POEMS On several CHOICE and VARIOUS SUBJECTS. Occasionally Composed By An Eminent Author.
Collected and Published BY Sergeant-Major P. F.
LONDON: Printed by Ja: Contrel; and are to be sold by S. Speed, at the Rain-bow in Fleetstreet, near the inner Temple-gate. 1663.
TO THE RIGHT REVEREND, And Innately Noble, Dr. Henry King, (Many years) Lord Bishop of Chichester, &c.
My LORD [...]
THere are divers Motives (humbly under Favour) which have induced me to this Dedication.
[Page] The first, That besides those severe and high-solid Studies which attend Theological Speculations, (wherein your Lordship is eminent even to admiration) 'tis evidently known, my Lord, that you have not onely a profound Judgement, but also a sublime Genius in Poetical Compositions. Now, my Lord, 'tis upon good Record, that Poets were the first Divines and Philosophers; and as a great Wit well observeth, Poetry is the clearest Light to prove that Man hath an Intellectual Soul, and Ray of Divinity shining in him.
The second Motive was, my Lord, That I finde in the Works of this Excellent [Page] Author, some signal Passages that discover the particular Observance and high Veneration not onely he hath (but many thousands more) of your Lordships dear Relations, and your own most Unparallel'd Merits.
The third Motive was, my Lord, That I might lay hold on this happy opportunity of publickly confessing those Obligations I cannot now fairly Conceal, nor yet fitly Cancel; that the World as well as your most honourable Lordship may be sensible of these Overtures of my devoted Gratitude; which till I can exemplifie in a Prolixer Present, I beseech your Lordship to accept this small Homage and contracted Tender [Page] of his humble Devoire, who is otherwise unlimited,
My Lord,
And in all ample Duty and Obedience, Your LORDSHIPS Most faithful Honourer, AND Sincerely devoted Servant, P. F.
To the Reader.
NOt to know the Author of these Poems, were an Ignorance beyond Barbarism, as 'twas said of a famous person in France: yet I held it superfluous to prefix his Name in the Title-Page, he being known and easily distinguished from others by his Genius and Stile, as a great Wit said lately of him, ‘Author Hic ex Calamo notus ut ungue Leo.’
He may be called the prodigie of his Age, for the variety of his Volumes: for from his [...], or Parly of Trees, to his [...], or Parly of Beasts, (not inferiour to the other) there hath pass'd the Press above forty of his Works on various subjects; useful not onely to the present times, but to all posterity.
And ' [...]is observed, that in all his Writings there is something still New, either in the Matter, Method or Fancy, and in an untrodden Tract. Moreover, one may discover a [Page] kinde of Vein of Poesie to run through [...] body of his Prose, in the Concinnity [...] succ [...]nctness thereof all along.
He teacheth a new way of Epistolizing▪ and that Famil [...]ar Letters may not onely consist of Words, and a bombast of Complements, but that they are capable of the highest Speculations and solidst kind of Knowledge.
He chalks out a Topical and exact way for Forreign Travel, not roving in general Precepts onely.
In all his Histories there are the true Rules, Laws and Language of History observed.
What infinite advantages may be got by his Dictionaries and Nomenclature by all Professions and Nations!
How strongly and indeed unanswerably doth he assert the Royal Right in divers learned Tracts, to the unbeguiling and conversion of many thousands abroad as well as at home! &c.
Touching these Poems, most of them nere saw publick Light before; for I got them in Manuscripts, whereof I thought fit to give the Reader an Advertisement.
De Ornatissimo, Viro (que) omni fariàm pererudito Acris, & Ignei Ingenii, Polyglotto ad Prodigium us (que) Dom. IACOBO HOWELL Maridanensi, Tam ex Majorum ceris, quam sui Ipsius Meritis Armigero, &c.
SIc Phaebi Deluh [...] patent; sic tota Recessus
Pandit Cyrr [...]a suos, fundit (que) oracnla praegnans
Anglia, Cambri [...]cae & Corti [...]a rem [...]gi [...]t aulae,
Nempe nou [...]m Aeonidunt Proles Montaccola fontem
Ostendit, sacras (que) aperit Tritonidis aroes
Howelli Generosa Domus, Celeberrima Gentis
Hoeliae, Patrii (que) [...] memorabile fundi.
Tolle Coronatas Stirps Maridunia cristas,
Howellum (que) Tuum ventura in saecula jactes
Indigenis peperisse plagis, quâ monstrat Avitos
Insignis Fortuna lares, series (que) votusta
Sanguinis à longo volv [...]ntis flumina Rivo;
Ad Cujus gavisi olim Cristalla sedere
Grandaevi Druides, pa [...]lis (que) studere sub umoris
Ornorum Bardi, & nemorum secondere lustris.
Vnde patet, nec vana [...]ides, genus esse Jacobi
De seri [...] Druidum, suffusa (que) [...] dudum
Enthea primae vis spirasse oracula [...].
[Page] Ergo [...] Majorum vana facessat,
Nec sibi Primores cunctos vetus arroget aevum;
Creta Panomphaeum quid progenuisse Tonantem
Intumet? aut veteres sic altercantur, Homerus
Qu [...] fuerat de sede satus? Quid culta superbit
Scaligero Verona suo? Quid Mantua foelix
Virgilio praecone tumes? En Cambria nobis
Mantua, de (que) suis Vates educitur oris
Maeonio nil Vate minor, Cunabula cujus
Circum, tot Charitum croceis Examina turmis
Mellifluos fecere favos, ea gratia Scriptis
Aurea, librato (que) sedet sub carmine nervus,
Et gravitas fictae non affectata loquelae.
Scilicet à Teneris docti vestigia Secli
Vs (que) sequi Tibi cura fuit; veterum (que) labores
Volvere limatos, avidis (que) Heliconida labris
Exhaustis Vacuare cadis.a Harlaeus honoris
Primitias insignis habet, Qui Numine dextro
Tam Tibi, quam celebri Fratri primordia jecit
Vrbs Quem b Bristoliae dudum dignata Tiarâ est
Praesulis, & sacram vel adhuc reminiscitur umbra [...].
O foelix Howelle nimis novisse Magistrum
Harlaeum cujus Gens Herefordia stirpem
Jactet, & ingentem tollat per saecula famam!
Illius auspiciis solidis, epheba Juventus
Pieriis afflata modis, quum nobile Flacci
Ante oculos saltabat Epos; & Plectra Lucani
Pharsalico concinna chely. Tum mite Terenti
Inge [...]um, & stricto servorum scommata socco,
Plautinos (que) sales potâsti impubibus annis
Ilelluo Graecorum Laticum. Mox Sydere vers [...]
Ipse novum moliris iter, quâ Dule [...] Lycaeum
Heic Jesu sacrata Domus Te amplectitur ulnis
Admissum geminis, & di [...]t pocula Lucis
Castalio cum lacte dabat. Sub sensibus hausto [...]
Tum logicos primum gryphos, artes (que) loquendi
Digeris, & solide formâ methodo (que) locatis,
Venturae Vigil instauras fundamina Famae.
Inde Sophistaeo magis inspirata Su [...]urro
Mens Tua, Te Socium nullo opponente creavit
Collegi veneranda Cohors. Nec sistitur ingens
Impetus, humanae qui supra nubila vitae
Gestit, & aprico foelix feriatur olympo.
Ergo Philosophiae sublimia culmina scandens
Occultas reseras sedes, ubi Scrinia mundi
Naturae (que) Arcana habitant: ubi cernitur omnis
Quid Divina velit, vel suaserit Ethnica Virtus.
Quicquid Socratico manavit ab ordine; quicquid
Clara Cleantheae praescripsit Turba Lucernae;
Quicquid Erycthraeis Cynicorum Secta studebat
Gymnasiis; quicquid dixit, tac [...]it (que) loquendo
Pythagoras Howelle Tuum est, Qui abstrusa latebris
Eruis ingenio, Rerum (que) oracula pandens,
Concipis immensos dilato pectore mundos.
Nec Tua Fama Domi, Patriisve morabitur antris,
Vecta per extremum nonis Juvenilibus orbem,
Et Regum consueta Aulis, inter (que) potentes
Europae Dominos porrectas sumere laurus.
Te Juvenem cognovit Iber; Te celsa Philippi
Regia Catholici Madriti vidit Agentem
Principis Adventu Caroli, stupuit (que) loquentem,
Tractantem (que) diu alterni Molimina Sceptri.
Inde Revertentem Borealis Syderis Atlas
Ille Comes Praeses Te Sunderlandius imis
Secretis admisit amans, & Tanta Scientem,
Nec Patrio requiescis agro, sed caerula suloa [...]
Cymbrica, ad ingentem Danorum flebiliis Aul [...]
Mitteris Orator Reginae busta Sophiae
Exequias (que) dolens, Tua circum Rostra Licestro
Legato, & Danûm Procerum stipante Corona▪
Quae Regio in terris nostro non nota Jacobo?
Quem pede diffusi penetrantem viscera Regni
Teutonides videre sui; Quem Gallia dudum
Cum Batavo, & Veneti, & Siculi; & stupuere [...]
Boma (que) tot linguas uno sub corde prementem
Mirati, Poterant (que) levi discrimine, cuncti
Indigenam dixisse suum. Tunc Patria dignum
Te Palmis censebat ovans, quum ad Tecta Senat▪
Prisca ciebat amans, & ter successibus aequis
Ad sua delegit Te Parlamenta Sedentem.
N [...]c Patriae cessabat amor, sed honoribus urgens
Continuis, credebat adhuc se parva dedisse
Ni meritis majora daret: sic nobilis audis
Clericus Augusti Caroli qua jungeris imis
Consiliis Tu Scriba cluens, Regni (que) labores
Multiplices, Aulae (que) vices Atlantis ad insta [...]
Collibras, Patrio (que) humeros Supponis Olympo.
Haec pro Te dudum dignissi [...]a, Patria feci [...] ▪
Pr [...] Patriâ nec parva facis, favilive rependis
Officio, quae fecit amor: Communia Testor
Commoda, & attritis operosa volumina praelis
Non uno numeranda Die. T [...] muta movente
Et Trunci didicere loqui, Dodonea Quer [...]us,
Frondiferi Regina chori T [...]i Brachia pandens
Tollit ad astra comas, [...] Superbior exi [...]
A foliis famosa [...]uis, Quibus, Illa fatetur
Se Tibi debendam, conte [...]ta (que) Serta dicandam
[Page] [...]ivica, Romuleis nil inferior a Triumphls.
Vt (que) doces Sylvas, & tardo stipite Truncos
Humanos simulare sonos, sicd Bruta Ferarum
Guttura conformans, nostrae Vernacula linguae
Distinctas (que) doces haurire, & reddere voces.
Exemplum dabit illud opus sublime, Priori
Vix dispar, ubi gliscit amor, Pietas (que) Parenti
Sceptrifero; & Fidei Mortales Publica ductim
De Brutis Documenta bib ant, trepident (que) Rebelles
Excandescentem Britonum irritare Leonem.
Nec cessat Tua mira manus, celerive remissas
Indulges calamo ferias, quia vana perosus
Otia, victuris laetare laboribus, unam
Vix perdens sine luce diem, Testabitur orbi
Grandius Illus Opus e Bis Bino Idiomate coctum
Vtile Principibus, Populo (que) Orientis & Euri
Orbis, & à toto divisis orbe Britannis.
Heic veluti speculo Criticismata cuncta loquelae
Cantabricae discernit Iber; Syrene Jacobo
Ausonios modulante sonos, de finibus exit
Iralus allectus propriis; Gallus (que) Garummam
At (que) Ararim rapido referens sermone, Britanglos
Advolat, alternae miscens commercia linguae.
f Hisce voluminibus Nomenclatura stupendi
Subjunctum est Opus ingeniig Proverbia Gentis
A tenebris memoranda trahens, formas (que) lequendi
Priscorum Britonum, Quorum venerabile semen
Cambria servat adhuc, primos (que) à sedibus actos▪
Commemorabit avos: Tua Cambria clare Jacobe
Cui Superum Ductu Tu post tot secla renascens
[Page] Adderis Exempla [...], dum sic virtutibus amplis
Instauras Patriam, & virtutes dotibus aequas.
Egregie nasci laus est: sed gloria major
Pro Patriâ nasci, & primus Chronista creari
Regis ab Historiis. Et quis dubit [...]verit amens
Te Titulis minus ire Tuis, Onerive (que) lacertos
Impariles, qui tanta manu Monumenta levâsti,
Pressa (que) vix binis portanda Volumina Rhedis.
Lector avet majora? Domi quod scripseris olim
Praelongi nu [...]eret, cuncias (que) ab origine causas
Pendeat, & nostri recolet Commenta Jacobi.
Si ulteriora petit? Peregrè succinctus ad or as
Longinquas eat, & Tei Directore, viarum
Praescius, Europae varias adremiget urbes,
Conductns (que) Tuo formet vestigia Filo.
H [...]c Filo conductus, aquis scopul [...]s (que) sedente [...]
In Chartis Majora Tuis. Tun [...] versus ad [...]
Austriacas veterum Imperium venerabitur [...]
m Teutonidum, & senio certantia vasta [...]
Moenia Pannonico toties ditata Tributo.
Inde pedem fessum relegens, per Regna feret [...]r
Gallica, & Hoelios agnoseet ritè labores
Liligerae Septem tractantes lustra Tiarae,
Armandi parvo non designata papyro.
Sed quid ego gracili calamo, vel carmine eurto
Hoelianas vanus comprehendere chartas
[Page] Molior, Herculeos quum tot recitare labores
Herculeus labor alter erit? Testabitur Anglis
Vrbs vetus Heroumo Trinobantia gloria Civûm
Ingemo ditata Tuo. Testabitur orbi
Flexanimo concinna stylo, quo Faedera belli
Et passim Momenta Togae, Facies (que) nitenti
Cernitur Europae Speculo, & velamine dempto
Obvia Summorum pateant Penetralia Regum.
Tantis Posteritas cumulabit honoribus, olim
Vulgatos Howelle libros. Tantum (que) labori
Debebit Gen [...]stra Novo, strips aurea Cujus,
Forma (que) Primaevas nil postponenda Sorores
Apello Charites, affiata (que) caelitus Aestro
Pectora, fatidicum fibris Spirantia Phae [...]am.
A Jove Principium sumens nam Pagina prima
Sacra Sapit, grato (que) fluunt condita lepore
Caetera Mellifluos redolentia carmina Flores
Laurigero (que) novas Tibi contextura corollas.
Inde per humanae raptus spectacula scaenae
Quam parvas habi [...]ura moras Mortalia monstras,
Indignoque licet depressus Carcere, Mentis
Remigio super astra volas, Suprema (que) versans,
Discis ab immenso quam discrepat angulus Orbe,
Et circumfusi quam curta Scientia Mundi
Aeterno collata Deo. Tumet inde Papyrus
Laudibus Heroum, & Carolum Te Vate salutat,
Augurio (que) pio jamdudum rite potitis
Induperatoris summos promittit honores
Quum procul Austriacae vol [...]cres, succumbere Galloq
Heic etiam Octavi nitidum sine bile Character
Pingitur Henrici, Quod latius Acta loquetur
Et Genium, quam Windsorii monumenta superbi
Majorum constructa manu.r Sacyillia Pubes
Dorsigenis praelustris honos, caput eruet [...]mbris
Pierpontiadum Durotrigum (que) cacumen
Tollitur, & Celsae Katharinae stemmata dudum
Tremoliâ deducta Domu. Proh celse columna
Henrice armorum, & sublimibus Artibus: ingens
Pro Secli Coryphaee Tui! Quos Fulguris instar
Antevolas, patrio (que) creas Miracula Mundo.
Hunc Chartis Howelle sonas, Cui gloria vastis
Digna voluminibus, gravido (que) canenda Cothurno;
Illi dum (que) litas laudes, aliis (que) sub isto
Codice, diffuso spargis Tua nomina mundo
Lata (que) non propriis claudi Praeonia Chartis.
Sic raptim cecini [...] P. PISCATO [...].
POEMS Upon several Emergent Occasions.
The Progress of the Human Soul: OR, The whole History of Man.
MAn is that great Amphibium, which enrouls
Within himself a Trinity of Souls:
He runs through all Creations by degrees;
First, he is onely Matter on the Lees;
Whence he proceeds to be a Vegetal;
Next Sensitive; (and so Organical.)
Then, by Divine Infusion, a third Soul,
The Rational doth the two first controul:
Distinct from th' other, no Dissector tells▪
Now, which no Creture els can say, that state
Makes her (by Grace) to be Regenerate.
She then becomes a Spirit: so at last
A Devil, or a Saint, when She hath cast
That clog of Fl [...]sh, which yet she takes again▪
To perfect her Felicity or Pain.
Thus Man from first to last, is kin to all
Cretures, in Heav'n, in Earth, and Hells Black Hall.
A Speculation.
THat which the smallest Star in Sky
Is to the Sun in Majesty;
What a Monks Cell is to High-noon,
Or a New-cheese to a Full-moon:
No more is Man, if one should dare
Unto an Angel him compare.
What to the Eagle is a Gnat,
Or to Leviathan a Sprat;
What to the Elephant a Mouse,
Or Shepherds Hut to Caesars House:
No more is Man, if one should dare
Unto an Angel him compare.
What to a Perl a Pebble-stone,
Or Coblers Stall unto a Throne;
What to the Oke the basest Shrub,
Or to Noah's Ark a Bucking-Tub:
No more is Man, if one should dare
Unto an Angel him compare.
Then let not Man, Half-child of night,
Compare with any Heavenly Wight:
He will appeer on that account
A Mole-hill to Olympus Mount.
Yet, let This still his comfort be,
He hath a Capabilitie
To be of Heav'n himself: but on this score,
If he doth not make Earth his Heav'n before.
Of some Pious Meditations, when Prisoner for the King in the Fleet.
AS Roses 'mong sharp Prickles grow,
As Crystal's got of Ice and Snow;
As Perls in muddy Muscels breed,
As Gold on barren'st earth doth feed;
As Diamonds in Craggs and Rocks,
As Ambar cruds 'twixt Neptune's shocks:
So 'mong those bleak Fleet-blasts which Fortun [...] blew,
These calm mild strains of Meditations grew.
A Contemplation upon the shortness and shal [...] [...] of Human Knowledg.
IF of the smallest Star in Sky
We know not the Dimensity:
If those pure sparks that Stars compose,
The highest Human Wit do pose;
How then, poor shallow Man! canst thou
The Maker of these Glories know?
If we know not the Air we draw,
Nor what keeps Winds and Waves in aw:
If our small Sculls cannot contain
The flux, and saltness of the Main;
If scarce a Cause we ken below,
How can we the Supernal know?
If it be a mysterious thing,
Why Steel shold to the Loadstone cling:
If we know not why Jett should draw,
And with such Kisses hug a Straw:
If none can truly yet reveal
How Sympathetick Powders heal:
If we scarce know the Earth we tred,
Or half the Simples there are bred,
[Page 5] With Minerals, and thousand things
Which for Mans health and food she brings:
If Nature's so obscure, then how
Can we the God of Nature know?
What the Batts Ey is to the Sun,
Or of a Gloworm to the Moon;
The same is Human Intellect,
If on our Maker we reflect;
Whose Magnitude is so immense,
That it transcends both Soul and Sense.
Poor Purblind-Man, then sit thee still;
Let Wonderment thy Temples fill.
Keep a due distance: do not pry
Too neer, lest like the silly Fly,
While she the Wanton with the Flame doth play,
First fries her wings, then fools her life away.
A Prophetic Poem (partly accomplished) to his present Majesty then Prince, 1640.
A Parallel 'twixt his Highness and the Black Prince.
SIR,
WAles had one glorious Prince, for hair and h [...]e
(Which colour sticks unto him still) like You▪
He travell'd far; he won his Spurs in France;
And took the King, the King, O mighty chance!
[Page 6] Then his victorious Troops afresh he gethers;
And with the Gray-Goose wing his shafts new fethers.
He beats a march up the Pyreney Hills,
And the Cantabrian Clime with terror fills,
To re-inthrone Don Pedro Castills King;
Of which Heroick Act all Stories ring.
Your Royal Sire travell'd so far, and thay
Of all our Princes onely made that way.
Who knows, great Sir, but by just Destiny,
Your Bunch of youthful Plumes may further fly:
But, Faucon-like, you may with full summ'd wing
The Eagle cuff, and from his Talons wring
The
Palatinat.
Prey, or in exchange seize on his Ore,And fix your Standard on the Indian Shore.
'Twas by a
Carolus Magnus.
Charles, France once the Empire [...]'Twas by a
Carolus Quintus.
Charles, Spain also drew that [...] ▪Why may not Britain challenge the next Call,
And by a Charles be made Imperial?
Sic Vaticinatur J. H.
A Rapture upon Delia.
COuld I but catch those Golden Rays
Which Phoebus at High Noon displays,
[Page 7] I'd set them on a Loom, and frame
A Scarf for Delia of the same.
Could I that wondrous Black come near,
Which Cynthia, when she mourns, doth wear;
Of a new fashion I wold trace
A Mask thereof for Delia's face.
Could I but reach that Green and Blue,
Which Iris decks in such rare hue
From her moist Bow, I'd drag them down
To make my Delia a Summer-Gown.
Could I those Whitely Stars come nigh
Which makes the Milky-way in Sky,
I'd Poach them, and at Moon-shine dress,
To make my Delia a Hougou Mess.
Thus would I diet, thus attire
My Delia Queen of Hearts and Fire:
She shold have ev'ry thing Divine,
What might befit a Seraphine.
And 'cause ungirt unblest we often find,
One of the lesser Zones her Waste shold bind.
Of the tru Observation of Lent.
NOw Lent is come, let us refrain
From Carnal Cretures quick or slaine:
Let's curb, and macerat the Flesh;
Impound, and keep it in distress
For forty days, and then we shall
Have a Replevin from the thrall
By that bless'd Prince, who for this Fast
Will give us Angels food at last.
But to abstain from Bees, Hog, Goose,
And let our Appetites go loose
To Lobsters, Crabs, Prawns, or such Fish,
We do not Fast, but Feast in this.
Not to let down Lamb, Kid, or Veal;
Hen, Plover, Turkicock or Teal,
And eat Botargo, Caviar,
Anchoves, Oisters, and like fare:
Or to forbear from Flesh, Fowl, Fish,
And eat Potatoes in a Dish
Done o'er with Ambar, or a Mess
Of Ringos in a Spanish Dress:
Or to refrain from each hot thing
Which Water, Earth, or Air, doth bring;
And play a hundred pounds at Gleek;
Or be at Saunt when we shold sleep:
[Page 9] Or to leave play with all high Dishes,
And feed our thoughts with Wanton Wishes;
Making the Soul, like a Light Wench,
VVear Patches of Concupiscence.
This is not to keep Lent aright,
But play the Juggling Hypocrit.
He keeps Lent more, who tames the inward Man,
Then he, who makes the outward feed on Bran.
Before the History of Lewis the 13. (with his Cardidinal Richlie [...]) called Lustra Ludovici. HISTORIAE SACRUM.
IMmortal Queen, great Arbitress of Time,
Bright Torch and Herald of All-conquering Truth,
Which Things, years thousands since, keepst still in prime,
And so maintain'st the World in constant Youth;
Making that Morn Man first was made of Clay,
Appear to us as fresh as Yesterday.
Rich Magazin of Patterns, which may serve
As Spurs to Vertu, or as Curbs to Vice;
Which dost Brave Men-embalm, and them conserve
Longer then can Arabian Gums or Spice:
And of their Memories dost Mummy make,
More firm then that hot Lybia's Sands do [...] ▪
[Page 10] Rare Garden, and rich Orchard, wherein grow
Fames golden Apples, Vertues choicest flow'rs;
Who twistest Garlands for the learned Brow,
And with thy Branches mak'st triumphant Bow [...] ▪
Inoculat this Bud on thy great Tree,
That it may bourgeon to Eternity.
Before LONDINOPOLIS▪ OR, A new History of London: Parallell'd with the greatest Cities on Earth.
Of London-Bridge.
WHen Neptun from his Billows London spyde,
Brought proudly thither by a High spring Tyde,
As through a Floating Wood, he steer'd along,
And Dancing Castles cluster'd in a throng:
When he beheld a mighty Bridge give Law
Unto his Surges, and their fury aw:
When such a shelf of Cataracts did roar,
As if the Thames with Nile had chang'd her shoar:
VVhen he such massy Walls, such Tow'rs did eye,
Such Posts, such Irons upon his back to lye;
[Page 11] When such vast Arches he observ'd, that might
Nineteen Rialto's make for depth and height:
When the Cae [...]ulean God these things survay'd,
He shook his Trident, and astonish'd, said,
Let the whole Earth now all her Wonders count,
This Bridge of Wonders is the Paramount.
The same in Latine, which for their weight I also insert.
De Ponte Londinensi, ejus (que) stupendo situ, & structurâ.
CVm Londinense [...] Neptunus viderat urbem
Vectus ibi propriis, at (que) revectus Aquis,
D [...]m densam penetrat Sylvam, Lucós (que) ferentes
Pro ramis funes, pro foliis (que) Cruces:
Cum superimpositum Torrenti in Flumine Pontem
Viderat, & rapido ponere Jurae Freto:
Cum tantos muros, ferrumina, Castra, tot Arcus
Spectat, & haec tergo cuncta jacere suo,
Arcus qui possent totidem formare Rialtos
Metiri si quis summa, vel Ima cupit,
Haec Deus Undarum aspiciens, Fluxus (que) retrorsum
Tundere, & horrendos inde boare sonos,
Nunc mihi quanta velis Terrae Miracula pandas,
Est primus Mundi Pons, ait, Iste stupor.
Before Bishop Andrews most holy Meditaaions [...] Prayers.
IF ever any merited to be
The Vniversal Bishop, this was He.
Great Andrews, who the whole vast SEA did [...]
Of Learning, and Distill'd it in his Brain.
These pious Drops are of the purest kind
That trîckled from the Limbeck of his Mind.
Before that large and claborat Work, called▪ The German Diet;
Which, in many Princely Orations, displays
The Power and Weakness,
The Plenty and VVant,
The Antiquity and Modernness,
The Advantages and Defects,
The Glory and Reproche,
The Vertues and Vices,
of all the Countries of Christendome.
AXIOMA.
Contraria juxta se posita magis elucescunt.
BLack sidelong put, or standing opposite,
Doth use to add more lustre unto White.
A Perl shines brighter in a Negro's Ear:
Some Ladies look more fair who Patches wear:
So Vice, if counterplac'd, or seated near,
Makes Vertu show more lovely, strong, and clear.
This Book hath Vice and Vertu, White and Black:
'Tis like a Crystal-Glass foyld on the back:
'Tis like a Chessboard, (or an Ermins Skin)
Checker'd with two Extreams, both out and in.
It weighs and winnows good from bad, which any
Of Europes Kingdoms have, (and they have many.)
Now, if those purer Regions of the Sky,
Where ev'ry Star's a perfect Monarchy;
If the bright Moon, and glorious Sun above
Have Spots and Motes, as Optick Glasses prove;
How then can these gross earthly Regions be,
And We that peeple them, from taintures free?
This were for us to arrogat that Bliss
Which Adam could not keep in Paradis.
Before my Lord of Cherberry's History of King Hen. 8.
VIces in Kings are like those spots the Moon
Bears in her body, which so plain appeer
To all the world: so Vertues shine more clear
In them, and glitter like the Sun at Noon.
This King had both; yet counter-balance all,
You'l find th' out-poising Grain in Vertues Scale.
He was more King then Man: his Gallantries
Surpass'd his Frailties; Had his Passions bent
To Him as France did, and his Parlement;
Or had his Set been equal to his Rise:
Of all those glorious Kings wore Englands crown,
He had march'd with the foremost in Renown.
This learned Lord, this Lord of VVit and Art,
This Metaphysick Lord gives us a Glass,
VVherein we may discern in ev'ry part
This boystrous Prince, He cuts Him out in Brass,
In everlasting Brass: so that I may avow,
Old Harry never had a Monument till now.
An Analytical Character or Dissection of Hen. 8.
THis great King may be considered,
- 1. In his Person, and outward Proportion.
- 2. In his Properties, and inward Disposition.
- 3. In his Political Capacity, and Actions Civil and Martial.
Touching the first, he was of a goodly Stature, of a Majestic awing Presence, of a clear sanguin Complexion; which made him apt to give and take Tentations of that Sex which was too hard for the First, the Strongest and Wisest Man. He had a competency of spirit to manne that large Bulk throughout: for he was vigorous and robust, witness his overthrowing Sir William Kingstone horse and man in the presence of three Queens. His Dexterity at Tilt, the Barriers, and all other heroick Exercises at his interviews with the French King, and Emperors: for when he appeered in any Action, He out-went all others.
Touching the second, it sub-divides it self into his Vertues and Vices. For his Vertues, by advantage of Education, (being designed for the Church) [Page 16] he was well vers'd in the Arts, a good [...] Divine. He had an harmonious soul, for he was a good Musitian, having among other things composed two Anthems, which were usually sung [...] his Chappels. Touching his Vices, being of a replete sanguin Constitution, he had more matte [...] [...] the heat of Concupiscence to work upon. [...] were his two Contemporaries, Charles the Emperour, and Francis of France, less peccant in this kind: for they also had their Amourettes, their [...] debita vasa, and divers natural Children. Having parted with Queen Katharin his first wife, and with his Cardinal, his Sanguin Humour came to [...] somewhat sanguinary, and inclining to cruel; [...] had the Church, the Parlement, and the Judg [...] [...] what he did. He was too constant to himself [...] any thing entred into his head; which the [...] termed Wilfulness. He was more prodigal in [...] ding, then covetous in getting money, by making himself an Actor in some things, which had bee [...] more for his advantage had he been onely a Sp [...] tor.
Touching the third, he was very knowing in the Art of Government, being cut out as it were for a Kings for he kept all in an exact Obedience: and had his Passions been as subject to him as were his People, he had been the rarest of Kings. He also may be rank'd [Page 17] among the best Law-makers. He got divers glorious Titles, which his Progenitors never had: for he was the first Defender of the Faith, and promis'd to be stil'd Christianissimus. He was the first English King of Ireland. He was the first Vniter of the ancient Britains and the English. He was call'd by the Consistory of Rome, Liberator Orbis, when the Pope was freed. Francis the first acknowledged him, under God, to be the chiefest Deliverer of him and his Children from Spain. He was stil'd Prot [...] ctor of the famous Clementine League; and offered to be Patron of the Lutherans. Nor did he know what it was to be beaten all his Life. He had an Emperour to serve him in the Wars, and he was counted the common Vmpire of Christendome. In fine, England may be said to have had little or no Commerce abroad in point of Matters of State, till the Reign of this King.
OF TRANSLATIONS, Vpon rendring into English a choice Venetian [...]mance, called, EROMENA, By Mr. James Howard.
SOme hold Translations not unlike to be
The wrong-side of a Turky Tapistry,
Or Wines drawn off the Lees, which fill'd in [...]
Loose somewhat of the taste they had in Cask.
Tis tru, each Language hath an Idiome,
Which in another couch'd comes not so home.
Yet I nere saw a piece from Venice come
Had fewer Thrums set on our Country Lome.
This Wine is still one-ear'd, and brisk, thoug [...] [...]
Out of Italian Cask, in English Butt.
Another.
FAir Eromena in Italian tire
I view'd, and lik'd her fashion wondrous well
But in this English habit I admire
That still in Her the same good Grace doth dwell.
So have I seen Trans-Alpin Cions grow,
And hear rare fruit, remov'd to Thames from [...] ▪
The Dedication
To Great Britain, of that Voluminous Work, Lexicon Tetraglotton: OR, An English-French-Italian-Spanish DICTIONARY.
REnowned Albion, Natures choice delight,
Neptunes chief care, and Arsenal of might;
Who in thy Watry Orb dost sparkling lie,
As Cynthia shines in the Caerulean Skie:
Or, as a Tortoise in her Circling Shell,
Dost live secure within thy Rocky Cell
A World within thy self, fit to defend
Thine own, and fit no further to extend.
Yet with thy winged Coursers dost give Law
Unto the Ocean, and his Surges aw.
The Baltick Waves, and Hyperborean,
The vast Atlantik, Euxin, Indian;
The Adriatik, Tyrrhen, Hellespont,
The White, the Black, the Red, all Seas are wont
To do thee homage, and rich tributes bring
Unto thy Thames by way of Offering;
Reach to the Shores of all thy Neighbours round▪
To Thee, Triumphant Isle, I do address
This Work of Oyl and Toyl: be Patroness
Of thy own Tongue, which here twixt Colum [...] strong▪
Throughout a massy Fabrick all along
Goes in the Van of Europes noblest Toungs,
Though they want somewhat of her Nerves [...] Lungs.
Of the Original of the English Toung, And her Association With the Italian, Spanish, and French, &c.
FRance, Italy and Spain, ye Sisters Three,
Whose Toungs are branches of the Latian [...]
To perfect your odd number be not shy
To take a Fourth to your Society
The high Teutonik Dialect, which bold
Hengistus with his Saxons brought of old
Among the Britains, when by Knife and Sword,
Of England he did first create the VVord.
Nor is't a small advantage to admit
So Male a Speech to mix with You, and knit:
Who by her Consonants and tougher strains,
VVill bring more Arteries 'twixt your soft Vains:
[Page 21] For of all Toungs, Dutch hath most Nerves and Bones,
Except the Pole, who hurls his VVords like Stones.
Some fain, that when our Protoplastick Sire
Lost Paradis by a just kindled ire,
He in Italian tempted was, in French
He fell a begging Pardon, but from thence
He was thrust out in the high Teuton Toung
VVhence English, though much polish'd since, is sprung.
This Book is then an inlay'd Piece of Art;
English the Knots which strengthen ev'ry part.
Four Languages are here together fix'd:
Our Lemsters Ore with Naples Silk is mix'd.
The Loire, the Po, the Thames, and Tagus glide
All in one Bed, and kiss each others side.
The Alps and Pyrenean Mountains meet:
The Rose and Fowrdeluee hang in one street.
Nay, Spain &
1657.
Redcapt France a League here strike.If'twixt their Kings and Crowns there were the like,
Poor Europe should not bleed so fast, and call
Turbans at last unto her Funeral.
Before a great Volume of PROVERBS, In Five Languages.
THe Peeples Voice, the Voice of God we call;
And what are Proverbs but the Peeples [...]
Coyn'd first, and current made by common cho [...]e
Then sure they must have weight and truth with [...]
They are a Publick Heritage, entail'd
On ev'ry Nation, or like Hirelomes nail'd,
VVhich pass from Sire to Son, and so from Son
Down to the Grandchild till the world be done.
They are Free-denizons by long descent,
VVithout the Grace of Prince or Parlement:
The truest Commoners, and inmate Guests;
We fetch them from the Nurse and Mothers breast [...]
They can Prescription plead 'gainst King or Crown▪
And need no Affidavit but their own.
We thought it then well worth the pains and [...]
To muster up these Ancients in one Host:
Which here like furbish'd Medals we present
To all that breathe in Christendom and Kent.
Of the strange vertu of VVords, Before The Great NOMENCLATURA; Wherein are the proper Terms in four Languages belonging to Arts Mechanical and Liberal: Which Poem consists of above Sixty Sentences.
WOrds are the Souls Ambassadors, who go
Abroad upon her Arrands to and fro.
They are the sole Expounders of the mind,
And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind.
They are those Airy Keys that ope (and wrest
Sometimes) the Locks and Hinges of the Breast.
By Them the Heart makes Sallies: VVit and Sence
Belong to Them: They are the Quintessence
Of those Ideas which the Thoughts distil,
And so calcine and melt again, until
They drop forth into Accents in whom lies
The Salt of Fancy, and all Faculties.
The World was fram'd by the Eternal Word,
VVho to each Creature did a name afford;
And such an Union made 'twixt Words and Things,
That ev'ry Name a Nature with it brings.
[Page 24] Words do involve the greatest mysteries:
By Them the Jew into his Cabal pries.
The Chymik says, In Stones, in Herbs, in Wor [...]
Nature for ev'ry thing a cure affords.
Nay, some have found the Glorious Stars to be
But Letters set in an Orthography
The Fate of Kings and Empires to foretel,
VVith all things els below, could we them spell.
That gran distinction between Man and [...]
VVe may to Language chiefly attribute.
The Lyon roars, the Elephant doth bray;
The Bull doth bellow, and the Horse doth [...]
Man speaks: 'Tis only man can Words create▪
And cut the Air to sounds articulate
By Natures special Charter. Nay, Speech ca [...]
Make a shrewd discrepance 'twixt Man and [...]
It doth the Gentleman from Clown discover;
And from a Fool the grave Philosopher:
As Solon said to one in Judgement weak,
I thought thee wise until I heard thee speak.
For Words in man bear the most Critick part:
VVe speak by Nature, but speak well by Art.
And as good Bells we judge of by the sound,
So a Wise man by Words well plac'd is found.
Therefore it may be call'd no vain pretence,
VVhen 'mong the rest the Toung would be Senee,
VVhilst on this worlds tempestuous Seas he rides.
Words are the Life of Knowledge; They set free,
And bring forth Truth by way of Midwifry:
The activ'st Cretures of the teeming Brain;
The Judges who the inward man arraign:
Reasons chief Engin and Artillery
To batte [...] Error, and make Falshood fly:
The Canons of the minde, who sometimes bounce
Nothing but VVar, then Peace again pronounce.
The Rabbins say, Such is the strength of VVords,
That they make deeper VVounds then Spears or Swords.
This Book may then be call'd a Magazine
Of Arms and Words: It keeps, and doth combine
Four Toungs: 'tis like a Frame on divers VVheels;
One follows still the other at the heels.
The smooth Italian, and the nimble Frank,
The long-lung'd Spanish march all in a rank:
The English heads them, so commands the Van;
And reson good in this Meridian.
But Spain brings up the Rear, because we know
Her Counsels are so long, and Pace so slow.
Vpon the great Drammatical Work of B. [...] Fletcher, publish'd 1646.
WHat? Now the Stage is down, dar'st tho [...] pear,
Bold Fletcher, on this tott'ring Hemisphear?
Yes; Poets are like Palms, which the more [...]
One casts upon them, grow more strong & [...]
'Tis not Joves Thunderbolt, or Mavors Spear,
Nor roaring Neptunes Trident Poets fear.
Had now Grim Ben been breathing, with what [...]
And high-swoln fury had he lash'd this Age?
Shakespear with Chapman had grown mad, [...]
The gentle Soc, and lofty Buskins worn
To make their Muse welter up to the Chin
In blood: Of fained Scanes no need had bin
England, like Lucians Eagle, with an Arrow
Of her own Plumes piercing her heart quite thorow
Had been the Tragic Scoene, and subject fit
To exercise in real Truths their wit.
Yet, none like high-wing'd Fletcher had bin found
This Eagles dismal Destiny to sound:
Rare Fletchers Quill had soar'd up to the Sky,
And drawn down Gods to see the Tragedy.
[Page 27] Live, famous Drammatist, let evry Spring
Make thy Bay flourish, and fresh Bourgeons bring:
And since we cannot have Thee tread the Stage,
VVe will applaud Thee in thy silent Page.
To his late Majesty, at the Dedication unto Him of DODONAS GROVE, OR The VOCAL FOREST: Wherein there were many Prophetical Passages.
IN times of yore, when Earth was yet but Clods,
Trees for their Gardians had no less then Gods:
Jove did protect the Oke, Bacchus the Vine;
Minerva said, The Olive shall be mine:
Venus the Myrtle for her Minion took;
Apollo would the Laurel overlook.
My Trees need no such Patrons; one mild glance
Of Caesars eye, will best their Buds advance.
To her Majesty, now Queen-mother.
BOurgeon da Gran Bourbon, qui soubs ses doux rameaux
Maintint la France en Paix apres tant de travaux
[Page 28] Vint Ans entiers, ayant en bonne guerre
Les Princes Brouillons mis quatre fois enterr [...] ▪
I' ay veu souventes fois son Nom luysant en [...],
Mais non pas engravè jusqu' à present en Arb [...],
Parmi ces Bois icy l' on trouvera (peut estre)
Madame, Votre Nom
Arhetine (Virtuosa) Anagr. of Henrieta.
taillè en grosse Lettre,To Prince Charles, (now King.)
TO correspond now with the Verdant
Maii 2.
[...]And your Green yeers, the Top-branch of a [...]
A Bud shot from the Rose and Flower- [...]
The best of stems Earth yet did e'er prod [...]
VVhat Present can I bring that more agrees
Both with the season, and your yeers, then [...]
They soon will cast their leafs, and Autumn find,
But may You shed nor leafs, nor blooms, nor rin [...],
Till muff'd with hoary Moss, you do behold
Fair Cions from your self grow tall and old.
Before the VOCAL FOREST, To the knowing Reader, Touching the Progress of Learning.
SCience in India first her beams display'd,
And with the Rising Sun her self convay'd
Through Chaldee into Egypt; then She came
Among the Greeks, and so to Tyber Swam:
Whence clammering ore the Alps, these Northwest parts
She civiliz'd, and introduc'd the Arts.
In Albions woolly Isle, she welcom found,
Which for her Bards and Druyds grew Renown'd
So call'd, because they commonly did use
On God and Natures works 'mongst Trees to Muse,
And fix their Speculations; for in Rind
Of Trees was Learning swadled first, I find.
Th' Egyptian Priests, and Brackmans us'd of old
Their fancies in dark Characters to fold.
The Greeks and Latines us'd to Poetize
By Emblems, Fictions, and Mythologies:
For it was held a pleasing piece of Art,
Things Real under Shadows to impart.
Then be not rash in censure, if I strive
An ancient way of Fancy to revive;
Under their bloomy shade I Historize.
Trees were ordain'd for shadow, and [...]
Their Leafs were the first vestment of [...]
To the Common Reader.
OPinion is that high and mighty Dame
Which rules the World, and in the [...] doth frame
Distast or liking: for in Humane Race,
She makes the Fancy various as the Face.
Sometimes the Father differs from the Son,
As doth the Gospel from the Alcharon,
Or Loyola from Calvin, which two brands,
In strange Combustions hurl fair Europes Lands
So that amongst such Atomes of Mankind,
You scarce can two encounter of one mind.
This makes my Trees all Aspen, 'cause they [...]
Lie ope to ev'ry Wind, and vulgar Gust:
Yet, much they fear not any Criticks knock,
Unless they chance to stumble 'mong the bl [...]
‘—Ex quovis Stipite non fit Mercurius.’
To the Critical Reader.
IF Satyres here you find, think it not strange;
'Tis proper Satyres in the Woods should range:
And for free Speech, why may not Verse or Prose
Sit under Trees as safely as the Rose?
Yet here is nothing, though a Grand Inquest
You should Empannel, but may bide the Test:
For Petty Juries, let the Reader know,
Composures of this kind stoop not so low.
Touching the Vertu and Vse Of Familiar Letters.
LOve is the life of Friendship; Letters are
The life of Love, the Load-stones that by rare
Attraction make souls meet, and melt, and mix,
As when by Fire exalted Gold we fix.
They are those wing'd Postillions that can fly
From the Antartic to the Artic Sky:
The Heralds and swift Harbengers that move
From East to West on Embassies of Love.
They can the Trepiks cut, and cross the Line,
And swim from Ganges to the Ithone or Rhine:
[Page 32] From Thames to Tagus; thence to Yy [...]
And terminat their journey with the Su [...]
They can the Cabinets of Kings unserue,
And hardest intricacies of State unclue.
They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor,
Or the Great Turk, doth on the Asian shore
The Knez of them may know, what Pres [...]er
Doth with his Camels in the torrid Zone.
Which made the Indian Inca think, They [...]
Spirits who in white sheets the Air did tea [...].
The lucky Goose sav'd Jove's beleagred flili
Once by her noise, but oftner by her Quill.
It twice prevented Rome was not ore-run
By the tough Vandal, and the rough-hewn [...]
Letters can Plots though moulded under [...]
Disclose, and their fell Complices confound:
Witness that Fiery Pile which would have blo [...]
Up to the Clouds, Prince, People, Peers, and [...]
Tribunals, Church and Chappel, and had drid [...]
The Thames, though swelling in her highest [...]
And parboyl'd the poor Fish, which from her [...]
Had been toss'd up to the adjoyning Lands.
Lawyers as Vultures had soar'd up and down;
Prelates like Mag-pies in the Air had flown,
Had not the Eagles Letter brought to light
That Subterranean horrid work of Night.
[Page 33] Credential Letters States and Kingdomes tie,
And Monarchs knit in Ligues of Amitie;
They are those Golden Links that do enchain
Whole Nations, though discinded by the Main:
They are the Soul of Trade; They make Commerce
Expand it self throughout the Universe.
Letters may more then History inclose,
The choicest Learning both in Verse and Prose.
They Knowledg can unto our souls display
By a more gentle and familiar way.
The highest points of State and Policy,
The most severe parts of Philosophy,
May be their subject, and their Themes enrich
As well as privat businesses, in which
Friends use to correspond, and Kindred greet,
Merchants Negotiat, the whole world meet.
In Seneca's rich Letters is inshrin'd
What ere the ancient Sages left behind:
Tully makes His the secret symptomes tell
Of those Distempers which proud Rome befel,
When in her highest flourish she would make
Her Tyber of the Ocean homage take.
Great Antonin the Emperour did gain
More Glory by his Letters then his Raign,
His Pen out-lasts his Pike; each Golden Li [...]e
In his Epistles doth his name inshrine.
And they in chief immortallize his fame.
Words vanish soon, and vapour into Air,
While Letters on Record stand fresh and fair,
And tell our Nephews who to us were dear,
Who our choice Friends, who our Familiars were.
The bashful Lover when his stammring Lips
Falter, and fear some unadvised slips,
May boldly court his Mistress with the Quill,
And his hot passions to her brest instil:
The Pen can furrow a fond Females heart,
And pierce it more then Cupids feigned Dart.
Letters a kind of Magic Vertu have,
And like strong Philtres Human Souls inslave.
Speech is the Index, Letters Idea's are
Of the informing Soul: they can declare,
And shew the inward man, as we behold
A face reflecting in a Chrystal mould.
They serve the Dead and Living; they becom [...]
Attorneys and Administers. In sum:
Letters like Gordian Knots do Nations tie,
Else all commerce and love 'twixt men [...] die.
To the Sagacious Reader.
UT clavis portam, sic pandit Epistola pectus;
Clauditur Haec Cerâ, clauditur illa serâ.
As Keys do open Chests,
So Letters open Brests.
Vpon a Rare and Recent Persian TRAGY-HISTORY. 1655.
THis is an Age of Wonders; ev'ry Clime
Abounds with Prodigies: there is no Crime,
Not a notorious Villany or Fact,
No soul insandous Thing, or ugly Act,
That ever Adams Sons did perpetrate,
But we have flagrant instances of late.
For Sacriledge, and horrid Blasphemy,
Base Lyes, created Fears and Perjury;
For Scripture-pride, Extortion, Avarice,
(The root of all our ills, and leading vice)
For Public Frauds, False Lights, and Fatuous Fires▪
Fanatic Fancies clad in Faiths attire;
For Politicians, if one could rake Hell,
He hardly there could find their parallel.
They would be counted Saints match'd with these men:
For Murther, and the crying sin of Blood,
The like, but one, was never since the Flood.
In some, we may for these, and thousand [...],
Vie Villanies with any Age before.
Nor is it Europe only that doth breed
Such Monsters, but the Asian Regions feed
As bad; witness this Persian Tragedy,
Compil'd with so much Art and Energy:
As if the Soul of Ben, of Pond'rous Ben,
Did move in you, and guide both Brain and [...]
You make the Actors with such passion speak,
As if the very Lines with Blood did reak.
Go on, brave Spark, improve thy Talent [...]
And gain more ground on the Pierian Hill▪
An Elegie upon EDWARD late Earl of Dorset, 1651.
Who died about the time of voting down the House of PEERS.
LOrds have been long declining, (we well know)
And making their last Testaments: but now
They are Defunct, They are extinguish'd All,
And never like to rise by this Lords fall.
A Lord whose Intellectuals alone
Might make a House of Peers, and prop a Throne,
Had not so dire a Fate hung ore the Crown,
That Priviledge, Prerogative shold drown.
Where ere he sate he sway'd, and Courts did awe,
Gave Bishops Gospel, and the Judges Law
With such exalted Reasons which did flow
So cleer and strong, that made Astraea bow
To his Opinion: for where He did side,
Advantag'd more then half the Bench beside.
But is great Sackvil dead? Do we him lack?
And will not all the Elements wear Black?
Whereof he was compos'd a perfect Man,
As ever Nature in one frame did span.
[Page 38] Such High-born thoughts, a Soul so large [...]
So clear a Judgement, and vast Memory;
So princely Hospitable, and brave mind,
We must not think in haste on earth to find,
Unless the Times wold turn to Gold agen,
And Nature get new strength in forming men
His Person with it such a state did bring,
That made a Court as if he had been King.
No wonder, since He was so near a kin
To Norfolks Duke,
Eliz.
and the great Maiden [...]He courage had enough by conquering One,
To have confounded that whole Nation:
Those parts which single do in some appear,
Were all concentred here in one bright Sphear
For Brain, Toung, Spirit, Heart, and Person [...]
To mould up such a Lord will ask an Age.
But how durst pale white-liverd Death seize o [...]
So dauntless and heroick a Champion?
Yes, To die once is that uncancell'd Debt
Which Nature claims, and raiseth by Eschet
On all Mankind by an old Statute past
Primo Adami, which will always last
Without Repeal; Nor can a second Lease
Be had of life, when the first term doth cease.
Mount, Noble Soul; among the Stars take place,
And make a new One of so bright a Race
In a benign Conjunction with Thee,
To check that Planet which on Lords hath lowr'd,
And such malign Influxes lately pour'd.
Be now a Star thy self for those which here
Did on thy Crest and upper Robe appear:
For thy Director take the Star we read,
Which to thy Saviours Birth three Kings did lead.
A Corollary.
THus have I blubber'd out some Tears and Verse
On this Renowned Heroe and his Herse:
And could my Eyes have dropt down Perls upon't
In lieu of Tears, God knows I would have don't:
But Tears are real, Pearls for their Emblems go,
The first are fitter to express my Wo.
Let this small Mite suffice, until I may
A larger tribut to his Ashes pay:
In the mean time this Epitaph shall shut,
And to my Elegy a period put.
HEre lies a Grandee, by Birth, Parts, and Mind,
Who hardly left his Parallel behind:
Here lies the Man of Men, who should have been
A King, An Emperour, had Fortune seen.
Totus in Lachrymas solutus sic singultivit, I. H.
An EPITHALAMIUM Vpon the Nuptials of that Princely Pair, [...] Lo. Marquiss of Dorchester, And the Lady Katherine, Daughter to the [...] Earl of Darby:
In a Dialog Twixt Philemon and Sylvius.
Philemon.
WHat Object's that which I behold
Dazzling my Eyes with Gems and Gold
Her Face, me thinks, darts such a Ray
That adds more brightness to the Day:
Her Breath perfumes the place, Her Curls and Hair
Like Indian Spice Aromatize the Air.
A sparkling White and Black breaks from her sight
Like to the Diamonds redoubling light;
As she doth walk the very ground and stone,
Turn to Field-Argent which she treads upon.
A Mortal sure she cannot be,
But some transcending Deity.
My dearest Sylvius, pray unfold
Who's that rare Creture I behold?
Sylvius.
[Page 41]She is a Princess and a Bride
Goes to the Temple to be tide
In Nuptial Bonds; Her Stars will not permit
That at the Vestal fires she longer sit.
She's Derby's Royal Blood, Derby le Gran,
And now she travels to the Ile of Man.
She of the Princely Orenge is a Branch,
Imp'd on the high Trimouillan stem of France,
Two of the fairest Kingdoms strove, and tride
Their utmost to compleat this lovely Bride.
'Tis She which makes 'twixt Gems and Gold
That Constellation you behold.
Philemon.
But who's that comely Sanguin Peer
Which on her heart-side walks so neer?
He likewise makes all Argent as he goes:
Look at his feet how thick the Cinqfoyl grows.
Sylvius.
'Tis wise and wealthy Pierrpoint, who renowns
With Titles three of Englands chiefest Towns:
A precious Pond'rous Lord, whose sole Estate
A Jury of new Barons might create,
[Page 42] Patron of Vertu, Chivalry and Arts,
Cause he himself excels in all these parts.
'Tis he who by the hand doth hold
That Demi-Goddess you behold.
Philemon.
Is't so? then my Autumnal Muse shall [...]
An Hymenaeum, and fetch back her Spring
This subject a fresh vigor doth inspire,
And heats my brain with an unusual fire.
An HYMENAEVM, Or Bridal-Sonet:
Consisting of four Stanzas, and to be sung by [...] Voyces, according to a choice Air set thereupon▪ By Mr. Will. Webb.
1 Chorus.
MAy all felicity betide
This Princely Bridegroom and his Bride.
May those Delights this Morn shall bring
Be endless, as their Nuptial Ring.
[Page 43] May they be constant, and exceed
Each others Wishes, Hopes and Creed.
May the three Regions of the Air
Pour showres of Blessings on this Pair,
May Sol and Cynthia with their Rays
Silver their Nights, and Gild their Days.
2 Chorus.
All Joys attend, and best of Fate,
This Noble Marquiss and His Mate.
An HYMENAEUM.
2 Stanza.
YE gentle Nymphs of Trent and Dee
Make haste to this solemnity:
Your streams and beds now meet in one
By this High-sprung Conjunction.
Ye Wood-Nymphs who green Garlands wear
In Shirewood Launds and Delamer;
Ye Dames of Helicon attend,
And Graces your sweet presence lend;
Lucina come, and pray there be
Employment in due time for thee.
An HYMENAEVM.
3 Stanza.
MAy they such gallant Males produce,
Both to the Rose and Flowerdeluce;
That Englands Chivalry and French
May multiply, and bourgeon hence:
Whose Branches shooting ore the Main,
May knit and blossome here again,
That Pierrpoints Lyon and Cinqfoyl,
May ramp and root in every Soyl:
Nor may their Noble Race wear out
Till Plato's great year wheel about.
Chorus.
May all Felicity betide
This Noble Bridegroom and his Bride.
An HYMENAEVM.
4 Stanza,Closing with a serious Gradual Vote.
MAy all the Elements conspire
To make them bless'd in their desire.
May all the Stars on them reflect
Their mildest looks in Trine Aspect.
May all the Angels them defend
From every thing doth ill portend.
May Angels, Stars, and Elements,
Afford them such compleat contents,
That they have nothing els to wish
But a Persueverance of Bliss.
Chorus.
All Joys attend, and best of Fare,
This Noble Marquess, and his Mate.
A Poem Heroique, Presented to his late Majesty for a New- [...]
THe Worlds All-lightning Ey had now [...]
Through watry Capricorn his course [...]
Old Janus hastned on, his Temples bound
With Ivy, his gray hairs with Holly crown'd,
When in a serious quest my Thoughts did [...]
What Gift, as best becoming, I should chuse
To Britains Monarch (my dread Soveraig [...] [...]
Which might supply a New-years Offering;
I rummag'd all my stores, search'd all my [...]
Where nought appear'd, God wot, but [...]
No far-setch'd Indian Gem cut out of Rock,
Or fish'd in shells were trusted under lock:
No piece which Angelo's strong fancy hit,
Or Titians Pensil, or rare Hylliards Wit:
No Ermins, or black Sables, no such skins
As the grim Tartar hunts, or takes in gins;
No Medals, or rich stuff of Tyrian Dy;
No costly Bowls of frosted Argentry:
No curious Land-skip, or some Marble Piece
Digg'd up in Delphos, or els-where in Greece.
No Roman Perfumes, Buffs or Cordovans
Suppled with Amber by Moreno's hands:
The Surging Seas from Asia's doubtful shore.
No Lyons Cub, or Beast of strange Aspect,
Which in Numidia's fiery Womb had slept.
No old Toledo Blades, or Damaskins;
No Pistols, or some rare-spring'd Carrabi [...].
No Spanish Ginet, or choice Stallion sent.
From Naples, or hot Africs Continent.
In fine, I nothing found I could descry
Worthy the hands of Caesar or his Ey.
My Wits were at a stand, when lo, my Muse
(None of the Quire, but such as they do use
For Laundresses or Handmaids of mean rank,
I knew sometimes on Po and Isis Bank)
Did softly Buz,—
Muse.
—Then let Me something bring
May hanfel the New-year to Charles my King,
May usher in bifronted Janus.
Poet.
Thou fond fool-hardy Muse, thou silly thing
Which 'mongst the Shrubs & Reeds dost use to sing,
Dar'st thou perk up, and the tall Cedar clime,
And venture on a King with gingling Rime?
[Page 48] Though all thy Words wer Perls, and Letters Gold,
And cut in Rubies, or cast in a mould
Of Diamonds, yet still thy Lines would be
Too mean a Gift for such a Majesty.
Muse.
I'le try, and hope to pass without disdain,
In New-years-Gifts the Mind stands for the [...]
The Sophy, finding twas well meant, did do [...]g [...]
Few drops of running-water from a Swain.
Then sure, 'twil please my Leige if I him bring
Some gentle drops from the Castalian Spring.
Though Rarities I want of such account,
Yet have I something on the Forked mount.
'Tis not the first, or third access I made
To Caesars feet, and thence departed glad:
For as the Sun with his male heat doth render
Nile's muddy slime fruitful, and apt t' engender
And daily to produce new kind of Cretures
Of various shapes, and thousand differing featu [...]
So is my fancie quickned by the glance
Of his benign aspect and countenance,
It makes me pregnant, and to superfaete,
Such is the vigour of his beams and heat.
Once in a Vocal Forrest I did sing,
And made the Oak to stand for Charles my King
[Page 49] The best of Trees, whereof (it is no vant)
The greatest Schools of Europe sing and chant.
There you shall also finde Dame ARETINE,
Great Henries Daughter, and great Britains Queen;
Her Name engraven in a Lawrel Tree,
And so transmitted to Eternity;
For now I hear That Grove speaks besides Mine,
The Language of the Loire, the Po, and Rhine;
And to my Prince (my sweet Black Prince) of late
I did a youthful subject dedicate:
Nor do I doubt but that in time my Trees
Will yeild me fruit to pay Apollo's Fees,
To offer up whole Hecatombs of praise
To Caesar, if on them he cast his raies:
And if my Lamp have Oyl, I may compile
The Modern Annals of great Albions Isle,
To vindicate the truth of Charles his Raign
From scribling Pamphletors, who story stain
With loose imperfect passages, and thrust
Lame things upon the world, t'ane up in trust.
I have had audience (in another strain)
Of Europes greatest Kings, when German Main,
And the Cantabrian waves I cross'd, I drank
Of Tagus, Seine, and sate at Tibers bank:
Through Scylla and Carybdis I have steer'd,
Where restless Aetna belching flames appeer'd.
Now all ore-spread with Ignorance and [...]:
Nor hath fair Europe her vast bounds throughout,
An Academe of Note I found not out.
But now, I hope, in a successful prore,
The Fates have fix'd me on sweet Englands shore;
And by these various wandrings tru I found,
Earth is our common Mother, evry ground
May be ones Country, for by birth each man
Is in this world a Cosmopolitan,
A free-born Burgess, and receivs thereby
His Denization from Nativity.
Nor is this Lower World but a huge Inn,
And men the rambling passengers, wherein
Some, warm Lodgings find, and that as soon
As out of Natures Clossets they see Noon,
And find the Table ready laid; but some
Must for their Commons trot, and trudge for room:
With easie pace some clime Promotions Hill;
Some in the Dale, do what they can, stick still:
Some through false Glasses Fortune smiling spy,
Who still keeps off, though she appears hard by:
Some like the Ostrich with their wings do flutter,
But cannot fly or soar above the Gutter:
Some quickly fetch, and double Good-Hopes Cape;
Some nere can do't, though the same course they shape:
[Page 51] So that poor Mortals are so many Balls
Toss'd some ore Line, some under Fortunes walls.
And it is Heavens high plesure Man shouldly
Obnoxious to this partiality,
That by industrious ways he should contend
Natures short pittance to improve and mend.
Now Industry nere fail'd at last t' advance
Her patient Sons above the reach of Chance.
Poet.
But wihther rov'st thou thus—?
Well, since I see thou art so strongly bent,
And of a Gracious Look so confident;
Go, And throw down thy self at Caesars feet,
And in thy best attire thy Soveraign greet:
Go, an auspicious and most blissful year
Wish him, as ere shin'd ore this Hemisphear;
Good may the Entrance, better the Middle be,
And the Conclusion best of all the three.
Of Joy ungrudg'd may each day be a debter,
And evry Morn still usher in a better;
May the soft-gliding Nones, and evry Ide,
With all the Calends, still some good betide;
May Cynthia with kind looks, and Phoebus rays
One clear his Nights, the other gild his Days:
Free Limbs, unphysik'd Health, due Appetite,
Which no Sawce els but Hunger may excite:
Symptomes of Health, and the next days content:
Chearful and vacant thoughts, not always bound
To Councel, or in deep Idea's drown'd:
(Though such late traverses and tumults might
Turn to a lump of care, the Airiest wight.)
And since while fragile flesh doth us array,
The Humours still are combating for sway
(Which, were they free of this Reluctancie,
And counter-pois'd, Man wold immortal be.)
May Sanguin ore the rest predominate
In Him, and their malignant flux abate.
May his great Queen, in whose imperious Ey
Reigns such a world of winning Majesty
Like the rich Olive, or Falernian Vine,
Swell with more Gems of Cions Masculine:
And as her Fruit sprung from the Rose and Luce,
(The best of Stems Earth yet did ere produce)
Is ti'd already by a Sanguin Lace,
To all the Kings of Europes high-born Race;
So may they shoot their youthful Branches ore
The Surging Seas, and graff with evry shore.
May home-commerce and Trade encrease from far,
That both the Indies meet within his bars,
And bring in mounts of Coin his Mints to feed,
And Banquers (Trafics chief Supporters) breed,
[Page 53] Which may enrich his Kingdoms, Court & Town,
And ballast still the Coffers of the Crown:
For Kingdoms are as Ships, the Prince his Chests
The Ballast, which if empty, when distrest
With storms, their holds are lightly trimm'd, the Keel
Can run no steady course, but toss and reel.
May his Imperial Chamber always ply
To his desires her wealth to multiply,
That she may prize his Royal Favours more
Then all the wares fetch'd from the great Mogor.
May the grand Senate, with the Subjects right,
Put in the counter-Scale the Regal might
The flowres o'th' Crown, that they may prop each other,
And like the Grecians Twin live, love together:
For the chief glory of a peeple is
The power of their King, as Theirs is His.
May he be still within himself at home,
That no just Passion make the Reson roam:
Yet Passions have their turns to rouse the Soul,
And stir her slumb'ring spirits, not controul.
For as the Ocean beside Ebb and Flood
(Which Natures greatest Clerk ne're understood)
Is not for sail, if an impregning wind
Fill not the flagging Canvas; so a mind
[Page 54] Too calm, is not for Action, if desire
Heats not its self at Passions quickning fire:
For Nature is allow'd sometimes to muster
Her Passions, so they onely blow, not blus [...]er.
May Justice still in her true Scales appear,
And Honour fix'd in no unworthy Sphear,
Unto whose Palace all access shold have
Through Vertues Temple, not through Pluio's [...].
May his tru subjects hearts be his chief Fo [...] ▪
Their Purse his Tresure, and their Love his [...]
Their Prayers as sweet Incence to draw down
Myriads of Blessings on his Queen and Crown.
And now that his glad presence did asswage
That fearful Tempest in the North did rage:
May those Frog-vapours in the Irish Sky
Be scatter'd by the Beams of Majesty,
That the Hybernian Lyre give such a sound,
May on our Coasts with joyful Eccho's bound.
And when this fatal Planet leaves to lowr,
Which too too long on Monarchies doth powr
His direful influence, may Peace once more
Descend from Heaven on our tottering shore,
And ride in triumph both on Land and Main,
And with her Milk-white Steeds draw CHARLES his Wain:
That so for those Saturnian times of old,
An Age of Perl may come in lieu of Gold.
[Page 55] Vertu still guide his course; and if there be
A thing as Fortune Him accompany.
May no ill Genius haunt him, but by's side
The best protecting-Angel ever bide.
May He go on to vindicate the right
Of Holy things, and make the Temple bright,
To keep that Faith, that sacred Truth entire,
Which he receiv'd from Solomon his Sire:
And since we all must hence by th' Ir'n Decree
Stamp'd in the Black Records of Destiny,
Late may his Life, his Glory nere wear out,
Till the great year of Plato wheel about.
Before The History of NAPLES, Called, PARTHENO [...]E, Or, The Virgin-City.
Salve Parthenope, Decora Salve.
PArthenope, a City bright as Gold,
Or if the Earth could bear a richer Mold,
Is come to greet Great Britain, (Queen of Iles)
And to exchange some Silks for Wool: She smiles
To find that Cloath shold wear and feel so fine
As do her Grograns; she doth half repine
That Lemsters Ore, and Spires of fallow'd Grass
The Leafs of Mulberries should so surpass
Which so abound in Her, with evry thing
Which pleasure, wealth, or wonderment can bring,
That Nature seems to strive how she shold please
Herself, or Vs with rare varieties.
[Page 57] There her own Eawd to be she may be said,
As if the Wanton with her self she plaid.
Let England then strow Rushes all the way
To welcome in the fair Parthenopay:
For I dare say, she never yet came ore
In such a Garb to visit any shore.
Of the most curious Gardens, Groves, Mounts, Arbours, &c. Contriv'd, and lately made by The Lord Vicount Killmorry, At Dutton-Hall in Cheshire.
A Prosopopoeia to Cheshire.
CHeshire, thou Shire of Men, of Mines & Mounts,
Of Squires and Barons, Palatines and Counts,
Of curious Groves and Arbours, Walks & Woods,
Prophetique Trees and Castles, Founts and Floods,
Of stately Dee, whereon in times of yore,
Four Kings an English Monarch row'd ashore.
[Page 58] Dee who runs sporting through thy wanton Vale▪
Descending proudly from high-crested Wales.
More Rarities thou hast, could they be told
Then once thy Roman Legion was of old;
Which here I will not venture to inclose,
Th' are fitter for a Volume in rich Prose.
But now, 'mong thy choice Landskips Dutt [...]-H [...]ll,
For Mount, Grove, Arbour, Well, surpasseth all.
Killmorry Mount with Morhalls Grove, Ann's Well,
And Dutton Arbour bear away the Bell;
A Mount, which all the Muses might invite,
And make them Parnasse-Hill abandon quite.
A Grove, which chaste Diana with her train,
And all the Nymphs of Greece might entertain
A Well for Vertue, which defiance bids
To all, except her Neighbour Winefrids
Whose rare Sanative Waters are so pure
That sundry sorts of Maladies can cure.
Oh, could they cure the madness that now raigns,
The odd Vertigo which distracts the Brains
Of many thousands, that Lycanthropy,
Turns men to wolfs by strange Transformity!
A Transformation England never knew,
Till she brought forth this Hell-bred ugly Crew;
Such a prodigious Metamorphosis,
Poor baffled England never felt like this.
[Page 59] And as this Princely seat so much excels,
So do the Lord and Lady who there dwells;
A brave wise Peer, a gallant fruitful Dame;
Both of a taintless and far-spreading fame,
Bless'd with an Off-spring numerous and fair;
The Gerards hence, the Needhams have an Heir,
And Duttons too: three ancient Families
From this Prolifique Hall now have their rise.
In sum: This Noble Lady and her Peer,
Of any Earthly Mortals come most neer,
In point of Happiness and state of Bliss,
To those white souls who peeple Paradis.
Before that Exquisit large Peece, A Survay Of the City and Signory of Venice.
COuld any State on Earth immortal be,
Venice by her rare Government is she.
Venice, great Neptunes Minion, still a Maid,
Though by the Warlik'st Potentats essay'd,
Yet she retains her Virgin-water pure,
Nor any forraign mixtures can endure,
Though, Syren-like, on Shore and Sea, her face
Enchants all those whom once she doth embrace.
[Page 60] Nor is there any can her Beauty prize
But he who hath beheld her with his eyes.
These following Leaves display, if well observ'd,
How she so long her Maiden-head preserv'd,
How for sound Prudence she still bore the Bell,
Whence may be drawn this high-fetch'd parallel:
Venus and Venice are, Great Queens in their degree;
Venus is Queen of Love, Venice of Policy.
A Fit of MORTIFICATION.
1.
WEak crazy Mortal, why dost fear
To leave this Earthly Hemisphear?
Where all delights away do pass
Like thy Effigies in a Glass,
Each thing beneath the Moon is frail and fickle;
Death sweeps away what Time cuts with his sickle.
2.
This Life at best is but an Inn,
And we the Passengers, wherein
The Cloth is laid to some, before
They peep out of Dame Natures dore,
And warm Lodgings find, Others there are
Must trudge to find a room, and shift for fare.
3.
This Life's at longest but one day:
He who in Youth posts hence away
Leaves us i' th' Morn; He who who hath run
His race till Manhood, parts at Noon;
And who at seventy odd forsakes this light,
He may be said to take his leave at Night.
4.
One paest makes up the Prince and Peasan,
Though one eat Roots, the other Feasan:
They nothing differ in the Stuff,
But both extinguish like a Snuff.
Why then, fond Man, shold thy soul take dismay
To sally out of these gross walls of Clay?
A Lovers Protestation.
FIrst shall the Heavens bright Lamp forget to shine,
The Stars shall from the Azur'd Sky decline:
First shall the Orient with the West shake hand,
The Centre of the World shall cease to stand:
First Wolves shall ligue with Lambs, the Dolphins fly,
The Lawyer and Physitian Fees deny:
My Mistriss locks with mine shall first turn red:
First Heaven shall lie below, and Hell above,
Ere I inconstant to my Delia prove.
Vpon Himself, having been buried alive for many years in the Prison of the Fleet, By the State or Long Parliament For his Loyalty.
HEre lies intomb'd a Walking Thing,
Whom Fortune, with the State did fling
Between these Walls. Why? Ask not that;
They both being blind, know not for what▪
A Gradual Hymn of a double cadence, tending to the Honour of the Holy Name of God.
1.
LEt the vast Universe,
And therein evry thing
The mighty Acts rehearse
Of their immortal King,
His Name extol,
What to Nadir,
From Zenith stir,
'Twixt Pole and Pole.
2.
Ye Elements that move,
And alter evry hour,
Yet herein constant prove,
And symbolize all four:
His praise to tell,
Mix all in one,
For Air and Tone,
To sound this Peal.
3.
Earth, which the Centre art,
And onely standest still,
Yet move, and bear thy part,
Resound with Ecchoes shrill.
Thy Mines of Gold,
With Precious Stones,
And Unions,
His fame uphold.
4.
Let all thy fragrant Flowers
Grow sweeter by this Air;
Thy tallest Trees and Bowers
Bud forth and blossom fair:
Beasts wild and tame,
Whom Lodgings yeild,
House, Dens or Field,
Collaud his Name.
5.
Ye Seas with Earth that make
One Globe flow high, and swell,
Exalt your Makers Name,
In Deep his Wonders tell:
Leviathan,
And what doth swim
Neer Bank of Brim,
His Glory scan.
6.
Ye Airy Regions all,
Joyn in a sweet concent,
Blow such a Madrigal
May reach the Firmament:
Winds, Hail, Ice, Snow,
And perly Drops
That hang on Crops,
His Wonders show.
7.
Pure Element of Fire,
With holy sparks inflame
This Sublunary Quire,
That all one Consort frame.
Their spirits raise
To Trumpet forth
Their Makers worth,
And sound his praise.
8.
Ye glorious Lamps that roul
In your Coelestial Sphears,
All under his controul,
Who you on Poles up-bears;
Him magnifie,
Ye Planets bright,
And fixed Lights
That deck the Skie.
9.
O Heav'n Chrystalline,
Which by the Watry hue
Dost temper and refine
The rest in Azur'd Blue:
His Glory sound,
Thou first Mobeel,
Which mak'st all wheel
In circle round.
10.
Ye Glorious Souls who raign
In sempiternal Joy,
Free from that flesh and pain,
Which here did you annoy,
And him behold,
In whom all Bliss
Concentred is;
His laud unfold.
11.
Bless'd Maid which dost surmount
All Saints and Seraphims,
And raign'st as Paramount,
And chief of Cherubims;
Chaunt out his praise,
Who in thy Womb
Nine moneths took room,
Though crown'd with rays.
12.
Oh let my Soul and Heart,
My Mind and Memory
Bear in this Hymn a part,
And joyn with Earth and Sky.
Let evry Wight,
The whole world ore,
Laud and adore
The Lord of Light.
Vpon a Beutiful Valentine.
A Sonnet.
COuld I charm the Queen of Loves
To lend a Quill of her white Doves,
Lipt in the fair Castalian springs:
Then wold I write the All-divine
Perfections of my Valentine.
As mongst all flowers the Rose excels,
As Amber▪ mongst the fragrant'st smells,
As mongst all Minerals the Gold,
As Marble mongst the finest Mold,
As Diamonds mongst Jewels bright,
As Cynthia mongst the lesser lights;
So mong the Northern Beauties shine,
So far excels my Valentine.
In Rome and Naples I did view
Faces of Coelestial hue;
Venetian Dames I have seen many,
(I onely saw them, touch'd not any)
Of Spanish Beauties, Dutch and French
I have beheld the Quintessence;
Yet saw I none that could out-shine,
Or Parallel my Valentine.
Th' Italians they are coy and quaint,
But they grosly daub and paint;
The Spanish kind are apt to please,
But sav'ring of the same disease;
The French are light, the Dutch are homely:
Let Tagus, Po, the Loire and Rhine
Then vail unto my Valentine.
Here may be seen pure white and red,
Not by feign'd Art, but Nature wed;
No simpering smiles, no mimic face,
Affected jesture, or forc'd face:
A fair-smooth front, free from least wrinkle,
Her eyes (Oy me) like Stars do twinkle.
Thus all perfections do combine
To beutifie my Valentine.
Vpon Black Eyes, and Becoming Frowns.
A Sonnet.
BLack Eyes, in your dark Orbs doth lie
My ill or happy Destiny:
If with clear looks you me behold,
You give me Mines and Mounts of Gold;
If you dart forth disdainful rays,
To your own dy you turn my days.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
[Page 69] That Lamp which all the Stars doth blind,
Yeilds to your lustre in some kind,
Though you do wear to make you bright
No other dress but that of Night.
He glitters onely in the Day,
You in the Dark your beams display.
Black Eyes, in your two Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
The cunning Thief that lurks for prize,
At some Dark Corner watching lies:
So that heart-robbing God doth stand
In your Black Lobbies shaft in hand,
To rifle me of what I hold▪
More precious far then Indian Gold.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
O powerful Negromantic Eyes,
Who in your Circles strictly pries,
Will find that Cupid with his Dart
In you doth practise the Black Art;
And by those Spells I am possest,
Tries his conclusions in my Brest.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
[Page 70] Look on me, though in frowning wise;
Some kind of frowns become Black Eyes
As pointed Diamonds being set,
Cast greater lustre out of Jet:
Those pieces we esteem most rare
Which in night-shadows postur'd are:
Darkness in Churches Congregats the sight
Devotion straies in glaring light.
Black Eyes, in your dark Orbs by changes dwell
My Bane or Bliss, my Paradis or Hell.
Vpon Clorinda's Mask.
SO have I seen the Sun in his full pride
Ore-cast with sullen Clouds, and loose his light:
So have I seen the brightest Stars denide
To shew their lustre in some gloomy Night:
So Angels pictures have I seen vail'd ore,
That more devoutly men should them adore:
So with a Mask I saw Clorinda hide
Her face more bright then was the Lemnian Bride.
Vpon Dr. Davies British-Grammar.
'TWas a rough Task, believe it, thus to tame
A wild and Wealthy Language, and to frame
Grammatic toiles to curb her, so that she
Now speaks by Rules, and sings by Prosodie:
Such is the strength of Art rough things to shape,
And of rude Commons rich Inclosures make.
Doubtless much Oyl and Labour went to couch
Into Methodic Rules the rugged Dutch:
The Rabbies pass my reach, but judge I can
Something of Clenard and Quintilian;
And for those Modern Dames I find they three
Are onely lops cut from the Latian Tree;
And easie 'twas to square them into parts,
The Tree it self so blossoming with Arts.
I have been shewn for Irish and Bascuence,
Imperfect Rules couch'd in an Accidence:
But I find none of these can take the start
Of Davies, or that prove more Men of Art,
Who in exacter Method and clear way,
The Idioms of a Language do display.
This is the Toung the Birds sung in of old,
And Druyds their dark Knowledg did unsold:
Which through the world of fame bear such extent.
This spoak that Son of Mars, that Britain bold
Who first 'mongst Christian-Worthies is inroll'd:
This Brennus, who, to his desire and glut,
This Mistress of the world did prostitut.
This Arviragus and King Catarac
Sole free, when all the world was on Romes rack.
This Lucius who on Angels wings did soar
To Rome, and would wear Diadem no more.
With thousand Hero's more, which shold I tell,
This New-year scarce wold serve me: So fare well▪
Upon Christmas-Day.
1.
HAil Holy Tide,
Wherein a Bride,
A Virgin (which is more)
Brought forth a Son,
The like was done
Nere in the World before.
2.
Hail, Spotless Maid:
Who thee upbraid
To have been born in Sin,
[Page 73] Do little weigh
What in thee lay,
Before thou didst Lie-in.
3.
Three moneths thy Wombe
Was made the Dome
Of Him, whom Earth nor Air,
Nor the vast mold
Of Heaven can hold,
Cause he's Vbiquitair.
4.
O would he daign
To rest and raign
l'th' centre of my heart,
And make it still
His Domicil,
And Residence in part.
5.
But in so foul a Cell
Can he abide to dwell?
Yes, when he please to move
His Harbenger to sweep the Room,
And with rich Odours it perfume
Of Faith, of Hope, of Love.
Vpon my Honoured Friend and F. Mr. Ben. Johnson.
ANd is thy Glass run out? is that Oyl spent
Which light to such strong sinewy labours
Well Ben, I now perceive that all the Nine, lent?
Though they their utmost forces shold combine,
Cannot prevail 'gainst Nights three Daughters, but
One still must spin, one twist, the other cut:
Yet in despight of Distaff, Clue, and Knife,
Thou in thy strenuous Lines hast got a Life;
Which like thy Bays shall flourish evry Age
While Sock or Buskin shall ascend the Stage.
—Sic vaticinatur J. H.
For the admitting Mistriss Anne King to be the tenth Muse.
LAdies of Helicon, do not repine
I add one more unto your Number Nine
[Page 75] To make it even: I among you bring
No meaner then the Daughter of a King;
Fair Basil-Ana: quickly pass your voice,
I know Apollo will approve the choice,
And gladly her install, for I could name
Some of less merit Goddesses became.
A Hymn to the Blessed Trinity.
To the first Person.
TO thee, Dread Soveraign, and dread Lord,
Which out of Nought didst me afford
Essence and Life, who mad'st me Man,
And oh, much more a Christian:
Lo, from the centre of my heart,
All Laud and Glory I impart.
Hallelujah.
To the Second.
TO Thee blessed Saviour who didst free
My Soul from Satans Tyranny,
And madst her capable to be
An Angel of thy Hierarchy:
From the same Centre do I raise
All Honour and immortal Praise.
Hallelujah.
To the Third.
TO Thee sweet Spirit I return
That Love wherewith my heart doth burn,
And these bless'd Notions of my Brain
I now breath up to thee again:
O let them redescend, and still
My Soul with holy Raptures fill.
Hallelujah.
A short Ejaculation.
O God, who can those Passions tell
Wherewith my heart to Thee doth swell?
I cannot better them declare
Then by the Wish made by that rare
Aurelian Bishop, who of old
Thy Oracles in Hippo told.
If I were Thou, and Thou wert I,
I would resigne the Deity:
Thou sholdst be God, I wold be Man;
Is't possible that love more can?
Oh pardon, that my Soul hath tane
So high a flight, and grows prophane.
A Hym [...] of Mortification.
1.
LOrd I cry,
Lord I fly
To thy Throne of Grace:
This World is irksome unto me:
In my mind
stings I find
Of that dismal place,
Where pains still growing young ner [...] die.
O thou whose clemency
Reacheth from Earth to Sky,
Set my sins from me as wide
As is East
From the West,
Or the Court of Bliss
From the Infern Abyss,
So far let us asunder ever bide.
2.
ANgels blest,
With the rest
Of that Heavenly Quire,
Which Halleluja's always sing:
Fain wold I
Mount on high,
[Page 78] And those seats aspire,
Where evry Season is a constant Spring.
O Thou who thought'st no scorn
To be in Bethlem born,
Though grand Monarch of the Sky
Through a Flood
Of thy Blood
Let me safely dive,
And at that Port arrive,
Where I may ever rest from shipwrack free.
3.
FAith and Hope,
Take your scope,
And my Pilots be
To waft me to this blisful Bay:
Gently guide
Through the tide
Of mans misery,
My Bark that it loose not the way.
When landed I shall be
At that Port, pardon me
If I bid you both farewel,
Onely Love
Reigns above
'Mong Coelestial Souls,
Where Passion not controuls,
Nor any thing but Charity doth dwell.
4.
LOrd of light,
In thy sight
Are those Mounts of Bliss
Which Humane Brains transcends so far,
Ear nor Ey
Can descry,
Nor heart fully wish,
Or Toungs of Men and Saints declare
Those Sense-surmounting Joys
That free from all annoys
For those few up-treasur'd lie,
Which ere Sun
Shone at Noon,
Have their Names enroll'd
In Characters of Gold,
Through the white Volume of Eternity.
A Holy RAPTVRE.
COuld I screw up my Brain so high
With soaring Raptures that might fly
Unto the Empirean Sky,
[Page 80] How would I laud the Lord of light,
Who fills all things, and every Wight
With Plenty, Vigour and Delight?
My Voice with Hallelujahs loud
Shold pierce, and dissipate the Clouds,
Which in the Airie Region croud.
Then through the Element of Fire
Unto the Stars they should aspire,
And so to the Seraphick Quire.
Thus Earth and Sky with every thing
Should joyn with me, and Carrols sing
Unto the Everlasting King.
An EJACULATION To my CREATOR.
AS the parch'd Field doth thirst for Rain
When the Dog-star makes Sheep and Swain
Of an unusual Drowth complain,
So thirsts my Heart for Thee.
As the chac'd Deer doth pant and bray
After some brook, or cooling Bay
When Hounds have worried her astray,
So pants my Heart for Thee.
As the forsaken Dove doth mone
When her beloved Mate is gone,
And never rests, while self alone,
So mones my Heart for Thee.
Or as the Teeming Earth doth mourn
In Black (like Lover at an Urn)
Till Titan's quickning Beams return,
So do I mourn, mone, pant and thirst
For Thee who art my Last and First.
Vpon a Fit of DISCONSOLATION, or Despondency of Spirit.
EArly and late, both night and day,
By Moon-shine and the Suns bright Ray,
When spangling Stars emboss'd the Sky,
And deck'd the Worlds vast Canopy,
I sought the Lord of Light and Life,
But Oh my Lord kept out of sight.
As at all Times, so evry Place
I made my Church to seek his Face:
In Forests, Chases, Parks and Wood▪
On Mountains, Meadows, Fields and [...]
I sought the Lord of Life and Light▪
But still my Lord kept out of sight.
On Neptun's back, when I could see
But few pitch'd planks 'twixt Death and me,
In Freedom and in Bondage long,
With Groans and Cries, with Pray'r and Song,
I sought the Lord of Life and Light,
But still my Lord kept out of sight.
In Chamber, Closet, (swoln with Tears)
[...] sent up Vows for my Arrears;
In Chappel, Church and Sacrament,
(The Souls Ambrosian Nourishment)
I sought the Lord of Life and Light,
But still my Lord kept out of sight.
What? is mild Heaven turn'd to Brass,
That neither sigh nor sob can pass?
Is all Commerce 'Twixt Earth and Sky
Cut off from Adams Progeny?
That thus the Lord of Life and Light
Should so, so long keep out of sight?
Such Passions did my mind assail,
Such terrours did my spirits quail,
When lo, a beam of Grace shot out
Through the dark clouds of sin and doubt,
Which did such quickning sparkles dart,
That pierc'd the centre of my heart.
O how my spirits came again,
How evry cranny of my brain
Was fill'd with heat and wonderment,
With [...]joy and ravishing content,
When thus the Lord of Life and Light
Did re-appeer unto my sight?
Learn Sinners hence, 'tis nere too late.
To knock and cry at Heavens gate;
That Begger's bless'd who doth not faint,
But re-inforceth still his plaint:
The longer that the Lord doth hide his Face,
More bright will be his after-beams of Grace.
Vpon the most Noble Work of the Lo. Mar. of Winchester, By rendring the French Gallery of Ladies into English.
1.
THe World of Ladies must be honour'd much,
That so sublime a Personage, that such
A Noble Peer, and Pen should thus display
Their Vertues, and expose them to the day.
2.
His praises are like those coruscant Beams
VVhich Phoebus on high Rocks of Crystal streams:
The Matter and the Agent grace each other:
So Danae did when Jove made her a Mother.
3.
Queens, Countesses and Ladies go, unlock
Your Cabinets, draw forth your richest stock
Of Jewels, and his Coronet adorn
VVith Rubies, Perl, and Saphyres yet unworn.
4.
Rise early, gather flow'rs now in the spring,
Twist wreaths of Laurel, and fresh Garlands bring
To crown the Temples of this high-born Peer,
And make him your Apollo▪ all the yeer.
And when his soul shall leave this Earthly Mine,
Then offer sacrifice unto his shrine.
Vpon the untimely Death of the Lord Fra. Villars, Kill'd neer Kingston upon Thames.
HEre lies a Noble Posthumus inhum'd,
VVhose youthful breath that Sanguin Field perfum'd
Where while his heart with Martial flames did swell,
Among a Cru of Cannibals he fell.
Such a hard Destiny did post from hence
His gallant Sire, yet with this difference:
One Assassin fell'd him, but this brave Spray
Base Rebels in whole throngs did rend away.
Vpon the Holy Sacrament.
1.
HAil holy Sacrament,
The worlds great VVonderment,
Mysterious Banquet, much more rare
Then Manna, or the Angels fare;
Each crum, though sinners on thee feed,
Doth Cleopatra's Perl exceed.
[Page 86] Oh how my Soul doth hunger, thirst and pine
After these Cates so precious, so divine!
2.
She need not bring her Stool
As some unbidden Fool;
The Master of this Heavenly Feast
Invites and wooes her for his Guest:
Though Deaf and Lame, Forlorn and Blind,
Yet welcome here she's sure to find,
So that she bring a Vestment for the day,
And her old tatter'd Rags throw quite away.
3.
This is Bethsaida's Pool
That can both clense and cool
Poor leprous and diseased souls,
An Angel here keeps and controuls,
Descending gently from the Heavens above
To stir the waters; May He also move
My mind, and rockie heart so strike and rend,
That tears may thence gush out with them to blend.
A Divine EJACVLATION.
AS to the Pole the Lilly bends
In a Sea-compass, and still tends
By a Magnetic Mystery
Unto the Artic point in Sky,
Whereby the doubtful Piloteer
His course in gloomy Nights doth steer;
So the small Needle of my Heart
Moves to her Maker, who doth dart
Atomes of Love, and so attracts
All my affections, which like sparks
Fly up, and guide my Soul by this
To the tru centre of her Bliss.
Of the Scene, and ingenious Composure of a Florentine Tragi-Comedy.
FLorence 'mong Cities bears the name of Fair
For Streets and stately Structures, Site & Air:
[Page 88] A City, as a late Historian says,
Fit onely to be seen on Holy-days.
She breeds great Wits for high attempts and trust,
Though often bent on black Revenge and Lust,
We know the purest Streams have woose and slime,
So Vices mix with Vertu in this Clime;
And there are store of Stories in that kind,
Which as I write, come crowding to my mind:
But this of yours will serve for all, which is
Compil'd with so much Art, that doubtful 'tis
VVhether the Toscan Actors shew'd more Wit
In plotting, as You did in penning it.
Vpon the Poems of Dr. Aylet, An Ancient Master of the Chancery.
THough the Castalian Dames (and all the rest
Of women-kind) love youthful spirits best,
Yet I have known them oftentimes inspire
Autumnal brains with heats of Enthean fire:
Nay, 'tis observ'd in those whom Phoebus loves,
The more the Sense impairs, the Soul improves;
He darts on Aged Trees so bright a stroke,
As on the Standel of a lustie Oke.
[Page 89] This work of yours, this mirrour of your minde,
Is a clear proof hereof, wherein I finde
Your Autumn, Spring, and Summer still the same,
Your Evening, Morn and Noon have the like flame
Of Apollinean fire, in such degree
May melt the Readers into Poesie:
Your Fancie with the Leaf doth neither fall
Nor fade, but still is sappy, streight and tall.
Here are no whimsies, and strong Lines that swell,
And more of Garlick then the Lamp do smell;
Such as those rambling Rimers use to vent,
Who raise their Muse on stilts, and not content
To tread on earth, do mount so high a stair,
That their conceits prove Non-sense, Froth and Air.
Here's no such Stuff, but Substance and rare Sense,
Sound Rules and Precepts may be cull'd out hence:
Your Quadrains Symphonize with Pybracks strains,
As if his Soul were transient in your brains.
Your smooth just Cadencies, and gentle Verse,
Suit with the pious Matter you rehearse,
As all will judge, who have their brains well knit,
And do not love extravagance of Wit.
If such your Readers be, you need not fly
From any Sentence to the Chancery.
The Description of a Morning Expergefaction, After an unusual Dream or Vision. 1656.
SO Rest to Motion, Night to Day doth yeild,
Silence to Noise, the Stars do quit the Field,
My Cinq Ports all fly ope, the Phantasie
Gives way to outward Objects, Ear and Eye
Resume their Office, so doth Hand and Lip;
I hear the Carmans Wheel, the Coachmans Whip.
The Prentice (with my sense) his Shop unlocks,
The Milk-maid seeks her Pail, Porters their frocks▪
All cries and sounds return, except one thing
I hear no Bell for Mattins Toll or Ring.
Being thus awak'd, and staring on the light
Which silver'd all my face and glaring sight,
I clos'd my eyes again, to recollect
What I had dreamt, and make my thoughts reflect
Upon themselves, which here I do expose
To evry knowing Soul: and may all those
(Whose Brains Apollo with his gentle Ray
Hath moulded of a more refined Clay)
As I did Plesure; Then they have It cheap.
Est sensibilium simia somnium, J. H.
To Mrs. E. B. Vpon a sudden SURPRISAL.
A Pelles, Prince of Painters, did
All others in that Art exceed▪
But You surpass him, for He took
Some Pains and Time to draw a Look;
You in a trice and moments space,
Have Pourtray'd in my Heart your Face.
Vpon the Nativity of our Saviour, Christmas-Day.
1.
WOnder of Wonders, Earth with Sky
Time mingleth with Eternity,
And Matter with Immensity.
2.
The Sun becomes an Atom, and a Star
Turns to a Candle to light Kings from far
To see a spectacle so wondrous rare.
3.
A Virgin bears a Son, that Son doth bear
A world of sin, acquitting mans arrear
Since guilty Adam fig-tree leaves did wear.
4.
A Majesty both infinit and just
Offended was, therefore the Offering must
Be such, to expiat frail flesh and dust.
5.
When no such Victime could be found
Throughout the whole Expansive round
Of Heaven, of Air, of Sea or Ground,
6.
The Prince of Life Himself descends
To make Astraea full amends,
And Human Soul from Hell defends.
7.
Was ever such a Love as this,
That the Eternal Heir of Bliss
Should stoop to such a low Abyss?
To my Dear Mother, The Vniversity of OXFORD, Before Mr. Cartwrights Poems of CHRIST-CHURCH. 1650.
Alma Mater,
MAny do suck thy Breasts, but now in some
Thy Milk turns into froth, and spumy scum▪
In Others it converts to rheum and fleam,
Or some poor Wheyish stuff in steed of Cream.
In Some it doth Malignant Humors breed,
And make the Head turn round, (as that side Tweed)
Which Humors vaporing up into the Brains,
Break out to odd Fanatik sottish strains;
It makes them dote and rave, fret, fume and foam,
And strangely from the Text in Pulpits roam:
[...] [...]Their Theme is Birch, their Preachment is of Brome▪
Nor mong thy Foorders onely such are found,
But who came ore the Bridge are much more Round.
Some of thy Sons prove Bastards, sordid, base,
Who having suck'd Thee throw Dirt in Thy face:
When they have squeez'd thy Nipples and chaste Paps,
They dash thee on the Nose with Frumps and Raps▪
They grumble at thy Commons, Buildings, Rents,
And wold Thee bring to Farthing Decrements.
Few by the Milk sound Nutriment now gain,
For want of good Concoction from the Brain.
But this choice Son of Thine is no such Brat;
Thy Milk in Him did so Coagulat,
That it became Elixir, as we see,
In these smooth streams of fluent Poesie.
To the Rarely Ingenious Mrs. A. WEEMES, Vpon Her SUPPLEMENT To Sir Philip Sydneys Arcadia.
IF a Male Soul by Transmigration can
Pass to a Female, and Her spirits Man,
Then sure some Sparks of Sydneys Soul hath flown
Into your Breast, which may in time be blown
To Flames; for 'tis the course of Enthean Fire
To kindle by degrees, and Brains inspire:
As Buds to Blossoms, Blossoms turn to Fruit,
So Wits ask Time to ripen and recruit.
But yours gives Time the start, as All may see
In this smooth Peece of Early Poesie:
Which like sparks of one flame may well aspire,
If Phoebus please, to a Sydneyan Fire.
A sudden Rapture Vpon the Horrid Murthering of his late Majesty.
SO fell great Britains Oke by a Wild Crew
Of Mongrel Shrubs which underneath Him grew;
So fell the Lyon by a pack of Curs,
So the Rose wither'd twixt a Knot of Burs.
So fell the Eagle by a swarm of Gnats,
So the Whale perish'd 'twixt a Shoal of Sprats.
An EPITAPH Vpon CHARLES the First. [...].
IF to Subdu Himself, if to obtain
A Conquest ore the Passions, be to Raign,
Here lies the Greatest King, (who can say more?)
Of All can come behind, or went before.
Vpon a Cupboard of Venice-Glasses, sent for a New-years-gift to a choice Lady.
Madame,
IF on this New-years-gift you cast an eye,
You plainly may therein at once descry
A twofold quality; for there will appear
A brittle substance, but the Object clear.
So in the Donor, Madame, you may see
These Qualities inherent for to be:
His Pow'r which brittle little is, Helas,
His Mind sincere, and pure as any Glass.
The old Philospher did wish there were
A window in his Heart of Chrystal clear,
Through which his friends might the more clearly see
His inward Passions, and Integrity.
I wish the like, for then you sure wold rest
Of my clear Mind, and motions of my Brest.
But if it question'd be to what intent
With Venice-Glasses I do you present,
I answer, That I could no Gift perceive
So fit for me to give, you to receive:
For those rare Graces that in you excel,
And you that hold them, one may parallel
[...] [...]And can admit no poyson to come near,
So Vertu dwells in you, nor can endure
That Vice shold harbour in a Brest so pure.
A Passionat ELEGIE Vpon His Long-endeared Friend, Daniel Caldwal Esq
A Heart high swoln with grief in this sad Verse,
Lets fall these brackish tears upon thy Herse,
Distill'd from that pure Salt of long-bred Love,
Which twice ten Summers did betwixt us move.
O how my Soul doth melt when my Thoughts run
Upon those days our friendship first begun
Among the Muses on fair Isis banks,
Where Youth doth play so many sportful pranks;
When Liberty ore-aw'd by Tutors frown,
And Mirth half-stoln is far more pleasing known.
From Isis to the Thames Affections flew,
And with new sparks of Love still hotter grew:
Nere Damon to his Pythias prov'd more dear
Then Dan to Me; nere shin'd their love more clear.
[Page 99] Those Twins which now in Azur'd Skies do glide,
And Pilots through rough Neptun's Surges guide.
Our Souls did seem to one another pass
By Transmigration; an Elizium was
There where we met: We did so sympathize,
That Hearts seem'd to make Sallies through the eys.
Thus liv'd we long, till all-disposing Fate
To check this friendship Us did separate,
Put Seas between Us, many thousand mile
Thrice cut me from my Dan and Albions Ile.
Yet, ma [...]gre this large distance We did meet,
And still by Internuntial Letters greet.
The Horizon of Love is large, He spies
His wished Object wheresoere it lies,
From Pole to Pole, from Thule unto Gades,
He flying soars through Air, through Seas he wade [...].
This found I tru, when Tagus, Loire and Po,
Clowd-threatning Alps, and Pyrenean Snow
I cross'd, me thought the further still I steer'd
My Dan still nearer to my mind appeer'd;
My thoughts by day, my phantasie by night
Would frequently convay him to my sight:
I miss'd, and found Him; miss'd him to the eye,
Yet found him in my Brest still constant lie;
And by this miss, that Axiom tru did note,
Sometimes Love's sweetest when 'tis most remote.
O how my thoughts kept Festival that day
Did Letters from my Dan to me convay;
Letters which I shall keep as sacred Ties,
As holy Reliques, or rich Legacies.
Dear Quintessential Mate, what can express
The deep-fetch'd sighs my trembling heart possess!
Silence best can: how roars the shallow Source,
While without noise great Rivers run their course?
Small Love doth speak, and is sometimes acute,
While deep Affection stunn'd with grief stands mute.
But is Dan dead? Oh no, now He begins
To live, He's got among the Seraphins:
Where He doth Nectar quaff with Glory crown'd,
While his sad Spouse still bears his Deaths deep wound
In her chast Brest, and Heart big-swoln with Woes,
More dolorous then all her Childbed Throes.
Farewel, dear Soul, raign in Elyzian Bliss,
And take this pure untainted Sacrifice,
Which on Love's Altar doth like Incense flame
To thy still-fragrant Memory and Fame.
Farewel, until we meet, and make in Sky
Among the Stars another Gemini.
An ELEGIE Vpon his Tomb in Horndon-Hill Church, Erected by his Wife, Who speaks,
TAke, Gentle Marble to thy trust,
And keep untouch'd this sacred Dust▪
Grow moist sometimes, that I may see
Thou weep'st in sympathy with Me;
And when by Him I here shall sleep,
My Ashes also safely keep,
And from rude Hands preserve Vs Both, until
We rise to Sion Mount from Horndon-Hill.
Sent with a Prayer-Book to a Pious Lady.
Madame,
WHat I by way of Token send, you may
By way of Sacrifice to Heav'n convay,
And to an Off'ring turn my Gift, more dear
To God then Piles of Frankincense and Myrr.
But when for Others you to Him direct
Your Prayers, let your thoughts sometimes reflect
To DELIA.
ABout the light as the poor Fly
Doth flutter and approach so nigh,
Till up and down as she still skips,
Her Lawny Wings with fire she clips:
So my Affection bout the Eyes
Of Heart-inflaming Delia flyes;
Till Phoenix-like they into Ashes burn,
And new Affections still rise from their Vrn.
A sudden SPECVLATION Beyond the Seas.
ALthough my Body many thousand mile
Be distant from sweet Albions Woolly Ile,
Yet neither Land nor Sea, nor Air nor Wind,
Nor Heav'n it self, can keep from thence my Mind;
But that each moment of the fleeting day,
My Thoughts to England may Themselfs convay.
Of Female Hypocrisie,
In a short Dialog twixt Dion and Thyrsis.
Dion.
THyrsis, I stand amaz'd how Nature could
Compose a Fabrick of so rich a mould,
That outwardly looks like a Seraphin,
But a Megera if you pry within.
Thyrsis.
Whom mean you, Dion, that you thus descry
By such gross taintures of Hypocrisie?
For hence you must infer that Nature's blind,
Or els she must be partial in her kind.
Dion.
O Thyrsis, if that Saint-like Fiend you knew,
That sowr-sweet, real, yet dissembling Hue
Of Livia, sure you wold be chang'd to wonder,
That Nature in her works should so much blunder.
That of Themselfs they shine, not by reflect,
Wherein through Crystal Casements one may spy
The Queen of Love seated in Majesty.
Her Forehead as the Marble smooth and plain,
Her Cheeks alike, but that half dy'd in Grain:
Her Tresses might serve for a Net to take
A Hermit, or an Angel captive make.
A Smile to move a Stoik, a Voice so shrill,
That all Arcadia wold with Eccho's fill:
A sweeter Breath never perfum'd the Air;
Least touch of Lip would a dead Corps repair.
These are Perfections in Exterior shew;
But if her inward Qualities you knew,
What you ador'd before you would detest,
Turn Love to Hate, (or Pity at the least.)
Her Breast's a Shop of Fraud, her Heart a Mill
That restless thoughts do grind to wound or kill.
Her Brain's a Still that at all hours doth strain
Destructive cruel Notions of Disdain.
Her Eyes are Windows of False Lights, and cries,
Her Toung a flap of Perjury and Lyes;
Her Chin is double like her Heart; Her Cheeks
Have Pits, as 'twere to bury whom she seeks
For to destroy.—
Thyrsis.
[Page 105]Is't possible so fair a Bark shold hide
So black a Trunk, or so much Ill shold bide
In such Seraphik Beuties? Shells of Gold,
Can they within such rotten Kernels hold?
Can in smooth gliding streams Carybdies dwell?
Or in one place cohabit Heav'n and Hell?
Can Livia be so beuteous to th' Eyes,
And lodg within such foul deformities?
Dion.
'Tis so: whence I infer how tru I find,
No trust is to be put in Woman-kind.
Of some, Who blending their Brains together, plotted how to bespatter one of the Muses choicest Sons and Servants,
Sir Will. Davenant, Knight and Poet.
POets like Princes may denounce a War,
They may like Common Mortals clash and jar,
Turn privat Feuds to publick, and asperse
(Justly sometimes) each others Muse and Verse.
[Page 106] But whoso blurs Davenants Heroick strains
Do shew more Gall in Brest, then Wit in Brains:
Their Sculls are like a Siringe cramm'd with Dirt,
Which as they on some Marble Pillar spirt,
Bounds on their grinning Faces back again,
So doth Themselfs more then the Marble stain.
Vpon Mr. Cleveland.
IS Cleveland dead? and will not the whole Quire
Of Muses mourn, and put on black attire?
Nay, their great God Apollo shold me thinks
Wear Sable too, and dart his Rays through Chinks.
Is Cleveland gone? Sure in this long-North-wind
Some Scottish Witch convey'd her Imps to find
Him out, and in revenge made League with Death
To murther him so soon, and stop his breath:
Yet had his Body match'd his Wit in might,
He had in pure clear strength put both to flight.
One thing I do admire, we have no more
Of that large stock the Stars gave him in store;
VVhich could he have bequeath'd by Legacy,
It equall'd had Saint Mark's rich Tresury.
But my hopes are, that he hath left behind
Some Posthume Pieces to enrich mankind,
[Page 107] Which with th' inspiring Odors they will cast,
May make new Poets, not like Him in hast.
Vpon Dr. Howel, Lord Bishop of Bristol, Who died a little after the putting down of Episcopacy.
Rumpendo in Lachrymas facit Indignatio Versum.
O Were I raptur'd into Verse
To write with fury on thy Herse,
O could I strangle with a wish
Steel'd Clotho, and Stern Lachesis
With their own Thred, or cut the Life
Of Atropos with her own Knife.
Or could I meet that Bald-Pate Churl,
With his All-mowing Sith, I'd hurl,
And tumble Him, with all the Three
Down to the Pit in lieu of Thee:
So Man shold be Lord of his Age,
And free from their Tyrannik rage.
But much they need not boast, or vaunt to have
This Saint-like Prelat sent unto his Grave:
For He, good Soul, was Mortifi'd before,
And got almost in sight of Heav'ns bless'd shore▪
[Page 108] He might be call'd during his Lifes short span
Terrestrial Angel, or Coelestial Man.
But Oh, it is not He who di'd alone,
For Prelacy Herself with him is gone:
Englands whole Hierarchy (sad Tale to tell)
At the same time did breathe Her last, and fell.
1647.
Before the Second Part Of DODONAS GROVE.
FRom the pure Air of Greece, the ancient Nource
Of Learning, and Philosophy's chief Source,
Dodona sends her Trees to re-salute
The Queen of Iles; they all this while stood mute,
And muffled in a close unlucky Fog,
That the whole Grove appear'd like one great Log.
VVhen a fresh Breeze did Blow, and re-inspire
Their Leafs with Language like an Orphean Lyre,
To tell the gazing world what a dire stroke,
Or fatal clap of Thunder crush'd the Oke;
How all the Shrubs grew Wood, and strangely mad,
As if some Hemlock them intoxed had:
Did by his prickles all these mischiefs breed.
If in this Bleaker Air Dodona finds
To nip her Buds any Malignant Winds,
She quickly can transplant without despair,
To shoot Her blossoms in some gentler Air.
The Conclusion of the Second Part Of DODONAS GROVE.
THus far have we pursu'd the doubtful Fate
Of the Druinian Oke, and tott'ring State,
When the first Northern Blasts upon him blew,
Which such a world of mischiefs with them drew.
Dodona next shall trembling tell
VVhat a sad period Him befel;
How, to Mankinds eternal wonder,
His Trunk from top was cleft asunder.
VVhence Kings may learn, that by this Blow,
They are made All Plebeans now.
To my most Endeared R. Altham, Esq
RAre Youth, I stand astonish'd at thy wit,
So quaint, so pregnant, and so full of sp'rit;
As if the Thespian Dames for a new Mate,
Another young Apollo would create.
Those few Castalian drops which once I drank
At Aganippes honey-suckled bank,
Are now exhansted much by long disuse;
By cares and cumbers, Travels far, my Muse
Is dull'd, but yours more ripe, and perfect grows,
Now yours doth Knot, now your Invention flows.
O how those Golden days did sweetly shine,
VVhen Contubernal Love did us combine!
VVhen with encircling Arms I fast would keep,
And with old Stories lull us both asleep.
But that tim's past, and passeth still, that Time
VVold scarce permit Me to make up my Rime.
Vpon A New-fashion'd Table-Book, Sent HIm for a Token from Amsterdam.
SUppose this Book the Table be
Of a cleer Heart engag'd to Thee,
Wherein could I so pithy prove,
As write the story of our Love;
Within each Leaf I wold infold
The brightest Characters of Gold.
But how can such large Matter be
Couch'd in so streight a room by Me?
Unless I had His Art who put
Great Homers Iliads in a Nut.
Vpon EASTER-DAY.
HAil, Holy Morn, the Morn that made appear
Two Suns at once above this Hemisphear:
[Page 112] One, the Great Eye of the low world, so bright,
That it gives evry thing both Heat and Light;
Th' Other transcending Him in Light so far
As He excels any inferior Star:
The Sun of Righteousness; He who displays
Upon the inward man his Heav'nly Rays.
O that those Rays wold on my Soul reflect
By the bless'd influence of his Aspect,
To penetrat the centre of my Heart,
And thence exhale all the Terrestrial Part.
A PARALLEL Twixt ANGELS and MEN.
THat which the smallest Fly we see
Is, if to Man it equall'd be,
Such a proportion Man may bear
With those of the Seraphik Sphear.
Men are at best but Earths Free-Denizens,
Angels are Heav'ns Immortal Citizens.
Or his coruscant lustre brook:
But Angels can behold the sight
Of Him who made that Sun and Light.
Then what is purblind Man, if one shold dare
Unto a glorious Angel him compare?
Earth with the Sky bears no proportion,
'Tis but a Point of no Dimension;
It doth not match, much less exceed
The smallest Grain of Mustard-seed:
Then what proportion can (I'd fain be told)
A Human Creture with a Heavenly hold?
Yet let not Man dejected be
At such a mighty odds, for He
Is born himself to be in time
An Angel, and the Stars to clime
By that Immortal Soul, and precious Guest
He lodgeth in his Spirits, Brain and Brest.
To my choice, and most endeared Friend, Mr. R. A. In answer to a Poem of His.
AS when Aurora with her cheerful Crest
Mounts our Horizon, then both Bird & Beast
Renew their vigour; so your quickning strains
My drooping spirits rais'd, and rowz'd my Brains:
Wherein the flames of love such beams did dart,
That pierc'd the very centre of my heart.
For as my Eyes your charming Numbers view'd,
My Lips, me thought, with Nectar were bedew'd;
As if Thalia from Apollo's Mount
An Ode had sent dipp'd in the Thespian-Fount:
Each Line did lim you out, each Word did show
This Verse, this Stile from Althams brain did flow.
Rare flowr of Wit, Minerva's Minion,
The Muses Gem, Honors adopted Son,
What Answer shall I make for to express
That Quintessential Love I Thee profess?
If Letters can by Aiery spirits send
A distant Heart, behold my Breast I rend,
[Page 115] And send you mine: Obuse long ago
This purchase you have got, full well you know;
Enjoy it still, and as your years accrew,
Let mutual Passions still this Love renew
This bond of Love which Fortune, Time, [...]or Fate
Shall ever cancel till Lifes utmost date:
But as the amorous Vine her Elm doth grasp,
Twine both our souls, and with embraces clasp.
Vpon this rare Erotique Subject, The Master-piece of LOVE, By Mr. Loveday.
AS Perl mong Gems, so mong the Passions Love
Excels, and in the highest Orb doth move,
Her Sisters Faith and Hope attend us here,
While through frail Elements our course we steer:
But Love soars with the Soul beyond the Sky,
Being Imp'd in Her to all Eternity.
But what was here a Passion that did burn,
And cool by fits, shall there be fix'd, and turn
To an Angelik Nature ever free
From all such humours of inconstancy.
This Author doth that Passion so display,
And in such high Ideas, that He may
[Page 116] Stand to be Chair-man, and so fit above
The Common Masters in the School of Love.
To his worthy Friend, Mr. Wallan, Vpon the View of his ASTRAEA.
MAy great Apollo, and his charming Quire
Of Girls nere more my Brain inspire:
May I nere fetch more Naps on Parnasse Mount,
Or drink one drop of the Castalian Fount,
If with Astraea I am not so grown
In love, that I could wish she were mine own.
A Pregnant Vows For a safe and seasonable Delivery To The Excellent Lady, the Lady KATHERINE, Marchioness of Dorchester.
To Lucina.
HAil, gentle Goddesse, Midwifes Queen
Which pregnant Wombs from pain dost free,
May thy best care and skill be seen
In hastning this Delivery,
To hansel (as their Hopes are fair)
The Princely Parents with an Heir.
May Sol at his Nativity
With Venus in Conjunction be;
May that Auspicious Signe then raign
Which hath Dominion ore the Brain
(The Souls chief Palace) to inspire
His Intellect with Enthean fire.
May Cynthia then at full appeer,
Not pale or red, but white and cleer,
[Page 118] May Thames be at her highest pride,
Elated with a smooth Spring-tide:
May the whole Region here below
With sweet Favonian breezes blow.
And since the Month's like to be May
When Ceres looks so fresh and gay,
When evry bush doth blossoms bring,
And evry Bird doth Carrols sing:
May all these Auguries conspire
To make the Infant like the Sire;
And what more happiness then This,
Can Mother hope, or Mortal wish?
Vpon his Majesties Return, With the Dukes of York and Glocester.
THe Stars of late Eccentrik went
Out of the British Firmament,
But now they are fix'd there again,
And all concentred in Charles wain;
Where, since just Heaven did them restore,
They shine more glorious then before.
Long may they glitter in that Sky
With Beams of new Refulgency;
May great Apollo from his Sphear
Encrease their light, and motions chear,
[Page 119] So that old Albion may from thence
Grow younger by their Influence.
May no ill-boding Blazing Star,
No Northern Mist, or Civil War
No lowring Planet ever raign
Their lustre to obscure again,
But may whole Heav'n be fair and cleer,
And evry Star a Cavaliter.
Before OHPOAO [...]A Or, The l'arly of Beasts. 1658.
TRees spake before, now the same strength of Art
Makes Beasts to cun the Alphabet by heart,
And cut their Breaths to sound Articulat
Discoursive congruous Accents to prolate:
For Speech is breath, Breath Air let in and out,
But 'tis the Mind that brings the work about.
Such a rare Charter the worlds Architect
Vouchsaf'd to give the Human Intellect
To create Words: for 'tis Mankind alone
Can Language frame, and syllabize the tone.
But here Beasts speak [...] they mone, chide, cry, complain,
And at the Bar of Justice men arraign:
[Page 120] Such are our erying sins, that Beasts resent
Our wickedness, and wretched case lament.
Which shews the world is Hectical, and near
Its great, and fatal Climacterik year:
The whole Cr [...]ion mourns, and doth deplore
The ruthful state of Human Kind; Therefore
If Men cannot be warn'd when Men do teach,
Then let them hearken here what Beasts do preach.
In Formas mutatà novas Mens dicere gestit
Corpora; & in primas iterum transversa Figuras,
Dii faveant caeptis.
An Eucharistical Rapture, With A Gradual Hymn to the Heavenly Hierarchy.
NAtures great God, the Cause of Causes be
Ador'd and prais'd to all Eternity:
That supreme Good, that Quintessential Light,
VVhich quickens all that's hidden or in sight,
VVhich breathd in Man the Intellectual Soul,
Thereby to rule all Cretures, and controul.
What Water, Earth, or Air produce—
The Hymn.
O Holy Souls, O Heavenly Saints,
Who from corruption, and the taints
Of flesh and blood, from pain and tears,
From pining griefs, and panting fears,
And from all passions except Love
(Which onely raigns with you above)
Are now exempt, and made in endless Bliss
Free Denizens, and Heirs of Paradis.
O glorious Angels, who behold
The Lord of Light from Thrones of Gold,
Yet do vouchsafe to look on Man,
To be his Guide and Gardian,
Praying always that He may be
Partner of your felicity.
O Blissful Saints and Angels, may ye still
The Court of Heav'n with Hallelujahs fill.
Seraphik Powers, Cherubs, Throne,
Vertues, and Dominations,
Supernal Principalities,
Glories, and Intelligencies
Who guide the course of Stars in Sky,
And what in their vast Concaves lie,
May ye for ever great Jehovah's Will,
And his Commands throughout the world fulfil.
[Page 122] A [...]gels, who the most sublime Degree
[...] hold in the [...]lestial Hierarchy,
And [...], and face [...]lone
The [...] Vision,
A joy [...] joys else transcends so far
As doth the Morning S [...] the meanest Star.
Archa [...]gels, Angles, Sai [...]es, Souls serv'd, may ye still
The Empyrea [...] Court with Hallelujahs fill.
Vpon the Exquisit Romance of the Bishop of Bellay, Made English out of the French, By Serjeant-Major John Wright,
MY Wit lay fallow, and my teeming Brain
Thought to repose a while from any strain
Of Poetizing, till the Air of France
Rowz'd up my Fancy by this new Romance;
Which for variety, for substance, sence,
For rich Invention, and neat Eloquence,
And now in point of Version may compare
With any of this kind though nere so rare.
Original and Coppy co-excel▪
The Prelat and the Souldier share the Bell:
In To [...] they differ, but for Mind and Will
They faithful are to one another still.
By this I find, which men do seldome see,
The Mitre with the Helmet may agree.
[...] Mr. [...] Johnson, Vpon his Version of Pyrander.
IF [...] in England chan [...]e
[...] such welcome as it did in France,
Twill [...] be esteem'd; nor do I see
But it may loc [...] for like Civility:
For, neither [...]ose nor Verse have lost, but won
In [...] of str [...]ngth by this Traduction.
So have I known brisk Gascon wines brought ore,
And drink f [...]r better on our English shore.
Vpon Mr. Benlowes Divine Theophi [...]
POets have differing Fires, some spend their stock
On the grave Buskin, or the mer [...]y Sock.
Others by [...] feet do gently steal
Into a Ladies bosome: O [...]hers deal
With Wars, [...]nd fing of [...] Knigh [...]
Of their high Trophies, [...] Fights:
Some feed their Fancies on th' Ar [...]ian Plains,
And prosti [...] their [...]
All th [...]se [...]
[...]
[Page 124] But thy Diviner Muse mounts to the Skies,
And Heaven fills with holy Rapsodies,
Fit to make Hymns for the Coelestial Quire,
And Angels with their Melody inspire.
On Doctor Charletons learned Piece, by proving that Stone-henge is a Danish-Monument, In his New Survay.
TIs hard to cleer Old Truths, but to unmask
An Old-grown Errour, is a greater Task:
This You have done, and undeceiv'd Mankind
Of an Opinion kept us long so blind.
Wherefore in this Survay by just Extent
You have made Stone-benge your own Monument.
Of Mrs. Diana Bill, Born and Baptiz'd lately in Cane-wood, hard by High-gate.
WHere shold Diana properly be born
But in a Wood? A Wood that thinks it scorn
To yeild to Tempe, or Dodonas Grove,
Which consecrated was to mighty Jove:
A Wood whence great Diana's Temple may
Be seen four thousand paces off each day
Unto that Goddess, as good Stories show.
May this new-born Diana like Cane-wood
Grow up and Taper, Germinat and Bud;
And in due course of yeers be fitly Mand
To spread the Race of Noble Westmerland.
Vpon Her Majesties 31 days sayling from Lisbon to England.
GReat Britains Queen launching into the Deep.
From Tagus to the Thames her Court to keep,
Neptun and Eolus, as they joyntly strove
To do Her Homage, fell so far in love
VVith Her Seraphic countenance and grace,
That They so long kept Her in their Embrace.
Another Cause might be why Heav'n did please
She shold so long stay steering on the Seas,
That coming to be Queen of that great King
To whom so many Seas Allegeance bring,
She might some skill in Navigation gain,
And learn with Him how to command the Main.
Vpon the Posthume-Poems of Mr. Lovelace.
THe Rose with other fragrant flowrs smell best
VVhen they are pluck'd, and worn in Hand or Brest;
So this fair Flowr of Vertu, this rare Bud
Of Wit, smells now as fresh as when he stood,
And in these Posthume-Poems lets us know
That he upon the banks of Helicon did grow,
The beuty of his Soul did correspond
With his fair outside, if not go beyond.
Lovelace the Minion of the Thespian Dames,
Apollo's Darling born with Euthean flames,
VVhich is his Numbers wave, and shine so cleer,
As sparks refracted from rich Gems appeer
Such sparks that with their Atoms may inspire
The Reader with a pure Poetik fire.
Vpon the Gran Climacterik Year—63.
HE who nine seven in seven nine years
Upon his stooping sholders bears,
[Page 127] When ore his head the glorious Sun
About the world his course hath run
Sixty three times, and on that score
Hath felt eight hundred Moons and more;
'Tis time, high time that He shold ply
The Art of Learning how to Die,
And think all Sounds his Passing-Bell,
To bid the Lower World Farewel.
Alia Desunt.
FINIS.
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[...]