnumbred Moats which in the Sun do play,
When (at som Cranny) with his percing ey
He peepeth-in som darker place to spy.
Thither th' Almighty (with a iust intent
To plague those tyrants pride) his Angel sent.
No sooner entred, but the radiant shine
Of's glistring wings, and of his glorious eyn,
As light as Noon makes the dark House of Night.
The gawdy swarm of Dreams is put to flight,
And opening wide the sable Canapey
The winged Herald summon'd Sleep away.
Silence dislodg'd at the first word he spake:
But deaf dead Sleep could not so soon awake,
Hee's call'd a hundred times, and tugg'd, and touz'd,
And by the angel often rubb'd and rouz'd:
At length he stirs, and stretching lazily
His legs and arms, and opening half an ey,
Foure or fiue times he yawns; and leaning-on
His (Lob-like) elbowe, hears This Message don.
Great Spirits-restorer, Cares-charm, Chacing-grief,
Night-short'ning Sier, Man's-Rest, and Mind's Relief,
Vp, vp (sayd he) dispatch thee hence in poste,
And with thy Poppy drench the conquering Hoste
Of those prowd Kings, that (richly charg'd with Prey)
On Canaan Mountains lodge in dis-aray.
Th' angell, in th' instant back to Heav'n-ward gon,
Sleep slowely harnest his dull Bears anon;
And in a noys-less Coach all darkly dight,
Takes with him Silence, Drowsiness, and Night:
Th' ayr thickning where he goes, doth nod the head,
The Woolf in Woods lies down th' Oxe in the Mead,
Th' Orque vnder Water; and on Beds of Down
Men stretch their limbs, and lay them softly down.
The Nightingale pearcht on the tender spring
Of sweetest Haw-thorn hangs her drowsie wing,
The Swallow's silent, and the lowdest Humber,
Leaning vpon the Earth, now seems to slumber:
Th' Yew mooues no more, the Aspe doth cease to shake,
Pines bow their heads, seeming som rest to take.
So soon as Sleep's black wings had over-spread
The Pagan Hoast; the Souldiers haste to bed:
For, instantly begin they all to wink,
To hang their heads, and let their weapons sink:
Their words half-spoke, are lost between their lips,
Through all their veins Sleep's charming humor slips,
Which to a deep and death like Letharge brings
Both Heathen Souldiers, and their Heathen Kings.
Abram perceiving now the Army neer,
Abrams orati­on to his little Troope.
By their owne Fires; gan thus hir Troups to cheer:
Souldiers (sayd he) behold, this happy Night
Shall make amends for that dis-astrous Fight
Was fought in Siddim, and acquittance cry,
For Sodom's shame, and Lot's captivity:
Me thinks already, Uictory (adorn'd
With Bowes, and Blades, and Casks, and Crowns) return'd
From th' Enemy, on our triumphant spears
Erecteth Tropheis far more rich than theirs:
Me thinks already on our glistering Crests,
The glorious Garland of the Conquest rests;
Our way to Vertue lyes so smooth and plain,
With pain-less Honour, and vn-vent'red Gain.
This Hoast you see, is not the valiant Troup
That stript Gomorrha, and made Segor stoop;
[Page 398]That Iordan, Inde, and Euphrates admire;
But a foul heard of Swine wallowing in myre:
Regard them as they are, not as they were:
See but their sloath, do not their number fear:
He that's asleep is dead, and he that's dead
Bites not (they say): what haue we then to dread?
Why stay we, Lads? already down they are,
Their throats be naked, and their bosoms bare,
Their liues ly prostrat heer at our command;
And Fortune calls but for your helping hand.
Com, follow me; rather, the Lord of Hoasts
(Terrour of Tyrants) who through all the Coasts
Of all the Earth confoundeth (with a thought)
All worldly powr, and brings mens plots to nought:
Com (happy Troop) follow with one accord
Th' invincible braue Standard of the Lord.
This sayd: eft-soons I wot not what a grace,
What divine beam reflected on his face:
For, as in March, the Serpent, having cast
Simile.
His old foul skin, crawls from his hole full fast,
Hisses, and stings, and stares vs in the face,
And (gold-like) glistering, glides along the grass:
So Heav'n inspires fresh vigour in each part,
His blood renews, his heart doth take new heart,
A martiall Fury in his breast there boyls,
His stature seems much taller then yer-whiles,
Youth paints his cheeks with Rose and Lilly Dies,
A louely Lightning sparkles in his eyes;
So that his gallant Port and gracefull Voice
Confirms the faintest, makes the sad reioyce.
Then, on the Camp he sets, where round about
Abraham sets vpon the Campe of Chedorlao­mer.
Lie mingled Carrs, and Horse, and Men that rout:
Rest seizeth all; and (wanting what it fed)
The Fire it self slept in his ashy bed.
Th' Hebrews the-while laid-on on back, or breast,
Or arm, or side, according as their Rest
To th' ground had bound them; and those liues bereft
The which Death's Image in an Image reft.
Heer, one beheaded on a Trunk of Pine,
Pours-out at once his gore, his ghost, and Wine;
The full Helm hops, and with a voyce confused,
Murmurs, as if it his fell Fate accused.
Another, taken by inchanting sleep,
Mid Pots and Cups, and Flagons, quaffing deep;
Doth at a wound, given in his rattling gorge,
The Wine again in his owne Cup dis-gorge.
Another, while ingeniously he plays
Vpon his Lute som passing-pleasing Lays,
Sleep sieles his eyes vp with a gloomy clowd;
And yet his hand still quauers light and lowd:
But, at the last it sinks; and, offring fair
To strike the Base, strikes but the empty ayr:
His soule, descending to th' Infernall Coasts,
Goes to conclude his Song vnto the Ghosts:
Dolefull it was, nor for the Argument
(For 't was of Loue) but for the sad event.
Another, wak'ned with those lowd alarms,
Starts-vp, and groapeth round about for arms;
Which, ah too soon he findeth, for his part:
For a keen poignard stabs him to the heart.
Simile.
Like as a Tigress, having with the gore
Of Bulls and Heifers made her spots the more,
And pav'd a Plain with Creatures mangled lims,
Views on each side her valiant stratagems,
Treads on the vanquisht, and is prowdly-sad,
That no more Foes, nor no more Maw she had:
So th' Hebrew stalking round-about the slain,
Braues (but it boots not) and would very fain
That those dead bodies might their ghosts re-gather,
Or that those Mountains would produce him (rather)
Som Foes more wakefull, that more manfully
In blood-drown'd Valleis might his valour try.
Amor's three sons did no less slaughter make;
Abram for zeal, they but for Furies sake:
This, nayls a Souldier with his sword to th' ground;
That, at a blowe, th' heads of two Heads dis-crown'd.
[Page 400]This, vnderneath a Chariot kils the Driuer:
That, lops off legs and arms, and heads doth shiver.
The Tents already all in blood do swim,
Gushing from sundry Corps, from severall lim.
In brief, so many ravening Woolves they seem,
Within whose breast, fierce Famine biteth keen,
Who softly stealing to som fold of sheep
(While both the Shepheard and his Curr doth sleep)
Furbush their hungry teeth, tear, kill, and prey
Vpon the best, to eat and bear-away.
Yet, at the length, the vanquished awake,
And (re-aray'd) the Victors vnder-take;
Putting the three prowd Amorites, to flight,
Who but for Abram, had been routed quite.
Sleep, sleep (poor Pagans) sith you needs must die,
Go sleep again, and so die easily,
Die yer you think on death, and in your Dreams
Gasp-out your soules; Let not your dazled beams
Behold the havock and the horrour too
Of th' Execution, that our swords shall doo,
Hacking your bodies to heaw-out your breaths,
Yer Death, to fright you with a thousand deaths,
Said Abraham: and pointing every word
With the keen point of his quick-whirled sword:
(As swift in doing, as in saying so)
More fiercely chargeth the insulting Foe,
Than ever Storm-full cloud, which fed with Water's
Thin moist-full fumes (the snowy Mountains daughters)
Comparison.
Showr'd heaps of hail-shot, or pour'd floods of rain,
On slender stems of the new tender Grain:
Through blood, and blades, through danger, dust, and death,
Through mangled Corps, and carrs he traverseth;
And partly in the shock, part with [...] blowes,
He breaketh in through thickest of his Foes,
And by his trauail topsi-turneth then
The liue and dead, and half-dead horse and men:
His bright-keen Fauchin neuer threats but hits;
Nor hits, but hurts; nor hurts, but that it splits
[Page 401]Som priuy postern, whence to Hel (in post)
Som groaning Pagan may gasp out his ghost:
He all assayls, and him so braue bestowes,
That in his Fight he deals more deaths than blowes.
As the North-winde, re-cleering-vp the front
Simile.
Of clowdy Heav'ns, towards the South doth hunt
The showrs that Austers spungy thirst exhales
Out of those seas that circle Orans walls:
So wher-so-e're our Hebrew Champion wield
His war-like weapon and his glistring Shield
(Whose glorious splendor darts a dreadfull light)
Elamites ou [...]r­throwen by A­braham.
All turn their backs, and all be-take to flight,
Forgetting Fame, Shame, Vertue, Hope, and all,
Their hearts are don, and down their weapons fall:
Or, if that any be so strangely-stout
As not to faint, but brauely yet holde out,
Alas! it boots not, for it cannot stop
The victory, but haste his own mishap.
But in what Fence-schoole, of what master, say,
God giueth vi­ctory.
Braue pearl of Souldiers, learnd thy hands to play
So at so sundry weapons, such passados,
Such thrusts, such foyns, stramazos, and stoccados?
Even of that mighty God, whose sacred might
Made Heav'n and Earth (and them so braue bedight)
Of meerly nothing: of that God of Powr
Who swore to be thy Target and thy Towr:
Of that high God, who fortifies the weak,
Who teacheth His, even steely bowes to break,
Who doth his Childrens zealous hearts inflame;
But daunts the prowd, and doth their courage tame.
Abraham fol­lows the execu­tion.
Thy sword abates th' armed, the strong, the stout;
Thou cleav'st, thou kill'st: The faint dis-armed rout,
The lightning of thine eyes, thy voyces thunder,
And thy prowd dreadfull port confounds with wonder:
Death and Despair, Horror and Fury fight
Vnder thine Ensignes in this Dismal Night:
Thou slayest this, and that thou threat'st as much:
This thou pursu'st, that thou disdaign'st to touch:
[Page 402]In brief (thou blest Knight braue) thou quelst at once
Valiant and vile, arm'd and vnarmed ones.
Heer, thine even hand (even in a twinkling trice)
In equall halves a Pagans head doth slyce:
Down on each shoulder looketh either half,
To gaze vpon his ghastly Epitaph,
In lines of blood writ round about him fair,
Vnder the curtain of his parted hair.
Heer, through a Ierkin (more then Musket-proof)
Made twelue fold double of East-country Buff,
Clean through and through thy deadly shaft doth thril
A Gyants bulk; the wounded hulk doth reel:
The head behinde appears; before, the feathers:
And th' Ethnick soule flies both-waies out togethers:
Heer thou do'st cleaue, with thy keen Fauchins force,
The Bards and Breast-plate of a furious Horse,
No sooner hurt, but he recoyleth back,
Writing his Fortune in a bloody track:
Thy barbed dart, heer at a Chaldee flies,
And in an instant lardeth both his thighes,
While he blaspheming his hard starrs and state,
Hops (like a Pie) in stead of wonted gate.
Now LOT (the while) escap't from ELAMS hands,
Lot resc [...]ed, re­vengeth brauely his captivity.
Free from the burthen of his yron bands;
With iust reuenge retorts his taken wrong,
His feet growe swift, his sinnews waxen strong,
His heart reviues; and his reviued heart
Supplies new spirits to all and euery part:
And as a wilde and wanton Colt; got out
Simile.
Of som great Stable, staring scuds about,
Shakes his prowd head and crest, yerks out his heels,
Butts at the ayr, beats on the humble fields,
His flying shadow now pursues amain,
Anon (amaz'd) flies it as fast again▪
Again beholds it, with self-prowd delight
Looks on his legs, sets his stiff tayl vpright▪
And neighs so lowd to Mares beyond the Mound,
That with the noyse the neighbour Hils resound:
[Page 403]So, one while, LOT sets on a Troup of Horse,
A Band of Sling-men he anon doth force,
Anon he pusheth through a Stand of Pikes,
A Wing of archers off anon he strikes,
Anon he stalks about a steepfull Rock,
Where som, to shun Death's (never shunned) stroak,
Had clambred-vp; at length a path he spies,
Where vp he mounts, and doth their Mount surprize:
Whence, stones he heaues, so heavy and so huge,
That in our Age, three men could hardly bouge;
Vnder whose waight his flying Foes he dashes,
And in their flesh, bones, stones, and steel he pashes:
Somtimes he shoots, somtimes he shakes a Pike,
Which death to many, dread to all doth strike.
Som in the breast he wounds, som in the backs,
Som on the hanch, som on the head he hacks,
He heaws down all; and maketh where he stood
A Mount of bodies in a Moat of blood.
The Pagans wholly put to flight.
At length the Pagans wholly left the place,
Then both sides ran; these chased, those do chase:
These onely vse their heels, those heels and hands:
Those wish but a fair way; these that the sands
Would quickly gape, and swallow quick to Hell
Themselues that fled, and them that chaç't so fell:
These render nought but blowes, those nought but blood,
Both sides haue broak their Ranks: pel-mel they scud;
Choakt-vp with dust, disordered, dis-aray'd;
Neither, Command, Threat, nor Intreat obay'd.
Thou that (late) bragdst, that thy White Wormly braue
Could dry-foot run vpon the liquid Waue,
And on the sand leaving no print behinde
Out-swifted Arrows, and out-went the Winde,
With a steel Dart, by ABRAH'M stifly sent,
Art'twixt thy Cuirace and thy Saddle slent:
And thou that thrice, neer Tygris silver source,
Hadst won the Bell, as best in every Course,
Art caught by LOT, and (thrild from side to side)
Loosest thy speed-praise, and thy life beside.
It seems no Fight, but (rather as befalls)
An execution of sad criminals:
Whoso escapes the sword, escapes notso
His sad destruction; or, if any tho
Escap't at all, they were but few (at least)
To rue the fatall ruine of the rest:
For th' Vnkle and the Nephew never lin,
Till out of Canaan they haue chaç't them clean:
Like to a Cast of Falcons that pursue
Simile.
A flight of Pigeons through the welk in blew;
Stooping at this and that, that to their Louver,
(To saue their lyues) they hardly can recouer.
At his return from Fight, the Kings and Lords
The Kings of Ca [...]n recei­ued Abraham and his company with great ioy and the gratefull offer of their ho­mage vnto him.
Of Palestine, with glad and humble words,
Do welcom Abram, and refresh his Troop;
To 's knees their heads, to 's feet their knees they stoop:
Ovaliant Victor! for thy high deserts,
Accept the homage of our humble hearts.
Accept our grateful zeal: or, if ought more
(As well thou maist) thou doest expect therfore,
Accept (said they) our Lands, our goods, our golde,
Our wiues, our lyues, and what we deerest holde:
Take all we haue; for all we haue is thine:
No wrong to vs, to take thy Valours fine.
Melthisedec, Gods sacred Minister,
Melchisedech blesseth Abra­ham.
And King of Salem, coms to greet him there,
Blessing his bliss, and thus with zealous cry
Devoutly pearç't Heav'ns starfull Canopey.
Blest be the Lord, that with his hand doth roule
The radiant Orbs that turn about the Pole;
And Rules the Actions of all Humane-kinde
With full command; and with one blast of winde
Razes the Rocks, and Rends the proudest Hills,
Dries-vp the Ocean, and the Empty fils:
Blest be the great God of grear Abraham:
From Age to Age extolled be his Name:
Let every Place vnto him Altars build,
And euery Altar with his Praise be fill'd,
[Page 405]And every Praise above the Welkin ring
As loud or louder then the Angels sing:
Blessed be He that by an Arm-less crew
Of Art-less Shepheards did so quick subdue
And tame the Tamers of Great Syria so;
And to the servants of an exil'd Foe
Hath given the Riches and the royall store
(Both of their Booty and their Owne before)
Of such an Hoast, of Nations that first see
Sol's early rising from Aurora's knee.
But Abraham, to prove that not for Prey,
Abraham di­stributes the boo­ty, reseruing only a portion for the Amorites that were his confe­derates.
He put-on arms, divides the Spoils away:
The Tythe's the Priests: the Rest of all the things
(Yerst lost in field) he renders to the Kings,
Save but the Portion He participates
To th' Amorites, his stout Confederates:
Shewing himself a Prince as politicke
Prudent and iust, as stout and Souldier-like,
That with his Prowess Policy can mel,
And Conquering, can vse his Conquest wel,
Magnanimous in deeds, in words as meek,
That scorning Riches, true Renown doth seek.
So, from the Sea, even to th' Euphratean-source,
And even from Dan, to Nilus crystall course,
Rings his renown: Of him is all the speech,
He is famous far and neere.
At home, abroad; among the poor and rich,
In war and peace: the Fame of his high deeds
Confirms the Faithfull in their fainting Creeds;
And terrifies the Tyrant Infidels,
Shaking the sides of their proud Citadels,
That with their fronts the seat of IOVE do scorn,
And with their feet at I'luto's crown do spurn.
Voice, Harp, and Timbrel sound his praise together,
He's held a Prophet or an Angel rather,
They say that God talks with him face to face,
Hoasts at his house, and to his happy Race
Givs in Fee-simple all that goodly Land
Even from the Sea, as far as Tygris strand.
And it is certain, the Thrice-sacred-One,
God appeares vnto him, and maketh cove­nant with him.
The King of Kings, by Dream or Vision,
Speaks with him oft; and calls him thus by name:
Faint not my servant, fear not ABRAHAM;
I an no fiend that with a fained lip
Seek guilefully thy simpleness to trip,
Nor to intice thee (with a baen-full breath,
To bite (like ADAM) a new fruit of death:
'Tis I, that brought thee from thy Native V R,
From night to day, from death to life (thus far)
I brought thee hither, I have blest thee heer,
I with thy flocks have covered far and neer
Canaan's fat Hills; I have preserv'd thy Wife
From Strangers lust, and thee from Tyrants knife,
When thy faint heart, and thy false tongue, affrai'd
To tel the Truth, her and thy self betray'd:
'Tis I, that have so oft from Heathens powr
Preserv'd thy person; and (as Conquerour)
Now made thee Trivmph over th' Eastern Kings
(Whereof so far thy famous Valour rings):
I am (in brief) I am the Lord thy God,
Thy help at home, thy Guide and Gard abroad.
Keep thou my Covenant: and (to signifie,
That, to the World thou di'st, to live to Me)
Circumcision instituted.
Go, Circumcise forth-with thy Self and Thine,
Lead holy Life, walk in my Wayes divine
With vpright-foot: so shall my favour haunt
Thy House and thee, and thou shalt nothing want:
No, I will make thee Lord of all the Land
Which Canaans Children haue with mighty hand
Canaan pro­mised to Abra­ham.
So long possest; a happy Land that flowes
With milk and hony: a rich Land where growes
(Even of itself) all kinde of Fruit and Corn,
Where smiling Heav'ns pour-down their Plenties-Horn:
I'le heap thee there with Honor, Wealth, and Powr,
I will be thy Reward, thy Shield, and Towr.
O Lord (said ABRAM) though into my lap
In shours of Gold ev'n all the Heav'ns should drop,
[Page 407]What booted all, to me that am alone?
Alas! my Lord, I have enough, for one
That hath no issue after to inherit,
But my good seruant ELEAZAR'S merit.
Not so, my Son (replies th' Omnipotent)
Mistake not so my bountifull intent;
I'll not disparage to a Servants Fee
The rich estate, and royall Dignitie
That in my People shall heereafter shine:
No, no (mine ABRAM) even a stock of thine,
Thine owne deer Nephews, even thy proper Seed
Shall be thine Heirs, and in thy state succeed.
Yea, thine owne Son's immortal-mortall Race
Shall hold in gage the treasures of my Grace.
The Patriarch, then rapt with sodain Ioy,
Made answer thus: Lives then my wandring Boy?
Lives IS MAEL? is IS MAEL alive?
O happy news! (Lord let him everthrive):
And shall his Seed succeed so eminent?
Ah! let me die then, then I die content.
IS MAEL indeed doth live (the Lord replies)
And lives, to father mighty Progenies:
For, from the Day when first his Mother (flying
Thy ieloux SARA'S curst and threatfull crying)
To the dry Desarts sandy horror hi'd,
I have for both been carefull to provide;
Their extream Thirst due-timely to refresh,
Conducting them vnto a Fountain fresh,
In liquid Crystall of whose Mayden spowt
Bird never dipt hir bill, nor Beast his snowt:
And if I err not (but, I cannot err:
For, what is hid from Hearts-Artificer?
What can the sight of the Sight-maker dim)?
Another Exile yet attendeth him,
Where-in he shall (in season) feel and finde,
How much to him I will be good and kinde.
He shall growe Great, yet shall his rest be small;
All shall make war on him, and He on all:
[Page 408]Through Corslets, Rivets, Iacks, and Shirts of Mail.
Ismaels migh­tinesse.
His shaft shall thril the Foes that him assail:
A swift Hart's heart he shall (even running) hit:
A Sparrows head he shall (even flying) split:
And in the air shall make the Swallow cease
His sweet-sweet note, and slicing nimblenesse.
Yea (O Saints-Firstling) only for thy sake,
Twelue mighty Princes will I shortly make
Spring from his Loigns, whose fruitfull seed shall swaie,
Even vnto Sur from golden Havila.
Yet, 'tis not He, with whom I mean to knit
Mine inward Covenant; th' outward seal of it
ISMAEL may bear, but not the efficace
(Thy Son, but after flesh, not after Grace).
But to declare that vnder Heavens Frame,
I hold nought deerer then mine ABRAHAM,
I'll open SARA'S dry and barren womb,
Isaac promised
From whence thine ISAAC (Earths delight) shall com,
To glad the World; a Son that shall (like thee)
Support the Faith, and prop her Family.
Com from thy Tent, com forth and heer contemple
The golden Wonders of my Throne and Temple,
Number the Stars, measure their bigness bright,
With fixed ey gaze on their twinkling Light,
Exactly mark their ordered Courses, driven
In radiant Coaches through the Lists of Heaven:
Then mai'st thou also number thine own Seed,
And comprehend their Faith, and plainly read
Their noble Acts, and of their Publike-State
Draw an Idea in thine owne conceit.
This, This is He, to and with whom I grant
Th' eternall Charter of my Covenant.
In him the Cove­nant ratified.
Which if he truly keep, vpon his Race
I'll pour an Ocean of my plentious Grace:
I'll not alone giue him these Fields heer seen,
But even from India, all that flowreth green
To th' vtmost Ocean's vtmost sand and shelf;
I'll give him Heav'n, I'll give him even my Self.
Hence, hence, the High and mighty Prince shall spring,
Of his ligne shall come Christ the Redeemer.
Sin's, Death's, and Hell's eternall taming King,
The sacred Founder of Man's soveraign Bliss,
World's peace, world's ransom, and world's righteousness.
Th' Eternal seem'd then towards Heav'n to hie,
Th' olde-man to followe him with a greedy eie:
The suddain dis-appearing of the Lord,
Seem'd like to Powder fired on a boord,
When smokingly it mounts in suddain flash,
With little flame, giving a little clash.
Plenty and Pleasure had o're-whelm'd the while
Prosperity plun­geth the Sodo­mites in all manner of abho­minations.
Sodom and Gomor in all Vices vile:
So that, already the most ruth-less Rape
Of tender Virgins of the rarest shape,
Th' Adulterous kiss (which Wedlocks bands vnbindes)
Th' Incestuous Bed, confounding Kindreds kindes
(Where Father wooes the Daughter, Sister Brother,
Th' Vnkle the Niece, and even the Son the Mother)
They did not hate, nor (as they ought) abhor;
But rather scorn'd, as sports they car'd not for.
Forbear (deer Younglings) pray a-while forbear,
Stand farther from me, or else stop your ear,
At th' obscene sound of th' vnbeseeming words
Which to my Muse this odious place affords:
Or, if it's horror cannot drive you hence,
Hearing their Sin, pray hear their Punishments.
These beastly Men (rather these man-like Beasts)
Could not be fill'd with VENVS vulgar Feasts;
Fair Nature could not furnish their Desire;
Their most exe­crable sinne.
Som monstrous mess these Monsters did require:
An execrable flame inflam'd their hearts,
Prodigiously they play'd the Womens parts:
Male hunted Male; and acted, openly,
Their furious Lusts in fruitless Venery.
Therefore, to purge Vlcers so pestilent,
Two heav'nly Scowts the Lord to Sodom sent;
2. Angels sent down, received and guested by Lot.
Whom (deeming Mortals) Lot importunates
To take his Lodging and to taste his Cates.
[Page 410]For, Angels, being meer Intelligences,
Have (properly) no Bodies nor no senses:
But (sacred Legats of the Holy-One)
Of the nature and essence of Angels.
To treat with vs, they put our Nature on;
And take a body fit to exercise
The Charge they haue, which runs, and feeds, and flies;
Dures during their Commission; and, that past,
Turns t'Elements whence it was first amasst.
A simple Spirit (the glittering Childe of Light)
Vnto a bodie doth not so vnite,
As to the Matter Form incorporates:
But, for a season it accommodates,
As to his Tool the quaint Artificer,
(That at his pleasure makes the same to stir)
Yet in such sort that th' instrument (we see)
Holds much of him that mooves it actively.
But alwaies in som place are Angels: though
Not as all filling (God alone is so,
The spirit which all good spirits in spirit adore,
In all, on all, with-out all, evermore):
Nor as environ'd (that alone agrees
To bodies bounded with extremities
Of the next substance; and whose superfice
Vnto their place proportionable is):
But rather, as sole selfly-limited,
And ioyn'd to place, yet not as quantiti'd,
But by the touch of their liue efficace,
Containing Bodies which they seem t'embrace:
So, visibly those bodies move, and ost
By word of Mouth bring arrands from aloft,
And eat with vs; but not for sustentation,
Nor naturally, but by meer dispensation.
Such were the sacred Guests of this good Prince:
Such, courteous ABRAHAM feasted in his Tents,
When, seeing three, he did adore but one,
Which, comming down from the celestiall Throne,
Fore-tolde the sad and sodain Tragedy,
Of these loose Cities, for their Luxury.
You that your Purse do shut, and doors do bar
Exhortation to Hospitality.
Against the colde, faint, hungry Passenger,
You little think that all our life and Age
Is but an Exile and a Pilgrimage:
And that in earth whoso hath never given
Harbour to Strangers, shall haue none in Heaven,
Wheresolemn N [...]ptials of the Lamb are held;
Where Angels bright and Soules that haue exceld,
All clad in white, sing th' Epithalamie,
Carowsing Nectar of Eternitie.
Sans Hospitality, the Pilgrim poor
The lust-ful So­domites, infla­med with the beauty of the Angels, mutiny against Lot for harboring them.
For Bed-fellow might haue a Wolfor Boar:
What e'r is given the Strange and Needy one,
Is not a gift (indeed) but't is a Loan,
A Loan to God, who payes with interest;
And (even in this life) guerdons even the least.
For, alms (like levain) make our goods to rise,
And God his owne with blessings plentifies.
O Hosts, what knowe you, whether (charitable)
When you suppose to feast men at your Table,
You guest Gods Angels in Mens habit hid,
(Heav'n-Citizens) as this good Hebrew did?
Who supped them: and when the time grew meet
To go to bed, he heard amid the street
A wrangling [...]angling, and a Murmur rude,
Which great, grew greater through Nights solitude.
For, those that first these two bright Stars survai'd,
Wilde Stalion-like, after their beauties naigh'd;
But, seeing them by the chaste stranger sav'd,
Shame-less and sense-less vp and down they rav'd,
From House to House knocking at every dore,
And beastly-brute, thus, thus they rail and rore;
Brethren, shall we endure this Fugitive,
This stranger LOT, our pleasures to deprive?
(O Cowardise▪) to suffer in our sights
An exile heer t'vsurp our choise delights,
T'embrace a brace of Youths so beautious
(Rather two Gods com-down from Heaven to vs)?
[Page 412]Shall it be said that such an olde colde stock
Such rare yong Minions in his bed should mock:
While wretched wee, vnto our selves make mone,
And (Widow-like) wear-out our sheets alone?
Let's rather break his doors, and make him knowe,
Such dainty morsels hang not for his Mowe.
Even as at Bathe, down from the neighbour Hills,
Simile.
After a snowe, the melting Crystall trills
Into the Avon ( when the Pythian Knight,
Strips those steep Mountains of their shirts so white)
Through hundred Valleis gushing Brooks and Torrents,
Striving for swiftness in their sundry Currents,
Cutting deep Chanels where they chance to run,
And never rest till all do meet in one:
So, at their cry, from every corner throng
Vnto LOT'S house, Men, Children, olde, and young.
For, common was this execrable sin:
With blear-ey'd Age, as nusled long therein;
With Youth, through rage of lust; with Infancy,
Example-led: all through Impunity.
And thus, they all cry out; Ope, ope the dore,
Com, open quickly, and delay no more:
Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove
With vs the pleasures of Male-mingled love.
LOT lowely then replies: Brethren and Friends,
Lot speaks them faire, & intreats them earnestly for the safety of his guests.
By all the names that amity commends,
By Nature's Rules, and Rights of Hospitality,
By sacred Laws, and lessons of Morality,
By all respects of our com-Burg [...]ship
(Which should our mindes in mutuall kindeness keep)
I do adiure you all, that you refrain
The honor of my harm-less guests to stain,
Nor in your hearrs to harbor such a thought
Wherby their Vertues may be wrongd in ought.
Base busie Stranger, com'st thou hither, thus
Their insolent reply.
(Controller-like) to prate and preach to vs?
No ( Puritan) thou shalt not heer do so:
Therefore dispatch and let thy darlings go;
[Page 413]Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove
With vs the Pleasures of Male-mingled love.
The horror of this sin, their stubborn rage,
His sacred promise given his Guests for gage,
Th' olde Hebrew's minde so trouble and dismay,
That wel he wots not what to do nor say.
For, though we ought not (if Gods Word be true)
Do any evill that good may ensue:
To shun one ill, another ill he suffers,
He prostitutes his Issue; and he offers
Lambs to the guard of Wolves: and thus he cries,
He offers them his owne daugh­ters to rescue his Guests.
I have (with that, the tears ran-down his eyes)
I have two daughters that be Virgins both;
Go, take them to you (yet alas full loth)
Go, crop the first-fruits to their Bride-grooms due
(O! death to think it): But let none of you
Abuse my chaste Guests with such villany
As merits Fire from Heav'n immediately;
A Sin so odious, that the Name alone
Good men abhor, yea even to think vpon.
Their monstrous impudence.
Tush: we are glutted with all granted loves,
And common Pleasure nought our pleasure moves:
LOT, our delightes (ty'd to no law's conformity)
Consist not in the pleasure, but th' enormity,
Which fools abhor: and, saying so, they rush,
Som vpon LOT, Som at his Gates do push.
O cursed City! where the aged Sier,
Vn-able thus to do, doth thus desier;
And Younglings, yet scarce weaned from their Nurse,
Strive with their Elders whether shall be worse;
Full is the measure of thy monstrous sin:
Thy Canker now o're all thy bulk hath been.
God hates all sin: but, extream Impudence
Is even a greater sin than the Offence:
Impudence in sinning, doubles▪ the guilt of sins.
The sweet kinde Kisses of chaste Man and Wife
Although they seem by God and Nature (ri [...]e)
Rather commanded then allow'd, and graç't
In their sweet fruits (their issue choicely-chaste)
[Page 414]With Law's large priviledge; yet euermore
(As Modesty and Honesty implore)
Ought to be private, and (as things forbidden
Vnto the sight) with Night's black curtin hidden.
Yet, these foul Monsters, in the open street
Where altogether all the Town might see't,
Most impudent, dare perpetrate a sin
Which Hell it self before had neuer seen;
A sin so odious, that the fame of it
Will fright the damned in the dark som Pit.
But now, the Angels, their celestiall kinde
Before their fearfull destru­ctiō, the Angels bring Lot and his family safe out of the City
Vn-able longer to conceal, strook blinde
Those beastly Letchers, and brought safe away
LOT and his housholde by the break of day.
But, O prodigious! never rose the Sun
More beautifull, nor brighter shin'd-vpon
All other places (for he rose betimes
To see such Execution on such Crimes):
And yet, it lowrs, it lightens, and it thunders,
It rores, it rains (O most vnwonted wonders!)
Vpon this Land, which 'gainst th' Omnipotent
Had warr'd so long with sins so insolent:
And 'gainst the pride of those detested livers,
Heav'n seems to empty all his wrathful Quyvers.
From Acheron, even all the Furies hie,
And all their Monsters them accompany,
With all their tortures and their dismal terrors,
And all their Chaos of confused Horrors;
All on the guilty strand of Iordan storm,
And with their Fire-brands all to Sodom swarm,
As thick as Crowes in hungry shoals do light
On new-sowen lands; where stalking bolt vpright,
Simile.
As black as Iet they iet about, and feed
On Wheat, Or Rye, or other kinde of seed,
Kaaking so loud, that hardly can the Steer
The whistling Goad-man's guiding language hear.
It rain'd indeed; but not such fertil rain
The manner of their punishment by fire and brim­stone from Hea­ven, and the rea­son thereof.
As makes the Corn in Sommer sprout amain;
[Page 415]And all things, freshed with a pleasant air,
To thrive, and prove more lively, strong and fair:
But in this sink of Sin, this stinking Hel,
A rain of Salt, of Fire and Brimston, fel.
Salt did consume the pleasant fruitfulness,
Which serv'd for fewel to their Wantonness:
Fire punished their beastly Fire within:
And Brimstone's stink the stench of their foul Sin.
So, as their Sin was singular (of right)
Their Punishment was also exquisite:
Heer, open Flames, and there yet hidden Fires
Burn all to ashes, sparing neither Spires
Of Brick nor Stone, nor Columns, Gates, nor Arches,
Nor Bowrs, nor Towrs, nor even their neighbour-Marches.
In vain the-while the People weep and cry,
The same most liuely represen­ted.
To see their wrack and knowe no remedy:
For, now the Flame in richest Roofs begun,
From molten gutters scalding Lead doth run,
The Slats and Tyles about their ears do split,
The burning Rafters Pitch and Rosin spit:
The whirling Fire re-mounteth to the Skie,
About the fields ten thousand sparks do flie;
Half-burned Houses fal with hideous fray,
And VVLCAN makes Mid-night as bright as Day:
Heaven flings-down nought but flashing Thunder-shot,
Th' Air's all a-fire, Earth's exhalations hot
Are spewing AETNA'S that to Heaven aspire;
All th' Elements (in brief) are turn'd to fire.
Heer, one perceiving the next Chamber burning,
With suddain leap towards the window turning,
Thinks to cry Fire: but instantly the smoke
And Flame with-out, his with-in Voice do choke.
Another, sooner feels then sees the Fire.
For, while (O horror!) in the stinking mire
Of his foul Lust he lies, a Lightning flash
Him and his Love at-once to dust doth dash:
Th' abhorred Bed is burnt, and they, aswell
Coupled in Plague as Sin, are sent to Hell.
[Page 416]Another yet on tops of Houses crawls:
But his foot slips, and down at last he falls.
Another feeling all his cloathes a-fire,
Thinking to quench them yer it should come nigher,
Leaps in a Lake: but all the Lake began
To boyl and bubble like a seething Pan,
Simile.
Or like a Chaldron that top-full of Oyl,
Environ'd round with fume and flame doth boyl,
To boyl to death som cunning counterfait
That with false stamp som Princes Coyn hath beat.
Another, seeing the City all in Cinders,
Himself for safety to the fields he renders;
But flakes of Fire from Heav'n distilling thick,
There th' horror of a thousand Deaths do strike.
Through Adamah's and Gomor's goodly Plains,
Sodom and Seboim not a soule remains:
Horse, Sheep, and Oxen, Cows and Kids partake
In this revenge, for their vile Masters sake.
Thus hath the hand of the Omnipotent
Inroll'd the Deed of their drad Punishment,
With Diamantin Pen, on Plates of Brass,
With such an Ink as nothing can deface:
The molten Marble of these cindred Hills,
Asphaltis Lake, and these poor mock-fruit Fields
Keep the Record; and cry through every Age,
How God detesteth such detested rage.
O chastisement most dradly-wonderfull!
Th' Heav'n-cindred Cities a broad standing Pool
O're-flowes (yet flowes not) whose infectious breath
Corrupts the Ayr, and Earth dis-fertileth:
A Lake, whose back, whose belly, and whose shoar,
Nor Bark, nor Fish, nor Fowl hath ever bore.
The pleasant Soyl that did (even) shame yer-while
The plentious beauties of the banks of Nile,
Now scarr'd, and collowed, with his face and head
Cover'd with ashes, is all dri'd and dead;
Voyd of all force, vitall, or vegetive;
Vpon whose brest nothing can live or thrive:
[Page 417]For, nought it bears save an abortiue suit
Of seeming-fair, false, vain, and fained fruit,
A fruit that feeds theey, and fills the hand,
But to the stomach in no steed doth stand▪
For even before it touch the tender lips
Or Ivory teeth, in empty smoak it slips,
So vanishing: only, the nose receiues
A noysom savour, that (behinde) it leaues.
Heer, I adiure you, vent'rous Trauailours,
Exhortation to Trauailers that haue seene, & to others that shall reade or heare these fearefull monuments of Gods seuere Iu­stice, to make right vse of this fearefull Exam­ple.
That visit th' horror of these cursed shoars,
And taste the venom of these stinking streams,
And touch the vain fruit of these wythered stems:
And also you that do beholde them thus
In these sad Verses pourtray'd heer by vs,
To tremble all, and with your pearly tears
To showr another Sea; and that your hairs
Staring vpright on your affrighted head
Heave-vp your Hats; and, in your dismall dread,
To think, you hear like Sulph'ry Storms to strike
On our n [...]w Monsters for Offences like.
For, the Almightie's drad all-daunting arm,
Not only strikes such as with Sodom swarm
In these foul Sins; but such as sigh or pity
Sodoms destruction, or so damn'd a City,
And cannot constant with dry eyes observe
God's iudgements iust on such as such deserve.
LOT hies to SEGOR: but his wife behinde
Lots wise me­tamorphozed.
Lagged in body, but much more in minde:
She weeps and wails (O lamentable terror!
O impicus Pity! O kind-cruell error)
The dire destruction of the smoking Cities,
Her Sons-in-Law (which should haue been) she pities,
Grieves so to leave her goods, and she laments
To lose her Iewels and habiliments:
And (contrary to th' Angels Words precise)
Towards the Town she turns her wofull eyes.
But instantly, turn'd to a whitely stone,
Her feet (alas!) fast to the ground be growen;
[Page 418]The more she stirs, she sticks the faster in:
As silly Bird caught in a subtil gin,
Simile.
Set by som Shepheard neer the Copses side,
The more it struggles is the faster ty'd.
And, as the venom of an eating Canker
Simile.
From flesh to flesh runs every day the ranker,
And never rests, vntill from foot to head
O're all the Body his fell poyson spread:
This Ice creeps-vp, and ceaseth not to num,
Till even the marrow hard as bones becom,
The brain be like the seul, and bloud convert
To Alablaster over every part;
Her Pulse doth cease to beat, and in the air
The Windes no more can wave her scattered hair:
Her belly is no belly, but a Quar
Of Cardon Rocks, and all her bowels are
A pretious Salt-Mine, supernaturall,
Such, as (but Salt) I wot not what to call;
A Salt which (seeming to be fall'n from Heav'n)
To curious Spirits hath long this Lesson given,
Not to presume in Divine things to pry,
Which seav'n-times seal'd, vnder nine Locks do lie.
She weeps (alas!) and as she weeps, her tears
Turn into Pearls fro'rn on her twinkling hairs:
Fain would she speak, but (forced to conceal)
In her cold throat her guilty words congeal;
Her mouth yet open, and her arms a-cross,
Though dumb, declare both why and how she was
Thus Metamorphos'd: for, Heav'n did not change
Her last sad gestures in her suddain Change.
No gorgeous Ma [...]sole, grac't with flattering verse,
Eternizeth her Trunk her House, and Herse;
But, to this Day (strange will it seem to som)
One and the same is both the Corps and Tomb.
Almighty Father! Gracious God and Iust!
Mans pronenesse [...]o fall, without the support of Gods gracious fa [...]our▪
O! what hard-heartednes, what brutish Lust,
Pursueth man: if thou but turn thy face,
And take but from vs thy preventing grace:
[Page 419]And, if provoked for our past offences,
Thou give vs vp to our Concupiscences?
O Harran' [...] Nieces, you (LOTS daughters) saw
SODOM consumed in that Sulphury flaw:
Their Hills and Forrests calcined (in fine)
Their liberall fields sowen with a burning brine,
Their stately houses like a coal-pitsmoaking,
The Sun it self with their thick vapours choking:
So that within a yard for stinking smother
The Labourers could hardly knowe each other;
Their flowring Valley to a Fen exchang'd,
And your owne Mother to a Salt-stone chang'd:
Yet all (alas!) these famous Monuments
Of the iust rigour of God's Punishments
Cannot deter you: but even Sodom-like
Incestuously a holy-man you seek;
Even your owne Father, whom with wine you fill;
And then by turns intice him to your will:
Conceiving so (O can Heav'n suffer it!)
Lot drawen by his Daughter, in drunkennesse to commit Incest with both of thē.
Even of that seed which did your selues beget:
Within your wombs you bear for nine months time
Th' vpbraiding burden of your shame-less Crime,
And troubling Kindred's names and Nature quight,
You both becom even in one very Night,
Wives to your Fathers, Sisters to your Sons,
And Mothers to your Brothers all at once;
All vnder colour, that thus living sole,
Sequestred thus in an vnhaunted hole,
Heav'ns envy should all ADAM'S race have reft,
And LOT alone should in the World be left.
Had't not been better, never to haue bred,
Than t'have conceived in so foul a bed?
Had't not been better never t'haue been Mothers,
Than by your Father, to have born your Brothers?
Had't not been better to the death to hate,
Then thus t'haue lov'd him, that you both begate?
Him, so much yours, that yours he mought not be?
Sith of these Rocks God could immediatly
[Page 420]Haue rais'd LOT Son-in-lawes; or, striking but
Th' Earths solid bosom with his brazen foot,
Out of the dust haue reared suddain swarms
Of People, stay'd in Peace, and stout in Arms.
FINIS.

The FATHERS. A PART OF THE II. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
The famous FATHER of the Faithfull, heer
Limn'd to the life, in strife of Faith and Fear:
His Sonn's sweet nature, and his nurture such,
Endeer his TRIAL with a neerer Touch:
REASON'S best Reasons are by FAITH refell'd;
With GOD, th' Affection, for the Action held:
So, counter-manding His command (atchiev'd)
The Sire's approoued, and the Son repriev'd.
Heer ( had our Author liv'd, to end his Works)
Should haue ensu'd the other PATRIARCHS.
O! 'Tis a Heav'nly and a happy turn,
Of godly Parents to be timely born:
To be brought-vp vnder the watchfull eyn
Of milde-sharp Masters awfull Discipline:
Chiefly, to be (even from the very first)
With the pure milk of true Religion nurst.
Such hap had Isaac: but his Inclination
Exceeds his Birth, excels his Education.
His Faith, his Wit, Knowledge, and Iudgement sage,
Out-stripping Time, anticipate his age.
For (yet a Childe) he fears th' Eternall Lord,
And wisely waits all on his Fathers word;
[Page 422]Whose steady steps so duly he obserues,
That every look, him for a lesson serues:
And every gesture, every wink and beck.
For a command, a warning, and a check:
So that, his toward Diligence out-went
His Fathers hopes and holy document.
Now, though that Abram were a man discreet,
Sober and wise, well knowing what is meet;
Though his deer Son somtimes he seem to chide,
Yet hardly can he his affection hide;
For, evermore his loue-betraying ey
On's darling Isaac glanceth tenderly:
Sweet Isaac's face seems as his Glasse it were,
And Isaac's name is musick in his ear.
But God, perceiving this deep-settled Loue,
Thence takes occasion Abrams Faith to prooue;
And tempteth him: But not as doth the Divell
His Vassals tempt (or Man his Mate) to evill:
Satan still draws vs to Death's dismall Path;
But God directs where Death no entry hath:
Ay Satan ayms our constant Faith to foyl;
But God doth seal it, never to recoyl:
Satan suggesteth ill; God mooues to grace:
The Divell seeks our Baptisme to deface;
But God, to make our burning Zeal to beam
The brighter ay in his Ierusalem.
A Prince that means effectuall proof to make
Simile.
Of som Man's Faith that he doth newly take,
Examins strictly, and with much a-doo,
His Words and Deeds, and every gesture too;
And, as without, within as well to spy-him,
Doth carefully by all means sift and try-him.
But God ne'r seeks, by Triall of Temptation,
To sound Man's heart and secret cogitation
(For, well he knowes Man, and his ey doth see
All thoughts of men, yer they conceived be):
But this is still his high and holy dri [...]t,
When through temptation he his Saints doth si [...]t,
[Page 423]To leaue for pattern to his Churches seed,
Their stedfast Faith, and never-daunted Creed.
Yet, out of season God doth never try
His new-converted Children, by and by:
Such novices, would quickly faint and shrink:
Such ill-rigg'd Ships, would even in launching sink:
Their Faith's light blossoms, would with every blast
Be blowen away, and bear no fruit at last:
Against so boistrous stroaks they want a shield:
Vnder such weight, their feeble strength would yield.
But when his Words deer seed that he hath sowen
Within their hearts, is rooted well, and growen:
And when they haue a broad thick Breast-plate on,
High peril-proof against affliction:
Such as our Abram: Who, now waxen strong,
Through exercise of many trials long,
Of faith, of loue, of fortitude, and right:
Who, by long weary wandrings day and night,
By often Terrors, Lots Imprisonment,
His Wifes twice taking, Ismaels banishment,
Beeing made invincible for all assaults
Of Heav'n and Earth, and the infernall Vaults;
Is tempted by the voyce which made all things,
Which sceptreth Shepheards, and vn-crowneth Kings.
Giue me a voyce, now, O voyce all divine▪
With sacred fire inflame this breast of mine:
Inuocation.
Ah! ravish me, make all this Vniverse
Admire thine Abram pourtrayd in my Verse.
Mine Abram, sayd the Lord, deer Abraham,
Thy God, thy King, thy Fee, thy Fence I am:
Hie straight to Salem, and there quickly kill
Thine owne Son Isaac; on that sacred Hill
Heaw him in pieces, and commit the same
In Sacrifice vnto the rage-full Flame.
As he, that slumbering on his carefull Bed,
Simile.
Seems to discern som Fancy full of dread,
Shrinks down himself, and fearfull hides his face,
And scant draws breath in half an howrs space:
[Page 424]So Abraham, at these sharp▪sounding words
(Which wound him deeper than a thousand swords)
Seised at once with wonder, grief, and fright,
Is well-nigh sunk in Deaths eternall night;
Death's ash-pale Image in his eyes doth swim,
A chilling Iee shivers through every lim,
Flat on the ground himself he groveling throwes,
A hundred times his colour coms and goes,
From all his body a cold deaw doth drop,
His speech doth fail, and every sense doth stop.
But, self-return'd, two sounding sobs he cast,
Then two deep sighes, then these sad words at last:
Cruell command, quoth He, that I should kill
A tender Infant, innocent of ill:
That in cold blood I (barbarously) should murder
My (fear-less, fault-less) faithfull Friend: nay (further)
Mine owne deer Son: and what deer Son? Alas!
Mine only Isaac (whose sweet vertues pass
The louely sweetnes of his angel-face)
Isaac, sole Pattern of now-Vertue knowen;
Isaac, in years yong but in wisedom growen:
Isaac, whom good-men loue, the rest enuy:
Isaac, my hearts heart my lifes life must dy.
That I should stain an execrable Shrine,
With Isaac's warm blood, issued out of mine.
O might mine serue, 't were tolerable loss,
'T were little hurt: nay, 't were a welcom cross.
I bear no longer fruit: the best of Mee,
Is like a fruit-less, branch-less, sap-less Tree,
Or hollow Trunk, which only serues for stais
To crawling Iuie's weak and winding sprais.
But losing Isaac, I not only leese
My life withall (which Heav'ns haue linkt to his)
But (O!) more millions of Babes yet vn-bore,
Than there be sands vpon the L [...]hian shoar.
Canst thou, mine Arm? O canst thou, cruell arm,
In Isaac's breast thy bloody weapon warm?
Alas! I could not but even die for grief,
Should I but but yield mine Ages sweet relief
[Page 425](My bliss, my comfort, and mine ey's delight)
Into the hands of Hang-mens spare-less spight:
But that mine own self (O extreamest Rigour!)
What my self formed, should my self, dis-figure:
That I (alas!) with bloody hand and knife,
Should rip his bosom, rend his heart and life:
That (odious Author of a Precedent
So rarely ruth-less) I should once present,
Vpon a sacred Altar, an Oblation
So barbarous (O brute abhomination!)
That I should broyl his Flesh, and in the flame
Behold his bowels crackling in the same:
'Tis horrible to think, and hellish too,
Cruel to wish, impossible to doo.
Doo 't he that list, and that delights in blood:
I neither will, nor can becom so wood,
T' obey in this: God, whom we take to be
Th' eternall Pillar of all verity,
And constant faith; will he be faith-les now?
Will he be false, and from his promise bow?
Will he (alas!) vndo what he hath don,
Mar what he makes, and loose what he hath won?
Sail with each winde? and shall his promise, then,
Serue but for snares t' intrap sincerest men?
Somtimes, by his eternall self he swears,
That my Son Isaac's number-passing Heirs
Shall fill the Land, and that his fruitfull Race
Shall be the blessed levain of his Grace;
Now he commands me his deer life to spill,
And in the Cradle my health's Hope to kill:
To drown the whole World in the blood of him:
And at one stroak vpon his fruitfull stem,
To strike-off all the heads of all the flock,
That should heer-after his drad name inuoak,
His sacred nostrils with sweetsmels delight,
His ears with praises, with good deeds his sight.
Will God impugn himself? and will he so
By his command, his couenant ouer throwe?
[Page 426]And shall my faith, my faith's confounder be?
Then faith, or doubting, are both one to me.
Alas! what saist thou, Abram? pawse thou must.
He that revives the Phoenix from her dust,
And from dead Silk-worm's Toombs (their shining Clews)
A living bird with painted wings renews;
Will he forget Isaac, the only stock
Of his chaste Spouse (his Church and chosen flock)▪
Will he forget Isaac, the onely Light
Of all the World, for Vertues lustre bright?
Or, can he not (if't please him) even in death
Restore him life, and re-inspire him breath?
But mark, the while thou bringest for defence,
The All-proof Towr of his Omnipotence,
Thou shak'st his Iustice. This is certain (too)
God can do all, saue that he will not doo.
He loues none ill: for, when the wreakfull Waues
Were all return'd into their wonted Caues;
When all the Meads, and every fruitfull Plain,
Began (with ioy) to see the Sun again;
So soon as Noah (with a gladsom heart)
Forth of his floating Prison did depart,
God did forbid Murder: and nothing more
Then Murder, doth his Maiesty abhor.
But (shallow man) sound not the vast Abiss
Of God's deep Iudgements, where no ground there is:
Be sober-wise: so, bound thy frail desire:
And, what thou canst not comprehend, admire.
God our Law-maker (iust and righteous)
Maketh his Laws, not for himself, but vs:
He frees himself; and flies with his Powrs wing,
No where, but where his holy will doth bring:
All that he doth is good: but not therefore
Must he needs do it, 'cause 'twas good before:
But good is good, because it doth (indeed)
From him (the Root of perfect good) proceed:
From him, the Fountain of pure Righteousness:
From him, whose goodness nothing can express.
Ah, profane thoughts! O wretch! and think'st thou then
That God delights to drink the blood of men?
That he intends by such a strange impietie
To plant his seruice? You, you forged deitie
Of Molech, Milcom, Camosh, Astaroth,
Your damned Shrines with such dire Orgies blot:
You Tyrants, you delight in Sacrifice
Of slaughtered Children: 'tis your bloody guise
(You cruell Idols) with such Hecatombs
To glut the rage of your outrageous dooms:
You holde no sent so sweet, no gift so good,
As streaming Riuers of our luke-warm blood:
Not Abram's God (ay gratious, holy, kinde)
Who made the World but onely for Man-kinde:
Who hates the bloody hands: his Creatures loues:
And contrite hearts for sacrifice approues.
You, you, disguiz'd (as angels of the light)
Would make my God Author of this despight,
Supplant my Faith on his sure promise built,
And stain his Altars with this bloody guilt.
No, no, my ioy, my Boy thrice-happy born
(Yea more then so, if furious I, forlorn,
Hurt not thy Hap) a Father shalt thou be
Of happy People, that shall spring from thee.
Fear not (deer Child) that I, vnnaturall,
Should in thy blood imbrue my hand at all:
Or by th' exployt of such detested deed
Commend my name to them that shall succeed.
I will, the Fame that of my name shall ring
In time to com, shall fly with fairer wing.
The lofty Pine that's shaken to and fro
[...] ▪
With Counter-pufs of sundry windes that blowe,
Now, swaying South-ward tears som root in twain,
Then, bending North-ward doth another strain,
Reels vp and down, tost by two Tyrants fell,
Would fall, but cannot; neither yet can tell
(Inconstant Neu [...]er, that to both doth yield)
Which of the two is like to win the Fi [...]ld▪
[Page 428]So Abraham▪ on each side set-vpon
Betwixt his Faith and his Affection▪
One while his Faith, anon Affection sways:
Now wins Religion, anon Reason waighs:
Hee's now a fond, and then a faithfull Father:
Now resolute, anon relenting rather:
One while the Flesh hath got the vpper hand:
Anon the Spirit the same doth countermand.
Hee's loth (alas!) his tender Son to kill;
But much more loth, to break His Fathers will.
For thus (at last) He saith, now sure I knowe
'Tis God, 'tis God; the God that loues me so,
Loues, keeps, sustains: whom I so oft haue seen:
Whose voice so often hath my comfort been.
Illuding Satan cannot shine so bright,
Though Angelliz'd: No, 'Tis my God of Might.
Now feel I in my Soule (to strength and stir-it)
The sacred Motions of his sacred Spirit.
God, this sad Sacrifice requires of me;
Hap what hap may, I must obedient be.
The sable Night dis-log'd: and now began
Aurora's Vsher with his windy Fan
Gently to shake the Woods on every side,
While his fair Mistress (like a stately Bride)
With flowrs, and Gems, and Indian gold doth spangle
Her louely locks, her Louers looks to tangle;
When gliding through the Ayr, in Mantle blew,
With siluer fring'd, shee drops the Pearly deaw.
With her goes Abram out: and the third day,
Arriues on Cedrons Margents greenly-gay:
Beholds the sacred Hil, and with his Son
(Loaden with sacred wood) he mounts anon.
Anon, said Isaac; Father, heer I see
Knife, fire, and faggot, ready instantly:
But wher's your Hoste? Oh! let vs mount, my Son,
Said Abram: God will soon prouide vs one.
But, scant had Isaac turn'd his face from him,
A little faster the steep Mount to climbe,
[Page 429]Yer Abram changed cheere; and, as new Win [...],
Simile.
Working a-new, in the new Cask (in fine)
For beeing stopt too-soon, and wanting vent,
Blowes-vp the Bung▪ or doth the vessell rent,
Spews out a purple stream, the ground doth stain,
With Bacchus colour, where the cask hath layn:
So, now the Tears (which manly fortitude
Did yerst as captiue in the Brain include)
At the deer names of Father and of Son,
On his pale Cheeks in pearly drops did run:
His eye's ful vessels now began to leak:
And thus th' old Hebrew muttering gan to speak,
In submiss voyce, that Isaac might not hear
His bitter grief, that he vnfoldeth heer.
Sad spectacle! O now my hap-les hand,
Thou whetst a sword, and thou do'st teend a brand;
The brand shal burn my heart, the sword's keen blade
Shall my bloods blood, and my lifes life, inuade:
And thou, poor Isaac, bearest on thy back,
Wood that shall make thy tender flesh to crack,
And yield'st thee (more for mine, than thine amiss)
Both Priest and Beast, of one same Sacrifice.
O hapless Son! O more then hap-less Sire!
Most wicked wretch! O what mis-fortune dire
In-gulfs vs heer! where miserable I,
To be true godly, must Gods law deny:
To be true faithful, must my faith transgress:
To be God's Son, I must be nothing less
Than Isaacs Sire: and Isaac (for my sake)
Must Soyl, and Sire, and life and all forsake.
Yet on he goes, and soon surmounts the Mount,
And steel'd by Faith, he cheers his mournful Front:
(Much like the Delian Princess, when her Grace
Simile.
In Thetis Waues hath lately washt her face)
He builds his Altar, lays his wood ther-on,
And tenderly bindes his deer Son anon.
Father, said Isaac, Father, Father deer
(What? do you turn away, as loth to hear?)
[Page 430]O Father, tel me, tel me what you mean:
O cruelty vn-knowen! Is this the mean
Wherby my loyns (as promised long-since is)
Shal make you Grand-sire of so many Princes?
And shal I (glorious) if I heer do dy,
Fil Earth with Kings, with shining Stars the Sky?
Back, Phoebus: blush, go hide thy golden head:
Retire thy Coach to Thetis watery Bed:
See not this savage sight. Shal Abram's minde
Be milde to all, and to his Son vn-kinde!
And shal great Abram do the damned deed,
That Lions, Tygres, Boars, and Bears would dread!
See how (incenst) he stops his ear to me,
As dreaming stil on's bloody mystery.
Lord, how precise! see how the Paricide
Seems to make conscience in less sins to slide:
And he that means to murder me (his Son)
Is scrupulous in smaller faults to run.
Yet (Father) hear me: not that I desire
With sugred words to quench your Angers fire:
In Gods's name reap the Grain yourself haue sowen,
Com take my life, extracted from your own,
Glut with my blood your blade, if you it please
That I must die; welcom my death (mine ease):
But tell me yet my fault (before I die)
That hath deserv'd a punishment so high.
Say (Father) haue I not conspir'd your death?
Or with strong poyson sought to stop your breath?
Haue I deuis'd to short my Mother's life?
Or with your Foestaen part in any strife?
▪ O thou Ethereal Palace Crystalline
(God's highest Court) If in this heart of mine
So damned thoughts had ever any place,
Shut-vp for ever all thy Gates of Grace
Against my Soule; and neuer let, that I
Among thy winged Messengers do flie.
If none of these, Abram (for I no more
Dare call thee Father) tell me further-more
[Page 431]What rests besides, that damned I haue don,
To make a Father Butcher of his Son:
In memorie, that fault I fain would haue,
That (after God's) I might your pardon craue
For such offence; and so, th' Attonement driven,
You liue content, and I may die forgiuen.
My Son (said Hee) thou art not hither brought
By my fell furie, nor thine own foul fault:
God (our God) calls thee, and He will not let
A Pagan sword in thy deer blood be wet;
Nor burning Plague, nor any pining pain
With Languor turn thy flesh to dust againe:
But Sacrifiç'd to him (for sweet perfume)
Will haue thee heer within this fire consume.
What? Fears my Loue, my Life my Gem, my Ioy?
What God commands, his seruants must obey,
Without consulting with frail Flesh and Blood,
How he his promise will in time make good:
How he wil make so many Scepters spring
From thy dead dust? How He (All-wise) wil bring,
In his due season, from thy sense-less Thighes,
The glorious Son of righteousnes to rise,
Who shal the Mountains bruise with yron Mace,
Rule Heav'n and Earth, and the Infernal place?
For, he that (past the course of Natures kinde)
First gaue thee birth, can with his sacred Winde
Raise thee again out of the lowest iust▪
Ten-thousand means he hath to saue the iust:
His glorious wisdom guides the worlds society,
With equall Reans of Power and of Piety.
Mine own sweet Isaac, deerest of my seed
(Too sweet, alas! the more my grief doth bleed,
The more my loss, the more (with cease-less anguish)
My vexed Bowels for thy lack shall anguish)
Adue deer Son (no longer mine, but his
Who call's thee hence) let this vn-happy kiss
Be the sad seal of a more sad Fare-wel
Than wit can paint, or words haue powr to tell.
Sith God commands, and (father) you require
To haue it so, com Death (no longer dire,
But glorious now) com gentle death, dispatch:
The Heav'ns are open, God his arms do [...]h reach
T' imbrace my Soule: O! let me brauely fly
To meet my Lord, and Death's prowd darts defie.
What, Father, weep you now? Ah! cease those showrs:
Weep not for me; for I no more am yours:
I was the Lords yer I was born, you knowe;
And he but lent me for a while to you:
Will you recoyl, and (Coward) lose the Crown
So neer your head, to heap you with renown?
Shal we so dare to dally with the Lord?
To cast his yoak, and to contemn his Word?
Where shall we fly his hand? Heav'n is his Throne:
The Earth his foot-stool: and dark Acheron
(The Dungeon where the damned soules be shut)
Is of his anger euermore the Butt.
On him alone, all our good-hap depends:
And he alone from dangers vs defends.
Ah! weep no more: This sacred Turf doth craue
More blood than Tears: let vs vs so behaue,
That ioyn'd in zeal, we yield vs willingly
To make a vertue of necessity.
Let's testifie we haue a time abod,
I in your School, you in the school of God:
Where, we haue learned that his sacred Word
(Which made of Nothing, all that euer stirr'd;
Which all sustaines, and all directeth still)
To diuers ends, conducts the good and ill.
Who loues not God, more than all Kinn's▪ respect,
Deserues no place among his deer Elect:
And who doth once God's Till age vnder-take,
Must not look back, neither his Plough forsake.
Here-with, th' old Hebrew cheerfuller becam,
And (to himself) cries, Courage Abraham:
The World, the Flesh, Adam, are dead in thee:
God, Spirit, and Faith, alone subsisting be.
[Page 433]Lord, by thy Spirit vnto my spirit annex
So liuely Faith, that still mine eyes may fix
On thy true Isaac, whose sharp (sin-less) Suffering
Shall purge, from sin, me and my sinfull offering.
Scarce had he draw'n his sword (in resolution)
With heaued hand for instant execution,
When instantly the thundring voyce of God
Stay'd heart and hand, and thus the Fact forbod;
Abram, enough: holde, holde thy hand (sayd he)
Put-vp thy sword; thine Isaac shall not die:
Now, of thy faith I haue had perfect proof,
Thy Will, for Deed I do accept: enough.
Glad Abram, then, to God giues thanks and prayse,
Vnbindes his Son, and in his room he lays
A Lamb (there strangely hampered by the head)
And that, to God, devoutly offered.
Renowned Abraham, Thy noble Acts
Excell the Fictions of Heröik Facts:
And, that pure Law a Son of thine shall write,
Shall nothing els but thy braue deeds recite.
Extol who list, thy wisdom's excellence,
Victorious Valour, frank Beneficence,
And Iustice too (which even the Gentiles honor):
Ill dares my Muse take such a task vpon-her.
Onely thy Faith (not all, with all th' Effects)
Onely one fruit of thousand she selects,
For glorious subiect: which (to say the right)
I rather loue to wonder-at, than write.
Go Pagans, turn, turn-over every Book:
Through all Memorials of your Martyrs look,
Collect a Scroule of all the Children slain
On th' Altars of your Gods: dig-vp again
Your lying Legends: Run through every Temple;
Among your Offerings, choose the best example
(Among your Offerings which your Fathers past
Haue made, to make their names eternall last)
Among them all (fondlings) you shall not finde
Such an example, where (vnkindely-kinde)
[Page 434]Father and Son so mutually agree,
To showe themselues, Father nor Son to be:
Where man's deep zeal, and God's deer fauour stroue,
For Counter-conquest in officious loue.
One, by constraint his Son doth sacrifice:
Another means his Name t' immortallize
By such a Fact: Another hopes to shun
Som dismall Plague, or dire Affliction:
Another, only that he may conform
To (Tyrant) Custom's, aw-les law-les Form,
Which blears our eys, and blurs our Senses so,
That Lady Reason must her seat forgo:
Yea, blindes the iudgement of the World so far,
That Uertue's oft arraign'd at Vice's Bar.
But, vn-constrain'd, our Abram, all alone,
Vpon a Mountain, to the guise of none
(For it was odious to the Iewes to doo)
And in a time of Peace and plenty too,
Fights against Nature (prickt with wondrous zeal)
And, slaying Isaac, wars against his Weal.
O sacred Muse! that on the double Mount,
With withering Bayes bind'st not thy Singers Front;
But, on Mount Sion in the Angels Quire,
With Crowns of glory doest their brows atrire:
Tell (for thou know'st) what sacred Mystery,
Vnder this shaddow, doth in secret ly?
O Death, Sin, Satan, tremble ye not all,
For hate and horror of your dreadfull Fall,
So liuely figur'd? To beholde Gods Bowe
So ready bent to cleaue your heart in two?
To see yong Isaac, Pattern of that Prince,
Who shal Sin, Satan, Death, and Hell, convince?
Both only Sons; both sacred Potentates,
Both holy Founders of two mighty States,
Both sanctified, both Saints Progenitors;
Both bear their Cross, both Lamb-like Sufferers,
Both bound, both blame-less, both without reply,
Both by their Fathers are ordain'd to dy
[Page 435]Vpon Mount Sion: which high glorious Mount
Serues vs for Ladder to the Heav'ns to mount,
Restores vs Edens key (the key of Eden,
Lost through the eating of the fruit forbidden,
By wretched Adam, and his weaker Wife)
And blessed bears the holy Tree of life.
Christ dies indeed: but Isaac is repriv'd
(Because Heav'ns Councell otherwise contriv'd)
For Isaac's blood was no sufficient price
To ransom soules from Hell to Paradise:
The Leprosie of our contagious sin,
More powr-full Rivers must be purged in.
FINIS.

The LAWE. THE III. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Envy, in Pharao, seeks to stop the Cause
Of Iews increase: Moses escapes his claws;
Out of a Burning (vnburnt) Bush, a Voice
For Iacob's Rescue doth of Him make choice;
Sends him (with Aaron) to the Egyptian King:
His Hard'ning, PLAGVING, finall Ruining
In the Red Sea. Israel ingrate for all:
Christ-Typing Manna, Quails, Rock-waters fall:
The glorious LAVVE: the golden Calf: strange Fire:
Coré in-gulft: MOSES prepar'd t'expire.
ARm-Arming Trumpets, lofty Clarions,
Rock-battering Bumbards, Valour-murdering Guns,
Think you to drown with horror of your Noise
The choise sweet accents of my sacred Voice?
Blowe (till you burst) roar, rend the Earth in sunder;
Fill all with Fury, Tempest, War, and Thunder;
Dire Instruments of Death, in vain yee toyl:
For, the loud Cornet of my long-breath'd stile
Out-shrills yee still; and my Stentorian Song,
With warbled Ecchoes of a silver tongue,
Shall brim be heard from India even to Spain,
And then from thence, even to the Artik Wayn.
Yet, 'tis not I, not I in any sort;
My sides's too-weak, alas, my breath's too-short:
[Page 437]It is the spirit-inspiring Spirit, which yerst
On th' eldest Waters mildly moved first,
That furnishes and fills with sacred winde
The weak, dull Organs of my Muse and minde.
So, still, good Lord, in these tumultuous times,
Giue Peace vnto my Soule, soule to my Rimes:
Let me not faint amid so fair a course:
Let the World's end be th' end of my Discourse:
And, while in FRANCE fell MARS doth all devour,
In lofty stile (Lord) let me sing thy Powr.
ALL-CHANGING Time had cancell'd and supprest
IOSEPH'S Deserts; his Master was deceast,
His Sons were dead: when currish Envie's strife
Lays each-where ambush for poor ISRAEL'S life:
Who, notwithstanding, doth far faster spread
Comparison.
And thicker spring, than, in a fruitfull Mead
Moted with Brooks, the many-leaved locks
Of thriving Charvel; which the bleating Flocks
Can with their dayly hunger hardly mowe
So much as dayly doth still newly growe.
This Monster wuns not in the Cel she wont;
Description of the Palace of Enuy.
Sh'hath rear'd her Palace on the steepest Mount,
Whose snowy shoulders with their stony pride
Eternally do Spain from France divide:
It hath a thousand loop-holes every-way;
Yet never enters there one sunny ray:
Or if that any chance so far to pass,
'Tis quickly quenched by her cloudy face:
At every Loop, the Work-man wittily
Hath plaç't a long, wide, hollow Trunk, wher-by
Prattling Renown and Fame with painted wing,
News from all corners of the World do bring,
Buzzing there-in: as, in a Sommer Even,
Simile.
From clefts of Medows that the Heat hath riven,
The Grass-hoppers, seeming to fain the voyces
Of little Birds, chirp-out ten thousand noyses.
It fortun'd now that a swift-flying Fame,
To whom Fame reporteth Israels prosperity.
Which (lately but) from stately Memphis came,
[Page 438]Sweating, and dusty, and nigh breath-less, fills
With this Report one of hir listening Quills:
O curious Nymph (lives there a Wit with vs,
Acute and quick, that is not curious?)
Most wakefull Goddess, Queen of mortall hearts,
Consort of Honour, Wealth, and High-Deserts,
Doo'st thou not knowe, that happy ISRAEL
(Which promiseth, the Conqueror of Hell,
That twice-born King, here-after to bring-forth,
Who dead shall liue again; and by his Worth
Wipe-out Man's Forfait, and God's Law fulfill,
And on his Cross th' envy of Envy kill)
Doth (even in sight) abundantly increase?
That Heav'n and Earth conspire his happiness?
That seaventy Exiles, with vn▪hallowed Frie
Couer the face of all the World well-nigh?
And, drunk with wealth, waigh not thy force a iot?
Envie, thou scest it; but fore-seest it not.
Swolne like a Toad, between her bleeding iaws
[...]y incenseth Pharaoh to op­presse them.
Her hissing Serpents wriggling tails she chaws:
And, hasting hence, in ISIS form she iets;
A golden vessell in one hand she gets,
In th' other a sweet Instrument; her hood
Was Peacocks feathers mixt with Southernwood;
A silver Crescent on her front she set,
And in her bosom many a fostering teat:
And, thus disguis'd, with pride and impudence
She presses-in to the Bubastik Prince,
Who, slumbring then on his vn-quiet Couch,
With ISRAEL's greatness was disturbed much:
Then she (the while, squinting vpon the lustre
Of the rich Rings which on his fingers glistre;
And, snuffing with a wrythed nofe the Amber,
The Musk and Civet that perfum'd the Chamber)
'Gan thus to greet him: Sleep'st thou? sleep'st thou, son?
And see'st thou not thy self and thine vn-don,
While cruell Snakes, which thy kinde brest did warm,
Sting thee to death, with their vngratefull swarm?
[Page 439]These Fugitiues, these out-casts do conspire
Against rich Egypt, and (ingrate) aspire
With odious Yoak of bondage to debase
The noble PHARAOH's, Godd's immortall Race.
With these last words, into his brest she blowes
A banefull ayr, whose strength vnfeltly flowes
Through all his veins; and, having gain'd his heart,
Makes Reason stoop to Sense in every part:
Simile.
So th' Aspick pale (with too-right aim) doth spit
On his bare face, that coms too-neer to it,
The froth that in her teeth to bane she turns;
A drowzy bane, that inly creeps, and burns
So secretly, that without sense of pain,
Scar, wound, or swelling, soon the Partie's slain.
What shall I farther say? This Sorrow's-Forge,
This Rack of Kings, Care's fountain, Courtier's scourge,
Besides her sable poyson, doth inspire
Enuies▪ two Twins.
With Hate and Fear the Princes fell desire.
Hence-forth therefore, poor ISRAEL hath no peace,
Not one good day, no quiet nap, no ease;
Still, still opprest, Tax vpon Tax arose,
After Thefts, Threats, and after Threats com blowes.
Slauery of the Israelites.
The silly wretches are compell'd som-while
To cut new Chanels for the course of Nile:
Somtimes som Cities ruins to repair:
Somtimes to build huge Castles in the air:
Somtimes to mount the Parian Mountains higher
In those proud Towrs that after-worlds admire;
Those Towrs, whose tops the Heav'ns have terrified:
Those Towrs, that scuse th' audacious Titan's pride
(Those Towrs, vain Tokens of a vast expence;
Tropheis of Wealth, Ambition's Monuments)
To make with their owne sweat and blood their morter:
To be at-once Brick-maker, Mason, Porter.
They labour hard, eat little, sleeping less,
No sooner layd, but thus their Task-lords press;
Villains, to work: what are yee growen so sloth?
Wee'll make ye yeeld vs wax and hony both.
In brief, this Tyrant, with such servitude,
Pharao his rain policy.
Thought soon to waste the sacred multitude;
Or, at the least, that over-layd with woe,
Weakned with watching, worn with toyling so,
They would in time becom less service-able
In VENUS Battails, and for breed less able
(Their spirits disperst, their bodies over-dri'd,
And Cypris sap vn-duly qualified):
But, when he saw this not succeed so well,
But that the Lord still prosper'd ISRAEL;
Inhumane, he commands (on bloudy Pain)
His cruell Edict against the male children.
That all their male-babes in their birth be slain:
And that (because that charge had don no good)
They should be cast, in CAIRO's silver Flood.
O Barbarism, learned in Hel belowe!
Those, that (alas!) nor steel nor stream do knowe,
Must Die of steel or stream: cruell Edicts!
That, with the Infant's bloud, the Mother's mix;
That, Childe and Mother both at once cut-off;
Him with the stroke, her with the grief therof:
With two-fold tears Iews greet their Native Heav'n:
The day that brings them life, their life hath reav'n.
But, IOCHEEED would fain (if she had durst)
Her deer son MOSES secretly haue nourç't:
Yet thinking it better her Babeforgo,
Than Childe and Parents both to hazard so,
At length she layes it forth, in Rush-boat weaves-it,
And to God's Mercy and the Flood's she leaves-it.
Though Rudder-les, not Pilot-les, this Boat
Among the Reeds by the Floods side did float,
And saues from wrack the future Legislator,
Lighting in hands of the Kings gracious Daughter:
His Daughter finding Moses exposed, causeth him to be Prince­ly brought vp.
Who opening it, findes (which with ruth did strike-her)
A lovely Babe (or little Angel liker)
Which with a smile seem'd to implore the ayd
And gentle pity of the Royall Mayd.
Love, and the Graces, State and Maiesty,
Seem round about the Infants face to fly,
[Page 441]And on his head seem'd (as it were) to shine
Presagefull rayes of som-what more diuine.
She takes him vp, and rears him royal-like;
And, his quick Spirit, train'd in good Arts, is like
A wel breath'd Body, nimble, sound, and strong,
2. Similes.
That in the Dance-school needs not teaching long:
Or a good Tree set in as good a soyl,
Which growes a-pace, without the Husband's toyl.
In time, he puts in Practice what he knowes;
With curteous Mildnesse, manly Courage showes:
H'hath nothing vulgar: with great happiness,
In choice discourse he doth his minde express;
And as his Soul's-type his sweet tongue affoords,
His gracefull Works confirm his gracious Words:
His Vertues make him even the Empire's heir:
So means the Prince, such is the peoples prayer.
Thus, while o're-whelmed with the rapid course
Gods prouidence in his preseruati­on.
Of Mischief's Torrent (and still fearing worse)
ISRAEL seems help-les and even hope-les too
Of any help that Mortall hand can doo:
And, while the then-Time's hideous face and form
Boads them (alas!) nothing but wrack and storm,
Their Castor shines, their Saviour's sav'd: and Hee
That with high hand shall them from bondage free,
Scourging with Plagues, scarring with end-les shame
Th' Egyptian Court, is raised by the same.
For, though him there they as a God adore,
Moses affection and duty toward his Parents and care of his Bre­thren.
He scorns not yet his friends and kindred poor:
He feels their Yoak, their mournings he laments:
His word and sword are prest in their defence;
And, as ordain'd, for their Deliverance,
And sent express by Heav'ns pre-ordinance,
Seeing a Pagan (a proud Infidell,
A Patagon, that tasted nought so well
As ISRAEL's blood) to ill-intreat a Iew,
Him bold incounters, and him brauely slew.
But, fearing then least his inhumane Prince
He flies out of Egypt.
Should hear of it, young MOSES flyes from thence:
[Page 442]And, hard by Horeb, keeping IETHRO'S sheep,
He Fasts and Prayes; with Meditations deep
His vertuous zeal he kindles more and more,
And prudently he lays-vp long-before
Within his Soule (his spirituall Armory)
All sacred Weapons of Sobriety,
Where-with t' incounter, conquer, and suppress
All Insurrections of Voluptuousness.
Also, not seldom som deep Dream or Trance
God talketh to him in the Wil­dernes.
Him suddainly doth even to Heav'n advance:
And He, that whilom could not finde the Lord
On plentious shoars of the Pelusian Foord,
In walled Cities with their Towred Ports,
In learned Colledges, nor sumptuous Courts;
In Desart meets him; greets him, face to face,
And on his brows bears tokens of his Grace.
For, while he past his sacred Pentiship
(In Wildernes) of th' Hebrews Shepheardship;
Moses vision of the flaming Bush
In driving forth to kiss-cloud SINA'S foot
His fleecy Flock, and there attending too 't'
He suddain sees a Bush to flame and fume,
And all a-fire, yet not at all consume;
It flames and burns not, cracks and breaks not in,
Kisses, but bites not no not even the skin:
True figure of the Church, and speaking Signe
Which seemeth thus to, of it self, define:
What? (AMRAM'S son) Doth IACOB'S bitter Teen
Dismay thee so? Behold, this Haw-thorn green
Is even an Image of thine ISRAEL,
Who in the Fire of his Afflictions fell
Still flourishes, on each side hedged round
With prickly Thorns, his hatefull Foes to wound:
This Fire doth seem the Spirit Omnipotent,
Which burns the Wicked, tries the Innocent;
Who also addeth to the sacred Signe,
The more to move him, his owne Word Divine.
The voyce of the Lord speaking out of the Bush.
I AM I that I am, in me, for me, by me:
All Beings els Be not (or else vn-selfly be)
[Page 443]But, from my Beeing, all their Beeing gather;
Prince of the World, and of my Church the Father:
Onely Beginning, Midst, and End of all;
Yet sans Beginning, Midst, and End at all:
All in my self compris'd; and all comprising
That in the World was, is, or shall be rising:
Base of this Vniverse: th' vniting Chain
Of th' Elements: the Wisedom Soveraign:
Each-where, in Essence, Powr and Providence;
But in the Heav'ns, in my Magnificence:
Fountain of Goodness: ever-shining Light:
Perfectly Blest: the One, the Good, the Bright:
Self-simple Act, working in frailest matter:
Framer of Forms: of Substances Creator:
And (to speak plainer) even that GOD I AM
Whom so long since religious ABRAHAM,
ISAAC, and IACOB, and their Progenies
Haue worshipped and prays'd in humble wise.
My sacred ears are tyred with the noyse
God hath pity on his people affli­cted in Egypt.
Of thy poor Brethren's iust-complayning voyce:
I haue beheld my Peoples burdens there;
MOSES, no more I will, nor can, forbear:
Th' haue groan'd (alas!) and panted all too-long
Vnder that Tyrants vn-relenting wrong.
Now, their Deliuerer I authorize thee,
He ordaineth Moses for their Deliverer, & giues him com­mission to goe to Pharao.
And make thee Captain of their Colony;
A sacred Colony, to whom (as mine)
I haue so oft bequeath'd rich Palestine.
Therfore from me command thou PHARAO
That presently he let my People go
Into the Dry-Arabian Wilderness,
Where far from sight of all profane excess,
On a new Altar they may sacrifice
To ME the LORD, in whom their succourlies:
Haste, haste (I say) and make me no excuse
On thy Tongue's rudenes (for the want of vse)
Nor on thy weaknes, nor vnworthyness
To vnder-go so great a Business.
[Page 444]What? cannot He, that made the lips and tongue,
Prompt Eloquence and Art (as doth belong)
Vnto his Legat? And, who every thing
Of Nothing made, and All to nought shall bring;
Th' Omnipotent, who doth confound (for His)
By weak the strong; by what is not, what is,
(That in his wondrous Iudgements, men may more
The Work-man then the Instruments adore)
Will he forsake, or leaue him vn-assisted,
That in his service duly hath insisted?
Sith faithfull Servant, to do-well affected,
Can by his Master never be reiected.
Moses (accom­panied with his brother Aaron) sets forward in his high Embas­sage.
No sooner this, the Divine Uoice had ended,
And vp to Heav'n the Bushy Flame ascended,
But MOSES, with (his fellow in Commission)
His Brother AARON, wends with expedition
First to his People, and to PHARAO then,
The King of Egypt (cruellest of Men):
And inly filled with a zealous flame,
Thus, thus he greets him, in th' Almighties name;
Great NILVS Lord, thus sayth the Lord of Hoasts,
Let go my People out of all thy Coasts,
Mine ISRAEL (PHARAO) forth-with release,
Let them depart to HOREB'S Wildernes;
That vnto me, without offence or fear,
Their Hearts and Heifers they may offer there.
Base Fugitiue, proud slaue (that art return'd,
Pharaos proud answere.
Not to be whipt, but rather hangd, or burn'd)
What Lord, sayd PHARAO? ha! what Soveraign?
O seaven-horn'd Nile! O hundred-pointed Plain!
O City of the Sun! O Thebes! and Thou
Renowned Pharos, do yee all not bow
To vs alone? Are yee not onely Ours?
Ours at a beck? Then to what other Powrs
Owes your great PHARAO homage or respect?
Or by what Lord to be controul'd and checkt?
I see the Drift. These off-scums all at once
Too idlely pampred, plot Rebellions:
[Page 445]Sloth marrs the slave [...], and vnder fair pretence
Of new Religion (Trayrours to their Prince)
They would Revolt. O Kings! how fond are we
To think by Favours and by Clemency,
To keep men in their duty? To be milde,
Makes them be mad, proud, insolent and wilde:
Too-much of Grace, our Scepters doth dis-grace,
And smooths the path to Treason's plots a pace.
The dull Ass, numbers with his stripes his steps:
Th' Ox, over-fat, too-strong, and resty, leaps
About the Lands, casteth his yoak, and strikes,
And waxen wilde, even at his Keeper kicks.
The true Anato­mie of a tyrant.
Well: to enioy a People, through their skin
With scourges slyç't, must their bare bones be seen:
We must still keep them short, and clip their wings,
Pare neer their nails, and pull out all their stings;
Lade them with Tribute, and new Towle, and Tax,
And Subsidies, vntill we break their backs:
Tire them with travail, flay-them, pole-them, pil-them,
Suck bloud and fat, then eat their flesh, and kil-them.
'Tis good for Princes, to haue all things fat,
Except their Subiects: but beware of that.
Ha, Miscreants! ha, rascal excrements,
That lift your heel against your gracious Prince;
Hence-forth, you get nor wood nor straw no more,
To burn your Bricks as you haue had before:
Your selues shal seek it out; yet shal you stil
The number of your wonted task fulfill.
I have Commission from the King of Kings,
Moses reply.
Maker, Preserver, Ruler of all things,
Replies the Hebrew, that (to knowe the Lord)
Thou feel his hand, vnless thou fear his word.
In th' instant, AARON on the slippery sand
Aaron casteth downe his Rod: which immedi­atly turnes into a Serpent.
Casts down his Rod; and boldly thus began:
So shall thy golden Scepter down be cast,
So shall the Iudgements of the Lord at last
(Now deemed dead) revive, to daunt thy powr:
So ISRAEL shall Egypts wealth devour,
[Page 446]If thou confess not God to be the Lord:
If thou attend not, nor obserue his Word:
And if his People thou do not release,
To go and serue him in the Wildernes.
Before that AARON this Discourse had done,
A green-gold-azure had his Rod put-on,
It glistered bright: and in a fashion strange,
Into a Serpent it did wholly change;
Crawling before the King, and all along
Spetting, and hissing with his forked tongue.
The Magicians of Egypt coun­terfet that mi­racle, and be­witch the eyes of the King.
The Memphian Sages then, and subtill Priests,
T' vphold the Kingdom of their OSIRIS,
Vpbrayd them thus: Alas! is this the most
Your God can do, of whom so much you boast?
Are these his Wonders? Go (base Montè-banks)
Go shew els-where your sleights and Iuggling pranks.
Such tricks may blear som vulgar innocents,
But cannot blinde the Counsell of a Prince;
Who, by the Gods instructed, doth contain
All Arts perfection in his sacred brain.
And, as they spake, out of their cursed hands
They all let-fall their strange-inchanted Wands,
Which instantly turn into Serpents too,
Hissing, and spetting, crawling to and fro.
The King too much admires their cunning Charms:
The place with Aspicks, Snakes, and Serpents swarms;
Creeping about: as an ill-Huswife sees
The Maggots creeping in a rotten Cheese.
Simile.
You, you are Jugglers, th' Hebrew then repli'd:
You change not Nature, but the bare out-side;
And your Enchantments onely do transform
The face of things, not the essentiall form.
You (Sorcerers) so mock the Princes ey,
And, his Imagination damnifie,
That common Sense to his externall, brings
(By re-percussion) a false shape of things.
My Rod's indeed a Serpent, not in showe,
As heer in sight your selues by proof shall knowe.
[Page 447]Immediatly his Dragon rear'd his head,
Roul'd on his brest; his body wriggelled
Som-times aloft in length; somtimes it sunk
Into it self, and altogether shrunk:
It slides, it sups the air, it hisses fell,
In steed of eyes two sparkling Rubies swell:
And all his deadly baens, intrenched strong
Within his trine Teeth and his triple Tongue,
Moses rod-Ser­pent deuoureth the Serpents of the Egyptians.
Call for the Combat: and (as greedy) set
With sodain rage vpon those Counterfet,
Those seeming-Serpents, and them all devour:
Euen as a Sturgeon or a Pike, doth scour
The Creeks and Pills in Rivers where they lie,
Of smaller Fishes and their feeble fry.
But, at high Noon, the Tyrant wilfull-blinde,
Pharao and his people hardened: Therefore God plagued Egypt.
And deaf to his owne good, is more inclin'd▪
To Satans tools: the people like the Prince,
Prefer the Night before Light's excellence.
Wherfore the Lord, such proud contempts to pay,
Ten sundry plagues vpon their Land doth lay:
Redoubling so his drad-full strokes, that there,
Who would not love him milde, him rough should fear.
Smiting the Waves with his Snake-wanded wood,
1. By turning their Waters into bloud.
AARON anon converts the Nile to blood;
So that the stream, from fruitfull MEROE,
Runs red and bitter even vnto the Sea.
The Court re-courst to Lakes, to Springs, and Brooks;
Brooks, Springs, and Lakes had the like taste and looks:
Then, to the Ditches; but even to the brink
There flow'd (alas!) in steed of Water, ink:
Then, to the likeliest of such weeping ground
Where, with the Rush, pipe-opening Fern is found;
And there they dig for Water: but (alas!)
The wounded soyl spets bloud into their face.
O iust-iust Iudgement! Those proud Tyrants fell,
Those bloudy Foes of mourning ISRAEL;
Those that delighted, and had made their game
In shedding bloud, are forç't to drink the same:
[Page 448]And those, that ruthe-les had made Nile the slaughter
Of th' Hebrew Babes, now die for want of Water.
Anon, their Fields, Streets, Halls and Courts he loads
2 Couering their Land with Frogs.
With foul great Frogs, and vgly croking Toads;
Which to the tops of highest Towrs do clamber
Even to the Presence, yea the priuy Chamber:
As starry Lezards in the Sommer time
Vpon the walls of broken houses climbe.
Yea; even the King meets them in every dish
Of Privy-diet, be it Flesh or Fish:
As at his Boord, so on his royall Bed;
With stinking Frogs the silken quilts be spred.
The Magicians counterfait the same, but their deceipts are vain
The Priests of PHARAO seem to do the same:
AARON alone in the Almighties Name,
By Faith almighty: They for instruments
Vse the black Legions of the Stigian Prince:
He by his Wonders labours to make knowen
The true Gods glory; only they their owne:
He seeks to teach; they to seduce awry:
He studies to build vp; they to destroy:
He, striking Strangers, doth His people spare;
They spoil their owne, but cannot hurt a hair
Of the least Hebrew: they can onely wound;
He hurts, and heals: He breaks, and maketh sound:
And so, when PHARAO doth him humbly pray,
Re-cleers the Floods, and sends the Frogs away.
But (as in Heav'n ther did no Iustice raign)
The King eased of his punishmēt, is again hardned
The Kings repentance endeth with his pain.
He is re-hardned: like a stubborn Boy
That plies his Lesson (Hypocritely-coy)
While in his hand his Master shakes the Rod;
But, if he turn his back, doth flowt and nod.
Therefore the Lord, this Day, with loathsom Lice
Therefore 3. Egypt is pla­gued with Lyce.
Plagues poor and rich, the nasty and the nice,
Both Man and Beast; For, AARON with his wand
Turns into Lice the dust of all the Land.
The morrow after, with huge swarms of Flies,
Hornets and Wasps, he hunts their Families
4. With Flies. &c.
[Page 449]From place to place, through Medows, Fens and Floods,
Hills, Dales, and Desarts, hollow Caves and Woods.
Tremble therefore (O Tyrants) tremble ay,
Poor worms of Earth, proud Ashes, Dust and Clay;
For, how (alas!) how will you make defence
'Gainst the tri-pointed wrathfull violence
Of the drad dart, that, flaming in his hand,
Shall pash to powder all that him withstand?
And 'gainst the rage of flames eternal-frying,
Where damned soules ly ever-never-dying:
Sith the least Flies, and Lice, and Vermin too
Out-braue your braves, and Triumph over you.
Gallop to Anian, sail to Iucatan,
Man cānot hide him frō the hand of God, nor auoid his vengeance.
Visit Botongas, dive beyond the Dane:
Well may you fly, but not escape him there:
Wretches, your haltars still about you bear.
Th' Almighties hand is long, and busie still;
Having escap't his Rod, his Sword you feel:
He seems somtimes to sleep, and suffer all;
But calls at last for Vse and Principall:
With hundred sorts of Shafts his Quiver's full,
Som passing keen, som som-what sharp, som dull,
Som killing dead, som wounding deep, som light;
But all of them do alwayes hit the White,
Each after other. Now th' Omnipotence
At Egypt shoots his Shafts of Pestilence:
Th' Ox falls-down in his yoak, Lambs bleating dy,
5. With the Plague of Pe­stilence.
The Bullocks as they feed, Birds as they fly.
Anon he covers Man and Beast with cores
Of angry Biles, Botches, and Scabs, and Sores;
6. With Vlcers & grieuous Scabs or Murrain.
Whose vlcerous venoms, all inflaming, spread
O're all the body from the foot to head.
Then, Rain, and Hail, and flaming Fire among
Spoyl all their fields: their Cattel great with young
7. With hail & Fire frō Heauen
All brain'd with hail-stones: Trees with tempest cleft,
Robd of their boughs, their boughs of leaues bereft.
And, from Heav'ns rage, all to seek shelter, glad;
The Face of Egypt is now dradly-sad:
[Page 450]The Sō in Virgins tear-their Beauties honour;
Egyptians amazed at this extraordinary scourge.
Not for the waste, so much, as for the manner.
For, in that Country never see they Clowd,
With waight of Snowes their trees are never bow'd,
They knowe no Ice: and though they haue (as we)
The Year intire, their Seasons are but three:
They neither Rain-bowe, nor fat Deaws expect,
Which from else-where Sol's thirsty raies erect:
The naturall fruitfulnesse and prosperity of E­gypt, in it selfe maruailous.
Rain-les, their soyl is wet; and, Clowd-les, fat;
Itself's moist bosom brings it this and that:
For, while else-where, the River's roaring pride
Is dryed-vp; and while that far and wide
The Palaestine seeks (for his thirsty Flock)
Iordan in Iordan, Iaboc in Iaboc;
Their floud o'reflowes, and parched M [...]sraim
A season seems in a rich Sea to swim,
Niles billows beat on the high-dangling Date;
And Boats do slice, where Ploughs did slide of late.
Steep snowy Mounts, bright Stars, Etesian gales,
You cause it not: no, those are Dreams and Tales:
Th' Eternall-Trine, who made all compassly,
Makes th' vnder waues, the vpper's want supply;
And, Egypts Womb to fill with fruits and Flowrs,
Gives swelling Nile th' office of heavenly Showrs.
Then, the Thrice-Sacred with a sable Clowd
Of horned Locusts doth the Sun be-clowd,
And swarmeth down on the rebellious Coast
8. They are vexed with Grashoppers.
The Grass-hoppers lean, dam-devouring Hoast;
Which gleans what Hail had left, and (greedy) crops
Both Night and Day the Husband's whole-year's hopes.
Then, gross thick Darkness over all he dight,
And three fair Dayes turns to one fearfull Night:
9. With palpa­ble darknesse.
With Ink-like Rheum the dull Mist's drouzy vapours
Quench their home-Fires, and Temple-sacred Tapers.
If hunger drive the Pagan from their dens,
One 'gainst a settle breaketh both his shins;
Another, groping vp and down for bread,
Falls down the stayrs, and there he lies for dead.
But, though these works surmount all Natures might,
Though his owne Sages them of guile acquight,
Though th' are not casuall (sith the holy-man
The Israelites in all these plagues vntoucht, yet Pharao still hardned.
Fore-tels prefixtly What, and Where, and Whan)
And though that (living in the midst of His)
The Israelites be free from all of This,
Th' incensed Tyrant (strangely-obstinate)
Retracts the Leave he granted them of late.
For, th' Ever-One, who with a mighty hand
Would bring his People to the plentious Land
Of Palestine: Who providently-great,
Before the eyes of all the World would set
A Tragedy, where wicked Potentates
Might see a Mirror of their owne estates:
And, who (most-iust) must haue meet Arguments,
To showe the height of his Omnipotence;
Hardens the King and blinding him (self-blinde)
Leaues him to Lusts of his owne vicious minde.
For, God doth never (ever purely bent)
Cause sin, as sin; but as Sin's Punishment.
For the last Charge, an Angell in one night,
10. Therefore al the first borne of Egypt are slain in one night by the Angel.
All the first born through all the Land doth smite;
So that from Suës Port to Birdene Plain,
Ther's not a House, but hath som body slain,
Saue th' Israelites, whose doors were markt before,
With sacred Pass-Lamb's sacramentall gore.
And therfore ever-since on that same day,
Yeerly, the Iewes a Yearling Lamb must slay;
A token of that Passage, and a Type
Of th' Holy-Lamb, which should (in season ripe)
By powring-forth the pure and plentious Flood
Of his most precious Water-mixed Blood,
Preserue his People from the drad Destroyer,
That fries the wicked in eternall fier.
Through all the Land, all in one instant cry,
All for one cause, though yet all knowe not why.
Night heaps their horrors: and the Morning showes
Their privat griefs, and makes them publike woes.
[Page 452]Scarce did the glorious Governour of Day
After so many grieuous plagues the Egyptian [...]ery out vpon their King to let the Israelites goe.
O're Memphis yet his golden tress display,
When from all parts, the Maydens and the Mothers,
Wiues, Husbands, Sons, and Siers, Sisters, and Brothers,
Flock to the Court, where with one common voice
They all cry-out, and make this mournfull noyse:
O stubborn stomach! (cause of all our sadnes)
Dull Constancy! or rather, desperat Madnes!
A Flood of Mischiefs all the Land doth fill,
The Heav'ns still Thunder; th' Ayr doth threaten stil:
Death, ghastly death triumpheth every-where,
In every house; and yet without all fear,
Without all feeling, we despise the Rod,
And scorn the Iudgements of the mighty God.
Great King, no more bay with thy wilfullings
His Wrath's dread Torrent. He is King of Kings;
And in his sight, the Greatest of you all
Are but as Moats that in the Sun do fall:
Yield, yield (alas!) stoop to his powrfull threat;
He's warn'd enough that hath been ten times beat.
Go, get you gon: hence, hence vn-lucky race;
They hasten and importune them to be gone.
Your eyes bewitch our eyes, your feet this Place,
Your breath this ayr: Why haste you not away?
Hebrews, what lets you? wherfore do you stay?
Step to our houses (if that ought you lack)
Choose what you like, and what you like go take,
Gold, Plate, or Iewels, Ear-rings, Chains, or Ouches,
Our Girdles, Bracelets, Carkanets, or Brouches,
Bear them vnto your gods, not in the sands
Where the Heav'n-kissing Clowd-browd Sina stands;
But much, much farther, and so far, that here
We never more your odious newes may hear:
Go Hebrews, go, in God's Name thriue amain;
By loosing you, we shall sufficient gain.
With the Kings leaue, then th' Hebrews Prince collects
After their de­parture, Pharao immediately pursues them.
His Legions all, and to the Sea directs:
Scarce were they gon, when Pharaoh doth retract,
And arms all Egypt to go fetch them back;
[Page 453]And camping neer them, execrably-rude,
Threatens them death, or end-less Se [...]uitude,
Even as a Duck, that nigh som crystall brook
Simile.
Hath twice or thrice by the same Hawk bin strook,
Hearing aloft her gingling siluer bels,
Quivers for fear, and looks for nothing els
But when the Falcon (stooping thunder-like)
With suddain souse her to the soyl shal strike,
And with the stroak, make on the sense-less ground
The gut-less Quar, once, twice, or thrice rebound:
So Israel, fearing again to feel
Pharao's fell hands, who hunts him at the heel,
Quivers and shivers for despair and dread;
And spits his gall against his godly Head.
O base ambition! This false Politick,
The Israelites feare, and mur­muring against Moses.
Plotting to Great himself, our deaths doth seek:
He mocks vs all, and makes vs (fortune-less)
Change a rich Soyl for a dry Wilderness;
Allur'd with lustre of Religious showes,
Poor soules, He sels vs to our hatefull Foes:
For, O! what strength? alas! what stratagem?
Or how (good God) shall we encounter them?
Or who is it? or what is it, shall saue vs
From their fell hands that seek to slay, or slaue-vs?
Shall we, dis-armed, with an Army fight?
Can we (like Birds) with still-steep-rising flight
Surmount these Mountains? haue we Ships at hand
To pass the Sea (this half a Sea half sand)?
Or, had we Ships, and Sails, and Owers, and Cable;
Who knowes these Waters to be navigable?
Alas! som of vs shall with Scithes be slasht;
Som, with their Horse-feet all to pieces pash [...],
Som, thrill'd with Swords, or Shafts, through hundred holes
Shall ghastly gasp-out our vntimely soules:
Sith die we must, then die we voluntary:
Let's run, our selues, where others would vs carry;
Com Israelites, com, let vs die together,
Both men and women: so we shall (in either)
[Page 454]Prevent their rage, content their avarice,
And yield (perhaps) to MOSES, even his Wish.
Moses instructi­on to incourage them, with assu­red confidence in God.
Why brethren? knowe ye not, their Ruler saith,
That in his hand God holdeth life and death?
That He turns Hils to Dales, and Seas to Sands?
That He hath (prest) a thousand winged Bands
T'assist his Children, and his Foes t'assail?
And that He helps not, but when all helps fail?
See you this mighty Hoast, this dreadfull Camp,
Which dareth Heav'n, and seems the Earth to damp;
And all inrag'd, already chargeth ours,
As thick, or thicker than the Welkin powrs
Simile.
His candi'd drops vpon the ears of Corn,
Before that Ceres yellow locks be shorn?
It all shall vanish, and of all this Crew
(Which thinks already to haue swallowed you)
Of all this army, that (in Armour bright)
Seems to out-shine the Sun, or shame his light;
There shall to-morrow not a man remain:
Therfore be still; God shall your side sustain.
Then (zealous) calling on th' immortall God,
Calling vpō God he parts the Red Sea, so that the people passe tho­rough as on dry land.
He smot the Sea with his dead-living Rod:
The Sea obay'd, as bay'd: the Waues, controul'd,
Each vpon other vp to Heav'n do folde:
Between both sides, abroad deep Trench is cast,
Dri'd to the bottom with an instant blast:
Or rather, 'tis a Valley paved (els)
With golden sands, with Pearl, and Nacre-shels,
And on each side is flanked all along
With walls of crystall, beautifull and strong.
This flood-less Foord, the Faithfull Legions pass,
And all the way their shoo scarce moisted was.
Dream we (sayd they)? or is true we try?
The Sea start at a stick? The Water dry?
The Deep a Path? Th' Ocean in th' ayr suspending?
Bulwarks of Billows, and no drop descending?
Two Walls of Glass, built with a word alone,
Afrik and Asia to con-ioyn in one?
[Page 455]Th' all-seeing Sun new bottoms to beholde?
Children to run, where Tunnies lately roll'd?
The Egyptians following them are swallowed in the Sea.
Th' Egyptian Troops pursue them by the track;
Yet wayts the patient Sea, and still stands back,
Till all the Hoast be marching in their ranks
Within the lane between his crystall banks:
But, as a wall weak'ned with mining-vnder,
The Piles consum'd falls suddainly a-sunder,
O're-whelmeth all that stand too neer the breach,
Simile.
And with his Ruines fils-vp all the ditch:
Evenso Gods finger, which these Waters bay'd,
Beeing with-drawen, the Ocean swell'd and sway'd;
And, re-conioyning his congealed Flood,
Swallows in th' instant all those Tyrantswood.
Heer, one by swimming thinks himself to saue:
But, with his scarf tangled about a Naue,
He's strangled straight; and to the bottom sinking,
Dies; not of too-much drink, but for not drinking:
While that (in vain) another with lowd lashes
Scours his prowd Coursers through the scarlet Washes;
The streams (wher-on more Deaths than waues do swim)
Bury his Chariot, and his Chariot him:
Another, swallowed in a Whirl-Whales womb,
Is layd a-liue within a living Tomb:
Another, seeing his Twin-brother drowning,
Out of his Coach, his hand (to help him) downing;
With both his hands grasping that hand, his Twin
Vnto the bottom hales him head-long in;
And instantly the Water covers either:
Right Twins indeed; born, bred, and dead together.
Nile's stubborn Monarch, stately drawen vpon
Pharao pro­fanely blasphe­ming & prowdly brauing Moses and the Sea, is notwithstanding drowned with the rest.
A curious Chariot chaç't with pearl and stone,
By two prowd Coursers, passing Snowe for colour;
For strength, the Elephants; Lions for valour;
Curseth the Heav'ns, the Ayr, the Windes, and Waues;
And, marching vp-ward, still blasphemes and braues:
Heer, a huge Billow on his Targe doth split;
Then, coms a bigger, and a bigger yet,
[Page 456]To second those: The Sea growes ghastly great;
Yet stoutly still, He thus doth dare and threat:
Base roaguing Iuggler, think'st thou with thy Charm▪
Thou shalt preuaile against our puissant arms?
Think'st thou poor shifter, with thy Hel-spels thus
To cross our Counsels, and discomfit vs?
And, O proud Sea! false, trayterous Sea, dar'st thou?
Dar'st thou conspire 'gainst thine owne Neptune now?
Dar'st thou presume 'gainst vs to rise and roar?
I charge thee cease: be still I say: no more:
Or I shall clap thine arms in Marble stocks,
And yoak thy shoulders with a Bridge of Rocks;
Or banish thee from Ethans far for ay,
Through som new Chanel to go seek thy way.
Heer-at, the Ocean more than ever frets,
All topsi-turuy vp-side-down it sets;
And a black billow that aloft doth float,
With salt and sand, stops his blasphemous throat.
What now betydes the Tyrant? Waters now
Haue reft his neck, his chin, cheeks, eyes, and brow;
His front, his fore-top: now there's nothing seen,
But his prowd arm, shaking his Fawchin keen;
Wher-with, he seems, inspight of Heav'n and Hell,
To fight with Death, and menace Israel.
At last he sinks all vnder water quite,
Spurning the sand, again he springs vpright;
But, from so deep a bottom to the top,
So clogg'd with arms, can cleaue no passage vp:
As the poor Partridge cover'd with the net
Simile.
In vain doth striue, struggle, and bate, and beat;
For the close meshes, and the Fowler's craft,
Suffer the same no more to whu [...]e aloft.
I, to your selues leaue to conceiue the ioy,
Of IACOB'S heirs, thus rescu'd from annoy;
Seeing the Sea to take their cause in hand,
And their dead Foes shuffled vpon the sand;
Their shields, and staues, and Chariots (all-to-tore)
Floating about, and flung vpon the shoar:
[Page 457]When thus th' Almighty (glorious God most High)
For them without them, got the Victory,
They skip and dau [...]ce; and marying all their voices,
To Timbrels, Hawbois, and lowd Cornets noyses,
Make all the shoars resound, and all the Coasts,
With the shril Praises of the Lord of Hoasts.
2. Part of this Tract: where is discoursed of the estate of the Peo­ple of Israell in the Wildernesse, vntill the death of Moses.
Eternall issue of eternall Sire,
Deep Wisedom of the Father, now inspire
And shewe the sequell that from hence befell,
And how He dealt with his deer Israell,
Amid the Desart, in their Pilgrimage
Towards the Promis'd plentious Heritage:
Tell for (I knowe) thou know'st: for, compast ay
With Fire by Night, and with a Clowd by Day,
Thou (my soul's hope) wert their sole guide and guard,
Their Meat and Drink in all their Iourney hard.
Marching amid the Desart, nought they lack:
Heaven still distils an Ocean (for their sake)
Of end-les-good: and every Morn doth send
Sufficient Food for all the day to spend.
When the Sun riseth, and doth haste his Race,
(Half ours, half theirs, that vnderneath vs pase)
To re-beholde the bewty, number, order,
And prudent Rule (preventing all mis-order)
Of th' awefull Hoast lodg'd in the Wilderness,
So favour'd of the Sun of Righteousness:
Each coms but forth his Tent, and at his dore
Findes his bread ready (without seeking more):
A pleasant bread, which from his plentious clowd,
Like little Haile, Heav'ns wakefull Steward strow'd.
The yellow sands of Elim's ample Plain
Were heaped all with a white sugred grain,
Sweet Corianders; Iunkets, not to feed
God giueth them Manna.
This Hoast alone, but even a World (for need).
Each hath his part, and euery one is fed,
With the sweet morsels of an vn-bought bread.
It is giuen from day to day.
It never rains for a whole year at-once,
But daily for a day's prouisions:
[Page 458]To th' end, so great an Hoast, so curbed straight,
Still on the Lord's wide open hand should wayt,
And every Dawning haue due cause to call
On him, their Founder, and the Fount of all:
Each, for his portion hath an Omer-full;
The sur-plus rots, mould, knead it how they will.
The Holy-one (iust Arbitrer of wrong)
Allows no less vnto the weak, than strong:
On Sabbaoth's Eve, he lets sufficient fall,
To serue for that day, and the next with-all,
That on his Rest, the sacred Folk may gather,
Not Bodie's meat, but spirituall Manna rather.
Thou that from Heav'n thy daily White-bread hast,
Thou, for whom Haruest all the Year doth last,
That in poor Desarts, rich aboundance heap'st,
That sweat-les eat'st, and without sowing reap'st,
That hast the Ayr for farm, and Heav'n for field
(Which, sugred Mel, or melled sugar yield)
That, for taste-changing do'st not change thy cheer,
God's Pensioner, and Angel's Table-peer:
It is a liuely fi­gure of Christ the true bread of life.
O Israell! see in this Table pure,
In this fair glass, thy Saviour's pourtraiture,
The Son of God, MESSIAS promised,
The sacred seed, to bruize the Serpents head:
The glorious Prince, whose Scepter ever shines,
Whose Kingdom's scope the Heav'n of Heavens confines;
And, when He shall (to light thy Sin-full load)
Put Manhood on, dis-knowe him not for God.
This Grain is small, but full of substance though:
The same demō ­strated by parti­cular conference.
CHRIST strong in working, though but weak in showe.
Manna is sweet: Christ as the Hony-Comb.
Manna from high: and CHRIST from Heaven doth com.
With that, there falls a pleasant pearly deaw:
CHRIST comming-down doth all the Earth be-streaw
With spirituall gifts. That, vnto great and small
Tastes to their tastes: and CHRIST is all to all:
(Food to the hungry, to the needy wealth,
Ioy to th' afflicted, to the sickly health,
[Page 459]Pardon to those Repent, Prop to the bow'd,
Life's savour to the Meek, Death's to the Prowd).
That's common good: and Christ communicate.
That's purely-white: and Christ immaculate.
That gluts the wanton Hebrews (at the last):
Christ and his Word the World doth soon dis-taste.
Of that, they eat no less that haue one measure,
Than who haue hundred: and in Christ his Treasure
Of Divine Grace, the faith-full Proselite
Hath no less part, than Doctors (deep of sight).
That's round: Christ simple, and sincerely-round.
That in the Ark: Christ in his Church is found.
That doth (with certain) stinking worms becom:
Christ (th' Ever-Word) is scandall vnto som.
That raineth not, but on the sacred Race:
Christ to his Chosen doth confine his Grace.
That's broken every grain: Christ (Lamb of God)
Vpon his Cross-press is so torn and trod,
That of his Blood the pretious Flood hath purl'd,
Down from Mount Sion over all the World.
The people lust for flesh.
Yet glutted now with this ambrosiall Food,
This Heav'nly bread, so holy and so good,
Th' Hebrews do lust for flesh: a fresh South-winde
Brings shoals of Fowls to satisfie their minde;
God sends them Quailes.
A clowd of Quails on all the Camp is sent,
And every one may take to his content:
For, in the Hoast, and all the Country by,
For a days-iourney, Cubit thick they lie.
But though their Commons be thus delicate,
Although their eyes can scarce look out for fat,
Although their Bellies strout with too much meat,
Though ( Epicures) they vomit as they eat;
Yet still they howl for hunger: and they long
For Memphian hotch-potch, Leeks, and Garlick strong:
They long for the Garlike & Oni­ons of Egypt.
As Childe-great Women, or green Maids (that miss
Their Terms appointed for their flourishes)
Pine at a Princely feast, preferring far,
Red Herrings, Rashers, and (som) sops in T [...]r▪
Simile.
[Page 460]Yea, coals, and clowts, sticks, stalks, and durt, before
Quail, Pheasant, Partridge, and a hundred more:
So their fantastick wearisom disease,
Distastes their tastes, and makes them strange to please.
But, when the Bull, that lately tost his horn
In wanton Pride, hangs down his head, for lorn
For lack of Water: and the Souldier bleak
Growes (without Arms) for his owne waight too-weak,
When fiery Thirst through all their veins so fierce
Consumes their blood, into their bones doth pearce;
Sups-vp their vitall humour, and doth dry
Their whilom-beauties to Anatomy:
They weep and wail, and but their voyce (alas!)
Is choakt already that it cannot pass
They murmure for want of wa­ter with grie­vous imputation to their good Guide.
Through the rough Sraight [...] of their dry throats; they wo [...]
Roar-out their grief, that all men hear them should.
O Duke! (no Hebrew, but an Ethnick rather)
Is this (alas!) the guerdon that we gather,
For all the service thou hast had of vs?
What haue we don, that thou betray'st vs thus?
For our obedience, shall we ever-more
With Fear and Want be hanted at our dore?
O windy words! O periur'd promises!
O gloze, to gull our honest simpleness!
Escap't from Hunger, Thirst doth cut our throat:
Past the Red Sea, heer vp and down we float
On firm-less sands of this vast Desart heer,
Where, to and fro we wander many a year:
Looking for Libertie, we finde not Life:
No, neither Death (the welcom end of strife).
Envy not vs, deer Babes: we envy you,
You happy ones, whom Egypt's Tyrant slew;
Your Birth and Death cam hand in hand together,
Your end was quick, nay'twas an Entry rather
To end-less Life: We wretches, with our age
Increase our Woes, in this long Pilgrimage:
We hope no Harbour where we may take breath:
And Life to vs is a continuall Death.
[Page 461]You blessed liue, and see th' Almighties face:
Our Days begin in tears, in toyls they pass,
And end in dolours (this is all we do):
But Death concludes tears, toyls, and dolours too.
Stif-necked People, stubborn generation,
Moses reproues them, & smiteth the Rock, from whence issues plenty of water.
Egypt doth witness (in a wondrous fashion)
God's goodnes (to thee): all the Elements
Expound vnto thee his Omnipotence:
And do'st thou murmure still? and dar'st thou yet
Blaspheme his promise, and discredit it?
Said MOSES then, and gaue a sodain knock
With his deere Scepter on a mighty Rock;
From top to toe it shakes, and splits with-all,
And wel-nigh half, vnto the ground doth fall,
As smit with Lightning: then, with rapid rush,
Out of the stone a plentious stream doth gush,
Which murmurs through the Plain; proud, that his glass
Gliding so swift, so soon re-youngs the grass;
And, to be gaz'd-on by the wanton Sun,
And, through new paths so braue a course to run.
Who hath not seen (far vp within the Land)
Simile.
A shoal of Geese on the dry-Sommersand
In their hoarce language (som-times lowely-lowd)
Suing for succour to som moyst-ful clowd;
How, when the Rain descends, their wings they beat,
(With the fresh drops to cool their swelting heat)
Bib with their Bill, bouz with their throats, and suck,
And twenty times vnto the bottom duck?
Such th' Hebrews glee: one, stooping down, doth sup
The cleer quick stream; another takes it vp
In his bare hand, another in his hat;
This in his busk in, in a bucket, that
(Wel fresht him-self) bears som vnto his Flock;
This fils his pitcherful, and that his Crock:
And other-som (whose Thirst is more extream)
They march to­ward Mount Sina, where God deliuereth them his LAW.
Like Frogs lie paddling in the crystall stream.
From Rephidim, alongst the Desart Coast,
Now to Mount Sina marcheth all the Hoast;
[Page 462]Where, th' everlasting GOD, in glorious wonder,
With dreadful voyce his fearfull LAVV doth thunder;
To showe, that His reverent, Divine Decrees
(Wher-to all hearts should bow, and bend all knees)
Proceed not from a Politick Pretence,
A wretched Kingling, or a petty Prince;
(Nymph-prompted NVMA, or the Spartans Lord,
Or him that did Cecropian Strifes accord)
Nor from the mouth of any mortall man;
But from that King, who at his pleasure can
Shake Heav'n, and Earth, and Ayr, and all ther-in:
That ISRAEL shall finde him (if they sin)
As terrible with Vengeance in his hand,
As dreadfull now in giving the COMMAND:
And, that the Text of that drad Testament
Grav'n in two Tables, for vs impotent,
Hath in the same, a sadder load compris'd,
And heavier yoak, then is the yoak of Christ.
That, that doth showe vs Sin; threats, wounds, and kils:
This offers Grace, Balm in our sores distils.
Redoubled Lightnings dazleth' Hebrews eyes,
With what dred­ful Maiesty it was deliuered.
Clowd-sund'ring Thunder roars through Earth and skies,
Lowder and lowder it careers and cracks,
And stately SINA'S massie center shakes,
And turneth round, and on his sacred top,
A whirling flame round like a Ball doth wrap;
Vnder his rocky ribs, in Coombs belowe,
Rough-blustering BOREAS, nurst with Riphean snowe,
And blub-checkt AVSTER, puft with fumes before,
Met in the midst, iustling for room, do roar:
A cloak of clowds all thorough-lin'd with Thunder,
Muffles the Mountain both aloft and vnder:
On PHARAN now no shining PHARVS showes.
A Heav'nly Trump a shrill Tantara blowes,
The winged Windes, the Lightning's nimble-flash,
The smoaking storms, the whirl-fire's crackling clash,
And deafning Thunders, with the same do sing
(O wondrous consort!) th' everlasting King
[Page 463]His glorious Wisdom, who doth giue the Law
To th' Heavenly Troops, and keeps them all in aw.
But, as in Battail, we can hear no more
Simile.
Small Pistol-shot, when once the Canons roar:
And as a Cornet soundeth cleer and rife,
Simile.
Aboue the warbling of an Alman Fife;
A dradder voyce (yet a distincter voice)
Whose sound doth drown all th' other former noyse,
Roars in the Vale, and on the sacred Hill,
Which thrills the ears, but more the heart doth thrill
Of trembling Iacob: who all pale for fear,
From God's owne mouth these sacred words doth hear;
Hark Israell: O Iacob hear my Law:
Hear it, to keep it (and thy self in aw).
I am IEHOVA, I (with mighty hand)
Brought thee from bondage out of Egypt Land:
ADORE ME ONLY for thy God and Lord,
With all thy heart, in every Deed and Word.
MAKE THEE NONE IMAGE (not of any sort)
The Decalogue.
To thy owne Works My Glory to transport.
VSE NOT MY NAME without respect and fear,
Never Blaspheme, neither thy self for-swear.
SIX DAYS VVORK for thy food: but then (as I)
REST ON THE SEAVENTH, and to my Temple hye.
TO THOSE that gaue thee life, due REVERENCE giue,
If thou desire long in the Land to liue.
IMBRVE thou NOT THY HAND IN HVMAN BLOOD.
STAIN NOT anothers BED. STEALE NO MAN'S GOOD.
BEAR NO FALSE VVITNES. COVET NOT to haue
Thy Neighbours Wife, his Oxe, his Ass, his Slaue,
His House, his Land, his Cattle or his Coyn,
His Place, or Grace; or ought that is not Thine.
The excellency of the Law of God.
Eternall Tutor, O Rule truely-right
Of our frail life! our foot-steps Lanthorn bright:
O Soule's sweet Rest! O byting curb of Sin!
Which Bad despise, the Good take pleasure in:
Reverent EDICTS vpon Mount SINA giuen,
How-much-fold sense is in few words contriven▪
[Page 464]How wonderfull, and how exceeding-far!
How plain, how sacred, how profound you are!
All Nations else, a thousand times (for cause)
Haue Writ and Raç't, and chopt and chang'd their Laws:
Except the Iews; but they, although their State
With every Moon almost did innovate
(As somtimes having Kings, and somtimes none)
In all their changes kept their Law still one.
What resteth at this day, of Salaminian,
The inconstancie and vanity of Humane Lawes.
Laconian LAVVS, or of the Carthaginian?
Yea Rome, that made even all the World one City,
So strong in Arms, and in State's-Art so witty;
Hath, in the Ruines of her Pride's rich Babels,
Left but a Relique of her Twice-Six-Tables.
But, since in Horeb the High-Thundring ONE
Stability and authoritie of the Law of God.
Pronounç't This Law, three-thousands times the Sun
Hath gallopt round Heaven's golden Bandeleer,
Imbosst with Beasts, studded with starrs so cleer;
And yet one tittle hath not Time bereft,
Although the People vnto whom 'twas left,
Be now no People, but (expulst from home)
Through all the corners of the World do roam:
And though their State, through every Age almost,
On a rough Sea of Mischiefs hath been tost.
A Butt, a Brook, a Torrent doth confine
All other Lawes: Megarian Discipline
Hath nought of th' Attick: nor the Coronan
Of Theban Rytes: nor Thebes of Cadmèan:
But, this Set LAVV given IACOB'S Generations,
Is the true Law of Nature, and of Nations,
Which (sacred) sounds wher-ever (to descry)
Th' all-searching Sun doth cast his flaming eye.
The Turks imbrace, the Christians honour it,
And Iews with Fear, do even adore it yet.
I only, I (Great GOD) thy LAVVS do spurn
How all men transgresse the same in euery part.
With my foul feet, I do thy Satutes scorn:
Puft in my Soule with extream Pride, before,
Nay in thy stead, I do my self Adore.
[Page 465]I Serue no wooden gods, nor Kneel to Stones;
But Covetous, I Worship Golden ones.
I Name thee not, but in vain Blasphemy,
Or (ACHAB-like) in sad Hypocrisie.
I Rest the Sabboath: yet I break thy LAVV,
Seruing (for thee) mine idle Mouth and Maw.
I Reverence Superiors, but in showe;
Not out of Loue, but as compelled so.
I Murder none, yet doth my Tongue too-rife
Wound others Fame, and my Hearts-hate their life.
I Civilize, lest that I seem Obscoene:
But Lord (Thou know'st) I am Vnchaste, vnclean.
I seem no Theef: yet tempted with my Want,
I take too oft the Fruit I did not plant.
I speak not much: yet in my little Talk,
Much Vanity, and many Lies do walk.
I Wish too-earnest, and too-oft (in fine)
For others Fortunes, male-content with mine.
Heer lie I naked: lo th' Anatomy
Remedy for all our sinnes.
Of my foul Heart. O Humane-Deity!
O Christ! th' Almightie's like All-mighty Word,
O put-me-on Thy Robe! as whilom (Lord)
Thou putst-on Mine: me in Thy Blood be-laue;
And in my Soule thy sacred Laws ingraue.
While with the Duke, th' Eternall did deuise,
And to his inward sight did modulize
His Tabernacle's admirable Form;
And prudently him (faithfull) did inform
In a new Rubrik of the Rytes Divine,
To th' end the Heirs of promis'd Palestine,
After their fancy should not worship him,
Nor (Idol-prone) example leading them,
Into his sacred TEMPLE introduce
The Sacrifices that the Heathen vse:
But, by their Rytes to guide their spiritual eye
To Christ, the Rock on whom their hopes should lie;
In Moses ab­sence Aaron makes the golden Calfe.
Beholde (alas!) frail Aaron, Deputied
During his absence, all the Flock to guide,
[Page 466]Dumb coward Curr, barks not against their ill;
But giving way to the mad Peoples will,
Casteth a Golden Calf, and sets it vp,
For them to worship, and vnto it stoop:
Gold, Rings, and Iewels, which the Lord of Heaven
Had (as Loue-tokens) lately to them given,
Are cast into a Mould; and (which is worse)
Iacob, to wed a Calf, doth God divorce.
Those Feet, that dry-shod past the Crimsin Gulf,
Now Dance (alas!) before a Molten Calf:
That Voice, which late on ETHAM sands had rung
Th' Almightie's glory, now to Satan sung.
The zealous Prophet, with iust fury moov'd,
Moses sharply reproveth Aa­ron, breakes the Idol, and punish­eth the Idolaters.
'Fore all the Hoast, his Brother sharp reproov'd:
And pulveriz'd their Idol: and eft-soons
Flankt by olde LEVI'S most religious Sons,
Throngs through the Camp, & each-where strowes his way
With blood and slaughter, horror and dismay:
As half a score of Reapers nimbly-neat,
Simile.
With cheerfull ey choosing a plot of Wheat,
Reap it at pleasure, and of Ceres locks
Make hand-fulls sheaves, & of their sheaves make Shocks;
And through the Field from end to end do run,
Working a-vie, till all be down and don:
Or, as so many Canons shot at-once
A-front a Camp; Th' Earth with the Thunder grones;
Simile.
Heer flies a broken arm, and breaks another;
There stands th' one half of a halv'd body, th' other
Falls-down a furlong thence: heer flies a shield;
And deep-wide windows make they in the field.
All these sure signes of God's deer estimate,
Aaron & Ma­ry (or Miriam) murmure against Moses.
Cannot confirm the Hebrew Magistrate
In his Authority: even AARON spights-it,
And MIRIAM (his Sister) too back-bites-it.
But suddainly, on her in his Defence,
Foul Leprosie did punish this Offence.
Nadab and A­bihu for offering of strange Fire, are killed by Fire from Heaven.
His Nephews, scorning his Command, aspire
Before the Lord to offer forrain Fire:
[Page 467]But, on them soon a heav'nly Flame down-falling
(As in the Sommer som hot-dry Exhaling,
Or blazing-Star with suddain flash doth fall
At Palmers feet, and him affright with-all:)
Fires instantly their beards and oyled hair,
And all the sacred vestiments they wear;
Exhales their bloud, their Bodies burns to ashes,
Their Censers melts with heat of Lightning flashes,
Their coals are quenched all, and sacred Flame
Th' vn-hallowed Fire devour'd and over-came.
His Kins-man CORE then (with DATHAN ioyn'd
Core, Dathan, and Abiram, their conspiracy.
And with ABIRAM) murmur'd and repin'd:
O see (saith he) how many a subtil gin
The Tyrant sets to snare our Freedoms in!
How we, abus'd with Oracles most vain,
(Which MOSES and his brother AARON fain)
For idle hopes of promis'd Signories,
Do simply lose our sweetest Liberties!
See, how they do ingross between them two,
Into one House, SCEPTER and EPHOD too:
See, how they dally, and with much delay
Prolong our Iourney to prolong their Sway:
And (to conclude) see how sly Course they take,
To build their Greatness on our grievous wrack.
Hear'st thou me (MOSES) if thou chiefly ioy
To see thy Brethren's torments and annoy,
'T were good to walk vs yet for ten yeers more
About these Mountains in these Desarts poor:
Keep vs still Exiles; Let vs (our Desire)
Languish, wax-olde, and in these sands expire,
Where cruell Serpents haunt vs still at hand,
A Fruit-les, Flood-les, yea a Land-les Land.
If, rear'd from Youth in Honour, thine Ambition
Cannot com down to privat mens condition,
Be Captain, Duke and King: for, God approves-thee,
Thy Vertues guard, the People fears and loves-thee.
But as for AARON, what is his desert?
What High-exploit, what Excellence, what Art
[Page 468]Gain'd him th' High-Priesthood? O good God, what shame?
Alas! hath he for any thing got [...]ame
But HOREBS Horn-God? for despising thee,
And thy Commands; and for Conspiracie?
The morrow next, before the Sacred Tent
This Mutiner with sacred Conserwent
Adorn'd, self-gazing, with a lofty ey,
His faction present: AARON also by.
Lord shield thy Cause, approve thee veritable,
Let not thy Name be to the Lewd a Fable:
Oint thine Anointed publikely: by Miracle,
Showe whom thou hast selected for thine Oracle:
Said MOSES then; and even as yet he spake,
The groaning Earth began to reel and shake,
A horrid Thunder in her bowels rumbles,
Their dreadfull punishment.
And in her bosom vp and down it tumbles,
Tearing her Rocks, Vntil she Yawn a way
To let it out and to let in the Day:
Heav'n sees to Hell, and Hell beholdeth Heav'n,
And Divels dazled with the glistring leav'n
Of th' ancient Sun, yet lower fain would dive;
But chain'd to th' Centre all in vain they strive.
CORE, round compast with his Rebel friends,
Offers to BELZEBVE and to the Fiends:
His bodie's batter'd with Rocks falling down,
And arms of Trees there planted vp-side-down:
He goes with Noise down to the Silent Coast,
Intoombd alive, without all Art or cost.
And all the rest that his proud side assum'd,
Scaping the Gulf, with Lightning are consum'd.
And AARON'S Office is confirm'd by God,
Aarons charge is confirmed by miracle.
With wondrous Signes of his oft-quickned Rod,
Which dead, re-buda, re-blooms, and Almonds bears;
When all his Fellows haue no life in theirs.
Now, shall I sing, through MOSES prudent Sway,
Sundry victories of the Israelites, vnder the cōduct and direction of Moses.
How ISRAEL doth AMALEC dismay,
ARAD and OG (that of huge Giants springs)
Proud HESEBON, and the five Madian Kings,
[Page 469]With the false Prelat, who profanely made
Of Prophets-gifts a sacrilegious trade;
Who false, sayes true; who striving (past all shame)
To force the Spirit, is forced by the same:
Who, snaring th' Hebrews with frail Beauties graces,
Defiles their bodies, more their soules defaces?
Doubt-les his Deeds are such, as would I sing
But half of them, I vnder-take a thing
As hard almost, as in the Gangik Seas
To count the Waves, or Sands in Euphrates;
And, of so much, should I a little say,
It were to wrong him, and his Praise betray.
His Noble Acts we therefore heer suspend,
Reseruing the Warres for ano­ther Discourse, our Poet hasteth to the death of Moses.
And skip vnto his sweet and happy End:
Sith, th' End is it whereby we iudge the best
(For either Life) how Man is Curst or Blest.
Feeling his vigour by degrees to waste,
And, one Fire quencht, another kindling fast,
Which doth his Spirit re-found, his soule refine,
And raise to Heaven, whence it was sent divine;
He doth not ( Now) study to make his Will,
By his example Men are warned not to deferre to make their Will till it be too late to bee troubled with the busines of this world.
T' Entail his Land to his Male-Issue still:
Wisely and iustly to divide his Good,
To Sons and Daughters, and his neerest Blood:
T' assigne his Wife a Dowry fair and fit,
A hundred times to add, and alter it:
To quittance Friendships with frank Legacies:
To guerdon Service with Annuities,
To make Executors, to Cancel som,
T' appoint himself a Palace for a Tomb.
(I praise a Care to settle our Estate:
But, when Death threats vs, then it is too-late.
A seemly Buriall is a sacree Rite:
But let the living take that charge of right.)
He (lifting higher his last thoughts) besides
The Common-Weale's care, for the Church prouides,
And graving his discourse with voice devout,
Bids thus far-well to all that stand about;
O IACOB's seed (I might say, my deer sons)
He pronounceth the blessings and the curses writtē in Leviticus 26 & Deutro. 28. where vnto the people say A­men.
Y' are sense-les more then metalls, stocks or stones,
If y' have forgot the many-many Miracles
Wher-with the Lord hath seal'd my sacred Oracles;
And all the Favours (in this savage Place)
In forty yeers received of his grace.
Therefore (O ISRAEL) walk thou in his fear,
And in thy hearts-heart (not in Marble) bear
His ever-lasting LAVV: before him stand,
And to his Service consecrate thy hand.
If this thou do, thy Heav'n-bles [...] fleecy Flocks
Blessings on those that obey.
Shall bound about thy Pastures, Downs and Rocks;
As thick as skip in Sommer, in a Mead,
The Grass-hoppers that all with Deaw are fed:
Thy fruitfull Eaws fat Twins shall bring thee ever,
And of their Milk shall make a plentious River:
Th' olde Tyrant loads not with so-many loans,
Toules, Taxes, Succours, Impositions,
The panting Vassalls to him Tributary▪
As thy rich Fields shall pay thee voluntary:
Thy children, and thy children's children, set
About thy Table side by side at meat,
Shall flourish like a long and goodly rowe
Of pale-green Olives that vprightly growe
About a ground, and (full of Fruit) presage
Plenty of Oyl vnto their Master sage:
Sons of thy sons shall serue thy reverend Eld:
Thou shalt die quiet, thou shalt live vnqueld:
Blessed at home, and blessed in the Plain:
The blessed God shall send thee timely Rain▪
And holsom windes, and with his keyes of grace
Open Heav'ns store-house to thy happy Race:
Thy proud fell Foes with Troops of armed men
Shall charge thee one way, but shall flie thee ten:
The Peace-Plant Olive, or Triumphant Bay
Shall shade thy gates: Thy valour shall▪ dismay,
And daunt the Earth: and with his sacred aw
Thy Saviour-King shall giue the World the law.
If other-wise; the Megrim, Gowt, and Stone,
Curses on the Disobedient.
Shall plague thee fel with thousand pangs in one:
Thy numbry Flocks in part shall barren [...]e,
In part shall bring abortives vnto thee:
Accurst at home, accursed in the Plain,
Thy labour boot-les, and thy care in vain:
Thy Field shall be of steel, thy Heav'n of brass,
Thy Fountains dry: and God displeas'd (alas!)
In steed of holsom showrs, shall send down flashes
Of Lightning, Fire, Hail, Sulphur, Salt, and Ashes:
Thou shalt reap little where thou much hast shed,
And with that little shall thy Foe be fed;
He shall the fattest of thy Heard devour
Before thy face, and yet thou must not lowr:
Thou shalt build fair, another haue thy Place:
Thou wed a wife, another 'fore thy face
Shal loose her Bride-belt: God with rage shall smight
Thy stubborn heart, with blindnesse and affright;
So that a wagging leaf, a puff, a crack,
Yea, the least creak shall make thee turn thy back:
Thou never shalt thine adverse Hoast survay,
But to be beaten, or to run away.
A People stout, for strength and number ample,
Which th' Aegle hath for Ensigne and Example,
With a new Wall thine ancient Wall shall dam,
And make thee (Famisht) thy void bowels cram
With thine owne bowels, and for want of meat
Thine owne deer Children's trembling flesh to eat.
And then, thy Remnant (far disperst from home)
O're all the Corners of the earth shall roam:
To shew their Curse, they shall no Country ow'ne,
And (which is worse) they shall not be their Owne.
AMEN, said all the Hoast. Then (like the Swan)
This dying Song, the Man of GOD began:
SIth ISRAEL (O wil-full!) will not hear;
The SONG OF MO­SES.
Hearken O Heavens, and O thou Earth give ear
Vnto my voice, and Witness (on-my part)
Before the Lord, my zeal and their hard hart.
O Heav'n and Earth attend vnto my Song,
Hear my discourse, which sweetly slides along
As silver showrs on the dry Meads do trill,
And hony deaws, on tender grass distill.
God grant (I pray) that in their hearts, my Verse
(As water on the withered Lawns) may pearce:
And that the hony dropping from my tongue
May serve the olde for rain, for deaw the young.
I sing th' Eternal: O let Heav'n and Earth
Com praise him with me, sound his glory forth,
Extol his Powr, his perfect Works record,
Truth, Goodnes, Greatnes, Iustice of the Lord.
But, though for ever He have showen him such;
His children yet (no Children, rather-much
A Bastard Race) full of malicious sin,
All kinde of vice have foully wallowed in.
O foolish People! doost thou thus requight
His Father-care, who fenç't thee day and night,
As with a Shield? Who chose thee as his heir?
Who made thee, of so foule a masse, so fair?
Vn-winde the bottom of olde Times again,
Of Ages past vn-reel the snarled skain,
Ask of thy Parents, and they shall declare,
Thine Elders, and they'll tell thee Wonders rare.
They'll tell thee, how, when first the Lord had spred
Men on the Earth, and iustly levelled
His strait long Measure th' All-Bal to divide,
He did for thee a plentious Land provide.
For his deer IACOB, whom his favour then
Seem'd t'have sequestred from the rest of men,
To th' end his Blessed Seed (in future age)
Should be his Care, Love, Lot, and Heritage.
They'll tell thee too, how through the sandy horro [...]
Of a vast Desart, Den of ghastly Terror,
Of Thirst and Hunger, and of Serpents fell,
He by the hand conducted ISRAEL:
Yea (of his goodnes) to direct him still,
By Word and Writ show'd him his sacred Will;
Vnder his wings shade hid him tenderly,
And held him deer, as apple of his ey.
As is the royall Eagle's sacred wont,
When she would teach her tender Birds to mount,
To flie and cry about her Nest, to cheer-them,
And when they faint, on her wingd back to bear-them:
God (without aid of other Gods or Graces)
Safe guide, hath made him mount the highest Places,
Suck Oyl and Hony from the Rocks distilling,
In plentious Land with pleasant Fruits him filling.
He gave him Milk and Butter for his meat,
Kid, Lamb, and Mutton, and the flowr of Wheat;
And for his Drink, a most delicious Wine
(The spright full bloud of the broad-spreading Vine).
But, waxen fat, he lifts his wanton heel
Against his God (to whom his Soule should kneel)
Forsakes his Maker, and contemns the Same
That saved him from danger, death, and shame.
Then, he inflam'd the fury of the Lord,
With profane bowing to false Gods abhord:
With serving Idols, and with Sacrificing
To Fiends, and Phansies of his owne devising.
For vain false Gods, Gods vn-renown'd, and new,
Gods that his Fathers nor he neuer knew,
He hath forgot the true eternall BEEING,
The God of whom he holdes his bliss and being.
God saw it well, and Ielously a-fire,
Against his Children thus he threats his ire:
No; I will hide the brightnes of my face,
I'll take from them the treasures of my grace:
Then let vs see what will of them becom:
But, what but mischife can vnto them com,
That so perverse with every puff let fly
Their Faith, sole constant in inconstancy?
Th' have made me ieloux of a God, no God:
I'll make them ieloux, I will Wed (abroad)
A People (yet) no People: And their brest
Shall split, for spight, to see the Nations blest.
Devouring Fire, that from my heart doth fume,
Shall fiercely burn and in my wrath consume
The deep of Deeps, the middle Downs, and Fields,
And strong foundations of the steepest Hils.
I'll spend on them my store of Punishments.
And all mine Arrows; Famine, Pestilence,
Wilde Beasts, and Worms that basely crawling are,
Without remorse shall make them end-les War.
Abroad the Sword their strong men shall devour;
At home, through Fear, the Virgin in her flowr:
The fresh young Youth, the sucking Children small,
And hoary head, dead to the ground shall fall.
Yea, even already would I quite deface
And clean destroy them, I would IACOB race,
Raze his Memoriall from the Earth for ay,
But that I fear the Heathen thus would say:
We have preuail'd, we by our strength alone
Have quell'd this People, and them over-throwen:
'T was not their God that did it for their Sins:
No, He himself is vanquisht with his Friends.
Ha! sottish blocks, void of all sense and sight:
Could one man put a thousand men to flight?
And two, ten thousand? if the God of Arms
Had not even solde their Troops and bound their arms?
For God, our God, doth all their Gods surpass:
They knowe it well: but, their Wine springs (alas!)
From SODOM's Vine, and grew in GOMER's fields,
Which Gall for Grapes, for Raysins Poyson yeelds.
It is no Wine: no, the black bane it is,
The killing vomit of the Cockatrice;
'Tis bitter venom, 'tis the same that coms
From the fel ASPIK's foul infecting gums.
Do not I knowe it? keep not I account
(In mine Exchequer) how their Sins do mount?
Vengeance is mine: I will (in fine) repay
In my due time: I will not long delay.
Their Ruin posteth: then, th' Omnipotent
Shall iudge for IACOB: then I will repent
To quite-destroy mine owne beloved People,
Seeing their strength all fail'd and wholly feeble.
'T will then be said, Where are there Gods becom,
(Their deaf, dull Idols, sent-les, sight-les, dumb)
To whom they lift their hearts, and hands, and eyes,
And (as their Guards) so oft did sacrifice?
Now let those trim Protectors them protect;
Let them them rise quickly and defend their Sect,
Their Fires and Altars; and com stand before,
To shield the Fondlings that their Fanes adore.
Knowe therfore, Mortals, I th' IMMORTAL am:
There's none like Me, in or above this Frame:
I wound, I heal; I kill, I fetch from Grave,
And from my hands none can the Sinner save.
I'll lift my hand toward th' arched Heav'ns on high,
And swear with-all by mine Eternity,
(Which onely Beeing, gives to all to Been)
That if I whet my Sword of Vengeance keen:
If once (I say) as soverain King alone,
I sit me down on my high Iustice Throne,
I'll venge me roughly on mine Enemies,
And guerdon iustly their iniquities:
My heart-thrill Darts I will make drunk with blood,
I'll glut my Sword with slaughter; all the brood
Of rebell Nations I will race (in fine)
To recompence the blood and death of Mine.
O Gentiles, then his People praise and fear,
Sith to the Lord it is so choisely-deer:
Sith Hee'll auenge his Cause, and beating down
His Enemies, will mildly cheer his Owne.
FINIS.

The CAPTAINES. THE IIII. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Iust- Duked IOSVAH cheers the Abramides
To CANAAN's Conquest: Iordan self-divides:
Re- Circumcision, what, and where, and why:
Sack [...] Iericho: Hai won (so Achan die):
Gabaonites guile: strange Hail: the Sun stands still:
Nature repines. Iews (Guide-les) prone to ill.
Adoni-Bezec. Sangar, DEBORA,
Barac and Iahel conquer SISARA.
Samuel succeeds: Iews craue a KING: a vie
Of People-Sway; States-Rule: and MONARCHIE.
HAil holy IORDAN, and you blessed Torrents
Canaan [...]al [...]ted.
Of the pure Waters of whose crystal Currents
So many Saints have sipt▪ O Walls, that rest
Fair Monuments of many a famous Guest:
O Hills, O Dales, O Fields so flowry sweet,
Where Angels oft have set their sacred feet:
And thou O sacred Place, which wert the Cradle
Of th' onely MAN-GOD, and his happy Swadle:
And thou O Soil, which drank'st the crimsin Show [...]
That (for our health) out of his veins did pour:
And you fat Hillocks (which I take as given
For a firm pledge of the full ioyes of Heav'n)
Where Milk and Hony flowe; I see you all,
Vnder the conduct of my Generall
[Page 478]NVN's valiant Son: and vnder G [...]DEO's Sway,
SANGAR, and SAMSON, BARAC, DEBORA.
For, heer (braue Heroes) your high Feats I sing;
Argument of this Tract.
Thrice▪ sacred Spirit, thy speedie succour bring:
O Spirit, which wert their Guide, Guard, strength & stay,
Let not my Verse their Vertue's praise betray.
IOSVAH, by Favour nor by Bribes, obtains
A higher Rank then Royall Soveraigns
Iosuah his iust authority, over the People of Israell.
(Who buies in gross, he by retail must sell:
And who gives Favour, Favour asks as well):
He gets it not by Fortune (she is sight-les):
Neither by Force (for, who so enters (Right-les)
By Force, is forced to go out with shame):
Norsodain climbs he (raw) vnto the same
(For, to high Place, who mounts not step by step,
He coms not down, but head-long down doth leap):
But, even as that grave-gracefull Magistrate,
Simile.
Which (now) with Conscience, Law doth Moderate,
Was first a Student ( vnder others aw)
Then Barister, then Counseller at-Law,
Then Queens-Solicitor, then Roules- Arbitrer,
And then Lord-Keeper, now LORD CHANCELER;
He coms to 't by degrees: and having first
Show'n himself wise inspying Canaan yerst,
Faith-full to MOSES in his Ministrings,
And Stout in Fight against the Heathen Kings,
God makes him CAPTAIN, and the sacred Priests
Pronounce him so, the People pleased is.
But in his State yer he be stall'd (almost)
His first Oration to the People.
Set in the midst of God's beloved Hoast,
He thus dilates: O happy Legions deer,
Which sacred Arms vnder Heav'ns Ensignes bear,
Fear not that I, yet forty years, again
Your wandring Troops in these vast sands should train
'Twixt Hope and Fear: th' vn-hallowed Offerings,
The proud revolts, blasphemous Murmurings
Of your stiff Fathers, have with-holden rather
Then whole with-draw'n th' aid of your heav'nly Father:
[Page 379]God tenders it in time, and (pacifi'd)
Nills the set Term without effect should slide.
Serve him therfore, now take him at his word,
And now to Canaan march with one accord,
And bravely showe that th' Hoast of ISRAEL,
In Valour, far doth his drad Fame excell.
Courageous IACOB, ARAD's stoutest hearts
And strongest Holdes have prov'd thy Pikes and Darts,
The Madianits have thine Arms thunder knowen,
Th' hast razed Bazan, ransackt Hezebon,
Scap't scaly Serpents (in these Desarts vast)
Crost the Red-Sea, and Heav'n-prop SINA past,
And sent to Hell thy draddest Foes: Lo, now
God offers thee the Crown, accept it thou.
He vrgeth par­ticularly Ru­ben, Gad, and Manasses, to take part with their Brethren, in prosecuting the Conquest of Canaan.
Then turning him to RVBEN and to GAD,
And to MANASSES, who their Portion had
By MOSES grant on Iordan's Eastern verge;
War-eloquent, he thus proceeds to vrge:
Can you (my Harts) finde in your hearts to leave
Your Ranks, and vs thus of your aids bereave?
Will you ly wrapped in soft beds a-sleep,
While in colde Trenches your poor Brethren keep?
Will you sit washing (when your Feasts be don)
In sweet Rose-water, while that Orion
His cloudy store in storm-full fury pours,
And drowns your Brethren with continuall showrs?
Will you go Dance and dally to and fro,
While in the Field they march to charge the Foe?
Will you expect a part with them in gain,
While they the blowes and all the brunt sustain?
God shield you should dishonour so your Blood:
Nay rather (leaving on this side the Flood
Your Wives and Children, and (vnfit for Battell)
Your aged Parents, and your Heards of Cattell)
Com arm your selves, t'advance our Victories,
The general and [...]oifull answer of the people.
And share with vs in Perill, as in Prize.
O noble Prince (then all the Hoast repli'd)
March-on a Gods name; and good Hap betide:
[Page 480]Were Canaan turn'd another Wildernes,
Were there before vs yet more crimsin Seas,
Were Horeb, Carmel, and Mount Se [...]r set
Each vpon other (vpto Heav'n to get)
We'll follow thee through all; and onely th' end
Of our owne lyves shall our brave Iourney end.
After the Ark, then march they in aray
Direct to Iordan, praising all the way
That living God, whose match-les mighty hand
Parted the Sea, that they might pass by land.
Hoar-headed Iordan neatly lodged was
A Poeticall and pleasant descrip­tion of the River Iordan.
In a large Cave, built all of beaten Glass;
Whose waved Seeling, with exceeding cost,
The Nymphs (his Daughters) rarely had imboss [...]
With Pearls and Rubies, and in-lay'd the rest
With Nacre checks, and Corall of the best:
A thousand Streamlings that n'er saw the Sun,
With tribute silver to his seruice run:
There, IRIS, AVSTER, and Clowds blewly black
Continually their licour leave and take:
There, th' aged Flood lay'd on his mossie bed
And pensive leaning his flag-shaggie head
Vpon a Tuft, where th' eating waves incroach,
Did gladly wait for ISRAELS approach:
Each hair he hath is a quick-flowing stream,
His sweat the gushing of a storm extream,
Each sigh a Billow, and each sob he sounds
A swelling Sea that over-flowes his bounds:
His weak gray eyes are alwaies seen to weep,
About his loins a rush-Belt wears he deep,
A Willow Wreathe about his wrinkled brows;
His Father NEREVS his complexion showes.
So soon as He their welcom rumour heard,
His frosty head aboue the Waues he rear'd,
With both his hands strook back behinde his ears
The waving Tresses of his weeping hairs,
And then perceiuing IACOB's Army stay'd
By his prowd streams; he chid them thus, and said:
[Page 481]Presumptuous Brook, dar'st thou (ingratefull Torrent)
Prosopopoeia.
Lift-vp thy horn, lash-out thy swelling Current
Against the Lord, and over-flowe thy bound
To stop his passage? Shall the Floods profound
Of the proud Ocean to his Hoast giue-way?
Shall Egypt's honour, shall that Gulf (I say)
That long large Sea, which with his plentious waues
A third or fourth part of the World be-laues;
Shall That yield humbly at his Servant's beck?
And thou, poor Rill, or gutter (in respect)
Resist himself (his glorious self) that Inns
Heer in his Ark, between the Cherubins?
And saying so, he on his shoulder flung
His deep wide Crock, tkat on his hip had hung,
And down his back powrs back-ward all his Course:
The stream returns towards his double source;
And, leaving dry a large deep lane betwixt,
The fearfull waues in heaped Hils were fixt,
To giue God place, and passage to his hoast,
Towards their Promis'd and appointed coast.
So, dry they pass (after the sacred Oracle)
The Israelites passe dry shod through Iordan
And leaue Memorials of that famous Miracle
Vpon Mount Gilgal: and their flesh anon
They seal with Signe of their Adoption.
For, the All-guiding God, th' Almighty Prince,
To giue His som speciall difference,
Will'd that all Males of Abram's Progenies
Circumcision.
With sacred Rasor should them Circumcise;
And ever-more, that Isaac's blessed Race
Should in their Fore-skin bear his gage of Grace.
But, why (sayst thou) should ancient ISRAEL,
A curious Que­stion, why it was appointed in such a place.
In such a secret place Record and Seal
Th' Act of the Covenant: and with bloody smart,
Ingraue their glory in a shamefull part?
Who blushes at it, is a grace-less Beast:
Who shames to see the Signe of Grace imprest
A sharp and so­ber answere.
In shamefull part, he is asham'd of CHRIST
Born of that Race, and selfly Circumcis'd.
A hundred subtill Reasons from the Writs
Of Rabines could I bring: but, sober Wits
Rest satisfied, conceiving that th' incision
Of th' obscoene Fore- [...]kin, signifies th' abscision,
The right appli­cation and vse thereof.
Or sacred cutting-off of foul Affects,
Beseeming those whom God, for his, elects:
That God the Fruits of Flesh and Blood doth hate:
And that through CHRIST we must regenerate.
Now, th' Hebrews kept their Pass-over: and go
The Passeover.
(By Heav'ns address) to mighty Iericho,
Besieging so the City round about,
That fear got in, but nothing could get out.
Souldiers (sayd then th' vndaunted Generall)
The Siege of Ie­richo, after a strange manner.
Prepare no Mattocks, Ladders, nor Rams at all,
To myne, or scale, or batter-down these Towrs:
The great, the high, the mighty God of Powrs
Will fight himself alone: and then he bod
(As first himself had been inform'd by God)
That dayly once they all should march the Round
About the City, with horn-Trumpets sound,
Bearing about for only Banneret,
The lightfull Ark, GOD's sacred Cabinet:
Their swords vn-draw'n, not making any noyse,
Threat-less their brows, and without braves their voyce,
No shaft to shoot, no signe of War, no glance,
And even their March doth rather seem a dance.
What Childre-spell? what May-game haue we heer?
The Citizens devide it.
What, dare you (Gallants) dare you com no neer?
Is this your braue Assault? is this your Fight?
Ween you with Scar-crowes vs (like birds) to fright?
(Said the besieged) get you som where els
(Poorsots) to showe your Bug-bears and your spels:
Cease your hoarse musick, leaue the stage alone:
Fools, draw the Curten, now your Play is done.
Six dayes together had the Hebrews thus't
On the 7 day, their walles of themselues fall downe.
About the town, seaven-times the seaventh they must;
When sacred Levits sound more lowd and high
Their horny Trumps; then all the people cry
[Page 483]Com, com (great God) com, batter, batter down
These odious walls, this Idol-wedded Town.
It cracks in th' instant, the foundation shrinks,
The mortar crumbles from the yawning chinks,
Each stone is loose, and all the wall doth quiver,
And all at once vnto the ground doth shiver
With hideous noyse; and th' Heathen Guarison
Is but immur'd with Clowds of dust alone:
So shall you see a Clowd-crown'd Hill somtime,
Torn from a greater by the waste of Time,
Dreadly to shake, and boundling down to hop;
And roaring, heer it roules tall Cedars vp,
There aged Oaks; it turns, it spurns, it hales
The lower Rocks into th' affrighted Vales,
There sadly sinks, or suddain stops the way
Of som swift Torrent hasting to the Sea.
Boast you (O Bombards) that you Thunder drown:
And vaunt you (Mines) that you turn vp side-down
Rampires and Towrs, and Walls the massie-most:
Yet, your exploits require both time and cost;
You make but a small breach, but a rough way,
And (by mischance) oft your owne side betray.
But, th' Hebrews with a suddain showt and cry,
A whole great Town dis-mantle instantly,
And (vnresisted) entring every-where,
They exercise all hostile vengeance there.
And, as a sort of lusty Bil-men, set
Simile.
In Wood-sale time to fell a Cops, by great;
Be-stir them so, that so on with sweating pain,
They turn an Oak-groue to a Field of grain:
So th' Hebrew Hoast, without remorse or pitty,
Ierico sackt & consumed with fire, and all her inhabitants put to the sword: without respect of State, Sexe or Age.
Through all sad corners of the open City,
Burn, break, destroy, bathe them in blood, and toyl
To lay all levell with the trampled soyl:
The Idol's Temples, and the delicat
Prince-Palaces are quickly beaten flat:
The Fire lowd-crackling with the Clowds doth meet,
A bloody Torrent runs through every street,
[Page 484]Their venge-full sword spares neither great nor small;
Neither the Childe that on his hands doth crawl,
Nor him that wears snowe on his shaking head,
Ice in his heart; nor the least Beast they bred.
A deed (indeed) more worthy th' Hesiline,
Than th' holy Hebrews; had the voyce Divine
Not charg'd them so, and choycely armed them
'Gainst Iericho, with his owne
Curse.
Anathem:
Reserving only for his Sacred Place,
The Gold and Silver, th' Iron and the Brass.
Yet sacrilegious Achan dar'd to hoord
Achan's Sa­criledge.
Som precious Pillage: which incenst the Lord
Against the Camp, so that he let them fly
(For this Offence) before their Enemy.
For, when three thousand chosen Israelites
Were sent to Hai t' assault the Cananites,
Hai summoned, the Townes mens sally and put the Israelites to flight.
The Town all arm's: their Prince the forwardest
(No less-brave Souldier then bold Athëist)
Arms the broad mountain of his hairy breast,
With horrid scales of Nilus greedy beast:
His brawny arms and shoulders, with the skin
Of the dart-darting wily Porcupin:
He wears for Helm a Dragon's ghastly head,
Wher-on for Plume a huge Horse-tail doth spread;
Not much vnlike a Birch-tree bare belowe,
The antik ar­mour of the king. His insolent and blasphemous Oration.
Which at the top in a thick tuft doth growe,
Waving with every winde, and made to kiss
Th' Earth, now on that side, and anon on this:
In Quyver made of Lezard's skins he wears
His poysoned Arrows; and the Bowe he bears,
Is of a mighty Tree strung with a Cable,
His Shaft a Lever, whose keen head is able
To pearce all proof, stone, steel, and Diamant.
Thus furnished, the Tyrant thus doth vaunt:
Sirs, shall we suffer this ignoble Race,
Thus shamefully vs from our Owne to chase?
Shall they be Victors yer they overcom?
Shall our Possessions and our Plenty com
[Page 485]Among these Mongrels? Tush: let Children quake
At dreams of ABRAM: let faint Women shake
At their drad God, at their Sea-drying Lord;
I knowe no Gods, aboue my glittering Sword:
This sayd, he sallies, and assaults the Foe
With furious skirmish, and doth charge them so,
As stormy billows rush against a Rock:
3. Similes.
As boystrous windes (that haue their prison broak)
Roar on a Forrest: as Heav'ns sulph'ry Flash
Against proud Mountains surly brows doth dash.
The sacred Troops (to conquer alwayes wont)
Could not sustain his first Tempestuous brunt,
But turn their backs: and as they fly amain,
Four less than fourty of their band were slain.
The son of NVN then (with th' Isacian Peers)
Iosuah and the Princes of Israel humbled before the Lord in Prayer.
Before the Ark in postrate wise appears;
Sack on his back, dust on his head, his eyes
Even great with tears, thus to the Lord he cries:
O! what alas? what haue we don, O Lord?
The People, destin'd to thy Peoples sword,
Conquers thy people; and the Cananites
(Against thy Promise) chase the Israelites.
O Lord, why did not Iordans rapid Tyde,
Still stay our Hoast vpon the other side?
Sith heer, in hope, to get the Promis'd more,
We hazzard all that we had won before.
Regard, and guard vs; nay, regard thy Name:
O! suffer not the seed of Abraham
(Almighty Father, O thou God most high!)
To be expos'd to Heathen's Tyranny!
Much less thy sacred Ark, for them to burn:
And least of all, thy glorious Self, to scorn.
IOSVAH (sayd God) let th' Hoast be sanctifi'd,
And let the Church-thief die, that dar'd to hide
Th' vn-lawfull Pillage of that cursed Town
(Thy Mayden Conquest, prime of thy Renown):
Then shalt thou vanquish, and the lofty Towrs
Of HAI, shal fall vnder thy war-like powrs.
The morrow next, after the great Assise,
ACHAN (convicted, not by bare surmize,
Achā executed
But by God's Spirit, which vndermines our mindes,
And cleerly sees our secretest designes,
To whom, Chance is no Chance, and Lot no Lot,
To whom the Die vncertain rouleth not)
Is brought without the Hoast, with all hee hath,
And sacrifiç'd vnto th' Almighties wrath.
Now, between Bethel and HAI's western wall,
There lies a valley close inviron'd all
Between the forking of a Hill so high,
That it is hidden from all passers-by:
Whose horned clifts, belowe are hollowed,
And with two Forrests arbour'd over-head;
'Tis long and narrow; and a rapid Torrent,
Bounding from Rock to Rock with roaring Current,
Deaffens the Shepheards: so that it should seem
Nature fore-cast it for som stratagem.
Thither the Duke (soon after mid-night) guides
A [...] ambush.
His choycest Bands, and them there war'ly hides:
Ech keeps his place, none speaks, none spits, none coughs;
But all as still, as if they marchton moss:
So fallow Wolues, when they intend to set
Simile.
On fearfull flocks that in their Folds do bleat▪
Through silent darkness secret ways do groap;
Their feet are feathered with the wings of hope▪
They hold their breath, and so still vn-descri'd,
They pass hard by the watchfull Mastie's side.
Mean-while the howrs opened the doors of Day,
To let out Titan that must needs away:
Whose radiant tresses, but with trayling on,
Began to gild the top of Libanon;
When, with the rest of all his Hoast, the
Signifieth but an Earle: but here [...] [...] vsur­ [...]ed for the chiefe Captain Io [...]uah.
GRAVE
Marcheth amain to giue the Town a braue,
They straight re-charge him: as in season warm
The hony-makers busie-buzzing swarm,
With humming threats throngs from the little gates
Simile.
Of their round Towr, and with their little hates
[Page 487]Fiercely assail, and wound the naked skins
Of such as come to rob their curious Inns.
Why (Cowards) dare you com again for blowes▪
Or, do you long your wretched liues to lose?
Com, we are for you; wee'll dispatch you soon,
And for the many wrongs that you haue don
Vnto ourselues, our Neighbours, and our Friends,
This day our swords shall make vs full amends
(Cry th' Amorites): and th' Hebrew Captain then
[...] [...]ratagem.
Flies, as affraid, and with him all his men
Disorderly retire; still faining so,
Till (politik) he hath in-trayn'd the Foe
Right to his Ambush: then the Souldiers there
Hid in the Vale, hearing their noyse so neer,
Would fain be at them, were they not with-held
By threatning gestures of Commanding Eld:
So haue I seen on LAMBORN's pleasant Douns,
Simile.
When yelping Begles or sons deeper Hounds
Haue start a Hare, how milk-white Minks and Lun
( Gray-bitches both, the best that ever run)
Held in one leash, haue leapt and strain'd, and whin'd
To be restrain'd, till (to their masters minde)
They might be slipt, to purpose; that (for sport)
Watt might haue law, neither too-long nor short.
But, when the Heathen had the ambush past,
The Duke thus cheers his sacred Troops as fast,
Sa, sa, my Hearts; turn, turn again vpon-them,
They are your owne, now charge, and cheerly on-them.
His ready Souldiers at a beck obay,
And on their Foes courageous load they lay;
H [...]i conquered.
They shoot, they shock, they strike, they stab, they kill
Th' vnhallowed Currs, that yet resisted still;
Vntill behinde them a new storm arose
With horrid noyse, which daunts not only those,
But with the fury of it's force doth make
The Hills and Forrests, and even Hell to quake.
Pagans, what will you do? if heer you fly,
You fall on Caleb, where y' are sure to dy:
[Page 488]If there, on Iosuah: O vnfortunate▪
Your help-less Gods in vain you invocate.
Y'are (O forlorn!) like Rabbets round be-set
With wily Hunters, Dogs, and deadly Net:
Simile.
With shrill Sa-haw, heer-heer-ho, heer-again,
The Warren rings; th' amazed Game amain
Runs heer and there; but, if they scape away
From Hounds, staues kill them; if from staues, the Hay▪
Yield, yield, and die then, striue not to retire:
For, even in death behold your Town a-fire.
Then Gabaon, a mighty City neer,
That these Exploits of Heav'ns drad hand did hear,
Sent subtilly, to League with Israel.
No: y' are deceiv'd (sayd then th' Arch-Colonel)
The Cananites are destin'd long ago
To Fire and Sword, and vtter Over-throwe;
From Heav'ns high Iudge the sentence doth proceed:
Man may not alter what God hath decreed.
Alas! my Lord reply'd th' Embassadors)
The Gabaonites cunning policie, to make League with Israel.
You may perceiue we are no Borderers
Vpon these countries; For, our sutes, our slops,
Our hose and shoos, were new out of the shops
When we set forth from home; and even that day
This Bread was baked when we came away;
But the long Iourney, we haue gon, hath wore
Our cloaths to rags, and turn'd our Victuals hoar.
W' adiure you therefore in the sacred name
Of that drad GOD to whom your vows you frame,
By the sweet ayr of this delightfull Coast,
By the good Angell that conducts your Hoast,
By deer Embraces of your deerer Wiues,
And by your Babes (even) deerer then your liues;
By each of these, and all of these together,
And by your Arms, whose Fame hath drawen vs hither,
T' haue pitty on vs, and to swear vnto-vs,
To saue our liues▪ and not so to vndo-vs,
As these neer Nations: Israel accords,
And with an Oath confirms the solemn words.
So, I (good Lord) perceiving all the Seed
A sacred appli­cation of their profane example
Of Sin-full Adam, vnto Death decreed,
Doom'd to the Vengeance of thy Fury fell,
And damn'd for ever to the deepest Hell▪
Would fain be free: but, if I should (alas!)
Com, as I am, before thy glorious face,
Thou (righteous God) wilt turn thine eyes away;
For, Flesh and Blood possess not Heav'n, for ay;
And, the strict Rigour of thy Iustice pure
Cannot (O Lord) the least of sins endure.
Oh then! what shall I do? I'll similize
These Gabaonites: I will myself disguize
To gull thee, Lord (for, even a holy Guile
Findes with thee grace and fauour often-while):
I'll put-on (crafty) not the cloak of Pride
(For, that was it whereby our Grandsires di'd,
And Lucifer, with his associates, fell
From Ioys of Heav'n, into the Pains of hel):
But th' humble Fleece of that sweet sacred Lamb
Which (for our sakes) vpon the Cross became
So torn and tatter'd; which the most refuse:
Scorn of the Gentiles, Scandal of the Iewes.
And, as a piece of Silver, Tyn, or Lead,
Simile.
By cunning hands with Gold is covered;
I, that am all but Lead (or dross, more base)
In fervent Crusible of thy free Grace,
I'll gild me all with his pure Beautie's Gold:
Born a new man (by Faith) I'll kill mine old:
In Spirit and Life, Christ shall be mine example,
His Spirit shall be my spirit▪ and I his Temple.
I beeing thus in Christ, and Christ in me,
O! wilt thou, canst thou, driue vs farre from thee?
Deprive from promis'd new- Ierusalem,
Christ thine owne Likenes, and me, like to him?
Bannish from Heav'n (whose Blis [...] shal never vade)
Thy Christ, by whom; and me, for whom 't was made?
But, O presumption! O too rash Designe!
Alas! to Will it only, is not mine:
[Page 490]And, though I Would, my flesh (too-Winter-chill)
My Spirit's small sparkles doth extinguish still.
O! therfore thou, thou that canst all, alone;
All-sacred Father's like all-sacred Son,
Through thy deep Mercy daign thou to transform
Into thy Self me sin-full silly worm;
That so, I may be welcom to my God,
And liue in Peace, not where the Iewes abode,
But in Heav'n- Sion: and that thou maist be
Th' vniting glew between my God and me.
Now, Eglon's, Hebron's, Iarmuth's, Salem's Lords,
And Lachis Kingling (after these Accords)
Wroth that their Neighbours had betrayed so
Their common Country, to their common Foe,
Had made so great a breach, and by the hand
Led (as it were) th' Hebrews into their Land;
Set-vpon Gabaon: but th' Isacian Prince,
As iust as valiant, hastes to hunt them thence;
And, resolute to rescue his Allies,
He straight bids Battail to their Enemies.
The Fight growes fierce; and winged Victory,
The Battaile of the fiue Kings.
Shaking her Laurels, rusht confusedly
Into the midst; she goes, and coms, and goes,
And now she leans to these, and now to those.
Auster the while from neighbour Mountains arms
A hundred Winters, and a hundred storms
With huge great Hail-shot, driving fiercely-fell
In the stearn visage of the Infidel:
The roaring Tempest violently retorts
Extraordinary Volleys of Hail­shot frō Heauen vpō the Infidels.
Vpon themselues the Pagans whirling darts,
And in their owne breasts, their owne Launces bore,
Wher-with they threatned th' Hoast of God before:
And (even) as if it enuied the Renown
Of valiant Iosuah (now by Ganges knowen)
With furious shock, the formost Ranks it whirr'd
Vpon the next, the second on the third:
Even as a Bridge of Cards, which Play-full Childe
Simile.
Doth in an evening on a Carpet build,
[Page 491]When som Wag by, vpon his Work doth blowe;
If one Arch fail, the rest fall all arowe
Each vpon other, and the Childe he Cries
For his lost labour, and again he tries.
If any, resting on his knotty Spear
▪Gainst Arms and storms, yet stand out stifly there,
Th' Hail, which the Winde full in his face doth yerk,
Sma [...]ter than Racquets in a Courtre-ierk
Balls 'gainst the Walls of the black-boorded house,
Beats out his eyes, battters his nose, and brows.
Then turn the Pagans, but without a vail:
For, instantly the stony storm of Hail
Which flew direct a-front, direct now falls
Plumb on their heads, and cleaues their sculs and cauls:
And ever, as they waver to and fro,
Over their Hoast the Haily Clowd doth go:
And never hits one Hebrue, though between,
But a sword's length (or not so much) be seen:
A bluckler one, another a bright helm
Over his threatened or sick head doth whelm;
But the shield broken, and helm beaten in,
Th' Hail makes the hurt bite on the bloody green.
Those, that escape, be take them to their heels;
Iosuah pursues: and though his sweat distills
From every part, he wounds, he kills, he cleaues:
Neither the Fight imperfect so he leaues,
But full of faithfull zeal and zealous faith,
Thus (O strange language!) thus alowd he saith;
Beam of th' Eternall, daies bright Champion,
At the command of Iosuah the Sun stād [...]th stil.
Spiall of Nature, O all-seeing Sun,
Stay, stand thou still, stand still in Gabaon;
And thou, O Moon i' th' vale of Aialon,
That th' Ammorites now by their hare-like flight
Scape no [...] my hands vnder all-hiding Night.
As a Caroche, draw'n by foure lusty steeds,
Simile.
In a smooth way whirling with all their speeds,
Stops suddainly, if't slip into a slough,
Or if it cross som Log or massie bough;
[Page 492]The Day-reducing Chariot of the Sun,
Which now began, towards his West to run,
Stops instantly, and giues the Hebrews space
To rid the Pagans that they haue in chase.
Nature, amaz'd; for very anger shakes,
Descriptiō of Na ture, who offen­ded therat, makes her complaint to GOD.
And to th' Almighty her complaint she makes:
Seemly she marches with a measur'd pase,
Choler puts colour in her lovely face,
From either nipple of her bosom-Twins
A liuely spring of pleasant milk their spins,
Vpon her shoulders ( Atlas-like) she bears
The frame of All, down by her side shee wears
A golden Key, wher-with shee lette [...]h-forth,
And locketh-vp the Treasures of the Earth:
A sumptuous Mantle to her heels hangs down,
Wher-in the Heavens, the Earth, and Sea is showen;
The Sea in Silver woven, the Earth in Green,
The Heav'ns in azure, with gold threds between:
All-quickning Loue, fresh Beauty, smiling Youth,
And Fruitfulness, each for her fauour su'th:
Grace still attends ready to do her honour,
Riches and Plenty alwayes wait vpon her.
Accoutred thus, and thus accompani'd,
With thousand sighs, thus to the Lord she cri'd:
Prosopopoeia.
Shall it be sayd, a Man doth Heav'n command?
Wilt thou permit a braving Souldiers hand
To wrong thine eldest Daughter? ah! shall I
Haue the bare Name, and He th' authority
To Govern all, and all controul (O Lord)
With the bare winde of his ambitious word?
Shall I (the World's Law) then, receiue the Law
At others hands? of others stand in aw?
If't be thy pleasure, or thou think it fit,
To haue it so, or so to suffer it,
(Pardon me, Father, that I am so free)
I heer surrender thy Lieutenancy:
Bestow't on him, put all into his hand:
Who Heav'ns commands, He well may Earth command.
Why (daughter) know'st thou not (God answers her)
That many times my Mercy doth transfer
Into my Children mine owne power, wher-by
They work (not seldom) mine owne Wonders high?
That th' are my sacred Vice-Roys? and that Hee,
The power of a stedfast Faith.
Who (stript of Flesh) by Faith is ioyn'd to me,
May remove Mountains, may dry-vp the Seas,
May make an Ocean of a Wilderness?
Th' hast seen it, Daughter: therfore, but thou pine
In Ielousie of this drad arm of mine,
Grudge not at theirs: for they can nothing do,
But what my Spirit inables them vnto.
O happy Prince! I wonder not at all,
IOSVAH his victories.
If at thy feet the stout Anachian fall,
If th' Amorrhite, Hevite, and Canaanite,
The Pheresite, Hethite, and Iebusite,
And▪ huge Basanian, by thy daunt-les Hoast
Were over-throwen: and, if as swift (almost)
As my slowe Muse thy sacred Conquests sings,
Thou Cam'st, Saw'st, Conquer'dst more then thirty Kings;
Sub duing Syria, and dividing it
Vnto twelve Kindreds in twelve portions fit:
Sith (O grand Vicar of th' Almighty Lord)
With onely summons of thy mighty Word,
Thou makest Rivers the most deafly-deep
To lobstarize (back to their source to creep);
Walls giue thee way: after thy Trumpets charge,
Rock-rushing Tempests do retreat, or charge:
Sol's at thy service: and the starry Pole
Is proud to pass vnder thy Muster-Roule.
As a blind man, forsaken of his guide
Simile.
In som thick Forest, sad and self-beside,
Takes now a broad, anon a narrow path,
His groaping hand his (late) eys office hath,
Heer at a stub he stumbles, there the bushes
Rake-off his Cloak, heer on a Tree he rushes,
Strayes in and out, turns, this and that way tries,
And at the last falls in a Pit, and dies:
[Page 494]Even so (alas!) having their Captain lost,
After his death Israel having lost his guide, fals from his God.
So blindely wanders IACOB's wilfull Hoast,
Contemns the Fountain of God's sacred Law,
From I doll-Puddles poysoning drink to draw;
Forsakes th' olde true God, and new fals-gods fains,
And with the Heathen friendship entertains.
Th' Almighty saw it (for, what sees he not?)
God therefore forsakes him.
And so dainly his fury waxed hot;
And on their neck, for his sweet yoak, he layd
The Strangers yoak that hard and heavy waigh'd.
Simile.
But, as an Infant which the Nurce lets go
To go alone, waves weakly to and fro,
Feels his feet fail, cries out, and but (alas!)
For her quick hand, would fall and break his face:
So IACOB, iustly made afflictions thrall,
Is never ready in the Pit to fall
Of pale Despair, but (if he cry, and craue-him)
God still extends his gracious hand to save-him;
Vpon his Repen­tance God again receiues him to fauour.
Raysing som Worthy that may break insunder
The Gyves and Fetters that he labours vnder.
So then, assisted by th' immortall hand,
Brave ISRAEL brings vnder his Command
IERVSALEM, LVS, BETHEL, ACCARON,
SESAI, and THOLMAI, GAZA, and ASCALON,
And BEZEC too; whose bloudy Tyrant, fled,
Is caught again, and payd with Cake for Bread:
To self-taught Torture he himself is put,
The Tyrant A­doni-Bezec ta ken & intreated as He had hand­led others.
His sacrilegeous Thumbs and Toes be cut.
Whereby, more inly prickt, then outly payn'd,
God's Vengeance iust he thus confess't, and playn'd;
O hand, late Scepter-graç't! O hand, that late
EGYPT did dread, and EDOM tremble at!
His Complaint.
O hand, that (armed) durst even MARS defie,
And could'st have pull'd proud IVPITER from high!
Now, where-to serv'st thou, but t' augment my moan?
Thou canst not now buckle mine Armour on;
Nor wield my mighty Launce with brazen head,
Ah! no (alas!) thou canst not cut my bread.
[Page 495]O feet (late) winged to pursue the flight
Of hundred Armies that I foyl'd in fight,
Now you haue lost your office▪ now (alas!)
You cannot march; but limp about this place.
But, 'tis the iust God, the iust hand of Heav'n
His confession.
In mine owne Coin hath me my payment given:
For, seventy Kings, thus maim'd of Toes and Thumbs,
I, insolent, haue made to lick the crums
Vnder my boord (like Dogs) and drawen perforce
To serue for blocks when I should mount my horse.
Therefore (O Kings!) by mine example learn
His ca [...] eat to all Tyrants and cru­ell minded men.
To bound your rage, limit your fury stearn:
O Conquerers! be warned all by me;
Be to your Thralls, as God to you shall be:
Men, pitty Man, wretched and over-throwen;
And think his case may one-day be your owne:
For, Chance doth change: and none aliue can say,
He happy is, vntill his dying day:
The Foe that after Victorie survives,
Not for himself but for your glorie liues:
Th' Oliue's aboue the Palm: and th' happiest King
His greatest Triumph, is Self-triumphing.
But Israel, wallowing in his myre again,
Israel again and again re­lapseth.
Soon lost the glory former Arms did gain;
And goods and bodies easie booties bin
To Aram, Moab, and the Phil [...]st [...]m.
What help ( O Iacob)? th' hast nor arms, nor head,
Again humbled.
Thy Fields with bones of thine owne bands be spread,
And th' only name of thy profaner Foe,
Congeals thy blood, and chils thy heart for Woe.
Fly, fly, and hie thee quickly to recover
The all-proof Target of thine ancient Lover,
Thy gracious God, the glorious Tyrant-tamer,
Terror of terrors, Heathen's dreadfull hammer.
Ah! see already how he rescues thee
Again & again▪ releeued.
From th' odious yoak of Pagan Tyranny,
Breaking the Fetters of thy bondage fell,
By Ahod, Bara [...], and Othoniel,
[Page 496]And Goad-man SANGAR, whose industrious hand
Sangar a Plow-Swain [...]a famous Champion of Israel.
With Ox-teem tills his tributary Land,
When Philistins, with Sword and Fiery fury,
Slaughter the Iews, and over-run all Iury,
Deflowr the Virgins, and with lustfull-spight
Ravish chaste Matrons in their Husbands sight:
He leaues his Plough, he calls vpon his God,
And onely armed with his slender Goad,
Alone he sets on all the Heathen Camp:
A Pagan Captain weens him thus to damp;
What means this Fool (saith he)? go silly Clown,
Get thee to Plough, go home and till thy ground,
Go prick thy Bullocks; leave the Works of MARS
To my long-train'd, still-conquering Souldiars.
First learn thou Dog (replies the Israelite)
To knowe my strength (rather th' Almightie's might):
And on his head he layes him on such load
With two quick vennies of his knotty Goad,
And with the third, thrusts him between the eyes,
That down he falls▪ shaking his heels, and dies.
Then steps another forth, more stout and grim,
Shaking his Pike, and fierce lets fly at him:
But SANGAR shuns the blowe, and with his stroak,
The Pagan leg short-off in sunder broak;
On th' other yet, a while he stands and fights:
But th' Hebrew Champion such a back-blowesmights
That flat he layes him; then with fury born,
Forward he leap [...], and in a Martial scorn,
Vpon his panch sets his victorious foot,
And treads and tramples, and so stamps into't,
That bloud and bowels (mingled with the bruse)
Half at his mouth, half at his sides he spews:
Simile.
As, on Wine-hurdles those that dance (for meed)
Make with sweet Nectar every wound to bleed,
Each Grape to weep, and crimsin streams to spin
Into the Vate, set to receiue them in.
Thence thirty steps, a chief Commander prest,
And prowdly wags his feather-clouded Crest,
[Page 497]And cries, Com hither (Cow-heard) com thou hither,
Com let vs cope, but thou and I together;
I'll teach thee (peasant) and that quickly too,
Thou hast not with thy fellow swains to doe,
That on Mount Carmel's stormy top do feed.
No, heer (poorsot) thou other fence shalt need.
SANGAR runs at him, and he runs so fierce,
That on his staf, him six steps back he bears;
Bears down another with him, and another,
That but with gesture stood directing other:
As, when 'tis dark, when 't rains, and blusters rough,
Simile.
A thund'ring tempest with a sulphury puff
Breaks down a mighty Gate, and that another,
And that a third, each opposite to other:
Smoak, dust, and door-falls, with storms roaring din,
Dismay the stoutest that command within;
The common sort (beside their little wits)
Scarr'd from their beds, dare not abide the streets:
But, in their shirts over the walls they run,
And so their Town, ye [...] it be ta'en, is wun;
The suddain Storm so inly-deep dismaies-them,
That fear of Taking, to despair betrays them.
Amid their Hoast, then brauely rushes SANGAR,
His sinnewy arm answers his sacred Anger:
Who flies, or follows, he alike besteads:
On scattered heaps of slaughtered Foes he treads.
This, with his elbow heer he over-turns,
That, with his brow; this, with his foot he spurns;
Heer, with his Staff he makes in shivers fly
Both cask and scull, and there he breaks a thigh,
An arm, a leg, a rib, a chin, a cheek;
And th' hungry Shepheard hardly beats so thick
Comparison.
Nuts from a Tree, as SANGAR Foes beats down:
With swords and shields, and shafts, the Field is sowen:
Alone he foils a Camp: and on the Plain
Therely six hundred of the Heathen slain.
Almighty God, how thou to Thine art good!
Thy peoples Foes are not alone subdu'd
[Page 498]By a rude Clown, whose hard-wrought hands, before
Nothing but spades, coulters, and bills had bore:
But, by a silly Woman, to whose hand
Thou for a time committest the Command
Of ISRAEL: for, of no other Head,
Nor Law, nor Lord, they for a time are sped,
DEBORA.
But prudent DEBORA: vnto whose Throne
Fly those whose heads with age are hoary growen,
And those great Rabbies that do grauely sit,
Revolving volumes of the highest Writ,
And He that in the Tabernacle serues,
Her sacred voyce as Oracles obserues:
None from her presence ever coms confus'd.
And, got on skill, giues place to skill infus'd.
O IACOB'S Lanthorn, Load-star pure, which lights
On these rough Seas the rest of Abramites
(Said then the People) what shall vs befall?
IABIN'S fell yoak our weary necks doth gall:
We are the Butts vnto all Pagan darts,
And colde Despair knocks at our doors (our hearts).
ISRAEL (saith shee) be of good cheer; for now
God wars vpon your Foes, and leagues with you:
Therfore to Field now let your youth advance,
And in their rests couch the revenging Launce:
This sayd, on BARAC she a Shield bestowes,
Barac.
Indented on the brims, which plain fore-showes
His shield given by Debora.
Incurious Boss-work (that doth neatly swell)
The (won and lost) Battails of Israel,
As an abbridgement, where to life appear
The noblest Acts of eight or nine score year.
Lo heer an army, stooping by the side
Gedeon.
Of a deep River (with their Thirst half dri'd)
Sups, licks, and laps the stream: of all which rout,
The Captain chuses but three hundred out,
And arming each but with a Trump and Torch,
About a mighty Pagan Hoast doth march,
Making the same, through their drad sodain sound,
With their owne Arms themselues to inter-wound:
[Page 499]A hellish rage of mutuall fury swels
The bloudy hearts of barbarous Infidels,
So that the friends that in one Couch did sleep,
Each others blade in eithers brest do steep:
And all the Camp with head-les dead is sowen,
Cut-off by Cozen-swords, kill'd by their owne.
Lo there, another valiant Champion,
[...] I [...]phthe.
Who having late triumphant Laurels won;
His heed-les Vow (in-humane) to ful-fill,
His onely Daughter doth vnkindly kill:
The frantik Mother, all vnbraç't (alas!)
With silver locks vnkemb'd about her face;
Arming her rage, with nails, with teeth, and tongue,
Runs-in, and rushes through the thickest throng:
And, she will saue, and she will haue (she sayes)
Her Deer, her Daughter; and then hold she layes
Vpon the Maid, and tearing-off her Coat,
Away she runs, thinking she her had got.
The Priest dissolues in tears, th' Offring is cheerfull▪
The Murdred's valiant, and the Murderer fearfull;
The Father leads with slowe and feeble pase▪
The Daughter seems to run to death a-pace,
As if the Chaplet that her temples ties,
Were Hymen's Flowrs, not Flowrs for Sacrifice:
Her grace and beauties still augment; (in [...]ine)
Who so beholds her sweet, loue-darting Eyn,
Her Cheeks, Lips, Brow's; fresh Lillies, Coral, Iet:
He sees (or seems to see) a Sun to set.
And (to conclude) the Graver, Maul, and Mould,
Haue given such life to th' Iron, Brass, and Gold,
That heer wants nothing but the Mothers screech,
The Father's sigh, and the sweet Daughter's speech.
Lo heer, another shakes his vnshav'n tresses,
Samson.
Triumphing on a Lion torn in peeces:
O match-les Champion! Pearl of men-at-arms,
That emptiest not an Arcenal of Arms,
Nor needest shops of Lemnian Armourers,
To furnish weapons for thy glorious Wars:
[Page 500]An Asse's Iaw-bone is the Club wher-with
Thy mighty arm, brains, beats, and battereth
Th' vncircumcised [...]amp▪ all quickly scud;
And th' Hoast that [...]lew in dust, now flowes in bloud▪
Heer, th' Iron Gates, whose hugeness woo [...]t to shake
The massie Towrs of Gaza, thou doost take
On thy broad shoulders: there (in seeming iest)
Crushing their Palace-pillars (at a feast)
Thou over-whelm'st the House, and with the fall
The Philistins blaspheming Princes all.
Heer, from ones head, which two huge coins do crush,
(As whay from Cheese) the battred brains do gush:
Heer lies another in a deadly sound▪
Nail'd with a broken rafter to the ground:
Another, heer pasht with a pane of wall,
Hath lost his soule, and bodies shape withall:
Another, heer o're-taken as he fled,
Lies (Tortois-like) all hidden but the head:
Another covered with a heap of lome,
Seems with his mooving to re-moue his Toomb:
Even as the soft, blinde, Mine-inventing Moule,
Simile.
In velvet Robes vnder the Earth doth roule,
Refusing light, and little air receives,
And hunting worms her mooving hillocks heaves.
Lo lower heer, a beastly Multitude
The Leuites wise.
On one poor Woman all their lusts intrude;
Whose Spouse (displeas'd with th' execrable Fact)
Into twelue Peeces her dead Body hackt;
And, to twelve Parts of ISRAEL them transfers,
As twelue quick tinders of intest in Wars.
And lower yet, behold) with hatefull scorn)
The Arke taken by the Phili­stines.
The ARK of God to DAGON'S Temple born;
But, th' Idol yeelds to GOD, and DAGON falls
Before the ARK, which Heathen's pride appalls.
BARAC thus arm'd, th' ASORIANS sets-vpon,
The Battaile be­tweene the Isra­elites and Aso­rians with their iron Chariots.
That bright in brass, steel, gold, and silver shone:
But, his young Souldiers were much daunted tho,
To see the fearfull Engins of the Foe▪
[Page 501]Nine hundred Chariots, whirling swift and light▪
Whose glistering irons dazle even their sight;
Whose barded Steeds bear in their heads a Blade
Of the right temper of DAMASCVS made
(As proud of it, as Vnicorns are wont
Of their rich Weapon that adorns their [...]ront)
Amidst their Pettral stands another Pike:
On either-side, long grapples (Sickle-like);
The like at either Nave: so that (in Wars)
'Tis present death t' approach these broaching Cars.
But DEBORA, her Troops incouraging,
Debora com­s [...]rteth a [...]d in­courageth the Israelites.
Bestirs her quick, and steps from wing to wing:
Courage (sayth she) brave Souldiers, sacred Knights,
Strike, and strike home, lay-on with all your mights:
Stand, fear them not (O Champions of the Faith)
God drives your Foes into the snares of Death.
Doubt-les, they are your owne: their armed Charrets
They are but Buggs to daunt deiected spirits.
No, no (my Hearts) not Arms, nor Engines glorious,
But 'tis the heart that makes a Camp victorious:
Or rather, 'tis God's Thunder-throwing hand,
Which onely doth all Warr's success command:
And, VICTORIE'S his Daughter, whom he now
(For his owne sake) frankly bestowes on you.
Even as a sort of Shepheards, having spi'd
Simile.
A Wolf com stealing down a Mountains side,
Cry shrill, Now-now, vp-hill, a Wolf a Wolf▪
Now, now (sayes Eccho) vp-hill, a Wolf, a Wolf;
And such a noyse between the Vales doth rise,
That th' hungry Thief hence without hunting flies:
So th' Hebrews, heartned with her brave Discourse,
Gods enemies [...] ­ [...]er throwen by their owne En­gin [...].
Gave such a showt, that th' armed Carrs and Horse
Turn suddain back, their Drivers Art deceiue▪
And, changing side, through their owne Army cleave.
Som, with the blades in every Coursers brow,
Were (as with Launces) [...]ored through and through:
Som torn in peeces with the whirling wheels,
Som trod to death vnder the Horses heels:
[Page 502] As (in som Countries) when in Season hot,
Vnder Horse feet (made with a whip to trot)
Simile.
They vse to thresh the sheaves of Winter-Corn,
The grain spurts-out, the straw is bruis'd and torn.
Som (not direct before the Horse, nor vnder)
Were with the Sythes mow'n in the midst a-sunder:
As in a Mead the Grass yet in the flowr,
Simile.
Falls at the foot of the wide-straddling Mower,
That with a stooping back, and stretched arm,
Cuts-cross the swathes to Winter-feed his Farm.
If there rest any resolute, and loth
To lose so soon their Arms and honors both
At first assault, but rather brauely bent
To see so fierce and bloudy Fight's event;
Both DEBORA and BARAC thither pli'd:
But (as 'tis writ of the milde AMRAMIDE,
And NVN'S great Son▪ that Heav'n-deer MARS-like man,
Debora prayes, while Barac fights.
Who did transplant the Tribes to CANAAN)
She (in the zeal of her religious spirit)
Lifts-vp her hands to pray, and he to fight.
He charges fierce, he wounds, he slaughters all
The Infidels vt­terly ouer thrown and Sisara their Captaine slain by Iahel.
But SISARA, their Captain generall;
Who flies to IAHEL, and by her is slain
Driving a nail into his sleeping brain▪
At last, the Helm of head-strong ISRAEL
Coms to the hand of famous SAMVEL;
One rarely-wise▪ who weds his Policy,
To divine gifts of sacred Phophecie▪
Samuel, Iudge.
But, his too greedy Sons, digressing quite
From his good steps, dis-taste the ISRAELITE
Of th' ancient RVLE of th' Heav'nly Potentate:
Israel a [...]es▪ 6. KING.
So that all seek a suddain Change of S [...]ATE.
Assembled then in sacred PARLIAMENT,
Vp starts a Fellow of a mean Descent
(But of great spirit, well-spoken, full of wit,
And courage too▪ [...]spiring high to fit)
[...]. A Declamatiō of a Plebeian for Democratie or People-Sway.
And having gain'd attention, thus he sayes▪
Divine Designe▪ O Purpose worthy-prayse▪
[Page 503]To now- Reform the STATE, and soundly heal
With holsom Lawes th' hurts of the Common-weal:
But (prudent ISRAEL) take now heed (or never);
Change not an Ague for a burning-Fever;
In shaking-off confused Anarchie,
To beintiç't t' imbrace a Monarchie,
Admir'd of Fools, ador'd of Flatterers,
Of Softlings, Wantons, Braves, and Loyterers:
The Freedom and Defence of the base Rabble,
But to braue mindes a Yoak intolerable.
For, who can brook, millions of men to measure
Breath, Life, and Mooving, all at One man's pleasure?
One, to keep all in aw? One, at a beck
A whole great Kingdom to controule and check?
Is't not a goodly sight, to see a Prince,
Void of all Vertue, full of insolence,
To Play with Noble States, as with a straw?
A Fool, to give so many Wise the Law?
A Beast, to govern Men? An Infant, Eld?
A Hare to lead fierce Lions to the Field?
Who is't but knowes, that such a Court as this,
The corruption & licentiousnes of most Princes Courts.
Is th' open Shop of selling Offices?
Th' harbour of Riot, stews of Ribal dry,
Th' haunt of Profusion, th' Hell of Tyranny?
That no-where shines the REGAL Diadem,
But (Comet-like) it boads all Vice extreme?
That not a King among ten thousand Kings,
But to his Lust his Law in bondage brings?
But (shame-les) triumphs in the shame of Wives?
But bad, prefers the bad, and good deprives?
But gildeth those that glorifie his Folly;
That sooth, and smooth, and call his Hell-ness holy?
But with the Torrent of continuall Taxes
(Pour'd every-where) his meanest Subiects vexes:
As an ill-stated Body doth distill
Simile.
On's feeblest parts his cold-raw humors stil.
That Form of RVLE is a right Common-weal,
Where all the People haue an Enter-deal:
[Page 504]Where (with-out aw or law) the Tyrants sword
Is not made druak with bloud, for a Miss-word:
Where, Each (by turn) doth Bid and doth Obay;
Where, still the Commons (hauing Soverain- Sway)
Share equally both Rigour and Reward
To each-man's merit; giving no regard
To ill-got Wealth, nor mouldy Monuments
From great-great-Grand-sires scutcheon'd in Descents:
Where, Learned Men, vn-soule-clogd (as it were)
With servile giues of Kings imperious Fear,
Fly even to Heav'n; and by their Pensinspire
Posterity with Vertue's glorious Fire:
Where, Honour's honest Combat never ceasses,
Nor Vertue languishes, nor Valour leeses
His sprightfull nerves, through th' Enuy of a PRINCE,
That cannot brook another's excellence;
Or, Pride of those, who (from great Elders sprung)
Haue nothing but Their glory on their tongue;
And deeming Others Worth, enough for them,
Uertue and Valour, and all Arts contemn:
Or, base Despair, in those of meaner Calling,
Who, on the ground still (woorm-like) basely crawling,
Dare not attempt (nor scarcely think, precise)
Any great Act or glorious Enterprise;
Because Ambition, Custom, and the Law,
From high Estate hath bounded them with aw:
Where, He that never rightly learn'd t▪obay
Commandeth not, with heavy Sword of Sway:
Where, each i'th' Publik having equall part,
All to save all, will hazard life and hart:
Where, Liberty (as deer as life and breath)
Born with vs first, consorts vs to our Death.
Shall savage Beasts like-better Nuts and Mast
Simile.
In a free Forrest, than our choise Repast
In iron Cages? and shall we (poor Sots)
Whom Nature Masters of our selues allots,
And Lords of All besides▪ shall we go draw
On our owne necks an ease-les Yoak of Aw▪
[Page 505]Rather (O IACOB) chuse we all to die,
Than to betray our Native Libertie,
Than to becom the sporting Tennis-ball
Of a proud Monarch; or to yeeld vs thrall
To seive or honor any other King
Than that drad LAVV which did from SINA ring.
Another then, whom Age made venerable,
2. Another, of a reverent Sena­tor for Aristo­cracy, or the rule of a chosen Sy­n [...]de of the best men.
Knowledge admir'd, and Office honorable,
Stands-vp, and speaks (maiestically-milde)
On other Piles the COMMON-WEAL to build.
Doubt-les (said he) with waste of Time and Soap,
Y'have labour'd long to wash an AETHIOPE:
Y'have drawn vs heer a goodly form of STATE
(And well we have had proof of it of late):
Shall we again the Sword of IVSTICE put
In mad mens hands, soon their owne throats to cut?
What Tiger is more fierce? what Bear more fel?
Comparisons.
What Chaff more light? What Sea more apt to swel
Than is th' vnbridled Vulgar, passion-toss't;
In calms elated, in foul-weather lost?
What boot deep Proiects, if to th' eyes of all
They must be publisht in the common Hall?
Sith knowen Designs are dangerous to act:
And, th' vn-close Chief did never noble fact.
DEMOCRACY is as a tossed Ship
Void both of Pole and Pilot in the Deep:
Simile.
A Senate fram'd of thousand Kinglings slight;
Where, voices pass by number, not by waight;
Where, wise men do propound, and Fools dispose:
A Fair, where all things they to sale expose:
Simile.
A Sink of Filth, where ay th' infamousest,
Simile.
Most bold and busie, are esteemed best:
A Park of savage Beasts, that each-man dreads:
Simile.
A Head-les Monster with a thousand heads.
What shall we then do? shall we by and by
In Tyrants paws deiect vs servilely?
Nay, rather, shunning these extremities,
Let vs make choise of men vp right and wise;
[Page 506]Of such whose Vertue doth the Land adorn,
Of such whom Fortune hath made Noble-born,
Of such as Wealth hath rais'd above the pitch
Of th' abiect Vulgar; and to th' hands of such
(Such as for Wisedom, Wealth, and Birth excell)
Let vs commit the Reans of ISRAEL;
And ever from the sacred Helm exclude
The turbulent, base, moody Multitude.
Take away Choise, and where is Vertue's grace?
What? shall not Chance vnto Desert give place?
And Lots, to Right? Shall not the blinde be led
Simile.
By those whose eyes are perfect in their head?
Chiefly, amid' such baulks, and blocks and Pits,
As in best State-paths the best States-man meets?
Who may be better trusted with the key
Comparison.
Of a great Chest of Gold and gems than they
That got the same? And who more firm and fit
At carefull Stern of POLICIE to sit,
Than such as in the Ship most venture bear:
Such as their owne wrack with the State's wrack fear:
Such as, Content, and having Much to lose,
Even Death it self, rather than Change, would chuse?
While he discourst thus on a Theam so grave,
3. The Oration of a Noble yong Prince, for Mo­narchy or the sole Soverainti [...] of a KING.
Vp-rose a Gallant, noble, yong, and brave,
Fo to the Vulgar, one that hop't (perchance)
One-day t'attain a Scepters governance,
And thus he speaks: Your RVLE is yet too Free.
Y'have proin'd the leaves, not boughs of Publik-Tree:
Y'have qualified, but not yet cur'd our Grief:
Y'have in our Field still left the tares of Strife,
Of Leagues and Factions. For, plurality
Of Heads and Hands to sway an Emperie,
Is for the most part like vntamed Bulls:
One, this way hales; another that way pulls:
Simile.
All, every-way; hurried with Passion's windes
Whither their Lust-storms do transport their mindes;
At length, the strongest bears the weakest down,
And to himself wholly vsurps the Crown:
[Page 507]And so (in fine) your Aristocracie
He by degrees brings to a Monarchie.
In brief, the Scepter Aristocratike,
And People-Sway, have
A passion fol­lowing any sick­nesse.
symptomes both a-like:
And neither of them can be permanent
For want of Vnion; which of Gouernment
Is both the Life-bloud, and Preservative,
Wherby a STATE, yong, strong, and long doth thrive.
But, MONARCHY is as a goodly Station,
Built skilfully, vpon a sure Foundation:
A quiet House, wherin (as principall)
One Father is obey'd and serv'd of all:
A well-rigd Ship, where (when the danger's neer)
A many Masters strive not who shall steer.
The world hath but One God: Heav'n but One Sun:
Quails but One Chief: the Hony-Birds but One
One Master-Bee: and Nature (natively)
Graves in our hearts the Rule of MONARCHY.
At sound of whose Edicts, all ioynt-proceed:
Vnder whose Sway, Seditions never breed:
Who, while consulting with Colleagues he stands,
Lets not the Victory escape his hands:
And, that same Maiesty, which (as the Base
And Pedestal) supports the waight and grace,
Greatnes and glory of a well-Rul'd State,
It not extinguisht nor extenuate,
By being parcelliz'd to a plurality
Of petty Kinglings, of a mean Equality:
Like as a goodly River, deep and large,
Simile.
Able to bear Ships of the greatest Charge,
If, through new Dikes, his trade-full Waters guided,
Be in a hundred little Brooks divided;
No Bridge more fears, nor Sea more waighs the same▪
But soon it loses both his trade and name.
And (to conclude) a wise and worthy Prince,
A KING, compleat in Royall excellence,
Is even the Peoples prop, their powrfull nerves,
And lively Law, that all intire preserves:
[Page 508]His Countrie's life, and soule, sight, and fore-sight;
And even th' Almightie's sacred Picture right.
While yet he spake, the People loudly cri'd,
A KING, a KING; wee'll have a KING for Guide.
He shall command: He shall conduct our Hoasts,
And make vs Lords of th' IDVMEAN Coasts.
Ingrate, said SAMVEL, will you then reiect
Th' Almighties Scepter: do you more affect
New POLICY, than his olde PROVIDENCE?
And change th' Immortall for a mortall Prince?
Well (Rebels) well, you shall, you shall have one:
A KINGs Prerogatiue.
But, do ye knowe what followes ther-vpon?
He, from your Ploughs shall take your Horses out,
To serve his Pomp, and draw his Train about
In gilden Coaches (a wilde wanton sort
Of Popiniayes and Peacocks of the Court):
He shal your choisest Sons and Daughters take
To be his Servants (nay, his slaves to make):
You shall plant Vineyards, he the Wine shall sup:
You shall sowe Fields, and he shall reap the Crop:
You shall keep Flocks, and he shall take the Fleece:
And PHARAO'S Yoak shall seem but light to his.
But, IZARAEL doth wilfull still perseuer,
And SAMVEL (prest and importun'd ever)
Saul anointed King of Israell.
Anointeth SAVL (the son of CIS) a Man
Whose cursed end marr'd what he well began.
You, too-too-light, busie, ambitious wits,
That Heav'n and Earth confound with furious fits:
Fantastik Frantiks, that would innovate,
A check to busie, seditious, and ambitious Mal­contents in any State.
And every moment change your form of STATE:
That weening high to fly, fall lower still:
That though you change your bed, change not your Ill:
See, See how much th' Almighty (the most High)
Heer-in abhors your fond inconstancy.
The PEOPLE-STATE, the ARISTOCRACY,
The authority of every kinde of Government is from God.
And sacred KINGDOM, took authority
A-like from Heav'n: and these three Scepter-forms
Flourish a-vie, as well in Arts and Arms,
[Page 509]As prudent Laws. Therefore, you stout Helvetians,
Grisons, Genevians, Ragusins, Uenetians,
Maintain your Liberties, and change not now
Therefore every People to persist in the State esta­blished.
Your sacred Laws rooted so deep with you.
On th' other side, we that are born and bred
Vnder KINGS Aw, vnder one Supreme Head,
Let vs still honor their drad Maiesties,
Obey their Laws, and pay them Subsidies.
Let's read, let's hear no more these factious Teachers,
These shame-les Tribunes, these seditious Preachers,
That in all places alwayes belch and bark
Aloud a-broad, or whisper in the dark,
Railing at Princes (whether good or bad)
The true Lieutenants of Almighty God.
And let not vs, before a KING, prefer
A Senate-sway, nor Scepter Popular.
'Tis better bear the Youth-slips of a KING,
I' th' Law som fault, I' th' State som blemishing,
Than to fill all with Blood-flouds of Debate;
While, to Reform, you would Deform a STATE.
One cannot (with-out danger) stir a stone
In a great Building's olde foundation:
And, a good Leach seeks rather to support,
With ordered dyet, in a gentle sort,
A feeble Body (though in sickly plight)
Than with strong Med'cines to destroy it quight.
And therefore, Cursed, ever Cursed be
Our
A iust Exe­cration of the Popish Powder-Plot on the fift of November, 1605.
Hell- spurr'd PERCIE'S fel Conspiracy;
And every head and every hand and heart,
That did Conceiue or but Consent his part:
POPE- prompted Atheists, faining Superstition,
To cover Cruelty and cloak Ambition:
Incarnat Divels, Enemies of Man,
Dam-Murdering Vipers, Monsters in-humane,
Dis-natur'd NERO'S, impious EROSTRATES,
That with one Puff would blowe-vp all Estates;
Prince's and Peer's, and Peoples Government
( For, of all Three consists our PARLIAMENT)
[Page 510]Religion, Order, Honesty, and all,
And more then all that Fear can fear to fall.
And therfore, Blessed, ever Blessed be
Our glorious GOD's immortall Maiesty;
ENGLANDS Great Watch-Man, he that Israel keeps,
Who neuer slumbers and who neuer sleeps:
Our gratious Father, whose still-firm affection
Defends vs still with wings of his Protection:
Our louing Saviour that thus Saues vs still
(Vs so vnworthy, vs so prone to ill):
Our sacred Comforter (the Spirit of Light)
Who steers vs still in the True FAITH aright:
The TRINITIE, th' Eternall THREE in ONE,
Who by his Powr and Prouidence alone,
Hath from the Furnace of their Fiery Zeal
Preserv'd our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PVBLIK-WEAL,
Therefore, O PRINCE (our nostrils deerest breath)
Thou true Defender of true Christian FAITH,
O! let the Zeal of GOD'S House eat thee vp:
Fill BABYLON her measure in her Cup:
Maim the King-maiming Kinglings of Bezec:
Pittie not Agag, spare not Amalech:
Hunt, hunt those Foxes that would vnder-mine
Root, Body, Branches of the Sacred Vine:
O! spare them not. To spare Them, is to spoil
Thy Self, thy Seed, thy Subiects, and thy Soil.
Therfore, O PEERS, Prince-loyall Paladines,
True-noble Nobles, lay-by by-Designes;
And, in God's quarrel and your Countries, bring
Counsail and Courage to assist your KING
To counter-mine against the Mines of ROME;
To conquer Hydra, and to ouer-com
And clean cut-off his Horns, and Heads, and all
Whose hearts do Vow, or knees do Bow to Baal:
Be Zealous for the LORD, and Faith-full now,
And honor Him, and He will honour you.
FATHERS, and Brethren, Ministers of CHRIST,
Cease civill Warrs: war all on Anti-Christ;
[Page 511]Whose subtle Agents, while you strive for shels,
Poyson the kernel with Erronious Spels:
Whose Envious Seed-men, while you Silent Sleep,
Sowe Tares of Treason, which take root too-deep.
Watch; watch your Fold: Feed; feed your Lambs at-home:
Muzzle these Sheep-clad bloudy Wolves of ROME.
Therfore, O PEOPLE, let vs Praise and Pray
Th' Almighty-most (whose Mercy lasts for ay)
To giue vs grace, to euer-keep in minde
This MIRACLE of his Protection kinde:
To true- Repent vs of our hainous Sin
( Pride, Lust, and Loosness) we haue wallowed in:
To stand still constant in the pure Profession
Of true RELIGION (with a due discretion
To try the Spirits, and by peculiar choice
To knowe our Shepheards from th' Hyana's voice):
And, ever loyall to our PRINCE, t'expose
Goods, Lands, and Liues, against his hate-full Foes:
Among whom (Lord) [...]f (yet) of Thine be found,
Conuert them quickly; and the rest Confound.
And (to Conclude) PRINCE, PEERS, & PEOPLE too,
Praise all at once, and selfly each of you,
His Holy Hand, that (like as long-agoe,
His Sidrach, Misach and Abednego)
From the hot Furnace of POPE-Powder'd Zeal
Hath Sav'd our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PVELIK-weal.
The End of the THIRD DAI [...] of the SECOND WEEK.

DAVID. The FOVRTH DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;

Containing

  • 1. THE TROPHEIS,
  • 2. THE MAGNIFICENCE,
  • 3. THE SCHISM,
  • 4. THE DECAY.

Translated & Dedicated

To Prince HENRY his Highness.

Acceptam refere.

To Prince HENRY his Highness.

A SONNET.
HAuing new- mustred th' HOAST of all this ALL:
Your Royall Father In our Fore ward stands;
Where ( Adam-like) Himself alone Commands
A WORLD of Creatures, ready at his Call.
Our Middle-ward doth not vnfitly fall
To famous Chiefs, whose graue-braue heads & hands
In Counsail'd Courage so Conduct our Bands,
As (at a brunt) affront the force of Baal.
Our Rere-Ward (Sir) shalbe your Princely Charge,
Though last, not least (sith it most Honour brings)
Where Honour's Field before you lies more large:
For, Your Command is of a Camp of KINGS,
Some good, some bad: Your Glory shall be, heer
To Chuse and Vse the good, the bad Cassier.
A STANZA.
IEwel of NATVRE, Ioy of ALBION,
To whose perfection Heav'n and Earth conspire:
That, in Time [...] fulnes, Thou mayst bless this▪ Throne
(Succeeding in the Vertues of thy Sire)
As happily thou hast begun, goe-on;
That, as thy Youth, we may thine Age admire;
Acting our Hopes (which shall revive our hearts)
Pattern & Patron both of Arms & Arts.
Iosuah Syluester.

THE TROPHEIS. THE FIRST BOOKE OF the fourth Day of the second Week, of BARTAS.

THE ARGVMENT.
Saul's fall from Fauour, into Gods Disgrace.
Dauid design'd Successor in his Place;
Brauing Goliah, and the Philistins
He brauely foyles: He flyes his furious Prince.
Seem- Samuel rais'd: Saul routed; Selfely-slain.
King- Dauids TROPHEIS, and triumphant Raign:
His heauenly Harp- skill (in King IAMES renewd):
His humane frailty, heauily pursewd.
Bersabé batheing: Nathan bold-reprouing:
Dauid repenting (Our REPENTANCE moouing).
HEröike force, and Prince-fit forme withall,
Saul king of Is­raell, fortunate at the first, is af­terward reiec­ted, and Dauid elected in his fleed.
Honor the Scepter of courageous Saul;
Successe confirmes it: for the power Diuine
Tames by his hand th' outrageous Philistine,
Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonite,
And th' euer-wicked, curst Amalekite:
O too-too-happy! if his arrogance
Had not transgrest Heauens sacred Ordinance:
But therefore, God in's secret Counsell (iust)
Him euen alreadie from his Throne hath thrust,
Degraded of his gifts: and in his steed
(Though priuily) anointed Iesse's Seed,
[Page 515]Th' honour of Iacob, yea of th' Vniuerse,
Heav'ns darling DAVID, Subiect of my Verse.
Lord, sith I cannot (nor I may not once)
Invocation.
Aspire to DAVIDS Diadems and Thrones;
Nor lead behind my bright Tryumphal-Car
So many Nations Conquered in War:
Nor ( DAVID-like) my trembling Asps adorn
With bloody TROPHEIS of my Foes forlorn:
Vouch safe mee yet his Verse, and (Lord) I craue
Let me his Harp-strings, not his Bowe-strings haue;
His Lute, and not his Launce, to worthy-sing
Thy glorie, and the honour of thy King.
For, none but DAVID can sing DAVID's worth:
Angels in Heav'n thy glory sound; in Earth,
DAVID alone; whom (with Heav'ns loue surpriz'd)
To praise thee there, thou now hast Angeliz'd.
Giue mee the Laurel, not of War, but Peace;
Or rather giue mee (if thy grace so please)
The Ciuik Garland of green Oaken boughes,
Thrice-three times wreath'd about my glorious browes,
To euer-witnes to our after-frends
How I haue reskew'd my con-Citizens,
Whom profane Fames-Thirst day and night did moue
To be be-slav'd to th' yoake of wanton Loue:
For, (not to mee, but to thee, Lord, be prayse)
Now, by th' example of my Sacred Layes,
To Sacred Loues our noblest spirits are bent,
And thy rich Name's their only Argument.
HEE WHOM in priuat wals, with priuie signe,
The great King-maker did for King assigne,
Begins to showe himself: a fier so great
Could not liue flame-les long: nor would God let
So noble a spirits nimble edge to rust
In Sheapheards idle and ignoble dust.
My Son, how certain we that Saying proue,
Iessè (or Ishai) sendeth Dauid to see his brethrē in the Campe.
That doubtfull Fear still wayts on tender Loue?
DAVID (saith Iesse) I am full of fears
For thy deer Brethren: Each Assault, salt tears
[Page 516]Draws from mine eyes; mee thinks each point doth stab
Mine Eliab, Samna, and Aminadab.
Therefore goe visite them, and with this Food
Beare them my Blessing; say I wish them good;
Beseeching God to shield and them sustain,
And send them (soon) victorious home again.
Gladly goes DAVID, and anon doth spie
Two steep high Hils where the two Armies lie,
Description of Goliah.
A Vale diuides them; where, in raging mood
( Colossus-like) an armed Giant stood:
His long black locks hung shagged (slouen-like)
A down his sides: his bush-beard floated thick;
His hands and arms, and bosom bristled were
(Most Hedge-hog-like) with wyer insteed of haire.
His foul blasphemous mouth, a Caues mouth is;
His eyes two Brands, his belly an Abysse:
His legs two Pillers; and to see him go,
Hee seemd some steeple reeling to and fro.
A Cypresse-Tree of fifteen Summers old,
Pyramid-wise waues on his Helm of gold.
Whose glistring brightnes doth (with rayes direct)
Against the Sun, the Sun it self reflect:
Much like a Comet blazing bloodie-bright
Simile.
Ouer some City, with new threatfull light,
Presaging down-fall, or some dismal fate,
Too-neer approaching to some ancient State.
His Launce a Loom-beam, or a Mast (as big)
Which yet he shaketh as an Osier twig;
Whose harmful point is headed stifly-straight
With burnisht Brasse aboue an Anuils waight:
Vpon whose top (in stead of Bannaret)
A hissing Serpent seems his foes to threat:
His brazen Cuirasse, not a Squire can carrie;
For 'tis the burthen of a Dromedarie:
His Shield (where Cain his brother Abel slaies,
Where Chus his son, Heav'n-climbing Towrs doth raise;
Where th' Ark of God, to th' Heathen captiuate,
To Dagon's House is led with scorne and hate)
[Page 517]Is like a Curtain made of double planks
To saue from shot some hard-besieged Ranks.
His threatfull voice is like the stormefull Thunder
When hot-cold Fumes teare sulphury clowds asunder.
O Fugitiues! this is the fortieth day
His brauing De­fiance to the Hoast of Israell.
(Thus barkes the Dog) that I haue stalked aye
About your fearefull Hoast: that I alone
Against your best and choisest Champion,
In single Combat might our Cause conclude,
To shun the slaughter of the multitude.
Come then, who dares; and to be slaine by mee,
It shall thine honour and high Fortune bee.
Why am I not lesse strong? my common strength
Might find some Braue to cope with at the length.
But, fie for shame, when shall we cease this geare?
I to defie, and you to flie for feare?
If your hearts serue not to defend your Lot,
Why are you arm'd? why rather yeeld you not?
Why rather doe you (sith you dare not fight)
Not proue my mildnesse, than prouoke my might?
What needed Coats of brasse and Caps of steele
For such as (Hare-like) trust but to their heele?
But, sith I see not one of you (alas!)
Alone dares meete, nor looke me in the face,
Come tenne, come twenty, nay come all of you,
And in your ayde let your great God come too:
Let him rake Hell, and shake the Earth in sunder,
Let him be arm'd with Lightning and with Thunder:
Come, let him come and buckle with me heer:
Your goodly God, lesse then your selues, I feare.
Thus hauing spewd, the dreadfull Cyclop stirr'd
His monstrous Limbes; beneath his feet he reard
A Clowd of dust: and, wheresoe're he wend,
Flight, Feare, and Death, his ghastly steps attend.
Euen as a payr of busie chattering Pies,
Simile.
Seeing some hardie Tercell, from the skies
To stoop with rav'nous seres, feele a chill feare,
From bush to bush, wag-tayling here and there;
[Page 518]So that no noyse, nor stone, nor st [...]ke can make
The timorous Birds their Couert to forsake:
So th' Hebrew Troopes this brauing Monster shun;
And from his sight, some here, some there, doo run.
In vain the King commands, intreats, and threats;
And hardly three or foure together gets.
What shame (saith he) that our victorious Hoast
Saul stirreth vp his Souldiers & proposeth ample Reward to him that shall vnder­take the Phili­stine.
Should all be daunted with one Pagans boast?
Braue Ionathan, how is thy courage quaild
Which, yerst at Boses, all alone aslaild
Th' whole Heathen Hoast? O Worthy Abner too,
What chance hath cut thy Nerues of Valour now?
And thou thy self (O Saul) whose Conquering hand
Had yerst with Tropheis filled all the Land,
As far as Tigris, from the Iap [...]ean Sea:
Where is thy heart? how is it fall'n away?
Saul is not Saul: O [...] then, what Izraelice
Shall venge God's honor and Our shame acquight?
Who, spurrd with anger, but more stirrd with Zeale,
Shall foile this Pagan, and free Izrael?
O! who shall being me this Wolf's howling head,
That Heav'n and Earth hath so vn-hallowed?
What e're he be, that (lauish of his soule)
Shall with his blood wash-out this blot so foule,
I will innoble him, and all his House;
He shall inioy my Daughter for his Spouse:
And euer shall a Deed so memorable
Be (with the Saints) sacred and honorable.
[...] Yet, for the Duel no man dares appeer:
All wish the Prize; but none will win't so deer:
Big-looking Minions, braue in vaunts and vows,
Lions in Court, now in the Camp be Cows:
But, euen the blast that cools their courage so,
That makes my DAVID's valiant rage to glowe.
My Lord (saith He) behold, this hand shall bring
Dauids offer.
Th' heav'n-scorning head vnto my Lord the King.
Alas, my Lad, sweet Shepheard (answers Saul)
Thy heart is great; although thy limbs be small:
[Page 519]High flie thy thoughts; but wee haue need of more,
More stronger Toyles to take so wilde a Boare:
To tame Goliah, needs som Demi-god,
Some Nimrod, rather then a Shepheard-Lad
Of slender growth, vpon whose tender Chin
The budding doun doth scarcely yet begin.
Keep therefore thine owne Rank, and draw not thus
Death on thy self, dis-honor vpon vs,
With shame and sorrow on all Izrael,
Through end-les Thral dom to a Fo so fel.
The faintest Harts, God turns to Lions fierce,
His assurance.
To Eagles Doues, Vanquisht to Vanquishers:
God, by a Womans feeble hand sub dews
Iabins Lieutenant, and a Iudge of Iews.
God is my strength: therfore (O King) forbear,
For Izrael, for Thee, or Mee, to fear:
No self-presumption makes me rashly braue;
Assured pledge of his prowd head I haue.
Seest thou these arms (my Lord) these very arms
(Steeld with the strength of the great God of Arms)
Haue bath'd Mount Bethlem with a Lions blood:
These very arms, beside a shady Wood,
Haue slain a Bear, which (greedy after prey)
Had torn and born my fattest sheep away.
My God is still the same: this sauage Beast,
Which in his Fold would make a Slaughter-feast,
All-ready feels his furie, and my force;
My foot al-ready tramples on his Corps:
With his owne sword his cursed length I lop,
His head al-ready on the geound doth hop.
The Prince beholds him, as amaz'd and mute,
To see a mind so yong, foresolute:
Then son (saith he) sith so confirmd thou art,
Go, and Gods blessing on thy valiant hart;
God guide thy hand, and speed thy weapon so,
That thou return triumphant of thy Fo.
Hold, take my Corslet, and my Helm, and Launce,
And to the Heav'ns thy happy Prowes aduance.
The faithfull Champion, being furnisht thus,
Is like the Knight, which twixt Eridanus
And th' heav'nly Star-Ship, marching brauely-bright
(Hauing his Club, his Casque, and Belt bedight
With flaming studs of many a twinkling Ray)
Turns Winters night into a Summers day.
But, yer that hee had half a furlong gon,
The massie Launce and Armour hee had on
Did load him so, he could not freely mooue
His legs and arms, as might him best behooue.
Euen so, an Irish Hobby, light and quick
Simile.
(Which on the spur ouer the bogs they prick
In highest speed) If on his back he feel
Too-sad a Saddle, plated all with steel,
Too-hard a Bit with in his mouth; behind,
Crooper and Trappings him too-close to binde;
He seems as lame, he flings, and will not go;
Or, if he stir, it is but stiff and slowe.
DAVID therefore lays-by his heauie load,
And, on the grace of the great glorious GOD
(Who by the weakest can the strongest stoop)
Hee firmly founding his victorious hope,
No Arrows seeks, nor other Arcenall;
But, by the Brooke that runnes amid the Vale,
Hee takes fiue Pebbles and his Sling, and so,
Courageously incounters with his Foe.
What Combat's this? On the one side, I see
A moouing Rocke, whose looks do terrifie
Euen his owne Hoast; wbose march doth seem to make
The Mountaine tops of Sucoth euen to shake:
On th' other side, a slender tender Boy
Where grace and beautie for the prize doo play:
Shaue but the doun that on his Chin doth peer,
And one would take him for Anchises Pheer:
Or, change but weapons with that wanton E [...],
And one would think that it were Cupids self.
Gold on his head, skar [...]er in either Cheek,
Grace in each part and in each gest, alike;
[Page 521]In all so louely, both to Foe and Friend,
That very Enuy cannot but commend
His match-les beauties: and though ardent zeale
Flush in his face against the Infidel,
Although his Fury fume, though vp and down
He nimblie trauerse, though he fiercely frown,
Though in his breast boyling with manly heat,
His swelling heart do strongly pant and beat;
His Storme is Calm, and from his modest eyes
Euen gratious seems the grimmest flash that flies.
Am I a Dog, thou Dwarf, thou Dandiprat,
To be with stones repell'd and palted at?
Or art thou weary of thy life so soon?
O foolish boy! fantasticall Baboone!
That never saw'st but sheep in all thy life;
Poore sotte, 'tis heer another kind of strife:
We wrastle not (after your Shepheards guise)
For painted Sheep-hooks, or such pettie Prize,
Or for a Cage, a Lamb, or bread and cheese:
The Vanquisht Head must be the Victors Fees.
Where is thy sweatie dust? thy sun-burnt scars,
(The glorious marks of Soldier strain'd in Warres)
That make thee dare so much? O Lady-Cow,
Thou shalt no more be-star thy wanton brow
With thine eyes rayes: Thy Mistress shall no more
Curl the quaint Tresses of thy Golden ore:
I'll trample on that Gold; and Crowes and Pyes
Shall peck the pride of those sweet-smiling eyes:
Yet, no (my guirle-boy) no, I will not file
My feared hands with blood so faintly-vile:
Go seek thy match, thou shalt not dy by me,
Thine honor shall not my dishonor be▪
No (silly Lad) no, wert thou of the Gods,
I would not fight at so vn-knightly ods.
Come barking Curre (the Hebrew taunts him thus)
That hast blasphem'd the God of Gods, and vs;
The ods is mine (villain, I scorne thy Boasts)
I haue for Aide th' almighty Lord of Hoasts.
Th' Ethnik's a-fier▪ and from his goggle eyes▪
All drunk with rage and blood, the Lightning flies:
Out of his beuer, like a Boare he foames:
A hellish Fury in his bosom roames:
As mad, he marcheth with a dreadfull pase,
Death and destruction muster in his face;
He would a-fresh blaspheam the Lord of Lords
With new despights; but in the steed of words
Simile.
He can but gnash his teeth. Then, as an Oxe
Straid twixt the hollow of steep Hils and Rocks,
Through craggie Coombs, through dark & ragged turnings▪
Lowes hideously his solitary Moornings:
The Tyrant so from his close helmet blunders
With horrid noise, and this harsh voice he thunders:
Thy God raignes in his Ark, and I on Earth:
I Chalenge Him, Him (if he dare come forth)
Not Thee, base Pigme. Villain (saies the Iew)
That blasphemy thou instantly shalt rue,
If e'r you saw (at Sea) in Summer weather,
Simile.
A Galley and a Caraque cope togither;
(How th' one steers quick, and th' other veers as slowe▪
Lar-boord and star-boord from the poop to prowe;
This, on the winde; that, on her Owres relies;
This daunteth most; and that most damnifies)
You may conceaue this Fight: th' huge Polypheme
Stands stifly shaking his steel-pointed beam:
Dauid dooth trauerse (round about him) light,
Forward and back, to th' left hand, and the right,
Steps in and out; now stoops, anon he stretches;
Then he recoyls, on either hand he reaches;
And stoutly-actiue, watching th' aduerse blowes,
In euery posture dooth himself dispose.
As, when (at Cock-pit) two old Cocks doo fight,
Simile.
(Bristling their plumes, and (red with rage) do smight
With spurs and beak, bounding at euery blowe,
With fresh assaults freshing their fury so,
That, desperate in their vn yeelding wrath,
Nothing can end their deadly fewd but death)
[Page 523]The Lords about, that on both sides do bet,
Look partially when th' one the Field shall get,
And, trampling on his gaudie plumed pride,
His prostrate Fo with bloody spurs bestride,
With clanging Trumpet and with clapping wing,
Triumphantly his Victory to sing:
So th' Hebrew Hoast, and so the Heathen stranger
(Not free from fear, but from the present danger)
Behold with passion these two Knights, on whom
They both haue wagerd both their Fortunes sum:
And either side, with voice and gesture too,
Hartens and cheers their Champion well to doo;
So earnest all, that almost euery one
Seems euen an Actor, not a looker-on:
All feel the Skirmish twixt their Hope and Fear:
All cast their eyes on this sad Theater:
All on these two depend, as very Founders
Of their good Fortune, or their Fates Confounders.
O Lord, said DAVID (as he whirld his Sling)
Be bowe and Bowe-man of this shaft I fling.
With sudden flerk the fatal hemp lets go
The humming Flint, which with a deadly blowe
Pearç't instantly the Pagans ghastly Front,
As deep as Pistol-shot in boord is wont.
The villain's sped (cries all the Hebrew band)
Goliah over­throwne.
The Dog, the Atheist feels Gods heauy hand.
Th' Isacian Knight, seeing the blowe, stands still.
Fro th' Tyrants wound his ruddy soule doth trill,
As from a crack in any pipe of Lead
(That conuoyes Water from some Fountaines head)
Simile.
Hissing in th' Aire, the captiue Stream doth spin▪
In siluer threds her crystall humorthin.
The Giant, wiping with his hand his wound,
Cries, tush, 'tis nothing: but eft soones the ground▪
Sunk vnder him, his face grew pale and wan,
And all his limbs to faint and fail began:
Thrice heaues he vp his head; it hangs as fast,
And all a-long lies Isaac's dread at last,
[Page 524]Couering a rood of Land; and in his Fall,
Simile.
Resembles right a lofty Tower or Wall,
Which to lay leuel with the humble soil
A hundred Miners day and night doo toil;
Till at the length rushing with thundrous roar,
It ope a breach to th' hardy Conquerour.
Then, two lowd cries, a glad and sad were heard:
Wherwith reviv'd, the vaunting Tyrant stird,
Re-summoning vnder his weak Controule
The fainting Remnants of his flying Soule;
And (to be once more buckling yer he dies,
With blowe for blowe) he striues in vain to rise.
Such as in life, such in his death he seems;
For euen in death he curses and blasphemes:
And as a Curre, that cannot hurt the flinger,
Simile.
Flies at the stone and biteth that for anger;
Goliah bites the ground, and his owne hands
As Traytors, false to his fel hearts commands.
Then the Hebrew Champion heads the Infidel
With his own sword, and sends his soule to Hell.
Pagans disperse; and the Philistian swarms
Haue armes for burthen, and haue flight for armes;
Danger behinde, and shame before their face:
Rowting themselues, although none giue them chase▪
Armi-potent, Omnipotent, my God,
Dauids Thanks­giving for the victory.
O let thy Praise fill all the Earth abroad;
Let Izrael (through Thee, victorious now)
Incessant songs vnto thy Glory vow:
And let me Lord (said DAVID) euer chuse
Thee sole, for subiect of my sacred Muse.
O wondrous spectacle! vnheard-of-Sight!
The Monster's beaten-down, before the Fight:
A Dwarf, a Sheepheard, conquers (euen vn-armd)
A Giant fell, a famous Captain, armd.
From a fraile Sling this Battery neuer came,
But 'twas the Breach of a Tower-razing Ram:
This was no cast of an vncertain Slinger,
'T was Crosse-bow-shot: rather it was the finger
[Page 525]Of the All-mightie (not this hand of mine)
That wrought this work so wondrous in our eyne:
This hath Hee done, that by a woman weake
Can likewise stone the stout Abimelech:
Therefore, for euer, singing sacred Layes,
I will record his glorious Power and Praise.
Then, Iacob's Prince him ioyfully imbraces,
Prefers to honours, and with fauours graces,
Imployes him farre and nigh; and farre and neere,
From all sad cares he doth his Soueraigne cleere.
In Camp he curbs the Pagans arrogance:
In Court he cures the Melancholy Trance
That toyls his soule; and, with his tunefull Lyre,
Effect [...] of Mu­sick
Expels th' ll Spirit which doth the body tyre.
For, with her sheath, the soule commerce frequents,
And acts her office by his instruments;
After his pipe she dances: and (againe)
The body shares her pleasure and her paine;
And by exchange, reciprocally borrowes
Some measure of her solace and her sorrowes.
Th' Eare (doore of knowledge) with sweete warbles pleas'd,
Sends them eft soones vnto the Soule diseas'd,
With darke black rage, our spirits pacifies,
And calmly cools our inward flame that fries.
So, O Tyrtéus, changing Harmonie,
Examples of the same.
Thy Rowt thou changest into Victorie.
So, O thrice-famous, Princely Pellean,
Holding thy hart's re [...]nes in his Tune-full hand▪
Thy Timothie with his Melodious skill
Armes and dis-armes thy Worlds-drad arme (at will),
And with his Phrygian Musicke, makes the same
As Lion fierce; with Dorik, milde as Lambe.
So, while in Argos the chaste Violon
For's absent Soueraigne doth graue-sweetly groan,
Queen Clytemnestra doth resist th' alarmes
Of lewd Aegysthus, and his lustfull Charmes.
So, at the sound of the sweet-warbling brasse;
The Prophet rapting his soule's soule a space,
[Page 526]Refines him selfe, and in his fantasie
Graues deep the seal of sacred Prophesie.
For, if our Soule be Number (some so thought)
It must with number be refreshed oft;
Or, made by Number (so I yeeld to sing)
We must the same with some sweet Numbers bring
To some good Tune: euen as a voice (sometime)
Simile.
That in its Part sings out of tune and time,
Is by another voice (whose measur'd straine
Custome and Arte confirms) brought in again.
It may be too, that DAVIDS sacred Ditty
Quickned with Holy-Writ, and couched witty,
Exorcist-like, chaç't Natures cruel Fo,
Who the Kings soule did tosse and torture so.
How e'r it were, He is (in euery thing)
A profitable seruant to the King:
Who enuious yet of his high Feats and Fame,
His Faith, and Fortitude, distrusts the same:
And, the diuine Torch of his Vertues bright
Brings him but sooner to his latest Night;
Saue that the Lord still shields him from on hy,
And turnes to Triumph all his Tragedy.
O bitter sweet! I burst (thus raues the King)
To hear them all, in Camp and Court to sing,
Sauls Envy to Dauid.
SAVL he hath slain a thousand, DAVID ten,
Ten thousand DAVID. O faint scorn of men!
Lo, how, with Lustre of his glorious parts,
Hee steals-away the giddy peoples harts;
Makes lying Prophets sooth him at a beck;
Thou art but King in name, Hee in effect:
Yet thou endur'st it; haste thee, haste thee (Sot)
Choak in the Cradle his aspiring Plot;
Preuent his hopes, and wisely-valiant
Off with his head that would thy foot supplant.
Nay, but beware; his death (belov'd so wel)
Will draw thee hatred of all Izrael.
Sith then so high his heady valour flies,
Sith common glory cannot him suffice,
[Page 527]Sith Danger vpon Danger hee pursews,
And Victory on Victory renewes;
Let's put him to 't: Let's make him Generall,
Feed him with winde, and hazard him in all:
So shall his own Ambitious Courage bring
For Crown a Coffin to our Iunior King:
Yea, had hee Sangars strength, and Sampsons too,
Hee should not scape the taske I'll put him to.
But yet, our DAVID more then all archieues,
And more and more his grace and glory thriues:
The more he doos, the more he dares adventure,
His rest-les Valour seeks still new Aduenture.
For, feeling him armd with th' Almighty's Spirit,
He recks no danger (at the least to fear it).
Then, what doos Saul? When as he saw no speed
By sword of Foes so great a Fo to rid,
Hee tries his owne: and one-while throwes his dart,
At vn-awares to thrill him to the hart:
Or treacherously hee layes som subtill train,
At boord, or bed, to haue him (harm-les) slain:
On nothing else dreams the disloyall wretch,
But Dauids death; how Dauid to dispatch.
Which had bin don, but for his Son the Prince,
(Who deerly tenders Dauids Innocence,
Ionathan's loue to Dauid.
And neerly marks and harks the Kings Designes,
And warns the Iessean by suspect-les signes)
But for the kinde Courageous Ionathan,
Who (but attended onely with his man)
Neer Senean Rocks discomfited, alone,
The Philistines victorious Garison.
About his eares a Shower of Shafts, dooth fall;
His Shield's too-narrow to receiue them all:
His sword is duld with slaughter of his Foes,
Wherefore the dead he at the liuing throwes,
Head-lined helmes, heawn from their trunks he takes,
And those his vollies of swift shot he makes.
The Heathen Hoast dares him no more affront,
Late number-les; but easie now to count.
Dauid therefore, flying his Princes Furie,
From end to end flies all the land of [...]urie:
But now to Nob; t' Adullam then, anon
To Desart Zif, to Ke [...]lah, M [...]aor,
Hauing for roof heav'ns arches starry-seeld,
And, for rep [...]st what wauing woods doe yeeld.
The Tyrant (so) frustrate of his intent,
Wreakes his fell rage vpon the innocent;
If any winke, as willing t' haue not seen-him,
Or if (vnweeting what's the oddes between-him
And th' angry king) if any had but hid-him,
He dies for it (if any haue but spid him):
Yea the High-Priest, that in Gods presence stands,
Escapeth not his paricidiall hands;
Nor doth he spare, in his vnbounded rage,
Cattle, nor Curre, nor state, nor sexe, nor age.
Contrariwise, Dauid doth good for ill,
He hates the haters of his Soueraigne still.
And though he oft incounter Saul lesse strong
Than his owne side; forgetting all his wrong,
He shewes him, aye, loyall in deede and word
Vnto his Liege, th' Anointed of the Lord;
Respects and honors him, and mindes no more
The Kings vnkindnesse that had past before.
One day as Saul (to ease him) went aside
Into a Caue, where Dauid wont to hide,
Dauid (vn-seen) seeing his Foe so neer
And all alone, was strooke with suddaine feare,
As much amaz'd and musing there-vpon;
When whispering thus his Consorts egge him on:
Who sought thy life is fall'n into thy lap;
Doo'st thou not see the Tyrant in thy Trap?
Now therefore pull this Thorne out of thy foote:
Now is the Time if euer thou wilt doo't:
Now by his death establish thine estate:
Now hugge thy Fortune, yer it be too-late:
For, he (my Lord) that will not, when he may,
Perhaps he shall not, when he would (they say).
[Page 529]Why tarriest thou? what doost thou trifle thus?
Wilt thou, for Saul, betray thy self and vs?
Wonne with their words, to kill him he resolues:
But, by the way thus with himself revolues.
He is a Tyrant; true: But now long since,
Anti-Bell [...]rmin & His Disciples; Authors or Fau­tors of our Pow­der-Mine.
And still, he bears the mark of lawfull Prince:
And th' Ever-King (to whom all Kings doe bow)
On no pretext, did ever yet allow
That any Subiest should his hand distain
In sacred blood of his owne Soveraign.
He hunts me cause-les; true: but yet, Gods word
Bids me defend, but not offend my Lord.
I am anointed King; but (at Gods pleasure)
Not publikely: therfore I waite thy leasure.
For, thou (O Lord) regardest Thine, and then
Reward'st, in fine, Tyrants and wicked men.
Thus having sayd, he stalkes with noise-les foot
Behind the King, and softly off doth cut
A skirt or lap of his then-vpper clothing;
Then quick avoydes: and, Saul, suspecting nothing,
Comes forth anon: and Dauid afterward
From a high Rock (to be the better heard)
Cries to the King (vpon his humble knee)
Come neer (my Liege) com neer, and fear not me,
Fear not thy seruant Dauid. Well I knowe,
Thy Flatterers, that miss-inform thee so,
With thousand slanders dayly thee incense
Against thy Seruants spot-les innocence:
Those smooth-sly Aspicks, with their poysony sting
Murder mine honour, me in hatred bring
With thee and with thy Court (against all reason)
As if Convicted of the Highest-Treason:
But, my notorious Loyalty (I hope)
The venom of their viperous tongues shall stop;
And, with the splendor of mine actions bright,
Disperse the Mists of Malice and Despight.
Behold, my Lord, (Trueth needeth no excuse)
What better witnesse can my soule produce
[Page 530]Of faithfull Loue, and Loyall Vassalage,
To thee, my Liege, than this most certain gage:
When I cut-off this lappet from thy Coat,
Could I not then as well haue cut thy throat?
But rather (Soveraign) thorow all my veins
Shall burning Gangrens (spreading deadly pains)
Benum my hand, then it shall lift a sword
Against my Liege, th' anointed of the Lord;
Or violate with any insolence,
Gods sacred Image, in my Soveraign Prince.
And yet (O King) thy wrath pursews me still;
Like silly-Kid, I hop from hill to hill;
Like hated Wolues I and my Souldiers starue:
But, iudge thy self, if I thy wrath deserue.
No (my Sonne Dauid) I haue don thee wrong:
Good God requight thy good: there doth belong
A great Reward vnto so gratious deed.
Ah, well I see it is aboue decreed
That thou shalt sit vpon my Seat supream,
And on thy head shalt wear my Diadem:
Then, ô thou sacred and most noble Head,
Remember Mee, and mine (when I am dead)
Be gratious to my Blood, and raze not fell
My Name and Issue out of Israel.
Thus sayd the King; and tears out-went his words:
A pale despair his heavy hart still-girds:
His feeble spirit praesaging his Miss-fortune,
Doth every-kinde of Oracles importune;
Suspicious, seeks how Clotho's Clew doth swell;
And, cast of Heav'n, wil needs consult with Hell.
In Endor dwelt a Beldam in those dayes;
The Woman Witch of Endor.
Deep-skild in Charms (for, this weak sex always▪
Hath in all Times ben taxt for Magik Tricks,
As pronest Agents, for the Prince of Styx:
Whether, because their soft, moist, supple brain,
Doth easie print of every seal retain:
Or, whether wanting Force and Fames desert,
Those Wyzards ween to winn it by Black-Art.)
[Page 531]This Stygian scum, the Furies fury fell,
This Shop of Poysons, hideous Type of Hell,
This sad Erinnys, Milcom's Fauourite,
Chamosh his Ioye, and Belzebubs delight,
Delights alonely for her exercise
In secret Murders, soudain Tragoedies;
Her drink, the blood of Babes; her dainty Feast
Mens Marrow, Brains, Guts, Livers (late deceast).
At Weddings aye (for Lamps) she lights debates;
And quiet Loue much more then Death she hates:
Or if she reak of Love, 'tis but to trap
Som severe Cato in incestuous Lap:
Somtimes (they say) she dims the Heav'nly Lamps,
She haunts the Graues, she talks with Ghosts, she stamps
And Cals-vp Spirits, and with a wink controules
Th' infernal Tyrant, and the tortur'd Soules.
Arts admiration, Izraels Ornament,
That (as a Queen) Command'st each Element,
And from the Toomb deceased Trunks canst raise,
(Th' vnfaithfull King thus flatters her with prayse)
On steepest Mountains stop the swiftest Currents,
From driest Rocks draw rapid-rowling Torrents,
And fitly hasten Amphitrites Flood,
Or stay her Eb (as to thy self seems good):
Turn day to night: hold Windes within thy hand,
Make the Sphears moue, and the Sun still to stand:
Enforce the Moon so with thy Charms som-times,
That for a stound in a deep Swoun she seems:
O thou al-knowing Spirit! daign with thy spell
To raise-vp heer renowned Samuel,
To satisfie my doubtfull soule, in sum,
The issue of my Fortunes yet to com.
Importun'd twice or thrice, she, that before
Resembled one of those grim Ghosts (of yore)
Which she was was wont with her vn-holsom breath
To re-bring-back from the black gates of death,
Growes now more gastly, and more Ghost-like grim,
Right like to Satan in his Rage-full Trim.
[Page 532]The place about darker then Night she darkes,
Shee yelles, she roars, she houles, she brayes, she barkes,
And, in vn-heard, horrid, Barbarian tearms,
She mutters strange and execrable Charmes;
Of whose Hell-raking, Nature-shaking Spell,
These odious words could scarce be hearkned well:
Eternall Shades, infernall Dëities,
Death, Horrors, Terrors, Silence, Obsequies,
Demons, dispatch: If this dim stinking Taper
Be of mine owne Sons fat; if heer, for paper,
I write (detested) on the tender skins
Of time-les Infants, and abortiue Twins
(Torn from the wombe) these Figures figure-les:
If this black Sprinkle, tuft with Virgins tress,
Dipt, at your Altar, in my kinsmans blood;
If well I smell of humane flesh (my food):
Haste, haste, you Fiends, you subterranean Pow'rs:
If impiously (as fits these Rites of yours)
I haue invok't your grizly Maiesties,
Harken (O Furies) to my Blasphemies,
Regard my Charms and mine inchanting Spell,
Reward my Sins, and send vp Samuel
From dismall darknes of your deep Abysse,
To answer me in what my pleasure is:
Dispatch, I say, (black Princes) quick, why when?
Haue I not Art, for one, to send you ten?
When? stubborn Ghost! The Palfraies of the Sun
Doo fear my Spells; and, when I spur, they run:
The Planets bow, the Plants giue ear to me,
The Forrests stoop, and even the strongest Tree,
At driery sound of my sad whisperings,
Doth Prophecie, fore telling future things:
Yea (maugre Ioue) by mine almighty Charms,
Through Heav'n I thunder with imperious Arms:
And comst not thou? O, so: I see the Sage,
I see th' ascent of som great man: his age,
His sacred habite, and sweet-graue aspect
Som God-like raies about him round reflect:
[Page 533]Hee's ready now to speak, and plyant too
To cleer thy doubtings, without more a doo.
Saul flat adores; and wickedly-devout,
The fained- Prophets least word leaues not out.
What dost thou Saul? ô Izraels Soveraign,
Against those that resort to Witches.
Witches, of late, feard only thy disdain:
Now th' are thy stay. O wretch doost thou not knowe
One cannot vse th' ayde of the Powers belowe
Without som Pact of Counter-Seruices,
By Prayers, Perfumes, Homage, and Sacrifice?
And that this Art (meer Diabolicall)
It hurteth all, but th' Author most of all?
And also, that the impious Atheïst,
The Infidel, and damned Exorcist,
Differ not much. Th' one, Godhead quight denies:
Th' other, for God, foul Satan magnifies:
Th' other, Satan (by Inchantment strange)
Into an Angell of the Light doth change.
When as God would, his voyce thou wouldst not hear,
Now he forbids thee, thou consult'st els-where:
Whom (living Prophet) thou neglect'st, abhorr'st,
Him (dead) thou seek'st, and his dead Trunk ador'st:
And yet, not him, nor his; forth' ougly Fiend
Hath no such power vpon a Saint t' extend,
Against th' illu­sion of Sathan false Apparitiōs and Walking Spirit [...].
Who fears no force of the blasphemous Charms
Of mumbling Beldams, or Hels damned Arms:
From all the Poysons that those powers contriue,
Charm-charming Faith's a full Preservatiue.
In Soule and Body both, He cannot come;
For, they re-ioyne not till the day of doom:
His Soule alone cannot appeer; for why,
Soules are invisible to mortall eye:
His Body only, neither can it be;
For (dust to dust) that soon corrupts (we see).
Besides all this, if 'twere true Samuel,
Should not (alas) thine eye-sight serue as well
To see and knowe him, as this Sorceresse,
This hatefull Hag, this old Enchanteresse,
[Page 534]This Divell incarnate, whose drad Spell commands
The rebell-Fury of th' Infernall Bands?
Hath Lucifer not Art enough to fain
A Body fitting for his turn and train?
And (as the rigor of long Cold congeals
Simile.
To harsh hard Wooll the running Water-Rils)
Cannot he thicken thinnest parts of Air,
Commixing Vapours? glew-them? hue them fair?
Simile.
Even as the Rain-Bowe, by the Suns reflection
Is painted fair in manifold complection:
A Body, which we see all-ready formd,
But yet perceiue not how it is performd:
A Body, perfect in apparant showe;
But in effect and substance nothing so:
A Body, hart-les, lung-les, tongue-les too,
Where Satan lurks, not to giue life ther-to,
But to the end that from this Counter-mure,
More covertly he may discharge more sure
A hundred dangerous Engins, which he darts
Against the Bulwarks of the bravest harts:
That, in the Sugar (even) of sacred Writ,
He may em-pill vs with som Banefull bit:
And, that his counterfait and fained lips,
Laying before vs all our hainous slips,
And Gods drad Iudgements and iust Indignation,
May vnder-mine our surest Faiths Foundation.
But, let vs hear now what he saith. O Saul,
What frantick fury art thou moov'd with-all,
To now re-knit my broken thred of life?
To interrupt my rest? And 'mid the strife
Of struggling Mortals, in the Worlds affairs
(By power-full Charms) to re-entoyl my Cares?
Inquir'st thou what's to-come? O wretched Prince!
Too much, too-soon (what I fore-told long since):
Death's at thy door: to morrow Thou and Thine
Even all shal fall before the Philistine:
And great-good Dauid shal possesse thy Throne,
As God hath sayd, tō be gain-sayd by none.
Th' Author of Lies (against his guise) tels true:
How Sathan comes to tell things to-come.
Not that at-once he Selfly all fore-knew,
Or had revolv'd the Leaues of destiny
(The Childe alonly of Eternity):
But rather through his busie observation
Of circumstance, and often iteration
Of reading of our Fortunes and our Fals,
In the close Book of clear Coniecturals,
With a far-seeing Spirit; hits often right:
Not much vnlike a skilfull Galenite,
Who (when the Crisis comes) dares even foretell
Whether the Patient shall doo ill or well:
Or, as the Star-wise somtimes calculates
(By an Eclipse) the death of Potentates;
And (by the stern aspects of greatest Stars)
Prognosticates of Famine, Plague, and Wars.
As he foretold (in brief) so fell it out:
Saules death.
Braue Ionathan and his Two Brethren stout
Are slain in Fight; and Saul himself forlorn,
Lest (Captiue) he be made the Pagans scorn,
He kils him-Self; and, of his Fortune froward
To seem not conquer'd, shewes him Self a Coward.
For, 'tis not Courage (whatsoe'r men say)
Against Self­killing.
But Cowardize, to make ones Self away.
'Tis even to turn our back at Fears alarms:
'Tis (basely-faint) to yeeld vp all our Arms.
O extream Rage! O barbarous Cruelty [...]
All at one Blowe, t' offend Gods Maiesty,
The State, the Magistrate, Thy Self (in fine):
Th' one, in destroying the deer work divine
Of his almighty Hands; the next, in reaving
Thy needfull Service, it should be receiuing;
The third, in rash vsurping his Commission▪
And last, Thy Self, in thine owne Selfs-Perdition,
When (by two Deaths) one voluntary Wound
Doth both thy body and thy soule confound.
But Isbosheth (his deer Son) yet retains
His Place a space: and Dauid only Raigns
[Page 536]In happy Iuda. Yet, yerlong (discreet)
He makes th' whole Kingdoms wracked ribs to meet:
And so He rules on th' holy Mount (a mirror)
His Peoples Ioy, the Pagans only Terror.
If ever, standing on the sandy shoar,
Comparison.
Y' haue thought to count the rowling waues that roar
Each after other on the British Coast,
When Aeolus sends forth his Northern Poast;
Waue vpon Waue, Surge vpon Surge doth fold,
Sea swallowes Sea, so thickly-quickly roul'd,
That (number-les) their number so doth mount,
That it confounds th' Accompter and th' Accompt:
So Dauid's Vertues when I think to number,
Their multitude doth all my Wits incumber;
That Ocean swallowes me: and mazed so,
In the vast Forest where his Prayses growe,
I knowe not what high Fir, Oak, Chest-nut-Tree,
(Rather) what Brasil, Cedar, Ebonie,
My Muse may chuse ( Amphion-like) to build
With curious touch of Fingers Quauer-skild
(Durst she presume to take so much vpon-her)
A Temple sacred vnto Dauids honour.
Others shall sing his mindes true Constancie,
Epitome of Dauids Vertues.
In oftlong exiles try'd so thorowly:
His Life compos'd after the life and likenes
Of sacred Patterns: his milde gracious meeknes
Towards railing Shime [...], and the
N [...]b [...].
Churlish Gull:
His louely Eyes and Face so bewtifull.
Som other shall his Equity record,
And how the edge of his impartiall sword
Is euer ready for the Reprobate,
To hewe them down; and help the Desolate:
How He, no Law, but Gods drad Law enacts:
How Hee respects not persons, but their Facts:
How braue a Triumph of Selfs-wrath he showes,
Killing the Killers of his deadly Foes.
Som other shall vnto th' Empyreall Pole
The holy fervor of his Zeal extoll:
[Page 537]How for the wandring Ark he doth prouide
A certain place for euer to abide:
And how for euer euery his designe
Is ordered all by th' Oracle Diuine.
Vpon the wings of mine (els-tasked) Rime,
Through the cleer Welkin of our Western Clime,
I'll only bear his Musike and his Mars
(His holy Songs, and his triumphant Wars):
Lothere the sacred mark wherat I aim;
And yet this Theam I shall but mince and maim,
So many Yarnes I still am fain to strike
Into this Web of mine intended WEEK.
The Twelue stout Labours of th' Amphitryonide
Of his valour and victories.
(Strongest of Men) are iustly magnifi'd:
Yet, what were They but a rude Massacre
Of Birds and Beasts, and Monsters here and there?
Not Hoasts of Men and Armies ouer throw'n;
But idle Conquests; Combats One to One:
Where boist'rous Limbs, and Sinnews strongly kni [...],
Did much auaile with little ayde of Wit.
Bears, Lions, Giants, foild in single fight,
Are but th' Essayes of our redoubted Knight:
Vnder his Armes sick Aram deadly droops:
Vnto his power the strength of Edom stoops:
Stout Amalek euen trembles at his name:
Prowd Ammons skorn he doth return with shame:
Subdueth Soba: foyls the Moabite:
Wholly extirps the down-trod Iebusite:
And (still victorious) euery month almost
Combats and Conquers the Philistian Hoast.
So that, Alcides massie Club scarce raught
So many Blowes, as Dauid Battails fought.
Th' expert Great
Pompey.
Captain, who the Pontiks quaild,
Wun in strange Wars; in ciuill Fights he faild:
But, Dauid thriues in all: and fortunate,
Triumphs no lesse of Sauls intestine hate,
Of Isbosheth's and Absalo [...]'s designes,
Then of strong Aram, and stout Philistines.
[Page 538]Good-Fortune alwayes blowes not in the Poop
Of valiant Caesar, she defeats his Troop,
Slayes his Lieutenants; and (among his Friends)
Stabb'd full of Wounds, at length his Life she ends:
But Dauid alwayes feels Heav'ns gratious hand;
Whether in person He himself command
His royall Hoast: or whether (in his sted)
By valiant Ioab his braue Troops be led:
And Happinesse, closing his aged eye,
Even to his Toomb consorts him constantly.
Fair Victory, with Him (even from the first)
Did pitch her Tent: his Infancy she nurst
With noble Hopes, his stronger years she fed
With stately Tropheis, and his hoary head
She Crowns and Comforts with (her cheerful Balms)
Triumphant Laurels and victorious Palmes.
The Mountains stoop to make Him easieway;
And Euphrates, before Him, dryesaway;
To Him great Iordan a small leap doth seem;
Without assault, strong Cities yeeld to Him:
Th' Engine alone of His far-feard Renown
Beats (Thunder-like) Gates, Bars, & Bulwarks down:
Gads goodly Vales, in a gore Pond he drenches;
Philistian Fiers, with their owne Blood he quenches;
And then, in Gob (pursewing still his Foes)
His wrath's iust Tempest on fell Giants throwes.
O strong, great, Worthies (will sōm one-day lay,
When your huge Bones they plough-vp in the Clay)
But, stronger, greater, and more WORTHIE He,
Whose Heav'n-lent Force and Fortune made you be
(Maugre your might, your masly Spears and Shields)
The fatt'ning dung-hill of those fruitfull Fields.
His Enimies, scarcely so soon he threats
As overthrowes, and vtterly defeats.
On Dauids head, God doth not spin good-hap;
But pours it down abundant in his Lap:
And He (good Subiect) with his Kingdom, ever
T' increase th' Immortall Kingdom doth indevour.
[Page 539]His swelling Standards never stir abroad,
Till he haue Cald vpon th' Almighty God:
He never Conquers but (in heav'nly Songs)
He yeelds the Honor where it right belongs:
And evermore th' Eternals sacred Prayse
(With Harp and Voice) to the bright Stars doth raise.
Scarce was he born, when in his Cradle prest
His Pöesi [...].
The Nightingale to build her tender nest:
The Bee within his sacred mouth seeks room
To arch the Chambers of her Hony-comb:
And th' Heav'nly Muse, vnder his roof descending
(As in the Summer, with a train down-bending,
We see som Meteor, winged brightly-fair
With twinkling rayes, glide through the crystal Aier,
And soudainly, after long-feeming Flight,
To seem amid the new-shav'n Fields to light)
Him softly in her Iuory arms she folds,
His smiling Face she smylingly beholds,
She kisses him, and with her Nectar kisses
Into his Soule she breathes a Heav'n of Blisses:
Then layes him in her lap, and while she brings
Her Babe a-sleep, this Lullabie she sings.
Liue, liue (sweet Babe) the Miracle of Mine,
VRANIA's Lullaby.
Liue euer Saint, and growe thou all Divine:
With this Celestiall Winde, where-with I fill
Thy blessed Boosom, all the World ful-fill:
May thy sweet Voice, in Peace, resound as far
And speed as fair as thy drad Arm in War:
Bottom nor bank, thy Fames-Sea never bound:
With double Laurels be thy Temples Crownd.
See (Heav'n-sprung Spirit) see how th' allured North,
Of thy Childs-Cry (shril-sweetly warbling forth)
Al-ready tastes the learned, dainty pleasures.
See, see (yong Father of all sacred Measures)
See how, to hear thy sweet harmonious sound,
About thy Cradle here are thronging (round)
Woods, but with ears: floods, but their fury stopping:
Tigres, but tame: Mountains, but alwayes hopping:
[Page 540]See how the Heav'ns, rapt with so sweet a tongue,
To list to thine, leaue their owne Dance and Song.
O Idiot's shame, and Envy of the Learned!
O Verse right-worthy to be ay eterned!
O richest Arras, artificial wrought
With liueliest Colours of Conceipt-full Thought!
O royal Garden of the rarest Flowers
Sprung from an Aprill of spiritual Showers!
O Miracle! whose star-bright beaming Head
When I behold, even mine owne Crown I dread.
Never els-where did plentious Eloquence,
Excellencie of the Psalmes of Dauid.
In every part with such magnificence
Set-forth her Beauties, in so sundry Fashions
Of Robes and Iewels (suting sundry Passions)
As in thy Songs: Now, like a Queen (for Cost)
In swelling Tissues, rarely-rich imbost
With Pretious Stones: neat, Citty-like, anon,
Fine Cloth, or Silke, or Chamlet puts she on:
Anon, more like som handsom Shepheardesse,
In courser Cloaths she doth her cleanly dresse:
What e're she wear, Wooll, Silk, or Gold, or Gems,
Or Course or Fine; still like her Self she seems;
Fair, Modest, Cheerfull, fitting time and place,
Illustring all even with a Heav'n-like grace.
Like prowd lowd Tigris (ever swiftly roul'd)
Now, through the Plains thou powr'st a Flood of gold:
Now, like thy Iordan, (or Meander-like)
Round-wyndingnimbly with a many-Creek,
Thou runn'st to meet thy Self's pure streams behind thee,
Mazing the Meads where thou dost turn and winde-thee.
Anon, like Cedron, through a straighter Quill,
Thou strainest out a little Brook or Rill;
But yet, so sweet, that it shall ever be
Th' immortall Nectar to Posterity:
So cleer, that Poésie (whose pleasure is
To bathe in Seas of Heav'nly Mysteries)
Her chastest feathers in the same shal dip,
And deaw with-all her choicest wormanship:
[Page 541]And so deuout, that with no other Water
Deuoutest Soules shal quench their Thirst heer-after.
Of sacred Bards Thou art the double Mount:
Of faith-full Spirits th' Interpreter profound:
Of contrite Harts the cleer Anatomy:
Of euery Sore the Shop for Remedy:
Zeal's Tinder-box: a Learned Table, giving
To spirituall eyes, not painted Christ, but living.
O divine Volume, Sion's cleer deer Voice,
Saints rich Exchecker, full of comforts choice:
O, sooner shal sad Boreas take his e wing
At Nilus head, and boist'rous Aust r spring
From th' icie floods of Izeland, than thy Fame
Shall be forgot, or Honour fail thy Name:
Thou shalt surviue through-out all Generations,
And (plyant) learn the Language of all Nations:
Nought but Thine Aiers through Air & Seas shall sound,
In high-built Temples shall thy Songs resound,
Thy sacred Verse shall cleer Gods clowdy face,
And, in thy steps the noblest Wits shall trace.
Grose Vulgar, hence; with hands profanely-vile,
So holy things presume not to defile,
Touch not these sacred stops, these silver strings:
This Kingly Harp is only meet for Kings.
And so behold, towards the farthest North,
Ah see, I see vpon the banks of FORTH
(Whose force-full stream runs smoothly serpenting)
A valiant, learned, and religious King,
Whose sacred Art retuneth excellent
This rarely-sweet, celestiall Instrument:
And Dauid's Truchman, rightly doth refound
(At the Worlds end) his eloquence renown'd.
Dombertans Clyde stands still to hear his voyce.
Stone-rowling Tay seems the rat to reioyce:
The trembling Cyclads, in great Loumond-Lake,
After his sound their lusty gambols shake:
The (Trees-brood) Bar-geese, mid th' Hebridian wave,
Vnto his Tune their far-flow'n wings doo wave:
[Page 542]And I my Self in my pyde
A kinde of light mantle made of a thin checkerd Cloth, worne by the Hilmen in Scot­land: and now much vsed with vs for Saddle­clothes.
Pleid a-slope,
With Tune-skild foot after his Harp doo hop.
Thus, full of God, th' Heav'n- Sirene (Prophet-wise)
Powres-forth a Torrent of mel-Melodies,
In DAVIDS praise. But DAVIDS foule defect
Was yet vn-seen, vncensur'd, vn-suspect:
Oft in fair Flowers the bane-full Serpent sleeps:
Somtimes (we see) the bravest Courser trips:
And som-times Dauid's Deaf vnto the Word
Of the Worlds Ruler, th' everlasting Lord;
His Songs sweet fervor slakes, his Soules pure Fire
Is dampt and dimm'd with smoak of foul desire:
His Harp is layd a-side, he leaves his Layes,
And after his fair Neighbors Wife he neighs.
Bersabé hathing.
Fair Bersabé's his Flame, even Bersabé,
In whose Chaste bosom (to that very day)
Honor and Loue had happy dwelt together,
In quiet life, without offence of either:
But, her proud Bewty now, and her Eyes force,
Began to draw the Bill of their Diuorce:
Honor giues place to Loue: and by degrees
Fear from her hart, Shame from her forehead flies.
The Presence-Chamber, the High street, the Temple,
These Theaters are not sufficient ample
To shew her Bewties, if but Silke them hide:
Shee must haue windowes each-where open wide
About her Garden-Baths, the while therin
She basks and bathes her smooth Snow-whiter skin;
And one-while set in a black Iet-like Chair,
Perfumes, and combes, and curls her golden hair;
Another-while vnder the Crystall brinks,
Her Alabastrine well-shap't Limbs she shrinks
(Like to a Lilly sunk into a glasse:
Like soft loose Venus (as they paint the Lasse)
Born in the Seas, when with her eyes sweet-flames,
Tonnies and Tritons she at-once inflames:
Or like an Iuory Image of a Grace,
Neatly inclos'd in a thin Crystall Case):
[Page 543]Another-while, vnto the bottom diues,
And want only with th' vnder-Fishes striues:
For, in the bottom of this liquid Ice,
Made of Musaïck work, with quaint device
The cunning workman had contrived trim
Carpes, Pikes; and Dolphins seeming even to swim.
Dauid gazing.
Ishai's great son, too-idlely, walking hie
Vpon a Tarras, this bright star doth spy:
And sudden dazled with the splendor bright,
Fares like a Prisoner, who new brought to light
Simile.
From a Cimmerian, dark, deep dungeon,
Feels his sight smitten with a radiant Sun.
But too-too-soon re-cleer'd, he sees (alas)
Th' admired Tracts of a bewitching Face.
Her sparkling Eye is like the Morning Star,
Her lips two snips of crimsin Sattin are,
Her Teeth as white as burnisht Silver seem
(Or Orient Pearls, the rarest in esteem):
Her Cheeks and Chin, and all her flesh like Snowes
Sweet intermixed with Vermillion Rose,
And all her sundry Treasures selfly swel,
Prowd, so to see their naked selues excel.
What living Rance, what rapting Iuory
Swims in these streams? O what new Victory
Triumphs of all my TROPHEIS? O cleer Therms,
If so your Waues be cold; what is it warms,
Nay, burns my hart? If hot I (pray) whence comes
This shivering winter that my soule benums,
Freezes my Senses, and dis-selfs me so
With drousie Poppy, not my self to knowe?
O peer-les Bewty, meerly Bewtifull;
(Vnknow'n) to me th'art most vn-mercifull:
Alas! I dy, I dy, (O dismall lot)
Both for I see thee, and I see thee not,
But a-far-off, and vnder water too:
O feeble Power, and O (what shall I doo?)
Weak Kingly-State! sith that a silly Woman
Stooping my Crown, can my soul's Homage summon.
[Page 544]But, ô Imperiall power! Imperiall State!
Could (happy) I giue Bewties Check the Mate.
Thus spake the King, and like as parkle small
Simile.
That by mischance doth into powder fall,
Hee's alla-fire; and pensiue, studies nought,
But how t' accomplish his lasciuious thought:
Which soon he compast: sinks himself therin;
Forgetteth Dauid; addeth Sin to Sin:
Simile.
And lustfull, playes like a yong lusty Rider
(A wilfull Gallant, not a skilfull guider)
Who, proud of his Horse pride, still puts him to't:
With wand and spur, layes on (with hand and foot)
The too-free Beast; which, but too-fast before
Ran to his Ruine, stumbling evermore
At every stone, till at the last he break
Against som Rock his and his Riders neck.
For, fearing, not Adulteries fact, but fame:
A iealous Husbands Fury for the same:
And, lessening of a Pleasure shar'd to twain:
He (treach'rous) makes her valiant Spouse be slain.
The Lord is moov'd: and iust, begins to stretch
His Wraths keen dart at this disloyal wretch▪
When Nathan (then bright Brand of Zeal and Faith)
Comes to the King, and modest-boldly sayth.
Vouchsafe my Liege (that our Chief Iustice art)
The Prophet Nothan's Pa­rable, reprouing Dauid.
To list a-while to a most hainous part;
First to the fault giue ear, then giue Consent
To giue the Faulty his due Punishment.
Of late, a Subiect of thine owne, whose flocks
Powl'd all Mount Liban's pleasant plentious locks;
And to whose Heards could hardly full suffice
The flowry Verge that longst all Iordan lies;
Making a Feast vnto a stranger-Guest,
None of his owne abundant Fatlings drest;
But (privy Thief) from a poor Neighbour by
(His Faithfull Friend) Hee takes feloniously
A goodly Lamb; although he had no more
But even that one; wherby he set such store,
[Page 545]That every day of his owne hand it fed,
And every night it coucht vpon his Bed,
Supt of his Cup, his pleasant morsels pickt,
And even the moisture from his lips it lickt.
Nay, more my Lord. No more (replies the King,
Deeply incenst) 'Tis more than time this thing
Were seen into, and so outrageous Crimes,
So insolent, had need be curbd be times:
What-ever Wretch hath done this Villany
Shall Die the Death; and not alonely Die,
But let the horror of so foul a Fact
A more then common punishment exact.
O painted Toomb (then answerd sacred Nathan)
That hast God in thy Mouth, in thy Minde Sathan,
Thou blam'st in other thine owne Fault denounç't,
And vn-awares hast gainst thy self pronounç't
Sentence of Death. O King, no King (as than)
Of thy desires: Thou art the very man:
Yea, Thou art hee, that with a wanton Theft
Hast iust Vriah's only Lamb bereft:
And him, ô horror! (Sin with Sin is further'd)
Him with the sword of Ammon hast Thou murther'd.
Bright Beauties Eye, like to a glorious Sun,
Hurts the sore eye that looks too-much ther-on:
Thy want on Eye, gazing vpon that Eye,
Hath given an Entrance too-too-foolishly
Vnto that Dwarf, that Divel (is it not?)
Which out of Sloath, within vs is begot:
Who entring first but Guest-wise in a room,
Doth shortly Master of the house become:
And makes a Saint (a sweet, myld-minded Man)
That 'gainst his Life's Fo would not lift his hand,
To plot the death of his deer faith-full Friend,
That for his Loue a thousand liues would spend.
Ah! shak'st thou not? is not thy Soule in trouble
(O brittle dust, vain shadow, empty bubble!)
At Gods drad wrath, which quick doth calcinize
The marble Mountains and the Ocean dries?
[Page 546]No, thou shalt knowe the waight of Gods right hand;
Thou, for example t'other Kings shalt stand.
Death, speedy Death, of that adulterous Fruit,
Which even al-ready makes his Mother rue't,
Shall vex thy soule, and make thee feel (in deed)
Forbidden Pleasure doth Repenrance breed.
Ah shame-les beast▪ Sith thy brute Lust (forlorn)
Hath not the Wife of thy best Friend forborn,
Thy Sons (dis-natur'd) shall defile thy bed
Incestuously; thy fair Wiues (rauished)
Shall doublely thy lust-full seed receaue:
Thy Concubines (which thou behinde shalt leaue)
The wanton Rapes of thine owne Race shal be:
It shall befall that in thy Family,
With an vn-kins-mans kisse (vn-louing Lover)
The Brother shal his Sisters shame discouer:
Thou shalt be both Father and Father-in-law
To thine owne Blood. Thy Children (past all aw
Of God or Man) shall by their insolence
Eyen iustifie thy bloody foul offence.
Thou sinn'dst in secret: but Sol's blushing Eye
Shall be eye-witnesse of their villany:
All Izrael shall see the same: and then,
The Heav'n-sunk Cities in Asphaltis Fen,
Out of the stinking Lake their heads shall showe,
Glad, by thy Sons, to be out-sinned so.
Thou, thou (inhumane) didst the Death conspire
Of good Uriah (worthy better Hire):
Thou cruell didst it: therfore, Homicide,
Cowardly treason, cursed Paricide,
Vn-kinde Rebellion, ever shall remain
Thy house-hold Guests, thy House with blood to stain.
Thine owne against thine owne shal thril their darts:
Thy Son from thee shal steal thy peoples harts:
Against thy Self he shal thy Subiects arm,
And giue thine age many a fierce Alarm:
Till hanged by the hair 'twixt Earth and sky,
(His Gallow's pride, shame of the Worlds bright Eye)
[Page 547]Thine owne Lieutenant, at a crimsin spout,
His guilty Soule shall with his Lance let-out.
And (if I fail not) O what Tempest fel
Beats on the Head of harm-les Izrael!
Alas! how many a guilt-les Abramide
Diesin Three dayes, through thy too-curious Pride?
The Plague of Pestilence.
In hate of thee, th' Air (thick and sloathful) breeds
No [...]lowe Disease; both yong and old itspeeds;
All are indifferent: For through all the Land
It spreads, almost in turning of a hand:
To the so-sick, hard seems the softest plumes;
Flames from his eys, from's mouth come Iakes-like fumes:
His head, his neck; his bulk, his legs doth tire;
Outward, all water; inward, all a-fire:
With a deep Cough his spungy Lungs he wastes,
Black Blood and Choler both at-once he casts:
His voices passage is with Biles be-layd,
His Soul's Interpreter, rough, foul, and flayd:
Thought of the Grief it's rigor oft augments:
'Twixt Hope and fear it hath no long suspence:
With the Disease Death ioyntly traverseth:
Th' Infections stroak is even the stroak of Death.
Art yeelds to th' anguish, Reason stoops to rage:
Physicians skill, himself doth ill engage.
The streets too still; the Town all out of Town:
All Dead, or Fled: vnto the halowed ground
The howling Widow (though she lov'd him deer)
Yet dares not follow her dead husbands Beer.
Each mourns his Losse, each his owne Case complains,
Pel-mel the liuing with the dead remains.
As a good-natur'd and wel-nurtur'd Chyld,
[...]mile.
Found in a fault (by's Master sharply myld)
Blushing and bleaking, betwixtshame and fear,
With down-cast eyes laden with many a tear,
More with sad gesture, than with words, doth craue
An humble Pardon, of his Censor graue:
So Dauid, hearing th' holy Prophets Threat,
Dauids Repen­tance.
He apprehends Gods Iudgements dradly-great,
[Page 548]And (thrill'd with fear) flies for his sole defence
To pearly Tears, Mournings and sad Laments:
Off-goes his Gold; his Glory treads he down,
His Sword, his Scepter, and his pretious Crown:
He fasts, he prayes, he weeps, he grieues, he grones,
His hamous Sins he bitterly be-mones:
And, in a Cauehard-by; he roareth out
A sigh-full Song, so dolefully devout,
That even the Stone doth groan, and pearç't withall,
Lets it's salt tears with his sad tears to fall.
Ay-gracious Lord (thus Sings he night and day)
Psal. 51.
Wash, wash, my Soule in thy deep Mercies sea:
O Mercy, Mercy Lord, alowd he Cries;
(And Mercy, Mercy, still the Rock replyes).
Application to France.
O God, my God, sith for our grievous Sin,
(Which will-full we so long haue weltred in)
Thou powr'st the Torrents of thy Vengeance down
On th' azure Field with Golden Lillies sow'n:
Sith every moment thy iust Angerdrad
Roars, thunders, lightens on our guilty head:
Sith Famine, Plague, and War (with bloody hand)
Doo all at once make havock of this Land:
Make vs make vse of all these Rods aright;
That we may quench with our Tears-water quight
Thine Ire-full Fier: our former Vices spurn:
And, true-reform'd, Iustice to Mercy turn.
And so, O Father, (fountain of all Good,
The like to Eng­land, now for many yeares together grie­uously afflicted with the Plague.
Ocean of Iustice, Mercie's bound-les Flood)
Since, for Our Sins, exceeding all the rest,
As most ingrate-ful, though most rarely blest
(After so long Long-Sufferance of Thine:
So-many Warnings of thy Word diuine:
So-many Threatnings of thy dread-full Hand:
So-many Dangers seap't by Sea and Land:
So-many Blessings in so good a King:
So-many Blossoms of that fruit-ful Spring:
So-many Foes abroad; and False at home:
So-many Reskue [...] from the rage of Rome:
[Page 549]So-many Shields against so many Shot:
So-many Mercies in that Powder-Plot
(So light regarded and so soon forgot).
Since, for Our Sins, so many and so great,
So little mov'd with Promise or with Threat,
Thou, now at last (as a iust ielouze God)
Strik'st vs thy Self with thine immediate Rod,
Thy Rod of PESTILENCE: whose rage-full smart,
With deadly pangs pearcing the strongest▪hart,
Tokens of Terror leaues vs where it lights:
And so infects (or so at least affrights)
That Neighbour Neighbour, Brother Brother shuns;
The tendrest Mother dares not see her Sons;
The neerest Friend his deerest Friend doth flye;
Yea, scarce the Wife dares close her Husbands eye.
For, through th' Example of our Vicious life,
As Sin breeds Sin; and Husband marr's the Wife,
Simile.
Sister prowdes Sister, Brother hardens Brother,
Andone Companion doth corrupt another:
So, through Contagion of this dire Disease,
It (iustly) doth thy heav'nly Iustice please,
To cause vs thus each other to infect:
Though This we flye, and That too-nigh affect.
Since, for our Sins, which hang so fast vpon-vs;
So dreadfully thy Fury frowneth on-vs;
Sith still thou Strikest, and still Threat'nest more
More grieuous Wounds then we haue felt before:
O gratious Father, giue vs grace (in fine)
To make our Profit of these Rods of thine:
That, true- Converted by thy milde Correction,
We may abandon euery foule Affection:
That Humblenes may flaring Pride dis-plume:
That Temperance may Surfaiting consume:
That Chastity may chase our wanton Lust:
That Diligence may wear-off Slothfull rust:
That Loue may liue, in Wrath and Envies place:
That Bounties hand may Auarice deface:
[Page 550]That Truth may put Lying and Fraud to flight:
That Faith and Zeal may keep thy Sabbaths right:
That Reverence of thy drad Name may banish
Blasphemous Oaths: and all Profanenesse vanish.
Since, for our Sins (aswell in Court as Cottage)
Of all Degrees, all Sexes, Youth and Dotage,
Of Clarks and Clownes; Rich, Poore; and Great and Small,
Thy fear-ful Vengeance, hangeth ouer all;
O Touch vs all with Horror of our Crimes:
O Teach vs all to turn to thee be-times:
O Turn vs (Lord) and we shall turned be:
Giue what thou bidst, and bid what pleaseth thee:
Giue vs REPENTANCE; that thou mayst repent
Our present PLAGVE, and future Punishment.
FINIS.

THE MAGNIFICENCE. THE SECOND BOOK OF the fourth Day of the second Week, of BARTAS.

THE ARGVMENT.
Death-summon'd DAVID, in his sacred Throne
Instals (instructs) his yong Son SALOMON:
His (pleas-God) Choice of WISEDOM, wins him Honor
And Health and Wealth (at-once) to wait vpon her:
His wondrous Doom, quick Babe's Claim to decide:
Mis-Matches taxt, in His with PHARAONIDE:
Their pompous Nuptials: Seav'n Heav'n- Masquers there.
The glorious TEMPLE, Builded richly-rare.
Salem's Renown drawes Saba to his Court:
King IAMES, to His, brings BARTAS, in like sort.
HAppy are You (ô You delicious Wits)
That stint your Studies, as your Fury fits:
That, in long Labours (full of pleasing pain)
Exhaust not wholly all your learned brain:
That, changing Note, now light, and grave anon,
Handle the Theam that first you light vpon:
That, here in Sonnets, there in Epigrams,
Euaporate your sweet Soule-boyling Flames.
But, my deer Honor, and my sacred Vows,
And Heav'ns decree (made in that Higher-House)
Hold me fast fetter'd (like a Gally-slaue)
To this hard Task. No other Care I haue,
Nought else I dream of; neither (night nor day)
Aim at ought else, or look I other-way:
But (alwayes busie) like a Mil-stone seem
Simile.
Still turned round with the same rapid stream.
Thence is 't that oft (maugrè Apollos grace)
I humme so harsh; and in my Works in chase
Lame, crawling Lines, according to the Fire,
Which (more or lesse) the whirling P [...]les inspire:
And also mingle (Linsie-woolsie-wise)
This gold-ground Tissue with too-mean supplies.
You, all the year long, doo not spend your wing:
But, during only your delightfull Spring,
(Like Nightingales) from bush to bush you play,
From Tuneto Tune, from Myrtle spray to spray:
But, I too-bold, and like the Swallow right,
Not finding whereto rest me, at one flight
A bound-les ground-les Sea of Times I passe,
With Auster now, anon with Boreas.
Your quick Career is pleasant, short, and eath;
At each Lands-end you sit you down and breathe
On som green bank; or, to refresh you, finde
Som Rosie-arbour, from the Sun and winde:
But, end-les is my Course: for, now I glyde
On Ice; then (dazled) head-long down I slyde:
Now vp I climbe: then through the Woods I craul,
I stray, I stumble, somtimes down I fall.
And, as base Morter serveth to vnite
Simile.
Red, white, gray Marble, Iasper, Galactite:
So, to con-nex my queint Discourse, somtimes
Imix loose, limping, and ill-polisht Rimes.
Yet wil I not this Work of mine giue o're.
The Labour's great; my Courage yet is more;
My hart's not yet all voyd of sacred heat:
Ther's nothing Glorious but is hard to get▪
[Page 553]Hils were not seen but for the Vales betwixt:
The deep indentings artificiall mixt
Amid Musaïks (for more ornament)
Haue prizes, sizes, and dyes different.
And O, God grant, the greatest spot you spie
In all my Frame, may be but as the Fly,
Which on her Ruff (whiter than whitest snowes)
To whiten white, the fairest Virgin fowes:
(Or like the Veluet on her brow: or, like
The dunker Mole on Venus dainty Cheek:)
And, that a few faults may but lustre bring
To my high furies where I sweetest sing.
DAVID waxt old and cold; and's vitall Lamp,
Lacking it's oyl of Natiue moist, grew damp
(But by degrees); when with a dying voice
(But liuely vigor of Discretion choise)
He thus instructs his yong Son SALOMON,
And (as Heav'n cals) instals him in his Throne.
Whom, with-out Force, Vproar, or Ryualing,
Dauids instruc­tions to his Son Salomon.
Nature, and Law, and Fortune make a King;
Euen He (my Son) must be both Iust and Wise,
If long He look to Rule and Royalize:
But he, whom onely Fortunes Fauours rears
Vnto a Kingdom, by some new-found stairs;
He must appear more than a man; and cast
By rarest Worth to make his Crown sit fast.
My SALOMON, thou know'st thou art my Yongest:
Thou know'st, besides, out of what Bed thou sprungest:
Thou seest what loue all Izrael bears thy Brother:
To honour Thee, what wrong I doo to other;
Yea euen to Nature and our Natiue Law:
'Tis thy part therefore, in all points to draw
To full Perfection; and with rare effect
Of Noblest Vertues hide thy Births defect.
Thou, Izraels King, serue the great King of All,
A king (first of all) ought to bee Religious.
And only on his Conducts pedestall
Found thine Affaires: vpon his Sacred Lore
Thine eyes and minde be fixed euermore:
[Page 554]The barking rage of bold Blasphemers hate:
Thy Soueraign's Manners (Vice-Roy) imitate.
Nor think, the thicknes of thy Palace Wals,
Thine iron Gates, and high gold-seeled Halls,
Can let his Eye to spie (in euery part)
The darkest Closets of thy Mazie Hart.
If birth or Fate (my Son) had made thee Prince
Of Idumeans or of Philistins,
Valorous.
If Pharaoh's Title had be-fall'n to thee,
If the Medes Myter bowed at thy knee,
Wert thou a Sophy; yet with Vertues lustre
Thou oughtst (at least) thy Greatnes to illustre:
But to Command the Seed of Abraham,
The Holy Nation to Controul and tame,
To bear a Iosuahs or a Samsons load,
To be Gods Vice-Roy, needs a Demi-God.
Before old Seruants giue not new the start
Impartial in be­stowing Prefer­ments.
(Kings-Art consists in Action more then Art.)
Old Wine excelleth new: Nor (giddily)
Will a good Husband grub a goodly Tree
In his faire Orchards midst, whose fruitfull store
Hath graç't his Table twenty years and more;
Simile.
To plant a Graft, yer e'r he taste the same,
Saue with the teeth of a (perhaps) false Fame.
These Parasites are euen the Pearls and Rings
(Pearls, said I? Perils) in the eares of Kings:
For O, what Mischief but their Wiles can work?
Impatient of Parasites & Flatterers.
Sith euen within vs (to their aid) doth lurk
A smoother Soother, euen our owne Selfs-loue
(A malady that nothing can remoue)
Which, with these strangers, secretly Combin'd
In League offensiue (to the firmest Minde)
Perswades the Coward, he is Wisely-meek:
The drunkard, Stout: the Periure, Politick:
The cruel Tyrant, a iust Prince they call;
Sober, the Sot; the Lauish, Liberal▪
And, quick-nos'd Beagles, senting right his lore
(Trans-form'd into him) euen his Faults adore.
Fly then those Monsters: and giue no accesse
To banish A­theists and all notoriously wic­ked persons from his presence.
To men infamous for their wickednesse:
Endure no Atheist, brook no Sorcerer
Within thy Court, nor Thief, nor Murderer:
Least the contagion of their banefull breath
Poyson the publike fountain, and to death
Infect Thy manners (more of force then Law)
The spring, whence Subiects good or bad will draw.
To over-Rule his owne Passiōs & Affections.
Rule thine Affects, thy fury, and thy fear:
Hee's no true King, who no self's-sway doth bear:
Not what thou could'st, but what thou shouldst, effect:
And to thy Lawes, first thine owne-self subiect.
For ay the Subiect will (fear set a-side)
Through thick and thin, hauing his King for guide.
To be milde and gratious.
Shew thy Self gracious, affable and meek;
And be not (proud) to those gay godlings like,
But once a year from their gilt Boxes tane,
To impetrate the Heav'ns long wisht-for raine.
To fail his Word, a King doth ill beseem:
To be faithful of his promise.
Who breaks his faith, no faith is held with him,
Deceipt's deceiu'd: Iniustice meets vniust:
Disloy all Prince armes subiects with distrust;
And neighbour States will in their Leagues commend
A Lion, rather then a Foxe, for Friend.
Be prodigall of Vertues iust reward:
To be readier to Reward then Punish.
Of punishments be sparing (with regard).
Arm thou thy brest with rarest Fortitude;
Things Eminent are euer most pursu'd:
On highest Places, most disgraces threat:
The roughest windes on widest gates do beat.
Not to be Quarellous yet quick and coura­gious in a iust Cause.
Toil not the World with Wars ambitious spite:
But, if thine Honour must maintain thy Right,
Then shew thee DAVID's Son; and wisely-bold
Follow't as hot, as thou beginst it cold:
Watch, Work, Deuise, and with vn-weary limb,
Wade thorough Foords, and ouer Chanels swim.
Let tufted Planes for pleasant shades suffice,
His exercises in Warre.
In heat; in Cold, thy Fier be Exercise:
[...] [...]
[Page 556]A Targe thy Table, and a Turf thy Bed:
Let not thy Mouth be ouer-dainty fed;
Let Labour be thy sauce, thy Cask thy Cup;
Whence, for thy Nectar some ditch-water sup:
Let Drums, and Trumpets, and shril Fifes and Flutes
Serue thee for Citterns, Virginals and Lutes:
Trot vp a Hill; Run a whole Feeld for Race;
Leap a large Dike; Tosse a long Pike, a space:
Perfume thy head with dust and sweat: appeer
Captain and Soldier. Soldiers are on fire,
Hauing their King (before them Marching forth)
Fellow in Fortune, witnes of their Worth.
I should inflame thy hart with Learnings loue;
In Peace not to be over-studi­ous: yet, to vn­derstand the Principals of all Prince-fit Sci­ences.
Saue that, I know what diuine habits moue
Thy profound Spirit: only, let th' ornament
Of Letters wayt on th' Art of Regiment:
And take good heed, least as excesse of humor
In Plants, becomes their Flowring Lifes consumer;
So too-much Study, and delight in Arts,
Quench the quick vigour of thy Spiritual parts,
Make thee too-pensiue, ouer-dull thy Senses,
And draw thy Minde from Publike cares of Princes.
With a swift-winged soule, the Course suruay
Of Nights dim Taper and the Torch of Day:
Sound round the Cels of th' Ocean dreadly-deep:
Measure the Mountains snowie tops and steep:
Ferret all Corners of this nether Ball;
But, to admire the Makers Art in all,
His Power and Prudence: and, resemble not
Simile.
Some simple Courtier, or the silly Sot
That in the base-Court all his time hath spent,
In gazing on the goodly Battlement,
The chamfred Pillers, Plinths, and antique Bosses,
Medals, Ascents, Statues, and strange Colosses;
Amaz'd and musing vpon euery piece
Of th' vniforme, fair, stately Frontispice;
Too-too-self-rapt (through too-self-humoring)
Losing him-self, while others finde the King.
Hold euen the Balance, with clean hands, clos'd eyes:
The principal & peculiar office of a King.
Reuenge seuerely Publike Iniuries;
Remit thine Owne, Heare the Cries, see the Tears
Of all distressed poor Petitioners.
Sit (oft) thy Self in Open Audience:
Who would not be a Iudge, should be no Prince.
For, Iustice Scepter and the Martiall Sword
Ought neuer seuer, by the Sacred Word.
Spare not the Great; neither despise the Small:
Let not thy Lawes be like the Spiders Caul,
Simile.
Where little Flyes are caught and kild; but great
Passe at their pleasure, and pull-down the Net.
Away with Shepheards that their Flocks deface:
Chuse Magistrates that may adorn their Place,
Such as fear God, such as will iudge vprightly:
Men by the seruants iudge the Master lightly.
Giue to the Vertuous; but thy Crown-Demain
Diminish not: giue still to giue again:
For there too-deep to dip, is Prodigality;
And to dry-vp the Springs of Liberality.
But aboue all (for Gods sake) Son, beware,
Hic labor, hoc Opus.
Be not intrapt in Womens wylie snare.
I fear, alas (good Lord, supreamly sage,
Auert from Mine th' effect of this Praesage)
Alas! I fear that this sweet Poyson wil
My House here-after with all Idols fil.
But, if that neither Vertu's sacred loue,
Nor Feare of Shame thy wanton Minde can moue
To watch in Arms against the Charms of Those;
At least, be warned by thy Fathers Woes.
Fare-wel my Son: th' Almightie cals me hence:
I passe, by Death, to Lifes most excellence:
And, to go Raign in Heav'n (from World-cares free)
The Crown of Izrael I resigne to thee.
O thou that often (for a Princes Sin)
Transport'st the Scepter, euen from Kin to Kin,
From Land to Land; Let it remaine with Mine:
And, of my Sons Sons (in successiue Ligne)
[Page 558]Let that Al-Power full deer-drad Prince descend,
Whose glorious Kingdom neuer shal haue end;
Whose iron Rod shall Satans Rule vn-doo:
Whom Iacob trusts in; Whom I thirst for too.
' DAVID deceast: His Son (him tracking right)
Initium Regni SALOMON.
With heart and voice worships the God of Might;
Enters his Kingdom by the Gate of Pietie;
Makes Hym [...]s and Psalms in Laud of the true Deïtie;
Offers in Gabeon; where, in Spirit he sees
(While his Sense sleepes) the God of Maiesties,
His Vision.
The Lord of Hoasts; who, Crownd with radiant flames,
Offers him choise of these foure louely Dames.
First, Glory, shaking in her hand a Pike
(Not Maid-like Marching, but braue Souldier-like)
Description of Glory.
Among the Stars her stately head she beares,
A siluer Trumpet shril a slope she wears,
Whose Winde is Praise, and whose Stentorian sound
Doth far and wide o'r all the world redound.
Her wide-side Robes of Tissue passing price,
All Story-wrought with bloody Victories,
Tryumphs and Tropheis, Arches, Crowns and Rings;
And, at her feet, there sigh a thousand Kings.
Not far from her, coms Wealth, all rich-bedight
Of Riches.
In Rhéa's, Thetis, Pluto's Treasures bright:
The glittering stuff which doth about her fold
Is rough with Rubies, stiff with beaten Gold.
With either hand from hollow steans she powrs
Pactolian surges and Argolian showrs.
Fortune, and Thrift, and Wakefulnes and Care,
And Diligence, her dayly Seruants are.
Then cheerfull Health▪ whose brow no wrinkle bears,
Of Health.
Whose cheek no palenesse, in whose eye no tears;
But like a Childe shee's pleasant, quick, and plump,
Shee seems to fly, to skip, to daunce, and iump:
And Life's bright Brand in her white hand doth shine:
Th' Arabian Birds [...]are plumage (platted [...]ine)
Serues her for Su [...]-coat: and her seemly [...]ain,
Mirth, Exercise and Temperance sustain.
Last, Wisedom comes, with sober countenance:
Of Wisedom.
To th' euer-Bowrs her oft a-loft t'aduance,
The light Mamuques wing-les wings she has:
Her gesture cool, as comly-graue her pase:
Where e'r she go, she neuer goes with-out
Compasse and Rule, Measure and Waights about:
And by her side (at a rich Belt of hers)
The Glasse of Nature and her-Self she wears.
Hauing beheld their Bewties bright, the Prince
Seems rapt all-ready euen to Heauen from hence;
Sees a whole Eden round about him shine:
And, 'mid so many Benefits Diuine,
Doubts which to chuse. At length he thus begun:
O Lord (sayth he) what hath thy Seruant don,
That so great Blessings I should take or touch,
Or thou shouldst daign to honour me so much?
Thou doost preuent my Merit: or (deer Father)
Delight'st to Conquer euen my Malice rather.
Fair Victorie's a noble Gift: and nought
Is more desired, or is sweeter thought,
Than euen to quench our Furie's thirst with blood,
In iust Reuenge on those that wrong our Good:
But oft (alas) foul Insolence comes after;
And, the long Custome of in humane Slaughter,
Transforms in time the myldest Conquerors
To Tigers, Panthers, Lions, Bears, and Boars.
Happy seems He, whose count-les Herds for Pasture
Dis-robe (alone) Mount Carmels moatly Vesture:
For whom alone a whole rich Countrey, torn
With timely Tools, brings forth both Wine and Corn:
That hath soft Sereans yellow Spoils, the Gems
And precious stones of the Arabian streams,
The Mines of Ophir, th' Entidorian Fruits,
The Saban Odours, and the Tyrian Sutes.
But yet we see, where Plenty chiefly sways,
There Pride increases, Industry decays:
Rich-men adore their Gold: whoso aspires
To lift to Heav'n his sight and Soules Desires,
[Page 560]He must be Poor (at least-wise like the Poor).
Riches and Fear are fellows euer-more.
I would liue long, and I would gladly see
My Nephews Nephews, and their Progeny:
But the long Cares I fear, and Cumbers rife,
Which commonly accompany Long-Life.
Who well liues, long liues: for, this age of ours
Should not be numbred by yeers, dayes, and howrs:
But by our braue Exploits: and, this Mortality
Is not a moment, to that Immortality.
But, in respect of Lady Wisedomes grace,
(Euen at their best) the rest are all but base.
Honour is but a puffe; Life but a vapour;
Salomons choise.
Wealth but a wish; Health but a sconce of paper:
A glistering Scepter but a Maple twig;
Gold, Drosse; Pearls, Dust, how-euer bright and big.
Shee's Gods owne Mirror, shee's a Light, whose glance
Springs from the Lightning of his Countenance:
Shee's mildest Heav'ns most sacred influence:
Neuer decays her Bewties excellence;
Aye like her-Self: and shee doth alwayes trace
Not only the same path, but the same pase.
Without her, Honour, Health, and Wealth would proue
Three Poisons to me. Wisedom (from aboue)
Is th' only Moderatrix, spring, and guide,
Organ and honour of all Gifts beside.
Her, her I like, her only (Lord) I craue,
Her Company for-euer let me haue:
Let me for-euer from her sacred lip,
Th' Ambrosial Nard, and rosial Nectar sip:
In euery Cause, let me consult with her:
And, when I Iudge, be Shee my Counsailer.
Let, with her Staffe, my yet-Youth gouern wel
In Pastures fair the Flock of Izrael,
A compt-les Flock, a Flock so great (indeed)
As of a Shepherd sent from Heav'n had need.
Lord, giue her me: alas▪ I pine, I die;
Or if I liue, I liue her
Pyrausta.
Flame-bred-Flie:
[Page 561]And (new Farfalla) in her radiant shine,
Too-bold, I burne these tender wings of mine.
Hold, take her to thee, said the Lord: and sith
No Bewty else thy soule enamoreth;
For ready hand-maids to attend vpon her,
I'll giue thee also Health, and Wealth, and Honor;
(For'tis not meet, so High-descended Queen,
So great a Lady, should alone be seen)
The rather, that my Bounty may inuite
Thee, seruing Her, to serue Me day and night.
King SALOMON, awaked, plainly knew
That this Diuine strange Uision neuer grew
From the sweet Temper of his sound Complexion;
But that it was some Peece of more Perfection,
Some sacred Picture admirably draw'n
With Heav'nly pencil, by an Angels hand.
For (happy) He had (without Art) the Arts,
And learning (without learning) in all parts:
A more then humane Knowledge bewtifies
His princely actions: vp to Heav'n he flies,
He dyues to Hell, he sounds the Deeps, he enters
To th' in most Cels of the Worlds lowest Centers.
The secret Riddles of the sacred Writ
His excellent Uisedome and vnderstanding in all things.
Are plain to him: and his deep-pearcing Wit,
Vpon few Words of the Heav'n-prompted stile,
In a few Dayes, large Volumes can compile.
He (learned) sees the Sun's Eclipse, sans terror:
He knowes the Planets neuer erring Error;
And, whether Nature, or some Angel moue
Their Sphears, at once with triple Dance aboue:
Whether the Sun self-shine; his Sister, not:
Whether, Spring, Winter, Autumn, Summer hot,
Be the Suns Sons: what kinde of mounting Vapor
Kindles the Comet and the long-taild Taper:
What boy strous Lungs the roaring Whirlers blow'n:
What burning Wings the Lightning rides vpon:
What Curb the Ocean in his bounds doth keep:
What power Night's-Princesse powrs vpon the Deep.
[Page 562]Whether the Heav'ns sweet-sweating Kisse appear
To be Pearls parent, and the Oyster's pheer;
And whether, dusk, it makes them dim withall;
Cleer, breeds the cleer; and stormy brings the pale.
Whether, from Sea the Amber-greece be sent;
Or be some Fishes pleasant excrement.
He knowes, why th' Earth's immoueable and round,
The lees of Nature, Center of the Mound:
He knowes her measure. And he knowes beside,
How Coloquintida (duely apply'd)
With-in the darknes of the Conduit-Pipes,
Amid the windings of our in-ward Tripes,
Can so discreetly the White humor take;
Rheubarb, the Yellow; Hellebore, the Black:
And, whether That in our weak Bulks be wrought,
By drawing 't to them; or by driuing't out.
In brief, from th' Hysop to the Cedar-Tree,
He knowes the Vertues of all Plants that be.
He knowes the Reason why the Woolfs fell tooth
Giues a Horse swiftnes; and his footing, sloath:
Why thy Sex-changing, fierce Hyena's eye
Puts curstest Curres to silence suddenly:
Why th' irefull Elephant becommeth tame
At the approaching of the fleecie Lamb:
Why th' eye-bold Eagle neuer fears the flash
Or force of Lightning, nor the Thunder-clash:
Why the wilde Fen-Goose (which keeps warm her egs
With her broad feet vnder her heatfull legs,
And, tongue-les, cries) as wing-lym'd, cannot flie,
Except she (glad) Seas brynie glasse descrie.
He knoweth also, whether that our Stone
Be baked Earth, or Exhalation:
Whether the Metals (that we dayly see)
Be made of Sulphur and of Mercurie;
Or, of some Liquor by long Cold condens't,
And by the Heat well purified and cleans'd;
Or, of a certain sharp and cindrous humor:
Or, whether He that made the Wauing Tumor,
[Page 563]The motly Earth; and th' Heav'nly Sphears refin'd,
All-mighty, made them such as now we finde.
He comprehends from whence it is proceeding,
That spotted Iasper-stones can staunch our bleeding:
Saphires, cure eyes: the Topaz to resist
The rage of Lust; of drink the Amethist:
And also, why the clearest Diamant
( Ielous) impugns the thefts of th' Adamant.
Tunes, Measures, Numbers, and Proportions
Of Bodies with their Shadowes, als' he kons;
And (fild with Nectar-Deaws, which Heav'n drips)
The Bees haue made Honie within his lips.
But he imbraceth much more earnestly
The gain-full Practice, than cold Theorie:
Nor reaks he so of a Sophistick pride
Of prattling Knowledge (too-self-magnifi'd)
As of that goodly Art to gouern well
The sacred Helms of Church and Common-weal,
And happily to entertain in either,
A harmony of Great and Small together.
Especially Hee's a good Iusticer,
And to the Lawes dooth Life and strength confer.
Simile.
And, as the highest of Bigaurian Hils
Ay bears his head vp-right, and neuer yeelds
To either side, scorns Winde and Rain and Snowe,
Abides all weathers, with a cheerfull brow;
Laughs at a Storme, and brauely tramples vnder
His steddy Knees, the prowd, lowd, rowling Thunder:
So, Hee's a Iudge inflexibly-vpright.
No Loue, nor Hatred, of the Guilty wight
(What e'r he wear for Calling, small or great)
His Venging blade can either blunt or whet;
He spurneth Fauors, and he scorneth Fears,
And vnder foot he treadeth priuate Tears:
Gold's radiant Lustre neuer blears his Eye:
Nor is he led through Ignorance a-wry.
His Voice is held an Oracle of all:
The soule of Lawes he wisely can exhale:
[Page 564]In doubtfull Cases he can subtilize,
And wyliest pleaders harts anatomize.
Scarce fifteen times had Ceres (since his Birth)
With her gilt Tresses glorifi'd the Earth;
When he decides by happy Wisedoms means,
The famous Quarrel of Two crafty Queans.
Is't possible, O Earth, (thus cries the first)
But that (alas) thou should'st for anger burst,
The Controuer­sie between the 2. Harlots for the liue Child.
And swallow quick this execreable Quean!
Is't possible (O gracious Soueraign)
That comming new from dooing such a deed
So horrible, she shame-les dares proceed
T' approach thy sight, thy sacred Throne t'abuse,
Not begging Pardon, but euen bent t'accuse?
Last night, with surfet and with sleep sur-cloyd,
This care-les step-dam her own Child o'r-layd:
And softly then (finding it cold and dead)
Layes it by me, and takes mine in the stead.
Here, old, bold strumpet, take thy bastard brat,
Hence with thy Carion, and restore me that,
Restore me mine, my louely liuing Boy,
My hope, my hap, my Loue, my life my Ioy.
O cruell Chance! O sacrilegious!
Shall thy foullips my little Angell busse?
At thy fond prattling, shall he pret'ly smile?
And tug, and touze thy greasie locks the-while?
And all his Child-hood fill thy soule with glee?
And, grow'n a man, sustaine thine age and thee?
While wretched I, haue only for my share,
His Births hard Trauail, and my burthen's Care,
His rest-les rocking, wyping, washing, wringing;
And to appease his way ward Cries with singing.
O most vnhappy of all Woman-kinde!
O Childe-les mother! O! why is my Minde
More passion-stirred, than my hand is strong?
But, rather, than I'll pocket vp this wrong,
To be reueng'd, I'll venter two for one,
I'll haue thy Life, although it cost mine owne.
O filthy Bitch! Vile Witch (sayes th' other tho)
O! who would think, that Wine could mad one so?
O impudent! though God thou fear'st not, fear
The Kings cleer iudgement, who Gods place doth bear.
Art not content t'haue call'd (or rather cry'd)
Me Whore, and Thief, Drunkard and Paricide:
But thou wilt also haue my Childe, my deer,
(Whom with so strong a knot Loue links so neer)
My Babe, my Blisse? Yea marry (Minks) and shall:
Who takes my Childe, shall take my life with-all.
Iust Dauids iust Son; for thy Father's sake,
For his deer loue, for all that he did make
Of thee a Childe, when he (re-childing) sought
With childish sport to still thy cryes, and taught
(Or'gan to teach) with language soft and weak,
Thy tender tongue some easie tearm to speak:
Or, when (all bloody, breath-les, hot) he came
Laden with spoils of Kings he ouercame,
He ran t'imbrace thee, rockt thee in his Targe,
And when thou Cry'dst, vpon his shoulder large
Did set thee vp, while thou his beard didst tug,
Play'dst with his nose, about his neck didst hug,
Gap'tst on his glittering Helm, and smil'dst to see
Another SALOMON there smile on thee:
And vnderneath his dancing Plume didst play
Like Bird in bush, sporting from spray to spray;
I doe adiure thee to attend my Plea:
By the sweet name of thy deer Bersabe,
Who in the night, shiuering for cold, so oft
Hath bow'd her self ouer thy Cradle soft;
Who both the Bottles of her Nectar white
Hath spent vpon thee, hundred times a night;
Who on thy head hath set hir pearly Crown,
And in Thy life liv'd more than in her Owne:
I doo adiure thee (O great King) by all
That in the World we sacred count or call,
To doo me Right: and if, too-mylde, alas,
Too mercifull thou wilt not Sentence passe
[Page 566]Of iust reuenge for my receiued wrong;
Yet, reaue me not what doth to me belong,
What liberall Nature hath bestow'd on me,
What I am seis'd-of (without thank to thee):
For pitty doo not my heart blood depriue,
Make me not Childe-les, hauing Childe a-liue.
While both, at once, thus to the King they Crie,
'Tis mine, 'Tis mine: thouly'st; and thou doost lie:
The partial People diuers Verdict spend;
Some fauour th' one, others the other friend:
Simile.
As, when two Gamesters hazard (in a trice)
Fields, Vine-yards, Castles, on the Chance of Dice,
The standers-by, diuersly stird with-in,
Wish, some that This, and some that That maie win;
Wauer twixt Hope and Fear: and euery-one's
Moou'd, with the moouing of the guile-ful Bones.
Only, the King demurres: his prudent ears
Finde like, both reasons, both Complaints, both tears:
The Infants face could not discipher whether
Of both should be the very Mother: neither
Could calculation of their ages, cleer
The Iudges doubt: nor any proof appear.
Then, thus He waighs (but as in dreaming wise);
Th' industrious Iudge, when all proofs fail him, flies
Vnto Coniectures, drawn (the probablest)
Out of the book of Natures learned brest;
Or to the Rack: Now, Mothers loue (thinks he)
Is Natures owne vnchangeable Decree:
And there's no Torture that exceeds the pains
Which a kinde Mother in her Childe sustains.
Then (as awake) Come, come, no more a-doo,
The Doubt ad­mirably decided.
Dispatch (saith he) Cleaue the quick Child in two,
Look that the Sword be sharp; in such a case,
Needs must our Pittie giue our Iustice place:
Iustice (yee see) can iudge him whole to neither:
Diuide him therefore, and giue half to either.
O difficult! but thus the King descries
Their harts deep secrets: all discouered lyes,
[Page 567]The vizor's off; their Tongues, sincerely prest
With true instinct, their very Thoughts exprest:
Bee't (said the stepdam) so, sith't must be so:
Diuide him iustly from the top to toe.
No (said the other) rather, I renounce
My Right in him, take thou him all at once,
Enjoy him all; I'll rather haue him Thine
A-liue, and whole, than dead and mangled Mine.
Thine (quoth the King) hee's Thine by Birth (I see)
Thine by thy Loue, and thine by my Decree.
Now, as with Gold growes in the self-same Mine
Simile.
Much Chrysocolle, and also Siluer fine:
The wonderfull Prosperitie of Salomon and his People.
So, supream Honour, and Wealth (matcht by none)
Second the Wisedom of great SALOMON.
He far and neer commands by Land and Seas;
A hundred Crowns doo homage vnto His:
His neerest Bounds Nile's Sea and Sidon seem,
And Euphrates bows his moyst horns to him:
Peru, they say (supposing Ophir so)
By yeerly Fleets into his Fisk dooth flowe:
In Sion Gold's as common as the Sand,
As Pebbles, Pearls: Through-out all Iury-Land,
There seems an Ocean of all happinesse
To ouer-flowe; and all doo all possesse:
Each vnder his owne Vine and his owne Tree,
His Grapes and Figs may gather quietly.
Thus he abounds in Blisse▪ not so to change-ill
Man into Beast, but make of Man an Angel,
To praise th' Immortall, who to him hath giuen
Euen here a Taste of the delights of Heauen.
This great, wise, wealthy, and wel-spoken King
His sweet renown o'r all the World doth ring:
The Tyrian, for Confederate desires him:
Pharao for Son: th' Alien no lesse admires-him
Than his owne Subiect: and his eyes sweet flames,
As far as Nilus, fire the flower of Dames.
O SALOMON, see'st thou not (O miss-hap!)
Misse-Matches iustly taxed.
This Marriage is no Marriage, but a Trap?
[Page 568]That such a mongrel Match of differing Creed,
Of mortall quarels is th' immortall seed?
That Oxe and Asse can neuer well be broak
To drawe one Plough together in one yoak?
Who-euer weds a Miscreant, forth-with
Diuorceth God: our Faith still wauereth;
It needs an Aide and not a Tempter nigh,
Not th' instrument of th' old Deceiuer slie,
Not deadly Poyson in our Couch to couch,
Sleep in our bosome, and our breast to touch,
And breathe into vs (in a kind of kissing)
An Ir-religion, of the Serpents hissing.
Shee that from Aegypt comes (O King) is none
Flesh of thy Flesh, nor yet Bone of thy Bone:
But a strange Bone, a barbarous Rib, a Peece
Impoysoned all with Memphian Leprosies.
But, thou wilt say, thy Loue hath stript yer-while
Her spotted suite of Idol-seruing Nile:
And clad her all, in Innocence, in White;
Becom'n by Faith a true-born Abramite.
It might be so: and to that side I take,
The rather, for that sacred Beauties sake,
Where-of she is a figure. Yet, I fear
Her Train will stain thy Kingdom euery-where,
Corrupt thy Court: and God will be offended,
To haue his People with strange People blended;
The mighty Lord, who hath precisely said,
You shall not Theirs, nor they your daughters wed.
Vnder the gentle Equinoctiall Line,
A pleasant Description of Loue's fruitfull Groue.
Faire amorous Nature waters freshly-fine
A little Groue clad in eternall green,
Where all the yeer longlusty May is seen,
Suiting the Lawnes in all her pomp and pride
Of liuely Colours, louely varyfied:
There smiles the ground, the starry-Flowers each one
There mount the more, the more th' are trod-vpon:
There, all growes toil-les; or, if tild it were,
Sweet Zphyrus is th' only Husband there.
[Page 569]There Auster neuer roars, nor Hail dis-leaues
Th' immortall Groue, nor any Branch bereaues.
There the straight Palm-Tree stoopeth in the Calm
To kisse his Spouse, his loyall Female Palm:
There with soft whispers whistling all the year
The Broad-leau'd Plane-Tree Courts the Plane his Pheer,
The Poplar wooes the Poplar, and the Vine
About the Elme her slender arms doth twine:
Th' Iuie about the Oak: there all doth proue,
That there, all springs, all growes, all liues in Loue.
Opinion's Porter, and the Gate she bars
Gainst Couetize, cold Age, and sullen Cares,
Except they leaue-off and lay-down before
Their troublous load of Reason at the doore;
But opens wide, to let-in Bashful-Boldnes,
Dumb-speaking Signes, Chill-Heat, and Kindled-Coldnes,
Smooth soothing Vows, deep Sorrows soon appeas'd,
Tears sudden dry'd, fel Angers quickly pleas'd,
Smiles, Wyly-Guiles, queint wittie-pretty Toyes,
Soft Idlenes, and ground-les, bound-les Ioyes,
Sweet Pleasure plunged ouer head and eares
In sugred Nectar, immateriall Fears,
Hoarse Waaks, late Walks, Pain-pleasing kindly cruell,
Aspiring Hope ( Desire's immortall fuell)
Licentious Loosnesse, Prodigall Expence
Inchanting Songs, deep Sighs, and sweet Laments.
These frollike Louelings fraighted Nests doo make
The balmy Trees o'r-laden Boughs to crack;
Bewty layes, Fancie sits, th' inflamed heat
Of Loue dooth hatch their Couvies nicely-neat:
Some are but kindled yet, some quick appear,
Some on their backs carry their Cradles deer.
Some downie-clad, some (fledger) take a twig
To pearch-vpon, some hop, from sprig to sprig:
One, in the fresh shade of an Apple-Tree
Lets hang its Quiuer, while soft-pantingly
'Tex hales hot Vapour: one, against a Sparrow
Tries his stiff Bowe and Giant-stooping Arrow:
[Page 570]Another sly sets lime-twigs for the Wren,
Finch, Linot, Tit-mouse, Wag-Tail (Cock and Hen):
See, see how some their idle wings forsake,
And (turn'd, of Flyers, Riders) one doth take
A Thrush, another on a Parrot rides,
This mounts a Peacock, that a Swan bestrides,
That manageth a Phaisant: this doth make
The Ring-Doue turn, that brings the Culuer back:
See how a number of this wanton Fry
Doo fondly chase the gawdie Butter-Fly,
Some with their flowerie Hat, some with their hands,
Some with sweet Rose-boughs, som with Myrtle wands:
But, th' horned Bird, with nimble turns, beguiles
And scapes the snares of all these Loues a-whiles.
Leaue, Wags (Cryes Venus) leaue this wanton Play:
For so, in steed of Butter-Flyes, you may,
You may (my Chicks) a Child of Venus strike:
For, some of mine haue Horns and all alike.
This said: eft soons two twins whose gold-head darts
Are neuer steeped but in Royal hearts;
Come, Brother deer (said either) come let's to 't,
Let's each a shaft at yon two bosoms shoot.
Their winged words th' effect ensues as wight,
Two or three steps they make to take their flight,
And quick-thick shaking on their sinnewie side
There long strong sarcels, richly triple-died
Gold-Azurè-Crimsin; th' one aloft doth soar
To Palestine, th' other to Nilus shoar.
Pharao's faire daughter (wonder of her Time)
PHARONI­DA.
Then in the blooming of her Beauties Prime,
Was queintly dressing of her Tress-full head
Which round about her to the ground did spred:
And, in a rich gold-seeled Cabinet,
Three Noble Mayds attend her in the feat;
One with a peece of double dented Box
Combs out at length her goodly golden locks:
Another 'noynts them with Perfumes of price:
Th' other with bodkin or with fingers nice,
[Page 571]Frizles and Furls in Curls and Rings a part;
The rest, loose dangling without seeming Art,
Waue to and fro, with cunning negligence
Gracing the more her Beauties excellence:
When, armd with Arrows burning, brightly keen,
Swift Swallow-like, one of these Twins comes in;
And, with his left wing hiding still his Bowe,
Into her bosome shot (I woat not how).
Loues first Fea­ver.
O, my side! oh! my hart (the Royal Maid Cries out)
O! I am slaine: but, searching all about,
When she perceiu'd no blood, nor bruise; alas,
It is no wound; but sleeping in the grasse,
Some Snake (saith she) hath crept into me quick,
It gnawes my hart: ah, help me, I am sick,
Haue me to bed: ay me, a freezing-Frying,
A burning-cold torments me liuing-dying.
O cruell Boy, alas, how mickle gal
Thy baenfull shaft mingles my Mel withall!
The Royal Maide, which with her Mates was wont
Smile, Skip, and dance on Fields inammeld front,
Loues solenesse, sadnes, and Self-priuacie;
Sighes, sobs, and throbs, and yet she knowes not why:
The sumptuous pride of massie Piramides
Presents her eyes with Towers of Iebusides;
In Niles cleer Crystall she doth Iordan see;
In Memphis, Salem; and vn-warily
Her hand (vn-bidden) in her Sampler sets
The King of Iuda's Name and Counterfets:
Who, mediting the Sacred TEMPLE's Plot,
By th' other Twin at the same time is shot:
The shaft sticks fast, the wound's within his veines:
Sleep cannot bring a-sleep his pleasing pains;
PHARONIDA's his hart, PHARONIDA
Is all his Theam to talk-of, night and day:
With-in his soule a ciuill War he feeds:
Th' all-seeing Sun, now early backs his Steeds,
Now mounts his Mid-day, and then Setteth soon:
But still his Loue stands at the hot high Noon.
[Page 572]He Rides not his braue Coursers (as he wont),
Nor Reads, nor Wrights, nor in his Throne doth mount,
To hear the Widdow's Cause: neglects his Court,
Neglects his Rule; Loue rules him in such sort.
You prudent Legats, Agents for this Marriage,
Of Rings and Tablets you may spare the Cariage:
For, wittie Loue hath with his louely shaft
In eithers hart grav'n others liuely Draught:
Each Liues in other, and they haue (O strange!)
Made of their burning harts a happy Change.
Better abroad, then home, their harts delight;
Yet long their bodies to their hoasts t'vnite.
Which soon ensues: the Virgin's shortly had
From Mothers armes imbracing gladly-sad:
And th' aged Father, weeping as he spake,
Bids thus adieu when she her leaue doth take.
Sweet Daughter deer, O siris be thy guide,
And Louing Isis blesse thee and thy Bride,
With golden Fruit; and dayly with-out cease
Your mutuall Loues may as your yeers increase.
Wiues, Maides, and Children, yong & old, each-where,
With looks and vowes from Turrets follow her:
Calme Nilus calmer then it wont is grow'n,
Her Ships haue merrie windes, the Seas haue none:
Her footing makes the ground all fragrant-fresh:
Her sight re-flowres th' Arabian Wildernes:
Iurie reioyces, and in all the way
Nothing but trumpets, Fifes, and Timbrels play:
The Flower-crownd People, swarming on the Green,
Cry still, God saue, God saue, God saue the Queen:
May she be like a scion, pale and sick
Through th' ouer-shading of a Sire two thick:
Which being Transplanted, free, sweet ayre doth sup,
To th' sweating Clouds her grouie top sends vp,
And prospers so in the strange soil, that tild,
Her golden Apples all the Orchard gild.
No streets are seen in rich IERVSALEM.
For, vnder-foot fine Skarlet paueth them,
[Page 573]Silks hang the sides, and ouer-head they hold
Archt Canapeis of glistering Cloth of gold:
They throng, they thrust, an ebbing-flowing Tide,
A Sea of Folk follows th' adored Bride:
The ioyfull Ladies from their windows shed
Sweet showres of flowres vpon her radiant head;
Yet ielous, least (dy'd in their natiue grain)
Her Rosie Cheeks should Natures Roses stain.
But lo, at last, th' honor of Maiestie,
Glory of Kings, King SALOMON drawes nigh:
Lo now both Louers, enter-glauncing sweet
(Like Sun and Moon, when at full view they meet
In the mid-month) with amorous rayes reflection
Send mutuall Welcoms from their deep affection:
Both a-like yong, like beautifull, like braue,
Both grac't a-like; so like, that whoso haue
Not neer observ'd their heads vnlikenesses,
Think them two Adons or two Venusses.
These nouice Louers at their first arriue
Are bashfull both; their passions strangely striue:
Their soules sweet Fier his ruddy flames doth flush
Into their Faces in a modest blush:
Their tongues are tyed, their star-bright eyes seem vail'd
With shame-faç't Cipres; all their senses faild.
But, pompous Hymen, whither am I brought?
Am not I (heathen) vnder th' happie Vault
Where all the Gods, with glorious mirth Inhaunst,
At Thetis Nuptials eat, and drank, and daunç't?
Heer, th' Idumeans mighty Ioue treads vnder
Salomons Nuptialls.
His tripping feet, his bright-light burning Thunder;
A-while, he laies his Maiestie a-side,
To Court, and sport, and reuel with his Bride;
King, playes the Courtier; Soueraign, Sutor comes;
And seems but equal with his Chamber-Groomes:
But yet, whate'r he doo, or can deuise,
Disguised Glorie shineth in his eyes.
Heer, many a Phoebus, and heer many a Muse
On heav'nly Layes so rarely-sweet doo vse
[Page 574]Their golden bowes, that with the rapting sound
Th' Arches and Columns wel-nigh dance the Round.
Heer, many a Iuno, many a Pallas heer,
Heer many a Venus, and Diana cleer,
Catch many a gallant Lord, according as
Wealth, Bewtie, Honour, their affection drawes.
Heer, many an Hebé fair, heer more then one
Quick-seruing Chiron neatly waits vpon
The Beds and Boords, and pliant bears about
The boules of Nectar quickly turned out;
And th' ouer-burthned Tables bend with waight
Of their Ambrosial ouer-filled fraight.
Heer, many a Mars vn-bloody Combats fights,
Heer, many a Hermes finds out new delights,
Heer, many a horned Satyre, many a Pan,
Heer, Wood-Nymphs, Flood-Nymphs, many a Faerie Faune
With lustie frisks and liuely bounds bring-in
Th' Antike, Morisko, and the Mattachine.
For euen Gods Seruants (God knowes how) haue supt
The sugred baen of Pagan Rites corrupt.
But, with so many liuely Types, at will
His rich rare Arras shall som other fill:
Of all the Sports, I'll only chuse one Measure,
One stately Mask compos'd of sage-sweet pleasure;
A Dance so chaste, so sacred, and so graue
(And yet so gracefull, and so lofty-braue)
As may beseem (except I me abuse)
Great SALOMON, and my celestiall Muse.
The Tables voyded of their various Cates,
They rise at once; and suiting their Estates,
Each takes a Dame, and then to Dance they come
Into a stately, rich, round-arched Room,
So large and light-some that it (right) they call
The Vniuersall, or The Worlds great Hall.
O what delight, to see so rich a Showe
Of Lords and Ladies dancing in a rowe
All in a Round, reaching so far and wide
O'rall the Hall to foot-it side by side!
[Page 575]Their eyes sweet splendor seems a Pharos bright,
With clinquant Rayes their Body's clothed light:
'Tis not a Dance, but rather a smooth slyding,
All moue a-like, after the Musicks guiding:
Their Tune-skill'd feet in so true Time doo fall,
That one would swear one Spirit doth bear them all:
They poste vn-moouing; and though swift they passe
'Tis not perceiv'd: of hundred thousand pase,
One single back they: Round on Round they dance;
And, as they trauerse, cast a fruitfull glance.
Iust in the middle of the Hall, a-sloap
The MASK of Planets.
(Euen from the floor vnto the very top)
A broad rich Baldrik there extendeth round,
In-laid with gold vpon an azure ground,
Where (couer'd all with Flames) with wondrous Art
Fiue Lords, two Ladies dance; but each a-part.
Saturn.
Heer trips an old-man in a Mantle dy'd
Deep Leaden-hue, and round about him ty'd
With a Snake-girdle byting off her tayl.
With-in his Robe's stuff (in a winding trayl)
Creeps Mandrake, Comin, Rue, and Hellebore;
With liuely figures of the Bear and Boar,
Cammel, and Asse (about to bray wel-nigh):
There the Strimonian Foul seems euen to crie,
The Peacock euen to prank. For Tablet fine,
About his neck hangs a great Cornaline,
Where some rare Artist (curiousing vpon't)
Hath deeply cut Times triple-formed Front:
His pase is heauy, and his face seuere;
His Body heer; but yet his minde els-where.
There the Lord Zedec him more sprightly bears,
Iupiter.
Milde, fair, and pleasant; on his back he wears
Tin-colour'd Tissue, figur'd all with Oaks,
Eares, Violets, Lillies, Oliues, Apricocks;
Bordred with Phaisants, Egles winged-black,
And Elephants, with Turrets on their back,
Pointed with Dimonds, powdered and imbost
With Emeralds, perfum'd with wondrous Cost.
The third leads quicker on the self same Arch
Mars.
His Pyrrhik Galiard, like a War-like March:
His Face is fierie: Many an Amethist,
And many a Iaspire of the perfectest
Doth brightly glister in the double gilt
Of the rich Pommel and the pretious Hilt
Of his huge Fauchin, bow'd from hand to heel:
His boistrous body shines in burnisht Steel:
His Shield flames bright with gold, imbossed high
With Wolues and Horse seem-running swiftly by,
And freng'd about with sprigs of Scammonie,
And of Euphorbium, forged cunningly.
Venus.
But O fair Faerie, who art thou, whose eyes
Inflame the Seas, the Ayre, the Earth and Skies?
Tell vs, what art thou, O thou fairest fair,
That trimm'st the Trammels of thy golden hair.
With Myrtle, Thyme, and Roses; and thy Brest
Gird'st with a rich and odoriferous
A Spouse-belt.
Cest,
Where all the wanton brood of sweetest Loues
Doo nestle close; on whom the Turtle-Doues,
Pigeons, and Sparrowes day and night attend,
Cooing and wooing, wherso'er thou wend:
Whose Robe's imbrodered with Pomgranet boughs,
Button'd with Saphires, edg'd with Beryl rowes:
Whose capering foot, about the starrie floor,
The Dance-guide Prince, now followes, now's before?
Art thou not Shee, that with a chaste-sweet flame
Didst both our Brides harts into one hart frame?
And, was not He, that with so curious steps,
Mercurie
Next after thee, so nimblie turns and leaps,
Say, was not He the wittie Messenger,
Their eloquent and quick Interpreter?
How strange a suit▪ His medly Mantle seems
Scarlet, Waue-laced with Quick-siluer streams,
And th' end of euery Lace, for tuft hath on
A pretious Porphyre, or an Agate stone:
A Cry of Hownds haue heer a Deer in Chase,
There a false Foxe, heer a swift Kid they trace:
[Page 577]There Larks, and Linots-and sweet Nightingals
(Fain'd vpon fayned Trees) with wings and tails
Loose hanging, seem to swell their little throats,
And with their warblings, shame the Cornets notes.
Light Fumitorie, Parsly, Burnets blade
And winding leaf his crispie Locks beshade.
Hee's light and liuely, al in Turns and Tricks;
In his great Round, hee many small doth mixe:
His giddy course seems wandring in disorder,
And yet there's found in this disorder, order.
Auoid base Vulgar, back Profane, stand-by;
These sacred Reuels are not for your eye:
Come, gentle Gentiles, Noble Spirits draw neer,
Preace through the Preace, come take your places heer,
To see at full the Bride-groom and the Bride,
A louely paire, exactly bewtifi'd
With rare perfections, passing all the rest,
Sole-happy Causes of this sumptuous Feast.
Lo where they come: O what a splendor bright!
Mine eyes doo dazle. O thou primer Light!
Sun of the Sun, thy Rayes keen point rebate,
Thy dread-spread Fire a little temperate:
O, dart (direct) on thy fair Spouse a-space
Thine eyes pure light, the lustre of thy Face:
For I no longer can endure it, I
Am burnt to ashes: ô I faint, I dye.
But (blessed Couple) sith (alas) I may-not
Behold you both vnmasked, nor I can-not;
Yet in these Verses let me tell (I pray)
Your Dance, your Courting, and your rich Aray.
The Queen's adorn'd down to her very heels
Luna.
In her fair hair (whence still sweet deaw distils)
Half changing down; the rest in rings and curls,
Platted with strings of great, round, orient Pearls:
Her gown is Damask of a Siluer-ground,
With Siluer Seas all deeply-frenged round;
With Gourds and Moon-wort branched richly-fair,
Flourisht with Beasts that only eat the Aier.
But why (my Muse) with Pencil so precise
Seek'st thou to paint all her rich Rarities?
Of all the Bewties, Graces, Honors, Richesse
Where-with rich Hev'n these Maskers all inriches,
Shee's even the Mother: and then, as a Glasse,
On the Beholders their effects she casts.
A Garland braided with the Flowry folds
Sol.
Of yellow Citrons, Turn-Sols, Mary-golds,
Beset with Bal'nites, Rubies, Chrysolites,
The royall Bride-groom's radiant brows be-dights:
His saffron'd Ruffe is edged richly-neat
With burning Carbuncles, and every set
Wrought rarely-fine with branches (draw'n vpon)
Of Laurel, Cedar, Balm, and Cinamon:
On his Gold-grounded Robe the Swan so white
Seems to his honour som new Song t'indight,
The Phoenix there builds both her nest and toomb,
The Crocodile out of the Waues doth come,
Th' amazed Reaper down his Sickle flings
And soudain Fear grafts to his Ankles wings:
There the fierce Lion, from his furious eyes,
His mouth and nosthrils fierie-Flames let-flyes,
Seems with his whisking train his rage to whet,
And, wrath-full ramping, ready even to set
Vpon a Heard of fragrant Leopards:
When lo, the Cock (that light his rage reguards)
A purple Plume tymbers his stately Crest,
On his high Gorget and broad hardy Brest
A rich Coat-Armour ( Or and Azure) shines,
A frenge of raveld gold about his Loins:
In lieu of bases. Beard as red as blood;
A short Beak bending like the Egles brood:
Green-yellow eyes, where Terrors Tent is pight:
A martiall gaite, and spurred as a Knight:
Into two arches his prowd Train diuides,
With painted wings he claps his cheerfull sides,
Sounds his shrill Trumpet, and seems with his sight
The Lions courage to haue danted quight.
These happy Lovers, with a practiz'd pase
For-ward and back-ward and a-side do trace;
They seem to dance the Spanish Pauane right:
And yet their Dance, so quick and liuely-light,
Doth never passe the Baldricks bounds (at all)
Which grav'n with Star-Beasts ouer-thwarts the Hall.
When the braue Bride-groom towards Mount Silo traces,
A thousand Flowers spring in his spright-full pases:
When towards Mount Oliu [...]t he slides, there growes
Vnder his Feet a thousand Frosty Snowes:
For, the Floor, beaten with his Measures ever,
Seems like the Footing of the nimble Weaver.
This louely Couple, now kisse, now recoil,
Now with a lowring eye, now with a smile:
Now Face to Face they Dance, now side by side,
With Course vn-equall: and the tender Bride
Receiues strange Changes in her Countenance,
After her Lovers divers-seeming glance.
If vnawares som Enuious come between
Her and her Loue, then is she sad be-seen,
She shuts her eye, she seems even to depart:
Such force hath true Loue in a noble hart.
But all that's nothing to their musicke choice:
Tuning the warbles of their Angel-Voice
To Foot and Viole, and Care-charming Lute,
In amorous Ditty they doo thus dispute.
"O bright-ey'd Virgin! ô how fair thou art!
The Epithalamy
"O how I loue thee, My Snowe-winged Doue!
"O how I loue thee! Thou hast rapt my hart:
"For thee I Die: For thee I liue, my Loue.
" How fair art thou my Deer! How dear to me!
"Deer Soule (awake) I faint, I sink, I sownd,
"At thy deer Sight: and when I sleep; for Thee,
"Within my brest still wakes my sharp-sweet Wound.
"My Loue, what Odours thy sweet Tresse it yeelds!
"What Amber-greece, what Incense breath'st thou out
"From purple fillets! and what Myrrhe distils
"Still from thy Fingers, ring'd with Gold about!
"Sweet-Hart, how sweet is th' Odour of thy Prayse!
"O what sweet aiers doth thy sweet air deliuer
"Vnto my burning Soule! What hony Layes
"Flowe from thy throat, thy throat a golden River.
"Among the Flowers, my Flower's a Rose, a Lilly;
"A Rose, a Lilly; this a Bud, that blow'n:
"This fragrant Flower first of all gather wil-I,
"Smell to it, kisse it, wear it as mine owne.
"Among the Trees, my Loue's an Apple-Tree,
"Thy fruit-full Stem bears Flower and Fruit together:
"I'll smell thy Flower, thy Fruit shall nourish me,
"And in thy Shadow will I rest forever.
While Hesperus, in azure Waggon brought
Millions of Tapers ouer all the Vault,
These gorgeous Revels to sweet Rest giue place,
And the Earths Venus doth Heav'ns Venus trace.
These Spousals past: the King doth nothing minde
But the Lords House; there is his Care confin'd:
His Checker's open, he no Cost respects)
But sets a-work the wittiest Architects.
Millions of hands be busie labouring;
The building of the TEM­PLE.
Through all the Woods, wedges and beetles ring:
The Tufted Tops of sacred Libanon,
To climb Mount Sion, down the stream are gon:
Forests are saw'd in Transomes, Beams, and Somers:
Great Rocks made little, what with Sawes and Hammers:
The sturdy Quar-man with steel-headed Cones
And massie Sledges slenteth out the Stones,
Digs through the bowels of th' earth baked stiff,
Cuts a wide Window through a horned Cliff
[Page 581]Of ruddy Porphire, or white Alabaster,
And masters Marble, which no Time can Master.
One melts the White-stone with the force of Fire:
Another, leveld by the Lesbian Squire,
Deep vnder ground (for the Foundation) ioynes
Wel-polisht Marble, in long massie Coines;
Such both for stuff, and for rare artifice,
As mought beseem som royall Frontispice.
This heaws a Chapter; that a Frize doth frame;
This Carues a Cornich; that prepares a Iambe,
This formes a Plynth; that fits an Architraue;
This planes a Plank; and that the same doth graue,
Giues life to Cedars dead, and cunningly
Makes Wood to moue, to sigh and speak wel-nigh:
And others, rearing high the sacred Wal,
By their bold Labours Heav'n it self appall:
Cheerly they work, and ply it in such sort
As if they thought long Summer-dayes too-short.
As in Grape-Harvest, with vnweary pains,
Simile.
A willing Troup of merry-singing Swains,
With crooked hooks the strouting Clusters cut,
In Frails and Flaskets them as quickly put,
Run bow'd with burthens to the fragrant Fat,
Tumble them in, and after pit-a-pat,
Vp to the Waste; and dauncing in the Must
To th' vnder-Tub a flowry Shower doo thrust:
They work a-vie, to th' eye their Work doth growe,
Who saw't i'th' Morning, scarce at Night can knowe
It for the same: and God himself doth seem
T'haue ta'en to Taske this Work, and work for them,
While in the Night sweet Sleep restores with rest
The weary limbs of Work-men ouer-prest.
Great King, whence came this Courage ( Titan-like)
So many Hils to heap vpon a rick?
What mighty Rowlers, and what massie Cars
Could bring so far so many monstrous Quars?
And, what huge strength of hanging Vaults embow'd
Bears such a waight aboue the winged Clowde?
If on the out-side I doo cast mine eye,
The Stones are ioyn'd so artificially,
That if the Maçon had not checkerd fine,
Syrian.
Syre's Alabaster with hard Serpentine,
And hundred Marbles no lesse fair than firm;
The whole, a whole Quar one might rightly tearm.
If I look In, then scorn I all with-out:
Surpassing Riches shineth all about:
Floore, Sides, and Seeling, couerd triple-fold,
Stone lyn'd with Cedar, cedar limn'd with Gold:
And all the Parget carv'd and branched trim
With Flowrs and Fruits, and winged Cherubim.
I over-passe the sacred Implements,
In worth far passing all these Ornaments:
Th' Art answers to the stuff, the stuff to th' vse.
O! perfect Artist, thou for Mould didst chuse
The Worlds Idea: For, as first the same
Was sever'd in a Three-fold divers Frame,
And God Almighty rightly did Ordain
One all Divine, one Heav'nly, one Terrene;
Decking with Vertues one, with Stars another,
With Flowrs and Fruits, and Beasts, and Birds the other:
And playd the Painter, when he did so gild
The turning Globes, blew'd Seas, and green'd the field,
Gaue precious Stones so many-coloured lustre,
Enameld Flowers, made Metals beam and glister:
The Caruer, when he cut in leaues and stems
Of Plants, such veins, such figures, files and hems:
The Founder, when he cast so many Forms
Of winged Fouls, of Fish, of Beasts, of Worms:
Thou doost divide this Sacred House in Three;
Th' HOLY OF HOLIES, wher-in none may bee
But God, the Cherubims, and (once a yeer)
The Sacred Figure of Perfection deer,
Of Gods eternall Son (Sins sin-les check)
The ever-lasting true MELCHISEDEC:
The fair mid-TEMPLE, which is ope alone
To Sun-bright Leuites, who on Izrael shone
[Page 583]With Rayes of Doctrine; and who, feeding well
On the Lawes Hony, seem in Heav'n to dwell:
And th' vtter PORCH, the Peoples residence,
The Vulgars Ile, the World of Elements:
And various Artist honour'st all the Parts
With Myron's, Phydias, and Apelles Arts.
This Pattern pleas'd thee so, th' hast fram'd by it,
Th' eternall Watch-births of thy sacred Wit:
Thy pithy Book of Prouerbs richly-graue,
Vnto the PORCH may rich relation haue:
For that it giues vs Oeconomike Lawes,
Rules Politike, and Priuate civill Sawes;
And for (the most) those Lessons general
At Humane matters aim the most of all.
Ecclesiastes the Mid-TEMPLE seems:
It treadeth down what ever Flesh esteems
Fair, pleasant, precious, glorious, good, or great;
Drawes vs from earth, and vs in Heav'n doth seat;
And, all the World proclaiming Uain of Vains,
Mans happinesse in Gods true Fear maintains.
SANCTVM-SANCTORVM, is thy Song of Songs,
Where, in Mysterious Verse (as meet belongs)
Thou Mariest Iacob to Heav'ns glorious King:
Where, thou (devoted) doost divinely sing
CHRIST'S and his CHVRCHES Epithalamie:
Where (sweetly rapt in sacred Extasie)
The faith-full Soule talks with her God immense,
Hears his sweet Voice, her self doth quintessence
In the pure flames of his sweet-pearcing eyes
(The Cabinets where Grace and Glory lies)
Enioyes her Ioy, in her chaste bed doth kisse
His holy lips (the Loue of Loues) her Blisse.
When he had finisht and had furnisht full
The House of God, so rich, so bewtifull:
O God (sayd Salomon) great Only-Trine!
Dedication of the Temple.
Which of this Mystike sacred House of Thine
Hast made me Builder; build Mee in the same
A living Stone. For thy deer DAVIDS name,
[Page 584]On DAVIDS branches DAVIDS blisse reviue;
That on his Throne his Issue still may thriue.
O All-comprising, None-comprised Prince,
Which art in Heav'n by thy Magnificence,
In Hell by Iustice, each-where by thy Powers:
Dwell here (deer Father) by thy Grace (to Ours).
If, in a doubtfull Case, one needs must swear,
Loose thou the Knot, and punish thou severe
Th' audacious Periure; that hence-forth none chance
Taxe thee of Malice, or of Ignorance.
If our dis-flowred Trees, our Fields Hail-torn,
Our empty Ears, our light and blasted Corn,
Presage vs Famine; if with ten-fold chain,
Thy hand hath lockt thy Water-gates of Rain;
And, towards this House we humbled cast our eye,
Hear vs (O Lord) hear our complaint and cry.
If Captiues we in a strange Land bewayl,
If in the Wars our Force and Fortune fail;
And, towards this House we humbled cast our eye,
Hear vs (O Lord) hear our complaint and cry.
If Strangers, moov'd with rumor of thy Miracles,
Com heer to Offer, to consult thine Oracles,
And in this House to kneel religiously,
Hear them, O Lord, hear their complaint and cry:
Hear them from Heav'n; and by thy Favors prest,
Draw to Thy TEMPLE, North, South, East, and West.
The passe-Man Wisedom of th' Isacian Prince,
A Light so bright, set in such eminence
(Vn-hideable by envious Arrogance,
Vnder the Bushell of black Ignorance)
Shines every where, illustres every place;
Among the rest it Lightens in the Face
Of the fair Princesse, that with prudent hand
The soft Arabian Scepter doth command,
The Queen of Saba, where continuall Spring
The Queene of Saba.
Red Cinamom, Incense, and Myrrhe doth bring;
Where private men doo Prince-like Treasures hold,
Where Pots be Silver, Bedsteds beaten Gold,
[Page 585]Where Wals are rough-cast with the richest Stones
Cast in Deuises, Emblems, Scutchions.
Yet, leaving all this Greatnesse of her owne,
She comes to view the State of SALOMON,
To hear his Wisedom, and to see his Citty,
Refuge of Vertues, School of Faith and Pitty.
A iust Reproose of all obstinate Recusants.
You, that doo shut your eyes against the rayes
Of glorious Light, which shineth in our dayes;
Whose spirits self-obstin'd in old musty Error,
Repulse the Truth ( Th' Almighties sacred Mirror)
Which day and night at your deaf Doors doth knock;
Whose stubbornnesse will not at all vn-lock
The sacred Bible, nor so much as look,
To talke with God, into his holy Book:
O, fear you not that this great Princesse shall
Of thank-les Sloath one-day condemn you all?
Who (both a Woman, Queen, and Pagan born)
Ease, Pleasures, Treasures, doth despise and scorn;
To passe with great pains, and with great expence,
Long weary Iourneys full of diffidence:
And nobly trauels to another Land
To hear the words but of a (mortall) Man?
Her Time's not lost: there (rapt) she doth contemple
The sumptuous bewties of a stately TEMPLE,
The lofty Towers of hundred Towns in one,
A pompous Palace, and a peer-les Throne,
Wals rich with-out; furnisht in richer sort:
Number of Servants doth adorn the Court,
But more their Order; there, no noise is heard,
Each his owne Office only doth reguard:
And, (in one instant) as the quaverings
Of a quick Thumb, moues all the divers strings
Of a sweet Guittern; and, its skill to grace,
Causeth a Trebble sound, a Mean, a Base:
So SALOMON, discreetly with a beck,
A wink a word, doth all the Troop direct:
Each of his Servants hath his proper Lesson,
And (after his Degree) each hath his fashion.
This Queen, yer parting from her fragrant Iles,
Arm'd her with Riddles and with witty Wyles,
T' appose the King; and she resolues she wil
With curious Questions sift and sound his Skill.
But lo what Oedipus! The Law-learn'd Sage,
Which at the Bar hath almost spent his age,
Cannot so soon a common Doubt decide,
Where Statutes, Customs▪ and Book-Cases guide,
As he dissolues her Gordian-knots, and sees
Through all her nights, and even at pleasure frees
Such Doubts, as doubt-les might haue taskt, t'vntwist,
The Brachman, Druïde, and Gymnosophist:
And knowing, Good becomes more Good, the more
It is en-common'd, he applies there-fore
T'instruct her in the Faith; and (enuious-idle)
His brains rich Talent buries not in Idle.
Alas, I pity you: alas (quoth He)
Poore Soules besotted in Idolatry,
Who worship Gold and Silver, Stocks and Stones,
Mens workmanship, and Fiends Illusions;
And, who (by your sage Mages Lore miss-led)
So-many Godlings haue imagined:
Madame, there is but one sole God, most-High,
Th' Eternall King, nay, self-Eternity,
Infinite, All in all, yet out of all,
Of Ends the End, of Firsts Originall,
Of Lights the Light, Essencesur-passing Essence,
Of Powers pure Act, of Acts the very Puissance,
Cause of all Causes, Ocean of all Good,
The Life of Life, and of all Bewty Flood:
None-seen All-Seer, Starr's-guide, Sight of Seeing,
The Vni-forme, which giues all Formes their Beeing.
God, and One, is all One; whoso the Vnitie
Denies, he (Atheist) disannuls Diuinity:
Th' Vnity dwels in God, ith' Fiend the Twine:
The greater World hath but one Sun to shine,
The lesser but one Soule, both but one God,
In Essence One, in Person Trinely-odde.
[Page 587]Of this great Frame, the Parts so due-devis'd,
This Body, tun'd so, measur'd, sympathiz'd,
This TEMPLE, wheresuch Wealth and Order meet,
This Art in every part, cannot proceed
But from one Pattern; and that but from one
Author of all, who all preserues alone.
Else should we see in set Batalions
A hundred thousand furious Partizans,
The World would nource civill intestine Wars,
And wrack itself in itselfs factious Iars.
Besides, God is an Infinite Divinity:
And who can think of more than one Infinity?
Seeing the one restrains the others might,
Or rather reaues its name and being quight.
Therfore (O Pagans) why doo you confine
The Infinite in narrow Walls of lime?
Why shut you Him in a base Trunk or Tree?
Why paint you Whom no mortall eye can see?
Why offer you your carnall seruices
Vnto the Lord, who a meer Spirit is?
Why then doo you (sayd she) by our example,
Incloseth' Immortall in this Earthly TEMPLE?
Lock him within an Arke? and, worse than we
Feed him with Fumes, and bloody Butcherie?
This Sacred House so fair (reply'd he then)
Is not to contain God, but godly men
Which worship him: and, we doo not suppose
That He, whose Arms doo Heav'n and Earth inclose,
Is closed in a Chest; but th' ancient Pact,
The solemne Couenant, and the sure Contract,
Which leagues vs with our God, and each with other,
And (holy Bond) holds Heav'n and Earth together.
As for our Incense, Washings, Sacrifices,
They are not (as is thought) Our vain Devices;
But, God's their Aurthor, and himself Ordains
These Elements, wherby he entertains
And feeds our vnderstanding in the hope
Of his deer Son (of all these Things the Scope);
[Page 588]Setting before vs th' Only Sacrifice,
Which in CHRIST'S Blood shall wash-out all our vice.
Come then, O Lord, Come thou Lawes finisher,
Great King, great Prophet, great Selfs-Offerer:
Come, come, thou thrice-Great Refuge of our State,
Come, thou out Ran çome, Iudge, and Advocate:
Milde Lambe, Salue-Serpent, Lion generous,
Vn-challeng'd Vmpire betwixt Heav'n and Vs,
Come thou, the Trueth, the Substance and the End
Of all our Offrings, (whither, all doo tend):
Come ô MESSIAS, and doo now begin
To Raign in Sion, to triumph of Sinne;
And, worshipped in Spirit and Truth, restore
Vpon the Earth the Golden Age of yore:
Accept this Queen, as of all Heathen Princes
The deer First-Fruits: take on thee our Offences,
That, stript of Adam's Sinfull sute, in fine
With sacred Angels we in Heav'n may shine.
The Queen, nigh sunk in an Amaze-full Swoun,
Bespake him thus: My Lord, prattling Renown
Is wont in flying to increase so far,
That she proclaims things greater than they are:
Simile.
And, rarest Spirits resemble Pictures right,
Wherof the rarest seem more exquisite,
Far-off, then neer: but, so far as thy Fame
Ezcels all Kings, thy Vertues passe the same:
Thy peer-les Prayse stoops to thy Learned tongue,
And envious bruit hath done thy Wisedom wrong.
So may I say, even so (ô SCOTISH King)
Application to the Kings Maie­stie.
Thy winged Fame, which far and wide doth ring,
From th' edge of Spain hath made me venturously
To crosse the Seas thy Britain's end to see:
Where (Lord!) what saw I? nay, what saw I not?
O King (Heav'n-chosen, for som special Plot)
Worlds Miracle, ô Oracle of Princes?
I saw so much, my Soule mistrusts my Senses.
A gray-beards Wisedom in an amber-bush,
A Mars-like Courage in a Maid-like blush,
[Page 589]A settled Iudgement with a supple Wit,
A quick Discourse, profound and pleasing yet;
Virgil and Tully, in one spirit infus'd,
And all Heav'ns Gifts into one Head diffus'd.
Persist, O King, glory on glory mount;
And as thy Vertues thine owne Fame surmount,
So let thy future passe thy former more,
And go-before those that haue gone-before:
Excell thy Self: and braue, graue, godly Prince,
Confirme my Songs eternall Euidence.
FINIS.

THE SCHISME. THE III. BOOK OF THE IIII. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Reiecting Olde, Yong-Counsail'd rash ROBOAM
Loseth Ten Tribes; which fall to IEROBOAM.
He, Godding Calves, makes Izrael to Sin:
His Scepter therefore shortly fails his Kin.
BAAZ, ZIMRI, OMRI, ACHAB (worst of all)
With IEZABEL. Elias conquers Baal;
Commands the Clouds; rapt-vp to Heav'n, aliue.
Elisha's Works: his bones the dead reuiue.
SAMARIA'S tragik Siege. A Storm at Sea,
For Ionas sake: repentant NINIVE.
HEer sing I ISAAC'S ciuill Brauls and Broils;
The miserie of a State distrac­ted by factions into Ciuil Wars.
Iacobs Revolt; their Cities sack, their Spoils:
Their cursed Wrack, their Godded Calues: the rent
Of th' Hebrew Tribes from th' Isheans Regiment.
Ah! see we not, som seek the like in France?
With rage-full swords of civill Variance,
To share the sacred Gaulian Diadem?
To strip the Lillies from their natiue stem?
Application.
And (as it were) to Cantonize the State
Whose Law did aw Imperial Rhine (of late)
Tiber and Iber too; and vnder whom
Even silver Iordan's captiue floods did foam.
But, let not vs, good Lord, O let not vs
Apprecation.
Serue servilely a hundred Kinglings thus,
[Page 591]In stead of one great Monarch: never let
The lawfull Heir from his owne Throne be beat;
This Scepter yearly to be new possest;
Nor every Town to be a Tyrants nest:
Keep all intire, re-stablish prudent Raign,
Restore the Sword to Iustice hand again;
That, blest with Peace, thy blessed Prayse (O Lord)
My thankfull Layes may more and more record.
THE GENERAL States of Israel, gathered all,
A Parliament, or Assembly of the Estates of Israel.
By thousands now, within strong Sichem's Wall;
All iointly name ROBOAM for their King,
But (strictly-stout) his Powr thus limiting:
Command (say they) and Rule in Abram's Fold,
Not as a Wolf, but as a Shepheard should:
Slacken the reans of our late Servitude:
The People capi­tulate with their new King.
Lighten our gall'd backs of those Burthens rude,
Those heavy Imposts of thy Father (fierce):
Repress the rapin of thine Officers:
So, we will serue thee, life and goods at-once:
If other-wise; thy Service we renounce.
Heer-with amaz'd, the moody Prince, in post
Sends for those Ancients which had swayed most
His Fathers Counsails: and he seems to crave
Their sage Advises, in a case so graue.
God hath not made, say they (iumping together)
Subiects for Kings, but Kings for Subiects rather:
Then, let not thine (already in distress)
The Counsaile of the ancient Nobles.
[...]e gnaw'n by others; by thy Self much less.
What boots a Head, with-out the hand and foot?
What is a Scepter, and no Subiects to't?
The greater Milt, the Body pines the more:
The Checker's fatting makes the People poor:
A Princes Wealth in Subiects Wealth is set;
The Bank of Thrift, where gold doth gold beget:
Where the good Prince coms never but at need:
For, he is prais'd for a good Heard (indeed)
Whose Flock is fat and fair, with frolik bounds
Frisking and skipping vp and down the Douns.
[Page 592]Among the Beasts fullest of furious gall,
The Vulgar's fiercest, wildest, worst of all:
Hydra with thousand heads, and thousand stings,
Yet soon agreed to war against their Kings.
If then you wish, their barking rage to cease,
Cast them a bone; by an Abatement, ease
Their wringing Yoak: thy Pity let them proue,
And ground thy Greatness on thy Peoples loue.
Or, if thou (fell) wilt needs feed on their ice,
Yet vse no threats, nor giue them flat Denies:
But, to establish thy yet-new Estate,
Give them som hope, and let them feed on that:
And (wisely) minde thy Fathers Saying sage,
That A soft answer (soon) appeaseth rage.
ROBOAM, scorning these olde Senators,
Roboam, lea­ving their sound aduice leaneth rather to the young fury of his Minions & Flatteries.
Leans to his Yonglings, Minions, Flatterers
(Birds of a feather) that with one accord
Cry-out, importune, and perswade their Lord,
Not sillily to be by such disturb'd,
Nor let him-self so simply to be curb'd;
But, to repress, press, and oppress the more
These Mal-contents, but too-well vs'd before:
With iron teeth to bruise their idle bones,
To suck their Marrow out; and (for the nonce)
Their rebell Pride to fetter (as it were)
And lock their Furie in the stocks of Fear:
And, to shake-off (on th' other side) and shun
Those Gray-beards olde and colde direction,
Their sawcie censures, snibbing his Minority;
Where-by (too-proud) they trip at his Authority,
Vsurp his place; and (too-too-malapert)
Would teach a wiser then them-selues his part:
To knowe that he's a King; and that he took
Even in the womb, as th' outward limbs and look,
So th' inward graces, the Discretion
And deep Fore-fight of prudent SALOMON;
And, in the Shop of Nature, learn'd (long since)
The Art of State, the Office of a Prince.
Wisedom (fond King) her sacred Seaterects
In hoarie brains: and Day the Day directs:
Th' old-man-fore-sees a-far; by past events
He (prudent) ponders future accidents:
The Young-man knowes not (new-com, as it were)
This wily World, but as a passenger;
And, more with courage then with Counsail's guide,
Barely beholds things on the outer side.
Yet, to the last thou lean'st; and, frowning fel,
Checkst thus the Son's of noble Israel:
Ah! rebel Slaues! you, you will Rule your King:
The Kings rash­nes threatning rigour.
You'll be his Carvers: you will clip his wing:
You'll hold the sacred helm, controule the Crown:
You'll rate his State, and turn all vp-side-down.
But, know you (varlets) whom you dally-with?
My little finger over-balanceth
My Father's loigns: he did but rub you light,
I'll flay your backs; he bow'd, I'll break yee quight;
He threatned Rods (or gentle Whips of cord)
But I will haue your carrion shoulders goar'd
With scourges tangd with rowels: and my Name
Shall make you quake, if you but hear the same.
As rapid streams, incountring in their way
Simile.
With close-driv'n piles of som new bank or bay,
Or steady pillers of a Bridge built new,
Which last-past Sommer never saw, nor knew;
Swell, roar, and rage far fiercer then they wont,
And with their foam defile the Welkins front:
So yerst griev'd Isaac, now growen desperate,
With loud proud tearms doth thus expostulate:
Why? what haue we to do (what part? what place?)
With Böozian Ishay's avaricious race?
The Reuolt of the 10. Tribes.
Go, Raign (proud Iuda) where thou wilt; for we
Nill bear the burthen of thy Tyranny:
Go vse els-where thy cruell threats and braues;
We are thy Brethren, we, and not thy Slaues.
Thus cry the People, and th' ill-counsal'd King
Vn-kingly yeelds to their rude Mutining:
[Page 594]And flies eft-soons with som few Beniamites,
The zealous Leuites, and the [...]daïtes:
The rest revolt, and chuse for Soveraign
A shame-les, faith-les, bold and busie-brain,
An Ephraimite, who (double-false) doth fall
Ieroboam.
Both from his King and from his God withall.
For, he fore-sees that if th' Isacians still
(As Law inioyn'd (should mount on Sion Hill,
To sacrifice; with beauty of that Temple,
Their Princes sight, the Doctrine and Example
Of sacred Leuites, they would soon be taken,
And drawn aboord the Bark they had forsaken.
To rent the Church therfore he doth deuise,
And God's true Spouse doth Harlot▪like disguise:
Will haue them hence-forth Worship God the Lord
Vnder the Form of Hay-fed Calues (abhorr'd)
In Dan and Bethel: brings-vp Service new;
Profane, vsurping sacred Aron's Dew.
But, how (ingrate) requit'st thou God, in this?
He, of a Servant, made thee King of His:
Thou, of a God, mak'st him a horned Steer;
Sett'st Altar against Altar; and, the deer,
Cleer Star of Truth beclouding with the vail
Of thine Ambition, mak'st all Israel fail,
And fall with-all into the Gulf of Death,
So deep (alas!) that from thence-forth, vn-eath
Could th' operation of so many Miracles,
In their hard hearts re-print the Sacred Oracles.
One-day, the while this Priest-King sacrifiz'd
To's clov'n-foot God in Bethel (self-deviz'd)
A zealous Prophet from the Lord there came,
Who boldly thus his brutish rage doth blame:
O odious House, O execrable Cell,
O Satans Forge, O impious Shop of Hell;
Accursed Altar, that so braves and hoasts
Against the Altar of the Lord of Hoasts;
Behold, from Dauid shall a King return
That on thy stones thine owne Priests bones shall burn,
[Page 595]Thus sayth the Lord: and this shall be the Sign
(Prodigiously to seal his Word, in mine)
Thou now in th' instant shalt in sunder shatter,
And in the Air shall thy vile cinders scatter.
Take, take the Sot, sayd then th' vngodly Prince,
And (as he spake in rage-full vehemence)
Reacht-out his arm: but, instantly the same
So strangely withered and so num became,
And God so rustied euery ioynt, that there
(But as the Body stird) it could not stir:
Th' vnsacred Altarsodain slent in twain;
And th' ashes, flying through th' vn. hallowed Fane,
Blinde the blinde Priests; as in the Sommer (oft)
Simile.
The light, white Dust (driv'n by the Winde aloft)
Whirling about, offends the tendrest eye,
And makes the Shepheards (with-out cause) to cry.
O holy Prophet (prayes the Tyrant then)
Deer man of God, restore my hand again:
His hand is heal'd. But (obstinate in ill)
In His Calf-service He persevers still,
Still runs his Race, still every day impairs,
And of his Sins makes all his Sons his heirs.
The King of Iuda little better proves,
His Fathers by-paths so Abijam loves;
The People, pliant to their Princes guise,
Forget their God, and his drad Law despise.
God, notwithstanding (of his speciall grace)
Entails the Scepter to the sacred race
Of his deer Dauid: and he bindes with boughs
Of glorious Laurels their victorious brows:
And evermore (how-ever Tyrants rave)
Som form of Church in Sion will he haue.
Aza, Abijam's Son; Iehosaphat
The son of Aza (rightly zealous) hate
All Idol-gods: and, warring with success,
Dung Isaak's Fields with forrain carcases.
In Aza's ayd fights th' arm armi-potent
Aza.
(Which shakes the Heav'ns, rakes Hils, & Rocks doth rent)
[Page 596]Against black Zerah's ouer-daring boast,
That with drad deluge of a Million Hoast
O'r-flow'd all I [...]d [...]; and, all sacking (fell)
Transported Afrik into Israel:
He fights for His; who, seeing th' Ammonite,
The Idumaean, and proud Moabite,
In Battail ray, caus'd all his Hoast to sing
This Song aloud, them thus encouraging:
Sa, sa, (my hearts) let's cheerly to the charge;
Having for Captain, for Defence, and Targe,
That glorious Prince to whom the raging Sea
Hath heertofore, in foming pride, giv'n way:
Who, with a sigh (or with a whistle, rather)
Can call the North, South, East, and West together:
Who, at a beck, or with a wink, commands
Millions of millions of bright-winged Bands:
Who, with a breath, brings (in an instant) vnder
The proudest Powrs: whose arrows are the Thunder.
While yet they sang, fell Discord reaching-far,
Description of Discord.
Hies to the Heathen that encamped are:
Clean through her mantle (tatterd all in flakes)
Appears her brest all-over gnaw'n with Snakes,
Her skin is scarr'd, her teeth (for rage) do gnash,
The Basilisk with-in her eyes doth flash;
And, one by one, she plucks-off (in despight)
Her hairs (no hairs, but hissing Serpents right)
And, one by one, she severally bestowes-'em
Through all the Camp, in every Captains bosom,
Blowes every vein full of her furious mood,
Burns every Souldier with the thirst of bloud:
And, with the same blade that she died once
In valiant Gedeon's (Brother-slaughtered) Sons,
She sets the Brother to assail the Brother,
The Son the Sier, and deerest Friends each-other.
The swords new draw'n against their Enemies,
Miraculous slaughter of the Heathen by their mutual swords, diuided among themselues.
Now (new revolted) hack their owne Allies:
And Mars so mads them in their mutuall Iar,
That strange, turns civill, civill, houshold War:
[Page 597]Proud Edom heaws Moab and th' Ammonite;
Amon hunts Edom and the Moabite;
Moab assaults Amon and Edom too;
And each of them wars first with th' other two,
Then with themselues: then Amon Amon thrills,
Moab wounds Moab, Edom Edom kills.
From Hoast to Hoast, blinde-fold Despair, in each,
Disports her self; those that are one in speach,
Vnder one colours, of one very coat,
Combat each other, cut each others throat.
Rage-full confusion every-where commands,
The Confusion of such a Camp so together by the cares.
Against his Captain the Lieutenant stands,
The Corporal vpon his Seriant flies,
And basest Boyes against their Masters rise.
Nay, drad Bellona passeth fiercely further,
Th' owne Vnkle doth his owne deer Nephew murther,
The Nephew th' Vnkle with the like repayes,
Cosen thrils Cosen, Kins-man Kins-man slayes:
Yea, even the Father kills his Son most cruell,
And from one Belly springs a bloudy Duell;
Twins fiercely fight: and while each woundeth other,
And drawes the life-blood of his half-self Brother,
Feels not his owne to fail, till in the place
Both fall; as like in fury as in face:
But, strength at length (not stomach) fails in either;
And, as together born, they die together.
The faithfull Hoast drawes neer, and gladly goes
Viewing the bodies of their breath-les Foes.
Men, Camels, Horse (som saddled, som with-out)
Pikes, Quivers, Darts, lie mingled all about
The bloudy Field; and from the Mountains nigh
The Rav'ns begin with their pork-porking cry:
Heer seems an Arm, a Giant late did owe,
As if it would to a Dwarf's shoulder growe:
A Princes hand there (knowen by pretious signes)
Vnto the arm of a base Porter ioyns;
An olde-Man's head heer to a Stripling's neck;
And there, lean buttocks to a brawny back:
[Page 598]Heer, of a Body iustly cloven in two,
The bloudy tripes are trailing to and fro;
There, fiue red fingers of a Hand cut-off
Gripe still the truncheon of a steeled staff;
And, there (at-once, all broached on one Lance)
Lie three braue Horse-men in a deadly Trance.
Chariots, vnfurnisht and vnharnest stood,
Over the spoaks, vp to the naves in blood▪
Th' Engaddian Snowes melt in vermilion streams,
And (now no marvell) Iaruel warmly steams,
Stopt with dead bodies; so, that never-more
It should haue seen the Ocean (as before)
Nor payd the Tribute that his Duty craues,
Saue that the crimsin holp the crystall waues.
Praysed be God (sayd Iuda) praysed be
The Lord of Hoasts, the King of Maiesty,
That moawes his Foes; that doth his owne protect,
That holds so deer the blood of his elect:
That fights for vs, and teacheth vs to fight,
Conquer, and triumph of the Pagan's might:
And (finally) doth punish Tyrants fel,
With their owne swords, to saue his Israel.
But, notwithstanding Ieroboam's Plot,
Wicked genera­tiō of the wicked.
His third Successor yet succeeds him not;
A barbarous Fury raigneth in his Race,
His bloudy Scepter shifteth hands apace:
Nadab his son, and all his seed beside,
Feels cursed Baasha's cruell Paricide;
And Baasha's issue is by Zimri slain,
Zimri by Zimri; then doth Omri raign,
Omri, accursed for his owne transgression,
But more accursed for the foule succession
Of such a Son as Achab (sold to Sin)
That boldly brings Sidonian Idols in,
Builds vnto Baal; and, of all Kings the worst,
Weds Iezabel, adds Drunkenness to Thirst.
Blinde Superstition's like a drop of Oyl
2. Similes.
Still spreading, till it all a Garment spoyl:
[Page 599]Or, like a spark, fall'n in a floor of Mat,
Which soon inflameth all the Chamber; that,
Fiers the whole House; the House, the Town about;
Consuming all, and never going-out,
Till Goods, and Bodies, Towrs, and Temples high,
All in a Toomb of their owne ashes lye:
When one begins (how little be't) to stray
From the diuine Law's little-beaten way,
We cursed fall into the black Abysse
Of all foul Errrors: every Sin that is
Donns sacred Mask; and, monsters most ahhord,
Killing the Saints we think to please the Lord,
As Achab did; who vanquisht with the spel,
Speach, grace, and face of painted Iezabel,
Presumes to lay his sacrilegious hand
On th' oyled Priests that in Gods presence stand,
Of honest Men his Towns depopulates,
Lessens the Number of his Noble States,
T'augment his Lands; and, with the bloud of His,
Wrights th' Instruments of his new Purchases.
But slain (at last) by th' Hoast of Benhadad,
His Son
Ahaziah.
succeeds him (and almost as bad)
He breaks his neck, and leaues his fatall place,
To 's brother Ioram, last of Achab's race;
An odious race, th' alliance of whose blood
Corrupts the Heirs of Iosaphat the good,
Causing his Son (charm'd with Athalia's wile)
In's Brother's bloud his armed arms to file,
And Ahaziah's giddy brain t'infect
With the damn'd Error of Samarian Sect.
But, though these Kings did openly oppugn
And stubbornly the King of Heav'n impugn;
Though Abrah'ms issue (now degenerate)
Did but too-neer their Princes imitate;
Though over all, a Chaos of confusion,
A Hell of Horror, Murder, and Delusion,
A Sea of Sins (contempt of God and Good)
Cover'd these Kingdoms (as another Flood);
[Page 600]God left not yet that Age without his Oracles:
A hundred Prophets, strong in word and miracles,
Resist their rage and from sad drowning keep
The wracked planks on th' Idol-Ocean deep.
Cleer Sommer Noons need not a candle-light;
Simile.
Nor sound, Physician; but clean opposite:
So, in our Soules, the more Sin's Floods do flowe,
The more God makes his Mercie's Gulf to growe.
For his Embassage in sad Achab's dayes,
Elijah the Pro­phet.
Thes bite Elijah did th' Almighty rayse;
Who, burning-bold in spirit and speach, cries-out,
In Achab's ears and all his Court about:
O impious Achab, fear'st thou not (quoth he)
The sulphury flames and Thunder-bolts that be
Already roaring in the dreadfull fist
Of God the Lord, that doth the proud resist,
Revengeth wrongs, th' outrageous Heathen's Hammer,
Terror of Terrors, and all Tyrants Tamer?
Doost thou not knowe, He threats to Israel
A Heav'n of Brass, if they his grace repel,
Reiect his loue, and get them other Loues,
Whoring about with forrain▪ Gods, in Groves?
God cannot lie: His dreadfull Threatnings ever
Draw dreadfull Iudgements (if our Sin persever):
As the Lord lives, this thirsty yawning Plain
In seav'n six Month's drinks not a drop of Rain.
No sooner spoken, but in present view,
Description of the extreame Drought in Israel for three years and a half.
The Heav'ns begin to change their wonted hew;
Th' Aire deadly thick, doth quickly vanish quight;
To a sad Day succeeds a sadder Night:
A bloudy vapour and a burning cloud,
By day, begirt the Sun (all coaly-browd);
By night, the Moon denies to fading Flowrs
Her silver sweat, and pearly-purled showrs:
The Welkin's studded with new Blazing-Stars,
Flame-darting Lances, fiery crowns and Cars,
Kids, Lions, Bears, wrapt in prodigious Beams,
Dreadfull to see: and Phoebus (as it seems)
[Page 601]Weary of travail in so hote a time,
Rests all the while in boyling Cancer's clime.
Hills, lately hid with snowe, now burn a main:
May hath no Deaw, nor February Rain:
Sad Atlas Nieces, and the Hunter's Star
Have like effect as the Canicular:
Zephyre is mute, and not a breath is felt,
But hectik Auster's, which doth all things swelt,
And (panting-short) puffs every-where vpon
The withered Plains of wicked Shomeron,
Th' vnsavorie breath of Serpents crawling o're
The Lybians pest-full and vn-blest-full shoar.
Now Herbs to fail, and Flowrs to fall began;
The miserable effects therof.
Mirtles and Bayes for want of moist grew wan:
With open mouth the Earth the aid doth crave
Of black-blew Clouds: cleer Kishon's rapid wave
Wars now no more with Bridges arched round;
Sorek, for shame, now hides him vnder ground:
Mokmur, whose murmur troubled with the noise
The sleeping Shepheards, hath nor stream, nor voice,
Cedron's not Cedron, but (late) Cedron's bed,
And Iordan's Current is as dry, as dead.
The beam-brow'd Stag, and strong-neckt Bull do ly
On palc-faç't banks of Arnon (also dry)
But, neither sup, nor see the Crystal Wave,
Ouer the which so often swom they have:
The lusty Courser that late scorn'd the ground,
Now lank and lean, with crest and courage downd,
With rugged tongue out of his chained mouth,
With hollow-flanks panting for inward drouth,
Rouling his Bit, but with a feeble rumor,
Would sweat for faintnes, but he wanteth humour:
The Towr-backt Camel, that best brooketh Thirst,
And on his bunch could have transported yerst
Neer a whole Houshold, now is able scant
To bear him self, he is so feebly-faint.
Both yong and olde, both of the base and best,
Feel a fel Aetna in their thirstie brest:
[Page 602]To temper which, they breath, but to their wo:
For, for pure air, they sup into them, so,
A putride, thick, and pestilentiall fume,
Which stuffs their Lights and doth their lives consume.
Ther's not a Puddle (though it strangely stink)
But dry they draw't, Sea-Water's dainty Drink:
And fusty-Bottles, from beyond-Sea (South)
Bring Nile to Somer, for the Kings owne mouth.
For, though the Lord th' whole Land of Syria smights,
Th' heat of his Anger on Samaria lights
With greatest force; whose furious Prince implies,
The Prophet Cause of all these miseries.
Therefore, he fearing Achab's ragefull hate,
Down to Brook Ch [...]rith's hollow banks he gate;
Where, for his Cooks, Caters, and Wayters, tho
From the foure windes the winged people go.
Thence, to Sareptha▪ where he craves the aid
The Widow of Sarepta.
Of a poor Widow, who thus mildely said,
Alas! fain would I, but (God wot) my store
Is but of bread for one meal (and no more):
Yet, give me (saith he) giue me som (I pray);
Who soweth sparing, sparing reapeth ay:
Sure a good turn shall never guerdon want;
A Gift to Needlings is not given, but lent:
T's a Well of Wealth, which doth perpetuall run:
A fruitfull Field which thousand yeelds for one.
While thus he said, and staid; the Widow glad,
The fruits of Charity.
Gives to him frankly all the bread she had:
She lost not by't: for, all the Famin-while,
That rag'd in Tyre, her little Flowr and Oyl
Decreased not, yet had she plenty still,
For her and hers to feed in time their fill.
At length befell fel Death to take-away
Her onely Son, and with her Son her Ioy:
She prayes her Guest, and he implores his God,
And stretching him vpon the breath-les Lad,
Thus cries aloud: Vouch safe me, Lord, this boon,
Restore this child's soule, which (it seems) to-soon
[Page 603]Thou hast bereft: O! let it not be said,
That heer for nought I haue so ought been fed:
Let not my presence be each-where abhorr'd;
Nor Charity with thee to want Reward.
As a small seedling of that fruitfull Worm,
Simile.
Which (of it self) fine shining Sleaves doth form,
By the warm comfort of a Virgin brest,
Begins to quicken, creepeth (as the rest)
Re-spins a-fresh, and, in her witty loom,
Makes of her corps her corps a pretious Toomb:
This Childe (no Man, but Man's pale Module now)
With death ith bosom, horror on the brow,
The bait of Worms, the Booty of the Beer,
At sacred words begins his ey to rear;
Swimming in Death, his powrs do re-assemble,
His spirits (rewarm'd) with-in his artirs tremble;
He fetcht a sigh, then lively rysing too,
Talks, walks, and eats, as he was woont to doo.
Fain would the Mother haue besought the Seer
T' have past the rest of his colde Olde-age heer:
But th' holy spirit him sodain hence doth bring
Vnto Samaria to th' incensed King;
Who rates him thus: O Basilisk! O Bane!
Art not thou He that sow'st th' Isaacian Plain
With Trouble-Tares? Seditious, hast not thou
The like Impu­tations, in our dayes, the blind Popelings and profane [...] orld­lings haue layd vpon the Gospell and the Prea­chers thereof.
Profan'd the Laws of our Fore-fathers now?
Broken all Orders, and the Altars bann'd
Of th' holy Gods, Protectors of our Land?
Since thy fond Preaching did heer first begin,
More and more heavie hath Heav'ns anger bin
Vpon vs all; and Baal, blasphem'd by thee,
Hath since that season never left vs free▪
From grievous Plagues: it is a Hellwe feel,
Our Heav'n is Brass, our Earth is all of Steel.
No, no, O King (if I the Truth shall tell)
Thou, thou art he that troublest Israell.
Thou (give me leave) thou and thy Grand-sires, mad▪
After strange Gods in every Grove to gad,
[Page 604]Have left the true, wise, wondrous (all-abroad)
Omnipotent, victorious, glorious God:
Such shall you proue him, if you dare oppone
All your Baal-Prophets against me, but one.
Content, quoth Achab: then to Carmel's top
The Schismik Priests were quickly called vp:
Vnto their Baal an Altar build they there;
To God, the Prophet doth another rear:
Both have their Beasts; and by their prayer must prove
Whose God is GOD, by Fier from Heav'n above.
The People's eyes, and eares, and mindes are bent
Vpon these Maruails, to observe th' euent
(Maruails, which might well cleer the difference
That had so long depended in suspence
'Twixt Israel and Iuda; and direct
Th' Earth how to serue Heav'ns sacred Architect)
As when two Buls, inflamed fiercely-fell,
Simile.
Met front to front, their forked arms do mell,
The feeble Heards of Heifers in a maze
Twixt hope and fear, vnfeeding, stand at gaze,
To see the Fight, and censure which do prove
The valiantest, that he may be their Loue.
Baal's baalling Priests call and cry out for life,
They gash their flesh, with Launcet and with knife,
Baals Priests.
They cruell make their blood to spin about
(As Claret wine from a pearç't Peece doth spout)
And, madly shaking heads, leggs, sides and arms,
They howling chant these Dithyrambik charms;
Help, help, O Baal, O Baal attend our cryes,
Baal, hear vs Baal, O Baal, bow down thine eyes:
O Stratian, Clarian, Eleutherian Powrs,
Panomphaean God, approve vs thine, thee ours:
O Epicarpian! O Epistatirian,
Phyxian, Feretrian, O Exacestirian,
Xenian, Messapian, O Lebradean BAAL,
O Assabine, BAAL-SAMEN, hear our Call.
Elijah, that their bloody Rites abhord,
And knowes aright the seruice of the Lord,
[Page 605]T' appease his wrath he doth not scarre his skin;
Nor with self-wounds presume his grace to win,
Nor makes himself vnfitting for his function,
By selfly stripes (as causing more compunction)
Nor, thrild with bodkins, raves in frantik-wise,
And in a furie seems to prophetize:
But offers God his heart, in steed of blood;
His speech is sober, and as milde his mood.
Cry loud, quoth he: your God is yet perchance
Ir [...]nia.
In a deep sleep, or doth in Arms advance
Against his Foes (th' Egyptian Deïties)
Or is consulting how to keep the Flies
From off his Altar. But, O Izrael!
Alas! why yoakst thou God with Baal (or Bel)?
Alas! how long thus wilt thou halt twixt either,
And fondly mix Darnel and Wheat together
In thy Faith's Field? If Baal be God indeed,
Then boldly serue him, seek him sole at need:
But, if blew Sea, and winged Firmament,
Th' all-bearing Earth, and Storm-breed Element,
Be but the least Works of th' Almighty hand
Of Iacob's God: If Heav'n, Aire, Sea, and Land,
And all in all, and all in euery one,
By his owne finger be sustain'd alone:
If he have cast those cursed Nations out,
Which yerst defil'd this fair, fat Land about;
To give it thee, to plant thee in their place,
Why him alone doost thou not ay imbrace,
And serue him onely in thy Soule and Heart,
Who in his Love brooks none to share a part?
The cord vn-twisted weakens: and who serves
Two Lords at-once, to lose them both deserves.
Baal dead (thouseest) hears not his Servants call,
Much less can grant them their Desires at all:
But, Iaacob's God, IEHOVA, ELOHIM,
Never deceives their hope that trust in him.
Hear me therefore, O Lord, and from above
With Sacred Fire (thy Soverain powr to prove)
[Page 606]Consume this Bullock, and shewe by the same
That thou art GOD, and I thy Servant am:
And to thy Fold (thy Churches Lap) repeal
Thy wandring Flock, thy chosen Izrael.
As falls a Meteor in a Sommer Even,
Simile.
A sodain Flash coms flaming down from Heav'n,
Licks dry the Dikes, and instantly, at-once,
Burns all to Ashes, both the Altar-stones,
And th' Offered Bullock: and the People fall
In zealous fury on the Priests of Baal;
And, by Elijah's prayer, soon obtain
Rain, which so often they had askt in vain.
For, what is it Elijah cannot do?
If he be hungry, Fouls, and Angels too,
Becom his Stewards. Fears he th' armed Bands
Of a fel Tyrant? from their bloody hands
To rescue him, Heav'n (his confederate)
Consumes with Fire them and their fierie hate.
Or, would he pass a Brook that brooks no bay,
Nor Bridge, nor Bank? The Water giues him way.
Or, irks him Earth? To Heav'n alive he hies,
And (sauing Henoch) onely He not-dies.
This Man of God, discoursing with his heir
Elijah taken vp aliue into Hea­ven.
Of th' vpper Kingdom and of Gods Affair,
A sodain whirl-winde, with a whiffing Fire,
And flaming Chariot rapts him vp intire,
Burns not, but fines; and doth (in fashion strange)
By death-les Death, mortall immortall change.
A long-tail'd squib, a flaming ridge, for rut
Seems seen a while, where the bright Coach hath cut.
This sacred Rape, nigh rapt Elisha too;
Who, taking vp his Tutors Mantle, tho,
Follows as far as well he could with ey
The fire-snort Palfreys, through the sparkling Sky;
Crying, My father, father mine fare-well,
The Chariots and the Horse of Izrael.
The Thisbian Prophet hangs not in the Air,
Amid the Meteors to be tossed there,
[Page 607]As Mists and Rains, and Hail, and hoarie Plumes,
And other Fierie many-formed Fumes:
Amid the Air tumultuous Satan roules;
And not the Saints, the happy, heav'nly Soules.
Nor is he nailed to some shining Wheel,
Ixion-like continually to reel;
For CHRIST his flesh transfigur'd, and divine,
Mounted aboue the Arches Crystalline:
And where CHRIST is, from pain and passion free,
There (after death) shall all his Chosen bee.
Elijah therfore climbs th' Empyreal Pole,
Where, ever-blest in body and in soule,
Contemns this World, becoms an Angel bright,
And doth him firm to the TRINE-ONE vnite.
But how, or why should He this vantage haue
Yer CHRIST (right call'd the first-fruits of the Grave)?
O happy passage! O sweet, sacred Flight!
O blessed Rape! thou raptest so my spright
In this Dispute, and mak'st my weaker wit
So many wayes to cast-about for it,
That (I confess) the more I do contend,
I more admire, and less I comprehend.
For lack of wings, then biding heer belowe
With his Successor, I proceed to showe,
How, soon as he took-vp his Cloak (to bear-it)
Elizeus or Elisha.
Within Elisha shin'd Elijah's Spirit;
By powr whereof, immediatly he cleaves
An vn-couth way through Iordan's rapid waves:
Past hope he gives to the Sunamian Wife
A Son; and soon restores him dead to life:
With sodain blindness smightes the Syrian Troup
The which in Dothan did him round in coup:
Increaseth bread, and of a pound of Oyl
Fills all the Vessels in a Town that while:
His hoary head (in Bethel) laught to scorn,
Is veng'd by Bears, on forty children torn:
Naaman's cleans'd; and, for foul Simonie,
Gehazi's punisht with his Leprosie:
[Page 608]Mends bitter Broath, he maketh Iron swim,
As porie Cork, vpon the Water's brim.
Rich Iericho's (sometimes) sal-peetry soil,
Through brinie springs that did about it boil,
Brought forth no fruit, and her vn-holsom Brooks
Voyded the Town of Folk, the Fields of Flocks:
The Towns-men, therefore, thus besought the Seer;
Thou seest our Citie's situation heer
Is passing pleasant; but the ground is naught,
The Water worse: we pray thee mend the fault,
Sweeten our Rivers, make them pleasanter,
Our Hills more green, our Plains more fertiler.
The Prophet calls but for a Cruse of Salt
(O strangest cure!) to cure the brynie fault
Of all their Floods; and, casting that in one
Foul stinking Spring, heals all their streams anon:
Not, for an houre, or for a day, or twain,
But to this Day they sweet and sound remain.
Their Valley, walled with bald Hills before,
But even a horror to behold, of-yore;
Is now an Eden, and th' All-circling Sun,
For fruitfull beauty, sees no Paragon.
There (labour-les) mounts the victorious Palm,
There (and but there) growes the all-healing Balm,
There ripes the rare cheer-cheek Myrobalan,
Minde-gladding Fruit, that can vn-olde a Man.
O skilfull Husbands, giue your fattest Plains
Five or six earths; spare neither cost nor pains,
To water them; rid them of weeds and stones,
With Muck and Marle batten and baste their bones;
Vnles God bless your Labour and your Land,
You plough the Sea, and sowe vpon the sand.
This, Iurie knowes; a Soil somtimes (at least)
Sole Paradise of all the proudest East:
But now the brutest and most barren place,
The curse of God, and all the Worlds disgrace:
And also Greece, on whom Heav'ns (yerst so good)
Rain nothing now but their drad Furie's Flood.
[Page 609]The grace of God is a most sure Revenue,
A Sea of Wealth, that ever shall continew,
A never-failing Field, which needs not ay
The cool of Night, nor comfort of the Day.
What shall I say? This sacred Personage
Not only profits to his proper Age;
But, after life, life in his bones hee leaves,
And dead, the dead he raiseth from their graves.
Nor is Elisha famous more for Miracles,
Than for the Truth of his so often Oracles:
He showes the Palms and Foils of Israell,
Benhadad's death, the Raign of Hazael:
Beyond all hope, and passing all appearance,
Deiected Ioram's neer relief he warrants.
For, now the Syrian, with insulting Powrs,
The fiege and Famine of Sa­maria.
So streict besiegeth the Samarian Towrs,
That even al-ready in each nook agrising,
Fell, wall-break (all-break) Famin, ill-advising
Howls hideously: even the bare bones are seen
(As sharp as kniues) thorough the emptie skin
Of the best bred: and each-man seems (almost)
No Man indeed, but a pale ghastly Ghost.
Som snatch the bread from their owne Babes, that pine;
Som eat the Draff that was ordain'd for Swine,
Som doo defile them with forbidden flesh,
Som bite the grass their hunger to refresh;
Som, gold for Birds-dung (waight for waight) exchange;
Som, of their Boots make them a Banquet strange,
Som fry the Hay-dust, and it savorie finde;
Som, Almond-shels and Nut-shels gladly grinde,
Som mince their Fathers Wills, in parchment writ,
And so devoure their Birth-right at a bit.
The King, when wearie he would rest awhile,
Dreams of the Dainties he hath had yer-while,
Smacks, swallows, grindes both with his teeth and iaws;
But, only winde his beguil'd bellie draws:
And, then awaking, of his owne spare Diet
Robbs his owne brest, to keep his Captains quiet.
[Page 610]He is importun'd heer and there, about:
Aboue the rest, a Woman skrieketh out
In moornfull manner, with disheueled haire;
Her face despight, her fashion showes despaire.
O! stay my Liege, heat, hear a grieuous thing;
Mothers eat their owne Chil­dren.
Iustice, great Ioram, Iustice, gentle King.
O, no, not Iustice: (did I Iustice craue?)
Fondling, in Iustice, thou canst nothing haue
But a iust death; nay, but a Torture fell,
Nay, but a Torment, like the pains of Hell.
Yet, even this Plea is worse then death to me:
Then grant me Iustice, Iustice let it be.
For (O!) what horror can restrain desire▪
Of iust Revenge, when it is once afire?
My Lord, I bargain'd, and (to bind the Pact)
By solemn Oath I sealed the Contract;
Contract, indeed cruell, yet could not be
Infring'd, or broken, without Crueltie.
(Tell it O Tongue, why stay'st thou so vpon-it?
Dar'st thou not say-it, hauing dar'd and don-it?
Not having fear'd Heav'ns King, how canst thou fear
An earthly King?) Then, thus (my Liege) while-yer.
I, and my Neighbour desperately agreed,
Iointly to eate, successiuely, our seed;
Our owne deer Children: and (O luck-les Lot!)
Mine first of all, is destin'd to the Pot:
Forth-with I catch-him and I snatch him to-me
Vp in mine armes: he straight begins to woo-me,
Stroaks, colls, and huggs me, with his arms and thighes:
And, smiling sweet, Mam-mam, mam-mam, he cryes,
Then kisses me; and, with a thousand toyes,
Thinks to delight me with his wonted ioyes.
I looke away, and with my hand addrest,
Bury my knife within his tender brest:
And, as a Tigresse, or the Dam of Bears,
A Fawn or Kid in hundred gobbets tears,
I tear him quick, dress him, and on our Table▪
I set him: oh! ('tis now no time to fable)
[Page 611]I taste him first, I first the feast begin,
His blood (my blood) runs round about my Chin,
My Childe returns, re-breeding in my Womb;
And of my Flesh my Flesh is shamefull Tomb:
Soon cloyd (alas!) but little could I eat,
And vp again that little striues to get.
But she, she layes it in, she greedy plyes-it,
And all night long she sits to gourmandize-it:
Not for her fill so much, of such (think I)
As to prolong the more my misery:
O God, sayd she (and smiles in eating it)
What a sweet morsell! what a dainty bit!
Blest be the brest that nu [...]c't such meat for me;
But more the Womb that bare it, so to be.
So (to be brief) my Son is eat: But hers
Alive and lustie in her arms she bears.
Why should her Pittie, rather her despight,
Doo both her Faith, Me, and my Son, vn-right?
Ah! for her belly, rather then her Boy,
She playd this prank (and robd me of my Ioy).
She did it not, of tender hart to save him;
But, greedy-gut, that she alone might haue him.
Therfore, O King, doo Iustice in this case:
Nor craue I pardon of thy princely grace
For mine Offence; (such an Offence, I knowe,
As yet grim Minos never iudg'd belowe)
For if I should, how should I doo, for meat;
Not having now another Childe to eat?
No: this is all I crave before I die,
That I may taste but of Her sonns sweet thigh:
Or, that (at least) mine eye, more iust then cruell,
May see him slain by her, my Horrors Fuell.
But, if you waigh not mine vnfained [...]ears
(Indeed vn-worthy): yet vouchsafe your ears
To the loud Plaints of my lamenting Son;
Who, with strange murmurs rumbling vp and down,
Seems in my bowels as reviv'd to groan,
And to your Highnes, thus to make his moan;
Sir, will you suffer, without all revenge,
Mens cursed malice boldly to infringe
Law, Faith, and Iustice, Vows, and Oaths, and all;
As buzzing Flies tear Cob-webs on a wall?
Ah! shall I then descend alone belowe?
Dy vn-reveng'd? foster my cruel Foe?
And then-cast-forth in foulest Excrement,
Infect the Aier, offend the Element;
The while her Darling, on his Hobby-horse
About the Hall shall ride, and prance, and course;
And imitate Mens actions (as an Ape),
Build paper-Towrs, make Puppets, sit in Lap?
No: let him die, let him (as I) be cut,
Let him (as I) be in two Bellies put:
Full-fill the Pact; that so our wretched Mothers
Their Guilt and Grief, may either's match with others.
The King, less mov'd with pitty than with horror,
Thunders these words, raging in threat-full terror;
Vengeance and mischief on mine owne head light,
If curst Elisha keep his head this night:
And, as he spake, forth in a rage he flings,
To execute his bloody Threatenings.
Sir, said the Prophet, you have seen the skathe
Deuouring Famin heer performed hath:
But, by to-morrow this time (God hath said)
Samaria's Gates shall even abound with Bread.
Tush (sayd a Minion of the Court, hard by,
Of surly speech, proud gait, and lofty ey)
Though God should open all Heav'ns windows wide,
It cannot be: Yes, Infidell (reply'd
The zealous Prophet) Thouthy Self (in sum)
Shalt see it then: but slialt not taste a Crum.
Thus said Elisha, and th' Almightie Powr
Perform'd his Sayings in the very howr.
Her scarlet Robe Aurora had not donn'd,
Nor had she yet limn'd the Euphratean strond
With trembling shine, neither was Phoebus yet
Willing to wake out of a drouzie Fit,
[Page 613]When pallid FEAR, flyes to the Pagan Hoast,
Description and effects of Fear.
Wilde-staring Hag, shiv'ring, and wavering most;
She, that her voice and visage shifts so oft:
She that in Counsails strives to lift aloft
Irresolution, to be President
(Canker of Honor, curse of Government):
She that even trembles in her surest Arms,
Starts at a leaf, swouns at report of harms:
Beleeves all, sees all; and so swayeth all,
That, if she say, the Firmament doth fall:
There be three Suns: This, or that Mountain sinks:
Paul's Church doth reel, or the foundation shrinks:
It is beleev'd, 'tis seen: and, seis'd by Her,
The other Senses are as apt to err.
Clashing of Arms, Rattling of iron Cars,
Murmur of Men (a World of Soldiars)
Neighing of Horse, noise of a thousand Drums
With dreadfull sound from the next Vale ther coms.
The Syrian Camp, conceiuing that the Troups
Of Nabathits, Hethits, and Ethyops,
Hyr'd by th' Isaacians, came from every side,
To raise their Siege, and to repell their pride;
Fly for their lives, disordered and disperst
(Amid the Mountains) so well-ordered yerst.
One, in his Cap-case leaves-behinde his Treasure:
To bridle's horse another hath not leasure;
Another, hungry on the grass hath set
His Break-fast out, but dares not stay to eat.
One thinks him far, that yet hath little gon;
Another weens him in plain ground, anon
He breaks his neck into a Pit: another
Hearing the Boughs that brush against each other,
And doubting it to be the Conquerer,
He wretched dies of th' only wound of FEAR.
As, after tedious and continuall rain,
Simile.
The honey-Flies haste from their Hiues again,
Suck heer and there, and bear into their bowr
The sweetest sap of euery fragrant flowr:
[Page 614]So from besieg'd Samaria each man hies,
Vnto the▪ Tents of fear-fled Enemies;
Wherein, such store of corn and wine they pill,
That in one day their hungry Town they fill:
And in the Gate, the Croud that issueth,
Treads th' vnbeleeuing Courtier down to death;
So that (at once) even both effects agree
Iust with Elisha's holy prophecie.
From this School comes the Prophet Amethite,
The twice-born Preacher to the Niniuite.
Ionas, be gon: hie, hie thee (said th' Almightie)
The ship-Wrack of IONAS.
To Niniuè, that great and wanton Citie:
Cry day and night, cry out vnto them all;
Yet forty daies, and Niniue shall fall.
But, 'gainst th' Eternall, Ionas shuts his eare,
And ships himself to sail another-where:
Wherfore, the Lord (incensed) stretcht his arm,
To wrack the wretch in suddain fearfull Storm.
Now, Nereus foams, and now the furious waues
A liuely Des­cription of a storm at Sea.
All topsie-turned by th' Aeolian slaues,
Do mount and roule: Heav'ns war against the Waters,
And angrie Thetis Earth's green bulwarks batters:
A sable ayrso muffles-vp the Sky,
That the sad Saylers can no light descry:
Or, if som beam break through their pitchy night,
'Tis but drad flashing of the Lightning's light.
Strike, strike our saile (the Master cries) amain,
Vail misne and sprit-sail: but he cries in vain;
For in his face the blasts so bluster ay,
That his Sea-gibberish is straight born away.
Confused Cries of men dismay'd in minde,
Seas angry noise, lowd bellowing of the winde,
Heav'ns Thunder-claps, the tackles whisteling
(As strange Musicians) dreadfull descant sing.
The Eastern winde driues on the roaring train
Of white-blew billows, and the clouds again
With fresh Seas crosse the Sea, and she doth send
(In counter-change) a rain with salt y-blend.
[Page 615]Heav'ns (headlong) seem in Thetis lap to fall,
Seas scale the skies, and God to arm this All
Against one ship, that skips from stars to ground,
From waue to waue (like Balloons windie bound)
While the sad Pilot, on a foamy Mount,
Thinks from the Pole to see Hells pit profound;
And, then, cast down vnto the sandie shole,
Seems from lowe Hell to see the lofty Pole:
And, feeling foes within and eek without,
As many waues, so many deaths doth doubt.
The Billows, beating round about the ship,
Vncauk her keel, and all her seams vnrip;
Whereby the waters, entring vncontroul'd,
Ebbing abroad, yet flowe apace in hold:
For euery Tun the plied Pump doth rid,
A floud breaks in; the Master mastered
With dread and danger (threatning euery-way)
Doubts where to turn him, what to doo, or say,
Which waue to meet, or which salt surge to flie;
So yeelds his charge in Sea to liue or die.
As, many Cannons, 'gainst a Castle bent,
Simile.
Make many holes, and much the rampire rent,
And shake the wall, but yet the latest shock
Of fire-wingd bullets batters down the Rock:
So, many mounts that muster 'gainst this Sail,
With roaring rage doo this poor ship assail;
But yet the last (with foaming fury swoln,
With boistrous blasts of angry tempests boln)
Springs the main-mast: the mast with boystrous fall
Breaks down the deck, and sore affrights them all.
Pale Idol-like, one stands with arms a-cross:
One moans himself: one mourns his childrens loss:
One, more than Death, this form of Death affrights:
Another calls on Heav'ns vn-viewed Lights:
One, 'fore his eys his Ladies looks beholds:
Another, thus his deadly fear vnfolds:
Curst thirst of gold! O how thou causest care!
My bed of Doun I change for hatches bare:
[Page 616]Rather than rest, this stormie war I chose:
T' enlarge my fields, both land and life I lose:
Like piezless plume, born-vp by Boreas breath,
With all these wings I soar, to seek my death,
To Heav'n and Hell, by angry Neptune led,
Where least I scape it, all these sails I spread.
Then thus another: Sure no winde (quoth he)
Could raise this Storm; som rarer Prodigy
Hath caus'd this Chaos (cause of all our grief)
Some Atheist dog, som Altar-spoyling theef
Lurks in this ship: com (Mates) by lot let's trie
(To saue the rest) the man that ought to die.
'Tis I (quoth Ionas) I indeed am cause
Of this black night, and all the fearfull flaws
Of this rough Winter; I must sole appease
(By my iust death) these wrath-full wrackfull Seas.
Then vp they heave him straight, and from the waste
Him suddainly into the Sea they cast.
The King of Windes calls home his churlish train,
And Amphitritè smooths her front again:
Th' Air's cloudy Robe returns to crystal cleer,
And smiling Heav'ns bright Torches re-appeer,
So soon as Ionas (to them all appease)
O're head and eares was soused in the Seas.
Thrice coms he vp, and thrice again goes down
Vnder the waves (yer he do wholly drown):
But then he sinks, and (wretched) roul'd along
The sands, and Oase, and rocks, and mud among;
Thus, thus he cries with lips of zealous faith:
Mercy (my God) shew mercy Lord (he saith).
Then God (who ever heares his childrens wish)
Provided straight a great and mighty Fish,
That swilling swallow'd Ionas in her womb,
A living Corps laid in a living Toomb.
Like as a Roach, or Ruff, or Gudgeon, born.
Simile.
By som swift stream into a weer (forlorn)
[...]risks to and fro, aloft and vnder dyves,
Fed with false hope to free their captive lyves:
[Page 617]The Prophet so (amazed) walks about
This wondrous Fish to finde an issue out,
This mighty Fish, o [...] Whale-like huginess,
Or bigger-bellied, though in body less.
Where am I, Lord? (alas!) within what vaults?
In what new Hell doost thou correct my faults?
Strange punishment! my body thou bereav'st,
Of mother earth, which to the dead thou leav'st:
Whither thy wrath drives me, I do not knowe.
I am depriv'd of air, yet breathe and blowe:
My sight is good, yet can I see no skie:
Wretch, nor in Sea, nor yet a-shore am I:
Resting, I run; for moving is my Cave:
And, quick, I couch within a living Grave.
While thus he plain'd; the third day, on the sand
The friendly Fish did cast him safe a-land.
And then, as if his weary limbs had been
So long refresht, and rested at an Inn,
He seems to flie; and, com'n to Niniue,
Your sins have reached vp to Heav'n (quoth he)
Wo and alas, wo, wo vnto you all:
Yet forty dayes and Ninive shall fall.
Thus Ionas preacht: But, soon the Citizens,
Sincerely toucht with sense of their foul sins,
Dispatch (in haste) to Heaven, Repentance sad,
Sweet-charming Prayer, Fasting hairy-clad.
Repentance makes two Torrents of her eyes,
Her humble brow dares scant behold the skies:
Her sobbing brest is beaten blew and black:
Her tender flesh is rent with rugged sack:
Her head (all hoar'd with harty sorrows past)
With dust and ashes is all over-cast.
Prayer's head, and sides, and feet are set about
With gawdy wings (like Ioves Arcadian Scout):
Her body flaming, from her lips there fumes.
Nard, Incense, Mummy, and all rich Perfumes.
Fasting (though faint) her face with ioie she cheers,
Strong in her weakness, young in aged yeers;
[Page 618]Quick health's preserver, curbing Cupid's fits,
Watchfull, purge-humors, and refining-wits.
Then Faith (Grand Vsher of th' Empyreal Court)
Vshers these Legats by a golden Port
Into the Presence, and them face to face
Before th' All-Monarch's glorious Throne doth place;
Where (zealous) prostrate on her humble knee,
Thus Prayer speaks in name of all the Three:
God, slowe to wrath! O Father, prone to grace!
Lord, sheath again thy vengeance sword a space.
If at thy beam of Iustice thou wilt waigh
The works of men that wander every day:
If thou their metall by that touch-stone try,
Which fearfull-sounding from thy mouth doth flie:
If thou shalt summ their Sins (which pass the sand)
Before thee (Lord) who shall indure to stand?
Not Ninive alone shall perish then;
But all this All be burnt to ashes clean:
And even this day shall thy iust wrath prevent
The dreadfull Day of thy last Dooms event.
This world to Chaos shall again return;
And on thine Altars none shall incense burn.
O therfore spare (Lord) spare the Ninivites,
Forgiue their Sins; and, in their humbled sprights,
From this time forth thy sacred Laws ingrave:
Destroy them not; but daign them Lord to save:
Look not (alas!) what they have been before;
But vs regard, or thine owne mercy more.
Then, God reacht out his hand, vnfolds his frowns,
Dis-arms his arm of Thunder brusing-Crowns,
Bows graciously his glorious flaming Crest,
And mildely grants (in th' instant) their request.
FINIS.

THE DECAY. THE IIII. BOOK OF THE IIII. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.

THE ARGVMENT.
Ambition's bitter fruit, fel Achab's Stock,
With his proud Queen (a painted Beauty-mock)
Extirpt by IEHV, IEHV's ligne likewise
Shallum supplants. King-killing Treacheries
Succeed a-rowe, with Wrack of ISRAEL.
Time-suiting Batts. Athaliah Tigress fel.
IOASH well-nurtur'd, natur'd-ill, doth run
After his kinde: he kills his Tutor's Son.
ZENACHERIB: life-lengthned EZECHIAH:
NABVCHADNEZAR: Captiue ZEDECHIAH.
HVff-pufft AMBITION, Tinder-box of WAR,
Ambition pour­trayed to the life.
Down-fall of Angels, Adam's murderer,
Patent of Treasons, Reason's Contradiction,
Earth's Enemie, and the Heav'ns Malediction,
O! how much Blood hath thy respect-lesrage
Shed in the World! showred on every Age!
O! Scepter's, Throne's, and Crown's insatiat Thirst,
How-many Treasons hast thou hatched yerst!
For, O! what is it that he dares not do,
Who th' helm of Empire doth aspire vnto?
He (to beguile the simple) makes no bone
To swear by God (for he beleeues ther's none);
His Sword's his Title; and who scapes the same,
Shall haue a Pistol, or a Poysonie dram:
[Page 620]Hee, fear'd of all, fears all: he breaks at once
The chains of Nature and of Nations:
Sick of the Father, his kinde hart is woe,
The good Old-man travails to Heav'n, so slowe:
His owne deer Babes (yet Cradled, yet in Clouts)
Haste but too-fast; are at his heels, hee doubts:
He passeth to his promis'd Happiness,
Vpon a Bridge of his Friends Carcases;
And Mounts (in fine) the golden Throne, by stayrs
Built of the Sculs of his owne Country's heirs.
Yet, thou permit t'st it, Lord; nay, with thy wings,
Coverest such Tyrants (even the shame of Kings).
But, not for nothing doo'st thou them for bear;
Their cruell scalps a cruell end shall tear:
And, when the Measure of their Sin is full,
Thy Hands are iron, though thy Feet be woll.
The Throne of Tyrants totters to and fro:
The blood-gained Scepter lasts not long (we knowe):
Nail driveth Nail: by tragik death device,
Ambitious harts doo play at
A kinde of Christmas play: wherein each hunteth other from his Seat. The name seemes deriued from the French le­uez sus, in Eng­lish, arise vp.
leuel sice;
Prov'd but too plain, in both the Houses Royall
Of Iacobs issue, but too-too dis-loyall:
As, if thou further with thy grace divine
My Verse and Vows, shall heer appear (in time).
GOD NOVV no longer could support th' excess
Of Achab's House, whose cursed wickedness
Was now top-full: and, Doggs already stood
Fawning and yawning for their promis'd blood.
Heav'ns haste their Work. Now, in tumultuous wise,
'Gainst Achab's Son doo his owne Soldiars rise;
Ichù.
Iehu's their Captain: who fore-sees, afar,
How-much, dispatch advantageth in War;
And, politik, doubles his Armie's speed,
To get before, yea, before Fame, indeed.
Ioram, surpris'd in feeble Bull-warks then
Vnfurnished of Victualls and of Men)
And, chiefly, wanting royall fortitude,
Vn-kingly yeelds vnto the Multitude.
Bold Nimshi's Son, Sir Iehu, what's this Thing?
What mean these Troups? what would you of the King?
Where shall the bolt of this black Thunder fall?
Say, bring'st thou Peace? or bring'st thou War, withall?
Sayd Ioram, lowd: but, Iehu lowder saith,
No (wretch) no Peace, but bloody Wars and death.
Then fled the King: and (as a Ship at Sea,
Simile.
Hearing the Heav'ns to threaten every way,
And Winter Storms with absent Stars compact,
With th' angrie Waters to conspire her wrack,
Strives not to ride it out, or shift abroad,
But plyes her Oares, and flyes into the Road)
He ierks his Iades, and makes them scour amain,
Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.
Which, Iehu spying, and well eying too,
As quick resolved what he hath to doo;
Cryes, Boy, my Bowe: then nocks an Arrow right,
His left hand meets the head, his brest the right;
As bends his Bowe, he bends; lets go the string:
Through the thin air, the winged shaft doth sing
King Ioram's Dirgé; and, to speed the more,
Pearces behinde him, and peeps-out before.
The Prince, now hurt (that had before no hart)
Fall's present dead, and with his Courtly-Cart
Bruis'd in the Fall (as had the Thisbite sayd)
The Field of Naboth with his blood berayd:
And Salem's King had also there his dew,
For ioyning hands with so profane a Crew.
Then, the proud Victor leads his loyall Troops
Towards the Court (that all in silence droops);
And, more for Self's loue, than for God's pure zeale,
Means to dispatch th' Earth's burthen Iezabel.
Iezabel.
The Queen had inkling: instantly she sped
To curl the Cockles of her new-bought head:
Th' Onyx, the Saphyr, Garnet, Diamand,
In various forms, cut by a curious hand,
Hang nimbly dancing in her hair, as spangles:
Or as the fresh red-yellow Apple dangles
[Page 622](In Autumn) on the Tree, when to and fro
The Boughs are waved with the windes that blowe.
The vpper garment of the stately Queen,
Her Pride.
Is rich gold Tissu, on a ground of green;
Where th' art-ful shuttle rarely did encheck
The
Changeable.
cangeant colour of a Mallards neck:
Tis figur'd o're with sundrie Flowrs and Fruits,
Birds, Beasts, and Insects, creeping Worms, and N [...]uts,
Of Gold-Smith's Work: a fringe of Gold about,
With Pearls and Rubies richly rare set-out,
Borders her Robe: and euery part descries
Cunning and Cost, contending for the prize.
Her neat, fit, startups of green velvet bee,
Flourisht with silver, and beneath the knee,
Moon-like, indented; but t'ned down the side
With Orient Pearls, as big as Filberd's pride.
But, besides all her sumptuous equipage
Her Painting
(Much fitter for her State, then for her age)
Close in her Closet, with her best Complexions,
She mends her Face's wrinkle-full defections,
Her Cheek she cherries, and her Ey she cheers,
And fains her (fond) a Wench of fifteen yeers;
Whether she thought to snare the Dukes affection:
Or dazle, with her pompous Prides reflection,
His daring eyes (as Fowlers, with a Glass,
Make mounting [...]arks com down to death apace):
Or, were it, that in death she would beseen
(As 'twere) interi'd in Tyrian Pomp, a Queen.
Chaste Lady-Mayds, heer must I speak to you,
That with vile Paynting spoyl your natiue hue
A iust I [...]vec­tiue against those 2. (Predo­minant) Court-Qualities.
(Not to inflame yonglings with wanton Thirst;
But to keep fashion with these Times accurst)
When one new taen, in your seem-Beauties snare,
That day and night to Hymen makes his Prayer,
At length espies (as who is it but spyes?)
Your painted brests, your painted cheeks, and eyes,
His Cake is dough; God dild you, he will none;
He l [...]aues his Suit, and thus he saith anon:
[Page 623]What should I doo with such a wanton Wife,
Which night and day would [...]ruciate my life
With Ieloux pangs? sith every-way she sets
Her borrow'd snares (not her owne hairs) for Nets▪
To catch her Cuckows; with loose, light Attires,
Opens the door vnto all lewd Desires?
And, with vile Druggs, adultering her Face,
Closely allures th' Adulterer's Imbrace.
But, Iudge the best: suppose (saith he) I [...]nde
My Lady Chaste, in body and in minde
(As sure I think): yet, will she Me respect,
That dares disgrace th' eternall Architect?
That (in her pride) presumes his Work to tax
Of imperfection; to amend his tracts,
To help the Colours which his hand hath laid,
With her frail fingers with foul durt berayd?
Shall I take her, that will spend all I have,
And all her time, in pranking proudly-braue?
How did I doat! The Gold vpon her head,
The Lillies of her brests, the Rosie red▪
In either Cheek, and all her other Riches,
Where-with she bleareth sight, and sense bewitches;
Is none of hers: it is but borrow'd stuff,
Or stoln, or bought, plain Counterfeit in proof:
My glorious Idol I did so adore,
Is but a Visard, newly varnisht ore
With spauling Rheums, hot [...]umes, and Ceruses:
Fo, fy; such Poysons one would loath to kiss:
Iwed (at least, I ween I wed) a Lass
Yong, fresh, and fair: but, in a year (alas!)
Or two, at most; my lovely lively Bride▪
I [...] turn'd a Hagg, a Fury by my side;
With hollow, yellow teeth (or none perhaps)
With stinking breath, swart-cheeks, and hanging chaps;
With wrinkled neck; and stooping as she goes,
With driveling mouth, and with a sniveling nose.
The Queen, thus pranked, proudly gets her vp
(But sadly though) to her gilt Palace top;
[Page 624]And, spying Iehu, from the window cry'd:
Art thou there, Zimri, cursed Paricide,
Fell Maister-killer, canst thou chuse but fear
For like Offence, like punishment severe?
Bitch, cryes the Duke, art Thou there barking still?
Thou, Strumpet, Thou art Cause of all this Ill:
Thou, brought'st Samaria to Thine Idol-Sin:
Painting and Poysning, first thou broughtest in
To Court and Country, with a thousand mo
Loose Syrian Vices, which I shame to showe.
Thou brought'st-in Wrong, with rapine and Oppression,
By Periurie supplanting Mens Possession
And Life with-all: yea, Thou hast been the Baen
Of Peers and Seers (at thy proud pleasure slain):
Thou, life of Strife, thou Horse-leach sent from Hell,
Thou Drouth, Thou Dearth, Thou Plague of Israel,
Now shalt thou dye: Groomes (is their none for me?)
Quick, cast her down, down with her instantly.
O tickle Faith! O fickle Trust of Court▪
The perfection of Court-ship.
These Palace-mice, this busie-idle sort
Of fawning Minions, full of sooths and smiles,
These Carpet-Knights had vow'd and sworn yer-whiles,
Promis'd, protested vnto Iezabel,
Rav'd, Brav'd, and band (like Rodomont in Hell)
That in her cause they every Man would die,
And all the World, and Hell and Heav'n defie;
Now, Icy Fear (shivering in all their bones)
Makes them with Fortune turn their backs at-once.
They take their Queen between their traytorous hands,
And hurl her headlong, as the Duke Commands;
Whose Courser, snorting, stamps (in stately skorn)
Vpon the Corps that whilom Kings had born:
And, to fulfill from point to point the Word
Elijah spake (as Legat of the Lord)
The doggs about doo greedy feed vpon
The rich-perfumed, royall Carrion:
And Folk by thousands issuing at the Gate,
To see the sight, cry thus (as gladther-at)
[Page 625]Ses, ses, heer Doggs, heer Bitches, doo not spare
This Bitch that gnaw'd her subiects bones so bare;
This cruell Cur, that made you oft becom
Saints Torturers, and many a Prophets Tomb:
This Whore of Baal, tear her so small, that well
No man may say, Heer lyeth Iezabel.
Iehu's drad Vengeance doth yet farther flowe;
Curst Achab's issue he doth wholly mowe:
He slayes (more-over) two and forty men
Of Ahaziah's hap-les Bretheren:
Baal's idoll Clergy he doth bring to nought,
And his proud Temple turns into a Draught:
Good proofs of Zeal. But yet, a Diadem,
Desire of Raign, keeps from Ierusalem
His service due; content (at home) by halves
To worship God, vnder the form of Calves.
His Son and Nephews, track too-neer his trace;
And therefore Shallum doth vn-horse his race:
The murderer Shallum (after one Months Raign)
By Manahem, as murdrously is slain:
The traytor Manahem's wicked-walking Son,
By trayterous Pekah vnto death is don:
And so, on Pekah, for Pekaiah's death,
Hosheah's treason, treason quittanceth;
Aproud, in grate, perfidious troublous King,
That to Confusion did Samaria bring.
Their Towns trans-villag'd, the Ten Tribes, transported
To a far Clime (whence never they reverted)
Soiourn in forein soyl, where Chobar's streams
Serve them for Iordan; Basan, Chison seems:
While Assur's scorn, and scum of Euphrates
Dance vp and down th' Isaacian Palaces,
Drink their best Nectars, anchor in their Ports,
And lodge profanely in their strongest Forts.
But, changing air, these change not minde (in Iewry).
For, though fierce Lions homicidial fury
Make them retire vnder th' Almightie's wing,
Their Country Gods with the true God they ming:
[Page 626]They mix his Service, plough with Ass and Ox;
Disguise his Church in suits of Flax and Flocks,
Cast (in one wedge) Iron and Gold together:
Iew-Gentiles, both at-once: but, both is neither.
There is a Tale, that once the Hoast of Birds,
Tale of the Batt.
And all the Legions of Groue-haunting Heards,
Before the Earth ambitiously did striue,
And counter-plead, for the Prerogatiue:
Now, while the Iudge was giving audience,
And either side in their seem-Rights defence
Was hot and earnest at the noyse-full Bar,
The neuter Bat stood fluttering still afar:
But she no sooner hears the sentence past
On the Beasts side, but shuffling her in haste
Into their Troop, she them accompanieth,
Showes her large forhead, her long ears, and teeth.
The Cause was (after) by Appeal remov'd
To Nature's Court; who by her Doom approv'd
The others Plea: then flyes the shame-les Bat
Among the Birds, and with her Chit-chit-chat
Shee seems to sing; and proud of wings, she playes
With nimble turns, and flyes a thousand wayes.
Hence, beak-les Bird, hence, winged-Beast (they cryed)
Hence, plume-les wings (thus scorn her, either side)
Hence, harlot, hence; this ever be thy Dole;
Be still Day's Prisoner in thy shamefull hole:
May never Sun (vile Monster) shine on thee:
But th' hate of all, for ever, may'st thou be.
Such is this People: for, in plentious showrs
When God his Blessings vpon Isaak powrs,
Application.
Then are they Isaak's Sons: but, if with thunder
He wrath-full tear the Hebrue Tree in sunder,
These Traytors rake the boughs, and take the Fruit;
And ( Pagans then) the Iews they persecute.
And such are those, whose wily, waxen minde
Takes euery Seal, and sails with euery Winde;
Not out of Conscience, but of Carnall motion,
Of Fear, or Fauour, Profit, or Promotion:
[Page 627]Those that to ease their Purse, or please their Prince,
Pern their Profession, their Religion mince;
Prince- Protestants, Prince- Catholiks; Precise,
With Such a Prince; with other, otherwise:
Yea, oldest Gangraens of blinde-burning Zeal
(As the Kings Evill) a new KING can heal.
And those Scoene-servers that so loud haue crid
Gainst Prelats sweeping in their silken Pride,
Their wilfull Dumbness, forcing others dumb
(To Sion's grieuous Loss and Gain of Rome)
Their Courting, Sporting, and Non-residence,
Their Avarice, their Sloath, and Negligence:
Till som fat Morsels in their mouths do fall;
And then, as choakt, and sodain chang'd with-all,
Them-selues exceed in all of these, much more
Than the Right Reverend whom they taxt before.
And those Chamaeleons that con-sort their Crew;
In Turky, Turks; among the Iewes, a Iew;
In Spain, as Spain: as Luther, on the Rhine:
With Calvin heer: and there, with Bellarmine:
Loose, with the Lewd: among the gracious, graue:
With Saints, a Saint: and among Knaues a Knaue.
But all such Neuters, neither hot nor cold,
Such double Halters between GOD and GOLD,
Such Luke-warm Lovers will the Bride-groom spue
Out of his mouth: his mouth hath spoke it true.
O ISRAEL, I pity much thy case:
This Sea of Mischiefs, which in every place
So over-flowes thee, and so domineres;
It drowns my soule in griefs, mine eyes in tears:
My heart's through-thrilled with your miseries
Already past; your Fathers Tragedies.
But (O!) I die; when in the sacred stem
Of royall IVDA, in Ierusalem,
I see fell Discord, from her loath som Cage,
To blowe her poyson with ambitious rage:
Sion to swim in bloud: and Achab's Daughter
Make David's House the Shambles of her Slaughter.
Cursed Atháliah (she was called so)
Athaliah.
Knowing her Son, by Mimshi's Son, his so
(For Ioram's sake) to be dispatcht; disloyal,
On th' holy Mount vsurps the Sceptre Royall:
And, fearing, lest the Princes of the Bloud
Would one-day rank her where of right she should,
She cuts their throats, hangs, drowns, destroyes them all,
Not sparing any, either great or small;
No, not the infant in the Cradle, lying
Help-les (alas!) and lamentably crying
(As if bewailing of his wrongs vn-knowen);
No (O extream!) she spareth not her owne.
Like as a Lion, that hath tatterd heer
Simile.
A goodly Heifer, there a lusty Steer,
There a strong Bull (too-weak for him by half)
There a fair Cow, and there a tender Calf;
Strouts in his rage, and wallows in his Prey,
And proudly doth his Victory suruay;
The grass all goary, and the Heard-groom vp
Shivering for fear vpon a Pine-Trees top:
So swelleth she: so growes her proud Despight;
Nor Aw, nor Law, nor Faith she reaks, nor right.
Her Cities are so many Groues of Thieves:
Her Courta Stews, where not a chaste-one lives:
Her greatest Lords (given all, to all excess)
In stead of Prophets, in their Palaces
Haue Lectures read of Lust, and Surfaiting,
Of Murder, Magik, and Impoysoning.
While thus she builds her tottering Throne vpon
Her childrens bones, Iehosheba saves one
One Royall Imp, yong Ioash, from the pile
(As, when a Fier hath fiercely rag'd awhile
Simile.
In som fair House, the avaricious Dame
Saues som choise Casquet from the furious flame)
Hides him, prouides him: and, when as the Sun
Iehoiada pre­serueth Ioash.
Six times about his larger Ring hath run,
Iehoiada (her husband) brings him forth
To the chief Captains and the Men of worth;
[Page 629]Saying: Behold, O Chiefs of Iuda, see
See heer your Prince, great Dauids Progeny,
Your rightfull King: if me you credit light,
Beleeue this Face, his Fathers Picture right;
Beleeue these Priests, which saw him from the first,
Brought to my House, there bred, and fed, and nurç't.
In so iust Quarrel, holy Men-at-arms,
Imploy (I pray) your anger and your Arms:
Plant, in the Royall Plot, this Royall bud:
Venge Obed's bloud on Strangers guilty bloud:
Shake-off, with showts, with Fier, and Sword together,
This Womans Yoak, this Furie's Bondage, rather.
Then showt the People, with a common cry,
Long liue King Ioash; long, and happily:
Ioash.
God saue the King: God saue the noble seed
Of our true Kings; and ay may They succeed.
This news now bruited in the wanton Court,
Quickly the Queen coms in a braving sort,
Towards the Troop; and spying there anon
The sweet yong Prince, set on a royall Throne,
With Peers attending him on either hand,
And strongly guarded by a gallant Band;
Ah! Treason, Treason, then she cries aloud:
False I'oyada, disloyall Priest, and proud,
Thou shalt abie it: O thou House profane!
I'll lay thee levell with the ground again:
And thou, yong Princox, Puppet as thou art,
Shalt play no longer thy proud Kingling's Part
Vpon so rich a stage: but, quickly stript,
With wyery Rods thou shalt to death be whipt;
And so, go see thy Brethren, which in Hell
Will welcom thee, that bad'st not them farwell.
But, so dainly the Guard layes hold on her
And drags her forth, as 'twerea furious Cur,
Out of the sacred Temple; and with scorn,
Her wretched corps is mangled, tugg'd, and torn.
Th' High-Priest, inspired with a holy zeal,
In a new League authentikly doth seal
[Page 630]Th' obedient People to their bountious Prince;
And both, to God; by ioint Obedience.
Now, as a Bear-whelp, taken from the Dam,
Simile.
Is in a while made gentle, meek, and tame
By witty vsage; but, if once it hap
He get som Grove, or thorny Mountains top,
Then playes he Rex; tears, kills, and all consumes,
And soon again his savage kinde assumes:
So Ioash, while good Ioyada survives,
For Piety, with holy Dauid strives;
But he once dead, walking his Father's wayes,
(Ingrately-false) his Tutor's
Zachariah.
son he slayes.
Him therfore shortly his owne Servants slay:
His Son, soon after, doth Them like re-pay:
His People, him again: then, Amaziah
Uzziah follows, Ioatham Vzziah.
As one same ground indifferently doth breed
Simile.
Both food-fit Wheat and dizzie Darnell seed;
Baen-baening
Ar [...]emisia.
Mug-wort, and cold Hemlock too;
The fragrant Rose and the strong-senting Rue:
So, from the Noblest Howses oft ther springs
Som monstrous Princes, and som vertuous Kings;
And all▪fore-seeing God, in the same Ligne
Doth oft the god-les with the godly twine.
The more to grace his Saints, and to disgrace
Tyrants the more, by their owne proper Race.
Ahaz, betwixt his Son and Ioathan
(He bad, they good) seems a swart Mauritan
Betwixt two Adons: Ezekiah, plaç't
Between his Father and his Son, is graç't
(He good, they bad) as twixt two Thorns, a Rose;
Wher-by, his Vertue the more vertuous showes.
For, in this Prince, great DAVID, the divine,
Ezekiah.
Devout, iust, valiant, seems again to shine.
And, as we see from out the severall Seat
Of th' ASIAN Princes, self-surnamed Great
Simile.
(As the great Cham▪ great Turk▪ great Russian,
And if less Great, more glorious Persian)
[Page 631] Araxis, Chesel, Uolga, and many moe
Renowned Rivers, Brooks, and Floods, do flowe,
Falling at once into the Caspian Lake,
Withall their streams his streams so proud to make:
The true pattern of an excellent Prince.
So, all the Vertues of the most and best
Of Patriarchs, meet in this Princes brest:
Pure in Religion, Wise in Counsailing,
Stout in Exployting, Iust in Governing;
Vn-puft in Sun-shine, vn-appall'd in Storms
(Not, as not feeling, but not fearing Harms)
And therefore brauely he repels the rage
Of proudest Tyrants (living in his Age)
And (ayvn-daunted) in his God's behalf
Hazards at once his Scepter and himself.
For, though (for Neighbours) round about him raign
Idolaters (that would him gladly gain):
Though Godlings, heer of wood, and there of stone,
A Brazen heer, and there a Golden one,
With Lamps and Tapers, even as bright as Day,
On every side would draw his minde astray:
Though Assur's Prince had with his Legions fell
Forrag'd Samaria, and in Israel
Quencht the small Faith that was; and vtterly
Dragg'd the Ten Tribes into Captivity,
So far, that even the tallest Cedar-Tree
In Libanon they never since could see:
Yet, EZECHIAH serues not Time; nor Fears
His Constancy in the seruice of God, and zealous Reformation of all Abuses in the same.
The Tyrants fury: neither roars with Bears,
Nor howls with Wolues, nor ever turns away:
But, godly-wise, well-knowing, that Delay
Giues leave to Ill; and Danger still doth wait
On lingering, in Matters of such waight;
He first of all sets-vp th' Almightie's Throne,
And vnder that, then he erects his owne.
Th' establishing of Gods pure Law again,
Is as the Preface of his happy Raign:
The Temple purg'd, th' High-places down he pashes,
Fells th' hallowed Groves, burns th' Idol-Gods to ashes.
[Page 632]Which his owne Father serv'd; and, Zeal-full, brake
The Brazen Serpent, Moses yerst did make.
For, though it were a very Type of CHRIST,
Though first it were by th' Holy-Ghost devis'd,
And not by Man (whose bold-blinde Fancie's pride
Deforms God's Service, strayes on either side,
Flatters itself in his Inventions vain,
Presumes to school the Sacred Spirit again,
Controules the Word, and (in a word) is hot
In his owne fashion to serue God, or not);
Though the Prescript of Ancient vse defend it,
Though Multitude, though Miracles commend it
(True Miracles, approved in conclusion,
Without all guile of Mens or Fiends illusion)
The King yet spares not to destroy the same,
When to occasion of Offence it came;
But, forth' Abuse of a fond Peoples will,
Takes that away which was not selfly ill:
Much less permits he (thorough all his Land)
One rag, one relique, or one signe to stand
Of Idolism, or idle superstition
Blindely brought-in, without the Words Commission.
This zealous Hate of all Abhomination,
This royall Work of thorough Reformation,
This worthy Action, wants not Recompence:
God, who his grace by measure doth dispence,
Who honors them that truly honour him,
To EZHCHIAH not so much doth seem
His sure Defence, as his Confederate:
His Quarrel's His, He hates whom him do hate,
His Fame He bears about (both far and high)
On the wide wings of Immortalitie:
To Gath He guideth his victorious Troup,
He makes proud Gaza to his Standards stoup,
Strong Ascalon he razeth to the ground:
And punishing a People wholly drownd
In Idolism, and all rebellious Sins,
Adds to his Land the Land of Philistins.
[Page 633]Yea, further more, 'tis He that him with-draws
From out the bloudy and ambitious paws
Of a fell Tyrant, whose proud bounds extend
Past bounds for breadth, and for their length past end;
Whose swarms of Arms, insulting every-where,
Made All to quake (even at his name) for fear.
Already were the Coelo-Syrian Towrs
All sackt, and seiz'd by the Assyrian Powrs:
And, of all Cities where th' Isaacians raign'd,
Only the great Ierusalem remain'd;
When Rabsakeh, with railing insolence,
Rayling Rabsa­keth ( in the name of his Ma­ster Zenacherib) brauing and blaspheming against God and good king Ezekiah.
Thus braues the Hebrues and vp braids their Prince)
(Weening, them all with vaunt-full Threats to snib);
Thus saith th' almighty, great Zenacherib,
O Salem's Kingling, wherfore art thou shut
In these weak Walls? Is thine affiance put
In th' Ayd of Egypt? O deceitfull prop!
O feble stay! O hollow-grounded hope!
Egypt's a staff of Reed, which broken soon,
Runs through the hand of him that leans ther-on.
Perhaps thou trustest in the Lord, thy God:
What! whom so bold thou hast abus'd so broad,
Whom to his face thou dayly hast defi'd,
Depriv'd of Altars, robd on every side
Of his High Places, hallowed Groves, and all
(Where yerst thy Fathers wont on him to call)▪
Whom (to conclude) ▪thou hast exiled quite
From every place, and with profane despight
(As if condemned to perpetuall dark)
Keepst him close-Prisoner in a certain Ark:
Will He (can He) take Sion's part and Thine;
And with his Foes will He vniustly ioyn?
No (wretched) knowe, I haue His Warrant too
(Express Commission) what I haue to doo:
I am the Scourge of God, 'tis vain to stand
Against the powr of my victorious hand:
I execute the counsails of the Lord:
I prosecute his Vengeance on th' abhorr'd
[Page 634]Profaners of his Temples: and, if He
Have any Powr, 'tis all conferr'd to me.
Yield therfore, Ezechia, yield; and waigh
Who I am; who Thou art: and by delay
Blowe not the Fier which shall consume thee quite,
And vtterly confound the Israelite.
Alas! poor People, I lament your hap:
This lewd Impostor doth but puff you vp
With addle hope, and idle Confidence
(In a delusion) of your God's Defence.
Which of the Gods, against my Powr could stand,
Or save their Citties from my mightier hand?
Where's Hamath's God? Where's Arpad's God becom▪
Where Sepharvaim's God? and where (in summ)
Where are the Gods of Heva, and Ivah too?
Haue I not Conquer'd all? So will I doo
You and your God; and I will lead you all
Into Assyria, in perpetuall Thrall:
I'll haue your Manna, and your Aron's Rod,
I'll haue the Ark of your Almighty God,
All richly furnisht, and new furbisht o'r,
To hang among a hundred Tropheis more:
And your great God shall in the Roule be read
Among the Gods that I haue Conquered:
I'll haue it so, it must, it shall be thus,
And worse then so, except you yeeld to vs.
Scarce had he don, when Ezechias, gor'd
With blasphemies so spewd against the Lord,
Hies to the Temple, tears his purple weed,
And fals to Prayer, as sure hold at need.
O King of All, but Ours, especially;
Prayer, The Refuge of the Godly.
Ah! sleep'st thou Lord? What boots it that thine ey
Perceth to Hell, and even from Heav'n beholds
The dumbest Thoughts in our hearts in-most folds;
If thou perceiv'st not this proud Chalenger,
Nor hear the Barking of this foul-mouth'd Cur?
Not against vs so much his Threats are meant,
As against Thee: his Blasphemies are bent
[Page 635]Against Thy Greatnes; whom he (proudly-rude)
Yoaks with the Godlings which he hath sub dew'd.
Tis true indeed, hee is a mighty Prince,
Whose numbrous Arms, with furious insolence,
Haue over-born as many as with-stood,
Made many a Province even to swim in blood,
Burnt many a Temple; and (insatiate still)
Of neighbour Gods haue wholly had their will.
But, O! What Gods are those? Gods void of Beeing
(Saue, by their hands that serue them) Gods vn-seeing,
New, vp-start Gods, of yerster-dayes devise;
To Men indebted, for their Deities:
Gods made with hands, Gods without life, or breath;
Gods, which the Rust, Fier, Hammer conquereth.
But, thou art Lord, th' invincible alone,
Th' All-seeing GOD, the Everlasting ONE:
And, who so dares him gainst thy Powr oppose,
Seems as a Puff which roaring Boreas blowes,
Weening to tear the Alps off at the Foot,
Or Clowds-prop Athos from his massie Root:
Who but mis-speaks of thee, he spets at Heav'n,
And his owne spettle in his face is driven.
Lord, shew thee such: take on thee the Defence
Of thine owne glory, and our innocence:
Cleer thine owne name, of blame: let him not thus
Tryumph of Thee, in tryumphing of vs:
But, let ther (Lord) vnto thy Church appear
Iust Cause of Ioy, and to thy Foes of fear.
God hears his Cry, and (from th' Empyreal Round)
Miraculous slaughter of the Assirians.
He wrathfull sends a winged Champion down;
Who, richly arm'd in more than humane Arms,
Mowes in one night of Heathen men at Arms
Thrice-three-score thousand, and five thousand more,
Feld round about; beside, behinde, before.
Heer, his two eyes, which Sun-like brightly turn,
Simile.
Two armed Squadrons in a moment burn:
Not much vnlike vnto a fier in stubble,
Which, sodain spreading, still the flame doth double,
[Page 636]And with quick succour of som Southren blasts
Crick-crackling quickly all the Country wastes.
Heer the stiff Storm, that from his mouth he blowes,
Thousands of Souldiers each on other throwes:
Simile.
Even as a Winde, a Rock, a sodain Flood
Bears down the Trees in a side-hanging Wood;
Th' Yew overturns the Pine, the Pine the Elm,
The Elm the Oak, th' Oak doth the Ash ore-whelm;
And from the top, down to the Vale belowe,
The Mount's dis-mantled, and even shamed so.
Heer, with a Sword (such as that sacred blade
For the bright Guard of Eden's entry made)
He hacks, he hews; and somtimes with one blowe
A Regiment hee all at once doth mowe:
And, as a Cannon's thundrie roaring Ball,
Simile.
Battering one Turret, shakes the next withall,
And oft in Armies (as by proof they finde)
Kils oldest Souldiers with his very winde:
The whiffing Flashes of this Sword so quick,
Strikes dead a many, which it did not strike.
Heer, with his hands he strangles all at-once
Legions of Foes. O Arm that Kings dis-throans!
O Army-shaving Sword! Rock-razing Hands!
World-tossing Tempest! All-consuming Brands!
O, let som other (with more sacred fier,
Than I, inflam'd) into my Muse inspire
The wondrous manner of this Overthrowe,
The which (alas!) God knowes, I little knowe:
I but admire it, in confused sort;
Conceiue I cannot; and, much less, report.
Com-on Zenacherib: where's now thine Hoast?
Where are thy Champions? Thou didst lately boast,
Th' hadst in thy Camp as many Soldiers,
As Sea hath Fishes, or the Heav'ns haue Stars:
Now, th' art alone: and yet, not all alone;
Fear, and Despair, and Fury wait vpon
Thy shame-full Flight: but, bloody Butcher, stay▪
Stay, noysom Plague, fly not so fast away,
[Page 637]Fear not Heav'ns Fauchin; that foul brest of thine
Shall not be honor'd with such wounds divine:
Nor shalt thou yet, in timely bed decease;
No: Tyrants vse not to Depart in Peace:
As bloud they thirsted, they are drown'd in blood;
Their cruell Life a cruell Death makes good.
For (O iust Iudgement!) lo, thy Sons (yer-long)
Zenacherib slain by his owne sonnes.
At Nisroch's Shrine revenge the Hebrews wrong:
Yea, thine owne Sons (foul eggs of fouler Bird)
Kill their owne Father, sheath their either sword
In thine owne throat; and, heirs of all thy vices,
Mix thine owne bloud among thy Sacrifices.
This Miracle is shortly seconded
By one as famous and as strange, indeed.
It pleas'd the Lord with heavy hand to smight
King Ezechiah; who in dolefull plight
Ezekiah's sick­nesse.
Vpon his bed lies vexed grieuously,
Sick of an Vlcer past all remedy.
Art fails the Leach, and issue faileth Art,
Each of the Courtiers sadly wayles a-part
His losse and Lord: Death, in a mourn-ful sort,
Through every Chamber daunteth all the Court:
And, in the City, seems in every Hall
T' haue light a Taper for his Funerall.
Then Amos
The Prophet Isaiah.
Son, his bed approaching, pours
From plentious lips these sweet and golden showrs;
But that I knowe, you knowe the Lawes Divine,
But that your Faith so every-where doth shine,
But that your Courage so confirm'd I see;
I should, my Liege, I should not speak so free:
A comfortable Visitation of the sicke.
I would not tell you, that in continent
You must prepare to make your Testament:
That your Disease shall haue the vpper hand:
And Death already at your Door doth stand.
What? fears my Lord? Knowe you not heer beneath
We alwayes say I towards the Port of Death;
Where, who first anch'reth, first is glorified?
That 'tis Decreed, confirm'd, and ratified,
[Page 638]That (of necessity) the fatall Cup.
Once, all of vs must (in our turn) drink vp?
That Death's no pain, but of all pains the end,
The Gate of Heav'n, and Ladder to ascend?
That Death's the death of all our storms and strife,
And sweet beginning of immortall Life?
For, by one death a thousands death's we slay:
Thear-by, we rise from Body-Toomb of Clay.
Thear-by, our Soules feast with celestiall food,
Thear-by, we com to th' heav'nly Brother-hood,
Thear-by, w'are chang'd to Angels of the Light,
And, face to face, behold Gods beuties bright.
The Prophet ceast: and soon th' Isaacian Prince,
Deep apprehending Death's drad form and sense,
Vnto the Wall-ward turns his weeping eyes;
And, sorrow-torn, thus (to himself) he cries:
Lord, I appeal, Lord (as thine humble childe)
A Prayer for a sick person, mu­tatis mutandis.
From thy iust Iustice to thy Mercy milde:
Why will thy strength destroy a silly-one,
Weakned and wasted even to skin and bone;
One that adores thee with sincere affection,
The wrack of Idols, and the Saints protection?
O! shall the Good thy servant had begun
For Sion, rest now by his death vndon?
O! shall a Pagan After-king restore
The Groues and Idols I haue raz'd before?
Shall I dye Childe-les? Shall thine Heritage
In vain exspect that glorious golden Age
Vnder thy CHRIST? O! mercy, mercy, Lord:
O Father milde, to thy dear Childe accord
Som space of life: O! let not, Lord, the voice
Of Infidels at my poor death reioyce.
Then said the Seer; Be of good cheer, my Liege:
The Kings praier heard, and his life prolonged 15 yeares.
Thy sighes and tears and prayers so be siege
The throne of Pitty, that, as pierçt with-all,
Thy smyling Health God yieldeth to re-call,
Wills, to his Temple (three dayes hence) thou mount,
Retracts his Sentence, and corrects his count:
[Page 639]Makes Death go back, for fifteen yeers: as lo,
This Dial's shadow shal heer back-ward go.
His Word's confirm'd with wonderfull Effect:
The Sunne goes backe.
For, lo, the Dial, which doth houres direct
(Life's-guider, Daye's-divider, Sun's-Consorter,
Shadow's dull shifter, and Time's dumb Reporter)
Puts-vp-again his passed Houres (perforce)
And, back-ward goes against his wonted course.
'Tis Noon at Mid-night; and a triple Morn
Seems that long Day to brandish and adorn:
Sol goes, and coms; and, yer that in the Deep
Of Atlas shade he lay him down to sleep,
His bright, Light-winged, Gold-shod wheels do cut
Three times together in the self-same rut.
Lord! what are we! or, what is our deserving!
That, to confirm our Faith (so prone to swarving)
Thou daign'st to shake Heav'ns solid Orbs so bright;
Th' Order of Nature to dis-order quight;
To make the Sun's Teem with a swift-slowe pase,
Back, back to trot; and not their wonted Race?
That, to dispell the Night so blindely-black,
Which siels our Soules, thou mak'st the shade go back
On Ahaz Dial? And, as Self-vn-stable,
Seem'st to revoke thine Acts irrevocable,
Raze thine owne Dooms (tost in vn-steddy storm)
And, to reform vs, thine owne speech reform;
To giue thy Self the Ly: and (in a Word)
As Self-blam'd, softly to put-vp thy Sword?
Thrice-glorious God! thrice-great! thrice-gracious!
Heer-in (O Lord) thou seem'st to deal with vs,
As a wise Father, who with tender hand
Simile.
Severely shaking the correcting Wand,
With voice and gesture seems his Son to threat:
Whom yet indeed he doth not mean to beat;
But, by this curb of fained Rigor, aims
To aw his Son; and so him oft reclaims.
This Prince no sooner home to Heav'n returns,
But Israel back to his vomit turns;
[Page 640]Him re-bemires: and, like a head-strong Colt,
Runs headlong down into a strange Revolt.
And, though [...]osias, Heav'n-deer Prince (vho yong
Coms wisely-olde, to liue the older long)
Had re-aduanç't the sacred Lawes divine,
Propt Siou's Wall (all ready to decline)
With his owne back; and, in his happy Raign,
The Truth re-flowr'd, as in her Prime again:
Yet Iaeob's Heirs striue to resemble still
Simile.
A stiff-throw'n Bowl, which running down a Hill,
Meets in the way som stub, for rub, that stops
The speed a space; but instantly it hops,
It ouer-iumps; and stayes not, though it stumble,
Till to the bottom vp-side-down it tumble.
With puissant Hoast proud Nebuchadnezzar
Now threatned Iuda with the worst of War:
Nabuchadne­zar besiegeth Ierusalem.
His Camp coms marching to Ierusalem,
And her olde Walls in a new Wall doth hem.
The busie Builders of this newer Fold,
In one hand, Swords, in th' other Trowels hold,
Nor felder strike with blades than hammers there;
With firmer foot the Sieged's shock to bear,
Who seem a swarm of Hornets buzzing out
Among thir Foes, and humming round about
To spet their spight against their Enemies,
With poysonie Darts, in noses, brows and eyes.
Cold Capricorn hath pav'd all Iuda twice
With brittle plates of crystal-crusted Ice,
Twice glased Iordan; and the Sappy-blood
Of Trees hath twice re-perriwigd the Wood,
Since the first Siege: What? sayd the yonger sort,
Shall we growe olde, about a feeble Fort?
Shall we (not Martial, but more Maçon-skild)
Shall we not batter Towrs, but rather build?
And while the Hebrue in his sumptuous Chamber
Disports himself, perfum'd with Nard and Amber,
Shall We, swelting for Heat, shivering for Cold,
Heer, far from home, lie in a stinking Hold?
[Page 641]Shall time destroy vs? shall our proper sloath
Annoy vs more than th' Hebrues valour doth?
No, no, my Lord: let not our Fervour fault,
Through length of Siege; but let vs to th' Assault.
Let's win't and wear it: tut (Sir) nothing is
Impossible to Chaldean courages.
Contented, sayd the King: braue Bloods away,
Goeseck Renown, 'mid wounds and death, to-day.
Now, in their breasts, braue Honor's Thirst began:
Nabuzaradan.
Me thinks, I see stout Nabuzaradan
Already trooping the most resolute
Of every Band, this plot to prosecute.
Each hath his Ladder; and, the Town to take,
Bears to the Wall his Way vpon his back:
But, the braue Prince cleaues quicker then the rest
His slender Firr-poles, as more prowes-full prest.
Alike they mount, affronting Death together;
A Scal [...]d [...].
But, not alike in face, nor fortune neither:
This Ladder, slippery plaç't, doth slide from vnder:
That, over-sloap, snaps in the midst asunder,
And souldiers falling, one another kill
(As with his weight, a hollow Rocky-Hill,
Simile.
Torn with som Torrent, or Tempestuous windes,
Shivers it self on stones it vnder-grindes):
Som, rashly climb'd (not wont to climb so high)
With giddy brains, swim headlong down the Sky:
Som, over-whelmd vnder a Mill-stone-storm,
Lose, with their life, their living bodies form.
Yet mounts the Captain, and his spacious Targe
Bears-off a Mountain and a Forest large
Of Stoans and Darts, that fly about his ears;
His teeth do gnash, he threats, he sweats, and swears:
As steady thear as on the ground he goes;
And thear, though weary, he affronts his Foes,
Alone, and halfly-hanging in the ayr,
Against whole Squadrons standing firmly fair:
Vpright he rears him and his Helmet braue
(Whear, not a Plume, but a huge Tree doth wave)
[Page 642]Reflecting bright, above the Paripet,
Affrights th' whole Citty with the shade of it.
Then as half Victor, and about to venter
Over the Wall, and ready even to enter;
With his bright Gantlet's scaly fingers bent
Grasping the coping of the battlement,
His hold doth fail, the stones, vn-fast [...]ed, fall
Down in the ditch, and (headlong) he with-all:
Yet, he escapes, and getts again to shoar;
Thanks to his strength: but, to his courage more.
Now, heer (me thinks) I hear proud Nergal raue,
Nergal.
In War (quoth he) Master or Match to haue,
By Mars I skorn▪ yea, Mars himself in Arms;
And all the Gods, with all their braving Storms.
O wrathfull Heav'ns, roar, lighten, thunder, threat;
Gods, do your worst; with all your batteries beat:
If I begin, in sp [...]ght of all your powrs,
I'll skale your Walls, I'll take your Crystall Towrs.
Thus spewd the Curr; and (as he spake) withal
Climbs-vp the steepest of a dreadfull Wall,
With his bare-feet on roughest places sprawling,
With hook-crookt hands vpon the smoothest crawling.
As a fell Serpent, which som Shepheard-lad
Simile.
On a steep Rock incounters gladly- [...]ad,
Turning and winding nimbly to and fro,
With wriggling pase doth still approach his Foe,
And with a Hiss, a Frisk, and flashing ey,
Makes soudainly his faint Assailer fly:
Even so the Duke, with his fierce countenance,
His thundring-voice, his helms bright radiance,
Drives Pashur from the Walls and Iucal too
(A iolly Prater but a Iade to doo;
Brauer in Couns [...]il then in Combat, far)
With Sephatiah, tinder of this War;
And Malchy, he that doth in Prison keep
Vnder the ground (a hundred [...]ubits deep)
Good [...]eremie, and instrument, alone
Inspir'd with breath of th' ever-living ONE.
Let's fly, cries P [...]shur: fly this Infidell,
Rather this Fiend, the which no waight can fell.
What force can front, or who in count [...]r can
An armed Faulcon, or a flying Man?
While Nergal speeds his Victory too-fast,
His hooks dis-pointed disappoint his haste;
Prevent him, not of praise, but of the Prize
Which (out of doubt) he did his owne surmize.
He swears and tears: (what should? what could he more)?
He cannot vp, nor will he down, therefore.
Vnfortunate! and vainly-valiant!
He's fain to stand like the Funambulant
Simile.
Who seems to tread the air, and fall he must,
Save his Self's waight him counter-poyseth iust;
And saue the Lead, that in each hand he bears,
Doth make him light: the gaping Vulgar fears,
Amaz'd to see him; weening nothing stranger
Than Art to master Nature, lucre danger.
At last, though loath (full of despight and rage)
He slideth down into a horrid hedge,
Cursing and banning all the Gods; more mad
For the disgrace, than for the hurt he had.
Els-where the while (as imitating right
The Kinde-blinde Beast, in russet Velvet dight)
Mines & Coū ­termine [...].
Covertly marching in the Dark by day,
Samgarnebo seeks vnder ground his way.
But Ebedmelech, warn'd of his Designes,
With-in the Town against him counter-mines
Courageously, and still proceedeth on,
Till (resolute) he bring both Works to one;
Till one strict Berrie, till one winding Cave
Becom the Fight-Field of two Armies brave.
As the self-swelling Badgerd▪ at the bay
Simile.
With boldest Hounds (inured to that Fray)
First at the entry of his Burrow fights,
Then in his Earth; and either other bites:
The eager Dogs are cheer'd with claps and cryes,
The angry Beast to his best chamber flies,
[Page 644]And (angled there) sits grimly inter-gerning;
And all the Earth rings with the Terryers yearning:
So fare these Miners; whom I pitty must,
That their bright Valour should so darkly ioust.
While hotly thus they skirmish in the Vault,
Quick Ebedmelech closely thither brought
A Dry-Fat sheath'd in latton plates with-out,
With-in with Feathers fill'd, and round about
Bor'd full of holes (with hollow pipes of brass)
Save at one end, where nothing out should pass;
Which (having first his Iewish Troops retir'd)
Iust in the mouth of th' enter-Mine he fir'd:
The smoak wherof with odious stink doth make
The Pagans soon their hollow Fort forsake:
As from the Berries in the Winter's night
Simile.
The Keeper draws his Ferret (flesht to bite).
Now Rabshakeh (as busie) other-where
A rowling Towr against the Town doth rear,
And on the top (or highest stage) of it
A flying Bridge, to reach the Courtin [...]it,
With pullies, poles; and planked Battlements
On every story, for his Men's defence.
On th' other side, the Towns-men ar [...] not slowe
With counter-plots to counter-push their Foe:
Now, at the woodden side, then at the front;
Then at the Engins of the Persian Mount,
With Brakes and Slings, and
Instruments of Warr wherein wild fire is put.
Phalariks they play,
To fier their Fortress and their Men to slay:
But yet, a Cord-Mat (stifly stretcht about)
Defends the Towr, and keeps their Tempests out.
While thus they deal; Sephtiah, desperat,
Him secretly out of the Citty gat,
And with a Pole of rozen-weeping Fir,
So furiously he doth himself bestir,
That with the same the walking Fort he fiers:
The cruel flame so to the top aspires,
That (maugre Blood, shed from aboue in slaughter,
And, from belowe, continuall spouting Water)
[Page 645]It parts the Fray: stage after stage it catches,
And th' half-broyld Souldiers head long down it fetches.
The King (still constant against all extreams)
To press them neerer yet; with mightie beams
Rears a new Plat-form, neerer to the Wall,
And covers it, with three-fold shelter, all;
The Timber (first) with Mud, the Mud with Hides,
The Hides with Woll-sacks (which all Shot derides).
Simile.
As th' Aier exhaled by the fiery breath
Of th' Heav'nly Lion, on an open Heath,
Or on the tresses of a tufted Plain,
Pours-down at-once both Fier and Hail and Rain:
So all at-once th' Isaacia [...] Souldiers threw
Floods, Flames, and Mountains on these Engines new;
But th' hungry Flames the Muddy-damp repels,
The Mounts, the Wooll; the drowning Floods, the Fel [...].
Thear-vnder (safe) the Ram with iron horn,
The brazen-headed clov'n-foot Capricorn,
The boistrous Trepane, and steel Pick-ax play
Their parts apace, not idle night nor day.
Heer, thorough-riv'n from top to toe, the Wall
On reeling props hangs, ready ev'n to fall:
There, a vast-Engine thundreth vp-side-down
The feeble Courtin of the sacred Town.
If you haue been, where you haue seen som-whiles,
Simile.
How with the Ram they driue-in mighty Piles
In Dover Peer, to bridle with a Bay
The Sand-cast Current of the raging Sea;
Swift-ebbing streams bear to the Sea the sownd,
Eccho assisteth, and with shrill rebound
Fils all the Town, and (as at Heav'nly Thunder)
The Coast about trembles for fear and wonder:
Then haue you heard and seen the Engins beating
On Sion's Walls, and her foundations threating.
In fine, the Chaldeis take Ierusalem,
And reave for ever Iuries Diadem.
The smoaky burning of her Turrets steep
Seems even to make the Sunn's brightey to weep:
[Page 646]And wretched Salem, buried (as it were)
Vnder a heap of her owne Children dear,
For lack of Friends to keep her Obsequies,
Constraineth sighs (even) from her Enemies.
Her massie Ruins and her Cinders showe
Her Wealth and Greatnes, yer her overthrowe.
A sodain horror seizeth every eye
That views the same: and every Passer-by
(Yea, were he Gete, or Turk, or Troglodite)
Must needs, for pitty of so sad a Sight,
Bestowe som tears, som swelling sighs, or grones
Vpon these batter'd sculs, these scatter'd stones.
In Palaces, where lately (gilded rich)
Sweet Lutes were heard, now luck-les Oules doo screech:
The sacred TEMPLE, held (of late) alone
Wonder of Wonders, now a heap of stone:
The House of God ( the Holyest-Holy-Place)
Is now the House of Vermin vile and base:
The Vessels, destin'd vnto sacred vse,
Are now profan'd in Riot and Abuse:
None scapeth wounds, if any scape with life:
The Father's reft of Son, the Man of Wife:
Iacob's exil'd, Iuda's no more in Iury,
But (wretched) sighes vnder the Chaldean fury.
Their King in chains, with shame and sorrow thrill'd,
Hoshea.
Before his face sees all the fairest pill'd;
Yea, his owne Daughters, and his▪ Wives (alas!)
(Rich Vines and Oliues of his lawfull Race)
Whose loue and beauty did his age delight,
Shar'd to the Souldiers, ravisht in his sight.
O, Father, Father, thus the Daughters cry
(About his neck still hanging tenderly)
Whither (alas!) O, whither hale they vs?
O, must we serue their base and beastly Lusts?
Shall they dissolue our Virgin-zones? Shall they
(Ignoble Grooms) gather our Mayden-May,
Our spot-les Flowr, so carefully preserv'd
For som great Prince, that mought haue vs deserv'd?
[Page 647]O Hony-dropping Hills we yerst frequented,
O Milk-full Vales, with hundred Brooks indented▪
Delicious Gardens of deer Israel;
Hills, Gardens, Vales, we bid you all fare-well:
We (will-we-nill-we) hurried hence, as slaues,
Must now, for Cedron, sip of Tygris waues;
And (weaned from our natiue Earth and Air)
For Hackney-Iades be sold in every Fayr.
And (O hearts-horror!) see the shame-les Foe,
Forcing our Honors, triumph in our woe.
All-sundring Sword! and (O!) all-cindring Fire!
Which (mercy-les) do SION's Wrack conspire,
Why spare you vs, more cruell (cri'd the Wives)
In leaving ours, then reaving other's lives?
Your Pitie's pity-les, your Pardon Torture:
For, quick dispatch had made our Sorrows shorter;
But your seem-Favour, that prolongs our breaths,
Makes vs, aliue, to die a thousand Deaths.
For, O deer Husband, deerest Lord, can wee,
Can we survive, absented quight from Thee,
And slaues to those whose Talk is nothing els
But thy Disgrace, thy Gyves, and Israels?
Can we (alas!) exchange thy Royall bed
(With cunning-cost rare richly furnished)
For th' vgly Cabbin and the louzie Couch
Of som base Buffon, or som beastly Slouch?
Can we, alas! can wretched we (I say)
We, whose Commands whole Kingdoms did obay,
We, at whose beck even Princes knees did bend,
We, on whose Train ther dayly did attend
Hundreds of Eunuchs, and of Maids of Honour
(Kneeling about vs in the humblest manner)
To dress vs neat, and duly every Morn
In Silk and Gold our Bodies to adorn;
Dress others now? work, on disgrace-full frame
(Weeping the while) our SION's wo-full flame?
Dragging like Moyls? drudge in their Mills? and hold
Brooms in our hands, for Sceptre-Rods of gold?
Com, Parrots, com, y' haue prated, now enough
(The Pagans cry in their insulting ruff)
On Chaldè shoars you shal go sigh your fill,
You must with vs to Babel: there at will
You may bewail: there, this shal be your plight,
Our Mayds by day, our Bed-fellows by night.
And, as they spake, the shame-les lust-full crew
With furious force the tender Ladies drew
Even from between th' arms of the woe-full King,
Them haling rough, and rudely hurrying;
And little lackt the act of most despight,
Ev'n in their Father's and their Husbands sight,
Who, his hard Fortune doth in vain accuse,
In vain he raves, in vain he roars and rews:
Even as a Lion, prisoned in his grate,
Whose ready dinner is bereft of late,
Roars hideously; but his fell Fury-storm
May well breed horror, but it brings no harm.
The proud fell Pagans doo yet farther pass:
They kill, they tear, before the Father's face
(The more to gore: what Marble but would bleed?)
They massacre his miserable seed.
O! sayd the Prince, can you less pitious be
To these Self-yielders (prostrate at your knee)
Than sternly-valiant to the stubborn-stout
That 'gainst your rage courageously stood-out?
Alas! what haue they don? what could they doo
To vrge revenge and kindle wrath in you?
Poor silly Babes vnder the Nources wing,
Haue they conspir'd against the Chaldean King?
Haue these sweet Infants that yet cannot speak,
Broak faith with you? Haue these, so yong and weak,
Yet in their Cradle, in their Clouts, bewayling
Their Woes to-come (to all Man-kinde, vnfayling)
Dis-ray'd your Ranks? Haue these that yet doo craul
Vpon all fowre, and cannot stand, at all,
With-stood your Fury, and repulst your Powrs,
Frustred your Rams, fiered your flying Towrs?
[Page 649]And, bravely sallying in your face (almost)
Hew'n-out their passage thorough all your Hoast?
O! no, Chaldeans, only I did all:
I did complot the King of Babels fall:
I foyld your Troups: I filld your sacred Flood
With Chaldean bodies, dy'd it with your blood.
Turn therfore, turn your bloody Blades on-me;
O! let these harm-less Little-ones go free;
And stain not with the blood of Innocents
Th' immortall Tropheis of your high Attents.
So, ever may the Riphean Mountains quake
Vnder your feet: so ever may you make
South, East, and West your owne: on every Coast
So, ay victorious march your glorious Hoast:
So, to your Wiues be you thrice welcom home,
And so God bless your lawfull-loved womb
With Self-like Babes, your substance with increase,
Yourselues (at home) with hoary haires in Peace.
Simil [...].
But, as a Rock, gainst which the Heav'ns do thunder,
Th' Air roars about, the Ocean rageth vnder,
Yields not a iot: no more this savage Crew;
But rather, muse to finde-out Tortures new.
Heer, in (his sight) these cruell Lestrigons
Between them take the eldest of his Sons,
With keenest swords his trembling flesh they heaw,
One gobbet heer, another thear they streaw.
And from the veins of dead-lyve limbs (alas!)
The spirit-full blood spins in his Father's face.
Thear, by the heels his second Son they take,
And dash his head against a Chimnies back:
The skull is pasht to peeces, like a Crock,
Or earthen Stean, against a stony Rock:
The scatterd batterd Brains, about besmeard,
Som hang (O horror▪) in the Fathers beard.
Last, on himself their savage fury flyes,
And with sharp bodkins bore they out his eyes▪
The Sun he loses, and an end-les night
Beclowds for euer his twin-balled sight:
[Page 650]He sees no more, but feels the woes he bears;
And now for crystall, weeps he crimsin tears.
For, so God would (and iustly too, no doubt)
That he which had in Iuda clean put-out
Th' immortall Lamp of all religious light,
Should have his eyes put-out, should lose his sight;
And that his body should be outward blinde,
As inwardly (in holy things) his minde.
O Butchers (sayd he) satiat your Thirst,
Swill, swill your fill of Blood, vntill you burst:
O! broach it not with bodkin, but with knife;
O! reaue me not my bodie's light, but life:
Give me the sight not of the Earth, but Skies:
Pull-out my heart: O! poach not out mine eyes.
Why did you not this barbarous deed dispatch,
Yer I had seen me an vn-sceptred Wretch,
My Citties sackt, my wealthy subiects pilld,
My Daughters ravisht, and my Sonns all killd?
Or else, why stayd you not till I had seen
Your (Beast-like) Master grazing on the Green:
The Medes conspiring to supplant your Throne:
And Babel's glory vtter ouerthrowne?
Then had my soule with Fellow-Falls bin eas'd,
And then your pain, my pain had part appeas'd.
O ragefull Tyrants! moody Monsters, see,
See heer my Case; and see yourselues in me.
Beware Contempt: tempt not the Heav'nly Powrs,
Who thunder-down the high-aspiring Towrs;
But mildely pardon, and permit secure
Poor Cottages that lie belowe obscure:
Who Pride abhor; who lift vs vp so high,
To let vs fall with greater infamy.
Th' Almighty sports him with our Crowns and vs;
Our glorie stands so fickle-founded thus
On slippery wheels, alreadie rowling down:
He gives vs not, but only shewes the Crown:
Our Wealth, our Pleasure, and our Honour too
(Wher at the Vulgar make so much a-doo)
[Page 651]Our Pomp, our State, our All that can be spoken,
Seems as a glass, bright-shining, but soon broken.
Thrice-happy He, whom with his sacred arm,
Th' Eternall props against all Haps of harm:
Who hangs vpon his prouidence alone,
And more preferrs GOD'S Kingdom than his owne.
So happy be great BRITTANNE Kings (I pray)
Our Soveraigne IAMES, and all his Seed, for ay;
Our hope-full HENRY, and a hundred mo
Good, faithfull STVARTS (in successiue rowe)
Religious, righteous, learned, valiant, wise,
Sincere to Vertue, and seuere to Vice;
That not alone These dayes of Ours may shine
In Zeal-full Knowledge of the TRVTH divine
And We (illightned with her sacred rayes)
May walk directly in the Saving wayes
Offaith-full Seruice to the ONE true Deitie,
And mutuall Practise of all Christian Pietie;
But, that our Nephews, and their Nephews (till
Time be no more) may be conducted still
By the same Cloud by day, and Fier by night
(Through this vast Desart of the World's despight)
Towards their Home, the heav'nly CANAAN,
Prepared for vs yer the World began:
That they with vs, and we (complete) with them,
May meet triumphant in IERVSALEM;
With-in whose Pearly Gates and Iasper Walls
(Whear, th' Holy LAME keeps his high Nuptialls,
Whear needs no shining of the Sun, or Moon;
For, God's owne face makes there perpetuall Noon:
Whear shall no more be Waylings, Woes, nor Cryes▪
For, God shall wipe all tears from weeping eyes)
Shall enter nothing filthy or vnclean;
No Hog, no Dog, no Sodomit obscoene,
No Witch, no Wanton, no Idolater,
No Thief, no Drunkard, no Adulterer,
No Wicked-liuer, neither wilfull Lyer:
These are without, in Tophet's end-les Fier.
Yet, such as these (or som of these, at least)
We all haue been: in som-what all haue mist
(And, had we broken but one Precept sole,
The Law reputes vs guiltie of the whole):
But, we are washed, in the Sacred-Flood;
But, we are purged, with the Sprinkled-Blood;
But, by the Spirit, we now are sanctify'd;
And through the Faith in IHSVS, iustify'd.
Thearfore no more let vs our selues defile,
No more returne vnto our Vomit vile,
No more profane vs with Concupiscence,
Nor spot the garment of our Innocence:
But, constant in our Hope, feruent in Love
(As even al-ready conuersant Above)
Proceed we cheerely in our Pilgrimage
Towards our happy promis'd Haeritage,
Towards That Cittie of heart-bound-les Bliss
Which CHRIST hath purchast with his Blood, for His:
To Whom, with FATHER, and the SPIRIT, therfore
Bee Glory, Prayse, and Thanks, for-evermore.
Amen Amen Amen.
FINIS.
PIBRAC. Quad. 5.
Say not, My hand This Work to END hath brought:
Nor, This my Vertue hath attayned to:
Say rather thus; This, GOD by me hath wrought:
GOD's Author of the little Good I doo.

D. O. M. S. GVLIHLMO SALVSTIO POETARVM FACILE PRINCIPI, SCRIPTORI MIRABILI, PIO MIRABILIVM ASSERTORI, PRAECONI VIRT VTIS DVLCI

DOCTOQ. CVIVS MONVMENTA DOCVMENTA POSTER IS FVTVRA SVNT: QVI MVS AS EREPTAS PROFANAE' LASCIVIAE SACRIS MONTIBVS▪ REDDIDIT, SACRIS FONTIBVS ASPERSIT, SACRIS CANTIBVS

IMBVIT, VIRO VERE NOBILI, MORTALI­BVS EXVVIIS SPOLIATO, IMMORTALITATIS COMPOTI,

A [...]MM. PP.

HIs, fateor, nemo exuuijs inscribere honorem,
Aut pater Aonij debuit ipsechori:
Gratia sed quoniam taciti propè nulla doloris,
Neu videar moest as non maduissegenas;
Audiat ecce gemensetiam me turba gementem:
Ecce, meus vano munere peccet amor.
Et titulus saltem esto, BONA SVPER AETHERA FAMA NOTVS, EGET NVLLO, QVI IACET HIC, TITVLO.
Iac. Lectius.
TO MY EVER-MOST-hono …

TO MY EVER-MOST-honoured Mistress, M ris Essex, wife to the right worthie William Essex of Lam­born, Esquier; and eldest Daughter of the right valiant, and Nobly-descended, Sir Walter Harecourt of Stanton-Hare­court Knight, Baron of Ellen-Hall.

WIt's, Beautie's, Vertue's perfect Quintessence
(Yet graç't in soule with more Diuine perfection)
Grace, with a glance of your milde Eye's reflection,
This humble Pledge of Zeal and Reuerence:
Which (as the Stork, for gratefull recompence,
Where she hath bred, one of her Birds bestoweth)
My thankfull Muse (who you like Duty oweth)
Heer consecrates to your deere excellence.
Deer ESSEX heer (to make your Faith apparant
Vnto the Faithfull, and confirm the same)
Embrace (I pray) the Faith of ABRAHAM
Offering his Isaac (on th' Almighties warrant):
So shal th' Imputer of his Righteousness
Impute you yours; and your young Isaacs bless.
Your Vertue's euer-vowed Seruant, IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

TO VERTVES PAT­terne, and Beauties Paragon, M ris Ione Essex: now wife to the right worthie William Anderson Esquier (second Son of the late Lord Anderson) and onely Sister of the Honora­bly-descended William Essex of Lam­born, Esquier.

VRANIA (noblest of the learned NINE)
Coming from Heav'n, to cal my Muse from Earth,
From Loves loose Sonnets, and lasciuious Mirth;
In sacred WEEKS to sing the Works diuine:
Of all the Nimphs extract from mortall Ligne,
For sweet Companion picks you onely forth
(As best resembling her self's grace and worth)
Deer Beauties best, Wits wonder, Vertue's shrine.
Sweet, heav'nly temper of a humane soule
(Whose louely smiles set coldest hearts a-fire;
But, instantly, with modest brows controule
Th' aspiring hope of any bold desire)
Daign t'entertain in your milde gracefull manner
This Heav'nly Mayd, the mirrour of your Honour.
Your Vertue's humble Votarie, IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

VRANIA. OR The Heauenly Muse.

1
SCarce had I th' April of mine Age begun,
When brave desire t' immortallize my Name,
Did make me (oft) Rest and repast to shun,
In curious proiect of some learned Frame.
2
But, as a Pilgrim, that full late doth light
Vpon a crosse-way, stops in sodaine doubt;
And, 'mid the sundry Lanes to finde the right,
More with his Witthan with his feet doth scout:
3
Among the many flowrie paths that lead
Vp to the Mount, where (with green Bayes) Apollo
Crowns happy Numbers with immortall meed,
I stood confus'd, and doubtfull which to follow.
4
One while I sought, the Greekish-Scaene to dress
In French Disguise: in loftier Stile anon
T'mbrew our Stage, with Tyrants bloody Gests,
Of Thebes, Mycaena, and proud Ilion.
5
Anon, I sacred to th' Aönian Band
My Countries Story; and, condemning much
The common error, rather tooke in hand
To make the Mein, French, than the Sein be Dutch.
6
Anon, I meant with fawning pen to prayse
Vn-worthy Prince; and with gold and glory,
T▪inrich my Fortunes, and my Fate to raise,
Basely to make my Muse a Mercenarie.
7
Then (gladly) thought I, the Wagg-Son to sing
Of wanton Uenus; and the bitter-sweet,
That Too-much Loue to the best wits doth bring:
Theam, for my nature and mine age, too-meet.
8
While to and fro thus (tossed by Ambition)
Yet vn-resolued of my Course, I rove;
Lo, suddainly a sacred Apparition;
Som Daughter (think I) of supernall Ioue.
9
Angelicall her gesture and her gait;
Divinely-sweet her speech and countenance;
Her Nine-fold Voice did choicely imitate
Th' Harmonious Musik of Heauens nimble Dance.
10
Vpon her Head, a glorious Diadem,
Seaven-double-folded, moving diversly;
And on each fold sparkled a pretious Gem,
Obliquely turning o're our heads on high:
11
The first of Lead, the second Tin (me thought)
Third Steel, the fourth of yellow Gold was cast,
The fift of pale Electrum seemed wrought;
Sixt Mercury; of Siluer was the last.
12
An azure Mantle on her back she wore,
With art-les Art, in orderly disorder;
Flourisht, and fill'd with thousand Lamps and more,
Her sacred Beautie to set-forth and further:
13
Heer flames the Harp, there shine the tender Twinns,
Heer Charles his Wayn, there twinkling Pleiades,
Heer the bright Balance, there the siluer Finns,
And thousand Starrs more then I can express.
14
I am VRANIA (then a-loud said she)
Who humane-kinde aboue the Poles transport,
Teaching their hands to touch, and eyes to see
All th' enter-course of the Celestiall Court.
15
I quint-essence the Soule, and make the Poet
(Passing himself) in a Divine Discourse
To draw the deafest, by the ears vnto-it,
To quicken stones, and stop the Oceans course.
16
I grant, my learned Sisters warble fine,
And ravish millions with their Madrigalls:
Yet all, no less inferiour vnto mine,
Than Pies to Syrens, Geese to Nightingalls.
17
Then take Me (BARTAS) to conduct thy [...]e [...] ▪
Soar-vp to Heav'n; Sing-me th' Almightie's prayse,
And tuning now the Iessean Harp again,
Gayn thee the Garland of eternall Bayes.
18
I cannot (grief-less) see my Sisters wrongs
Made Bawds to Louers, in deceitfull faynings,
In forged sighes, false tears, and filthy Songs,
Lascivious shewes and counterfait complaynings.
19
Alas! I cannot▪ with dry eyes behold
Our holy Songs solde and profaned thus
To grace the grace-less; praising (too-too bold)
Caligula, Nero, and Commodus.
20
But, most I mourn to see r [...]e Verse apply'd
Against the Author of sweet Composition:
I cannot brook to see Heav'ns King defy'd
By his own Souldiers, with his own Munition.
21
Man's eyes are [...]ield-vp with Cimmerian mist:
And, if ought pretious in his Life he reach,
Through sundry hands, by the Heav'ns bounty is't:
But God, himself, the Delphian Songs doth teach.
22
Each Art is learn'd by Art: but PO [...]SI [...]
Is a meer Heavenly gift; and none can taste
The Deaws we drop from Pindus plentiously,
If sacred Fire have not his brest imbraç't.
23
Thence is't, that many great Philosophers,
Deep-learned Clarks (in Prose most eloquent)
Labour in vain to make a grace-full Verse,
Which many a Novice frames most excellent.
24
Thence is't, that yerst, the poor Meonian Bard,
Though, Master, means, and his owne eyes he misses,
Of Olde and New is for his Verse preferd,
In's stout Achilles, and his wise Vlysses.
25
Thence is't, that Ovid cannot speak in Prose:
Thence is't, that Dauid (Sheapheard, turned Poet)
So soon doth learn my Songs: and Youths compose
After our Art, before (indeed) they knowe-it.
26
Dive day and night in the Castalian Fount,
Dwell vpon Homer and the Mantuan Muse,
Climb night and day the double-topped Mount,
Where the Pierian learned Maydens vse:
27
Read while thou wilt, read ouer every Book
In Pergamus, and in the famous Citie
That her great name, of Alexander took;
Still ply thy Pen, practise thy language (wittie):
28
Take time inough, choose seat and season fit,
To make good Verse at best aduantage place thee:
Yet worthy fruit thou shalt not reap of it,
For all thy toil, vnless Minerua grace thee.
29
For, out of Man, Man must him all advance,
That time-proof Poëms ever hopes to vtter;
And, extased (as in a holy Trance)
Into our hands his Sensiue part must put-her.
30
For, as a humane Fury makes a man
Less than a man: so Diuine-Fury makes-him
More than himself; and sacred Phrenzie than
Above the Heav'ns bright-flaming Arches takes-him.
31
Thence, thence it is that Divine Poets bring
So sweet, so learned, and so lasting Numbers,
Where Heav'ns and Nature's secret works they sing,
Free from the powr of Fates eternall slumbers.
32
True Poets, right are like winde-Instruments,
Which full, do sound; emptie, their noise surceases:
For, with their Fury lasts their Excellence;
Their Muse is silent, when their Fury ceases.
33
Sith therfore Verses have from Heav'n their spring,
O rarest spirits! how dare you (damned scorners)
Profanely wrest against Heaven's glorious King,
These sacred gifts given for your lives adorners?
34
Shall your ingratefull Penns be alwayes waiting,
As Seruants to the Flesh, and slaues to Sin?
Wil you your Volumes evermore be fraighting
With Dreams and Fables, idle Fame to win?
35
Still will you fill the World with Loue-sick groans?
Still will you fawn on Fools, and flatter Euill?
Still will you parbreak loathsom passions?
Still will you make an Angell of a Diuell?
36
Still will you comment on this common Storie?
And (Spider-like) weaue idle Webs of folly?
O! shall we neuer hear you sing the glory
Of God, the great, the good, the iust, the holy?
37
Is't not enough, that in Your soules, yee feel
Your Paphian Fire? but every Brothel-Lover,
T' inchaunt the wanton with his wanton stile,
Must (Strumpet-like) his lust full flame discover?
38
Is't not enough that you your selues do wallow
In foul delights? but that you must intice
Your heed-less Readers your loose Race to follow;
And so, for Vertue, make them fall to Uice?
39
Tunes, Notes, and Numbers (whence we do transfer
Th' harmonious powr that makes our Verse so pleasing)
The sternest Catoes are of force to stir,
Mans noblest spirits with gentle Fury seazing.
40
And, as a Seal printeth in wax (almost)
Another Seal; A learned Poet graveth
So deep his passions in his Readers ghost,
That oft the Reader, th' Authors form receiveth.
41
For, Verse's vertue, slyding secretly
(By secret pipes) through th' intellectuall Notions;
Of all that's pourtraid artificially
Imprinteth there both good and evill motions.
42
Therfore did Plato, from his None-Such banish
Base Poëtasters, that with vicious verse
Corrupted manners, making vertue vanish,
The wicked, worse; and even the good perverse.
43
Not those, that car'd to match their gracefull Phrazes
To grave-sweet matters: singing now the praise
Of iustest Ioue; anon from errors mazes
Keeping th' vn-steady, calling-back the strayes.
44
O prophane Wrighters▪ your lascivious Rime
Makes our best Poëts to be basely deemed,
As Iugglers, Iesters, and the scum of Time;
Yea, with the Vulgar less than these esteemed.
45
You make chaste Clio, a light wanton Minion;
Mount Helicon, a Stews: your ribaldrie
Makes prudent Parents (strict in their opinion)
To bar their Children reading Poëtry:
46
But, if you would (yet'at the last) inure-yee
Your Gnidian Idols in the dust to trample,
And rouze the Genius of your sacred-Furie,
To shewe the World som holy Works example;
47
All would admire your Rimes, and doo you honour,
As Secretaries of the Heav'nly Court;
And Maiesty would make you waite vpon-her,
To manage Causes of the most import.
48
The chain of Verse was at the first inuented
To handle onely sacred mysteries
With more respect: and nothing else was chanted
For long time after in such Poësies.
46
So did my Dauid on the trembling strings
Of his divine Harp onely sound his God:
So milde-soul'd Moses, to lehouah sings
Iacobs deliverance from th' Egyptian's Rod.
50
So Debora and Iudith, in the Camp;
So Iob and Ieremy, in cares oppressed;
In tune-ful Verses of a various stamp,
Their ioys and sighs, divinely-sweet expressed.
51
And therfore Satan (who transforms him slily
T' an Angel of the Light, the more t'abuse)
In's Oracles and Idols speaking wily,
Not common Prose, but curious Verse did vse.
52
So the fond Maid-Priests of Apollo sung
His Oracles in sweet Hexameters,
With doubtfull Riddles from a double tongue,
To hap-less-hopefull, conquered-Conquerers.
53
So th' ancient voice in Dodon worshipped,
So Aesculapius, Hamon, and the fair
And famous Sibyls spake and prophecied
In Verse: in Verse the Priest did make his prayer.
54
So Orpheus, Linus, and Hesiodus
(Wher of the first charm'd stocks, and stones, they say)
In sacred Numbers dar'd (to profit vs)
Their divine secrets of deep skill conuaigh.
55
O! you that long so, for the Laurel Crown,
Where's possible a richer Theam to take,
Than his high praise, who makes the Heav'ns go round,
The Mountains tremble, and dark Hel to quake?
56
This subiect, is a deep, broad, bound-les Ocean,
Th' aboundant Horn of Plentifull discourse;
The Magazin of wealth for Wits quick motion;
Of diuine Eloquence th' immortall source.
57
Base Argument, a base stile euer yields:
But (of it self) a lofty subiect raises
Graue-stately words, and (of it self) it gilds
It self; and crowns the Author's Pen with praises.
58
If then you would suruiue yourselues so gladly,
Follow not him, who burnt (to purchase fame)
DIANA's Temple: neither him that madly
To get renoun, a Brasen Bull did frame.
59
Imploy no more th' Elixir of your spirit
On Cytheréa and her winged Son.
How better neuer to be named were-it,
Then named (blamed) for a mischief donn?
60
We, Thrice-three Sisters of Parnassus Hill,
Be Virgins all: your Pallas self is so,
So is that sacred Tree-turn'd Ladie still,
From whose pure Locks your stil-green Laurels growe.
61
Then, consecrate-me (rather) your Wits miracles,
To sacred Stories: spend your Eloquence
In singing loud those holy heav'nly Oracles,
Pour there your Soules pure pretious quint-essence.
62
Let CHRIST (as Man-God) be your double Mount
Whereonto Muse, and, for the winged hoove
Of Pegasus, to dig th' Immortall Fount,
Take th' Holy-Ghost, typ't in a Siluer Doue.
63
Excelling Works, preserue the Memorie
Of those that make them: The Mausolean Toomb
Makes Artemisia, Scopas, Timothy,
Live to this day, and still in time to com.
64
Name-les had Hiram been, but for his ayd
Towards God's Temple, built in Israel:
And, but for God's Ark, in dark silence layd
Long since had been th' Hebrew Bezaleel.
65
Then, sith these great and goodly Monuments
Can make their makers, after death abide;
Although themselues have Vanished long since,
By Age, and Rage, Fier, Arms and Storms destroy'd:
66
O think (I pray) how-much-much greater glorie
Shall you attain, when your Diviner quality,
In sacred strains shall singth' Almightie's Storie,
Sith from immortall things springs Immortalitie.
67
I knowe, you'l answer, that the Ancient Fictions
Are (even) your Song's soule: and that every Fable
Aye breeding other, makes by their commixtions,
(To Vulgar ears) your Uerse more admirable.
68
But, what may be more admirable found,
Then Faith's Effects? or what doth more controule
Witt's curious pride? or with more force confound
The reach and reason of a humane soule?
69
I'ld rather sing the Towr of Babylon,
Than those three Mountains, that in frantik mood
The Giants pyl'd to pull love from his Throne:
And Noah's rather than Deucalion's Flood.
70
I'ld rather sing the sodain shape-depriving
Of Assur's Monarch, than th' Arcadian King:
And the Bethanian Lazarus reviving,
Than valiant Theseus Sonn's re-sodering.
71
Th' one, only doth delight their ears, that hear it;
The other tends to profit in som measure▪
But, only He the Laurel Crown doth merit,
Who wisely mingles profit with his Pleasure.
72
As sweetest walks are by the waters side,
And safest swimming neer the flowry shoar:
So, prudent writers never do diuide
Knowledge from Mirth, Mirth from instruction's lore.
73
Such shall you be, if such a taske you take;
For, teaching others, you your selues shall learn-all
Rules of good life: and happy so shall make,
As is your subiect, your owne Songs eternall.
74
Abandon then those Olde-wiues-Tales and Toyes;
Leave the Blinde Lad, who but the blinde abuses;
And only, addle, idle hearts annoyes.
Hence-forth no more profane the Sacred Muses.
75
But (O!) in vain, in vain (alas!) I plain-me;
Som (subtle Aspiks) to eschew my Charming,
Stop their dull ears; som ( Epicures) disdain-me
And my aduice; and scoff my zealous warning.
76
Som, for a season listen to my Laws,
But soon Relapse, through the Worlds sorceries;
And this discourse (which but the Vertuous draws)
Enters at one ear, and at th' other flies.
77
Alas! I see scarce one (nay, none at all)
That courts not Venus; or corrupts not more
His golden Honie, with profaner Gall:
Although this Age of happy Wits have store.
78
But thou (my Darling) whom before thy birth,
The Sacred Nine that lip th' immortall spring
Of Pegasus, predestin'd to set forth
Th' Almightie's glory, and his prayse to sing:
79
Although their Subiect seem a barren soyl,
Which finest Wits have left for fallow fields;
Yet, do thou never from this task recoil:
For, what is rarest, greatest glory yields.
80
Faint not (my- Salust) though fell Enuy bark
At the bright Rising of thy fair Renown;
Fear not her malice; for, thy living Work
(In spight of spight) shall not be troden down.
81
That Fames-foe Monster, is much like a Curr,
That fiercely barks at every new-com Guest;
But, once-acquainted, after doth not sturr,
Saving at strangers; fawning on the rest.
82
Or like a thick, dark, pitchie Clowd of smoak,
That round-about, a kindling Fier suppresses
With waving smother, the new Flame to choak:
But, as the Flame augments, the Fume decreases.
83
Wherefore (my deer) that sacred Path pursue,
Where none but Heav'n▪blest happy spirits can pase:
And heer I swear, that shortly for thy due,
Among best Wits thou shalt have worthy place.
84
With these sweet accents (grac't in vtterance)
VRANIA, holding in her Maiden-hand
A glorious Crown, rapt-vp (in sacred Trance)
My prostrate soule, prest to her high Command.
85
Since when, alone that Love my hearthath fired;
Since when, alone that Winde my sayls hath spread:
O happy! might I touch that Crown (desired)
But with my hand, not put it on my head.
86
Now out of zeal to your deer Name and You
(Deer noble Name, that I must aye affect:
And whose Disasters; I must euer rue)
This MONVMENT of Honour I erect
To you (sweet ESSEX) as your Vertues due,
For an eternall token of Respect:
Where, your great worth, and my good-will shall stand
Inrowld for ever, with VRANIA's hand.
FINIS.
THE TRIVMPH of FAITH …

THE TRIVMPH of FAITH, formerly DEDICATED, and now again, for euer Consecrated to the grate-ful Memorie of the first kinde Fosterer of our tender Muses, my neuer­sufficiently-Honored deer Vncle W. PLVMB, Esq.

For whose deer Bones we would a Toomb aduance Of Golde, and Silver, and CORINTHIAN Brasse, VVith Ivorie Pillars mixt with Iette and Rance, Rarer and richer than th' olde CARIAN's was;

And stately deck the same
With Stories of his Fame:
And round-about it wright
His Vertues shining bright:

But, sith the most of our poore Meanes (alas!) Not the least part of that Rich Pride affoords; For want of Wealth, we build a Toomb of Words:

Which (though it cost less) shall out-last
The proud cloud threatning Battlements,
Th' aspiring Spires by NILVS plaç't,
And Hell-deep-founded Monuments.

For greedy waste of Houres, that al things els deuours, Spares the sweet Maydes of sacred HELICON: And those fayre Ladyes, to their Friendes alone, This pretious Gift doo give, Still (after Death) to Live.

THE TRIVMPH OF FAITH.
To Guy de Faur, Lord of Pibrac: W. Salustius du BARTAS.

I Hate those Satyres, that the best still bite:
I hate the shamelesse Penns that sooth the vitious:
For, these be flatterers, and those malitious:
But, wise is he can hit the Mean aright.
I pinch not oft, nor doo I often praise:
Yet, must I needs praise the praise-worthie still:
I cannot hold my free and forward quill
From those whom Heauen adorns with speciall rayes.
Now, all that God doth by retail bestowe
On perfect'st men, to thee in grosse he giues:
Therefore my Muse thy praise so often driues,
For duties sake, but not to flatter so.
Our Age's wonder! when thy tongue (refin'd
By vse and Art) in our King's name dilates
With Counsails, Germain or furr'd Polish States,
The sweet-tongu'd Cyneas thou doost make vs minde.
In Priuy counsell, when our miseries
Thou doost be-moan, most Nestor-like thou art:
And when, in Paris Parlament, thy part▪
Of Lawes thou plead'st, thou seem'st to Scaeuolize.
Thy Latine Prose dooth match smooth Salusts stile:
And when thy Pen distils the Nectar sweet
Of Helicon (where all the Muses meet)
Me thinks I read sweet Virgill all the while.
In honour of these gifts, this gift I bring,
Small for my pains, great for the Argument:
But if the Heav'ns had richer treasure lent,
Thy New-yeeres-gift should be som better thing.

[Page]

THE TRIVMPH OF FAITH.

THE TRIVMPH OF FAITH.

Canto I.

1
NEer th' hour that Erycin' Aurora calls,
And she the Sun, sad Morpheus entring in
Through's hornie gate, to shew me did begin
A sacred Virgin's stately TRIVMPHALS.
2
Then Faith (for so she hight) bids, with celeritie,
Of Pen and Paper that I make provision
To wright the summ of this celestiall Vision,
To be recorded vnto all Posterity.
3
I knowe my taske to be impossible:
I knowe, in this, mans eyes are beetle-blinde:
His eares quite deaf: clean voide of sense his minde:
But, hardest things Faith makes most possible.
4
Eternall Sun, O scatter with thy Light
All mistie clouds, that make me not to see
Thy health-full face; and giue true Faith to mee,
Since Faith (sans Faith) cannot be knowen aright.
5
FAITH sits triumphant on a Carr of gold,
Of Tubals making, where blew Saphires shine,
Rich Diamonds, and many Rubies fine,
And if ought els the world more costly hold.
6
Her glorious Charret's rowling wheels are like
The holy wheels the great Ezekiel saw;
For, one self spirit, self winde, and will doth draw,
Their restless courses, equall, both a-like.
7
The Bird that led the Roman Standards out:
The Bird, that fixtly can oppose his eyes
Against the greatest light in all the skies;
High through the ayr, drawes this rich Coach about.
8
Faith flaunts it not in silver, silk, nor gold,
Nor pretious scarlet of the Tyrian Die,
Nor paints her face to hide deformity;
But, as she is, she doth her self vnfold.
9
Her body (that all bodies doth disgrace)
Like Iuno's Bird, is full of watchfull eyes
Whose holy glaunces pearce the lofty skies,
Pearce Air, and Heav'n, and see God face to face.
10
Sh' hath many sweet and flowing tongues to prayse
The Lord of Hoasts: sh' hath strong and mighty wings
(Passing the swiftnes of all earthly things)
That in a moment vp to Heav'n her rayse.
11
Her glorious head is compast with a Crown,
Not made of Olive, Pine, or Lawrell bough,
Nor Parsly Wreath, which Grecians did allow
Th' Olympian games, for signals of renown:
12
But, of fresh Roses pluckt from Honours Tree,
That never shrink for Winters chilling frost,
Nor wither not, when Titan patcheth most:
For, by the Lord they ever watred be.
13
Now, stain-les Truth for Standards doth display
Two Testaments: next, Courage marshals right
Th' vndaunted Troops that are prepar'd to fight
Vnder her Colours, into ba [...]ail-ray.
14
Then, Constancy bears a two-edged Blade,
And Patience an impenetrable Shield,
Whose brightnes hath inforç't more Monsters yield,
Then that which of grim Gorgon's head was made.
15
Next, Charity, that kindely doth prefer
Her neighbours good before her owne vtility:
Repentance, Hope, and hearty-milde Humility,
Doo flank the wings of Faith's triumphant Carr.
16
For, Faith (indeed) without her Maids were vain.
But, as the Sun can never lack his light,
Nor fire want heat: so (if we mark-aright)
Faith cannot want these Hand-mayds in her train.
17
Before this Coach, there is a Beldam gon,
That seems (at first) fairer then Hellen was:
But, neerer view'd, she is more foul (alas!)
Then fell Megera, Alecto 'r Tesiphon.
18
She never goes (like Faith) with open face;
But seeks for masks, vizards, and garments gay,
For cloke on cloke, to keep the light away,
Of her loath'd limbs to hide the foul disgrace.
19
Sh' hath tongues (like Faith) with which she boldly chats,
Blaspheming Heav'n with filthy vanities;
Sh' hath eyes, like Faith: but yet (alas!) those eyes
See clear by night, by day are blinde as Bats.
20
Sh' hath wings (like Faith) with which she soars on hie,
Like Icarus, she proudly mounts aloft;
Forgetting that her feathers are so soft,
Till Phoebus force her waxen wings dofri [...].
21
She (whom, sans reason, men haue Reason hight)
Since first, in Fire, the Lord the Air inclos'd;
In Air the Sea, in Sea the Earth dispos'd;
Hath with milde Faith maintain'd continuall fight;
22
Now, arming Kings, and putting in their brains,
That nothing less beseems their Royall State,
Than vnder Faith their Scepters to abate:
Then to indure her gentle-ruling reans.
23
Another-while, she puffs with poysony pride
(Whom their Disciples onely Doctors deem)
Such as (I grant) have spent much oyl, and time,
To draw mens soules from the true way, too-wide.
24
Yet still, the Lord (who still vpholds the iust)
Hath still the cause of holy Faith maintain'd:
Hath still, so well her holy side sustayn'd,
That still her Foes lie groveling in the dust.
25
A thousand Princes, bound in fetters fast,
Before her march, that her milde Yoak disdeign'd:
That all the Earth with blood of Saints disteyn'd,
And Christ his Church with Fire and Sword did waste.
26
He that (the first) in this worlds Pupillage,
Brain'd his owne brother, leads this bloudy crew:
Cain.
Then th' hardned Tyrant that did dare pursue
Through the Red-Sea Gods chosen Heritage.
Pharaoh.
27
Then saw I him, that Zachary did stone,
Ioash.
Athalia, Ahab, wicked Abian,
Occozias, Amon, Ahaz, and Ioram:
Then all that sate on the Samarian Throne.
28
I saw Senacherib, and Him whose Grace
Nebuchadnezar
Was turn'd to grass, proud Hammon and with-all
Braue Holophernes, and who on the Wall
Read how his Kingdom to the Medes should passe.
Baltsazar.
29
Annas and Caiaphas, and he that set
His hatefull Idoll in the holy Place,
Which five Iew-brethren bravely did deface:
Antiochus illu­stris.
These all, too-late, in sad repentance fret.
30
The Tyrant too, that (at our Saviours birth)
Herod.
In Cradles kill'd so many Innocents:
And that vile Iudge, whose seared conscience
Pilat.
Condemn'd the guilt-les Iudge of all the earth.
31
That viperous Monster (of Man-kinde the shame)
Nero.
Who, Mother, Wives, Brethren, and Sisters slue,
Then from a lofty Towr did laugh to view
Rome's glittering Spires all on a burning flame,
32
With Seuenth Seuerus came accompanied:
Iule, Maximin, with fell Maximian,
Cruell Gallerian, fond Domitian,
That (God-less) would like God be honoured.
33
Then saw I him, that served Sapores
For foot-stoole base: I saw Aurelian,
Valeri [...].
Decius, Lycinus, and Hostilian;
And fell Maxentius, marching next to these.
34
I saw great Traian, learn'd Aurelius,
And learned Dioclesian: all which three
Among wise Caesars might well praysed be,
Had they not been 'gainst Christians barbarous.
35
Iustin, Theodorus, Constantinus Sonne,
An [...]stasius.
Heraclius, Ualence, Constance, Manuel,
And that Bizantian Prince, that did mis-tell
A foure-fold Essence in the onely ONE.
Comn [...]s.
36
Then ( Goaths and Uandals) Gens'ric, Trasimond)
Honorius, Theodorus, Totilas,
Alaricus, and Rhotoris (alas!)
Who Rome, and Afrik with S [...] blood haue drown'd,
37
But who is this that laden so with chains,
By thousand hang-men racked with despight,
By thousand furies tortur'd day and night,
For God-les deeds receiues so righteous pains?
38
'Tis Mahomet, who more by Mauors Art,
Sergius a Ne­storian Monk holp Mahomet to make his Al­coran.
Than's Alcaron (Bird of a Friers nest)
Hath all subdu'd the wealthy golden East,
And won with-all the triple world's best part.
39
I see Prince Saladine, of match-les force,
But th' Alcaron, too-deeply favouring:
Haly th' Caliphe, and the wanton King
That did our Maids on Edess Altars force.
40
With wrath and woe, old Ottoman opprest,
Too-late repentance in his face presents;
And Mahomet, the second, much laments
That he the Greekish Emperie supprest.
41
So the proud scorn of (scourge-Turk) Tamberlain,
Baiazeth.
That in an iron Cage was cooped straight;
And he that first presum'd to passe the Streight,
Which Europ's bounds divides from th' Asian.
42
Then he that quittance did with Scythia cry,
And over Sea his Scepter rais'd again;
Mahomet 3
And Amurath, that did repell amain
Uincenslaus, that first had made him fly.
43
Orcan (the Phrigian ▪s fear) and Calipine,
Who foil'd Sigismond's hoast, his Father fear'd;
And Baiazeth, that, being haughty rear'd
By Germain Tropheis, did their peace repine.
44
He that his Sire and Brother put to death,
Selim [...]
Is with a Cable kill'd; his Son, that quail'd
Th' Hungarian King, and Rhodes, and Bud assail'd,
Solyman.
With trembling fear now quakes like Aspen leaf.
45
And neer this Solyman ther doth remain
An empty room for him that yet survives,
Selim.
Who (by our Kings strange iars) so richly thrives,
That (proud) he threats both Germany and Spain.
46
O wretched Christians! while your civillrage
Gainst your owne hearts doth arme your proper hands,
O see you not the Turks invade your Lands,
And safely spoyl the Lords choise heritage?
47
The discord growen 'twixt the Bulgarian King,
And th' Eastern Caesar, even the Bridge it was
For hate-Christ Turks the Hellespont to pass,
And so in Greece a Pagan Scepter bring.
48
The discord of two brethren Morea lost,
And (O!) I fear lest Christians home-bred frayes
(Dejecting quite Christs name, and all his prayse)
Bring Turks to land in farthest Western coast.
49
Forget then (Christians) your vn-christian iarr [...]
(Your civill strife for wagging of a straw)
Ioyn harts & hands, and all ioynt weapons draw
In Faith's defence to fight Iehoua's warrs.
50
In Asia and Egypt make your Forces knowen:
Recover Gaza, A [...]tioch, Ascalon,
Tyre, Sidon, Ioppa, and King Dauids Throne,
And Famagosta lost a yeer agon.

Canto II.

1
THough bloody Tyrants had in every age,
Busiris Altars, Bulls of Phalaris,
Gemonid Ladders, making Land and Seas,
And fire, and air, racks of their beastly rage:
2
Yet could they neuer wound the Church so much,
As haue the Writings of the worldly Wise,
Which on mens soules doo felly tyrannize;
The tortures, onely did the bodies touch.
3
These Sages, puft with self-conceited pride,
Dare to controule th' Almighties match-less work,
Where mystik Secrets from our senses lurk,
The search wherof the Lord hath vs deni'd.
4
And, though the spred of our too-feeble wings,
Scant rayse vs from the ground, they mount aloft
Even vp to Heav'n, where they do measure oft
(By their Wits compass) God's eternall things.
5
Their knowledge is but meerly ignorance,
They lose the truth in seeking it too much:
For, Truth doth still conceal her self from such,
And to the humble doth herself advance.
6
Truth alwayes dwels within the holy Tables
Of God's liue Word; not in our wanton brain,
Which dayly coyning som strange Error vain,
For Gold takes Lead, for Truth electeth Fables.
7
Long time their reasons were with Reason ri [...]e,
To wrack the Church, and Faith to ruinate:
But, now I see they doo detest too late,
Their former errors and their former life.
8
In formost rank, march all Gymno-sophists
1 The ancient Sa­ges of the world
Follow'd by all the cunning Persian Mages,
Th' old French Druids, learned Calde-Sages,
And flower of all the Brachmane-sophists.
9
Pathagoras, Zeno, Xenophanes,
2 Philosophers, Greeks & Latins
Parmenides, merrie Democritus,
Empedocles, and sad Heraclitus,
Archytas, Naucides, Nausiphanes.
10
Brief, all the Doctors of the Latin Sect
Tearing their Tresses, melting into tears,
Beating their breasts, detest those Dreams of theirs:
And so the greatest of the Greeks Elect.
11
Anaximander, Anaximenes,
Mylesian Thales, Anaxagoras,
Gnawen with continuall care, cry out (alas)
On their owne Errors, and so Socrates.
12
Cleanthes, and Chrysippus next to these,
With Zeno (Sto [...]k [...]) that haue often stray'd:
And next the Cyn [...]ks (all as ill-appay'd)
Diogenes, Crates, Antisthones.
13
There, the grand Patrons of each A [...]adem,
Plato, Speusippus, and Zenocrates,
Clytomachus, Crantor, Carneades;
And he that labours to conciliate them.
14
There mourns in vain Pirrhon (Son of Plistarchus)
That (fond) beleeues not what his ears do hear,
Eyes see, nose smells, tongue tastes, and hands do bear:
Then Timon, Hecate, and Anaxarchus.
15
There, the Stagirian (that with learned vain,
Aristotle.
In's Works includes the Encyclopedy)
Sorrie t'haue led so many soules awry,
With Strato and Theophrastus doth complain.
16
There carnall Epicurns wayls with tears,
And Metodorus, next to whom there came
Both Aristipp [...], Aretas, and that same
Vile wretch that coyn'd a worser sect than theirs:
17
I mean that Monster Theodorus hight,
Who shame-less sayes, Ther is no God at all:
And that the Wise may (when occasion [...] fall)
Be Lyer, Traytor, Theef, and Sodomite.
18
Alas! how true the Proverb proves too plain,
Saying, Bad weeds grow euery-where a-pace:
But, wholsom hearbs scant spring in any place
Without great labour, and continuall pain.
19
O Graecians Baen, thy mortifying mores
To growe in Rome the swelling Seas haue crost;
From Rome too soon over the Alps have past
As far as France, and all her neighbour shoars.
20
Thy deadly Plant now buds on Iustice Throne,
In Christian Camps, and Courts of Christian Kings,
In Church and Chair, and every-where so springs,
That with thy thistles all is over-growen.
21
But, now return we to our task again:
All these Wise-men, of God have false defin'd,
Of Cheefest-good, Soules, or wrong place assign'd,
Where (dead) we feel, or end-les peace or pain.
22
Those that since Christ (true Son of righteousness)
3. Deceiptfull Sophists and A­postataes, opē E­nemies of Christ.
On our Horizon brought the dayes broad light,
Haue led men's soules in dark eternall night,
Feel torments worthy of their wickedness.
23
Next Symmachus, Porphirius marches first,
Lucian, and Celsus then, whose hardned heart
The Gospell (knowen) did labour to subvert,
And Iulian also, of all Caesars worst:
24
Who, knowing well that tortures were but vain
To force the Saints from the right Faith to straie;
(By sugred stile) studies another way,
Turns truth to lies, and lies to truth again.
25
Next, I perceive the Circumcised Crew
4. Cabalists, and Talmu­dists, Rabbies.
Of Cabalists, and butly Talmudists,
Troubling the Church with their mysterious Mists,
Who wel-nigh dead'gainst CHRIST do spet and spew:
26
Much like to Snakes, that wagg their sting-les sting,
When as (their heads and bodies being slain)
They threat their Foes with force-less fury vain,
And to their Graues their Thirst of vengeance bring.
27
Now com the Doctors of the Alcaron,
5. Turkish Do­ctors.
Who mingling poyson, by their subtill glose,
The World's blinde eyes with darker Clouds inclose;
They shew their sorrow by their saddest mone.
28
But, who are these that wear Faith's Livery,
6. Heretiks old and new.
And bear the badge of Faith's best Souldiars;
And yet are laden with such bolts and bars;
And so despised of Faith's company?
29
These (if I err not) are the Heretiks▪
Who (pusht by proud and curious spirits) do blend
Both Heav'n and Earth, and busily contend,
To lead the World in crooked paths and Creeks.
30
Now, as soft windes, with straight constrayned breath
(Through chinks and crannies stealing privily)
Hurt more our health, than boistrous blasts that fly
And roule (abroad) the stones vpon a heath:
31
And, as the Foe that shakes the Citie's wall [...]
With thundring shot, is not so dangerous,
As a lewd Burgess false and mutinous,
That in the Town stirs-vp domestik brauls:
32
So, Pagans, Turks, Iews, doo not damnifie
The Faith, like these: their open violence
May be avoyded: but false fair-pretence
Is hardly scaped with much ieopardie.
33
They make (like vs) a fair religious showe:
They haue (like vs) one Church, one FAITH, one Lord:
They read (like vs) one Bible, and one Word:
So sly they are, Gods Church to over-throwe.
34
In foremost rank, heer go the Sadduces,
That to deny Angels, and Resurrection;
Both Spirits of grace, and of reiection:
Then th' Esseans foul, and Formal Pharises.
35
Next, that deceiver, that devised first
Simon Magus. Nicolaus, Author of the Sect of the Ni­colaites.
Church-chaffering: and after him insues
That mariage-Foe, who brutishly renews
Pluto's (not Plato's) Common-law accurst.
36
Cerinthus next, all bruis'd, and bleeding fresh,
Of Beam-pasht wounds that brain'd him suddainly,
When in the Baths (profane) he did denie
Christs holy God-head, hidden in our flesh.
37
For having likewise warr'd against the same
God-head of th' onely Man-God; Ebion,
Paul, Samyan, Photin, Carp'crate, Artemon,
Shewe by their looks their sorrow and their shame.
38
There mourns that Manés; who did fondly fain
Two divers Gods, Authors of Good and Ill;
There Valentin the air with cries doth fill,
Who did deny that bodies Rise again.
39
Cerdon (great Patron of the Stoïcall)
Marcion, Menander pitious Moan do make:
There sighes Apelles, saying Christ did take
Not (simply) flesh, but flesh fantasticall.
40
There goes Basilides, who canoniz'd
Cyrenean Simon, in our SAVIOVRS steed;
Montanus there (afrantik head indeed)
Who guiltless Children kill'd and sacrifiz'd.
41
There, Tatians, Encrati [...]s, Severio [...]s,
Sabellians too, which (seeking th' vnity,
In Gods great Essence) lost the Trinity;
Abhor too-late their fond conclusions.
42
There, th' Alexandrian Priest, that yerst did voyd
Arrius.
His entrails at the stool, whose Heresie
(Witching wel-neer th' Earths Vniversity)
With Sword and Schism the World so much annoy'd,
43
Sadly beholds sad-marching Macedonius
And Eunomus, who at the first had sowen
His poysonie seeds; but after, of their owne
They gathered two other Sects erronious.
44
Bizantian Nestor, and ( our owne) [...]lagius,
Libian Donatus, Luciferians,
Euticheans fond, and fond Priscillians,
All frown and fret, for inward grief outrageous.
45
Shall I conceal Seruetus, and the train
Of those Dëists that in Sarmatia swarms:
And (Kingling) Muncer, that with frantik arms,
Founds hundred sorts of Anabaptists vain?
46
Both Syrtes sands I might as eas'ly number,
As number those, whose sweet in chanting Writs
With Error's dregs have drenched wanton Wits,
Chiefly'n this Age, which all corruptions cumber.
47
For, Satan now him so insinuates
In faithless hearts, that ween themselues be wise,
That so foul Error can he not devise,
But shall be backt by strong associates.
48
I see the Beast, that bears the purple Whore
(Great Anti-christ vsurping powr divine)
7. Antichrist & the Schismatiks.
Set on Seaven Hills; who with her whordom's wine
Makes drunk the Princes that her Seat adore.
49
And (last of all) I see the Schismatiks,
Which (renting Christ's vnseamed coat in twain)
Trouble the Church-peace with contentions vain;
Following too neer the steps of Heretiks.

Canto III.

1
GReat Sire's great Son! Oliue, God's liuely face,
Wisedom conceiued of the onely Wise:
To vs given Giver: First and Last: born twise;
Once, in full Time; once, out of all Times space.
2
Beam of that Sun which fills the world with Light:
Life of our life, our death's death, Stinger's sting:
Our perfect, wise, iust, holy, valiant King,
Word, that no word can full express aright:
3
O Lord, draw, draw me, draw me from this throng,
Whose feet and hands are bold to war with thee;
For, with dry eyes I can them never see,
Nor without grief recite them in my Song.
4
Ah! I am out; now (my deer God) I goe
From Babel to Iernsalem, the Land
Of Life, Saints house, and holy Ark, to stand
Against all Seas, and all rough storms that blowe.
5
Lo heer these Champions that haue (brauely-bold)
Withstood proud Tyrants, stoutly consacring
Their liues and soules to God, in suffering:
Whose names are all in Life's fair Book in-roll'd.
6
All-hail, Saint-Souldiers, let vs once imbrace:
O valiant Knights! let me your hands and brows
Adorn with Palms, and with Apollo's boughs:
Let present honours former shames deface.
7
Com, sacred Kings; O holy Princes com:
Com to this Triumph, Lords, whose valiant hands
Haue Satan's kingdom sought to bring in bands,
And in your Crowns giv'n Faith the chiefest room.
8
He, that (the first) Isaac infranchized,
Moses. Iosua.
Leads by the hand that Duke, whose faithfull word
Stopt Phoebus Coursers, and whose conquering Sword
Subdu'd the Land the Lord had Promised.
9
He that, but armed with an Asses bone,
Samson.
Slew thousand Foes, Sangar, Othoniel,
Ahod, and Ieptha, Barac, Samuel,
And (th' Heathen's scourge) triumphant Gedeon.
10
That great King-Prophet, Poet, Conqueror,
Dauid.
Sweet Psalmograph: Asa, that Idols brake:
He that made all the Idol-altars quake;
Iosias.
And (after) did the Paschal Lamb restore.
11
Iehosaphat, Ioathan, Azarias;
And he, whose life the Lord did dis-abbridge,
Whom Heav'nly arms, from Assur did vnsiedge,
The most religious, match-less Ezechias.
12
Wise Mardochey; and the five Maccabees;
All, the right heirs of heart and zeal paternall,
Receiue their guerdon from the great Eternall,
And vp again their stooping standards raise.
13
Before these Warriours, and the Royall band,
March holy Fathers, that with vertue rare,
And holy Doctrine, did the Diuell dare;
Foyling the force of his infernall hand.
14
Enos, by whom this World's great Archi-tect
Was call'd vpon, leadeth (religious)
That holy Father God took vp from vs:
Henoch. Noah.
And him whose ship did saue the world Elect.
15
Then Sem and Iapheth, and great Abraham,
Isaak.
The Faithfull's Father; and his faithfull Son,
And then his Nephew that saw Angels run
Iacob.
Both vp & down frō Heav'n to th' earthly frame.
16
Aron, Eleazar, Phinees full of zeal,
Good Ioyada, and hundred Priests select,
That were by Heav'n, by zeal, and Church elect,
To keep the law, the Lord did once reveal.
17
His Father, who was sent to sweep the way
Zacharias. Ioseph.
Of sweet Messias; then, the man suppos'd
To be His Sire, then He that Him inclos'd
In's ioyfull arms, and sung a Swan-like Lay.
Simeon.
18
Then Barnabas, Titus, and Timothy,
( Paul's famous Friends, Sins fierce and deadly Foes)
And he that did, by Sol's Eclipse, suppose
Som greater Sun to be Eclips't than he.
19
Then (this brave Triumph to adorn the more)
All on a rowe a hundred Prophets com,
Which haue so sure fore-told the things to-com,
As if (indeed) they had been don before.
20
There first coms he, that in the Coach of fire
Elias.
By Gods strong Spirit was rapt above the Air:
Elizeus.
And then his Seruant, that was made his heir
Of cloak and knowledge, as he did desire.
21
He that reproov'd old Ishay's Sceptred Son,
Nathan.
For double fault; Amos, Ezechiel,
Ioel, Semyah, Abdiah, Daniel,
And he that three dayes in the Sea did won.
Ionas.
22
With these, I see the Sonn of Barachie,
Zachariah.
Both Michais, Baruc, Iehu, Ieremias,
Agg', Abacuc, Nahum, and Sophonias.
Ahias, Hosè, Esdras, Malachie.
23
The glorious troop, that march before this troop,
Are Martyrs all, who (full of constant zeal)
Their faith infract with their owne blouds did seal,
And never did to any Tyrant stoop.
24
Their blessed bloud is like the morning dewe,
To make more fertil all the Churches field:
These are the weapons that inforce to yield
The furious foe (examples not a fewe).
25
For, as a fruit-Treelopped in December,
For one old Trunk, many new twigs returns,
Which Nature kindely with sweet fruit adorns:
So, one sole Martyr many doth ingender.
26
First Abel goes, then Ioyad's zealous Son
That neer the Altar (constant) yielded breath;
Esay. Iohn Baptist.
The next goes he Manasses put to death;
Then he whose head th' incestuous Dancer won.
27
Next Salone and her Sons, who rather chose
To cross the King than God, strengthning each other
Even in their death; Sons worthy such a Mother,
And Mother worthy of such Sons as those.
28
That Proto-Martyr, the yong faithfull Steven,
Whom th' hatefull Iews with hellish rage did stone;
Who, dying, saw Christ Iesus on his Throne,
Leads those that for like cause their lives have given.
29
Som, smear'd with honey, for the Flies were feasts:
Som, men did eat, som were on Gridirons broyl'd:
Som, nayl'd on Crosses, som in Caldrons boyl'd.
And som were throwen to most devouring beasts.
30
After the Champions of this humble Troop,
I see fair Sara, Rebecca, Rachel:
Then Debora, stout Iudeth, and Iahel,
Who (Faiths Viragoes) their proud Foes did stoop.
31
Then she that (rais'd to Royall state and stile)
[...]ester.
Preserv'd her people, in a rank she goes
With Naomi, Ruth, and the Dame that chose
Rather to die, than Nuptiall bed defile.
Susanna.
32
From these, mineeie no sooner trauerseth,
But I discern three Ladies zealous-led,
That sought their living Lord among the dead:
Then Anna, Martha, and Elizabeth.
33
But, my weak eyes cannot indure to gaze
The Virgin Mary.
On beaming beauties of that Mother-Maid,
Who Sier-less bore her Sire, yet ever-maid;
Of Faith and Loue th' inimitable maze.
34
This, this (my Muse) this is th' Aurora cleer
Which brought the Sun to light the world vnkinde,
A Virgin pure in body and in minde,
Christ's Mother, Sister, Spouse, and Daughter deer.
35
God's holy Temple, and the happy stair,
Wher-by the Heav'ns came down to dwell with Earth,
Rich-fraighted Ship, Vessell of rarest worth,
Where Phoebus hid his beams most bright and fair.

Canto IIII.

1
I Thought to haue been now at my Races end,
T' haue (though vnworthy) born away the prise:
But I fall short, my task doth longer rise;
For, half the Trophè is yet hardly penn'd.
2
Before Faith's Coach, born in convenient height,
Are curious Tables draw'n by cunning hand,
Where (after guise of warlik Romans) stand
The Victories of never-conquer'd Faith.
3
Heer, Iericho's cloud-kissing Towrs doo fall,
Iosua. 6. 20.
Batter'd alone by Faith's great Ordinance:
A coumpt-less hoast of craking Idolants,
2. King. 18, 13 2. Chron. 32, 20 Esa. 37, 21
By Esa [...]e's Faith, is heer confounded all.
4
By Faith, meek Moses with a zeal-full ire
Arms smallest Worms, th' Egyptian King to vex;
Exod. 7, 8, 9
Daniel, by Faith, fierce Lyons fury checks,
Dan. 6. 12
And quenches Dragons hot impoysoning fire.
5
Heer, Paul, by Faith, fears not (in Mitylene)
Act. 28, 5
The deadly sting of th' vgly Viper-worm:
Heer, myching Ionas (sunk in suddain Storm)
Ionas 22
Of his Deliverance finds a fish the mean.
6
Then, in another Table, that was fram'd
By Art, exceeding Art; I did espie
Pale Death, blithe Health, and frail Infirmity,
That had by Faith a thousand times been tam'd.
7
Moses, by Faith doth Myriam leperize:
Num. 12, 10
By Faith, Elisha (curing Naaman
2. King. 6, 14, 17
The Syrian Prince) strikes instantly his man
With his Disease, for Bribing Covetize.
8
A man of God, by Faith, first strangely dri'd,
1. King. 13, 4, 6
Then heal'd again that King's vnholy hand,
Who made ten Tribes of God's (then) chosen Land
From God, and from their lawfull Prince to slide.
9
By Faith, Saint Paul stark-blinded Elymas:
Act. 13, 11
By Faith, Saint Peter (full of iust disdaign)
With suddain death did smite those periur'd twain
That durst dissemble with the Spirit of Grace.
Act. 5, 5, 16
10
By Faith▪ young Toby kindely doth restore
Tob. 11, 11 Act. [...], 6, & 14, 10.
His Father's sight; by sacred Faith likewise
Two crooked Cripples are made straight to rise;
In Listra th' one, th' other at Templedore.
11
By Faith, Saint Paul did a rich Maltois cure
Of grievous Flix, that him afflicted sore:
Act. 21, 8
By Faith, Saint Peter likewise did restore
A Palsie-sick that eight yeers did indure.
Act. 9. 34
12
By Faith, Saint Paul did Eutichus re-lyue:
Act. 20, 10 1. King, 17, 21 2. King, 4, 33
By Faith, Elias rais'd the Sareptite;
Elisha raysed the young Sunamite:
At Ioppa, Peter Dorcas did revive.
Act. 9, 40
13
Then in another Picture I did view
The foure Ele­ments.
The foure first bodies of this massie Globe;
Green-gowned Tellus, Uulcan Scarlet-robe,
Py'd mantled Iuno, Neptune clad in blew.
14
Elisha's Faith brought, from the lofty Skies,
2. King. 6. 17
Bright fiery Charrets 'gainst the Syrian hoast;
1. King. 18, 38
Elias Faith (scorning the Baal-Priests boast)
Fier'd without fire his moated Sacrifice.
15
By Faith, three Hebrues, cast in seaven-fold flame
By a proud Prince, escape the raging Fire
Dan. 3, 27
(Their very garments sent-less and entire)
While their Tormentors perish in the same.
16
Moses, by Faith, makes fire from Heav'n to fall
Leuit. 10, 21 Num. 16, 35
In th' Hebrue hoast, those wretches to consume,
Whose profane hands with profane Fire and Fume,
God's holy Altar had polluted all.
17
Moses by Faith (heard by the God of powr)
Compels the Mountain's burly sides to shake;
Commands the Earth to rent, and yawn, and quake,
Num. 16, 30
To swallow Rebels, and them quick devour.
18
Moses by Faith divides the Sea in twain,
Exod. 14, 21
When Israël came out of Egypt Land:
Then, in the Desert's dry and barren sand,
Exod. 17, 9
From flinty Rocks doth plentious Rivers strain.
19
Moses, by faith converts to foul black blood
Exod. 7, 20
The Crystall Current of the seaven-fold Nile:
By Faith again, he makes (another while)
Exod. 15, 25
Those stinking waters, holsom, sweet, and good.
20
Thrice, silver Iordan did it self divide,
To giue safe passage to God's deer-belov'd;
Once by the Faith of valiant Iosuah proov'd:
Iosua. 3, 16 2. King. 2, 8, 14
Elias once: once by Elisha tri'd.
21
The zealous Thisbit did by Faith seal-vp
The Heav'ns wide windows, that ther fell no Rain
In seaven-six months; and then by Faith again
1. King. 18, 41
(To drench the dry Earth) set them all wide-ope.
22
Likewise by Faith the nimble-winged train,
That cleave the Air, are to our service set,
The Ravens are made to bring Elias meat,
1. King. 16, 6 Gen 8, 11 Exod. 16, 13
The Dove serves Noah, Quails for Moses rain▪
23
O! who is able Faith to countermand?
If Faith doo force all-taming yron yield,
If Faith make yron flote on Neptunes field,
2. King. 6, 6
If that Elisha's Faith strong steel command.
24
Faith hath not onely powr on things terrene,
Both high and lowe; but often times doth force,
Gods iustice too, and somtimes seems (perforce)
God's purposes to change and alter clean.
25
The Niniuits, by Faith (repenting) shun
Their over-throwe, that Ionas threatned neer:
Ionas. 3, 10
And Ahaz Son by Faith adds fifteen yeer
2. King. 20. 10
To his short life, that seem'd already don.
26
Now, if the giver of this Faith (we see)
Seem to incline and bow vnto her still,
As bound and ready to obey her will;
What marvell is't if Angels be not free?
27
The Angels serue in Ezechias pay;
2. King. [...]9, [...]5 1. King, 19 Acts 12. 7 Gen. 32, 1.
By Faith, they bring the Thisbit needfull Cates:
By Faith, they ope for Peter prison gates:
By Faith, to Iacob they direct the way.
28
About twelue pases past these former Pomps,
Full many sacred Minstrels sound, on hie,
Triumphant Faith's great name and dignity,
Tuning aloft their Clarions, Flutes, and Tromps.
29
Mark, Matthew, Luke, & (the Lords deerest) Iohn,
Christs Secretaries, winde with such a brest,
Their warbling Cornets, that from East to West
Through all the World their sacred sound is gon.
30
Both Iameses, one the Son of Zebedeus,
Th' other Alphcus, Thomas, Simon, Andrew,
Peter, Mathias, Philip, Bartholomew,
Paul (Gentile's Doctor) with-the good Thaddeus,
31
Sound with so sweet accord their Sagbuts long,
And their shril Fifes (heard from the North to Nile)
As if one spirit did fill them all the while,
And one same hand had set their holy Song.
32
While thus my spirit this strange discourse did cumber,
Rare-builder Prognè, earlier then the rest,
Beginning th' out-most of her curious nest,
Brake, with her prattling, my deep pleasing slumber.
33
Sorry to be so suddain wak't; I would
I were a Dor-Mouse for a hundred yeer,
That I might sleep full twenty Lustres heer,
To shun the woes that waking I behold.
34
For now (alas!) waking (with grief) I see
Babel tryumphing over Sion still:
And on the Good th' Vngodly work their will:
The Wicked prais'd, the Righteous scorned be.
35
I see (alas!) in these lamented Times,
Mens greatest zeal in bloudy murther stands:
Profane our hearts, and so profane our hands:
Bare Christian Name serves but to cloak our crimes.
36
Incest's a sport, and Murther Man-hood thought:
Disloyalty a speciall Vertue deem'd:
And Periury sound Policy esteem'd:
Medea's Arts, and Sodomie are taught.
37
Maydens be bold, and Wives be impudent,
Princes are Tyrants, people full of rage:
This Age is sink of every former Age,
Receiving each Sinn's vgliest excrement.
38
But, my swolne brest, shut-vp thy sighe's sad gate:
Stop, Stop, mine eyes, the passage of your tears;
Cast-off, my heart, thy deep despairing fears;
That which most grieues me, most doth consolate.
39
No, no: my Dream is true; soon shall we see
Faith's glory shine; Satan (perceiuing nie
His prides Eclipse) his greatest force doth trie,
To stop great Faith's triumphant victorie.
40
Sure if my Card and Compasse doo not fail,
W' are neer the Port, where (danger being past)
We need not fear the billow, nor the blast
Of blustring windes, nor Seas that can assail.
41
Our beastly manners, like Gomorrha's guise:
The troubled Seasons: Warrs domesticall:
The threats of Heauen: are the fore-runners all
Of CHRIST that coms to hold his last Assise.
42
That drad-desired Day shall soon appeer,
Christ coms the Rav'ns from Swans to set a-side:
The Tares from wheat: and Goats from Lambs diuide:
And this braue Triumph (that I sing) is neer.
43
O Father! while this Triumph I expect,
Waiting to see the Wicked's vtter Fall,
And thy iust Scepter Ruling ouer all;
Let liuely Faith my Reason still direct.
FINIS.
TETRASTICHA. OR The …

TETRASTICHA. OR The Quadrains of Guy de Faur, Lord of Pibrac.

Translated, By IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

Acceptam referro.

TO The right excellent, and most hopefull young Prince, Henry.

AFfter so many golden Rules of State,
Religious Lessons, Morall Precepts graue,
As in your Fathers ROYAL-GIFT you haue;
[...].
These seeme supersfluous, or to come too-late:
Yet, 'tis no Error tore-iterate
The Voice of Wisedome to the tender Eare
Of Princes (chiefly) such as You, that beare
The Hope and Hap of Europe in your Fate:
And, though You want not these weake helpes of ours,
To consummate Your Selfe in Excellence:
Yet may those Subiects, which shall once be Yours,
Draw vertuous Wisedome, and all Dutie hence:
If You but daigne with your deer Name to grace it,
Which (Load-stone-like) shal draw them to embrace-it.
Iosuah Syluester.

The Quadrains of Pibrac.

1
DIEV tout premier, puis Pere & Mere honore.
Sois iuste & droict: & en toute saison
Del' innocent pren en main la raison:
Car Dieu te doit la-haut iuger encore.
First honour God, and then thy Parents deere;
Be true and Iust: and see thou neuer grudge▪
The Innocents oppressed cause to cleere;
For one-day God shall also be thy Iudge.
2
Si en iugeant la faueur te commande,
Si corrompu par or ou par presens,
Tu fais iustice au grè des Courtisans,
Ne doute point que Dieu ne te le rende.
If gold and bribes corrupt thy conscience,
If feare or fauour in thy Iudgement sway thee,
If thou respect the Persons difference;
Be sure that God will in the end re-pay-thee.
3
Auecle iour commence ta iournèe,
De l'Eternel lesainct nom benissant:
Le soir aussi ton labeur finissant,
Loue-le encor', & passe ainsi l'annèe.
Begin thy Dayes-work when the Day begins,
First blessing Gods thrice-blessed Name (deuout)
And then, at Euening when thy labour ends
Praise him againe: so bring the yeere about.
4
Adore assis (comme le Grec ordonne)
Dieu en courant ne veut estre honorè:
D'vn fer me cueur il veut estre adorè,
Mais ce cueur là il fault qu'il nous le donne.
Adore thou, sitting (as the Greek doth bid)
For running Prayer is praeposterous:
With stedfast Heart God will be worshipped,
But such a heart himselfe must giue to vs.
5
Ne va disant, ma main a faict cest oeuure,
Oumavertu cebel oeuure a parfaict:
Mais dis ainsi, Dieu par moy l'oeuure a faict:
Dieu est l'autheur du peu de bien que i'oeuure.
Say not; My hand this Work to end hath brought:
Nor, This my Vertue hath attayned to:
Say rather thus; This, God by me hath wrought:
God's Author of the little Good I doo.
6
Tout l'Vniuers n'est qu'vne citè ronde:
Chacun a droict de s'en dire bourgeois,
Le Scythe & More autant que le Gregeois,
Le plus petit que le plus grand du monde.
The World is all but a round Citie like,
Where each may right be said a Citizen:
As well the rude Barbarian as the Greeke,
As well the meanest as the mightiest men.
7
Dans le pourpris de ceste cite belle
Dieu a logé l'homme comme en lieu sainct,
Comme en vn Temple, ou luy mesmes s'est peinct
En mil endroicts de couleur immortelle.
In this faire Citie's goodly Walls God planted,
And placed man as in a Sanctuarie,
Where He, himselfe in thousand parts hath painted
With liuely coulours that do neuer varie.
8
Il n'y a coing si petit dans ce temple,
Ou la grandeur n'apparoisse de Dieu:
L'homme est plantè iustement au milieu,
A fin que mieux par tout il la contemple.
There's not a nooke so small in all this Temple,
Wherein God's Greatnes doth not plaine appeare:
Which that we might the better all contemple,
He placed man iust in the middle heere.
9
Il ne scauroit ailleurs mieux la cognoistre
Que dedans soy, où, comme en vn miroir,
La terre il peut & le ciel mesme voir:
Car tout le monde est compris en son estre.
Yet can he no-where better knowe the same
Then in himselfe, where-in he may behold
(As in a Glasse) Earth, Water, Aire, and Flame:
For, All the World, his Essence doth in-fold.
10
Qui a de soy parfaicte cognoissance,
N'ignore rien de ce qu'il fault scauoir.
Mais le moyen asseurè de l'auoir,
Est se mirer dedans la sapience.
Who of Himselfe hath perfect Knowledge gain'd,
Ignoreth nothing that he ought to know:
But the best meanes whereby it is attain'd,
Is often-times to Wisedomes Glasse to goe.
11
Ce que tu vois de l'homme n'est pas l'homme,
C'est la prison où il est enserrè,
C'est le tombeau où il est enterrè,
Le lict branlant où il dort vn court somme.
That which thou seest of Man, it is not Man:
'Tis but a Prison that him Captiue keepes:
'Tis but a Toombe where Hee's interred (wan):
'Tis but the Cradle where a while he sleepes,
12
Ce corps mortel, où l'oeil rauy contemple
Muscles & nerfs, la chair, le sang, la peau,
Ce n'est pas l'homme, il est beaucoup plus beau,
Aussi Dieu l'a reseruè pour son temple.
This mortall Body, where the rauisht sense
Sees sinnewes, flesh, bones, muscles, blood, and skinne,
It is not Man: Man's of more excellence,
As the fair Temple that God dwelleth-in.
13
Abien parler, ce que l'homme on appelle,
C'est vn rayon de la diuinitè:
C'est vn atome esclos de l'vnitè:
C'est vn degout de la source eternelle.
Rightly to speake: what Man we call, and count,
It is a beamling of Diuinitie:
It is a dropling of th' Eternall Fount:
It is a moatling hatcht of th' Vnitie.
14
Recognoy donc (homme) ton origine:
Et braue & haut dedaigne ces bas lieux,
Puis que fleurir tu dois la hault ès cieux,
Et que tu es vne plante diuine.
Then knowe (O Man) thine owne Originall:
And braue-ambitious, scorne base Cells of Earth,
Sith thou shalt flourish in Heav'ns glistring Hall,
And art indeede a Diuine Plant by Birth.
15
Il t'est permis t'orgueillir de la race,
Non de ta mere, outon pere mortel,
Mais bien de Dieu ton vray pere immortel,
Qui t' a moulè au moule de sa face.
Wel maist thou vaunt thee of thy glorious Race,
Not from thy mortall Parents either Ligne:
But from thy true Immortall Father's Grace,
Who, by the Modell of his Face, made thine.
16
Au ciel n'y à nombre infiny d'Idèes,
Platon s'est trop en cela mesconte
Denostre Dieu la pure volontè
Est le seul moule à toutes choses nèes.
There's not in Heav'n, a number infinite
Of bright Idéas ( Plato did mistake):
God's only Will (the only Rule of Right)
Was th' only mould of all that he did make.
17
Il veut, c'est faict: sans trauail & sans peine
Tous animaux, iusqu'au moindre qui vit,
Il a creè, les soustient, les nourrit,
Et les deffaict du vent de son aleine.
He Will'd, and it was done: He (without paine)
All kinde of Creatures (to the least that is)
Created, feedeth, and doth still sustaine:
And re-dissolues them with that breath of his.
18
Hausse tes yeux: la voute suspendue,
Ce beau lambris de la couleur deseaux,
Ce rond parfaict de deux globes i [...]meaux,
Ce firmament esloignè de la veue:
Lift vp thine eyes: The hanging Vault aboue,
The goodly Seeling of a Waterie hew,
The perfect Orbes of Twinnes that euer moue,
The spangled Firmament so farre from view:
19
Brief, ce quiest, qui fut, & qui peut estre,
En terre, en mer, au plus cachè das cieux,
Si tost que Dieu l'a voulu pour le mieux,
Tout aussi tost il a receu son estre.
All (to be brief) past, present, and to come,
In Earth and Sea, and Aire (beyond your seeing);
So soone as God thought good, each in their roome,
Immediately receiued all their Being.
20
Ne va suiuant le troupeau d'Epicure,
Troupeau vilain, qui blaspheme en tout lieu,
Et mescroyant ne cognoit autre Dieu,
Que le fatal ordre de la nature.
Shunne Epicures profane and filthy Sect▪
(Boldmis-creants, blaspheming euery way)
The which no God acknowledge nor respect,
Saue only Nature and her fatall Sway.
21
Et ce pendant il se veautre & patrouille
Dans vn bourbier puant de tous costez:
Et du l [...]mon des sales voluptez
Il se repaist, comme vne orde grenouille.
And in the meane-while (like the grunting Hogg)
Lie alwayes wallowing in the stinking Mire:
And feede on filth (like to the loath some Frogg)
Uoluptuous filth, of euerie flesh desire.
22
Heureux qui met en Dieu son esperance,
Et qui l'inuoque en sa prosperitè,
Autant ou plus qu en son aduersitè:
Et ne se fie en humaine asseurance.
Happy whose hope on God alone relies;
And who on him in either Fortune call;
As well in calmes as in calamities:
And put no Trust in humane helps at all.
23
Voudroistu bien mettre esperance seure
En ce qui est imbecille & mortel?
Le plus grand Roy du monden'est que tel,
Et a besoing plus quetoy qu'on l'asseure.
Canst thou assure thy hopes on worldlie things,
Fraile mortall things (I pry-thee tell me how)
Such are the greatest of all earthly Kings,
And haue more neede to be secur'd then Thou?
24
De l'homme droict Dieu est la sauuegarde,
Lors que de tous il est abandonnè,
C'est lors que moins il se trouue estonné,
Car il scait bien que Dieulors plus le garde.
God is the iust-man's Anchor and his Ayde,
His sure Defence, when all the World forsakes-him;
And therefore, then is he the least dismayde,
Knowing that God then most to safe-gard takes-him.
25
Les biens du corps, & ceux de la Fortune,
Ne sont pas biens, à parler proprement:
Ils sont subiects au moindre changement,
Mais la vertu dem [...]ure tousiours vne.
The Goods of Fortune and the Body (call'd)
They are not Goods, if we them rightly name;
For, to least changes they are euer thrall'd:
"But Onely Vertue still persists the same.
26
Vertu qui gist entre les deux extrèmes,
Entre le plus & le moins qu'il ne fault;
N'excede en rien, & rien ne luy default:
D'autruy n'emprunte, & suffit à soy-mesmes.
Vertue, betweene the Two extreames that haunts,
Betweene too-mickle and too-little sizes;
Exceedes in nothing, and in nothing wants:
Borrowes of none: but to it-selfe suffizes.
27
Quite pourroit, Vertu, voir toute nue,
O qu'ardemment detoy seroit espris?
Puis qu'en tout temps, les plus rares esprits
T'ont faict l'amour au trauers d'vne nue.
O Vertue! could we see thy naked face,
How would thy sacred Beauties sweetly madd-vs?
Sith rarest Wits (rapt with a Seeming Grace)
Haue in all Ages courted (euen) thy Shadowes.
28
Le sage fils est du pere la ioye:
Or, si tu veux ce sage fils auoir,
Dresse le ieune au chemin du deuoir:
Mais ton exemple est la plus courte voye.
The Parent's comfort is a prudent Sonne:
Now, such a Sonne if thou desirest aye,
Direct him young in Duties race to runne:
But, Thine Example is the neerest way.
29
Si tu es nè, enfant d'vn sage pere,
Que ne suis tu le chemin ja battu?
S'il n'est pas tel, que ne t'esforces tu,
En bien faisant, couurir ce vitupere?
If thou be borne Sonne of a prudent Sire,
Why tread'st thou not in his faire beaten Trace?
If otherwise: why doost not thou desire
(By vertuous Deeds) to couer this Disgrace?
30
Ce n'est pas peu, (naissant d'vn tige illustre)
Estre esclairé par ses antecesseurs:
Mais c'est bien plus luire à ses successeurs,
Que des ayeux seulement prendre lustre.
'Tis no small Honour, from illustrious Ligne
To be descended by our Predecessours:
But 'tis much more, then by their Light to shine,
Our selues to shine vnto our owne Successours.
31
Iusqu' au cercueil (mon fils) vueilles apprendre,
Et tien perdu le iour qui s'est passè,
Si tu n'y as quelque chose amasse,
Pour plus scauant & plus sage te rendre.
Cease not to learne vntill thou cease to liue:
Thinke that Day lost, wherein thou draw'st no Letter,
Nor gain'st no Lesson, that new grace may giue,
To make thy Selfe Learneder, Wiser, Better.
32
Levoyageur qui hors du chemin erre,
Et esgarè se perd dedans les bois,
Au droict chemin remettretule doibs:
Et s'il est cheu, le releuer de terre.
If any Stranger in his Iourney stray
Through doubtfull Paths (as happens now and then)
Direct him rightly in his readie waie;
And if Hee fall, soone helpe him vp againe.
33
Ayme l'honneur plus que ta proprevie:
I'entens l'honneur, qui consiste au deuoir
Que rendre on doit (selon l'humain pouuoir)
A DIEV, au Roy, aux Loix, à sa Patrie.
Thine Honour, more then thine owne Life respect,
Th' honour (I meane) which each mans dutie drawes
(Toth'vttermost w'are able to effect)
To GOD, our King, our Country, and our Lawes.
34
Ce que tu peux maintenant, ne differe
Aulendema [...]n, comme les paresseux:
Et garde aussi que tu ne sois de ceux
Qui par autruy font'ce qu'ils pourroient faire.
What Now thou canst, deferre not till to-morrow,
Like selfe-lame Sloath (of foulest Sinnes the Mother):
Nor be like those who others hands doo borrow,
And what themselues might doo▪ will doo by other.
35
Hante les bons, des meschans net'accointe,
Et mesmement en la ieune saison,
Que l'appetit pour forcer la raison
Arme nos sens d'vne brutale poincte.
Frequent the good, flie from vngodly folke,
Especially in thy Youths tender season,
The while outrageous appetites prouoke,
And arme thy Sense against the sway of Reason.
36
Quand au chemin fourchu de ces deux Dames
Tu te verras comme Alcide semond,
Suy celle-la qui par vn aspremont
Teguide au ciel, loing des plaisirs infames.
When to the double Way of those two Dames
( Alcides-like) thou shalt be summoned,
Follow thou her who farre from glorious shames,
Ouer steepe Mountaines vp to Heav'n doth lead▪
37
Ne mets ton pied au trauers de la voye
Du pauure aueugle: & d'vn piquant propos:
De l'homme mortne trouble lerepos:
Et du malheur d'autruy ne fay ta ioye.
Set not thy foote to make the blinde to fall:
Nor wilfully offend thy weaker Brother.
Nor wound the Dead with thy Tongues bitter gall:
Neither reioice thou in the fall of other.
38
En ton parler so is tousiours veritable,
Soit qu'ilte faille en tesmoignage ouyr,
Soit quepar fois tu veuilles resiouir
D'vn gay propostes hostes à latable.
Let thy Discourse be True in euery Word,
Whether as publike Witnes thou be prest
To cleere a Question: whether, at thy Boord
With pleasant chat thou cheere thy welcome Guest.
39
La Veritè d'vn Cube droict se forme,
Cube contraire au leger mouuement:
Son plan quarrè iamais ne se dement,
Et en tout sens à tousiours mesme forme.
The Truth resembles right the right Cubes Figure
(The Cube, contrarie to light instabilitie)
Whose quadrat flatnes neuer doth dis-figure;
Whose solide Forme admits no mutabilitie.
40
L'oyseleur caut se sert du doulx ramage
Desoysillons, & contrefaict leur chant
Aussi, pour mieux deceuoir, le meschant
Des gens de bien imite le language.
The crafty Fowler, to beguile the Birds,
Deceipt fully their owne sweet Notes doth faine:
So subtle Mates doo counterfet the words,
And simple guise of honest men and plaine.
41
Ce qu'en secret lon t'à dit ne reuele:
Des faicts d'autruy ne sois trop enquerant.
Le curieux volontiers tousiours ment:
L'autre merite estre dict infidele.
Reueale not what in secret hath been told;
Nor busily of Others things require.
Th' inquisitiue can hardly Counsell hold:
The carrie-Tale is commonly a Lyer.
42
Fay pois egal, & loyale mesure,
Quand tu deurois de nul estre apperceu:
Mais le plaisir que tu auras receu,
Ren le tousiours auecques quelque vsure.
Make alwayes equall waight and lawfull measure,
Though none could spie, thy dealing to discouer:
But where thou hast receiued any Pleasure,
Restore it still with some aduantage ouer.
43
Garde, soigneux, le depost à toute heure:
Et quand on veult de toy le recouurer
Neva subtil des moyens controuuer
Dans vn palais, à fin qu'ilte demeure.
Keepe carefully what thou hast tane in charge:
And when the Owner shall demand-againe-it,
Denie it not; neither with Conscience large
By subtle Law-tricks striue thou to detaine-it.
44
L'homme de sang te soit tousiours en haine:
Hue sur luy, comme fait le berger
Numidien surle Tygre leger,
Qu'il voit de loing ensanglanter la plaine.
Hate euermore the bloody Homicide;
Hunt him with hue and crie: as Shepheards hunt
The Lybian Tigre which they haue espide
Spoyling his Prey, and rioting vpon-'t.
45
Ce n'est pas toutne faire à nul outrage:
Il faut de plus s'opposer à l'effort
Du malheureux, qui pourchasse la mort,
Ou du prochain la honte & le dommage.
'Tis not enough, that thou do no man wrong:
Thou euen in others must suppresse the same;
Righting the Weak [...], against th' vnrighteous Strong,
Whether it touch his Life, his Goods, or Name.
46
Qui a desir d'exploiter sa prouesse,
Domteson ire, & son ventre, & ce feu,
Qui dans nos cueurs s allume peu à peu,
Soufflè du vent d'erreur & de paresse.
Whoso the Fame of Valour doth desire,
Must Tame his Anger and his Belly both,
And that heart-swelting, Marrow-melting Fire,
Blowne by the winde of Error and of Sloath.
47
Vaincre soy mesme est la grande victoire:
Chacun chez soy loge ses ennemis,
Qui par l'effort de la raison soubmis,
Ouurent le pas à l'eternelle gloire.
Our-owne-Selfes Conquest is the most victorious:
For in our Selues ambush our greatest Foes;
And th' only way to make vs euer glorious,
Is by stout Reason still to vanquish those.
48
Si ton amy a commis quelque offense,
Ne va soudain contre luy t'irriter:
Ains doucement, pour ne le despiter,
Fay luy ta plainte, & recoy sa defense.
If so thy Friend haue done thee some Offence,
Fall not out flat, nor vrge him with abuse;
But milde and meekely, without insolence,
Make thy complaint, and take thou his excuse.
49
L'homme est fautif: nul viuant ne peut dire
N'auoir failly: ès hommes plus parfaicts,
Examinant & leurs dicts & leurs faicts,
Tu trouueras, si tu veux, à redire.
All men are faultie: none a-liue can say,
I haue not Erred; euen the Perfectest,
If thou his Life in word and deed suruaigh,
Thou shalt perceiue he hath Perfection mist.
50
Voy l'hypocrite auec sa triste mine,
Tu le prendrois pour l'aisnè des Catons,
Et ce pendant toute nuict à tastons
Il court, il va pour tromper sa voysine.
See th' Hypocrites seuere and Saint-like guise,
Whom th' elder Cato thou would'st thinke for life;
Yet in th' darke he groaping hunts and hies
T'entice and trap his honest Neighbours wife.
51
Cacher son vice est vne peine extrème,
Et peine en vain: fay ce que tu voudras,
A toy au moins cacher ne te pourras:
Car nul ne peult se cacher à soy mesme.
'Tis a most busie, yet a boot-les paine,
To hide ones fault: for doo the best thou can
Thou canst not hide it from thy Selfe (though faine)
For who can hide him from himselfe (O Man)!
52
Aye de toy plus que des autres honte,
Nul plus que toy par toy n'est offensè,
Tu dois premier, si bien y as pensè
Rendre de toy-mesme le compte.
More of thy Selfe, then others he asham'd;
Thy Selfe art most wr [...]ng'd by thine owne offenc [...],
And of thy Selfe, thy Selfe first (Selfly-blam'd)
Must giue account to thy Selfes Conscience.
53
Point ne te chaille estre bon d'apparence,
Mais bien de l'estre à preuue & par effect:
Contre vn faulx bruit que le vulgaire faict,
Il n'est rempart tel que la conscience.
Care not so much, to seeme in outward showe,
As to be good (in deede and in the proofe)
For, from false Rumours which the Uulgar blowe,
A selfe-cleere Conscience is Defence enough.
54
A l'indigent monstre toy secourable,
Luy faisant part de tes biens à foi [...]on:
Car Dieu benit & accroit la mai [...]on
Qui a pitie du pauure miserable.
Releeue the Needie, after thine abilitie,
And in their wants participate thy store.
For, God doth Blesse with Plenty and Tranquillity
The House that pitties the distressed Poore.
55
Làs! que te sert tant d'ordedans la bourse,
Au cabinet maint riche vestement,
Dans tes greniers tant d'orge ou de froment,
Et de bon vin en ta cau evne source?
What boot thy bagges to be so cramm'd with Coyne?
Thy Ward-Robe stuffed with such store of change?
Thy Cellars filled with such choise of Wine?
And of all Graines such plenty in thy Grange?
56
Si ce pendant le pauure nud frissonne
Deuant ton huys: & languissant dè faim,
Pour tout en fin n'a qu'vn morceàu de pain,
Ou s en reuà sans que rien on luy donne?
If all the while the naked Poore (halfe dead
With cold and hunger) shiuer at thy Gate;
And at the length gets but a peece of bread,
And manie times (perhaps) but hardly that?
57
As tu, cruel, le cueur de telle sorte,
De mespriser le pauure infortunè,
Qui, comme toy, [...]s [...] en ce monde nè,
Et, comme toy, de Dieu l'image porte?
Hast thou a heart so cruell, as to scorne
Th' vnhappy Poore, that at thy beck doth bow,
Who like thy Selfe into this World is borne,
And beares Gods Image euen as well as Thou?
58
Le malheur est commun à tous les hommes,
Et mesmement aux Princes & aux Roys:
Le sage seul est exempt de ces loix:
Mais où est-il, las, au siecle où nous sommes?
Misfortune is a common lot to all;
Yea, euen to Princes, Kings, and Emperours:
Only the Wise are freed from her thrall,
But O, where are they, in this Age of ours▪
59
Le sage est libre enferrè de cent chaines,
Il est seul riche, & iamais estranger:
Seul asseurè au milieu du danger,
Et le vray Roy des fortunes humain [...].
The Wiseman's free, among a thousand chaines;
He's only Rich (content with his estate)
Only secure in Dangers, eas'd in Paines;
Only true King of Fortune and of Fate.
60
Le menasser du Tyrann nel' estonne:
Plus se roidit quand plus est agitè:
Il cognoist seul ce qu'il a meritè,
Et nel'attend hors de soy de personne.
He is not daunted with a Tirants threat,
But by his Trouble growes more strong and hard:
Knowes his owne merit, lookes not from the Great
For Recompence; Vertue's her owne Reward.
61
Vertu ès moeurs nes'acquiert parl' estude,
Ne par argent, ne par faueur des Roys,
Ne par vn acte, ou par deux, ou par trois,
Ains par constante & pas longue habitude.
True Morall Vertue cannot purchast be
By Studie, Treasure, or the Grace of Kings:
Nor by one action, nor by two, nor three:
But long-long practice her perfection brings.
62
Qui lit beaucoup, & iamais ne medite,
Semble à celuy qui mange auidement,
Et de tous mets surcharge tellement
Son estomach, querien neluy profite.
Who Readeth much and neuer Meditates,
Is like a greedy Eater of much Food.
Who so sur-cloyes his stomach with his Cates,
That Commonly they doo him little good.
63
Maintvn pouuoit par temps deuenir sage,
S'iln'eust cuidèl' estre ja tout à faict.
Quel artisan fut onc maistre parfaict,
Du premier iour de son apprentissage?
How many might (in time) haue wise been made;
Before their time, had they not thought them so?
What Artist e're was Maister of his Trade,
Yer he began his Prentiship to knowe?
64
Petite source ont les grosses Riuieres:
Qui bruit si hault à son commencement,
N'a pas long cours, non plus que letorrent
Qui perd son nom ès prochaines fondrieres.
From smallest springs, the greatest Riuers rise:
But those that roar so loud and proud at first,
Runne seldom farre, but soon their glory dies
In som neer Bogg, by their selfs-furie burst.
65
Maudit celuy qui fraude la semence,
Ou qui retient le salaire promis
Au mercenaire: ou qui desesamis
Ne se souuiēt si non en leur presence.
Cursed is he that doth de fra [...]d the seed:
Or who detains the Hirelings promis'dright:
Or who (ingratefull for the kindest deed)
Thinks neuer of his Friends but in their sight.
66
Nete pariure en aucune maniere,
Et situ es contrainct fair serment,
Le ciel ne iure, oul' homme, oul' element,
Ains pasle nom de la cause premiere:
Forsweare thee not, what euer cause be giuen:
And if for ought thou needs an Oath must take,
Swear not by Man, nor by the Earth, nor Heav'n,
But by his sacred Name who all did make.
67
Car Dieu qui hait le pariure execrable,
Et le punit comme il a meritè,
Neveult quelon tesmoigne veritè,
Par ce qui est mensonger ou muable.
For God, who doth all Periury detest,
And iustly plagues it as most execrable:
Would not we should the constant Truth contest
By anything that's false or alterable.
68
Vn art sans plus, en luy seul t'exercite:
Et du mestier d'autruy ne t'empeschant,
Va dans letien le parfaict recherchant:
Car exceller n'est pas gloire petite.
To som one Art apply thy whole affection;
And in the Craft of others seldom mell:
But in thine owne, striue to attain perfection.
For'tis no little honour, to excelle:
69
Plus n'embrasser què lon ne peut estraindre:
Aux grandshonneurs conuoiteuxn' aspirer:
Vser des biens, & ne les desirer:
Ne souhaiter la mort, & nela craindre.
T'embrace no more then one can manege fit,
Not to the top of Greatnes to aspire:
To vse the World, and yet not couet it:
Neither to dread Death, neither death desire.
70
Il nefault pas aux plaisirs de la couche,
De chastetè restreindre le beau don:
Et ce pendant hurer à l'abandon
Ses yeulx, ses mains, son oreille & sa bouche.
We must not Chastities fair Gift restrain,
Only to th' actuall Pleasure of the Night:
And in the mean while not aw hit refrain
Our hart, our hand, our tongue, our ear, our sight.
71
Hà le dur coup qu'est celuy del' oreille!
On en deuient quelque foisforcenè:
Mesmes alors qu'il nous est assenè
D'vn beau parler plein de doulce merueille.
O what a hard blowe is a box on th' Eare!
Som-time it driues men euen besides their Wit,
Especially when (stunned as it were)
VVith the sweet wonder of smooth words, 'tis smit.
72
Mieulx nousvaudroit des aureillettes prendre,
Pour nous sauuer de ces coups dangereux:
Par là s'armoient les Pugils valeureux,
Quand surl'arèneil leur falloit descendre.
'Tis therefore best our tender Ears to arme,
To shunne the danger of those deadly blowes:
Warie Vlisses so eschew'd the Charm
Of those soule-rapting Impes of Acheloes.
73
Ce qui en nous par l'oreille penetre,
Dans le cerueau coule soudainement,
Et ne scaurions y pouruoir autrement,
Que tenant close au mal ceste fenestre.
What e're it be that enters by the Eare,
Immediatly vnto the Brain doth creep;
And th' only mean to shunne the mischief there,
Is the Ears Casements euer close to keep.
74
Parler beaucoup on ne peut sans men songe,
Ou pour le moins sans quelque vanitè:
Le parler brief conuient à verité,
Et l'autre est propre à la fable & au songe.
Much talke is seldom without Lies among,
Or at the least without som idle bables:
Vnto the Truth, brief Language doth belong:
And many words are fit for Dreams and Fables.
75
Du Memphien la graue contenance,
Lorsque sa bouche il [...]erre auec le doigt,
Mieulx que Platon enseigne comme on doit
Reueremment honnorer le silence.
Th' Egyptians graue aspect and sober brow,
When his fore-finger seales his lips so sure;
Better then Plato, doth instruct vs how
To honour Silence, with deuotion pure.
76
Comme lon voit, à l'ouurir de la porte
D'vn cabinet Royal, maint beau tableau,
Mainte antiquaille, & tout ce que de beau
Le Portugais des Indes nous apporte:
As at the Opening of the Cabinet
Of som great Prince, many rare Things we see,
Rich Monuments, and all that fair and neat,
From either Inde, Portingals bring, or wee:
77
Ainsi deslors que l'homme qui medite,
Et est scauant, commence de s'ouurir,
Vn grand thresor vient à se descouurir,
Thresor cachè au puis de Democrite.
So when the Wise and Learned doth begin
T'open the Organs of his plentious Wit,
A wondrous Treasure suddainly is seen,
A Treasure hidden in th' Abderians Pit:
78
On dict soudain, voila qui fut de Grece,
Cecy de Rome, & cela d'vn tel lieu,
Et le dernier est tire de l'Hebrien,
Mais tout en somme est remply de sagesse.
And Standers by, say by and by, This came
From Greece, from Rome That That from such a Place,
And (lastly) That from th' Hebrue: and the same,
And all the rest most full of Prudent grace.
79
Nostre heur, pour grand qu'il soit, nous semble moindre:
Les ceps d'autruy portent plus de raisins:
Mais quant aux maulx que souffrent nos voysins,
C'est moins que rien, ils ont tort de s'en plaindre.
Our Goods (how euer great) the least doo seem,
Our Neighbours Fields still bear the better Grain:
But Others harmes we alwaies light esteem;
Tush they are Nothing: why should they complain?
80
A l'enuieux nul tourment ie n'ordonne,
Il est de soy le iuge & le bourreau:
Et ne fut one de DENYS le Toreau
Supplice tel, que celuy qu'il se donne.
To th' Enuious-man no Torment I assigne;
For, Iudge and Hang-man to himself he is:
And there's no Denis Bull, nor Rack (in fine)
So fell a Torture as that Heart of his.
81
Pour bien au vi [...] peindre la Calomnie,
Il la faudroit peindre quand on la sent:
Qui par bon heur d'elle ne se ressent,
Croire ne peult quelle est ceste Furie.
To pourtray Slaunder, to the life, behooues
To doo't in th' instant while one feeleth her:
For who so happy that her neuer prooues,
Can scarce imagine what she is, or where,
82
Elle ne faict en l'air sa residence,
Ny soubs les eaux, ny au profond des bois:
Sa maison est aux ore [...]lles des Roys,
D'ou elle braue & flestrit l'innocence.
Neither in th' Aire hath Shee her residences,
Nor in the wilde Woods, nor beneath the Waues:
But she inhabits in the eares of Princes,
Where th' Innocent and Honest she depraues.
83
Quand vne fois ce monstre nous attache,
Il scait si fort ses cordillons nouèr,
Que bien qu'on puisse en fin les desnouèr,
Restent tousiours les marques de l'attache.
And when this Monster hath once chaunc't to trap-vs,
Her spightfull Cords she can so closely knit:
That though at last we happen to vn-wrap-vs;
The print thereof still in our Fames will sit.
84
Iuge ne donne en ta cause sentence:
Chacun se trompe en son faict aizèment:
Nostre interest force le iugement,
Et d'vn costè faict pancher la balance.
Neuer giue Sentence in thy proper cause:
In our owne case, we all Erre easily:
Our interest our partiall Iudgement drawes;
And euer makes the Ballance hang a-wry.
85
Dessus la loy tes iugemens arreste,
Et non sur l'homme: ell sans affection,
L'homme au contraire est plein de passion:
L'vn tient de Dieu, l'autre tient de la beste.
Vpon the Law thy Iudgements alwayes ground,
And not on Man: For that's affection-les;
But Man in Passions strangely doth abound:
Th' one all like God; th' other too-like to Beasts.
86
Le nombre sainct se iuge par sa preuue,
Tousiours egal, entier ou departy:
Le droict aussi en Atomes party,
Semblable à soy tousiours egal se treuue.
The sacred Number proueth alwayes euen,
Whether diuided or intire it be:
So Iustice (shar'd in Atomies) is giuen
Still like it self, in iust equalitie.
87
Nouueau Vlysse appren du long voyage
A gouuerner Ithaque en equitè:
Maint-vn a Scylle & Charybde euitè,
Qui heurte au port, & chez soy faict naufrage.
Learn by long Trauail (as Vlysses conned)
To gouern right thy Natiue Ithaca:
Many haue Scylla and Charybdis shunned,
That haue at home been after cast-away.
88
Songe long temps auant que de promettre:
Mais si tu as quelque chose promis,
Quoy que ce soit, & fust-ce aux ennemis,
De l'accomplir en deuoir te fault mettre.
Before thou Promise, ponder what and why:
But hauing Promis'd, what-so-euer 'twere,
Yea, were it to thy greatest Enemy,
Thou must perform, thy Tongue hath ty'd thee there.
89
La loy soubs qui l'estat sa force a prise,
Garde la bien, pour goffe qu'elle soit:
Le bon heurvient d'où lon ne s'appercoit,
Et bien souuent de ce que lon mesprise.
Maintain those Lawes (how euer rude and plain)
Whereby (before) thy Common-wealth hath thriv'd:
Good Fortune oft comes by the meanest mean,
How or from whence somtimes is scarce perceiv'd.
90
Fuy ieune & vieil de Circe le bruuage:
N'escouteaussi des Sirenes les chants,
Car enchantè tu courrois par les champs,
Plusabruty qu'vne beste sauuage.
In youth and age shunne Circes banefull Boule,
Lend not thine Eare to Sirens wanton Notes:
Least thou (inchanted in thy sense and Soule)
Become more brute then Hoggs, and Doggs, and Goats.
91
Vouloir ne fault chose que lon ne puisse,
Et ne pouuoir que cela que lon doit,
Mesurant l'vn & l'autre par le droit,
Surl' eternel moule de la Iustice.
We must our Will still limit with our Power,
And bound our Power within the Lists of Law;
Measuring both, and what so els is our,
By the Right line th' eternall Iust did draw.
92
Changer à coup de loy & d'ordonnance,
En faict d'estat est vn poinct dangereux:
Et si Lycurgue en ce poinct fut heureux,
Il ne fault pas en faire consequence.
A suddain Change in any mightie State,
Is full of Danger vnto each Degree:
And though Lycurgus found it fortunate,
No consequent can that Example be.
93
Ie hay ces mots, De puissance absoluè,
De plein pouuoir, de propre mouuement:
Aux saincts Decrets ils ont premierement,
Puis à nos loix, la puissance tolue.
I hate these phrases: Of Power absolute:
Of full Authority: Of proper motion.
The Diuine Lawes they haue trod vnder foot,
And Humane-too; for priuate Mens promotion.
94
Croire leger, & soudain se resoudre,
Ne discerner les amis des flateurs:
Ieune conseil, & nouueaux seruiteurs,
Ont missouuent les haults estats en pouldre.
Not right-discerning Friends from Flatterers,
Light-crediting, and suddain Resolution,
Young giddie Counsell, and new Seruitors,
Haue often caus'd the highest States confusion.
95
Dissimuler est vn vice seruile,
Vice suiuy de la desloyautè:
D'où sourd ès cueurs des grands la cruautè,
Qui aboutit à la guerre ciuile.
Dissimulation is a seruile Vice,
A vice still followed by Disloyalty,
Whence in Great hearts doth Crueltie arise,
Which alwayes ends in ciuill Mutiny.
96
Donner beaucoup sied bien à vn grand Prince,
Pourueu qu'il donne à qui l'à meritè,
Et par proportion, non par equalitè,
Et que cesoit sans fouler sa Prouince.
Nought more beseems a Prince then Liberality,
So it be giuen to those that Merit well,
By due proportion, not by iust equalitie,
And without Burthen to the Common-weal.
97
Plus que Sylla c'est ignorer les lettres,
D'auoir induit les peuples à s'armer:
On trouuera les voulant desarmer
Que desubiects ils sont deuenus maistres.
'Tis to be more then Sylla Letter-lesse,
To hurrie Armes into the Vulgars hand:
For, when again you think them to suppresse,
Insteed of Subiects, they will All command.
98
Ry situ veux vn ris de Democrite,
Puis que le monde est pure vanitè:
Mais quelque fois touchè d'humanitè,
Pleure noz maux des larmes d'Heraclite.
Sith all the World is nought but meerly vanitie,
Laugh if thou list like blythe Democritus:
Yet somtimes toucht with tender-soul'd humanitie,
Weep for our Woes with sad Heraclitus.
99
A l'estranger sois humain & propice,
Et s'il se plainct incline à sa raison:
Mais luy donner les biens de la maison,
C'est faire aux tiens & honte & iniustice.
Be kinde to Strangers and propitious,
And to their cause thy willing ear encline:
But to bestowe thy Goods out of thy House,
Is shame and wrong vnto thy self and thine.
100
Ie t'apprendray, situ veux, en peu d'heure,
Le beau secret du breuuage amoureux:
Ayme lestiens, tu seras aymè d'eux:
Il n'y a point de recepte meilleure.
I'le teach you heer (if any list to proue)
A passing Loue-drink, any hart to get;
Loue vertuously, and be assur'd of Loue:
And this (beleeue-it) is the best Receipt.
101
Crainte qui vient d'amour & reuerence,
Est vn appuyferme de Royautè:
Mais qui se faict craindre par cruautè,
Luy-mesm [...] craint, & vit en deffiance.
The Fear that springs from Loue and Reuerence,
A firme support to Royall Greatnes giues:
But he that makes him fear'd for Uiolence,
Himself fears most, and in distrust still liues.
102
Quiscauroit bien que c'est qu'vn Diadème,
Il choisiroit aussi tost le tombeau,
Que d'aff [...]ubler son chef de ce bandeau:
Car aussibien il meurt lors à soy mesme.
He that knewe right what were a Diadem,
As soon would seek in a colde Toombe to lie,
As girt his Temples with that glorious Gem:
For, then begins he to himself to die.
103
Deiour, denuict faire la sentinelle,
Pour lesalut d'autruy tousiours veiller,
Pour le public sans nul gré trauailler,
C'est en vn mot ce qu'Empire i'appelle.
For, day and night to stand as Sentinel;
For Publike good, ingratefull toyle to take;
Incessantly to watch for others weal:
This is, to Raigne, if we it rightly take.
104
Ie ne veis one prudence auec ieunesse,
Bien commander sans auoir obey,
Estre fort craint, & n'estre point hay,
Estre Tyran, & mourir de vieillesse.
I neuer saw Wisedome and Youth, but two:
Nor him Commandwell, that had not Obay'd:
Nor any fear'd, that was not hated too:
Nor Tirant, aged in his Toombe be-lay'd.
105
Ne voise aubal qui n'aymerà la danse,
Ny au banquet quine voudrà manger,
Ny sur la mer qui craindrà le dangèr,
Ny à la Cour qui dirà ce qu'il pense.
Come not at Reuells, who delights not Daunce:
Nor on the Sea, who fears rough waues and winde:
Nor at a Feast, who a good stomack wants:
Nor at the Court, who means to speak his minde.
106
Du mesdisant la langue venimeuse,
Et du flateur les propos emmielez,
Et du moqueur les brocards enfielez,
Et du maling la poursuite animeuse:
The soothing hony of smooth Parasites:
The poys'nie Tongues of slaunderous Sycophants:
The ieering Buffon, that the best still bites:
The brazen-face of begging Cormorants.
107
Hayr le vray, se feindre en toutes choses,
Sonder le simple à finde l'attraper,
Brauer le foible, & sur l' absent draper,
Sont de la Cour les oeillets & les roses.
To gull the Simple; and the Weak to braue:
To hate the Truth; to halt in euery-thing:
To vnder-mine: The Absent to depraue:
These are the Flowers that in the Court doo spring.
108
Aduersitè, des faueur, & querelle,
Sont trois essais pour sonder son amy:
Tel a ce nom qui nel'est qu'à demy,
Et ne scauroit endurer la coupelle.
An Enemy, Misfortune, and Disgrace,
Are three Essayes to proue if Friends be loyall:
For many haue the Name, and bear the face;
That are not so, if they be put to triall.
109
Aymel' estattel que tu le vois estre:
S'il est royal, ayme la Royautè:
S'il est de peu, ou bien communautè,
Aymel' aussi, qu and Dieu t'y à faict naistre.
Commend the State where-vnder born you are:
If it be Royall, loue the Royaltie:
If, of the Best, or meerly Popular;
Allowe of either, where thy Lot shall be.
110
Il est permis souhaiter vn bon Prince,
Maistel qu'il est, il le conuient porter:
Car il vault mieux vn tyran supporter,
Que de troubler la paix de saprouince.
'Tis lawfull (where they want) to wish good Princes:
But men the while must bear them as they are,
'Tis better bear a Tyrants insolences,
Then to disturbe the Common-weal with Warre.
111
A ton Seigneur & ton Roy nete ioue:
Et s'il t'en prie, il t'en faut excuser:
Qui des faueurs des Roys cuide abuser,
Bien tost, froissè, choit au bas de la roue.
Sport not too-boldly with thy Lord and King;
And though he bid thee (if thou canst) refuse:
From highest Fortunes suddain down they ding,
Who doo presume a Princes grace t'abuse.
112
Qui de bas lieu (miracle de fortune)
En vn matin t'es haulsè si auant,
Penses tu point que ce n'est que duvent,
Qui calmerà, peut estre, sur la brune?
Thou (Fortunes wonder) that from lowest place
Doo'st in a morning to the top attain:
Suppose it but a winde that blew a-space
VVhich yet yer night (perhaps) will calme again.
113
L'estat moyen est l'estat plus durable:
On voit des eaux le plat pays noyè,
Et les haults monts ont le cheffoudroyè:
Vn petit tertre est seur & agreeable.
The mean Estate is the most permanent:
VVe see the Vales with euery shower are drown'd;
And Mountain tops with euery Thunder rent:
But Little Hills are pleasant, safe, and sound.
114
De peu de biens nature se contente,
Et peu suffit pour viure honestement:
L'homme ennemy de son contentement,
Plus à, & plus pour auoir se tourmente.
Nature's with little pleas'd: enough's a Feast:
A [...]sober life, but a small charge requires:
But Man, the Author of his owne vn-rest,
The more he hath, the more he still desires.
115
Quand tu verras que Dieu au ciel retire
A coup à coup les hommes vertueux,
Dy hardiment, l'orage impetueux
Viendra bien tost es branler cest Empire.
When thou shalt see th' Almighty take from hence,
By one and one the Vertuous of the Land,
Say boldly thus; These are the Arguments
Of som drad Tempest of his Wrath at hand.
116
Les gens debien cesont comme gros termes,
Ou forts pilliers, qui seruent d'arcs-boutans,
Pour appuyer contre l'effort du temps
Les haults estats, & les maintenir fermes.
For Vertuous Men are euen the Buttresses,
The mighty Columnes and the Arches strong,
Which against all Times fellest outrages
Support a State and doo maintain it long.
117
L'homme se plaint de satrop courte vie,
Et ce pendant n'employe où il deuroit
Le temps qu'il à, qui suffir luy pourroit,
Si pour bien viure auoit de viure enuie.
Man doth the shortnes of his Life repine;
Yet doth not duly spend nor rightly driue
The Time he hath: which might suffice his minde,
If, To liue well, he did desire to liue.
118
Tu ne scaurois d'assez ample salaire
Recompenser celuy quit'a soignè
En ton enfance, & qui t' [...] enseignè
A bien parler, & surtout à bienfaire.
Thou hardly canst sufficiently requite
Him, who thy Child-hood hath been Tutorto;
Nor Him, that hath instructed thee a-right,
Both, well to speak, but chiefly, well to doo.
119
Es ieux publics, au theatre, à la table,
Cedeta place au viellard & chenù:
Quand tu seras à son age venù,
Tu trouueras qui fera le semblable.
In Theaters, at publike Playes and Feasts,
Giue alwayes place vnto the hoary head:
So, when like age shall siluerize thy Tresse,
Thou shalt by others be like-honoured.
120
Cil qui ingrat enuerstoy se demonstre,
Va augmentant le loz de ton bien faict:
Le reprocher maint homme ingrat a faict:
C'est se payer, que du bien fair monstre.
Who, for thy Friendship showes himself ingrate,
Vnwillingly extolls thy Benefit:
But to vp-brayde one, makes a Man ingrate;
Who vaunts his Kindnes, payes himself for it.
121
Boire, & manger, s'exercer par mesure,
Sont de santè les outils plus certains:
L'excez enl'vn de cestrois, aux humains
Haste la mort, & force la nature.
To eate, and drink, and exercise, in measure,
Three props of Health, the certainest she hath:
But the excess in these (or other Pleasure)
Enforceth Nature, and doth hasten Death.
122
Si quelquefois le meschant te blasonne,
Que t'en chautil? helas, c'est ton honneur:
Le blasme prend la force du donneur:
Le loz est bon, quand vn bon nous le donne.
If euill men speak somtimes ill of thee,
What need'st thou care? alas, it is thy Praise:
Blame, from the Author takes authoritie,
And'tis a good Report that good men raise.
123
Nous meslons tout, le vray parler se change:
Souuent le vice est du nom reuestu
De la prochain opposite vertu:
Le loz est blasme, & le blasme est louange.
We all confound; true Language is trans-formed:
Vice oftentimes puts-on the Uertues name
Next opposite: 'Tis Forme to be de-formed:
Blame is a Prayse; and Commendation Blame.
124
En bonne part ce qu'on dit tu dois prendre,
Et l'imparfait du procham supporter,
Couurir [...]a faulte, & ne la rapporter,
Prompt à lover, & tardif à reprendre.
Of what is spoken, euer make the best:
Bear the defect of Neighbour and of Friend:
Couer their fault; publish it not (at least):
Ready to prayse, and slowe to reprehend:
125
Cil qui se pense & se dit estre sage,
Tien le pourfol, & celuy qui scauant
Se faict nommer, sonde le bien auant,
Tu trouueras que ce n'est que langage.
He that esteems and vaunts himself for wise,
Think him a foole: And Him that doth assume
The name of Learned, whoso soundly tries,
Shall finde him nothing but bare words and fume.
126
Plus on est docte, & plus on se deffie
D'estre scauant: & l'homme vertueux
Iamais n'est veu estre presumptueux.
Voila des fruicts de ma Philosophie.
The better Learned, learn the more their want,
And more to doubt their owne sufficiencie:
And Vertuous men are neuer Arrogant.
These are the Fruits of my Philosophy.
FINIS.
SONNETS Upon the (la …

SONNETS Upon the (late) miraculous Peace in Fraunce.

Acceptam refero.

To the most honorable, learned, and religious Gent. M. Anthony Bacone.

BOund by your Bounty and mine owne desire,
To tender still new tribute of my zeale
To you (your Countries watchfull Sentinel,
Whose Wisedome, ours and other States admire)
Lo, heer I tune vponmine humble Lyre
Our neighbour Kingdomes vn-expected weale,
Through suddain ceasing of Warres enter-deale;
As Celtike Muses to my Muse inspire.
Miraculous the Work; and so his wit
That firstly sung this sacred MIRACLE:
A gracious Theame (If I dis-grace not it)
That your graue eyes my daigne for spectacle.
What e'r it be, accept it as a due
From him whose all doth all belong to You.
Iosuah Syluester.

To the French King, Henry the fourth.

SONNET 1.

HEnry, triumphant though thou wert in War,
Though Fate and Fortitude conspir'd thy glory,
Though thy least Conflicts well deserue a Story;
Though Mars his fame by thine be dark'ned far;
Though from thy Cradle (Infant Conquerer)
Thy martiall proofs haue dimm'd Alcides praise;
And though with Garlands of victorious Bayes
Thy Royall temples richly crowned are:
Yet (matchles Prince) nought hast thou wrought so glorious
As this vn-lookt-for, happy PEACE admired;
Whereby, thy self art of thy self victorious:
For, while thou might'st the worlds Throne haue aspired,
Thou by this Peace thy war-like hart hast tamed:
What greater conquest could there then be named?

SONNET 2.

BVt, what new Sunne doth now adorn our Land,
And giues our skie so smooth and smiling cheer?
For, 'tis not Phoebus; els his golden brand
Shines brighter now then 'thath don many a yeer.
Sweet Angel-beauty (sacred PEACE) Heav'ns present;
Is't not the Rising of thy new-com starr,
Which makes the Air more clear, the spring more pleasāt,
Zephyre more calm, and Flora merrier?
Ah, I perceiue the Oliue, Doue, and Bowe,
Divine presages that the Flood abates
(The dismal flood where blood and tears did flowe)
And Ianus now locks-vp his Temple gates:
Iustice and Faith doo kindly kisse each other:
And Mars, appeas'd, sits down by Cupids Mother.

SONNET 3.

Fair fruitfull Daughter of th' Omnipotent,
Great Vmpire that doost either World sustain,
Without whose help all would return again
(Like hideous Chaos) to confusion bent.
O Mother of the living, second Nature
Of th' Elements (Fire, Water, Earth, and Air)
O Grace (whereby men climbe th' heav'nly stair)
Whence void, this world harbors no happy creature.
Pillar of Lawes, Religions pedestall,
Hope of the godly, glory of th' Immortall;
Honour of Cities, Pearl of Kingdomes all;
Thou Nurse of Vertues, Muses chief supportall;
Patron of Artes, of Good the speciall spring:
All hail (deer Peace) which vs all heale doost bring.

SONNET 4.

Comforth (deer Fraunce) from thy dark Cell of mone,
Com (as new-born) from Warrs vnkindly quarrels:
Turn tragick Cypresse to triumphant Laurels;
Change black to green, and make thy Graue a Throne.
Let Cores dwell vpon thy Desart Plain,
Bacchus, and Dian, on thy Hills and Groues,
Pomana in Gardens, Pan among thy Droues,
Secure all Rhoades, and ope all Gates again.
Resume (O Cities) Rule and Reverence;
Revest (yee States) your Robes of dignity;
Rise-vp (yee Ruines) in fair Battlements;
Com, Muses, Pallas, Themis, Mercurie,
Restore vs Lawes, Learning, and Arts, and Trade:
And let our Age, a golden Age be made.

SONNNET 5.

Most Christian Kingdom, thou wert ne're so near
Drown'd in the deep Gulphes of thy Civill warre,
As in the tempest of this later lar,
Which past conceit of calming did appear.
When all the windes adversly armed were,
(Though selfly-foes, yet friends to work thy wrack)
Thy Ship a helm, thy self a heart didst lack,
On troubled waters tossed here and there:
Then▪ from aboue (O bounty most admired!)
Saint Hermes shin'd▪ whose gentle light presageth
That then the anger of the Heav'ns asswageth.
O happy PEACE! lesse hoped then desired:
O grace much honour'd, little yet conceiv'd;
O blessed guile, that thus our sense deceiv'd.

SONNET 6.

Who could expect (but past all expectation)
So suddain order, from so sad confusion;
So loyall friendship, from false emulation;
So firm possession, from so fierce intrusion?
Who could expect (but past all likelihood)
From such a storm, such and so sweet a calme;
From Fraunce her cyndars, such a Phoenix-brood;
Pandoras boxe to yeeld so rare a balme?
Who could expect (but past all humane thought)
So frank a freedom from a thrall so late,
Or certain Rudder of so rent a State?
True Aesculapius, thou alone hast wrought
This MIRACLE, not on Hyppolitus,
But on this Kingdom, much more wonderous.

SONNET 7.

Th' vnlookt-forworking of all things almost,
Inconstant-constant, in succession strange,
Amazeth those whose wits we chiefly boast,
To see this suddain vn-expected change.
Each feels th' effect, but none the cause descries
(No though he haue with starrs intelligence):
God to himself reserues such Mysteries,
Disposing Kingdoms by his Prouidence.
O end-less Bounty! In the midst of Broyls
He giues vs PEACE, when Warr did vs inflame;
And reaues the mischief we pursu'd yer-whiles:
But, this doth most extoll his glorious Name,
That when most sharply this extreamest Fit
Stroue to be cure-les, soon he cured it.

SONNET 8.

Som reasoned thus; No violence can last:
Revolted Subiects, of themselues will quail:
Iust Soveraignty can never be displac't;
And lawfull Princes first or last preuail:
But, who could think, that the conioyned powers
Of Spain and Rome, with an exceeding number
Of rebell Cities, and false States of ours,
So weak a King so little should encumber?
Others discoursed in another sort,
While all things sorted to another end
Then their imaginations did purport:
That earth may knowe, it cannot comprehend
The secret depths of Iudgements all-divine,
No: there's no ground, beginning, midst, nor fine.

SONNET 9.

Admire we onely Gods Omni-potence,
His deep-deep Wisedom, and his Mercy deer.
For, with these three, he hath surmounted heer
Our hatefull foes, our hopes, and all our sense:
His power appears vpon our Lord and King,
As yerst on Dauid: for, they both attain
By war-like broyls their pre-appointed Raigne;
Strangers, and subiects, and selues conquering:
His Prudence shines, when to preserue vs thus,
All humane wit his wisedom doth convince:
His gracious bounty in our bountious Prince.
Ovarious wonders! mel delicious
Flowes from a living Lion, Mars is quiet,
Valour relenting, Conquest void of ryot.

SONNET 10.

This was no action of a humane hand,
But th' only work of the great Thunderer,
Who (wise-directing all the things that are)
In vs divinely works his owne command.
Som men, vnwilling, benefit their Land,
Or vn-awares their Countries good preferr;
Another motions PEACE, but mindeth Warr,
And PEACE, succeeds what-ever drifts withstand.
Th' Arch-Architect, the matchles Artizan
All instruments vnto good vses prooues:
Man's but a wheel, which that great Moover moues;
Each gracious gift in that first cause began:
Each good's a gleam of that first light alone,
If Ill approach vs, onely that's our owne.

SONNET 11.

If God dart lightning, soon he dewes down rain;
A dreadfull Iudge, and yet a gentle Father:
Whose wrath slowe-kindled is soon quencht again,
To moue vs sinners to repent the rather.
'Gainst Hel-bred Hydra, Heav'n-born Theseus brings
The great Alcides arm and armory:
Of greatest Ill, a greater Good there springs;
And Mercy still doth Rigour qualifie.
Ah Fraunce, so many Monsters to suppresse,
Thou hadst great need of Royall fortitude,
Els had'st thou been an Afrik Wildernes.
O happy lost Realm▪ for, it hath ensude,
That now thy gain is more, in restauration,
Then was thy losse in all thy desolation.

SONNET 12.

But, if I sing great Henries fortitude;
Shall I not then be blam'd for ouer-daring?
If over-slip it, then be taxt for fearing,
Of silent dread, and dumbe in gratitude?
What e're befall, my youth-bold thoughts conclude
(Like Icarus) my nimble Muse to raise:
And if I fall in such a Sea of praise:
What rarer Mausole may my bones include?
A sacred rage of som sweet-furious flame,
Will-nill-I, rapts me boldly to rehearse
Great Henries Tropheis, and his glorious name.
Then roule thou Torrent of my tender verse:
Though his high Theam deserue a consort rather
Of all the Muses, and all musikes Father.

SONNET 13.

Great Prince, not pleas'd with a vain vertue-seeming:
Great Victor, prone to pardon humblenes,
Happy, all Hap Heav'ns onely gift esteeming;
Warriour, whose warrs haue wrought his Coūtries PEACE:
Noble by deeds, and noble by descent;
Ancient Achilles, youthfull Nestor sage,
Whose ripe-experienç't courage confident,
To knocks knits counsail, and giues rule to rage.
As hard in toyle, as in compassion soft:
Inur'd to that, by nature born to this;
Who sheds no blood, but sheddeth tears as oft,
Who never fights but still the field is his.
So like to Mars, that both in loues and warres,
Bellona and Uenus take him still for Mars.

SONNET 14.

A spirit, to vertues cheerfully addrest;
Apt to all goodnes, to no ill inclin'd;
Quick to conceiue, ingenious to digest;
Whose tongue is still true Trumpet of the minde:
A body, testing when it hath no rest;
A waxen mildnes in a steely minde;
A soule tra-lucent in an open brest,
Which others thoughts through boany wals can finde;
Whose front reflects maiestical-humillity,
Whose graue-sweet looke commandingly-intreats,
Which in one instant fear and loue begets:
A King still warring to obtain tranquillity,
To saue his Country scorning thousand dangers;
Mirrour of Fraunce, and miracle of Strangers.

SONNET 15.

If that, before thee fall rebellious Towers,
If battered walls, before thy Souldiers, loofe:
If hugest Rocks be pearced by thy powers;
If 'gainst thine Armes, no armour be of proof:
If that our fields flowe with Iberian blood,
If that thy Campe compos'd of many a Caesar
Can by no dismall dangers be withstood;
Iousting with Gyants, as it were at pleasure:
If lofty Mountains to thine homage vail;
If valleys rise to bulwarke thee about;
If for thy sake, rivers doo flowe and fail;
'T was neither Canons, nor our conflicts stout,
Nor strength, nor stomack got these victories:
No, 't was thy presence ( Henry) and thine eyes.

SONNET 16.

They be to blame then, that thy boldnes blame,
For having put thy self so oft in danger:
Sith, against Rebels and against the Stranger,
Thy looks, like lightning did thy Troops inflame.
Fraunce fought before, all bloody, faint, and lame,
Craving thine aid to venge her hatefull wrong:
When, like a Lion to preserue her yong
Thou lay'dst about thee to redeem the same.
Then had'st thou cause to hazard so thy life
(In extream perils, extream remedies)
But spare thee now, thy State is free from strife:
Soveraign, our safety in thy safety lies.
Codrus could keep his, onely by his death:
Thou thine, alone by thine owne living breath.

SONNET 17.

What wreath were worthy to becom thy Crown,
What Carr-Triumphant equall with thy worth,
What marble statue meet for thy renown,
Thou that hast rais'd the Lilly of the Earth?
What honourable Title of Addition
Dost thou deserue, who (ioyning might with mildenes)
Hast sav'd this great Ship from a sad perdition,
Nigh lost in th' Ocean of warrs civill wildenes?
O modern Hercules (thy Countries Father)
Hope not of vs thy iust-deserved meed:
Earth is too-base, in Heav'n expect it rather.
Our Laurels are too-pale to crown thy deed,
Who thus hast salv'd the vniversall Ball:
For, th' health of Fraunce imports the health of all.

SONNET 18.

Pardon me ( Henry) if Heav'ns siluer raine,
Dewing thy Pearles, impearle mine humble Laies:
And if my verse (void both of price and paine)
Presume thy Vertues passing-price to praise:
Pardon (great King) if that mine Infant Muse
Stutter thy name; and if with skill too-scant
I limne thee heare, let zeale my crime excuse;
My steel's attracted by thine Adamant.
For, as the Sunne, although he doo reflect
His golden Rayes on grosser Elements,
Doth neuer spot his beautiful aspect:
So, though the praises of thine Excellence
Doo brightly glister in my gloomie stile,
They nothing lose of their first grace the while.

SONNET 19.

Now, sith as well by conquest as succession
France is thine owne; O keepe it still therefore.
'Tis much to conquer: but to keepe possession
Is full as much, and if it be not more.
Who well would keepe so plentifull a portion,
Must stablish first the Heav'nly Discipline;
Then humane Lawes, restraining all extortion;
And Princely wealth with publike weale combine.
A Princes safety lyes in louing People;
His Fort is Iustice (free from Stratagem)
Without the which strong Cittadels are feeble.
The Subiects loue is wonne by louing them:
Of louing them, n' oppression is the triall:
And no oppression makes them euer loyall.

SONNET 20.

Bold Martialists, braue Imps of noble birth,
Shining in steele for Fraunce, and for your King:
Yee Sonnes of those that heretofore did bring
Beneath their yoke, the pride of all the earth.
It is an honour to be high-descended;
But more, t'haue kept ones Country and fidelitie.
For, our owne vertues make vs most commended:
And Truth's the title of all true Nobilitie.
Your shoulders shoar'd vp Fraunce (euen like to fall)
You were her Atlas; Henry, Hercules:
And but for you, her shock had shaken All;
But now she stands stedfast on Ciuill PEACE:
Wherefore, if yet your war-like heat doo worke,
With holy Armes goe hunt the hatefull Turk.

SONNET 21.

But, you that vaunt your antike Petigrees,
So stately tymbring your surcharged shields,
Perking (like Pines aboue the lower Trees)
Ouer the Farmers of your neighbour fields;
Is't lack of loue, or is it lack of courage,
That holds you (Snaile-like) creeping in your houses,
While ouer all your Countries Foes doo forrage,
And rebell out-rage euery corner rouses?
If no example of your Ancesters,
Nor present instance of bright-armed Lords,
The feeble Temper of your stomack stirres,
If in your liues yee neuer drew your swords
To serue your King, nor quench your Countries flames,
Pardon me, Nobles, I mistooke your names.

SONNET 22.

You sacred Order, charg'd the Church to watch,
And teach the holy Mysteries of Heav'n,
From hence-forth all seditious plots dispatch,
And (Father-like) to all be alwaies euen.
Through superstition stirre to strife againe;
Reuolts a mischiefe euermore pernicious:
Pluck vp abuses, and the hurtfull graine
Sprung from the Ignorant and Auaricious.
Auoid Ambition (common cause of strife)
Your reuerend Robe be free from staines of blood,
Preach holy Doctrine, prooue it by your life:
Fly Idlenes, choose exercises good;
To wit, all workes of liuely faith and pietie.
So, to your fold shall flock the blest Societie.

SONNET 23.

You graue assembly of sage Senators,
Right Oracles, yee Ephori of Fraunce;
Who, for the States and Iustice maintenance,
Of Sword and Balance are the Arbitrers:
That from hence-forth (against all enemies)
Our PEACE may seat her in a setled Throne;
Represse the malice of all mutinies,
Which through th' aduantage of these times haue growne.
At a lowe tyde 'tis best to mend a breach,
Before the flood returne with violence:
'Tis good in health to counsaile with a Leach:
So, while a People's calme from insolence,
'Tis best that Rulers bridle them with awe;
And (for the future) curbe the lewd with law.

SONNET 24.

People, lesse setled then the sliding sand;
More mutable then Proteus, or the Moone;
Turn'd, and return'd, in turning of a hand:
Like Euripus ebbe-flowing euery Noone.
Thou thousand-headed head-les Monster-most,
Oft slaine (like Antheus) and as oft new rising,
Who, hard as steele, as light as winde arttost;
Chameleon-like, each obiects colour prysing.
Vnblinde thy blinde soule, opethine inward sight;
Be no more Tinder of intestine flame:
Of all fantastike humors purge thy spright:
For, if past-follies vrge yet griefe and shame,
Lo (like Obliuions law) to cure thy passion,
State-stabling Peace brings froward minds in fashion.

SONNET 25.

Engins of Uulcan, Heav'n-affrighting wonders,
Like brittle glasse the Rocks to cyndars breaking;
Deafning the windes, dumbing the loudest thunders;
May yee be bound a thousand yeeres from speaking.
Yee hate-peace Hacksters flesht in Massacres,
Be you for euer banisht from our soile;
Yee steeled Tooles of slaughter, wounds, and warres,
Be you condemn'd to hang, and rust a while:
Or (not to languish in so fruit-lesrest)
Be you transform'd to husband-furniture,
To plow those fields you haue so oft deprest:
Of (if you cannot leaue your wonted vre)
Leaue (at the least) all mutinous alarmes,
And befrom hence-forth Iustice lawfull Armes.

SONNET 26.

O Paris, know thy selfe, and know thy Master,
As well thy heav'nly as thine earthly guider:
And be not like a Horse, who (proud of pasture)
Breakes Bit, and Reanes, and casts his cunning Rider
Who nill be Subiects, shall be slaues in [...]ine:
Who Kings refuse, shall haue a Tyrant Lord:
Who are not moou'd with the milde rods diuine,
Shall feele the furie of Heav'ns venging Sword.
Thy greatnes stands on theirs that weare the Crowne,
Whereof, th' hast had now seuentie (sauing seuen)
Thinke one sufficient soone to pull thee downe:
Kings greatnes stands on the great King of Heav'n.
Knowing these two, then Paris know thy selfe,
By Warres afflictions, and by PEACES wealth.

SONNET 27.

Swell not in pride O Paris (Princely Dame)
To be chiefe Citie, and thy Soueraignes Throne:
Citie? nay modell of this totall Frame,
A mighty Kingdome of thy selfe alone.
The scourge that lately with paternall hand
For thine amendment did so mildely beat-thee,
If any more against thy Kings thou stand,
Shall proue that then God did but only threat-thee.
Wert thou a hundred-thousand-fold more mighty,
Who in th' Olympike Court commands the thunders,
In his least wrath can wrack thee (most Almighty).
Thebes, Babel, Rome, those proud heav'n-daring wonders,
Lowe vnder ground in dust and ashes lie:
For earthly Kingdomes (euen as men) doe die.

SONNET 28.

But, O my sorrowes [...] whither am I tos [...]?
What? shall I bloodie sweet ASTREAS Songs?
Re-open wounds that are now heal'd almost,
And new-remember nigh-forgotten wrongs?
Sith stormes are calmed by a gentle Starre,
Forget we (Muse) all former furie-moods,
And all the tempests of our viper-Warre:
Drown we those thoughts in deep-deep Lethe floods.
O but (alas) I cannot not-retaine
So great, notorious, common miseries,
Nor hide my plaint, nor hold my weeping raine:
But 'mid these hidious hellish out-rages,
I'le showe and prooue by this strange spectacle,
Our ciuill PEACE, asacred Miracle.

SONNET 29.

As he that, scap't from Ship-wrack on a planke,
Doubts of his health, and hardly yet beleeues
(Still faintly shiuering on the feare-les banke)
That (through that fraile helpe) certainly he liues:
As he that new freed from strange seruitude,
Returnes againe to tread his natiue allies,
Seemes still to feare his Patrons rigour rude,
And seemes still tugging, chayned in the Gallies:
So alwaies, ruth, ruine, and rage, and horror
Of troubles past doo haunt me euery-where,
And still I meete Furies and gastly Terror:
Then, to my selfe thus raue I (rapt with feare)
From pleasures past, if present sorrow spring,
Why should not past cares present comfort bring?

SONNET 30.

We must not now vp braid each others crimes
Committed wrongly in the time of Warre;
For we haue all (alas) too often-times
Prouok't the vengeance of the Lord too farre:
Some robbing Iustice, vnder maske of Reason;
Some blowing coles, to kindle-vp Sedition;
Some 'gainst their King attempting open Treason;
Some Godding Fortune (Idol of Ambition).
Alas, we know our cause of maladie,
All apt t'accuse, but none to cleanse th' impure;
Each doth rebuke, but none doth remedie:
To know a griefe, it is but halfe a cure:
Is it our sinnes? let's purge away that bane;
For what helps Physicke if it be not tane?

SONNET 31.

Who cloake their crimes in hoods of holines,
Are double villaines: and the Hypocrite
Is most-most odious in Gods glorious sight,
That takes his Name to couer wickednes.
Prophane Ambition, blinde and irreligious,
In quest of Kingdomes, holding nothing holy:
Think'st thou th' Eternall blinde (as thou in folly)
Or weake to punish Monsters so prodigious?
O execrablevizard, canst thou hide thee
From th' All-pierce Eye? are treason, rape, and murder
Effects of Faith, or of the Furies-order?
Thy vaile is rent, the rudest haue descride thee.
'Tis now apparant to each plaine Opinion,
Thy hot Deuotion hunted but Dominion.

SONNET 32.

'Tis strange to see the heat of Ciuill brands.
For, when we arme vs brother against brother,
O then how ready are our hearts and hands,
And Wits awake to ruine one another!
But, come to counter-mine 'gainst secret treason,
Or force the forces of a stranger foe,
Alas, how shallow are we then in reason,
How cold in courage, and in camping slowe▪
Fraunce onely striues to triumph ouer Fraunce:
With selfe-kill Swords to cut each others throat.
What swarmes of Souldiers euery where doo float,
To spend and spoile a Kingdomes maintenance?
But, said I Souldiers? ah I blush for shame,
To giue base Theeues the noble Souldiers name.

SONNET 33.

Is't not an endles scandall to our daies:
(If possible our heires can credit it):
That th' holy name of PEACE, so worthy praise,
Hath been our Watch-word for a fault vnfit?
That the pure Lilly, our owne natiue flower,
Hath been an odious obiect in our eyes?
That kingly Name, and Kings heav'n-stablisht power,
Hath been with vs a marke of trecheries?
T'haue banisht hence the godly and the wise,
Whose sound direction kept the State from danger;
Yea, made their bodies bloody Sacrifice?
And (to conclude) seeking to serue a Stranger,
T'haue stab'd our owne? but (O Muse) keepe that in,
The fault's so foul, to speake it were a sinne.

SONNET 34.

I waile not I so much warres wastefull rigours,
Nor all thy ruines make me halfe so sorie,
As thy lost honour ( Fraunce) which most disfigures,
Losing thy loyaltie, thy Natiue glory.
From Moores to Moscouites (O cursed change!)
The French are called, Faith-les Parricides:
Th' yerst-most-prince- [...]oyall people (O most strange!)
Are now Prince-treachers more than all besides:
With vs, Massacres passe for Pietie;
Theft, rape, and wrong, for iust-attaind possessions;
Reuolt for Merit, Rage for Equitie:
Alas, must we needs borrow the transgressions
And imperfections of all other Nations,
Yerst onely blamed for inconstant fashions?

SONNET 35.

Not without reason hath it oft been spoken;
That through faire Concord little things augment,
And (opposite) that mightiest things are broken
Through th' vgly Discord of the discontent.
When many tunes doe gently symphonize
It conquers hearts and kindly them compounds;
When many hearts doe gentle sympathize
In sacred frendship, there all blisse abounds.
Alas, if longer we diuide this Real me,
Loosing to euerie Partizan apart;
Farewell our Lillies and our Diadem.
For, though it seeme to breath now somewhat peart,
Our sinnes (I feare) will worke worse after-claps:
And ther's most danger in a re-relaps.

SONNET 36.

O, how I hate these partializing words,
Which showe how we are in the Faith deuised:
Is't possible to whet so many Swords,
And light such flames 'mong th' In-one-Christ-baptized:
Christians to Christians to be brute and bloody,
Altars to Altars to be opposite,
Parting the limmes of such a perfect Body,
While Turkes with Turkes doo better fa [...]revnite?
We, in our Truth finde doubts (whence follow Schismes)
They, whose fond Law doth all of Lies consist,
Abide confirm'd in their vaine Paganismes.
One nought beleeues, another what him list,
One ouer-Creeds, another Creeds too-short;
Each makes his Church (rather his Sect) a-part.

SONNET 37.

Put-off (deere French) all secret grudge and gall,
And all keen stings of vengeance on all parts:
For, if you would haue PEACE proclaim'd to all,
It must be first faire printed in your hearts.
Henry, the mildest of all Conquerers
(Your perfect glasse for Princely clemencie)
He, to appease and calme the State from [...]arres,
For his friends sake, hath sav'd his enemie.
Let's all be French, all subiects to one Lord;
Let Fraunce from hence-forth be one onely State;
Let's all (for Gods sake) be of one accord:
So (through true zeale Christs praise to propagate)
May the most Christian King with prosperous power
On Sion walls re-plant our Lilly-flower.

SONNET 38.

O Christian cor'siue! that the Mahomite
With hundred thousands in Vienna Plaine,
His Mooned Standards hath already pight,
Prest to ioyne Austrich to his Thracian Raigne:
Malth, Corfu, Candie, his proud Threats disdaine;
And all our Europe trembles in dismay;
While striuing Christians (by each other slaine)
Each other weak'ning, make him easieway.
Rhodes, Belgrade, Cyprus, and the Realmes of Greece,
Thrall'd to his barbarous yoke, yet fresh-declare,
That while two striue, a third obtaines the fleece.
Though name of Christian be a title faire;
If, but for Earth, they all this while haue striu'n,
They may haue Earth, but others shall haue Heau'n.

SONNET 39.

May I not one day see in Fraunce againe
Some new Martellus (full of stout actiuitie)
To snatch the Scepter from the Saracen,
That holds the Holy Land in strait captiuitie?
May I not see the selfe-weale-wounding La [...]nce
Of our braue Bloods (yerst one another goring)
Turn'd with mo [...]e valour on the Musulmans,
A higher pitch of happy prowesse soaring?
But who (deare Fraunce) of all thy men-at-armes
Shall so farre [...]e [...]ce renue thine ancient Laurels:
Sith here they plot thine and their proper harmes?
I rather feare, that (through these fatall quarrels)
That hate-Christ Tyrant will in time become
The Lord and Soueraigne of all Christendome.

SONNET 40.

Mid all these mischiefes, while the friend foe Strangers,
With vs. against vs, had intelligence;
Henry our King, our Father, voides our dangers,
And (O Heav'ns wonder) planteth PEACE in Fraunce.
Thou Iudge that sitt'st on th [...] supernall Throne,
O quench thy furie, keepe vs from hostilitie:
With eyes of mercy looke thou still vpon
Our PEACE, and found it on a firme stabilitie:
Sith (in despight of discord) thou alone,
Inward and outward, hast thus salv'd vs (Lord)
Keepe still our Fraunce (or rather Lord thine owne)
Let Princes loue, and liue in iust accord:
Dis-arme them (Lord) or, i [...] Armes busie them,
Be it alone for thy Ierusalem.
FINIS.
A Dialogue vpon the …

A Dialogue vpon the Troubles past: BETWEENE HERA­clitus and Democritus, the weeping and the laughing Philoso­phers.

Acceptam refero.

A DIALOGVE.

Heraclitus.
ALas, thou laugh'st, perhaps not feeling well
The painfull torments of this mortall Hell:
Ah! canst thou (teare-les) in this iron Age,
See men massacred, Monsters borne to rage?
Democritus.
Ha, but why weep'st thou? wherefore in this sort
Doost thou lament amid this merry sport?
Ha, canst thou chuse but laugh, to see the State
Of mens now-follies, and the freaks of Fate?
Heraclitus.
He hath no heart that melts not all in teares,
To see the treasons, murders, massacres,
Sacks, sacrileges, losses, and alarmes
Of those that perish by their proper armes.
Democritus.
Who all dismayed, swouneth sodainly
To heare or see some fained Tragedie
(Held in these dayes, on euery Stage as common)
Is but a heart-les man, or but a woman.
Heraclitus.
O! would to God our Countries tragick ruth
Were but a fable, no effected truth:
My soule then should not sigh to angry Heav'n,
Nor for her plagues my tender heart be riv'n.
Democritus.
[Page 761]
I take the world to be but as a Stage,
Where net-maskt men doo play their personage.
'Tis but a mummerie, and a pleasant showe;
Sith ouer all, strange vanities doo flowe.
Heraclitus.
Those vanities I haue in detestation,
As cursed causes of Gods indignation:
Which makes me alwayes weepe, sith on the earth
I see no obiect for the meanest mirth.
Democritus.
Thus, from one Subiect sundry sequels spring,
As diuersly our wits conceiue a thing.
I laugh to see thee weepe; thou weep'st to see
Me laugh so much, which more afflicteth thee.
Heraclitus.
Laugh while thou list at mortall miseries,
I cannot chuse but euen weepe out mine eyes:
Finding more cause for teares in bloody slaughter,
Then for thy sense-les, ill-beseeming laughter.
Democritus.
Melt thee, distill thee, turne to waxe or snowe;
Make sad thy gesture, tune thy voice to woe;
I cannot weepe, except sometimes it hap
Through laughing much, mine eyes let fall a drop.
Heraclitus.
I weepe to see thus euery thing confused,
Order disordred, and the Lawes abused;
Iustice reuerst, and Policie peruerted;
And this sicke State neere vtterly subuerted.
Democritus.
I laugh to see how Fortune (like a ball)
Playes with the Globe of this inconstant All:
How she degradeth these, and graceth those;
How, whom she lifts-vp, downe againe she throwes.
Heraclitus.
[Page 762]
I raine downe Riuers, when against their King
Cities rebell, through subiects bandying:
When Colledges (through Armes) are rest of Art:
When euery Countie Kingdomes-it a-part.
Democritus.
I burst with laughter, when (confounding State)
I see those Rebels hunt their Magistrate:
When I heare Porters prate of State-designes,
And make all common, as in new-found Indes.
Heraclitus.
I weepe to see Gods glory made a vaile
To couer who his glory most assaile:
That sacred Faith is made a maske for sinne,
And men runne headlong to destructions ginne.
Democritus.
I laugh (with all my heart) at the transforming
Of Iugling Proteis, to all times Conforming:
But, most I laugh t'haue seene the world so mad
To starue and die, when those damn'd Atheists bad.
Heraclitus.
I weepe (alas) to see the People weepe,
Opprest with rest-les waight in danger deepe;
Crying for PEACE, but yet not like to get-her,
Yet her condition is not greatly better.
Democritus.
I laugh to see all cause of laughter gone,
Through those which (yerst thou said'st) haue caus'd thy mone:
Noting th' old guise, I laugh at all their new;
I laugh at more, but dare not tell it you.
Heraclitus.
Som sorrowes also I in silence keepe;
But in the Desart, all my woes shall weepe:
And there (perhaps) the Rocks will helpe me then;
For, in these dayes they are more milde then men.
Democritus.
[Page 763]
I'le dwell in Cities (as my Genius guides)
To laugh my fill; for, smiling PEACE prouides
Such plentious store of laughing-stuffe to fill me,
That still I'le laugh, vn-les that laughing kill me.
FINIS.
AN ODE OF THE LOVE A …

AN ODE OF THE LOVE AND beauties of Astraea.
To the most matchles-faire, and vertuous, M. M. H.

TETRASTICON.
THou, for whose sake my freedome I forsake,
Who, murdring me, doost yet maintain my life:
Heere, vnder PEACE, thy beauties Type I make,
Faire, war-like Nimph, that keep'st me still in strife.
Sacred PEACE, if I approue thee,
If more then my life I loue thee,
'Tis not for thy beautious eyes:
Though the brightest Lampe in skies
In his highest Sommer shine,
Seemes a sparke compar'd with thine,
With thy paire of selfe-like Sunnes,
Past all els-comparisons.
'Tis not (deere) the dewes Ambrosiall
Of those pretie lips so Rosiall,
Make me humble at thy feet:
Though the purest honey sweet
That the Muses birds doo bring
To Mount Hybla euery spring,
Nothing neere so pleasant is,
As thy liuely louing kisse.
'Tis not (Beauties Emperesse)
Th' Amber circlets of thy tresse,
Curled by the wanton windes,
That so fast my freedome bindes:
Though the pretious glittering sand
Richly strow'd on Tagus Strand;
Nor the graines Pactolus rol'd
Neuer were so fine a gold.
'Tis not for the polisht rowes
Of those Rocks whence Prudence flowes,
That I still my sute pursue;
Though that in those Countries new
In the Orient lately found
(Which in precious Gemmes abound)
'Mong all baytes of Auarice
Be no Pearles of such a price.
'Tis not (Sweet) thine yuorie neck
Makes me worship at thy beck;
Nor that prettie double HILL
Of thy bosome panting still:
Though no fairest Laedas Swan,
Nor no sleekest Marble can
Be so smooth or white in showe,
As thy Lillies, and thy Snowe.
'Tis not (O my Paradise)
Thy front (euener than the yee)
That my yeelding heart doth tye
With his milde-sweet Ma [...]ostie:
Though the siluer Moone befaine
Still by night to mount her waine,
Fearing to sustain disgrace,
If by day shee meet thy face.
'Tis not that soft Sattin limme,
With blew trailes enameld trimme,
Thy hand, handle of perfection
Keeps my thoughts in thy subiection:
Though it haue such curious cunning,
Gentle touch, and nimble running,
That on Lute to heare it warble,
Would mooue Rocks and rauish Marble.
'Tis not all the rest beside,
Which thy modest vaile doth hide
From mine eyes (ah too iniurious!)
Makes me of thy loue so curious:
Though Diana being bare,
Nor Leucothoe passing rare,
In the Crystall-flowing springs
Neuer bath'd so beautious things.
What then (O diuinest Dame)
Fires my soule with burning flame,
If thine eyes be not the matches
Whence my kindling Taper catches?
And what Nectar from aboue
Feedes and feasts my ioyes (my Loue)
If they taste not of the dainties
Of thy sweet lips sugred plenties?
What fell heat of couetize
In my feeble bosome fries;
If my heart no reckoning hold
Of thy tresses purest gold?
What inestimable treasure
Can procure me greater pleasure
Then those Orient Pearles I see
When thou daign'st to smile on mee?
What? what fruit of life delights
My delicious appetites,
If I ouer-passe the messe
Of those apples of thy brests?
What fresh buds of scarlet Rose
Are more fragrant sweet than those
Then those Twins, thy Strawberrie teates,
Curled-purled Cherrielets?
What (to finish) fairer limme,
Or what member yet more trimme,
Or what other rarer Subiect
Makes me make thee all mine obiect?
If it be not all the rest
By thy modest vaile supprest
(Rather) which an enuious cloud
From my sight doth closely shroud.
Ah't's a thing farre more diuine,
'Tis that peere-les Soule of thine,
Master-peece of Heav'ns best Art,
Made to maze each mortall hart.
'Tis thine all-admired wit,
Thy sweet grace and gesture fit,
Thy milde pleasing curtesie
Makes thee triumph ouer me.
But, for thy faire Soules respect,
I loue Twin-flames that reflect
From thy bright tra-lucent eyes:
And thy yellow lockes likewise:
And those Orient-Pearly Rocks
Which thy lightning Smile vn-lockes:
And the Nectar-passing blisses
Of thy honey-sweeter kisses.
I loue thy fresh rosie cheeke
Blushing most Aurora-like,
And the white-exceeding skin
Of thy neck and dimpled chin,
And those Iuorie-marble mounts
Either, neither, both at once:
For, I dare not touch, to know
If they be of flesh or no.
I loue thy pure Lilly hand
Soft, and smooth, and slender; and
Those fine nimble brethren small
Arm'd with Pearle-shel helmets all.
I loue also all the rest
By thy modest vaile supprest
(Rather) which an enuious cloud
From my longing sight doth shroud.
FINIS.

SONNET 1.

Sweet mouth, that send'st a musky-rosed breath;
Fountain of Nectar, and delightfull Balm;
Eyes cloudy-clear, smile-frowning, stormy-calm;
Whose every glance darts me a living-death:
Browes, bending quaintly your round Ebene Arkes:
Smile, that then Uenus sooner Mars besots;
Locks more then golden, curl'd in curious knots,
Where, in close ambush wanton Cupid lurkes:
Grace Angel-like; fair fore-head, smooth, and high;
Pure white, that dimm'st the Lillies of the Vale;
Vermilion Rose, that mak'st Aurora pale:
Rare spirit, to rule this beautious Emperie:
If in your force, Divine effects I view,
Ah, who can blame me, if I worship you?

SONNET 2.

Thou, whose sweet eloquence doth make me mute;
Whose sight doth blinde me; and whose nimblenes
Of feet in daunce, and fingers on the Lute,
In deep amazes makes me motion-les.
Whose onely presence, from my self absents me;
Whose pleasant humours, make me passionate;
Whose sober mood, my follies represents me:
Whose graue-milde graces make me emulate.
My heart, through whom, my heart is none of mine:
My All, through whom, I nothing doo possesse
Saue thine Idea, glorious and divine.
O thou my Peace-like War, and war-like PEACE,
So much the wounds that thou hast given me, please;
That 'tis my best ease, never to haue ease.

Epigramms and Epitaphes vpon Warre and Peace.

Vpon the League.

FRaunce, without cause thou doost complain
Against the League for wronging thee.
Sh'hath made thee large amends again,
With more then common vsury:
For, for thy one King which she slew,
Sh'hath given thee now a thousand new.

Vpon the taking of Paris.

1
When Paris (happily) was wonne
With small or no endangering,
Such suddain common ioy begunne,
That one would say (t'haue seen the thing)
Th' King took not Paris, Paris took the King.
2
O rarest sight of ioyfull woe,
Adorned with delightfull dread;
When Henry with oneself-same showe,
Conquer'd at once and triumphed!
3
Sith, thee from danger and distresse to free,
The King thus took, or rather entred thee;
Paris, it was not in stern Mars his Moneth,
But in the month that mild ASTREA owneth.

Vpon the fall of the Millars-bridge.

1
The Millars in the River drown'd,
While Paris was beleagerd round;
To die were all resolv'd in minde,
Because they had no more to grinde.
2
Then was their fittest time to die,
Because they might intend it best:
But their intent was contrary,
Because they then liv'd so at rest.
3
As, after long sharp famine, som (fo [...]lorn)
Of surfet Die, their greedines is such:
This Mill-bridge, hauing fasted long from corn,
Is drown'd (perhaps) for having ground too-much.

Vpon the recouerie of Amiens.

I knowe not which may seem most admirable;
To take or re-take such a Cities force:
But, yet I knowe which is most honorable,
To take by fraud, or to re-take by force.
2
Each where they sing a thousand wayes
The glory of this enterprise:
But yet of all their merry Layes.
The best is still in the Re-prise.
3
Hernand was happy by this Enterprise,
To take so soon our Amiens without blow:
More happy yet, to die yer the Re-prise,
Els had he dy'de for shame to leave it so.

Vpon the Reduction of Nantes.

Nantes would not yeeld so soon (they sayd)
Nor be recovered so good cheap:
And yet, for all defence it made,
'T was made to make the Britton Leap.

Vpon PEACE.

[...]
Souldiers, late prest, are now supprest;
Crost and cassierd from further pay:
Yet will they (in this time of rest)
Take vp their lendings by the Way.
2
This PEACE (it seemeth) doth not sound
To all the world; for every-where
More Sergeants now doo goe the Round,
Then Souldiers yerst accustom'd were.

Vpon Captain Coblar.

A merry Coblar left the warrs,
To turn vnto his Occupation:
And, asked by his Customers
The reason of his alteration:
'T hath pleas'd (quoth he) the King t'ordain
That each his Office take again.

Upon Warre.

Here, vnder this huge heap of stones
Lately enterr'd, lyes cruell WARRE:
Pray God long rest her soule and bones:
Yet, there is nothing worse for her.

Upon Rowland Rob-Church.

Heer lyeth Rowland, that was lately slain,
In robbing of a wealthy Chappell, spyde:
Yet I beleeue he doth in Heav'n remain,
Sith onely for the Churches Good he dyde.

Upon Captaine Catch.

Heer vnder, Captain CATCH is layd,
Who sixe times chang'd from side to side,
Of neither side (it seem'd) afraid:
He wore a white Scarfe when he di'de:
Yet som suspect (and so doo I)
For his inconstance showne before,
That to the Black-band he did fly:
But now he can revolt no more.

Upon Sir Nequam Neuter.

Heer lyeth he, who the more safe to pray
On both sides; Neuter, between both abode:
Whether his Soule is gone, I can not say,
Sith he was, nor for Diuell, nor for God.
‘Pax omnibus vna.’
FINIS.

A l'honeur de la Paix, chantée par Monsieur du NESMF, & rechantée en Anglois par Monsieur SYLVESTRE.

SAns Paix rien ne sub siste: en Paix tout croist & dure:
Dieu maintient par sa Paix le beau Grand Vniuers
Et le Petit, bastis de membres si diuers,
Touts s'entr' aydans l'vnl' autre en commune facture:
Elle vnit a son Dieu l'humaine creature:
Elle emplit de Citez les Royaumes deserts:
Elle bride les fols, & rend les champs couverts
De biens donans plaisirs, vesture, & nouriture.
Enuoy-la donc (O Dieu) a nos Princes & Roys,
En nos maisons, en nous; & fay que d'vne voix
Nous suyvions les accords de ton Nesme admirable:
Lors (a iamais) ser as louè de nos Gaulois
Par ses chants tout-divins: & Syluestre, en Anglois
Redoublerace loz d'vn stile immitable.
P. CATELLE.
I'attens le temps.
THE PROFIT of Impris …

THE PROFIT of Imprisonment.

A PARADOX, Written in French by Odet de la Noue, Lord of Teligni, being Prisoner in the Castle of Tournay.

Translated by IOSVAH SYLVESTER.

Acceptam refero.

To his long-approoued friend, M. R. Nicolson, I. S. wisheth euer all true content.

TO thee (the same to me as first I meant)
Friend to the Muses, and the well-inclinde,
Louing, and lov'd of euery vertuous minde:
To thee the same, I the same Song present
(Our mutuall loue's eternall Monument)
Wherein, our Nephewes shall heer-after finde
Our constant Friendship how it was combinde
With linkes of kindnes and acknowledgement.
Accept again this Present in good part,
This simple pledge of my sincere affection
To Tangley, Thee, and thy Soon-calm-in-hart
(Perfect good-will supplies all imperfection).
Chameleons change their colour: Guile her game:
But (in both Fortunes) Vertue's still the same.

A Sonnet of the Author to his Booke.

THe body, ouer prone to Pleasures and delights
Of soft, fraile, dainty flesh, and to selfe-ease addicted,
Abhors Imprisonment, as a base paine inflicted
To punish the defaults of most vnhappy wights.
The soule, as much surpriz'd with loue of heauenly sights,
And longing to behold the place that appertaines-her,
Doth loath the body, as a Prison that detaines-her
From her high happines among the blessed sprights.
Then, sith both body and soule their bondage neuer brooke,
But soule and body both doo loue their libertie:
Tell, tell me (O my Muse) who will beleeue our Booke?
He that hath learn'd a-right both these to mortifie,
And serue our Sauiour Christ in body and in spirite,
Who both from thrall hath freed by his owne only merit.

A Paradox, That Aduersity is more necessary then Prosperitie; and that, of all afflictions, close Prison is most pleasant, and most profitable.

HOw-euer fondly-false a vain Opinion seeme,
If but the Vulgar once the same for right esteeme;
Most men account it so: so (in absurdest things)
Consent of multitude exceeding credit brings.
Nor any meane remaines when it is once receiued,
To wrest it from the most of erring minds deceiued.
Nay, whose shall but say, they ought to alter it,
He headlong casts himselfe in dangers deepest Pit.
For, neuer nimble Barke that on aduenture runnes
Through those blew bounding Hills where hoarie Neptune wunnes,
Was set-vpon so sore with neuer-ceast assault
Maintain'd on euery side by winds and waters salt,
When, raging most, they raise their roughest tempest drea­ded,
As th' idiot multitude, that Monster many-headed
Bestirres it selfe, with wrath, spight, furie, full of terror,
Gainst whatsoeuer man that dares reproue her error.
Who vndertakes that taske, must make account (at first)
To take hot warres in hand, and beare away the worst.
Therefore a many Workes (worthy the light) haue died
Before their birth, in brests of Fathers terrified,
Not by rough deeds alone; but euen by foolish threats:
Yet, onely noise of words base cowards onely beats.
Then feare who list (for me) the common peoples crie,
And who so list, be mute, if other-minded: I
(Scorning the feeble force of such a vaine indeuour)
Will freely (spight of feare) say what I censure euer:
And, though my present State permit me not such scope,
Mine vn-forbidden pen with Errors pride shall cope.
Close Prison (now a-daies) th' extreamest miserie
The world doth deeme, I deeme direct the contrarie:
And there-with-all will proue, that euen Aduersities
Are to be wished more then most Prosperities.
And, for Imprisonment, though that be most lamented,
Of all the griefes wherewith men feare to be tormented;
Yet, that's the Sate most stor'd with pleasure and delight,
And the most gain-full too to any Christian wight.
A Paradox, no doubt more true, then creditable;
The which my selfe sometimes haue also thought a fable,
While guile-full vanities, fed not, but fill'd my minde,
For strengthening sustenance, with vn-substantiall winde.
I hated Death to death, I also did detest
All sicknes and disease that might a man molest.
But, most I did abhorre that base esteemed State,
Which to subiections Law our selues doth subiugate,
And our sweet life enthralls vnto anothers will,
For, as my fancie wisht I would haue walked still.
Death (thought I) soone hath done, and euery griefe besides,
The more extreame it is, the lesser time abides:
But now, besides that I esteemd the prisoners trouble
Much worse, me thought the time his martyrdome did dou­ble.
So that, to scape that scourge, so irk some to my hart,
I could haue beene content to suffer any smart.
Lo, by blind ignorance how iudgements are mis-led:
Now that full thirtie monthes I haue experienced
That so-much-feared ill, 'tis now so vs'd to me,
That I (a prisoner) liue much more content and free,
Then when as (vnder cloake of a false freedome vaine)
I was base slaue (indeede) to many a bitter paine.
But, now I see my selfe mockt euery-where almost,
And feeble me alone met by a mightie hoast
Of such, as (in this case) doo not conceiue as I,
But doo esteeme themselues offended much thereby.
And therefore (Father deere) this weake abortiue Child,
For refuge runnes betweeneth' armes of his Grand-sire mild.
If you accept of it, my labour hath his hire:
For, careles of the rest, all that I heere desire,
Is onely that yourselfe (as in a Glasse) may see
The Image of th' estate of my Captiuitie:
Where, though I nothing can auaile the Common-weale,
Yet, I auaile my selfe (atleast) some little deale.
Praising th' all-powerfull Lord, that thus vouch safes to poure
Such fauours manifold vpon meeuery houre;
Wherof your self (yer while) so sweet sure proof haue tasted,
In cruell bitternes of bands that longer lasted.
Now, I beseech his Grace to blesse mine enterprise,
My heart and hand at once to gouerne in such wise,
That what I write, may nought displeasing him containe:
For, voide of his sweet aide, who works he works in vaine.
Within the wide-spred space of these round Elements,
Whatsoeuer is indewd with liuing soule and sense,
Seekes (of it selfe) selfe-good; this instinct naturall
Nature her selfe hath grauen in harts of Creatures all:
And of all liuing things (from largest to the least)
Each one to flie his ill doth euermore his best.
Thereof it comes (we see) the wilde Horse (full of strength)
Tamely to take the bit into his mouth at length;
And so, by force we tame each most vntamed beast,
Which, of it selfe, discreet, of euils takes the least:
And though that that which seemes to be his chiefe restraint
He often-times despise, that's by a worse constraint:
As when the Lyon fierce, feare-lesse pursues the shining
Of bright keen-piercing blades, and's royal crest declining,
Full of the valiant Fire, that courage woonts to lend,
Runnes midst a million swords, his whelplings to defend,
[Page 783]More fearing farre that they their libertie should lose,
Than on himselfe the smart of thousand wounding blowes.
But, all things haue not now the selfe same goods and ils;
What helpeth one, the same another hurts and kils:
There's ods between the good that sauage Beasts do like,
And that good (good indeed) which soul-wiseman must seek:
When Beasts haue store of food, and free from foe's annoy,
Smart-lesse, and sound, and safe, may (as they list) enioy
Their fill of those delights, that most delight the sense:
That, that's the happines that fully them contents:
But reasonable soules (as God hath made mankind)
Can with so wretched Good not satisfie their mind.
But, by how much the more their inly sight excels
The brutish appetite of euery creature els,
So much more excellent the good for which they thirst:
Man of two parts is made: the body is the worst,
The Heav'n-born soule, the best, wherein mans blisse abides;
In body that of beasts, nought hauing els besides:
This body stands in need of manie an accessorie,
To make it somewhat seeme: the soule receiues this glory,
That selfly she subsists; and her aboundant wealth
(Vnlike the bodies store) is euer safe from stealth.
Our body took his birth of this terrestriall clod:
Our spirit, it was inspir'd of th' inly breath of God;
And either of them still striues to his proper place,
This (earth-born) stoopes to earth; that stics to heauen apace.
But, as the silly bird, whose wings are wrapt in lime,
Faine (but in vaine) attempts to flie full many a time:
So, our faire soule, surcharg'd with this foule robe of mud,
Is too-too often held from mounting to her GOOD.
She striues, she strikes, sometimes she lifts her vp aloft:
But, as the worser part (we see) preuaileth oft,
This false fraile flesh of ours with pleasure's painted lure,
Straight makes her stoop againe downe to the dust impure.
Happy who th' honour hath of such a victory,
He crowns his conquering head with more true maiesty
[Page 784]Then if he had subdued those Nations, by his might,
Which doo discouer first Aurora's early light,
And those whom Phoebus sees from his Meridian Mount,
Th' Anti-podes, and all; more then the sand to count.
For, small the honour is to be acknowledg'd King
And Monarke of the world, ones selfe vn-maistering.
But, each man on his head this Garland cannot set,
Nor is it giuen to all this victorie to get,
Onely a very few (Gods deere-belov'd Elect)
This happy Goale haue got by Vertues lyue effect:
Therest, soon weary of this fame so painfull War,
Like well of Heauen, but loue the earth aboue it far:
Some, drunk with poysony dregs of worldly pleasures brute,
Know where true good consists, but neuer doo ensue't:
Some doo ensue the same, but with so faint a heart,
That at the first assault they doo retire and start:
Some, more courageous, vow more then they bring to passe
(So much more easie 'tis to say, then doo, alas)
And all, through too-much loue of this vaine worlds al [...]ure­ments,
Or too-much idle feare of sufferings and endurements:
Meerevanities, whereto the more men doo incline,
The farther-off they are from their chiefe Good diuine.
Therefore, so many think themselues so miserables:
Therefore the aire is fill'd with out-cries lamentable,
Of such as do [...] disdaine the thing that better is,
To entertaine the worse, with forfeit of their blisse:
Therefore we see those men that riches doo possesse,
Afflicted still with care: and therefore, heauinesse
Abandons neuer those, that, fed with honours fill,
Fawne vpon Potentates, for [...]litting fauours still.
And, cause (God wot) they haue, to be at quiet neuer,
Sith their felicitie is so vncertaine euer.
Neither are Kings themselues exempted from vexation,
How-euer Soueraignesway they beare in any Nation:
For, now they wish to win, anon feare losse no lesse,
Yea, though (for Empire) they did this wide world possesse,
[Page 785]Not one of them, withall, could full contented be:
For, how man more attaines, the more attempteth he.
Who (therfore) couets most such soon-past goods vncertain,
Shall ne'r enioy the ioy of goods abiding certain:
But, who so seeks to build a true content, to last;
On else-what, must else-where his first foundation cast.
For, all things here below are apt to alter euer;
Heere's nothing permanent, and therefore whosoeuer
Trusts thereto, trusteth to a broken staffe for stay;
For no earth's vanity can blesse a man for aye.
We must, to make vs blest, our firme assurance found
Els-where then in this world, this change-inthralled ground:
We must propose our selues that perfect, perish-les,
That true vnfained good, that good all danger-les
From th' vniust spoile of theeues, which neuer, neuer stands
In need of guard, to guard from Souldiers pilling hands.
Now, 'tis with spirituall hands and not with corporall
That we doo apprehend these heauenly treasures all:
Treasures so precious, that th' onely hope to haue-them
In full fruition once, with him that frankly gaue-them,
Fills vs with euery ioy, our sorrowes choakes and kills,
And makes vs feele, amid our most tormenting ills,
A much more calme content, then those that euery day
On this fraile earth inioy their hearts-wish euery way.
It's therefore in the spirit, not in the flesh that we
Must seeke our Soueraigne Good and chiefe Felicitie.
Th' one is not capable of any iniurie,
Th' other's thrall to th' yoak of many a miserie,
Th' one end-les, euer-lasts, th' other endures so little,
That wel-nigh yer't be got 'tis gone, it is so brittle.
For, who is he that now in wealth aboundeth most,
Or, he that in the Court Kings fauours best may boast,
Or, he that's most with robes of dignity bedight,
Or, he that swimmes on Seas of sensuall sweet delight,
But is in perill still to proue the contrarie,
Poore, hated, honour-les, and full of misery?
But, one, that scorning all these rich proud pomps & plea­sures
About him ( Bias-like) beares alwaies all his treasures,
Euen (like to him) can leaue his natiue Country sackt,
Without sustaine of losse: and, with a mind infract,
Euen vanquished bereaue, the Victors victories,
Who, though his La [...]d he win, cannot his hart surprise.
Let exile, prisonment, and tortures great and small,
With their extreamest paines at-once assaile him all:
Let him be left alone among his mighty foes,
Poore, friendles, naked, sick (or if ought worse then those)
He doth nor onely beare all this with patience,
But taketh (euen) delight in such experience:
Regarding all these griefes, which men so much aff [...]ight,
As Baby fearing buggs, and skar-crowes void of might:
He chooseth rather much such exercise as these,
Then mid the flesh-delights to rust in idle [...]ase.
But, very fewe there are, that thus much will admit:
Nay, few or none there are that easily credit it;
The most part taking-part with common most conceit,
Yet they haue heard of this, sustaine the tother streight:
Not seeing, that themselues shun and refuse as ill,
What vnto other men, for good they offer still.
Not one of them will brooke his Son in sloath to lurke,
But moues, and stirres him vp incessantly to work:
Forbids him nothing more then sin-seed idlenes:
Nor any pleasure vaine permits him to possesse,
(For well he knowes, that way to vertue doth not lead,
But thither-ward who walkes a path of paine must tread)
If he offend in ought, he chastens and reproues him,
In so much sharper sort by how much more he loues-him.
Thus handleth man the thing that most he holdeth deere,
Yet thinks it strange himselfe should be so handled heer.
May we not rather thinke we are belov'd of God,
When as we f [...]ele the stripes of his iust-gentle rod?
And that, whom heer he lets liue as they list in pleasure,
Are such as least he loues, and holds not as his treasure?
[Page 787] [...], not of our slaues, but of our sonnes elect▪
By sharp-sweet chastisements the manners we correct.
In very deed God doth as doth a prudent Sire,
Who litle careth what may crosse his childs desire,
But what may most auaile vnto his betterment:
So, knowing well that ease would make vs negligent:
He exerciseth vs▪ he stires vs vp, and presses,
And, though we murmur much, yet neuer-more he cease [...],
He chastens, he afflicts, and those whom most he striketh,
Are those whom most he loues, and whom he chiefly liketh.
No valiant men of warre will murmur or mislike,
For being plac't to proue the for most push of pike [...] ▪
Nay, rather would they there already front the foe,
With losse of deerest blood; their dauntlesse harts to show.
If an exploit approach, or Battel-day drawnie,
If ambush must be laid, some St [...]atagem to trie;
Or, must they [...] the foe in eger [...]kirmish fell,
Or, for the sleepy hoast all night keep sentinell:
From gr [...]dging at the paines, so far off are they all,
That blest they count themselues; therefore their Generall
Imployes them oftentimes, as most [...] o [...]agious,
And, them approu'd, he plants in places dangerous;
But, no man makes account of such as shu [...] the charge▪
Whose paine is not so little as their shame is large▪
All of vs (in this world) resemble Souldiers right,
From day-breake of our birth euen to▪ our dying night:
This life it is a warre, wherein the vall [...]ntest;
With hottest skirmishes are euer plied and pr [...]sh▪
Whom our grand-Captaine most sets-by, he sets a- [...]
The foreward as most fit to beare the chiefest brunt:
Cares, e [...]iles, prisonments, diseases, dolours, losses,
Maimes, tortures, torments, spoiles, contempts, dishonour [...], crosses,
All these are hard exploits, & full of [...]ickrings bold,
Which he commits to those whom he doth deerest hold:
But, leaueth those behinde for whom he careth little,
To stretch themselues at [...]ase amid their honors brittle,
[Page 788]their pomps, their dignities, their ioies, their gems, their tres [...]
Their dainties, their delights, their pastimes & their plesures▪
Like coward Groomes that guard the baggage & the stuffe,
While others meet the foe, and shew their valours proofe.
But haue not these (say some) in these afflictions part?
No; but of punishment, they often feele the smart.
Afflicted those we count, whom chastnings tame, and turne▪
The other punished, that at correction spurne,
The first (still full of hope) reape profit by their rods,
The later (desperate) through spight wax worse by ods.
Boy-st [...]gle [...]s of a Camp, so should be punisht then,
Being naked forc' [...] to fight with troupes of armed men,
Who cannot reap nor reach the pleasure, nor th [...] meed,
Nor th' honour incident for doing such a deed:
To such praise-winning place, braue Souldiers gladly run,
Which as a dangerous place these faint-harts sadly shun.
What Warriour in the world, that had not rather trie
A million of extreames (yea rather euen to die)
Then with disgracefull spot to staine his Honour bright
In these corporeall Warres? Yet, in the ghostly fight
(Of glory careless all) we shun all labours pain,
To purchase with reproche a rest-nestidly-vain.
Vertue is not a [...]chiu'd, by spending of the yeer
In pleasures soft, sweet shades, down beds & dainty cheere▪
Continuall trauell 't is that makes vs there ariue,
And so by trauell too Vertue is kept a-liue:
For, soon all virtue vades without some exercise,
But, being stird, the more her vigour multiplies.
Besides, what man is he, that feels some member rotten,
Whereof he feares to die, but causeth straight be gotten
Some surgeon, that with sawe, with cauter, or with knife,
May take that part away, to saue his threatned life:
And suffers (though with smart) his very flesh and bones
To be both sear'd, and saw'd, and cleane cut-off at-once.
But, to recure the soule (the soule with sin infected)
All wholesome remedies are hated and reiected:
[Page 789]With the Physition kind th' impatient Patient frees,
Nor to come neere him once his helpfull hand he lets:
We are halfe putrified, through sinnes contagious spot,
And without speedy helpe the rest must wholly rot:
Cut-off th' infected part, then are we sound and free,
Els all must perish needs, there is no remedie.
Most happy they, from whom in this fraile life, the Lord
(With smart of many paines) cuts-off the paines abhord
Of th' euer-neuer death, wherein they lye and languish,
That heere haue had their ease and neuer tasted anguish.
But many, which as yet the aduerse part approoue,
Conceiue ( [...]not confesse) that it doth more behooue.
By faintless exercise faire Vertue to maintaine,
Then ouer-whelm'd with Vice, at rest to rust in vaine.
But y [...] th▪ extremitie of sufferings doth dismay-them,
The force where-of they feare would easily ouer-lay them:
They loue the exercise, the chastenings likewise like them,
But yet they would haue God but seld & softly strike-them,
Els are they prest to runne, to ruine, with the Diuels,
They are so▪ sore afeard of false-supposed euils:
Most wretched is the man that for the feare of nis [...],
All liuely-breathing hopes of happy goodnes stifles.
Of nifles, sir, say they? seeme all their bitter crosses,
As nothing? nor their paines, nor lamentable losse [...],
That daily they indure? were not the wretches blest,
If from their heaule load their shoulders were releast?
Who is not happy (sure) in misery and woe,
No doubt prosperity can neuer make him so:
No mo [...]e then he that's sick should find more ease vpon
A glorious golden bed, then on a wooden one.
Man harbours in himselfe the euill that afflicts him,
And his owne fault it is, if discontentment pricks-him:
And all these outward ills are wrongfully accused;
Which flesh and blood doth blame; for, being rightly [...]sed,
They all turne to our good: but whoso takes offence
Thereby, hath by and by his iust rough recompence▪
[Page 790]For neither in their power, nor in their proof the same
Are euil lau [...] effect, but in conceipt and name,
Which whē we lightly waigh, the least of vs surmounts them,
Nor hurt they any one but him that ouer-counts them.
Neither ought that (indeed) for euill to be rated,
Which may by accident be vnto good translated:
Fo [...]ll is euer ill, and is contrarie euer
Directly vnto good, so that their natures neuer
Can be constrain'd to brooke each other, neither yet
Can th' [...]e [...] euer turn'd to th' other opposite:
But, plainly we perceiue, that there's no languor such,
But long continuance and custome lighten much:
Familiarizing so the Fit, that how so fret it,
Euen in th' extremitie one may almost forget it.
What better proofe of this, then those poore Gally-slaues,
Which (hauing been before such Rogues and idle Knaues)
As shunning seruices to labour were so loth,
That they would starue & die rather then leaue their sloth,
But being vs'd a while to tug the painfull Oare,
Labour that yerst they loath'd they now desire the more:
Or those that are assail'd with burning Feuer-fit,
Euen then when least of all they dread or doubt of it:
Who carefully complaine, and crie, and raue, and rage,
Frying in inward flames, the which they cannot swage;
Yet, if it wax not worse, the daintiest body makes it
In eight daies as a vse, and as a trifle takes it:
Or, those that haue sometimes the painfull rack indured,
Who without change of paine being a while inured,
The paine that did constraine them to bewaile and weepe,
Seems them so easie then, they almost fall a-sleepe.
All are no [...] euills then, that are surnamed so,
Sith euill neuer can his nature mingle, no,
Nor turne it into good; whereas we plainly see
On th' other side, that these are changed sodainly.
And, were they ills (indeed) sith they so little last,
Were't no [...] [...]eri [...] sha [...]e to be so much agast [...]
But here againe (say they) th' ones nature neuer taketh
The others nature on, but still the stronger maketh
His fellow giue him place, and onely beareth sway
Till that, return'd againe, driue it againe away.
Nay, that can neuer be: for neuer perfect good
Can by his contrarie be banisht (though withstood):
For, good is euer good, and where so e're it goe
Euill doth euer striue, but with too strong a foe.
There is no reason then, these, good, or ill to call,
That alter in this sort, and neuer rest at all:
Neither to blesse or blame them for the good or ill
That euer in her selfe our soule concealeth still.
For, if that from without, our bale, or else our blisse
Arriued: euermore withall must follow this,
That alwaies, vnto all, selfe ill, selfe paine, would bring:
Selfe good, one selfe content: but tis a certaine thing,
They are not taken for their qualitie and kind,
But rather as th' affects of men are most inclin'd.
One, loosing but a crowne hath lost his patience quight:
Another, hauing lost fiue hundred in a night,
Is neuer mo [...]'d aiote, though (hauing lesse in store,
Then th' other hath by ods) his losse might grieue him more.
One, being banished, doth nothing but lament,
Another (as at home) is there as well content.
And, one in prison pent, is vtterly dismaide,
Another, as at home, liues there as well appaid.
Needs must we then confesse, that in our selues doth rest
That which vphappieth vs, and that which makes vs blest:
In vs (indeed) the ill, which of our selues doth grow:
And in vs too the good, which from God's grace doth flow,
To whom it pleaseth him: true good that none can owe-yet,
Saue those on whom the Lord vouch safeth to bestow-it:
And that the bitter smart of all the paines that wring-vs,
From nothing but our sinne, receiueth strength to sting-vs.
Yea, surely in our selues abides our miserie:
Our Grand-sire Adam left vs that for Legacie,
[Page 792]When he enthrall'd himselfe vnto the Law of sin,
Wherein his guilty heires their griefe-full birth begin.
The Lord had giuen to him a Nature and a feature,
Perfect (indeed) and blest aboue all other creature;
And of this Earthly world had stablisht him as King,
Subiecting to his rule the reanes of euery thing:
His spirit within it selfe noselfe-debates did nurse,
Hauing no knowledge yet of better nor of worse:
His body euer blithe and healthfull felt no war
Of those foure qualities that now doo euer iarre:
Nor any poysony plant, nor any Serpent fell,
Nor any noysome beast could hurt in any deale:
He might, without the taste of bitter death attaine
Vnto the Hauen of Heauen, where all true Ioyss doo raigne.
And, had he not misdone, he might haue well bequeath'd
The same inheritance to all that euer breath'd:
How happy had he been, if he had neuer eaten
Th' vnlawfull fatall fruit that double Death did threaten?
O that he neuer had preferd the Serpents flatter
Before th' eternall Law of all the worlds Creator.
You shall be (said the Fiend) like supreame Deities:
This sweet fruites sugred iuice shall open both your eyes
Which now your tyrant God (enuying all your blisse)
Blindes with a filmy vaile of black Obscurities,
Least that you should become his equals in degree,
Knowing both good and ill as well as euer he.
Poore Eue beleeues him straight, & Man beleeues his wife,
And biteth by and by the Apple asking-life:
Whereof so soone as he had tasted, he begins
(But all too-late alas) to see his cursed sinnes.
His eyes (indeed) were ope, and then he had the skill
To know the difference between the good and ill,
Then did he knowe how good, good wa [...] when he had lost-it,
And euill too he knew (but ah too deerely cost-it)
Leauing himselfe (besides the sorrow of his losse)
Nothing but sad despaire of succourin his crosse.
He found himselfe falne down frō blisse-full state of peace
Into a ciuill warre where discords neuer cease:
His soule reuolting, soone became his bitter foe.
But (as it oft befalls that worst doo strongest growe)
She is not eas'd at all by th' inly striuing iarres,
Which doo annoy her more then th' irefull open warres.
Wrath, hatred, enuie, feare, sorrow, despaire, and such:
And passions opposite to these, afflict as much,
Distracting to and fro the Princesse of his life,
In restles mutinies, and neuer ceasing strife.
Then th' humor-brethren all, hot, cold, and wet, and dry,
Falne out among themselues, augment his misery.
So that (by their debate) within his flesh there seeded
A haruest of such weeds as neuer can be weeded.
All creatures that before (as Subiects) did attend-him,
Now, 'mong themselues conspire by al means to offend-him:
In briefe, Immortall borne, now mortall he became,
And bound his soule to bide Hells euer-burning flame,
Leauing his wofull heires (euen from their births beginning)
Heires of his heauy paine, as of his hainous sinning.
So that, in him, the Lord condemned all mankind,
To beare the punishment to his foule sinne assign'd:
And none had euer scap't, had not the God of grace
(Desiring more to saue, then to subuert his race)
Redeem'd vs by the death of his deer onely Son,
And chosen vs in him before the World begun:
Forgiuing vs the fault, and with the fault the fine;
All saue this temporall death; of Adams sin the signe.
Now in the horror of those ease-lesse, end-lesse paines,
It may be rightly said that euill euer raignes:
That's euill's very selfe; and not this seeming-woe,
Wherof the want on world complaineth daily so.
Liv'd we ten thousand yeeres continually tormented▪
In all fell tortures strange that euer were inuented,
What's that compar'd to time, that never shall expire,
Amidth'infernall flames, whose least-afflicting fire▪
[Page 794]Exceedeth all the paines, all mortall hearts can think?
Sure, all that we endure, till Laethe drops we drink,
Is all but ease to that, or if it be a paine,
'Tis in respect of that a very trifle vaine.
But, were't a great deale worse, why should we euill name
That which we rather finde a medicine for the same?
Health, wealth, security, honour, and ease doo make vs
Forget our God, and God for that doth soone for sake vs:
Whereas afflictions are the ready meanes to moouevs,
To seeke our health in him that doth so deerely loue-vs.
'Tis true indeed (say some) that benefit they bring-vs,
But yet the smart thereof doth so extreamely wring-vs,
That th' euill which they feele that doo endure the same,
Makes them esteeme it iust to giue it that for name.
Mans nature, certainly (it cannot be denied)
Is thrall to many throes, while here on earth we bide
In body and in soule: the troubled soule sustaines
A thousand passions strong, the body thousand paines,
And that's the wretched State, the which yer-while I said,
Was iustly due to vs, when Adam disobay'd.
But, he that's once new-borne in Iesus Christ by faith,
Who his assured hope in God sole setled hath,
Who doth beleeue that God giues essence vnto all;
And all sustaineth still: that nothing doth befall
But by his sacred will, and that no strength that striueth
To stop his iust decrees, can stand, or euer thriueth:
Not onely doth accept all paines with patience,
The which he takes for due vnto his deepe offence:
Nor onely is content (if such be Gods good pleasure)
To feele a thousand-fold a much more ample measure,
But euen delights therein, and void of any feare,
Expects th' extremitie of all assaults to beare:
Whether almighty God abate their woonted vigor,
Or (that his may not feele their crosses cruell rigor)
Doo wholly arme them with new forces for the nonce,
To beare the bitter brunt: or whether both at-once.
And, to approoue this true; how many dayly drink
Of torments bitter Cup, that neuer seeme to shrink?
Alas, what sharper smart? what more afflicting paines?
What worser grie [...]e then that, which ceas-lesly sustaines
He that by some mischance, or els by martiall thunder,
Vnhappily hath had some maine bone broke in sunder?
What torment feeleth not the sore-sicke deepe-diseased?
One while with cruell fit of burning Feuer seised:
Another while assail'd with Colick and with Stone,
Or, with the cure-lesse Gout, whose rigour yeelds to none?
Or, thousand other griefes, whose bitter vexing strife
Disturbes continually the quiet of our life?
Yet notwithstanding this, in all this painfull anguish,
(Thogh the most part repyne, & plain, & mourn, & languish,
Murmuring against the Lord, with malcontented voice)
Some praise his clemencie, and in his rods reioyce.
How many such (deere Saints) haue fel tormenters seene,
To die betweene their hands, through moody tyrants teen?
So little daunted at their martyrdome and slaughter,
That in th' extremity they haue expressed laughter?
How many at the stake, nay, in the very flame,
Haue sung with cheerful voice, th' Almighties prais-ful name?
Yet were they all compact of artirs and of veines,
Of sinewes, bones, and flesh: and sensible of paines
(By nature at the least) as much as any other,
For being issued all from one selfe earthly Mother.
What makes thē then to find such extreme smart so sweet?
What makes them patiently those deadly pangs to meet?
No doubt it is the Lord, who first of nothing made-vs,
Who with his liberall hand of goodnes still doth lade-vs,
Some more and other lesse: and neuer ceaseth space
From making vs to feele the fauours of his grace.
Accurst are they (indeed) whom he doth all abandon
To doo their Lust for Law, and runne their life at randon:
Accurst who neuer taste the sharp-sweet hand of God:
Accurst (ah, most accurst) who neuer feele his rod.
[Page 796]Such men (by nature borne the bond-slaues vnto sinne)
Through selfe-corruption, end worse then they did beginne:
For, how they longer liue, the more by their amisse,
They draw them neerer Hell, and farther-off from blisse.
Such men, within themselues their euils spring containe:
There is no outward thing (as falsly they complaine)
Cause of their cureles ill: for good is euerything,
And good can (of it selfe) to no-man euill bring.
Now, if they could aright these earthly pleasures prize
According to their worth, they would not in such wise,
For lack, or losse of these (so vaine and transitorie)
Lament so bitterly, nor be so sadly-sorrie.
But, ouer-louing still these outward things vnstable,
To rest in true content an houre they are not able,
No, not a moments time, their feare doth so assaile-them:
And, if their feare fall true, that their Good-fortune faile-them,
Then swell their sullen hearts with sorrow till they burst,
And then (poor desperate soules) they deem thēselues accurst
And so (indeed) they are: but yet they erre in this,
In blaming other things, for their owne selfe-amisse,
Other indifferent things, that neither make, nor marre,
But to the good, be good; to th' euill, euill are.
Is't not great foolishnes, for any to complaine,
That somthing is not don, which doth him nought cōstrain?
Sith, if he vse the same, soule-health it hurteth not,
Or, if he doo not vse▪t, it helpeth not a iot.
But needs must we complain (say some) for we haue cause:
Then at your perill be't; for, that which chiefly drawes
You thereto, 'tis in truth your brutenesse in mis-deeming
Things euill, that are good (for sense-contrary seeming)
And, while that in the darke of this foule errors mist,
Your drowsie spirits doo droope, alas what maruell is't▪
If euill follow you, and if (iniurious) still
To others you impute your selfe-ingendred ill?
Happy are they to whom the Lord vouch safeth sight▪
To see the louely beames and life-infusing Light▪
[Page 797]Of his sweet sacred Truth; whereby we may perceiue
And iudge a-rightly, what to loue, and what to leaue.
Such men within their soules, their goods haue wholly plac't,
Such goods, as neuer fire can either burne or waste:
Nor any Theefe can steale, nor Pyrate make his praie,
Nor vsurie consume, nor Tyrant take away;
Nor times all-gnawing tooth can fret away, nor finish,
Nor any accident of sad mischance diminish.
For, it is built on God, a Rock that euer stands:
Not on the vanities of these inconstant sands,
Which are more mutable then wind, and more vnstable,
And day by day doo make so many miserable.
O, to what sweet content, to what high ioyes aspires
He that in God alone can limit his desires!
He that in him alone his hopes can wholly rest,
He that for onely end, waites for the wages blest,
Wherewith he promiseth for euer (sans respect
Of their selfe-meriting) to guerdon his Elect?
What is it can bereaue the wealth of such a man?
What is it that disturbe his perfect pleasures can?
What is it can supplant his honours and degrees?
Sith all his treasures, his delights, his dignities
Are all laid vp in Heauen, where it were all in vaine
For all the sonnes of earth to warre with might and maine.
No doubt (will some man say) each Christian doth aspire
(After their bodies death) to those deere treasures higher,
That are reserv'd in Heauen, whereof the sweet possession
Feares not the violence of all the worlds oppression:
But, while that heere below this fraile flesh-burthen ties-him,
But the bare hope he hath: which how can it suffice-him
Against the sharpe assaults of passions infinite,
Whose glad-sad crosse conflicts afflict him day and night?
Needs must I graunt (indeed) that that same perfit ioy
We cannot perfitly vpon this earth enioy:
But, that that Hope alone doth not sufficiently
Blesse his life where it liues (for my part) I denie.
[Page 798]Some doo not feare (we see) to spend their stock and store,
To vnder-take the taske of many trauailes sore,
To hazard limmes, and liues in seruice of some Lord;
Depending oft vpon his foole-fat-feeding word;
Or waiting els (perhaps) without all other hold,
Vntill it please himselfe his franknes to vnfold:
Not reaking all their paine, they are so inly pleas'd
With hoped benefit, whereof they are not seaz'd?
And, shall th' assured hope of euer-blisses then,
For which we haue the word, not of vaine mortall men,
That teach their tongues to lie; but of the highest God,
The God of truth, truth's selfe, where truth hath still abode:
Shall that (I say) not serue to settle our faint hearts,
Against (I will not say) like dangers and like smarts:
But 'gainst these petty griefes, that now and then do pain-vs,
No more like those then heauen neer earth that doth sustain-vs?
Ah, shall we then despise all trouble and vexation,
Supported by a prop of doubtfull expectation?
And, while for earthly things we can indure all this,
Shall we not do asmuch for an immortall blisse?
Indeed not of our selues: for, selfly nought we can,
But God (when pleaseth him) doth giue this strength to man,
Whereby he standeth stout; euen like a mightie rocke
Amid the mounting waues when Eole doth vnlocke
Sterne Austers stormie gate, making the waters wrastle
And rush with wrathfull rage against the sturdie castle,
While it (for all the force of their fell furie showne)
Is not so much as moou'd, and much lesse ouerthrowne.
So fareth such a man: for, if from high degree,
He sodainly do slide to liue contemnedly
With the vile vulgar sort: that cannot make him wauer:
For, well he is assur'd that Gods high holy fauour
Depends not on the pomp▪ nor vaine-proud state and port,
That for the grace of K [...]ngs adornes the courtly sort.
If he be kept in bands, thr [...]l to the tyrannies
And extreame-cruell lawes of ruthless enimies,
[Page 799]Both voide of helpe and hope, and of all likelihood
Of being euer freed from their hands thirsting-blood;
Inspight of them, he knowes that one day he shall die,
And then he shall inioy an endles Libertie.
If he be forc't to flie from his deere country-clime,
In exile to expire the remnant of his time,
He doth suppose the World to be a Country common,
From whence, no tyranny (till death) can banish no-man.
If that he must forsake his Parents and his Kin,
And those whose amitie he most delighteth in:
He knowes, that where he finds a man, he findes a Kins-man,
For, all mankind is come from oneselfe Father (sinnes-man).
If (being spoil'd of wealth, & wanton-pampering plentie)
He find vpon his boord two dishes scant of twenty,
And to his back one coate to keepe the cold away,
Whereas he had before, a new for euery day:
He learneth of Saint Paul, who bids vs be content
With food and furniture to this life competent:
Sith nothing (as saith Iob) into this world we brought,
Nor with vs when we die can we hence carrie ought.
If he be passing poore, and in exceeding glack
Of euery needfull thing for belly and for back,
He learneth of the Sonne, that God the Father heedeth
To giue to euery one (in time) the thing he needeth:
And that the Fowles of Heauen, and Cattel small and great,
Doo neither sowe nor reape, yet find they what to eate:
Yea, that the Lillies faire which growe among the grasse,
Doo neither spin nor worke, and yet their garments passe
(For colour and for cost, for Art and ornament)
The glorious Salmon's rich robes of Parlament.
If so, that he be sicke, or wounded; in the arme,
In body, back, or brest, or such like kind of harme:
If in extremitie of angry paine and anguish,
Enfeebled still by fits, he bed-rid lye and languish:
If all the miseries that euer martyr'd man,
At once on euery side afflict him all they can:
[Page 800]The more that he endures, the more his comforts growe,
Sith so his wretchednes he sooner comes to knowe;
That from worlds vanities he may himselfe aduance,
Which hold all those frō heauen, that still delight that dance:
He feares not those at all that with their vtmost might,
Hauing the body slaine, can do no farther spight:
But onely him that with ten thousand deaths can kill
The soule and body both; for euer if he will:
He knowes it is their lot that seek to please their God
To be afflicted still with persecutions rod:
So that, what euer crosse, how euer sharpe assaile-him,
His constant harts-content and comfort cannot faile-him.
But, he must die (say you): alas can that dismay?
Where is the Labourer that (hauing wrought all day
Amid the burning heat, with wearinesse oppresl)
Complaines that night is come when he shall goe to rest?
The Marchant that returnes from some far for raine Lands,
Escaping dreadfull rocks, and dangerous shelfs and sands,
When as he sees his ship her home-hauen enter safe,
Will he repine at God, and (as offended) chafe
For being brought too soon home to his natiue soil,
Free from all perils sad that threaten Saylours spoile?
He knowes, frō thousand deaths that this one death doth lose him,
That in heauens euer-ioyes, he euer may repose-him:
That he must bring his Bark into this Creeke, before
In th' euerlasting Land he can set foot a-shoare:
That he can neuer come to in-corruption,
Vnles that first his flesh doo feele corruption:
So that, all rapt with ioy, hauing his helpe so readie,
This ship-wrack he escapes, as on a rock most steddie.
But, more (perhaps) then death the kind of death dismaieth,
Which serues him for a bridge that him to heauen cōuaieth.
Whether he end his dayes by naturall disease:
Or in a boysterous storme do perish on the Seas:
Or, by the bloody hands of armed foes be slaine:
Or by mischance a stone fall downe, and dash his braine:
[Page 801]Or by the murdering ball of new-found earthly thunder,
By day, or els by night his bones be pasht a-sunder;
Or burned at a stake; or bitterly tormented
By cruell slaughter-men, in tortures new-inuented.
Alas, alas, for that, much-lesse then least he careth:
For, as a man falne downe into a Pit, he fareth;
Who, if he may be drawne vp from the noisom place,
Where Adders, Toades, and Snakes crawle ouer feet & face,
Respects not, whether that ye vse a silken skaine,
Hemp-rope, or chaine of gold, so he get vp againe:
Euen so, so he may come to his desired blisse,
The maner and the meanes to him in different is:
As for the differing paine (if any him doo torture)
If it be violent, he knowes it is the shorter:
But, be it n'er so long, long sure it cannot last
To vs, whose Post-like life is all so quickly past.
Now, such a man, in whom such firme contents do hyue,
Who can denie to be the happiest man aliue?
And who so impudent, that dareth now professe
That this worlds fained sweet (whose vnfain'd bitternesse
Brings (to this very life) full many torments fell,
And after dingeth downe to th' endles paine of Hell)
Should be prefer'd before these seeming-sowrs, that make vs
Taste many true-sweet sweets yer this dead life forsake vs,
And after, lift vs vp to that same blessed ioy,
That euermore shall last, exempt from all annoy.
So few there will be found (as I suppose) so deeming,
As many which (more fear'd with these ills falsly-seeming,
Than inlie falne-in-loue with Heauen-ioyes excellence)
Approouing this estate, flye't as the pestilence.
And yet, in this estate is found felicity
(As far foorth as it may, amid the vanity
Of this frail fading world, where ech thing hourly changes):
For, neuer from itselfe true happinesse estranges:
It neuer doth decay, it neuer doth decrease,
Inspight of angry Warre, it euer liues in peace:
[Page 802]Maugre poore want, it hath ten thousand kinds of wealth:
Amid infirmities it hath continuall health:
Inuiron'd round with woe, it doth reioyce and sing:
Depriv'd of dignities, it's greater than a King:
It sits secure and safe, free from hart-pining feares:
For, euer with it selfe it all deere treasures beares.
Not needing any aide of men-of-armes to watch them,
Nor fearing fraud, nor force of any foe to catch-them.
Whereas, we daily see so many men, whose mind
To transitorie trash of world-wealth is inclinde,
In their aboundance beg, and in their plenty poore
(For who hath had so much, that hath not wished more?)
No treasures can suffice the gulfe of their desire,
Yea, make them Emperours, yet will they more aspire:
Peace cannot pacifie the fell rebellious broyle
That in their troubled soule doth euer burne and boyle.
For euery short content of any false delight,
A thousand bitter throwes torment them day and night.
All their estate doth stand abroad in hands of Strangers:
Therfore, the more their wealth, the more their daily dāgers,
The more their miseries, because the more they need
Much strength and many men vnto their hoords to heed:
Dreading (with cause) least craft and cruelty, or either
Bereaue them of their blisse, and treasure both together.
Needs must we then confesse, that in aduersity
There is more happines then in prosperitie;
Sith that the minde of man so soone it selfe betrayes
Vnto the guilefull snares that worldly pleasure layes,
Which make vs at the last head-long to Hell to runne:
All which, aduersitie doth make vs safely shunne.
But here it may be askt, if pleasure, state, and store
Plunging vs in the Pit of vices more and more)
Be subiect so to make vs more and more accurst,
Must we esteeme that griefe (which sense esteemeth worst)
More fit to better vs, and bring vs vnto blisse,
Then those whose smarting sting is not so strong as this?
[Page 803]Sure, sith that in ourselues our cause originall
Of blisse and bale we hide, it matters not at all:
For, still the faithfull man one and the same remains,
Whether the grief be great or little he sustains:
Sith, how so e're it be, he takes occasion thence,
To seek in God alone, his comfort and defence.
But for because our soule (the while she doth consort
With this grosse fleshly lump) cannot, but in som sort
Suffer as sensible, yea, oftentimes so far,
That her best functions all, lesse apt and able are,
Than els at other times: I doo suppose the proof
Of one, then other ill, auailes more in behoof.
That this is so, we see, a sick-man oft to finde
Such ioyfull quietnes, and comfort in his minde;
That he esteems himselfe the best content a-liue:
But yet the sharpe disease (which doth his health depriue)
With-holdeth in som sort his senses and his wit,
That freely other-where he cannot vse them fit.
And so it fares with him, that (through-resolued well)
Endures the cruell strains of any torture fell.
Now, for the banisht man, the changing of his dwelling
Neuer disturbes his ioy. And he whose wealth excelling
Turns in a trice to want, by whatsoeuer chaunce,
His courage never shrinks, nor yet his countenaunce.
So that in their content, all foure are all a-like,
A-like reioycing all in their afflictions eke:
A-like contemning all worlds pompous vanities:
But, the two last haue odds in their extremities;
In that, without impeach, they may apply their minde
To many goodly things, wherein great ioy they finde
(I mean when each distresse offends a man alone,
Not when he is assail'd at once of euery one.)
Yet, perill's quickly past, danger endureth not,
Exile so easie growes that it is soon forgot,
The greatest losse that is we minde not many houres:
For, thousand accidents distract this soule of ours,
[Page 804]Which cannot in such sort the senses still restrain,
But that they will goe feed on many obiects vain;
Whereby at vn-awares she oftentimes, surpris'd,
Is ouer-reacht by those, whose rigour she despis'd:
And so, the pleasant taste she doth vntimely misse,
Wherewith affliction sweet doth season heer her blisse.
So that, som other State (wherein our soule, lesse fed
With sundry obiects vain, shall be more setled)
May rightly be preferd to these which make her stay,
And stumble often-times, vnto her owne decay.
And therefore, I maintain, close Prison to be best,
Of all afflictions that may a man molest.
Considering, all defects to other crosses common,
In this are seldom found, and almost, felt of no man.
For Prison is a place where God sequesters men,
Farre from the vile prospect of vanities terrene,
To make them thence with-drawe their harts, and to confesse
That in his grace alone consists their happiness.
It is a learned School, where God himself reads cleerly
True wisedoms perfect rules, to those he loueth deerly.
There, th' vnderstanding (free, amid the many chains,
That binde the body fast) findes out a thousand means,
To learn another day to be more apt and able
(According to our place) for vses seruiceable,
To profit publike-weal: for euermore we ought
(In seeking self-gain) see that common good be sought.
Knowledge is onely learn'd by long exercitation:
For which, whàt fitter mean then such a sequestration,
Where each-man vndisturb'd, through diligence may growe
According to the gifts that gracious Heav'ns bestowe:
One, in ability to rule a lawfull State,
The vertuous to aduance, and vicious to abate:
Another, from the Tombe to fetch Antiquity:
Another to discern true Truth from Sophistrie,
Another (by the feats of elder men at Armes)
To frame wise Stratagems for wofull wars alarmes,
[Page 805]For, Souldiers oftentimes may more experience get
By reading, then they can where Camp and Camp is met)
And (briefly to conclude, som, grauely to aduise,
Som, bold to execute, as each mans calling lies:
But most of all, to search within the sacred Writ,
The secret mysteries to mans saluation fit.
A world of vanities, that doo distract vs heer,
During our Libertie; in Durance, com not neer:
The wall that lets our leggs from walking out of door,
Bounding vs round about within a narrow floor,
Doth gard vs from the gall which Sathan (spring of spight)
Mingles among the sweet of this vain worlds delight.
If he be happier man that liueth free from foes,
Then he whom angry troops of enemies in close:
Much more the Prisoner then of his high blisse may boast,
For being so farre off from such a hugie hoast
Of hatefull foes so fierce in malice and in might,
Himself so faint and weak, and so vnfit to fight:
For he, and we (God wot) in steed of standing to-it
(How-euer in a vein, we vaunt that we will do-it)
When't commeth to the brunt we cannot brook the field,
But either flie like Hares, or els like cowards yeeld.
The sundry obiects fond, which make vs soon forget
Each other chastisement, in this doo neuer let.
For turn we where we list, and look which way we will,
At all times to our sight one thing is offred still:
Whether on pauement, roof, or wall, we cast our eye,
Alwaies of our estate an Image we descry,
And so it also fares with our newes-greedy ear,
One very sound resounds about vs euery where:
Where-euer harken we, we hear of nought but foes,
Our Keepers commonly are not too-kinde (God knowes)
By the least noise that is, continually they tell
In what estate we stand, and in what house we dwell.
So that, incessantly our harts are lift on high:
Som-times to prayse the Lord for his benignity,
[Page 806]Who doth not punish vs after our foule offence,
Though by a thousand sinnes we dayly him incense:
Som-times to magnifie his admirable might,
Which hath our feeble harts with such great force be light,
That we, in steed of grief, or grudging at the pains
Of sharpest chastisements, whereof the world complains,
Leauing this loathed Earth, we mount the bighest place,
Where (through true faith) we taste his honey-sweeter grace:
Som-times to giue him thanks for all the wealth exceeding,
Which from his liberall hand we haue to help our needing:
And to be short, sans cease to meditate on all
The countles benefits that from his goodnes fall,
Not suffering any houre to passe away for nought
Without exalting him, in deed, or word, or thought.
Yet, doth the world esteem this, a most hard estate,
And him that feels the same, it counts vn fortunate:
But I would gladly see som other state, wherein
(With such commodity) so much content is seen;
Wherein lesse hinderance, and lesse incomberance lies,
To make men misse the path vnto perfections prise.
Sure sir (will som man say) you set a good face on-it,
One might at length conuert, commenting so vpon-it,
The cruell'st Prison-house into a Mansion fair,
Where 'twere not hard to liue content, and void of care:
You take your Prisoner for a practiue man of Art,
But such as those God knowes you finde the fewest part:
You fain him to be friend to solitude and quiet,
But the most part are prone to reuell and to riot:
One must be free from noyse that means to study well:
Whereof, who can be sure in such a servile Hell?
Besides, he must haue Books, and Paper, Pen, and Inke,
All which in Prisoners hands are seldom left I think;
So that, you do not fain your gail so good and gainfull,
As to finde out the same is difficult and painfull.
I answere in a word (if any so shall wrangle)
I doo not bound all blisse within so straight an Angle:
[Page 807]I say, great happines and hart-reviuing ioy
Followes th' afflicted sort in euery sharp annoy:
But that there is no crosse that doth so much [...]uail,
To make vs fit to help our neighbour, as the gail,
Wherein the God of grace at his good pleasure giues
Means to effect the same, vnto the least that liues.
But be it so, in bands, that nothing learn we can,
'Tis to be learn'd inough, to be an honestman:
And this is th' only School, wherin th' Arch-maisterteacheth,
Himself, by secret means, rules that the rudest reacheth.
Th' aduise of such a one more profit doth impart,
Then of the wicked sort with all their curious Art.
Concerning solitude, although that commonly
Our nature be inclin'd vnto the contrary:
There, the assistant grace of God we chiefly finde,
Who changing of our place doth also change our minde.
For being free from noyse, and for obtaining tools
To help our knowledge with, as in all other Shools:
God euer cares for those that fear his name for loue:
And, if that any such, such inconvenience proue,
If any money need, or els (through ample distance)
Be destitute of friends, he gets them (for assistance)
The fauour of their foes, whose harts he handles so
(How euer they intend his childrens ouerthrowe)
That his, of what they need haue euermore inough,
According as he knowes to be to their behoof.
Now say that we consent (say som) that this is true:
But what, if somwhat worse then all this worst ensue?
What, if he be enforc't his Countrey to forsake?
What, if continuall fits his sickly body shake?
What, if he lose at once his wealth and reputation?
Repleat on euery side with euery sharp vexation?
Can he still keep his ioy, and can he still retain
Such means to profit still, for all his grief and pain?
Concerning his content, it's alwayes all a-like,
Whether that euery grief particularly strike,
[Page 808]Or, whether all at once he feel their vt most anger:
And if he be surpris'd with so extream a languor
That (as I sayd before) the spirit it in force
(Through suffering of the smart that doth afflict the corps)
To leaue his Offices so that he cannot write
Nor read, nor meditate, nor study, nor indight;
It is so quickly past, that in comparison,
Regarding so great good, 'tis not to think vpon.
For by a mighty grief, our life is quickly ended,
Or els, by remedy itself is soon amended:
And, if it be but mean, then is it born the better,
And so vnto the soule it is not any letter.
Besides, we must conceiue, our spirit (as opprest
With fainting wearines) somtimes desireth rest,
To gather strength again, during which needfull pawse
We are not to be blam'd sith need the same doth cause:
So, that the time that's lost while such sharp pangs do pain,
May be suppos'd a time of taking breath again.
In prison (to conclude) a man at once may t [...]e
All manner of extreams of earthly misery:
In which respect (perhaps) the worsesom deem of it,
Being (as 'twere) the Butt that all men striue to hit;
But, I esteem the same the perfecter for that:
For, if one crosse alone can make vs eleuate
Our groueling earth-desires from cogitations base,
To haue recourse to God, and to implore his grace;
Seeking in him alone our perfect ioy and blisse:
Much more shall many griefs at once, accomplish this.
For many can doo more then one (without respect)
And still, the greater cause, the greater the effect.
Indeed (say other-som) these reasons haue som reason:
But, then whence comes it, that so many men in Prison
With hundred thousand pains, pincht and oppressed sore;
In steed of bettering there, wax worser then before:
In steed of sweet content, doo still complain and crie;
In steed of learning more, lose former industry?
[Page 809]Though (in apparance great) your sayings seem but iust,
Yet plain experience (sure) we think is best to trust.
That hidden vertue [...]are, that so great good atchiues,
Lies in the Prisoners hart, not in his heauy Gyues;
The good growe better there, the bad become the wurse:
For, by their sinne they turn Gods blessing into curse.
And that's the cause the most are mal-content and sad:
Sith euer more the good are fewer then the bad.
But, wherefore doth not God to all vouchsafe this grace?
Proud earth-worms, pawse we there: let's fear before his face,
Admiring humbly all his holy Iudgements high,
Exceeding all too far our weak capacitie.
The Potters vessell vile, doth vs our lesson showe,
Which argues not with him why he hath made it so:
Much less may we contend, but rather rest content
With that which God hath giuen. He is omnipotent,
All gracious, and all good, most iust, and perfit wise:
On som, he poures a Sea of his benignities,
On som, a shallow Brook, on other som, a Flood:
Giuing to som, a small; to som, a greater Good:
As, from eternity hath pleas'd th' eternall Spirit
To loue men more or lesse, without respect of merit.
For my part, should I liue ten Nesto [...]s yeers to passe,
Had I a hundred tongues more smooth then Tully's was,
Had I a voice of steel, and had I brazen sides,
And learning mor [...] then all the Helyconian guides;
Yet were I all too-weak to tell the many graces
That in ten thousand sorts, and in ten thousand places,
Ten hundred thousand times he hath vouchsafed me
(Not for my merits sake, but for his mercy free):
But yet, 'mong all the goods that of his liberall bounty
I haue receiv'd so oft, none to compare accoumpt-I
With this close prisonment, wherein he doth with-drawe-me
Far from the wanton world, and to himself doth draw-me.
I posted on apace to ruin and perdition,
When by this sharp-sweet Pil, my cunning kinde Physition
[Page 810]Did purge (maugre my will) the poysony humor fell
Where with my sin-sick hartal [...]oady gan to sivell.
I look [...] for nothing lesse then fo [...] these miseries
And pains that I haue provid: the worlds vain vanities
Had so seduç'tany soule with baits of sugred bane,
That it was death to me, from pleasure to be tane:
But (crossing my request) God (for my profit) gaue
Me quite the contrary to that which I did craue
So that, my body barring from a freedom small,
He set my soule at large, which vnto sinne was thrall.
Wounding with musket-shot my feeble arme, he cur'd
The festring sores of sinne, the which my soule endur'd:
Tripping me from the top of som mean dignity,
Which drew me vpto climbe the Mount of vanity,
He rais'd me from the depth of vices darksom Cell,
The which incessantly did ding me down to Hell:
Easing me (to conclude) of all the grief and care,
Wherewith these false delights forever sauced are,
He made me finde and feel (amid my most annoyes)
A thousand true contents, and thousand perfect ioyes.
But som (perhaps) amaz'd, wil muse what kinde of pleasure
Here I can take, and how I passe my time and leasure:
For, in foule idlenes to spend so large a time,
It cannot be denied to be a grieuous crime.
First, in the morning, when the spirit is fresh and fit,
I suck the honey sweet from foorth the sacred VVrit,
Wherein (by faith) we taste that true celestiall bread,
Whence our immortall soules are euer onely [...]ed:
Then, search I out the sawes of other sage Diuines
(The best here to be had) among whose humainlines,
Supported by the grace of Gods especiall power,
I leaue the thorn behinde, and pluck the healthsom flower.
Somtimes, I doo admire, in books of Heathen men,
Graue-sayings sauoring more a sacred Christian pen,
Than many of our age, whose bold vnlearned pride
Thinking to honour God, hath err'd on euery side:
[Page 811]Sometimes when I obserue in euery ancient storie,
Such vertues presidents, trim patterns of true glory;
I wofully bewaile our wretched wicked dayes,
Where vertue is despis'd, and vice hath all the praise.
Oft I lament to see so many noble Wits
(Neglecting Gods high praise, that best their learning fits)
To sing of nought but lyes, and loues, and wanton Theames,
False sooth-sin flatteries, and idle Fairie dreames.
Then, turning towards those, that fill'd with holier flame,
For onely obiect choose th' Eternalls sacred name:
These chiefly I admire, whose honourable browes
Disdain the fained crowne of fading Laurel boughes:
Then full-gorg'd with the sweets of such a dainty feast
(Prickt forward with desire to imitate the best)
Oft-times I exercise this Art-les Muse of mine
To sing in holy Verse some argument diuine.
One while to praise my God for all receiued good:
Another while to beg, that in his deere Sons blood
My black sinnes he will wash, and that he will not waigh
At his high Iustice beame, how I haue gone a-stray.
Sometimes, these wretched times to pittie and deplore,
Wherein the wicked ones do flourish more and more.
Sometime to waile the State of sad distressed Sion
Imploring to her aide the Tribe of Iudah's Lion.
If any other Theame at any time I take,
Yet neuer doth my Verse the setled bounds forsake
That Veritie prescribes, nor now no more disguise
The vgly face of sinne with maske of painted lies.
And though that (heeretofore) I also in my time
Haue writ Loues vanities, in loose and wanton r [...]me:
'Twas as a whet-stone that, whereon I whet my stile,
Yer it were ably-apt ought grauer to compile:
Yet I repent thereof: for, we must neuer tend
To bring by euill meanes a good intent to end.
When as my wearie spirits some relaxation aske,
To recreate the same, I take some other taske:
[Page 812]One while vpon the Lute, my nimbleioints I plie,
Then on the Virginalls: to whose sweet harmonie
Marrying my simple voice, in solemne Tunes I sing
Some Psalme or holy Song, vnto the heauenly King▪
So that, the idlest houre of all the time that flies
So fast, is neuer free from some good exercise:
Where in I ioy as much, as euer I haue done,
In the most choise delights found vnderneath the Sun.
But, you can neuer walke, nor goe to take the aire,
Nor once looke out of doore, be weather ne're so faire:
But there in solitude you lead your life alone,
Bard from the fellowship of (almost) euery one:
Which doubtles (at the last) must grieue you needs I thinke.
A man that neuer thirsts hath neuer need of drinke:
So, though I be bereft these other things you speake of,
I misse nor minde them not, as things I neuer reake of.
For, I haue school'd my heart since my captiuitie,
To wish for nothing els, but what is graunted me:
And, what is graunted me, contents me passing well.
In each condition doth some contentment dwell:
But men of differing states haue difference in delights,
What pleaseth common eyes, that irketh Princes sights,
What rashlings do delight, that sober men despise,
What fooles take pleasure in, doth but offend the wise,
What prosperous people loath, afflicted folke will loue,
And what the free abhorr, that prisoners will approue:
But all haue equally indifferent power to make
Them equally content, that can them rightly take:
For, whoso presently himselfe can rightly beare,
Hath neither passed ill, nor future ill to feare:
Th' one, which is now no more, ought now no more affray­vs.
Th' other, which is not yet, as little can dismay-vs.
For, what no essence hath, that also hath no might,
And that which hath no power, can do a man no spight:
Besides, sith that our life is but a pilgrimage
Through which we dayly passe to th' heauenly heritage:
[Page 813]Although it seeme to thee that these my bands do let me,
Yet haste I to the goale the which my God hath set me,
As fast as thou that runst thy selfe so out of breath
In poasting night and day, by dales and hills and heath.
If thou haue open fields, and I be prisoner;
T'mporteth me no more, then to the mariner
Whether he go to sea shipt in some spacious arke,
Or els (at lesser scope) aboord some lesser barke.
Nay, heer the least is best, sith this vast Ocean wide
Whereon we daily saile, a thousand rocks doth hide,
Gainst which the greater ships are cast-away full oft;
While small boats (for the most) float ouer, safe, aloft.
Then may I well conclude with reason and assurance
That there's no better state then to be kept in durance.
A sweeter kind of life I neuer prou'd then there:
Nor was I euer toucht with lesser griefe and c [...]re:
If that I care at all, it is for others cause,
And for the miseries this times corruption drawes.
But, being well a [...]ur'd that nothing heere [...]deth
Against Gods ordinance and will that all things guideth:
And knowing him to be good, iust, and most of might,
I gladly yeeld myselfe to th' order he hath [...]ight.
For he it is, that now makes me accept so [...]ll
And like of this estate which others hate as hell:
He'tis, that heeretofore vouchsaf't me like reliefe,
When as I was opprest with a more grieuous griefe:
He'tis from whom I hope in time to-come no lesse,
Although a hundred fold were doubled my distresse.
Yea, he it is that makes me profit euery day,
And also so content in this estate to stay,
That of my liberty I am not now so faine
To think by liberty a happier life to gaine:
For, I were well content no more from hence to go,
If I might profit most my friends and countrie so.
Now here I humbly pray (expecting such an end)
The Lord still towards me his fauour to extend,
[Page 814]And that he will vouchs [...]e still to allot like grace,
To all that for like cause are handled in like case.
FINIS.

OF THE WORKE, AVTHOR, AND TRANSLATOR.

LOheer, a MONVMENT admir'd of all
That weigh the compass, weight, and height of It;
O'retopping E [...]uie's clowds, and ever shall,
Sith built by deepest Art, and highest Wit.
The BAS [...] that bears it, is the WORD that stands
True GROVND of highest glory, truth, and grace:
The BVILDING rear'd by two rare Heads and Hands
(Diuinely holp) to glorifie that BASE.
Heer French and English, ioyn in friendly fight
(On even Ground) to proue their vtmost pow'r;
Who shew such equall Skill, and equall Might,
That hard it is to say who's Conquerour.
But, English bound to foot it like the French,
And offer nought, but what shall like her foe,
It is as glorious seld to take a Wrench,
As, being free, to giue an Overthrowe.
If French to English were so strictly bound,
It would but passing lamely striue with it;
And soon be forc' [...] to lose both grace and ground,
Although they straue with equall Skill and Wit.
Besides, all Prose is easier to translate
Than Uerse; and easier lowe, than lofty Lines:
Then, these LINES, reaching to the top of STATE,
Are hard'st of all; yet none of all declines.
O fair Translation then, with smoothed face,
Go forth t'allure TIMES Turns to turn Thee o're:
So shall they in thy folds vnfold thy grace;
And, grace thee with Fames glorie, more and more.
If
O [...]id. Meta­mor.
HE, that churn'd the cream of Poetry,
To honied Butter, that the Muses feeds,
Divined truely, it should never die;
Then, what shall This, that far the same exceeds?
He labour'd Lines, which though they doe endure
All turns of Time, yet was their Stuf profane:
But, These are drawne of STVF more heavenly-pure,
That most shall shine; when Those are in the wane.
He, though his Braines (profanely) were diuine,
And glorious Monuments of Art compos'd,
Was yet exil'd for many a looser Line,
That made them wantons, chastly else dispos'd:
But, Thou ( cleer BARTAS, his dear SYLVESTER,
Whose Lines do lead to VERTVES only gain,
And with sweet Poesies strew'st the way to Her)
How should the World remunerate thy pain?
And, if from Hearts Aboundance Tongues do speak;
And what we most affect, we most do minde:
It argues, thou this Argument didst seek;
Sith, in thy Soule before, thou didst it finde.
So, BARTAS was but Mid-wife to thy Muse,
With greater ease to vtter her Conceits;
For whose deare birth, thou didst all ease refuse,
Worlds-weal, and (being a Marchant) thy Receits.
This pain, so pleas'd thy labouring Thoughts, that thou▪
Forsook'st the Sea, and took'st thee to the Soil;
Where (from thy royall Trade) thou fell'st to Plow▪
Arts furrows with thy Pen, that yeeld but toyl.
This stole thee from thy self, thy self to finde
In sacred Raptures on the Muses Hill:
And, went'st out of thy Body with thy Minde,
More freely so, to vse thy Wit and Will.
And (O!) how hapless had we Bri [...]tans been,
(Sith heer is stor'd such sweet Soule- rauishments)
Hadst thou not made them to vs clearly seen:
Who giue thee for it praising- Discontents.
If so great Art and Grace, finde nought but Fame
Of famous Men for grace; the Press shall be
Prest but for Vices Seruice (Sourse of Shame).
So, Times to come, in Print our shame shall see.
But O▪ bee't farre from this so famous Isle
For Armes and Learning, either to neglect;
Sit it doth grace and glory quite exile;
And is the cause of many a bad effect.
O terren Gods, as ye to State aspire
Lift Learning vp with you; especially
If matcht with Wisedom, and divine desire:
So shall yetwice be like the DEITY!
And, weigh what powr the PENS of such possess
(Of such; for others will but gild your Crimes)
Their PENS eternize can your worthiness,
And make ye glorious past succeeding Times.
But you do iustly to neglect and scorn
The cursed crue, that do the Muse abuse:
For, they your praises to dispraises turn;
As Vice, in praysing VERTVES grace, doth vse.
Their wine-driuen Braines, inuolv'd in Follies Cloud,
Fly here, and there, (and where not?) with a trice;
And, though both Beggars base, yet passing proude;
Constant in nothing but in constant Vice.
Making loose lines (forsooth) their Scala Coeli;
A Tauerne for a Temple to adore
Their only god, their guts, their beastly Belly;
To whom they offer all their slender Store.
The Laudes of such, are odious like their Lives)
They ( Pitch) pollute what-ere they do but touch;
Whose glory to the fowlest shame arrives:
Then, well you fence your fame to keep off such▪
But they whose liues, and lauds, and lines are SOVRCE
Of Morall vertue, running by each stone
(Men High, and Hard; that let them in their Course)
To Seas of glory, like cleere Helicon;
O! these ye should support, and still receiue
Into the Ocean of your bound-less love:
For, these (like truest Friends) will take, and give
No more but what true Vertue shall approve.
If these should pine away, through your neglect,
Your memories shall dy, or live with shame;
Sith such a Muse is the chief Architect,
To reare, from Earth to Heav'n, a lasting NAME.
Achilles fame, with him, had been interr'd,
Had HOMER'S lines notty'd it to the Starrs;
And, of Aeneas we had never heard,
Had Virgils STRAINES not been his Trumpetters.
One of the NINE had been our Warwick's GVY,
(The NINE, whose worth all Times so much commend;
And so disrankt great BVLLENS GODFEREY)
Had he but had a TASSO for his friend.
LAVRA had nere so greenly growen above
Hir Peeres, as now she doth, to after-times,
Had she not had a PETRARCH to hir Love;
Which made hir mount, with N [...]TCTAR dropping Rimes.
No, no: ye cannot but out-liue your Eame,
If yev phold not FAME'S best Notaries:
If these yescorn, your glory is but game;
For, when ye dye, in game your glory dies.
And, though blest PHACE hath turnd our Spears, to Spades,
Let it not turn our Pens to Ploughes, or worse;
By Learning som should live, as som by Trades,
In blessed STATES, that would incur no curse.
Where Vertue is not rais'd, and Vice supprest,
There all to Vice will run; and so to wrack:
For, then the worst shall Lord it ore the best;
And where that is, all goes to vtter sack.
Reward and Punishment (like Armes of Steel)
Do still vphold each KING vpholding STATE:
For, neither wants, but it begins to reel;
But, both imploy'd, stands sure in spight of Hate.
Then may thy HOPES (wingd by thy virtuous Muse,
Dear Syluester) expect some cherishment,
In this blest State, that still those Armes will vse,
To staie her Grace, and grace her Gouernment:
But, if thy paines acquire but pure renowne,
Thou art Christ's Image; crost, for Glories crown.
‘Beneficium dando accipit, qui digno dedit.’
The vnfained louer of thine Art, honesty, and vertue, IOHN DAVIES of Hereford.
FINIS.

A briefe Index, explayning most of the hardest words scattered through this whole Worke, for ease of such as are least ex­ercised in these kinde of readings.

A
  • A Bysse a gulfe or bottom­les pit.
  • Abderian & Abderite, Demo­critus, the laughing Philo­sopher of Abdera, a citie in Thracia.
  • Aben-Roes, a learned Philoso­pher of Corduba, sprung from Arabian parents.
  • Abidus, Leanders Towne.
  • Academian Shades, Platos Schoole.
  • Aceberon, a riuer in Hell.
  • Acconite, Libbards (or Wolfes) bane.
  • Achilles, the most valiant cap­tain of the Myrmidons.
  • Adonis, a most beautiful yong man, beloued of Venus.
  • Adrian, Sea, the gulfe of Uenice.
  • Adriatike Sea, the gulfe of Uenice.
  • Aeson, the father of Iaso made young againe by the skill of Medea.
  • Aeth [...]riall, heauenly.
  • Aes [...]ulapius, an excellent Phy­sician, father of Apollo.
  • Africa, the South-quarter of the World.
  • Aiax Shield, a prouerb, for asure defence.
  • Aiguescald, a bath in Gasconie.
  • Alarbies, and Alarbians, wilde & vpland Arabian theeues.
  • Albion, England, the Ile of great Brittaine.
  • Alcest [...], the most chaste and louing wife of admetus, that gaue her owne life to saue her husbands.
  • Alcides, Hercules: Alcides spires Hercules Pillers: Al­cides griefe, the falling Sick­nes.
  • Alcmaena, the mother of Her­cules.
  • Alcaron, the Turks Law, and Religion.
  • Aleband, a Cittie in Caria, of olde famous for the best Bowe-strings.
  • Alecto, looke Furies.
  • Alexanders Altars, were at the [Page] foot of the Ryphean Moun­taines.
  • Almic [...]th [...]rats, and Almada­rats, Arabian names of Cir­cles which are imagined to passe through euerie degree of the Meridian, Paralel to the Horizon vp to the Ze­nith.
  • Alhidade, a Rule on the backe of the Astrelabe to measure heights, breadths & depths.
  • Amafrosse, gutta serena a dis­ease in the sinnewes of the Sight.
  • Amalthean Horne, plenty of all things.
  • Amblygone, a flat Triangle.
  • Ambrosia, the Gods meate.
  • American, the French disease brought first from the In­dies to Naples, from thence to France, &c.
  • Amia, a fish like a Tunny, found in the Seaneere Con­stantinople.
  • Amphitrite, the Sea.
  • Amphisbaena, a Serpenthauing a head at both ends.
  • Amphion, the author of Har­monie and builder of Thae­bes.
  • Amyclean Harpe, Arion, the Lesbian Harper.
  • Amyot, a learned French-man, translator of Plutarke, and other Greek Authors.
  • Ancossa, a Bath in Gasconie:
  • Andromeda, the Wife of Perse­ [...]is, (with her husband, Fa­ther and Mother) turned in­to a Starre.
  • Androdus, a Romane slaue gratefully requited of a Li­on.
  • Anorexia a queasinesse of sto­mach.
  • Antheus, Antenors sonne, be­loued and vnwillingly slain by Paris.
  • M. Anthonie, competitor with Octauius and Lepidus for the Roman Empire.
  • Antiperistasis, incounter of contraries, or contrarie-cir­cumstance.
  • Antipodes, those people that dwell directly vndervs.
  • Antartike, Southerne.
  • Aonian band, the Muses.
  • Apelles, an excellent Painter.
  • Apiumrisus, a kinde of Crow­foote that killes men with laughing.
  • Appi [...]n way, one of the broa­dest wayes in Rome.
  • Apollo, the Sunne▪ the God of Musicke and Physicke.
  • Apoplexie, a kinde of dead pal­sie.
  • Apog [...], the point farthest from the Center of the earth.
  • [Page] Arabians, people of Asia, inha­biting between Iud [...]a & E­gypt, rich in aromatical spi­ces and sweete Odors.
  • Arcadian scoute, Mercurie.
  • Arcenal, an Armorie or store­house.
  • Archelaus, a king much prai­sed by Plutarch and others for wisedom & temperance, & for delight in husbandry.
  • Archimedes a famous Mathe­matician of Syracusa.
  • Architas, a noble Philosopher of Tarentum.
  • Arion, a famous Harper and ly­rike poet, born at Methym­na in the Ile of Lesbos.
  • Arne, a Riuer in Italie.
  • Arcenik, or pine▪ suppos'd okar
  • Artemisia, Queene of Caria, wife of Mausolus.
  • Artemisiā stem, mugg-woorte.
  • Armorik, Brittaine in France.
  • Armados, Spanish Armies, or great shippes of Warre.
  • Artik▪ Northrē, or of the north
  • Aristotle, the most famous Phi­losopher of Stagyra.
  • Asia, a third part of the world, in former times most fa­mous for Learning & Reli­gion; but now for the most part miserably yoaked vn­der the Turkes tyranny.
  • Asylum, a refuge or defence.
  • Assur, one of the Sone of S [...]: also the countrie of Assyria.
  • Astaroth, an Idol of the Phili­stines.
  • Astraea, Iustice.
  • Astrelabe, an instrument to ga­ther the motion of the Sta [...].
  • Ast [...]m [...], short windednesse.
  • Attaius, a wealthy King of Pergamus, delighted in the country life.
  • Atlantik Sea, is the Mediter­ranean, or a part thereof.
  • Atlas, a King skilfull in Astro­nomy, therefore fained to beare vp Heauen, it is also a mountaine in Barbary.
  • Athenian Sage, Socrates.
  • Attick Muse, Xenophon.
  • Atheists, those that acknow­ledge no God, infidels.
  • Aurora, the morning.
  • Auster, the South winde.
  • Auernus, Hell.
  • Auicen, a learned Philosopher & Physician, borne at Seuil, of Arabian stock.
  • Aziminths, great Circles mee­ting in the Zenith, or verti­call Point.
  • Anian, a Streight, or narrow Sea betweene Asia and A­merica, as yet little discoue­red.
  • Aglaia, looke Graces.
  • A [...]tna, a burning Mountaine in Sicilia.
  • [Page] Asphalti [...], Mare mortnū. The stinking lake, where Sodō & her execrable sisters stood.
  • Annals, Histories from yeeree to yeere.
  • Arch. Colonel, vsurped for the Generall, or chiefe Captaine of the Hoast.
  • Anathem, execration, curse, ex­communication.
  • Anatomie, the incision or cut­ting vp of the body of Man or Beast as Surgeons doo, to see the parts.
  • Amphitryonide, Hercules, be­gottē by Iupiter on Alcmae­na, the wife of Amphitryo.
  • Attick, a Prouince of Greece; wherein stood the Cittie of Athens.
  • Atropos, look Parcaes.
  • Alecto, look Furies.
  • Assabine, Iupiter with the Assy­rians.
  • Aglaia, look Graces.
  • Architraue, the crown or chap ter of a Piller: also a princi­pall beam in any Building.
  • Arabian bird, the Phoenix.
  • Argolian showers, Iupiters golden Raine in the lap of Danae daughter of Acrisius, King of Argiues, Argolikes, or Argolians.
  • Aegisthus, look Clytemnestra.
  • Aspiks, venemous little serpēts
  • Anchyses Pheere, is Venus on whom he begat Aenea [...] ▪
  • Abramide, of the race of A­braham.
B
  • Baltik Ocean, the Danish sea.
  • Baignere, a Bath in Gasconye.
  • Bandans, the Ilanders of the Moluques, rich in excellent [...]s.
  • Bacchanalian Frowes, Women­priests of Bacchus, the God of Cups.
  • Bardes, ancient Poets & Sages.
  • Barege, a Bath in Gasconie.
  • Barr-Geese and Barnacles, a kinde of foules that grow of rotten Trees & brokē ships.
  • Bek, a Phrygian word, signify­ing bread.
  • Belgian, of the Nether-lands.
  • Belgrad, a Town in Hungary, taken by the Turke.
  • Bellona, Goddesse of warre.
  • Belus Sonne, Ninus, first King of Assyria, supposed to be in­uenter of Nauigation.
  • Bitumen, a kinde of oylie, sli­mie, gummie, or clammy Clay.
  • Bizantium, Constantinople.
  • Brontes, one of Vulcās Forge­men.
  • Briareus, a Giāt with 100▪ hands
  • Brutus heires, Englishmen, [Page] Brittans.
  • Bacco [...]i, Poisonie confections, Italian figg [...].
  • Bon-iours, Good morrowes▪
  • Bonarets, a kinde of Beast­plantes.
  • Boo [...]es, a little star in the North Pole neere to Vrsaminor, v­sed for the North.
  • Boreas, the North-winde.
  • Bosphores, 2▪ Straicts, so called of an Oxes wading ouer: the one surnamed Thracian, the other Cimmerian.
  • Bo [...]i [...], a hungry, or greedie disease in a cold stomach.
  • Bucephalus, the couragious Horse of Alexāder the great▪
  • Busiris, a most cruell Tyrant of Egypt which vsed to sacrifice strangers [...]o Iupiter▪
  • Butric, a learned and eloquent German (of late daies) Coun­sailer to Oassimirus.
  • Bombards, great Ordinance.
  • Bubastik, that is Egyptian.
  • Bethel, a Mountaine in the South Confines of Israell where Ieroboham set vppe one of his Calues.
  • Birdene, a Wildernesse in the West of Egypt.
  • Babels, indeede Bables, idle Monuments of Pompe and Plenty.
  • Belzebut, the God of Accaron the prince of Diuels.
  • Brachmans, Indian Philoso­phers, Moderne writers call them Bramines.
  • Bigaurian Hills, part of the Py­rene Mountaines betweene Fraunce and Spaine.
C
  • CAbalistik, mysticall Tradi­tions among the Iewes Rabbins.
  • Caesars, Emperours, so called from C. Iulius Caesar the first Emperour.
  • Cadmus, sonne of Agenor, who slew a serpent & pulling out his teeth sowed them in the ground, whereof instantly there sprung-vp ready ar­med men.
  • Cairo, a Cittie in the midst of Aegypt, of olde called Babylon, and thought one of the greatest in the world.
  • Calamarie, a fish that may be well called the Sea-Clarke, being furnished with neces­saries for a scribe.
  • Calliorates, an excellent Car­uer, especially in smal works.
  • Calpe, a Mountaine within the Sraights of Gibaltar▪ iust op­posit to Abila: these two [Page] are called the Pillars of Her­cule [...].
  • Canni [...]ls, people in the South part of America that [...]ate mans-flesh.
  • Candia, an Iland in the Medi­terranean Sea, subiect to the Venetians.
  • Cana, a Town in Galile, where Christ wrought his first mi­racle; at a mariage.
  • Cantharus, a fish of admirable chastity.
  • Capharea [...] Rock, a most dan­gerous and rockie Coast of Euboea, now called Ne­gropont.
  • Carpese, a venemous plant, whose Iuice causeth deepe sleepe, and so strangleth the Patient.
  • Carinthia, a Dutchie belong­ing to the Dukes of Austria.
  • Carraques, great Spanish Ves­s [...]le.
  • Cal [...]gula, a most wanton and wicked Emperour of Rome.
  • Cassagale, the Cittie Quinzay, in the East Indies.
  • Cassi [...]peia, Mother of Andro­meda.
  • Castalian Well, springes, Fount, Springs at the foote of Parnassus sacred to the Muses.
  • Cathay, a large Country in East Asia fronting on the Sea, now called Cambalu.
  • Catharact, a violent fall of any Water, causing deaf [...]nes with the noyse, also a disease in the Eye distilling a tough humour like gelly.
  • Catiline, a factlous Citizen of Rome, famous for his dan­gerous conspirecie against his Country.
  • Cato, a reuerent and renow­ned Romane both for his temperate life, and resolute death.
  • Caudrets, a Bath in Gascony.
  • Caucasus, a verie high Moun­taine that diuides Scythia from India.
  • Ceres, Goddesse of Haruest, in­uentresse of Tillage and of the vse of Corne, somtimes vsed for the earth.
  • Cephalus, the husband of P [...]o­cris, the minion of Auro­ra.
  • Centaures, half men, half hor­ses, hegotten by Ixion on a Clowd.
  • C [...]aste [...], a Serpent of sundry colours, with hornes like a Ramme.
  • Cerathus, a Riuer in Candi [...] from whence comes the best Mal [...]isi [...].
  • [Page] Cerbas, a Tree in the Ind [...]es, of 15 fadome about.
  • Cerberus, the three-headed dogge of Hell, the Porter there.
  • Celtike, a part of France.
  • Chaos, a confused heape, the matter of the World before it receiued forme.
  • Chaldea, the Country wherein Babylon stood: where were great Astronomers, Magici­ans, and Sooth-sayers.
  • Charles Martel, K. of France, ouerthrewe 400000. Turks neere vnto Tours.
  • Chermez, the grain wherewith Skarlat and Crimson are dy­ed.
  • Chymeras, strange Fancies, monstrous Imaginations, Castles in the Aire.
  • Cincinnatus, one called frō the Plough (all dustie & almost naked) to the Romane Di­ctatorship.
  • Cimmerians, People far North, that are thought neuer to see the Sun.
  • Cittadel, a Castle built, with a small Garrison to keepe a great Towne in awe.
  • Cirques, round Lists to behold publike Races.
  • Chus, Aethyopia.
  • Clio, one of the Muses, re [...]iting the glorious Acts of Wor thinesse.
  • Cli [...]us, one of Alexāders grea­test Minions, whome yet in his drunkennesse he slewe.
  • Cocos, an admirable Nutte brought from the Indies.
  • Cocytus, a River in hell.
  • Coichos, Medeas countrie from whence Iason fetcht the Gol­den Fleece.
  • Codrus, a King of Athens, that gaue his owne life for the safe-guard of his Country.
  • Colonies, numbers of People sent to inhabite some newe conquered Countrie.
  • Colures, [...]. Circles in heauen wherein the Sun-stops are caused.
  • Cochenel, grain wherwith Pur­ple is died.
  • Colosses, huge Statues erected in honor of any person.
  • Columbus, a Genoese, discoue­rer of America for Ferdi­nando, King of Castile.
  • Comitiall Ill, the Falling sicke­nesse.
  • Commodus, a most vicious Em­perour.
  • Cones, geometricall figures, broad beneath, and sharp a­boue, with a Circular bot­tome.
  • Concentrik, hauing one com­mon
  • [Page] Copernicus, a learned German that maintaineth the hea­uēs to stand stil, & the Earth to turn round about.
  • Coruinus, a Roman Orator, that after a great sickenes forgat his owne name.
  • Corfu, an Iland in the Ionian Sea, subiect to the Venetiās.
  • Critik, and Criticall, sharp Cen­surers: all dangerous dayes for health, obserued by Physicians.
  • Crescent, the Moon increasing
  • Ctesiphon, the builder of Dia­nas Temple at Ephesus.
  • Ctesibes, an excellentinuenter of water Engines.
  • Cubes, geometricall figures foure-square, like a Die.
  • Cucuio, a strange birde in new Spain.
  • Cupid, the bastard of Mars, and Venus, the little God of loue.
  • Curius, a Citizen of Rome, fa­mous for frugalitie & tempe­rance, who delighted rather to commaund the rich, then to be rich.
  • Cylindres, geometrical figures round and long, consisting frō top to toe of two equall parallel-Circles.
  • Cyclops, Giāts with one eie, wor king in the Forge of Vulcan.
  • Cyprus, a fruitfull Iland in the Gulfe of Issa, formerly sub­iect to the Venetians, but now vsurped by the Turke, aunciently consecrated to Venus.
  • Cynthia, Phoebe, Diana, the Moone.
  • Cytharea, Venus.
  • Cynosure, 7 starres in the North pole, the North Pole, the North-starre.
  • Cymbrians, the people of Den­marke and Nor-way.
  • Cyrus, the great King of Persia, conquerour of the Medes, and after slaine by Tomyris Queen of the Massage [...]s.
  • Charites, looke Graces.
  • Clotho, looke Parcae.
  • Camosh, the Idol of the Moabits
  • Chiron, a Centaur, an excellent both Physician and Musician the Master of Achilles.
  • Cornaline, looke Onyx.
  • Clarian, Lot-guider.
  • Cornich, looke Frize.
  • Crisis, the daungerous, or (as Physicians call it) criticall day for any disease.
  • Clyde, a Riuer rūning by Dom bertan in Scotland.
  • Cyclades, floting Ilands in the Aegean Sea.
  • Cedron, & Ked [...]on, a Brooke in Iudea.
  • [Page] Ciuik-Garland, a crowne or chaplet of Oaken sprigges, giuen to honor Him that had res [...]ued a citie.
  • Clytemnestra, wife of Agamē ­non, whom with the help of her Adulterer Aegis [...]hus, in a sleeue-les shirt she murde­red.
  • Cypris sap, seed of generation.
  • Castor & Pollux: Twinnes be­got on Laeda, by Iupiter in the shape of a Swan: & sup­posed Sea-Gods fauourable to Sailours.
  • Crimsin Gulf: the red Sea.
  • Cecropian that is, Athenian: of Cecrops, first King of A­thens.
  • Cineas, a Thessalian, exceeding eloquent and of admirable memory, Embassador from King Pyrrhus to the Ro­mans.
  • Carthaginian, of that famous City of Affrica built by Di­do, & by Hanniball vndon.
  • Cadmean, by sorn wrighters v­sed for Carthage.
  • Coronan, that is Lacedemoniā: for Corone, was a citie of the Messenians, who were sub­iect to that State.
  • Cest, in Latin Cestus & Cestum the Brides Girdle which the Bridegroom took off at night
  • Coloquintida, a kinde of wilde Gourd, that purgeth Choler.
  • Chrysocolle, Boras, gold-soder.
  • Cibele, looke Rhea.
D
  • DAmon, the most faithfull friend of Pythias, both disciples of Pythagoras.
  • Dana [...], daughter of Acrisius, who kept her lockt in a bra­zen Tower; Iupiter raynde himselfe in a Golden show­er into her lap.
  • Darubius, the greatest Riuer in Europe, called also Isther.
  • Dardane Ants, Indian Emmets
  • Darius, a King of Persia, van­quished by Alexander the great.
  • Delian Twinnes, the Sun and Moone.
  • Delian Princesse. Diana.
  • Delos, an Iland, one of the Cy­clades, which for a longtime floated as hidden in the Sea, and after suddainly appeared
  • Delphian Oracle, the Oracle of Apollo, at Delphos.
  • Delphos God, Apollo.
  • Democritus, the laughing Phi­losopher of Abydus.
  • Demosthenes, the best Orator of the Grecians.
  • Denis, or Dionysius, a Tyrant of Syracusa.
  • Deucalion, son of Prometheus, [Page] who with his wife Pyrrah, es­caped the Flood & (as the Po­ets fain) restored the world.
  • Diabete, adisease, when one cā ­not hold his water.
  • Diapason, a Concord of all.
  • Diarrhaea, a Laske or loosenes of the Belly.
  • Diameter, a strait line diuiding any figure into equal parts, passing through the middle point of any figure.
  • Dialect, a forme of speech di­uers frō others in any lāguage
  • Diana, the Goddesse of virgi­nity, the Moone.
  • Dirceanwalles, Thebes.
  • Disenteria, the bloody-flixe:
  • Dodochaedrons, figures of 12. Angles.
  • Druid [...]s, anciēt learned Priests & Sages of Fraunce: suppo­sed, to haue first issued out of this Ile of Brittaine.
  • Dombertan, a Towne in Scot­land.
  • Dagon, the Idoll of the Phi­listines.
  • Demain, Possessions of inhe­ritance, time out of minde continued in the occupati­on of the Lord.
  • Duel, single Combat.
  • Demi-Gods, looke Heroik.
  • Dorik musike, soft and effemi­nate musike, heer opposed to the Phrygian, whtch was more lofty and full of life, and fitter to stirre vp a Cou­rageous spirit.
  • Dan, a Town in the North frō ­tier of Iudea, where Ietoboam erected his other Calfe.
  • Ditthyrambik, Song in the Ho nour of Bacchus.
E
  • ECliptik line, a great Circle in the middle of the Zodiake through which the Sun run­neth his proper course in 365. dayes.
  • Egyptian flood, The Riuer Nilus
  • Electrum, Amber.
  • Electra, one of the sisters o Phaeton, who in [...]essantly weeping for her brothers fall, was turned into a Tree that droppeth Amber.
  • Elixir, an Arabian word, signi­fying Quintessence, the Phi­losophers stone.
  • Elisium, the fayned Paradise of hethen Poets.
  • Eldebag, a learned Arabian Sa­tyricall Poet.
  • Embryon, the Childe in the mo­thers Womb before it haue receiued shape.
  • Encyclopedie, that learning which comprehendeth all liberall Sciences.
  • Endimion, a young shephearde [Page] the fauourite of Cinthya.
  • Engastromith, one possessed, which seems to speak in his belly.
  • Empyema, an impostume in the Breast.
  • Enyon, the same that Bellona sister to Mars, & Goddesse of Battaile.
  • Enthousiasmos, poeticall fury.
  • Eoan Monarke, Alexander the great.
  • Eolian scoutes, the windes.
  • Ephemerides, Day-books, Re­gisters, Iournals.
  • Ephesian Temple, the Temple of Diana in Ephesus.
  • Ephesian moan, Heraclitus, wee­ping at the worlds miseries.
  • Ephori, a kinde of Magistrates, protectors of the people.
  • Epi [...]emik il [...]es, Vniuersall Di­seases.
  • Epicicle, a lesser Circle, whose center is in the circumferēce of a greater.
  • Epicurus, a Philosopher that placed mans felicitie in the pleasures of the Sense, belee uing no God but Fortune.
  • Epilepsis, the Falling-sicknesse.
  • Epithalamie, a nuptiall song.
  • Epitaph, a funerall song, or an Inscription on a Tombe or Graue.
  • Epithets, additions to nownes, expressing some quality.
  • Epitome, an Abbridgement.
  • Epirus, a Countrie in Greece (now called Albania) fa­mous in late times by the Noble exploites of G. Ca­str [...]ot (sir-named Scander­beg) against the Turke.
  • Equinoctiall, a Circle in Heauē through which when the Sun passeth, the dayes and nights be of equall length.
  • Eroetrian soile, medicinable Earth, brought from Eretria.
  • Erebus, a Riuer in hell: Hell.
  • Erythrean Deep, the red Sea.
  • Erynnis, one of the Furies.
  • Eridanus, a figu [...]e in Heauē, the Riuer Po, in Lumbardie.
  • Eurus, the East winde.
  • Euripus, a narrowe Sea, which ebbeth and floweth seauen times in 24. houres.
  • Euphrates, one of the Riuers of Eden, that runnes through Babylon.
  • Europa, Christendome, or this Westerne part of the world.
  • Eccentrik, that hath his center wholly separated from the Center of the Earth.
  • Erysipiles, hot & red swellings, called S. Anthonies fire.
  • Erycina, Venus.
  • Euphrosyne, looke Graces.
  • Euphorbium, a certaine medici­nable Plant found and na­med [Page] by Euphorbus, King Iubas Physician.
  • Eth [...]ik, see Pagan.
  • Entidorian.
  • Etesian gates, easterly windes.
  • Ephod, a linnen garment worne by the Priests and Leuites of Israel.
  • Edom and Idumea, a part of Palaestine.
  • El [...]utherian, Deliuerer.
  • Epicarpian, Fruit-keeper.
F
  • FAbritius, a famous Roman, contemner of Riches, and in extreame pouerty most puissāt for vertuous valour and integrity.
  • Faustina, a most Ias [...]iuious Em presse, wife to Marcus Aure­lius, and daughter of Anto­us Pius.
  • Fez. a Kingdome in Barbarie.
  • Finland, a Dukedom vnder the king of Sweden.
  • Flamine, a Sacrificer, or high Priest, among the Heathen.
  • Flauio, Melphio a Neapolitan inuenter of the needle in the Mariners compasse, and the vse thereof.
  • Foix, a Countrey belonging to Nauarr, neere the Pyrene Mountains.
  • Flora, a faire and rich harlot which made the people of Rome her Heire: in respect whereof, they made her God desse of Flowers: and kept yeerely Feasts in honor of of her.
  • Furies, 3 (viz.) Alecto, Megera, and Tesiphone (sometimes also called Persyphone) which are said to be Tormē ­ters of the damned in Hell, wittily fained to express the fear and Fury of a guilty cō ­science.
  • Frize and Cornich, the crests, furniture & finishing at the vpper end of a column.
  • Farfalla, a Candle flye.
  • Fergusius, Euenus, Donaldus, fa­mous ancient Kings of Scot­land.
  • Fanes, Temples, consecrated Places.
  • Funambulant, a Rope-walker.
  • Feretrian, Peace-bringer or dread-striker.
G
  • GAlen, a famous Physician born at Pergamus, whose learned workes through all ages haue been honoured.
  • Galenite, one skilfull in Phy­sicke, wherein Galen excel­led.
  • Ganges, a great Riuer in India.
  • Gaules, the ancient name of the French men.
  • [Page] Genius, a mans spirit, or natu­rall instinct or inclination.
  • Gemonide, or Gemonian Lad­ders: a place in Rome from whence condemned persons were throwne downe.
  • Ghion, one of the riuers in Edē
  • Gnidian Idols, Venus and Cu­pid: for in Gnidos shee was worshipped.
  • Gonorrhaea, a foule and inuolū ­tary Fluxe of seed, the Run­ning of the Reines.
  • Gordian knot, a knot thought impossible to bee vndone, wherewith Gordius had fa­stened his Oxe-yoake in the Temple of Apollo.
  • Gorgons, vgly hellish mon­sters, in forme of scaly Dra­gons, with crooked teeth, one eye, Iron talents, and mighty wings.
  • Graces, look Charites.
  • Gymnosophists, Philosophers of India, so called, because they went naked.
  • Groon-land, an exceeding colde Countrey, butting vpon the Sea, beyond Izland.
  • Graue, is as much as an Earle with vs: but in this place v­sed for the General and Go­uernor, IOSVAH.
  • Galactite, a kind of white Mar­ble, or Alabaster.
H
  • HAlcyon, a little water-bird thought to be the kings fisher.
  • Harpies, rauenous Birdes, with faces like woemen.
  • Hecatombes, Heathē Sacrifices wherein were offered 100. Beasts.
  • Hebe, Ioues Cup-bearer: the Goddesse of youth.
  • Heber, of whome the Hebrues and Hebrue Tongue are so called, the great—great—Grand-Childe of Sem, the sonne of Noah.
  • Hecuba, the Frantike and dis­figured, olde wythered wife of Priamus King of Troy, and heere opposed to the fresh, young, beautifull He­lena, the fatall Prize of their sonne Paris.
  • Helicon, a Mountaine sacred to Apollo and the Muses.
  • Helena, the wanton wife of Me­nelaus: cause of the tedious siege & finall sack of Troy.
  • Hemisphear, half the compasse of heauen which we beholde.
  • Hercules, the most renowned Monster-Tamer of Thebes.
  • Hermes, Mercurie.
  • Hero, the faire Sestian Nunne, for whose sake Leander was drowned in Hellespont.
  • [Page] Heroes, halfe Gods, excellent Men, for valour, and vertue.
  • Herophilus, a very ancient Phy sician.
  • Herodotus, an Eloquent Greek Historiographer.
  • Hesiodus, an anciēt Greek Poet
  • Hesperian Plant, Golden fruit-Trees garded by a Dragon which was slain by Hercules: but heer it is vsed for the Su­gar Cane, a richer Plant thē those (fayned) golden fruits.
  • Hexameters, verses of sixe feet
  • Hiades, 5. starres (some holde 7.) in the head of the Bull.
  • Hiero, a king of Sicilia (after A­gathocles) greatly delighted in husbandry.
  • Hieroglyphiks, secret Cyphers, strange characters, mysti­call wrighting by sundry formes of things.
  • Hiram, King of Tyrus, remem bred in the Scripture for sending Timber and work­men to Salomon, to the building of the Temple in Ierusalem.
  • Homer, so called for his blind­nes, the most excellent of all the Greek Poets.
  • Horizon, a Circle diuiding the halfe-spheare of the firma­ment which wee see [...]uer vs, from the other halfe vnder vs, which we see not.
  • Hun furious, Attyla, who sir­named himself the scourge of God, and Terror of the World.
  • Hyantian Fount, springs sacred to the Muses.
  • Hydrantik braule, Musicke ar­tificially made with the fall of waters.
  • Hyaena, a horrible Beast that counterfaiteth mans voice.
  • Hydrargire, quick-siluer.
  • Hydra, a Serpent with 50. heads slain by Hercules.
  • Hybla, & Moūtains aboūding in bees and hony.
  • Hymetus Moūtains aboūding in bees and hony.
  • Hymen, the God of Mariage.
  • Hyper-borean, aboue or beyōd the blowing of the North­winde.
  • Hyppocrates, a most excellent Physician.
  • Hyppolitus, the sonne of The­seus, who shunning the wā ­ton inticements of his step­dame Phaedra, was (through her false accusations) torne in pieces.
  • Hyren, a faire Greeke Mayden Captiue, on whome Maho­m [...]t the 2. extreamely doa­ted.
  • Hesperus, the Euening-starre, the Euening.
  • Helleborus, an herbe whereof [Page] be 2. kindes, supposed our Ling-wort and Bears-foot.
  • Heroik, noble: but anciently appropriate to those which were counted Demi-Gods, supposed to be born & begot of a heauenly & an earthly Parent, as Aeneas, of Venus and Anchyses.
  • Hebridian Waue, the Sea about the Iles Hiberides, to the North from Ireland.
I
  • IAnus, an auncient King of Italy, whome in respect of his wisedome & prouidēce, they figured with 2. faces, as looking backe into thinges past, and foreseeing thinges to come.
  • Iaffa, (anciently Ioppa) a nota­ble Hauen-Towne in Syria, wher they land that Trauail to Ierusalem.
  • Iapetus, a Thessalian, more fa­mous by his two sons (Pro­metheus, and Epimetheus) then for any great worth of his owne.
  • Iaeson, Captain of the Argonau tes, by the fauour of Medea, surmounting all daungers, brought home the golden Fleece.
  • Ibis, a certain high Bird, with a long Bill and stiffe leg [...], wor­shipped by the olde Egyp­tians.
  • Ibnu-farid, a learned Arabian, Not much knowne in these parts.
  • Iberians, Spaniards.
  • Icarus, the son of Dedalus, who presuming to flie, was drow­ned in that Sea, which after bore his name.
  • Ichneumon, Pharaohs Ratte: a little Beast, enemy to the Crocodile.
  • Idalian Fire, the burning heate of Loues desire.
  • Idea, an Image or Patterne of things conceiued in the Fā ­cie.
  • Idioma, a proper and peculiar forme of speech.
  • Iessean▪ Harpe, the holy musick of Dauid the Son of Ishai, commonly called Iesse.
  • Iliaca Passio, a kinde of Col­licke.
  • Illium, and Ilion: Troy.
  • Imaus, a Hill in India, part of Caucasus.
  • Impartiall maydes, the Fatal si­sters, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.
  • Ile of Iron, or Isola di-Ferro, one of the fortunate Ilands now called Canaries.
  • Incubus, a disease oppressing the stomach in our sleepe, [Page] which the ignorant haue thought to be a spright: it is commonly called the Night Mare.
  • Indiuidunm, a body that can­not be diuided.
  • Ioues Bird, the Eagle.
  • Iris-bowe, the Rain-bowe.
  • Iunos bird, the Peacocke.
  • Isleban, glory of Wittinberg: Martin Luther.
  • Isthmus, a narrow-strait of land between two Seas.
  • Isther, Danubius.
  • Ithacan, Vlysses the prudent husband of the most chaste Penelope.
  • Iupiter, the cheefe God of the Pagans.
  • Iubile, a yeer of liberty and re­leafe, which was euery fifti­eth yeere.
  • Iustinian, a learned Emperor Compiler of the Ciuill lawes.
  • Iuturna, the North part of Scotland towards the Orcades.
  • Iaboc, a little Brooke running into the Riuer Iordan.
  • Isis, the wife of Osiris, both I­dols of the Egyptians.
  • Iuadan.
  • Ioue, Iupiter, chiefe of the Hea­then Gods.
  • Iuno, the sister & wife of Ioue: Goddesse of Dominion and wealth, and supposed hel­per to woemen in▪ trauaile: sometimes taken for the Aire.
  • Iris, the Rain-bow.
  • Iaphean (or Iaffian) Seas beate vpon the Coast of Zabulon towardes Tyre and Sydon, on the farthest North of Iudea: heere opposed to Ti­gris in Mesopotamia, the farthest South of the same.
  • Iaffa, of olde called Ioppa.
  • Isaacians, children of Isaac, Is­raelites.
  • Izeland, an Iland in the farthest North towards Groonland.
  • Iebusites, the Heathen inhabi­tants of Ierusalem, before it came to the Possession of the Israelites.
K
  • KAros, a drowsie, and stupi­fying disease in the head.
  • Kennet, a pleasant Riuer run­ning through Barkshire, neere vnto whose flowery bankes, our callow Cignets had their nest.
L
  • LAcedaemō (called also Spar ta) a Citty and a Com­mon-wealth, most famous and flowrishing vnder the Lawes of Ly [...]urgus.
  • [Page] Laconia, the Countrie where that City stood.
  • Lachesis, looke Parcae.
  • Laeda, the wife of Tyndarus, who by the help of Iupiters Swan, laid 2. egges, whereof were hatched double Twins: of the one, Pol-lux and He­lena, of the other Castor & Clytemnestra.
  • Latmos, a Hill in Ionia, where Cynthia is sayde to haue im­braced her deer Endymion.
  • Latona, the Mother of Diana and Apollo.
  • Latonian Twinnes, those Chil­dren of hers, the Sunne and Moone.
  • Lais, a beutiful & costly Harlot of Corynth, frequented by many gallants of Greece.
  • Lee, a neat little Towne in Es­sex, in the mouth of the Thames.
  • Leander, a yong man of Aby­dus beloued of Hero, drow­ned in Hellespont while hee was swimming to her.
  • Lers, a riuer in France, of most strange quality.
  • Lethe, a riuer in Hell, which causeth forgetfulnesse.
  • Lethargie, the sleepy disease.
  • Lestrigons, a cruell people of Campania in Italy, which were said to feed on Mans Flesh.
  • Lyguria, the Territorie of Ge­noa.
  • Lycurgus, the famous Law-Maker of the Lacedaemoni­ans.
  • Lemnos, Vulcans Iland, Now called Stalimene.
  • Limbo, Hell.
  • Linus, an excellent anciēt Mu­sician, maister of Orpheus.
  • Linx, a beast of exceeding quick & pearcing sight.
  • Leucippus, a Philosopher that imagined infinite worlds.
  • Leucothoe, a Sea Goddesse.
  • Liquour-God. Bacchus.
  • Lopez, a late Iew-spanish Phy­sician, executed for infinite Treasons against this State.
  • Lotos, an admirable plant, strāgely sympathizing with the Sun.
  • Lucania, a prouince of Italy, now called Basilicata.
  • Lucina, Iuno, and Diana, sup­posed of olde to be assistant to women in their trauell.
  • Lucr [...]ta, the chaste wife of Collatinus, rauished by Tar­quin. (Poet.
  • Lucretius, a very anciēt Latine
  • Luna, the Moon [...]e.
  • Lupercales, Sacrifices & Feasts solemnized to Pan.
  • Lyceum, the Schoole of Ari­stotle.
  • [Page] Legislator, a Law-Maker, or a Law-giuer.
  • Lesbian Squire: the Lesbians were so perfect Workemen, that they made Rules and Squires by their Worke, and not their Worke by the Rule.
  • Loumond, a great Lake in Scot land, wherein they say, there is a floating Iland.
  • Luc [...]for, the Prince of the proud Angels that fell from hea­uen. The Diuell, also the morning-starre.
  • Lachesis, looke Parcaes.
  • Locusts, a kind of Grashoppers
  • Libanus and Libanon, a moun­taine in Syria, famous for the fairest Cedar Trees.
M
  • MAdera, one of the Cana­ries, from whence com excellent Sugars.
  • Malta, an Iland in the Medi­terranean Sea, where the Knights (that were) of Rho­des, now keep their residēce
  • Manie, a disease in the head causing madnesse.
  • Martian-field, a fielde between Tiber, & the City of Rome, where they vsed to beholde the fight of condemned men with wilde Beasts.
  • Mars, the God of warre.
  • Mark Pole, a not able Veneti­an Nauigator and Discoue­rer.
  • Maiz, Indian wheat.
  • Mausole, a sumptuous Tombe built by Artemisia Queen of Caria, for her husband Mau­solus.
  • Marcellus, a most noble Ro­mane Captaine, Conqueror of Syracusa, and fiue times Consul.
  • Mah omite, the Turkish Em­perour, worshipping Maho­met.
  • Mantuan Muse, the Poet Virgil
  • Massacres, horrible murders.
  • Medea, a sorceresse, or (as some call them) a cunning­woman.
  • Meanders, crooked turnings, so called of the Riuer. Me­andex, for his exceeding crookednesse.
  • Medices, the late Queene mo­ther of France, being of the house of Florence.
  • Medusas Tresse, a head with snake-like hairs, turning the beholders into stones.
  • Mein, a Riuer in Germany, wher on stands Frankfort, the famous Mart of the World.
  • Meonian Bard, Homer.
  • Mecaenas, a noble Romane, & liberall fauourer of Virgil.
  • [Page] Megera, one of the Furies.
  • Melt, an admirable Tree in Mexico, a mighty kingdom of America.
    Egyptians.
    • Memphians,
    • Memphites.
    • Memphists.
    • Memphitists.
  • Mercurie, one of the Planets, the God of wit, eloquence, inuention, and subtilty, and the messenger of the Gods.
  • Mercurial (as it were) a Chan­cerie, controuling and reuo­king false iudgements of in­feriour Courts.
    • Meridian, the south circle.
  • Metaphoras, borrowed spee­ches.
  • Metempsychosis, transmigrati­on of soules from one bo­dy to another: after Pytha­goras.
  • Metaphi [...]icall, supernaturall,
  • Milo, a man of prodigious strength, that carried a Bull on his back, killed him with his fist, & eat him vp in one day.
  • Mince, a Riuer neere Mantua, where Virgil was borne.
  • Minerua, the same that Pallas: Goddesse of wit and warre.
  • Moly, an herbe brought from heauē by Mercury to Vlys­ses, supposed to be our Rue, or herbe-grace.
  • Moloch, the Idoll of the Am­monites.
  • Moluques, rich Ilands in the East Indies, plentifull in all kind of excellent Spices, & other Treasures.
  • Moores, the people of Ethio­pia, subiects of Prester Iohn.
  • Morpheus, the God of Dreams
  • Mummie, a drugg, takē for part of ancient imbalmed bodies.
  • Musculus, a little Fish most of­ficious to the Whale.
  • Musulmans, Arabians.
  • Mycaena, Agamemnons King­dome.
  • Midas, a wealthy King of Phry gia, whose touch (by the grāt of Bacchus) turned all things into Gold: so that at last his Gold-turned meate in his mouth choaked him.
  • Myrmecides, a cunning & cu­rious Caruer in small works.
  • Myron, an excellent statuarie, or Image-maker.
  • Mounte banks, Iugglers.
  • Meroe, an Iland in the Riuer Nilus.
  • Megera, look Furies.
  • Mages, Sages, Wise-men, Sooth-sayers.
  • Moris [...]o, and Mattachine, An­tike & fantastike daunces.
  • Moderatrix, a Regent or Go­uernesse.
  • [Page]MAGNIFICENCE, Great­nes, State, glory, pomp.
  • Munificēce, bounty, liberality
  • Medalls, Images of wood, stone, or metall.
  • Musaik work, a kinde of pain­ting so curiously shadowed, that it seemes in some pla­ces imbost, in some carv'd, in som in-layde, in som gra­uen, &c.
  • Meteors, or exhalatiōs, strange apparitions of comets, or other figures in the aire.
  • Megarian, where flowrished the Philosopher Euclides, in the same time that Socrates in Athens.
N
  • NAcre, the Pearle-shell, or mother of Pearl.
  • Nadir, the point directly vn­der vs, iust opposite to the Zenith or point verticall.
  • Natolia, Asia minor, now whol ly vnder the Turke.
  • Nectar, the drink of the Gods.
  • Neptune, the Sea.
  • Nephelian, Crook-horne, the Signe Aries.
  • Nepenthe, an herbe which be­ing steeped in wine, is thought to expell sadnesse.
  • Nereus, the Sea.
  • Nero, a most cruell Emperour of Rome, the monster of na­ture, & shame of mankinde.
  • Nestor, a wise & eloquēt Greek who being nigh 300. yeers old, came to the siege of Troy.
  • Nile, and Nilus, the famous Ri­uer of Egypt, vsed often for Egypt it selfe.
  • Nimrod, the builder of Babel, the first ambitious vsurper of soueraignty.
  • Niphates, a mountaine from whence the Riuer Tigris hath his source.
  • Nitre, a light, white, spongie mater, much like salt, which som haue (falsely) thought to be salt-peter.
  • Noremberg, a City in Germa­ny, especially famous for cu­rious handy-crafts.
  • Nubian, of a Kingdome fron­ting on the South of Egypt.
  • Numidian [...], people of a part of Affrica, accustomed to liue continually in the fieldes with their flocks, & heards, remoouing often for fresh pastures.
  • Numa Pompileus, 2. from Ro­mulus King of the Romanes and their first law-giuer.
O
  • OBsequies, funerall cere­monies.
  • Ocean, and Oceanus, the Sea.
  • Odipus, a Riddle-Reader of Thebes.
  • [Page] Oedems, thinne, waterish, and flegmatik swellings.
  • Olympius, an Arrian Bishoppe, strook dead with Lightning for blaspheming the Deitie of Christ.
  • Olympus, a very high hill fron­ting on Macedonia: it is of­ten vsed for Heauen.
  • Ophthalmy, a disease in the Eye through inflamation of the vttermost tunicle.
  • Optick sinnew, is that which bringeth sight vnto the Eye.
  • Orgies, Sacrifices to Bacchus.
  • Oracles, Mysteries of the hea­then Gods, deliuered by di­uers meanes, and in diuers manners.
  • Orion, a tempest-boading star.
  • Orpheus, an excellent Poet & Musician of Thrace.
  • Oromene, a Mountain in India, full of Salt-quarres.
  • Ortygian Delos, a floating Ilād where Diana, and Apollo were borne.
  • Orithias loue, Boreas, the North-winde.
  • Ottoman, the first Emperour of Turkes.
  • Ouids heires: wanton Poets.
  • Oxygone, a sharp-Triangle.
  • Omer, a certaine measure a­mong the Hebrues.
  • Ophir, supposed to be Peru.
  • Onyx, a red pretious stone, fit for Seales. (Cleer.
  • Orient, the East Sun-Rising
  • Oran, a Port-Towne in Barba­rie, within the Streictes of Gibraltar.
P
  • PActolus, a riuer in Lydia, which (after the washing of King Midas) is sayd to haue Golden sands.
  • Pallas, the Goddesse of Arts & Wisedome.
  • Palaemon, a Sea God, called al­so Melicertes.
  • Palestine, Iudea, the holy land, first called Cannan.
  • Pan, the God of Shepheards.
  • Pandects, Books treating of all manner of Arguments.
  • Panchaya [...] Fumes, Incense.
  • Pannonia, Hungary & Austria.
  • Panope, a Sea-Nymph.
  • Pandora, fayned (by Hesiodus) to be the first woman, and made by Vulcan: indued by all the Gods with seueral ex­cellent gifts, but afterwarde by Iupiter (in his displeasur) sent to hir spouse Epimethe­us, with a Box full of al mā ­ner of miseries.
  • Paphos Archer, Cupid, the little God of loue.
  • Paphian, Fier or shott his Arrowes.
  • [Page] Parrhasius, a most excellent painter of Ephesus.
  • Parthians, a people of Asia, ex­cellent Archers, and notori­ous enemies to the Romans.
  • Par [...]s, an Iland in the Archipe­lago (which diuideth Eu­rope & Asia minor) wherein is excellent white Marble or Alablaster.
  • Parcas, Parcae, (à non parcen­do) the Destinies, or 3. fatal Sisters, (viz) Clotho, Lache­sis, and Atropos: Death it selfe, the eneuitable end of all.
  • Parallels, lines euery wher like distant.
  • Paradox, an argument main­tained contrary to the com­mon and receiued opinion.
  • Pegasus, the flying Horse of Bellerophon, which stray­ning to flye vp to Heaven, with his hoofe rased the top of Helicon, whence imme­diatly gushed out a spring, which therefore is called Hyppocrene.
  • Penelope, the most chaste wife of the wandring Prince V­lysses.
  • Peneian Uale, is Tempe a most pleasant valley in Thessaly, on the verge of the Riuer Peneus.
  • Pentheus, a young Prince, who for contemning the drunkē feasts of Bacchus, was by his owne mother ( Agaue) murdered.
  • Peripneumonie, the Impostume of the Lungs.
  • Perige, that point of Heaven wherein the Sun (or other planet) is neerest to the cen­ter of the Earth.
  • Persiphone, or Proserpine: the Queen of Hell and Horror.
  • Perseus, a most triumphant Champiō, that rescued An­dromeda from the Sea-mō ­ster: who for his prowesse is both by Poets and Astro­nomers magnified as a God, and placed among the Starres.
  • Pernassus, the mountain of the Muses.
  • Persian Monark with the hea­uen of glasse, was Sapores.
  • Peru, one of the largest and richest parts of America.
  • Phaeton, the Son of Phoebus, who presuming to guide his fathers Chariot, set the world on fire, and fell him­selfe headlong into the Ri­uer Eridanus.
  • Phoebus, the Sunne.
  • Phalaris, a most cruell Tyrant of Agrigent.
  • [Page] Phalec, the sonne of Heber.
  • Pharos, a Lanthorne Tower to beare a light for the guide of Saylors in a hauen by night: also an Iland.
  • Phlegon, one of the horses of the Sunnes Chariot.
  • Phlegeton, a Riuer in Hell, ta­ken oft for Hell it selfe.
  • philtre-charmd, inchanted with loue-potions.
  • Phantik, such as are haun­ted with strange & illuding Visions.
  • Philirian Scout, the signe Sa­gittarius.
  • Philometor, an ancient king of Egypt, much giuen to husbandry, and deligh­ting in the Countrie life.
  • Phlebotomie, Bloodletting.
  • Phlegmons, hot & red inflam­mations of bloud.
  • Phrygian Skinker, the signe A­quarius.
  • Phrixus sister, was Helle, drow­ned in Hellespont, which of her is so called.
  • Phrenzie, a most violent and daungerous disease of the braine.
  • Phthisik, The consumption of the Lungs.
  • Phthiriasis, the lowsie disease.
  • Pica, the longing disease of women with childe.
  • Physon, one of the Riuers in the garden of Eden.
  • Pigmes, little people of the North, a Cubit high.
  • Pyrene, a princesse from whom Pyrene Mountaines (which diuide France and Spaine) are so called.
  • Pindus, a Mountaine sacred to the Muses.
  • Pierian Maydes, the Muses.
  • Pirrhon, (read Pirrho) a Phi­losopher alwayes doubtfull of all things, yea euen of those subiect to our senses.
  • Plato, Prince of the Acade­miks, sirnamed diuine, and indeede the most neere ap­proaching diuinitie of all the heathen.
  • Pleiades, the 7. Starres,
  • Plessis, a noble learned French­man of our time, a notable defender of the Truth of Christian religion, against all Iewes, Turkes, Pagans, Papists, Atheists, and Infi-Infidels what-soeuer.
  • Pluto, the God of Hell and of Riches, the Diuell and all.
  • Po, the riuer that watreth Lum▪ bardy the garden of Italy.
  • Polypes, a subtill fish called a Manie-feete, or Pourcon­trell.
  • Polymnia, manifold memory, in variety of knowledge.
  • [Page] Poles, the imagined Hinges of the Heauens, whereon the World is turned, commonly vsed for heauen.
  • Poetasters, Base, Counterfait, vnlearned, witlesse, & wan­ton Poets that pester the World, either with idleva­nities or odious villanies.
  • Porphirie, Marble.
  • Porus, a King of India of huge stature, ouercome by Alex­ander.
  • Polygamie, the hauing of many wiues.
  • Polyphem, a huge and cruell Gyant, with one ey in his fore-head.
  • Pomona, Goddesse of fruits.
  • Pontik heath, Pontus is a regi­on in Asia minor, fronting East-ward vpon Colchis.
  • Progne, Pandions daughter, sister of Philomele, and wife of Tereus, transformed to a swallow.
  • Proteus, a Sea-god, that taketh on him all shapes.
  • Problems, mathematicall pro­positions, referred especial­ly to practise.
  • Prometheus, is fained to haue made the first man, and to haue stollen fire from hea­uen, to put life into his Crea­ture.
  • Pryenian Sage, Bias.
  • Ptolomeus Philadelphus, most famous for his learning and loue to the learned, and es­peciallie for his noble Li­brarie, erected in Alexan­dria.
  • Pyramides, exceeding huge & high Spires, built by the kings of Egypt for fond & idle ostentation of their ri­ches and pride.
  • Pyrausta, a fier-flye, or winged worme, breeding and liuing onely in the fier.
  • Python, a horrible Dragon slaine by Apollo.
    • Pagan, Heathen, an Infidel, vncircumcised, vnbaptized, that knowes not God.
  • Phydias, a famous Caruer in wood and stone.
  • Persyphone, look Furies.
  • Pirenes, look Bigaurian.
  • Phrygian Musick, look Dorik.
  • Pellean Prince, Alexander the great, borne in the Citie of Macedonia called Pella, as was also Philip his father.
  • Panomphean, all-hearing.
  • Phyxian, fugitiue.
  • Proselyte, a stranger new-con­uerted to our faith & fashiō.
  • Pharan, a Citie between Egypt & Arabia: also a Wildernes which the Israelites passed in [Page] their Pilgrimage to Canaan.
  • Pharus, look Pharos.
  • Pirrhus, a valiant King of the Epirots, a notable Enemie to the Romans.
  • Pass-Lamb, the Paschal Lamb.
  • Pelusian Foord, Nilus the great Riuer of Egypt.
    • Pythian Knight, is Apollo, sir-named Pythias, for slay­ing the dreadfull Serpent Pytho.
  • Parian Rocks, mountaines of white Marble or Alabaster, in the Ile of Paros.
  • Patagons, Indian Canibals, such as eate mans flesh.
  • Posthumus, one borne after his Fathers death.
  • Prodigies, extraordinary and miraculous accidents.
  • Picts, ancient inhabitants of a part of Scotland.
  • Para-Nymphes, Bride-dressers, too curious prankers of themselues.
  • Pyrrhik Galliard, a kinde of dauncing in armour, inuen­ted by Pyrrhus.
  • Porphire, a kind of red Marble.
  • Plynth, a part of the base of a piller, flat square like a Tyle.
R
  • RAbbines, great Doctors among the Iewes.
  • Rabican, the name of a gallant horse in Orlando Furioso.
  • Regulus, a noble Consul, and resolute Captaine of the Ro­mans in the Punik-war.
  • Remora, a little fish (which som call a Suck-stone) that sud­dainly stoppeth a ship vnder al her sayles in her ful course
  • Rendez vous, an appointed place of meeting.
  • Romes Dragon, the Pope.
  • Ryphean wood, Forrests of Scy­thia.
  • Rhea, the same that Cibele, Vesta,, Tellus, the Earth.
  • Rheubarb, an excellent roo [...]t, and very pretious for the purging quality.
  • Rubrick, the Titles & Directi­ons in the olde Psalters, or Seruice-Bookes: so called, because they are written or printed in red Letters.
S
  • SAba, chiefe Cittie of the Sabaeans in Arabia, aboū ­ding in Cinamō, Cassia, Fran­kincense, and Myrrhe.
  • Salamander, a spotted beast like a Lizard, whose ex­tream coldnes quencheth the fire.
  • Salmoneus, a King that with certaine violent Engins, [Page] counterfaited Thunder.
  • Salust, a notable Roman Histo riographer, also the sirname of our noble and renowned Author du BARTAS.
  • Samian wise, Pythagoras.
  • Sardanapalus, a most effemi­nate king, the last of the As­syrians.
  • Sargus, a Fish strangely lust­full.
  • Saturnes doore, the end of Time.
  • Saturnales, feasts kept in De­cember in the honour of Saturne.
  • Satyres, nipping Poesies that reproue vice sharpely, with­out respect of persons.
  • Scaliger Iosephus, now liuing, a Frenchman, admirable in all Languages, for all man­ner of learning▪
  • Scipio (sir-named Affirican) a most wise, valiant, & vertu­ous Captaine of the Ro­mans, who being ill requi­ted for infinite honourable seruices, sequestred himselfe to a Country-life.
  • Scirrhes, a kinde of hard (yet paine-lesse swellings in the flesh.
  • Scolopendra, a certain Fish that easleth forth her bowels, to cleere them from the hook.
  • Scopas, a notable Architect, imployed in the building of Mausolus Tomb, which is numbred among the seauen wonders of the world.
  • Syrtes, dangerous sands in the Lybian Sea.
  • Serean Forrests (now Cathay, and Cambalu) are in Asian Scythia, abounding in the best Silkes.
  • Serranus, a worthy Romane fetcht from his plough to the Dictatorship, which was (for the time) an office of King-like Authority.
  • Sentinel, a scout, or Night­watch in a Camp or Towne of Garrison.
  • Seraphin, an Angell.
  • Sein, the riuer of Paris.
  • Shynar, or Sennaar, the plaine where Nimrod built the Tower of Babel.
  • Sibyls, Prophetesses: Varro re­membreth 10. of them.
  • Semiramis, the proud and wan­ton Queen of Babylon, wife of Ninus.
  • Sirius, the Dogge star, at whose rising the Dog-dayes al­wayes begin.
  • Skinc Alexandrian, a kinde of Serpent, a land Crocodile.
  • Skinker, the signe Aquarius.
  • Sol, the Sunne, one of the 7. [Page] Planets.
  • Solides, 5. regular bodies or fi­gures Geometricall (viz.) the Circle, Cube, Pyramid, Cilinder and Dodochae­dron.
  • Sostrates, a notable Architect builder of the Lanthorn-Tower in the Ile of Pharos.
  • Stagirian, Aristotle, there born
    Hell.
    • Stix,
    • Stigian strand,
  • Steropes, one of Vulcans Cy­clopes.
  • Stoikes, seuere Philosophers, pretending to condemne al Passions: and esteeming all things to be ordered by an ineuitable necessity of Fate of Destinie.
  • Strymon, a Riuer between Ma­cedon and Thrace.
  • Suisses (wee call them Swizers) the warlike people of the Cantons of Heluetia.
  • Sulphur, Brimstone.
  • Star-shippe, Argos a signe or Constellation in Heauen, supposed to haue been the Shippe that Iason and his fellowes fetcht the Golden Fleece in.
  • Synonimas, words of the same signification.
  • Symbolize, to resemble or a­gree.
  • Sympathie, consent or resem­blance of qualitie.
  • Symphonie, consent of time or harmonie.
  • Symmetrie, proportiō of parts betweene themselues, & to their whole.
  • Syracusa, a great, wealthy, and wanton Citie in Sicilia.
  • Syrens, Mer-Maydes.
  • Satyr, a wilde wood-monster, halfe man, halfe-goate: al­so a kinde of nipping Po­esie, reproouing vice vn­partially.
  • Salem, Ierusalem.
  • Spartans, look Lacaedemon.
  • Sina, or Sinai, a mountaine in Arabia, the same that Ho­reb, where the Lawe was gi­uen to Moses.
  • Salamina, an Iland and Citie in the Euboik Sea, now cal­led the Gulfe of Negrepont.
  • Stentorian, Homer reports him to haue had the voice of 50. men.
  • Signories, Lordships, Domini­ons.
  • Sues, a Port in the East part of Egypt vpon the red Sea.
  • Seir, a mountaine in Idumaea, betweene Asphaltis and E­gypt.
  • Siddim, the place where Lot, [Page] with the Princes of Sodom, was taken prisoner by Che­dor Laomer.
  • Sanctum Sanctorū, the inmost Sanctuarie, the Holy of Ho­lies, where onely the high Priest might enter once a yeare.
  • Stratian, War-like.
  • Scammonie, alias Diagridium, an hearbe purging Choler mightily.
T
  • TAgus, the Riuer of Lis­bone in Portugall.
  • Tanais, a mighty Riuer diui­ding Asia from Europe.
  • Tantalus, a King of Phrygia, whom they fained to stand in Hel vp to the chin in wa­ter, and to haue delicate Fruits, dangling ouer his vpperlip, yet can touch nei­ther: either to ease his hun­ger, or allay his thirs [...]:
  • Tambut, A Country of the Ne­gros, which is a part of A­frica extending to the vtter­most bounds therof toward the South and East.
  • Taprobane, An Iland vnder the Equinoctiall (now called Sumatra) Situate betweene Malaca and Iaua Maior, a­boue 450. leagues long, and aboue 120. broade: aboun­ding in Golde, & very plen­tifull in other excellent Cō ­modities.
  • Tarentum, a famous Citie in Calabria.
  • Tarnasser, is in the East Indies, neere the gulfe of Bengala.
  • Thebes, a Citty in Baeotia where Hercules was borne: it was first built built by Cadmus, but more beautifully resto­red by Amphion.
  • Thetis, the Sea.
  • Themis, Iustice.
  • Thersites, the foulest Lubber in al the Greciā Campe, whō Achilles slew with his fist.
  • Theseus, for valour, another Hercules: but most famous for his kinde and constant friendship to Perithous.
  • Thesiphone, one of the Furies.
  • Thisbes Tree, the mulberie.
  • Thule, an Iland beyond the Orcades, the farthest North that was knowen to the Ro­manes, therfore then called Ultima Thule.
  • Timanthes, one of the most ex­cellēt of the anciēt Painters.
  • Tindarides, Castor and Pollux.
  • Tigris, a Riuer in Asia, passing by the East of Mesopotami­a, throgh Armenia & Media.
  • [Page] Titan, the Sun.
  • Tirrhenian, the Tuscan Seas.
  • Tyrians, Marchant men of Ty­rus, a Citie of Syria, ancient­ly flowrishing in trade, and famous for the excellent purple-Die.
  • Tiuoli, a village neere Rome, where the Cardinall of Fer­rara hath a sumptuous house of pleasure, furnished with infinite Curiosities.
  • Torpedo, the Cramp-fish.
  • Tresor-troue, Gold, monie, or other Riches found vnder ground.
  • Troglodytes, a people of Aethi­opia, that dwel vnder groūd, go naked, and eate Serpents.
  • Tropicks, two great Circles in heauen in equall distance from the Equinoctiall, the one called the Tropik of Cancer, the other of Capri­corne, at the which the Sun turneth either higher (ha­uing been at the lowest) or lower (hauing beene at the highest) wherof they are so called.
  • Trytōs▪ Neptunes Trumpeters.
  • Tuscan, Italian.
  • Tyber, the Riuer of Rome.
  • Typhis, the master or Captaine of the Ship Argos that saild with Iason to Colchis for the Golden Fleece.
  • Tymothy, an excellent caruer that wrought on Mausolus Tombe.
  • Typhon, a huge Giant, that in deuoured to pull Iupiter out of Heauen.
  • Type, a figure or stampe of a­ny thing.
  • Tesiphone, or Thesiphone one of the Furies.
  • TROPHETS, glorious Monu­ments erected in honour of some famous victorie.
  • Timothius Milesius, an excel­lent musician, that flowrish­ed vnder Philip of Mace­don and Alexander his son.
  • Theorie, Contemplation, study.
  • Tullie, Cicero, the Prince of Roman Orators.
  • Te [...]yphone, look Furies.
  • Thalia, look Graces, & Muses.
  • Tabernacle, properly a Tent or Pauilion.
V
  • VAlois, one of the Royall families of France, ex­tinguished in the late Henry the third, (slaine by a Frier before Paris) who in his Monsieurship (with his mo­ther [Page] and the Duke of Guise) had beene too busie an A­ctor in the bloodie Massa­cre.
  • Uenus, the Goddesse of Loue and Beautie, also one of the planets.
  • Uenus Es [...]uage, Knights (or Nights) seruice to Ladies.
  • Venerean mirth, Idem.
  • Uer, the Spring.
  • Vertumnus, animagined God of the Romanes that tooke on him all shapes.
  • Vespucio, Americus Vespucius, a Florentine, first discoue­rer of America, of whom, it was so called.
  • Viginere, a learned French­man of late times, translator of Caesar, Liuius, and other Latine writers.
  • Vienna, a Citie in Austria, where vsually the Emperor keeps his Court.
  • Vrania, one of the Muses, espe­cially handling Heauenly things, therefore called the Heauenly Muse.
  • Vrim, and Thummim, 2. words grauen in the Brest-plate of Aaron, signifying Illumina­tion and integritie.
  • Ulysses, the politike Prince of Ithaca, husband of Pene­lope.
  • Vulcan, the God of Fier and forge-men.
  • Vranascopus, a fish alwayes ga­zing vp to heauen.
X
  • XAnth, called also Scaman­der, the Riuer of Troy, there is also an Iland in the Archipelago, so cal­led.
  • Xenian, hospitious, mild-en­tertainer.
Z.
  • ZEbut, an Iland in the west Indies, exceeding rich in Gold, Sugar, & Ginger.
  • Zenith, the point verticall, the point of Heauen right ouer our heads, the contra­rie point is called Nadir.
  • Zeno, the chiefe of the Stoicke Philosophers.
  • Zeuxis, a most cunning and exceeding rich Painter.
  • Zodiak, a byaz or sloaping Circle in the Heauens, wher­in are the 12. Signes, tho­rough which all the planets passe.
  • [Page] Zones, Imagined Circles, di­uiding the World into fiue parts.
  • Zopyrus, a Persian that strange ly disfigured himselfe to do his Prince an important seruice.
  • Zephirus, the West, the West­winde.
FINIS.
THE HISTORIE OF IVDI …

THE HISTORIE OF IVDITH, IN FORME OF A POEME.

Penned in French, by the Noble Poet, G. SALVST. Lord of BARTAS.

Englished by Tho. Hudson.

Ye learned, binde your browes with Laurer hand:
I prease but for to touch it with my hand.
ET VSQVE AD NVBES VERITAS TVA

1611.

The Printer to the Reader.

PErceiuing our diuine du BARTAS so gene­rally applauded, euen of the greatest and the grauest of this Kingdome; and all His workes so welcome vnto all: to make the same ( in this second Edition) more com­pleat, I haue presumed to annex This Peece; indeed no part of his incomparable WEEKS (neither heer ap­paralled by the same Workman) yet doubt-les a Child of the same Parent, and (if I be not deceiued) one of his first borne: which arriuing long-since in Scotland, was there (among the rest) royally receiued, and thus (as you see) suited, somewhat to that Countrie fashion. Whose Dia­lect and Orthography (considering vnder what autho­ritie it was first published, & now the rather respecting our happie vnion by the same established) I haue not dar'd at all to alter. Accept it therefore (gentle Reader) as it is: and allow at least of my good will; who, wishing thee the profit of these happy labours, haue aduentured (to doo thee pleasure) to incur (I doubt) double displeasure.

Thine, H. L.

TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTIE PRINCE, IAMES the Sixt, King of Scotland, his Maiesties most humble Seruant, THO. HVDSON, wisheth long life with euerla­sting felicitie.

AS your Maiestie, Sir, after your accusto­med and vertuous maner was sometime discoursing at Table with such your Domestiques, as chaunced to be atten­dant;

It pleased your Highnesse not one­lie to esteeme the peereless stile of the Greeke Homer, and the Latin Uirgill to be inimitable to vs (whose tongue is barbarous and corrupted): But also to al­ledge (partly thorow delight your Maiesty tooke in the Hau­tie stile of those most famous Writers, and partly to sound the opinion of others) that also the lofty Phrase, the graue inditement, the facound termes of the French Salust (for the like resemblance) could not be followed nor sufficiently ex­pressed in our rude and impolished English language. Where­in, I more boldly then aduisedly (with your Maiesties licence) declared my simple opinion; not calling to mind, that I was to giue my verdit in presence of so sharp and clear-eied a Censor as your Highnesse is: But rashly I alleadged, that it was nothing impossible euen to follow the footesteps of the same great Poet Salust, and to translate his verse (which ne­uerthelesse [Page] is of it selfe exquisite) succinctly, and sensibly in our owne vulgar speech. Wherevpon it pleased your Ma­iestie (among the rest of his works) to assigne me, The Histo­rie of Iudith, as an agreeable Subiect to your Highnesse, to be turned by me into English verse: Not for any speciall gift or Science that was in me, who am inferiour in knowledge and erudition to the least of your Maiesties Court: but by reason (paraduenture) of my bold assertion, your Maiestie, who will not haue the meanest of your house vnoccupied, would haue mee to beare the yoke, and driue forth the penance, that I had rashly procured. Indeede, the burden appeared heauie, and the charge almost insupportable to me: neuerthelesse, the feruent desire which I had to obtemper vnto your Ma­iesties commandement, the earnest intention to verifie my rash speaking, and the assured confidence which I ankred on, your Highnesse helpe and correction, encouraged mee so, & lightned on such wise my heauy burthen, that I haue with lesse paine, brought my half despaired worke to finall end. In the which, I haue so behaued my selfe, that through your Maiesties concurrence, I haue not exceeded the number of the lynes written by my Author: In euerie one of the which, he also hath two syllables mo then any English beares. And this notwithstanding, I suppose your Maiestie shall finde little of my Authors meaning pretermitted. Wherfore if thus much be done by me, who am of another profession, and of so simple literature, I leaue it to bee considered by your Ma­iestie, what such as are consummate in letters, and knowes the waightie words, the pithie sentences, the polished tearms, and full efficacie of the English tongue, would haue done. Receiue them, Sir, of your owne seruant, this little worke at your owne commandement enterprised, corrected by your Maiesties owne hand, and dedicated to your owne Highnesse. If I haue done well, let the praise redound to your Maiestie, whose censure I haue vnderlyen. If otherwise, let my default of skill bee imputed to my selfe, or at the least my good en­tention allowed, whereby others may haue occasion to doe [Page] better. To your Highnesse consideration, referring Sir, both my diligence done in this smal translation, and the inueterate affection which I haue, and ought alwaies to beare vnto your Maiestie, I commit with all humilitie, your Highnes, your Realme and estate, to the go­uernment of God, who go­uerneth all the World.

IR


SONNET.

SInce ye immortall sisters nine hes left
All other countries lying farre or neere,
To follow him who from them all you reft,
And now hes causde your residence be heere;
Who though a stranger yet he lov'd so deere
This Realme and me, so as he spoild his awne,
And all the brookes and banks, and fountains cleere
That be therein, of you, as he hath shawne
In this his work: then let your breath be blawne
In recompence of this his willing minde,
On me; that sine may with my pen be drawne
His praise. For though himselfe be not inclyn'd
Nor preaceth but to touch the Laurer tree:
Yet well he merits crownd therwith to be.
FINIS.

SONNET:

THe Muses nyne haue not reueald to mee
What sacred seeds are in their garden sowen;
Nor how their Salust gaines the Laurer tree,
Which throw thy toyle in Brittain ground is growen:
But, sith they see thy trauell truely showen
In Vertues schoole, th' expiring time to spend,
So haue they to his Highness made it knowen,
Whose Princely power may dewly thee defend.
Then you, that on the Holy Mount depend
In crystallayr, and drinks the cleared spring
Of Poetrie, I doe you recommend
To the protection of this godly King:
Who for his vertues, and his gifts diuine,
Is only Monark of the Muses nyne.
FINIS.
M. V. F.

The Authors admonition to the Reader.

BEloued Reader, it is about fourteene yeares past, since I was commanded by the late Illustrate and most vertuous Princesse Iean, Queene of Nauarre, to reduce the Historie of Iudith, in forme of a Poeme Epique. Wherein I haue not so much aimed to followe the phrase or text of the Bible, as I haue preased (without wandring from the verity of the History) to imitate Homer in his Iliades, & Virgill in his Aenel dos, and others who hath left to vs works of such like matter: therby to render my work so much the more delectable. And if the effect hath not an­swered to my desire, I beseech thee to lay the fault vpon her who proposed to me so meane a Theame or subiect, and not on me who could not honestly disobey. Yet in so much as I am the first in Fraunce, who in a iust Poeme hath treated in our tongue of sacred things, I hope of thy fauour to receiue some excuse; seeing that things of so great weight cannot be both perfectly begunne and ended together. If thou neither allow my stile nor workmanship, at least thou shalt be driuen to allowe the honest pretence and holy desire which I haue to see the youth of Fraunce so holily by mine example exercised.

I may not forget, that they doe greatly wrong me, who thinks that in discriuing the Catastrophe of this Histo­ry (truely tragicall) I am becomne a voluntary Aduocate to these troublesome and sedicious spirits, who (for to [Page] serue their temerarious passiōs, and priuate inspiratiōs) conspires against the liues of placed princes. For, so much doe I disassent that this example and the like ought to be drawen in consequence, that I am verily perswaded that the act of Ahud, of Iaell, and of Iudith, who vnder co­lour of obeysance & pretext of ami [...]y layd their reuen­ging hands vpon Aeglon, Sisara, and Holophernes: had been worthy of a hundreth gallowes, a hundreth fires, and a hundreth wheeles, if they had not been peculiarly cho­sen of God for to vnloose the chains, and break the bands which retain'd the Hebrew people in more then Aegyp­tian seruitude, and expresly called to kill those Tyrants with a death as shamefull as their liues were wicked and abhominable. But seeing this question is so diffuse that it cannot be absolued in fewe words, and that my braine is too weak for so high an enterprise; I send you to those who haue spent more oyle and time in turning the leaues of the sacred scriptures, then I haue done for the present. It me sufficeth for the time to admonish the Reader, to at­tempt nothing without a clear and indubitable vocation of God against those whom he hath erected aboue vs; and aboue all things, not to abuse the law of humane hospita­lity, and other holy bands, for to giue place to these frene­tike opinions so to abolish a pretended tyranny. I haue also to warne thee of two different sorts of men: of the which one sort is so depraued that they can heare nothing, but that which is altogether prophane; and the other is so supersticious, that they make conscience not onely to write, but also to read of holy things in verse, as though that the measure and iointure of syllabes were so con­strained as it were vnpossible to keepe the sense vnper­uerted, [Page] or at least not excessiuely obscured. Now if I per­ceiue that this my first assay may bee to thee agreeable, I shall continue more gladly my newe commenced race, in such sort that thou shalt not repent thine indulgence nor I my passed pains. But if contrarie fall, in time to come I wil be ware to lày out my smalpack in this ample Theatre of France, where there is almost as many Iudgements as beholders. A Dieu.

GSSDB.

The Argument of the whole Historie of Iudith.

AFter that the Children of Israel were deliuered from captiuitie and retur­ned to their land, the Citty of Ieru­salem reedified, the Temple builded and prepared to the seruice of the Lord, the multitude of the people, being scattered in sundry towns and places of the Land, where they liued in peaceable rest: the Lord knowing man to be negligent of GOD and his saluation, chiefly when he liues at ease, and all things frames vnto his fraile desire; to th' end that his people should not fal in such an inconuenience, would exercise them with a feareful affliction and temptation, sending vpon their Countrey an army so great in number and puissance, that made the whole earth to tremble. This expedition was vnder the Persian Monark, named in the historie Nebuchadnezar (which neuerthelesse is not his right name). His chiefe Lieutenant generall and Conducter of the whole Armie, was Holophernes, who [Page] (wheresoeuer hee came) ouerthrewe all religion, per­mitting none to inuocate or acknowledge any other God, but Nebuchadnezar, his Maister; whome hee enforced to constitute and establish for the onely God. So entred hee Iudea with intent to destroy it all: which the people perceiuing, and that his pow­er was so great that no nation could resist him, and also knowing his cruell hatred; were sore affraied, and almost driuen to extreame desperation; seeing none other thing present before them, but ruine and de­struction. And this the Lord suffered, to showe (in time) his worke to bee more wonderfull. For the people being humbled, and hauing called to the Lord for mercie and succour at his hand, hee both heard and succoured them at neede. The meane was not through strength or stoutnesse of some worthy Cap­taine; but by the hand of Iudith, a tender feeble woman, to the shame of this most proud and cruell tyrant, and all his heathen hoste. For shee cut off his head, put all his campe to slight, destroyed his men of Armes, in such wise that they fled here and there; and, seeking to saue their liues, left all their tentes and baggage. Thus the Lorde, by the weake, and those that are not regarded, makes his workes ad­mirable. By one selfe meane hee saued his owne, and executed his iustice against his enemies. In which wee haue to consider his singular ptouidence and goodnesse, and the care which he hath in especi­all for his faithfull, and all his whole Church. This Historie is intituled by the name of Iudith, because it containes the narration of her great vertues, and [Page] for that the Lorde vsed her as an instrument for the deliuerance of his people. It is not certaine who was the first Author hereof: neuerthelesse the reading of it hath beene receiued in the Church, for the doctrine and vtili­ty of the same.

THE SVMMARIE OF The I. BOOKE.

HOLOPHERN [...], Lieutenant generall and chief of the army of Ne­buch [...]dnezza [...] K o [...] the Assyrians, was in the fielde for to subdue diuers people, and amongst others, the Iewes. All the Nation is seazed with great feare, for the cruelties committed by the enemy. Then, as it fals out [...]n bruits of war, al the whole people were troubled: som sauing themselues in corners for feare, others attending (in great perplexity) some sad and Tragicall ende, the last sort calls vpon God. This while IOACHIM the chiefe Priest gouerned the people: h [...] by his letters and expresse comman­dement recalls those that were fled and scattered, and made them returne to Ierusalem: where, in presence of the Le [...]its, hee made sacrifice & ear­nest prayer vnto God to withdrawe his ire and to bee mercifull to his peo­ple: which done he enters in counsell and requires his Princes to consult vpon the cause, and consider what i [...] most [...]: and to preferre the loue of Gods law and the count [...] i [...], before all priuate things▪ the first that gainstands this exhortation is an hypocrite, and fauourer of the enemy▪ who giues coūsell to render them to HOLOPHERNE [...], calling him a Prince gratious to those that applauds to him, and inuincible in battell to those that dare resist him. But the second Lord replying [...]alously againe, de­tecteth his false hypocri [...]ie and carelesse securitie, exposing the people to the mercy of a barbarous godless enemy, before the duty they ought to their God and their countrey: and to establish in place of the true God, a wicked N [...]MROD con [...]ummat in all impiety and wickednes, to abolish all vertue and godlinesse. For he proues, that if the nations should be roo­ted out for the right religiō, God should be more honored in the death of the Iewes, then in their liues; and that it is more worthy to die Hebrewes, then to liue infidels; and free men, then slaues: Shortly, that they ought to prefer honor and duty before feare and a vaine hope to prolong their dolefull dayes. This reply encouraged all the a [...]ist [...]ts: wherof IOACHIM gaue thankes to God, and (resoluing himselfe vpon a iust defence for the onseruation of the seruice of God, and the freedome of his nation, and the liues of the innocent against this villanous inuatision) wise by de [...]a [...]ed the regiments of towns to persons conuenient; who past to their [...]igned places, each one preparing according to their power vnto the warre with courage, paine, and diligence.

The first Booke of Iudith.

I Sing the vertues of a valiant Dame,
Propositiō & summe of this worke.
Who (in defence of Iacob) ouercame
Th' Assyria [...] Prince, and slew that Pagan stout,
Who had beset Bethulia walles about.
O thou, who kept thine Izak from the thrall
Inuocation of the true God.
Of infidels, and steeld the courage small
Of feeble Iudith, with a manly strength;
With sacred furie fill my heart at length:
And, with thy Holy spirit, my spirit enspire,
For matter so diuine. Lord I require
No humain stile; but that the Reader may
Great profit reape, I ioy, thou praise alway.
And since in vulgar verse I prease to sing
Dedicatiō of the Author altred by the translatour.
This godly Pooeme to a Christian King,
To him who God in goodnesse hath erect
For princely Piller, to his owne elect:
For lawfull Lord, to raign with trueth and right:
For louesom Laurer, to the vertuous wight:
Him (I beseech) this trauell to defend,
That to his pleasure I the same may end.
VVHen Izrell was in quiet rest and peace,
And fruitfully the ground gaue her encreise,
Which seauenty yeer vntilled lay beforne,
And nothing bare but thistle, weed and thorne;
It pleased God (vpon his iust correction)
T'awake his owne, that were of his election;
[Page 3]Least that the longsom peace should them withholde,
And dull their spirits, as doth the warriour bolde,
Who spoyls his horse with pampring in the stable,
That makes him for the manaige more vnable▪
He spred their land with bands of enemies stout,
Whose cloudes of shot bedimd their land about.
Their Hoaste, with arrowes, pikes, and standards, stood
The Army of Holopherne.
As bristle-pointed, as a thorni [...] wood.
Their multitude of men, the riuers dri'd,
Which throw the wealthy Iuda sweet did slide:
So that flood Iordane finding dry his banke,
For shame he blusht, and down his head he shrank [...],
For woe that he his credit could not keep,
To send one waue, for tribute to the deep.
Scarse had the Haruest-man, with hook in hand,
Dispoylde the fruit and let the stubble stand:
Scarse had the hungry Gleaner put in bindc
The scattered grain, the Shearer left behinde:
And scarse the flapping flaile began to thresh,
When vnto Iacob, newes was brought afresh,
That Holophern his frontiers did inuade,
And past all Rivers, straits, and murders made
So vile, that none he left that drew the breath;
But olde and young, he put to sodain death:
The sucking babes, vpon their mothers knee,
His cruell cut-throates made them all to dee.
Then like a flock of sheep, that doth beholde
A wolfe come from the wood vpon their fold,
Shapes no defence, but runnes athwart the lands,
And shortly makes of one, a hundreth bands:
So Isaaks sonnes, indreading for to feel
This tyrant, who pursued them at the heel,
The Hebrews
Dissundring fled, and sought their liues to saue
In hils, and dales, and euery desert caue.
The sheep heard of his flocke had now no care:
Fear of the e­nemy.
But fearing death, fled to som mountain bare.
[Page 4]The Crafts man now his lumes away hath layde:
The Marchant lest his traffike and his trade,
To hide himself more safely in a vault,
Then in a Rampier, to sustain th' assault.
The Lords esteemde them selfes in surer holde
In Dennes of beasts, then castles gilt with golde.
Fear lent the wings for aged folke to flie,
And made them mount to places that were hie.
Fear made the wofull women for to bear
Their cradles sweet to hilles that highest were:
Fear made the wofull childe to waile and weep,
For want of speed, on foot and hand to creep:
All where was nothing heard but hideous cries,
And pitious plaints that did the harts agrise.
O Lord (sayd they) wilt thou still, day by day,
The arrowes of thine anger neuer stay?
Affliction causeth pray­er.
Wilt thou that Calde conquere vs again?
Shall Iuda yet the Heathen yoke sustain?
Wilt thou again that they make every towne,
But stony heaps of houses casten down?
Again shall sacrilegious fire deuoure
Thy holy house where we do thee adore?
Then Ioachim the priest of God most hie,
Who ouer Iuda then had chief degrie,
Stood like a Pylot stout in tempest great,
Who seeing winde and weather for to threat,
Yet to his mates, his fear no terrour drawes,
Nor leaues his ship vnto the wrackfull wawes;
But, with disguising fear, his face vp casts,
And stoutly doth gain-stand the balefull blasts:
Right so this prudent prelate sent, in haste,
Two hundreth men to passe where men were plac't
In places strong, and thence commanded them
For to repair vnto Ierusalem.
Now since th' Erernall did reueale his will,
Vpon the sacred top of Syna Hill,
[Page 5]The Arke of God which wisedom more did holde,
In Tables two, then all the Greeks haue tolde;
And more then euer Rome could comprehend,
In huge of learned books that they pend:
Sam. 1. 4.
Long wandred it throw trybes, throw kin and kin,
Sam. 2. 6.
And found no certain place of resting in.
Yea, somtime it the shamefull spoyl hath been
To sacrilegious hands of Palestine,
Vntill that time, that Iessies holy race,
For euer lodged it in Iebus place.
But, for that Dauids hands with blood were fi [...]d,
Ierusalem.
Throu infinits of humains he had kild;
The king of peace would haue a king of rest
To build his Temple farre aboue the best:
Sam. 2. 7.
His house, whose front vpreard so high and eaven,
That lightlied earth, and seem'd to threat the heaven,
Vntill that wicked time a tyrant vile,
Of name and deed that bare the semble stile,
Nabuchad­nezar.
That did this king, that building braue he wrackt,
And to the sacred ground all whole it sackt.
Yet when, long after, Abrahms holy race,
Of Tyger banks had left the captiue place,
Esd. 6.
With combers great they redified with pain,
That most renowmed house of God again.
Which though vnto the first it seemd as small,
As to a Princes house, a shepheards hall:
And though the hugenes were not as it was,
Yet sure the height and beauty did surpas
And overseilde the famous work of Pharie,
Ephesus Temple, and the tombe of Carie,
The Rhodian Collos, and the Caldean wall,
That Semirame set vp with tourrets tall.
Also the wondrous work of this same Temple
Might serue a C [...]esiphon for his exemple:
Lysippus eke to carue by square and line,
Or guide Apelles pensile most divine.
[Page 6]Heer in this place, all Izrel, most deuoute,
Withdrew themselues to Salem round about;
As when the Heav'n his sluces opens wide,
And makes the floods vpon the ground to glide,
The brooks that breaks adoun from diuers hils
With course impetuous till one deep distils.
Amongst the Dames, that there deuoutest were
The holy Iudith, fairest did appear:
Like Phoebus that aboue the starre doth shine:
It seem'd that she was made on moulde diuine.
This primate then assisted with the kinne
Of great Eleazar (priests whose head and chinne
Was neuer shav'n) deuoutly on he preast:
A pearled Myter on his balmed creast,
And with a holy Alb, with garnettes spred,
And golden Belles, his sacred bodie cled:
And slew, and burnt, the bulks (as was the guise)
Of many a kid, and kalfe for sacrifise:
And with their blood, the Altars hornes he dyed,
And praying thus, to God immortall cryed.
"O Lord of Hoastes, we com not vnto thee,
Prayer.
"To wey our merits with thy maiestie:
"Nor to protest before thy heauenly might,
"That sacklesly, thy scourge doth on vs light:
"But rather we confesse (as true it is)
"Our sinnes haue iustly merite more then this.
"But Lord if thou thy couenant would forget,
"Which thou with Abrahm made, and so wilt set
"For mercy great, thy iustice most seuear,
"Thou should a greater plague vpon vs rear.
"Change then our proces from thy iustice seat,
"And saue vs at thy throne of mercy great.
"Forgiue vs Lord, and holde, farre from vs all,
"These plagues, that on our heads are like to fall.
Alas, what helpeth vs thy heavy stroke,
To binde our necks to such a servile yoke,
[Page 7]Wherewith th' Assyrian tyrants long haue grieved
Thine Izak till their bondage thou relieved;
If so this natiue ground that new is tild,
If so these Hostries new with folke refild,
If so (alas) our chaste and modest Dames,
Our infants young, our Virgins good of fames,
Should be a pray to Ammon, and to Perse,
To Calde, and the mutine Parthian fierse;
If that we see this Altar made prophane,
And witches it abuse with Idols vain:
Yet Lord if thou no pittie on vs take,
At least great God, do (for thy glories sake)
Haue pitie on this holy building now,
Where not a God hath sacrifice but thou:
Where not a God but thou hast residence,
To feel the sauour sweet of frankensence.
Hold back (O Lord) the Caldean cressets bright
From these rich Cedar vaults of stately hight.
Preserue these vessels, ornaments of gold,
From sacrilegious hands of neighbours bolde:
And let the blood of beasts before thy face,
Thy Iustice stay, and grant thy seruants grace.
This prayer done, the people went their way,
Then Ioachim conuen'd, that present day,
The princes all of Iuda, and them praid,
Gainst this mischief for counsell, and thus sayd:
Companions, if your former zeal remain,
If ardent loue to God ye still retain:
If wife, or childe, may cause your care or loue,
Which should the Centers of your senses moue:
If in your brests a noble hart doth bide,
Let deed bear witnes at this wofull tide.
For, sauing God and your foresight, in deed
Tis done, tis done with vs, and all our seed:
And after this, th' Immortall shall not see
This altar fume before his maiestee.
When th' Air is calme, and still; as dead and deaf,
Comparison.
And vnder Heav'n quakes not an aspin leaf,
When Seas are calme, and thousand vessels fleet
Vpon the sleeping seas with passage sweet,
And when the variant winde is still and lowne,
The cunning Pylot never can be knowne.
But when the cruell storme doth threat the Bark
To drowne in deeps of pits infernall dark,
While tossing tears both father, mast, and sail,
While mounting seems the Azur sky to skail,
While driues perforce vpon som deadly shore,
There is the Pylot knowen, and not before.
Alas, I pray you then what care and strifes
Haue we to keep our honours, goods, and lifes?
Forget not then the care of this same place,
Your countreyes weale, Gods glory and his grace:
But humbly giue your selues into the hand
Of God most high, and with a holy brand
"Repurge your spirits from euerie hatefull sinne,
"Which causeth God his Iustice to begin:
And see what may to God be agreeable,
For Iacobs weal, and for you profitable.
This said: an ancient traytour, from his youth,
Who fostred gall in hart, with hony in mouth,
Enforcing from his eyes som fained tear
(To cloke his malice) spacke as ye shall hear:
My tongue me fails, my hair for dread vp-starts,
My heavy spirit from pensiue corps departs,
The oration of a subtill worldling.
When I be think me of yone tyrant stout,
Who hath bed round the world with bloud about,
Approching threats our townes with fiery flames,
Our selfs with death, dishonour to our Dames:
Yet when I call to minde the curtsie great,
That this great Lord doth vse, who doth intreat▪
Not onely those that beastiall are become,
And haue their hope in brutall Idols [...] ▪
[Page 9]But euen to zealous folke who do embrace
The faith, and law (like vs) of Abrams race:
Who, being well aduisde, did humbly sue
His pardon, and escap't his vengeance due;
Then thanke I God, who sends vs such a foe,
As plagues the proude, and lets the humble goe:
For we assoone shall vanquish him with teares,
As will be long to wrack him with our weares.
Then whil'st we may haue choise of eitherstate,
Of peace or warres, his fauour or his hate;
Let vs not follow (seeing skath at hand)
The follie of our fathers, to gainstand:
But rather let vs beare another saile,
And serue his king as best for our availe.
But think not yet, that I this counsell giue
For craft, or warrant forthy selfe to liue:
For I haue els my daies so neerely spent,
That for to dye I could be well content.
Th' Assyrian neede not in my brest to strike
His fethred Dart, nor yet his trembling pike:
Yea, if my youth to me should eft returne,
And make my youthly bloode within me burne,
So honour I my God, and country deare,
That for to dye for them, I would not feare,
As Sampson did, if so my death might yield
The victory of the Uizroy, and the field.
But most I (feare) least we, with curious zeale,
Fight for the lawe, yet fight against her weale,
Against our selfs, to bring so great a wrack,
That proud, and cruell tyrants shall vs sack,
And grow in pride (suppressing Iudas strength)
For to contemne the glory of God at length.
For, Israell being lost, who shall ensue,
To render here to God deuotions due?
What people spars [...]d on this earthly ball
From Indian shoare to where the Sunne doth fall,
[Page 10]Or from the Climate of the northren blast,
Vnto that place where sommer ay doth last;
Hath God elect, save Israell for his owne
Vpon this Hill to have his glory showne?
At this the valiant Cambris of renowne,
With righteous rage grew pale and gan to frowne,
And brake the silence with a vehement stile,
His courage mov'd the Princes all the while.
Nay rather where I stand let ope the ground
(Quoth he) to swallow me in pit profound:
Yea rather righteous Heav'n let firy blast
Light on my head that thou on Sodom cast,
Ere I my malice cloke or oversile,
In giving Izac such a counsell vile.
For, if the Leader of this folk profane
Vpon our bodies onely sought to raigne,
Although that we haue dearely bought alway
Our freedom from our first maternall day
(Which dearer is then gold for to be kept)
I would assent, the holy Church except:
But since more pride this tyrants heart enroules
To lay a greater burden on our soules,
Who are the vassels of that onely King,
That Thunder sends and scepters down doth thring:
'Should we forget him who made vs of nought,
'More then all wondrous things that he hath wrought,
Who treats and loues vs like our Father & King,
Still vnder shadowes of his wondrous wing?
Will he that we receiue a Prince ambitious?
For God, a gods contemner, Nemrode vitious?
Whose beastly life is of so vile a fame,
That of a man he merits not the name?
Goe to, goe to, let men for men assaye
With sword and shot to deale it as we may:
The victory lies not in mortall hands,
Nor barded horse, nor force of armed bands.
[Page 11]These are but second instruments of God;
Who, as him list, may send them euen or od.
But if our soueraigne God willes such annoy;
That folke vncircumcis'd our land destroy,
Because we him offend while we haue breath;
Alas, yet honour, honour him in death:
And if we lose and all be ouercome,
Let patience winne the glory of martyrdome.
Forsooth, though Assurs soldiers braue and bold
Extinguish quite the race of Izak old,
Yet shall they not deface the liuing Lorde,
As these Apostats falsly do afforde.
For he, who peopled first this world so round,
But with one man, from whom the rest abound:
And who long after, in an arke of wood,
Repaird the waste, made by the genrall flood;
May he not eke transforme the hardned stone,
To people who will honour him alone?
And may not he do now, as he hath donne,
Who gaue to Abrams barren wife a sonne?
Them giuing Children moe, then in the heauen
Are starrie Circles, light as firie leauen:
And mo, then Northren windes (that driues the Rack)
Of Cyrene sands in number can compack;
Who will obserue his lawe an hundreth folde
More zealously then wee, who should it holde.
'Then, fathers chose you warres: for better tels,
'To lose like Iewes, then winne like infidels.
'Let not the greede of gaine your hearts attame,
'To leaue the right: preferre not feare to shame.
Scarce enden was th' Oration of this Lord,
When all the Princes (with a sound accord)
By word and deed confirmde his good aduise.
The chiefe Priest, gladdest of this enterprise,
Vnto the heauen held vp his hands and face,
And sayd, I thanke the Lord, who of his grace
[Page 12]'Conioynes no lesse our wils, then bolds our harts:
'A sure presage, that God is on our parts.
This done, vnto his princes he diuides
The tribes and townes, and ordaines them for guides;
For feare least some of them led with ambition
In Izrell might stirre-vp some sedition.
So they withdrew, and stoutly did prouide,
This furious storme of Mars for to abide.
Then as ye see sometime the honie Bees
Comparison.
Exerce themselfs on buddes of sweetest trees,
Where they sometime assault the buzzing waspe,
That comes too neere, their flowrs away to claspe;
Or when they hony draw from smelling Time,
Or from the palme, or Roses of the prime:
And how they draw their wax with wondrous art,
Obseruing iointure iust in euerie part,
Both vp and downe they build ten thousand shops,
With equal spaceful fild vpto the tops:
Or where the master Bee, of thousand bands,
Conducts the rest in legions throw the lands,
Who daily keeps within their Cities wall:
Their house, their work, their lawes and maners all:
So thus the sonnes of Iacob ply'd their paine,
VVith hote desire their quarrell to sustaine.
Some built the breaches of their broken town,
Preparations of defence.
That Heaven, and Panim yre, had casten down.
Some other found a cautell, gainst the Ramme,
To saue the wall vnbroken where it camme.
Thus Iacobs towns on all sides had their flanks,
VVith Gabions strong, with bulwarks and with banks.
Some others busie went and came in routs
To terrace towers, some vnder baskets louts:
Some others also wanting time and might
To strength their towns, yet vs'd all kinde of slight,
To dig vp ditches deepe, for cisterns good,
To draw them to the best and neerest flood.
While th' Armorers with hammers hard and great
On sti [...]hies strong the sturdy steel [...] doth [...]eate,
And makes thereof a corpslet or a [...]acke,
Sometime a helme, sometime a mace doeth make,
While sheepherds they enarme vnus'd to danger,
While simple birds, and whiles the wandring stranger;
Thetilling Culter then aspeare was made,
The crooked Sithe became an euened blade:
The people foode forgets, no ease they take,
Some on a horse, some on his proper backe,
Some on a Cart, some on a Cammell beares
Corne, wine, and flesh, to serue for many yeares;
As done these Emets, that in sommer tide,
Comparison.
Comes out in swarmes their houses to prouide:
In haruest time (their toyle may best be seene
In paths where they their cariage bring betweene)
Their youth they send to gather-in the store,
Their sick and old at home do keep the [...]kore,
And ouer grainels great they take the charge,
Oft turning corne within a chamber large
(When it is dight) least it do spro [...]te or seede,
Or come againe, or weevels in it breede.
FINIS.

THE SVMMARIE OF The II. BOOKE.

VVE haue heard before, how the people of God vsed all diligence to maintaine the libertie of Gods true religion & their Countrey. Now is set forth the extreame pride of Ho [...]ophernes, who thought with one word to ouerthrow them all. But to make himselfe some pastime, he assembleth his Councell to vnderstand of them what people they were, that inhabited the mountaines in the Frontieres of IVDEA, that durst make him resistance. Vpon this he is informed by the mouth of one of his chiefe captaines, of that which he looked not for: to wi [...]te▪ a discourse of the History of the IEVVES, from the time of ABRAHAMS com­ming out of Caldea to enter into the land of Promise, vnto them deliue­rance from the Captiuitie of Babylon, following the order of the times quoted by the holy scriptures▪ with the praises of the prouidence of the almightie God, in defending of his Church, and a sharpe threatning to those that dare presume to disquiet the same. The chiefe Counsellers of the Heathen hearing this, became more trueth incen [...]ing their Generall to murder this Captaine. But HOLOPHERNE with vaine ambition defer [...]eth their bloody request; and, after that he had outraged him in words, he further blasphemeth the liuing Lord. And lastly caused him to be bound hand and [...]oote, and so caried neere to the Citie of Bethu­lia: where he is by the bes [...]oged Souldiers brought into the Citie, and there declareth his case; exhorting them to continue constant, to God, and their Countrey, and promiseth his assistance to his liues end.

THE SECOND BOOKE of IVDITH.

Now Holophern in Scythique Rampier stood,
With standards pight of youthly heathen blood;
Of nothing thinking lesse, then warre and fight,
But in deuising pastime day and night:
Till he was war, that Iacob would aduance,
Against his Panim force and arrogance.
A packe of what? a packe of countrey clownes
(Quoth Holophern) that them to battell bownes,
[Page 15]With beggers, bolts, and [...] to arrest
My warriours strong▪ with whom I haue supprest
Both Tigris swift, and faire Euphrates stream,
People of A­sia.
With frosty Taurus and rocke Niphathoame.
Are they not wrackt? ye Cheefs of Moabits,
And valiant Ephrem, ye strong Ammoni [...]s:
Ye that as neighbours knowes this folke of olde,
That scattered thus, doe all these mountaines hold:
Tell me what men are they, of what off-spring,
What is their force, their customes and their king?
'For, wise is he that wots with whom he playes,
'And halfe is victor, as the Prouerbe sayes.
The Lord of Ammon then, with reverence due,
Right wisely spa [...]k the Duke; and yet, for true,
He was a Panim both of faith, and kinde:
But so (with fained tongue) he spake his minde,
And all the Hebrews acts discourst so well,
That Esdr' and Moses seemd in him to dwell,
As did that sprite that made the Prophet blesse
Num. 23.
The Israelites, whom Balec did addresse
To curse them all, and wage his couetous toung,
Which spake contrarie that he would haue soung:
So please it you my Lord, I shall descrie
The storie of Izrell: yet, so doing, I
Am like the modest Bee, that takes but small
Of every flowr, though she haue choise of all:
For where she list, the sweetest off she crops.
These people that ye see on mountain tops,
A briefe dis­course of the estate of the Iewes.
Encamped in these craggs, are of the line
Of Abraham; who (seruing God diuine,
That mighty God of Gods who creat all,
And firmely knit and built this mighty ball)
Came to this Land that then was tild and sowen,
Gen. 12.
And by the name of wealthy Canaan knowen:
Where onely God his wealth did multiplie,
In goods, and siluer, gold, and familie.
[Page 16]And when of age he was an hundred year,
His wife eake barren, neuer child did [...]ear;
God gaue them Isaac, swearing that his seed
Should many Scepters rule, and Land bespreed:
But, when that holy Abraham was old,
And hoped well the promise made should hold
(O pitious case) Th' immortall voice him spake,
And bad him sacrifice his sonne Isaac.
Then like a ship between two windes beset,
Gen. 22.
Vpon the raging sea on both sides bet,
In doubtsom fear, [...]e wots what way to keep,
Least one of them confound her in the deep:
Makes close her ports, and slides on Neptunes back;
At pleasure of the hoisteous windes to wrack:
So felt this Hebrew, in his heart to fight
Both loue, and duety, reason, faith and right.
Nor wist he way to take: his troubled soule,
From this to that continually did roule,
Vntill the time, his heav'nly fear and loue
His naturall earthly pitie did remoue.
Then hauing built the fire and all, anone
His sonne he layd vpon the sacred stone,
And with a trembling hand the curtlasse drewe,
With heavied arme the stroke for to ensewe;
When, lo, th' Eternall staid the balefull knife,
And down it fell, and spaird the guiltless life.
Then God, content to haue so great assaye
Of Abrams faith, defended him alway.
Of Isaac, Iacob came, and Iacob than
Of valiant sonnes had twelue in Canaan,
Who (forç't by famine) fled to Aegypt Land:
Where for a while, their dwelling good they fand;
Exod. 1
And grew so great in number, that they were
A fear to those that had them harbourd there.
And though th' Egyptians dayly them opprest,
And burthens on their sweating backs were drest:
[Page 17]Yet like the valiant Palme they did sustaine
Their peisant weight, redressing vp againe.
This mov'd King Pharo to command through all
Great Nilus Land, where raine doth neuer fall,
He bad his folke should slay (whereso they came)
All children males the seede of Abraham;
Assoone as they from mothers wombs were free,
Their day of birth should be their day to dee.
O cruell Tiger, thinks thou that this deede
Of Izak may cut-off th' immortal seede?
Exclamatiō.
Well may it stay the sucklings for to liue,
And kill th' accustomde frute that heaven doth giue:
But, spite of this, men Iacobs seede shall see
In flouring state to rule all Cananee:
The first of every house shall feele the hand
And wrath of God against this law to stand.
It fortun'd Pharo's daughter, with her traine
Of Ladies faire, to play them on the Plaine,
Vpon the shoare where Gossan floode doth slide:
Where, after many pastimes they had tride,
She hears an enfant weepe amongst the reedes.
Then, iudging it for one of Izaks seeds,
As so it was (yet, with Paternall feare)
Against his pitious plaint she clos'd her eare:
But after, vewing in that infants face
I know not what of fauour and of grace,
Which did presage his greatnes to ensew;
Loue vanquisht lawe, and pittie dread withdrew:
So from the floode not onely she him caught,
But curiously she causde him to be taught,
As her owne sonne. O sonne elect of God,
Admiration.
That once shall rule the people with thy rod,
Thou haste not found a seruant for thy mother,
But euen a Queene to nurse thee and none other.
"Now see how God, alwaies for his elect,
Note.
"Of wicked things can draw a good effect:
[Page 18]"His prouidence hath made a wicked thing,
"Vnto his owne, great profit for to bring.
"When Iosephs brether sold him like a slaue,
Gen. 41
"He after came a kingly place to haue.
"Of Haman proude the darke enuious hate
"Brought Mardoche the iust to great estate.
"For, where his enemie sought his shamefull end,
Est.
"The same vnto the worker he did send.
This Hebrew Moses once as he did keepe
On Horeb mount his father Iethro his sheepe:
Father in Law.
He saw a fearefull sight, a flaming fire
Enclose a thorny bush whole and entire:
From whence a mighty voice vnto him spake,
Which made the ground betweene the Poles to shake:
I am that One, is, was, and ay shall bee,
Exod. 3.
Who create all of nought, as pleaseth mee:
I can destroie, I am the great, and iust,
The faire, the good, the Holy one to trust,
Whose strong right hand this world hath set in frame,
I am th' Almighty God of Abraham:
I plague my foes, and grant my seruants grace,
All those that knowledge me, and all their race.
Then follow thou my will, and quickly go,
From me, to that prophane King Pharao,
Who holds the towrs of Memphis and the field,
Of Nilus shore that rich encrease doth yeeld;
And bid him let my people freely goe:
But, if with hardned hart, he will not so,
Stretch out thy staffe for to confirme thy charge,
And it shall turne into a Serpent large.
And this he shortly did, the thing to proue:
It quickned lo, and on the ground gan moue.
(O Miracle) he saw without all [...]aile,
It grew a Serpent fell with head and taile:
Which crangling crept, and ranne from trod to trod
In many a knot, till time th' Almighty God
[Page 19]Commanded him the same for to retaine,
Which to the former shape returnd againe.
Thus siling humain sight, it changed form,
One while a Rod, one while a creeping worm.
Then armed with this staffe, the Lord him sent,
The proud idolatrous princes to torment.
He, in the name of God, full oft did pray
The King, to let the Hebrews go their way,
Vnto the desert where he did deuise,
To offer God a pleasant sacrifise.
But Pharo clos'd his eare against the Lord,
And to his holy word would not accord.
Then God th' Eternall wrought by Moses hand,
Exod. 4
To approue his word, great wonders in that Land.
For, he not only Riuers turnd to blood,
Exod. 7
But also all the heads of Nilus flood
(Which watreth wealthy Egypt with his sources)
Was turnd to blood amid their siluer courses:
So that the king himselfe, his life to feede,
Was faine to vse such water for his neede.
This Moses made the froggs in millions creep,
Exod. 8
From floods and ponds, and scrall from ditches deep:
Who cled all Misraim with their filthy frie,
Euen on the king and all his family.
To young and old of either Sexe that while,
Exod. 9
He sent a plage of scalding botches vile:
So that the Memphites, layd on beds to rest,
VVith vncouth venim daily were opprest:
To Medciners, the medcine valled not;
So sore the poisond plague did vnder cot.
He also smote the for rests, herbs, and grase,
The flocks of sheep and euery beast that was:
Throw poison of th' infected ground so [...]ell,
The Morrain made them all to die or swell:
So that the Shepheard, by the riuer side,
His flock hath rather dead then sick espide.
[Page 20]He, earthly dust, to lothly lice did change,
And dimd the Ayre, with such a cloud so strange
Of flyes, grashoppers, hornets, clegs and clocks,
Exod. 10
That day and night throw houses flew in flocks,
That with incisions sharpe did sheare the skinnes
Of Aegypt Panims, throw their proudest ynnes.
And when the heauen most quiet seemd and fair,
Th' Eternall sent a tempest through the air,
And (at this Hebrew's prayer) such a reare
Of thunder fell, that brought them all in feare.
Here lay a Bull, that woodran while he brast:
There lay the Keeper, burnt with thunder blast:
And now the forrest high, that hid the air,
With many a spreeding arme, is spoild and bair:
So that the sap that grafters keeps with paine,
Which should restore the stock, and leafe againe,
Is lost (alas) in lesse then halfe a day,
The husbands hoped fruite gone to decaye.
What more? th' Eternall darkned so the skye,
For three dayes space none could another spye:
That cloude, so thick, the Memphis rebels fand,
That they might firmly feele it with their hand:
It seemd that Phoebus left his ancient Round,
And dwelt three dayes with men of vnderground.
"And as the sunne at one selfe time is felt,
"With heate to harden clay, and wax to melt:
"So Amrams sacred sonne, in these proiects,
"Made one selfe cause, haue two contraire effects.
"For, Izak humbly knew the Lord diuine:
"But Pharo, more and more, did still repine;
"Like to the corpslet colde, the more 'tis het
"With hammers hard, more hardnes it doth get.
Yet when his son was slaine by th' Angels hand,
Exod. 11 Heyre.
Amongst the eldest heires of Aegypt Land;
He was afraide, and let them go that night,
Where pleased them to serue their God of might:
[Page 21]Who sent a cloud before them all the day,
By night a Piller of fire, to guide their way.
But so dainly this tyrant did gainstand
His former graunt, and armd all Aegypt Land
With hote pursute against all Iacobs hoste,
That were encamped on the Red-sea coste.
Such noyse was neuer, since the foraigne tide
Brak throw Gibraltar, when it did diuide
The Calp, from Abill, or when Sicill strand
Diuorced was from her Italia Land;
As was in these two campes: that one, with boste,
That other with their wailings fild the coast:
It seemd the sounds of furious horse and men,
With hornes and pypes, to heaven resounded then.
Exod. 14. They mur­mure.
O Iuggler said the Iewes, what hatefull strife
Hath moued thee to change our happie life?
What? are we fishes, for to swimme the seas?
Or are we foules, to fly whereas we please,
Beyond the Sea? or ouer hilles to soare?
Was there not graues for vs on Gossen shoare;
But, in this desart heer to dy, or haue
The blood-red Ocean Sea, to be our graue?
Then Moses, with his quickned rod, that tide,
He smote the sea, which (fearfull) did diuide;
Discouering land that sunne had neuerseene,
And staid the sea, as there two walles had been:
Which made a passage dry of ample space,
For all to passe who were of Isaacs race:
But contrarie the Red-sea did deuower
The barbrous tyrant with his mighty power,
Who proudly durst himselfe to that present,
Which opened but to saue the innocent.
O happy race, since God doth arme for thee,
Both fire and aire, the windes, the clouds and see
(Which all vnto thy pay haue whole inclinde)
Let not consuming time weare out of minde
[Page 22]So rare a grace; but let thine elders shewe
This to their noble seed that shall ensewe:
And let their sonnes, vnto their sonnes recorde
Throw all the world these wonders of the Lord.
God, with Coelestiall breade (in time of need)
His loued Iacob fortie yeare did feede:
Exod. 6.
And gaue them water from the solide stone,
Which of it selfe had neuer moisture none.
Their caps, their coates, and shooes, that they did weare,
God kept all fresh and new, full fortie yeer.
And farther, least their soules, for want of food,
Exod. 20.
Should faint or faile; he, of his mercies good,
Gaue them his law, pronounced by his voice,
His spirit to theirs, in him for to reioice:
So teaching them, and vs in precepts ten,
Our dutie first to God, and next to men;
To th' end that man to man should truely stand,
And ioyne with God, and neuer break that band.
This mightie Prophet dead; Duke Iosua than,
Iosua.
Their Captaine stout, this Palmy province wan:
Throw might of God, he Scepters did subdew
Of thirtie tyrant Kings, whom all he slew.
At his commandement like the thunder sound,
The Rampers strong fell fearefully to ground;
Before the Tortuse, or the horned Ramme,
Had bet, or mined, from their wall a dramme:
For, euen of hornes, full hoarse, their simple blast
An engine was, their towres adoune to cast.
He pray'd the heaven for to prolong the day,
And made the horses of the sun to stay;
To th' end, the night should not with cloud be cled,
To saue the faithles, that before him fled.
Now when this Panim scourge (with age at last)
Had left this life, and vnto heauen past;
Then Isaac had of Rulers sundry men,
Whose glorious acts deserues eternall pen.
[Page 23]Who knowes not Samgar, Barac, and Othoniell?
Iudges.
Tha valiant Delbor, Ahud and good Samuell?
What Land (O Sampson) rings not thy renowne,
Who sole, vnarmed, bet an Army down?
What laude to Iephthe iustly might we low,
Had he not hurt his owne, through hastie vow?
What hill or dale, what flood or fixed ground,
[...] not the famous Gedeons praise resound?
In later time, their kings some good, some bad,
Of all the Hebrew state the ruling had.
Had I the Harpe of Dauid (holy King)
None other sound but Dauid would I sing.
[...]uen as all the deeds that Dauid did,
[...]ot be done by none, but by Dauid:
So none but Dauid, on his yv'rie harpe,
The glorious praise of God could onely carpe.
But, here, his praise I prease not to proclaime,
Least I throw want of skill obscure the same:
Yet leaue I not his Son, whom grace diuine
Salomon.
Made no lesserich, then wondrous of engine:
Whose doctrine drew to Salem from all wheare,
A hundred thousand wyzards him to heare:
From Araby, from Ynde, to Affrik shore;
His toung entyste them with his cunning lore.
Iosias.
Shall I forget the kings, who ouerthrew
Idolatrie, and plaç't religion dew?
Shall I forget that King, who saw descend
Hezekiah. Ierusalem. Asa.
A winged Hoast, Solyma to defend?
Shall I forget him, who before his eene,
Enchast the bands of Chus on Gerar greene?
Shall I forget him, who preparing fight
Iosaphat.
'Gainst Ammon, Seir, and Moabs Idoll might;
Saw ech of their three hoasts on others fall,
And with them selfs their selfs, disconfit all?
Yet, for their sinnes God gaue them in the hands
Of Calde Kings, who conquered all their Lands:
[Page 24]And took King Zedekee, and made an end
Of that Impire; till God did Cyrus send,
Who set them free, and gaue them of his grace
Two rulers of their owne. And now this place
Is kept by sacred Ioachim, whose powers
Consists not onely within Sions towers;
But, Edom, Sidon, Moab, and we all
Do knowe his strength and knowes him principall.
Now Sir, you hear the progresse first and last
Of Is [...]acs race in order as it past.
One while the Lord enhaunst them to the skie:
One while he drew them downe in deepe to lie.
'But were he Iudge, or Prince, or King of might,
'Who reul'd the Hebrews policie aright,
'While they observ'd th' alliance made before
'By their forefathers, who to God them swore,
'In happy state all others they surpast:
'And vnderfoote their proudest foes were cast.
'And all the world, that their destruction sought,
'Against their state, and name preuailed nought.
'But, contrary, as oft as they astraide
'From God their guide, he on their shoulders laid
'The Barbare yock of Mo [...]b, and oft-times
'Of Palestine and Ammon for their crimes,
'The heauie hand of God was seen to be,
'On their ingratefull infidelity.
Now, if so be that any odious sinne
Prouoke their Lord his Iustice to begin:
Then mine not you their towers and tourets tall,
Nor bring the wrack som engine to their wall:
Nor place thy battries braue, nor yet aduenter,
With thy courageous camp, the breach to enter.
For, if Libanus mount, or Carmell faire
Or Niphathaei should parke them from repaire:
If Ynde and Nilus with the Rhene and Rhone
To close them round about, should run in one,
[Page 25]For their defence: yet shall they notwithstand
(With all their force) thy flurious fighting [...]and▪
But if they haue not broke the [...]and indeed
That God with Abraham made and with his seede;
Beware, my Lord, beware to touch or moue
These people that the Lord so much doth loue.
For, though south Aùtan would dispeople his Lands,
And bring the blackest Moores to swarme in bands:
If Northren Boreas, vnder his banners colde,
Would bring to field his hideous Souldiers bold:
If Zephyrus from sweet Hesperia coste,
Would send his chosen armed men to Hoste:
If Eurus, for to aide thine enterprise,
Would bring his men from whence the sun doth rise:
Yet all their numbers hudge, and forces strong,
Can neuer do to Israell any wrong,
Nor hurt one hair, if their great God say nay▪
That God will them defend, because he may
With one small blast confound all Kings that darre
(As thou doest now) prouoke him vnto warre.
Then like as ye behold the quiet see
Not raging when the windes ingendring be:
But, blauncheth first, then growes in little space,
In wallowing waves to flowe with fomy face,
And lastly beates the banks, and ships vnshrouds,
With wrackfull waues vphoist to highest clouds:
So, almost all the princes of that hoste,
With inward anger gan to be emboste,
As oft as they the prayse of God did heare;
So to his speech encreast their spitefull chear:
Which, in the end, to blasphemy them brought,
Th' immortall God of Gods to set at nought.
Kill and cut off (quoth they) this traytour fine,
Whose subtill talke, with all his whole engine,
Pretends to saue these Hebrews from our hands,
And threats vs with vaine Gods of forraine Lands:
[Page 26]For if it please you (noble prince) to send
But twenty men of value that are [...]end,
Within your camp, these recklesse rebels then
Shall be a pray to all your warlike men.
(O wicked wight!) but then the Uizroy stout,
With power, appeasde the murmur of the route:
And to him said: O shameles Prophet thou,
What Sibyll, or what charmer tell me now?
What Diuell or Daemon so doth thee inspire,
That Izrell shall of vs haue his desire?
Such men, as with no God can be content,
But such as pleased Moses to inuent
Of his owne head: a God that hath no power
[...]lasphemic.
For to deliuer them, nor thee this hower.
Haue we an other God, or king of kings,
Then our great Persian Monark now that rigns?
Whose barded horse ore runns the Nations all,
Whose armed men, out of these mountaines tall,
Shall rake these Rebels that from Egypt came
To this, where they vniustly keep the same.
Dye, dye, thou shalt, O wretch: thy toung vntrue,
And double heart, shall haue their wages due.
But, foole, what speake I thus? no haste, a while:
Thy blood (O villaine) shall not me defile.
So iust a paine, so soone thou shalt not haue,
For thy deceipt, so soone to go to graue.
'For, in a wretches sodaine death, at ones
'Their long some ill is buried with their bones.
But, to that end I may prolong thy strife,
In Bethull town I will prolong thy life:
Where euerie howre, thou shalt haue such affraye
To dye vndead a thousand times a day,
Till time with them who thou so strong hast thought
To shamefull end with them thou shalt be brought.
What? wherefore temblest thou and art so pale?
What sorrow makes thy heart so soone to faile?
[Page 27]If God be God, as thou right now hast said,
Then of thy faith giue witnesse, vndismaid.
A marshall of the campe then being prest
(Who was not yet so cruell as the rest)
There tooke this demy Pagan ( Ammons Lord)
And sent him bound to Bethull (with a cord).
Then euen as in his clawes the kite doth beare
The chirping chicken, throu the weather cleare,
While that the cackling hen, belowe on ground,
Bewayles her bird with vaine lamenting sound:
So in like woe his worthy men were left,
For that so worthy a chief was them bereft.
The Townsmen then beholding neere their wall
These Miscreants, to armour straight they fall,
Y [...]lad in plate and mail, and runnes in bands,
And fearcely fronts their foes with steele in hands;
As fast as done the riuers doun the hils,
That with their murmur hudge the deepes vpfils.
The Heathen, seeing this, retirde away,
And left the Lord of Ammon for a pray
To th' Hebrew soldiers; who did him constraine,
Though he was willing, with them to remaine.
When all the folke with prease about him past,
His eyes and hands vp to the pole he cast,
'And thus he spake: O God that great abides
'Vpon th' Immortall seat, and iustly guides
'The ruled course of heav'n, whose liuing spreete
'Reuiuing spreds, and through all things doth fleete;
'I render thee, O God, immortall prayse,
'For that before I end my wofull dayes,
'Now from th' vnfruitfull stock thou doest me race,
'To graft me in thy fruitfull tree of grace;
'Where in despite of all contrary strife,
'I shall bring forth the fruits of lasting life.
And ye, O Iacobs sonnes, thinke not at all
That I of purpose captiue am and thrall,
[Page 28]So that I meane hereby your wrack to bring,
For, God he knowes, I thinke not such a thing:
But I am captiue thus, because I tolde,
What wondrous workes the Lord hath done of olde,
To you and your forefathers euer still,
Deliv'ring them that would obey his will.
Then doubt not you a thousand [...]la [...]ing flags,
Nor horrible cries of [...]leous heathen hags:
Coole not your hearts. For, if the world about
Would compasse you with all their warriours stout
(Prouiding first ye seek your helpe at need
At power diuine, and not at mortall seede)
You surely shall see Mocmurs renning flood,
Made red, with Assurs hoste and Ethnique blood:
Ye surely shall see men, not vsde to fight,
Sub due their foes, that seemes of greater might.
The hand of God assailes you not with hate:
But, for your weale, your pride he will abate;
To let you wit, it is within his power,
To leaue or to relieue you euery houre.
As on th' vnsauorie stocke the lilly is borne:
And as the rose growes on the pricking thorne:
So modest life, with sobs of grieuous smart
And cryes deuout, comes from an humbled hart.
For, euen the faithfull flocke are like the ground,
That for good fruit, with weedes will still abound,
If that the share and culter idlelye
That riues the soyle, and roots the brambles bye:
But, in the end, God will his yre relent,
Assoone as sinners truely will repent:
And saue you from these plagues that present be
In shorter time then ye do think to see.
Take courage, friends, and vanquish God with teares:
And, after, we shall vanquish with our weares
These enmies all. Now, if there rest in me
The former force that once was wont to be:
[Page 29]If elde haue not decaid my courage bolde,
That I haue had with great experience olde;
I render me to serue you to my ende,
For Iacobs weale, Gods law for to defend.
FINIS.

THE SVMMARIE OF The III. BOOKE.

IN this third book, the Poet setteth forth the seege of Bethulia, and the extremity that God permitted them to feele, therby to giue an entry to his miraculous deliuerance; who is accustomed to leade his people to the gates of death, and from thence to retire them aboue all humane expectation, to the ende they should confesse that the arme of flesh, nor worldly wisedome maintaines not the Church: but the only fauour of the Almightie, to whome the whole glory of duty should be rendred. Father, three principall things are to be noted: First, the preparations of the beseegers, and the defences of the beseeged; and how after, throw the counsell giuen to Holopberne for the restraint of the water from the towne, ens [...]wes a furious assault, which the Iewes repelled with great paine: Secondly, the extreame desolation through want of water, where­of proceedeth sundry sorts of death, with lamentations, murmurations, and danger of muti [...]e within the Citie, and how the Gouernour en­deuours himselfe with wise and godly admonitions to appease the same: But the Commons, in this hard estate regarding no reason, required to render the Citie, rather then to perish in such apparant miserie. The Go­uernour, being carried with a humane prudence, promiseth to render the Towne within fiue dayes, if God send them no succour. Yet such is the estate of Gods Church in this world, that when all things faileth, God manifesteth his power. And therefore in the third partis IVDITH introduced, who (being especially moued by the reading of Holy Scrip­tures) is encouraged to deliuer her Country: but when she vnderstood the resolution of the Magistrates, Shee (being in estimation honourable) modestly reproues them. After their excuse, shee promiseth to attempt something for the publike weale: not showing her deuise, but onely de­sired to haue passage by night vnto the enemies campe, and this is gran­ted.

THE THIRD BOOKE of IVDITH.

THe Snoring snoute of restles Phlegon blewe
Hote on the Ynds, and did the day renewe
With skarlet skie, when Heathen men awooke
At sound of drumme: then pike and dart they tooke,
In order marching, and to combat [...]alles
Th' vndaunted sonnes, within their Cities walles.
The meeds in Maie with flowers are not so dect,
Of sundry sauours, hews, and seere effect,
As in this campe were people different farre
In toungs and maners, habits, tents, and warre.
Yea Chaos old, whereof the world was founded,
Of members more confuse, was not compounded:
Yet soundly they in vnion did accord
To wage the warre against th' Almightie Lord,
Who shakes the Poles, whose onely breath doth beat
Libanus mount, and makes Caucasus sweat.
There came the Kettrinks wilde, of cold Hircania,
Ioynd with the men of great and lesse Armania:
With coppintanks: and there the Parthian tall
Assaid to shoot his shafts, and flee withall.
The Persians proud (th' Empyre was in their hands)
With plates of gold, surbraued all their bands.
The Medes declar'd through fortunes ouerthwart▪
They lost their Scepter, not for lack of hart:
And that no costly cloath nor rich aray,
Nor painting fine, that on their face they lay,
Nor borrowd hair, of fair and comly length,
Might ought impair their ancient power and strength.
There were the happie Arabs, those that buields
In thatched waggons, wandring throu the fields.
The subtill Tyrians, they who first were clarks,
That staid the wandring words in leaues and barks,
[Page 31]The men of Moab, Edom, Ammon, and
The People sparst on large Elimia land.
The learned Memphians, and the men that dwell
Engins of Warre.
Neere to the Aethiopians black and fell:
In short, the most of Asia (as it wair)
Encamped was within that armie fair.
So that this Duke mo forraine souldierslad,
Then all the Hebrewes natiue people had.
But they, who did the Hebrewes greatest wrong,
Were Apost [...]ts of Ephrem fierce and strong:
Who fought with hatefull harts, them to deface,
Least they should be esteemd of Izaks race.
Then, as in time of Spring the water is warme,
And crowping frogs like fishes there doth swarme;
But with the smallest stone that you can cast
To stirre the streame, their crouping stayes as fast:
So while Iudea was in ioyfull dayes,
The constancie of them was worthy prayes:
For that in euery purpose ye should heare
The praise of God, resounding euery wheare;
So, that like burning candles they did shine
Among their faithfull flocke, like men diuine.
But, looke how soon they heard of Holopherne,
Their courage quailde and they began to dern:
Their ardent zeale with closed mouth they choke;
Their zeale too hote returnd to fuming smoke:
The fear of losse of life, and worldly good,
Brought Infidels to shed their brothers blood.
Alas, how many Ephramits haue we,
In our vnhappy time? all which we see
Within the Church like hypocrits to dwell,
So long as by the same they prosper well:
Who feines a zeale, th' Euangill to maintaine,
So long as serues their honour, or their gaine:
But, turne the chance with some contrary winde,
So that their browes but half a blast do finde;
[Page 32]Then faints their harts, and they seek other way,
Like bankers out their God they disobay,
Discyphring then their malice to be more
To Gods contempt, then was their zeale before;
And fights against the Lord with greater hate,
Then Celsus did, or Iulian Apostate.
The Hebrewes now, from heights of houses faire,
Who saw so many banners beat the aire,
And men to march against their forces small,
Who now might well decerne their feeble wall;
They swoune with fear, and fand none other aid,
But of that God, to whom their fathers praid.
O father (quod they) father, holy king,
Who shields vs alwayes vnderneath thy wing;
Since now the world against vs doth conspire,
Defende vs mighty Lord we thee require.
Thus hauing humbly prayd the Lord of might,
The Gouernour renforc't his watches wight,
And fires at midnight built in euery way;
Which made the night appear as clear as day;
And wakerife through the corpsgard of the past:
And thought that Phoebe hyed her course too fast
With horses paile to steale away the night,
To leaue the Hebrews to their enmies sight.
Again, the Pagan thought she did but creep,
Or that with Latmies sonne she was on sleep.
"But humain wishes neuer hath the powre
"To haste or hold the course of heaven one hower.
Then as Aurora rose with sanguine hew,
And our Horyzon did the day renew;
The Vizroy made a thousand trumpets sound,
To drawe his scattred Cornets to [...] Round,
Who from all parts with speed assembled weare
About the Generals tent, his will to hear:
As doth the hounds about their hunt at morne
Com gladishing at hearing of his horne.
Now when the towne his sommonds did disdain,
Engins of Warre.
To conquer it perforce he plyde his pain:
And their, th' Inginers haue the Trepan drest,
And reared vp the Ramme for batterie best:
Here bends the Briccoll, while the cable cracks,
Their Crosbowes were vprent with yron Racks.
Here croked Coruies, fleeing bridges tall,
Their scathfull Scorpions, that ruynes the wall.
On euery side they raise with ioynture meet,
Thetymber towres for to command ech street.
The painfull Pioners wrought against their will,
With fleaks and fagots, ditches vp to fill:
Or vnder ground they delue in dust with pain,
To raise a mount, or make a mount a Plain,
Or Cauerns cut, where they might soldiers hide,
T' assaile the towne at sodain vnespide.
Som ladders drest to seale the wall, or els
To steale vpon the sleeping Sentinels.
Som vndermines, som other vndertook
To fire the gates, or smore the towne with smoke:
The greatest part did yet in trenches lurke,
To see what harme their engins first would wurke,
That if the wall were bet, they would not faile
With braue assault the Citie to assaile.
There Mars towre-myner, there Bellona wood,
Enforced feeble Cowards to suck blood.
Their hidious horses braying loude and clear,
Their Pagans fell, with clamor huge to hear,
Made such a dinne as made the heaven resound,
Retented hell, and tore the sixed ground.
Yet, God who keeps his watch aboue the skyes
For his elect, who neuer ydlelyes;
Took pity on his people in that tide,
Repressing (part) this cruell princes pride,
In causing all the chiefes of Moabites,
Of Edom strong, and awfull Ammonites
[Page 34]To speak him thus, and thus him terrours drest.
O Prince, that Scepter bears aboue the rest,
And giues them law, and holds the world in thrall,
Set not thy soldiers to assault this wall.
For neither bowe, nor sling, nor weapons long,
Nor sword, nor buckler, will be found so strong
And is this threatning rock whose mighty corse
Sustains their wall, of such eternall force,
That thou can make no skallade on no coste,
But on the corpses dead of half thine hoste.
'The victor can no honour iustly clame
'To lose the men who should aduance the same.
'O valiant Prince, that fisher is not fine,
'Who for a frog will lose a golden line.
'The holy head band seems not to attyre
'The head of him, who in his furious yre
'Preferrs the pain of those that haue him teend
'Before the health and safety of one freend.
You may (my Lord) you may, in little fight,
Subdue these Roags, and not to lose a knight.
Surprise me first their chiefest water spring,
From whence these rebels do their conduits bring;
Then drought shall driue them from their whole defence,
In cords to yeld them to thine excellence.
'The noble Lyon neuer sleas the least;
'But alway prayes vpon som worthy beast.
'The thunder throwes his sulphred shafts adowne
'On Atlaeas high or colde Riphes crowne.
'The tempest fell more feruently doth fall,
'On houses high, then on the homely hall:
So you my Lord need not to prease your powre,
Against such foes as will themselfs deuowre.
Sir, this is not for fauour or for meede,
Nor that this Cities sack may causevs dread:
Nor that we mean thy high attempts to stay.
For, ere we from thy standarts stirre away,
[Page 35]For thee, th' immortall Gods we shall defie:
For thee, we shall break down their altars hie:
For thee, we frankly shall pursue and thole,
Th' eternall heat and colde of either Pole:
For thee, our hardy hands shal help to tear,
From Ioue and Neptune, both their Eagle and spear:
For thee the sonne for father shall not care,
Nor father sonne, nor brother, brother spare.
Now, Holopherne to conquest whole enclynde,
And weighing well this counsell in his minde;
Dismissed from his camp a galliard rout
Of men, to guard the Riuers round about.
This stratageme, the Hebrews wel might knowe,
To see their fountains run with passage slowe.
Then manfully their soldiers out they send
Against their foes, the water to defend,
There fought the Pagan for to winne him fame:
The Hebrew ment, he would not dye with shame.
Together soon they shock with hatefull yre,
And first they forç't the heathen to retyre:
Who (turning face) again do them pursew,
And wins the victory from the victors new.
So doubtfull was the fight, none could define
(Saue God) to whom the victrie would encline;
Till Izrell was on all sides ouereled
With clouds of short: then to their town they fled.
As doth the Pilgrim passing through the Plain,
Who is beset with tempest, haile, or rain,
Who leaues his way, and seeks himself to hide
Within som caue, or hollow mountain side.
The Panims them pursued without all pitty,
And Peslmell entred almost in the Citty
At open gate. Then rose the cry vnsweet
Of fearfull folke who fled in euery street,
And rent their hair and their affrighted face,
As Panims els had wonne that holy place.
How flee you cowards now, and leaues your Port?
(The Captain sayes) haue ye another Fort?
Thinke ye to finde for safety of your crowne
In this Bethulia another Bethull towne?
(Alas) if ye make no defence at all,
While time this tyrant is without your wall;
How dare you him resist, when he hath wunne
This forte of yours, from which ye feebly runne?
The commons with this check, brought to their powers,
Where Cambris and Sir Carmis, like two towers,
Stood at th' assaulted gate, and did withstand
The Heathen host with ech of them in hand
An yron mace (in stead of launces long)
And brazen bucklers beating back the throng:
Their habergions like stiddies stithe they baire
With helmets high and pennons pight in aire:
Of equall age they were, and equall length,
Of equall courage, and of equall strength:
Like Poplers twain that recheth vp their tops,
And holds their heads so high that none them crops;
But on the Riuers side do sweetly sway
Like germain brether hailsing oft a day.
The Heathen, seeing thus the Iews descend,
With edge of sword their Citie to defend;
They left th' assault▪ and thence retyring went
(As they commanded were) vnto their tent.
But when I think how xxx, dayes that towne
Tormented was with mischief vp and down;
Too sad a song I cannot hear inuent
So great a sadnesse right to represent:
My hand for horrour shakes, and now no more
Can lead my sacred pen as erst before.
For, now mine eyes, that watred are with tears,
Declares my matter all of mischief bears.
Oh Sprite, from whence all sprit and life doth come,
Thou loosde the tongue of Zacharie that was dōme;
[Page 37]And sent thy Heralds through the world to preach
Thy name, and in a hundreth tongues to teach;
Guide thou my pen, and courage to me lend,
That to thy honour I this worke may end.
Although that Izak sawe on euery hand
A world of folke against his towne to stand;
Yet (tracting time) he thought he would prouide
No lesse to keep, then coole th' Assiegers pride:
But, when they fand the conduits cut and rent,
By which, their water to their towne was sent;
Their courage bolde, and all their craks (alas)
As licour faild, so did their stoutnesse pas.
Their Lords, preferring death to bondage vile,
Made them beleeue the thing did them beguile:
To wit, they gaue men hope that they might keep
Sufficient wat'r in wels and cesterns deep,
Through all the towne, the people to relieue,
That thirst should not the souldiers greatly grieue.
The magistrates in deed had great regard
To see this water wisely spent and spar'd,
That Bottell sweet, which serued at the first
To keep the life, but not to slocken thirst.
A viue des­cription of Thirst.
When wels grew dry, the Commons ran in rage,
And sought out euery sink their thirst t'asswage:
And drank with long som draught the pools in haste,
To quench their thirst with ill contented taste:
Which poysoned ayre, enfect their purest breath;
Whereby the drinker drank his present death.
O wretched folke who felt so hard a strife!
Drink, or not drink, both wayes must lose their life.
For, he that drank, and he that did refrain,
Had of their enmies, both an equall pain.
For why? the water vile slew them throughout,
No lesse, then did their enmies them about.
That wretched towne had neuer a street nor rewe,
But Parcas there had found som facion newe
[Page 38]To murder men, or martyr them with fears,
As mov'd the most indurate hart to tears:
If so much water in their brains had been,
As might forbear a drop to wete their een.
There plaind the old man, that the souldier strong
Had reft his Bottell from his head with wrong:
But while he spake, his hart (for thirst) did faint,
And life him left, which frustrate his complaint.
The souldier braue, Oh hart brek for to tell,
His proper vryne drank, thirst to expell.
The wofull mother with her spettle fed
Her little childe half dead in cradle bed.
The Lady with her Lord, at point of death.
Embracing fals and yeelds their latest breath.
"For, cruell thirst came out of Cyren Land,
"Where she was fostred on that burning sand,
"With hote intracted tongue, and sonken een,
"With stomack worn, and wrinkled visage keen,
"With light and meigre corse and pailed vains,
"In stead of blood that brimstone hote retains:
"Her poysond mouth blew, throw that holy town,
"Such hellish ayr, that stifled vp and down
The Arters of the Iewes in such a way,
That nought was seen but burials night and day:
So that the heauen, to see their dolours deep,
Could scarsly keep his course, but preasd to weep;
And would haue ioind his tears to their complaint,
If God of hosts had made them no restraint.
Yea, I my self must weep, who cannot speak
The woes, that makes my heavy hart to break;
And so will silent rest, and not rehearse,
But counterfait the painter (in my verse)
Who thought his colours paile could not declare
The speciall woe, king
Looke the Table.
Agamemnon bare,
When sacrificed was his onely race:
With bend of black, he bound the fathers face.
Now while the people were in this estate,
And with their princes wrangling in debate,
They thus besought the Lord for to decide
Between their simplesse and their princes pride:
The Lord be iudge of that which ye haue wrought,
And what your wicked counsells hath vs brought.
If you had offred peace to this great Lord
At first, we might haue wonne him to accord.
Then happy happy dayes we might haue seen,
And not so many souldiers murdred been.
Alas, what hope haue we within this holde?
Our enmies are more meek a thousand folde,
Then are our owne. They, haps, would vs preserue:
Our wilfull owne, pretends to see vs sterue.
Our children do our childrens weal denay,
And headlong hastes vnto their owne decay.
We knowe, O Lord, the breaking of thy law,
Hath caused thee this sword on vs to draw:
And iustly thou thine yrefull bowe doest bend,
On our vnloyall heads the shot to send.
But thou, who doth not long retain thine yre
Against thine owne, thy mercy we require.
Change thou the purpose of our foolish guides,
And of these Heathen, armed at our sides:
Or els let vs vpon their weapons fall,
And of their hands to be destroyed all,
Er we this drougth and deadly venim haue,
With languishing to send vs to the graue.
My brethren dear (the Ruler then gan say)
Our whole desire hath been, both night and day,
Not for to see the seed of Abrahm lost,
For which we striue against this furious hoste.
What? haue ye pain? so likewise pain haue we:
For in one boat we both imbarked be.
Vpon one tide, one tempest doth vs tosse:
Your common ill, it is our common losse.
[Page 40]Th' Assyrian plague shall not vs Hebrews grieue,
When pleaseth God our mischief to relieue:
Which he will doe if ye can be content,
And not with grudge his clemency prevent.
Then striue not you against that puissant king
Who create all, and gouerns euery thing
For comfort of his Church and children dear,
And succours them, though time do long appear.
Somtime an Archer leaues his bowe vnbent,
And hong vpon a naile, to that intent
It may the stronger be to bend again,
And shoot the shot with greater might and main:
Right so th' eternall doth withholde his ill
A longer time (perchance) for that he will
More egerly reuenge him of their crime,
Who do abuse his long for bearing time.
When men applauds to sinne, they count it light,
And but a matter small in sinners sight:
But in the end the weight doth so encrease,
That Iustice leaues the sinner no release;
Like th' Vsurer who lends vpon the skore,
And makes the reckles debters debt the more.
What if the thundring Lord his iustice stay,
And (for such sinne) do not this tyrant slay?
The waters of the ground and in the aere
Are in the hand of God: then who is there,
That dare sediciously his yoke refuse,
Although he haue not water now to vse?
No, no, though heaven do seem serene and clear,
On euery part, and wete doth not appear;
He may with moisture mildly wete the land,
As fell when Saul the Scepter had in hand.
Sam. 1. 12.
For, all the starres, that do the heaven fulfill,
Are all but executors of his will.
All this could not the peoples thirst asswage;
But thus with murmurs they their Lords out-rage:
[Page 41]What? shall we dye, O sacred soldiers bolde,
For pleasure of our Lords these traytours olde?
What? shall we dye on credit, for to please
These wyzard fooles, who winks at our vnease?
Who, with our blood, would win them selfs renown,
So louable, as neuer shal go down?
Nay, nay, let vs cut off this seruile chain:
To free our selfs, let vs in hands retain
The ruling of this towne, the forte and all;
Least we into these deadly dangers fall.
Then like a wise Physician, who persaue▪
His patient that in feruent feuer raues,
Yet hights him more then Art can well performe:
So Prince Osias in this rurall storme,
He promist to the people their intent
If God within fiue dayes no succonr sent:
Then Izak left their sorrowes all and some,
And present wo and fear of chance to com;
For that if they, through this, gat not their will,
At least they would auoyd the greatest ill.
But Iudith then whose eyes (like fountains two)
Were neuer dry, which witnest well her wo;
Right sad in sound th' Almighty she besought,
And on the sacred scriptures fed her thought.
Her prayers much auaylde to raise her spreet
Aboue the skye: and so the scriptures sweet,
A holy garden was where she might finde
The medcyne meet for her molested minde.
Then Iudith reading there, as was her grace,
She (not by hazard) hapned on that place,
Iudicum.
Where the lame handed Ahud (for disdain
To see the Iewes the Heathen yock sustain)
Sm ote Eglon with a dagger to the heft,
And from his flank the blood and life bereft.
The more she read, the more she wonder had
Of Ahuds act, and hote desire her lad
[Page 42]T'ensue his vertue: yet her feeble kinde
Empeached oft the purpose of her minde;
Proposing oft the horrour of the deed,
The fear of death, the danger to succeed,
With haszard of her name: and more then that,
Though she like wise the peoples freedom gat;
Yet for a man, this act more seemly wear,
Than for a wife to handle sword or spear.
While Iudith thus with Iudith did debate,
A puffe of wind blew down that leaf by fate;
Discov'ring vp the story of Iaell, how
She droue a naile into Sisaras brow,
And [...]lew that Pagan sleeping on her bed,
Who from the Hebrews furious hoast was fled:
In teaching vs albeit a tyrant flee,
Yet can he not auoy de the Lords decree.
This last example now such courage lent
To feeble Iudith, that she now was bent,
With wreakfull blade, to slea and to diuorce
The Heathen soule from such a sinfull corse.
But while she did her carefull minde imploy
To finde som means to murder this Vizroy;
She heard report (that made her hart to swoune)
Of the determination of the toune.
Then, all the present perils to preuent,
Vnto the Rulers of the towne she went;
Reprouing them with words of bitter sweet,
What do ye mean, O princes indiscreet?
Will ye the helping hand of God restrain,
And captiue it within your counsels vain?
Will ye include him vnder course of times,
Who made dayes, years, all seasons and their primes?
Do not abuse your selfs: his power profound
Is not to mens Imaginations bound.
God may all that he wills, his will is iust:
God wils all good to them that in him trust.
[Page 43]Now fathers: that which doth my hopereuiue
Is onely this; Ther is no wight on liue,
Within this towne, that hath contracted hands
To serue dumme Gods, like folk of forrain Lands.
All sinnes are sinne: but sure this sinne exceeds
Our former faults; by which, our blinde misdeeds
Offends the heaven; by which, the Lord of might
Is frauded of his honours due and right,
In wresting of the title of his name,
To stocks, and stones, and metalls, men do frame.
Since Izak then from such a fault is free,
Let vs to Gods protection cast our ee.
Consider that all Iuda rests in fear,
Aspecting onely our proceedings hear.
Consider that all Iacob in this tresse
Will follow either our force or feeblenesse.
Consider that this house and altar stands
(Next vnder God) vpholden with your hands.
Thinke, that of Izrell whole ye keep the kaye:
Which if ye quite, and giue this tyrant way,
Who more then death hates all of Izaks kinne,
Yee shall the name of kin-betrayers winne.
Then sayd the Captain, I cannot deny,
That we offended haue the Lord most hye.
Vnwise are we, our promises are vain:
But what? we may not call our word again:
But if thou feele thy hart so sore opprest,
That moueth thee to tears for our vnrest,
Alas, weep night and day and neuer tyre;
So that thy weepings may appease the yre
Of that hie Iudge, who hears in euery part
The perfit prayer of the humble hart.
I will, quoth she; and, if God giue me grace,
Repell the siege of this afflicted place
By famous stroke. But stay me in no wise,
But byde the ende of my bold enterprise:
[Page 44]And let me goe, when night his mantle spreeds,
To th' enmies Camp. Quoth he, if thou wilt needs;
The great repressour of oppressors pride,
Preserue thy hart and hand, and be thy guide.
FINIS.

THE SVMMARIE OF The IIII. BOOKE.

ACcording to the promis that Iudith made to the besieged Captaines in Bethulia, she prepareth herselfe with armour meet for the executi­on of her enterprise: to wit, The inuocation of the name of God, with a holy determination to deliuer her countrey from the hand of the Ty­rant; whom she deliberates to ouercome with the sweet and faire appa­rence of her amiable beutie and behauiour. At her departing to the ene­mies camp, our Poet introduceth one of the chief Captains of the town discriuing, to another, her stock and vp bringing, with the progresse of her three estates, Virginitie, Mariage, and Widowhood: Thereby setting forth a singular example of all womanly behauiour & vertue. After her entrance to the Camp, she is brought to Holophernes, who was curious to knowe the cause of her comming there. And after audience giuen, he is so surprised with her beutie and eloquent language, that she obtaineth li­cence to withdrawe herself by night to the next valley, there to pray to God. And, continuing this exercise, she requireth strength of the Hyest, that in taking away the chieftaine, she might at one instant destroy all the Heathen Army. Herein giuing example that the beginning, and end of all high attempts, ought to be grounded vpon the fauour and earnest calling vpon him, without whome all wisedome, and humaine force is nothing but winde: and who, contrariwise, may by the most feeble in­struments of the world, execute things most incredible and incompre­hensible to humaine capacity.

THE FOVRTH BOOKE of IVDITH.

THen wofull Iudith, with her weeping ees
Beholding Heav'n, and prostrate on her knees,
[Page 46]Held vp her guiltlesse hands and God besought,
Discouv'ring him the secrets of her thought.
O God (quoth she) who armed with a spear
Dan Symeon, who reveng'd his sister dear;
Lend me the blade in hand, that I may kill
This Tyrant, that exceeds all Sichems ill:
Who not contents to soyle the sacred bed
Of wedlocke chaste; but more with mischief led,
Entends thy holy name for to confound,
And race Solyma temple to the ground;
Ambitious Satrap he, whose hope doth stand
In mortall men, led with vnrighteous hand:
Who rules a hundreth thousand stalworth steeds,
That combat craues, and in our pastures feeds;
Not dreading thee, who daunts both man and beast,
And kills and captiues them when they ween least:
Who strengths the poor, and pridefull men down thrings,
And wracks at once the powers of puissant kings.
Grant, gratious God, that his bewitched wit
May with my crisped hair be captiue knit.
Grant, that my sweet regards may gall his hart
With darts of loue, to cause his endles smart.
Grant, that these gifts of thine, my beuty small,
May binde his furious rage, and make him thrall.
Grant, that my artificiall tongue may moue
His subtill craft, and snare his hart in loue:
But chiefly Lord grant, that this hand of mine
May be the Pagans scourge and whole ruine;
To th' end, that all the world may knowe, our race
Are shrouded so in rampiers of thy grace,
That neuer none against vs durst conspire,
That haue not felt at last thy furious yre:
Euen so good Lord, let none of these prophane
Returne to drink of Euphrate, nor Hytane.
Thus Iudith prayd, with many-a trickling tear,
And with her sighs her words retrenched wear.
[Page 47]At night, she left her chamber sole and cold,
Attyr'd with Ceres gifts and Ophir golde.
O siluer Diane, regent of the night,
Darst thou appear before this lucent light?
This holy starre, whose contr' aspect most clear
Doth stein thy brothers brightnes in his Sphear?
While thus she ment (vnseen) away to slyde,
Her pearls and Iewels caus'd her to be spyde:
The musk and ciuet Amber, as she past,
Long after her a sweet perfume did cast.
A Carboncle on her Crystall brow she pight,
Whose firy gleams expeld the shady night.
Vpon her head a siluer crisp she pind,
Loose wauing on her shoulders with the wind.
Gold, band her golden hair: her yvry neck,
The Rubies rich, and Saphirs blew did deck.
And at her eare, a Pearle of greater valew
Ther hong, then that th' Egyptian Queen did swallew.
And through her collet shee shewde her snowie brest:
Her vtmost robe was colour blew Coelest,
Benetted all with twist of perfite golde,
Beseeming well her comely corps t'enfolde.
What else she wore, might well been seen vpon
That Queen who built the tours of Babylon.
And though that she most modest was indeed,
Yet borrowd she som garments at this need,
From Dames of great estate, to that entent
This Pagan Prince she rather might preuent.
Achior then, who watched at the gate,
And saw this Lady passing out so late,
To Carmis spake, who warded eke that night,
What is she this? where goes this gallant wight
So trim, in such a time? hath she no pitty
Of this most wretched persecuted City?
Quod Carmis then, their flowrisht heer of late
Merari, one, that was of great estate;
[Page 48]Who had no childe but one, and this is she,
The honour of that house and family.
The fathers now do venture body and soule,
That treasures vpon treasures they may roule:
But, for the wit or learning, neuer cairs,
That they should leaue to their succeeding hairs:
Like those that charely keeps their rich araye
In coffers close, and lets it there decay;
While that the naked bodies dyes for cold,
For whom the clothes are dearly bought and sold.
But as the painfull plowman plyes his toyle,
Comparison.
With share and culter shearing through the soyle
That cost him dear, and ditches it about,
Or crops his hedge to make it vnder-sprout,
And neuer stayes to ward it from the weed:
But most respects to sowe therein good seed;
To th' end, when sommer decks the medowes plain,
He may haue recompence of costs and pain:
Or like the maid who carefull is to keep
The budding flowre that first begins to peep
Out of the knop, and waters it full oft,
To make it seemly showe the head aloft;
That it may (when she drawes it from the stocks)
Adorne her gorget white, and golden locks:
So wise Merari all his study stilde,
To facion well the maners of this childe;
That in his age he might of her retire
Both honour and confort, to his harts desire.
For, look how soon her childish tongue could chat,
As children do, of this thing or of that;
He taught her not to read inuentions vain,
As fathers dayly do that are profain:
But in the holy scriptures made her read;
That with her milke she might euen suck the dread
Of the most high. And this was not for nought:
Insomuch as in short time she out-brought
[Page 49]Apparant fruites, of that so worthy seed,
Which chaung'd her earthly nature far indeed:
As done the pots that long retains the taste
Of licour such, as first was in them plaste▪
Or like the tree that bends his eldren braunch
That way where first the stroke hath made him launch.
So see we wolfs, and bears, and harts full olde,
Som tamenes from their daunted youth to holde.
Thus ere the Moon twelf dos [...]n chaunges past,
Virginitie.
The maydens maners fair in form were cast.
For, as the perfite pylot fears to runne
Vpon the rocks, with singling sheet doth shunne
Cyanes straits or Syrtes sinking sands,
Or cruell Capharois with stormy strands:
So wisely she dishaunted the resort
Of such as were suspect of light report:
Well knowing, that th' acquaintance with the ill,
Corrupts the good. And though they euer still
Remain vpright: yet som will quarrell pike,
And common bruit will deem them all alike.
For, look how your Companions you elect;
For good, or ill, so shall you be suspect.
This prudent Dame delighted not in daunce,
Nor sitting vp, nor did her selfe aduance
In publike place, where playes and banquets been
In euery house, to see and to beseen:
But rather vnderstanding such a trade
Had been the wrack of many-a modest mayd,
Who following wandring Dina wanton dame,
Haue oft time put their noble house to shame;
She kept at home her fathers habitation,
Both day and night in godly conuersation.
She pitious Nurse applyde her painfull thought,
To serue and nourish them that her vpbrought:
Like to the gratefull stork that gathereth meat,
And brings it to her elders for to eate;
[Page 50]And on a firtree high, with Boreas blowne,
Giues life to those, of whom she had her owne.
But if she might som howre from trauell quite,
At vacant time it was her chief delyte
To read the scriptures, where her faithfull minde
Might confort of the heav'nly Manna finde.
Somtime she broyded, on the canuas gall,
Som bird or breast, or A egle, or Elephant tall.
While subtely with siluer nedle fine
She works on cloth som history diuine.
Heer Lot, escaping the deuouring fire,
From sinnefull Zodom shortly doth retire
To Segor; where his wife, that was vnwitty,
Cast back her eye to see the sinnefull Citty:
And, for her mis-beliefe, God plagued the falt,
Transforming her into a Pillar of salt.
Here she Susannaes story viuely wrought,
How neer she was to execution brought;
And yet how God the secret did disclose,
And made the mischief fall vpon her foes.
Here Iosephs story stands with wondrous art,
And how he left his cloke, and not his heart,
To his lasciuious Dame; and rather chose
The Prison, then her armes him to enclose.
Her cruell I [...]phte, with his murdring knife,
To keep his vow, bereaues his daughters life.
(Her trauell done) her lute she then assayes,
And vnto God she sings immortall prayes:
Not following those that plyes their thriftles pain
In wanton vearse and wastefull ditties vain;
Thereby t' entrap great men, with luring looks:
But, as the greedy fisher layes his hooks
Alongst the coste to catch som mighty fish,
More for his gain, then holesom for the dish
Of him that byes: euen so these sisters braue
Haue louers mo, then honest may dens haue.
[Page 51]But none are burnt with their impudent flame,
Saue fooles and light lunatikes voyd of shame.
Of vertue only, perfect loue doth growe:
Whose first beginning though it be more slowe
Then that of lust, and quickens not so fast;
Yet sure it is, and longer time doth last.
The straw en kendles soone, and slakes again:
But yron is slowe, and long will hot remain.
Thus was the holy Iudiths chaste renowne
So happily spred, through Israell vp and down,
That many a man disdaind the damsels fine,
With Iewels rich and haire in golden twine,
To serue her beuty: yet, Loues firy dart
Could neuer vnfriese the frost of her chaste hart:
But, as the Diamant byds the hammer strong,
So she resisted all her suters, long;
Vnminded euer for to wed, but rather
To spend her dayes with her beloued father:
Till at the last her parents, with great care,
Withstood her will, and for her did prepare
Manasses, one who was of noble race,
Both rich and faire as well of sprite as face.
Her mariage, then was not a slight contract
Mariage.
Of secret billes, but by a willing act
"Before her friends. The chaunce that once befell
"To wandring Dina, may be witnesse well,
"That secret mariage, that to fewe is kend,
"Doth neuer lead the louers to good end.
"For, of our bodies, we no power may clame,
"Except our parents do confirme the same.
Then see how loue, so holily begunne,
Between these two, so holy a race they runne
(This chaste young-man and his most chastest wife)
As if their bodies twain had but one life.
What th' one did will, the other will'd no lesse;
As by one mouth, their wils they do expresse.
[Page 52]And as a stroke, giuen on the righter eye
Offends the left: euen so by Sympathie,
Her husbands dolours made her hart vnglad,
And Iudiths sorrowes made her husband sad.
Manasses, then his wife would not controule
Tyranniously: but look how much the soule
Exceeds the corse, and not the corse doth grieue,
But rather to preserue it and relieue:
So Iudith with Manasses did accorde,
In tender loue and honourde him as Lord.
Their house at home so holy was, to tell
It seemd a Church, and not a priuate Cell.
No seruant there, with villain iestes vncouth,
Was suffered to corrupt the shamefast youth.
No ydle drunkard, nor no swearing wight
Vnpunisht durst blaspheme the Lord of might.
No pleasant skoffer, nor no lying knaue,
No dayly Dycer, nor no Ruffian braue,
Had there abode: but all the seruants weare
Taught, of their Rulers, Gods eternall feare.
Manasses, he who saw that in his time
All iustice was corrupt with many-a cryme,
And that the most peruers and ignorant,
For money, or fauour, would none office want
Of high estate, refusde all publike charge;
Contenting him with ease to liue at large,
From Court, and Palace, free from worldly pelfe:
But, since he thought him borne not for himself,
But also that som charge he ought to bear
For confort of his friends and countrey dear;
Yet did he more, not being magistrate,
For publike weale, then men of more estate:
So that his house was euen the dwelling due
Of Iustice, and his mouth a sentence true.
Th' afflicted poore he dayly did defend,
And was the widowes ayde, and tutor kend
[Page 53]To Orphelines, and was the whole support
And chief conforter of the godly sort.
The vain desire of Indian treasures great
Made neuer his ship to sayl nor oar to beat.
The greedy hope of gain, with ventrous daunger,
Made neuer his sword be drawen to serue the stranger.
He neuer sold, within the wrangling Barre,
Deceitfull clatters, causing clients Iarre;
But quietly manurde his little feild,
And took th' encrease therof that time did yeilde.
He sowde and planted, in his proper grange
(Vpon som sauage stock) som frutry strange.
The ground, our common Dame, he vndermines:
On stake and ryce, he knits the crooked vines,
And snoddes their bowes: so neither hote nor cold
Might him (from labour) in the chamber hold.
But once as he beheld his haruest train,
With crooked Circle cutting downe the grain;
The sunne a distillation on him sent,
Whereof he dyed: his soule to heauen it went.
He that the number of the leaues could cast,
That in Nouember fals by winter blast:
He that could tell the drops of rain or slete,
That Hyad, Orion, or Pleiades wete
Sheds on the ground, that man might only tell,
What tears from Iudiths eyes incessant fell.
What treasure and golde, and what he left her tho,
VVidowhead.
In place of pleasure, caused all her woe.
The sight of them made her in heart recorde
Their olde possessor, and her louing Lord.
Though she had had asmuch of gold and good,
As Lydia Land, or Tagus golden flood;
Yet, losing him, of treasure she was bare:
For whom, all other treasures causde her care.
Yet in this state she stoutly did sustain,
Like patient Iob (contempning) all her pain.
[Page 54]Three times the Sunne returned had his prime,
"Since this befell: and yet the sliding time,
"That wonted is to wear walloes away,
Could neuer for his death her dolour stay:
But alwayes in som black attire she went
Right modestly, and liv'd on little rent.
Deuout she was, and most times sole and sad,
With dole in heart, and mourning vesture clad,
Out shedding tears, as doth the turtle doue
On withred stalke, that wails her absent loue▪
And widowlike all pleasures doth forsake,
And neuer intends to take a secound make.
Thus Iudith chaste within her house abode,
And seldom was she seen to com abroad:
Vnlesse it were to see som wofull wife,
Whose childe or husband was bereft of life:
Or for to visit som in sicknesse rage,
Their longsom pain and dolours to asswage:
Or for to go to Church as God allowes,
To pray and offer and to perform her vowes.
Thus haue I shortly told you, brother dear,
The state of her, on whom our Citie hear
Haue fixed all their eyes: but I can nought
Tell where she goes, much less whats in her thought.
But if we may of passed things collect
The things to come: then may we well aspect
Great good of her, for that euen in her face
Is signe of ioy, and great presage of grace,
Or som good hap. With this and other talke,
They cut the night as they together walke.
This while, the worthy widdow with her maid
Past towards th' enmies camp not vnafraid:
For, ere she had two hundreth pases past,
The Syrian Soldiers in her way were cast:
Who spack her thus; O fair excellent wight,
Whence? what art thou? what doest thou here this night
[Page 55]In Syrian camp? I am (quoth she) again
An Israelite, whom dolours doth constrain
To flee this towne, and for my lifes relief,
Submits me to the mercy of your Chief.
They took her to the Duke. But who hath seen
The throngs of folke where proclamations been
In som great town, or where som monstrous beast
Is brought and wondred at by most and least;
That man might iudge what flockes of soldiers came
From euery part to see that Hebrew Dame:
To see that fair, so chaste, so amiable.
The more they gasde, she seemd more admirable,
Her wav'ring hair disparpling flew apart
In seemly shed: the rest with reckles art
With many-a curling ring decor'd her face,
And gaue her glashie browes a greater grace.
Two bending bowes of Heben coupled right
Two lucent starres that were of heav'nly light,
Two geaty sparks where Cupid chastly hides
His subtill shafts that from his quiuer glydes.
Tween these two sunnes and front of equall sise,
A comely figure formally did rise
With draught vnleuell to her lip descend,
Where Momus self could nothing discommend.
Her pitted cheeks aperde to be depaint,
With mixed rose and lillies sweet and saint.
Her dulcet mouth, with precious breath repleat,
Excelde the Saben Queen in sauour sweet.
Her Corall lips discov'red, as it were,
Two ranks of Orient pearle with smyling chere.
Her yv'ry neck, and brest of Alabastre,
Made Heathen men, of her, more Idolastre.
Vpon her hand no wrinkled knot was seen;
But as each naile of mothet of pearle had been.
In short, this Iudith was so passing fair,
That if the learned Zeuxis had been thaire,
[Page 56]And seene this Dame, when he with pensile drew
The Croton Dames, to forme the picture trew
Helen.
Of her, for whom both Greece and Asia sought.
This onely patron chiefe he would haue sought;
No sooner Iudith entred his Pauilion,
But in her face arose the red vermillion,
With shame fast feare: but then with language sweet
The courteous Generall mildely gan her greet.
My loue, I am, I am not yet so fell,
As false report doth to you Hebrews tell.
They are my sonnes, and I will be their father,
That honours me, and them I loue the rather,
That worships for their God th' Assyrian King:
They shall be well assurde to want nothing.
And this shall Isaac knowe, if they will render
Vnto that bountious king as their defender.
For thy (my loue) tell me, withouten feare,
The happy motyf of thy comming heare.
O Prince (quoth she, with an assured face)
Most strong and wise and most in heauens grace,
That drawes the sword, with steele vpon his brest,
With helme on head, and launce in yron rest:
Since that my feeble Sex, and tender youth,
Cannot long time indure, the cruell drouth,
The wakrife trauels, frayes, and haszards great,
That day and night our Burgesses doth threat:
Yet neuerthelesse this is not whole the cause
That from my Cities body me withdrawes.
To this your Camp: but that most grudging griefe,
Which burnes my zealous hart without reliefe,
Is this, my Lord; I haue a holy feare
To eate those meates that God bids vs forbeare:
But, Sir, I see that our besieged towne
Is so beset with mischiefevp and downe,
The people will be forç't to eate in th' end
The meats that God expresly doth defend:
[Page 57]Then will the Lord with iust reuenge him wreak
Vpon all those, that do his statutes break.
Withouten fight their Cities he will sack,
And make one man of thine ten thousand wrack,
That flyes his fury, and thy furious face.
Now, I of Bethul am; and in this place
Beseech thy noble Grace, if so thee please,
With courteous aide, to giue my dolours ease.
'Of common sense he is depriued cleene,
'That fals with closed eye on daunger seen.
'And he that may both paine and hurt eschew,
'Is vaine if he his proper death pursew.
Then in this quiet dale if I may byde
(In secret for to pray each euening tyde
To God; I shall, as he doth me enspyre,
Assure you when enkendled is his yre,
Against our folke. Then shall I take on hand
To leade thine army through all Iurie Land,
And streaming standarts set on Syon hill,
Where none with weapons dare resist thy will.
No, not a very dog, in euening dark,
At noyse of harness shall against thee bark.
Thy onely name shall fray the Armies bolde. R
Before thy face the mountaine tops shall folde. R
The floods shal dry, & from their running stay, R
To make thine Hoste a new and vncouth way.
O Iewell of the world (quoth he) O Dame,
For gratious speech and beuty worthy fame,
Now welcome here: would God it might you please
Long time with vs to dwell in rest and ease.
For, if your faith and trouth concurrent be,
To this your talke, which greatly pleaseth me;
I will from this time forth with you accord
To serue your onely Hebrews God and Lord;
And will my seruice whole to you enrowle,
Not of my Scepter onely, but my soule.
[Page 58]I will your name and honour ay defend
From Hebrew bounds vnto the world his end.
This said: with silence, as the moone arose,
This widow▪ her withdrew, and forth she goes
Vnto avalley close on euery part,
Where as she washt her corse and clens'd her heart;
And with her weeping eyes the place be [...]aid,
And to the God of Isaac thus she praide:
O Lord, withdraw not now thy helping hand
From those, that at thy mercie onely stand.
O Lord defend them that desire to spend
Their goods and blood, thy cause for to defend.
O Lord graunt that the cries of Children may,
With plaints of Oldmen weeping night and day,
And virgins voyces sad in shroude of shame,
And laudes of Leuits sounding forth thy fame,
Mount to thy throne, and with dissundring break
Thy heauy sleep. Wherefore doest thou awreake
Thy self on Hermon with thy burning blast?
Or why doest thou on carefull Carmell cast
Thy dreadfull darts? forgetting all the space,
These Giants that thy Scepter would displace?
Ah wretch, what say I? Lord apardon me.
Thy burning zeale (and none hypocrisie)
That frets my heauy heart at euery howre,
Compels my toung this language out to powre.
O thou, the euerliuing God and Guide
Of all our race, I know thou wilt prouide
For our reliefe against this furious boste,
And iustly kill the Captaine of this hoste.
I knowe, that thou wilt help my onely hand,
To be the wrack of all this heathen Band.
FINIS.

THE SVMMARIE OF The V. BOOKE.

HOlophernes, being surprised with the sweete language, and excellent beautie of the chaste Iudith, becommeth altogether negligent of his charge and gouernement. Wherein is represented the vnhabilitie of the reprobate, who cannot withstand such temptations as the Lord sendeth vpon them. But as they become slaues to their owne affections, so by the same they are enforced to fall into perdition. In place of some faithfull seruant to warne him of his vices, Holophernes conferreth with Bagos an Eunuch, who feedeth him in his humour, & bringeth Iudith to his Tent. And here the Poet reprooues all flatterers and bawdes, with the vices of all Courts in Generall. Iudith seeing her chastitie in perill, and the time vnmeete to execute her enterprise: subtilie drawes the Tyrant to talke of other affaires. He thinking to insinuate himselfe the more into her fauour, taketh pleasure to crack of his conquests and of his speciall wor­thinesse; discoursing so long till suppertime approached & she auoyded the inconuenience. And here is to be noted, that whilest the tyrants boast of their cruelty against the Church, God prouideth for his owne, & preserueth them for that worke, that he hath ordained by them to be done.

THE FIFT BOOKE of IVDITH.

IN stead of marrow-in bone, and blood in vaines,
Great Holopherne doth feede his cruell paines:
He bootlesse flees, and feeles; but he ne knowes
The quenched fire that of his ashes growes.
For, so the charming Image of this Dame,
The onely marke where at his soule did ame,
Transported him in passions of despaire,
That of his mighty camp he quits the care,
[Page 60]And goes no more his matters to dispatch,
Nor vewes his corpsgard, nor relieues his watch,
Nor Councell cals, nor sent to spy the coste,
Nor vewes the quarters of his spacious hoste.
But as the sheep that haue no hirde nor guide,
But wandring strayes along the riuers side,
Throw burbling brookes, or throw the forrest grene,
Throw meadowes closures, or throw shadows shene:
Right so the Heathen hoste without all bridle,
Runns insolent, to vicious actions ydle,
Where none obeyes, ech one commanding speaks,
Eche one at pleasure from his banner breaks.
What do you Hebrews now within your wall?
Now time to fight, or neuer time at all,
To pay these Pagans, whose confused corse
Combats against themselfs with deadly force.
Nay, stay a while: of such a great victory,
Your onely God will haue the onely glory.
Before this tyrant was with loue yblent,
To winne the towne he plide his whole entent:
But now, both night and day, his minde doth frame
To conquer this most chast vnconquest Dame.
So lust him led: th' vndaunted Theban knight,
With waighty mace, had neuer him affright:
But now a womans look his hart enfeares,
And in his brest the curelesse wound he beares.
Ambition, erst, so had him ouercumme,
That made him dayly ryse by sound of drumme.
Now Cupid him awaks with hote alarmes,
That him with holds to do the Hebrews harmes.
Before, he rulde aboue both Prince and King:
Now can he not himselfe in order bring.
Alas (quoth he) what life is this I haue,
Complaint.
Becomming captiue to my captiue slaue?
(Vnhappy chance) what life is this I say?
My vertue gone, my forces fals away.
[Page 61]Nay sure no life it is, more pain I feele,
Then Ixion torn vpon th' Eternall wheele:
Prometheus.
My life is like the theefs that stole the fire,
On whose mortall hart there doth alwayes tire
A rauenous fowle, that gnawes him to the bone,
Reuiuing still, bound to the Scythian stone.
What serues it me, t'haue won where I haue haunted?
What serues my victor arme, for to haue daunted
The people situate tween Hydaspe large,
And port where Cydnus doth in sea discharge;
Since I am vanquisht by the feeble sight
Of captiue Iudith? what auailes my might,
My targe of steele, my Burguinet of Brasse,
My guard of warriours stout whereso I passe;
Since her sweet eye hath sent the pointed dart
Throgh men and weapons, pearcing throu my hart?
What serues my coursers, who with swiftnes light
Exceeds the swallow, swiftest bird of flight;
Since I on him cannot auoide, one ynch,
The care that night and day my heart doth pinch?
Then change (O Hebrewes) change your tears in song,
And triumph ore my hoste and army strong.
I am no more that Duke, whose name alone
Hath made great warriours quake both lim and bone:
But I am he, whose hart was sometime braue;
Now lesse then nought, the slaue but of a slaue.
I com not here your Isaac to annoy,
With fire and sword, your houses to destroy:
But to require your Iudith, her to render
More milde to me. What? is my wit so slender
(Berapt with loue) haue I not heer my ioy,
That onely may relieue me from annoy?
Yet neuerthelesse I clieue the aire in vain,
With plaints, and makes myne eyes but fountains twain.
I wretch am like the wretched man indeed,
Tantalus.
The more he hath the greater is his need.
[Page 62]Although he deeply plonge in water cleare,
To quench his thirst: yet he is not the neare.
For, so do I respect the heavenly grace,
That largely is bestowde vpon her face,
That with mine eyes I dare not her behold,
My toung doth stay and in the palat folde.
Why haue not I a heart of Crystall cleare,
Tronsparent through, to let my paine appeare?
That there she might of all my torments reed,
Which loue with holds within my heart in dreed?
Now, since that Iudith to this camp arriv'd,
The light of heav'n had thrise his course reviv'd,
And darkned thrise, and gan with saffron hew
To light the Ynds, the fourth day to renewe;
When thus the Duke, who leftrepast and rest,
Vnto his Eunuch this like porpos drest.
O Bagos, sonne adoptife, not by chaunce,
Whom I haue chose of nought thee to aduance,
By speciall grace, and made thee (though I boaste)
First of my hart, and second of myne Hoaste;
I rage, I burne, I dye in desp'rate thought,
Through loue, by this same strangers beuty brought,
Go, seek her then, and shortly to her say,
What secret flame torments me day by day:
Shew that I shall her to such honours bring,
As he that beares the Scepter of a King:
But chiefly see thy talke be framed thus,
That she do come this night and suppe with vs.
Now should it not to me be folly and shame,
To haue within my holde the fairest dame,
That ground doth heare, if I dare not aspire
To quench the burning flame of my desire?
I should but serue my soldiers for a Ieast:
And Iudith faire would count me but a beast.
Then Bagos well acquaint with such a cast,
He fed the lamp that brunt but ouerfast.
[Page 63]If priuate men (quoth he) and people poore,
That goes not ouer the threshold of their doore,
But spends their daies in trauell and debate,
And neuer seeks to win a better state,
Liues not content, if that the Cyprian Dame
Do not sometime their frozen harts enflame;
What slaues are those then, on whose backs are drest
The burdens of this world, who takes no rest
For Publike weale, but wakes with Argus eies,
For others ease that to no care applies;
If they, among so many great vexations,
May not receiue in loue some recreations?
Pursue your loue my Lord, and make no let
To take the fish that els is in your net.
And as ere this you haue me faithfull found,
In like Ambassades when ye them propound:
So shall you finde me, in this loue of new,
To be as faithfull, secret, trest, and trew.
Alas, how many such are in our times
In princes Courts, that high to honour climes,
More for their handling such an enterprise,
Then for their being valiant, learnde, or wise?
Sometimes the Courts of kings were vertuous schooles:
Now finde we nought in Court but curious fooles.
O you, whose noble harts cannot accord
To be the slaues to an infamous Lord:
And knowes not how to mixe, with perlous Art,
The deadly poyson of the Amorous dart:
Whose natures, being free, wills no constraint,
Nor will your face with flattring pensile paint,
For wel, nor wo, for pittie, nor for hire,
Of good my Lords their fauours to acquire;
Go not to Court if yee will me beleue:
For, in that place where ye think to retreue
The honour due for vertue, ye shall finde
Nought but contempt, which leaues good men behinde.
Ye worthy Dames, that in your breasts do bear
Of your al-seeing God no seruile fear:
Ye that of honour haue a greater care,
Then sights of Courts, I pray you come not thare.
Let men, that in their purse hath not a myte,
Clothe them like kings, and play the hypocrite,
And with a lying tale and feined chear,
Court-cozen them whom they would see on bear.
Let there the Pandar sell his wife for gain,
With seruice vile, his noblesse to attain.
Let him that serues the time, chaunge his entent,
With faith vnconstant saile at euerie vent.
Ye sonnes of craft, bear ye as many faces
As Proteus takes among the Marine places,
And force your natures all the best ye can
To counterfait the grace of some great man;
Chamaeleon like, who takes to him ech hew
Of black or white, or yellow, green, or blew,
That comes him next: So you that finds the facion
To hurt the poor, with many-a great taxacion:
You that do prease to haue the princes eare,
To make your names in Prouinces appear:
Ye subtill Thurims, sell your fumish winde,
To wicked wights whose senses ye do blinde.
Ye fearfull Rocks, ye ymps of Achelois,
Who wracks the wisest youth with charming vois:
Ye Circes, who by your enchantment strange,
In stones and swine, your louers true do change:
Ye Stymphalids, who with your youth vptaks,
You rauens that from vs our riches raks:
Ye, who with riches art, and painted face,
For Priams wife, puts Castors sister in place:
Ye Myrrhas, Canaces, and Semirames,
And if there rest yet mo defamed dames,
Com all to Court, and there ye shall re [...]aue
A thousand gains vnmeet for you to haue.
[Page 65]There shall you sell the gifts of great prouinces,
There shal you sell the grace of graceles princes.
Stay heer my Muse: it thee behoues to haue
Great constancy and many-a Hercles braue
To purge this age, of vices more notable,
Then was the stals of foule Aegeans stable.
Return to Iudith, who to bring to passe
Her high attempt, before her sets her glasse,
And ginnes to deck her hair like burnisht gold,
Whose beuty had no peer for to behold.
Then went she to his tent, where she espide
The gorgious tappestries, on euerie side,
Of Persian Kings, of Meds, and Syrian stories,
How Ninus first (prickt forth with great vain glories)
Subdewd the East: then next in order came
(Disguis'd in kinde) his wife Queen Semirame;
Who took the Scepter and with tourrets hye
Great Babylon erected to the skye.
Lo, how a Prince, with fingers white and fine,
Sardanapa­lus.
In womens weed the tender twist doth twine,
Who bare a Rock in sted of Royall mace,
And for a man with woman changeth grace
In gestures all: he frisles and he fards,
He oynts, he bathes, his visage he regards
In Crystall glasse, which for his sword he wore,
And lost his crowne without all combat more.
Amongst his vertugals, for ayde he drew,
From his Lieutenant, who did him pursew,
And wan his Scepter. Yet with f [...]eble yre,
He burnt himself, and ended his empyre.
Behold, a Bitch then feeds sucking childe,
Amongst the pricking thornes and brambles wilde;
Cyru [...].
Who grew so great and was of such a fame,
That bond, and free, his waged men became,
And afterward subuerted, to his lawe,
The Median scepter vnder Persians awe.
[Page 66]But what is he that so reformed goze
Before the camp, and wants his eares and noze?
That was that seruant true, who by that slight,
Brought Babylon again in Darius might.
While Iud [...]th fed her eies with figures vaine,
Her hart replete with passions and with paine;
The Genrall came, and with a visage gent,
Saluted her, and by the hand her hent,
And caused her sit down vpon a chare,
The more at ease to view her beuties rare.
Then, when he saw himself so neare his pleasure,
He brunt in hart, and scarse could byde the leasure
Till Venus with her garland shewde in sight,
On his Horizon to renue the night.
This widow, finding then the time vnmeete,
Gods iust determination to complete;
Made much delay, and fand full many-a sku [...]e,
With sundry talke this tyrant to abuse:
And said; my Lord, I pray you shew to me,
What furie iust hath mov'd your maiesty?
What haue our people done (please it your Grace)
By whom or when that Izaks holy race
Might so prouoke a Prince to wrackfull war,
In toungs, and lawes, so sep'rate from vs far?
Then said the Duke, vncourteous should I be
If I deny (O faire) to answere thee.
Now as the heav'n two Sunnes cannot containe,
So in the earth two kings cannot remaine
Of equall state. So doth ambition craue,
One king will not another equall haue.
My Prince is witnesse: who at warres did fall,
With king Arphaxat, cause he raisde his wall
Of Ecbatane so high that it did shame
To Niniue, and Babell feard the same:
For which, he vndertooke to spoyle his throne,
And race his Scepter to the lowest stone:
[Page 67]With spite, his buildings braue he cast adown.
Arphaxat then, a man of great renowne,
And worthie of his Scepter and his state,
Thought better in the field to make debate,
Then beare a scorne, his Meds to battell drew:
Thus 'tweene them two did cruell war ensew.
Arphaxa [...] armed all the yles of Greece,
Where Iason was, but sought no golden fleece,
But golden lingots with aboundant gaine,
Wher Phasis streame bedeawes the pleasant Plaine.
The Harmastans, and Albans, strong, and wise,
That sowes but once, and haue their haruest thrise:
The men that neer to Oxus banks abydes,
And those that Antitaurus horns diuydes:
And those that mans the mount vpon whose brest
The ship that scap't the genrall flood did rest:
And those that are (not hid) within the Reame,
Wher proude Iaxartes flowes with furious streame:
In short; the Medes brought men to ayde their plea,
From Pontus far beyond the Caspian sea:
And of this Hoste Arphaxat was commander,
With hope and heart more high then Alexander.
My prince desirous then to winne or dy,
Left nought vndone that furthred to supply
His troubled state. He armed Syttacene,
And waged Archers out of Osrohene:
Ye Lords of Lands that yelds the hundreth corne,
Leaue Euphrates and bounds where ye were borne:
Ye Carmans bolde that all on fish do feede,
And of their pelts do make your warlike weede;
Leaue Hytan bounds, go seek the golden sands:
Ye Parths, ye Cosses, Arabs, and ye lands,
That of your Magi Prophets thinks ye knowe
Their spells diuine, yourself for p [...]kmen showe.
O Calde, chaunge thine Astrolab and square
To speare and shield: for, we no wight will spare
[Page 68]Of able age, of high or lowe degrie
That trails the pike, or launce layes on his thie.
Let women, Children, and the burghers olde
At home alone, let them their houses holde.
We sommond eke the Persians and Phoenicians,
The soft Aegyptians, Hebrews, and Cilicians,
To come in haste, and ioyne their force to ours:
But they disdainfully deteind their powrs;
And, with their wicked hands, and words vnsage,
They did our sacred messengers outrage.
My maister for a time, putvp this wrong,
Attending time, to quite these enmies strong;
With purpose, more at leasure, to prouide
T' abate this sacrilegious peoples pride.
Two greater kings were neuer seen beforne,
Battell.
Then camped was in Ragau field at morne,
With hauty harts enarmed all in yre:
Ech soldier set another so on fire,
That scarsly they could keep them in their bound,
Till pipe, or Cymball, or the trumpets sound,
Denounce the choke: but with their furious faces,
They thret their foes afarre with fell menaces,
And strokes at hand: two thousand Lads forlorne
(To blunt the sword) were down in battell borne.
Vpon their flanks flew feruently the stones,
That bet their bucklers to their brused bones.
The squadrons then steps sternly to the strokes,
With harts in humain all the battell yokes,
And are supplide with many mighty bands:
Som counters them, and sternly them withstands:
With foot to foot ech other ouer plyes:
Both Meds and Caldes clasp with gastly cryes;
Like Nilus stream that from the rocks doth romble,
Or Encelade when he in tombe doth tomble.
Here som lies headles: som, that cannot stand,
Trails on his wombe, and wants both foot and hand,
[Page 69]Cut off with stroks: some per [...]'t throu plate and mails:
Some shoulder- [...]lasht: some panched in th' entrails:
Some brains outbet: some in the guts were gor'd:
Some dying vomit blood: and some were smor'd:
Some neither quick nor dead, do yet attend
What place it pleaseth God their soules to send:
So loth the little life, that doth abyde,
Is, from the dying body to diuide.
The ground that erst was yellow, greene, and blew,
Is ouercled with blood in purpure hew.
While this man giues some one his deadly baine,
He of another gets the like againe.
The rage encreasing growes with yrefull flame:
The field is spred with bodies dead and lame.
Like as ye see the wallowing sea to striue,
Flood after flood, and waue with vvaue to driue,
Comparison.
Then waues with vvaues, the floods with floods do chase,
And eft returnes vnto their former place:
Or like the crops of corne in mids of May
(Blowne vvith the vvestren wind) aside doth sway,
Both to and fro, as force doth them constraine,
And yet their tops redresseth vp againe:
So, whiles the Syrians are by Medes displaced;
And whiles the Medes by Syrian [...] are rechased.
Then, like two raging floods that down do fall,
From two contrarie mutine mountains tall;
Downe bearing bridge and bank, and all destroyes,
And striues which one may do the most annoyes:
So, these two kings, in force and courage stout,
Excels the rest with slaughter them about:
Wherso they'preast, they left on either side,
Behinde them, two long opened wayes and wide:
For, all their bucklers, Mo [...]ions, and Quiraces
Were of no proofe against their peisant maces.
Yet (for the time) the Mede [...] so fearcely fought,
That they th' Assyrian bands in terrour brought,
[Page 70]And pauld his soldiers harts, and brak their might;
Who (ouercome) tooke them to shamefull flight.
The Medes pursewd, and wounded, in that chace,
Ten thousand men; but none, vpon the face.
In short, this day our Scepter had depriued,
Had I not like the thunder dint arriued
In battels brunt. Their male and their vantbras,
Their helme and shield, before my Coutelas,
Were fraile as glas: and neuer a stroke I lent
But deadly was, and them more terrour sent
Then all our camp. The soldier then in feare
With trembling hand could scarsly weild his speare.
The pal-hewd knight with hart in brest that quakes,
His thyes in saddle, and feet in stirrops shakes
For dread of me. There some, with trenchant glaiue
From hight of head, to middle down I claiue.
And some so farre I foyned through the Iack,
The blade aperde a foote behinde his back:
So that the Medes, afrayd at such a thing,
In heat of fight they fled and left their king.
Who seing himself betrayd, his clothes he rent,
And bloodie towards Ragau towne he went:
Where we him met, yet ( Braue) did him defend,
And sought amongst his foes a famous end:
As doth the Tyger wilde who sees her den
Beset about with hunters dogs and men,
That turns her feare to furious raging rife
And will not vnreuenged lose her life:
So he them thunderbet wherso he went,
That neuer a stroke in vaine his right hand spent:
But er with murdring blade they could him quell,
Full many-a bold precursor he sent to hell.
At last, Arphaxat gan of slaughter tyre,
And (wounded sore) left both his life and yre,
And fell, as doth some huge high planted oak,
That long hath byde the winds, and many-a stroak
[Page 71]Of many an axe; yet stoutly doth sustaine
Their trauels long, and frustrats all their paine;
The roote doth sigh, the dale doth roring sound,
And to the heauen the noyse doth high rebound;
His head now here, now there, seemes to incline,
And threats him here and there with great ruine:
Yet stands vpright aboue the highest okes,
Till, vanquisht with a thousand thousand strokes,
He falls at last, and brings with him to ground
Both trees and cattell to the Plaine profound:
So with Arphaxat fell the Medes empyre.
My king the king of kings, then in his yre
Ras'd Ecbatan: and now growes weed and herbe,
Where sometime stood his palaces superbe.
So that where erst the lute and lowde Haubois
Were wont to sound with sweete concordant nois,
Now shriking owles and other monsters moe
In funerall sound fulfils the place with woe.
My potent Prince, when all this warre was ceast
Consumed moneths foure in Royall feast,
In Niniue the great: which banket done,
He me commanded to assemble sone
His Royall hoste, to punish all and some,
That to his former ayd disdaind to come:
And that I shortly should with sword and flame
Reuenge his honour: but alas, Madame,
Full farre am I from that I would pursew.
For, comming here thy nation to subdew,
I vanquisht am by thee; so that deaths might,
Shall shortly close mine eyes with endles night,
If you not (with a louing kisse) to me
Restore my life. O worthy Prince, quoth she,
Continue your discours, and to me tell
What great aduentures to your Hoste befell.
Then he retooke his tale he left alate,
And made a long discours of all his state,
[Page 72]Part, true, part false: as do some warriours braue,
Who speaking of their Acts will lye and raue.
My Camp assembled, then gan I t'enflame
Oration.
My soldiers harts thus, for to win them fame:
Companions, now, if euer ye pretend
To winne renoume that neuer shall haue end,
Go forwards now, plague these inhumain Lands,
That on our sacred Legats layd their hands.
Reuenge, reuenge, ye men, your most hie Prince,
That ever Scepter bare in rich prouince,
That euer came adowne with mighty arme,
From circled starres. Alarm' soldats, alarme:
Take blades in hand, and brands of burning yre,
To waste the western world with sword and fyre.
With bloody seas bedewe ech mount and vvood,
And make your horses fearce to swimme in blood.
Receiue the Scepter great and crowne of might
Of all this world vvhich is to you behight.
Receiue this laude, that for your conquest braue,
Shall draw your fames from the forgetfull graue.
Receiue yee valiant men the noble spoyle
Of many-a land that ye shall put to foyle.
Let men behold that sees you day by day,
How ye are cloyde with honour spoile and pray:
Thus ended I. And as my words were spent,
They bet their bucklers, showing them content
With courage bolde, to fight with me and byde.
Then sixscore thousand men I had to guide,
Or moe, and so from Niniuè we past
And marched vnto ( Bectilè) at last,
I through Edessi, Amidi, and Carran came,
Where sometime dwelt your father Abraham:
I wan the mount vvhose thwarting hornes diuyds
All Asie; and serues for bounds on sundrie syds,
To manie great Empyrs: I [...]lew, I brent
All in my way. My fellon soldiers vvent
[Page 73]Like moawers with their sithes in sowple hands,
Who leaues not after them a straw that stands;
But ample swathes of grasse on ground doth cast,
And showes what way their sharped sithes haue past.
All Lydia knowes, that nought now growes in it
But weeds. And Phuli-and Tharsis feeles it yit.
I was wel [...]eare the straits that closeth all
Phoenice and th' Ishique Rouers, like a wall,
When Rosea, Solea, Mops, Anchiali' and Iscia,
And sweete Egei: and (short) the whole Cilicia,
This passage took before and lay in wait,
To stay my Armie for to passe this straight.
If I the harmes and has [...]ards all should tell
Of all th' affairs and bloody frayes that fell,
And succours sent; the day should slide away
Before my tale. For that Cilicia I say,
Through great aduantage of their ground so narrow,
Defended them from both the speare and arrow:
So that my Hoste, that gaue before the chace,
To puissant kings, now fled with great disgrace.
Craking.
Then foming in despite, despaire, and yre,
I cast my selfe where shot flew like the fyre:
And though they hurt me in a hundred parts,
And though my buckler bare a wood of darts:
Yet left not I, but with audacious face
I brauely fought, and made them all giue place.
My army followde, where my arme made way
With trenching blade, on bodies dead that lay.
The greatest coward, that my captains led,
Pursewd and [...]lew the most of them that fled.
The Cidnus streame (vvho for his siluer flood
Esteemd a king) ran now with humaine blood:
The Pyram fearce, in seas discharged than
Full many-a helm, and sword, and worthy man.
In short as your owne riuer seems to rest,
With swelling tyds and frothy foods represt,
[Page 74]Within his bank: yet furiously him wreaks
With weightie force and banks and bridges breaks,
And stroies the Plaines, and makes for many-a day
More wrak, then if his channels open lay:
In semble sort their bands I did enchace,
That kept the entrance of that craggie place.
I brunt, I [...]lew, cast down, all that I fand;
And, Asia spoild, I entred th' easter Land.
I wan Cele [...], and raged pitti-les
Vpon the fruitfull shore of Euphrates.
I bet the desart Rapse, and Eagria Land,
Who knowes the vertue of my conquering hand.
From thence to seaward sewing mine entent
I wasted Madian. Northward then I went
To L [...]ban-ward, Damascus ouerrinning,
With other towns, Abil [...]a, and Hippas winning.
From thence, vvith curious mind my standerds styes
The hill, where sunne is seen to set and ryes.
And so from thence I forward led mine hoste,
To th' Occident on the Phoenic [...]an coste.
Then Sidon, Bible, Beryte, Tyre, and Gaze,
With Ascalon, and Assot, in a maze
For feare, sent humbly to my sacred seat,
Wise messengers, my fauour to intreat.
We come not here, my Lord said they, with armes
For to resist the chok of thy Gens [...]'armes:
But Prince, we come, of thee for to resaue
Both life and death, and what law vve shall haue.
Our townes are thine, our citties and our hills,
Our fields, our flocks, our wealth is at your wills.
Our seruice, and our treasures, great and small,
Our selfs, our wyues, and our faire children all,
Now only rests to thee, if so thee please
To take vs thus, O God what greater ease:
O God vvhat greater good may vs befall,
Then vnto such a Chiefe for to be thrall:
[Page 75]Who weilds the valiant lance and ballance right,
With vertue, like the Gods of greatest might.
So were to me as gratious to beholde
Their townes and Citties both: for, young and old
With crownes, and presents of the Flora sweet,
And costly odours, humbly did me greete.
At sounds of hornes and pypes they dauncing vvent,
With goods and bodies me for to present.
Then I, abusing not the law of armes,
Entreated them, and did to them no harmes,
Nor to their Lands: But first their forts I mand,
With men of mine, and theirs tooke in my Band.
For where that I my people farthest drew,
My camp in bands, from bands, to armies grew,
As doth the Danow which begins to flow,
By Raurak fields with snakish crangling slow,
Then swels his floods with sixty riuers large,
That in the Golfe Euxinus doth discharge.
I vvende Madame that Izrell, like the rest,
Would yeeld to me, that I should not be strest
Against their brest to moue my murdring speare:
But as I came the Scythique rampier neare
(The Tombe of her whose milk had such a hap
To feede the twise borne Denis in her lap)
I heard their wilfull rage first in that place:
Which doubtles will destroy all Abrahams race.
FINIS.

THE SVMMARIE OF The VI. BOOKE.

IVdith, hauing escaped the perill of her chastity, is brought to a sump­tuous banquet prepared by Holophernes for the in [...]ert unmēt of her, & farther prouocation of his filthy lust: In which the abhominable vice of gluttonie is by the Poet viuely descriued, and sharply reprehended. And whereas the Tyrant thought by such excesse to ouercome the chaste wi­dow: himself is so ouer come with wine, that vpon a very simple delay he lets her goe till he was in his bed. And here is noted that the snares that the wicked laies for others, they fal in them their selfs. Whiles the Tyrant contemplated his lust, Iudith in trouble called vpon her God, who made way for her works through the Tyrants owne wickednesse: who heaping sin vpon sin, approched at last to the end of his tragoedy: and mounting vpon the skaffolde of the yre of God, falls asleep in his sinfull bed, and is by Iudith beheaded in his beastly drunkennes. True it is that in this ex­ecution she felt her great infirmity: but likewise she found that God was able to strengthen the most feeble for the execution of his Iustice. And as before she was preserued in the midst of her enemies: so the Lord to make a miraculous end of his work, brings her safe home to her people. The Bethulians giues thankes to God. The Ammonit ranished with this miracle, embraced the true religiō. The head of Holophernes (that Iudiths seruant brought) being set vp for a terrible spectacle to the Heathen en­couraged the Cittezens to giue assault vpon the camp. Bagos who had beene an instrument of the Tyrants wickednes, is the first that finds his masters headles C [...]kas, and puts the camp in such affray, that they fled all before Israell, in such sort that scarce one was left to bring newes to Niniue, of the fortune of the battell. And that was Gods Iustice, that those that had followed this Tyrant in his wickednes should be compani­ons of his death. Iudith last of all celebrates the deliuerance of God, with a song, to the honour and glorie of his almighty name.

THE SIXT BOOKE of IVDITH.

BEfore the Pagan had his purpose ended,
The night obscure from mountains high descended,
And sewers set the boord with costly meate,
Of passing price, so delicate to eate,
That Holopherne vnto his ioyous feast
Aperd t'haue cald the kings of west and east.
O glutton throtes, O greedy guts profound!
Exclamatiō.
The chosen meats, within the world his bound
By th' Abderois inuented, may not staunch,
Nor satisfie your foule deuouring paunch:
But must in Moluke seek the spices fine,
Canary suger, and the Candy wine.
Your appetits (O gluttons) to content,
Gluttonie.
The sacred brest of Thetis blew is rent:
The Aire must be dispeopled for your mawes:
The Phoenix sole can scarse escape your iawes.
'O plague, O poyson to the warriour state!
'Thou makes the noble harts effeminate.
'While Rome was rul'd by Curioes and Fabrices,
'Who fed on roots and sought not for delices:
'And when the onely Cresson was the food
'Most delicate to Persia; then they stood
'In happy state, renowmde in peace and [...]arre,
'And throu the world their triumphs spred afarre:
'But when they after, in th' Assyrian hall,
'Had learnd the lessons of Sardanapall:
'And when the other, giuen to belly chear,
'By Galbaes, Neroes, Vitells gouernd weare,
'Who gloried more to fill a costly plate,
'Then kill a Phyrrhus or a Mythridate;
'Then both of them were seen for to be sacked
'By nations poore, whom they before had wracked.
[Page 78]'Of little, Nature liues: superfluous meat
'But duls the sprite, and doth the stomack freat.
'When they were set, then throw that Royall rout
The Maluesie was quaffed oft about.
One drinkes out of an Alabastar Cuppe:
One out of Crystall doth the Nectar suppe:
Som out of curious shells of Vnicorne:
Som spills the wine, and som to beds were borne,
But namely there the Vizroy would not tyre,
But more he drank, the more he had desire:
Like to the Ocean-Sea, though it resaues
All Nilus floods, yea all fresh water craues
From East to West, yet growes he not a grain,
But still is ready for asmuch, again.
One glas drawes on another glas: and whan
The butler ment to cease, he but began
To skink god Bacchus: thus this dronken wight
Among his dronkards tippled till midnight:
Then each of them, with stackring steps out went,
And groping hands, retyring to his tent.
This tyrant wisht them oft away before:
To whom ech moment seemd to be a skore.
Assone as they were gone, then gan he prease
The trembling Iudith: Cease, great prince, O cease
The widow sayd: what hast need you to make
To reap the flowre that none can from you take?
My Lord, go to your bed and take your ease;
Where I your sweet embracings will complease,
Assoone as I my garments may remoue,
That bindes my body brunt with ardent loue.
Now, if that sober wits and wylie brains
Cannot auoide the female tricks and trains:
Abash not reader though this reckles Roy
(Bewitcht by Semels sonne, and Venus boy)
Was thus beguilde: considering, both these twain
Confounds the force of those that them retain.
So letting Iudith slide out of his arme,
He gins to loose his garments soft and warme:
But throw his hast, his hand came lesser speed,
And though he was deceiv'd, yet tooke no heed,
But wening well t'vntruss his peeuish points,
He knits them twyfold with his trembling ioints;
So long till he, with anger discontent,
Cuts me them all, and off his clothes he rent,
And naked went to bed. Then as ye see
The bloody boweman stand behind a tree,
Who warely watches for the wandring deare:
To euery part, where de doth thinke to heare
Some trembling bush, some beast or Lezard small,
That motion makes, so turneth he withall
His face and hand to shoot, but all in vaine
For to relieue his long aspecting paine:
Euen so, this foolish tyrant when he hard
Some rat or mouse, then thought he to himward,
His Mistris came: and when he heard no more,
Yet thought (she came) whom most he did adore.
While vp he lifts his head, while lets it fall:
While lookes about, while counts the pases all,
That she should passe, to come vnto his bed.
Thus turning oft, as ardent lust him led,
He thought his bed was sowen with pricking thorne:
But now the drink, that he had dronke beforne,
Brewd in his braine, and from his mind it took
The sweet remembrance of her louing look.
So fell on sleepe: and then to him appears
Ten thousand flames, ten thousand dinnes he hears,
And dreams of Diuels, and Daemons dark and dim,
Medusas, Minotaurs, and Gorgons grim.
This while, the hart of Iudith gan to beat
Incessantly, beset with battell great:
One while her feare refeld her first entent:
One while her action iust her courage lent.
Then sayd she, Iudith, now is time, go to it,
And saue thy people: Nay, I will not do it.
I will, I will not; Go fear not again:
Wilt thou the sacred gestning then prophane?
Not it prophane; but holier it shall stand,
When holy folke are helped by my hand.
But shamefull liues the tray tour euermore;
No trayt or she who doth her towne restore.
But murdrers all, are of the heav'n forsaken:
All murder-is not for murder alwayes taken.
Alas, are they not murdrers sleyes their Prince?
This tyrant is no prince of my prouince:
But, what if God will haue vs vnder his-awe?
Hee's not of God that fights against his lawe.
For then should Ahud, Iahell, and Iehew,
Be homi [...]ids, because they tyrants slew.
But what? they were commanded of the Lord:
To such an act, my hart should soone accord.
Alas, my hart is weak for such a deed:
Th' are strong ynough whom God doth strength at need.
But when 'tis done who shall my warrant be?
God brought me here, God will deliuer me.
What if the Lord leaue thee in Heathen hands?
Were this Duke dead, I fear no death nor bands.
But what if they pollute thee like a slaue?
My body with my hart they shall not haue.
Thus she resolued in her minde at last,
Her hands and eyes vnto the heauen she cast,
And with an humble voyce to God she prayd:
O gratious God that alwayes art the ayd
To thy beloued Izak, I thee pray
To strength my hand, euen my right hand this day,
That I may make this bloody tyrant dye,
That to discepter thee would skale the skye.
But since thy goodnesse hath preserued me,
And brought my bote so near the shoare to be;
[Page 81]Grant that some sleepy drinke I may prouide,
To dull this tyrants hart and daunt his pride,
To th' end that I may free thy congregation;
Vnto thy honour, and our consolation.
This prayer done, she looked round about,
And heard this dronken prince in sleeping rout:
Then stept she to his sword that by him stood,
Which oft had bath'd the world with humain blood:
But as she preast this tyrant for to quell,
Fear reft the sword from her, and downe she fell,
And lost at once the strength of hart and corse.
O God (quoth she) now by thy mighty force
Restore my strength. This said (with pale annoy)
She rudly rose, and stroke this sleeping Roy,
So fell, that from his shoulders flew his powle,
And from his body fled his Ethnique [...]owle
Hie way to hell. His bulk all blood bestaind
Lay still, his head in Iudiths hand remaind;
The which her maid put vp into a sack:
Thus throw the camp they close away do pack,
Empeacht of none. For, those that had her seen,
Supposde she went (as she had wonted been,
The nights before) vnto the valley, whear
They thought she went to serue Diana clear.
When Iudith chaste came near the Hebrew wall;
Let in (quoth she) for our great God of all
Hath broke this night the whole Assyrian power,
And raysd the horne of Izak at this hower.
Then men, amazde of her vnhoped state,
About her ran assembling at the gate,
Where holy Iudith on a hill was mounted,
And all her chaunce from point to point recounted;
And there discov'ring drew out of the sack
The bloody head of th' enmy of Izak.
The Citizens, that saw how she did stand
With th' end of Assurs head in her right hand;
[Page 82]They praysed God, who by her hand had slain
And punished that traytour in humain.
'But, most of all Duke Ammon did admire
'The worke of God. Then he t'escape theyre
'Of Iacobs God, who aydes the weakest part,
'He shortly circumcis'd his flesh and hart.
'O God, that rightly by foresight diuine
'Repels the purpose of all mens engine:
'Who for to lead th' elect to destnyed health
'(Even when it seemes them fardest from their wealth)
'Of ill, thou drawes the good, and som in ill
'Thou lets them runne thy Iustice to fulfill;
'(O Lord) the vile desire of blood and sak,
'Made Holopherne to warre vpon Izak:
'But where that he would Izaks blood haue shed,
'He lost his owne for Izak, on his bed.
'Thus thy good grace hath made his vain inuention
'To take effect contrary his intention.
'So Paul became a Saint, who was a Pharisee;
'And, of a tyrant, teacher of thy veritee:
'So was the theefe, that hong with our Messias,
'(For all his sinne) preserued with Elias:
'His vitious corps could haue no life here downe;
'His soule by grace yet got a heav'nly crowne.
'Change then (O God) the harts of christian princes,
'Who sheds the faithfuls blood in their prouinces.
'Let thou that sword, that thou giues them to guide,
'Vpon thy enmies onely be applyde;
'Vpon those tyrants whose vnrighteous horne
'Deteins the Land where thy dear sonne was borne:
'Not on the backs of those, who, with humilitie,
'Adores the Triple one great God invnitie.
Then, at commandement of this widow chaste,
A soldier tooke the tyrants head in haste;
And, for to giue the Hebrews hart withall,
He fixed it vpon the foremost wall.
[Page 83]Their fathers came, and sonnes, and wiues, and mayds,
Who erst had lost, amongst the Heathen blayds,
Their sonnes, their parents, maks, and louers dear;
With heauie harts and furious raging chear,
They pild and paird his beard, of paled hew,
Spet in his face, and out his tongue they drew,
Which vsde to speak of God great blasphemies,
And with their fingers poched out his eyes.
The rife remembrance of so late an ill,
Made vulgar folke such vengeance to fulfill.
This while, Aurora ceased to embrace
Her ancient loue, and rose with ruddy face,
Vpon the Indian heaven: the warriours strong,
That kept the towne, now sorted forth in throng,
Enarmed all, with such a hydeous sound
As seemde the elements foure for to confound,
And break the bands that keeps them in their border,
Retyring them vnto their olde disorder.
The Pagan watches next the Cities side
(Awaked with this din) start vp and cryde
Alarme, Alarme, like fearfull men agast:
Then through the Camp, the hote Alarum past.
Som takes his neighbours armour first he findes,
Confusion.
And wrong on armes the brace [...] both he bindes.
Som takes a staf for hast, and leaues his launce:
Som madling runnes, som trembles in a traunce:
Som on his horse ill sadled ginnes to ride,
And wants his spurres, som boldly do abide:
Som neither wakes nor sleeps, but mazing stands:
Som, braue in words, are beastly of their hands.
This brute from hand to hand, from man to man,
Vnto the Pagans Court at last it ran.
Then Bagos, Eunuch, sadly forth he went
T'awake the sleeping Ethnique in his tent;
And knockt once, twise, or thrise, with trembling hand:
But such eternall sleep his temples band,
[Page 84]That he had past already (miserable)
Of Styx so black the flood irrepassable.
Yet Bagos, hearing Izaks cry encrease,
He with his foot, the dore began to prease,
And entred: where the bed he did beholde
All bled with Holophernes carcasse colde:
He tore his hair; and all his garments rent,
And to the heauen his howling cries he sent.
But when he mist the Hebrew-Dame away,
Then raging he began a gastly fray.
And from the bloody tent as he ran out,
Among the Heathen thus began to shout:
Woe, woe, to vs, a slaue (they Iudith call)
In sleaing Holopherne, hath slain vs all,
That daunted all the world. These nouels last,
Ioynd to the former fear that lately past,
Affrighted so the souldiers one and all,
That pike and dart, and target they let fall,
And fled through mountains, valleis, and throw heaths,
Where ev'rie chaunce procurde them worser deaths.
Then all th' assieged folk in flocks descended,
And on their enmies backs their howes they bended.
Both parties ran: but th' one that other chased,
The weary flyers flight, themselfs defaced.
The Hebrews there, in fight not one they lost;
But they bet down and slew the Heathen hoste:
As doth a Lion of Getulia wood
Bespred the land with woried beasts and blood,
So long as he may finde a beast abide,
That dare oppone him to his cruell pride.
Som head long throwes themselfs from craggie Rocks,
And breaks their bones and all their brains out knocks:
Som hath forgot, that Parcas, every whear,
Waits on their end that drowne in water clear:
But if that any scapte by som great hap,
He scapte the first, but not the after clap:
[Page 85]Fore all the straits and passages were set,
That none should scape aliue where thy were met:
Yea scarsly one was left to tell the king,
At Niniue, of all this wondrous thing.
This battell done, all those whose Sex and age
With held at home (their dolours to asswage)
Came forth out of their fort to see and hear
What God had done for them his people dear.
They found som men dismembred hauing breath,
That cried in vain a hundreth times for death.
Another gnashes with his teeth, in pains:
Som dead in face their former rage retains.
And som is shot directly throw the hart.
Ech soule departs to his appointed part,
According to the valew, or the chaunce,
That fortun'd them to dye on sword or launce.
In short: to see this sight so dreadful was,
That even the Hebrews would haue sayd Alas,
If they had vanquisht any enmie els.
This while, amongst the corses infidels,
Among a hundred thousand, their was found
The cheftains carcas rent with many-a wound
Of spear and sword, by th' Hebrews in their yre.
Ther was no sinew, Arter, vain, nor lyre,
That was not mangled with their vulgar rage:
No time nor moment might their yre asswage.
If Holopherne had been like Atlas long,
Or like in limmes vnto Briarius strong;
Yet should his body been too small a pray,
To sati fie their furie ev'ry way.
For, in that Camp was not so small a knaue,
But of his flesh som collup he would haue.
O tyrant now (quoth they) giue thy right hand
To the Cilicians, and to Media Land:
Leaue thou thy left. And to Celea sweet,
To Ismaell and Aegypt leaue thy feet;
[Page 86]To th' end that al the world by thee offenced,
With such a present may be recompenced.
But heer I faile thy corps thus to deuise
In Attomy: for, it will not suffise.
This thankfull widow then who neuer thought
To smore this wondrous work that God had wrought,
Entun'd her vearse, and sung to sweet consort
Of instruments, and past with gracious port
Before the chosen Dames and virgins thair,
That were esteem de for honest chaste and fair.
Sing sing, with hart and voyce and sounding strings,
And prayse the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings,
Who doth disthrone the great, and in their place
Erects the poore that leans vpon his grace.
Who would haue thought that in a day one towne
Could ouercome a camp of such renowne,
Who daunted all the world, whose pride was felt
From Indian shore to where the Calpees dwelt?
Great God, who will beleeue that Holopherne,
Who did a hundred famous princes derne,
Should be disceptred, slain, left in a midow,
By no great Gyant, but a feeble widow?
Great God, who will beleeue that he who raind,
From north to south, and in his hands retaind▪
Both East and West; now gets not grace to haue
An ynch of Gazon ground to be his graue?
This Conqu'rour, that came with no army small,
Now lyes on ground abandond of them all;
Not sole: for, those companions him in death,
That followde him while he had life and breath.
Not now the ground, but Ravens hunger-sterv'd,
Are now his tombe as he hath well deserv'd.
No vaults of Marble rich, nor Porphyr pure,
That he had built, could be his sepulture.
Euen so good Lord from hence forth let vs finde
Thee not our Iudge, but for our father kinde:
[Page 87]But let all tyrants that against thee gather,
Finde thee their Iudge; but not their louing father.
Here Iudith ends: And also heare I stay,
The Transla­tor.
With thankes to God. So, for his state I pray
At whose command I vndertooke this deed,
To please his Grace, and those that will it reed.
FINIS.

A TABLE OF SIG­nification of some wordes as they are vsed before.

*⁎*

Words.
Significations.
ABderois,
Prophane and delicate Epicures.
Abile.
A hill in Affrica, one of the Pillers of Hercules.
Abraham.
Father of the Iewes or the faith­full.
Achelois Ympes.
Sirenes or Mermaids.
Amram.
The father of Moses.
Assur. Assurs head,
The Countrey of Assyria or their king.
Assyrian Prince.
Holophernes. Vizroy or Gene­rall.
Agamemnon.
The Generall of the Greekes, be­ing present at the sacrificing of his onely Daughter, was painted with a bende about his eyes, either for the [Page] vnskilfulnes of the painter, who could not sufficiēt­ly expresse the fathers speciall teares, or els for that he thought it not decent to paint so mighty a Prince weeping; or vnnaturall, not to weepe.
Aconite.
A poysonable herbe.
Autan.
The South or south winde.
Aurora.
The morning.
Arphaxat.
Supposed to be Arbactus, King of Medes.
Atlas.
A great Giant.
Argus.
Had a hundreth eyes.
Alexander.
The great.
Apelles.
An excellent painter.
Bethull or Bethulia.
The City where Iudith dwelt.
Babell.
Babylon, or the whole countrey
Bellona.
Goddesse of Battell.
Briccoll.
An engine of warre.
Briarius.
A Giant with a hundreth hāds.
Bacchus.
Wine or drunkennes.
Boreas.
The North or north wind.
Chameleon.
A beast that chaungeth his co­lours.
Ctesiphon.
A cunning Architector or buil­der.
Chaos.
A confusion before the worlds creation.
Capharois.
Two perilous Rocks.
Cyanes
straits
Calpe.
A hill in Spaine, one of the pil­lars of Hercules.
Cyprian Dame.
Venus, loue, or lust.
Cupido.
Loue or lust.
[Page] Coruies.
Crooked yrons to drawe down buil­dings.
Castors sister.
Helen, the dishonest wife of Mone­laus.
Canaces.
Incestuous women.
Circes.
Witches, abusers of louers.
Cyrene.
A dry sandy countrey, or drouth.
Carmell.
A mountaine in Iudea, or the whole countrey.
Danow.
Danubius, a riuer in Germany.
Denis twice born.
Bacchus.
Diana or Cynthia.
The Moone.
Dina.
The daughter of Iacob.
Aegyptian Queen.
Cleopatra the Concubine of M. Anto­nius, who swallowed a rich pearle.
Elimia Land.
The Elamits.
Eurus.
The East, or East winde.
Aegeans stable.
Where horses deuoured men.
Encelade.
A Giant buried vnder mount Aetna.
Generall.
Holophernes.
Gibraltar.
A City in Spaine, neere to Calpe-hill▪ one of the Pillers of Hercules.
Holopherne.
Vizroy, chiefe of the Army.
Hermon.
A Hill in Iudea, or the coūtry of Iudea.
Hesperian coste.
The west.
Hyade.
A water nymph or watrie star.
Heraults.
Apostles, or preachers.
Iacobs sonnes.
The people of Izrell.
Izrell or Iacob.
The Land of Iudea.
Izaak.
The people of the Iewes.
Ismaell.
Idumeans or Edom.
Ixion.
One tormented in Hell.
[Page] Iebus place.
Ierusalem or Sion.
Iudith.
of Bethulia of the tribe of Ru­ben.
Iessies race.
Dauid and his seed.
Iethro.
Father in law to Moses.
Latmies sonne.
Endymion, the long sleeper, sup­posed to lye with the Moone.
Lysippus.
A cunning caruer.
Monarke.
One sole gouernour.
Memphits.
Men of that Citie in Aegypt.
Misraim.
The Land of Egypt.
Mocmur.
The riuer neare Bethulia.
Momus.
A scornfull detractour of all things.
Mars.
God of strife or battell.
Myrrhaes & Syllaes.
Women betrayers of their coū ­rey.
Minotaurs.
Vnnaturall monsters.
Medusaes.
Furies of hell.
Neptunes back.
The Sea.
N [...]phathai.
A mighty strong Rocke or moū ­taine in Syria.
Palestine.
The Land of the Philistins.
Pharia.
A famous tower in Egypt.
Phlego [...].
One of the foure horses that was supposed to draw the sunne.
Phoebus.
The sunne.
Phoeb [...].
His sister the moone.
Proteus.
A man changing himself in sun dry formes: there is a fish of like nature.
Priams wife.
Hecuba the honourable.
[Page] Pestmell.
All mixt confusedly toge­ther.
Ramme.
An ingine of warre for battry.
Sina-hill.
Sinai-hill.
Salem.
Ierusalem.
Solym [...].
Ierusalem.
Sichem.
The rauisher of Dina.
Sabean Queene.
Sauours of Saba land.
Simeon.
Dinaes brother.
Scythique Rampier.
The tombe of Semele, mother of Bacchus.
Styx.
A Riuer in hell.
Sympathie.
Concordance of natures and things.
Sentinelles.
Watchmen.
Semirames.
Women Viragoes.
Syrtes.
Dangerous sands.
Satrap.
Prince.
Stymphalides
Rauenous foules with female fa­ces, Harpyes.
Syrian camp.
The Hoste of Holophernes.
Semels sonne.
Bacchus or wine.
Transparent.
That which may be seen throgh and whole, like glasse.
Tortuse.
An engine of warre.
Trepan.
An engine of warre.
The forraine tyde.
Supposed to haue been the flood of Noah, or the deluge of Deucalion that diuided Affrica from Europe, and Sycilia from Italia.
Thetis.
The Sea.
Thurim [...].
Deceitfull Aduocats.
Theban knight.
Captaine of the Greeks army.
[Page] Theefe that stole the fire.
Prometheus, who stole fire from Iupiter.
Zedechias.
Last king of the Iewes.
Zephyrus.
West or west winde.
Zeuxis.
A painter of Italie, who be­ing required to paint the picture of Helen, desired to haue all the fairest women of Creton to be present for his paterne.
FINIS.

1611.

OS · HOMINI · SVBLIME · DEDIT ✚

AT LONDON Imprinted by H. L. and are to be sould by Arthur Iohnson at the signe of the white horse, neere the great North doore of Paules Church.

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