IOANNES OWENVS CAMBRO BRITANNVS OXONIENSIS.
[Page]John Owen's LATINE EPIGRAMS Englished By THO. HARVEY, Gent. Dedicated By the Author Mr. John Owen unto the Lady Mary Nevil, Daughter of the Earl of DORSET.
Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere— Horat. de Arte Poet.
Licensed May 25. 1677. Roger L'Estrange.
LONDON, Printed by Robert White, for Nevil Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, and Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower de Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
THE LATINE EPIGRAMS OF John Owen, LATE One of the Fellows of New Colledge in OXFORD.
Rendred into English by Thomas Harvey, Gent. Once a Commoner in the Colledge at Winchester; Both Colledges being Founded and Indowed by William Wickam, heretofore Bishop of Winton, in Anno Dom. 1389.
Anno 120. Richardi secundi Regis Angliae.
Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori. Horat.
LONDON, Printed by Robert White, for Nevil Simons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the Three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
To Mr. Thomas Harvey upon his Translation of Owen's Epigrams.
VVHo could divine a Branch so old could bring
Such specious Blossoms as might suit the Spring
Of youths best Fancy? for here stand at vye
The Cream of wit, and Oyl of Industry.
I wonder how this English Muse could sink
Into Owens depths, into each hole and chink
Of his hid sense: Sure All thy year is May,
And owns no darkness; For I needs must say
When I read Owen, I conceiv'd each part
Of his Laconick Epigrams so smart,
So sharp, so short, so comprehensive, that
No English Genius could it adequate.
Pardon my Country, that my Thoughts so rov'd
And undervalu'd Thee; For here 'tis prov'd,
An English Pen makes That inventive Brain,
For all its intricate Conceits, so plain
That now each Epigram, each Riddle lies
Anatomiz'd to All unclouded eyes.
His Criticismes dissected and made bare,
And so Diaphanous, that now They are
(Although not word for word, yet sense for sense)
Unriddled, and with such quaint Eloquence,
That as I read Both, I could swear almost
That Harvey's Muse consulted Owen's Ghost;
For but Compare Them, and you'l censure, that
Harvey hath hit what Owen aimed at.
David Lochard.
To Mr. Thomas Harvey of his Englishing Owen's Latine Epigrams.
SMooth Ogleby for Virgil; Sandys won
The Garland, what for Ovid he hath done.
And Martial's Epigrams hath Fletcher drest
In English Garb: Horace is so exprest
By divers Persons, eminent for worth
[...]genious Brome (deceas'd) did set them forch.
But as for Owen's Epigrams, there's none
As yet, hath vent'red a Translation,
But only Harvey; and He Mantuan thus
Hath made most happily conspicuous.
The Sun's unclouded now, what Owen writ
In shadowed mysteries of Roman wit,
His de [...]t'rous hand Translated hath, and Pen'd
That [...]h [...]h none yet attempted, f [...]w can mend.
Robert Coxshall.
Of the same.
OWen compos'd, Harvey Translated well;
The question's, which of these doth most excell?
The answer in few words is quickly done,
Which like you best the Shadow or the Sun?
Robert Coxshall.
To the Book.
OWen had many Patrons, I have None:
None that will be my Patron, no, not One.
None that to Me will give a Quire of Paper,
Nor Pens, nor Ink, nor a poor Farthing Taper.
To the Reader.
THough I These Epigrams which Owen writ
Have done int' English, Thou must not expect
Like quaint Conceits, like Criticismes of wit
In the Translator, as in th' Architect.
For in their Idiome and Dialect
Each Language diff'rent is, as man from man:
One from Another differs in Aspect,
In Nuture, in Condition; nor Can
Translations with th' original hold weight;
In sense They may Consent, not in Conceit.
But take't as 'tis, and with a Candid Eye
Read, Ruminate, Remember and apply.
Septemb. 26. 1672.
Sic dixit Tho. Harvey.
To his Patroness.
MIne English Owen Patron-less did pine,
Wanting an Heros, or an Heroine
To Potronize It: Almost in despair:
Until a candid Nymph (Mecaenas heir)
Not willing Papers fitted for the Press
Should be suppress'd, became my Patroness.
Tho. Harvey.
IN rendring mine, with Owen, parallels,
I am like One than rings or Chimes the Bells;
If I do jangle (venidl's the sin)
It is to soule a better Ringer in.
Tho. Harvey.
In Praise of the Author.
To the Reader.
A. Clerick art? or Laick? read This Book;
Here Thou shalt find thy will, if well Thou look.
D. Du-Tr. Med.
2. To D. John Owen of his Book.
What hinders, but thy Book should pass the Press?
If I know Verse, This Age will say no less.
Suppose not, so great hazard's of thy wit:
Yet This my judgement is, I think it fit.
John Hoskins, J. C.
3. To John Owen of his three Books of Epigrams.
Results of Love, the Graces effluence,
The Muses mirth, Apollo's Eloquence,
Wise Sentences, and Criticisms of Art,
The Genius of an ingenious Heart;
All These Thy Book, O Owen, represents
Unt' us, replenish'd with rare Arguments.
John Bowman, Theol.
4. To John Owen.
Owen, dost ask what Epigrams w' approve?
Those, which That Engine of thy wit doth move,
What's short, chast, learned, quick, polite withal,
That many Satyres hath, yet free from Gall.
Thy Muse, thy Genius gives This; no less
By Thee 'tis promis'd to thy Patroness.
Thine, William James, Theol.
5. In Praise of the Author.
What was, is, shall be still the Poets use,
Women and Men are Censur'd by thy Muse:
Yet in my Judgement, thy rare wit, thy Pen
Deserveth Praise of Women and of Men.
Jane Owen of Oxford.
6. To the Reader, in Praise of the Author, whose Epigrams were published the second Time within a Month 1606.
Greek, Latine Authors, Epigrams have writ,
Whose Work took up their Life to finish it:
Owen except, he sole unparallel'd,
Hath equaliz'd Them All, if not excell'd.
D. Du-Tr. Med.
7. Of the Third Edition of these Epigrams.
To the Author.
This Book is like the world, moves, and is mov'd:
Though silent, It is by the Printer prov'd:
For These thine Epigrams have had Access
Thrice to the Printer, and half tir'd the Press.
John Hoskins, J. C.
[Page]THE EPIGRAMS OF John Owen.
The First Book.
To the Lady Mary Neville.
I Dedicate, lest Patron-less It be,
My Book to th' Reader, and My Self to Thee.
2. To the Reader.
The Folly's blam'd, if Thou Commendest all
That here Thou readest, no Thing if, thy Gall.
3. Of his Book, to John Hoskins, a Lawyer.
This Book is as The World: as Men, The Verse:
Good Verses Here, as There good Men, are scarce.
4. To the Lady Mary Neville.
If us Pythagoras doth not delude,
Thou, Juno, Pallas, Venus, dost include:
For in Thee, though but One, Three vertues be:
Where, One of Them is rare, in other Three.
5. To the same.
As in the Skies the Sun, i' th' Sun the Light,
So vertue's splendor in thy Face seems scite:
Who comes a Looker on; becomes a Lover:
Thy Vertue, or thy Beauty's the sole Mover.
6. To her Son Thomas Neville.
Such rare Things of thy Genius are Pen'd,
That though All true, they All belief transcend.
Hope in a Child, not present Worth, is prais'd:
Thee present Worth, not Hope alone hath rais'd.
7. To her Daughter Cecily.
Thou like thy Mother art, and needst none other
Applause: It is enough, th' art like thy Mother.
8. Know thy Self. Of Harpalus.
Thou worthy to be known art not of worth:
Fit for thy knowledge then seek something forth.
9. To a Lawyer.
If happy's he who knows of Things the Cause:
How happy thou Cause-Pleader with Applause?
10. Of John Prote.
To lead a Wife, that is, to marry One,
Oft hast Thou menac'd; Drunkards can do none:
Rather a Wife must marry Thee, to lead
Thee drunken from the City to thy Bed.
11. To Aulus an ignoble Noble-man.
Thou to thine Ancestors ow'st All: to Thee
Posterity shall not indebted he.
12. To Hernicus.
Thou bought'st a Fool for Twenty Pounds, but I▪
Will not at such a price the Buyer buy.
13. Of Venus.
Love's first Sweet's better; bitter is in Fine:
Venus comes smiling, mourning doth decline;
So run fresh Rivers to the Sea, whose Taste
Returns Them brackish-brinish at the last.
14. To Mr. Gilbert.
Thou th' Earth denyst to stand: prodigious Note,
Thus writing, Thou perhaps wert in a Boat.
15. To Physicians and Lawyers.
Galen, thine Health doth from our sickness rise;
Justinian, our Folly makes Thee wise.
16. O Times, O Manners!
Learn'd Scaliger The Worlds deformed Times
Reformed: Who shall Now reform Mens Crimes?
17. Paris his judgement.
When Paris was elect a Judge to be
Between Three Goddesses, and of the Three,
Doubtful which to preferr; Pallas was wise,
Juno majestick: Venus wan the Prize.
Love Conquer'd All: were't now to vote again,
One money'd Juno would the Prize obtain.
18. Germanical Truth.
Democritus affirm'd that Truth was drown'd
In some profound Abyss, not to be found.
If hid in Wine, as Proverbs have assign'd,
The Teutons have It found, or will It find.
19. To Linus.
Wouldst learned be (2) Librarum hadst such store.
20. To a certain young Noble-man.
Old Age, not Death's Thee wish'd: the Sickness; Age,
Not Death, the Cure, is wish'd Thee by the Sage.
21. To a certain poor Physician.
Thou that of late (1) Mendicus cam'st to Town,
Thy Name but changing (2) Medicus art grown:
Physick Thou giv'st the Sick, he gives Thee Coin,
Thus his Disease Thou curest, and he Thine.
22. Of a certain Woman.
Thy Form brought forth thy Fame: But O the Child
Did kill the Mother: fair Form; Fame defil'd.
24. Upon modern Writers. To the Reader.
Whether the vulgar more untruths unmask
In Quart', Octav', or Folio dost ask?
In Sexto-decimo some Writers I
Suspect in ev'ry Folio to lie.
25. Of Phillis.
Phillis, Thou wilt not give, but tak'st a kiss,
Knowing that taking One, a giving is.
26. To the same.
If Love be Fire (as doth the Proverb prove)
Ah, woe to Me, how Cold a Fire's thy Love?
27. A wicked Atheist.
Use present Times and Things: A Time will be
When there will be no Time at all for Thee:
Grammarians, Past, Future Times display,
But I will use the Present while I may.
28. The Atheist's Epitaph.
He died, as if dead, no Life There were:
As if There were no Death, He lived Here.
29. The Optative Mood.
Th' Infinitive is near th' Optative Mood,
For Infinite's the wish of Goods or Good.
30. Of Alana.
Wedlock to be th' intolerablest yoke
Alana cries all day: but doth revoke
When Night is come her Clamorous Regreet,
And saith, No yoke like Wedlock is so sweet.
31. Prophets, Poets.
Prophets of Things to come the Truth predict:
But Poets of Things past write false and fict.
32. Of Life and Death.
Life tends to Death, as Rivers to the Seas:
For Life is sweet, Death bitter, doth displease.
33. Of Vulcan.
Vulcan made splendid Arms for Mars his Breast,
Mars gave unt' him a specious-spacious Crest:
Thou wert well paid O Vulcan for thy pains,
Horns for thine Iron; Were such Glaucus gains?
34. An English Grammer.
The Feminine doth unt' It self design
What's proper to the Gender Masculine.
35. Free Will.
Freedom of will, which is The worlds Contest,
Husbands have lost, but Wives have It possest.
36. Of Life and Love.
Though ev'ry Action unt' its End doth tend,
Yet Life and Love abominate their End.
37. The Elysian Fields.
Through Hells dark-dismal Cell A [...]neas walk'd
Into th' Elysian Fields, as Poets talk'd:
For when He shot Elisa's Gulph, who can
Deny, He was i' th' Fields Elysian?
38. An Husband, and an Adulterer.
The Husband.
I have A wife, others her Love: so rather
For Others not Themselves Bees Honey gather.
The Adulterer.
This Seed I rais'd, but in Anothers Field:
So Birds for Others, not Themselves do build.
39. New Rhetorick.
His Arguments, who Money wants, are sick:
Gifts Now, not words, are the New Rhetorick.
40. Of Cotta lately made a Monk.
Cotta perplex'd with's wife a (1) Cucule bought,
That dying He might die no Cuckold thought.
41. Geneva's Arms.
Geneva in her Ensign doth display
Th' Imperial Eagle, and the Popedoms Key:
But how Geneva Them to keep dost hope,
Should (1) Rodolph claim his Bird, his Key the Pope?
42. Upon the Trifles of Borbonius a Poet.
Thou Trifles thought'st not, what Thou so didst call:
I call Them not, but think Them Trifles All.
43. Of Faith.
Not Faiths, but Faith is mention'd on Record:
For former Times did but one Faith afford.
44. Of Paulinus a Physician.
Wherefore's a sick Man call'd thy Patient,
Sith He's impatient at thine Advent?
By suff'ring He's thy Patient, for He
Doth suffer more, than by's disease, by Thee.
45. Of Cottula.
If what Apollo said of (1) One be true,
Th'art Wise: Thou knowst, Thou Nothing knowst: Adiew▪
46. Of Fabiana.
If Fields be fertile call'd that bear much Corn,
Then Fab'an's fertile; for she hath many born.
47. A Joque upon Covetous Men.
The Vulgar, Nature pleas'd with little praise,
And on the Covetous a Scandal raise:
Yet sole the Covetous pleas'd with least we see;
Nature, Enough thinks little, Nothing He.
48. To Philopater.
Though for Ones Country noble 'tis to die,
Yet nobler 'tis to live for It, think I.
49. The World.
I' th' world's no Constancy; All's Circular:
What wonder Then no Rectitude is There?
50. Of Aretinus.
In All Things there's a Mediocrity,
Excepting in the Thing call'd Venery:
Lust hath found out a Thousand means, with Art
To do, what should be done on Natures part.
51. Of Silius.
Th'art Atheist: For Papist Thou mayst not be;
And to b' a Protestant disliketh Thee.
52. Against Atheists.
No House doth want Its Lord; shall Then (alone)
This specious-spacious House the World have None?
53. A Physician.
Physicians take Gold, but seldom give:
They Physick give, take none; yet healthy live.
A Diet They prescribe; the Sick must for't
Give Gold; Each other Thus supply-support.
54. Of Lawyers
Lawyers are prudent, provident beside,
For prudently They for Themselves provide.
55. A Courtier.
If good, Thou mayst be better, but not greater:
If great, more great; not better, nor compleater.
56. To Marcus a Monoculist.
Thou Marcus wantst an Eye; Enough's one Eye:
Both Eyes may more, not better Things espye:
I have both Ears, but hear no Truth now told;
Both Eyes, but can with Them no good behold.
57. Of Paulus.
Thou to preserve thy Fame, hast built thy Tomb:
As if that Tombs should not to ruine come.
58. A Secret against Grey Hairs. To Bithynicus.
Lest in old Age thine hairs should silver'd be,
Thy youth hath made Thee bald: O happy Thee!
59. Of Theodore.
Thou newly married didst think th' hadst found
A narrow Passage to the Starry Round:
But that New Passage led t' another Road,
T' a lower, not the strait way, but the broad.
60. Of Apollo and the Muses.
The Muses Femes, Apollo's Masculine:
For One Apollo's worth the Muses Nine.
61. Of Alanus, grown old.
His Cubit with's Wives Cubit measuring,
Alanus said, O sweet concubiting!
62. The Calends of January. Of Olus and Quintus.
To th' Rich Ole gives not, lest his Gifts ask more;
Nor to the Poor, because Himself is poor.
But Quintus gives expecting by that shift,
For what He durst not ask, a better Gift.
63. Of Pontia.
One wish'd All Cuckolds cast i' th' Sea; but t' Him
His Wife thus said, Learn (Husband) first to Swim.
64. A work of Darkness.
'Tis to preserve the Species of profit,
But th' Individuum's th' Opposer of it.
65. Thou Lyest.
Beware, t' a Souldier give not the Lye:
He takes it for the great'st Indignity:
Ye that the Lye for such Disgrace esteem,
Why then to Lye so great a grace d'ye deem?
66. Of an Hypocrite.
Thou wilt not swear, 'tis Sin: but thou wilt Lye:
Is this Religion or Hypocrisie?
67. Androgynus.
Who Venus-like, and Mercury's in fight,
Nor Man nor Woman, 's an Hermaphrodite.
68. Venus.
Love like the Sea doth flow, doth Ebb again:
What wonder? For Venus sprung from the Main.
No Trust's in Her, she's light; and plac'd (with Mars)
Among the Planets, not the fixed Stars.
69. Of Rivals.
Each unt' himself would Phillis have, but There
Doth more of Envy than of Love appear.
70. A Woman.
A woman from mans Womb was ham'd: but Eve
Did from Mans Bone, not Flesh, her Form receive.
71. The Alliance of Physicians and Lawyers.
Physicians and Lawyers in their Trade
Are like, their gain of others loss is made.
To Patients Those, to Clients These apply
Their helping-hand, but help themselves thereby.
72. Of Pamphilus to Philippe.
Nature doth no Vacuities admit:
Pamph' therefore as his Leader follows It.
73. To one Bald.
Leaves to the Trees, and Grass returns to Ground:
But not one hair on thy bald pate is found.
74. Nilus in the Eyes. Aetna in the Heart.
Cold Nilus entred hath my burning Eyes,
Mine Heart with Aetna's Flames inflamed fryes:
No Floods of Tears can quench so great a Fire,
Nor burning Love can make those Floods retire;
So though discording Fire and Water be,
Concording yet They shew their force in me.
75. Caeteris paribus.
The rest alike.
Of Camilla.
[...]wo Suiters did Camilla love and Court;
The beautiful, in Stature yet but short:
That other not so fair, but taller prov'd:
The Maid b'ing ask'd which of them best she lov'd,
[...]he looking on the Taller, when she spies
[...]is Nose, Arms, Leggs, Feet, all of longest size,
[...]he thus, or Impudent, or prudent spake,
[...]f all he like, I will this long Man take.
76. Of Gyants and Dwarfs.
Giants and Dwarfs are Monsters in their Forms,
Those are like Elephants, and these like Worms.
77. Of an Abbat's two Bastards.
When in the Temple with the rest you pray,
You two, not fictly, Abba, Father say.
78. Of Priests.
Priests wedded are: what thereby gain they more?
They had as much as that in Tenths before.
79. A Participle.
A Verb if Eras, Mus a Noun's declin'd,
What is Erasmus let the Reader find.
80. A Cuse. To the Lawyers.
A Man lies with a Wife, which is his own
Whom he suppos'd Anothers, till 'twas known:
Whether the Child by such mistake begot,
Be spurious, legitimate, or not?
81. Of the Morning.
Dost wonder why the Light's expatiated
[...] th' Morn before the Sun? 'twas First created.
82. Of the Day.
Though Night than Argus be more full of Eyes,
The Day's One Eye more clearly things descries.
83. Of the Night.
Why doth dark Night put on her black Array?
It Widow-like mourns for departed Day:
Should not the Stars inlighten mourning Night,
Grief would oppress us e're the Mournings light.
84. To Marcus.
Thy Verses praise Me, but I think because
I should thy Verses praise with mine Applause.
85. Of Death.
Thieves shall restore their Theft, Robbers their Prey,
But Nothing Death; For Death takes All away.
86. To his Friend.
Half of thy Dear, whom Thou dost dearly love,
Sith th' art, and Half thine own, how Mine dost prove
Yet writ'st thy self still Mine: while having thine
Own Wife, art scarce thine own, how canst be Mine?
87. A good Man.
If what is Rare 's preclare, and of Account,
A good Man doth all Rarities surmount.
88. Of a certain Old man.
Thy Beard once black, Age hath made white: thy Min [...] ▪
Once white 's now black; once candid, now's unkind.
89. Of Paulinus.
When I thy Friend a Boon from Thee would borrow,
Thine Answer is, It shall be done to Morrow:
Wilt that I Thanks condigne should Thee repay?
Thou shalt have Thanks to Morrow, not to day.
90. Of painted Ladies.
You that your Faces paint, may well, nay must
With (1) Flaccus say, We Shadows are and Dust.
91. Of Cotta.
Thy Wives Thou Wholly, but not solely art:
She's solely Thine, not wholly, but in part.
92. A Politician.
Dissemble, Feign: Thy Self comport-comply
With Humours, with the Times: 'tis Policy.
If Thou be wise, thy Self comply-comport
To serve the Times, that Times may serve Thee for't.
93. Of Venus.
Why follows Venus Mars his lawless Flame?
Because t' his lawful Venus Vulcan's lame.
94. Of Marinus.
None can Two Masters serve (without disaster)
But Thou Two Mistresses dost serve, no Master.
95. Of Marcus.
[...] Beard doth grow, thine hairs from head do fall:
[...]ve bearded, but light-headed th' art withal.
96. To Mr. John Hoskins.
[...]en I convers'd with Thee (my Friend instil'd)
[...] without doubts, in doubts I found thy love,
[...] Friendship without Fraud I oft did prove:
[...] that thy Love, which then thou shew'd'st to Me,
[...]mands, commends These grateful Lines to Thee.
97. Of Death to Epicharmus.
[...]y wouldst not die, but yet be dead? O why
[...]uldst without dying, Epicharmus, die?
[...] of bringeth Death; Death Grief extinguisheth:
[...] therefore (Epicharme) is worse than Death.
98. Of Phylllis.
[...] Parthians in their Flight shoot, wound their Foe,
[...] Lovers, Phyllis fleeing, woundeth so.
99. Of Hallus the Grammaticaster.
[...]mous am while fasting, but when full,
[...], saith Hallus, Infamous and dull.
100. Of the Loadstone.
[...] Court Magnates Gold to Them attract,
[...] on the Magnetes; All exact:
[...] not deal with Such, in Asking learn'd,
[...] Giving flack, in Taking most concern'd:
[...] to Them go, none from them come again,
[...] I nill ask them, lest I ask in vain.
101. Of Death.
[...] ask what's Death? till dead I know not (1),
[...] to Me then, I will resolve thy Quere. (2)
102. Of Clients.
[...]nts before a Thief run singing home,
[...] from the City Money-less they come.
103. To Zoilus.
[...] I bad Manners check, thou carp'st at Me,
[...]onscious for reprehending Thee.
[Page 12]Why fear'st thou more than others? I perhaps
Blaming bad Manners, blame mine own Relapse.
104. Children and Fools tell Truth.
Our Proverb calls Truth-tellers Fools: What then?
Is't Folly to tell Truth in English Men?
105. To one Bald-headed.
Thy Front had certain Measure, till a blast,
I know not of what Wind thy Leaves off cast:
Thy Front hath sithence All thine Head ingrost,
And is perpetual at last, not lost:
Thou canst not tell the largeness of thy Front,
No Trust is therefore to be built upon't.
106. To the same.
Mine hairs I cannot number, 'cause so many:
Nor canst Thou number thine, because not any.
107. Fortunes Apology.
Dame Fortune doth an equiballance bear,
Shee fills the Poor with Hope, the Rich with Fear.
108. On Cotta.
Cotta the Stews advent'ring in, return'd
T' his house ('tis said) with something that was burn' [...] ▪
109. On Procillus a Noble-man.
If thou to Lyers wouldst not lend thine Ear,
None with a Lye before Thee durst appear.
110. To Paulus a Lawyer.
Between thy self and Wife thou dost disjoyn
The year, so that scarce Half is wholly Thine:
One part's thy Wives, Vacation call'd, t' apply
Thy Wives Vocation, or Vacuity.
That other part's not wholly thine; thy Bride
Neglected, Thou by Clients art employ'd.
This Part o' th' year the Term is call'd, and why?
Because It Terminates thy Venery.
111. To the same.
No Terms determine, no Vacation's vain,
Thou wholly Vacant art by Strifes to gain.
112. To Marinus.
As oft as from the Bed thy wife doth rise
Untouch'd by Thee, her Nails assault thine Eyes:
[Page 13]Thou speak'st her Fair, but words in vain proceed,
She must be pleas'd in doing of the Deed.
113. A Chirurgion.
Shall I wish Wars, or Peace? Each serves for me:
Fierce Mars, fair Venus, both my Patrons be.
114. The Venetian disease.
My Country's Italy, my Parents Gauls,
'Tis doubt which of those Names to me befalls.
115. Back-biters, Flatterers.
(1) One said, The Snow was Black; an Author sad:
This Age hath Many seen as sad, as bad:
The Fox a Crow's white Feathers prais'd: Ah me,
How many Foxes in this Age have we?
116. To Ponticus.
Thou said'st thou would'st repent: I scarce believe Thee,
For I did never yet so wise perceive Thee.
117. An Herculean labour.
To tame a shrewd Wives Tongue, and haughty mind,
A Thirteenth Labour Hercules will find.
118. Mars, Mors.
War, Death.
War bringeth Dearth, Dearth Death to Men on Earth;
War therefore's worse than either Death or Dearth.
Our Troubles War begins, Death finisheth,
In War small distance is 'twixt Dearth and Death.
119. To Cynthia.
O that thy Feats were like thy Feature: And
O that thine Heart were candid like thine Hand.
120. To Gellia.
In secret sins thou think'st thy self secure;
Though Nothing's done in secret that's impure.
121. Of Albinus.
A Friend Albinus meeting, said, Retire,
Thine shakes, for O thy Neighbours Wall's on Fire:
Albinus hasting home, his wife did take
In th' Act; O Now, quoth He, my Wall doth shake.
122. Of Claudius a Philosophaster.
Sick Claudius, poor, foolish, parts by's Art
Good in Three Parts; but of Them hath no Part.
123. Of Bardella a Thief at Mantua.
A Monk the Thief Bardella judg'd to die
Thus Comforted, O thou shalt Sup on high:
Bardella then reply'd, I fast this day,
Please you to Sup There in my Place, you may.
124. Of Flitting Flora.
In thy Coition thou didst boast thine Act,
Thy boasting was more sinful than thy Fact.
125. Of Quintillus.
He nothing gives t' his Friend, but liberal
T' his Friendless, gives Himself, his Wealth, his All.
126. To Aulus of old Quintius.
Though Quintius a young wild Wife did Wed,
Why sentst an Epithalamy t' his Bed?
An Epitaph were fitter to confer:
For his own Grave he digg'd in Bedding her.
127. Of Costus.
Thou sinn'st impunely, but thy Fore-man paid
Thy Pennance with his Head: 'twas burn'd, 'tis said.
128. An Answer to Cynthia's Letter.
Thy Paper's white, thy Letter's black within:
This doth denote thine Heart, and That thy Skin.
129. To Sextilian a Bastard.
Not to Create Thee, but to recreate
Himself, thy Father thee begot ('twas Fate,)
If Givers Minds than Gifts b' accepted rather,
Thou dost not owe thy Life unto thy Father.
130. Of Porcia an Hypocrite.
Thou, 'cause my Book a Fore-man Names, dost flout it:
Books Thou wouldst have, but not a Man without it.
131. Of Saturns Three Sons.
Divines, Physicians, Lawyers; These Three
Do regulate the World in their degree.
132. Of a single Life. To a Married man.
Woe to the sole, said * He, that had a Wife:
Saint Paul doth much Commend a single Life:
(2) That, Woe unt [...] us, saith: This, but Woe to Me:
That's double, This, but single Woe can be.
133. Of Corneus.
Hear, mark, be silent: he whose Feminine
Is wanton, to these three must most incline.
134. Of Cajus.
When Cajus was accus'd of Bigamy,
Confessing, he professing did reply,
A Bishop Husband of One wife may be:
May not a Lay-man then have Two or Three?
135. Of Pomponia.
She's punctual, her self that prostitutes:
Because with profit, pleasure she commutes.
136. Of Pinotus sick with the Colick.
Thy Life was sav'd by breathing out thy Breath:
That was thy Life which proves unt' others Death.
137. Of Pomponia.
A Plume of Feathers brave Pomponia wears:
What Mars his Ensign was now Venus bears:
As Mars his favour She doth wear't, that she
May shew how friendly Mars and Venus be.
* Suum Cuique pulchrum.
138. To H. L.
Thou lov'st thy Neighbours wife, he thine doth love:
So that ones own doth not still pleasing prove.
139. Venus.
Sith Venus is expos'd to sale like Wine,
Why hangs there not before her door a Sign?
140. To Marinus. Difficilia quae pulchra.
If difficult what's fair, on this Result
Take Facile thou, give me the Difficult.
141. To Theodorus.
By th' now▪new Law thou maist not wed, what then?
By th' old thou maist without offending men
But twice 'gainst * Moses Law th' hast done amiss,
Thy first wife was a whore, a widow this.
142. Ka'end. Jan To Germanicus.
Instead of Gifts I Verses send to thee:
Send Gifts instead of Verses unto Me.
143. Sara.
She that her Maid would unt' her Husband give,
As did rare Sara, now doth rarely live.
144. To D. T.
Thy Titles, Scholars Servant, Masters Lord,
Mine Envy and my Pity both afford.
145. Of Paula an Atheist.
Whether a Man two Wives, or Husbands two
A Maid should have, 'twas ask'd: This knot t' undo,
Thus Paula said, A Maid two Men should have,
Else how can two consist in one Concave?
146. In Medio virtus.
Between two Men a pompous Woman sate,
Vertue the middle Place hath lost of late.
147. Of Acerra.
He's blest, whom others Horns have made afraid,
Unwedded A'cer oft t' his Father said.
148. To Pinotus.
Dost ask, What I would have a Feminine?
Not Venale, Vendible I would have Mine.
149. Of Quintus and Quintina.
Quintus his Wifes Intreaties for Commands,
Her words for Laws, her Beck for Statute stands:
She leads, she drives at will, the silly Sot,
As if she had an Husband, and had not:
'Gainst Nature, Laws, Arts Rules: Grammarian
Avaunt: For Here's He Woman, and She Man.
150. A Paradox to his absent Mistress.
I burn with Love: And I the more am burn'd,
The more remote from me the Fire is turn'd.
151. Of Paulina.
False to the First false to the second Bed:
Both void, She liv'd unblam'd-unblemished,
Not for the fear of Sin; but fear of Shame
Preferr'd Her without Blemish, without Blame:
Though many did her treat, did her intreat,
She granted unto none the Vacant Seat.
152. Of Gellia.
If it be Simony to Merchandize,
And at a price Things consecrate to prize,
[Page 17]We well may call thee Simoniacal,
Who sellest Love, For Love's Spiritual.
153. Of a certain Woman.
In small time how immense thy Things did grow?
Of late but Omicron, Omega now.
154. Aenigma.
Tell where that Creature is, on Hill, or Vale,
Whose Father Female, Mother is a Male?
155. To Ponticus.
That Both thine Eyes thou hast I wonder: Why?
Because thy Parents Each had but One Eye.
156. Of D. Vitus.
I know not whether Horn'd, I know (by signs)
That th' art a Bull, having Three Vitulines.
157. Of a Dactyle, to a certain Lover.
Wouldst with a pleasing Verse thy Mistris Court?
'T were fit to know what Feet should it support:
Of all the Measures which a Verse do summon,
The Dactyle Measure best delights a woman.
158. Of Love descending.
From th' Eyes Love riseth, by the Mouth descends
Into Loves Center, where It hath it's Ends.
159. Of Balba.
Balba, leave taking of her Spouse, said Thus
Phi-Philip you'l b' I hope soon-soon with us.
160. Of Theft, a Problem, to Lawyers.
Who takes a thing, [...]illing his Lord, 's a Thief;
But what if's Lordess in that Act be Chief?
161. Of Ponticus.
Of Promise thou dost no Performance make:
Physician-like, who gives not, yet saith Take.
162. Of Cerellia, married to an Eunuch.
Now to the Spartane Customs I agree,
That Men, Maids, when they wed should naked be:
For Cerill having late espous'd a Frank,
Thiking to gain a Prize, got but a Blank.
163. Of Horns, a Probleme.
When any Wife betrays the Marriage Bed,
Why wears her Husband Horns? Because he's Head.
164. To Germanicus, Calend. Jan.
Or give m' a Gift, my Verses or restore,
Which I on that condition gave before.
165. Christ-Church Colledge in Oxford.
Though this imperfect House to ruine tend,
Its large Quadrangle yet doth it commend.
166. Of Phyllis.
Phyllis pretends my Verse her Fancy moves;
She loves a Verse, but something more she loves.
167. Of Himself.
I spend the Time in Trifles, and in Folly:
Thus lest my Time be lost, I lose it wholly.
168. To the Reader, of Himself.
My Brevity perchance seems Sloth t' imply:
Believe me no small labour, 's Brevity:
I not as some, speak much in foolish sort:
Perhaps my Speech is foolish, but 'tis short.
169. Of boasting Thraso.
Why doth Sir Thraso wear great Spurs? Because
Glory doth wear great Spurs to gain Applause.
170. Of Himself.
Ask, saith Saint James, it shall be given thee:
O that King James would say the same to me.
171. Court Musick consisting of two Voices.
The Favourite's advanc'd, and Elah sings:
Another, all his Tunes t' a Cadence brings.
[...]
[...]
172. To the Reader.
Lest this my Book should make Tobaco vapour,
Wipe rather thy Posteriours with my Paper.
173. To his Book.
My Book, Me living, thou maist die perhaps:
What then? A Child doth oft to death elapse
Before his Father: So then, whether I
Survive Thee, or Thou me, We both must die.
The End of the First Book.
To Mr. Thomas Harvey on his Translation of the First Book of Owen's Epigrams.
WHen what's begun, tha' ast finish't, Owen sha [...] ▪
Be the Translation, thine th' original:
Thy Native Tongue the vigour doth express
More of his Fancy, than his Latine dress.
So from thy Version, he derives this Good,
To be esteem'd, in being understood.
T. M.
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE EPIGRAMS OF John Owen.
Englished by Thomas Harvey, Gent.
Incept. 10. Novemb. 1672.
1. To the Reader.
LEst this my Book please Fools, whereof are Many,
I would not have It many please, if any:
Few Readers are enough, but One (if wise)
If none do read me, none shall me suffice.
2. To the Lady Mary Neville.
The Praise of many's rais'd by Poets Art,
But all thy Praise springs from thine own desert.
3. To the same.
Thou to thy Foes, if any be, dost will-
Dost wish none ill, to Friends art Candid still:
This one thou never dost forget: That other
Thou never didst remember, Maid nor Mother.
4. To the same.
In Tables men fair Faces paint and place,
There to survive, when Fates the Face deface:
I cannot paint, but I can Poetize,
And Verses can give Life, when Picture dies:
Though sole Apollo, sole Apelles able's
Thee to describe in Verse, to paint in Tables.
5. To D. J. H.
I am no learned Poet, but a Learner:
No Learner Thou, but Poets learn'd Discerner.
6. What News?
The foolish People, as I pass the Street,
I [...]uisitive, thus ask (when me they meet)
What News? I tell them I know nothing New:
Or if I knew, I say no News I knew.
7. The Court.
He that complies not in the Princes Hall
With All the witty, hath no wit at all.
8. Of Aulus.
Wert Knighted, that thy wise should love thee more?
She loves thee less, her self more than before:
Her Garb, her Garments must new fashion'd be,
So that thy Dear will be more dear to thee.
9. Of the Chymist.
The Chymist Gold decocts, till (leaving none)
He loseth all his Gold to find a Stone.
10. A Trojan.
Troy lost, at last the Trojans Wiser grew:
What man is not in this a Trojan true?
11. Loves Remedy.
Take Wood from Fire (thy Lust with Fasting tame)
Sit from a Woman far, as from a Flame:
[Page 23]If nor the former cool thee, nor the later,
Then take a wife, she will b' instead of water.
12. Troynovant.
To the Londoners.
As Phoenix Ashes do the Phoenix breed,
So from old Troy new London did proceed.
13. The Lawyers Deity.
Rome had one God, call'd Terminus of old:
But Westminster more Terms than one doth hold.
14. Of the Earth.
In all things we the Middle things commend,
For they to Mediocrity do tend:
Th' Earth therefore than the Skyes hath greater grace,
Because i' th' world it holds the middle Place.
15. To King James, Defender of the Faith.
Thou greatest art of Christian Kings, in this
That to thy Faith the Faith committed is.
16. To the Lord Treasurer of England.
Th' art Kings and Kingdoms faithful Treasurer:
Thy Faith before all Treasures I prefer.
17. To the Kings Principal Secretary.
Thou secret keep'st the Kingdoms Secrets, even
So secret, that Faith to thy Faith is given.
18. To the Venetians.
Your Cities Scituation (O wonder)
Is Founded unconfounded; th' Ocean's under:
Lest only Fish should in the water dwell,
Y' have seated in the Sea your Citadel:
Where th' Ocean was, a City's now compleat,
What Nature made a Sea, Art made a Seat:
Y' have constituted (to your grand Renown):
Th' Inconstant water constant to your Town:
What wonder then by Laws your City stands,
When it the lawless waters countermands.
19. To the Lord Chancellour of England.
Lest Force the greatest Enemy to Law,
Should violate it, Law keeps Force in awe:
But thou the Laws Extreams hast pow'r t' abate,
And in the Chancery to moderate.
20. To Richard Sackeville Earl of Dorset.
Though thou from Noble Ancestors wert born,
And dost thy Birth with Noble Parts adorn:
Yet thou (which was a wonder heretofore,
And for a Prodigy now stands, or more)
Merit to Mercenaries, Peace to War,
Vertue to Strength, Worth dost to Birth prefer.
21. Caecil Treasurer of England 1597.
Arms are, and Stratagems of small concern,
If Caecil's Counsel sits not at the Stern:
Caecil and Atlas nobly both prognate,
This doth support the Skyes, and that the State.
22. To Guil. Caecil: Virtut Duce, Comite Fortuna.
Great Queen Elisa Fortune made a Count,
Why Vertue did She not t' a Dukedom mount?
23. To Richard Vaughan Bishop of London.
O, of the British Thou th' immortal Grace,
Art the First British Bishop of (1) this Place.
24. To the same.
I like those Preachers best, who Preach and Act;
Not those that only Preach but wave the Fact:
Thou therefore dost excell, for thou dost teach
What should be done, and dost what thou dost Preach.
25. To Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester.
Bilson, I was thy Scholar heretofore,
And to thy Precepts owe these Lines, and more.
26. The Life of William Wickham, formerly Bishop of Winchester, written in Latine by Thomas Martin, Dr. in the Civil Law.
Life to the Dead to give, the Dead to raise
From Death to Life, 's a Work deserving Praise:
Which hadst not done, thou Martin hadst been dead:
But now both in this one Book live, are read.
27. Winchester Colledge.
Europes prime School: whereof a little Part
I was to my great'st praise in Learnings Art:
Zoilus himself will not to thee deny,
(Thy Founder Wickham known) this Primacy.
28. To Sir Philip Sidney.
Great Alexander call'd Achilles blest,
Whom Homer prais'd in Verse above the rest:
Unhappy I, because thou half Divine,
Canst not made happy be by Verse of Mine.
29. To Sir Philip Sidney.
Whose Deeds worth writing, Lines worth reading are,
Is Rare▪ Thou therefore doing both art Rare:
Thy Lines worth reading, Deeds worth writing shew
Thee learned, candid: equaliz'd by Few.
30. Upon the Marriage of William Earl of Pembroke, and Mary, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury 1605.
In Manners, Personage, Wit, Age, Estates,
And in Nobility, you Both are Mates,
Yet thou deserv'st a better Bride than Shee:
A better Bridegroom She deserve than Thee.
31. To Elizabeth Countess of Rutland, Sir Philip Sidney's Daughter.
'Twas Philip's Praise thou wert his Child: But rather
Thine, that thou Daughter wert of such a Father.
32. To Lucy Countess of Bedford.
Iury, thy splendid Name à Luce came,
That splendent through the World might be thy Names
Thy Noble Parents brought thee forth to sight,
But thee thy Vertues brought into the Light.
33. A Knights Ring. To Henry Goodyeer, Knight.
Nobility the Gold, the Gem be Grace:
This Ring upon thy Finger ever place.
34. To D. J. H.
Thy Verse is Nameless, though not worthless, while
Others their worthless Verse with Names instile.
35. To D. B.
Thou livest well, if one well hid, well lives:
And thy great wit conceal'd more splendour gives.
36. To Th. M. the Princes Tutor.
Thou so dost form, inform the Prince, that He
King of his Realms, and of Himself will be:
This Fifth to prize before those Kingdoms Four,
And of Himself, as well of them t' have Power.
37. To Th. M. the Princes Tutor.
Thou so dost teach (for times of Sword and Gown)
The docile Prince, prime Hope of Britains Crown,
That scarce in future times 'twill be discern'd,
Whether He be more great, more good, more learn'd.
38. To Walter Gwyn.
Th' Increase of the good Prince thou votest fair,
And say'st, * Increase to sit in Arthur's Chair;
Nature gave Wit, may Grace attend his youth,
Grow may thine Honour with the Princes growth.
39. Francis Drake 1581.
Thy Travels, Drake, have reach'd Earths utmost bound,
Have seen both sides of the Terrestrial Round:
If men be mute, the Stars will blaze thy Name;
And both the Poles will sound-resound thy Fame
Beyond (1) the Gades: Thou maist these words repeat,
I greater am than Hercules the Great.
40. Britains Strength.
To the Prince.
The (1) Ports are Englands Gates; the Ships her Walls;
Camp, Seas; Forts, Bodies; Hearts, the Generals.
41. The Terrestrial Globe.
Of Water and of Earth's the Globe, (Sea, Land)
That movable, this unremov'd doth stand.
42. Health, unhealthy.
The more thou drink'st of drunken Healths, the less
Of Health, of Happiness thou dost possess:
I wish a thousand of such Healths to thee,
And envy not: One Health's enough for me:
One Health's enough for sober men and sane:
No Health's in Drinking Healths, no Boon, but Bane.
43. The Divine.
To know thine's nothing, if not known 'tis known.
The Politician.
If known 'tis nothing then to know thine own.
44. All Things affect good.
From Opto's Optimus, without contest,
For he that's wise doth wish himself the best.
45. A Phoenix on Earth.
A certain Maid of Burgundy surpriz'd
With Maiden Sickness, helpless and advis'd
To take a little Ment, an Herb, a thing
Helpful to many (taken in the Spring)
She rather than to live by sin, would die:
Death being all the Purchase sin did buy.
46. Democritus, and Heraclitus.
That only laugh'd, this only wept: but whether
Shall be laugh'd at, or wept for? Both, or Neither?
47. Of Langa.
Langa (she Papist) 'spous'd t' a Lutheran,
T' avoid contesting, thus to speak began:
Lest future Discords should disturb our Peace,
To me be facile, and I thee will please;
Grant me the Liberty of Conscience,
And with all other things I will dispence.
48. King Arthur's Round-Table.
Why thy Round Table dost t' a Square prefer?
Men made things Square, God made * the Circular.
49. To Theophila B. C.
He must love much, and have no vulgar spirit,
Who doth thee praise, and love as thou dost merit.
50. Of Hernicus.
His Soul to God, his Body to the Ground
Hernick bequeath'd: And lying in a Swound
He heard some whisp'ring, that his wife had gain'd
A new-another Husband, which disdain'd
By th' envious Man, he gave his wife the Lye:
Reviv'd, whereas before he thought to die.
51. Of Love and Faith.
Love is from Faith divorc'd: that ever is
Suspicious, not once suspected this.
52. A Lover.
Uncertain Hope, Fear constant, flying Pleasure,
Sad Joyes, sweet Grief, Love bitter. Where's the Treasure?
53. The Golden Age.
Before the virtue was of Gold disclos'd,
Why was that Age the Golden Age suppos'd?
54. Of Alana.
In Bed Alana's Place is lowest, yet
At Table in the high'st Place She's set:
Her facile Husband parts with her the Sway,
He rules by Night, She governs all the day.
55. Germanick Death, to Polynicus.
Death's not to be, saith Seneca; some think,
(And Germans too) that Death is not to drink.
56. Of Philodemus.
Rare things, 'cause dear, thou shunnest, seekest common,
To thee more dear's a vile than dearer Woman.
57. Of Battus.
Thou secrets tell'st, crave'st pardon for the wrong:
Wouldst have no need of Pardon? Hold thy Tongue.
58. The Gordian Knot.
The Gordian Knot cut once with Sword; Is it
Now rather to be loos'd by Sword, or Wit?
None can dissolve this Knot by Wit or Word:
Nor yet can Alexander with his Sword.
59. Love.
Wars, Peace again: these things occur in Love:
Content, Contention in one Circle move.
60. Strifes, Laws, to J. C.
Strife Laws produc'd, and Law produceth Strife:
None without One of these can live this Life.
61. The Miser and Prodigal.
My study's Rhetorick saith Prodigal:
And mine the Miser saith is Logical.
Logick, close-fisted Avarice descries,
And Rhetorick mens Prodigalities.
62. Labour.
Though th' active Romans Grief no Labour deem'd,
Th' inactive Greeks Labour a Grief esteem'd.
63. A good, strong, wise man.
Good Men want Wealth (but have divine supplies)
Wit to the Strong, Faith's wanting to the Wise.
64. The Order of the Golden Fleece.
Philip the Duke of Burgundy, 'tis feign'd,
That Order of the Golden Fleece ordain'd:
Whose Heirs the Golden Indies now possess:
This Order was an Oracle: no less.
65. The Motto of Thomas Earl of Dorset.
Nec temerè, nec timide.
Not hastily, nor heartlesly.
Wisely suspect, and stoutly things expect;
Be circumspect, lei thee no Fear deject.
66. The Motto of Henry Neville, Knight.
Ne vile velis: Not vile's thy will.
Neville, thy will ne-vile, or vain brings forth:
Sith vile things little, vain are Nothing worth.
67. To Sir Philip Sidney of his Arcadia.
Thou did'st command, when passing to thine Urne,
(Witness thy Wife) they should th' Arcadia burn,
If it should die, for kindling Lovers Flames,
It ought not to be burn'd, but drown'd in Thames:
(In this thy Book no Line, no Letter's found
That merits either to be burn'd or drown'd.)
What ever censure on thy Book may fall,
Thy Wit nor censure merits, Death, nor Gall.
68. To Jane Owen a most learned woman.
None of thy Sisters have I heard or seen,
Though Five to th' aged Father born have been.
How many then I know, but what they be
I know not: yet I know, if like to thee.
69. To his Friend.
He be none's Enemy, nor twice a Friend;
My Friendship where it doth begin shall end.
70. The Usurers Grammer.
Things Creeping, Swimming, Going, Fleeing, All
Love These, Those, all things, all Men doth inthral:
He, She, That, Coyn, Money, and Gold, these Three
Do conquer Love, by whom all conquer'd be.
71. To one like neither Parent.
Why did thy Parents thee, not like unt' Either
Beget, when they Consented Both together?
[Page 30]Thou no right form of Either Parent hast,
While both of them to form thee did what's past.
72. To two (nameless) returning from Venice.
That your Adventure fourfold might return,
Your Journey you to Venice did adjourn;
From whence, when with your gain you came again,
Your Friends, though to their loss, rejoyc'd amain.
73. Adultery and Fornication.
What differs base Adulterers from vile
Fornicators? Tragick as from Comick stile.
74. Of Hercules, to C. D.
No force could force, or Hercules remove:
What was the greatest of his Labours? Love:
A Lioness, not Manness he could tame:
No Monstress, him a Mistress overcame.
75. A Saluting Kiss.
Give me three Kisses, Phyllis: if not three,
So many as thy Lips are, give to Me:
Thou giv'st and takest one, deny'st one more,
Or take thou thine, or mine to me restore.
76. A Problem to Naturalists, of Kisses.
If Kisses to the Tast bring nothing sweet,
Why Kiss we with our mouth when Friends we meet?
77. Of Labienus.
This Thief the Gallows mounting, there to die,
Thus, thus, said he, we scale the Starry Sky.
78. Of Alexander.
One World, one Alexander not confin'd:
O than the world, immenser was his mind.
To this one World, one Man was not compleat:
Great Alexander, but the World more great.
79. To Firmicus, of Aulus.
Thou Firmick credit'st none, all credit thee:
Aulus trusts all, but cannot trusted be.
80. Of a certain Poetaster.
Thou pottest so as if no Pot, no Poet.
No Poetry; as if Pots only show it.
Drunken (1) Carminifex, from out this word
Take Mi, the rest to thee will well accord.
81. Of ones Lying Letters.
Thy false Epistle oft comes to my sight:
Or rare, or never thou dost Gospel write.
82. Physician heal thy self, to Gilbertus.
Vain is advice to thee, thy self to cure,
For 'tis thy greatest care, that cure t' ensure.
83. Of a certain Usurer.
The thousand Pounds thou did'st to Flava lend,
Thou for it with full Usury dost send.
If like for like she gave, th'art paid thereby:
Thou hadst her Bodies use for th' Usury.
84. Of an Hypocrite.
All things he doth dissemble, or surmise:
Though Labour hence, thence Dolour doth arise.
85. Of Erasmus his Book of Follies.
Erasmus was the first who Folly prais'd:
This Folly shew'd his wit, his wisedom rais'd.
86. Of Anagrammatists.
Whither, O whither will your wits inforce.
Vowels and Letters here and there to course?
As when Augustus leisure gave, in one
Thyrsis his Sheep, his Goats brought Corydon.
87. Of a certain indoctrin'd Doctor.
Master in Art, thou Beardless-Artless wert:
Now Bearded Doctor th'art, but more inert.
88. Of naked Love.
Nature the Fields, the Birds, the Sheep, the Beasts,
With Grass, with Plume, with Fleece, with hair invests:
What ever under th' Air is born or bred,
By Nature, or with Art is covered.
Why are all cloath'd but naked Love? express,
The more Love naked is 'tis call'd the less.
89. Of the Exchequer, to Sir William Pits, Knight.
Into the Treasury collected Coyn
Runs, as fresh Rivers run into the (1) Brine:
Out of the Treasury the Coyn dispers'd,
Runs as the Rivers from the Sea revers'd:
Nor all those Rivers can the Sea supply,
Nor are the Fountains in the Mountains dry.
90. Of a persidious Person.
I learn by trusting, not to trust Pretences:
My false and hapless Hope beguil'd my Senses.
91. The Silver Sin.
No Whoremongers did Saturns Kingdom stain:
The World was chast till Jupiter did Reign.
92. A Bawd.
No part from Sale is of thy Body Free,
Nor is thy Soul, if one would buy't of thee:
Thy Soul's expos'd to Sale, but none will buy it,
For all, except the Devil, will deny it.
93. Self-Love.
I the First Person, Second Thou, Third He;
Yet Each t' himself seems First of all the Three.
94. Wisdom.
Who's Rich? the Wise: Who's Poor? the Fool: by which
If I be wise, I shall be quickly Rich.
Who's wise? the Rich: Who's Fool? the Poor: then se [...] ▪
If Rich I am not, I a Fool must be.
95. The Etymology of Venus.
Venus (saith (1) one) spontan'ous doth advene
Unt' all things: doth he not u [...]t' all men mean?
96. Of a certain Drunkard.
If Potable, as Optable were Gold,
What Mines of Gold would thy vast Guts insold?
97. To Polla.
A Kiss thou nor deny'st, nor givest one;
But turn'st thy Cheek, arid as is a Bone.
If new things must have new Names (not the same)
Kisses must have a New, another Name.
98. A Friend and a Wife.
Life's dear unt' us, a Friend is therefore dear:
A Wife t' her Husband's dear, why? 'cause so near.
99. Anger.
Because that Anger Valour doth precur,
Call'd Aristotle Anger, Valours Spur?
100. The Roman Flora.
Proud Rome, to which the world did Tribute pay,
Paid Tribute unto thee by night by day.
[Page 33]For All that was contributed to thee,
For Portage thou may'st call thy Tribute Free.
101. The Etymology of the English word Anger (Ira.)
Angry men Anguish have in Deed in Name:
Anger and ((1) Angor) then are near the same.
102. Of Himself.
I grave in Trifles, Study playing: when
In grave things trifling, I play studying then.
103. Womens Titles.
A Court, when spous'd, his Wife a Countess makes:
A Countess makes no Count the Spouse she takes.
So from the Sun, the Moon receives her Light:
The Sun's Light is his own, no borrow'd Right.
104. To Zoilus.
The Praiser Praise, the Lover Love doth merit:
Praise then if Praise; Love, if thou't Love inherit.
105. Of the middle Age an indefinite Definition.
While drawing is our frail Life's latest Line,
No Line the Middle Place can it assign.
That which th' unlearn'd and learn'd call Middle Age,
None knows, till finish'd is his Pilgrimage.
106. To a Grey-hair'd Dier.
Thy Beard, once colour'd Black, 's now colour'd White:
This Nature, not thine Art wrought, brought to Light.
107. To Aulus.
New Rome expell'd her King, proud she the proud:
What wonder? Pride Kings lov'd not, nor allow'd:
Tell why so few Kings Friends are found? 'cause there's
Few that are Kings Competitors, or Peers.
108. The Bed.
What th' English Bed, the Welch call Sepulcher:
The Bed a Tomb, and Sleep doth Death infer.
109. Riders Library.
What means arrided Riders Book, thus stil'd
A Library, sith but one Book's compil'd,
And that of words? It therefore should not carry
The Name of Library, but Dictionary.
110. Nummus, Money.
That, which the Greeks Nome and Nomisme proclaim?
Or is't O Nummus 'cause thou numbred art,
Thy Name from Numb'ring comes, in whole or part?
Or is't because the world esteems Queen Coyn
To be some Goddess, Numen, or Divine?
111. Of J. S. a Covetous Man.
An Iron Chest thy Gold, Iron bars inviron
Thy Gate, House and House-holder all are Iron.
112. Of Roman Flora, to Grammarians.
The Romans for the Flowers of their Fruit
Did Flora for a Goddess constitute.
She too too prodigal of Flesh and Fame,
Did neither bear good Fruit, nor keep good Name:
But prostitute i' th' Flower of her youth
She lost both Fruit and Flowers in their growth.
113. Of J. Protus.
As Leaves from Trees in Autumn by the wind
Are whiffled all away, none left behind;
The bald-man so, by shaking of his head
Hath shook off all those Hairs which there were bred.
114. Of Theodorus.
When David threescore years and Ten was old,
A fair young Virgin kept him from the cold:
Thou to be like that Prophet great and sage,
A young wife hast espous'd in thine old Age.
115. Of the Plague in England 1603.
This Plague so many men and women slew,
That scarce is place for any Plague anew.
116. To a certain Woman.
If Fortune had thee favour'd, as did Nature,
England had not a more accomplish'd Creature:
When Trojan Wars began hadst thou been born,
Troy for thy sake might have been sack'd and torn.
117. Of a Perjured Person Convicted by his own Hand-writing.
In vain perfidious; thy words deny
That Truth which thine own hand doth testifie:
[Page 35]That words more constancy than Deeds should have,
One Mouth to thee, not two thy Maker gave,
But one Tongue, though two hands to thee belong;
Why single are thine Hands, double thy Tongue?
118. Of Cottula, a Grammaticaster.
Thus Cottula did Labyrinth expound,
Because (quoth he) great labour in't is found.
119. Anagram of Rome, to the Carthaginians.
Stout Annibal in a few hours delay'd
His fortune, having not Romes wealth survey'd:
He knew to conquer, knew not how to prize
His Conquest, though an African and wise.
Alas, what loss had he? Procrastination
Though small, preserv'd great Rome from Devastation.
120. Of a great Clark.
Sick Stomachs much receive, not much concoct;
So thou know'st much, I know, yet art indoct.
121. Of one called Davis.
From London Davisses thou bragg'st Descent,
And dost dissent from British Orient.
Ignoble thou, a noble Stock and pure
Disclaim'st, and claim'st from Parents more obscure:
Thou with thy native soyle dost well agree,
For thou of it, and it's asham'd of thee.
122. Of Aulus.
Thee wise men think a fool: Fools think thee wise:
What art? what think'st thou of thy self? Advise.
123. Of Linus a Doctor.
Why dost for form things frame? so coveting
Wit slightest: Form gives Essence to the thing.
If thou deny this Philosophick Norme,
I vouch it; thou wert Doctor made for Form.
124. Of Thais.
O would thou wert less fair, or honest more,
For no thing's fouler than the fairest Whore.
125. Of a nameless Voluminous Writer.
When dire-dure Hunger, and sad wants opprest thee,
When Thirst insatiated did molest thee,
Thy Books thou (self distracted) didst distract,
What should'st thou do? Famine advis'd that Act.
[Page 36]Thee Poverty compell'd, thy Books (with sweat
Compil'd) first pen'd, after to vend, and eat.
126. On a Bald Pate.
Lo, not an hair thine heads bald Crown doth Crown:
Thy Faithless Front hath not one hair thine own:
Before, Behind thine hair's blown off with Blast,
What's left thee to be lost? thine Head at last.
127. To Claudius and Linus.
Lewd Claud, to make thee good, thou want'st sole will:
Thou Linus want'st sole Power to make thee ill.
128. To George.
(1) George, whether thou desir'st to b' in my Book,
Wherein a Verse averse is, if thou look:
(2) Or whether of thy Kindred I should raise
Trophys in Verse, oft sounding Thine-their Praise:
(3) Or whether I to thee would recommend
Due thanks, my Verse cannot due thanks repend:
(4) 'Tis well no Verse of mine thee doth accuse:
In this thy Name well pleaseth Me-my Muse.
(5) If generous, O George, thou would'st be call'd
Thou in th' extremest Place shalt still b' install'd.
(6) Wo's me, that I my Verse cannot inforce
Longer to hold with thee a long Discourse.
129. A Lover is a Warrior.
Souldiers with Harlots, Aulus well compar'd:
Mars bodies arm'd, Venus unarm'd doth guard.
130. The Military Oath.
The Latines Sacrament, call'd sacred Oath,
Which Souldiers to their Captain did betroth:
If Sacraments be but an Oath, then there
More Sacraments than two will soon appear.
131. Of Alanus, Covetous and Lame.
Give but a Gift t' Alanus, He, though Lame,
Is hundred-handed to receive the same:
But if for Gift a Gift he must restore,
He's Lame that hundred-handed was before.
132. The Condition of Kings.
While This forbears, That fears Truth to relate
To Kings, O miserable Kingly state!
133. Vis, Jus, Force, Right, to J. C.
Vis, Force; Jus, Right are adverse: yet the Name
Of Vis and Jus inverted, is the fame.
134. Of Marcus.
Wives, Widows, Maids, Whores, Wenches, (women-kind)
Thou lov'st, but thine own Wife thou leav'st behind:
Among so many kinds of Venus sports,
Why leav'st the lawful, lov'st th' unlawful sorts?
135. Desperate Debt.
Who's not in Debt t' his wise? who (1) solvent is?
None solid, but insolvent is in This.
136. Of Culianus.
Wise men are (1) wonders: wonders now are none:
Then now there is no wise man; no, not one.
But Culian, th' art wise: then wonders are;
Or thou from wisdom, Culian, art far.
137. Of Marcus, a man venust or comely.
That in some Part thou maist Venustus be.
138. Of Adrian 5.
Derided Epigrams, derided Verse
Thou writest, which with mirth have no commerce:
No mirth is in them; yet the Reader smil'd,
Because both wit and mirth from them's exil'd.
139. I, Thou, He.
There's no man but prefers Himself unt' All
Hence the first Person, I, we count and call.
Thou fam'st thy present, blam'st thine absent Friend,
He Thou next Me, and He next Thee doth tend.
140. Petite & dabitur vobis.
Ask and it shall be given you.
That which was promis'd Askers heretofore
Is given now to Givers: men no more
Will gratis give: what's gratis comes from Heaven:
Of nought comes nought: Give, and it shall be given.38
141. Married Persons, Children, Parents.
Husband and wife once two, are now but one:
Once one, two now are Father and his Son.
142. Of Marcus a Lawyer.
Thou pleadest for thy self not Client; he
Not for himself, but brings his Gold for thee:
The certain Laws uncertain Causes cross:
Thou sure of gain, thy Client's sure of loss.
143. To his Father.
As man more excellent than woman is,
I so thy son do more excel in this.
144. An Italian.
Th' Italians of their wives (as Books comprize)
The parts incluse-s [...]cluse Monopolize:
This, what God said unt' Eve, the woman gains
By this, I will multiplicate thy pains.
145. What Wife the Author would have.
I like a woman facile to be lov'd,
To love difficile, comely, well approv'd:
Rivals in love I like; deserve she should
The love of all, not love alone I would.
146. To one complaining that his Children were not like him.
Would'st on thy wife beget a Self-like Child?
First get a wife like thee compos'd-compil'd.
147. To the Married.
Of Conjugal Love.
When Adam had espoused Eve his Bride,
No woman was for him to love beside:
Love Conjugal is therefore First and best:
Paternal doth the Second Love attest.
148. Sir Francis Drake's Epitaph.
Though Papistry should rage in time to come,
It would not, Drake, I think, dig up thy Tomb:
Thou need'st not fear it should thy Body burn,
For in the water safe from Fire's thine Urne.
149. A Childs Epitaph dying before his Grandfather and Father.
Death keeps no method, Logick's Art denies:
A Son before his Sire and Grandsire dies.
150. Epitaph of Maurus.
His Soul of 's Corps, his Corps of 's Soul's hereft;
Maurus wants both: his Name is only left.
151. Epitaph of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Death friendly-foe from you that grief remov'd
Which brought on Death before: because you lov'd.
152. Tho. Moor, dying.
Moor had his Head from's Body severed:
But would not have his Hair cut from his Head.
153. Three Languages Crucified.
Hebrew, Greek, Latine, First, Next, Third commixt;
Sacred, Learn'd, Roman, all three Crucifixt.
154. Don Antonio King of Portugal.
Between thee and thy Kingdom a Divorce
Was lately made against thy will, by force:
Now thou maist of thy Kingdom (took away)
What Christ Himself (1) did of his Kingdom say.
155. Alexander, Aristotle.
He great'st of Kings, of Sophists this compleater,
Great Alexander, Aristotle greater:
This learn'd, made Alexander more compleat;
Great He, made Aristotle not more great.
156. Of Plato.
The Bees which swarm'd on Plato's lips, do still
Distill rare Sweets from his mellistuous Quill.
157. Virgil's Georgicks.
Thou, Maro, writ'st rich Verse of Husbandry,
And dost manure the Readers wit thereby.
158. Persius the Poet.
Dark Persius I read, but not conceive:
I' th' dark he doth his Readers lead and leave.
159. Tacitus.
Thee Candor made Truth-telling, Nature wise,
Briefness obscure, and Gravity concise.
160. To Martial.
Persons thou know'st to spare, to speak of things,
All thy Conceits are honyed, have no Stings.
161. To Petrarch.
While O thy Laura's read, the doubt will be,
Lawrel or Laura whether fitt'st for thee.
162. Pliny, Englisht by Philemon Holland, a Physician.
Pliny writes many things, is long: is short
163. Of Cicero, to Catullus.
What thou didst tell Catullus, and foretell
Of Cicero, was true: for it befell.
164. Of Historians in this Age.
Historians of old wrote truth, no lyes:
Now to write lies, no truth, it doth suffice.
This Nay, that Yea concludes: O which I pray
Shall the next Age believe of Yea or Nay?
The certain Reader is uncertain, whether
He Neither of them shall believe, or Either.
165. Kings. People.
By Kings unlearn'd the People's led-misled,
Like faultring feet by a distemp'red Head.
166. The Senate.
Kings Reign alone, why rule they not alone?
He ruleth best, who's rul'd by more than one.
167. To an Historian.
Thou conversant in Histories dost read,
And travelst without danger, without dread:
An History doth teach in Time, though short,
More than long Times Experience doth comport.
168. Of Diet, to J. H.
If old thou wouldst be slowly, then use all
Med'cines, like Modicums, Reciprocal.
Like too much meat, Med'cines may health infest;
And meat like Med'cines us'd is most times best.
169. The Peers of France.
Not altogether Peers: for it appears
Imparity with Parity co-heres.
170. P. Magnus, C. Major, F. Maximus, Pompey, Cato, Fabius.
This great'st, less than the great, greater than he
The Greater: which is greatest of the three?
171. To T. S.
Thy wit and Judgement in my Verse to show
My wit and Judgement are too weak, too low.
Thy wit and Judgement I transcendent find,
Or else my wit and Judgement both are blind:
But whatso'ere my Judgement is, or wit,
I to thy wit and Judgement mine submit.
172. Of himself.
What wonder if bad Verse my Muse unveils?
For I nor claw mine Head, nor gnaw my Nails.
173. The Five Senses.
These Five to will and pleasure that relate,
Do they their Office, or officiate?
174. Seeing.
The more the sight assimilates the Mind,
The more it draws it, makes it more inclin'd.
175. Hearing.
How soon sounds vocal vanish from our Ear?
Like Air they come, like Air they disappear.
176. Smelling.
Between the mouth and Eyes th' expanded Nare
Doth carnal with spiritual things compare.
177. Tasting.
That meat may be more pleasing to the Tast,
Hunger, like Sauce, will sweeten the repast.
178. Touching.
Some Touch sole pleaseth, some hath Titillation:
This youth, that Age affects with Delectation.
179. Objects of the Senses.
Sight, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, Touching, these
Affect, infect my Senses as they please.
180. Touching and Tasting.
Some are, who can nor Smell, nor Hear, nor See:
And of five Senses are depriv'd of three:
Why want none Tasting, Touching? 'cause of these
That th' individ, this guards the Species.
181. Epigrams, Satyres.
Satyres are but long Epigrams; And these
Are but short Satyres, to displease, or please:
Satyres avail not, if they be not tart;
Nor Epigrams, unless like Satyres, smart.
182. A dumb man.
He moves his Lips, but utters no true sound,
Let Apollonius his mind expound.
183. Blind and Deaf.
Why this with's Eyes, with's Ears more quick is he?
This hears with's Eyes, he with his Ears doth see.
184. Teeth and Tongue.
From Licking; each from what doth t' it belong.
185. The Phoenix and the Viper.
The dying Phoenix leaves a living seed;
But living Vipers dying are to breed.
186. The Silk-Worm.
Me skill doth kill, I make my self my Tomb,
I draw my fatal Thread, spin Death my Doom.
187. The Right-Hand.
To give or take I use my Right-Hand; Why?
Lest what my Right-Hand doth, my left should 'spy.
188. The Left-Hand.
From Pleasantness the Left-Hand hath its name;
An idle Hand, and in all Labour lume.
189. Sunday.
Why's that day call'd (when Light was first dilated)
Sunday, when yet the Sun was not created?
190. Terra di Lavoro.
Why is Campania so fully fam'd
For Pleasure, now the Land of Labour nam'd?
191. Garments.
New things wax old, and old things are renew'd:
Thus men are pleas'd with a vicissitude.
192. Wine.
Wine from sad hearts expelleth Grief; and mine
Letificates, dilating when supine.
193. A Sheep.
Want we flesh, skins, young, dung, dice, Musick-strings,
Wooll, Milk? one Sheep supplies with all these things.
194. Soyling of Fields.
Dung's a vile Excrement; yet hath its worth:
Its Element mine Aliment brings forth.
195. Harmony.
Discording Concords best concur in Nature:
So man and woman generate a creature.
196. A Parret.
If words t' invert be lawful, and unblam'd,
A Parret then a prater shall be nam'd.
197. Ink and Paper.
That it may more apparent be, we write
With cole-black Ink on Paper Snow-like white.
198. A Comedy.
The Scene our facts obscene describes▪descries:
Our faults are found not feign'd in Comedies.
199. A Cloak.
My Cloak from th' Earth, than I my self more far's:
A Gown.
My Gown sweeps th' Earth, my Mind transcends the Stars.
200. A Satyre.
One reason Satyres did produce and Laws:
Ill Manners of both's being were the Cause.
202. An Hour-glass.
False is the truest Hour-glass: for with use
The Sand wears smaller, wider grows the Sluce.
203. A Merchant.
'Tis hard to say That Merchant's rich or poor,
Who to the trustless Seas intrusts his store.
204. Lust.
That thing's deform'd, fair form'd by night should seem,
'Tis not black Nights, but 'tis blind Lust's esteem.
205. Donna, Lady.
By how much more man's Lord of 's wife, why than
His wife, his Lady calls th' uxorious Man?
206. A Souldier.
Though Wars give bloody Skarrs, yet more are harm'd
By naked Venus, than by Mars when arm'd.
207. An Army.
Huge Hulk, Faith faithless, inhumane, too greedy
Of bloodshed, to shed humane blood too speedy.
208. Lovers Tears.
As fervent fire from wood the moisture drills,
So Love within the Tears from th' Eyes distills.
209. The Stars.
He that affects th' odd Number (that is) God
Created all the Stars, in number odd.
210. The Venetians.
As Seas with Waters, Skyes with Stars abound:
So Riches the Venetians surround.
211. An Harp.
Sith th' Harps discording Strings concording be,
Is't not a shame for men to disagree?
212. A Fowler.
Shun cruel Flames, not knowing sports events.
All Elements give thy sport Aliments.
213. The Echo.
No skill nor Art a voice can form, or found:
Sole Echo doth reiterate the sound.
214. A Looking-glass.
Than Phid'ias or Apelles wiser, thou
The Bodies moti'on form'st, they knew not how.
215. The Echo, and Looking-glass.
Nothing of Life hath th' Echo, but to squeake:
The Glass would seem to live, if it could speak.
216. Musick.
The name of Musick from the Muses came;
Best Art; none other Science hath this Name.
217. Albion, To the King.
England was once an Heptarchy: that while
Into nine Parts was parted all this Isle.
Unhappy Britain when divided thus;
United, happy made by thee for us.
The End of the Second Book.
THE THIRD BOOK OF JOH. OWEN'S Epigrams.
1. To the Lady Mary Neville.
I Gloze not, lye not thee when I applaud:
None more deserveth, less desireth land.
Thou seek'st not praise, though thou deserv'st it best:
And of thy praises this is not the least.
2. To the same.
Thou who before thy Birth a burden were
Unto thy Parent, born, her honour art.
3. To the Reader, of his Book.
Lest this my Book displease the candid Eye
I fear; and fear lest it with Fools comply.
4. The Virgin Birth of Elizabeth, Queen of England 1602.
England and Scotland are united by
Th' auspicious Birth of thy Virginity.
T' unite then multiply's of greater worth:
And thou best Parent by not bringing forth.
5. To the Hollander 1602.
Thou not against Minerva's will didst fight,
Whil'st Englands Pallas back'd thee with her might.
But thy fate chang'd; Death (like Ulysses come)
Took hence thy Pallas and Palladium.
6. To James King of Great Britain, &c.
The Golden Age is come, long since foretold,
When but one King should wear Brute's Crown of Gold
Who should the Britains, that divided were
Unite; of Peace should th' Olive Branches bear:
That having Peace, all good unt' us comes forth,
We now may say (most truly) from (a) the North.
7. To the Prince.
Great Britaines Hope, son of so great a Sire,
Half of each Parent; for Example higher
Almost than imitation; in rare Parts
Follow'd by few, belov'd in all mens hearts.
Hadst thou these vertues from thy Sires instinct?
Or from thy Mothers Breasts? from both I think't.
8. Basilicon Doron, to the King.
None needs this Author, none this Book proclaim:
He This, This Him resounds with Trump of Fame.
9. To the Lady Mary Neville.
Thy Glass reflects thee fair, fame calls thee chast;
Thou nor from Glass, nor Fame a fable hast;
Fame that of all things hath the swiftest wing,
Dares not presume thy fame to stain, or sting.
10. Of her daughter Cecily.
No Painter can delineate the mind:
Yet in this Picture thou thy self maist find.
11. To the Candid Reader.
My good Verse, best: indifferent mine ill,
Kind Reader thou dost call with candid will.
To the malevolent Reader.
My bad Verse, worst: indifferent, my good
Thou call'st, (black Reader) so thy censure stood.
12. Hercules By-way.
Some in Quadruples, some in Triples erre:
Th' Herculean Duple is most sinister.
13. Of Vertue.
Vertue contemneth praise, though praise incline
To Vertue Shadows as to Bodies joyn;
For Vertue's real, praise but verbal, bare
As Bodies something, Shadows nothing are.
14. Lifes Dyal.
From East to West without return am I,
Born yesterday, live this day, next day die.
15. Of God.
So great thy Greatness Euclide could not show:
And such as Aristotle did not know.
16. Of an Atheist.
There is no God the Fool in secret saith:
But none so soolish as to make't his Faith.
If none a God deny, who's th' Atheist? he
Who doth desire that there no God should be.
17. Charity.
As Wives where loveless, there do faithless prove,
So's Faith depriv'd of Charitable love.
18. Dives and Lazarus.
The Gospel doth a nameless Rich man blame,
Where Lazarus hath an eternal Name.
19. Increase and Multiply.
The first man was at first but one, till God
Of him made two, evening the number odd:
After when God unt' Eve did Adam tye,
God made them one again to multiply:
[Page 50]God first made one, then two, then (as before)
He made them one to multiply the more.
20. Union.
Divine is Union, Division evil's:
For there's one God, innumerable Devils.
21. Three Tempters.
The World, Flesh, Devil; are three Sophisters;
In Logick he, in Rhet'rick they converse.
22. The Spirit and Flesh.
Me Flesh and Spirit hither, thither force;
Jove, Caesar are in me Competitors:
Peace to you both: were you but once at Peace,
Peace then in all the world would soon increase.
23. Man to Man a • God, , and • Wolf.
Man is to man a God, a Wolf: why? when?
For Christ's a God, Adam a Wolf to men.
24. God's word.
Men few things see, God all things sees foresees:
Hence men speak often, God but once decrees.
25. The Broad and Narrow way.
The Scripture bids us strive ('tis our concern)
To walk the Narrow way to Life eterne:
If that way leads us not t' inherit Bliss,
The broader way will lead us down to Dis.
26. St. John Baptist.
The Baptist Christ preceded, as the Light
Precedes the Sun, brings day, dispells the night.
27. Of Autumn.
Autumn shakes off the Leaves, and for man's use
Produceth fruit: let us the like produce.
28. The Misery of Life.
Who long would live, wretched although and poor,
That is, he would be wretched more and more:
Poor-wretched Irus dies against his will:
That i [...], he would be poor and wretched still.
29. Of Nature and Grace.
Nature like to the Moon gives pallid Light:
Grace like the Sun more splendid shines and bright.
30. The Catechism.
Twelve things thou must believe, must pray for seven,
And ten things do if thou wilt enter Heaven.
31. A Rich Man.
Why are few rich men sav'd? because their bent
Repents Expences, nothing else repent.
32. O guileful Hopes!
O rather guileful things; our Hope a friend
Most faithful, us concomitates to th' end.
33. The Redeemer.
One man by dying, man from Death hath freed,
Which was to man for one mans sin decreed:
Christ all things did post-pone, lost man to win,
Contemn'd-condemn'd, O Adam, for thy sin.
34. The Holy Spirit.
As Doves to whitest Houses soonest come,
So th' holy God makes cleanest Hearts his home.
35. Fortitude.
The Wise doth know, the Just will do what's right,
Who dares thus, shall b' esteem'd a man of might.
36. Of a King.
Law, where's no King's like light when Sun's away:
King, where's no Law's like Sun without a Ray.
People first chose a King: The King with them
Made Laws, yet subject to the Diadem.
37. A Welch Man.
English and Scots by name are one with thee:
Now Welch-man, sole thou shalt not British be.
38. English-Scots.
Disjoyn'd in Laws, what Law shall them conjoyn?
The Kingdoms safety best of Laws divine.
39. Henry the Roses, James the Kingdoms. To the King.
The Roses, English colours Red and White,
Like Cadmus new-sprung Host ingag'd in Fight,
And as the Twins, which one Egge did include,
Do Rise and Set in a vicissitude,
[Page 52]As Day the Night, as Night succeeds the Day,
The Roses so did bear alternate sway,
An Isle which Tacitus not tacitely
Recordeth, happy Mother, happier
By bearing British Owen Theodor:
From whom arose a Noble Prince, a Rose
Whose Wife and Mother sprung from Stem of those,
Who thousand dangers pass'd in Nuptial Bed,
United (b) both the Roses White and Red.
Which Union, lest Change or Chance divide
The Roses, His: The Kingdoms are thy Bride.
40. The Apocalypse of John Napeir.
Ninety two years the World continue shall,
If as thou Calculat'st, it stand and fall:
Why dost not th' End to be more near surmize?
Lest thou a Lyer should'st be found: th' art wise.
41. God, Man.
God cannot die, nor man Death conquer can:
But Christ did both, he was both God and Man.
42. Death.
Death unto bad men bane, to good men bliss:
An endless Ill, or End of all Ill is.
43. God.
God is Immense, all measuring alone:
And He's Innumerable; for but but one.
44. Miracle.
Let others Miracles admire: but I
Admire their Maker only, God on high.
45. Adam's Fall.
Mens Bodies, Goods, and Souls, Adam's foul fall
To Physick, Law, Divines did first inthrall.
46. To Adam.
False Eve, Death's Parent, thee deceiv'd by Fruit;
And foully ruin'd with a fair salute.
47. To Preachers.
The Cock (the Mornings Herald) claps his wings,
To rouze himself before he Crows or Sings:
Preachers should do the like, first should begin
To rouze themselves; next others raise from sin.
48. The Tempter.
As Mice in Walls, so Satan in man's heart
Orfinds, or makes a way with his black Art.
49. Mortification.
We live to die, and die to live: O why,
Then learn we not to die, before we die?
50. Hodie, to Day.
This Day was yesterday to Morrow nam'd:
To Morrow shall be yesterday proclaim'd:
To Morrow not yet come, nor far away,
What shall to Morrow then be call'd? To Day.
51. Against thee only have I sinned.
Subjects do sin 'gainst God, the King, the Laws:
A King 'gainst God alone: A King because.
52. Prayer.
As Christ transpiere'd the Doors fast shut at Even:
So Prayers pierce th' Impenetrable Heaven.
53. Mary Magdalens Tears.
Vain wandring Eyes sinning by seeing vain:
Wip'd off, by weeping with those Eyes, sins stain:
I err, if not that weeping faculty,
Because th' Eye first did sin, 's infus'd in th' Eye.
54. Of Hope and Fear.
Riches and Fear, Hope want concomitate:
Hope's to be wish'd for, Fear's a froward fate.
Poor men have Hopes, the Rich men Fears: But I
These Fears had rather than those Hopes apply.
55. Mathusalem is dead.
Life is not long, but still to live: what profit
Is in long life, when Death's the sequel of it?
56. Of Law and Justice.
The way to Law than Justice more we trace,
Though this the shorter, that's the longer Race.
57. Intemperance.
We who desire long life before we die,
Why do we shorten it by Luxury?
We will, and will not lengthen our short spans:
We nill our selves, will, by Physicians.
58. To Ponticus.
Art poor? 'tis hard to make thee rich: but when
Th' art rich, 'tis easie to be richer then.
59. The Pharisees.
They say, but do not: 'tis our Ages sin:
First say, then do: Faith so doth enter in.
60. Liberty.
If happy's he that all things hath at will,
Why do men will, yet are repining still?
The best-great'st vertue's Liberty: sole he
Can live at will, whose will is well to be.
61. Christ, whence.
Conceiv'd at Nazareth, at Beth'lem born:
Thy Natures two, two Countries did adorn.
62. Christ Crucified.
To th' Erring, Dying, Sick, the Way, Life, Cure,
The Crosses Cross, Deaths Death didst Cross endure.
63. Christs Cross.
The Cross bare Christ, Christ bare the Cross: and thus
Christ bare the Cross, the Cross Christ: all for us.
64. Of Religion.
A pleasant Tree planted in pious breast,
Whose Root hath labour, fruit hath honours Crest:
Fear first brought Gods into the world: no lye:
For to fear God is the prime Piety.
In Piety's root's Gall, Honey's above:
For Fear's Religion's Fount, the River, Love.
65. On the Prodigal and Miser.
This till his death gives nothing; that at's death
Hath nothing left to give, or to bequeath.
66. The Married.
Let man love's wife, let wife submissive be
T' her husband; he's her Head, his Heart is she.
67. Study.
Students grow mad by studying much to know;
None mad by studying to be good doth grow.
68. Remember Death.
Death of uncertains hath most certainty;
Uncertain when, but certain once to die:
None from his birth, none from his death is far,
Yet none of this is a Remembrancer.
69. The Blessed Virgin.
Gods Spouse, her Fathers Parent, her Sons Child,
Virgin by man, without man Mother stil'd.
70. What's rare, not dear.
A Paradox.
Vice common is, yet nothing is more dear:
Vertue seems vile, yet rare it doth appear.
71. A Beast.
Past hope, what's past; sole future hope doth rest,
Things hopeless pass, hopes fruitless with the Beast.
While past things vex, future perplex with care
Us men; Beasts, wiser, pleas'd with present are.
72. Reason.
Reason's the Queen of things; their Mother's Nature:
This brings them forth; that is their Regulater.
73. Nature.
Wise Nature hath with Reason us supply'd;
Which wills us to take Nature for our Guide.
74. Freedom of Speech.
Thou seem'st t' have freedom fables to relate;
But free enough's the Tongue that less doth pra [...].
75. To Marcus, a Problem.
Be'st good or bad what matter's it? For those
Force like the Lawes, these Laws like force oppose.
76. Upon Old and New Fashions.
'Tis foolish Envy new things to despise;
And envious folly new things sole to prize.
57. A Christians Death.
Death, like the way, leads thee to life; and is
No dying, but an Entrance into Bliss.
78. To Christ.
Anchor of Hope, Faiths Ship, Loves shoreless Sea,
Earth's Salt, Heavens Sun, the Souls sole saving Plea:
Death, by thy death is kill'd, Death dead doth lie:
Yet who would think that ever Death could die?
79. Self-Love.
Who sees not his own faults, but others spies,
Is wise unt' others, but t' himself unwise.
80. Saints Lives.
'Tis vain Saints Lives to read, and not to lead;
Do both; the lives of Saints read, lead: lead, read.
81. Our Country.
A good man's still at home, not in Exile:
Each Land each Sea is as his native soyle:
Exile's where ill, our Country where contrary:
In this Good, Bad are each ubiquitary.
82. Upon an Atheist.
No faith of past, nor hopes of future move
Within thy Soul, the present's thy sole love.
83. Of Hereticks.
Virgil from Enn'us dross did Gold extract:
But Hereticks from Gold do dross compact.
84. An Encomiastick.
The Good by praise is better, worse the bad,
The Crafty craftier, the fool more mad.
85. Not too fast.
None's on the sudden good: hast not too fast,
Although in Vertues way thou makest hast:
Good counsel us'd in hast, proves bad we find:
First recollect, and then correct thy mind.
86. The Envious, and Fool.
This wants right Reason, that a candid heart:
This cannot, and that will not Truth assert.
87. [...], Sermo, Speech.
Gods Speech all Reason's, ours all Oraizon:
So what God speaks, and man's a speaking Tone.
88. Opinion.
None will believe, yet all would be believ'd:
[...]o faith like friendship is by gain atchiev'd.
89. Art.
God hath all Arts laid up in Natures breast,
That man might thence require, acquire the best.
90. Adams Apology.
Why am I blam'd as Author of mans sin?
I sin'd not first: Eve did to me begin.
91. The Serpent.
Thou thy self-tempter, self-deceiver wert,
None did attempt to tempt, or thee pervert.
92. Still the same.
One God in all the World was, is, and shall:
Why is not then the same one faith for all?
One faith, like day, the world t' enlighten, even
As one Sun's in the Sky, one God in Heaven.
93. Mental Prayer.
Let Soul be pure, House Oratory, Reader
The Spirit, cleansed Heart, Prayers the Pleader.
94. The five Wounds.
Balsoms not wounds were th' wounds which Christ endur'd,
For by those wounds our wounds are clos'd, are cur'd.
95. Feigned Friendship.
While the dark World, the Suns bright beams accend,
The shadow on the body doth attend:
But when Clouds intervening shade the shine,
The shadow doth thy body then decline:
While Fortune smiles, thy friends will follow thee,
As shadows Bodies, when Sun shines, we see.
96. Vertue.
Vertue consisteth not in words but Deeds:
Faith, Hope, and Charity are Herbs not Weeds.
97. Rachel.
Why dost bewail thy loss in thy lost Son?
Thou brought'st him forth with pain, with grief he's gone.
98. Solomon.
So many Miracles, as wise men, are:
For than a wise man, what's more strange, more rare?
[Page 58]But Solomon's before the seven Sages,
He's then the first, not the Eighth by our Suffrages.
99. Hope.
Sith in things future, artless is my Skill,
Why should I hope for good, or fear what's ill?
Yet I despair not, without hope I die:
Long hope prolongs my short Lifes Brevity.
100. Mans Ignorance.
I scarce know what's to live: no wonder I
Then know not what 'tis to be born, or die.
101. Christ the Way.
Would'st know the way which doth unt' Heaven tend?
The Way from Heaven doth to thee descend.
102. Of Fame.
Seek vertue, but the praise thereof disclaim:
Not of the man the praise is, but the Name.
103. Faith.
Faith in Pythag'ras principles 's a Prince:
His Ipse dixit did convince-evince.
104. Aequanimity.
Whether Deaths hour be come or not, abhor it
To be too willing, or unwilling for it
105. Newest Times.
The Times which first produced things in view,
Were the New Times, for then the world was new:
Tell me learn'd Reader of the Books inroll'd,
Whether our Times be the New Times, or Old?
106. The Will.
Wilt thou be good? Will sole, it shall be so:
Who gave thee Will, will on thee Pow'r bestow.
107. To the Sun.
Fair Phoebus who twice fourscore times (by guess)
Art than th' Earth greater though thou seemest less.
Thou who to me poor worm so small dost seem,
How little (Ah) am I in thine esteem?
108. Honesty.
The wise man than the good's more wise: no matter,
While that the good is than the wise man better.
109. Man.
His Heart's but care, his flesh a Carkass, and
Sickness his Birth, his Life at Deaths command.
110. Multiloquy, to a Preacher.
Multiloquy shews Ignorance: what needs
So many words when thou dost see the Deeds?
111. Death with and against Nature.
By Natures course, O Death, thou shouldst not gather,
Nor take away the Son before his Father.
In Life and death we Natures Rules apply,
Nature will have men live, will have men die.
112. Eloquence.
Not to speak much, but well, is Eloquence:
As fertile Fields good fruit, not much dispence.
113. God.
As from our sight thick Clouds the Skies obscure,
So God's invisible to minds impure:
None have seen God: and few have heard Him speak,
Hence (a) Faith's so rare, but Love's more rare, more weak.
114. To Ponticus.
Thou ask'st what years thou hast? I answer None:
For what thou had'st, thou hast not: they be gone.
115. Love and Friendship, to Carolus.
From a long custom Nature doth dissent,
As Love from friendship differs in th' extent.
116. Princes.
You seem to shew a zealous-pious care,
For true Religions Progress to prepare:
But your Religion moves t' have Honour more,
Not th' Honour true Religion to restore.
117. O Times, O Manners!
Why doth man blame the Manners, and the Times,
Imputing to their pravities his Crimes?
In Times or Manners is no fault at all.
Not by Them, in Them are we criminal.
118. Philosophy.
All much would know, but to believe it few:
Hence many much believe, yet few do know.
119. Infinite Evil.
Born but one way, a thousand waies we die,
Our thousand Sores have but one Remedy.
120. Of Controversies.
Divines contend, and yet is their contest
Under the Judge: O would it there might rest:
Divines contend, and of the Judge complain:
O would that all the strife did there remain.
Or that in us there was such strife of Love,
As Love of strife in ev'ry Sphere doth move.
121. Christ on the Cross.
When Christ was Crucifi'd two Thieves between,
Then Vertue, never, or i' th' midst was seen.
122. Times Daughter.
Though truth be sometimes hid, 'twill be proclaim'd,
Hence by the Greeks it is (a) [...] nam'd.
123. Physick and Law.
If Mortals would as Nature dictates, live,
They need not Fees to the Physicians give:
If men were wise, they need not have their Cause
Pleaded, prolonged by th' ambiguous Laws.
So Bartolus might (Feeless) go to Bed,
And Mice corrode Hippocrates unread.
124. Man and Wife.
The total House us holds not, when we chide,
But one Bed serves us both when pacifi'd.
125. The shortest Day.
One Day, the last is our Lifes shortest Day,
For it is next our End, and will away.
126. Vertues Complaint.
Rare's love of love, love of Vertue's rare:
Price is now priz'd, and Honours honour'd are:
Riches are prostitute, Coyn Money buyes,
And Vertue's vile, she must her own worth prize.
127. An hard Father.
A sparing Father is most liberal
T' his Son: For dying he doth leave him all.
128. A Prayer to God in Sickness.
Nature of Nature, O good God, when I
Can live no longer, give me will to die.
129. To a litigious Person.
If Judge to thee be deaf, thy Cause is lost,
Thy gain is vain Experience with cost:
'Tis better Judges please than plead the Laws,
Those before these indulge unto thy Cause.
130. Of Brunonius.
Our Fathers instituted Fasts that (they)
Their Flesh, the Spirit, that it might God obey:
But with full Table thou keep'st Fast that thence
Thy Spirit may thy flesh, thy flesh serve sense.
131. Time.
Age all things brings, all things bears hence with it:
All things have Time, and Time hath all things fit.
132. Miracles.
Sith Miracles are ceas'd (what shall I speak?)
Is Gods hand shorter? or our faith more weak?
133. To Irus.
Thou still wouldst live, but live thou caust not still,
Though still to live thou maist, dost wish, and will,
But sith thou liv'st so poor, I know not why,
Though life thou will'st, thou should'st not wish to die.
134. Knowledge.
Methinks they sole are happy here below
That either all things, or else no things know.
135. Christ.
As Morning ends the Night, begins the Day,
So thou Death's End wert, and Lifes rising Ray.
136. Who art Thou.
Whom do mine Eyes behold, mine Eyes are blind:
What sees my mind, my mind doth want a mind.
If my best part, my mind, it doth not know,
How can I, what I am, unto thee show?
137. The Kingdom of Heaven.
Why do so few the Kingdom gain of Heaven?
Because the way's so strait, uncouth, uneven.
138. Grief and Pleasure.
Mans heart and body present Grief doth grieve,
Future with fear doth vex, past doth relieve:
Present Delight, bought with past pain, doth please,
But fear of future pain doth it disease.
139. Peter.
Jerusalems last High Priest Caiaphas was;
But Romes first High Priest was (they say) Kephas.
140. Of Sleep.
If Sleep be but as Death, Death but as Sleep,
The more I Sleep, the less of Life I keep.
141. Rome.
The world begun, Abel was kill'd by Cain,
Rome Founded, Remus was by Rom'lus slain:
The world and Rome with blood alike stain'd stand,
Both did begin in blood by Brothers hand.
142. Mans Perfection.
The chief Perfection of ev'ry Creature
Is to return t' its principles by Nature:
Then I shall perfect be, when I return
My Soul to God, my Body to mine Urne.
143. Lord increase our Faith, Luk. Cap. 17.
Faith needs not an increase, but a decay,
Sith scarce so many men as Faiths bear sway:
Each hath his Faith, his Tutor of his own,
Never more Faiths, more faithless men were known.48
144. On the Covetous.
He, Hercules Nil ultra, doth pass by,
And Carolus Plus ultra doth apply.
145. Good Transcending.
Good all transcends and boundless is alone,
None therefore in the world is good, not one.
146. All is Vanity.
Heraclite living would our Manners mourn,
Our Times Democritus would laugh to scorn:
Though to deride what vain on Earth is seen,
Democritus hath not enough of spleen:
[Page 63]Nor to lament poor Mortals miseries,
Heraclitus hath tears in both his Eyes.
147. Of Epicurus.
Young men complain that short's their youthful sport;
And old men murmur that their Life's so short:
The life of pleasure, pleasures life arise
Both short, who vilipends them both is wise.
148. Works.
Good men shall follow their good works: But then
Their wicked works shall follow wicked men.
149. Wisdoms Beginning.
None would for Heaven hope, if none fear'd Hell:
Fear in the prudent hope creates: 'tis well.
150. Of Battologus.
Thou not content to tire the learned ear
With words, and with vain babbling, Time to tear,
But after a Tautology long spun,
Dost yet complain that Time too fast did run,
Return unt' Oxford, and distinguish better.
Thy Sermon long, short time was not thy debtor.
151. Of the same.
Learn'd Tullies long Orations seem not long,
Nor would thy Sermons couldst thou clip thy Tongue.
152. Of Polytheans.
O foolish folk, what madness doth y' insnare
To think there be more Gods than worlds there are!
153. Of Wit and Study.
Wit, if not whet with Study, waxeth null,
As Knives without the Whetstones help are dull;
Wit is by Study cherish'd, perish'd there,
As Whetstones make Knives sharp, and sharpning tear.
154. Know thy Self.
None knows himself aright: yet mind he can
Himself a Child, when old, a younger man.
155. Long Art, short Life.
An Age to make one wise doth not suffice:
Death's at our backs before we can be wise.
156. Of Moranus an old man.
Not to be learn'd, but to be unlearn'd by thee,
Are many things if thou wilt better be:
[Page 64]But how thou wilt unlearn, or learn wilt thou
To be made good, thus old, is hopeless now.
157. To D. T.
Twice wretched thou, because once fortunate,
Twice happy's he, who wretched was of late.
158. All seek their own.
The Laick Gain, not Christ seeks, uncontroll'd,
And thou, O Clerick, seek'st not God, but Gold.
159. Of Brunonius.
Why doth the Pest, as is suppos'd, attest
God's wrath, sith thee the Pest doth not infest?
The reason's ready, and a solid one,
Thou to thy Country art a Pest alone.
160. Respect thine End.
Look back on thy beginning, and thine End
Foresee, scorn Earth, in Soul unt' Heav'n ascend.
161. Sense, Reason, Faith, Charity, God.
Sense without Reason, Reason faithless, (Dull)
Faith without love, love without God is null.
162. Of Prudence.
Prudence is useful matters to dispence,
And of three Vertues is the Quintessence:
For what is Good in Life she doth impart,
As Logick teacheth what is Truth in Art.
163. To his Parents.
Dear Parents I am of your Flesh and Bone:
You both are in my Flesh, yet Flesh but one.
164. Prudence and Fortitude.
Wise men must ills beware, Strong must them bear,
That those may suffer none, these none may fear.
165. In the sweat of thy Brows, &c.
He that injoyn'd thee t' eat thy bread in sweat
Will not to th' idle give th' eternal Meat.
166. Of Faith and Charity.
As Trees first planted are e're Fruit they bear,
So where are vertues faith must first appear;
Life lives by Faith, not without Love: as poor
Do live in hope, yet labour more and more.
[Page 65]Faith's first, Love's chief; for 'tis a vertue great
God to believe, to love God's more compleat.
167. If thy right Eye, &c. Mat. 5.29.
If the Right Eye, by sinning oft, must out,
The world would suddenly be blind no doubt.
168. Christian Adverbs.
Adverbs all Adjectives do far excel:
God less rewards good Deeds, than Deeds done well.
169. Lifes Brevity.
T' an unborn Infant, and an old man dead
Time's all alike, that's future, this is fled:
Abate time past, abate the time to come
From both, how little then's Lifes total Summ.
170. Like for like.
To Aulus.
Thy Predecessors Facts thou dost not read:
Strange if Posterity read thine, when dead.
171. Time.
Time, things Devourer, us and all out-wears:
We wear out Time: and thus are we compeers.
172. Abundant Caution.
Not temerous, nor timerous, nor late,
Art quickly wary, not precipitate:
Is nature fearful? Prudence strength prepares,
None danger fears, of danger that bewares.
173. John opposing.
Though all Antiquities oppose thy sense,
Thou canst them all with one word (No) convince.
174. Justification.
Do Faith or Facts sole justifie? declare
Facts Faith by God sole justified are.
175. Doomsday.
When all for all their works shall t' answer come,
Sufficeth one day, for so great a Doom?
176. To Marianus.
The Good hate sin, because they vertue love:
Few therefore now on Earth good men do prove:
Vice is so priz'd; Vertue so vile reputed,
That 'tis almost a sin to b' unpolluted.
177. Mary Magdalens Tears.
Two fluent Fountains from two Mountains rise,
Whence flows a double River from mine Eyes.
178. Of the Soul.
The Soul's from God, not drawn from mortal Line,
For with the Body then it would decline.
179. To Marcus.
In Bed thou prayest with thy Face erect:
No wonder slothful Prayers want effect:
Such praying, as vain words of one not praying
God hears, as if he heard not, by gainsaying.
180. Hell.
As Art black colours cannot turn to white,
So from dark Hell none can return to Light.
181. To a poor Friend.
Is't bad? I would 'twere worse: for at the worst
Oft better things succeed than came at first.
182. The Parts of the World.
The world though round is parted int' a Square,
Whereas four Parts, so * four Religions are.
183. The Causes of Discord.
Self-sense, Self-reason each man regulates;
Each his own will, his own Faith estimates:
Each wilful is: hence Brethren strive: the while
Will only wants all strifes to reconcile.
184. The Liberal.
The just man gives unt' each his own; but thou
To Rich men theirs, to poor must thine allow.
185. The Temperate.
He that things causes knows, with Times complies,
Calms his affects, orders his acts, is wise.
186. The Wise.
Fate governs Fools, the wise more sublimate,
Themselves by wisdom govern not by Fate.
187. Anonymus, an Infant dead before Baptiz'd.
What dead? Al is, unnam'd, and unbaptiz'd,
O Christ, I nameless must by thee b' agniz'd:
[Page 67]I' th' Book of Life without a Name me write,
For in thy name alone mine hope is scire.
188. The Flatterer and Carper.
These differ not in Nature but in Name,
This Good, that Bad maligneth: Both to blame.
189. Love and Friendship.
The knot of Friendship's to be broke for Love:
But Love for Friendship must not once remove.
190. Peter and Paul.
The Sword keeps Kingdoms, Coyn the Keys, by which
Peter than Paul reputed is more rich.
Saint Paul in an Epistle saith he's poor:
Saint Peter no where doth his wants deplore.
191. Socrates.
Thou nothing knowst, this one thing knowst, and this
One thing is something, something, nothing is.
192. Man.
Born weeping, being born at first didst cry:
Thou then not pleas'd, why now displeas'd to die?
193. To Paul inhum'd.
Thou naked cam'st to th' world from mothers womb,
With Shirt and Shroud returnst unto thy Tomb:
More than thou broughtst thou tak'st hence to thy Grave,
Thou giv'st thy mother more than she thee gave.
194. To the Courtly Reader.
If much for School, for Court here's little, note
That this for Court, that for the School we wrote.
195. Wise Simplicity.
That thou do wrong to none be like a Dove:
That none thee wrong, wise like a Serpent prove.
196. The Common-Wealths Eyes.
Religion and Law conjoin, combine,
That curbs mens hearts, their hands this doth confine.
197. To Doctor John Gifford a Learned Physician.
That in Apollo's Art thou skilful art,
No wonder, for thy parts thou knowst apart:
If Galen saith not this, yet wise Apollo
Saith, Know thy Self: his dictates thou dost follow.
The Goose.
But I write more than thou canst Crake, or Cry.
199. Jobs Miseries.
Satan (the Lord permitting) did disrobe
Of Children, Wealth, and Health poor-poorest Job:
When all was gone, his wife did yet remain
Who vex'd him more than all his loss and pain.
200. The Temples of • St. Paul in London. , and • St. Peter in Westminster.
At Peter's West th' Exchequer Law Courts are,
White-Hall the Princes Palace thence not far.
At Paul's the Preacher things divine declares,
And Stationers there vend their sacred Wares.
All things convene, here Paul, and Peter there:
Peter more rich, more learn'd doth Paul appear.
201. Of the Conspirators in the Gun-Powder Treason upon Tuesday the Fifth of November 1605.
Heav'n to provoke from Earth, and from below
Upon the Gods above our threats to throw,
What is if this be not t' accumulate
On Ossa Pelion? to fabricate
The Tower Babel, old Troy new to burn,
And int' a Chaos all things to return.
202. Of the same.
And would you Troynovant to Cinders turn
By the same Fate which Phrygian Troy did burn?
Unfit was Tuesday for such fatal Flashes,
Ash wednesday is the day design'd for Ashes.
203. The King to Britain.
Fame brought a Rumour of my death to thee:
O do not credit Fame, but credit Me.
204. To England of the uniting of Britain.
Concord intern-etern Crowns Britains Brow,
For her three Nations are united now:
Thy Land, O England: thou maist rest secure.
205. To Thomas Nevill, an hopeful Child.
Extract from Nevil's Noble Blood, the Grace
Of both thy Parents shines in thy sweet Face.
Their Natures, not sole Features thou shewst forth,
Thy Mothers Vertues, and thy Fathers worth.
206. Upon the Death of Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire 1606.
Whether with Eulogies, or Elegies,
With Praise, or Tears thy Death to solemnize
'Tis doubtful: divers men speak divers things:
Good speak the best, malignants wound with Stings.
207. To the Reader.
Reader these Epigrams are short, and few:
For many if, though short, they long would shew:
Reader, these Epigrams are few, and short,
For few, if long, a many would import.
208. Of speaking and writing:
Though words be living voices, writings dead,
Yet these survive, when those are vanished.
The End of the Third Books
[Page]EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBROBRITAN.
A Single Book.
Dedicated To the most Learned Heroine the Lady ARBELLA STUART.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevil Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
John Owen's EPIGRAMS.
A Single Book.
1. To the Lady Arbella-Stuart.
ILlustrious Virgin, sprung from Regal Race,
Whose Real worth thy Royal Birth doth Grace.
He that his wits First-fruits thee gave, ev'n He
Doth tender render now new Fruits to Thee,
Upon thine * Ara-Bella (as most fit)
I consecrate, I sacrifice my wit.
2. To the same.
Thy constant Life doth from thy youth express
The Genius of thine Ingeniousness:
[Page 74]Adverse things quell thee not, nor prosp'rous swell
Thy Sails; thy front and mind are parallel:
And thy rare signal vertues are the cause
That none will think I flatter for applause.
3. To his Book.
Before innum'rous Judges thou must plead,
Not one or two will censure when they read.
Perhaps unread thou shalt not censures flee:
And more Reprovers will than Readers be.
4. Union, to the Britains, 1606.
Who, unless mad, will off'red Gold refuse?
Here's Union: This Pearl who will not choose?
5. Vacuity.
The Ethicks of vacuities complain,
But Physicks shew that nothing's made in vain.
6. On Zoilus.
Zoilus is torn with an eternal Verse,
Though e're two thousand years he lies on's Hearse.
Is it because his heirs do never die,
He's punish'd for his whole Posterity?
7. From the Center to the Circumference.
Not from the Center to th' Circumference
Sole one Line's, yet but one way t' Heaven's hence.
8. Cock-Crowing, to the Prince.
France felt and did our English Forces see,
No Gallick sound could make our Lion flee.
9. Of Quintus.
Money's a Noun, a Verb, to promise: he
Promis'd a Noun, but gave a Verb to me.
10. Three Dimensions on Battologus.
Of three Dimensions thou but one dost sound,
That's broad enough, too long, but not profound.
11. To the Reader.
As after sev'ral Births a womans womb,
Past Fifty, fruitless, childless doth become:
So my three former Books of better strain
Have stupifi'd, and arifi'd my brain.
12. To Simon Waterson, Stationer.
Kind Waterson, who first my Book didst take,
And undertake it publick for to make:
Though Monopolies Laws against arise,
Yet thou shalt all my wit Monopolize.
13. The Sea.
Salt Meats cause thirst: what's salter than the Seas?
Fresh waters therefore are drank up by these.
14. The Solstice, of Ponticus an Atheist.
Death is Life's Solstice: the Sun seems t' our Eyes
To stand, but stands not: man to die, not dies.
15. To his Book.
My little Book by me forewarn'd, forearm'd,
Observe at Court to keep thy self unharm'd.
Perhaps thou there maist find some one thy friend,
And some perchance that thee will reprehend;
If any be too rigid, too severe,
Say thus, My Master blame, but me forbear.
16. Courtship, to his Friend a Courtier.
Loves thee the King? his Page will then thee love,
As Shadows when the Bodies move, do move:
Frowns but the King? his Page will on thee frown,
As Shadows Bodies when the Sun's gone down.
17. On Corbulo.
Why's Corbulo so bald upon his Pate
For want of hair? was it his fault or fate?
18. To Pontilian.
Pontilian, thee Christ'pher sues at Law [...]
Not thee, but money 'tis from thee to draw.
19. To Sir Edward Herbert, Knight,
Fame whisper'd that thou didst commend my Layes:
O that I could but equalize this praise?
Thou who dost praise this slender Muse of mine,
Dost merit to be prais'd by th' Muses Nine.
20. Envies Genealogie, to J. H.
Vertue brings Envy forth, brought forth defends:
From vertue this one-only Vice descends:
[Page 76]Know'st why to thee this Epigram I write?
Thou maist of right expect pale Envyes spight.
21. Of Vertue, a Paradox.
Each vertue 'twixt two vices hath its place:
If vice were plac'd there, better were the case.
22. The Seven Planets, to Paula.
Among th' Erratick Stars thou well didst mark
Five Males, two Females wandring in the dark.
23. To Marcus.
More than thy Promise thou must keep, not less:
Hence but one Tongue, two Hands thou dost possess:
But thou dost promise much, performest none,
As if thou two Tongues hadst, and Hands not one.
24. A Roman Priest.
Would'st have Adultery not punished
By death? no wonder: th' art unmarried.
25. A Minister of Geneva.
Would'st have Adultery have loss of Life?
No wonder: for thou hast a buxom Wife.
26. Self-loving Poet.
The Moon because of her vicinity,
Though least, seems greatest Planet in our Eye:
So, sith I'm next my self, my self the best
I think of Poets, though I am the least.
27. Of a penurious Client.
Wonder'st the Judges Ears are shut to thee,
When unto them thine hands not open be?
28. Of a certain Ass.
That I thee call, not name an Ass, dost grieve?
We Names unt' Horse, not unt' Asses give.
29. Of the Picture in the Looking-glass.
Thou smiling, there thine Image seems to smile,
And while thou weep'st, it seems to weep the while.
It winks, thee winking, it thee moving moves:
But though thou speak'st, thine Image speechless proves.
30. Glaucus Change.
His Birth-right Esau unt' his brother sold:
Jacob his Pottage for it gave, not gold.
31. Of Asellus a Dreamer.
Thou sleeping art inspir'd with Mysteries,
Which waking are concealed from thine Eyes:
O how would Death inform thee, sith that sleep,
Deaths Image, prompteth thee with things so deep?
32. Wales and Kent.
Wales keeps, though not its name, its ancient Nation:
Kent keeps its name, but not its first Plantation.
33. Heauton-timoroumenos, Self-vexing.
Angels not having Bodies happy are.
And the brute Beasts which Reason want, want care;
Sole man, who soul and body doth possess,
Is wretched, knows and feels his wretchedness:
Yea ev'ry man hath Menedemus Fates,
Whom Reason ruinates, not regulates.
34. Of Linus.
Thou bound wert to me, when I did thee lend▪
Wilt have me bound to thee? my Coyn repend.
35. Single Life.
If Heaven to Good works be ascrib'd as Merit,
Thy Single Life hath wherewith Heav'n t' inherit.
36. The Creation.
In the beginning God made Heaven, Earth, Man.
Why? 'cause not to be sole he then began.
37. Of Marcus.
Promise, thou sayst, makes rich: but I by thee.
Thy Promises shall never richer be.
38. Of Aulus an Atheist.
When we with thee discourse of God and Heaven,
With thee who prizest God, at six and seven:
Thou sayst, what's us above concerns us not:
True: for the lowest hole in Hell's thy lot.
39. Man a Stage-Player.
Hope is Lifes Argument (for Life's a Fable)
World, Scene: Faith, Prologue: Acts are Love unstable
40. To the Reader.
Why am I in mine Epigrams so brief?
It is, O Reader, for thy sake in chief:
[Page 78]As Gold than Silver is more light to carry,
So than long Epigrams short make less weary.
41. New Stile.
Wherefore doth Rome, which new things so detests,
So dotes on old, ordain new Fasts, new Feasts?
42. To Marinus.
Motion's the praise of th' Heavens constant Station.
Earths glory fix'd upon a firm Foundation:
Whence to thee Phillis seems of heav'nly birth,
Still moveable, she nothing hath of Earth.
43. Eves Fall.
The Sun's not oft: the Moon's oft in th' Eclipse:
So women are than men more prone to slips.
44. Neither in this nor in the World to come, of Damianus.
Whether I present things, or future mind,
I none more wretched than thy self do find
Th' art wicked, future times will thee condemn,
A Fool th' art: present times do thee contemn.
45. By wanting rather than having, to Ponticus.
Thou knowst what wit, what valour is, if by
Their want, one their true value may descry.
46. Manslaughter.
One man himself may kill a thousand men:
But two can scarce beget one man agen.
47. Friendship to his Friend.
Why seeks Likes like Friends friend? because that none
Can long stand stedfast on one foot alone.
48. To Sir John Harington, son of the Lord Harington.
If vertue may be guess'd at by the front,
Thy Face hath wit and vertue stamp'd upon't:
And herein is thy Fathers wisdom seen,
That learned Tovey hath thy Tutor been:
Sith all this Isle of Britain, but a few
Tutors like him, Pupils like thee can shew.
49. Polydore Virgil.
Two Virgils were; one Maro (soaring higher)
A Poet; next thou Polydore a Lyar.
50. Upon Momus an unjust Censurer of the former Epigrams.
Among so many wicked then alive,
Had but Gomorrha found of just men five
It yet had stood.—
And thou, malignant Reader, for a few
Loose Lines, wouldst all the Structure overthrow?
51. On the same.
One, whom I know not, infamous by Fame
Diana's Temple burn'd to get a Name:
So with black Teeth thou dost my Verses bite,
Hoping to have thy name in what I write:
But bite, backbite thy fill, I will deceive
Thine hopes, and thee without a name will leave.
52. Upon a domestick Carper.
And me thy Brother, thou my Brother dear
Woundst with thy tongue, and with thy teeth dost tear.
Why dost maligne my Verse, if praise it merit?
If blame, to spare it 'twere a brothers spirit.
53. A Cuckold.
Why for my Wives close Thefts am I (alas)
Traduc'd? men call me Cuckold as they pass,
And point at me: For what I did not sign
(But you, I know not who) I call not mine.
54. A Self-Lover.
Love, like thy self, thy Neighbour, saith the Text:
I do, thou say'st, I to my self am next.
55. Fortune assists the Bold.
Fair women are like Fortune: Neither she,
Nor they love men that slothful-bashful be.
56. Love blind.
Love not too fierce at first hath large extent:
For slow things longer last than violent.
Lovers in hast, are like that breeding kind,
which like blind love, bring forth their younglings blind.
57. Love not blind, to Firmicus.
Love is not blind: Argus to love is prone,
But Polyphemus, blinded loveth none:
[Page 80]Love's bred by Seeing: therefore Love's not blind,
Which through th' Eyes windows doth inflame the mind.
58. To Quintus, a Courtier.
Ulysses fear, hast (Quintus) but one Eye?
An hundred hast? beware of Mercury.
59. Epitaph of Justice.
E're since Astraea, last of heav'nly Race,
Abandon'd Earth, and took in Heav'n her place,
Laws Altars, Justice Temples are forsook,
And t' each his * Jus to give, sole knows the Cook.
60. Of Marcus, skulking.
Wisely th' art hid, if hid thine hiding were:
But open thy close hiding doth appear.
61. Jesus Colledge, and Christ Church Colledge in Oxford not fully Finished 1607.
Jesus, one House unfinish'd bears thy Name,
And Christ, thou hast another like the same:
Among so many Noble Structures, those-
Thy two, thy former Poverty disclose.
62. Merchants Trust.
Poor Irus paid rich Croesus all: now which
Is of the greater credit, Poor or Rich?
63. Muses most sad.
Shorne is Apollo now, unshorne e're while:
Scarce in a year doth our Apollo smile.
O he mistook who call'd the Muses merry:
Phoebus his Harp's untun'd, his hand is weary.
64. Incredulity.
Credulity's an errour, not a fault;
Too much an errour is too little, naught.
65. Credulity.
Him I distrust, who trusteth all by guess:
The more thou me, I credit thee the less.
66. Faiths Obsequiousness, to young men.
I like Pythagoras his Discipline
Which seven years Tryal did for Trust assign:
[Page 81]Wilt have th' unlearn'd thee trust? th' learn'd trust rather:
Wilt have thy son thee trust? trust then thy Father.
67. Better to give than receive.
God giveth, man receiveth (and doth bow)
Never, I think, were fewer Gods than now.
68. Of Ponticus, a Client.
Thy Gout's i' th' hand, thy Lawyer dost not Fee,
His is in's Feet, he moves no Foot for thee.
69. Tho. Wolsey, I, and my King.
I, and my King with Grammer Rules comply:
Good Manners teacheth thus, My King and I.
This is the way to live, that to discourse,
This in the Court, that in the School's of force.
70. To the Gauls.
Each drinks in his own Glass, I like it well:
But who's content with his own wife to dwell?
71. Philautus to Philaristus, Calend. January.
Thou lookst I should a Gift to thee commend,
I but my self have nothing else to send.
72. Philaristus to Philautus.
Thou nothing sent'st, thy nothing I repell:
Thou gav'st thy self, I give thee back. Farewell.
73. To Henry Fanshaw, Knight, 1606.
Augustus Empire had it been thy Fate
T' have had, or else Mecaenas his Estate,
In these our times had many Maro's been,
Now no Mecaenas, nor no Maro's seen.
74. To Henry Good-yeer, Knight, upon his Wifes Decease, 1606.
Men to command, women t' obey, to bear
Nature injoynes: thy Wife did both, while here
Sh' obey'd, she bare sweet Pledges, hopeful Sons,
Which props support the Ports of greatest Dons.
O happy Good-yeer thrice, four times and more,
If one as good succeed as went before.
75. Ulysses and Penelope.
Death's t' us Ulysses-like when snatch'd from's Wife:
As she her Thread, so we spin out our Life.
76. Of Mancinus an Artless Master.
Thou the whole day from Street to Street dost walk,
Yet lest thou shouldst be thought thy Book to baulk,
Thou sleep'st at night by Candle-light: thine Oyl
Mancinus thou wilt lose, but not thy Toyl.
77. Upon a certain woman.
Though thy two sons be both unlike to thee,
Each yet with's Fathers likeness doth agree.
78. The Celestial Archer, to William Ravenscroft, J. C.
Thine Arrow, Faith: Bow, Love: thy Bow-string, Hope:
Let Heaven be thy Mark, and God the scope.
79. Ponderous things descend.
No Creature in the World is more sublime
Than Man, why must he slabber in the slime?
Of th' Elements, of what's the World within
The solid Earth most pond'rous is, save sin.
What wonder then that man is downward prest?
Sith man is nothing else but sin at best.
80. Of a litigious Debtor.
Thou dost not pay me, dost the Lawyer pay:
Thy Folly this, that doth thy Fault display.
81. Of the same.
Thy care is not to pay thy Debts: thy care
Is not to pay thy Debts what e're they are.
82. Of the Church Derivative.
Sith that there's but one Faith, one Church that's true,
Sprung from the Fount of Life; within the new
Jerusalem, what Church doth not derive
It self from thence, erres from the Primitive.
83. Four Seas.
Britain's Trine-like, Triangular: why be
Four Seas therein, and yet but Kingdoms three?
84. To a Rich Friend.
If by the want of things their worth is known,
I know the worth of Wealth, for none's mine own.
85. The Generation of one is the corruption of two.
The male and female, in the course of nature,
Corrupt two bodies to produce one Creature.
86. The Wedding Ring.
A Ring at Nuptials the Bridegroom gave
The Bride in sign of Love: a custom grave.
The wife should rather give the Ring to th' man:
Let him reach out his Finger for it than.
87. The Worlds of Democritus.
If Worlds so many were, as doth attest
Democritus, this were the worst o' th' rest.
88. Of Epigrams to the Reader.
An Epigram is like a fair-fac'd woman,
Which is, because more beautiful, more common:
But common once her beauty's out of date,
And then Adulterers it nauseate.
89. The Earth.
The Heavens, though in motion, constant prove,
For with the self-same motion still they move:
But th' Earth is most inconstant, though fast fixt,
Each Angle of it is with Errors mixt.
90. The Moon.
Cynthia th'art call'd the Star that rules the Seas,
Thou rather rulest now the Land than these.
91. Covetous Liberality, to Acerra.
Thou giv'st to take, not tak'st to give Acerra:
Thy mark's Receiving, Giving is thine Arrow.
92. Of Paula, a false Catholick.
If any ask of Paula, what's her Faith,
'Tis Catholick, Apostolick she saith.
I think her love is Catholick unt' all;
But I would have her Faith Catholical.
93. A Prodigy.
Penelope's chast trust a Proverb was:
But for a Prodigy it now may pass.
94. Of Annetta, a Franck.
Nature with very little is content:
But of thy Nature this I think's not meant.
95. Of Marcus a Souldier, blind and blear-cy'd.
One of thine Eyes doth, Marcus, yet remain,
Which with continual drops thy Face doth slain:
[Page 84]Why is that Eye with Tears so much im [...]ost?
Because his Brother in the Wars was lost.
96. Peace in Europe, to Divines.
Kings war; and Kings in peaceful Leagues combine:
'Tis something yet t' enjoy sweet peace in Fine:
The Priests with an immortal strife contend;
And their contests nor measure have, nor End.
Hence by Tongues virulence it doth appear
That than the Sword, the Pen is more severe.
97. To Carolina.
As oft as in the Glass thou view'st thy face,
Lest that thy beauty make thee proud, abase-
Abate thy Pride: think though th'art fair (alas)
Th' art fraile, though beautiful yet like thy Glass.
98. Florals.
As in the Scene obscene came Cato, thence
To go: so man comes here, to pass from hence:
And never to come hither from his Urne,
As Ca [...]o to the Scene did not return.
99. Man's Epitaph.
Who lies here? no man: no man here doth lie:
A liveless Corps doth not a man imply.
100. The Souls Horizon.
Th' high Elements we see not, Fire and Air:
Water and Earth we see, the lower pair:
So we know men and beasts with us below:
But God and th' Angels (ah) we do not know.
101. The Souls Eclipse.
As th' Earth 'twixt Sun and Moon doth stand we see
In her Eclipse: so sin 'twixt God and me.
102. A Merchant.
Plautus a Tale, the Merchant call'd, compil'd:
The next, like it, is the Deceiver stil'd.
103. Worshipper: of Images.
Who Grandees honour, Idolize: 'tis clear:
Sith woman mans, man doth Gods Image bear.
104. Erasmus his desire.
Erasmus Desiderius I could
Desire; who sole might write what e're he would?
105. A Neuter.
Pompey and I, if Pompey win the Field:
If Caesar, then to Caesar I will yield.
106. Scandalizing Grandees, to the Servants of Servants.
The Master saith, I will my Servant have
To be still faithful: how? my Goods to save.
Stand, watch, go, come: perform the most th' art able,
Th' art yet a Servant, but unprofitable.
107. Mars and Venus.
Venus and Mars themselves alike extend,
Mars common Foe, Venus a common Friend.
108. February.
Thou sole of many Brothers, not one other,
Hast eight and twenty daies, most like thy mother.
109. To E. J.
Thy modesty thee (vertue like) doth praise,
I to thy wit, with leave, would Tropheys raise:
But O thy modest Face, and candid spirit
Cause me to praise thee less than is thy Merit.
110. A Circles Square.
What is a Circles Square? but this alone,
Th'Earth parted in four parts, at first but One.
111. Whether an Arithmetical unite answereth to a Geometrical Point.
God than a Point is more, yet is but One:
Like as a Point doth differ from a * Mone.
112. From the Womb to the Tomb.
Man's born to death most certain, which comes on,
As a lean Ox feeds to be fed upon.
113. To the King.
O of what Force Example's in a King?
Actest? thou bidst: forbearst? forbidst the thing.
A Prince moves principal; a King doth steer.
As Skyes the Stars, so Kings the People bear.
114. The Head and Body, to the same.
Reason's i' th' Head, there its five Agents [...]bide:
Little's Divine in the whole Man beside.
115. Report of the Death of Henry 4. the French King: To the French King.
What Kings to hear, and Servants fear to tell,
Fame sounds i' th' Ear, To die remember well.
116. Light and Air.
Air, though a Body, is unseen with th' Eye:
Light hath no body, yet is seen on high.
117. One God, many Friends.
Though no man can two Masters serve as slave,
What hinders but two Patrons one may have?
One God forbids not to seek many friends,
As one Faith many Arts not discommends.
118. Donna, Danno.
Adam a Rib lost for the womans sake:
And for her sake he laid his Soul at stake.
119. Womens Tire.
This is more like an house than cov'ring: this
Is not to deck, t' erect the Head it is.
120. All things Nothing.
All things who made of Nothing, He's sole All:
What God of Nothing made, we Nothing call.
121. The East and Western Church.
The right-true Faith i' th' Worlds left Part resounds:
Faith sinister i' th' Worlds right Part abounds.
122. Anger, Patience.
Ire minds inflames, and Patience cools that Ire:
As Fire doth temper water, water fire.
123. Ruine of Heaven and Earth.
Th' Earth lowest is, Heav'n highest is of all:
Yet that hath whither, this no where to fall.
124. To Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton.
Ally'd unt' one, Uncle to two great Counts,
Of great Account, thy Fame thy Name surmounts:
Of many Noble Dukes sprung from the Stemm,
Ones Brother; Nephew unto three of them;
An Earls son, who (but Fates did not so please)
Had been the fourth Duke in this Series:
An Earl thy self: None wonders at thy Fates,
Whom wit conducts, Fortune concomitates!
125. To Pontia.
I from thy sight, which wounds mine Heart, remove,
Not that I love thee not, but that I love.
126. To an Adulterer.
Adam in Eden was forbid to taste
One Fruit, the rest were all for his Repast.
I wonder, having so much at command,
That He from One could not withhold his hand.
Thou contrary, art All forbid but One,
That thou may'st use, the rest must let alone.
Less strange, than Adam, that thou didst decline,
Whose Liberty was greater far than thine.
127. To the Reader.
Salt meats cause thirst: O that my verses might
The Reader cause to thirst with Appetite.
128. To an Uxorious Man.
Let not thy Wife command, give if she crave;
Make not thy Wife thy Master, nor thy Slave.
129. To Ponticus.
Thy Life's a Comick, Death a Tragick Story;
Unlike thy Death will be to thy Life's Glory.
130. Of a certain married Priest.
A Levite born, a Levite made, thy Wife
Of Levi's Tribe, Levitical's thy Life.
131. Of Innovators.
You pull down All Things, No Thing you rebuild,
Are you with Zeal, or fiery fury fill'd?
The Spirit, you pretend, doth you compell;
What Spirit is't? * Abaddon, One from Hell.
132. Of Cotta.
God out of Nothing, All things did Create,
Thou Chymist All things dost Annihilate.
133. Tho. Egerton Chancellour of England, and Francis Leigh his Son-in-law.
[...]any Vertue loves, and Honours Arts,
[...]hat Father, and this Son act both these parts:
[...]ave Egerton, Brave Leigh the Muses love,
[...]he Son would not unlike the Father prove.
134. Consubstantiation.
To the same Francis, and Mary his Wife.
You have not both one Soul, but both one Mind,
Nor both one Body, but one flesh conjoyn'd:
Man, Wife, in name are two, but one in Troth,
They diff'rent are in Sex, but humane both.
135. Funeral Sermons.
Good men are wrong'd while living, prais'd when dead;
O black Life, O Death candid-honoured.
136. Paul's Cross, and the Cross in Cheap, in the Parish of St. Peter.
Why's Peter's Golden, Paul's a Leaden Cross?
Why, because Golden words Paul's Cross ingross.
137. Loves Chronicle.
A Moment multipli'd amounts t' an Hour,
A Day's made up with Hours twenty four:
Days many make a Month, twelve Months a year:
So, with more Times, my Love doth more appear.
138. Twins.
Nothing's unlike in us, all's like; sole we
Differ in number, we two Bodies be.
139. Friends.
We scarce in number differ: Two we be,
Yet One: You Twins in Body, In Mind we.
140. Of the Art of Love.
Though Naso's Art of Love some prove-approve,
Yet men unexpert know not what is Love:
Love is by Nature taught, not learn'd by Art,
By th' Eyes, not Ears, Love enters int' our Heart.
140. Seneca the Philosopher.
Thy Dictates seem like Epigrams almost,
But that in Numbers they be not ingrost.
141. To Attalus.
Thou saidst once at thy Table (as I take it,)
Thou didst not relish Salt, but didst forsake it:
For Salt thou needst not care, nor is't a fault,
All, almost, that thy Tongue doth speak, is Salt.
142. Sir Philip Sidney's Life.
Who while they liv'd writ Books deserving Fame,
Their Lives need not he writ, there lives their Name:
The Corps, not Life of Sidney's in the Tomb,
His short Lifes longer Glory keeps more room.
143. The Bodies Valediction to the Soul.
I for thy sake did Mother Earth forsake.
The Soul departing.
Fool, I left God my Father, to betake
My self to Thee: Now call'd, I t' him return;
And leave thee to thy Mother in thine Urn.
Till when (For we till then shall meet no more)
Th' Earth Thee to Me, God Me to Thee restore.
144. A Kingdom divided.
Two Kingdoms undivided are, Heaven, Hell,
As in themselves: There Good, here Bad do dwell:
On Earth alone (oh shame) Division raigns,
Which Good and Bad promiscuously sustains.
But time will come when th' Earth shall lie divast,
When Heav'n and Hell shall both be fill'd at last.
145. How Waters.
Tears prest-exprest do tacite Love declare,
Love Tears begets, Fire Water: Strange and Rare.
146. Of Wit and Memory.
To Ponticus.
'Tis ask'd, Why wit is called sharpness? Why?
Because what's sharp doth pierce more inwardly:
The Memory is to retain, not pierce,
Thus Vessels are made round, and with reverse.
Whence I supect that or thy Wit is round,
Or sharp thy Memory: Both unprofound.
147. Comfort for the Poor.
To the Rich.
Inconstant Fortune various appears:
Whence Hopes arise to Me, to The [...] but Fears.
148. Of Titius and Gellia.
One in disgrace did Titius upbraid
That's Wife, when first he took her, was no Maid.
[Page 90]What's that to Me, thus Titius repli'd,
She then was Semprones Daughter, not my Bride.
149. The Heart.
Why in the left side rather than the right
Is Mans Heart plac'd? to Good 'cause opposite.
150. The Flesh and Spirit.
God made mans Body first, and when created,
He with a living Soul it animated.
Hence the dull Body, doth, I think, deny
T' obey the Soul; pleads Seniority.
151. The Innocents, Proto-Martyrs.
For Christ the Children suff'red death, before
Christ for the Children shed his precious * Gore.
152. To his Friend.
The Dual Number oft doth Friendship bound:
Scarce in the Plural Number Love is found.
153. To a friend growing old. 1607.
Thou wert a youth, when I a Child: And now
Thou art grown old, while I a youth do grow:
Thee therefore Death expects, and Old Age Me;
Certain's thy lot, though mine uncertain be.
154. Of A. G.
Thy Name and Face is Mans, Wit, Animals,
A Fool in Specie, learn'd in Generals.
155. Harmony. To Divines.
Of Gospels Harmony have divers writ:
But who that Harmony? Great Labour's it.
156. Dissonancy.
So great discordance doth abound with Men,
That what Souls Peace is, scarce knows One of Ten:
Here's Base, depress'd, There Elah too much rear'd,
That scarce the Tenor, or the Mean is heard.
157. To Pontilianus.
Art jealous of thy Wife? Th' art wise in part:
But art not jealous? Then thou wiser art.
To watch thy Wife is vain: That wife loves best
That though can, will not raise her husbands Crest.
158. To Porcia.
Art thou the Daughter of the Night, or Light,
Born in the Day, begotten in the Night?
159. An Epitome of the Histories of his Time.
To Marianus.
We worse are than our Fathers, worser they
Than their Fore-fathers, apt to run astray:
If our Posterity prove worse than we,
Nothing can worse than our Poster'ty be.
160. London.
To J. W. A London Gold-smith.
As Thames the Rivulets drinks up and drowns,
So London swalloweth the poorer Towns:
Though Thames with Flux, re-flux, Send and resend,
Its Floods to Sea, Th' art still a constant Friend.
161. Debtor and Creditor.
To Will. Cawley, A London Merchant.
Though in my Book, thou find, if there thou look,
Thy Name, My Name, yet, is not in thy Book:
I owe thee nought but Love: Of this to thee
A Creditor and Debtor still will be.
162. Fools and Dwarfs.
Though we be not accounted men of might.
Yet are we great mens sport, and their delight.
163. To Pontilian.
Poor Irus still was careful, why? 'Cause poor.
Croesus was careful, why? For's wealth was more.
One's vex'd, because he wants a Wife, and thou,
Because thou hast a wife, art vexed now.
164. Union.
To Married Britains.
One God and Union, the World supply,
Wedlock on Earth was the first Unity.
165. The Elements War.
Though God created all things for mans sake,
Yet th' Elements against us Wars do make:
How many have (alas) been swept from hence
With the contagious Air, by Pestilence?
How many have been drench'd and drown'd in Thames?
Earth stops her Fruits: Yet no man doth repent;
Though Heav'n with Tears, and Earth our sins lament:
Though th' Earth be mollifi'd with moistning showers,
Yet sin our stubborn hearts more-more obdures.
166. An Epithalamy, To Tullia.
By day, Thou, the sole Object of my Sight,
Shalt be the Subject of my Love at Night.
167. To Sextus, an Academian.
That thou mayst mind thy Grave before th' art dead,
'Tis said, by day thou mak'st for Night thy Bed.
That in Remembrance thou thy Death mayst keep,
Why dost not oftner go to Bed and Sleep?
168. To his Beloved.
Thee known I love, I lov'd thee when unknown,
Fame then, thy Face hath made me now thine own:
I now know Love; I love, not lov'd: Yea, now
I know not to be lov'd, to love I know.
169. The Younger Brother.
I m poor: My Parents Fault (not mine, nor other,)
Who did not me beget before my Brother.
170. The Firmament.
Th' Earth stands unmov'd, standing there moves the Creature:
Heav'n moves, yet the fix'd Stars move not by Nature.
171. The blessed Virgin.
Although the blessed Virgin we thee call,
Thou among women blessed art withal:
I profit nothing by thy Virgin vest,
But as a Mother, Me Thou profitest.
172. Hope and Faith.
Faith is no Faith, unless but One, firm fixt:
Nor Hope is Hope, if not with doubts commixt.
173. Novelty.
Reviv'd are many things which heretofore
Fell, and shall fall, though now they flourish more.
New things now please, but will not still, because
What's now new will wax old, and full of Flaws.
174. Marcus his Looking-glass.
Why is thy Fool before thee still? (All-Ass,)
Thou view'st thy self in him, as in a Glass.
175. To one Uxorious.
The Field's not alway plough'd: Thy Wife's a Field,
Yet she loves dayly to be duly till'd.
176. To a Friend.
Four years, and more, praeter-plu-perfect past,
First sprung thy love, and then was rooted fast:
In vain thou now dost seek it to remove,
No new young Plant, an old grown Tree's thy Love.
177. To Porphyrius.
We read that Christ wept twice, not laugh'd at all:
Why dost mans Nature Risible then call?
178. To Pontilianus.
As a Blind Man, by Boy or Woman led,
Ways t' him unseen-unknown doth often tread:
So Venus or her Boy, thee blind in Love,
Hither and Thither lead, move and remove.
179. Love is beyond all Exception.
To a certain Friend.
Though some new cause old Love may (chance) suspend,
I, by the Laws of Friendship, am thy Friend:
My Love's beyond Exception unto thee,
Except, thou lov'st not, as thou shouldst love me.
180. Of Ponticus aged sixty years.
In all thy Life thou good hast done to none:
When wilt thou now begin? Thou sayst upon
My death, I all will to the poor bequeath:
Too late he's wise, that is not wise till death.
181. Of Nigella, Candidated.
Rare Bird on Earth thou art, and Swan-like white,
White are thy Cloaths, thy Skin as black as night.
182. Le Carneval de la vit.
Why doth the Soul abhor the Bodies death?
Fears that to die, when this hath lost its Breath?
[Page 94]Or doth it fear that after death remains
Unt' it short Judgement, but long lasting pains?
I doubt, this doth the Soul in death dismay,
That to the Flesh it cannot farewel say.
183. Quintina's Praise.
Should I thee praise, thou then wouldst prouder be:
I praise thee not: Th'art proud enough I see.
184. Earth's Son.
Heaven looks on us, and we must look on Heaven,
For Stars in Skies, God Eyes to thee hath given:
Thou scarce the thousandth part of Earth canst see:
Half Heaven yet is visible to thee.
Fool, why dost Earth prefer unt' Heaven rather,
But as some love their Mother more than Father.
185. The lowest Species.
Though Mankind is the chief, yet him we call-
We account the lowest Species of all:
Heav'n hath but few: More men in Hell do lie,
Who mens unhappiness can then deny?
186. Of Envy, a Paradox.
If Vertue did, Envy would less abound:
For where's more Vertue, there less Vice is found.
187. James, of that Name, The sixth King of Scotland, The first of England, Happiness to Britain.
What hath been often wish'd, scarce hop'd for, came
'Twixt Hope and Fear unto thy royal Name:
King James, the first, the sixth of Regal Line,
Sice Ace, the best chance of the Dice was thine.
188. To James the First, King of Great Britain, &c.
Thine Hand four Crowns, four Scepters doth command,
Four Languages are spoken in thy Land;
The Britains Language, though not one, their Heart
Is One, of thy three Kingdoms being part.
At first the Devil did mens hearts divide:
But God their Languages: And all for Pride.
189. Kings and Prophets.
Out of his Countrey, no King rules in chief,
No Prophet in his Countrey gains Belief.
190. Vertue.
A double Genius, (while transitory,)
Attends on Vertue, Good, Bad, Envy, Glory.
191. Envy.
Envy corrodes mens praises (like a Slave)
As Worms corrode their Bodies in the Grave.
192. Of Battus.
Thy many Queries I in brief respond,
Not 'cause so many, but 'cause foolish, fond.
193. Sleep. Death.
Though in my sleep I seem as dead in sort,
Yet no part of my Life's the sweeter for't:
'Tis strange what should in Death so bitter be;
Sith Sleep, Deaths Image, is so sweet to me.
194. The Triumvirs.
Clients unto the Lawyer go, because
Wealth, their chief Good's secured by the Laws:
In Sickness the Physician comes; next Wealth,
The second thing to be secur'd, is Health:
Divines, who first to have been sent for ought,
Come last unto the sick [...]sent-unsought.
195. Lovers Patience.
Lover, wouldst have thy wish? Be patient:
He that will live in Peace, must be content.
196. Of a certain Grammaticaster.
Thou Letters knowst, a good Grammarian:
And nothing knowst but them; A learned man.
197. To a pompous Dame.
Be like Men'laus, or Ulysses Wife,
If thou wouldst famous live beyond thy Life:
For Vice, not only Vertue doth survive:
Helen's, Penelope's Names are yet alive.
198. Of Aulus, a Grandee.
Truth-telling Fools speak things to be concea [...]'d,
But wise men see what's sit to be reveal'd:
[Page 96] Aulus to trust his Servants wits afraid,
Keeps four fools still about him, for their Aid.
199. Gold from Dung.
Virgil from Ennius Dung did Gold extract:
What Virgils was, is now Physicians act.
200. Loves Secret.
A Lover's seldom lov'd: Be loveless, if
Thou wilt not be belov'd, love then in chief.
201. Mon Tout, To Marcia.
Oft thou me call'st all thine: That I deny,
All thine I am not; But thine, all am I.
202. Of Quintus and Orus.
Quintus and Orus have of late declar'd
Themselves Papistical: On what regard?
That for their Faiths Antiquity: And this
For Novelty thereof a Papist is.
203. Ariadne's Thread.
As Theseus by Ariadne's Thread▪
Was Led, so Men, One Faith to Truth doth lead.
204. Of Wills and Vows.
In Testaments or Wills the Last must stand:
In Vows, if good, the first hath chief command.
When God created all things with one vote,
Two Wills or Testaments he made-he wrote.
205. To a Covetous Friend.
The Covetous hath all himself, not giving:
He nothing hath Himself, but wants while living.
206. To Ponticus, A Lawyer.
Part of thy Life thou to thy wife dost give,
Part to thy Client: When to th' self wilt live?
207. Of Preachers and Players.
Preachers and Players check our crimes: With Tears▪
The Preachers, and the Players with their Jeers:
To that I wretched, foolish seem to this.
This numbers, and that ponders mine amiss.
208. The Births of Christ, and J. Baptist.
John in the Summer, Christ in Winter came:
That did Baptize with Water; This with Flame:
Our Sins Fire purgeth, Water washeth clean.
209. No Man is hurt but from himself.
None's free from Crimes, nor Discords: For most times
Our Discords are procur'd by our own Crimes.
210. Upon a bawling Ass.
I do not call thee Momus, ev'ry Ass,
But that which the false Prophet Balaams was.
Not that which into Salem Christ did carry,
For this was mild and mute, but that contrary.
211. Of his Heirs.
To the Lawyers.
None of his wife, but Adam, was secure,
And none but Eve, was of her husband sure:
In Wedlock the poor husbands sole defence,
And comfort is, in's Wife t' have confidence.
212. An hollow Tooth.
The Fire, Me cast therein doth not consume,
But I am hollow made by Watrish Rheume.
213. Vertues Praise.
As the Suns constancy consists in Motion,
So Vertue's force in Action hath best Notion.
214. Aesop's Tongue.
No Member is, that doth to man belong
More Noble, or Ignoble, than the Tongue.
215. To the Children of Winchester Colledge.
I am not what I was, once all for Plays;
A Child of Festivals and Holy-days.
216. Wisdome leading, Fortune following.
Of Ancus.
If ill advice chance well, in vulgar Eyes;
Ancus the Fool, shall be reputed wise:
If good advice come by mischance to nought,
Wise Cato shall himself a Fool be thought.
217. Grief.
Loss present's to be griev'd for We bemoan;
Past, ah, too late, and future loss too soon.
218. Vicissitude.
Mirth, Mourning ends, and Mourning Mirth concludes,
Hope, Fear, w'are various by Vicissitudes.
219. To Germanicus.
Thy Wife hath rais'd the Number of thy Friends,
This her fertility in part commends:
This Benefit in Wedlock doth accrew,
A new Wife gains new Friends, and Friendship new.
220. Armed Wickedness.
Of Linus.
As the best Wine makes Vinegar most tart,
So the more witty, thou more wicked art.
221. Opinionist.
How, ah, Opinion reigns the World thoughout:
The Truth I know not, yet I must not doubt.
Who doubteth errs not: Yet for both prepar'd:
Error b' Opinion, not by doubt's declar'd.
222. Alma Mater Academia Oxonia.
Fair Mother Oxford University.
Nature was Mother of my Brain, Thou Now:
She dura Mater, pia Mater Thou.
223. The Poet.
Rewards, not words Me [...]enas Poets gave;
The Grandee.
What more than words can I from Poets have?
224. Man is to Man a God.
A Man's a Man, though he but sparing lives:
A Wolf that spoils, a God who freely gives.
225. Homer.
If that be true, which some of thee do write,
Thou never sawst, thy Books yet see the Light.
226. Three Secretaries.
Thou must to th' Lawyer thy whole case untwist,
To th' Doctor thy Disease, thy Sins to th' Priest.
If thou respect'st thy Soul's and Body's weal,
Nothing from this Triumvirate conceal.
227. To D. C. G.
The Gout thee vexeth, and a pest contrary:
Thy Wife makes thee to run, the Gout to tarry.
228. Ubiquitaries.
All th' Earth's before the poor, where e're he roam
He's never exil'd, ever is at home.
229. Lovers.
Love is in us, as in the Wood is Fire;
As Fire the Wood, Love burns us with desire:
But Fire in Air, Wood t' Ashes doth consume:
We Ashes are; And what's our Love but fume?
230. Speech.
A Speech is like to Grief, is like to sport:
If long, 'tis trivial, if grave, 'tis short.
231. On an esseminate old man.
Bacchus old age, Venus doth youth ingage,
This therefore fit for youth, and that for age.
232. On Harpalus, a covetous Youth.
The World thy Friendess is, wretch thou t' adore it.
That's old, thou youthful, 'tis enough t' abhorr it.
233. To the Reader.
Who writes, is fam'd of these, is blam'd of those;
Himself to censure still he doth expose:
He daily pleads his cause, desisteth Never,
And, Reader, unto Thee, the Judge is ever.
234. Of a Looking-glass.
Thou gav'st m'a Glass my Face to represent:
One to present thy Face would more content.
235. Of Quintia, a Hypocrite.
Learn'd, Comely, youthful, fair, Benign and Chast
Thou, if not proud of these, some Goodness hast.
236. A Probleme.
The Prodigal the Miser doth detest.
Why then do Misers Prodigals love best?
237. Sleep. Venus.
Shall I you call Death's Sisters, or Allies,
Thou pleasing Venus, Thou Sleep, easing Eyes?
You both indulge your Selves on Beds to lie:
And Feds are made your Pleasures to supply.
[Page 100] Dull Sleep, lewd Venus hate the light: And this
Is the Souls Death, the Senses Death that is.
238. Lifes length and shortness.
To sloathful men the Day, Night, Month and Year
Seem long, though posting on with swift career.
We trifle out our long-thought time in vain,
Why of Life's shortness do we then complain?
239. The Treasury.
Birds are with Bird-lime caught, both young and old:
So Treasuries like Lime-twigs catch our Gold.
240. To self-loving Ponticus.
Thy mind and Eye, themselves did never see.
That thou so lov'st thy self, how can it be?
241. Scrutiny.
O, that what Christ unt' his Disciples spake,
Prince, Priest and people would their Query make;
What do men say of me? This askd, in th' end
Men would their Errors see, and them amend.
242. Light of Grace.
The Moon enlight'ned by the Sun doth shine.
So shines the Soul inspir'd with Grace divine.
243. Fame. Error.
Rumours and Errors further going; grow
Greater and greater like a Ball of Snow.
244. Historical Tradition of King Brutus, To William Camden.
Books may be burn'd, and Monuments may lie
Demolished; thy works and mine may die:
But a Tradition National, alive
While is that Nation, will in force survive.
245. To Roger Owen, A Learned Knight.
Thou knowst the Britains Laws, their old, new Rites,
And all that their whole History recites:
In thy Discourse, Th' art so profoundly read,
A living Library seems in thine Head.
246. On a Covetous Man.
Thou wretched man, why for a thousand year
Provid'st, and canst not live one hundred here?
[Page 101] Why such vast sums of Moneys up dost heap,
And seek'st long Joys in this short life to reap?
Thou sayst; I one day shall be rich, if I
Live close? Why sayst not, I shall one day die?
247. One Foot in the Grave.
We live upon Deaths shore, our life's as near
To death, as Seas unto the Shores appear:
Life, Death; are almost one thing in repute,
As Earth and Water one Globe constitute.
248. Britains Mercury. To J. H.
Of mundane things Moore wrote the best, and good:
Thou writ'st the worst, but Truth, if understood.
249. Of Himself.
Some say I am no Poet, 'tis no lye:
For I write nothing else but verity.
250. To William Butler Physician at Cambridge.
Some to desired Health preferr their Wealth;
Thou sleightest Wealth, thy care's for cure, for Health.
Thee the Physician, let none despair
Of Health, that's sick: Physick, as Phoebus Heir,
Thou giv'st: I flatter not, the truth I speak;
Nor comes this Praise from one that's Sick, or weak.
251. To Paulus, A Lawyer.
Why calls the common Law a Relict, her
Whose husband's dead? to th' wedded that referr:
No need, a Wife her husbands death expect,
To lodge in mournful Bed with Face erect.
252. The last Divorce.
If man to Bliss, to Dis wife pass away,
Or contrary; No more one flesh are they.
253. The World.
The Earth is like a Gaol, like Walls the Skies,
The Gaoler's Sin, the Fetters Womens Eyes.
254. Laws Nullity.
We many Laws have made, almost not any:
For if not any kept, what good's so many?
That Laws be kept, this one Law more ordain,
Which if soon marr'd will soon be made again.
255. The state of man.
If one Foot down, Then th' other is above:
Thus one mans Fall, anothers Rise doth prove.
256. To a certain Man.
Doctor beginning, O begin to be
Now Ductior: more learn'd for thy degree.
257. Beside Women and Children.
Read through the sacred writ, though they surmount,
* Women and Children pass not in account:
Women and Children are not Officers,
Nor are they trained up, or arm'd for wars:
Women and Children for their Garments have
Long Coats, they beardless are, and never shave:
Women and Children will Tears quickly shed,
And are by Flatterers soon led-misled.
O with what Arts do you man-kind destroy
Thou woman Venus, Cupid thou, her Boy?
258. A Nose of Wax.
Do sacred Scriptures promise good unt' us?
Our Faith believes it, soon is credulous.
Do they require our duty? Then, O then
'Tis durus sermo, difficult for men.
259. Heavens Ladder. 1 Cor. 13.8.13.
| y | ||
| t | ||
| h | i | |
| t | r | e |
| i | a | p |
| a | h | o |
| F | C | H |
Three Vertues, as by steps, ascend int' Heaven,
Good Hope by four, by five Faith, Love by seven.
Hope to the Moon, Faith doth to th' Sun aspire,
But Charity to th' highest Heav'n, and higher.
260. Of Battus.
Thy Tongue thine Heart interprets, let thine Heart
Be silent, e're thy Tongue thy Mind impart.
[Page 103] Th' interpreter must silent stand, as long
As the Embassadour doth use his tongue.
261. The Praise of the Ass.
Be ye not like an Horse or Mule which have no understanding.
With Horse and Mule, why was not th' Ass brought on?
Because he was to carry David's Son.
262. A pair of impair Courtiers. The Carper, the Parasite.
They well agree not, nor keep equal ways,
This all things praiseth, that doth nothing praise.
263. Four causes of man.
What is Mans form, but a bad mind, vain will?
What Principle Material? But Nily.
Suspect not matter with the form, respect
Th' Efficient and End: On these reflect.
264. The last Line.
Sad Death is of a merry Life last Act;
A serious Life doth Joys in Death attract.
265. Upon the Death of Rich. Vaughan Bishop of London, 1607.
I who thee living did most justly praise,
Well knowing that thy worth deserv'd the Bays,
Ah, thee now dead, why praise I not more full?
Joys did my wit make brisk, Grief makes it dull.
While with more Tears, than Verse, I found thy knell,
My Tears confound my Verse, my words: farewel.
266. Of Life and Death.
One way to Life, to Death a thousand's had;
'Tis well Death is a good thing, Life a bad.
267. Of decrepit Paul, A Builder.
Thou build'st an House, wherein to die, not dwell:
Whether thine House, or Tomb, thou canst not tell.
268. Of Sextus, a Prodigal Robber.
We thee confess Munificent, who thine
Not only giv'st, but tak'st from me, what's mine.
269. On Zoilus.
Thou spar'st the Dead, the Living dost envy:
I will not therefore wish my self to die.
270. A Pair Royal of Friends. To the • English-Scots, Britains. , • Scots-Welsh, Britains. , and • Welsh-English Britains.
In friendship this doth seem a royal pair,
When three between, one love commands the Chair:
To make a pair in Love; if there be three,
Each of the three must then twice numbred be.
271. A Kingdom divided.
This world hath nothing pertinent: And this-
World cannot stand, because divided 'tis.
272. The Ring of Concord, To the Britains in Parliament, 1607.
Scotland the Jewel brings, to make the Ring,
England the Gold, the Goldsmith is the King:
Speed Europes Peace, lest else the Ring-like year,
Before the Ring be finish'd, disappear.
273. Britain.
As thou wert i' th' Beginning, now as then,
So, O so be, World without End: Amen.
274. Steganography. To the curious Reader.
Why, that my Verses are obscure, dost say,
Not well to b' understood without a Key?
An Epigrammatist must not dilate:
'Tis therefore fit he should abbreviate.
275. One God.
One Adam was the Father of all Men:
Nor can there be more Gods than Fathers then.
276. To the Lady Arbella Stuart.
If in bare words were honour, I could raise-
Could write a thousand Verses in thy Praise:
My Muse may by thy worth ennobled be,
But my poor Muse can nothing add to thee.
FINIS.
An Anagram of the Authors Name, Invented by D. Du. Tr. of Paris. JOANNES AUDOENUS, Ad Annos Noe Vives.
Of the same, A Distich.
This Anagram is false concerning thee;
But of thy Book it verifi'd may be.
D. Du. Tr. Med.
Of the same.
Of Thee, thy Book, this Anagram is right:
Thou brought'st thy Book, thy Book brings thee to light.
John Rosse, J. C. A Temples.
[Page] EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN.
Three Books, Two Dedicated unto Henry Prince of Wales. One unto Charles Duke of York.
Englished by Thomas Harvey.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevil Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
The Author to the Reader.
IN th' Authors Praise, according to the Mode;
Dost wonder thou canst find nor Verse, nor Ode?
No Patronage can to my Verses add;
For if they'r good, they'r good: if bad, they'r bad.
The same, to the same.
MIne Epigrams are not like strifes, nor are
They like a Lawyers Client at the Bar:
None can our Verses (nor have Kings such power)
If low, make lofty, lofty if, make lower.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen A CAMBRO-BRITAN. To Henry Prince of Wales. The First Book.
1. To Prince Henry.
IN Love, for Custome Books we Dedicate,
And I the Prince choose for my Principate.
2. To Mecaenas.
I for my Verses no Mecaenas look,
I want one for my self, not for my Book.
3. To Marcellus, A Lawyer.
Thou wert Paulinus Patient; for it
Let him thy Client be; Then are you quit.
4. To Henry, Prince of Wales.
Thy Breast, Brain, Reason, Head, Affections, Heart,
In thee with good Effects perform their Part:
Thy Wit thy Courage, Reason rules thy Sense;
Thine Head compleats thine Heart with Eminence.
And Thou, Great Prince, shalt be the fourth proclaim'd.
5. Mercury Gallo-Belgick.
Not ev'ry Tree will make a Mercury,
This Artist yet doth to't all Woods apply.
6. Orpheus.
Orpheus did fetch his Wife from Hell: But when
Fetch'd any Wife her Husband from that Den?
7. Academical Vests. To the Students of Oxford and Cambridge.
Why are you Students, and our Clergy clad
In black, their Vestments wearing fable, sad?
Is't that our Muses for Apollo mourn?
Or for Mecaenas closed in his Urn?
Mecaenas yet left Heirs: 'Tis true, some one
Heir of his Goods, but of his Goodness, none.
8. Wheter Peter were at Rome.
Whether at Rome Saint Peter ever were,
'Tis doubtful: doubtless Simon was, is there.
9. To Be and Have.
'Tis good to Be and Have, A Greek, I think,
Once said, an Alman added, and to drink.
10. To Ligurinus.
Arr'us thy Wife doth till, doth fill: The seed
He sow'd, but thine's what Harvest it doth breed.
11. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not steal, this Law's for Lawyers writ:
Thou shalt not kill, this for Physician's fit.
12. Of Alanus, A decocting Chymist.
This Chymist Gold to Not-Gold brought, in Fact:
But he from not-Gold could not Gold extract.
13. To the Prince.
Ones own be first: If not, let none decline
Anothers to be, while he may be thine.
14. To Richard Earl of Dorset returned from France.
The change of Air hath chang'd (which is most rare)
Thy Qualities and wit: both better'd arc.
More learn'd, more good thou now return'st: thy Fate
In both, great Earl, I do congratulate.
15. Nine • Muses, , and • Mutes.
When mute the Muses be, what odds (in fine)
Whether thou sayst nine Mutes, or Muses nine?
If th' Idiome the diff'rence constitutes,
What diff'rence 'twixt the Muses and the Mutes?
16. Honours • Etymologie. , and • Genealogie.
In Hebrew wealth's call'd Hon, in French, Gold, Or:
Hence Hon-or hath its name and Metaphor.
17. To Cornutus.
Pythagoras his Letter hath upon't
A Bipartite; That Letter's on thy front.
18. To Dindimus.
Of Salt a Bushel thou with me must eat
Thou sayst, to make our Amity compleat:
Thou never eatst, as I remember, Salt:
What, shall thy friendship then for ever halt?
119. A Cannical Woman.
A Woman's like a Rule that's general:
Which many times deceives, so women all.
20. Solomons wish.
Why did the wise King wisdome wish, not Health?
Had Solomo [...] been wise h' had wish'd for wealth?
But Solomon wish'd wiser, He did prize
Wisdome 'fore Wrath, [...] was not [...].
21. What News?
Here's nothing, new saith Solomon; yet, bold
Columbus found a new World in our old.
22. A Trine of British women from whom came the British union.
(a) Henry's wife, Mother Roses red and white
(b) Conjoyn'd, his Daughter did the Crowns Unite:
Happy, O Son, happy O Husband rather,
(c) Thrice happy Henry seventh as a Father.
23. Doron Basilicon. A Kingly Gift.
To thee the Wisdome's wish'd of Solomon:
Thy wish thou hast Doron Basilicon.
24. Blessed are • Munisicents. , and • Pacisicents.
King James the Britains state munites, unites:
Munificent, unificent he writes.
25. Of Gaurus, a Church-Canon.
Wisdome is read in Texts Apocryphal,
Thou, though unwise, art yet Canonical.
26. A Snayl: Emblematical.
Like Snayls are disagreeing Man and Wife:
One House will not contain them in their strife.
27. Christopher Columbus.
(a) Columba was the first which did relate
That Land appear'd, and waters did abate:
And thou Columbus was the first, whose hand
Discover'd to the World the (b) New-found-Land.
This Gold, an Olive Branch that did produce,
That Pleasures, and this Treasures for mans use.
28. Against Regicides.
Cut off thy (a) Right Hand, if it make thee sin:
Thy (b) Foot likewise, if errours it walk in:
[Page 115] If that thy (c) right Eye cause thee to transgress,
Then pull it out, what Member more or less
Is peccant in the Body, strike it dead:
Except, Divines and (d) Doctors say, the Head.
29. A Gratulation. To George Arch-bishop of Canterbury, 1511.
At Oxford Rector, thence thou didst arise
A Dean, two Cities didst Episcopize:
Thou Londons Bishoprick soon hadst; and thee
The Metropolitan we soon did see:
Thou in the Triple Senate fitt'st on high:
What more remains for thee to doe? To die.*
30. To Decianus, a Judge.
I would not have thee deaf, nor dumb, but blind:
Not lame, but maim'd; not cruel, nor too kind.
31. To Caesar, Caesars, to God, Gods.
All Pow'r on Earth, beginning hath and end:
God solely doth beyond them both extend:
Indefinite not infinite are Powers:
On Earth God's Infinite, but finite Ours.
32. Three Sabbaths.
Saturn, The Sun, and Venus in a Trine,
To th' Jews, Turks, Christians Sabbaths three design:
The Jews their Sabbath have: And they the same
From pale-fac'd-leaden colour'd Saturn name:
The Turk, whose Law permitteth many Wives,
His Sabbaths Name from Venus Name derives:
But Christians their Sabbath, on the Day
The Sun of Righteousness arose, display.
33. To David Murray, Knight, one of the Bed-chamber unto Prince Henry.
Kings Favours to their Favourites impart;
Wise Kings to those alone of best desert:
Our King in this excels: For, Favours he
Daigns sole to worthy men, to Thee, like Thee.
34. I can, will, will not.
Anomals.
I will, but cannot, what I can, I nill.
Mans total Life is only Nill, and will.
35. Patience.
The man that suffers, overcomes: But then
The suff'ring woman's overcome by men.
236. Of Genu-flexion, A Probleme.
When Honour is conferr'd, or Friend to Friend;
Why man but one Knee, Woman both doth bend?
Man once, but Woman twice must serve in Life:
While Maid, her Father: Husband, when a Wife.
37. To William Earl of Pembroke, one of the Kings privy Council.
Not old in years, nor young in Judgement sound,
The King, thee fit for him, -thy Countrey found;
Shall I for this thine Honour, praise thy Fate?
Or thy Desert? I both congratulate.
38. To the Bishop of London.
The learned King, of the Metropolis
Thee Pastor made: The City wish'd for this:
The See-seat vacant, many sought for it,
As their Reward for Learning and for Wit:
The King, th' Arch-bishop; thee the City call'd:
And thou the See-seat vocant art install'd.
39. Of rising and setting.
Remember at Sun-setting Death, thine Urn:
And at Sun-rising mind thy thence return.
40. To Peter Junius, a Scot-Britain, formerly Tutor to King James.
He's born unworthy, from whom none is born,
But thou thy birth, thy being dost adorn:
For seven from thy Loyns are issu'd forth,
Th' Idea's of thy Body, Wit and worth.
So many learn'd from thee their Father sprung
As Wise men did to learned Greece belong.
41. Of Gaurus.
Thou wise, and foolish art: Who credits it?
Wise in conceit, Foolish, for want of Wit.
42. S. T.
S T. though a note of silence, doth expound,
Without a Vowels help, a vocal sound.
43. The saying of Henry Earl of Northampton, Uni & Univoce.
One and Onely.
We Britans are univocal, serve one.
Only King James, uniting us alone.
44. Of Quintus a Dreamer.
Oft in the Morn I thee complaining heard
That in thy Dreams by Night no Truth appear'd:
What wonder? while by day thou speakst but lye [...],
That all thy Dreams by Night are falsities?
45. To Robert Carre of the Kings Council, &c.
The vulgar seldome love whom Kings prefer,
The King as seldom loves the popular:
'Tis difficult to purchase both their Loves;
Thy Motion's double, for with both it moves.
46. Of a certain Hypocrite.
Thy left hand knows not what thy right hand gives:
True: For it gives to none, nor one relieves.
47. The death of Justus Lipsius, 1606.
The seventi'th and sixth year of thine Age
Finish'd (oh Grief) thine Earthly Pilgrimage:
That Day brought first mine Epigrams to Light,
When thon didst die, my morning was thy night.
48. Sir Thomas Overbury's ingenious Poeme of a Compleat Wife.
Thou dost describe a Wife in such a dress
As Tully doth an Orator express:
And if to such a wife thou wedded wert,
She would be far too short of thy desert.
49. Conferring Benefits.
Good done t' a Child is lost, at least forgot:
Good done t' an old man, is as good as not.
50. Ambiguous Right.
Physicians and Lawyers expert are,
These for our wealth, those for our Health take care.
[Page 118] These to the Clients their just Portion give,
With just proportion those the sick relieve:
Dost ask what difference is between their Notions?
These arid Portions give, those liquid Potions.
51. To Prince Henry, born the nineteenth of February, 1594. (a) (good or) Golden luck, 1612. 19. Jun.
Thou hast attain'd thy Nineteenth year of Age,
The (b) Golden Number doth much good presage:
And this a Golden year (if I not err)
(c) Will Honour, Gold, and Good on thee conferr.
52. To the King.
Noah, who liv'd before the Flood, and since,
Di'd in his Nineteenth Jubily: Great Prince,
Might my Vote pass, thou shalt our (a) Noah be:
Likes ages, as he Jubilies, to see.
53. On a Certain Miser.
I praise thy Tongue, but not thine Hand: None knows
To promise more than thou, none less bestows.
54. Of Thomas More formerly Chancellour of England.
To Thomas Baron of Elesmere Chancellour of England.
Integrity of Life, sweet Eloquence,
Rare Wit advanc'd More to more Eminence.
And thee, thy Wisdome, Candor, grave Aspect
Makes Eminent, sublim'd from Vulgar Sect.
Thy Life with such Integrity, so led,
Proves thee to More more like; but that he's dead.
And thou to More shalt be more like in all,
Except his fatal end, and final fall.
55. Natura Brevium.
Praise of Brevity.
To the Reader.
Some praise prolixe Polysticks, I affect
Short Disticks, Dwarf-like, a short dialect:
Not sole in Epigrams, but in what sort
Of Things soe're, What's Neat, Good, Sweet, is short.
56.
Thou shalt marry a Wife, and another shall sleep with her.
Deut. 28.
This Scripture is in these our Days compleat,
One weds a wife, another doth her treat.
57. The Original of Britains union.
British Ile Mona, Monads (a) Author bare:
58. To the learned King James.
To b' a good Poet's rare, if understood:
As rare a thing, a man to be that's good:
But a good King is a transcendent thing:
Yet thou good Poet art, good man, good King.
59. Of Cotta.
Saint Paul's Rule Cotta keeps t' his wife: He's one▪
That hath a Wife, and is as if h' had none.
60. As well to Mars, as Mercury.
Neptune to Bacchus, Mars t' Apollo joyn,
Art calmeth Rage as Water cooleth Wine.
61. To John Harington, Knight.
Nobility, Wit, Vertue, these in thee
Strive for Precedence: Honourable three.
These noting to speak Truth why should I fear:
Of youths in Court thy Peer doth scarce appear.
62. The Lottery: in French, (a) the Blank.
Here mourn the White, the Black rejoyce; Yet this
Black colour proper more for mourning is.
[Page 120] Why gains the Black? the White the while doth lack?
Is't for that Dis give Wealth? And Dis is black.
63. To G. R. A Batchelour.
A Wife is good, a good Wife better; best
No Wife; I wish thee this; me that, at least.
64. On trifling Cotta.
In serious things thou trislest seriously;
Thy folly's serious, thy Wit's laid by.
65. On Paetus.
Thy Front hath Horns: 'Tis ask'd who fix'd them there?
An Author gave them, write; what-ere he were.
Write, Authors gave them; On the Moon-like front,
There must be two that fix'd those Horns upon't.
66. Deltoton, Or the Letter D.
Rocks to mans Life three Deltaes are; these be
(a) Dives, Delights and Devils: Deltaes three.
67. The Gallows: To P. L.
A Robber's End's a Rope; Death circles it.
And Ropes for Thieves I think are Robes most sit:
But many scape: 'Tis true: some have some scope:
Yet commonly a Robber's End's a Rope.
68. Of Womens Wit. A Probleme.
Why is a woman, than a Man, less wise?
Because Eve from mans Rib, not Head did rise.
69. Minerva, Evah.
Minerva, Joves Brains issue, wedded none:
But Eve was wedded, born from Adams Bone.
70. Of Helius.
Lawyers grow rich by Clients, at Debate:
Thus Helius hath gain'd a vast Estate.
71. The State of Britains Union.
To the King.
This Ile, Elisa raigning, was like Wool,
By thee spun, Henry will make't Cloth in full.
72. Whether Bacchus be a God? To Germanus.
Seest not when drunk with Wine, that Bacchus shakes
Thine Head above, thy low Feet lofty makes?
He raising humble Feet, Heads list on high
Dejecting, proves himself a Deity.
73. To Sir Thomas Chaloner Chamberlain to Prince Henry.
Thee from thy youth endow'd with noble Arts,
Advanc'd by Caesar for thine able Parts,
Thee who to thy poor friends a friend dost prove,
Not, as so great, but, as so good, I love.
74. I love, a Passive; I am loved, an Active Voyce.
Who loves, doth serve: Who's lov'd doth bear the sway;
This Active is, that Passive; must obey.
75. On Julius, a pretended Monk.
Not in the World is Julius; but rather
The World's in him: This from his Life I gather.
76. Priest and People.
Priests pray for People, for Priests People toil:
Those praying, these are ploughing all the while.
77. On Pope Julius 2.
Behold two Swords said Peter, arm'd with Sword:
Behold two Keys O Peter, said his Lord.
Peter left Sword, and did the Keys receive,
But thou dost take the Sword, the Keys dost leave.
78. Like to like.
Females deformed though, find Males by kind.
And knavish Dav [...]s will a Master find.
79. Know thy Self.
Wouldst know thy Self? Then Nature joyn to Grace,
This shews the Souls, and that the Bodies Face.
80. Death's Equity.
Rivers from Rivers differ; Man from Man:
While Men in Life, Rivers in Channels ran.
Ingulph'd in Seas, all Rivers have like Tast:
So Death doth all men equal make at last.
To Thomas Button, 1612.
From Britain, almost all the World apart;
I wish fair Gales, thou sailing Westward art.
[Page 122]Seek, thou shalt find the great Seas Mysteries;
Prince Henry's way's found by the Destinies.
82. On Gellia, painted.
Thy Picture is not like thee: But 'tis plain
Thou like thy picture art, as vile, as vain.
83. Conjurers contest.
In Magick Art the Conjurers contest,
Scottus Parmensis did excel the rest:
He with the Devil had a contract made,
Who knew most, could do most in that black trade:
Like as chief servants in the Courts of Kings,
Under great Masters can perform great things.
84. Of Ruffus, An Hypocrite.
Thou sayst that Ignorance makes men devout:
Thou then shalt be the chief of all that Rout.
85. To the English. A Probleme.
Wherefore do Spanish, French, Italian
Sleight Wives? They reckon Women not * Humane.
86. To Cinna, A Physician.
Thou cur'st Diseases, How? Thou kill'st the Sick:
And what thou dost (like Judas) thou dost quick:
Thy Patient is blest: Thou wilt not wrong
His Patience, to let him languish long.
87. We have one Advocate in Heaven.
One Advocate we have in Heav'n, saith Paul;
Are no more Advocates within that Hall?
88. To one young in years, old in manners.
Why doth the Gout, which doth unt' age belong,
Thee vex, A Souldier, Scholar, and so young?
The Gout mistook, it saw thee grave and sage,
And took thee for an old man, ful [...] of age.
89. Anger is a short fury.
Though wrath be short, 'tis not for fury sit:
If furious, 'tis fit to shorten it.
90. To Henry Good-yeer, Knight, Kal. Jan. 1610.
What new-years Gift shall I present to thee?
I wish, (a) thy Name thou many years mayst see.
91. Love Active and Passive. To Pontia.
Wilt know what differs I'm lov'd, from I love?
That, I suppose: My knowledge this doth prove.
92. To the Prince.
My dreams by night are much of Royal Gold,
But in the morning there's no Gold, all's cold.
If thou, O Prince, wilt with thine Hand assist,
I shall have Real Gold, not in a Mist.
93. Arithmetical Division. To J. S. Merchant. 1607.
Though living thou give nothing to thy Friends,
The total Sum at Death in nothing Ends.
94. The Court Louse.
The pratling Parasite, through all the court,
To Grandees Chambers make their most resort:
So this vile Beast the Louse doth ost infest
Mens Bodies, but their Heads above the rest.
95. Aesculapius Three-fac'd.
The Physick Doctor seems three-fac'd to be
Unto the Sick; God, Man, and Devil's he:
In giving Physick, he doth seem a Man:
If the disease be cur'd a God he's than.
If Health's restor'd, and the disease destroy'd:
When Doctor comes for Fees, Satan avoid.
96. Of Galatea.
The Stag, 'tis said, his Horns doth yearly mew:
Thine Husband daily doth his Horns renew.
97. Waters and Earths Epithalamy.
All generated are in Earth and Water:
Both these God hath united, former, later:
That nothing to Man-kind unkind should prove,
Th' Earth lieth under, Water flows above.
Earth's waters Wife, Both one Globe constitute,
98. Of the same.
Why Water, which flows round, doth slow from th' Earth?
'Cause Thirst this should not suffer, nor that Dearth.
99. Death's in the Pot. To Court Criticks.
Is Death i' th' Pot, or Port (that is) in (a) Court?
For Plautus saith, Pot, Court the same import.
100. The Deluge. A double Probleme.
Why saith the (a) Proverb, As a Fish so sound?
Fish sole was sav'd when all the World was drown'd.
All drown'd, why were the Fish from drowning freed?
Because the Mother would preserve her breed.
101. A Cole of Wood.
Born in the Fire, and perishing thereby:
Woods spoiling, I deserve by Fire to die.
102. Of Gellia.
Thou from thy youth a Papist wert: But now
Worse Papist art; How? Catholick art thou.
103. Of Aulus.
As ost as Sickness casts thee on thy Bed,
Or hollow Tooth doth ake; or stupid Head:
O would I were in Heaven from this smart,
Thou sayst: Thine Heir saith, O would thou wert.
104. A Woman, what Creature.
Virgins untouch'd want sense, and Husbands grant
To them their sense, but then they Reason want.
105. Reason and Oratory.
Rhet'rick's the Palm, and Dialect's the fist:
This Combats, that Triumphs within the List.
106. Testicles.
To signifie the Sex? or is our Name
Call'd Testicles, t' attest thy Sin-thy Shame?
107. Upon the Death of Hen. Cuff, 1600.
Learn'd well in Greek, happy thine Alpha was,
But thine Omega hapless prov'd; Alas.
108. Of Festus.
Wilt marry now th' art old? If thou b [...] wise
With Lillies learned Grammer first advise:
There indeclinable the Horn thou'lt find;
Old men have seldome that hard Rock declin'd.
109. Sir Thomas Moore.
Imprison'd Moore, to guess what would befall,
Inspects his Urne in an Urinall:
He saw no signs of Death: But had he seen
The Kings, the signs there of his death had been.
110. Of Cornelius.
Thou knowst Th' art Horn'd, tacite Cornelius:
Now thou shalt be Cornelius Tacitus.
A Tripple Lie
- Vented,
- Invented,
- Painted.
111. On Tullus.
Carvers invent, the painters paint a Lie,
Who vents it? Thou. Thou dost adventure high.
The End of the First Book.
THE SECOND BOOK OF JOH. OWENS Epigrams. To Prince Henry.
1. To Henry Prince of Wales.
GOD grant thee will the best, the Truth to know:
Who gave these gifts can * greatest Gifts bestow.
2. To James of Great Britain, &c.
King, the Best-Greatest.
Tyrants are fear'd of all, fear all: Nor wants
Their fearing force, fearful concomitants:
No need for thee (O thou great King of Kings,
Best King) to fear such formidable things.
3. Hysteron Proteron.
In English [...] The Cart before the Horse.
Cambridge and Oxford, words so plac'd in force
Are like to these, The Cart before the Horse.
4. On a decrepit Husband of a third Wife.
First Clotho, Lachesis thy second wife,
Thy third wife Atropos cuts off thy life.
5. Love.
Imprison'd-Liberty, Peace-war, sweet-sowre,
Hope-fear, Gall-honey, Love doth laugh and lowre.
6. Minos.
A Judge, who to be Just, on Bribes doth look,
Is like a Fish, which while it takes, is took.
7. Doubtfulness.
Both I suspect, know neither, ready either
To credit: Phoebus he can tell me whether.
8. To the Princes Secretary.
Honours mens former Manners' change in Fine;
'Tis the worlds course, but 'tis no course of thine:
Thou changed dost not change: 'Tis strange to see
Some follow fortune, but she follows thee.
9. To Thomas Puckeringe, Knight and Baronet.
Dear Thomas, if to speak such things be fit,
I first did exercise thy noble Wit:
I thy first Tutor was, thou Pupil mine:
I am not what I was, but still am thine.
10. Three Draughts.
First draught thirst past, present the next abates.
And the third future thirst anticipates.
11. A double Riddle.
Tell me t' her Mother that was spous'd what (a) woma [...]
12. Of Faith.
A five-fold Anagram.
True Faith is sure, no Schismatick, nor Greek,
Nor Creete, whose Faith is fleeting, or to seek,
13. To Sir Edward Cooke, Knight, a learned Lawyer, Judge, &c.
The Laws of Nature, Nature of the Laws
Thou knowst, thou judgest Clients and their cause:
Thine Answers, (our Apollo) are more clear
Than th' Oracles, that were at Delphos, were.
Thou cutt'st off present strifes, dost countermand
The future: Those with Tongue, and these with hand.
14. A Mathematical Instrument vulgarly call'd a Jacobs Staff.
To the Mathematician.
Take Jacob's Staff, his (a) Ladder give to me,
I more by this, than thou by that, shall see.
15. Earth's Scituation.
Th' Earth ever stands, if Solomon we credit:
If Naso, then it sits, for Naso said it.
Sitting, it weary would be quaking found,
If standing fall'n: What then? it lieth round.
16. To Henry Davers, Baron of Dantesay.
Thy Valour, Fortune; Prudence conquers Chance:
Thine Hopes above vile-servile fear advance:
Thee Fortune follows, fellows; Prudence leads;
None but th' Almighties Arm, thine Armour dreads:
March on, where e're the King thee calls; Thee guide
Leading, or serving conquest's on thy side.
17. Death's Epitaph.
To the Death of Death.
The cross flew Death, no more from Death to rise:
Thy Death was Death's, thy Cross his Obsequies.
18. Of the Pope, and Luther.
The Pope, indulgent Father, frees, for fees,
Mens Souls, with indulgencies, from the Lees
Of Purgatory: But more Indulgence
Luther doth grant; He Souls exempts from thence.
19. Of God and Man.
God is the Word, and with his Word made all,
We Men make Words, and like our Words do fall.
20. To Sir George Carew, Knight, Master of the Pupills, 1612. Jun. 13.
The King Commending Pupills to thy care,
He doth his care of thy deserts declare.
21. Of fasting.
Why keeps the Pope so many fasts i' th' year?
'Cause Peters successor he might appear.
22. A New Metamorphosis.
A loving Man and Wife make up one Man.
Which four feet hath, that with two Feet began.
23. Of Anonyma.
Thou Fabians nerve inflamed hast: Now he
May truly say, I [...]urn with love of thee.
24. Good from the Dung.
The Scavenger from Dung doth Gold extract:
The like Physicians and Rusticks act.
25. To Face no Trust.
The Wives offence i' th' Husbands front is writ;
Yet Man for Pen, Woman for Paper's fit.
26. To Will. Ravenscroft, J. C.
A Batchelor.
In single Life leading a Life divine,
What few can be thou canst be, solely thine:
Thy Friends and kindred are as Sons to thee:
While I thy Kinsman or thy Friend may be.
27. History of this time.
Th' old Law for History was this, none might-
Nor dar'd untruth, nor fear'd the truth to write:
But Hist'ries now-new Law doth th' old oppose,
None fears untruth, nor dares the truth disclose,
28. A fair Dowry.
I like a naked Beauty, but not bare:
I would, that matter, with the form should square.
29. A Gallick Virgin.
Gallick virginity belongs t' a Child,
For in their Speech (a) a Child's a Virgin stil'd.
An English Virgin.
[...]est English with French words should near assent,
[...]latonick men are by our Virgins meant.
30. Upon a new Noble-man.
Thy Mother spun, thy Father fish'd with nets:
[...]hence thy Descent from a long Line thou get'st.
31. Penelope's Riddle to her Suitors.
[...]here is * a thing, my Verse dares scarcely name,
Thou would'st I should on thee bestow the same;
The former Syllable's mine husbands due;
Take thou, I am not hard, those other two.
32. Bias.
Who said, that all that's mine, with me I carry,
[...]ias, the wise, It seems did never marry.
33. Chrysostome in Greek by H. S. exactly set forth at Eaton.
To H. S. 1612.
Good-godly Chrysostome liv'd in the flesh;
[...]n Spirit, now deceas'd, he lives afresh.
He lives in's Books: First life was Natures Fee,
The next to God, the third is due to thee.
34. The Philosophers Wife.
Vulcan fair Venus, Jove did Juno wed,
But chast Minerva was not married;
Why so? She, wisest of the Deities,
Would wed no man, why? because no Man's wise.
35. (a) Propria quarto modo.
He falsly spake, who said that Thais was common;
Each, every man hath singly Thais, as Woman.
36. A pair of Fools.
Both for their dulness to their Parents owe.
37. To Edward Sack-ville, the Earl of Dorsets only Brother returned from France.
Nature thy prudent Mother gave thee Wit,
Experience abroad improved it.
From Sirens Songs, and Circes charms th' art come
More sage, though with more age, unto thine Home.
38. Of Jealousie. English-French-Italian.
Why do th' Italians, in more grievous sort
Than French or English, take their Wives stoln sport?
Beast's worse than Bird; Th' Italians wife's loose smile.
English and French are Birds: th' Italian
Sole horn'd Beast, of these three must lead the Van.
39. Socratical Wisdoms.
All things I thought I knew; But now confess
The more I know, I know, I know the less.
40. King Arthur's round Table.
The Delphick Oracle will'd write (no Fable)
The seven wise mens Names in a round Table.
So thy Knights Names wise Arthur, first and last
On the round Table were in order plac't.
41. Subsidie.
Clergy, Purse-Prayers; People Bodies bring,
The Nobles Courage-Coyn, t' assist the King.
42. A new World.
The Cabalists of many Worlds assure us:
Innumerous they be, saith Epicurus.
But count aright, sole two th' account affords,
That old of Deeds, our now-new World of Words.
43. Two-fac'd Janus.
Thy force of Wit, and strength of Memory
Before, behind, to see thou dost apply.
44. Earth's Body.
Th' Earth's Bones are Stones, Skin, Surface, Metalls, Nerves,
The Grass for Hair, for Blood the Water serves.
45. To Pannicus, of Maurus.
What Maurus hath, between thy Wife and Thee
[...]e doth divide, thou Words, and Deeds hath she.
46. Of Paula, an English Dissimulatrix.
With painted Face, with counterfeit Address
[...]hy Custome is, to dress thy wickedness.
[...]hou driv'st the Drones, dull Cattle, from thy Stall:
[...]nd what's thy Love, but Honey mix'd with Gall?
47. A Physician, and Lawyers.
[...]ost'nan gives Honours, Galen Wealth, so be
[...]his be no Patient, nor Client he.
48. To Edward Wotton, Baron, &c.
One of his Majesties privy Council.
He's dead who did his place to thee resign,
Which was before, in Pallas Judgement, thine.
None worthier than thou this place t' inherit;
And thy great worth a greater place doth merit.
49. Galen; Anagram, Angel.
Galen, art Angel good or bad? A good-
Angel, preserving Health, if understood.
50. Blind Love is Deaf.
Their Wives defaults kind Husbands will not see.
Who truly love, by love all-blinded be.
Against their Dears they trust nor Eyes, nor Ears:
Thus Love not only Blind, but Deaf appears.
51. Of Dind [...]mus, amerchant.
Arithmeticks three first parts learn'd thou hast;
Learn but the fourth, thou shalt be bless'd at last.
52. Anagramma Uxoris, The Anagram of a Wife.
Orcus and Uxor: But the English words will not compleat it.
(a) The Womb and Tomb insatiable are,
Saith the wise King: He did them both compare:
Who falls on Wife, descends into the Pit:
A Wife in sense, not sound is like unt' it.
53. The Answer.
A Wife I'm nam'd, not that I vex the man,
But that mine Housewifes care's Quotidian:
[Page 134] Is Man in Woman as Belzeb's in Hell?
Man's Satan then, if Woman be that Cell.
54. The Religious.
What's well done's ill done, if in publick done:
The Politician.
What's ill done's well done, if reveal'd to none.
55. Three Goddesses.
Chast Juno, wanton Venus, Pallas learn'd-
Pure Virgin, 's rare between those two discern'd.
56. English Proteus.
New-fashions in Apparel 'states do wast:
Sole Pleasure pleaseth us, though lost at last.
57. One protects two.
The saying of H. 4. The French King.
One King protects two Kingdoms, yet both fail'd
Thee to protect but one when Death th' assail'd.
58. The Birth and Scite of the Sun.
The Sun, fourth, midst is of the Planets seven:
(a) The fourth day made, plac'd in the midst of Heaven.
59. The Sepulchers of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus.
Africk for Pompey, Asia doth mourn
For Crassus, Europe hath great Caesars Urn.
60. City Buildings most City-like, of Henry Earl of Northampton.
The Structure of an House, Beneath, Above
The Builders Ingenuity doth prove.
Who raise rude Piles of Buildings (to thy Praise)
By thine Example may their Buildings raise.
61. To Oranus.
Thy Wifes rich Sire oft said, This Daughter mine
In stable Wedlock I to thee will joyn:
Too stable Wedlock hath you joyn'd, sith she
So much unstable is in love to thee.
62. Of Faelix.
Faelix through all the City walks per deiu,
Who scarce two Cities in the World did view.
Who many Men and Cities saw, the Poor
In his own City beggeth at the door.
63. Francis Drake.
No time shall Drake forget; He cross'd the Seas
And Drake-like swam unto th' Antipodes.
Or This.
Drakes Name and Fame no time shall ravel out,
He sail'd, amid the Seas, the World about.
64. Man.
Before thy Birth (which thou remembrest not)
Thou nothing wert; Dead, something is thy lot.
65. Of Phoebus and Neptune.
The Sun's of swift, the Sea's of swister force;
That runs but once, this twice a day its course.
66. Uxor Vi(n)cta, that is, A Wife bound, Conquer'd.
The Brides Tongue brid'led, th' Husband's Conquerer:
He sole o'recomes his Wife, that quiets her.
67. Naked Truth, Of Alethus.
If (as saith Plato) Vertue, naked might
Be seen, 'twould fill mens hearts with rare Delight.
Alethus (as 'tis said) saw (a) Vertues four
Naked, at Venice, and did them deflour.
68. Of Bacchus and Byrrhia, Wine and Beer.
Wine simple-single's prais'd, but double Beer:
Double is good, but single best doth cheer.
69. Of Gellia.
To the first Matter Gellia inclines,
That all forms fancies, this sole Masculines.
70. Of Papilus, pulling off his hoar Hairs.
Thou need'st not pull thine hoar hairs from thine head,
Proceed in (a) Greek, they of themselves will shed.
71. Be not many Masters.
While none would Scholars be, but Masters all;
All Scholars, none we can a Master call.
72. Hen. 8. Defender of the Faith.
To th' King of Flow'rs and Lions did assign.
73. To Pope Leo.
That Title, with the Sword thou gav'st the King:
He thee denies; the Sword thy Death did bring.
74. The Pride of Life.
Man, though of vile Earth made, with Pride doth swell,
Th' Earth made of nothing swells with man as well.
So man like th' Earth aspires above his kind,
Th' Earth mounts in Mountains, Man mounts up in Mind.
75. To Guarene Tounsend, J. C.
Thy Tongue no Law-court courts, nor avaricious
Is prostitute t' excuse the guilty, vicious:
Thou dost contemplate Natures Mysteries,
Scripture, Laws, History thou dost revise:
Three Graces, seven Arts, Sisters thrice three
Causes to know, but not to plead, teach thee.
76. Genesis and Saint Matthew's Gospel.
Christ's Birth in this, Adam's that Book is in;
Gospel and Law from Genesis begin.
77. Some Body, No Body.
The sacred Hebrew Text Men, Souls doth stile,
As if that Man were solely Soul the while.
None, no body, one, some body we call
In English, as if we were Bodies-All.
78. A Love Fancy.
If Lesbia, thou wert the Zodiack,
I would I were the Sun, for thy sweet sake:
The Sun compleats the Zodiack once a year,
But once a Night I would compleat thy Sphear.
79. To Book-gelders.
If wise, then gild my Book, but geld it not
That other Books by this may be begot.
80. To Gellia.
In earnest speak; Why dost thou so profuse
Give that to many promis'd for ones use;
[Page 137] 'Tis an old custome, common as a Clock,
That many Keys should be t' a single Lock.
81. Eve's and the Serpents Conventicle.
By Eves and Satans Parley, sin did come;
O would she had been deaf, or he been dumb.
82. To Robert Johnson, a Scottish-Britain.
Reading thy British (a) History, I love
Thy self, I like thy Method, both approve:
No such Book's extant, that's more genuine,
More genial, than that same Book of thine;
Excepting (b) Moore: Who wrote the Life-the fate
Of (c) Richard: Thee, next him, I emulate.
83. Of Himself.
I, of the Minor Brothers orders am:
My Fathers Lands to th' Major Brother came.
84. Sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor. To Paetus.
Of this Advice thou kept'st the former part,
But not the latter: There remiss thou wert.
Th' hast sold, and given all; Part to thy Whore,
Part to thy Riot; nothing to the Poor.
85. Nor • Of Evils the least. , and • Of Good the greatest.
Though she were best, I would not have my Bride
A Giant, nor a Dwarf, though worst beside.
86. Sirens Songs.
If thou thy Reins wouldst keep from Blain-from [...]ane;
Flee Sirens Songs, thou shalt be safe, and sane.
87. A Love Letter.
Love wants not Hope, in hope the Lover lives:
But Hope without thee,- thine, me nothing gives.
88. Blind Love.
Love and Ebriety are like: They blind
Mens Eyes, of Body this, that of the Mind.
89. The Will of rich T. S.
Thou givest all, no longer here to live,
Nor hence to take it: Couldst? Th' would'st nothing give.
90. Air, Water, Earth, Hell.
The fordid Earth receives the dross of th' Air:
Earth's dregs unto th' infernal Caves repair.
What Evil's in the World shall t' Hell descend:
As pond'rous things unto the Center tend.
91. The Christian Zodiack.
The twelve Apostles, their Stars, four times three,
My Zodiack, Faith, and Christ my Sun shall be.
92. Erasmus Praise of Folly.
Thou didst not folly praise, Erasmus, solely:
Thee many praise, and many praise thy folly.
93. Of Gymnicus, A Pastor.
Thou feed'st thy flock with words, they thee with weeds;
Thy care's for Tythes, no care to cure misdeeds.
94. Of Dardanus.
Paleness in Face, Leanness in Corps doth sit,
Thou nothing hast that's fat, but thy gross Wit.
95. Pleas in the year 1609. between Rob. Calvin, Plaintiff; and John Bingley, and Richard Gryffin, Defendants.
When the Post-nati were in Law of late,
Robert the Son of James o'recame; blest fate:
Th' one English, th' other Welsh, the Victor Scot
O'recame them, guilty both: A lucky lot.
I love good luck: Britains, Hearts-Hands unite;
This Island shall no more be bipartite.
Their Sons Sons Sons shall see, there shall be then
One Kingdom under but one King, Amen.
96. Of our times Discords.
Logick doth things define, divide beside:
But we no things define, all things divide.
97. Evil Manners produce good Laws.
God t' Adam gave a Law before his Sin,
Ill manners therefore all Laws brought not in.
98. Four Articles of Faith, 1, 2, 3, 4.
Let Faith the fourth, with the four Councils be.
99. To the Prince.
As a great Bear a little Lion flees,
So flees great Hope, when small things come it sees:
Most happy Prince, mine hope depends on thee;
From me take Hope, and I shall happy be.
100. To the Reader.
(a) Narcissus I leave off, when Verse I write,
Do thou the same, when thou my Verse dost cite.
The End of the Second Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen A CAMBRO-BRITAN To Charles Duke of York, Brother to the Prince the Kings Son. The Third Book.
1. A Jove Principium, Begin in God.
GOd's the beginning, i' th' beginning's God,
Before and after, without Period,
Without beginning the beginning: From
This sole beginning all beginnings come.
2. To the Reader.
I publish'd former Books with Verses clad,
I, to the former this, not naked add.
[Page 142] If more remain, they better will appear,
Kind Reader thou dost hope, but I do fear.
3. To Charles, Duke of York.
The Kings, the Kingdoms next Hope-Happiness,
Great Charles, yet then the Prince of Camb'ra less:
Thy Tutors Counsel use, thee which instruct:
Sage-sane advice, a Duke will safe conduct.
Be like thy Father, Second to thy Brother;
Thy Second, or thy like will be none other.
4. The Art of Memory.
Simonides invented Mem'ries Art,
But th' Art of Wit none yet, in whole or part.
5. Things, Names and Words.
God all things did Create, Man gave them Names,
Woman gave words: But word for word inflames.
6. Redemption and Regeneration.
Satan from Eve bought Man, Christ man re-bought:
Adam did death procure, the cure Christ wrought.
7. The Praise of Liberality.
A Gift's eternal, follows him that gives;
The Giver and Receiver It relieves.
8. Oxford's new Library. To the Readers, 1610.
Authors seek ye? Ready, before your Eyes,
Each Classick Author in his Classis crys:
Of this great Work, scarce parallell'd on Earth,
Seek ye the Founder? Bodley gave It birth.
9. To the University of Oxford.
No Library there is with thine that dare
Compare, nor with thy Wits that can compare.
10. To Queen Anne.
Sister, Wife, Mother, Daughter of a King,
Queen Anne: What greater Titles can we bring?
Four Vertues thou with these four Titles hast;
What canst thou to thy Vertues add at last?
11. To Elizabeth the Kings Daughter.
Born of a Kingly,-long continu'd Line,
A King, a Caesar meriting for thine:
Shouldst for an Husband stay, who could out-vie
Thy worth, thou mightst a Virgin live and die.
12. Speech and Writing.
Mute Hand's the speaking Tongues Interpreter,
As speaking Tongue's the mute Hearts messenger.
13. A new Man.
Depel, Dispel that old-grown Man of Sin,
And, with the new Man, a new life begin.
14. An healthful Anagram, Opto, I wish, Poto, I drink.
I wish much Health, but drink no Health to thee:
Better's a dry, than drunken Health for me.
15. The forbidden Fruit.
It was not sole an Apple, It was worse,
Adam brought Sins Original, the Curse.
16. Cal. January.
Greeks and Gift-givers, Tros thus saith, I fear:
Who's Greek? The Poor: Who Tros? The Usurer.
17. Of Alcon.
Alcon wants credit, he will credit none;
All credit him; His credit then's not gone.
18. To Robert Carey, Knight, Governour of Charles Duke of York.
Great Queen Elisa, in Alliance nigh
Unto thy Parent, grac'd thy family:
The King of Britains Son thy Pupil is;
That's th' Honour of thy Kind, of thy Mind, this,
19. Example.
Vertue by good Example's taught and learn'd:
In teaching me, my Teacher is concern'd.
20. A double Medium.
Th' Earth in the middle stands, yet low doth lie:
And Vertue's in the midst, yet soareth high.
21. N. O.
N leads, O follows: Nothing's more Old than All:
For God of Nothing made what th' Orb we call.
22. To James Fullerton, Knight, Governour of Charles Duke of York.
Learn'd Fullerton, the credit of thy Nation,
Thou the Kings Son hast in thine Education:
[Page 144] And that the Son may like his Father move,
Thy Labour that, thine Honour this will prove.
23. Holiness, Healthfulness.
All wish long Life, few to live well endeavour:
Wouldst thou live long? live well, and live for ever.
24. Sheep and Goats.
The Goats climb Rocks, and Promontories steep,
The lower Ground depasture flocks of Sheep:
'Tis so now, but it will not still be so,
The Sheep on high, the Goats below shall go.
25. A Ship.
The Stern's the Train, Bulk, Belly, Bill the Prore;
The Sayls are Wings; Ships sayl, as Birds do soar.
26. To Thomas Murrey, Tutor to Charles Duke of York.
If Jacobines be the Kings Friends, I will
My self a Jacobine acknowledge still:
If Scotists be the Regal favourites,
I will a Scotist be by days, by nights:
Learn'd Thomas, thou me Thomist mak'st to be;
And Scotist, thou Scotch-Britain makest me.
27. Blood not Vertue.
Vertue, than Blood, 'twas said, is more preclare:
But Blood is better than all Vertues are:
Blood better is than Vertue: Not by Merits,
But by thy Blood, O Christ, man Heaven inherits.
28. The Sun, and time.
The Sun is swift, but th' Hour's more swift: (a) The Sun
Sometime stood still, but th' Hour that time did run.
29. The Blood.
I'm Crude, call'd Blood: A circled course I keep,
And Snake-like through the bodies Veins I creep.
30. Of Pannicus, a rich Fool.
Forture doth favour Fools: Or credit me,
Or else believe thy Self, thou then shalt see.
31. Brevity.
Perspicuous Brevity doth please in chief:
In words, which things concern'd contain, be brief.
32. The Tomb of John Puckeringe, Keeper of the Great Seal.
This Tomb presents three Brothers, Sisters five,
One Sister's dead, one Brother's yet alive.
33. Homer.
No wonder, Homer, former was of Lyes;
His Ears were his Informers, not his Eyes.
34. Erasmus.
'Tis ask'd, why men Erasmus thee do call?
Answer.
If Mouse, I was the best, or none at all.
35. A little, nothing; too much, enough.
The Poor have little, Beggars that are common,
Have nothing, rich too much, enough hath no man.
36. To Henry Wotton, Knight, the Kings Embassadour, &c. 1612.
In dubious things thou didst remember me,
In serious, though late, I think on thee:
Thou Legate wert, fair Winds thee back did bring.
The King must pay thee what he thee doth owe,
'Tis secret when: But that he will I know.
37. Foresee thine End.
Mans death, not birth declares his bane, or bliss:
None bless'd before his death, nor wretched is.
38. The Polar Sabbath.
To the Polars.
One day, one Night, doth your whole year display:
So that your Seventh year, 's your seven [...]h day.
39. To the Desirers of the Salick Law.
In France the Virile Law sets men at th' Helm,
The female Distaff must not rule the Realm.
Would ye the Salick Law should here come in,
O Britains? Be robust: At home begin.
46. To G. Gwyn.
That I no Disticks in thy praise design,
It is because thine better are than mine.
41. Irus and Croesus Epitaph.
Croesus and Irus thus are different,
Both dead, that hath, this hath no Monument.
42. The Inter-Calar Month, 1612.
Why February sole each fourth year grows?
'Cause 'tis the least month from the Moon that flows.
43. Of Faelix.
Rich, while alive, thou wert, now dead, poor art:
Wishing with Lazarus a place, a part.
45. Logick.
A Creature horn i' th' dark, Rude, Infant, Child;
Unt' Oxford sent, will soon a man be stil'd.
46. To Samuel Daniel, Poet.
A. Pen thy right Hand, Sword thy left doth follow:
Mars is Sinister, Dexter's thine Apollo.
47. Lover of Truth. To Paulus.
Fond Novelties, sottish Antiquities
Me please not, truth is all I praise-I prize:
I follow neither new, nor old: 'Tis true:
But Truth I love, whether 'tis old, or new.
48. Humility.
Long Grass in valleys, short on Mountains grows:
Low minds more Wisdome have, than lofty Brows:
A Mind's a Mount, whose Top's a Type of Wit,
Each Top is bare, and Type is like unt' it.
49. Three Self-Lovers.
I next my self, and thou, thy self art next;
What hinders, but that he should be context?
50. Saint Marks Festival.
To Marianus, a Shepheard.
Why marks Saint Mark's day Sheep, not Goats? Tell why?
Sheep Shall hereafter live, when Goats shall die.
51. To Dindimus.
Devouring time devoureth all that's our:
But thou mispending time, dost time devour.
52. Of Heaven and Earth, a double Paradox.
Heav'ns Motion errs not, erring is th' Earth's Station,
Fast, stedfast though, yet full of Variation.
Trod under foot, Plough'd, Harrow'd ev'ry Morn,
Poor Earth, while I am Earth, I shall be torn.
53. The Year.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, make the year:
Autumn doth Summer, Spring doth Winter chear.
54. A Client.
Hast care to cure, and to secure thy Cause?
Incline then, Client, to thy Lawyers Laws.
55. Of the Covetous.
Shooes wider than thy Feet thou wilt not have;
Why then more Wealth than's fit, or needs, dost crave?
56. Patience.
I will, or must be patient, hoping still:
All things by this I suffer can, or will.
57. The Serpent, Eve, Adam.
The Serpent, not deceiv'd, deceiv'd poor Eve;
Adam deceiv'd not, but he did believe
His Wise, and was deceiv'd: The Womans fault
Was Active, Passive: Catch'd her self, she caught.
58. The Swan.
When Fates me call, the Rivers Bank close by,
I sweetly sing my Requiem, and die.
59. To Polydore.
The Dative case than Ablative is better;
The Taker to the Giver is a Debtor.
[Page 148] Ah, th' Ablative doth here too long remain,
When will the Dative case return again?
60. To N. N.
Unhappy Servant of two Masters thou,
This Nothing doth, that Nothing hath t' allow.
61. A Three-fold Continency of the Eyes, Ears, and Tongue.
Lest ill thou seest, or hear'st, thy Windows close:
Lest ill thou speak'st Locks on thy Lips impose.
62. Saturns three Sons.
Nummipotent is one, Hells President:
Next Amnipotent, third Omnipotent.
63. The old man speaks to the young Man.
My Life is short, nor can long time import;
Thy Life seems long; but shortly will be short.
64. Of my Book.
Salted at Oxon (youth then) 'tis the Mode;
Pepper'd at Winton (then Child) I abode:
If this my Book of Salt, or Pepper tast,
First, Winton Pepper gave, Salt Oxon last.
65. To Theo-dore, Gods Gift, A Physician.
In Greek and Latine Theodore's thy Name;
Thy skill in (a) Physick makes it thrice the same.
66. Of Quintus.
At School, a Boy, thou learn'dst four Swearing Adverbs,
Now grown a Man, thou swear'st four thousand Mad Verbs.
67. To an Angry man.
Let Anger set; but not rise with the Sun;
Still let it with the Sun t' Antipo [...]es run.
68. Of a Cloak and Coal.
Blew Coats, with Sleeves and Badges, yearly new
Here Serving Men did wear, a lazy crew:
Now Cloaks they wear: Why Cloaks? Because they may
Flagens or Capons, under Cloaks convey.
69. Death.
Nothing's here humane, but inhum'd must be;
Earth swallows Earth, but Souls from Earth flee free.
70. Of Pontius, A Poet.
Pont'us on one Foot halts, with th' other stumbles;
Hexameters, Pentameters he rumbles.
71. Of Fabian.
Do what thou say'st, or say what thou do'st do,
But Fabian doth neither of the two.
72. Edition of Books.
It happens, that when Verses I have penn'd,
Fasting or full, Edition is their end.
73. God loves a chearful Giver.
Regard not what Reward thou giv'st the poor:
God will Regard, and it Reward with more.
74. Of Quintus Ramista his Fathers third Son.
As if one Tree bare two [...]oughs, none beside;
So thou dost all things in two Parts divide.
If all thing else should bipartited be,
What of thy Fathers Goods would come to thee?
75. Cupid's Arms, Bow and Arrows.
Offensive not Defensive weapons, why
Doth Cupid use? He conquers all thereby.
76. Of Prose and Verse.
A Probleme.
Why runs a Speech in Verse than Prose more fleet?
Because that wanteth not, this wanteth Feet.
77. Heaven.
Heaven's the specious-spatious House of God;
All-potent Lord, House patent all abroad.
79. A Nest of Boxes • Suscipio Pyxidum Trias. , • Scipio Pyxidum Trias. ,
and • Pio Pyxidum Trias.
The English cannot reach the conceit.
I for my Countrey, Fathers, People, I
Adventure dare, said Scipio, to die.
80. Of Pontilian.
The fawning Dog with wagging Tail doth flatter:
Pontill for want of Tail with's Tongue doth chatter.
81. We are Dust and Ashes. Horace.
Let none, though clad with Earth, of Heaven despair;
Nor any, though a Shadow, thin as Air:
Dust is our Flesh, Christs Body's of like clod:
Our Soul's a shadow, shadow yet of God.
82. An Aenigma.
Tell what (a) whole world in Heaven doth abound,
(b) First Syllable of which on Earth's sole found.
83. A Rich Man.
While I wish Wealth, I worse am, and in fine
Greatness to gain, I Goodness do decline.
84. Conversion of Paul.
Thou, lately Saul, art now Saint Paul; Thou late
Didst persecute, but now dost predicate.
85. Right Reason.
That in our times Reason's o're-rul'd 'tis grief.
'Twere Joy, if Reason might command in chief.
86. To Thomas Morrey, Tutor unto Charles Duke of York.
I thee, thy Genius, ingenious head;
Know, read thy Writings worthy to be read:
Thou Doctor-ductor to the Duke, than thee
None fitter, by thy Rules while rul'd is he,
Not forc'd, but by Propensity; What Praise
Hast gain'd, to lead thy Leader in his ways?
87. To the Hebrews.
Your Law is your Religion, Faith is ours,
Our want's to do well, to believe well's yours.
88. Irus, a Beggar.
By this word Hospes Host, and Guest's exprest:
I am to many, none to me's a Guest.
89. God.
Though God's Infinitie's dispers'd most clear' [...]
Through the whole World, God yet is sought for there.
90. An Eagle.
In Temples th' Eagle sacred Scripture bears,
Now great Jehovah's Bird, once Jupiter's.
91. Toby Mathew.
Thy first Name from th' old Testament, thy Next
Is from the new: Both Names from sacred Text.
Strange, that a Gentiles name Canonical
Should he, which in the Fount's Apocryphal.
92. On a Paraphrase.
This Paraphrase is circle-like wrought round,
From Center to circumference 'tis found;
It toucheth the Diameter's both ends,
But to the Center in no part extends.
93. Of Corbulo.
Thou ruinest, and raisest, Corbulo;
Thy Wealth thou ruin'st, raisest nothing: No.
94. Of Gellia, a Grammaticastrix.
Grammer was th' Art of speaking call'd of old;
Thou needst not learn it, thou canst speak, and scold.
95. On a certain Grammaticaster.
A Shred, an Hair, a Nut-shell, half a Groat,
Thou me dost prize at: What I thee? for nought.
96. Warr.
War, sole to Souldiers seems pleasant: Why?
Because sole Souldiers gain, [...]live thereby.
97. Riches.
Sole Gold's a God: Goods, Gods: Coyn, Queen [...] some
Pluto speaks with applause, but Plato's dumb.
98. Three Genders.
Wives (though most chast) o' th' Doubtful are, o' t [...] commo [...]
Are Whores, o' th' feminine is ev'ry Woman.
99. S T. a note of Silence.
What mean this Roman S T? What? Express:
S, stands for Silence, T, for Taciteness.
100. Patria est ubicun (que) est bene.
Where I do well, there I dwell.
I count my Countrey, not where born, or bred;
But that, where known, where with mine own I' [...] fe [...]
My Countrey, that I count, where I do well;
Where I have my subsistence, there I dwell.
101. [...]
That Wife is for a Duke, and King unfit,
Which will not be led, ruled, nor submit.
102. Rhetorick and Dialect.
Rhet'rick to speak, Logick to teach is th' Art:
This Wisdome, that to th' Wise doth strength impart
That neater, this compleater couch'd than it;
That seasoned, this seasoneth the Wit.
Rhet'rick doth veil, Logick doth Truth reveal;
This warns, that moves, that woundeth, this doth heal.
103. Actaeon.
Actaeons Doggs devour'd his Flesh, Bones, Skin;
But yet his Horns some Cities are within.
104. Arithmetical Multiplication and Division.
Division Right, left Hand Multiplication
Respects, why? Vertue's that, this a Privation:
[Page 153] Why upward that, why downward this aspects?
This unto man, that unto God directs.
105. A Tree.
Spring makes me green, me Summers heat doth scald;
Autumn hoar-headed, Winter makes me bald.
106. To Theodore Prise, an Oxonian Divine.
One Verse my love to thee cannot declare;
[...]f two will serve, lo, here two Verses are.
107. One God.
And Deus with the Plural Number quotes:
O, what Blasphemers our Grammarians are,
Who, that we (d) Deus may decline, declare.
108. Dei genus.
(a) Numen to th' Neuter gender doth incline;
[...]Tis neither Masculine, nor Feminine.
109. Government of the body.
[...]ools strain, but prudent men restrain their voice:
Which hath least labour, silence, or a noyse?
110. (a) Malorum, the least and greatest, To Maximus.
[...]t Table sitting chuse of ills the least,
[...]he great'st of Apples, if the great'st be best.
111. Unda.
112. Of Dreams. A Paradox.
[...]d Dreams are good, good, bad: Why? when I wake
[...]f bad, I'm glad, if good, mine heart doth ake.
113. Waters Original.
( [...]) Unda, the Latine word hath Declination:
[...]sk'st, whence deriv'd? It hath no derivation:
[Page 154] The year and River circulating run,
Ending, without an End, where each begun.62
114. Covetousness.
To th' Ocean, Rivers run all places from:
It saith not whence d' ye come, but hither come.
115. The Adamant.
To Lovers Adamants ought to be sent:
Cupid can make an Adamant relent.
116. Dog and Hare.
Though light-foot Hare more swift than Grey-hou [...]
They run in hope, she (light) doth hopeless flee.
117. Speech and Writing.
The nimble Tongue th' Hearts secrets doth expound,
But writing hath a voice without a sound.
118. The Lawrel.
I, Phoebus Tree, still frondent, flourishing,
Nor bald, nor grisled, verdant as the Spring.
119. Dicacity and [...].
Wit without Wisdome's as without Meat, Salt:
Inurbane wit's what? Salt-less Meat, like fault.
120. Something of nothing.
An Arithmetical Riddle.
(a) Add one to nothing, nothing's left, but then
(b) Add to one nothing, thence ariseth ten.
121. To William Sutton, an Oxonian Divine.
I owe thee more than can my Verse express;
Me thy perpet'al debtor I confess.
122. Three Sons of Saturn and Ops, Co-heirs.
Saturns three Sons, all rich, Dis, Neptune, Jove;
Whose Mother Ops, Beneath, About, Above
Them plac'd; I should be richer than those three,
Would Mother (a) Opes lend her help to me.
123. Of a certain superfluous Orator.
When all th' hast said, Thou want'st to say, I've done;
[...]ut word would please me more than those fore-gone.
124. To the Readers.
[...] Readers, Hearers all I will not please,
[...]r am I pleas'd with all of those, or these.
The End of the Third Book.
[Page]EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN.
Three Books dedicated to three, Each a Mecaenas. To Edward Noel, Knight and Baronet, one. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet, another. To Roger Owen, a Noble Knight the third.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevil Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN. To Sir Edward Noel, Knight, and Baronet. The First Book.
1. To the Prince of Wales.
MEcaenas (gracious in Caesars Eyes)
Virgil and Horace daign'd to patronize.
And thou, great Prince, dost not disdain to lend
Thine Help unto mine Hope, for better end.
Three Knights me patronize; though each to me
Mecaenas is, thou shalt my Caesar be.
2. To his three Patrons, E.N. G.S. R.O.
When old friends me forsook, as 'tis in use,
Unhop'd for Help you three did me produce:
Your three Names therefore, next the Prince his name
I joyn, Mecaenas sole deserves such fame.
3. Lawyer and Physician.
Unless he subtile be, this rashly bold,
They both perhaps may beg their bread, when old.
4. The Courtiers Ladder.
None, but by many steps doth rise at Court,
But falling, one's enough, too much, though short.
5. To Edward Noel, &c.
Though I, Mecaenas, send this Book to thee;
Others may read it, if't worth reading be.
How is my Patron better by this sped
Than Readers? Thus, he readeth, and is read.
6. On Tomasine.
Many, these times, in praise of Asses writ,
I read a Book, and read thy praise in it.
7. To — A Courtier.
The bold by Fortune, th' eaters are by meat
Aided: Wilt something be? be bold and eat.
8. Honour and Riches compared.
God gives men Riches, Honour claims as Donor.
Preferr'd before all Riches therefore's Honour.
9. On fabulous Poets.
Poets of old, making small difference
'Twixt Truth and Lies, made something of each Ens:
Their proper name, from making, Poets gather,
From making something, making nothing rather.
10. On Fabianus.
Some bald without, thou bald within, 'tis plain:
They want their Hair, thou want'st as much of Brain.
11. Osculum, a Kiss.
Lovers affect three Syllables; this word
Is given by the Lovers that accord.
Is the first given? Doubtless, then, in fine
The rest will follow from the femi [...]i [...]e.
12. Dalilah.
Strong Sampsons Wife, despoyl'd him of his hair,
Our times have many Dalilahs, as fair.
13. Coventry and Warwick, Midland Cities.
Not the same Prelate, the same Judge you see;
Your Spirits differ, but one flesh you be.
14. The Birth-day.
To present born, reborn to future things,
The present's first, the last more comfort brings.
15. On the Art of Love.
I think 'twas rudeness th' Art of Love t' impart,
Love is the work of Nature, not of Art.
16 On Gallio.
Rare Judge, who giftless doth his office; Why?
Because with gifts he did his office buy.
17. On Phyllis.
The Love of Phyllis for a Solar year
Endures not; Lunar 'tis, like Phoebe's Sphear.
Her love is like her Body, monthly sick:
Lunar's her Love, her self is Lunatick.
18. On Paetus. A Probleme.
Nor Father, Step-father, nor kin to those
Thy Wife brought forth: What shall we thee suppose?
19. On Pontiliana.
Why wert thou wedded on bright Lucy's light?
Because 'twas shortest Day, and longest Night.
20. To Fronto, a Lawyer.
I many Penal statutes, Fronto, saw
But not one Premial in all your Law:
Laws Penal, Premial support a State;
This age hath lost the last, the first's in date.
21. To Edward Noel, &c.
Wise Nature did to thee much Wit impart
To Natures strength thou dost add helps of Art.
Good Fortune with thy Vertue doth combine,
Unto thine Art and Wit thou Wealth dost joyn.
Fortune enables thee to succour wants,
And Vertue makes thee willing: Both God grants.
22. On Festus, an unjust Judge.
What Judas did, or Pilate, do the same:
Hang'd wouldst not be? Wash then thine hands from blame.
23. Paronomasia, (i.) Gingling with words.
A Maid looks on her Lovers face, not mind:
If wedded, 'tis enough, her Husband's kind:
Venus had rather courted be than painted;
With Acts, than Complements she's more acquainted.
24. To Martha, Of Quintus.
Quintus in Love is prodigal, recluse:
Of thy Love covetous, of's own profuse.
25. Of
Mans Back-parts are in Latine Neuters stil'd:
But all his parts please Women, well compil'd.
26. Of Colinus dying Intestate.
Dying Colinus nothing did bequeath,
Lest all: In Life a Dog, an Hog at's Death.
27. Of Virginity and Wedlock.
Virginity's a narrow way; a broad
Is Wedlook: Hence most People ride this road.
28. Of Pansa.
Great strife 'twixt Pansa and Eunomius
Arose about Church Rites, which they discuss:
Eunomius to prove his Period
The Scripture cites, th' undoubted word of God:
With Scripture what have I to do, replies
Pansa, my Bible in my Law books lies.
29. To D. T.
Thou followest two Masters; strange to me
If, or thou pleasest both, or both please thee.
30. Merchants Faith.
Where Debtors credit's less, less credit give
The Creditors; by trust how should they live?
Sole trust, these times hath many Merchants split:
To trust now therefore 'tis nor safe, nor fit.
31. Gerunds and Supines.
Di-do-dum while Aeneas was away
Did want her Gerunds, and Un-supine lay.
32. Give me an Angel, and I will give thee the Spirit.
The Spirit here, an Angel, Michael
Is promis'd there; here Gifts, there Hands excell.
33. To a certain rich Man.
If now thou givest much, thy love's compleat:
If much thou creditest, thy Faith is great.
34. To a servant of two most penurious Sisters.
Three Parce, fatal Sisters, once were known;
Thou now, poor wretch, two such dost serve and own.
35. A Louse.
Thou me dost bite, I kill thee: True, but small
Thy Crime's, thy Punishment is Capital.
36. From bad to worse.
He falls on Scylla that Charybdis shuns,
Who newly sick to the Physician runs:
Fools one extreme t' avoid act the contrary,
When trifles men to Law to Lawyers carry.
37. Of the Prodigal and Covetous.
Both these are wretched: And it oft doth fall
That th' Heirs of Cov'tous men prove Prodigal.
38. Divine Vengeance on G. R. 1603.
Thou kept'st the Prelates House against his mind;
Against thy mind th' art now t' an (a) House confin'd.
39. Of Damas.
As oft as I thy promise claim, and I
Claim it more oft, fith thou dost not comply;
Thou never sayst, I have, oft sayst I will;
No more I will, but say, I do fulfill.
40. On unfortunate Linus.
What wonder, fortune is to thee contrary?
Thy front is bare and bald, her Front is hairy.
41. To Gaurus.
Thy Whispers did of me some samll gift crave;
Wilt have a Culus gift? Thou shalt it have.
42. Man all-eating.
Air, Water, Earth, with all the vast Extents
Of th' Elements, scarce serve Mans Aliments.
If all man eateth, int' his Substance ran,
As 'tis suppos'd, what Monster would be man?
43. The broad way.
Broad is the way, much trod, unt' Hell that leads;
The Blind, himself the Guide, this broad way treads.
44. To, In, Of.
Of, In, To, these three words my Book inhems:
Of, Teacheth, To, Commendeth, In, Condemns.
45. On unmerciful Quintus.
When any Poor, or Naked, at thy door
Beg Alms, how canst deny, while such implore?
Thou sayst, none ought to Begg by th' English Laws,
But no Law barrs relief to th' poor, when cause.
46. Error is humane.
I read a just man falls seven times a day:
How oft a Woman falls, I cannot say.
47. On a certain foolish writer.
O, that all black had been thy Papers white;
Or tinctur'd with no black, when thou didst write.
48. The usurers Apology.
What good doth me my Money without use?
Gold's bright with use, use doth me gain produce.
49. On a Cuckold.
Hadst Horns by Nature, them thou might'st Cashier:
But th' Horns, thy Wife thee gave, thou needs must wear.
50. Things adjudged.
Though Cicero call Law the sum of Reason,
And that Law's best which thence proceeds in season:
Few Lawyers are Logicians; Use, Example,
The Laws and Statutes are of either Temple.
51. A Woman.
Fair women, famous: Youthful, sportful are:
If Witty, Wise: Buxome and Chast are rare.
52. The four Terms at Law.
The first Term's from Saint Michael declar'd;
For now (a) th' Arch-Angel doth the Lawyers guard:
The next is Hilary, this Term doth cause
The Lawyers Hilarity by th' Laws.
The third from Easter Feast its Title took,
The Lawyers Dockets are like (b) th' Easter Book.
The fourth Term's called Trinity: But why?
Because (c), each cause hath a Triplicity.
53. The Cross in the Poultrey.
To Christ.
The Crosses Image stands, thine's took from thence:
Than thee, the Cross hath greater Reverence.
54. That the Lawyers two Colledges, the Middle and Inner Temple are the same.
One house both have, and both one Law apply,
No Middle-Inner sense i' th' Law doth lie.
What's Middle, is the great World's inner Cell;
For than the Center, what doth inner dwell?
The Middle Temple then, though Middle wrote,
From th' Inner Temple differs not one Jot.
55. Of the same.
Two Parl'aments you have, one convocation;
Two Kitchens, but one Altar for oblation:
One Master calls to Supper, but the same.
One Horn doth not your Dinner time proclaim;
Nor the same winding both your Horns inflates,
Yet one mind both your bodies animates.
56. A bountiful Mecaenas.
Thou liberal and free dost nourish many,
And me thou nourishest as well as any.
57. To Faustinus.
Thou sayst my Book is good: O, if't be good,
I wish I were my Book, and understood.
58. O the times!
The Times are Chang'd, and in them Chang'd are we:
How? Man as Times grow worse, grows worse we see.
59. Stammering. To Balbinus.
Though thou dost stammer in thy Speech, yet none
60. Agna-Oxon.
Thou Bride to Benedict (not so well nam'd)
Suppos'd a Lamb, a Wolf art found, art fam'd.
61. To Aulus, a Physician, a vernal Gratulation.
Sick persons purge their Bodies in the Spring:
I thee salute, Spring doth thine Harvest bring.
62. A Poet Laureate.
In Fire the Bay-leaves crackle, Poets live
In Death; Hence to the Poet Bays we give.
63. To a Citizen.
Sick of a Fever, thou dost make repair
From Town to Countrey, for exchange of Air,
And going thither, leaving Cities gain,
Thy former Health thou dost again attain:
Returning home to London healthful, poor
Thou dost increase in Wealth: But, as before
Thy Fever comes: Now which is better, try,
Sickness with Wealth, or Health with Poverty?
64. Of Labienus, A Self-Lover.
He solely loves himself, beside loves none;
Loves sole himself, and loves himself alone.
65. A Widow.
Who weds a Widow, buys (as't may be scann'd)
A Garment in Long-Lane, at second hand:
For all such Garments more or less were wore;
So more or less all Widows were before.
66. Pyramus and Thisbe.
A fatal wall us parted: O how near
How far asunder we two lovers were.
67. To Pollux, a Client.
Thy Suit depends in law: Better suspend
Than it should long depend: Pay, there's an end.
68. Hot Cold.
Women, though cold, their lovers yet inflame;
So Lime in water cast, doth heat the same.
69. By my Faith.
None swear by Love, too many by their Faith:
Yet (a) that is God, but this no God-head hath.
70. Astrology.
Physiology.
Sublime Astrology soars in the Sky;
And Natures secrets in the Center lie.
I neither of these Mysteries can sound;
That for me's too sublime, this too profound.
71. Of Ponticus.
Thou nothing giv'st, but dying wilt: Then dy:
He giveth twice, who giveth speedily.
72. Unequal Conflict.
His Sword at all Times Matho cannot wield,
But Pontia still ready hath her Shield.
73. Of Lands and Money.
To Pontilian, a Merchant.
All Money with its Interest hath bounds;
But (doubtless) bottomless are Lands and Grounds
Founts better are than Cisterns, Ground than Chest:
Though Cisterns greatest are, and Fountains least.
74. Of Fame.
Fame seldome praiseth good, bad oft proclaims
Freely; from thence, evil the name of Fame's.
75. Of Galla.
Thine Eyes inflame me Galla; Touch me not:
If seeing burn, touching will be more hot.
76. Of decrepit Linus.
Saturn from Saturate, or full of years
Was call'd; thine age now Saturn-like appears.
77. A Dance.
Th' Heart dictates Love, Tongue's silent, Feet advance
Love's cunning meaning in a wanton Dance.
78. The Meditations and Vows of Joseph Hall of Cambridge.
Thou vowing vow'st, writ'st to be read, blest man,
Who reads thy Vows, if them perform he can.
79. Anagram to Priscus, an old man.
Priscus, thine Hairs were Crisped; Why no more?
I Priscus am, who Crispus was before.
80. The Britains Night.
The Britains with short Night are pleas'd, (a), 'tis said:
But British Maid no long Night hath dismay'd.
81. To Naevia.
We wish for th' absent Sun, the present shun:
O how our Love in this is like the Sun?
82. Of Festus, a Lyar.
All men are Lyars, Festus will confess:
Then call him man, he's Lyar call'd; no less.
83. Of Carpophorus.
From home he laughs with Lasses which he keeps:
At home, with's weeping wife, dissembling weeps.
84. The World.
Two Worlds are in the World; one undefil'd;
This most defil'd; yet each the World is stil'd.
85. To an Usurer.
The more thou giv'st, the more thou gainst a Friend:
But get'st a Foe, where thou the more dost lend.
86. Of Giving and Satisfying.
Give, crys Laws voice in the West-minster Hall;
Though satisfie saith Law Pontifical:
Lawyers take much, give little; much apply
Themselves to speak, little to satisfie.
88. Against that common Proverb, (viz.)
The younger Brother is the ancienter Gentleman.
Adam was first of generous Mankind,
For him his maker next himself design'd:
Then he that's nearest t' Adam's period,
More generous is, and nearer unto God.
89. No man hath seen God.
Dark minds see not Gods might, nor Owls the Light;
These see not day, nor those the God of might.
90. An old man is no man.
A young Man's laughing; weeping, Child and Woman;
An old man dry, both hath unlearn'd, he's no man.
91. Of a Saracen Atheist.
Bless'd Abr'hams Bosome seems a tale to thee;
In Sara's bosome thou would'st rather be.
92. Custome.
Custome and usage seems t' have force of Law:
Now wickedness the ballance down doth draw.
93. Of Albinus.
Merchant Albinus is of all berest,
Goods, Credit; He to lose hath nothing left:
In Love he lost Faith, Hope; All ill did prove;
What's left him now to lose at last? sole Love.
94. An Anagram, Gerere, Regere.
To bear Rule, and to bear, are proper, where
Is Man and Wife: Let Man Rule, Woman bear.
95. A forsaken Lover.
As Tophets Fire is burning without light,
So me thy Love doth burn, though nothing bright:
My Love to thee's like Elementar fire,
It shines, but burns thee not with my desire.
96. The punishment of Thais, A Probleme.
Sith in her former; not her hinder part
Thais did offend, why should her hinder smart?
Whether, because the sin before was sign'd,
The Punishment must therefore come behind.
97. Irus his Obsequies.
The Poor is like a Quartan; not one Bell
For the Poor's tacite Fun'ral rings a knell.
98. The Epitaph of Croesus and Irus.
Under a Marble Tomb lies Croesus, there;
But Irus where? The Poor lies ev'ry where.
99. Of Momus.
That I might love, approve, or praise in thee,
Or that I envy might, I nothing see.
100. Unite no number.
Of Forreign writers, and Britannicks Tone,
I of no number am; yet I am one.
The End of the First Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet. The Second Book.
1. To a Critical Courtier. • Labor, Labos, Englished Labour , • Arbor, Arbos, Englished A Tree , and • Honor, Honos, Englished Honour.
THese words, the same in sense, but not in sound:
He's wise that with the last of them is crown'd.
2. Faith.
Reason demonstrates God, makes it our Creed;
And by this Reason, Faith is Reasons deed.
3. God.
God all things sees, and yet is seen of none;
Sole in all places seen, unseen alone.
4. To William Sidley, Knight, and Baronet, &c.
Thy sundry Languages, thy skill i' th' Laws,
Arts, Piety, sublime thee with applause.
Thy counsel many, poor thy money have;
Thus Vertue leads the Journey to the Grave.
Live so to Christ, thy Countrey, to thy King,
Thy self, till Angels thee to Glory bring.
5. To John Sidley, only Son of the aforenamed William Sidley.
Thou Janus art, but sole in name, now young;
Thy Father emulate, in Deed ere long.
Thou shalt be Janus, hard 'tis to precel
Thy Father, if thou equal'st him, 'tis well.
6. A perpetual Equinoctial, To a blind man.
Thy Days and Nights are equal; thou canst see
Nor Day, nor Night, Aequators all to thee.
7. To Ponticus, an Anabaptist.
Wouldst keep good diet, for thy Souls Salvation?
Sup oft, wash once in thy Regeneration.
8. The Gods of Inconstancy.
Romans, Vertumnus, Greeks, Proteus ador'd;
What people make not each of these their Lord?
9. Wheel-grease.
Men grease their Axle-trees left Wheels should creak:
But Lawyers must be greas'd to make them speak.
10. Of Harpalus, the reputed Father of two Sons.
The Son, that bears thy name, is not thine own:
But he that bears anothers, thine is known.
11. The Creation of Woman.
When Paul the Gospel preach'd, his language then
Was us'd, (a) not unto Women, but to men:
O Brethren pray, (but not O Sisters pray)
The Priest in saying of the Mass doth say.
[Page 173] When Moses most exactly doth relate
The things, which God in order did create,
God solely good, who nothing made in vain
Or useless, God (saith Moses) did explain,
And call his Works all good, excepting one,
When he the Woman made of Adam's Bone.
12. Of Papinianus and Ponticus.
He saith he cannot err, and yet doth err;
This that he may, but errs not doth averr.
13. Of Tustonus.
Tuston is dead: Now dead, his Coyn doth come,
Rising out of his Chest, as from a Tomb.
14. Of Sin and Punishment.
The Doctors place Sin with Non-Entities:
Why place they not its Punishment there likewise?
15. Of the Moors who paint Angels Black, and Devils White.
Art cannot Metamorphose Black to White;
But Art roakes White take Black, though black as night.
Divines affirm no Devil can repent:
Satan's not White, then Black's his Element.
16. L' Argent faict tout.
Whence comes it that after so many slain,
English and French each in their own Land raign?
The (a) Shield, O generous France, advanc'd thy Van:
(b) An Angel, England, was thy Guardian.
17. Of a certain Drunkard.
Nothing's more thirsty than dry pratling: Bess-
Thy Wife prates more than thee; why drinks she less?
18. Verona, Placentia, Beneventum, To an Italian.
Few pass Verona from, to Benevent;
19. Time, Truth, Hatred.
Truth is Times Daughter, Hatred's Mother is,
Then Hatred's Nephew unto Time by this.
20. Daughter of Time.
I who Times Daughter was in times of yore,
Am I Times Daughter now, as heretofore?
Daughter of those, not of these Times am I:
Times Daughter's Christ, th' Eternal Deity.
21. Wedlock Love.
No weddings, but much Love's in Heaven above:
On Earth are many Weddings, but no Love.
22. The Decalogue, the Lords Prayer, and the Apostles Creed.
One Love, ten Precepts: One Hope, seven votes:
Twelve Articles, one Faith, Religion notes.
23. To Calistratus.
Pain'd with the Spleen, said I, 's a painful thing?
The Spleen doth laughing cause, doth weeping bring.
24. The Sun.
Three Planets higher, lower three there be;
Thy Vertue, Sol, 's amid the double three.
25. A Metaphor.
Bare knowledge knows not Natures voice; no sound
Of Natures words in Dictionary's found.
Farmers by Figures do their Sense express,
Rusticks their talk with City language dress.
Mans as to words, t' his life doth figures give;
'Tis figur'd all, and, as we speak, we live.
26. Christ a Divine, Physician, Lawyer.
Christ, here on Earth was a Physician,
A Preacher, is in Heaven, a Judge, God-Man.
27. Of Law, English-Welsh-French.
But Law's call'd (c) Right in th' English Dialect.
Erring's directed, Errors are by Law
Corrected, Laws Rule rules, keeps all in awe.
28. Castor and Pollux.
In Heaven the two Brother-Stars agree;
In Earth, I doubt, scarce two such Brothers be.
29. What is deferr'd is not auferr'd.
Long Life deferrs but takes not Death away;
What differs then, to die this, or next day?
30. Venale Honours Apology.
To the Baronets.
Gold, Honour, Lands, are Goods which Fortune lends;
And what on mans Arbitrement depends:
Health, Beauty, Strength, the Bodies Goods: These three,
And the Minds Goods from Price- from sale are free.
'Tis madness to sell Bodies, sinful, Souls:
Fortune to sell, to buy, no Law controuls.
31. Authority and Reason.
In humane words, not who, but what I weigh:
In words divine, not what, but who doth say.
32. Luci-fer.
The splendid Planet Venus doth adorn
With her resplendent Ray the Night, the Morn;
In Heaven she still waits upon the Sun:
Why then, the light on Earth, should Venus shun?
33. Of the end of the World.
The Worlds beginning, Genesis unt' us
34. To Pontilian.
Whether two Wives, both good; or one, a bad
Were best to marry with, thy Querie's had?
If I must choose, I then would choose the least
Of both these Evils, one, though bad, is best.
35. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.
Of the ten Precepts keep two, of the two
Keep one, that's Love; it will suffice: This do.
36. Devotion.
The pious people caus'd the Clergy's weal;
Ungrateful off-spring of religious Zeal.
37. Of Heaven and Earth.
Th' Earth's greatest part is hid, Heav'n spreads abroad:
I think that th' Earth's asham'd of Men, her load.
38. To Aulus, On Sextus, Of Quintus.
Me Sextus envies, him I pity, I:
Quintus, who me not envies, I envy.
39. Of Pollio.
Thy Wife thou dost forsake, but why? Before
Thou didst her wed, thou saidst, she was a Whore.
A Pre-contract doth Wedlock break, I know;
But why a Pre-contact should do't, me show?
40. Meer trifles. To —
Thou truly saidst that Whores meer trifles are;
For Harlots skins are always base and bare.
41. To banish'd Pannicus.
A Probleme.
In Exile, free thou liv'st as't were, the while
Thy native Soil did thee from it exile.
Which of these Fortunes gives thee best content?
Freedome abroad, or from home Banishment?
Rather I would (for I disclose my mind)
From home live free, than live at home confin'd.
42. The Evening.
The Sun declin'd behind leaves little light,
So Gods sole back was shew'd to Moses sight.
The Morning.
Wee see bright Phoebus shine in th' Orient,
Th' Antipodes on's Back, look discontent.
43. Baptism, to the Jew.
Baptism doth cure, but Circumcision wound;
The Laws wounds are by Baptism rendred sound.
44. Heatuontimoroumenos.
Self-vexing.
While Death to shun, Life to preserve, poor Man
Doth vex himself the space of all his span.
[Page 177] [...]rute Beasts enjoy the present Life's supply,
Living they live, and when they die, they die.
45. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet.
Thy noble worth doth Gold, doth Honour merit;
Yet both flag far beneath thy gen'rous spirit.
46. To J. P.
A brisk, wise Wife, that Latine speaks and Greek,
That can dispute in Logick, thou dost seek;
One, that the Major and the Minor takes,
And from bad Premisses worse sequence makes.
One that was vers'd in puny Naturals
While puny Maid, now Mistress of her Art in all's.
One that can render all Opponents mute,
And of all entities can well dispute.
[...]f such a Wife, so rational, were mine,
[...] would exchange with thee, though brute were thine.
47. On Ramista, bipartite.
Thou first definest, then what was defin'd
Thou dost divide, defin'st-divid'st each kind;
The whole thou in so many parts dissect'st,
That now thy comment's longer than the Text's.
48. To Saint Paul, Of the City of God.
Thou for thy self, when threatned with the Scourge,
A Citizen of Rome to be, didst urge:
But in the fatal day of final Doom
Wilt serve to plead that priviledge of Rome?
49. Christ.
Christ came into this World, saw mortal men,
Death overcame, returned into Heaven.
50. To W. Cambden, Of his Britannia.
Great Britains Isle, almost forgot, almost
In Lethe's Lake of black Oblivion lost,
In name, in fame by thee reduc'd alive,
Thou shalt in her, while she survives, survive.
51. To Perpenna.
Like a Parenthesis thy fore-head is
Horn'd, Crescent-like: An hard Parenthesis.
An hard Metathesis; Thy Wife too free-
Of flesh, all flesh, doth make all Horn of thee.
52. Of Vices and Riches.
No man doth crimeless live, or Coinless here,
A full fill'd Purse from crime is seldome clear.
53. Apology of Death, and the Shambles.
If Death no Youths, Butchers no Bullocks kill'd,
The World with Fools and Calves would soon be fill'd.
54. Eve and Proserpine compar'd.
The Serpent Eve seduc'd, and Proserpine
Was caught by Pluto's specious design:
Eve fell from Paradise to prejudice
For eating th' Apple which she thought no Vice.
And Proserpine might have escaped Dis,
Had she not been surpriz'd in that Abyss.
Death captiv'd Eve, and Pluto Proserpine,
This, of feign'd Jove, that, Child of Jove divine.
Both took forbidden things, this Flow'rs, that Fruit,
Like Punishments to their like Sins did suit.
55. Astrologer and Geographer.
You two the total World divide: The Stars
Astrologers, th' Earth claim Geographers.
56. To Fannia, Noble, Fair, Poor.
Fann'a, thou-fain wouldst with some rich man wed,
But for thy Poverty canst not be sped:
Though thou be nobly born, of fair aspect,
The sordid Lover Wealth doth more affect:
In Categoricks, substance sole we find
More prevalent in Love, than form or kind.
57. Con-sci-ence.
Love's Verbal now, not regal as of yore;
Belief depends on sense, not reasons score.
[Page 179] Religion scars i' th' Head, not sinks i' th' Heart,
It in the Brain, not Breast doth act its part.
58. An unspotted Sacrifice.
Gods Temple's th' Earth, Altar, the Cross, the Priest,
The Sacrifice, and Sacrificer's Christ.
59. Of Mortal and Venial Sin, To Christ.
Thy Death hath clear'd the Sins men double call;
Thy Cross doth Mortal Sins make Venial.
60. Upon in-hospitable persons.
[...] to those houses am no Page, nor Guest,
Whose Gates are to the Thresholds fast, when Feast.
61. Another, the same.
His own, none others let him be that's mine,
Let him be friendly that's my Friend, in fine.
62. Suffer little Children to come unto me.
The wanton flesh doth youth to sin seduce;
Old age in wickedness is more profuse.
Hence I suspect that few (scarce one in seven)
Of old men, or of young men enter Heaven.
63. Of Paracelsus.
She Salt of th' Earth Christ his Disciples nam'd:
Why then that th' Earth is salt have * Chymists fam'd?
64. Of Eggs.
The second Person humane form assum'd,
The third like an Egg-breeding Dove was plum'd:
The great Creator Birds and Fishes blest,
Egg-breeders, not Life-breeders had his Test.
65. Of Rome, and the World.
Old Rome was square, and then the World was round,
The World's now square, and new Rome Wheels hath found.
66. Magical Generation.
If Satan man succumb in Womans stead,
No Child from such coition can proceed:
[Page 180] But if like man h' incumb a Woman, thence
Some monstrous birth may chance t' have Effluence.
67. Of Bread and Butter.
In th' Iliads; two Welsh words, one (c) divin'd.
68. The Age of Moses and David.
Mans life is (a) six-score years, as Moses said,
And (b) he, so many years liv'd, undecay'd:
King David said, man in his Pilgrimage
Each of them liv'd so long, before they di'd,
As each had said; his Death each propheci'd.
He who taught Moses, David, (the Divine)
Their days to number, wills thee (e) number thine.
69. Even and uneven Number.
Each Number hath its mid, odd half doth want;
What's even hath its half, of mid is scant.
70. Physicians and Lawyers compared.
To Galen.
Galen, the feared Tyrants fear thee; Why?
The Life and Death of Kings in thee doth lie.
Physicians next to God, are Arbiters
Of Life and Death; none can their Pow'r reverse.
A Judge may Sentence give of Death (though loth)
Not without Crime and witness, thousans both.
71. Of King, People, Law.
Kings, Shepheards: People, Sheep: Laws, Fodder are:
For sick Sheep, Doctors, Kings, Laws cure prepare.
Orthography, and Orthodox Faith, To the Hebrews.
If the Right hand the Right side should decline,
And the left hand the left side: Both disjoyn.
But if the left incline to th' right, the right
Incline unto the left hand, Both unite.
You Jews right Writers, we right Teachers are,
The Spirit's ours, yours is the Letter bare.
73. Few are chosen.
Each, and sole man adores the Pow'r divine;
Each and sole man offends against the trine:
Each, and sole man the Saviour came to save;
Sole man, yet not each man this Boon shall have.
74. Of salt Pits. Ambiguous.
Though generous English have Ingeniousness,
Yet Salt they prize at little, Wit at less:
Though English Salt be white, and Gallick brown;
Yet that French Salt sells dearer than our own.
75. Novelty.
What's new, will not continue new; nor will
A pleasing Novelty be pleasing still.
What new then solely pleaseth not, 'cause new,
But that best pleaseth whence good doth ensue.
76. Man, no man.
Man's born by Nature, man did Arts invent;
Art is mans work, not man Arts instrument:
None follow Natures Rules, by Art all live:
And now mans work t' Himself a Work doth give.
77. Authors of Sin.
To Grammarians, Authors of Errors.
Autor and Auctor you too much confound;
Pythagoras his (a) saying was renown'd.
Th' unhappy Tree produc'd Original Sin;
Whence Adam are; but did not first begin.
[Page 192] The Serpent Autor was, Eve did proceed:
78. Anagram of Diabolus, The Devil.
[...].
Vis, Fraus, Force, Fraud.
The Devil like a Lion seeks to find
Souls, to devour with force, more fierce than Wind:
He, Fox-like, spreads close frauds, and secret snares,
Surprizing, or by Force, or unawares.
79. To Teach and Do, Acts 1.1.
Preachers good words teach people to believe;
But their good Works more lively Doctrine give.
He preacheth best, whose Words and Works do preach;
Their ill Works hurt more, than their good Words teach.
80. Usury and Lot.
Be with thy Lot content, Usurious gain
Is sinful, with thy Lot content remain.
81. Invention of Truth.
To the Dubious.
Pythagoras ('tis said) when Truth he found,
Lid sacrifice an Oxe, with Garlands crown'd:
Truth now's so rarely seen with mortal eyes,
A Calf's enough for thee to sacrifice.
82. Circumcision and Baptism.
Thou, Christ, wast Circumcis'd, thou wast Baptiz'd,
Though neither thou did'st need; yet both were priz'd:
Sins, which both cannot purge, though joyn'd together,
Why may not I, O Christ, have one of either?
83. The Wisdome of Solomon, and of Siracides.
Wisdomes two Books Apocryphal we call;
Wise men must then be still Apocryphal.
84. On Covetous Persons.
Sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor.
This killing Letter doth all misers kill;
What, say they, doth the Spirit herein will?
The Spirit wills, what you will not, your store
To give, but you give nothing to the poor.
85. Of Sextus.
Is the Church visible? Thou ask'st: Why? Ours
Is visible, invisible is yours.
86. An Exiles Comfort.
Not banish'd while I live, while Earth doth stand,
Nor exil'd shall I be while th' Earth's call'd Land:
When dead, exil'd from Earth I shall at rest
In Heaven be blessed among the blest.
87. Man, an Hunter, Fisher, Fowler.
I hunt for Riches, Fowl for Praise and Honour,
I Fish for Mysteries: Would know their Donor.
While Fool, I strive to know, Proud, Honours crave,
Sordid seek Wealth, I travel to my Grave.
88. Of the same.
The Dog hunts on the Ground, Fish swim in Seas,
The winged Birds poys'd are in th' Air at case,
A wise man Fish-like sounds things hid-profound;
Proud men soar Bird-like, covetous hunt like hound.
89. Foot-mens Comfort.
An Horse int' Heaven did not Castor bear,
Nor rode Triptolemus in's Chariot there:
Heav'ns way's strait-narrow, Foot-men travel it;
The broad way's most for Horse and Chariot fit.
90. Of Wax.
I trebly useful am, for Church, Laws, Health:
I bring Divines, Physicians, Lawyers, Wealth.
91. Of a certain Fair Fickle Woman.
The King of Stars thee decks, the Queen directs
The Sun thy Face, the Moon thy Breast aspects.
92. Of the Soul and Body.
A Probleme.
The Greeks their Slaves did Bodies call, because
The Soul's free from the servile Bodies Laws:
A Lord's the Bodies Lord, a King's its King,
But not the Souls: From God Souls solely spring.
Bodies begotten are; But Souls divin'd,
Deduce from God their unbegotten kind.
93. Of Christs Miracles.
To one incredulous.
Thy Faith's not great, wonders thou canst do none;
Nor hast thou Faith to credit what are done.
94. The old Testament.
A Testament, while the Testator lives,
Is of no force, invalid, nothing gives:
Yet Gods word's call'd th' old Testament: But why?
Sith God, who did ordain it, cannot die.
95. The New Testament.
This was of Christ call'd the new Testament,
By few first, now by general consent:
Yet not a letter of this Book was writ,
While the Testator liv'd t' attestate it.
96. All things are full of Errors. Cic.
Physicians are sick, Lawyers mistake,
Many Divines pass to th' infernal Lake.
97. Against all Nations.
One only God, one man did make on Earth;
One man, once made, to many Gods gave Birth.
98. On Atheists.
Fear first taught to fear God: But now, alas,
The fear of God without all fear doth pass.
99. To his Mecaenas, William Sidley, &c.
Who to thee wisheth not old Nestors years,
Would wishes serve, before thou climb the Sphears?
[Page 191] I wish thee not more years, one year wish I,
I wish thee Plato's year, before thou die.
100. On Cotta, a poor and foolish writer.
Thou sayst thou wantst new Clothes; That's true, I grant:
But I think, rather, thou new Wit dost want.
The End of the Second Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAIN. To his Mecaenas, Roger Owen, Knight. The Third Book.
1. To Roger Owen, his Mecaenas.
IT is thy Vertue, Vertue to propose
To be thy Study, this thy Judgement chose:
Where thou most Vertue find'st, thou lov'st it there,
While thou with the most vert'ous art Compeer.
2. To Ponticus, Sound-unsound.
In health and wealth thou dost with Pride abound:
But, when thou shalt be sick, thou wilt be sound.
3. What a Clock is't?
Death creeps on Life, and Age on youth: The while
'Tis ask'd, What is't a Clock? Hours us beguile.
4. Bacchus his Deifying.
Wine Truth doth speak, doth secret things display;
Dry Souls are silent, moyst things open lay:
Wine hearts doth open; Rhenish Wine descries
The Reins; Who Bacchus then a God denies?
5. Of silent Labienus.
If wise, th' art foolish not to speak; but if
A Fool (as th' art) it is thy Wisdome chief.
6. Faith in Wax.
Without or Wax or Seal men once lent money;
But now without them both none will lend any.
7. To Firmicus. Of the seven Planets.
The Sun's like Gold, the Moon shews Silvers smile;
Venus like Coppress (Cyprus was her Ile)
Quick-silver'd Mercury; stern Mars strikes dead
With fatal Steel; Jove's Time, and Saturn Lead.
The last five of the seven take to thee:
One Sun's enough, one Moon's enough for me.
8. Of a certain Niggard.
Verses can from the Skies deduce the Moon,
As soon as from thy Purse produce one Boon.
9. Wedlocks Primacy.
The man by day, by night the feminine
Bears rule: So Sun and Moon alternate shine.
10. Of a certain Woman.
Thine Head wears Feathers, Corks thy Feet up rear:
From Head to foot thy lightness doth appear.
11. Faith.
I see the Stars, the Pole's imaginary;
Eyes view the Skies, but Faith to God doth carry.
12. To Thomas, Baron of Ellesmer, Chancellour of England, &c. 1612.
Thou late one Son, one-only Daughter late
Hast lost, yet hast one Son preserv'd from fate:
[Page 195]He of the three like John, sole Son to thee;
Summest of all, the Sum of all the three.
13. Contempt of the World.
Wilt live an happy life? Thy Life contemn:
He wretched lives, whose life unt' him's a Jem.
14. To Robert Cary, Viscount Rochester, and Henry Danvers, Baron of Dantesay, &c.
Five Jacobines you gave me, even then
When I five Distichs gave you from my pen.
I merit not your Love, nor Gifts; by which
(If so dear were the rest) I might be rich.
15. To his Friend, A Batchelor.
Dost burn with lust? 'Tis sin: Espouse a Bride;
The flesh will be the better mortifi'd.
16. Of Baldinus.
He Books unworthy light, to Light brought forth:
Yet Books deserving Fire, else nothing worth.
17. The Decalogue and Creed.
Why's my Belief, than Life, bound more unto?
'Cause 'tis more easie to believe than do.
18. Knowledge and Charity.
I must know two things, two things love must I,
God and my Self, God and my Neighbour by.
19. Of Tythes. To the Laitie.
What Fruit comes hence, best fruit's beyond compute,
After the Ninth, before th' Eleventh Fruit:
How good is God? who takes not for his due
More than the tenth, but gives the tenth to you.
20. Of God and the World.
This World in God exists, God is not here:
We are i' th' World, O would in God we were.
21. The Right of Tythes and First-Fruits.
God is the First and Last; most justly then
The First-fruits and the Tythes he claims of men.
22. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Sole Love with us doth Heaven penetrate,
Faith, Hope are useless; Both within that Gate.
There's nothing to believe, all's in our Eine;
Nothing to Hope for, for w' injoy the Trine;
[Page 200]Love's ever there, Love after Death's alive,
While God himself in Heaven doth survive.
23. Of Polydorus.
Clos'd in a Chest, as dead, he money keeps;
Quick-silver 'tis not, 'tis or dead, or sleeps.
24. To my self.
Owen, the Printer sought thy Book to buy,
The price thou ask'st, he gave it readily.
The Book is printed, and thou buyest it;
Owretched man, thou sell'st and buy'st thy Wit.
25. Of one Uxorious.
Thou sitt'st at Stern, but thee thy Boat doth guide;
Which Pinnace-like thee bears with Wind and Tide.
26. Of Husband and Wife.
Two in one Flesh.
If Love unite not Hearts, espous'd together,
Both of them are not one, but two are either.
27. Man Solar.
The Sun contrary to the Globe doth run:
Let then mans course of Life be like the Sun.
28. Of Sylvanus.
The force of's wit is fi'ry, Sylvan says;
And thence concludes, that Fire doth nothing raise.
29. London.
The barren City fruits converts to dung;
The fertile Fields turn Dung to fruits e're long:
Thou debtor art for Food and Life to th' Clown;
He debtor is for compost to thy Town.
30. To his Friend and Kinsman Theodore Prise, Theologer.
In things uncertain thou my certain Friend
Hast been, and still to be so dost intend:
What words profess, thy Deeds express, I grant;
Thy life to th' vocal tongue is consonant.
31. Of Atheists and (a) Polytheists.
The poor his wants, as many Gods doth fear;
Rich Averice doth wish no Gods there were.
[Page 201]Poor Penury sins less than Plenty doth;
That thinks on Gods, but this t' have God is loth.(a)
32. Solicitude. To Ponticus.
By day, by night thy Wife with clamours fills
Thine Ears, and with solicitude thee kills:
What cure is there from this thee to secure?
In Solitude thou mayst be safe and sure.
33. (a) F A S.
Faith, Hope, and Love's the way to scale the Sky,
Without these three no man can soar so high.
Hope on the left, Faith is on Love's right hand;
Love, the chief Vertue, in the midst doth stand.
34. To the Learned and Judicious Knight, Roger Owen.
Thou mayst seem to be young (most learn'd) to some,
If either I were Deaf, or thou wert Dumb:
None will thee young, unless he's Deaf, suppose;
Nor old, unless he doth his Eye-lids close.
35. Eight.
The Saviour of the world twice four did bless;
And Noah's saving Ark sav'd eight; no less.
36. Of mans Primacy. A Probleme.
Why did the Lord from Adam, Eve create?
Because with him she should not b' adaequate.
Had she been made of Earth, she would have deem'd
Her self his Sister, and his equal seem'd.
37. Conjux. Man and Wife.
Sith Wives their Husbands subjects are: Then why
Doth Conjux Wife and Husband signifie?
Why doth this Word Conjux conioyn them, when
Wives most perverse, are most averse to men?
38. Epigram.
We, that have fancies t' Epigrammatize,
Can out of any Wood make Mercuries:
I'm vers'd in Words, as Galenist in Herbs;
He's master of his Herbs, I of my Verbs.
39. Of Paula, a most lectick Woman.
Dost wonder, why th' art call'd most lect? 'Tis soon
Resolv'd, because thou sleep'st in (a) Lect till Noon.
40. Of a certain litigious Lawyer.
Wert not cause-maker thou, thy need to serve,
Thou, no cause-pleader, might'st for hunger starve.
41. Scripture Reading.
The Thief, the Traveller are arm'd with Sword;
Phanaticks, Catholicks, all read Gods word.
42. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britan, Dr. in Divinity, Principal of Jesus Colledge in Oxford.
Thou dost the Scriptures search, both old and new;
Thou Janus art, before-behind do'st view.
43. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britan, a Divine, and fellow of St. Johns Colledge in Cambridge
Ingenious youth, do not thy Talent hide,
The Cambrians Honour shall by thee abide.
44. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britan, the Kings Goldsmith in London.
Thy civil wit doth more than civil seem;
Thee wiser than a Citizen I deem.
45. To all those three.
You three my Kinsmen are, and each my Friend,
Three Johns, and I your John am to mine end.
46. To the Creditor.
Thy Debtor is thy Servant, he, that pays
Thy Friend, thy Master Payment that gainsays.
47. Truth in the deep. To one painted.
False things appear, Truth's hid; 'Tis seen in thee;
Thy Face is painted, thy facts tainted be.
48. Of Phyllis.
Thou tak'st, but wilt not Gratis give a kiss;
Thy Gift not grateful, but ingrateful is.
49. Gravity and Levity.
Though light and pond'rous things are oppos [...]te,
I would not have mine head too grave, too light:
[Page 199] Ills opposite I hate: I would not have
My Wife to be too light, nor yet too grave.
50. Of a Pratler, sick with the Cholick.
Thy Tongue is loose, thy Body close; Both ill:
With Silence this, with Loquence that doth kill.
51. Of Theologaster, a Sophister.
What is thy knowledge without Goodness? Vain.
Cease then to know much; rather Goodness gain.
52. Action and Passion.
Who doth much ill, shall suffer much for it;
But who much suffers, doth less ill commit.
53. Repentance and Reminiscence.
I wretch am griev'd when I recount my sins;
But, when I count my suff'rings, Joy begins.
54. The Damned.
Thy sad Fate's like Decembers 'leventh Ray;
A long night follows thy short-cloudy Day.
55. The Blessed.
Like Junes eleventh Day thy Fate shines bright,
A long-long day succeeds thy short-short Night.
56. Foelix and Festus.
57. Democritus and Heraclitus.
This wept for the then times Defaults, and Crimes;
That laughed at the Follies of the times.
Mortals will still be foolish, wretched, frail;
That this may laugh, that ever may bewail.
58. Always the same.
Let Faith, Hope, Charity be still the same;
The same thy Wit, still kept within its frame.
59. Of ignorant-arrogant Linus.
Thee, double ignorance doth captivate,
Thou nothing know'st, and know'st not that thy state.
60. Of the Poet Maevius.
Non-Entities and Evil, like we call;
Thou mak'st, though many Verses, none at all.
61. Helena and Penelope.
Fame hath fair Helen mounted to the Skyes;
Glory Penelope doth Eternize.
Penelop's-Helen's Names shall never die:
Because this would, that would not falsifie.
62. Of Life.
Nature mans life, as Spiders Webs, doth weave;
Each Labour's long, apt to decay-deceive.
63. Of Paula.
Thou with thy Bodies use, with usury
Thine Husband trades; He this, thou that, dost ply.
64. Of a Covetous Miser.
To number, add, or multiply thy store,
'Tis nothing; but divide, thou shalt have more.
65. Verity and Vertue.
Never so few, who now learn well to live;
Never so many, who good Doctrine give:
Many, these times, the ways of Faith display;
But they who taught the ways, taught not the way.
66. Modern Writers.
We carp at former Works, and Words; yet we
Now writers, but the formers Echoes be.
67. The Worlds three Rulers.
Let the Divine be sage, to b' all unt' all;
The Lawyer wise, Physician literal.
68. The Authors Vote.
I wish not Poverty, nor riches great,
Too little, nor too much: Enough's compleat.
69. Forbidden Books.
We covet things forbid, deni'd, desire;
A Wife cloggs youth, a Dams [...]l sets on Fire:
One, though deform'd, injoy'd, seems fair by night:
Forbidden Books are read witth most delight.
70. On Festus.
I'm to thee trusty, trustless th' art to me;
But why? Thou say'st, th' art next thy self, so be.
Be next thy self; Thou shalt not me be next;
I love not by bad Neighbours to be vext.
71. The false Church.
What Church doth not her self Christs Spouse declare?
How many yet of them but Harlots are?
If the false Church doth not her self deceive,
Christ shall, than Solomon, more Spouses have.
72. To Decianus.
The World, thou sayst, is wicked: True; but thou
Art one of them that makes it wicked now.
73. Of Dindymus.
A Batchelor in Venus Art thou art;
Thou shalt (when Pander) act a Masters part.
74. To G. T. 1606.
Thy Servants Scholar, and his Lord to be,
An Honour is, a Misery to thee.
75. Rule of State.
The common Wealth was once the Rule of Right:
But now new Rules of Right are brought to light.
76. Of a certain Cross-wearing Hypocrite.
Belzebub's thought to th' Cross an Enemy,
Which seeing, he doth turn, return, and fly;
But not from ev'ry Cross: For though thy Breast
Thou cross, yet Satan in thine Heart dost rest.
77. Christ's Life and Death.
For me Christ did, and suff'red many things:
God in his Deeds, Man in his Sufferings.
78. The wise mens Star.
A Star t' Astronomers unknown, was lent
To light the Kings, to Christ, from th' Orient:
The wise men by that Star found Christ, the King:
O may my Star, my Faith, to Christ me bring.
79. The Golden Calf broken by Moses. Exod. 32.20.
The Golden Calf which Aaron did calcine,
Moses destroy'd, made it less Belluine.
80. The Triumvirs • Divines, , • Lawyers, , and • Physicians.
These of the World the grand Triumvirs be:
What are Divines? Divinest of the three.
81. To the Histor [...]grapher.
In History speak'st free? That bad may be:
Speak'st nothing false? Silence may censure thee.
Dissimulate or simulate, who writes
An History, must serve all appetites.
82. Of the Deluge, and end of the World.
The wicked World with sinful Lusts inflam'd,
Was drown'd by Water: So those Lusts were tam'd.
The now-new World, in Charity grown cold,
Shall be consum'd with Fire as was that old
With Water: Physick thus makes cures intire
By contraries; Fire Water, Water Fire.
83. Debtor and Creditor.
I owe thee nought but Evangelick Love;
The with Apostolick Faith, I prove, approve.
84. Of God and the Devil.
God would have all men sav'd; The Devil none:
These no mens persons do respect, not one.
85. Of Good and Evil.
Thee Good, shall have Rewards, the Bad, severe
Torments hereafter: That hath hope, this fear.
86. Do likewise. To Atta [...]us, J. C.
Thou practise must to Theory conjoyn;
Read the Saints lives; do likewise then in thine.
87. The Redeemer.
To thee my Sight, my Tast hath sole relation;
Thou art my Sun, my Salt, my sole Salvation.
88. Money's Method.
'Tis vertue great, of Gold to get tuition;
Its good use greater, greatest its fruition.
89. Of Writers in these times.
A fatal error causeth fools to write:
Enough they seem to gain, when seen in Light:
While they self-pleasing, rashly write, poor Elves;
They seldome others please, who please themselves.
90. A Paradox.
Though Atheists all descend int' Hell, there roar:
None Atheist now's in Hell, there was before.
91. Of Gaurus.
Thou praisest nothing, all reprovest; see
While thou none pleasest, no man pleaseth thee.
92. To my self.
Owen, would'st know what friends thou canst procure?
By weight, not number count, thou shalt be sure:
The number, and the Finger oft beguile;
Though Love be Fire, it pond'rous is the while.
93. Difference between Kings and Tyrants.
Good-Godly Kings what's Just and Right perpend:
But Tyrants, what they will, command-commend:
A good Kings Treats I prize Tore Tyrants Threats;
This, what he speaks, commands; that but intreats.
94. Of a certain—
Bedlam for Fools, Bride-well for Knaves is best;
To which of these thou wilt thou mayst b' a Guest.
95. The Mother Church.
You be Christs Brethren, I his Spouse; thereby
I am your Sister, call'd your Mother, why?
96. Of Sects.
Five Senses in a man the Sophist finds,
Three Souls: But who can tell how many minds?
97. Life in the Blood.
Moses, the Legislator, did confine
Life in the Blood; In Christ's Blood I do (a) mine.
98. To Thomas, Baron of Ellesmer, Chancellour of England, a Consolation upon the death of Mary, his only Daughter, an excellent Woman, 1612.
Nestor, no doubt, and old Mathusalem
Saw many Funerals, and wept for them:
Long livers live, oft see their Childrens Urns:
An happy man, unhappy Fortune mourns,
I, of thy Children grieve thy Loss to see;
But glad, that they saw not the loss of thee.
99. On a foolish Writer.
Thy Books eternal are: My vote I spend;
For neither they beginning have, nor end.
100. To his three Mecaenates, E. N. G. S. and R. O.
You strive, still may you strive, which of you three
Should be the best Mecaenas unto me.
This Strife (a strife-less strife) I will foment;
And wish your Emulation permanent.
You by this noble Strife have nothing lost;
And I thereby great profit have ingrost.
101. Upon the Death of Prince Henry, 1612.
Dead is the Prince, bewall'd with Floods of Tears,
Great Britains Hope, his Parents Joys and Fears.
His second no man, but his German Brother;
And, but his German Sister, not another.
A Prince, while living, honour'd, dead, belov'd;
Both of his Countrey, while he liv'd, he prov'd.
While I these things with weeping Eyes perpend
Salt Tears from both mine Eyes like Floods descend,
Reader, believe me, this me so doth touch,
That I can speak no more I weep so much.
102. To the Prince his Ghost.
Thou, living, didst m' an yearly Stipend give;
Lost now, because thou didst no longer live.
Yet, O I wish thou hadst surviv'd, thought
Had nothing gain'd by thy superstity.
Though neither of us now can t' each incline,
Yet who can barr my thanks unto thy Shrine?
103. To the same Prince Henry.
I said (a) thou shalt my Caesar be, but I
Must now, alas, Thou wast my Caesar, cry.
The End of the Third Book.
The Epilogue.
To the Readers.
The British Owen, with his Latine verse,
Is here rais'd up in English from his Hearse:
Here many things of note accost your Eye:
'Twere pity such-so many things should die.
Not, but that they survive in what he writ,
Yet all our English understand not it.
If any thing seem in the Scene obscene,
'Tis wash'd, and here wrapp'd up in Linnen clean;
You need not fear to lodge between the Sheets,
They be perfum'd with Aromatick Sweets.
I wish t' ye all a sweet-a safe repose
By day, by night: And thus the book I close.
Tho. Harvey.
Epitaphium Johannis Owen in Templo Divi Pauli Londini.
Parva T [...]be Statua est, quia parva Statura, Supellex
[...] Parva, volat parvus magna per ora Liber;
Sed non parvus honos, non parva est Gloria, quippe
Ingenio haud quicquam est majus in Orbe tuo:
Parva domus texit, Templum sed grande; Poetae
Tum verè vitam, cum moriuntur, agunt.
Posuit Reverendus Pater D. Johannes Williams, Episcopus Lincolniensis, Magni Sigilli Anglia custos.
This Epitaph thus Englished.
Thy Statue, Stature, thine Estate, thy Book,
All little, great Men yet on this do look:
Nor is thine Honour, or thy Glory small,
For greater wit than thine, is not at all:
Thy little house in a great Temple lies,
A Poet lives not truly till he dies.
Tho. Harvey.
FINIS.