Mr. Cowley's verses in praise of Mr. Hobbes, oppos'd by a lover of truth and virtue. Lover of truth and virtue. 1680 Approx. 14 KB of XML-encoded text transcribed from 6 1-bit group-IV TIFF page images. Text Creation Partnership, Ann Arbor, MI ; Oxford (UK) : 2003-03 (EEBO-TCP Phase 1). A51015 Wing M2259 ESTC R16522 13033180 ocm 13033180 64853 This keyboarded and encoded edition of the work described above is co-owned by the institutions providing financial support to the Early English Books Online Text Creation Partnership. This Phase I text is available for reuse, according to the terms of Creative Commons 0 1.0 Universal . The text can be copied, modified, distributed and performed, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission. Early English books online. (EEBO-TCP ; phase 1, no. A51015) Transcribed from: (Early English Books Online ; image set 64853) Images scanned from microfilm: (Early English books, 1641-1700 ; 745:15) Mr. Cowley's verses in praise of Mr. Hobbes, oppos'd by a lover of truth and virtue. Lover of truth and virtue. Cowley, Abraham, 1618-1667. 5 [i.e. 11] p. [s.n.], London : 1680. In verse. Each stanza of Cowley's poem followed by a satirical paraphrase. Reproduction of original in Huntington Library. Created by converting TCP files to TEI P5 using tcp2tei.xsl, TEI @ Oxford. Re-processed by University of Nebraska-Lincoln and Northwestern, with changes to facilitate morpho-syntactic tagging. Gap elements of known extent have been transformed into placeholder characters or elements to simplify the filling in of gaps by user contributors. 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Copies of the texts have been issued variously as SGML (TCP schema; ASCII text with mnemonic sdata character entities); displayable XML (TCP schema; characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or text strings within braces); or lossless XML (TEI P5, characters represented either as UTF-8 Unicode or TEI g elements). Keying and markup guidelines are available at the Text Creation Partnership web site . eng Cowley, Abraham, 1618-1667. Hobbes, Thomas, 1588-1679. 2002-10 TCP Assigned for keying and markup 2002-11 SPi Global Keyed and coded from ProQuest page images 2002-12 Chris Scherer Sampled and proofread 2002-12 Chris Scherer Text and markup reviewed and edited 2003-02 pfs Batch review (QC) and XML conversion Mr. COWLEY's VERSES In PRAISE of M R. HOBBES , OPPOS'D ; By a Lover of Truth and Virtue . Idcirco Virtus medio jacet obruta coeno : Nequitiae classes candida vela ferunt . 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 — 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 . Sint nunquam mihi tales Mores Iupiter Pater : sed viis Simplicibus vitae insistam — Laudans Laudanda , Vituperiumque Inspergens Improbis . PIND. NEM . ODE VIII . LONDON , Printed in the Year , 1680. To Mr. HOBBES ( 1 ) VAst Bodies of Philosophy I oft have seen , and read , But all are Bodies dead , Or Bodies by Art fashioned : I never yet the Living Soul could see But in thy Books , and thee . 'T is only God can know Whether the fair Idea thou dost show , Agree entirely with his own , or no. This I dare boldly tell , 'T is so like Truth 't will serve our turn as well ▪ Iust as in * Nature thy Proportions be . As full of Concord their Varietie ; As firm the parts upon their Center rest , And all so Solid are , that they at least As much as Nature , Emptiness detest . ( 2 ) What Bodies of Philosophie You oft have seen , and read , I wish you had but mentioned , Wee 'd judge if they 're alive , or dead : We cannot judge before we Trye . The Morals of the Stagarite Are Stars which to th' Dark World gave Light , But Hobbes by his would turn our Day to Night . Great Zenophon , and Plato , who relate , How Socrates embrac'd his Fate , And all the Brave Socratick Race , Whose Monuments Time can't deface , Shall live , when Hobbes shall have his Doom , So Lie as dead , as doth TOM THUMB : Good Men his Knavery spie : His Books contain some Truths , and many a Lie , Some Truths well known , but strange Impiety . * Stay ! stay ! where now fond Lad ! Thy Wit thus strain'd , Thou' rt ten times worse than Mad. What 's Nature but the Ordinary way Wherein our Good Creator doth display His Power , and Wisdom in the things he made For his own Goodness sake ? Man 's not a Shade , But utter Darkness ; whilst he acts alone , Whilst his works are not natures ; but his own ▪ What! Hobbes , and Nature thus to parallel ! What 's this but to confront Bright Heaven with Hell ! So doth the Poets wit suit with his Theme : He that will Hobbes Applaud must first Blaspheme . ( 2 ) Loug did the mighty Stagirite retain The universal Intellectual Reign , Saw his own Countrys short-liv'd Leopard slain ; The stronger Roman Eagle did out-fly , Oftner renew'd his Age , and saw that Dye . Mecha it self in spight of Mahomet possest , And chas'd by a wild Deluge from the East , His Monarchy new planted in the West . But as in time each great Imperial Race Degenerates , and gives some new one place : So did this Noble Empire wast , Sunk by degrees from Glories past , And in the School-mens hands perisht quite at last . Then nought , but words it grew , And those all Barbarous too ▪ It perisht , and it vanisht , there , The Life and Soul breath'd out , became but empty Air. ( 2 ) The Empire of the Stagarites sublime and piercing wit , ( Thoth'Empire both of Greece , and Rome Time did long since or'ecome ) Shall ne're decay , but men shall still to its vast Power submit ; For All well-order'd thoughts must go Within the Compass of those Rules , which his great Art did shew . Our HARVEY , whose bright Fame So Dazel'd Envies Eye , that she could never see The least Pretence to lessen his Great Name , Even He commends the Stagirite To all Posterity , As one that had a Clear Insight Into the Secret ways of Natures Majesty . 'T is true he fail'd in that he did not see That things Successive could not be From all Eternitie : But yet he saw That this is Natures Law , That all things must depend on him alone , Who gives to all things Motion , though himself has none , Who Is , and Was , and Ever shall Be ONE In all Simplicitie , From Composition , and from Alteration free : To whom may all true Praise be given In Earth , as 't is in Heaven . ( 3 ) The Fields which answered well the Antients Plow , Spent and out-worn return no Harvest now , In Barren Age wild , and unglorious lie And boast of past Fertilitie , The poor relief of present Poverty . Food , and Fruit we now must want , Unless New Lands we plant . We break up Tombs with Sacrilegious hands ; Old Rubbish we remove , To walk in Ruines like vain Ghosts we love , And with fond Divining Wands We search among the Dead , For Treasures Buried , Whilst still the liberal Earth does hold So many Virgin Mines of undiscovered Gold ▪ ( 3 ) That in this Age Men don 't their Thoughts confine Within the Line Of what Judicious Aristotle said ; Nor are his Works so commented , As they were in those Days ; They don't hereby detract from his Great Praise . Sith they walk in those ways , To which his mighty Genius led . His Commendation was not this , that he Did shew the Truth of this , or that Particularitie ; But that he shew'd the way to clear our Thought , That every Man might find that Truth , which should by him be sought . ( 4 ) The Baltic , Euxin , and the Caspian , And slender limb'd Mediterranean Seem Narrow Creeks to Thee , and only fit For the poor wretched Fisher-Boats of Wit ▪ Thy Nobler Vessel the vast Ocean tries , And nothing sees but Seas and Skies , Till unknown Regions it descries . Thou great Columbus of the Golden Lands of New Philosophies , Thy Task was harder much than his ; For thy learn'd America is Not only found out first by thee , And rudely left to future Industry ; But thy Eloquence , and thy Wit Has planted , peopled , built , and civilized it . ( 4 ) 'T is true , thy New Philosopher has left the Caspian , The Baltic , Euxin , Mediterranean ; The Narrow ways to all that V●ritie Which Mortals can descrie ; He Sails i' th' Ocean of the most Profound Impiety ; And from the Coasts of Hell He brings those Wares , which he shall never sell To any , but those dark'ned Souls , which lie , where Adam fell . The Power of Earthly Princes he doth foolishly pretend By his fictitious Loyalty t' extend To larger measures ; gives to Kings what 's due to God alone : Thus what he seems to make more great , he really makes none : For sure on Earth there is No Monarchy , If it consist in ABSOLUTE Sovereignty . The King of Kings commands us to obey our King , By chearful Doing , or by quiet Suffering : He that the Power of Kings would have much higher to arise , His King Dishonours , and his GOD he doth Despise : Such Folk dwell in those Colonies , Which Hobbes has planted in his Lands of New Philosophies . I little thought before , ( Nor being my own self so poor , Could comprehend so vast a store ) That all the Wardrobe of rich Eloquence , Could have afforded half enuff Of bright , of new , and lasting Stuff , To cloath the mighty limbs of thy Gigantick Sens● , Thy solid Reason like the Shield from Heaven , To the Trojan Heroe given , Too strong to take a mark from any mortal Dart , Yet shines with Gold , and Gems in every part , And wonders on it grav'd by the learned hand of Art ; A Shield that gives delight Even to the Enemies sight , Then when they 're sure to lose the Combat by 't . ( 5 ) His Monstrous Thoughts may well be call'd Gigantick Sense , To Heaven they fain would offer violence , Like those Giants of old Of which the Poets told . Even like Goliath they Defie The Armies of the Living God , and like him too they Die. The Man with his Gigantick Sense , his mighty Spear and Shield Comes forth into the Field ; And for some time he Boasted there As if he had no Cause to Fear . His Captive-Darkned Soul cann't see , What 't is to have our Souls set free From the Black Chains of dire NECESSITIE ; This and a Thousand Errors more He strives to Land upon our Shoar ▪ But then the Mighty BRAMHAL comes , and takes his Arms away , Shews that this Painted Shield's not fit for Fight , but Play , Strikes down the Monster , doth to All his Ugly Shape display . Then in another Field he 's met by th' Mighty WARD ; And here 't was plainly seen , that he could neither guard Himself from being Wounded , or give Wounds ; Down strait he falls , his Armour on him sounds , What e're his Followers say , he never Rose again : His Ghost is heard to Rave sometimes , but then Bold TOM was slain . ( 6 ) Nor can the Snow , which now cold Age does shed Upon thy reverend Head , Quench or allay the noble Fires within , But all which thou hast bin , And all that Youth can be , thou' rt yet , So fully still dost Thou Enjoy the Manhood , and the Bloom of Wit , And all the Natural Heat , but not the Feaver too . So Contraries on Aetna's Top conspire Her hoary Frosts , and by them breaks out Fire . A secure peace the faithful Neighbours keep , Th● emboldned Snow next to the Flame does sleep . And if we weigh like Thee , Nature , and Causes we shall see , That thus it needs must be ▪ To things Immortal , Time can do no wrong , And that which never is to Dye , for ever must be Young , TOM's grown Another Man , and now himself betakes To Poetry , and Sonnets makes Of Gods , and Goddesses , and such like things : He 's now the Eccho of what HOMER Sings . If Versifying be a Sign of Youth , The Man of Politicks is youthful still : He does not here Pretend to shew the Truth , On which Pretence how much Ink did he spill ! O that he had spent all the Time In hard Translations , and in Rhyme , Which he spent in Opposing Truths , by which to Heaven we climb . No wonder , that Old Age , & Youth , Aetnean Cold , & Heat Should Meet in Him , in whom long since such Contradictions Met. I wish he may not Die too soon after so long a Life , That he no longer would maintain his cursed Strife , Gainst That , which would make him repent of all 's Impieties : Least his Long Life bring him i' th' End to th' WORM that Never Dies . FINIS .