An elegie sacred to the memory of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Knight whose body was lately found barbarously murthered, and since honourably interr'd, the 31th of October, 1678.

An elegie sacred to the memory of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Knight whose body was lately found barbarously murthered, and since honourably interr'd, the 31th of October, 1678.

Table of contents

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MEMENTO MORI

AN ELEGIE Sacred to the Memory of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Knight; Whose Body was lately found Barbarously Murthered, and since Honourably Interr'd, the 31th of October, 1678.

AN ELEGIE! forbear: who ere profanes

This lasting Name with cheap unhallowed strains,

Commits a Murther second to their Guilt,

By whose infernal Hands his Blood was spilt.

So vast a Merit, and so strange a Fate,

Must not be Blazon'd at the common Rate;

With mercenary Rhyme, Set-forms of Praise,

Or stale Applauses which bold Flatterers raise

To pin upon some Herse, whose waiting throng

Mourn onely 'cause the party liv'd so long.

Those customary Sighs have here no part;

We Weep in earnest, and untaught by Art.

Slight Griefs may speak aloud; but those that come

From deep Resentments of our Loss, are dumb.

As when fierce Thunder the Worlds Poles doth shake,

Or Winds break Jail, and make the Earth to quake,

Mortals amaz'd, can scarce express their Fears;

But onely court Heav'ns aid with silent Prayers:

So this dire Fact (which equal Terrour brought)

Stifles our Reason, and Benums our Thought.

A Chilling Horrour thrills through every Vein;

Each honest man by Sympathy is slain,

Or feels with Him, though not the Death, the pain.

'Tis dangerous to be Good: well may we praise

Vertue or Innocence; but who can raise

A pow'r that shall secure them, or withstand

Th' Assassinations of a bloody Hand?

He whose clear Life might an Example be

Of upright Justice, generous Charity;

That publique spirit that laid out his Store

T' employ and cherish all industrious Poor;

And ne'r with any did a Feud profess,

But busie Treason, and lewd Idleness:

Whose Actions were not fram'd meerly for sight,

Like artful Pieces plac'd in a fit light,

That they may take at distance; but appear

Most fair, when you observe them most, and near.

This LOYAL PATRIOT, by untimely Fate,

And basest cruelties of unjust Hate,

Falls as a Victim for the Church and State.

Could we have seen with what composed Eyes

He entertain'd th'astonishing surprize;

How he with Christian grandeur did engage

Their sharpest Malice, and their utmost Rage;

T'had fill'd our mindes with thoughts enlarg'd and high,

And taught unhappy Heroes how to die.

Methinks t'observe how Vertue draws faint breath,

Subject to Slanders, Plots and Violent Death;

How many dangers on best actions wait,

Right check'd by Wrong, and ill men fortunate:

These mov'd Effects from an unmoved Cause,

Might shake an easie Faith; Heav'ns sacred Laws

Might casual seem, and our irregular Sense

Spurn at just Order, and blame Providence:

Did we not know, there's an adored Will

In all that happs to Men, or Good, or Ill,

Suffer'd, or sent; and what is Man to pry

Into th'Abyss of such a Mystery?

The Rising Sun to mortal sight reveals

This lower Globe; but the bright Stars conceals.

So may our Sense discover natural things;

But those Divine soar above Human [...] Wings.

Then not the Fate, but Fates bad Instrument

Let us accuse, in each sad accident.

Good men must die: Rapes, Incest, MURTHERS come;

But Woe and Curses follow them by whom.

God Authors all mens Actions, not their Sin;

For that proceeds from dev'lish Lust within.

Nor let the barbarous Actors hug their Crime,

Because they lurk concealed for a time:

Heav'n sees, and will expose what they have done,

No doubt, ere long, to Justice and the Sun.

Mean time, loaded with Blood, Horrour, and Fear,

And that which crowns all Villany, Despair;

May they possess their PURGATORY here,

And as Cains sin, so his Self-tortures bear.

May they the wounding stripes of Conscience feel,

That lashes Guilt with whips of flaming steel,

So long, till they shall count Deaths pains far less,

And freely come the Murther to confess.

But as when stinking Exhalations rise,

And with black storms invade the purer skies;

They cann't put out the Sun, though hide his Rays,

Which quickly he more gloriously displays:

So these vile hands in their Revenge are poor;

In murthering Him, their Cause they murther more.

Hells Agents do but hasten him Heaven's way,

And Pow'rs of darkness antedate his day.

In vain, in vain, is all their cursed spight:

He still survives in Fields of blissful light,

And with a pitying smile from thence looks down,

Ennobled with a Martyrs brighter Crown;

Whilst at th'Interment of his slumbering Clay,

A weeping Nation shall just Honours pay.

FINIS.

H. C.

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Licens'd, Octob. 30. 1678.

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LONDON: Printed for Langley Curtis in Coat-Court on Ludgate-hill. 1678.

Information about this book

Title statement

An elegie sacred to the memory of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Knight whose body was lately found barbarously murthered, and since honourably interr'd, the 31th of October, 1678.

Care, Henry, 1646-1688.

Edition statement

1678

Publication

Publisher

Text Creation Partnership,

Place of publication

Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) :

Date

2008-09 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1).

ID [DLPS]

A80108

ID [STC]

Wing C514

ID [STC]

ESTC R220993

ID [EEBO-CITATION]

99832376

ID [PROQUEST]

99832376

ID [VID]

152595

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Early English books online.

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(EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A80108)

Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 152595)

Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 21243:53, 2307:6)

Source

— An elegie sacred to the memory of Sir Edmund-bury Godfrey Knight whose body was lately found barbarously murthered, and since honourably interr'd, the 31th of October, 1678., Care, Henry, 1646-1688..

Extent

1 sheet ([1] p.)

printed for Langley Curtis in Goat-Court on Ludgate hill,. London :: 1678.. (Signed at end H.C. [i.e. Henry Care].) (Verse - "An elegie! forbear: who ere profanes".) (At end of text: Licens'd, Octob. 30. 1678.) (Reproduction of the originals in: British Library; William Andrews Clark Memorial Library.)

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