A Happy Husband OR, Directions for a Maid to choose her Mate.  
As also, A WIFE'S BEHAVIOUR towards her Husband after Marriage.  
By Patrick Hannay, Gent.  
To which is adjoined the Good Wife; together with an Exquisite discourse of EPITAPHS, including the choicest thereof, Ancient or Modern.  
By R B. Gent.  Propert 
Exemplo iunctae tibi sint in amore Columbae,  
Masculus & totum foemina coniugium.  
Printed at London for Richard Redmer, and are to be sold at his shop at the West end of Saint Paul's Church, 1619.   

TO THE VIRTUOUS and noble Lady, the Lady Margaret Home, eldest daughter to the Right Honourable Alexander Earl Home, Baron of Dunglas, etc.  
THinking with myself (Noble Lady) what I might present some way to express my love in remembrance of those not to be requited favours, which have wholly obliged me to your House. It came into my mind that what is offered to gods, or great ones, ought rather to be apt, then equal: and that it was held absurd in old time to offer an Hecatomb to the Muses, or an I●…y wreath to the god of war. I thought no offering could be more conformable to your virtues than this Husband, which of due doth challenge a maiden Maecenas: and none so fit as yourself, who even in these years by your budding virtues, do well bewray what fruit your upper years will produce. Accept it then Madam as an acknowledgement of what is due by me to your deservings, which have bound me to abide ever yours  
in all dutiful observance,  
PATRICK HANNAY.   

To Women in General.  
IN things of weight and moment, care and circumspection are to be used, with a truly grounded judgement before resolution. Now in human actions none is of more conscquence than marriage, where error can be but once and that never after remedied. Therefore in it is great caution required before conclusion, the sequel of stayed deliberation, or unadvised rashnefse, being a happy, or a wretched life. And therein is another's counsel most necessary (though through the whole course of man's life it be safer than the self-conceived:) for affection which in other affairs doth oft overrule reason, (even in the wise) doth in this ever hide the faults of the affected under the blinding vale of love. This hath caused me for the weal of your Sex to produce this Husband to the light, not gain, or glory; knowing well the vulgar and critic censures in this age do rather detract, than attribute: but I care not much for their opinion, who dislike, may freely abstain if any give better, I shall willingly absent take it as it is meant, for your good, to displease none, and to content all.  
P. Hannay.   

To Overbury's Widow, wife of this Husband.  

Leave worthy Wife to wear your mourning weed,  
Or bootless stain your che●…ks for him that's dead;  
But rather joy, and thank this Author's pen,  
Hath so well matched thee with this matchless man:  
For Overbury's Ghost is glad to see,  
His widow such one's happy wife to be.   
R. S.   

To Master Hannay.  

THy happy Husband shows thy high engine,  
Whose Muse such method in her measures can,  
The matter shows thy manners are divine;  
Thy practised virtues shows thou art this Man:  
I half envy that highly blessed Maid,  
Whose happy lot shall be to link with thee,  
And wellnigh wish that Nature had me made  
A woman; so I such one's wife might be:  
Detraction is distraught thy lines to see,  
And swelled with envy, can no words bring forth,  
Her baseness cannot parallel thy worth.  
Which still shall live unto eternity:  
For after Ages reading of thy verse,  
Shall deck with Laurel thy adored hearse.   
P. T.   

To his Friend Mr Patrick Hannay.  

FRiend I am glad that you have brought to light,  
A Husband fit for Overbury's Wife;  
Whose chastity might else suspected be,  
Wanting too long a Husband's company:  
But now being matched so well by your endeavour,  
she'll live a chaste Penelope for ever.  
And you brave Ouerbury make to be,  
Your brother in law by act of ingeny.   
W. jewel.   

To the Author.  

WHen I behold the Author and his Book,  
With wonder and delight on both I look;  
Both are so like, and both deserve so well,  
Were I not friend, I in their praise would dwell.  
But since it would seem partial, I think fit  
To leave their praises▪ to a better wit:  
But Husband like to this I wish God send  
To those are cha●…t, and to me such a friend.  
Live each in other, be each others praise,  
Time shall not end your glory with your days.   
E. Leventh.   

The Argument.  

MArriage ordained; the Man made head,  
That kind may be, like like doth breed:  
God blest it; youth it best befits,  
The Author will not try his wits,  
To make one man of manies parts,  
Painters do so to show their Arts:  
His birth and breeding first he shows,  
Equal, and good; the wants of those  
What ills they breed, yet selfe-gained glore:  
He doth prefer both these before,  
His shape must not deformed be,  
Nature makes house and gue●… agree.  
His stature neither low, nor tall,  
The mean in each is best of all:  
Not curious to be counted fair,  
It's womanish to take that care;  
Free from affecting gifts of others▪  
That selfe-we●…kenesse still discovers.  
Such one found, than next is shown  
What vice he's▪ d want, what virtue own;  
Wealth must be set aside to try,  
(It is a beam in judgements eye.)  
What ill doth haunt her weds for gold,  
Is ●…old with the content of old;  
When virtue and simplicity  
Did choose: then he doth let her see  
The Worthies that the World brought fort●…,  
Wooed near for wealth, but still for worth.  
With virtue this man should be nursed,  
If't be deprau▪ d, he's worst then first:  
Drunkenness, gaming, he must want,  
He shows what ills such unthrifts ●…ant;  
He must not haunt another's sheets,  
Grace, and whoredom never meets;  
He must have spent well his time past,  
A wicked crimes bruit long doth last:  
His humours must with hers agree,  
Else true friendship cannot be;  
He must fear God, for on that fear  
Wisdom doth her building rear:  
It's that makes ●…onest, Honesty  
In show, not deed, is policy.  
He must propose a certain end,  
Whereto his actions all must bend;  
He must have unfeigned piety,  
And serve in truth the Deity:  
The four chief virtues in some measure,  
Must hoard up in him their treasure,  
Whereon the lesser do depend,  
Age, and behaviour do him end.   

A good wives description.  
To keep him good, his wife must be  
Obedient, mild, her housewifery  
Within doors she must tend; her charge  
Is that at home; his that at large:  
She must be careful: idle wives  
Vice works on, and to some ill drives:  
Not toying, fond, nor yet unkind,  
Not of a weak dejected mind,  
Nor yet insensible of loss,  
Which doth with care her Husband cross:  
Not jealous, but deserving well,  
Not gadding news to know, or tell;  
Her conversation with the best,  
In Husband, heart her thoughts must rest:  
Thus if she choose, thus use her mate,  
He promiseth her happy state.    

A Happy Husband OR, Directions for a Maid to choose her Mate.  

IN Paradise God Marriage first ordained,  
That lawfully kind might be so maintained;  
By it the Man is made the Woman's head,  
And kind immortalised in their seed:  
For like produces like, it so should be,  
God blest it with increase, and multiply.  
Nature requires it, nothing is more just,  
Who were begot, beget of duty must.  
It Youth becomes, Age is unapt to breed,  
Old stocks are barren, youthful plants have seed.  
Then virtuous Virgin, since such blessings springs  
Fron wedlock (which earths greatest comfort brings)  
Compelled by love, which to thy worth is due,  
How to choose well thy mate, I will thee show;  
Whose sympathising virtues may combine  
Your hearts in love, till death life's thread untwine.  
It's not my mind the rarities to glean,  
Of best perfections I have heard or seen;  
And take the best, where bounty doth abound,  
And make a H●…sband, (no where to be found:)  
The Painter so from boys, and girls did take  
Best of their beauties, Helen fair to make;  
No, I will paint thy mate in such a hue,  
As Care may find: Discretion must allow.   

To choose aright, know from what stock he's grown  
The birth suits best, is equal to thine own;  
Dislike makes higher Birth deem lower base,  
Lower will never by thy Birth take place:  
In Man the fault is more to be excused,  
Who of low birth (for beauty) hath one choosed;  
His lightness therein ever love is deemed,  
Yet as his place, his Wife shall be esteemed.  
But when a Woman of a noble race.  
Doth match with Man of far inferior place,  
She cannot him ennoble, He is still  
In place as she first found him, good, or ill:  
His breeding will his birth still to thee tell,  
" For as the cask, the liquor still doth smell.  
A crab, though digged & dunged, cannot bring forth  
A luscious fruit: so hardly man of worth  
Doth from base stock proceed, still like itself  
Nature produces; force of golden pelf  
To alter that's not able, yet we know  
Oft Men of worth, have come of Parents low:  
For Parents place is not the children's merit,  
Yet it adds grace, if they their worth inherit;  
If not, it adds to shame: for from high race  
virtue's expected due to such a place:  
For indegenerate heroic minds,  
They should possess, are come of noble kinds;  
What mans own worth acquires with virtuous ends,  
Is truly his, and not that which descends.  
Cicero brags (and justly) that his line  
He did in glorious virtue far outshine,  
Which was his honour: They no honour hau●…,  
Who idle add not to what they receine;  
It is his own worth every Man doth grace,  
Less or more eminent as is his place:  
For Virtue (though aye clear) yet clearest shines  
When she doth dart her lights from noble lines.  
A glorious flame blazing in valley low,  
Is soon bar●…'d sight, nor doth it far way show,  
Obscured with neighbour objects: but on high,  
A little Beacon; to both far and nigh:  
Shows like a bearded Comet in the Air,  
Admired of some, of most accounted rare.  
Choose thou a Husband equal to thy race,  
Who's graced by vert●…, and doth virtue grace;  
" Things different do never well agree,  
" Trv●… liking lodges in equality:  
Better than birth his Parents virtues know,  
" From poisoned springs no wholesome waters flow.  
As for his shape I would it should be free  
From (Natures, not of spite) Deformity:  
Deformed shape is of so bad a nature,  
That it's disliked even in a noble creature;  
Where comely shape with love attracts the eyes,  
By secret sympathy os all it sees.  
England's third Richard, and the wife of Shore,  
The one deformed, the other graced with store;  
Of bounteous Nature●… gifts, do show the effects  
Of Love and Hate, to goo●… and bad aspects;  
She (when she barefoot with a Taper light,  
Did open penance in the people's sight)  
Went so demure, with such a lo●…ely ●…ace,  
That beau●…y seemed apparelled in disgrace:  
But most when shame summoned the blood too hie,  
V●…ith native stains her comely cheeks to die  
In scarlet tincture: She did so exceed,  
That even di●…grace in her delight did breed;  
Firing beholders hearts▪ that came to scorn her,  
So Beauty clothed in baseness did adorn her:  
That even the good (who else the vice did blame)  
Thought she deserved pity more than shame.  
Condemning cunning Richard's cruel mind,  
Who cause▪ d her shame, the multitude to blind;  
Lest it his greater mischief should behold,  
Which his ambition plotters had in mould:  
So in them was the force of feature seen,  
Who if less famous, had more happy been.  
Thus Nature makes each Body with the mind,  
Some way to keep Decorum: for we find  
Marked bodies, Manners cross accompany,  
Which in well shaped we seld, or never see:  
For she doth Builder-like a Mansion frame,  
Fit for the guest, should harbour in the same.  
No Stature choose too low, for so in t●…me  
Thy offspring may prove dwarfs; yet do not climb  
To one too tall: for buildings mounted hi●…,  
Their upper rooms seldom well furnished be:  
Herein observe the mean, its best of all,  
Let him not be observed for low nor tall;  
Fresh, lively colours, which fair women grace,  
Modest, effeminate, alluring face▪  
Is not so much in Man to be respected,  
As other graces are to be affected:  
The bloom of Beauty is a fading flower,  
Which Age and Care consumeth every hour;  
It blasted once, is ever after lost,  
Like to a rose nipped with untimely frost.  
A manly face in Man is more commended,  
Then a fair face from Sun and Wind defended.  
A Carpet Knight, who makes it his chief care  
To trick him neatly up, and doth not spare,  
(Though sparing) precious time for to devour,  
(Consulting with his glass) a tedious hour;  
Soon flees (spent so) whiles each irrigular hair  
His Barber rectifies, and to seem rare,  
His heat-lost-lockes to thicken closely curls,  
And curiously doth set his misplaced purls;  
Powders, perfumes, are then profusely spent,  
To rectify his native nasty sent:  
This forenoon's task performed, his way he takes,  
And chamber-practised craving, curtsies makes  
To each he meets; with cringes, & screwed faces,  
(which his too partial glass approved for graces:)  
Then dines, and after courts some courtly Dame,  
Or idle busie-bout misspending game;  
Then sups, then sleeps, then rises for to spend  
Next day as that before, as 'twere the end  
For which he came: so womanized turned Dame,  
As place 'mongst O●…ids changelings he might claim;  
What? Do not such discover their wake mind,  
(Unapt for active virtue) is inclined  
To superficial things, and can embrace,  
But outward Habits for internal Grace.  
The minds gifts do the bodies grace adorn,  
Where that's defective to affect is scorn:  
For Actions hindered by too much observing  
Of decency: but where a well deserving  
And settled reputation is; then there  
Each thing becomes, and is accounted rare:  
Where that's defective, striving to affect  
Another's worth, their weakness doth detect.  
Let thy Mate be what such do strive to seem,  
Thou must the substance, not the shade esteem:  
When thou hast found this well form cabinet,  
Try what rich jewels are within it set,  
Set wealth apart, thou shalt more clearly see  
His Virtues (Riches dazzle judgements Eye.)  
Who weds for wealth: she only wealth doth wed,  
Not Man, which got, and in possession had,  
Love languishes: yet till ones death she's forced  
To live with him though wealth fail, yet divorced  
They cannot be; so is she all his life  
His riches Widow (though she be his Wife.)  
That golden Age (when sullen Saturn reigned  
For virtues love, (not gold's) the glory gained;  
To be so styled, it was not then demanded  
How rich in gold, or how that he was landed:  
When they did woo, simplicity had wont  
be first, (which now is last, in least account)  
With Virtue leading Love, be Wedlock's aim,  
And greatest wealth, a pure unspotted name:  
They lived and loved, then joying each in other,  
Not fearing that their Mate should love another  
Seduced by tempting Gold; their time they spent  
Free from distrust, or open discontent:  
But the next Age, when as our mother Earth,  
(Fertile before in voluntary birth)  
Was sought into; and had her bowels torn  
For hidden wealth: then when the keel was worn,  
Ploughing the Ocean for his hidden store,  
The sweet content did vanish was before.  
The silly Maid (than ignorant of ill)  
Having no wealth, might live a Maiden still,  
And die (except seduced) so; the poor swain  
(Though virtuous) was straight held in disdain:  
But yet the Wort●…ies that the world brought forth  
Since that blessed Age, posponed wealth to worth;  
Great Alexander did disdain the offer,  
Declining Darius with his Child did proffer,  
Nor Maced's full of Gold, nor Eup●…rates brim,  
To bond his Empire, could innegle him:  
But He for that, rather contemned his Foe,  
For thinking He could have been conquered so;  
True worth doth wealth as an addition take,  
Defective virtues wants of weight to make,  
virtues best wealth, wherewith he ●…hould be nursed,  
That smell stays long, a vessel seasons first:  
Yet build not there, for good natures depraved,  
Are stil●… the worst, so thou mayst be deceived.  
See that he have so spent his forepast time,  
That he be free from censure of a crime,  
Yout●…s apt to slip: but a notorious deed  
From Nature, not from Age, doth still proceed;  
And though that Fortune herein oft hath part,  
Yet th'actions still are judged from the heart.  
Adrastus' thinking to revenge the harms  
Of his dead Love▪ his naked weapon warms  
In his brother's bosom (too dear blood to spill)  
Instead of his that did his Lady kill:  
Fleeing to Croesus, he him entertained,  
Where his beha●…iour so much credit gained,  
As Lydia's hope, young Atis, Croesus' heir  
He got in charge; whom hunting unaware,  
His hapless hand vnfortunat●…ly slew,  
While at a Boar his dismal Dart he threw:  
Yet was it thought intention, and not chance,  
Till being freely pardoned the offence,  
Lest more disastrous chances should fall out,  
His own self slaughter cleared them of that doubt:  
Thus when opinion hath possessed the mind,  
It leaves a deep impression long behind,  
And they must do much good, that have done ill,  
Ere they be trusted, were't by fate or will.  
See Drunkenness, (from which all vices spring)  
Do no way stain him; for that still doth bring  
Contempt, disgrace, and shame: Cyrce made swine  
Of wise Ulysses fellows, drunk with wine.  
The Macedonian Monarch (lately named)  
Is not for worth so praised, as for that blamed;  
He in his drink destroyed his dearest friend,  
That did fore him his Father's deeds commend:  
Nor could his after-teares wash off that stain,  
Which doth to blot his actions still remain:  
For if one would his glorious actions shoe,  
How strong? chaste? valiant? mild to captived foe?  
With such brave deeds, though he the world hath filled,  
Yet this still stays. He drunk, dear Clitus killed.  
No Gamester let him be: for such a Man  
Shall still be loser, do the best he can;  
His mind and money it frets, and destroys  
And wastes the precious time he here enjoys,  
Some in less time unto some Art attain,  
Than others spend in Play; sums pleasing vain  
Will seem so mild, in this dear double loss,  
They outwardly not take it for a cross:  
But when all's gone (for they but then give over)  
Their smothered anguish they at last discover;  
Whereof man's foe, the Fiend, advantage takes,  
Whiles on selfe-slaughtered rocks, he gathers wrakes.  
Examples ●…ereof we may daily see,  
How some by halter, some by poison die;  
And who go not so far, yet their last ends  
Contemned need, and misery attends:  
For this ill haunts them, who to play are bend,  
They seldom leave till their estate be spent.  
With others sheets let him not be acquainted,  
(They are still stained, whom once th●…t sin hath tainted)  
And never hope to have him true to thee,  
Who hath oft prayed on changed variety:  
Be sure who hath had choice, will near digest  
To feed on one dish, (though of sweetest taste)  
And who so strays, loves not, but lusts; in one  
Doth Love delight, when that leàues, Love is gone;  
For Grace and Lust near harbour in one ●…nne,  
And where Lust lodges, ever lodgeth Sin:  
Which Sin when it is to a habit grown,  
Not fear of God, (but Man) lest it be known,  
Doth stay the execution: but be sure  
Though the Act be hindered▪ yet the hearts impure,  
Whose Lusts will predomine in time and place,  
Not overruld by God●… 〈◊〉 Grace.  
Besides, he will be still suspecting thee,  
Though thou be'st pure as spotless Chastity:  
For vice is ever conversant in ill,  
And guilty as itself thinks others still.  
Upon this Earth there is no greater Hell,  
Then with suspecting ●…ealousie to dwell.  
See that his humours (as ncere as may be)  
Do with each humour of thy mind agree;  
Or else contention, and dissension still,  
Will bar your sweet con●…ent; while the one's will  
The others doth resist, Love cannot be  
Twixt fire and water, they will near agree:  
True friendship must express twixt man & wife,  
The comfort, stay, defence, and port of life,  
Is perfect, when two souls are so ●…onfus'd,  
And plunged together (which free will hath choosed)  
As they can never severed be again,  
But still one compound must of both remain:  
From which confused mixture, near proceeds  
Words of good turns, requitals, helps of needs;  
For it is ever after but one soul,  
Which both their wills & actions doth control;  
And cannot thank itself for the own deeds,  
(What is done to itself, no selfe-lou●… breeds▪)  
But this holds not where humours disagree,  
There's no concordance in disparity.  
See he fear G●…d, then will he fear to sin,  
Where vice doth leave, there Virtue doth begin:  
Sin is nipped in the bud, when we do mind  
That Gods all light, and can in darkness find  
What we can hide from Man▪ the reins & heart  
He searches through, & knows each hidden part,  
And each thought long before; we cannot hide  
Our faults from him, nor from his censure slide.  
The Wiseman saith, its Wisdoms first degree,  
To have a true fear of the Deity;  
For that makes Honest: honesty's commended,  
Whether sincere, or for a cloak pretended▪  
The vulgar Honesty, servant to Laws,  
Customs, Religions, Hope and fear it draws;  
Be more or less: According to the times  
It still is wavering, difference of climes  
Makes it unequal, rather Policy  
I may call such Respect, than Honesty;  
Which still aspiring, quickly oft mounts high,  
And in short time unto that mark comes nigh;  
At which it aims: but builded on false grounds,  
A sudden fall it unawares confounds.  
But Honesty doth always go upright,  
With settled pace; not wavering for the might  
Of winds, times, nor occasions: it goes slow,  
But still attains the end, towards which doth go▪  
Now such an Honest man I wish th●…e find,  
As still is Hon●…st, out of Honest mind:  
That's Wisdome●… first ground, next is to propose  
A certain form of life; sor ever those  
(Who divers in themselves) aim at no end,  
But as occasion offers, each way tend;  
Never attain the mark. If Hawk assay  
To truss two Birds, she doth on neither prey:  
These grounds being laid, an unfeigned Piety  
Must build thereon, and though that divers be  
Religions, Laws; yet ours amongst them all  
Is truest, purest, most authentical.  
Religion true, loves God, and quiets us,  
And rests in a Soul, free and generous:  
Whe●…e superstition is a frantic error,  
A weak minds sickness, & the own Souls terror▪  
Religious men do still fear God for love,  
The superstitious, lest they torments prove.  
Let thy Mate be a man, whose settled faith  
In true Religion sure foundation hath:  
For twixt those bodies love doth best reside,  
Whose souls no self opinions do divide:  
The four chief ●…irtues next in order go▪  
From which the rest as from four fountains flow;  
Prudence the first place hath, to see and choose,  
Which is so needful, and of so great use,  
That with it weighty things do seem but light,  
Without it nothing can be done of weight;  
By it things even 'gainst Nature are achieved,  
A wise mind gaine●… what many hands hath grieved:  
Iust●…e ●…e must be Himself first to command,  
For sensual things at Reason's Law must stand,  
The Spirits power keeps the passions still in awe,  
And strictly bounds them with an austere Law,  
With Moderation it guides our desires,  
(We must not all condemn) Natur●… requires  
To love things neat and needful, base things hate,  
Its wantonness to live too delicate:  
But its mere madness to condemn the things,  
Which needful use, and common custom brings.  
Next to his Nei●…hbour, he that right must do  
Which he expects▪ (freely not forced thereto;)  
Whom Law constrains, they falsify all trust,  
Its conscience, not constraint that makes men just:  
As just, so valiant would I have him be,  
Not out of rashness or stupidity,  
It is a constant patient resoluti●…n  
Of bashlesse Courage 'gainst the revolution,  
Of times and fortunes it regards not pains,  
Where Honour is the Hire, Glory the gains:  
It's sensible careful man's self to save,  
Not daring offer wrong, more than receiu●…;  
As Prudent, Just, and valiant, so He must  
Be temperate, this virtue hath foul lust,  
And pleasure for its object, it commands,  
Laps, & re●…ormes our sensual thoughts; it stands  
Twixt a desire, and dullness of our nature,  
And is the spurrer on, or the abater  
Of ill or good, shamefast in refusing  
Thing, filthy, honest in things comely choosing;  
Though with perfection these no one man fits,  
Yet let him be free from their opposites:  
He must be sober, not given to excess,  
It cures, and keeps in health, mind it doth dress;  
Making it pure, and capable of good,  
It's Mother, and good counsel is the Brood:  
Excess doth dull the Spirits, and breeds disease,  
So after punished by what fi●…st did please.  
Learned let him be, his learning general,  
Profound in none, yet have some skill in all;  
Whose deeply learned, his Book is most his Wife,  
Conversing still with it, so of his Life  
His Wife not half enjoys: for most i●… spent  
In study, so what should yield most content,  
Societies debarred; I do wish then  
Who are mere Scholars, may live single men:  
Learning besots the weak, and feeble mind;  
But pollishes the strong, and well inclined:  
The one ●…aine-glory puffs with self-conceit,  
The others brain is settled judgements seat.  
Then so learned let him be, as may choose  
Flow●…rs of best Books, whos●… sweet sent he may (vs●…,  
To rectify his knowledge, and distill  
From thence life-blessing precepts, which so will  
Temper his understanding, that the frown  
Of fickle Fortune, never shall cast down:  
Not bold in speech no man of many words  
Choose thou a Husband; levy tree affords  
The smallest store of fruit: Both words and deeds  
Seldom, or never from one Man proceeds.  
Who guides his words, he in a word is wise;  
Yet let him not be sullenly precise,  
But gentle, pleasing not crabbed, or tart,  
The wise man's tongue is ever in his heart;  
The fools heart's in his tongue: it is great gain  
For to be silent, and one's self contain.  
And see with whomsoever he converse,  
(Left he be thought ill nurtured, or perverse)  
That he be kind, obsequious, affable,  
To fit himself unto their humours; able  
To change condition with the time, and place,  
Is wisdom, and such levity doth gra●…e:  
So Aristippus each face, each behaviour,  
Did still become, and was a gracing favour.  
Choose thou a Husband older by some years  
Than thou thyself art, Man age better bears  
Then Women: for bearing of children makes  
Their Strength decay, soon beauty them forsakes;  
Many crops makes a field soon to be bare,  
Where that that b●…ares not long continues fair.  
Now Lady such a man I wish you find,  
As here I have described; with whom'to bind,  
Yourself, is to be blest, leading a life  
Full of content, free from contentious strife.   

A wives behaviour.  
But to find good, is not enough to show,  
But having found him, how to keep him so;  
Then since I have advised you how to choose him,  
I will give some advice how you should use him.  
Obedience first thy will to his must fit,  
(He is the Pilot that must govern it)  
It man condemns of inability,  
When Women rule, that is born to obey:  
Nor is it Honour to Her, but a shame,  
To be matched with one only man in na●…e:  
But if imperious, He should more desire,  
Then due respect doth of a Wife require;  
Think not harsh stubbornness will ere procure him,  
To be more mild, (it rather will obdure him.)  
The whip and lash the angry Horse enrages,  
Mild voice and gentle str●…ke his ir●… asswag●…s:  
From steele-struck flint we see the lightning flies,  
But struck 'gainst wool, the flas●…ing flame none spies;  
Nor is the clangor hard: the ones soft nature  
Is to the others hardness an abature.  
Winifrid thou thy Mate with mildness: for each cr●…sse  
Answered with anger, is to both a loss;  
Like as the Sea which 'gainst a churlish rock,  
Breaks braving billows with a boisterous stroke,  
Seeking by raging force to throw on sands  
The stiff resisting rock, which unmoved stands,  
Repelling his bold billows with like scorn,  
As th'others bravery had bownst them before;  
Thus both still strive, and striving are o'ercome,  
The rock is worn, the Billow's crushed in foam:  
Whereas the Sea calmly the Sand embraces,  
And with smooth forehead lovingly it graces;  
Being content that it should bond his shore,  
Yielding to mildness, where force failed before.  
So let thy mildness win thy Husband to it,  
If that do not, than nothing else will do it:  
Beware you (willing) to no anger move him,  
If he perceived, he cannot think you love him;  
If anger once begin twixt Man & Wife,  
If soon not reconciled, it turns to ●…trife:  
Which still will stir on every light occasion,  
What might have ceased in silence; then persuasion  
Of friends will hardly end: for every jar  
Is ominons presaging life-long war.  
And where two joined do jar, their state decay,  
They go not forward, wh●… draw divers ways,  
Being yoked together: your first care must be,  
That with your Husband you in love agree;  
As far from fondn●…sse be, as from neglect,  
Mixing affection with a stayed respect:  
If toying fondness were Man's only aim,  
Not reason, but his lust should choose his Dame;  
Where Whores lascivious, that can ways inuen●…  
Should equalize thee: nay, give more content:  
No, th●…se are not the joys he hopes to find,  
The Body not so much he weds, as mind▪  
Be never fond, nor without cause unkind,  
These are the fruits of an inconstant mind:  
Thou must not if his fortunes do decline,  
Be discontented, or seem to repine;  
But bear a constant countenance, not dismayed,  
As if you were of misery afraid:  
His fortunes you must good or bad abide,  
With chains of mutual love, together tide.  
The loss of that which blindfold Chance doth give,  
Cannot a worthy generous mind agrieve:  
For it will never take it for a cross,  
Which cannot make one wicked by its loss;  
Nor by the gaining good, both fool and knave,  
Are often rich, if such afflictions have,  
They drive them to despair: but draw the wise,  
With elevated thoughts, such things despise.  
Seneca saith, the gods did take delight  
To see grave Cato, with his Fate to fight:  
O what should we, whose hopes do higher rise?  
If Heathens thus could worldly things despise.  
Affliction oft doth mount the Wiser high,  
joseph and job rose by adversity:  
Its sign of a weak mind to be dejected  
For worldly loss, (such never are respected.)  
If thou wouldst not be irksome to thy mate,  
Be cheerful, not succumbling with his fate:  
Yet if that anguish doth afflict his mind,  
You must not seem so from the world refined,  
As to disdain what humane cross brings forth,  
Pride to be singular, that is, not worth:  
Nay, thou must be a mirror, to reflect  
Thy Husband's mind; for as is his aspect,  
So should be thine. Pale Phoebe yields no light,  
When the interposed earth bars his Phoebus' sight:  
But when no object intercepts his streams,  
She decks herself with light rebating beams;  
Even so as is thy Husband's joy, or pain,  
So must thy joy and sorrow wax, or wain:  
Be not too curious in his ways to pry,  
Suspicion still makes the suspected try;  
jealousy's fear: for why should she suspect,  
That knows herself guilty of no defect?  
If he perceive thee of thyself despair,  
He will think sweeter joys are otherwhere,  
which thou dost want; so thou thyself shalt give  
The first occasion to what may thee grieve▪  
Thy own desert must Him unto thee bind,  
Desert doth make a savage to be kind:  
It is an Adamantine chain to knit,  
Two souls so fast, nought can them disunit;  
Where that most sweet communion of the minds,  
Save each in other, no contentment finds;  
And whatsoever the one touches near,  
jealousy, the other near conceals for fear.  
Brutus' his honour dearer prized than life,  
Concredited to Portia his Wife;  
What fear from dearest friends caused him conceal,  
Worth and desert made him to her reveal  
Great Caesar's death, and who his consorts were,  
With their designs, he did impart to her;  
Nor is their birth, or beauty of such might,  
To alienate their hearts, or give delight:  
Who had more beauty than that captived Queen  
The fair Statira▪ when in grief was seen  
The pearly hail blasting her beauty fields,  
Which seemliness ever clothe in sorrow yields;  
Being graced with modesty, and unstained faith,  
More force still fairness with such fellows hath:  
Yet could not her fair beauty move the thought  
Of Alexander, (though less fair have brought  
Oft Captains to be captives) nor her state  
(She being married) did affection bate:  
For than her Virgin Daughter yet unstained,  
(Whose beauty all comparison disdained,  
Going her lovely Mother so before,  
As she did all the rest of Asia's store)  
Should quickly have entangled his desire,  
Whose heart all one, Roxane's love did fire:  
For if proportion, colour, wealth, or birth,  
Could have captived the Monarch of the Earth;  
These should have won: but he did her prefer,  
Whose only merits pleaded love for her.  
Deserve then not in show, but from the heart,  
Love is perpetuated by desert:  
As it befits not Man for to embrace  
Domestic charge, so it's not Woman's place  
For to be busied with affairs abroad:  
For that weak sex, it is too great a load,  
And its unseemly, and doth both disgrace,  
When either doth usurp the others place:  
Leave his to him, and of thine own take charge,  
Care thou at home, and let him care at large,  
Thou hast enough thyself for to employ  
Within door●…s, 'bout thy house and housewifery:  
Remember that it's said of Lucrece chaste,  
when some Dames wantonized, others took rest,  
She with her Maidens first her task would end,  
Ere she would sleep: she did not idle spend  
Swift running Time, nor ga●…e alluring pleasure  
The least advantage, to make any seizure  
On her rare virtues. A soul vacant stili,  
Is soon seduced to do good or ill:  
For like perpetual motion is the mind,  
In action still, while to this flesh confined;  
(From which foul prison it takes often stains,  
For absolutely good no man remains.)  
Employed if not 'bout good, about some ill,  
Producing fruits which do discover still  
How it is laboured like a fertile field,  
Which fruit, or weeds abundantly doth yield,  
As it is mannured; be not idle then,  
Nor give vice time to work upon thy brain  
Imagined ill: for what it there conceives,  
It oft brings out, and in dishonour leaves:  
The purest things are ea●…iest to be stained,  
And it's soon lost which carefully was gained.  
Penelope did wheel and distaff handle,  
And her days work undid at night by candle;  
Nor labour-forcing need compelled that task,  
which toiling days, and tedious nights did ask:  
(For she was Queen of Ithack) 'twas her name,  
which virtuous care kept spotless free from blame;  
One of so many suitors of each sort,  
As for her love did to her Court resort,  
Not speeding; would have spoke that might her stain,  
The greatest hate, when love turns to disdain:)  
If colour could have made their knavery stronger,  
But envy could not find a way to wrong her.  
Be thou as these, careful of housewifery,  
With Providence what's needful still supply:  
Look thy Maids be not idle, nor yet spend  
Things singingly: for they so oft offend,  
When careless is the Mistress; yet with need  
Near pinch them, nor yet let them ere exceed:  
The one doth force them seek thee to betray,  
The other makes them wanton, and too gay;  
It is no shame to look to every thing,  
The Mistress eye doth ever profit bring.  
Solomon saith, the good Wife seeks for flax  
And wool, wherewith her hands glad travel takes:  
she's like a ship that bringeth bread from far,  
She rises ere appear the morning Star;  
Victuals her H●…ushold, gives her Maiden's food,  
Surveys, and buys a field, plants vines, with good  
Gained by her hands: What Merchandise is best  
S●…e can discern, nor doth she go to rest  
When Phoebus hides his head, and bars his sight,  
But by her Lamp, her hands do take delight  
To touch the wheel and spindle; she doth stretch  
Her hand to help the poor, and needy wretch:  
Her words are wisdom, she ●…re'sees her train,  
That idle none do eat their bread in vain;  
Her children rise and bless her, sweet delight  
Her Husband takes still in her happy sight:  
Be thou this careful Goodwife, for to lend  
Thy helping hand, thy Husband's means to mend.  
Last let thy conversation be with such,  
As foul mouthed malice can with no crime touch;  
I cannot but condemn such as delight  
Still to be sad and sullen in the sight  
Of their own Husbands, as they were in fear,  
(Sure guilty of some crime such Women are)  
But when they gossip it with other wives  
Of their own cut, than they have merry lives,  
Spending, and plotting how they may deceive  
Their Husbands, rule themselves, & mastery have;  
O let such Women (for they make baits be  
Twixt Man and Wife) never consort with thee:  
But shun them, as thou dost see one that's fair  
Flee the small pox; both like infectious are.  
The grave, stayed, blameless, and religious Dames,  
whose carriage hath procured them honest names;  
Are fit companions, let such be thy Mates,  
When wearied with affairs, thou recreates  
Thyself with harmless mirth: yet do not walk  
Often abroad, that will occasion talk;  
Though thou hast store of friends, yet let none be  
Saving thy Husband, Counsellor to thee;  
he's nearest to thee, and it will endear him,  
He is thy self, thou needest not to fear him:  
Be free with him, and tell him all thy thought,  
It's He must help, when thou hast need of aught;  
And constantly believe he'll love thee best,  
When he sees thou preferrest him fore the rest.  
Thus L●…dy, have I show'd you how to choose  
A worthy Mate, and how you should him use;  
So choose, so use, so shall you all your life  
Be in a Husband blest, he in a Wife:  
And when Death here shall end your happy days,  
Your Souls shall reign in Heaven, on Earth your prais●….   
FINIS.   

THE DESCRIPTION of a good Wife: Or, A rare one amongst Women.  
AT LONDON  
Printed for Richard Redmer, and are to be sold at his shop at the West end of Saint Paul's Church, 1619.   

The Argument.  

IN pursuit of loves inquest▪  
Heavy-eyde Musophilus,  
Restless takes himself to rest,  
And desplaies his fortunes thus.  
In his sleep (deaths shade) appears  
Age, the honour of man's life,  
Old in hours as well as years,  
Who instructs him in a Wife,  
And in brief assays to ●…how,  
Who is good, who is not so.   

Next his choice, he shows his Son,  
(Lest he should his choice neglect)  
What by him aught to be done  
To his Wife in each respect,  
Who though she should ever fear  
To give cause of just offence,  
Yet he ought not domineer  
'Cause he has pre-eminence;  
For that conquest's worthy no man,  
Where the triumph o'er a woman.   

Age retires, yet in retire,  
Wakes close-eyde Musophilus,  
Where he sees whom his desire  
Bids him woo, and wooing choose:  
Wooed and won, he doth invite  
Such as aim at virtuous ends,  
To be present at the Rite  
Of two selfe-united friends:  
Who if they will, come they may,  
If they will not, they may stay.    

A good Wife,  

Down by a vale a pleasant shade there was,  
By which a silver streamling past,  
Where I retired and sat me on the grass,  
Whilst my dejected eye with sleep locked fast,  
Presented thousand objects where I was;  
Amongst which a graver Module the●… the rest  
Appeared to me, and made it thus expressed.   

A grave old man of reverend aspect,  
Whose years imported something that was good,  
In sable habit, showing his neglect  
" Of earthly Fortunes, as an object stood,  
To caution me (me thought) of that respect  
Which I should have, and ever aught to have  
Of my time's Mansion, Frailty, and my Gra●…e.   

A scythe, an hourglass, and a wate●…pot,  
A fatal Deaths-head, Shrowding-sheete, and Bear●…,  
An urn of mouldered ashes, which▪ were got  
From some dark charnel house as t'did appear,  
Where on was writ, This is our frailties lot,  
This's all we shall possess of all our store,  
This beggars have, and Princes have no more.   

The se were the r●…liks which this old man brought  
Which oft he moved and brandished over me,  
And still by tears he seemed as if he sought  
To caution me of my mortality,  
But alas his tears still drowned his speech methought,  
Till he at last by force did silence break,  
And to me sleeping thus began to speak;   

Good rest my Son, yet (Son) retire from rest,  
And hear thy Father, pray thee then awake,  
For th●…ugh I'm d●…ad, yet is my love expressed  
E●…en in my death; th●…n for thy Fath●…rs sake,  
Lay up these last instructions in thy breast,  
Which with observance if thou keep, th●…y may  
Che●…re thee both here, and in the latter day.   

Thou knowest my Son, though thou wert last in birth,  
Thou wert not l●…ast in my affection too,  
Witness my care of thee, while I on earth,  
sojourned there in that same vale of wo●…;  
Yea, I may say, even in my comforts dearth,  
When grieves and sorrows did environ me,  
Which frustrate hopes supplied their hope in thee   

Nor could I think so many a widows prayer,  
Orphans well wishes, and the poor man's vow,  
Would turn my fruit of hope into despair,  
Since vows, prayers, wishes, did distinctly show  
Their love to me for my devoutest care,  
Which from my heart I ever aimed at,  
To right their wrongs, and settle their estate.   

O let my hopes then now in my decease,  
Confirm my Blessing which I gave to th●…;  
So shall thy Soul enjoy that sou●…raigne peace  
Which was prepared 'fore all eter●…itie,  
For such as made a prosperous increase  
In every virtuous action, which I'll show  
Succinctly to thee in a word or two.   

First then my Son●…e, because I find thee here  
In th'isle F●…olonia, where so many come,  
Whose names & Natures with the I'll cohere,  
I must by way advertise thee of some  
Who (in disguise) not as themselves appear  
Earth's politicians, who'll not stand to stain  
Their souls pure lustre for a little gain.   

These can dispense with faith, & wilprofes  
What they least think: to gild their guile they'll sweat:  
Yet be their oaths shrouds to licentiousness,  
(Which though they seem a fair pretence to bear●…▪)  
Take but their vizard off, they're nothing less,  
Than what they did protest: Beware of ●…hem,  
For these be dangerous Hollow har●…ed men.   

Yet these be fools, though they be politic,  
In that they aim more at a private good,  
A sensual pleasure, honour▪ or such like,  
Then at that supr●…ame end, which understood,  
Would their conceits to admiration strike;  
For weak their judgement, and el●…ion rash▪  
That poise souls treasure less than worlds trash.   

Next unto these, be such as do aspire  
Above their pitch, and with ambitious wings  
So are far above their sphere: th●…se do desire  
Nought more than to be popular, which brings  
A timeless merited end, for they conspire  
Their own subversion: for few eu●…r ●…aue  
A●…bition seen graye-headed t●…●…er grave.   

These reach at Sceptres, but do ●…fttimes fall  
Bel●… their Centre, and though they do make  
Their own opinions Axioms, and will call  
Nought good, but what themselves do undertake  
Y●…t by a publiqe verdict, when they shall  
Conuict●…d be, then they'll confess & say,  
Non (though more seemin-gwise,) more fools than they.   

Next these be Prodigals, who spend their time  
Like Circe's chanted guests: these are but men  
Only in form, for th'part which is divine,  
Remains obscure and darker shines in them  
Then a small star cl●…ath'd in a cloud doth shine.  
These men we well may formal shadows call,  
For save mere shadows, these are nought at all.   

Alcynous mates, such as were borne to be  
But not to live, pageants that go and move,  
And wear good cloths, yet view them inwardly,  
They are but Trunks at best, or Apes, that love  
Or make a show of love, whose ends we see,  
When they have run on shelf their whole estate  
Their brothel gr●…ting's changed into a grate.   

And are not these vain fools, that make a loss  
Of credit, body, state, to yield delight  
For one poor moment? o when they shall toss  
Those leave of their account where appetite  
Made them insensate and that weeping cross,  
Which their profuser follies brought them to,  
They'll style themselves then Fools in f●…lio.   

Next be th●…se stains of honour, which defile  
Those Temples which ought to be dedicated  
To an Ethereal power: These though they've style  
Of women are nought less, for why they hate  
What best beseems that sex: & hence this I'll  
Derives her Name (and aptly doth it take,)  
When th'stronger s●…xe is ruled by the weak.   

These are those lur●…s of death which draw men on  
Unto perdition; These are they that show  
Like Flowers in May, but they are withered soon  
(Even with one breath, for painting (if you blow)  
Makes the Complexion to be quite undone:  
Unhappy she that when she sees one breath  
Dissolves her varnish, will not think on death.   

Of these my son no more will I relate  
Then what I have: now mean I to descend  
To teach thee something for thy own estate  
And how thou mayst be to thyself a friend  
With a good Conscience, which to violate  
Were worst of evils: and to form thy life  
Better, I'll tell thee how t●… choose a wife.   

Choose thou thy wife (my Son) nor fair nor foul●…,  
Nor gay nor sluttish; silent, yet knows when  
And where it's fit to speak, one whose chaste soul  
Shows modesty in blushes, and wil●… len  
No ear to light affections but ca●… cool  
Heat of desire (for such desires may be  
In purest love) by her enjoying thee.   

Choose a fixed eye, for wandering looks display  
A wavering disposition; let her cheek  
Be without art: Choose me a bashful nay  
Before a qui●…k assent; for such as seek  
Husbands, for fear they should too long time stay,  
Resemble thos●… who know their ware is worst,  
And therefore mean to sell't to whom comes first.   

Choose one that's so discreet knows when to spare,  
When to express herself in bounty, so  
As neither niggard-nature may have share  
In her, nor lavishness, when sheesed bestow  
What Rep●…tation claims, which special care  
Imports a sovereign complement or end  
To such, know when & where to spare or spend.   

Choose thee no gadder (for a wife should be  
In this respect (I'm sure) like to a Snail,)  
Who (hous-wifelike) still in he●… house we see;  
For if her care or providence do fail,  
Her howse-affaires will go disorderly,  
And hardly can that Wife endure to stay  
In her own house, whose mind's another way.   

Choose thee no liquorish Gossip, whose delight  
Is how to please her taste, for seldom can  
One that's exposed to her appetite  
Conform her to the state of any man,  
Which to an honest mind would be a spite,  
That when thou wish's thy wife a competent  
Fitting her rank, she will not be content.   

Choose thee no coy precisian, she is too smooth  
To prove sincere, in simpringst looks we find  
Oft most deceit, for these (as th'water doth  
Seem calmest where they're d●…pest) let thy mind  
Be so prepared, as thou wilt ever loath  
Such formalists She-doct●…ns, who have sought  
To teach far more than ever they were taught.   

Choose thee no wanton that will prostitute  
Her soul for sensual pleasure, there attends  
Nought upon such, but blasting of repute▪  
Horrid diseases, miserable ends,  
With which their vi●…ious lives do ever suit▪  
And worst of worsts, that issue which is got  
Of Such, may seem thine own, but it is not.   

Choose thee no Wife that is selfe-singular  
She'll be her own instructress, and in that  
She (through presumption) will be bold to err●…,  
Hating reproof, which will o'erthrow thy state,  
Beware (my Son) thou shalt be tie to her,  
Which servitude (though it be too to common)  
Disualues man that's subject to a woman.   

Choose one for virtue (though a Portion's good)  
Yet deare's the Portion if thy wife be ill:  
Rank not in marriage with too high a blood  
Lest with her birth she chance to twitt ●…hee still,  
Equality hath ever firmest stood,  
Where if descent of different order be  
It's seldom seen that th'parties do agree.   

Choose one that's wise, yet to herself not so,  
Loving to all, familiar to few  
Inwardly fair, though mean in outward show,  
Seldom conversing in a public view;  
Nor young nor old, but has of years enough  
To know what housewife means, & such an one  
As may supply thy place when thouart from home.   

Choose one that like a Bosom-friend can keep  
Th'imparting of a secret, yet before  
Thou dost commit to her matters more deep  
And consequent, thy judgement should explore  
And sound her disposition, so may'st reap  
What thou expectest: for if thou find a power  
Apt to conceal, make her thy counsell●…ur.   

Choose one whose Spirit's ready to receive  
Impression of remorse for others grieves,  
For such, best tempered natures ever have  
(And kind is she that others woes relieves)  
Let her be openhanded to such as crave  
If they be needy, for thou ne●…er heard  
Alme●… (in charity) lose her reward.   

Choose one whose Education is more good  
Then curious, whose life's more approved  
Then noted, choose one whose parental blood  
Makes claim to virtue and is more beloved  
For her more choicer parts, then to be wo'ed  
To an unchaste motion, being inclined  
To prise her body's Beauty by her mind.   

Choose one whose knowing Parents can augment  
Their daughter's portion by a firm advise,  
One who will measure here's by thy content,  
Whose spotless thoughts be written in her eyes,  
Whose Breast is thine closed in one Co●…tinent,  
Who knows y●…t seems as if she did not know,  
Inwardly good without an outward show.   

Choose one who can play Mother, ere she have  
The name of Mother, one that hates nought more  
Than not to learn, one that imprints her gra●…e  
Still in her memory, adds to thy store  
With an advised providence, nor doth crave  
More of internal knowledge then to try  
Herself on earth, and study how to die.   

Choose one who makes it greatest of her fear  
T'incur suspicion, that esteems her name  
Before a world of Treasure, that can bear  
Affliction with indifference, and thinks sh●…me  
A Matron's comeliest habit, one that's dear  
In her Creator's sight, and fears to do  
Oug●…t that thyself will not assent unto▪   

Choose one who doth desire to make each▪ day  
Her life's Ephemeris, summing in th'evening tide  
With what respect she passed her hours away;  
Choose 〈◊〉 that doa●…es not on the name of Brid●…  
With ●… new ●…angle itching, but will stay  
To reason what it means, and is afraid  
(In mod●…st shame) to lose the style of Maid.   

Choose on●… who's qualifide better in mind  
Then Bo●…ie: yet if she affect the strain  
Of harmless chamber▪ musiqu●…, let her fi●…de  
Thy mind in consort with her, (for though vain)  
Yet 'tis an easy vanity, and unkind  
Mightst thou be deemed to bar her that delight,  
Which may be shown even in an Angel's sight.   

Choose one whose countenance promiseth respect  
Unto her honour: one that spends the morn  
In praying, not in painting, whose neglect  
Is in ●…ut-landish fashions and doth scorn  
To fancy that which lightness doth affect:  
One whose lives pattern rests as uncontrolled,  
And makes her Youth by imitation old.   

Choose one whose house hath no affinity  
With folly, lust, ambition, sel●…e-conceit,  
Propha●…enesse, discord, prodigality,  
Schism, Superstition, violence, deceit,  
Op●…re ssion, surfeits, damned usury,  
For where these reign (my Son) we seldom see  
Descent of state unto the third degree.   

Choose one whom thou canst love, not for constraint  
Of fortune or of ●…riends, for what are these  
That thou by them shouldst measure thy content?  
No, No, in marriage thou thyself must please,  
Or every day will be an argument  
Of thy succeeding sorrow, then be wise,  
Carve for thyself, yet hear thy friends advise.   

Choose one whose free election can admit  
None save thyself that she can dearly love,  
Yet so discreet as she can silence it  
Till th'time her Parents shall her choice approve,  
(For that implies her modesty and wit)  
Where rash assents whence ever they do come,  
Are ever seen to bring Repentance home.   

Chus●… one whose Conscience and religion meet  
In one set concord with the●…, for its ●…his  
That cements minds together, and makes sweet  
Th'vnse●…nedst passions, giving way to bliss  
And future glory, where the peaceful seat  
Of two distinct minds now reduced to one,  
Shows equal temper both in mirth and mo●…e.   

Choose amongst these thou canst not Choose amiss●…,  
For here's a full variety of such  
Will fit thy mind as thou thyself wouldst w●…sh,  
Yet (Son) attempt not with unhallowed touch  
To taint their honour with a wanton kiss,  
For that is but inducement unto sin,  
Sith Kisses be the keieslet Treason in.   

Therefore choose one, and that but only o●…e,  
One that may make two Bodies one-unite,  
One that is essence-lesse if left alone  
Without her second; One whose sole delight  
Is vanished when her second soul is gone:  
One that renews her comfort in her make,  
And joys in her affliction for his sake.   

Yet know (my son) when thou this wife dost choose,  
And (after suit) art master of thy choice,  
It's fit thou should this lovely mirror use  
With that respect as she may hence rejoice  
To have a mate so rightly generous.  
As with a Wives-choise therefore I begun,  
I'll show what by a Husband should be done.   

He may command, yet should not tyrannize,  
Show himself head, yet not to make his wife  
His f●…ot, esteem her as his o●…ly prize,  
(All other Blanks) hate all intestine stris●…  
(Save strife in love,) he should not exercise  
The patience of his wife, for one may wrong  
Silence too much, and force her have a tongue.   

He may express his love with modesty,  
Yet never college and kiss in open place,  
For I should deem such love hypocrisy  
Or some such thing, if I were in her case;  
And better is love shown in privacy  
Then 'fore the eyes of men, for they will skan  
Fondness or indiscretion in the man.   

He may be free in love, for sh●…e's his own,  
Yet such a love as is exempt from s●…aine  
Of an insatiate lust: he should not frown  
T'express his awe too much, his best of gain  
Should be to make her virtues riper grown;  
He should dispense with lighter faults, not vex  
Himself for trifles, shee'●… the weaker sex:   

H●… may restrain her, but 'tis not so good,  
Restraint gives women greater appetite;  
He may do much, but who would wrong his blood,  
His flesh, himself? he may curb her delight,  
But who knows not when woman's most with▪ stood  
Their will's most forward & their wits most near them,  
And will be frolic though their husbands hear them?   

He may have care, but carking it is worse,  
He may be getting, yet he should not scrape;  
He should not slave himself unto his purse,  
But freely use it for his credit sake:  
He should not wean his wife from aught by force,  
But by persuasion: for deprau'd's her will,  
That's only forced by violence from ill.   

He may part stakes, or all, but it were better  
To join in purse as they do join in care,  
Where each to other may remain a debtor,  
For where the man doth limit th'Wife a share,  
Oft turns the Wife to be her husband's cheater,  
Which to prevent (if he'll be sure of her)  
In stake, state, store, make her his Treasurer.   

He may be jealous, but't implies suspect  
That he misdoubts what he himself hath been,  
Or that he's troubled with some weak defect  
His Wife perceives, though to the world unseen  
And that from hence proceedethher neglect  
Of honour to his Bed: which (sure) would show  
Baseness in him, and ●…orce her to do so.   

He may pick cause and matter of offence  
(But that would much degenerate from man)  
He may hear such, as would sow difference  
Twixt their united loves; but if he scan  
And rightly weigh man's native excellence,  
He will conclude with this, that there is no 〈◊〉  
So base, to urge off●…nce against a woman.   

He may be busy where he's nought to do,  
And intermeddle in his wives affairs,  
But fit it is not that he should do so  
For in employments each have distinct shares,  
Nor she to his, nor he to hers should go:  
For so the Breeches she might seem to wear,  
And he a Coate-queanes name as rightly bear.   

He may think well on's wife, yet not commend  
(For he doth praise himself, doth praise his wife):  
He should in life prepare him for his end  
And mould his end by forming of his life:  
He should repose no trust in any friend  
In or without him, save in the firm defence  
Of a resolved and spotless Consci●…nce▪   

Lastly he may (for it is in his power)  
Now in his Exit, when he turns to earth  
To make his wife his sole Executor  
And by that means to beggar all his birth,  
But I should rather limit her a dower  
Which might her rank and order well befit,  
For then so soon she will not him forget.   

These are the Cautions (Son) I'd have thee keep,  
Which well observed will crown thy happy stat●…,  
Folding thy dull eyes in a cheerful sleep,  
Blessing thy fortune w●…th a virtuous Mate;  
Storing thy states content with such a heap  
Of peaceful Treasure, as thou ●…here shalt find  
Enough of wealth in thy contented mind.   

Awake thee then, dull sleep prevents thy 〈◊〉,  
Here comes she whom thy fancy may approve,  
Awake I say, and in thy Fate rejoice  
That thou hast met with such a modest Love:  
Come come, if thou in Reason's Scale wilt poise  
Thyself with her, thou wilt not curious be  
But take good Fortune while it's offered thee   

Awake, I vade: I waked, he vanished,  
Where casting my amazed eyes aside  
Sent from the Recluse of a troubled head,  
A modest bashful virgin me espied,  
Whom I approached, being emboldened  
By th'Apparition which assured no less  
Unto my hopes then honour and success.   

This Virgin's name Simpliciana hight,  
Daughter unto Zelocto the precise,  
Who had me once before discarded quite,  
Because my weaker fortunes did not rise  
To the height of her expectance, yet that night  
(So fervent is affection) did that Maid  
Trace me along to make her Love displayed.   

Shame curbed her tongue, yet fancy bade her speak,  
While I supplied her silence with my speech,  
And thus her passion for herself did break,  
Whilst she stood by and seconded the breach  
With a teare-trickling eye and blushing cheek,  
Where thus I wooed myself, yet in her name,  
Showing her love, yet shadowing her shame.   

Sir I do love you (thus I did begin)  
I pray you make yourself your Orator,  
And so I did, yet tax me not of sin  
Or lightness, unfeigned love omits no hour  
though be distempered, but will let him in  
Whom she affecteth, for when all's asleep,  
loves eyes are said continual watch to keep.   

I have a Mother Sir (and then she smiled)  
For well she knew what I intended to speak,  
Whom to obey i'm bound because her child,  
Yet Reason tells me when we husbands seek,  
The style of Parents is in part exiled,  
For we (by virgine-losse) lose our first name,  
And as our husband's styled, we're styled the same.   

What then though Riches please another's eye,  
My reason tells me there is something more  
To consummate true joy, then can rely  
On outward fortunes, therefore once I swore,  
And I will keep my vow religiously,  
If e'●…e I wed (as half resolved I am)  
It shall not be the substance but the man..   

Yea, though I were opposed on either side,  
(My Father here, my chiding Mother there)  
Yet neither of their humours should divide  
My dearest Soul from her orbiculer,  
For I do know, though that my Mother chide,  
My Father fret, and both stand chafing o'er me,  
I did but that themselves have done before me.   

With that s●…e broke her speech, with, Sr. quoth she  
You woo well for yourself, but I approve  
What you have spoke shall be confirmed by me,  
Nor shall my silent passion shroud my love,  
For as thy shadow I will follow thee;  
Where I assenting to what both had said,  
Kissed and clapped hands, & so the match was made.   

Now if you like our Match, give us our due  
And bid yourselves unto our Nuptial day,  
Our best of welcome shall attend on you,  
Yea, th' Bride herself (all niceness laid away)  
Will meet you with a frollique game-some crew,  
Where to your choice contents, & loves among,  
we'll be as merry as the day is long.   

But if (through some dogged humour) you'll not come,  
The Bridegroom says, A Gods-name stay at h●…me.    

The Author's choice.  

Fair may she be, but not opinioned so,  
For that opinion ever lackeys pride;  
Loving to all, yet so as Man may know  
She can reserve the proper name of Bride,  
For weak is that Fort and easy is't to win  
That makes a Breach for all to enter in.   

I'd have her face and blush to be her own,  
Forth ' Blush which Art makes is adulter ate,  
Spleen may she have, yet wise to keep it down,  
Passion, yet Reason too to moderate:  
Comely not gaudy: she & none but she  
Wears the best clothes that wears to her degree.    

To his 5 equally-affectionate Sisters all virtuous content.  

TO you that are the chiefest of my care,  
Ties of my love and figures of my life,  
Send I this Character, where each may share  
Her equal portion in my rare-good Wife,  
And be the Same, which I'm resolved you are:  
So shall your Husbands say (I doubt it not,)  
The Sister's lives proved what their Brother wrote.   
Yours jointly as his own, MUSOPHILUS.   

Upon the Married Life.  

HAppy state, yet alas how few  
Think them happy in their choice,  
When they shun whom they did sue,  
And in loathed delights rejoice;  
Loathed though loved, since they are grown  
To love others, loath their own?   

But who marries to impart  
Self and substance to his wife,  
joining with his hand his heart,  
On●…ly gains this bliss of life,  
Yea to him i●… solely given  
To think Earth a kind of Heaven.   

Happy then or hapless most,  
For of all this hath no mean,  
Losing least or ever lost,  
Being still in her extreme;  
Good if used; abused, ill,  
Only well where there's one will.    

Upon the single Life.  

THis by times-distempers fed,  
Feels vertigo in his head,  
Ever wooing, never sped;  
Loved he lives, if loathed, dead,  
So as nought but doubts and fears,  
Buzz like hornets in his ears.   

C●…re he needs not, yet's his care  
More in that he needeth less,  
Aiming to have one may share  
With him in his bale and bless;  
Gad he would yet knows not where,  
wandering star-like here and there.   

Care who loves then, let him live  
Single; whereas such need less,  
As themselves to marriage give,  
For these want what they possess:  
Care whereof breeds now and then  
Broken sleep●…s in many men.   

Thu●… choice breeds care, He only may rejoice,  
Who has shaked hands with care and ta'en his choice.    

REMAINS after Death:  
Including by way of introduction divers memorable observances occasioned upon discourse of EPITAPHS and Epycedes; their distinction and definition seconded by approved Authors.  
ANNEXED THERE BE divers select Epitaphs and Hearce-attending Epods worthy our observation: The one describing what they were which now are not: The other comparing such as now are with those that were.  
D●…gnum laud virum musa vetat mori.  
By RICHARD BRATHWAYTE Gent.  
Imprinted at London by JOHN BEALE  
1618.   

TO THE READER.  
IT may be objected (Reader) that small is the concurrence, less the coherence in the titles of these two Subjects, pleasantly concluding that it were pity; Death should so soon seize on a goodwife by the course of nature, as she is had here in pursuit by Death's remaind●…r. But this objection may be answered by a twofold solution: First, the Printers importunacy, whose desire was in regard of the brevity of the former part, to have it by the annexion of some other proper Subject enlarged; t●… whose reasonable demand I equally condescended. Secondly, the subjects propriety, which, howscever by the judgement of the Critik censurer traduced (the pitch of whose knowledge aims rather at taxing then teaching) concurs as well with the precedent Title, as Man with mortality, Time with mutability, Life with death. And as the m●…re virtuous the nearer ofttimes their dissolution, which no doubt proceeds from God's mercy that they might have of him a fuller contemplation; so we commonly see the best Wives limited to the shortest times, approved by that Maxim:  

For this each days experience seems to show  
Ill wives live longer far than good ones do.   
Let this suffice: if not, let the Subject itself write his censure, whose singularity makes of each thing an error.  
MUSOPHILUS.   

OBSERVATIONS UPON Epitaphs: their Antiquity and use; with Authority from approved Authors of their derivations; with divers other memorable occurrences.  
AS the memory of the dead consists upon the life of the living: so their virtues or vices give testimony of the dead, whether worthy the memory of the living, or to be buried in eternal oblivion? For this cause are Epitaphs (and ever have been) engraven upon the Monuments, Tombs and sepulchres of the dead, either to express their fame, or by modest silencing what they were, to intimate how their actions living, deserved no great memory dying. Some I distinguish (Epitaphs I mean) of this nature, into Moral, others into Divine, and other is profane. Moral (to give instances in each kind) be such as include a moral or excellent use to be made by the living of the Actions of the dead, by recourse had to their Monuments, where mortality is not only lively expressed, but their conditions sully and amply charactered. Such were the Epitaphs of Cyrus, Semiramis, Laomedon.  
It is recorded 
a Vide Quintum Curtium in Sup. & vit. cyr.  when Alexander that great Monarch of the World came into Persia, and there chanced to see the famous Tomb of Cyrus whereon was engraven this Epitaph or inscription: Whosoever thou be, or whencesoever thou shalt come and beholdest this Tomb, know that I am Cyrus who translated the Empire from the Medes to the Persians: pray thee do not envy me, for this little clod of earth that doth cover me. Alexander (I say) seeing this inscription, could not contain himsel●…e from tears: making (without all question) this moral use of it: That Princes (though never so potent or eminent, so victorious or puis●…ant) but becomes subject to the commo●… doom and censure of Fate, and must of necessity leave all their conquests and victories (by a forced surrender) to the ineuitab●…e command of death. So as Alexander when he beheld the Tomb of Achilles, cried out, Felix es, quied al●…m laudum tuarum praeconem habuisti (nenipe Homerum:) so here he wept bitterly, saying. Infelix es Cyre qui tantis victorijs inclytus extitisti, tamen à m●…rte te vinci patieris. We read (that I may go forward in prosecution of instances of this nature:) That Cyrus (also) when he beheld the Tomb of that memorable Queen Sem●…ramis, and saw this to be writ upon it: Whosoe●…er shall dig up this stone which now doth 〈◊〉 me, shall find an infinite mass of treasure under it, 〈◊〉 the same to be taken up; which being done (instead of Treasure) he found this moral under it; None but misers (or godless persons) would d●…gge up the Graves of the dead. An excellent caution for the covetous wretch, who is ever catchi●…g by hoo●…e or crook, Quo iure, quaque iniuri●…, per fas nefasve; not regarding the means, so he may attain the end; nor respecting piety nor common humanity public causes or Country's benefit, so he may please his unsatisfied desires. But this violation of the dead, thi●… injury done against those who sleep in peace, hath been even by the Pagan's themselves esteemed execrable: so as the 
b In the d●…scourse of Asia and Affr. vid. Egypt Solem. Funer.  Egyptians are interred with their best gems, ornaments, and jewels: which (so strict be their Laws in that respect) are never embezeled, but remain with them; hoping (saith the ●…istorian) that their substance will deliver them if any punishment or unworthy censure should be inflicted on them. The tomb and monument of that perfidious Prince (
c Vide Homer. eleg. samè, Graecorum: Odyssea errorum, Ilias' Mad, lorum, etc.  Laomedon) had this Epitaph:  

Qui cum Hoste fidem fefellit  
Cum morte fidem seruavit.   
The moral thus expressed: When Hercules (in the delivery of Troy from that devouring monster, a Whale; and in the rescuing of Laomedon's fair daughter Hesyone, should by covenant have received two milk-white steeds: the king retiring to his (miserable Troy) commanded the gates of the City to be shut against him; infringing his faith and promise; which so incensed the ire and indignation of Hercules against him, as within few years his City was sacked and demolished, his Subjects captived, his daughter to Telamonius espoused; and himself (to extinguish the remainder of ingratitude, fully to appease the enraged fury of Hercules, was slaughtered. Whose monument was reserved (as a perpetual remembrance of perfidious dealing to his posterity, with the inscription above mentioned.  
Tombs 
d The antiquity of Tombs.  have been anciently used; as we may read in sacred writ: where one Sepulchre was kept solemnly for a whole family, every one returning in Sepulchra maiorum: but never so sumptuous before the erection of that memorable Tomb (or Shrine rather) of Prince Mausolus' king of Caria: whose Queen Artemisia erected such a gorgeous Tomb in his memory, as all Se●…ulchers since (especially of Roman Emperors, and Carian Princes) are called to this day Mausolea: the inscription this,  

Site non teneat, tumulum struet offa tenere,  
Quem tibi defuncto coniugis optat amor.   
Two monuments we read of to be famous, in that their erection was the foundation of many potent and puissant people: some also were taken for preservers of that Region wherein they were planted and seated: as the 
c Two ancient Monuments which were called Asyla patrizen.  Tomb or Sepulchre of Ajax in the Rhetzan shore: and the Tomb of A●…hilles in Sygaeum: Which two, even to this day continue memorable: so as in the greatest depopulations and sackings of Cities, the ruinating of their Forts and Castles of defence, they were ever kept untouched (as shrines and monuments inviolate, obelisks consecrate, or statues deified: supposing (in their own blindness deceived) that their preserua●…ion was derived from them.  
But to proceed in Epitaphs (on which our discourse doth principally consist:) they are derived from the Greek 
f 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  & signify as much as an inscription, or any thing which is placed or-fixed upon the Tomb (Quae in scitis & scutis quorundam Regum vidimus, saith Lipsius:) as Epycedion (derived from 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or lugubria canere) are writ before or after the corpse interred, but not upon the Tomb: being more dilated measures, either expressing the memorable actions of his life (or if nothing worthy in his life) at least modestly to shut up his deser●…lesse life, with a commemoration of human frailty: silencing ●…he person, lest his description should minister either matter of offence or assentation: of offence, if truly expressed; of ass●…ntation, if above merit praised. He that neither benefited himself nor his Country; (but ut Canis in presepi) was rightly demonstrated with this Impressa, Hic Vir diu fuit: This man was long, but lived not long: for life and being have an essential difference. We are said to live when we exp●…esse our life by external effects, knowing ●…or what we were ordained; for what borne; not to retire ourselves from public affairs, for private ease: but to further our Country, and propagate her glory by serious and vigi●…ant managements, both at home and abroad. This man is said to live, that hath left some monument or testimony behind him that he lived.  
We are only sa●…d to be, when we only breath, respectless o●… either public or private: imitating those Flies Ephemerae, which fli●…ker a little with their wings (limiting their life within one day) & presently die. These as the Philosopher saith, spirant tantùm non viwnt. But too much of them, both die: Yet this is the difference: the one dying, leaveth a testimony behind him that he once l●…ued; The other being dead, hath no hope that his memory shall ever be revived.  
Many pretty Epit●…phs the Romans used; brief, yet ample enough to describe the nature of the person whom they would have memorised.  
Virgil writing on one Balista 
g In vit. Nar. & frag.  (a great sword and buckler-man) as I may term him, frequenting places of advantage to rob, and surprise passengers unawares cheers the poor way-faring-man with ●…his comfortable inscription on Balistas grave:  

Who ere he be that passeth by this way, 
Mon●… sub hoc lapidum ●…eg. etc.   
May safely travel both by night and day,  
And that he may confirm it with his eyes,  
Under this heap of stones Balista lies,   

Or thus,  
Since the time Balista here interred was,  
Or day or night the traveler may pass.   

And that upon his Fly or Gnat:  
here I express what thou once did to me,  
Solemnizing thy death to honour thee.   

And that of Sylenus the drunken Swain:  
Under this tuft of wood lies there a Swain,  
Came drunk to Earth, went drunk to Earth again:   

And that of Minos' king of Crete  
here Minos lies who played the judge so well  
On Earth, ●…hat now he's made a judge in Hell.   
This Minos for his excellent judgement and justice in Crete, being severe, and therefore his attribute was rightly given him: he was s●…id to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, rough and severe, exact and austere in all his censures: for which cause he was translated from the principality of Crete, to the tribunal of Hell: (as Poets feign.)  
In the discourse of arguments of this nature: as we have many write Ep●…taphs (some panegyric) in way of commendation and praise: others invective to express the merit or defect of any person: we should be wary herein, lest either by vain 
h Sicut lingua loquentis proficit in 〈◊〉 ●…udientis, ita cala●…s scribentis in ocul●… le gentis, & ad interiora cordis peru●…nit se●…sus dirigentis, sicut verba instruentis: Albin. in pr●…fatio: comment in johan.  & adulatory praise, we give error a warrant, or by too detractive invection, we seem (gravius in sepulchra mortuorum calcare, that I may use the Philosophers saying. But to omit the use of Epitaphs, which of themsel●…es have ever ministered occasion of imitation or detestation: I will proceed to the antiquity of Epitaphs, and afterward descend to the several branches which I have before in my method to myself propounded.  
Epitaphs have been ever used upon the Tombs of the deceased, to express their Virtues or vices. Of all the seven 
i Vide Laert. de vit. philoso.  Sages of Greece, not one there is, but charactered to the full by their especial appropriates: and though divers (in contempt of vain glory or ostentation) have precisely commanded upon their deathbeds, that no statue, shrine, nor inscription should be erected or engraven in the●…r memories: yet so grateful was posterity to so noble predecessors, as they would in no wise suffer so Valiant exploits either public or private, to be buried in silence and oblivion. Yea ever in those times, where fines imperij tueri magis, quam proffer, mos erat: as in those Golden times, and empires of Verores King of Egypt, and Tanais King of Scythia which Historians take to be the first Monarches and sole Governors in the world; even then (I say) were Epitaphs of this nature very frequent, and common: and in Ninus time, who succeeded, or rather dissolved their government, we read Epitaphs even written upon his Tomb; describing his nature and disposition at large, the manner of his discipline in war, the continuance of his Empire or Government, and the occasion of his death.  
To speak of the effeminate Government and principality of the Amazons (women of incomparable and incredible fortune, valour and resolution) we have yet those Tombs and sepulchres of the 
k T●…muli Amazowm.  Amazons celebrated to this day amongst those Pagans, for the infinite numbers slain by Hercules, in his i●…uasion of Amazon: where the worthy exploits of those (more than women) for their disci line and ex●…erience in warts, are in gold●…n Characters registered and recorded.  
We read even in those (who for their magnanimity and resolution) were termed 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or Heroes, men of heroic disposition to have had in former times insc iptions upon their Graves and Monuments, to express what they were living, that deserved so exceeding commendation dying. Such were Alci●…es, Theseus, Hector, Perith●…us, and the renown of Greece (the ancient Patroclus,) upon whose grave whilst Achilles leaned, he imagined true valour to be charactered on his Grave, and a suffi●…ient occasion of exciting and instigating the unworthiest and unresolvedst spirits to take in hand managements of greatest difficulty.  
We read of Tarina Queen of Saca, that she was no less memorable for her sepulchre, (surpassing both in bounty & specious edifice, than the Pyramids of Aeg●…pt: Labyrinth in Crete, contrived and invented by Dedalus, or that sumptuous Monument erected by Artemisia in honour of her husband Mausolus.  
If we should descend to the Persian Princes elected after the (premature death of 
p Gladio sua sponte evaginato graviter 〈◊〉 occubuit just 1. lib:  Cambyses) we shall there more eminently survey the process of their government, and their ends (some with glor●…e and renown) others with no less infamy and reproach attained.  
Yet to use decency in the celebration of funeral rites and solemnities: for I know (that I may use the moralists opinion) there is a vainglory even in death; and as the pomp of death doth more terrify then death itself, so doth the pomp of death more excite men to die willingly then their expectance after death. For this all the Roman Emperors would have their Tombcs erected in their life time, with all external osten●…ation, and popularity: to intimate a kind of Empire even in death: which may appear by that (which Suctonius speaks in the life of Augustus) that before his death, the statue which was erected and set up in his memory being strucken with Thunder●… lost the first letter of his Name (to wit C.) which signified as the Augurs divined, that within a hundred days immediately following, he should depart the world.  
Cato in deed (who took it nobile lethum to die for his country and the preservation of her liberty) would have no shrinc, statue, nor inscription set up in his memory; supposing his virtues to be sufficient annals and records to eternize his name.  
Of this mind was Photion the Athenian (both Stoics for their discipline) seeming unwilling to imitate the popular in exterior rites: being (as they deemed) able to express their own lives by their deaths, their deaths by their li●…es. Which may be the cause that moved Flaccus to contemn all monuments, with this resolved security: unde mihi lapidem etc. What avails it to have Monuments, Stones, Shrines or Statues to memorise Us? what skills it to have labels hung upon our sepulchres (as those silver swords of Greece over the Sepulchre of Philip; those golden Archers of Persia over the memorab●…e tomb of Artaxerxes? as the same Poet saith,— N●…n datur em●…sso reditus ●…ibi— It is true: yet so respective should man be of the demerited & praiseworthy acts of his Ancestors (●…o ceremoniously careful that their monuments be not in oblivion smothered) as no time should be omitted (wherein we may as the Orator saith, defunctorum memori●… servire) but with all instance to perfect & accomplish the same.  
We 
m Vid. des●…r. Affric. Qui sepul●…ra maiorum ut propria domicil●…a ●…resque existimarunt.  read that the Pagans have been so respective hereof, that the monuments of their parents & kinsfolks have been no less dear to them, than their own houses, their own habitations and dwellings: Esteeming their reputation (to be purchased) by the purchase of their Ancestors glory, and augmented by the preservation of their memory.  
Agathocles Prince of Syracuse (willing to erect a Monument or Statue in his own memory, to express human frailty) commanded that the head and upper parts should be made of solid gold, but the feet of earth; with this Impress: Sic omnia firma. An excellent observation and caution to put Man in mind of his substance and subsistence, constitution and dissolution: that standing on no firmer feet than earth, no stronger arches (than stays of mortality) he should ever fear lest so proud a building shou●…d fall, being supported by so unstable and unable props.  
But for Antiquity (as she is said to be the warrant of things done, the confirmer of things present, and precedent of things to come; so oft-times vi●…es have been bolstered by her, impieties authorized by her, and a direction to greater laid open by her. I will descend therefore briefly to particularise such Epitaphs (used by the Ancients) which remained for caveats or observations in succeeding times. As others (likewise) that moved and excited men to undertake valiant and courageous exploits in hand.  
We read that Augustus (when he died at Nola, being a Town s●…ated in the middle part of Campani●…) his soldiers to express and manifest their love to him dying, as they had done their allegiance to him living, burst out in several passions of sorrow, grief, and pensive distractions, with these speeches: O God, that he had either never been borne, or that he had neu●…r died: For th●… one 
n Alterum enim pessimi incepti, exitus praeclari alterum etc.  is an occasion of our misery, the other a precedent of his glory. For so great was his love towards the Citizens, that by his own care and diligence, he commanded great abundance of grain to be brought out of Egypt to sustain his people wellnigh consumed with famine.  
Few of the twelve Roman Emperors read we so excellent and exquisite commendations of: save Titus, who received this Impress even upon his hearse, to be Amor & deliciae generis humani: Man's darling, the World's mirror, and the flower of all Roman Emperors either before or since; being directed and enlightened no further then with the beameling of nature. For to recapitulate the natures of all those Princes, twixt Augustus the first of the twelve (save one) to Titus, the last of the twelve, save one, we shall see their dispositions variable, inconstant, dissolute, and generally vicious.  
Tiberius' taxed for his subtlety, Caligula for his insolency, Claudus for his effeminacy, N●…ro for his cruelty, Galba for his intemperancy, Otho 
o Vita omnis turpis, maxim adolescentia etc. vid. S●…xt. Aur●…l. de Oth.  for his inhumanity, Vitellius for his prodigality, Uespasian for his misery: These have we charactered (which the Roman Annals have expressed to l●…e) such as either merited eternal infamy by their vicious government, or due commendation for their many moral virtues wherewith they were endued and invested. Vita mortuorum est in memoria viventium (saith one very well:) for it renews and revives the memory of the dead, and makes him live in name, honour and reputation, when the scythe of Fate hath pruned him.  
For this all the Roman Emperors have laboured, desiring to become memorable after death: Curtius throwing himself into the lake; Utican purchasing his liberty by voluntary death; Horatius C●…cles throwing himself violently into Tiber to preserve his Country's liberty; 
r In capite eius v●…luti cornua eme●…se runt etc. Valer. Max. lib.  Genitius Cippus subjecting himself to death to propagate his Country's glory; P. Decius who rushed into the forefront of the enemies (encountering a whole Army) to make his own memory more famous and illustrious: The like of Scipio Affricane, who to extinguish that menacing fire of H●…nnibal devoted himself to death for the safeguard of his Country. These and many more, who illustrated their Names by achievements done living, expected (without question) no little celebration of their name and memory dying: and though their opinion reached not to the soul's immortality; yet they could extend their imaginations thus far, as a famous and memorable death surpassed an infamous and ignominious life: wishing rather to die in fame, then live in eternal obscu●…ity. Which caused some (of disposition unequal to the former) to perpetrate some heinous and en●…rmious crime, whereby they might purchase fame even by infamy: Such was Herostratus who burned the Temple of Diana at Ephesus, to purchase himself a name. Such was Turulius who hewed down the grove that was consecrate to the Temple of Aesculapius, to erect him a ship, that once Religion (as he himself avowed) might ride on the water: And such was Q. Fuluius who to enrich himself (by sinister means) took from the Temple dedicated to juno Lucinia, tegulas quasd●…m marmoreas, for which he sustained condign punishment; amongst which we may insert that sacrilegious Prince or Tyrant rather (for his Empire of Syracuse as it came unto him by an usurped succession, so it was governed by as cruel and tyrannical a disposition) bearding the Gods, and afterwards robbing the Altars and Temples (of their sacred ornaments.) For coming one day to the Temple of jupiter Olympius, and seeing his Image gloriously beautified with a 
q Quo cum Tyrannus Hiero etc. 〈◊〉 Cartha●…. orna●…erat etc.  vestment of gold (of an exceeding weight and inestimable price) commanded it to be taken from him, and a woollen garment to be given him in the stead of it: saying, A coa●…e of gold was too heavy for him in Summer, too cold 〈◊〉 〈◊〉; but a woollen garment was fitter for both 〈◊〉. Many o●… these have we recorded by Historians, whose lives were no less profane, than their ends miserable.  
Upon all which (if we might insist upon this argument) Epitaphs very answerable to their infamous and despicable lives might be produced. But we must proceed, because this summary discourse, (which I have here placed and prefixed (as a preamble or forerunner) to our Epitaphs following) is but intended only to demonstrate the use and effect of Epitaphs, with their first institution, & their distinct kinds arising from their primary uses.  
It is true that there is no necessity in sepulchres, or specious monuments; for coelo tegitur, qui non habet urnam: which moved Diogenes the Cynic to bid his friends cast his body unto the dogs when he was dead: and being answered by them, that the dogs would tear and rend it: Set a staff by me (quoth he) and I will beat them from it. Yet in this seeming contempt of burial, we shall read in most of the lives of the Pagans, that they were respective where they should be interred, erecting (as in part hath been mentioned) very goodly and glorious sepulchres in their life times to eternize their memory after death: with whom (it fared many times) as it fared once with 
r Shebna sibi tumula conduit, quem fata negarunt.  Shebna, who made himself a Sepulchre in one Country, but was buried in another.  

s The first that buried such as fell in war.  Hercules (we read) to be the first that ever buried such as fell in war. Many ancient Epitaphs we have by transcript●…on, engraven upon the monuments of the deceased: as in the Northern parts especially, where in the very ruins of time, we may see some monumental inscription inserted, to revive the memory of the dead. As in the wars of the Saxons, Picts, and Danes: no coast being mo●…e frequent than the North, to express the memorable acts done in former time, as also to set out the very places and circumstances of things achieved, with the manuscripts traduced from former occurrents even to these present times: many curious and serious Antiquaries having viewed and particularly set down the especiallest records hereof with divers memorable inscriptions happily occurring to their survey, I will overpass the same, lest I should seem to trifle out my time with an imp●…ent discourse.  
It is true that a soldiers resolution ever fixed on brave attempts, and the enlarging of his Country's glo●…y, should rather aim at fame after death, then to erect for himself a curious monument in his death: which moved Caesar in the plain of Pharsalie to s●…y,  

— 
t 〈◊〉▪ Luc●…n.  Capit omnia tellus  
Quae genuit: coelo tegitur, qui non habet urnam.   
And again that martial strain of valour:  Nil agis hac ira, tabesne cadavera soluat, An rogus, haud spectat: placido 〈◊〉 receptat cuncta sinu. 
And so concludes the Declamour in Seneca: Nature g●…es every man a grave: seccnded by old Anthises resolution:  Nec tumulum curo, sepelit natura relictos. 
Yet humanity requires these final obsequies, not only in remembrance of our dead friends, but even to manifest the sincerity of our loves, in erecting monuments over them dead, which might preserve their memory, and confirm our affections in their deaths.  
The friends of Cleombrotus (surnamed Ambrociat) seeing his much lamented end, desired much to express their love unto their dead friend; yet withal to conceal the infamy and reproach of his death: yet Callim●…chus played the Epigrammatist upon his grave, whilst his dear friends deplored his untimely end. The Epigram (inscribed after the form of an Epitaph) being fixed on his Tomb, whence all Epitaphs have their denomination, was this,  

- Vita vale, muro praeceps delapsus ab alto  
Dixisti moriens, Ambrociata pu●…r,  
- Nullum in morte malum credens▪ sed scripta Platonis  
Non ita erant a●…imo percipienda tuo.   

In English thus,  
The young Ambrociat, whilst himself he threw  
From off the wall, bad to his life adieu,  
Deeming (as Plato wrote) in death's no woe,  
But he mistook it: Plato meant not so.   
This book which moved Ambrociat to this precipitate attempt, is imagined to be Plato's Ph●…do of the immortality of the soul: which also (by a misconstruction) Cato V●…ican apprehending, laid violent hand upon himself, to free himself from the tyranny and illimited sovereignty of the usurping C●…sar. But to our argument propounded.  
We have shadowed briefly the first branch (or kind which we proposed in the beginning) to wit, moral Epitaphs, being such as conduce to instruction either public or private, wherein (by the very inscriptions or titles engraven upon the Tombs of the deceased) some have been moved to imitate their memorable lives in actions and attempts of like nature; as Caesar in the survey of Mithridates, Augustus in the survey of C●…sar, Alexander by the monument of Achilles, Achilles by the fame-engraven monument of Patroclus, Aenaeas by the renowned Tomb of the matchless 
u Andromach in Hom. called Hector Troiae 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.  Hector, and Hector by the eternised memory of Antenor: These were moral, inducing or exciting Impresses, drawing the minds of the beholders to the management of the like approved and redoubted acts.  
We will now proceed to Epitaphs (coming nearer a 〈◊〉 composition) excellent for their grave and divinely moving sentences; pithy for their effect, and profitable for their use.  
That is an excellent one of Scaligers: Scaligeri quod reliquum est: and that no less divine of Ca●…us: Fui Cai●…s.  
Epitaphs of this kind seem little affective, yet include so exquisite a strain, as they may rightly be termed divine: surpassing morality in description of our mortality; they delineate the state of man, extenuate his pomp, and show to what end man was created, not to be only, but to live: there being an essential difference (twixt being and living) as I have before specified. We have some of these which set out vanity in her natural colours: and imply divinely, what they propound morally.  
divers we read of, that fearful (it seems) to commend the writing of their Epitaphs to posterity, would ever be provided of one in their own time: which (to express their worth better) did not show or character their worth, but in a modest silence describe their own frailty, shutting up their fame and memory, with a farewell to Earth and Vanity. These be sovereign cordials to cheer the drooping and dejected spirit: such as live injuried by time, oppressed by greatness of enmity, and slaved to penury: Such I say, as live obscurely in the eye of the World, neither noted nor reputed.  
When the richman seeth nothing upon Croesus' grave, but a Fui Croesus: nor the pooreman upon Irus then, Fui Irus: what difference at the●…r dissolution? though in the eye of vain and popular accounts, there be a main difference.  
These divine Epitaphs move the intellectual part to an apprehension of human condition; to consider that we are all made ex 
* Homo ex humo. Ter●…a à terendo. Cadaver à cadendo. Vermis quia inermis.  eadem argilla: & as no difference in ●…rame & module, so no difference in the end and period; only that which was writ upon the Bavarians grave shall either confirm our hopes, or make us eternally miserable:— Sat comes intermer●…ta fides: or that which was engraven on the Tomb of a Venetian Lord:  Qui 
x Quod Seneca in Vatiae tumulum scripsit. H●…c situs est Vatia: dormire enim magis quam vivere videbatur.  vixit, vivet, qui fuit, ille perit. 
One no less divine than the other, distinguishing betwixt being and living: where our actions must be poised, our intentions discussed, and the universality of nature discovered. We are drawn by these Epitaphs to disvalue the pomp and port of this World; less to pamper the inordinate and distempered affections of the Flesh: holding as the Platonists held, only the Soul to be Man, and the body to be a case or cover to put it in: And as Sene●…a terms it, a rind or bark: so to fix only the light and splendour of the internal part upon that sovereign end, by which we may end in glory, as we were borne in misery.  
And miserable did the Philosopher account that man, whose best of memories consisted in fair & eminent obsequies; virtue being the best shrine, the exquisitest monument which can be erected to honour man. How should we best describe ourselves, and the excellency of our own natures, but by the contempt of death, express our own affections even upon our graves, showing ourselves to be Christians?  
The memorable inscriptions of the ancient Princes (who died in their Country's right) may excite us to managements of no less consequence. The Inscription upon 
y Qui pannosus sarmenla collo gerens, castra hostium ingreditur. just. s●…cundo lib.  Codrus Tomb, who was Prince of Athens, was— Nec mors mihi nomen ademit.  
The like we read of Attilius Regulus, who rather than he would infringe his faith, willingly returned unto his enemies the Carthaginians: where, after he had endured intolerable torments, and unworthy of so great and equally disposed mind, he commanded this Epitaph to be engraven upon his obscure Tomb, Nec sine sp●… perij. Many such may we read in the memorable Annals of the Romans, specially in the war twixt Carthage and Rome: in which wars, no man of esteem or ennobled rank died, that was not graced with some inscription upon his monument.  
Yet Pompey the Great, whose prudence in governing, sincerity in disposing, promptness in attempting, and firm resolution in seconding, got him an eternal fame, both at home & abroad: abroad in following Scylla, at home in bearing up the main building of the State with his grave and discreet supportance: even this P●…mpey had but a short Epitaph writ upon him, Hic situs est magnus. here lies the pomp of a puissant and potent Pompey: here lies Rome's Atlas, the Eastern terror, and his friend's advancer: one whom neither imminence of peril, nor mutation of state, nor occurrence in fate could alter or dismay: Even that powerful Column is now ruin●…d, his glory dazzled, and the mansion which was made glorious by him in Rome, becomes reduced to a poor and homely S●…pulcher in Egypt.  
One chancing to come where king Dennis was buried: being deprived of crown and dignity by reason of his tyrannic government, and before his death had retired himself to a simple School, where he taught scholars; saying, Et regam inui●…is fatis: understanding the course and process of his government, writ this short Epitaph upon his Tomb:  

Dennis era●…, & Dennis eris, nec rege minorem  
Te 〈◊〉 fata vocant: Rexque Magister eris:  
Rex popul●… crudelis eras, puerisque Magister  
Saevior, his celerem fata dedere finem.  
Nec regis invitis fatis, è culmine regni,  
Vt cadis, ●…dmissum est deseru●…sse schola●….   

In English thus,  
Dennis thou was, and Dennis thou shalt be,  
For thy own Fates bestow this style on thee,  
King both to men and children, yet in them  
Thou was more fierce to children then to men:  
Which when the fates perceived, they thought t'extend  
Thy course continued ill with swifter end.  
Spurn not against the fates, imperious fool,  
For as thou lost thy crown, thousese leave thy school   
In Epitaphs of this nature, a more than moral instruction or institution is to be required: expressing only the intellectual part without any profane or heathenish invention, being transcendent to the vulgar reach or apprehension of human understanding: many divine and holy escripts of the ancient Fathers may be comprehended herein: being such as treated aswell of the life and discipline of the dead, as especial motives of imitation; or cautions of detestation to the living. Here Ambition portrayed in her colours, occasions her own end by her own unbounded desires. There Covetousness (with the misers Mo●…to) is exemplified, and how many evils are continually attending her, according to the definitive censure of Flac●…us, Semper a●…arus ●…get. here Sacrilege instanced in our ancient Alban Br●…nnus; on whom we read, that after his many conquests and victorious attempts in Gaul●…, and the sacking of Rome, with many rich booties and spoils obtained in those wars; at last attempted the beautiful and rich Temple of Delphos consecrate to Apollo, being excited and instigated by Euridanus and Th●…ssalonus to adventure so difficult a Province, on●…ly in hope of obtaining inestimable treasures, reserved (say they) for such as would boldly attempt, and without fear of the gods, or prophana●…ion of Religion, durst attempt the rans●…cking and rifling of such sacred treasures. But behold, the purpos●…s of the wicked were confounded (and ever may Sacrilege have the like succ●…sse) ●…or suddenly Brennus with all his populous Army, were discomfited, their execrable devices frustrated▪ and themselu●…s (all or most) subjecteth to miserable ends: the ●…articulars whereof are more sully and amply dilated on by the Roman Historian Tro●…. P●…peius. Their Epitaph we find t●…us, (being extracted out of ancient Anna's) concording wel●… 〈◊〉 the nature of their crime, and mise●…ie of their end:  

H●…c vi●… Sacrilegis, haec r●…a porta 〈◊〉,  
A Delphi laribus lim●…n 〈◊〉 Ditis.   
In English thus,  

This way Church-robbers go, who seek to fall  
From great Apollo's shrine to Pluto's Hall▪   
These kind of Epitaphs may include or comprehend all such, as for any excellent part or management domestic or public, have been accounted worthy memory: or such, as for eminence of place have been no less markable, then singular in discharge of their authority: for acts of puissance & renown that Epitaph engraven on the Tomb of Willina●… Martial Earl of Pembroke, in the time of Henry the third:  

Sum quem Saturnum sibi sensit Hybernia; Sole●…  
Anglia, M●…rcurum Normannia, Gallia Martem.   
And that Epitaph writ upon Theobald Blois Earl of Champain (too divine for any mortal creature: Non hominem possum, non audeo dicere num●…n. And that of one Clare expressing (in one man) an Epitome of all virtues:  

Hic pudor Hippoliti, Paridis gena, sensus Vlyssis,  
Aeneae pietas, Hectoris ira jacet.   
That memorable one also upon the Sepulchre of Maud mother to H●…nrie the second: describing the excellency of her descent by her Father, the greatness of her s●…lfe by her match, and her renowned i●…sue which (of all other) made her most admired, and after death the especiallest motive of her eternal memory.  

Or●…u magna, Viro maior, sed maxima partu,  
Hîc jacet Henrici filia, sponsa, parens.   
Ancient times have esteemed these Epitaphs sufficient in themselves to perpetuate their names, being records ever true: for as the Orator saith, Quis tam inf●…lici genio, levique ingenio qui mortuis assentari cupit? and as the Poet saith, 
a Lucan.  Quis Busta timebit? Herostratus was charactered aswell for his infamy, as 〈◊〉 for his renown and chivalry. Even Metellus modesty, Lentulus' levity, Publicolas▪ piety, Cethegus cruelty, Appius affability, and Cicero's constancy had their true lineatures: every one mouldned and moulded after their deserts: for these, as examples, be of more power and efficacy to the practice and prosecution of virtue, than any instruction or document whatsoever; draw men more attentively to their imitation, whose virtues they see merit admira●…ion, as I have in part before touched. It is the Historians observation, that such as had worthy and virtuous Parents, were wont to repair unto their Tombs (Quasi ad propria vitae documenta) and by their memory to be excited to the like means of achieving glory and renown, that their ends might ●…nswere such exemplary par●…nts. Though it was Lycus conclusion in the Tragedy, to attribute all merit to ones proper action, and not to the honour of their Ancestor. True it is indeed, that our predecessors glory cannot properly be entitled ours, their actions being only as monuments of their fame, precedents for us to follow, and indeed proclaimers of our bastardy, if we chance to degenerate from such rare and exquisite mirrors. Yet was Sextus Pompeius honoured for his Father's worth: and such as descended from virtuous parents, were only thought fit to match with Patricians. Those four 
b Aureli●…, Mutiae, Laeliae, Corneliae.  ancient families in Rome, whose virtuous and modest demeanours got them the name of chaste matrons, were well portrayed by proper Epitaphs, and in their memory were these sentences engraven: He●…re Rome's honour lies buried: H●…ere lies the foundation of Ancient families:  

here mod●…st Laelius from ●…is I aelia,  
Pompey the younger from Cornelia,  
From Mutia, came a Mutius Scevola,  
And good Aur●…lius from Aur●…lia.   
By these memorable Impresses, were their successors ennobled, and to their imitation more ardently excited then by any precept or instruction whatsoever: the cause may be drawn from that affectation of honour naturally engraffed in us from our birth, whereby we use to be spurred and instigated to the imitating of such as by any proper demerit either inherent in themselves, or traduced from others to themselves, have purchased ●…enowme: whence it is, that the Poet saith: Im●…ensum calcar gloria habet: neither hath it been accounted a little glory, or slender honour for the successors of so noble and famous Ancestors: whose monuments were as Annals of their worth and proclaimers of their glory; which that they might preserve the better, they used to solemnize their Funerals with exceeding honours, and to erect their sepulchres with all state and magnifificence, deputing Surveyors (which should look to the erection and preservation thereof▪) calling ever their graves Accommodatissima vitae specimi●…a, Without which the memory of their virtues might seem obscured, their glory darkened, and a great many of those excellent parts wherewith they were endued, buried in silence and oblivion. True it is, that gorgeous sepulchres little avail the dead: which moved the Philosopher to say, that they were not so much made for the dead, as for the living. The Orator termed them mirrors of human frailty, characters of our glory, and undoubted Arguments of our mortality. Another examplifying this more fully saith, They are Glasses wherein we may contemplate ourselves and others, motives of imitation wherein we may follow others, and images of affinity being of the like nature and substance with others. No better or more perfect Resemblance can be made twixt man and his creation, the image of his li●…e, and necessity of his dissolution; the state of his birth, and occa●…ion of his death; the form of his beginning, and fashion of his end, then twixt a deadman's Sepulchre, and the World's Theatre. here many Actors (some whereof like your Pantomimes in Rome, are generally approved in all parts) play on this terrestrial stage of human frailty. Some absolute Machiavels (irreligious politicians) shrouding vicious purposes under virtuous pretences: other simple-honest souls, who (like your obscure Actor) stands either not at all observed, or else so generally derided, as he wisheth rather to be a doorkeeper in the mansions of Heaven, than a disgraced Actor on this stage of Earth. There your light Courtesan (who like another 
c Sallust.  Semp●…ronia, tanta est libidine accens●… ut v●…ros saepius petet, quâm petetur, prostitutes her body to ruinate her soul, exposing herself to all, that she might become hateful to all: to be brief, in the survey of all sta●…es and conditions (●…or every particular vice incurs a peculiar shame) we may bring the Miser to his grave, who while he lived, was subject to his vice: The Courtesan from her brothel of vanity, to her fellow-pupils hearse, there to contemplate her own frailty. The Ambitious skie-soaring thoughts, to Ambitions fall, reducing his aspiring spirit▪ to a more retired centure, the period of a great man's hopes; which moved Praxatiles 
d Sceptrum pe●…it, in centrum vergit.  to limn an ambitious man reaching at a Sceptre, and rolling below his Centre. Not a vice either occurrent to state public or private, obnoxious to themselves or others, but was expressed in that flourishing time, when Rome laboured of her own greatness; so as Catiline's Tomb became a caution for aspirers; Sejanus a precedent for Flatterers; Vitellius an example for Rioters; julian for apostates and profaners; Mark Antony for adulterate meetings; Caligula for tyrannic designments. Quod meruere tenent post funera: their lives being set out in lively colours, either in expression of their worth, or the description of their illimited government. Many we read (and those worthy memory) who through want of these inscriptions had their living names shut up in eternal silence, as the 
e Plutarch. in vit.  mothers of Demosthenes, of Nicias, of Lamachus, of Phorm●…on, of Thrasibulus, and of Theramenes which excelled in modesty, and well deserved to be mothers of such rare Captains, eloquent Orators, and discreet Statesmen as they were▪ We read in Plutarch, how Alcibiades assisted by Nicias, was to take his expedition into Sicily, the very same day of the celebration of the feast Adonia, on which the custom was, that women should set up in divers parts of the City, in the midst of the streets, Images like to dead corpses, which they carried to burial in remembrance of the lamentations and disconsolate passions which Venus expressed for the death of her Adonis: where in this solemnity, their imaginary hearses were set full of Impresses, that their Funeral might be with more state and magnificence celebrated. But having discoursed before of the antiquity of Epitaphs, with their especial uses appropriate, as well to ancient as following times, I will descend to the third 
f Definition of the third Branch.  branch, which in my first division I propounded myself; to wit, Epitaphs Profane, being such as have been used to anatomise vice satirically, (with an Inuection against the manners of the dead: which seems different to the Philosopher's instruction, advising us rather to tread lightly on the graves of the dead, and to pass over their obliquities with a modest pace, a conniving eye, and a charitable judgement; that our pace might not press them, our eye pierce them, nor our judgement poise them, but in the scale of amity, with the eye of pity, and the feet of lenity. But now to our discourse, and that briefly, whereby the shortness of our Volume may concord with our intention.  
Epitaphs of this sort we have too frequent, being forged out of the brain of unseasoned Satirists, that without distinction bend their wits to asperse imputation upon the deserved memory of the dead: men of basest nature, d●…faming such whose silence gives them freer scope and privilege of detraction: impious violaters of burials, commentors of imaginary vices, wronger's of the dead, envious libelers, who write either incensed through spleen, or hired for price: drawn on by others, or voluntarily moved by their own depraved and distempered inclinations; of which kind we may read every Nation (even in their flourishingst and successivest times) to have had their part: Athens her Eupolis, Sparta her Alcae●…, 
g In Cyrus' time.  Persia her Aristeas, Rome her Chaerilus. These trod not with easy pace on the graves of the dead, but mixing their ink with more gall than discretion, instigated more by spleen then charitable affection, ransacked the sepulchres of their dead enemies, deblazoned their vices dying, which (through a slavish pusillanimity, they durst not unrip nor discover living; these remorseless censurers of Vices, these corrupters and stainers of well merited lives, these foes to virtue, and foments of vice, were well set out by the Tragic Poet: who brought in the Ghost of the wronged person, pursuing the detractor and menacing him with eternal reproach for his labour. Yet this digression may seem not so much impertinent as directly repugnant to my first definition of Epitaphs and Epicedes, the natures of both which I have in part described: where I defined Epitaphs to be nothing else then Testimonials of the Virtues or Vices of the dead: how they were affected, or what especial occurrents happened them in their life; it is true, but these Descriptions are to be shadowed and suited with modest allusions, equally disposed Allegories as their vices, though in part discovered, yet that discovery so entangled as may minister matter of observation to the judicious, and leave the ignorant in a continual suspense. And because we produced no authority before (touching the difference twixt an Epitaph and Epiced●…) we will use servius opinion herein: the difference is between an Epic●…de and Epitaph, as Servius teacheth, that the Epicede is before the corpse be interred, and Epitaph or inscription upon the Tomb: the etymology of the word, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉— curare inferias, or funeris officia peragere. Scaliger in his authority of Poets, confirms the derivation as proper and genuine to the nature of funeral celebrities. This distinction may (serve as a thread to guide the illiterate Poetaster (who perhaps otherwise would confound these two words) out of the labyrinth of error, in which more writers now adays wander, than ever in any time before. So that it may seem the paradox of Erasmu●… in t●…e praise of folly, and that book which Agrippa writ De vanitate scientiarum, are sub●…ects only in request; where every M●…uius will write (and ofttimes be approved) aswell as Maro. Ajax in Euripides said: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, To know nothing is the sweetest life Which sweetness this age hath attained, where it may be truly averred, that Never Age had more writers, and fewer Authors: those only being admitted of as 
h Doctorum dict●… indoctos do●…iores reddunt.  Authors, whose works merit approbation and authority in themselves: experience being reduced to ignorance, and a desire of knowledge to a fruitless desire of writing: Littora bobus arant, & arenae semina mandant. But I omit them: these profane Epitaphs sinisterly aiming at the detraction of such who rest in peace, as they are utterly to be condemned, so their Authors as precedents of such obliquities should be severely censured, whereby an example of punishment in one might minister cause of reformation in all: yet because sin should in some sort be unmasked, lest vice sue out a privilege, and purchase herself a monopoly amongst our world-statists (whose best of traffic is to be the devils factors, whose eminentst degree is to be Hell's purveyors, and whose only office in request is to be Mammon's collectors) I have instanced divers Epitaphs, some invented others translated & traduced from others, which with a tolerable sharpness, and a well tempered bitterness alluding to the persons on whose Tombs they were engraven, modestly discover vi●…e in her nativest colours. As, first in description of Avarice, a vice most incident to Age, and therefore most inherent to man. Hermo●… dreaming he had disbursed money, died for woe, o●… which dreaming Miser we read this written:  

Under here old Hermon lies,  
Who sleeping lived, and dreaming dies.   
And that of Phedon who wept not for that he should die, but that the charge of ●…is burial should come to four shillings.  

here Phedon lies, who weeps and cries,  
not that his life he lost,  
But that the charge of his Burial  
should full four shillings cost.   
at And that of Hermocrates, who would not be se●… charge for a purgation: and dying made himfe sole Executor:  

Hermocrates that caitiff wretch,  
who living had no power  
To use his own, did make himself  
his sole executor.   
And that of None, whose Name and nature had relation one to another, being only to himself without respect of public good, or compassion to others want:  

here lieth 
i 

Hîc situs est Nullus, quia Nullo Nullior esto,  
Et quia Nullus erat, de Nullo Nil tibi Christ.    None by name, by nature one,  
Yet was he one by Name, by nature None.  
Something of Nothing oft the poor did crave,  
Yet could the poor of Nothing, nothing have.   
And that of one 
k Hic situs est sitiens atque Ebrius Elaertonus; quid dico hic situs est, hic potius sitis est?  Elderton, (an inscription too bitter) yet to disauthorize that sin, (which like that powerful ointment whereof Apuleius relates, amongst the Thessalonians, transforming and metamorphosing men into bruit beasts) to wit drunkenness, whereof he was taxed, nothing can be too vehement or violent:  

here drunken Elderton in earth lies thrust, 
Camb. in Remain●…   
Lies thrust (say I) or rather here lies thirst.   
I will end this last part of my division (fearing much I have insisted too long upon the preamble, and incurring the Mindian censure of making my gate so spacious, and the main building so contracted:) I will end (I say) with that universal doom and home (with which mortality must of necessity end) to wit, Dust: of which name we read one to have been, and ceasing to be, had this inscription:  

here Dust lies dead, who that he might be just  
In Name and Nature, while he lived loved dust.  
And being dust by Nature and by Name,  
Thought to return to dust from whence he came.   
FINIS.   

¶ A Description of Death.  

DEath is a raw boned shrimp, nor low nor high,  
Yet has he power to make the highest low,  
The Summon-maister of mortality,  
The Poor man's wished friend, the Rich-man's foe,  
The last Remains of Time's Anatomy,  
A Thief in pace, in pace more sure than slow;  
A Sleep, a Dream, whence we are said to have  
In sleep a Death, and in our Bed a grave.   

One who, how ere we seem to have the power  
To leave our states, wherein we oft-times err,  
To such an one as sole executor;  
Spite of our nose plays Executioner;  
And as the Lean Kine did the Fat devour,  
So does this meager Slave the mightier,  
Nor can we if we should be choked for't,  
Remove Death's Action to another Court.   

Arts though He know, yet he professeth none,  
For little has He, and as little needs,  
Yet has he Tricks to catch the oldest one,  
That on this earthy Globe or centre treads,  
Nor will He leave him till his Breath be gone,  
Cheering the worms that on his Body feeds:  
Thus fearless He, as he has ever been,  
Makes his stroke to be felt, not to be seen.   

His sign's in Sagittary, and the But  
He shoots at is man's heart, He ever fits  
The shafts he shoots to th'quiver they are put;  
Won is He not to be by threats, entreats,  
Price, power or prayer: at whatsoever He shoot  
Or aims to hit, He never fails but hits;  
Darte●…, He runs as swift as ever ran,  
Shot●… herring made, just like an Irishman.   

Nor differ they in habit; though He wears  
No Mantle, flanning trowses, being known  
By his Moth-eaten raiment, He appears  
Right Irish, Doublet, Breeches, hose of one;  
He has no shift, yet He no vermin fears,  
(For vermin, Death, nor th'Irish harbour none)  
Yea in their kind of fight compared They are,  
For They invade us both at unaware.   

Death is wormes-Caterer, who when He comes  
Will have provision though the Market starve,  
He will be served before the mighty ones,  
And knows before where He intends to carve;  
It's He awakes the Sin-belulled Drones,  
And cuts Them short as rightly They deserve,  
It's He that all things to subjection brings,  
And plays at football with the crowns of kings.   

Two empty Lodges has He in his head,  
Which had two Lights, but now his Eyes be gone,  
Cheeks had He once, but they be hollowed;  
Beauty He had, but now appears there none:  
For all those moving parts be vanished,  
Presenting Horror if but looked upon;  
His colour sable, and his visage grim,  
With ghastly looks that still attend on Him.   

Fleshy He was, but it is picked away,  
Belike, for that He has so much to do,  
If clothed with Flesh, he should be forced to stay,  
And show (perchance) too much of mercy to  
To some Young wench, who on the holiday  
Might force Him love, if she could tell him how;  
Which to prevent, and better to restrain him,  
He goes so ugly none should entertain him.   

Yet entertained He will; for though He be  
Contemned by th'perfumed Courtesan, whose form  
Seems coy to give Him hospitality;  
Yet when He comes he'll not one hour adjourn,  
To give her Summons of mortality;  
Converting that same Beauty, did adorn  
Her Composition to corrupted earth,  
Whence she derived both Period and Birth.   

Snail-like He comes on us with creeping pace,  
And takes us napping when we least think on him,  
In's hand an Hourglass, which infers our race  
Is near an end; and though we strive to shun him,  
He moves when we move; and that very place  
Whereto we fl●…e, and think we have outrun him,  
There he appears, and tells us it's not good  
To strive against that which cannot be withstood.   

If we shed tears, they're bootless, for his eyes  
In stead of sight are moulded up with clay,  
If we assay to pierce his ears with cri●…s,  
Vain is our Labour, fruitless our assay;  
For his Remorcel●…sse ears all motions flies,  
Nor will He give the Prince a longer day:  
His payment must be present, and his Doom,  
" Return to earth thy Cradle and thy Tomb.   

Nor is his Summons only when we're old,  
For Age and Youth He equally attends,  
Nor can we say that we have firmer hold  
In Y●…uth then Ag●…, or further from our ends,  
Save that we ●…re by Nature's verdict told,  
With length of years our hope of life extends:  
Thus y●…ng or old, if Death approach and say,  
Earth unto Earth, He must perforce obey.   

A Breath-bereaving Breath, a vading shade,  
Ever in motion, so as it appears  
He comes to tell us whereto we were made,  
And like a friend to rid us of our fears,  
So as if his approach were rightly weighed,  
He should be welcomed more with joys than tears,  
joy to dissolve to earth from whence we came,  
That after Death, joy might receive the same.   

Naked his scalp, thrill-open is his Nose,  
His Mouth from ear to ear, his earthy Breath  
C●…rrupt and noisome. Which makes me suppose  
S●…me mouldy cell's the Manor-house ●…f Death:  
His shapeless legs bend backward when he goes,  
His rake-leane body shrinking underneath,  
Feeble he seems, reft both of heart and power,  
Yet dare he beard the mightiest Emperor.   

None He consorts with save worms and men  
Prepared for wormsmeat, though he make resort  
To Country, City, Village now and then,  
Yea where he's seldom welcome, to the Court,  
There will He enter, and will summon them;  
And go they must, though they be sorry for't:  
Thus, Country, City, Village, Court and all,  
Must their appearance make when Death doth call.   

Chop-falne, Crest-sunke, drie-boned Anatomy,  
Earth-turned, mole-eied, fleshhook that pulls us hence  
Night-crow, Fates●…doome, that tells us we must die,  
Pilgrim-remover that deprives us sense;  
Lifes-date, Soules-gate that leads from misery,  
Man's sharpest assault admitting no defence,  
Times Exit, or our Intrat to that Clime,  
Where there's no Time, nor Period of Time.   

Nor stands he much upon our dangerous year,  
All are alike to Him, yea oft we see,  
When we are most secure, then he's most near,  
Where th' year clymactericke is his I●…bile:  
For as He can transpose Him every where,  
East, West, North, South, with all facility,  
So can H●… come, so cunning is his stealth,  
And take us hence when we are best in health.   

Since Death is thus described, (for this he is,)  
Be still prepared, lest unprepared He come,  
And hale you hence, for spending Time amiss  
(For Death is Sins Reward, Transgressions Doom)  
So when thou dies thou shalt be sure of this,  
T●… have access unto the Marriage room,  
And for thy Tomb, in stead of ivory,  
Marble, or Brass, shall Virtue cover th●….    

Epitaphs upon sudden and premature deaths: occasioned upon some occurrents lately and unhappily arising.  


WHo walks this way? what Charity, ist thou?  
I need not fear thy doom: for thou'lt al●…ow  
This Axiom for undoubted: Once we must  
Return unto our mother earth: and dust  
Our first creation▪ challengeth the same:  
" Being the Mould from whence our bodies came.  
If Envy pass this way and judge am●…sse,  
" I rest secure what ere her censure is.  
Faith is my Anchor, Comfort is my Shield,  
" How should I doubt then but to win the field!  
For this is true (as I have oft times heard)  
No death is sudden to a mind prepared.  
My Hope being thus erected; Envy, cease  
" To wrong his soul that has assured peace.    

Another Epitaph upon the same subject.  

Thou look'st upon my Tomb, and wagg'st thy head,  
And with remorseful te●…res weep'st o'er me dead,  
As if past hope: thou seem'st to be my friend,  
In that thou grievest at my untimely end:  
Untimely dost thou call it? True: report  
Brutes my Repentance was but very short,  
Because cut off: I grant it: for the space  
It was but short, yet was the c●…urse of grace  
Abundant, which confirms my Pilgrim's wish,  
" Where man's prepared, there no death sudden is.    

An Epitaph of the same.  

Hopeless thou weep'st, and comest unto my Tomb,  
Descanting on my death, with, oh too soon  
Died this poor wretch: I pray thee cease to weep,  
" I am not dead, but only fallen asleep:  
Ablessed sleep, secure from envies sting,  
" Flying from earth to heaven with airy wing:  
Shouldst thou then doubt my end? O do not doubt,  
" My virgin-lampe is in, 'tshall near go out.  
Thou sayst I died too soon: thou sayst amiss,  
" Can any die too soon to live in Bliss?  
Wipe then thy Tears, I know thou wish me well,  
Heaven is my mansion, Earth I took for hell:  
And that was cause I went so soon from thence,  
To plant in Heaven my eternal residence:  
For men (how short their end) are never tried,  
" But how they learned to die before they died.    

¶ Upon a virtuous young Lady lying in childbirth.  

B●…rne at the first to bring another forth,  
" She leaves the world, to leave the world her birth:  
Thus Phoenixlike as she was borne to breed,  
" Dying herself renews it in her seed.    

¶ Upon a Soldier, for resolution worthily affecte●… and advanced by his Country, yet interred an●… by (unworthy Fate) obscurely.  

Dead? Yes: Alas, is this the soldiers tomb,  
A silly monument to them shall come  
To see it. True; what though the body lie  
Interred low in her obscurity?  
Thy virtue (honoured Soldier) shall remain  
Above the Boundiers of triumphing Spain,  
France, or the Belgic rampires: what Death m●…  
Sh'haz done already, turned thy corpse to clay:  
But death (of Fame's possession) may despair,  
For she erects her Tomb within the Air,  
That whosoever this way chance to move,  
" Shall see his corpse here, but his fame above.  
Triumphant Soldiers, glorious by thy birth,  
Reign'st now in heaven, because thou wer'st in earth:  
Then such Professants over blessed are,  
That raise their Peace by managements of war.   

Upon a Drunkard buried in a ruinous fort in Dunkirk, was this Inscription engraven, which by the ancientness of Time was well near defaced.  
In Dunkirk here a Drunkard lies with much careysought,  
" Drink was the boon the lorden craved for rest he cared nought.  
Long may he won in this large Tomb, and never henceforth sink  
" To earth again: that while he lived claimed earth for want of drink:  
heaven rest his soul, and others all, whosere the Lord will save,  
" And grant Dunkirk (if't be thy will) may near such drunkards have.    

¶ An Epigram upon Alphonso Prince of Naples, and upon his Crest, whereon was engraven a Pelican with this Impressa;  

Alios seruans meipsum perdo.  
The Crest I wear expresseth what I am,  
" A soft and tender-hearted Pelican,  
Who to recall life to her dying brood●…,  
Sucks from her own heart life-renewing blood:  
Being the same, if I appeal to time,  
" she's not more dear to hers, than I to mine.    

¶ An Epitaph upon one who died confined.  

Report tells me that thou didst die confined;  
Confined! its true: in body, not in mind.  
Confined the body was, where it had birth,  
But mind without confinement leaveth earth,  
To dwell in those ●…efined Groves abou●…,  
A Gro●…e refined which yields eternal love  
To the possessor; let thy mind appear  
Free, though thy body was confined here.  
This shall remain engraven upon thy Tomb,  
To memorise thy fame in time to come.    

¶ Upon a justice worthily deserving of his Country.  

The miss of thee, since th●… decease, is known,  
" For whoso comes to justice, or her throne,  
Shall see her silent (and as o●…e that's dumb:)  
" Good reason why, with thee she lost her tongue.    

¶ Upon a justice of less demerit.  

Who comes this way? Let him look down and read,  
" Hear li●… one, spoke less living, then being dead:  
For here in Ri●…e Fame speaks of him in time,  
" Who whilst he lived spak●… Reason nor good Rhyme:  
This yet h●… comfort is, when time is spent,  
God will have mercy on the innocent.    

¶ Upon a bragging Soldier.  

here lies a bragging Souldi●…r that could lie  
With 〈◊〉 and s●…te, in face of majesty;  
Yet he that lied 'gainst heaven, in earth now lies,  
An open mirror to all mortal eyes:  
" For though he lied, yet could he not deny  
With all his lies, but man is priest to die.    

Upon Peter see me.  

Peter see me, thou canst not, for thy eyes  
" Lie ●…here interred, where thy body lies:  
How canst thou see me then? as Peter's do;  
" Not by my worth, but by my outward shew●…  
For Gallant-like by perfumes I transpose  
My knowledge from thy eyes unto thy nose.  
That though thouart dead, yet thou may well perceiu●…,  
" A Perfumed gallant walk's uponthy grave.    

¶ Upon a Captain which in the Low Countries was hanged, and afterwards taken up again.  

A Captain hanged, and taken from his Grave▪  
For what? a pardon came, and did him save.  
Save. what did it save? his body: Yes.  
" From putrefaction? no, but from that peace  
All buried corpse enjoy: It was not done  
" With justice: Yes, she is a Saint divine,  
And raised him up, because dead'fore his time.    

his throwing.  

Poor Thrower, art thou dead? Now do I feel  
" Even by thy End, that Fortune has a wheel,  
That spins and weaves, turns and returns again;  
And in men's death esteems the chiefest gain:  
For this by thee may very well be known,  
That made their own wheel ruinate thy own.  
Thou wast a Thrower, Fate a Thrower too;  
After this cast thou'lt near make such a throw:  
Rest then in peace, it's Fate tripped up thy heel,  
And bids thee yield unto her Turning wheel.    

¶ Upon one Span.  

Rightly compared is the life of man,  
" For shortness of continuance, to a span,  
It is man's met-wand; every one must have  
" This span to end his life, and meet his grave.  
Then who dare say that he does live secure,  
" Possessing that which cannot long endure.  
This is expressed by this man lies here,  
" Whose name and nature in one span appear.  
So lest the name should do the nature wrong,  
" Being short by nature, name would not be long.    

¶ Upon one Flower a hopeful young Student.  

Man's life's a flower: how should it then but fade,  
" Since at the first for dying it was made?  
Yet if this Flower had been exempted, than  
We might have thought this Flower not for men  
To crop: no more it was: and ther●…fore given  
" As one above desert of earth to Heaven.  
Once thou was planted in the Cambrian Grove,  
Where thou was watered with the Students love.  
But now from thence I see thy glory rise,  
" From Cambrian beaks, to Brooks in paradise.    

¶ Upon a Reverend and honourable judge of this land, was this Epitaph inscribed.  

Who so would Honours frailty pictured have,  
Let him behold that picture in this grave:  
Where frailty ne'er was with more honours clad,  
Nor more deserved those honours which he had:  
Had? lass that we should say, we had thee; have  
Would be a Tense, the state would rather crave.  
Small difference twixt the accents, Have and Had,  
Yet th' one did cheer us, th' other makes us sad.  
But whence these tea●…es? whence be they? to express  
His worth▪ our want, his peace, our pensiveness:  
For to describe him in each lineament,  
He gave his to●…gue unto the Parliament:  
His hands to sacred writ, his ear to hear  
judgement pronounced, his eye to see more clear  
In the 〈◊〉 of justice, and his feet  
To walk in paths, for Christian souls most meet.  
Thus his impartial tongue, hand, ear, foot, eye,  
Showed him a mirror in mortality.  
Yet in his age a Reverence appears,  
Many are young in hours, are old in years;  
But he was old in both; full seventy six,  
Surpassing David's fi●…st Arithmetic:  
Fifty one years he with his Lady lived,  
That in himself his race, might be reviv'd:  
For what was by the virtuous Father done,  
Seems (by resemblance) shadow●…d in the Son.  
Sergeant unto the Queen, judge o'th' king's B●…nch  
For twelve years space, wherein his eminence  
Did not transport his passions: For his thought  
Fixed on his end, esteemed all honour nought.  
Thus lived he, thus he died; lived long, died well,  
here judge on Earth, now judge in Israel.   Terras Astraea reliquit.  

¶ Distichon funebre in obit: princip. ob eximiam & corporis & mentis temperiem. qua licet, nos reliquit, altiora petit.  

Qui formam mirantur, ament Uestigia mentis,  
Illi forma perit, nescit at illa mori.    

¶ An Epitaph upon the Son buried in his Father's grave.  

Stand, go no further: look but down and read,  
Youth fed that body, on which worms do feed.  
Look lower down, and thou portrayed shalt have  
Father and Son, both buried in one grave.  
And what does cover them? poor mother Earth,  
Which gave to Son and Father both their birth:  
Thus one to three reduced, and three to one,  
Son, Mother, Father; Father, Mother, Son.  
Make then this use on't wheresoe'er thou come.  
Earth was thy cradle, Earth must be thy tomb.    

¶ Upon 
* In hunc ferme modum prop●…nitur à Mart. ●…pigramma.  one who loving honour, died ere he possessed it.  

Thus fadeth honour and returns to nought,  
Which is not got by merit, but is bought:  
For it affords th' aspiring mind small good,  
When wreaths of honour are not drawn from blood,  
Nor from desert: for honour cannot bide,  
" Being supported by the stays of pride.    

¶ Upon Master Laurence Death, an Epicede accommodate to his Name.  

Why should one fear to grapple with his Name,  
" Death thou wast living, and art now the same;  
No, I may say far more: renewing breath  
" Tells me th' art living; for thou hast killed Death.  
Live then victorious Saint: still may thou be  
Though dead by Name, ●…et fresh in memory.  
That who so passeth, or shall chance to come  
This way, may say: Here lies Death's living Tomb.    

¶ Upon one Merry.  

merry why liest thou like Heraclitus,  
That used to laugh like blithe Democritus?  
Thou seems in dis●…ontent: pray thee tell why  
" Thou liest so sad? Thou art learning how to die.  
Learning to die? why th' art already dead:  
Is't possible that Peter Meries' head  
That was so full of wit, so stuffed with sage,  
" As he appeared the mirror of this age?  
Peter that knew much, and could speak much more  
Then ere be knew, should now fall to death's store.  
Alas poor Merry, worms begin to feast,  
Upon that sconce, fed Gallants with fresh jests,  
Those saucer eyes placed in that witty sconce,  
Which used to look some twenty ways at once,  
For if they had matches been, some might inquire,  
Whether they set thy sparkeling-nose a fire:  
Those hollow eyes (I say) or lamps of thine,  
" Are now like Hogsheads emptied of their wine:  
For hollow Hogsheads give an empty sound▪  
" And so does Merry being laid in ground.    

¶ Upon one Hog.  

Hog by name and by condition,  
" here lies Hog that blunt Physician:  
Christian nor good moralist,  
But lived and died an Atheist.  
Yet (after death) give Hog his dew,  
He was a foe unto the Iew.  
And that he might express the same,  
" He gloried ever in his name,  
He bade me write upon him dead,  
" here lies john Hog, or john Hogshead.    

¶ Upon a vainglorious Student that would needs be called Aristarchus.  

Fate last night hath been i'th' work house  
Of our renowned Aristarchus:  
Where fate no sooner entered in  
Then she a starke-Asse made of him.  
For Aristarchus (Authors say)  
Invited death, from day to day;  
But our last Aristarchus prayed,  
(Seeing Death come) as one dismayed,  
That he his summons would delay,  
And come for him another day.   

Upon two Twins that died together  
here lie two faithful Brothers in one tomb,  
As they did lie together in one womb;  
here they came hand in hand, and they do crave,  
That hand in hand they may go to their Grave.    

¶ Upon an ancient Tomb was this 
In Monast●…is septentri●…: come pertum crat.  inscription found.  

Churchmen that should be best of all, are (perdie) grown the worst,  
The F●…x I ken (the Proverb says) fares best when he is cursed:  
This Abbot here that lies in ground proves this to be too true,  
Due would he give to Prie●… nor Clerk, yet would he have his due;  
But mark his end (who ●…re thou be) for 'twas a fearful end,  
No friend he had (as he did think) to whom he might commend  
His Gold: therefore one day he went to find out some dark cave,  
Where be might hoard his treasure up, where he this voice received:  
T●… judgement churlish Nabal had, fall presently on thee,  
W●…ich voice being past, the Abbot drooped and died presently.    

¶ Upon my Lady Woodb●…e.  

What would my Lady be? lass she has sought  
To rise to something, and she's fallen to nought.  
Poor Lady, that so fair and sweet a face  
Should have no other home or dwelling place,  
Then a poor Sepulchre; lass it's not meet  
So fair a Lady should shroud in one sheet:  
Who whilst she lived, which was but very now,  
Did use to lie perfumed and chafed in two.    

¶ Upon the same Subject extracted.  

Look through & through, see Ladies with false forms,  
You deceive men, but cannot deceive worms.    

¶ Upon an Adulterer extracted.  

Nay heaven is just, scorns are the hire of scorns,  
I near knew yet Adulterer without horns.    

¶ Upon a Sexton an Epitaph.  

Rest thee well Sexton, since thou lost thy breath,  
I see no Man can be exempt from death:  
For what will Death do to the simple Slave,  
That durst assault him made for Death a Grave?  
In peace sleep on: of thee we have no need,  
For we have chosen a S●…xton in thy steed:  
Thy sacring Bell has tinckled all it can,  
And now the Sexton shows he was a man.    

¶ Upon Kempe and his morris, with his Epitaph.  

Welcome from Norwich Kempe: all joy to see  
Thy safe return moriscoed lustily.  
But out alas how soone's thy morris done,  
When Pipe and Taber all thy friends be gone?  
And lean thee now to dance the second part  
With feeble nature, not with nimble Art:  
Then all thy triumphs fraught with strains of mirth,  
" Shall be caged up within a chest of earth:  
Shall be? they are, thoust danced thee out of breath,  
" And now must make thy parting dance with death.    

¶ Upon one Skelton.  

Here lies one Skelton, whom death seizing on,  
" Changeth this Skelton vnt●… 
* Sce●…, or ●…n A●… 〈◊〉  skeleton  
Though little changed in name, in substance more,  
" For now he's rich that was but poor before.    

¶ Upon one Babylon.  

Of all the stones that reared up Babylon,  
" There now remains (of all that pile) but one,  
Which serves to cover both the corpse and fame,  
Which he had purchased only by his Name.    

¶ Upon a spare Patron.  
●…u patronu●… egentem.  

This Man lies here, to say what name he had,  
Or to expresseed would make a Poet mad:  
For once a Poet offered him a labour,  
Which he would hardly read, or vouchsafe favour,  
To give the Author one bare smile, or soothe  
The Poets good meaning: to be brief, his tooth  
Was poisoned: for th'occasion of his death,  
It first proceeded from his stinking breath;  
Which did corrupt his lungs: this has been tried  
To be the cause where of this Patron died.  
May he ●…est yet in peace the Poet prays,  
Who though contemned, yet crown●…s his Tomb with (bays▪    

¶ Upon a cashered Soldier.  
In Nether land.  

A Soldier not for his desert  
Cashered was of late,  
But for the Captain by his pay,  
Meant to increase his state;  
For which (in want the Soldier begged)  
But could not be relieved:  
As Charity (God knows) is cold,  
Where at the Soldier grieved;  
And swore since war would do no good,  
He now would change his sang,  
Either to raise his means (by stands)  
Or soldier-like to hang.  
Fate seldom favours war like men,  
The case so altered was,  
As being ta'en for bidding stand  
To one that chanced to pass,  
The poor renown this Soldier got,  
Down to obli●…ion fell;  
And he for Gauntlet (wrapped with Giues)  
Was brought to second Hell  
Captivity: what should he do? appeal  
from justice Throne,  
That bootless were, for now his hopes  
Are fully razed down.  
The time approached (sad time God wot)  
When brought unto the Bar  
He gave the judge blunt eloquence,  
Like to a Man of war:  
But to be short accused he is,  
What he cannot deny,  
And therefore by a public doom●…  
He censured was to die.  
But if the judge had rightly done,  
The Captain (by the way)  
As he had ta'en his standing-wage,  
Should reap his hanging-pay.    

¶ Upon the death of one 
* Vid. Martial: in nom. Thet. & Nympham, & p●…storem hoc nomine inducit in Elegijs & E●…pigrammat.  Thete who died, and was cast in a great tempest upon the Sea, into a strait of that part of the Sea which divides Mysia from Hell●…spont.  

Here lies Thete pale and wan,  
Buried in the Ocean.  
More it seems to augment her fame,  
Since from Sea she took her Name.  
Thetis was Achilles' mother,  
Yet of that name there's another  
To this day recorded by Time,  
That she was a Saint Divine.  
Here her Image sleeps in peace,  
Promising this i'll increase  
Near this Fount  
Of Hellespont.  
Where Hero and Leander amorous souls,  
In midst of her green bos●…me daily ●…oules;  
Which to Abydos (ancient town)  
And to Sestos brought renown,  
And that shrine  
So divine.  
Where Paphos was erected to express,  
There Hero was to I'enus' Uotaresse:  
Rest in honour, Thete rest  
By the Sea-Nymphs ever blest,  
for they love  
to approve  
The rare condition of that divine Creature,  
Where Art is far surpassed by spotless Nature.    

¶ Upon Sinon that villain which sacked Troy.  

Is't possible that worms dare once conspire  
" To touch his shroud that sacked all Troy with fire?  
O says poor Hecuba, that thou hadst died  
Before she had such fatal objects spied  
Of her dislaughtered Sons, weeping to see  
M●…ther and issue slaved to misery.  
O says (old Priam) and he tears his hair,  
Wishing thy Tomb had razed his despair,  
When in the ruins of def●…ced Tr●…y,  
And in the Gore of his beloved Boy  
His youngling Troilus, he washed his head  
In an eternal Concave buri●…d.  
Thus does Troy curse, yet may thou defend  
Thy Projects, and the cause of Trojans end  
Proceeding from themselves, thou for the sake  
Of thy dear Country, and fair●… Helen's rape,  
Became a villain, and to keep thy Name,  
Th●…u lived a villain, and thou died the same.  
Then villainy is dead! in Sinon true,  
But he has left his trade unto the jew  
And English cormorant, who in one hour  
Desire both Name and Substance to de●…oure,  
Then there's no difference: both bring like annoy,  
Save th'one for England is, th'other for Troy.  
Sleep then in silent slumber, for thy Race,  
In right of their succ●…ssion take thy place.    

¶ Upon Argus.  

Argus with his hundred eyes,  
Eyeless in this Coffin lies;  
While Worms keep their Sessions there,  
Where once Lamps of eyesight were.   

Another.  
Earth feeds on me, that once fed me,  
Court begot me, Country bred me;  
Thus my doat●… prevents my yo●…th,  
Bastard ●…lippes have slowest growth.    

¶ Upon Gold a dissolute Hac●…ster.  

Gold, thouart a knave; and drainst thy golden showr●…,  
Not from the lap of Danaë, but thy whore;  
Leave thy base Panders trade, make speed, revolt  
From so deformed a standard; who would be boult  
To his wife's lewdness, or express his shame,  
By ushering the ruin of his name  
For money? cease, cease to be impudent,  
Transplant thyself to some pure element  
More wholesome and less shameful; live enrolled,  
And have thy Name in characters of Gold,  
That whoso passeth may this Impress read:  
Thy age did end in Gold, begun in lead.    

¶ Upon a Quacksalver Doctor's grave in Venice, by Transcription we read this Inscription as followeth.  

here lies a pound of Rheubarbe (as't doth seem)  
To purge the worms of Choler, Rheum and Fleame:  
A Dapper Doctor (ill may Fate befall)  
To take from us Sir Jerome urinal;  
Yet this our comfort is; though he be dead,  
Has left another sauce-fleamed knave in's stead▪  
" That can call back from dea●…h a breathless corpse,  
" And cure his grief as he doth cure a horse  
Farewell Sir Jerome thou with horse began,  
And Don begins with Horse, and ends with man..    

¶ Upon Croesus and Irus.  

Tw●…xt Croesus and Irus difference I know none,  
Save Irus has no ●…ombe, Croe●…us h●…z one.  
Nor s●…ills it much what shrowdi●…g sheet they wore,  
" For I near heard that worms the shroud forbore:  
Because the pomp or state wherein they laid,  
Might by their terror make poor worms afraid.  
But as on earth great ones did feed on small,  
" So worms do feed on great ones most of all.  
Do well then while we live; for being dead,  
" Or Fame or Shame our Actions merit mead.    

¶ Upon Delia.  

Thou Delos-sacred-chaste inhabitant,  
For of thy followers Albion has but scant;  
Plant (pray thee here) some house religiously,  
Where we may reverence spotless Chastiti●…:  
For since thy ship did from this Island lance,  
" Best gifts we had were fire 
* In adagium habentur pyrobalae Galliae.  balls sent from France.  
Cool us this Climate that seems to aspire,  
Not by her own, but by a for rain fire,  
That now at last the Albionact may know,  
Th' Delian our friend, though th'Fren●…h no●… be our foe▪   

In Mydam.  
Miser nemini est bonus, sibi pessimus.  
My das would feed on gold (unhappy wretch)  
That starves himself, to make himself more rich.  
'Tis like a painted cover that conveys  
Each sparkling object to our piercing eyes,  
Which while the eyes delight in, they grow dim,  
Even so it fares (poor miser) still with him.  
" He feeds on gold, for there's his heart's delight:  
" But that same object takes away his sight,  
And makes him du●…kie ●…ide, clouded and blind,  
Though not in body, yet in th' eyes of mind:  
Then this shall stand fixed on the miser's ●…oure, 
His Epitaph.   
" He lived rich (to th' eye) but truly poor.   N●…c copia nec inopia minuitur. 
Sallust.  

In Veprem juridicum.  
here lies Brier a Lawyer true,  
Yet no true Lawyer, give him's due:  
His cause of sickness (as I hear)  
Was: There's but four Terms in the year.  
But others think (and so they may)  
Because he could not long de●…ay  
His Client's suit, young Had-lands cause,  
Which having got into his claws,  
He by renewing of their strife,  
Thought to keep't for term of life.  
But AEacus that god of war,  
Pitched me thi●… Lawyer over-barre.  
So in despair (unhappy elf)  
The Lawyer went and hanged himself.    

¶ Upon a Broker.  

here lies a Broker of Long-lane,  
Who by Pick-hatch & Hounsditch got infinite gain:  
The Pirates of Wapping were likewise his friends,  
Bequeathi●…g to him their clothes at their ends.  
" O hardhearted death, more cruel than any,  
That would not be moved at the suits of so many!    

¶ Upon Tacitus.  

here lies an old Concealer underneath,  
Who hardly could conceal himself from death.  
" Thus though man ●…e disguised in varied forms,  
Concealed on earth, yet not concealed from worms,  
Thou th●…n that passest by this silly wretch,  
" This moral may experience thee teach;  
There's nought so hid, which in Earth's bosom lies,  
" ●…ut fate (with piercive eyes) looks through & spies.    

¶ Upon one Holofe●…nus an unconscionable Usurer.  

Within this Grate lies one Holofernus,  
His body's in earth: but his soul in Avernus,  
" Under his head lies a bag of red gold,  
Which both heart and conscience together enfold.  
See worm-holes are sprouting, which seems to express,  
They loa●…h to feed on an Usurer's flesh.    

¶ Upon one Gnat.  

Sleep on poor Gnat, Gnat was thy proper name,  
" And thou as properly expressed the same;  
No difference 'twixt thee buried and before,  
" Save that in death thou sleeps, in life didst snore.    

¶ Upon an Actor now of late deceased: and upon his Action Tu quoque: and first upon his Travel.  

He whom this mouldered clod of earth doth hide,  
New come from Sea, made but one face and died.   

Upon his Creditors.  
His debt●…rs now, no fault with him can find,  
Sith he has paid to nature, all's behind.   

Unto his fellow Actors.  
What can you crave of your poor fellow more?  
" He does but what Tu quoque did before:  
Then give him dying, Actions second wreath,  
" That seconded him in Action and in death.    

¶ Upon loves champion.  

Once did I live and love, not love, but lust,  
And in loves tournament performed my 
a Merely resembling that wan●…on Amorist in Horace, 

Vixi puellis nuper idoneus,  
Et militavi non sine gloria.    just;  
But now returned I am, whereto all must,  
Rendering my life, love, lust and all to dust.    

¶ Amor 
* This inscription writ upon the tomb of a memorable Patrician of ●…ome and may be transcribed, unto one of ours no less memorable for eminence of place, and sincerity of government.  vivat & crescat honour, invitis fatis resurgat virtus, augeatur pietas, & foveatur sanctitas: altera harum miserijs subvenimus, altera Reip. saluti providemus.  Corpus ut perijt, crevit virtus. 

Virtue that used to sit enthroned in state,  
" In purple clo●…thed, not in purple sin,  
Lies here interred, for she's enshrined in him,  
Not pruned as vicious men, by common fate,  
For virtue is of higher estimate  
Then to subscribe to times abridged date;  
Nor can the cloud of Envy, honour dim,  
For when she seems to die, she does begin  
" To raise her glory higher than before,  
Immortalised in Heaven, for evermore.   

An happy passage, happy pilgrimage,  
" Where our Earth's conflict wins eternity,  
Securest harbour of tranquillity,  
To pass from Earth ●…o Heaven, where mutually  
The Saints of God rejoice, free from the rage  
Of sins assaults, or of this fleshly cage,  
Wherein we are enthralled: distressed age  

* Nibil turpius est quam grandis natu Senex, qui nullum aliud argumentum, quo se probat diu vixisse, quam ●…tatem habet. Senec. de Tranq. anim.  That makes us old in nought save misery:  
" But pilgrims, if for Christ perplexed be,  
Shall live with him in joy perpetually.   

Thrice blessed pilgrim, that hast spent thy days  
In the promoting of thy Country's weal,  
Faithful in all, wherein thou wast to deal,  
Shoaring upon thy shoulders those decay,  
Which seemed to ruinate the state always;  
These blessed actions do deserve due praise,  
Triumphant patro●… of th●… commonweal:  
Who (though she should) unthankfully conceal  
" Those many virtues which thy mind possessed,  
Thou needs not fear: in Heaven they are expressed.   

True Register, where all thy acts remain  
In perfect colours lively shadowed,  
The map of honour, well deciphered,  
Where innocence receives immortal gain  
For her pure life, polluted with no stain  
Of earth's all●…rements: Earth cannot contain  
A vertu●…us mind, for it will still aspire  
To Zion's hill, ascending ever higher,  
Till she discern the fruits of her pure love,  
By leaving earth to live in Courts above.  
Thou that art here immured with bars of earth,  
" Returning to the place from whence thou came,  
Shall by thy death perpetuate thy Name:  
" Si●…h foreign Coasts have much admired the same;  
And though thy foes, yet they extolled thy worth,  
" Being twice noble in thyself, thy birth,  
Which no succeeding times shall ere raze forth.  
" Honour will ever flourish, as it was  
Though not engraven in fair leaves of brass.   

For what is Brass, Marble, or ivory?  
What will avail t●…e Monuments of time,  
When those they represent seem to d●…cline  
In the World's eye? in whom our memory  
lives, or lies dead: O then live virtuously,  
That wins a Crown here, and eternally.  
World's respects a blast, a bud, a flower,  
Now sprouting fai●…e & blasted in an hour;  
But who shall flourish in the Sacred Grove,  
" Shall ere stand firm, his scions cannot move.   

Live in this Hearse: Death to the good's no death,  
" But a transportance from a Sea of woes  
To future ioye●…, from shipwreck to repose:  
For such as these, God for himself doth choose,  
Clipping their Temples with a golden wrea●…,  
Infusing in their souls eternal breath:  
Thrice blessed vine that in heavens Vineyard grows,  
Whose spreading branches far more beauty shows   


* Fulg●…buut i●…sti ut stelle. Quem autem puta●… i●… eorum mentib●… si 〈◊〉 in ●…rum corp●…ribus 〈◊〉 ill●…xisse videri●…? ●…id. Aug●…st. in M●….  Then Sun or Moon, or th'purest Element;  
Or any Star within the Firmame●…t.  
Such trees we see bring forth the ripest fruit,  
As planted are upon the water's side,  
Whose liquid streams their neighbour banks divide:  
Even so where Springs of divine grace do glide,  
The seeds of Virtue take the deepest root,  
Where every sprig both bloom and fruit sends out  
A Glorious Harvest: w●…ich what ere betide,  
Is not by storms dismayed, but fructifide.  
Such goodly trees are plants of Paradise,  
Which bring forth fruit in such varieties.   

And such a tree art thou, whose noble stem  
Did nourish Learning, & Minerva's friends:  
Thy flowery blossom in their growth extends,  
And after death some fruitful glean sends  
From Heaven above to Earths-surviving men,  
That seeing them, might seek to foll●…w them;  
But most to such as 'bout the Court attends,  
That vert●…ous liu●…s may weave their glorious ends.  
" For Virtue was as Ariadne's thread  
" That led the living, and empales the dead.   

What ●…issing Serpent with her venomous s●…ing  
Can hurt thy virtues which be registered  
In Heaven above? where thouart canonised  
And with the fruits of virtue garnished;  
Shining for ever with the supr●…ame King  
Of glorious Zion: where the Angels sing  
Hymns of delight: whose Quires are polished  
With sapphires, Emeralds: repl●…nished  
With springs still flowing full of sweet delight,  
Not crossed by shadows of a gloomy night.  
" If we be Pilgrims here (as sure we be)  
" Why should we love to live, and live to die?  
" If Earthen Vessels, why should we rely  
" With such assurance on our frailty?  
" Since greatest States do perish soonest we see,  
" And rich and poor have one communiti●…  
" In th' eyes of Fate: nor could I ere espy  
" In humane state, ought save inconstancy.  
" Times follow Times, motion admits n●… rest,  
" But in this motion, 
* Hei mihi, quod non est Tempus ut ante fuit. etc. ovid. Temp●…ra temporibus succedunt pessima primis.  worst succeed the best.   

If love be said to live, honour increase,  
Or Virtue flourish in despite of Fate,  
I need not fear this noble Hero's state,  
Though much pursued (as't seems) by public hate,  
His Ship is harboured in the Port of peace:  
Where times▪ succeeding joys shall never cease;  
Great are they sure which none can explicate,  
And great in worth, which none can estimate.  
Thus great on Earth, and great in Heaven together,  
Virtue with greatness, makes him heir of either.   

Let this same Epit●…ph I consecrate  
Unto thy Noble Hearse, express my love  
And duty both: (for both do me behove;)  
" If of my poor endeavours thou approve.  
These lines be th' obsequies I dedicate,  
Which though they come like Seed that's sown to●… late;  
Yet some in due compassion they may move,  
To plant more cheerful tendrils in thy Grove.  
" Honour attend thy presence (famous Hearse)  
" Too much obscured by my impolish verse.   

Epitaph.  
Mortis ubi stimulus? pro me tulit omnia Christus:  
" Consul eram primo tempore, Consul er●….    

¶ A funeral Ode.  

O thou heaven-aspiring Spirit,  
Resting on thy saviours meri●…!  
live in peace,  
for increase  
Blest●… this Island in thy being:  
Minds united still agreeing.  
Peace possessed thee,  
Peace hath blest thee.  
Halcyon days be where thou dwellest,  
" As in Glory thou excellest.  
Death by dying,  
Life enjoying.  
Richer freight was near obtained,  
Then thy Pilgrim-steps have gained.  
Blessed pleasure,  
happy Treasure.  
Thus many distinct joys in one expressed,  
Say to thy Soul, Come Soul and take thy rest.    

¶ Upon the death of the virtuously affected Sr Thomas Bointon, a Knight so wel-meriting, as his virtues far above all Titles, enstiled him worthy the love of his Country.  

Sad●… shady 
* Meaning a shady tuft of trees adjoining to Hannaby his Manor-house.  Grove, how fair so ere thou show,  
" Reft art thou of thy Teare-bathed master now:  
Yet grow thou shalt; and may'st in time to come,  
With thy shed-leaves shadow thy masters tomb,  
Which is adorned with this Inscription:  
" Weep Marble, weep, for loss of Bointon:  
Yet he's not lost; for as the Scripture saith,  
" That is not lost (for certain) which God hath.  
Cease Lady then with tears your eyes to dim,  
" He must not come to You, but you to Him.    

¶ Upon that memorable Act achieved by an ancestor of the Cogniers in the discomfiture of a Winged-worme or Snake,  
Whose approach was no less obvious than mortally dangerous to the distressed Passenger;  
His Monument remaineth in the body of the church at 
* Antiquae & nobilis fam●…siae de Cogniers domicilium. Camd. in Britann.  Sockburn, where he lieth crosslegged, (which inferreth his being before the Conquest) having his Falchion by his side, his Dog at his feet,  
Grasping with the Snake, the Snake with the Dog: the renowned memory of which Act addeth no less glory to the houses Antiquity, than the worthy 
* Meaning Sir john Cogniers, now deceased, ●… Knight no less generous than gracious in the eye of his Prince and Country.  Knight who now possesseth it, gaineth hearts by his affability.  

C●…lle sub exiguo iacuit canis, unde peremit  
Aligerum vermem, quo sibi fama venit.  
Quo sibi Famavenit, veniet, semperque manebit,  
Sidera dum coeli, gramina tellus habent.    

Paraphrastically translated.  

Upon a hill his Gray-●…ound lay, till that his Master blew  
His writhed horn at whose approach the winged Worm he slew:  
Whece Fame gave wings to Cogniers name which ever shallbe given  
So long as grass grows on the earth, or stars appear in heaven.    


Upon his Tomb.  
Who slew the Worm is now worms meat, yet hope assures me hence,  
Who th'worm ore-threwhe after slew, the worm of Conscience.    

¶ Epitaphs upon diverse of the Sages of Greece, translated, omitting Thales and Solon, and beginning with the rest, originally traduced from Laertius.  

Upon Chylo.  
Thanks to the blushing morn that first begun  
To deck the Laureate brow of Chyloes' son,  
Which He (old-man) as overjoyed to see,  
Fell dead through joy; I wish like death to me.   

This Inscription also was engraven on his Tomb.  
here Chylo lies, in Lacedaemon bred,  
Who amongst the Seven was rightly numbered.    

¶ Upon Pittacus, whose Tomb was erected by the City Lesbos wherein he lived; beautified with this inscription to perpetuate his memory.  

Within this Tomb doth Lesbos thee enshrine,  
Drenched with their tears and consecrate as thi●…e.    

¶ Upon Bias whom Priene with all solemnity and magnificence, at their own proper cost interred: Engraving these verses upon his Tomb, for the continuance of his Name.  

This wrought stone doth Bias corp●… contain●…,  
Who was an honour to th' Ionian:  
Pleading his friend's cause (as a faithful friend)  
Pausing to take his breath, He breathed his end.    

¶ Upon Cleobulus, who was buried in Lyndus, which boundeth on the Sea-cliffe; the situation whereof is shadowed in this inscription upon his Tomb.  

That wise Cleobulus should extinguished b●…,  
Lyndus laments en●…iron'd with the Sea;  
So as two S●…as ne●…re Lyndus 〈◊〉,  
" A Levant Sea, a Sea in Lyndus eyes.    

¶ Upon Periander of Corinth was this Epitaph ensuing found to be engraven, which through the injury of time, and want of Art in the impressure▪ was so defaced, as by the testimony of Laertius it could scarce be reduced to Sense: yet now according to the Original faithfully translated, including a Christian resolution in a Pagans dissolution▪ reposing a more true happiness in his end then in his Birth, his exit or passage, than his intrat to this Theatre or transitory Pilgrimage: making his diem fatalem, his diem natalem, the day of his death the day of his birth; where Man by an imputative goodness, deduced from God not inherent in himself, may in his death be rather said to be translated then departed.  

Corinth both wise and rich in treasures store,  
Keeps Periander's Body in her shore.    

Continued by Laertius by way of an Epigram,  

Grieve not that Thou shouldst not obtain thy wish,  
But joy in that the Gods have given thee this,  
For Thou by death hast passed those sorrows now,  
Which many one would do, but cannot do.    

¶ Upon the much lamented death of the truly honourable (eminent pattern of unblemished justice) Sir Augustine nichols one of our judges of the Northern Circuit, who died at Kendal the third day of August. Anno 1616.  

Sic Nicholaus obit, potius Nicodemus, & astra nunc Astraea petit, quae mori●…ndo tenet.  
nichols is dead, or Nicodemus rather,  
The Widd●…ws cheerer and the Orphan's father;  
Dead! why it cannot ●…e justice should die,  
For she has will and power enough to fly  
Above the reach of Death. It▪ s true, yet Death  
Ha●…h reft this justice-patron of his breath:  
Of Breath? No matter, Breath is but a wind  
That vades, but cannot preindice the Mind  
Where justice sits as Regent: wherefore then  
Since justice lives, should she be moaned by men  
As if deceased? I'll tell you, here is one,  
Or was one rather, for he now is gone,  
Who seeing th'end of justice-circuit nigh,  
Embracing Death did i●… his Circuit die;  
No mar●…ell than if men do justice moon,  
When They do find her mansion under stone:  
And hard it is to find Her whom They seek,  
As ●… ' hear the stone that covers her to speak.  
" This then shall be her Dirge, her dying Song,  
" Shepleads in hea●…en▪ on earth she has lost her tongue.   Terras Astraea reliquit.  

Another Dialogue▪ wise: Eubaeus and Tymaeus.  Eubaeus. 
Silence, awake not justice.  Tymaeus. 
Who can keep the eyes of justice closed?  Eubaeus. 
Death and Sleep.  Tymaeus. 
Death cannot do it.  Eubaeus. 
Cannot! pray thee see What Death hath done then.  Tymaeus. 
" Lass! how mortally lies justice wounded?  Eubaeus. 
Wounded! no, she's dead.  Tymaeus. 
Dead!  Eubaeus. 
Yes; see tongue, pulse, arm, eye, heart, hand head all motionless●…; come nearer:  Tymaeus. 
I'm too near.  Eubaeus 
Dost weep?  Tymaeus. 
I offer to her Shrine a tear.  Eubaeus. 
Thou art too childish.  Tymaeus. 
No, if I could more, I would express it.  Eubaeus. 
Why, didst near know before justice lie speechl●…sse?  Tymaeus. 
Yes, but near did know despair of her recovery till now.  Eubaeus. 
No, th●… hast h●…ard that saying 〈◊〉 grown common.  Tymaeus. 
What might it b●…?  Eubae. 
That Justice's like a Woman;  Tymae. 
In what respect?  Eubae. 
In this it may be●…'ed  
When she lies speechless, she is nearly dead.  Tymae. 
Most true in both  Eubae. 
It is, but do not weep;  
Let's vanish hence, & suffer justice sleep.   

¶ An Epitaph reduced to the form 
* Epitaphium in Dialogi form●… compositum.  of a Dialogue; consisting of two Persons and two Parts, representing in the Persons, Affection and Instruction; in the Parts Passion and Consolation: prepared at first for the memory of his never-sufficiently remembered Father by the Author, emphatically shadowed under the name of Philopater.  The Persons names are Philopater and Philogenes. Philop. 
Sleeps my dear Father?  Philoge. 
Yes, my Son I sleep:  Philop. 
Wh●…, than I wronged your quiet rest to weep; Sith Christians should not any difference make Twixt Death and Sleep;  Philoge. 

It's true, for ●…th awake,  
Both lie them down▪ both rise, bot●… bedding have,  
The living have their couch, the dead their grave;  
For as our Death by Sleep is shadowed,  
So by our Bed our Grave is measured.   Philop. 
O pardon then my tears.  Philoge. 

My Son I do,  
These tears thou sheds do thy aff●…ction show,  
And bear record in He●…uen;   Philop. 
Where you are blest:  Philoge. 
Indeed I am.  Philop. 
heavens grant my Soul like rest.   

¶ A Divine composition, styled The Pilgrims Petition.  

Keep me (O Lord) o deign my Soul to keep,  
Thou art her Shepherd, she the wandering Sheep:  
Thou art the living life, the Labourers way;  
The Pilgrim's staff, Faith's Anchor, josuahs' day:  
Yea josuahs' day-star, who (so if thou please)  
Canst make the Sun go back without degrees▪    

¶ The Sinners Cymbal.  

I cried unto the Lord, he healed me,  
I sick to death, he sh●…w'd me remed●…e;  
I hunger-starved, he gave me Angel's food,  
I all athirst, he quenched it with his blood.    

¶ In obitum 
* De Ambleside.  Thomae Brathwaite optimae spei, indolis generosissimae, vitae probatissimae, fidei integerrimae, omni ex part parati peri▪ tique R. B.  
Memoriae eius studiosissimus lugubria ista Poemata grati animi pignora diu meditata & iam serò sed seriò in publicam lucem prolata (Dialogi more) ccmposuit.  Philaretus and Euthymius. Philaret. 
Quò redis?  Euthym. 
In gremium matris:  Philaret. 
Quos quaeris?  Euthym. 
Amicos.  Philaret. 
His moriendo ●…ares:  Euthym. 
His moriendo fruor.  Philar. 
Tunc tibi mors lucrum:  Euthym. 
M●…hi lux, via, vita, levamen.  Philar. 
Tunc non amissus;  Euthy. 
M●…ssus at ante meos.   

¶ In Anagramma quod sibi ipsi composuit & Annulo inscripsit.  

Brathwaite  
Vita ut herba.   

Vita ut Herba tuum est Anagramma, tuaque sub urna  
Hoc videam, br●…uis est vita, sed herba levis,  
Annulus hoc tenuit, namque Annulus arctus ut annus,  
Quo (velut afflatu) fata futura refers.    

¶ Upon the late decease of his much lamented friend and kinsman, Alle●… Nicholson, a zealous & industrious member both in Church and Commonweal.  

Hauxide laments thy Death, Grasmyre not so,  
Wishing thou hadst b●…ene dead 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ago;  
For than her market had not so be●…ke done,  
But had suru●…u'd ●…hy Age in time ●…o come:  
And well may Hauxide grieve at thy Departure,  
" Since She received from thee her ancient charter,  
Which Grasmyre su●…s (since Thou art turned to  
To bring about & now ha●…h brought to p●…sse. (grass)  
Thus much for th●…e: nor would I have thee know it,  
For thy pure zeal could near e●…dure a Poet;  
Yet for the Love I bore thee, and that Blood  
Which twixt us both by Nati●…e course hath flowed▪  
" This will I say, and may; for sure I am  
" The North near bred sincerer P●…rer man.    

¶ In obitum generosissimi viri L. P. genio quam ingenio minus faelici, Franciscus Ridgeway eius memoriae studiosissimus hosce th●…eneticos modos composuit.  

Flebo, cur? amisi memorandi pignus amici,  
Falleris, amitti morte pe●…ente nequit;  
Praemitti fate●…r, Quis enim non fata capesset,  
Discimur exemplo, sic oriendo mori.  
At dol●…t exemplis tua fata venisse sub illis,  
Q●…is si tu perias, fama perennis erit.  
Quid dixi an peries? peries sanè corpore, quid si  
Hac species periat, mens speciosa manet?  
Altera pars terram repetat, pars altera coelum,  
Nec mutas mores caela petendo tuos.  
At vale, ●…am faciem nequeo discernere gratam  
Qua mihi semper erit gratia sed arcta nimis,  
Arcta nimis sed amaena satis, dum fider a vultum  
Splendida praestantem continuere tuum.  
Sie perijt quod terra parit, quod vertic●… coeli  
Profluit, in coelum tendat & alta petat.   

Aliud,  
Hic fitus est Satyru●… qui stupra latere potentum  
Impatiens, patiens limina mortis adit.   

Englished,  
here lies a Satire now reduced to dust,  
Who scourged d●…sertlesse honour, great mens lust,  
These taxed He roundly, and had vowed to do it  
More boldly yet, if He had lived unto it.    

¶ A Funeral Poem upon the death of the hopeful young Gentleman Mast. Will. Horsey, who deceased the 24. of April, Ann. Dom. 1615.  

" Plants that transplanted are, have 〈◊〉 growth,  
Yet fares it othe●…ise with this blessed youth,  
For he transplanted to another Sphere,  
Perfects that tender growth which he had here,  
Tender indeed; yet me thinks there appears  
Age in his hours, though youth was in his years,  
For by experience, of this sur●… I am,  
" Never came child more near unto a man..  
Well may we then excuse his mother's moan,  
To lose her Son and that her only One,  
Whose hope gave life unto her house and her,  
" (If mothers err in this they lightly err)  
For native love must ●…eeds enforce a tear  
To see them laid on Bear whom they did bear:  
To see their Birth turned Earth, their very womb●…  
Which brought them forth converted to a Tomb;  
Yet this should make his mother change her song,  
To see her hope translated ' 'bove hope so young,  
To see her only and now happy Son,  
To have his Pilgrime-taske so quickly done;  
But she has lost him; no, he is not lost,  
" For where He seems to lose He gaineth most:  
And though He have not Her, He has another,  
" For now the Church triumphant is his Mother  
Feeding his infant-glory with her pap,  
Dandling him sweetly in her heavenly lap,  
For this is confirmed by the sacred word,  
" He cannot die that dieth in the Lord.  
Cease than thou tender Mother, cease to w●…epe,  
Thy son's not dead, but only fallen asleep;  
Which sleep dissolved, his corpse shall be united  
Unto his soul amongst the Saints delig●…ted.  
" Peace happy Soul crown thy eternal dai●…s  
" With wreath of glory to thy Maker's praise,  
" That as thou lived a Mirror to thy Age,  
" So thou may shine in Zions heritage.   

His Epitaph.  
here interred in this Tomb●…, 
* Orimur & Morimur.   
Young, yet virtues hop●…full bloom,  
Father's Boy,  
Mother's joy  
Shrined is; yet from this shrine,  
There's a substance, that's divine,  
Which no grave  
Can receive:  
Making claim to heavens pure clime.    

¶ The Author upon his selected and ever to be remembered E. C. Paragon for beauty and virtue: who died the 5. of Decemb. Ann. Dom. 1615.  

Take mother Earth thy virgin-daughter heer●…,  
Born●… on her Bear ere sh●… was borne to b●…are;  
Take her, for of her wonders may be said▪  
" Heer●… one and 〈◊〉 lies who di'd●… a Maid.    

¶ Upon the much lamented Death of the virtuous virgin A. T. in Scarborough, lately deceased, and of her sorrowful Parents incessantly moaned.  

Dead; say no more she's dead, keep in that word,  
It will go near to drown her tear-swollen Ford:  
Why, He must know it; true▪ yet such as these  
(If grieves) should be imparted by degrees;  
How must they be imparted? By her Tomb;  
It cannot speak; Such grieves are seldom dumb.   

Upon her Tomb.  
Weep, weep Rosemary sprig and show remor●…e,  
Thou should have decked her bride 
* For near the time appointed for her Bridal, was the day of her Burial, making way no doubt by her earthly Funeral to a heavenly Nuptial.  now decks her corpse    

¶ Upon the Tomb of ..... lately erected.  

..... Perhaps thou may have shebna's doom,  
To have thy corpse divided from thy Tomb,  
And have name of that crest thou gave thy Neighbour,  
To close thy corpse in Earth, and save this labour.  
How fond then thou, to build so costly Shrine,  
Neither (perchance) for * thee nor none of thine?  
Yet if thou want thy Tomb, thou shalt not miss  
To have thy Epitaph, and this it is:  
....... Is Dead: The cause if you would know,  
His windpipe burst, and he no more could blow. 


Martial shadows under the title of Hermu●…▪  
Sic tibi nec tumulum conde nec Herme tuis.       

¶ Upon a late deceased Pinchgut.  

Macer died rich they say, but it's not so,  
For he died poor, and was indebted too:  
How sh●…ld that be? Observe me, and I'll tell ye  
He died indeb●…ed b●…th to back and belly:  
For all he scraped from his attorneys Fees,  
Served but to starve his Maw with bread & cheese;  
So as'mongst those we rightly may him call,  
Whose life spent less than did his Funeral:  
For all his life, his House scarce eat one Beast,  
Yet Dead, his Son makes up the churls Feast.    

¶ This the Author wrote upon an excellent Bowler and his Friend, aptly resembling Man's life to a game at Bowls.  

The World is the Alley wh●…re we play,  
The Bowls we play with, Creatures that we use;  
The Rubs the Passio●…s of our minds the way  
Needs no Ground-giver, there's but one to choose  
The way of all Flesh: Seauen's our Game we say,  
(For Seven year is lives-lease that limits us)  
The Block our end, which when it draw●…th on,  
We po●…ke our Bowls, and so our Game is done.    

¶ Upon a singular Irishman.  

By him lies here, I find from whence we came,  
Where we must go, how lif●…'s an Irish game,  
This day in health and wealth, next poor & sick,  
" For Irish games have still an Iri●…h trick.    

¶ Upon the death of one Cook's wife, an Inscription allusive to her name.  

Death's the cook pro●…ideth meat,  
For the crawling worms to eat;  
Why shouldst thou then Cool e repine  
Death should dress that wife of thine?  
All must die, yea time will be▪  
Thou wilt think he pleasured thee;  
For no question, being told,  
She was s●…plesse, 〈◊〉, old,  
He thought fit she'sd live no longer,  
That thou might choose out a younger.  
This then on her Age thy youth  
May be writ as grounded truth,  
" here she lies, long may she li●…,  
" Ere she d. de, was wished to die.   

This the Author presently composed upon this occasion; being with sundry Gentlemen at Waltham exceeding merrily disposed, one Cook a neighbour of the Hosts where he lay, came suddenly in, piteously lamenting the death of his wife, being newly departed: every one laboured to allay his sorrow; but by how much more instant were their comforts, by so much more violent were his Passions: at last the Author percei●…ing by his Host that he expressed a dissembling sorrow, being impatient of her life, and therefore (by all probability) inwardly content with her death, being an old decrepit woman, and He in the Prime of his age, in stead of all unnecessary comforts, applied this sovereign Discourse as a salve to his grief, without further premeditation.  

— coenae fercula nostrae  
Mallem conu●…, quam placuisse cocis.   

Englished:  
As in my choice of meat, so in my Book,  
I'd rather please my guests, then please my Cook.     

¶ In Actorem Mimicum cui vix parem c●…rnimus superstitem;  
Quaecunque orta sunt occidunt. Sallust.  

Ver vireat quod te peperit (viridissima proles)  
Quaeque tegit cineres, ipsa virescat humus.  
Transis ab exiguis n●…quam periture theatris  
Vt repetas sacri pulchra Theatra iovis.    

¶ In vultum incredibili lepore respersum.  

O facies mutata nimis; spectacula praebes  
Vermibus, ingenuis saepe probata viris.  
Quo muta●…a tuae magis est Pr●…stantia form●…,  
Integra nunc r●…manet quae peritura fuit.   

Vita ut mimus.  
Exit ut ex●…git soboles lepidissima partem,  
Praemia fert hominum, sed meliora Deûm.    

¶ Upon a traveler, who taking Inn in a village at the sign of the Boor was lamentably murdered by his Host.  

The brutish-brisled Bore that was my Sign,  
Where th'host (Bore-like) shed this poor blood of mine.   

Ibidem.  
An crudelis Aper magis, an crudelior Hospes,  
Nescio; saews Aper, saews & Hospes erat.  
At sae●…s magis Hospes erat, nam convenit ursis  
Inter se saevis, non Hospes ab Hospite tutus.   

Englished.  
Whether the Boar or Host more cruel be,  
Cruel the Bor●…, ●…he Host as fierce as He,  
I know not: but the Hoast's the cruelest:  
" Bears do agree, while the Host betrays his Guest:    

¶ Upon certain Bones found of late buried in the ground, supposed to be some murder committed by the Host, in whose yard these Bones were found; but as yet only suspicion is grounded, no apparency of Fact discovered.  

Brewed be thy hands in blood, although Thou be  
Free to the world, thy Conscience is not free;  
For these dry Bones lie mouldered now in Dust,  
Will manifest thy guilt, for God is just.   

Upon murder.  
Murder may seem to sleep, but cannot sleep,  
For Fear and Horror do her eyelids keep.   

Another.  
Murder sometime to slumber will betake her,  
Till fury, wrath, and vengeance do awake her.    

¶ Upon a Gentlewoman who died in Childbirth.  

One, and my only one lies buried here,  
Who in the Birth she bore, was borne on Beer;  
To him ask●…s more, this for excuse appears▪  
" Ioy can find words, b●…t words are drowned in tears.    

Upon an Infant (his father's first borne) was this written:  

By this avouch I may, right sure I am,  
That meager Death's an unjust tithing-man,  
This was my First, not Tenth, and we do say,  
" With Tenth, not First we use our Tithe to pay.    

¶ Upon one Grey.  

Grace was my name, grey were my hairs of hue,  
And Grace to grave returned, pays Nature's due.    

¶ Upon one Grau●….  

Grave I was, where now you see,  
Grave is all is granted ●…e:  
Yet with me my name I have,  
Since in grave d●…th lodge a Grave.   

Another.  
jesus Christ my soul he save,  
Ere my Met-wand touch my grave.    

¶ Upon one Winds towards the North-borders is this written;  

Winde●…'se ●…'se caned an now I find,  
A●… man's life is but a wind;  
Whilk an I had wind at will,  
I had yet been living still:  
But I's, weal, though wind be ga●…,  
Siker I's wind feel I na●…e.    

¶ Another.  

Miseremini mei my Friends all,  
For now the World hath informed me to fall;  
I must no lon●…er endure, Pray for my Soul,  
For the World is transi●…ory and terrestrial.   
Hoc Epitaphium ●…re insculptum vidimus cathedrali templo Ebo●…acensi, pulcherrimo more (in aerea quadam lamina) consitum, sed ●…rbarie temporis magis excusanda, aut ineptia Auto●…is non satis 〈◊〉, parum condite dispositum in Orientali fa●… prope me●…iam partem Are●… erigitur.   

¶ Upon old Mammon.  

Here lies experienced Providence, whose care  
Hath well enriched himself, made others bare;  
And yet when Nature did deny Him breath,  
Worms had their Legacy by means of Death:  
Pray for his Soul, who prayed on many a Soul,  
▪ And howl amain when as the Bell doth toll:  
The reason is, if you do ask me why,  
" Howling should supply mourning when Dogs die.  
Animae m●…ae propitietur Deus.    

¶ On a Cobbler at Cambridge.  

M●… not much though death in doubt did stand,  
H●… fou●…d ●…im always on the mending hand;  
Ye●… 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a●…d by change of weather,  
D●…th ripped his Soul quite from the upper le●…ther.    

¶ Upon an Eminent STATESMAN in this Land, absolute for his general survey in all knowledge, his approved judgement in all Learning.  

Read STATESMAN here thy own mortality,  
O meditate of Death before thy death;  
Be not tra●…sport'd with Honour: for if we  
Ere can show virtue, it is while we breath,  
Raising our hopes 'bove Earth's felicity,  
To crown our Temples with Fame's glorious wreath:  
Behold I was, and being was admired,  
Elected STATESMAN, and esteemed fit  
At all assays of STATE, to manage it;  
So all that Frame which was so much desired,  
Ends in this Chest, where STATE retires expired.    

¶ In the memory of that famous Professor of Physic▪ Mr Butler, generally renowned for his approved practice.  

Death might dissolve thy form, but not thy fa●…e,  
For she hath reared on thee such a frame  
As shall preserve thy memory, sure I am,  
So long as Age shall need Physician;  
Cease Critic then for to traduce his worth  
Whose Oil though it be spent, his Light's not forth.  
" To sundry States our sundry Fates us call,  
Some for the Soul, some body few for all:  
Yet we in way of Charity should know  
" He had receipts for Soul and body too. 
* Sic Aesculapius exit, & v●…am in quam omnes redeunt, repet●… Supremam.     

¶ On one Mor●….  

Here lies More, and no more but h●…,  
More, and no more, how can that be?    

¶ On one Prick.  

Cupid and Death they both their arrows nick,  
Cupid shot short, but Death he hit the Prick.    

¶ Upon Sir Ignorance.  

Here lies the body of Sir Ignorance,  
Who lived in a mist, died in atrance;  
And may he so long sleep where he is lain,  
Till he forget to come to us again.    

¶ Upon Gregory Cade.  

Sib my wife did promise me  
She wo●…ld die when I did die,  
But no trust in Her I see,  
And you see'●… as well as I:  
For my shr●…wde was scantly rotte●…,  
Till my Sib had me forgotten.   
FINIS.    

¶ The Prodigals Glass.  

Fly me delights, Content on Earth fare well,  
My mind is aiming at an higher Sphere,  
Though I on Earth seem to remain and dwell,  
My perfect rest cannot b●… seated here,  
Sith no delight there is▪ not matched with fear●….  
But when my mansion is where I would ●…e,  
No fear on Earth can after trouble me.   

This life what is it but a living death?  
And in that death no rest unto the mind  
Can worldlings have. Fly hence my soul and breath  
In that eternal Kingdom that's assigned  
For faithful Pilgrims: whose contents be●…ind,  
After Earth's loss, to reap a treble gain●…  
Amongst those blessed Saints that evermore remain.   

O that my Glass were run, that I might go●…  
From this low Centre, and transported be  
From Earth's allur●…ments (instances of woe)  
To dwell with my Redeemer cheerfully,  
" OH then should I forget my misery,  
By present joys enjoyed, so much the more  
In that I lived, that seemed to die before.   

W●…o would desire to live, when he may die  
And live for ever? Death advantage is  
Unto the good: O wherefore then should I  
Depr●…e my hopes of that succeeding bliss  
Which for the good in Heaven reserved is,  
For a small pleasure which in time is spent,  
And bri●…gs no other fruits save this, Repent?   

Bitter's that fruit that yields no other gain,  
Cursed that gain which has no better end,  
Vnh●…ppy ●…d, that is shut up in pain,  
Deserved pain, that ●…o itself a friend,  
Unworthy name of friend, that does attend  
Thy favourite with horror and despair;  
" For where tho●… art, despair is ever there.   

Read, and amidst thy reading shed a tear,  
And with thy tears mix odes of discontent,  
As one unwilling to live longer here  
In Bethaven of sin, in Kedars' Tent  
Where precious time is so securely spent,  
" As being old, this axiom still appears  
We're young in hours, though we be old in years. 
* Tempora horis, non Annis metimur, etc. Vid. Sen. in Epist.    

Both ●…oung and old: young in the use of time,  
Yet old in time: Grey hairs have greener thoughts▪  
And where Professors should be most divine,  
" Their goodly shows (in fine) descend to nought,  
Where sancti●…ie is often sold and bought.  
" O these do ill: these gain themselves a curse,  
By their own means, but by 
* N●…●…is pec●… qui ●…xemplo peccat.  example worse.   

Sa●…urne's ascended, and since his ascent  
The Golden age trans●…ormed is to lead,  
And all the World's of one Element;  
" For where man was created with his head  
Erected, now he bends it, as one dead  
Toward●… the 
c Coe●…m respuit, ut respiciat ter●…, Amat igitur ut terram, am●…ttet Cae●….  ground▪ the reason may appear,  
For where our heart is, ●…yes be lodged there.   

Those vain and brainsick humours of ●…ur age,  
Should be both whipped and stripped: but who dare call  
A Gallants humour idle? public stage  
May chance to breakea jest, and that is all;  
For if in Press some tarter pamphlet fall  
Of Whipped and Stripped abuses, ere't begin  
To show itself, it must be 
d Si gravius urat, aequum est quod silea●…. Senec. Latere, h●…c una sal●…. ibid.  called in.   

What Theatre was ere erected in Rome,  
With more ambitious state or emi●…ence,  
Then the whole theatres we have of some,  
Where there's nought planted save sins residence,  
The Flag of pride blazing th' excellence  
Of 〈◊〉 ●…anitie? pit●…ie to hear●…  
Where th' light is most, most darkness should be there▪   

But to thyself retire: there thou ●…halt find  
Causes of new affliction: for what part  
Within the glorious mansion of thy mind,  
Not subject to the vanities of Art,  
Less●…ning the substance, to prefer the rind  
B●…fore the better p●…rt, making the first  
In order and degr●…e, in honour worst? 
●… Corpus ve Cor●…icem, mentem ut ●…edullam: corticem tamen medullae praeposuimus, etc..    

The Body as the rind. soul a●… the pith,  
" Yet is the body prized above the mind:  
The soul, the instrument by which we breath,  
The choicest part, and portion most 〈◊〉:  
The Body from beginning was assigned,  
To serve the Soul; yet she's esteemed of least,  
And th'Body made to serve, accounted best. 
●… Primo enim creabatur, ut placidè seruiat & ancilletur. Lipsi●…s.    

Come then poor soul, here is no place for thee,  
No spring to bathe th●… wearied senses in.  
here is no strain of mirth or melody,  
While tho●… art planted in this vale of sin;  
But when to 
g Veniet tanquam re●… gloriosus è palatio, tanquam spon●…us speciosus è thalamo: August.  ra●…gne, thou shalt but once begin,  
With thy Redeemer, joys shall ha●…e increase,  
And crown thy temples with ●…ternall peace.   

A happy peace, surpassing misers far,  
That tumble in their bed, and take no rest,  
For such men in affliction ever are,  
And when they seem t'have most, then have they least,  
With minds perplexed horror still oppressed;  
For this to 
h Miserae anu●… & Euclyones, è q●…orum oculis millae lachrimas faciliûs 〈◊〉, quam unum è Bulga nummum.  richmen for a curs●… is sent,  
Much they enjoy, but little with content.   

Rivers that flow with their diurnal course,  
And keep their wont passage, sooner shall  
Surcease their bending channel, and enforce  
Their streamli●…gs upward, than the miser call  
For one good meal into his benchlesse hall,  
O no, it's true that's spoken of this elf,  
He's ill to others, 
* Miser nemini ●…st bo●…us, sibi pessimus.  worst unto himself.   

Ascend above the Miser, and express●…  
His Nature, thou wast once a Prodigal,  
Drinking the water of fo●…getfulnesse,  
" And rising high to give thyself a fall  
With f●…r more danger: thou shalt see him call  
For his old-rioters, but there's not one  
Will keep him 
* Sic spectanda fides.  company: his state being gone.   

Those pompous feasts which he frequ●…nt'd are done,  
And those comrades which promised him ●…heir stat●…  
And means: like Summer-Swallowes now be gon●…,  
" Leaving him pensiu●… a●…d disconsola●…e,  
W●…shing his crimes with tears, but they're too late:  
" He ends his state in sorrow, shame and sin,  
And bids us take * example now of him. 
Tunc tua res agitur, etc.    

Ambitious mind●… which fly with Icarus,  
" And rule the Sun wi●…h harebrained Phâeton,  
May mirrors be and pr●…sidents to us  
To choose the object which we look upon,  
And to be wary, lest being we●… bego●…,  
Experience come too late, having once proved  
" Our fall derived f●…om that which we most loved. 
●… Plato ca●…leth Ambi●…ion 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a thing falling out contrary to ●…xpectation▪    

Go to the Tombs of those aspiri●…g men,  
Th' Ambitious Caesar, Ninus, Affricane,  
And there in due regard, contemplate them,  
Whether they now (by their renown and fame,  
Redeem their lives from death, or by the Name  
" Of 
n Quo maio●…es 〈◊〉 in ●…otentia & Gloria, co ma●…or morti●… est de illls ●…depta victoria.  greatness make them live in spite of fate:  
" Lass! ●…hey are dead, not lest admired at.   

Fame-blazed Sylla who in Tyranny  
Planted a kingdom, and to make his power  
More glorious and redoubted, seemed to be  
A Prince of Princes, for with him the flower  
Of Rome, as Pompey th' great, and many more  
Were his attendants: yet see 
o Vd. vit. Sy●…il. in Plutar.  Sulla's reign,  
Ambition came from Earth and goes again.   

Not like that golden branch or sprig of life  
Which Maro does e●…presse, that b●…ing shr●…d,  
Sent forth another fair ●…nd fruitful griffe,  
As a ●…ong scion in the father's stead,  
For Sylla being cropped, near did succeed  
Any from him which might reui●…e his Name  
" By lineal 
p V●… tyramniden vsurpaba●… 〈◊〉, non habeb●…t, qu●… ei succedat 〈◊〉, ibi.  〈◊〉 from his fame.   

Ambitio●…s and Elated minds that fly  
Above the firm land of a s●…tled room,  
And plant themselves in th' Eaglects aery  
Ofttimes get for themselves a meaner Tomb  
Than those which (with more wary eyes) look down  
Unto their footing, for they're sure to find  
A state (though mean) well pleasing to their mind. 
q Intra 〈◊〉 vit ●…m coercere lic●…t, tranquill●… enim est ea vita, quae humili cursu progreditur, & sup●…a se, ●…ltius non extenditur.    

Tombs though not spacious, nor so specious trimmed,  
" As the fair Sepulchre of Mausolus,  
Nor Batias Tomb (whose Statue was so limned,  
That (save the Picture of old Priamus)  
near was proportion made so curious:  
Yet what a●…ile these? Mon●…ments adorns,  
Yet cannot keep●… their 
r Et redit a●… nihi●…um quod fuit ant●… nihil: alibi, Recipit populos vrn●… ci●…atos. Senc●….  corpse interred from worms.   

What then of potent Princes may remain●…  
Save this? they onc●… lived and were conquerors;  
But now by Fates impartial sceptre slain:  
What difference twixt them, and th' obscurest powers  
Of their inferior subjects? difference is in hours 
s Parcae à non par●…endo. Qui diu fuit non diu fortas●…e vixit: Vixi●… qu●… aliquid memo●…ia dig●…um egit. ,  
How spent? how passed? if ill, I dare say,  
Their ●…ubiects far mor●… blessed are then they.   

O the●… you raised 
u 

〈◊〉 ventis agitatur ing●…ns  
Pinus, & ●…lsae grau●…ore casu  
decidunt Tu●…es, 〈◊〉, summo●…— ●…ulmina monte●….  
And the Eng●…ish 〈◊〉 ma●… be here used.  
The Gillyflower i●… not the wo●…se b●…cause cropped near the g●…ound.    Cedars that transcend  
The highest Spires of mount Olympus top,  
So plant, that you your Branches may extend,  
Which neither hail, nor ●…empest ●…re shall crop,  
L●…t n●…t the root be burden▪ d by the top;  
But ever nourish such in Arms ●…f peace,  
That spring but low, yet promise much increase.   

Alas! how well that ancient Sage of Greece,  
(〈◊〉 to Athens) now may turn●… to us,  
And tell poor albion, Virtue does decrease;  
" ●…or what was well, 's perverted to abuse;  
And though a native li●… er●…ie of choice  
Be planted in us: Such is Adam's 
x Vid●…o mellora probóque, 〈◊〉 ●…quer. Med. in ovid. Me●…am.  Curse,  
We see b●…th good and bad, yet choose the worse.   

O Athens (s●…id that 
y At the first the Athenians were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, wise: then they ●…ecame 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lovers of wisdom; after 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, acure 〈◊〉; 〈◊〉 lastly, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, s●…btile 〈◊〉. Vide Lacr●…. ●…n vit●… Phil.  Sag●…) once waste thou free,  
And waste sincerely wise▪ but tho●… hast left  
Thy perfect Wisdom for Philosophy,  
(The lo●…e of Wisdom) and since that▪ bereft  
Of wisdoms love, and fal●…e to Rhetoric;  
N●…r dost thou lea●…e there, but that thou mightst err  
O●… degree further, play'st mere Sophister.   

Albyon that hast th●… name of purity,  
Albyon that's blest by peac●…full government,  
Albyon that's freed from foreign enmity,  
Albyon that's placed i'th' 
y 〈◊〉 Britannia appellatur (ab Hippolit●…) ob varias deli●…ias, & totius Vbertatis affluentiam: hinc infer●…ur Brit. maxim esse omni●…m fer●…ilem, quia amaenissimis insulis comp●…ratur, etc. ibid.  fruitfull'st continent,  
Albyon that's temperate in each Element:  
Weigh thyself Albion in an equal poise,  
And thank thy God for that which thou enjoys.   

But now thou wanderest silly Prodigal,  
Farther from wit, than thou before from grace:  
Wha●… am I? or whence came I? what's this all?  
This little▪ World? this Body? but a case  
To shroud thy soul in? what's thy pilgrims rac●…  
But short and brittle? where there's many 
z 

P●…lopis ut repetas tanti monumenta laboris:  
Pelope sic curs, Hippodamenque tenes.   
Annexed,  

Hippodome tua, virtus erit, Spes currus, habenae  
Imperium dubij moris, amoris ●…runt.    run:  
Never till then, their race is fully done.   

Run Pilgrim run, for thou art far behind,  
Thy race but short, and many stays there be  
Which will oppose themselves to tempt thy mind▪  
Inducing it with pleasures vanity,  
" Vain pleasure reanes thee of felicity.  
Let not fair golden Apple force thy stay,  
" For Apples were the 
a 

Scienti▪ boni & mali, mala, August: * Venenatum pomum:  
— Declinat cursus aurumque ●…qlubil▪ e ●…ollit* Atalanta.    cause of man's decay.   

What though the world mo●…e thee to forsake  
Those preciou●… virtues that will lead thee strait  
Unto that glorious consort, which partake  
Th'eternal beauty and th' immortal light,  
Of S●…ons kingdom? Put this foe to flight,  
" For none must crowned in ●…hat kingdom be 
b Qui pugnat, pugnat ut vincat, nec qui ●…ardior erat praelio, dignus habebitur ●…anto praemio ,  
But such as got on Earth the victory.   

Great Constantine (for Great he was i●… name  
And glory) had no other monument,  
Or hopeful sign to propagate his fame  
Then th' Cross of Christ, which from the air 
c Constantij imp●…ratoris & Helenae filius: è nube prodi●…um est, ei appa●…ere cruc●…m: in quam impressum est: 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in hoc signo vinces.  was sent,  
" Encircled with a 〈◊〉 Element:  
Wher●…on engraven wa●… (thou warlike Son)  
Take this, for in this thou shalt overcome.   

What sign but this apt to discomfit sin?  
What signal better for sins overthrow?  
What greater warrant than the sign of him  
That was my 
d Coronat in nobis don●… su●…, non bo●… nostr●…, muner●… sua. non mer●…a nostr●…: August.  Saviour? and his love did show,  
In that for me his life he did bestow.  
Thrice-happy soldier then, that spends thy time  
" Under so good a guide, so blest a sign.  
here shall the Prodigal himself repose,  
And by this sign confo●…nd his mortal foes.   
FINIS.   

¶ A compendious Discourse annexed by the Author, touching Moderate Weeping, behoveful for every tenderly-affected Reader, who many times offends in the extremity of this Passion; using such Immoderation, as if D●…ath were no Passage but a Parting; this life no Pilgrimage, but a dwelling, and our bodies of no frail substance, but everlasting.  Quid perdis t●…mpora luctu? Lucan. 
WHen the Roman Princes, in their Conquests and public Triumphs were with acclamations received, and by the general applause of the people extolled, there stood always one behind them in their Esseds or triumphant Chariots, to pu●…l them by the sleeve, with Memento te esse hominem. The like we read of Philip, Caesar, & that (and in that only memorable) of Agathocles, commanding his Statue to be made with the head and body of Brass, but the feet of Earth, implying on what infirm ground this specious Little-world (the beautcous Epitome of the greater world) subsisted. True it is, that we are to glory in nothing, having of ourselves nothing but Sin, which should rather occasion our Shame then our Glory. And this it was which moved that devout Father to call our life, A perpetual and continual Repentance, habitually if not actually, having such evident Arguments of our Shame, such spiritual eyesores of sin annoying us hourly. Therefore did Cicero term it, a Punishment, Seneca a Bondage, Maro a Dream, Pindarus the shadow of a Dream, Plato a Game at Chess, Canius a medley of Cares, Mimus an Interlude of Fears, and Zen●… a Deceiving hope of Years. Thus were the Ethnics conceited of this life, discoursing more divinely than our imagination can extend, considering the palpable darkness of that Time wherein they lived. Yea if we should but survey the general Opinions of all the Pagan Philosophers, Poets, and Orators, we might find many Christianlike persuasions for our Lives indifferency, singular observations to caution us of our Mortality, with impregnable Arguments of this life's infelicity. Yea, that I may use the words of Cicero, giving his opinion of the Tragedies of Euripides, As many Verses, so many Testimonies be there, moving a Moral by way of Christian Instruction. Where for indifferency (because nothing can be taught without examples being ocular and personal, and therefore more persuasive than Precepts) we shall see a Theodorus, Leena, Hiero, Photion, Utican, Merula, Scapula, Petreius and Catulus, like generous and truebred Romans express their contempt of life by their free and forward acceptance of Death. Nor were women of a less resolute temper, though more soft and delicate by nature; for we shall find them likewise well read in Plato's Ph●…do, of the Immortality of the Soul; where Alcesta cheerfully embraceth death for the love of her Admet●…s, ●…damia for her Protesila●…s, Paulina for her Seneca, Arria for her Cecinna, Halcyone for her Ceix, julia for her Caesar, Euadna for her Clorio, Portia for her Cato, Panthia for her Susyus, Artemysia for her Mausolus: esteeming it a noble death, where the act of death purchaseth memory after death. Secondly, for Mortality, we shall read how the eminentest Princes had the Portraitures of their Progenitors and Ancestors lively expressed (as moving Resemblances of their own frailty) which they caused to be curiously engraven in small portable Tables, to represent the intimacy of their love, and brevity of their life; As for example, that of Mithridates reserved by Pharnaces his son, as a Mirror of human mutability, bearing this tenor: Mithridates that victorious Prince, who had discomfited in divers set battles, Lu. Cassius, Opius Quintus, and Manius Acilius, at last over come by Sylla, Lucullus, and utterly by Pompey, for all his infinite treasure in Talauris; those many confederate Princes admired his valour, and the ample Boundiers of his Kingdom so largely extended; for all this, his body (the poor remainder of so great glory) was buried at the charge of the Romans, being sent by Pharnaces in galleys to Pompey. The like of Cyrus, who translated the Empire of the Medes to the Persians, whose Epitaph so passionately was it composed) drew tears from Alexander's eyes, reading how A clod of earth did co●…er the Translator of an Empire: and that emphatical one of the soldan Saladine sealing up his grave with a Tandem victus; commanding a little before his death, that the General of his Army should come unto him; One that had been his Leader in all the successive and victorious encounters (wherein he ever departed Conqueror) during his time, to whom he used these words; Go (sai●…h he) to the great City Damascus, and in stead of a Banner take this sheet, this shroud, which thou shalt wa●…e in the air, and cry: This is all that the victorious Saladine hath left him of all his Conquests. Thirdly, ●…for the infelicity of this life, divers Ethnics have spoken worthily, as Thales, who affirmed no difference to be at all, betwixt Life and Death; and Crates reply, who being asked what was the greatest happiness could befall man; answered, Either not to be borne, or to die soo●…e where the entrance to life is Shrieking, the middle Sorrowing, and the end Sighing: and better is it to have no Being, then to be miserable by Being; confirmed by that sentence of Cneus Dentatus, I had rather be dead then live as o●…e dead (vacancy from affairs being the grave of a living Soul.) With especial reason may I seem to approve (which a spiritual man approves in himself) of that divine Oracle; The hour of our death is better than the hour of our birth: since at the best we are but here in the state of Grace, and that is only a glory inchoate; but after in the state of Glory, and that is a grace consummate. It might seem that the Cusani had some superficial taste of this, in bemoaning their children's birth, and rejoicing at their death: but the experience of worldly griefs made them so desi●…edly approach their ends; for certain it is, Mori velle non tantùm fortis aut miser aut prudens, sed etiam fastidiosus potest: where our lives▪ loving falls to a loathing, and the satiety of delights (being external, and therefore far from real) breeds a d●…staste.  
The consideration of these and many more anxieties which attend man in his Sojourn of Flesh, hath (no question) moved sundry of those divine Fathers to contemn this life, rejoicing much in the remembrance of their Dissolution: but more especially, that ardent and unfeigned Love which they bore to their Redeemer, whose glory that it might be promoted and furthered▪ death seemed to them a singular favour, confirming their love by the testimony of their faith: and such (to illustrate our Discourse by instance) appeared the affec●…ion of blessed Hierome, when he publicly protested; That if his mother should hang about him, his father lie in his way to stop him, his wife and children weep about him, he would throw off his mother, neglect his father, contemn the lamentation of his wife and children, to meet his Saviour Christ jesus.  
The like appeared the love of all those glorious and victorious Martyrs, during the Ten Persecutions, showing evident proof of sanctity in their lives, of constancy in their deaths; where neither promise of preferment could allure, nor extremest punishment deter; remaining (to use the words of Cyprian) as an impregnable rock amidst all violent assaults; assailed indeed but not surprised, threatened but not dismayed, besieged but not discomfited, appearing like stars in the dark night, like green bay in the midst of hoary winter, and like lively fresh fountains in the sandy Desert. I could amplify this Discourse by instancing the exercise of that Monastical and eremitical life in former time professed, and by an austerity (too rigorous for flesh and blood) continued, abiding sequestered not only from all mundane pleasures, but even enemies to human society; so as rightly might Damascene term it, a kind of Martyrdom, being dead as well to men, as to the world: but I intent to be short, speaking rather by way of admonition than discourse: to caution such whose Desires seem planted on this globe of frailty, accounting death the greatest infelicit incident to man, as men incredulous of future good: These have their treasures on earth, where they have individually fixed their hearts, for where their treasure is there is their heart also: Like [I si●… Ass] idolatrizing their own gayness, ignorant (poor makes) how soon they shall b●… stripped of their imaginary glory; but these are those filii deperditi, senseless of Sin in the Desert of Sin, little knowing how man's security is the devils opportunity; but crying with the Horseleech, More, More, are not to be satissted till their mouth be filled with gravel; whose speedy Conu●…rsion I wish before their Dissolution, lest Desolation second their Dissolution. Yea may this effect work in them before the day of forgetfulness receive them; Moriatur Paulus persecutor, Vivat Apo●…tolus & Praedicator; Moriatur Magdalena pe●…cans, vivat poenitentiam agen●…; Moriatur Matthaeus Publicanus, vivat fidelis Dei servus: So shall Death be a passage to a life subject to no death; so entire consolation shall receive them, where their sincere conversion reclaimed them, ever applying this as a cheerful receipt to an afflicted Conscience, 〈◊〉 est hominis errare, nullius nisi insipientis perseverare in errore.  
True it is that neither Homer's vnde●…standing (though he could reduce what memorable thing soever he had read into a golden verse,) Platoes●…it ●…it Aeschynes art of Oratory, nor Cicero's tongue shall prevail, when we become 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, a breathless Corpse: then the heart's sincerity, not the excellency of any outward faculty shall bring us to the inheritance of glory, which Saint Augustine compare●… to the Sun: Pascuntur omnes, & non minuitur. Whence it is that Plato in ●…is Timaeus saith; If a man lose his eyes, or feet, or hands, or wealth, we may say of such an one, he loseth something; but He who loseth his Heart and Reason, loseth all: for in the womb of our Mother the first thing that is engendered or participates form, is the Heart, and the last which dieth, is the ●…ame Heart; and the gift which God craveth of Man is his heart. But we have too far digressed, let us now return to those zealous Professors of true Mortification, those who laboured in the Spiritual Uineyard and fainted not, were persecuted, yet failed not; were put to Death, yet desist●…d not from glorifying their Master in their Death. All which may appear by those pregnant places of Scripture; I desire to be d ssolued▪ saith Paul, and to be with Christ, (Phil. 1. 23. 24.) Neu●…rthelesse for me to abide in the flesh were better for you; Neither doth He desire to be dissolved as weary of suffering under the Cr●…sse of Christ, but ●…or the fervent desire he hath to see God in his glory. Again, the faithful cry ever for the approach of God's Kin●…dome, the reward of immortality, which with assurance in God's mercies and his sons passion they undoubtedly hope to obtain, with vehemency of spirit invoking and inviting their Mediator, Come Lord jesus, come quickly, (Revel. 22. 20.) Nor do they ground on a weak Fo●…ndation, Knowing how they that die in the Lord shall rest from their Labour. (john 5. 24. Re●…el. 14. 15.)  
O that Man would consider (s●…ith a religious Father) what a sinner loseth (to wit) Heaven, what he getteth (to wit) Hell; whom he offendeth, God's justice; what he incurreth his vengeance; for vengeance is his, and he●… will repay it. Briefly, Magna est ●…bis indicta necess●…as (saith Boaetius) to correct and rectify our lives, lest our own prau●…tie deprive us li●…e: so by avoiding Sin ma●… w●…e avoid the pun●…shment of Death due unto Sin, possessing the reward of eternal life, summarily comprised in these two; To live in his fear, and die in his fa●…our.  
Now (wormling) let me speak to thee that so much lamentest the loss of thy friend, as if he were gone from his home to a strange Country; Dost Thou weep that thou hast lost him, or that he hath left thee here behind him? Too incredulous thou if thou weep for the first; lost he cannot be, for thy loss is his advantage: if for the last, prepare thyself so in thy life, that thou may ●…nioy thy Friend aft●…r Death; mean time bear with patience thy friend's d●…parture, believing that he hath purchased rest from his labour. Neither doth this life which moveth and acteth with all her sensitive operations, prove that we are alive, but dead, if the Spirit o●… Grace did not quicken us: which Christ seems to con●…irme▪ saying; Let the dead bury the dead, implying such as be dead in Sin: for if the vital motions were dead and extinguished in us, it were impossible we should bury, or do any such offices to the deceased. Hence may Thou be comforted whosoever thou art, that conceivest immoderate sorrow in the Death of a Friend seeing him live worthy thy friendship here, and translated hence to be joined in the Union and Communion of the Saints elsewhere. To be short, if he were of approved conversation, his happy passage may occasion in thee joy rather than grief, being exempted from this vale of tears, this Surplusage of sorrow, and translated to the Port of rest, the Harbour of tranquillity, bringing his sheaves with him. If he were evil, why dost thou call him Friend? for no true friendship (saith the Ethnic) can be amongst naughty men. But suppose him a friend, yet being of a vicious life, civil society is well rid of him, being so apt of himself to deprave them: for true is that axi●… as well in Minds Physic as the Bodies: Initium morbiest aegris Sana miscere: Man's nature being ever prone (Medaea-like) to have free ●…lection of the best, but to follow the worst. Let this then serve as a Position to limit thy affection: If wor●…hy the style of Friend, be sorry not so much for that Death hath taken him, as that thou art left here behind him: If unworthy, grieve not that thou hast left him, but that so much precious time should be lost by him. But in these extrem●…ies there is no receipt more sovereign than recourse to Him, who disposeth of us living and dying, ever meditating how 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Honour Dei bonum maximum; and to r●…commend withal the whole course of our Actions to his gracious Dispensation that can bring light out of darkness, and turn our bed of sorrow to the soul solacing repose of eternal rest. Receive therefore this Resolution which I for some years have to myself proposed, 
The Author's resolution.  and by the Almighty's help may continue it. I have no friend too dear for my dear●…st friend, nor will I grieve at my friend's departure, being (as my hope assures me) gone to his Saviour; at least if natural affection force me weep, af●…er a while shall my faith renew my joy: for sorrow may la●…t for a night, butioy cometh in the mor●…ing.  
A restraint we read of amongst the Romans in their Funeral Solemuities, for immoderate Mourning: so many days being limited, after the end whereof, the Black habits were left; expressing all other friendly offices in the erection of their Statues curiously engraven in Marble, ivory, artificially carved with many Thracian, Lydian, Ionian, and Paphian works, diversly beautified with Inscriptions and Impresses to preserve their memory: which seemed a ●…ruitlesse vanity to many of the graver Consuls, who reposed more trust in the virtues of the mind (hoping thereby to become more memorable) then in the exterior beauty of Tombs, which were oft times the native Emblems of them they covered, being (those Rotten S●…pulchers I mean) Ex●…rius nitida, interius faetida, Handsome without▪ but noisome within; whereas those eminent virtues made their Possessors truly memorable, having Acts and valiant Exploits instead of Statues to recommend them in succeeding times; whence it was that the Poet in the person of Cato said;  ●…armor virtus erit, 〈◊〉 vi●…itur ebore Cato. 
For true Honour as it is essential to man that merits it, so must it have an internal monument to preserve it: for these corruptible things are subject to decay, which Honour (if deservedly purchased) ●…annot admit (though many have merited it who living could never enjoy it;) which if time would suffer, might be instanced in the renowned Asdrubal, an●… many other▪ who to pre●…ent the malice and fury of the people, fled to his Fa●…hers Sepulchre, and ●…illed himself with Poison: whence (so violent is passion i●… once ●…xcited) they dragged out his carcase▪ and cutting off his head, put it upon a spears point and bare it about the City. Plenty of like examples will Histories afford, as Bysi●… the Grecian, Osyg●…s the Lac●…demonian, Bracaras the Theban, Scipio th●… Roman, with many others: but I hast to an end, purposing to weave up the body of this Discourse with a prescrib●…d form of sorrow, yet not so (as if Stoically-affected) through the obd●…acy of my nature I could not weep with those th●…t weep, or so experienced in Mortality as to seem incapable of ●…umane ●…assions▪ nor such a disciplinary Heraclitus as to teach men how to make a sorrowful face; but by a Christian instruction, (the singular motive to the zealously affected) to persuade such immoderate Mourners as exceed in passion to more Temperance; telling them withal how far they decline from that godly sorrow which appeared in the faithful Saints and Servants of God, who were not grieved at the handy work of the Lord, but referred themselves to his disposing: who used now and then to try them by adverfities, loss of friends and other afflictions, that by these exterior trials (which Seneca termeth Exercises) they might like pure gold be purged and refined, to shine afterwards like polished corners in God's Temple, like Olive-braunches round about his Table.  
We may read (kind Christian brother) that Christ approved of ●…eeping, for he 
A prescript ●…orme in w●…eping.  wept over ●…erusalem, and Peter his beloved wept bitterly; and Samuel the Prophet wept for King Saul; yea there is a Blessing pronounced to 
Matth. 5. 4.  those that weep, and we are expressly 
Luke 6. 21.  enjoined to weep. Briefly, we may 
Rom. 12. 15.  read of many holy men that wept, but this their weeping was for their sins; it was a religious sorrow: for Peter wept for denying his Master, regaining that place by w●…ping that he had lost by denying: Christ wept in the consideration of jerusalem's Fall▪ and her miserable blindness not to see her fall: Likewise over his dead friend Laz●…rus, showing friendly compassion before his miraculous restoration, raising him from death to life; and Samuel wept for Saules wickedness▪ but we are now to argue of weeping, touching those that be asleep, of moderate weeping, and of the inconveniences which proceed from immoderate Sorrow and Dolour.  
Moderate weeping is most highly commended, for it expresseth a natural Affection we had to the Departed, with a Christian-like Moderation of our Grief, whereby our Faith to Godward is demonstrated: the reason is manifest; Since the Departed rest from their labours, and their works follow them; corum imò opera praecesserunt eos, They have gone before them. Why should we then weep since they are received into the Throne of Bliss, and are made partakers of Eternity? and therefore Saint Cyprian saith, Praemissi sunt, non amissi, Those that depart in the Faith of Christ, They are sent before us, not lost from us: They shall receive Immortali●…ie and be heirs of Christ's Kingdom. Again, they who attain to the glory of God's Kingdom, are to be thought happy, and in joy, not in sorrow, vex●…tion, or woe; and therefore not to be grieved for, in that they are Departed from us; for of necessity it is, we must either Depart from them, or They from us. O happy were we, if we were received into that joy, that glory, that aeternit●…e whereof the Saints in Christ's Kingdom be Partakers: Dispar est gloria singulorum, communis tamen laticia omnium, A Glory distingu●…shed, but a joy communicate; O admirable mystery! O ineffable mercy! a mystery only to Those●…euealed ●…euealed whom He in his mercy hath reserved to be Inheritors in the Covenant of Peace established by his Promise, confirmed by his Power, and conferred on his Elect Israelites, glorified by jesus Christ our Lord in the highest Heaven, even where the Cherubims and Seraphims make melody and solace to the Lord of Heaven and Earth.  
Touching the inconvenience of immoderate ●…orrow, the blessed Apostle▪ Paul, 1 Thess. 4: 13. gi●…eth us a taste, where he saith; I would not Brethren ●…aue you ignorant, concerning them which are asleep, ●…hat ye sorrow not even as other which have no hope: whence it appeareth, that excessive and immode●…ate sorrow, implieth a diffidence or distrust we ●…aue of our Souls immortality, resurrection, glo●…ification, whereby we seem to derogate from ●…hat written verity, who said; Verily, verily, I say vn●… you, the hour shall come, and how is, when the dead shall ●…are the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear it ●…all live: joh. 5. 25. But many carnal men there be, ●…hose spiritual eyes dazzled, or rather blemished ●…ith terrestrial Objects, can extend their intelle●…tuall sight (the eye of their Soul) no further than ●…e exterior Object of Sense leads them: and ●…ese (like Nicodemus) will not let to ask, How ●…n a man be borne again which is old? Can he enter to his mother's womb again, and be borne? Little ●…e these con●…ider how, Melius est non 〈◊〉 ●…n renasci: Nor know they how ther●… be children by Procreation, and children by Regeneration: of which sort might Rachel seem to be, who wept for her children, and would not be comforted, because they were not: So strangely doth the violence of Passion transport These, as they become stupid and senseless in the deprival of a friend, pithily expressed by the Poet:  Leviora spirant mala graviora stupent. 

Some silence grieves, and griefs do silence some;  
" For less griefs speak when greater griefs be dumb.   
This was pleasa●…tly shadowed in the Moral of Niobe, Alcyone, and sundry others with singular delight, illustrated and very accommodate to ou●… present purpose; but our intended brevity preuēt●… us: and rather would I move by way of Precep●… then Discourse; for the latter tastes of Affectation where the other ministers argument of use without Ostentation.  
To conclude, I wish every immoderate and dispassionate Mourner to reflect to these two considerations: The first is, to conceive the matter or composition where of he was made, for whom he mourneth The second is (which by a necessary consequenc●… depends upon the first;) The necessity of his dissolution, being enjoined by that universal doom which cannot be protracted, much less repeale●… to return to that Mould from whence He ha●… his Beginning. In the first (to wit) his Composition thou shalt find the matter where of He was mad●… vile, sordid, and contempti●…le, where that Beau●… wherein consisted the eminent part of his lustre, but Earth, which we make our inferior Centre; yea, though He were ennobled in the highest rank of Descent, yet, Non luti melioris, the matter whereof he was composed is but equal with the obscurest vassal. In the latter, (to wit) his Dissolution, as the time or instant is doubtful, and to the knowledge of man illimited; so is the necessity of the Doom not to be avoided: it was the Pagan Poet's Maxim, Earth must to Earth; and it is Pittacus saying; That the immortal gods themselves could not ●…truggle against Necessity: Seeing then the frailty of his Composition, the necessity of his Dissolution, have recourse to him in the depth of thy Affliction, who will infuse into thy teare-distilling wounds th●… Balm of his Consolation: acknowledge thou thy infirmities with the Publican, and He will play the faithful Samaritan; restrain thy too-tender affection, as one that is believing; so shall not the death of thy happy-departed friend grieve thee, but by the wings of Faith transpose thee from cogitation of Earth to Heaven; tran●…late thee (a skilful and cheerful Builder of God's Temple;) as a faithful Bezalie from Idolatrous Babel to saintly zealous Bethel, from Edom to Eden; from the Tents of Kedar, and the Habitations of Moloc to those princely Cedars of Lebanon, from the Son of Syrac, from Marah the water of bitterness, to Bethesda the Pool of Solace: finally, from this exile of tears and misery, to the Syloe of joy and eternal Glory.  Mallem me mori quam vivere mortuum. 
FINIS.   


AN EPITAPH Upon one john Comb of Stratford upon Auen, a notable Usurer, fastened upon a Tomb that he had caused to be built in his life time.  

TEn in the hundred must lie in his grave,  
But a hundred to ten whether God will him have?  
Who then must be interred in this Tomb?  
Oh (quoth the Devil) my john a Comb.    

¶ Upon the life of man..  

What is our life? a play of Passion;  
Our mirth? the music of division;  
Our Mother's wombs the tiring houses be,  
To deck us up for Times short Tragedy;  
The World's the stage, Heaven the spectator is  
To sit and judge, who here doth act amiss;  
The clouds that shadow us from the scorching Sun,  
Are but drawn curtains till the Play be done.    

¶ On Sir W. R.  

The life of Man is like the moving hand  
Of every Clock, which still doth go or stand  
According to the weight it has; if light,  
It makes us think it long before 't be night;  
If weighty, Oh how fast the wheel doth run,  
That we think midnight ere the day be done:  
Thy life was such, thy night did come too soon,  
And yet we wished it long ago at noon.  
But we (like Idiots) that behold a play,  
Do censure as the most, and as they say;  
And we (like Idiots) fancy most the Clown,  
Not noting how some rise, and some go down;  
Nor do we note matters well borne in state,  
Nor do we note inevitable fate:  
But we alas in all things are so rude,  
That we run headlong with the multitude.  
To be, and be Commander of great men,  
Was to possess the hearts of all men then;  
Wherein hadst thou been either good or bad,  
Thou equally shouldst all our loves have had:  
For 'tis our fashion that we give the grace,  
Not to the worth of man, but to his place;  
This is the cause adoring thee before,  
That in thy fall we scorned thee ten times more.  
Rising again (as we thought) all put off,  
No man more worthily was spoken of;  
Yet what mischance did bring thee to thy end,  
We willingly (with ignorance) commend:  
And (but the State doth know a reason why)  
We all say now 'twas pity thou didst di●…;  
Thou hadst such worth and faults as few men hau●…,  
May thy worth live, thy faults die in thy grave.    

¶ By Sir W. R. which he writ the night before his execution.  

Even such is time, which takes in trust  
Our youth, our joys, and all we have,  
And pays us but with age and dust,  
Within the dark and silent grave;  
When we have wavered all our ways,  
Shuts up the story of our days,  
And from which Earth, and grave, and dust,  
The Lord will raise me up I trust.    

¶ Upon one Owen a Butler of Oxford.  

Why cruel death should honest Owen catch,  
Into my brain it could not quickly sink;  
Perhaps fell Death came to the buttery hatch,  
And honest Owen would not make him drink:  
If it were so, faith Owen 'twas thy fault  
And death (for want of drink) made thee his draft;  
Nor so, nor so, for Owen gave him liquor,  
And death (being drunk) took him away the quicker:  
Yet honest lads, let this content your mind,  
The Butlers dead; the keys are left behind.    

¶ Upon one john Parker.  

Here lies john Parker and his wife,  
With his dagger and his knife;  
And his daughter and his son:  
Heigh for our Town.    

¶ On mistress Elizabeth Whorwood, Ad viatorem Prosopopeia.  

Si quam chara vir●… C●…niux, pia nata Parenti,  
M●…ter amans fuerim prolis, amata meis,  
Si quam Pauperibiu●… facili●…, quam Casta, 〈◊〉  
Quam studiosae, malincsti●…, 〈◊〉 Cupis,  
C●…nsule, quos dixi. Quod ab isto cernere Saxo  
Non po●…es, ex horum rite dolore p●…tes.   
R. I.   
FINIS