The illustrious wife: viz. that excellent poem, Sir Thomas Overburie's wife illustrated by Giles Oldisworth, nephew to the same Sir T.O.

The illustrious wife: viz. that excellent poem, Sir Thomas Overburie's wife illustrated by Giles Oldisworth, nephew to the same Sir T.O.

Table of contents

Title page

§

Sir Thomas Overburie his Epitaph written by Him-self.

G. O. to the Reader:

§

§

[Page]

THE ILLVSTRIOVS WIFE: Viz. That Excellent Poem, Sir THOMAS OVERBVRIE'S WIFE ILLUSTRATED By GILES OLDISWORTH, Nephew to the same Sir T. O.

Prov. 31. 12.

She will do him good and not evil, all the daies of her life.

London Printed: Anno Dom. 1673.

§

[Page]

Prov. 12. 4.‘A virtuous Woman is a Crown unto her Husband.’

[Page]

AS in one Day and Night, all life we find;

As more of either is the same again;

So each Wife is a Brief of Woman-kind,

And doth, in little, full as much contain:

God form'd her so▪ that to her Husband she,

Like Eve, should all the world of Woman be.

[Page]

So form'd he both, that neither power he gave

Vse of them-selves, but by Exchange, to make:

Whence in their cheekes the Fair no pleasure have,

But by reflex of what thence others take:

Our lips in their own Kiss no Sweetness find;

And both our Eyes are, t'ward our own Face, blind.

[Page]

Thus God in Eve a perfect man begun;

Till now, in vain much of him-self Man had:

In Adam God created only one;

Eve and the World to come, in Eve he made.

We are two halfes: While male from female straies,

Both barren are; Joyn'd, both their like can raise.

[Page]

At first both Sexes were in Man combind;

Within his Body, Man did She-man breed:

Adam was Eves, Eve Mother of Mankind;

Eve from live-flesh, Man did from Dust, proceed:

One thus made two, Marriage unites again;

Two Sexes make one flesh, One flesh makes Twain.

[Page]

Since Man [...]d but the well-being of this life

From Woman took; Since Being, She from Him;

Since God at first created Eve a Wife,

Since her Sex did, for Adams sake begin;

Marriage is Womens Crown: their Being then,

Their now-Perfection, they receive from Men.

[Page]

Marriage; to all whose joyes two parties be;

Whose joyes are doubled, being parted so;

Wherein the bed of love is Chastitie;

Whereby two Soules into one Body go;

Which makes two, one, while They two living be,

And, after death, one in their progenie.

[Page]

God to each man a private Woman gave,

That in that Center his Desires might stint;

That he a Consort like Himself might have,

And that on Her his like he might imprint:

Double is womans use: part of her end

Doth to this Age, part to the next, extend.

[Page]

We fill but part of Time, and can not die

Till we the world a fresh supply have lent:

Children are Bodies sole Eternitie:

Nature is Gods, Art is Mans, instrument;

Now all mans Art no living Thing can make,

But herein Men in Things of life partake.

[Page]

For wandring Lust; I know 'tis infinite;

It still begins, and adds not more to more:

The Guilt is everlasting, the Delight

This instant doth not feel, of that before:

The Tast of it is onely in the Sense;

The Guilt is poison in the Conscience.

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Woman is not lusts bounds, but Woman-kind;

One is Loves number; Who from that doth fall

Hath lost his Hold, and no now rest shall find;

Vice hath no Mean, but not to be at all:

A Wife is that Enough which lust can't find;

For lust is still with want, or too much, pin'd.

[Page]

Bate lust the Sin, my share is even with His;

For not to lust, and to enjoy, is one:

And (more or less past) equal Nothing is;

I still have one; He one at once, alone:

And, though the Woman be oft varied, He

Is still the same without varietie.

[Page]

If in a single life we take no joy,

Marriage our Lust (as 'twere with fewell fire)

Will▪ with a Medicine of the same, allay;

And not forbid, but rectifie, Desire:

When high flames threaten chimnies, lay on wood;

This makes the Fire, and keepes the Fabrick, good.

[Page]

Nor doth my Marriage order lust alone;

A Second-selfe may help me every way;

And, 'gainst my failings, make me two for one:

My self I cannot chuse, my Wife I may;

And, in the choice of Her, it much doth lie,

To mend My self in my posteritie.

[Page]

O rather let me love, then be in love;

So let me chuse, as Wife and Friend to find;

Let me forget her Sex, when I approve;

Beasts likeing dwells in Sense, but Ours in Mind:

Our Soules no Sexes have; their Love is clean,

And (like Souls) pure; Wives, in their Souls, are Men.

[Page]

But Physick for our lust their Bodies be;

But matter fit to shew our love upon;

But merely shells for out Posteritie:

Their Souls were given, lest men should be alone:

Without Words Bodies are no companie;

And, but the Souls interpreters, Words be▪

[Page]

What goodly Frame we see of Flesh and Blood,

Their Fashion is, not Weight; It is (I say)

But their Lay-part, but Well-digested food;

'Tis but, 'twixt Dust and Dust, Lifes middle-way:

Of no worth were the Lump of Flesh that's seen,

Did it not entertain a Soul within.

[Page]

All the Externall Beautie of my Wife

Is but skin-deep, but to two Senses known;

Short even of Pictures, shorter liv'd then life;

Yet doth that Love survive which's built thereon:

For our Imagination is so high,

That Bodies mett can't true love satisfie.

[Page]

All Shapes, all Colours, are alike in Night;

Nor doth our Touch distinguish Foul, or Fair,

But our observing Mind, and busie Sight;

These, but one week: By mutual converse are

Both made alike, which differed at first view;

Nor can long Absence first dis-likes renew.

[Page]

Nor can those Features seated in her Face,

(More then through self-deluding Fancies) be

Of us enjoy'd in an inferiour place:

Nor, in enjoying, can those Features she

Her-self make Ours: Love, while it rangeth, errs;

We doat on lookes which are, not Ours, but Hers.

[Page]

Birth less then Beautie shall my reason blind;

Her Birth comes to my Children, not to Me:

Let me (that active Gentrie) virtue find,

Rather then (passive Gentrie) Ancestrie:

Alive in Her more worth one virtue is,

Then all the rest dead in her Pedegrees.

[Page]

For high Degrees; High rather be she plac'd

In gifts of Nature, then of Policie;

Gentrie is a good Relique of Times past;

Yet love doth only what is present see.

Things were first made, then Words: She is the same

With, or without, this Title, or that Name.

[Page]

As for (the odds of Sexes) Portion;

Nor will I shun it, nor mine Aim, it make:

Bi [...]th, Beautie, Wealth, are nothing worth alone;

All these I would for good Additions take,

Not for good Parts: They two are ill combind,

Whom what they have, not what they are, hath joynd.

[Page]

Instead of these, the Object of my love

Shall Virtue be: When these with Virtue go,

They (in themselves inifferent) virtuous prove;

What's good (like fire) turns all things to be [...]:

Thine image in her Soul, LORD; let Me place

My love upon, not Adams in her Face.

[Page]

Good is a fairer Attribute, then White:

This (the Minds beautie) keepes the other sweet:

This is nor born, nor mortall, with the light;

Nor gloss, nor painting, can it counterfeit:

Nor doth it raise Desires which ever tend

At once, to their perfection, and their End.

[Page]

I, by a Good, a Holy Wife designe;

So God she cannot love, and not love Me;

Mans law can onely Words and Deedes refine,

Gods law our inward Thoughts doth Sanctifie:

Whence a Maid ravish'd more a Virgin is,

Then that Maid which hath onely wish'd amiss.

[Page]

Lust onely by religion is with-stood:

Lust▪ Object is with-out, its Strength within;

Moralty resists but in cold blood;

Respect of Credit feareth Shame, not Sin:

But no place dark enough for such Offence,

She findes, that's watch'd by her own Conscience.

[Page]

Now may I trust her Body with her Mind;

Yea, here-upon secure, I nere shall rue

The pangs of Jealousie; yet Love doth find

More pain to doubt, then know, she is Vn-true:

For Patience is the Cure of Evils-known;

But Doubt is still impatient, Doubt hath none.

[Page]

Be then that Thought once stirr'd, 'twill never die;

Nor will my greif more mild by custom prove:

Untill her new life my Fears satisfie,

Th' Anguish is more or less, as is my Love:

This punishment to Jealousie is due,

That it may prove one False, can't prove one True.

[Page]

Suspicion may the Will of Lust restrain,

Goodness prevents from having such a will;

A Wife that's Good doth Chast, and more, contain;

Chastitie is but Abstinence from ill,

And is, though in a Wife that's bad, the best

Of qualities, in a Good Wife the least.

[Page]

Prudence must keep us Chast, not Jealousie:

Such lawfull things to be avoided are

As may the cause of things unlawfull be;

Lust, ere it hurts, is best descri'd a far:

Lust is a sin of two: He that is sure

Of either person, is of both secure.

[Page]

Give me, next Good, an Vunderstanding Wife;

By Nature wise, not learned by much Art:

Some Knowledg in her, will to all my life

More Scope of Conversation impart;

Besides, 'twill in-bred virtue fortifie;

They are most firmly good, who best know why.

[Page]

A passive Vnderstanding to conceive,

And judgment to discern, I wish to find:

Beyond these, all as hazardous I leave:

Learning and pregnant witt, in Woman-kind

What they find malleable, that they make frail;

And do not add more Ballast, but more Sail.

[Page]

Domestick Charge doth best that Sex befit;

Contiguous Business; so to fix the Mind,

That leisure space for Fancies not admit;

Their leisure 'tis, corrupteth Woman-kind:

Else, being plac'd from many Vices free,

They had to Heaven a speedier way then we.

[Page]

Bookes are a part of Mans prerogative;

In formall Ink they Thoughts and Voices hold;

That we to them our best spare houres may give;

And make Time present travel that of old:

Our life Fame peiceth longer at the end;

And Bookes our life do farther backward send.

[Page]

As Good and Knowing, let her be Discreet;

This, to the others Substance, lustre brings;

Discretion doth consider what is meet,

Goodness but what is lawfull; only Things,

Not Circumstances: Without this, even holy

Mens learning and witt are curious folly.

[Page]

To keep their Name, since 'tis in others hands,

Needs Discretion: Their Credit is by farr

More frail then Them: On likelihoods it stands;

And hard to be disprove'd Lusts slanders are.

Their Carriage, not their Chastitie alone,

Must keep their Name chaste from Suspicion.

[Page]

Womens Behaviour is a surer Barr

Then is their No; This fairely doth denie,

Without denying; Hereby fond men are

Kept even from Hope: In part too blam is she,

Which hath (without consent) bin onely tride;

He comes too neer, that comes to be denied.

[Page]

Now, since a Woman we to marrie are,

A Soul and Body, not a Soul alone;

When one is Good, then be the other Fair:

Beautie is Health and Beautie, both in one.

Be she so Fair, that she most Wives contain;

So Fair that change can yeeld to Me no gain.

[Page]

So Fair at least let me imagine Her;

That Thought to me is Truth: Opinion

Cannot in matter of Opinion err:

With no eyes, shall I see her, but mine own:

And, as my heart conceiveth Her to be,

Such is she to my Sight, my Touch, and Me.

[Page]

The Face we may the Seat of Beautie call;

In it a Taste of the whole Bodie lies;

Nay, even a Relish of the Mind with-all:

And, of the Face, the life moves in the Eyes:

So like each other these two Eyes we see,

That these two Eyes, two but in number, be.

[Page]

Beautie, in decent Shape and Colour, lies;

Colours the matter are, and Shape the Soul;

The Soul doth from no single part arise,

But keeps a just proportion in the whole:

Such is the pure spirituall harmonie

Of every part united in the Eye.

[Page]

Love is a kind of Superstition

Fearing that Idoll which it self hath fram'd;

Lust is a Fire, which rather from its own

Temper, then from its Object, is enflam'd:

Beautie is loves object; Wom [...]n, lusts, to gain;

Love, love requires; Lust, only to obtain.

[Page]

No circumstance doth Beautie beautifie

Like gracefull Fashion, native Comliness:

This even getts pardon for Deformitie:

Beget, Art cannot; but Art may redress:

When Nature had fix'd Beantie perfect made,

Something she left for Motion to adde.

[Page]

But let that Motion more to Modestie

Tend, then t'Assurance; Modestie doth set

The Face in her just Form, from Passions free:

'Tis both the Minds, and Bodies Beautie, met:

But Modestie, no Virtue can Eye see;

This is the Faces onely Chastitie.

[Page]

Where Goodness failes, there Modestie withstands:

Hence 'tis, that Women (though they weaker be,

And their Desires more strong, yet) in their hands

The Chastitie of Men doth often lie:

Of all sins, lusts would sins most common grow,

[...]

[Page]

All these good parts a perfect Woman make;

Add Love to me, they make a perfect Wife;

Without her love, her Beautie I did take

For (that of Pictures) dead; Love gives it life:

Till now [...] Beautie (like the Sun) did shine

[...] it onely Alive.

[Page]

And of this love let Reason Father be,

And Passion Mother: Let it from the one,

Its Being take; from th' other, its Degree;

Self-love, which second loves are built upon,

Will make me, if not Her, her love regard;

No man but favours his own worths reward.

[Page]

As Good and Wise, so be she Fit for me;

With me to will, and Not to will, the same:

My Wife is mine Adopted Self: and She,

As Me, so what I love, to love must frame:

[...] God to Men in Marriage Wom [...] gi [...]es,

[...] must submit to [...] not [...].

FINIS.

Sir Thomas Overburie his Epitaph written by Him-self.

[Page]

THe Span of my daies measur'd, here I rest;

That is, my Body; but my Soul, its Guest,

Is hence ascended: Whither, neither Time,

Nor Faith, nor Hope, but onely Love, can climbe:

Where, being now enlightned, she doth know

The Truth of all, men argue of below:

Onely this Dust doth here in pawn remain,

That, when the World dissolves, She'l come again.

G. O. to the Reader:

[Page]

THe Husband, having well set down his Wife,

Joynes his own Epitaph next under-neath:

To wit, Though Marriage be a double life,

That double life is plac'd next door to Death:

That is, To such as neither Flesh controul▪

Nor do, to their LORDS CHRIST, espouse their Soul:

But Graves them-selves are made a Marriage-bed,

To such as die to sin, and JESUS wedd.

[Page]

Pro: 19. 14. 18. 22.

A prudent Wife is from the LORD: and whosoever findeth her, obtaineth a favour from the LORD.

To him (in all his Dispensations) be glory

forever and ever ascribed, Amen, Amen.

FINIS.

§

[Page]

Imprimatur

Ex. Aed. Lambethani [...] Martii 16 1672.

THO. TOMKYNS.

[Page]

Information about this book

Title statement

The illustrious wife: viz. that excellent poem, Sir Thomas Overburie's wife illustrated by Giles Oldisworth, nephew to the same Sir T.O.

Oldisworth, Giles, 1619-1678.

Edition statement

1673

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2005-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A70762

ID [STC]

Wing O608A

ID [STC]

ESTC R214465

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99826633

ID [PROQUEST]

99826633

ID [VID]

31037

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A70762)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 31037)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 1766:26; 1784:20; 2267:22)

Source

— The illustrious wife: viz. that excellent poem, Sir Thomas Overburie's wife illustrated by Giles Oldisworth, nephew to the same Sir T.O., Oldisworth, Giles, 1619-1678., Overbury, Thomas, Sir, 1581-1613. Sir Thomas Overburie his wife. aut.

Extent

[2], 48, [4] p.

[s.n.],. London :: printed: anno Dom. 1673.. (Based on: Overbury, Sir Thomas. Sir Thomas Overburie his wife.) (In verse.) (Appears as Wing O253 at reel 1766:26 (number cancelled in Wing CD-ROM, 1996).) (Reproductions of the original in the Bodleian Library.)

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