TWO BOOKS OF EPIGRAMS, AND EPITAPHS. Dedicated to two top-branches Of GENTRY. Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet, AND William Davenport, Esquire.  
WRITTEN By THOMAS BANCROFT.  
LONDON: Printed by I. Okes, for Matthew Walbancke, and are to be sold at his shop in Grays-inn-gate 1639.   

The First Book of Epigrams.  

To Sir CHARLES SHIRLEY, Baronet.  
THis verse, (whose Author was so near you bred)  
Seems to run strait to you for Patronage,  
As to a brave Bud, that hath promised  
The fruit of Honour in maturer age:  
Deign then these leaves to sweeten with your Springs  
Fair growth, and listen whilst a Blackbird sings.   

2. To the Reader.  
Reader, till Martial thou hast well surveyed,  
Or Owen's Wit with jonsons' Learning weighed,  
Forbear with thankless censure to accuse  
My Writ of error, or condemn my Muse.   

3. To the same.  
Though Epigrams be but a curter kind  
Of Satyrs, striking on as sharp a string,  
To Dysticks or tetrastics do not bind  
My freeborn Muse, for youth would have his swing,   

4. To his Book.  
Dear issue, some thy Name that viewed,  
Did from rash premises conclude,  
That, through suffusion of thy gall,  
Thy parts would prove Ictericall,  
And that (wrapped up in sheets unclean)  
With scurrile Rhymes and jests obscene,  
Thou wouldst profane a good man's ear:  
But (as thou art to Virtue dear)  
Such lewd licentious tricks defy,  
And cheat such Censures honestly.   

5. On the Spheres.  
What are those everturning heavenly Spheres,  
But Wheels, (that from our Cradles to our Urns)  
Wind up our threads of Life, that hourly wears?  
And they that soon dye, have happiest turns.   

6. On several Countries.  
In several figures several Regions are,  
Cast and described, some round, some angular:  
So Ireland's form is Oval, Britain takes  
The threatening semblance of a sharpened Axe,  
(Wherewith large France seems hewed into a square)  
And to an Ox's hyde we Spain compare:  
But Nature well, brave Italy doth show  
Like a swift Leg, that far with Fame doth go.   

7. On cracking of Nuts.  
Much cracking hurts the Teeth, but to the Tongue  
The bragging humour does a deeper wrong.   

8. On Thomas Randall.  
Who knew not this brave spark of 〈◊〉 whose  
Both Life and Learning might detraction pose,  
Save only that he drank too greedily  
O'th' Muses Spring, and left the Sister's dry,  
Who (smiling therefore gave th● 〈◊〉 command  
His Body to couvert to pearly sand,  
And strew it in their Fountain, there 〈…〉  
Like his clear thoughts, and make their draughts divine.   

9 To a Glazier, shrewdly married.  
Of Gla● and Led, woman, and weighty care  
●ou haste enough, (and some perhaps to spare)  
〈◊〉 break thou wilt, nor can thy brittle Trade  
〈◊〉 hold, now quarrels are so rashly made,   

10. Of the Earth.  
〈◊〉 ●at make Earth a living Monster, (whose  
Breath moves the Ocean when it ebbs and flows,  
Whose warts are rugged Hills, whose wrinkles, vales,  
Whose Ribs are Rocks, and Bowels, Minerals)  
What will they have so vast a Creature eat,  
Sith Sea too salt, and air's too windy meat?   

11. A drunken brabbler.  
Who only in his Cups will fight, is like  
A Clock that must be oiled well, ere it strike.   

12. An Epitaph on his Father and Mother, buried near together in Swarston Church.  
Here lies a pair of peerless friends,  
Whose goodness like a precious Chain)  
Adorned their souls in lives and ends;  
Whom when detractions self would stain,  
She drops her tears in stead of gall,  
And helps to mourn their Funeral.   

13. To jame Shirley.  
james, thou and I did spend some precious years▪  
At Katherine-Hall; since when we sometimes feel  
In our Poetic brains (as plain appears)  
A whirling trick, then caught from Katherine's wheel.   

14. The Usurer.  
He puts forth money as the Hangman sows  
His fatal Hempseed, that with curses grows:  
So grows his damned wealth, in the Devil's name,  
That doth in Hell the Harvest-home proclaim:  
For which deep reason my poor Muse preserves  
This suit, that Poets ne'er prove Usurers.   

15. An Epitaph on Mistress Anne Knyveton.  
Here hidden lies dear Treasure under ground,  
Blessed Innocence, with budding Virtue crowned,  
That, like a Taper on some Altar fired,  
Shone fairly forth, and sweetly so expired,  
Expecting here in darksome shade of night,  
A rising Sun, that brings eternal light.   

16. Another on the same.  
Gentle Friends, with tears forbear  
To drown a withered Flower here,  
That, in Spring of Nature's pride,  
Drank the Morning dew, and died.  
Death may teach you here to live,  
And a friendly call doth give  
To this humble house of mine,  
Here's his Inn, and this the Sign.   

17. To Thomas Peg Gentleman.  
Me thinks I may to Sugar and to Wine  
Our love's compare, which kind discourses mixed:  
Since when, that heart that totally was mine,  
Hath in your bosom's Paradise been fixed.  
What wonder then my Friendships' force doth last  
Firm to your goodness? you have pegged it fast.   

18. To an Eunuch.  
Thou still art wrestling, yet the fall dost get,  
As Ships that want their Ballast, overset.   

19 Against Drunkenness.  
Of all soule-sicknesses that Mortals have,  
This falls the heaviest, quenching many a brave  
Young spark, yet kindling Lusts unhallowed fire.  
Sweet friends, that to the two-topped Mount aspire  
Of noble Art and Honour, to the ditch  
Of base contempt tumble this loathed Witch,  
That worse than Circe) with a cup doth sack  
The Fort of Reason, and sound senses crack.  
For who (not frantic) would diseases buy  
At a lame rate, or thirst for poverty?   

20. An Epitaph on Master Henry Hopkinson.  
Lo, of old Nature's true faith-fastned hearts  
Lies here a Picture, which with loveliest parts  
Heaven's hand did garnish, and exactly draw  
With the acquaint lines of Virtue, Art, and Law:  
But lest too long it should to view be set,  
Laid up his work, and this the Cabinet.   

21. To Ben. jonson.  
As Marshal's Muse by Caesar's ripening rays  
Was sometimes cherished, so thy happier days  
Joyed in the Sunshine of thy Royal JAMES,  
Whose Crown shed lustre on thine Epigrams:  
But I, remote from favours fostering heat,  
O'er snowy Hills my Muse's passage beat,  
Where weeping Rocks my harder Fates lament,  
And shuddering Woods whisper my discontent.  
What wonder then my numbers, that have rolled  
Like streams of Tigris, run so slow and cold?   

22. To the same.  
Let Ignorance with Envy chat,  
Inspite of both, thou Fame dost win,  
Whose mess of Learning seems like that,  
Which joseph gave to Benjamin.   

23. To Oliver Cookerill.  
Thou once didst wrong me, but I all forgive,  
And wish thou mayst in less vexation live,  
Than when thou didst of bootless love complain,  
Whose heat in tears of dripping spent thy brain;  
When, with a sunk cheek and a sobbing heart,  
In roaring Rhyme thou didst discharge thy smart,  
And like a leaden Serring layest alone,  
Ready to squirt out life at every groan.  
Yet, when thou couldst not thy dear Doll obtain,  
Didst with reproach her Maiden same distain:  
This was not fair; but do no more amiss,  
And Cupid with both eyes will wink at this.   

24. To Caspar the Footman.  
Caspar went nimbly once, but now doth tread  
Scarce thick enough; he's lately married.   

25. To Godfrey Froggat.  
Cousin, thou and I (though no man knew the same)  
By our mere likeness should our Kindred claim:  
Both Learning-lovers, faithfull-hearted, kind.  
Of lowly stature, yet of lofty mind:  
Only acquaint Fortune, that with thee doth stay  
Plays the blind Jade with me, and wheels away.   

26. On humane bodies.  
Our Bodies are like Shoes, which off we east,  
Physic their Cobbler is, and Death the Last.   

27. An Epitaph on George Siddon of the Bullhead in Bosworth.  
Death, the great Gamester, that at fairest throws,  
And surely strikes a die, to Tables goes  
With sightless Fortune for our Siddons life:  
But (better to prevent a future strife)  
Out of her Trumpet Fame the Dice must cast,  
And play for Chance: so to their sport they haste,  
(As even Life and Death were at the stake)  
Strait Fortune blots, and Death the man doth take,  
Which the blind Goddess, seconded by Fame,  
Did here inter, and won the aftergame.   

28. To Thomas May of Sutton-Cheney, Gentleman.  
Sweet Tom, that (like that Minion Earine,  
Whose Beauty great Domitian held divine)  
Dost in thy name the youth and pleasure bear,  
Beauty and loveliness of all the year;  
Yet in thy gall-less temper dost imply  
More sweetness, than that Name doth signify:  
My true heart loves thee, (what can more be said?)  
Were I but jove, thou wert my Ganymed.   

29. On Maltworme.  
This son of Riot spent on Ale and Beer,  
And Indian fume, two Thousand pounds a year:  
Yet nought for all his Angels hath to show,  
Except a great Nose of a glorious hue,  
Worth all his body; for that is but mould,  
But his triumphant Nose scorns beaten gold.   

30. To Sampson Baker.  
Samson, whose strength not in thy Hair,  
But in thy firmer Brainpan lies,  
I friendly warn thee to beware  
Of reason-blinding vanities.  
By the implored help divine  
Of wild affects the Lion slay.  
Account strong Beer a Philistine,  
And th' Indian Witch a Dalilah.   

31. To Thomas Dixie, Gentleman.  
Thy stature is (like mine) but low,  
Yet as the Giants once did throw  
Huge Hills on Hills, so hast thou laid  
Vast Law on Arts, and thereby made  
A passage to Fame's house on high,  
Like that to joves', the Galaxy.   

32. To Amorer.  
How manless is thy dotage, to adore  
That gilded rottenness, that poisoned core  
Of swelling prides Aposteme! Must therefore  
Thou be a sheep, 'cause she's a Goatish Whore?   

To Sir JOHN HARPUR.  
YOu once my lusty Lines did like,  
(And I as well did like your Gold)  
My measure-keeping Muse doth strike  
On the same string; whose hopes are bold  
That you will deign an ear to it,  
Sith Hermes (to adorn your mind)  
Hath yielded you his pleasant Wit,  
And Phoebus hath his Harp resigned.   

34. To the same.  
You have a Genius pleased with Verse, (I hear)  
That smoothly passeth through your cleansed ear,  
As water of Pactôlus, where no stay,  
Nor downfall interrupts his golden way:  
For such your merits I your praise shall sing,  
Whilst you still harp on so divine a string.   

35. To William Bottom.  
Who would Penelope's day-worke unwind,  
Thy Name (wrapped up in Housewifery) might find.   

36. A trick for your Learning.  
Two Scholars in Thames-street were drinking hard,  
And late; to whom a Constable repaired,  
And taxed them for't: Invited yet to drink,  
He turned up Glasses, till both nod and wink  
At greatest faults he would; when sleep at last  
Did bridle up his brutish senses fast.  
Mean while the waggish Mercuries conspire  
T'abuse himand two Watermens they hire  
To take him napping, and transport him thence  
Th'way of all Fish: who ne'er recovered sense,  
Nor from his dead sleep found himself alive,  
Till both his Charon's at Gravesend arrive.  
To all harsh Magistrates a warning fair,  
That they of too much Wine and Wit beware.   

37. To Tom Dizzy.  
Thou hast some do w-baked Learning I confess,  
But leavened so with pride, and peevishness,  
That all distaste it: Mix thy humours then  
With courteous sweetness, most adorning men,  
And throw proud fancies down; so mayst thou rise  
At Fortune's next rebound, and stand for wise.   

38. To a Red-eyed Conjurer.  
Thine Eyes, like fire-balls, show how hot thou art  
In love with Hell, whose Lion rules thy heart.   

39 To Sir Andrew Knyveton, in his Travail.  
IF wishes, fastened to the wings of Love,  
May overtake you, and auspicious, prove,  
I wish you power (in a solid soul  
And a sound body) Fortune to control;  
I wish you tenfold wisdom may obtain  
To his, that ten years wandered on the Main;  
I wish this Travail may bring forth your fame,  
I wish you best and happiest of your name,  
I wish all graces on your heart distilled,  
And lastly wish these wishes all fulfilled.   

40. To the same at his Return.  
Welcome to us, as is the Morning lay  
Of the raised Lark, (glad Ushex of the Day)  
To wearied Watchmen: for our duller hearts  
Scarce leapt from sorrow since you left our parts:  
But when their livelier palpitation told  
Your near approach, scarce could our heartstrings hold  
Our gladness. This Vlyssean course of yours  
Us of your worthier qualities assures,  
Whose Knowledge is (no doubt) by travail so  
Improved, that still you will beyond us go.   

41. An Epitaph on Mistress Grace, Grandmother to Sir Andrew Kniveton.  
LO here dear Relics of the richest frame  
Of Beauty, by whose fall the Paschall Lamb  
(Her honoured Crest) a golden Fleece hath lost,  
Kept here by Death, till with a glorious Host,  
Not jason, but our blessed jesus come,  
Sailing on clouds, to fetch this Treasure home.   

42. On Gentry.  
I saw once (on a Hill in Wales)  
Th'old Herald Time with dusty Scales  
Weighing of Gentry, and close by  
Stood the blind Goddess secretly.  
Those that were brainless, light, and vain,  
Did mount aloft; and those again  
That had their weight of worth, did fall  
Low as this earthly Pedestal:  
And still as Fortune pleased, she made  
The Balance move, and laughed, and played  
Her wanton pranks (too seriously)  
Ah ha, are these your tricks? thought I;  
Then is the cause by Fortune found,  
Why Gallants float, and Wits are drowned.   

43. Gluttons and Lechers.  
Gluttons are heavy hulks, that scarce can steer;  
But Lechers are light Friggots, here and there.   

44. The Life of Man.  
Man's life is but a cheating game  
At Cards, and Fortune plays the same,  
Packing a Queen up with a Knave,  
Whilst all would win, yet none do save,  
But lose themselves: for Death is it,  
That lastly cuts, and makes his hit.   

45. To Master Farnaby.  
Sith by the labour of thy smoothing hand  
We think we do rough Persius understand,  
The Criticke-vext Petronius, juvenal,  
The full-mouthed Maro, witty Martial.  
The Tragedies of high-strained Seneca,  
The noble Lucan's brave Pharsalia,  
With the wise Morals of the Stagyrite,  
And Epigrams which Grecian Muses write:  
We ne'er shall recompense thy pain; but Fame  
Will crack her Trumpet for't, and sound thy Name.   

46. To old Sir john Harpur of Swarston, deceased.  
AS did cold Hebrus with deep groans  
The Thracian Harper once lament,  
So art thou with incessant moans  
Bewailed by thy doleful Trent,  
While the astonished Bridge doth show  
(Like an Arch-mourner) heaviest woe.   

47. On Martial Boggard.  
Boggard, the Soldier, chancing in the Street  
With a weake-witted Citizen to meet,  
That would admire his brags, began of Wars  
To thunder dreadfully, and boast his scars,  
Filling his mouth with names of men at Arms,  
With Musters, Marches, Stratagems, Alarms,  
With Sallies, Camisadoes, Batteries,  
Slashing and slaughtering of his Enemies;  
Which he so lively acts, as he had been  
At deadly blows; when strait a Sergeant seen,  
Makes him blow for't indeed, and's cloak let fly,  
Who thus both Ensign lost, and victory.   

48. To Master Pestle of Packinton.  
Lo here her labours doth my Muse commend  
To you, her Phoebus, and her choicest friend;  
Whose knowledge, brightened with a beam divine,  
Doth through the frowning clouds of envy shine,  
Making its splendour (like that desert flame)  
A guide to bliss, a column to your fame.   

49. An Epitaph on Mistress Anne Roberts of Naylston.  
Stay, Passenger, and see thy journey's end,  
Take sorrow in thy way, and kindly spend  
One pearly tear, t'enrich this Monument,  
Which a sole Son to a dear Mother lent:  
Whose life (her Country's loss) did still abound  
With fruits of grace, to be with glory crowned;  
And (as these 
* White Characters in black Marble.  Letters, which her worth contain)  
Was fairly white, without black vices stain:  
But life's best treasure wasteful time will spend;  
Go, passenger, thou seest thy journey's end.   

50. To Dabbler.  
Thy Muses loser Robes with many a trick  
Are jagged, pinked, stuck with Flowers of Rhetoric,  
That smell all Poesy; yet please they none.  
How happens that? they're out of fashion.   

61. Engrossers.  
How do you shave the City against the hair!  
And even would intercept the common Air,  
Were't in your power! yet you leave us breath,  
To fly in ourses after you to death.  
But sith you put us to such public loss,  
Take all our faults too, and be knaves in gross.   

62. An Epitaph on Alexander Hill.  
An Alexander, and a Hill  
(Two lofty things) did envious Death  
At once dismount, and thus doth kill  
Our hearts too by his loss of breath,  
Whose thoughts with Virtue did advise,  
And honoured truth, yet here he lies.   

63. To a Detractor.  
Thou still art darting (like a Porcupine)  
Thy quills against me, faulting every line  
That my hand draws, and with the frost-like power  
Of thy benumbed verse would nip the flower  
Of thy sweet Poesy. I wish thee show  
More favour to thyself, than thus to blow  
Sparks in thine eyes. Art thou not (slave) afeard  
To pluck a couchant Lion by the beard,  
That roused will rend thee? thou but shootest in vain  
Thy bolts of folly, that rebound again  
From my unpierced Muse, whose lofty rhyme  
Shall (Diall-like) stand in the face of time,  
And look it down, when thou and thine shall lie  
Damned up with Dust in blind Obscurity.  
On Twitchup, the Usurer.  
At once his money and his judgements eye  
This wretch puts forth, lest Hell should terrify.   

64. An Epitaph on William Holorenshaw, the Mathematician.  
Lo, in small closure of this earthly bed  
Rests he, that heavens vast motions measured:  
Who, having known both of the Land and Sky  
More than famed Archimed or Ptolemy,  
Would further press, and like a Palmer went  
With's jacobs Staff beyond the Firmament.   

56. To Briskape the Gallant.  
Though thou hast little judgement in thy head,  
More than to dress thee, drink, and go to bed,  
Yet mayst thou take the wall, and th' way shalt lead,  
Sith Logic wills that simple things precede.   

57 On a French Knight, and Mistress Wolsley  
A wanton Knight, borne, wed, and cursed in France,  
Came to our English Court, and there by chance  
Woos, and re-weds a fair and virtuous Maid:  
Which wrong of love being by time bewrayed,  
He (lest his Weddings Destiny should turn  
To Hanging) leaves his second choice to mourn:  
Who Wife, nor Widow, Maid nor Whore doth prove.  
What is she then? a Quintessence in love.   

58. To the Slanderer, Stinks.  
Could I but work a Transformation strange  
On thee, whose malice pricks and rankles so,  
I would thy Carrion to a Thistle change,  
Which Asses bait upon, and Rustics mow.   

59 To Sir Gilbert Knyveton. ANAGRAMME. Turn to be Kingly.  
HE that can rule his little Isle of Man,  
(Girt with a waving Main of misery,  
And his affects to laws of Reason can  
Rightly submit, may claim a Monarchy;  
And by such Empire may more honour gain  
Than he that serves his Gold, yet Masters Spain.   

60. To a Musician, on his hurt finger.  
Thy Lute, that late seemed in a desperate case,  
(Like a torn vagrant without Hat or Band)  
May hope to have its Treble match the Base,  
Sith thy hurt finger's on the mending hand.   

61. An Epitaph on Captain Knyveton.  
HEre lies a Traveller, (that least would lie)  
One that in Belgia, France, and Tuscany,  
With other Regions of remoter site,  
In a progressive warfare took delight;  
But being now with Peace more highly blessed,  
Hath laid his Musket by, and here's his Rest.   

62. The brevity of Man's life.  
Who would regard this brunt of life? which is  
In times long tract a short parenthesis,  
Drawn with bend lines upon (this earthly stage)  
Of creeping infancy and crooked age.   

63. To Mistress Dorothy Harpur, (now the Lady Fitzherbert.) ANAGRAMME. Pure Hart I hoard.  
LEt stupid worldlings stuff their chests with gold;  
Their glittering pelf doth no proportion hold  
With the Souls beauties, nor so safe doth lie  
As thy rich worth, whose breast's a treasury.   

64. To Mr. William Robert's watchmaker.  
Kind friend, that, in this iron age unkind,  
Dost work thy Fortunes out of Brass, and find  
That mettle softer than the hearts of friends:  
Be rich in patience, till a fair amends  
Fortune shall make, who downright cannot wound  
One that a head-piece bears so strong and sound.   

76. An Epitaph on the King of Sweden.  
HEre lies a sparkling gem of honour, quenched  
In dear effused blood, and sadly drenched  
In a salt Ocean of inundant tears:  
Yet lofty Fame (in clouds triumphing) bears  
His name: that in more heavenly Poems like  
Phoebus shall shine, and Austria Planet-strike.   

76. To William jernegan, Gent. Anagramme. I value my Learning;  
Well mayst thou value at the highest price  
That plant, that makes thy brain a Paradise:  
To whose rare excellent the gems most bright  
But cloudy are, and solid gold too light.   

77. To Captain Roberts.  
Captain, that Conquered haste my heart  
By force of Love, and truly art  
To truth and innocence an aid:  
Nor art (as others) basely swayed  
By gifts or favours of the great,  
In a bad cause to swear and sweat:  
While such as I (whose hearts do hold  
Clear truth, not troubled much with gold)  
Of villain's wrongs might oft complain,  
Yet tune our windpipes still in vain:  
My strongest verse shall guard your name,  
And Bulwark it 'gainst bold defame,  
Whilst you against the wrack of time,  
Shall stand as Genius to my Rhyme.   

78. To Trent.  
Sweet River, on whose flowery Margin laid,  
I with the slippery Fish have often played  
At fast and loose: when ere th'enamoured air  
Shall in soft sighs mine echoed accents bear,  
Gently permit the smother verse to slide  
On thy sleek bosom, and in triumph ride  
Unto the Main: where when it sounds along,  
Let Triton's dance, and Sirens learn my song.   

79. To Swarston.  
Swarston, when I behold thy pleasant sight,  
Whose River runs a progress of Delight,  
Joyed with the beauties of fresh flowery plains,  
And bounteous fields, that crown the Ploughman's pains:  
I sigh (that see my native home estranged)  
For Heaven, whose Lord and tenures never changed.   

80. On Pillared with his Periwig.  
Pillared, thy Head seems in a monstrous case,  
That wears a French crown with an English face.   

81. To Grace-dieu.  
Grace-dieu, that under Charnwood standest alone,  
As a grand Relic of Religion,  
I reverence thine old (but fruitful) worth,  
That lately brought such noble Beaumont's forth,  
Whose brave Heroic Muses might aspire,  
To match the Anthems of the Heavenly Quire.  
The mountains crowned with rockey fortresses,  
And sheltering woods, secure thy happiness,  
That highly favoured art (though lowly placed)  
Of Heaven, and with free nature's bounty graced,  
Herein grow happier, and that bliss of thine,  
Nor Pride overtop, nor Envy undermine.   

82. On a cursed wife.  
What painful sorrows wretched man consume!  
That burned with Fevers is, or drowned with Rheum.  
Racked with Convulsions, wrung with Stranguries,  
Fe●ter'd with Gouts, or gored with Pleurisies.  
If all such mischiefs throw not down his life  
To Hellward, damn him to a scolding wife.   

83. On Poets.  
These Darlings of free Nature want no vigour  
Of brain, and therefore to grow rich are liker  
Than weaker heads, and might be blessed with Angels,  
(For which the Soldier fights, and Lawyer wrangles)  
Did not their lofty Fancies 'bove the Welkin  
Still soar, whilst others are for Treasures delving.  
But fie, my verse is foundered, all this time  
I dreamed on riches, I but raved in time.   

84. Our Grandames infirmities.  
Earth had her dropsy in th' all-drowning Flood,  
And now expects her burning Fever near:  
Her Pleurisies effusions are of blood  
By wars: her Agues, tremble of her Sphere:  
Which whether yet it prove vertiginous  
With round rotations, ask Copernicus,   

85. Of War.  
War's like a cursed wife, whence a man may cull  
Some fruits of goodness, (though of mischief full:)  
For those land-surfeits wanton peace doth breed,  
War by incision cures, when Kingdoms bleed.   

86. On Scheltco, the ginger.  
Scheltco, that saw the heavenly Squadrons ranged  
In a strange fashion, and their postures changed,  
Pretended by those starry lights to see  
That the World's end in Eighty Eight should be:  
And so too thought the Spaniards, (as appears)  
That took their leave of it with brinish tears.   

87. To john Fretchvile Esquire.  
A Good man's Centre is his Country's love,  
Whither your weighty worth doth swiftly move  
After your fathers, whom to honour, bright  
Phoebus did friendly aim, and hit the 
* Sir Peter Fretchvile was honoured by the name of the White Knight.  white.   

88 The New World.  
Some in the Moon another World have found,  
Whose brighter parts are Seas, the darker, Ground:  
Which were it true, we should have Moone-calves tossed  
From those sharp whirling Horns to every Coast:  
And a wild World it were, and full of tricks,  
Where all Inhabitants were Lunatics.   

89. On Sir Philip Sidney.  
Idols I hate, yet would to Sidneys' wit  
Offer Castalian healths, and kneel to it.   

90. To Charnwood.  
Charnwood, if all thy Stones were turned to Bread,  
(As once the Fiend did such a motion make)  
It would be more than Zerxes fed,  
Or Tenariffe and Aetna both could bake;  
And hungry Churls (that rail at Soldiers)  
Would rend up Rock-bread, and turn pioneers.   

91. On a Woman.  
When Man lay dead-like, Woman took her life  
From a crooked Emblem of her Nuptial strife;  
And hence (as bones would be at rest) her ease,  
She loves so well, and is so hard to please.   

92. On the same.  
Woman was once a Rib, (as Truth hath said)  
Else, sith her tongue runs wide from every point,  
I should have dreamed her substance had been made  
Of Adam's whirle-bone, when it was out o'th'joynt.   

93. On the motion of the Stars.  
Artists affirm that from the burning Line  
Some Stars of Aries Northward now decline,  
And the slow-paced Cynosure appears  
Nearer the fixed Pole, than in former years:  
No marvel then blind Mortals walk astray,  
When heavens clear eyes have lost their wont way.   

94. On Gluttony and Lechery.  
These fleshly Factors for the Devil deal,  
The one in gross, the other by retail.   

97. To the Honourable Esquire, JOHN MANORS' of HADDON.  
YOur Honoured ancestor was styled King  
Of the high Peake, for royal Housekeeping:  
And well your self approves your noble strain  
Of Kindred, by that bounty you maintain:  
Whose rareness in this iron age betrays  
A golden Mind, and precious makes your praise.   

98. To our Queen MARIE.  
HOw are You compassed with a Ruby-chayne  
Of hearts, dear Queen! that with an endless reign  
Of joy unto You: whose sweet name to all  
Sounds mirth, and seems a heavenly Uirginall.   

99 To Vicar Blunder.  
Those iron Lungs of thine, and throat of brass,  
(To whose cracked bore loud Stentors windpipe was  
But a small Reed) cannot with vengeance sack  
Our garnished walls, or painted windows crack.  
Whereat thou weep'st, as if the fervent pain  
Of zealous grief did melt thy Leaden brain:  
Yet (as a puddle soon congeals to Ice)  
Thou strait art hardened to thy quaffing vice.  
Thus deep mouthed Thumper, after fruitless pain  
In hunting Counter, falls to's lap again.   

100 On john the Warrener, fall'n in love with joan the Net-worker.  
T'entrapIntrap poor creatures he accounts no sin,  
But is himself now taken with a Gin.   

101. To the Lord Uerulam.  
Had I a tongue of all Friar Bacon's brass,  
Which should (they say) have walled this Island round,  
I scarcely could how deep thy knowledge was,  
With all the strength of such an Organ sound  
Fame cannot do't, her trumpet it would split:  
Why then should words blow wind on such a wit?   

105. To Nathaniel Carpenter, on his Geography.  
So well I like the structure of thy Sphere,  
(Whereon thou seem'st an obeliske to rear  
To thy fame's wonder,) that my Muse prefers  
Thy skill before th' Ephesian 
* Cherisiphons' Architect of Diana's Temple.  Carpenters.   

106. To a Tell-tale.  
Thy glowing ears, to hot contention bend,  
Are not unlike red Herring, broiled in Lent.   

107. To Baull, the Crier.  
In thy rude Parish (as thou dost profess)  
thou'rt like the Baptist in the wilderness:  
Yet ere for conscience off thy head should go,  
Thou wouldst not cry Oyes, but roar out No.   

108. To our King CHARLES.  
YOur royal Father our right Atlas was,  
And you as high this happy Realm sustain,  
Whose wisdoms glory (as a gemmy glass  
For noblest Kings) outshines the Arctic wain.  
So, though bright jupiter were set, the skies  
Could lack no lustre, when the Sun did rise.   

109. On deaf joan, the Alewife.  
She prates to others, yet can nothing hear,  
Just like a sounding jug, that wants an ear.   

110. Copernicus' his opinion.  
Copernicus' did think those Orbs above,  
Stood as Spectators, while the earth did move:  
Nor did he far from ground of reason stray,  
Sith earth takes pains, and Heaven keeps holiday.   

111. To our Prince CHARLES.  
RIch sum of all our hopes on Earth,  
Great Heir of England, at your birth  
Heaven put his cloudy tresses by,  
And smiled on us with open sky,  
Whilst all the Planets seemed to throw  
Their golden radiance at your brow.  
A clear presage, that favours shall  
From Heaven upon your Highness' fall,  
And thence on us reflecting, glance  
On the glibbe Ocean into France.   

112. To Sir THOMAS OVERDO BURY, on his Wife.  
Others by Children lengthen out their life,  
Thou only art eternised by thy wife.   

113. To Zounds the Swaggerer.  
What dost thou mean to revel roar, and spend?  
To drink, and drab, and swear so? wilt thou rend  
Thy way to Hell? The Devil will spy day  
At a small hole, and snatch his Chuck away.   

114. To the same.  
What Gulfe's within thee, that thou swallow'st so?  
Is it to drown all thirst before thou go  
To that Infernal hothouse? such a ground  
Of reason's deeper than I list to sound.   

115. A point of hard fortune.  
A thief, that of a Ram had gelt the Flock,  
And tied him 'bout his neck, upon a Rock  
Laid his fat load, intending there to rest  
His weary shoulders: but the captive beast  
Straining and struggling for release, at last  
Beyond the pointed stone his body cast,  
Whose weight crushed out the felon's breath anon,  
That was both strangely hanged, and died o'th' Stone.   

116. To George Slanders, on his Marriage.  
Thy baseness used thy Friend in hostile sort,  
But hath not Wedlock snared the Woodcock for't?   

117. To Th. Ch. Esquire.  
Your noble Genius holds (as doth appear)  
The very shadows of the Muses dear,  
Who with proud maintenance have leavened those,  
That scarce will give you thanks in humble Prose,  
Nor in high Verse can do't: So on a sink  
Shines lovely Phoebus, though his object stink.   

118. To Shakespeare.  
Thy Muse's sugared dainties seem to us  
Like the famed Apples of old Tantalus:  
For we (admiring) see and hear thy strains,  
But none I see or hear, those sweets attains.   

119. To the same.  
Thou hast so used thy Pen, (or shook thy Spear)  
That Poets startle, nor thy wit come near.   

120. To Aston Cokaine, Esquire.  
He that with Learning, Virtue doth combine,  
May (though a Laic) pass for a divine  
Piece of perfection. Such to all men's sight  
Appears yourself: who, if you take delight  
In these composures, your applausive show  
Will stamp conceits, and make them currant go.   

121. The World.  
The World's a Forest, (maimed with fatal strokes)  
Where Wolves and Foxes are wild youths desires,  
Where dead men Ashes are, the living, Oakes;  
And Cats and Women are but scratching Briers.   

122. On Blinkes, a pretender to Poetry.  
He nine ways looks, and needs must learned be,  
That all the Muses at one view can see.   

123. To William Coke Esquire.  
IF Gallants would your ways of goodness choose,  
Each Gentleman would gentle manners use.  
And (to our honour) th' English Court would be  
A Highgate, leading to fair courtesy.   

124. An Epitaph on Mris. Hope Alford.  
Keep off, prophaner feet; here sleeping lies  
A sacred Nymph, that virtue did adore,  
And treasured all the blessings of the skies:  
Whose well-fraught vessel, hasting to the shore,  
Struck deep into these Sands: but with a tide  
Of glory shall be raised, and stellified.   

125. Peace and War.  
Weapons in peace grow hungry, and will eat  
Themselves with rust: but War allows them meat.   

126. An adumbration of Man's life.  
As't pleased the Father of all lights, he made  
Man as a Gnomon, and his life the shade:  
Which, when it hath been this and that way thrown  
In any projects, with a breath is gone.   

127. Dulman to Ignoramus.  
Friend, thou this Term the brabbling Boors hast gelt,  
And growest so fat, thy belly rots thy Belt.   

128. Ignoramus his reply.  
What should I do but geld them? when so kind  
The Rustics are, to give me wealth for wind.   

129. To Sir john Fitzherbert of Narbury.  
SOme worthy cause doth make your Country hold  
Yourself so dear: It is sweet courtesy,  
And goodness, that adorns you more than gold,  
And wins more honour than a crown can buy.  
For though great vices titles rot, the fame  
Of virtue keeps her sound, and spreads her name.   

130. An Epitaph on Fox the Tinker.  
Here under resteth (deep-earthed in his grave)  
A Fox old and wily, that smelled of a Knave:  
Yet every day mending, grew holier of late,  
And took's hammer with him to knock at Heaven gate.   

131. On Pride.  
Why Pride to others doth herself prefer,  
The reason's clear, she's heir to Lucifer.   

132. The Miller to the King.  
Scorn not the Miller, King: for thou with wind  
Thy Mill-like frame dost move, and viands grind  
Into thy stomaches bag; and Death that takes  
Toll in a Coffin, no distinction makes.   

133. On Captain Milward, lying dead upon Trent bank.  
Behold (like treasure in the Bank) a son  
Of Mars, that had his father's honour won  
Out of the fire, yet in water died,  
And thus his thirst of glory satisfied.   

134. On the same.  
For thy death's sake (noble friend)  
Be no man before his end  
Happy thought, though flattering fame  
Fix amongst the Stars his name:  
He that leans on wealth or strength,  
Breaks his staff, and falls at length.   

133. To john Milward Esquire:  
Though nature's force for such a brother's fate  
Your tears exact, yet cease to macerate  
Yourself: the water-Nymphs enough for all  
Will weep, and keep a fluent funeral.   

136. To Doctor Donne.  
Thy Muse's gallantry doth far exceed  
All ours; to whom thou art a Don indeed.   

137. To the Lords of the privy Council.  
You, that the eyes of this fair Island are,  
How much concerns it you to have a care  
That you from films of ignorance be free,  
From pearls of pride, and rheums of gluttony,  
Nor in the flatterer's Fennel take delight,  
But herb of Grace, that makes a perfect sight!   

138. The four Elements.  
Nature's large Empire of Tetrarchy  
Of Elements consists, that mutually  
Make war: what wise man then can hope for rest,  
Whom four unruly Naturals molest?   

139. On a good Physician over-matched with an ill wife.  
All Herbs that painful Dioscorides,  
Or Theophrast, or twenty such as these  
Have ere described, his vast Learning knewes,  
Yet almost hath forgot where Hearts-case grows.   

140. On Nell Lusty.  
Charon's unwearied Boat to burning Hell  
Carried all comers; so does rampant Nell.   

141. On Celestial bodies.  
Some make the Heaven a quintessential frame,  
And some the Stars but Elemental fire:  
Who would the Problem clear, let him the same  
Of Lucifer (the Morning Star) inquire.   

142. Death, a sure friend.  
The Flesh and Spirit ever fight are,  
But Death soon parts them: Is't not then a friend,  
That our dull terrene muster off doth pair,  
And makes the flame-like form to Heaven ascend?   

143. A Cure for Impatience.  
Who Patience wants, a Rod to him prefer,  
And let him Angler turn, or Schoolmaster.   

144. On the same.  
Who would be patient, wait he at the Pool  
For Bull-heads, or on Blockheads in the School.   

145. To I. P. an old Fencer.  
Jack, thou hast often ventured for the Prize  
Of Fortitude, and art reputed wise:  
For, being beaten to the World, and well  
Stricken in years, thy prudence may excel.   

146. Time altars all things.  
All suffer change; by turns we rise and fall  
Of Time, that serves his Process upon all.   

147. To Gilbert Knyveton, Gentleman.  
YOu bear his Name that bear me much goodwill,  
And bound me with the golden ties of Love  
T'address my service to his Offspring still:  
Whose true devoir may it accepted prove,  
So shall the wand'ring Star of my desire  
Be culminant, nor farther needs t'aspire.   

148. On Sleep.  
Sleep binds the Senses, but at liberty  
It sets the Soul, and mocks the fantasy  
With strange illusions, playing (jugler-like)  
At fast and loose, till Death in earnest strike.   

149. To Hugh the Crier.  
Thou still dost bawl and brabble, none knows why;  
That all the Town sounds of a Hugh and cry.   

150. A good wits diet.  
That which upholds our tottering walls of flesh  
Is food; and that which doth our wits refresh  
Is wholesome Study: for like stronger Fare  
Be solid Arts, but Sweetmeats Poems are.   

151. To the prime Lady Fainebe.  
When thou beholdest in thy Mimic Glass  
Thy form, that most of Beauties doth surpass  
In Nature's dainties, wisely then compare  
Thy Feature to thy Mirror bright and fair,  
But frail and brittle, shattered with one blow  
Into a thousand splinters: thus bestow  
Thy cogitations, and thy plumes of pride  
Low as thy Grave will fall, and there abide.   

152. To Sir Landless Ramkin.  
What? art thou Knighted? why, thy means are small,  
And thy flush Lady now will lavish all  
Upon her ●●cke, save what she doth bestow  
Upon thy brow, to make thy Knighthood show.   

156. To the same.  
Knighthood's come on thee (as a man should throw  
Gold on a dunghill,) and thy Lady so  
Suits with thy gredtnes, that her gown will be  
In stead of coat of arms, and honour thee.   

157. To Doctor Butler, in his last sickness.  
How angry seems the Fates at thee,  
(Rare man!) that thousands hast set free  
From their arrests▪ and (sure) didst make  
Those adamantine Sisters quake,  
Lest through thine Art their power should  
Both be contemned and controlled:  
But Death into his vengeful jaws,  
This Butler's self now rudely draws.   

158. To the Lord Sillysense.  
Your greatness with your Dwarf delights to pass  
The time, and makes your Fool your lookingglass.   

159. To Captain james, after his intended discovery of the Northwest passages.  
Captain, that hast endured ten thousand knocks  
Against floating Isles of Ice, and settled Rocks,  
Outdaring tempests with undaunted sense,  
And dulling sharpest colds with patience,  
Meeting more dangers than each tedious day  
Had hours: too ill proud Fortune did repay  
Thy hazard: yet (to th'honour of thy name)  
The Northwest passage proved thy way to Fame.   

160. On the Searchers of the Northwest passage.  
Those that make proof of what the Spaniards say,  
Of that short Cut into the Southern Maine,  
Are like young Gallants that with Cheaters play  
At passage, and with loss repent in vain.   

161. Love's Remedy.  
Withdraw the fuel from Love's piercing fire  
By abstinence, or come not near unto't  
By dalliance; so mayst thou quench desire:  
If not, let marriage for thee do't.   

162. The Pulpits complaint of a Diabolical Liar,  
Strong was I built, else had I surely been  
Crushed to the ground by thy grand weight of sin,  
Whose pride hath fathered many a loathsome lie,  
On the sweet Saints, Bernard and Hillary,  
Grave Augustine, with others; and doth vent  
More foolish Bulls, than ere the Popedom sent  
Into the world: nor ever Sermon makes,  
But strait turns vagrant, and the text forsakes.  
Base son of Levi, that didst never know  
Thy father, nor thy pedigree canst show  
By th'book: if yet thou hast one grain of grace,  
Rub off that brazen morphew from thy face,  
Do as the beggar on a Sunny day  
Does by his Lice, throw base lies away,  
And either ballast that light skull of thine  
With learning's weight, that makes a grave Divine,  
Or at the Altars horns (for oaths and lies)  
Hang a worse Priest than ere did sacrifice.   

163. The Liar.  
Twelve stones wore Aaron on his breast, but I  
Look but for one, the 
* The whetstone.  Emblem of a lie.   

164. Naked Love.  
Nature allows her Birds and Beasts to wear  
Light armour of warm Feathers, Wool, and Hair,  
And unto man gives providence, t'enfold  
Himself in garment▪ against invasive cold:  
Why then should tender Love be left to go  
Naked alone? because 'tis hottest so.   

165. An Epitaph on George Agard, Gent.  
Here lies in a dead sleep (unheard and unseen)  
Not high George a horseback, nor stout Georg a Green,  
But jovial George Agard, made round as a Bowl,  
From Tavern to Alehouse the better to ●owle.  
Who amongst witty Clerks many pounds having spent,  
Whipped Petties for pennies, and thus was content  
In School to do penance by paynes-taking great,  
That so with his own rod himself he might beat.  
Thus casting the flesh down, his Spirit did even  
Mount up at rebound, to drink Nectar in Heaven.   

166. On Nuptial love.  
Adam (before his fall) did fall alone  
In love with Eve, who offspring yet had none;  
So that the prime and liveliest touch of all  
Love's Consorts, is th' affection conjugal.   

167. On Church-bells.  
Some novelists, that Conscience most pretend  
With Caps and Surplisses themselves offend;  
Others dare rail at other matters else,  
As at the Ring, but few against the Bells:  
Which should they tax, the Ropes would undertake  
To answer for them, and all quiet make.   

168. Evacuation of the four humours.  
Man's head is purged (as Galens sons declare)  
Of Blood and Phlegm by th' Nose, and by the Hair  
Of melancholic dross; but choler will  
Have him by th' ears, and that way vents her ill.   

169. On the King's jester.  
How plumpe's the Libertine! how rich and trim!  
He jests with others, Fortune jests with him.   

170. To cracking john.  
Fie, make not wise men mad by boasting so,  
Sith every child thy silliness doth know,  
Whose vaporous brain might in a Cherry-stone  
Be lodged; crackeed, and where's the kernel john?   

171. To Humphrey Okeover, Esquire.  
I sometimes heard a kind of Prophecy,  
That your name should in fair Longevity  
Equal the Tree of jove: which may it bide  
Like Royal Cedar, never putrified,  
Nor otherwise impaired; so sound a fame  
To you I wish, and your well-timbered name.   

172. To Robert Lincoln, Gentleman.  
Dear Sir, your Fates look, as our Proverb says,  
The devil looked o'er Lincoln, and would raise  
Contempt against your worth; whose honoured name  
Stands Ensigne-like, defying base defame.   

173. On Thomas Draper, Gentleman.  
I need not wrap this Draper in the clean  
Linen of plausive Verse, and yet I mean  
That the indearements of our love shall go  
In as fair dress as my Muse can show.  
For our affections have with many a grain  
Of Salt been seasoned, and will still remain  
Sound and unshooke, while Thousands will their hands  
To Friendship set, yet break her strictest bands.   

174. To T. R.  
How shall I plague thee for thy villainies!  
That mean thy beaten bulk to pulverize,  
And in an Hourglass (while swift Time can fly)  
Toss, turn, and vex thy powder piteously.   

175. To Sir Henry Merry deceased.  
When I have numbered all the golden grains  
By Tagus washed, or gems in hidden veins  
Of the deep Earth, then may I here recite  
Thy fair and rich endowments, worthy Knight:  
Which since we want, we weep, as if we would  
Supply with Pearls what dearer was than Gold:  
But (tears exhausted) sadly sigh alone,  
And frown at mirth, now noble Merry's gone.   

176. On old Trudge the Termer.  
Thy practice hath small reason to expect  
Good terms, that doth fair honesty neglect.   

177. Christmas in a Consumption.  
Old Christmas seems a weakling child again,  
(A Child of twelve days old) nor can contain  
Himself from soft tears and excessive moan,  
Now his kind Nurse, good Housekeeping, is gone.  
Cooks (that their fingers licked) their hands may wring,  
And Butlers o'er their sounding Hogsheads sing  
Sad notes: for now their Offices are thrown  
Upon the back of Pride, and all's her own.   

178. On the Ocean.  
How strangely doth the humid Ocean move  
By some impulsion from the Spheres above!  
And seems indeed a less terrestrial sky,  
Whose bubbles, stars; and foame's the Galaxy.   

179. An Epitaph on Walter Merry, Gent.  
Here buried lies his kindred's top,  
And flower of worth renowned,  
Whom ruder fates too soon did crop,  
T' Embosomed thus in ground:  
Who, having drunk the heavenly dew  
Of grace, blind Nature's guide,  
Strait (like the Heliotrope) withdrew,  
Closed up his sweets, and died.  
Ye virgin Nymphs, with many a tear  
Your Christ all Viols fill,  
And all those liquid treasures here  
Upon this Grave distil,  
That Roses here and Violets  
From beauty sown below  
May spring, to deck your Coronets,  
And sweeten all your woe.   

180. On old Shark.  
Shark bade me to his roast, but in the end  
Forced me to pay both for myself and friend:  
Thus (though a Coward) showed he mettle yet,  
In beating of me with a silver spit.   

181. To Bertholdus Swart, Inventor of the Gun.  
Berthold, thou aptly wast surnamed Swart,  
From the black mischief, which thy darksome Art  
First brought to light: whereat the Furies frown  
To see their torturing Engines all put down  
By one of thine, whose thunder made to shake  
Hell's deepest groundwork, and the Devils quake;  
Yea, mightiest armies hath to spoil full death  
Sent with a powder, and deprived of breath  
More than all Mars his brondirons ere did kill,  
Yet gapes for prey, and roars for 〈…〉   

182. The greatest Clerks, not the wisest men.  
What fancies float in some men's heads! as those  
That in the 
* two Northern asterisms.  Dragon and great Bear suppose  
Some Stars to shine, whose power hales amain  
The marine waters towered the Arctic wain:  
Which were to make that pair of Beasts to draw  
More than all ere were yoked, or Nature saw.   

183. On Tobacco taking.  
Th'old Germane, that their Divinations made  
From Ass' heads upon hot embers laid,  
Saw they but now what frequent fumes arise  
From such dull heads, what could they prophetize  
But speedy firing of this worldly frame,  
That seems to stink for fear of such a flame.   

184. Maids and Wives.  
Maids are white papers, which no hand did bind:  
But wives are blotted books, and interlined.   

The praise of Poverty.  
If smallest thread the choicest cloth doth yield,  
If finest herbage make the daintiest field:  
Then slender poverty, wrought with so small  
And thin a fortune, must be best of all.   

185. To William Lilly.  
Grand Schoolmaster, some livelier twigs of Bays  
Shall stick thy Tomb, that meritest ample praise:  
For though the Laurel never Lily bear,  
Yet such a Lily may the Laurel wear.   

186. On Excessive drinking.  
Is aged Nature so exhausted and dry,  
That men now drink so much, so greedily?  
Or is Hell's torrid region nearer to  
Us than it sometimes was? It seemeth so:  
For towns smell hot of it in every nook,  
And husbands like her horned monsters look.   

187. On Carnal mirth.  
Mirth is but a Musicke-strayne,  
Played upon a fretted heart.  
Whose harsh strings so much complain  
Of the want of Wisdom's Art,  
That rude Death in discontent  
Strikes to ground the Instrument.   

188. To a young and wealthy wanton.  
I wonder not to see thee play, that art  
One of blind Fortune's puppies, pretty heart.   

189. The Egyptian Isthmus.  
Were Egypt's Isthmus cut, the Natives fear  
The angry Red-sea to the ground would bear  
Their Pyramids, and men like sheep would dye  
Of the Red water, stained with cruelty.   

190. The Prodigal, on himself.  
Ingenious Daedalus, whose Art outwent  
All fancies of the greeks, and did invent  
Large netlike sails, to catch all winds that blew,  
Which made the Poet's fable that he flew,  
Did scarce deserve so high a fame as I,  
That bravely make bright Gold and Silver fly.   

191. To old Canker, a wicked Gardener.  
Our Grandsire in a Garden fell, where thou  
All vicious licence dost thyself allow:  
Nor can sharp warnings penetrate thy heart,  
That in thy Trade of lewdness rooted art.   

192. To john Ford, the Poet.  
The Verse must needs be current (at a word)  
That issues from a sweet and fluent Ford.   

193. To his Brother john Bancroft deceased.  
You sold your Land, the lightlier hence to go  
To foreign Coasts: (yet Fates would have it so)  
Did ne'er New-England reach, but went with them  
That journey towards New jerusalem.   

194. The penitent Prodigal, to his loose-bodied Mistresses.  
Hence tempting trifles, hence, I here defy  
Your sighs and tears, your smiles and flattery.  
Your virtues are but vizards, and your wits  
But wandering flames, that lead men into pits.  
Be Fools your play-fellows; I'll trust no more  
Women than waves, that flow to every shore,  
Offering their forward boldness unto all,  
Yet when they are at proudest, backward fall.   

196. On Lust.  
Lust is a Wilderness, where wantoness sow  
Their wilder seeds, not caring how they grow.   

197. To justice Much-ill.  
You term yourself a Pillar of this Land,  
As if our Realm on rotten props did stand:  
But who their Tenants to the quick will pair,  
Not Pillars they, but Caterpillars are.   

198. A Prince and a Parasite.  
Like Cleopatra suckling of a Snake  
Is that unhappy Prince, that much doth make  
Of a base Parasite, that baskes in sin,  
And folds infection in a Lizards skin.   

199. Of Man.  
Man is an Engine, moved with Reason's weight,  
But Death, that stops his breath, unwinds him straight.   

200. Of the Aethiopian Mountain, Amara.  
On this fair Mountain, spherical and high,  
Stands (as fame goes) a precious Library,  
Where Livies' whole work, enoch's Oracles,  
Salomon's Physics, and some mysteries else  
That did survive the Flood, entreasured lie,  
Insulting o'er Times wasteful tyranny.  
O could I thither reach! then should I stand  
High in the Muse's grace, and all command.   

201. Man's gradation.  
We climb the slippery stair of Infancy,  
Of Childhood, Youth, of middle age; and then  
Decline, grow old, decrepit, bedrid lie,  
Bending to infant-weaknesse once again;  
And to our Cophines (as to Cradles go,  
That at the stair-foot stand, and stint our woe.   

202. To Envy.  
Envy, thy part so basely acted is,  
That even in contempt thy Snakes do hiss.   

203. On Greenwit Gosling.  
Gosling did want his Courtly terms of late,  
And did desire the wooing phrase to know:  
But having tendered love, with scornful hate  
Hath been repulsed, and finds the way to woe.   

204. Hope of preferment.  
A sweet enchantress is the flattering hope  
Of dignity, that gives the fancy scope  
To wander to Elysium, and doth keep  
The wit still waking, though the Conscience sleep.   

205. Love's Motion.  
Kind Love, whose motion deep affection shows,  
From th' outward sense to th' inward Centre goes.   

206. To Plots, a pretender to the Mathematics.  
Thou sayst, thou by thy figured Art dost know  
How much broad cloth about the earth will go.  
But would thy Charity a garment make  
For it, in honour mightst thou equal Drake,  
When Fame should say of two such men of note,  
Drake made the earth a girdle, Plots a coat.   

207. To Mr. Henry Mellor, the first Major of Derby.  
You seem the prime bough of an ample tree,  
Whereon if fair expected fruits we see:  
Whilst others fames with rank reproaches meet,  
As Mel or Manna shall your name be sweet.   

208. To Innocent Heartless, on his Imperious Wise.  
Not without cause thou still dost weep and pule,  
For still raines Winter where the wife doth rule.   

209. On Hypocrites in friendship.  
False friends are like to Cuckoos, that will haunt  
Our pleasant walks, and scurvily will chant  
I' th' Spring, and part of Summer: but of all  
The flock not one attends you at the fall.   

210. To Sir john Curzon.  
Your Ancestors were men of generous parts,  
Whose bounty (as in freehold) held all hearts:  
Yet were for solid wisdom short of you,  
That long were tutoured by a learned 
* Sir Thomas Crew his Father in law.  Crew.   

211. To a lying Victualler.  
False tales are like Trapdoors, which still to bolt  
With Oaths against the truth, is to revolt  
From him we vowed to follow, love, and fear.  
If therefore thou dost hold that jewel dear,  
For which our Lord a bloody price did pay,  
Give not the Devil leave a claw to lay  
Upon it, whiles thou wouldst the truth disprove,  
And (like thy hanged Sign) with each wind dost move.  
For he's above, that closest faults will bring  
To light, and call mine Host to th' reckoning.   

212. To Mistress Mutable.  
Love runs within your veins, as it were mixed  
With Quicksilver, but would be wisely fixed:  
For though you may for beauty bear the Bell,  
Yet ever to ring Changes sounds not well.   

213. To a Giglot, with her green sickness.  
Thy sickness mocks thy pride, that's seldom seen  
But in fools yellow, and the Lovers green.   

214. To john Gell, Esquire.  
If Gell from Gellius come, your pedigree  
May (like a Pike) be trailed from Italy:  
Whose far-famed valour the remotest parts  
Of Earth hath won, as you a world of hearts.   

215. On Wood of Kent, that prodigious Gormund.  
Some wondeer how the Stone Sarcophagus  
Consumes dead bodies with so quick a power,  
But I astonished am myself, that thus  
A walking Wood should such a mass devour  
Of meats, wherewith a Garrison might dine:  
His heart's of Oak sure, and his stomach Pine.   

216. Money, a fruitful commodity.  
As with coined Metals we our Trades maintain,  
So th' Indians Traffic with their fruits for gain:  
Yet do our dealings no less fruit infer  
Than theirs; How comes that? ask the Usurer.   

217. The English, too like the French.  
A Writer, skilled in Constellations, notes  
That England is overruled by Mercury:  
Which I believe, for Delos-like it floats  
In the waved humours of inconstancy.   

218. An Acrostic to Mistress Elizabeth Corbet.  
Express your worth I cannot, loveliest friend,  
Let those attempt it, whose rare wits ascend  
In righter lines above the vulgar sphere;  
So (as your form is) may your fame be clear,  
And all the wandering Stars in beauty's sky  
Be but as clouds beneath your Galaxy.  
Egregious Nymph! whose excellence refines  
These drossy fancies, and these weaker lines  
Helps to corroborate; if wishes could  
Crown merits, yours were precious stones and gold.  
O! could I on a loftier Muses wings  
Raise high my strains above terrestrial things,  
Bearing the golden treasure of your name  
(Endeared to Virtue) to the starry frame,  
Then should you Phoebe see (in honours show)  
To pluck her horns in, and her Orb forgo.   

219. To Tumbril Gullygut.  
Some Indian Ethnics use to sacrifice  
Their teeth, as things which they most highly prise,  
And think their gods delight in: wert thou one  
Of those, long since thy fangs had all been gone,  
And grinders too; but Hundreds (gladly blessed  
By such a loss) had wished thy bones good rest.   

220. On Pot-valiant Champions.  
Malta is famed for many warlike Wights;  
But Malt hath more of such, our Alehouse Knights.   

221. On joan Easie.  
joan turned a Trador in the Stews, when sent  
To lead a pure life in a Nunnery:  
And herein joan as jonas did, that bent  
His course to Tarsus, balking Ninivy.   

222. The Roman Eagle.  
The Roman Eagle, once with terror spread,  
Whose two heads East and West were brandished,  
Is now dismembered, having left but one  
Faint head, and almost all the feathers gone.  
No marvel then the crest-fallen bird doth quake,  
When War but strokes her, whom such aids forsake.   

223. To Nath. Bate, Gentleman.  
Kind Sir, you once did find me (to your cost)  
Where a loathed life usurping Richard lost:  
So may I lose mine own, when once I prove  
To you ingrate, or bate you ought in love.  
For sith the Patron mends the Poets Art.  
Well may you claim the tribute of my heart,  
Who wish your Muse's industry repaid  
With high respect, and mine her waiting-maid.   

224. On Pickwell the Miller.  
Pickwell must needs be a sweet youth (they say)  
Who lives by flowers and fine meals every day.   

225. To john Whiteall, Gentleman.  
Let no man think the first world's innocence  
Quite lost, nor seek prime goodness farther hence  
Than your calm breast, embeamed with Virtue's light,  
Whose Fame is like your Name, entirely white.   

226. To Canary Birds.  
The old Egyptians would not drink  
The Grapes strong juice, which they did think  
(In sober sadness) to be sprung  
From Giant's blood, as cause of wrong,  
Rage, lust, and other mischiefs more:  
But were it of Medusa's gore,  
And should contort your bodies to  
The forms of Snakes; yet would ye show  
Yourselves such loving worms to it,  
That (by instinct of winding wit)  
Ye would cling to the Goblet fast,  
And drink until your sloughs ye cast.   

227. To Master Thomas Lightwood.  
Names should give light to things, and so doth thine  
To thee, yet to obscureness doth oncline,  
And falsehood too: for weighty dost thou prove,  
That solid art in Learning, sound in Love.   

228. To Mammon's bondslaves.  
Near Sicily lies Sea-girt Strombolo,  
That seems to strive with Aetna, which should throw  
Most flames, and loudest roar: which when sometime  
Our Merchant Gresham did with Sailors climb,  
These words they heard, (while fear their flesh be-  
Dispatch, dispatch, the rich Antonio comes: (numbes)  
When one so named, (as they after found)  
Whose Chests with coin and curses did abound,  
Yet gaped for Gold still, at Palermo died.  
Was not this Mammon's voice, that did provide  
To entertain that Guest? what think ye, friends?  
If so, than worldlings, hasten to such ends  
Through Bills and Bonds, that at your wished repair  
You with your golden god may richly share,  
Where your intreasure hearts may ne'er be cold  
For fear of want, but swim in molten gold.   

229. A trial of right.  
Women and Metals by their sounds we know,  
(If not by touchstones) whether right or no.   

230. To the same.  
Thou rail'st at Rome, and dost her friends oppose;  
Yet bearest her Badge in chief, a Roman Nose.   

232. Of carnal pleasure.  
The strongest shaft, which to the metalled head  
The Devil draws, each loving heart to slay,  
Is that fond pleasure, which in lazybed  
Slips from the string of Lust, and hastes away.   

233. To Francis Quarles.  
My Muse did purpose with a pious strife  
To have traced out my sinless Saviour's life:  
But thou hadst launched into the Main (I hear)  
Before my Bark was rigged; which shall forbear  
To interrupt so praised an enterprise,  
('Bout which with Quarles no quarrels shall arise)  
Ply then thy steereage, while deficient gales  
My wishes still supply, and swell thy sails.   

234. To the Honourable Matron, the Lady GRACE. CAVENDISH.  
Fair Virtues which in single hearts take place,  
Are in a double sense the gifts of Grace.   

235. An Epitaph on Mistress Anne Port.  
Here lies a creature to be most admired,  
So good, and yet a woman: who aspired  
To sum all virtues up before her years,  
And scale by such ascents the heavenly Spheres  
Whereon she sits, comparing with the Sun  
The Diadem of glory she hath won,  
And joying to outshine him, makes the frame  
Of Heaven resound her mirth, as Earth her fame,  
Whilst we half wracked with losses of this sort,  
Like Seamen sigh, that want their wished Port.   

236. To the Lady Maunsfield, now the Countess of Newcastle. AN AGRAMME. All Fame liveth in Deeds.  
WHile those which nought save fruitless titles have,  
Bury their greatness in Oblivion's grave,  
Your real worth unto your Name shall give  
A royal fame, that in your deeds shall live.   

237. To his Muse.  
No enemy hath done me so much wrong  
As thou, that hast betrayed me with a song  
To shipwreck of my fortunes: yet such sport  
Thou dost afford me, that I hug thee for't;  
And those that most do envy thee, delight  
To see thee hover in thine Eagle-flight,  
And (proudly parched on a Meteors back)  
With joves' main Thunder vying crack for crack,  
While (Swallow-like) Detraction flies below,  
And chatters. For such feats I love thee so,  
That were the choice proposed, I should refuse  
Rich India's bosom, to embrace my Muse.   

238. To the Flower of Youngsters, Rose Verney.  
By some foreknowledge wert thou named Rose,  
Whose fame-blowne Beauty such a tincture shows  
Of vernal bravery, as may well compare  
With Venus' Flower, that in sweet and fair  
Dainties excels, yet is not without pricks;  
No more art thou: Blush Rose, I smell thy tricks.   

239. To Sir Charles Shirley, Baronet.  
COuld I but coin you in my mind, you should  
Be of the right stamp, as were all your old  
Forefathers, men of merit and renown,  
Whose meanest puts our modern Nobles down.  
Their Houses seemed as Hospitals for poor,  
And Charity still waited at their door,  
As Fame will upon you, whilst you aspire  
To equal their desert; and my desire.   
The end of the First Book.   

The second Book of Epigrams.  

1. To William Davenport, Esquire.  
YOur native sweetness, which you often have  
Diffused to others, boldens me to crave  
Your favour to this weakling work of mine:  
Whereon if your clear judgement deign to shine,  
All clouds of envy menacing my Verse  
I shall despise, and with one puff disperse.   

2. On Theological Virtue.  
virtue's a Bridge (near to the Cross, whereby  
We pass to happiness beyond the Spheres)  
Whose Arches are Faith, Hope, and Charity,  
And what's the water but repentant tears?   

3. Sin, like a Serpent.  
Sin's falsehood glistereth like the Serpent's kind,  
(From whence it crept) and bears a sting behind.   

4. On Drunkenness.  
The youngest of all vices (that I know)  
Is Drunkenness, which in the age of No  
First reeled into the World, and thus appears  
Like the Red Dragon, after thousand years:  
Yet sure to Hell this sucking Vice hath spewed  
More souls, than all that ancient multitude.   

5. On Devotion.  
Devotion's like an Eagle, making way  
Through cloudy Meteors, when she means to pray.   

6. God's Bounty.  
No mortal hath seen God, few heard him speak;  
(Hence is their love so cold, their faith so weak:)  
Yet all his goodness taste, which (like the shower  
On Gideons' Fleece) he on all flesh doth pour.   

8. On Lazarus in Abraham's Bosom.  
From sorrow's straits, wherein we launch our lives,  
In his hopes Haven Lazarus arrives,  
And wonders in how short a flight of time,  
He to that Crown of happiness could climb;  
From Rags and company of Dogs, to sort  
Himself with Princes of that glorious Court,  
There with those arms, that on the Altar placed,  
Our dying Saviour's lively type embraced.  
O blissful change! to be encircled so,  
What King would not his Diadem forgo?   

9 Mocking's Catching.  
jeer they that list, whose follies are professed:  
With sins or swords it is not safe to jest.   

10. The body and the soul.  
God at one instant did not make the whole  
Of man, but first the Body, than the soul:  
And hence the fleshly Rebel (for the right  
Of eldership) doth with the Spirit fight.   

11. Percolation of Waters.  
Sea-waters finding passage through the clay,  
Lose saltness, (as experienced Writers say)  
And with a sweeter relish please the sense:  
So, than the mournful tears of penitence,  
Which sinners through their earthen Organs strain)  
No water is more sweet, more sovereign.   

12. Faith and Love.  
The air doth first affect us, though the fire  
Be more Celestial, and more high aspire.  
So the first tendril of strait virtue's tree  
Is Faith, but the top branch is Charity.   

13. Of Nature.  
In Heavenly things mere Nature's blind and base,  
And like a meal of fragments without Grace.   

14. David and Goliath. Christ and Satan.  
Five stones took David, winning at one throw  
Goliah's head: and our meek Saviour so  
Five wounds received, that weapon-like did slay  
Th' Infernal Giant, and his Host dismay.   

15. The fall of Angels.  
Some say, the downcast Angels here and there  
Alighted, as they bodied Creatures were▪  
But whether some of them in Aire reside,  
Others in Water, or in Earth abide,  
It matters not: for (howe'er they fell)  
Who loseth God, finds every place his Hell.   

16. Strong encouragement.  
He acts as brave a part as David in  
Killing Goliath did, who conquers sin  
At the first onset: for that is to wound  
A Giant's front, and force him to the ground.   

17. Of Mortification.  
Sith Paradise is lost, look not to see  
God in soft pleasures walks: for surely he,  
That did to Moses in a Bush appear,  
Loves sharp compunction, and a life austere.   

18. To penitent Magdalen.  
Marry, but late the cage of Hell,  
Thy heavenly change what Muse can tell?  
Those twinkling eyes that did allure  
To sordid lust, now drop the pure  
Pearl of Contrition; and that hair  
That wandering Cupids did ensnare,  
And waved its pride in every street,  
Now humbly licks her Saviour's feet,  
And from those blessed roots derives  
Virtue, more worth than thousand lives.  
To cleanse thy stained affections then,  
Still weep and wipe, kind Magdalen.   

19 A beam of comfort.  
God that his splendour did to Moses show,  
From Egypt fled, will sure with comfort so  
Shine upon those, that gladly bid farewell  
To lust, whose lightness keeps us dark as Hell.   

20. On the two thiefs crucified with our Saviour.  
As jew and Gentile did his life oppose,  
So here two Thiefs our dying Lord enclose:  
These, true to falsehood, gasping here for breath.  
Do yet invade the King of life and death:  
The one wi●h worst of weapons plays his part,  
The other robs him of his dearest heart:  
Both on the bloody Characters do look,  
Of life, yet one but saved by the Book:  
That (as in Moses bush) with Rays divine  
Sees in the thorny Crown some glory shine,  
And hangs not faster on the fatal wood,  
Than his soul cleaves to her eternal good.  
Strange Thief! that thus by virtue of his vice  
Broke loose from Hell, and stole to Paradise.   

21. An unfruitful Reader.  
Who reads God's Word, not following it in deed,  
Is like a sounding, but an empty Reed.   

22. Sects in Religion.  
While Sects are wrangling, Satan doth contend  
To make them all their virtue's treasure spend:  
Just, as while Clients strive, the Lawyer takes  
Their Metal, but no chain of Concord makes.   

23. To London in time of Pestilence.  
London, when I behold thy Ladies go  
So Bedlam-like with Naked arms, and show  
Shoulders and breasts, like Mermaids, all behung  
With golden toys, and precious stones among;  
And when again the roaring boys I see  
Put women down with manless luxury,  
Still to be fashion-sicke, and drink, and swear.  
And rage, as if they Stygian Monsters were:  
I wonder not to see thee black with woe,  
Sith high-built Cities lie in dust below,  
For crimes less bold: and having drunk thereby  
Deep cups of vengeance, thou wilt pledge, or dye.   

24. The Ark and Dagon.  
Afford not sin one corner in thy heart,  
Sith all's too little for so great a Lord,  
That will not for the whole accept the part:  
Nor will his Ark and Dagon ere accord,  
Whose head and hands at th' entry of desire  
Cut wisely off, nor suffer sin entire.   

25. On Palestine.  
My sighs outpace my tongue, when I would tell  
How this famed Region, which did all excel  
In pleasant fruits, and typed the happiest place,  
Is now a Den of Barbarism, so base,  
So stripped and ruined, that with grapes and grain,  
It scarce a flight of Locusts can maintain.  
Ah cursedness of sin, that thus to Gall  
Turns milk and honey, and empoisons all.   

26. The motion of sin.  
Sin's motion's various; and her Zenith well  
We term presumption, but her Nadir Hell.   

27. Mark the end.  
jacob held Esau by the Heel, and so  
Should every man that fears his Maker do:  
Not struck the head of sin, but apprehend  
His rugged foot, and mark his fatal end.   

28. Nebuchadnezzars' Image moralised.  
Like this King's Image with the head of gold,  
Th' ambitious seems, and makes a lofty show  
Of wisdom; but his latter end behold,  
And you shall see the proud aspirer go  
On earthen feet, whose frailty will not bear  
Their master out, from danger or from fear.   

29. An old suit.  
God not with silken robes old Adam clad,  
But skins of Beasts, (the most contemned wear)  
To show, that he who Princely Empire had,  
Having defaced God's Image, did appear  
More like to beasts, and (through his tears) might see  
His blinded soul, and body's misery.   

30. Our Saviour's first Miracle applied.  
jesus, that Water turned to Wine,  
Will turn our penitential brine  
To Nectar, and our bitter moans  
To sweetest joys, Celestial tones,  
When our white Souls unto this Lamb  
Shall married be, and Heaven's frame  
(While fiery Angels clearly sing)  
An endless wedding peal shall ring.   

31. Pride, not unpunished.  
King Ezechias, in a boasting sort,  
Showed all his Treasures, and was punished for't.  
For Pride falls with a vengeance on our backs;  
And high Clouds scatter when the Welkin cracks.   

32. Good Works,  
The stones whereof God's Altars framed were,  
Must be unwrought: so pious deeds should be,  
Not mixed with ostentation, but sincere,  
For wisdom shines in such simplicity.   

33. Heaven and Earth.  
As from one Maker Heaven and Earth proceed,  
So some resemblance do they hold indeed:  
For as the boreal parts of Heaven include  
Most Stars, and of the greatest magnitude,  
So doth our Northern Hemisphere below,  
More of the continent and Lands show  
Than doth the South. Thus Heaven and Earth accord,  
And so were men in goodness like their Lord,  
Or like his choir of Angels there would be  
Through the whole World a complete Harmony.   

34. The soul's twilight.  
As Sea and Earth I view, but with mine eye,  
Nor Elemental fire nor air descry:  
So know I men and beasts, but cannot so  
High God, and holy Angels reach unto:  
For (ah) by Adam's fall my knowing part  
Seems dashed and dulded against a stony heart   

35. To Princes.  
Ye Royal guides, that 'fore your people go,  
Think on that Meteor in the Wilderness,  
Which Israel led: for airy honour so  
Still floats and flits, but sooner vanishes.   

36. Eminent Examples.  
The obvious actions of the great, that strike  
Our senses to the quick, are not unlike  
Those varied Rods, which Jacob once did leave  
Before his Ewes, what time they should conceive:  
For after such impressive objects go  
The sheepish vulgar, which few precepts know.   

39 Poverties privilege.  
jerusalem's great Chiefs are forced away  
By Babel's Monarch, when mean persons stay:  
And as a prey to the hellish Tyrant are  
Rich Worldlings, when poor starvelings better fare.   

40. A Boaster.  
A Boaster's but a glorious Monster, and  
Extends a tongue far larger than his hand.   

41. To Pride.  
If silver from superfluous moisture grows,  
(Like that which drops from every Drivels' nose)  
If gold be but the dregs of earth, and stones,  
(Though ne'er so precious) but her barren bones;  
If flaunting silks, rich scarlets, daintiest furs  
Be but Beasts excrements, (which man abhors)  
Then Pride thou'rt odious, and thy Students be  
Scarce able to commence to man's degree.   

42. On Joseph's Cloak.  
The Snake his slough, the Dove her plumes doth cast,  
(Whose innocence and prudence hold we fast)  
As Joseph left his garment, yet retained  
A jewel, which once lost is ne'er regained.  
Thus stone-cold chastity far off doth fly,  
And Lust assumes the Cloak of modesty.   

43. On Nabuchadnezzar, Deposed.  
What Object's this, of pity or of fear?  
Great Babel's Monarch, picking Salads here  
With Hawkelike Talons, and a Horselike maine,  
That lately did a gemmed Crown sustain:  
'Twas far from lo ftiest Royalty to slide  
To such subjection: but illusive pride  
joys in such Gambols, jeering, when she brings  
Sceptres to Babbles, and does fool the greatest things.   

44. Death of Tyrants.  
In the Red Sea stern Pharaoh died, and in  
Christ's blood was drowned that cursed Tyrant, Sinne.   

45. God's Image.  
Likeness breeds love; and therefore God did make  
Man as his Image, that he thence might take  
A dear occasion in deep love to fall  
With his high Lord, whose grace surmounts to all.   

46. Of Divine Precepts.  
How good is God whose every sweet command  
Doth with the souls and bodies safety stand,  
Whose true and happy preservation lies  
In antidotes of virtuous exercise:  
But vice is like a worm, that Canker sets  
Into the Bone, and harder Conscience frets.   

47. Of Repentance.  
Put not Repentance off till thou be'st old,  
For such Devotion heartless grows and cold:  
Nor ere shall that man for a wise one pass,  
That lays much treasure on a tired Ass.   

48. On Worldlings.  
Like Gideons' troops, which off the Captain cast  
For bending Beastlike to the ground, to taste  
The Crystal River, is the wretched crew  
Of Worldlings, which with downcast minds pursue  
Their wretched treasure, that like water flows  
By course, and from them with a murmur goes.   

49. On the same.  
Rich Worldlings are poor Snakes, sustained alone  
With shining dust, and down to baseness thrown.   

50. Prosperity perilous.  
King Saul, his sons, and other Chieftains more,  
Fell under wounds upon Mount Gilboa;  
And when in high prosperity we soar,  
Well may we fear a downfall and decay:  
For honour's Bubble, swelling ne'er so high,  
Breaks with a prick, and out the wind must fly.   

51. Affliction profitable.  
A fishes Gall blind Tobit cured: and so  
Bitter affliction lends us light to know  
The World, and all its fashood, that in lieu  
Of promised Roses sticks our breasts with Rue.   

52. On the same.  
The higher that the Deluge rose,  
More upward did the Ark ascend:  
So in the deepest waves of woe  
More Heaven-ward our affections tend,  
And sad affliction oft doth prove  
A beaten path to joys above.   

53. Pain before pleasure.  
Vigils and Fasts to joyful feasts make way,  
And Earth's short pains to heavens long Holiday.   

54. Of Riches.  
Like Sparrows Dung, that seeled up Tobits sight,  
Is wealth, whose love our souls becloudeth quite,  
And with pollution so belimes her wings,  
That heavily she mounts to heavenly things.   

55. joseph in Prisan, to Pharaoh's Butler at liberty.  
Whilst we in Prison fettered lay  
Our loves were fast, and thou didst say,  
Thou surely wouldst (if ever graced  
Again) relieve me: but thou hast  
Let slip thy promise, and my pain,  
Though Pharaoh's Cup thou hold'st again.  
Thus Royal favours Sunshine makes  
(In Dunghill minds) ungrateful snakes  
Of Libertines, in office set;  
And cups make men their friends forget.   

56. On Tobias his Fish  
The Entrails of this Fish, once laid on fire,  
Caused all infernali Spirits to retire:  
So a zeale-burning heart the fiends doth quell,  
And a good liver fears no bugs of Hell.   

57 The Devil's child, the Devil's luck.  
judas, that did the Khapsacke bear;  
Like a false-hearted Soldier,  
The bloody colours did forgo  
Of his dear Lord, to serve his foe  
For helish pay, yet in the close  
Had not one cross to help his woes;  
But (with his empty bag by's side)  
Was hanged, and broke, and poorly died.   

58. On Avarice.  
Greedy Gehazies' snow-white Leprosy,  
Fairly resembleth foulest Covetise,  
That makes men lame to works of Charity,  
And hoares our hairs ere age their colour dies,   

59 A false World?  
This crooked World is serpentine,  
And poisons doth with pleasures deal,  
Just as the Snake doth brightly shine,  
Yet baneful venom doth concile.  
So one fair fruit deformed us all,  
Whence all our lives like leaves do fall.   

60. Of Religion.  
Religion is a golden chain, to bind  
With ten strong links all Adam's stubborn kind.   

61. On Saint Stephen stoned.  
Some men are beaten to this world; but here's  
One that was battered to the heavenly spheres,  
Whose prayers (faster than the stones did fly)  
Vollyed for entrance to the opening sky.  
Nor did poor half-dead Isaac more rejoice  
To see the Ram, and hear the Angel's voice,  
Than Stephen did to see the Lamb (once slain  
For our sins guilt) with his triumphant train:  
Well might he joy, that was within a small  
Stones cast of Heaven; whence treasured blessings fall.   

62. Pride and Humility.  
Mountains their tallness loose, but valleys grow  
Higher, by ruins on their bosom cast;  
And climbing pride comes tumbling down below,  
But humble goodness will reach Heaven at last.   

63. Divine Wisdom.  
Moses his real Serpent had the power,  
Those other made by Magic to devour;  
And Gods transcendent wisdom doth contain,  
All others knowledge, as a boundless maine;  
Which never Creature strove to pass, but fell  
Short in his Voyage, lost in darkest Hell.   

64. Ignorance, the Devil's fool.  
The Devil in dark ignorance delights,  
And as stern Nahash once the Gileadites,  
Right eyes required; so endeavours he  
Knowledge to quench, and arts dexterity.   

65. Of Mahomet's Religion.  
Like to that thousand-slaying Ass' jaw,  
Which Samson brandished, is the senseless Law  
Of Mahomet; which more weak souls hath slain,  
Than th' Koran doth witless words contain.   

66. On Jacob's wrestling.  
jacob, that Esau had supplanted first,  
(With confidence well fortified) now durst  
Encounter with an Angel, and doth bear  
The blessed prize away; though lamed he were:  
Yet no discomfort could him hence dismay,  
Sith such maimed soldiers shall have heavenly pay.   

67. On the same.  
jacob went halting, that he might not fly  
far from his Lord, that loves such company.   

68 Man's life in the lapse.  
On Tigris bank when once Tobias sat,  
Of slippery life he well might meditate,  
Which faster than that swiftest river flows  
With downright course to death, nor Eddy knows.   

69. Of the Pillar of Salt, the remainder of Lot's Wife.  
What object's this that doth assault my sense  
With fear? the monument of her offence,  
Who with good Lot did from lewd Sodom go,  
Yet for apostasy was pilloryed so;  
Warning us all to season with this Salt  
Our rank affections, and avoid her fault.   

70. Of a Carnalist.  
How like is he, a wanton life that leads,  
To hoary jordan! that the flowery meads  
Clips in his progress, yet doth swiftly tend  
To the dead sea, and makes a bitter end.   

71. Seths' Pillars.  
Seths' famous Pillars, that inscribed stood  
With Learning and Religion, scaped the flood:  
For (though both Gold and Silver feel decay)  
Fair knowledge may be clipped, ne'er washed away.   

72. Of Drunkards.  
Drunkards are like to leaking ships, and in  
Great danger to be sunk in seas of sin.   

73. Worldly pleasure.  
As joab Amaziah did embrace,  
And stab together: so with flattering face  
False pleasure courts us, but with pain the while  
Wounds whom she woos, & slaughters when she smiles.   

74. Not too fast.  
Swift as a sylvan Roe was Asahel,  
Yet (overtook by Fate) he wounded fell  
In following Abner. For in veil of night  
Close by the ground flies death, and puts to flight  
The boldest pursuers: and from life of grace  
Too frequently they fall, that honour chase.   

75. To an Epicure.  
Thy belly is thy God, thine appetite  
All thy Religion; which with tooth and nail  
Thou followest, and with an eager zeal  
Dost sacrifice to Riot day and night;  
Nor wilt surcease, till death his spear hath tossed  
In thy vast paunch, or way and weapon lost.   

76. Ill enough at the best.  
The Skins of beasts, that sacrificed were,  
Were plucked off; but when we best appear,  
The services which we to God advance,  
Are skinned over with veils of ignorance,  
Pride, and hypocrisy; so much we prove  
Strangers to simple truth and naked love.   

77. Solace in solitude.  
The Coale-blacke Raven in the desert fed  
Elias; but that glory-glittering Dove  
Those souls doth cherish, that are sequestered  
From worldly toys, and fixed on joys above.   

78. No truth in the World.  
False-hearted Laban, in fair Rachel's stead,  
Put blear-eyed Leah on his patient friend:  
So though the World much bliss hath promised,  
With blind conceit it gulls us in the end.   

79. Comfort in self conquest.  
On troubled waters could not Noah's Dove  
Take rest, but in the Ark, that did contain  
A wilderness of Creatures leagued in love;  
Nor will that Dovelike comforter remain,  
Save that in breast, whose wild affections be  
Bound to tame peace, yet strike sweet harmony.   

80. An Ocean of Wine.  
Wine is a Drunkard, is an inland main,  
With pleasure tossed, but wracking him with pain.   

81. Christ's rising and setting.  
When Christ did rise, at midnight day did spring  
With strange light; when he crossly set again,  
Day gloomed to night, under whose threatening wing  
The sad earth quaked, as conscious of his pain.  
Right Sun of Heaven! from whose blessed course proceed  
Both light and shade. Right Sun of Heaven indeed.   

82. To the Heavenly Host, exulting at our Saviour's Birth.  
Cease your loud joys, Celestials, cease,  
Your noise disturbs the Prince of peace;  
Whose tears (which who can singing view?)  
His cheeks sweet rosaryes bedew,  
And at whose plaints th'impassioned stones  
Are chafed to drops, and melt with moans.  
Yet hail dear cause of precious joys!  
For those thy vollying sighs and cries,  
Do force the ports of Heaven to sly  
Open, and make us way thereby  
To bliss; and that thy pearly rain  
Doth our robbed souls enrich again.  
Then do not yet, Celestials, cease;  
Your mirth proclaims the Prince of peace.   

83. Of the beatifical Vision.  
Peace Epicures, cease Stoics, with the rest  
Of Ancients, to make known what makes you blessed:  
Your chief goods are but empty dreams, but mine  
A real vision, glorious, and Divine.   

84. To Herod, Murderer of the Innocents'.  
Fie brutish Tyrant, sheath thy blade,  
So drunk with former slaughters made,  
That now it doth at rend on fall  
On the most harmless things of all.  
The Son of Heaven's without thy sphere,  
And thou but idly beatest the air  
With threats: but mother's groans and cries,  
That vapour to the vengeful skies,  
From swollen Clouds, shall headlong down  
With Lightning burst, and blast thy Crown.   

85. Patient and prudent.  
A suffering man is like the Beare-starre, slow  
To move, yet such as may discrection show.   

86. To the blessed Virgin at her purification.  
Why, favourite of Heaven most fair,  
Dost thou bring fowls for Sacrifice?  
Will not the armful thou dost bear,  
That lovely Lamb of thine, suffice?   

87. On Mary Magdalen, weeping etc.  
How fast doth Mary let her floodgates go,  
As if the bottom of her love to show!  
Catching with golden nets (O rich device!)  
That precious prey, true bird of Paradise.   

88 To jordan, wherein Christ was baptised.  
jordan, that in the Type of Heaven dost spring,  
And of all rivers mayst be styled King,  
Crowned with thine own delightful plants, that lave  
And decked their tresses in thy glassy wave,  
How happy wast thou, that the King of Kings  
(More sweet, more fair, than all thy meads & springs)  
Was dipped in thee! Thenceforth thy current should  
Have stood for jasper, set in banks of gold.   

89. Flesh to dust.  
Death (a strange Miller) flesh to dust doth grind.  
How? not with water, but defect of wind.   

90. Comfort in calamity.  
In frosty times most starry fires are seen;  
And when afflictive sorrows are most keen,  
God comfort daignes, and so to us doth show  
His lightfull face, that we his favour know.   

91. Of Heaven.  
When I admire some stars, whose magnitude  
Doth the earth's vastness many times include;  
And those least Lights more radiant to behold  
Than Diamonds, or Diadoms of gold:  
Me thinks I feel my lightened heart (inflame  
Of rapture) mount to that illustrious frame,  
Yet fall back like a dying spark, that must  
Be turned to ashes, and confused with dust.  
But (Oath wonder!) when the pavements are  
So rich; how glorious, how transcending fair  
Is the great Chamber! and how bright that face,  
Where precious beams of beauty, glory, grace,  
Are sweetly all (as flowers for sacrifice)  
Commixed, and offered to joy-ravisht eyes.   

92. To a serpentine Sychophant.  
Thou liv'st by doing others deadly wrong  
At great men's Tables, with thy baneful tongue:  
And yet dependest (as thou dar'st aver)  
On Heaven's full hand, to be thy Caterer;  
That threats to shake thee for detested tricks,  
As Paul the Viper into burning Styx.   

A general benefit.  
Moses prescribed, that holy fumes should be  
Tempered and mixed in equal quantity:  
Whereby in a sweet sense is understood,  
That equally we share the Sovereign blood  
Of Christ, that doth the beggar's soul refine  
Pure as the Kings, whose gold-girt temples shine.   

94. The power of prayer.  
Our prayers are as fired shafts, that shall  
Make that old Serpent (like to Python) fall.   

95. An invitation to happiness.  
Me thinks I see a glittering troop of Saints,  
Beckoning to me from Heaven's gilt battlements,  
To hasten to them. Here (they seem to say)  
Is the springs flourish, Summer's lightsome ray;  
The Autumn's plenty, with the Winter's ease,  
And all that may the high-wrought fancy please:  
Who then pure treasures dost prefer to toys,  
Mend thy dull pace, and mind this place of joys.   

96. Evil Objects, infectious.  
As those that gaze on bloody galled eyes,  
Become obnoxious to their maladies:  
So on lewd precedents who oft will look  
Shall lewdness catch, and learn it without book.   

97. Peter, at the transfiguration.  
What fulgour's this! what harmless lightning's here!  
Hath Phoebus vaulted from his radiant sphere  
To gaze here on my Lord? or only spread  
His rich flame-coloured mantle on the head  
Of happy Tabor? Hence dull shadowy toys  
Of mirth; give me these pure illustrious joys,  
To shine with Moses and Elias still,  
And keep a high-day on this Heavenly hill.   

98. The Covetous, to sublime contemplators.  
As to his eye who yellow glass applies,  
Sees all things of that golden colour: so  
When thoughts of profit taint our fantasies,  
We only are well seen in things below;  
But in Celestial matters blind as Moles,  
That hunt for Worms, and haunt obscurest holes.   

99 Of the Wedding Ring.  
This precious Emblem well doth represent  
That evenness, that Crowns us with content:  
Which when it wanting is, the sacred yoke  
Becomes uneasy, yet with ease is broke.   

100 Pharaohs Daughter, finding young Moses in the Water.  
What pretty pledge of love swims here  
Deeply engaged? How every tear  
Shines in the casket, as a gem  
Doth in my Father's Diadem!  
How (like hope in Pandora's box)  
Lovely it looks! More hard than rocks  
Were they, whose hearts would not relent  
At sight of such an Innocent.  
Come, little Angel, thou with me  
Shalt shine in Heaven of Royalty;  
And with great Pharaohs Crown shalt play,  
That mayst bear rule another day,  
And (as I thee from water's rage)  
My name preserve from wrack of age.   

101. To ambitious favourites.  
Look favourites (that ever climbing are)  
On Absalon, hung by the locks on high:  
For so your actions go against the hair,  
And danger hangs upon your dignity.   

102. On the scales that fell from Paul's eyes.  
These scales th'old Serpents were, who when they fell,  
Did cast his slough on earth, and slipped to Hell.   

103. On jezabel, to Ladies.  
How fared proud jezabel, whole days that spent  
In pruning, painting, courting of her glass?  
Was not her flesh t'an odious excrement  
Concocted, and ejected on the grass?  
Ladies, such faults wipe off, as did at end  
This Queen of Pride, and dogged her to her end.   

104. Iphtah, meeting his Daughter after Victory.  
Ah ruthful object, that doth dart  
A thousand horrors to my heart!  
Poor harmless hapless child! must thou  
Make good thy Father's ill-made vow?  
And shall I such rash breath fulful?  
Dear Heaven avert it. Yet I will,  
And must, although with trembling hands  
I shake in sunder natures bands.  
But to thy memory each day  
Full sums of sorrows must I pay,  
And when salt tears have drained mine eyes,  
Make Fountains poor with fresh supplies.   

105. The world's entertainment.  
The World resembles jael in her tent,  
And entertains us with like compliment;  
Feeds us, and covers us, while close we lie,  
Stretched on the dull couch of obscurity:  
But when we sleep fast, faster to the ground  
Our heads and hearts do fix, and both confound.   

106. john Baptists Head.  
This was a Criers head, and still doth cry,  
For vengeance on the crown of tyranny.   

107. Christ Crucified.  
How quaintly Heaven his fairest jewels sets  
To the World's view betwixt two counterfeits!  
With two pale Pendants hangs this radiant stone,  
Yet makes his foil, takes glory but of one.  
Strange Rock! that in our wilderness of sin  
Struck with the rod of Justice, from within  
His precious Caves pours liquid life to ground,  
Whose Cataracts to highest Heaven resound,  
Out-buying with fine golden rivers price  
All floods, all fruits, all states of Paradise.  
Dear Mates, that through these worldly billows steer,  
Bend to this Rock, or else ye shipwreck here:  
Let my kind Muse the singing Siren prove,  
To draw you on with charming lines of love.  
Hail true Celestial Comet! which of old  
Such flights of ravished spirits have foretold,  
That, by thy bloody streaming in the air,  
Dost make the black Prince of his Realm despair  
In life's sad Night; he cannot wander far  
From joy, that sails by this transfixed star.   

108. An upstroke to his soul.  
Up, Dovelike soul, and make thy Saviour's side  
Thy restful Ark, his sprinkled blood thy guide;  
Bath in this balm th'inflamed eyes of Lust,  
Thy Plumes of pride, thy feet of lame distrust:  
Hark how the bubbling Current chides thy stay  
In thine own sound, and murmurs at delay;  
See how his arms are for thy welcome spread,  
And how he beckons with inclining head,  
Urge then thy flight, thy pains will not be lost,  
Nor love want comfort, though thy Lord be lost,   

109. On our Saviour's Crosse.  
Our Saviour's Cross, beguilt with guiltless blood,  
Was framed (as some write) of four kinds of wood,  
Palm, Cedar, Cypress, Olive; which might show  
That blessings thence to the four parts should flow  
Of the vast world, and from the four winds should  
Christ's flock be fetched to his thrice-blessed Fold.   

110. Of the terrors at the Death of our Saviour.  
What tempest's this, that from the Tree of Death  
Would shake this fruit of Life? what angry breath  
Of Heaven tears up my tender-rooted heart?  
Doth the rude world into confusion start?  
Or Nature, bending to her final wrack,  
Hear the main Engine of her motion crack?  
The Temple rends its clothes, the Rocks (that were  
Angry at harder hearts) their Centre's tear,  
heavens bloodshot eye winks close for grief and dread,  
The Earth grows sick, and vomits up her dead,  
The Sea howls out, while the loud winds in rage  
Hiss at those Actors on their Tragic Stage,  
That, having lost both shape and reasons spark  
In that black day, seem Dragons in the dark.  
O poisonous sin! whose force the solid ground  
Thus breaks, and threats whole Nature to confound.   

111. On the Sponge filled with Vinegar.  
Man's life is like this Sponge, and steeps  
Itself in woes; when crushed, he weeps.   

112. The anguish of Conscience.  
Who with a guilty soul to bed doth go,  
Fares like a Nightingale with tender breast  
Upon a thorn, and takes as little rest,  
But with less strains of Music, more of woe.   

113. Man unnaturally revengeful.  
Nature some creatures terrible doth make  
With horns, and hooves, & tusks, wherewith they take  
Bloody revenge, and work each others woe:  
But no such native terrors man doth show,  
Yet to harsh mischief is most bend of all,  
And (with a vengeance) most unnatural.   

114. Our Saviour's Parentage.  
This flower of jesse had his blessed birth  
From Heaven derived, though planted here on Earth;  
Resembling those whereof famed Maro sings,  
Whose beauties bear th'inscribed names of Kings.   

115. Faith a fast friend.  
Of Moses body God took care,  
Nor would allow the Fiend a share  
In it; much less will he forgo  
A soul (dear-bought with deadly woe)  
If but her hand of faith be laid  
On his strong Arm, that all doth aid.   

116. Sin's attendants.  
Sin hath three Bond-maids, Fear, & Gild, and Shame,  
That daily follow, duly haunt the same:  
But be I rather joyless left alone,  
Than on the left hand go, so waited on.   

117. Of silence.  
john's Birth made glad long-silent Zachary,  
And grace attends on Taciturnity.   

118. Belly, cease thy grumbling.  
God, that for every Beast provided meat  
Before (their Master) Man had aught to eat,  
Showed us how small a care is requisite  
For things that please the rambling appetite:  
For man that bears a Queenlike Soul, should have  
Small stomach to become his body's slave.   

119. True Knowledge.  
The Temples Windows, on their inner side  
far larger than without, thereby employed  
That in God's Church appears the vital light  
Of Truth, without it shades of Death and night.   

120. The Souls Centre.  
Our bodies in the flitting air can take  
No rest, nor in the flowing water make  
Abode, but on the solid Earth remain,  
Whose groundwork doth the unwieldy world sustain:  
No more can Souls (for lasting joys designed)  
In watery wealth or airy honour find  
Sure comfort, but in him that all things moves  
Must rest, and there concentre all their loves.   

122. Against profane jesting.  
Let others scoff, whose joys are here at best;  
I'm not for Hell in earnest, nor in jest.   

123. On judges. To Sir Tho. Mitward.  
In fair jerusalem the judges sat  
On Thrones erected in the City's gate,  
With faces to the East; that learn they might  
Of Sol (the heart o' th' Planets) rising bright,  
To raise pure hearts to Heaven, and rightly trace  
Through Virtue's Zodiac, Signs of heavenly grace.   

124. Now, or never.  
Upon their Sabbaths' Eve, old Israel's Host,  
(Preparing for the time they honoured most)  
Stored them with Manna for the future day:  
So should old Fathers (hoared with frosty grey)  
Against their final now-approaching rest  
Hoard up good works, as Treasures in the Chest,  
And (Archer-like) with most impulsion send  
Devotions shafts, when drawing to their end.   

125. Wink not at great faults.  
When Paul was preaching, Eutychus asteepe  
Came toppling from aloft, and dead was found:  
So those that in the Church no watch will keep,  
Fall lame from goodness, though their sleep be sound.   

126. Gold like straw.  
Straw ripens Fruits with kindly heat (we know)  
Yet serves in hot Spain to conserve the Snow,  
That cools their Wines: so warms deceitful gold  
The heart with joy, yet makes Devotion cold.   

127. On the healing of a crooked woman.  
Christ, that did cure this weakling, doth delight  
That wrongs be rectified, and all upright.   

128. Against our Fashion-mongers.  
In various forms the Tempter doth appear,  
But only humane shape good Angels wear:  
We then that still new-fangled fashions use,  
Whom follow we? the Fiend, that us pursues.   

129. A sight of our Saviour.  
Zacheus, whose low stature could not see  
Our Saviour passing by him, climbed a Tree  
To take a full view of him: so may we  
With Contemplations nimble pace ascend  
The Tree whereon our Ransom did depend,  
And there behold our all-surpassing friend.   

130. A Cure for the King's evil.  
Greatest of Mortals, that with sparkling Gold  
Inspheare your brows, and potent Sceptres hold,  
When vain pomp swells you, let the Crown that tore  
Our dear Redeemers head, be sadly wore  
In your remembrance, so those Thorns will prick  
Ambitious tumors, whilst in mind they stick.   

131. Temptation of the flesh.  
This grand Enchantress deals as Dalilah,  
And so importunes us, that we give way  
To her desires, to th'loss of judgements eyes:  
But than th'infernal Philistines devise  
Such grinding work for us, that for their toll  
They take what dearest is, the precious Soul.   

132. David's Harp out of Tune, after its Master's decease.  
How am I slighted now, whose strings  
Lately enchained the ears of Kings,  
And seemed by virtue of their charm  
Th'infernal Dragon to disarm!  
Now being of no note at all,  
My mirth hangs with me on the wall,  
Though still as good as ere did twang:  
So may lost favourites go hang.   

133. A consort of Stars.  
Each Shepherd knows that of those lights above  
Some with a swift course, others slowly move;  
And that the fixed Stars in a plain song-way  
Go on, but Planets (that below them stray)  
Seem to run descant still and modulate,  
Yet are their motions all proportionate,  
And regular: How could this wonder be,  
But that the God of peace loves Harmony.   

134. A guilty Conscience.  
A guilty Conscience is a jail, wherein  
The Soul is chained with sorrow, charged with sinn●.   

135. On the same.  
Like Tobies' dog's a guilty Conscience,  
That still is grumbling wheresoever we come,  
And though still beaten back, and bidden hence,  
Yet restlessly pursues and dogs us home.   

136. To a busy headed, idle-handed Zealot.  
Thou wholly dost neglect thy Family,  
And marrest good acts with such impiety,  
Whilst, like the nail that stuck in Sisera  
His Temples, in the Church thou still wouldst stay.  
Such fervent folly doth expose to mocks  
Devotion, and such nails the Devil knocks.   

137. The necessity of Respiration.  
As humane bodies are conserved by breath,  
So must our Souls too in a sort respire,  
Send sighs and prayers out from hearts entire,  
And draw in quickening grace, else look for Death.   

138. An offer of love to our newborn Saviour.  
Sith in the Inn no room they will afford,  
Take up thy lodging in my breast, dear Lord,  
Where for a Cradle let my panting heart  
Rock thee asleep, that dost true rest impart;  
And for thy swaddling bands, my Muse shall bring  
Strong Lines, that bind the passions of a King.  
O this poor offer wouldst thou take dear Lord,  
A heartier welcome should no flesh afford.   

139. On a seared Conscience: to a damnable Swearer.  
It is affirmed, that where the Devil lays  
His claw, and marks damned witches for his own,  
That part grows stupid, and no sense betrays,  
Nor bleeds, though pierced with Needles to the bone:  
Thy Conscience so, which hottest Hell did sear,  
Is senseless grown, nor wounds nor blood doth fear.   

140. A flock of Fools.  
What numbers are there like the sons of Gad,  
That more than Cana'n liked Mount Gilead!  
Their folly's infinite that so admire  
Hillocks of wealth, though few to Heaven aspire.   

141. A flight of cares.  
Like noisome Flies that Egypt did infest,  
Are worldly cares, (whose buzzing doth molest  
Our fixed devotions) yet with shorter wings  
Than to fly off, though longer be their stings.   

142. Light enough in the Scriptures.  
Who tax the Scriptures with obscurity,  
Are like old Eli, that could scarce descry  
The hallowed Lamps: for in those leaves doth shine  
A Sun, that did our cloudy flesh refine.   

143. Our Kingdom's happiness.  
Mild showers make sweet flowers spring amain,  
So blessings grow apace where good Kings reign.   

144. Hard hearts, to be broken.  
men's hearts are like those Tables made of stone  
Which God inscribed, and by contrition  
Must so be broke: such breaking makes us sound  
In the best part, and heals us with a wound.   

145. David dancing, Michol mocking.  
When zealous David danced, as if he would  
Shake all his sins off, Michol could not hold,  
But at his holy mirth her mocks she throws,  
And nimbly as his feet, her loose tongue goes.  
Yet here's the difference; his quick motions were  
Of the right stamp, in hers rude wrongs appear.   

149. David to Michol.  
Dost thou frown, and look awry  
At him, whose zeal mounts uprightly?  
Dost thou count loves force a toy,  
And jeer because I dance for joy?  
Flout and spare not; I (to meet  
My Lord) will leap with agile feet,  
And 'fore his sacred Ark will move  
In measures of unmeasured love.  
For 'twas an Ark that once to save's  
Was glad, and danced upon the waves.   

150. A devilish uproar.  
When Israel would depart, stern Pharaoh more  
Raged not, than doth th' infernal Lion roar,  
When his revolting Subjects bid good-night  
To his dark kingdom, and embrace the light.   

151. Lust and Pride.  
Abra'm saw Sodom wrapped in smoke and fire;  
And who the world beholds, shall it descry  
Involved in hotter flames of lewd desire,  
And smoke of pride, that towereth to the sky  
Like to a Meteor; yet descends again  
In tears of sorrow, as a Cloud in rain.   

152. Fond delights to be relinquished.  
Abra'm when Isaac left the dug, did make  
A Feast, (though none we hear of at his birth)  
And when soft manless pleasure we forsake  
For wisdom's truth, more cause we have of mirth,  
Than if we should false Mammon's sums collect,  
That make the Chest sound, but the breast infect.   

153. Of Death.  
Death as a Clock the Destinies have set,  
That still points at us with a fleshless hand,  
And more than hourly strikes; too senseless yet,  
His warning blows we list not understand.   

154. Diffusion of goodness.  
For Jacob's and for Moses sake,  
Laban and Pharaoh both were blessed:  
For our peace-loving Lord doth take  
Delight in gentle souls to rest,  
Whose goodness doth (like th' Altar's fume)  
Spread sacred sweets, but ne'er consume.   

156. Of the same.  
Sweet virtue, like the humid morn, doth give  
Her due to all, that in her compass live.   

157. Meditation of mortality.  
The Mariner that best his Bark doth guide,  
Sits at the Stern; and he that would provide  
For his soul's safety, to the end must fly  
Of life, in thoughts of frail mortality;  
So shall he bring his vessel to the Cape  
Of his best hope, and wrackful vengeance scape.   

158. No peace without piety.  
jonas once gone from God, on sea or ground  
Nor calm of peace, nor shine of comfort found;  
But vainly aiming at contentment, is  
Like a faint Soldier, that his rest doth miss.   

159. Works of Charity.  
The meal and oil that did Elias feed,  
Near failed; nor will a charitable deed,  
Though oft repeated, make the giver poor,  
Whilst Heaven keeps Angels to supply his store.   

160. To Lavolt, a favourite.  
Moses into the air light ashes threw,  
And forthwith did a heavy plague ensue:  
So if (dust that thou art) thou soar too high,  
Sad vengeance will deject thy vanity,  
Just as that golden Calves fine ashes were  
In water cast, and worthless did appear.   

161. Birds of prey, hardly reclaimed.  
Achan was stoned for a wedge of gold,  
That stuck too fast in his ill-bent desire:  
But stony hearts their barren breasts do hold,  
That wealth by stealth and lawless shifts acquire.   

162. Of incineration.  
As Daniel did by strewing ashes find,  
The juggling Priests deceit; so in thy mind  
And memory the wholesome ashes cast,  
Whereto the fates will sift thy flesh at last;  
And the false footsteps of the world thereby  
Thou shalt raze out, and guileful tricks descry.   

163. Of the same.  
Let not frail red and white delude thine eye,  
For the Ash-colour is the surest die.   

164. Of the external senses.  
Who shuts not up his senses with a guard,  
Lies open to the fate of Ishbosheth,  
Who having left his palace gates unbarred,  
Sly treason entered, and le's out his breath:  
So shut these portals then, that Satan's skill  
Pick not the Lock, nor sins intrusion kill.   

165. The duty of meditation.  
Those beasts that served for legal sacrifice,  
Were such as chewed the cud: but men (more wise)  
Should thankfully record and meditate  
Of his high power, that did all create:  
Else, less perhaps than things with hoof and horn  
They God adore, and th' universe adorn.   

166. A troublesome world.  
This World resembles Laban's house, wherein  
Good jacob nought save trouble found and sin:  
But having left it, by the Angel's scale  
Takes heavenly heights, and slights this earthly vale.   

168. Of concord.  
God many of each sort of creatures made,  
As of birds, beasts, and plants; but of mankind  
His wisdom's depth the first foundation laid  
Only in two, and those as one combined;  
That all, remembering how from one they came,  
Might with the bent of love at union aim.   

169. Of Regeneration.  
As Moses put his shoes off, so must we  
Our foul desires, that hope our Lord to see:  
For like our loose affects, and would  
Be so kept under, lest they grow too bold.   

170. Of Divine contemplation.  
Christ shined in glory upon those that went  
To Tabors top with him; and so when we  
By contemplation make our high ascent  
'Bove worldly cares, through which we dimly see;  
God lights us with his splendour, and displays  
His precious beauties with propitious rays.   

171 Israel's Shepherd upon the mountains.  
Our Saviour oft in mountains did abide,  
To preach or pray, but knew no height of pride.   

172. General disobedience.  
The most men (though no Kings) I may compare  
To Saul, who did the lustiest cattle spare  
Of Amalek: for so the lives we save  
Of brutish passions, though command we have  
To slaughter them; so cross we are to God's  
Just Laws, and even with ourselves at odds.   

173. To Asia.  
Blessed Region, where my sacred Saviour walked,  
And God with man in flowery Eden talked,  
I reverence thy soil, preferring thee,  
The world's fourth part, before the other three,  
Though vast America against my strain  
Swell with proud hills of gold, and high disdain.   

174. Of abstinence.  
Daniel by abstinence dispersed abroad  
Those steshly vapours which becloud the mind,  
And saw thereby the mysteries of God  
More clearly than the rest of humane kind:  
For fasting (that lust's fervour doth allay)  
Makes us as Eagles sharp, and apt to pray.   

175. Holy violence.  
jacob, that rugged Esau's heel did hold,  
Taught us thereby some rigid course to take  
With hateful sins, and pluck them (if we could)  
From us by th'heels, that head against us make.   

176. Away profane.  
Those Beasts were to be stoned, that came but near  
That Mount, where God in terror did appear:  
And men that in God's Temple dare present  
Their beastly lusts, may fear like punishment.   

177. Of the Star, and the stable, upon our Saviour's Birthday.  
Me thinks, the Stable and the Star I see,  
The one above, the other here below:  
Which two my Saviour's several natures show,  
His Manhood namely, and his Deity.   

178. Double Victory.  
As Daniel first destroyed the Idol Bel,  
And then the Dragon: so if first we quell  
The Idol of our flesh, we quickly shall  
Make Satan fly, and down like lightning fall.   

179. Of humane life.  
If life be but a thread, then why may not  
Sharp misery be th' needle, death the knot?   

180. Of solitude.  
Our Heavenly Saviour (passing all degree  
Of humane sanctity) went oft apart  
To pray, and found such solitude to be  
A fit companion for a single heart.   

181. Of Traitors.  
Like odious Toads are traitorous Male contents,  
That from fair daylight hide their foul intents,  
And in the Denns of mischief dormant sit  
Till night; but then their blacker venom spit,  
While with their harsh ill-boding sounds they break  
The air, and peace of Kingdoms, where they speak.   

182. Of Babblers.  
Like the Caldean troops, that down did break  
jerusalem's high Walls, are those that speak  
Much to small sense, and violate thereby  
The bounds of reason, mounds of modesty.   

183. The Objects of reproof.  
The stone that Daniel Writes of, did not smite  
The Idols golden head, nor silver breast,  
But carthen feet: so heavy blame doth light,  
Not on men's rich deserts (with honour blessed,)  
But at poor errors reprehension flies,  
And stones to death the slightest infirmities.   

184. The fall of fortitude.  
Rich golden Vessels pale and sickly grow,  
If not well furbished with a painful hand:  
So men of noblest metal fall below  
Their worth by sloth, or as mere cyphers stand,  
And (by their dulness) making others mount  
To Honour, are themselves of no account.   

185. Preparation for the Sacrament.  
men's hearts are like hard wax, which fiery zeal  
Should soften, ere they take the heavenly seal.   

186. Keep within compass.  
Wild Esau ranged the fields, but jacob still,  
Kept home: so God's endeared Servants will  
Themselves in compass of a Conscience hold,  
But impious fools are stragglers from the Fold.   

187. Earth to earth.  
In Peru lives the Foxlike Cincia, which  
Kind nature doth with a strange bag enrich,  
Under her belly placed; to which (in fear)  
Her straggling young ones hast to hide them there:  
Th' all feeding Earth the like maternal part  
Performs to us, which (when the fatal Dart  
Of death affrights, and strikes us down for sin)  
Sets open a grave, and takes her offspring in.   

188. The worm of Conscience.  
Sin like a Serpent's egg, in dunghill laid,  
Of soul corruption to each heart conveyed,  
And hatched with hot desires of greedy sense,  
Becomes a Worm, and gnaws the Conscience.   

189. Of tongues.  
Our tongues are not of bone, but flesh, to show  
Our words should not be harsh, but gently flow.   

190. Good preachers, Gods favourites.  
When Solomon the sacred Temple built,  
God favoured him, nor knew he then the guilt  
Of what might vex him, sinful vanity:  
So those that Gods dear Church do edify,  
Keeping sin under, are in high regard  
With him, that Crowns his workmen with reward.   

191. God's fear, with true fortitude.  
Gods fear made Moses bold to go  
To that stern Tyrant Pharaoh,  
Not trembling at his harsh replies:  
For when the Lord of earth and skies  
Is lodged once in a faithful breast,  
What earthquake dare his room molest?   

192. Of zealous alacrity.  
That God, that did the Israelites command  
To eat with eager haste the Paschall Lamb,  
Now wills, when pious works we take in hand,  
That we with nimble zeal perform the same:  
For he that Heaven incessantly doth move,  
Admits no sluggish souls to rest above.   

193. Poor and rich.  
The Shepherds quickly with their Saviour were,  
But the three Kingly Sophies came from far;  
To show, than poor men are to God as near  
As fortune's Sons, that rich and potent are.  
For pride (which made both men and Angels err)  
Oft waits on wealth, and leads to Lucifer.   

164. Of Prayers.  
Prayers are lively sparks, that mounting fly  
From fire of zeal, and penetrate the sky.   

195. A Crown for constancy.  
In Aaron's vesture, sumptuous to behold,  
Betwixt small sounding bells of shining gold  
Pomegranates stood, which native Crowns do bear;  
And in the utmost skirts these placed were:  
To show, that good works (which pure bells express▪  
Shall in Heaven's Court be Crowned with happiness,  
When in a course of constancy they have  
Reached the Lands-end of life, the final grave.   

196. The Devil's temptation.  
Satan's temptation seems the steel,  
That striking on our hearts of stone,  
Makes lust to sparkle; yet (we feel)  
Oft cools our hott'st devotion.   

197. Avoid Satan.  
Good Abra'm drove the naughty fowls away,  
That seized upon his solemn sacrifice:  
So the fouled fiends temptations, when we pray,  
Should we expel from th' Heavenly exercise,  
And pluck up (for the Lord's sake of the soil)  
The thorns of care, that grounds of goodness spoil.   

198. Of perseverance in piety.  
Those yoked Kine, that drew the Ark unto  
Beth-shemesh; though their Calves did bleat apace,  
Did to their journey's end directly go:  
So when Christ's yoke upon our necks we place;  
Though our fond lusts importune us to stay;  
Yet hold we on, and keep the heavenly way.   

199. To Fewlove, a turbulent Churchman.  
What Devils horn compels thee? canst not Preach  
Of what thou ne'er wilt by example teach,  
Good life and manners; but thou needs must be  
Braying against the fruits of Sanctity:  
As bounteous alms, set prayers, and the like,  
Whereat thou dost with points of Doctrine strike?  
This 's not to build up, but edge tools to throw  
Amongst ignorants, and wound their weakness so.   

200. Of Hypocrisy.  
Hypocrisy, like jeroboam's wife,  
Walks in disguise, and rather acts a life  
(Upon this trifling stage of vanity)  
Than leads one, that her manners may descry.  
For though an outward form they bear,  
Pluck off her Mask, and (oh) the devil's there.   

201. The choice of a wife.  
When Adam sound slept, God Eve did make,  
And when our fond desires are least awake,  
The sound est course it is a wife to take:  
For he that shoots love from a wanton eye,  
Though on a fair match he may hit thereby,  
Yet foully errs from th'white of chastity.   

202. Of Confession.  
Confession deals with sins, as joshuah  
With the five Kings i'th' Cave of Makeddah;  
That from dark hollow hearts where vices reign,  
Brings them to judging light, and sees them slain.   

203. The blood of our Lord.  
Thy vital blood sweet Saviour doth assuage  
Our feaverous sins, though hot as Hell they rage  
Within our flesh. In sultry Egypt so  
Dire plagues decrease, when Nile doth overflow.   

204. Wisdom without measure.  
As Moses Serpent did the rest devour,  
God's wisdom fools our knowledge, foils our power.   

205. On bad Patrons.  
Some Patrons worse than those our Saviour scourged  
Out of the House of Prayer, which he purged  
From sin: for those i'th' Temple only sold,  
But these will sell the Temples self for Gold.   

206. Portions for God's Children.  
The doors that to God's Oracle did lead,  
Of Olive were, with Cherubs garnished,  
Whose mystic wood fat plenty did imply,  
As the carved work, Celestial dignity:  
Both which their portions are, whose hearts entire  
open at Gods knock, and shut out lewd desire.   

208. Heaven hardly entered.  
Of new jerusalem truths Scribe doth write,  
That her twelve pearly gates stand opposite,  
In Walls, whose Bases are twelve gems entire:  
To show, that men from all parts shall aspire  
To his fair City, (equalled by none)  
Yet hardly make their way by Pearl and Stone.   

209. To a vain Babbler.  
Thy prayers are so tedious, that they be  
Long ere they reach to Heaven, too high for thee.   

210. Spiritual bondage.  
When Zedechiah must to Babel go,  
They blinded him, and heavy Chains did throw  
Upon him: so when ignorance doth shut  
men's eyes, and indevotion fetters put  
On their affects, how quickly are they gone  
To th'horrors of infernal Babylon!   

211. A happy Convert.  
A youngster going to the Stews, did meet  
By chance a dead man's Coffin in the street:  
Which courage-quelling sight a mortal blow  
Gave to his lust, and took impression so,  
That he returns a Penitent, and draws  
His loose affects up to strict virtue's Laws.  
O wholesome spectacle! through which he sees  
Folly in gross, and sins deformities.   

212. To an Apostate.  
That thy loose tongue is so profanely bold  
To carp at sacred truths, I wonder not,  
That hear how much thy zeal hath taken cold,  
And sanctity the falling-sickness got.   

213. Celestial comfort.  
The fire that in few minutes should have turned  
Three Children into ashes, only burned  
Their bonds asunder: but when once that flame  
That shall dissolve the World's unwieldy frame,  
Sin's chains shall loosen, and dull flesh refine,  
We shall as Eagles soar, as Angels shine.   

214. On the ten Lepers in the Evangely.  
Ten Lepers cleansed were, one only blessed  
His Lord; this towards Heaven out-leaped the rest.   

215. To Luke Warm.  
The Egyptian Copties, though they long remain  
In Churches, neither kneel, nor sit, but lean  
On crutches still: why dost not thou the same,  
Whose Sanctity is sick, Devotion lame.   

216. On old Simeon.  
Those Pilgrims at Mecha once have been,  
And Mahomet's magnific Temple seen,  
Do usually deprive themselves of sight,  
Lest on prophaner objects they should light:  
Old Simeon so (if zeal compared may be  
With madness) when he did young jesus see,  
(His hopes rich sum, and Sun of glory bright)  
Desired the quenching of his vital light,  
As loath (good man) t'infest his aged eyes  
With spectacles of sins and miseries.   

217. To a Communicant.  
Thy body is now the pot of Gold,  
That doth Celestial Manna hold:  
Then keep no cankered malice there,  
For Golds ne'er rusts, but shineth clear.   

218. To a Pharisaical boaster.  
When Moses in his bosom thrust his hand,  
It came forth leprous; but when thou into  
Thine inside divest, thou wilt understand  
That much unsoundness in each part doth grow,  
Till in the jordan of Christ's blood it be  
Washed sound off, like Naamans' Leprosy.   

219. Who first, for a winding-sheete.  
With what a swiftness are we hurried on  
By Time's impulsion to our final home!  
That seem to strive as Peter did, and john,  
Who first unto the Sepulchre should come.   

220. Worm's meat.  
The proudest King's but carrion, served in  
A Leaden dish to worms, for heavier sin.   

221. Keep off your Hats.  
The Four and twenty Elders did deject  
Their Crowns before the Lamb: but youngsters owe  
To the World's Saviour now so slight respect,  
As in his presence their bold heads to show  
Unseemly veiled. O wrong to Sanctity!  
Done in the public view, yet covertly.   

223. Comfort in the Crosse.  
When Helena, most dear to Constantine,  
(A Lady pregnant with affects divine)  
Had haply learned that Christ's Cross did lie  
At the low confines of Mount Calvary,  
Causing the rubbish, under which it lay  
By jews' ill-buried, to be cast away,  
The broken Earth trembled (as the Story shows)  
And from her ruptures dainty odours throws  
Into the Air: For though the Cross imprint  
Fear in our hearts, yet is there comfort in't,  
And such a sweetness as was never found  
In Tempe's Groves, nor Eden's flowery ground.   

224. Heavenly endowments.  
We should the Robe of glory (as it were)  
Spin out of Christ by faith, embroidered here  
With works of Piety, perfume it too  
With Incense of our Prayers; else we do  
But feast on dainty dreams, and Heaven-ward rear  
A scale of fancies, that no weight will bear.   

225. An intricate Receptacle.  
Man's bodies of the Elements composed,  
Within his body is his blood enclosed,  
His spirits in his blood, in these his Soul,  
And in it God doth rest, that moves the whole.   

226. On Truth.  
Truth seeks no corners: How may this appear?  
It comes from Heaven, which is a perfect Sphere.   

227. Adam's honourable interrement.  
In a cleft Rock, near which our Saviour died,  
Was Adam's head found, who had prophesied  
(As Fame avers) that his Redeemer should  
His bones there moisten with effused blood,  
What time the Ocean of his love should make  
The Nectar-drunken Earth to reel and shake.  
O primely honoured man! thus with the best  
Of sweets embalmed, and rocked to blissful rest.   

228. Treasures of Devotion.  
The Starre-led Sages, that would Christ behold,  
Did Presents bring, Myrrh, Erankinsence, and Gold:  
So if tears, prayers, pure affects we bring,  
We shall with comfort see our heavenly King.   

229. On St. Thomas the Apostle.  
Thomas for unbelief did make amends  
At last, and had his Faith at's fingers ends.   

230. The place of Christ's Nativity.  
In a poor Grot on Bethlems' Eastern side,  
Which for a Stable sometimes was employed,  
The Sun of Righteousness did (as it were)  
Break from a tender cloud, that held him dear:  
But in this lower world hard welcome found,  
To whom a Manger hewed i'th' rocky ground  
For Cradle served; not to be rocked, unless  
An Earthquake came, and pitied his distress.   

231. On the Star that watched over our Saviour.  
Sith other Planets seem to serve the Sun,  
For Mars, jove, Saturn, as his Legates run  
About, and when he comes but near, in show  
Of honour to their Epicycles go;  
So Hermes doth as Secretary 'bide,  
With him; and Venus, as his amorous Bride,  
Still waits upon him when to bed he goes,  
And no less duty at his rising shows:  
Then with good reason doth this star express,  
Such service to this Sun of righteousness.   

232. The Forge of devotion.  
A beaten breast's the anvil, prayers be  
The sparks, and zeal the fire of sanctity.   

233. On our Saviour, wounded in the side.  
The Balsame-shrubbe, lanced in the rind,  
Doth rich and fragrant tears distil:  
But here's an upright Palm Divine,  
From whose pierced side doth Nectar trill,  
Whose drops would damp the rosy Morn  
With sweets, and Galaxy adorn.   

234. To an Atheistical scoffer.  
The Tempter set our Saviour (as they say)  
On the proud height of Quarantania,  
And showed him sundry Kingdoms: but should he  
Hurl thee to Earth's low-bowelled vastity  
Down Aetna's fiery jaws, he haply might  
So satisfy and terrify thy sight,  
That thou no more wouldst shock at hideous things,  
Nor play with such a flame as singed thy wings.   

235. To the same.  
Thou question'st me of Hell with hot desire  
To know the seat of it, and seem'st indeed  
Like Peter at the worst, who near the fire  
His Master did deny, as thou thy Creed.   

236. On Cocke-fighting. To Master William Latkins.  
Some, that dislike what ere their betters love,  
This pastime as a cruel sport reprove.  
But why should not man, of all creatures Lord,  
So use them as they pleasure may afford?  
Is it more cruelty for fowls to fight,  
Than beasts by th' Butcher's Knife to dye outright?  
But I can raise good from the Pit, and call  
To mind at every sound sad Peter's fall;  
And while they fight that are so near of kin,  
Spur up mine anger against (mine inmate) sin,  
That crows against me. Thus who doth allay  
His mirth, and less for coin than conquest play,  
May (Cocksure) take his pleasure; and delight  
(With peace of Conscience with) a sportive fight.   

237. Of Whores, and their Masters.  
Who will not foul venereal acts forbear,  
But ready are to mix with all they meet,  
Are like those creatures which to Peter were  
Presented in a trance, beasts in a sheet.   

238. God's garden.  
Each virtuous breast God's garden is, where grows  
The Lily of fair Chastity, the Rose  
Of shamefastness, the Palm of charity,  
The lowly groundsel of humility;  
The Camomile of patience, with the rest  
Of pious plants, that make their owner blessed.  
But thorns and brambles (cares and crooked desires)  
Must be extirped; they're pricked for Stygian fires.   

239. Of Grace.  
Grace is like Cedron's Channel, quickly dry,  
Unless Heaven (still distilling) yield supply.   

240. Man's dignity, and danger.  
Each man an Adam; a good conscience is  
His Paradise, and pledge of Heavenly bliss;  
Lust the forbidden fruit; which when we taste,  
God is displeased, from comfort man displaced.   

241. Of the blessed Trinity.  
Should I (as sometimes hath been seen) behold  
The King of Planets, with his beams of gold  
Forming upon a Cloud, his Image bright,  
And from those two, a third resulting light;  
In such clear objects should I seem to see,  
A shadow of th' all glorious Trinity.   

242. To William Davenpore Esquire.  
Some argue (as blind fantasy invents)  
That active discords of the Elements,  
Did work the World up from its arctic Mass:  
But howe'er (to let that fiction pass)  
Some verbal jars betwixt myself and you,  
Have made a world of real love ensue  
In our affects. Which when I violate  
By mixing friendship with one dram of hate,  
Let Phoebus give me for a Laurel Crown  
A wreath of Snakes, to hiss my Poems down.   
The end of the Second Book.  
FINIS.