Edenburg
Dublin
LONDON
TOuching this Embleme that pourtrayed we see,
Take it, as 'tis, a lantskip for to be,
In midst of which, the Stygian god amaine
Is hurried along by Dragons twaine,
Fully resolv'd within himselfe to see
How matters handled were in Britanie.
And as he posts along, his eye doth cast
Upon the neighbouring Isles about him plac'd,
Strictly observing what he now might find
That might be pleasing to his divellish mind.
Each Kingdome is distinguished in brief,
By that same city is its head, or chief.
GRAND PLUTO'S Progresse through Great Britaine, And Ireland.
BEING A Diarie, or exact Iournall of all his Observations during the time of his walking to and fro in the said Kingdomes.
Found on Dunsmore Heath, and translated out of infernall characters into English Verse.
By G. W. aliasPhiloparthen Esdras.
Proper. Lib. 3. Fortuna miseras auximus arte vias.
Printed in the Yeere 1647.
Pluto's Progresse THROUGH GREAT BRITAIN.
The Argument.
He that in a Serpents hide
Inflam'd our Grandam Eve with pride,
To be like God; forsaking hell,
Doth visit earth, where mortalls dwell;
Arriv'd in
England;
Anglia, joyes to seeFurie, pride and luxurie
Predominant; that from the Crowne
Ʋnto the rigid rustick clowne,
He was adored, by his sonnes
Of various religions:
He doth appland their evill lives,
And for to urge them forward strives.
Then to
Ireland.
Hibernia takes his way,Talks with the Rebells, whose dismay
He mitigateth, vaunting, he
Will both their Guide and Captain be.
He vieweth Scotland, but in ire
Departeth thence, and doth retire
Amongst the
Wales.
Cambrians, likes their acts,Promiseth to reward their facts:
Returnes, to fill his fierie throne.
The Author makes conclusion.
THe Prince of darknesse, in his flaming Car,
The same he rode in, when he seiz'd on
Proserpine.
HerHe after made his Queen, of cole-black hew,
And mistie-footed, were the jades him drew,
[Page 10] Ascends the earth, and gallops up and downe
Great Britaines continent, in every towne
Hee passes, and unseene himselfe doth shrowd,
As Venus once Aeneas in a cloud:
'Bout him a Role he bare, in which hee writ
VVhat he then saw for to remember it:
And having tane his progresse quite throughout
Great Britain.
Britannia Major, hee began to doubt,That if hee staid too long, the feinds of Hell
Against him might combine and eke rebell:
Hee held it best no longer for to stay,
Sentence.
Knowing that danger still waits on delay;And therefore he gave to his steeds the reine,
VVho hurried him like Phaeton amaine:
His chariots joulting so amaz'd his sence,
That he let fall his pen'd intelligence:
And till he came into the shades below,
That he had lost his scrole, he did not know.
Johnsons prophetick
A comedy, written by B. Johnson so termed.
Play is come to passe,Who'le now not say, the Divell is an asse.
A friend of mine as he by chance rid ore
That dismall Dunsmore-Heath, not to explore
As many doe, to plunder those they meet,
Beheld a role of paper at his feet;
Takeing it up and viewing of it well,
He found, to read it, did his wit excell,
As the Egiptians, ere they Letters found,
Had all their books in Hierogliphicks bound:
Such mistick writing did the scrole include,
Which uncouth piece when he to me had shew'd,
With paine, and studie undefagitable
I here have rendred as my muse, was able.
Plutos Narratien.
With great desire to know what things were done
On earth, and whether mortalls did not shun
The dire suggestions of my Agents there,
I Hell forsook that I the truth might heare;
[Page 7] Arriv'd on earth I prais'd my owne abode,
Knew my own good to be the Stygian God;
The state of the world at this present.
For there I all things out of order found,
But there is order underneath the ground.
There each man studies evill 'gainst his Brother,
But there the Feinds do never harm each other.
One of the Furies.
Aenyo, I had thought her dwelling hadIn Tartarus, but there I found her clad
In bloodie garments, shaking of her light,
And wooing all men to the bloodie fight.
Vile A [...]e there her mansion hath made,
Contention who the Poets write to throw a golden apple, Juno, Venus, Minerva, biding the most beauteous of the three Goddesses to take it, &c.
And exerciseth her destroying trade:All things goe arsey-versey, quite contrary,
And in ill-boding acts they strive to varie.
They wrest the Ballance from fair Justice fist,
And make her Instruments doe what they list,
And truth to say (if ere I truth did tell)
There's the Effigies of distracted Hell.
His Observations in England
The Nations with white Rocks, who are surrounded,
Who are by Neptunes billowes, each way bounded,
Whom I had fear'd, had hated mee so sore,
They would not harken to my hellish lore;
Henceforth my feares are taken cleare away,
Hereafter Ile not doubt their soules decay.
I came at first into a country towne,
Doubting my entertainement with the clowne,
Citizens,
I'de thought their plaine rigid Rusticitie
Had furnisht them with such simplicitie
That they were void of those crimes cleave to them
Who a man only
The Goddesse of Plenty, according to the Poets.
as his clothes esteemeBut even there the thrasher vying was
VVith him who erst did mow the verdant grasse:
There were two farmers who in wealth did flow,
Ceres, and twice borne
The God of Wine, said to be twice borne of Semele, and againe of Joves thigh.
Bacchus did allowThem corn & wine abundance, their focks were great,
Rich Autumn fil'd their barns with corn compleat:
[...]
[...]
[Page 2] Yet emulation did so far prevaile,
They grudg'd each others good; and would assaile,
With sturdy blowes, each other, when they met,
And toiles, to trap each others flock, would set:
And when by chance, his Neighbours horse he found,
Broke from his Master, grazing on his ground,
He with a knife would wound him, hoping now
He nere again should draw the crooked Plow.
I like ye, ye dull Swaines, and joy to see,
That you in envie are so like to mee.
Another Town next day I came unto,
Where all the inhabitants were prompt to doe
What ere my agents should bring in their braine;
But for to doe ought vertuous held it vaine.
They had liv'd long in blinded ignorance,
My Enemies Gods Pastors, who advance
This Kingdome above mine, they never had,
And that they then them wanted, were most glad:
Their right hand from their left, they never knew,
Nor yet a reason of their faith could shew,
O my true servants, you 'bove all I love,
Who for to live in darknesse doe approve,
And hate the light; the knowledge of the truth
'Tis that 'tis that alone doth work mee ruth:
"For had not learned men the truth discover'd,
"But that behind a cloud it still had hover'd
"How many thousands that are now in glee,
"Had been co-partners of my fact, with mee?
"I have no better prop stayes up my throne,
"Then Ignorance, nurse of confusion:
"And therefore I full wisely have provided,
"That learned men should be by fooles derided:
"The learning lives in penurie, and bare,
"While fooles grow rich and feed on diantiest fare:
"That no man should be honour'd for his wit,
"But only golden oare should purchase it:
"That if greatHomer, Hesiod, Mare, Nas [...],
"Ariosto, Spenser, [...]ar renownedTass [...],
[Page 5] "Were now on earth,
"Homer and Hesiod two Greeke Poets, living, as some write, in one age: Virgil and Ovid, two Latine Poets liv'd at one and the same time. Ariosto and Tasso, two most excellent Italian Poets, the one flourished in the dayes of K. Henry the eight, the other in the daies of his daughter Queen Mary. Spencer the best and most excellent of English Poets that ever was flourished in the daies of Queen Elizabeth [...]sed memory.
they should not be regarded,"But fooles 'fore them respected and rewarded.
Proceed dull Swads, still hate all learned men,
But above all those that doe use their pen,
Compiling volumnes of Theologie,
Reading high Lectures of Divinitie;
For those if you should them respect, would dare
Still for to make you of their good to share:
And you by their instructions, so might be
Partakers of great Joves felicitie.
And next be sure, that you ne're faile to spight
All those that doe of humane Arts indite,
Of Logick, Rhetorick, Philosophie,
Writing their minds in Prose or Poesie:
"If you love me, as I am sure you do,
"Then you will hate those that do hate me too;
Never peruse the Grammar key of Arts,
Nor he that doth of Logick treat the parts:
Oflie queint Rhetoricke, for that will move
You for to be with humane arts in love,
Which as a key to you most sure will serve
T' unlock the Scriptures, from which now you swerve.
His observations in London.
Luds famous Towne I next beheld in view,
And to my joy the neerer I it drew,
The more I heard a loud and clamorous noise
Of those that utter'd a distracted voice,
While some bawl'd out, we will not be subject
Unto our betters,
Ovid de Ponto: Ipse licet venias musis comitatus Homere. Nil tamen attuleris ibis Homere foras.
nor will yeeld respectTo one more then another; were we not
All of one man, even Adam first begot?
Shall any tread on us, and make us thrall,
"For they esteem all Lawes tyrannicall:
Wee'l each man be commander of his wealth,
And each one be a Law unto himselfe,
[Page 6] And if we list to brawle, to fight, or slay,
There's none therefore shall ought unto us say:
The sturdie Oxe, the lovely Cow doth mount,
Not dreaming to be called to account,
The valiant horse performeth natures Lawes,
Not fearing he lawes rigor on him drawes;
And is man more inslav'd then beasts, whose state
Is unto his great power subordinate;
We will be eas'd of Lawes and bindings over,
The Golden Age we will againe recover,
The happie time is come, that we shall be
Restor'd to our restrained Libertie.
Doe so my zealous sonnes, and imitate
Me your great Master, who extreamly hate
To be subjected, else I sure ne're
Had left the highest for the lowest Sphere:
Why should you of sterne Judges stand in awe,
And for offences dread th' injurious Law?
Why should you be restrain'd from your desire,
When with my Furies I doe you inspire?
I do pronounce your thoughts and deeds to be
As I would with most pleasing unto me;
You shall be sure, when you in hell reside,
My Torritories shall be amplifi'd
For you, you there Cum Privilegio may
Refuse both God and man for to obey;
There you in dalliance may spend the time,
And never feare amercement for your crime,
With beauteous
The wicked wife of wicked Ahab.
Iezabel and fairest A Whore of Rome, who dying made the people of that City her heires, who after her death worshipped her with divine honours.
Flora,Her whom the Gallants of Athens would faine have had Diogenes to have dallied with: But hee replied to her and them that hee would not buy sin at so dear a rate.
Lais and A famous Whore of Rome.
Thais, stately Queen of Egypt and whore to Julius Caesar.
Clopatra,With divers other farre renowned whores,
Of whom my Kingdome now affordeth store:
There you may dance Corantoes, Orpheus shall
Strike on his Harp with you, the Furies all
Shall hand in hand upon a burning hearth
Change their Lavaltoes as if upon earth.
[Page 7] Neer there another Troop alowd did crie,
And with their ecchoing voices rent the skie;
How long shall we want that was promised us,
And with vaine hopes be still deluded thus?
When will it be that those curst men shall die,
Who have occasion'd our calamitie.
We faine would drink your blood with full crown'd cups
Even as the great Balena water sups.
And to devoure them now we could outvie,
With the man-eating Anthropophagi;
You are my dearest sonnes that faine would see
Your brethren butcher'd, and desire to be
Spectators of their tragick falls, O ever
May you adde to your ire, and still persever,
And lest your thirst forblood the least decay,
Ile send unto you my Rhamnusia,
Who still shall prompt you, till your selves you make
Fit of my gloomie glories to partake:
But when night drew her curtaine o're the world,
And darknesse o're the Hemisphere was hurl'd,
I came to that same
The Tower of London.
Tower, whereas once threePrinces were slaine by Richards crueltie.
His discourse with I. L. in the Tower.
And there imprison'd in a cage of stone,
All in a melancholly passion,
I saw one walking, unto whom I went,
And did audacious
The first King Henry the sixt stabbed with a dagger by Richard then Duke of Glocester, the other two were his brothers sonnes, who by his procurement were there murthered.
Penree represent;Saying, O thou whom swords nor gibbets fears,
Thou who hast set three Kingdomes by the ears,
Who hast the Lords Annointed so revil'd,
That thou our English Shimei maist be stil'd,
Who hast broach'd errours, a sufficient crew
To damne this Age and that which shall ensue,
A Libeller in the daies of Q. Elizabeth.
Who hast malign'd God, rail'd against all Law,
One like to thee no former age e're saw;
[Page 8] And if we heed Pithagoras relation,
My soule doth dwell in thee by transmigrarion:
I in Elizas daies wrote Libells many,
Were before thine ne're parallell'd by any;
So that in evill we are brethren both,
At this he began to wax wondrous wrath:
And said, Penree I scorn that thou shouldst bee
My Rivall, or by any rank'd with mee,
It is my glory, that 'bove all ere dar'd
To raile 'gainst Church and State, they if compar'd
With me were puny Traytors, I am one
Shall ecclipse all their glories, and when gone,
Posterity when they my Books shall view,
Shall stand amaz'd, I durst such boldnesse shew;
Their eyes they shall not credit, some shall think
It piety to force their eyes to wink,
And not behold my lines, (when as so high)
I saw his irreligious words to fly,
As I unseen came thither,
Pluto leaveth the Tower, and cometh againe into the City.
so from thenceAway I flew for more intelligence:
And standing in the corner of a street,
I there beheld a Merchants man to meet
A beauteous Sattin Dame, whose husband was
One fit with
Spensers.
Collins Malbeeco to passe,On whom she smirked, and imbrac'd him saying,
O I have been heart-sick for thy delaying:
My dearest, come let us imbrace and be
Here on the earth another Gemini;
Away they went invoking
Fained to be the Goddesse of beautie, and protectresse of lust.
Venus aid,Lustfull
A Spirit having to do with women.
Asmotheus both their minds then swaid,And to a house they came, where an old woman
Kept many wenches private, who were common,
There he his Masters gold about let fly,
Spending some hundred pounds luxuriously,
Just twenty pieces must buy her a gown,
And twenty pieces more be swallowed down
[Page 9] In wine and sweet meats, do so still my son,
Bring soule and bodie to confusion;
This is the bait with which most men I catch,
Save those that o're their faculties do watch,
Wine and
Bacchus andWomen.
Venus are the cords which drawMens soules to hell. Next unto these I saw
A fellow laughing in his sleeve, that he
So neatly could guild o're his fallacie
That it was not discern'd, and so could seem,
That men him as upright and just did deem,
And did exalt him for to be their Teacher,
And hearkned to him as a vertuous Preacher,
While he meane time was onely seeming good,
And Lobsters and Eringoes made his food,
That he unto the height his whores might please
In Venus game their burning lust to ease,
Rejoyc'd in sin, and gloried that hee
Could with the worst of sinners wicked bee.
Ha, ha, why so? I like this wondrous well,
Rejoyce ye Furies and make glee in hell,
All crimes are in this towne predominant,
Then how can you many Associates want:
Many of these I shall to you prefer,
You know the saw, the more the merrier.
Not farre from these a crew were seated round,
A Cobler who began for to expound,
A Cobler Preaching.
He knew the length of all their feet and he
Would not to humour them a Preacher be:
Lord what an hurly burly was there there,
Mongst those that came this man devout to heare,
While some applauded him, some him gaine said:
Not farre from these there by a River staid
A multitude of maids and wives who strove
Who should the first the waters might approve,
Anabaptists.
And be baptiz'd anew, while some were drench'd,
Their hot and fierie humours well were quench'd;
[Page 10] Some adding fewell were unto the fire,
And Brothers giving Sisters their desire:
Not far from these, stood many richly deckt
In gay apparell, and with all respect
Adored, whose fore-fathers were but clowns,
Who till'd the earth, or kept sheep on the Downs:
And those did come out of noble progenie
Stood by them, all in rags and penurie:
Neare these a sort of Ruffians closely set,
Were quaffing healths, while wine did wine beget:
They drank to Pluto, I requited them,
And pledg'd a bowle of sulphure to the brim.
In a by-place I saw some Ladies lying
Upon their backs, while their Baboones were trying
To please their lustfull Appetites, whom they
On purpose highly fed, to give them play.
The
Venus said to be conceived of the foame of the Sea.
Cyprian Queene by Neptunes froth conceiv'd,Homer, and Maro, Naso, have deceiv'd
The VVorld, divulging by her instigation,
Lust is conceiv'd, alas it's Derivation
It hath from me, I doe the bellowes blow,
And make men with lascivious heats to glow.
I've turn'd the good, Jehovah did ordaine,
For Man and wife, to dreery care and paine.
Eve, by my she perswasion I brought on
To bring all Mankind to confusion.
Hath any minde to circumvent his foeman?
Let him but take the counsell of a woman,
And she will tell him, how to bring to passe,
No horrid act ere without woman was.
But how is hell deluded? I had thought,
Britannias Monarch I so low had brought,
That the three
Megaera, Tysiphone, and Alecto, said to intice men to evill acts.
Furies had inspired soThe giddie Commons, to his overthrow,
That in their errors they would have gone on
Disloyally, their Soveraigne to dis-throne,
[Page 11] And would till death, esteeme it their chiefe glory,
To be recorded Traytors, upon story.
But he that thunders with the powerfull voyce
Whose breath shal melt the world, commanded
Cornet Joyce
IoyceTo be a loyall Subject to his King,
And from a house into a campe to bring;
And for the fact, that his great
The renowned Sir Thomas Fairfax.
GenerallShould be his guardian, lest that he fall
By them who storm, the Fates doe with them wrastle,
And that their King is not in Warwick castle,
Who do the
Pious Kings, such as is our Soveraigne L. K. Charles, are truly termed pater patriae, fathers of their countrey.
Father of their Country hate,And viper like their appetites would sate
With their owne Mothers blood, but Ile reward them,
A race of furies Ile appoint to guard them,
As they were wont on earth, and each of these
Shall be the soules of famous prentices.
Is there no way (yee powers of hell) to make
Fairfax his Soveraigns welfare to forsake?
Ile throw yee Princes, from your diadems,
Lest you invent by some new stratagem,
To take him off and turne his Loyall heart
To seek (like some) his Country to subvert.
But oh! it cannot be, hee's firmly bent,
Not to prove false,Not for a Parliament:
He wisely guesses that the King is hee
That must (next God) his sole protector bee;
And that these clouds, when once dispell'd and gone,
He shall grow great, being planted neare his Throne.
Who lookt for this but till Jehovah will,
Who at his pleasure me controleth still.
His Observations in Ireland.
From England then I posted to the clime,
VVhere by St. Patricks wondrous
If we may credit Thyraeus, [...]iffroenatos animos infernalium poenarum terrore emolliebat, ut sicad fidem invitos compellaret incredul [...]s enim de damnatorum poenis ac suppliciis dubitantibus, & visible testimonium pet [...]ibus signum, hoc sicut traditio fidel [...], multique non ignobiles Authores referunt, ostendit circulum in terra fecit, intra cujus ambitum hiatus ingens aspectu horribilis apparuit, per cujus occultos & sinuosus luctus, ejulatus, & lamentabiles voces saepe audiebantur. Guliel. Thyraus.
skill divine,The rude Barbarians did inhabit there,
O curst! were taught Jehovah for to feare:
Where when I came, I heard the Kernes make prayer
[Page 12] To me as unto Jupiter the Stayer,
My grand Vicegerent hath his Nuncio there,
Who by his Rhetorick incites them on,
As when their fathers followed fierce Tyrone,
There is my Throne erected, and by them
My browes are circled with hells diadem:
In spacious hell there are but Furies three
But there in each mans brest three thousand bee.
O my deare sonns ye imitate me right,
And as my nature is, you doe delight:
Because Gods servants shall not howle in hell,
For to torment them, while on earth they dwell,
So that the sword so many lives nere gain'd,
When as those Brethren, death and Scilla raign'd:
The seven persecutions never wrought
More mischief to Gods Saints then you have brought.
The powers of hell are all at once ingag'd
To ayd the Irish, they by them inrag'd,
Performe my wish so well, that all my minde
Perform'd by those my Agents now I find.
Proceed in Ills O yee incarnate Devills,
And fill you up your cup brim full of evills;
Exceed in furie till yee come to dwell
And suffer with mee in the lowest hell.
Nor need your Nigromancers use their charmes,
I'm prompt and readie to bring on all harmes
On those that doe adore
The true God.
almightie Jove,And him to serve as he ordaines approve.
O my deare sonnes! you still maintaine the story,
You will not want S. Patricks Purgatorie;
You have again erected that same grot,
Which of late Yeares did Cloghers Bishop blot,
VVhich Florentianus Bishop of that See
Divulged to his fond Posteritie,
VVho did believe S. Patrick made relation
Of that same Cell, by divine inspiration;
And by my sly deceit, I did perswade them,
He there on earth a Purgatorie made them.
[Page 13] Which easily upon their fancie wrought,
When Virgils
It was demolished by decree from Rome, Anno 1497. and of late yeares wholly taken away by Henry Jones Bishop of Clogher An. 1632. but since this Rebellion is again re-edified and augmented by the Rebells: into this place doth Stephanus Forcatulus make Arthur King of the Britains to enter, where he saith: Specum longo recessu opacum Rex invisere, non est gravatus, & relicto spiritu libero in illum se demittere, in quem nullum discrimen diei & noctis perveniret, relicto in tergo luce, descensu aspero, declivi itinere, & tenebris assiduis, diffuso natura prorsus & fabula, memorando ferebatur enim ad manes pervius, specus vel certè ad locum, in quo animae eorum qui dum viverent, sesevitiis & labe aliqua eluibili iuquinaverunt: recocti, fortè Patricus, inter inanes & efferatos populos lepido commento usus fuerat, quo magis eos a peccatis deterreret, & ultricem adesse pene domi ostenderet, imbutus numisse Merlinus specum Patricii. Ʋlysses forsooth was driven on the Irish coast when he wandred by sea; and Homers fabulous relation taken for a true story, he intending onely an Allegorie: Vlyssi in decantatiae illis erroribus in Hybernia acto adscripserit, effossum quidem primùm, Ulyssis ense ad cubtti mensuram, deinde circulum altissimè impressum successu temporis increvisse, quod dicit Odiss. 11. & Steph. Forcatulus de Gal. Imper. & Phil. lib. 7. pag. 1007.
Verses to their mind I brought;Who fancieth a place beneath the ground,
Where purging Torments for mens souls were found.
"Where worn with anguish, there the soul doth smart,
"And for its crimes, when living, hath desert:
"Some are hang'd in the ayre, in water some
"Are washt, or purg'd in fire, and have their doome.
"Each man, as was his fault, &c.
Goe forward still: (but ah) I greatly dread,
The State of England will your race impede;
And force, perforce, Gods worship you among,
Which (to my joy unspeakable) you long
Have wanted, and in spight of Hell I feare,
Both Rome, and I in vaine have toiled here.
But in the meane time I adjure you all,
Like a disease that [...]s epidemicall,
Orer-un Hibernia, and ere your fate
Constraine you stoope, sell your selves at deare rate:
[Page 14] The Fiends of Hell on my part shall not faile,
Conglomerating, with you, to assaile
My Enemies, and yours; let this you cheare
That I to your assistance will appeare,
And if Jehovah crush me not, will I
A meanes to gaine your glorious victorie.
His Arrivall in Scotland.
From this same
Ireland is said to have no snake, toad, or any other venemous creature in it.
venom-wanting Kingdome, ICame into Scotland where the mountaines high
Doe kisse the clouds, and vallies are as low,
Where trees are wanting, onely shrubs doe grow;
Where nature scants her bounty, nor doth deigne
Sometime to yeild the husbandman his paine:
Here (ô my soule) my lookt for hopes were crost,
The French Agent.
Montrevill, and my selfe our hopes have lost:I hoped once for to have kindled Warre
'Twixt them and England, and dispatched
l Aecto.
herThat mov'd fierce Turnus, though unto his bane,
With Venus
Aeneas.
son fierce Warrs for to darraine.But he whose power ding'd me downe to Hell,
With my confederates that durst rebell,
And sent the Spirit, that in gleames of fire,
Shaped like tongues, did once the twelve inspire,
Who soone made voyd the hags infernall skill,
And held them stedfast; howle ye Furies, fill
All Hell with clamor; quickly was I gone
From those great Enemies unto my throne,
His Observations in Wales.
And into Wales I came, where those doe live
That from the Trojan Brute their race derive,
Who are a people of themselves, whose tongue
Differs from all on earth, who once were strong,
And did to follow banefull Mars delight,
Aud sometime ward on England, and whose might
Was farre renowned when Prince Lewline raign'd;
But now such Power I over them have gain'd,
They're growne effeminate, corruptly live,
And doe more heed to Merlins sayings give,
Then to the Scriptures, that so much I hate,
[Page 15] I also by my agents instigate
Them so to wrath, that in their fury they
Care not their Fathers with the sword to slay:
And do so still, let nought your yre deter,
Imitate me, alwaies a murtherer.
And may you still in blood, and death delight,
Carve up the bodies whom you owe least spight:
And when to hell you shall be tumbled downe,
I'le give to each of you a flameing crowne.
I ne're had mirth in all my progresse, till
In a thatcht cottage stood beside a hill,
I heard a Shepheard courting of his lasse
It was so pritty, I'le not let it passe.
A Dialogue between Diggon and Madge.
Madge my deare and bonny Frillock,
Sit we downe beside this hillock,
All my Cuds, my best Belwether
Who doth lure my flock together,
I would all bestow on thee,
So thou would'st but smirke on mee;
Thy lowring scowling makes me dumpish,
For to see my Love so frumpish.
Madge.
Diggon thou talk'st like a Lorrell,
Shewing that thy wit is borrell,
There is Claius that can talk
Like a man made out of chalk,
And singing Ditties joy my soule,
As when I heare my Fathers Owle,
Who in an earthen cage doth sing
Sweetly when the trees do spring,
He upon his horne can play,
While I talke a Roundelay,
And in Rimes a full yard long,
He can make a merry song:
But thou in these things art a
A Foole
Fon,Nor can I smirk on thee Diggon.
Diggon.
(Out alas) my dearest honey,
I can't but love, th'art so bonny:
Thy snarly haire, thy cheeks as red,
[Page 16] As paint that they on signes do spread:
High colour'd, as the new burnt brick,
Thy slender waste just two yards thick:
Thy knotty fingers, large siz'd hand,
Thy dried thighes, the which do stand
Asunder, like two blasted Oakes,
Or like to neer adjoyning Rocks;
With thy splay-foot and horned toes,
Doe fire my heart, when as thou goes
Tripping through the dirt and mire.
Madge.
To heare my beauties praise doth tire:
My tender hearts now I'le be gone,
Yonder stands a tree Diggon.
Diggon.
A penny rope anon I'le buy,
And hang my selfe before I die.
And yet you further joy to me procure,
In that you care not for good literature,
But are a people rude; and void of that
Which your renowned Bardus pointed at,
Without the knowledge of Jehovahs Word,
How many thousands doth your Land afford,
All which doth show you faithfull servants be,
And even while on earth, converse with me.
The Authors Conclusion.
Thus wrote the Prince of darknesse: yet I see,
As it hath often hapned unto me,
He lost his labour, and did never beare
His scroll to hell, for to peruse it there,
But left it on the earth; perhaps some hand
From heaven snatcht it by divine command:
Allotting me the same abroad to shew,
As I have sent it (Readers) to your view.
To the common Readers.
For you, you may your mindes evacuate,
And talk your fills, I not regard your prate.
To the knowing Readers, or the Muses darlings.
For you, if you for mercy find no roome,
I pray that mildly you'l pronounce my doome.
FINIS.