Nocturnall lucubrations: or Meditations divine and morall Whereunto are added epigrams and epitaphs: written by Rob: Chamberlain of Exeter Colledge in Oxford.

Nocturnall lucubrations: or Meditations divine and morall Whereunto are added epigrams and epitaphs: written by Rob: Chamberlain of Exeter Colledge in Oxford.

Table of contents

Title page

TO THE WORSHIPFULL, And his honored Master, PETER BALLE Esquire, Sollicitor generall to the Queenes Majestie.

Nocturnall Lucubrations: OR MEDITATIONS Divine and Morall.

§

§

To his honored, and dearely affected Master, Mr WILLIAM BALLE, Son and Heire to the Worshipfull PETER BALLE Esquire.

To his well beloved friend, Mr ROBERT CHAMBERLAIN, the Author, in praise of his following Poems.

In praise of a Country life.

On the VVorshipfull, and worthy of all honour, Mrs ANNE BALLE, Wife of Peter Balle Esquire.

In Dominum Gulielmum Ball filium & haeredem Petri Balle Armigeri.

The same in English.

In praise of Learning.

To his honoured friend, Mr Giles Balle Merchant. On the Spring.

To his deare friend and cousin, Mr Allan Penny, Citizen of Exeter. On the Morning.

To his deare friend and brother, Mr Thomas Bowdon. On the Evening.

To his dearest brother, Mr. William Holmes, Citizen of Exeter. Deaths impartiality. Carmen Hexametrum.

To his kind and loving friend, Mr Henry Prigg, Citizen of Exeter. On the sweetnesse of Contentation.

To his dearely affected friend, Mr George Leach of Broadelist in Devon. On the vanity of Man.

In Hyemem.

On the death of Mr. Charles Fitz-Geffrays, Minister of Gods Word.

On Sack.

On Tobacco.

IN OBITVM HENRICI BLUETT Generosi.

§

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

Nocturnall Lucubrations: OR MEDITATIONS DIVINE and MORALL.

Whereunto are added EPIGRAMS AND EPITAPHS: WRITTEN BY ROB: CHAMBERLAIN.

In mundo spes nulla boni, spes nulla salutis:

Sola salus servire Deo, sunt caetera fraudes.

LONDON, Printed by M. F. for Daniel Frere, at the signe of the Red Bull in Little-Brittaine. 1638.

TO THE WORSHIPFULL, And his honored Master, PETER BALLE Esquire, Sollicitor generall to the Queenes Majestie.

[Page]

[Page]

SIR,

THE envious condition of these carping times (like a frost [Page] in the Spring) so nips Invention in the bud, that for the most part she dies like a blasted Plant, and never lives to see her proper fruit. Many are the Volumes of Historie, Antiquities, and other Peeces of learning your Worship hath volved and revolved, [Page] and yet I think scarce ever saw the person or worke hath not one time or other had the long lash of censure. Dic quibus in terris, & eris mihi magnus Apollo. Faine would I know where the man lives, on whose works or repute are not to be [Page] seene some stripes of detraction. May your Worship therefore be pleased to spread the wings of your protection over these poore thoughts, whereby they may be sheltred from the criticall crew of Zoilus, which will be not onely an inexpressible [Page] obligation, but a great encouragement to

Your humble servant, ROB: CHAMBERLAIN.

Nocturnall Lucubrations: OR MEDITATIONS Divine and Morall.

[Page]

[Page]

LEARNING is like Scanderbegs Sword, either good or bad according to him that hath it: an excellent weapon if well used, otherwise [Page] like a sharp razor in the hand of a child.

Where impossibilities are apparent, it is indiscretion to nourish hopes.

The gentle hand of Patience in the strongest streames of Adversitie, makes our afflictions sweet and easie. Gloriosius est injuriam tacendo fugere, quàm respondendo superare.

[Page] Patience out-faceth the lowring front of the most dismall fate.

To insult over misery is the undoubted character of barbarous inhumanity.

To incurre Gods displeasure for mans favour, is for a man to kill himselfe to avoid a hurt.

Roaring oblations with sighing tears fetcht [Page] from a faithfull spring, are onely able to penetrate the everlasting gates.

Good rewards in the end, never faile to crown the end of a well prosecuted good.

Though the waies of vertue seeme rough and craggie, yet they reach to heaven, and in the end invest humanity in the bright robes of immortality. Tendit in ardua virtus.

[Page] Humility is a grace it selfe, and a spotlesse vessel to entertain all other graces.

As the ball rebounds according to the force wherewith it was throwne; so the more violent the afflictions of a good man are, the higher mount his thoughts.

A good conscience seats the mind in a rich throne of endlesse quiet; [Page] but horror waits upon the clogging burden of a guilty soule.

Face commendation sets a foole in the chaire of ostentation; but dies the cheek of wisdome a scarlet blush.

The richest treasure mortall times afford, is the spotlesse garment of an untainted reputation. Quando actùm est de nomine, actum est de homine.

[Page] Nature hath too slow a foot, closely to follow the heeles of Religion; and tis too hard a task for dull flesh clogg'd with corruption, to wing with the high flying quill of the heavenly soule.

Sorrow for ills past brings back mans frailty to its first innocence.

Majestie is like Lightning, it never hurts but where it finds resistance.

[Page] Man is a Ship laden with riches, the world's the sea, heaven the intended haven: hell sends out his Pirats to rob him, sometimes indevours to run him upon the rocks of his ruine, but yet heavens eye guards him: His soule is the Pilot, which through various seas of time and fortune, brings him to the long desired Port of his endlesse quiet.

I have read of the Hart, [Page] in the time of his liberty and jollity, of all creatures will not come neare a man; but when hee is hunted by the dogs, he will fly for succour to the next man he meets: So it is with man; Prosperity cannot ingender so high a timpanie of pride, but miserie can abate it.

Halcyon dayes make a man forget both God and himselfe: but afflictions make us runne to [Page] seeke GOD early.

To master a mans self is more than to conquer a world; for he that conquered the world, could not master himselfe.

The malitious thirst of revenge out of a flinty cowardize strikes the hot fire of manlike unmanly valour.

The falling of a house [Page] is more perillous than the rising of a flood. Evils foreseene are halfe cured; but mishap comming with the sudden thunderclap of inexpectation, scares the mindes faculties, from all consideration of wise prevention.

Learning is the onely precious jewell of immortality; it well becomes the outward frame, and with immortall [Page] glory decks and adornes the never dying part. Non habet inimicum praeter ignorantem.

The most transcendent offenders transgresse not so much against the rules of humanity, as doe the black monsters of prodigious ingratitude.

Happy, thrice happy were mans condition, could hee but ransome home the lamentable [Page] losse of that pristin command over his intemperate passions.

Man is the Embleme of miserie, the subject of sorrow, and the object of pitty; and so will be so long as hee wanders up and downe in the gloomie fenn of this weeping wildernesse. [...].

Successe seldome fails [Page] to crowne the enterprise according to the integrity of the cause.

All men wear not one habit of the minde, nor are all dispositiōs cloth'd alike with natures habiliments.

Posterity may well be called the eternity of life: he may be said never to die, whose name the eternall providence never fails to underprop with [Page] the lasting pillars of a numerous issue.

There is not halfe so much danger in the desperate sword of a known foe, as in the smooth insinuations of a pretended friend.

Unwise is that man that will be either dejected or exalted with the frownes or smiles of various fortune.

[Page] Mortalls must subscribe to whatsoever is writ in the adamantine tables of the eternall providence. Quic quid patimur venit ab alto. Seneca:

The greatest canker that can be to love, is the bosome nursing of a concealed grudge.

Reason at first produceth opinion; but afterwards an ill received opinion may seduce the very [Page] soule of reason.

Strange is the nature of an ill opinion: it stands fast when it is once set, though grounded upon nothing. Miraculous is that water that scowres away the seeming dirt from the object of an ill conceit.

Let thy desires have the length and breadth of reason, & at length thou shalt have the breadth of thy desires.

[Page] That man is commonly of a good nature, whose tongue is the true Herald to his thoughts.

A prejudicate opinion makes the judgement looke asquint, and the most injurious informer is an ill conceit, because it is ever ready to blemish the beauty of the best intended action.

In the clearest sunshine of faire prosperity, we are [Page] subject to the boystrous stormes of gloomie adversity.

He that alwayes observes the censuring murmur of idle people, shall never let the suspected blush depart from his cheeke.

A malevolent mind is like a boystrous sea tumbling in the swelling billowes of indignation, till dire revenge sets it in a [Page] conceited liberty, and never till then is it lockt in the griping gins of soule tormenting captivity.

Devilish is that disposition, which to wait an opportunity of revenge, will seeme, to rake up its malice in the cinders of oblivion; but when the time serves will not stick to give fire to the whole heap of its hell-bred mischiefe.

[Page] It is a prodigious thing to see a devilish disposition put on a godly face, and loathed basenesse cloath'd with a scarfe of unstained purity.

The Suns eye never saw the man that lived not under the controuling hand of Fate.

Many gaze on the glorious out-side of a Princes diadem, but few consider the tempestuous affaires [Page] that doe environ it.

Hope of remedy, and continuance of griefe, should be both of one length: when hope of remedy is past, grief should make an end.

Too much to lament a misery, is the next way to draw on a remedilesse mischiefe.

Bootlesse griefe hurts a mans selfe: but patience [Page] makes a jest of an injury.

Hee that is indebted to Grief, let him borrow of Patience, and he shall soone be out of debt.

Patience rides it out in the most boysterous stormes of adversity, and is armour of proofe against the thick flying bullets of the most malicious assaults.

Where the scale of [Page] sensuality waighs down that of reason, the basenes of our nature conducts us to most preposterous conclusions.

It is a madnesse to be much affected with vanity: for though in youth we neither doe nor will consider it, yet in the end the winter of age comes, and with the besome of time sweeps away the summer of our youthfull follies.

[Page]

Quicquid Sol oriens, quicquid & occidens,

Novit, caeruleis Oceanus fretis,

Quicquid vel veniens, vel fugiens lavat,

Aetas Pegaseo corripiet gradu.

Senec. in Troade.

Opinion is the soveraigne mistresse, or rather the sole Midwife of either good or bad effects.

It is not fit for an [...] man though never so miserable [Page] to despair of his own future good hap: for many are the events that lie in the teeming wombe of Time.

Ill words bewray foule thoughts: but sweet behaviour is the index of a vertuous mind. Praecipitis linguae comes est poenitentia.

Labour in good things is sweet in the issue; but [Page] pleasure in evill things turns to a torment.

Faire words without good deeds to a man in misery, are like a saddle of gold clapt upon the back of a gall'd horse.

A foolish man in wealth and authority, is like a weake timberd house with too pondrous a roofe.

Heaven without earth [Page] is perfect but earth without heaven is but the porch of hell.

There are no riches like to the sweetnesse of content, nor no poverty comparable to the want of patience.

I have read of the Hart, that he weeps every yeare for the shedding of his head, though the loosing of the old be the way to make roome for a better:

[Page] So is it with worldlings, they weep to part with any thing here, though it be for never so great a treasure hereafter: though no lesse a matter than the eternall joyes of heaven crown the end of faith and good works, yet that, i, vende totum quod habes, & redde pauperibus, is such a durus sermo, that it makes them block up their eares against the wisest Charmer.

[Page] The Hart likewise when he sees himself taken by the hounds, or other devise, will shed teares, thinking thereby to intenerate the hearts of the hunters, and move them to pitty, or else because he sees himselfe irrecoverably catcht:

So every true penitent, whens hee sees himselfe overtaken by the wiles of Satan, should never stop his tears, till he sees [Page] his owne blessed recoverie out of the clawes of the devill: for he that is on high, keeps our tears in his bottle, and though his tender mercy will not presse upon a broken heart, yet he is alwayes pleased to see a sorrowfull soule baptize himself in the trickling drops of repentant dew.

He that consults with his body for the saving of his soule, shall never [Page] bring it to heaven. If we hope to reape in joy, we must sow in teares.

He that stands up against the vices of great Ones, had need to be treble guarded with Law, Friends, and Authority.

The longer we live, the more misery we endure: life is like a span forc'd frō a gouty hand, the more the hand is extented, the more paine it suffers.

[Page] Supposed goodnesse, by the blab of time, will have her close basenesse set upon the scaffold of publique shame.

The fierce flash of too violent fire, soon burns out it selfe.

The old proverb saith, Faire and softly goes far: but he that spurs too fast, tires betimes.

It is a wise mans part [Page] in a case of extremity, with patience to swallow down the bitter potion of indignity.

Harsh reproof is like a violent storme, soone washt down the channell: but friendly admonitions, like a small showre, pierce deep, and bring forth better reformation.

A wise man will digest with patience the [Page] sad tidings of calamity, when a foole by grumbling at a crosse, hurts himselfe.

Life is a continuall march towards the grave, and a dangerous sailing towards death through the bellowing waves of a troublesome world.

Labitur omnis homo, momento extinguimur uno,

Namque oleo lampas deficiente perit.

Within the very crown [Page] that adornes the sacred temples of a King, death hath his lurking den.

Pallida mors aequo pulsat pede

Pauperum tabernas, regumque turres.

Horat.

A willing mind is able to steer a man against the streame of the strongest impediments.

Neither the shot of Accidēt, nor dart of Chance, penetrates the impregnable [Page] walls of a resolved Patience.

Love, when his links are once crackt, turns to the so wrest and most dismall Hate.

Sordid manners in a comely feature are like black clouds in a faire sky. Outward perfection without inward goodnesse, sets but the blacker die upon the minds deformity.

[Page] If the hand of Omnipotency should please to try us with all manner of affliction, to lock us in the griping gins of misery, to steep us in the dregs of poverty, to rain down shame and defamation on our heads; we are to fly onely in this depth of extremity, to the safe sanctuarie of faith & a good conscience, which turne the bitter waters of affliction into the sweet Nectar of never dying comfort.

[Page] Goodness with a smiling patience shakes off the dust that is throwne in the face of her despised fortune.

Teares and smiles are not alwaies the badges of grief and patience.

There is no anger or sorow like to that which boyls with a constrained silence.

Thoughts tending to [Page] ambition, are alwayes wont to plot unlikely wonders.

It is the easiest thing in the world to be invective; and amongst all sorts of men, none are so quick at censuring as the ignorant: hee will still give the first lash, whilst himself is at the best but a lump of ignorance, a pretender to learning, & his head stuft full of nothing but titles of books: [Page] for if hee be questioned beyond the Epistle Dedicatory, he is presently like an Aegyptian valley in the latter end of Iune.

From an immaculate Fountaine (by reason of an ill passage) may proceed unwholesome and corrupt water.

A Tradesman had need to be a good husband; for it is somewhat a difficult task in these [Page] times, for a man with his nailes or bare hands to teare himselfe a passage through the flinty waies of this hard world.

I commend a man that will draw like a horse, but not him that wil carry every thing that is put upon him like an asse.

Sacred learning is Wisdomes prudent Queene; studied arts are degrees unto some wished ends, [Page] and steps whereby wee ascend the high top of our hopes and thoughts.

An ill beginning is commonly the prodigious sign of a dismall end.

Anger makes the tongue bewray the most secret thoughts.

The top of honour is a narrow plot of ground, where if a man tread but one carelesse step, downe [Page] he tumbles into the jaws of ruine.

The darkest clouds of misery or affliction, cannot over-shadow the bright shining luster of a cleare conscience.

The onely way to wash off the guilt from a spotted conscience, is to lay open her bosome-crimes to the worlds broad eye.

[Page] Ill newes flyes with Eagles wings, but leaden waights are wont to clog the heeles of gladsome tidings.

Inconsiderate desires rashly fulfill'd, are able to set the world in an unquenchable combustion.

He that wanders too farre into the wildernesse of this world, cannot when hee please creep [Page] back to the lodge of safety.

It is not in the power of man when he please to tread the happy steps of heavenly repentance.

He that desires a good, and suspects his right to it, is bold and turbulent in the pursuit, whilst the man that's conscious to himselfe of good, rests happily content till time crowne with the guerdon [Page] of a patient expectation.

Time, Patience, and Industry, are the three grand Masters of the world: they bring a man to the end of his desires, when a turbulent murmur oftentimes jerks him out of the way to his proposed ends.

The best complement is but a kind of a hansome foolerie; & crooching [Page] feats are so far from testifying the hearts inward loyalty, that they carry in their front the lineaments of flattery.

As it is a sorrowfull thing when a mans means is too low for his parts, so is it a preposterous sight to see a man whose mind is too big for his fortune.

There is not a more lamentable spectacle than [Page] to see a man of parts in misery, especially if the fault be not in himselfe: The worst sight in the world is a rich Dunce and a poore Schooller.

The more actions of depth are preconsidered, the worse sometimes they are performed.

The spurs of necessity are almost able to put a nimble spirit into the [Page] senslesse body of a dead stock.

It is Love that makes the Eternall Mercy to beare so much the foule crimes of transgressing humanity.

Sea, nor land, nor gates of brasse, are able to withstand the indefatigable hand of a willing mind.

So violent is the beastly [Page] passion of inordinate lust, that it subjects a man to base thoughts, perturbs his Spirit, and never leaves him till it hurrie him headlong into the chambers of death.

Patience is the best Midwife to a disastrous misfortune.

Beauty is but a vaine thing, though nere so rich: for in the fairest woman it is but skin [Page] deep: under the skin there is no more than ordinary.

If a man be not so happy as he desires, let this be his comfort, that he is not so wretched as he deserves.

The only reason why some men have not what they desire, is because their desires are not grounded upon reason.

[Page] It is better to be well deserving without praise, than to live by the aire of undeserved commendation.

Happy is man that his time is but short, because it is miserable.

Happy are those miseries that terminate in joy, happy those joyes that know no end, and happy is his joyfull end [Page] whose dissolution is eternall joy.

As he that climbes is in danger of falling, so is he that lies on the ground subject to be trampled on by every peasant: hee is in the happiest condition, that moves in the middle region of the world, considering that as want is a misery, abundance is but a trouble. Medio tutissimus ibis. Ovid. Meta.

[Page] As Contemplation altogether without Action is idlenesse, so constant Action altogether without Contemplation is too bestiall.

Wise is that man that steres an even course betwixt the Scylla & Charibdis of this world, prodigality and covetousnesse; that on the one side will not lavishly consume Gods blessings, nor on the other side embrace [Page] covetousnesse, knowing that riches at the best are but necessary impediments.

As the smart of the wound is recompenced by the cure of the body, so the punishment of the body is sweetned by the health of the soule.

He that hath a friend, and sees him out of the way, and labours not by timely counsell to call [Page] back his wandring steps, renders himself unworthy of so rare a blessing.

He that snufs at friendly reprehension, and can better relish the oyle of flattery, makes himselfe the pittiful abstract of too late repenting folly.

Not to speake what a man knowes, is sometimes discretion; but to speak, and not to know, is alwayes folly, sometimes [Page] dishonesty. Audi, vide, tace, si tu vis vivere pace.

As it is more honour to teach thā to be taught, so it is lesse shame to learn than to be ignorant.

We should all follow the world, as a Servingman followeth his Master and a stranger; whilst they goe together, he followes them both; but when the stranger leaves [Page] his Master, he leaves the stranger, and followeth his Master: So should we follow the world: as long as the world goes with God, wee should follow them both; but when the world leaves God, we should leave the world, and with prepared hearts follow our Master God.

Disce mori, nec te ludat spes vana salutis,

Nam nescis statuant quem tibi fata diem.

[Page] As there is a misery in want, so there is a danger in excesse: a man may as soon die of a surfet, as of hunger.

It is good for a man to have praise when he deserves it; but it is better to deserve praise when hee hath it.

Honour is like a Palace with a low door, into the which no man can enter but he must first stoop.

[Page] The staffe of mans comfort is Hope; which once broke, bids a finall farewell to the most sweetned cogitations.

The most lasting comfort is this sweet companion Hope; which once departed, makes poore man either desperately to plunge himselfe into the gulfe of horror and despaire, or with sighing tears to spend the remainder of his pilgrimage in [Page] the mournfull valley of discontent.

God hath an infinite number both of sacred and secret wayes as well to punish as to pardon.

As the eye of Gods providence protects the just, so the bright raies of his divinity pierce the darke and secret caverns of the most hellish intendments. Our breasts & actions are as transparent [Page] to his eye, as his Decrees are invisible to ours.

Though a plot of malice be never so cunningly contrived, a twinkling of Gods eye is able both to detect and punish it.

He that sailes by the star of Vertue, shall in time land himselfe upon the shore of Honour.

Affections founded on Vertue, have happy ends; [Page] but built on lust and vice, begin pleasantly, but terminate in misery.

It is a base thing to erect Trophees of Honor to our selves upon the ruines of anothers reputation.

High time it is to flee vanity, whē the drum of age beats a quick march towards the silent grave.

It is for the most part but lost labour to bend a [Page] mans force against the streame of anothers affections.

Justice is the soule of a Common-wealth: for as a Body without a Soule soone stinks, and is noisome; so a Common-wealth without Iustice, quickly turns to a lump of corruption.

There are certaine Springs, that when the Sun shineth hottest, they [Page] are coldest: at midnight when the Sunne is gone, they are then hottest:

So it is with Man, his zeal is coldest in the Sunshine of prosperity; but in the gloomie dayes of dark adversity, begins to gather heat.

It is said of the Sea Elephant, that sometimes he will come ashore, and sleep amongst the rocks; where as soone as he is [Page] espyed, the people surround him with nets & gins to take him; which done, they awake him, who as soone as he is awake, leaps with a violent rush, thinking to leap again into the Sea, but cannot.

So it is with those, who stragling out of the waies of piety, oftentimes fall asleep in sinne, which (when by death, or sicknesse they are awakened) [Page] think presently to rush into heaven, or upon the instant to leap into the paths of Repentance, but then it is too late; for they are oftentimes catcht as surely, as suddenly; like the foole in the Gospell, that had laid up goods for many yeares.

We should tast worldly pleasures running▪ like the Aegyptian dogs upon the banks of Nile; for as they, if they stand to drink [Page] long in a place, are in danger of that Serpent the Crocodile; so are those that stay to take full draughts of worldly pleasures, in danger of that serpent the Devill.

It is a bootlesse thing to indevour the reformation or conversion of a perverse man: there is no medling with him that loves to be transported with the streame of his owne opinions.

[Page] Heaven is the admired instrument of the glorious God; by the influence whereof he rules and governes the great masse of this corruptible world.

It is said of those quagmires of honey, which some say to be in Muscovia, that there are gins & snares set about them, by which the Beare (which out of a love to the hony frequenteth those places) is oftentimes catcht, and [Page] thereby constrained to forfeit his life, by pleasing the curiosity of his taste.

Nocet empta dolore voluptas

The sweetnesse of sin is the death of the soule. The pleasures of sin carry a faire shew; but as the shadow of the richest colour, yea of scarlet it selfe is alwaies black; so be the colours of sin nere so glorious, its shadow is black and hellish; though in taste it be wondrous pleasant, [Page] yet in digestion it is bitter as wormwood: the deadly Arsenicke of the soul, and the bane of all our happinesse, against which no Antidote prevailes, but the precious bloud of the Immaculate Lamb Christ Iesus.

It is not good to be alwayes busied in the toilsome shop of Action; that man hath but an earthly soul, which maugre the importunity of [Page] the greatest businesse, wil not sometimes sequester himselfe into the withdrawing chamber of Meditation.

Credulity is oftentimes the dreame of fooles, the drunkards ape, and the blind nurse of dangerous security.

Bonaventure tels us, that the damned shall weep more teares in hell, than there is water in the sea; [Page] because the water of the sea is finite, but the teares shall be wept in hell are infinite, never ceasing as long as God is God.

Men are not rich or poore according to what they possesse, but to what they desire; the onely rich man is he that with content enjoys a competēcie.

Mensa minuscula

Pace referta,

Melior divitiis

Lite repletis.

[Page] Miserable is he that chooseth a wife either for by or base respects; but happy is that mariage when the soule is matcht as well as the body.

Wise is he that shapes his expēces by his means, and cuts the wings of his desires in pleasure, that they mount not above the flight of his fortunes.

Nothing more unsatiable than mens desires; [Page] he that is poor would be rich, he that is rich would be a gentleman, a gentleman would be a nobleman, a noble man would be a King, a King would be the Monarch of the world, and he that was so, wept, because there was no more to conquer.

Heu quòd mortali non unus sufficit orbis!

It is not want makes men poore, nor abundance renders them rich; [Page] the rich man may say of himselfe, as Narcissus said when he saw his owne beauty in the water, which made him fall in love with himselfe,

Inopem me copia fecit,

Ovid. Meta.

—quid gentibus auri

Nunquam extincta sitis?

As there are no better rules than good examples, so there is nothing more pernitiously dangerous than bad.

[Page] Longum iter per praecepta, breve per exemplum.

It is good for a man to be industrious in his youth, and to know that if by honest labour hee accomplish any good thing, the labour is soon past, but the good remaines to his comfort; and if for his pleasure he doe any thing that is ill, the pleasure is gone in a moment, but the evill remaines to his torment▪

[Page]

Impia sub dulci melle venena latent.

Ovid. de Pont.

The strongest argument of a wise man is to be a good husband of his time; for amongst all the things that God created, there is nothing more precious

Tempora labuntur, tacitis (que) senescimus annis,

Et fugiunt fraeno non remorante dies.

Lent is a time of fasting; [Page] but the soules great festivall: for the pampering of the body is the starving of the soule; and when we macerate the body, we make the soule a feast: if depressio carnis leade not the way, elevatio mentis will never move.

There is a creature, saith Plinie, in the North parts of Sweden called a Ierfe, of so ravenous and devouring a nature, that though his belly be nere [Page] so full, he is not satisfied; he will eate till by his fulnesse he is scarce able to goe, and then run to the trees that grow neare together, and there by forcing his body through, disgorgeth himselfe, purposely to repaire his stomack for a fresh prey: those that are minded to take him, throw a carkas in his way, and then observe the trees that he runs to when he is full, when they once perceive him [Page] fast betwixt the trees, they run to him, and kill him.

So it fares with those that never think of any thing but how to please their senses, which the devill observing, throws divers temptations before their eyes, which they never suspecting are oftentimes confounded in the very act of sin.

Of all other things necessity [Page] hath the largest patent: maugre the greatest commands, necessity wil first be observed.

To husband well a small talent is the onely way to mount a low fortune.

To be too full of complement is ridiculous: to be altogether without it, rusticity.

Of all conditions the most lamentable is that [Page] of ignorance: an ignorant man is like one of those that live directly under the North or South Pole, with whom it is alwaies night.

The onely way to be rid of a domineering vice, is to avoid all occasions thereto tending.

Prosperity cast at the feet of the wicked, is like a rich carpet cast over the mouth of a bottomlesse [Page] pit, which allures the feet of the ungodly, along the path of security, into that bottomlesse tophet of eternall misery.

A ruinous end attends a riotous life. Well were it for the drunkard, as he hath liv'd like a beast, if he could so die.

If the world did but truely consider that there is a Tophet prepared for the wicked, it would rather [Page] run mad through feare and despaire, than thus wallow in dreadful security.

The rich may offend more for want of charity, than the poore in stealing things necessary.

He that rectifies a crooked stick, bends it the contrary way; so must he that would reforme a vice, learne to affect its meere contrary, and in [Page] time hee shall see the springing blossomes of a happy reformation.

It is dangerous in holy things to make Reason the touchstone: hee that disputeth too much with God about things not revealed, all the honour he gets, is but to goe to hell more learnedly than the rest. It is good to be pius pulsator, for then the more importunate, the more pleasing; [Page] but a temerarius scrutator may be more bold than welcome.

He that would hit the mark he aimes at, must wink with one eye: Heaven is the mark, he that would hit it, must wink with the eye of Reason, that hee may see better with that of Faith.

Action is the crown of Vertue, Perseverance the crown of Action, Sufferance [Page] the crown of Perseverance, a good cause the crown of Sufferance, and a crown of Glory the crowne of a good cause. Esto fidelis usque ad mortem, & dabo tibi coronam vitae.

FINIS.

§

§

§

[Page]

[Page]

EPIGRAMS AND EPITAPHS Written by ROB: CHAMBERLAIN.

Beatus ille, qui procul negotiis,

Vt prisca gens mortalium

Paterna rura bobus exercet suis,

Solutus omni foenore.

[Page]

[Page]

To his honored, and dearely affected Master, Mr WILLIAM BALLE, Son and Heire to the Worshipfull PETER BALLE Esquire.

SIR,

I Am the more emboldned to Present you with these fragments of Poetrie, in regard you begin to be one of the little darlings of the Muses. It is not the least of my comforts to see from a sprig of my owne pruning, such timely blossomes [Page] of Poetical ingenuity: somwhat rare it is to see Plants of wit agree with the hard coldnesse of our Climate; for this aurum cuncta movens hath so stupified the times, that Ignorance hath almost outfac'd Invention. Apuleius may wander up and down the Arcadian plains to find Parnassus or the Heliconian Well, and meet none but the dull brood of Midas to direct him. Go on therefore hopefull Sir, towards that sacred Spring; you shall never want the prayers, assistance, and manuduction of

Your humble servant, Rob: Chamberlain.

[Page]

To his well beloved friend, Mr ROBERT CHAMBERLAIN, the Author, in praise of his following Poems.

THe wisest of Philosophers conclude,

Best Contemplations spring from solitude:

And vvanting outward objects, the minds eye

Sees cleerest into every mysterie.

Scipio's last life, in's Villa spake him man

More than his conquest of the Affrican.

So are the seasons helpers unto Art;

And Time to industry applyes each part.

[Page] These thou hast made the subjects of thy Layes;

And they for praising them, returne thee praise.

So that to praise agen would shew to be

But repetition, and Tautologie.

And thine own works allow thee better note

Than any friends suspected partiall vote.

Thomas Nabbes.

[Page]

In praise of a Country life.

THe winged fancies of the learned quill,

Tel of strange wonders, sweet Parnassus hil,

[...]astalia's Well, the Heliconian Spring,

[...]ar-spangled valleyes where [...] Muses sing.

Admired things another Storie yeelds,

Of pleasant Tempe, and th'Elysian fields;

Yet these are nothing to the sweet that dwells

In low built cottages, and country cells.

What are the Scepters, Thrones, and Crowns of kings,

But gilded burdens, and most fickle things?

What are great offices but cumbring troubles

And what are honours but dissolving bubbles

What though the gates of greatnes be frequented

With chains of glittring gold? he that's contented

Lives in a thousand times a happier way,

Than he that's tended thus from day to day.

[Page] Matters of State, nor yet domestick jars,

Comets portending death, nor blazing stars

Trouble his thoughts; hee'l not post hast run

Through Lethe, Styx, and fiery Phlegiton

For gold or silver: he will not affright

His golden slumbers in the silent night

For all the precious wealth, or sumptuous pride

That lies by Tiber, Nile, or Ganges side.

Th'imbroidred meadovvs, & the crawling stream

Make soft and sweet his undisturbed dreams:

He revels not by day, nor in the nights,

Nor cares he much for Musicall delights;

And yet his humble roofe maintains a quire

Of singing Crickets round about the fire.

This harmlesse life he leads, and I dare say

Doth neither wish, nor feare his dying day.

[Page]

On the VVorshipfull, and worthy of all honour, Mrs ANNE BALLE, Wife of Peter Balle Esquire.

IF worth can mortals to advancement bring,

If birth, or beauty be a precious thing,

Meeknesse be great Honours Palace gate,

[...]nd the fore-runner of some happy fate,

[...]appy, then happy thou, that art the sweet

[...]nd little center where all these doe meet.

[Page]

In Dominum Gulielmum Ball filium & haeredem Petri Balle Armigeri.

Graeci laudantur, Musis laudatur Apollo,

Virgilii fama et scandit ad astra poli:

Laude vigent multi, sed jam puerilibus annis

Ingenio supexas tu Gulielme senes.

En mare tu terras, urbes at (que) oppida fando

Laurigerum nostro temporenomen habes.

Magna canunt magni pueris incognita parvis

Umbris quae mortis non adeunda nigris.

Sed teneris doctrina tuis non convenit annis,

Bis pueri (que) senes, tu puer at (que) senex.

Astra fuere tuo natu foelicia coeli,

Lauo quo (que) nunc foelix est adhibenda tibi.

Laurum tolle, latet quod pectore te (que) docebo,

Et dii dent studiis vela secunda tuis.

[Page]

The same in English.

APollos skill, the Grecian pen for wars,

And Virgils too, transcēd the glittring stars:

Praise makes men live, but thou a child unfit,

Transcends the limits of an old mans wit.

Both sea and land thou know'st, & for thy praise

Our times shall give thee thy deserved bayes.

Great Poets sing great things that children know not,

Which to the places of oblivion go not.

Thy learning fits not with thy tender mold,

Old men are children, thou a child, art old.

The heavenly stars upon thy birth did shine,

To make thee happy, now the praise is thine.

Take up thy bayes, I'le teach thee what's in me,

And may the Gods give prosp'rous fates to thee.

[Page]

In praise of Learning.

HAppy, thrice happy, ô ye sisters still,

That love and live on sweet Parnassus hill;

Blest be your times and tunes, that sit and sing

On flowrie banks by Aganippes Spring.

Blest be the shadie groves where those doe dwell

Which doe frequent that Heliconian Well,

Where learning lives, whereby when men expire,

They are made chanters in the heavenly quire.

That sacred learning, whose inspired notions

Makes Mortalls know heavens high alternat motions:

Trūpets their names unto the christal sky

Though in the grave their bones consuming lie.

Thrice happy those then, to whō learning's given,

Whose lives on earth doe sympathize with heavē.

Whose thoughts are still on high, longing to see

[Page] Heavens Tabernacles of Eternity;

Sleighting the world, and spurning at its praise,

Which like Meander runs ten thousand waies.

They (when pale death to dust their corps shall bring)

With quires of Angels shal in heavē sing.

To his honoured friend, Mr Giles Balle Merchant.
On the Spring.

THe lofty Mountains standing on a row,

Which but of late were periwigd with snow

D'off their old coats, and now are daily seene

To stand on tiptoes, all in swaggering greene▪

Meadows and gardens are prankt up with buds,

And chirping birds now chant it in the woods.

[Page] The warbling Swallow, and the Larks do sing,

To welcome in the glorious verdant Spring.

To his deare friend and cousin, Mr Allan Penny, Citizen of Exeter.
On the Morning.

THe morning golden horse rush forth amain,

Spending their breath, suckt frō the Eastern plain;

And posting still with speed through gentle aire,

Hurle their perfumes from out the glittring chair.

The Suns bright Steeds come running up again

To Taurus top, still glad to see the plain

Of Indolstan: and now begins t'approach

The winged Messenger of heaven, in's Coach

[Page] Of ruddy flames; night-wandring stars have done

Their stragling course, and now the day's begun.

Bright burning Luna drags her dazling taile

Into the dungeon of a darksome vaile.

To his deare friend and brother, Mr Thomas Bowdon.
On the Evening.

RIse, rise, yee sootie horse from duskie dale,

And draw your Mistresse in a sable vaile:

Who rides it out with her knot curled haire,

Like to an Aethiope in an Ebonie chaire:

Whose dark unseemly face is wrapt in shrowds,

With Styx dy'd curtains of congealed clouds.

Rise thou pale Queen of night, prepare thy carres,

And climb you glittring glorious mount of stars.

[Page]

To his dearest brother, Mr. William Holmes, Citizen of Exeter.
Deaths impartiality. Carmen Hexametrum.

HIgh minded Pyrrhus, brave Hector, stout Agamemnon,

Hannibal, and Scipio, whom all the world did attend on,

That worthy Captain, world conquering great Alexander,

That tender, constant, true hearted, lovely Leander,

That cunning Painter, that curious handed Apelles,

Mirmidons insatiate, that kept the Tent of Achilles,

Alphonsus Aragon, that great Mathematicall Artist,

That stately Queene of beauty, that Lady Mars kist,

Wit, wealth, and beauty, yea all these pomps that adorne us,

Must see black Phlegiton, rough Styx, and fatall Avera [...]s.

[Page]

To his kind and loving friend, Mr Henry Prigg, Citizen of Exeter.
On the sweetnesse of Contentation.

THe world still gazeth on the glittering shew

Of Scepters, Crowns, and Diadems, but few

Consider truely the tempestuous cares,

And tumbling troubles of the State affaires.

Honour's the spur that pricks th'ambitious mind,

And makes it puffe and swel with th'empty wind

Of self conceit: But yet me thinks I see

A state more full of sweet security.

The russet Farmer, more contentment yeelds

[Page] Unto himselfe, whilst toiling in his fields,

Beholds upon the pleasant fertile banks,

Wise Natures flowrie wonders in their ranks.

And when the halfe part of the day is spent,

His wife her basket brings, they with content

Do both sit down by some sweet stragling Spring

And make a Feast, whilst 'bout his table sing

The chirping birds; he when the day is past,

Home to his children, and his wife makes haste:

The children joy to see their father there;

The father joyes to see his children deare:

Then they begin to him their pleasant prattle,

One shewes his pins, another brings his rattle.

With these contents the good man's over-joy'd,

When thus he sees his deare affections cloid,

Whil'st others toile for honour, and in vaine

[Page] Deny themselves those sweets they might obtain.

O then thou great Commander of the skyes,

That dings downe pride, and makes the poor man rise,

Let them that will dote on these gilded toyes,

Let me account it chiefest of my joyes

T' enjoy a meane estate, and nothing more,

If't be thy pleasure that I still be poore.

Give me this sweet content, that I may die

A patient servant to thy Majestie.

[Page]

To his dearely affected friend, Mr George Leach of Broadelist in Devon.
On the vanity of Man.

LIke to the Swan on sweet Meanders brink,

Like flowers that flourish in the morne, and shrink

Down with their heads, when sable night appears;

Such is our frailty in this vale of teares.

The gilded gallant, and the tortur'd slave

Cut down by death, come tumbling to the grave.

Not Europes riches, nor an Ajax bold,

Nor men, nor Angels, nor our bags of gold,

Nor he that was the spacious worlds Cōmander,

Caesar, Pompey, nor an Alexander,

[Page] Nor can greene youth, well, wit, or tender age,

The raging fury of thy Sword asswage.

O then thou Star Commander, dreadfull King,

Whose Fiat makes the trembling world to ring,

Teach us, ô teach us so to know our dayes,

Thereby to rectifie our crooked waies;

That when with Angels, and Archangels thou

Shalt come to judge the world, and make it bow,

We then may render up a good account,

And live with thee upon that starrie mount.

[Page]

In Hyemem.

PApula canescunt, tremebundi turbinis horror

Fulminat, heu Boreas nimbosa grandinatira

Torva laboriferi fulgentia cornua quassi

Tauri nix tegit, pelagus vult tangere stellas,

Cerberus horrendo baculo nunc Tartara plangit,

Flammiferos (que) locos dicit spoliasse pruinam.

[Page]

On the death of Mr. Charles Fitz-Geffrays, Minister of Gods Word.

O Thou the saddest of the Sisters nine,

Adde to a sea of teares, one teare of thine.

Unhappy I, that am constrain'd to sing

His death, whose life did make the world to ring

With ecchoes of his praise. A true Divine

In's life & doctrine, which like Lamps did shine

Till they were spent and done, did never cease

To guide our steps unto eternall peace.

Thy habitation's now the starry mount,

Where thy great Maker makes of thee account.

Farewell thou splendor of the spacious West,

[Page] Above th' Aetheriall clouds for ever blest:

The losse of thee a watry mountaine reares,

With high spring-tide of our sad trickling teares.

On Sack.

O Thou so much admir'd by ev'ry soule,

That lives 'twixt th' Artick & th' Antartick Pole;

Apollo's drink, drawn from the Thespian spring,

Whereof the silver Swans before they sing

Doe alwaies drink: though thy sweet simpring smiles

Some mortall creatures of their coine beguiles,

Yet from black Limbo's gate thou bring'st mans soule,

And makes his spirits knock the highest Pole.

[Page]

On Tobacco.

THou hell-bred lump of sin, infernall drink,

Pernicious, damn'd, soule-fascinating stink,

Time's great consumer, cursed child of hell,

Scum of perdition, sprung from Pluto's cell:

Thy barbarous nature likes no soile so well,

As where the Devill and his Pagans dwell.

Bewitched then are those that stand-up for thee,

Till they have grace t'abandon and abhor thee.

[Page]

IN OBITVM HENRICI BLUETT Generosi.

RVsticus in agro,

Opifex in pago:

Omnes hoc mundo

Nituntur in vano.

Mercator in mare,

Vir officina,

Cum vult pulsare

Mors, quid medicina?

FINIS.

§

§

[Page]

Imprimantur hae Nocturnae Lucubrationes.

SA: BAKER.

Ex Aedibus Londin. Apr. 2. 1638.

Information about this book

Title statement

Nocturnall lucubrations: or Meditations divine and morall Whereunto are added epigrams and epitaphs: written by Rob: Chamberlain of Exeter Colledge in Oxford.

Chamberlain, Robert, b. 1607.

Edition statement

1638

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2006-06 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A18370

ID [STC]

STC 4945

ID [STC]

ESTC S104928

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99840658

ID [PROQUEST]

99840658

ID [VID]

5184

Availability

This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal. The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

Series

Early English books online.

Notes

(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A18370)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 5184)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1475-1640 ; 1198:10)

Source

— Nocturnall lucubrations: or Meditations divine and morall Whereunto are added epigrams and epitaphs: written by Rob: Chamberlain of Exeter Colledge in Oxford., Chamberlain, Robert, b. 1607..

Extent

[8], 89, [29] p.

Printed by M[iles] F[lesher] for Daniel Frere, at the signe of the Red Bull in Little-Brittaine,. London :: 1638.. (Printer's name from STC.) ("Epigrams and epitaphs", in verse, has separate divisional title page and is unpaginated; register is continuous.) (With a final imprimatur leaf.) (Variant: title page lacks "of Exeter Colledge in Oxford".) (Reproduction of the original in the British Library.)

Creation

Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford.

Editorial practices

EEBO-TCP is a partnership between the Universities of Michigan and Oxford and the publisher ProQuest to create accurately transcribed and encoded texts based on the image sets published by ProQuest via their Early English Books Online (EEBO) database (http://eebo.chadwyck.com). The general aim of EEBO-TCP is to encode one copy (usually the first edition) of every monographic English-language title published between 1473 and 1700 available in EEBO.

EEBO-TCP aimed to produce large quantities of textual data within the usual project restraints of time and funding, and therefore chose to create diplomatic transcriptions (as opposed to critical editions) with light-touch, mainly structural encoding based on the Text Encoding Initiative (http://www.tei-c.org).

The EEBO-TCP project was divided into two phases. The 25,363 texts created during Phase 1 of the project have been released into the public domain as of 1 January 2015. Anyone can now take and use these texts for their own purposes, but we respectfully request that due credit and attribution is given to their original source.

Users should be aware of the process of creating the TCP texts, and therefore of any assumptions that can be made about the data.

Text selection was based on the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature (NCBEL). If an author (or for an anonymous work, the title) appears in NCBEL, then their works are eligible for inclusion. Selection was intended to range over a wide variety of subject areas, to reflect the true nature of the print record of the period. In general, first editions of a works in English were prioritized, although there are a number of works in other languages, notably Latin and Welsh, included and sometimes a second or later edition of a work was chosen if there was a compelling reason to do so.

Image sets were sent to external keying companies for transcription and basic encoding. Quality assurance was then carried out by editorial teams in Oxford and Michigan. 5% (or 5 pages, whichever is the greater) of each text was proofread for accuracy and those which did not meet QA standards were returned to the keyers to be redone. After proofreading, the encoding was enhanced and/or corrected and characters marked as illegible were corrected where possible up to a limit of 100 instances per text. Any remaining illegibles were encoded as <gap>s. Understanding these processes should make clear that, while the overall quality of TCP data is very good, some errors will remain and some readable characters will be marked as illegible. Users should bear in mind that in all likelihood such instances will never have been looked at by a TCP editor.

The texts were encoded and linked to page images in accordance with level 4 of the TEI in Libraries guidelines.

Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements).

Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site.