יהוה  
HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE   royal blazon or coat of arms 
DU BARTAS HIS Divine Weeks and Works Translated:  
And Dedicated to the Kings most excellent Majesty by Josuah Sylvester. Now thirdly corrected & augm.    

ANAGRAMMATA REGIA: Regi.  
JACOBUS STVART: justa Scrutabo.  
JAMES STVART: A just Master.  

FOr A just Master have I laboured long:  
To A just Master have I vowed my best:  
By A just Master should I take no wrong:  
With A just Master would my life be blest.  
In A just Master are all Virtues met:  
From A just Master flows abundant grace:  
But, A just Master is so hard to get,  
That A just Master seems of Phoenix race:  
Yet, A just Master have I found in fine.  
Of A just Master if you question This,  
Whom A just Master I so just define;  
My Liege JAMES STVART A just Master is.  
And A just Master could my Work deserve,  
Such A just Master would I justly serve.  
Voy Sire Saluste    

Au tres-Auguste JAQVES (par la grace de Dieu) Roy de la grand Britain, de France, & d' Irlande: Defenseur de lay Foy unique Catholic, Apostolic, & Christiene.  
* ⁎ *  

VOY (SIRE) ton SALUSTE habillé en Anglois  
(Anglois encore plus de Coeur que de language)  
Qui, cognoistant loyal tun Royal Heritage  
En çes beaux Liz dorez au Sceptre des Gaulois  
(come au uray Souverain des urays subjects François)  
Cy a tes pieds sacrez te faict son saint Homage  
(De ton Hoeur & Grandeur eternal tesmoignage)  
Miroir de touts Heros, Miracle de touts Roys.  
VOY (SIRR) tun SALUSTE, ou (pour le moins) son ombre;  
Ou l'ombre (pour le moins) de se Traicts plus divins,  
Qui, oars trop noyrçis par mon pinçeau trop sombre,  
S'esclair çiront aux Raiz de tes Yieux plus benins.  
Donques d'vn oeil benin & d'vn accueil august  
Reçoy ton cher Bartas, & VOY SIRE SALUSTE.   
Anagrammatisme de JOSVA SYLVESTRE: de vostre Maiestè Tres humble Subject & Seruiteur.   

A l'istessa sua Mäestá serenisma.  

NEptun ', gielozo de La Musa Ingléze,  
L'immura si del Braccio crystallino,  
Ch'il piu divin del Canto suo divino  
Poco s'intende fuòr del suo Paëze:  
●erò (Signior) Come già la Francèze  
T'à Celebrato di-quà l' Apenino;  
Di-là, l' ITALICA all Peregrino  
Anche farà l' alte tue Lodi intèse.  
Siche, la Sèna, el Pàdo prestaranno  
Lor Chori sacri, per Cantàr l' immenza  
Alma Virtù, Valòr, Pietà, Prudénza  
Di GIACOMO (gran SALOMON Britanno)  
Per di tua Gloria (udita qual●e quanta)  
Rapir il Mondo in maraviglia santa.   
L'istesso Osseruantissimo▪ I. S.   

INSCRIPTIO.  

To England's, Scotland's, France & Ireland's KING:  
Great Emperor of EVROPE'S greatest Isles:  
Monarch of Hearts, and Arts, and every thing  
Beneath BOÖTES, many thousand miles:  
Upon whose Head, Honour and Fortune smiles:  
About whose brows, clusters of Crowns do spring:  
Whose Faith, Him Champion of the FAITH enstiles:  
Whose Wisdome's Fame O'er all the World doth ring:  
MNEMOSYNE &  
Her fair Daughters bring  
The DAPHNEAN Crown,  
To Crown Him (Laureate)  
Whole and sole Sovereign  
Of the THE SPIAN Spring:  
Prince of PARNASSUS, & Piërian State:  
And with their Crown, their kingdoms Arms they yield  
Thrice three pens Sunlike in a Cynthian field.  
Signed by TIMES-SELVES, and their high Treasurer  
BARTAS, the great: Ingrosst by SYLVESTER.    


Our SUN did Set, and yet no NIGHT ensewed;  
Our Woeful loss so Joyful gain did bring,  
In tears we smile, amid our sighs we Sing:  
So suddenly our dying LIGHT renewed.  
As when the ARABIAN (only) Bird doth burn  
Her aged body in sweet FLAMES to death,  
Out of Her CINDERS  
A new Bird hath breath,   
 

In whom the BEAUTIES  
Of the FIRST return;  
From Spicy Ashes of the sacred URN  
Of our dead Phoenix (dear ELIZABETH)  
A new true PHOENIX lively flourisheth,  
Whom greater glories than the First adorn.  
So much (O KING) thy sacred Worth presum-I-on,  
JAMES, thou just Heir of England's joyful UNION.    


JAMES, Thou just Heir of England's joyful UNION,  
UNITING now too This long severed I'll  
(Severed for Strangers, from itself the while)  
Under one Sceptre in One Faith's Communion:  
That in our Loves may never be dis-union,  
Throughout-all Kingdoms in thy Regal Style,  
Make CHRIST thy Guide  
(In whom was never guile)  
CLIO.  
To RULE thy Subjects  
In his GOSPEL'S Union.  
So, on thy Seat thy Seed shall ever Flourish,  
To SION's Comfort and th' eternal Terror  
Of GOG and MAGOG, Athëisme & Error:  
So shall one TRUTH thy people train & nourish  
In meek Obedience of Th' almighty's Pleasure,  
And to give CEASAR what belongs to CAESAR.    


And (to give CEASAR what belongs to CAESAR)  
To sacred Thee (dread Sovereign) dearest JAMES,  
While sad-glad ENGLAND yields Her Diadems,  
To be disposed at Thine Imperial Pleasure:  
While Peers & States expose their pomp & treasure  
To entertain thee from thy Tweed to THAMES  
With Royal Presents,  
And rare-pretious Gems;  
THALIA.  
As Minds and Means  
Concur in happy measure.  
Here (gracious Lord) low prostrate I present you  
The richest jewel my poor FATE affords,  
(A Sacrifice, that long long since I meant you)  
Your Minion BARTAS, masked in My words:  
With Him, myself, my Service, Wit and Art,  
With all the SINEWS of a Loyal Heart.    


With all the SINEWS of a Loyal Heart,  
Unto Your Royal Hands I humbly Sacre  
These weeks (the works of the worlds glorius Maker)  
Divinely warbled by LORD BARTAS Art  
(Though through my rudeness here mis-tuned in part)  
For, to whom meeter should This Muse betake her,  
Than to Your Highness,  
Whom (as chief Partaker)  
MELPOMENE.  
All MUSES Crown  
For Principal Desert?  
To whom should sacred Art and learned Piety  
In Highest Notes of Heavenly Music Sing  
The Royal Deeds of the redoubted Dëitie,  
But to a learned and religious KING?  
To whom but You should Holy FAITH commend-her,  
Great king of ENGLAND, christian FAITH'S defender?    


Great king of ENGLAND, Christian FAITH'S defender.  
No Self-presuming of my wit's perfection  
(In what is mine of this Divine Confection  
Boldens me thus to You the Same to tender:  
But with the Rest, the Best I have to render  
For loyal Witness of my glad affection,  
My MITE I offer  
To Your High Protection,  
CALLIOPE.  
Which MORE it needs,  
The more itself is slender.  
But, for mine AUTHOR, in his Sacred-fury,  
I know your Highness knows him Prince of Singers,  
And His rare Works worthy Your Royal fingers  
(Though here His lustre tootoomuch obscure-I)  
For His sake therefore, and Yourselves Benignity,  
Accept my ZEAL, and pardon mine indignity.    


Accept my ZEAL, and pardon mine Indignity  
(Smoothing with smiles stern majesties Severity)  
Sith from this Error of my bold temerity,  
Great good may grow, through heavens and your benignity:  
For, far more equal to your BARTAS Dignity,  
This may provoke (with more divine dexterity)  
Some NOBLER Wit,  
To SING to our Posterity  
TERPSICHORE.  
This NOBLEST Work,  
After itself's Condignity:  
Or else the sweet Rays of your Royal Favour  
May shine so warm on these wild Fruits of mine,  
As much may mend their virtue, taste, and savour,  
And Rypen fair the Rest that are behind:  
The rather, if some Cloud of COMFORT drop  
Amid the Branches of my blasted Hope.    


Amid the Branches of my blasted Hope,  
Three Noble perches had my Muse of late,  
Where (Turtle-like) groaning Sad tunes she sat:  
But (O!) cursed ENVY did untimely lop  
The First: the Next, bruised with his Fall, did drop;  
The Third remains, grown a great arm of State:  
Most WORTHY So,  
But so prae— occupate  
EUTERPE.  
With other MUSES,  
That OURS hath no scope.  
Wherefore for secure in her weary flight,  
Hardly pursued by that sharp Vulture, WANT,  
she's fain my Liege (with your good leave) to light  
Amid the Top-leaves of Your CEDAR-Plant:  
Where, if you deign Her Rest from FORTVNE'S wrong,  
She shall more sweetly End her solemn Song.    


She shall more sweetly End Her solemn Song  
(If Heaven grant Life, and You give leave to doo-it)  
By adding fitly All those Parts unto it,  
Which more precisely to Your Praise belong▪  
(Wherein expressly, with a Thankful tongue,  
To your great Self, APOLLO'S self applies-him,  
Yields YOU His Laurels,  
And doth all agnize-him  
ERATO.  
Rapt with the Wonder  
Of Your virtues, Young).  
All the Posthumiall race of that rare Spirit  
(His Swan tunes, sweetest near his latest breath)  
Which, of his glory their Child-part inherit  
(Though born, alas!) after their Father's death)  
As Epilogue, shall pay our grateful Vows  
Under the shadow of Your Sacred Boughs.    


Under the shadow of Your Sacred Boughs,  
Great, Royal CEDAR of mount LIBANON  
(Greater than that great Tree of BABYLON)  
No marvel if our TURTLE seek to House;  
Sith CAESAR'S Eagles, that so strongly Rouse:  
Th' old Haggard FALCON, hatched by Pampelon:  
Th' IBERIAN GRIFFIN  
(And not THESE alone,  
POLYMNIA.  
But every Bird and Beast)  
With HUMBLE vows,  
Seeks roost or rest under your mighty Bowers:  
So mighty hath th' Almighty made you now:  
O Honour Him who thus hath Honoured You,  
And build His house who thus hath blessed Yours.  
So, STVARTS ay shall stand (propped with His Power)  
To Foes a Terror, and to Friends a Tower:    


To Foes a Terror, and to Friends a Tower:  
ERROR'S Defier, and True FAITH'S Defence:  
A Sword to Wrong, a Shield to Innocence:  
Cheering the mild; checking the wild with power:  
The Star of other States, and Stern of Our:  
The Rod of Vice, & VERTVE'S Recompense:  
Long live King JAMES  
in all MAGNIFICENCE:  
URANIA.  
And (full of DAYS)  
When (in his Blissful Bower)  
Heavens king shall crown thee with th' immortal flower,  
Fall all These Blessings on that forward Prince  
HENRY (our Hope) to-Crowne His Excellence  
A KING at Home, abroad a CONQVEROR.  
So Happily, that we may still Conclude,  
Our Sun did Set and yet no Night ensewed.    

SUBSCRIPTIO.  
YOUR majesties Most loyal Subject & Humble Servant JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

The Order of the Books or Tracts of this Volume.  

THE FIRST WEEK containeth Seven Days.  THE 1. Day. 
pag. 1.  THE 2. Day. 
24.  THE 3. Day. 
59  THE 4. Day. 
91.  THE 5. Day. 
114.  THE 6. Day. 
144.  THE 7. Day. 
175.   

THE SECOND WEEK likewise Seven DAYS: whereof Three were never finished.  


ADAM, 1. Day,  Eden. 
pag. 215.  The Imposture. 
236.  The Furies. 
254.  The Handicrafts. 
276.    


NOAH, 2. Day,  The Ark. 
pag. 298.  Babylon. 
315.  The Colonies. 
335.  The Columns. 
358.    


ABRAHAM, 3. Day,  The Vocation. 
pag. 381.  The Fathers. 
421.  The Law. 
436.  The Captains. 
477.    


DAVID. 4. Day.  The Trophies. 
pag. 514.  The Magnificence. 
551.  The Schism. 
590.  The Decay. 
619.    

Urania. 
pag. 656.  The Triumph of Faith. 
672.  The Quadrains of Pibrac. 
697.  The miraculous Peace of France. 
738.  A Paradox against Liberty. 
780.      

 


CEs Tempes laurizez, du Laurier mesme honeur;  
Ces Yeux contemple-Cieux, ou la Vertu se lit;  
Ces traits au front, marquez de Scavoir & d' Esprit;  
Ne sont que du BARTAS un ombre exterieur.  
Le Pinçeau n'en peut plus: Mais, de sa propre Plume  
Il ●est peint le Dedans, dans son divin Volume.    


These laureate Temples which the Laurel grace;  
These Honest Lines, these Signs of Wit and Art;  
This Map of Virtues, in a Musefull Face;  
Are but a blush of BARTAS outward part.  
The Pencil could no more: But his own Pen  
Limbs him within, the Miracle of Men.     

LECTORIBUS.  
 
ENGLAND'S Apelles (rather OUR APOLLO) world's— wonder SIDNEY, that rare more— than-man, This LOVELY VENUS first to LIMNE began, With such a PENCIL as no PEN dares follow: How then should I, in Wit & Art so shallow, Attempt the Task which yet none other can? Far be the thought, that mine unlearned hand His heavenly Labour should so much vnhallow: Yet, lest (that Holy-RELIQVE being shrined In some High-Place, close locked from common light) My Countrymen should be debarred the sight Of these DIVINE pure Beauties of the Mind; Not daring meddle with APELLES TABLE; This have I muddled, as my MUSE was able.   

INDIGNIS.  

Hence profane Hands, Factors for Hearts profa●e:  
Hence hissing Atheists, Hellish Misse-Creants:  
Hence Buzzard Kites, dazzled with beauty's glances:  
Hence itching Ears, with Toys and Tales up-tane:   

Hence Green-sick Wits, that relish nought but bane:  
Hence dead live Idiots, drowned in Ignorance:  
Hence wanton Michols, that de●ide my Dance:  
Hence M●mike Ap●s; vain Follies Counter-p●ne:   

Hence prying Critics, carping past your Skill:  
Hence dull Conceits, that have no true Discerning:  
Hence envious Momes, converting Good to Ill:  
Hence all atonce, that lack (or love not) LEARNING:   

Hence All un-holy, from the WORLD'S BIRTH Feast;  
VRANIA's Grace brooks no un-worthy Guest    

OPTIMIS.  

But (my best Guest) welcome great King of FAIRY:  
Welcome fair queen (his virtue's virtuous Love):  
Welcome right AEGLETS of the ROYAL Eyrie:  
Welcome sound Ears, that sacred Tunes approve:   

Welcome pure Hands, whose Hearts are fixed above:  
Welcome dear Souls, that of Art's choice are chary:  
Welcome chaste Matrons, whom true zeal doth move:  
Welcome good Wits, that graceful Mirth can vary:   

Welcome mild Censors, that mean slips can cover:  
Welcome quick Spirits, that sound the depth of Art:  
Welcome MAECENAS▪ & each LEARNING-lover:  
Welcome All good: Welcome, with all my Heart:   

Sitdown (I pray) and taste of every Dish:  
If Ought miss— like You, better Cook I wish.    

Intimo josuae Sylvestri, Hexasticon.  

VTprodesse suis possit, Salustius offert  
Gallis, quod nobis Iosua noster, opus:  
Ille ergo eximijs hoc uno nomine dignus  
Laudibus; at duplici nititur hic merito:  
Quem simul Authoris famae, charaeque videmus  
Communi Patriae consuluisse bono.   
Io: Bo. Miles.   

Ad joshuam Sylvesterum, G. Salustij genuinum Interpretem.  
(* ⁎ *)  

Far agê, divini cultissima lingua Salusti,  
(SYLVESTER) Clarij ceu fuit ille Dei;  
Elyzij qua part jugiconvenerat, & te  
Edoc●it sensus & sua verba Senex?  
An mage, corpored Herois compage soluta,  
In te Anima Elyzium fecerat ipsa sibi?  
Credo equidem; & Samij rata Dogmata sunt Senis; unde,  
Non Translata mihi, sed genuina canis.  
Quin & Posteritas, si pagina prima taceret,  
Interpres dubitet tune vel ille siet.   
Car: Fitz-Geofridus Lati-Portensis.   

josua Silvester Anagr: Uerè Os Salustij.  

OStu SYLVESTER nostro cur Ore vocaris?  
An quòd in ORE fer as Mel? quòd in Aure Mel-os?  
An quòd BARTASSI faciem dum pingis et ORA,  
ORA tui pariter quaelibet ora colit?  
Nempe licèt duram praete fers nomine SILVAM,  
Silvas et salebr as carmina nulla tenent:  
Sed quod Athenarum COR, dux Salaminius olim  
Dixit, Inest libris Osque vigorque tuis.  
Ergo OS esto alijs, mihi Suadae LINGVA videris;  
Musis et Phoebo charus OCELLVS eris.    

Ad Gallum de Bartassio iam toto Anglicè donato.  

Quòd Gallus factus modò sit, mirare, Britannus,  
gall? novum vide as, nec tamen invide as:  
Silvester vester, noster Bartassius, ambo  
laud quidem gemina digni, ut et ambo pari.    

In Detractores ad Authorem.  

Tace at malevolum OS malè strepent is Zoïli;  
Monstrum bilingue, septuplex Hydrae caput:  
Dum Septimanam septies faustam canis  
Te Septimana septies faustum facit  
Quaevis, nec ulla deleat josuam Dies.  
Nempe ORE fari Vera si licet meo,  
OS ipse VERE diceris SALUSTII;  
Qui si impetar is dentibus mordentibus  
Impurioris ORIS, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Theon  
OS non carere dentibus sciat tuum.   
E. L. Oxon.   

In duo Poetarum lumina, Bartam & Sylvesterum, carmen Asclepiadeum Gliconicum, dicol. Distroph.  

TE Barta caneret Melpomenes melos,  
Vel Germana soror nympha Polymnia,  
Musarúmu● potens pater,  
Pulsans plectra sonantia.   

Syluestere, meam tusuperas lyram,  
Et linguam modulum, dum rudis obstrepit:  
Vatem commeruit decus  
Illustrem ingenij tui.   

Nemo fronte ger●ns Daphnidis arborem,  
Vel Martem valuit scribere bellicum  
dign, vel Veneris rosae  
Vultum purpureae parem:   

Nec vestram valeo tollere versibus  
Laudem ter geminam Sicaelidum meis  
Sacra progenies satis;  
Non vos aequiparem modis.   

Gallorum D●uidas hospites arborum  
Bartas grandiloqui carminis alite  
Praestat: noster amat sui  
Ponti vincere Naiadas:   

Ambo sic proprias viribus ingenî  
Divas ruricolas ponticolas simul  
Vicistis, trivij meum  
Vicistis miserum melos.   

Coelum percutiat Gallia vertice,  
Ipsos coelicolas terra Britannica,  
Quae vates tulerint duos  
Claros prae reliquis novos.   
G. B. Cantabrig.   

EPIGRAM. To M. josuah Sylvester.  

IF to admire were to commend, my Praise  
Might then both thee, thy work and merit raise:  
But, as it is (the Child of Ignorance,  
And utter stranger to all air of France)  
How can I speak of thy great pains, but err?  
Since they can only judge, that can confer.  
Behold! The river end Shade of BARTAS stands  
Before my thought, ana (in thy right) commands  
That to the world I publish, for him, This;  
BARTAS doth wish thy English now were His.  
Son ell in that are his inventions wrought,  
As His will now be the Translation thought,  
Thine the Original; and France shall boast,  
No more, those maiden glories she hath lost.   
B. johnson.   

In praise of the Translator.  

IF divine BARTAS (from whose blessed Brains  
Such Works of grace, or graceful works did stream)  
Were so admired for Wit's celestial Strain's  
As made their virtues Seat, the highest Extreme;  
Then, JOSVAH, the Sun of thy bright praise  
Shall fixed stand in Arts fair Firmament  
Till Dissolution date Times Nights, and Days,  
Sith right thy Lines are made to BARTAS Bent,  
Whose Compass circumscribes (in spacious Words)  
The Universal in particulars;  
And thine the same, in other Terms, affords;  
So, both your Terms agree in friendly Wars:  
If Thine be only His, and His be Thine,  
They are (like God) eternal, sith Divine.   
john Davies of Hereford.   

To M. josuah Sylvester, of his Bartas Metaphrased.  

I Dare confess; of Muses, more than nine,  
Nor list, nor can I envy none, but thine.  
She, drenched alone in Sion's sacred Spring,  
Her Maker's praise hath sweetly chose to sing,  
And reacheth nearest th' Angel's notes above;  
Nor lists to sing or Tales, or Wars, or love.  
One while I find, her, in her nimble flight,  
Cutting the brazen spheres of heaven bright:  
Thence, strait she glides, before I be aware,  
Through the three regions of the liquid air:  
Thence, rushing down, through Nature's Closet-dore,  
She ransacks all her Grandame's secret store;  
And, diving to the darkness of the Deep,  
Sees there what wealth the waves in prison keep:  
And, what she sees above, below, between,  
She shows and sings to others ears and eyen,  
'tis true; thy Muse another's steps doth press:  
The more's her pain; nor is her praise the less.  
Freedom gives scope, unto the roving thought;  
Which, by restraint, is curbed. Who wonders aught,  
That feet, unfettred, walken far, or fast?  
Which, penned with chains, moat want their wont haste.  
Thou follow'st Bartasses diviner strain;  
And singest his numbers in his native vein.  
BARTAS was some French Angel, girt with Bays:  
And thou a BARTAS art, in English Lays.  
Whether is more? Me seems (the sooth to say'n)  
One BARTAS speaks in Tongues, in Nations, twain.   
jos. Hall.   

To my good friend, M. Sylvester, in honour of this sacred Work.  

THus to adventure forth, and reconvey  
The best of treasures from a foreign Coast,  
And take that wealth wherein they gloried most,  
And make it ours by such a gallant prey,  
And that without injustice; doth bewray  
The glory of the Work, that we may boast  
Much to have won, and others nothing lost  
By taking such a famous prize away,  
As thou industrious SYLVESTER hast wrought,  
And here enriched us with th' immortal store  
Of other's sacred lines; which from them brought,  
Comes by thy taking greater than before:  
So hast thou lighted from a flame devout,  
As great a flame, that never shall go out.   
Samuel Daniel.   

To M. josuah Sylvester. A SONNET.  

THe glorious Sallust, moral, true, divine,  
Who (all inspired with a Holy rage)  
Makes Heaven his subject, and the Earth his stage,  
The Arts his Actors, and the Triple-Trine:  
Who his rich language gilds, and graceth fine:  
His Country's honour, wonder of our age;  
Whose World's blest Birth, and blessed Pupillage,  
Gain him a world of fame for every line;  
Hath here obtained a true Interpreter,  
Whom, fame, nor gain, but love to Heaven and us,  
Moved to un-french his learned labours thus.  
Thus loves, thus lives all-loved SYLVESTER.  
Forward, sweet friend: Heaven, Nature, Arts, and Men,  
All to this task prefer thine only Pen.   
G. Gay-Wood.   

Dilectissimo Io: Syluestri.  

GAllica visa fuit Princeps modo lingua; neculla  
Illi vel similis, vel mihi maior erat:  
Credideram magni nullo sermone referri  
BARTASI ingenium posse, vel eloquium:  
Cum subito clarum dedit alma Britannia solem,  
Ingenij tenebras abstulit ille mei.  
Carmina BARTASI SYLVESTER carmine vertit;  
Et sisuccessu non mellore, pari.  
O, ter felicem venam, Dulceisque Camoenas!  
Queis tanto Vati contigit esse pares.  
Incepto felix SYLVESTER tramite perge;  
Tam bene ne coeptum destituatur opus.  
Sic pia Sicaelides aspirent Numina Musae:  
Sic faveat coeptis doctus Apollo tuis:  
Sic tandem felix te gaudeat Anglia vate:  
Sic te Virgilium norit et ipsa suum.   
Io: Mauldaeus Germanus.   

Amicissimo josuae Syluestri, G. Salustij D. BARTASII interpreti, Encomium.  

QVod conspecta Pharus vario dat lumine vasta  
Aequora sulcanti, cum vaga Luna silet:  
Et quod lustratis Phoebi dat flammatenebris  
Erranti in syluis dum manifestat iter:  
Hoc dat praestanti methodo SALVSTIVS illis  
Cognitio Sanctae queis placet Historiae.  
Ille dedit Gallis quod nobis JOSVA noster,  
Qui solus patrio ductus amore dedit.  
Ingenium cupitis, non fictaque flumina Vatum?  
Hic magnum doctis Hortus acumen habet:  
Musa tua est BARTAS dulcissima: Musa videtur  
Ipsa tamen NOSTRI, dulcior esse mihi.   
Si. Ca Gen.   

Flexanimo Salustij du Bartas interpreti, I●. Syluestri, carmen Encomiasticon.  

OFt have I seen sweet fancie-pleasing facts  
Consort themselves with swart misshapen features,  
To grace the more their soule-subduing graces,  
By the defect of such deformed creatures;  
As Painter's garnish with their shadows sable  
The brighter colours in a curious Table:  
So, English Bartas, though thy beauties, here  
Excel so far the glory of the rest,  
That France and England both must hold thee deer,  
Sith both their glories thou hast here expressed  
(Showing the French tongues plenty to be such,  
And yet that ours can utter full as much)  
Let not thy fairest Heav'n-aspiring Muse  
Disdain these humble notes of my affection:  
My faulty lines let faithful love excuse,  
Sith my defects shall add to thy perfection:  
For, these rude rhymes, thus ragged, base, and poor,  
Shall (by their want) exalt thy worth the more.   
E. G.   

In Commendation of du BARTAS, and his Translator, M. JOSVAH SYLVESTER.  
A SONNET.  

WHile night's black wings the days bright beauties hide,  
And while fair Phoebus dives in western deep;  
Men (gazing on the heavenly stages steep)  
Commend the Moon, and many Stars beside:  
But, when Aurora's windows open wide,  
That Sol's clear rays those sable clouds may banish,  
Then suddenly those petty lights do vanish,  
veiling the glories of their glistering pride:  
Sa, while du Bartas and our Sylvester  
(The glorious light of England and of France)  
Have hid their beams, each glow-worm durst prefer  
His feeble glimpse of glimmering radiance:  
But, now th●se Suns begin to gild the day,  
Those twinkling sparks are soon dispersed away.   
R. H.   

In Commendation of this worthy Work▪  

Fool that I was; I thought, in younger times,  
That all the Muses had their graces sown  
In Chaucer's, Spencers, and sweet daniel's Rhymes  
(So, good seems best, where better is unknown).  
While thus I dreamed, my busy phantasic  
Bade me awake, open mine eyes, and see   

How SALVST's English Sun (our SYLVESTER)  
Makes Moon and Stars to vail: and how the Sheaves  
Of all his Brethren, bowing do prefer  
His Fruits before their Winter-shaken Leaves:  
So much for Matter, and for Manner too,  
Hath He out gone those that the rest out go.   

Let Gryll be Gryll: let Enuie's viprous seed  
Gnaw forth the breast which bred and fed the same;  
Rest safe (Sound truth from fear is ever freed)  
Malice may bark, but shall not bite thy Name:  
JOSVA, thy Name with BARTAS name shall live▪  
For, double life you each to other give.   

But, Mother Envy, if this Arras spun  
Of Golden threads be seen of English eyes,  
Why then (alas!) our Cobwebs are undone:  
But She, more subtle, than religious-wise,  
Hateful, and hated, proud, and ignorant,  
Pale, swollen as Toad (though customed to vaunt)   

Now holds her Peace: but (O!) what Peace hath She  
With Virtue? none: Therefore defy her frown.  
'Gainst greater force grows greater victory.  
As Camomile, the more you tread it down,  
The more it springs; Virtue, despitefully  
Used, doth use the more to fructify:   

And so do Thou, until thy Mausole rare  
Do fill this World with wonderment; and, that  
In Venus' Form no clumsy fist may dare  
To meddle with thy Pencil and thy Plate;  
I fear thy life more, till thy goal be run,  
Than Wife his Spouse, or Father fears his Son.   
R. R.  Malum patienti lucrum.  

An Acrostic Sonnet, to his friend M. JOSVA SYLVESTER.  

I IF profit, mixed with pleasure, merit Praise,  
O Or Works divine be 'fore profane preferred:  
S Shall not this heavenly Work the Workers raise,  
V Unto the Clouds on Columns selfly-reared?  
A And (though his Earth be low in Earth interred)  
S Shall not du BARTAS (Poetspride and glory)  
I In after Ages be with wonder heard,  
L Lively recording th' UNIVERSAL Story?  
V Undoubtedly He shall: and so shalt Thou,  
E Eare-charming Echo of his sacred Voice▪  
S Sweet SYLVESTER, how happy was thy choice,  
T To Task thee thus, and thus to quite thee now?  
E End as thou hast begun; and then by right  
R Rare Muses NON-SUCH, shall thy Work be height.   
R. N. Gen.   

To the Same.  

HAd golden Homer, and great Maro kept  
In envious silence their admired measures,  
A thousand Worthies worthy deeds had slept:  
They, reft of praise; and we of learned pleasures.  
But (O!) what rich incomparable treasures  
Had the world wanted, had not this modern glory,  
Divine du BARTAS, hid his heavenly ceasures,  
Singing the mighty World's immortal story?  
O then how deeply is our ●le beholding  
To Chapman, and to Phaer! but, yet much more  
To thee (dear SYLVESTER) for thus unfolding  
These holy wonders, hid from us before.  
Those works profound, are yet profane; but thine,  
Grave, learned, deep, delightful, and divine.   
R. N.   

Du BARTAS His FIRST WEEK, Or Birth of the WORLD: Wherein In SEVEN DAYS The glorious Work Of The CREATION is divinely handled.  
In the 1. Day, The CHAOS.  
In the 2. Day, The ELEMENTS.  
In the 3. Day, The SEA & EARTH.  
In the 4. Day, The HE AVENS, SUN, MOON, etc.  
In the 5. Day, The FISHES & FOWLS,  
In the 6. Day, The BEASTS & man..  
In the 7. Day, The SABAOTH.  
Acceptam refero.   

The first Day of the First Week.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

GOD'S Aid implored: the Sum of All proposed:  
World not eternal, nor by Chance composed:  
But of mere Nothing God it essence gave:  
It had Beginning: and an End shall have:  
Cursed Atheists quipt: the Heathen Clarks controlled:  
Dooms glorious Day: Star-Doctros blamed, for bold:  
The Matter formed: Creation of the Light:  
Alternate Changes of the Day and Night:  
The Birth of Angels; some for Pride dejected:  
The rest persist in Grace, and guard th' Elected.   

THou, glorious Guide of heavens star-glistring motion, 
The Poet imploreth the gracious assistance of the true God of heaven, Earth, Ayrc and Sea, that he may happily finish the work he takes in hand.   
Thou, thou (true Neptune) Tamer of the Ocean,  
Thou, Earth's dread Shaker (at whose only Word,  
Th' Eolian Scouts are quickly stilled and stirred)  
Lift up my soul, my drossy spirits refine,  
With learned Artenrich This Work of mine:  
O Father, grant I sweetly warbleforth  
Unto our seed the WORLD'S renowned BIRTH:  
Grant (gracious God) that I record in Verse  
The rarest Beauties of this UNIVERSE;  
And grant, therein Thy Power I may discern;  
That, teaching others, I myself may learn.   

And also grant (great Architect of Wonders, 
The Translator knowing and acknowledging his own insufficiency for so excellent a labour, craveth also the aid of the All sufficient God.   
Whose mighty Voice speaks in the midst of Thunders,  
Causing the Rocks to rock, and Hills to tear;  
Calling the things that Are not, as they were;  
Confounding Mighty things by means of Weak;  
Teaching dumb Infants thy dread Praise to speak;  
Inspiring Wisdom into those that want,  
And giving Knowledge to the Ignorant)  
Grant me, good Lord (as thou hast given me hart  
To undertake so excellent a Part)  
Grant me such judgement, Grace, and Eloquence,  
So correspondent to that Excellence,  
That in some measure, I may seem t' inherit  
(Elisha-like) my dear Elias Spirit.   

CLEAR FIRE for ever hath not Air imbraçed, 
The World was not from everlasting.   
Nor Air for-ay environed Waters vast,  
Nor Waters always wrapped the Earth therein;  
But all this All did once (of nought) begin.  
Once All was made; not by the hand of Fortune  
(As fond Democritus did yerst importune)  
With jarring Concord's making Motes to meet,  
Invisible, immortal, infinite.   

Th' immutable divine Decree, which shall 
Neither made by Chance. But created together with Time by the almighty wisdom of God.   
Cause the World's End, caused his Original:  
Neither in Time, nor yet before the same,  
But in the instant when Time first became.  
I mean a Time confused; for, the course  
Of years, of months, of weeks, of days, of hours,  
Of Ages, Times, and Seasons, is confined  
By th' ordered Dance unto the Stars assigned.   

Before all Time, all Matter, Form, and Place,  
God all in all, and all in God it was: 
God was before the World was.   
Immutable, immortal, infinite,  
Incomprehensible, all spirit, all light,  
All Majesty, all-self Omnipotent,  
Invisible, impassive, excellent,  
Pure, wise, just, good, God reigned alone (at rest)  
Himself alone selves Palace, host, and guest.   

Thou scoffing Atheist, that inquirest, what 
He consuteth the Atheists, questioning what God did before he created the World.   
Th' Almighty did before he framed that?  
What weighty Work his mind was busied on  
Eternally before this World begun  
(Sith so deep Wisdom and Omnipotence,  
Nought worse beseems, than sloth and negligence)?  
Know (bold blasphemer) that, before, he built  
A Hell to punish the presumptuous Gild  
Of those ungodly, whose proud sense dares cite  
And censure too his Wisdom infinite.   

Can Carpenters, Weavers, and Potter's pass  
And live, without their several works a space?  
And could not then th' Almighty All-Creator,  
Th' all-prudent, be; without this frail Theatre?   

Shall valiant Scipio Thus himself esteem,  
Never less sole than when he sole doth seem:  
And could not God (O heavens! what frantic folly!)  
Subsist alone, but sink in melancholy?   

Shall the Pryénian Princely Sage aver,  
That all his goods he doth about him bear:  
And should the Lord, whose Wealth exceeds all measure,  
Should he be poor, without this Worldly treasure?   

God never seeks, out of himself, for aught;  
He begs of none, he buys or borrows nought;  
But aye, from th' Ocean of his liberal Bounty,  
He poureth out a thousand Seas of Plenty. 
What God did before he created the World.    

Yer Eurus blew, yer Moon did Wax or Wain,  
Yer Sea had Fish, yer Earth had grass or grain,  
God was not void of sacred exercise;  
He did admire his Glory's Mysteries:  
His Power, his justice, and his Providence,  
His bounteous Grace, and great Beneficence  
Were th' holy object of his heavenly thought,  
Upon the which, eternally it wrought.  
It may be also that he meditated  
The Worlds Idëa, yer it was Created:  
Alone he lived not; for, his Son and Spirit 
Of 3. Persons in one only Essence of God: of the eternal generation of the Son.   
Were with him ay, Equal in might and merit.  
For, sans beginning, seed, and Mother tender,  
This great World's Father he did first engender  
(To wit) His Son, Wisdom, and Word eternal,  
Equal in Essence to th' Allone Paternal. 
Of the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Son: The which three Persons are one only and the same God.   
Out of these Two, their common Power proceeded,  
Their Spirit, their Love; in Essence undivided:  
Only distinct in Persons, whose Divinity,  
All Three in One, makes One eternal Trinity.   

Soft, soft, my Muse, launch not into the Deep,  
Sound not this Sea: see that aloof thou keep  
From this Charybdis and Capharean Rock,  
Where many a ship hath suffered woeful wrack,  
While they have fond vent red forth too-far,  
Following frail Reason for their only Star.  
Who on this Gulf would safely venture fain, 
How to think & speak of God.   
Must not too-boldly hale into the Main,  
But longest the shore with sails of Faith must coast;  
Their Star the Bible; Steersman th' Holy-Ghost.   

How many fine wits have the World abused,  
Because this Ghost they for their Guide refused; 
The Heathen Philosophers lost themselves and others in their curiosities: & weening to be wise, became fools.   
And, scorning of the loyal Virgin's Thread,  
Have them and others in this Maze misled?   

In sacred sheets of either Testament  
'Tis hard to find a higher Argument,  
More deep to sound, more busy to discuss,  
More useful, known; unknown, more dangerous,  
So bright a Sun dazzles my tender sight:  
So deep discourse my sense confoundeth quite:  
My Reason's edge is dulled in this Dispute,  
And in my mouth my fainting words be mute.   

This TRINITY (which rather I adore 
God the Father, Son, & Holy-Ghost created of Nothing the World's goodly frame.   
In humbleness, then busily explore)  
In th' infinite of Nothing, builded all  
This artificial, great, rich, glorious Ball;  
Wherein appears in graven on every part  
The Bvilder's beauty, greatness, wealth, and Art;  
Art, beauty, wealth, and greatness, that confounds  
The hellish barking of blaspheming Hounds,   

Climb they that list the battlements of Heaven, 
Lea●ing curious speculations, the Poet teacheth how to contemplate God in his Works.   
And with the Whirlwind of Ambition driven,  
Beyond the World's walls let those Eagles fly,  
And gaze upon the Sun of Majesty:  
Let othersome (whose fainted spirits do droop)  
Down to the ground their meditations stoop,  
And so contemplate on these Workmanships,  
That th' Author's praise they in Themselves eclipse.   

My heedful Muse, trained in true Religion,  
Divinely-humane keeps the middle Region:  
Lest, if she should too-high a pitch presume,  
heavens glowing flame should melt her waxed plume;  
Or, if too-lowe (near Earth or Sea) she flag,  
Laden with Mists her moisted wings should lag.  
It glads me much, to view this Frame; wherein  
(As in a Glass) God's glorious face is seen:  
I love to look on God; but in this rob  
Of his great Works, this universal Globe.  
For, if the Sun's bright beams do blear the sight  
Of such as fixtly gaze against his light;  
Who can behold above th' empyrial Skies  
The lightning splendour of God's gloriouseys?  
O, who (alas) can find the Lord, without  
His Works, which bear his Image round about?   

God, of himself incapable to sense, 
God makes himself (as it were) visible in his Works.   
In's Works, reveals him t'our intelligence:  
There-in, our fingers feel, our nostrils smell,  
Our palates taste his virtues that excel:  
He shows him to our eyes, talks to our ears,  
In th' ordered motions of the spangled Spheres.   

The World's a School, where (in a general Story) 
Sundry comparisons, showing what use Christians should make in considering the works of God in this mighty World.   
God always reads dumb Lectures of his Glory:  
A pair of Stairs, whereby our mounting Soul  
Ascends by steps above the Arched Pole:  
A sumptuous Hall, where God (on every side)  
His wealthy Shop of wonders opens wide:  
A Bridge, whereby we may pass-o're (at ease)  
Of sacred Secrets the broad boundless Seas.   

The World's a Cloud, through which there shineth clear,  
Not fair Latona's quiv'red Darling dear;  
But the true Phoebus, whose bright countenance  
Through thickest vail of darkest night doth glance.   

The World's a Stage, where God's Omnipotence,  
His justice, Knowledge, Love, and Providence,  
Do act their Parts; contending (in their kinds)  
Above the heavens to ravish dullest minds.   

The World's a Book in Folio, printed all  
With God's great Works in letters Capital:  
Each Creature is a Page; and each Effect,  
Affair Character, void of all defect.   

But, as young Truants, toying in the Schools,  
In steed of learning, learn to play the fools:  
We gaze but on the Babies and the Cover,  
The gaudy Flowers, and Edges gilded-over;  
And never farther for our Lesson look  
Within the Volume of this various Book;  
Where learned Nature rudestones instructs,  
That, by His wisdom, God the World conducts.   

To read This Book, we need notunderstand 
Although the world discover sufficiently even to the most rude the Eternity and Power of God: Yet only the true Christians do rightly conceive it.   
Each stranger's gibberish; neither take in hand  
Turk's Characters, nor Hebrew Points to seek,  
Nyle's Hieroglyphikes, nor the Notes of Greek.  
The wandering Tartars, the Antartiks wild;  
Th' Alar●ies fierce, the Scythians fell, the Child●  
Scarce seven year old, the bleared aged eye,  
Though void of Art, read here indifferently.  
But he that wears the spectacles of Faith,  
Sees through the Spheres, above their highest height▪  
He comprehends th' Arch-moover of all Motions,  
And reads (though running) all these needful Notions.  
Therefore, by Faith's pure rays illumined,  
These sacred Pandects I desire to read:  
And, God the better to behold, behold  
Th' Orb from his Birth, in's Age's manifold.   

Th' admired Author's Fancy, fixed not  
On some fantastik foreconceited Plot:  
Much less did he an elder World elect, 
God, needing no Idea, nor premeditation, nor Pattern of his work, of nothing made all the World.   
By form whereof, he might this Frame erect:  
As th' Architect that buildeth for a Prince  
Some stately Palace, yer he do commence  
His Royal Work, makes choice of such a Court  
Where cost and cunning equally consort:  
And if he find not in one Edifice  
All answerable to his quaint device;  
From this fair Palace than he takes his Front,  
From that his Finials; here he learns to mount  
His curious Stairs, there finds he Frise and Cornish,  
And other Places other Pieces furnish;  
And so, selecting every where the best,  
Doth thirty Models in one House digest.   

Nothing, but Nothing, had the Lord Almighty,  
Whereof, wherewith, whereby, to build this City:  
Yet, when he, heavens, Air, Earth, and Sea did frame,  
He sought not far, he sweat not for the same: 
A fit Simile to that purpose.   
As Sol, without descending from the sky,  
Crowns the fair Spring in painted bravery;  
Withouten travail causeth th' Earth to bear,  
And (far off) makes the World young every year:   

The Power and Will, th' affection and effect,  
The Work and Project of this Architect  
March all at once: all to his pleasure ranges,  
Who Alwaies-One, his purpose never changes.   

Yet did this Nothing not at once receive 
Of Nothing, God created the matter, whereunto afterward he gave the form and figure which now we behold in the creatures.   
Matter and Form: For, as we may perceive  
That He who means to build a warlike Fleet,  
Makes first provision of all matter meet  
(As Timber, Iron, Canvas, Cord, and Pitch)  
And when all's ready; then appointeth, which  
Which piece for Planks, which plank shall line the waste,  
The Poup and Prow, which Fir shall make a Mast;  
As Art and Use directeth, heedfully,  
His hand, his tool, his judgement, and his eye:  
So God, before This Frame he fashioned,  
I wot not what great Word he uttered  
From's sacred mouth; which summoned in a Mass  
Whatsoever now the heavens wide arms embrace.  
But, where the Shipwright, for his gainful trade,  
Finds all his stuff to's hand already made;  
Th' Almighty makes his, all and every part,  
Without the help of others Wit or Art.   

That first World (yet) was a most formless Form,  
A confused Heap, a Chaos most deform, 
What that new created Chaos was, before God gave it form, figure, place, and situation.   
A Gulf of Gulfs, a Body ill compact,  
An ugly medley, where all difference lacked:  
Where th' Elements lay jumbled all together,  
Where hot and cold were jarring each with either;  
The blunt with sharp, the dank against the dry,  
The hard with soft, the base against the high;  
Bitter with sweet: and while this brawl did last,  
The Earth in Heaven, the Heaven in Earth was placed:  
Earth, air, and Fire, were with the Water mixed;  
Water, Earth, air within the Fire were fixed;  
Fire, Water, Earth, did in the Air abide;  
Air, Fire, and Water, in the Earth did hide.  
For, yet th' immortal, mighty Thunder-darter,  
The Lord high-Marshall, unto each his quarter  
Had not assigned: the Celestial Arks  
Were not yet spangled with their fiery sparks:  
As yet no flowers with odours Earth revived:  
No scaly shoals yet in the waters dived:  
Nor any Birds, with warbling harmony,  
Were born as yet through the transparent Sky.   

All, All was void of beauty, rule, and light; 
Genes. 1. 2.   
All without fashion, soul, and motion, quite.  
Fire was no fire, the Water was no water,  
air was no air, the Earth no earthly matter.  
Or if one could, in such a World, spy forth  
The Fire, the Air, the Water, and the Earth;  
Th' Earth was not firm, the Fire was not hot▪  
Th' Air was not light, the Water cooled not▪  
Briefly, suppose an Earth, poor, naked, vain,  
All void of verdure, without Hill or Plain,  
A Heaven unhangd, unturning, un-transparant,  
Ungarnished, un-gilt with Stars apparent;  
So mayst thou guess what Heaven and Earth was that,  
Where, in confusion, reigned such debate:  
A Heaven and Earth for my base style most fit,  
Not as they were, but as they were not, yet.   

This was not then the World: 'twas but the Matter,  
The Nursery whence it should issue after;  
Or rather, th' Embryon, that within a Week 
The Chaos how to be considered.   
Was to be born: for that huge lump was like  
The shape-less burden in the Mother's womb, 
A simile.   
Which yet in Time doth into fashion come:  
Eyes, ears, and nose, mouth, fingers, hands, and feet,  
And every member in proportion meet;  
Round, large, and long, there of itself it thrives,  
And (Little-World) into the World arrives.  
But that becomes (by Nature's set direction)  
From foul and dead, to beauty, life, perfection.  
But this dull Heap of undigested stuf  
Had doubtless never come to shape or proof,  
Had not th' Almighty with his quick'ning breath 
Of the secret power of God in quickening the matter whereof the World was made.   
Blown life and spirit into this Lump of death.   

The dreadful Darkness of the Memphytists,  
The sad black horror of Cimmerian Mists,  
The sable fumes of Hell's infernal vault  
(Or if aught darker in the World be thought)  
Muffled the face of that profound Abyss,  
Full of Disorder and fell Mutinies:  
So that (in fine) this furious debate  
Even in the birth this Ball had ruinated,  
Save that the Lord into the Pile did pour  
Some secret mastic of his sacred Power,  
To glue together, and to govern fair  
The Heaven and Earth, the Ocean, and the Air,  
Who jointly justling, in their rude Disorder,  
The newborn Nature went about to murder.   

As a good Wit, that on th' immortal Shrine 
The Spirit of God, by an inconceiveable mean, maintained, and (as it were brooding) warmed the shapeless Mass. Genes. 1.   
Of Memory, ingraves a Work Divine,  
Abroad, abed, at board, for ever uses  
To mind his Theme, and on his Book still muses:  
So did God's Spirit delight itself a space  
To move itself upon the floating Mass:  
No other care th' almighty's mind possessed  
(If care can enter in his sacred breast).  
Or, as a Hen that fain would hatch a Brood,  
(Some of her own, some of adoptive blood)  
Sits close thereon, and with her lively heat,  
Of yellow-white balls, doth live birds beget:  
Even in such sort seemed the Spirit Eternal  
To brood upon this Gulf; with care paternal  
Quickening the Parts, inspiring power in each,  
From so foul Lees, so fair a World to fetch.  
For, 't' nought but All, in't self including All:  
An un-beginning, midless, endless Ball;  
'Tis nothing but a World, whose superfice  
Leaves nothing out, but what mere nothingis.   

Now, though the great Duke, that (in dreadfullaw)  
Upon Mount Horeb learned th' eternal Law, 
That there is but one World: confuting the Error of Leucyppus & his Disciples, by two reasons.   
Had not assured us that God's sacred Power  
In six Days built this Universal Bower;  
Reason itself doth overthrow the grounds  
Of those new Worlds that fond Leucyppus found'st:  
Sith, if kind Nature many Worlds could 
* embrace.  clip,  
Still th' upper World's water and earth would slip  
Into the lower; and so in conclusion,  
All would return into the Old Confusion.  
Besides, we must imagine empty distance  
Between these Worlds, wherein, without resistance  
Their wheels may whirl, not hindered in their courses,  
By th' inter-iustling of each others forces:  
But, all things are so fast together fixed  
With so firm bonds, that there's no void betwixt.  
Thence comes it, that a Cask, pearçed to be spent,  
Though full, yet runs not till we give it vent.  
Thence is't that bellows, while the s●out is stopped,  
So hardly heave, and hardly can be oped.  
Thence is't that water doth not freeze in Winter,  
Stopped close in vessels where no air may enter.  
Thence is't that Garden-pots, the mouth kept close,  
Let fall no liquor at their sieve-like nose.  
And thence it is, that the pure silver source,  
In leaden pipes running a captive course,  
Contrary to its Nature, spouteth high:  
To all, so odious is Vacuity.   

God then, not only framed Nature one,  
But also set it limitation  
Of Form and Time: exempting ever solely  
From quantity his own self's Essence holy. 
Confutation of another Error of such as make Nature and the Heavens infinita   
How can we call the heavens unmeasured?  
Sith measured Time their Course hath measured.  
How can we count this Universe immortal?  
Sith manywayes the parts prove hourly mortal:  
Sith his Commencement proves his Consummation,  
And all things ay decline to Alteration.   

Let bold Greek Sages feign the Firmament  
To be composed of a fift Element:  
Let them deny, in their profane profoundness,  
End and beginning to th' heavens rolling roundness:  
And let them argue that Death's laws alone,  
Reach but the Bodies under Cynthia's Throne:  
The sandy grounds of their Sophistick brawling  
Are all too-weak to keep the World from falling.   

One Day, the Rocks from top to toe shall quiver, 
A lively description of the end of the World.   
The Mountains melt and all in sunder shiver:  
The heavens shall rend for fear; the lowly Fields,  
Puffed up, shall swell to huge and mighty Hills:  
Rivers shall dry: or if in any Flood  
Rest any liquor, it shall all be blood:  
The Sea shall all be fire, and on the shore  
The thirsty Whales with horrid noise shall roar:  
The Sun shall seize the black Coach of the Moon,  
And make it midnight when it should be noon:  
With rusty Mask the heavens shall hide their face,  
The Stars shall fall, and All away shall pass:  
Disorder, Dread, Horror, and Death shall come,  
Noise, storms, and darkness shall usurp the room  
And then the Chief-Chief-Iustice, venging Wrath  
(Which here already often threatened hath)  
Shall make a Bonfire of this mighty Ball,  
As once he made it a vast Ocean all.   

Alas! how faithless and how modest-les 
Against judicial Astrologers, that presume to point the very time thereof.   
Are you, that (in your Ephomerides)  
Mark th' year, the month and day, which evermore  
'Gainst years, months, days, shall dam-up Saturn's door!  
(At thought whereof (even now) my heart doth ache,  
My flesh doth faint, my very soul doth shake)  
You have mis-cast in your Arithmetic,  
Mislaid your Counters, groapingly ye seek  
In nights black darkness for the secret things  
Sealed in the Casket of the King of Kings.  
'Tis he, that keeps th' eternal Clock of Time,  
And holds the weights of that appointed Chime:  
He in his hand the sacred book doth bear  
Of that close-clasped final Calendar,  
Where, in Red letters (not with us frequented)  
The certain Date of that Great Day is printed;  
That dreadful Day, which doth so swiftly post,  
That 'twil be seen, before foreseen of most.   

Then, then (good Lord) shall thy dear Son descend  
(Though yet he seem in feeble flesh ypend)  
In complete Glory, from the glistering Sky:  
Millions of Angels shall about him fly:  
Mercy and justice, marching cheek by jowl,  
Shall his Divine Triumphant Chariot roll;  
Whose wheels shall shine with Lightning round about,  
And beams of Glory each-where blazing out.   

Those that were laden with proud marble Toombs,  
Those that were swallowed in wild Monsters woombs,  
Those that the Sea hath swilled, those that the flashes  
Of ruddy Flames have burned all to ashes,  
Awaked all, shall rise, and all revest  
The flesh and bones that they at first possessed.  
All shall appear, and hear, before the Throne  
Of God (the judge without exception)  
The final Sentence (sounding joy and terror)  
Of everlasting Happiness or Horror.  
Some shall his justice, some his Mercy taste;  
Some called to joy, some into torment cast,  
When from the Goats he shall his Sheep dissever;  
These Blessed in Heaven, those Cursed in Hell for ever.  
O thou that once (scorned as the vilest drudge)  
Didst fear the doom of an Italian judge,  
Deign (dearest Lord) when the last Trump shall summon,  
To this Grand Sessions, all the World in common;  
Deign in That Day to undertake my matter,  
And, as my judge, so be my Mediator.   

Th' eternal Spring of Power and Providence, 
Having spoken of the creation of the Matter, he showeth how & what Form God gave unto it, creating in six Days his admirable works.   
In Forming of this All-circumference,  
Did not unlike the Bear, which bringeth forth  
In th' end of thirty days a shapeless birth;  
But after, licking, it in shape she draws,  
And by degrees she fashions out the paws,  
The head, and neck, and finally doth bring  
To a perfect beast that first deformed thing.  
For when his Word in the vast Void had brought  
A confused heap of Wet-dry-cold-and-hot,  
In time the high World from the low he parted,  
And by itself, hot unto hot he sorted;  
Hard unto hard, cold unto cold he sent;  
Moist unto moist, as was expedient.  
And so in Six Days formed ingeniously,  
All things contained in th' UNIVERSITY.   

Not, but he could have, in a moment, made 
Wherefore God employed six Days in creating the World.   
This flowery Mansion where mankind doth trade;  
Spread heavens blue Curtains, & those Lamps have burnished;  
Earth, air, & sea; with beasts, birds, fish, have furnished:  
But, working with such Art so many days,  
A sumptuous Palace for Mankind to raise,  
Yer Man was made yet; he declares to us,  
How kind, how careful, and how gracious,  
He would be to us being made, to whom  
By thousand promises of things to-come  
(Under the Broad-Seal of his dear Sons blood)  
He hath assured all Riches, Grace, and Good.  
By his Example he doth also sheweus 
How men should imitate God in his works.   
We should not heedles-hastily bestowe-us  
In any Work, but patiently proceed  
With oft revises; Making sober speed  
In dearest business, and observe, by proof,  
That, What is well done, is done soon enough.   

O Father of the Light! of Wisdom Fountain; 
The 1. ●reature extracted from the Chaos, was Light.   
Out of the Bulk of that confused Mountain  
What should (what could) issue, before the Light?  
Without which, Beauty were no beauty height.  
In vain Timanthes had his Cyclope drawn,  
In vain Parrhasius counterfeited Lawn,  
In vain Apelles Venus had begun,  
Zeuxis Penelope; if that the Sun  
To make them seen, had never shown his splendour:  
In vain, in vain had been (those Works of Wonder)  
Th' Ephesian Temple, the high Pharian-Tower,  
And Carian tomb (Trophies of Wealth and Power)  
In vain they had been builded every one,  
By Scopas, Sostrates, and C●esiphon;  
Had All been wrapt-up from all human sight,  
In th' obscure Mantle of eternal Night.   

What one thing more doth the good Architect,  
In Princely Works (more specially) respect,  
Then lightsomeness? to th' end the World's bright Eye,  
Caree●ing daily once about the Sky,  
May shine therein; and that in every part  
It may seem pompous both for Cost and Art.   

Whether God's Spirit, moving upon the Ball  
Of bubbling Waters (which yet covered All) 
Sundry opinions concerning the matter, and creation of Light.   
Thence forçed the Fire (as when amid the Sky  
Auster and Boreas justing furiously  
Under hot Cancer, make two Clouds to clash,  
Whence th' air at midnight flames with lightning flash):  
Whether, when God the mingled Lump dispackt,  
From Fiery Element did Light extract:  
Whether about the vast confused Crowd  
For twice-six hours he spread a shining Cloud,  
Which after he re-darkned, that in time  
The Night as long might wrap-up either Clime:  
Whether that God made, then, those goodly beams  
Which gilled the World, but not as now it seems:  
Or whether else some other Lamp he kindled  
Upon the Heap (yet all with Waters blindled)  
Which flying round about, gave light in order  
To th' vn-plaçed Climates of that deep disorder;  
As now the Sun, circling about the Ball  
(As Light's bright Chariot) doth enlighten All.  
No sooner said he, Be there Light, but lo 
Gen. 1. 3.   
The form-less Lump to perfect Form 'gan grow;  
And all illustred with Lights radiant shine, 
Of the excellent use and commodity of Light.   
Doffed mourning weeds, and decked it passing fine.   

All-hail pure Lamp, bright, sacred, and excelling;  
Sorrow and Care, Darkness and Dread repelling:  
Thou World's great Taper, Wicked men's just Terror,  
Mother of Truth, true Beauties only Mirror,  
God's eldest Daughter: O! how thou art full  
Of grace and goodness! O! how beautiful!  
Sith thy great Parent's all-discerning Eye  
Doth judge thee so: and sith his Majesty  
(Thy glorious Maker) in his sacred lays  
Can do no less then sing thy modest praise.   

But yet, because all Pleasures wax unpleasant, 
Why God ordained the Night and Day alternately to succeed each other.   
If without pause we still possess them, present;  
And none can right discern the sweets of Peace,  
That have not felt Wars irkesom bitterness;  
And Swans seem whiter if swart Crows be by  
(For, contraries each other best descry)  
Th' All's Architect, alternately decreed  
That Night the Day, the Day should Night succeed.   

The Night, to temper Days exceeding drought, 
The commodities that the Night bringeth us.   
Moistens our Air, and makes our Earth to sprout.  
The Night is she that all our travails eases,  
Buries our cares, and all our griefs appeases.  
The Night is she, that (with her sable wing,  
In gloomy Darkness hushing every thing)  
Through all the World dumb silence doth distil,  
And wearied bones with quiet sleep doth fill.   

Sweet Night, without Thee, without Thee (alas!)  
Our life were loathsome; even a Hell to pass.  
For, outward pains and inward passions still,  
With thousand Deaths, would soul and body thrill.  
O Night, thou pullest the proud Mask away  
Wherewith vain Actors, in this World's great Play,  
By day disguise-them. For, no difference  
Night makes between the Peasant and the Prince,  
The poor and rich, the Prisoner and the judge,  
The foul and fair, the Master and the Drudge,  
The fool and wise, Barbarian and the Greek▪  
For, Night's black Mantle covers all alike.   

He that, condemned for some notorious vice,  
Seeks in the Mines the baits of Avarice;  
Or, swelting at the Furnace, fineth bright  
Our soul's diresulphur; resteth yet at Night.  
He that, still stooping, toghes against the tide  
His laden Barge alongst a rivers side,  
And filling shores with shouts, doth melt him quite;  
Upon his pallet resteth yet at Night.  
He that in Summer, in extremest heat  
Scorched all day in his own scalding sweat,  
Shaves, with keen Sith, the glory and delight  
Of motley Meadows; resteth yet at Night,  
And in the arms of his dear Pheer for goes  
All former troubles and all former woes.  
Only the learned Sisters sacred Minions,  
While silent Night under her sable pinions  
Folds all the World; with pain-less pain they tread  
A sacred path that to the heavens doth lead;  
And higher than the heavens their Readers raise  
Upon the wings of their immortal Lays.   

EVEN NOW I listened for the Clock to chime 
Before he conclude the first Day, he treateth of Angels.   
days latest hour; that for a little time,  
The Night might ease My Labours: but, I see  
As yet Aurora hath scarce smiled on me;  
My Work still grows: for, now before mine eyes  
heavens glorious Host in nimble squadrons flies.   

Whether, This-Day, God made▪ you, Angels bright, 
The time of their Creation not certainly resolved.   
Under the name of Heaven, or of the Light:  
Whether you were, after, in th' instant born  
With those bright Spangles that the heavens adorn:  
Or, whether you derive your high Descent  
Long time before the World and Firmament  
(For, I nill sti●ly argue to and fro  
In nice Opinions, whetherso, orso;  
Especially, where curious search, perchance,  
Is not so safe as humble Ignorance);  
I am resolved that onceth ' Omnipotent  
Created you immortal, innocent,  
Good, fair, and free; in brief, of Essence such  
As from his Own differed not very much.   

But even as those, whom Princes favours oft 
Some of them are ●allen, revolting from God: and are cast into Hell▪ therefore called Evil Angels, Wicked Spirits, and Devils.   
Above therest have raised and set-aloft,  
Are oft the first that (without right or reason)  
Attempt Rebellion and do practice Treason;  
And so, at length are justly tumbled down  
Beneath the foot, that reached above the Crown:  
Even so, some Legions of thoselofty Spirits  
(Envy'ng the glory of their Maker's merits)  
Conspired together, strove against the stream,  
T'usurp his S●epter and his Diadem.  
But He, whose hands do never Lightnings lack,  
Proud sacrilegious Mutineers to wrack,  
Hurled them in th' Air, or in some lower Cell:  
For, where God is not, every where is Hell.   

This cursed Crew, with Pride and Fury fraught,  
Of us, at least, have this advantage got,  
That by experience they can truly tell  
How far it is from highest Heaven to Hell:  
For, by a proud leap, they have ta'en the measure,  
When head long thence they tumbled in displeasure.   

These Fiends a●e so far-off from bett'ring them 
The insolent and audacious attempts of Satan and his Fellows against God and his Church.   
By this hard judgement, that still more extreme,  
The more their plague, the more their pride increases,  
The more their rage: as Lizards, cut in pieces,  
Threat with more malice, though with lesser might,  
And even in dying show their living spite.  
For, ever since, against the King of Heaven  
Th' Apostate Prince of Darkness still hath striv'n,  
Striv'n to deprave his Deeds, t'interr their Story,  
T'undo his Church, to under-mine his Glory;  
To reave this World's great Body, Ship, and State,  
Of Head, of Master, and of Magistrate.   

But finding still the Majesty divine  
Too strongly ●●n●▪ t for him to under-mine;  
His Ladders, Canons, and his Engines, all  
Force-less to batter the celestial Wall;  
Too weak to hurt the Head, he hacks the Members:  
The Tree too hard, the Branches he dismembers.   

The Fowlers, Fishers, and the Foresters,  
Set not so many toils, and baits, and snares,  
To take the Foul, the Fish, the savage Beasts,  
In Woods, and Floods, and fearful Wilderness:  
As this false Spiritsets Engines to beguile  
The cunningest, that practice nought but wile.   

With want on glance of Beauty's burning eye 
The divers baits of the Devil to entrap mankind.   
He snares hot Youth in sensuality.  
With Golds bright lustre doth he Age entice  
To Idolize detested Avarice.  
With grace of Princes, with their pomp, and State,  
Ambitious Spirits he doth intoxicate.  
With curious Skill-pride, and vain dreams, he witches  
Those that contemn Pleasure, and State, and Riches.  
Yea, Faith itself, and Zeal, be sometimes Angles  
Wherewith this-Iuggler Heav'n-bent Souls entangles:  
Much like the green Worm, that in Spring devours  
The buds and▪ leaves of choicest Fruits and Flowers;  
Turning their sweetest sap and fragrant verdure  
To deadly poison and detested ordure.   

Who but (alas!) would have been gulled yerwhiles 
Their Oracles.   
With Night's black Monarch's most malicious wiles?  
To hear Stones speak, to see strange wooden Miracles,  
And golden Gods to utter wondrous Oracles?  
To see Him play the Prophet, and inspire  
So many Sibyls with a sacred fire?  
To raise dead Samuel from his silent tomb, 
1. Samuel. 28. 14, 17.   
To tell his King Calamities to-com?  
T▪ inflame the Flamine of jove Ammon so  
With Heathen-holy fury-fits, to know  
Future events, and sometimes truly tell  
The blinded World what afterwards befell?  
To counterfeit the wondrous Works of God; 
Their false Miracles. Exod. 7, 11, 22. & 8, 7.   
His Rod turn Serpent, and his Serpent Rod?  
To change the pure streams of th' Egyptian Flood  
From clearest water into crimson blood?  
To rain-down Frogs, and grasshoppers to bring  
In the bedchambers of the stubborn King?  
For, as he is a Spirit, unseen he sees  
The plots of Princes, and their Policies;  
Unfelt, he feels the depth of their desires;  
Who harbours vengeance, and whose heart aspires:  
And, as used daily unto such affects,  
Such feats and fashions, judges of th' effects. 
Their Wiles.   
Besides, to circumvent the quickest sprighted,  
To blind the eyes (even of the clearest sighted)  
And to enwrap the wisest in his snares,  
He oft foretells what he himself prepares.   

For, if a Wiseman (though Man's days be done  
As soon almost as they be here begun; 
Wherefore their effects are so strange & wonderful.   
And his dull Flesh be of too slow a kind  
T'ensue the nimble Motions of his mind)  
By th' only power of Plants and Minerals  
Can work a thousand super-naturals:  
Who but will think, much more these Spirits can  
Work strange effects, exceeding sense of Man?  
Sith being immortal, long experience brings  
Them certain knowledge of th' effects of things;  
And, free from body's clog, with less impeach,  
And lighter speed, their bold Designs they reach.   

Not that they have the bridle on their neck, 
God restrains them at his pleasure.   
To run at random without curb or check,  
T'abuse the Earth, and all the World to blind,  
And tyrannize our body and our mind.  
God holds them chained in Fetters of his Power;  
That, without leave, one minute of an hour  
They cannot range▪ It was by his permission,  
The Lying Spirit trained Achab to perdition; 
1. Kings, ●2. 35   
Making him marchagainst that Foe with force,  
Which should his body from his soul divorce.  
Armed with God's sacred Passport, he did try  
Just humble job's renowned Constancy: 
job. 1, 15, etc.   
He reaves him all his cattle, many ways,  
By Fire and Foes: his faithful Servants slays:  
To loss of Goods he adds his children's loss,  
And heaps upon him bitter cross on cross.  
For th' Only Lord, sometimes to make a trial 
Why the Lord sometimes let's lose those wicked▪ Spirits.   
Of firmest Faith; sometimes with Errors viol  
To drench the Souls that Errors sole delight;  
Let's lose these Furies: who with fell despite  
Drive still the same Nail, and pursue (incensed)  
Their damned drifts in Adam first commenced.   

But, as these Rebels, maugré all their will,  
T'assist the Good, befo●ç't t'assault the Ill: 
Of the good Angels serving to the glory of God▪ and good of his Church, both in general and particular.   
Th' unspotted Spirits that never did intend  
To mount too high, nor yet too low descend,  
With willing speed they every moment go  
Whether the breath of divine grace doth blow:  
Their aims had never other limitation  
Than God's own glory, and his Saint's salvation.  
Lawless Desire ne'er enters in their breast,  
Th' almighty's Face is their Ambrosial Feast:  
Repentant tears of strayed Lambs returning,  
Their Nectar sweet: their Music, Sinners Mourning.  
Ambitious Man's greedy Desire doth gape  
S●ept●r Sceptre, Crown on Crown to clap:  
These never thirst for greater Dignities.  
Trauails their ●ase, their bliss in service lies.  
For, God no sooner hath his pleasure spoken,  
Or bowed his head, or given some other token,  
Or (almost) thought on an Exploit, where in  
The Ministry of Angels shall be seen,  
But these quick Posts with ready expedition  
Fly to accomplish their divine Commission.   

One follows Agar in her pilgrimage, 
Gen. 21, 17, 18.   
And with sweet comforts doth her cares assuage.  
Another guideth Is●●●● mighty Hosts; 
Exod. 23, 23, & 33, 2.   
Another, jacob on th' Idumean Coasts.  
Another (skilled in Physic) to the Light 
Tobi. 11, 7, 11▪ & 12, 14, & 15   
Restores old faithful Tobies failing sight.  
In Nazareth, another rapt with joy,  
Tells that a Virgin shall bring forth a Boy;  
That Mary shall atonce be Mayd-and-Mother, 
Luk. 1, 26.   
And bear atonce her Son, Sire, Spouse, and Brother:  
Yea, that Her happy fruitful woomb shall hold  
Him, that in Him doth all the World enfold.  
Some in the Desert tendered consolations, 
Math. 4, 11.   
While JESUS strove with Satan's strong Temptations.  
One, in the Garden, in his Agonies, 
Luk. 22, 43.   
Cheers-up his fears in that great enterprise,  
To take that bloody Cup, that bitter Chalice,  
And drink it off, to purge our sinful Malice.  
Another certifies his Resurrection 
Matth. 28, 25.   
Unto the Women, whose faith's imperfection  
Supposed his cold limbs in the Grave were bound  
Until th' Archangels lofty Trump should sound.  
Another, past all hope, doth pre-averr 
Luk. 1, 13. Acts 12. ●.   
The birth of john, Christ's holy Harbinger.  
One, trusty Sergeant for divine Decrees,  
The jews Apostle from close Prison frees:  
One, in few hours, a fearful slaughter made  
Of all the Firstborn that the Memphians had; 
Exod. 12, 29.   
Exempting Those upon whose door-postes stood  
A sacred token of Lambs tender blood. 
2. Kings, 10. 35   
Another mowes-down in a moment's space,  
Before Jerusalem (Gods chosen place)  
Senacharib's proud overdaring Host,  
That threatened Heaven, and against the Earth did boast;  
In his Blasphemous braves, comparing even  
His Idol-Gods, unto the God of Heaven.   

His Troops, victorious in the East before,  
Besieged the City, which did sole adore  
The Only God; so that, without their leave,  
A Sparrow scarce the sacred Walls could leave.  
Then Ezechias, as a prudent Prince,  
Poizing the danger of these sad events  
(His subjects thrall, his Cities woeful Flames,  
His children's death, the rape of noble Dames,  
The Massacre of Infants and of Eld,  
And's Royal Self with thousand weapons quelled;  
The Templerazed, th' Altar and Censer void  
Of sacred use, God's Servants all destroyed)  
Humbled in Sackcloth and in Ashes, cries  
For aid to God, the God of Victories;  
Who hears his suit, and thunders down his Fury  
On those proud Pagan Enemies of jury▪  
For, while their Watch within their Corpse de guard  
About the Fire securely snorted hard,  
From Heaven th' Almighty looking sternly down  
(Glancing his Friends a smile, his Foes a frown)  
A sacred Fencer against th' Assyrians sent,  
Whose twohand Sword, at every veny, slent,  
Not through a single Soldiers feeble bones,  
But keenly slyces through whole Troops at once:  
And heaws broad Lanes before it and behind,  
As swistly whirling as the whisking wind.   

Now 'gan they fly; but all too slow to shun  
A flying Sword that followed every one.  
A Sword they saw; but could not see the arm  
That in one Night had done so dismal harm:  
As we perceive a Windmills sails to go;  
But not the Wind, that doth transport them so.   

Blushing Aurora, had yet scarce dismissed  
Mount Libanus from the Night's gloomy Mist,  
When th' Hebrew Sentinels, discovering plain  
An hundred four score and five thousand▪ slain,  
Exceeding joyful, 'gan to ponder stricter,  
To see such Conquest, and not know the Victor.   

O sacred Tutors of the Saints! you Guard  
Of God's Elect, you Pursuivants prepared  
To execute the Counsels of the Highest;  
You Heavenly Courtiers, to your King the nighest;  
Gods glorious Heralds, heavens swift Harbingers,  
'Twixt Heaven and Earth you true Interpreters;  
I could be well content and take delight  
To follow farther your celestial Flight:  
But that I fear (here having ta'en in hand  
So long a journey both by Sea and Land)  
I fear to faint, if (at the first) too fast  
I cut away, and make too-hasty haste:  
For, travailers, that burn in brave desire  
To see strange Country's manners and attire,  
Make haste enough, if only the First Day  
From their own Sill they set but on their way.   

So Morn and Evening the First Day conclude,  
And God perceived that All his Works were good.    

THE SECOND DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Lewd Pöets checked: Our Pöets chaste Intents:  
heavens Curtain spread: th' all-forming Elements;  
Their number, nature, use and Domination,  
Consent, excess, continuance, situation:  
air's triple Regions; and their Temper's change:  
Winds, Exhalations, and all Meteors strange;  
Th' effects, the use (applied to Conscience):  
Man's Reason nonplussed in some Accidents:  
Of Prodigies: of th' Elemental Flame:  
heavens tenfold Orbs: Waters above the same.   

THose learned Spirits, whose wits applied wrong,  
With wanton Charms of their in chanting song, 
A just reproof of wanton & lascivious Poets of our Time.   
Make of an old, foul, frantic Hecuba,  
A wondrous fresh, fair, witty Helena:  
Of lewd Faustina (that lose Empress)  
A chaste Lucretia, loathing wantonness:  
Of a blind Bowe-Boy, of a Dwarf, a Bastard,  
No petty Godling, but the Gods great Master;  
On thankless furrows of a fruitless sand  
Their seed and labour lose, with heedless hand;  
And (pitching Nets, to catch I little wot  
What fume of Fame that seems them to besott)  
Resemble Spiders, that with curious pain  
weave idle Webs, and labour still in vain.   

But (though then Time we have no dearer Treasure)  
Lesle should I wail their miss-expence of leisure,  
If their sweet Muse, with too-well spoken Spell,  
Drew not their Readers with themselves to Hell.  
For, under th' honey of their learned Works  
A hateful draft of deadly poison lurks:  
Whereof (alas) Young spirits quaff so deep, 
The danger of their seduced Readers.   
That drunk with Love, their Reason falls asleep;  
And such a habit their fond Fancy gets,  
That their ill stomach still loves evil meats.   

Th' enchanting force of their sweet eloquence  
Hurls head long down their tender Audience,  
Ay (childlike) sliding, in a foolish strife,  
On th' Icy down-Hills of this slippery Life.   

The Songs their Phoebus doth so sweet inspire,  
Are even the Bellows whence they blow the fire  
Of raging Lust (before) whose wanton flashes  
A tender breast rak't-vp in shamefaçed ashes. 
Our Poets modest purpose.    

Therefore, for my part, I have vowed to Heaven  
Such wit and learning as my God hath given;  
To write, to th' honour of my Maker dread,  
Verse that a Virgin without blush may read. 
Again, he calleth upon God, for assistance in the description of the 2. days work.    

Clear Source of Learning, soul of th' Universe  
(Sith thou art pleased to choose mine humble verse  
To sing thy Praises) make my Pen distil  
Celestial Nectar, and this Volume fill  
With th' Amalthéan Horn; that it may have  
Some correspondence to a Theme so grave:  
Rid thou my passage, and make clear my way  
From all incumbers: shine upon This Day;  
That guided safely by thy sacred Light,  
My rendezvous I may attain yer night. 
Which is, thè Fir mament mentioned by Mose● in the 1. Ch. of Gen. V 6, 7, 8. Comprehending the Heavens, and all the Elementary Region. Of the four Elements, simple in themselves: whereof all things subject to our sense, are composed.    

THAT HUGE broad-length, that long-broad height-profound,  
Th' infinite finite, that great moundless Mound,  
I mean that Chaos, that self-iarring Mass,  
Which in a moment made of Nothing was;  
Was the rich Matter and the Matrix, whence  
The heavens should issue, and the Elements.   

Now th' Elements, twin-twins (two Sons, two Daughters)  
To wit, the Fire, the Air; the Earth, and Waters  
Are not compounded: but, of them is all  
Compounded first, that in our sense can fall:  
Whether their qualities, in every portion  
Of every thing, infuse them with proportion:  
Whether in all, their substance they confound,  
And so but one thing of their four compound:  
As in a Venice Glass, before our eyen, 
divers similes.   
We see the water intermix with wine:  
Or, in our stomach, as our drink and food  
Do mingle, after to convert to blood.  
This in a Firebrand may wes●e, whose Fire  
Doth in his flame toward's native Heaven aspire,  
His Air in smoke; in ashes falls his Earth,  
And at his knots his Water wheezes forth.  
Even such a War our Body's peace maintains:  
For, in our Flesh, our body's Earth remains:  
Our vital spirits, our Fire and air possess:  
And, last, our Water in our humours rests.  
Nay, there's no Part in all this Bulk of ours,  
Where each of these not intermix their powers;  
Though't be apparent (and I needs must grant)  
That ayesom one is most Predominant.  
The pure red part, amid the Mass of Blood,  
The Sanguine Air commands: the clotted mud,  
Sunk down in Lees, Earth's Melancholy shows:  
The pale thin humour, that on th' outside flows,  
Is watery Phlegm: and the light frothy scum,  
Bubbling above, hath Fiery Cholers room.   

Not, that at all times, one same Element  
In one same Body hath the Regiment: 
A vicissitude of the Elements predominance.   
But, in his turn each reigning, his subjects draws  
After his Lore: for still New Lords, new Laws;  
As sans respect how rich or Noble-born,  
Each Citizen rules and obeys, by turn,  
In chart'red Towns; which seem, in little space,  
Changing their Ruler, even to change their face  
(For, as Chameleons vary with their object,  
So Prince's manners do transform the Subject):  
So th' Element in Wine predomining,  
It hot, and cold, and moist, and dry doth bring;  
By's perfect or imperfect force (at length)  
Enforcing it to change the taste and strength:  
So that it doth Grapes sharp-green juice transfer  
To Must, Must t'wine, and Wine to Vinegar.   

As while a Monarch, to teach others awe, 
Excellent Similes showing the commodity or discommodity of the proportion, or excess of every of the Element.   
Subjects his own selfs-Greatnes to his Law,  
He ruleth fearless: and his Kingdoms flourish  
In happy Peace (and Peace doth Plenty nourish);  
But if (fell Tyrant) his keen sword be ever  
Unjustly drawn, if he be sated never  
With subjects blood; needs must his Rage (at last)  
Destroy his State, and lay his Country waste:  
So (or much like) the while one Element  
Over the rest hath modest Government;  
While, in proportion (though unequal yet)  
With Sovereign Humours Subject Humours fit,  
The Body's ●ound; and in the very face  
Retains the Form of beauty and of grace:  
But if (like that inhuman Emperor  
Who wished, all People underneath his Power  
Had but one head, that he might butcher so  
All th' Empire's Subjects at one only blow)  
It, Tyrannising, seek to wrack the rest,  
It ruins soon the Province it possessed;  
Where soon appears, through his proud usurpation,  
Both outward change and inward alteration.   

So, toomuch Moist, which (unconcoct within) 
Excess of moisture.   
The Liver spreads betwixt the flesh and skin,  
Puffs up the Patient, stops the pipes & pores  
Of Excrements; yea, double bars the doors  
Of his short breath; and slowely-swiftly cursed,  
In midst of Water makes him ever thirst:  
Nor gives man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones  
Be raked up in a cold heap of stones. 
Of Drought.    

So, toomuch Drought a lingering Ague draws,  
Which seeming painless, yet much pain doth cause;  
Robbing the nerves of might, of joy the heart,  
Of mirth the face, of moisture every part  
(Much like a Candle fed with it own humour,  
By little and little it own selfs' consumer)  
Nor gives man's Rest, nor Respite, till his bones  
Be raked up in a cold heap of stones.   

So, toomuch Heat doth bring a burning Fever, 
Of Heat.   
Which spurs our Pulse, and furs our palate ever;  
And on the tables of our troubled brain,  
Fantastikely with various pencil vain  
Doth counterfeit as many Forms, or more  
Than ever Nature, Art, or Chance could show:  
Nor gives man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones  
Be raked up in a cold heap of stones.   

So, toomuch Cold covers with hoary Fleece 
Of Cold.   
The head of Age, his flesh diminishes,  
Withers his face, hollows his rheumy eyes,  
And makes himself even his own self despise;  
While through his marrow every where it enters,  
Quenching his native heat with endless Winters:  
Nor gives man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones  
Be taked up in a coldheap of stones. 
Of the continuance of the Elements; maintaining that whatso ever is now n●w form, hath still his substance from the Materia prima: & what soever dissolves, resolves into the same; changing only form: And also confuting the contrary Errors.    

Yet think not, that this Tootoomuch, remises  
Ought into nought: it but the Form disguises  
In hundred fashions; and the Substances  
Inly, or outly, neither win nor lose.  
For, all that's made, is made of the First Matter  
Which in th' old Nothing made the All-Creator.  
All, that dissolves, resolves into the same.  
Since first the Lord of Nothing made This Frame,  
Nought's made of nought; and nothing turns to nothing:  
Things birth, or death, change but their formal clothing▪  
Their Forms do vanish, but their bodies bide;  
Now thick, now thin, now round, now short, now side.   

For, if of Nothing anything could spring,  
Th' Earth without seed should wheat and barley bring.  
Pure Mayden-wombs desired Babes should bear:  
All things, at all times, should grow every where.  
The Hart in Water should itself in gender;  
The Whale on Land; in Air the Lambling tender:  
Th' Ocean should yield the Pine and cornel Tree;  
On Hazels Acorns, Nuts on Oaks should be:  
And breaking Natures set and sacred use,  
The Doves would Eagles, Eagels Doves, produce.   

If of themselves things took their thriving, then  
Slowe-growing Babes should instantly be men:  
Then in the Forests should huge boughs be seen  
Born with the bodies of unplanted Treen:  
Then should the sucking Elephant support  
Upon his shoulders a well-manned Fort:  
And the new-foaled Colt, courageous,  
Should neigh for Battle, like Bucephalus.   

Contrariwise, if ought to nought did fall;  
All, that is felt or seen within this All,  
Still losing somewhat of itself, at length  
Would come to Nothing: If Death's fatal strength  
Can altogether Substances destroy,  
Things than should vanish even as soon as die.  
In time the mighty Mountains tops be bated;  
But, with their fall, the neighbour Vales are fatted;  
And what, when Trent or avon ouer-flowe,  
They reave one field they on the next bestow:  
Love-burning Heaven many sweet Deaws doth drop  
In his dear Spouses fair and fruitful lap;  
Which after she restores, straining those showers  
Through th' hidden pores of pleasant plants and flowers.   

Whoso hath seen, how one warm lump of wax  
(Without increasing, or decreasing) takes 
By an apt similitude, he showeth the continual Change of the World, in the matter and form thereof, according to God's pleasure; in such sort, yet, that the matter remains, though it receive infinite Forms.   
A hundred figures; well may judge of all  
Th' incessant Changes of this neither Ball.  
The Worlds own Matter is the waxed Lump,  
Which, un-self-changing, takes all kind of stamp:  
The Forms the Seal; heavens gracious Emperor  
(The Living God) 's the great Lord Chancellor;  
Who at his pleasure setting day and night  
His great Broad Seals, and Privy Signets right  
Upon the Mass so vast and variable,  
Makes the same Lump, now base, now honourable.   

here's nothing constant: nothing still doth stay:  
For, Birth and Death have still successives way.  
Heer one thing springs not, till another die:  
Only the Matter lives immortally  
(Th' Almighty's Table, body of this All,  
Of changefull Chances common Arçenall,  
All like itself, all in itself contained,  
Which by Time's Flight hath neither lost nor gained)  
Change-less in Essence; changeable in face,  
Much more than Proteus, or the subtle race  
Of roving Polypes, who (to rob the more)  
Transform them hourly on the waving shore: 
Sundry Similes to that purpose.   
Much like the French (or like ourselves, their Apes)  
Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes;  
Who loving novels, full of affectation,  
Receive the Manners of each other Nation;  
And scarcely shift they shirts so oft, as change  
Fantastik Fashions of their garments strange:  
Or like a Laïs', whose inconstant Love  
Doth every day a thousand times remove;  
Who's scarce unfolded from one Youths embraces,  
Yer in her thought another she embraces;  
And the new pleasure of her wanton Fire  
Stirs in her, still, another new desire:  
Because the Matter, wounded deep in heart  
With various Love (yet, on the self same part,  
Incapable, in the same time, at once  
To take all figures) by successions,  
Form after Form receives: so that one face  
Another faces features doth deface. 
The chief motive of this change of Formet in the matter.    

Now the chief Motive of these Accidents,  
Is the dire discord of our Elements:  
Truce-hating Twins, where Brother eateth Brother  
By turns, and turn them one into another,  
Like Ice and Water that beget each other; 
Enigma.   
And still the Daughter bringethforth the Mother.  
But each of these having two qualities  
(One bearing Rule, another that obeys)  
Those, whose effects do wholly contradict,  
Longer and stronger strive in their Conflict.  
The hot-dry Fire to cold-moist Water turns not;  
The cold-dry Earth, to hot-moist Air, returns not,  
Returns not easily: for (still opposite)  
With tooth and nail as deadly foes they fight.  
But Air turn Water, Earth may Fierize,  
Because in one part they do symbolise;  
And so, in combat they have less to do;  
For, 't' easier far, to conquer one then two.   

Sith then the knot of sacred Marriage, 
Of the Situation of the Elements, & of the effects thereof, compared to the Notes of Music & to the letters of the Alphabet.   
Which joins the Elements, from age to age  
Brings forth the World's Babes: sith their Enmities,  
With fell divorce, kill whatsoever dies:  
And sith, but changing their degree and place,  
They frame the various Forms, wherewith the face  
Of this fair World is so embellished  
[As six sweet Notes, curiously varied  
In skilful Music, make a hundred kinds  
Of Heavenly sounds, that ravish hardest minds;  
And with Division (of a choice devise)  
The Hearers souls out at their ears entice:  
Or, as of twice-twelue Letters, thus transposed,  
This World of Words, is variously composed;  
And of these Words, in diverse order sown,  
This sacred Volume that you read, is grown  
(Through gracious succour of th' Eternal Deïtie)  
Rich in discourse, with infinite Variety]  
It was not cause-less, that so carefully  
God did divide their common Signory;  
Assigning each a fit-confined Sitting,  
Their quantity and quality befitting.   

Whoso (sometime) hath seen rich Ingotstried, 
A simile lively representing the separation of the Elements.   
When forçed by Fire their treasures they divide  
(How fair and softly, Gold to Gold doth pass,  
Silver seeks Silver, Brass consorts with Brass;  
And the whole Lump, of parts unequal, severs  
Itself apart, in white, red, yellow Rivers)  
May understand how, when the Mouth Divine  
opened (to each his proper Place t'assignassign)  
Fire flew to Fire, Water to Water slid,  
air clung to Air, and Earth with Earth abide.   

Earth, as the Lees, and heavy dross of All  
(After his kind) did to the bottom fall: 
Situation of the earth, and fire.   
Contrariwise, the light and nimble Fire  
Did through the crannies of th' old Heap aspire  
Unto the top; and by his nature, light  
No less than hot, mounted in sparks upright:  
As, when we see Aurora, passing gay,  
With Opals paint the Ceiling of Cathay,  
Sad Floods doefume, and the celestial Tapers  
Through Earth's thin pores, in th' Air exhale the vapours.   

But least the Fire (which all the rest embraces)  
Being too near should burn the Earth to ashes;  
As chosen umpires, the great All-Creator 
Of air & water placed between the earth & fire.   
Between these Foes placed the Air and Water:  
For, one sufficed not their stern strife to end.  
Water, as Cousin, did the Earth befriend:  
air, for his Kinsman Fire, as firmly deals:  
But both, uniting their divided zeals,  
Took up the matter, and appeased the brawl;  
Which doubt-less else had discreated All.  
Th' Air lodged aloft, the Water under it,  
Not casually, but so disposed fit  
By him who (Nature in her kind to keep)  
Kept due proportion in his Workmanship; 
Why the air was lodged next the Element of Fire.   
And, in this Storehouse of his Wonders treasure,  
Observed in all things number, weight, and measure.  
For, had the Water next the Fire been plaçed,  
Fire, seeming then moro wronged and more disgraçed,  
Would suddenly have left his Adversary,  
And set upon the Umpire (more contrary).  
But all the Links of th' holy Chain, which tethers  
The many Members of the World togethers,  
Are such, as none but only he can break them,  
Who at the first did (of mere nothing) make them.  
Water, as armed with moisture and with cold,  
The cold-dry Earth with her one hand doth hold;  
With th' other th' Air: The Air, as moist and warm, 
The disposing & combining of the Elements.   
Holds Fire with one; Water with th' other arm:  
As Country Maidens, in the Month of May,  
Merrily sporting on a Holiday,  
And lusty dancing of a lively Round, 
A Similitude.   
About the Maypole, by the Bagpipes sound;  
Hold hand in hand, so that the first is fast  
(By means of those between) unto the last.   

For, sith 'tis so that the dry Element  
Not only yields her own Babes nourishment,  
But with the milk of her abundant breasts,  
Doth also feed th' Airs nimble winged guests,  
And also all th' innumerable Legions  
Of greedy mouths that haunt the Bryny Regions  
(So that, th' Earth's Mother, or else Nurse of all  
That run, or fly, or swim, or slide, or crawl)  
'Twas meet, it should be itself's Counterpoise,  
To stand still firm against the roaring noise  
Of wrack full Neptune, and the wrathful blasts  
Of parching South and pinching Boreas.  
IT was meet, her sad-slowe body to digest 
Why the Earth is the lowest, and environed with the other three Elements, whereof it is the centre.   
Farther from Heaven than any of the rest:  
Lest, of heavens Courseth ' Eternal swift Careers,  
Rushing against her with their whirling Spheres,  
Should her transport, as swift and violent,  
As ay they do their neighbour Element.   

And sith, on th' otherside, th' harmonious Course)  
Of heavens bright Torches is th' immortal source  
Of earthly life: and sith all alterations  
(Almost) are caused by their quick agitations  
In all the World, God could not place so fit  
Our Mother Earth, as in the midst of it.  
For, all the Stars reflect their lively rays  
On Fire and air, and Water, divers ways;  
Dispersing, so, their powerful influence  
On, in, and through these various Elements:  
But, on the Earth, they all in one concur,  
And all unite their severed force in her;  
As in a Wheel, which with a long deep rut 
Simile.   
His turning passage in the dirt doth cut,  
The distant spoaks nearer and nearer gather,  
And in the Naveunite their points together.   

As the bright Sun shines through smoothest Glass, 
Simile.   
The turning Planets influence doth pass  
Without impeachment through the glist'ring Tent  
Of the tralucing Fiery Element,  
Th' Airs triple Regions, the transparent Water;  
But not the firm Base of this fair Theatre.  
And therefore rightly may we call those Trines  
(Fire, air, and Water) but heavens Concubines:  
For, never Sun, nor Moon, nor Stars enjoy  
The love of these, but only by the way,  
As passing by: whereas incessantly,  
The lusty Heaven with Earth doth company;  
And with a fruitful seed, which lends All life,  
With-childs' each-moment his own lawful wife;  
And with her lovely Babes, in form and nature 
The Water, between the Earth and air.   
So divers, decks this beautiful Theatre.   

The Water, lighter than the Earthy Mass,  
Heavier than Air, betwixt them both hath place;  
The better so with a moist-cold, to temper  
Th' ones over-driness, th' others hot distemper.   

But, my sweet Muse, whither so fast away? 
Leaving the Earth and Sea till the next Book, he comes to treat of the Air.   
Soft, soft, my Darling: draw not dry Today  
Castalian Springs; defer the Cirque, and Seat,  
The power, and praise, of Sea and Earth as yet:  
Do not anticipate the World's Beginning;  
But, till Tomorrow, leave the enter-blinning  
Of Rocky Mounts, and rolling Waves so wide.  
For, even Tomorrow will the Lord divide,  
With the right hand of his Omnipotence,  
These yet confused and mingled Elements;  
And liberally the shaggy Earth adorn  
With Woods, and Buds of fruits, of flowers and corn.  
'Tis time, my Love, 'tis time, mine only Care,  
To high us hence, and Mount us in the Air:  
'Tis time (or never) now, my dearest Minion,  
To imp strong farcels in thy sacred pinion;  
That lightly born upon thy Virgin back,  
Safe through the Welkin I my course may take:  
Come, come, my joy, lend me thy lily shoulder;  
That, thereon raised, I may reach the bolder  
(Before the rest of my dear Countrymen,  
Of better wit, but worse-applied pen)  
At that green Laurel, which the niggard Skies  
So long have hidden from my longingeys.   

Th' Air (host of Mists, the bounding Tennis-ball,  
That stormy Tempests toss and play with all; 
The Air distinguished into 3 Regions.   
Of winged Clouds the wide inconstant House,  
Th' unsettled kingdom of swift Aeolus,  
Great Warehouse of the Winds, whose traffik gives  
Motion of life to every thing that lives)  
Is not throughout all one: our Elder Sages  
Have fitly parted it into Three Stages.  
Whereof, because the Highest still is driven  
With violence of the First-moving Heaven, 
The High.   
From East to West; and from West returning  
To th' honoured Cradle of therosiall Morning,  
And also seated next the Fiery vault;  
It, by the learned, very hot is thought.  
That, which we touch, with times doth variate,  
Now hot, now cold, and sometimes temperate; 
The Low.   
Warm-temp'red showers it sendeth in the Spring:  
In Autumn likewise, but more varying:  
In Winter time, continual cold and i'll:  
In Summer season, hot and sultry still;  
For then, the Fields, scorched with flames, reflect  
The sparkling rays of thousand Stars aspect;  
And chief Phoebus, to whose arrows bright,  
Our Globy Grandam serves for But and White. 
The Middle Region of the Air.    

But now, because the Middle Region's set  
Far from the Fiery ceilings flagrant heat,  
And also from the warm reverberation  
Which aye the Earth reflects in divers fashion;  
That Circle shivers with eternal cold.  
For, into Hail how should the Water mould, 
Of the causes of Hail.   
Even when the Summer hath gilded Ceres' Gown,  
Except those Climes with Icicles, were sown?   

So soon as Sol, leaving the gentle Twins,  
With Cancer, or thirst-panting Leo Inns,  
The mid-most Air redoubleth all his Frosts;  
Being besieged by two mighty Hosts  
Of Heat more fierce 'gainst his Cold force then ever,  
Calls from all quarters his chill troops together.  
T'encounter them with his united Power,  
Which then dispersed, hath far greater power:  
As Christian Armies, from the Frontiers far,  
And out of fear of Turks outrageous War,  
March in disorder, and become (dispersed)  
As many Squadrons as were Soldiers yerst;  
So that sometimes th' untrained Multitude  
With bats and boawes hath beat them, and subdued:  
But if they once perceive, or understand  
The Moony Standards of proud Ottoman  
To be approaching, and the sulphury thunder  
Wherewith he brought both Rhodes and Belgrade under;  
They soon unite, and in a narrow place  
Entrench themselves; their courage grows apace,  
Their heart's on fire; and Circumcised Powers,  
By their approach, double the strength of ours.   

'Tis (doubt-less) this 
* Contrary Circumstance. The effects the● of in the middle Region of the Air.  Antiperistasis  
(Bear with the word) I hold it not a miss  
T' adopt sometimes such strangers for our use,  
When Reason and Necessity induce:  
As namely, where our native Phrase doth want  
A Word so forceful and significant)  
Which makes the Fireseem to our sense and reason  
Hotter in Winter then in Summer season:  
'Tis it which causeth the cold frozen Scythia,  
Too-often kissed by th' husband of Orithya,  
To bring forth people, whose still hungry breast  
(Winter or Summer) can more meat digest  
Then those lean starvelings which the Sun doth broil  
Upon the hot sands of the Libyan soil:  
And that ourselves, happily seated fair,  
Whose spongy lungs draw sweet and wholesome Air,  
Hid in our stomachs a more lively heat,  
While bi-front janus frosty frowns do threat,  
Then when bright Phoebus, leaving swarthy Chus,  
Mounts on our Zenith, to reflect on us.   

Th' Almighty's hand did this Partition form; 
Why the air was thus distinguished in the 3. Regions.   
To th' end that Mist, Comets, and Wind, and Storm,  
dew, drizzling Showers, Hail, slippery Ice, & Snow,  
In the Three Regions of the Air might grow:  
Whereof some, pointed th' Earth to fertilize,  
Other to punish our impieties,  
Might daily grave in hardest hearts the love  
And fear of him, who Reigns in Heaven above.   

For, as a little end of burning wax, 
Of exhalations and whereunto they are appropriate, by the Sun and the Regions of the Air.   
By th' emptiness, or if itself attracts  
In Cupping-glasses, through the scotched skin  
Behind the paul, superfluous humours thin,  
Which fuming from the brain did thence descend  
Upon the sight, and much the same offend:  
So the swift Coachman, whose bright flaming hair  
Doth every Day gild either Hemisphere,  
Two sorts of Vapours by his heat exhales  
From floating Deeps, and from the flowery Dales:  
Th' one somewhat hot, but heavy, moist, and thick;  
The other, light, dry, burning, pure, and quick;  
Which, through the Welkin roaming all the year,  
Make the World divers to itself appear.   

Now, if a vapour be so thin, that it  
Cannot to Water be transformed fit, 
Of Mist.   
And that with Cold-lymed wings, it hover near  
The flowery Mantle of our Mother deer;  
Our Air grows dusky, and moist drowsy Mist  
Upon the Fields doth for a time persist.   

And if this vapour fair and softly sty,  
Not to the cold Stage of the middle Sky, 
Of Dew and Ice.   
But 'bove the Clouds, it turneth (in a trice)  
In April, Dew; in january Ice.   

But, if the Vapour bravely can adventure  
Up to th' eternal seat of shivering Winter,  
The small thin humour by the Cold is priest  
Into a Cloud; which wanders East and West 
Of Rain.   
Upon the wind's wings, till in drops of Rain  
It fall into his Grandames lap again:  
Whether some boisterous wind, with stormy puff  
joustling the Clouds with mutual counterbuff,  
Do break their brittle sides, and make them shatter  
In drizzling Showers their swift distilling water:  
As when a wanton heedless Page (perhaps) 
divers Similes showing how the Rain is caused through the encounter of the Clouds, which are the matter of it.   
Rashly together two full glasses claps;  
Both being broken, so dainly they pour  
Both their brewed liquors on the dusty flower.  
Whether some milder gale, with sighing breath  
Shaking their Tent, their tears dissevereth:  
As after rain another rain doth drop  
In shady Forests from their shaggy top,  
When through their green boughs, whiffing Winds do whirl  
With want on puffs their waving locks to curl.  
Or whether th' upper Clouds moist heaviness  
Doth with his weight an under Cloud oppress,  
And so one humour doth another crush,  
Till to the ground their liquid pearls do gush:  
As, the more clusters of ripe grapes we pack  
In Vintage-time upon the hurdles back;  
At's pierced bottom the more fuming liquor  
Runs in the scummy Fat, and falls the thicker.   

Then, many Heav'n-flouds in our Floods do lose-am; 
Whence it proceedeth, that sometimes it raineth Frogs.   
Nought's seen but Showers: the heavens sad sable bosom  
Seems all in tears to melt; and Earth's green bed  
With stinking Frogs is sometimes covered:  
Either, because the floating Cloud doth fold  
Within itself both moist, dry, hot, and cold,  
Whence all things here are made: or else for that  
The active winds sweeping this dusty Flat,  
Sometimes in th' air some fruitful dust do heap:  
Whence these new-formed ugly creatures leap:  
As on the edges of some standing Lake  
Which neighbour Mountains with their gutters make,  
The foamy slime, itself transformeth oft  
To green half-Tadpoles, playing there aloft,  
Half-made, half-unmade; round about the Flood,  
Half-dead, half-living; half-a frog, half-mud.   

Sometimes it happens that the force of Cold  
Freezes the whole Cloud: then we may behold 
Of Snow.   
In silver Flakes a heavenly Wool to fall;  
Then, Fields seem grass-less, Forests leafe-less all,  
The World's all white; and, through the heaps of Snow,  
The highest Stag can scarce his armour show.   

Sometimes befalls, that, when by secret power, 
Of Hail.   
The Cloud's new-changed into a dropping shower,  
Th' excessive cold of the mid-Aire (anon)  
Candies-it all in balls of Icy-stone:  
Whose violent storms sometimes (alas) do proin, 
Of fume, Vapours, or exhalations whirling in the Low and Middle Regions of the air, and whereof the winds are engendered.   
Without a knife, our Orchard and our Vine:  
Reap without sickle, beat down Birds and Cattle,  
Disgrace our woods, and make our Roofs to rattle.   

If heavens bright Torches, from Earth's kidneys, sup  
Some somewhat dry and heatfull Vapours up,  
Th' ambitious lightning of their nimble Fire  
Would so dainly near th' Azure Cirques aspire:  
But scarce so soon their fuming crest hath reached,  
Or touched the Coldness of the middle Vault,  
And felt what force their mortal Enemy  
In Garrison keeps there continually;  
When down again, towards their Dam they bear,  
Holp by the weight which they have drawn from her:  
But in the instant, to their aid arrives  
Another new heat, which their heart revives,  
Re-arms their hands, and having stayed their flight,  
Better resolved brings them again to fight:  
Well fortified then, by these fresh supplies,  
More bravely they renew their enterprise:  
And one-while th' upper hand (with honour) getting,  
Anotherwhile disgracefully retreating,  
Our lower Air they toss in sundry sort,  
As weak or strong their matter doth comport.  
This lasts not long; because the heat and cold,  
Equal in force and Fortune, equal bold  
In these assaults; to end this so deign brawl,  
Th' one stops their mounting, th' other stays their fall.  
So that this Vapour, never resting stound,  
Stands never still, but makes his motion round,  
Posteth from Pole to Pole, and flies amain  
From Spain to India, and from Ind to Spain.   

But though these blustering spirits seem always blown  
By the same spirit, and of like Vapour grown;  
Yet, from their birthplace, take they diversly  
A divers name and divers quality.  
Feeling the four Winds, that with divers blast, 
Of the Winds, whereof there are four principal, compared to the four Seasons, the four Complexions, the four Elements, and the four Ages of man: & assigned to the four Corners of the World: And called East, West North & South   
From the four corners of the World do haste;  
In their effects I find four Temp'raments,  
Four Times, four Ages, and four Elements.  
Th' east-wind, in working, follows properly  
Fire, Choler, Summer, and soft Infancy:  
That, which dries-up wild Africa with his wing,  
Resembles Air, Blood, Youth, and lively Spring:  
That, which blows moistly from the Western stage,  
Like Water, Phlegm, Winter, and heavy Age:  
That, which comes shivering from cold Climates solely,  
Earth, withered Eld, Autumn, and Melancholy.  
Not, but that Men have long ye● this found-out  
More than these four Winds, East, West, North, and South:  
Those that (at Sea) to see both Poles are wont,  
Upon their Compass two and thirty count,  
Though they be infinite, as are the places  
Whence the Heav'n-fanning Exhalation passes:  
But wheresoever their quick course they bend,  
As on their Chiefs, all on these Four depend.   

One while, with whisking broom they brush and sweep 
divers effects of the Winds.   
The cloudy Curtains of heavens stages steep:  
Anon, with hotter sighs they dry the Ground,  
Late by Electra and her sisters drowned.  
Anon refresh they, with a temperate blowing,  
The sultry Air, under the Dog-star glowing:  
On Trees anon they ripe the Plum and Pear,  
In cod the Poulse, the Corn within the ear:  
Anon, from North to South, from East to West  
With ceasless wings they drive a Ship addressed:  
And sometimes whirling, on an open Hill,  
The round-flat Runner in a roaring Mill,  
In flowery motes they grind the purest grain,  
Which late they ripened on the fruitful Plain. 
divers effect of hot exhalations.    

If th' Exhalation hot and oily prove,  
And yet (as feeble) giveth place above  
To th' Airy Regions everlasting Frost,  
Incessantly th' apt-tinding fume is tossed  
Till it inflame: then like a Squib it falls,  
Or fire-wingd shaft, or sulp'hry Powder-Balls. 
Of Come●s.    

But if This kind of Exhalation tour  
Above the walls of Winter's icy bower  
' T-inflameth also; and anon becomes  
A new strange Star, presaging woeful dooms:  
And, for this Fire hath more fuel in't  
Then had the first, 'tis not so quickly spent:  
Whether the heavens incessant agitation,  
Into a Star transforming th' Exhalation,  
Kindle the same: like as a coal, that winked  
On a sticks end (and seemed quite extinct)  
Tossed in the dark with an industrious hand,  
To light the night, becomes a firebrand:  
Or whether th' upper Fire do fire the same;  
As lighted Candles do th' unlight inflame.   

According as the vapour's thick or rare, 
Of other fiery impressions in the regions of the Air.   
Even, or un-even, long or large, round or square,  
Such are the Forms it in the Air resembles:  
At sight whereof, th' amazed Vulgar trembles.  
Heer, in the night appears a flaming Spire,  
There a fierce Dragon folded all in fire;  
Here a bright Comet, there a burning Beam,  
Heer flying Lances, there a Fiery Stream:  
Here seems a horned Goat environed round  
With fiery flakes about the Air to bond.  
There, with long bloody hair, a Blazing Star  
Threatens the World with Famine, Plague, and War:  
To Princes, death: to Kingdoms, many crosses:  
To all Estates, inevitable Losses:  
To Herdsmen, Rot: to Ploughmen, hap-less Seasons:  
To Sailors, Storms: to Cities, civil Treasons.   

But hark: what hear I in the heavens? me thinks 
A lively description of thunder and lightning.   
The World's wall shakes, and his Foundation shrinks:  
It seems even now that horrible P●rsiphoné,  
Losing Meager, Allecto, and Tysiphoné,  
Weary of reigning in black Erebus,  
Transports her Hell between the Heaven and us.   

'Tis held I know, that when a Vapour moist 
How they are engendered.   
As well from Fresh as from Salt water's hoist  
In the same instant with hot-Exhalations,  
In th' Airy Regions secondary stations;  
The Fiery Fume, besieged with the Crowd  
And keen-cold thickness of that dampish Cloud,  
Strengthens his strength; and with redoubled Volleys  
Of joined Heat, on the the Cold Leagher sallies.   

Like as a Lion, very late exiled, 
A simile.   
From's native Forests; spit-at and reviled,  
Mocked, moved, and troubled with a thousand toys,  
By wanton children, idle girls and boys;  
With hideous roaring doth his Prison fill,  
In's narrow Cloistre ramping wildly, still,  
Runs to and fro; and furious, less doth long  
For liberty, than to revenge his wrong:  
This Fire, desirous to break forth again  
From's cloudy Ward, cannot itself refrain;  
But, without resting, loud it groans and grumbles,  
It rolls and roars, and round-round-round it rumbles,  
Till (having rend the lower side in sunder)  
With sulphury flash it have shot-down his thunder:  
Though, willing to unite, in these alarms,  
To's Brothers Forces, his own fainting arms;  
And th' hottest Circle of the World to gain,  
To issue up-ward, oft it strives in vain:  
But, 'tis there fronted with a Trench so large  
And such an Host, that though it often charge,  
On this and that side, the Cold Camp about,  
With his Hot Skirmish; yet still, still the stout  
Victorious Foe repelleth every push;  
So that (despairing) with a furious rush,  
Forgetting honour, it is fain to fly  
By the backdoor, with blushing Infamy.   

Then th' Ocean boils for fear; the Fish do deem 
Their effects.   
The Sea too shallow to safe-shelter them:  
The Earth doth shake; the Shepherd in the field  
In hollow Rocks himself can hardly shield:  
Th' affrighted heavens open; and, in the Vale  
Of Acheron, grim Pluto's self looks pale:  
Th' Air flames with Fire: for, the loud-roaring Thunder  
(Renting the Cloud, that it includes, asunder)  
Sends forth those Flashes which so blear our sight:  
As wakeful Students, in the Winter's night  
Against the steel glancing with stony knocks, 
Simile.   
Strike sudden sparks into their Tinderbox.   

Moreover, Lightning of a fume is framed: 
Admirable effects of lightning.   
Through 'tselfs hot-dryness, evermore inflamed:  
Whose power (past-credit) without razing skin  
Can bruiz to powder all our bones within:  
Can melt the Gold that greedy Miser's hoard  
In barred Coffers, and not burn the board:  
Can break the blade and never singe the sheath:  
Can scorch an infant in the Womb to death;  
And never blemish, in one sort or other,  
Flesh, bone, or sinew of th' amazed Mother:  
Consume the shoes and never hurt the feet:  
Empty a Cask, and yer not perish it:  
My younger eyes have often seen a Dame,  
To whom the flash of heavens fantastic flame  
Did else no harm, save (in a moment's space)  
With windy Razor shave a secretplace.   

Shall I omit a hundred Prodigies 
Of Crowns and circles about the Sun, Moon, and other Planets.   
Oft seen in forehead of the frowning Skies?  
Sometimes a Fiery Circle doth appear  
Proceeding from the beauteous beams and clear  
Of Sun and Moon, and other Stars aspect,  
Down-looking on a thick-round Cloud ditect;  
When, not of force to thrust their rays through-out-it,  
In a round Crown they cast them round about-it:  
Like as (almost) a burning candle, put 
Simile.   
Into a Closet with the door close shut;  
Not able through the boards to send his light,  
Out at the edges round about shines bright.   

But, in's declining, when Sols countenance  
Direct upon a wat'rish Cloud doth glance  
(A wat'rish Cloud, which cannot easily  
Hold any longer her moist Tympany)  
On the moist Cloud he limns his lightsome front; 
Of the Rainbow and how it is made.   
And with a gaudy Pencil paints upon't  
A blew-green-gilt bow bended over us:  
For, th' adverse Cloud, which first receiveth thus  
Apollo's rays, the same direct repels  
On the next Cloud, and with his gold it mells  
Her various colours: like as when the Sun 
Simile.   
At a bay-window peepeth in upon  
A bowl of water, his bright beams aspect  
With trembling lustre it doth far reflect  
Against th' high ceiling of the lightsome Hall  
With stately Fretwork over-crustod all.   

On th' other side, if the Cloud sidelong sit,  
And not beneath, or justly opposite 
How it comes to pass that sometimes appear divers Suns and Moons at once.   
To Sun or Moon: then either of them Forms  
With strong aspect double or treble Forms  
Upon the same. The Vulgar's then affright  
To see at once three Chariots of the Light;  
And, in the Welkin on Night's gloomy Throne,  
To see at once more shining Moons then one.   

But, O fond Mortals▪ Wherefore do ye strive 
A check to man's Pride in striving to yield reason in Nature, of all these accidents.   
With reach of Sense, God's wonders to retrieve?  
What proud desire (rather what Fury's drift?)  
Boldens you God-less, all God's works to sift?  
I'll not deny, but that a learned man  
May yield some Reason (if he list to scan)  
Of all that moves under heavens hollow Cope;  
But not so sound as can all scruple stop:  
And though he could, yet should we evermore,  
Praising these tools, extol His fingers more  
Who works withal, and many-ways doth give  
To deadest things (instantly) souls, to live. 
True Philosophy for Christians, to apply all to their conscience for amendment of life.    

Me thinks I hear, when I do hear it Thunder,  
The voice that brings Swayns up, and Caesars under:  
By that Towr-tearing stroke, I understand  
Th' undaunted strength of the Divine right hand:  
When I behold the Lightning in the Skies,  
Me thinks I seethe ' Almighty's glorious eyes:  
When I perceive it Rain-down timely showers,  
Me thinks the Lord his horn of Plenty pours:  
When from the Clouds excessive Water spins,  
Me thinks God weeps for our unwept-for sins:  
And when in Heaven I see the Rainbow bend,  
I hold it for a Pledge and Argument,  
That never more shall Universal Floods  
Presume to mount over the tops of Woods  
Which hoary Atlas in the Clouds doth hide,  
Or on the Crowns of Caucasus do ride:  
But, above all, my pierced soul inclines,  
When th' angry heavens threat with Prodigious Signs;  
When Nature's order doth reverse and change,  
Preposterously into disorder strange.   

Let all the Wits, that ever sucked the breast 
All the learned in the World cannot out of the school of Nature give reason for many things that are created in the High and Middle Regions of the Air.   
Of sacred Pallas, in one Wit be priest,  
And let him tell me (if at least he can  
By rule of Nature, or mere reach of man)  
A sound and certain reason of the Cream,  
The Wool, and Flesh, that from the Clouds did stream.  
Let him declare what cause could yerst beget,  
Amid the Air, those drizzling showers of Wheat,  
Which in Carinthia, twice were seen to shed;  
Whereof that people made them store of Bread.   

God, the great God of Heaven, sometimes delights, 
The true cause of these Prodigies.   
From top to toe to alter Nature's Rites;  
That his strange Works, to Nature contrary,  
May be forerunners of some misery.  
The drops of Fire, which weeping Heaven did shower  
Upon Lucania, when Rome sent the Flower 
Examples drawn out of the History of the Romans, jews, Turks, & French, both Ecclesiastical and profane.   
Of Italy into the wealthy Clime,  
Which Euphrates fats with his fruitful slime;  
Persaged, that Parthians should, the next year, tame  
The proud Lucanians, and nigh quench their Name.  
The clash of Arms, and clang of Trumpets heard  
High in the Air, when valiant Romans warred  
Victoriously, on the (now-cantoned) Swisses,  
Cymbrians, and Almans, hewing all in pieces;  
'Gainst Epicures profane assertions, show  
That 'tis not Fortune guides this World below.  
Thou that beheld'st from Heaven, with triple Flashes,  
Cursed Olympius smitten all to ashes,  
For Blasphemies against Th' ONE Eternall-THREE?  
Darest thou yet belch against the TRINITY?  
Darest thou, profane, spit in the face of God,  
Who for blasphemers hath so sharp a rod?   

jews (no more jews, no more of Abr'ham Sons;  
But Turks, Tartarians, Scythians, Lestrigons)  
Say what you thought; what thought you, when so long  
A flaming Sword over your Temple hung;  
But that the Lord would with a mighty arm  
The righteous vengeance of his wrath perform  
On you, and yours? that what the Plague did leave,  
Th' insatiate gorge of Famine should bereave?  
And what the Plague and Famine both did spare,  
Should be clean gleaned by the hand of War?  
That sucking Infants crying for the teat,  
Self-cruell Mothers should unkindly eat?  
And that (yer long) the share and coultar should  
Rub off their rust upon your Roofs of gold?  
And all, because you (cursed) crucified  
The Lord of life, who for our ransom died.   

The ruddy Fountain that with blood did flow:  
Th' huge Fiery Rock the thundering heavens did throw  
Into Liguria: and the Bloody Crosses  
Seen on men's garments, seemed with open voices  
To cry aloud, that the Turks swarming host  
Should pitch his proud Moons on the Genoan coast. 
The Poet severe lie taxeth his Countrymen for not marking, or not making use of strange & exextrarordinary tokens of Gods imminent displeasure.    

O Frantic France! why dost not Thou make use  
Of strangefull Signs, whereby the heavens induce  
Thee to repentance? Canst thou tearless gaze  
(Even night by night) on that prodigious Blaze,  
That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star,  
Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague, and War  
(Th' Almighty's Trident, and threeforked fire  
Wherewith he strikes us in his greatest Ire)?  
But, what (alas!) can Heavens bear threatenings urge?  
Sith all the sharp Rods which so hourly scourge,  
Thy senseless back, cannot so much as wrest  
One single sigh from thy obdurate breast?  
Thou drinkest thine own blood, thine own flesh thou eatest,  
In what most harms theethy delight is greatest.  
O senseless Folk, sick of a Lethargy,  
Who to the death despise your Remedy!  
Like froward jades that for no striking stur,  
But wax more restif still the more we spur:  
The more your wounds, more your secureness grows,  
Fat with afflictions, as an Ass with blows:  
And as the sledge hardens with strokes the steel;  
So, the more beaten, still the less ye feel.   

And want on ENGLAND, why hast thou forgot 
Upon like consideration the Translator sharp lie citeth Eng. & to rouse her from her present security, proposeth fearful examples of her own troublous changes, & others terrible Chastisements.   
Thy visitation, as thou hadst it not?  
Thou hast seen signs, and thou hast felt the rod  
Of the revenging wrathful hand of God.  
The frowning heavens in fearful Sights fore-spoke  
Thy Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman Yoke:  
And since (alas!) unkinder wounds then those,  
The Civillrents of thy divided ROSE:  
And, last of all the raging Wolves of Rome,  
Tearing thy limbs (Christ's Lambs) in Martyrdom.  
Besides Great Plagues, and grievous Dearths, which (yerst)  
Have oft the Sinews of thy strength reversed.   

But thou, more faulty more forgetful art  
Then Boys that fear but while they feel the smart:  
All this is past; and thou, past fear of it,  
In Peace and Plenty, as a Queen dost sit,  
Of Rods forgetful, and for Rest ingrateful  
(That, sottish dullness: this, a sin most hateful)  
Ingrateful to thy God, who all hath sent;  
And thy late Queen, his sacred Instrument,  
By whose pure hand, he hath more blessed Thine, 
Esay Chap. 5. ● 2. 3. etc..   
Then yerst his own Choice-planted Hebrew Vine:  
From whence he looked for Grapes (as nov from thee);  
That bore him Crabs: Thouworse (if worse may be):  
That was destroyed, the wild Boar entered in:  
ENGLAND beware: Like punishment, like sin.   

But, O! what boots, or what avails my song  
To this deaf Adder that hath slept so long,  
Snorting so loud on pillows of Security,  
Dread-less of danger, drowned in Impurity;  
Whose Senses all, all ouer-grow'n with Fat,  
Have left no door for Fear to enter at?  
Yet once again (dear Country) must I call:  
ENGLAND repent; Fall, to prevent thy Fall.  
Though Thou be blind, thy wakeful watchmen see  
heavens Ireful vengeance hanging over thee  
In fearful Signs, threatening a thousand Woes  
To thy sin's Deluge, which allover-flowes.   

Thine uncontrolled, bold, open Athëism:  
Close idol-service: Cloaked Hypocrism:  
Common Blaspheming of God's Name, in Oaths:  
Usual Profaning of his Sabbaoths:  
Thy blind, dumb, Idol-shepheards, choked with steeples,  
That fleece thy Flocks, and do not feed thy Peoples:  
Strife-full Ambition, Florentizing States:  
Bribes and Affection swaying Magistrates:  
Wealth's mercie-less Wrong, Usury, Extortion:  
Poor's Idleness, Repining at their Portion:  
Thy drunken Surfeits; and Excess in Diet:  
Thy Sensual wallowing in Lascivious Riot:  
Thy huft, puffed, painted, curled, purld, Wanton Pride  
(The Bawd to Lust, and to all Sins beside)  
These are thy Sins: These are the Signs of Ruin,  
To every State that doth the same pursue-in:  
Such, cost the jews and Asians Desolation,  
Now turned Turks, that were the Holy Nation.  
Happy who take by others dangers warning:  
All that is writ, is written for our learning:  
So preach thy Prophets: But who heeds their cry?  
Or, who believes? Then much less hope have I.  
Wherefore (Dear Bartas) having warned them;  
From this Digression, turn we to our Theme.   

As our All-welcom SOVEREIGN (England's solace, 
Simile.   
heavens care, Earth's comfort) in his stately Palace,  
Hath next His Person, Princes of His Realms  
Next him in blood, extract from Royal Stems;  
Next those, the Nobles; next, the Magistrates  
That serve him truly in their several States;  
As more or less their divers Dignity  
Comes near the Greatness of his Majesty:  
So, next the heavens, God marshaled th' Element 
Having sufficiently discoursed of the Air, he gins to handle the Element of Fire.   
Which seconds them in swift bright Ornament:  
And then the rest, according as of kin  
To th' Azure Spheres, or th' Erring Fires they been.   

Yet some (more crediting their eyes, than Reason)  
From's proper place this Essence do disseisin; 
Against such as deny the Fire to be an Element.   
And vainly strive (after their Fanciessway)  
To cut the World's best Element away,  
The nimble, light, bright-flaming, heatfull Fire,  
Fountain of life, Smith, Founder, Purifier,  
Cook, Surgeon, Soldier, Gunner, Alchemist,  
The source of Motion: briefly, what not is't?  
Apt for all, acting all; whose arms embrace,  
Under heavens arms, this Universal Mass.   

For, if (say they) the Fire were lodged between 
Their Reasons.   
The heavens and us, it would by night be seen;  
Sith then, so far-off (as in Meads we pass) 
1   
We see least Glow-wormsglister in the grass:  
Besides, how should we through the Fiery Tent,  
Perceive the bright eyes of the Firmament?  
Sith here the soundest and the sharpest eye 
2   
Can nothing through our Candle-flames descry.   

O! hard-beleeving Wits! if Zephyrus 
Answers.   
And Austers sighs were never felt of us,  
You would suppose the space between Earth's Ball,  
And heavens bright Arches, void and empty all:  
And then no more you would the Air allow  
For Element, than th' hot-bright Flamer now.   

Now even as far as Phoebus' light excels 
Difference between th' Elementary fire and ours.   
The light of Lamps, and every Taper else  
Wherewith weuse to lengthen th' Afternoon  
Which Capricorn duck's in the Sea too soon;  
So far in pureness th' Elemental Flame  
Excels the Fire that for our use we frame.  
For, ours is nothing but a dusky light,  
Gross, thick, and smoky, enemy to sight:  
But, that above (for being neither blended  
With fumy mixture of gross nourishment,  
Nor tossed with Winds, but far from us) comes near  
It's neighbour Heaven, in nature pure and clear.   

But, of what substance shall I, after-thee 
Hear for conclusion of this second book, he cometh to discourse of the Heavens, & first entreateth of their matter and Essence. According to the opinions of the Philosophers.   
(O match-less Master) make heavens Canapey?  
Uncertain, here my resolution's rock  
And waver, like th' inconstant Weathercock  
Which, on a tower turning with every blast,  
Changeth his Master, and his place as fast.  
Learned Lycaeum, now awhile, I walk-in:  
Then th' Academian sacred Shades I stalk-in.   

Treading the way that Aristotle went,  
I do deprive the heavens of Element,  
And mixture too; and think, th' omnipotence  
Of God did make them of a Quint-Essence;  
Sith of the Elements, two still erect 
Their course.   
Their motion up; two ever down direct:  
But the heavens course, not wandering up nor down,  
Continually turns only roundly round.  
The Elements have no eternal race,  
But settle ay in their assigned place:  
But th' azure Circle without taking breath,  
His certain course for ever gallopeth;  
It keeps one pace, and moved with waight-les weights,  
It never takes fresh horse, nor never baits.   

Things that consist of th' Elements uniting,  
Are ever tossed with an intestine fight;  
Whence, springs (in time) their life and their deceasing, 
Heaven not subject to alteration, as are the Elements.   
Their divers change, their waxing and decreasing:  
So that, of all that is, or may be seen  
With mortal eyes, under Night's horned Queen,  
Nothing retaineth the same form and face,  
Hardly the half of half an hours space.  
But, the heavens feel not Fates impartial rigour:  
Years add not to their stature nor their vigour:  
Use wears them not; but their green-ever Age  
Is all in all still like their Pupillage.   

Then suddenly, turned studious Platonist,  
I hold, the heavens of Elements consist: 
What use of Elements in the Heavens.   
'Tis Earth, whose firm parts make their Lamps apparent,  
Their bodies fast; Air makes them all transparent;  
Fire makes their restless circles pure, and clear,  
Hot, lighsom, light, and quick in their career:  
And Water, 'nointing with cold-moist the brims  
Of th' enter-kissing turning Globes extremes,  
Tempers the heat (caused by their rapid turning)  
Which else would set all th' elements aburning.   

Not, that I do compare or match the Matter 
Difference between the Elements, whereof the Heavens are composed, and these inferior Elements.   
Whence I compose th' All-compassing Theatre,  
To those gross Elements which here below  
Our hand and eye doth touch and see and know:  
't' all fair, all pure; a sacred harmony  
Those bodies binds in end-less Unity:  
That Aier's not flitting, nor that Water floating,  
Nor Fire inflaming, nor Earth dully doting:  
Nor one to other aught offensive neither,  
But (to conclude) Celestial altogether.   

See, see the rage of human Arrogance: 
Detesting the presumption of those curious wits searching these secrets, He limits himself within the bounds of Christian Sobriety.   
See how far dares man's erring ignorance,  
That with unbridled tongue (as if it oft  
Had tried the mettle of that upper fit)  
Dares, without proof or without reason yielded,  
Tell of what timber God his Palace builded.  
But, in these doubts much rather rest had I,  
Then with mine error draw my Readerwry;  
Till a Saint Paul doore-descend from Heaven,  
Or till myself (this sinful robe be reav'n,  
This rebel Flesh, whose counterpoise oppresses  
My pilgrim Soul, and ever it depresses)  
Shall see the beauties of that Blessed Place:  
If (then) I ought shall see, save Gods bright Face.   

But even as many (or more) quarrels cumber 
divers opinions of the number of the Heavens.   
Th' old Heathen Schools about the heavens number:  
One holds but one; making the World's Eyes shine  
Through the thin-thicknes of that Crystal line  
(As through the Ocean's clear and liquid Flood  
The slippery Fishes up and down doos●ud.)  
Another, judging certain by his eye,  
And seeing seven bright Lamps (moved diversely)  
‛ Turn this and that way: and, on th' other side,  
That all the rest of the heavens twinkling pride  
Keep all one course; ingeniously, he varies  
The heavens rich building into eight round Stories.  
Others, amid the Starriest Orb perceiving  
A triple cadence, and withal conceiving  
That but one natural course one body goes,  
Count nine, some ten; not numbering yet (with those)  
Th' empyreal Palace, where th' eternal Treasures  
Of Nectar flow, where everlasting Pleasures  
Are heaped-up, where an immortal May  
In blissful beauties flourisheth for ay,  
Where Life still lives, where God his 
* Assizes.  Assizes holds,  
Environed round with Seraphins, and Souls  
Bought with his precious blood, whose glorious Flight  
Yerst mounted Earth above the heavens bright.  
Nor shall my faint and humble Muse presume  
So high a Song and Subject to assume.   

O fair, five-double Round, sloaths Foe apparent, 
He stoppeth at the contemplation and praise of the Heavens. Which he considereth as distinguished into ten stages or Heavens.   
Life of the World, Days, Months, and years own Parent▪  
Thine own selves model, never shifting place,  
And yet, thy pure wings with so swift apase  
Fly over us, that but our Thought alone  
Can (as thy babe) pursue thy motion:  
Infinite finite; free from growth and grief,  
Discord and death; dance-lover; to be brief,  
Still like thyself, all thine own in thee all,  
Transparent, clear, light; law of this low Ball:  
Which in thy wide bout, boundless all dost bound,  
And clasp●st all, under, or in thy Round;  
Throne of th' Almighty, I would fain rehearse  
Thy various Davies in this very Verse,  
If it were time, and but my bounded Song  
Doubteth to make this Second Day too-long.  
For, notwithstanding, yet another day  
I fear some Critic will not stick to say,  
My babbling Muse did sail with every gale,  
And mingled yarn to length her web withal.   

But know, what e'er thou be, that here I gather 
The sum of what hath been handled in this book, & what is to be understood by the firmament which Moses describeth in the first of Gen. ●. 6   
justly so many of God's works together,  
Because by th' Orb of th' ample Firmament  
Which round This-Day th' Eternal Fingers penned  
Between the lower Waters and the higher;  
I mean the heavens, the Air, and th' upper Fire,  
Which separate the Ocean's waters salt.  
From those which God poured o'er th' Ethereal Vault.   

Yet have I not so little seen and sought 
Against those that think there are no waters above the firmament: Whom he confuteth by divers Reasons. Simile.   
The Volumes, which our Age hath chiefest thought,  
But that I know how suttly greatest Clarks  
Presume to argue in their learned Works,  
T'o ' r-whelm these Floods, this Crystal to deface,  
And dry this Ocean, which doth all embrace.  
But, as the beauty of a modest Dame,  
Who, well-content with Nature's comely Frame,  
And native Fair (as it is freely given  
In fit proportion by the hand of Heaven)  
Doth not, with painting▪ prank, nor set-it-out  
With helps of Art, sufficient Fair without;  
Is more praiseworthy, than the wanton glance,  
Th' affected gait, th' alluring countenance,  
The Mart of Pride, the Periwigs and painting,  
Whence Courtesans refresh their beauties fainting: 
1. The word of God to be preser red before the voice of man.   
So do I more the sacred Tongue esteem,  
Though plain and rural it do rather seem,  
Then schooled Athenian; and Divinity,  
For only varnish, have but Verity;  
Then all the golden Wit-pride of Humanity,  
Wherewith men burnish their erroneous vanity.   

I'll rather give a thousand times the lie 
2. God's word mentioneth waters above the firmament.   
To mine own Reason, then but once defy  
The sacred voice of th' everlasting Spirit,  
Which doth so often and so loud averr-it,  
That God, above the shining Firmament, 
Gen. 1, 7 Psal. 104, 3 Psal. 148, 4   
I wots not, I, what kind of Waters penned:  
Whether, that pure, supercelestial Water,  
With our inferior have no likely nature:  
Whether, turned Vapour, it have round embowed  
heavens highest stage in a transparent Cloud:  
Or whether (as they say) a Crystal case  
Do (round about) the Heavenly Orb embrace.  
But, with conjectures wherefore strive I thus?  
Can doubtful proofs the certainty discuss?  
I see not, why Man's reason should withstand, 
3. The power of God ought to be of greater authority than Man's Reason.   
Or not believe, that He whose powerful hand  
Bay'd-vp the Red-Sea with a double Wall,  
That Israel's Host might scape Egyptian thrall,  
Can prop as sure so many waves on high  
Above the Heaven Star-spangled Canapy.   

See we not hanging in the Clouds each hour  
So many Seas, still threatening down to pour, 
4. The consideration of the waters which hang in the Air, and of the Sea which compasseth the Earth.   
Supported only by th' Aier's agitation  
(Selfly too weak for the least waight's foundation)?  
See we not also, that this Sea below,  
Which round about our Earthly Globe doth flow,  
Remains still round; and maugre all the surly  
Aeolian Slaves and Water's hurly burly,  
Dares not (to level her proud liquid Heap)  
Never so little past her limits leap?  
Why then believe we not, that upper Sphere  
May (without falling) such an Ocean bear?   

Uncircumcised! O hard hearts! at least  
Let's think that God those Waters doth digest  
In that steep place: for, if that, Nature here 
5. divers effects continual & admirable in Nature.   
Can form firm Pearl and Crystal shining clear  
Of liquid substance; let's believe it rather  
Much more in God (the heavens and nature's Father)  
Let us much more, much more let's poise and ponder  
Th' Almighty's Works, and at his Wisdom wonder:  
Let us observe, and double-waigh it well,  
That this proud Palace where we rule and dwell  
(Though built with match-less Art) had fallen long since,  
Had it not been seel'd-round with moist Elements.  
For, like as (in Man's Little-World) the Brain  
Doth highest place of all our Frame retain,  
And tempers with its moistfull coldness so  
Th' excessive heat of th' other parts below:  
Th' eternal Builder of this beauteous Frame  
To enter-mingle meetly Frost with Flame,  
And cool the great heat of the Great-Worlds Torches,  
This-Day spread Water over heavens bright Arches.   

These Seas (they say) leagued with the Seas below,  
Hiding the highest of the Mountains tho,  
Had drowned the whole World had not Noah builded  
A holy Vessel, where his house was shielded: 
Taking occasion by his former discourse he treateth of the encounter of the upper waters with the lower: whence followed the general stood in the days of Noah: Which h●re he lively representeth.   
Where, by direction of the King of Kings,  
He saved a seed-payr of all living things;  
No sooner ship●, but instantly the Lord  
Down to th' Aeolian dungeon him bestirred,  
There muzzled close Cloud-chasing Boreas,  
And let lose Auster, and his lowering race,  
Who soon set forward with a dropping wing;  
Upon their beard for every hair a spring,  
A night of Clouds muffled their brows about,  
Their wattled locks gushed all in Rivers out;  
And both their hands, wring thick Clouds asunder,  
Send forth fierce lightning, tempest, rain and thunder.  
Brooks, Lakes, and Floods, Rivers, and foaming Torrents  
Suddenly swell; and their confused Currents,  
Losing their old bounds, break a nearer way  
To run at random with their spoils to Sea.  
Th' Earth shakes for fear, and (sweeting) doth consume her,  
And in her veins leaves not a drop of humour.  
And thou thyself, O Heaven, didst set wideope  
(Through all the Marshes in thy spacious cope)  
All thy large sluices, thy vast Seas to shed  
In sudden spouts on thy proud sister's head;  
Whose aw-less, lawless, shameless life abhorred,  
Only delighted to despite the Lord.   

Th' Earth shrinks & sinks; now th' Ocean hath no shore:  
Now Rivers run to serve the Sea no more;  
Themselves are Sea: the many sundry Streams,  
Of sundry names (derived from sundry Realms)  
Make now but one great Sea: the World itself  
Is nothing now but a great standing Gulf,  
Whose swelling surges strive to mix their Water  
With th' other Waves above this round Theatre.  
The Sturgeon, coasting over Castles, muses  
(Under the Sea) to see so many houses.  
The Indian Manat and the Mullet float  
O'er Mountain tops, where yerst the bearded Goat  
Did bound and brouz the crooked Dolphin seuds  
O'er th' highest branches of the hugest Woods.  
Nought boots the Tiger, or the Hart or Horse,  
Or Hare, or Greyhound, their swift speedy course;  
For, seeking Land, the more they strain & breathe them,  
The more (alas) it shrinks and sinks beneath them.  
The Otter, Tortoise, and fell Crocodile  
Which did enjoy a double house erewhile,  
Must be content with only water now.  
The Wolf and Lamb, Lions and Buçks, do row  
Upon the Waters, side by side, suspect-less.  
The Glead and Swallow, labouring long (effect-less)  
Against certain death, with wearied wings fall down  
(For want of Perch) and with the rest do drown.   

And, for mankind, imagine some get up  
To some high Mountains over-hanging top;  
Some to a tower, some to a Cedar tree,  
(Whence round about a World of deaths they see)  
But wheresoever their pale fears aspire  
For hope of safety, th' Ocean surgeth higher,  
And still-still mounting as they still do mount,  
When they cease mounting, doth them soon surmount.  
One therefore ventures on a Plank to row,  
One in a Chest, another in a Trough:  
Another, yet half-sleeping, scarce perceives  
How's bed and breath, the Flood at once bereaves;  
Another labouring with his feet and hands,  
A while the fury of the Flood withstands,  
(Which by his side hath newly drowned his Mother,  
His Wife, his Son, his Sister, Sire, and Brother):  
But tired and spent, weary and wanting strength,  
He needs must yield (too) to the Seas at length;  
All, all must die then: but 
* Parcaes, à non parcendo: Thenone-sparing Fates; that is to say, Death.  th' impartial Maids,  
Who want to use so sundry tools for aids,  
In execution of their fatal slaughters,  
Had only now the furious foaming Waters.   

Safely the while, the sacred Ship did float  
On the proud shoulders of that boundless-Moat,  
Though mastless, oar-les, and from Harbour far;  
For God was both her Steersman, and her Star.  
Thrice fifty days that Universal Flood  
Wasted the World; which than the Lord thought good  
To re-erect, in his Compassion great.  
No sooner sounds he to the Seas retreat,  
But instantly wave into wave did sink  
With sudden speed, all Rivers 'gan to shrink;  
Th' Ocean retires him to his wont prison;  
The Woods are seen; the Mountain tops are risen  
Out of their slimy Bed: the Fields increase  
And spread apace, so fast the waters cease.  
And (briefly) th' only thundering hand of God  
Now Earth to Heaven, Heaven unto Earth re-showed;  
That he again Panchaian Fumes might see  
Sacred on Altars to his Majesty. 
He concludeth with a most godly prayer accommodated to the state of the Church in our time.    

Lord, sithed hath pleased thee likewise, in our Age,  
To save thy Ship from Tyrant's stormy rage,  
Increase in Number (Lord) thy little Flock;  
But more in Faith, to build on thee, the Rock.   

So, Morn and Even the second Day conclude,  
And God perceived that All his Works were good.    

THE THIRD DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

The Sea, and Earth: their various Equipage:  
Severed apart: Bounds of the Oceansrage:  
' Timbraceth Earth: it doth all Watersowe:  
Why it is salt: How it doth Ebb, and Flow:  
Rare streams, and Fountains of strange operation:  
Earth's firmness, greatness, goodness: sharp taxation  
Of Bribes, Ambition, Treason, Avarice.  
Trees, Shrubs, & Plants: Mines, Metals, Gems of price:  
Right use of Gold: the Loadstones rare effects:  
The Countrey-life preferred in all respects.   

MY sacred Muse, that lately soared high  
Among the glistering Circles of the Sky 
Fron the Heaven & Regions of the Air, the Poet descendeth to the Earth and Sea.   
(Whose various dance, which the first Mover drives  
Harmoniously, this Universe revives)  
Commanding all the Winds and sulphry Storms,  
The lightning Flashes, and the hideous Forms  
Seen in the Air; with language meetly brave  
Whilom discoursed upon a Theme so grave▪  
But, This-Day, flagging lowly by the Ground,  
She seems constrained to keep a lowly ●ound;  
Or, if sometimes, she somewhat raise her voice,  
The sound is drowned with the rough Ocean's noise.  
O King of grassy and of glassy Plains, 
He calleth upon the true God be assisted in the description of th●se two Elements, and the things therein.   
Whose powerful breath (at thy dread will) constrains  
The deep Foundations of the Hills to shake,  
And Seas salt billows against heavens vaults to rake:  
Grant me, Today, with skilful Instruments  
To bond a right these two rich Elements:  
In learned numbers teach me sing the natures  
Of the firm-Earth, and of the floating Waters:  
And with a flowering style the Flowers to limn  
Whose Colours now shall paint the Fields so trim.   

All those steep Mountains, whose high horned tops 
God in this third Day gathers together the Waters, & separates them from the Earth.   
The misty cloak of wandering Clouds enwraps,  
Under First Waters their crump shoulders hid,  
And all the Earth as a dull Pond abide,  
Until th' All-Monarch's bounteous Majesty  
(Willing t'enfeof man this world's Empery)  
Commanded Neptune strait to Marshal forth  
His Floods apart; and to unfold the Earth:  
And, in his Waters, now contented rest,  
Thave all the World, for one whole day, possessed.   

As when the muffled heavens have wept a main, 
By an apt comparison, he showeth how the Water withdrew from off the Earth.   
And foaming streams assembling on the Plain,  
Turned Fields to Floods; soon as the showers do cease,  
With unseen speed the Deluge doth decrease,  
Sups up itself, in hollow sponges sinks,  
And's ample arms in straighter Channel shrinks:  
Even so the Sea, to 'tself itself he took,  
Mount after Mount, Field after Field forsook;  
And suddenly in smaller cask did tun  
Her Waters, that from every side did run:  
Whether th' imperfect Light did first exhale  
Much of that primer Humour, where withal  
God, on the Second-Day, might frame and found  
The Crystal Spheres that he hath spread so round:  
Whether th' Almighty did new place provide  
To lodge the Waters: whether opening wide  
Th' Earth's Hollow Pores, it pleased him to convey 
Of the lodging and bed of the sea.   
Deep under ground some Arms of such a Sea:  
Or whether, pressing waters gloomy Globe,  
That cov'red all (as with a cloudy rob)  
He them imprisoned in those bounds of brass,  
Which (to this day) the Ocean dares not pass  
Without his licence. For, th' Eternal, knowing  
The Seas commotive and inconstant flowing, 
The Sea kept within her bounds by the Almighty power of God.   
Thus kerbed her; and, against her envious rage,  
Forever fençed ou● Flowry-mantled Stage:  
So that we often see those rolling Hills,  
With roaring noise threatening the neighbour Fields,  
Through their own spite to split upon the shore,  
Foaming for fury that they dare no more.   

For, what could not▪ that great, high Admiral  
Work in the Waves, sith at his Servants call,  
His dreadful voice (to save his ancient Sheep)  
Did cleave the bottom of th' Erythraean Deep? 
Exod. 14, 11 josuah, 3, 16 Gen. 7, 21 Exod. 17. 6   
And toward the Crystal of his double source  
Compelled jordan to retreat his course?  
Drowned with a Deluge the rebellious World?  
And from dry Rocks abundant Rivers purled?   

Lo, thus the weighty Water did erewhile  
With winding turns make all this world an I'll.  
For, like as molten Lead being poured forth 
A fit Simile showing the winding turns of the Sea abou● the Earth.   
Upon a level plot of sand or earth,  
In many fashions mazeth to and fro;  
Runs here direct, there crookedly doth go,  
Here doth divide itself, there meets again;  
And the hot rivulet of the liquid vain,  
On the smooth table crawling like a worm,  
Almost (in th' instant) every form doth form:  
God poured the Waters on the fruitful Ground  
In sundry figures; somin fashion round,  
Some square, some cross, some long, some lozenge-wise,  
Some triangles, some large, some lesser size;  
Amid the Floods (by this fair difference)  
To give the world more wealth and excellence.  
Such is the Germane Sea, such Persian Sine,  
Such th' Indian Gulf, and such th' Arabian Brine,  
And such Our Sea: whose divers-brancht 
* Windings.  retortions,  
Divide the World in three unequal Portions.   

And, though each of these Arms (how large soever) 
The arms of the Sea distinguished into smaller members with commodities and use thereof.   
To the great Ocean seems a little River:  
Each makes a hundred sundry Seas beside  
(Not sundry in waters, but in Names and Tides)  
To moisten kindly, by their secret Veins,  
The thirsty thickness of the neighbour Plains:  
To bulwark Nations, and to serve for fences  
Against the invasion of Ambitious Princes:  
To bound large Kingdoms with eternal limits:  
To further Traffic through all Earthly Climates:  
T'abridge long journeys; and with aid of Wind  
Within a month to visit either Ind.   

But, th' Earth not only th' Ocean's debtor is 
A Catalogue of most of the most famous Rivers in the World.   
For these large Seas: But she owes him Tananis,  
Nile (Egypt's treasure) and his neighbour stream  
That in the Desert (through his haste extreme)  
Loseth himself so oft; swift Euphrates;  
And th' other proud Son of cold Niphates:  
Fair spacious Ganges, and his famous brother,  
That lends his name unto their noble Mother:  
Gold-sanded Tagus, Rhyne, Rhóne, Volga, Tiber,  
Danubius, Albis, Pô, Sein, Arne, and Iber;  
The Darian, Plate, and Amazónian River,  
(Where SPAIN'S Gold-thirsty Locusts cool their liver):  
Our silver Medway, (which doth deep indent  
The Flowery Meadows of My native KENT;  
Still sadly weeping (under Pensherst walls)  
Th' Arcadian Cygnet's bleeding Funerals)  
Our Thames and Tweed, our Severn, Trent, and Humber,  
And many more, too infinite to number.   

Of him, she also holds her Silver Springs,  
And all her hidden Crystal Riverlings:  
And after (greatly) in two sorts repaies  
Th' Humour she borrows by two sundry ways: 
Fountain's Springs and Rivers welling out of the Earth.   
For, like as in a Limbeck, th' heat of Fire  
Raiseth a Vapour, which still mounting higher  
To the Still's top; when th' odoriferous sweat  
Above that Mitre can no further get,  
It softly thickening, falleth drop by drop, 
A Simile showing how the waters of the Earth are exhaled by the Sun & then powered into the Sea.   
And Clear as Crystal, in the glass doth drop;  
The purest humour in the Sea, the Sun  
Exhales in th' Air: which there resolved, anon,  
Returns to water; and descends again  
By sundry ways unto his Mother Main.   

For, the dry Earth, having these waters (first)  
Through the wide sieve of her void entrails searst;  
Giving more room, at length from Rocky Mountains: 
How the Fountains come to break forth of the Earth.   
She (night and day) pours forth a thousand Fountains:  
These Fountains make fresh Brooks (with murmuring currents  
These murmuring Brooks, the swift & violent Torrents;  
These violent Torrents, mighty Rivers; These,  
These Rivers make the vast, deep, dreadful Seas. 
The increasing of Brooks and Rivers, and of their falling into the sea.    

And all the highest Heav'n-approaching Rocks  
Contribute hither with their snowy locks:  
For, soon as Titan, having run his Ring,  
To th' icy climates bringeth back the Spring;  
On their rough backs he melts the hoary heaps,  
Their tops grow green; and down the water leaps  
On every side, it foams, it roars, it rushes,  
And through the steep and stony hills it gushes,  
Making a thousand Brooks; whereof, when one  
Perceives his fellow striving to be gone;  
Hasting his course, he him accompanies;  
After, another and another hies,  
All in one race; joint-losing all of them  
Their Names and Waters in a greater stream:  
And He that robs them, shortly doth deliver  
Himself and his into a larger River:  
And That, at length, how ever great and large  
(Lord of the Plain) doth in some Gulf discharge  
His parent-Tribute to Oceanus,  
According to th' Eternal rendezvous.  
Yet, notwithstanding, all these Streams that enter 
Why the sea receiveth no increase of all the Waters that fall therein.   
In the Main Sea, do nought at all augment her:  
For that, besides that all these Floods in one,  
Matched with great Neptune, seem as much as none;  
The Sun (as yerst I said) and Winds withal,  
Sweeping the surface of the Brinie-Ball,  
Extract as much still of her humours thin,  
As weeping Air and welling Earth pours in.   

But as the swelting heat, and shivering cold,  
Gnashing and sweat, that th' Ague-sick do hold,  
Come not at hazard, but in time and order  
Afflict the body with their fell disorder: 
Of the Ebbing & Flowing of the sea: & sundry causes thereof   
The Sea hath fits, alternate course she keeps,  
From Deep to Shoar, and from the Shoar to Deeps.  
Whether it were, that at the first, the Ocean  
From Gods own hand received this double Motion,  
By means whereof, it never resteth stound, 
Simile.   
But (as a turning Whirli-gig) goes round,  
Whirls of itself, and goodwhile after takes  
Strength of the strength which the first motion makes:  
Whether the Sea, which we Atlantic call,  
Be but a piece of the Grand Sea of all;  
And that his Floods entering the ample Bed  
Of the deep Main (with fury hurried  
Against the Rocks) repulsed with disdain,  
Be thence compelled to turn back again:  
Or whether Cynthia, that with Changefull laws  
Commands moist bodies, doth this motion cause:  
As, on our Shoar, we see the Sea to rise  
Soon as the Moon gins to mount our skies.  
And when, through heavens Vaultvailing toward spain, 
Proof of the third cause: viz. that the waxing and waving of the Moon, causeth the flowing and ebbing of the Sea.   
The Moon descendeth, than it Ebbs again.  
Again, so soon as her inconstant Crown  
Gins to shine on th' other Horizon,  
It Flows again: and then again it falls  
When she doth light th' other Meridionalls.   

We see moreover, that th' Atlantic Seas  
Do Flow far farther than the Genöese,  
Or both the Bosphores; and that Lakes, which grow  
Out of the Sea, do neither Ebb nor Flow:  
Because (they say) the silver fronted Star,  
That swells and shrinks the Seas (as pleaseth her)  
Pours with less power her plenteous influence  
Upon these strait and narrow streamed Fens,  
And Inland Seas, which many a Mount immounds,  
Then on an Ocean vast and void of bounds:  
Even as in Summer, her great Brothers Ay,  
When winds be silent, doth more easily dry 
Simile.   
Wide spreading Plains, open and spacious Fields,  
Then narrow Vales vaulted about with Hills.   

If we perceive not in the Deep, so well 
Why the tide is not so well perceived at sea as by the shore.   
As by the shore, when it doth shrink and swell;  
Our sprightful Pulse the tide doth well resemble,  
Whose outside seems more than the midst to tremble.   

Nor is the glorious Prince of Stars less mighty  
Than his pale Sister, on vast Amphitrité.  
For Phoebus, boiling with his lightsome Heat  
The Fishfull Waves of Neptune's Royal Seat,  
And supping up still (with his thirsty Rays) 
The cause of the faltnes of the sea   
All the fresh humour in the floating Seas,  
In Thetis large Cells leaveth nought behind,  
Save liqvid Salt, and a thick bitter Brine.   

But see (the while) see how the Sea (I pray)  
Through thousand Seas hath carried me away,  
In fear t' have drowned myself and Readers so,  
The Floods so made my words to overflowe.  
Therefore ashore; and on the tender Lee 
Of waters separated from the Sea.   
Of Lakes, and Pools, Rivers, and Springs, let's see  
The sovereign virtues of their several Waters,  
Their strange effects, and admirable natures,  
That with incredible rare force of theirs,  
Confound our wits, ravish our eyes and ears.   

Th' Hammon●an Fount, while Phoebus' Torch is light, 
Wonderful effects of divers Fountains.   
Is cold as Ice; and (opposite) all night  
(Though the cold Crescent shine thereon) is hot,  
And boiles and bubbles like a seething Pot.   

They say (forsooth) the River Silarus,  
And such another, called Eurimenus,  
Convert the boughs, the bark, the leaves, and all,  
To very stone, that in their Waters fall.   

O! should I blanch the jews religious River,  
Which every Saboth dries his Channel over;  
Keeping his Waves from working on that Day  
Which God ordained a sacred Rest for ay?   

If near unto the Eleusinian Spring,  
Some sportful jig, some wanton Shepherd sing,  
The Ravished Fountain falls to dance and bound,  
Keeping true Cadence to his rustic sound.  
Cerona, Xanth▪ and Ceph●sus, do make  
The thirsty-Flocks that of their Waters take,  
Black, red, and white. And near the crimson Deep,  
Th' Arabian Fountain maketh crimson Sheep.   

Solonian Fountain, and thou Andrian Spring,  
Out of what Cellars do you daily bring  
The Oil and Wine that you abound-with, so?  
O Earth! do these within thine entrails grow?  
What? be there Vines and Orchards under ground?  
Is Bacchus' Trade and Pallas Art there found?   

What should I, of th' Illyrian Fountain, tell?  
What shall I say of the Dodónean Well?  
Whereof, the first sets any clothes onfire;  
Th' other doth quench (who but will this admire?)  
A burning Torch; and when the same is quenched,  
Lights it again, if it again be drenched.  
Sure, in the Legend of absurdest Fables  
I should enroll most of these admirables;  
Save for the reverence of th' unstained credit  
Of many a witness where I yerst have read it:  
And saving that our gain-spurred Pilots find,  
In our days, Waters of more wondrous kind.   

Of all the Sources infinite to count,  
Which to an ample Volume would amount, 
A continuation of the admirable effects of certain Waters.   
Far hence on Foreign unfrequented Coast,  
I'll only choose some five or six at most,  
Strange to report, perhaps believed of few;  
And yet no more incredible than true.   

In th' I'll of Iron (one of those same seven  
Whereto our Elders 
* Insulae fortunatae.  Happy name had given)  
The Savage people never drink the streams  
Of Wells and Rivers (as in other Realms)  
Their drink is in the Air; their gushing spring  
A weeping Tree out of itself doth wring:  
A Tree, whose tender-bearded Root being spread  
In driest sand, his sweeting Leaf doth shed  
A most sweet liquor; and (like as the Vine  
Untimely cut, weeps (at her wound) her wine,  
In pearled tears) incessantly distils  
A Crystal stream, which all their Cisterns fills,  
Through all the Island: for all hither hy,  
And all their vessels cannot draw it dry.   

In frosty Island are two Fountains strange:  
Th' one flows with Wax: the other stream doth change  
All into Iron; yet with scalding steam  
In thousand bubbles belcheth up her stream.   

In golden Perû, necre Saint Helen's Mount  
A stream of Pitch comes from a springing Fount.   

What more remains? That Newfound World, beside,  
Toward the West many a fair River guides;  
Whose floating Waters (knowing th' use aright  
Of Work-fit Day, and Rest-ordained Night,  
Better than men) run swiftly, all the Day;  
But rest, all Night, and stir not any way.   

Great Engineer, Almighty Architect,  
I fear, of Envy I should be suspect, 
Of Baths and Medicinable Waters.   
Envy of thy Renown and and sacred glory,  
If my ingrateful Rhymes should blanch the Story  
Of Streams, distilling through the Sulphur-Mines,  
Through Bitumen. Allom, and Nitre veins;  
Which (perfect Leaches) with their vertaes cure  
A thousand Griefs we mortals here endure,  
Old in th' April of our age therewith,  
Whose rigour strives to ante-date our death.   

Now, as my happy Gascony excels, 
Of the excellent Baths in Gascony.   
In Corn, Wine, Warriors, every Country else;  
So doth she also in free Baths abound;  
Where strangers flock from every part around.  
The barren womb, the Palsie-shaken wight,  
Th' ulcerous, gouty, deaf, and decrepit,  
From East and West arriving, fetch from hence  
Their ready help with small or no expense.  
Witness Ancossa, Caud'rets, Aiguescald,  
Barege, Baigners; Baigners, the pride of all,  
The pride, the praise, the only Paradise  
Of all those Mountains mounting to the skies,  
Where yerst the Gaulian Hercules begot  
(Wanton Alomena's Bastard, mean I not)  
On fair Pirén● (as the fame doth go)  
The famous Father of the Gascons; who  
By noble deeds, do worthily aver  
Their true descent from such an ancestor.  
On th' one side, Hills hoared with eternal Snows,  
And craggy Rocks Baigneres do enclose▪  
The other side is sweetly compast-in  
With fragrant skirts of an immortal Green,  
Whose smiling beauties far excel, in all,  
The famous praise of the Peneinan Vale:  
There's not a House, but seemeth to be new;  
Th' even-slated Roofs reflect with glistering blue:  
To keep the Pavement ever clean and sweet,  
A Crystal River runs through every Street;  
Whose Silver stream, as cold as Ice, doth slide  
But little off the Physic Water's side;  
Yet keeps his nature, and disdains, a jot  
To intermix his cold with th' others hot.   

But, all these Wonders that adorn my Verse,  
Yet come not near unto the wondrous Lers:  
If it be true, that the Stagyrian Sage  
(With shame confused, and driven with desperate rage)  
Because his Reason could not reach the knowing  
Of Euripus his seau'nfold Ebbing-flowing,  
Leapt in the same, and there his life did end,  
Comprised in that he could not comprehend. 
Of the most won derfull Fountain of Belestat.    

What had he done, had he beheld the Fountain,  
Which springs at Belstat near the famous Mountain  
Of Foix; whose Floods bathing Masérian Plains,  
Furnish with wood the wealthy Tholousains?  
As oftas Phoebus (in a complete Race)  
On both th' Orisons shows his radiant Face,  
This wondrous Brook) for four whole months) doth flow,  
Foure-times-six-times, and Ebbs as oft as low  
For half an hour may dryshod past that list:  
The next half hour, may none his course resist.  
Whose foaming stream strives proudly to compare  
(Even in the birth) with Fame-fullst Floods that are.  
O! learned (Nature-taught) Arithmetician!  
Clock-less, so just to measure Time's partition.   

And little LAMBS-BOURN, though thou match not Lers,  
Nor hadst the Honour of DU BARTAS Verse;  
If mine have any, Thou must needs partake,  
Both for thine Own, and for thine Owners sake;  
Whose kind Excesses Thee so nearly touch,  
That Yearly for them Thou dost weep so much,  
All Summer-long (while all thy Sisters shrink▪)  
That of thy tears a million daily drink;  
Besides thy Waast, which then in haste dothrun  
To wash the feet of CHAVCER's Donnington:  
But (while the rest are full unto the top)  
All Winter-long, Thou never showest a drop,  
Nor send'st a doi● of need-less Subsidy,  
To Cramm the Kennet's Want-less Treasury,  
Before her Store be spent, & Springs be stayed:  
Then, then, alone Thou lendest a liberal Aid;  
Teaching Thy wealthy Neighbours (Mine, of late)  
How, When, and Where to right-participate  
Their streams of Comfort, to the poor that pine,  
And not to greaz still the too-greazy Swine:  
Neither, for fame, nor form (when others do)  
To give a Morsel, or a Mite or two;  
But severally, and of a selfly motion,  
When others miss, to give the most devotion. 
The intermeddling of the Earth and Sea, and of the commodities thence arising, & contrariwise of the confusion that would follow if they were separated.    

Most wisely did th' eternal All-Creator,  
Dispose these Elements of Earth and Water:  
For, sith th' one could not without drink subsist,  
Nor, th' other without stay, bottom and list,  
God intermixed them so, that th' Earth her breast  
Opening to th' Ocean, th' Ocean winding priest  
About the Earth, a-thwart, and under it,  
For the World's Centre, both together fit.  
For, if their mixed Globe held not certainly  
Just the just midst of the World's Axletree,  
All Climates than should not be served aright  
With equal Counter poiz of day and night:  
The Orisons il-leuelled circle wide,  
Would sag toomuch on th' one or th' other side:  
Th' Antipodes, or we, at once should take  
View of more Signs then half the Zodiac:  
The Moon's Eclipses would not then be certain,  
And settled Seasons would be then uncertain. 
The Mass of the Earth and Water together make a perfect Globe.    

This also serveth for probation sound,  
That th' Earth's and Water's mingled Mass is Round,  
Round as a Ball; seeing on every side  
The Day and Night successively to slide.  
Yea, though Vespucio (famous Florentine)  
Mark Pole, and Columb, brave Italian Trine,  
Our (Spain's Dread) Drake, Candish, and Cumberland  
Most valiant Earl, most worthy High Command,  
And thousand gallant modern Typheiss else,  
Had never brought the North-Poles Parallels▪  
Under the South; and, sailing still about,  
So many Nex-worlds' under us found out.  
Nay, never could they th' Artik Pole have lost,  
Nor found th' Antartik; if in every Coast  
Seas liquid Glass round-bowed not everywhere,  
With sister Earth, to make a perfect Sphere.   

But, perfect Artist, with what Arches strong, 
How it cometh to pass that the Sea is not flat nor level; but rising round and bowed about the Earth.   
Props, stays, and Pillars, hast thou stayed so long  
This hanging, thin, sad, slippery Water-Ball▪  
From falling out, and over-whelming all?  
May it not be (good Lord) because the Water  
To the World's Centre tendeth still by nature;  
And toward the bottom of this bottom bound,  
Willing to fall, doth yet remain still round?  
Or may't not be, because the surly Banks  
Keep Waters captive in their hollow flanks?  
Or that our Seas be buttrest (as it were)  
With thousand Rocks dispersed here and there?  
Or rather, Lord, is't not Thine only Power  
That Bows it round about Earth's branchy Bower?   

Doubt-less (great God) 'tis doubt-less thine own hand 
The second part of this 3. Book entreating of the Element of earth and first of the firmness thereof.   
Whereon this Mansion of Mankind doth stand.  
For, though it hang in th' Air, swim in the water,  
Though every way it be a round Theatre,  
Though All turn round about it, though for ay  
Themselves foundations with swift Motions play.  
It rests unmooveable: that th' Holy Race  
Of Adam there may find fit dwelling place.   

The Earth receives man when he first is born, 
Earth is the Mother there, Nurse, and Hostess of mankind.   
Th' Earth nurses him; and when he is forlorn  
Of th' other Elements, and Nature loaths-him,  
Th' Earth in her bosom with kind burial cloaths-him.  
Oft hath the Air with Tempests set-upon-us,  
Oft hath the Water with her Floods undon-us,  
Oft hath the Fire (th' upper as well as ours)  
With woeful flames consumed our Towns and Towers:  
Only the Earth, of all the Elements,  
Unto Mankind is kind without offence:  
Only the Earth did never jot displace  
From the first seat assigned it by thy grace.   

Yet, true it is, (good Lord) that moved sometimes 
Of Earth quakes and of the opening of the earth   
With wicked People's execrablecrimes,  
The wrathful power of thy right hand doth make,  
Not all the Earth, but part of it to quake,  
With aid of Winds: which (as imprisoned deep)  
In her vast entrails, furious murmurs keep.  
Fear chills our hearts (what hart can fear dissemble?)  
When Steeples stagger, and huge Mountains tremble  
With wind-less wind, and yawning Hell devours  
Sometimes whole Cities with their shining Towers.   

Sith then, the Earth's, and Waters blended Ball 
The Globe of the Earth & Sea, is but as a little point, in comparison of the great circumference of Heaven:   
Is centre, heart, and navel of this All;  
And sith (in reason) that which is included,  
Must needs beless then that which doth include it;  
'Tis question-less, the Orb of Earth and Water  
Is the least Orb in all the All-Theater.   

Let any judge, whether this lower Ball  
(Whose endless greatness we admire so, all)  
Seem not a point, compared with th' upper Sphere  
Whose turning turns the rest in their Career; 
Sith by the Doctrine of Astronomers, the least Star in the ●●rmnment is ●8 times bigger than all the earth.   
Sith the least Star that we perceive to shine  
Above, dispersed in th' Arches crystalline  
(If, at the least, Star-Clarkes be credit worth)  
Is eighteen times bigger than all the Earth:  
Whence, if we but subtract what is possessed  
(From North to South, & from the East to West)  
Under the Empire of the Ocean  
Atlantike, Indian, and American;  
And thousand huge Arms issuing out of these,  
With infinites of other Lakes and Seas:  
And also what the Two intemperate Zones  
Do make unfit for habitations;  
What will remain? Ah! nothing (in respect):  
Lo here, O men! Lo wherefore you neglect 
By consideration whereof, the Poet taketh occasion to censure sharply the Ambition, Bribery, Usury, Extortion, Deceit, and general Covetousness of Mankind.   
heavens glorious Kingdom: Lo the largest scope  
Glory can give to your ambitious hope.   

O Princes (subjects unto pride and pleasure)  
Who (to enlarge, but a hair's breadth, the measure  
Of your Dominions) breaking Oaths of Peace,  
Cover the Fields with bloody Carcases:  
O Magistrates, who (to content the Great)  
Make sale of justice, on your sacred Seat;  
And, broking Laws for Bribes, profane your Place,  
To leave a Leek to your unthankful Race:  
You strict Extorters, that the Poor oppress,  
And wrong the Widow and the Father-less,  
To leave your Offspring rich (of others good)  
In Houses built of Rapine and of Blood:  
You City-Vipers, that (incestuous) join  
Use upon use, begetting Coin of Coin:  
You Merchant Mercers, and Monopolites,  
Gain-greedy Chapmen, perjured Hypocrites,  
Dissembling Brokers, made of all deceits,  
Who falsify your Measures and your Weights,  
T' enrich yourselves, and your unthrifty Sons  
To Gentillize with proud possessions:  
You that for gain betray your gracious Prince,  
Your native Country, or your dearest Friends:  
You, that to get you but an inch of ground,  
With cursed hands remove your neighbours bound  
(The ancient bounds your Ancestors have set)  
What gain you all? alas! what do you get?  
Yea, though a King by wile or war had won  
All the round Earth to his subjection;  
Lo here the Guerdon of his glorious pains:  
A needle's point, a Mote, a Mite, he gains,  
A Nit, a Nothing (did he All possess);  
Or, if then nothing anything beless.   

When God, whose words more in a moment can, 
God having discovered the earth commands it to bring forth every green thing, herbs, trees, flowers and fruits.   
Then in an Age the proudest strength of Man,  
Had severed the Floods, levelled the Fields,  
Embased the Valleys, and embossed the Hills;  
Change, change (quoth he) O fair and firmest Globe,  
Thy moutning weed, to a green gallant rob;  
Cheer thy sad brows, and stately garnish them,  
With a rich, fragrant, flowery Diadem;  
Lay forth thy locks, and paint thee (Ladylike)  
With freshest colours on thy sallow cheek.  
And let from henceforth thy abundant breasts  
Not only Nursethine own Wombs native guests,  
But frankly furnish with fit nourishments  
The future folk of th' other Elements;  
That Air, and Water, and the Angel's Court,  
May all seem jealous of thy praise and port. 
Of Trees growing in Mountains and in Valleys.    

No sooner spoken, but the lofty Pine  
Distilling-pitch, the Larch yeeld-Turpentine,  
Th' ever-green Box, and gummy Cedar sprout,  
And th' Airy mountains mantle round about:  
The Mast-full Oak, the useful Ash, the Holm,  
Coat changing Cork, white Maple, shady Elm,  
Through Hill and Plain ranged their plumed Ranks.  
The winding Rivers bordered all their banks  
With slice-Sea Alders, and green Osiers small,  
With trembling Poplars, and with Willows pace,  
And many Trees beside, fit to be made  
Fuel, or Timber, or to serve for Shade.   

The dainty Apricock (of Plums the Prince) 
Of fruit-trees.   
The velvet Peach, gilt Orange, downy Quince,  
All-ready bear graven in their tender barks,  
Gods powerful providence in open marks.  
The sent-sweet Apple, and a stringent Pear,  
The Cherry, filbert, Wal-nut, Meddeler,  
The milky Fig, the Damson black and white,  
The Date, and olive, aiding appetite,  
Spread everywhere a most delightful Spring,  
And everywhere a very Eden bring.   

Heer, the fine Pepper, as in clusters hung, 
Of shrubs.   
There Cinnamon and other Spices sprung.  
Heer, dangled Nutmegs, that for thrifty pains  
Yearly repay the Bandans wondrous gains;  
There grows (th' Hesperian Plant) the precious Reed  
Whence Sugar syrups in abundance bleed;  
There weeps the Balm, and famous Trees from whence  
Th' Arabians fetch perfuming Frankincense.   

There, th' amorous vine coll's in a thousand sorts  
(With winding arms) her Spouse that her supports:  
The Vine, as far inferior to the rest, 
Of the Vine, and the excellent use of Wine temperately taken.   
In beauty, as in bounty past the best:  
Whose sacred liquor, temperately taen,  
Revives the spirits and purifies the brain,  
Cheers the sad heart, increaseth kindly heat,  
Purgeth gross blood, and doth the pure beget,  
Strengthens the stomach, and the colour mends,  
Sharpens the wit, and doth the bladder cleanse,  
Opens obstructions, excrements expels,  
And easeth us of many Languors else. 
He preventeth an objection, and showeth that notwithstanding man's fall, the Earth yieldeth us matter enough to praise and magnify her Maker.    

And though through Sin (whereby from Heavenly state  
Our Parents barred us) th' Earth degenerate  
From her first beauty, bearing still upon her  
Eternal Scars of her fond Lords dishonour:  
Though with the World's age, her weak age decay,  
Though she become less fruitful every day  
(Much like a Woman with oft teeming worn;  
Who with the Babes of her own body born,  
Having almost stored a whole Town with people, 
Simile.   
At length becomes barren, and faint, and feeble)  
Yet doth she yield matter enough to sing  
And praise the Maker of so rich a Thing.   

Never mine eyes in pleasant Spring behold 
Of Flowers.   
The azure Flax, the gilded Marigold,  
The Violet's purple, the sweet Rose's stammel,  
The lilly's snow, and Pansey's various enamel;  
But that (in them) the Painter I admire,  
Who in more Colours doth the Fields attire,  
Then fresh Aurora's rosy cheeks display,  
When in the East she Ushers a fair Day:  
Or Iris Bow, which bended in the Sky  
Bodes fruitful dews when as the Fields be dry.   

Here (deer S. BARTAS) give thy Servant leave. 
An addition by the Translator, of the rare Sun-loving LOTOS.   
In thy rich Garland one rare Flower to weave,  
Whose wondrons nature had more worthy been  
Of thy divine, immortalizing Pen:  
But, from thy sight, when SEIN did swell with Blood,  
It sunk (perhaps) under the Crimson Flood  
(When Beldame, Medici's, Valois, and Guise  
Stained Hymen's Robe with Heathen cruelties)  
Because the Sun, to shun so vile a view,  
His Chamber kept; and wept with Bartholomew.   

For so, so soon as in the Western Seas▪  
Apollo sinks, in silver Euphrates  
The Lotos dives, deeper and deeper ay  
Till midnight: then, remounteth toward Day:  
But not above the Water, till the Sun  
Do r●-ascend above the Horizon. 
Semper ●adem   
So ever-true to Titan's radiant Flame,  
That (Rise he, Fall he) it is Still the same.   

A Real Emblem of her Royal Honour  
That worthily did take that Word upon-her;  
Sacred ELIZA, that ensued no less  
Th' etenall Sun of Peace and Righteousness;  
Whose lively lamp (what ever did betide-her)  
In either Fortune was her only Guider.  
For, in her Fathers and her Brother's Days,  
Fair rose this Rose with Truth's new-springing rays:  
And when again the Gospel's glorious Light  
Set in her Sister's superstitious Night;  
She sunk withal under afflictions streams  
(As sinks my Lotos with Sols setting beams):  
But, after Night, when Light again appeared,  
Therewith, again her Royal Crown she reared;  
And in an I'll amid the Ocean set  
(Maugre the Deluge that Rome's Dragon spit,  
With spite full storms striving to ouer-flowe her,  
And Spain conspiring jointly t' over-throwe-her)  
Her Maiden Flower flourished above the Water; 
ELIZABETA REGINA. Anagram. Ei been t' alza e gira.   
For, still heavens Sun cherished his loving Daughter:  
Bel fior d'Honor, ch'in Mare'l Mondo ammira,  
All Sole sacro, ch'E● BEN TO ALZA E GIRA  
(So, my deer Wyatt, honouring Still the same,  
In-souled an Impreze with her Anagramm):  
And last, for guerdon of her constant Love,  
Rapt her entirely, to himself above.   

So set our Sun; and yet no Night ensued:  
So happily the heavens our Light renewed:  
For, in her stead, of the same Stock of Kings  
Another Flower (or rather Phoenix) springs;  
Another like (or rather Still the same)  
No less in Love with that Supernal Flame.  
So, to God's glory, and his Churches good,  
Th' honour of England, and the Royal blood,  
Long happy Monarch may king JAMES persist;  
And after him, His; Still the same in Christ.   

God, not content t' have given these Plants of ours 
Of divers herbs and Plants, and of their excellent virtues.   
Precious Perfumes, Fruits, plenty, pleasant Flowers,  
Infused Physic in their leaves and Moors,  
To cure our sickness, and to salve our sores:  
Else doubt-less (Death assaults so many ways)  
Scarce could we live a quarter of our Days;  
But like the Flax, which flowers at once and falls, 
Simile.   
One Feast would serve our Births and Burials:  
Our Birth our Death, our Cradle (then) our tomb,  
Our tender Spring our Winter would become.   

Good Lord! how many gasping Souls have 'scaped  
By th' aid of Herbs, for whom the Grave hath gaped;  
Who, even about to touch the Stygian strand!  
Have yet beguiled grim Pluto's greedy hand!  
Beardless Apollo's beardy 
* Esculapius.  son did once  
With juice of Herbs rejoin the scattered bones  
Of the chaste 
* Hippolytus.  Prince, that in th' Athenian Court  
Preferred Death before incestuous ●port.  
So did Medea, for her Jason's sake,  
The frozen limbs of Aeson youthful make.  
O sacred Simples that our life sustain,  
And when it flies us, call it back again!  
'Tis not alone your liquor, inly taen,  
That oft defends us from so many a baen:  
But even your savour, yea, your neighbourhood,  
For some Diseases is exceeding good;  
Working so rare effects, that only such  
As feel, or see them, can beleeveso much.   

Blue Succory, hanged on the naked neck, 
The virtue of Succory. Of Swines-bread.   
Dispels the dimness that our sight doth check.  
Swines-Bread, soused, doth not only speed  
A tardy Labour; but (without great heed)  
If over it a Child-great Woman stride,  
Instant abortion often doth betide.  
The burning Sun, the baneful Aconite,  
The poysonie Serpents that unpeople quite  
Cyrenian Deserts, never Danger them  
That wear about them th' 
* Mugwort. Peoni●.  Artemisian Stem.  
About an Infant's neck hang Peoni●,  
It cures Al●ydes cruel malady.  
If fuming boawls of Bacchus, in excess,  
Trouble thy brains with storms of gyddiness,  
Put but a garland of green Saffron on, 
Saffron.   
And that mad humour will be quickly gone.  
Th' enchanting Charms of Siren's blandishments,  
Contagious Are engendering Pestilence,  
Infect not those that in their mouths have taen 
Angelica.   
Angelica that happy counter-baen,  
Sent down from Heaven by some Celestial scout,  
As well the name and nature both avowed.  
So Pimpernel, held in the Patient's hand,  
The bloody-Flix doth presently withstand: 
Pimpernell or Burnet. Madder.   
And ruddy Madder's root, long handled,  
Dies th' handlers' urine into perfect red.  
O Wondrous Woad! which, touching but the skin,  
Imparts his colour to the parts within.   

Nor (powerful Herbs) do we alonely find  
Your virtues working in frail human kind;  
But you can force the fiercest Animals,  
The fellest Fiends, the firmest Minerals,  
Yea, fairest Planets (if Antiquity  
Have not belied the Hags of Thessaly).  
Only the touch of Choak-Pard 
* Leopard's bane  Aconite,  
Bereaves the Scorpion both of sense and might:  
As (opposite) Helleborus doth make 
Helleborus.   
His vital powers from deadly slumber wake.  
With betony, fell Serpents round beset, 
Betonie.   
Lift up their heads, and fall to hiss and spit,  
With spiteful fury in their sparkling eyes,  
Breaking all truce, with infinite defies:  
Puffed up with rage, to't by the ears they go,  
Baen against baen, plague against plague they throw,  
Charging each other with so fierce a force  
(For friends turned foes have lightly lest remorse)  
That wounded all (or rather all a wound)  
With poisoned gore they cover all the ground;  
And nought can stint their strange intestine strife,  
But only th' end of their detested life.  
As Betonie breaks friendships ancient bands,  
So Willo-wort makes wont hate shake hands: 
Willow-worte.   
For, being fastened to proud Coursers collars,  
That fight and fling, it will abate their cholers.  
The Swine, that feed in troughs of Tamarice, 
Tamarice.   
Consume their spleen. The like effect there is  
In Finger-Fern: which, being given to Swine, 
Finger-Ferne.   
It makes their Milts to Melt away in fine,  
With ragged tooth choosing the same so right  
Of all their Tripes to serve its appetite.  
And Horse, that, feeding on the grassy Hills,  
Tread upon 
* Lunaria.  Moonwoort with their hollow heels;  
Though lately shod, at night go barefoot home,  
Their Master musing where their shoes become:  
O Moon-wort! tell us where thou hidst the Smith,  
Hammer, and Pincers, thou vnshoo'st them with?  
Alas! what Lock or Iron Engine is't  
That can thy subtle secret strength resist,  
Sith the best Farrier cannot set a shoe  
So sure, but thou (so shortly) canst undo?  
But I suppose not, that the earth doth yield  
In Hill or Dale, in Forest or in Field,  
A rarer Plant than Candian 
* Dictaminum▪ Candiae.  Dittanie,  
Which wounded Dear eating, immediately  
Not only cures their wounds exceeding well,  
But against the Shooter doth the shaft repel.   

Moreover (Lord) is't not a Work of thine▪ 
Great variety in colour and form of Plants, and strange contrariety of effects, according to the bodies that▪ they work upon.   
That every where, in every Turf we find  
Such multitude of other Plants to spring,  
In form, effect, and colour differing?  
And each of them in their due Seasons taen,  
To one is Physic, to another baen:  
Now gentle, sharp anon: now good, then ill:  
What cureth now, the same anon doth kill.  
Th' herb 
* Fen●l giant.  S●gapen serves the slow Ass for meat,  
But kills the Ox if of the same he eat.  
So branched 
* Hemlock.  Hemlock for the stars is fit;  
But, death to man, if he but taste of it.  
And 
* Rose-bay.  Oleander unto beasts is poison;  
But, unto man a special counterpoison.  
What ranker poison? what more deadly baen  
Then 
* Wolves ban●.  Aconite, can there be touched or taen?  
And yet his juice best cures the burning bit  
Of stinging Serpents, if applied to it.  
O valiant Venom! O courageous Plant!  
Disdainful Poison! noble combatant!  
That scorneth aid, and loves alone to fight,  
That none partake the glory of his might:  
For, if he find our bodies forepossest  
With other Poison, than he lets us rest,  
And with his Rival enters secret Duel,  
One to one, strong to strong, cruel to cruel,  
Still fight fierce, and never over-give  
Till they both dying, give Man leave to live.   

And to conclude, whether I walk the Fields,  
Rush through the Woods, or clamber up the Hills,  
I find God everywhere; Thence all depend,  
He giveth frankly what we thankly spend.  
Here for our food, Millions of flow'rie grains,  
With long Moustaches, wave upon the Plains;  
Here thousand fleeces, fit for Prince's Robes, 
Of grain, si●ke, Cottonwool (or Bombace) Plax & Hemp which the Earth produceth.   
In Sérean Forests hang in silken Globes:  
Here shrubs of Malta (for my meaner use)  
The fine white balls of Bombace do produce.  
Here th' azure-flowred Flax is finely spun  
For finest Linen, by the Belgian Nun:  
Here fatal Hemp, which Denmark doth afford,  
Doth furnish us with Canuass, and with Cord,  
Cables and Sails; that, Winds assisting either,  
We may acquaint the East and West together,  
And dryfoot dance on Neptune's Watery Front,  
And in adventure lead whole Towns upon't.  
Here of one grain of 
* Indian-wheat.  Maiz, a Reed doth spring,  
That thrice a year, five hundred grains doth bring;  
Which (after) th' Indians parch, and punn, and knead,  
And thereof make them a most wholesome bread.   

Th' Almighty Voice, which built this mighty Ball,  
Still, still rebounds and echoes over all:  
That, that alone, yearly the World revives;  
Through that alone, all springs, all lives, all thrives:  
And that alone makes, that our mealy grain  
Our skilful Seed-man scatters not in vain;  
But being covered by the toothful Harrow,  
Or hide a while under the folded furrow,  
Rots to revive; and, warmly-wet, puts-forth  
His root beneath, his bud above the Earth;  
Enriching shortly with his springing Crop,  
The Ground with green, the Husbandman with hope:  
The bud becomes a blade, the blade a reed, 
An exact description of the growing of wheat and other like kinds of grain.   
The reed an ear, the ear another seed:  
The seed, to shut the wasteful Sparrows out  
(In Harvest) hath a stand of Pikes about,  
And Chaffy Husks in hollow Cod inclose-it;  
Lest heat, wet, wind, should roast, or rot, or lose-it:  
And, lest the Straw should not sustain the ear,  
With knotty joints 'tis sheathed here and there.   

Pardon me (Reader) if thy ravished Eyes  
Have seen Today too great varieties  
Of Trees, of Flowers, of Fruits, of Herbs, of Grains,  
In these my Groves, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Plains;  
Sith th' I'll of Zebut's admirable Tree 
Of the Indian Cocos a most admirable fruit.   
Beareth a fruit (called Cocos commonly)  
The which, alone, far richer Wonders yields  
Then all our Groves, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Fields.  
What? wouldst thou drink? the wounded leaves drop wine.  
Lackest thou fine linen? dress the tender rind,  
Dress it like Flax, spin it▪ and wove it well,  
It shall thy Cambrik and thy Lawn excel.  
Longest thou for Butter? bite the poulpy part,  
And never better came to any Mart.  
Needest thou Oil? then boult it to and fro,  
And passing oil it soon becometh so.  
Or Vinegar, to whet thine appetite?  
Then sun it well, and it will sharply bite.  
Or want'st thou Sugar? steep the same a stound,  
And sweeter Sugar is not to be found.  
'Tis what you will: or will be what you would:  
Should Midas touched (I think) it would be Gold.  
And God (I think) to crown our life with joys,  
The Earth with plenty, and his Name with praise,  
Had done enough; if he had made no more  
But this one Plant, so full of wondrous store:  
Save that, the World (where one thing breeds satiety)  
Can not be fair, without so great variety.   

But th' Earth not only on her back doth bear  
Abundant treasures glistering everywhere  
(As glorious unthrifts, crossed with Parents Curse,  
Wear golden Garments; but an empty Purse:  
Or Venus' Darlings, fair without; within  
Full of Disease, full of Deceit and Sin:  
Or stately Tombs, externly gilded and garnished;  
With dust and bones inwardly filled and furnished)  
But inwardly she's no less fraught with riches, 
Of the riches under or within the Earth.   
Nay rather more (which more our souls bewitches).  
Within the deep folds of her fruitful lap,  
So bound-less Mines of treasure doth she wrap,  
That th' hungry hands of human avarice  
Cannot exhaust with labour or device.  
For, they be more than there be Stars in Heaven,  
Or stormy billows in the Ocean driven,  
Or ears of Corn in Autumn on the Fields,  
Or Savage Beasts upon a thousand Hills,  
Or Fishes diving in the silver Floods,  
Or scattered Leaves in Winter in the Woods.   

Slat, jet, and Marble shall escape my pen, 
Of Minerals.   
I over-pass the Salt-mount Oromene,  
I blanche the Brine-Quar Hill in Arragon,  
Whence (there) they powder their provision.  
I'll only now emboss my Book with Brass,  
Dyeed with Vermilion, decked with Coperass,  
With Gold and Silver, Led and Mercury,  
Tin, Iron, Orpine, Stibium, Lethargy:  
And on my Gold-work I will only place  
The Crystal pure, which doth reflect each face;  
The precious Ruby, of a Sanguine hue, 
Of precious stones.   
The Seal-fit Onyx, and the sapphire blew,  
The Cassidonie, full of circles round,  
The tender Topaz, and rich Diamond,  
The various Opal, and green Emerald,  
The Agate by a thousand titles called,  
The skie-like Turquez, purple Amethists,  
And fiery Carbuncle, which flames resists.   

I know, to Man the Earth seems (altogether)  
No more a Mother, but a Stepdame rather:  
Because (alas) unto our loss she bears  
Bloodshedding Steel, and Gold the ground of cares:  
As if these Metals, and not Man's amiss,  
Had made Sin mount unto the height it is.  
But, as the sweet bait of abundant Riches,  
Bodies and Souls of greedy men bewitches: 
The use, or abuse of things, makes them good or evil: helpful, or hurtful to Mankind   
Gold gilds the Virtuous, and it lends them wings  
To raise their thoughts unto the rarest things.  
The wise, not only Iron well apply  
For household turns, and Tools of Husbandry;  
But to defend their Country (when it calls)  
From foreign dangers, and intestine bralls:  
But, with the same the wicked never mell,  
But to do service to the Hags of Hell;  
To pick a Lock, to take his neighbour's Purse,  
To break a House, or to do something worse;  
To cut his Parent's throat, to kill his Prince,  
To spoil his Country, murder Innocents'.  
Even so, profaning of a gift divine,  
The Drunkard drowns his Reason in the Wine:  
So sale-tongued Lawyers, wresting Eloquence,  
Excuse rich wrong, and cast poor Innocence:  
So Antichrists, their poison to infuse,  
Miss-cite the Scriptures, and God's name abuse.  
For, as a Cask, through want of use grown fusty,  
Makes with his stink the best Greek Malmsey musty:  
So God's best gifts, usurped by wicked Ones,  
To poison turn through their contagious.   

But, shall I balk th' admired Adamant, 
Of the rare virtue of the Loadstone.   
Whose dead-live power, my Reason's power doth daunt.  
Renowned Loadstone, which on Iron acts,  
And by the touch the same aloof attracts;  
Attracts it strangely with unclapsing crooks,  
With unknown cords, with unconceived hooks,  
With unseen hands, with undiscerned arms,  
With hidden Force, with sacred secret charms,  
Wherewith he woos his Iron Misteriss,  
And never leaves her till he get a kiss;  
Nay, till he fold her in his faithful bosom,  
Never to part (except we, love-less, loose-em)  
With so firm zeal and fast affection  
The Stone doth love the Steel, the Steel the Stone.  
And though sometime some Make bate come betwixt,  
Still burns their first flame; 'tis so surely fixed:  
And, while they cannot meet to break their minds,  
With mutual skips they show their love by signs  
(As bashful Suitors▪ seeing Strangers by,  
Parley in silence with their hand or eye).  
Who can conceive, or censure in what sort  
One Loadstone-touched Annlet doth transport  
Another Iron-Ring, and that another,  
Till four or five hang dangling one in other?  
Greatest Apollo might he be (me thinks)  
Can tell the Reason of these hanging links:  
Sith Reason-scanners have resolved all,  
That heavy things, hanged in the Air, must fall▪   

I am not ignorant, that He, who seeks  
In Roman Robes to suit the Sagest Greeks,  
Whose jealous wife, weening to home-revoke-him  
With a Love-potion, did with poison choak-him;  
Hath sought to show, with arguing subtlety,  
The secret cause of this rare Sympathy.  
But say (Lucretius) what's the hidden cause  
That toward the Northstar still the needle draw's,  
Whose point is touched with Loadstone? lose this knot,  
And still-green Laurel shall be still thy Lot:  
Yea, Thee more learned will I then confess,  
Then Epicurus, or Empedocles.   

weare not to Ceres so much bound for Bread, 
Of the excellent use of the Mariner's Compass.   
Neither to Bacchus, for his Clusters red,  
As (Signior Flavio) to thy witty trial,  
For first inventing of the Seaman's Dial  
(Th'use of the Needle, turning in the same)  
Divine deu●●? e! O admirable Frame!  
Whereby, through th' Ocean, in the darkest night,  
Our hugest Caraques are conducted right:  
Whereby weare stored with Truchman, Guide, and Lamp  
To search all corners of the watery Camp:  
Whereby a Ship, that stormy heavens have whurld  
Near in one Night into another World,  
Knows where she is; and in the Card descries  
What degrees thence the Equinoctial lies.  
Clear-sighted Spirits, that cheer with sweet aspect  
My sober Rhymes, though subject to defect;  
If in this Volume, as you overread it  
You meet some things seeming exceeding credit,  
Because (perhaps) here proved yet by no-man;  
Their strange effects be not in knowledge common:  
Think, yet, to some the Load-stone's use is new;  
And seems as strange, as we have tried it true:  
Let therefore that which Iron draw's, draw such  
To credit more than what they see or touch.   

Nor is th' Earth only worthy praise eternal, 
Of medicinable earths.   
For the rare riches on her back external;  
Or in her bosom: but her own selves worth  
Solicits me to sound her glory forth.  
I call to witness all those weak diseased,  
Whose bodies oft have by th' effects been eased  
Of Lemnos sealed earth, or Eretrian soil,  
Or that of Chios, or of Melos I'll.   

All-hail fair Earth, bearer of Towns and Towers,  
Of Men, Gold, Grain, physic, and Fruits, and Flowers, 
The Earth's Encomion.   
Fair, firm, and fruitful, various, patiented, sweet,  
Sumptuously clothed in a Mantle meet  
Of mingled-colour; laced about with Floods,  
And all embroidered with fresh blooming buds,  
With rarest Gems richly about embossed,  
Excelling cunning and exceeding cost.  
All-hail great Heart, round Base, and steadfast Root,  
Of All the World, the World's strong fixed foot,  
heavens chastest Spouse, supporter of this All,  
This glorious Buildings goodly Pedestal.  
All hail dear Mother, Sister, Hostess, Nurse,  
Of the World's Sovereign: of thy liberal purse,  
weare all maintained: match-less Empress,  
To do thee service with all readiness,  
The Spheres, before thee bear ten thousand Torches:  
The Fire, to warm thee, folds his heatfull arches  
In purest flames above the floating Cloud:  
Th' Air, to refresh thee, willingly is bowed  
About the Waves, and well content to suffer  
Mild Zephyrs blasts, and Boreas bellowing rougher:  
Water, to quench thy thirst, about thy Mountains,  
Wraps her moist arms, Seas, rivers, lakes and fountains.   

O how I grieve, dear Earth, that (given to gays) 
Commendations of the Country-life.   
Most of best wits contemn thee nowadays:  
And noblest hearts proudly abandon quite  
Study of Herbs, and Country-lifes' delight,  
To brutest men, to men of no regard,  
Whose wits are Led, whose bodies Iron-hard.  
Such were not yerst the reverend patriarchs,  
Whose praise is penned by the sacred Clarks.  
Noah the just, meek Moses, Abraham  
(Who Father of the Faithful Race became)  
Were Shepherds all, or Husbandmen (at least)  
And in the Fields passed their Days the best.  
Such were not yerst Attalus, Philemetor,  
Archelaus, Hiero, and many a Praetor;  
Great Kings & Consuls, who have oft, for blades  
And glistering Sceptres, handled hooks and spades.  
Such were not yerst, Cincinnatus Fabricius,  
Serranus, Curius, who un-self-delicious,  
With Crowned Coultars, with Imperial hands,  
With Ploughs triumphant ploughed the Roman lands.  
Great Scipio, sated with feigned curtsie-capping,  
With Court- Eclipses, and the tedious gaping  
Of golden beggars: and that Emperor,  
Of Slave, turned King; of King, turned Labourer;  
In Country Granges did their age confine:  
And ordered there, with as good Discipline,  
The Fields of Corn, as Fields of Combat first;  
And Ranks of Trees, as Ranks of Soldiers yerst.   

O thrice, thrice happy He, who shuns the cares  
Of City-troubles, and of State-affairs;  
And, serving Ceres, Tills with his own Teem  
His own Free-land, left by his Friends to him▪   

Never pale Enuie's poysonie heads do hiss  
To gnaw his heart; nor Vultur Avarice: 
Free from envy, ambition, & avarice: and consequently from the devilish practices of Machiavilian politics.   
His Fields bounds, bound his thoughts: he never sups,  
For Nectar, poison mixtin silver Cups;  
Neither in golden Platters doth he lick  
For sweet Ambrosia deadly Arsenic:  
His hand's his boaul (better than Plate or Glass)  
The silver Brook his sweetest Hypocrasse:  
Milk, Cheese, and Fruit (fruits of his own endeavour)  
Dressed without dressing, hath he ready ever.   

False Counsellors (Concealers of the Law) 
Not v●xed with counterfeit wrest of wrangling Laywers.   
Turncoat Attorneys, that with both hands draw;  
Sly Pettifoggers, Wranglers at the Bar,  
Proud Purseleaches, Harpies of Westminster,  
With feigned chiding, and foul jarring noise,  
Break not his brain, nor interrupt his joys▪  
But cheerful Birds, chirping him sweet Good-morrows,  
With Nature's Music do beguile his sorrows;  
Teaching the fragrant Forests, day by day,  
The Diapason of their Heavenly Lay.   

His wandering Vessel, reeling to and fro, 
Not dreading shipwreck, nor in danger of Pirates.   
On th' ireful Ocean (as the Winds do blow)  
With sudden Tempest is not overwhurld,  
To seek his sad death in another World:  
But, leading all his life at home in Peace,  
Always in sight of his own smoke; no Seas,  
No other Seas he knows, nor other Torrent,  
Then that which waters, with his silver Corrent  
His Native Meadows: and that very Earth  
Shall give him Burial, which first gave him Birth.   

To summon timely sleep, he doth not need 
Not diseased in body through delicious Idleness.   
Aethyop's cold Rush, nor drowsy Poppy-seed;  
Nor keep in consort (as Maecenas did)  
Luxurious Villains (Viols I should have said);  
But on green Carpets thrumd with mossy Beaver,  
Frendging the round skirts of his winding River,  
The streams mild murmur, as it gently gushes,  
His healthy limbs in quiet slumber hushes.   

Drum, Fife, and Trumpet, with their loud A-larms, 
Not drawn by factions to an untimely Death   
Make him not start out of his sleep, to Arms:  
Nor dear respect of some great General,  
Him from his bed unto the block doth call.  
The crested Cock sings Hunt is up to him,  
Limits his rest, and makes him stir betime,  
To walk the Mountains, or the flowery Meads,  
Impearld with tears, that sweet Aurora sheds.   

Never gross Air, poisoned in stinking Streets, 
Not choked with contagion of a corrupted Air.   
To choke his spirit, his tender nostril meets;  
But th' open Sky, where at full breath he lives,  
Still keeps him sound, and still new stomach gives:  
And Death, dread Sergeant of th' eternal judge,  
Comes very late to his sole seated Lodge.   

His wretched years in Princes Courts he spends not: 
Nor (Chamel●●like) changing, with every object, the colour of his conscience.   
His thralled will on Great men's wills depends not:  
He, changing Master, doth not change at once  
His Faith; Religion, and his God renounce:  
With mercenary lies he doth not chant,  
Praising an Emmet for an Elephant: 
Nor soothing Sin; nor licking the Tail of Greatness.   
Sardanapalus (drowned in soft excess)  
For a triumphant virtuous Hercules;  
Thersites foul, for Venus' lovely Love;  
And every Changeling for a Turtle-dove;  
Nor lavishes in his lascivious lays,  
On wanton Flora, chaste Alcestes praise.  
But all self-private, serving God, he writes  
Fear-less, and sings but what his heart in dites.   

No sallow Fear doth day or night afflict-him:  
Unto no fraud doth night or day addict-him; 
Neither priest with Fear, nor plotting Fraud.   
Or if he muse on guile, 'tis but to get  
Beast, Bird, or Fish, in toil, or snare, or net.   

What though his Wardrobe be not stately stuffed  
With sumptuous silks (pinked, and powneed, and puffed)  
With gold-ground Velvets, and with silver Tissue,  
And all the glory of old eves proud Issue?  
What though his feeble Coffers be not crammed  
With Miser's Idols, golden Ingotsramd?  
He is warm-wrapped in his own-growen Wool;  
Of un-bought Wines his Cellar's everfull;  
His Garner's stored with grain, his Ground with flocks,  
His Barns with Fodder, with sweet streams his Rocks.   

For, here I sing the happy Rustics weal,  
Whose handsome house seems as a commonweal:  
And not the needy, hard rack-rented Hind,  
Or Copyholder, whom hard Lords do grind;  
The pined Fisher, or poor-Daiery-Renter  
That lives of whey, for forfeiting Indenture;  
Who scarce have bread within their homely Coats  
(Except by fits) to feed their hungry throats.   

Let me good Lord, among the Great unkend,  
My rest of days in the calm Country end.  
Let me deserve of my dear AEGLE-Brood,  
For Windsor- Forest, walks in Almes-wood:  
Be Hadley Pond my Sea; Lambs-bourn my Thames;  
Lambourn my London; Kennets silver streams,  
My fruitful Nile; my Singers and Musicians,  
The pleasant Birds with warbling repetitions;  
My company, pure thoughts, to work thy will;  
My Court, a Cottage on a lowly Hill;  
Where, without let, I may so sing thy Name,  
That times to-com may wonder at the same.   

Or, if the new North-star, my Sovereign, JAMES  
(The secret virtue of whose sacred beams  
Attracts th' attentive service of all such  
Whose minds did ever virtue's Loadstone touch)  
Shall ever deign t'invite mine humble Fate  
T'approoch the Presence of his Royal State:  
Or, if my Duty, or the Grace of Nobles,  
Shall drive or draw me near their pleasing-Troubles;  
Let not their Favours make me drunk with folly:  
In their Commands, still keep my Conscience holy:  
Let me, true Honour, not the false delight;  
And play the Preacher, not the Parasite.   

So, Morn and Evening the Third Day conclude,  
And God perceived that All his Works were good.    

THE FOURTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

The twinkling Spangles of the Firmament:  
The wandering seven (Each in a several Tent);  
Their Course, their Force, their Essence is disputed;  
That they (as Beasts) do eat and drink; refuted.  
heavens (not the Earth) with rapid motion roll:  
The famous Stars observed in either Pole:  
heavens sloping Belt: the Twelve celestial Signs,  
Where Sol the Seasons of the Year confines:  
Days glorious Prince: Nights gloomy Patroness:  
His Light and Might: Her constant Change-fulnes.   

PVre Spirit that rapt'st above the Firmest Sphere, 
In the beginning of the fourth book, calling upon the God of Heaven, our Poet prayeth to be lift up in the Heavens, that he may discourse (as he ought) of the stars▪ fixed and wandering.   
In fiery Coach, thy faithful Messenger,  
Who smiting jordan with his plighted Cloak,  
Did yerst divide the Waters with the stroke:  
O▪ take me up; that, far from Earth, I may  
From Sphere to Sphere, see th' azure heavens Today,  
Be thou my Coachman, and now Check by jowl  
With Phoebus' Chariot let my Chariotroule;  
Drive on my Coach by Mars his flaming Coach;  
Saturn and Luna let my wheels approach:  
That having learned of their Fire-breathing Horses,  
Their course, their light, their labour, and their forces,  
My Muse may sing in sacred Eloquence,  
To virtues Friends, their virtuous Excellence:  
And with the Loadstone of my conquering Verse,  
Above the Poles attract the most perverse,   

And you fair learned souls, you spirits divine,  
To whom the heavens so nimble quills assign,  
As well to mount, as skilfully to limn  
The various motion of their Taperstrim;  
Lend me your hand; lift me above Parnassus;  
With your loud Trebles help my lowly Bassus.  
For sure, besides that your wit-gracing Skill  
Bears, in itself, itself's rich guerdon still;  
Our Nephews, free from sacrilegious brawls,  
Where Horror swims in blood about our walls,  
Shall one day sing that your dear Song did merit  
Better Heaven, better hap and better time to hear-it.   

And, though (alas) my now new-rising Name  
Can hope hereafter none, or little Fame:  
The time that most part of our betterwits  
Misspend in Flattery, or in Fancy-Fits,  
In courting Ladies, or in clawing Lords,  
Without affection, in affected words:  
I mean to spend, in publishing the Story  
Of God's great works, to his immortal glory.  
My rhymes, begot in pain, and born in pleasure,  
Thirst not for Fame (the Heathen hope's chief treasure):  
IT shall me suffice, that our deer France do breed  
(In happy season) some more learned sced,  
That may record with more divine dexterity  
Then I have done these wonders to Posterity.   

Much less may these abortive Brats of Mine  
Expect Respect (but in respect of Thine):  
Yet sith the heavens have thus entaskt my lays  
(As darkly Cynthia darts her borrowed rays)  
To shadow Thine; and to my Country render  
Some small reflection of thy radiant splendour;  
It is enough, if hereby I incite  
Some happier spirit to do thy Muse more right;  
And with more life give thee thy proper grace,  
And better follow great du BARTAS trace.   

GOD'S NONE of these faint idle Artizens 
Hear resuming his course, he presecutes the work of the Creation.   
Who, at the best abandon their designs,  
Working by halfs; as rather a great deal,  
To do much quickly, then to do it well:  
But rather, as a workman never weary,  
And all-sufficient, he his works doth carry  
To happy end; and to perfection,  
With sober speed, brings what he hath begun.   

Having therefore the World's wide Curtain spread  
About the circuit of the fruitful Bed, 
In the fourth day, God created the fixed Stars, the two great Lights, (vid.) the Sun and the Moon, together with the other five Planets.   
Where (to fill all with her unnumbered Kin)  
Kind Natures self each moment lieth in:  
To make the same for ever admirable,  
More stately-pleasant, and more profitable;  
He th' Azure Tester trimmed with golden marks,  
And richly spangled with bright glistering sparks.   

I know, those Tapers, twinkling in the sky,  
Do turn so swiftly from our hand and eye,  
That man can never (rightly) reach, to seeing  
Their Course and Force, and much-much less their Being: 
Of their Course, Force, Essence, and Substance.   
But, if conjecture may extend above  
To that great Orb, whose moving All doth move,  
Th' imperfect Light of the first Day was it,  
Which for Heavn's Eyes did shining matter fit:  
For, God, selecting lightest of that Light,  
Garnished heavens ceiling with those Torches bright:  
Or else divided it; and pressing close  
The parts, did make the Sun and Stars of those.   

But, if thy wits thirst rather seek these things, 
Opinion of the Greek touching the matter of the Stars.   
In Greekish Cisterns then in Hebrew Springs;  
Then I conclude, that as of moistfull matter,  
God made the people that frequent the Water,  
And of an Earthy stuff the stubborn droves  
That haunt the Hills and Dales and Downs and Groves:  
So, did he make, by his Almighty might,  
The heavens and Stars, of one same substance bright;  
To th' end these Lamps, dispersed in the Skies,  
Might with their Orb, it with them, sympathise.  
And as (with us) under the Oaken bark  
The knurry knot with branching veins, we mark 
Simile.   
To be of substance all one with the Tree,  
Although far thicker and more rough it be:  
So those gilt studs in th' upper story driven,  
Are nothing but the thickest part of Heaven.   

When I observe their Light and Heat yblent 
Their substance is of Fire.   
(Mere accidents of th' upper Element)  
I think them Fire: but not such Fire as lasts  
No longer than the fuel that it wastes:  
For then, I think all th' Elements too-little  
To furnish them only with one days victual.   

And therefore smile I at those Fable-Forges, 
Resutation of such as have thought that the Stars were living creatures that did eat and drink.   
Whose busy-idle style so stiffly urges,  
The Heavn's bright Cressets to be living creatures,  
Ranging for food, and hungry fodder-eaters;  
Still sucking-up (in their eternal motion)  
The Earth for meat, and for their drink, the Ocean.  
Sure, I perceive no motion in a Star,  
But natural, certain, and regular;  
Whereas Beasts motions infinitely vary,  
Confused, uncertain, divers, voluntary.  
I see not how so many golden Posts  
Should scud so swift about heavens azure coasts,  
But that the heavens must open and shut sometimes,  
Subject to passions, which our earthly climes  
Altar, and toss the Sea, and th' Air estrange  
From it selfs' temper with exceeding change.  
I see not how, in those round blazing beams,  
One should imagine any food-fit limbs:  
Nor can I see how th' Earth, and Sea should feed  
So many Stars, whose greatness doth exceed  
So many times (if Star-divines say troth)  
The greatness of the Earth and Ocean both:  
Sith here our Cattle, in a month, will eat  
Seav'n-times the bulk of their own bulk in meat.   

These Torches than range not at random, o'er  
The lightsome thickness of an un-firm Floor:  
As here below, diversly moving them,  
The painted Birds between two airs do swim.  
But rather fixed unto turning Spheres,  
Ay, will-they, nill-they, follow their careeres: 
Simile.   
As Cart-nails fastened in a wheel (without  
Selfs-motion) turn with others turns about.   

As th' Ague-sicke, upon his shivering pallet, 
A comparison.   
Delays his health oft to delight his palate;  
When wilfully his tasteles Taste delights  
In things unsavoury to sound Appetites:  
Even so, some brain-sicks live there nowadays,  
That lose themselves still in contrary ways;  
Preposterous Wits that cannot row at ease,  
On the smooth Channel of our common Seas.  
And such are those (in my conceit at least)  
Those Clarks that think (think how absurd a jest)  
That neither heavens nor Stars do turn at all,  
Nor dance about this great round Earthly Ball;  
But th' Earth itself, this Massy Globe of ours,  
Turns roundabout once every twice-twelue hours:  
And we resemble Land-bred novices  
New brought aboard to venture on the Seas;  
Who, at first launching from the shore, suppose  
The ship stands still, and that the ground it goes.   

So, twinkling Tapers, that heavens Arches fill, 
Opinion of Copernicus confuted   
Equally distant should continue still.  
So, never should an Arrow, shot upright,  
In the same place upon the shooter light;  
But would do (rather) as (at Sea) a stone  
Aboard a Ship upward uprightly thrown;  
Which not within-boord falls, but in the Flood  
A-stern the Ship, if so the wind be good.  
So, should the Fouls that take their nimble flight  
From Western Marshes toward Morning's Light,  
And Zephyrus, that in the Summer time  
Delights to visit Eurus in his clime,  
And Bullets thundered from the Canon's throat  
(Whose roaring drowns the Heavn'ly thunders note)  
Should seem recoil: sithence the quick career,  
That our round Earth should daily gallop here,  
Must needs exceed a hundred-fold (for swift)  
Birds, Bullets, Winds; their wings, their force, their drift.   

Armed with these reasons, 'twere superfluous  
T' assail the reasons of Copernicus;  
Who, to salve better, of the Stars th' appearance,  
Unto the Earth a threefold motion warrants:  
Making the Sun the Centre of this All, 
Leaving to dispute farther upon the former Paradox, he pro ccedeth in his discourse, and by a lively comparison representeth the beautiful ornament of the Heavens about the Earth.   
Moon, Earth, and Water, in one only Ball.  
But sithence here, nor time, nor place doth suit,  
His Paradox at length to prosecute;  
I will proceed, grounding my next discourse  
On the heavens motions, and their constant course.   

I oft admire Greatness of mighty Hills,  
And pleasant beauty of the flowery Fields,  
And countles number of the Ocean's sand,  
And secret force of sacred Adamant:  
But much-much more (the more I mark their course)  
Stars glistering greatness, beauty, number▪ force.   

Even as a Peacock, pricked with loves desire, 
Simile.   
To woe his Mistress, strowting stately by her,  
Spreads round the rich pride of his pompous vail,  
His azure wings and starry-golden tail,  
With rattling pinions wheeling still about,  
The more to set his beauteous beauty out:  
The Firmament (as feeling like above)  
Displays his pomp; pranceth about his Love,  
Spreads his blue curtain, mixed with golden marks,  
Set with gilt spangles, sown with glistering sparks,  
Sprinkled with eyes, specked with Tapers bright,  
Powdered with Stars streaming with glorious light,  
T' inflame the Earth the more, with lovers grace,  
To take the sweet fruit of his kind embrace.   

He, that to number all the Stars would seek, 
The number of Stars under both the Poles innumerable.   
Had need invent some new Arithmetic;  
And who, to cast that Reckoning takes in hand,  
Had need for Counters take the Ocean's sand:  
Yet have our wise and learned Elders found 
And why the ancient Astronomers observed 48.   
Foure-dozen Figures in the Heavenly Round,  
For aid of memory; and to our eyes  
In certain Houses to divide the Skies.  
Of those, are Twelve in that rich Girdle greft 
Of the fignes in the Zodiac.   
Which God gave Nature for her New-yeres-gift  
(When making All, his voice Almighty most,  
Gave so fair Laws unto heavens shining Host)  
To wear it biaz, buckled over-thwart-her;  
Not round about her swelling waste to girt-her.   

This glorious Baldric of a Golden tindge,  
Embossed with Rubies, edged with Silver Fringe,  
Buckled with Gold, with a Bend glistering bright,  
heavens biaz-wise environs day and night.  
For, from the period, where the Ram doth bring 
The Zodiac.   
The day and night to equal balancing,  
Ninety degrees towards the North it wends,  
Thence just as much toward Mid-Heav'n it bends,  
As many thence toward the South; and thence  
Towards th' Years portal, the like difference.   

Nephelian Crook-horn, with brass Cornets crowned, 
Aries in Mid-March gins the Spring.   
Thou buttest bravely against the Newyeres bound;  
And richly clad in thy fair Golden Fleece,  
Dost hold the First House of heavens spacious Meese. 
Taurus in mid-Aprill.   
Thou spiest anon the Bull behind thy back:  
Who, lest that fodder by the way he lack,  
Seeing the World so naked; to renewged,  
Coats th' infant Earth in a green gallant suit;  
And, without Plough or Yoke, doth freely fling  
Through fragrant Pastures of the flowery Spring. 
Gemini in mid-May.   
The Twins, whose heads, arms, shoulders, knees and feet,  
God filled with Stars to shine in season sweet,  
Contendin Course, who first the Bull shall catch,  
That neither will nor may attend their match.  
Then, Summers-guide, the Crab comes rowing soft, 
Cancer in mid-Iune gins the summer.   
With his eight ours through the Heavn's azure lo●t;  
To bring us yearly, in his starry shell,  
Many long days the shaggy Earth to swele.  
Almost with like pace leaps the Lion out, 
Leo in mid-Iuly.   
All clad with flames, bristled with beams about;  
Who, with contagion of his burning breath,  
Both grass and grain to cinders withereth.  
The Virgin next, sweeping heavens azure Globe 
Virgo in mid-August.   
With stately train of her bright Golden rob,  
Milde-proudly marching in her left hand brings  
A sheaf of Corn, and in her right hand wings. 
Libra in mid-September beginneth Autumn.   
After the Maiden, shines the Balance bright,  
Equal druider of the Day and Night:  
In whose gold Beam, with three gold rings, there fastens  
With six gold strings, a payr of golden Basins.  
The spiteful Scorpion, next the Scale addressed,  
With two bright Lamps covers his loathsome breast; 
Scorpio in mid-October.   
And fain, from both ends, with his double sting,  
Would spit his venom over every thing; 
Sagittarius in mid-november   
But that the brave Half-horse Phylirean Scout,  
Galloping swift the heavenly Belt about,  
Ay fiercely threats, with his flame-feathered arrow  
To shoot the sparkling starry Viper through.  
And th' hoary Centaur, during all his Race, 
Capricornus in mid-December, beginneth Winter.   
Is so attentive to this only chase,  
That dread-less of his dart, heavens shining Kid  
Comes jumping light, just at his heels unspid. 
Aquarius in mid-Ianuary.   
Mean-whilethe Skinker, from his starry spout,  
After the Goat, a silver stream pours-out;  
Distilling still out of his radiant Fire  
Rivers of Water (who but will admire?)  
In whose clear channel mought at pleasure swim  
Those two bright Fishes that do follow him; 
Pisces in mid-February.   
But that the Torrent slides so swift away,  
That it outruns them ever, even as they  
Outrun the Ram, who ever them pursues;  
And by renewing Yearly, all renews. 
The names of the Principal stars of the North-Pole.    

Besides these Twelve, toward the Artik side,  
A flaming Dragon doth Two-Bears divide;  
After, the Wainman comes, the Crown, the Spear;  
The Kneeling Youth, the Harp, the Hamperer  
Of th' hateful Snake (whether we call the same  
By Aesculapius, or Alcides' name)  
Swift Pegasus, the Dolphin, loving man;  
Ioues stately Eagle, and the silver Swan:  
Andromeda, with Cassiopeia neer-her,  
Her father Cepheus, and her Perseus dearer:  
The shining Triangle, Medusa's Tress,  
And the bright Coachman of Tindarides.   

Toward th' other Pole, Orion, Eridanus, 
The names of the Stars of the South-Pole.   
The Whale, the Whelp, and hot-breathed Sirius,  
The Hare, the Hulk▪ the Hydra, and the Bowl,  
The Centaur, Wolf, the Censer, and the Foul  
(The twice-foul Raven) the Southern Fish and Crown,  
Through heavens bright Arches brandish up and down.   

Thus, on This-Day working th' eightth azure Tent, 
The fixed stars are in the eight Heaven.   
With Artless Art, divinely excellent;  
Th' Almighty's fingers fixed many a million  
Of golden Scutcheons in that rich Pavilion:  
But in the rest (under that glorious Heaven)  
But one apiece, unto the several seven; 
And the seven Planets under them each in his proper Sphere   
Lest, of those Lamps the number-passing number  
Should mortal eyes with such confusion cumber,  
That we should never, in the clearest night,  
Stars divers Course see or discern aright.   

And therefore also, all the fixed Tapers  
He made to twinkle with such trembling capers; 
Why the Planets twinkle not, and the fixed stars do twinkle.   
But, the Scaven Lights that wander under them,  
Through various passage, never shake a beam:  
Or, he (perhaps) made them not different;  
But, th' host of Sparks spread in the Firmament  
Far from our sense, through distance infinite,  
Seems but to twinkle, to our twinkling sight: 
The firmament much farther from the Earth than the spheres of the Planets.   
Whereas the rest, nearer a thousand fold  
To th' Earth and Sea, we do more brim behold.  
For, the heavens are not mixedly interlaced,  
But th' undermost by th' upper be embraced,  
And more or less their roundels wider are,  
As from the Centre they be near or far:  
As in an Egg, the shell includes the skin, 
Simile   
The skin the white, the white the yolk within. 
Two similes representing the motion of the eight inferior heavens, through the swift turning of the ninth which is the Primum Mobile.    

Now as the Wind, buffing upon a Hill  
With roaring breath against a ready Mill,  
Whirls with a whiff the sails of swelling clout,  
The sails do swing the winged shaft about,  
The shaft the wheel, the wheel the trendle turns,  
And that the stone which grinds the flowery corns:  
Or like as also in a Clock well tended,  
Just counterpoise, justly thereon suspended,  
Makes the great Wheel go round, and that anon  
Turns with his turning many a meaner one,  
The trembling watch, and th' iron Maule that chimes  
The entire Day in twice twelve equal times:  
So the grand Heaven, in four and twenty hours,  
Surveying all this various house of ours,  
With his quick motion all the Spheres doth move;  
Whose radiant glances gild the World above,  
And drives them every day (which swiftness strange-is)  
From gang to Tagus; and from Tay to Ganges.   

But, th' under-orbs, as grudging to be still 
Each of the 8. heavens so transported by the Primum Mobil● hath also his proper obliqne, and distinct course each from other.   
So straightly subject to another's will,  
Still without change, still at another's pleasure  
After one pipe to dance one only measure;  
They from-ward turn▪ and traversing aside,  
Each by himself an obliqne course doth slide:  
So that they all (although it seem not so)  
Forward and backward in one instant go,  
Both up and down, and with contrary paces,  
At once they post to two contrary places:  
Like as myself, in my lost Marchant-years  
(A loss, alas, that in these lives appears)  
Wa●ting to Brabant, England's golden Fleece 
The same explained by a proper Simile.   
(A richer prize than jason brought to Greece)  
While toward the Sea, our (then, Swan-poorer) Thames  
Bore down my Bark upon her ebbing streams:  
Upon the hatches, from the Prow to Poup  
Walking in compass of that narrow Coop,  
Maugre the most that Wind and Tide could do,  
Have gone at once towards LEE and LONDON too. 
Why some of these Heavens have a slower course & shorter compass than other some.    

But now, the nearer any of these Eight,  
Approach th' Empyreal Palace walls in height,  
The more their circuit, and more days they spend,  
Ye● they return unto their journeys end.   

It's therefore thought, That sumptuous Canapy, 
The term of the revolution of the Firmament.   
The which th' un-niggard hand of Majesty  
Powdered so thick with Shields so shining clear,  
Spends in his voyage nigh seven thousand year.   

Ingenious Saturn, spouse of Memory, 
Of the seventh, which is the Sphere of Saturn.   
Father of th' Age of Gold; though coldly dry,  
Silent and sad, bald, hoary, wrinkle-faced,  
Yet art thou first among the Planets placed:  
And thirty years thy Leaden Coach doth run  
Ye● it arrive where thy Career begun.   

Thou, rich, benign, Ill-chasing jupiter, 
Of the 6 which is the Sphere of jupiter.   
Art (worthy) next thy Father sickle-bear,  
And while thou dost with thy more mild aspect  
His froward beams disastrous frouns correct,  
Thy Tinnen Chariot shod with burning bosses,  
Through twice-six Signs in twice six twelve months' crosses.   

Brave-minded Mars (yet Master of mis-order, 
Of the 5. which is the sphere of Mars.   
Delighting nought but Battles, blood, and murder)  
His surious Coursers lasheth night and day,  
That he may swiftly pass his course away:  
But in the road of his eternal Race,  
So many rubs hinder his hasty pace,  
That thrice, the while, the lively Liquor-God  
With dabbled heels hath swelling clusters trod,  
And thrice hath Ceres' shav'n her amber tress,  
Ye● his steel whels have done their business.   

Pure goldie-locks, Sol, States-friend, Honour-giver, 
Of the 4. which is the Sphere of Sol.   
Light-bringer, Laureate, Leach-man, all Reviver,  
Thou, in three hundred threescore days and five,  
Dost to the period of thy Race arrive.  
For, with thy proper course thou measur'st th' Year,  
And measur'st Days with thy constrained career.   

Fair dainty Venus, whose free virtues mild 
Of the 3. which is the sphere of Venus.   
With happy fruit get all the world with-child  
(Whom wanton dalliance, dancing, and delight,  
Smiles, witt●e wiles, youth, love, and beauty bright,  
With soft blind Cupids evermore consort)  
Of light some Day opens and shuts the port;  
For, hardly dar● her silver Doves go far  
From bright Apollo's glory-beaming Car.   

Not much unlike so, Mercury the witty, 
Of the 2. which is the sphere of Mercury.   
For ship, for shop, book, bar, or Court, or City:  
Smooth Orator, swift Penman, sweet Musician,  
Rare Artisan, deep-reaching Politician,  
Fortunate Merchant, fine Prince-humour-pleaser;  
To end his course takes near a twelvemonth's leisure:  
For, all the while, his nimble winged heels  
Dare little budge from Phoebus' golden wheels.   

And lastly Luna, thou cold Queen of night,  
Regent of humours, parting Months aright, 
Of the 1. which is the Sphere of Lun●. The lowest Planet nearest the Earth.   
Chaste Empress to one Endymion constant;  
Constant in Love, though in thy looks in constant  
(Unlike our Loves, whose hearts dissemble soon)  
Twelve times a year through all the Zodiac runnest.   

Now, if these Lamps, so infinite in number,  
Should still standstil as in a slothful slumber,  
Then should some Places (always in one plight)  
Have always Day, and ●om have always Night: 
Of the necessity of divers motions of the Heavens.   
Then should the summers Fire, and Winter's Frost,  
Rest opposite still on the self same Coast:  
Then nought could spring, and nothing prosper would  
In all the World, for Want of Heat or Cold.  
Or, without change of distance or of dance,  
If all these Lights still in one path should prance,  
Th' inconstant parts of this low World's contents  
Should never feel so sundry accidents,  
As the Conjunction of celestial Features  
Incessantly pours upon mortal Creatures.   

I'll ne'er believe that the Arch-Architect 
Of the force and influence of the Celestial body upon the terrestrial.   
With all these Fires the Heavenly Arches decked  
Only for Show, and with these glistering shields  
T' amaze poor Shepherds watching in the fields.  
I'll ne'er believe that the least Flower that pranks  
Our Garden borders, or the Common banks,  
And the least stone that in her warming Lap  
Our kind Nurse Earth doth covetously wrap,  
Hath some peculiar virtue of it own;  
And that the glorious Stars of Heaven have none:  
But shine in vain, and have no charge precise,  
But to be walking in heavens Galleries,  
And through that Palace up and down to clamber  
As Golden Gulls about a PRINCE'S CHAMBER.   

Senseless is he (who without blush) denies  
What to sound senses most apparent lies:  
And against Experience he that spits Fallacians,  
Is to be hisst from learned Disputations:  
And such is he, that doth affirm the Stars  
To have no force on these inferiors;  
Though heavens effects we most apparent see  
In number more than heavenly Torches be.   

I nill allege the Seasons alteration, 
Sundry proofs of the same. 1 The divers seasons. 2 The fearful accidents that commonly succeed Eclipses.   
Caused by the Sun in shifting Habitation:  
I will not urge, that never at noon days  
His envious Sister intercepts his Rays  
But some great State eclipseth, and from Hell  
Allecto loses all these Furies Fell,  
Grim, lean-faced Famine, foul infectious Plague;  
Bloodthirsty War, and Treason hateful Hag:  
Hear pouring down Woes universal Flood,  
To drown the World in Seas of Tears and Blood.   

I'll overpass how Sea doth Ebb and Flow, 
3 The ebbing & flowing of the sea.   
As th' Horned Queen doth either shrink or grow;  
And that the more she Fills her forked Round,  
The more the Marrow doth in bones abound,  
The Blood in Veins, the sap in Plants, the Moisture 
4 The increase and decrease of marrow, blood and humours in divers creatures.   
And luscious meat, in Crevish, Crab and Oyster:  
That Oak, and Elm, and Fir, and Alder, cut  
Before the Crescent have her Cornets shut,  
Are never lasting, for the bvilder's turn,  
In Ship or House, but rather fit to burn: 
5. The apparent alterations in the bodies of sick persons.   
And also, that the Sick, while she is filling,  
Feel sharper Fits through all their members thrilling.  
So that, this Lamp alone approoves, what powers,  
heavens Tapers have even on these souls of ours:  
Tempering; or troubling (as they be inclined)  
Our mind and humours, humours and our mind,  
Through Sympathy, which while this Flesh we carry,  
Our Souls and Bodies doth together marry.   

I'll only say that sith the hot aspect  
Of th' Heavenly Dog-Star, kindles with effect 
A particular prose by the effects of certain notable stars, ordinarily noted in some month of ●he year.   
A thousand unseen Fires, and dries the Fields,  
Scorches the Valleys, parches-up the Hills,  
And often times into our panting hearts,  
The bitter Fits of burning Fevers darts:  
And (opposite) the Cup, the dropping Pleyades,  
Bright-glistering Orion and the weeping Hyadeses,  
Never (almost) look down on our abode,  
But that they stretch the Waters bounds abroad,  
With Cloudy horror of their wrathful frown,  
Threatening again the guilty World to drown:  
And (to be brief) sith the gilt azure Front  
Of Firmest Sphere hath scarce a spark upon't  
But poureth downward some apparent change,  
Toward the Storing of the World's great Grange;  
We may conjecture what hide power is given  
T' infuse among us from the other Seven,  
From each of those which for their vertuerare  
Th' Almighty placed in a proper Sphere. 
Rejecting the Stoics, he showeth that God, as the first Cause, doth order all things, and what use we should make of the force Course, & Light of the coelesti all bodies.    

Not that (as Stoics) I intent to tie  
With Iron Chains of strong Necessity  
Th' Eternal's hands, and his free feet enstock  
In Destinies hard Diamantin Rock:  
I hold, that God (as The first Cause) hath given  
Light, Course, and Force to all the Lamps of Heaven:  
That still he guides them, and his Providence  
Disposeth free, their Fatal influence:  
And that therefore (the rather) we below  
Should study all, their Course and Force to know:  
To th' end that, seeing (through our Parents Fall)  
T' how many Tyrants we are waxed thrall,  
Ever since first fond Woman's blind Ambition,  
Breaking, made Adam break heavens High-Commission:  
We might unpuff our Heart, and bend our Knee,  
T' appease with sighs Gods wrathful Majesty;  
Beseeching him to turn away the storms  
Of Hail, and Heat, Plague, Dearth, and dreadful Arms,  
Which oft the angry Stars, with bad Aspects,  
Threat to be falling on our stubborn necks:  
To give us Curbs to bridle th' ill proclivity  
We are inclin'd-to, by a hard Nativity:  
To pour some Water of his Grace, to quench  
Our boiling Flesh's fell Concupiscence,  
To calm our many passions (spiritual tumors)  
Sprung from corruption of our vicious humours.   

Latonian Twins, Parents of Years and Months, 
Here proceeding to the second part of this book, he treateth at large of the Sun and Moon.   
Alas! why hide you so your shining Fronts?  
What? nill you show the splendour of your ray,  
But through a Veil of mourning Clouds, I pray?  
I pray pul-off your mufflers and your morning,  
And let me see you in your native burning:  
And my dear Muse by her eternal flight,  
Shall spread as far the glory of your Light  
As you yourselves run, in alternat Ring,  
Day after Night, Night after Day to bring.   

Thou radiant Coachman, running endless course, 
Of the Sun: entering into the description whereof, he confesseth that he knows not well where to begin.   
Fountain of Heat, of Light the lively source,  
Life of the World, Lamp of this Universe,  
heavens richest gem: O teach me where my Verse  
May but begin thy praise. Alas! I far  
Much like to one that in the Clouds doth stare  
To count the Quails, that with their shadow cover  
Th' Italian Sea, when soaring hither over,  
Fain of a milder and more fruitful Clime,  
They come, with us to pass the Summer time:  
No sooner he gins one shoal to sum,  
But more and more, still greater shoals do come,  
Swarm upon Swarm, that with their countles number  
Break off his purpose, and his sense encumber.   

Days glorious Eye! even as a mighty King, 
The Sun at Prince of the Ce lestiall lights marcheth in the midst of the other six Planets which environ   
About his Country stately Progressing,  
Is compassed round with Dukes, Earls, Lords, and Knights,  
(Orderly marshaled in their noble Rites)  
Esquires and Gentlemen, in courtly kind  
And then his Guard before him and behind;  
And there is nought in all his Royal Muster,  
But to his Greatness addeth grace and lustre:  
So, while about the World thou ride ay,  
Which only lives by virtue of thy Ray,  
Six Heavenly Princes, mounted evermore,  
Wait on thy Coach, three behind, three before,  
Besides the Host of th' upper Twinklers bright,  
To whom, for pay thou givest only Light.  
And, even as Man (the little-World of Cares) 
The Sun is in Heaven, as the heart in man's body.   
Within the middle of the body, bears  
His heart (the Spring of life) which with proportion  
Supplieth spirits to all, and every portion:  
Even so (O Sun) thy Golden Chariot marches  
Amid the six Lamps of the six low Arches  
Which seel the World, that equally it might  
Richly impart them Beauty, Force, and Light.   

Praising thy Heat, which subtly doth pierce 
His notable offects upon the Earth.   
The solid thickness of our Universe,  
Which in th' Earth's kidneys Mercury doth burn,  
And pallid Sulphur to bright Metal turn;  
I do digress, to praise that Light of thine,  
Which if it should, but one Day, cease to shine,  
Th' unpurged Air to Water would resolve,  
And Water would the mountain tops involve.   

Scarce I begin to measure thy bright Face,  
Whose greatness doth so oft Earth's greatness pass,  
And with still running the Celestial Ring,  
Is seen and felt of every living thing;  
But that fantastikly I change my Theme  
To sing the swiftness of thy tyer-les Teem;  
To sing, how, Rising from the Indian Wave,  
Thou seem'st (O Titan) like a Bridegroom brave, 
Excellent comparisons borrowed out of the 19 Psalm.   
Who, from his Chamber early issuing out  
In rich array, with rarest Gems about;  
With pleasant Countenance, and lovely Face,  
With golden tresses, and attractive grace,  
Cheers (at his coming) all the youthful throng  
That for his presence earnestly did long,  
Blessing the day, and with delightful glee,  
Singing aloud his Epithalamie.   

Then, as a Prince that feels his Noble heart,  
Wounded with loves pure Honor-winged dart  
(As HARDY LAELIUS, that Great GARTER-KNIGHT, 
The same exemplified in an honourable parsonage of our time now very aged; but in his young years, the glory of Arms and Chivalry.   
Tilting in Triumph of ELIZA'S Right  
(Yearly that Day that her deerraign began)  
Most bravely mounted on proud RABICAN,  
All in gilt armour, on his glistering Mazor  
A stately Plume, of Orange mixed with Azure,  
In gallant Course, before ten thousand eyes,  
From all Defendants bore the Princely Prize)  
Thou glorious Champion, in thy Heavenly Race,  
Runnest so swift we scarce conceivethy pace.   

When I record, how fitly thou dost guide  
Through the fourth heaven thy flaming Coursers pride, 
Of God's wonder full providence in placing the Sun in the midst of the other Planets, & of the commodities that come thereof   
That as they pass, their fiery breaths may temper  
Saturn's and Cynthya's cold and moist distemper  
(For, if thou gallop'st in the neither Room  
Like Phaethon thou wouldst the World consume:  
Or, if thy Throne were set in Saturn's Sky,  
For want of heat, than every thing would die)  
In the same instant I am priest to sing,  
How thy return reviveth every thing;  
How, in thy Presence, Fear, Sloth, Sleep, and Night,  
snows, Fogs, and Fancies, take their sudden Flight.  
Th' art (to be brief) an Ocean wanting bound,  
Where (as full vessels have the lesser sound)  
Plenty of Matter makes the speaker mute;  
As wanting words thy worth to prosecute.   

Yet glorious Monarch, 'mong so many rare 
Of the suns continual and daily course.   
And match-less Flowers as in thy Garland are,  
Some one or two shall my chaste sober Muse  
For thine Immortal sacred Sisters choose.  
I'll boldly sing (bright Sovereign) thou art none  
Of those weak Prince's Flattery works upon  
(No second EDWARD, nor no RICHURD Second,  
Vn-kinged both, as Rule-unworthy reckoned)  
Who, to enrich their Minions past proportion,  
Pill all their Subjects with extreme extortion;  
And charmed with Pleasures (O exceeding Pity!)  
Lie always wallowing in one wanton City;  
And, loving only that, to mean Lieutenant's  
Farm out their Kingdom's care, as unto Tenants.  
For, once a day, each Country under Heaven  
Thou bidst Good-Morrow, and thou bidst Good-Ev'n.  
And thy far-seeing Ey, as Censor, views  
The rites and fashions Fish, and Fowl do use,  
And our behaviours, worthy (every one)  
Th' Abderian Laughter, and Ephesian Moan.   

But true it is, to th' end a fruitful lieu  
May every Climate in his time renew. 
Of his obliqne or By-course, cause of the four seasons: and of the commodities of all Climates in the world.   
And that all men may nearer in all Realms  
Feel the alternat virtue of thy beams;  
Thy sumptuous Chariot, with the Light returning,  
From the same portal mounts not every Morning:  
But, to make known each-where thy daily drift,  
Dost every day, thy Coursers Stable shift:  
That while the Spring, pranked in her greenest pride,  
Reigns here, elswher Autumn as long may bide;  
And while fair Summer's heat our fruits doth ripe,  
Cold Wintets Ice may other Country's gripe.   

No sooner doth thy shining Chariot Roll 
A pleasant and lively description of the four seasons of the year.   
From highest Zenith toward Northern Pole,  
To sport thee for three Months in pleasant Inns,  
Of Aries, Taurus, and the gentle Twins,  
But that the mealy Mountains (late unseen)  
Change their white garments into lusty green,  
The Gardens prank them with their Flowery buds,  
The Meads with grass, with leaves the naked Woods,  
Sweet Zephyrus gins to buss his Flora, 
The Spring.   
Swift-winged Singers to salute Aurora;  
And wanton Cupid, through this Universe,  
With pleasing wounds, all Creatures hearts to pierce.   

When, backward bend, Phlegon thy fiery Steed,  
With Cancer, Leo, and the Maid, doth feed;  
Th' Earth cracks with heat, and Summer crowns his Ceres  
With gilded Ears, as yellow as her hairis:  
The Reaper, panting both for heat and pain,  
With crooked Razor shaves the tufted Plain; 
The Summer.   
And the good Husband, that due season takes,  
Within a Month his year's Provision makes.   

When from the mid-Heav'n thy bright flame doth fly  
Toward the Cross-Stars in th' Antartik Sky, 
Har●●st.   
To be three months, uprising, and downlying  
With Scorpio, Libra, and the Archer flying,  
Th' Earth by degrees her lovely beauty bats,  
Pomona loads her lap with delicates,  
Her Apron and her Osiar basket (both)  
With dainty fruits for her dear Autumn's tooth  
(Her health-less spouse) who barefoot hops about  
To tread the juice of Bacchus' clusters out.   

And last of all, when thy proud-trampling Teem  
For three Months more, to sojourn still doth seem  
With Capricorn, Aquarius, and the Fishes  
(While we in vain revoke thee with our wishes) 
Winter.   
In stead of Flowers, i'll shivering Winter dresses  
With Icicles her (self-bald) borrowed tresses:  
About her brows a Periwig of Snow,  
Her white Freeze mantle frenged with Ice below,  
A payr of Lamb-lyned buskins on her feet,  
So doth she march Orythias love to meet;  
Who with his bristled, hoary, bugle-beard,  
Coming to kiss her, makes her lips afeard;  
Whearat, he sighs a breath so cold and keen,  
That all the Waters Crystallized been;  
While in a fury, with his boisterous wings  
Against the Scythian snowy Rocks he flings,  
All lusks in sloth, and till these Months do end,  
Bacchus and Vulcan must us both befriend.   

O second honour of the Lamps supernal, 
Of the Moon & her alterations   
Sure Calendar of Festivals eternal,  
Seas Soveraintess, Sleep-bringer, Pilgrim's guide,  
Peace-loving Queen: what shall I say beside?  
What shall I say of thine inconstant brow,  
Which makes my brain waver, I woat not how?  
But, if by th' Ey, a man's intelligence  
May guess of things distance so far from hence,  
I think thy body round as any Ball, 
Of her roundness and brightness borrowed of the Sun.   
Whose superfice (nigh equal over all)  
As a pure Glass, now up, and down anon,  
Reflects the bright beams of thy spouse, the Sun.  
For as a Husbands noblesse doth illustre 
Simile.   
A mean-born wife: so doth the glorious lustre  
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, embright  
Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light.   

Yet 'tis not always after one self sort, 
Of her waxing & waning when she is in her last quarter, & when she renews and cometh to her full.   
For, for thy Car doth swifter thee transport,  
Then doth thy Brothers, diversely thou shinest,  
As more or less thou from his sight declin'st.  
Therefore each month, when Hymen (blest) above  
In both your bodies kindles ardent love,  
And that the Starrs-king all enamoured on thee,  
Full of desire, shines down direct upon thee;  
Thy neither half-Globe toward th' Earthy Ball  
(After its Nature) is observed all.  
But, him aside thou hast no sooner got,  
But on thy side a silver file we note,  
A halfbent Bow; which swells, the less thy Coach  
Doth the bright Chariot of thy spouse approach,  
And fills his Circle. When the Imperial Star  
Beholds thee just in one Diameter,  
Then by degrees thy Full face falls away,  
And (by degrees) Westward thy Horns display:  
Till fallen again betwixt thy lovers arms,  
Thou winkest again, vanquished with pleasures charms.   

Thus dost thou Wax and Wane, thee oft renewing;  
Delighting change: and mortal things, ensuing  
(As subject to thee) thy selfs transmutation,  
Feel th' unfelt force of secret alteration.   

Not, but that Phoebus always with his shine,  
Clears half (at least) of thine aspect divine; 
Of the cause of the divers aspect of the Moon.   
But't sem's not so: because we see but here  
Of thy round Globe the lower Hemisphere:  
Though waxing us-ward, Heav'n-ward thou dost wane;  
And waning us-ward, Heav'n-ward growest again.   

Yet, it befalls, even when thy face is Full,  
When at the highest thy pale Coursers pull,  
When no thick mask of Clouds can hide away,  
From living eyes, thy broad, round, glistering Ray,  
Thy light is darkened, and thine eyes are seeled,  
Covered with shadow of a rusty shield.  
For, thy Full face in his obliqne design  
Confronting Phoebus in th' Ecliptic line,  
And th' Earth between; thou losest for a space,  
Thy splendour borrowed of thy Brother's grace:   

But, to revenge thee on the Earth, for this 
Of the cause of the Eclipse of the Sun.   
Forestalling thee of thy kind Lovers kiss,  
Sometimes thy thick Orb thou dost inter-blend  
Twixt Sol and us, toward the later end:  
And then (because his splendour cannot pass  
Or pierce the thickness of thy gloomy Mass)  
The Sun, as subject to Death's pangs, us sees-not,  
But seems all Light-less, though indeed he is not.   

Therefore, far differing your Eclipses are;  
For thine is often, and thy Brothers rare:  
Thine doth indeed deface thy beauty bright; 
Difference between the Eclipses of the Sun, & of the Moon.   
His doth not him, but us bereave of Light:  
It is the Earth, that thy defect procures;  
It is thy shadow, that the Sun obscures:  
Eastward, thy front beginneth first to lack;  
Westward, his brows begin their frowning black:  
Thine at thy Full, when thy most glory shines;  
His, in thy Wane, when beauty most declines:  
Thine's general, toward Heaven and Earth together;  
His, but to Earth, nor to all places neither.   

For, th' hideous Cloud, that covered so long since 
Of the admirable & extraordinary Eclipse of the Sun, on the Day that our Saviour suffered on the Cross, for our Redemption. Mat. 27, ver. 45 Mar. 15, ver. 33 Luk 23. ver. 44   
With nights black vail th' eyes of the Starry-Prince  
(When as he saw, for our foul Sinful slips,  
The Match-less Maker of the Light, eclipse)  
Was far, far other: For, the swarthy Moors,  
That sweeting toil on Guinnés wealthy shores:  
Those whom the Nile's continual Cataract  
With roaring noise for ever deaf doth make:  
Those, that surveying mighty 
* Quinzay.  Cassagale,  
Within the Circuit of her spacious Wall  
Do dryfoot dance on th' Oriental Seas;  
And pass, in all her goodly crossing ways  
And stately streets fronted with sumptuous Bowers,  
Twelve thousand Bridges, and twelve thousand Towers:  
Those that, in Norway and in Finland, chase  
The soft-skind Martens, for their precious Case;  
Those that in Ivory Sleads on Ireland Seas  
(Congealed to Crystal) slide about at ease;  
Were witness all of his strange grief; and guest,  
That God, or Nature was then deep distressed.  
Moreover Cynthia, in that fearful stound,  
Fulfilled the compass of her Circle round;  
And, being so far off, she could not make  
(By Nature's course) the Sun to be so black:  
Nor, issuing from the Eastern part of Heaven,  
Darken that beauty, which her own had given.  
In brief, mine eye, confounded with such Spectacles  
In that one wonder sees a Sea of Miracles.   

What couldst thou do less, than thyself dishonour  
(O chief of Planets!) thy great Lord to honour?  
Then for thy Father's death, awhile to wear  
A morning Robe on th' hateful Hemisphere?  
Then at highnoon shut thy fair eye, to shun  
A Sight, whose sight did Hell with horror stun?  
And (pearçed with sorrow for such injuries)  
To please thy Maker, Nature to displease?   

So, from the South to North to make apparent, 
Of the going back of the Sun in the time of Ezechias. 1. King. 26. Ver. 11. Es●y. 38. Ver. 8   
That God reuoaked his Sergeant Death's sad Warrant  
Against Ezechias: and that he would give  
The godly King fifteen years more to live:  
Transgressing heavens eternal Ordinance;  
Thrice in one Day, thou through one path didst prance:  
And, as desirous of another nap,  
In thy for million sweet Aurora's Lap,  
Thy Coach turned back, and thy swift sweeting Horse  
Full ten degrees lengthened their wont Course:  
Dial's went false, and Forests (gloomy black)  
Wondered to see their mighty shades go back.   

So, when th' incensed heavens did fight so fell 
Of the suns standing still in the time of josuah. jos. 12. 13   
Under the Standard of deer Israel,  
Against the Host of odious Ammorites;  
Among a million of swift-Flashing Lights,  
Raining down Bullets from a stormy Cloud,  
As thick as Hail, upon their Armies proud:  
That such as scaped from heavens wrathful thunder,  
Victorious swords might after hew in-sunder;  
Co●●ur'd by josuah, thy brave steeds stood still,  
●●●ull Career stopping thy whirling wheel▪  
And, one whole Day, in one degree they stayed  
In midst of Heaven, for sacred Armies aid:  
Lest th' Infidels, in their disordered Flight,  
Should save themselves under the wings of Night.   

Those, that then lived under the other Pole,  
Seeing the Lamp which doth enlight the Whole,  
To hide so long his lovely face away,  
Thought never more to have reseen the Day;  
The wealthy Indians and the men of Spain,  
Never to see Sun Rise or Set again.  
In the same place Shadows stood still, as stone;  
And in twelve Hours the Dial's show'd but one.    

THE FIFT DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Fish in the Sea, Fowls in the Air abound:  
The Forms of all things in the Waters found:  
The various Manners of Sea-Citizens,  
Whose constant Friendship far exceedeth men's:  
Arion's strange escape: The Fowls attend  
On th' only Phoenix, to her end-less end:  
Their kinds, their customs, and their plumes variety;  
Some precedents of Prudence, some of Piety:  
The grateful Eagle, burning in the Fláme  
With her dead Mistress, the fair Sestian Dáme.   

LAtónian Lamps, conducting diverse ways, 
After a Poetical manner he craveth time & opportunity to discourse in this Day of the creation of Fishes & of Fowls.   
About the World, successive Nights and Days;  
Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Cars,  
And passing swiftly both th' opposed bars  
Of East and West, by your returning Ray,  
Th' imperfect World make elder, by a Day.  
Ye Fish, that brightly in heavens Baldrik shine,  
If you would see the Waters waving brine  
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion  
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion;  
If he expect, in his prefixed Career,  
To host with you a Month in every Year.   

And thou, eternal Father, at whose wink 
To which purpose especially he calleth on the true God.   
The wrathful Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,  
And stubborn storms of bellowing Winds be dumb,  
Their wide mouths stopped, and their wild pinions numb;  
Great Sovereign of the Seas, whose books can draw  
A man alive from the Whales monstrous maw,  
Provide me (Lord) of Steersman, Star, and Boat,  
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:  
Or rather teach me dive, that I may view  
Deep under water all the Scaly crew;  
And dropping wet, when I return to land  
Laden with spoils, extol thy mighty hand.   

IN VAIN had God stored Heaven with glistering studs, 
The first part of this Book, wherein he handleth how by the Commandment of the Lord, th● Fishes began to move in the Waters.   
The Plain with grain, the Mountain tops with woods,  
Severed the Air from Fire, the Earth from Water,  
Had he not soon peopled this large Theatre  
With living Creatures: Therefore he began  
(This-Day) to quicken in the Ocean,  
In standing Pools, and in the straggling Rivers  
(Whose folding Channel fertile Champain severs)  
So many Fishes of so many features,  
That in the Waters one may see all Creatures;  
And all that in this All is to be found;  
As if the World within the Deeps were drowned.   

Seas have (as well as Skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars: 
The Seas no less stored with privi ledges and precedents of Gods glorious power then Heaven & Earth; and of the strange Fishes that live therein.   
(As well as Air) Swallows, and Rooks, and stars:  
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,  
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushrooms, and many millions  
Of other Plants (more rare and strange than these)  
As very Fishes living in the Seas:  
And also Rams, Calves, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,  
Wolves, Lions, Urchins, Elephants, and Dogs,  
Yea Men and Maids: and (which I more admire)  
The mitred Bishop, and the Cowled Friar:  
Whereof, examples (but a few years since)  
Were shown the Norways, and Polonian Prince.   

You divine wits of elder Days, from whom  
The deep Invention of rare Works hath come,  
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools  
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?  
Which partly in the Waves, part on the edges  
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,  
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,  
Pikes, Percers, Needles, Mallets, Pipes, and Yokes,  
Owers, sails, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,  
Plumes, Cornets, Knives, Wheels, Vices, Horns, & Hammers.  
And, as if Neptune, and fair Pan●pé,  
Palae●on, Triton, and Leucothoé,  
Kept public Rolls, there is the Calamary;  
Who ready Penknife, Pen and Ink doth carry.   

As a rare Painter draws (for pleasure) here 
Why God created so many sorts of strange Fishes   
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satire there:  
Here a huge Cyclops, there a Pigmè Elf;  
Sometimes, no less busying his skilful self,  
Upon some ugly Monster (seldom seen)  
Then on the Picture of fair Beauty's Queen:  
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's variety,  
We might the more admire his powerful Dëity;  
And that we might discern by differing features  
The various kinds of the vast Ocean's creatures;  
Forming this mighty Frame, he every Kind  
With divers and peculiar Signet signed.  
Some have their heads grovelling betwixt their feet 
Examples▪ The Pour-Cuttle. Cuttle. Crab. Sea Har●. Oyster.   
(As th' inky Cuttles, and the Many-feets):  
Some in their breast (as Crabs): some head-less are,  
Foot-less, and finn-les (as the baneful Hare,  
And heatfull Oyster) in a heap confused,  
Their parts unparted, in themselves diffused.   

The Tyrian Merchant, or the Portuguez  
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees: 
The Tortoise.   
But of one Tortoise, when he list to float,  
Th' Arabian Fisherman can make a Boat:  
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand  
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.   

Shall I omit the monstrous Whirl-about,  
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,  
Wherewith huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)  
Are overwhelmed and funken suddenly?   

Shall I omit the Tunnies, that durst meet 
The Tunny●.   
Th' Eöan Monarches never daunted Fleet,  
And beard more bravely his victorious powers  
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towers;  
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;  
Or great Darius, that three Battles lost?  
When on the Surges I perceive, from far,  
Th' Ork whirlpool, Whale, or huffing Physeter, 
divers kinds of Whales.   
Me thinks I see the wandering Isle again  
(Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.  
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,  
Meseems some Tempest all the Sea doth toss.  
Our fear-less Sailors, in far Voyages  
(More led by Gain hope then their Compasses) 
Of their monstrous shape, and huge greatness.   
On th' Indian shore, have sometime noted some  
Whose bodies covered two broad Acres room:  
And in the South-Seas they have also seen  
Some like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;  
And othersom whose monstrous backs did bear  
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were  
Much like the winged and wide spreading sails  
Of any Windmill turned with merry gales.   

But God (who Nature in her nature holds)  
Not only cast them inso sundry moulds:  
But gave them manners much more differing, 
Of the divers qualities of Fishes.   
As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring  
In admiration; that men evermore,  
Praising his Works, might praise their Maker more.  
Some love fresh Waters, some the salt desire,  
Some from the Sea use yearly to retire  
To the next Rivers, at their own contenting,  
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;  
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:  
For Winter th' one, th' other for summers heat.   

As Citizens, in some intestine brawl, 
Simile. Describing the custom of certain Sea-fish frequenting the fresh Waters in some seasons of the year.   
Long cooped up within their Castle wall;  
So soon as Peace is made, and Siege removed,  
Forsake a while their Town so strong approved;  
And, tired with toil, by leashes and by payrs,  
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the airs:  
So, dainty Salmon, Ch●uins thunder-scared,  
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starred,  
In the Spring Season the rough Seas for sake,  
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take:  
And yet the plenty of delicious foods,  
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystal floods,  
The fragrant scents of flowery banks about,  
Cannot their Countries tender love wipe out  
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,  
In th' ireful Ocean to go seek their Tomb:  
Like English Gallants, that in Youth do go  
To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po; 
Comparison.   
Where though their Sense be dandled, Days and Nights,  
In sweetest choice of changeable Delights.  
They never can forget their Mother-Soyl,  
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoil,  
Long languishing with an extreme Desire  
To see the smoke of their deer Native Fire.   

One (like a Pirate) only lives of prizes,  
That in the Deep he desperately surprises: 
The Fishes feeding.   
Another haunts the shore, to feed on foam:  
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,  
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating thieving,  
Eats nought at all, of liquor only living;  
For, the ●alt humour of his Element  
Serves him (alone) for perfect nourishment.   

Some love the clear streams of swift tumbling Torrents  
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents  
Break Banks and Bridges; and do never stop,  
Till thirsty Summer come to drink them up:  
Some almost always pother in the mud  
Of sleepy Pools, and never brook the flood  
Of Crystal streams, that in continual motion  
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:  
As the most part of the Words Peers, prefer  
●●oyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:  
And some again (of a far differing humour)  
Hold Rest so dear, that but the only ●umour  
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;  
And wanting Peace, they count their States accursed.   

O watery Citizens, what Vmpeer bounded 
Of the providence of God in their divers and notable manner of living: affording many Lessons to Mankind.   
Your liquid livings? O! what Monarch mounded  
With walls your City? What severest Law  
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain awe,  
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders  
Of your swim-brethrens? as (against all Orders)  
Men daily practice, joining Land to Land,  
House unto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,  
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)  
World unto World, if they could work it possible.  
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,  
Or for your seeds securer propagation,  
Do sometimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;  
What learned Chaldè (skilled in Fortune-telling)  
What cunning Prophet your fit Time doth show?  
What Heralds Trumpet summons you to go?  
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions  
Through path-l●●s paths in unacquainted Regions?  
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,  
Measures your course in your Adventures far?  
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,  
Who in your Nature some Idéas wrought  
Of good and Evil; to the end that we,  
Following the Good, might from the Evil flee.   

Th' adulterous Sargus doth not only change 
Strange nature of the fish Sargus.   
Wives every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)  
As if the honey of Sea-loves delights  
Can not suffice his ranging appetites,  
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassy shore,  
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before▪  
Contrary to the constant Cantharus, 
Of Cantharus.   
Who, ever faithful to his dearest Spouse  
In Nuptial Duties spending all his life,  
loves never none but his own only wife.  
But, for her Love, the Mullet hath no Peer; 
Of the Mullet.   
For, if the Fisher have surprised her Pheer,  
As mad with woe to shore she followeth,  
priest to consort him both in life and death:  
As yerst those famous, loving Thracian Dames 
Simile.   
That leapt alive into the funeral flames  
Of their dead Husbands; who deceased and gone,  
Those loyal Wives hated to live alone.   

O! who can here sufficiently admire  
That Gaping Fish whose glistering eyes aspire  
Still toward Heaven? as if beneath the skies 
The Vrano-S●op●●.   
He found no Object worthy of his eyes.  
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lil  
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,  
To catch the Emmets; when, beguiled withal,  
The busy swarms upon it creep and crawl:  
Th' Vrano-scope, so, hid in mud, doth put  
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,  
Most like unto a little Worm (at sight)  
Whereat estsoons many small Fishes bite;  
Which therewith all this Angler swallows strait,  
Always self, armed with hook line, and bait▪   

The subtle 
* The Ozena.  Smell-strong-Many-foot, that ●ain  
A dainty feast of Oister-flesh would gain,  
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,  
Wedging with stone his yet wide-yawning lips,  
Lest else (before that he have had his prey)  
The Oyster, closing, clip his limbs away,  
And (where he thought t'have joyed his victories)  
Himself become unto his prize a prize.   

The Cramp-fish, knowing that she harboureth 
The Torpedo.   
A plague-full humour, a fell baneful breath,  
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,  
Benumbing all that dare too-neer h●r venture▪  
Pours forth her poison, and her chilling Ice  
On the next Fishes; charmed so in a t●ic●,  
That she not only stays them in the Deep,  
But stuns their sense, and ●ul● them fast a sleep;  
And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;  
Whose frozen limbs (still living) seem but dead.  
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took  
Into her throat the sharp deceitful hook,  
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle  
When they be pricked, and plunge, and strive, and struggle;  
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,  
Faster and faster on the hook do tangle:  
But, wily, clasping close the Fishing Line,  
Suddenly spews into the Silver Brine  
Her secret-spreading, sodain-speeding bane;  
Which, up the Line, and all along the Cane,  
Creeps to the hand of th' Angler; who withal  
Benumbed and senseless, suddenly let's fall  
His hurtful pole, and his more hateful prize: 
Simile.   
Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)  
Seems in his sleep to see some ghastly Ghost;  
In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelled almost,  
He calls his wife for aid, his friends, his folks,  
But his stuffed stomach his weak clamour chokes:  
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;  
But sleep and fear his feeble hands do hold:  
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,  
He feels his feet fettered with heavy gives.   

But, if the Scolopendra have suckt-in 
The Scolopendra.   
The sowr-sweet morsel with the barbed Pin,  
She hath as rare a trick to rid her fromit:  
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;  
And, having cleared them from the danger, than  
She fair and softly sups them in again,  
So that not one of them within her womb  
Changeth his Office or his wont room.   

The thriving Amia (near Abydos breeding) 
The Amia.   
And subtle Seafox (in Steeds-love exceeding) 
The Seafox.   
Without so vent ring their dear life and lining,  
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their untwining:  
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,  
Above the hook they it in sunder shear;  
So that their foe, who for a Fish did look  
Lifts up a bareline, robbed of bait and hook.   

But timorous Barbels will not taste the bit, 
The Barbel.   
Till with their tails they have unhooked it:  
And all the baits the Fisher can devise  
Cannot beguile their wary jealousies.   

Even so almost, the many spotted Cuttle 
The Cuttle.   
Well-near ensnared, yet escapeth subtle;  
For, when she sees herself within the Net,  
And no way left but one, from thence to get,  
She suddenly a certain Ink dothspew,  
Which dies the Waters of a sable hue;  
That, dazzling so the Fishers greedy sight,  
She through the Clouds of the black Water's night,  
Might scape with honour the black streams of Styx,  
Whereof already, almost lost, she licks.   

And, as a Prisoner, (of some great transgression,  
Convict by Witness and his own Confession) 
Simile.   
Kept in dark Durance full of noisome breath,  
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;  
Spies every corner, and pries round about  
To find some weak place where he may get out:  
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye, 
The Golden-eye or Guilt-head.   
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,  
And thrusting-in his tail, makes th' Osiers gape  
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:  
But, if his fellow find him thus b●●●ed,  
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;  
That thereby holding fast with gentle law,  
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.  
Or, (if before that he were captivate)  
He see him hooked on the biting bait,  
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,  
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.   

You stony hearts, within whose stubborn Centre 
Sundry in structions that Fishes give to men.   
Can never touch of sacred friendship enter,  
Look on these Seas my Songs have calmed thus▪  
here's many a Damon, many a Th●se●s.  
The gilded Sparlings, when cold Winter's blast 
The Sparlings.   
Gins to threat, themselves together cast,  
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,  
Live; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.  
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,  
Though without Venus' aid they be created  
Of th' Ocean scum; seeing themselves a pray  
Exposed in every Water-rovers way,  
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold  
Combine themselves, that their joint strength doth hold  
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieves sallies;  
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Galleys.   

As a great Carrak, cumbered and oppressed 
Simile.   
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,  
Star-bood and Larboard, with so quick Careers,  
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers;  
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed, 
Another.   
Either of Friesland, or of Germane breed,  
Can never manage half so readily,  
As Spanish jennet, or light Barbary:  
So the huge Whale hath not so nimble motion, 
Of the the Whale and his friend Musculus.   
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;  
But sometimes rudely 'gainst a Rock he brushes,  
Or in some roaring Strait he blindly rushes,  
And scarce could live a Twelvemonth to an end,  
But for the little Musculus (his friend)  
A little Fish that swimming still before,  
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shore:  
Much like a Child that loving leads about 
Simile.   
His aged Father when his eyes be out;  
Still wasting him through every way so right,  
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.   

Waves-mother Thetis, though thine arms embrace 
Strange League between the Pearl-Fish and the Prawne.   
The World about, within thine ample space,  
A firmer League of friendship is not seen  
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn between;  
Both have but one repast, both but one Palace,  
But one delight, one death, one sorrow, and one solace:  
That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates  
His Landlords kindness with all needful Cates.  
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,  
Much Fry (allured with the bright siluerlustre  
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;  
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth mak-her  
That instantly her shining shell she close  
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knows):  
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out  
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithful scout.   

And so the Sponge-Spye, warily awakes 
Also between the Sponge and his Spy. The Galley Fish The Sayle-Fish. Boat-Crab. Sea-Vrchin.   
The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.   

But O! what style can worthily declare  
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,  
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexterity  
In sailors Art, for safeness and celerity?  
If jaffa Merchants, now Comburgers seem  
With Portingalls, and Portingalls with them:  
If Worlds of Wealth, born under other Sky,  
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly  
From North to South, and from the East to West,  
Through hundred sundry way-less ways addressed:  
If (to be brief) this World's rich compass round,  
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,  
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store  
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.  
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece  
That sailed to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,  
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowrd,  
To mate the Winds, Storms, and the Waters Stowrs;  
What e'er he were, he surely learned of you  
The Art of Rowing and of Sailing too.   

Here would I cease, save that this humorous song,  
The Hermite-Fish compels me to prolong. 
The sea▪ Hermit   
A man of might that builds him a Defence  
Against Wether's rigour and War's insolence,  
First dearly buys (for, What good is good-cheap?)  
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:  
But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,  
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,  
Or borrowing House, or paying Rend therefore,  
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shore  
Some handsome shell, whose Native Lord, of late  
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;  
Therein he enters, and he takes possession  
Of th' empty Harbour, by the free concession  
Of Nature's Law; who Goods that Owner want  
Always allots to the first Occupant.  
In this new Case, or in this Cradle (rather)  
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together  
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell  
Wherein at Sea his later Days to dwell.   

But Clio, wherefore art thou tedious  
In numbering Neptune's busy Burghers thus?  
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth  
Of the Seas Sovereign, bring but only forth  
One little Fish, whose admirable Story 
The strange and secret property of the Remora, or Stop-ship.   
Sufficeth sole to show his might and glory.  
Let all the Winds in one Wind gather them,  
And (seconded with Neptune's strongest stream)  
Let all at once, blow all their stiffest gales  
A-stern a Galley under all her sails;  
Let her be helped with a hundred Owers,  
Each lively handled by five lusty Rowers:  
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn  
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,  
Stays her stone-still: while all her stout Consorts  
Sail thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.  
Then lose they all the sheats, but to no boot:  
For, the charmed Vessel bougeth not a foot;  
No more than if than if three fathom under ground,  
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:  
No more than doth an Oak, that in the Wood  
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) with stood,  
Spreading as many massy roots below,  
As mighty arms above the ground do grow.  
O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose  
Thyself alone against so many foes?  
O! tell us where thou dost thine Anchors hide,  
Whence thou resistest Sails, Owers, Wind, and Tide▪  
How on the so deign canst thou curb so short  
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?  
Whence is thine Engine and thy secret force  
That frustrates Engines, and all force doth force?   

I had (in Harbour) heaved mine Anchor o'er,  
And even already set one foot ashore; 
Dolphin.   
When lo, the Dolphin, beating▪ 'gainst the bank,  
Began mine oblivion moodily mis-thank:  
Peace Princely Swimmer, sacred Fish, content-thee;  
For, for thy praise, th' end of this Song I meant-thee.  
Brave Admiral of the broad briny Regions,  
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,  
Who living, ever liv'st (for never sleep,  
Death's lively Image in thy eyes doth creep)  
Lover of Ships, of Men, of Melody,  
Thou up and down through the moist World dost ply  
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou lovest so,  
That lacking that, thy life thou dost forego:  
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th' happy Boat, of yore  
Which safely brought th' Amiclean Harp ashore.   

Arion, match-less for his Musiks' skill,  
Among the Latins having gained his fill 
The strange adventure of Arion saved by a Dolphin.   
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain  
To resalute his learned Greece again;  
Unwares, imbarks him in a Pirates ship:  
Who loath to let so good a Booty slip.  
Soon weighs his Anchors, packs on all his fail,  
And Winds conspiring with a prosperous gale,  
His winged Fregat made so speedy-sight;  
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of fight;  
And all, save Skies, and Seas, on every side;  
Where, th' only Compass is the Pilots guide.  
The sailors then (whom many times we find  
Falser than Seas, and fiercer than the Wind)  
Fall strait to strip him, rifling (at their pleasure)  
In every corner to find out his treasure:  
And, having found it, all with one accord  
Hoist th' Owner up, to heave him overboard.  
Who weeping said, O Nereus noble issue,  
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:  
For, my chief Treasure in my Music lies  
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prise  
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,  
That underfoot all worldly wealth they throw.)  
No (brave Triumphers over Wind and Wave,  
Who in both Worlds your habitation have,  
Who both heavens Hooks in your adventures view)  
'Tis not for That, with broken sighs I sue:  
I but beseech you, offer no impieties  
Unto a person dear unto the Deities.  
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,  
Be ever mute when you your voyage make,  
And Tritons Trumpet th' angry Surges suage,  
When (justly) Neptune shall against you rage.  
But if (alas!) cannot this obtain  
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plain)  
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,  
My doleful fingers to consort their noise:  
That so, the Sea-nymphs (rapt in admiration  
Of my divine, sweet, sacred lamentation)  
Dragging my corpse to shore, with weeping showers  
May dew the same, and it entoomb in flowers.  
Then play (said they) and give us both together,  
Treasure and pleasure by thy coming hither.   

His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent  
Th' enchanting sinews of his Instrument:  
Wherewith he charmed the raging Ocean so,  
That crook toothed Lampreys and the conger's row  
Friendly together, and their native hate  
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgot,  
And Lobster's floated fear-less all the while  
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.   

But among all the Fishes that did throng  
To dance the Measures of his Mournful song,  
There was a Dolphin did the best accord  
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:  
Who gently sliding near the Pinnass side,  
Seemed to invite him on his back to ride.  
By this time, twice the sailors had essayd  
To heave him o'er; yet twice himself he stayed:  
And now the third time strove they him to cast;  
Yet by the shrouds the third time held he fast:  
But lastly, seeing Pirates past remorse,  
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,  
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;  
Who on the Ocean's azure surges slid,  
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)  
One would have thought him rather fly, then swim:  
Yet fears he every shelf and every Surge  
(Not for himself, but for his tender charge)  
And, sloping swiftly overthwart those Seas  
(Not for his own but for his Rider's ease)  
Makes double haste to find some happy strand,  
Where his sweet Phoebus he may safely land.  
Meanwhile, Arion, with his Music rare,  
Pays his dear Pilot his delighfull fare.  
And heaving eyes to Hea'vn (the Haven of Pity)  
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;   

O thou Almighty! who Mankind to wrack,  
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,  
And yet didst save, from th' universal Doom,  
One sacred Household, that in time to come  
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;  
Look down (O Lord) from thy supernal rays;  
Look, look, (alas!) upon a wretched man,  
Half Toombed already in the Ocean:  
O! be my Steersman, and vouch safe to guide  
The sternles Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;  
So that, escaping Winds and Waters wrath,  
I once again may tread my native path:  
And henceforth, here with solemn vows I sacre  
Unto thy glory (O my God and Maker)  
For this great favour's high Memorial,  
My heart, and Art, my voice, hand, Harp, and all.   

Here-with, the Seas their roaring rage refrain,  
The Cloudy Welkin waxed clear again,  
And all the Winds did so dainly convert  
Their mouths to ears, to hear his wondrous Art.  
The Dolphin then, descrying Land (at last)  
Storms with himself, for having made such haste,  
And wished Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,  
T' have joyed the while his Musiks' excellence.  
But, 'fore his own delight, preferring far  
Th' unhoped safety of the Minstrel rare,  
Sets him a shore, and (which most strange may seem)  
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.   

But now (dear Muse) with jonas lets us high  
From the Whale's belly; and from jeopardy  
Of stormfull Seas, of wreakful Rocks and Sand,  
Com, come (my Darling) let us haste to Land.   

While busy, poring downward in the Deep, 
The second part of this book, treating of Fowls.   
I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)  
See how the Fowls are from my fancy fled,  
And their high praises quite out of my head:  
Their flight outflies me; and my Muse almost  
The better half of this bright Day hath lost.  
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)  
Seeming to flutter on the Water's face,  
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,  
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.   

But first I pray (for meed of all my toil  
In bringing you into this HAPPY I'll)  
Vouch safe to waken with your various Notes  
The sense-less senses of those drowsy Sots,  
Whose eyelids laden with a weight of Lead  
Shall fall asleep the while these Rhymes are read.  
But, if they could not close their wakeful eyes  
Among the Water's silent Colonies;  
How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound  
Through Heaven and Earth and Ocean doth redound?   

The Heavenly Phoenix first began to frame 
Of the admirable and Only Phoenix.   
The Earthly Phoenix, and adorned the same  
With such a plume, that Pboebus, circuiting  
Prom Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:  
Such form, such feathers, and such Fate he gave-her,  
That fruitful Nature breedeth nothing braver:  
Two sparkling eyes; upon her crown, a crest  
Of starry Sprigs (more splendent than the rest)  
A golden down about her dainty neck,  
Her breast deep purple, and a scarlet back, 
Her description.   
Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine)  
Of orient azure and incarnadine.  
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,  
And Death's cold kisses to restore her here  
Her life again, which never shall expire 
Her life.   
Until (as she) the World consume in fire.  
For, having passed under divers Climes,  
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;  
Worn-out with years, wishing her end-less end,  
To shining flames she doth her life commend:  
Dies to revive, and goes into her Grave  
To rise again more beautiful and brave.  
Perched therefore, upon a branch of Palm,  
With Incense, Cassia, spikenard, Myrrh, and Balm,  
By break of Day she builds (in narrow room)  
Her Urn, her nest her Cradle, and her tomb:  
Where, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting  
Some flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting)  
To burn her sacred bones to seed-full cinders  
(Wherein, her age but not her life, she renders) 
Her death.   
The Phrygian Skinker, with his lavish Ewer,  
Drowns not the Fields with shower after shower;  
The shivering Coachman with his Icy Snow  
Dares not the Forests of Phoenicia strow:  
Auster presumes not Libyan shores to pass  
With his moist wings: and graybeard Boreas  
(As the most boisterous and rebellious slave)  
Is prisoned close in th' Hyper-Borean Cave:  
For, Nature now propitious to her End,  
To her living Death a helping hand doth lend:  
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildly stead  
Her funerals, her fruitful birth, and bed:  
And Sol himself, glancing his golden eyes  
On th' odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,  
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes  
Th' immortal Phoenix, both her flesh and plumes.  
But instantly, out of her ashes springs  
A Worm, an Egg then, than a bird with wings, 
Her re-generation.   
Just like the first (rather the same indeed)  
Which (re-ingendred of it'sselfly seed)  
By nobly dying a new Date gins,  
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:  
End-less by'r End, eternal by her tomb;  
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth become  
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)  
Her own selfs' Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:  
Teaching us all, in Adam here to die, 
The best application.   
That we in Christ may live eternally.   

The Phoenix, cutting th' unfrequented Air, 
Birds that follow the Phoenix and their natures.   
Forthwith is followed by a thousand pair  
Of wings, in th' instant by th' Almighty wrought,  
With diverse Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.   

The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro, 
The Swallow.   
As swift as shafts fly from a Turkish Bow,  
When (use and Art and strength confedered)  
The skilful Archer draws them to the head:  
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where  
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear  
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,  
Whose Plot may serve in rarest Arch'tecture:  
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,  
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,  
Whereof she Mortar makes, and therewithal  
Aptly she builds her semicircle Wall.   

The pretty Lark, climbing the Welkin clear, 
The Lark.   
Chants with a cheer, Heer, peer-I near my Deer;  
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rue)  
Adieu (she saith) adieu, dear Deer, adieu.   

The Spink, the Linot, and the Goldfinch fill 
The Linot. The Finch.   
All the fresh Air with their sweet warbles shrill.   

But all This's nothing to the Nightingale, 
The Nightingale.   
Breathing, so sweetly from a breast so small,  
So many Tunes, whose Harmony excels  
Our Voice, our Viols, and all Music else.  
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oaken Grove,  
In the cool shadow have I stood, and strove  
To marry mine immortal Lays to theirs,  
Rapt with delight of their delicious A●ers?  
And (yet) methinks, in a thick thorn I hear  
A Nightingale to warble sweetly-cleer:  
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,  
Anon the Treble, than the Counter-Tenor:  
Then, all at once; (as it were) challenging  
The rarest voices with herself to sing:  
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafy Sprays,  
Another Nightingale repeats her Lays,  
Just Note for Note, and adds some Strain atlast,  
That she had conned all the Winter past:  
The first replies, and descants thereupon;  
With divine warbles of Division,  
Redoubling Quavers; And so (turn by turn).  
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:  
So that the Conquest in this curious strife  
●oth often cost the one her voice and life:  
Then, the glad Victor all the rest admire,  
And after count her Mistress of the Choir,  
At break of Day, in a Delicious song  
She sets the Gam-ut to a hundred young:  
And, when as, fit for higher Tunes she sees-them,  
Then learnedly she harder Lessons gives-them;  
Which, strain by strain, they studiously recite,  
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.   

The Colchian Pheasant, and the Partridge rare, 
divers other delicate, and gentle Birds.   
The lustful Sparrow, and the fruitful Stare,  
The chattering Pie, the chastest Turtle-dove,  
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)  
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Prince's Boards)  
And the green Parrot, feigner of our words,  
Wait on the Phoenix, and admire her tunes,  
And gaze themselves in her blew-golden plumes.   

The ravening Kite, whose train doth well supply  
A Rudders place; the Falcon mounting high, 
Ravenous Birds.   
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle- Tercell,  
Th' Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcel  
Fellow the Phoenix, from the Clouds (almost)  
At once discovering many an unknown Coast.   

In the swift Rank of these fell Rovers, flies  
The Indian Griffin with the glistering eyes,  
Beak Eaglelike, back sable, sanguine breast,  
White (Swanlike) wings, fiercetalons, always priest  
For bloody battles; for, with these he tears  
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigers, Bulls, and Bears:  
With th●se, our Grandams fruitful paunch he pulls,  
Whence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,  
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep  
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:  
With these, he guards against an Army bold  
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;  
As wroth, that men upon his right should rove,  
Or thievish hands usurp his Tresor-trove.   

O! ever mayst thou fight so (valiant Foul)  
For this dire bane of our seduced soul; 
Detestation of Avarice, for her execrable & dangerous effects   
And (with thee) may the Dardan Aunts, so ward  
The Gold committed to their careful Guard,  
That henceforth hope-less, man's frail mind may rest-her  
From seeking that, which doth its Master's master:  
O odious poison! for the which we dive  
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive  
Our Mothe● Earth; and, not contented with  
Th' abundant gifts she outward offereth,  
With sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,  
And ransak deeply in her bosom tender,  
While under ground we live in hourly fear  
When the frail Mines shall overwhelm us there:  
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roll  
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;  
And, maugre Winds and Waters enmity,  
We every Day new unknown Worlds descry:  
For which (alas!) the brother sells his brother,  
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,  
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,  
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell we here,  
Since to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,  
We sell ourselves, our very souls and all?   

Near these, the Crow his greedy wings displays, 
Night-Fowles and solitary Birds.   
The long-lived Raven, th' infamous Bird that lays  
His bastard Eggs within the nests of other,  
To have them hatched by an unkindly Mother:  
The Skritch-Owl, used in falling Towers to lodge,  
Th' unlucky Night-Raven, and thou lazy Madge  
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide,  
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.   

But (gentle Muse) tell me what Fowls are those  
That but even-now from flaggy Fens arose? 
Water fowls.   
'Tis th' hungry Hearn, the greedy Cormorant,  
The Coot and Curlew, which the Moors do haunt,  
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,  
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:  
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,  
And the Kings-Fisher, which so builds her nest  
By the Seaside in midst of Winter Season,  
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)  
Cannot devise, with all the with has,  
Her little building how to raise or raze:  
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,  
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;  
For, Aeolus, fearing to drown her brood,  
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.  
The Pirate (dwelling always in his Bark)  
In's Calendar her building Days doth mark:  
And the rich Merchant resolutely venter's,  
So soon as th' Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.  
Meanwhile, the Langa, skimming (as it were)  
The Ocean's surface, seeketh every where  
The hugy Whale; where slipping-in (by Art)  
In his vast mouth, she feeds upon his hart.   

NEW-SPAIN's Cucuio, in his forehead brings 
Strange admirable Birds.   
Two burning Lamps, two underneath his wings:  
Whose shining Rays serve oft in darkest night,  
Th' Imbroderer's hand in royal Works to light:  
Th' ingenious Turner, with a wakeful eye,  
To polish fair his purest Ivory:  
Th' Usurer, to count his glistering treasures:  
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.   

But note we now, towards the rich Moluques,  
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds) 
* With us called Birds of Paradise.  Mamuques  
(Wondrous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or▪ Sky,  
Saw ever wonder, swim, or go, or fly)  
None knows their nest, none knows the dam that breeds them:  
Food-less they live; for, th' Airealonely feeds them:  
Wing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,  
Till with their flight, their unknown lives-date ends.   

The Stork, still eyeing her deer Thessaly, 
Charitable Birds   
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:  
Praiseworthy Payer; which pure examples yield  
Of faithful Father, and officious Child.  
Th' one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,  
From whom she had her birth and tender breeding;  
Not only brooding under her warm breast  
Their age-chilled bodies bedrid in the nest;  
Nor only bearing them upon her back  
Through th' empty Air, when their own wings they lack;  
But also, sparing (This let Children note)  
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,  
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held  
From foraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.   

The other, kindly, for her tender Brood  
Tears her own bowels, trilleth-out her blood  
To heal her young, and in a wondroussort  
Unto her Children doth her life transport:  
For, finding them by some fell Serpent slain,  
She rends her breast, and doth upon them rain  
Her vital humour; whence recovering heat,  
They by her death, another life do get:  
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thralled man to free,  
Became a Captive; and on shameful Tree  
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to saveus,  
And salve the wounds th' old Serpent firstly gaveus:  
And so became, of mere immortal, mortal;  
Thereby to make, frail mortal Man, immortal.   

Thus dost thou print (O Parent of this All) 
Lessons for mankind▪ out of the Consideration of the natures of divers creatures.   
In every breast of brutest Animal  
A kind Instinct, which makes them dread no less  
Their children's danger, than their own decease;  
That so, each Kind may last immortally,  
Though th' Individuum pass successively.  
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)  
But for his Dear Whelps taken from his Den  
By Hunters fell: He fiercely roareth out,  
He wounds, he kills; amid the thickest rout,  
He rushes-in dread-less of Spears, and Darts,  
Swords, shafts, & staves though hurt in thousand parts;  
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack  
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:  
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)  
When, overlaid with might and Multitude,  
He needs must die; dying, he more bemoanes,  
Then his own death his Captive littleones.  
So, for their young our Masty Curs will fight,  
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.  
So, in the Deep, the Dogfish for her Fry  
Lucma's throes a thousand times doth try:  
For, seeing when the subtle Fisher follows-them,  
Again alive into her womb she swallows-them;  
And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,  
As from the Cabins of asafe defence;  
And (thousandlyves to their dear Parent owing)  
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.  
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe  
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:  
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill  
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.   

I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry; 
The Crane, Y   
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,  
By the brave orders practised under her,  
Instructeth Soldiers in the art of war..  
For, when her Troops of wandering Cranes for sake  
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take  
Truce with the Northern Dwarves, to seek adventure  
In Southrens Climates for a milder Winter;  
Affront each Band a forward Captain flies,  
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;  
Two skilful Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,  
And with theirvoice hasten their tardy Flight;  
And when the honey of care-charming sleep  
Sweetly gins through all their veins to creep,  
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,  
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Host,  
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,  
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod:  
Another doth as much, athird, afourth,  
Until, by turns, the Night be turned forth.   

There, the fa●r Peacock beautifully brave, 
The Peacock.   
Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-grave,  
Wheeling his starry Treyn, in pomp displays  
His glorious eyes to P●●bus goldenrayes▪  
Close by his side stands the courageous Cock▪ 
The Cock.   
Crest-peoples' King, the Peasant's trusty Clock,  
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,  
The lions terror, true Astronomer,  
Who daily riseth when the Sun doth rise,  
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.   

There, I perceive amid the flowery Plain 
The Ostrich.   
The mighty Ostrich, striving oftin vain  
To mount among the flying multitude  
(Although with feathers, not with flight endued):  
Whose greedy stomach steely gads digests;  
Whose crisped train adorns triumphant crests.   

Thou happy Witness of my happy Watches,  
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches, 
Of Infects in the Creation whereof the wisdom of their Makershineth admirably.   
To bear about, upon thy paper-Tables,  
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabble's  
Of other Infects (end-less to rehearse)  
Limned with the pencil of my various Verse;  
Sith These are also His wise Workmanships,  
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:  
And sith in These he shows us every hour  
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty power  
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,  
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts  
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,  
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.  
For, if old Times admire Callicrates  
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermécides  
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small  
That with her wings a be can hide it all  
(Though th' Artful fruits of all their curious pain,  
Fit for noose, were but inventions vain)  
Admire we then th' Alwise Omnipotence,  
Which doth within so narrow space dispense 
Of Flies.   
So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant hart,  
So loud a voice, so prudent wit and Art.   

For, where's the State beneath the Firmament,  
That doth excel the Bees for Government? 
Of B●●●.   
No, no: bright Phoebus, whose eternal Race  
Once every Day about the World doth pace,  
Sees here no City, that in Rites and Laws,  
(For Equity) near to their justice draws:  
Not 
* Venice.  That, which flying from the furious Hun,  
In th' Adri●n▪ Sea another World begun.  
Their well-ruled State my soul so much admires,  
That, durst I lose the Rains of my desires,  
I gladly could digress from my design,  
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:  
But if, of all, whose skilful Pencils dare  
To counterfeit th' almighty's Models rare,  
None yet durst finish that fair Piece, wherein  
Learned Apelles drew L●ues wanton Queen;  
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climb,  
And sing the Bees praise in mine humble rhyme?  
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince  
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?   

Yet may I not that little * Worm pass-by, 
The Silkworm.   
Of Flyturned Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:  
Two births, two deaths, here Nature hath assign'd-her,  
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-live) seed behinde-her,  
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaves  
Of Th●sbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaves  
(On oval clews) of soft, smooth, Silken flakes,  
Which more for us, then for herself, she makes.  
O precious fleece● which only did adorn  
The sacred loins of Princes heertoforn:  
But our proud Age, with prodigal abuse,  
Hath so profaned th' old honourable use,  
That Shifters now, who scarce have bread to eat,  
Disdain plain Silk, unless it be beset  
With one of those dear Metals, whose desire  
Burns greedy souls with an immortal fire.   

Though last, not lest; brave Eagle, no contempt  
Made me so long thy story hence exempt  
(Nor LESS Xtold shall thy true virtues be,  
For th' Eyrie's sake that owes my Muse and me;  
Whoar Iov's and Juno's stately Birds be billing▪  
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling  
(Azure they hear three Eaglets Argentine,  
A Chevron Ermine grailed Or between)  
WI●t, Chiefrie, Richesses, to THem all I Wish  
In Earth; in Heaven th' immortal Crown of Bliss.)  
For, well I know, thou holdest (worthily)  
That place among the Aery flocks that fly,  
As doth the Dragon or the Cockatrice  
Among the bancfull Creeping companies:  
The noble Lion among savage Beasts:  
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Diving guests.  
I know thy course; I know, thy constant sight  
Can fixly gaze against heavens greatest Light.  
But, as the Phoenix on my Front doth glister,  
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.   

On Thracian shore of the same stormy stream, 
A strange and notable story of the love and death of an Eagle.   
Which did inherit both the bones and name  
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence  
Where love-blind Heros hap-less diligence,  
In steed of Love's lamp, lighted Death's cold brand,  
To waft Leander's naked limbs to land)  
There dwelled a Maid, as noble, and as rich,  
As fair as Hero, but more chaste by much:  
For, her steel breast still blunted all the Darts  
Of Paphos Archer, and eschewed his Arts.   

One day, this Damsel through a Forest thick  
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)  
Upon a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top  
(Where, one (almost) would fear to clamber up)  
Two tender Aeglets in a nest espies,  
Which against the Sun s●te trying of their eyes;  
Whose callow backs and bodies round about  
With soft short quills began to bristle out;  
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape  
For wont fees out of their Parent's rape.  
Of these two Fowls the fairest up she takes  
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes  
Down from the Rock, and shivering yet for fear  
Trips home as fast as her light feet can bear:  
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,  
And having stolen (at last) some Lamb away;  
Flies with down-hanging head, and leereth back  
Whether the Mas●y do pursue his tract.   

In time, this Eagle was so thoroughly manned,  
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand  
At the first call't would come; and faun upon-her,  
And bill and bow, in sign of love and honour:  
On th' other side, the Maiden makes as much  
Of her dear Bird; stroking with gentletouch  
Her wings and train, and with a want on voice  
It want only doth cherish and rejoice:  
And (prety-fondling) she doth prise it higher  
Than her own beauties; which all else admire.   

But (as fell Fates mingle our single joys,  
With bitter gall of infinite annoys)  
An extreme Fever vexed the Virgin's bones  
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)  
Consumed her flesh, and wanly did displace  
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her lovely face.  
Then fared the Foul and Fairest both alike;  
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick:  
So that, to note their passions, one would gather  
That Lachesis spun both their lives together.  
But oft the Aeagle, striving with her Fit,  
Would fly abroad to seek some dainty bit,  
For her dear Mistress▪ and with nimble wing,  
Some Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;  
Paying with food, the food received so oft,  
From those fair, Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,  
During her nonage, yer she durst essay  
To cleave the sky, and for herself to prey.  
The Fever now with spiteful fits had spent  
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,  
And Life resigned to cruel Death her Right;  
Who three days after doth the Eagle cite.   

The fearful Hare durst now frequent the Down;  
And round about the Walls of Hero's Town,  
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,  
Dread-less of th' Eagle that so well they knew:  
For she (alas) lies on her Lady's bed,  
Still-sadly mourning; though alive, yet dead:  
For, O! how should she live, sith Fatal knife  
Hath cut the thread of her lives dearest life?   

O'er the dear Corpse sometimes her wings she hovers,  
Sometimes the dead breast with her breast she covers,  
Sometimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,  
Sometimes she kisses the cold lips and face;  
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,  
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.   

Thrice had bright Phoebus' daily Chariot run  
Past the proud Pillars of Aicmaenas son,  
Since the fair Virgin past the fatal Ferry  
Where (last) Mortals leave their burdens weary;  
And yet this doleful Bird, drowned in her tears,  
All comfortless, Rest and Repast forbears:  
So much (alas!) she seemeth to contend,  
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.   

But lastly, finding all these means too-weak,  
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;  
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,  
Unnaturally her proper breast she gauged,  
And tears her bowels, storming bitterly  
That all these deaths could yet not make her die.  
But, lo the while, about the lightsome door  
Of th' hapless house, a mournful troop, that bore  
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,  
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their breasts;  
Who, taking up the sacred Load (at last)  
Whose happy soul already Heaven embra'çt;  
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatal Pile  
With solemn pace: The silly Bird, the while,  
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails,  
Honouring with convoy, two sad Funerals.  
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame  
Embraçed the Body of her tender Dame,  
But suddenly, distilling all with blood,  
Down soused the Eagle on the blazing wood:  
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand  
A hundred times to beat her from her stand;  
For, to the midst still of the Pyle she plies;  
And, singing sweet her Lady's Obsequies,  
There burns herself: and blendeth happily  
Her bones with hers she loved so tenderly.   

O happy Payr! upon your sable tomb,  
May Mel and Manna ever showering come;  
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Hearse,  
And evermore live you within my Verse.   

So Morn and Evening the Fift! Day conclude,  
And God perceived that All his Works were good.    

THE sixth DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  

THE ARGUMENT.  
Inviting all, which through this world, aspire  
Unto the next, God's glorious Works t'admire;  
Here, on the Stage, our noble Poet brings  
Beasts of the Earth, cattle, and Creeping things:  
Their hurt and help to us: The strange events  
Between Androdus, and the Forest Prince.  
The little-World (Commander of the greater)  
Why form last: his admirable Feature:  
His heaven-born Soul; her wondrous operation:  
His dearest Rib. All Creatures generation.   

YOu Pilgrims, which (through this world's City) wend  
Toward th' happy City, where withouten end 
An exhortationto all which through the Pilgrimage of this life, tend toward the everlasting City, to consider well the excellent works of God, here represented by our Poet.   
True joys abound; to anchor in the Port  
Where Deaths pale horrors never do resort:  
If you would see the fair Amphitheatres,  
Th' Arks, Arsenals, Towers, Temples, and Theatres,  
Colossuses, Cirques, piles, Ports, and Palaces  
Proudly dispersed in your Passages;  
Come, come with me: For, there's not any part  
In this great Frame, where shineth any Art,  
But I will show't you. Are you weary since?  
What! tired so soon? Why, will you not (my friends)  
Having already ventured forth so far  
On Neptnn's back (through Winds and Waters war)  
row yet a stroke, the Harbour to recover,  
Whose shores already my glad eyes discover?   

Almighty Father, guide their Guide along, 
Invocation.   
And pour upon my faint unfluent tongue  
The sweetest honey of th' Hyantian Fount,  
Which freshly purleth from the Muses Mount.  
With the sweet charm of my Victorious Verse,  
Tame furious Lions, Bears, and Tigers fierce;  
Make all the wild Beasts, laying fury by,  
To come with Homage to my Harmony.   

OF ALL THE Beasts which thou This-Day didst build, 
The Elephant.   
To haunt the Hills, the Forest, and the Field,  
I see (as viceroy of their brutish Band)  
The Elephant, the Vanguard doth command:  
Worthy that Office; whether we regard  
His Towered back, where many soldiers ward;  
Or else his Prudence, whearwithall he seems  
T'obscure the wits of humankind sometimes:  
As studious Scholar, heeself-rumineth  
His lessons given, his King he honoureth,  
Adores the Moon: moved with strange desire,  
He feels the sweet flames of th' Idalian fire,  
And (pierçtwith glance of a kinde-cruell eye)  
For human beauty, seems to sigh and die.  
Yea (if the Grecians do not miss-recite) 
His combat with the Rhinocerot.   
With's crooked trumpet he doth sometimes write.  
But, his huge strength, nor subtle wit, can not  
Defend him from the sly Rhinocerot:  
Who never, with blind fury led, doth venture  
Upon his Foe, but (yet the Lists he enter)  
Against a Rock he whetteth round about  
The dangerous pike upon his armed snout:  
Then buckling close, doth not (at random) hack  
On the hard Cuirass on his Enemies back;  
But under's belly (cunning) finds a skin,  
Where (and but there) his sharpened blade will in.   

The scaly Dragon, being else too low  
For th' Elephant, up a thick Tree doth go;  
So, closely ambushed almost every Day,  
To watch the Carry-Castle, in his way:  
Who, once approaching, strait his stand he leaves,  
And round about him he so closely cleaves  
With's writhing body; that his Enemy 
His combat with the Dragon.   
(His stinging knots unable to untie)  
Hastes to some Tree, or to some Rock, whearon  
To rush and rub-off his detested zone,  
The fell embraces of whose dismal clasp  
Have almost brought him to his latest gasp.  
Then, suddenly, the Dragon slips his hold  
From th' Elephant, and sliding down, doth fold  
About his forelegs, fettered in such order, 
The true Image of Civil war.   
That stocked there, he now can stir no further:  
While th' Elephant (but to no purpose) strives  
With's winding Trunk t'undo his wounding gyves,  
His furious foe thrusts, in his nose, his nose;  
Then head and all; and thearwithall doth close  
His breathing passage: but, his victory  
He joys not long; for his huge Enemy,  
Falling down dead, doth with his weighty Fall  
Crush him to death, that caused his death, withal:  
Like factious Frenchmen, whose fell hands pursue 
Simile.   
In their own breasts their furious blades t'embrew,  
While pitty-les, hurried with blinded zeal,  
In her own blood they bathe their commonweal;  
When as at Dreux, St. Denis, and Mountcounter,  
Their parricidial bloody swords encounter;  
Making their Country (as a Tragik Tomb)  
T'interr th' Earth's terror in her hapless womb.  
Or, like our own (late) YORK and LANCASTER, 
Simile.   
Ambitious broachers of that Uiper-War,  
Which did the womb of their own Dam devour,  
And spoiled the freshest of fair ENGLAND'S Flower;  
When (WHITE and RED) ROSE against ROSE, they stood,  
Brother'gainst Brother, to the knees in blood:  
While WAKE-FIELD, BARNET and St. ALBON'S streets  
Were drunk with dear blood of PLANTAGENETS:  
Where, either Conquered, and yet neither Won;  
Sith, by them both, was but their Own undone.   

Near th' Elephant, comes th' horned 
* Alias Gyraffa 

alias Anabula:  
an Indian Sheep  
or a wild Sheep.  
The Hirable.  
Camel.  
Bull.  
Ass.  
Horse.    Hirable,  
Stream-troubling Camel, and strong-necked Bull,  
The lazy-pased (yet laborious) Ass,  
The quick, proud Courser, which the rest doth pass  
For apt address; Mars and his Master loving,  
After his hand with ready lightness moving:  
This, out of hand, will self advance, and bound,  
Corvet, pace, manage, turn, and troth the Round:  
That, follows lose behind the Groom that keeps-him;  
This, kneeleth down the while-his Master leaps-him:  
This, runs on Corn-Ears and ne'er bends their quills;  
That, on the Water, and ne'er wets his heels.   

In a fresh troop, the fearful Hare I note, 


The Hare.  
The Cony.  
Goat.  
Sheep.  
Swine.  
Dear.     
Th' oblivious Coney, and the brouzing Goat,  
The slothful Swine, the golden-fleeced Sheep,  
The lightfoot Hart, which every year doth weep  
(As a sad Recluse) for his branched head,  
That in the Springtime he before hath shed.  
O! what a sport, to see a Herd of them  
Take soil in Summer in some spacious stream!  
One swims before, another on his chine,  
Nigh half-upright, doth with his breast incline;  
On that, another; and so all do ride  
Each after other: and still, when their guide  
Grows to be weary, and can lead no more,  
He that was hindmost comes and swims before:  
Like as in Cities, still one Magistrate  
Bears not the Burden of the common State;  
But having past his Year, he doth discharge  
On others shoulders his sweet-bitter Charge.   

But, of all Beasts, none steadeth man so much  
As doth the Dog; his diligence is such:  
A faithful Guard, a watchful Sentinel,  
A painful Purvayor, that with perfect smell  
Provides great Princes many a dainty mess,  
A friend till death, a helper in distress,  
Dread of the Wolf, Fear of the fearful Thief,  
Fierce Combatant, and of all Hunter's chief.   

There skips the Squirrel, seeming Weather-wise, 
Squirrel.   
Without beholding of heavens twinkling eyes:  
For, knowing well which way the wind will change,  
He shifts the portal of his little Grange.  
there's th' wanton Weasel, and the wily Fox, 
Weasel. Fox. Monkey. Civit Cat.   
The witty Monkey, that man's action mocks:  
The sweat-sweet Civet, dearly fetched from far  
For Courtiers nice, past Indian Tarnassar.  
There, the wise Beaver, who, pursued by foes, 
Beaver, or Bezoar.   
Tears-off his coddlings and among them throws;  
Knowing that Hunters on the Pontik Heath  
Do more desire that ransom, than his death.  
There, the rough Hedgehog; who, to shun his thrall, 
Hedgehog.   
Shrinks up himself as round as any Ball;  
And fastening his slow feet under his chin,  
On's thistly bristles rowles him quickly in.  
But th' Ey of Heaven beholdeth nought more strange  
Than the Chameleon, who with various change 
Chameleon.   
Receives the colour that each object gives,  
And (food-les else) of th' Air alonely lives.   

My blood congeals, my sudden swelling breast  
Can hardly breath, with i'll cold cakes oppressed;  
My hair doth stare, my bones for fear do quake,  
My colour changes, my sad heart doth shake:  
And, round about, Death's Image (ghastly-grim)  
Before mine eyes all-ready seems to swim.  
O! who is he that would not be astounded,  
To be (as I am) here environed round  
With cruelest Creatures, which for Mastery, 
Creatures venomous, and offensive to man.   
Have vowed against us end-less Enmity?  
Phoebus would faint, Alcides' self would dread,  
Although the first dread Python conquered,  
And th' other vanquished th' Erymanthian Boar,  
The Némean Lion and a many more.  
What strength of arm, or Artful stratagem,  
From Nile's fell Rover could deliver them, 
The Crocodile.   
Who runs, and rows, warring by Land and Water  
Against Men and Fishes, subject to his slaughter?  
Or from the furious Dragon, which alone 
Dragon.   
Set on a Roman Army; whearupon  
Stout Regulus as many Engines spent,  
As to the ground would Carthage walls have rend?  
What shot-free corselet, or what counsel crafty,  
Against th' angry Aspic could assure them safety, 
Aspic.   
Who (faithful husband) over hill and Plain  
Pursues the man that his dear Pheer hath slain;  
Whom he can find amid the thickest throng,  
And in an instant venge him of his wrong?  
What shield of ajax could avoid their death  
By th' Basilisk, whose pestilential breath 
Basilisk.   
Doth pierce firm Marble, and whose baneful eye  
Wounds with a glance, so that the soundest die?   

Lord! if so be, thou for mankind didst rear 
Why God created such noisome and dangerous creatures: Sin the occasion of the hurt they can do us.   
This rich round Mansion (glorious every where)  
Alas! why didst thou on This Day create  
These harmful Beasts, which but exasperate  
Our thorny life? O! wert thou pleased to form  
Th' innammeled Scorpion, and the Uiper-worm,  
Th' horned Cerastes, th' Alexandrian Skink,  
Th' Adder, and Drynas' (full of odious stink)  
Th' Eft, Snake, and Dipsas (causing deadly Thirst):  
Why hast thou armed them with a rage so cursed?   

Pardon, good God, pardon me; it was our pride,  
Not thou, that troubled our first happy tide,  
And in the Childhood of the World, did bring  
Th' Amphisbena her double baneful sting.  
Before that Adam did revolt from Thee,  
And (curious) tasted of the sacred Tree,  
He lived King of Eden, and his brow  
Was never blanked with pallid fear, as now:  
The fiercest Beasts, would at his word, or beck,  
Bow to his yoke their self-obedient neck;  
As now the ready Horse is at command 
Simile.   
To the good Rider's spur, or word, or wand;  
And doth not wildly his own will perform,  
But his that rules him with a steady arm.  
Yea, as forgetful of so foul offence, 
God hath given v● wisdom to avoid and vanquish them.   
Thou left'st him (yet) sufficient wisdom, whence  
He might subdue, and to his service stoop  
The stubbornest heads of all the savage troop.   

Of all the Creatures through the Welkin gliding,  
Walking on Earth, or in the Waters sliding,  
The hast armed some with Poison, some with Paws,  
Some with sharp Antlers, some with griping Claws,  
Some with keen Tusks, some with crooked Beaks,  
Some with thick Cuirets, some with skaly necks;  
But mad'st Man naked, and for Weapons fit  
Thou gav'st him nothing but a pregnant Wit;  
Which rusts and dulls, except it subject find  
Worthy it's worth, whereon itself to grind;  
And (as it were) with envious armies great,  
Be round about besieged and beset.  
For, what boot Milo's brawny shoulders broad,  
And sinnewie arms, if but a common load  
He always bear? what Bays, or Olive boughs,  
Parsley, or Pine, shall crown his warlike brows,  
Except some other Milo, entering Lists,  
Courageously his boasted strength resists?  
" In deepest perils shineth Wisdoms prime:  
" Through thousand deaths true Valour seeks to climb;  
" Well knowing, Conquest yields but little Honour,  
" If bloody Danger do not wait upon her.   

O gracious Father! th' hast not only lent 
God hath set them at enmity among themselves.   
Prudence to Man the Perils to prevent,  
Wherewith these foes threaten his feeble life;  
But (for his sake) hast set at mutual strife  
Serpents with Serpents, and hast raised them foes  
Which, vnprovoked, felly them oppose. 
The Viper and Scorpion with their young.   
Thou makest th' ingrateful Viper (at his birth)  
His dying Mother's belly to gnaw forth:  
Thou makest the Scorpion (greedy after food)  
Unnaturally devour his proper brood;  
Whereof, one scaping from the Parent's hunger,  
With's death doth vengeance on his brethren's wronger:  
Thou makest the Weasel, by a secret might, 
The Weasel against the Basilisk.   
Murder the Serpent with the murdering sight;  
Who so surprised, striving in wrathful manner,  
Dying himself, kills with his baen his Baener.   

Thou makest th' Ichneumon (whom the Memphs adore) 
The Ichneumon against the Aspic.   
To rid of Poisons Nile's manured shore;  
Although (indeed) he doth not conquer them  
So much by strength as subtle stratagem.  
As he that (urged with deep indignity)  
By a proud Challenge doth his foe defy;  
Premeditates his posture and his play,  
And arms himself so complete every way  
(With wary hand guided with watchful eye,  
And ready foot to traverse skilfully)  
That the Defendant, in the heat of fight,  
Finds no part open for his blade to light:  
So Pharaohs Rat yer he begin the fray  
Against the blind Aspic, with a cleaving Clay  
Upon his coat he wraps an Earthen Cake,  
Which afterward the Sun's hot beams do bake:  
Armed with this Plaster, th' Aspic he approacheth,  
And in his throat, his crooked tooth he broacheth,  
Whileth ' other bootless strives to pierce and prick  
Through the hard temper of his armour thick:  
Yet, knowing himself too-weak (for all his wile)  
Alone to match the skaly Crocodile;  
He, with the Wren, his Ruin doth conspire.  
The Wren, who seeing (priest with sleeps desire) 
The Ichneumon and the Wren against the Crocodile.   
Nile's poysony Pirate press the slimy shore,  
Suddenly comes, and hopping him before,  
Into his mouth he skips, his teeth he pickles  
Cleanseth his palate, and his throat so tickles,  
That charmed with pleasure, the dull Serpent gapes  
Wider and wider with his ugly chaps:  
Then, like a shaft, th' Ichneumon instantly  
Into the Tyrant's greedy gorge doth sly,  
And feeds upon that Glutton, for whose Riot  
All Nile's fat Margins could scarce furnish diet.   

Nay more (good Lorst) th' hast taught Mankind a Reason 
God hath taught us to make great use of them.   
To draw Life out of Death, and Health from Poison:  
So that in equal Balance balancing  
The Good and Evil which these Creatures bring  
Unto Man's life, we shall perceive, the first  
By many grains to over-waigh the worst.   

From Serpents 'scaped, yet am I scarce in safety: 
Fierce and untameable beasts.   
Alas! I see a Legion fierce and lofty  
Of savages, whose fleet and furious pace,  
Whose horrid roaring, and whose hideous face  
Make my sense sense-less, and my speech restrain,  
And cast me in my former fears again.  
Already howls the waste-Fold Wolf, the Boar 
The Wolf. Boar. Bear. Ounce. Tiger. Leopard. Unicorn. Hyaena. Mantichora, a kind of Hyaenae. Cephus, a kind of Ape or Monkey Chiurcae.   
Whetts foamy Fangs, the hungry Bear doth roar,  
The Cat-façed Ounce, that doth me much dismay,  
With grumbling horror threatens my decay;  
The lightfoot Tiger, spotted Leopard,  
Foaming with fury do besiege me hard;  
Then th' Unicorn, th' Hyëna tearing-tombs  
Swift Mantichor ', and Nubian Cephus comes:  
Of which last three, each hath (as here they stand)  
Man's voice, Man's visage, and Mans' foot and hand.  
I fear the Beast, bred in the bloody Coast  
Of Cannibals, which thousand times (almost)  
Re-whelps her whelps, and in her tender womb,  
She doth as oft her living brood re-tomb.   

But, O! what Monster's this that bids me battle,  
On whose rough back an Host of Pikes doth rattle: 
The Porcupine.   
Who string-less shoots so many arrows out,  
Whose thorny sides are hedged round about  
With stiff steel-pointed quills, and all his parts  
Bristled with bodkins, armed with Auls and Darts,  
Which ay fierce darting, seem still fresh to spring,  
And to his aid still new supplies to bring?  
O fortunate Shaft-never-wanting Boweman!  
Who, as thou fliest canst hit thy following foeman,  
And never missest (or but very narrow)  
Th' intended mark of thyselfs' kindred Arrow:  
Who, still self-furnisht needest borrow never  
Diana's shafts, nor yet Apollo's quiver,  
Nor bowe-strings fetch from Carian Aleband,  
Brazell from Perù, but hast all at hand  
Of thine own growth; for in thy Hide do grow  
Thy String, thy Shafts, thy Quiver and thy Bow.   

But (Courage now.) heers comes the valiant Beast, 
The Lion King of Beasts.   
The noble Lion, King of all the rest;  
Who bravely-minded, is as mild to those  
That yield to him, as fierce unto his foes:  
To humble suitors, neither stern nor stateful,  
To benefactors never found ingrateful. 
A memorable History of a Lion acknowledging the kindness he had received of Androdus a Roman Salve.    

I call to record that same Roman Thrall,  
Who (to escape from his mechanical  
And cruel Master, that (for lucre) vs'd-him  
Not as a Man, but, as a Beast, abus'd-him)  
Fled through the desert, and with travailed tired,  
At length into a mossy cave retired:  
But there, no sooner 'gan the drowsy wretch  
On the soft grass his weary limbs to stretch,  
But coming swift into the cave he seethe  
A ramping Lion gnashing of his teeth.   

A thief, to shameful execution sent  
By justice, for his faults just punishment,  
Feeling his ey'sclout, and his elbows cord,  
Waiting for nothing but the fatal Sword;  
Dies ye● his death, he looks so certainly  
Without delay in that dread place to Die:  
Even so the Slave, seeing no means to shun  
(By flight or fight) his feared destruction  
(Having no way to fly, nor arms to fight,  
But sighs and tears, prayers, and woeful plight)  
Embraceth Death; abiding, for a stown,  
Pale, cold, and senseless, in a deadly swoon.  
At last, again his courage 'gan to gather,  
When he perceived no rage (but pity rather)  
In his new Host, who with mild looks and meek  
Seemed (as it were) secure of him to seek,  
Showing him oft one of his paws, wherein  
A festering thorn for a long time had been:  
Then (though still fearful) did the Slave draw nigher,  
And from his foot he lightly snatched the Briar,  
And wring gently with his hand the wound,  
Made th' hot imposthume run upon the ground.   

Thenceforth the Lion seeks for Booties best  
Through Hill and Dale, to cheer his new-com Guest,  
His new Physician; who, for all his cost,  
Soon leaves his Lodging, and his dreadful Host;  
And once more wanders through the wilderness,  
Whether his froward Fortune would address,  
Until (re-taen) his fell Lord brought him home,  
For Spectacle unto Imperial Rome,  
To be (according to their barbarous Laws)  
Bloodily torn with greedy Lion's paws.  
Fell Cannibal▪ Flint-hearted Polyphem▪  
If thou wouldst needs exactly torture him  
(Inhuman Monster, hateful Lestrigon)  
Why from thine own hand hast thou let him gone,  
To Bears and Lions to be given for prey,  
Thyself more fell a thousand-fold, than they?  
African Panthers, Hyrcan Tigers fierce,  
Cleonian Lions and Panonian Bears,  
Be not so cruel, as who violates  
Sacred Humanity, and cruciates  
His loy all subjects; making his recreations  
Of Massacres, Combats, and sharp Taxations.   

'bove all the Beasts that filled the Martian Field  
With blood and slaughter, one was most beheld;  
One valiant Lion, whose victorious fights  
Had conquered hundreds of those guilty wights,  
Whose feeble skirmish had but striv'n in vain  
To scape by combat their deserved pain.  
That very Beast, with faint and fearful feet  
This Runagate (at last) is forçed to meet;  
And being entered in the bloody List,  
The Lion roused, and ruffles-up his Crest,  
Shortens his body, sharpens his grim eye,  
And (staring wide) he roareth hideously:  
Then often swingeing with his sinnewy train,  
Sometimes his sides, sometimes the dusty Plain,  
Hewhets his rage, and strongly rampeth on  
Against his foe; who, nigh already gone  
To drink of Lethè, lifteth to the Pole  
Religious vows, not for his life, but soul;   

After the Beast had marched some twenty pace,  
He sudden stops; and, viewing well the face  
Of his pale foe, remembered (rapt with joy)  
That this was he that eased his annoy:  
Wherefore, converting from his hateful wildness,  
From pride to pity, and from rage to mildness,  
On his bleak face he both his eyes doth fix,  
Fawning for homage, his lean hands he licks.  
The Slave, thus knowing, and thus being known,  
Lifts to the heavens his front now hoary grown,  
And (now no more fearing his tearing paws)  
He strokes the Lion, and his poule he claws,  
And learns by proof, that a good turn at need,  
At first or last shall be assured of meed.   

there's under Sun (as Delphos God did show)  
No better Knowledge, than ourself to know: 
Noscete ipsum.   
There is no Theme more plentiful to scene,  
Then is the glorious goodly Frame of MAN: 
The second part of this sixth book: Wherein is discoursed at large of the creation of Man;   
For in Man's self is Fire, air, Earth, and Sea;  
Man's (in a word) the World's Epitomés  
Or little Map: which here my Muse doth try  
By the grand Pattern to exemplify.   

A wit●y Mason, doth not (with rare Art) 
And of the wonders of God's wisdom, appearing both in his body and Soul.   
Into a Palace, Paros Rocks convert,  
Seel it with gold, and to the Firmament  
Raise the proud Turrets of his Battlement,  
And (to be brief) in every part of it,  
Beauty to use, use unto beauty fit,  
To th' end the Skrich-Owl, and the Night-Rav'n should  
In those fair walls their habitations hold:  
But rather, for some wise and wealthy Prince  
Able to judge of his arts excellence:  
Even so, the Lord built not this All-Theater,  
For the rude guests of Air, and Woods and Water; 
The world made for man..   
But, all for Him, who (whether he survey  
The vast salt kingdoms, or th' Earth's fruitful clay,  
Or cast his eyes up to those twinkling Eyes  
That with disordered order gild the Skies)  
Can everywhere admire with due respect  
Th' admired Art of such an Architect.   

Now of all Creatures which his Word did make, 
Man was created last, & why.   
MAN was the last that living breath did take:  
Not that he was the least; or that God durst  
Not undertake so noble a Work at first:  
Rather, because he should have made in vain  
So great a Prince, without on whom to Reign.  
A wise man never brings his bidden guest 
Fit comparison.   
Into his Parlour, till his Room be dressed,  
Garnished with Lights, and Tables neatly spread  
Be with full dishes well-nigh furnished:  
So our great God, who (bounteous) ever keeps  
Here open Court, and th' ever-bound-les Deeps  
Of sweetest Nectar on us still distils  
By twenty-times ten thousand sundry quills,  
Would not our Grandsire to his Board invite,  
Yer he with Arras his fair house had dight,  
And, under starry State-Cloaths, plaçed his plates  
Filled with a thousand sugared delicates.   

All th' admirable Creatures made before,  
Which Heaven and Earth, and Ocean do adorn, 
All other creatures nothing in respect of Man made to the Image of God, with (as it were) great preparation, not all at once, but by interims first his Body, and then his reasonable Soul.   
Are but Essays, compared in every part,  
To this divinest Masterpiece of Art.  
Therefore the supreme peerless Architect,  
When (of mere nothing) he did first erect  
Heaven, Earth and air, and Seas; at once his thought,  
His word, and deed all in an instant wrought:  
But, when he would his own selves Type create,  
Th' honour of Nature, th' Earth's sole Potentate;  
As if he would a Council hold he citeth  
His sacred Power, his Prudence he inviteth,  
Summons his Love, his justice he adiourns,  
Calleth his Goodness, and his Grace returns,  
To (as it were) consult about the birth  
And building of a second God, of Earth;  
And each (apart) with liberal hand to bring  
Some excellence unto so rare a thing.  
Or rather, he consults with's only Son  
(His own true Portrait) what proportion, 
Gen. 1, 16   
What gifts, what grace, what soul he should bestow  
Upon his Viceroy of this Realm below.  
When th' other things God fashioned in their kind,  
The Sea t'abound in Fishes he assigned,  
The Earth in Flocks: but, having Man in hand,  
His very self he seemed to command.  
He both atonce both life and body lent  
To other things; but, when in Man he meant  
In mortal limbs immortal life to place,  
He seemed to pause, as in a weighty case:  
And so at sundry moments finished  
The Soul and Body of Earth's glorious Head.   

Admired Artist, Architect divine, 
Innocation.   
Perfect and peerless in all Works of thine,  
So my rude hand on this rough Table guide  
To paint the Prince of all thy Works beside,  
That grave Spectators, in his face may spy  
Apparent marks of thy Divinity.   

Almighty Father, as of watery matter  
It pleased thee make the people of the Water: 
Man's body created of the dust of the Earth.   
So, of an earthly substance mad'st thou all  
The slimy Burghers of this Earthly Ball;  
To th' end each Creaturemight (by consequent)  
Part-sympathize with his own Element.  
Therefore, to form thine Earthly Emperor,  
Thou tookest Earth, and by thy sacred power  
So tempered'st it, that of the very same  
Dead shapeless lump didst Adam's body frame:  
Yet, not his face down to the Earth-ward bending  
(Like Beasts that but regard their belly, ending  
For ever all) but toward th' azure Skies  
Bright golden Lamps lifting his lovely Eyes;  
That through their nerves, his better part might look  
Still to that Place from whence her birth she took.   

Also thou plantedst th' Intellectual Power  
In th' highest stage of all this stately Bower, 
His head the seat of understanding.   
That thence it might (as from a Citadel)  
Command the members that too-oft rebel  
Against his Rule: and that our Reason, there  
Keeping continual Garrison (as it were)  
Might Avarice, Envy, and Pride subdue,  
Lust, Gluttony, Wrath, Sloth, and all their Crew  
Of factious Commons, that still strive to gain  
The golden Sceptre from their Sovereign.   

Th' Eyes (body's guides) are set for Sentinel 
The Eyes full of infinite admiration.   
In noblest place of all this Citadel,  
To spy far-off, that no misshap befall  
At unawares the sacred Animal.  
In forming these thy hand (so famous held)  
Seemed almost to have itself excelled,  
Them not transpearcing, lest our eyes should be  
As theirs, that Heaven through hollow Canes do see,  
Yet see small circuit of the welkin bright,  
The Canes strict compass doth so clasp their Sight:  
And lest so many open holes disgrace  
The goodly form of th' Earthly Monarch's face.   

These lovely Lamps, whose sweet sparks lively turning,  
With sudden glance set coldest hearts aburning,  
These windows of the Soul, these starry Twins,  
These Cupids quivers have so tender skins  
Through which (as through a pair of shining glasses)  
Their radiant point of piercing splendour passes,  
That they would soon be quenched and put-out,  
But that the Lord hath Bulwarkt them about;  
By seating so their wondrous Orb, betwixt  
The front, the Nose, and the vermilion Cheeks:  
As in two Valleys pleasantly enclosed  
With pretty Mountains orderly disposed. 
The Brows and Eye lids.   
And as a Penthouse doth preserve a Wall  
From Rain and Hail, and other Storms that fall:  
The twinkling Lids with their quick-trembling hairs  
Defend the Eyes from thousand dangerous fears.   

Who fain would see, how much a human face  
A comely Nose doth beautify and grace;  
Behold Zopyrus, who cut-off his Nose  
For's Princes sake, to circumvent his foes. 
The Nose.   
The Nose, no less for use then beauty makes:  
For, as a Conduit, it both gives and takes  
Our living breath: it's as a Pipe putup,  
Whereby the moist Brain's spongy boan doth sup  
Sweetsmelling fumes: it serveth as a gutter  
To void the Excrements of grossest matter;  
As by the Scull-seams, and the Pory Skin  
Evaporate those that are light and thin:  
As through black attorneys flies the bitter smoke,  
Which but so vented would the Household choke.   

And, sith that Time doth with his secret file 
The Mouth.   
Fret and diminish each thing every-while;  
And whatsoever here gins and ends,  
Wears every hour and its self-substance spends;  
Th' Almighty made the Mouth, to recompense  
The Stomaches pension, and the Time's expense  
(Even as the green Trees, by their roots resume  
Sap for the sap, that hourly they consume)  
And plaçed it so, that always by the way,  
By sent of meats the Nose might take Essay,  
The watchful Ey might true distinction make  
'Twixt Herbs and Weeds, betwixt an Eel and Snake;  
And then th' impartial Tongue might (at the last) 
The Tongue.   
Censure their goodness by their savoury taste.   

Two equal ranks of Orient Pearls empale 
The Teeth.   
The open Throat: which (Queen-like) grinding small  
Th' imperfect food, soon to the Stomach sendit  
(Our Maister-Cook) whose due concoctions mendit.  
But least the Teeth, naked and bare to Light,  
Should in the Face present a ghastly sight;  
With wondrous Art, over that Mill do meet  
Two moving Leaves of Coral soft and sweet. 
The Lips.    

O mouth! by thee, our savage Elders, yerst  
Through wails Woods, and hollow Rocks dispersed,  
With Acorns fed, with Fells of Feathers clad▪  
(When neither Traffik, Love, nor Law they had) 
Of the excellent use and end of speech.   
Themselves uniting, built them Towns, and bend  
Their willing necks to civil Government.  
O mouth! by thee, the rudest wits have learned  
The Noble Arts, which but the wise discerned.  
By thee, we kindle in the coldest spirits  
Heroïk flames affecting glorious merits.  
By thee, we wipe the tears of woeful Eyes,  
By thee, we stop the stubborn mutinies  
Of our rebellious Flesh, whose rest-less Treason  
Strives to dis-throne and to dis-sceptre Reason.  
By thee, our Souls with Heaven have conversation.  
By thee, we calm th' Almighty's indignation,  
When faithful signs from oursoules' centre fly  
About the bright Throne of his Majesty.  
By thee, we warble to the King of Kings;  
Our Tongu's the Bow, our Teeth the trembling strings,  
Our hollow Nostrils (with their double vent)  
The hollow belly of the Instrument;  
Our soul's the sweet Musician, that plays  
So divine lessons, and so Heavenly lays,  
As, in deep passion of pure burning zeal,  
Ioues forked Lightnings from his fingers steal.   

But O! what member hath more marvails in't, 
The Ears,   
Then th' Ears round-winding double labyrinth:  
The body's scouts, of sounds the Censurers,  
Doors of the Soul, and faithful Messengers  
Of divine treasures, when our gracious Lord  
Sends us th' Embassage of his sacred Word?  
And, sith all Sound seems always to aseend,  
God placed the Ears (where they might best attend)  
As in two Turrets, on the buildings top,  
Snailing their hollow entries so a-sloap,  
That, while the voice about those windings wanders,  
The sound might lengthen in those bowed Meanders;  
As, from a Trumpet, wind hath longer life,  
Or, from a Sackbut, then from Flute or Fife: 
Sundry Similes expressing the reason of the round winding Mazes of the Ear●.   
Or as a noise extendeth far and wide  
In winding Vales, or by the crooked side  
Of crawling Rivers; or with broken trouble  
Between the teeth of hollow Rocks doth double)  
And that no sudden sound, with violence  
Piercing direct the Organs of this Sense,  
Should stun the Brain, but through these Mazie holes  
Convey the voice more softly to our Souls: 
Another comparison to that pur pose.   
As th'Ouse, that crooking in and out, doth run  
From Stony-Stratford towards Huntingdon,  
By Royal Amptill; rusheth not so swift,  
As our near Kennet, whose Trowt-famous Drift  
From Marleborow, by Hungerford doth hasten  
Through Newberry, and Prince-graçed Aldermarston,  
Her Silver Nymphs (almost) directly leading,  
To meet her Mistress (the great Thames) at Reading.   

But, will my hands, in handling th' human Stature, 
The hands.   
Forget the Hands, the handmaids unto Nature,  
Th' Almighty's Apes, the Instruments of Arts,  
The voluntary Champions of our hearts,  
Minds Ministers, the Clarks of quick conceits,  
And bodies victuallers, to provide it meats?   

Will you the Knees and Elbow's springs omit,  
Which serve th' whole Body by their motions fit? 
joints, The Knees and Arms.   
For as a Bow, according as the string,  
Is stiff or slack, the shafts doth farther fling;  
Our Nerves and Gristles diversly dispense,  
To th' human Frame, meet Motion, Might and Sense:  
Knitting the Bones, which be the Pillars strong, 
The Sinews, Gristles and Bones.   
The beams and Rafters, whose firm joints may long  
(Maugre Death's malice, till our Maker calls)  
Support the Fabrik of these Fleshly Walls? 
The Feet.   
Can you conceal the Feets rare-skilfull feature,  
The goodly Bases of this glorious Creature?   

But, is't not time now, in his Inner Parts,  
To seethe ' Almighties admirable Arts?  
First, with my lancet shall I make incision,  
To see the Cells of the twin Brains division:  
The Treasurer of Arts, the Source of Sense:  
The Seat of Reason; and the Fountain, whence  
Our sinews flow: whom Nature's providence  
Armed with a helm, whose double linings fence  
The brains cold moisture from its bony Armour,  
Whose hardness else might hap to bruise or harm-her:  
A Registre, where (with a secret touch)  
The studious daily some rare Knowledge couch?  
O, how shall I on learned Leaf forth-set  
That curious Maze, that admirable Net,  
Through whose fine folds the spirit doth rise and fall,  
Making its powers, of Vital, Animal:  
Even as the Blood, and Spirits, wandering  
Through the preparing vessels crooked Ring,  
Are in their winding course concoct and wrought,  
And by degrees to fruitful Seed are brought.   

Shall I the Hearts unequal sides explain, 
Of the Heart.   
Which equal poiz doth equally sustain?  
Whereof, th' one's filled with blood, in th' other bides  
The vital Spirit which through the body slides:  
Whose restless panting, by the constant Pulse,  
Doth witness health; or if that take repulse,  
And shift the dance and wont pace it went,  
It shows that Nature's wronged by Accident,   

Or, shall I cleave the Lungs, whose motions light 
Of the Lungs.   
Our inward heat do temper day and night:  
Like summer gales waving, with gentle puffs,  
The smiling Meadows green and gaudy tuffs:  
Light, spongy Fans, that ever take and give  
Th' etherial Air, whereby we breath and live:  
Bellows, whose blast (breathing by certain pauses)  
A pleasant sound through our speech-Organs causes?   

Or, shall I rip the Stomaches hollowness, 
Of the Stomach.   
That ready Cook concocting every Mess,  
Which in short time it cunningly converts  
Into pure Liquor fit to feed the parts;  
And then the same doth faithfully deliver 
Of the Liver.   
Into the Port-vain passing to the Liver,  
Who turns it soon to Blood; and thence again  
Through branching pipes of the great Hollow vain,  
Through all the members doth it duly scatter:  
Much like a fountain, whose divided Water  
Itself dispersing into hundred Brooks, 
An apt Similitude.   
Baths some fair Garden with her winding Crooks.  
For, as these Brooks, thus branching round about,  
Make here the Pink, there th' Aconite to sprout,  
Here the sweet Plum-tree, the sharp Mulberry there,  
Here the low Vine, and there the lofty Pear,  
Heer the hard Almond, there the tender Fig,  
Here bitter Wormwood, there sweetsmelling Spike:  
Even so the Blood (bred of good nourishment) 
Of the Blood & Nourishment.   
By divers Pipes to all the body sent,  
Turns here to Bones, there changes into Nerves,  
Here is made Marrow, there for Muscles serves,  
Here Skin becomes, there crooking Veins, there Flesh,  
To make our Limbs more forceful and more fresh.  
But, now me list no nearer view to take  
Of th' Inward Parts, which God did secret make,  
Nor pull in pieces all the Human Frame:  
That work were fit for those men of Fame,  
Those skilful sons of Aesculapius:  
Hypocrates; or deep Herophilus:  
Or th' eloquent and artificial Writ  
Of Galen, that renowned Pergamite.  
IT sufficeth me, in some sort, to express  
By this Essay the sacred mightiness,  
Not of japetus wittie-fained Son,  
But of the true Prometheus, that begun 
Of the Creation of the Soul.   
And finished (with inimitable Art)  
The famous Image, I have sung in part.   

Now, this most peerless learned Imager,  
Life to his lovely Picture to confer,  
Did not extact out of the Elements  
A certain secret Chymik Quint-essence:  
But, breathing, sent as from the lively Spring▪  
Of his Divinenss some small Riverling,  
Itself dispersing into every pipe  
Of the frail Engine of this earthen Type.  
Not, that his own Selfs-Essence blest he broke, 
Of her Essence and substance.   
Or did his Triple-Unitie partake  
Unto his Work; but, without Selfs-expence  
Inspired it richly with rare excellence:  
And by his power so spread his Rays thereon,  
That even as yet appers a portion  
Of that pure lustre of Celestial Light  
Whearwith at first it was adorned and dight.   

This Adam's spirit did from that spirit derive  
Which made the World: yet did not thence deprive 
Whence it is proceeded.   
Of God's self-substance any part at all;  
As in the Course of Nature doth befall,  
That from the Essence of an Earthly Father, 
divers Similes.   
An Earthly Son essential parts doth gather:  
Or as in Springtime from one sappy twig  
There sprouts another consubstantial sprig.  
In brief, it's but a breath: now, though the breath  
Out of our stomachs concave issueth;  
Yet, of our substance it transporteth nought:  
Only it seemeth to be simply fraught  
And to retain the purer qualities  
Of th' inward place whence it derived is.  
Inspired by that Breath, this Breath desire  
I to describe. Whoso doth not admire  
His spirit, is sprightless; and his sense is past, 
Of the excellence of Man's soul.   
Who hath no sense of that admired Blast.   

Yet wots I well, that as the Ey perceives  
All but itself, even so our Soul conceives  
All save her own selves Essence; but, the end  
Of her own greatness cannot comprehend.  
Yet as a sound Ay, void of vicious matter, 
How she may know herself.   
Sees (in a sort) itself, in Glass or Water:  
So, in her sacred Works (as in a Glass)  
Our Soul (almost) may see her glorious face.   

The boisterous Wind, that rends with roaring blasts 
Three fit comparisons to that purpose.   
The lofty Pines, and to the Welkin casts  
Millions of Mountains from the watery World,  
And proudest Turrets to the ground hath whurld:  
The pleasing fume that fragrant Roses yield,  
When wanton Zephyr, sighing on the field,  
Enammels all; and, to delight the Sky,  
The Earth puts-on her richest Lyvory:  
Th' accorded Discords, that are sweetly sent  
From th' ivory ribs of some rare Instrument,  
Cannot be seen: but he may well be said  
Of Flesh, and Ears, and Nose entirely void,  
Who doth not feel, nor hear, nor smell (the powers)  
The shock, sound, sent; of storms, of strings, of flowers. 
The Soul not only vital, but also divine and immortal.    

Although our soul's pure substance, to our sight  
Be not subjecteth: yet her motion light  
And rich discourse, sufficient proofs do give,  
We have more soul than to suffice to live;  
A Soul divine, pure, sacred, admirable,  
Immortal, end-less, simple, unpalpable.   

For, whether that the Soul (the Mint of Art) 
The Seat of the Soul.   
Be all in all, or all in every part:  
Whether the Brain or Heart do lodge the Soul,  
O Seneca, where, where couldst thou enroll  
Those many hundred words (in Prose or Verse)  
Which at first hearing thou couldst back rehearse? 
Notable examples of excellent Memories.   
Where could great Cyrus that great Table shut  
Wherein the Pictures and the names he put  
Of all the Soldiers, that by thousands wandered,  
After the fortunes of his famous Standard?  
In what deep vessel did th' Embassader  
Of Pyrrhus (whom the Delphian Oracler  
Deluded by his double-meaning Measures)  
Into what cisterns did he pour those Treasures  
Of learned store, which after (for his use)  
In time and place, he could so fit produce?  
The Memory, is th' Eyes true Register,  
The Peasant's Book, Times wealthy Treasurer,  
Keeping Records of Acts and accidents  
What sh' ever, subject unto human sense,  
Since first the Lord the World's foundations laid,  
Or Phoebus first his golden locks displayed,  
And his pale Sister from his beaming light  
Borrowed her splendour to adorn the Night.  
So that our Reason, searching curiously  
Through all the Rolls of a good Memory,  
And fastening closely with a Gordian knot  
To past events, what Present Times allot,  
foresees the Future, and becomes more sage,  
More happily to lead our later age.   

And, though our Soul live as imprisoned here,  
In our frail flesh, or buried (as it were) 
Of the quick swiftness, and sudden motion of the Soul: comprehending all things in Heaven and Earth.   
In a dark tomb; Yet at one flight she flies  
From Caipè t' Imaus, from the Earth to Skies;  
Much swifter than the Chariot of the Sun,  
Which in a Day about the World doth run.  
For, sometimes, leaving these base slimy heaps,  
With cheerful spring above the Clouds she leaps,  
Glides through the Air, and there she learns to know  
Th' Originals of Wind, and Hail, and Snow,  
Of Lightning, Thunder, Blazing-Starrs and storms,  
Of Rain and Ice, and strange Exhaled Forms.  
By th' Airs steep-stairs, she boldly climbs aloft  
To the World's Chambers; Heaven she visits oft,  
Stage after Stage: she marketh all the Spheres,  
And all th' harmonious, various course of theirs:  
With sure account, and certain Compasses,  
She counts their Stars, she meats their distances  
And differing paces; and, as if she found  
No Subject fair enough in all this Round,  
She Mounts above the World's extremest Wall,  
Farneze, far beyond all things corpóreall;  
Where she beholds her Maker, face to face,  
(His frowns of justice, and his smiles of Grace)  
The faithful zeal, the chaste and sober Port  
And sacred Pomp of the Celestial Court.   

What can be hard to a sloath-shunning Spirit,  
Spurred with desire of Fame's eternal merit? 
Of learned, curious, pleasant, marvelous, and more than human invention of man's wit.   
Look (if thou canst) from East to Occident,  
From Island to the Moors hot Continent;  
And thou shalt nought perfectly fair behold,  
But Pen, or Pencil, Graving-tool, or Mould,  
Hath so resembled, that scarce can our eye  
The Counterfeit from the true thing descry.   

The brazen Mare that famous Myron cast,  
Which Stallions leapt, and for a Mare imbraçed:  
The lively picture of that ramping Vine  
Which whilom Zeuxis limned so rarely fine,  
That shoals of Birds, beguiled by the shapes, 
Of Carving and Painting.   
Pecked at the Table, as at very Grapes:  
The Marble Statue, that with strangest fire  
Fond inflamed th' Athenian Youths desire:  
Apelles Venus, which allured well-neer  
As many Loves, as Venus' self had here;  
Are proofs enough that learned Painting can  
Can (Goddess-like) another Nature frame.   

But th' Art of Man, not only can compack  
Features and forms that life and Motion lack; 
The subtle conclusions of the Mathematics: witness Archytas Dove.   
But also fill the Air with painted shoals  
Of flying Creatures (Artificial Fowls)  
The Tarentines valiant and learned Lord,  
Archytas, made a wooden Dove, that soared  
About the Welkin, by th' accorded sleights 
The Eagle and the Fly, of john de Monte-Regio: or Regi-Montanus.   
And counterpoiz of sundry little weights.  
Why should I not that wooden Eagle mention  
(A learned Germans late-admired invention)  
Which mounting from his fist that framed her,  
Flew far to meet an Almain Emperor;  
And having met him, with her nimble train,  
And weary wings, turning about again,  
Followed him close unto the Castle Gate  
Of Noremberg; whom all the Shows of State,  
Streets hanged with Arras, Arches curious built,  
Loud-thundring Canons, Columns richly gilded,  
Gray-headed Senate, and Youth's gallantise,  
Graçed not so much, as only This Devise.  
Once, as this Artist (more with mirth than meat)  
Feasted some friends that he esteemed great,  
From under's hand an iron Fly flew out;  
Which, having flown a perfect Roundabout,  
With weary wings, returned unto her Master,  
And (as judicious) on his arm she plaç't-her.  
O divine wit! that in the narrow womb  
Of a small Fly, could find sufficient room  
For all those Springs, wheels, counterpoiz, and chains,  
Which stood in stead of life, and spur, and reins.  
Yea, you yourselves, ye bright Celestial Orbs, 
Astronomy.   
Although no stop your rest-less Dance disturbs,  
Nor stays your Course; yet can ye not escape  
The hands of men (that are but men in shape)   

A Persian Monarch, not content, well-nigh 
The king of Per sia his Heaven of Glass.   
With the Earth's bounds to bond his Empery:  
To reign in Heaven, raised not with bold defiance  
(Like braving Nimrod, or those boisterous Giants)  
Another Babel, or a heap of Hills:  
But, without moving from the Earth, he builds  
A Heaven of Glass, so huge, that there-upon  
Sometimes erecting his ambitious Throne,  
Beneath his proud feet (like a God) he saw  
The shining Lamps of th' other Heaven, to draw  
Down to the Deep, and thence again advance  
(Like glorious Brides) their golden Radiance:  
Yet had the Heaven no wondrous excellence  
(Save Greatness) worthy of so great a Prince.   

But, who would think, that mortal hands could mould 
Admirable dials & Clocks, namely, at this Day, that of Straesbourg.   
New Heavn's, new Stars, whose whirling courses should  
With constant windings, though contrary ways,  
Mark the true mounds of Years, and Months, and Days?  
Yet it is a story that hath oft been heard,  
And by grave Witness hundred times averred,  
That, that profound Briareus, who of yore  
(As selfly armed with thousands hands and more)  
Maintained so long the Syracusian Towers  
Against great Marcellus and his Roman Powers: 
The Engines of Archimedes, and his Sphere.   
Who fired his foe's Fleet with a wondrous Glass:  
Who hugest Vessels, that did ever pass  
The Ti●rhen Seas, turned with his only hand  
From Shoar to Sea, and from the Sea to Land;  
Framed a Sphere, where every wandering Light  
Of lower heavens and th' upper Tapers, bright,  
Whose glistering flames the Firmament adorn,  
Did (of themselves) with ruled motion turn.   

Nor may we smother, or forget (ingrately) 
The Heaven of Silver sent by the Emperor Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk.   
The Heaven of Silver, that was sent (but lately)  
From Ferdinando (as a famous Work)  
Unto Byzantium to the Greatest Turk:  
Wherein, a spirit still moving to and fro,  
Made all the Engine orderly to go;  
And though th' one Sphere did always slowly slide,  
And (opposite) the other swiftly glide;  
Yet still their Stars kept all their Courses even  
With the true Courses of the Stars of Heaven:  
The Sun, there shifting in the Zodiac  
His shining Houses, never did forsake  
His pointed Path: there, in a Month, his Sister  
Fulfilled her course, and changing oft her lustre  
And form of Face (now larger, lesser soon)  
Followed the Changes of the other Moon.   

O complete Creature! who the starry Spheres 
Of man's resemblance to his first Pattern, which is God.   
Canst make to move, who 'bove the Heavenly Bears  
Extend'st thy power, who guidest with thy hand  
The Day's bright Chariot and the nightly Brand:  
This curious Lust to imitate the best  
And fairest Works of the Almightiest,  
By rare effects bears record of thy Lineage  
And high descent; and that his sacred Image  
Was in thy Soul ingrav'n, when first his Spirit  
(The spring of life) did in thy limbs inspire-it.  
For, as his Beauties are passed all compare;  
So is thy Soul all beautiful and fair:  
As he's immortal; and is never idle:  
Thy soul's immortal; and can brook no bridle  
O● sloth, to curb her busy Intellect:  
He ponders all; thou peizest each effect:  
And thy mature and settled Sapience  
Hathsom alliance with his Providence:  
He works by Reason; thou by Rule: he's glory,  
Of th' Heavenly Stages; thou of th' Earthly Story:  
he's great Highpriest; thou his great Vicar here:  
he's Sovereign Prince; and thou his Viceroy deer.   

For, soon as ever he had framed thee, 
Other testimonies of the excellency of Man, constituted Lord of the World.   
Into thy hands he put this Monarchy:  
Made all the Creatures know thee for their Lord,  
And come before thee of their own accord:  
And gave thee power (as Master) to impose  
Fit sense-full Names unto the Host that rows  
In watery Regions; and the wandering Herds  
Of Forrest people; and the painted Birds:  
O tootoo happy! had that Fall of thine  
Not canceled so the Character divine.   

But sith our Souls now-sin-obscured Light 
Wherein consisteth Man's felicity.   
Shines through the Lantern of our Flesh so bright;  
What sacred splendour will this Star send forth,  
When it shall shine without this vail of Earth?  
The Soul, here lodged, is like a man that dwells  
In an ill Air, annoyed with noisome smells; 
Excellent comparisons.   
In an old House, open to wind and weather;  
Never in Health, not half an hour together:  
Or (almost) like a Spider, who, confined  
In her Webs centre, shaked with every wind;  
Moves in an instant, if the buzzing Fly  
Stir but a string of her Lawn Canopy.   

You that have seen within this ample Table, 
Of the Creation of Woman made for an aid to Man, and without whom Man's life were miserable.   
Among so many Modules admirable,  
Th' admired beauties of the King of Creatures,  
Come, come and see the Woman's rapting features:  
Without whom (here) Man were but half a man,  
But a wild Wolf, but a Barbarian,  
Brute, rageful, fierce, moody, melancholic,  
Hating the Light; whom nought but nought could like:  
Born solely for himself, bereft of sense,  
Of heart, of love, of life, of excellence.  
God therefore, not to seem less liberal  
To Man, than else to every animal;  
For perfect pattern of a holy Love,  
To Adam's half another half he gave,  
Ta'en from his side, to bind (through every Age)  
With kinder bonds the sacred Marriage.   

Even as a Surgeon, minding off-to-cut 
Simile.   
Some cure-less limb; before in ure he put  
His violent Engines on the vicious member,  
Bringeth his Patient in a sense-less slumber,  
And grief-less then (guided by use and Art)  
To save the whole, saws off th' infected part:  
So, God impaled our Grandsires' lively look,  
Through all his bones a deadly chillness struck,  
Siel'd-vp his sparkling Eyes with Iron bands,  
Led down his feet (almost) to Lethè Sands;  
In brief, so numbed his Soul's and Body's sense,  
That (without pain) opening his side; from thence  
He took a rib, which rarely he refined,  
And thereof made the Mother of Mankind:  
Graving so lively on the living Bone  
All Adam's beauties; that, but hardly, one  
Can have the Lover from his Love descried,  
Or known the Bridegroom from his gentle Bride:  
Saving that she had a more smiling Ay,  
A smother Chin, a Cheek of purer Die,  
A fainter voice, a more enticing Face,  
A Deeper Tress, a more delighting Grace,  
And in her bosom (more than Lillie-white)  
Two swelling Mounts of Ivory, panting light.   

Now, after this profound and pleasing Trance, 
Their Marriage.   
No sooner adam's ravished eyes did glance  
On the rare beauties of his new-com Half,  
But in his heart he 'gan to leap and laugh,  
Kissing her kindly, calling her his Life,  
His Love, his Stay, his Rest, his Weal, his Wife,  
His other-Self, his Help (him to refresh)  
Bone of his Bone, Flesh of his very Flesh.   

Source of all joys? sweet Hee-Shee-Coupled-One, 
Their Epithalamie, or wedding Song.   
Thy sacred Birth I never think upon,  
But (ravished) I admire how God did then  
Make Two of One, and One of Two again.   

O blessed Bond! O happy Marriage!  
Which dost the match 'twixt Christ and us presage!  
O chastest friendship, whose pure flames impart  
Two Souls in one, two Hearts into one Hart!  
O holy knot, in Eden instituted  
(Not in this Earth with blood and wrongs polluted,  
Profaned with mischiefs, the Pre-Scaene of Hell  
To cursed Creatures that 'gainst Heaven rebel)  
O sacred Covenant, which the sinless Son  
Of a pure Virgin (when he first begun  
To publish proofs of his dread Power Divine,  
By turning Water into perfect Wine,  
At lesser Cana) in a wondrous manner  
Did with his presence sanctify and honour!   

By thy dear Favour, after our Decease, 
The commodities of Marriage.   
We leave behind our living Images,  
Change War to Peace, in kindred multiply,  
And in our Children live eternally.  
By thee, we quench the wild and wanton Fires,  
That in our Soul the Paphian shot inspires:  
And taught (by thee) a love more firm and fit,  
We find the Mel more sweet, the Gall less bitter,  
Which here (by turns) heap up our human Life  
Even now with joys, anon with jars and strife.   

This done; the Lord commands the happy Pair 
Propagation by the blessing of God.   
With chaste embraces to replenish Fair  
Th' unpeopled World; that while the World endures,  
Here might succeed their living Portraitures.  
He had imposed the like precept before,  
On th' ireful Droves that in the Deserts roar,  
The feathered Flocks, and fruitfull-spawning Legions  
That live within the liquid Crystal Regions.  
Thenceforth therefore, Bears, Bears engendered;  
The Dolphins, Dolphins; vultures, vultures bred;  
Men, Men: and Nature, with a change-less Course,  
Still brought forth Children like their Ancestors: 
Unnatural Conjunctions produce monstrous Births.   
Though since indeed, as (when the fire hath mixt-them)  
The yellow Gold and Silver pale betwixt them  
Another Metal (like to neither) make,  
Which yet of either's riches doth partake:  
So, oft, two Creatures of a divers kind,  
Against the common course through All Assigned,  
Confounding their lust-burning seeds together,  
Beget an Elf, not like in all to either,  
But (bastard Mongrel) bearing marks apparent  
Of mingled members, ta'en from either Parent.   

God, not contented, to each Kind to give 
Of things engendered without seed or commixtion of sexes.   
And to infuse the Virtue Generative,  
Made (by his Wisdom) many Creatures breed  
Of live-less bodies, without Venus' deed.   

So, the cold humour breeds the Salamander,  
Who (in effect) like to her birth's Commander  
with-child with hundred Winters, with her touch  
Quencheth the Fire though glowing ne'er so much.   

So, of the Fire in burning furnace, springs  
The Fly Pyrausta with the flaming Wings:  
Without the Fire, it dies; within it, joys;  
Living in that, which each thing else destroys.   

So, slow Boötes underneath him sees,  
In th' icy Isles, those Goslings hatched of Trees,  
Whose fruitful leaves, falling into the Water,  
Are turned (they say) to living Fowls soon after.   

So, rotten sides of broken Ships do change  
To Barnacles; O Transformation strange▪  
'Twas first a green Tree, than a gallant Hull,  
Lately a Mushrum, now a flying Gull.   

So Morn and Evening the sixth Day conclude,  
And God perceived that All his Works were good.    

THE seventh DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

In sacred Rest, upon This sacred Day  
Th' Eternal doth his glorious Works survey:  
His only Power and Providence persever  
T' uphold, maintain, and rule the World for ever:  
Maugre men's malice and Hell's raging mood,  
God turneth all things to his children's good:  
Sabbaoths right use; From all Worlds-Works to cease;  
To pray (not play) and hear the Word of Peace:  
Instructions drawn from dead and living things,  
And from ourselves; for all Estates; for Kings.   

THe cunning Painter, that with curious care, 
By an excellent Similitude of a Painter delighted with the sight of a curious table which he hath lately finished; our Poet showeth how God rested the seventh Day, and saw (as saith the Scripture) that all that he had made was Good.   
Limning a Land-scape, various, rich, and rare,  
Hath set awork, in all and every part,  
Invention, judgement, Nature, Use and Art;  
And hath at length (t'immortalize his name)  
With weary Pencil perfected the same;  
Forgets his pains; and, inly filled with glee,  
Still on his Picture gazeth greedily.   

First in a Mead he marks a frisking Lamb,  
Which seems (though dumb) to bleat unto the Dam:  
Then he observes a Wood, seeming to wave:  
Then th' hollow bosom of some hideous Cave:  
Hear a Highway, and there a narrow Path:  
Here Pines, there Oaks torn by tempestuous wrath:  
Here from a craggy Rocks steep-hanging boss  
(Thrummed half with ivy, half with crisped Moss)  
A silver Brook in broken streams doth gush,  
And headlong down the horned Cliff doth rush;  
Then winding thence above and under ground,  
A goodly Garden it be-moateth round:  
There, on his knee (behind a Boxtree shrinking)  
A skilful Gunner with his left eye winking,  
Levels directly at an Oak hard by,  
Whereon a hundred groaning culvers cry;  
Down falls the Cock, up from the Touchpan flies  
A ruddy flash that in a moment dies,  
Off goes the Gun, and through the Forest rings  
The thundering bullet, born on fiery wings.  
Heer, on a Green, two Striplings, stripped light,  
Run for a prize with labour some delight;  
A dusty Cloud about their feet doth flow  
(Their feet, and head, and hands, and all do go)  
They swelled in sweat; and yet the following Rout  
Hastens their haste with many a cheerful shout.  
Heer, six pied Oxen, under painful yoke,  
Rip up the folds of Ceres' Winter Cloak.  
Heer, in the shade, a pretty Shepherdess  
Drives softly home her bleating happiness:  
Still as she goes, she spins; and as she spins,  
A man would think some Sonnet she gins.  
Here runs a River, there springs forth a Fountain,  
Heer vails a Valley, there ascends a Mountain,  
Hear smocks a Castle, there a City fumes,  
And here a Ship upon th' Ocean looms.  
In brief, so lively, Art hath Nature shaped,  
That in his Work the Workman's self is rapt,  
Unable to look off; for, looking still.  
The more he looks, the more he finds his skill:   

So th' Architect (whose glorious Workmanships 
God rested the seventh Day, & contemplates, on his Works.   
My cloudy Muse doth but toomuch eclipse)  
Having with pain-less pain, and care-less care,  
In These Six Days, finished the Table fair  
And infinite of th' Universal Ball,  
Resteth This Day, t' admire himself in All:  
And for a season eyeing nothing else,  
joys in his Work, sith all his Work excels  
(If my dull, stutting frozen eloquence  
May dare conjecture of his high Intents).   

One while, he sees how th' ample Sea doth take 
A brief recapitulation and consideration of the Works of God in the whole World and a learned Exposition of the words of Moses Gen. 1. 31 God saw that all that he had made, was perfectly good.   
The Liquid homage of each other Lake;  
And how again the Heaven sexhale, from it,  
Abundant vapours (for our benefit):  
And yet it swells not for those tribute streams,  
Nor yet it shrinks not for those boiling beams.  
There see's he th' Ocean-peoples' plenteous broods;  
And shifting Courses of the Ebbs and Floods;  
Which with inconstant glances night and day  
The lower Planets forked front doth sway.  
Anon, upon the flowery Plains he looks,  
Laced about with snaking silver brooks.  
Now, he delights to see four brethren's strife  
Cause the World's peace, and keep the World in life:  
Anon, to see the whirling Spheres to roll  
In rest-less Danses about either Pole;  
Whereby, their Cressets (carried divers ways)  
Now visit us, anon th' Antipodés.  
It glads him now to note how th' Orb of Flame,  
Which girts this Globe, doth not enfire the Frame:  
How th' Airs glib-gliding firmless body bears  
Such store of Fowls, Hail-storms, and Floods of tears:  
How th' heavy Water, pronest to descond,  
'Twixt Air and Earth is able to depend:  
And how the dull Earth's prop-less massy Ball  
Stands steady still, just in the midst of All.  
Anon his nose is pleased with fragrant scents  
Of Balm, and Basill, Myrrh, and Frankincense,  
Thyme, spikenard, Hyssop, Savoury, Cinnamon,  
Pink, Violet, Rose, and Clove-carnation.  
Anon, his ear 's charmed with the melody  
Of winged Consorts curious Harmony:  
For, though each bird, guided with Art-less Art,  
After his kind, observe a song apart,  
Yet the sole burden of their several Lays  
Is nothing but the Heav'n-Kings glorious praise.  
In brief, th' almighty's eye, and nose, and ear,  
In all his works, doth nought see, sent, or hear,  
But shows his greatness, savours of his grace,  
And sounds his glory over every place.  
But above all, Mans many beauteous features  
Detain the Lord more than all other Creatures:  
Man's his own Minion; Man's his sacred Type,  
And for Man's sake, he loves his Workmanship.   

Not, that I mean to fain an idle God,  
That lusks in Heaven and never looks abroad,  
That Crowns not Virtue, and corrects not Vice,  
Blind to our service, deaf unto our sighs;  
A Pagan Idol, void of power and piety,  
A sleeping Dormouse (rather) a dead Deïtie.  
For though (alas!) sometimes I cannot shun,  
But some profane thoughts in my mind will run,  
I never think on God, but I conceive  
(Whence cordial comforts Christians souls receive) 
Of the Providence of God.   
In God, Care, Counsel, justice, Mercy, Might,  
To punish wrongs, and patronise the right:  
Sith Man (but Image of th' Almightiest)  
Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast.   

Fond Epicure, thou rather slept'st, thyself, 
Epicurus and his followers, denying the same, confuted by sundry Reasons.   
When thou didst forge thee such a sleep-sick Elf  
For life's pure Fount: or vainly fraudulent  
(Not shunning th' Atheïsts sin, but punishment)  
Imaginedst a God so perfect-less,  
In Works defying, whom thy words profess.   

God is not sitting (like some Earthly State)  
In proud Theátre, him to recreate  
With curious Objects▪ of his ears and eyes,  
(Without disposing of the Comedies)  
Content t'have made (by his great Word) to move  
So many radiant Stars as shine above;  
And on each thing with his own hand to draw  
The sacred Text of an eternal Law:  
Then, bosoming his hand, to let them slide,  
With reans at will, whether that Law shall guide:  
Like one that having lately forçed some Lake, 
Simile.   
Through some new Channel a new Course to take,  
Takes no more care thenceforth to those effects,  
But lets the Stream run where his Ditch directs.   

The Lord our God wants neither Diligence, 
1 God's power, goodness, & wisdom, shine gloriously in governing the world.   
Nor Love, nor Care, nor Power, nor Providence.  
He proved his Power, by Making All of nought:  
His Diligence, by Ruling All he wrought:  
His Care, by Ending it in six Days space:  
His Love, in Building it for Adam's Race:  
His Providence (maugrè Times wasteful rages)  
Preserving it so many Years and Ages.   

For, O! how often had this goodly Ball  
By his own Greatness caused his proper Fall?  
How often had this World deceased, except  
Gods mighty arms had it upheld and kept? 
2 In him and through him, all things live and move, and have their Being.    

God is the soul, the life, the strength, and sinew,  
That quickens, moves, and makes this Frame continue.  
God's the main spring, that maketh every way  
All the small wheels of this great Engine play.  
God's the strong Atlas, whose unshrinking shoulders  
Have been and are heavens heavy Globes upholders.   

God makes the Fountains run continually, 
3. All things particularly are guided by his Ordinance and Power, working continually.   
The days and Nights succeed incessantly:  
The Seasons in their season he doth bring,  
Summer and Autumn, Winter, and the Spring:  
God makes th' Earth fruitful, and he makes the Earth's  
Large loignes not yet faint for so many births.  
God makes the Sun and Stars, though wondrous hot,  
That yet their Heat themselves inflameth not;  
And that their sparkling beams prevent not so,  
With woeful flames, the Last great Day of woe:  
And that (as moved with a contrary wrist)  
They turn atonce both North, and East, and West:  
Heavn's constant course, his hest doth never break:  
The floating Water waiteth at his beck:  
Th' Air's at his Call, the Fire at his Command,  
The Earth is His: and there is nothing found  
In all these Kingdoms, but is moved each hour  
With secret touch of his eternal Power.   

God is the judge, who keeps continual Sessions, 
4 God is the judge of the World: having all Creatures visible and invisible, ready armed to execute his▪ judgements.   
In every place to punish all Transgressions;  
Who, void of Ignorance and Avarice,  
Not won with Bribes, nor wrested with Device,  
Sins Fear, or Favour; hate, or partial zeal;  
Pronounceth judgements that are past appeal.  
Himself is judge, jury, and Witness too,  
Well knowing what we all think, speak, or do:  
He sounds the deepest of the doublest hart,  
Searcheth the Reins, and fifth every part:  
He sees all secrets, and his Lynx-like eye  
(Yet it be thought) doth every thought descry:  
His Sentence given, never returns in vain;  
For, all that Heavn, Earth, air, and Sea contain,  
Serve him as Sergeants: and the winged Legions,  
That soar above the bright Star-spangled Regions,  
Are ever priest, his powerful Ministers;  
And (lastly) for his Executioners,  
Satan, assisted with the infernal band,  
Stands ready still to finish his Command.   

God (to be brief) is a good Artisan  
That to his purpose aptly manage can  
Good or bad Tools; for, for just punishment, 
Yea, he makeeh even the wicked this instruments to punish the wicked, and to prove his Chosen   
He arms our sins us sinners to torment;  
And to prevent th' vngodly's plot, sometime  
He makes his foes (will-nill-they) fight for him.   

Yet true it is, that human things (seem) slide  
Vnbridledly with so uncertain tide,  
That in the Ocean of Events so many,  
Sometimes God's judgements are scarce seen of any:  
Rather, it seems that giddy Fortune guideth 
Again, against Epicures, who hold that all things happen in the World by Chance.   
All that beneath the silver Moon be●ideth.  
Yet, art thou ever just (O God) though I  
Cannot (alas!) thy judgements depth descry:  
My wit's too shallow for the least Design  
Of thy dread Counsels, sacred, and divine:  
And thy least-secret Secrets, I confess  
To deep for us, without thy Spirit's address.  
Yet oftentimes, what seemeth (at first sight) 
1 Gods judgements past our search: yet ever just in themselves   
Unjust to us, and past our reason quite,  
Thou makest us (Lord) acknowledge (in due season)  
To have been done with equity and reason.   

So, suffering th' Hebrew Tribes to sell their brother, 
Gen 45. ver. 6. 7 and Gen. 50. v●. 20.   
Thy eternal justice thou didst seem to smother.  
But joseph (when, through such rare hap, it chanced  
Him of a slave to be so high advanced,  
To rule the Land where Nilus fertile flood  
Dry heavens defects endeavours to make good)  
Learned, that his envious brethren's treacherous drift,  
Him to the Stern of Memphian State had lift,  
That he might there provide Relief and Room  
For Abraham's Seed, against (then) time to come.   

When thy strong arm, which plague's the Reprobate, 
2. In executing his judgements on the rebellious he showeth mercy on his Servants.   
The World and Sodom did exterminate,  
With flood and flame: because there lived then  
Some small remains of good and righteous men,  
Thou seemedst unjust: but when thou savedst L●t  
From Fire, from Water Noah and his Boat,  
'Twas plainly seen, thy justice stands propstious  
To th' Innocent and smiteth but the vicious.   

He wilful winks against the shining Sun, 
5 He showeth his power in the confusion of the Mightiest: and in the deliverance of his Church.   
That see's not Pharaoh, as a mean begun  
Forth ' Hebrews good; and that his hardened hart,  
Smoothed the passage for their soon-depart:  
To th' end the Lord, when Tyrants will not yield,  
Might for his Glory find the larger field.   

Who sees not also, that th' unjust Decree  
Of a proud judge, and judas treachery,  
The People's fury, and the Prelates gall,  
Served all as organs to repair the Fall  
Of Eden's old Prince, whose luxurious pride  
Made on his seed his sin for ever slide? 
4 He turneth the malice of Satan and his instruments, to his own glory, and the good of his: of whom he hath always special care.    

Th' Almighty's Care doth diversly disperse  
o'er all the parts of all this Universe:  
But more precisely, his wide wings protect  
The race of Adam, chief his Elect.  
For ay he watcheth for his Children choice  
That lift to him their hearts, their hands, and voice:  
For them, he built th' ay-turning heavens Theatre;  
For them, he made the Fire, air, Earth, and Water:  
He counts their hairs, their steps he measureth,  
Handles their hands, and speaketh with their breath;  
Dwells in their hearts and plants his Regiments  
Of watchful Angels round about their Tents. 
A remedy for temptation of the godly, seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of God's children.    

But here, what hear I? Faith-less, God-less men,  
I marvel not, that you impugn my pen:  
But (O!) it grieves me, and I am amazed,  
That those, whose faith, like glistering Stars, hath blazed  
Even in our darkest nights, should so object  
Against a doctrine of so sweet effect;  
Because (alas!) with weeping eyes they see  
Th' ungodly-most in most Prosperity,  
Clothed in Purple, crowned with Diadems,  
Handling bright Sceptres hoarding Gold and Gems,  
Croucht-to, and courted with all kind affection,  
As privileged by the heavens protection;  
So that, their goods, their honours their delights  
Excel their hopes, exceed their appetites:  
And (opposite) the godly (in the storms  
Of this World's Sea) tossed in continual harms:  
In Earth, less rest than Euripus they find,  
God's heavy Rods still hanging them behind:  
Them, shame, and blame, trouble and loss pursues;  
As shadows bodies, and as night the dews.   

Peace, peace, dear friends: I hope to cancel quite 
The same comforted in divers sorts: with apt Similitudes, confirming the reason & declaring the right end of God; divers dealing with men.   
This profane thought from your unsettled Spirit.  
Know then, that God (to th' end he be not thought  
A powr-less judge) here plagueth many a fault;  
And many a fault leaves here unpunished,  
That men may also his last judgement dread.   

On th' other side, note that the Cross becomes  
A Ladder leading to heavens glorious rooms:  
A Royal Path, the Heavenly Milken way,  
Which doth the Saints to Ioues high Court convey.   

O! see you not, how that a Father grave,  
Kerbing his Son much shorter than his Slave,  
Doth th' one but rare, the other rife reprove,  
Th' one but for lucre, th' other all for love?  
As skilful Equerry, that commands the Stable  
Of some great Prince, or Person honourable,  
Gives oftest to that Horse the teaching spur,  
Which he finds fittest for the use of war..  
A painful Schoolmaster, that hath in hand  
To institute the flower of all a Land,  
Gives longest Lessons unto those, where Heaven  
The ablest wits and aptest wills hath given.  
And a wise Chieftain, never trusts the weight  
Of th' execution of a brave Exploit,  
But unto those whom most he honoureth,  
For often proof of their firm force and faith:  
Such sends he first t' assault his eager foes;  
Such against the Canon on a Breach bestows;  
Such he commands naked to scale a Fort,  
And with small number to regain a Port.   

God beats his Deer, from birth to burial,  
To make them know him, and their pride appall, 
Affliction profitable to the Faithful.   
To draw devout sighs from calamity,  
And by the touch to try their Constancy,  
T' awake their sloth, their minds to exercise  
To travail cheer'ly for th' immortal Prize.   

A good Physician, that Arts excellence  
Can help with practice and experience, 
They are necessary to cure the diseases of the soul.   
Applies discreetly all his Recipés,  
Unto the nature of each fell-disease;  
Curing this Patient with a bitter Potion.  
That, with strict Diet, th' other with a Lotion,  
And sometime cutteth off a leg or arm,  
So (sharply sweet) to save the whole from harm:  
Even so the Lord according to th' ill humours  
That vex his most-Saints with soule-tainting tumors)  
Sends sometimes Exile, sometimes lingering Languor,  
Sometimes Dishonour, sometimes pining Hunger,  
Sometime long Lawsuits, sometime Loss of good,  
Sometimes a Child's death, or a Widowhood:  
But ay he holdeth, for the good of His,  
In one hand Rods; in th' other Remedies.   

The Soldier, slugging long at home in Peace, 
Without them God's children decline.   
His wont courage quickly doth decrease:  
The rust doth fret the blade hanged up at rest:  
The Moth doth eat the garment in the Chest:  
The standing Water stinks with putrefaction:  
And Virtue hath no Virtue but in action.   

All that is fairest in the World, we find  
Subject to travail. So, with storms and wind  
Th' Air still is tossed: the Fire and Water tend,  
This, still to mount; that, ever to descend:  
The spirit is spright-less if it want discourse,  
Heavn's no more Heaven if it once cease his Course.   

The valiant Knight is known by many scars: 
The Cross an honourable mark.   
But he that steals-home, wound-less, from the Wars,  
Is held a Coward, void of Valour's proof,  
That for Death's fear, hath fled, or fought a-loof.   

The Lord therefore, to give Humanity  
Rare precedents of daunt-less Constancy, 
God will be glorified in the constant sufferings of his Servants.   
And crown his dear Sons with victorious Laurels  
Won from a thousand foes in glorious quarrels;  
Pours down more evils on their hap-less head,  
Then yerst Pandora's odious Box did shed;  
Yet strengthening still their hearts with such a Plaster,  
That though the Flesh stoop, still the Spirit is Master.   

But, wrongly I these evils Evil call: 
There is nothing evil in Man's life, but sin: & virtue is best perceived in the proof.   
Sole Vice is ill; sole Virtue good: and all,  
Besides the same, is selfly, simply, had  
And held indifferent, neither good nor bad.  
Let envious Fortune all her forces wage  
Against a constant Man, her fellest rage  
Can never change his godly resolution,  
Though Heaven itself should threaten his confusion.   

A constant man is like the Sea, whose breast 
True constanty lively represented by two comparisons.   
Lies ever open unto every guest;  
Yet all the Waters that she drinks, can not  
Make her to change her qualities a jot:  
Or, like a good sound stomach not soon casting  
For a light surfeit or a small dis-tasting;  
But, that, untroubled, can incontinent  
Convert all meats to perfect nourishment.   

Though then, the Lords deep Wisdom, to this day, 
God, Resting on the seventh Day, and blessing it: teacheth us that in resting one day of the Week, we should principally employ it in his service: That we should cease from our worldly and wicked works, to give place to his grace, and to suffer his Spirit to work in us by the Instrument of his holy word.   
Work in the World's uncertain-certain Sway:  
Yet must we credit that his hand composed  
All in six Days, and that He then Reposed;  
By his example, giving us behest,  
On the seventh Day for evermore to Rest.  
For, God remembered that he made not Man  
Of Stone, or Steel, or Brass Corinthian:  
But lodged our soul in a frail earthen Mass,  
Thinner than Water, britteler than Glass:  
He knows our life is by nought sooner spent,  
Then having still our minds and bodies bend.  
A Field, left lay for some few Years, will yield  
The richer Crop, when it again is tilled:  
A River stopped by a sluice a space,  
Runs (after) rougher and a swifter pace:  
A Bow, a while unbent, will after cast  
His shafts the farther, and them fix more fast:  
A Soldier, that a season still hath lain,  
Comes with more fury to the Field again:  
Even so, this Body, when (to gather breath)  
One Day in seven at Rest it sojourneth;  
It recollects his Powers, and with more cheer,  
Falls the next morrow to his first Career.   

But, the chief End, this Precept aims at, is  
To quench in us the coals of Covetise;  
That while we rest from all profaner Arts,  
God's Spirit may work in our retired hearts:  
That we, down-treading earthly cogitations,  
May mount our thoughts to heavenly meditations:  
Following good Archers guise, who shut one eye, 
Simile.   
That they the better may their mark espy.   

For, by th' Almighty, this great Holiday  
Was not ordained to dance, and mask, and play, 
Against profaners of the Sabaoth.   
To slug in sloth, and languish in delights,  
And lose the Reans to raging appetites:  
To turn God's Feasts to filthy Lupercals,  
To frantic Orgies, and fond Saturnals:  
To dazzle eyes with Pride's vainglorious splendour,  
To serve strange Gods, or our Ambition tender;  
As th' irreligion of lose Times hath since  
Changed the Prime-Churches chaster innocence. 
We ought on the Lord's Day, attend his service & me ditate on the everlasting Rest, & on the works of God.    

God would, that men should in a certain place  
This Day assemble as before his face,  
Lending an humble and attentive ear  
To learn his great Name's deer-drad Loving-Fear:  
He would that there the faithful Pastor should  
The Scriptures marrow from the bones unfold,  
That we might touch with fingers (as it were)  
The sacred secrets that are hidden there.  
For, though the reading of those holy lines  
In private Houses somewhat move our minds;  
Doubtless, the Doctrine preached doth deeper pierce,  
Proves more effectual, and more weight it bears. 
The practice of the faithful, in all reformed Churches, on the Sabaoth Day.   
He would, that there in holy Psalms we sing  
Shrill praise and thanks to our immortal King,  
For all the liberal bounties he bestow'th  
On us and ours, in soul and body both:  
He would, that there we should confess his Christ  
Our only Saviour, Prophet, Prince, and Priest;  
Solemnising (with sober preparation)  
His blessed Seals of Reconciliation:  
And, in his Name, beg boldly what we need  
(After his will) and be assured to speed;  
Sith in th' Exchequer of his Clemency,  
All goods of Fortune, Soul, and Body lie.   

He would, this Sabbaoth should a figure be 
The Corporal Rest, a figure of the spiritual.   
Of the blessed Sabbaoth of Eternity.  
But th' one (as Legal) heeds but outward things;  
Th' other, to Rest both Soul and body brings:  
Th' one but a Day endures; the others Date  
Eternity shall not exterminate:  
Shadows the one th' other doth Truth include:  
This stands in freedom, that in servitude:  
With cloudy cares th' one's muffled up somewhiles;  
The others face is full of pleasing smiles:  
For, never grief, nor fear of any Fit  
Of the least care, shall dare come near to it.  
'Tis the grand jubilé, the Feast of Feasts,  
Sabbaoth of Sabbaoths, end-less Rest of Rests;  
Which, with the Prophets, and Apostles zealous,  
The constant Martyrs, and our Christian fellows,  
Gods faithful Servants, and his chosen Sheep,  
In Heaven we hope (within short time) to keep.   

He would this Day, our soul (sequestered 
Meditation of the works of God, especially on the day of Rest.   
From busy thoughts of worldly cares) should read,  
In heavens bowed Arches, and the Elements,  
His bound-less Bounty, Power and Providence;  
That every part may (as a Master) teach  
Th' illiterate, Rules past a vulgar reach.   

Come (Reader) sit, come sit thee down by me; 
Exhortation to this Meditati●, with the use and profit thereof.   
Think with my thoughts, and see what I do see:  
Hear this dumb Doctor, study in this Book,  
Where day and night thou may'st at pleasure look,  
And thereby learn uprightly how to live:  
For, every part doth special Lessons give,  
Even from the gilt studs of the Firmament,  
To the base Centre of our Element.   

Seest thou those Stars we (wrongly) wandering call, 
The Planets teach us to follow the will of God.   
Though divers ways they dance about this Ball,  
Yet ever more their manifold Career  
Follows the Course of the First Moving Sphere?  
This teacheth thee, that though thine own Desires  
Be opposite to what heavens will requires,  
Thou must still strive to follow (all thy days)  
God (the first Mover) in his holy ways. 
The Moon teacheth that we have not any thing that we have not received.    

Vain puff of wind, whom vaunting pride bewitches,  
For Bodies beauties, or Minds (richer) Riches;  
The Moon, whose splendour from her Brother springs,  
May by Example make thee veil thy wings:  
For thou, no less than the pale Queen of Nights,  
Borrowest all goodness from the Prince of Lights.   

Wilt thou, from Orb to Orb, to th' Earth descend? 
The Elementary fire and ours, where our happiness, and where our misery consists.   
Behold the Fire which God did round extend:  
As near to Heaven the same is clear and pure;  
Ours here below, sad, smoky, and obscure:  
So, while thy Soul doth with the heavens converse,  
It's sure and safe from every thought perverse;  
And though thou won here in this world of sin,  
Thou art as happy as heavens Angels been:  
But, if thy mind be always fixed all  
On the foul dunghill of this darksome vale,  
It will partake in the contagious smells  
Of th' unclean house wherein it droops and dwells.   

If envious Fortune be thy bitter foe, 
The Air, that afflictions are profitable for us.   
And day and night do toss thee to and fro;  
Remember, th' Air compareth soon, except  
With sundry Winds it be o●t swinged and swept.   

The Sea, which sometimes down to Hell is driven, 
The Sea, that we ought for no respect to transgress the Law of God.   
And sometimes heaves afroathy Mount to Heaven,  
Yet never breaks the bounds of her precinct,  
Wherein the Lord her boisterous arms hath linked;  
Instructeth thee, that neither Tyrant's rage,  
Ambition's winds, nor golden vassalage  
Of Avarice, nor any love, nor fear,  
From God's Command should make thee shrink a hair.   

The Earth, which never all at once doth move, 
The Earth, that we should be constant.   
Though her rich Orb received, from above,  
No firmer base her burden to sustent,  
Then slippery props of softest Element;  
By her example doth propose to thee  
A needful Lesson of true Constancy. 
The Ears of Corn, that we should be humble.    

Nay, there is nought in our dear Mother found,  
But Pythily some Virtue doth propound.  
O! let the Noble, Wise, Rich, Valiant,  
Be as the base, poor, faint, and ignorant;  
And, looking on the fields, when Autumn shears,  
There let them learn among the bearded ears;  
Which still the fuller of the flowery grain,  
Bow down the more their humble heads again;  
And ay the lighter and the less their store,  
They lift aloft their Chaffy Crests the more.   

Let her, that (bound-less in her wanton wishes) 
The Palm-tree, that we should be chaste.   
Dares spot the Spouse-bed with unlawful kisses,  
Blush (at the least) at Palm-Trees loyalty,  
Which never bears, unless her Male be by.   

Thou, thou that prançest after honours prize 
Cinnamon teacheth Diligence and Prudence.   
(While by the way thy strength and stomach dies)  
Remember, Honour is like Cinnamon  
Which Nature mounds with many a million  
Of thorny pricks; that none may dangerles  
Approach the Plant, much less the Fruit possess.   

Canst thou the secret Sympathy behold 
The Sun and the Marigold, direct us unto Christ, the Sun of Righteousness.   
Betwixt the bright Sun and the Marigold,  
And not consider, that we must no less  
Fellow in life the Sun of Righteousness?   

O Earth! the Treasures of thy hollow breast  
Are no less fruitful Teachers than the rest.  
For, as the Lime doth break and burn in Water,  
And swell, and smoke, crackle, and skip, and scatter, 
lime in water, teacheth usto show our virtue in extremity.   
Waking that Fire, whose dull heat sleeping was  
Under the cold Crust of a Chalky Mass:  
He that (to march amid the Christian Host)  
Yields his heart's kingdom to the holy-Ghost;  
And, for brave Service under Christ his Banner,  
Looks to be crowned with his Chief Champions honour,  
Must in Affliction wake his zeal, which oft  
In Calmer times sleeps too-securely soft.   

And, opposite, as the rich Diamond 
The Diamond exhorteth to Constancy.   
The Fire and Steel doth stoutly both withstand:  
So the true Christian should, till life expire,  
Contemn proud Tyrants raging Sword and Fire.  
Or, if fell Rigour with some ruthless smart  
A little shake the sinews of his heart,  
He must be like the richest Mineral, 
Gold in the furnace, to magnanimity, & purity.   
Whose Ingots bow, but never break at all;  
Nor in the Furnace suffer any loss  
Of weight, but Lees; not of the Gold, but dross.   

The precious Stone that bears the Rainbows name, 
The stone Iris, to edification of our Neighbour.   
Receives the bright face of Sols burnished flame;  
And by reflection, after, it displays  
On the next object all those pointed rays:  
So whoso hath from the Empyreal Pole,  
Within the centre of his happy Soul  
Received some splendour of the beams divine,  
Must to his Neighbour make the same to shine;  
Not burying Talents which our God hath given  
To be employed in a rich trade for Heaven,  
That in his Church he may receive his Gold,  
With thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold.   

As th' Iron, touched by th' Adamant's effect, 
The needle in the Mariner's compass showeth that we should incessantly look on Christ our only load star.   
To the North Pole doth ever point direct:  
So the Soul, touched once by the secret power  
Of a true lively Faith, looks every hour  
To the bright Lamp which serves for Cynosure  
To all that sail upon the Sea obscure.   

These precedents, from liveles things collected, 
Lessons from living Creatures.   
Breed good effects in spirits well affected;  
But lessons, taken from the things that live,  
A livelier touch unto all sorts do give.   

Up, up ye Princes: Prince and People, rise, 
Bees, to subjects and to Princes.   
And run to School among the Hony-Flies:  
There shall you learn, that an eternal law  
Subjects the Subject under Prince's awe:  
There shall you learn, that a courageous King,  
To vex his humble Vassals hath no sting.   

The Persian Prince, that princely did conclude 
The Marlin, to the unthankful   
So severe laws against Ingratitude,  
Knew that the Marlin, having kept her warm  
With alive Lark, remits it without harm;  
And lest her frend-bird she should after slay,  
She takes her flight a quite contrary way.   

Fathers, if you desire, your Children sage 
The Eagle, so Parents.   
Should by their Blessings bless your crooked age;  
Train them betimes unto true virtues Lore,  
By Aw, Instruction, and Example (more):  
So the old Eagle flutters in and out,  
To teach his young to follow him above.  
If his example cannot timely bring  
His backward birds to use their feeble wing,  
He leaves them then some days unfed, whereby  
Sharp hunger may at length constiain them fly.  
If that prevail not, than he beats them, both  
With beak and wings to stir their fearful sloth.   

You, that to haste your hated Spouses end, 
The Turtle, to Wedlock-breakers.   
Black deadly poison in his dish do blend;  
O! can ye see with un-relenting eyes  
The Turtle-dove? sith, when her husband dies,  
Dies all herioy: for, never loves she more;  
But on dry bowghs doth her dead Spouse deplore.   

Thou, whom the freedom of a foolish tongue 
Wild geese, to Babblers.   
Brings oft in danger for thy neighbours wrong;  
Discreetly set a hatch before the door:  
As the wise Wild-geese, when they over-soar  
Cilician Mounts, within their bills do bear  
A pebble-stone both day and night; for fear  
Lest ravenous Eagles of the North descry  
Their Army's passage, by their cackling Cry.   

O! Mothers, can you? can you (O unkind!) 
divers Fishes, to unnatural Mothers, that will ● not nour see their own Children.   
Deny your Babes your breasts? and call to mind  
That many Fishes, many times are fain  
Receive their seed into their wombs again  
(Lucina's sad throes, for the selfsame birth,  
Enduring oft, it often bringing forth)?   

O! why embrace not we with Charity 
Dolphins, to the cruel.   
The living, and the dead with Piety?  
Giving these succour, sepulture to those:  
Even as the Dolphins do themselves expose,  
For their live fellows, and beneath the Waves  
Cover their deadones under sandy Graves.   

You Children, whom (past hope) the heavens benignity 
The wild Kid, to children.   
Hath heaped with wealth, and heaved-up to dignity,  
Do not forget your Parents: but behold  
Th' officious Kids, who (when, their Parents old,  
With heavy gives, Elds trembling fever stops  
And fetters-fast upon the Mountain-tops)  
As careful purveyors, bring them home to brouz  
The tenderest tops of all the slenderest boughs;  
And sip (self-thirst-les) of the rivers brink,  
Which in their mouths they bring them home to drink.   

For household Rules, read not the learned Writs  
Of the Stagirian (glory of good wits): 
The Spiders, to Man and Wife.   
Nor his, whom, for his honny-steeped style,  
They Proverbized the Attik Muse erewhile:  
Sith th' only Spider teacheth every one,  
The Husbands and the housewives function.  
For, for their food, the valiant Male doth roam;  
The cunning Female tends her work at home:  
Out of her bowels, wool and yarn she spiteth,  
And all that, else her learned labour fitteth:  
Her waight's the spindle that doth twist the twine,  
Which her small fingers draw so even and fine.  
Still at the Centre she her warp gins,  
Then round (at length) her little threads she pins,  
And equal distance to their compass leaves:  
Then neat and nimbly her new web she weaves,  
With her fine shuttle circularly drawn,  
Through all the circuit of her open lawn;  
Open, lest else th' ungentle Winds should tear  
Her cypress Tent (weaker than any hair)  
And that the foolish Fly might easter get  
Within the meshes of her curious Net:  
Which he no sooner doth begin to shake,  
But straight the Male doth to the Centre make,  
That he may conquer more securely there  
The humming Creature, hampered in his snare.   

You Kings, that bear the sword of just Hostility, 
The Lion, to Kings.   
Pursue the Proud, and pardon true Humility;  
Like noble Lions that do never show  
Their strength and stomach on a yielding Foe,  
But rather through the stoutest throngs do forage,  
'Mid thousands Deaths to show their dauntless courage.   

Thou sluggard (if thou list to learn thy part) 
The Emmet and Hedgehog, to the slothful.   
Go learn the Emmets, and the Urchins Art;  
In Summer th' one, in Autumn th' other takes  
The Seasons fruits, and thence provision makes,  
Each in his Lodging laying up a hoard  
Against cold Winter, which doth nought afford.   

But (Reader) We resemble one that winds, 
Man may find in himself excellent instruction.   
From Saba, Bandan, and the wealthy Indeses  
(Through threatening Seas, and dangers manifold)  
To seek far-off for Incense, Spice, and Gold;  
Sith we, not losing from our proper Strand,  
Find all wherein a happy life doth stand;  
And our own Body's self-contained motions,  
Give the most gross a hundred goodly Notions.   

You Princes, Pastors, and ye Chiefs of War, 
The head teacheth all persons in authority.   
Do not your Laws, Sermons, and Orders mar;  
Lest your examples baneful leaprosies  
Infect your Subjects, Flocks, and Companies;  
Beware, your evil make not others like;  
For, no part's sound if once the Head be sick.   

You Peers, O do not through self-partiall zeal, 
The Eyes instruct Princes, and Noblemen.   
With light-brained Counsels vex your commonweal:  
But, as both Eyes do but One thing behold,  
Let each his Countries common good up-hold.   

You, that for Others travail day and night,  
With much-much labour, and small benefit, 
The teeth, such as travail for others.   
Behold the Teeth, which Toule-free grind the food,  
From whence themselves do reap more grief then good.   

Even as the Hart hath not a Moment's rest, 
The Hart, the Ministers of the Word.   
But night and day moves in our panting breast,  
That by his beating it may still impart  
The lively spirits about to every part:  
So those, to whom God doth his Flock betake,  
Ought always study, always work, and wake,  
To breath (by Doctrine and good Conversation)  
The quickening spirit into their Congregation.   

And as the Stomach, from the wholesome food 
The stomach, the same.   
Divides the grosser part (which is not good)  
They ought from false the truth to separate,  
Error from Faith, and Cockle from the Wheat,  
To make the best received for nourishment,  
The bad cast forth as filthy excrement. 
The Hands, all Christians, to Charity.    

If Bat or Blade do threaten sudden harm  
To belly, breast, or leg, or head, or arm,,  
With dread-less dread the hand doth ward the blow,  
Taking herself her brethren's bleeding woe:  
Then, mid the shock of sacrilegious Arms  
That fill the world with blood and boisterous storms,  
Shall we not lendour helping hands to others,  
Whom Faith hath made more near and dear than Brothers?   

Nor can I see, where underneath the Sky 
The whole body the whole society of mankind that every one ought to stand in his own vocation.   
A man may find a juster Policy,  
Or truer Image of a calm Estate  
Exempt from Faction, Discord, and Debate,  
Then in th' harmonious Order that maintains  
Our Body's life, through Members mutual pains▪  
Where, one no sooner feels the least offence,  
But all the rest have of the same a sense.  
The Foot strives not to smell, the Nose to walk,  
The Tongue to combat, nor the Hand to talk:  
But, without troubling of their commonweal  
With mutinies, they (voluntary) deal  
Each in his Office and Heav'n-pointed place,  
Be't vile or honest, honoured or base,   

But, soft my Muse: what? wilt thou re-repeat  
The Little-Worlds admired Modulet?  
If twice or thrice one and the same we bring,  
'Tis tedious; how ever swect we sing.  
Therefore ashore: Mates, let our Anchor fall:  
Here blows no Wind: here are we Welcome all.  
Besides, consider and conceive (I pray)  
W'have rowed sufficient, for a Sabbath Day.   
THE END OF THE FIRST WEEK.   

Du BARTAS His SECOND WEEK, Disposed (After the proportion of his First) Into SEVEN DAYS: (viz.) 

THE 1. ADAM,  
THE 2. NOAH,  
THE 3. ABRAHAM,  
THE 4. DAVID.  
THE 5. ZEDECHIAS,  
THE 6. MESSIAH,  
THE 7. Th' ETERNAL SABBATH.   But, of the three last, Death (preventing Our Noble Poet) hath deprived us.  

Acceptam refero.    

TO THE MOST ROYAL PATTERN AND PATRON OF LEARNING AND RELIGION, THE HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE, JAMES  
(BY THE GRACE OF GOD)  
KING OF GREAT BRITAIN, FRANCE, & IRELAND: TR WE DEFENDER OF THE TRVE, ANCIENT, CHRISTIAN, CATHOLIC, AND APOSTOLIC FAITH etc.  

1. SONNET.  
From ZEAL- Land, sailing▪ with the Wind of Love,  
In the Bark LABOUR, stirred by Theorems,  
Laden with ●ope and with DESIRE t'approve,  
Bound for Cape- Comfort in the I'll of IHMMES;  
In such a Mist, we fell upon the Coast,  
That suddenly upon the Rock Neglect  
(Unhappily) our Ship and Goods we lost,  
Even in a Place that we did least suspect.  
So, Cast▪ away (my LIEGE) and quite undone,  
We Orphan-remnants of a wofefull Wrack,  
Here cast ashore to Thee for secure run:  
O Pity us, for our dear Parent's sake,  
Who Honoured Thee, both in his Life and Death,  
And to thy guard his POSTHUMES did bequeath.   

2. SONNET.  
These glorious WORKS, and grateful Monuments  
Built by Du BARTAS, on the ●yrenaeis  
(Your Royal Virtues to immortalize,  
And magnify your rich Munificence)  
Have proved so Chargeful to Trans-port from thence  
That our small Art's-st●ck hardly could suffice,  
To under go so great an Enterprise;  
But is even beggared with th' un-cast Expense.  
So that, except our Muse's SOVEREIGN  
With gracious Eye regard her spent Estate;  
And, with a hand of Princely Favour, deign  
To stay her fall (before it be too-late)  
She needs must fail: as (lending Light about)  
Self-spending Lamps, for lack of Oil, go-out.   
Voy (Sire) Saluste.   

To the Right Excellent, and most hopeful young Prince, HENRY, Prince of WALES.  

ANAGR.  
Henricus Stuartus.  
Hic strenuous ratus.   
THE TROPHIES, & MAGNIFICENCE.  

THe gracious Welcome You vouchsafed erewhile  
To my grave PIBRAC (though but meanly clad)  
Makes BARTAS (now, no Stranger in this Isle)  
More bold to come (though suited even as clad)  
To kiss Your highness Hand; and, with Your Smile,  
To Crown His Haps, and Our faint Hopes to glad  
(Whose weary long languish in our Style:  
For, in our Wants, our very Songs be sad).  
He brings, for Present to so great a PRINCE,  
A Princely GLASS, made first for SALOMON:  
The fit therefore for your EXCELLENCE  
As oft to look-in, as You look upon.  
Some Glasses flatter: othersom deform:  
This, ay, presents You a true PRINCE'S Form.   
Voy Sire Saluste.   

To the right Honourable, the Lord High Chancellor of England.  

ANAGR.  
Thomas Egerton.  
1. Gestat Honorem.  
2. Age met Honours.  
3. Honours met Age.   

THE LAW.  
MOst humbly  
Shows to thy Great Worthiness,  
Grave MODERATOR of our Britain laws)  
The Muse's Abject (subject of Distress)  
How, long Wrong-vext, in a not- Need- less Cause,  
Not at the king's-bench, but the Pennie-less)  
By one, I Want (the son of Simpleness);  
Unable, more to grease the scraping paws  
Of his Attorney Shift, or oil the jaw  
Of his (dear) Counsel, Sergeant Pensiveness;  
He is compelled, in forma pauperis,  
To Plead, himself (and show his (little) LAW)  
In the free Court of thy mild Courtesies.  
Please it thee therefore an Injunction grant,  
To stay the Suit between himself and Want.   
I. S.  
For Thee and Thine, for ay,  
So He and His shall pray.   

I. S. To the Right Honourable▪ the Earl of Salisbury, Lord high Threasurer of England.  

ANAGRAMMATA.  Robertus Cecilius. Robertus Cecillius. Cui ortus celebris: (vel) Cerebro sic Tullius. Robertus Comes Sari. Carus est Orbisermo.  

THE CAPTAINS.  
ARms yield to Arts: the Trumpet to the Tongue:  
Stout ajax Prise the wise Ulysses wann▪  
It will not seem then▪ that we have missung,  
To sing of CAPTAINS to a Counsel- man:  
Sith, without Counsel, Courage is but rage;  
Rude in Resolving, rash in Acting it:  
In which respect, those of the antic Age  
Feign PALLAS Goddess both of War and Wit:  
Therefore, to Thee, whose Wit so much hath stead  
(In War and Peace) our Princes and our STATE:  
To Thee (whose Virtue hath now Triumphed  
Of causeless Envy, and misgrounded Hate:  
To Thee (Witt's-WORTHIE) had it not been wrong,  
Not to have sounded my War- WORTHIE's Song?   
I. S.   

To the right Honourable, the Earl of Dorset (late) Lord High Threasurer of England.  

ANAGR.  
Sacvilus Comes Dorsetius.  
Vas lucis Esto decor Musis.  
Sacris Musis celo devotus.   

THE SCHISM.  
NOt without Error, and apparent Wrong  
To Thee, the Muses, and my Self (the most)  
Can I omit, amid this Noble Host  
Of learned Friends to Learning, and our Song,  
To muster Thee; thou, that hast loved so long  
The sacred Sisters, and (sad-sweetly most)  
Thyself hast sung (under a feigned Ghost)  
The tragik Falls of our Ambitious Throng.  
Therefore, in honour of Thy younger Art,  
And of the Muses, honoured by the same,  
And to express my Thankful thoughts (in part)  
This Tract I sacre unto SACKVIL's Name,  
No less renowned for Numbers of Thine Own,  
Than for thy love to Other's Labours shown.   
I. S.   

To the Right Honourable, the Earl of Pembroke.  

ANAGR.  
William Harbert.  
With liberal arm.   

THE DECAY.  
FAr be The Title of this tragik page  
From Thee (rare Module of Heröik minds)  
Whose noble Bounty all the Muses binds  
To honour Thee; but mine doth most engage:  
And yet, to Thee, and to Thy Patronage  
(For present lack of other grateful signs)  
Needs must I Offer these DECAYed lines  
(Lined with Horrors of ISAACIAN rage):  
Whearin, to keep decorum with my Theme,  
And with my Fortunes (ruined every-way)  
My Care-clogd Muse (still carried down the stream)  
In singing Other's, sighs her Own DECAY  
In style, in state, in hap, in hope, in all:  
For, Vines, unpropped, on the ground do craul.   
I. S.   

To the Right Honourable, the Earl of Essex, Earl Martial of England, etc.  
* ⁎ *  

EDEN.  
GReat Strong-bowe's heir, no self-conceipt doth cause  
Mine humble wings aspire to you, unknown:  
But, knowing this, that your renown alone  
(As th' Adamant, and as the Amber draws:  
That, hardest steel; this, easie-yeelding straws)  
Atterrs the stubborn, and attracts the prone:  
I have presumed (O Honours Paragon!)  
To grave your name (which all Iberia awes)  
Here on the forefront of this little Pile;  
T'invite the virtuous to a sacred feast,  
And chase-away the vicious and the vile;  
Or stop their loathsome envious tongues (at least).  
If I have erred, let my submission excuse:  
And deign to grace my yet ungraced Muse.   
I. S.   

To the same Right Honourable Earl of Essex, etc.  
* ⁎ *  

THE ARK.  
FRom th' ARK of Hope, still tossed in distress  
on th' angry Deluge of disastrous plight,  
My silly Dove, here takès her Second slight,  
To view (great Lord) thy World of worthiness:  
Vouchsafe (rare Plant of perfect Nobleness)  
Some branch of safety, whereon she may light;  
Some Olive leaf, that may presage me right  
A safe escape from this wet wilderness.  
So, when the Flood of my deep Cares shall fall,  
And I be landed on sweet Comfort's Hill;  
First, my pure thoughts to Heaven present I shall:  
Then, on thy favours meditating still▪  
My Zealous Muse shall daily strive to frame  
Some fairer Trophies to thy glorious Name.   
I. S.   

To the Right Honourable Charles Lord Mount-ioy, Earl of Devonshire.  
* ⁎ *  

THE IMPOSTTURE.  
Though in thy Brook (great Charles) there swim a Sw●  
Whose happy, sweet, immortal tunes can raise  
The virtuous Greatness of thy Noble praise  
To higher notes, than my faint numbers can:  
Yet, while thy Lucan doth in silence scan  
Unto himself new-meditated lays,  
To finish up his sad Pharsalian frays;  
Lend ear to BARTAS (now our Countryman).  
For, though his English be not yet so good  
(As Frenchmen hardly do our tongue attain)  
He h●peth yet to be well understood;  
The rather, if you (worthy Lord) shall deign  
His bashfulness a little to advance,  
With the mild favours of your countenance.   
I. S.   

To the same Right Honourable Earl of Devonshire, etc.  
* ⁎ *  

THE HANDICRAFTS.  
THe Mome- free Passage, that my Muse hath found  
Under Safeconduct of thy Patronage,  
Through carping Censures of this curious Age  
(Where high conceited happy wits abound)  
Makes her presume (O Mountioy, most renowned!)  
To bear again, in her re-Pilgrimage,  
The noble Passport of thy Tutelage,  
To salve her still from sullen envies wound.  
Let thy (true-Eagle) Sun-beholding Eyes  
Glance on our Glowe-worm's scarce discerned spark:  
And while wit's towering Falcons touch the skies,  
Observe a while our tender-imped Lark.  
Such sparks may flame, & such light Larks may fly  
A higher pitch, than drosse-full Vanity.   
I. S.   

To the same Right Honourable Earl of Devonshire, etc.  
* ⁎ *  

THE COLONIES.  
REnowned Scipio, though thine Ennius  
Still merit best the best of thy regard:  
Though (worthily) his Trumpet be preferred  
To sound the Triumphs thou hast won for us;  
Yet, sith one pen, however plenteous  
(Were it the Mantuan or Meonian Bard)  
Sufficeth not to give Fame's full Reward  
To thy great Deeds, admired and glorious:  
Though He, thy Homer be; Thou, his Achilles;  
Both by each other Happy: Thou (herein)  
T'have such a Trump as his immortal Quill-is;  
He such a Theme as thy High Virtues been:  
It shall (Great Worthy) no Dis-Honour be  
That (English) Bartas hath Sung (thrice) to thee.   
I. S.   

To the Honourable, learned, and religious Gentleman, Sir Peter Young of S●ton, Knight, Almoner of Scotland, and one of his majesties Privy Council there.  

THE COLUMNS.  
YOUNG, Ancient Servant of our Sovereign Lord,  
Grave Master of thy master's minor-years;  
Whose Prudence and whose Piety appears  
In his Perfection, which doth Thine record:  
Whose loyal Truth, His royal Trusts approve  
By oft Embassage to the greatest Peers:  
Whose Duty and Devotion He endears  
With present Favours of his Princely Love:  
In Honour of these Honour's manifold,  
And for memorial of Thy kind regard  
Of these poor Orfanes (pined in Hopeless cold)  
Accept these Thanks for thy firm loves reward;  
Wherein (so heavens prosper what we have sung)  
Through every Age thou shalt live ever YOUNG.   
I. S.   

To the right virtuous (favourer of Virtue, furtherer of Learning) Sir Thomas Smith (of Lonaon) Knight, (late) Lord Ambassador for his Majesty, to the Emperor of Russia.  

jonas.  
TO thee, long tossed in a fell Storm of State;  
Cast out, and swallowed in a Gulf of Death,  
On false-suspect of thine un-spotted Faith,  
And flying from thy (Heav'n-giuen) Charge of late:  
For much resemblance of thy troublous Fate  
(Much like in Case to that he suffereth,  
Though (in effect) thy Cause far differeth)  
I send my jonas; to congratulate  
Thy (happy) Rescue, and thy holy Trial:  
Where▪ by (as Fire doth purify the Gold)  
Thy Loyalty is more notorious Loyal,  
And worthy th' Honours which thou now dost hold.  
Thus, virtue's Palms, oppressed, mount the more:  
And Spices, bruised, smell sweeter than before.   
I. S.   

To the most Honourable, learned, and religious Gent. Mr. Anthony Bacone.  
* ⁎ *  

THE FURIES'.  
BOund by thy Bounty, and mine own Desire,  
To tender still new Tribute of my zeal  
To Thee, whose favour did the first repeal  
My proto-BARTAS from Self-doomed Fire:  
Having new-tuned to du BARTAS Lyre  
These tragik murmurs of His FURIES fell,  
Which (with the Horrors of an Earthly Hell)  
The sin cursed life of wretched Mortals tyre:  
To whom, but Thee, should I present the same?  
Sith, by the breath of Thine encouragement,  
My sacred fury thou didst first inflame  
To prosecute This sacred Argument.  
Such as it is, accept it, as a sign  
Of Thankful Love, from Him, whose all is Thine.   
I. S.   

To the same most Honourarable Gentleman, Master Anthony Bacone.  
* ⁎ *  

BABYLON.  
THy friendly censure of my first essay  
(Du Bartas FURIES', and his BABYLON)  
My faint Endeavours hath so cheered on,  
That Both His WEEKS are also Ours, today.  
Thy gracious hand, repriuing from decay  
My fameles Name, doomed to Oblivion,  
Hath so stirr'd-vp my soul's devotion,  
That in my Songs thy Name shall live for ay.  
Thy mild acceptance of my simple mite  
(Pattern and Patron of all virtuous drifts)  
Doth here again my grateful Muse invite  
To resalute thee with mine humble gifts;  
Indeed, no Gifts, but Debts to Thy desert:  
To whom I own my hand, my head, my hart.   
I. S.   

ADAM. The FIRST DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;  
Containing  

1. EDEN,  
2. The IMPOSTURE,  
3. The FURIES,  
4. The HANDICRAFTS.   

Acceptam refero.    


יהוה   

EDEN. THE I. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Our Poet, first, doth God's assistance seek:  
The Scope and Subject of his Second Week.  
Adam in Eden: eden's beauties rare;  
A real Place, not now discerned where:  
The Tree of Life; and Knowledge-Tree withal:  
Knowledge of Man, before and since his Fall:  
His exercise, and excellent Delights,  
In's Innocence: of Dreams and Ghostly Sights:  
Nice Questions curbed: Death, Sins effect; whereby  
Man (else Immortal) mortal now, must Dy.   

GReat God, which hast this World's Birth made me see, 
Invocation of the true God for assistance in Description of the Infancy & first estate of the World.   
Unfold his Cradle, show his Infancy:  
Walk thou, my Spirit, through all the flowering alleiss  
Of that sweet Garden, where through winding valleys  
Four lively floods crawled: tell me what misdeed  
Banished both eden's, Adam and his seed:  
Tell who (immortal) mortalizing, brought-us  
The Balm from Heaven which hoped health hath wrought-us:  
Grant me the story of thy Church to sing,  
And gests of Kings: Let me this total bring  
From thy first Sabbaoth to his fatal tomb,  
My style extending to the Day of Doom.  
Lord, I acknowledge and confess, before,  
This Ocean hath no bottom, nor no shore;  
But (sacred Pilot) thou canst safely steer  
My venturous Pinnace to her wished Peer;  
Where once arrived, all dropping wet I will  
Extol thy favours, and my vows fulfil.   

And gracious Guide, which dost all grace infuse, 
The Translator, considering his own weakness and insufficiency for a Work so rare & excellent, as all the World hath worthily admired: craveth also the assistance of the Highest, that (at least) his endeavour may both stir-up some abler Spirit to undertake this Task; and also provoke all other good Wits to take in hand some holy Argument: and withal, that himself may be for ever sincerely affected, and (as it were) thoroughly seasoned with the sweet relish of these sacred and religious discourses. Simile.   
Since it hath pleased thee task my tardy Muse  
With these high Themes, that through mine Artless Pen  
This holy Lamp may light my Countrymen:  
Ah, teach my hand, touch mine unlearned lips;  
Lest, as the Earth's gross body doth Eclipse  
Bright Cynthia's beams, when it is interposed  
Twixt her and Phoebus: so mine ill-disposed,  
Dark, gloomy Ignorance, obscure the rays  
Of this divine Sun of these learned days.  
O! furnish me with an un-vulgar style,  
That I by this may we an our wanton I'll  
From Ovid's heirs, and their un-hallowed spell  
Heer charming senses, chayning souls in Hell.  
Let this provoke our modern Wits to sacre  
Their wondrous gifts to honour thee, their Maker:  
That our mysterious ELFIN Oracle,  
Deep, moral, grave, Inventions miracle;  
My deer sweet DANIEL, sharp-conceipted, brief,  
Civil, sententious, for pure accents chief:  
And our new NASO, that so passionate's  
Th' heroic sighs of lovesick Potentates:  
May change their subject, and advance their wings  
Up to these higher and more holy things.  
And if (sufficient rich in self-inuention)  
They scorn (as I) to live of Stranger's Pension,  
Let them devise new Weeks, new works, new ways  
To celebrate the supreme Prince of praise.  
And let not me (good Lord) be like the Lead  
Which to some City from some Conduit-head  
Brings wholesome water, yet (self-wanting sense)  
Itself receives no drop of comfort thence:  
But rather, as the thorough-seasoned But  
Wherein the tears of death-prest Grapes are put, 
Simile.   
Retains (long after all the wine is spent)  
Within itself the liquors lively sent:  
Let me still savour of these sacred sweets  
Till Death fold-up mine earth in earthen sheets;  
Lest, my young lays, now prone to preach thy glory  
To BRUTUS' heirs, blush at mine elder Story.   

GOD (Supreme Lord) committed not alone 
Narration.   
Tour Father Adam, this inferior Throne; 
God, having Created and established Man Lord of the Crea tures, lodgeth him in the fair Garden of Eden.   
Ranging beneath his rule the scaly Nation  
That in the Ocean have their habitation:  
Those that in horror of the Deserts lurk:  
And those that capering in the Welk in work;  
But also chose him for a happy Seat  
A climate temperate both for cold and heat,  
Which dainty Flora paveth sumptuously  
With flowery VER'S inammeld tapestry;  
Pomona pranks with fruits, whose taste excels;  
And Zephyr fills with Musk and Amber smells:  
Where God himself (as Gardner) treads the allies,  
With Trees and Corn covers the hills and valleys,  
Summons sweet sleep with noise of hundred Brooks,  
And Sun-proof Arbours makes in sundry nooks:  
He plants, he proins, he pares, he trimmeth round  
Th' ever green beauties of a fruitful ground;  
Heer-there the course of th' holy Lakes he leads,  
With thousand Dies he motleys all the meads.   

Ye Pagan Poets, that audaciously  
Have sought to dark the ever-Memory 
The Elysian Fields of the Heathen Poets, are but Dreams.   
Of God's great works; from henceforth still be dum  
Your fabled praises of Elysium,  
Which by this goodly module you have wrought,  
Through deaf tradition, that your Fathers taught;  
For, the Almighty made his blissful Bowers  
Better indeed, than you have feigned yours. 
A large Description of the rich beauties of the Garden of Eden or earthly Paradise.    

For, should I say that still, with smiling face,  
Th' all clasping heavens beheld this happy place;  
That honey sweet, from hollow rocks did drain;  
That fostering milk flowed up and down the Plain;  
That sweet as Roses smelled th' ill-savory Rew:  
That in all soils, all seasons, all things grew:  
That still there dangled on the selfsame treen  
A thousand fruits, nor over-ripe, nor green:  
That egrest fruits, and bitterest herbs did mock  
Madera Sugars, and the Apricock;  
Yielding more wholesome food than all the messes,  
That now taste-curious, wanton Plenty dresses,  
Disguising (in a thousand costly dishes)  
The various store of dainty Fowls and Fishes,  
Which far and near we seek by Land and Seas,  
More to provoke then hunger to appease;   

Or should I say, each morning, on the ground 
Excellent estate of the Earth & especially of Eden before Adam's fall.   
Not common dew, but Manna did abound:  
That never guttur gorging dirty muds,  
Defiled the crystal of smooth-sliding floods,  
Whose waters past, in pleasant taste, the drink  
That now in Candia decks Cerathus brink:  
That shady Groves of noble Palmtree sprays,  
Of amorous Myrtles, and immortal Bays  
Never vn-leaved; but evermore their new  
Self-arching arms in thousand Arbours grew:  
Where thousand sorts of birds, both night and day,  
Did bill and woe, and hop about, and play;  
And marrying their sweet tunes to th' Angels lays,  
Sung Adam's bliss and their great Maker's praise.  
For then, the Crows, night Rav'ns, and Owlets noise  
Was like the Nightingales sweet-tuned voice;  
And Nightingales sung like divine Arion,  
Like Thracian Orpheus, Linus, and Amphion.   

Th' air's daughter Echo, haunting woods among,  
A blab that will not (cannot) keep her tongue,  
Who never asks, but only answers all,  
Who lets not any her in vain to call;  
She bore her part, and full of curious skill,  
They ceasing sung, they singing ceased still:  
There Music reigned and ever on the Plain,  
A sweet sound raised the dead-live voice again.   

If there I say the Sun (the Seasons stinter) 
All discommodities far from Eden before Sin   
Made no hot Summer, nor no hoary Winter,  
But lovely VER kept still in lively lustre  
The fragrant Valleys smiling Meads and Pasture:  
That boisterous Adam's body did not shrink  
For Northern winds, nor for the Southrens wink:  
But Zephyr did sweet musky sighs afford,  
Which breathing through the Garden of the Lord,  
Gave bodies vigour, verdure to the field,  
That verdure flowers, those flowers sweet savour yield:  
That Day did gladly lend his sister, Night,  
For half her moisture, half his shining Light:  
That never hail did Harvest prejudice,  
That never frost, nor snow, nor slipperyice  
The fields en-aged: nor any stormy stowr  
Dismounted Mountains, nor no violent shower  
Poverisht the Land, which frankly did produce  
All fruitful vapours for delight and use:  
I think I lie not, rather I confess 
Eden's principal, and most excellent beauty.   
My stammering Muses poor unlearnedness.  
If in two words thou wilt her praise comprise,  
Say't was the type of th' upper Paradise;  
Where Adam had (O wondrous strange!) discourse  
With God himself, with Angel's intercourse.   

Yet (overcurious) question not the site, 
Of the place where the Garden of Eden was situate.   
Where God did plant this Garden of delight:  
Whether beneath the Equinoctial line,  
Or on a Mountain near Latona's shine,  
Nigh Babylon, or in the radiant East.  
Humble content thee that thou knowst (at least)  
That, that rare, plenteous, pleasant, happy thing  
Whereof th' Almighty made our Grandsire King,  
Was a choice soil, through which did rolling slide  
Swift Ghion Pishon, and rich Tigris tide,  
And that fair stream whose silver waves do kiss  
The Monarch Towers of proud Semiramis.   

Now, if that (roaming round about the earth) 
It was a certain material Place: howsoe●●● now a-daies, we can exactly observe neither the Circuit, nor extent of it.   
Thou find no place that answers now in worth  
This beauteous place, nor Country that can show  
Where nowadays those noted floods do flow:  
Include not all within this Close confined,  
That labouring Neptune's liquid Belt doth bind.  
A certain place it was (now sought in vain)  
Where set by grace, for sin removed again,  
Our Elders were: whereof the thunder-darter  
Made a bright Sword the gate, an Angel Porter.   

Nor think that Moses paints fantastik-wise 
It was no allegorical nor mystical Garden.   
A mystic tale of feigned Paradise:  
(IT was a true Garden, happy Plenty's horn,  
And seat of graces) lest thou make (forlorn)  
An Ideall Adam's food fantastical,  
His sin supposed, his pain Poetical:  
Such Allegories serve for shelter fit  
To curious Idiots of erroneous wit,  
And chief then, when reading Histories,  
Seeking the spirit, they do the body lose.   

But if thou list to guess by likelihood, 
It was defaced by the general Flood.   
Think that the wreakful nature-drowning flood  
Spared not this beauteous place, which foremost saw  
The first foul breach of God's eternal law:  
Think that the most part of the plants it pulled,  
And of the sweetest flowers the spirits dulled,  
spoiled the fair Gardens, made the fat fields lean,  
And changed (perchance) the river's channel clean: 
Why the Situation of the Garden of Eden is now hard to find.   
And think, that Time (whose slippery wheel doth play  
In human causes with in constant sway,  
Who exiles, altars, and disguises words)  
Hath now transformed the names of all these fords.  
For, as through sin we lost that place, I fear  
(Forgetful) we have lost the knowledge where  
IT was situate, and of the sugared dainties  
Wherewith God fed us in those sacred plenties.   

Now of the Trees wherewith th' immortal Power 
Of the two Trees serving as Sacraments to Adam.   
Adorned the quarters of that blissful Bower,  
All served the mouth, save two sustained the mind:  
All served for food, save two for seals assigned.   

God gave the first, for honourable style, 
Whereof the Tree of Life was a Sacrament.   
The tree of Life: true name; (alas the while!)  
Not for th' effect it had, but should have kept,  
If Man from duty never had mis-stept.  
For, as the air of those fresh dales and hills  
Preserved him from Epidemik ills,  
This fruit had ever-calmed all insurrections,  
All civil quarrels of the cross complexions;  
Had barred the passage of twice childish age,  
And evermore excluded all the rage  
Of painful griefs, whose swift-slowe posting-pase  
At first or last our dying life doth chase.   

Strong counter-bane! O sacred Plant divine! 
The excellency of that Tree.   
What metal, stone▪ stalk, fruit, flower, root, or ryne,  
Shall I presume in these rude rhymes to suit 
I   
Unto thy wondrous World-adorning Fruit?  
The rarest Simples that our fields present-us  
Heal but one hurt, and healing too torments us:  
And with the torment, lingering our relief  
Our bags of gold void, yet our bulks of grief.  
But thy rare fruits hid power admired most,  
Salveth all sores, sans pain, delay, or cost:  
Or rather, man from yawning Death to stay,  
Thou didst not cure, but keep all ills away.   

O holy, peer-less, rich preservative! 
We cannot say what Tree it was.   
Whether wert thou the strange restorative  
That suddenly did age with youth repair,  
And made old Aeson younger than his heir?  
Or holy Nectar, that in heavenly bowers,  
Eternally self-pouring Hebé pours?  
Or blessed Ambrosia (God's immortal fare)?  
Or else the rich fruit of the Garden rare,  
Where, for three Ladies (as assured guard)  
A fire-armed Dragon day and night did ward?  
Or precious Moly, which Ioues Pursuivan  
Wing-footed Hermes brought to th' Ithacan?  
Or else Nepenthé, enemy to sadness,  
Repelling sorrows, and repealing gladness?  
Or Mummy? or Elixir) that excels  
Save men and Angels every creature else)?  
No, none of these: these are but forgeries,  
But toys, but tales, but dreams, deceits, and lies:  
But thou art true, although our shallow sense  
May honour more, then sound, thine Excellence.   

The Tree of Knowledge, th' other Tree behight: 
Of the Tree of. Knowledge of Good and Evil.   
Not, that itselfly had such special might,  
As men's dull wits could whet and sharpen so  
That in a moment they might all things know.  
IT was a sure pledge, a sacred s●gne, and seal;  
Which, being ta'en, should to light man reveal  
What odds there is, between still peace, and strife;  
God's wrath, and love; dread death, and dearest life▪  
Solace, and sorrow; guile, and innocence;  
Rebellious pride, and humble obedience.   

For, God had not deprived that primer season 
Of the excellence of man's knowledge before Sin.   
The sacred lamp and light of learned Reason:  
Mankind was then a thousand fold more wise  
Than now: blind Error ●ad not bleared his eyes,  
With mists which make th' Athenian Sage suppose  
That nought he knows, save this, that nought he knows.  
That even light Pir●●o●s wavering fantasies  
Reave him the skill his vnskill to agnize.  
And th' Abderite, within a Well obscure,  
As deep as dark, the Truth of things immure.   

He (happy) knew the Good by th' use of it: 
How he knew good and evil before sin   
He knew the Bad, but not by proof as yet:  
But as they say of great Hippocrates,  
Who (though his limbs were numbed with no excess,  
Nor stop this throat, nor vexed his fantasy)  
Knew the cold Cramp, th' Angine, and Lunacy,  
And hundred els-pains, whence in lusty flower  
He lived exempt, a hundred years and four.  
Or like the pure Heav'n-prompted Prophets rather,  
Whose sight so clearly future things did gather,  
Because the World's Soul in their soul ensealed  
The holy stamp of secrets most concealed.   

But our now- knowledge hath, for tedious train, 
O● man's knowledge sinc● his Fall.   
A drooping life, and over-racked brain,  
A face forlorn, a sad and sullen fashion▪  
A rest-less toil, and Cares self-pining passion.  
Knowledge was then even the soul's soul for light,  
The spirits calm Port, and Lantern shining bright  
To strait steptfeets clear knowledge; not confused:  
Not sour, but sweet: not gotten, but infused.   

Now heavens eternal allforeseeing King, 
Why the Lord put man in the Garden of Eden   
Who never rashly ordereth anything,  
Thought good, that man (having yet spirits sound-stated)  
Should dwell elsewhere then where he was created;  
That he might know, he did not hold this place  
By Nature's right, but by mere gift and Grace;  
That he should never taste fruits un-permitted,  
But keep the sacred Pledge to him committed,  
And dress that Park, which God, without all term,  
On these conditions gave him, as in farm.   

God would, that (void of painful labour) he 
Of his exercise there.   
Should live in Eden; but not idly:  
For, Idleness pure Innocence subverts,  
Defiles our body, and our soul perverts:  
Yea, soberest men it makes delicious,  
To virtue dull, to vice in genius.  
But that first travel had no sympathy  
With our since-travails wretched cruelty,  
Distilling sweat, and panting wanting wind,  
Which was a scourge for Adam's sin assigned.   

For, Eden's earth was then so fertile fat, 
4. Comparisons.   
That he made only sweet Essays, in that,  
Of skilful industry, and naked wrought  
More for delight, then for the gain he sought.  
In brief, it was a pleasant exercise,  
A labour liked, a pain much like the guise  
Of cunning dancers; who▪ although they skip, 
●.   
Run, caper, vault, traverse, and turn, and trip,  
From Morn till Even, at night again full merry,  
Renew their dance, of dancing never weary.  
Or else of Hunters, that with happy luck 
2.   
Rousing betimes some often breathed Buck,  
Or goodly Stag, their yelping Hounds uncouple,  
Wind loud their horns, their whoops, & hallows double  
Spur-on and spare not, following their desire,  
Themselves un-weary, though their Hackneis' tire.   

But, for in th' end of all their jollity,  
there's found much stiffness, sweat and vanity;  
I rather match it to the pleasing pain  
Of Angels pure, who ever sloth disdain: 
3.   
Or to the Sun's calm course, who pain-less ay 
4.   
About the welkin posteth night and day.   

Doubtless, when Adam saw our common air, 
Adam admireth the beauties of the World in general.   
He did admire the mansion rich and fair  
Of his Successors▪ For, frosts keenly cold  
The shady locks of Forests had not pulled:  
Heaven had not thundered on our heads as yet,  
Nor given the earth her sad Divorces Writ.   

But when he once had entered Paradise, 
But most especially of the Garden of Eden.   
The remnant world he justly did despise:  
[Much like a Boor far in the Country born,  
Who, never having seen but Kine and Corn,  
Oxen, and Sheep, and homely Hamlets thatched  
(Which, fond, he counts as Kingdoms; hardly matched)  
When afterward he happens to behold  
Our wealthy London's wonders manifold, 
In this comparison my Author setteth down the famous City of Paris: but I have presumed to apply it to our own City of London▪ that it might be more familiar to my mere English and untravaild Readers.   
The silly peasant thinks himself to b●  
In a new World; and gazing greedily,  
One while he Art-less, all the Arts admires,  
Then the fair Temples, and their top-less spires,  
Their firm foundations, and the massy pride  
Of all their sacred ornaments beside:  
Anon he wonders at the differing graces,  
Tongues, gests, attires, the fashions and the faces,  
Of busie-buzzing swarms, which still he meets  
Ebbing and flowing over all the streets;  
Then at the signs, the shops, the weights, the measures,  
The handicrafts, the rumours, trades, and treasures.  
But of all sights, none seems him yet more strange  
Than the rare, beauteous, stately, rich Exchange.  
Another while he maruails at the Thames,  
Which seems to bear huge mountains on her streams:  
Then at the fa●-built Bridge; which he doth judge  
More like a tradefull City than a Bridge;  
And glancing thence along the Northern shore,  
That princely prospect doth amaze him more.]   

For in that Garden man delighted so,  
That rapt he witted not if he waked or no;  
If he beheld a true thing or a fable;  
Or Earth, or Heaven: all more than admirable.  
For such excess his ecstasy was small;  
Not having spirit enough to muse withal,  
He wished him bundred-fold redoubled senses,  
The more to taste so rare sweet excellences;  
Not knowing, whether nose, or ears, or eyes,  
Smelled, heard, or saw, more savours, sounds, or Dyes.   

But, Adam's best and supreme delectation, 
Happiness of the first Man before his fall.   
Was th' often haunt and holy conversation  
His soul and body had so many ways  
With God, who lightened Eden with his Rays.  
For spirits, by faith religiously refined,  
'Twixt God and man retain a middle kind:  
And (umpires) mortal to th' immortal join;  
And th' infinite in narrow clay confine.   

Sometimes by you, O you all-faining Dreams,  
We gain this good; but not when Bacchus steams 
Of the visions of the spirit.   
And glutton vapours ouer-flowe the Brain,  
And drown our spirits, presenting fancies vain:  
Nor when pale Phlegm, or Saffron-coloured Choler,  
In feeble stomachs belch with divers dolour,  
And print upon our Understandings Tables;  
That, Water-wracks; this other, flamefull fables:  
Nor when the Spirit of lies our spirits deceives,  
And guileful visions in our fancy leaves:  
Nor when the pencil of Cares over-deep  
Our day-bred thoughts depainteth in our sleep.  
But when no more the souls chief faculties,  
Are spersed to sereve the body many ways,  
When all self-uned, free from days disturber,  
Through such sweet Trance, she finds a quiet harbour;  
Where some in riddles, some more plain expressed,  
She sees things future, in th' Almighty's breast.   

And yet far higher is this holy Fit, 
Of the certainty of the visions of the spirit, the body being at rest.   
When (not from flesh) but from flesh-cares, acquit)  
The wakeful soul itself assembling so,  
All selfly dies; while that the body though  
lives motionless: for, sanctified wholly,  
It takes th' impression of God's Signet Solely;  
And in his sacred Crystal Map, doth see  
heavens Oracles, and Angels glorious glee:  
Made more than spirit, Now, Morrow, Yesterday,  
To it, all one, are all as present aye.  
And though it seem not (when the dream's expired)  
Like that it was; yet is it much admired  
Of rarest men, and shines among them bright  
Like glistering Stars through gloomy shades of night.   

But above all, that's the divinest Trance, 
Of divine & extraordinary visions and Revelations.   
When the soul's eye beholds God's countenance;  
When mouth to mouth familiarly he deals,  
And in our face his drad-sweet face he seals.  
As when S. Paul, on his dear Master's wings,  
Was rapt alive up to th' eternal things:  
And he that whilom for the chosen flock,  
Made walls of waters, waters of a rock.   

O sacred flight! sweet rape! loves sovereign bliss! 
Of the excellency of such visions and Revelations   
Which very loves dear lips dost make us kiss:  
Hymen, of Manna, and of Mel compact,  
Which for a time dost Heaven with earth contract:  
Fire, that in Limbeck of pure thoughts divine  
Dost purge our thoughts, and our dull earth refine:  
And mounting us to Heaven, un-moving hence,  
Man (in a trice) in God dost quintessence:  
O! mad'st thou man divine in habitude,  
As for a space; O sweetest solitude,  
Thy bliss were equal with that happy Rest  
Which after death shall make us ever-blessed.   

Now, I believe that in this later guise 
What manner of visions the first Man had in Eden.   
Man did converse in Pleasant Paradise  
With heavens great Architect, and (happy) there  
His body saw (or body as it were)  
Gloriously compassed with the blessed Legions  
That reign above the azure-spangled Regions.   

ADAM, quoth He, the beauties manifold 
Man is put in possession of Eden, under a condition   
That in this Eden thou dost here behold,  
Are all thine, only: enter (sacred race)  
Come, take possession of this wealthy place,  
The Earth's sole glory: take (dear son) to thee,  
This farms demains, leave the Chief right to me;  
And th' only Rent that of it I reserve, is  
One Trees fair fruit, to show thy suit and service:  
Be thou the Liege, and I Lord Paramount,  
I'll not exact hard fines (as men shall wont).  
For sign of Homage, and for seal of Faith,  
Of all the profits this Possession hath,  
I only ask one Tree; whose fruit I will  
For Sacrament shall stand of Good and iii.  
Take all the rest, I bid thee: but I vow  
By th' unnamed name, whereto all knees do bow,  
And by the keen Darts of my kindled Ire  
(More fiercely burning than consuming fire)  
That of the Fruit of Knowledge if thou feed,  
Death, dreadful Death shall plague Thee and thy Seed.  
If then, the happy state thou hold'st of me,  
My holy mildness, nor high Majesty,  
If faith nor Honour curb thy bold ambition,  
Yet weigh thyself, and thy own Seeds condition.   

Most mighty Lord (quoth Adam) here I tender 
Before Sin, Man was an humble and zealous servant of God.   
All thanks I can, not all I should thee render,  
For all thy liberal favours, far surmounting  
My heart's conceit, much more my tongues recounting.  
At thy command, I would with boisterous shock  
Go run myself against the hardest rock:  
Or cast me head long from some Mountain steep,  
Down to the whirling bottom of the Deep:  
Yea, at thy beck, I would not spare the life  
Of my dear Phoenix, sister-daughter-wife:  
Obeying thee, I find the things impossible,  
Cruel, and painful; pleasant, kind, and possible.   

But since thy first Law doth more grace afford  
Unto the Subject, than the sovereign Lord:  
Since (bounteous Prince) on me and my Descent,  
Thou dost impose no other tax, nor Rent,  
But one sole Precept, of most just condition  
(No Precept neither, but a Prohibition);  
And since (good God) of all the Fruits in EDEN  
There's but one Apple that I am forbidden,  
Even only that which bitter Death doth threat,  
(Better, perhaps, to look on then to eat)  
I honour in my soul, and humbly kiss  
Thy just Edict (as Author of my bliss):  
Which, once transgressed, deserves the rigour rather  
Of sharpest judge, than mildness of a Father.   

The Firmament shall retrograde his course,  
Swift Euphrates go hide him in his source,  
Firm Mountains skip like Lambs; beneath the Deep  
Eagles shall dive; Whales in the air shall keep,  
Yer I presume, with finger's ends to touch  
(Much less with lips) the Fruit forbade so much.   

Thus, yet in league with Heaven and Earth, he lives; 
Description of the beauties of the Garden of Eden.   
Enjoying all the Goods th' Almighty gives:  
And, yet not treading Sins false mazy measures,  
Sails on smooth surges of a Sea of pleasures;   

Here, underneath a fragrant Hedge reposes,  
Full of all kinds of sweet all-coloured Roses,  
Which (one would think) the Angels daily dress  
In true love-knots, triangles, lozenges.   

Anon he walketh in a level lane 
The Orchard.   
On either side beset with shady Plane,  
Whose arched boughs, for Freeze and Cornich bear  
Thick Groves, to shield from future change of air:  
Then in a path impaled, in pleasant wise,  
With sharp-sweet Orange, Limon, Citron trees;  
Whose levy twigs, that intricately tangle,  
Seem painted walls whereon true fruits do dangle.   

Now in a plenteous Orchard planted rare  
With un-graft trees, in chequer, round and square:  
Whose goodly fruits so on his will do wait,  
That plucking one, fewer ready strait:  
And having tasted all (with due satiety)  
Finds all one goodness, but in taste variety.   

Anon he stalketh with an easy stride, 
The Brooks.   
By some clear River's lilly-paved side,  
Whose sand's pure gold, whose pebbles precious Gems,  
And liquid silver all the curling streams:  
Whose chiding murmur, mazing in and out,  
With Crystal cisterns moats a mead about:  
And th' art-less Bridges, overthwart this Torrent,  
Are rocks self-arched by the eating current: 
The Bridges.   
Or loving Palms, whose lusty Females (willing  
Their marrow-boyling loves to be fulfilling,  
And reach their Husband-trees on th' other banks)  
Bow their stiff backs, and serve for passing-planks.   

Then in a goodly Garden's all is smooth, 
The Alleiss, beds and Borders.   
Where prodig Nature sets abroad her booth  
Of richest beauties, where each bed and border  
Is like pied posies divers dies and order.   

Now, far from noise, he creepeth covertly  
Into a Cave of kindly Porphyry, 
The Caves.   
Which, rock-fall'nspowts, congealed by colder air,  
Seem with smooth antics to have sceled fair:  
There laid at ease, a cubit from the ground,  
Upon a jaspir fringed with yeie round,  
Purfled with veins, thick thrummed with mossy Beaver,  
He falls asleep fast by a silent River;  
Whose captive streams, through crooked pipes still rushing, 
The pleasant murmur of the Waters.   
Make sweeter Music with their gentle gushing,  
Then now at Tivoli, th' Hydrantik Brawl▪  
Of rich Ferrara's stately Cardinal:  
Or Ctesibegrave; s rare engines, framed there  
Where as they made of Ibis, jupiter.   

Musing▪ anon through crooked Walks he wanders, 
The Maze.   
Round-winding rings, and intricate Meanders,  
False-guiding paths, doubtful beguiling strays,  
And right-wrong errors of an end-less Maze:  
Not simply hedged with a single border  
Of Rosenoary, cutout with curious order,  
In Satyrs, Centaurs, Whales, and half-men-Horses,  
And thousand other counterfeited corpses:  
But with true Beasts, fast in the ground still sticking, 
The wonderful Plants.   
Feeding on grass, and th' airy moisture licking:  
Such as those Bonarets, in Scythia bred 
The Bonarets.   
Of slender seeds, and with green fodder fed;  
Although their bodies, noses, mouths, and eyes,  
Of new-yeand Lambs have full the form and guise;  
And should be very Lambs▪ save that (for foot)  
Within the ground, they fix a living root,  
Which at their navel grows, and dies that day  
That they have browsed the neighbour grass away.   

O wondrous virtue of God only good!  
The Beast hath root, the Plant hath flesh & blood:  
The nimble Plant can turn it to and fro;  
The numbed Beast can neither stir norgoe:  
The Plant is leaf-less, branch-less, void of fruit;  
The Beast is lust-less, sex-less, fire-less, mute:  
The Plant with Plants his hungry paunch doth feed;  
Th' admired Beast is sown a slender seed.   

Then up and down a Forest thick he paseth; 
The Trees of the Garden of Eden   
Which selfly opening in his presence, baseth  
Her trembling tresses never-vading spring,  
For humble homage to her mighty King:  
Where thousand Trees, waving with gentle puffs  
Their plumy tops, sweep the celestial roofs:  
Yet envying all the massy Cerbas fame, 
The Cerbas.   
Sith fifty paces can but clasp the same.   

There springs the Shrub three foot above the grass, 
The Balm.   
Which fears the keen edge of the Curtelace;  
Whereof the rich Egyptian so endears  
Root, bark, and fruit, and much-much more the tears.   

There lives the Sea-oake, in a little shell;  
There grows untilled the ruddy Cochenel: 
The Sea-Oak. The Cochenel. The Chermez.   
And there the Chermez, which on each side Arms  
With pointed prickles all his precious arms:  
Rich Trees, and fruitful in those Worms of Price,  
Which pressed, yield a crimsin-coloured juice,  
Whence thousand Lambs are died so deep in grain  
That their own Mothers know them not again.   

There mounts the Melt, which serves in Mexico  
For weapon, wood, needle, and thread (to sow) 
The admirable Melt.   
Brick, honey, sugar, sucket, balm, and wine,  
Parchment, perfume, apparel, cord, and line:  
His wood for fire, his harder leaves are fit  
For thousand uses of inventive wit.  
Sometimes thereon they grave their holy things,  
Laws, lauds of Idols, and the gests of Kings:  
Sometimes conjoined by a cunning hand  
Upon their roofs for rows of tile they stand:  
Sometimes they twine them into equal threads;  
Small ends make needles; greater, arrow-heads:  
His upper sap the sting of Serpentscutes:  
His new-sprung bud a rare Conserve endures:  
His burned stalks, with strong fumosities  
Of piercing vapours, purge the French disease:  
And they extract, from liquor of his feet,  
Sharpevinegar, pure honey, sugar sweet.   

There quakes the Plant, which in Pudefetan  
Is called the Shamefaced: for, ashamed of man, 
The shamefaced   
If towards it one do approach too much,  
It shrinks his boughs, to shun our hateful touch;  
As if it had a soul, a sense, and sight,  
Subject to shame, fear, sorrow and despite.   

And there, that Tree from off whose trembling top  
Both swimming shoals, and flying troops do drop: 
A Tree whose▪ leaves transform to fowl and fish.   
I mean the tree now in juturna growing,  
Whose leaves dispersed by Zephyr's wanton blowing,  
Are metamorphosed both in form and matter,  
On land to Fowls, to Fishes in the Water.   

But seest thou not (dear Muse) thou treadest the same 
A modest correction of our Poet unwilling to wade farther in curious search of hidden secrets:   
Too-curious path, thou dost in others blame?  
And strivest in vain to paint This Work so choice,  
The which no human spirit, nor hand, nor voice,  
Can once conceive, less portray, least express,  
All overwhelmed in gulfs so bottomless.  
Who (matching Art with Nature) likeneth  
Our grounds to EDEN, fond measureth,  
By painted Butterflies th' imperial Eagle;  
And th' Elephant by every little Beagle.   

This fear to fail, shall serve me for a bridle, 
Or to wander unprofitably in nice Questions, concerning the Garden of Eden and man's abode there:   
Lest (lacking wings and guide) too busie-idle,  
And overbold, God's Cabinet I climb,  
To seek the place and search the very time,  
When both our Parents, or but one was ta'en  
Out of our Earth, into that fruitful Plain:  
How long they had that Garden in possession,  
Before their proud and insolent Transgression:  
What Children there they earned, and how many,  
Of whether sex: or whether none or any:  
Or how (at least) they should have propagated,  
If the sly malice of the serpent hated,  
Causing their fall, had not defiled their kin,  
And unborn seed, with leprosy of Sin.   

If void of Venus; sith unlike it is,  
Such blessed state the noble flower should miss  
Of Virgin-head, or folk so perfect chaste  
Should furious feel, when they their loves imbraçed;  
Such tickling flames as our fond soul surprise  
(That dead awhile in Epilepsy lies)  
And slack our sinews all, by little and little  
Drowning our reason in foul pleasure brittle.   

Or whether else as men in gender now,  
Sith spouse-bedspot-less laws of God allow,  
If no excess command: sith else again  
The Lord had made the double sex in vain.   

Whether their Infants should have had the Power  
We now perceive in fresh youths Iusty flower,  
As nimble feet, limbs strong and vigorous;  
Industrious hands, and hearts courageous;  
Sith before sin, Man ought not less appear  
In Nature's gifts, than his then-seruants were:  
And lo the Partridge, which new-hatched bears  
On her weak back her parent-house, and wears  
In stead of wings, a bever-supple down,  
Follows her dam through furrows up and down.   

Or else as now; sith in the womb of Eve  
A man of thirty years could never live:  
Nor may we judge 'gainst Nature's course apparent;  
Without the sacred Scriptures special warrant:  
Which for our good (as heavens dear babe) hath right  
To countermand our reason and our sight.   

Whether their seed should with their birth have brought  
Deep Knowledge, Reason, Vnderstanding-thought;  
Sith now we see the new-fallen feeble Lamb,  
Yet stained with blood of his distressed Dam,  
Knows well the Wolf, at whose fell sight he shakes,  
And right the tear of th' unknown Eaw he takes▪  
And sith a dull Dunce, which no knowledge can,  
Is a dead image, and no living man.   

Or the thick vail of Ignorances' night  
Had hooded-up their issues inward sight;  
Sith the much moisture of an Infant brain  
Receives so many shapes, that over-lam  
New dash the old; and the trim commixation  
Of confused fancies, full of alteration,  
Makes th' Understanding hull, which settle would,  
But finds no firm ground for his Anchors hold.   

Whether old ADAM should have left the place  
Unto his Sons; they, to their after-race:  
Or whether all together at the last  
Should gloriously from thence to Heaven have past.   

Search whoso list, who list let va●●t in pride 
The decision of such Questions. is a busy idleness.   
T' have hit the white, and let him (sage) decide  
The many other doubts that vainly rise,  
For mine own part I will not seem so wise:  
I will not waste my travail and my seed,  
To reap an empty straw, or fruitless reed.   

Alas! we know what Orion of grief  
Reigned on the cursed head of the creatures Chief, 
Sin makes us perceive more then sufficiently what happiness our Grandsire lost, and what misery he got, by his shameful Fall.   
After that God against him war proclaimed,  
And Satan princedom of the earth had claimed.  
But none can know precisely how at all  
Our Elders lived before their odious fall:  
An unknown Cifer, and deep Pit it is,  
Where Dircean Oedipus his marks would miss:  
Sith Adam's self, if now he lived anew,  
Can scant unwind the knotty snarled clew  
Of double doubts, and questions intricate  
That Schools dispute about this pristin state.   

But this sole point I rest resolved in, 
But for sin, man had not been subject unto Death.   
That seeing Death's the mere effect of sin,  
Man had not dreaded Death's all-slaying might,  
Had he still stood in Innocence upright.   

For, as two Bellows, blowing turn by turn, 
Simile.   
By little and little make cold coals to burn,  
And then their fire inflames with glowing heat  
An iron bar; which on the Anuil beat,  
Seems no more iron, but flies almost all  
In hissing sparks, and quick bright cinders small:  
So, the World's Soul should in our soul inspire  
Th' eternal force of an eternal fire,  
And then our soul (as form) breath in our corpse  
Her count-less numbers, and Heav'n-tuned force,  
Wherewith our body's beauty beautified,  
Should (like our death-less soul) have never died.   

Here (wots I well) some wranglers will presume 
Objections against the estate of man, who had not been subject unto death but for sin   
To say, Small fire will by degrees consume  
Our humour radical: and, howbeit  
The differing virtues of those fruits, as yet  
Had no agreement with the harmful spite  
Of the fell Persian dangerous Acomte;  
And notwithstanding that then ADAM'S taste  
Can well have used all, without all waste,  
Yet could they not restore him every day  
Unto his body that which did decay▪  
Because the food cannot (as being strange)  
So perfectly in human substance change:  
For, it resembleth wine, wherein too rife 
Simile.   
Water is brewed, whereby the pleasant life  
Is ouer-cooled; and so there rests, in fine,  
Nought of the strength, savour, or taste of wine.  
Besides, in time the natural faculties  
Are tired with toil; and th' Humour-enemies,  
Our death conspiring, undermine, at last,  
Of our Souls prisons the foundations fast.   

I, but the Tree of life the strife did stay 
Answer to those objections.   
Which th' Humours caused in this house of clay;  
And stopping th' evil, changed (perfect good)  
In body fed, the body of the food:  
Only the soul's contagious malady  
Had force to frustrate this high remedy.   

Immortal then, and mortal, man was made; 
Conclusion.   
Mortal he lived, and did immortal vade:  
For, 'fore th' effects of his rebellious ill,  
To die or live, was in his power and will:  
But since his Sin, and proud Apostasy,  
Ah! die he may, but not (alas!) not-dy;  
As after his newbirth, he shall attain  
Only a power to never-dy again.   
FINIS.   

THE IMPOSTURE. THE II. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

justice and Mercy moduled in their kind:  
Satan's proud Hate, and Envy to Mankind:  
His many Engines, and malicious Wiles,  
Whereby the best he manytimes beguiles▪  
Why he assumed a Body, and began  
With Eve; by Her to undermine her Man:  
Their dreadful Fall: Their drowsy Conscience:  
God's righteous Sentence, for their foul Offence,  
On them (and Theirs): Their Exile: Eden barred  
With flaming Sword, and Scraphin for guard.   

O Who shall lend me light and nimble wings,  
That (passing Swallows, and the swiftest things)  
Even in a moment, boldly-daring, I  
From Heaven to Hell, from Hell to Heaven may fly?  
O! who shall show the countenance and gestures  
Of Mercy and justice? which fair sacred sisters,  
With equal poiz, do ever balance even  
Th' unchanging Projects of the King of Heaven?  
Th' one stern of look, the other milde-aspecting:  
Th' one pleased with tears, the other blood affecting:  
Th' one bears the Sword of vengeance unrelenting,  
Th' other brings Pardon for the true-repenting:  
Th' one, from Earth's- Eden, Adam did dismiss,  
Th' other hath raised him to a higher Bliss.  
Who shall direct my pen to paint the Story  
Of wretched man's forbidden-Bit-lost glory?  
What Spell shall charm th' attentive Readers sense?  
What Fount shall fill my voice with eloquence?  
So that I, rapt, may ravish all this I'll  
With grave-sweet warbles of my sacred style;  
Though Adam's Doom, in every Sermon common,  
And founded on the error of a woman,  
Weary the vulgar, and be judged a jest  
Of the profane, zeal-scoffing Atheïst.   

Ah! Thou my God, even Thou (my soul refining 
He hath recourse to God the only giver of all sufficiency and dex teritie in good and holy things.   
In holy Faith's pure furnace, clearly shining)  
Shalt make my hap far to surmount my hope,  
Instruct my spirit, and give my tongue smooth scope:  
Thou, bounteous in my bold attempts shalt grace-me,  
And in the rank of holiest Poets place-me;  
And frankly grant, that (soaring near the sky)  
Among our Authors, Eaglelike I fly:  
Or, at the least (if Heaven such hap denay)  
I may point others, honours beauteous Way.   

WHILE Adam baths in these felicities, 
The enemy of God envieth Man and plotteth his destruction.   
Hell's Prince, sly parent of revolt and lies,  
Feels a pestiferous busie-swarming nest  
Of never-dying Dragons in his breast,  
Sucking his blood, tiring upon his lungs,  
Pinching his entrails with ten thousand tongues,  
His cursed soul still most extremely racking,  
Too frank in giving torments, and in taking:  
But above all, Hate, Pride, and Envious spite,  
His hellish life do torture day and night:  
For th' Hate he bears to God, who hath him driven▪  
justly for ever, from the glittering Heaven,  
To dwell in darkness of a sulph'ry clowed  
(Though still his brethren's service be allowed:)  
The Proud desire to have in his subjection  
Mankind in chained in gives of Sins infection,  
And th' Envious heartbreak to see yet to shine  
In Adam's face God's Image all divine,  
Which he had lost; and that Man might achieve  
The glorious bliss, his Pride he did deprive:  
Grown barbarous Tyrants of his treacherous will,  
Spur-on his course, his rage redoubling stil.   

Or rather (as the prudent Hebrew notes)  
'Tis that old Python which through hundred-throats  
Doth proudly hiss, and (past his wont) doth fire  
A hell of Furies in his fell desire:  
His envious hart, self-swoln with sullen spite,  
Brooks neither greater, like, nor lesser wight:  
Dreads th' one, as Lord; as equal, hates another;  
And (jealous) doubts the rising of the other.   

To vent his poison, this notorious Tempter 
His subtlety in executing his Designs.   
(Mere spirit) assails not Eve, but doth attempt her  
In feigned form: for else, the soul divine  
Which ruled (as Queen) the Littl●-worlds design,  
So purely kept her Vow of Chastity,  
That he in vain should tempt her Constancy.  
Therefore he fleshly doth the Flesh assay  
(Suborning that) her Mistress to betray;  
A subtle Pander with more 'ticing sleights  
Then Sea hath Fish, or Heaven hath twinkling lights.   

For, had he been, of an ethereal matter, 
Why he hide him in a Body.   
Of fiery substance, or aiereall nature;  
The needful help of language had he wanted,  
Whereby Faith's groundwork was to be supplanted:  
Sith such pure bodies have nor teeth, nor tongues,  
Lips, arteries, nose, Palate, nor panting lungs,  
Which rightly plaçed are properly created  
True instruments of sounds articulated.   

And further-more, though from his birth h'had had 
Why he appeared not in his own likeness: nor transformed him into an Angel of light.   
Hart-charming cunning smoothly to persuade,  
He feared (malicious) if he care-less, came  
Unmasked, like himself, in his own name,  
In deep distrust man entering, suddenly,  
Would stop his ears, and his foul presence fly:  
As (opposite) taking the shining face  
Of sacred Angels full of glorious grace,  
He then suspected lest the Omnipotent  
Should think man's Fall scarce worthy punishment.   

Much like (therefore) some thief that doth conceive 
Simil●.   
From travailers both life and goods to reave,  
And in the twilight (while the Moon doth play  
In Thetis Palace) near the King's highway  
Himself doth ambush in a bushy Thorn;  
Then in a Cave, then in a field of Corn,  
Creeps to and fro, and fisk eth in and out,  
And yet the safety of each place doth doubt;  
Till, resolute at last (upon his knee  
Taking his level) from a hollow Tree,  
He swiftly sends his fire-wingd messenger,  
At his false suit t'arrest the passenger:  
Our freedoms fellow, fountain of our sorrow,  
Thinks, now the beauty of a Horse to borrow;  
Anon to creep into a Haifers' side; 
He hides him under divers figures.   
Then in a Cock, or in a Dog to hide;  
Then in a nimble Hart himself to shroud;  
Then in the starred plumes of a Peacock proud;  
And lest he miss a mischief to effect,  
Oft changeth mind, and varies oft aspect.  
At last, remembering that of all the broods, 
Why he chose the Serpent.   
In Mountains, Plains, Airs, Waters, Wildes, and Woods,  
The knotty Serpent's spotty generation  
Are filled with infectious inflammation:  
And though they want Dogs teeth, Boars tusks, Bears paws,  
The Vulture's bill, Bulls horns, and Griphins claws;  
Yea, seem so weak, as if they had not might  
To hurt us once, much less to kill us quite:  
Yet, many times they treacherously betray us,  
And with their breath, look, tongue, or train they slay us:  
He crafty cloaks him in a Dragon's skin  
All bright-bespect; that, speaking so within  
That hollow Sagbuts supple-wreathing plies▪  
The mover might with th' Organ sympathise.  
For, yet the faith-less Serpent (as they say)  
With horror crawled not groveling on the clay,  
Nor to Mankind (as yet) was held for hateful,  
Sith that's the hire of his offence ingrateful.   

But now, to censure how this change befell 
Sundry opinions hereupon.   
Our wits come short, our words suffice not well  
To utter it: much less our feeble Art  
Can imitate this sly malicious part.   

Sometimes me seems (troubling eves spirit) the Fiend 
1   
Made her this speaking fancy apprehend.  
For, as in liquid clouds (exhaled thickly)  
Water and Air (as moist) do mingle quickly;  
The evil Angels slide too easily,  
As subtle Spirits, into our fantasy.   

Sometimes me seems She saw (wo-worth the hap) 
2   
No very Serpent, but a Sepents shape:  
Whether that, Satan played the juggler there,  
Who tender eyes with charmed Tapers blear,  
Trans-forming so by subtle vapoury gleams,  
men's heads to Monsters, into Eels the beams:  
Or whether, Devils having bodies light,  
Quick, nimble, active, apt to change with sleight,  
In shapes or shows, they guileful have proposed;  
In brief, like th' Air whereof they are composed.  
For, as the air, with scattered clouds bespread  
Is here and there, black, yellow, white, and red,  
Resembling▪ Armies, Monsters, Mountains, Dragons,  
Rocks, fiery Castles, Forests, Ships, and Wagons,  
And such to us through glass transparent clear  
From form to form varying it doth appear:  
So, these seducers can grow great, or small,  
Or round, or square, or straight, or short, or tall,  
As fits the passions they are moved by,  
And such our soul receives them from our eye.   

Sometimes; that Satan (only for this work) 
3   
Feigned him a Serpent's shape, wherein to lurk.  
For, Nature framing our soul's enemies,  
Of body's light, and in experience wise,  
In malice crafty; curious they assemble  
Small Elements, which (as of kin) resemble,  
Whereof a Mass is made, and there▪ unto  
They soon give growth and lively motion too.  
Not, that they be Creators: for, th' Almighty  
Who first of nothing made vast Amphitri●●,  
The World's dull Centre, Heavn's ay-turning frame▪  
And whirling Air, sole merits that high name:  
Who (only Being) Being gives to all,  
And of all things the seeds substantial  
Within their first-born bodies hath enclosed,  
To be in time by Nature's hand disposed:  
Not those, who (taught by curious Art or Nature)  
Have given to things Heav'n-pointed form and stature,  
Hastened their growth, or wakened learnedly  
The forms that formless in the Lump didly.   

But (to conclude) I think't was no conceit, 
●.   
No feigned Idol, nor no juggling sleight,  
Nor body borrowed for this uses sake,  
But the self Serpent which the Lord did make  
In the beginning: for, his hateful breed  
Bears yet the pain of this pernicious deed. 
●.    

Yet, 'tis a doubt, whether the Devil did  
Govern the Dragon (not there selfly hid)  
To raise his courage, and his tongue direct,  
Locally absent, present by effect.  
As when the sweet strings of a Lute we strike,  
Another Lute laid near it, sounds the like,  
Nay, the same note, through secret sympathy  
(Untouched) receiving life and Harmony:  
Or, as a sta●, which (though far distant) pours,  
Upon our heads, hap-less or happy showers.   

Or, whether for a time he did abide,  
Within the doubling Serpents damask hide, 
6.   
Holding a place-less place: as our soul dear▪  
Through the dimlanthorn of our flesh▪ shines clear;  
And bound-less bounds itself in so straight space,  
As fo●m in body, not as body in place.   

But this stands sure, how ever else it went,  
Th' old Serpent served as Satan's instrument  
To charm in Eden with a strong illusion 
Conclusion of the former opinions. A comparison.   
Our silly Grandam to her selfs' confusion.  
For, as an old, rude, rotten, tuneles Kit,  
If famous Dowland deign to finger it,  
Makes sweeter Music than the choicest Lute  
In the gross handling of a clownish Brute:  
So, whiles a learned Fiend with skilful hand  
Doth the dull motions of his mouth command,  
This self-dum Creatures glozing Rhetoric  
With bashful shame great Orators would strike.  
So, Fairy Trunks within Epyrus Grove  
Moved by the spirit that was inspired by jove,  
With fluent voice (to every one that seeks)  
Foretell the Fates of light-beleeving Greeks:  
So all incensed, the pale Engastromith  
(Ruled by the furious spirit he's haunted with)  
Speaks in his womb; So well a workman's skill  
Supplies the want of any organ ill:  
So doth the Phantike (lifting up his thought  
On Satan's wing) tell with a tongue distraught  
Strange Oracles, and his sick spirit doth plead  
Even of those Arts that he did never read.   

O ruth-less murderer of immortal souls!  
Alas! to pull us from the happy Poles, 
The sundry subtle and horrible endeavours of th● devil, putting on divers forms to overthrow Mankind.   
And plunge us headlong in thy yawning hell,  
Thy ceasless frauds, and fetches who can tell?   

Thou play'st the Lion, when thou dost in gage  
Bloodthirsty Nero's barbarous heart with rage,  
While fleshed in murders (butcherlike) he paints  
The Saint-poor world with the dear blood of Saints.   

Thou play'st the Dog, when by the mouth profane  
Of some false Prophet t●ou dost beleh thy bane,  
While from the Pulpit harkingly he rings  
Bold blasphemies against the king of kings.   

Thou play'st the Swine, when plunged in pleasures vile,  
Some Epicure doth sober minds defile,  
Transforming lewdly, by his lose impiety,  
Strict Lacedaemon to a soft society.   

Thou play'st the Nightingale, or else the Swan,  
When any famous Rhetorician,  
With captious wit and curious language, draws  
Seduced hearers; and subverts the laws.   

Thou playst the Fox, when thou dost fain aright  
The face and phrase of some deep Hypocrite,  
True painted tomb, dead-seeming coals, but quick;  
A Scorpion fell, whose hidden tail doth prick.   

Yet, this were little, if thy spite audacious,  
Spared (at the least) the face of Angels gracious,  
And if thou didst not (Apelike) imitate  
Th' Almighty's works, the wariest Wits to mate. 
The Poet resumeth his Discourse, touching the Temptation of Eue.    

But (without numbering all thy subtle baits,  
And nimble juggling with a thousand sleights)  
Timely returning where I first digressed,  
I'll only here thy first DECEIT digest.   

The Dragon then, Man's Fortress to surprise,  
Follows some Captains martial policies,  
Who, yer too near an Adverse place he pitch, 
Comparison.   
The situation marks, and sounds the ditch,  
With his eyes level the steep wall he meats,  
surveys the flanks, his Camp in order sets;  
And then approaching, batters sore the side  
Which Art and Nature have least fortified:  
So this old Soldier, having marked rife  
The firstborn payrs yet danger-dreadless life;  
Mounting his Canons suttly he assaults  
The part he finds in evident defaults:  
Namely, poor Woman, wavering, weak, unwise,  
Light, credulous, news-lover given to lies.   

Eve, Second honour of this Universe! 
Satan's Oration   
Is't true (I pray) that jealous God, perverse,  
Forbids (quoth he) both you and all your race,  
All the fair Fruits these silver Brooks embrace;  
So oft bequeathed you, and by you possessed,  
And day and night by your own labour dressed?   

With th' air of these sweet words, the wily Snake  
A poisoned air inspired (as it spoke)  
In eves frail breast; who thus replies: O! know 
eves Answer   
What e●r thou be (but thy kind care doth show  
A gentle friend) that all the fruits and flowers  
In this earths-heav'n are in our hands and powers,  
Except alone that goodly fruit divine,  
Which in the midst of this green ground doth shine;  
But, all-good▪ God (alas! I wot not why)  
For bad us touch that Tree, on pain to die.  
She ceased: already brooding in her heart  
A curious wish, that will her weal subvert. 
A●sit comparison.    

As a false Lover that thick snares hath laid,  
T'entrap the honour of a fair young Maid,  
When she (though little) listening ear affords  
To his sweet, courting, deep-affected words,  
Feels some assuaging of his freezing ●●ame,  
And soothes himself with hope to gain his game;  
And rapt with joy, upon this point persists,  
That parleing City never long resists:  
Even so the Serpent, that doth counterfeit  
A guileful Call ●●allure us to his net;  
Perceiving Eve his flattering gloze digest,  
He prosecutes, and locund, doth not rest,  
Till he have tried, foot, hand, and head, and all,  
Upon the Breach of this new-battered wall. 
The devils reply    

No, fair (quoth he) believe not, that the care  
God hath, mankind from spoiling death to spare,  
Makes him forbid you (on so strict condition)  
This purest, fairest, rarest Fruits fruition:  
A doubtful fear▪ an eagle, and a hate,  
His jealous heart for ever cruciate;  
Sith the suspected virtue of This Tree  
Shall soon disperse the cloud of Idiocy,  
Which dims your eyes; and▪ further, make you seem  
(Excelling us) even equal Gods to him.  
O Worlds rare gloryl reach thy happy hand,  
Reach, reach (I say) why dost thou stop or stand?  
Begin thy Bliss, and do not fear the threat 
His audacious impudence.   
Of an uncertain Godhead, only great,  
Through self-awed zeal: put on the glistering Pall  
Of immortality: do not forestall  
(As envious stepdame) thy posterity  
The sovereign honour of Divinity.   

This parley ended, our ambitious Grandam, 
The Apostasy of Eue.   
Who only yet did heart and eye abandon  
Against the Lord; now farther doth proceed,  
And hand and mouth makes guilty of the deed.   

A novice Thief; that in a Closet spies 
A Comparison   
A heap of Gold, that on the Table lies;  
Pale, fearful, shivering, twice or thrice extends,  
And twice or thrice retires his finger's ends,  
And yet again returns; the booty takes,  
And faintly-bold, up in his cloak it makes,  
Scarce finds the door, with faltering foot he flies,  
And still looks back for fear of Huon cries:  
Even so doth Eve show by like fearful fashions  
The doubtful combat of contending Passions;  
She would, she would not; glad, sad; comes, and goes:  
And long she marts about a Match of Woes:  
But (out alast) at last she toucheth it,  
And (having touched) tastes the forbidden bit. 
Another comparison lively expressing the Fall of Man, by the provocation of his wife.    

Then as a man that from a lofty Clift,  
Or steepy Mountain, doth descend too swift,  
Stumbling at somewhat, quickly eclipse some limb  
Of some dear kinsman walking next to him,  
And by his headlong fall, so brings his friend  
To an untimely, sad, and sudden end;  
Our Mother, falling, hales her Spouse anon  
Down to the gulf of pitchy Acheron.  
For, to the wished Fruits beautiful aspect,  
Sweet Nectar-taste, and wonderful effect,  
Cunningly adding her acquaint smiling glances,  
Her witty speech, and pretty countenances,  
She so prevails, that her blind Lord at last,  
A morsel of the sharp-sweet fruit doth taste.   

Now suddenly wide-open feel they might  
(Siel'd for their good) both souls and bodies sight;  
But the sad Soul hath lost the Character, 
The effects of their disobedience.   
And sacred Image that did honour Her:  
The wretched Body, full of shame and sorrow  
To see it naked, is inforçt to borrow  
The Trees broad leaves, where of they aprons frame,  
From heavens fair eye to hide their filthy shame.   

Alas, fond death-lings! O! behold how clear  
The knowledge is that you have bought so dear:  
In heavenly things ye are more blind than Moles,  
In earthly Owls. O! think ye (silly souls)  
The sight that swiftly through the earth's solid centres  
(As globes of pure transparent crystal) enters  
Cannot transpierce your leaves? or do ye ween,  
Covering your shame so to conceal your sin?  
Or that, a part thus clouded, all doth lie  
Safe from the search of heavens allseeing eye?   

Thus yet, man's troubled dull Intelligence  
Had of his fault but a confused sense:  
As in a dream, after much drink it chances,  
Disturbed spirits are vexed with raving fancies.   

Therefore the Lord, within the Garden fair, 
The extraordinary presence of God, awakes their drowsy souls swallowed up of Sin: and gins to arraign them.   
Moving betimes I wots not I what air,  
But super natural; whose breath divine  
Brings of his presence a most certain sign:  
Awakes their Lethargy, and to the quick,  
Their self-doomed souls doth sharply press and prick:  
Now more and more making their pride to fear  
The frowning visage of their judge severe:  
To sack new-refuge in more secret harbours  
Among the dark shade of those tusting arbours.   

Adam, quoth God (with thundering majesty)  
Where art thou (wretch!) what dost thou? answer me  
Thy God and Father, from whose hand, thy health  
Thou hold'st, thine honour, and all sorts of wealth.   

At this sad summon's, woeful man resembles 
Description of the horrible effects of a guilty Conscience, summoned to the presence of God.   
A bearded rush that in a river trembles:  
His rosy checks are changed to earthen hue;  
His dying body drops an yeie dew;  
His tear-drowned eyes, a night of clouds bedims;  
About his ears, a buzzing horror swims;  
His fainted knees, with feebleness are humble;  
His faltering feet do slide away and stumble:  
He hath not (now) his free, bold, stately port;  
But downcast looks, in fearful slavish sort;  
Now, nought of Adam, doth in Adam rest;  
He feels his senses pained, his soul oppressed:  
A confused host of violent passions jar;  
His flesh and spirit are in continual war:  
And now no more (through conscience of his error)  
He hears or feesth ' Almighty, but with terror:  
And loath he answers (as with tongue distraught)  
Confessing (thus) his fear, but not his fault.   

O Lord! thy voice, thy dreadful voice hath made 
Adam's answers   
Me fearful hide me in this covert shade.  
For, naked as I am (O most of might!)  
I dare not come before thine awful sight.   

Naked (quoth God)? why (faith-less renegade, 
God urgeth the cause of his dejection and fear.   
Apostate Pagan!) who hath told thee that?  
Whence springs thy shame? what makes thee thus to run  
From shade to shade, my presence still to shun?  
Hast thou not tasted of the learned Tree,  
Whereof (on pain of death) I warned thee?   

O righteous God (quoth Adam) I am free 
Adam's reply, excusing himself and covertly imputing his Gild to God. Examination of Eve, who excuseth herself likewise on another.   
From this offence: the wife thou gavest me,  
For my companion and my comforter,  
She made me eat that deadly meat with her.   

And thou (quoth God) O! thou frail treacherous Bride,  
Why, with thyself, hast thousedu●'t thy Guide?   

Lord (answers Eve) the Serpent did entice  
My simple frailty to this sinful vice.   

Mark here, how He, who fears not who reform 
An example for Judges & Magistrates.   
His high Decrees, not subject unto form,  
Or style of Court: who, alwise, hath no need  
T' examine proof or witness of the deed:  
Who, for sustaining of unequal Scale,  
Dreads not the Doom of a Mercurial;  
Yer Sentence pass, doth publicly convent,  
Confront, and hear with ear indifferent  
Th' Offenders sad: then with just indignation,  
Pronounceth thus their dreadful Condemnation. 
The Sentence of the supreme judge against the guilty Prisoners: and first of all against the Serpent.    

Ah cursed Serpent, which my fingers made  
To serve mankind: th' haste made thyself a blade  
Wherewith vain Man and his inveigled wife  
(Self-parricids) have reft their proper life.  
For this thy fault (true Fountain of all ill)  
Thou shalt be hatefull'mong all creatures still.  
groveling in dust, of dust thou ay shalt feed:  
I'll kindle war between the Woman's seed,  
And thy fell race; hers on the head shall ding  
Thine: thine again hers in the heel shall sting.   

Rebel to me, unto thy kindred cursed▪ 
Against the Woman.   
False to thy husband, to thyself the worst:  
Hope not, thy fruit so easily to bring-forth  
As now thou slay'st it: hence forth, every Birth  
Shall torture thee with thousand sorts of pain;  
Each artery, sinew, muscle, joint and vain,  
Shall feel his part: besides foul vomitings,  
Prodigious long, thoughtful languish,  
With change of colour, swoons, and many others,  
Eternal fellows of all future mothers:  
Under his yoke, thy husband thee shall have,  
Tyrant, by thee made the Arch-tyrants slave. 
Against man..    

And thou disloyal, which hast hearkened more  
To a wanton fondling than my sacred lore:  
Hence forth the sweat shall bubble on thy brow:  
Thy hands shall blister, and thy back shall bow:  
Ne'er shalt thousend into thy branchievains  
A bit, but bought with price of thousand pains.  
For, the earth feeling (even in her) th' effect  
Of the doom thundered against thy foul defect;  
In stead of sweet fruits which she selfly yields  
Seed-less, and Art-less over all thy fields,  
With thorns and burrs shall bristle up her breast:  
(In short) thou shalt not taste the sweets of rest,  
Till ruth-less Death by his extremest pain  
Thy dust-born body turn to dust again.   

Here I conceive, that flesh and blood will brangle, 
Objection to excuse the Sin of man..   
And murmuring Reason with th' almighty wrangle,  
Who did our parents with freewill endue, 
1.   
Though he foresaw, that that would be the clew  
Should lead their steps into the woeful way  
Where life is death ten thousand times a day:  
Now all, that he foresees, befalls: and further,  
He all events by his free power doth order.  
Man taxeth God of too-uniust severity,  
For plaguing Adam's sin in his posterity:  
So that th' old years renewed generations  
Cannot assuage his venging indignations,  
Which have no other ground to prosecute,  
But the mis eating of a certain fruit.   

O dusty wormling! darest thou strive and stand 
Answers to the first objection.   
With heavens high Monarch? wilt thou (wretch) demand  
Count of his deeds? Ah! shall the Potter make 
1.   
His clay, such fashion, as him list, to take?  
And shall not God (World's Founder, Nature's Father)  
Dispose of man (his own mere creature) rather?  
The supreme King, who (judge of greatest Kings)  
By number, weight and measure, acts all things,  
Vice-loathing Lord, pure justice, patron strong,  
Law's life, Right's rule, will he do any wrong?   

Man, holdest thou of God thy frank freewill, 
2.   
But free t'obey his sacred goodness still?  
Freely to follow him, and do his hest,  
Net Philtre-charmed, nor by Busiris priest?  
God arms thee with discourse: but thou (O wretch)  
By the keen edge the wound-soule sword dost catch;  
Killing thyself, and in thy loins thy line.  
O baneful Spider (weaving woeful twine)  
All heavens pure flowers thou turnest into poison:  
Thy sense reaves sense: thy reason robs thy reason.  
For, thou complainest of God's grace, whose Still  
Extracts from dross of thine audacious ill, 
3.   
Three unexpected goods: praise for his Name;  
Bliss for thyself; for Satan endless-shame:  
Sith, but for sin, justice and Mercy were  
But idle names: and but that thou didst err,  
CHRIST had not come to conquer and to quell,  
Upon the Cross, Sin, Satan, Death, and Hell:  
Making thee blessed more since thine offence,  
Then in thy primer happy innocence.   

Then, mightst thou die; now, death thou dost not doubt:  
Now, in the Heaven; then, didst thou ride without:  
In earth, thou liv'dst then; now in Heaven thou be'st:  
Then, thou didst hear God's word; it, now thou seest:  
Then, pleasant fruits; now, Christ is thy repast:  
Then mightst thou fall; but now thou standest fast.   

Now, Adam's fault was not in deed so light,  
As seems to Reason's sin-bleard Owlie sight:  
But't was a chain where all the greatest sins  
Were one in other linked fast, as Twins:  
Ingratitude, pride, treason, gluttony,  
Too-curious skill-thrist, envy, felony,  
Too-light, too-late belief; were the sweet baits  
That made him wander from heavens holy straits.   

What wouldst thou (Father) say unto a Son  
Of perfect age, to whom for portion  
(Witting and willing, while thyself yet livest)  
All thy possessions in the earth thou givest:  
And yet th' ungrateful, graceless, insolent,  
In thine own Land, rebellion doth invent?  
Map now an Adam in thy memory;  
By Gods own hand made with great majesty,  
Not poor, nor pined; but at whose command  
The rich abundance of the world doth stand:  
Not slave to sense, but having freely might  
To bridle it, and range it still aright:  
No idiot fool, nor drunk with vain opinion;  
But God's Disciple and his dearest Minion:  
Who rashly grows for little, nay for nought,  
His deadly foe that all his good had wrought:  
So mayst thou guess, what whip what rope, what rack,  
What fire, were fit to punish Adam's lack. 
Answers to the second objection.    

Then, sith Man's sin by little and little runs  
End-less, through every Age from Sires to Sons; 
1.   
And still the farther this foul sin-spring flows  
It still more muddy and more filthy grows:  
Thou ought'st not marvel, if (even yet) his seed  
Feel the just wages of this wicked deed.  
For, though the keen sting of concupiscence  
Cannot, yer birth, his fell effect commence;  
The unborn Babe, hid in the Mother's womb,  
Is Sorrow's servant, and Sin's servile groom,  
As a frail Mote from the first Mass extract,  
Which Adam baened by his rebellious fact.  
Sound offspring comes not of a Kind infected:  
Parts are not fair, if to tall be defected:  
And a defiled stinking sink doth yield  
More dirt than water, to the neighbour field.   

While night's black muffler hoodeth up the skies, 
2.   
The silly blindman misseth not his eyes: 
Simile.   
But when the day summons to work again,  
His night, eternal than he doth complain,  
That he goes groping, and his hand (alas!)  
Is fain to guide his foot, and guard his face:  
So man, that liveth in the wombs obscurity,  
Knows not; nor maketh known his lust's impurity:  
Which fort is sown in a too-plentious ground,  
taketh root already in the Caves profound  
Of his infected Hart: with's birth, it peers,  
And grows in strength, as he doth grow in years;  
And waxed a Tree (though proyned with thousand cares)  
An execrable deadly fruit it bears.   

Thou seest, no wheat Helleborus can bring: 
3.   
Nor barley, from the madding Morrell spring: 
Simile.   
Nor, bleating Lambs brave Lions do not breed:  
The leprous Parents, raise a leprous seed:  
Even so our Grandsire, living Innocent,  
Had stocked the whole World with a Saint-descent:  
But suffering sin in EDEN him invade,  
His sons, the sons of Sin and Wrath he made.  
For, God did seem t'indow, with glory and grace, 
4.   
Not the first Man so much, as all man's race:  
And after reave again those gifts divine,  
Not him so much, as in him all his line.   

For, if an odious Traitor that conspires, 
Simile.   
Against a Prince, or to his state aspires,  
Feel not alone the laws extremity;  
But his sons sons (although sometimes they be  
Honest and virtuous) for their Father's blame,  
Are hap-less scared with an eternal shame:  
May not th' Eternal, with a righteous terror,  
In Adam's issue punish Adam's error?  
May he not thrall them under Death's command:  
And sear their brows with everlasting brand  
Of infamy, who in his stock (accursed)  
Have grafted worse slips than Adam set at first?   

Man's seed then justly, by succession, 
Conclusion of the former Disputations, and execution of God's Decree against Adam & Eue. They are driven out of Eden.   
Bears the hard penance of his high transgression:  
And Adam here, from Eden banished,  
As first offender is first punished.   

Hence (quoth the Lord) hence, hence (accursed race)  
Out of my Garden: quick, avoid the place,  
This beauteous place, pride of this Universe,  
A house unworthy Masters so perverse.   

Those that (in quarrel of the Strong of strong's, 
Simile.   
And just revenge of Queen, and Country's wrongs)  
Were witnesses to all the woeful plaints,  
The sighs, and tears, and pitiful complaints,  
Of braving Spaniards (chief brave inword)  
When by the valiant Heav'n-assisted sword  
Of Mars- like ESSEX, England's Marshall-Earl  
(Than Albion's Patron, and Eliza's Pearl)  
They were expulsed from Cad'z, their dearest pleasure,  
Losing their Town, their honour, and their treasure:  
Woe worth (said they) woe worth our King's ambition;  
Woe worth our Clergy, and their Inquisition:  
He seeks new Kingdoms, and doth lose his old;  
They burn for conscience, but their thirst is gold:  
Woe, and alas, woe to the vain bravadoes  
Of Typhon- like-inuincible ARMADAS,  
Which like the vaunting Monster-man of Gath,  
Have stirred against us little David's wrath:  
Wo-worth our sins: woe worth ourselves, and all  
Accursed causes of our sudden fall;  
Those well may guess the bitter agonies,  
And lukewarm Rivers gushing down the eyes  
Of our first Parents, out of Eden driven  
(Of Repeal hope-less) by the hand of Heaven;  
For, the Almighty set before the door 
The earthly Eden shut-vp for ever from Mankind.   
Of th' holy Park, a Seraphin that bore  
A waving sword, whose body shined bright,  
Like flaming Comet in the midst of night;  
A body merely Metaphysioall,  
Which (differing little from th' ONE unicall,  
Th' Act-simply-pure, the onely-beeing BEING)  
Approacheth matter; nevertheless, not being  
Of matter mixed: or rather is so made  
So merely spirit, that not the murdering blade,  
His joined quantity can part in two:  
For (pure) it cannot Suffer aught, but Do.   
FINIS.   

THE FURIES. THE III. PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

The World's transformed from that it was at first:  
For Adam's Sin, all Creatures else accursed:  
Their Harmony distuned by His jar:  
Yet all again consent, to make Him war;  
As, th' Elements, and above all, the Earth:  
Three ghastly FURIES; Sickness, War, and Dearth,  
A general Muster of the Bodies Griefs:  
The Souls Diseases, under sundry Chiefs:  
Both, full of Horror, but the later most;  
Where ugly Vice in virtues Mask doth boast.   

THis's not the World. O! whither am I brought? 
Sin hath changed and disfigured the face of the World.   
This Earth I tread, this hollow-hanging Vault,  
Which Days reducing, and renewing Nights,  
Renews the grief of mine afflicted sprights;  
This Sea I sail, this troubled Air I sip,  
Are not The First-Weeks glorious workmanship:  
This wretched Round is not the goodly Globe  
Th' Eternal trimmed in so various rob:  
'Tis but a Dungeon and a dreadful Cave,  
Of that First World the miserable grave.   

All-quickning Spirit, great God, that iustly-strange 
Invocation.   
judge-turned-father, wroughtst his wondrous change,  
Change and newmould me; Lord, my hand assist,  
That in my Muse appear no earthly mist:  
Make me thine organ, give my voice dexterity  
Sadly to sing this sad Change to Posterity.   

And, bounteous Giver of each perfect gift,  
So tune my voice to his sweet-sacred Clift,  
That in each strain my rude unready tongue  
Be lively Echo of his learned Song.  
And, henceforth, let our holy Music ravish  
All wellborn Souls, from fancies lewdly-lavish  
(Of charming Sin the deep-inchaunting Sirens,  
The snares of virtue, valour-softning Hyrens)  
That touched with terror of thine indignation,  
Presented in this woeful Alteration,  
We all may seek, by Prayer and true Repentance,  
To shun the rigour of thy wrathful Sentence.   


* The Translator here humbly vaileth-bonnet to the King's Majesty; who many years since (for his princely exercile) translated these FURIES, the URANIA, and some other Pecces of Du BARTAS.  But, yer we farther pass, our slender Bark  
Must here strike topsails to a Princely Ark  
Which keeps these straits: He hails us threatfully,  
Starboard our helm; Come underneath his Lee.  
Ho, Whence your Bark? of Zealland: Whether bound?  
For virtues Cape: What lading? Hope. This Sound  
You should not pass; sau● that your voyage tends  
To benefit our Neighbours and our Friends.  
Thanks, Kingly Captain; deign us then (we pray)  
Some skilful Pilot through this FURIOUS Bay;  
Or, in this Channel, sith we are to learn,  
Vouch safe to togh us at your Royal Stern.   

YER THAT our Sire (O too too proudly-base)  
Turned tail to God, and to the Fiend his face,  
This mighty World did seem an Instrument  
True-strung, well-tuned, and handled excellent, 
Happy estate of the World, before Sin; set forth by a Similitude.   
Whose symphony resounded sweetly-shrill  
Th' Almighty's praise, who played upon it still.  
While man served God, the World served him, the live  
And live-less creatures seemed all to strive  
To nurse this league; and, loving zealously  
These two dear Heads, embraced mutually:  
In sweet accord, the base with high rejoiced,  
The hot with cold, the solid with the moist;  
And innocent Astraea did combine  
All with the mastic of a Love divine.   

For, th' hidden love that now a-dayes doth hold 
The Sympathy yet appearing between certain Creatures, is but as a little shadow of the perfect union which was among all Creatures, before Man's Fall.   
The Steel and Loadstone, Hydrargire and Gold,  
Th' Amber and straw; that lodgeth in one shell  
Pearl-fish and Sharpling: and unites so well  
Sargons' and Goats, the Sperage and the Rush,  
Th' Elm and the Vine, th' Olive and Myrtle-bush,  
Is but a spark or shadow of that Love  
Which at the first in every thing did move,  
When as th' Earth's Muses with Harmonious sound  
To heavens sweet Music humbly did resound.  
But Adam, being chief of all the strings  
Of this large Lute, o're-retched, quickly brings  
All out of tune: and now, for melody  
Of warbling Charms, it yels so hideously,  
That it affrights fell Enyon, who turmoils  
To raise again th' old Chaos antik broils:   

Heaven, that still smiling on his Paramour, 
Of the Discord that Sin hath brought among all things.   
Still in her lap did Mel and Manna pour,  
Now with his hail, his rain, his frost and heat,  
Doth parch, and pinch, and overwhelm, and beat,  
And hoars her head with snows, and (jealous) dashes  
Against her brows his fiery lightning flashes,   

On th' other side, the sullen, envious Earth 
Sundry notable Antipathies.   
From blackest Cells of her foul breast sends forth  
A thousand foggy fumes, which every where  
With cloudy mists heavens crystal front besmear.   

Since that, the Wolf the trembling Sheep pursues;  
The crowing Cock, the Lion stout eschews;  
The Pullein hide them from the Puttock's flight,  
The Mastie's mute at the Hyaena's sight:  
Yea (who would think it?) these fell enmities  
Rage in the sense-less trunks of Plants and Trees:  
The Vine, the Coal, the Cole-wort Swines-bread dreads,  
The Fearn abhors the hollow waving Reeds,  
The olive and the Oak participate,  
Even to their earth, signs of their ancient hate,  
Which suffers not (O date-less discord!) th' one  
Live in that ground where th' other first hath grown.  
O strange instinct! O deep immortal rage,  
Whose fiery feud no Laethé flood can suage!   

So, at the sound of Wolf-Drums rattling thunder  
Th' affrighted Sheep-skin-Drum doth rend in sunder:  
So, that fell Monsters twisted entrails cuts  
(By secret power) the poor Lambs twined guts,  
Which (after death) in steed of bleating mute,  
Are taught to speak upon an Ivory Lute:  
And so the Princely eagle's ravening plumes  
The feathers of all other Fowls consumes.   

The First-moved Heaven (in 'tself itself still stirring) 
The estate of Man before Sin   
Rapts with his course (quicker than winds swift whirring)  
All th' other Spheres, and to Alcides' Spires  
From Alexander's Altars drives their Fires:  
But mortal Adam, Monarch here beneath,  
Erring draws all into the paths of death;  
And on rough Seas, as a blind Pilot rash,  
Against the rock of heavens just wrath doth dash  
The World's great Vessel, sailing yerst at ease,  
With gentle gales, good guide, on quiet Seas.   

For (yer his fall) which way so e'er he rolled 
His estate after sin   
His wondering eyes God everywhere behold;  
In Heaven, in Earth, in Ocean, and in Air,  
He sees, and feels, and finds him everywhere.  
The World was like a large and sumptuous Shop  
Where God his goodly treasures did unwrap:  
Or Crystal glass most lively representing  
His sacred Goodness, everywhere frequenting.   

But, since his sin, the woeful wretch finds none  
Herb, garden, grove, field, fountain, stream or stone,  
Beast, mountain, valley, sea-gate, shore, or haven,  
But bears his Deaths▪ doom openly engraven:  
In brief, the whole scope this round Centre hath,  
Is a true storehouse of heavens righteous wrath. 
All creatures from the highest to the lowest, enemies to man..    

Rebellious Adam, from his God revolting,  
Finds his yerst-subiects against himself insulting:  
The tumbling Sea, the Air with tempests driven,  
Thorn-bristled Earth, the sad and lowering Heaven  
(As from the oath of their allegiance free)  
Revenge on him th' Almighty's injury.   

The Stars conjured, through envious Influence, 
The Heavens, with all there in.   
By secret Hangmen punish his offence:  
The Sun with heat, the Moon with cold doth vex-him,  
Th' Air with unlookt-for sudden changes checks-him,  
With fogs and frosts, hails, snows, and sulphury thunders;  
Blasting, and storms, and more prodigious wonders.   

Fire, fallen from Heaven, or else by Art incited, 
All the Elements. Fire. air.   
Or by mischance in some rich building lighted,  
Or from some Mountains burning bowels thrown,  
replete with Sulphur, Pitch, and Pumie stone,  
With sparkling fury spreads, and in few hours  
The labour of a thousand years devours.   

The greedy Ocean, breaking wont bounds, 
Sea.   
Usurps his herds, his wealthy Isles and Towns.   

The grieved Earth, to ease her (as it seems) 
Earth.   
Of such profane accursed weight, sometimes  
Swallows whole Countries, and the airy tops.  
Of Prince-proud towers in her black womb she wraps.  
And in despite of him, abhorred and hateful, 
Earth brings forth weeds.   
She many ways proves barren and ingrateful:  
Mocking our hopes, turning our seed-Wheat-kernel  
To burn-grain Thistle, and to vapourie Darnel,  
Cockle, wild Oats, rough Burrs, Corn-cumbring tars,  
Short recompense for all our costly cares.   

Yet this were little, if she more malicious, 
Venomous plants.   
Fell stepdame, brought us not Plants more pernicious:  
As, sable Henbane; morel, making mad:  
Cold poisoning Poppy, itching, drowsy, sad:  
The stifning Carpes●, th' eyes-foe Hemlock stinking,  
Limb-numming belching: and the sinew-shrinking  
Dead-laughing Ap●um, weeping Aconite  
(Which in our vulgar deadly Wolfs-bane height)▪  
The dropsy▪ breeding, sorrow-bringing Psylly  
(Here called Flea-Wurt) Colchis▪ baneful Lily,  
(With us Wild-Saffron) blistering biting fell:  
Not Napell, making lips and tongue to swell:  
Blood-boyling Yew, and costive M●sseltoe:  
With yce-cold Mandrake, and a many more  
Such fatal plants; whose fruit, seed, sap, or root,  
T'vntimely Grave do bring our heed-less foot.   

Besides, she knows, we brutish value more 
Poison hidden among the Metals.   
Than lives or Honours, her rich glittering Ore:  
That Avarice our bound-less thought still vexes:  
Therefore among her wreakful baits she mixes  
Quicksilver, lethargy and Orpiment,  
Wherewith our entrails are oft gnawn and rend:  
So that sometimes; for Body, and for Mind,  
Torture and torment, in one Mine we find.   

What resteth more? the Master's skilful most, 
The excellency of Man's Dominion over the Creatures before his Fall.   
With gentle gales driven to their wished Coast,  
Not with less labour guide their winged wayn●  
On th' azure forehead of the liquid plains:  
Nor crafty jugglers, can more easily make  
Their self-lived Puppets (for their lucre's sake)  
To skip and scud, and play, and prate, and prance,  
And fight, and fall, and trip, and turn, and dance:  
Then happy we did rule the seely Legions  
That dumbly dwell in stormy water-Regions;  
Then feathered singers, and the stubborn droves  
That haunt the Deserts and the shady Groves:  
At every word they trembled then for awe,  
And every wink then served them as a law,  
And always bent all duty to obserue-us,  
Without command, stood ready still to serue-us.   

But now (alas!) through our fond Parents fall, 
The Creatures now becomn Tyrants and traitors to Him, whose slaves and servants they were before Sin.   
They (of our slaves) are grown our tyrants all.  
Wend we by Sea? the dread Leviathan  
Turns upsidedown the boiling Ocean,  
And on the sudden sadly doth in tomb  
Our floating Castle in deep Thetis womb;  
Yerst in the well kin like an Eagle towering,  
And on the water like a Dolphin scouring.  
Walk we by Land? how many loathsome swarms  
Of speckled poisons, with pestiferous arms,  
In every corner in close Ambush lurk  
With secret bands our sudden banes to work?  
Besides, the Lion and the Leopard,  
Boar, Bear, and Wolf to death pursue us hard;  
And, jealous venger's of the wrongs divine,  
In pieces pull their Soverains sinful line.  
The huge thick Forests have nor bush nor brake  
But hides some Hangman our loathed life to take:  
In every hedge and ditch both day and night  
We fear our death, of every leaf affright.  
Rest we at home? the Masty fierce in force,  
Th' untamed Bull, the hot courageous Horse,  
With teeth, with horns, and hooves besiege us round,  
As grieved to see such tyrants tread the ground:  
And there's no Fly so small but now dares bring  
Her little wrath against her quondam King.   

What hideous sights? what horror-boading shows? 
An admirable description of Man's miserable Punishments, tortured by himself.   
Alas, what yels? what howls? what thundering throws?  
O! am I not near roaring Phlegoton?  
Allecto, sad Moger' and Thesiphon?  
What spells have charmed ye from your dreadful den  
Of darkest Hell? Monsters abhorred of men,  
O Nights black daughters, grim-façed Furies sad,  
Stern Pluto's Posts, what make ye here so mad?  
O! feels not man a world of woeful terrors,  
Besides your goring wounds and ghastly horrors?   

So soon as God from Eden Adam drove,  
To live in this Earth (rather in this Grave,  
Where reign a thousand deaths) he summon'd-vp  
With thundering call the damned Crew, that sup  
Of Sulphury Styx, and fiery Phlegeton,  
Bloody Cocytus, muddy Acheron.   

Come snake-trest Sisters, come ye dismal Elves,  
Cease now to curse and cruciate yourselves:  
Come, leave the horror of your houses pale,  
Come, parbreak here your foul, black, baneful gall:  
Let lack of work no more from hence forth fear-you,  
Man by his sin a hundred hells doth rear-you.   

This echo made whole hell to tremble troubled,  
The drowsy Night her deep dark horrors doubled,  
And suddenly avernus Gulf did swim  
With Rozin, Pitch, and Brimstone to the brim,  
And th' ugly Gorgon's, and the Sphinxes fell,  
Hydra's and Harpies 'gan to yawn and yell.   

As the heat, hidden in a vapoury Cloud,  
Striving for issue with strange murmurs loud,  
Like Guns a stuns, with round-round-rumbling thunder  
Filling the Air with noise, the Earth with wonder:  
So the three Sisters, the three hideous Rages,  
Raise thousand storms, leaving th' infernal stages. 
The FURIES with their furniture and train, representing the Horror of Sinne● and the cursed estate of an evil conscience.    

Al-ready all roll on their steely Cars  
On th' ever-shaking ninefold steely bars  
Of Stygian Bridge, and in that fearful Cave  
They jumble, tumble, rumble, rage and rave.  
Then dreadful Hydra, and dire Cerberus  
Which on one body, beareth (monstruous)  
The heads of Dragon, Dog Ounse, Bear, and Bull,  
Wolf, Lion, Horse (of strength and stomach full)  
Listing his lungs, he hisses, barks, and brays,  
He howls, heyels, he bellows, roars, and neighs,  
Such a black Sant, such a confused sound  
From manyheaded bodies doth rebound.   

Having attained to our calm Haven of light,  
With swifter course than B●reas nimble flight,  
All fly at Man, all at intestine strife,  
Who most may torture his detested life.   

Here first comes DEARTH▪ the lively form of Death, 
1 Description of Famine with her train.   
Still vawning wide, with loathsome stinking breath,  
With hollow eyes, with meager cheeks and chin,  
With sharp lean bones piercing her sable skin:  
Her empty bowels may be plainly spied  
Clean through the wrinkles of her withered hide:  
She hath no belly, but the bellies seat,  
Her knees and knuckles swelling hugely great:  
Insatiate Orque, that even at one repast,  
Almost all creatures in the World would waste;  
Whose greedy gorge dish after dish doth draw,  
Seeks meat in meat. For, still her monstrous maw  
voids in devouring, and sometimes she eats  
Her own dear Babes for lack of other meats:  
Nay more, sometimes (O strangest gluttony!)  
She eats herself, herself to satisfy;  
Lessening herself, herself so to in large:  
And cruel thus she doth our Grandsire charge;  
And brings beside from Limbo, to assist-her,  
Rage, Feebleness, and Thirst her ruthe-less sister.   

Next marcheth WAR, the mistress of enormity, 
2. Of War & her train.   
Mother of mischief, monster of Deformity;  
Laws, Manners, Arts, she breaks, she mars, she chases:  
Blood, tears, bowers, towers; she spills, swills, burns, and razes:  
Her brazen feet shake all the Earth asunder,  
Her mouth's a firebrand, and her voice a thunder,  
Her looks are lightnings, every glance a flash:  
Her finger's guns that all to powder pash.  
Fear and Despair, Flight and Disorder, coast  
With hasty march, before her murderous host:  
As, Burning, Waste, Rape, Wrong, Impiety,  
Rage, Ruin, Discord, Horror, Cruelty,  
Sack, Sacrilege, Impunity, and Pride,  
Are still stern consorts by her babarous side:  
And Poverty, Sorrow, and Desolation,  
Fellow her Armies bloody transmigration.   

here's th' other FURY (or my judgement fails) 
3. Sickness exactly described with all her partakers and dependers.   
Which furiously man's woeful life assails  
With thousand Cannons, sooner felt then seen,  
Where weakest strongest; fraught with deadly teen:  
Blind, crooked, cripple, maimed, deaf, and mad,  
Cold-burning, blistered, melancholic, sad,  
Many-named poison, minister of Death,  
Which from us creeps, but to us gallopeth:  
Foul, trouble-rest, fantastik, greedy-gut,  
Bloodsweating, harts-theef, wretched, filthy Slut,  
The Child of surfait, and Ayrs-temper vicious,  
Perilous known, but unknown most pernicious. 
Innumerable kinds of diseases.    

Th' inammeld meads, in Summer cannot show  
More Grasshoppers above, nor Frogs below,  
Then hellish murmurs here about do ring:  
Nor never did the pretty little King  
Of Hony-people, in a Sunshine day  
Led to the field in orderly array  
More busy buzzers, when he casteth (witty)  
The first foundations of his waxed City;  
Then this fierce Monster musters in her train  
Fel Soldiers, charging poor mankind amain.   

Lo, first a rough and furious Regiment 
The first Regiment sent to assail the Head Man's chiefest Fortress. Simile.   
T'assault the Fort of Adam's head is sent,  
Reason's best Bulwark and the holy Cell  
Wherein the souls most sacred powers dwell.   

A King, that aims his neighbour's Crown to win,  
Before the bruit of open wars begin,  
Corrupts his Counsel with rich recompenses;  
For, in good Counsel stands the strength of Princes:  
So this fell Fury, for forerunners, sends  
Many, and Frenzy to suborn her friends:  
Whereof, th' one drying, th' other over-warming  
The feeble brain (the edge of judgement harming)  
Within the Soul fantastikly they fain  
A confused host of strange chimeras vain,  
The Karos, th' Apoplexy, and Lethargy  
As forlorn hope, assault the enemy  
On the same side; but yet with weapons others:  
For, they freez-up the brain and all his brothers;  
Making a live man like a live-less carcase,  
Save that again he scapeth from the Parca's.  
And now the Palsy, and the Cramp dispose  
Their angry darts; this binds, and that doth lose  
Man's feeble sinews, shutting up the way  
Whereby before the vital spirits did play.   

Then as a man, that fronts in single Fight 
A similitude of the effects and endeavours of sickness.   
His sudden foe, his ground doth traverse light,  
Thrusts, wards, avoids and best advantage spies,  
At last (to daze his Rivals sparkling eyes)  
He casts his Cloak, and then with coward knife,  
In crimson streams he makes him strain his life:  
So SICKNESS, Adam to sub due the better  
(Whom thousand gives al-ready fastly fetter)  
Brings to the field the faith-less Ophthalmy  
With scalding blood to blind her enemy,  
Darting a thousand thrusts; then she ●● backed  
By th' Amafrose and cloudy Cataract:  
That, gathering-up gross humours inwardly  
In th' Op●●ke sinew, clean puts out the eye:  
This other, caseth in an envious cawl  
The Crystal humour shining in the ball.   

This past: in-steps that insosent insulter;  
The cruel Quincy, leaping like a Vulture  
At Adam's throat, his hollow wezand swelling  
Among the muscles, through thick bloods congealing;  
Leaving him only this Essay, for sign  
Of's might and malice to his future-line:  
Like Hercules that in his infant-browes  
Bore glorious marks of his undaunted prows,  
When with his hands (like steely tongs) he strangled  
His spiteful stepdams Dragon's spotty-spangled:  
A proof, praesaging the triumphant spoils  
That he achieved by his Twelve famous Toils.   

The second Regiment with deadly darts  
Assaulteth fiercely Adam's vital parts: 
The second Regiment assaulting the vital Parts.   
Al-ready th' Asthma panting, breathing tough,  
With humours gross the lifting Lungs doth stuff:  
The pining phthisic fills them all with bushes,  
Whence a slow spout of cor'sie matter gushes:  
A wasting flame the Peripneumony  
Within those sponges kindles cruelly:  
The spawling Emptem, ruth-less as the rest,  
With ●oul impostumes fills his hollow chest:  
The Pleurisy stabs him with desperate foil  
Beneath the ribs, where scalding blood doth foil:  
Then th' Incubus (by some supposed a sprite)  
With a thick phlegm doth stop his breath by night.   

Dear Muse; my guide; clear truth, that nought dissembles, 
The Ague with her train her k●n●s, and cruel effects.   
Name me that Champion that with fury trembles,  
Who armed with blazing fire brands, fiercely flings  
At th' Army's heart not at our feeble wings:  
Having for Aids▪ Cough, Headache, Horror, Heat,  
Pulse-beating, Burning, cold-distilling-Sweat,  
Thirst, Yawning, Yolking, 〈…〉, Shivering, Shaking,  
Fantastik R●uing, and continual aching,  
With many more: O! is not this the Fury  
We call the Fever? whose in constant fury  
Transforms her ofter than Vertumnus can,  
To Tertian, Quartan, and Quotidian,  
And Second too; now posting, sometimes pausing,  
Even as the matter, all these changes causing,  
Is rommidged with motions slow or quick  
In feeble bodies of the Ague-sick.   

Ah treacherous beast! needs must I know thee best: 
Our Poet, having been himself for many years grievously a flected with the Fever, complaineth bitterly of her rude violence.   
For four whole years thou wert my poor heart's guest,  
And to this day in body and in mind  
I bear the marks of thy despite unkind:  
For yet (besides my veins and bones bereft  
Of blood and marrow) through thy secret theft  
I feel the virtue of my spirit decayed,  
Th' Enthousiasmos of my Muse allayed;  
My memory (which hath been meetly good)  
Is now (●l●s●) much like the fleeting flood;  
Whereon no sooner have we drawn a line  
But it is canceled, leaving there no sign:  
For, the dear fruit of all my care and cost,  
My former study (almost all) is lost,  
And oft in secret have I blushed at  
Mine ignorance: like C●ru●ne, who forgot  
His proper name; or like George Trapezunce  
(Learned in youth, and in his age a Dunce)  
And thence it grows, that maugre my endeavour  
My numbers still by habit have the Fever;  
One-while with heat of heavenly fire-ensouled,  
Shivering anon, through faint un-learned cold.   

Now, the third Regiment with stormy stours 
The third Regiment warring on the natural Powers.   
Sets-on the Squadron of our Natural Powers,  
Which happily maintain us (duly) both  
With needful food and with sufficient growth.  
One-while the Boulime, than the Anorexie,  
Then the Dog-hunger, or the Bradypepsie,  
And childe-great Pica (of prodigious diet)  
In straightest stomachs rage with monstrous riot:  
Then on the Lyver doth the jaundize fall,  
Stopping the passage of the choleric Gall;  
Which then, for good blood, scatters all about  
Her fiery poison, yellowing all without:  
But the sad Dropsy freezeth it extreme,  
Till all the blood be turned into fleam.   

But see (alas!) by far more cruel foes  
The slippery bowels thrilled with thousand throes:  
With prisoned winds the wring Colic pains-them,  
The Iliak passion with more rigour strains-them,  
Streightens their Conduits, and (detested) makes  
Man's mouth (alas!) even like a loathsome jakes.  
Then the Dysentery with fretting pains  
Extorteth pure blood from the flayed veins.  
On th' other side, the Stone and Strangury,  
Torturing the Reins with deadly tyranny,  
With heat-concreted sand-heaps strangely stop  
The burning urine, strained drop by drop:  
As opposite, the Diabete, by melting  
Our body's substance in our Urine swelting,  
Distils us still, as long as any matter  
Unto the spout can send supply of water.   

Unto those parts, whereby we leave behind-us  
Types of ourselves in aftertimes to mindus,  
There fiercely flies defective Venery,  
And the foul, feeble, fruit-less Gonorrhe  
(An impotence for Generations-deed,  
And lust-less Issue of th' uncocted seed)  
Remorse-less tyrants, that to spoil aspire  
Babes vnconceived, in hatred of their Sire.   

The fell fourth Regiment, is outward tumors 
The fourth Regiment, forageth, and defaceth the Body outwardly   
Begot of vicious indigested humours:  
As Phlegmons, Oedems, S●yrrhes, Erysipiles,  
Kings-evils, Cankers, cruel Gouts, and biles,  
Wens, Ringworms, Tetters: these from every part  
With thousand pangs brave the besieged hart:  
And their blind fury, wanting force and courage  
To hurt the Fort, the champain Country forage.   

O tyrants! sheath your feeble swords again: 
Comparison.   
For, Death al-ready thousandtimes hath slain  
Your Enemy; and yet your envious rigour  
Doth mar his feature and his limbs disfigure,  
And with a dull and ragged instrument  
His joints and skin are sawed, and torn, and ren●▪  
Me thinks most rightly to a coward Crew  
Of Wolves and Foxes I resemble you,  
Who in a Forest (finding on the sand  
The Lion dead, that did alive command  
The Land about, whose awful Countenance  
Melted (far off) their yce-like arrogance)  
Mangle the members of their live-less Prince,  
With feeble signs of dastard insolence.   

But, with the Griefs that charge our outward places, 
The Lousy Disease.   
Shall I account the loathsome Phthiriasis?  
O shameful Plague! O foul infirmity!  
Which makes proud Kings, fouler than Beggars be  
(That wrapped in rags, and wrung with verminsore,  
Their itching backs sit shrugging evermore)  
To swarm with Lice, that rubbing cannot rid,  
Nor often shift of shirts, and sheets, and bed:  
For, as in springs, stream stream pursueth fresh,  
Swarm follows swarm, and their too fruitful flesh  
Breeds her own eaters, and (till Deaths arrest)  
Makes of itself an execrable feast.   

Nor may we think, that Chance, confusedly 
Diseases proper to certain Climates & Nations.   
Conducts the Camp of our Third Enemy:  
For, of her Soldiers, some (as led by reason)  
Can make their choice of Country, Age, and Season.  
So Portugal hath Phthisiks most of all,  
Eber Kings-evils; Arné the Suddain-Fall;  
Savoy the Mumps; West-India, Pox; and Nile  
The Leprosy; Plague, the Sardinian-Ile:  
After the influence of the heavens all-ruling, 
To some ages of man.   
Or Country's manners. So, soft Childhood puling  
Is wrung with Worms, begot of crudity,  
Are apt to Lasks through much humidity:  
Through their salt phlegms, their heads are hid with skalls,  
Their Limbs with Red-gums and with bloody balls  
Of Menstrual humour which (like Must) within  
Their bodies boiling, buttoneth all their skin.  
To bloody-Flixes, Youth is apt inclining,  
Continuall-fevers, Frenzies, Phthisik-pyning.  
And feeble Age is seldomtimes without  
Her tedious guests, the Palsy and the Gout,  
Coughs, and Catarrhs. And so the Pestilence,  
The quartan-Ague with her accidents,  
The flux, the Hipgout, and the Watrie-Tumour, 
To the Seasons of the year.   
Are bred with us of an Autumnal humour:  
The Itch, the Murrain, and Alcides-grief,  
In Verse hot-moysture do molest us chief:  
The Diarrhoea and the Burning-fever,  
In Sommer-season do their fell endeavour:  
And Pleurisies, the rotten- Coughs, and Rheums,  
Wear curled flakes of white celestial plumes:  
Like sluggish Soldiers, keeping Garrison  
In th' ye●e Bulwarks of the Years gelt Son.   

Some, seeming most in multitudes delighting, 
Some Diseases contagious.   
Bane one by other, not the first acquitting:  
As Measles, Mange, and filthy Leprosy,  
The Plague, the Pox, and Phthisik-maladie.  
And some (alas!) we leave as in succession,  
Unto our Children, for a sad possession: 
Some hereditary.   
Such are Kings-evils, Dropsy, Gout, and Stone,  
Blood-boyling lepry, and Consumption,  
The swelling Throat-ache, th' Epilepsy sad,  
And cruel Rupture, paining tootoo bad:  
For their hid poisons after-coming harm  
Is fast combined unto the Parent's sperm.   

But O! what arms, what shield shall we oppose, 
Some not known by their Cause, but by their Effects only.   
What stratagems against those treacherous foes,  
Those teacherous griefs, that our frail Art detects  
Not by their cause, but by their sole effects?  
Such are the fruitful Matrix-suffocation,  
The falling-sickness, and pale Swouning-passion;  
The which, I wot not what strange winds long pause,  
I wots not where, I wot not how doth cause.   

Or who (alas!) can scape the cruel wile 
Some by sundry Causes increasing and waxing worse.   
Of those fell Pangs that Physics pains beguile?  
Which being banished from a body, yet  
(Under new names) return again to it:  
Or rather, taught the strange Metempsychosis  
Of the wise Samian, one itself transposes  
Into some worse Grief: either through the kindred  
Of th' humour vicious, or the member hindered:  
Or through their ignorance or avarice  
That do profess Apollo's exercise.  
So, Melancholy turned into Madness;  
Into the Palsy, deep-affrighted Sadness;  
Th' Il-habitude into the Dropsy i'll:  
And Megrim grows to the Comitial-Ill.   

In brief, poor Adam in this piteous case 
Comparison.   
Is like a Stag, that long pursued in chase,  
Flying for succour to some neighbour wood,  
Sinks on the sudden in the yielding mud;  
And sticking fast amid the rotten grounds,  
Is overtaken by the eager Hounds:  
One bites his back, his neck another nips,  
One pulls his breast, at's throat another skips,  
One tugs his flank, his haunch another tears,  
Another lugs him by the bleeding ears;  
And last of all, the Woodman with his knife  
Cuts off his head, and so concludes his life.  
Or like a lusty Bull, whose horned Crest 
Another comparison.   
Awakes fell Hornets from their drowsy nest,  
Who buzzing forth, assail him on each side,  
And pitch their valiant bands about his hide;  
With fisking train, with forked head, and foot,  
Himself, th' air, th' earth, he beateth (to no boot)  
Flying (through woods, hills, dales, and roaring rivers)  
His place of grief, but not his painful grievers:  
And in the end, stitched full of stings he dies,  
Or on the ground as dead (at least) he lies.   

For, man is loaden with ten thousand languors: 
An amplification of Man's miseries, compared with other creatures, seldomer sick, and sooner healed: and that by natural Remedies of their own: having also taught Men many practices of Physic.   
All other Creatures, only feel the angors  
Of few Diseases: as, the gleaning Quail  
Only the falling-sickness doth assail:  
The Turn-about and Murram trouble cattle,  
Madness and Quincie bid the Masty battle.   

Yet each of them can naturally find  
What Simples cure the sickness of their kind;  
Feeling no sooner their disease begin,  
But they as soon have ready medicine,  
The Ram for physic takes strong-senting Rue:  
The Tortoise slow, cold Hemlok doth renew:  
The Partridge, Blackbird, and rich painted jay  
Have th' oily liquor of the sacred Bay.  
The sickly Bear, the Mandrak cures again;  
And Mountain-Siler helpeth Goats to yean:  
But, we know nothing, till by poring still  
On Books, we get us a Sophistik skill;  
A doubtful Art, a Knowledge still unknown:  
Which enters but the hoary heads (alone)  
Of those, that (broken with unthankful toil)  
Seeks others Health, and lose their own thewhile:  
Or rather those (such are the greatest part)  
That waxing rich at others cost and smart,  
Grow famous Doctors, purchasing promotions,  
While the Churchyards swell with their hurtful potions;  
Who (hangman like) fear-less, and shame-less too,  
Are prayed and paid for murders that they do.   

I speak not of the good, the wise, and learned,  
Within whose hearts Gods fear is well discerned:  
Who to our bodies can again unite  
Our parting souls, ready to take their flight.  
For, these I honour as heavens gifts excelling,  
Pillars of Health, Death, and Disease repelling:  
Th' Almighty's Agents, Nature's Counsellors,  
And flowering Youths wise faithful Governors.   

Yet if their Art can ease some kind of dolours,  
They learned it first of Nature's silent Scholars:  
For, from the Sea-Horse came Phlehotomies,  
From the wild Goat the healing of the eyes;  
From Stork, and Hearn, our Glisters laxative,  
From Bears and Lions, Diets we derive.   

Against th' only Body all these Champions stout  
Strivesom, within: and other some, without.  
Or, if that any th' all-fair Soul have stricken,  
'Tis not directly; but, in that they weaken  
Her Officers, and spoil the Instruments  
Wherewith she works such wondrous precedents.   

But, lo! four Captain's far more fierce and eager, 
Of four Diseases of the Soul, under them comprehending all the rest.   
That on all sides the Spirit itself beleaguer,  
Whose Constancy they shake, and soon by treason  
Draw the blind judgement from the rule of Reason:  
Opinions issue; which (though self unseen)  
Make through the Body their fell motions seen.   

Sorrow's first Leader of this furious Crowd,  
Muffled allover in a sable cloud, 
1. Sorrow described with her company.   
Old before Age, afflicted night and day,  
Her face with wrinkles warped every-way,  
Creeping in corners, where she sits and vies  
Sighs from her hart, tears from her blubbered eyes;  
Accompanied with self-consuming Care,  
With weeping Pity, Thought, and mad Despair  
That bears, about her, burning Coals and Cords,  
Asps, Poisons, Pistols, Halters, Knives, and Swords:  
Fouls quinting Envy, that self-eating Elf,  
Through others leanness fatting up herself,  
joying in mischief, feeding but with languor  
And bitter tears her Toad-like-swelling anger  
And jealousy that never sleeps, for fear  
(Suspicions Flea still nibbling in her ear)  
That leaves repast and rest, near pined and blind  
With seeking what she would be loath to find.   

The second Captain is excessive joy, 
2. joy with her Train.   
Who leaps and tickles, finding th' Apian-way  
Too-streight for her: whose senses all possess  
All wished pleasures in all plenteousness.  
She hath in conduct false vainglorious Vaunting,  
Bold, soothing, shame-less, loud, injurious, taunting:  
The winged Giant lofty-staring Pride,  
That in the clouds her braving Crest doth hide:  
And many other, like the empty bubbles  
That rise when rain the liquid Crystal troubles.   

The Third, is blood-less, heartless, witless Fear, 
3. Fear & her Followers.   
That like an Asp-tree trembles every where:  
She leads bleak Terror, and base clownish Shame,  
And drowsy Sloth, that counter faiteth lame,  
With Snail-like motion measuring the ground,  
Having her arms in willing fetters bound,  
Foul, sluggish Drone, barren (but, sin to breed)  
Diseased, beggar, starved with wilful need.   

And thou Desire, whom nor the firmament, 
4. Desire, a most violent Passion, accompanied with others like: as Ambition, Avarice, Anger, and Foolish love.   
Nor air, nor earth, nor Ocean can content:  
Whose-looks are hooks, whose belly's bottom-less,  
Whose hands are Gripes to scrape with greediness,  
Thou art the Fourth: and under thy Command,  
Thou bringst to field a rough unruly Band:  
First, secret-burning, mighty-swoln Ambition  
Penned in no limits, pleased with no Condition,  
Whom Epicurus many Worlds suffice not,  
Whose furious thirst of proud aspiring dies not,  
Whose hands (transported with fantastic passion)  
Bear painted Sceptres in imagination:  
Then Avarice alarmed in hooking Tenters  
And clad in Birdlime; without bridge she venter's  
Through fell Charybdis, and false Syrteses Nesse;  
The more her wealth, the more her wretchedness:  
Cruel, respect-less, friend-less, faith-less Elf,  
That hurts her neighbour, but much more herself:  
Whose foul base fingers in each dunghill poar  
(Like Tantalus) starved in the midst of store:  
Not what she hath, but what she wants she counts:  
A wel-wingd Bird that never lofty mounts.   

Then, boiling Wrath, stern, cruel, swift, and rash,  
That like a Boar her teeth doth grind and gnash:  
Whose hair doth stare like bristled Porcupine;  
Who sometimes rowles her ghastly-glowing eyn,  
And sometime fixtly on the ground doth glance,  
Now bleak then bloody in her Countenance;  
Raving and railing with a hideous sound,  
Clapping her hands, stamping against the ground;  
Bearing B●cconi, fire and sword to slay,  
And murder all that her for pity pray;  
Baning herself, to bane her Enemy;  
Disdaining Death, provided others die:  
Like falling Towers o'r-turned by the wind,  
That break themselves on that they under-grinde.  
And then that Tyrant, all-controuling Love:  
(Whom here to paint doth little me behove,  
After so many rare Apellese  
As in this Age our Albion nourishes)  
And to be short, thou dost to battle bring  
As many Soldiers against the Creatures King,  
(Yet not his own) as in this life, Mankind  
True very Goods, or seeming- Goods doth find.   

Now, if (but like the Lightning in the sky)  
These sudden Passions passed but swiftly by, 
The horrible effects of the Passions of the soul, far more dangerous than the diseases of the body.   
The fear were less: but, O! too-oft they leave  
Keen stings behind in Souls that they deceive.  
From this foul Fountain, all these poisons rise,  
Rapes, Treasons, Murders, Incests, Sodomies,  
Blaspheming, Bibbing, Thieving, False-contracting  
Church-chaffering, Cheating, Bribing, and Exacting.   

Alas! how these (far-worse then death) Diseases  
Exceed each Sickness that our body seizes;  
Which makes us open war, and by his spite  
Gives to the Patiented many a wholesome light,  
Now by the colour, or the pulls beating,  
Or by some Fit, some sharper dolour threatening;  
Whereby the Leech neer-ghessing at our grief,  
Not seldom finds sure means for our relief.  
But, for these Ills reign in our Intellect  
(Which only, them both can and ought detect)  
They rest unknown, or rather self-concealed;  
And soul-sick Patients care not to be healed.   

Besides, we plainly call the Fever, Fever:  
The Dropsy, Dropsy: over-gilding never,  
With guileful flourish of a feigned phrase,  
The cruel Languors that our bodies craze:  
Whereas, our fond self-soothing Soul, thus sick,  
Rubs her own sore; with glozing Rhetorik  
Cloaking her vice: and makes the blinded Blain  
Not fear the touch of Reasons Cautere vain.   

And sure, if ever filthy Vice did jet 
The miserable corruption of our Times, worse than all former Ages.   
In sacred Virtues spot-less mantle neat,  
'Tis in our days, more hateful and unhallowed,  
Then when the World the Waters wholly swallowed.   

I'll spare to speak of foulest Sins, that spot  
Th' infamous beds of men of mighty lot;  
Lest I the Saints chaste tender ears offend,  
And seem them more to teach, then reprehend.   

Who bear upon their French-sick backs about, 
All riotous Prodigality disguised with the name of Liberality.   
Farms, Castles, Fees, in golden shreds cutout;  
Whose lavish hand, at one Primero-rest,  
One Mask, one Turney, or one pampering Feast,  
Sends treasures, scraped by th' Usury and Care  
Of miser Parents; Liberal counted are.   

Who, with a maiden voice, and mincing pace,  
Acquaint looks, curled locks, perfumes, and painted face, 
Effeminate curiofitie & luxuvious Pride, miscalled cleanliness.   
Base coward-hart, and wanton soft array,  
Their manhood only by their Beard bewray,  
Are Cleanly called. Who like Lust-greedy Goats, 
Insatiate lust and Beast like Looseness, surnamed love.   
Brothel from bed to bed; whose Siren-notes  
Enchant chaste Susan's, and like hungry Kite  
Fly at all game, they Lovers are behight.   

Who, by false bargains, and unlawful measures 
Extreme Extortion, counted Thirst.   
Robbing the World, have he aped kingly treasures:  
Who cheat the simple; lend for fifty fifty,  
Hundred for hundred, are esteemed Thrifty. 
Blasphemous Quarrels, bravest Courage.    

Who always murder and revenge affect,  
Who feed on blood, who never do respect  
State, Sex, or Age: but, in all human lives  
In cold blood, bathe their paricidiall knives;  
Are styled Valiant. Grant, good Lord, our Land 
Inhuman Murder highest Manhood.   
May want such valour whose self-cruell hand  
Fights for our foes, our proper lifeblood spills,  
Our City's sacks, and our own Kindred kills.  
Lord, let the Lance, the Gun, the Sword, & Shield,  
Beturned to tools to furrow-up the field,  
And let us see the Spiders busy task  
Woven in the belly of the plumed Cask.   

But if (brave Lands-men) your war-thirst be such,  
If in your breasts sad Enyon foil so much,  
What holds you here? alas! what hope of crowns?  
Our fields are flocks-less, treasure-less our Towns.   

Go then, nay run, renowned Martialists,  
Re-found French-Greece, in now- Natolian lists;  
High, hy to Flanders; free with conquering stroke  
Your Belgian brethren from th' Iberians yoke:  
To Portugal; people Galizian-Spain,  
And grave your names on Lysbon's gates again.   
FINIS.   

THE HANDI-CRAFTS. THE FOUR PART OF THE I. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

The Praise of Peace, the miserable states  
Of Eden's Exiles: their un-curious Cates,  
Their simple habit, silly habitation:  
They find out Fire. Their foremost Propagation:  
Their children's trades, their offerings; envious Cain  
His (better) Brother doth unkindly brain:  
With inward horror hurried up and down,  
He breaks a Horse, he builds a homely Town:  
Iron's invented, and sweet Instruments:  
Adam foretells of After-Worlds events.   

HEavn's sacred Imp, fair Goddess that renew'st 
The Poet here welcometh peace which (after long absence) seems about this time to have returned into France. The Benefits she brings with Her.   
Th' old golden Age, and brightly now re-blew'st  
Our cloudy sky, making our fields to smile:  
Hope of the virtuous, horror of the vile:  
Virgin, unseen in France this many a year,  
O blessed Peace! we bid thee welcome here.   

Lo, at thy presence, how who late were priest  
To spur their Steeds, & couch their staves in rest  
For fierce encounter; cast away their spears,  
And rapt with joy, them enter-bathe with tears.  
Lo, how our Marchant-vessels to and fro  
Freely about our tradefull Waters go:  
How the grave Senate with iust-gentle rigour,  
Resumes his rob; the Laws their ancient vigour:  
Lo, how Oblivions Seas our strifes do drown:  
How walls are built that war had thundered down:  
Lo, how the Shops with busy Craftsmen swarm;  
How Sheep and Cattle cover every Farm:  
Behold the Bonfires waving to the skies:  
Hark, hark the cheerful and re-chaunting cries  
Of old and young; singing this joyful Ditty,  
Io, rejoice, rejoice through Town and City, 
Thanksgiving to God for peace   
Let all our air, reeccho with the praises  
Of th' everlasting glorious God, who raises  
Our ruin'd State: who giveth us a good  
We sought not for (or rather, we withstood)  
So that, to hear and see these consequences  
Of wonders strange, we scarce believe our senses.  
O! let the King, let Mounsieur and the Sover'n  
That doth Navarras Spayn-wrongd Sceptre govern, 
Grateful remembrance of the means thereof.   
Be all, by all, their Country's Fathers cleapt:  
O! let the honour of their names be kept,  
And on brass leaves ingrav'n eternally  
In the bright Temple of fair Memory,  
For having quenched, so soon, so many fires,  
Disarmed our arms, appeased the heavenly ires,  
Calmed the pale horror of intestine hates,  
And damned-up the bi-front Father's gates.   

Much more, let us (deer, World-divided Land)  
Extol the mercies of heavens mighty hand, 
An imitation thereof, by the Translator, in honour of our late gracious Sovereign Elizabeth: in whose happy Reign, God hath given this Kingdom so long peace and rich prosperity.   
That (while the World, Wars bloody rage hath rend)  
To us so long, so happy Peace hath lent.  
(Maugre the malice of th' Italian Priest,  
And Indian Pluto (prop of Anti-christ;  
Whose Host, like Pharao's threatening Israel,  
Our gaping Seas have swallowed quick to hell)  
Making our Isle a holy Safe-Retreat  
For Saints exiled in persecutions heat.   

Much more, let us with true-heart-tuned breath,  
Record the Praises of ELIZABETH  
(Our martial Pallas and our mild Astraea,  
Of grace and wisdom the divine Idea)  
Whose prudent Rule, with rich religious Rest,  
Well-near nine Lustres hath this Kingdom blest.  
O! pray we him that from home-plotted dangers  
And bloody threats of proud ambitious Strangers,  
So many years hath so securely kept her,  
In just possession of this flowering Sceptre;  
That (to his glory and his dear Sons honour)  
All happy length of life may wait upon her:  
That we her Subjects, whom he blesseth by-her,  
Psalming his praise, may sound the same the higher.   

But, waiting (Lord) in some more learned Lays,  
To sing thy glory, and my sovereigns praise;  
I sing the young World's Cradle, as a Proëm  
Unto so rare and so Divine a Poem.   

WHO, FULL OF wealth and honour's blandishment,  
Among great Lords his younger years hath spent; 
An Elegant comparison representing the lamentable Condition of Adam and Eve driven out of Paradise.   
And quaffing deeply of the Court-delights,  
Used nought but Tilts, Turneiss, and Masks, and Sights:  
If in his age, his Princes angry doom  
With deep disgrace drive him to live at home  
In homely Cottage, where continually  
The bitter smoke exhales abundantly  
From his before-un-sorrow-drained brain:  
The brackish vapours of a silver rain:  
Where Vsher-less, both day and night, the North,  
South, East, and West winds, enter and go forth:  
Where roundabout, the lowe-rooft broken walls  
(In stead of Arras) hang with Spider's cawls:  
Where all at once he reacheth, as he stands,  
With brows the roof, both walls with both his hands:  
He weeps and sighs, and (shunning comforts ay)  
Wisheth pale Death a thousand times a day:  
And, yet at length falling to work, is glad  
To bite a brown crust that the Mouse hath had,  
And in a Dish (instead of Plate or Glass)  
Sups Oaten drink in stead of Hippocras.  
So (or much like) our rebel Elders, driven  
For ay from Eden (Earthly type of Heaven)  
Lie languishing near Tigris grassy side,  
With numbed limbs, and spirits stupefied.   

But powerful NEED (Arts ancient Dame and Keeper, 
The first Manner of life,   
The early watch-clock of the slothful sleeper)  
Among the Mountains makes them seek their living,  
And foaming Rivers, through the champain driving:  
For yet the Trees with thousand fruits yfraught  
In formal Checkers were not fairly brought:  
The Pear and Apple lived Dwarf-like there,  
With Oaks and Ashes shadowed everywhere:  
And yet (all as!) their meanest simple cheer  
Our wretched Parents bought full hard and dear:  
To get a Plum, sometimes poor Adam rushes  
With thousand wounds among a thousand bushes.  
If they desire a Medlar for their food,  
They must go seek it through a fearful wood;  
Or a brown Mulberry, than the ragged Bramble  
With thousand scratches doth their skin be-scramble.   

Wherefore (as yet) more led by th' appetite 
Great simplicity in their kind of life.   
Of th' hungry belly then the tastes delight,  
Living from hand to mouth, soon satisfied,  
To earn their supper, th' after noon they plied,  
Vn-stored of dinner till the morrow-day;  
Pleased with an Apple, or some lesser prey.  
Then, taught by Ver (richer in flowers than fruit)  
And hoary Winter, of both destitute,  
Nuts, filberts, Almonds, wisely up they hoard,  
The best provisions that the woods afford.   

Touching their garments: for the shining wool 
Their Clothing.   
Whence the roab-spinning precious Worms are full,  
For gold and silver woven in drapery,  
For Cloth dipped double in the scarlet Die,  
For Gems brightlustre, with excessive cost  
On rich embroideries by rare Art embossed:  
Sometimes they do the far-spred Gourd unleave,  
Sometime the Figtree of his branch bereave:  
Sometimes the Plane, sometimes the Vine they shear,  
Choosing their fairest tresses here and there:  
And with their sundry locks, thorned each to other,  
Their tender limbs they hide from Cynthia's Brother.   

Sometimes the Iuie's climbing stems they strip,  
Which lovingly his lively prop doth clip:  
And with green lace, in artificial order,  
The wrinkled bark of th' Acorn-Tree doth border,  
And with his arms th' Oaks slender twigs entwining.  
A many branches in one tissue joining,  
Frames a lose jacquet, whose light nimble quaking,  
Wagged by the winds, is like the wanton shaking  
Of golden spangles that in stately pride  
Dance on the tresses of a noble Bride.   

But, while that Adam (waxed diligent) 
Their Winter Suits.   
Wearies his limbs for mutual nourishment:  
While craggy Mountains, Rocks, and thorny Plains,  
And bristly Woods be witness of his pains:  
Eve, walking forth about the Forests, gathers  
Speights, Parrots, Peacocks, Ostrich scattered feathers,  
And then with wax the smaller plumes she sears,  
And sows the greater with a white horse hairs,  
(For they as yet did serve her in the steed  
Of Hemp, and Tow, and Flax, and Silk, and Thread)  
And thereof makes a medley coatso rare  
That it resembles Nature's Mantle fair,  
When in the Sun, in pomp all glistering,  
She seems with smiles to woe the gaudy Spring.   

When (by stolen moments) this she had contrived,  
Leaping for joy, her cheerful looks revived,  
She admires her cunning; and incontinent  
‛ Says on herself her manly ornament;  
And then through path-less paths she runs apace,  
To meet her husband coming from the Chase.   

Sweetheart (quoth she, and then she kisseth him)  
My Love, my Life, my Bliss, my joy, my gem,  
My souls dear Soul, take in good part (I prithee)  
This pretty Present that I gladly give-thee.  
Thanks my deer All (quoth Adam then) for this,  
And with three kisses he requites her kiss.  
Then on he puts his painted garment new,  
And Peacock-like himself doth often view,  
Looks on his shadow, and in proud amaze  
Admires the hand that had the Art to cause 
eves industry in making a Gar meant for her Husband.   
So many several parts to meet in one,  
To fashion thus the acquaint Mandilion.   

But, when the Winter's keener breath began  
To crystallize the Baltike Ocean,  
To glaze the Lakes, and bridle-up the Floods,  
And periwig with wool the baldpate Woods;  
Our Grandsire, shrinking, began to shake and shiver,  
His teeth to chatter, and his beard to quiver.  
Spying therefore a flock of Muttons coming  
(Whose freez-clad bodies feel not Winters numbing)  
He takes the fairest, and he knocks it down:  
Then by good hap, finding upon the Down  
A sharp great fish-bone (which long time before  
The roaring Flood had cast upon the shore)  
He cuts the throat, flays it, and spreads the fell,  
Then dries it, pares it, and he scrapes it well,  
Then clothes his wife therewith; and of such Hides  
Slops, Hats, and Doublets for himself provides.   

A vaulted Rock, a hollow Tree, a Cave, 
Their Lodging and first building.   
Were the first buildings that them shelter gave:  
But, finding th' one to be too-moist a hold,  
Th' other too-narrow, th' other over-cold;  
Like Carpenters, within a Wood they choose  
Sixteen fair Trees that never leaves do lose,  
Whose equal front in quadran form prospected,  
As if of purpose Nature them erected:  
Their shady boughs first bow they tenderly,  
Then enterbraid, and bind them curiously;  
That one would think that had this Arbour seen,  
IT had been true ceiling painted-over green.   

After this trial, better yet to fence  
Their tender flesh from th' airy violence, 
A building somewhat more exact.   
Upon the top of their fit-forked stems,  
They lay across bare Oaken boughs for beams  
(Such as dispersed in the Woods they find,  
Torn-off in tempests by the stormy wind)  
Then these again with levy boughs they load,  
So covering close their sorry cold abode,  
And then they ply from th' eaves unto the ground,  
With mud-mixt Reed to wall their Mansion round  
All save a hole to th' Eastward situate,  
Where strait they clap a hurdle for a gate  
(Instead of hinges hanged on a With)  
Which with a sleight both shuts and openeth.   

Yet fire they lacked: but lo, the winds, that whistle 
The invention of Fire●   
Amid the Groves, so oft the Laurel justle  
Against the Mulberry, that their angry claps  
Do kindle fire, that burns the neighbour Copse.   

When Adam saw a ruddy vapour rise  
In glowing streams; astund with fear he flies,  
It follows him, until a naked Plain  
The greedy fury of the flame restrain:  
Then back he turns, and coming somewhat nigher  
The kindled shrubs, perceiving that the fire  
Dries his dank clothes, his Colour doth refresh,  
And unbenums his sinews and his flesh;  
By th' unburntend a good big brand he takes,  
And hying home, a fire he quickly makes,  
And still maintains it, till the starry Twins  
Celestial breath another fire gins.  
But, Winter being comn again it grieved him,  
T' have lost so fond what so much relieved him,  
Trying a thousand ways, sith now no more  
The justling Trees his damage would restore.   

While (elsewhere musing) one day he sat down 
How the first Man invented Fire for the use of himself & his Posterity.   
Upon a steep Rocks craggy-forked crown,  
A foaming beast come toward him he spies,  
Within whose head stood burning coals for eyes;  
Then suddenly with boisterous arm he throws  
A knobbie flint that hummeth as it goes;  
Hence flies the beast, th' il-aimed flint-shaft grounding  
Against the Rock, and on it oftre bounding,  
Shivers to cinders, whence there issued  
Small sparks of fire no sooner born then dead.   

This happy chance made Adam leap for glee,  
And quickly calling his cold company,  
In his left hand a shining flint he locks,  
Which with another in his right he knocks  
So up and down, that from the coldest stone  
At every stroke small fiery sparkles shone.  
Then with the dry leaves of a withered Bay  
The which together handsomely they lay,  
They take the falling fire, which like a Sun  
Shines clear and smoak-less in the leaf begun.   

Eve, kneeling down, with hand her head sustaining,  
And on the low ground with her elbow leaning,  
Blows with her mouth: and with her gentle blowing  
Stirs up the heat, that from the dry leaves glowing,  
Kindles the Reed, and then that hollow kix  
First fires the small, and they the greater sticks. 
Beginning of Families.    

And now, Mankind with fruitful Race began  
A little corner of the World to man:  
First Cain is born, to tillage all addicted; 
The several Occupations of Abel and Cain.   
Then Abel, most to keeping flocks affected.  
Abel, desirous still at hand to keep  
His Milk and Cheese, unwildes the gentle Sheep  
To make a Flock; that when it tame became  
For guard and guide should have a Dog and Ram.  
Cain more ambitious, gives but little ease  
To's boisterous limbs: and seeing that the Pease,  
And other Pulse, Beans, Lentils, Lupins, Rice,  
Burnt in the Copses, as not held in price,  
Some grains he gathers: and with busy toil,  
Apart he sows them in a better soil,  
Which first he rids of stones, and thorns, and weeds,  
Then buries there his dying-living seeds.   

By the next Harvest, finding that his pain  
On this small plot was not in grately-vain;  
To break more ground, that bigger Crop may bring  
Without so often weary labouring,  
He tames a Heifer, and on either side,  
On either horn a threefold twist he tied  
Of Osiar twigs, and for a Plough he got  
The horn or Tooth of some Rhinocerot.   

Now, th' one in Cattle, th' other rich in grain,  
On two steep Mountains build they Altars twain; 
Their sacrifice.   
Where (humbly-sacred) th' one with zealous cry  
Cleaves bright Olympus starry Canopy:  
With feigned lips, the other low'd-resounded  
Hart-wanting Hymns, on self-deseruing founded:  
Each on his Altar offereth to the Lord  
The best that either's flocks, or fields afford.   

Rein-searching God, thought-sounding judge, that tries 
God regardeth Abel and his Sacrifice; and rejecteth Cain and his: whereas Cain envieth, and finally kills his Brother; whose blood God revengeth.   
The will and heart more than the work and guise,  
Accepts good Abel's gift: but hates the other  
Profane oblation of his furious Brother;  
Who feeling, deep th' effects of God's displeasure,  
Raves, frets, and fumes, and murmurs out of measure.   

What boots it (Cain) O wretch! what boots it thee  
T' have opened first the fruitful womb (quoth he)  
Of the first mother; and first born, the rather  
T' have honoured Adam first, with name of Father?  
Unfortunate, what boots thee to be wealthy,  
Wise, active, valiant, strongly-limbed, and healthy,  
If this weak Girl-boy, in man's shape disguised,  
To Heaven and Earth be dear, and thou despised?  
What boots it thee, for others night and day,  
In painful toil to wear thyself away:  
And (more for others than thine own relief)  
To have devised of all Arts the chief;  
If this dull Infant, of thy labour nursed  
Shall reap the glory of thy deeds (accursed)?  
Nay, rather quickly rid thee of the fool,  
Down with his climbing hill, and timely cool  
This kindling flame: and, that none overcrowe thee,  
Reseize the right that Birth and Virtue owe-thee.   

Ay in his mind this counsel he revolues,  
And hundred times to act it he resolves,  
And yet as oft relents; stopped worthily  
By the pains horror, and sins tyranny.   

But, one day drawing with dissembled love  
His harm-less brother far into a Grove,  
Upon the verdure of whose virgin-boughs  
Bird had not perched, nor never beast did brouz;  
With both his hands he takes a stone so huge,  
That in our age three men could hardly budge,  
And just upon his tender brother's crown,  
With all his might he cruel casts it down.   

The murdered face lies printed in the mud,  
And loud for vengeance cries the martyred blood,  
The battered brains fly in the murderers face.  
The Sun, to shun this Tragic sight, apace  
Turns back his Teem: th' amazed Parrs●ide  
Doth all the Furies scourging whips abide:  
external terrors, and th' internal Worm  
A thousand kinds of living deaths do form:  
All day he hides him, wanders all the night,  
Flies his own friends, of his own shade affright,  
Scarr'd with a leaf, and starting at a Sparrow,  
And all the World seems for his fear too-narrow. 
By reason of the multiplying of Mankind, the Children of Adam begin to build houses for their commodity and retreat.    

But for his Children, born by three and three,  
Produce him Nephews, that still multiply  
With new increase; who yer their age be rise  
Become great-Grand-sires in their Grandsires' life:  
Staying at length, he chose him out a dwelling,  
For woods and floods, and air, and soil excelling.   

One fells down Firs, another of the same  
With crossed poles a little Lodge doth frame:  
Another mounds it with dry walls about,  
And leaves a breach for passage in and out:  
With Turf and Furse: some others yet more gross  
Their homely Sties in stead of walls enclose:  
Some (like the Swallow) mud and hay do mix,  
And that about their silly Coats they fix:  
Some make their Roofs with fearn, or reeds, or rushes,  
And some with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes.   

He, that still fearful, seeketh still defence, 
Cain thinking to find sum quiet for the tempests of his conscience, gins to fortify, and builds a Town.   
Shortly this Hamlet to a Town augments.  
For, with keen Coultar having bounded (witty)  
The four-façed Rampire of his simple City;  
With stones soon gathered on the neighbour strand,  
And clayey mortar ready there at hand.  
Well trodden and tempered, he immures his Fort,  
A stately tower erecting on the Port:  
Which awes his own, and threats his enemies;  
Securing somewhat his pale tyrannies.   

O Tiger! thinkest thou (hellish fratricide)  
Because with stone-heaps thou art fortified,  
Prince of some Peasants trained in thy tillage,  
And silly Kingling of a simple Village;  
Thinkest thou to scape the storm of vengeance dread,  
That hangs already o'er thy hateful head?  
No: wert thou (wretch) encamped at thy will  
On strongest top of any steepest Hill:  
Wert thou immured in triple brazen Wall,  
Having for aid all Creatures in this All:  
If skin and heart, of steel and iron were,  
Thy pain thou couldst not, less avoid thy fear  
Which chills thy bones, and runs through all thy veins,  
Racking thy soul with twenty thousand pains.   

Kain (as they say) by this deep fear disturbed, 
Supposeth to secure himself by the strength and swiftness of a Horse, which he gins to tame.   
Then first of all th' untamed Courser kerbed,  
That while about on others feet he run  
With dusty speed, he might his Deathsman shun.  
Among a hundred brave, light, lusty, Horses  
(With curious eye, marking their comely forces)  
He chooseth one for his industrious proof, 
Description of a gallant Horse.   
With round, high, hollow, smooth, brown, jetty hoof,  
With Pasterns short, upright (but yet in mean);  
Dry sinnewie shanks; strong, flesh-less knees, and lean;  
With Hartlike legs, broad breast, and large behind,  
With body large, smooth flanks, and double-chined:  
A crested neck bowed like a halfbent Bow,  
Whereon along, thin, curled mane doth flow;  
A firm full tail, touching the lowly ground  
With dock between two fair fat buttocks drowned;  
A pricked ear, that rests as little space,  
As his light foot; a lean, bare, bony, face,  
Thin jowl, and head but of a middling size,  
Full, lively-flaming, quickly rolling eyes,  
Great foaming mouth, hot-fuming nostril wide,  
Of Chest-nut hai●, his forehead starryfied,  
Three milky feet, a feather on his breast,  
Whom seav'n-years-old at the next grass he guest.   

This goodly jennet gently first he wins, 
The manner how to back, to break, & make a good Horse.   
And then to back him actively gins,  
Steady and strait he sits, turning his sight  
Still to the forepart of his Palfrey light.  
The chafed Horse, such thrall ill-suffering,  
Gins to snuff, and snort, and leap, and fling;  
And flying swift, his fearful Rider makes,  
Like some unskilful Lad, that under-takes  
To hold some ship's helm, while the headlong Tide 
Simile.   
Carries away the Vessel and her Guide;  
Who near devoured in the jaws of Death,  
Pale, fearful, shivering, faint, and out of breath,  
A thousand times (with Heaven erected eyes)  
Reputes him of so bold an enterprise.   

But, sitting fast, less hurt then feared; Cain  
Boldness himself and his brave Beast again:  
Brings him to pace, from pasing to the trot,  
From trot to gallop: after runs him hot  
In full career: and at his courage smiles;  
And sitting still, to run so many miles. 
The ready speed of a swift Horse presented to the Reader, in a pleasant and lively description.    

His pace is fair and free; his trot as light  
As Tigers course, as Swallows nimble flight:  
And his brave gallop seems as swift to go  
As Biscan Darts, or shafts from Russian bow:  
But, roaring Canon, from his smoking throat,  
Never so speedy spews the thundering shot  
(That in an Army mows whole squadrons down,  
And batters Bulwarks of a summoned Town)  
As this light Horse scuds, if he do but feel  
His bridle slack, and in his side the heel:  
Shunning himself, his sinewy strength he stretches;  
Flying the earth, the flying air he catches,  
Born whirl-wind-like: he makes the trampled ground  
Shrink under him, and shake with doubling sound:  
And when the sight no more pursue him may,  
In fieldy clouds he vanisheth away.   

The wise-waxt Rider, not esteeming best  
To take toomuch now of his lusty Beast, 
Good Horsemanship.   
Restrains his fury: then with learned wand  
The triple Curvet makes him understand:  
With skilful voice he gently cheers his pride:  
And on his neck his flattering palm doth slide:  
He stops him steady still, new breath to take,  
And in the same path brings him softly back.   

But th' angry Steed, rising and reaning proudly,  
Striking the stones, stamping and neighing loudly, 
The Countenance Pride, and Port of a courageous Horse, when he is chased.   
Calls for the Combat, plunges, leaps, and praunces,  
Befoams the path, with sparkling eyes he glances,  
Champs on his burnished bit, and gloriously  
His nimble fetlocks lifteth belly-high,  
All side long iaunts, on either side he justles,  
And's waving Crest courageously he bristles,  
Making the gazer's glad on every side  
To give more room unto his portly Pride.   

Cain gently strokes him, and now sure in seat, 
The Dexterity of a skilful Rider.   
Ambitiously seeks still some fresher feat  
To be more famous; one while trots the Ring,  
Another while he doth him backward bring,  
Then of all four he makes him lightly bound;  
And to each hand to manage rightly round;  
To stoop, to stop, to caper, and to swim,  
To dance, to leap, to holdup any limb:  
And all, so done, with time-grace-ordered skill,  
As both had but one body and one will.  
Th' one for his Art no little glory gains,  
Th' other through practice by degrees attains  
Grace in his gallop, in his pace agility,  
Lightness of head, and in his stop facility,  
Strength in his leap, and steadfast managings,  
Aptness in all, and in his course new wings.   

The use of Horses thus discovered,  
Each to his work more cheerly fetteled,  
Each plies his trade, and travails for his age,  
Following the paths of painful Tubal sage.   

While through a Forest Tubal (with his Yew 
The invention of yro●.   
And ready quiver) did a Boar pursue,  
A burning Mountain from his fiery vain,  
An iron River rowles along the Plain:  
The witty Huntsman, musing, thither hies,  
And of the wonder deeply 'gan devise.  
And first perceiving that this scalding mettle,  
Becoming cold, in any shape would settle,  
And grow so hard that with his sharpened side,  
The firmest substance it would soon divide;  
He casts a hundred plots, and yer he parts  
He moulds the groundwork of a hundred Arts:  
Like as a Hound, that (following lose, behind 
Comparison.   
His pensive Master) of a Hare doth find;  
Leaves whom he loves, upon the scent doth ply,  
Figs to and fro, and falls in cheerful Cry,  
And with up-lifted head, and nostril wide  
Winding his game, snuffs-yp the wind, his guide:  
A hundred ways he measures Vale and Hill:  
Ears, eyes, nor nose, nor foot, nor tail are still,  
Till in her hot Form he have found the prey  
That he so long hath sought for every way.   

For, now the way to thousand works revealed,  
Which long shall live maugre the rage of Eld: 
Caesting of the first Instruments of Iron.   
In two square creases of unequal sises  
To turn two iron streamlings he devices;  
Cold, takes them thence: then off the dross he rakes,  
And this a Hammer, that an Anvil makes;  
And adding tongs to these two instruments,  
He stores his house with iron implements:  
As forks, rakes, hatchets, ploughshares, coultars, staples,  
Bolts, hinges, hooks, nails, whittles, spokes, and grapples;  
And grown more cunning, hollow things he formeth,  
He hatcheth Files, and winding Vices wormeth,  
He shapeth Sheers, and then a Saw indents,  
Then beats a Blade, and then a Lock invents.   

Happy device! we might as well want all 
The excellent uses and commodities of Iron.   
The Elements, as this hard mineral.  
This, to the Ploughman, for great uses serves:  
This, for the Builder, Wood and Marble carves:  
This arms our bodies against adverse force:  
This clothes our backs: this rules th' unruly Horse:  
This makes us dryshod dance in Neptune's Hall:  
This brightens gold: this conquers self and all;  
Fift Element, of Instruments the haft,  
The Tool of Tools, and hand of Handicraft.   

While (compassed round with smoking Cyclops rude, 
Invention of Music.   
Half-naked Bronts, and Sterops swarthy-hewd,  
All well-neer weary) sweeting Tubal stands,  
Hastening the hot work in their sounding hands,  
No time lost jubal: th' un-full Harmony  
Of un-even Hammers, beating diversely,  
Wakens the tunes that his sweet numbery soul  
Yer birth (some think) learned of the warbling Pole.   

Thereon he harps, and ponders in his mindo,  
And glad and fain some Instrument would find 
Invention of the Lute and other Instruments.   
That in accord those discords might renew,  
And th' Iron Anuils' rattling sound ensue,  
And iterate the beating Hammers noise  
In milder notes, and with a sweeter voice.  
It chaunçed, that passing by a Pond, he found  
An open Tortoise lying on the ground,  
Within the which there nothing else remained  
Save three dry sinews on the shell stiff-strained:  
This empty house jubal doth gladly bear,  
Strikes on those strings, and lends attentive ear;  
And by this mould frams the melodious Lute,  
That makes woods ●arken, and the winds be mute,  
The Hills to dance, the heavens to retro-grade,  
Lions be tame, and tempests quickly vade.   

His Art, still waxing, sweetly marrieth  
His quavering fingers to his warbling breath:  
More little tongues to's charm-care Lute he brings,  
More Instruments he makes: no Echo rings  
'Mid rocky concaves of the babbling vales,  
And bubbling Rivers rolled with gentle gales,  
But wyëry Cymbals, Rebecks sinews twined,  
Sweet Virginals, and Cornets curled wind.   

But Adam guides, through paths but seldom gone, 
While Cain and his Children are busy for the World, Adam and his other Sons exercise themselves in Piety & justice, and in searching the goodly secrets of Nature.   
His other Sons to Virtues sacred throne:  
And chief Seth (set in good Abel's place)  
Staff of his age, and glory of his race:  
Him he instructeth in the ways of Verity,  
To worship God in spirit and sincerity:  
To honour Parents with a reverentaw,  
To train his children in religious law:  
To love his friends, his Country to defend,  
And helpful hands to all mankind to lend:  
To know heavens course, and how their constant Sways  
Divide the year in months, the months in days:  
What star brings Winter, what is summers guide;  
What sign foul weather, what doth fair betide;  
What creature's kind, and what is cursed to us:  
What plant is wholesome, and what venomous.   

No sooner he his lessons can commence,  
But Seth hath hit the White of his intents,  
Draws rule from rule, and of his short collations  
In a short time a perfect Art he fashions.  
The more he knows the more he craves; as fuel  
Kills not a fire, but kindles it more cruel.   

While on a day by a clear Brook they travel, 
Seth questions his Father concerning the state of the World, from the Beginning to the End.   
Whose gurgling streams frizadoed on the gravel,  
He thus bespoke: If that I did not see  
The zeal (dear Father) that you bear to me,  
How still you watch me with your careful eyn,  
How still your voice with prudent discipline  
My Prentice ear doth oft reverberate;  
I should misdoubt to seem importunate:  
And should content me to have learned, how  
The Lord the heavens about this All did bow;  
What things have hot, and what have cold effect;  
And how my life and manners to direct.  
But your mild Love my studious hart advances  
To ask you further of the various chances  
Of future times: what offspring spreading wide  
Shall fill this World; What shall the World betide,  
How long to last: What Magistrates, what Kings  
With justice Mace shall govern mortal things?   

Son (quoth the Sire) our thoughts internal eye, 
Adam's answer.   
Things past and present may by means descry;  
But not the future, if by special grace  
It read it not in th' One-Trines glorious face.   

Thou then, that (only) things to come dost know,  
Not by heavens course, nor guess of things below,  
Nor coupled points, nor flight of fatal Birds,  
Nor trembling tripes of sacrificed Herds,  
But by a clear and certain pre-science  
As Seer and Agent of all accidents,  
With whom at once the threefold times do fly,  
And but a moment lasts Eternity;  
O God, behold me, that I may behold  
Thy crystal face: O Sun, reflect thy gold  
On my pale Moon; that now my veiled eyes  
Earth-ward eclipsed, may shine unto the skies.  
Ravish me Lord, O (my soul's life) revive  
My spirit a-space, that I may see (alyve)  
Heaven yer I die: and make me now (good Lord)  
The Echo of thy all-cel estiall Word. 
The power of God's spirit in his Prophets: and the difference between such▪ & the distracted frantic Ministers of Satan.    

With sacred fury suddenly he glows,  
Not like the Bedlam Bacchanalian froes,  
Who, dancing, foaming, rolling furious-wise  
Under their twinkling lids their torchlike eyes,  
With ghastly voice, with visage grizzly grim;  
Tossed by the Fiend that fire cely tortures them,  
Bleaking and blushing, painting, shrieking, swooning,  
With wrath-les wounds their senseless members wounding:  
But as th' Imperial, Airy people's Prince  
With stately pinions soaring hy from hence,  
Cleaves through the clouds, and bravely-bold doth think  
With his firm eye to make the Sun's eye wink:  
So Adam, mounted on the burning wings  
Of a Seraphic love, leaves earthly things,  
Feeds on sweet Aether, cleaves the starry spheres,  
And on God's face his eyes he fixtly bears:  
His brows seem brandished with a Sunlike fire,  
And his purged body seems a cubit higher.   

Then thus began he: Th' ever-trembling field 
Adam declares to his Son, in how many Daiet the World was created.   
Of scaly folk, the Arches starry ceil,  
Where th' All-Creator hath disposed well  
The Sun and Moon by turns for Sentinel;  
The clear cloud-bounding Air (the Camp assigned  
Where angry Auster and the rough north-wind  
Meeting in battle, throw down to the soil  
The Woods that middling stand to part the broil);  
The Diapry Mansions where mankind doth trade,  
Were built in Six Days: and the seventh was made  
The sacred Sabbaoth. So, Sea, Earth, and Air,  
And azure-gilded heavens Pavilions fair,  
Shall stand Six Days, but longer diversely  
Than the days bounded by the World's bright eye.   

The First gins with me: the Seconds morn 
How many Ages it shall endure.   
Is the first Shipwright, who doth first adorn  
The hills with Vines: that Shepherd is the Third, 
1. Adam.   
That after God through strange Lands leads his Herd, 
2. Noah.   
And (past man's reason) crediting Gods word, 
3. Abraham.   
His only Son slays with a willing sword:  
The four's another valiant Shepheardling, 
4. David.   
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling,  
And to a Sceptre turns his shepherds staff,  
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph:  
The Fift gins from that sad Prince's night 
5. Zedechias.   
That sees his children murdered in his sight,  
And on the banks of fruitful Euphrates,  
Poor juda led in Captive heaviness: 
6. Messiah.   
Hoped Messiah shineth in the sixth;  
Who, mocked, beat, banished, buried, cruci-fixt,  
For our foul sins (stil-selfly-innocent)  
Hath fully born the hateful punishment:  
The Last, shall be the very Resting-Day,  
Th' Air shall be mute, the Water's work shall stay; 
7. Th' Eternal Sabbath.   
The Earth her store, the stars shall leave their measures,  
The Sun his shine: and in eternal pleasures  
We plunged, in Heaven shall ay solemnize, all,  
Th' eternal Sabbaoths end-less Festival. 
Considerations of Adam upon that which should be fall his Posterity, unto the end of the first World destroyed by the Flood: according to the relation of Moses in Genesis, in the 4. 5. 6. and 7. chapters.    

Alas! what may I of that race presume  
Next th' ireful Flame that shall this Frame consume,  
Whose gut their God, whose lust their law shall be,  
Who shall not hear of God, nor yet of me?  
Sith those outrageous, that began their birth  
On th' holy groundsel of sweet Eden's earth,  
And (yet) the sound of heavens dread Sentence hear,  
And as ey-witness of mine Exile were,  
Seem to despite God. Did it not suffice  
(O lust full soul!) first to polygamize?  
Sufficed it not (O Lamech) to distain  
Thy Nuptial bed? but that thou must ingrain  
In thy great-Grand-sires Grandsires' reeking gore  
Thy cruel blade? respecting nought (before)  
The prohibition, and the threatening vow  
Of him to whom infernal powers do bow:  
Neither his Passports sealed Character  
Set in the forehead of the Murderer.   

Courage, good Enos: re-advance the Standard  
Of holy Faith, by human reason slandered,  
And trodendown: Invoke th' immortal power;  
Upon his Altar, warm bloud-offrings pour:  
His sacred nose perfume with pleasing vapour,  
And teend again truth's neer-extinguisht Taper▪   

Thy pupil Henoch, selfly-dying wholly,  
(Earth's ornament) to God he liveth solely.  
Lo, how he labours to endure the light  
Which in th' Arch-essence shineth glorious-bright:  
How rapt from sense, and free from fleshly lets,  
Sometimes he climbs the sacred Cabinets  
Of the divine Ideas everlasting,  
Having for wings, Faith, fervent l'rayer and Fasting:  
How at sometimes, though clad in earthly clod,  
He (sacred) sees, feels, all enjoys in God:  
How at sometimes mounting from form to form,  
In form of God he happy doth transform.  
Lo, how th' all-fair, as burning all in love  
With his rare beauties, not content above  
IT have half, but all, and ever; sets the stairs  
That lead from hence to Heaven his chosen heirs:  
Lo, now he climbeth the supernal stories:  
Adieu, dear Henoch: in eternal glories  
Dwell there with God: thy body, changed in quality  
Of Spirit or Angel, puts on immortality:  
Thine eyes already (now no longer eyes,  
But new bright stars) do brandish in the skies:  
Thou drinkest deep of the celestial wine:  
Thy Sabbaoth's endless: without vail (in fine)  
Thouseest God face to face; and neerunite  
To th' ONE-TRINE Good, thou liv'st in th' Infinite.   

But here the while (new Angel) thou dost leave  
Fell wicked folk, whose hands are apt to reave,  
Whose Scorpion tongues delight in sowing strife,  
Whose guts are gulfs, incestuous all their life.   

O strange to be believed! the blessed race,  
The sacred Flock whom God by special grace  
Adopts for his, even they (alas!) most shame-less  
Do follow sin, most beastly-brute and tame-less,  
With lustful eyes choosing for wanton Spouses  
men's wicked daughters; mingling so the houses  
Of Seth and Cain: preferring foolishly  
Frail beauties blaze to virtuous modesty.   

From these profane, foul, cursed kisses sprung  
A cruel brood, feeding on blood and wrong;  
Fell Giants strange, of haughty hand and mind,  
Plagues of the World, and scourges of Mankind   

Then, righteous God (though ever prone to pa  
Seeing his mildeness but their malice harden,  
List plead nolonger, but resolves the fall  
Of man forthwith, and (for man's sake) of all:  
Of all (at least) the living creatures gliding  
Along the air, or on the earth abiding.   

heavens crystal windows with one hand he opes,  
Whence on the World a thousand Seas he drops:  
With th' other hand he gripes, and wringeth forth  
The spongy Globeof th' execrable Earth,  
So straightly priest, that it doth strait restore  
All liquid floods that it had drunk before:  
In every Rock new Rivers do begin;  
And to his aid the snows come tumbling in:  
The Pines and Cedars have but boughs to show,  
The shores do shrink, the swelling waters grow.   

Alas! so-many Nephews lose I here  
Amid these deeps, that but for mountains near,  
Upon the rising of whoseridges lofty,  
The lusty climb on every side for safety,  
I should be seed-less: but (alas!) the Water  
Swallows those Hills, and all this wide Theatre  
Is all one Pond. O children, whither fly-you?  
Alas! heavens wrath pursues you to destroy-you:  
The stormy waters strangely rage and roar,  
Rivers and Seas have all one common shore,  
(To wit) a sable, water-loaden Sky  
Ready to rain new Oceans instantly.   

O Sonn-less Father! O too fruitful haunches!  
O wretched root! O hurtful, hateful branches!  
O gulfs unknown! O dungeons deep and black!  
O worlds decay! O universal wrack!  
O heavens! O Seas! O Earth (now earth no more)  
O flesh! O blood! Heer, sorrow stopped the door▪  
Of his sad voice, and almost dead for woe,  
The prophetizing spirit forsook him so.     

NOAH. The SECOND DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;  
Containing  

1. THE ARK,  
2. BABYLON,  
3. THE COLONIES,  
4. THE COLUMNES.   

Acceptam refero.   

The ARK. THE I. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Noah prepares the Ark: and thither brings  
(With him) a Seed-payr of all living things:  
His exercise, a shipboard: Atheist Cham  
His holy Father's humble Zeal doth blame;  
And diversely impugns God's Providence:  
Noah refells his Faith-less arguments:  
The Flood surceased: Th' Ark-landed: Blood forbidden:  
The Rainbow bend; what it pre-figured:  
Wine drowneth Wit: Cham scoffs the Nakedness  
Of's sleeping Sire: the Map of Drunkenness.   

IF Now no more my sacred rhymes distil 
A Preamble, wherein, by a modest Complaint the Poet stirs up the Readers attention, and makes himself way to the invocation of the name of God.   
With Art-less ease from my discustomed quill:  
If now the Laurel, that but lately shaded  
My beating temples, be dis-leaved and vaded:  
And if now, banished from the learned Fount,  
And cast down headlong from the lofty Mount  
Where sweet Urania sitteth to indite,  
Mine humbled Muse flag in a lowly flight;  
Blame these sad Times ingrateful cruelty,  
My household cares, my health's infirmity,  
My drooping sorrows for (late) grievous losses,  
My busy suits, and other bitter crosses.   

Lo, there the clogs that weigh down heavily  
My best endeavours, whilom soaring high:  
My harvest's hail: the pricking thorns and weeds  
That in my soul choke those diviner seeds.  
O gracious God remove my great incumbers,  
Kindle again my faiths neer-dying embers:  
Assuage thine anger (for thine own Sons merit)  
And from me (Lord) take not thy holy Spirit:  
Comb, gilled, and polish, more than ever yet,  
This latter issue of my labouring wit:  
And let not me be like the wind, that proudly  
Gins at first to roar and murmur loudly  
Against the next hills, overturns the Woods,  
With furious tempest tumbles-up the floods,  
And (fiercely-fell) with stormy puffs constrains  
The sparkling flints to roll about the Plains;  
But flying, faints; and every league it goes  
One nimble feather of his wing doth lose:  
But rather like a River poorly-breeding  
In barren Rocks, thence drop by drop proceeding:  
Which, toward the Sea, the more he flies his source,  
With growing streams strengthens his gliding course,  
Rowles, roars, and foams, raging with rest-less motion,  
And proudly scorns the greatness of the Ocean.   

THE DOOMS of Adam lacked not long effect.  
For, th' angry heavens (that can, without respect 
The coming of the Flood, and Building of the Ark.   
Of persons, plague the stubborn Reprobate)  
In Waters buried th' Vniversall-state:  
And never more the nimble painted Legions  
With hardy wings had cleft the airy Regions:  
We all had perished, and the Earth in vain  
Had brought such store of fruits, and grass, and grain,  
If Lamechs' Son (by newfound Art directed)  
That huge vast vessel had not first erected,  
Which (sacred refuge) kept the parent-payrs  
Of all things moving in the Earth and Ayrs.   

Now, while the Worlds-re-colonizing Boat 
Noah's exercises aboard the Ark.   
Doth on the waters over Mountains float,  
No passeth not with tales, and idle play,  
The tedious length of days and nights away:  
But, as the summers sweet distilling drops,  
Upon the meadows thirsty yawning chaps,  
Re-greens the Greene's, and doth the flowers re-flowr,  
All scorched and burnt with Austers parching power:  
So the care-charming honey that distils  
From his wise lips, his house with comfort fills,  
Flatters despair, dries tears, calms inward smarts,  
And re-aduanceth sorrow-daunted hearts,   

Cheer ye, my children: God doth now retire  
These murdering Seas, which the revenging ire  
Of his strict justice holy indignation  
Hath brought upon this wicked generation;  
Arming a season, to destroy mankind,  
The angry heavens, the water, and the wind:  
As, soon again his gracious Mercy will  
Clear cloudy heavens, calm winds, and waters still.   

His wrath and mercy follow turn by turn;  
That (like the Lightning) doth not lightly burn  
Long in a place: and this from age to age  
Hides with her wings the faithful heritage.  
Our gracious God makes scant-weight of displeasure,  
And spreads his mercy without weight or measure:  
Sometimes he strikes us (to especial ends)  
Upon ourselves, our Children, or our friends,  
In soul or body, goods, or else good names,  
But soon he casts his rods in burning flames:  
Not with the fist, but finger he doth beat us;  
Nor doth hethrill so oft as he doth threat-us:  
And (prudent Steward) gives his faithful Bees  
Wine of his wrath, to rebel Drones the Lees.  
And thus the deeds of heavens just-gentle King,  
The Second World's good Patriarch did sing. 
Cham, full of impiety, is brought-in, answering his Father; and diversly impugning the wisdom & irreprohensible Prowidence of God Almighty and All-mercifull: and the humble & religious Zeal of Noah.    

But, brutish Cham, that in his breast accursed,  
The secret roots of sinful Atheism nursed;  
Wishing already to dis-throne th' Eternal,  
And self-usurp the Majesty supernal:  
And to himself, by name of jupiter,  
On Africa sands a sumptuous Temple rear:  
With bended brows, with stout and stern aspect,  
In scornful terms his Father thus be-checkt.   

Oh! how it grieves me, that these servile terrors  
(The scourge of Cowards, and base vulgars' errors)  
Have ta'en such deep root in your feeble breast!  
Why, Father, always selfly thus depressed,  
Will you thus always make yourself a drudge,  
Fearing the fury of a feigned judge?  
And will you always forge yourself a Censor  
That weighs your words, and doth your silence censure?  
A sly Controller, that doth count your hairs,  
That in his hand your hearts keys ever bears,  
Records your sighs, and all your thoughts descries,  
And all your sins present and past espies?  
A barbarous Butcher that with bloody knife  
Threats night and day your grievous-guilty life?   

O! see you not, the superstitious heat  
Of this blind zeal, doth in your mind beget  
A thousand errors? light credulity  
Doth drive you still to each extremity,  
Feigning a God (with thousand storms oppressed)  
Fainter then Women, fiercer than a Beast.   

Who (tenderhearted) weeps at others weeping,  
Wails others woes, and at the only peeping  
Of others blood, in sudden swoon deceases,  
In manly breast a woman's heart possesses:  
And who (remorse-less) lets at any season,  
The stormy tide of ragetransport his reason,  
And thunders threats of horror and mishap,  
Hides a Bear's heart under a human shape.  
Yet, of your God, you one-while thus pretend;  
He melts in tears, if that your finger's end  
But akea-while: anon, he frets, he frowns,  
He burns, he brains, he kills, he dams, he drowns.   

The wildest Boar doth but one Wood destroy;  
A cruel Tyrant but one Landannoy:  
And yet this Gods outrageous tyranny  
Spoils all the World, his only Empery.   

O goodly justice! One or two of us  
Have sinned perhaps, and moved his anger thus;  
All bear the pain, yea even the innocent  
Poor Birds and Beasts incur the punishment.   

No, Father, no: (it is folly to infer it)  
God is no varying, light, inconstant spirit,  
Full of revenge, and wrath, and moody hate,  
Nor savage-fell, nor sudden passionate,  
Nor such as will for some small fault undo  
This goodly World, and his own nature too.   

All wandering clouds, all humid exhalations,  
All Seas (which Heaven through many generations  
Hath hoorded-up) with selfs-weight enter-crusht,  
Now all at once upon the earth have rushed:  
And th' endless, thin air (which by secret quills  
Had lost itself within the windes-but hills  
Dark hollow Caves, and in that gloomy hold  
To icy crystal turned by the cold)  
Now swiftly surging towards Heaven again,  
Hath not alone drowned all the lowly Plain,  
But in few days with raging Floods o're-flowen  
The top-less Cedars of mount Libanon.   

Then, with just grief the godly Father galled, 
Answers of Noah to all the blasphemies of Chan, and his fellow-Atheists.   
A deep, sad, sigh from his heart's centre haled,  
And thus replied: O false, rebellious Cham!  
Mine age's sorrow, and my houses shame,  
Through self-conceipt contemning th' holy-Ghost,  
Thy sense is baend, thine understanding lost:  
And O I fear (Lord falsify my fear)  
The heavy hand of the high Thunderer  
Shall light on thee; and thou I doubt shaltbe  
His Fury's object, and shalt testify  
By thine infamous life's accursed state,  
What now thy shame-less lips sophisticate.   

I (God be praised) know that the perfect CIRCLE 
1. Answer: God is infinite, immutable, Almighty, and incomprehensible.   
Whose centre's everywhere, of all his circle  
Exceeds the circuit; I conceive aright  
Th' Al-mighty-most to be most infinite:  
That th' only ESSENCE feels not in his mind  
The furious tempests of fell passions wind:  
That mooveless, all he moves: that with one thought  
He can build Heaven; and builded, bring to nought:  
That his high Throne 's enclosed in glorious Fire  
Past our approach: that our faint soul doth tier,  
Our spirit grows spright-less, when it seeks by sense  
To sound his infinite Omni-potence.  
I surely know, the Cherubins do hover  
With flaming wings his starry face to cover.  
Nonesees the Great, th' Almighty, Holy-ONE,  
But passing by and by the back alone.  
To us, his Essence is in-explicable,  
Wondrous his ways, his name unutterable;  
So that concerning his high Majesty 
So that men cannot speak of Him but improperly.   
Our feeble tongues speak but improperly.  
For, if we call him strong, the praise is small:  
If blessed spirit, so are his Angels all:  
If Great of greats, he's void of quantity:  
If good, fair, holy, he wants quality;  
Sith in his Essence fully excellent,  
All is pure substance, free from accident. 
Why we cannot speak of God but after the manner of men.   
Therefore our voice, too-faint in such a subject  
T' ensue our soul, and our weak soul her object,  
Doth always stammer; so that ever when  
IT would make God's nameredoubted among men;  
(In human phrase) it calls him pitiful,  
Repentant, jealous, fierce, and anger-full.   

Yet is not God by this repentance, thus, 
2. Answer. The Repentance and the change which the Scripture attributeth to God, is far from Error and defect.   
Of ignorance and error taxed, likeus:  
His jealous hatred doth not make him curious,  
His pity wretched; nor his anger furious.  
Th' immortal Spirit is ever calmly-cleer:  
And all the best that feeble man doth here,  
With vehemence of some hot passion driven;  
That, withripeiudgement doth the King of Heaven. 
Two comparisons explaining the same.    

Shall a Physician comfortably-bold▪  
Fear-less, and tear-less, constantly behold  
His sickly friend vexed with exceeding pain,  
And feel his pulse, and give him health again?  
And shall not th' ever-self-resembling God  
Look down from Heaven upon a wretched clod,  
Without he weep, and melt for grief and anguish;  
Nor cure his creature, but himself must languish?   

And shall a judge, self-angerless, prefer  
To shameful death the strange adulterer;  
As only looking fixly all the time  
Not on the sinner, but the sinful crime?  
And shall not then th' Eternal justicer 
3. Answer, justice being a for tue in Man cannot be a vice in God.   
Condemn the Atheist and the Murderer,  
Without selfs-fury? O! shall justice then  
Be blamed in God, and magnified in men?  
Or shall his sacred Will, and sovereign Might  
Be chained so fast to man's frail appetite,  
That filthy sin he cannot freely hate,  
But wrathful Rage himself lie-cruciate?   

God's sacred vengeance, serves not for defence 
4. Answer: God doth not punish Offenders for defence of his own Estate: but to maintain virtue & confounded vice.   
Of his own Essence from our violence  
(For in the heavens, above all reach of ours,  
He dwells immured in diamantine Towers):  
But, to direct our lives and laws maintain,  
Guard Innocence, and Injury restrain.   

Th' Almighty past not mean, when he subverted  
Near all the World from holy paths departed. 
5. The iniquity of the world deserved exereame punishment.   
For, Adam's Trunk (of both our Worlds the Tree)  
In two fair Branches forking fruitfully,  
Of Cain and Seth; the first brought forth a suit  
Of bitter, wild, and most detested fruit:  
Th' other, first rich in goodness, afterward  
With those base scions being grafted, was marred:  
And so produced execrable clusters  
Worthy so wicked and incestuous lustres:  
And then (alas!) what was there to be found  
Pure, just, or good, in all this Earthly Round?   

Cain's Line possessed sin, as an heritage; 
6. When all are generally depraved, all merit to be destroyed.   
Seths, as a dowry got by marriage:  
So that, (alas!) among all humankind  
Those mongrel kisses marred the purest mind.  
And we (even we, that have escaped here 
7. The least imperfect pass condemnation, even then when they are most lively chastised.   
This cruel wrack) within our conscience bear  
A thousand Records of a thousand things  
Convincing us before the King of kings;  
Whereof not one (for all our self-affection)  
We can defend with any just objection.   

God played no Tyrant, choking with the floods 
8. God destroying the workman, doth no wrong to the Tools, if he break, and batter them w●th their Master.   
The earthly Bands and all the airy broods:  
For, sith they lived but for man's service sole,  
Man, razed for sin out of the Living Roll,  
Those wondrous tools, and organs excellent,  
Their Workman reft, remained impertinent.  
Man's only head of all that draweth breath.  
Who lacks a member; yet persevereth  
To live (we see): but, members cut away  
From their own head, do by and by decay. 
9 A Traitor deserves to have his house razed to the ground.    

Nor was God cruel, when he drowned the Earth  
For, sit hence man had from his very birth  
Rebelled against him, was't not equity,  
That for his fault, his house should utterly  
Be rend and razed? that salt should there besow'n,  
That in the ruins (for instruction)  
We for a time might read and understand  
The righteous vengeance of heavens wrathful hand,  
That wrought this Deluge: and no hoardward waves  
Of airy clouds, or under-earthly caves?   

If all blue Curtains mixed of air and water, 
10. The Flood was no natural accident, but a most just judgement of God.   
Round-over-spreading this wide All-Theater,  
To some one Climate all at once should fly,  
One Country they might drown undoubtedly:  
But our great Galley having gone so far,  
So many months, in sight of either Star,  
From Pole to Pole through sundry Climates whirled,  
Shows that this Flood hath drowned all the world.   

Now nonplussed, if to reinforce thy Camp, 
11. The waters of the Flood sprung not from a natural motion only, but proceeded from other then natural Causes, which cannot produce such effects.   
Thou fly for secure to thine Eyrie Damp:  
Show, in the concave of what Mountains steep  
We may imagine Dens sufficient deep  
For so much air as gushing out in fountains,  
Should hide the proud tops of the highest Mountains;  
Sith a whole tun of air scarce yields (in trial)  
Water enough to fill one little Vial.  
And what should then betide those empty spaces?  
What should succeed in the forsaken places  
Of th' air's thin parts (in swift springs shrinking thence)  
Sith there's no void in th' All-circumference?   

Whence (wilt thou say) then comes this raging flood, 
12. The consideration of the power of God in subjecting the creatures to Noah: in sustaining & feeding them so long in the Ark (which was as a Sepulchre) confuteth all the objections of Atheists.   
That overflows the windy Ryphean Wood,  
Mount Libanus, and enviously aspires  
To quench the light of the celestial fires?   

Whence (shall I say) then, whence-from comes it (Cham)  
That Wolves, and Panther's waxing meek and tame,  
Leaving the horror of their shady home,  
Adiourned by Heaven, did in my presence come,  
Who holding subject under my command  
So many creatures humbled at my hand,  
And now restored to th' honour and estate,  
Whence Adam fell through sin and Satan's hate?  
Whence doth it come, or by what reason is't,  
That vn-manned Haggards to mine empty fist  
Com without call? Whence comes it, that so little  
Fresh water, fodder, meal, and other victual,  
Should serve so long so many a greedy-gut  
As in the dark holds of this Ark is shut?  
That here the Partridge doth not dread the Hawk?  
Nor fearful Hare the spotted Tiger balk?  
That all these storms our Vessel have not broke?  
That all this while we do not jointly choke  
With noisome breath, and excremental stink  
Of such a common and continual sink?  
And that ourselves, 'mid all these deaths, are saved  
From these All-Seas, where all the rest are Graved?   

In all the compass of our floating Inns, 
13. The Ark full of Miracles, which confound the wits & stop the mouths of profane wranglers.   
Are not so many planks, and boards, and pins,  
As wonders strange, and miracles that ground  
Man's wrangling Reason, and his wits confound:  
And God, no less his mighty power displayed  
When he restored, then when the World he made.  
O sacred Patron! pacify thine ire,  
Bring home our Hulk: these angry floods retire;  
Alive and dead, let us perceive and prove  
Thy wrath on others, on ourselves thy love.   

Thus Noah sweetens his Captivity, 
God causeth the Flood to cease.   
Beguiles the time, and charms his misery,  
Hoping in God alone: who, in the Mountains  
Now slopping close the veins of all the Fountains,  
Shutting heavens sluees, causing th' air (controlled)  
Closeup his channels, and his Seas withhold,  
Calls forth the winds. O heavens fresh fans (quoth he)  
Earth's sweeping Brooms, O Forests enmity,  
O you my Heralds and my Harbingers  
My nimble Posts and speedy Messengers,  
Mine arms, my sinews, and mine Eagles swift  
That through the air my rolling Chariot lift;  
When from my mouth, in my iust-kindled ire  
Fly Sulphry fumes, and hot consuming fire,  
When with my Lightning Sceptres dreadful wonder  
I muster horror, darkness, clouds, and thunder:  
Wake, rise, and run, and drink these waters dry,  
That hills and dales have hidden from the sky.   

Th' Aeolian Crowd obays his mighty call, 
The Ark resteth on the Mountain Ararat, in Armenia.   
The surly surges of the waters fall,  
The Sea retreateth: and the sacred Keel  
Lands on a Hill, at whose proud feet do kneel  
A thousand Hills, his lofty horn adoring  
That cleaves the clouds, the starry welkin goring.   

Then hope-cheered Noah, first of all (for scout) 
What Noah did before he went forth.   
Sends forth the Crow, who flutters neer-about;  
And finding yet no landing place at all,  
Returns aboard to his great Admiral.   

Some few days after from the window flies  
The harm-less Dove for new discoveries:  
But seeing yet no shore, she (almost tired)  
Aboard the Carack back again retired.   

But yer the Sun had seven Heav'n-Circuits road,  
To view the World afresh she flies abroad;  
And brings aboard (at evening) in her bill  
And Olive branch with water pearled still.   

O happy presage! O dear pledge of love!  
O welcome news! behold, the peaceful Dove  
Brings in her beak the Peace-branch, boding weal  
And truce with God; who by this sacred seal  
Kindly confirms his holy Covenant,  
That first, in fight the Tiger rage shall want,  
Lions be cowards, Hares courageous,  
Yer he be false in word or deed to us.  
O sacred Olive! firstling of the fruits,  
Health-boading branch, be it thy tender roots  
Have lived still, while this strange Deluge lasted,  
I do rejoice it hath not all things wasted:  
Or be it, since the Ebb, thou newly spring,  
Praised be the bounty of th' immortal King  
That quickens thus these dead, the World enduing  
With beauty fresh so suddenly renewing.   

Thus Noah spoke: And though the World 'gan lift 
He exspecteth God's commandment to go forth: whereby, at the first he was shut up in the Ark▪   
Most of his Isles above the waters drift,  
Though waxed old in his long weary night,  
He see a friendly Sun to brandish bright:  
Though choked with ill air in his stinking staul,  
he'll not ashore till God be pleased withal;  
And till (devout) from Heaven he understand  
Some Oracle to licence him to land.   

But, warned by Heaven, he cometh from his Cave,  
(Or rather from a foul infectious grave)  
With Sem, Cham, japheth, and their twice-two Brides,  
And thousand pairs of living things beside,  
unclean and clean: for, th' holy Patriarch  
Had of all kinds enclosed in the Ark.   

But, here I hear th' ungodly (that for fear  
Late whispered softly in each others ear,  
With silent murmurs muttering secretly)  
Now trumpet thus their filthy blasphemy; 
New objection of Atheists, concerning the capacity of the Ark.    

Who will believe (but shallow-brained Sheep)  
That such a ship scarce thirty Cubits deep,  
Thrice fifty long, and but on●e fifty large,  
So many months could bear so great a charge?  
Sith the proud Horse, the rough-skinned Elephant,  
The lusty Bull, the Camel water-want,  
And the Rhmocerot, would, with their fodder,  
Fillip a H●lk fa●r deeper, longer, broader?   

O profane mockers! if I but exclude 
Answer.   
Out of this V●ssell a vast multitude  
Of since-born mongrels, that derive their birth  
From monstrous medley of Venerean mirth;  
Fantastik Mules, and spotted Leopards,  
Of incest-heat engendered afterwards:  
So many sorts of Dogs, of Cocks, and Doves,  
Since, daily sprung from strange and mingled loves,  
Wherein from time to time in various sort,  
Dedalian Nature seems her to disport:  
If plainer, yet I prove you space by space,  
And foot by foot, that all this ample place,  
By subtle judgement made and Symmetry,  
Mi●ht lodge so many creatures handsomely,  
Sith every brace was Geometrical:  
Nought resteth (Momes) for your reply at all;  
If, who dispute with God, may be content  
To take, for currant, Reason's argument.   

But here t' admire th' Almighty's powerful hand 
An un-answerable answer to all profane objections.   
I rather love, and silence to command  
To man's discourse: what he hath said, is done:  
For, evermore his word and deed are one.   

By his sole arm, the Galleons Masters saw  
Themselves safe rescued from Death's yawning jaw;  
And offer-upto him, in zealous wise,  
The Peace full sent of sweet burnt-sacrifice;  
And send withal above the starry Pole  
These winged sighs from a religious soul.   

World-shaking Father, Windes-King, calming-Seas,  
With mild aspect behold us: Lord appease  
Thine Angers tempest, and to safety bring  
The planks escaped from this sad Perishing.  
And bound for ever in their ancient Caves  
These stormy Seas deep World-devouring waves.   

Increase (quoth God) and quickly multiply, 
Cömandements, Prohibitions, & Promises of God to Noah and his Posterity.   
And fill the World with fruitful Progeny:  
Resume your Sceptre, and with new behests  
Bridle again the late revolted Beasts,  
Re-exercise your wont rule again,  
It is your office over them to reign:  
Dear Children, use them all: take, kill, and eat:  
But yet abstain and do not take for meat  
Their ruddy soul: and leave (O sacred seed!)  
To ravening Fowls, of strangled flesh to feed.   

I, I am holy: be you holy then.  
I deeply hate all cruel bloody men:  
Therefore defile not in your brother's blood  
Your guilty hands; refrain from cruel mood;  
Fly homicide: do not in any case,  
In man, mine Image brutishly deface:  
The cruel man a cruel death shall taste;  
And blood with blood be venged first or last;  
For evermore upon the murderer's head  
My roaring storms of fury shall be shed.   

From henceforth, fear no second Flood that shall▪ 
The Rain bow given for a Pledge of the Promise, that there shall be no more general Flood.   
Cover the whole face of this earthly Ball:  
I assure ye no; no, no, I swear to you  
(And who hath ever found mine Oath untrue?)  
Again, I swear by my thrice-sacred Name:  
And to confirm it, in the Clouds I frame  
This coloured Bow. When then some tempest black  
Shall threat again the fearful World to wrack,  
When water-loaden heavens your Hills shall touch,  
When th' air with Midnight shall your Noon bepitch,  
Your cheerful looks up to this Rainbow cast.  
For, though the same on moystful Clouds be plaçed,  
Though hemmed with showers, and though it seem to sup  
(To drown the World) all th' Ocean's waters up,  
Yet shall it (when you seem in danger sink)  
Make you, of me; me of my promise, think.   

Noah looks-up, and in the Air he views 
Description of the Raynbowe.   
A semicircle of a hundred hews:  
Which, bright ascending toward th' ethereal thrones,  
Hath a line drawn between two Orisons  
For just Diameter: an even-bent bow  
Contrived of three; whereof the one doth show  
To be all painted of a golden hue,  
The second green, the third an orient blue;  
Yet so, that in this pure blew-golden-green  
Still (Opal-like) some changeable is seen.  
A Bow bright-shining in th' Arch-Archers hand,  
Whose subtle string seems level with the Land,  
Half-parting Heaven; and over us it bends,  
Within two Seas wetting his horned ends;  
A temporal beauty of the lampfull skies,  
Where powerful Nature shows her freshest dies. 
What it signifieth.    

And if you only blew and red perceive;  
The same as signs of Sea, and Fire conceive;  
Of both the flowing and the flaming Doom,  
The judgement past, and judgement yet to come.   

Then, having called on God, our second Father 
Noah falls to Husbandry, and tills the Earth, as he had done before the Flood   
Suffers not sloth his arms together gather,  
But falls to work, and wisely now reneweth  
The Trade he learned to practice in his youth.  
For, the proud issue of that Tyrant rude  
That first his hand in brother's blood imbrued,  
As scorning Ploughs, and hating harm-less tillage,  
And (wantoness) prising less the homely village,  
With fields and Woods, than th' idle Citties-shades;  
Embraced Laws, Sceptres, and Arts, and Trades.  
But Seths' Sons, knowing Nature soberly  
Content with little, fell to Husbandry,  
There to reducing with industrious care,  
The Flocks and Droves covered with wool and hair;  
As praysefull gain, and profit void of strife,  
Art nurse of Arts, and very life of life.   

So, the bright honour of the Heavenly Tapers  
Had scarcely boxed all th' Earth's dropsy vapours,  
When he that saved the store-seed-World from wrack,  
Began to delve his fruitful Mother's back,  
And there soon-after planteth heedfully  
The brittle branches of the Nectar-tree.   

For, 'mong the pebbles of a pretty hill  
To the warm Sun's eye lying open still, 
He plants a vine   
He sets in furrows or in shallow trenches  
The crooked Vines choice scions, shoots, and branches:  
In March he delves them, re-re-delves, and dresses,  
Cuts, props, and proins; and God his work so blesses,  
That in the third September for his meed  
The plenteous Vintage doth his hopes exceed.   

Then Noah, willing to beguile the rage 
He is overtaken with Wine.   
Of bitter griefs that vexed his feeble age,  
To see with mud so many Roofs o're-growen,  
And him left almost in the World alone,  
Oneday a little from his strictness shrunk,  
And making merry, drinking, overdrunk:  
And, silly, thinking in that hony-gall  
To drown his woes, he drowns his wits and all. 
Description of a drunkenman.    

His head grows giddy, and his foot indents,  
A mighty fume his troubled brain torments,  
His idle prattle from the purpose quite,  
Is abrupt, stuttering, all confused, and light:  
His wine-stuft stomach wrung with wind he feels:  
His trembling Tent all topsyturvy wheels:  
At last, not able on his legs to stand,  
More like a foul Swine than a sober man,  
Oppressed with sleep, he wallows on the ground,  
His shameless snorting trunk, so deeply drowned  
In self oblivion, that he did not hide  
Those parts that Caesar covered when he died.   

Even as the Ravens with windy wings o'erfly 
Fit Comparisons to set forth the nature and property of Slanderers, & Detractors imitating Cham.   
The weeping Woods of Happy Araby,  
Despise sweet Gardens and delicious Bowers  
Perfuming Heaven with odoriferous flowers,  
And greedy light upon the loath some quarters  
Of some late Lopez, o● such Romish Martyrs:  
Or as a young, unskilful, Painter raw,  
Doth carelessly the fairest features draw  
In any face, and yet too nearly marks  
Th' un pleasing blemish of deformed marks,  
As lips too-great, or hollowness of eyes,  
Or sinking nose, or such indecencies:  
Even so th' ungodly Sons of Leasings Father  
With black oblivions sponge ingrately smother  
Fair Virtues draughts, and cast despitefully  
On the least sins the venom of the eye,  
Frump others faults, and trumpet in all ages  
The lightest trips of greatest Personages:  
Like scoffing C●am that impudently viewed  
His Father's shame, and most profanely-lewd,  
With scornful laughter (graceless) thus began  
To infamize the poor old drunken man.   

Come (brethren) come, come quickly and behold 
His speech to his Brethren, seeing his Father's nakedness.   
This pure controller that so oft controlled  
Us without cause: see how his bed he soils:  
See, how the wine (his master) now recoils  
By's mouth, and eyes, and nose: and brutely lo  
To all that come his naked shame doth show.   

Ah shame-less beast (both brethren him reproved,  
Both chiding thus, both with just anger moved) 
Their discreet behaviour.   
Unnatural villain, monster pestilent,  
Unworthy to behold the firmament.  
Where (absent we) thou ought'st have hid before  
With thine own Cloak, but with thy silence more,  
Thy Father's shame, whom age▪ strong wine, and grief,  
Have made to fall, but once in all his life;  
Thou barkest first, and sporting at the matter  
Proclaim'st his fault on infamies Theatre.  
And saying this, turning their sight aside)  
Their hoary Father's nakedness they hide.   

When wine had wrought, this good old-man awook, 
Noah awaked curseth Cham and his posterity: & blesseth Sem and japhet, & their Issue.   
Agnized his crime, ashamed, wonder-struck  
At strength of wine, and touched with true repentance,  
With Prophet-mouth ganthus his Son's fore-sentence:   

Cursed be thou Cham, and cursed be (for thy scorn)  
Thy darling Canaan: let the pearly Morn,  
The radiant N●on, and rheumy Evening see  
Thy neck still yoked with Captivity.  
God be with Sem: and let his gracious speed  
Spread-wide my japheths' fruitfull-swarming seed.   

Error, no error, but a wilful badness: 
An execration of Drunkenness, described with its shameful dangerous and detestable effects.   
O foul defect! O short, O dangerous madness!  
That in thy rage, dost harm-less Clitus smother,  
By his dear friend; Pentheus by his Mother.  
Frenzy, that makes the vaunter insolent;  
The talkfull, blab; cruel, the violent:  
The fornicator, wax adulterous;  
Th' adulterer, become incestuous:  
With thy plagues leaven swelling all our crimes;  
Blind, shameless, sense-less, quenching oftentimes  
The soul within itself: and oft defames  
The holiest men with execrable blames.  
And as the Must, beginning to re-boyl,  
Makes his new vessels wooden bands recoil,  
Lifts-up his lees, and spews with fuming vent  
From his Tubs ground his scummy excrement:  
So ruin'st thou thine host, and foolishly  
From his heart's bottom driv'st all secrecy.  
But, hadst thou never done (O filthy poison!)  
More mischief here, but thus bereft of reason  
This virtues Module (rather Virtues best)  
We ought thee more than Death itself detest.   
FINIS.   

BABYLON. THE II. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Th' Antithesis of Blessed and Cursed States,  
Subject to Good and Evil Magistrates:  
Nimrod usurps: His prowes-full Policy,  
To gain himself the Goal of Sovereignty:  
BABEL begun: To stop such outrages,  
There, God confounds the bvilder's Languages:  
Tongues excellent: the Hebrew, first and Best:  
Then Greek and Latin: and (above the rest)  
Th' Arabian, Toscan, Spanish, French, and Dutch,  
And Ours, are Honoured by our Author much.   

O Happy people, where good Princes reign, 
A preface, repre scenting the selici tie & happy estate of Commonweals, governed by good and prudent Princes: & the misery of those that live in subjection unto Tyrants: which the Poet very fitly proposeth as his introduction to the life and Manners of Nimrod.   
Who tender public more than private gain!  
Who (virtue's patrons, and the plagues of vice)  
Hate Parasites, and hearken to the wise:  
Who (self-commanders) rather sin suppress  
By self-examples, then by rigorousness:  
Whose inward-humble, outward Majesty  
With subjects love is guarded loyally:  
Who Idol-not their pearly Sceptres glory,  
But know themselves set on a lofty story  
For all the world to see and censure too:  
So, not their lust, but what is just they do.   

But, it is a hell, in hateful vassalage,  
Under a Tyrant to consume one's age:  
A self-shav'n Dennis, or a Nero fell,  
Whose cursed Courts with blood and incest swell:  
An Owl, that flies the light of Parliaments  
And State-assemblies, jealous of th' intents  
Of private tongues; who (for a pastime) sets  
His Peers at odds; and on their fury whe●s:  
Who neither faith, honour, nor right respects:  
Who every day new Officers erects:  
Who brooks no learned, wise, nor valiant subjects,  
But daily crops such vice-up braiding objects:  
Who (worse than Beasts, or savage monsters been)  
Spares neither mother, brother, kiff, norkin:  
Who, though round fenç'● with guard of armed Knights,  
A-many moc he sea●s, than he affrights:  
Who taxes strange extorts; and (●aniball)  
Gnaws to the bones his wretched Subjects all.   

Print (O Heavn's king!) in our King's hearts a zeal, 
A Prayer sitted to the former discourse and giving entry to that which followeth.   
First, of thy laws; then of their public weal:  
And if our Countries now- Po-poysoned phrase,  
Or now-contagion of corrupted days,  
Leave any tract of Nimrodizing there;  
O! cancel it, that they may every where,  
In stead of Babel, build jerusalem:  
That loud my Muse may echo under them.   

YER Nimrod had attained to twice six years, 
Nimrods' exercises & essays to to make himself Master of the rest.   
He tyrannized among his strippling-peers,  
Outstripped his equals, and in happy hour,  
Laid the foundations of his after-powr,  
And bearing Reeds for Sceptres, first he reigns  
In Prentice-Princedom over shepherd Swains.   

Then knowing well that whoso aims (illuster)  
At fancied bliss of Empires awful lustre;  
In valiant acts must pass the vulgar sort,  
Or mask (at least) in lovely virtues Port:  
He spends not night on beds of down or feathers,  
Nor day in tents, but hardens to all weathers  
His youthful limbs: and takes ambitiously  
A rock for Pillow, Heaven for Canapey:  
In stead of softlings jests, and jollities,  
He joys in jousts, and manly exercises:  
His dainty cates, a fat Kids trembling flesh,  
Scarcefully slain, lukewarm and bleeding fresh.   

Then, with one breath, he striveth to attain  
A Mountain's top, that overpeers the Plain: 
Perseverance in painful and laborious exercises of Nimrod grown gracious with the people.   
Against the stream to cleave the rolling ridges  
Of Nimph-strong floods, that have born down their bridges,  
Running vnreaned with swift rebounding sallies  
across the rocks within the narrow valleys:  
To overtake the dart himself did throw,  
And in plain course to catch the Hind or Roe.   

But, when five lustres of his age expired,  
Feeling his stomach and his strength aspired  
To worthier wars, perceived he anywhere,  
Boar, Libbard, Lion, Tiger, Ounse, or Bear,  
Him dread-less combats; and in combat foils,  
And rears high Trophies of his bloody spoils.   

The people, seeing by his warlike deed  
From thieves, and robbers every passage freed:  
From hideous yells, the Deserts round about:  
From fear, their flocks; this monster-master stout,  
This Hercules, this hammer-ill, they tender,  
And call him (all) their Father and Defender.   

Then Nimrod (snatching Fortune by the tresses) 
He abandous his first petty Chase, and hunteth wylier for a more precious Prey.   
Strikes the hot steel; sues, soothes, importunes, presses  
Now these, than those, and hastening his good Hap  
Leaves hunting Beasts, and hunteth Men to trap.  
For, like as He, in former quests did use  
Calls, pitfalls, toils, sprenges, and baits, and glews:  
And (in the end) against the wilder game,  
Clubs, darts, and shafts, and swords, their rage to tame:  
So, some he wins with promise-full entreats,  
With presents some, and some with rougher threats:  
And boldly (breaking bounds of equity)  
Usurps the Child-World's maiden Monarchy;  
Whereas, before each kindred had for guide  
Their proper Chief, yet that the youthful pride  
Of upstart State, ambitious, boiling, fickle,  
Did thrust (as now) in others corn his sickle.   

Enthronized thus, this Tyrant'gan devise 
Tyrannical rule of Nimrod▪ and his proud enterprise.   
To perpetrate a thousand cruelties,  
Pell-mell subverting for his appetite  
God's, Man's, and Nature's triple sacred Right.  
He braves th' Almighty, lifting to his nose  
His flowering Sceptre: and for fear he lose  
The people's awe; who (idle) in the end  
Might slip their yoke; he subtle makes them spend  
Draws dry their wealth, and busies them to build  
A lofty tower, or rather Atlas wild.  
W'have lived (quoth he) too-long like pilgrim Grooms:  
Leave we these rolling tents, and wandering rooms:  
Let's raise a Palace, whose proud front and feet  
With Heaven and Hell may in an instant meet;  
A sure Asylum, and a safe retreat,  
If th' ireful storm of yet-more Floods should threat:  
Let's found a City, and united there,  
Under a King let's lead our lives; for fear  
Lest severed thus, in Princes and in Tents,  
We be dispersed o'er all the Regiments  
That in his course the Days bright Champion eyes,  
Might-less ourselves to secure, or advise.  
But, if the fire of some intestine war,  
Or other mischief should divide us far,  
Brethren (at least) let's leave memorials  
Of our great names on these cloud-neighbouring walls.   

Now, as a spark, that Shepherds (unespied)  
Have fallen by chance upon a Forest side, 
A comparison showing, lively, the efficacy of the attempts of Tyrants, the Rods of Gods righteous vengeance upon ungodly people.   
Among dry leaves; awhile in secret shrouds,  
Lifting aloft small, smoaky-waving clouds,  
Till fanned by the fawning winds, it blushes  
With angry rage; and rising through the bushes,  
Climbs fragrant Hauthorns, thence the Oak, and than  
The Pine, and Fir, that bridge the Ocean:  
It still gets ground, and (running) doth augment,  
And never leaves till all near Woods be brent:  
So, this sweet speech (first broached by certain Minions)  
Is soon applauded 'mong the light opinions:  
And by degrees from hand to hand renewed,  
To all the base confused multitude;  
Who longing now to see this Castle reared,  
Them night and day in differing crafts bestirred.   

Some fall to felling with a thousand strokes  
Adventurous Alders, Ashes, long-lived Oaks;  
Degrading Forests, that the Sun might view  
Fields that before his bright rays never knew.   

Ha' ye seen a Town exposed to spoil and slaughter 
Lively Description of the people occupied in some great business.   
(At victor's pleasure) where laments and laughter  
mixedly resound; some carry, some convey,  
Some lug, some load; against Soldiers seeking Prey  
No place is sure, and yer a day be done,  
Out at her gate the ransacked Town doth run:  
So (in a trice) these Carpenters disrobe  
Th' Assyrian hills of all their leafy rob,  
Strip the steep Mountains of their ghastly shades,  
And poll the broad Plains, of their branchy glades:  
Carts, Sleds, and Mules, thick-iustling meet abroad,  
And bending axels groan beneath their load.   

Heer, for hard Cement, heap they night and day  
The gum my slime of chalky waters grey:  
There, busy Kil-men ply their occupations  
For brick and tile: there, for their firm foundations,  
They dig to hell; and damned Ghosts again  
(Past hope) behold the Sun's bright glorious wain:  
Their hammers noise, through heavens rebounding brim,  
Affrights the fish that in fair Tigris swim.  
These ruddy walls in height, and compass grow,  
They cast long shadow, and far-off do show:  
All swarms with workmen, that (poor sots) surmise  
Even the first day to touch the very skies.   

Which, God perceiving, bending wrathful frowns, 
God displensed with the audacious enterprise of Nimrod and his, resolveth so ●● break their Designs by consoun ding their Language.   
And with a noise that roaring thunder drowns;  
'Mid cloudy fields, hills by the roots he rakes,  
And th' unmoved hinges of the heavens he shakes.   

See, see (quoth he) these dust-spawn, feeble, Dwarves,  
See their huge Castles, Walls, and Counter-scarves:  
O strengthfull Piece, impregnable! and sure  
All my just anger's batteries to endure.  
I swore to them, the fruitful earth, no more  
Henceforth should fear the raging Oceans roar;  
Yet build they Towers: I willed that scattered wide  
They should go man the World; and lo, they bide  
Self-prisoned here: I meant to be their Master,  
Myself alone, their Law, their Prince, and Pastor;  
And they, for Lord, a Tyrant fell haueta'en-them,  
Who (to their cost) will roughly curb and rean them;  
Who scorns mine arm, and with these braving Towers  
Attempts to seal● this Crystal Throne of ours.   

Come, come, le●s dash their drift; and sith, combined  
As well in voice, as blood, and law, and mind,  
In ill they harden, and with language bold  
Incourage-on themselves their work to hold,  
Let's cast a let against their quick diligence:  
Let's strike them strait with spirit of difference;  
Let's all confound their speech: let's make the brother,  
The Sire, and Son, not understand each other.   

This said, as soon confusedly did bond  
Through all the work I wots not what strange sound, 
Execution of God's Decree.   
Aiangling noise; not much unlike the rumours  
Of Bacchus' Swains amid their drunken humours:  
Some speak between the teeth, some in the nose,  
Some in the throat their words do ill dispose,  
Some howl, some hallow, some do stut and strain,  
Each hath his gibberish, and all strive in vain  
To find again their known beloved tongue,  
That with their milk they sucked in cradle, young.   

Arise betimes, while th' Opal-coloured Morn, 
A fit comparison   
In golden pomp doth May-days door adorn:  
And patiented hear th' all-differing voices sweet  
Of painted Singers, that in Groves do greet  
Their Love- Bon-iours, each in his phrase and fashion  
From trembling Perch uttering his earnest passion;  
And so thou mayst conceit what mingle-mangle  
Among this people every where did jangle.   

Bring me (quoth one) atrowell, quickly, quick;  
One brings him up a hammer: hew this brick  
(Another bids) and then they cleave a Tree:  
Make fast this rope, and then they let it flee:  
One calls for planks, another mortarlacks:  
They bear the first, a stone; the last an axe:  
One would have spikes, and him a spade they give:  
Another asks a saw, and gets a siue:  
Thus crosly-crost, they prate and point in vain;  
What one hath made, another mars again:  
Nigh breath-less all, with their confused yawling,  
In boot-less labour, now gins appawling.   

In brief, as those, that in some channel deep 
An other elegant comparison showing that there is no Counsel, no Endeavour, no diligence, no might nor multitude, that can resist God.   
Begin to build a Bridge with Arches steep,  
Perceiving once (in thousand streams extending)  
The course-changed River from the hills descending,  
With watery mountains bearing down their Bay,  
As if it scorned such bondage to obey;  
Abandon quickly all their work begun,  
And here and there for swifter safety run:  
These Masons so, seeing the storm arrived  
Of God's just Wrath, all weak, and hart-depriued,  
Forsake their purpose, and like frantic fools  
Scatter their stuff, and tumble down their tools.   

O proud revolt! O traitorous felony! 
Discommodities proceeding from the confusion of Tongues.   
See in what sort the Lord hath punished thee  
By this Confusion: ah! that language sweet,  
Sure bond of Cities, friendship's mastic meet,  
Strong curb of anger, yerst united, now  
In thousand dry Brooks strays, I wots not how:  
That rare-rich gold, that charm-grief fancy-mover,  
That calm-rage harts-theef, quel-pride coniure-lover:  
That purest coin, than currant in each coast,  
Now mingled, hath sound, weight, and colour lost,  
'Tis counterfeit: and over every shore  
The confused fall of Babel yet doth roar.   

Then, Finland-folk might visit Africa,  
The Spaniard Ind, and ours America,  
Without a truchman: now, the banks that bond  
Our Towns about, our tongues do also mound:  
For, who from home but half a furlong goes,  
As dumb (alas!) his Reason's tool doth lose:  
Of if we talk but with our near confines,  
We borrow mouths, or else we work by signs.   

Vn-toild, untutord, sucking tender food,  
We learned a language all men understood;  
And (seav'n-yeers-old) in glass-dust did commence  
To draw the round Earth's fair circumference:  
To cipher well, and climbing Art by Art,  
We reached betimes that Castle's highest part,  
Where th' encyclopedy her darlings Crowns,  
In sign of conquest, with etern renowns.   

Now (ever-boys) we wax old, while we seek  
The Hebrew tongue, the Latin, and the Greek:  
We can but babble, and for knowledge whole  
Of Nature's secrets, and of th' Essence sole  
Which Essence gives to all, we tyre our mind  
To vary verbs, and finest words to find;  
Our letters and our syllables to weigh:  
At Tutor's lips we hang with heads all grey,  
Who teach us yet to read, and give us (raw)  
An A. B. C. for great justinian's law,  
Hypocrates, or that Diviner lore,  
Where God appears to whom him right adore.   

What shall I more say? then, all spoke the speech 
The Hebrew Tongue in all men's mouths before the confusion of Languages.   
Of God himself, th' old sacred Idiom rich,  
Rich perfect language, where's no point, nor sign,  
But hides some rare deep mystery divine:  
But since that pride, each people hath apart  
A bastard gibberish, harsh, and overthwart;  
Which daily changed, and losing light, well-near  
Nothing retains of that first language clear.   

The Phrygians once, and that renowned Nation 
A conclusion tried, whereb appeareth that children are naturally apt to learn to speak: not able of themselves to speak, without example.   
Fed with fair Nilus fruitful inundation,  
Longing to know their Languages priority,  
Fond imposed the censuring authority  
To silly judges, void of judging sense  
(Dumb stammerers to treat of eloquence)  
To wit, two Infants nursed by Mother's dumb,  
In silent Cells, where never noise should come  
Of charming human voice, to echo there,  
Till triple-twelue months full expired were.  
Then brought before the Memphians, and the men  
That dwell at Zant, the faint-breathed children,  
Cry often Bek; Bek, Bek is all the words  
That their tongue forms, or their dumb mouth affords.  
Than Phrygians, knowing, that in Phrygian  
Bek meaneth bread, much to rejoice began,  
Glad that kind Nature had now graçt them so,  
To grant this Sentence on their side to go.   

Fools, which perceived not, that the bleating flocks  
Which pulled the neighbour Mountains motley locks  
Had taught this term, and that no terms of Rome,  
Greece, Egypt, England, France, Troy, jewry, come  
Come born with us: but every Country's tongue  
Is learned by much use, and frequenting long.  
Only, we have peculiar to our race,  
Aptness to speak; as that same other grace  
Which, richly-divers, makes us differ more  
From dull, dumb wretches that in Deserts roar.   

Now, that Bulls bellow (if that any say) 
Answers to the objection taken from the consufused voice of Beasts.   
That Lion's roar, and slothful Asses bray,  
Now low, now loud; and by such languages  
Distinctly seem to show their courages:  
Those are not words, but bare expressions  
Of violent fits of certain passions:  
Confused signs of sorrow, or annoy,  
Of hunger, thirst, of anger, love, or joy. 
To another Objection, of the chirping of Birds.    

And so I say that all the winged quires,  
Which mornly warble, on green trembling briars,  
Ear-tickling tunes: for though they seem to prattle  
Apart by payrs, and three to three to rattle;  
To wind their voice a hundred thousand ways,  
In curious descant of a thousand lays:  
T' have taught Apollo, in their School, his skill;  
Their sounds want sense; their notes are word-less still:  
Their song, repeated thousand times a day,  
As dumb discourse, flies in the Woods away.   

But, only Man can talk of his Creator, 
Advantage of Man endued with Reason, above the rest of the Creatures.   
Of heaven, and earth, and fire, and air, and water,  
Of justice, Temperance, Wisdom, Fortitude,  
In choice sweet terms that various sense include.  
And not in one sole tongue his thoughts dissunder;  
But like to Scaliger, our ages wonder, 
josephus Scaliger, skilful in 13. languages.   
The Learned's Sun: who eloquently can,  
Speak Spanish, French, Italian, Nubian,  
Dutch, Chaldee, syriac, English, Arabik,  
(Besides) the Persian, Hebrew, Latin, Greek.  
O rich quick spirit! O wits Chameleon!  
Which any Author's colour can put on.  
Great julius Son, and Silvius worthy brother,  
Th' immortal grace of Gascony, their mother.   

And, as for jays, that in their wyery gail 
Answer to a third objection touching Tarotresembling Echo, and speaking without speech.   
Can ask for victuals, and vnvictuailed rail;  
Who, daring us for eloquences meed,  
Can plain pronounce the holy Christian Creed,  
Say the Lords prayer, and oft repeat it all,  
And name by name a good great household call:  
Th' are like that voice, which (by our voice begot)  
From hollow vale babbles it wots not what.  
In vain the air they beat, it vainly cleaving,  
And dumbly speak, their own speech not conceiving,  
Deaf to themselves: for speech, is nothing (sure)  
But th' unseen souls resounding purtrature:  
And chief when'tis short, sweet, painted-plain,  
As it was all, yet that rough-hunters reign.   

Now, when I note, how th' Hebrew brevity,  
Even with few words expresseth happily 
The Hebrew Tongue the principal.   
Deepest conceits; and leads the hearing part  
Through all the closerts of the mazy hart:  
Better than Greek with her Synonimaes, 
First reason.   
Fit Epithets, and fine Metaphoraes',  
Her apt Conjunctions, Tenses, Moods, and Cases,  
And many other much esteemed graces:   

When I remember, how the Rabbins fet 
Second reason.   
Out of the sacred Hebrew Alphabet  
All that our faith believes▪ or eyes behold;  
That in the Law the Arts are all enrolled:  
Whether (with curious pain) we do transport  
Her letters turned in many-various sort  
(For, as in ciphering, th' only transportation 
Similes   
Of figures, still varies their valuation:  
So th' Anagram strengthens or slacks a name,  
Giving a secret twist unto the same):  
Or whether we (even as in gross) bestowing  
The numbers, which, from one words letters flowing,  
Unfold a secret; and that word again  
Another of like number doth contain:  
Whether one letter for a word be put;  
Or all a sentence in one word be shut:  
As Egypt's silence sealed-up (mysterious)  
In one Character a long sentence serious.   

When I observe, that from the Indian Dawning, 
Third reason.   
Even to our Irish Aetna's fiery yawning:  
And from hot Tambut, to the Sea Tartarian,  
Thou seest (O Sun!) no Nation so barbarian,  
Nor ignorant in all the Laws divine,  
But yet retains some terms of Palestine,  
Whose Elements (how-so disguised) drawnigh  
The sacred names of th' old Orthogaphy.   

When I consider that Gods ancient WILL 
Fourth reason.   
Was first enrolled by an Hebrew quill:  
That never urim, Dream, or Vision sung  
Their Oracles, but all in Isaaks tongue:  
That in the same, the Lord himself did draw  
Upon two Tables his eternal Law:  
And that (long since) in Zions Languages,  
His heavenly Posts brought down his messages. 
Fift reason.    

And (to conclude) when I conceive, how then  
They gave not idle, casual names to men,  
But such as (rich in sense) before th' event,  
Marked in their lives some special accident;  
And yet, we see that all those words of old  
Of Hebrew still the sound and sense do hold.  
For, Adam (meaneth) made of clay: his wife  
Eva (translated) signifieth life:  
Cain, first begot: Abel, as vain: and Seth,  
Put in his place: and he that, underneath  
The general Deluge, saw the World distressed,  
In true interpretation, soundeth Rest.  
To th' Hebrew Tongue (however Greece do grudge)  
The sacred right of Eldership I judge.   

All hail, therefore, O sempiternal spring 
Praise of the Hebrew Tongue, Mother and Queen of all the Rest.   
Of spiritual pictures! speech of heavens high King,  
Mother, and Mistress, of all Tongues the Prime:  
Which (pure) hast passed such vast deep gulfs of Time:  
Which hast no word but weighs, whose Elements  
Flow with hid sense, thy points with Sacraments.  
O sacred Dialect! in thee the names  
Of Men, Towns, Countries register their fames  
In brief abbridgements: and the names of Birds,  
Of Water-guests, and Forrest-haunting Herds,  
Are open Books, where every man might read  
Their nature's story; till th' Heav'n-shaker dread,  
In his just wrath, the flaming sword had set▪  
The passage into Paradise to let. 
Adam gave Hebrew names to all the Creatures.    

For, Adam then (in sign of mastery) giving  
Peculiar names unto all creatures living,  
When in a general muster ranged right,  
They marched by couples in his awful sight,  
He framed them so fit, that learned ears  
Bearing the soul the sound, the maruails bears,  
Wherewith th' All-forming voice adorned fair  
Th' Inhabitants of Sea, and Earth, and Ayr.  
And, for each body acts, or suffers aught, 
He enriched the Language with the composition of verbs and Clauses.   
Having made Nouns, his Verbs he also wrought:  
And then, the more t'enrich his speech, he brings  
Small Particles, which stand in am of strings,  
The master members fitly to combine  
(As two great boards, a little glue doth join)  
And serve as plumes, which ever dancing light  
Deck the proud crests of helmets burnished bright:  
Frenges to mantles; ears, and rings to vessels:  
To marble statues; bases, feet, and trestles. 
The Hebrew Tongue continued from Adam to the tim▪ of Nim ro●: Since when it rested in the house of Heber, of whom it is called Hebrew.    

This (Adam's language) pure persisted since,  
Till th' iron Age of that cloud-climbing Prince:  
Resounding only, through all mortal tents,  
The peerless accents of rich eloquence;  
But then (as partial) it itself retired  
To Heber's house: whether of the conspired  
Rebels, he were not; but in sober quiet,  
Dwelled far from Shinar, and their furious riot:  
Or whether, thither by compulsion brought,  
With secret sighs he oft his God besought,  
So with unwilling hands helping to make  
The walls he wished deep sunk in Stygian Lake:  
As wretched Galley-slaves (beating the Seas  
With forced oars, fight against their ease 
Simile.   
And liberty) curse, in their grieved sprite,  
Those, for whose sake they labour day & night:  
Or whether else Gods liberal hand, for ever  
(As it were) meeting holy men's endeavour,  
For his own sake, of his free grace and pleasure,  
To th' Hebrew race deposited this treasure;  
While the proud remnant of those scattered Masons  
Had falsed it in hundred thousand fashions,  
When every one where Fate him called flew,  
Bearing new words into his Country new.   

But slippery Time, enviously wasting all,  
Disfigured soon those Tongues authentical, 
A sub-division of the Languages, first divided.   
Which 'mid the Babel-builders thunder, bred  
On Tigris banks, o'er all the earth were spread:  
And, ay the world the more confused to leave,  
The least of them in many Tongues did cleave.   

Each language altars, either by occasion 
Whereof proceed the sundry changes in one selfsame Language.   
Of trade, which (causing mutual commutation  
Of th' Earth's and Ocean's wares) with hardy luck  
Doth words for words barter, exchange and truck:  
Or else, because Fame-thirsting wits, that toil  
In golden terms to trick their gracious style,  
With newfound beauties prank each circumstance,  
Or (at the least) do new-coined words in haunce  
With currant freedom: and again restore  
Th' old, rusty, mouldy, worm-gnawn words of your. 
Simile.    

For, as in Forests, leaves do fall and spring:  
Even so the words, which whilom flourishing,  
In sweet Orations shined with pleasing lustre  
(Like snow-white Lilies in a fresh green pasture)  
Pass now no more; but, banished from the Court,  
Dwell with disgrace among the Country sort:  
And those, which Eld's strict doom did disallow,  
And damn for bullion, go for current now.   

A happy wit, with gracious iudgementioyned, 
The liberty of a witty, learned, and judicious Wrighter.   
May give a Passport to the words new coined  
In his own shop: also adopt the strange:  
engraffed the wild: enriching, with such change  
His powerful style; and with such sundry enamel  
Painting his phrase, his Prose or Verse enammel.   

One language hath no law but use: and still  
Runs blind, unbridled, at the vulgars' will.  
Another's course, is curiously enclosed  
In lists of Art; of choice fit words composed.  
One, in the feeble birth, becoming old,  
Is cradle-toombed: another warreth bold  
With the yeer-spinners. One, unhappy-founded,  
lives in a narrow valley ever bounded:  
Another 'mong the learned troop doth press  
From Alexander's Altars, even to Fez.   

And such are now, the Hebrew, Greek, and Latin: 
Excellency of the Hebrew, Greek and Latin Tongues above the rest.   
Th' Hebrew, because of it we hold the Paten  
Of Thrice-Eternalls ever sacred Word:  
And, of his Law, that is the first Record.  
The Greek, as having cunningly comprised  
All kind of knowledge that may be devised.  
And manly Roman, sith the sword undaunted  
Through all the world her eloquence hath planted.   

Writing these later lines, weary well-near 
A pleasant introduction to his following Discourse, wherein Poetically He describeth and bringeth in the principal Languages, together with such as have excelled in each of them.   
Of sacred Pallas pleasing labours dear;  
Mine humble chin saluteth oft my breast,  
With an Ambrosial dew mine eyes possessed  
By piece-meal close; all moving powers be still;  
From my dull fingers drops my fainting quill;  
Down in my sloath-loved bed again I shrink;  
And in dark Lethè all deep cares I sink:  
Yea, all my cares, except a zeal to len  
A gainful pleasure to my Countrymen.  
For, th' holy loves-charm, burning for their sake,  
When I am sleeping, keeps my soul awake.   

Gold-winged Morpheus, Eastward issuing 
The God of Dreams.   
By's crystal gate (it earlier opening  
Then days bright door) fantastic leads the way  
Down to a vale, where moist-cool night, and day:  
Still calms and storms: keen cold, and sultry smother:  
Rain, and fair weather follow not each-other:  
But May still reigns, and rose-crowned Zephyrus  
With wanton sighs makes the green trees to buss;  
Whose whispering boughs, in oval form do fence  
This flowery field's delightful excellence.   

Just in the midst of this enameled vale  
Rose a huge Rock, cut like a Pedestal; 
Description of the House, & Image of Eloquence: and of the principal Languages.   
And on the Cornich a Colossus stands  
Of during brass, which beareth in his hands  
Both fire and water: from his golden tongue  
Grow thousand chains, which all the mead along  
Draw worlds of hearers with alluring Art,  
Bound fast by th' ears, but faster by the hart.  
Before his feet, Boars, Bears, and Tigers lie  
As meek as Lambs, reclaimed from cruelty.  
Near hills do hop, and neighbour Forests bound,  
Seeming to dance at his sweet voices sound.   

Of Carian pillars raised with curious Art  
On bases firm, a double row doth girt  
The soule-charm Image of sweet Eloquence:  
And these fair Piles (with great magnificence)  
Bear, four by four, one of the Tongues which now  
Our learned Age for fairest doth allow.   

Now, 'mong the Heav'n-deer spirits supporting here 
1. The Hebrew supported by 4. Pillars; (viz.)   
The Hebrew tongue, that Prince whose brows appear  
Like daunt-Earth Comet's Heav'n-adorning brand,  
Who holds a green-drie, wither'd-springing wand,  
And in his arms the sacred Register 
Moses.   
Of God's eternal tenfold Law doth bear;  
Is Israel's guide: first Author, he that first  
Unto his heirs his Writings offer dared:  
Whose hallowed Pages not alone preceded  
All Grecian Writ, but every Grecian Deed.   

david's the next, who, with the melody  
Of voice-matcht fingers, draws spheres harmony, 
David.   
To his Heav'n-tuned harp, which shall resound  
While the bright daystar rides his glorious Round:  
Yea (happily) when both the whirling Poles  
Shall cease their Galliard, th' euer-blessed souls  
Of Christ his champions (cheered with his sweet songs)  
Shall dance to th' honour of the Strong of strongs;  
And all the Angel's glory-winged Hosts  
Sing Holy, Holy, Holy, God of Hosts.   

The third, his Son, wit-wondrous Solomon, 
Solomon.   
Who in his lines hath more wise lessons sown,  
More golden words, then in his Crown there shined  
Pearls, Diamonds, and other Gems of Ind.   

Then, Amos Son, in threatenings vehement, 
Esay.   
Grace-fellowed, grave, holy and eloquent.   

Sweet-numbred Homer here the Greek supports, 
2 The Greek by Homer. Plato. Herodotus. Demosthenes.   
Whose School hath bred the many-differing sorts  
Of ancient Sages: and, through every Realm,  
Made (like a Sea) his eloquence to stream:  
Plato, the all-divine, who like the Fowl  
(They call) of Paradise; doth never foul  
His foot on Earth or Sea, but lofty sties  
Higher than Heaven from Hell, above the skies:  
Cleer-styled Herodotus, and Demosthen,  
Gold-mouthed hearts-king law of learned men. 
3. The Latin by Cicero. Caesar. Sallust. Virgil.    

Th' Archfoe to factious Catiline and (since)  
To Anthony, whose thundering eloquence  
Yields thousand streams, whence (rapt in admiration)  
The rarest wits are drunk in every Nation:  
Caesar, who knows as well to write, as war:  
The Sinnewy Sallust: and that Heav'n-fall'n star,  
Which straggling Ilium brings to Tiber's brink,  
Who never seems in all his Works to wink;  
Who never stumbled, ever clear and grave;  
Bashfully-bold, and blushing modest-brave:  
Still like himself, and else, still like to no-man. 
4. The Italian by Boccace. Petrarch. Ariosto. Tasso.   
Sustain the stately, grave-sweet ancient Roman.   

On mirthsull Boccace is the Tuscan placed:  
Bold, choice-tearmed Petrarch, in deep passions graçed:  
The fluent feigner of Orlando's error,  
Smooth, pithy, various, quick affection-stirrer:  
And witty Tasso, worthy to indight  
Heroïk numbers, full of life and light;  
Short, sharpe-conceipted, rich in language clear,  
Though last in age, in honour foremost here. 
5. The Arabik. by Aben-Roes. Eldebag. Avicen Ibnu-farid.    

Th' Arabian language hath for pillars sound,  
Great Abenrois most subtle, and profound,  
Sharp Eldebag, and learned Avicen,  
And Ibnu-farid's figure-flowing Pen.   

The Dutch, hath him who Germanized the story 
6. The Dutch by Peuther. Luther. Peucer. Butric.   
Of Sleidan: next, th' Isleban (lasting glory  
Of Wittenberg) with Peucer gilding bright  
His pleasing style: and Butric my delight.   

Guevarra, Boscan, and Granade, which sup  
With Garcilace, in honey Pytho's cup 
7. The▪ Spanish by Guevarra. Boscan. Granada. Garcilaco.   
The smiling Nectar, bear th' Hyberian:  
And, but th' old glory of the Catalan,  
Ravished O syas, he might well have claimed  
The Spanish Laurel 'mong these lastly named.   

Now, for the French, that shape-less Column rude, 
8 The French. by Marot.   
Whence th' idle Mason hath but grossly hewed  
(As yet) the rough scales from the upper part,  
Is Clement Marot; who with Artless Art  
Busily toils: and, pricked with praiseful thirst,  
Brings Helicon, from Po to Quercy first:  
Whom, as a time-torn Monument, I honour:  
Or as a broken tomb: or tattered Banner:  
Or age-worn Image: not so much for show,  
As for the reverence that to Eld I owe.   

The next I know not well; yet (at the least)  
He seems some skilful Master with the rest:  
Yet doubt I still. For now it doth appear  
Like jaques Aymot, then like Uiginere. 
Amyot. Ronsard.    

That, is great Ronsard, who his France to garnish,  
Robs Rome and Greece, of their Art-various varnish;  
And, hardy-witted, handleth happily  
All sorts of subject, style, and Poesy.   

And this du Plessis, beating Athëisme, 
Plessis.   
Vain Paganism, and stubborn judaïsme,  
With their own arms: and sacred-grave, and short,  
His plain-prankt style he strengthens in such sort,  
That his quick reasons winged with grace and Art,  
Pearce like keen arrows, every gentle hart.   

Our English Tongue three famous Knights sustain; 
9: The English. by Sir Thomas Moor. Sir Nicholas Bacone. Sir Phil. Sidney   
Moor, Bacone, Sidney: of which, former twain  
(High Chancellors of England) weaned first  
Our Infant-phrase (till then but homely nursed)  
And childish toys; and, rudeness chase thence,  
To civil knowledge, joined sweet eloquence.  
And (World-mourned) Sidney, warbling to the Thames  
His Swanlike tunes, so courts her coy proud streams.  
That (all with-child with Fame) his fame they bear,  
To Thetis lap, and Thetis, everywhere.   

But, what new Sun dazzles my tender eyes?  
What sudden trance rapts me above the skies?  
What Princely Port? O what imperial grace?  
What sweet-bright-lightning looks? what Angel's face? 
And the incomparable Queen Elizabeth.    

Say (learned heaven-born Sisters) is not this  
That prudent Pallas, Albion's Mistress,  
The Great Eliza, making hers disdaign,  
For any Man, to change their maidens reign? 
Her prudence, Piety, justice, Religion, Learning, and Eloquence.   
Who, while Erynnys (weary now of hell)  
With fire and Sword her neighbour's States doth quell,  
And while black Horror threats in stormy rage,  
With dreadful downfall th' universal stage;  
In happy Peace her Land doth keep and nourish:  
Where reverent justice, and Religion flourish.  
Who is not only in her mother-voyce  
Rich in Oration; but with phrases choice,  
So on the sudden can discourse in Greek,  
French, Latin, Tuscan, Dutch, and Spanish eek,  
That Rome, Rhyne, Rhone, Greece, spain, and Italy,  
Plead all for right in her nativity.   

Bright Northern pearl, Mars-daunting martialist,  
To grace the Muses and the Arts, persist;  
And (O!) if ever these rude rhymes be blest  
But with one glance of Nature's only Best;  
Or (lucky) light between those Ivory palms,  
Which hold thy State's stern, in these happy calms,  
View them with mild aspect; and gently read  
That for thy praise, thine eloquence we need.   

Then thus I spoke; O spirits divine and learned,  
Whose happy labours have your lauds eterned:  
O! sith I am not apt (alas!) nor able  
With you to bear the burden honourable  
Of Albion's Fame, nor with my feeble sight  
So much as follow your Heav'n-neighbouring slight;  
At least permit me, prostrate to embrace  
Your reverend knees: permit me to inchace  
Your radiant crests with April's flowery Crown;  
Permit (I pray) that from your high renown,  
My freble tunes eternal fames derive;  
While in my Songs your glorious names survive.  
Granting my suit, each of them bowed his head, 
〈…〉 the   
The valley vanished, and the pillars fled:  
And therewithal, my Dream had flown (I think)  
But that I limed his limber wings with ink.   
FINIS.   

The COLONIES. THE III. PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

To stop Ambition, Strife, and Avarice,  
Into Three Parts the Earth divided is:  
To Sem the East, to I'm the South, the West  
To japheth falls; their several scopes expressed:  
Their fruitful Spawn did all the World supply:  
antiquities uncertain Search, and why:  
Assyria sceptred first; and first imparts,  
To all the rest, Wealth, Honour, Arms, and Arts:  
The Newfound World: men's divers humours strange:  
The various World a mutual Counterchange.   

WHile through the World's un-haunted wilderness 
Being here to entreat of the Transmigration of so many Nations, issued out of the loignes of Noah, our Poet desireth to be ad dressed by some special Favour of God.   
I, th' old, first Pilots wandering House address  
While (Famous DRAKE- like), coasting every strand  
I do discover many a Newfoundland:  
And while, from Sea to Sea with curious pain  
I plant great Noah's plenteous Vine again:  
What bright-brown cloud shall in the Day protect me?  
What fiery Pillar shall by Night direct me  
Toward each People's primer Residence,  
Predestined in the Court of Providence▪  
Yer our bi-sexed Parents, free from sin,  
In Eden did their double birth begin?   

O sacred Lamp! that wentest so brightly burning  
Before the Sages, from the spicy Morning,  
To show th' Almighty Infants humble Birth;  
O! chase the thick Clouds, drive the darkness forth  
Which blindeth me: that mine adventurous Rhyme,  
Circling the World, may search out every Clime.  
For, though my Wits, in this long Voyage shift  
From side to side; yet is my special drift, 
The true, & only drift of all his endeavours.   
My gentle Readers by the hand to bring  
To that dear Babe, the Man-God, Christ, our King.   

As WHEN the lowering heavens with loudest raps 
A comparison expressing the effect of the astonishment, which the confusion of Tongues brought into the Babel-builders.   
Through Forests thrill their roaring thunderclaps,  
The shivering Fowls do suddenly forego  
Their nests and perches, fluttering to and fro  
Through the dark air, and round about there rings  
A whistling murmur of their whisking wings;  
The griselda Turtles (seldoom seen alone)  
Dis-payered and parted, wander one by one;  
And even the feeble downy feathered Young  
Venture to fly, before their quills be strong:  
Even so, the Builders of that Babel-Wonder,  
Hearing God's voice a-loud to roar and thunder,  
In their rude voices barbarous difference,  
Take (all at once) their fearful flight from thence  
On either hand; and through th' Earth voidly-vast  
Each packs apart, where God would have him plaçed.   

For, heavens great Monarch (yer the World began) 
Why God would not that the seed of Noah should reside in the Plain of Shynar.   
Having decreed to give the World to man;  
Would not, the same a nest of thieves should be,  
That with the Sword should share his Legacy;  
And (bruitly mixed) with mongrel stock to stoar  
Our Elements, round, solid, slimy floor:  
But rather, fire of Covetise to curb,  
Into three Parts he parts he parts this spacious Orb,  
'Twixt Sem and Cham, and japheth: Sem the East,  
I'm South, and japheth doth obtain the West.   

That large rich Country, from Perosite shores 
The Earth distributed among the Sons of Noah.   
(Where stately Ob, the King of Rivers, roars,  
In Scythian Seas voiding his violent load,  
But little less than six days sailing broad)  
To Malaca: Moluques Isles, that bear 
To Sem the South.   
Cloves and Canele: well-tempered Sumater  
Sub-equinoctiall: and the golden streams  
Of Bisnagar, and Ze●lan bearing gems:  
From th' Euxin Sea and surge of Chaldean Twins  
To th' Anian Streight: the slothful, slimy Fens  
Where Quinzay stands; Chiorze, where Bulls as big  
As Elephants are clad in silken shag,  
Is great Sem's Portion. For the Destinies  
(Or rather heavens immutable Decrees)  
Assur t' Assyria send, that in short time  
Chale and Rhesen to the Clouds might climb,  
And Ninive (more famous than the rest)  
Above them raise her many-towred Crest:  
The sceptred Elam chose the Persian Hills,  
And those fat fields that swift Araxis fills;  
Lud, Lydia: Aram all Armenia had:  
And Chalde fell to learned Arphaxad.   

I'm became Sovereign over all those Realms 
To I'm the South.   
South-bounded round with Sunburnt Guinne streams,  
Botangas, Benin, Cephal, Guaguametre,  
Hot Concritan, too-full of poysony matter:  
Northward with narrow Mid'terranean Sea  
Which from rich Europe parts poor Africa:  
Towards where Titan's Evening splendour sank,  
With Seas of Fez, Cape-verde, and Cape-blanc:  
And toward where Phoebus doth each morning wake,  
With Adel Ocean, and the Crimson Lake.  
And further, all that lies between the steep  
Mount Libanus, and the Arabian Deep,  
Between th' Erythraean Sea, and Persian Sine,  
He (mighty Prince) to's Africa State doth join.  
His Darling Canaan doth nigh jordan dwell  
(Oneday ordained to harbour Israel):  
Pheud peopled Lybia: Mizraim Egypt manned:  
And's firstborn Chus the Aethyopian strand.   

japheth extends from struggling Hellespont, 
To japheth the North & West.   
The Ta'en and Euxin Sea, to th' double Mount  
Of famous Gibraltar, and that deep Main,  
Whose tumbling billows bathe the shores of spain:  
And from those Seas, where in the steed of Keels  
Of winged Ships they roll their Chariot wheels,  
To the Marsilian, Morean, and Thyrrhenian;  
Ligurian Seas, and learned Sea Athenian,  
Just opposite to Asia rich in spice,  
Pride of the World, and second Paradise:  
And that large Country stretched from Amana  
To Tanais shores, and to the source of Rha.   

Forth of his Gomers loigns (they say) sprung all  
The warlike Nations scattered over Gaul,  
And Germans too (yerst called Gomerits):  
From Tubal, Spaniards: and from Magog, Scythes:  
From Madai, Medes: from Mesech, Mazacans:  
From javan, Greeks: from Thyras, Thracians.   

Heer, if I list, or loved I rover-shooting, 
According to his accustomed modesty & distr●tion, the Poet chooseth rather Silence then to Speak uncertain lie of things unknown.   
Or would I follow the uncertain footing  
Of false Berosus and such fond Deluders  
(Their zealous Readers insolent Illuders)  
I could derive the lineal Descents  
Of all our Sires; and name you every Prince  
Of every Province, in his time and place  
(Successively) throughout his Ancient Race:  
Yea, sing the Worlds so divers populations;  
And of least Cities show the first Foundations.  
But, never will I so my sails abandon.  
To every blast, and rowing so at random  
(Without the bright light of that glorious Star  
Which shyves 'bove all the heavens) venture so far  
On th' unknown surges of so vast a Sea  
So full of Rocks and dangers every way;  
Having no Pilot, save some brainsick Wrighters  
Which coin Kings names, vain fabulous Indighters:  
Of their own fancies, who (affecting glory)  
Upon a flies foot build a goodly story.   

Some words allusion is no certain ground  
Whereon a lasting Monument to Found: 
Reasons why the Search of such Antiquities is so obscure.   
Sith fairest Rivers, Mountains strangely steep,  
And largest Seas, never so vast and deep  
(Though self-eternall, resting still the same)  
Through sundry chances often change their name:  
Sith it befalls not always, that his seed  
Who builds a Town, doth in the same succeed:  
And (to conclude) sith under Heaven, no Race  
Perpetually possesseth any place:  
But, as all Tenants at the High Lords will,  
We hold a Field, a Forest, or a Hill:  
And (as when wind the angry Ocean moves)  
Wave hunteth wave, and billow billow shoves;  
So do all Nations justle each the other,  
And so one People doth pursue another;  
And scarce the second hath a first un-housed,  
Before a third him thence again have roused. 
Famous examples to this purpose. Of the ancient Britain's.    

So, th' ancient Britain, by the Saxons chaçed  
From's native Albion, soon the Gauls displaçed  
From Armorik; and then victoriously  
(After his name) surnamed that Britanny.   

So, when the Lombard had surrendered 
Of the Lombbards.   
Fair, double-named Ister's flowrie-bed  
To skar-façed Huns; he hunteth furiously  
The rest of Gauls from wealthy Insubrie,  
Which, after fell in Frenchman's hands again,  
Won by the sword of Worthy Charlemagne. 
Of the Alains Goths, and Vandals.    

So, th' Alain and North Vandal, beaten both  
From Corduba and Sevil by the Goth,  
Seized Carthage strait; which afterwards they lost  
To wise justinian's valiant Roman Host:  
And Romans, since, joined with the barbarous troop  
Of curled Moors, unto th' Arabians stoop. 
The causes of such Transmigrations.    

The sacrilegious greedy appetite  
Of Gold and Sceptres glistering glorious bright,  
The thirst of Vengeance, and that puffing breath  
Of elvish Honour, built on blood and death,  
On desolation, rapes, and robberies,  
Flames, ruins, wracks, and brutish butcheries,  
Unbound all Countries, making warlike Nations  
Through every Climate seek new habitations.   

I speak not here of those Alarbian Rovers,  
Numidian Shepherds or Tartarian Drovers,  
Who shifting pastures, for their store of Cattle,  
Do here and there their hairy Tents imbattle:  
Like the black swarms of Swallows swiftly-light,  
Which twice a-yeer cross with their nimble-flight  
The Pine-ploughed Sea, and (pleased with purest air)  
Seek every Season for a fresh repair:  
But other Nations fierce, who far and nigh  
With their own bloods-price purchased Victory;  
Who, better knowing how to win, then wield;  
Conquer, then keep; to batter, then to build;  
And bravely choosing rather War than Peace,  
Have overspread the World by Land and Seas.   

Such was the Lombard, who in Schonland nursed, 
The original removes, voyages & conquests of the Lombard's.   
On Rugeland and Livonia seized first;  
Then having well revenged on the Bulgarian  
The death of Agilmont; the bold Barbarian  
Surpriseth Poland; thence anon he presses  
In Rhines fair streams to rinse his Amber tresses:  
Thence turning back, he seats him in Mora●ia;  
After, at Buda; thence he posts to Pavia;  
There reigns 200. years: triumphing so,  
That royal Tesin might compare with Po.   

Such was the Goth, who whilom issuing forth 
Of the Goths.   
From the cold, frozen islands of the North,  
Encamped by Vistula: but th' air (almost)  
Being there as cold as on the Baltic Coast,  
He with victorious arms Sclavonia gains,  
The Transyluanian and Valacchian Plains.  
Thence plies to Thracia: and then (leaving Greeks)  
Greedy of spoil, four times he bravely seeks  
To snatch from Rome (then, Mars his Minion)  
The Palms which she o'er all the World had won;  
Guided by Rhadaguise, and Alaric,  
And Vidimarius, and Theodoric:  
Then comes to Gaul: and thence repulsed, his Legions  
Rest ever since upon the Spanish Regions.   

Such th' antik Gaul: who roving every way, 
Of the ancient Gauls.   
As far as Phoebus darts his golden ray,  
Seized Italy; the World's proud Mistress sacked  
Which rather Mars then Romulus' compact:  
Then peeled Panonia: then with conquering ploughs  
He furrows-up cold Strymons slimy slows:  
Wastes Macedonia: and (inclined to fleece)  
Spares not to spoil the greatest Gods of Greece:  
Then (cloyed with Europe) th' Hellespont he passed,  
And there Mount Ida's neighbour world did waste:  
Spoileth Pisidia: Mysia doth enthrall:  
And midst of Asia plants another Gaul.   

Most famous People's dark Antiquity,  
Is as a Wood: where bold temerity  
Stumbles each step; and learned Diligence,  
Itself entangles; and blind Ignorance  
(Groping about in such Cimmerian nights)  
In pits and ponds, and bogs, and quag-mires lights.   

It shall suffice me therefore (in this doubt) 
He affirmeth finally that the three Sons of Noah peopled the World, and showeth how.   
But (as it were) to coast the same about:  
And, rightly tuned unto the golden string  
Of Amrams' Son, in gravest verse to sing,  
That Sem, and Cham, and japheth did re-plant  
Th' un-peopled World with new inhabitant:  
And that again great Noah's wandering Boat  
The second time o'er all the World did float.   

Not that I send Sem, at one flight unceast,  
From Babylon unto the farthest East,  
Tartarian Chorat's silver waves t'essay,  
And people China, Cambalu, Cathay,  
japheth to spain: and that profanest Cham,  
To thirsty Countries Meder' and Bigam,  
To Cephala upon Mount Zambrica,  
And Cape of Hope, last coign of Africa.   

For, as Hymetus and Mount Hybla were 
2. Fit comparisont to represent the same.   
Not overspread and covered in one year  
With busy Bees; but yearly twice or thrice  
Each Hive supplying new-com Colonies  
(heavens tender Nurcelings) to those fragrant Mountains,  
At length their Rocks dissolved in Honey Fountains:  
Or rather, as two fruitful Elms that spread  
Amidst a Close with brooks environed,  
Engender other Elms about their roots;  
Those, other still; and still, new-springing shoots  
So overgrowe the ground, that in few years  
The sometimes-Mead a greet thick Grove appears:  
Even so th' ambitious Babel-building rout,  
Dispersed, at first go seat themselves about  
Mesopotamia: after (by degrees)  
Their happy Spawn, in sundry Colonies  
Crossing from Sea to Sea, from Land to Land,  
All the green-mantled neither Globe hath manned:  
So that, except th' Almighty (glorious judge  
Of quick and dead) this World's ill days abridge,  
There shall no soil so wild and savage be,  
But shall be shadowed by great Adam's Tree.   

Therefore, those Countries nearest Tigris Spring, 
Why the first Monarkie began in Assyria.   
In those first ages were most flourishing,  
Most spoken-of, first Warriors, first that guide,  
And give the Law to all the Earth beside.   

Babylon (living under th' awful grace  
Of Royal Greatness) swayed th' Imperial Mace,  
Before the Greeks had any Town at all,  
Or warbling Lute had built the Dircean Wall:  
Yer gaul's had houses, Latins Burgages,  
Our Britain's Tents, or Germans Cottages.   

The Hebrews had with Angel's Conversation, 
The Hebrews and their next neighbours were ●●ligious & learned before the Grecians knew anything.   
Held th' Idol-Altars in abomination▪  
Knew the Unknown, with eyes of Faith they saw  
Th' invisible Messiah, in the Law:  
The Chaldees, Audit of the Stars had made,  
Had measured Heaven, conceived how th' Earth's thick shade  
Eclipsed the silver brows of Cynthia bright,  
And her brown shadow quenched her brother's light.   

The Memphian Priests were deep Philosophers,  
And curious gazers on the sacred Stars,  
Searchers of Nature, and great Mathematics;  
Yer any Letter, knew the ancientest Attiks.   

Proud Egypt glistered all with golden Plate, 
The Egyptians, & Tyrians had their fill of Riches, and Pomp, and Pleasure, before the Greeks or Gauls knew what the world meant.   
Yer the lame Lemnian (under Aetna grate)  
Had hammered iron; or the Vultur-rented  
Prometheus, 'mong the Greeks had fire invented.   

gaul's were not yet; or, were they (at the least)  
They were but wild; their habit, plumes; their feast,  
But Mast and Acorns, for the which they gaped  
Under the Trees when any wind had happed:  
When the bold Tyrians (greedy after gain)  
Durst row about the salt-blow afric Main;  
Traffikt abroad, in Scarlet Robs were dressed,  
And pomp and pleasure Euphrates possessed.   

For, as a stone, that midst a Pond ye fling,  
About his fall first forms a little ring,  
Wherein, new Circles one in other growing  
(Through the smooth Waters gentle-gentle flowing)  
Still one the other more and more compel  
From the Ponds Centre, where the stone first fell;  
Till at the last the largest of the Rounds  
From side to side against every bank rebounds:  
So, from th' Earth's Centre (which I here suppose  
About the Place where God did Tongues transpose)  
Man (day by day his wit repolishing)  
Makes all the Arts through all the Earth to spring,  
As he doth spread, and shed in divers shoals  
His fruitful Spawn, round under both the Poles.   

Forth from Assyria, Eastward than they travail 
The first Colonies of Sem in the East.   
Towards rich Hytanis with the golden gravel:  
Then people they the Persian Oroätis;  
Then clear Choaspis, which doth humbly kiss  
The Walls of Susa; then the Valleys fat  
Near Caucasus, where yerst th' Arsaces sat:  
Then man they Media; then with human seed,  
Towards the Sea th' Hyrcanian Plain they speed.   

The Sons of these (like flowing Waters) spread 
The second.   
O'er all the Country which is bordered  
With Chiesel River, 'bove Thacalistan;  
Gadel and Cabul, Bedan, Balestan.   

Their offspring then, with fruitful stems doth stoar 
The Third.   
Basinagar, Nayard, and either shore  
Of famous Ganges; Avarice, Toloman,  
The kingdom Mein, the Musky Charazan;  
And round about the Desert Open, where oft  
By strange Phantasmas Passengers are scoffed.   

Some Ages after, linked in divers knots, 
The fourth.   
Tipur they take, rich in Rhinocerots';  
Caichin, in Aloes; Mangit, and the shore  
Of Quinz ' and Any lets them spread no more.   

From that first Centre to the Westward bending, 
First Colonies of japheth in the West.   
Old Noah's Nephews far and wide extending,  
Seize less Armenia; then, within Cilicia,  
Possess the Ports of Tharsis and of Issea,  
And the delicious strange Corycian Cave  
(Which warbling sound of Cymbals seems to have)  
●onia, Cappadocia, Taurus horns,  
Bythinia, Troas, and Meanders turns. 
The second.    

Then passing Sestos straits; of Strymon cold,  
Herber and Nest they quaff; and pitch their Fold  
In vales of Rhodopé, and blow the Plains  
Where great Danubius near his death complains.   

Thrace, on the other side, subtle Greece beswarms; 
The third divided into many branches.   
Greece, Italy (famous for Art and Arms):  
Italy, France; France, spain, and Germany  
(Rhines fruitful bed) and our Great Brittany.  
On th' other side, it spreads about Moldavia,  
Mare-Maìour, Podolìa, and Morauìa,  
With Transyluania, Servia, and Panonia,  
The Prussian Plains, and over all Polonia:  
The verge of Vistula, and farther forth  
Beyond the Alman, drawing to the North. 
First Colonies of Cham, toward the South    

Now turn thee southward: see, see how Chaldéa  
Spews on Arabia, Phoenicia, and judéa,  
Cham's cursed Ligne, which (over-fertill all)  
Between two Seas doth into Egypt fall;  
Sows all Cyrenia, and the famous Coast  
Whereon the roaring Punik Sea is tossed:  
Fez, Dara, Argier, Galate, Guzol, Aden,  
Terminan, Tombut, Melle, Gago, Gogden:  
The sparkling Deserts of sad Libya,  
Zeczec, Benin, Borno, Canon, Nubia,  
And scalding quicksands of those thirsty Plains  
Where JESUS name (yet) in some reverence reigns;  
Where Prester john (though part he judaïze)  
Doth in somsort devoutly Christianize.   

But wouldst thou know, how that long Tract, that lies 
Colonies of the North.   
Under heavens starry Coach, covered with ice,  
And round embraced in the winding arms  
Of Cronian Seas (which Sol but seldom warms)  
Came peopled first? suppose, that passing by  
The Plains where Tigris twice keeps company  
With the far-flowing silver Euphrates,  
They lodged at foot of hoary Nyphates:  
And from Armenia, than Iberia manned,  
Albania, Colchis, and Bosphorian strand:  
And then from thence toward the bright Levant,  
That vast Extent, where now fell Tartar's haunt  
In wandering troops; and towards th' other side  
Which (near her source) long Volga doth divide,  
Moscovy Coast, Permia, Livonia, Prussia,  
Biarmia, Scrisinia, White-Lake, Lappia, Russia. 
How the Newfound World (discovered in our Time) came peopled. A double question.    

But whence (say you) had that New-World his Guests,  
Which Spain (like Delos floating on the Seas)  
Late digged from darkness of oblivions Grave,  
And it undoing, it new Essence gave?  
If long ago; how should it hap that no-man  
Knew it till now? no Persian, Greek, no Roman;  
Whose glorious Peers, victorious Armies guiding  
O'er all the World, of this had never tiding?  
If but of late; how swarm their Cities since  
So full of Folk? how pass their Monuments  
Th' Egyptian Spires, Mausolus' stately tomb,  
The Walls and Courts of Babylon and Rome?   

Why! think ye (fond) those people fell from Heaven 
●. Answer.   
All-ready-made; as in a Summer Even  
After a swelting Day, some sultry shower  
Doth in the Marshes heaps of Tadpals pour,  
Which in the ditches (chapped with parching weather)  
Lie crushed and croaking in the Mud together?  
Or else, that setting certain slips, that fixed  
Their slender roots the tender mould betwixt,  
They saw the light of Phoebus' lyvening face;  
Having, for milk, moist dews; for Cradle, grass?  
Or that they grew out of the fruitful Earth,  
As Toadstools, Turnips, Leeks, and Beets have birth?  
Or (like the bones that Cadmus yerst did sow)  
Were bravely born armed from top toe?   

That spacious Coast, now called America,  
Was not so soon peopled as Africa;  
(Th' ingenious, Towr-full, and Law-loving Soil,  
Which, jove did with his Lemons name enstile)  
And that which from cold Bosphorus doth spread  
To pearled Aurora's Saffron-coloured Bed.  
Because, they lie nearer the diapry verges  
Of tear-bridge Tigris Swallow-swifter surges  
Whence our amazed first Grandsires' faintly fled,  
And like sprung Partridge everywhere did spread;  
Except that World, where under Castile's King,  
Famous Columbus Force and Faith did bring.   

But the rich buildings rare magnificence,  
Th' infinite Treasures, various Governments,  
Show that long since (although at sundry times)  
IT had Colonies (although from sundry Climes):  
Whether the violence of tempestuous weather  
Some broken Vessels have enforced thither;  
Whether, some desperate, dire extremity  
Of Plague, War, Famine; orth ' Authority  
Of some brave Typhis (in adventure tossed)  
Brought weary Carvels on that Indian Coast.   

Who maketh doubt but yerst the Quinzay Fraights 
Conictures touching the Peopling of the same   
As well might venture through the Anian straits,  
And find as easy and as short a way  
From the East Indies to the Tolguage Bay,  
As usually the Asian Ships are wont  
To pass to Greece across the Hellespont:  
Spaniards to Fez, a-thwart the Strait Abilia:  
Through Messine stream th' Italians to Sicilia?   

From Tolm and Quiuir's spacious Plains (wherein  
Bunch-backed Calves, with Horselike manes are seen,  
And Sheeplike Fleece) they fill Azasia,  
Tova, Topir, Canada, Cossia,  
Mecchi, Avacal, Calicuaz, Bacalos,  
Los Campos de Labour (where Floods are froze).   

On th' other side, Xalisco soil they man 
Wonders of the Newfound World.   
(Now new Galizia) Cusule, Mechuacan:  
And cunningly in Mexik Sea they pile  
Another Venice (or a City- I'll).  
Strange things there see they (that amaze them much)  
Green Trees to whither with their very touch;  
And in Nicaragua, a Mountain top,  
That (Aetna-like) bright Flashes belches up.  
Thence, reach they th' Isthmos of rich Panama,  
And on their right hand build Oucanama,  
With Cassamalca, Cusco, Quito: and  
In famous Perv's very golden Strand  
Admire the Lake that laveth Colle about,  
Whose Waves be salt within, and fresh without:  
And streams of Cinca, that with virtue strange,  
To hardest stone, soft Mud and Chalk do change.   

Then seize they Chili, where all day the Deep  
Runs roaring down, and all the night doth sleep:  
Chinca, the Patagons', and all the shore  
Where th' azure Seas of Magellan do roor.  
Left-ward, they spread them ' longest the Darians side;  
Where through th' Vrabian Fields the Huo doth slide,  
Near Zenu's stream, which toward the Ocean drags,  
Pure grains of Gold, as big as Pullet's Eggs:  
To new Granada, where the Mount embossed▪  
With Emeralds doth shine; Cumanean Coast,  
Where noisome vapours (like a dusky night)  
Bedimms their eyes; and doth impair their sight:  
Therefore some troops, from Cumana they carry  
To Caripana, Omagu, and Pari:  
By Maragnon, all over fell Brasile,  
And Plate's fat Plains, where flows another Nile.   

Guess too, that Grotland yerst did Picne store,  
And Ireland fraught Los Campos de Labour;  
As Tombut, Melli, Gago and Terminan,  
Planted the Plains and shores of Corican.   

Yet (happily) thou'lt gladly grant me this,  
That man's ambition ay so boundless is, 
How it was possible that Noah and his 3. sons should so multiply.   
That steepest Hills it over-climbs with ease,  
And runs (as dryshod) through the deepest Seas:  
And (maugre meager Thirst) her Carvells' Lands,  
On Africa, Tolmon, and Arabian sands;  
But hardly credit'st, that one Family,  
Out of four couples should so multiply,  
That Asia, Europe, Africa, and All  
Seems for their offspring now too straight and small.   

If thouset-light by th' everlasting Voice, 
1. Answer.   
Which now again re-blest the Love-full Choice  
Of sacred Wedlock's secret-binding band;  
Saying, Increase, Flourish and Fill the Land:   

And if (profane) thou hold it for a Fiction, 
2.   
That seventy jews, in Egypt (in affliction)  
Within four hundred years and half threescore,  
Grew to five-hundred-thousand souls and more:   

Consider yet, that being fed that while, 
3.   
With wholesome Fruits of an un-forced soil,  
And kindly meats, not marred by the Book,  
And wanton cunning of a saucy Cook:  
Weigh furthermore, that being not cut-down  
With bloody swords when furious neighbours frown;  
Nor worn with Travail, nor infeebeled  
With hateful Sloth: Our Grandsires' flourished  
Hundreds of years in youth; and even in Age  
Can render duly Venus Escuage:  
And that Polygamy (in those days common)  
Most Men usurping more than one sole Woman,  
Made then the World so mightily augment  
In upright Creatures; and (in continent)  
From fruitful Loigns of one old Father-stock,  
So many branches of mankind to flock: 
Comparison to that purpose.   
Even as an ear of Corn (if all the yield  
Be yearly sown still in a fertile Field)  
Fills Barns at length; and spreads in spacious Plain  
Millions of millions of like ears again.  
Or, as two Fishes, cast into a Mere,  
With fruitful Spawn will furnish in few year  
A Town with victual, and serve (furthermore)  
Their neighbour Waters with their Fry to store.   

Have not our Days a certain Father known, 
An example of our days.   
Who with the fruit of his own body grown,  
Peopled a Village of a hundred Fires,  
And issue-blest (the Crown of Old Desires)  
In his own lifetime, his own offspring saw  
To wed each other, without breach of Law?  
So far, the branches of his fruitful Bed,  
Past all the Names of Kindreds-Tree did spread.   

'Tis known that few Arabian Families 
Another example.   
New-planted Lybia with their Progenies,  
In compass of three hundred years and less;  
And Bugie, Argier, Oran, Thunis, Tez,  
Fez, Melli, Gago, Tombut, Terminan  
With hateful Laws of Heathenish Alcoran.   

If this, among the Africans we see,  
Whom cor'ziue humour of Melancholy  
Doth always tickle with a wanton Lust,  
Although less powerful in the Paphian joust  
For Propagation (for too-often Deed  
Of Loves-delight, enfeebles much their seed:  
And inly, still they feel a Wintery Fever,  
As outwardly, a scorching Summer ever)  
Guess how much more, those, whose hoar heads approach  
And see the turnings of heavens flaming Coach,  
Do multiply; because they seldom venture,  
And but in season, Venus' lists to enter.  
And, the cold, resting (under th' artic Star)  
Still Master of the Field in champain War,  
Makes Heat retire into the Bodies-Towr:  
Which there united, gives them much more power. 
The North hath exceedingly multiplied in people: the South not so.    

For thence indeed, Hunns, Herules, Franks, Bulgarians,  
Circassyans, Sweves, Burgognians, Turks, Tartarians,  
Dutch, Cimhers, Normans, Alains, Ostrogothes,  
Tigurins, Lombard's, Vandals, Visigothes,  
Have swarmed (like Locusts) round about this Ball,  
And spoiled the fairest Provinces of all:  
While barren South had much a-doot ' assemble  
(In all) two Hosts; that made the North to tremble:  
Whereof; the One, that one-eyed Champion led,  
Who famous Carthage raised, and ruined:  
Th' other (by Tours) Charles Martell martyred so;  
That never since, could Africa Army show. 
Whence our Author taketh occasion to enter into an excellent discourse of God's wondrous work in the divers temperatures, qualities, complexions, and manners, of so many Nations in the World.    

O! see, how full of Wonders strange is Nature:  
Sith in each Climate, not alone in stature,  
Strength, hair, and colour, that men differ do,  
But in their humours and their manners too.  
Whether that, custom into Nature change:  
Whether that, Youth to th' Elds example range▪  
Or diverse Laws of diverse Kingdoms, vary-us:  
Or th' influence of Heavenly bodies cary-us.   

The Northern-man is fair, the Southern foul;  
That's white, this black; that smiles, and this doth scoul:  
Th' one's blithe and frolik, th' other dull and froward;  
Th' one's bookful of courage, th' other fearful coward:  
Th' one's hair is harsh, big, curled, th' other's slender;  
Th' one loveth Labour, th' other Books doth render:  
Th' one's hot and moist, the other hot and dry;  
Th' one's Voice is hoarse, the other's clear and high:  
Th' one's plain and honest th' other all deceit;  
Th' one's rough and rude, the other handsome neat:  
Th' one (giddy-brained) is turned with every wind;  
The other (constant) never changeth mind:  
Th' one's loose and wanton, th' other continent;  
Th' one thrift-less lavish, th' other provident:  
Th' one mild Companion; th' other, stern and strange,  
(Like a wild Wolf) loves by himself to range:  
Th' one's pleased with plainness, th' other pomp affects:  
Th' one's born for Arms, the other Arts respects.  
But middling folk, who their abiding make  
Between these two, of either guise partake:  
And such have stronger limbs, but weaker wit,  
Then those that near Nyles fertile sides do sit;  
And (opposite) more wit, and lesser force  
Than those that haunt Rhines and Danubius shores.   

For, in the Cirque of th' Universal City;  
The Southern-man, who (quick and curious-witty)  
Builds all on Dreams, deep Ecstasies, and Trances,  
Who measures heavens eternall-moving Dances,  
Whose searching soul can hardly besuffized  
With vulgar Knowledge, holds the Place of Priest.  
The Northern-man, whose wit in's Fingers settles,  
Who what him list can work in Wood and Mettles,  
Who (Salmon-like) can thunder counterfeit;  
With men of Arms, and Artisans is set.  
The Third (as knowing well to rule a State)  
Holds, gravely-wise, the room of Magistrate.  
Th' one (to be brief) loves studious Theory,  
The other Trades, the third deep Policy.  
Yet true it is, that since some later lustres,  
Minerva, Themis, Hermes, and his Sisters  
Have set, as well, their Schools in th' artic Parts,  
As Mars his Lists, and Vulcan Shops of Arts. 
Notable differences between the Nations of Europe.    

Nay, see we not among ourselves, that live  
Mingled almost (to whom the Lord doth give  
But a small Turf of Earth to dwell-upon)  
This wondrous odds in our condition?  
We find the Alman, in his fight courageous,  
But saleable; th' Italian too-outragious;  
Sudden the French, impatient of delay;  
The Spaniard slow, but subtle to hetray:  
Th' Alman, in Counsel cold th' Italian quick,  
The French inconstant, Spaniard's politic:  
Fine Feeds th' Italian, and the Spaniard spares; 
Especially the French, Germane, Italian, & Spaniard.   
Princelike the French, Pig-like the Alman, fares:  
Mild speaks the French, the Spaniard proud and brave,  
Rudely the Alman, and th' Italian grave:  
Th' Italian proud in tire, French changing much,  
Fit-clad the Spaniard, and un-fit the Dutch:  
The Frenchman braves his Foe, th' Italian cheers-him,  
The Alman spoils, the Spaniard never bears-him:  
The Frenchman sings, th' Italian seems to bleat,  
The Spaniard whines, the Alman howleth great:  
Spaniards like jugglers jet; th' Almans like Cocks,  
The French goes quick, th' Italian like an Ox:  
Dutch Lovers, proud; th' Italian envious,  
Frolik the French, the Spaniard furious.   

Yet would the Lord, that Noah's fruitful Race 
Causes why the Lord would have Mankind so dispersed over All the World.   
Should overspread th' Earth's universal Face:  
That, drawing so his Children from the crimes  
Which seem peculiar to their Native Climes,  
He might reveal his grace: and that heavens Lights  
Might well incline (but not constrain) our sprights:  
That over all the World, his Saints, always  
Might offer him sweet Sacrifice of Praise:  
That from cold Scythia, his high Name as far  
Might ay resound, as Sunburnt Zanzibar:  
And that the treasures which strange soils produce,  
Might not seem worthless, for the want of use;  
But that the Inland Lands might truck and barter  
And vent their Wares about to every Quarter. 
The World compared to a mighty City, wherein dwell People of all conditions, continually traffiking together & exchanging their particular commodities, for benefit of the Public.    

For, as in LONDON (stuffed with every sort)  
here's the King's Palace, there the junes of Court:  
Here (to the Thames-ward, all along the STRAND)  
The stately Houses of the Nobles stand:  
Here dwell rich Merchants; there Artificers;  
Here Silk-men, Mercers, goldsmiths, jewellers:  
There's a Churchyard furnished with choice of Books;  
Here stand the Shambles, there the Row of Cooks:  
Here won Upholsters, Haberdashers, Horners;  
There Pothecaries, Grocers, Tailors, Tourners:  
Here Shoemakers; there joiners, Cooper's, Coriers;  
Here Browers, Bakers, Cutlers, Felters, Furriers:  
This Street is full of DRAPERS, that of Dyer's:  
This Shop with Tapers, that with women's Tyars:  
For costly Toys, Silk Stockings, Cambric, Lawn,  
here's choice-full Plenty in the curious PAWN:  
And All's but an Exchange, where (briefly) no-man  
Keeps aught, as private. Trade makes all things common.   

So come our Sugars from Canary Iles:  
From Candy, Currants, Muskadels, and Oils:  
From the Moluques, Spices: Balsamum  
From Egypt: Odours from Arabia come:  
From India, Drugs, rich Gems, and ivory:  
From Syria, Mummy: black-red Ebony,  
From burning Chus: From Peru, Pearl and Gold:  
From Russia, Furs (to keep the rich from cold):  
From Florence, Silks: From spain, Fruit, Saffron, Sacks:  
From Denmark, Amber, Cordage, Firres, and Flax:  
From France and Flanders, Linen, Woad, and Wine:  
From Holland, Hops: Horse, from the banks of Rhine.  
In brief, each Country (as pleased God distribute)  
To the World's Treasure pays a sundry Tribute. 
Man, lord of the World: which for the commodity of his life contributes bountifully all manner of necessaries.    

And, as sometimes that sumptuous Persian Dame  
(Out of her Pride) accustomed to name  
One Province for her Robe, her Rail another,  
Her Partlet this, her Pantofles the t'other,  
This her rich Mantle, that her royal Chain,  
This her rare Bracelets, that her stately Train:  
Even so may Man; For, what wild Hill so steep?  
What so waste Desert? what so dangerous Deep?  
What Scaso wrackful? or so barren shore  
In all the World may be supposed so poor,  
But yields him Rent: and free from envious Spite,  
Contributes frankly to his Life's Delight? 
The same more especially dilated in the particulars.    

Th' inammelled Valleys, where the liquid glass  
Of silver Brooks in curled streams doth pass,  
Serve us for Gardens; and their flowery Fleece  
Affords us Sythe-work, yearly twice or thrice:  
The Plains for Corn: the swelling Downs for Sheep;  
Small Hills for Vines: the Mountains strangely-steep  
(Those Heav'n-climbe Ladders, Labyrinths of wonder,  
Cellars of wind, and Shops of sulphury Thunder;  
Where stormy Tempests have their ugly birth;  
Which thou mis-call'st the blemish of the Earth;  
Thinking (profane) that God, or Fortune light  
Made them of envy or of oversight)  
Bound with eternal bounds proud Emperies;  
Bear mighty Forests, full of Timber-Trees  
(Whereof thou buildest Ships and Houses fair,  
To trade the Seas, and fence thee from the Air)  
Spew spacious Rivers, full of fruitful Breed,  
Which neighbour-peoples' with their plenty feed;  
Fatten the Earth with fresh, sweet, fertile mists;  
Drive gainful Mills; and serve for Forts and Lists  
To stop the Fury of Wars wasteful hand;  
And join to th' Sea, the middle of the Land.  
The Wyldes and Deserts, which so much amaze-thee,  
Are goodly Pastures, that do daily graze-thee  
Millions of Beasts for tillage, and (besides)  
Store thee with flesh, with Fleeces, and with Hides.  
Yea, the vast Sea (which seems but only good,  
To drown the World; and cover with his Flood  
So many Countries, where we else might hope  
For thrifty pains to reap a thankful Crop)  
Is a large Larder, that in brynie Deeps,  
To nourish thee, a World of Creatures keeps:  
A plenteous Victualler, whose provisions serve  
Millions of Cities that else needs must starve  
(Like half-dead Dolphins, which the Ebb let's lie  
Gasping for thirst upon the sand, a-dry):  
' Tincreaseth Trade, journeys abbreviates,  
The flitting Clouds it ceaseless exhalates;  
Which, cooling th' air, and gushing down in rain,  
Make Ceres' Sons (in sight) to mounta-main.   

But, shall I still be Boreas Tennis-ball? 
Here (as it were) wearied with so long a voyage, from so broad & bottomless an Ocean (in imitation of the inimitable Author) the Translator hoping kind entertainment, puts in for the Port of England: whose happy praises he prosecutes at large; Concluding with a zealous Prayer for preservation of the King and prosperity of his Kingdoms.   
Shall I be still stern Neptune's tossed Thrall?  
Shall I no more behold thy native smoke,  
Deer Ithaca? Alas! my Barkis broke,  
And leaks so fast, that I can row no more:  
Help, help, (my Mates) make haste unto the shore.  
O! we are lost; unless some friendly banks  
Quickly receive our Tempest-beaten planks.   

Ah, courteous ENGLAND, thy kind arms I see  
Wide-stretched out to save and welcome me.  
Thou (tender Mother) will't not suffer Age  
To snow my locks in Foreign Pilgrimage:  
That fell Bresile my breathless Corpse should shroud,  
Or golden Peru of my Praise be proud,  
Orrich Cathay to glory in my Verse:  
Thou gav'st me Cradle, thou wilt give me Hearse.   

All-haile (dear ALEION) Europe's Pearl of price,  
The World's rich Garden, Earth's rare Paradise:  
Thrice-happy Mother, which ay bringest-forth  
Such Chivalry as daunteth all the Earth  
(Planting the Trophies of thy glorious Arms  
By Sea and Land, where ever Titan warms):  
Such Artisans as do well-near Eclipse  
Fair Nature's praise in peerless Workmanships:  
Such happy Wits, as Egypt, Greece and Rome  
(At least) have equalled, if not overcome;  
And shine among their (Modern) learned Fellows,  
As Gold doth glister among paler Yellows:  
Or as Apollo th' other Planets passes:  
Or as His Flower excels the Medow-grasses.   

Thy Rivers, Seas; thy Cities, Shires do seem;  
Civil in manners, as in buildings trim:  
Sweet is thine Air, thy Soil exceeding Fat,  
Fençed from the World (as better-worth then That)  
With triple Wall (of Water, Wood, and Brass)  
Which never Stranger yet had power to pass;  
Save when the heavens have for thy heinous Sin,  
By some of Thine, with false Keys let them in.   

About thy borders (O Heav'n-blessed I'll)  
There never crawls the noy some Crocodile;  
Nor Bane-breathed Serpent, basking in thy sand,  
Measures an Acre of thy flowery Land;  
The swift foot Tiger, or fierce Lioness  
Haunt not thy. Mountains, nor thy wilderness;  
Nor ravening Wolves worry thy tender Lambs,  
Bleating for help unto their helpless Dams;  
Nor subtle Sea-Horse, with deceitful Call,  
Entice thy Children in thy Floods to fall.   

What though thy Thames and Tweed have never rolled,  
Among their gravel, massy grains of Gold?  
What though thy Mountains spew no Siluer-streams?  
Though every Hillock yield not precious Gems?  
Though in thy Forests hang no Silken Fleeces?  
Nor sacred Incense, nor delicious Spices?  
What though the clusters of thy colder Vines  
Distil not Clarets, Sacks, nor Muscadines?  
Yet are thy Wolls, thy Corn, thy Cloth, thy Tin,  
Mines rich enough to make thee Europe's Queen,  
Yea Empress of the World; Yet not sufficient  
To make thee thankful to the Cause efficient  
Of all thy Blessings: Who, besides all this,  
Hath (now nine Lustres) lent thee greater Bliss;  
His blessed Word (the witness of his favour)  
To guide thy Sons unto his Son (their Saver)  
With Peace and Plenty: while, from War and Want,  
Thy neighbour's Countries never breathed scant.  
And last, not least (so far beyond the scope  
Of Christians Fear, and Antichristians Hope)  
When all, thy Fall seemed to Prognosticate,  
Hath higher raised the glory of thy State;  
In raising STVARDS to thy regal Throne,  
To Rule (as David and as Solomon)  
With prudence, Prowess, justice, and Sobriety,  
Thy happy People in Religious Piety.  
Otoo-too happy! tootoo fortunate!  
Knewest thou thy Weal: or wert thou not ingrate.   

But least (at last) Gods righteous wrath consumeus  
If on his patience still we thus presume-us:  
And lest (at last) all Blessings had before  
Double in Curses to torment-us more:  
Dear Mother ENGLAND, bend thine aged knee,  
And to the heavens lift up thy hands with me;  
Off with thy Pomp, hence with thy Pleasures past:  
Thy Mirth be Mourning, and thy Feast a FAST:  
And let thy soul, with my sad soul, confess  
Our former sins, and ●oul unthankfulness.   

Pray we the Father, through th' adopting Spirit,  
Not measure us according to our merit;  
Nor strictly weigh, at his High justice Beam,  
Our bold Rebellions, and our Pride extreme:  
But, for his Son (our dear Redeemer's) sake,  
His Sacrifice, for our Sins Ransom, take;  
And, looking on us with mild Mercies Ay,  
Forgive our Past, our Future Sanctify;  
That never more, his Fury we incense  
To strike (as Now) with raging Pestilence  
(Much less provoke him by our guilt so far,  
To wound us more, with Famine and with War).   

Lord, cease thy wrath: Put up into thy Quiver  
This dreadful shaft: Dear Father us deliver:  
And under wings of thy protection keep  
Thy servant JAMES, both waking and asleep:  
And (furthermore) we (with the Psalmist) sing  
Lord give thy judgements to (our Lord) the King, 
Psalm. 72.   
And to his Son: and let there aye be one  
Of his Male Seed to sit upon his Throne,  
To feed thy Folk in jacob, and (advance)  
In Israel thy (deer) Inheritance,  
And (long-long-lived) full of Faith and Zeal,  
Reform (like Asa) Church and commonweal;  
Raising poor Virtue, razing proudest Vice,  
Without respect of Person or of Price;  
That all bold Atheists, all Blasphemers, then,  
All Popish Traitors may be weeded clean.  
And, Cursed, be All that say not here, Amen.   
FINIS.   

THE COLUMNES. THE FOUR PART OF THE II. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Seth's Pillars found: Heber instructs his Son  
In th' use thereof, and who them first begun;  
Opens the One, and finds on several Frames,  
Four lively Statues of four lovely Dames  
(The Mathematiks) furnished each apart,  
With Equipages of their several Art:  
Wonders of Numbers and Geómetrie:  
New Observations in Astronomy:  
Musiks' rare force: Canaan (the Cursed) cause  
Of Heber's stop; and BARTA swittie pause.   

IF ever (Lord) the purest of my Soul 
Being about to treat of the Mathematics, our Poet he●r imploreth especial assistance in handling so high and difficult a Subject.   
In sacred Rage were rapt above the Pole:  
If ever, by thy Spirit my spirit inspired,  
Offered thee Lays that learned France admired:  
Father of Light, Fountain of learned Art,  
Now, now (or never) purge my purest part:  
Now quintessence my Soul, and now advance  
My care-free Powers in some celestial Trance:  
That (purged from Passion) thy Divine address  
May guide me through heavens glistering Palaces;  
Where (happily) my deer VRANIA'S grace,  
And her fair Sisters I may all embrace:  
And (the melodious Sirens of the Spheres,  
Charming my senses in those sweets of theirs)  
So ravished, I may at rest contemple  
The Starry Arches of thy stately Temple:  
Unto this end, that as (at first) from thee  
Our Grandsires' learned heavens Course and Quality;  
Thou now may'st prompt me some more lofty Song,  
As to this lofty Subject doth belong.   

AFTER THAT men's strife-hatching, haut Ambition, 
The occasion and ground of this Discourse.   
Had (as by lot) made this low World's partition;  
Phalec and Heber, as they wandered, sand  
A huge high Pillar, which upright did stand  
(Much like a Rock amid the Ocean set,  
Seeming great Neptune's surly pride to threat;  
Whereon, a Pharos bears a Lantern bright,  
To save from Shipwreck those that sail by night)  
And afterward, another nigh as great;  
But not so strong, so stately, nor so neat:  
For, on the flowery field it lay all flat,  
Built but of Brick, of rusty Tiles, and Slat:  
Whereas the First was builded fair and strong  
Of jasper smooth, and Marble lasting long.   

What Miracles! what monstrous heaps! what Hills 
Phalecs' Question.   
Heav'd-vp by hand! what Types of antic Skills  
In form-les Forms (quoth Phalec)! Father show  
(For, th' Ages passed I know full well you know):  
Pray teach me, who did both these Works erect:  
About what time: and then to what effect.   

Old Seth (saith Heber) Adam's Scholar yerst 
Heber's answer.   
(Who was the Scholar of his maker first)  
Having attained to know the course and sites,  
Th' aspect and greatness of heavens glistering Lights;  
He taught his Children, whose industrious wit  
Through diligence grew excellent in it.  
For, while their flocks on flowery shores they kept  
Of th' Eastern Floods, while others sound slept  
(Hushing their cares in a Night-shortning nap,  
Upon Oblivions dull and senseless Lap)  
They living lusty, thrice the age of Ravens,  
Observed the Twinkling Wonders of the heavens:  
And on their Grandsires' firm and goodly ground  
Asumptuous building they in time do found.  
But (by Tradition Cabalist●k) taught  
That God would twice reduce this world to nought,  
By Flood and Flame; they reared cunningly  
This stately payr of Pillars which you see;  
Long-time safekeeping, for their after-Kin,  
A hundred learned Mysteries therein.   

This having said, old Heber drawing nigher, 
The openìng of the Pillars.   
Opens a Wicket in the Marble Spire,  
Where (Phalec following) soon perceive they might  
A pure Lamp burning with immortal light.   

As a mean person, who (though oft-disgraçed  
By churlish Porters) is conuaighed at last 
Simile.   
To the King's Closet; rapt in deep amaze,  
At th' endless Riches, up and down doth gaze:  
So Phalec fares. O father (cries he out)  
What shapes are these here placed round about,  
So like each other wrought with equal skill,  
That four rain-drops cannot more like distil?  
What Tools are these? what divine secrets lie  
Hidden within this learned Mystery?   

These four (quoth Heber) Four bright Virgins are, 
The liberal Sciences.   
heavens Babes, and Sisters the most fair and rare,  
That e'er begot th' eternal Spirit (expired  
From double Spirit) or human soul admired.   

This first, that still her lips and fingers moves, 
Arithmetic.   
And up and down so sundry-wayes removes  
Her nimble Crowns; th' industrious Art it is  
Which knows to cast all heavens bright Images,  
All Winter's hail, and all the gaudy flowers  
Wherewith gay Flora pranks this Globe of ours.  
she's stately decked in a most rich Attire:  
All kind of Coins in glistering heaps lie by-her:  
Upon her sacred head Heaven seems to drop  
A richer shower than fell in Dan●es Lap:  
A gold-ground rob; and for a Glass (to look)  
Down by her girdle hangs a Table-book,  
Wherein the chief of her rare Rules are writ,  
To be safeguarded from times greedy bit.   

Mark here what Figure stands for One, the right 
Her Numbers.   
Root of all Number; and of Infinite: 
1   
loves happiness, the praise of Harmony,  
Nursery of All, and end of Polymnie:  
No Number, but more than a Number yet;  
Potentially in all, and all in it. 
2   
Now, note Two's Character, One's heir apparent,  
As his firstborn; first Number, and the Parent 
3   
Of Female Payrs. Here now observe the Three,  
Th' eldest of Odds, God's number properly;  
Wherein, both Number, and no-number enter:  
heavens dearest Number, whose enclosed Centre  
Doth equally from both extremes extend:  
The first that hath beginning, midst, and end.  
The (Cubes-Base) Four; a full and perfect sum, 
4   
Whose added parts just unto Ten do come;  
Number of God's great Name, Seasons, Complexions,  
Winds, Elements, and Cardinal Perfections.  
Th' Hermaphrodite Five, never multiplied 
5   
By'tself, or Odd, but there is still descried  
His proper face: for, three times Five arrive  
Unto Fifteen; Five Five to Twenty- five.  
The perfect Six, whose just proportions gather, 
6   
To make his Whole, his members altogether:  
For Three's his half, his sixth One, Two his Third;  
And One Two Three make Six, in One conferred.  
The Critical and double-sexed seven, 
7   
The Number of th' unfixed Fires of Heaven;  
And of th' eternal sacred Sabbaoth;  
Which Three and Four containeth jointly both.  
Th' Eight, double-square. The sacred note of Nine, 
8. 9   
Which comprehends the Muse's Triple-Trine.  
The Ten, which doth all Numbers force combine: 
10.   
The Ten, which makes, as One the Point, the Line:  
The Figure, th' Hundred, Thousand (solid corpse) 
100 1000   
Which, oft re-doubled, on th' Atlantic shores  
Can sum the sand, and all the drops distilling  
From weeping Auster, or the Ocean filling.   

See: many Sums, here written straight and even 
Addition.   
Each over other, are in one contriven:  
See here small Numbers drawn from greater count: 
Subtraction. Multiplication.   
Here Multiplid they infinitely mount:  
And lastly, see how (on the other side) 
Division.   
One Sum in many doth itself Divide.   

That sallow-façed, sad, stooping Nymph, whose eye  
Still on the ground is fixed steadfastly,  
Seeming to draw with point of silver Wand 
Geometry.   
Some curious Circles in the sliding sand;  
Who wears a Mantle, branched with flowery Buds,  
Embossed with Gold, trailed with silver Floods,  
Bordered with greenest Trees, and Fringed fine  
With richest azure of Seas stormfull brine:  
Whose dusky Buskins (old and tattered out)  
Show, she hath travailed far and near about  
By North and South; it is Geometry,  
The Crafts-mans' guide, Mother of Symmetry,  
The life of Instruments of rare effect,  
Law of that Law which did the World erect.   

here's nothing here, but Rules, Squires, Compasses, 
Her Instruments and Figures.   
Weights, Measures, Plummets, Figures, Balances.  
Lo, where the Workman with a steady hand  
Ingeniously a level Line hath drawn,  
Warlike Triangles, building-fit Quadrangles,  
And hundred kinds of Forms of Manie-Angles  
Sraight, Broad, and Sharp: Now see on th' other side  
Other, whose Tracts never directly slide,  
As with the snail, the crooked Serpenter,  
And that which most the learned do prefer,  
The complete Circle; from whose everyplace  
The Centre stands an equi-distant space.   

See here the Solids, Cubes, Cylinders, Cones,  
Pyramids, Prismas, Dodechaedrons':  
And there the Sphere, which (Worlds Type) comprehends  
In't-selfit-self; having nor midst nor ends:  
Arts excellence, praise of his peers, a wonder  
Wherein consists (in divers sort) a hundred:  
Firm Mobile, an up-down-bending-vault,  
sloping in Circuit, yet directly wrought.  
See, how so soon as it to veer gins,  
Both up and down, forward and back it wends;  
And, rapt by other, not itself alone  
Moves, but moves others with its motion  
(Witness the heavens): yea, it doth seem, beside,  
When it stands still, to shake on every side,  
Because it hath but one small point whereon  
His equal halves are equi-peized upon,  
And yet this goodly Globe (where we assemble)  
Though hung in th' Air) doth never selfly tremble:  
For, it's the midst of the Concentrik Orbs  
Whom never Angle nor out-nook disturbs.   

All Solids else (cast in the Air) reflect  
Vn-self-like-forms: but in a Globe each tract  
Seems still the same, because it everywhere  
Is uniform, and differs not a hair.   

Moreover, as the Buildings Amblìgon  
May more receive then Mansions Oxigon  
(Because th' acute, and the rectangles too,  
Stride not so wide as obtuse Angles do):  
So doth the Circle in his Circuit span  
More room than any other Figure can.  
Th' other are easily broke, because of joints,  
Ends and beginnings, edges, nooks, and points:  
But, th' Orb's not subject unto such distress,  
Because 'tis joint les, pointless, corner-less.   

Chief (my Phalec) hither bend thy mind,  
And learn Two Secrets which but few shall find,  
Two busy knots, Two labyrinths of doubt,  
Where future Schools shall wander long about,  
Beating their brains, their best endeavours troubling:  
The Circles Squareness, and the Cubes Re-doubling.   

Print ever faster in thy faithful brain, 
The certainty of Geometry.   
Then on brass leaves, these Problems proved plain,  
Not by Sophistick subtle Arguments,  
But even by practice and experience:  
Vndisputable Art, and fruitful Skill,  
Which with new wonders all the World shall fill.   

Hereby the Waters of the lowest Fountains, 
Her rare inventions. Mills.   
Shall play the Millers, as the Winds on Mountains:  
And grain so ground within a rolling Frame,  
Shall pay his duty to his niggard Dame.  
Hereby, a Bullet spewed from Brazen breast  
In fiery fume against a Town distressed, 
Guns.   
With roaring power shall pash the Rocks in sunder,  
And with the noise even drown the voice of Thunder.  
Hereby, the Wings of favourable Winds  
Shall bear from Western to the Eastern Indeses, 
Ships.   
From Africa to Thule's farthest Flood,  
A House (or rather a whole Town) of Wood;  
While sitting still, the Pilot shall at ease  
With a short Leaver guide it through the Seas.  
Hereby, the PRINTER, in one day shall rid 
Printing.   
More Books, than yerst a thousand Wrighters did.  
Hereby, a Crane shall steed in building, more 
The Crane.   
Than hundred Porters busy pains before:  
The jacobs-staff, to measure heights, and Lands, 
The Staff.   
Shall far excel a thousand nimble hands,  
To part the Earth in Zones and Climates even;  
And in twice-twenty-and-foure Figures, Heaven.  
A Wand, Sand, Water, small Wheels turning ay, 
Dial's and Clocks.   
In twice-twelue parts shall part the Night and Day.  
Statues of Wood shall speak: and feigned Spheres 
Spheres.   
Show all the Wonders of true Heaven in theirs.  
Men, rashly mounting through the empty Sky,  
With wanton wings shall cross the Seas well-nigh:  
And (doubt-less) if the Geometrician find  
Another World where (to his working mind)  
To place at pleasure and convenience  
His wondrous Engines and rare Instruments,  
Even (like a little God) in time he may  
To some new place transport this World away.   

Because these Two our passage open set  
To bright Vrania's sacred Cabinet,  
Wherein she keeps her sumptuous Furniture,  
Pearls, Diamonds, Rubies, and sapphires pure:  
Because, to climb starry Parnassus' top  
None can, unless these Two do help him up  
(For, whoso wants either of these Two eyes,  
In vain beholds heavens glister Canapies):  
The Carver (here) close by Geometry 
Astronomy.   
And Numbering Art, hath plaçed Astronomy.   

A silver Crescent wears she for a Crown,  
A hairy Comet to her heels hangs down,  
Brows stately bend in milde-Maiestik wise,  
Beneath the same two Carbuncles for eyes,  
An Azure Mantle waving at her back,  
With two bright Clasps buckled about her neck;  
From her right shoulder sloping over-thwart-her,  
A watchet Scarf, or broad embroidered Garter,  
Flourished with Beasts of sundry shapes, and each  
With glistering Stars embossed and powdered rich;  
And then, for wings, the golden plumes she wears  
Of that proud Bird which starry Rowels bears.   

burr what fair Globes (quoth Phalec) seems she thus, 
Her 2. Globes.   
With spreading arms, to reach and offer us?  
My Son (quoth Heber) that round Figure there, 
1. The Terrestrial.   
With crossing Circles, is the Mundane Sphere;  
Wherein, the Earth (as the most vile and base,  
And Lees of All) doth hold the lowest place:  
Whom prudent Nature girdeth overthwart  
With azure Zone: or rather, every part  
Covers with Water winding round about,  
Save here and there some Angles peeping out:  
For, th' Ocean's liquid and sad sliding Waves  
Sinking in deepest of Earth's hollow Caves,  
Seek not (within her vast unequal height)  
The Centre of the wideness, but the weight.   

There, should be th' Air, the Fire, and wandering Seven,  
The Firmament, and the first-moving Heaven  
(Besides th' Empyreal Palace of the Sainted)  
Each over other, if they could be painted.   

But th' Artist, feigning, in the steed of these, 
His 10. Circles.   
Ten Circles, like heavens Superficies;  
To guide us to them by more easy Path,  
In hollow Globe the same described hath.   

'Mid th' amplest Six, whose crossing difference 
1 The Equinoctial.   
Divides in two the Spheres Circumference,  
Stands th' Equinoctial; equi-distant all  
From those two Poles which do support this Ball.  
Therefore each Star that underneath it slides,  
A restless, long and weary journey rides,  
Goes larger Circuit, and more speedy far  
Than any other steady fixed Star  
(Which waxeth slow the more it doth advance  
Near either Pole his God-directed Dance)  
And while Apollo drives his Load of Light  
Under this Line, the Day and dusky Night  
Tread equal steps: for, learned Nature's hand  
Then measures them alike in every Land.   

The next, which there beneath it sloaply slides,  
And his fair Hinges from the World's divides  
Twice twelve Degrees; is called the Zodiac, 
2 The Zodiac.   
The Planet's path, where Phoebus plies to make  
Th' Years Revolution: through new Houses ranging,  
To cause the Seasons yearly fourfold changing.   

Th' other, which (crossing th' Universal Props, 
3 The 1. Colour.   
And those where Titan's whirling Chariot sloaps)  
Rectangles forms; and, crooking, cuts in two  
Heer Capricorn; there burning Cancer too;  
Of the Sun's stops, it Colour hath to name,  
Because his Teem doth seem to troth more tame  
On these cut points: for here he doth not ride  
Flatling along, but up the Spheres steep side.   

Th' other, which cuts this equidistantly 
4 The 2. Colour.   
With Aries, Poles, and Scale, is (like-wisely)  
The Second Colour: The Meridian, This 
5 The Meridian.   
Which never in one Point of Heaven persists;  
But still pursues our Zenith: as the light 
6 The Horizon.   
Inconstant Horizon our shifting sight.   

For the four small ones: here the Tropiks turn, 
7 and 8 The Tropiks.   
Both that of Cancer and of Capricorn.  
And nearer th' Hinges of the golden Sphere,  
here's the Southcircle; the North-Circle there: 
9 and 10 The South and North Circles.   
Which Circles cross not (as you see) at all  
The Center-point of th' Universal Ball;  
But, parting th' Orb into unequal else,  
' Twixtth ' Equi-nox and them, rest Parallels. 
The Celestial Globes.    

The other Ball her left hand doth support,  
Is heavens bright Globe: for, though that Art come short  
Of Nature far, here may ingenious souls  
Admire the stages of Star-seeled Poles.   

O what delight it is in turning soft 
The divers aspects of the celestial Bodies.   
The bright Abbridgement of that Upper fit,  
(To seem) to see heavens glorious Host to march  
In glistering Troops about th' ethereal Arch!  
Where, one for Arms bears Bow and Shafts: a Sword  
A second hath; a trembling Lance a third:  
One falls: another in his Chariot rowles  
On th' azure Brass of th' ever-radiant Bowls:  
This serves afoot, that (as a Horseman) rides:  
This up, that down; this back, that forward slides:  
Their Order order-less, and Peaceful Brawl  
With-child's the World; fills Sea, and Earth, and All.   

I never see their glances interiect 
Simile.   
In Triangle, Sextile, or Square aspect;  
Now mild, now moody: but, me thinks I see  
Some frollik Swains amid their dancing glee;  
Where Men and Maids together make them merry,  
With jigs and Rounds, till Pipe and all be weary:  
Where, on his Love one smiles with wanton eye;  
Whereat his Rival frowns for jealousy.   

But why (quoth Phalec) hath th' All-Fair, who frames 
Question.   
Nought here below, but's full of Beauty's flames;  
Ingrav'n on th' Orbs of th' azure ' Crystalline  
(Where Beauties self, and Love should ever shine)  
So many hideous Beasts and Monsters fell?  
Fellows, more fit for th' ugly Fiends in Hell.   

Surely (saith Heber) God's all-prudent pleasure 
Answer.   
Makes nothing Art-less, nor without just measure:  
And this the World's chief praise of Beauty carries,  
That in each part it infinitely varies.   

Our learned Elders then, who on this Sphere, 
The reason of the names given to the 12. Signs of the Zodiac.   
heavens shining Signs imagined fitly-fair,  
Did unto each, such Shape and Name devise,  
As with their Natures nearly symbolise.   

In form of Ram with golden Fleece, they put 
1. Aries.   
The bi-corned Sign, which the Years bounds doth ' butt;  
Because the World (under his temperate heat  
In fleece of flowers is pranked richly neat.  
Of Bull the next: because the husbandmen 
2. Taurus.   
With yokes of slowe-paçed smoking Bullocks then  
Tear-up their Fallows, and with hopeful toil,  
Furbush their Coultars in the Corn-fit soil.  
Of Twins the third: because then, of two Sexes 
3. Gemini.   
Kinde-cruell Cupid one whole body mixes:  
Then all things couple, than Fruits double grow,  
Then Flowers do flourish, and corn Fields do show.  
The fourth a Lobster's name and frame they made, 
4. Cancer.   
Because than southward Sol doth retrograde,  
Goes (Crablike) backward, and so never stinteth,  
But still his wheels in the same tract reprinteth.  
The fift a Lion: for, as Lion's breath 
5. Leo.   
Is burning hot; so likewise, underneath  
This fiery Sign, th' Earth sparkles, and the streams  
Seem sod-away with the Sun's glowing beams. 
6. Virgo.   
The sixth a Maid: because with Maidlike honour,  
Th' Earth loatheth then the Sun's Love-glances on her  
T'inflame her love: and (reclused as it were)  
This Virgin Season nought at all doth bear.  
Balance the seventh: because it equal weighs 
7. Libra.   
Night's loving-silence, and grief-guiding Days;  
And Heat and Cold: and in Must-Month, the Beam  
Stands equi-poized in equipeizing them.  
Scorpion the next: because his piercing sting 
8 Scorpio.   
Doth the first tidings of cold Winter bring.  
The ninth an Archer both in shape and Name, 
9 Sagittarius.   
Who day and night follows his fairest game;  
And his keen Arrows everywhere bestows,  
Headed with Ice, feathered with Sleet and snows.  
The next a Kid: because as Kids do clime  
And frisk from Rock to Rock; about this Time 
10 Capricornus.   
The Prince of Planets (with the locks of Amber)  
Gins again up towards us to clamber.  
And then, because Heaven always seems to weep  
Under th' ensuing Signs; on th' Azure steep 
11 Aquarius. 12 Pisces. A deeper and more curious reason of the same.   
Our Parents plaçed a Skinker: and by him,  
Two silver Fishes in his floods to swim.   

But if (my Son) this superficial gloze  
Suffice thee not: then may we thus suppose,  
That as before th' All-working Word alone  
Made Nothing be All's womb and Embryon,  
Th' eternal Plot, th' Idea fore-conceived,  
The wondrous Form of all that Form received,  
Did in the Workman's spirit divinelyly;  
And, yer it was, the World was wondrously:  
Th' Eternal Trine-One, spreading even the Tent  
Of th' All-enlightning glorious Firmament,  
Filled it with Figures; and in various Marks  
The repourtrayed Tables of his future Works.   

See here the pattern of a silver Brook 
In heaven are patterns of all things that are in earth.   
Which in and out on th' azure stage doth crook,  
Here th' Eagle plays, there flies the ravening Crow,  
Heer swims the Dolphin, there the Whale doth row,  
Here bounds the Courser, there the Kid doth skip,  
Here smokes the Steer, the Dragon there doth creep:  
There's nothing precious in Sea, Earth, or Air,  
But hath in Heaven some like resemblance fair.  
Yea, even our Crowns, Darts, Lances, Skeyns, and Scales  
Are all but Copies of heavens Principals;  
And sacred patterns, which, to serve all Ages,  
Th' Almighty printed on heavens ample stages.   

Yea surely, durst I (but why should I doubt 
A third witty, pleasant, and elegant reaso of the names aforesaid.   
To wipe from Heaven so many slanders out,  
Of profane Rapine and detested Rapes,  
Of Murder, Incest, and all monstrous Scapes,  
Wherewith (hereafter) some bold-fabling Greeks  
Shall foully slain heavens Rosy-blushing cheeks?)  
Here could I show, that under every Sign  
Th' Eternal graved some Mystery divine  
Of's holy City; where (as in a glass)  
To see what shall hereafter com-to-pass:  
As public and authentic Rolls, fore-quoting  
Confusedly th' Events most worthy noting,  
In his dear Church (his Darling and Delight).   

O! thou fair Chariot flaming brave-ly bright, 
Plaustrum.   
Which like a Whirlwind in thy swift Career  
Rapt'st up the Thesbit; thou dost always veer  
About the North-pole, now no more be-dabbling  
Thy nimble spoaks in th' Ocean, neither stabling  
Thy smoking Coursers under th' Earth, to bait: 
Bo●tes.   
The while Elisha earnestly doth wait,  
Burning in zeal (ambitious) to inherit  
His Master's Office, and his mighty Spirit;  
That on the starry Mountain (after him)  
He well may manage his celestial Teem.   

Close by him, David in his valiant Fist 
Hercules.   
Holds a fierce Lions fiery flaming Crest:  
Here shines his golden Harp, and there his Crown: 
Lyra. Corona Borealis. Vrsa minor. Pleyades. Cuspis.   
There th' ugly Bear bears (to his high renown)  
seven (shining) Stars: Lo, here the whistling Lance,  
Which frantic Saul at him doth fiercely glance.   

Pure Honour's Honour, Praise of Chastity,  
O fair Susanna, I should mourn for thee,  
And moan thy tears, and with thy friends lament 
Andromeda. Cassiopeia. Cepheus.   
(With Heav'n-lift-eyes) thy woeful punishment,  
Save that so timely (through heavens providence)  
Young Daniel saves thy wronged Innocence: 
Perseus.   
And by a dreadful radiant splendour, spread  
From Times-Child Truth (not from Medusa's head) 
Caput Medusa.   
Condemns th' old Lechers, and eftsoons upon  
Their cursed heads there hayls a storm of stone.  
Also, as long as heavens swift Orb shall veer,  
A sacred Trophy shall be shining here  
In the bright Dragon, of that Idol fell, 
Draco.   
Which the same Prophet shall in Babel quel.   

Whereto more fit may Pegasus compair, 
Pegasus.   
Than to those Coursers; flaming in the air,  
Before the Tyrant of less-Asia's fury,  
Usurps the fair Metropolis of jury?  
Whereto the Coachman, but Ezechiel  
That so well drives the Coach of Israel?  
Whereto the Swan, but to that protomartyr, 
Cygnus.   
The faithful Deacon which endureth torture,  
(Yea death) for his dead Lord; whom sure to meet,  
So near his end sings so exceeding sweet?  
Whereto the Fish which shineth heerso bright, 
Piscis Borealis.   
But to that Fish, that cureth Tobies' sight?  
Whereto the Dolphin, but to that meek Man, 
Delphinus.   
Who dryshod guides through Seas Erythean  
Old jacobs' Fry: And Iordans liquid glass  
Makes all his Host dry (without boat) to pass?   

And furthermore, God hath not only graven  
On the brass Tables of swift-turning Heaven  
His sacred Mot; and, in Triangle frame, 
Trigonos.   
His Thrice-One Nature stamped on the same: 
Ophiucus.   
But also, under that stout Serpent-Slayer,  
His Satan-taming Son (heavens glorious heir)  
Who with the Engine of his Cross abates  
Th' eternal Hinges of th' infernal Gates:  
And, under that fair Sun-fixt-gazing Foul, 
Aquila.   
The God of God's dear Minion of his Soul,  
Which from his hand reaves Thunder oftentimes,  
His Spirit; his Love, which visits earthly Climes  
In plumy shape: for, this bright winged Sign,  
In head and neck, and starry back (in fine)  
No less resembles the mild simple Dove,  
Than crook-bild Eagle that commands above.   

What shall I say of that bright Bandeleev,  
Which twice-six Signs so richly garnish here?  
Th' Years Usher, doth the Paschal Lamb foretell: 
Aties.   
The Bull, the Calf, which erring Israel 
Taurus.   
Sets up in Horeb. These fair shining Twins, 
Gemini.   
Those striving Brethren, Isaac's tender Sons:  
The fourth is Solomon, who (Crablike) crawls 
Cancer.   
Backward from Virtue; and (fowl Swinelike) falls  
In Vice's mire: profanest old (at last)  
In soul and body grown alike un-chaste. 
Leo.   
The fift, that Lion, which the Hair-strong Prince  
Tears as a Kid, without Wars instruments. 
Virgo.   
The sixth, that Virgin, ever-maiden Mother,  
Bearing for us, her Father, Spouse, and Brother.  
The next that Beam, which in King lemuel's hand, 
Libra.   
So justly weighs the justice of his Land.  
The next, that Creature which in Malta stings 
Scorpio.   
Th' Apostles hand, and yet no blemish brings;  
For 'tis indifferent, whether we the same,  
A spotted Scorpion, or a Viper name.  
Th' Archer, is Hagars' Son: The Goat (I guess) 
Sagittarius. Capricornus. Aquarius.   
Is Aaron's Scape-Goat in the Wilderness.  
The next, the dear Son of dumb Zacharias,  
God's Harbinger, forerunner of Messiah:  
Who in clear jordan washeth clean the sin,  
Of all that rightly do repent within.  
These Two bright Fishes, those wherewith the Lord 
Pisces.   
(Through wondrous blessing of his powtfull Word)  
Feeds with five Loaves (upon Asphaltis' shore)  
Abundantly five thousand Folk, and more.   

But, turn we now the twinkling Globe, and there  
Let's mark as much the Southern Hemisphere.  
Ah! knowst thou not this glorious Champion here, 
Orion.   
Which shines so brightly by the burning Steer? 
Eridanus.   
'Tis Nun's great Son, who through deep jordan leads  
His Army dryshod; and (triumphant) treads 
Canis. Canicula. ●epus.   
On Canaan Curs, and on th' Ammorrean Hare,  
Eoyled with the fear of his victorious war.   

See th' ancient Ship, which, over winds and waves  
Triumphing safe, the World's seed-remnant saves.  
Lo, here the Brazen Serpent shines, whose sight 
Hydra.   
Cures in the Desert, those whom Serpents bite.  
Here th' happy Rau'n, that brings Elias cates; 
Corvus.   
Here the rich Cup, where joseph meditates 
Cratera. Centaurus.   
His grave Predictions: Here that Heavenly Knight,  
Who priest appearing armed all in white,  
To Maccabeus, with his flaming spear  
So deep (at last) the Pagan Wolf doth tear, 
Lupus. Ara.   
That on God's Altar (yerst profaned so long)  
Sweet Incense fumeth, and the sacred Song  
Of levites soundeth in his House again; 
Corona australis. Piscis australis.   
And that rich Crown th' Asmonean Race doth gain,  
To rule the jews. Lo, there the happy Fish  
Which pays Christ's Tribute (who our Ransom is):  
And here the Whale, within whose noisome breast, 
Balaena.   
The Prophet jonas for three days doth rest. 
A notable correction of the Poet upon these last Discourses.    

But while (my spoaksman, or I rather his)  
Thus Heber comments on heavens Images,  
Through path-less paths his wandering steps doth bring,  
And boldly quavers on a Maiden string;  
Suppose not (Christians) that I take for grounds  
Or points of Faith, all that he here propounds;  
Or that old Zeno's portal I sustain,  
Or Stö●k Fate (th' Almighty's hands to chain):  
Or in heavens Volume reading things to-com,  
Erroneously a Chaldee-Wise become.  
No, no such thing; but to refresh again  
Your tired Spirits, I sung this novel strain:  
That hitherto having with patience past  
Such dreadful Oceans, and such Deserts vast,  
Such gloomy Forests, craggy Rocks and steep,  
Wide-yawning Gulfs, and hideous Dungeons deep;  
You might (at last) meet with a place of pleasure,  
Whereon the heavens lavish their plenteous treasure,  
Where Zephyre puffs perfumes, and silver Brooks  
Embrace the Meads, smiling with wanton Looks.  
Yet (courteous Readers) who is it can say  
Whether our Nephews yet anotherday  
(More zealous than ourselves in things Divine)  
This curious Art shall Christianly refine;  
And give to all these glistering Figures then,  
Not Heathen names, but names of Holy men? 
He ●roc●edes to discover the secrets of Astronomy.    

But, seek we now for Heber, whose Discourse  
Informs his Phalec in the Planet's course:  
What Epicicle meaneth, and Concentrik,  
With Apogé, Perigé, and Eccentrik:  
And how fell Mars (the Seedster of debate)  
Days glorious Torch, the wanton (Vulcan's Mate)  
Saturn, and jove, three Spheres in one retain,  
Smooth Hermes five, fair Cynthia two-times-twain.   

For, the Divine Wits, whence this Art doth flow,  
Finding their Fires to wander to and fro,  
Now near, now far from Nature's Nave: above,  
Confusion, void; and rapture to remove,  
Which would be caused, through their wanderment,  
In th' heavens enclosed within the Firmament;  
Have (more than men) presumed to make, within  
Th' Eternal Wheels where th' erring Tapers been,  
Sundry small Wheels, each within other closed,  
Such equi-distance each-where inter-posed,  
That (though they kiss) they crush not; but the base  
Are under th' high, the high the low embrace: 
Simile.   
Like as the Chest-nut (next the meat) within  
Is covered (last) with a soft slender skin,  
That skin enclosed in a tough tawny shell,  
That shell in-cased in a thick thistly fell.   

Then takes he th' Astrolabe, wherein the Sphere 
The use of the Astrolabe.   
Is flat reduced: he discovers there  
The Card of Heights, the Almycantharats,  
With th' Azimynths and the Almadarats  
(Pardon me Muse, if ruder phrase defile  
This fairest Table, and deface my style  
With Barbarism: For in this Argument,  
To speak Barbarian, is most eloquent).   

On th' other side, under a veering Sight,  
A Tableucers'; which, of each wandering Light  
Shows the swift course; and certain Rules includes,  
Days, names of Months, and scale of Altitudes.  
Removing th' Alhidade, he spends some leisure  
To show the manner how a Wall to measure,  
A Fountain's depth, the distance of a place,  
A Country's compass, by heavens ample face:  
In what bright starry Sign, th' Almighty dread,  
days Princely Planet daily billeted:  
In which his Nadir is: and how withal  
To find his Elevation and his Fall.  
How long a time an entire Sign must wear  
While it ascendeth on our Hemisphere:  
Poles elevation: The Meridian line:  
And diverse Hours of Day and night to find.   

These learned wonders witty Phalec marks,  
And heedfully to every Rule he harks:  
Wise Alchemist, he multiplies this Gold,  
This Talon turns, increasing manifold:  
And then prsents it to his Noble seed,  
Who soon their Doctor in his Art exceed.   

But, even as Mars, Hermes, and Venus' bright, 
Simile.   
Go visit now the naked Troglodyte,  
Then jave, than Guynney; and (inclined to change)  
Oft shifting House, through both the Worlds do range 
Astronomy, by whom, and how maintained.   
(Both World's ev'n-halved by th' Equinoctial Line):  
So the perfection of this Art divine,  
First under th' Hebrews bred and born, anon  
Comes to the Chaldees by adoption:  
Scorning anon, th' old Babylonian Spires,  
It leaves swift Tigris, and to Nile retires;  
And, waxed rich, in Egypt it erects  
A famous School: yet, firm-less in affects,  
It falls in love with subtle Grecian wits,  
And to their hands awhile itself commits;  
But, in renowned Ptolomeus Reign,  
It doth re-visit the dear Memphian Plain:  
Yet, Thence re-fled, it doth th' Arabians try;  
From thence to Rome: From Rome to Germany.   

O true Endymion's, that embrace above  
Upon mount Latmos your Imperial Love  
(Great Queen of Heaven) about whose Bed, for Guard, 
The praise of learned Astronomers, and the profit of their Doctrine.   
Millions of Archers with gold Shields do ward.  
True Atlases: You Pillars of the Poles  
Empyreal Palace; you fair learned souls;  
But for your Wrighting, the Starrs-Doctrine soon  
Would sink in Lethe of Oblivion:  
'Tis you that Marshal months, and years, and days:  
'Tis you that quote for such as haunt the Seas  
Their prosperous Days, and Days when Death engraven  
On th' angry Welkin, warns them keep their Haven:  
'Tis you that teach the Ploughman when to sow:  
When the brave Captain to the Field shall go;  
When to retire to Garrison again;  
When to assault a battered Piece; and when  
To convoy Victuals to his valiant Host:  
'Tis you that show what season fitteth most  
For every purpose; when to Purge is good,  
When to be Bathed, when to be Let-blood:  
And how Physicians, skilfully to mix  
Their Drugs, on Heaven their curious eyes must fix.  
'Tis you that in the twinkling of an eye  
Through all the Heavenly Provinces do fly:  
'Tis you that (greater than our greatest Kings)  
Possess the whole World in your Governing:  
And (to conclude) you Demigods can make  
Between your hands the heavens to turn and shake.   

O divine Spirits! for you my smoothest quill  
His sweetest honey on this Book should still;  
Srill should you be my Theme: but that the Beauty  
Of the last Sister draws my Love and Duty,  
For, now I hear my Phalec humbly crave  
The fourth maids name: his Father, mildely-grave,  
Replies him thus; Observe (my dearest Son)  
Those cloud-less brows, those cheeks vermilion,  
Those pleasing looks, those eyes so smiling-sweet, 
The description of Music.   
That graceful posture, and those pretty feet  
Which seem still Dancing: all those Harps and Lutes,  
Shawms, Sagbuts, Citrons, Viols, Cornets, Flutes,  
Plaçed round about her; prove in every part  
This is the noble, sweet, Voice-ord'ring Art,  
Breathes Measurer, the Guide of supplest fingers  
On (living-dumb, dead-speaking) Sinnew-singers:  
Th' Accord of Discords: sacred Harmony,  
And Numb'rie Law, which did accompany  
Th' Almighty-most, when first his Ordinance  
Appointed Earth to Rest, and Heaven to Dance. 
The heavens Harmony.   
For (as they say) for superintendent there,  
The supreme Voice placed in every Sphere  
A Siren sweet; that from heavens Harmony  
Inferior things might learn best Melody,  
And their rare Quire with th' Angel's Quire accord  
To sing aloud the praises of the Lord,  
In's Royal Chapel, richly beautified  
With glistering Tapers, and all sacred Pride. 
Simile.    

Where, as (by Art) one selfly blast breathed out  
From panting bellows passeth allabout  
Winde-Instruments; enters by th' under Clavers  
Which with the Keys the Organ-Master quavers,  
Fills all the Bulk, and severally the same  
Mounts every Pipe of the melodious Frame;  
At once reviving lofty Cymbals voice,  
Flutes sweetest air, and Regals shrillest noise:  
Even so th' all-quickning spirit of God above  
The heavens harmonious whirling wheels doth move;  
So that-re-treading their eternal trace,  
Th' one bears the Triple, th' other bears the Base. 
A fourfold Consort in the humours, seasons, and Elements.    

But, brimmer far than in the heavens, here  
All these sweet-charming Counter-Tunes we hear:  
For, Melancholy, Winter, Earth below,  
Bear ay the Base; deep, hollow, sad, and slow:  
Pale Phleagm, moist Autumn, Water moistly-cold,  
The Plummet-like-smooth-sliding Tenor hold:  
Hot-humid Blood, the Spring, transparent Air,  
The Maze-like Mean, that turns and wends so fair:  
Cursed Choler, Summer, and hot-thirsty Fire,  
Th' high-warbling Treble, loudest in the Quire.   

And that's the cause (my Son) why stubbornest things 
The power of Music towards all things.   
Are stooped by Music; as retaining springs  
Of Number in them: and they feeble live  
But by that Spirit which th' heavens dance doth drive.   

Sweet Music makes the sternest men-at-Arms  
Letfall at once their anger and their Arms: 
Towards Men.   
It cheers sad souls, and charms the frantic fits  
Of Lunatiks that are bereft their wits:  
It kills the flame, and curbs the fond desire  
Of him that burns in Beauty's blazing Fire  
(Whose soul, seduced by his erring eyes,  
Doth some proud Dame devoutly Idolize):  
It cureth Serpents baneful bit, whose anguish  
In deadly torment makes men madly languish:  
The Swan is rapt, the Hind deceived withal,  
And Birds beguiled with a melodious call: 
Towards Beasts, Birds, Plies, & Fishes.   
Th' Harp leads the Dolphin, and the buzzing swarm  
Of busy Bees the tinkling Brass doth charm.   

O! what is it that Music cannot do!  
Sith th' all-inspiring Spirit it conquers too:  
And makes the same down from the Empyreal Pole  
Descend to Earth into a Prophet's soul:  
With divine accents tuning rarely right 
Towards God himself.   
Unto the rapting Spirit the rapted sprite?  
Sith, when the Lord (most moved) threateneth most,  
With wrathful tempest arming all his Host;  
When angry stretching his strong sinnewy arms,  
With bended back he throws down thundery storms;  
Th' harmonious sighs of his heart-turning Sheep  
Supple his sinews, lull his wrath asleep;  
While milde-eyed Mercy stealeth from his hand  
The sulphury Plagues prepared for sinful Man?   

But, while that Heber (eloquently) would 
Conclusion of the 2. Day of the 2. Week.   
Old Musics use and excellence have told;  
Cursed Canaan (seeking Iordans fatal course)  
Past by the Pillars, and broke his Discourse,  
And mine withal; for I must rest me here:  
My weary journey makes me faint well-neer:  
Needs must I crave new aid from High, and step  
A little back, that I may farther leap.    
The end of the Second Day of the Second Week,   

ABRAHAM. The THIRD DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;  
Containing  

1. THE VOCATION,  
2. THE FATHERS,  
3. THE LAW,  
4. THE CAPTAINS.   

Acceptam refero.   

The VOCATION. THE I. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

ABRAM from Chaldé is Divinely CALLED:  
How Blessed abroad: His (parted) Nephew Thralled  
(In Sodom's aid) to Chedorlaomer;  
Rescued by Him: Type of that bloody War:  
Melchisedec His Hap congratulates:  
Ishmael great; but GOD confederates  
With (promised) Isaak, and his (CHRIST-kin) Seed  
Which shall in number even the Stars exceed.  
Lot harbours Angels; saved from Sodom's Fire;  
His Wife Transformed: His Daughter's foul Desire.   

Until this Day (dear Muse) on every side  
Within strait lists thou hast been boundified,  
Penned in a Path so narrow everywhere,  
Thou couldst not manage: only here and there  
(Reaching thine arms over the Rails that close  
Thy bounded Race) thou caught'st some fragrant Rose,  
Some Gilly-flowr, or some sweet Sops-in-Wine,  
To make a Chaplet thy chaste brows to bind.  
But now, behold th' art in the open Plain,  
Where thou mayst lively (like the Horse of Spain, 
Simile.   
That having burst his halter and his hold  
Flings through the field, where list him, uncontrolled)  
Curvet, and turn, run, prance, advance, and pride-thee,  
As sacred fury of thy Zeal shall guide-thee.   

Th' whole World is thine: henceforth thy Sith may mow  
The fairest Crop that in Fame's fields doth grow;  
And, on the Sea of richest Histories  
Hulling at large, a hundred Victories,  
A hundred Routs, a hundred Wonders new  
Come huddling in, in heaps before thy view:  
So that I fear, lest (trained with various sent)  
Thou be at fault in this vast Argument;  
And lest the best choice in so bound-less Store,  
Painthee no less now, than did Want before.   

But wotst thou what, my Muse (my dear delight,  
My care, my comfort)? we will follow right  
The modest hand of a fair Shepheardling, 
Simile.   
Who doth not rudely spoil the flowery Spring,  
Of all her painted beauties; nor deface  
All in one day a pleasant Gardens grace;  
But mannerly amid the Quarters seeks  
Such rarest flowers as best her fancy likes:  
And here a blue one, there a red she pulls,  
A yellow here, and there a white she culls,  
Then binds them with her hair, and blessed over  
With a chaste kiss, she sends them to her Lover:  
we'll overrun the Annals of all Ages,  
And choosing-out the chiefest Personages,  
And Prodigies amid the Hebrew Story,  
we'll offer them on th' Altar of God's glory.   

For He (I hope) who, no less good than wise,  
First stirred us up to this great Enterprise,  
And gave us heart to take the same in hand,  
For Level, Compass, Rule, and Squire will stand;  
Will change the Pebbles of our puddly thought,  
To Orient Pearls, most bright and bravely wrought:  
And will not suffer in this precious Frame  
Ought that a skilful Bvilder's eye may blame:  
Or, if he suffer aught, it shall be some trace  
But of that blindness, common to our Race;  
T'abate my glory, and to give me proof  
That (mortal) I build but with mortal stuff.   

JAMES, richest gem of Scots, and Scotland's Praise, 
Dedication to the King's Majesty.   
Who, with the same hand that the Scepterswayes,  
On Heav'n-faln paper in a golden style,  
Dost happily immortal lines compile;  
And (new Apollo) under Others names  
Singest in thy Childhood thine Ownefuture Fames:  
To whom but thee should I these Verses vow?  
Who through the World hast made me famous now,  
And with a liberal learned hand endued  
My Muse with lustre of a Royal Suit;  
Before, so ragged that she blushed well-near  
That her chaste Sisters should so homely see-her  
The scorn of Art, of Helicon the shame,  
Usurping (wrong) VRANIA'S sacred Name.   

Through thee she's Heavenly. O wise, worthy Prince,  
mayst thou surmount all those in Excellence,  
Which have (before thee) Ruled th' hard-ruled Scots,  
And ruder Picts (painted with Martial spots)  
That, first Fergusius (glory of his days)  
Ev'nus and Donald may envy thy Praise;  
And even the Scott'sh, or (rather th' Hebrew) David  
(jesses' great son, so holily-behaved)  
Give place to thy Renown, and therewithal  
Give thee his Zeal and Heart heroïcall,  
And all his best (which doth thee best belong)  
As he hath given thee his sweet Harp and Song.   

THOUGH profane service of Idolatry  
Had drowned the whole Earth universally:  
Though shame-less sin (born with the COLONIES  
Through all the World) through all did Tyrannize:  
Yet in Chaldea was their chiefest Seat,  
Their strength in Shinaar; and that City great,  
Built on the slimy strand of Euphrates,  
Was the proud Palace where they held their Feasts.  
So that, even Sem's and Heber's sacred Ligne  
(Where God his grace yet seemed to confine)  
Sucking the Sin-bane of Assyrian air,  
Did (like the Heathen) every day impair: 
Simile.   
Forgot the true God: followed (rashly-rude)  
The gross grand Error of the multitude:  
Degenerized, decayed and withered quite:  
Likesom rare Fruit-Tree overtopped with spite  
Of briars and Bushes which it sore oppress,  
With the sour shadow of their Thorny tress,  
Till choked withal, it dies as they do grow,  
And beareth nought but Moss and Misseltoe.  
But God, desirous (more for us, then him) 
The Calling of Abraham.   
In some one stock to save Faith's sacred stem  
(Like as before from the All-drowning Flood  
He saved the world's seed in an Ark of wood)  
Marks Abram for his own: and from false Rites  
To men, to Beasts, to Stocks, to Stones, to Sprights,  
Him graciously to his own Service draws;  
Not by mere Conduct of exterior cause,  
As by contempling th' Artship richly-rare  
Which gilds the Ceiling of this Globe so fair;  
Earthsfruitfull power, producing (goodly-green)  
From so small seeds so huge and mighty Treen,  
Flowers fragrant air, so fresh and divers-died;  
Seas foaming Course, whose ever-Tilting Tide  
(Ebbing or flowing) is confined to Season,  
Bounded with lists, guided with reans of Reason:  
But, by the motion of his Spirit, which seals  
In our heart's Centre what his word reveals,  
And prudently in his fit time and place  
(Dispensing frankly his free gifts of Grace)  
Doth inwardly bear-witnes, and averit  
Under our Spirits that'●is God's Holy Spirit.   

The sacred Faith of Abram languished not  
In Idleness, but always waakt and wrought, 
The fruits of a true faith and the effect thereof.   
And ever lively, brought forth Patience,  
Humility, Hope, Bounty, Innocence,  
Love, fervent Zeal, Repentance, Temperance,  
Sincerity, and true Perseverance;  
Fruits that (like Loadstones) have avertue given  
(Through Faith) to draw their Father-Tree to Heaven,  
And guide the souls to God (the spring of life)  
Of's kinsman Lot, and Sara his dear Wife;  
Who with him following the Almighti's call,  
Wend to the strand where Iordans course doth craul,  
Their own dear Country willingly forsake,  
And (true-religious) less account do make  
Of goods and lands, and quiet-lifes' content,  
Than of an endless, friendless banishment.   

O sacred ground of virtue's sole perfection!  
O shield of Martyrs! Prophet's sure direction!  
soul's remedy! O contrite heart's Restorer!  
Tears-wiping tame-grief! Hope's guide, hunting▪ horror,  
Path of Salvation! Pledge of Immortality!  
O lively FAITH! through thy admired quality,  
How many wonders dost thou work at once,  
When from Sin's slumbers thou hast waakt us once,  
And made usmly in our spirits conceive  
Beauties that never outward eyes perceive!   

Alas! said Abram, must I needs forego 
Natural conside rations to have stopped the journey of Abraha.   
These happy fields where Euphrates doth flow?  
Heer, first I drew this vital air, and (pleased  
With my birth's news) my Mothersthroes' I eased:  
Here, from her tender breast (as soft as silk)  
My tender gums sucked my first drop of milk:  
Here, with the pleasure of mine infant-smile  
Her Cares and Cumbers I did oft beguile:  
Here, my chaste Sisters, Uncles, Aunts and Kin,  
My pretty prattling have delighted in:  
Heer, many a time I want only have clung,  
And on my Father's wrinkled neck have hung:  
Here, I have past my Lad-age fait and good;  
Here, first the soft Down on my chin did bud:  
Here, I have learned heavens Motions and the nature  
And various force of Fire, Air, Earth, and Water:  
Heer, I have shown the noblest tokens forth  
Both of my Minds and of my Body's worth:  
Here, I have spent the best part of mine age:  
Here, I possess a plenteous Heritage:  
Heer, I have got me many friends and fame;  
And by my Deeds attained a glorious Name:  
And must I hence: and leave this certain state,  
To roam uncertain (like a Runagate)  
O'er fearful Hills, and through foaming Torrents  
That rush-down Mountains with their roaring currents,  
In dreadful Deserts, where heavens hottest beam  
Shall burn without; within us, Thirst extreme:  
And gloomy Forests full of ghastly fear  
Of yelling Monsters that are dwelling there?  
To seek a Country (God knows where, and whither)  
Whose unknown name hath yet scarce sounded hither?  
With staff in hand and wallet at our back  
From Town to Town to beg for all we lack?  
To guise ourselves (like counterfeiting Ape)  
To th' guise of Men that are but Men in shape?  
T' have (briefly) nothing properly our own  
In all the World; no not our Grave-place known?   

Is't possible I should endure to see  
The sighs and tears my friends will shed for me?  
O! can I thus my Native soil forsake?  
O! with what words shall I my farewell take?  
Farewell Chaldea, dear delights adieu:  
Friends, Brothers, Sisters, farewell all of you▪  
Farewell for ever: Can I thus (alas!)  
Rudely unwind me from the kind embrace  
Of their dear arms that will me faster hold 
2. Comparisons.   
Than trembling Ivy doth the Oak enfold;  
Or then the Vine doth with her crawling spray  
The boughs of Elm, her limber limbs to stay?   

Can I expose (with peril of my life)  
Th' un-vulgar beauties of my virtuous wife,  
To the none-sparing lust of that lose Nation  
That brutely burns in all abomination?   

Besides, what rigour? nay, what parricide?  
To hale from Tigris shoat to Iordans side  
A weak olde-man, a man so weak and old,  
He scarce can creep without our help and hold?   

Yet, it must be so: for so the Lord commands. 
His resolution above all discour see of reason.   
A carnal man on carnal reason stands:  
But, for all Reasons, Faith sufficeth me.  
Who lodge with God can never House-less be.   

Then cheerly marched he on, and though the age  
And death of Terah slowed his pilgrimage;  
Therest of His he doth conduct (in fine)  
To Canaan (since called Palestine):  
Where God pours down such floods of goods upon them, 
The great blessing of God on his obedience.   
And bountiously bestows such blessings onthem,  
That their abundance shortly seems t'exceed  
God's Promises, and their desires indeed.  
Their fruitful Herds, that hill and dale do haunt,  
Resemble not the breed of th' Elephant,  
Which (slow in coupling, and in calving more,  
Pining her Master so long time before 
Simile.   
With lingering hope) brings-forth with painful groans,  
But once in twelve years, but one Calf at once:  
All's white with their wool: all their Cattle proves,  
Still, still increasing, like to stars and Doves.  
Their Wealth so grows, that wantonized withal, 
far begun between his Servants, and the servants of Lot.   
Their envious Shepherds broach a civil Brawl.  
But, lest this Mischief by the Grooms begun,  
Between their Masters might unkindly run,  
The grave-milde Grandsire of the Faithful (there)  
And Ammon's Father, to cut-off the fear  
Of farther strife, and to establish rather  
Their Minds than Bodies in a league together;  
Divided duly with a deep foresight  
Their Flocks and Herds in number infinite.   

Then pleased, and parted; both go live apart: 
Abram & Lot to shun contention, part company.   
The Uncle kept the Mountain for his part;  
For, 's Nephew chose the fat and flowery Plain,  
And even to Sodom stretched his Tent and Train;  
And, dwelling there, became a Citizen  
Among those monstrous, Nature-forcing Men.   

O Lot (alas!) what lot hast thou elect? 
Lot dwells at Sodom.   
Th' eternal verdure, and the trim prospect,  
The plenteous Pastures, and the purling Springs  
Whose fibrous silver thousand Tributes brings  
To wealthy jordan, watering so the soil  
(Like Gods own Garden) doth thy sense beguile,  
Blindeth thy iudgemet, makes thee (miserable)  
To seat thee with a People execrable,  
Whose War-thralled woes, and odious villainies  
To springs of tears shall turn thy tender eyes.   

Elam's proud King, great Chedorlaomer, 
The battle of Siddim fought by the king of Elam, with his confederates, against the King's o● Sodom and Gomorrha with theirs.   
(Leagued with Arioch, King of Ellazar,  
The Sovereign of the Nations, Thadael,  
And with the King of Shynaar, Amraphel)  
Made war against the Kings of Sodoma,  
Gomorrha, Zeböim, Zoar, Adamah;  
Who, subject to him for twelve years before,  
Rebelled now, and cast the yoke they bore.   

Both Camps appoach, their bloody rage doth rise,  
And even the face of Cowards terriblize;  
New Martial heat inflames their minds with ire,  
Their blood is moved, their heart is all on fire.  
Their cheerful limbs (seeming to march too slow).  
Longing to meet, the fatal drums outgo;  
And even already in their gesture fight:  
Th' iron-footed coursers, lusty, fresh, and light,  
Marrying their Master's cause and courage both  
Snow all the field with a white foaming froth,  
And prancing with their load (as proud withal)  
With loud-proud neighings for the Combat call.   

Now both the Hosts march forward furiously,  
The Plain between soon shrinketh equally:  
First in the air gins a fight of dust,  
Then on the Earth both Armies bravely ioust.   

Brave yet it was: for yet one might behold  
Bright swords and shields, and plumed helms of gold▪  
Vn-goard with blood; no Cask had lost his head,  
No Horse his load, no scattered Corpse lay dead,  
But, on our Cornfields towards harvest-time 
Comparison.   
(For punishment of some in grateful crime)▪  
Th' incensed hand of heavens Almighty King  
Never more thick doth slippery Ice-pearls fling,  
Than here the arrows shower on every side:  
An iro● Cloud heavens angry face doth hide  
From soldiers sight; and flying weapons then  
For lack of ground fall upon horse or men:  
there's not a shaft but hath a man for White,  
Nor stone but lightly in warm blood doth light:  
Or, if that any fail their foes to hit  
In fall; in flight themselves they enter-split:  
The wounds come all from Heaven: the bravest he  
Kills and is killed of him he doth not see:  
Without an aim the Dart-man darts his spear,  
And Chance performs th' effect of Valour there.   

As two stout Rams, both jeloux-phrensie-sick, 
Simile.   
A front two flocks, spurred on with anger's prick,  
Rush-on each other with tempestuous shock,  
And butting boisterous, horns and heads do knock:  
So these two Armies interchanged blows,  
And doubling steps and strokes upon their Foes,  
First flesh their Lances, and their Pikes embrew,  
Then with their swords about them keenly hew,  
Then stab with daggers; standing bravely to't,  
Till Foe to Foe they charge them foot to foot;  
So near, that oft ones Targets pike doth pierce  
Another's Shield, and sends him to his Hearse.  
And gaudy plumes of Foes (be-Cedered brave)  
Oft on their Foes (un-plumed) crests do wave.   

Of all their strokes scarce any stroke is vain;  
Yet stand they firm, and still the fight maintain:  
Still fronting Death, they face to face abide,  
None turn their backs, no neither shrink aside,  
Of their own blood, as of their Foe's as frank.   

But, too-too-tyred, some at last dis-rank:  
Then, Threats, and Cries, and Plaints, redoubled ay,  
And so pell-mell rage-blinded Mars doth play,  
That now no more their Colours they discern;  
But knowing none, to all are strangely stern.  
The Palestine fights under elam's Standard,  
The Shinarite with Sodoms' Ensignos wandered:  
Even as two swarms of busy Buzzers mounting 
Simile.   
Amid the air, and mutually affronting,  
Mingle their Troops; one goes, another comes,  
Another turns; a cloud of Moatlings hums  
Above our heads, who with their cypress wings  
Decide the Quarrel of their little Kings:  
Either of which, a hundred times a minute  
Doth lose a Soldier, and as oft re-win-it.   

But, may one hope in Champions of the Chamber, 
A martial brave of an old Captain against the effeminate softness and delicacy of Carpet Knights.   
Soft Carpet-Knights, all scenting Musk and Amber  
(Whose chief delight is to be overcome)  
Undaunted hearts that dare to Overcome?  
In Woman-Men a manly Constancy?  
In wanton Arms un-wearied Valiancy?  
No, no, (Gomorrha) this is not the place  
For quavering Lutes a warbling Voice to grace:  
No (filthy S●dom) 'tis not here the game  
To play with Males, inspite of Nature's name:  
No (Zeböim) here are no Looking-Glasses  
For Para-Nymphs to gaze their painted faces:  
To starch Moustaches, and to prank in print,  
And curl the Lock (with favours braided in't):  
No (Adamah) we spend not here the day  
In Dancing, Courting, Banqueting, and Play:  
Nor last (Zoar) is it here the guise  
Of silken Mock- Mars (for a Mistress-Prize)  
With Reed-like Lance, and with a blunted Blade,  
To Championize under a Tented shade,  
As at your Tourneys. Therefore to your Mew:  
Lay-down your weapons, here's no Work for you▪  
'Tis here the Fashion (and the pride of Wars)  
To paint the face with sweat, dust, blood, and scars▪  
Our Glass is here a bright and glistering shield:  
Our Satin, steel: the Music of the Field  
Doth rattle like the Thunder's dreadful roar:  
Death tilteth here: The Mistress we adore,  
Is Victory (true Sovereign of our hearts)  
Who without danger graceth no Deserts:  
Dead carcases perfume our dainty Nose:  
Our Banquets here, be Banquets for the Crows:  
Fly therefore (Cowards) fly and turn your backs,  
(As you were wont in your thought-shaming acts)  
But with our Swords and Lances (in your haste)  
Through-thrilled (Villains) this shall be your last,  
Said Amraphel: and charged them in such sort,  
That't seems a sudden Whirlwind doth transport  
Their fainting Troops. Some (best-aduised) fly 
Defeature of the Sodomites.   
To tops of Mountains, that do neighbour by;  
Some through the Plain: but, neither (in the chase)  
Dares once look back (no, not with half a face)  
Their fear had no restraint, and much less Art:  
This throws away his shield, and that his dart;  
Swords, Morrions, Pouldrons, Vaunt-brace, Pikes, & Lances,  
Are no defence, but rather hindrances:  
They with their hearts, have also lost their sight,  
And recking less a glorious end, in Fight,  
Than thousand base deaths, desperately they ran  
Into the flood that fat's rich Canaan.   

Then, jordan arms him against these infidels,  
With rapid course, and like a sea he swells;  
Lakes under ground into his channel range,  
And shallowest Fords to ground-less gulfs do change:  
He fumes, he foams, and swiftly whirling ground,  
Seems in his rage, these bitter words to sound:   

Die (Villains) die: O more than in famous  
Foul Monsters, drench your damned souls in us.  
Sa, sa, my Floods: with your cold moisture quench  
The lustful flame of their self-burning stench.  
Drown, drown the helhounds, and revenge the wrong,  
Which they have done our Mother Nature long.   

The River swiftly whirling-in the slaves,  
Above with Bows, beneath with Bodies paves:  
The gaudy Plume, yet floating light and soft,  
Keeps for awhile, the hollow helm aloft;  
But yet (at length) even those that smim the best,  
Down to the bottom sink among the rest,  
Striving and struggling (topsy-turvy toast)  
While fain they would, but cannot yield the ghost;  
Because the flood (unwilling to defile  
His purest waves with spirits so foul and vile)  
Re-spews them still into themselves, and there  
Smoothers, and chokes, and rams them, as it were:  
Then both at once (Bodies and Souls) at last  
To the main Sea, or his own shore doth cast.   

The Kings of Sodom and Gomorrha then, 
Their own Ambush serves against themselves.   
Hoping to train the King of elam's men,  
Among the Clay-pits which themselves before  
(T'entrap the Foe) with boughs had covered o'er,  
Ran thitherward: but their confused flight,  
In their own ambush made their own to light,  
Wherein they lost the flower of all their rest,  
Sooner of death, then of deaths fear possessed.   

One, as he flies with trembling steps the dart  
Which (from behind) nigh pierced him to the heart,  
Tangling his foot with twyning tendrils though  
Of a wild Vine that near a pit did grow,  
Stumbles, and tumbles in, hung by the heels  
Up to the waste in water: where he feels  
A threefold Fate: for there (O strange!) he found  
Three deaths in one; at once slain, hanged, and drowned:   

Another, weening o'er a Well to skip,  
From the wet brim his hap-less foot doth slip,  
And he in falls: but instantly (past hope)  
He catcheth hold upon a dangling rope,  
And so at length with shifting hands gets-up  
By little and little to the fountains top:  
Which Thadael spying, to him strait he hies,  
And thus aloud unto the wretch he cries;  
Varlet, is this, is this the means you make,  
Your wont yoke of Elam off to shake?  
Is this your Skirmish? and are these your blows,  
Wherewith t'encounter so courageous Foes?  
Sir, leave your ladder; this shall serve as well,  
This sword shall be your ladder down to Hell:  
Go pay to Pluto (Prince of Acheron)  
The Tribute here denied unto your own:  
Heerwith he draws his Falchion bright and keen,  
And at a blow heaws both his arms off clean;  
His trickling hands held fast, down fell his Trunk,  
His blood did swim, his body quickly sunk.   

Another (roughly pushed by the Foe)  
Falls headlong down into a Bog below:  
Where, on his head deep planted in the mud  
With his heels up-ward like a tree he stood;  
Still to and fro, waving his legs and arms, 
Simile.   
As Trees are wont to wave in windy storms.   

Another here (on horseback) posting over  
A broad, deep claypit that green boughs do cover,  
Sinks instantly; and in his sudden Fate  
Seems the brave Horse doubly unfortunate:  
For, his own neck he breaks, and bruising in  
(With the keen scales of his bright Brigandin)  
His Master's bowels, serves (alas!) for Tomb  
To him that yerst so many times did comb  
His crispy Crest, and him so frankly fed  
In's hollow Shield with oats and beans, and bread: 
Simile.   
Even so sometimes, the loving Vine and Elm  
(With double damage) jointly overwhelm;  
She wails the wrack of her dear Husband's glade;  
He moans his Spouses feeble arms and shade:  
But most it grieves him with his Trunk to crush  
The precious Clusters of her pleasing Bush;  
And press to death unkindly with his weight  
Her that for love embraceth him so strait.   

Yet Let alone (with a small troop assisted) 
Lot's valour.   
The Martial brunt with Manly breast resisted,  
And thirsting Fame, stands firmly looking for  
The furious host of Chedorlaomor:  
But as a narrow and thin-planted Copse  
Of tender Saplings with their slender tops,  
Is felled almost as soon as under-taken  
By Multitudes of Peasants Winter-shaken:  
Lot's little Number so environed round,  
Hemmed with so many swords, is soon hewn down. 
His undaunted resolution.    

Then left alone, yet still all one he fares;  
And the more danger, still the more he dares:  
Like a strange Mastif fiercely set upon 
Simile.   
By mongrel Curs, in number ten to one:  
Who tired with running (grown more cunning) gets  
Into some corner, where upright he sets  
Upon his stern, and sternly to his Foes  
His rageful, foaming, grinning teeth he shows,  
And snarls, and snaps; and this and that doth bite,  
And stoutly still maintains th' unequal fight  
With equal fury, till (disdaining Death)  
His Enemies be beaten out of breath.   

Arioch, admiring, and (even) fearing too  
What Lot had done, and what he yet might do;  
Him princely meets, and mildly greets him thus:  
Cease (valiant youth) cease, cease t' encounter us.  
Wilt thou (alas!) wilt thou (poor soul) expose  
And hazard thus thy life and Fame to lose,  
In such a Quarrel, for the cause of such?  
Alas, I pity thy misfortune much.  
For, well I see, thy habit and thy tongue  
Thine Arms (but most) thy courage) yet so young)  
Show that in SODOM's wanton walls accursed  
Thou wert not born, nor in Gomorrha nursed.  
O chief of Chivalry, reserve thy worth  
For better wars: yield thee: and think henceforth  
I highly prise thy prows; and, by my sword,  
For thousand kingdoms will not false my word.   

Past hope of Conquest (as past fear of death) 
Lot taken prisoner.   
LOT yields him then upon the Prince's Faith;  
And, from his Camel quick-dismounting, hies  
His Royal hand to kiss in humble wise:  
And th' Army, laden with the richest spoil,  
Triumphantly to th' Eastward marched the while.   

No sooner noise of these sad novels came 
Abraham with his family of 300. goes to rescue Lot.   
Unto the ears of faithful ABRAHAM,  
But instantly he arms to rescue LOT,  
And that rich prey the heathen Kings had got.  
Three hundred servants of his house he brings  
(But lightly armed with staves and darts, and slings  
Aided by MAMRE (in whose Plain he won)  
ASCOL and ANER (AMOR's valiant sons)  
So at the heels he hunts the fearless Foe,  
Yet waits advantage yer he offer blow)  
Favoured by straightness of the ways they took,  
And covered close with nights deceitful cloak. 
A lively description of Sleep, with his Celestina, Servants, furniture & company    

In Groonland fields is found a dungeon,  
A thousand-fold more dark than Acheron,  
It hath no door, lest as it turns about  
On rusty hooks, it creak too loudly out,  
But Silence serves for Port and Porter there,  
A gagged Usher that doth never wear  
Stif-rustling silks, nor rattling chamlet suits,  
Nor jingling spurs, nor creaking spanish boots;  
But, that he make no noise (when ere he stirs)  
His high-day suits are of the softest Furs,  
At other times (less-stately-service-ful)  
he's only clad in cotton, shod in wool:  
His left forefinger o'er his lips he locks,  
With th' other beckons to the early Cocks,  
The rushing streams, and roaring Eölus,  
Seeming (though dumb) to whisper softly thus:  
Sleep silver Torrents; cease, sweet Chantecleer,  
To bid Good-morrow to the Morning here:  
Be still, ye Winds, keep in your native nest,  
Let not your storms disturb this house of Rest.   

In midst of all this Cave so dark and deep,  
On a still-rocking couch lies blear-eyed Sleep,  
Snorting aloud, and with his panting breath  
Blows a black fume, that all envapoureth:  
Oblivion lies hard-by her drowsy brother,  
Who readily knows not herself, nor other:  
Then solitary Morpheus gently rocked:  
And nasty Sloth self-pyned, and poorly-frockt,  
Irresolute, unhandsome, comfortless,  
Rubbing her eyes with Poppy, and doth press  
The yellow Nightshade, and blue Gladiols' juice,  
Wherewith her sleep-swoln heavy lids she glewes.  
Confusedly about the silent Bed  
Fantastic swarms of Dreams there hovered,  
Green, red and yellow, tawny, black, and blue:  
Some sacred, some profane; some false, some true;  
Some short, some long; some devilish, some divine;  
Some sad, some glad; but monstrous all (in fine):  
They make no noise, but right resemble may 
Simile.   
Th' unnumbered Moats which in the Sun do play,  
When (at some Cranny) with his piercing eye  
He peepeth-in some darker place to spy.   

Thither th' Almighty (with a just intent  
To plague those tyrant's pride) his Angel sent.  
No sooner entered, but the radiant shine  
Of's glistering wings, and of his glorious eyn,  
As light as Noon makes the dark House of Night.  
The gaudy swarm of Dreams is put to flight,  
And opening wide the sable Canapey  
The winged Herald summoned Sleep away.   

Silence dislodged at the first word he spoke:  
But deaf dead Sleep could not so soon awake,  
he's called a hundred times, and tugged, and toused,  
And by the angel often rubbed and roused:  
At length he stirs, and stretching lazily  
His legs and arms, and opening half an eye,  
Four or five times he yawns; and leaning-on  
His (Lob-like) elbow, hears This Message done.   

Great Spirits-restorer, Cares-charm, Chacing-grief,  
Night-short'ning Sire, Man's-Rest, and Mind's Relief,  
Up, up (said he) dispatch thee hence in post,  
And with thy Poppy drench the conquering Host  
Of those proud Kings, that (richly charged with Prey)  
On Canaan Mountains lodge in disarray.   

Th' angel, in th' instant back to Heav'n-ward gone,  
Sleep slowly harnessed his dull Bears anon;  
And in a noys-less Coach all darkly dight,  
Takes with him Silence, Drowsiness, and Night:  
Th' air thickening where he goes, doth nod the head,  
The Wolf in Woods lies down th' Ox in the Mead,  
Th' Orque under Water; and on Beds of Down  
Men stretch their limbs, and lay them softly down.  
The Nightingale perched on the tender spring  
Of sweetest Haw-thorn hangs her drowsy wing,  
The Swallow's silent, and the loudest Humber,  
Leaning upon the Earth, now seems to slumber:  
Th' Yew moves no more, the Asp doth cease to shake,  
Pines bow their heads, seeming some rest to take.   

So soon as Sleeps black wings had overspread  
The Pagan Host; the soldiers haste to bed:  
For, instantly begin they all to wink,  
To hang their heads, and let their weapons sink:  
Their words half-spoke, are lost between their lips,  
Through all their veins Sleeps charming humour slips,  
Which to a deep and death like Letharge brings  
Both Heathen Soldiers, and their Heathen Kings.   

Abram perceiving now the Army near, 
Abraham's oration to his little troup.   
By their own Fires; 'gan thus her Troops to cheer:  
Soldiers (said he) behold, this happy Night  
Shall make amends for that dis-astrous Fight  
Was fought in Siddim, and acquittance cry,  
For Sodom's shame, and Lot's captivity:  
Me thinks already, Victory (adorned  
With Bows, and Blades, and Casks, and Crowns) returned  
From th' Enemy, on our triumphant spears  
Erecteth Trophies far more rich than theirs:  
Me thinks already on our glistering Crests,  
The glorious Garland of the Conquest rests;  
Our way to Virtue lies so smooth and plain,  
With pain-less Honour, and vn-vent'red Gain.  
This Host you see, is not the valiant troop  
That stripped Gomorrha, and made Segor stoop;  
That jordan, Ind, and Euphrates admire;  
But a foul heard of Swine wallowing in mire:  
Regard them as they are, not as they were:  
See but their sloth, do not their number fear:  
He that's asleep is dead, and he that's dead  
Bites not (they say): what have we then to dread?  
Why stay we, Lads? already down they are,  
Their throats be naked, and their bosoms bare,  
Their lives lie prostrate here at our command;  
And Fortune calls but for your helping hand.   

Come, follow me; rather, the Lord of Hosts  
(Terror of Tyrants) who through all the Coasts  
Of all the Earth confoundeth (with a thought)  
All worldly power, and brings men's plots to nought:  
Come (happy Troop) follow with one accord  
Th' invincible brave Standard of the Lord.   

This said: eftsoons I wots not what a grace,  
What divine beam reflected on his face:  
For, as in March, the Serpent, having cast 
Simile.   
His old foul skin, crawls from his hole full fast,  
Hisses, and stings, and stars us in the face,  
And (goldlike) glistering, glides along the grass:  
So Heaven inspires fresh vigour in each part,  
His blood renews, his heart doth take new heart,  
A martial Fury in his breast there boils,  
His stature seems much taller than yerwhiles,  
Youth paints his cheeks with Rose and Lily Dies,  
A lovely Lightning sparkles in his eyes;  
So that his gallant Port and graceful Voice  
Confirms the faintest, makes the sad rejoice.   

Then, on the Camp he sets, where round about 
Abraham sets upon the Camp of Chedorlaomer.   
Lie mingled Cars, and Horse, and Men that rout:  
Rest seizeth all; and (wanting what it fed)  
The Fire itself slept in his ashy bed.   

Th' Hebrews thewhile laid-on on back, or breast,  
Or arm, or side, according as their Rest  
To th' ground had bound them; and those lives bereft  
The which Death's Image in an Image reft.   

Heer, one beheaded on a Trunk of Pine,  
Pours-out at once his gore, his ghost, and Wine;  
The full Helm hops, and with a voice confused,  
Murmurs, as if it his fell Fate accused.  
Another, taken by enchanting sleep,  
Mid Pots and Cups, and Flagons, quaffing deep;  
Doth at a wound, given in his rattling gorge,  
The Wine again in his own Cup disgorge.  
Another, while ingeniously he plays  
Upon his Lute some passing-pleasing Lays,  
Sleep sieles his eyes up with a gloomy cloud;  
And yet his hand still quavers light and loud:  
But, at the last it sinks; and, offering fair  
To strike the Base, strikes but the empty air:  
His soul, descending to th' Infernal Coasts,  
Goes to conclude his Song unto the Ghosts:  
doleful it was, nor for the Argument  
(For it was of Love) but for the sad event.  
Another, wakened with those loud alarms,  
Starts-up, and groapeth round about for arms;  
Which, ah too soon he findeth, for his part:  
For a keen poignard stabs him to the heart. 
Simile.    

Like as a Tigress, having with the gore  
Of Bulls and Heifers made her spots the more,  
And paved a Plain with Creatures mangled limbs,  
Views on each side her valiant stratagems,  
Treads on the vanquished, and is prowdly-sad,  
That no more Foes, nor no more Maw she had:  
So th' Hebrew stalking roundabout the slain,  
Braves (but it boots not) and would very fain  
That those dead bodies might their ghosts re-gather,  
Or that those Mountains would produce him (rather)  
Some Foes more wakeful, that more manfully  
In blood-drowned Valleys might his valour try.   

Amor's three sons did no less slaughter make;  
Abram for zeal, they but for Fury's sake:  
This, nails a Soldier with his sword to th' ground;  
That, at a blow, th' heads of two Heads discrowned.  
This, underneath a Chariot kills the Driver:  
That, lops off legs and arms, and heads doth shiver.   

The Tents already all in blood do swim,  
Gushing from sundry Corpse, from several limb.  
In brief, so many ravening wolves they seem,  
Within whose breast, fierce Famine biteth keen,  
Who softly stealing to some fold of sheep  
(While both the Shepherd and his Cur doth sleep)  
Furbush their hungry teeth, tear, kill, and prey  
Upon the best, to eat and bear-away.   

Yet, at the length, the vanquished awake,  
And (re-arayed) the Victors under-take;  
Putting the three proud Amorites, to flight,  
Who but for Abram, had been routed quite.   

Sleep, sleep (poor Pagans) sith you needs must die,  
Go sleep again, and so die easily,  
Die yer you think on death, and in your Dreams  
Gasp-out your souls; Let not your dazzled beams  
Behold the havoc and the horror too  
Of th' Execution, that our swords shall do,  
Hacking your bodies to heaw-out your breaths,  
Yer Death, to fright you with a thousand deaths,  
Said Abraham: and pointing every word  
With the keen point of his quick-whirled sword:  
(As swift in doing, as in saying so)  
More fiercely chargeth the insulting Foe,  
Than ever Stormfull cloud, which fed with Water's  
Thin moistfull fumes (the snowy Mountains daughters) 
Comparison.   
Showered heaps of hailshot, or poured floods of rain,  
On slender stems of the new tender Grain:  
Through blood, and blades, through danger, dust, and death,  
Through mangled Corpse, and cars he traverseth;  
And partly in the shock, part with ●●● blows,  
He breaketh in through thickest of his Foes,  
And by his travail topsi-turneth than  
The live and dead, and half-dead horse and men:  
His bright-keen Falchion never threats but hits;  
Nor hits, but hurts; nor hurts, but that it splits  
Some privy postern, whence to Hell (in post)  
Some groaning Pagan may gasp out his ghost:  
He all assayls, and him so brave bestows,  
That in his Fight he deals more deaths than blows.   

As the north-wind, re-cleering-up the front 
Simile.   
Of cloudy heavens, towards the South doth hunt  
The showers that Austers spongy thirst exhales  
Out of those seas that circle Orans walls:  
So wheresoe'er our Hebrew Champion wield  
His warlike weapon and his glistering Shield  
(Whose glorious splendour darts a dreadful light) 
Elamites overthrown by Abraham.   
All turn their backs, and all betake to flight,  
Forgetting Fame, Shame, Virtue, Hope, and all,  
Their hearts are done, and down their weapons fall:  
Or, if that any be so strangely-stout  
As not to faint, but bravely yet hold out,  
Alas! it boots not, for it cannot stop  
The victory, but haste his own mishap.   

But in what Fence-school, of what master, say, 
God giveth victory.   
Brave pearl of Soldiers, learned thy hands to play  
So at so sundry weapons, such passadoes,  
Such thrusts, such foins, stramazoes, and stoccatas?  
Even of that mighty God, whose sacred might  
Made Heaven and Earth (and them so brave bedight)  
Of merely nothing: of that God of Power  
Who swore to be thy Target and thy tower:  
Of that high God, who fortifies the weak,  
Who teacheth His, even steely bows to break,  
Who doth his children's zealous hearts inflame;  
But daunts the proud, and doth their courage tame. 
Abraham follows the execution.    

Thy sword abates th' armed, the strong, the stout;  
Thou cleav'st, thou killest: The faint dis-armed rout,  
The lightning of thine eyes, thy voices thunder,  
And thy proud dreadful port confounds with wonder:  
Death and Despair, Horror and Fury fight  
Under thine Ensigns in this Dismal Night:  
Thou slayest this, and that thou threat'st as much:  
This thou pursuest, that thou disdaign'st to touch:  
In brief (thou blessed Knight brave) thou quelst at once  
Valiant and vile, armed and unarmed ones.   

Heer, thine even hand (even in a twinkling trice)  
In equal halves a Pagans head doth slice:  
Down on each shoulder looketh either half,  
To gaze upon his ghastly Epitaph,  
In lines of blood writ round about him fair,  
Under the curtain of his parted hair.  
Heer, through a jerkin (more than Musket-proof)  
Made twelve fold double of East-country Buff,  
Clean through and through thy deadly shaft doth thril  
A giants bulk; the wounded hulk doth reel:  
The head behind appears; before, the feathers:  
And th' Ethnic soul flies both-ways out togethers:  
Here thou dost cleave, with thy keen Falchions' force,  
The Bards and Breastplate of a furious Horse,  
No sooner hurt, but he recoileth back,  
Writing his Fortune in a bloody tract:  
Thy barbed dart, here at a Chaldee flies,  
And in an instant lardeth both his thighs,  
While he blaspheming his hard stars and state,  
Hops (like a Pie) in stead of wont gate.   

Now LOT (the while) escaped from elam's hands, 
Lot rescued, revengeth bravely his captivity.   
Free from the burden of his iron bands;  
With just revenge retorts his taken wrong,  
His feet grow swift, his sinews waxed strong,  
His heart revives; and his revived heart  
Supplies new spirits to all and every part:  
And as a wild and wanton Colt; got out 
Simile.   
Of some great Stable, staring scuds about,  
Shakes his proud head and crest, yerks out his heels,  
Butts at the air, beats on the humble fields,  
His flying shadow now pursues amain,  
Anon (amazed) flies it as fast again▪  
Again beholds it, with self-prowd delight  
Looks on his legs, sets his stiff tail upright▪  
And neighs so loud to Mares beyond the Mound,  
That with the noise the neighbour hills resound:  
So, one while, LOT sets on a troop of Horse,  
A Band of Slingmen he anon doth force,  
Anon he pusheth through a Stand of Pikes,  
A Wing of archers off anon he strikes,  
Anon he stalks about a steepfull Rock,  
Where some, to shun Death's (never shunned) stroke,  
Had clambred-up; at length a path he spies,  
Where up he mounts, and doth their Mount surprise:  
Whence, stones he heaves, so heavy and so huge,  
That in our Age, three men could hardly budge;  
Under whose weight his flying Foes he dashes,  
And in their flesh, bones, stones, and steel he pashes:  
Sometimes he shoots, sometimes he shakes a Pike,  
Which death to many, dread to all doth strike.  
Some in the breast he wounds, some in the backs,  
Some on the haunch, some on the head he hacks,  
He heaws down all; and maketh where he stood  
A Mount of bodies in a Moat of blood. 
The Pagans wholly put to flight.    

At length the Pagans wholly left the place,  
Then both sides ran; these chased, those do chase:  
These only use their heels, those heels and hands:  
Those wish but a fair way; these that the sands  
Would quickly gape, and swallow quick to Hell  
Themselves that fled, and them that chaçed so fell:  
These render nought but blows, those nought but blood,  
Both sides have broke their Ranks: pell-mell they scud;  
Choaktup with dust, disordered, dis-arayed;  
Neither, Command, Threat, nor Entreat obeyed.   

Thou that (late) bragdst, that thy White Wormly brave  
Can dryfoot run upon the liquid Wave,  
And on the sand leaving no print behind  
Out-swifted Arrows, and outwent the Wind,  
With a steel Dart, by ABRAH'M stiffly sent,  
Art'twixt thy Cuirace and thy Saddle slent:  
And thou that thrice, near Tigris silver source,  
Hadst won the Bell, as best in every Course,  
Art caught by LOT, and (thrilled from side to side)  
Losest thy speed-praise, and thy life beside.   

It seems no Fight, but (rather as befalls)  
An execution of sad criminals:  
Whoso escapes the sword, escapes notso  
His sad destruction; or, if any though  
Escaped at all, they were but few (at least)  
To rue the fatal ruin of the rest:  
For th' Uncle and the Nephew never lin,  
Till out of Canaan they have chaçed them clean:  
Like to a Cast of Falcons that pursue 
Simile.   
A flight of Pigeons through the welk in blue;  
Stooping at this and that, that to their Louver,  
(To save their lives) they hardly can recover.   

At his return from Fight, the Kings and Lords 
The Kings of Ca●●●n received Abraham and his company with great joy and the grateful offer of their homage unto him.   
Of Palestine, with glad and humble words,  
Do welcome Abram, and refresh his Troop;  
To is knees their heads, to 's feet their knees they stoop:  
Ovaliant Victor! for thy high deserts,  
Accept the homage of our humble hearts.  
Accept our grateful zeal: or, if aught more  
(As well thou mayst) thou dost expect therefore,  
Accept (said they) our Lands, our goods, our gold,  
Our wives, our lives, and what we dearest hold:  
Take all we have; for all we have is thine:  
No wrong to us, to take thy Valour's fine.   

Melthisedec, God's sacred Minister, 
Melchisedech blesseth Abraham.   
And King of Salem, comes to greet him there,  
Blessing his bliss, and thus with zealous cry  
Devoutly pearçed heavens starfull Canopey.  
Blessed be the Lord, that with his hand doth roll  
The radiant Orbs that turn about the Pole;  
And Rules the Actions of all humankind  
With full command; and with one blast of wind  
Razes the Rocks, and Rends the proudest Hills,  
Dries-up the Ocean, and the Empty fils:  
Blessed be the great God of great Abraham:  
From Age to Age extolled be his Name:  
Let every Place unto him Altars build,  
And every Altar with his Praise be filled,  
And every Praise above the Welkin ring  
As loud or louder than the Angels sing:  
Blessed be He that by an Arm-less crew  
Of Art-less Shepherds did so quick subdue  
And tame the Tamer's of Great Syria so;  
And to the servants of an exiled Foe  
Hath given the Riches and the royal store  
(Both of their Booty and their Own before)  
Of such an Host, of Nations that first see  
Sols early rising from Aurora's knee.   

But Abraham, to prove that not for Prey, 
Abraham distributes the booty, reserving only a portion for the Amorites that were his confederates.   
He put-on arms, divides the Spoils away:  
The Tythe's the Priests: the Rest of all the things  
(Yerst lost in field) he renders to the Kings,  
Save but the Portion He participates  
To th' Amorites, his stout Confederates:  
Showing himself a Prince as politic  
Prudent and just, as stout and soldier-like,  
That with his Prowess Policy can mel,  
And Conquering, can use his Conquest well,  
Magnanimous in deeds, in words as meek,  
That scorning Riches, true Renown doth seek.   

So, from the Sea, even to th' Euphratean-source,  
And even from Dan, to Nilus' crystal course,  
Rings his renown: Of him is all the speech, 
He is famous far and near.   
At home, abroad; among the poor and rich,  
In war and peace: the Fame of his high deeds  
Confirms the Faithful in their fainting Creeds;  
And terrifies the Tyrant Infidels,  
Shaking the sides of their proud Citadels,  
That with their fronts the seat of JOVE do scorn,  
And with their feet at I'luto's crown do spurn.   

Voice, Harp, and Timbrel sound his praise together,  
He's held a Prophet or an Angel rather,  
They say that God talks with him face to face,  
Hosts at his house, and to his happy Race  
Givs in Fee-simple all that goodly Land  
Even from the Sea, as far as Tigris strand.   

And it is certain, the Thrice-sacred-One, 
God appears unto him, and maketh covenant with him.   
The King of Kings, by Dream or Vision,  
Speaks with him oft; and calls him thus by name:  
Faint not my servant, fear not ABRAHAM;  
I an no fiend that with a feigned lip  
Seek guilefully thy simpleness to trip,  
Nor to entice thee (with a baenfull breath,  
To bite (like ADAM) a new fruit of death:  
'Tis I, that brought thee from thy Native V R,  
From night to day, from death to life (thus far)  
I brought thee hither, I have blest thee here,  
I with thy flocks have covered far and near  
Canaan's fat Hills; I have preserved thy Wife  
From Stranger's lust, and thee from Tyrant's knife,  
When thy faint heart, and thy false tongue, affraied  
To tell the Truth, her and thyself betrayed:  
'Tis I, that have so oft from Heathens power  
Preserved thy person; and (as Conqueror)  
Now made thee Triumph over th' Eastern Kings  
(Whereof so far thy famous Valour rings):  
I am (in brief) I am the Lord thy God,  
Thy help at home, thy Guide and Guard abroad.  
Keep thou my Covenant: and (to signify,  
That, to the World thou diest, to live to Me) 
Circumcision instituted.   
Go, Circumcise forthwith thyself and Thine,  
Led holy Life, walk in my Ways divine  
With upright-foot: so shall my favour haunt  
Thy House and thee, and thou shalt nothing want:  
No, I will make thee Lord of all the Land  
Which Canaan's Children have with mighty hand 
Canaan promised to Abraham.   
So long possessed; a happy Land that flows  
With milk and honey: a rich Land where grows  
(Even of itself) all kind of Fruit and Corn,  
Where smiling heavens pour-down their Plenties-Horn:  
I'll heap thee there with Honour, Wealth, and Power,  
I will be thy Reward, thy Shield, and tower.   

O Lord (said ABRAM) though into my lap  
In showers of Gold even all the heavens should drop,  
What booted all, to me that am alone?  
Alas! my Lord, I have enough, for one  
That hath no issue after to inherit,  
But my good servant ELEAZAR'S merit.   

Not so, my Son (replies th' Omnipotent)  
Mistake not so my bountiful intent;  
I'll not disparaged to a Servants Fee  
The rich estate, and royal Dignity  
That in my People shall hereafter shine:  
No, no (mine ABRAM) even a stock of thine,  
Thine own dear Nephews, even thy proper Seed  
Shall be thine Heirs, and in thy state succeed.  
Yea, thine own Son's immortal-mortall Race  
Shall hold in gage the treasures of my Grace.   

The Patriarch, then rapt with sudden joy,  
Made answer thus: Lives then my wandering Boy?  
Lives IS MAEL? is IS MAEL alive?  
O happy news! (Lord let him everthrive):  
And shall his Seed succeed so eminent?  
Ah! let me die then, than I die content.   

IS MAEL indeed doth live (the Lord replies)  
And lives, to father mighty Progenies:  
For, from the Day when first his Mother (flying  
Thy ieloux SARA'S cursed and threatfull crying)  
To the dry Deserts sandy horror hied,  
I have for both been careful to provide;  
Their extreme Thirst due-timely to refresh,  
Conducting them unto a Fountain fresh,  
In liquid Crystal of whose Maiden spout  
Bird never dipped her bill, nor Beast his snout:  
And if I ere not (but, I cannot ere:  
For, what is hid from Hearts-Artificer?  
What can the sight of the Sight-maker dim)?  
Another Exile yet attendeth him,  
Wherein he shall (in season) feel and find,  
How much to him I will be good and kind.  
He shall grow Great, yet shall his rest be small;  
All shall make war on him, and He on all:  
Through Corslets, Rivets, jacks, and Shirts of Mail. 
Ismaels' mightiness.   
His shaft shall thril the Foes that him assail:  
A swift Heart's heart he shall (even running) hit:  
A Sparrows head he shall (even flying) split:  
And in the air shall make the Swallow cease  
His sweet-sweet note, and slicing nimbleness.   

Yea (O Saints-Firstling) only for thy sake,  
Twelve mighty Princes will I shortly make  
Spring from his Loigns, whose fruitful seed shall sway,  
Even unto Sur from golden Havila.   

Yet, 'tis not He, with whom I mean to knit  
Mine inward Covenant; th' outward seal of it  
ISHMAEL may bear, but not the efficace  
(Thy Son, but after flesh, not after Grace).  
But to declare that under Heaven's Frame,  
I hold nought dearer than mine ABRAHAM,  
I'll open SARA'S dry and barren womb, 
Isaac promised   
From whence thine ISAAC (Earth's delight) shall come,  
To glad the World; a Son that shall (like thee)  
Support the Faith, and prop her Family.   

Come from thy Tent, come forth and here contemple  
The golden Wonders of my Throne and Temple,  
Number the Stars, measure their bigness bright,  
With fixed eye gaze on their twinkling Light,  
Exactly mark their ordered Courses, driven  
In radiant Coaches through the Lists of Heaven:  
Then may'st thou also number thine own Seed,  
And comprehend their Faith, and plainly read  
Their noble Acts, and of their Publike-State  
Draw an Idea in thine own conceit.   

This, This is He, to and with whom I grant  
Th' eternal Charter of my Covenant. 
In him the Covenant ratified.   
Which if he truly keep, upon his Race  
I'll pour an Ocean of my plenteous Grace:  
I'll not alone give him these Fields here seen,  
But even from India, all that flowreth green  
To th' utmost Ocean's utmost sand and shelf;  
I'll give him Heaven, I'll give him even myself.   

Hence, hence, the High and mighty Prince shall spring, 
Of his line shall come Christ the Redeemer.   
Sin's, Death's, and Hell's eternal taming King,  
The sacred Founder of Man's sovereign Bliss,  
World's peace, world's ransom, and world's righteousness.   

Th' Eternal seemed then towards Heaven to high,  
Th' olde-man to follow him with a greedy eye:  
The sudden dis-appearing of the Lord,  
Seemed like to Powder fired on a board,  
When smokingly it mounts in sudden flash,  
With little flame, giving a little clash.   

Plenty and Pleasure had o'erwhelmed the while 
Prosperity plungeth the Sodomites in all manner of abominations.   
Sodom and Gomor in all Vices vile:  
So that, already the most ruth-less Rape  
Of tender Virgins of the rarest shape,  
Th' Adulterous kiss (which Wedlocks bands unbindes)  
Th' Incestuous Bed, confounding Kindred's kinds  
(Where Father woos the Daughter, Sister Brother,  
Th' Uncle the Niece, and even the Son the Mother)  
They did not hate, nor (as they ought) abhor;  
But rather scorned, as sports they cared not for.   

Forbear (dear Younglings) pray awhile forbear,  
Stand farther from me, or else stop your ear,  
At th' obscene sound of th' unbeseeming words  
Which to my Muse this odious place affords:  
Or, if its horror cannot drive you hence,  
Hearing their Sin, pray hear their Punishments.   

These beastly Men (rather these manlike Beasts)  
Can not be filled with VENUS vulgar Feasts;  
Fair Nature could not furnish their Desire; 
Their most execrable sin.   
Some monstrous mess these Monsters did require:  
An execrable flame inflamed their hearts,  
Prodigiously they played the women's parts:  
Male hunted Male; and acted, openly,  
Their furious Lusts in fruitless Venery.   

Therefore, to purge Ulcers so pestilent,  
Two heavenly Scowts the Lord to Sodom sent; 
2. Angels sent down, received and guested by Lot.   
Whom (deeming Mortals) Lot importunates  
To take his Lodging and to taste his Cates.  
For, Angels, being mere Intelligences,  
Have (properly) no Bodies nor no senses:  
But (sacred Legates of the Holy-One) 
Of the nature and essence of Angels.   
To treat with us, they put our Nature on;  
And take a body fit to exercise  
The Charge they have, which runs, and feeds, and flies;  
Dures during their Commission; and, that past,  
Turns t'Elements whence it was first amasst.  
A simple Spirit (the glittering Child of Light)  
Unto a body doth not so unite,  
As to the Matter Form incorporates:  
But, for a season it accommodates,  
As to his Tool the acquaint Artificer,  
(That at his pleasure makes the same to stir)  
Yet in such sort that th' instrument (we see)  
Holds much of him that moves it actively.   

But always in some place are Angels: though  
Not as all filling (God alone is so,  
The spirit which all good spirits in spirit adore,  
In all, on all, without all, evermore):  
Nor as environed (that alone agrees  
To bodies bounded with extremities  
Of the next substance; and whose superfice  
Unto their place proportionable is):  
But rather, as sole selfly-limited,  
And joined to place, yet not as quantitied,  
But by the touch of their live efficace,  
Containing Bodies which they seem t'embrace:  
So, visibly those bodies move, and oft  
By word of Mouth bring errands from aloft,  
And eat with us; but not for sustentation,  
Nor naturally, but by mere dispensation.   

Such were the sacred Guests of this good Prince:  
Such, courteous ABRAHAM feasted in his Tents,  
When, seeing three, he did adore but one,  
Which, coming down from the celestial Throne,  
Foretold the sad and sudden Tragedy,  
Of these lose Cities, for their Luxury.   

You that your Purse do shut, and doors do bar 
Exhortation to Hospitality.   
Against the cold, faint, hungry Passenger,  
You little think that all our life and Age  
Is but an Exile and a Pilgrimage:  
And that in earth whoso hath never given  
Harbour to Strangers, shall have none in Heaven,  
Wheresolemn Nuptials of the Lamb are held;  
Where Angels bright and Souls that have excelled,  
All clad in white, sing th' Epithalamie,  
Carousing Nectar of Eternity.   

Sans Hospitality, the Pilgrim poor 
The lustful Sodomites, inflamed with the beauty of the Angels, mutiny against Lot for harboring them.   
For bedfellow might have a Wolfor Boar:  
What e'er is given the Strange and Needy one,  
Is not a gift (indeed) but't is a Loan,  
A Loan to God, who pays with interest;  
And (even in this life) guerdons even the least.  
For, alms (like levain) make our goods to rise,  
And God his own with blessings plentifies.   

O Hosts, what know you, whether (charitable)  
When you suppose to feast men at your Table,  
You guest God's Angels in men's habit hid,  
(Heav'n-Citizens) as this good Hebrew did?  
Who supped them: and when the time grew meet  
To go to bed, he heard amid the street  
A wrangling ●angling, and a Murmur rude,  
Which great, grew greater through Night's solitude.   

For, those that first these two bright Stars surveyed,  
Wild Stalion-like, after their beauties naighed;  
But, seeing them by the chaste stranger saved,  
Shame-less and sense-less up and down they raved,  
From House to House knocking at every door,  
And beastly-brute, thus, thus they rail and roar;   

Brethren, shall we endure this Fugitive,  
This stranger LOT, our pleasures to deprive?  
(O Cowardice▪) to suffer in our sights  
An exile here t'usurp our choice delights,  
T'embrace a brace of Youths so beauteous  
(Rather two Gods com-down from Heaven to us)?  
Shall it be said that such an old cold stock  
Such rare young Minions in his bed should mock:  
While wretched we, unto ourselves make moan,  
And (Widow-like) wear-out our sheets alone?  
Let's rather break his doors, and make him know,  
Such dainty morsels hang not for his Mowe.   

Even as at bath, down from the neighbour Hills, 
Simile.   
After a snow, the melting Crystal trills  
Into the Avon (when the Pythian Knight,  
Strips those steep Mountains of their shirts so white)  
Through hundred Valleys gushing Brooks and Torrents,  
Striving for swiftness in their sundry Currents,  
Cutting deep Channels where they chance to run,  
And never rest till all do meet in one:  
So, at their cry, from every corner throng  
Unto LOT'S house, Men, Children, old, and young.  
For, common was this execrable sin:  
With blear-eyed Age, as nuzzled long therein;  
With Youth, through rage of lust; with Infancy,  
Example-led: all through Impunity.  
And thus, they all cry out; Open, open the door,  
Come, open quickly, and delay no more:  
Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove  
With us the pleasures of Male-mingled love.   

LOT lowly then replies: Brethren and Friends, 
Lot speaks them fair, & entreats them earnestly for the safety of his guests.   
By all the names that amity commends,  
By Nature's Rules, and Rights of Hospitality,  
By sacred Laws, and lessons of Morality,  
By all respects of our com-Burg●ship  
(Which should our minds in mutual kindness keep)  
I do adjure you all, that you refrain  
The honour of my harm-less guests to slain,  
Nor in your hearrs to harbour such a thought  
Whereby their Virtues may be wronged in aught.   

Base busy Stranger, comest thou hither, thus 
Their insolent reply.   
(Controller-like) to prate and preach to us?  
No (Puritan) thou shalt not here do so:  
Therefore dispatch and let thy darlings go;  
Let-forth that lovely Payr, that they may prove  
With us the Pleasures of Male-mingled love.   

The horror of this sin, their stubborn rage,  
His sacred promise given his Guests for gage,  
Th' old Hebrew's mind so trouble and dismay,  
That well he wots not what to do nor say.  
For, though we ought not (if God's Word be true)  
Do any evil that good may ensue:  
To shun one ill, another ill he suffers,  
He prostitutes his Issue; and he offers  
Lambs to the guard of Wolves: and thus he cries, 
He offers them his own daughters to rescue his Guests.   
I have (with that, the tears ran-down his eyes)  
I have two daughters that be Virgins both;  
Go, take them to you (yet alas full loath)  
Go, crop the first-fruits to their Bridegrooms due  
(O! death to think it): But let none of you  
Abuse my chaste Guests with such villainy  
As merits Fire from Heaven immediately;  
A Sin so odious, that the Name alone  
Good men abhor, yea even to think upon. 
Their monstrous impudence.    

Tush: we are glutted with all granted loves,  
And common Pleasure nought our pleasure moves:  
LOT, our delights (tied to no law's conformity)  
Consist not in the pleasure, but th' enormity,  
Which fools abhor: and, saying so, they rush,  
Some upon LOT, Some at his Gates do push.   

O cursed City! where the aged Sire,  
Unable thus to do, doth thus desire;  
And Younglings, yet scarce weaned from their Nurse,  
Strive with their Elders whether shall be worse;  
Full is the measure of thy monstrous sin:  
Thy Canker now o'er all thy bulk hath been.   

God hates all sin: but, extreme Impudence  
Is even a greater sin than the Offence: 
Impudence in sinning, doubles▪ the guilt of sins.   
The sweet kind Kisses of chaste Man and Wife  
Although they seem by God and Nature (ri●e)  
Rather commanded then allowed, and graçed  
In their sweet fruits (their issue choicely-chaste)  
With Law's large privilege; yet evermore  
(As Modesty and Honesty implore)  
Ought to be private, and (as things forbidden  
Unto the sight) with Night's black curtin hidden.   

Yet, these foul Monsters, in the open street  
Where altogether all the Town might see't,  
Most impudent, dare perpetrate a sin  
Which Hell itself before had never seen;  
A sin so odious, that the fame of it  
Will fright the damned in the dark some Pit.   

But now, the Angels, their celestial kind 
Before their fearful destruction, the Angels bring Lot and his family safe out of the City   
Unable longer to conceal, struck blind  
Those beastly Lechers, and brought safe away  
LOT and his household by the break of day.  
But, O prodigious! never rose the Sun  
More beautiful, nor brighter shin'd-vpon  
All other places (for he rose betimes  
To see such Execution on such Crimes):  
And yet, it lowrs, it lightens, and it thunders,  
It rores, it reins (O most unwonted wonders!)  
Upon this Land, which against th' Omnipotent  
Haddit warred so long with sins so insolent:  
And against the pride of those detested livers,  
Heaven seems to empty all his wrathful Quyvers.  
From Acheron, even all the Furies hie,  
And all their Monsters them accompany,  
With all their tortures and their dismal terrors,  
And all their Chaos of confused Horrors;  
All on the guilty strand of jordan storm,  
And with their Firebrands all to Sodom swarm,  
As thick as Crows in hungry shoals do light  
On new-sowen lands; where stalking bolt upright, 
Simile.   
As black as jet they jet about, and feed  
On Wheat, Or Rye, or other kind of seed,  
Kaaking so loud, that hardly can the Steer  
The whistling Goad-man's guiding language hear.   

It reigned indeed; but not such fertile rain 
The manner of their punishment by fire and brimstone from Heaven, and the reason thereof.   
As makes the Corn in Summer sprout amain;  
And all things, freshed with a pleasant air,  
To thrive, and prove more lively, strong and fair:  
But in this sink of Sin, this stinking Hell,  
A rain of Salt, of Fire and Brimston, fel.  
Salt did consume the pleasant fruitfulness,  
Which served for fuel to their Wantonness:  
Fire punished their beastly Fire within:  
And Brimstone's stink the stench of their foul Sin.  
So, as their Sin was singular (of right)  
Their Punishment was also exquisite:  
Here, open Flames, and there yet hidden Fires  
Burn all to ashes, sparing neither Spires  
Of Brick nor Stone, nor Columns, Gates, nor Arches,  
Nor Bowers, nor Towers, nor even their neighbour-Marches.   

In vain thewhile the People weep and cry, 
The same most lively represented.   
To see their wrack and know no remedy:  
For, now the Flame in richest Roofs begun,  
From molten gutters scalding Lead doth run,  
The Slats and Tiles about their ears do split,  
The burning Rafters Pitch and Rosin spit:  
The whirling Fire remounteth to the Sky,  
About the fields ten thousand sparks do fly;  
Half-burned Houses fall with hideous fray,  
And WLCAN makes Midnight as bright as Day:  
Heaven flings-down nought but flashing Thundershot,  
Th' Air's all afire, Earth's exhalations hot  
Are spewing AETNA'S that to Heaven aspire;  
All th' Elements (in brief) are turned to fire.   

Heer, one perceiving the next Chamber burning,  
With sudden leap towards the window turning,  
Thinks to cry Fire: but instantly the smoke  
And Flame without, his within Voice do choke.  
Another, sooner feels than sees the Fire.  
For, while (O horror!) in the stinking mire  
Of his foul Lust he lies, a Lightning flash  
Him and his Love atonce to dust doth dash:  
Th' abhorred Bed is burnt, and they, aswell  
Coupled in Plague as Sin, are sent to Hell.  
Another yet on tops of Houses crawls:  
But his foot slips, and down at last he falls.  
Another feeling all his clothes afire,  
Thinking to quench them yer it should come nigher,  
Leaps in a Lake: but all the Lake began  
To foil and bubble like a seething Pan, 
Simile.   
Or like a Cauldron that topful of Oil,  
Environed round with fume and flame doth foil,  
To foil to death some cunning counterfeit  
That with false stamp some Prince's Coin hath beat.  
Another, seeing the City all in Cinders,  
Himself for safety to the fields he renders;  
But flakes of Fire from Heaven distilling thick,  
There th' horror of a thousand Deaths do strike.   

Through Adamah's and Gomor's goodly Plains,  
Sodom and Seboim not a soul remains:  
Horse, Sheep, and Oxen, Cows and Kids partake  
In this revenge, for their vile Master's sake.   

Thus hath the hand of the Omnipotent  
Enrolled the Deed of their dread Punishment,  
With Diamantin Pen, on Plates of Brass,  
With such an Ink as nothing can deface:  
The molten Marble of these cindred Hills,  
Asphaltis' Lake, and these poor mock-fruit Fields  
Keep the Record; and cry through every Age,  
How God detesteth such detested rage.   

O chastisement most dradly-wonderfull!  
Th' Heav'n-cindred Cities a broad standing Pool  
O'erflows (yet flows not) whose infectious breath  
Corrupts the Air, and Earth dis-fertileth:  
A Lake, whose back, whose belly, and whose shore,  
Nor Bark, nor Fish, nor Fowl hath ever boar.  
The pleasant Soil that did (even) shame erewhile  
The plenteous beauties of the banks of Nile,  
Now scared, and collowed, with his face and head  
Covered with ashes, is all dried and dead;  
Void of all force, vital, or vegetative;  
Upon whose breast nothing can live or thrive:  
For, nought it bears save an abortive suit  
Of seeming-fair, false, vain, and feigned fruit,  
A fruit that feeds theey, and fills the hand,  
But to the stomach in no steed doth stand▪  
For even before it touch the tender lips  
Or Ivory teeth, in empty smoke it slips,  
So vanishing: only, the nose receives  
A noisome savour, that (behind) it leaves.   

Heer, I adjure you, venturous Travailours, 
Exhortation to travailers that have seen, & to others that shall read or hear these fearful monuments of Gods severe justice, to make right use of this fearful Example.   
That visit th' horror of these cursed shores,  
And taste the venom of these stinking streams,  
And touch the vain fruit of these withered stems:  
And also you that do behold them thus  
In these sad Verses portrayed here by us,  
To tremble all, and with your pearly tears  
To shower another Sea; and that your hairs  
Staring upright on your affrighted head  
Heave-up your Hats; and, in your dismal dread,  
To think, you hear like sulphury Storms to strike  
On our n●w Monsters for Offences like.   

For, the almighty's dread all-daunting arm,  
Not only strikes such as with Sodom swarm  
In these foul Sins; but such as sigh or pity  
Sodoms' destruction, or so damned a City,  
And cannot constant with dry eyes observe  
God's judgements just on such as such deserve.   

LOT hies to SEGOR: but his wife behind 
Lot's wise metamorphozed.   
Lagged in body, but much more in mind:  
She weeps and wails (O lamentable terror!  
O impicus Pity! O kind-cruell error)  
The dire destruction of the smoking Cities,  
Her Sons-in-Law (which should have been) she pities,  
Grieves so to leave her goods, and she laments  
To lose her jewels and habiliments:  
And (contrary to th' Angels Words precise)  
Towards the Town she turns her woeful eyes.   

But instantly, turned to a whitely stone,  
Her feet (alas!) fast to the ground be grown;  
The more she stirs, she sticks the faster in:  
As silly Bird caught in a subtle gin, 
Simile.   
Set by some Shepherd near the Copses side,  
The more it struggles is the faster tied.  
And, as the venom of an eating Canker 
Simile.   
From flesh to flesh runs every day the ranker,  
And never rests, until from foot to head  
O'er all the Body his fell poison spread:  
This Ice creeps-up, and ceaseth not to numb,  
Till even the marrow hard as bones become,  
The brain be like the seul, and blood convert  
To Alabaster over every part;  
Her Pulse doth cease to beat, and in the air  
The Winds no more can wave her scattered hair:  
Her belly is no belly, but a Quar  
Of Cardon Rocks, and all her bowels are  
A precious Salt-Mine, supernatural,  
Such, as (but Salt) I wots not what to call;  
A Salt which (seeming to be fallen from Heaven)  
To curious Spirits hath long this Lesson given,  
Not to presume in Divine things to pry,  
Which seav'n-times sealed, under nine Locks do lie.  
She weeps (alas!) and as she weeps, her tears  
Turn into Pearls fro'rn on her twinkling hairs:  
Fain would she speak, but (forced to conceal)  
In her cold throat her guilty words congeal;  
Her mouth yet open, and her arms across,  
Though dumb, declare both why and how she was  
Thus Metamorphosed: for, Heaven did not change  
Her last sad gestures in her sudden Change.   

No gorgeous Ma●sole, graced with flattering verse,  
Eternizeth her Trunk her House, and Hearse;  
But, to this Day (strange will it seem to some)  
One and the same is both the Corpse and Tomb.   

Almighty Father! Gracious God and just! 
Man's proneness ●o fall, without the support of God's gracious fa●●our.   
O! what hard-heartedness, what brutish Lust,  
Pursueth man: if thou but turn thy face,  
And take but from us thy preventing grace:  
And, if provoked for our past offences,  
Thou give us up to our Concupiscences?   

O Harran'● Nieces, you (LOTS daughters) saw  
SODOM consumed in that Sulphury flaw:  
Their Hills and Forests calcined (in fine)  
Their liberal fields sown with a burning brine,  
Their stately houses like a coal-pitsmoaking,  
The Sun itself with their thick vapours choking:  
So that within a yard for stinking smother  
The Labourers could hardly know each other;  
Their flowering Valley to a Fen exchanged,  
And your own Mother to a Saltstone changed:  
Yet all (alas!) these famous Monuments  
Of the just rigour of God's Punishments  
Cannot deter you: but even Sodom-like  
Incestuously a holy-man you seek;  
Even your own Father, whom with wine you fill;  
And then by turns entice him to your will:  
Conceiving so (O can Heaven suffer it!) 
Lot drawn by his Daughter, in drunkenness to commit Incest with both of them.   
Even of that seed which did yourselves beget:  
Within your wombs you bear for nine months' time  
Th' upbraiding burden of your shame-less Crime,  
And troubling Kindred's names and Nature quite,  
You both become even in one very Night,  
Wives to your Fathers, Sisters to your Sons,  
And Mothers to your Brothers all at once;  
All under colour, that thus living sole,  
Sequestered thus in an unhaunted hole,  
heavens envy should all ADAM'S race have reft,  
And LET alone should in the World be left.   

Haded not been better, never to have bred,  
Than t'have conceived in so foul a bed?  
Haded not been better never t'have been Mothers,  
Than by your Father, to have born your Brothers?  
Haded not been better to the death to hate,  
Then thus t'have loved him, that you both begat?  
Him, so much yours, that yours he mought not be?  
Sith of these Rocks God could immediately  
Have raised LOT Sons-in-lawe; or, striking but  
Th' Earth's solid bosom with his brazen foot,  
Out of the dust have reared sudden swarms  
Of People, stayed in Peace, and stout in Arms.   
FINIS.   

The FATHERS. A PART OF THE II. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

The famous FATHER of the Faithful, here  
Limned to the life, in strife of Faith and Fear:  
His son's sweet nature, and his nurture such,  
Endeer his TRIAL with a nearer Touch:  
REASON'S best Reasons are by FAITH refelled;  
With GOD, th' Affection, for the Action held:  
So, counter-manding His command (achieved)  
The Sire's approved, and the Son reprieved.  
Here (had our Author lived, to end his Works)  
Should have ensued the other PATRIARCHES.   

O! 'Tis a Heavenly and a happy turn,  
Of godly Parents to be timely born:  
To be broughtup under the watchful eyes  
Of milde-sharp Masters awful Discipline:  
Chief, to be (even from the very first)  
With the pure milk of true Religion nursed.   

Such hap had Isaac: but his Inclination  
Exceeds his Birth, excels his Education.  
His Faith, his Wit, Knowledge, and judgement sage,  
Outstripping Time, anticipate his age.  
For (yet a Child) he fears th' Eternal Lord,  
And wisely waits all on his Father's word;  
Whose steady steps so duly he observes,  
That every look, him for a lesson serves:  
And every gesture, every wink and beck.  
For a command, a warning, and a check:  
So that, his toward Diligence outwent  
His Father's hopes and holy document.   

Now, though that Abram were a man discreet,  
Sober and wise, well knowing what is meet;  
Though his dear Son sometimes he seem to chide,  
Yet hardly can he his affection hide;  
For, evermore his love-betraying eye  
On's darling Isaac glanceth tenderly:  
Sweet Isaac's face seems as his Glass it were,  
And Isaac's name is music in his ear.   

But God, perceiving this deep-settled Love,  
Thence takes occasion Abraham's Faith to prove;  
And tempteth him: But not as doth the Devil  
His Vassals tempt (or Man his Mate) to evil:  
Satan still draws us to Death's dismal Path;  
But God directs where Death no entry hath:  
Ay Satan aims our constant Faith to foil;  
But God doth seal it, never to recoil:  
Satan suggesteth ill; God moves to grace:  
The Devil seeks our Baptism to deface;  
But God, to make our burning Zeal to beam  
The brighter ay in his jerusalem.   

A Prince that means effectual proof to make 
Simile.   
Of some Man's Faith that he doth newly take,  
Examines strictly, and with much ado,  
His Words and Deeds, and every gesture too;  
And, as without, within as well to spy-him,  
Doth carefully by all means sift and try-him.   

But God ne'er seeks, by Trial of Temptation,  
To sound Man's heart and secret cogitation  
(For, well he knows Man, and his eye doth see  
All thoughts of men, yer they conceived be):  
But this is still his high and holy dri●t,  
When through temptation he his Saints doth si●t,  
To leave for pattern to his Church's seed,  
Their steadfast Faith, and never-daunted Creed.   

Yet, out of season God doth never try  
His new-converted Children, by and by:  
Such novices, would quickly faint and shrink:  
Such ill-rigged Ships, would even in launching sink:  
Their Faith's light blossoms, would with every blast  
Be blown away, and bear no fruit at last:  
Against so boisterous strokes they want a shield:  
Under such weight, their feeble strength would yield.  
But when his Words dear seed that he hath sown  
Within their hearts, is rooted well, and grown:  
And when they have a broad thick Breastplate on,  
High peril-proof against affliction:  
Such as our Abram: Who, now waxed strong,  
Through exercise of many trials long,  
Of faith, of love, of fortitude, and right:  
Who, by long weary wanderings day and night,  
By often Terrors, Lot's Imprisonment,  
His Wives twice taking, Ismaels' banishment,  
Being made invincible for all assaults  
Of Heaven and Earth, and the infernal Vaults;  
Is tempted by the voice which made all things,  
Which sceptreth Shepherds, and un-crowneth Kings.   

Give me a voice, now, O voice all divine▪  
With sacred fire inflame this breast of mine: 
Invocation.   
Ah! ravish me, make all this Universe  
Admire thine Abram portrayed in my Verse.   

Mine Abram, said the Lord, deer Abraham,  
Thy God, thy King, thy Fee, thy Fence I am:  
High strait to Salem, and there quickly kill  
Thine own Son Isaac; on that sacred Hill  
Hew him in pieces, and commit the same  
In Sacrifice unto the rageful Flame.   

As he, that slumbering on his careful Bed, 
Simile.   
Seems to discern some Fancy full of dread,  
Shrinks down himself, and fearful hides his face,  
And scant draws breath in half an hours space:  
So Abraham, at these sharp▪ sounding words  
(Which wound him deeper than a thousand swords)  
Seized at once with wonder, grief, and fright,  
Is well-nigh sunk in Death's eternal night;  
Death's ash-pale Image in his eyes doth swim,  
A chilling jee shivers through every limb,  
Flat on the ground himself he grovelling throws,  
A hundred times his colour comes and goes,  
From all his body a cold dew doth drop,  
His speech doth fail, and every sense doth stop.   

But, self-returned, two sounding sobs he cast,  
Then two deep sighs, than these sad words at last:  
Cruel command, quoth He, that I should kill  
A tender Infant, innocent of ill:  
That in cold blood I (barbarously) should murder  
My (fear-less, fault-less) faithful Friend: nay (further)  
Mine own dear Son: and what dear Son? Alas!  
Mine only Isaac (whose sweet virtues pass  
The lovely sweetness of his angel-face)  
Isaac, sole Pattern of now-Vertue known;  
Isaac, in years young but in wisdom grown:  
Isaac, whom goodmen love, the rest envy:  
Isaac, my heart's heart my life's life must die.  
That I should slain an execrable Shrine,  
With Isaac's warm blood, issued out of mine.  
O might mine serve, it were tolerable loss,  
IT were little hurt: nay, it were a welcome cross.  
I bear no longer fruit: the best of Me,  
Is like a fruit-less, branch-less, sap-less Tree,  
Or hollow Trunk, which only serves for stais  
To crawling Iuie's weak and winding sprais.  
But losing Isaac, I not only lose  
My life withal (which heavens have linked to his)  
But (O!) more millions of Babes yet un-bore,  
Than there be sands upon the L●hian shore.   

Canst thou, mine Arm? O canst thou, cruel arm,  
In Isaac's breast thy bloody weapon warm?  
Alas! I could not but even die for grief,  
Should I but but yield mine Ages sweet relief  
(My bliss, my comfort, and mine ey'sdelight)  
Into the hands of Hangmens' spare-less spite:  
But that mine own self (O extremest Rigour!)  
What myself form, should myself, dis-figure:  
That I (alas!) with bloody hand and knife,  
Should rip his bosom, rend his heart and life:  
That (odious Author of a Precedent  
So rarely ruth-less) I should once present,  
Upon a sacred Altar, an Oblation  
So barbarous (O brute abomination!)  
That I should broil his Flesh, and in the flame  
Behold his bowels crackling in the same:  
'Tis horrible to think, and hellish too,  
Cruel to wish, impossible to do.   

Do it he that list, and that delights in blood:  
I neither will, nor can become so wood,  
T' obey in this: God, whom we take to be  
Th' eternal Pillar of all verity,  
And constant faith; will he be faithless now?  
Will he be false, and from his promise bow?  
Will he (alas!) undo what he hath done,  
Mar what he makes, and lose what he hath won?  
Sail with each wind? and shall his promise, then,  
Serve but for snares t' entrap sincerest men?   

Sometimes, by his eternal self he swears,  
That my Son Isaac's number-passing Heirs  
Shall fill the Land, and that his fruitful Race  
Shall be the blessed levain of his Grace;  
Now he commands me his dear life to spill,  
And in the Cradle my health's Hope to kill:  
To drown the whole World in the blood of him:  
And at one stroke upon his fruitful stem,  
To strike-off all the heads of all the flock,  
That should hereafter his dread name invoak,  
His sacred nostrils with sweetsmels delight,  
His ears with praises, with good deeds his sight.  
Will God impugn himself? and will he so  
By his command, his covenant over throw?  
And shall my faith, my faith's confounder be?  
Then faith, or doubting, are both one to me.   

Alas! what sayst thou, Abram? pause thou must.  
He that revives the Phoenix from her dust,  
And from dead Silk-worm's Toombs (their shining Clews)  
A living bird with painted wings renews;  
Will he forget Isaac, the only stock  
Of his chaste Spouse (his Church and chosen flock)▪  
Will he forget Isaac, the only Light  
Of all the World, for virtues lustre bright?  
Or, can he not (if't please him) even in death  
Restore him life, and reinspire him breath?   

But mark, the while thou bringest for defence,  
The All-proof tower of his Omnipotence,  
Thou shak'st his justice. This is certain (too)  
God can do all, save that he will not do.  
He loves none ill: for, when the wreakful Waves  
Were all returned into their wont Caves;  
When all the Meads, and every fruitful Plain,  
Began (with joy) to see the Sun again;  
So soon as Noah (with a gladsome heart)  
Forth of his floating Prison did departed,  
God did forbid Murder: and nothing more  
Than Murder, doth his Majesty abhor.   

But (shallow man) sound not the vast abyss  
Of God's deep judgements, where no ground there is:  
Be sober-wise: so, bound thy frail desire:  
And, what thou canst not comprehend, admire.  
God our Lawmaker (just and righteous)  
Maketh his Laws, not for himself, but us:  
He frees himself; and flies with his Powers wing,  
No where, but where his holy will doth bring:  
All that he doth is good: but not therefore  
Must he needs do it, 'cause 'twas good before:  
But good is good, because it doth (indeed)  
From him (the Root of perfect good) proceed:  
From him, the Fountain of pure Righteousness:  
From him, whose goodness nothing can express.   

Ah, profane thoughts! O wretch! and thinkest thou then  
That God delights to drink the blood of men?  
That he intends by such a strange impiety  
To plant his service? You, you forged deity  
Of Molech, Milcom, Camosh, Astaroth,  
Your damned Shrines with such dire Orgies blot:  
You Tyrants, you delight in Sacrifice  
Of slaughtered Children: 'tis your bloody guise  
(You cruel Idols) with such Hecatombs  
To glut the rage of your outrageous dooms:  
You hold no sent so sweet, no gift so good,  
As streaming Rivers of our lukewarm blood:  
Not Abram's God (ay gracious, holy, kind)  
Who made the World but only for Mankind:  
Who hates the bloody hands: his Creatures loves:  
And contrite hearts for sacrifice approves.  
You, you, disguised (as angels of the light)  
Would make my God Author of this despite,  
Supplant my Faith on his sure promise built,  
And slain his Altars with this bloody guilt.   

No, no, my joy, my Boy thrice-happy born  
(Yea more than so, if furious I, forlorn,  
Hurt not thy Hap) a Father shalt thou be  
Of happy People, that shall spring from thee.  
Fear not (dear Child) that I, unnatural,  
Should in thy blood imbrue my hand at all:  
Or by th' exploit of such detested deed  
Commend my name to them that shall succeed.  
I will, the Fame that of my name shall ring  
In time to come, shall fly with fairer wing.   

The lofty Pine that's shaken to and fro 
〈◊〉.   
With Counter-pufs of sundry winds that blow,  
Now, swaying southward tears some root in twain,  
Then, bending Northward doth another strain,  
Reels up and down, tossed by two Tyrants fell,  
Would fall, but cannot; neither yet can tell  
(Inconstant Neu●er, that to both doth yield)  
Which of the two is like to win the Field▪  
So Abraham▪ on each side set-upon  
Betwixt his Faith and his Affection▪  
One while his Faith, anon Affection sways:  
Now wins Religion, anon Reason weighs:  
he's now a fond, and then a faithful Father:  
Now resolute, anon relenting rather:  
One while the Flesh hath got the upper hand:  
Anon the Spirit the same doth countermand.  
he's loath (alas!) his tender Son to kill;  
But much more loath, to break His Fathers will.  
For thus (at last) He saith, now sure I know  
'Tis God, 'tis God; the God that loves me so,  
Loves, keeps, sustains: whom I so oft have seen:  
Whose voice so often hath my comfort been.  
Illuding Satan cannot shine so bright,  
Though Angellized: No, 'Tis my God of Might.  
Now feel I in my Soul (to strength and stir-it)  
The sacred Motions of his sacred Spirit.  
God, this sad Sacrifice requires of me;  
Hap what hap may, I must obedient be.   

The sable Night dis-loged: and now began  
Aurora's Usher with his windy Fan  
Gently to shake the Woods on every side,  
While his fair Mistress (like a stately Bride)  
With flowers, and Gems, and Indian gold doth spangle  
Her lovely locks, her lovers looks to tangle;  
When gliding through the Air, in Mantle blue,  
With silver fringed, she drops the Pearly dew.  
With her goes Abram out: and the third day,  
Arrives on Cedron's Margins greenly-gay:  
Beholds the sacred Hil, and with his Son  
(Loaden with sacred wood) he mounts anon.   

Anon, said Isaac; Father, here I see  
Knife, fire, and faggot, ready instantly:  
But where's your Host? Oh! let us mount, my Son,  
Said Abram: God will soon provide us one.  
But, scant had Isaac turned his face from him,  
A little faster the steep Mount to climb,  
Yer Abram changed cheer; and, as new Win●, 
Simile.   
Working anew, in the new Cask (in fine)  
For being stopped toosoon, and wanting vent,  
Blowes-up the Bung▪ or doth the vessel rend,  
Spews out a purple stream, the ground doth slain,  
With Bacchus' colour, where the cask hath lain:  
So, now the Tears (which manly fortitude  
Did yerst as captive in the Brain include)  
At the dear names of Father and of Son,  
On his pale Cheeks in pearly drops did run:  
His eye's full vessels now began to leak:  
And thus th' old Hebrew muttering 'gan to speak,  
In submiss voice, that Isaac might not hear  
His bitter grief, that he unfoldeth here.   

Sad spectacle! O now my hapless hand,  
Thou whetst a sword, and thou dost teend a brand;  
The brand shall burn my heart, the sword's keen blade  
Shall my blood's blood, and my life's life, invade:  
And thou, poor Isaac, bearest on thy back,  
Wood that shall make thy tender flesh to crack,  
And yield'st thee (more for mine, than thine amiss)  
Both Priest and Beast, of one same Sacrifice.  
O hapless Son! O more than hap-less Sire!  
Most wicked wretch! O what misfortune dire  
In-gulfs us here! where miserable I,  
To be true godly, must God's law deny:  
To be true faithful, must my faith transgress:  
To be God's Son, I must be nothing less  
Than Isaac's Sire: and Isaac (for my sake)  
Must Soil, and Sire, and life and all forsake.   

Yet on he goes, and soon surmounts the Mount,  
And steeled by Faith, he cheers his mournful Front:  
(Much like the Delian Princess, when her Grace 
Simile.   
In Thetis Waves hath lately washed her face)  
He builds his Altar, lays his wood thereon,  
And tenderly binds his dear Son anon.   

Father, said Isaac, Father, Father deer  
(What? do you turn away, as loath to hear?)  
O Father, tell me, tell me what you mean:  
O cruelty unknowen! Is this the mean  
Whereby my loins (as promised long-since is)  
Shall make you Grandsire of so many Princes?  
And shall I (glorious) if I here do die,  
Fill Earth with Kings, with shining Stars the Sky?   

Back, Phoebus: blush, go hide thy golden head:  
Retire thy Coach to Thetis watery Bed:  
See not this savage sight. Shall Abram's mind  
Be mild to all, and to his Son unkind!  
And shall great Abram do the damned deed,  
That Lions, Tigers, Boars, and Bears would dread!  
See how (incensed) he stops his ear to me,  
As dreaming still on's bloody mystery.  
Lord, how precise! see how the Parricide  
Seems to make conscience in less sins to slide:  
And he that means to murder me (his Son)  
Is scrupulous in smaller faults to run.   

Yet (Father) hear me: not that I desire  
With sugared words to quench your Angers fire:  
In Gods' name reap the Grain yourself have sown,  
Come take my life, extracted from your own,  
Glut with my blood your blade, if you it please  
That I must die; welcome my death (mine ease):  
But tell me yet my fault (before I die)  
That hath deserved a punishment so high.  
Say (Father) have I not conspired your death?  
Or with strong poison sought to stop your breath?  
Have I devised to short my Mother's life?  
Or with your Foestaen part in any strife?   

▪ O thou Ethereal Palace Crystalline  
(God's highest Court) If in this heart of mine  
So damned thoughts had ever any place,  
Shut-vp for ever all thy Gates of Grace  
Against my Soul; and never let, that I  
Among thy winged Messengers do fly.   

If none of these, Abram (for I no more  
Dare call thee Father) tell me further-more  
What rests beside, that damned I have done,  
To make a Father Butcher of his Son:  
In memory, that fault I fain would have,  
That (after God's) I might your pardon crave  
For such offence; and so, th' Atonement driven,  
You live content, and I may die forgiven.   

My Son (said He) thou art not hither brought  
By my fell fury, nor thine own foul fault:  
God (our God) calls thee, and He will not let  
A Pagan sword in thy dear blood be wet;  
Nor burning Plague, nor any pining pain  
With Languor turn thy flesh to dust again:  
But Sacrifiçed to him (for sweet perfume)  
Will have thee here within this fire consume.  
What? Fears my Love, my Life my Gem, my joy?  
What God commands, his servants must obey,  
Without consulting with frail Flesh and Blood,  
How he his promise will in time make good:  
How he will make so many Sceptres spring  
From thy dead dust? How He (Alwise) will bring,  
In his due season, from thy sense-less Thighs,  
The glorious Son of righteousness to rise,  
Who shall the Mountains bruise with iron Mace,  
Rule Heaven and Earth, and the Infernal place?  
For, he that (past the course of Nature's kind)  
First gave thee birth, can with his sacred Wind  
Raise thee again out of the lowest just▪  
Tenthousand means he hath to save the just:  
His glorious wisdom guides the world's society,  
With equal Reans of Power and of Piety.   

Mine own sweet Isaac, dearest of my seed  
(Too sweet, alas! the more my grief doth bleed,  
The more my loss, the more (with cease-less anguish)  
My vexed Bowels for thy lack shall anguish)  
Adieu dear Son (no longer mine, but his  
Who calls thee hence) let this unhappy kiss  
Be the sad seal of a more sad Farewell  
Than wit can paint, or words have power to tell.   

Sith God commands, and (father) you require  
To have it so, come Death (no longer dire,  
But glorious now) come gentle death, dispatch:  
The heavens are open, God his arms do●h reach  
T' embrace my Soul: O! let me bravely fly  
To meet my Lord, and Death's proud darts defy.   

What, Father, weep you now? Ah! cease those showers:  
Weep not for me; for I no more am yours:  
I was the Lord's yer I was born, you know;  
And he but lent me for a while to you:  
Will you recoil, and (Coward) lose the Crown  
So near your head, to heap you with renown?  
Shall we so dare to dally with the Lord?  
To cast his yoke, and to contemn his Word?  
Where shall we fly his hand? Heaven is his Throne:  
The Earth his footstool: and dark Acheron  
(The Dungeon where the damned souls be shut)  
Is of his anger evermore the Butt.  
On him alone, all our good-hap depends:  
And he alone from dangers us defends.   

Ah! weep no more: This sacred Turf doth crave  
More blood than Tears: let us us so behave,  
That joined in zeal, we yield us willingly  
To make a virtue of necessity.  
Let's testify we have a time abode,  
I in your School, you in the school of God:  
Where, we have learned that his sacred Word  
(Which made of Nothing, all that ever stirred;  
Which all sustains, and all directeth still)  
To divers ends, conducts the good and ill.   

Who loves not God, more than all Kinn's▪ respect,  
Deserves no place among his dear Elect:  
And who doth once God's Till age under-take,  
Must not look back, neither his Plough forsake.   

Here-with, th' old Hebrew cheerfuller became,  
And (to himself) cries, Courage Abraham:  
The World, the Flesh, Adam, are dead in thee:  
God, Spirit, and Faith, alone subsisting be.  
Lord, by thy Spirit unto my spirit annex  
So lively Faith, that still mine eyes may fix  
On thy true Isaac, whose sharp (sinless) Suffering  
Shall purge, from sin, me and my sinful offering.   

Scarce had he drawn his sword (in resolution)  
With heaved hand for instant execution,  
When instantly the thundering voice of God  
Stayed heart and hand, and thus the Fact forbade;  
Abram, enough: hold, hold thy hand (said he)  
Putup thy sword; thine Isaac shall not die:  
Now, of thy faith I have had perfect proof,  
Thy Will, for Deed I do accept: enough.   

Glad Abram, then, to God gives thanks and praise,  
Unbinds his Son, and in his room he lays  
A Lamb (there strangely hampered by the head)  
And that, to God, devoutly offered.   

Renowned Abraham, Thy noble Acts  
Excel the Fictions of Heröik Facts:  
And, that pure Law a Son of thine shall write,  
Shall nothing else but thy brave deeds recite.  
Extol who list, thy wisdom's excellence,  
Victorious Valour, frank Beneficence,  
And justice too (which even the Gentiles honour):  
Ill dares my Muse take such a task upon-her.  
Only thy Faith (not all, with all th' Effects)  
Only one fruit of thousand she selects,  
For glorious subject: which (to say the right)  
I rather love to wonder-at, than writ.   

Go Pagans, turn, turn-over every Book:  
Through all Memorials of your Martyrs look,  
Collect a Scroll of all the Children slain  
On th' Altars of your Gods: dig-up again  
Your lying Legends: Run through every Temple;  
Among your Offerings, choose the best example  
(Among your Offerings which your Father's past  
Have made, to make their names eternal last)  
Among them all (foundlings) you shall not find  
Such an example, where (unkindely-kinde)  
Father and Son so mutually agree,  
To show themselves, Father nor Son to be:  
Where man's deep zeal, and God's dear favour strove,  
For Counter-conquest in officious love.   

One, by constraint his Son doth sacrifice:  
Another means his Name t' immortallize  
By such a Fact: Another hopes to shun  
Some dismal Plague, or dire Affliction:  
Another, only that he may conform  
To (Tyrant) Custom's, awls lawless Form,  
Which blears our eyes, and blurs our Senses so,  
That Lady Reason must her seat forego:  
Yea, blinds the judgement of the World so far,  
That Uertue's oft arraigned at Vice's Bar.   

But, unconstrained, our Abram, all alone,  
Upon a Mountain, to the guise of none  
(For it was odious to the jews to do)  
And in a time of Peace and plenty too,  
Fights against Nature (pricked with wondrous zeal)  
And, slaying Isaac, wars against his Weal.   

O sacred Muse! that on the double Mount,  
With withering Bays bindest not thy Singers Front;  
But, on Mount Zion in the Angel's Choir,  
With Crowns of glory dost their brows atrire:  
Tell (for thou knowst) what sacred Mystery,  
Under this shadow, doth in secret lie?   

O Death, Sin, Satan, tremble ye not all,  
For hate and horror of your dreadful Fall,  
So lively figured? To behold God's Bow  
So ready bend to cleave your heart in two?  
To see young Isaac, Pattern of that Prince,  
Who shall Sin, Satan, Death, and Hell, convince?   

Both only Sons; both sacred Potentates,  
Both holy Founders of two mighty States,  
Both sanctified, both Saints Progenitors;  
Both bear their Cross, both Lamblike Sufferers,  
Both bound, both blame-less, both without reply,  
Both by their Fathers are ordained to die  
Upon Mount Zion: which high glorious Mount  
Serves us for Ladder to the heavens to mount,  
Restores us Eden's key (the key of Eden,  
Lost through the eating of the fruit forbidden,  
By wretched Adam, and his weaker Wife)  
And blessed bears the holy Tree of life.   

Christ dies indeed: but Isaac is reprieved  
(Because heavens Council otherwise contrived)  
For Isaac's blood was no sufficient price  
To ransom souls from Hell to Paradise:  
The Leprosy of our contagious sin,  
More powerful Rivers must be purged in.   
FINIS.   

The LAW. THE III. PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Envy, in Pharaoh, seeks to stop the Cause  
Of jews increase: Moses escapes his claws;  
Out of a Burning (unburnt) Bush, a Voice  
For Iacob's Rescue doth of Him make choice;  
Sends him (with Aaron) to the Egyptian King:  
His Hard'ning, PLAGVING, final Ruining  
In the Red Sea. Israel ingrate for all:  
Christ-Typing Manna, Quails, Rock-waters fall:  
The glorious LAW: the golden Calf: strange Fire:  
Coré engulfed: MOSES prepared t'expire.   

ARm-Arming Trumpets, lofty Clarions,  
Rock-battering Bumbards, Valour-murdering Guns,  
Think you to drown with horror of your Noise  
The choice sweet accents of my sacred Voice?  
Blow (till you burst) roar, rend the Earth in sunder;  
Fill all with Fury, Tempest, War, and Thunder;  
Dire Instruments of Death, in vain ye toil:  
For, the loud Cornet of my long-breathed style  
Out-shrills ye still; and my Stentorian Song,  
With warbled Echoes of a silver tongue,  
Shall brim be heard from India even to Spain,  
And then from thence, even to the Artik Wain.   

Yet, 'tis not I, not I in any sort;  
My sides' too-weak, alas, my breath's too-short:  
It is the spirit-inspiring Spirit, which yerst  
On th' eldest Waters mildly moved first,  
That furnishes and fills with sacred wind  
The weak, dull Organs of my Muse and mind.   

So, still, good Lord, in these tumultuous times,  
Give Peace unto my Soul, soul to my Rhymes:  
Let me not faint amid so fair a course:  
Let the World's end be th' end of my Discourse:  
And, while in FRANCE fell MARS doth all devour,  
In lofty style (Lord) let me sing thy Power.   

ALL-CHANGING Time had canceled and suppressed  
joseph's Deserts; his Master was deceased,  
His Sons were dead: when currish envy's strife  
Lays each-where ambush for poor ISRAEL'S life:  
Who, notwithstanding, doth far faster spread 
Comparison.   
And thicker spring, than, in a fruitful Mead  
Moted with Brooks, the many-leaved locks  
Of thriving Charvel; which the bleating Flocks  
Can with their daily hunger hardly mow  
So much as daily doth still newly grow.   

This Monster wuns not in the Celestina she wont; 
Description of the Palace of Enuy.   
Sh'hath reared her Palace on the steepest Mount,  
Whose snowy shoulders with their stony pride  
Eternally do Spain from France divide:  
It hath a thousand loopholes every-way;  
Yet never enters there one sunny ray:  
Or if that any chance so far to pass,  
'Tis quickly quenched by her cloudy face:  
At every Loop, the Workman wittily  
Hath plaçed a long, wide, hollow Trunk, whereby  
Prattling Renown and Fame with painted wing,  
News from all corners of the World do bring,  
Buzzing there-in: as, in a Summer Even, 
Simile.   
From clefts of Meadows that the Heat hath riven,  
The grasshoppers, seeming to fain the voices  
Of little Birds, chirp-out ten thousand noises.   

It fortuned now that a swift-flying Fame, 
To whom Fame reporteth Israel's prosperity.   
Which (lately but) from stately Memphis came,  
Sweeting, and dusty, and nigh breath-less, fills  
With this Report one of her listening Quills:  
O curious Nymph (lives there a Wit with us,  
Acute and quick, that is not curious?)  
Most wakeful Goddess, Queen of mortal hearts,  
Consort of Honour, Wealth, and High-Deserts,  
Dost thou not know, that happy ISRAEL  
(Which promiseth, the Conqueror of Hell,  
That twice-born King, hereafter to bring-forth,  
Who dead shall live again; and by his Worth  
Wipe-out Man's Forfeit, and God's Law fulfil,  
And on his Cross th' envy of Envy kill)  
Doth (even in sight) abundantly increase?  
That Heaven and Earth conspire his happiness?  
That scutcheon Exiles, with un▪ hallowed Fry  
Cover the face of all the World well-nigh?  
And, drunk with wealth, weigh not thy force a jot?  
Envy, thou seest it; but foreseest it not.   

Swollen like a Toad, between her bleeding jaws 
●●●y incenseth Pharaoh to oppress them.   
Her hissing Serpents wriggling tails she chaws:  
And, hasting hence, in ISIS form she jets;  
A golden vessel in one hand she gets,  
In th' other a sweet Instrument; her hood  
Was Peacock's feathers mixed with Southernwood;  
A silver Crescent on her front she set,  
And in her bosom many a fostering teat:  
And, thus disguised, with pride and impudence  
She presses-in to the Bubastik Prince,  
Who, slumbering then on his un-quiet Couch,  
With ISRAEL's greatness was disturbed much:  
Then she (the while, squinting upon the lustre  
Of the rich Rings which on his fingers glistre;  
And, snuffing with a writhed nofe the Amber,  
The Musk and Civet that perfumed the Chamber)  
Began thus to greet him: Sleepest thou? sleepest thou, son?  
And see'st thou not thyself and thine undone,  
While cruel Snakes, which thy kind breast did warm,  
Sting thee to death, with their ungrateful swarm?  
These Fugitives, these outcasts do conspire  
Against rich Egypt, and (ingrate) aspire  
With odious Yoke of bondage to debase  
The noble PHARAOH's, Godd's immortal Race.   

With these last words, into his breast she blows  
A baneful air, whose strength unfeltly flows  
Through all his veins; and, having gained his heart,  
Makes Reason stoop to Sense in every part: 
Simile.   
So th' Aspic pale (with too-right aim) doth spit  
On his bare face, that comes too-neer to it,  
The froth that in her teeth to bane she turns;  
A drowsy bane, that inly creeps, and burns  
So secretly, that without sense of pain,  
Scarborow, wound, or swelling, soon the party's slain.  
What shall I farther say? This Sorrow's-Forge,  
This Rack of Kings, Care's fountain, Courtier's scourge,  
Besides her sable poison, doth inspire 
envies▪ two Twins.   
With Hate and Fear the Princes fell desire.   

Henceforth therefore, poor ISRAEL hath no peace,  
Not one good day, no quiet nap, no ease;  
Still, still oppressed, Tax upon Tax arose,  
After Thefts, Threats, and after Threats come blows. 
Slavery of the Israelites.    

The silly wretches are compelled somwhile  
To cut new Channels for the course of Nile:  
Sometimes some City's ruins to repair:  
Sometimes to build huge Castles in the air:  
Sometimes to mount the Parian Mountains higher  
In those proud Towers that after-worlds' admire;  
Those Towers, whose tops the heavens have terrified:  
Those Towers, that excuse th' audacious Titan's pride  
(Those Towers, vain Tokens of a vast expense;  
Trophies of Wealth, Ambition's Monuments)  
To make with their own sweat and blood their mortar:  
To be atonce Brick-maker, Mason, Porter.  
They labour hard, eat little, sleeping less,  
No sooner laid, but thus their Task-lords press;  
Villains, to work: what are ye grown so sloth?  
we'll make ye yield us wax and honey both.   

In brief, this Tyrant, with such servitude, 
Pharaoh his rain policy.   
Thought soon to waste the sacred multitude;  
Or, at the least, that overlaid with woe,  
Weakened with watching, worn with toiling so,  
They would in time become less service-able  
In VENUS Battles, and for breed less able  
(Their spirits dispersed, their bodies over-dried,  
And Cypris sap un-duly qualified):  
But, when he saw this not succeed so well,  
But that the Lord still prospered ISRAEL;  
Inhuman, he commands (on bloody Pain) 
His cruel Edict against the male children.   
That all their male-babes in their birth be slain:  
And that (because that charge had done no good)  
They should be cast, in CAIRO's silver Flood.   

O Barbarism, learned in Hell below!  
Those, that (alas!) nor steel nor stream do know,  
Must Die of steel or stream: cruel Edicts!  
That, with the Infant's blood, the Mother's mix;  
That, Child and Mother both at once cut-off;  
Him with the stroke, her with the grief thereof:  
With twofold tears jews greet their Native Heaven:  
The day that brings them life, their life hath reav'n.   

But, JOCHEEED would fain (if she had durst)  
Her dear son MOSES secretly have nourçed:  
Yet thinking it better her Babeforgo,  
Than Child and Parents both to hazard so,  
At length she lays it forth, in Rush-boat weaves-it,  
And to God's Mercy and the Flood's she leaves-it.   

Though Rudder-les, not Pilot-les, this Boat  
Among the Reeds by the Floods side did float,  
And saves from wrack the future Legislator,  
Lighting in hands of the King's gracious Daughter: 
His Daughter finding Moses exposed, causeth him to be Princely brought up.   
Who opening it, finds (which with ruth did strike-her)  
A lovely Babe (or little Angel liker)  
Which with a smile seemed to implore the aid  
And gentle pity of the Royal Maid.  
Love, and the Graces, State and Majesty,  
Seem round about the Infant's face to fly,  
And on his head seemed (as it were) to shine  
Presagefull rays of somewhat more divine.   

She takes him up, and rears him royal-like;  
And, his quick Spirit, trained in good Arts, is like  
A well breathed Body, nimble, sound, and strong, 
2. Similes.   
That in the Dance-school needs not teaching long:  
Or a good Tree set in as good a soil,  
Which grows apace, without the Husband's toil.   

In time, he puts in Practice what he knows;  
With courteous Mildness, manly Courage shows:  
H'hath nothing vulgar: with great happiness,  
In choice discourse he doth his mind express;  
And as his Soul's-type his sweet tongue affords,  
His graceful Works confirm his gracious Words:  
His Virtues make him even the Empire's heir:  
So means the Prince, such is the people's prayer.   

Thus, while overwhelmed with the rapid course 
God's providence in his preservation.   
Of Mischief's Torrent (and still fearing worse)  
ISRAEL seems helpless and even hopeless too  
Of any help that Mortal hand can do:  
And, while the then-Time's hideous face and form  
Bodes them (alas!) nothing but wrack and storm,  
Their Castor shines, their Saviour's saved: and He  
That with high hand shall them from bondage free,  
Scourging with Plagues, scarring with endless shame  
Th' Egyptian Court, is raised by the same.   

For, though him there they as a God adore, 
Moses affection and duty toward his Parents and care of his Brethren.   
He scorns not yet his friends and kindred poor:  
He feels their Yoke, their mournings he laments:  
His word and sword are priest in their defence;  
And, as ordained, for their Deliverance,  
And sent express by heavens preordinance,  
Seeing a Pagan (a proud Infidel,  
A Patagon, that tasted nought so well  
As ISRAEL's blood) to ill-intreat a jew,  
Him bold encounters, and him bravely slew.   

But, fearing then lest his inhuman Prince 
He flies out of Egypt.   
Should hear of it, young MOSES flies from thence:  
And, hard by Horeb, keeping IETHRO'S sheep,  
He Fasts and Prays; with Meditations deep  
His virtuous zeal he kindles more and more,  
And prudently he lays-up long-before  
Within his Soul (his spiritual Armoury)  
All sacred Weapons of Sobriety,  
Wherewith t' encounter, conquer, and suppress  
All Insurrections of Voluptuousness.  
Also, not seldom some deep Dream or Trance 
God talketh to him in the Wilderness.   
Him suddenly doth even to Heaven advance:  
And He, that whilom could not find the Lord  
On plenteous shores of the Pelusian Ford,  
In walled Cities with their Towered Ports,  
In learned Colleges, nor sumptuous Courts;  
In Desert meets him; greets him, face to face,  
And on his brows bears tokens of his Grace.   

For, while he passed his sacred Pentiship  
(In Wilderness) of th' Hebrews Shepheardship; 
Moses vision of the flaming Bush   
In driving forth to kiss-cloud SINA'S foot  
His fleecy Flock, and there attending too that  
He sudden sees a Bush to flame and fume,  
And all afire, yet not at all consume;  
It flames and burns not, cracks and breaks not in,  
Kisses, but bites not no not even the skin:  
True figure of the Church, and speaking Sign  
Which seemeth thus to, of itself, define:  
What? (AMRAM'S son) Doth IACOB'S bitter Teen  
Dismay thee so? Behold, this Haw-thorn green  
Is even an Image of thine ISRAEL,  
Who in the Fire of his Afflictions fell  
Still flourishes, on each side hedged round  
With prickly Thorns, his hateful Foes to wound:  
This Fire doth seem the Spirit Omnipotent,  
Which burns the Wicked, tries the Innocent;  
Who also addeth to the sacred Sign,  
The more to move him, his own Word Divine. 
The voice of the Lord speaking out of the Bush.    

I AM I that I am, in me, for me, by me:  
All Being's else Be not (or else un-selfly be)  
But, from my Being, all their Being gather;  
Prince of the World, and of my Church the Father:  
Only Beginning, Midst, and End of all;  
Yet sans Beginning, Midst, and End at all:  
All in myself comprised; and all comprising  
That in the World was, is, or shall be rising:  
Base of this Universe: th' uniting Chain  
Of th' Elements: the Wisdom Sovereign:  
Each-where, in Essence, Power and Providence;  
But in the heavens, in my Magnificence:  
Fountain of Goodness: evershining Light:  
Perfectly Blest: the One, the Good, the Bright:  
Self-simple Act, working in frailest matter:  
Framer of Forms: of Substances Creator:  
And (to speak plainer) even that GOD I AM  
Whom so long since religious ABRAHAM,  
ISAAC, and JACOB, and their Progenies  
Have worshipped and praised in humble wise.   

My sacred ears are tired with the noise 
God hath pity on his people afflicted in Egypt.   
Of thy poor Brethren's iust-complayning voice:  
I have beheld my People's burdens there;  
MOSES, no more I will, nor can, forbear:  
Th' have groaned (alas!) and panted all too-long  
Under that Tyrant's un-relenting wrong.   

Now, their Deliverer I authorise thee, 
He ordaineth Moses for their Deliverer, & gives him commission to go to Pharaoh.   
And make thee Captain of their Colony;  
A sacred Colony, to whom (as mine)  
I have so oft bequeathed rich Palestine.  
Therefore from me command thou PHARAOH  
That presently he let my People go  
Into the Dry-Arabian Wilderness,  
Where far from sight of all profane excess,  
On a new Altar they may sacrifice  
To ME the LORD, in whom their succourlies:  
Haste, haste (I say) and make me no excuse  
On thy Tongue's rudeness (for the want of use)  
Nor on thy weakness, nor unworthiness  
To under-go so great a Business.  
What? cannot He, that made the lips and tongue,  
Prompt Eloquence and Art (as doth belong)  
Unto his Legate? And, who every thing  
Of Nothing made, and All to nought shall bring;  
Th' Omnipotent, who doth confound (for His)  
By weak the strong; by what is not, what is,  
(That in his wondrous judgements, men may more  
The Workman than the Instruments adore)  
Will he forsake, or leave him un-assisted,  
That in his service duly hath insisted?  
Sith faithful Servant, to do-well affected,  
Can by his Master never be rejected. 
Moses (accompanied with his brother Aaron) sets forward in his high Embassage.    

No sooner this, the Divine Uoice had ended,  
And up to Heaven the Bushy Flame ascended,  
But MOSES, with (his fellow in Commission)  
His Brother AARON, wends with expedition  
First to his People, and to PHARAOH then,  
The King of Egypt (cruelest of Men):  
And inly filled with a zealous flame,  
Thus, thus he greets him, in th' Almighty's name;  
Great NILUS Lord, thus saith the Lord of Hosts,  
Let go my People out of all thy Coasts,  
Mine ISRAEL (PHARAOH) forthwith release,  
Let them departed to HOREB'S Wilderness;  
That unto me, without offence or fear,  
Their Hearts and Heifers they may offer there.   

Base Fugitive, proud slave (that art returned, 
Pharaos' proud answer.   
Not to be whipped, but rather hanged, or burned)  
What Lord, said PHARAOH? ha! what Sovereign?  
O seaven-horned Nile! O hundred-pointed Plain!  
O City of the Sun! O Thebes! and Thou  
Renowned Pharos, do ye all not bow  
To us alone? Are ye not only Ours?  
Ours at a beck? Then to what other Powers  
Owes your great PHARAOH homage or respect?  
Or by what Lord to be controlled and checked?   

I see the Drift. These off-scums all at once  
Too idly pampered, plot Rebellions:  
Sloth mars the slave●, and under fair pretence  
Of new Religion (Trayrours to their Prince)  
They would Revolt. O Kings! how fond are we  
To think by Favours and by Clemency,  
To keep men in their duty? To be mild,  
Makes them be mad, proud, insolent and wild:  
Toomuch of Grace, our Sceptres doth dis-grace,  
And smooths the path to Treason's plots a pace.  
The dull Ass, numbers with his stripes his steps:  
Th' Ox, overfat, too-strong, and resty, leaps  
About the Lands, casteth his yoke, and strikes,  
And waxed wild, even at his Keeper kicks. 
The true Anatomy of a tyrant.   
Well: to enjoy a People, through their skin  
With scourges slyçed, must their bare bones be seen:  
We must still keep them short, and clip their wings,  
Pair near their nails, and pull out all their stings;  
Lad them with Tribute, and new Towle, and Tax,  
And Subsidies, until we break their backs:  
Tyre them with travail, flay-them, pole-them, pil-them,  
Suck blood and fat, then eat their flesh, and kil-them.  
'Tis good for Princes, to have all things fat,  
Except their Subjects: but beware of that.  
Ha, Miscreants! ha, rascal excrements,  
That lift your heel against your gracious Prince;  
Henceforth, you get nor wood nor straw no more,  
To burn your Bricks as you have had before:  
Yourselves shall seek it out; yet shall you still  
The number of your wont task fulfil.   

I have Commission from the King of Kings, 
Moses reply.   
Maker, Preserver, Ruler of all things,  
Replies the Hebrew, that (to know the Lord)  
Thou feel his hand, unless thou fear his word.   

In th' instant, AARON on the slippery sand 
Aaron casteth down his Rod: which immediately turns into a Serpent.   
Casts down his Rod; and boldly thus began:  
So shall thy golden Sceptre down be cast,  
So shall the judgements of the Lord at last  
(Now deemed dead) revive, to daunt thy power:  
So ISRAEL shall Egypt's wealth devour,  
If thou confess not God to be the Lord:  
If thou attend not, nor observe his Word:  
And if his People thou do not release,  
To go and serve him in the Wilderness.   

Before that AARON this Discourse had done,  
A green-gold-azure had his Rod put-on,  
It glisteren bright: and in a fashion strange,  
Into a Serpent it did wholly change;  
Crawling before the King, and all along  
Spitting, and hissing with his forked tongue. 
The Magicians of Egypt counterfeit that miracle, and bewitch the eyes of the King.    

The Memphian Sages than, and subtle Priests,  
T' uphold the Kingdom of their OSIRIS,  
upbraid them thus: Alas! is this the most  
Your God can do, of whom so much you boast?  
Are these his Wonders? Go (base Montè-banks)  
Go show elsewhere your sleights and juggling pranks.  
Such tricks may blear some vulgar innocents,  
But cannot blind the Counsel of a Prince;  
Who, by the Gods instructed, doth contain  
All Arts perfection in his sacred brain.  
And, as they spoke, out of their cursed hands  
They all letfall their strange-inchanted Wands,  
Which instantly turn into Serpents too,  
Hissing, and spitting, crawling to and fro.  
The King too much admires their cunning Charms:  
The place with Aspics, Snakes, and Serpents swarms;  
Creeping about: as an ill-Huswife sees  
The Maggots creeping in a rotten Cheese. 
Simile.    

You, you are Jugglers, th' Hebrew then replied:  
You change not Nature, but the bare outside;  
And your Enchantments only do transform  
The face of things, not the essential form.  
You (Sorcerers) so mock the Princes ey,  
And, his Imagination damnify,  
That common Sense to his external, brings  
(By re-percussion) a false shape of things.  
My Rod's indeed a Serpent, not in show,  
As here in sight yourselves by proof shall know.  
Immediately his Dragon reared his head,  
Rolled on his breast; his body wriggelled  
Sometimes aloft in length; sometimes it sunk  
Into itself, and altogether shrunk:  
It slides, it sups the air, it hisses fell,  
In steed of eyes two sparkling Rubies swell:  
And all his deadly baens, entrenched strong  
Within his trine Teeth and his triple Tongue, 
Moses rod-Serpent devoureth the Serpents of the Egyptians.   
Call for the Combat: and (as greedy) set  
With sudden rage upon those Counterfeit,  
Those seeming-Serpents, and them all devour:  
Even as a Sturgeon or a Pike, doth scour  
The Creeks and Pills in Rivers where they lie,  
Of smaller Fishes and their feeble fry.   

But, at high Noon, the Tyrant wilfull-blinde, 
Pharaoh and his people hardened: Therefore God plagued Egypt.   
And deaf to his own good, is more inclined▪  
To Satan's tools: the people like the Prince,  
Prefer the Night before Light's excellence.  
Wherefore the Lord, such proud contempts to pay,  
Ten sundry plagues upon their Land doth lay:  
Redoubling so his dradfull strokes, that there,  
Who would not love him mild, him rough should fear.   

Smiting the Waves with his Snake-wanded wood, 
1. By turning their Waters into blood.   
AARON anon converts the Nile to blood;  
So that the stream, from fruitful MEROE,  
Runs red and bitter even unto the Sea.  
The Court re-courst to Lakes, to Springs, and Brooks;  
Brooks, Springs, and Lakes had the like taste and looks:  
Then, to the Ditches; but even to the brink  
There flowed (alas!) in steed of Water, ink:  
Then, to the likeliest of such weeping ground  
Where, with the Rush, pipe-opening Fern is found;  
And there they dig for Water: but (alas!)  
The wounded soil spits blood into their face.  
O iust-iust judgement! Those proud Tyrants fell,  
Those bloody Foes of mourning ISRAEL;  
Those that delighted, and had made their game  
In shedding blood, are forçed to drink the same:  
And those, that ruthless had made Nile the slaughter  
Of th' Hebrew Babes, now die for want of Water.   

Anon, their Fields, Streets, Halls and Courts he loads 
2 Covering their Land with Frogs.   
With foul great Frogs, and ugly croaking Toads;  
Which to the tops of highest Towers do clamber  
Even to the Presence, yea the privy Chamber:  
As starry Lizards in the Summer time  
Upon the walls of broken houses climb.  
Yea; even the King meets them in every dish  
Of Privy-diet, be it Flesh or Fish:  
As at his Board, so on his royal Bed;  
With stinking Frogs the silken quilts be spread. 
The Magicians counterfeit the same, but their deceits are vain    

The Priests of PHARAOH seem to do the same:  
AARON alone in the Almighty's Name,  
By Faith almighty: They for instruments  
Use the black Legions of the Stygian Prince:  
He by his Wonders labours to make known  
The true God's glory; only they their own:  
He seeks to teach; they to seduce awry:  
He studies to build up; they to destroy:  
He, striking Strangers, doth His people spare;  
They spoil their own, but cannot hurt a hair  
Of the least Hebrew: they can only wound;  
He hurts, and heals: He breaks, and maketh sound:  
And so, when PHARAOH doth him humbly pray,  
Re-cleers the Floods, and sends the Frogs away.   

But (as in Heaven there did no justice reign) 
The King eased of his punishment, is again hardened   
The King's repentance endeth with his pain.  
He is re-hardned: like a stubborn Boy  
That plies his Lesson (Hypocritely-coy)  
While in his hand his Master shakes the Rod;  
But, if he turn his back, doth flout and nod.  
Therefore the Lord, this Day, with loathsome Lice 
Therefore 3. Egypt is plagued with Lice.   
Plagues poor and rich, the nasty and the nice,  
Both Man and Beast; For, AARON with his wand  
Turns into Lice the dust of all the Land.  
The morrow after, with huge swarms of Flies,  
Hornets and Wasps, he hunts their Families 
4. With Flies. etc.   
From place to place, through Meadows, Fens and Floods,  
Hills, Dales, and Deserts, hollow Caves and Woods.   

Tremble therefore (O Tyrants) tremble ay,  
Poor worms of Earth, proud Ashes, Dust and Clay;  
For, how (alas!) how will you make defence  
Against the tri-pointed wrathful violence  
Of the dread dart, that, flaming in his hand,  
Shall pash to powder all that him withstand?  
And against the rage of flames eternal-frying,  
Where damned souls lie ever-never-dying:  
Sith the least Flies, and Lice, and Vermin too  
Outbrave your braves, and Triumph over you.   

Gallop to Anian, sail to jucatan, 
Man cannot hide him from the hand of God, nor avoid his vengeance.   
Visit Botongas', dive beyond the Dane:  
Well may you fly, but not escape him there:  
Wretches, your halter's still about you bear.  
Th' Almighty's hand is long, and busy still;  
Having escaped his Rod, his Sword you feel:  
He seems sometimes to sleep, and suffer all;  
But calls at last for Use and Principal:  
With hundred sorts of Shafts his Quiver's full,  
Some passing keen, some somewhat sharp, some dull,  
Some kill dead, some wounding deep, some light;  
But all of them do always hit the White,  
Each after other. Now th' Omnipotence  
At Egypt shoots his Shafts of Pestilence:  
Th' Ox falls-down in his yoke, Lambs bleating die, 
5. With the Plague of Pestilence.   
The Bullocks as they feed, Birds as they fly.   

Anon he covers Man and Beast with cores  
Of angry Biles, Botches, and Scabs, and Sores; 
6. With Ulcers & grievous Scabs or Murrain.   
Whose ulcerous venoms, all inflaming, spread  
O'er all the body from the foot to head.   

Then, Rain, and Hail, and flaming Fire among  
Spoil all their fields: their cattle great with young 
7. With hail & Fire from Heaven   
All brained with hailstones: Trees with tempest cleft,  
Robbed of their boughs, their boughs of leaves bereft.  
And, from heavens rage, all to seek shelter, glad;  
The Face of Egypt is now dradly-sad:  
The Son in Virgins tear-their Beauties honour; 
Egyptians amazed at this extraordinary scourge.   
Not for the waste, so much, as for the manner.   

For, in that Country never see they Cloud,  
With weight of snows their trees are never bowed,  
They know no Ice: and though they have (as we)  
The Year entire, their Seasons are but three:  
They neither Rainbow, nor fat Dews expect,  
Which from elsewhere Sol's thirsty rays erect: 
The natural fruitfulness and prosperity of Egypt, in itself marvelous.   
Rainles, their soil is wet; and, Clowdles, fat;  
Itself's moist bosom brings it this and that:  
For, while elsewhere, the River's roaring pride  
Is dryed-up; and while that far and wide  
The Palestine seeks (for his thirsty Flock)  
jordan in jordan, jaboc in jaboc;  
Their flood o'erflows, and parched M●sraim  
A season seems in a rich Sea to swim,  
Nile's billows beat on the high-dangling Date;  
And Boats do slice, where Ploughs did slide of late.   

Steep snowy Mounts, bright Stars, Etesian gales,  
You cause it not: no, those are Dreams and Tales:  
Th' Eternall-Trine, who made all compassly,  
Makes th' under waves, the vpper's want supply;  
And, Egypt's Womb to fill with fruits and Flowers,  
Gives swelling Nile th' office of heavenly Showers.   

Then, the Thrice-Sacred with a sable Cloud  
Of horned Locusts doth the Sun be-clowd,  
And swarmeth down on the rebellious Coast 
8. They are vexed with Grasshoppers.   
The grasshoppers lean, dam-devouring Host;  
Which gleans what Hail had left, and (greedy) crops  
Both Night and Day the Husband's whole-year's hopes.   

Then, gross thick Darkness over all he dight,  
And three fair Days turns to one fearful Night: 
9 With palpable darkness.   
With Ink-like Rheum the dull Mist's drowsy vapours  
Quench their home-Fires, and Temple-sacred Tapers.  
If hunger drive the Pagan from their dens,  
One against a settle breaketh both his shins;  
Another, groping up and down for bread,  
Falls down the stayrs, and there he lies for dead.   

But, though these works surmount all Nature's might,  
Though his own Sages them of guile acquight,  
Though th' are not casual (sith the holy-man 
The Israelites in all these plagues untouched, yet Pharaoh still hardened.   
Foretells prefixtly What, and Where, and When)  
And though that (living in the midst of His)  
The Israelites be free from all of This,  
Th' incensed Tyrant (strangely-obstinate)  
Retracts the Leave he granted them of late.   

For, th' Ever-One, who with a mighty hand  
Would bring his People to the plenteous Land  
Of Palestine: Who providently-great,  
Before the eyes of all the World would set  
A Tragedy, where wicked Potentates  
Might see a Mirror of their own estates:  
And, who (mostiust) must have meet Arguments,  
To show the height of his Omnipotence;  
Hardens the King and blinding him (self-blind)  
Leaves him to Lusts of his own vicious mind.  
For, God doth never (ever purely bend)  
Cause sin, as sin; but as Sin's Punishment.   

For the last Charge, an Angel in one night, 
10. Therefore all the first borne of Egypt are slain in one night by the Angel.   
All the first born through all the Land doth smite;  
So that from Suës Port to Birdene Plain,  
there's not a House, but hath some body slain,  
Save th' Israelites, whose doors were marked before,  
With sacred Pass-Lamb's sacramental gore.  
And therefore ever-since on that same day,  
yearly, the jews a Yearling Lamb must slay;  
A token of that Passage, and a Type  
Of th' Holy-Lamb, which should (in season ripe)  
By powring-forth the pure and plenteous Flood  
Of his most precious Water-mixed Blood,  
Preserve his People from the dread Destroyer,  
That fries the wicked in eternal fire.   

Through all the Land, all in one instant cry,  
All for one cause, though yet all know not why.  
Night heaps their horrors: and the Morning shows  
Their private griefs, and makes them public woes.  
Scarce did the glorious Governor of Day 
After so many grievous plagues the Egyptian●ery out upon their King to let the Israelites go.   
O'er Memphis yet his golden tress display,  
When from all parts, the Maidens and the Mothers,  
Wives, Husbands, Sons, and Siers, Sisters, and Brothers,  
Flock to the Court, where with one common voice  
They all cry-out, and make this mournful noise:   

O stubborn stomach! (cause of all our sadness)  
Dull Constancy! or rather, desperate Madness!  
A Flood of Mischiefs all the Land doth fill,  
The heavens still Thunder; th' Air doth threaten still:  
Death, ghastly death triumpheth everywhere,  
In every house; and yet without all fear,  
Without all feeling, we despise the Rod,  
And scorn the judgements of the mighty God.  
Great King, no more bay with thy wilfullings  
His Wrath's dread Torrent. He is King of Kings;  
And in his sight, the Greatest of you all  
Are but as Moats that in the Sun do fall:  
Yield, yield (alas!) stoop to his powerful threat;  
He's warned enough that hath been ten times beat.   

Go, get you gone: hence, hence un-lucky race; 
They hasten and importune them to be gone.   
Your eyes bewitch our eyes, your feet this Place,  
Your breath this air: Why haste you not away?  
Hebrews, what lets you? wherefore do you stay?  
Step to our houses (if that ought you lack)  
Choose what you like, and what you like go take,  
Gold, Plate, or jewels, Earrings, Chains, or Ouches,  
Our Girdles, Bracelets, Carcanets, or Brouches,  
Bear them unto your gods, not in the sands  
Where the Heav'n-kissing Clowd-browd Sina stands;  
But much, much farther, and so far, that here  
We never more your odious news may hear:  
Go Hebrews, go, in God's Name thrive amain;  
By losing you, we shall sufficient gain.   

With the King's leave, than th' Hebrews Prince collects 
After their departure, Pharaoh immediately pursues them.   
His Legions all, and to the Sea directs:  
Scarce were they gone, when Pharaoh doth retract,  
And arms all Egypt to go fetch them back;  
And camping near them, execrably-rude,  
Threatens them death, or end-less Servitude,   

Even as a Duck, that nigh some crystal brook 
Simile.   
Hath twice or thrice by the same Hawk been struck,  
Hearing aloft her jingling silver bells,  
Quivers for fear, and looks for nothing else  
But when the Falcon (stooping thunderlike)  
With sudden sauce her to the soil shall strike,  
And with the stroke, make on the sense-less ground  
The gut-less Quar, once, twice, or thrice rebound:  
So Israel, fearing again to feel  
Pharao's fell hands, who hunts him at the heel,  
Quivers and shivers for despair and dread;  
And spits his gall against his godly Head.   

O base ambition! This false Politic, 
The Israelites fear, and murmuring against Moses.   
Plotting to Great himself, our deaths doth seek:  
He mocks us all, and makes us (fortune-less)  
Change a rich Soil for a dry Wilderness;  
Allur'd with lustre of Religious shows,  
Poor souls, He sells us to our hateful Foes:  
For, O! what strength? alas! what stratagem?  
Or how (good God) shall we encounter them?  
Or who is it? or what is it, shall save us  
From their fell hands that seek to slay, or slave-us?  
Shall we, dis-armed, with an Army fight?  
Can we (like Birds) with still-steep-rising flight  
Surmount these Mountains? have we Ships at hand  
To pass the Sea (this half a Sea half sand)?  
Or, had we Ships, and Sails, and Owers, and Cable;  
Who knows these Waters to be navigable?  
Alas! some of us shall with Scitheses be slashed;  
Some, with their Horse-feets all to pieces pash●,  
Some, thrilled with Swords, or Shafts, through hundred holes  
Shall ghastly gasp-out our untimely souls:  
Sith die we must, then die we voluntary:  
Let's run, ourselves, where others would us carry;  
Come Israelites, come, let us die together,  
Both men and women: so we shall (in either)  
Prevent their rage, content their avarice,  
And yield (perhaps) to MOSES, even his Wish. 
Moses instruction to encourage them, with assured confidence in God.    

Why brethren? know ye not, their Ruler saith,  
That in his hand God holdeth life and death?  
That He turns Hills to Dales, and Seas to Sands?  
That He hath (priest) a thousand winged Bands  
T'assist his Children, and his Foes t'assail?  
And that He helps not, but when all helps fail?  
See you this mighty Host, this dreadful Camp,  
Which dareth Heaven, and seems the Earth to damp;  
And all enraged, already chargeth ours,  
As thick, or thicker than the Welkin powers 
Simile.   
His candied drops upon the ears of Corn,  
Before that Ceres yellow locks be shorn?  
It all shall vanish, and of all this Crew  
(Which thinks already to have swallowed you)  
Of all this army, that (in Armour bright)  
Seems to outshine the Sun, or shame his light;  
There shall tomorrow not a man remain:  
Therefore be still; God shall your side sustain.   

Then (zealous) calling on th' immortal God, 
Calling upon God he parts the Red Sea, so that the people pass through as on dry land.   
He smote the Sea with his dead-living Rod:  
The Sea obeyed, as bayed: the Waves, controlled,  
Each upon other up to Heaven do fold:  
Between both sides, abroad deep Trench is cast,  
Dried to the bottom with an instant blast:  
Or rather, 'tis a Valley paved (else)  
With golden sands, with Pearl, and Nacre-shels,  
And on each side is flanked all along  
With walls of crystal, beautiful and strong.   

This flood-less Ford, the Faithful Legions pass,  
And all the way their shoe scarce moisted was.  
Dream we (said they)? or is true we try?  
The Sea start at a stick? The Water dry?  
The Deep a Path? Th' Ocean in th' air suspending?  
Bulwarks of Billows, and no drop descending?  
Two Walls of Glass, built with a word alone,  
Africa and Asia to con-join in one?  
Th' allseeing Sun new bottoms to behold?  
Children to run, where Tunnies lately rolled? 
The Egyptians following them are swallowed in the Sea.    

Th' Egyptian Troops pursue them by the tract;  
Yet waits the patiented Sea, and still stands back,  
Till all the Host be marching in their ranks  
Within the lane between his crystal banks:  
But, as a wall weakened with mining-under,  
The Piles consumed falls suddenly asunder,  
O're-whelmeth all that stand too near the breach, 
Simile.   
And with his Ruins fils-up all the ditch:  
Evenso God's finger, which these Waters bayed,  
Being withdrawn, the Ocean swelled and swayed;  
And, reconjoining his congealed Flood,  
Swallows in th' instant all those Tyrantswood.   

Heer, one by swimming thinks himself to save:  
But, with his scarf tangled about a Nave,  
He's strangled strait; and to the bottom sinking,  
Dies; not of toomuch drink, but for not drinking:  
While that (in vain) another with loud lashes  
Scours his proud Coursers through the scarlet Washeses;  
The streams (whereon more Deaths than waves do swim)  
Bury his Chariot, and his Chariot him:  
Another, swallowed in a Whirl-Whales womb,  
Is laid alive within a living Tomb:  
Another, seeing his Twin-brother drowning,  
Out of his Coach, his hand (to help him) downing;  
With both his hands grasping that hand, his Twin  
Unto the bottom hales him headlong in;  
And instantly the Water covers either:  
Right Twins indeed; born, bred, and dead together.   

Nile's stubborn Monarch, stately drawn upon 
Pharaoh profanely blaspheming & proudly braving Moses and the Sea, is notwithstanding drowned with the rest.   
A curious Chariot chaçed with pearl and stone,  
By two proud Coursers, passing Snow for colour;  
For strength, the Elephants; Lions for valour;  
Curseth the heavens, the Air, the Winds, and Waves;  
And, marching up-ward, still blasphemes and braves:  
Heer, a huge Billow on his Targe doth split;  
Then, comes a bigger, and a bigger yet,  
To second those: The Sea grows ghastly great;  
Yet stoutly still, He thus doth dare and threat:  
Base roaguing juggler, thinkest thou with thy Charm▪  
Thou shalt prevail against our puissant arms?  
Thinkest thou poor shifter, with thy Hel-spels thus  
To cross our Counsels, and discomfit us?  
And, O proud Sea! false, traitorous Sea, darest thou?  
Darest thou conspire against thine own Neptune now?  
Darest thou presume against us to rise and roar?  
I charge thee cease: be still I say: no more:  
Or I shall clap thine arms in Marble stocks,  
And yoke thy shoulders with a Bridge of Rocks;  
Or banish thee from Ethans' far for ay,  
Through some new Channel to go seek thy way.   

Heerat, the Ocean more than ever frets,  
All topsy-turvy upsidedown it sets;  
And a black billow that aloft doth float,  
With salt and sand, stops his blasphemous throat.  
What now betides the Tyrant? Waters now  
Have reft his neck, his chin, cheeks, eyes, and brow;  
His front, his foretop: now there's nothing seen,  
But his proud arm, shaking his Fawchin keen;  
Wherewith, he seems, inspite of Heaven and Hell,  
To fight with Death, and menace Israel.  
At last he sinks all under water quite,  
Spurning the sand, again he springs upright;  
But, from so deep a bottom to the top,  
So clogged with arms, can cleave no passage up:  
As the poor Partridge covered with the net 
Simile.   
In vain doth strive, struggle, and bate, and beat;  
For the close meshes, and the Fowler's craft,  
Suffer the same no more to whu●e aloft.   

I, to yourselves leave to conceive the joy,  
Of IACOB'S heirs, thus rescued from annoy;  
Seeing the Sea to take their cause in hand,  
And their dead Foes shuffled upon the sand;  
Their shields, and staves, and Chariots (all-to-tore)  
Floating about, and fling upon the shore:  
When thus th' Almighty (glorious God most High)  
For them without them, got the Victory,  
They skip and dau●ce; and marrying all their voices,  
To Timbrels, Hawbois, and loud Cornets noises,  
Make all the shores resound, and all the Coasts,  
With the shrill Praises of the Lord of Hosts. 
2. Part of this Tract: where is discoursed of the estate of the People of Israel in the Wilderness, until the death of Moses.    

Eternal issue of eternal Sire,  
Deep Wisdom of the Father, now inspire  
And show the sequel that from hence befell,  
And how He dealt with his deer Israel,  
Amid the Desert, in their Pilgrimage  
Towards the Promised plenteous Heritage:  
Tell for (I know) thou knowst: for, compassed ay  
With Fire by Night, and with a Cloud by Day,  
Thou (my soul's hope) wert their sole guide and guard,  
Their Meat and Drink in all their journey hard.   

Marching amid the Desert, nought they lack:  
Heaven still distils an Ocean (for their sake)  
Of end-les-good: and every Morn doth send  
Sufficient Food for all the day to spend.  
When the Sun riseth, and doth haste his Race,  
(Half ours, half theirs, that underneath us pace)  
To re-beholde the beauty, number, order,  
And prudent Rule (preventing all mis-order)  
Of th' awful Host lodged in the Wilderness,  
So favoured of the Sun of Righteousness:  
Each comes but forth his Tent, and at his door  
Finds his bread ready (without seeking more):  
A pleasant bread, which from his plenteous cloud,  
Like little Hail, heavens wakeful Steward strowed.  
The yellow sands of Elim's ample Plain  
Were heaped all with a white sugared grain,  
Sweet Corianders; junkets, not to feed 
God giveth them Manna.   
This Host alone, but even a World (for need).  
Each hath his part, and every one is fed,  
With the sweet morsels of an un-bought bread. 
It is given from day to day.   
It never reins for a whole year atonce,  
But daily for a day's provisions:  
To th' end, so great an Host, so kerbed strait,  
Still on the Lord's wide open hand should wait,  
And every Dawning have due cause to call  
On him, their Founder, and the Fount of all:  
Each, for his portion hath an Omer-full;  
The sur-plus rots, mould, knead it how they will.  
The Holy-one (just Arbitrer of wrong)  
Allows no less unto the weak, than strong:  
On Sabbaoth's Eve, he lets sufficient fall,  
To serve for that day, and the next withal,  
That on his Rest, the sacred Folk may gather,  
Not body's meat, but spiritual Manna rather.   

Thou that from Heaven thy daily whitebread hast,  
Thou, for whom Harvest all the Year doth last,  
That in poor Deserts, rich abundance heap'st,  
That sweat-les eatest, and without sowing reap'st,  
That hast the Air for farm, and Heaven for field  
(Which, sugared Mel, or melled sugar yield)  
That, for taste-changing dost not change thy cheer,  
God's Pensioner, and Angel's Table-peer: 
It is a lively figure of Christ the true bread of life.   
O Israel! see in this Table pure,  
In this fair glass, thy Saviour's portraiture,  
The Son of God, MESSIAH promised,  
The sacred seed, to bruise the Serpent's head:  
The glorious Prince, whose Sceptre ever shines,  
Whose Kingdom's scope the Heaven of Heavens confines;  
And, when He shall (to light thy Sinful load)  
Put Manhood on, dis-knowe him not for God.   

This Grain is small, but full of substance though: 
The same demonstrated by particular conference.   
CHRIST strong in working, though but weak in show.  
Manna is sweet: Christ as the honeycomb.  
Manna from high: and CHRIST from Heaven doth come.  
With that, there falls a pleasant pearly dew:  
CHRIST comming-down doth all the Earth be-streaw  
With spiritual gifts. That, unto great and small  
Tastes to their tastes: and CHRIST is all to all:  
(Food to the hungry, to the needy wealth,  
joy to th' afflicted, to the sickly health,  
Pardon to those Repent, Prop to the bowed,  
Life's savour to the Meek, DeathsDeaths to the Proud).  
That's common good: and Christ communicate.  
That's purely-white: and Christ immaculate.  
That gluts the wanton Hebrews (at the last):  
Christ and his Word the World doth soon distaste.  
Of that, they eat no less that have one measure,  
Than who have hundred: and in Christ his Treasure  
Of Divine Grace, the faithful Proselyte  
Hath no less part, than Doctors (deep of sight).  
That's round: Christ simple, and sincerely-round.  
That in the Ark: Christ in his Church is found.  
That doth (with certain) stinking worms become:  
Christ (th' Ever-Word) is scandal unto some.  
That raineth not, but on the sacred Race:  
Christ to his Chosen doth confine his Grace.  
That's broken every grain: Christ (Lamb of God)  
Upon his Cross-press is so torn and trod,  
That of his Blood the precious Flood hath purled,  
Down from Mount Zion over all the World. 
The people lust for flesh.    

Yet glutted now with this ambrosial Food,  
This Heavenly bread, so holy and so good,  
Th' Hebrews do lust for flesh: a fresh Southwinde  
Brings shoals of Fowls to satisfy their mind; 
God sends them Quails.   
A cloud of Quails on all the Camp is sent,  
And every one may take to his content:  
For, in the Host, and all the Country by,  
For a days-iourney, Cubit thick they lie.   

But though their Commons be thus delicate,  
Although their eyes can scarce look out for fat,  
Although their Bellies strut with too much meat,  
Though (Epicures) they vomit as they eat;  
Yet still they howl for hunger: and they long  
For Memphian hodge-podge, Leeks, and Garlic strong: 
They long for the Garlic & Onions of Egypt.   
As Childe-great Women, or green Maids (that miss  
Their Terms appointed for their flourishes)  
Pine at a Princely feast, preferring far,  
Red Herrings, Rashers, and (some) sops in T●r▪ 
Simile.   
Yea, coals, and clouts, sticks, stalks, and dirt, before  
Quail, Pheasant, Partridge, and a hundred more:  
So their fantastic wearisome disease,  
Distastes their tastes, and makes them strange to please.   

But, when the Bull, that lately tossed his horn  
In wanton Pride, hangs down his head, forlorn  
For lack of Water: and the Soldier bleak  
Grows (without Arms) for his own weight too-weak,  
When fiery Thirst through all their veins so fierce  
Consumes their blood, into their bones doth pierce;  
Sups-up their vital humour, and doth dry  
Their whilom-beauties to Anatomy:  
They weep and wail, and but their voice (alas!)  
Is choked already that it cannot pass 
They murmur for want of water with grievous imputation to their good Guide.   
Through the rough Sraight● of their dry throats; they wo●  
Roar-out their grief, that all men hear them should.  
O Duke! (no Hebrew, but an Ethnic rather)  
Is this (alas!) the guerdon that we gather,  
For all the service thou hast had of us?  
What have we done, that thou betrayest us thus?  
For our obedience, shall we evermore  
With Fear and Want be haunted at our door?  
O windy words! O perjured promises!  
O gloze, to gull our honest simpleness!  
Escaped from Hunger, Thirst doth cut our throat:  
Past the Red Sea, here up and down we float  
On firm-less sands of this vast Desert here,  
Where, to and fro we wander many a year:  
Looking for Liberty, we find not Life:  
No, neither Death (the welcome end of strife).  
Envy not us, dear Babes: we envy you,  
You happy ones, whom Egypt's Tyrant slew;  
Your Birth and Death came hand in hand together,  
Your end was quick, nay'twas an Entry rather  
To end-less Life: We wretches, with our age  
Increase our Woes, in this long Pilgrimage:  
We hope no Harbour where we may take breath:  
And Life to us is a continual Death.  
You blessed live, and see th' Almighty's face:  
Our Days begin in tears, in toils they pass,  
And end in dolours (this is all we do):  
But Death concludes tears, toils, and dolours too.   

Stifnecked People, stubborn generation, 
Moses reproves them, & smiteth the Rock, from whence issues plenty of water.   
Egypt doth witness (in a wondrous fashion)  
God's goodness (to thee): all the Elements  
Expound unto thee his Omnipotence:  
And dost thou murmur still? and darest thou yet  
Blaspheme his promise, and discredit it?  
Said MOSES then, and gave a sudden knock  
With his dear Sceptre on a mighty Rock;  
From top to toe it shakes, and splits withal,  
And well-nigh half, unto the ground doth fall,  
As smit with Lightning: then, with rapid rush,  
Out of the stone a plenteous stream doth gush,  
Which murmurs through the Plain; proud, that his glass  
Gliding so swift, so soon re-youngs the grass;  
And, to be gaz'd-on by the wanton Sun,  
And, through new paths so brave a course to run.   

Who hath not seen (far up within the Land) 
Simile.   
A shoal of Geese on the dry-Sommersand  
In their hoarse language (sometimes lowely-lowd)  
Suing for secure to some moystful cloud;  
How, when the Rain descends, their wings they beat,  
(With the fresh drops to cool their swelting heat)  
Bib with their Bill, bouz with their throats, and suck,  
And twenty times unto the bottom duck?  
Such th' Hebrews glee: one, stooping down, doth sup  
The clear quick stream; another takes it up  
In his bare hand, another in his hat;  
This in his busk in, in a bucket, that  
(Well fresht himself) bears some unto his Flock;  
This fills his pitcherful, and that his Crock:  
And othersom (whose Thirst is more extreme) 
They march toward Mount Sina, where God delivereth them his LAW.   
Like Frogs lie paddling in the crystal stream.   

From Rephidim, alongst the Desert Coast,  
Now to Mount Sina marcheth all the Host;  
Where, th' everlasting GOD, in glorious wonder,  
With dreadful voice his fearful LAW doth thunder;  
To show, that His reverend, Divine Decrees  
(Whereto all hearts should bow, and bend all knees)  
Proceed not from a Politic Pretence,  
A wretched Kingling, or a petty Prince;  
(Nymph-prompted NUMA, or the Spartans' Lord,  
Or him that did Cecropian Strifes accord)  
Nor from the mouth of any mortal man;  
But from that King, who at his pleasure can  
Shake Heaven, and Earth, and Air, and all therein:  
That ISRAEL shall find him (if they sin)  
As terrible with Vengeance in his hand,  
As dreadful now in giving the COMMAND:  
And, that the Text of that dread Testament  
graven in two Tables, for us impotent,  
Hath in the same, a sadder load comprised,  
And heavier yoke, then is the yoke of Christ.  
That, that doth show us Sin; threats, wounds, and kills:  
This offers Grace, Balm in our sores distils.   

Redoubled Lightnings dazzleth ' Hebrews eyes, 
With what dreadful Majesty it was delivered.   
Clowd-sund'ring Thunder roars through Earth and skies,  
Louder and louder it careers and cracks,  
And stately SINA'S massy centre shakes,  
And turneth round, and on his sacred top,  
A whirling flame round like a Ball doth wrap;  
Under his rocky ribs, in Coombs below,  
Rough-blustering BOREAS, nursed with Riphean snow,  
And blub-checkt AUSTERE, puffed with fumes before,  
Met in the midst, justling for room, do roar:  
A cloak of clouds all thorough-lined with Thunder,  
Muffles the Mountain both aloft and under:  
On PHARAN now no shining PHARUS shows.  
A Heavenly Trump a shrill Tantara blows,  
The winged Winds, the Lightning's nimble-flash,  
The smoking storms, the whirl-fire's crackling clash,  
And deafening Thunders, with the same do sing  
(O wondrous consort!) th' everlasting King  
His glorious Wisdom, who doth give the Law  
To th' Heavenly Troops, and keeps them all in awe.  
But, as in Battle, we can hear no more 
Simile.   
Small Pistol-shot, when once the Canons roar:  
And as a Cornet soundeth clear and rife, 
Simile.   
Above the warbling of an Alman Fife;  
A dradder voice (yet a distincter voice)  
Whose sound doth drown all th' other former noise,  
Roars in the Vale, and on the sacred Hill,  
Which thrills the ears, but more the heart doth thrill  
Of trembling jacob: who all pale for fear,  
From God's own mouth these sacred words doth hear;   

Hark Israel: O jacob hear my Law:  
Hear it, to keep it (and thyself in awe).  
I am jehovah, I (with mighty hand)  
Brought thee from bondage out of Egypt Land:  
ADORE ME ONLY for thy God and Lord,  
With all thy heart, in every Deed and Word.  
MAKE THEE NONE IMAGE (not of any sort) 
The Decalogue.   
To thy own Works My Glory to transport.  
USE NOT MY NAME without respect and fear,  
Never Blaspheme, neither thyself for-swear.  
SIX DAYS WORK for thy food: but then (as I)  
REST ON THE seventh, and to my Temple high.  
TO THOSE that gave thee life, due REVERENCE give,  
If thou desire long in the Land to live.  
IMBRVE thou NOT THY HAND IN HUMAN BLOOD.  
SLAIN NOT another's BED. STEAL NO MAN'S GOOD.  
BEAR NO FALSE WITNESS. COVET NOT to have  
Thy Neighbour's Wife, his Ox, his Ass, his Slave,  
His House, his Land, his Cattle or his Coin,  
His Place, or Grace; or aught that is not Thine. 
The excellency of the Law of God.    

Eternal Tutor, O Rule truely-right  
Of our frail life! our footsteps Lantern bright:  
O soul's sweet Rest! O biting curb of Sin!  
Which Bade despise, the Good take pleasure in:  
Reverend EDICTS upon Mount SINA given,  
How-much-fold sense is in few words contriven▪  
How wonderful, and how exceeding-far!  
How plain, how sacred, how profound you are!  
All Nations else, a thousand times (for cause)  
Have Writ and Raçed, and chopped and changed their Laws:  
Except the jews; but they, although their State  
With every Moon almost did innovate  
(As sometimes having Kings, and sometimes none)  
In all their changes kept their Law still one.   

What resteth at this day, of Salaminian, 
The inconstancy and vanity of human Laws.   
Laconian LAWS, or of the Carthaginian?  
Yea Rome, that made even all the World one City,  
So strong in Arms, and in State's-Art so witty;  
Hath, in the Ruins of her Pride's rich Babel's,  
Left but a Relic of her Twice-Six-Tables.  
But, since in Horeb the High-Thundring ONE 
Stability and authority of the Law of God.   
Pronounçed This Law, three-thousands times the Sun  
Hath galloped round Heaven's golden Bandeleer,  
Embossed with Beasts, studded with stars so clear;  
And yet one tittle hath not Time bereft,  
Although the People unto whom 'twas left,  
Be now no People, but (expulsed from home)  
Through all the corners of the World do roam:  
And though their State, through every Age almost,  
On a rough Sea of Mischiefs hath been tossed.   

A Butt, a Brook, a Torrent doth confine  
All other Laws: Megarian Discipline  
Hath nought of th' Attic: nor the Coronan  
Of Theban Rites: nor Thebes of Cadmèan:  
But, this Set LAW given IACOB'S Generations,  
Is the true Law of Nature, and of Nations,  
Which (sacred) sounds wher-ever (to descry)  
Th' all-searching Sun doth cast his flaming eye.  
The Turks embrace, the Christians honour it,  
And jews with Fear, do even adore it yet.   

I only, I (Great GOD) thy LAWS do spurn 
How all men transgress the same in every part.   
With my foul feet, I do thy Satutes scorn:  
Puffed in my Soul with extreme Pride, before,  
Nay in thy stead, I do myself Adore.  
I Serve no wooden gods, nor Kneel to Stones;  
But Covetous, I Worship Golden ones.  
I Name thee not, but in vain Blasphemy,  
Or (ACHAB-like) in sad Hypocrisy.  
I Rest the Sabboath: yet I break thy LAW,  
Serving (for thee) mine idle Mouth and Maw.  
I Reverence Superiors, but in show;  
Not out of Love, but as compelled so.  
I Murder none, yet doth my Tongue too-rife  
Wound others Fame, and my Hearts-hate their life.  
I Civilize, lest that I seem Obscene:  
But Lord (Thou knowst) I am Unchaste, unclean.  
I seem no Thief: yet tempted with my Want,  
I take too oft the Fruit I did not plant.  
I speak not much: yet in my little Talk,  
Much Vanity, and many Lies do walk.  
I Wish too-earnest, and too-oft (in fine)  
For others Fortunes, malcontent with mine.   

Here lie I naked: lo th' Anatomy 
Remedy for all our sins.   
Of my foul Heart. O Humane-Deity!  
O Christ! th' Almighties like Almighty Word,  
O put-me-on Thy rob! as whilom (Lord)  
Thou putst-on Mine: me in Thy Blood be-lave;  
And in my Soul thy sacred Laws engrave.   

While with the Duke, th' Eternal did devise,  
And to his inward sight did modulize  
His Tabernacle's admirable Form;  
And prudently him (faithful) did inform  
In a new Rubrik of the Rites Divine,  
To th' end the Heirs of promised Palestine,  
After their fancy should not worship him,  
Nor (Idol-prone) example leading them,  
Into his sacred TEMPLE introduce  
The Sacrifices that the Heathen use:  
But, by their Rites to guide their spiritual eye  
To Christ, the Rock on whom their hopes should lie; 
In Moses absence Aaron makes the golden Calf.   
Behold (alas!) frail Aaron, Deputied  
During his absence, all the Flock to guide,  
Dumb coward Cur, barks not against their ill;  
But giving way to the mad People's will,  
Casteth a Golden Calf, and sets it up,  
For them to worship, and unto it stoop:  
Gold, Rings, and jewels, which the Lord of Heaven  
Had (as Love-tokens) lately to them given,  
Are cast into a Mould; and (which is worse)  
jacob, to wed a Calf, doth God divorce.  
Those Feet, that dryshod past the Crimson Gulf,  
Now Dance (alas!) before a Molten Calf:  
That Voice, which late on ETHAM sands had rung  
Th' almighty's glory, now to Satan sung.   

The zealous Prophet, with just fury moved, 
Moses sharply reproveth Aaron, breaks the Idol, and punisheth the Idolaters.   
'Fore all the Host, his Brother sharp reproved:  
And pulverized their Idol: and eftsoons  
Flankt by old LEVI'S most religious Sons,  
Throngs through the Camp, & each-where strews his way  
With blood and slaughter, horror and dismay:  
As half a score of Reapers nimbly-neat, 
Simile.   
With cheerful eye choosing a plot of Wheat,  
Reap it at pleasure, and of Ceres' locks  
Make handfuls sheaves, & of their sheaves make Shocks;  
And through the Field from end to end do run,  
Working a-vie, till all be down and don:  
Or, as so many Canons shot atonce  
Affront a Camp; Th' Earth with the Thunder groans; 
Simile.   
Here flies a broken arm, and breaks another;  
There stands th' one half of a halved body, th' other  
Falls-down a furlong thence: here flies a shield;  
And deep-wide windows make they in the field.   

All these sure signs of God's dear estimate, 
Aaron & Mary (or Miriam) murmur against Moses.   
Cannot confirm the Hebrew Magistrate  
In his Authority: even AARON spights-it,  
And MIRIAM (his Sister) too back-bites-it.  
But suddenly, on her in his Defence,  
Foul Leprosy did punish this Offence. 
Nadab and Abihu for offering of strange Fire, are killed by Fire from Heaven.    

His Nephews, scorning his Command, aspire  
Before the Lord to offer foreign Fire:  
But, on them soon a heavenly Flame down-falling  
(As in the Summer some hot-dry Exhaling,  
Or blazing-Star with sudden flash doth fall  
At Palmer's feet, and him affright withal:)  
Fires instantly their beards and oiled hair,  
And all the sacred vestments they wear;  
Exhales their blood, their Bodies burns to ashes,  
Their Censers melts with heat of Lightning flashes,  
Their coals are quenched all, and sacred Flame  
Th' un-hallowed Fire devoured and over-came.   

His Kinsman CORE then (with DATHAN joined 
Core, Dathan, and Abiram, their conspiracy.   
And with ABIRAM) murmured and repined:  
O see (saith he) how many a subtle gin  
The Tyrant sets to snare our Freedoms in!  
How we, abused with Oracles most vain,  
(Which MOSES and his brother AARON feign)  
For idle hopes of promised Signories,  
Do simply lose our sweetest Liberties!  
See, how they do engross between them two,  
Into one House, SCEPTRE and EPHOD too:  
See, how they dally, and with much delay  
Prolong our journey to prolong their Sway:  
And (to conclude) see how sly Course they take,  
To build their Greatness on our grievous wrack.  
Hearest thou me (MOSES) if thou chief joy  
To see thy Brethren's torments and annoy,  
IT were good to walk us yet for ten years more  
About these Mountains in these Deserts poor:  
Keep us still Exiles; Let us (our Desire)  
Languish, wax-olde, and in these sands expire,  
Where cruel Serpents haunt us still at hand,  
A Fruitless, Flood-les, yea a Land-les Land.  
If, reared from Youth in Honour, thine Ambition  
Cannot come down to private men's condition,  
Be Captain, Duke and King: for, God approves-thee,  
Thy virtues guard, the People fears and loves-thee.  
But as for AARON, what is his desert?  
What High-exploit, what Excellence, what Art  
Gained him th' High-Priesthood? O good God, what shame?  
Alas! hath he for any thing got ●ame  
But HOREBS Horn-God? for despising thee,  
And thy Commands; and for Conspiracy?   

The morrow next, before the Sacred Tent  
This Mutineer with sacred Conserwent  
Adorned, self-gazing, with a lofty ey,  
His faction present: AARON also by.   

Lord shield thy Cause, approve thee veritable,  
Let not thy Name be to the Lewd a Fable:  
Oint thine Anointed publicly: by Miracle,  
Show whom thou hast selected for thine Oracle:  
Said MOSES then; and even as yet he spoke,  
The groaning Earth began to reel and shake,  
A horrid Thunder in her bowels rumbles, 
Their dreadful punishment.   
And in her bosom up and down it tumbles,  
Tearing her Rocks, Until she Yawn a way  
To let it out and to let in the Day:  
Heaven sees to Hell, and Hell beholdeth Heaven,  
And Devils dazzled with the glistering leaven  
Of th' ancient Sun, yet lower fain would dive;  
But chained to th' Centre all in vain they strive.  
CORE, round compassed with his Rebel friends,  
Offers to BELZEBVE and to the Fiends:  
His body's battered with Rocks falling down,  
And arms of Trees there planted upsidedown:  
He goes with Noise down to the Silent Coast,  
Intoombd alive, without all Art or cost.  
And all the rest that his proud side assumed,  
Scaping the Gulf, with Lightning are consumed.  
And AARON'S Office is confirmed by God, 
Aaron's charge is confirmed by miracle.   
With wondrous Signs of his oft-quickned Rod,  
Which dead, re-buda, re-blooms, and Almonds bears;  
When all his Fellows have no life in theirs.   

Now, shall I sing, through MOSES prudent Sway, 
Sundry victories of the Israelites, under the conduct and direction of Moses.   
How ISRAEL doth AMALEC dismay,  
ARAD and OG (that of huge Giants springs)  
Proud HESEBON, and the five Madian Kings,  
With the false Prelate, who profanely made  
Of Prophets-gifts a sacrilegious trade;  
Who false, says true; who striving (past all shame)  
To force the Spirit, is forced by the same:  
Who, snaring th' Hebrews with frail Beauty's graces,  
Defiles their bodies, more their souls defaces?  
Doubtless his Deeds are such, as would I sing  
But half of them, I under-take a thing  
As hard almost, as in the Gangik Seas  
To count the Waves, or Sands in Euphrates;  
And, of so much, should I a little say,  
It were to wrong him, and his Praise betray.   

His Noble Acts we therefore here suspend, 
Reserving the Wars for another Discourse, our Poet hasteth to the death of Moses.   
And skip unto his sweet and happy End:  
Sith, th' End is it whereby we judge the best  
(For either Life) how Man is Cursed or Blest.  
Feeling his vigour by degrees to waste,  
And, one Fire quenched, another kindling fast,  
Which doth his Spirit re-found, his soul refine,  
And raise to Heaven, whence it was sent divine;  
He doth not (Now) study to make his Will, 
By his example Men are warned not to defer to make their Will till it be too late to be troubled with the business of this world.   
IT Entail his Land to his Male-Issue still:  
Wisely and justly to divide his Good,  
To Sons and Daughters, and his nearest Blood:  
T' assign his Wife a Dowry fair and fit,  
A hundred times to add, and alter it:  
To quittance Friendships with frank Legacies:  
To guerdon Service with Annuities,  
To make Executors, to Cancel some,  
T' appoint himself a Palace for a Tomb.  
(I praise a Care to settle our Estate:  
But, when Death threats us, than it is too-late.  
A seemly Burial is a sacree Rite:  
But let the living take that charge of right.)  
He (lifting higher his last thoughts) besides  
The Common-Weale's care, for the Church provides,  
And graving his discourse with voice devout,  
Bids thus farewell to all that stand about;   

O Iacobs seed (I might say, my dear sons) 
He pronounceth the blessings and the curses written in Leviticus 26 & Deutro. 28. where unto the people say Amen.   
YE are senseless more than metals, stocks or stones,  
If ye have forgot the many Miracles  
Wherewith the Lord hath sealed my sacred Oracles;  
And all the Favours (in this savage Place)  
In forty years received of his grace.  
Therefore (O ISRAEL) walk thou in his fear,  
And in thy hearts-heart (not in Marble) bear  
His everlasting LAW: before him stand,  
And to his Service consecrate thy hand.   

If this thou do, thy Heav'n-bles● fleecy Flocks 
Blessings on those that obey.   
Shall bond about thy Pastures, Downs and Rocks;  
As thick as skip in Summer, in a Mead,  
The grasshoppers that all with Dew are fed:  
Thy fruitful Eaws fat Twins shall bring thee ever,  
And of their Milk shall make a plenteous River:  
Th' old Tyrant loads not with so-many loans,  
Toules, Taxes, Succours, Impositions,  
The panting Vassals to him Tributary▪  
As thy rich Fields shall pay thee voluntary:  
Thy children, and thy child's children, set  
About thy Table side by side at meat,  
Shall flourish like a long and goodly row  
Of pale-green Olives that uprightly grow  
About a ground, and (full of Fruit) presage  
Plenty of Oil unto their Master sage:  
Sons of thy sons shall serve thy reverend Eld:  
Thou shalt die quiet, thou shalt live unqueld:  
Blessed at home, and blessed in the Plain:  
The blessed God shall send thee timely Rain▪  
And wholesome winds, and with his keys of grace  
Open heavens storehouse to thy happy Race:  
Thy proud fell Foes with Troops of armed men  
Shall charge thee one way, but shall fly thee ten:  
The Peace-Plant Olive, or Triumphant Bay  
Shall shade thy gates: Thy valour shall▪ dismay,  
And daunt the Earth: and with his sacred awe  
Thy Saviour-King shall give the World the law.   

If otherwise; the Megrim, Gout, and Stone, 
Curses on the Disobedient.   
Shall plague thee fell with thousand pangs in one:  
Thy numbry Flocks in part shall barren ●e,  
In part shall bring abortives unto thee:  
Accursed at home, accursed in the Plain,  
Thy labour bootless, and thy care in vain:  
Thy Field shall be of steel, thy Heaven of brass,  
Thy Fountains dry: and God displeased (alas!)  
In steed of wholesome showers, shall send down flashes  
Of Lightning, Fire, Hail, Sulphur, Salt, and Ashes:  
Thou shalt reap little where thou much hast shed,  
And with that little shall thy Foe be fed;  
He shall the fattest of thy Herd devour  
Before thy face, and yet thou must not lowr:  
Thou shalt build fair, another have thy Place:  
Thou wed a wife, another 'fore thy face  
Shall lose her Bride-belt: God with rage shall smite  
Thy stubborn heart, with blindness and affright;  
So that a wagging leaf, a puff, a crack,  
Yea, the least creak shall make thee turn thy back:  
Thou never shalt thine adverse Host survey,  
But to be beaten, or to run away.  
A People stout, for strength and number ample,  
Which th' Eagle hath for Ensign and Example,  
With a new Wall thine ancient Wall shall damn,  
And make thee (Famished) thy void bowels cram  
With thine own bowels, and for want of meat  
Thine own dear Child's trembling flesh to eat.  
And then, thy Remnant (far dispersed from home)  
O'er all the Corners of the earth shall roam:  
To show their Curse, they shall no Country ow'ne,  
And (which is worse) they shall not be their Own.  
AMEN, said all the Host. Then (like the Swan)  
This dying Song, the Man of GOD began:   

Sigh ISRAEL (O wilful!) will not hear; 
The SONG OF MOSES.   
Harken O Heavens, and O thou Earth give ear  
Unto my voice, and Witness (onmy part)  
Before the Lord, my zeal and their hard hart.   

O Heaven and Earth attend unto my Song,  
Hear my discourse, which sweetly slides along  
As silver showers on the dry Meads do trill,  
And honey dews, on tender grass distil.   

God grant (I pray) that in their hearts, my Verse  
(As water on the withered Lawns) may pierce:  
And that the honey dropping from my tongue  
May serve the old for rain, for dew the young.   

I sing th' Eternal: O let Heaven and Earth  
Come praise him with me, sound his glory forth,  
Extol his Power, his perfect Works record,  
Truth, Goodness, Greatness, justice of the Lord.   

But, though for ever He have shown him such;  
His children yet (no Children, rather-much  
A Bastard Race) full of malicious sin,  
All kind of vice have foully wallowed in.   

O foolish People! dost thou thus requite  
His Father-care, who fençed thee day and night,  
As with a Shield? Who chose thee as his heir?  
Who made thee, of so foul a mass, so fair?   

Unwind the bottom of old Times again,  
Of Ages past un-reel the snarled skein,  
Ask of thy Parents, and they shall declare,  
Thine Elders, and they'll tell thee Wonders rare.   

They'll tell thee, how, when first the Lord had spread  
Men on the Earth, and justly leveled  
His straight long Measure th' All-Bal to divide,  
He did for thee a plenteous Land provide.   

For his deer JACOB, whom his favour then  
Seemed t'have sequestered from the rest of men,  
To th' end his Blessed Seed (in future age)  
Should be his Care, Love, Lot, and Heritage.   

They'll tell thee too, how through the sandy horror  
Of a vast Desert, Den of ghastly Terror,  
Of Thirst and Hunger, and of Serpents fell,  
He by the hand conducted ISRAEL:   

Yea (of his goodness) to direct him still,  
By Word and Writ showed him his sacred Will;  
Under his wings shade hid him tenderly,  
And held him deer, as apple of his eye.   

As is the royal Eagles' sacred wont,  
When she would teach her tender Birds to mount,  
To fly and cry about her Nest, to cheer-them,  
And when they faint, on her winged back to bear-them:   

God (without aid of other Gods or Graces)  
Safe guide, hath made him mount the highest Places,  
Suck Oil and Honey from the Rocks distilling,  
In plenteous Land with pleasant Fruits him filling.   

He gave him Milk and Butter for his meat,  
Kid, Lamb, and Mutton, and the flower of Wheat;  
And for his Drink, a most delicious Wine  
(The sprite full blood of the broad-spreading Vine).   

But, waxed fat, he lifts his wanton heel  
Against his God (to whom his Soul should kneel)  
Forsakes his Maker, and contemns the Same  
That saved him from danger, death, and shame.   

Then, he inflamed the fury of the Lord,  
With profane bowing to false Gods abhorred:  
With serving Idols, and with Sacrificing  
To Fiends, and Fancies of his own devising.   

For vain false Gods, God's vn-renowned, and new,  
Gods that his Fathers nor he never knew,  
He hath forgot the true eternal BEING,  
The God of whom he holds his bliss and being.   

God saw it well, and jelously afire,  
Against his Children thus he threats his ire:  
No; I will hide the brightness of my face,  
I'll take from them the treasures of my grace:   

Then let us see what will of them become:  
But, what but mischief can unto them come,  
That so perverse with every puff let fly  
Their Faith, sole constant in inconstancy?   

Th' have made me ieloux of a God, no God:  
I'll make them ieloux, I will Wed (abroad)  
A People (yet) no People: And their breast  
Shall split, for spite, to see the Nations blest.   

Devouring Fire, that from my heart doth fume,  
Shall fiercely burn and in my wrath consume  
The deep of Deeps, the middle Downs, and Fields,  
And strong foundations of the steepest Hills.   

I'll spend on them my store of Punishments.  
And all mine Arrows; Famine, Pestilence,  
Wild Beasts, and Worms that basely crawling are,  
Without remorse shall make them endless war..   

Abroad the Sword their strong men shall devour;  
At home, through Fear, the Virgin in her flower:  
The fresh young Youth, the sucking Children small,  
And hoary head, dead to the ground shall fall.   

Yea, even already would I quite deface  
And clean destroy them, I would JACOB race,  
Raze his Memorial from the Earth for ay,  
But that I fear the Heathen thus would say:   

We have prevailed, we by our strength alone  
Have quelled this People, and them overthrown:  
IT was not their God that did it for their Sins:  
No, He himself is vanquished with his Friends.   

Ha! sottish blocks, void of all sense and sight:  
Can one man put a thousand men to flight?  
And two, ten thousand? if the God of Arms  
Had not even sold their Troops and bound their arms?   

For God, our God, doth all their Gods surpass:  
They know it well: but, their Wine springs (alas!)  
From SODOM's Vine, and grew in GOMER's fields,  
Which Gall for Grapes, for Raisins Poison yields.   

It is no Wine: no, the black bane it is,  
The kill vomit of the Cockatrice;  
'Tis bitter venom, 'tis the same that comes  
From the fell ASPIK's foul infecting gums.   

Do not I know it? keep not I account  
(In mine Exchequer) how their Sins do mount?  
Vengeance is mine: I will (in fine) repay  
In my due time: I will not long delay.   

Their Ruin posteth: then, th' Omnipotent  
Shall judge for JACOB: then I will repent  
To quite-destroy mine own beloved People,  
Seeing their strength all failed and wholly feeble.   

IT will then be said, Where are there Gods become,  
(Their deaf, dull Idols, sentles, sightles, dumb)  
To whom they lift their hearts, and hands, and eyes,  
And (as their Guards) so oft did sacrifice?   

Now let those trim Protectors them protect;  
Let them them rise quickly and defend their Sect,  
Their Fires and Altars; and come stand before,  
To shield the Foundlings that their Fanes adore.   

Know therefore, Mortals, I th' IMMORTAL am:  
There's none like Me, in or above this Frame:  
I wound, I heal; I kill, I fetch from Grave,  
And from my hands none can the Sinner save.   

I'll lift my hand toward th' arched heavens on high,  
And swear withal by mine Eternity,  
(Which only Being, gives to all to Been)  
That if I whet my Sword of Vengeance keen:   

If once (I say) as sovereign King alone,  
I sit me down on my high justice Throne,  
I'll venge me roughly on mine Enemies,  
And guerdon justly their iniquities:   

My heart-thrill Darts I will make drunk with blood,  
I'll glut my Sword with slaughter; all the brood  
Of rebel Nations I will raze (in fine)  
To recompense the blood and death of Mine.   

O Gentiles, than his People praise and fear,  
Sith to the Lord it is so choisely-deer:  
Sith he'll avenge his Cause, and beating down  
His Enemies, will mildly cheer his Own.   
FINIS.   

The CAPTAINS. THE FOUR PART OF THE III. DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

just- Duked JOSVAH cheers the Abramides  
To CANAAN's Conquest: jordan self-divides:  
Re- Circumcision, what, and where, and why:  
Sacks jericho: Hai won (so Achan die):  
Gabaonites guile: strange Hail: the Sun stands still:  
Nature repines. jews (Guideles) prone to ill.  
Adonibezec. Sangar, DEBORAH,  
Barac and jahel conquer SISARA.  
Samuel succeeds: jews crave a KING: a vie  
Of People-Sway; States-Rule: and MONARCHY.   

HAil holy JORDAN, and you blessed Torrents 
Canaan ●al●ted.   
Of the pure Waters of whose crystal Currents  
So many Saints have sipped▪ O Walls, that rest  
Fair Monuments of many a famous Guest:  
O Hills, O Dales, O Fields so flowery sweet,  
Where Angels oft have set their sacred feet:  
And thou O sacred Place, which wert the Cradle  
Of th' only MAN-GOD, and his happy Swadle:  
And thou O Soil, which drank'st the crimson Show●  
That (for our health) out of his veins did pour:  
And you fat Hillocks (which I take as given  
For a firm pledge of the full joys of Heaven)  
Where Milk and Honey flow; I see you all,  
Under the conduct of my General  
NVN's valiant Son: and under G●DEO's Sway,  
SANGAR, and SAMSON, BARAC, DEBORAH.   

For, here (brave Heroes) your high Feats I sing; 
Argument of this Tract.   
Thrice▪ sacred Spirit, thy speedy succour bring:  
O Spirit, which wert their Guide, Guard, strength & stay,  
Let not my Verse their virtue's praise betray.   

JOSVAH, by Favour nor by Bribes, obtains  
A higher Rank than Royal sovereigns 
josuah his just authority, over the People of Israel.   
(Who buys in gross, he by retail must sell:  
And who gives Favour, Favour asks as well):  
He gets it not by Fortune (she is sightles):  
Neither by Force (for, who so enters (Right-les)  
By Force, is forced to go out with shame):  
Norsodain climbs he (raw) unto the same  
(For, to high Place, who mounts not step by step,  
He comes not down, but headlong down doth leap):  
But, even as that grave-gracefull Magistrate, 
Simile.   
Which (now) with Conscience, Law doth Moderate,  
Was first a Student (under others awe)  
Than Barister, than Counsellor at-Law,  
Then Queens-Solicitor, than Rolls- Arbitrer,  
And then Lord-Keeper, now LORD chancellor;  
He comes to it by degrees: and having first  
Shown himself wise inspying Canaan yerst,  
Faithful to MOSES in his Ministring,  
And Stout in Fight against the Heathen Kings,  
God makes him CAPTAIN, and the sacred Priests  
Pronounce him so, the People pleased is.   

But in his State yer he be stalled (almost) 
His first Oration to the People.   
Set in the midst of God's beloved Host,  
He thus dilates: O happy Legions dear,  
Which sacred Arms under heavens Ensigns bear,  
Fear not that I, yet forty years, again  
Your wandering Troops in these vast sands should train  
'Twixt Hope and Fear: th' un-hallowed Offerings,  
The proud revolts, blasphemous Murmur  
Of your stiff Fathers, have withholden rather  
Then whole with-draw'n th' aid of your heavenly Father:  
God tenders it in time, and (pacified)  
Nills the set Term without effect should slide.  
Serve him therefore, now take him at his word,  
And now to Canaan march with one accord,  
And bravely show that th' Host of ISRAEL,  
In Valour, far doth his dread Fame excel.   

Courageous JACOB, ARAD's stoutest hearts  
And strongest Holds have proved thy Pikes and Darts,  
The Madianits have thine Arms thunder known,  
The hast razed Bazan, ransacked Hezebon,  
'Scaped scaly Serpents (in these Deserts vast)  
Crossed the Red-Sea, and Heav'n-prop SINA past,  
And sent to Hell thy draddest Foes: Lo, now  
God offers thee the Crown, accept it thou. 
He urgeth particularly Reuben, Gad, and Manasses, to take part with their Brethren, in prosecuting the Conquest of Canaan.    

Then turning him to REUBEN and to GAD,  
And to MANASSES, who their Portion had  
By MOSES grant on Iordan's Eastern verge;  
War-eloquent, he thus proceeds to urge:  
Can you (my Hearts) find in your hearts to leave  
Your Ranks, and us thus of your aids bereave?  
Will you lie wrapped in soft beds asleep,  
While in cold Trenches your poor Brethren keep?  
Will you sit washing (when your Feasts be done)  
In sweet rosewater, while that Orion  
His cloudy store in stormfull fury pours,  
And drowns your Brethren with continual showers?  
Will you go Dance and dally to and fro,  
While in the Field they march to charge the Foe?  
Will you expect a part with them in gain,  
While they the blows and all the brunt sustain?  
God shield you should dishonour so your Blood:  
Nay rather (leaving on this side the Flood  
Your Wives and Children, and (unfit for Battle)  
Your aged Parents, and your Herds of cattle)  
Come arm yourselves, t'advance our Victories, 
The general and joyful answer of the people.   
And share with us in Peril, as in Prize.   

O noble Prince (than all the Host replied)  
March-on a God's name; and good Hap betide:  
Were Canaan turned another Wilderness,  
Were there before us yet more crimson Seas,  
Were Horeb, Carmel, and Mount Se●r set  
Each upon other (upto Heaven to get)  
We'll follow thee through all; and only th' end  
Of our own lyves shall our brave journey end.   

After the Ark, then march they in array  
Direct to jordan, praising all the way  
That living God, whose matchless mighty hand  
Parted the Sea, that they might pass by land.   

Hoarheaded jordan neatly lodged was 
A Poetical and pleasant description of the River jordan.   
In a large Cave, built all of beaten Glass;  
Whose waved Ceiling, with exceeding cost,  
The Nymphs (his Daughters) rarely had embossed  
With Pearls and Rubies, and in-layed the rest  
With Nacre checks, and Coral of the best:  
A thousand Streamlings that ne'er saw the Sun,  
With tribute silver to his service run:  
There, IRIS, AUSTER, and Clouds blewly black  
Continually their liquor leave and take:  
There, th' aged Flood laid on his mossy bed  
And pensive leaning his flag-shaggie head  
Upon a Tuft, where th' eating waves encroach,  
Did gladly wait for ISRAEL'S approach:  
Each hair he hath is a quick-flowing stream,  
His sweat the gushing of a storm extreme,  
Each sigh a Billow, and each sob he sounds  
A swelling Sea that overflows his bounds:  
His weak grey eyes are always seen to weep,  
About his loins a rush-Belt wears he deep,  
A Willow Wreath about his wrinkled brows;  
His Father NEREUS his complexion shows.   

So soon as He their welcome rumour heard,  
His frosty head above the Waves he reared,  
With both his hands struck back behind his ears  
The waving Tresses of his weeping hairs,  
And then perceiving IACOB's Army stayed  
By his proud streams; he chid them thus, and said:  
Presumptuous Brook, darest thou (ingrateful Torrent) 
Prosopopoeia.   
Lift-up thy horn, lashout thy swelling Current  
Against the Lord, and overflowe thy bound  
To stop his passage? Shall the Floods profound  
Of the proud Ocean to his Host give-way?  
Shall Egypt's honour, shall that Gulf (I say)  
That long large Sea, which with his plenteous waves  
A third or fourth part of the World be-laves;  
Shall That yield humbly at his Servant's beck?  
And thou, poor Rill, or gutter (in respect)  
Resist himself (his glorious self) that Inns  
Here in his Ark, between the Cherubins?  
And saying so, he on his shoulder fling  
His deep wide Crock, that on his hip had hung,  
And down his back powers backward all his Course:  
The stream returns towards his double source;  
And, leaving dry a large deep lane betwixt,  
The fearful waves in heaped Hills were fixed,  
To give God place, and passage to his host,  
Towards their Promised and appointed coast.   

So, dry they pass (after the sacred Oracle) 
The Israelites pass dry shod through jordan   
And leave Memorials of that famous Miracle  
Upon Mount Gilgal: and their flesh anon  
They seal with Sign of their Adoption.  
For, the All-guiding God, th' Almighty Prince,  
To give His some special difference,  
Willed that all Males of Abram's Progenies 
Circumcision.   
With sacred Razor should them Circumcise;  
And evermore, that Isaac's blessed Race  
Should in their Foreskin bear his gage of Grace.   

But, why (sayest thou) should ancient ISRAEL, 
A curious Question, why it was appointed in such a place.   
In such a secret place Record and Seal  
Th' Act of the Covenant: and with bloody smart,  
Engrave their glory in a shameful part?   

Who blushes at it, is a grace-less Beast:  
Who shames to see the Sign of Grace impressed 
A sharp and sober answer.   
In shameful part, he is ashamed of CHRIST  
Born of that Race, and selfly Circumcised.   

A hundred subtle Reasons from the Writs  
Of Rabines could I bring: but, sober Wits  
Rest satisfied, conceiving that th' incision  
Of th' obscene Foreskin, signifies th' abscision, 
The right application and use thereof.   
Or sacred cutting-off of foul Affects,  
Beseeming those whom God, for his, elects:  
That God the Fruits of Flesh and Blood doth hate:  
And that through CHRIST we must regenerate.   

Now, th' Hebrews kept their passover: and go 
The Passeover.   
(By heavens address) to mighty jericho,  
Besieging so the City round about,  
That fear got in, but nothing could get out.   

Soldiers (said then th' undaunted General) 
The Siege of jericho, after a strange manner.   
Prepare no Mattocks, Ladders, nor Rams at all,  
To mine, or scale, or batter-down these Towers:  
The great, the high, the mighty God of Powers  
Will fight himself alone: and then he bod  
(As first himself had been informed by God)  
That daily once they all should march the Round  
About the City, with horn-Trumpets sound,  
Bearing about for only Banneret,  
The lightfull Ark, GOD's sacred Cabinet:  
Their swords vn-draw'n, not making any noise,  
Threat-less their brows, and without braves their voice,  
No shaft to shoot, no sign of War, no glance,  
And even their March doth rather seem a dance.   

What Childre-spell? what May-game have we here? 
The Citizens divide it.   
What, dare you (Gallants) dare you come no near?  
Is this your brave Assault? is this your Fight?  
Ween you with Scarecrows us (like birds) to fright?  
(Said the besieged) get you some where else  
(Poorsots) to show your bugbears and your spells:  
Cease your hoarse music, leave the stage alone:  
Fools, draw the Curtain, now your Play is done.   

Six days together had the Hebrews thus't 
On the 7 day, their walls of themselves fall down.   
About the town, seaven-times the seventh they must;  
When sacred Levits sound more loud and high  
Their horny Trumpets; then all the people cry  
Come, come (great God) come, batter, batter down  
These odious walls, this Idol-wedded Town.   

It cracks in th' instant, the foundation shrinks,  
The mortar crumbles from the yawning chinks,  
Each stone is lose, and all the wall doth quiver,  
And all at once unto the ground doth shiver  
With hideous noise; and th' Heathen Guarison  
Is but immured with Clouds of dust alone:  
So shall you see a Clowd-crowned Hill sometime,  
Torn from a greater by the waste of Time,  
Dreadly to shake, and boundling down to hop;  
And roaring, here it rolls tall Cedars up,  
There aged Oaks; it turns, it spurns, it hales  
The lower Rocks into th' affrighted Vales,  
There sadly sinks, or sudden stops the way  
Of some swift Torrent hasting to the Sea.   

Boast you (O Bombards) that you Thunder drown:  
And vaunt you (Mines) that you turn up side-down  
Rampires and Towers, and Walls the massie-most:  
Yet, your exploits require both time and cost;  
You make but a small breach, but a rough way,  
And (by mischance) oft your own side betray.  
But, th' Hebrews with a sudden shout and cry,  
A whole great Town dis-mantle instantly,  
And (unresisted) entering everywhere,  
They exercise all hostile vengeance there.  
And, as a sort of lusty Billmen, set 
Simile.   
In Wood-sale time to fallen a Copse, by great;  
Be-stir them so, that so on with sweeting pain,  
They turn an Oak-grove to a Field of grain:  
So th' Hebrew Host, without remorse or pity, 
jerico sacked & consumed with fire, and all her inhabitants put to the sword: without respect of State, Sex or Age.   
Through all sad corners of the open City,  
Burn, break, destroy, bathe them in blood, and toil  
To lay all level with the trampled soil:  
The Idol's Temples, and the delicate  
Prince-Palaces are quickly beaten flat:  
The Fire lowd-crackling with the Clouds doth meet,  
A bloody Torrent runs through every street,  
Their vengeful sword spares neither great nor small;  
Neither the Child that on his hands doth crawl,  
Nor him that wears snow on his shaking head,  
Ice in his heart; nor the least Beast they bred.  
A deed (indeed) more worthy th' Hesiline,  
Than th' holy Hebrews; had the voice Divine  
Not charged them so, and choicely armed them  
Against jericho, with his own 
* Curse.  Anathem:  
Reserving only for his Sacred Place,  
The Gold and Silver, th' Iron and the Brass.   

Yet sacrilegious Achan dared to hoard 
Achan's Sacrilege.   
Some precious Pillage: which incensed the Lord  
Against the Camp, so that he let them fly  
(For this Offence) before their Enemy.  
For, when three thousand chosen Israelites  
Were sent to Hai t' assault the Canaanites, 
Hai summoned, the Towns men's sally and put the Israelites to flight.   
The Town all arm's: their Prince the forwardest  
(No less-brave Soldier then bold Athëist)  
Arms the broad mountain of his hairy breast,  
With horrid scales of Nilus' greedy beast:  
His brawny arms and shoulders, with the skin  
Of the dart-darting wily Porcupin:  
He wears for Helm a Dragon's ghastly head,  
Whereon for Plume a huge Horse-tail doth spread;  
Not much unlike a Birch-tree bore below, 
The antik armour of the king. His insolent and blasphemous Oration.   
Which at the top in a thick tuft doth grow,  
Waving with every wind, and made to kiss  
Th' Earth, now on that side, and anon on this:  
In Quyver made of Lezard's skins he wears  
His poisoned Arrows; and the Bow he bears,  
Is of a mighty Tree strung with a Cable,  
His Shaft a Lever, whose keen head is able  
To pierce all proof, stone, steel, and Diamant.  
Thus furnished, the Tyrant thus doth vaunt:  
Sirs, shall we suffer this ignoble Race,  
Thus shamefully us from our Own to chase?  
Shall they be Victor's yer they overcome?  
Shall our Possessions and our Plenty come  
Among these Mongrels? Tush: let Children quake  
At dreams of ABRAM: let faint Women shake  
At their dread God, at their Sea-drying Lord;  
I know no Gods, above my glittering Sword:  
This said, he sallies, and assaults the Foe  
With furious skirmish, and doth charge them so,  
As stormy billows rush against a Rock: 
3. Similes.   
As boisterous winds (that have their prison broke)  
Roar on a Forest: as heavens sulph'ry Flash  
Against proud Mountains surly brows doth dash.   

The sacred Troops (to conquer always wont)  
Can not sustain his first Tempestuous brunt,  
But turn their backs: and as they fly amain,  
Four less than forty of their band were slain.   

The son of NUN then (with th' Isacian Peers) 
josuah and the Princes of Israel humbled before the Lord in Prayer.   
Before the Ark in prostrate wise appears;  
Sack on his back, dust on his head, his eyes  
Even great with tears, thus to the Lord he cries:  
O! what alas? what have we done, O Lord?  
The People, destined to thy People's sword,  
Conquers thy people; and the Canaanites  
(Against thy Promise) chase the Israelites.  
O Lord, why did not Iordans rapid Tide,  
Still stay our Host upon the other side?  
Sith here, in hope, to get the Promised more,  
We hazard all that we had won before.  
Regard, and guard us; nay, regard thy Name:  
O! suffer not the seed of Abraham  
(Almighty Father, O thou God most high!)  
To be exposed to Heathen's Tyranny!  
Much less thy sacred Ark, for them to burn:  
And lest of all, thy glorious Self, to scorn.   

JOSVAH (said God) let th' Host be sanctified,  
And let the Church-thief die, that dared to hide  
Th' unlawful Pillage of that cursed Town  
(Thy Maiden Conquest, prime of thy Renown):  
Then shalt thou vanquish, and the lofty Towers  
Of HAI, shall fall under thy warlike powers.   

The morrow next, after the great Assize,  
ACHAN (convicted, not by bare surmise, 
Achan executed   
But by God's Spirit, which undermines our minds,  
And clearly sees our secretest designs,  
To whom, Chance is no Chance, and Let no Lot,  
To whom the Die uncertain rouleth not)  
Is brought without the Host, with all he hath,  
And sacrifiçed unto th' Almighty's wrath.   

Now, between Bethel and HAI's western wall,  
There lies a valley close environed all  
Between the forking of a Hill so high,  
That it is hidden from all passers-by:  
Whose horned cliffs, below are hollowed,  
And with two Forests arboured overhead;  
'Tis long and narrow; and a rapid Torrent,  
Bounding from Rock to Rock with roaring Current,  
Deaffens the Shepherds: so that it should seem  
Nature forecast it for some stratagem.   

Thither the Duke (soon after midnight) guides 
A● ambush.   
His choicest Bands, and them there war'ly hides:  
Each keeps his place, none speaks, none spits, none coughs;  
But all as still, as if they marchton moss:  
So fallow Wolves, when they intent to set 
Simile.   
On fearful flocks that in their Folds do bleat▪  
Through silent darkness secret ways do grope;  
Their feet are feathered with the wings of hope▪  
They hold their breath, and so still vn-descried,  
They pass hard by the watchful Mastie's side.   

Meanwhile the hours opened the doors of Day,  
To let out Titan that must needs away:  
Whose radiant tresses, but with trailing on,  
Began to gild the top of Libanon;  
When, with the rest of all his Host, the 
* Signifieth but an Earl: but here ●●●● usurped for the chief Captain Io●uah.  GRAVE  
Marcheth amain to give the Town a brave,  
They strait re-charge him: as in season warm  
The hony-makers busie-buzzing swarm,  
With humming threats throngs from the little gates 
Simile.   
Of their round tower, and with their little hates  
Fiercely assail, and wound the naked skins  
Of such as come to rob their curious Inns.   

Why (Cowards) dare you come again for blows▪  
Or, do you long your wretched lives to lose?  
Come, we are for you; we'll dispatch you soon,  
And for the many wrongs that you have done  
Unto ourselves, our Neighbours, and our Friends,  
This day our swords shall make us full amends  
(Cry th' Amorites): and th' Hebrew Captain then 
●●●ratagem.   
Flies, as afraid, and with him all his men  
Disorderly retire; still feigning so,  
Till (politic) he hath in-trayned the Foe  
Right to his Ambush: then the Soldiers there  
Hid in the Vale, hearing their noise so near,  
Would fain be at them, were they not withheld  
By threatening gestures of Commanding Eld:  
So have I seen on LAMBORN's pleasant Douns, 
Simile.   
When yelping Begles or sons deeper Hounds  
Have start a Hare, how milk-white Minks and Lun  
(Gray-bitches both, the best that ever run)  
Held in one leash, have leapt and strained, and whined  
To be restrained, till (to their master's mind)  
They might be slipped, to purpose; that (for sport)  
Watt might have law, neither too-long nor short.   

But, when the Heathen had the ambush past,  
The Duke thus cheers his sacred Troops as fast,  
Sa, sa, my Hearts; turn, turn again uponthem,  
They are your own, now charge, and cheerly onthem.  
His ready Soldiers at a beck obey,  
And on their Foes courageous load they lay; 
H●i conquered.   
They shoot, they shock, they strike, they stab, they kill  
Th' unhallowed Curs, that yet resisted still;  
Until behind them a new storm arose  
With horrid noise, which daunts not only those,  
But with the fury of its force doth make  
The Hills and Forests, and even Hell to quake.   

Pagans, what will you do? if here you fly,  
You fall on Caleb, where ye are sure to die:  
If there, on josuah: O unfortunate▪  
Your help-less Gods in vain you invocate.  
Y'are (O forlorn!) like Rabbits round be-set  
With wily Hunters, Dogs, and deadly Net: 
Simile.   
With shrill Sa-haw, heer-heer-ho, heer-again,  
The Warren rings; th' amazed Game amain  
Runs here and there; but, if they scape away  
From Hounds, staves kill them; if from staves, the Hay▪  
Yield, yield, and die then, strive not to retire:  
For, even in death behold your Town afire.   

Then Gabaon, a mighty City near,  
That these Exploits of heavens dread hand did hear,  
Sent subtly, to League with Israel.  
No: ye are deceived (said then th' Arch-Colonel)  
The Canaanites are destined long ago  
To Fire and Sword, and utter Overthrow;  
From heavens high judge the sentence doth proceed:  
Man may not alter what God hath decreed.   

Alas! my Lord replied th' Ambassadors) 
The Gabaonites cunning policy, to make League with Israel.   
You may perceive we are no Borderers  
Upon these countries; For, our suits, our slops,  
Our hose and shoes, were new out of the shops  
When we set forth from home; and even that day  
This Bread was baked when we came away;  
But the long journey, we have gone, hath wore  
Our clothes to rags, and turned our Victuals hoar.  
W' adjure you therefore in the sacred name  
Of that dread GOD to whom your vows you frame,  
By the sweet air of this delightful Coast,  
By the good Angel that conducts your Host,  
By dear Embraces of your dearer Wives,  
And by your Babes (even) dearer than your lives;  
By each of these, and all of these together,  
And by your Arms, whose Fame hath drawn us hither,  
T' have pity on us, and to swear untous,  
To save our lives▪ and not so to undo-us,  
As these near Nations: Israel accords,  
And with an Oath confirms the solemn words.   

So, I (good Lord) perceiving all the Seed 
A sacred application of their profane example   
Of Sinful Adam, unto Death decreed,  
Doomed to the Vengeance of thy Fury fell,  
And damned for ever to the deepest Hell▪  
Would fain be free: but, if I should (alas!)  
Come, as I am, before thy glorious face,  
Thou (righteous God) wilt turn thine eyes away;  
For, Flesh and Blood possess not Heaven, for ay;  
And, the strict Rigour of thy justice pure  
Cannot (O Lord) the least of sins endure.  
Oh then! what shall I do? I'll similize  
These Gabaonites: I will myself disguise  
To gull thee, Lord (for, even a holy Guile  
Finds with thee grace and favour often-while):  
I'll put-on (crafty) not the cloak of Pride  
(For, that was it whereby our Grandsires died,  
And Lucifer, with his associates, fell  
From joys of Heaven, into the Pains of hell):  
But th' humble Fleece of that sweet sacred Lamb  
Which (for our sakes) upon the Cross became  
So torn and tattered; which the most refuse:  
Scorn of the Gentiles, Scandal of the jews.  
And, as a piece of Silver, Tyn, or Led, 
Simile.   
By cunning hands with Gold is covered;  
I, that am all but Led (or dross, more base)  
In fervent Crusible of thy free Grace,  
I'll gild me all with his pure beauty's Gold:  
Born a new man (by Faith) I'll kill mine old:  
In Spirit and Life, Christ shall be mine example,  
His Spirit shall be my spirit▪ and I his Temple.   

I being thus in Christ, and Christ in me,  
O! wilt thou, canst thou, drive us far from thee?  
Deprive from promised new- jerusalem,  
Christ thine own Likeness, and me, like to him?  
Banish from Heaven (whose Blis● shall never vade)  
Thy Christ, by whom; and me, for whom it was made?   

But, O presumption! O too rash Design!  
Alas! to Will it only, is not mine:  
And, though I Would, my flesh (too-Winter-chill)  
My Spirit's small sparkles doth extinguish still.   

O! therefore thou, thou that canst all, alone;  
All-sacred Father's like all-sacred Son,  
Through thy deep Mercy deign thou to transform  
Into thyself me sinful silly worm;  
That so, I may be welcome to my God,  
And live in Peace, not where the jews abode,  
But in Heaven- Zion: and that thou mayst be  
Th' uniting glue between my God and me.  
Now, Eglon's, Hebron's, Iarmuths, Salem's Lords,  
And Lachis Kingling (after these Accords)  
Wroth that their Neighbours had betrayed so  
Their common Country, to their common Foe,  
Had made so great a breach, and by the hand  
Led (as it were) th' Hebrews into their Land;  
Set-upon Gabaon: but th' Isacian Prince,  
As just as valiant, hastes to hunt them thence;  
And, resolute to rescue his Allies,  
He strait bids Battle to their Enemies.   

The Fight grows fierce; and winged Victory, 
The Battle of the five Kings.   
Shaking her Laurels, rushed confusedly  
Into the midst; she goes, and comes, and goes,  
And now she leans to these, and now to those.  
Auster the while from neighbour Mountains arms  
A hundred Winters, and a hundred storms  
With huge great Hail-shot, driving fiercely-fell  
In the stern visage of the Infidel:  
The roaring Tempest violently retorts 
Extraordinary Volleys of Hail-shot from Heaven upon the Infidels.   
Upon themselves the Pagans whirling darts,  
And in their own breasts, their own Lances bore,  
Wherewith they threatened th' Host of God before:  
And (even) as if it envied the Renown  
Of valiant josuah (now by Ganges known)  
With furious shock, the foremost Ranks it whirred  
Upon the next, the second on the third:  
Even as a Bridge of Cards, which Playfull Child 
Simile.   
Doth in an evening on a Carpet build,  
When some Wag by, upon his Work doth blow;  
If one Arch fail, the rest fall all arrow  
Each upon other, and the Child he Cries  
For his lost labour, and again he tries.   

If any, resting on his knotty Spear  
▪ 'Gainst Arms and storms, yet stand out stiffly there,  
Th' Hail, which the Wind full in his face doth yerk,  
Smatter than Racquets in a Courtre-ierk  
Balls against the Walls of the black-boorded house,  
Beats out his eyes, battters his nose, and brows.  
Then turn the Pagans, but without a vail:  
For, instantly the stony storm of Hail  
Which flew direct affront, direct now falls  
Plumb on their heads, and cleaves their skulls and cawls:  
And ever, as they waver to and fro,  
Over their Host the Haily Cloud doth go:  
And never hits one Hebrew, though between,  
But a sword's length (or not so much) be seen:  
A bluckler one, another a bright helm  
Over his threatened or sick head doth whelm;  
But the shield broken, and helm beaten in,  
Th' Hail makes the hurt bite on the bloody green.   

Those, that escape, be take them to their heels;  
josuah pursues: and though his sweat distils  
From every part, he wounds, he kills, he cleaves:  
Neither the Fight imperfect so he leaves,  
But full of faithful zeal and zealous faith,  
Thus (O strange language!) thus aloud he saith;   

Beam of th' Eternal, days bright Champion, 
At the command of josuah the Sun stands stil.   
Espial of Nature, O allseeing Sun,  
Stay, stand thou still, stand still in Gabaon;  
And thou, O Moon i' th' vale of Aialon,  
That th' Ammorites now by their harelike flight  
Escape no● my hands under all-hiding Night.  
As a Caroche, drawn by four lusty steeds, 
Simile.   
In a smooth way whirling with all their speeds,  
Stops suddenly, if't slip into a slough,  
Or if it cross some Log or massy bough;  
The Day-reducing Chariot of the Sun,  
Which now began, towards his West to run,  
Stops instantly, and gives the Hebrews space  
To rid the Pagans that they have in chase.   

Nature, amazed; for very anger shakes, 
Description of Nature, who offended thereat, makes her complaint to GOD.   
And to th' Almighty her complaint she makes:  
Seemly she marches with a measured pace,  
Choler puts colour in her lovely face,  
From either nipple of her bosom-Twins  
A lively spring of pleasant milk their spins,  
Upon her shoulders (Atlas-like) she bears  
The frame of All, down by her side she wears  
A golden Key, wherewith she lette●h-forth,  
And locketh-up the Treasures of the Earth:  
A sumptuous Mantle to her heels hangs down,  
Wherein the Heavens, the Earth, and Sea is shown;  
The Sea in Silver woven, the Earth in Green,  
The heavens in azure, with gold threads between:  
All-quickning Love, fresh Beauty, smiling Youth,  
And Fruitfulness, each for her favour su'th:  
Grace still attends ready to do her honour,  
Riches and Plenty always wait upon her.   

Accoutred thus, and thus accompanied,  
With thousand sighs, thus to the Lord she cried: 
Prosopopoeia.   
Shall it be said, a Man doth Heaven command?  
Wilt thou permit a braving Soldiers hand  
To wrong thine eldest Daughter? ah! shall I  
Have the bare Name, and He th' authority  
To Govern all, and all control (O Lord)  
With the bare wind of his ambitious word?  
Shall I (the World's Law) then, receive the Law  
At others hands? of others stand in awe?  
If't be thy pleasure, or thou think it fit,  
To have it so, or so to suffer it,  
(Pardon me, Father, that I am so free)  
I here surrender thy Lieutenancy:  
Bestowed on him, put all into his hand:  
Who heavens commands, He well may Earth command.   

Why (daughter) knowst thou not (God answers her)  
That many times my Mercy doth transfer  
Into my Children mine own power, whereby  
They work (not seldom) mine own Wonders high?  
That th' are my sacred viceroys? and that He, 
The power of a steadfast Faith.   
Who (stripped of Flesh) by Faith is joined to me,  
May remove Mountains, may dry-up the Seas,  
May make an Ocean of a Wilderness?  
The hast seen it, Daughter: therefore, but thou pine  
In jealousy of this dread arm of mine,  
Grudge not at theirs: for they can nothing do,  
But what my Spirit enables them unto.   

O happy Prince! I wonder not at all, 
JOSVAH his victories.   
If at thy feet the stout Anachian fall,  
If th' Amorrhite, Hevite, and Canaanite,  
The Pheresite, Hittite, and jebusite,  
And▪ huge Basanian, by thy dauntless Host  
Were overthrown: and, if as swift (almost)  
As my slow Muse thy sacred Conquests sings,  
Thou Cam'st, Saw'st, Conquer'dst more then thirty Kings;  
Subduing Syria, and dividing it  
Unto twelve Kindred's in twelve portions fit:  
Sith (O grand Vicar of th' Almighty Lord)  
With only summons of thy mighty Word,  
Thou makest Rivers the most deafly-deep  
To lobstarize (back to their source to creep);  
Walls give thee way: after thy Trumpets charge,  
Rock-rushing Tempests do retreat, or charge:  
Sols at thy service: and the starry Pole  
Is proud to pass under thy Muster-Roule.   

As a blind man, forsaken of his guide 
Simile.   
In some thick Forest, sad and self-beside,  
Takes now a broad, anon a narrow path,  
His groping hand his (late) eyes office hath,  
Here at a stub he stumbles, there the bushes  
Rake-off his Cloak, here on a Tree he rushes,  
Strays in and out, turns, this and that way tries,  
And at the last falls in a Pit, and dies:  
Even so (alas!) having their Captain lost, 
After his death Israel having lost his guide, falls from his God.   
So blindly wanders IACOB's wilful Host,  
Contemns the Fountain of God's sacred Law,  
From I doll-Puddles poisoning drink to draw;  
Forsakes th' old true God, and new fals-gods feigns,  
And with the Heathen friendship entertains.   

Th' Almighty saw it (for, what sees he not?) 
God therefore forsakes him.   
And so dainly his fury waxed hot;  
And on their neck, for his sweet yoke, he laid  
The Strangers yoke that hard and heavy weighed. 
Simile.   
But, as an Infant which the Nurse let's go  
To go alone, waves weakly to and fro,  
Feels his feet fail, cries out, and but (alas!)  
For her quick hand, would fall and break his face:  
So JACOB, justly made afflictions thrall,  
Is never ready in the Pit to fall  
Of pale Despair, but (if he cry, and crave-him)  
God still extends his gracious hand to savehim; 
Upon his Repentance God again receives him to favour.   
Raising some Worthy that may break insunder  
The Gyves and Fetters that he labours under.   

So then, assisted by th' immortal hand,  
Brave ISRAEL brings under his Command  
JERUSALEM, LUS, BETHEL, ACCARON,  
SESAI, and THOLMAI, GAZA, and ASCALON,  
And BEZEC too; whose bloody Tyrant, fled,  
Is caught again, and paid with Cake for Bread:  
To self-taught Torture he himself is put, 
The Tyrant Adonibezec ta ken & entreated as He had handled others.   
His sacrilegeous Thumbs and Toes be cut.  
Whereby, more inly pricked, then outly pained,  
God's Vengeance just he thus confessed, and playned;   

O hand, late Scepter-graçed! O hand, that late  
EGYPT did dread, and EDOM tremble at! 
His Complaint.   
O hand, that (armed) durst even MARS defy,  
And couldst have pulled proud JUPITER from high!  
Now, whereto servest thou, but t' augment my moan?  
Thou canst not now buckle mine Armour on;  
Nor wield my mighty Lance with brazen head,  
Ah! no (alas!) thou canst not cut my bread.  
O feet (late) winged to pursue the flight  
Of hundred Armies that I foiled in fight,  
Now you have lost your office▪ now (alas!)  
You cannot march; but limp about this place.   

But, 'tis the just God, the just hand of Heaven 
His confession.   
In mine own Coin hath me my payment given:  
For, seventy Kings, thus maimed of Toes and Thumbs,  
I, insolent, have made to lick the crumbs  
Under my board (like Dogs) and drawn perforce  
To serve for blocks when I should mount my horse.   

Therefore (O Kings!) by mine example learn 
His ca● eat to all Tyrants and cruel minded men.   
To bond your rage, limit your fury stern:  
O Conquerors! be warned all by me;  
Be to your Thralls, as God to you shall be:  
Men, pity Man, wretched and overthrown;  
And think his case may oneday be your own:  
For, Chance doth change: and none alive can say,  
He happy is, until his dying day:  
The Foe that after Victory survives,  
Not for himself but for your glory lives:  
Th' Oliue's above the Palm: and th' happiest King  
His greatest Triumph, is Self-triumphing.   

But Israel, wallowing in his mire again, 
Israel again and again relapseth.   
Soon lost the glory former Arms did gain;  
And goods and bodies easy booties been  
To Aram, Moab, and the Phil●st●m.  
What help (O jacob)? th' hast nor arms, nor head, 
Again humbled.   
Thy Fields with bones of thine own bands be spread,  
And th' only name of thy profaner Foe,  
Congeals thy blood, and chills thy heart for Woe.   

Fly, fly, and hie thee quickly to recover  
The all-proof Target of thine ancient Lover,  
Thy gracious God, the glorious Tyrant-tamer,  
Terror of terrors, Heathen's dreadful hammer.  
Ah! see already how he rescues thee 
Again & again▪ relieved.   
From th' odious yoke of Pagan Tyranny,  
Breaking the Fetters of thy bondage fell,  
By Ahod, Bara●, and Othoniel,  
And Goad-man SANGAR, whose industrious hand 
Sangar a Plow-Swain●a famous Champion of Israel.   
With Ox-teem tills his tributary Land,  
When Philistines, with Sword and Fiery fury,  
Slaughter the jews, and overrun all jury,  
Deflower the Virgins, and with lustfull-spight  
Ravish chaste Matrons in their Husband's sight:   

He leaves his Plough, he calls upon his God,  
And only armed with his slender Goad,  
Alone he sets on all the Heathen Camp:  
A Pagan Captain weens him thus to damp;  
What means this Fool (saith he)? go silly Clown,  
Get thee to Plough, go home and till thy ground,  
Go prick thy Bullocks; leave the Works of MARS  
To my long-trained, still-conquering Soldiers.   

First learn thou Dog (replies the Israelite)  
To know my strength (rather th' Almighties might):  
And on his head he lays him on such load  
With two quick venies of his knotty Goad,  
And with the third, thrusts him between the eyes,  
That down he falls▪ shaking his heels, and dies.   

Then steps another forth, more stout and grim,  
Shaking his Pike, and fierce lets fly at him:  
But SANGAR shuns the blow, and with his stroke,  
The Pagan leg short-off in sunder broke;  
On th' other yet, a while he stands and fights:  
But th' Hebrew Champion such a back-blowesmights  
That flat he lays him; then with fury born,  
Forward he leap●, and in a Martial scorn,  
Upon his paunch sets his victorious foot,  
And treads and tramples, and so stamps into't,  
That blood and bowels (mingled with the bruise)  
Half at his mouth, half at his sides he spews: 
Simile.   
As, on Wine-hurdles those that dance (for meed)  
Make with sweet Nectar every wound to bleed,  
Each Grape to weep, and crimson streams to spin  
Into the Vate, set to receive them in.   

Thence thirty steps, a chief Commander priest,  
And proudly wags his feather-clouded Crest,  
And cries, Come hither (Cowherd) come thou hither,  
Come let us cope, but thou and I together;  
I'll teach thee (peasant) and that quickly too,  
Thou hast not with thy fellow swains to do,  
That on Mount Carmel's stormy top do feed.  
No, here (poorsot) thou other fence shalt need.  
SANGAR runs at him, and he runs so fierce,  
That on his staff, him six steps back he bears;  
Bears down another with him, and another,  
That but with gesture stood directing other:  
As, when 'tis dark, when it reins, and blusters rough, 
Simile.   
A thundering tempest with a sulphury puff  
Breaks down a mighty Gate, and that another,  
And that a third, each opposite to other:  
smoke, dust, and door-falls, with storms roaring din,  
Dismay the stoutest that command within;  
The common sort (beside their little wits)  
Scarr'd from their beds, dare not abide the streets:  
But, in their shirts over the walls they run,  
And so their Town, ye● it be ta'en, is won;  
The sudden Storm so inly-deep dismaies-them,  
That fear of Taking, to despair betrays them.   

Amid their Host, then bravely rushes SANGAR,  
His sinnewy arm answers his sacred Anger:  
Who flies, or follows, he alike besteads:  
On scattered heaps of slaughtered Foes he treads.  
This, with his elbow here he overturns,  
That, with his brow; this, with his foot he spurns;  
Here, with his Staff he makes in shivers fly  
Both cask and skull, and there he breaks a thigh,  
An arm, a leg, a rib, a chin, a cheek;  
And th' hungry Shepherd hardly beats so thick 
Comparison.   
Nuts from a Tree, as SANGAR Foes beats down:  
With swords and shields, and shafts, the Field is sown:  
Alone he foils a Camp: and on the Plain  
Therely six hundred of the Heathen slain.   

Almighty God, how thou to Thine art good!  
Thy people's Foes are not alone subdued  
By a rude Clown, whose hard-wrought hands, before  
Nothing but spades, coulters, and bills had boar:  
But, by a silly Woman, to whose hand  
Thou for a time committest the Command  
Of ISRAEL: for, of no other Head,  
Nor Law, nor Lord, they for a time are sped, 
DEBORAH.   
But prudent DEBORAH: unto whose Throne  
Fly those whose heads with age are hoary grown,  
And those great Rabbis that do gravely sit,  
Revolving volumes of the highest Writ,  
And He that in the Tabernacle serves,  
Her sacred voice as Oracles observes:  
None from her presence ever comes confused.  
And, got on skill, gives place to skill infused.   

O IACOB'S Lantern, Load-star pure, which lights  
On these rough Seas the rest of Abramites  
(Said then the People) what shall us befall?  
IABIN'S fell yoke our weary necks doth gall:  
We are the Butts unto all Pagan darts,  
And cold Despair knocks at our doors (our hearts).   

ISRAEL (saith she) be of good cheer; for now  
God wars upon your Foes, and leagues with you:  
Therefore to Field now let your youth advance,  
And in their rests couch the revenging Lance:  
This said, on BARAC she a Shield bestows, 
Barac.   
Indented on the brims, which plain foreshows 
His shield given by Deborah.   
Incurious Boss-work (that doth neatly swell)  
The (won and lost) Battles of Israel,  
As an abbridgement, where to life appear  
The noblest Acts of eight or nine score year.   

Lo here an army, stooping by the side 
Gedeon.   
Of a deep River (with their Thirst half dried)  
Sups, licks, and laps the stream: of all which rout,  
The Captain chooses but three hundred out,  
And arming each but with a Trump and Torch,  
About a mighty Pagan Host doth march,  
Making the same, through their dread sudden sound,  
With their own Arms themselves to inter-wound:  
A hellish rage of mutual fury swells  
The bloody hearts of barbarous Infidels,  
So that the friends that in one Couch did sleep,  
Each others blade in either's breast do steep:  
And all the Camp with headless dead is sown,  
Cutoff by Cozen-swords, killed by their own.   

Lo there, another valiant Champion, 
● I●phthe.   
Who having late triumphant Laurels won;  
His heedless Vow (inhuman) to fulfil,  
His only Daughter doth unkindly kill:  
The frantic Mother, all vnbraçed (alas!)  
With silver locks unkembed about her face;  
Arming her rage, with nails, with teeth, and tongue,  
Runs-in, and rushes through the thickest throng:  
And, she will save, and she will have (she says)  
Her Deer, her Daughter; and then hold she lays  
Upon the Maid, and tearing-off her Coat,  
Away she runs, thinking she her had got.   

The Priest dissolves in tears, th' Offering is cheerful▪  
The Murdred's valiant, and the Murderer fearful;  
The Father leads with slow and feeble pace▪  
The Daughter seems to run to death apace,  
As if the Chaplet that her temples ties,  
Were Hymen's Flowers, not Flowers for Sacrifice:  
Her grace and beauties still augment; (in ●ine)  
Who so beholds her sweet, love-darting Eyn,  
Her Cheeks, Lips, Brow's; fresh Lilies, Coral, jet:  
He sees (or seems to see) a Sun to set.  
And (to conclude) the Graver, Maul, and Mould,  
Have given such life to th' Iron, Brass, and Gold,  
That here wants nothing but the Mother's screech,  
The Father's sigh, and the sweet Daughter's speech.   

Lo here, another shakes his vnshav'n tresses, 
Samson.   
Triumphing on a Lion torn in pieces:  
O matchless Champion! Pearl of men-at-arms,  
That emptiest not an arsenal of Arms,  
Nor needest shops of Lemnian Armourers,  
To furnish weapons for thy glorious Wars:  
An Asse's jaw-bone is the Club wherewith  
Thy mighty arm, brains, beats, and battereth  
Th' uncircumcised ●amp▪ all quickly scud;  
And th' Host that ●lew in dust, now flows in blood▪  
Heer, th' Iron Gates, whose hugeness woost to shake  
The massy Towers of Gaza, thou dost take  
On thy broad shoulders: there (in seeming jest)  
Crushing their Palace-pillars (at a feast)  
Thou over-whelm'st the House, and with the fall  
The Philistines blaspheming Princes all.  
Heer, from ones head, which two huge coins do crush,  
(As whey from Cheese) the battered brains do gush:  
Here lies another in a deadly sound▪  
Nailed with a broken rafter to the ground:  
Another, here pashed with a pane of wall,  
Hath lost his soul, and body's shape withal:  
Another, here o'ertaken as he fled,  
Lies (Tortois-like) all hidden but the head:  
Another covered with a heap of lome,  
Seems with his moving to re-move his tomb:  
Even as the soft, blind, Mine-inventing Moule, 
Simile.   
In velvet Robes under the Earth doth roll,  
Refusing light, and little air receives,  
And hunting worms her moving hillocks heaves.   

Lo lower here, a beastly Multitude 
The Levites wise.   
On one poor Woman all their lusts intrude;  
Whose Spouse (displeased with th' execrable Fact)  
Into twelve Pieces her dead Body hacked;  
And, to twelve Parts of ISRAEL them transfers,  
As twelve quick tinders of intest in Wars.   

And lower yet, behold) with hateful scorn) 
The Ark taken by the Philistines.   
The ARK of God to DAGON'S Temple born;  
But, th' Idol yields to GOD, and DAGON falls  
Before the ARK, which Heathen's pride appalls.   

BARAC thus armed, th' ASORIANS sets-upon, 
The Battle between the Israelites and Asorians with their iron Chariots.   
That bright in brass, steel, gold, and silver shone:  
But, his young Soldiers were much daunted tho,  
To see the fearful Engines of the Foe▪  
Nine hundred Chariots, whirling swift and light▪  
Whose glistering irons dazzle even their sight;  
Whose barded Steeds bear in their heads a Blade  
Of the right temper of DAMASCUS made  
(As proud of it, as unicorns are wont  
Of their rich Weapon that adorns their ●ront)  
Amidst their Pettral stands another Pike:  
On either-side, long grapples (Sickle-like);  
The like at either Nave: so that (in Wars)  
'Tis present death t' approach these broaching Cars.   

But DEBORAH, her Troops encouraging, 
Deborah coms●rteth a●d encourageth the Israelites.   
Bestirs her quick, and steps from wing to wing:  
Courage (saith she) brave Soldiers, sacred Knights,  
Strike, and strike home, lay-on with all your mights:  
Stand, fear them not (O Champions of the Faith)  
God drives your Foes into the snares of Death.  
Doubtless, they are your own: their armed charet  
They are but Bugs to daunt dejected spirits.  
No, no (my Hearts) not Arms, nor Engines glorious,  
But 'tis the heart that makes a Camp victorious:  
Or rather, 'tis God's Thunder-throwing hand,  
Which only doth all War's success command:  
And, VICTORIE'S his Daughter, whom he now  
(For his own sake) frankly bestows on you.   

Even as a sort of Shepherds, having spied 
Simile.   
A Wolf come stealing down a Mountain's side,  
Cry shrill, Now-now, up-hill, a Wolf a Wolf▪  
Now, now (says Echo) up-hill, a Wolf, a Wolf;  
And such a noise between the Vales doth rise,  
That th' hungry Thief hence without hunting flies:  
So th' Hebrews, heartened with her brave Discourse, 
God's enemies ●●er thrown by their own Engin●●.   
Gave such a shout, that th' armed Cars and Horse  
Turn sudden back, their Drivers Art deceive▪  
And, changing side, through their own Army cleave.   

Some, with the blades in every Courser's brow,  
Were (as with Lances) ●ored through and through:  
Some torn in pieces with the whirling wheels,  
Some trod to death under the Horse's heels:  
As (in some Countries) when in Season hot,  
Under Horse feet (made with a whip to troth) 
Simile.   
They use to thrash the sheaves of Winter-Corn,  
The grain spurts-out, the straw is bruised and torn.  
Some (not direct before the Horse, nor under)  
Were with the Sythes mow'n in the midst asunder:  
As in a Mead the Grass yet in the flower, 
Simile.   
Falls at the foot of the wide-straddling Mower,  
That with a stooping back, and stretched arm,  
Cuts-cross the swaths to Winter-feed his Farm.   

If there rest any resolute, and loath  
To lose so soon their Arms and honours both  
At first assault, but rather bravely bend  
To see so fierce and bloody Fight's event;  
Both DEBORAH and BARAC thither plied:  
But (as 'tis writ of the mild AMRAMIDE,  
And NVN'S great Son▪ that Heav'n-deer MARS-like man, 
Deborah prays, while Barac fights.   
Who did transplant the Tribes to CANAAN)  
She (in the zeal of her religious spirit)  
Lifts-up her hands to pray, and he to fight.  
He charges fierce, he wounds, he slaughters all 
The Infidels utterly over thrown and Sisara their Captain slain by jahel.   
But SISARA, their Captain general;  
Who flies to JAHEL, and by her is slain  
Driving a nail into his sleeping brain▪   

At last, the Helm of headstrong ISRAEL  
Comes to the hand of famous SAMVEL;  
One rarely-wise▪ who weds his Policy,  
To divine gifts of sacred Phophecie▪ 
Samuel, judge.   
But, his too greedy Sons, digressing quite  
From his good steps, distaste the ISRAELITE  
Of th' ancient RULE of th' Heavenly Potentate: 
Israel a●●es▪ 6. KING.   
So that all seek a sudden Change of S●ATE.   

Assembled then in sacred PARLIAMENT,  
Up starts a Fellow of a mean Descent  
(But of great spirit, well-spoken, full of wit,  
And courage too▪ aspiring high to fit) 
●. A Declamation of a Plebeian for Democraty or People-Sway.   
And having gained attention, thus he says▪  
Divine Design▪ O Purpose worthyprayse▪  
To now- Reform the STATE, and sound heal  
With wholesome Laws th' hurts of the commonweal:  
But (prudent ISRAEL) take now heed (or never);  
Change not an Ague for a burning-Fever;  
In shaking-off confused Anarchy,  
To beintiçed t' embrace a Monarchy,  
Admired of Fools, adored of Flatterers,  
Of Softlings, Wantoness, Braves, and Loiterers:  
The Freedom and Defence of the base Rabble,  
But to brave minds a Yoke intolerable.   

For, who can brook, millions of men to measure  
Breath, Life, and Moving, all at One man's pleasure?  
One, to keep all in awe? One, at a beck  
A whole great Kingdom to control and check?   

Is't not a goodly sight, to see a Prince,  
Void of all Virtue, full of insolence,  
To Play with Noble States, as with a straw?  
A Fool, to give so many Wise the Law?  
A Beast, to govern Men? An Infant, Eld?  
A Hare to lead fierce Lions to the Field?   

Who is't but knows, that such a Court as this, 
The corruption & licentiousness of most Prince's Courts.   
Is th' open Shop of selling Offices?  
Th' harbour of Riot, stews of Ribal dry,  
Th' haunt of Profusion, th' Hell of Tyranny?  
That nowhere shines the REGAL Diadem,  
But (Comet-like) it bodes all Vice extreme?  
That not a King among ten thousand Kings,  
But to his Lust his Law in bondage brings?  
But (shameless) triumphs in the shame of Wives?  
But bad, prefers the bad, and good deprives?  
But gildeth those that glorify his Folly;  
That sooth, and smooth, and call his Hell-ness holy?  
But with the Torrent of continual Taxes  
(Poured everywhere) his meanest Subjects vexes:  
As an ill-stated Body doth distil 
Simile.   
On's feeblest parts his cold-raw humours stil.   

That Form of RULE is a right commonweal,  
Where all the People have an Enter-deal:  
Where (without awe or law) the Tyrant's sword  
Is not made druak with blood, for a Miss-word:  
Where, Each (by turn) doth Bid and doth Obey;  
Where, still the Commons (having Sovereign- Sway)  
Share equally both Rigour and Reward  
To each-man's merit; giving no regard  
To ill-got Wealth, nor mouldy Monuments  
From great-great-Grand-sires scutcheoned in Descents:  
Where, Learned Men, un-soule-clogd (as it were)  
With servile gives of King's imperious Fear,  
Fly even to Heaven; and by their Pensinspire  
Posterity with virtue's glorious Fire:  
Where, Honour's honest Combat never ceasses,  
Nor Virtue languishes, nor Valour leeses  
His sprightful nerves, through th' Envy of a PRINCE,  
That cannot brook fewer excellence;  
Or, Pride of those, who (from great Elders sprung)  
Have nothing but Their glory on their tongue;  
And deeming Others Worth, enough for them,  
Virtue and Valour, and all Arts contemn:  
Or, base Despair, in those of meaner Calling,  
Who, on the ground still (woorm-like) basely crawling,  
Dare not attempt (nor scarcely think, precise)  
Any great Act or glorious Enterprise;  
Because Ambition, Custom, and the Law,  
From high Estate hath bounded them with awe:  
Where, He that never rightly learned t▪ obey  
Commandeth not, with heavy Sword of Sway:  
Where, each i'th' Public having equal part,  
All to save all, will hazard life and hart:  
Where, Liberty (as dear as life and breath)  
Born with us first, consorts us to our Death.   

Shall savage Beasts like-better Nuts and Mast 
Simile.   
In a free Forest, than our choice Repast  
In iron Cages? and shall we (poor Sots)  
Whom Nature Masters of ourselves allots,  
And Lords of All besides▪ shall we go draw  
On our own necks an easeles Yoke of Aw▪  
Rather (O JACOB) choose we all to die,  
Than to betray our Native Liberty,  
Than to become the sporting Tennis-ball  
Of a proud Monarch; or to yield us thrall  
To sieve or honour any other King  
Than that dread LAW which did from SINA ring.   

Another then, whom Age made venerable, 
2. Another, of a reverend Senator for Aristocracy, or the rule of a chosen Synod of the best men.   
Knowledge admired, and Office honourable,  
Stands-up, and speaks (maiestically-milde)  
On other Piles the commonweal to build.   

Doubtless (said he) with waste of Time and Soap,  
Y'have laboured long to wash an AETHIOPE:  
Y'have drawn us here a goodly form of STATE  
(And well we have had proof of it of late):  
Shall we again the Sword of JUSTICE put  
In mad men's hands, soon their own throats to cut?  
What Tiger is more fierce? what Bear more fell? 
Comparisons.   
What Chaff more light? What Sea more apt to swell  
Than is th' unbridled Vulgar, passion-tossed;  
In calms elated, in foul-weather lost?  
What boot deep Projects, if to th' eyes of all  
They must be published in the common Hall?  
Sith known Designs are dangerous to act:  
And, th' un-close Chief did never noble fact.   

DEMOCRACY is as a tossed Ship  
Void both of Pole and Pilot in the Deep: 
Simile.   
A Senate framed of thousand Kinglings slight;  
Where, voices pass by number, not by weight;  
Where, wise men do propound, and Fools dispose:  
A Fair, where all things they to sale expose: 
Simile.   
A Sink of Filth, where ay th' infamousest, 
Simile.   
Most bold and busy, are esteemed best:  
A Park of savage Beasts, that each-man dreads: 
Simile.   
A Headless Monster with a thousand heads.   

What shall we then do? shall we by and by  
In Tyrant's paws deject us servilely?  
Nay, rather, shunning these extremities,  
Let us make choice of men up right and wise;  
Of such whose Virtue doth the Land adorn,  
Of such whom Fortune hath made Noble-born,  
Of such as Wealth hath raised above the pitch  
Of th' abject Vulgar; and to th' hands of such  
(Such as for Wisdom, Wealth, and Birth excel)  
Let us commit the Reans of ISRAEL;  
And ever from the sacred Helm exclude  
The turbulent, base, moody Multitude.   

Take away Choice, and where is virtue's grace?  
What? shall not Chance unto Desert give place?  
And Lots, to Right? Shall not the blind be led 
Simile.   
By those whose eyes are perfect in their head?  
Chief, amid ' such baulks, and blocks and Pits,  
As in best State-paths the best Statesman meets?   

Who may be better trusted with the key 
Comparison.   
Of a great Chest of Gold and gems than they  
That got the same? And who more firm and fit  
At careful Stern of POLICY to sit,  
Than such as in the Ship most venture bear:  
Such as their own wrack with the State's wrack fear:  
Such as, Content, and having Much to lose,  
Even Death itself, rather than Change, would choose?   

While he discoursed thus on a Theme so grave, 
3. The Oration of a Noble young Prince, for Monarchy or the sole Soverainti● of a KING.   
Uprose a Gallant, noble, young, and brave,  
Foe to the Vulgar, one that hoped (perchance)  
Oneday t'attain a Sceptres governance,  
And thus he speaks: Your RULE is yet too Free.  
Y'have proined the leaves, not boughs of Publik-Tree:  
Y'have qualified, but not yet cured our Grief:  
Y'have in our Field still left the tars of Strife,  
Of Leagues and Factions. For, plurality  
Of Heads and Hands to sway an Empery,  
Is for the most part like untamed Bulls:  
One, this way hales; another that way pulls: 
Simile.   
All, every-way; hurried with Passion's winds  
Wither their Lust-storms do transport their minds;  
At length, the strongest bears the weakest down,  
And to himself wholly usurps the Crown:  
And so (in fine) your Aristocracy  
He by degrees brings to a Monarchy.   

In brief, the Sceptre Aristocratike,  
And People-Sway, have 
* A passion following any sickness.  symptoms both alike:  
And neither of them can be permanent  
For want of Union; which of Government  
Is both the Lifeblood, and Preservative,  
Whereby a STATE, young, strong, and long doth thrive.  
But, MONARCHY is as a goodly Station,  
Built skilfully, upon a sure Foundation:  
A quiet House, wherein (as principal)  
One Father is obeyed and served of all:  
A well-rigd Ship, where (when the danger's near)  
A many Masters strive not who shall steer.   

The world hath but One God: Heaven but One Sun:  
Quails but One Chief: the Hony-Birds but One  
One Master-Bee: and Nature (natively)  
Graves in our hearts the Rule of MONARCHY.  
At sound of whose Edicts, all joint-proceed:  
Under whose Sway, Seditions never breed:  
Who, while consulting with Colleagues he stands,  
Let's not the Victory escape his hands:  
And, that same Majesty, which (as the Base  
And Pedestal) supports the weight and grace,  
Greatness and glory of a well-ruled State,  
It not extinguished nor extenuate,  
By being parcellized to a plurality  
Of petty Kinglings, of a mean Equality:  
Like as a goodly River, deep and large, 
Simile.   
Able to bear Ships of the greatest Charge,  
If, through new Dikes, his tradefull Waters guided,  
Be in a hundred little Brooks divided;  
No Bridge more fears, nor Sea more weighs the same▪  
But soon it loses both his trade and name.  
And (to conclude) a wise and worthy Prince,  
A KING, complete in Royal excellence,  
Is even the People's prop, their powerful nerves,  
And lively Law, that all entire preserves:  
His country's life, and soul, sight, and foresight;  
And even th' almighty's sacred Picture right.   

While yet he spoke, the People loudly cried,  
A KING, a KING; we'll have a KING for Guide.  
He shall command: He shall conduct our Hosts,  
And make us Lords of th' IDUMEAN Coasts.   

Ingrate, said SAMVEL, will you then reject  
Th' Almighty's Sceptre: do you more affect  
New POLICY, than his old PROVIDENCE?  
And change th' Immortal for a mortal Prince?   

Well (Rebels) well, you shall, you shall have one: 
A King's Prerogative.   
But, do ye know what follows thereupon?  
He, from your Ploughs shall take your Horses out,  
To serve his Pomp, and draw his Train about  
In gilded Coaches (a wild wanton sort  
Of Popinjays and Peacocks of the Court):  
He shall your choicest Sons and Daughters take  
To be his Servants (nay, his slaves to make):  
You shall plant Vineyards, he the Wine shall sup:  
You shall sow Fields, and he shall reap the Crop:  
You shall keep Flocks, and he shall take the Fleece:  
And PHARAO'S Yoke shall seem but light to his.   

But, IZARAEL doth wilful still persever,  
And SAMVEL (priest and importuned ever) 
Saul anointed King of Israel.   
Anointeth SAUL (the son of CIS) a Man  
Whose cursed end marred what he well began.   

You, too-too-light, busy, ambitious wits,  
That Heaven and Earth confound with furious fits:  
Fantastik Frantiks, that would innovate, 
A check to busy, seditious, and ambitious Malcontents in any State.   
And every moment change your form of STATE:  
That weening high to fly, fall lower still:  
That though you change your bed, change not your Ill:  
See, See how much th' Almighty (the most High)  
Herein abhors your fond inconstancy.   

The PEOPLE-STATE, the ARISTOCRACY, 
The authority of every kind of Government is from God.   
And sacred KINGDOM, took authority  
Alike from Heaven: and these three Scepter-forms  
Flourish a-vie, as well in Arts and Arms,  
As prudent Laws. Therefore, you stout Helvetians,  
Grisons, Genevians, Ragusins, Uenetians,  
Maintain your Liberties, and change not now 
Therefore every People to persist in the State established.   
Your sacred Laws rooted so deep with you.  
On th' other side, we that are born and bred  
Under KING'S Aw, under one Supreme Head,  
Let us still honour their dread Majesties,  
Obey their Laws, and pay them Subsidies.  
Let's read, let's hear no more these factious Teachers,  
These shameless Tribunes, these seditious Preachers,  
That in all places always belch and bark  
Aloud abroad, or whisper in the dark,  
Railing at Princes (whether good or bad)  
The true Lieutenants of Almighty God.  
And let not us, before a KING, prefer  
A Senate-sway, nor Sceptre Popular.   

'Tis better bear the Youth-slips of a KING,  
I' th' Law some fault, I' th' State some blemishing,  
Than to fill all with Blood-flouds of Debate;  
While, to Reform, you would Deform a STATE.   

One cannot (without danger) stir a stone  
In a great Building's old foundation:  
And, a good Leach seeks rather to support,  
With ordered diet, in a gentle sort,  
A feeble Body (though in sickly plight)  
Than with strong Medicines to destroy it quite.   

And therefore, Cursed, ever Cursed be  
Our 
* A just Execration of the Popish Powder-Plot on the fift of November, 1605.  Hell- spurred percy's fell Conspiracy;  
And every head and every hand and heart,  
That did Conceive or but Consent his part:  
POPE- prompted Atheists, feigning Superstition,  
To cover Cruelty and cloak Ambition:  
Incarnate Devils, Enemies of Man,  
Dam-Murdering Vipers, Monsters inhuman,  
Dis-natured NERO'S, impious EROSTRATES,  
That with one Puff would blowe-up all Estates;  
Princes and Peers, and People's Government  
(For, of all Three consists our PARLIAMENT)  
Religion, Order, Honesty, and all,  
And more than all that Fear can fear to fall.   

And therefore, Blessed, ever Blessed be  
Our glorious GOD's immortal Majesty;  
ENGLAND'S Great Watchman, he that Israel keeps,  
Who never slumbers and who never sleeps:  
Our gracious Father, whose still-firm affection  
Defends us still with wings of his Protection:  
Our loving Saviour that thus Saves us still  
(Us so unworthy, us so prone to ill):  
Our sacred Comforter (the Spirit of Light)  
Who steers us still in the True FAITH aright:  
The TRINITY, th' Eternal THREE in ONE,  
Who by his Power and Providence alone,  
Hath from the Furnace of their Fiery Zeal  
Preserved our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PUBLIK-WEAL,   

Therefore, O PRINCE (our nostrils dearest breath)  
Thou true Defender of true Christian FAITH,  
O! let the Zeal of GOD'S House eat thee up:  
Fill BABYLON her measure in her Cup:  
Maim the King-maiming Kinglings of Bezec:  
Pity not Agag, spare not Amalech:  
Hunt, hunt those Foxes that would under-mine  
Root, Body, Branches of the Sacred Vine:  
O! spare them not. To spare Them, is to spoil  
Thyself, thy Seed, thy Subjects, and thy Soil.   

Therefore, O PEERS, Prince-loyall Paladines,  
True-noble Nobles, lay-by by-Designes;  
And, in God's quarrel and your Countries, bring  
Counsel and Courage to assist your KING  
To countermine against the Mines of ROME;  
To conquer Hydra, and to overcome  
And clean cut-off his Horns, and Heads, and all  
Whose hearts do Vow, or knees do Bow to Baal:  
Be Zealous for the LORD, and Faithful now,  
And honour Him, and He will honour you.   

FATHERS, and Brethren, Ministers of CHRIST,  
Cease civil Wars: war all on Antichrist;  
Whose subtle Agents, while you strive for shells,  
Poison the kernel with Erroneous Spells:  
Whose Envious Seed-men, while you Silent Sleep,  
Sow tars of Treason, which take root too-deep.  
Watch; watch your Fold: Feed; feed your Lambs athome:  
Muzzle these Sheep-clad bloody Wolves of ROME.   

Therefore, O PEOPLE, let us Praise and Pray  
Th' Almighty-most (whose Mercy lasts for ay)  
To give us grace, to ever-keep in mind  
This MIRACLE of his Protection kind:  
To true- Repent us of our heinous Sin  
(Pride, Lust, and Looseness) we have wallowed in:  
To stand still constant in the pure Profession  
Of true RELIGION (with a due discretion  
To try the Spirits, and by peculiar choice  
To know our Shepherds from th' Hyana's voice):  
And, ever loyal to our PRINCE, t'expose  
Goods, Lands, and lives, against his hateful Foes:  
Among whom (Lord) ●f (yet) of Thine be found,  
Convert them quickly; and the rest Confound.   

And (to Conclude) PRINCE, PEERS, & PEOPLE too,  
Praise all at once, and selfly each of you,  
His Holy Hand, that (like as long-ago,  
His Sidrach, Misach and Abednego)  
From the hot Furnace of Pope-powdered Zeal  
Hath Saved our PRINCE, our PEERS, our PVELIK-weal.    
The End of the THIRD DAI● of the SECOND WEEK.   

DAVID. The FOURTH DAY Of The SECOND WEEK;  
Containing  

1. THE TROPHIES,  
2. THE MAGNIFICENCE,  
3. THE SCHISM,  
4. THE DECAY.   
Translated & Dedicated  
To Prince HENRY his Highness.  
Acceptam refere.  

To Prince HENRY his Highness.  

A SONNET.  
Having new- mustered th' HOST of all this ALL:  
Your Royal Father In our Fore ward stands;  
Where (Adam-like) Himself alone Commands  
A WORLD of Creatures, ready at his Call.  
Our Middle-ward doth not unfitly fall  
To famous Chiefs, whose grave-brave heads & hands  
In Counselled Courage so Conduct our Bands,  
As (at a brunt) affront the force of Baal.  
Our Rearward (Sir) shallbe your Princely Charge,  
Though last, not least (sith it most Honour brings)  
Where Honour's Field before you lies more large:  
For, Your Command is of a Camp of KINGS,  
Some good, some bad: Your Glory shall be, here  
To Choose and Use the good, the bad Cassier.   

A STANZA.  
Jewel of NATURE, joy of ALBION,  
To whose perfection Heaven and Earth conspire:  
That, in Time● fullness, Thou mayst bless this▪ Throne  
(Succeeding in the Virtues of thy Sire)  
As happily thou hast begun, goe-on;  
That, as thy Youth, we may thine Age admire;  
Acting our Hopes (which shall revive our hearts)  
Pattern & Patron both of Arms & Arts.   
josuah Sylvester.   

THE TROPHIES. THE FIRST BOOK OF the fourth Day of the second Week, of BARTAS.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Saul's fall from Favour, into God's Disgrace.  
David designed Successor in his Place;  
Braving Goliath, and the Philistines  
He bravely foils: He flies his furious Prince.  
Seem- Samuel raised: Saul routed; Selfely-slain.  
King- David's TROPHIES, and triumphant Reign:  
His heavenly Harp- skill (in King JAMES renewed):  
His human frailty, heavily pursewd.  
Bersabé batheing: Nathan bold-reproving:  
David repenting (Our REPENTANCE moving).   

HEröike force, and Prince-fit form withal, 
Saul king of Israel, fortunate at the first, is afterward rejected, and David elected in his fleed.   
Honour the Sceptre of courageous Saul;  
Success confirms it: for the power Divine  
Tames by his hand th' outrageous Philistine,  
Edom, and Moab, and the Ammonite,  
And th' ever-wicked, cursed Amalekite:  
O too-too-happy! if his arrogance  
Had not transgressed Heavens sacred Ordinance:  
But therefore, God in's secret Counsel (just)  
Him even already from his Throne hath thrust,  
Degraded of his gifts: and in his steed  
(Though privily) anointed Iesse's Seed,  
Th' honour of jacob, yea of th' Universe,  
heavens darling DAVID, Subject of my Verse.   

Lord, sith I cannot (nor I may not once) 
Invocation.   
Aspire to DAVID'S Diadems and Thrones;  
Nor lead behind my bright Tryumphal-Car  
So many Nations Conquered in War:  
Nor (DAVID-like) my trembling Asps adorn  
With bloody TROPHIES of my Foes forlorn:  
Vouch safe me yet his Verse, and (Lord) I crave  
Let me his Harpstrings, not his Bowe-strings have;  
His Lute, and not his Lance, to worthy-sing  
Thy glory, and the honour of thy King.  
For, none but DAVID can sing DAVID's worth:  
Angels in Heaven thy glory sound; in Earth,  
DAVID alone; whom (with heavens love surprised)  
To praise thee there, thou now hast Angelized.  
Give me the Laurel, not of War, but Peace;  
Or rather give me (if thy grace so please)  
The Civik Garland of green Oaken boughs,  
Thrice-three times wreathed about my glorious brows,  
To ever-witnes to our after-frends  
How I have reskewed my concitizens,  
Whom profane Fames-Thirst day and night did move  
To be be-slaved to th' yoke of wanton Love:  
For, (not to me, but to thee, Lord, be praise)  
Now, by th' example of my Sacred Lays,  
To Sacred Loves our noblest spirits are bend,  
And thy rich Name's their only Argument.   

HE WHOM in private walls, with privy sign,  
The great King-maker did for King assign,  
Gins to show himself: a fire so great  
Can not live flame-les long: nor would God let  
So noble a spirits nimble edge to rust  
In shepherds idle and ignoble dust.   

My Son, how certain we that Saying prove, 
jessè (or Ishai) sendeth David to see his brethren in the Campe.   
That doubtful Fear still waits on tender Love?  
DAVID (saith jesse) I am full of fears  
For thy dear Brethren: Each Assault, salt tears  
Draws from mine eyes; me thinks each point doth stab  
Mine Eliab, Samna, and Aminadab.  
Therefore go visit them, and with this Food  
Bear them my Blessing; say I wish them good;  
Beseeching God to shield and them sustain,  
And send them (soon) victorious home again.   

Gladly goes DAVID, and anon doth spy  
Two steep high Hills where the two Armies lie, 
Description of Goliath.   
A Vale divides them; where, in raging mood  
(Colossus-like) an armed Giant stood:  
His long black locks hung shagged (slovenlike)  
A down his sides: his bush-beard floated thick;  
His hands and arms, and bosom bristled were  
(Most Hedge-hog-like) with wire instead of hair.  
His foul blasphemous mouth, a caves mouth is;  
His eyes two Brands, his belly an Abyss:  
His legs two Pillars; and to see him go,  
He seemed some steeple reeling to and fro.  
A Cypresse-Tree of fifteen Summers old,  
Pyramid-wise waves on his Helm of gold.  
Whose glistering brightness doth (with rays direct)  
Against the Sun, the Sun itself reflect:  
Much like a Comet blazing bloodie-bright 
Simile.   
Over some City, with new threatfull light,  
Presaging downfall, or some dismal fate,  
Too-neer approaching to some ancient State.  
His Lance a Loom-beam, or a Mast (as big)  
Which yet he shaketh as an Osier twig;  
Whose harmful point is headed stifly-straight  
With burnished Brass above an Anuils' weight:  
Upon whose top (in stead of Bannaret)  
A hissing Serpent seems his foes to threat:  
His brazen Cuirasse, not a Squire can carry;  
For 'tis the burden of a Dromedary:  
His Shield (where Cain his brother Abel slays,  
Where Chus his son, Heav'n-climbing Towers doth raise;  
Where th' Ark of God, to th' Heathen captivate,  
To Dagon's House is led with scorn and hate)  
Is like a Curtain made of double planks  
To save from shot some hard-besieged Ranks.  
His threatfull voice is like the stormefull Thunder  
When hot-cold Fumes tear sulphury clouds asunder.   

O Fugitives! this is the fortieth day 
His braving Defiance to the Host of Israel.   
(Thus barks the Dog) that I have stalked aye  
About your fearful Host: that I alone  
Against your best and choicest Champion,  
In single Combat might our Cause conclude,  
To shun the slaughter of the multitude.  
Come then, who dares; and to be slain by me,  
It shall thine honour and high Fortune be.  
Why am I not less strong? my common strength  
Might find some Brave to cope with at the length.  
But, fie for shame, when shall we cease this gear?  
I to defy, and you to fly for fear?  
If your hearts serve not to defend your Lot,  
Why are you armed? why rather yield you not?  
Why rather do you (sith you dare not fight)  
Not prove my mildness, than provoke my might?  
What needed Coats of brass and Caps of steel  
For such as (Harelike) trust but to their heel?  
But, sith I see not one of you (alas!)  
Alone dares meet, nor look me in the face,  
Come ten, come twenty, nay come all of you,  
And in your aid let your great God come too:  
Let him rake Hell, and shake the Earth in sunder,  
Let him be armed with Lightning and with Thunder:  
Come, let him come and buckle with me here:  
Your goodly God, less than yourselves, I fear.   

Thus having spewed, the dreadful Cyclops stirred  
His monstrous Limbs; beneath his feet he reared  
A Cloud of dust: and, wheresoe'er he wend,  
Flight, Fear, and Death, his ghastly steps attend.   

Even as a payr of busy chattering Pies, 
Simile.   
Seeing some hardy Tercell, from the skies  
To stoop with ravenous seres, feel a i'll fear,  
From bush to bush, wag-tayling here and there;  
So that no noise, nor stone, nor st●●ke can make  
The timorous Birds their Covert to forsake:  
So th' Hebrew Troops this braving Monster shun;  
And from his sight, some here, some there, do run.  
In vain the King commands, entreats, and threats;  
And hardly three or four together gets.   

What shame (saith he) that our victorious Host 
Saul stirreth up his Soldiers & proposeth ample Reward to him that shall undertake the Philistine.   
Should all be daunted with one Pagan's boast?  
Brave jonathan, how is thy courage quailed  
Which, yerst at Boses, all alone aslaild  
Th' whole Heathen Host? O Worthy Abner too,  
What chance hath cut thy Nerves of Valour now?  
And thou thyself (O Saul) whose Conquering hand  
Had yerst with Trophies filled all the Land,  
As far as Tigris, from the Iap●ean Sea:  
Where is thy heart? how is it fallen away?  
Saul is not Saul: O ● then, what Izraelice  
Shall venge God's honour and Our shame acquight?  
Who, spurred with anger, but more stirred with Zeal,  
Shall foil this Pagan, and free Israel?  
O! who shall being me this Wolf's howling head,  
That Heaven and Earth hath so un-hallowed?  
What e'er he be, that (lavish of his soul)  
Shall with his blood wash-out this blot so foul,  
I will ennoble him, and all his House;  
He shall enjoy my Daughter for his Spouse:  
And ever shall a Deed so memorable  
Be (with the Saints) sacred and honourable.  
●● Yet, for the Duel no man dares appear:  
All wish the Prize; but none will wined so dear:  
Big-looking Minions, brave in vaunts and vows,  
Lions in Court, now in the Camp be Cows:  
But, even the blast that cools their courage so,  
That makes my DAVID's valiant rage to glow.   

My Lord (saith He) behold, this hand shall bring 
David's offer.   
Th' heav'n-scorning head unto my Lord the King.   

Alas, my Lad, sweet Shepherd (answers Saul)  
Thy heart is great; although thy limbs be small:  
High fly thy thoughts; but we have need of more,  
More stronger Toils to take so wild a Boar:  
To tame Goliath, needs some Demigod,  
Some Nimrod, rather than a Shepheard-Lad  
Of slender growth, upon whose tender Chin  
The budding down doth scarcely yet begin.  
Keep therefore thine own Rank, and draw not thus  
Death on thyself, dishonour upon us,  
With shame and sorrow on all Israel,  
Through endless Thrall dom to a Foe so fel.   

The faintest Hearts, God turns to Lions fierce, 
His assurance.   
To eagle's Doves, Vanquished to Vanquishers:  
God, by a Woman's feeble hand sub dews  
jabins' Lieutenant, and a judge of jews.  
God is my strength: therefore (O King) forbear,  
For Israel, for Thee, or Me, to fear:  
No self-presumption makes me rashly brave;  
Assured pledge of his proud head I have.   

Seest thou these arms (my Lord) these very arms  
(Steeled with the strength of the great God of Arms)  
Have bathed Mount Bethlem with a Lion's blood:  
These very arms, beside a shady Wood,  
Have slain a Bear, which (greedy after prey)  
Had torn and born my fattest sheep away.  
My God is still the same: this savage Beast,  
Which in his Fold would make a Slaughter-feast,  
All-ready feels his fury, and my force;  
My foot al-ready tramples on his Corpse:  
With his own sword his cursed length I lop,  
His head al-ready on the geound doth hop.   

The Prince beholds him, as amazed and mute,  
To see a mind so young, foresolute:  
Then son (saith he) sith so confirmed thou art,  
Go, and God's blessing on thy valiant hart;  
God guide thy hand, and speed thy weapon so,  
That thou return triumphant of thy Fo.  
Hold, take my corselet, and my Helm, and Lance,  
And to the heavens thy happy prows advance.   

The faithful Champion, being furnished thus,  
Is like the Knight, which twixt Eridanus  
And th' heavenly Star-Ship, marching bravely-bright  
(Having his Club, his Casque, and Belt bedight  
With flaming studs of many a twinkling Ray)  
Turns Winter's night into a Summer's day.  
But, yer that he had half a furlong gone,  
The massy Lance and Armour he had on  
Did load him so, he could not freely move  
His legs and arms, as might him best behove.  
Even so, an Irish Hobby, light and quick 
Simile.   
(Which on the spur over the bogs they prick  
In highest speed) If on his back he feel  
Too-sad a Saddle, plated all with steel,  
Too-hard a Bit with in his mouth; behind,  
Crupper and Trappings him too-close to bind;  
He seems as lame, he flings, and will not go;  
Or, if he stir, it is but stiff and slow.  
DAVID therefore lays-by his heavy load,  
And, on the grace of the great glorious GOD  
(Who by the weakest can the strongest stoop)  
He firmly founding his victorious hope,  
No Arrows seeks, nor other Arsenal;  
But, by the Brook that runs amid the Vale,  
He takes five Pebbles and his Sling, and so,  
Courageously encounters with his Foe.   

What Combat's this? On the one side, I see  
A moving Rock, whose looks do terrify  
Even his own Host; wbose march doth seem to make  
The Mountain tops of Sucoth even to shake:  
On th' other side, a slender tender Boy  
Where grace and beauty for the prize do play:  
Shave but the down that on his Chin doth peer,  
And one would take him for Anchises Pheer:  
Or, change but weapons with that wanton E●●,  
And one would think that it were Cupid's self.  
Gold on his head, skar●er in either Cheek,  
Grace in each part and in each gest, alike;  
In all so lovely, both to Foe and Friend,  
That very Envy cannot but commend  
His matchless beauties: and though ardent zeal  
Flush in his face against the Infidel,  
Although his Fury fume, though up and down  
He nimbly traverse, though he fiercely frown,  
Though in his breast boiling with manly heat,  
His swelling heart do strongly pant and beat;  
His Storm is Calm, and from his modest eyes  
Even gracious seems the grimmest flash that flies.   

Am I a Dog, thou Dwarf, thou Dandiprat,  
To be with stones repelled and palted at?  
Or art thou weary of thy life so soon?  
O foolish boy! fantastical Baboon!  
That never saw'st but sheep in all thy life;  
Poor sot, 'tis here another kind of strife:  
We wrestle not (after your shepherds guise)  
For painted Sheep-hooks, or such petty Prize,  
Or for a Cage, a Lamb, or bread and cheese:  
The Vanquished Head must be the Victors Fees.  
Where is thy sweaty dust? thy sunburnt scars,  
(The glorious marks of Soldier strained in Wars)  
That make thee dare so much? O Lady-Cow,  
Thou shalt no more be-star thy wanton brow  
With thine eyes rays: Thy Mistress shall no more  
Curl the acquaint Tresses of thy Golden ore:  
I'll trample on that Gold; and Crows and Pies  
Shall peck the pride of those sweet-smiling eyes:  
Yet, no (my guirle-boy) no, I will not file  
My feared hands with blood so faintly-vile:  
Go seek thy match, thou shalt not die by me,  
Thine honour shall not my dishonour be▪  
No (silly Lad) no, wert thou of the Gods,  
I would not fight at so un-knightly odds.   

Come barking Cur (the Hebrew taunts him thus)  
That hast blasphemed the God of Gods, and us;  
The odds is mine (villain, I scorn thy Boasts)  
I have for Aid th' almighty Lord of Hosts.   

Th' Ethnik's afier▪ and from his goggle eyes▪  
All drunk with rage and blood, the Lightning flies:  
Out of his beaver, like a Boar he foams:  
A hellish Fury in his bosom roams:  
As mad, he marcheth with a dreadful pace,  
Death and destruction muster in his face;  
He would afresh blaspheam the Lord of Lords  
With new despites; but in the steed of words 
Simile.   
He can but gnash his teeth. Then, as an Ox  
Strayed twixt the hollow of steep Hills and Rocks,  
Through craggy Coombs, through dark & ragged turnings▪  
Lowes hideously his solitary Moornings:  
The Tyrant so from his close helmet blunders  
With horrid noise, and this harsh voice he thunders:   

Thy God reigns in his Ark, and I on Earth:  
I Challenge Him, Him (if he dare come forth)  
Not Thee, base Pigmy. Villain (says the jew)  
That blasphemy thou instantly shalt rue,  
If e'er you saw (at Sea) in Summer weather, 
Simile.   
A Galley and a Caraque cope together;  
(How th' one steers quick, and th' other veers as slow▪  
Larboard and starboard from the poop to prow;  
This, on the wind; that, on her Ours relies;  
This daunteth most; and that most damnifies)  
You may conceive this Fight: th' huge Polypheme  
Stands stiffly shaking his steel-pointed beam:  
David doth traverse (round about him) light,  
Forward and back, to th' left hand, and the right,  
Steps in and out; now stoops, anon he stretches;  
Then he recoils, on either hand he reaches;  
And stoutly-active, watching th' adverse blows,  
In every posture doth himself dispose.   

As, when (at Cockpit) two old Cocks do fight, 
Simile.   
(Bristling their plumes, and (red with rage) do smite  
With spurs and beak, bounding at every blow,  
With fresh assaults freshing their fury so,  
That, desperate in their un yielding wrath,  
Nothing can end their deadly feud but death)  
The Lords about, that on both sides do bet,  
Look partially when th' one the Field shall get,  
And, trampling on his gaudy plumed pride,  
His prostrate Foe with bloody spurs bestride,  
With clanging Trumpet and with clapping wing,  
Triumphantly his Victory to sing:  
So th' Hebrew Host, and so the Heathen stranger  
(Not free from fear, but from the present danger)  
Behold with passion these two Knights, on whom  
They both have wagered both their Fortune's sum:  
And either side, with voice and gesture too,  
Heartens and cheers their Champion well to do;  
So earnest all, that almost every one  
Seems even an Actor, not a looker-on:  
All feel the Skirmish twixt their Hope and Fear:  
All cast their eyes on this sad Theatre:  
All on these two depend, as very Founders  
Of their good Fortune, or their Fates Confounders.   

O Lord, said DAVID (as he whirled his Sling)  
Be bow and Boweman of this shaft I fling.   

With sudden flerk the fatal hemp let's go  
The humming Flint, which with a deadly blow  
Pearçed instantly the Pagans ghastly Front,  
As deep as Pistol-shot in board is wont.  
The villain's sped (cries all the Hebrew band) 
Goliath overthrown.   
The Dog, the Atheist feels Gods heavy hand.   

Th' Isacian Knight, seeing the blow, stands still.  
Fro th' Tyrant's wound his ruddy soul doth trill,  
As from a crack in any pipe of Lead  
(That convoys Water from some fountains head) 
Simile.   
Hissing in th' Air, the captive Stream doth spin▪  
In silver threads her crystal humorthin.   

The Giant, wiping with his hand his wound,  
Cries, tush, 'tis nothing: but eft 'zounds the ground▪  
Sunk under him, his face grew pale and wan,  
And all his limbs to faint and fail began:  
Thrice heaves he up his head; it hangs as fast,  
And all along lies Isaac's dread at last,  
Covering a rood of Land; and in his Fall, 
Simile.   
Resembles right a lofty Tower or Wall,  
Which to lay level with the humble soil  
A hundred Miners day and night do toil;  
Till at the length rushing with thundrous roar,  
It open a breach to th' hardy Conqueror.   

Then, two loud cries, a glad and sad were heard:  
Wherewith revived, the vaunting Tyrant stirred,  
Re-summoning under his weak Control  
The fainting Remnants of his flying Soul;  
And (to be once more buckling yer he dies,  
With blow for blow) he strives in vain to rise.  
Such as in life, such in his death he seems;  
For even in death he curses and blasphemes:  
And as a Cur, that cannot hurt the flinger, 
Simile.   
Flies at the stone and biteth that for anger;  
Goliath bites the ground, and his own hands  
As Traitors, false to his fell hearts commands.  
Then the Hebrew Champion heads the Infidel  
With his own sword, and sends his soul to Hell.   

Pagans disperse; and the Philistian swarms  
Have arms for burden, and have flight for arms;  
Danger behind, and shame before their face:  
Routing themselves, although none give them chase▪   

Armi-potent, Omnipotent, my God, 
David's Thanksgiving for the victory.   
O let thy Praise fill all the Earth abroad;  
Let Israel (through Thee, victorious now)  
Incessant songs unto thy Glory vow:  
And let me Lord (said DAVID) ever choose  
Thee sole, for subject of my sacred Muse.  
O wondrous spectacle! unheard-of-sight!  
The Monster's beaten-down, before the Fight:  
A Dwarf, a Shepherd, conquers (even unarmed)  
A Giant fell, a famous Captain, armed.  
From a frail Sling this Battery never came,  
But 'twas the Breach of a Tower-razing Ram:  
This was no cast of an uncertain Slinger,  
IT was Cross-bow-shot: rather it was the finger  
Of the Allmightie (not this hand of mine)  
That wrought this work so wondrous in our eyen:  
This hath He done, that by a woman weak  
Can likewise stone the stout Abimelech:  
Therefore, for ever, singing sacred Lays,  
I will record his glorious Power and Praise.   

Then, Iacob's Prince him joyfully embraces,  
Prefers to honours, and with favours graces,  
Employs him far and nigh; and far and near,  
From all sad cares he doth his Sovereign clear.  
In Camp he curbs the Pagans arrogance:  
In Court he cures the Melancholy Trance  
That toils his soul; and, with his tuneful Lyre, 
Effects of Music   
Expels th' ll Spirit which doth the body tire.  
For, with her sheath, the soul commerce frequents,  
And acts her office by his instruments;  
After his pipe she dances: and (again)  
The body shares her pleasure and her pain;  
And by exchange, reciprocally borrows  
Some measure of her solace and her sorrows.  
Th' Ear (door of knowledge) with sweet warbles pleased,  
Sends them eft 'zounds unto the Soul diseased,  
With dark black rage, our spirits pacifies,  
And calmly cools our inward flame that fries.   

So, O Tyrtéus, changing Harmony, 
Examples of the same.   
Thy Rout thou changest into Victory.  
So, O thrice-famous, Princely Pellean,  
Holding thy heart's re●nes in his Tuneful hand▪  
Thy Timothy with his Melodious skill  
Arms and disarms thy Worlds-drad arm (at will),  
And with his Phrygian Music, makes the same  
As Lion fierce; with Dorik, mild as Lamb.  
So, while in Argos the chaste Violon  
For's absent Sovereign doth grave-sweetly groan,  
Queen Clytaemnestra doth resist th' alarms  
Of lewd Aegysthus, and his lustful Charms.  
So, at the sound of the sweet-warbling brass;  
The Prophet rapting his soul's soul a space,  
Refines himself, and in his fantasy  
Graves deep the seal of sacred prophesy.  
For, if our Soul be Number (some so thought)  
It must with number be refreshed oft;  
Or, made by Number (so I yield to sing)  
We must the same with some sweet Numbers bring  
To some good Tune: even as a voice (sometime) 
Simile.   
That in its Part sings out of tune and time,  
Is by another voice (whose measured strain  
Custom and Art confirms) brought in again.  
It may be too, that DAVID'S sacred Ditty  
Quickened with Holy-Writ, and couched witty,  
Exorcist-like, chaçed Natures cruel Foe,  
Who the King's soul did toss and torture so.  
How e'er it were, He is (in every thing)  
A profitable servant to the King:  
Who envious yet of his high Feats and Fame,  
His Faith, and Fortitude, distrusts the same:  
And, the divine Torch of his virtues bright  
Brings him but sooner to his latest Night;  
Save that the Lord still shields him from on hy,  
And turns to Triumph all his Tragedy.   

O bitter sweet! I burst (thus raves the King)  
To hear them all, in Camp and Court to sing, 
saul's Envy to David.   
SAUL he hath slain a thousand, DAVID ten,  
Ten thousand DAVID. O faint scorn of men!  
Lo, how, with Lustre of his glorious parts,  
He steals-away the giddy people's hearts;  
Makes lying Prophets soothe him at a beck;  
Thou art but King in name, He in effect:  
Yet thou endur'st it; haste thee, haste thee (Sot)  
Choke in the Cradle his aspiring Plot;  
Prevent his hopes, and wisely-valiant  
Off with his head that would thy foot supplant.  
Nay, but beware; his death (beloved so well)  
Will draw thee hatred of all Israel.  
Sith then so high his heady valour flies,  
Sith common glory cannot him suffice,  
Sith Danger upon Danger he pursews,  
And Victory on Victory renews;  
Let's put him to it: Let's make him General,  
Feed him with wind, and hazard him in all:  
So shall his own Ambitious Courage bring  
For Crown a Coffin to our junior King:  
Yea, had he Sangars strength, and Sampsons' too,  
He should not scape the task I'll put him to.   

But yet, our DAVID more than all archieves,  
And more and more his grace and glory thrives:  
The more he does, the more he dares adventure,  
His restless Valour seeks still new Adventure.  
For, feeling him armed with th' Almighty's Spirit,  
He recks no danger (at the least to fear it).  
Then, what does Saul? When as he saw no speed  
By sword of Foes so great a Foe to rid,  
He tries his own: and one-while throws his dart,  
At un-awares to thrill him to the hart:  
Or treacherously he lays some subtle train,  
At board, or bed, to have him (harmless) slain:  
On nothing else dreams the disloyal wretch,  
But David's death; how David to dispatch.  
Which had been done, but for his Son the Prince,  
(Who dearly tenders David's Innocence, 
Ionathan's love to David.   
And nearly marks and harks the King's Designs,  
And warns the jessean by suspectless signs)  
But for the kind Courageous jonathan,  
Who (but attended only with his man)  
Near Senean Rocks discomfited, alone,  
The Philistines victorious Garrison.  
About his ears a Shower of Shafts, doth fall;  
His Shield's too-narrow to receive them all:  
His sword is dulled with slaughter of his Foes,  
Wherefore the dead he at the living throws,  
Head-lined helms, hewn from their trunks he takes,  
And those his volleys of swift shot he makes.  
The Heathen Host dares him no more affront,  
Late numberless; but easy now to count.   

David therefore, flying his Prince's Fury,  
From end to end flies all the land of ●urie:  
But now to Nob; t' Adullam then, anon  
To Desert Zif, to Ke●lah, M●aor,  
Having for roof heavens arches starry-seeld,  
And, for rep●st what waving woods do yield.  
The Tyrant (so) frustrate of his intent,  
Wreaks his fell rage upon the innocent;  
If any wink, as willing t' have not seen-him,  
Or if (unwitting what's the odds between-him  
And th' angry king) if any had but hid-him,  
He dies for it (if any have but spid him):  
Yea the Highpriest, that in God's presence stands,  
Escapeth not his paricidiall hands;  
Nor doth he spare, in his unbounded rage,  
Cattle, nor Cur, nor state, nor sex, nor age.   

Contrariwise, David doth good for ill,  
He hates the haters of his Sovereign still.  
And though he oft encounter Saul less strong  
Than his own side; forgetting all his wrong,  
He shows him, aye, loyal in deed and word  
Unto his Liege, th' Anointed of the Lord;  
Respects and honours him, and minds no more  
The King's unkindness that had passed before.   

One day as Saul (to ease him) went aside  
Into a Cave, where David wont to hide,  
David (un-seen) seeing his Foe so near  
And all alone, was struck with sudden fear,  
As much amazed and musing thereupon;  
When whispering thus his Consorts egg him on:   

Who sought thy life is fallen into thy lap;  
Dost thou not see the Tyrant in thy Trap?  
Now therefore pull this Thorn out of thy foot:  
Now is the Time if ever thou wilt do't:  
Now by his death establish thine estate:  
Now hug thy Fortune, yer it be too-late:  
For, he (my Lord) that will not, when he may,  
Perhaps he shall not, when he would (they say).  
Why tarriest thou? what dost thou trifle thus?  
Wilt thou, for Saul, betray thyself and us?   

Won with their words, to kill him he resolves:  
But, by the way thus with himself revolues.  
He is a Tyrant; true: But now long since, 
Anti-Bell●rmin & His Disciples; Authors or Fautors of our Powder-Mine.   
And still, he bears the mark of lawful Prince:  
And th' Ever-King (to whom all Kings do bow)  
On no pretext, did ever yet allow  
That any Subiest should his hand distain  
In sacred blood of his own Sovereign.  
He hunts me causeless; true: but yet, God's word  
Bids me defend, but not offend my Lord.  
I am anointed King; but (at God's pleasure)  
Not publicly: therefore I wait thy leisure.  
For, thou (O Lord) regardest Thine, and then  
Reward'st, in fine, Tyrants and wicked men.   

Thus having said, he stalks with noise-les foot  
Behind the King, and softly off doth cut  
A skirt or lap of his then-upper clothing;  
Then quick avoids: and, Saul, suspecting nothing,  
Comes forth anon: and David afterward  
From a high Rock (to be the better heard)  
Cries to the King (upon his humble knee)  
Come near (my Liege) come near, and fear not me,  
Fear not thy servant David. Well I know,  
Thy Flatterers, that miss-inform thee so,  
With thousand slanders daily thee incense  
Against thy Servants spotless innocence:  
Those smooth-sly Aspics, with their poysony sting  
Murder mine honour, me in hatred bring  
With thee and with thy Court (against all reason)  
As if Convicted of the Highest-Treason:  
But, my notorious Loyalty (I hope)  
The venom of their viperous tongues shall stop;  
And, with the splendour of mine actions bright,  
Disperse the Mists of Malice and Despite.  
Behold, my Lord, (Truth needeth no excuse)  
What better witness can my soul produce  
Of faithful Love, and Loyal Vassalage,  
To thee, my Liege, than this most certain gage:  
When I cut-off this lappet from thy Coat,  
Can I not then as well have cut thy throat?  
But rather (Sovereign) thorough all my veins  
Shall burning Gangrenes (spreading deadly pains)  
Benumb my hand, than it shall lift a sword  
Against my Liege, th' anointed of the Lord;  
Or violate with any insolence,  
God's sacred Image, in my Sovereign Prince.  
And yet (O King) thy wrath pursews me still;  
Like silly-Kid, I hop from hill to hill;  
Like hated Wolves I and my Soldiers starve:  
But, judge thyself, if I thy wrath deserve.   

No (my Son David) I have done thee wrong:  
Good God requite thy good: there doth belong  
A great Reward unto so gracious deed.  
Ah, well I see it is above decreed  
That thou shalt sit upon my Seat supreme,  
And on thy head shalt wear my Diadem:  
Then, o thou sacred and most noble Head,  
Remember Me, and mine (when I am dead)  
Be gracious to my Blood, and raze not fell  
My Name and Issue out of Israel.   

Thus said the King; and tears outwent his words:  
A pale despair his heavy hart still-girds:  
His feeble spirit praesaging his Missfortune,  
Doth every-kinde of Oracles importune;  
Suspicious, seeks how Clotho's Clew doth swell;  
And, cast of Heaven, will needs consult with Hell.   

In Endor dwelled a Beldame in those days; 
The Woman Witch of Endor.   
Deep-skild in Charms (for, this weak sex always▪  
Hath in all Times been taxed for Magik Tricks,  
As pronest Agents, for the Prince of Styx:  
Whether, because their soft, moist, supple brain,  
Doth easy print of every seal retain:  
Or, whether wanting Force and Fame's desert,  
Those Wyzards ween to win it by Black-Art.)  
This Stygian scum, the Furies fury fell,  
This Shop of Poisons, hideous Type of Hell,  
This sad Erinnys, Milcom's Favourite,  
Chamosh his joy, and Belzebubs delight,  
Delights alonely for her exercise  
In secret Murders, soudain Tragoedies;  
Her drink, the blood of Babes; her dainty Feast  
men's Marrow, Brains, Guts, Livers (late deceased).  
At Weddings aye (for Lamps) she lights debates;  
And quiet Love much more than Death she hates:  
Or if she reek of Love, 'tis but to trap  
Some severe Cato in incestuous Lap:  
Sometimes (they say) she dims the Heavenly Lamps,  
She haunts the Graves, she talks with Ghosts, she stamps  
And Cals-up Spirits, and with a wink controls  
Th' infernal Tyrant, and the tortured Souls.   

Art's admiration, Izraels' Ornament,  
That (as a Queen) Commandest each Element,  
And from the tomb deceased Trunks canst raise,  
(Th' unfaithful King thus flatters her with praise)  
On steepest Mountains stop the swiftest Currents,  
From driest Rocks draw rapid-rowling Torrents,  
And fitly hasten Amphitrites Flood,  
Or stay her Ebb (as to thyself seems good):  
Turn day to night: hold Winds within thy hand,  
Make the Spheres move, and the Sun still to stand:  
Enforce the Moon so with thy Charms sometimes,  
That for a stound in a deep Swoon she seems:  
O thou all-knowing Spirit! deign with thy spell  
To raise-up here renowned Samuel,  
To satisfy my doubtful soul, in sum,  
The issue of my Fortunes yet to come.   

Importuned twice or thrice, she, that before  
Resembled one of those grim Ghosts (of yore)  
Which she was was wont with her unholsom breath  
To re-bring-back from the black gates of death,  
Grows now more ghastly, and more Ghost-like grim,  
Right like to Satan in his Rageful Trim.  
The place about darker than Night she darks,  
She yells, she roars, she howls, she brays, she barks,  
And, in un-heard, horrid, Barbarian terms,  
She mutters strange and execrable Charms;  
Of whose Hell-raking, Nature-shaking Spell,  
These odious words could scarce be hearkened well:   

Eternal Shades, infernal Dëities,  
Death, Horrors, Terrors, Silence, Obsequies,  
Demons, dispatch: If this dim stinking Taper  
Be of mine own Sons fat; if here, for paper,  
I writ (detested) on the tender skins  
Of timeless Infants, and abortive Twins  
(Torn from the womb) these Figures figure-les:  
If this black Sprinkle, tuft with Virgin's tress,  
Dipped, at your Altar, in my kinsman's blood;  
If well I smell of human flesh (my food):  
Haste, haste, you Fiends, you subterranean Powers:  
If impiously (as fits these Rites of yours)  
I have invoked your grizzly Majesties,  
hearken (O Furies) to my Blasphemies,  
Regard my Charms and mine enchanting Spell,  
Reward my Sins, and send up Samuel  
From dismal darkness of your deep Abyss,  
To answer me in what my pleasure is:  
Dispatch, I say, (black Princes) quick, why when?  
Have I not Art, for one, to send you ten?   

When? stubborn Ghost! The Palfraies of the Sun  
Do fear my Spells; and, when I spur, they run:  
The Planets bow, the Plants give ear to me,  
The Forests stoop, and even the strongest Tree,  
At dreary sound of my sad whisperings,  
Doth Prophecy, fore telling future things:  
Yea (maugre jove) by mine almighty Charms,  
Through Heaven I thunder with imperious Arms:  
And comest not thou? O, so: I see the Sage,  
I see th' ascent of some great man: his age,  
His sacred habit, and sweet-grave aspect  
Some Godlike rays about him round reflect:  
he's ready now to speak, and pliant too  
To clear thy doubtings, without more a do.  
Saul flat adores; and wickedly-devout,  
The feigned- Prophets lest word leaves not out.   

What dost thou Saul? o Izraels' Sovereign, 
Against those that resort to Witches.   
Witches, of late, feared only thy disdain:  
Now th' are thy stay. O wretch dost thou not know  
One cannot use th' aid of the Powers below  
Without some Pact of Counter-Seruices,  
By Prayers, Perfumes, Homage, and Sacrifice?  
And that this Art (mere Diabolical)  
It hurteth all, but th' Author most of all?  
And also, that the impious Atheïst,  
The Infidel, and damned Exorcist,  
Differ not much. Th' one, Godhead quite denies:  
Th' other, for God, foul Satan magnifies:  
Th' other, Satan (by Enchantment strange)  
Into an Angel of the Light doth change.  
When as God would, his voice thou wouldst not hear,  
Now he forbids thee, thou consult'st elsewhere:  
Whom (living Prophet) thou neglectest, abhorr'st,  
Him (dead) thou seekest, and his dead Trunk adorest:  
And yet, not him, nor his; forth ' ugly Fiend  
Hath no such power upon a Saint t' extend, 
Against th' illusion of Satan false Apparitions and Walking Spirit●.   
Who fears no force of the blasphemous Charms  
Of mumbling Beldames, or Hell's damned Arms:  
From all the Poisons that those powers contrive,  
Charm-charming Faith's a full Preservative.  
In Soul and Body both, He cannot come;  
For, they rejoine not till the day of doom:  
His Soul alone cannot appear; for why,  
Souls are invisible to mortal eye:  
His Body only, neither can it be;  
For (dust to dust) that soon corrupts (we see).  
Besides all this, if 'twere true Samuel,  
Should not (alas) thine eyesight serve as well  
To see and know him, as this Sorceress,  
This hateful Hag, this old Enchanteresse,  
This Devil incarnate, whose dread Spell commands  
The rebell-Fury of th' Infernal Bands?  
Hath Lucifer not Art enough to fain  
A Body fitting for his turn and train?  
And (as the rigour of long Cold congeals 
Simile.   
To harsh hard Wool the running Water-Rils)  
Cannot he thicken thinnest parts of Air,  
Commixing Vapours? glew-them? hue them fair? 
Simile.   
Even as the Rainbow, by the Sun's reflection  
Is painted fair in manifold complexion:  
A Body, which we see all-ready formed,  
But yet perceive not how it is performed:  
A Body, perfect in apparent show;  
But in effect and substance nothing so:  
A Body, heartless, lung-les, tongueless too,  
Where Satan lurks, not to give life thereto,  
But to the end that from this Counter-mure,  
More covertly he may discharge more sure  
A hundred dangerous Engines, which he darts  
Against the Bulwarks of the bravest hearts:  
That, in the Sugar (even) of sacred Writ,  
He may em-pill us with some Baneful bit:  
And, that his counterfeit and feigned lips,  
Laying before us all our heinous slips,  
And Gods dread judgements and just Indignation,  
May under-mine our surest Faiths Foundation.   

But, let us hear now what he saith. O Saul,  
What frantic fury art thou moved withal,  
To now re-knit my broken thread of life?  
To interrupt my rest? And 'mid the strife  
Of struggling Mortals, in the World's affairs  
(By powerful Charms) to re-entoyl my Cares?  
Inquirest thou what's to-come? O wretched Prince!  
Too much, toosoon (what I foretold long since):  
Death's at thy door: to morrow Thou and Thine  
Even all shall fall before the Philistine:  
And great-good David shall possess thy Throne,  
As God hath said, tun be gainsaid by none.   

Th' Author of Lies (against his guise) tells true: 
How Satan comes to tell things to-come.   
Not that atonce he Selfly all foreknew,  
Or had revolved the Leaves of destiny  
(The Child alonely of Eternity):  
But rather through his busy observation  
Of circumstance, and often iteration  
Of reading of our Fortunes and our Falso,  
In the close Book of clear conjecturals,  
With a far-seeing Spirit; hits often right:  
Not much unlike a skilful Galenite,  
Who (when the Crisis comes) dares even foretell  
Whether the Patient shall do ill or well:  
Or, as the Star-wise sometimes calculates  
(By an Eclipse) the death of Potentates;  
And (by the stern aspects of greatest Stars)  
Prognosticates of Famine, Plague, and Wars.   

As he foretold (in brief) so fell it out: 
Saules death.   
Brave jonathan and his Two Brethren stout  
Are slain in Fight; and Saul himself forlorn,  
Lest (Captive) he be made the Pagans scorn,  
He kills himself; and, of his Fortune froward  
To seem not conquered, shows himself a Coward.   

For, 'tis not Courage (whatsoe'er men say) 
Against Self-killing.   
But Cowardice, to make one's Self away.  
'Tis even to turn our back at Fears alarms:  
'Tis (basely-faint) to yield up all our Arms.  
O extreme Rage! O barbarous Cruelty ●  
All at one Blow, t' offend God's Majesty,  
The State, the Magistrate, Thyself (in fine):  
Th' one, in destroying the deer work divine  
Of his almighty Hands; the next, in reaving  
Thy needful Service, it should be receiving;  
The third, in rash usurping his Commission▪  
And last, Thyself, in thine own Selfs-Perdition,  
When (by two Deaths) one voluntary Wound  
Doth both thy body and thy soul confound.   

But Isbosheth (his dear Son) yet retains  
His Place a space: and David only Reigns  
In happy juda. Yet, yerlong (discreet)  
He makes th' whole Kingdoms wracked ribs to meet:  
And so He rules on th' holy Mount (a mirror)  
His People's joy, the Pagans only Terror.   

If ever, standing on the sandy shore, 
Comparison.   
YE have thought to count the rolling waves that roar  
Each after other on the British Coast,  
When Aeolus sends forth his Northern Post;  
Wave upon Wave, Surge upon Surge doth fold,  
Sea swallows Sea, so thickly-quickly rolled,  
That (numberless) their number so doth mount,  
That it confounds th' Accompter and th' Account:  
So david's Virtues when I think to number,  
Their multitude doth all my Wits encumber;  
That Ocean swallows me: and mazed so,  
In the vast Forest where his Praises grow,  
I know not what high Fir, Oak, Chest-nut-Tree,  
(Rather) what Brasil, Cedar, Ebony,  
My Muse may choose (Amphion-like) to build  
With curious touch of Fingers Quaver-skild  
(Durst she presume to take so much upon-her)  
A Temple sacred unto David's honour.   

Others shall sing his minds true Constancy, 
Epitome of David's Virtues.   
In oftlong exiles tried so thoroughly:  
His Life composed after the life and likeness  
Of sacred Patterns: his mild gracious meekness  
Towards railing Shime●, and the 
* N●b●●.  Churlish Gull:  
His lovely Eyes and Face so beautiful.  
Some other shall his Equity record,  
And how the edge of his impartial sword  
Is ever ready for the Reprobate,  
To hew them down; and help the Desolate:  
How He, no Law, but God's dread Law enacts:  
How He respects not persons, but their Facts:  
How brave a Triumph of Selfs-wrath he shows,  
Killing the Killers of his deadly Foes.  
Some other shall unto th' Empyreal Pole  
The holy fervour of his Zeal extol:  
How for the wandering Ark he doth provide  
A certain place for ever to abide:  
And how for ever every his design  
Is ordered all by th' Oracle Divine.   

Upon the wings of mine (els-tasked) Rhyme,  
Through the clear Welkin of our Western Clime,  
I'll only bear his Music and his Mars  
(His holy Songs, and his triumphant Wars):  
Lothere the sacred mark whereat I aim;  
And yet this Theme I shall but mince and maim,  
So many Yarnes I still am fain to strike  
Into this Web of mine intended WEEK.   

The Twelve stout Labours of th' Amphitryonide 
Of his valour and victories.   
(Strongest of Men) are justly magnified:  
Yet, what were They but a rude Massacre  
Of Birds and Beasts, and Monsters here and there?  
Not Hosts of Men and Armies over thrown;  
But idle Conquests; Combats One to One:  
Where boisterous Limbs, and Sinews strongly kni●,  
Did much avail with little aid of Wit.  
Bears, Lions, Giants, foiled in single fight,  
Are but th' Essays of our redoubted Knight:  
Under his Arms sick Aram deadly droops:  
Unto his power the strength of Edom stoops:  
Stout Amalek even trembles at his name:  
Proud Ammon's scorn he doth return with shame:  
Subdueth Soba: foils the Moabite:  
Wholly extirps the downtrod jebusite:  
And (still victorious) every month almost  
Combats and Conquers the Philistian Host.  
So that, Alcides' massy Club scarce reached  
So many Blows, as David Battles fought.   

Th' expert Great 
* Pompey.  Captain, who the Pontiks quailed,  
Won in strange Wars; in civil Fights he failed:  
But, David thrives in all: and fortunate,  
Triumphs no less of saul's intestine hate,  
Of Isbosheth's and Absalo●'s designs,  
Then of strong Aram, and stout Philistines.  
Good-Fortune always blows not in the Poop  
Of valiant Caesar, she defeats his Troop,  
Slays his Lieutenants; and (among his Friends)  
Stabbed full of Wounds, at length his Life she ends:  
But David always feels heavens gracious hand;  
Whether in person He himself command  
His royal Host: or whether (in his stead)  
By valiant joab his brave Troops be led:  
And Happiness, closing his aged eye,  
Even to his tomb consorts him constantly.  
Fair Victory, with Him (even from the first)  
Did pitch her Tent: his Infancy she nursed  
With noble Hopes, his stronger years she fed  
With stately Trophies, and his hoary head  
She Crowns and Comforts with (her cheerful Balms)  
Triumphant Laurels and victorious Palms.  
The Mountains stoop to make Him easieway;  
And Euphrates, before Him, dryesaway;  
To Him great jordan a small leap doth seem;  
Without assault, strong Cities yield to Him:  
Th' Engine alone of His far-feard Renown  
Beats (Thunderlike) Gates, Bars, & Bulwarks down:  
Gad's goodly Vales, in a gore Pond he drenches;  
Philistian Fires, with their own Blood he quenches;  
And then, in Gobrias (pursewing still his Foes)  
His wrath's just Tempest on fell Giants throws.   

O strong, great, Worthies (will somm oneday lay,  
When your huge Bones they plough-up in the Clay)  
But, stronger, greater, and more WORTHY He,  
Whose Heav'n-lent Force and Fortune made you be  
(Maugre your might, your massy Spears and Shields)  
The fatt'ning dunghill of those fruitful Fields.  
His Enemies, scarcely so soon he threats  
As overthrows, and utterly defeats.  
On David's head, God doth not spin good-hap;  
But pours it down abundant in his Lap:  
And He (good Subject) with his Kingdom, ever  
T' increase th' Immortal Kingdom doth endeavour.  
His swelling Standards never stir abroad,  
Till he have Called upon th' Almighty God:  
He never Conquers but (in heavenly Songs)  
He yields the Honour where it right belongs:  
And evermore th' Eternals sacred Praise  
(With Harp and Voice) to the bright Stars doth raise.   

Scarce was he born, when in his Cradle priest 
His Pöesi●.   
The Nightingale to build her tender nest:  
The Bee within his sacred mouth seeks room  
To arch the Chambers of her honeycomb:  
And th' Heavenly Muse, under his roof descending  
(As in the Summer, with a train down-bending,  
We see some Meteor, winged brightly-fair  
With twinkling rays, glide through the crystal Air,  
And suddenly, after long-feeming Flight,  
To seem amid the new-shav'n Fields to light)  
Him softly in her ivory arms she folds,  
His smiling Face she smylingly beholds,  
She kisses him, and with her Nectar kisses  
Into his Soul she breathes a Heaven of Blisses:  
Then lays him in her lap, and while she brings  
Her Babe asleep, this Lullaby she sings.   

Live, live (sweet Babe) the Miracle of Mine, 
VRANIA's Lullaby.   
Live ever Saint, and grow thou all Divine:  
With this Celestial Wind, wherewith I fill  
Thy blessed Boosom, all the World fulfil:  
May thy sweet Voice, in Peace, resound as far  
And speed as fair as thy dread Arm in War:  
Bottom nor bank, thy Fames-Sea never bound:  
With double Laurels be thy Temples Crowned.  
See (Heav'n-sprung Spirit) see how th' alured North,  
Of thy Childs-Cry (shril-sweetly warbling forth)  
Al-ready tastes the learned, dainty pleasures.  
See, see (young Father of all sacred Measures)  
See how, to hear thy sweet harmonious sound,  
About thy Cradle here are thronging (round)  
Woods, but with ears: floods, but their fury stopping:  
Tigers, but tame: Mountains, but always hopping:  
See how the heavens, rapt with so sweet a tongue,  
To list to thine, leave their own Dance and Song.   

O Idiot's shame, and Envy of the Learned!  
O Verse rightworthy to be ay eterned!  
O richest Arras, artificial wrought  
With liveliest Colours of Conceiptfull Thought!  
O royal Garden of the rarest Flowers  
Sprung from an April of spiritual Showers!  
O Miracle! whose star-bright beaming Head  
When I behold, even mine own Crown I dread.   

Never elsewhere did plenteous Eloquence, 
Excellency of the Psalms of David.   
In every part with such magnificence  
Setforth her Beauties, in so sundry Fashions  
Of Robes and jewels (suiting sundry Passions)  
As in thy Songs: Now, like a Queen (for Cost)  
In swelling Tissues, rarely-rich embossed  
With Precious Stones: neat, Citty-like, anon,  
Fine Cloth, or Silk, or Chamlet puts she on:  
Anon, more like some handsome Shepherdess,  
In courser clothes she doth her cleanly dress:  
What e'er she wear, Wool, Silk, or Gold, or Gems,  
Or Course or Fine; still like herself she seems;  
Fair, Modest, Cheerful, fitting time and place,  
Illustring all even with a Heav'n-like grace.  
Like proud loud Tigris (ever swiftly rolled)  
Now, through the Plains thou powr'st a Flood of gold:  
Now, like thy jordan, (or Meander-like)  
Round-wyndingnimbly with a many-Creek,  
Thou runnest to meet thy Self's pure streams behind thee,  
Mazing the Meads where thou dost turn and winde-thee.  
Anon, like Cedron, through a straighter Quill,  
Thou strainest out a little Brook or Rill;  
But yet, so sweet, that it shall ever be  
Th' immortal Nectar to Posterity:  
So clear, that Poésie (whose pleasure is  
To bathe in Seas of Heavenly Mysteries)  
Her chastest feathers in the same shall dip,  
And dew withal her choicest workmanship:  
And so devout, that with no other Water  
Devoutest Souls shall quench their Thirst hereafter.  
Of sacred Bards Thou art the double Mount:  
Of faithful Spirits th' Interpreter profound:  
Of contrite Hearts the clear Anatomy:  
Of every Sore the Shop for Remedy:  
Zeal's Tinderbox: a Learned Table, giving  
To spiritual eyes, not painted Christ, but living.  
O divine Volume, Sion's clear deer Voice,  
Saints rich Exchequer, full of comforts choice:  
O, sooner shall sad Boreas take his e wing  
At Nilus' head, and boisterous Aust r spring  
From th' icy floods of Iceland, than thy Fame  
Shall be forgot, or Honour fail thy Name:  
Thou shalt survive throughout all Generations,  
And (pliant) learn the Language of all Nations:  
Nought but Thine Aiers through Air & Seas shall sound,  
In high-built Temples shall thy Songs resound,  
Thy sacred Verse shall clear Gods cloudy face,  
And, in thy steps the noblest Wits shall trace.  
Grose Vulgar, hence; with hands profanely-vile,  
So holy things presume not to defile,  
Touch not these sacred stops, these silver strings:  
This Kingly Harp is only meet for Kings.   

And so behold, towards the farthest North,  
Ah see, I see upon the banks of FORTH  
(Whose forceful stream runs smoothly serpenting)  
A valiant, learned, and religious King,  
Whose sacred Art retuneth excellent  
This rarely-sweet, celestial Instrument:  
And david's Truchman, rightly doth refound  
(At the World's end) his eloquence renowned.  
Dombertans Clyde stands still to hear his voice.  
Stone-rowling Tay seems the rat to rejoice:  
The trembling Cyclads, in great Loumond-Lake,  
After his sound their lusty gambols shake:  
The (Trees-brood) Bar-geese, mid th' Hebridian wave,  
Unto his Tune their far-flow'n wings do wave:  
And I myself in my pied 
* A kind of light mantle made of a thin chequered Cloth, worn by the Hilmen in Scotland: and now much used with us for Saddle-clothes.  Pleid a-slope,  
With Tune-skild foot after his Harp do hop.   

Thus, full of God, th' Heaven- Siren (Prophet-wise)  
Powres-forth a Torrent of mel-Melodies,  
In DAVID'S praise. But DAVID'S foul defect  
Was yet un-seen, uncensured, un-suspect:  
Oft in fair Flowers the baneful Serpent sleeps:  
Sometimes (we see) the bravest Courser trips:  
And sometimes david's Deaf unto the Word  
Of the World's Ruler, th' everlasting Lord;  
His Songs sweet fervour slakes, his Souls pure Fire  
Is dampt and dimmed with smoke of foul desire:  
His Harp is laid aside, he leaves his Lays,  
And after his fair neighbours Wife he neighs. 
Bersabé hathing.   
Fair Bersabé's his Flame, even Bersabé,  
In whose Chaste bosom (to that very day)  
Honour and Love had happy dwelled together,  
In quiet life, without offence of either:  
But, her proud Beauty now, and her Eyes force,  
Began to draw the Bill of their Divorce:  
Honour gives place to Love: and by degrees  
Fear from her hart, Shame from her forehead flies.  
The Presence-Chamber, the High street, the Temple,  
These theatres are not sufficient ample  
To show her Beauties, if but Silk them hide:  
She must have windows each-where open wide  
About her Garden-Baths, the while therein  
She basks and baths her smooth Snow-whiter skin;  
And one-while set in a black jet-like Chair,  
Perfumes, and combs, and curls her golden hair;  
Anotherwhile under the Crystal brinks,  
Her Alabastrine well-shaped Limbs she shrinks  
(Like to a Lily sunk into a glass:  
Like soft lose Venus (as they paint the Lass)  
Born in the Seas, when with her eyes sweet-flames,  
Tonnies and Tritons she atonce inflames:  
Or like an ivory Image of a Grace,  
Neatly enclosed in a thin Crystal Case):  
Anotherwhile, unto the bottom dives,  
And want only with th' under-fish strives:  
For, in the bottom of this liquid Ice,  
Made of Musaïck work, with acquaint device  
The cunning workman had contrived trim  
Carp, Pikes; and Dolphins seeming even to swim. 
David gazing.    

Ishai's great son, too-idlely, walking high  
Upon a Terrace, this bright star doth spy:  
And sudden dazzled with the splendour bright,  
Fares like a Prisoner, who new brought to light 
Simile.   
From a Cimmerian, dark, deep dungeon,  
Feels his sight smitten with a radiant Sun.  
But too-too-soon re-cleered, he sees (alas)  
Th' admired Tracts of a bewitching Face.  
Her sparkling Eye is like the Morning Star,  
Her lips two snips of crimson Satin are,  
Her Teeth as white as burnished Silver seem  
(Or Orient Pearls, the rarest in esteem):  
Her Cheeks and Chin, and all her flesh like snows  
Sweet intermixed with Vermilion Rose,  
And all her sundry Treasures selfly swell,  
Proud, so to see their naked selves excel.   

What living Rance, what rapting ivory  
Swims in these streams? O what new Victory  
Triumphs of all my TROPHIES? O clear Therms,  
If so your Waves be cold; what is it warms,  
Nay, burns my hart? If hot I (pray) whence comes  
This shivering winter that my soul benumbs,  
Freezes my Senses, and dis-selfs me so  
With drowsy Poppy, not myself to know?  
O peerless Beauty, merely Beautiful;  
(Unknown) to me thou'rt most unmerciful:  
Alas! I die, I die, (O dismal lot)  
Both for I see thee, and I see thee not,  
But a-far-off, and under water too:  
O feeble Power, and O (what shall I do?)  
Weak Kingly-State! sith that a silly Woman  
Stooping my Crown, can my soul's Homage summon.  
But, o Imperial power! Imperial State!  
Can (happy) I give Beauties Check the Mate.   

Thus spoke the King, and like as parkle small 
Simile.   
That by mischance doth into powder fall,  
he's alla-fire; and pensive, studies nought,  
But how t' accomplish his lascivious thought:  
Which soon he compassed: sinks himself therein;  
Forgetteth David; addeth Sin to Sin: 
Simile.   
And lustful, plays like a young lusty Rider  
(A wilful Gallant, not a skilful guider)  
Who, proud of his Horse pride, still puts him to't:  
With wand and spur, lays on (with hand and foot)  
The too-free Beast; which, but too-fast before  
Ran to his Ruin, stumbling evermore  
At every stone, till at the last he break  
Against some Rock his and his Rider's neck.  
For, fearing, not Adulteries fact, but fame:  
A jealous Husband's Fury for the same:  
And, lessening of a Pleasure shared to twain:  
He (treacherous) makes her valiant Spouse be slain.   

The Lord is moved: and just, gins to stretch  
His Wraths keen dart at this disloyal wretch▪  
When Nathan (then bright Brand of Zeal and Faith)  
Comes to the King, and modest-boldly saith.   

Vouchsafe my Liege (that our Chief justice art) 
The Prophet Nothan's Parable, reproving David.   
To list awhile to a most heinous part;  
First to the fault give ear, then give Consent  
To give the Faulty his due Punishment.  
Of late, a Subject of thine own, whose flocks  
Pulled all Mount Liban's pleasant plenteous locks;  
And to whose Herds could hardly full suffice  
The flowery Verge that longest all jordan lies;  
Making a Feast unto a stranger-Guest,  
None of his own abundant Fatlings dressed;  
But (privy Thief) from a poor Neighbour by  
(His Faithful Friend) He takes feloniously  
A goodly Lamb; although he had no more  
But even that one; whereby he set such store,  
That every day of his own hand it fed,  
And every night it couched upon his Bed,  
Supped of his Cup, his pleasant morsels picked,  
And even the moisture from his lips it licked.  
Nay, more my Lord. No more (replies the King,  
Deeply incensed) 'Tis more than time this thing  
Were seen into, and so outrageous Crimes,  
So insolent, had need be curbed be times:  
whatever Wretch hath done this Villainy  
Shall Die the Death; and not alonely Die,  
But let the horror of so foul a Fact  
A more than common punishment exact.   

O painted tomb (then answered sacred Nathan)  
That hast God in thy Mouth, in thy Mind Satan,  
Thou blamest in other thine own Fault denounçed,  
And un-awares haste 'gainst thyself pronounçed  
Sentence of Death. O King, no King (as than)  
Of thy desires: Thou art the very man:  
Yea, Thou art he, that with a wanton Theft  
Hast just Vriah's only Lamb bereft:  
And him, o horror! (Sin with Sin is furthered)  
Him with the sword of Ammon hast Thou murmured.  
Bright Beauties Eye, like to a glorious Sun,  
Hurts the sore eye that looks toomuch thereon:  
Thy want on Eye, gazing upon that Eye,  
Hath given an Entrance too-too-foolishly  
Unto that Dwarf, that Devil (is it not?)  
Which out of Sloth, within us is begot:  
Who entering first but Guestwise in a room,  
Doth shortly Master of the house become:  
And makes a Saint (a sweet, myld-minded Man)  
That against his Life's Foe would not lift his hand,  
To plot the death of his deer faithful Friend,  
That for his Love a thousand lives would spend.   

Ah! shak'st thou not? is not thy Soul in trouble  
(O brittle dust, vain shadow, empty bubble!)  
At God's dread wrath, which quick doth calcinize  
The marble Mountains and the Ocean dries?  
No, thou shalt know the weight of God's right hand;  
Thou, for example other Kings shalt stand.  
Death, speedy Death, of that adulterous Fruit,  
Which even al-ready makes his Mother rueed,  
Shall vex thy soul, and make thee feel (in deed)  
Forbidden Pleasure doth Repenrance breed.   

Ah shameless beast▪ Sigh thy brute Lust (forlorn)  
Hath not the Wife of thy best Friend forborn,  
Thy Sons (dis-natured) shall defile thy bed  
Incestuously; thy fair Wives (ravished)  
Shall doublely thy lustful seed receive:  
Thy Concubines (which thou behind shalt leave)  
The wanton Rapes of thine own Race shall be:  
It shall befall that in thy Family,  
With an un-kins-mans' kiss (un-loving Lover)  
The Brother shall his Sister's shame discover:  
Thou shalt be both Father and Father-in-law  
To thine own Blood. Thy Children (past all awe  
Of God or Man) shall by their insolence  
Eyes justify thy bloody foul offence.  
Thou sinn'dst in secret: but Sol's blushing Eye  
Shall be eye-witness of their villainy:  
All Israel shall see the same: and then,  
The Heav'n-sunk Cities in Asphaltis' Fen,  
Out of the stinking Lake their heads shall show,  
Glad, by thy Sons, to be out-sinned so.  
Thou, thou (inhuman) didst the Death conspire  
Of good Uriah (worthy better Hire):  
Thou cruel didst it: therefore, Homicide,  
Cowardly treason, cursed Parricide,  
Unkind Rebellion, ever shall remain  
Thy household Guests, thy House with blood to slain.  
Thine own against thine own shall thril their darts:  
Thy Son from thee shall steal thy people's hearts:  
Against thyself he shall thy subjects arm,  
And give thine age many a fierce Alarm:  
Till hanged by the hair 'twixt Earth and sky,  
(His Gallow's pride, shame of the World's bright Eye)  
Thine own Lieutenant, at a crimson spout,  
His guilty Soul shall with his Lance letout.  
And (if I fail not) O what Tempest fell  
Beats on the Head of harmless Israel!  
Alas! how many a guiltless Abramide  
Diesin Three days, through thy too-curious Pride? 
The Plague of Pestilence.   
In hate of thee, th' Air (thick and slothful) breeds  
No ●lowe Disease; both young and old itspeeds;  
All are indifferent: For through all the Land  
It spreads, almost in turning of a hand:  
To the so-sick, hard seems the softest plumes;  
Flames from his eyes, from's mouth come jakes-like fumes:  
His head, his neck; his bulk, his legs doth tyre;  
Outward, all water; inward, all afire:  
With a deep Cough his spongy Lungs he wastes,  
Black Blood and Choler both atonce he casts:  
His voices passage is with Biles belayd,  
His Soul's Interpreter, rough, foul, and flayed:  
Thought of the Grief it's rigour oft augments:  
'Twixt Hope and fear it hath no long suspense:  
With the Disease Death jointly traverseth:  
Th' Infection's stroke is even the stroke of Death.  
Art yields to th' anguish, Reason stoops to rage:  
Physicians skill, himself doth ill engage.  
The streets too still; the Town all out of Town:  
All Dead, or Fled: unto the hallowed ground  
The howling Widow (though she loved him deer)  
Yet dares not follow her dead husband's Beer.  
Each mourns his Loss, each his own Case complains,  
Pell-mell the living with the dead remains.   

As a good-natured and wel-nurtured Child, 
●mile.   
Found in a fault (by's Master sharply mild)  
Blushing and bleaking, betwixtshame and fear,  
With downcast eyes laden with many a tear,  
More with sad gesture, than with words, doth crave  
An humble Pardon, of his Censor grave:  
So David, hearing th' holy Prophets Threat, 
David's Repentance.   
He apprehends God's judgements dradly-great,  
And (thrilled with fear) flies for his sole defence  
To pearly Tears, Mournings and sad Laments:  
Off-goes his Gold; his Glory treads he down,  
His Sword, his Sceptre, and his precious Crown:  
He fasts, he prays, he weeps, he grieves, he groans,  
His hamous Sins he bitterly bemoans:  
And, in a Cavehard-by; he roareth out  
A sighfull Song, so dolefully devout,  
That even the Stone doth groan, and pearçed withal,  
Let's its salt tears with his sad tears to fall.  
Ay-gracious Lord (thus Sings he night and day) 
Psal. 51.   
Wash, wash, my Soul in thy deep Mercies sea:  
O Mercy, Mercy Lord, aloud he Cries;  
(And Mercy, Mercy, still the Rock replies). 
Application to France.    

O God, my God, sith for our grievous Sin,  
(Which wilful we so long have weltered in)  
Thou powr'st the Torrents of thy Vengeance down  
On th' azure Field with Golden Lilies sown:  
Sith every moment thy just Angerdrad  
Roars, thunders, lightens on our guilty head:  
Sith Famine, Plague, and War (with bloody hand)  
Do all at once make havoc of this Land:  
Make us make use of all these Rods aright;  
That we may quench with our Tears-water quite  
Thine Ireful Fire: our former Vices spurn:  
And, true-reformed, justice to Mercy turn.   

And so, O Father, (fountain of all Good, 
The like to England, now for many years together grievously afflicted with the Plague.   
Ocean of justice, Mercy's boundless Flood)  
Since, for Our Sins, exceeding all the rest,  
As most ingrate-ful, though most rarely blest  
(After so long Longsufferance of Thine:  
So-many Warnings of thy Word divine:  
So-many threatenings of thy dreadful Hand:  
So-many Dangers seaped by Sea and Land:  
So-many Blessings in so good a King:  
So-many Blossoms of that fruit-ful Spring:  
So-many Foes abroad; and False at home:  
So-many Reskue● from the rage of Rome:  
So-many Shields against so many Shot:  
So-many Mercies in that Powder-Plot  
(So light regarded and so soon forgot).   

Since, for Our Sins, so many and so great,  
So little moved with Promise or with Threat,  
Thou, now at last (as a just ielouze God)  
Strik'st us thyself with thine immediate Rod,  
Thy Rod of PESTILENCE: whose rageful smart,  
With deadly pangs piercing the strongest▪ hart,  
Tokens of Terror leaves us where it lights:  
And so infects (or so at least affrights)  
That Neighbour Neighbour, Brother Brother shuns;  
The tenderest Mother dares not see her Sons;  
The nearest Friend his dearest Friend doth fly;  
Yea, scarce the Wife dares close her Husband's eye.  
For, through th' Example of our Vicious life,  
As Sin breeds Sin; and Husband mars the Wife, 
Simile.   
Sister prowdes Sister, Brother hardens Brother,  
Andone Companion doth corrupt another:  
So, through Contagion of this dire Disease,  
It (justly) doth thy heavenly justice please,  
To cause us thus each other to infect:  
Though This we fly, and That too-nigh affect.   

Since, for our Sins, which hang so fast uponus;  
So dreadfully thy Fury frowneth on-us;  
Sith still thou Strikest, and still Threat'nest more  
More grievous Wounds than we have felt before:  
O gracious Father, give us grace (in fine)  
To make our Profit of these Rods of thine:  
That, true- Converted by thy mild Correction,  
We may abandon every foul Affection:  
That Humbleness may flaring Pride dis-plume:  
That Temperance may Surfaiting consume:  
That Chastity may chase our wanton Lust:  
That Diligence may wear-off Slothful rust:  
That Love may live, in Wrath and Envies place:  
That Bounty's hand may Avarice deface:  
That Truth may put Lying and Fraud to flight:  
That Faith and Zeal may keep thy Sabbaths' right:  
That Reverence of thy dread Name may banish  
Blasphemous Oaths: and all Profaneness vanish.   

Since, for our Sins (aswell in Court as Cottage)  
Of all Degrees, all Sexes, Youth and Dotage,  
Of Clarks and Clowns; Rich, Poor; and Great and Small,  
Thy fear-ful Vengeance, hangeth over all;  
O Touch us all with Horror of our Crimes:  
O Teach us all to turn to thee betimes:  
O Turn us (Lord) and we shall turned be:  
Give what thou bidst, and bid what pleaseth thee:  
Give us REPENTANCE; that thou mayst repent  
Our present PLAGVE, and future Punishment.   
FINIS.   

THE MAGNIFICENCE. THE SECOND BOOK OF the fourth Day of the second Week, of BARTAS.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Death-summoned DAVID, in his sacred Throne  
Installs (instructs) his young Son SALOMON:  
His (pleas-God) Choice of WISDOM, wins him Honour  
And Health and Wealth (atonce) to wait upon her:  
His wondrous Doom, quick Babe's Claim to decide:  
Mis-Matches taxed, in His with PHARAONIDE:  
Their pompous Nuptials: seven Heaven- maskers there.  
The glorious TEMPLE, builded richly-rare.  
Salem's Renown draws Saba to his Court:  
King JAMES, to His, brings BARTAS, in like sort.   

HAppy are You (o You delicious Wits)  
That stint your Studies, as your Fury fits:  
That, in long Labours (full of pleasing pain)  
Exhaust not wholly all your learned brain:  
That, changing Note, now light, and grave anon,  
Handle the Theme that first you light upon:  
That, here in Sonnets, there in Epigrams,  
Evaporate your sweet Soule-boyling Flames.   

But, my dear Honour, and my sacred Vows,  
And heavens decree (made in that Higher-House)  
Hold me fast fettered (like a Galleyslave)  
To this hard Task. No other Care I have,  
Nought else I dream of; neither (night nor day)  
Aim at aught else, or look I otherway:  
But (always busy) like a Millstone seem 
Simile.   
Still turned round with the same rapid stream.  
Thence is it that oft (maugrè Apollos grace)  
I hum so harsh; and in my Works in chase  
Lame, crawling Lines, according to the Fire,  
Which (more or less) the whirling P●les inspire:  
And also mingle (Linsie-woolsie-wise)  
This gold-ground Tissue with too-mean supplies.   

You, all the year long, do not spend your wing:  
But, during only your delightful Spring,  
(Like Nightingales) from bush to bush you play,  
From Tuneto Tune, from Myrtle spray to spray:  
But, I too-bold, and like the Swallow right,  
Not finding whereto rest me, at one flight  
A boundless groundless Sea of Times I pass,  
With Auster now, anon with Boreas.   

Your quick Career is pleasant, short, and each;  
At each Lands-end you sit you down and breath  
On some green bank; or, to refresh you, find  
Some Rosie-arbour, from the Sun and wind:  
But, endless is my Course: for, now I glide  
On Ice; then (dazzled) headlong down I slide:  
Now up I climb: then through the Woods I craul,  
I stray, I stumble, sometimes down I fall.  
And, as base Mortar serveth to unite 
Simile.   
Red, white, grey Marble, jasper, Galactite:  
So, to con-nex my quaint Discourse, sometimes  
Imix lose, limping, and ill-polisht Rhymes.   

Yet will I not this Work of mine give o'er.  
The Labour's great; my Courage yet is more;  
My heart's not yet all void of sacred heat:  
there's nothing Glorious but is hard to get▪  
hills were not seen but for the Vales betwixt:  
The deep indentings artificial mixed  
Amid Musaïks (for more ornament)  
Have prizes, sizes, and dies different.  
And O, God grant, the greatest spot you spy  
In all my Frame, may be but as the Fly,  
Which on her Ruff (whiter than whitest snows)  
To whiten white, the fairest Virgin fowes:  
(Or like the Velvet on her brow: or, like  
The dunker Mole on Venus' dainty Cheek:)  
And, that a few faults may but lustre bring  
To my high furies where I sweetest sing.   

DAVID waxed old and cold; and's vital Lamp,  
Lacking its oil of Native moist, grew damp  
(But by degrees); when with a dying voice  
(But lively vigour of Discretion choice)  
He thus instructs his young Son SALOMON,  
And (as Heaven calls) installs him in his Throne.   

Whom, without Force, uproar, or Ryvaling, 
David's instructions to his Son Solomon.   
Nature, and Law, and Fortune make a King;  
Even He (my Son) must be both Just and Wise,  
If long He look to Rule and Royalize:  
But he, whom only Fortune's Favours rears  
Unto a Kingdom, by some newfound stairs;  
He must appear more than a man; and cast  
By rarest Worth to make his Crown sit fast.   

My SALOMON, thou knowst thou art my Youngest:  
Thou knowst, beside, out of what Bed thou sprungest:  
Thou seest what love all Israel bears thy Brother:  
To honour Thee, what wrong I do to other;  
Yea even to Nature and our Native Law:  
'Tis thy part therefore, in all points to draw  
To full Perfection; and with rare effect  
Of Noblest Virtues hide thy Births defect.   

Thou, Izraels' King, serve the great King of All, 
A king (first of all) ought to be Religious.   
And only on his Conducts pedestal  
Found thine Affairs: upon his Sacred Lore  
Thine eyes and mind be fixed evermore:  
The barking rage of bold Blasphemers hate:  
Thy Soueraign's Manners (Viceroy) imitate.  
Nor think, the thickness of thy Palace Walls,  
Thine iron Gates, and high gold-seeled Halls,  
Can let his Eye to spy (in every part)  
The darkest Closets of thy Mazie Hart.   

If birth or Fate (my Son) had made thee Prince  
Of Idumeans or of Philistines, 
Valorous.   
If Pharaoh's Title had befallen to thee,  
If the Medes Mitre bowed at thy knee,  
Wert thou a Sophy; yet with virtues lustre  
Thou oughtest (at least) thy Greatness to illustre:  
But to Command the Seed of Abraham,  
The Holy Nation to Control and tame,  
To bear a josuahs' or a Samsons load,  
To be God's Viceroy, needs a Demi-God.   

Before old Servants give not new the start 
Impartial in bestowing Preferments.   
(Kings-Art consists in Action more than Art.)  
Old Wine excelleth new: Nor (giddily)  
Will a good Husband grub a goodly Tree  
In his fair Orchards midst, whose fruitful store  
Hath graçed his Table twenty years and more; 
Simile.   
To plant a Graft, yer e'er he taste the same,  
Save with the teeth of a (perhaps) false Fame.   

These Parasites are even the Pearls and Rings  
(Pearls, said I? Perils) in the ears of Kings:  
For O, what Mischief but their Wiles can work? 
Impatient of Parasites & Flatterers.   
Sith even within us (to their aid) doth lurk  
A smother Soother, even our own Selfs-love  
(A malady that nothing can remove)  
Which, with these strangers, secretly Combined  
In League offensive (to the firmest Mind)  
Persuades the Coward, he is Wisely-meek:  
The drunkard, Stout: the Perjure, Politic:  
The cruel Tyrant, a just Prince they call;  
Sober, the Sot; the Lavish, Liberal▪  
And, quicknosed Beagles, scenting right his lore  
(Transformed into him) even his Faults adore.   

Fly then those Monsters: and give no access 
To banish Atheists and all notoriously wicked persons from his presence.   
To men infamous for their wickedness:  
Endure no Atheist, brook no Sorcerer  
Within thy Court, nor Thief, nor Murderer:  
Lest the contagion of their baneful breath  
Poison the public fountain, and to death  
Infect Thy manners (more of force then Law)  
The spring, whence Subjects good or bad will draw. 
To overrule his own Passions & Affections.    

Rule thine Affects, thy fury, and thy fear:  
he's no true King, who no self's-sway doth bear:  
Not what thou couldst, but what thou shouldst, effect:  
And to thy Laws, first thine owneself subject.  
For ay the Subject will (fear set aside)  
Through thick and thin, having his King for guide. 
To be mild and gracious.    

Show thyself gracious, affable and meek;  
And be not (proud) to those gay godlings like,  
But once a year from their gilt Boxes ta'en,  
To impetrate the heavens long wished-for rain.   

To fail his Word, a King doth ill beseem: 
To be faithful of his promise.   
Who breaks his faith, no faith is held with him,  
Deceipt's deceived: Injustice meets unjust:  
Disloy all Prince arms subjects with distrust;  
And neighbour States will in their Leagues commend  
A Lion, rather than a Fox, for Friend.   

Be prodigal of virtues just reward: 
To be readier to Reward then Punish.   
Of punishments be sparing (with regard).  
Arm thou thy breast with rarest Fortitude;  
Things Eminent are ever most pursued:  
On highest Places, most disgraces threat:  
The roughest winds on widest gates do beat. 
Not to be Quarrellous yet quick and courageous in a just Cause.    

Toil not the World with Wars ambitious spite:  
But, if thine Honour must maintain thy Right,  
Then show thee DAVID's Son; and wisely-bold  
Followed as hot, as thou beginst it cold:  
Watch, Work, Devise, and with un-weary limb,  
Wade through Fords, and over Channels swim.   

Let tufted Planes for pleasant shades suffice, 
His exercises in War.   
In heat; in Cold, thy Fire be Exercise:  
A Targe thy Table, and a Turf thy Bed:  
Let not thy Mouth be over-dainty fed;  
Let Labour be thy sauce, thy Cask thy Cup;  
Whence, for thy Nectar some ditchwater sup:  
Let Drums, and Trumpets, and shrill mischiefs and Flutes  
Serve thee for Citterns, Virginals and Lutes:  
Trot up a Hill; Run a whole Field for Race;  
Leap a large Dike; Toss a long Pike, a space:  
Perfume thy head with dust and sweat: appear  
Captain and Soldier. Soldiers are on fire,  
Having their King (before them Marching forth)  
Fellow in Fortune, witness of their Worth.   

I should inflame thy hart with Learning's love; 
In Peace not to be overstudious: yet, to understand the Principals of all Prince-fit Sciences.   
Save that, I know what divine habits move  
Thy profound Spirit: only, let th' ornament  
Of Letters wait on th' Art of Regiment:  
And take good heed, least as excess of humour  
In Plants, becomes their Flowering Life's consumer;  
So toomuch Study, and delight in Arts,  
Quench the quick vigour of thy Spiritual parts,  
Make thee too-pensive, overdull thy Senses,  
And draw thy Mind from Public cares of Princes.  
With a swift-winged soul, the Course survey  
Of Night's dim Taper and the Torch of Day:  
Sound round the Cells of th' Ocean dreadly-deep:  
Measure the Mountains snowy tops and steep:  
Ferret all Corners of this neither Ball;  
But, to admire the Maker's Art in all,  
His Power and Prudence: and, resemble not 
Simile.   
Some simple Courtier, or the silly Sot  
That in the basecourt all his time hath spent,  
In gazing on the goodly Battlement,  
The chamfred Pillars, Plinths, and antic Bosses,  
Medals, Ascents, Statues, and strange Colossuses;  
Amazed and musing upon every piece  
Of th' uniform, fair, stately Frontispiece;  
Too-too-self-rapt (through too-self-humoring)  
Losing himself, while others find the King.   

Hold even the Balance, with clean hands, closed eyes: 
The principal & peculiar office of a King.   
Revenge severely Public Injuries;  
Remit thine Own, Hear the Cries, see the Tears  
Of all distressed poor Petitioners.  
Sat (oft) thyself in Open Audience:  
Who would not be a judge, should be no Prince.  
For, justice Sceptre and the Martial Sword  
Ought never sever, by the Sacred Word.  
Spare not the Great; neither despise the Small:  
Let not thy Laws be like the Spiders Caul, 
Simile.   
Where little Flies are caught and killed; but great  
Pass at their pleasure, and pull-down the Net.   

Away with Shepherds that their Flocks deface:  
Choose Magistrates that may adorn their Place,  
Such as fear God, such as will judge uprightly:  
Men by the servants judge the Master lightly.  
Give to the Virtuous; but thy Crown-Demain  
Diminish not: give still to give again:  
For there too-deep to dip, is Prodigality;  
And to dry-up the Springs of Liberality.   

But above all (for God's sake) Son, beware, 
Hic labour, hoc Opus.   
Be not entrapped in women's wily snare.  
I fear, alas (good Lord, supremely sage,  
Avert from Mine th' effect of this Praesage)  
Alas! I fear that this sweet Poison will  
My House hereafter with all Idols fill.  
But, if that neither virtue's sacred love,  
Nor Fear of Shame thy wanton Mind can move  
To watch in Arms against the Charms of Those;  
At least, be warned by thy Father's Woes.   

Farewell my Son: th' Almighty calls me hence:  
I pass, by Death, to Life's most excellence:  
And, to go Reign in Heaven (from World-cares free)  
The Crown of Israel I resign to thee.   

O thou that often (for a Prince's Sin)  
Transport'st the Sceptre, even from Kin to Kin,  
From Land to Land; Let it remain with Mine:  
And, of my Sons Sons (in successive Ligne)  
Let that Alpower full deer-drad Prince descend,  
Whose glorious Kingdom never shall have end;  
Whose iron Rod shall Satan's Rule undoo:  
Whom jacob trusts in; Whom I thirst for too.   

‛ DAVID deceased: His Son (him tracking right) 
Initium Regni SALOMON.   
With heart and voice worships the God of Might;  
Enters his Kingdom by the Gate of Piety;  
Makes Hym●s and Psalms in Laud of the true Deïtie;  
Offers in Gabeon; where, in Spirit he sees  
(While his Sense sleeps) the God of Majesties, 
His Vision.   
The Lord of Hosts; who, Crowned with radiant flames,  
Offers him choice of these four lovely Dames.   

First, Glory, shaking in her hand a Pike  
(Not Maidlike Marching, but brave soldier-like) 
Description of Glory.   
Among the Stars her stately head she bears,  
A silver Trumpet shrill a slope she wears,  
Whose Wind is Praise, and whose Stentorian sound  
Doth far and wide o'er all the world redound.  
Her wide-side Robes of Tissue passing price,  
All Story-wrought with bloody Victories,  
Triumphs and Trophies, Arches, Crowns and Rings;  
And, at her feet, there sigh a thousand Kings.   

Not far from her, comes Wealth, all rich-bedight 
Of Riches.   
In Rhéa's, Thetis, Pluto's Treasures bright:  
The glittering stuff which doth about her fold  
Is rough with Rubies, stiff with beaten Gold.  
With either hand from hollow steans she powers  
Pactolian surges and Argolian showers.  
Fortune, and Thrift, and Wakefulnes and Care,  
And Diligence, her daily Servants are.   

Then cheerful Health▪ whose brow no wrinkle bears, 
Of Health.   
Whose cheek no paleness, in whose eye no tears;  
But like a Child she's pleasant, quick, and plump,  
She seems to fly, to skip, to dance, and jump:  
And Life's bright Brand in her white hand doth shine:  
Th' Arabian Birds ●are plumage (plaited ●ine)  
Serves her for Su●-coat: and her seemly ●●ain,  
Mirth, Exercise and Temperance sustain.   

Last, Wisdom comes, with sober countenance: 
Of Wisdom.   
To th' ever-bowrs her oft aloft t'advance,  
The light Mamuques wing-les wings she has:  
Her gesture cool, as comly-grave her pace:  
Where e'er she go, she never goes without  
Compass and Rule, Measure and Weights about:  
And by her side (at a rich Belt of hers)  
The Glass of Nature and herself she wears.   

Having beheld their Beauties bright, the Prince  
Seems rapt all-ready even to Heaven from hence;  
Sees a whole Eden round about him shine:  
And, 'mid so many Benefits Divine,  
Doubts which to choose. At length he thus begun:  
O Lord (saith he) what hath thy Servant done,  
That so great Blessings I should take or touch,  
Or thou shouldst deign to honour me so much?  
Thou dost prevent my Merit: or (dear Father)  
Delight'st to Conquer even my Malice rather.   

Fair Victorie's a noble Gift: and nought  
Is more desired, or is sweeter thought,  
Than even to quench our Fury's thirst with blood,  
In just Revenge on those that wrong our Good:  
But oft (alas) foul Insolence comes after;  
And, the long Custom of in human Slaughter,  
Transforms in time the mildest Conquerors  
To Tigers, Panthers, Lions, Bears, and Boars.   

Happy seems He, whose countles Herds for Pasture  
Dis-robe (alone) Mount Carmels moatly Vesture:  
For whom alone a whole rich Country, torn  
With timely Tools, brings forth both Wine and Corn:  
That hath soft Sereans yellow Spoils, the Gems  
And precious stones of the Arabian streams,  
The Mines of Ophir, th' Entidorian Fruits,  
The Saban Odours, and the Tyrian Suits.  
But yet we see, where Plenty chief sways,  
There Pride increases, Industry decays:  
richmen adore their Gold: whoso aspires  
To lift to Heaven his sight and Souls Desires,  
He must be Poor (at leastwise like the Poor).  
Riches and Fear are fellows evermore.   

I would live long, and I would gladly see  
My Nephew's Nephews, and their Progeny:  
But the long Cares I fear, and Cumbers rife,  
Which commonly accompany Long-Life.  
Who well lives, long lives: for, this age of ours  
Should not be numbered by years, days, and hours:  
But by our brave Exploits: and, this Mortality  
Is not a moment, to that Immortality.   

But, in respect of Lady wisdoms grace,  
(Even at their best) the rest are all but base.  
Honour is but a puff; Life but a vapour; 
Salomons choice.   
Wealth but a wish; Health but a sconce of paper:  
A glistering Sceptre but a Maple twig;  
Gold, Dross; Pearls, Dust, however bright and big.  
she's God's own Mirror, she's a Light, whose glance  
Springs from the Lightning of his Countenance:  
she's mildest heavens most sacred influence:  
Never decays her Beauties excellence;  
Ay like herself: and she doth always trace  
Not only the same path, but the same pace.  
Without her, Honour, Health, and Wealth would prove  
Three Poisons to me. Wisdom (from above)  
Is th' only Moderatrix, spring, and guide,  
Organ and honour of all Gifts beside.   

Her, her I like, her only (Lord) I crave,  
Her Company forever let me have:  
Let me forever from her sacred lip,  
Th' Ambrosial Nard, and rosial Nectar sip:  
In every Cause, let me consult with her:  
And, when I judge, be She my Counsellor.  
Let, with her Staff, my yet-Youth govern well  
In Pastures fair the Flock of Israel,  
A compt-les Flock, a Flock so great (indeed)  
As of a Shepherd sent from Heaven had need.  
Lord, give her me: alas▪ I pine, I die;  
Or if I live, I live her 
* Pyrausta.  Flame-bred-Flie:  
And (new Farfalla) in her radiant shine,  
Too-bold, I burn these tender wings of mine.   

Hold, take her to thee, said the Lord: and sith  
No Beauty else thy soul enamoreth;  
For ready handmaids to attend upon her,  
I'll give thee also Health, and Wealth, and Honour;  
(For'tis not meet, so High-descended Queen,  
So great a Lady, should alone be seen)  
The rather, that my Bounty may invite  
Thee, serving Her, to serve Me day and night.   

King SALOMON, awaked, plainly knew  
That this Divine strange Uision never grew  
From the sweet Temper of his sound Complexion;  
But that it was some Piece of more Perfection,  
Some sacred Picture admirably drawn  
With Heavenly pencil, by an Angel's hand.  
For (happy) He had (without Art) the Arts,  
And learning (without learning) in all parts:  
A more than human Knowledge bewtifies  
His princely actions: up to Heaven he flies,  
He dyves to Hell, he sounds the Deeps, he enters  
To th' in most Cells of the World's lowest Centres.   

The secret Riddles of the sacred Writ 
His excellent Uisedome and understanding in all things.   
Are plain to him: and his deep-pearcing Wit,  
Upon few Words of the Heav'n-prompted style,  
In a few Days, large Volumes can compile.  
He (learned) sees the Sun's Eclipse, sans terror:  
He knows the Planets never erring Error;  
And, whether Nature, or some Angel move  
Their Spheres, at once with triple Dance above:  
Whether the Sun self-shine; his Sister, not:  
Whether, Spring, Winter, Autumn, Summer hot,  
Be the Sun's Sons: what kind of mounting Vapour  
Kindles the Comet and the long-tailed Taper:  
What boy strous Lungs the roaring Whirlers blown:  
What burning Wings the Lightning rides upon:  
What Curb the Ocean in his bounds doth keep:  
What power Night's-Princesse powers upon the Deep.  
Whether the heavens sweet-sweating Kiss appear  
To be Pearls parent, and the Oyster's pheer;  
And whether, dusk, it makes them dim withal;  
Clear, breeds the clear; and stormy brings the pale.  
Whether, from Sea the Ambergris be sent;  
Or be some Fishes pleasant excrement.  
He knows, why th' Earth's immovable and round,  
The lees of Nature, Centre of the Mound:  
He knows her measure. And he knows beside,  
How Coloquintida (duly applied)  
Within the darkness of the Conduit-Pipes,  
Amid the windings of our in-ward Tripes,  
Can so discreetly the White humour take;  
rhubarb, the Yellow; Hellebore, the Black:  
And, whether That in our weak Bulks be wrought,  
By drawing it to them; or by driuinged out.  
In brief, from th' Hyssop to the Cedar-Tree,  
He knows the Virtues of all Plants that be.  
He knows the Reason why the Wolveses fell tooth  
Gives a Horse swiftness; and his footing, sloth:  
Why thy Sex-changing, fierce Hyena's eye  
Puts cursedest Curs to silence suddenly:  
Why th' ireful Elephant becometh tame  
At the approaching of the fleecy Lamb:  
Why th' eye-bold Eagle never fears the flash  
Or force of Lightning, nor the Thunder-clash:  
Why the wild Fen-Goose (which keeps warm her eggs  
With her broad feet under her heatfull legs,  
And, tongueless, cries) as wing-lymed, cannot fly,  
Except she (glad) Seas brynie glass descry.  
He knoweth also, whether that our Stone  
Be baked Earth, or Exhalation:  
Whether the Metals (that we daily see)  
Be made of Sulphur and of Mercury;  
Or, of some Liquor by long Cold condensed,  
And by the Heat well purified and cleansed;  
Or, of a certain sharp and cindrous humour:  
Or, whether He that made the Waving Tumour,  
The motley Earth; and th' Heavenly Spheres refined,  
Almighty, made them such as now we find.  
He comprehends from whence it is proceeding,  
That spotted jasper-stones can staunch our bleeding:  
sapphires, cure eyes: the Topaz to resist  
The rage of Lust; of drink the Amethyst:  
And also, why the clearest Diamant  
(jealous) impugns the thefts of th' Adamant.   

Tunes, Measures, Numbers, and Proportions  
Of Bodies with their Shadows, als' he kons;  
And (filled with Nectar-Deaws, which Heaven drips)  
The Bees have made Honey within his lips.  
But he embraceth much more earnestly  
The gainful Practice, than cold Theory:  
Nor reaks he so of a Sophistick pride  
Of prattling Knowledge (too-self-magnified)  
As of that goodly Art to govern well  
The sacred Helms of Church and commonweal,  
And happily to entertain in either,  
A harmony of Great and Small together.  
Especially he's a good justicer,  
And to the Laws doth Life and strength confer. 
Simile.   
And, as the highest of Bigaurian Hills  
Ay bears his head upright, and never yields  
To either side, scorns Wind and Rain and snow,  
Abides all weathers, with a cheerful brow;  
Laughs at a Storm, and bravely tramples under  
His steady Knees, the proud, loud, rolling Thunder:  
So, he's a judge inflexibly-upright.  
No Love, nor Hatred, of the Guilty wight  
(What e'er he wear for Calling, small or great)  
His Venging blade can either blunt or whet;  
He spurneth Favours, and he scorneth Fears,  
And under foot he treadeth private Tears:  
Gold's radiant Lustre never blears his Eye:  
Nor is he led through Ignorance a-wry.  
His Voice is held an Oracle of all:  
The soul of Laws he wisely can exhale:  
In doubtful Cases he can subtilize,  
And wyliest pleaders hearts anatomize.  
Scarce fifteen times had Ceres (since his Birth)  
With her gilt Tresses glorified the Earth;  
When he decides by happy Wisdoms means,  
The famous Quarrel of Two crafty Queans.   

Is't possible, O Earth, (thus cries the first)  
But that (alas) thou shouldst for anger burst, 
The Controversy between the 2. Harlots for the live Child.   
And swallow quick this execreable Quean!  
Is't possible (O gracious Sovereign)  
That coming new from doing such a deed  
So horrible, she shameless dares proceed  
T' approach thy sight, thy sacred Throne t'abuse,  
Not begging Pardon, but even bend t'accuse?  
Last night, with surfeit and with sleep sur-cloyd,  
This careless stepdame her own Child o'r-layd:  
And softly then (finding it cold and dead)  
Lays it by me, and takes mine in the stead.  
Here, old, bold strumpet, take thy bastard brat,  
Hence with thy Carrion, and restore me that,  
Restore me mine, my lovely living Boy,  
My hope, my hap, my Love, my life my joy..  
O cruel Chance! O sacrilegious!  
Shall thy foullips my little Angel buss?  
At thy fond prattling, shall he pret'ly smile?  
And tug, and touse thy greasy locks thewhile?  
And all his Childhood fill thy soul with glee?  
And, grown a man, sustain thine age and thee?  
While wretched I, have only for my share,  
His Births hard Travail, and my burden's Care,  
His restless rocking, wiping, washing, wring;  
And to appease his way ward Cries with singing.  
O most unhappy of all Womankind!  
O Childeles mother! O! why is my Mind  
More passion-stirred, than my hand is strong?  
But, rather, than I'll pocket up this wrong,  
To be revenged, I'll venture two for one,  
I'll have thy Life, although it cost mine own.   

O filthy Bitch! Vile Witch (says th' other though)  
O! who would think, that Wine could mad one so?  
O impudent! though God thou fearest not, fear  
The King's clear judgement, who Gods place doth bear.  
Art not content t'have called (or rather cried)  
Me Whore, and Thief, Drunkard and Parricide:  
But thou wilt also have my Child, my deer,  
(Whom with so strong a knot Love links so near)  
My Babe, my Bliss? Yea marry (Minks) and shall:  
Who takes my Child, shall take my life withal.  
Just David's just Son; for thy Father's sake,  
For his dear love, for all that he did make  
Of thee a Child, when he (re-childing) sought  
With childish sport to still thy cries, and taught  
(Or'gan to teach) with language soft and weak,  
Thy tender tongue some easy term to speak:  
Or, when (all bloody, breathless, hot) he came  
Laden with spoils of Kings he overcame,  
He ran t'embrace thee, rocked thee in his Targe,  
And when thou Cry'dst, upon his shoulder large  
Did set thee up, while thou his beard didst tug,  
Play'dst with his nose, about his neck didst hug,  
Gap'tst on his glittering Helm, and smil'dst to see  
Another SALOMON there smile on thee:  
And underneath his dancing Plume didst play  
Like Bird in bush, sporting from spray to spray;  
I do adjure thee to attend my Plea:  
By the sweet name of thy deer Bersabe,  
Who in the night, shivering for cold, so oft  
Hath bowed herself over thy Cradle soft;  
Who both the Bottles of her Nectar white  
Hath spent upon thee, hundred times a night;  
Who on thy head hath set her pearly Crown,  
And in Thy life lived more than in her Own:  
I do adjure thee (O great King) by all  
That in the World we sacred count or call,  
To do me Right: and if, too-mylde, alas,  
Too merciful thou wilt not Sentence pass  
Of just revenge for my received wrong;  
Yet, reave me not what doth to me belong,  
What liberal Nature hath bestowed on me,  
What I am seis'd-of (without thank to thee):  
For pity do not my heart blood deprive,  
Make me not Childeles, having Child alive.   

While both, at once, thus to the King they Cry,  
'Tis mine, 'Tis mine: thou liest; and thou dost lie:  
The partial People divers Verdict spend;  
Some favour th' one, others the other friend: 
Simile.   
As, when two Gamesters hazard (in a trice)  
Fields, vineyards, Castles, on the Chance of Dice,  
The standers-by, diversly stirred within,  
Wish, some that This, and some that That may win;  
Waver twixt Hope and Fear: and euery-one's  
Moved, with the moving of the guile-ful Bones.   

Only, the King demurs: his prudent ears  
Find like, both reasons, both Complaints, both tears:  
The Infant's face could not decipher whether  
Of both should be the very Mother: neither  
Can calculation of their ages, clear  
The judges doubt: nor any proof appear.  
Then, thus He weighs (but as in dreaming wise);  
Th' industrious judge, when all proofs fail him, flies  
Unto Conjectures, drawn (the probablest)  
Out of the book of Nature's learned breast;  
Or to the Rack: Now, Mother's love (thinks he)  
Is Natures own unchangeable Decree:  
And there's no Torture that exceeds the pains  
Which a kind Mother in her Child sustains.  
Then (as awake) Come, come, no more ado, 
The Doubt admirably decided.   
Dispatch (saith he) Cleave the quick Child in two,  
Look that the Sword be sharp; in such a case,  
Needs must our Pity give our justice place:  
justice (ye see) can judge him whole to neither:  
Divide him therefore, and give half to either.  
O difficult! but thus the King descries  
Their heart's deep secrets: all discovered lies,  
The vizor's off; their Tongues, sincerely priest  
With true instinct, their very Thoughts expressed:   

Be't (said the stepdame) so, sithed must be so:  
Divide him justly from the top to toe.  
No (said the other) rather, I renounce  
My Right in him, take thou him all at once,  
Enjoy him all; I'll rather have him Thine  
Alive, and whole, than dead and mangled Mine.  
Thine (quoth the King) he's Thine by Birth (I see)  
Thine by thy Love, and thine by my Decree.   

Now, as with Gold grows in the selfsame Mine 
Simile.   
Much Chrysocolle, and also Silver fine: 
The wonderful Prosperity of Solomon and his People.   
So, supreme Honour, and Wealth (matched by none)  
Second the Wisdom of great SALOMON.  
He far and near commands by Land and Seas;  
A hundred Crowns do homage unto His:  
His nearest Bounds Nile's Sea and Sidon seem,  
And Euphrates bows his moist horns to him:  
Peru, they say (supposing Ophir so)  
By yearly Fleets into his Fisk doth flow:  
In Zion Gold's as common as the Sand,  
As Pebbles, Pearls: Throughout all jury-land,  
There seems an Ocean of all happiness  
To ouer-flowe; and all do all possess:  
Each under his own Vine and his own Tree,  
His Grapes and Figs may gather quietly.  
Thus he abounds in Bliss▪ not so to change-ill  
Man into Beast, but make of Man an Angel,  
To praise th' Immortal, who to him hath given  
Even here a Taste of the delights of Heaven.  
This great, wise, wealthy, and well-spoken King  
His sweet renown o'er all the World doth ring:  
The Tyrian, for Confederate desires him:  
Pharaoh for Son: th' Alien no less admires-him  
Than his own Subject: and his eyes sweet flames,  
As far as Nilus, fire the flower of Dames.   

O SALOMON, see'st thou not (O misshap!) 
Misse-Matches justly taxed.   
This Marriage is no Marriage, but a Trap?  
That such a mongrel Match of differing Creed,  
Of mortal quarrels is th' immortal seed?  
That Ox and Ass can never well be broke  
To draw one Plough together in one yoke?  
Whoever weds a Miscreant, forthwith  
Divorceth God: our Faith still wavereth;  
It needs an Aid and not a Tempter nigh,  
Not th' instrument of th' old Deceiver sly,  
Not deadly Poison in our Couch to couch,  
Sleep in our bosom, and our breast to touch,  
And breath into us (in a kind of kissing)  
An Ir-religion, of the Serpents hissing.  
She that from Egypt comes (O King) is none  
Flesh of thy Flesh, nor yet Bone of thy Bone:  
But a strange Bone, a barbarous Rib, a Piece  
Empoisoned all with Memphian Leprosies.   

But, thou wilt say, thy Love hath stripped erewhile  
Her spotted suit of Idol-seruing Nile:  
And clad her all, in Innocence, in White;  
Becom'n by Faith a trueborn Abramite.  
It might be so: and to that side I take,  
The rather, for that sacred Beauty's sake,  
Where-of she is a figure. Yet, I fear  
Her Train will slain thy Kingdom everywhere,  
Corrupt thy Court: and God will be offended,  
To have his People with strange People blended;  
The mighty Lord, who hath precisely said,  
You shall not Theirs, nor they your daughters wed.   

Under the gentle Equinoctial Line, 
A pleasant Description of love's fruitful Grove.   
Fair amorous Nature waters freshly-fine  
A little Grove clad in eternal green,  
Where all the year longlusty May is seen,  
Suiting the Lawns in all her pomp and pride  
Of lively Colours, lovely varyfied:  
There smiles the ground, the starry-Flowers each one  
There mount the more, the more th' are trod-upon:  
There, all grows toilles; or, if tilled it were,  
Sweet Zphyrus is th' only Husband there.  
There Auster never roars, nor Hail disleaves  
Th' immortal Grove, nor any Branch bereaves.  
There the strait Palmtree stoopeth in the Calm  
To kiss his Spouse, his loyal Female Palm:  
There with soft whispers whistling all the year  
The Broad-leaued Planetree Courts the Plane his Pheer,  
The Poplar woos the Poplar, and the Vine  
About the Elm her slender arms doth twine:  
Th' ivy about the Oak: there all doth prove,  
That there, all springs, all grows, all lives in love.  
Opinion's Porter, and the Gate she bars  
'Gainst Covetise, cold Age, and sullen Cares,  
Except they leave-off and lay-down before  
Their troublous load of Reason at the door;  
But opens wide, to letin Bashful-Boldnes,  
Dumb-speaking Signs, Chill-Heat, and Kindled-Coldnes,  
Smooth soothing Vows, deep Sorrows soon appeased,  
Tears sudden dried, fell Angers quickly pleased,  
Smiles, Wyly-Guiles, quaint wittie-pretty Toys,  
Soft Idleness, and groundless, boundless joys,  
Sweet Pleasure plunged over head and ears  
In sugared Nectar, immaterial Fears,  
Hoarse Waaks, late Walks, Pain-pleasing kindly cruel,  
Aspiring Hope (Desire's immortal fuel)  
Licentious Looseness, Prodigal Expense  
Enchanting Songs, deep Sighs, and sweet Laments.   

These frolic Lovelings freighted Nests do make  
The balmy Trees o'r-laden Boughs to crack;  
beauty lays, Fancy sits, th' inflamed heat  
Of Love doth hatch their Couvies nicely-neat:  
Some are but kindled yet, some quick appear,  
Some on their backs carry their Cradle's deer.  
Some downie-clad, some (fledger) take a twig  
To pearch-upon, some hop, from sprig to sprig:  
One, in the fresh shade of an Appletree  
Let's hang its Quiver, while soft-pantingly  
‛ Tex hales hot Vapour: one, against a Sparrow  
Tries his stiff Bow and Giant-stooping Arrow:  
Another sly sets lime-twigs for the Wren,  
Finch, Linot, Titmouse, Wagtail (Cock and Hen):  
See, see how some their idle wings forsake,  
And (turned, of Flyers, Riders) one doth take  
A Thrush, another on a Parrot rides,  
This mounts a Peacock, that a Swan bestrides,  
That manageth a Phaisant: this doth make  
The Ring-dove turn, that brings the Culuer back:  
See how a number of this wanton Fry  
Do fond chase the gaudy Butterfly,  
Some with their flowery Hat, some with their hands,  
Some with sweet Rose-boughs, some with Myrtle wands:  
But, th' horned Bird, with nimble turns, beguiles  
And escapes the snares of all these loves awhiles.  
Leave, Wags (Cries Venus) leave this wanton Play:  
For so, in steed of Butterflies, you may,  
You may (my Chicks) a Child of Venus strike:  
For, some of mine have Horns and all alike.   

This said: eft soons two twins whose goldhead darts  
Are never steeped but in Royal hearts;  
Come, Brother deer (said either) come let's to it,  
Let's each a shaft at yond two bosoms shoot.  
Their winged words th' effect ensues as wight,  
Two or three steps they make to take their flight,  
And quick-thick shaking on their sinnewie side  
There long strong sarcels, richly triple-died  
Gold-Azurè-Crimsin; th' one aloft doth soar  
To Palestine, th' other to Nilus' shore.   

Pharao's fair daughter (wonder of her Time) 
PHARONIDA.   
Then in the blooming of her Beauties Prime,  
Was quaintly dressing of her Tress-full head  
Which round about her to the ground did spread:  
And, in a rich gold-seeled Cabinet,  
Three Noble Maids attend her in the feat;  
One with a piece of double dented Box  
Combs out at length her goodly golden locks:  
Another 'noynts them with Perfumes of price:  
Th' other with bodkin or with fingers nice,  
Frizles and Furls in Curls and Rings a part;  
The rest, lose dangling without seeming Art,  
Wave to and fro, with cunning negligence  
Gracing the more her Beauty's excellence:  
When, armed with Arrows burning, brightly keen,  
Swift Swallow-like, one of these Twins comes in;  
And, with his left wing hiding still his Bow,  
Into her bosom shot (I woat not how). 
loves first Fever.   
O, my side! oh! my hart (the Royal Maid Cries out)  
O! I am slain: but, searching all about,  
When she perceived no blood, nor bruise; alas,  
It is no wound; but sleeping in the grass,  
Some Snake (saith she) hath crept into me quick,  
It gnaws my hart: ah, help me, I am sick,  
Have me to bed: ay me, a freezing-Frying,  
A burning-cold torments me living-dying.   

O cruel Boy, alas, how much gall  
Thy baenfull shaft mingles my Mel withal!  
The Royal Maid, which with her Mates was wont  
Smile, Skip, and dance on Fields inammeld front,  
loves soleness, sadness, and Self-privacie;  
Sighs, sobs, and throbs, and yet she knows not why:  
The sumptuous pride of massy Pyramids  
Presents her eyes with Towers of jebusides;  
In Nile's clear Crystal she doth jordan see;  
In Memphis, Salem; and un-warily  
Her hand (un-bidden) in her Sampler sets  
The King of Iuda's Name and Counterfeits:  
Who, mediting the Sacred TEMPLE's Plot,  
By th' other Twin at the same time is shot:  
The shaft sticks fast, the wound's within his veins:  
Sleep cannot bring asleep his pleasing pains;  
PHARONIDA's his hart, PHARONIDA  
Is all his Theme to talk-of, night and day:  
Within his soul a civil War he feeds:  
Th' allseeing Sun, now early backs his Steeds,  
Now mounts his Midday, and then Setteth soon:  
But still his Love stands at the hot high Noon.  
He Rides not his brave Coursers (as he want),  
Nor Reads, nor wright's, nor in his Throne doth mount,  
To hear the Widow's Cause: neglects his Court,  
Neglects his Rule; Love rules him in such sort.   

You prudent Legates, Agents for this Marriage,  
Of Rings and Tablets you may spare the Carriage:  
For, witty Love hath with his lovely shaft  
In either's hart graven others lively draft:  
Each Lives in other, and they have (O strange!)  
Made of their burning hearts a happy Change.  
Better abroad, then home, their heart's delight;  
Yet long their bodies to their hosts t'vnite.   

Which soon ensues: the Virgin's shortly had  
From Mother's arms embracing gladly-sad:  
And th' aged Father, weeping as he spoke,  
Bids thus adieu when she her leave doth take.  
Sweet Daughter deer, O siris be thy guide,  
And Loving Isis bless thee and thy Bride,  
With golden Fruit; and daily without cease  
Your mutual Loves may as your years increase.   

Wives, Maids, and Children, young & old, each-where,  
With looks and vows from Turrets follow her:  
Calm Nilus calmer than it wont is grown,  
Her Ships have merry winds, the Seas have none:  
Her footing makes the ground all fragrant-fresh:  
Her sight re-flowres th' Arabian Wilderness:  
jury rejoices, and in all the way  
Nothing but trumpets, mischiefs, and Timbrels play:  
The Flower-crownd People, swarming on the Green,  
Cry still, God save, God save, God save the Queen:  
May she be like a scion, pale and sick  
Through th' over-shading of a Sire two thick:  
Which being Transplanted, free, sweet air doth sup,  
To th' sweeting Clouds her grovie top sends up,  
And prospers so in the strange soil, that tilled,  
Her golden Apples all the Orchard gild.   

No streets are seen in rich JERUSALEM.  
For, underfoot fine Scarlet paveth them,  
Silks hang the sides, and overhead they hold  
Arched Canapeis of glistering Cloth of gold:  
They throng, they thrust, an ebbing-flowing Tide,  
A Sea of Folk follows th' adored Bride:  
The joyful Ladies from their windows shed  
Sweet showers of flowers upon her radiant head;  
Yet jealous, lest (died in their native grain)  
Her Rosy Cheeks should Natures Roses slain.   

But lo, at last, th' honour of Majesty,  
Glory of Kings, King SALOMON draws nigh:  
Lo now both Lovers, enter-glauncing sweet  
(Like Sun and Moon, when at full view they meet  
In the mid-month) with amorous rays reflection  
Send mutual Welcomes from their deep affection:  
Both alike young, like beautiful, like brave,  
Both graced alike; so like, that whoso have  
Not near observed their heads unlikenesses,  
Think them two Adonis' or two Venuses.   

These novice Lovers at their first arrive  
Are bashful both; their passions strangely strive:  
Their souls sweet Fire his ruddy flames doth flush  
Into their Faces in a modest blush:  
Their tongues are tied, their star-bright eyes seem veiled  
With shamefaçed Cypress; all their senses failed.   

But, pompous Hymen, whither am I brought?  
Am not I (heathen) under th' happy Vault  
Where all the Gods, with glorious mirth Inhaunst,  
At Thetis Nuptials eat, and drank, and daunçed?   

Heer, th' Idumeans mighty jove treads under 
Salomons Nuptials.   
His tripping feet, his bright-light burning Thunder;  
Awhile, he lays his Majesty aside,  
To Court, and sport, and revel with his Bride;  
King, plays the Courtier; Sovereign, Suitor comes;  
And seems but equal with his Chamber-Groomes:  
But yet, whatever he do, or can devise,  
Disguised Glory shineth in his eyes.  
Heer, many a Phoebus, and here many a Muse  
On heavenly Lays so rarely-sweet do use  
Their golden bows, that with the rapting sound  
Th' Arches and Columns well-nigh dance the Round.  
Heer, many a juno, many a Pallas here,  
Here many a Venus, and Diana clear,  
Catch many a gallant Lord, according as  
Wealth, Beauty, Honour, their affection draws.  
Heer, many an Hebé fair, here more than one  
Quick-seruing Chiron neatly waits upon  
The Beds and Boards, and pliant bears about  
The bowls of Nectar quickly turned out;  
And th' over-burthned Tables bend with weight  
Of their Ambrosial over-filled freight.  
Heer, many a Mars un-bloody Combats fights,  
Heer, many a Hermes finds out new delights,  
Heer, many a horned Satire, many a Pan,  
Heer, Wood-Nymphs, Flood-Nymphs, many a Fairy Faun  
With lusty frisks and lively bounds bring-in  
Th' Antic, Morisko, and the Mattachine.  
For even God's Servants (God knows how) have supped  
The sugared baen of Pagan Rites corrupt.   

But, with so many lively Types, at will  
His rich rare Arras shall some other fill:  
Of all the Sports, I'll only choose one Measure,  
One stately Mask composed of sage-sweet pleasure;  
A Dance so chaste, so sacred, and so grave  
(And yet so graceful, and so lofty-brave)  
As may beseem (except I me abuse)  
Great SALOMON, and my celestial Muse.   

The Tables voided of their various Cates,  
They rise at once; and suiting their Estates,  
Each takes a Dame, and then to Dance they come  
Into a stately, rich, round-arched Room,  
So large and light-some that it (right) they call  
The Universal, or The World's great Hall.  
O what delight, to see so rich a Show  
Of Lords and Ladies dancing in a row  
All in a Round, reaching so far and wide  
O'rall the Hall to foot-it side by side!  
Their eyes sweet splendour seems a Pharos bright,  
With clinquant Rays their Body's clothed light:  
'Tis not a Dance, but rather a smooth sliding,  
All move alike, after the musics guiding:  
Their Tune-skilled feet in so true Time do fall,  
That one would swear one Spirit doth bear them all:  
They post unmooving; and though swift they pass  
'Tis not perceived: of hundred thousand pace,  
One single back they: Round on Round they dance;  
And, as they traverse, cast a fruitful glance.   

Just in the middle of the Hall, a-sloap 
The MASK of Planets.   
(Even from the floor unto the very top)  
A broad rich Baldrik there extendeth round,  
inlaid with gold upon an azure ground,  
Where (covered all with Flames) with wondrous Art  
Five Lords, two Ladies dance; but each apart. 
Saturn.    

Here trips an old-man in a Mantle died  
Deep Leaden-hue, and round about him tied  
With a Snake-girdle biting off her tail.  
Within his Robe's stuff (in a winding trail)  
Creeps Mandrake, Coming, Rue, and Hellebore;  
With lively figures of the Bear and Boar,  
Camel, and Ass (about to bray well-nigh):  
There the Strimonian Foul seems even to cry,  
The Peacock even to prank. For Tablet fine,  
About his neck hangs a great Cornaline,  
Where some rare Artist (curiousing upon't)  
Hath deeply cut Times triple-formed Front:  
His pace is heavy, and his face severe;  
His Body here; but yet his mind elsewhere.   

There the Lord Zedec him more sprightly bears, 
jupiter.   
Mild, fair, and pleasant; on his back he wears  
Tin-coloured Tissue, figured all with Oaks,  
Ears, Violets, Lilies, Olives, Apricocks;  
bordered with Phaisants, eagles winged-black,  
And Elephants, with Turrets on their back,  
Pointed with Dimonds, powdered and embossed  
With Emeralds, perfumed with wondrous Cost.   

The third leads quicker on the self same Arch 
Mars.   
His Pyrrhik Galliard, like a Warlike March:  
His Face is fiery: Many an Amethyst,  
And many a jaspire of the perfectest  
Doth brightly glister in the double gilt  
Of the rich Pommel and the precious Hilt  
Of his huge Falchion, bowed from hand to heel:  
His boisterous body shines in burnished Steel:  
His Shield flames bright with gold, embossed high  
With Wolves and Horse seem-running swiftly by,  
And frenged about with sprigs of Scammony,  
And of Euphorbium, forged cunningly. 
Venus.    

But O fair Fairy, who art thou, whose eyes  
Inflame the Seas, the Air, the Earth and Skies?  
Tell us, what art thou, O thou fairest fair,  
That trimm'st the Trammels of thy golden hair.  
With Myrtle, Thyme, and Roses; and thy Breast  
Gird'st with a rich and odoriferous 
* A Spouse-belt.  Cest,  
Where all the wanton brood of sweetest Loves  
Do nestle close; on whom the Turtle-doves,  
Pigeons, and Sparrows day and night attend,  
Cooing and wooing, wherso'er thou wend:  
Whose Robe's embroidered with Pomegranate boughs,  
Buttoned with sapphires, edged with Beryl rows:  
Whose capering foot, about the starry floor,  
The Dance-guide Prince, now follows, now's before?  
Art thou not She, that with a chaste-sweet flame  
Didst both our Bride's hearts into one hart frame?   

And, was not He, that with so curious steps, 
Mercury   
Next after thee, so nimbly turns and leaps,  
Say, was not He the witty Messenger,  
Their eloquent and quick Interpreter?  
How strange a suit▪ His medley Mantle seems  
Scarlet, Wave-laced with Quicksilver streams,  
And th' end of every Lace, for tuft hath on  
A precious Porphyre, or an Agate stone:  
A Cry of Hounds have here a Deer in Chase,  
There a false Fox, here a swift Kid they trace:  
There Larks, and Linots-and sweet Nightingales  
(Feigned upon feigned Trees) with wings and tails  
Lose hanging, seem to swell their little throats,  
And with their warble, shame the Cornets notes.  
Light fumitory, Parsley, Burnet's blade  
And winding leaf his crispy Locks beshade.  
he's light and lively, all in Turns and Tricks;  
In his great Round, he many small doth mix:  
His giddy course seems wandering in disorder,  
And yet there's found in this disorder, order.   

Avoid base Vulgar, back Profane, standby;  
These sacred Revels are not for your eye:  
Come, gentle Gentiles, Noble Spirits draw near,  
Press through the Press, come take your places here,  
To see at full the Bridegroom and the Bride,  
A lovely pair, exactly bewtifi'd  
With rare perfections, passing all the rest,  
Sole-happy Causes of this sumptuous Feast.  
Lo where they come: O what a splendour bright!  
Mine eyes do dazzle. O thou primer Light!  
Sun of the Sun, thy Rays keen point rebate,  
Thy dread-spread Fire a little temperate:  
O, dart (direct) on thy fair Spouse a-space  
Thine eyes pure light, the lustre of thy Face:  
For I no longer can endure it, I  
Am burnt to ashes: o I faint, I die.  
But (blessed Couple) sith (alas) I maynot  
Behold you both unmasked, nor I cannot;  
Yet in these Verses let me tell (I pray)  
Your Dance, your Courting, and your rich Array.   

The Queen's adorned down to her very heels 
Luna.   
In her fair hair (whence still sweet dew distils)  
Half changing down; the rest in rings and curls,  
Plaited with strings of great, round, orient Pearls:  
Her gown is Damask of a Siluer-ground,  
With Silver Seas all deeply-frenged round;  
With Gourds and Moon-wort branched richly-fair,  
Flourished with Beasts that only eat the Air.   

But why (my Muse) with Pencil so precise  
Seekest thou to paint all her rich Rarities?  
Of all the Beauties, Graces, Honours, Richesses  
Wherewith rich Hev'n these Maskers all enriches,  
she's even the Mother: and then, as a Glass,  
On the Beholders their effects she casts.   

A Garland braided with the Flowery folds 
Sol.   
Of yellow Citrons, Turn-Sols, Marygolds,  
Beset with Bal'nites, Rubies, Chrysolites,  
The royal Bride-groom's radiant brows be-dights:  
His saffroned Ruff is edged richly-neat  
With burning Carbuncles, and every set  
Wrought rarely-fine with branches (drawn upon)  
Of Laurel, Cedar, Balm, and Cinnamon:  
On his Gold-grounded rob the Swan so white  
Seems to his honour some new Song t'indight,  
The Phoenix there builds both her nest and tomb,  
The Crocodile out of the Waves doth come,  
Th' amazed Reaper down his Sickle flings  
And soudain Fear grafts to his Ankles wings:  
There the fierce Lion, from his furious eyes,  
His mouth and nostrils fierie-Flames let-flyes,  
Seems with his whisking train his rage to whet,  
And, wrathful ramping, ready even to set  
Upon a Herd of fragrant Leopards:  
When lo, the Cock (that light his rage regards)  
A purple Plume timbers his stately Crest,  
On his high Gorget and broad hardy Breast  
A rich Coat-Armour (Or and Azure) shines,  
A frenge of raveld gold about his Loins:  
In am of bases. Beard as red as blood;  
A short Beak bending like the eagles brood:  
Green-yellow eyes, where Terrors Tent is pight:  
A martial gaite, and spurred as a Knight:  
Into two arches his proud Train divides,  
With painted wings he claps his cheerful sides,  
Sounds his shrill Trumpet, and seems with his sight  
The Lion's courage to have daunted quite.   

These happy Lovers, with a practised pace  
Forward and backward and aside do trace;  
They seem to dance the Spanish Pavane right:  
And yet their Dance, so quick and lively-light,  
Doth never pass the Baldricks bounds (at all)  
Which graven with Star-Beasts over-thwarts the Hall.   

When the brave Bridegroom towards Mount Silo traces,  
A thousand Flowers spring in his sprightful paces:  
When towards Mount Oliu●t he slides, there grows  
Under his Feet a thousand Frosty Snows:  
For, the Floor, beaten with his Measures ever,  
Seems like the Footing of the nimble Weaver.   

This lovely Couple, now kiss, now recoil,  
Now with a lowering eye, now with a smile:  
Now Face to Face they Dance, now side by side,  
With Course unequal: and the tender Bride  
Receives strange Changes in her Countenance,  
After her Lovers divers-seeming glance.  
If unawares some Envious come between  
Her and her Love, then is she sad be-seen,  
She shuts her eye, she seems even to departed:  
Such force hath true Love in a noble hart.  
But all that's nothing to their music choice:  
Tuning the warbles of their Angel-Voice  
To Foot and Viol, and Care-charming Lute,  
In amorous Ditty they do thus dispute.   

" O bright-eyed Virgin! o how fair thou art! 
The Epithalamy   
" O how I love thee, My Snowe-winged Dove!  
" O how I love thee! Thou hast rapt my hart:  
" For thee I Die: For thee I live, my love.   

" How fair art thou my Deer! How dear to me!  
" Dear Soul (awake) I faint, I sink, I sound,  
" At thy dear Sight: and when I sleep; for Thee,  
" Within my breast still wakes my sharp-sweet Wound.   

" My Love, what Odours thy sweet Tress it yields!  
" What Ambergris, what Incense breathest thou out  
" From purple fillets! and what Myrrh distils  
" Still from thy Fingers, ringed with Gold about!   

" Sweetheart, how sweet is th' Odour of thy Praise!  
" O what sweet aiers doth thy sweet air deliver  
" Unto my burning Soul! What honey Lays  
" flow from thy throat, thy throat a golden River.   

" Among the Flowers, my Flower's a Rose, a Lily;  
" A Rose, a Lily; this a Bud, that blown:  
" This fragrant Flower first of all gather wil-I,  
" Smell to it, kiss it, wear it as mine own.   

" Among the Trees, my love's an Appletree,  
" Thy fruitful Stem bears Flower and Fruit together:  
" I'll smell thy Flower, thy Fruit shall nourish me,  
" And in thy Shadow will I rest forever.   

While Hesperus, in azure Wagon brought  
Millions of Tapers over all the Vault,  
These gorgeous Revels to sweet Rest give place,  
And the Earth's Venus doth heavens Venus trace.   

These Spousals past: the King doth nothing mind  
But the Lord's House; there is his Care confined:  
His Checker's open, he no Cost respects)  
But sets awork the wittiest Architects.   

Millions of hands be busy labouring; 
The building of the TEMPLE.   
Through all the Woods, wedges and beetles ring:  
The Tufted Tops of sacred Libanon,  
To climb Mount Zion, down the stream are gone:  
Forests are sawed in Transomes, Beams, and Somers:  
Great Rocks made little, what with Saws and Hammers:  
The sturdy Quar-man with steel-headed Cones  
And massy Sledges slenteth out the Stones,  
Digs through the bowels of th' earth baked stiff,  
Cuts a wide Window through a horned Cliff  
Of ruddy Porphire, or white Alabaster,  
And master's Marble, which no Time can Master.  
One melts the White-stone with the force of Fire:  
Another, levelled by the Lesbian Squire,  
Deep under ground (for the Foundation) joins  
Wel-polisht Marble, in long massy Coins;  
Such both for stuff, and for rare artifice,  
As mought beseem some royal Frontispiece.  
This heaws a Chapter; that a Freeze doth frame;  
This Carves a Cornich; that prepares a jambe,  
This forms a Plynth; that fits an Architrave;  
This planes a Plank; and that the same doth grave,  
Gives life to Cedars dead, and cunningly  
Makes Wood to move, to sigh and speak well-nigh:  
And others, rearing high the sacred Wal,  
By their bold Labours Heaven itself appall:  
Cheerly they work, and ply it in such sort  
As if they thought long Summer-days too-short.   

As in Grape-Harvest, with unweary pains, 
Simile.   
A willing troop of merry-singing Swains,  
With crooked hooks the strutting Clusters cut,  
In Frails and Flaskets them as quickly put,  
Run bowed with burdens to the fragrant Fat,  
Tumble them in, and after pit-a-pat,  
Up to the Waste; and dancing in the Must  
To th' under-tub a flowery Shower do thrust:  
They work a-vie, to th' eye their Work doth grow,  
Who saw't i'th' Morning, scarce at Night can know  
It for the same: and God himself doth seem  
T'have ta'en to Task this Work, and work for them,  
While in the Night sweet Sleep restores with rest  
The weary limbs of Workmen overpress.   

Great King, whence came this Courage (Titan-like)  
So many Hills to heap upon a rick?  
What mighty rollers, and what massy Cars  
Can bring so far so many monstrous Quars?  
And, what huge strength of hanging Vaults embowed  
Bears such a weight above the winged Cloud?   

If on the outside I do cast mine eye,  
The Stones are joined so artificially,  
That if the Maçon had not chequered fine,  

* Syrian.  Syre's Alabaster with hard Serpentine,  
And hundred Marbles no less fair than firm;  
The whole, a whole Quar one might rightly term.   

If I look In, then scorn I all without:  
Surpassing Riches shineth all about:  
Floor, Sides, and Ceiling, covered triple-fold,  
Stone lined with Cedar, cedar limned with Gold:  
And all the Parget carved and branched trim  
With Flowers and Fruits, and winged Cherubin.   

I overpass the sacred Implements,  
In worth far passing all these Ornaments:  
Th' Art answers to the stuff, the stuff to th' use.  
O! perfect Artist, thou for Mould didst choose  
The World's Idea: For, as first the same  
Was severed in a threefold diverse Frame,  
And God Almighty rightly did Ordain  
One all Divine, one Heavenly, one Terrene;  
Decking with Virtues one, with Stars another,  
With Flowers and Fruits, and Beasts, and Birds the other:  
And played the Painter, when he did so gild  
The turning Globes, blewed Seas, and greened the field,  
Gave precious Stones so many-coloured lustre,  
enameled Flowers, made Metals beam and glister:  
The Carver, when he cut in leaves and stems  
Of Plants, such veins, such figures, files and hems:  
The Founder, when he cast so many Forms  
Of winged Fouls, of Fish, of Beasts, of Worms:   

Thou dost divide this Sacred House in Three;  
Th' HOLY OF HOLIES, wherein none may be  
But God, the Cherubims, and (once a year)  
The Sacred Figure of Perfection deer,  
Of God's eternal Son (Sins sinless check)  
The everlasting true MELCHISEDEC:  
The fair mid-TEMPLE, which is open alone  
To Sunbright Levites, who on Israel shone  
With Rays of Doctrine; and who, feeding well  
On the laws Honey, seem in Heaven to dwell:  
And th' utter PORCH, the People's residence,  
The Vulgars' Isle, the World of Elements:  
And various Artist honour'st all the Parts  
With Myron's, Phydias, and Apelles Arts.   

This Pattern pleased thee so, th' hast framed by it,  
Th' eternal Watch-births of thy sacred Wit:  
Thy pithy Book of Proverbs richly-grave,  
Unto the PORCH may rich relation have:  
For that it gives us Oeconomike Laws,  
Rules Politic, and Private civil Saws;  
And for (the most) those Lessons general  
At human matters aim the most of all.  
Ecclesiastes the Mid-TEMPLE seems:  
It treadeth down what ever Flesh esteems  
Fair, pleasant, precious, glorious, good, or great;  
Draws us from earth, and us in Heaven doth seat;  
And, all the World proclaiming Uain of Veins,  
Man's happiness in Gods true Fear maintains.  
SANCTUM-SANCTORUM, is thy Song of Songs,  
Where, in Mysterious Verse (as meet belongs)  
Thou Mariest jacob to heavens glorious King:  
Where, thou (devoted) dost divinely sing  
CHRIST'S and his CHURCHES Epithalamie:  
Where (sweetly rapt in sacred Ecstasy)  
The faithful Soul talks with her God immense,  
Hears his sweet Voice, herself doth quintessence  
In the pure flames of his sweet-pearcing eyes  
(The Cabinets where Grace and Glory lies)  
Enjoys her joy, in her chaste bed doth kiss  
His holy lips (the Love of Loves) her Bliss.   

When he had finished and had furnished full  
The House of God, so rich, so beautiful:  
O God (said Solomon) great Only-Trine! 
Dedication of the Temple.   
Which of this Mystic sacred House of Thine  
Hast made me Builder; build Me in the same  
A living Stone. For thy deer DAVID'S name,  
On DAVID'S branches david's bliss revive;  
That on his Throne his Issue still may thrive.  
O All-comprising, None-comprised Prince,  
Which art in Heaven by thy Magnificence,  
In Hell by justice, each-where by thy Powers:  
Dwell here (dear Father) by thy Grace (to Ours).  
If, in a doubtful Case, one needs must swear,  
Lose thou the Knot, and punish thou severe  
Th' audacious Perjure; that henceforth none chance  
Tax thee of Malice, or of Ignorance.  
If our dis-flowred Trees, our Fields Hail-torn,  
Our empty Ears, our light and blasted Corn,  
Presage us Famine; if with tenfold chain,  
Thy hand hath locked thy Water-gates of Rain;  
And, towards this House we humbled cast our eye,  
Hear us (O Lord) hear our complaint and cry.  
If Captives we in a strange Land bewail,  
If in the Wars our Force and Fortune fail;  
And, towards this House we humbled cast our eye,  
Hear us (O Lord) hear our complaint and cry.  
If Strangers, moved with rumour of thy Miracles,  
Come here to Offer, to consult thine Oracles,  
And in this House to kneel religiously,  
Hear them, O Lord, hear their complaint and cry:  
Hear them from Heaven; and by thy Favours priest,  
Draw to Thy TEMPLE, North, South, East, and West.   

The passe-Man Wisdom of th' Isacian Prince,  
A Light so bright, set in such eminence  
(Vn-hideable by envious Arrogance,  
Under the Bushel of black Ignorance)  
Shines every where, illustres every place;  
Among the rest it Lightens in the Face  
Of the fair Princess, that with prudent hand  
The soft Arabian Sceptre doth command,  
The Queen of Saba, where continual Spring 
The Queen of Saba.   
Red cinnamon, Incense, and Myrrh doth bring;  
Where private men do Princelike Treasures hold,  
Where Pots be Silver, Bedsteds' beaten Gold,  
Where Walls are rough-cast with the richest Stones  
Cast in Devises, Emblems, Scutcheons.  
Yet, leaving all this Greatness of her own,  
She comes to view the State of SALOMON,  
To hear his Wisdom, and to see his City,  
Refuge of Virtues, School of Faith and Pity. 
A just Reproose of all obstinate Recusants.    

You, that do shut your eyes against the rays  
Of glorious Light, which shineth in our days;  
Whose spirits self-obstined in old musty Error,  
Repulse the Truth (Th' Almighty's sacred Mirror)  
Which day and night at your deaf Doors doth knock;  
Whose stubbornness will not at all un-lock  
The sacred Bible, nor so much as look,  
To talk with God, into his holy Book:  
O, fear you not that this great Princess shall  
Of thankless Sloth oneday condemn you all?  
Who (both a Woman, Queen, and Pagan born)  
Ease, Pleasures, Treasures, doth despise and scorn;  
To pass with great pains, and with great expense,  
Long weary journeys full of diffidence:  
And nobly travels to another Land  
To hear the words but of a (mortal) Man?   

Her Time's not lost: there (rapt) she doth contemple  
The sumptuous beauties of a stately TEMPLE,  
The lofty Towers of hundred Towns in one,  
A pompous Palace, and a peerless Throne,  
Walls rich without; furnished in richer sort:  
Number of Servants doth adorn the Court,  
But more their Order; there, no noise is heard,  
Each his own Office only doth regard:  
And, (in one instant) as the quavering  
Of a quick Thumb, moves all the diverse strings  
Of a sweet Guittern; and, its skill to grace,  
Causeth a Treble sound, a Mean, a Base:  
So SALOMON, discreetly with a beck,  
A wink a word, doth all the Troop direct:  
Each of his Servants hath his proper Lesson,  
And (after his Degree) each hath his fashion.   

This Queen, yet parting from her fragrant Isles,  
Armed her with Riddles and with witty wiles,  
T' appose the King; and she resolves she will  
With curious Questions sift and sound his Skill.  
But lo what Oedipus! The Law-learned Sage,  
Which at the Bar hath almost spent his age,  
Cannot so soon a common Doubt decide,  
Where Statutes, Customs▪ and Book-Cases guide,  
As he dissolves her Gordian-knots, and sees  
Through all her nights, and even at pleasure frees  
Such Doubts, as doubtless might have tasked, t'vntwist,  
The Brachman, Druïde, and Gymnosophist:  
And knowing, Good becomes more Good, the more  
It is en-commoned, he applies therefore  
T'instruct her in the Faith; and (enuious-idle)  
His brains rich Talon buries not in Idle.   

Alas, I pity you: alas (quoth He)  
Poor Souls besotted in Idolatry,  
Who worship Gold and Silver, Stocks and Stones,  
men's workmanship, and Fiends Illusions;  
And, who (by your sage Mages Lore misleaded)  
So-many Godlings have imagined:  
Madam, there is but one sole God, most-High,  
Th' Eternal King, nay, self-Eternity,  
Infinite, All in all, yet out of all,  
Of Ends the End, of Firsts Original,  
Of Lights the Light, Essencesur-passing Essence,  
Of Powers pure Act, of Acts the very Puissance,  
'Cause of all Causes, Ocean of all Good,  
The Life of Life, and of all Beauty Flood:  
None-seen All-Seer, Starr's-guide, Sight of Seeing,  
The Uniform, which gives all Forms their Being.  
God, and One, is all One; whoso the Unity  
Denies, he (Atheist) disannuls Divinity:  
Th' Unity dwells in God, i'th' Fiend the Twine:  
The greater World hath but one Sun to shine,  
The lesser but one Soul, both but one God,  
In Essence One, in Person Trinely-odde.  
Of this great Frame, the Parts so due-devised,  
This Body, tuned so, measured, sympathised,  
This TEMPLE, wheresuch Wealth and Order meet,  
This Art in every part, cannot proceed  
But from one Pattern; and that but from one  
Author of all, who all preserves alone.  
Else should we see in set Batalions  
A hundred thousand furious Partisans,  
The World would nurse civil intestine Wars,  
And wrack itself in themselves factious jars.  
Besides, God is an Infinite Divinity:  
And who can think of more than one Infinity?  
Seeing the one restrains the others might,  
Or rather reaves its name and being quite.  
Therefore (O Pagans') why do you confine  
The Infinite in narrow Walls of lime?  
Why shut you Him in a base Trunk or Tree?  
Why paint you Whom no mortal eye can see?  
Why offer you your carnal services  
Unto the Lord, who a mere Spirit is?   

Why then do you (said she) by our example,  
Encloseth ' Immortal in this Earthly TEMPLE?  
Lock him within an Ark? and, worse than we  
Feed him with Fumes, and bloody Butchery?   

This Sacred House so fair (replied he then)  
Is not to contain God, but godly men  
Which worship him: and, we do not suppose  
That He, whose Arms do Heaven and Earth enclose,  
Is closed in a Chest; but th' ancient Pact,  
The solemn Covenant, and the sure Contract,  
Which leagues us with our God, and each with other,  
And (holy Bond) holds Heaven and Earth together.  
As for our Incense, Washings, Sacrifices,  
They are not (as is thought) Our vain Devices;  
But, God's their Aurthor, and himself Ordains  
These Elements, whereby he entertains  
And feeds our understanding in the hope  
Of his dear Son (of all these Things the Scope);  
Setting before us th' Only Sacrifice,  
Which in CHRIST'S Blood shall wash-out all our vice.  
Come then, O Lord, Come thou Laws finisher,  
Great King, great Prophet, great Selfs-Offerer:  
Come, come, thou thrice-Great Refuge of our State,  
Come, thou out Ran çome, judge, and Advocate:  
Mild Lamb, Salue-Serpent, Lion generous,  
Vn-challenged Umpire betwixt Heaven and Us,  
Come thou, the Truth, the Substance and the End  
Of all our Offerings, (whither, all do tend):  
Come o MESSIAH, and do now begin  
To Reign in Zion, to triumph of Sin;  
And, worshipped in Spirit and Truth, restore  
Upon the Earth the Golden Age of yore:  
Accept this Queen, as of all Heathen Princes  
The dear First-Fruits: take on thee our Offences,  
That, stripped of Adam's Sinful suit, in fine  
With sacred Angels we in Heaven may shine.   

The Queen, nigh sunk in an Amazefull Swoon,  
Bespoke him thus: My Lord, prattling Renown  
Is wont in flying to increase so far,  
That she proclaims things greater than they are: 
Simile.   
And, rarest Spirits resemble Pictures right,  
Whereof the rarest seem more exquisite,  
Far-off, then near: but, so far as thy Fame  
Ezcels all Kings, thy Virtues pass the same:  
Thy peerless Praise stoops to thy Learned tongue,  
And envious bruit hath done thy Wisdom wrong.   

So may I say, even so (o SCOTISH King) 
Application to the King's Majesty.   
Thy winged Fame, which far and wide doth ring,  
From th' edge of Spain hath made me venturously  
To cross the Seas thy Britain's end to see:  
Where (Lord!) what saw I? nay, what saw I not?  
O King (Heav'n-chosen, for some special Plot)  
World's Miracle, o Oracle of Princes?  
I saw so much, my Soul mistrusts my Senses.  
A graybeards Wisdom in an amber-bush,  
A Mars-like Courage in a Maidlike blush,  
A settled judgement with a supple Wit,  
A quick Discourse, profound and pleasing yet;  
Virgil and Tully, in one spirit infused,  
And all heavens Gifts into one Head diffused.   

Persist, O King, glory on glory mount;  
And as thy Virtues thine own Fame surmount,  
So let thy future pass thy former more,  
And go-before those that have gone-before:  
Excel thyself: and brave, grave, godly Prince,  
Confirm my Songs eternal Evidence.   
FINIS.   

THE SCHISM. THE III. BOOK OF THE FOUR DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Rejecting Old, Yong-counsailed rash ROBOAM  
Loseth Ten Tribes; which fall to JEROBOAM.  
He, Godding Calves, makes Israel to Sin:  
His Sceptre therefore shortly fails his Kin.  
BAAZ, ZIMRI, OMRI, ACHAB (worst of all)  
With JEZABEL. Elias conquers Baal;  
Commands the Clouds; rapt-up to Heaven, alive.  
Elisha's Works: his bones the dead revive.  
SAMARIA'S tragik Siege. A Storm at Sea,  
For jonas sake: repentant NINIVE.   

Here sing I ISAAC'S civil Brawls and Broils; 
The misery of a State distracted by factions into Civil Wars.   
jacobs' Revolt; their City's sack, their Spoils:  
Their cursed Wrack, their Godded Calves: the rent  
Of th' Hebrew Tribes from th' Isheans Regiment.   

Ah! see we not, some seek the like in France?  
With rageful swords of civil Variance,  
To share the sacred Gaulian Diadem?  
To strip the Lilies from their native stem? 
Application.   
And (as it were) to Cantonize the State  
Whose Law did awe Imperial Rhine (of late)  
Tiber and Iber too; and under whom  
Even silver Iordan's captive floods did foam.   

But, let not us, good Lord, O let not us 
Apprecation.   
Serve servilely a hundred Kinglings thus,  
In stead of one great Monarch: never let  
The lawful Heir from his own Throne be beat;  
This Sceptre yearly to be new possessed;  
Nor every Town to be a Tyrant's nest:  
Keep all entire, re-stablish prudent Reign,  
Restore the Sword to justice hand again;  
That, blest with Peace, thy blessed Praise (O Lord)  
My thankful Lays may more and more record.   

THE GENERAL States of Israel, gathered all, 
A Parliament, or Assembly of the Estates of Israel.   
By thousands now, within strong Sichem's Wall;  
All jointly name ROBOAM for their King,  
But (strictly-stout) his Power thus limiting:   

Command (say they) and Rule in Abram's Fold,  
Not as a Wolf, but as a Shepherd should:  
Slacken the reans of our late Servitude: 
The People capitulate with their new King.   
Lighten our galled backs of those Burdens rude,  
Those heavy Imposts of thy Father (fierce):  
Repress the rapine of thine Officers:  
So, we will serve thee, life and goods atonce:  
If otherwise; thy Service we renounce.   

Heerwith amazed, the moody Prince, in post  
Sends for those Ancients which had swayed most  
His Father's Counsels: and he seems to crave  
Their sage Advises, in a case so grave.   

God hath not made, say they (jumping together)  
Subjects for Kings, but Kings for Subjects rather:  
Then, let not thine (already in distress) 
The Counsel of the ancient Nobles.   
●e gnaw'n by others; by thyself much less.  
What boots a Head, without the hand and foot?  
What is a Sceptre, and no Subjects to't?  
The greater Milt, the Body pines the more:  
The Checker's fatting makes the People poor:  
A Prince's Wealth in subjects Wealth is set;  
The Bank of Thrift, where gold doth gold beget:  
Where the good Prince comes never but at need:  
For, he is praised for a good Herd (indeed)  
Whose Flock is fat and fair, with frolik bounds  
Frisking and skipping up and down the Douns.  
Among the Beasts fullest of furious gall,  
The Vulgar's fiercest, wildest, worst of all:  
Hydra with thousand heads, and thousand stings,  
Yet soon agreed to war against their Kings.   

If then you wish, their barking rage to cease,  
Cast them a bone; by an Abatement, ease  
Their wring Yoke: thy Pity let them prove,  
And ground thy Greatness on thy People's love.   

Or, if thou (fell) will't needs feed on their ice,  
Yet use no threats, nor give them flat Denies:  
But, to establish thy yet-new Estate,  
Give them some hope, and let them feed on that:  
And (wisely) mind thy Father's Saying sage,  
That A soft answer (soon) appeaseth rage.   

ROBOAM, scorning these old Senators, 
Roboam, leaving their sound advice leaneth rather to the young fury of his Minions & Flatteries.   
Leans to his Younglings, Minions, Flatterers  
(Birds of a feather) that with one accord  
Cry-out, importune, and persuade their Lord,  
Not sillily to be by such disturbed,  
Nor let himself so simply to be curbed;  
But, to repress, press, and oppress the more  
These Mal-contents, but too-well used before:  
With iron teeth to bruise their idle bones,  
To suck their Marrow out; and (for the nonce)  
Their rebel Pride to fetter (as it were)  
And lock their Fury in the stocks of Fear:  
And, to shake-off (on th' other side) and shun  
Those Graybeards old and cold direction,  
Their saucy censures, snibbing his Minority;  
Where-by (too-proud) they trip at his Authority,  
Usurp his place; and (too-too-malapert)  
Would teach a wiser than themselves his part:  
To know that he's a King; and that he took  
Even in the womb, as th' outward limbs and look,  
So th' inward graces, the Discretion  
And deep Fore-fight of prudent SALOMON;  
And, in the Shop of Nature, learned (long since)  
The Art of State, the Office of a Prince.   

Wisdom (fond King) her sacred Seaterects  
In hoary brains: and Day the Day directs:  
Th' old-man-fore-sees afar; by past events  
He (prudent) ponders future accidents:  
The Youngman knows not (new-com, as it were)  
This wily World, but as a passenger;  
And, more with courage then with Counsels guide,  
Barely beholds things on the outer side.  
Yet, to the last thou lean'st; and, frowning fell,  
Checkst thus the Son's of noble Israel:   

Ah! rebel Slaves! you, you will Rule your King: 
The King's rashness threatening rigour.   
You'll be his Carvers: you will clip his wing:  
You'll hold the sacred helm, control the Crown:  
You'll rate his State, and turn all upsidedown.  
But, know you (varlets) whom you dally-with?  
My little finger overbalanceth  
My Father's loigns: he did but rub you light,  
I'll flay your backs; he bowed, I'll break ye quite;  
He threatened Rods (or gentle Whips of cord)  
But I will have your carrion shoulders gored  
With scourges tangd with rowels: and my Name  
Shall make you quake, if you but hear the same.   

As rapid streams, encountering in their way 
Simile.   
With close-driv'n piles of some new bank or bay,  
Or steady pillars of a Bridge built new,  
Which last-past Summer never saw, nor knew;  
Swell, roar, and rage far fiercer than they want,  
And with their foam defile the Welkin's front:  
So yerst grieved Isaac, now grown desperate,  
With loud proud terms doth thus expostulate:   

Why? what have we to do (what part? what place?)  
With Böozian Ishay's avaricious race? 
The Revolt of the 10. Tribes.   
Go, Reign (proud juda) where thou wilt; for we  
Nill bear the burden of thy Tyranny:  
Go use elsewhere thy cruel threats and braves;  
We are thy Brethren, we, and not thy Slaves.   

Thus cry the People, and th' ill-counsaled King  
Unkingly yields to their rude Mutining:  
And flies eftsoons with some few Beniamites,  
The zealous Levites, and the ●●daïtes:  
The rest revolt, and choose for Sovereign  
A shameless, faithless, bold and busie-brain,  
An Ephraimite, who (double-false) doth fall 
jeroboam.   
Both from his King and from his God withal.   

For, he foresees that if th' Isacians still  
(As Law enjoined (should mount on Zion Hill,  
To sacrifice; with beauty of that Temple,  
Their Prince's sight, the Doctrine and Example  
Of sacred Levites, they would soon be taken,  
And drawn aboard the Bark they had forsaken.  
To rend the Church therefore he doth devise,  
And God's true Spouse doth Harlot▪ like disguise:  
Will have them henceforth Worship God the Lord  
Under the Form of Hay-fed Calves (abhorred)  
In Dan and Bethel: brings-up Service new;  
Profane, usurping sacred Aron's Dew.   

But, how (ingrate) requit'st thou God, in this?  
He, of a Servant, made thee King of His:  
Thou, of a God, makest him a horned Steer;  
Sett'st Altar against Altar; and, the deer,  
Clear Star of Truth beclouding with the vail  
Of thine Ambition, makest all Israel fail,  
And fall withal into the Gulf of Death,  
So deep (alas!) that from thenceforth, un-eath  
Can th' operation of so many Miracles,  
In their hard hearts reprint the Sacred Oracles.   

Oneday, the while this Priest-King sacrificed  
To's clov'n-foot God in Bethel (self-devized)  
A zealous Prophet from the Lord there came,  
Who boldly thus his brutish rage doth blame:  
O odious House, O execrable Cell,  
O Satan's Forge, O impious Shop of Hell;  
Accursed Altar, that so braves and hosts  
Against the Altar of the Lord of Hosts;  
Behold, from David shall a King return  
That on thy stones thine own Priests bones shall burn,  
Thus saith the Lord: and this shall be the Sign  
(Prodigiously to seal his Word, in mine)  
Thou now in th' instant shalt in sunder shatter,  
And in the Air shall thy vile cinders scatter.   

Take, take the Sot, said then th' ungodly Prince,  
And (as he spoke in rageful vehemence)  
Reacht-out his arm: but, instantly the same  
So strangely withered and so numb became,  
And God so rustied every joint, that there  
(But as the Body stirred) it could not stir:  
Th' unsacred Altarsodain slent in twain;  
And th' ashes, flying through th' un. hallowed Fane,  
Blind the blind Priests; as in the Summer (oft) 
Simile.   
The light, white Dust (driven by the Wind aloft)  
Whirling about, offends the tenderest eye,  
And makes the Shepherds (without cause) to cry.   

O holy Prophet (prays the Tyrant then)  
Dear man of God, restore my hand again:  
His hand is healed. But (obstinate in ill)  
In His Calf-service He persevers still,  
Still runs his Race, still every day impairs,  
And of his Sins makes all his Sons his heirs.   

The King of juda little better proves,  
His Father's by-paths so Abijam loves;  
The People, pliant to their Prince's guise,  
Forget their God, and his dread Law despise.   

God, notwithstanding (of his special grace)  
Entails the Sceptre to the sacred race  
Of his deer David: and he binds with boughs  
Of glorious Laurels their victorious brows:  
And evermore (however Tyrants rave)  
Some form of Church in Zion will he have.   

Aza, Abijam's Son; jehosaphat  
The son of Aza (rightly zealous) hate  
All Idol-gods: and, warring with success,  
Dung Isaak's Fields with foreign carcases.   

In Aza's aid fights th' arm armi-potent 
Aza.   
(Which shakes the heavens, rakes Hills, & Rocks doth rend)  
Against black Zerah's overdaring boast,  
That with dread deluge of a Million Host  
O'r-flowed all I●d●; and, all sacking (fell)  
Transported Africa into Israel:  
He fights for His; who, seeing th' Ammonite,  
The Idumaean, and proud Moabite,  
In Battle ray, caused all his Host to sing  
This Song aloud, them thus encouraging:   

Sa, sa, (my hearts) let's cheerly to the charge;  
Having for Captain, for Defence, and Targe,  
That glorious Prince to whom the raging Sea  
Hath heretofore, in foaming pride, given way:  
Who, with a sigh (or with a whistle, rather)  
Can call the North, South, East, and West together:  
Who, at a beck, or with a wink, commands  
Millions of millions of bright-winged Bands:  
Who, with a breath, brings (in an instant) under  
The proudest Powers: whose arrows are the Thunder.   

While yet they sang, fell Discord reaching-far, 
Description of Discord.   
Hies to the Heathen that encamped are:  
Clean through her mantle (tattered all in flakes)  
Appears her breast allover gnaw'n with Snakes,  
Her skin is scared, her teeth (for rage) do gnash,  
The Basilisk within her eyes doth flash;  
And, one by one, she plucks-off (in despite)  
Her hairs (no hairs, but hissing Serpents right)  
And, one by one, she severally bestowes-'em  
Through all the Camp, in every Captain's bosom,  
Blows every vein full of her furious mood,  
Burns every Soldier with the thirst of blood:  
And, with the same blade that she died once  
In valiant Gedeon's (Brother-slaughtered) Sons,  
She sets the Brother to assail the Brother,  
The Son the Sire, and dearest Friends each-other.   

The swords new drawn against their Enemies, 
Miraculous slaughter of the Heathen by their mutual swords, divided among themselves.   
Now (new revolted) hack their own Allies:  
And Mars so mads them in their mutual jar,  
That strange, turns civil, civil, household War:  
Proud Edom heaws Moab and th' Ammonite;  
Amon hunts Edom and the Moabite;  
Moab assaults Amon and Edom too;  
And each of them wars first with th' other two,  
Then with themselves: then Amon Amon thrills,  
Moab wounds Moab, Edom Edom kills.   

From Host to Host, blindfold Despair, in each,  
Disports herself; those that are one in speech,  
Under one colours, of one very coat,  
Combat each other, cut each others throat.   

Rageful confusion everywhere commands, 
The Confusion of such a Camp so together by the cares.   
Against his Captain the Lieutenant stands,  
The Corporal upon his Sergeant flies,  
And basest Boys against their Masters rise.  
Nay, dread Bellona passeth fiercely further,  
Th' own Uncle doth his own dear Nephew murder,  
The Nephew th' Uncle with the like repays,  
cozen thrills cozen, Kinsman Kinsman slays:  
Yea, even the Father kills his Son most cruel,  
And from one Belly springs a bloody Duel;  
Twins fiercely fight: and while each woundeth other,  
And draws the lifeblood of his half-self Brother,  
Feels not his own to fail, till in the place  
Both fall; as like in fury as in face:  
But, strength at length (not stomach) fails in either;  
And, as together born, they die together.   

The faithful Host draws near, and gladly goes  
Viewing the bodies of their breathless Foes.  
Men, Camels, Horse (some saddled, some without)  
Pikes, Quivers, Darts, lie mingled all about  
The bloody Field; and from the Mountains nigh  
The Rav'ns begin with their pork-porking cry:  
Here seems an Arm, a Giant late did owe,  
As if it would to a Dwarf's shoulder grow:  
A Prince's hand there (known by precious signs)  
Unto the arm of a base Porter joins;  
An olde-Man's head here to a Stripling's neck;  
And there, lean buttocks to a brawny back:  
Heer, of a Body justly cloven in two,  
The bloody tripes are trailing to and fro;  
There, five red fingers of a Hand cut-off  
Gripe still the truncheon of a steeled staff;  
And, there (atonce, all broached on one Lance)  
Lie three brave Horsemen in a deadly Trance.   

Chariots, unfurnished and unharnest stood,  
Over the spoaks, up to the naves in blood▪  
Th' Engaddian snows melt in vermilion streams,  
And (now no marvel) jaruel warmly steams,  
Stopped with dead bodies; so, that never-more  
It should have seen the Ocean (as before)  
Nor paid the Tribute that his Duty craves,  
Save that the crimson holp the crystal waves.   

Praised be God (said juda) praised be  
The Lord of Hosts, the King of Majesty,  
That moawes his Foes; that doth his own protect,  
That holds so dear the blood of his elect:  
That fights for us, and teacheth us to fight,  
Conquer, and triumph of the Pagan's might:  
And (finally) doth punish Tyrants fell,  
With their own swords, to save his Israel.   

But, notwithstanding Ieroboam's Plot, 
Wicked generation of the wicked.   
His third Successor yet succeeds him not;  
A barbarous Fury reigneth in his Race,  
His bloody Sceptre shifteth hands apace:  
Nadab his son, and all his seed beside,  
Feels cursed Baasha's cruel Parricide;  
And Baasha's issue is by Zimri slain,  
Zimri by Zimri; then doth Omri reign,  
Omri, accursed for his own transgression,  
But more accursed for the foul succession  
Of such a Son as Achab (sold to Sin)  
That boldly brings Sidonian Idols in,  
Builds unto Baal; and, of all Kings the worst,  
Weds jezabel, adds Drunkenness to Thirst.   

Blind Superstition's like a drop of Oil 
2. Similes.   
Still spreading, till it all a Garment spoil:  
Or, like a spark, fallen in a floor of Mat,  
Which soon inflameth all the Chamber; that,  
Fires the whole House; the House, the Town about;  
Consuming all, and never going-out,  
Till Goods, and Bodies, Towers, and Temples high,  
All in a tomb of their own ashes lie:  
When one gins (how little be't) to stray  
From the divine Law's little-beaten way,  
We cursed fall into the black Abyss  
Of all foul errors: every Sin that is  
Donns sacred Mask; and, monsters most ahhord,  
Killing the Saints we think to please the Lord,  
As Achab did; who vanquished with the spell,  
Speech, grace, and face of painted jezabel,  
Presumes to lay his sacrilegious hand  
On th' oiled Priests that in God's presence stand,  
Of honest Men his Towns depopulates,  
Lessens the Number of his Noble States,  
T'augment his Lands; and, with the blood of His,  
wright's th' Instruments of his new Purchases.  
But slain (at last) by th' Host of Benhadad,  
His Son 
* Ahaziah.  succeeds him (and almost as bad)  
He breaks his neck, and leaves his fatal place,  
To 's brother joram, last of Achab's race;  
An odious race, th' alliance of whose blood  
Corrupts the Heirs of josaphat the good,  
Causing his Son (charmed with Athalia's wile)  
In's Brother's blood his armed arms to file,  
And Ahaziah's giddy brain t'infect   

With the damned Error of Samarian Sect.  
But, though these Kings did openly oppugn  
And stubbornly the King of Heaven impugn;  
Though Abrah'ms issue (now degenerate)  
Did but too-neer their Princes imitate;  
Though over all, a Chaos of confusion,  
A Hell of Horror, Murder, and Delusion,  
A Sea of Sins (contempt of God and Good)  
Covered these Kingdoms (as another Flood);  
God left not yet that Age without his Oracles:  
A hundred Prophets, strong in word and miracles,  
Resist their rage and from sad drowning keep  
The wracked planks on th' Idol-Ocean deep.  
Clear Summer Noons need not a candlelight; 
Simile.   
Nor sound, Physician; but clean opposite:  
So, in our Souls, the more Sin's Floods do flow,  
The more God makes his mercy's Gulf to grow.   

For his Embassage in sad Achab's days, 
Elijah the Prophet.   
Thes bite Elijah did th' Almighty raise;  
Who, burning-bold in spirit and speech, cries-out,  
In Achab's ears and all his Court about:  
O impious Achab, fearest thou not (quoth he)  
The sulphury flames and Thunderbolts that be  
Already roaring in the dreadful fist  
Of God the Lord, that doth the proud resist,  
Revengeth wrongs, th' outrageous Heathen's Hammer,  
Terror of Terrors, and all Tyrant's Tamer?  
Dost thou not know, He threats to Israel  
A Heaven of Brass, if they his grace repel,  
Reject his love, and get them other Loves,  
Whoring about with foreign▪ Gods, in Groves?  
God cannot lie: His dreadful threatenings ever  
Draw dreadful judgements (if our Sin persever):  
As the Lord lives, this thirsty yawning Plain  
In seven six Month's drinks not a drop of Rain.   

No sooner spoken, but in present view, 
Description of the extreme Drought in Israel for three years and a half.   
The heavens begin to change their wont hue;  
Th' Air deadly thick, doth quickly vanish quite;  
To a sad Day succeeds a sadder Night:  
A bloody vapour and a burning cloud,  
By day, begirt the Sun (all coaly-browd);  
By night, the Moon denies to fading Flowers  
Her silver sweat, and pearly-purled showers:  
The Welkin's studded with new Blazing-Stars,  
Flame-darting Lances, fiery crowns and Cars,  
Kids, Lions, Bears, wrapped in prodigious Beams,  
Dreadful to see: and Phoebus (as it seems)  
Weary of travail in so hot a time,  
Rests all the while in boiling Cancer's clime.  
Hills, lately hid with snow, now burn a main:  
May hath no Dew, nor February Rain:  
Sad Atlas' Nieces, and the Hunter's Star  
Have like effect as the Canicular:  
Zephyre is mute, and not a breath is felt,  
But hectik Austers, which doth all things swelled,  
And (panting-short) puffs everywhere upon  
The withered Plains of wicked Shomeron,  
Th' unsavoury breath of Serpents crawling o'er  
The Lybians pest-full and un-blest-full shore.   

Now Herbs to fail, and Flowers to fall began; 
The miserable effects thereof.   
Myrtles and Bays for want of moist grew wan:  
With open mouth the Earth the aid doth crave  
Of blackblew Clouds: clear Kishons rapid wave  
Wars now no more with Bridges arched round;  
Sorek, for shame, now hides him under ground:  
Mokmur, whose murmur troubled with the noise  
The sleeping Shepherds, hath nor stream, nor voice,  
Cedron's not Cedron, but (late) Cedron's bed,  
And Iordan's Current is as dry, as dead.  
The beam-browed Stag, and strong-neckt Bull do lie  
On palc-façed banks of Arnon (also dry)  
But, neither sup, nor see the Crystal Wave,  
Over the which so often swom they have:  
The lusty Courser that late scorned the ground,  
Now lank and lean, with crest and courage downd,  
With rugged tongue out of his chained mouth,  
With hollow-flanks panting for inward drought,  
Rolling his Bit, but with a feeble rumour,  
Would sweat for faintness, but he wanteth humour:  
The Towr-backt Camel, that best brooketh Thirst,  
And on his bunch could have transported yerst  
Near a whole Household, now is able scant  
To bear himself, he is so feebly-faint.   

Both young and old, both of the base and best,  
Feel a fell Aetna in their thirsty breast:  
To temper which, they breath, but to their woe:  
For, for pure air, they sup into them, so,  
A putrid, thick, and pestilential fume,  
Which stuffs their Lights and doth their lives consume.  
there's not a Puddle (though it strangely stink)  
But dry they drawed, Sea-Water's dainty Drink:  
And fusty-Bottles, from beyond-Sea (South)  
Bring Nile to Summer, for the Kings own mouth.  
For, though the Lord th' whole Land of Syria smights,  
Th' heat of his Anger on Samaria lights  
With greatest force; whose furious Prince implies,  
The Prophet Cause of all these miseries.   

Therefore, he fearing Achab's rageful hate,  
Down to Brook Ch●rith's hollow banks he gate;  
Where, for his Cooks, Caters, and Waiters, though  
From the four winds the winged people go.   

Thence, to Sareptha▪ where he craves the aid 
The Widow of Sarepta.   
Of a poor Widow, who thus mildly said,  
Alas! fain would I, but (God wots) my store  
Is but of bread for one meal (and no more):  
Yet, give me (saith he) give me some (I pray);  
Who soweth sparing, sparing reapeth ay:  
Sure a good turn shall never guerdon want;  
A Gift to Needlings is not given, but lent:  
't's a Well of Wealth, which doth perpetual run:  
A fruitful Field which thousand yields for one.   

While thus he said, and stayed; the Widow glad, 
The fruits of Charity.   
Gives to him frankly all the bread she had:  
She lost not by't: for, all the Famin-while,  
That raged in tire, her little Flower and Oil  
Decreased not, yet had she plenty still,  
For her and hers to feed in time their fill.  
At length befell fell Death to takeaway  
Her only Son, and with her Son her joy:  
She prays her Guest, and he implores his God,  
And stretching him upon the breathless Lad,  
Thus cries aloud: Vouch safe me, Lord, this boon,  
Restore this child's soul, which (it seems) to-soon  
Thou hast bereft: O! let it not be said,  
That here for nought I have so ought been fed:  
Let not my presence be each-where abhorred;  
Nor Charity with thee to want Reward.   

As a small seedling of that fruitful Worm, 
Simile.   
Which (of itself) fine shining Sleaves doth form,  
By the warm comfort of a Virgin breast,  
Gins to quicken, creepeth (as the rest)  
Re-spins afresh, and, in her witty loom,  
Makes of her corpse her corpse a precious tomb:  
This Child (no Man, but Man's pale Module now)  
With death i'th' bosom, horror on the brow,  
The bait of Worms, the Booty of the Beer,  
At sacred words gins his eye to rear;  
Swimming in Death, his powers do re-assemble,  
His spirits (rewarmed) within his arters tremble;  
He fetched a sigh, then lively rising too,  
Talks, walks, and eats, as he was wont to do.   

Fain would the Mother have besought the Seer  
T' have past the rest of his cold Old-age here:  
But th' holy spirit him sudden hence doth bring  
Unto Samaria to th' incensed King;  
Who rates him thus: O Basilisk! O Bane!  
Art not thou He that sow'st th' Isaacian Plain  
With Trouble-Tares? Seditious, hast not thou 
The like Imputations, in our days, the blind Popelings and profane ●● orldlings have laid upon the Gospel and the Preachers thereof.   
Profaned the Laws of our Forefathers now?  
Broken all Orders, and the Altars banned  
Of th' holy Gods, Protectors of our Land?  
Since thy fond Preaching did here first begin,  
More and more heavy hath heavens anger been  
Upon us all; and Baal, blasphemed by thee,  
Hath since that season never left us free▪  
From grievous Plagues: it is a Hellwe feel,  
Our Heaven is Brass, our Earth is all of Steel.   

No, no, O King (if I the Truth shall tell)  
Thou, thou art he that troublest Israel.  
Thou (give me leave) thou and thy Grandsires', mad▪  
After strange Gods in every Grove to gad,  
Have left the true, wise, wondrous (all-abroad)  
Omnipotent, victorious, glorious God:  
Such shall you prove him, if you dare oppone  
All your Baal-Prophets against me, but one.   

Content, quoth Achab: then to Carmel's top  
The Schismik Priests were quickly called up:  
Unto their Baal an Altar build they there;  
To God, the Prophet doth another rear:  
Both have their Beasts; and by their prayer must prove  
Whose God is GOD, by Fire from Heaven above.  
The People's eyes, and ears, and minds are bend  
Upon these marvels, to observe th' event  
(marvels, which might well clear the difference  
That had so long depended in suspense  
'Twixt Israel and juda; and direct  
Th' Earth how to serve heavens sacred Architect)  
As when two Bulls, inflamed fiercely-fell, 
Simile.   
Met front to front, their forked arms do mell,  
The feeble Herds of Heifers in a maze  
Twixt hope and fear, unfeeding, stand at gaze,  
To see the Fight, and censure which do prove  
The valiantest, that he may be their love.   

Baal's baalling Priests call and cry out for life,  
They gash their flesh, with lancet and with knife, 
Baal's Priests.   
They cruel make their blood to spin about  
(As Claret wine from a pearçed Piece doth spout)  
And, madly shaking heads, legs, sides and arms,  
They howling chant these Dithyrambik charms;   

Help, help, O Baal, O Baal attend our cries,  
Baal, hear us Baal, O Baal, bow down thine eyes:  
O Stratian, Clarian, Eleutherian Powers,  
Panomphaean God, approve us thine, thee ours:  
O Epicarpian! O Epistatirian,  
Phyxian, Feretrian, O Exacestirian,  
Xenian, Messapian, O Lebradean BAAL,  
O Assabine, BAAL-SAMEN, hear our Call.   

Elijah, that their bloody Rites abhorred,  
And knows aright the service of the Lord,  
T' appease his wrath he doth not scar his skin;  
Nor with self-wounds presume his grace to win,  
Nor makes himself unfitting for his function,  
By selfly stripes (as causing more compunction)  
Nor, thrilled with bodkins, raves in frantik-wise,  
And in a fury seems to prophetize:  
But offers God his heart, in steed of blood;  
His speech is sober, and as mild his mood.   

Cry loud, quoth he: your God is yet perchance 
Ir●nia.   
In a deep sleep, or doth in Arms advance  
Against his Foes (th' Egyptian Deïties)  
Or is consulting how to keep the Flies  
From off his Altar. But, O Israel!  
Alas! why yoakst thou God with Baal (or Bel)?  
Alas! how long thus wilt thou halt twixt either,  
And fond mix Darnel and Wheat together  
In thy Faith's Field? If Baal be God indeed,  
Then boldly serve him, seek him sole at need:  
But, if blue Sea, and winged Firmament,  
Th' all-bearing Earth, and Storm-breed Element,  
Be but the least Works of th' Almighty hand  
Of Iacob's God: If Heaven, Air, Sea, and Land,  
And all in all, and all in every one,  
By his own finger be sustained alone:  
If he have cast those cursed Nations out,  
Which yerst defiled this fair, fat Land about;  
To give it thee, to plant thee in their place,  
Why him alone dost thou not ay embrace,  
And serve him only in thy Soul and Heart,  
Who in his Love brooks none to share a part?  
The cord un-twisted weakens: and who serves  
Two Lords atonce, to lose them both deserves.  
Baal dead (thouseest) hears not his Servants call,  
Much less can grant them their Desires at all:  
But, Iaacob's God, jehovah, ELOHIM,  
Never deceives their hope that trust in him.   

Hear me therefore, O Lord, and from above  
With Sacred Fire (thy Sovereign power to prove)  
Consume this Bullock, and show by the same  
That thou art GOD, and I thy Servant am:  
And to thy Fold (thy Church's Lap) repeal  
Thy wandering Flock, thy chosen Israel.   

As falls a Meteor in a Summer Even, 
Simile.   
A sudden Flash comes flaming down from Heaven,  
Licks dry the Dikes, and instantly, atonce,  
Burns all to Ashes, both the Altar-stones,  
And th' Offered Bullock: and the People fall  
In zealous fury on the Priests of Baal;  
And, by Elijah's prayer, soon obtain  
Rain, which so often they had asked in vain.   

For, what is it Elijah cannot do?  
If he be hungry, Fouls, and Angels too,  
Become his Stewards. Fears he th' armed Bands  
Of a fell Tyrant? from their bloody hands  
To rescue him, Heaven (his confederate)  
Consumes with Fire them and their fiery hate.  
Or, would he pass a Brook that brooks no bay,  
Nor Bridge, nor Bank? The Water gives him way.  
Or, irks him Earth? To Heaven alive he hies,  
And (saving Henoch) only He not-dies.   

This Man of God, discoursing with his heir 
Elijah taken up alive into Heaven.   
Of th' upper Kingdom and of God's Affair,  
A sudden whirlwind, with a whiffing Fire,  
And flaming Chariot rapts him up entire,  
Burns not, but fines; and doth (in fashion strange)  
By deathles Death, mortal immortal change.  
A long-tailed squib, a flaming ridge, for rut  
Seems seen a while, where the bright Coach hath cut.   

This sacred Rape, nigh rapt Elisha too;  
Who, taking up his Tutor's Mantle, though,  
Follows as far as well he could with eye  
The fire-snort Palfreys, through the sparkling Sky;  
Crying, My father, father mine farewell,  
The Chariots and the Horse of Israel.   

The Thisbian Prophet hangs not in the Air,  
Amid the Meteors to be tossed there,  
As Mists and Rains, and Hail, and hoary Plumes,  
And other Fiery many-formed Fumes:  
Amid the Air tumultuous Satan rolls;  
And not the Saints, the happy, heavenly Souls.   

Nor is he nailed to some shining Wheel,  
Ixion-like continually to reel;  
For CHRIST his flesh transfigured, and divine,  
Mounted above the Arches Crystalline:  
And where CHRIST is, from pain and passion free,  
There (after death) shall all his Chosen Bee.   

Elijah therefore climbs th' Empyreal Pole,  
Where, ever-blessed in body and in soul,  
Contemns this World, becomes an Angel bright,  
And doth him firm to the TRINE-ONE unite.   

But how, or why should He this vantage have  
Yer CHRIST (right called the first-fruits of the Grave)?  
O happy passage! O sweet, sacred Flight!  
O blessed Rape! thou raptest so my sprite  
In this Dispute, and makest my weaker wit  
So many ways to cast-about for it,  
That (I confess) the more I do contend,  
I more admire, and less I comprehend.   

For lack of wings, then biding here below  
With his Successor, I proceed to show,  
How, soon as he took-up his Cloak (to bear-it) 
Elizeus or Elisha.   
Within Elisha shined Elijah's Spirit;  
By power whereof, immediately he cleaves  
An un-couth way through Iordan's rapid waves:  
Past hope he gives to the Sunamian Wife  
A Son; and soon restores him dead to life:  
With sudden blindness smites the Syrian troop  
The which in Dothan did him round in coup:  
Increaseth bread, and of a pound of Oil  
Fills all the Vessels in a Town that while:  
His hoary head (in Bethel) laughed to scorn,  
Is venged by Bears, on forty children torn:  
Naaman's cleansed; and, for foul Simony,  
Gehazi's punished with his Leprosy:  
Mends bitter Broth, he maketh Iron swim,  
As porie Cork, upon the Water's brim.   

Rich Iericho's (sometimes) sal-peetry soil,  
Through briny springs that did about it boil,  
Brought forth no fruit, and her unholsom Brooks  
Voided the Town of Folk, the Fields of Flocks:  
The Townsmen, therefore, thus besought the Seer;  
Thou seest our city's situation here  
Is passing pleasant; but the ground is nought,  
The Water worse: we pray thee mend the fault,  
Sweeten our Rivers, make them pleasanter,  
Our Hills more green, our Plains more fertiler.   

The Prophet calls but for a Cruse of Salt  
(O strangest cure!) to cure the brynie fault  
Of all their Floods; and, casting that in one  
Foul stinking Spring, heals all their streams anon:  
Not, for an hour, or for a day, or twain,  
But to this Day they sweet and sound remain.   

Their Valley, walled with bald Hills before,  
But even a horror to behold, of-yore;  
Is now an Eden, and th' All-circling Sun,  
For fruitful beauty, sees no Paragon.  
There (labour-les) mounts the victorious Palm,  
There (and but there) grows the all-healing Balm,  
There ripes the rare cheer-cheek Myrobalan,  
Minde-gladding Fruit, that can un-olde a man..  
O skilful Husbands, give your fattest Plains  
Five or six earths; spare neither cost nor pains,  
To water them; rid them of weeds and stones,  
With Muck and Marle batten and baste their bones;  
Unless God bless your Labour and your Land,  
You plough the Sea, and sow upon the sand.   

This, jury knows; a Soil sometimes (at least)  
Sole Paradise of all the proudest East:  
But now the brutest and most barren place,  
The curse of God, and all the World's disgrace:  
And also Greece, on whom heavens (yerst so good)  
Rain nothing now but their dread Fury's Flood.  
The grace of God is a most sure Revenue,  
A Sea of Wealth, that ever shall continue,  
A neverfailing Field, which needs not ay  
The cool of Night, nor comfort of the Day.   

What shall I say? This sacred parsonage  
Not only profits to his proper Age;  
But, after life, life in his bones he leaves,  
And dead, the dead he raiseth from their graves.   

Nor is Elisha famous more for Miracles,  
Than for the Truth of his so often Oracles:  
He shows the Palms and Foils of Israel,  
Benhadad's death, the Reign of Hazael:  
Beyond all hope, and passing all appearance,  
Dejected Iorams near relief he warrants.   

For, now the Syrian, with insulting Powers, 
The siege and Famine of Samaria.   
So streict besiegeth the Samarian Towers,  
That even al-ready in each nook agrising,  
Fell, wall-break (all-break) Famine, ill-advising  
Howls hideously: even the bare bones are seen  
(As sharp as knives) through the empty skin  
Of the best bred: and each-man seems (almost)  
No Man indeed, but a pale ghastly Ghost.   

Some snatch the bread from their own Babes, that pine;  
Some eat the Draff that was ordained for Swine,  
Some do defile them with forbidden flesh,  
Some bite the grass their hunger to refresh;  
Some, gold for Birds-dung (weight for weight) exchange;  
Some, of their Boots make them a Banquet strange,  
Some fry the Hay-dust, and it savoury find;  
Some, Almond-shels and Nutshells gladly grind,  
Some mince their Father's Wills, in parchment writ,  
And so devour their Birthright at a bit.   

The King, when weary he would rest awhile,  
Dreams of the Dainties he hath had erewhile,  
Smacks, swallows, grinds both with his teeth and jaws;  
But, only wind his beguiled belly draws:  
And, then awaking, of his own spare Diet  
Robs his own breast, to keep his Captains quiet.  
He is importuned here and there, about:  
Above the rest, a Woman skrieketh out  
In moornfull manner, with dishevelled hair;  
Her face despite, her fashion shows despair.   

O! stay my Liege, heat, hear a grievous thing; 
Mother's eat their own Children.   
justice, great joram, justice, gentle King.  
O, no, not justice: (did I justice crave?)  
Fondling, in justice, thou canst nothing have  
But a just death; nay, but a Torture fell,  
Nay, but a Torment, like the pains of Hell.  
Yet, even this Plea is worse than death to me:  
Then grant me justice, justice let it be.  
For (O!) what horror can restrain desire▪  
Of just Revenge, when it is once afire?  
My Lord, I bargained, and (to bind the Pact)  
By solemn Oath I sealed the Contract;  
Contract, indeed cruel, yet could not be  
Infringed, or broken, without Cruelty.  
(Tell it O Tongue, why stayest thou so upon-it?  
Darest thou not say-it, having dared and donit?  
Not having feared heavens King, how canst thou fear  
An earthly King?) Then, thus (my Liege) while-yer.  
I, and my Neighbour desperately agreed,  
jointly to eat, successively, our seed;  
Our own dear Children: and (O luckless' Lot!)  
Mine first of all, is destined to the Pot:  
Forthwith I catch-him and I snatch him tom  
Up in mine arms: he strait gins to womb,  
Strokes, colls, and hugs me, with his arms and thighs:  
And, smiling sweet, Mammam, mammam, he cries,  
Then kisses me; and, with a thousand toys,  
Thinks to delight me with his wont joys.  
I look away, and with my hand addressed,  
Bury my knife within his tender breast:  
And, as a Tigress, or the Dam of Bears,  
A Fawn or Kid in hundred gobbets tears,  
I tear him quick, dress him, and on our Table▪  
I set him: oh! ('tis now no time to fable)  
I taste him first, I first the feast begin,  
His blood (my blood) runs round about my Chin,  
My Child returns, re-breeding in my Womb;  
And of my Flesh my Flesh is shameful Tomb:  
Soon cloyed (alas!) but little could I eat,  
And up again that little strives to get.  
But she, she lays it in, she greedy plyes-it,  
And all night long she sits to gourmandize-it:  
Not for her fill so much, of such (think I)  
As to prolong the more my misery:  
O God, said she (and smiles in eating it)  
What a sweet morsel! what a dainty bit!  
Blessed be the breast that nu●c't such meat for me;  
But more the Womb that bore it, so to be.  
So (to be brief) my Son is eat: But hers  
Alive and lusty in her arms she bears.   

Why should her Pity, rather her despite,  
Do both her Faith, Me, and my Son, un-right?  
Ah! for her belly, rather than her Boy,  
She played this prank (and robbed me of my joy).  
She did it not, of tender hart to save him;  
But, greedy-gut, that she alone might have him.  
Therefore, O King, do justice in this case:  
Nor crave I pardon of thy princely grace  
For mine Offence; (such an Offence, I know,  
As yet grim Minos never judged below)  
For if I should, how should I do, for meat;  
Not having now another Child to eat?  
No: this is all I crave before I die,  
That I may taste but of Her sons sweet thigh:  
Or, that (at least) mine eye, more just than cruel,  
May see him slain by her, my Horrors Fuel.   

But, if you weigh not mine unfeigned ●ears  
(Indeed un-worthy): yet vouchsafe your ears  
To the loud Plaints of my lamenting Son;  
Who, with strange murmurs rumbling up and down,  
Seems in my bowels as revived to groan,  
And to your Highness, thus to make his moan;   

Sir, will you suffer, without all revenge,  
men's cursed malice boldly to infringe  
Law, Faith, and justice, Vows, and Oaths, and all;  
As buzzing Flies tear Cobwebs on a wall?  
Ah! shall I then descend alone below?  
Die unrevenged? foster my cruel Foe?  
And then-cast-forth in foulest Excrement,  
Infect the Air, offend the Element;  
The while her Darling, on his Hobby-horse  
About the Hall shall ride, and prance, and course;  
And imitate men's actions (as an Ape),  
Build paper-Towrs, make Puppets, sit in Lapet?  
No: let him die, let him (as I) be cut,  
Let him (as I) be in two Bellies put:  
Fulfil the Pact; that so our wretched Mothers  
Their Gild and Grief, may either's match with others.   

The King, less moved with pity than with horror,  
Thunders these words, raging in threatfull terror;  
Vengeance and mischief on mine own head light,  
If cursed Elisha keep his head this night:  
And, as he spoke, forth in a rage he flings,  
To execute his bloody Threaten.   

Sir, said the Prophet, you have seen the scathe  
Devouring Famine here performed hath:  
But, by tomorrow this time (God hath said)  
Samaria's Gates shall even abound with Bread.   

Tush (said a Minion of the Court, hard by,  
Of surly speech, proud gait, and lofty eye)  
Though God should open all heavens windows wide,  
It cannot be: Yes, Infidel (replied  
The zealous Prophet) Thouthy Self (in sum)  
Shalt see it then: but slialt not taste a crumb.  
Thus said Elisha, and th' Almighty Power  
Performed his Say in the very hour.   

Her scarlet rob Aurora had not donned,  
Nor had she yet limned the Euphratean strand  
With trembling shine, neither was Phoebus yet  
Willing to wake out of a drowsy Fit,  
When pallid FEAR, flies to the Pagan Host, 
Description and effects of Fear.   
Wilde-staring Hag, shivering, and wavering most;  
She, that her voice and visage shifts so oft:  
She that in Counsels strives to lift aloft  
Irresolution, to be Precedent  
(Canker of Honour, curse of Government):  
She that even trembles in her surest Arms,  
Starts at a leaf, swoons at report of harms:  
Believes all, sees all; and so swayeth all,  
That, if she say, the Firmament doth fall:  
There be three Suns: This, or that Mountain sinks:  
Paul's Church doth reel, or the foundation shrinks:  
It is believed, 'tis seen: and, seized by Her,  
The other Senses are as apt to ere.   

Clashing of Arms, Rattling of iron Cars,  
Murmur of Men (a World of Soldiers)  
Neighing of Horse, noise of a thousand Drums  
With dreadful sound from the next Vale there comes.   

The Syrian Camp, conceiving that the Troops  
Of Nabathits, Hethits, and Ethyops',  
Hired by th' Isaacians, came from every side,  
To raise their Siege, and to repel their pride;  
Fly for their lives, disordered and dispersed  
(Amid the Mountains) so well-ordered yerst.  
One, in his Capcase leaves-behinde his Treasure:  
To bridle's horse another hath not leisure;  
Another, hungry on the grass hath set  
His Breakfast out, but dares not stay to eat.  
One thinks him far, that yet hath little gone;  
Another weens him in plain ground, anon  
He breaks his neck into a Pit: another  
Hearing the Boughs that brush against each other,  
And doubting it to be the Conqueror,  
He wretched dies of th' only wound of FEAR.   

As, after tedious and continual rain, 
Simile.   
The honey-Flies haste from their Hives again,  
Suck here and there, and bear into their bower  
The sweetest sap of every fragrant flower:  
So from besieged Samaria each man hies,  
Unto the▪ Tents of fear-fled Enemies;  
Wherein, such store of corn and wine they pill,  
That in one day their hungry Town they fill:  
And in the Gate, the Crowd that issueth,  
Treads th' unbelieving Courtier down to death;  
So that (at once) even both effects agree  
Just with Elisha's holy prophecy.   

From this School comes the Prophet Amethite,  
The twice-born Preacher to the Ninivite.   

jonas, be gone: hie, hie thee (said th' Almighty) 
The shipwreck of jonas.   
To Niniuè, that great and wanton City:  
Cry day and night, cry out unto them all;  
Yet forty days, and Ninive shall fall.   

But, against th' Eternal, jonas shuts his ear,  
And ships himself to sail anotherwhere:  
Wherefore, the Lord (incensed) stretched his arm,  
To wrack the wretch in sudden fearful Storm.   

Now, Nereus foams, and now the furious waves 
A lively Description of a storm at Sea.   
All topsie-turned by th' Aeolian slaves,  
Do mount and roll: heavens war against the Waters,  
And angry Thetis Earth's green bulwarks batters:  
A sable ayrso muffles-up the Sky,  
That the sad Sailors can no light descry:  
Or, if some beam break through their pitchy night,  
'Tis but dread flashing of the Lightning's light.   

Strike, strike our sail (the Master cries) amain,  
Veil misne and spritsail: but he cries in vain;  
For in his face the blasts so bluster ay,  
That his Sea-gibberish is strait born away.   

Confused Cries of men dismayed in mind,  
Seas angry noise, loud bellowing of the wind,  
heavens Thunderclaps, the tackles whistling  
(As strange Musicians) dreadful descant sing.   

The Eastern wind drives on the roaring train  
Of white-blew billows, and the clouds again  
With fresh Seas cross the Sea, and she doth send  
(In counterchange) a rain with salt y-blend.  
heavens (headlong) seem in Thetis lap to fall,  
Seas scale the skies, and God to arm this All  
Against one ship, that skips from stars to ground,  
From wave to wave (like Balloons windy bound)  
While the sad Pilot, on a foamy Mount,  
Thinks from the Pole to see Hell's pit profound;  
And, then, cast down unto the sandy shoal,  
Seems from low Hell to see the lofty Pole:  
And, feeling foes within and eek without,  
As many waves, so many deaths doth doubt.   

The Billows, beating round about the ship,  
Vncauk her keel, and all her seams unrip;  
Whereby the waters, entering uncontrolled,  
Ebbing abroad, yet flow apace in hold:  
For every Tun the plied Pump doth rid,  
A flood breaks in; the Master mastered  
With dread and danger (threatening every-way)  
Doubts where to turn him, what to do, or say,  
Which wave to meet, or which salt surge to fly;  
So yields his charge in Sea to live or die.   

As, many Cannons, against a Castle bend, 
Simile.   
Make many holes, and much the rampire rend,  
And shake the wall, but yet the latest shock  
Of fire-wingd bullets batters down the Rock:  
So, many mounts that muster against this Sail,  
With roaring rage do this poor ship assail;  
But yet the last (with foaming fury swollen,  
With boisterous blasts of angry tempests boln)  
Springs the mainmast: the mast with boisterous fall  
Breaks down the deck, and sore affrights them all.   

Pale Idol-like, one stands with arms across:  
One moans himself: one mourns his children's loss:  
One, more than Death, this form of Death affrights:  
Another calls on heavens un-viewed Lights:  
One, 'fore his eyes his Lady's looks beholds:  
Another, thus his deadly fear unfolds:  
Cursed thirst of gold! O how thou causest care!  
My bed of Down I change for hatches bare:  
Rather than rest, this stormy war I chose:  
T' enlarge my fields, both land and life I lose:  
Like piezless plume, born-up by Boreas' breath,  
With all these wings I soar, to seek my death,  
To Heaven and Hell, by angry Neptune led,  
Where least I scape it, all these sails I spread.  
Then thus another: Sure no wind (quoth he)  
Can raise this Storm; some rarer Prodigy  
Hath caused this Chaos (cause of all our grief)  
Some Atheist dog, some Altar-spoyling thief  
Lurks in this ship: come (Mates) by lot let's try  
(To save the rest) the man that ought to die.   

'Tis I (quoth jonas) I indeed am cause  
Of this black night, and all the fearful flaws  
Of this rough Winter; I must sole appease  
(By my just death) these wrathful wrackful Seas.  
Then up they heave him strait, and from the waste  
Him suddenly into the Sea they cast.   

The King of Windes calls home his churlish train,  
And Amphitritè smooths her front again:  
Th' Air's cloudy rob returns to crystal clear,  
And smiling heavens bright Torches re-appeer,  
So soon as jonas (to them all appease)  
O'er head and ears was soused in the Seas.   

Thrice comes he up, and thrice again goes down  
Under the waves (yer he do wholly drown):  
But then he sinks, and (wretched) rolled along  
The sands, and Oase, and rocks, and mud among;  
Thus, thus he cries with lips of zealous faith:  
Mercy (my God) show mercy Lord (he saith).   

Then God (who ever hears his children's wish)  
Provided strait a great and mighty Fish,  
That swilling swallowed jonas in her womb,  
A living Corpse laid in a living tomb.   

Like as a Roach, or Ruff, or Gudgeon, born. 
Simile.   
By some swift stream into a were (forlorn)  
frisks to and fro, aloft and under dyves,  
Fed with false hope to free their captive lyves:  
The Prophet so (amazed) walks about  
This wondrous Fish to find an issue out,  
This mighty Fish, o● Whale-like huginess,  
Or bigger-bellied, though in body less.   

Where am I, Lord? (alas!) within what vaults?  
In what new Hell dost thou correct my faults?  
Strange punishment! my body thou bereav'st,  
Of mother earth, which to the dead thou leav'st:  
Whither thy wrath drives me, I do not know.  
I am deprived of air, yet breath and blow:  
My sight is good, yet can I see no sky:  
Wretch, nor in Sea, nor yet ashore am I:  
Resting, I run; for moving is my Cave:  
And, quick, I couch within a living Grave.   

While thus he plained; the third day, on the sand  
The friendly Fish did cast him safe aland.  
And then, as if his weary limbs had been  
So long refreshed, and rested at an Inn,  
He seems to fly; and, come to Ninive,  
Your sins have reached up to Heaven (quoth he)  
Woe and alas, woe, woe unto you all:  
Yet forty days and Ninive shall fall.   

Thus jonas preached: But, soon the Citizens,  
Sincerely touched with sense of their foul sins,  
Dispatch (in haste) to Heaven, Repentance sad,  
Sweet-charming Prayer, Fasting hairy-clad.   

Repentance makes two Torrents of her eyes,  
Her humble brow dares scant behold the skies:  
Her sobbing breast is beaten blue and black:  
Her tender flesh is rend with rugged sack:  
Her head (all hoared with hearty sorrows passed)  
With dust and ashes is all overcast.   

Prayers head, and sides, and feet are set about  
With gaudy wings (like joves Arcadian Scout):  
Her body flaming, from her lips there fumes.  
Nard, Incense, Mummy, and all rich Perfumes.   

Fasting (though faint) her face with joy she cheers,  
Strong in her weakness, young in aged years;  
Quick health's preserver, curbing Cupid's fits,  
Watchful, purge-humors, and refining-wits.   

Then Faith (Grand Usher of th' Empyreal Court)  
Ushers these Legates by a golden Port  
Into the Presence, and them face to face  
Before th' All-Monarch's glorious Throne doth place;  
Where (zealous) prostrate on her humble knee,  
Thus Prayer speaks in name of all the Three:   

God, slow to wrath! O Father, prone to grace!  
Lord, sheath again thy vengeance sword a space.  
If at thy beam of justice thou wilt weigh  
The works of men that wander every day:  
If thou their metal by that touchstone try,  
Which fearfull-sounding from thy mouth doth fly:  
If thou shalt sum their Sins (which pass the sand)  
Before thee (Lord) who shall endure to stand?  
Not Ninive alone shall perish then;  
But all this All be burnt to ashes clean:  
And even this day shall thy just wrath prevent  
The dreadful Day of thy last Dooms event.  
This world to Chaos shall again return;  
And on thine Altars none shall incense burn.   

O therefore spare (Lord) spare the Ninivites,  
Forgive their Sins; and, in their humbled sprights,  
From this time forth thy sacred Laws engrave:  
Destroy them not; but deign them Lord to save:  
Look not (alas!) what they have been before;  
But us regard, or thine own mercy more.   

Then, God reached out his hand, unfolds his frowns,  
Dis-arms his arm of Thunder brusing-Crowns,  
Bows graciously his glorious flaming Crest,  
And mildly grants (in th' instant) their request.   
FINIS.   

THE DECAY. THE FOUR BOOK OF THE FOUR DAY OF THE II. WEEK.  
THE ARGUMENT.  

Ambition's bitter fruit, fell Achab's Stock,  
With his proud Queen (a painted Beauty-mock)  
Extirpt by JEHV, IEHV's line likewise  
Shallum suppliants. King-killing Treacheries  
Succeed arowe, with Wrack of ISRAEL.  
Time-suiting bats. Athaliah Tigress fel.  
JOASH well-nurtured, natur'd-ill, doth run  
After his kind: he kills his Tutor's Son.  
ZENACHERIB: life-lengthned EZECHIAH:  
NABUCHADNEZAR: Captive ZEDECHIAH.   

HVff-pufft AMBITION, Tinderbox of WAR, 
Ambition portrayed to the life.   
downfall of Angels, Adam's murderer,  
Patent of Treasons, Reason's Contradiction,  
Earth's Enemy, and the heavens Malediction,  
O! how much Blood hath thy respect-lesrage  
Shed in the World! showered on every Age!  
O! sceptre's, Throne's, and Crown's insatiate Thirst,  
Howmany Treasons hast thou hatched yerst!   

For, O! what is it that he dares not do,  
Who th' helm of Empire doth aspire unto?  
He (to beguile the simple) makes no bone  
To swear by God (for he believes there's none);  
His Sword's his Title; and who escapes the same,  
Shall have a Pistol, or a Poysonie dram:  
He, feared of all, fears all: he breaks at once  
The chains of Nature and of Nations:  
Sick of the Father, his kind hart is woe,  
The good Old-man travels to Heaven, so slow:  
His own dear Babes (yet Cradled, yet in Clouts)  
Haste but too-fast; are at his heels, he doubts:  
He passeth to his promised Happiness,  
Upon a Bridge of his Friends Carcases;  
And Mounts (in fine) the golden Throne, by stayrs  
Built of the Skulls of his own Country's heirs.  
Yet, thou permit t'st it, Lord; nay, with thy wings,  
Coverest such Tyrants (even the shame of Kings).  
But, not for nothing dost thou them for bear;  
Their cruel scalps a cruel end shall tear:  
And, when the Measure of their Sin is full,  
Thy Hands are iron, though thy Feet be will.  
The Throne of Tyrants totters to and fro:  
The blood-gained Sceptre lasts not long (we know):  
Nail driveth Nail: by tragik death device,  
Ambitious hearts do play at 
* A kind of Christmas play: wherein each hunteth other from his Seat. The name seems derived from the French levez sus, in English, arise up.  level since;  
Proved but too plain, in both the Houses Royal  
Of jacobs' issue, but tootoo disloyal:  
As, if thou further with thy grace divine  
My Verse and Vows, shall here appear (in time).   

GOD NOW no longer could support th' excess  
Of Achab's House, whose cursed wickedness  
Was now topful: and, Dogs already stood  
Fawning and yawning for their promised blood.  
heavens haste their Work. Now, in tumultuous wise,  
Against Achab's Son do his own Soldiers rise; 
Ichù.   
jehu's their Captain: who foresees, afar,  
How-much, dispatch advantageth in War;  
And, politic, doubles his Army's speed,  
To get before, yea, before Fame, indeed.   

joram, surprised in feeble Bulwarks then  
Unfurnished of Victuals and of Men)  
And, chief, wanting royal fortitude,  
Unkingly yields unto the Multitude.   

Bold Nimshis Son, Sir jehu, what's this Thing?  
What mean these Troops? what would you of the King?  
Where shall the bolt of this black Thunder fall?  
Say, bring'st thou Peace? or bring'st thou War, withal?  
Said joram, loud: but, jehu louder saith,  
No (wretch) no Peace, but bloody Wars and death.  
Then fled the King: and (as a Ship at Sea, 
Simile.   
Hearing the heavens to threaten every way,  
And Winter Storms with absent Stars compact,  
With th' angry Waters to conspire her wrack,  
Strives not to ride it out, or shift abroad,  
But plies her Oars, and flies into the Road)  
He jerks his jades, and makes them scour amain,  
Through thick and thin, both over Hill and Plain.   

Which, jehu spying, and well eyeing too,  
As quick resolved what he hath to do;  
Cries, Boy, my Bow: then nocks an Arrow right,  
His left hand meets the head, his breast the right;  
As bends his Bow, he bends; let's go the string:  
Through the thin air, the winged shaft doth sing  
King Iorams Dirgé; and, to speed the more,  
Pearces behind him, and peeps-out before.   

The Prince, now hurt (that had before no hart)  
Falls present dead, and with his Courtly-Cart  
Bruised in the Fall (as had the Thisbite said)  
The Field of Naboth with his blood berayed:  
And Salem's King had also there his dew,  
For joining hands with so profane a Crew.  
Then, the proud Victor leads his loyal Troops  
Towards the Court (that all in silence droops);  
And, more for Self's love, than for God's pure zeal,  
Means to dispatch th' Earth's burden jezabel. 
jezabel.    

The Queen had inkling: instantly she sped  
To curl the Cockles of her new-bought head:  
Th' Onyx, the Saphyr, Garnet, Diamand,  
In various forms, cut by a curious hand,  
Hang nimbly dancing in her hair, as spangles:  
Or as the fresh red-yellow Apple dangles  
(In Autumn) on the Tree, when to and fro  
The Boughs are waved with the winds that blow.   

The upper garment of the stately Queen, 
Her Pride.   
Is rich gold Tissu, on a ground of green;  
Where th' art-ful shuttle rarely did encheck  
The 
* Changeable.  cangeant colour of a Mallards' neck:  
'tis figured o'er with sundry Flowers and Fruits,  
Birds, Beasts, and Infects, creeping Worms, and N●uts,  
Of Gold-Smith's Work: a fringe of Gold about,  
With Pearls and Rubies richly rare set-out,  
Borders her rob: and every part descries  
Cunning and Cost, contending for the prize.   

Her neat, fit, startups of green velvet be,  
Flourished with silver, and beneath the knee,  
Moon-like, indented; but t'ned down the side  
With Orient Pearls, as big as Filberd's pride.   

But, besides all her sumptuous equipage 
Her Painting   
(Much fit for her State, then for her age)  
Close in her Closet, with her best Complexions,  
She mends her Face's wrinkle-full defections,  
Her Cheek she cherries, and her Ey she cheers,  
And feigns her (fond) a Wench of fifteen years;  
Whether she thought to snare the Duke's affection:  
Or dazzle, with her pompous Pride's reflection,  
His daring eyes (as Fowlers, with a Glass,  
Make mounting ●arks come down to death apace):  
Or, were it, that in death she would beseen  
(As 'twere) interied in Tyrian Pomp, a Queen.   

Chaste Lady-Mayds, here must I speak to you,  
That with vile Painting spoil your native hue 
A just Invective against those 2. (Predominant) Court-Qualities.   
(Not to inflame younglings with wanton Thirst;  
But to keep fashion with these Times accursed)  
When one new taen, in your seem-Beauties snare,  
That day and night to Hymen makes his Prayer,  
At length espies (as who is it but spies?)  
Your painted breasts, your painted cheeks, and eyes,  
His Cake is dough; God dild you, he will none;  
He l●aues his Suit, and thus he saith anon:  
What should I do with such a wanton Wife,  
Which night and day would cruciate my life  
With jeloux pangs? sith every-way she sets  
Her borrowed snares (not her own hairs) for Nets▪  
To catch her Cuckoos; with lose, light Attires,  
Opens the door unto all lewd Desires?  
And, with vile Drugs, adultering her Face,  
Closely allures th' Adulterer's Embrace.   

But, judge the best: suppose (saith he) I ●●nde  
My Lady Chaste, in body and in mind  
(As sure I think): yet, will she Me respect,  
That dares disgrace th' eternal Architect?  
That (in her pride) presumes his Work to tax  
Of imperfection; to amend his tracts,  
To help the Colours which his hand hath laid,  
With her frail fingers with foul dirt berayed?  
Shall I take her, that will spend all I have,  
And all her time, in pranking proudly-brave?   

How did I dote! The Gold upon her head,  
The Lilies of her breasts, the Rosy red▪  
In either Cheek, and all her other Riches,  
Wherewith she bleareth sight, and sense bewitches;  
Is none of hers: it is but borrowed stuff,  
Or stolen, or bought, plain Counterfeit in proof:  
My glorious Idol I did so adore,  
Is but a Wizard, newly varnished over  
With spauling Rheums, hot ●umes, and Ceruses:  
Foyes, fie; such Poisons one would loathe to kiss:  
Iwed (at least, I ween I wed) a Lass  
Young, fresh, and fair: but, in a year (alas!)  
Or two, at most; my lovely lively Bride▪  
I● turned a Hag, a Fury by my side;  
With hollow, yellow teeth (or none perhaps)  
With stinking breath, swart-cheeks, and hanging chaps;  
With wrinkled neck; and stooping as she goes,  
With drivelling mouth, and with a snivelling nose.   

The Queen, thus pranked, proudly gets her up  
(But sadly though) to her gilt Palace top;  
And, spying jehu, from the window cried:  
Art thou there, Zimri, cursed Parricide,  
Fell Maister-killer, canst thou choose but fear  
For like Offence, like punishment severe?   

Bitch, cries the Duke, art Thou there barking still?  
Thou, Strumpet, Thou art Cause of all this Ill:  
Thou, brought'st Samaria to Thine Idol-Sin:  
Painting and Poisoning, first thou broughtest in  
To Court and Country, with a thousand more  
Lose Syrian Vices, which I shame to show.  
Thou brought'st-in Wrong, with rapine and Oppression,  
By Perjury supplanting men's Possession  
And Life withal: yea, Thou hast been the Baen  
Of Peers and Seers (at thy proud pleasure slain):  
Thou, life of Strife, thou Horseleech sent from Hell,  
Thou Drought, Thou Dearth, Thou Plague of Israel,  
Now shalt thou die: Grooms (is their none for me?)  
Quick, cast her down, down with her instantly.   

O tickle Faith! O fickle Trust of Court▪ 
The perfection of Courtship.   
These Palace-mices, this busie-idle sort  
Of fawning Minions, full of soothes and smiles,  
These Carpet-Knights had vowed and sworn yerwhiles,  
Promised, protested unto jezabel,  
Raved, Braved, and band (like Rodomont in Hell)  
That in her cause they every Man would die,  
And all the World, and Hell and Heaven defy;  
Now, Icy Fear (shivering in all their bones)  
Makes them with Fortune turn their backs atonce.  
They take their Queen between their traitorous hands,  
And hurl her headlong, as the Duke Commands;  
Whose Courser, snorting, stamps (in stately scorn)  
Upon the Corpse that whilom Kings had born:  
And, to fulfil from point to point the Word  
Elijah spoke (as Legate of the Lord)  
The dogs about do greedy feed upon  
The rich-perfumed, royal Carrion:  
And Folk by thousands issuing at the Gate,  
To see the sight, cry thus (as gladther-at)  
Sesse, ses, here Dogs, here Bitch's, do not spare  
This Bitch that gnawed her subjects bones so bare;  
This cruel Cur, that made you oft become  
Saints Torturers, and many a Prophet's Tomb:  
This Whore of Baal, tear her so small, that well  
No man may say, Here lieth jezabel.   

jehu's dread Vengeance doth yet farther flow;  
Cursed Achab's issue he doth wholly mow:  
He slays (moreover) two and forty men  
Of Ahaziah's hapless brethren:  
Baal's idol Clergy he doth bring to nought,  
And his proud Temple turns into a draft:  
Good proofs of Zeal. But yet, a Diadem,  
Desire of Reign, keeps from jerusalem  
His service due; content (at home) by halves  
To worship God, under the form of Calves.   

His Son and Nephews, tract too-neer his trace;  
And therefore Shallum doth unhorsed his race:  
The murderer Shallum (after one months' Reign)  
By Manahem, as murdrously is slain:  
The traitor Manahem's wicked-walking Son,  
By traitorous Pekah unto death is done:  
And so, on Pekah, for Pekaiah's death,  
Hosheah's treason, treason quittanceth;  
Aproud, in grate, perfidious troublous King,  
That to Confusion did Samaria bring.   

Their Towns trans-villaged, the Ten Tribes, transported  
To a far Clime (whence never they reverted)  
Sojourn in foreign soil, where Chobar's streams  
Serve them for jordan; Basan, Chison seems:  
While Assurs scorn, and scum of Euphrates  
Dance up and down th' Isaacian Palaces,  
Drink their best Nectar's, anchor in their Ports,  
And lodge profanely in their strongest Forts.   

But, changing air, these change not mind (in jewry).  
For, though fierce Lions homicidial fury  
Make them retire under th' almighty's wing,  
Their Country Gods with the true God they ming:  
They mix his Service, plough with Ass and Ox;  
Disguise his Church in suits of Flax and Flocks,  
Cast (in one wedge) Iron and Gold together:  
jew-gentiles, both atonce: but, both is neither.   

There is a Tale, that once the Host of Birds, 
Tale of the Bat.   
And all the Legions of Grove-haunting Herds,  
Before the Earth ambitiously did strive,  
And counter-plead, for the Prerogative:  
Now, while the judge was giving audience,  
And either side in their seem-Rights defence  
Was hot and earnest at the noiseful Bar,  
The neuter Bat stood fluttering still afar:  
But she no sooner hears the sentence passed  
On the Beasts side, but shuffling her in haste  
Into their Troop, she them accompanieth,  
Shows her large forehead, her long ears, and teeth.   

The Cause was (after) by Appeal removed  
To Nature's Court; who by her Doom approved  
The others Plea: then flies the shameless Bat  
Among the Birds, and with her Chit-chit-chat  
She seems to sing; and proud of wings, she plays  
With nimble turns, and flies a thousand ways.   

Hence, beak-les Bird, hence, winged-Beast (they cried)  
Hence, plume-les wings (thus scorn her, either side)  
Hence, harlot, hence; this ever be thy Dole;  
Be still Day's Prisoner in thy shameful hole:  
May never Sun (vile Monster) shine on thee:  
But th' hate of all, for ever, mayst thou be.   

Such is this People: for, in plenteous showers  
When God his Blessings upon Isaak powers, 
Application.   
Then are they Isaak's Sons: but, if with thunder  
He wrathful tear the Hebrew Tree in sunder,  
These Traitors rake the boughs, and take the Fruit;  
And (Pagans' then) the jews they persecute.   

And such are those, whose wily, waxed mind  
Takes every Seal, and sails with every Wind;  
Not out of Conscience, but of Carnal motion,  
Of Fear, or Favour, Profit, or Promotion:  
Those that to ease their Purse, or please their Prince,  
Pern their Profession, their Religion mince;  
Prince- Protestants, Prince- catholics; Precise,  
With Such a Prince; with other, otherwise:  
Yea, oldest Gangraens of blinde-burning Zeal  
(As the King's Evil) a new KING can heal.   

And those Scoene-servers that so loud have crid  
'Gainst Prelates sweeping in their silken Pride,  
Their wilful Dumbness, forcing others dumb  
(To Sion's grievous Loss and Gain of Rome)  
Their Courting, Sporting, and Nonresidence,  
Their Avarice, their Sloth, and Negligence:  
Till some fat Morsels in their mouths do fall;  
And then, as choked, and sudden changed withal,  
Themselves exceed in all of these, much more  
Than the Right Reverend whom they taxed before.   

And those Chamaeleons that con-sort their Crew;  
In Turkey, Turks; among the jews, a jew;  
In Spain, as Spain: as Luther, on the Rhine:  
With Calvin here: and there, with Bellarmine:  
Lose, with the Lewd: among the gracious, grave:  
With Saints, a Saint: and among Knaves a Knave.   

But all such Neuters, neither hot nor cold,  
Such double Halters between GOD and GOLD,  
Such Lukewarm Lovers will the Bridegroom spew  
Out of his mouth: his mouth hath spoke it true.   

O ISRAEL, I pity much thy case:  
This Sea of Mischiefs, which in every place  
So overflows thee, and so domineers;  
It drowns my soul in griefs, mine eyes in tears:  
My heart's through-thrilled with your miseries  
Already past; your Father's Tragedies.  
But (O!) I die; when in the sacred stem  
Of royal JUDA, in jerusalem,  
I see fell Discord, from her loath some Cage,  
To blow her poison with ambitious rage:  
Zion to swim in blood: and Achab's Daughter  
Make David's House the Shambles of her Slaughter.   

Cursed Atháliah (she was called so) 
Athaliah.   
Knowing her Son, by Mimshis Son, his so  
(For Ioram's sake) to be dispatched; disloyal,  
On th' holy Mount usurps the Sceptre Royal:  
And, fearing, lest the Princes of the Blood  
Would oneday rank her where of right she should,  
She cuts their throats, hangs, drowns, destroys them all,  
Not sparing any, either great or small;  
No, not the infant in the Cradle, lying  
Helpless (alas!) and lamentably crying  
(As if bewailing of his wrongs unknowen);  
No (O extreme!) she spareth not her own.   

Like as a Lion, that hath tattered here 
Simile.   
A goodly Heifer, there a lusty Steer,  
There a strong Bull (too-weak for him by half)  
There a fair Cow, and there a tender Calf;  
Struts in his rage, and wallows in his Prey,  
And proudly doth his Victory survey;  
The grass all gory, and the Heardgroom up  
Shivering for fear upon a Pine-Trees top:  
So swelleth she: so grows her proud Despite;  
Nor Aw, nor Law, nor Faith she reaks, nor right.   

Her Cities are so many Groves of Thiefs:  
Her Courta Stews, where not a chaste-one lives:  
Her greatest Lords (given all, to all excess)  
In stead of Prophets, in their Palaces  
Have Lectures read of Lust, and Surfaiting,  
Of Murder, Magik, and Empoisoning.   

While thus she builds her tottering Throne upon  
Her children's bones, jehosheba saves one  
One Royal Imp, young joash, from the pile  
(As, when a Fire hath fiercely raged awhile 
Simile.   
In some fair House, the avaricious Dame  
Saves some choice Casket from the furious flame)  
Hides him, provides him: and, when as the Sun 
jehoiada preserveth joash.   
Six times about his larger Ring hath run,  
jehoiada (her husband) brings him forth  
To the chief Captains and the Men of worth;  
Saying: Behold, O Chiefs of juda, see  
See here your Prince, great David's Progeny,  
Your rightful King: if me you credit light,  
Believe this Face, his Father's Picture right;  
Believe these Priests, which saw him from the first,  
Brought to my House, there bred, and fed, and nurçed.  
In so just Quarrel, holy Men-at-arms,  
Employ (I pray) your anger and your Arms:  
Plant, in the Royal Plot, this Royal bud:  
Venge Obed's blood on Strangers guilty blood:  
Shake-off, with shouts, with Fire, and Sword together,  
This Woman's Yoke, this Fury's Bondage, rather.   

Then shout the People, with a common cry,  
Long live King joash; long, and happily: 
joash.   
God save the King: God save the noble seed  
Of our true Kings; and ay may They succeed.   

This news now bruited in the wanton Court,  
Quickly the Queen comes in a braving sort,  
Towards the Troop; and spying there anon  
The sweet young Prince, set on a royal Throne,  
With Peers attending him on either hand,  
And strongly guarded by a gallant Band;  
Ah! Treason, Treason, than she cries aloud:  
False I'oyada, disloyal Priest, and proud,  
Thou shalt abye it: O thou House profane!  
I'll lay thee level with the ground again:  
And thou, young Princox, Puppet as thou art,  
Shalt play no longer thy proud Kingling's Part  
Upon so rich a stage: but, quickly stripped,  
With wyery Rods thou shalt to death be whipped;  
And so, go see thy Brethren, which in Hell  
Will welcome thee, that badst not them farewell.   

But, so dainly the Guard lays hold on her  
And drags her forth, as 'twerea furious Cur,  
Out of the sacred Temple; and with scorn,  
Her wretched corpse is mangled, tugged, and torn.   

Th' Highpriest, inspired with a holy zeal,  
In a new League authentikly doth seal  
Th' obedient People to their bounteous Prince;  
And both, to God; by joint Obedience.   

Now, as a Bear-whelp, taken from the Dam, 
Simile.   
Is in a while made gentle, meek, and tame  
By witty usage; but, if once it hap  
He get some Grove, or thorny Mountains top,  
Then plays he Rex; tears, kills, and all consumes,  
And soon again his savage kind assumes:  
So joash, while good joyada survives,  
For Piety, with holy David strives;  
But he once dead, walking his Father's ways,  
(Ingrately-false) his Tutor's 
* Zachariah.  son he slays.  
Him therefore shortly his own Servants slay:  
His Son, soon after, doth Them like re-pay:  
His People, him again: then, Amaziah  
Uzziah follows, joatham Vzziah.   

As one same ground indifferently doth breed 
Simile.   
Both food-fit Wheat and dizzy Darnell seed;  
Baen-baening 
* Ar●emisia.  Mug-wort, and cold Hemlock too;  
The fragrant Rose and the strong-senting Rue:  
So, from the Noblest Houses oft there springs  
Some monstrous Princes, and some virtuous Kings;  
And all▪ foreseeing God, in the same Ligne  
Doth oft the godless with the godly twine.  
The more to grace his Saints, and to disgrace  
Tyrants the more, by their own proper Race.   

Ahaz, betwixt his Son and joathan  
(He bad, they good) seems a swart Mauritan  
Betwixt two Adonis': Ezekiah, plaçed  
Between his Father and his Son, is graçed  
(He good, they bade) as twixt two Thorns, a Rose;  
Whereby, his Virtue the more virtuous shows.  
For, in this Prince, great DAVID, the divine, 
Ezekiah.   
Devout, just, valiant, seems again to shine.  
And, as we see from out the several Seat  
Of th' ASIAN Princes, self-surnamed Great 
Simile.   
(As the great Cham▪ great Turk▪ great Russian,  
And if less Great, more glorious Persian)  
Araxis, Chesel, Uolga, and many more  
Renowned Rivers, Brooks, and Floods, do flow,  
Falling at once into the Caspian Lake,  
Withal their streams his streams so proud to make: 
The true pattern of an excellent Prince.   
So, all the Virtues of the most and best  
Of Patriarches, meet in this Prince's breast:  
Pure in Religion, Wise in counseling,  
Stout in exploiting, Just in Governing;  
Vn-puft in Sunshine, vn-appalled in Storms  
(Not, as not feeling, but not fearing Harms)  
And therefore bravely he repels the rage  
Of proudest Tyrants (living in his Age)  
And (ayun-daunted) in his God's behalf  
Hazards at once his Sceptre and himself.   

For, though (for Neighbours) round about him reign  
Idolaters (that would him gladly gain):  
Though Godlings, here of wood, and there of stone,  
A Brazen here, and there a Golden one,  
With Lamps and Tapers, even as bright as Day,  
On every side would draw his mind astray:  
Though Assurs Prince had with his Legions fell  
Foraged Samaria, and in Israel  
Quenched the small Faith that was; and utterly  
Dragged the Ten Tribes into Captivity,  
So far, that even the tallest Cedar-Tree  
In Libanon they never since could see:  
Yet, EZECHIAH serves not Time; nor Fears 
His Constancy in the service of God, and zealous Reformation of all Abuses in the same.   
The Tyrant's fury: neither roars with Bears,  
Nor howls with Wolves, nor ever turns away:  
But, godly-wise, well-knowing, that Delay  
Gives leave to Ill; and Danger still doth wait  
On linger, in Matters of such weight;  
He first of all sets-up th' almighty's Throne,  
And under that, than he erects his own.  
Th' establishing of God's pure Law again,  
Is as the Preface of his happy Reign:  
The Temple purged, th' High-places down he pashes,  
Fells th' hallowed Groves, burns th' Idol-Gods to ashes.  
Which his own Father served; and, Zeal-full, broke  
The Brazen Serpent, Moses yerst did make.   

For, though it were a very Type of CHRIST,  
Though first it were by th' Holy-Ghost devised,  
And not by Man (whose bold-blinde Fancy's pride  
Deforms God's Service, strays on either side,  
Flatters itself in his Inventions vain,  
Presumes to school the Sacred Spirit again,  
Controls the Word, and (in a word) is hot  
In his own fashion to serve God, or not);  
Though the Prescript of Ancient use defend it,  
Though Multitude, though Miracles commend it  
(True Miracles, approved in conclusion,  
Without all guile of men's or Fiend's illusion)  
The King yet spares not to destroy the same,  
When to occasion of Offence it came;  
But, forth ' Abuse of a fond People's will,  
Takes that away which was not selfly ill:  
Much less permits he (through all his Land)  
One rag, one relic, or one sign to stand  
Of Idolism, or idle superstition  
blindly brought-in, without the Words Commission.   

This zealous Hate of all Abomination,  
This royal Work of thorough Reformation,  
This worthy Action, wants not Recompense:  
God, who his grace by measure doth dispense,  
Who honours them that truly honour him,  
To EZHCHIAH not so much doth seem  
His sure Defence, as his Confederate:  
His Quarrel's His, He hates whom him do hate,  
His Fame He bears about (both far and high)  
On the wide wings of Immortality:  
To Gath He guideth his victorious troop,  
He makes proud Gaza to his Standards stoop,  
Strong Ascalon he razeth to the ground:  
And punishing a People wholly drowned  
In Idolism, and all rebellious Sins,  
Adds to his Land the Land of Philistines.  
Yea, further more, 'tis He that him withdraws  
From out the bloody and ambitious paws  
Of a fell Tyrant, whose proud bounds extend  
Past bounds for breadth, and for their length past end;  
Whose swarms of Arms, insulting everywhere,  
Made All to quake (even at his name) for fear.   

Already were the Coelo-Syrian Towers  
All sacked, and seized by the Assyrian Powers:  
And, of all Cities where th' Isaacians reigned,  
Only the great jerusalem remained;  
When Rabsakeh, with railing insolence, 
Railing Rabsaketh (in the name of his Master Zenacherib) braving and blaspheming against God and good king Ezekiah.   
Thus braves the Hebrues and up braids their Prince)  
(Weening, them all with vaunt-full Threats to snib);  
Thus saith th' almighty, great Zenacherib,  
O Salem's Kingling, wherefore art thou shut  
In these weak Walls? Is thine affiance put  
In th' Aid of Egypt? O deceitful prop!  
O feeble stay! O hollow-grounded hope!  
Egypt's a staff of Reed, which broken soon,  
Runs through the hand of him that leans thereon.  
Perhaps thou trustest in the Lord, thy God:  
What! whom so bold thou hast abused so broad,  
Whom to his face thou daily hast defied,  
Deprived of Altars, robbed on every side  
Of his High Places, hallowed Groves, and all  
(Where yerst thy Father's wont on him to call)▪  
Whom (to conclude)▪ thou hast exiled quite  
From every place, and with profane despite  
(As if condemned to perpetual dark)  
Keep'st him close-Prisoner in a certain Ark:  
Will He (can He) take Sion's part and Thine;  
And with his Foes will He unjustly join?  
No (wretched) know, I have His Warrant too  
(Express Commission) what I have to do:  
I am the Scourge of God, 'tis vain to stand  
Against the power of my victorious hand:  
I execute the counsels of the Lord:  
I prosecute his Vengeance on th' abhorred  
Profaners of his Temples: and, if He  
Have any Power, 'tis all conferred to me.  
Yield therefore, Ezechia, yield; and weigh  
Who I am; who Thou art: and by delay  
Blow not the Fire which shall consume thee quite,  
And utterly confound the Israelite.   

Alas! poor People, I lament your hap:  
This lewd Impostor doth but puff you up  
With addle hope, and idle Confidence  
(In a delusion) of your God's Defence.  
Which of the Gods, against my Power could stand,  
Or save their Cities from my mightier hand?  
Where's Hamath's God? Where's Arpad's God become▪  
Where Sepharvaim's God? and where (in sum)  
Where are the Gods of Heva, and Ivah too?  
Have I not Conquered all? So will I do  
You and your God; and I will lead you all  
Into Assyria, in perpetual Thrall:  
I'll have your Manna, and your Aron's Rod,  
I'll have the Ark of your Almighty God,  
All richly furnished, and new furbisht o'er,  
To hang among a hundred Trophies more:  
And your great God shall in the Roll be read  
Among the Gods that I have Conquered:  
I'll have it so, it must, it shall be thus,  
And worse than so, except you yield to us.   

Scarce had he done, when Ezechias, gored  
With blasphemies so spewed against the Lord,  
Hies to the Temple, tears his purple weed,  
And falls to Prayer, as sure hold at need.   

O King of All, but Ours, especially; 
Prayer, The Refuge of the Godly.   
Ah! sleepest thou Lord? What boots it that thine ey  
Pierceth to Hell, and even from Heaven beholds  
The dumbest Thoughts in our hearts inmost folds;  
If thou perceivest not this proud Challenger,  
Nor hear the Barking of this foul-mouthed Cur?  
Not against us so much his Threats are meant,  
As against Thee: his Blasphemies are bend  
Against Thy Greatness; whom he (proudly-rude)  
Yokes with the Godlings which he hath sub dewed.  
'tis true indeed, he is a mighty Prince,  
Whose numbrous Arms, with furious insolence,  
Have overborn as many as withstood,  
Made many a Province even to swim in blood,  
Burnt many a Temple; and (insatiate still)  
Of neighbour Gods have wholly had their will.  
But, O! What Gods are those? God's void of Being  
(Save, by their hands that serve them) Gods un-seeing,  
New, vp-start Gods, of yerster-dayes devise;  
To Men indebted, for their Deities:  
Gods made with hands, Gods without life, or breath;  
Gods, which the Rust, Fire, Hammer conquereth.   

But, thou art Lord, th' invincible alone,  
Th' Allseeing GOD, the Everlasting ONE:  
And, who so dares him 'gainst thy Power oppose,  
Seems as a Puff which roaring Boreas blows,  
Weening to tear the Alps off at the Foot,  
Or Clowds-prop Athos from his massy Root:  
Who but mis-speaks of thee, he spits at Heaven,  
And his own spittle in his face is driven.   

Lord, show thee such: take on thee the Defence  
Of thine own glory, and our innocence:  
Clear thine own name, of blame: let him not thus  
Triumph of Thee, in triumphing of us:  
But, let there (Lord) unto thy Church appear  
Just Cause of joy, and to thy Foes of fear.   

God hears his Cry, and (from th' Empyreal Round) 
Miraculous slaughter of the Assyrians.   
He wrathful sends a winged Champion down;  
Who, richly armed in more than human Arms,  
Mows in one night of Heathen men at Arms  
Thrice-three-score thousand, and five thousand more,  
Felled round about; beside, behind, before.   

Heer, his two eyes, which Sunlike brightly turn, 
Simile.   
Two armed Squadrons in a moment burn:  
Not much unlike unto a fire in stubble,  
Which, sudden spreading, still the flame doth double,  
And with quick succour of some Southrens blasts  
Crick-crackling quickly all the Country wastes.   

Here the stiff Storm, that from his mouth he blows,  
Thousands of Soldiers each on other throws: 
Simile.   
Even as a Wind, a Rock, a sudden Flood  
Bears down the Trees in a side-hanging Wood;  
Th' Yew overturns the Pine, the Pine the Elm,  
The Elm the Oak, th' Oak doth the Ash ore-whelm;  
And from the top, down to the Vale below,  
The Mount's dis-mantled, and even shamed so.   

Heer, with a Sword (such as that sacred blade  
For the bright Guard of Eden's entry made)  
He hacks, he hews; and sometimes with one blow  
A Regiment he all at once doth mow:  
And, as a Cannon's thundrie roaring Ball, 
Simile.   
Battering one Turret, shakes the next withal,  
And oft in Armies (as by proof they find)  
Kills oldest Soldiers with his very wind:  
The whiffing Flashes of this Sword so quick,  
Strikes dead a many, which it did not strike.   

Heer, with his hands he strangles all atonce  
Legions of Foes. O Arm that King's dis-throans!  
O Army-shaving Sword! Rock-razing Hands!  
World-tossing Tempest! All-consuming Brands!  
O, let some other (with more sacred fire,  
Than I, inflamed) into my Muse inspire  
The wondrous manner of this Overthrow,  
The which (alas!) God knows, I little know:  
I but admire it, in confused sort;  
Conceive I cannot; and, much less, report.   

Common Zenacherib: where's now thine Host?  
Where are thy Champions? Thou didst lately boast,  
The hadst in thy Camp as many Soldiers,  
As Sea hath Fishes, or the heavens have Stars:  
Now, th' art alone: and yet, not all alone;  
Fear, and Despair, and Fury wait upon  
Thy shameful Flight: but, bloody Butcher, stay▪  
Stay, noisome Plague, fly not so fast away,  
Fear not heavens Falchion; that foul breast of thine  
Shall not be honoured with such wounds divine:  
Nor shalt thou yet, in timely bed decease;  
No: Tyrants use not to Departed in Peace:  
As blood they thirsted, they are drowned in blood;  
Their cruel Life a cruel Death makes good.   

For (O just judgement!) lo, thy Sons (yerlong) 
Zenacherib slain by his own sons.   
At Nisroch's Shrine revenge the Hebrews wrong:  
Yea, thine own Sons (foul eggs of fouler Bird)  
Kill their own Father, sheath their either sword  
In thine own throat; and, heirs of all thy vices,  
Mix thine own blood among thy Sacrifices.   

This Miracle is shortly seconded  
By one as famous and as strange, indeed.  
It pleased the Lord with heavy hand to smite  
King Ezechiah; who in doleful plight 
Ezekiah's sickness.   
Upon his bed lies vexed grievously,  
Sick of an Ulcer past all remedy.  
Art fails the Leech, and issue faileth Art,  
Each of the Courtiers sadly wails apart  
His loss and Lord: Death, in a mourn-ful sort,  
Through every Chamber daunteth all the Court:  
And, in the City, seems in every Hall  
T' have light a Taper for his Funeral.   

Then Amos 
* The Prophet Isaiah.  Son, his bed approaching, pours  
From plenteous lips these sweet and golden showers;  
But that I know, you know the Laws Divine,  
But that your Faith so everywhere doth shine,  
But that your Courage so confirmed I see;  
I should, my Liege, I should not speak so free: 
A comfortable Visitation of the sick.   
I would not tell you, that in continent  
You must prepare to make your Testament:  
That your Disease shall have the upper hand:  
And Death already at your Door doth stand.   

What? fears my Lord? Know you not here beneath  
We always say I towards the Port of Death;  
Where, who first anch'reth, first is glorified?  
That 'tis Decreed, confirmed, and ratified,  
That (of necessity) the fatal Cup.  
Once, all of us must (in our turn) drink up?  
That Death's no pain, but of all pains the end,  
The Gate of Heaven, and Ladder to ascend?  
That Death's the death of all our storms and strife,  
And sweet beginning of immortal Life?  
For, by one death a thousands death's we slay:  
Thearby, we rise from Body-Toomb of Day.  
Thearby, our Souls feast with celestial food,  
Thearby, we come to th' heavenly Brotherhood,  
Thearby, weare changed to Angels of the Light,  
And, face to face, behold God's beauties bright.   

The Prophet ceased: and soon th' Isaacian Prince,  
Deep apprehending Death's dread form and sense,  
Unto the Wall-ward turns his weeping eyes;  
And, sorrow-torn, thus (to himself) he cries:   

Lord, I appeal, Lord (as thine humble child) 
A Prayer for a sick person, mutatis mutandis.   
From thy just justice to thy Mercy mild:  
Why will thy strength destroy a silly-one,  
Weakened and wasted even to skin and bone;  
One that adores thee with sincere affection,  
The wrack of Idols, and the Saints protection?  
O! shall the Good thy servant had begun  
For Zion, rest now by his death undone?  
O! shall a Pagan After-king restore  
The Groves and Idols I have razed before?  
Shall I die Childeles? Shall thine Heritage  
In vain expect that glorious golden Age  
Under thy CHRIST? O! mercy, mercy, Lord:  
O Father mild, to thy dear Child accord  
Some space of life: O! let not, Lord, the voice  
Of Infidels at my poor death rejoice.   

Then said the Seer; Be of good cheer, my Liege: 
The King's prayer heard, and his life prolonged 15 years.   
Thy sighs and tears and prayers so be siege  
The throne of Pity, that, as pierçt withal,  
Thy smile Health God yieldeth to recall,  
Wills, to his Temple (three days hence) thou mount,  
Retracts his Sentence, and corrects his count:  
Makes Death go back, for fifteen years: as lo,  
This Dial's shadow shall here backward go.   

His Word's confirmed with wonderful Effect: 
The Sun goes back.   
For, lo, the Dial, which doth hours direct  
(Life's-guider, Daye's-divider, Sun's-Consorter,  
Shadow's dull shifter, and Time's dumb Reporter)  
Puts-up-again his passed Hours (perforce)  
And, backward goes against his wont course.  
'Tis Noon at Midnight; and a triple Morn  
Seems that long Day to brandish and adorn:  
Sol goes, and comes; and, yet that in the Deep  
Of Atlas' shade he lay him down to sleep,  
His bright, Light-winged, Gold-shod wheels do cut  
Three times together in the selfsame rut.   

Lord! what are we! or, what is our deserving!  
That, to confirm our Faith (so prone to swerving)  
Thou deign'st to shake heavens solid Orbs so bright;  
Th' Order of Nature to disorder quite;  
To make the Sun's Teem with a swift-slowe pace,  
Back, back to troth; and not their wont Race?  
That, to dispel the Night so blindely-black,  
Which siels our Souls, thou makest the shade go back  
On Ahaz Dial? And, as Self-un-stable,  
Seem'st to revoke thine Acts irrevocable,  
Raze thine own Dooms (tossed in unsteady storm)  
And, to reform us, thine own speech reform;  
To give thyself the lie: and (in a Word)  
As Self-blamed, softly to putup thy Sword?   

Thrice-glorious God thrice-great! thrice-gracious!  
Herein (O Lord) thou seem'st to deal with us,  
As a wise Father, who with tender hand 
Simile.   
Severely shaking the correcting Wand,  
With voice and gesture seems his Son to threat:  
Whom yet indeed he doth not mean to beat;  
But, by this curb of feigned Rigour, aims  
To awe his Son; and so him oft reclaims.   

This Prince no sooner home to Heaven returns,  
But Israel back to his vomit turns;  
Him re-bemires: and, like a headstrong Colt,  
Runs headlong down into a strange Revolt.  
And, though ●osias, Heav'n-deer Prince (uho young  
Comes wisely-olde, to live the older long)  
Had re-aduançed the sacred Laws divine,  
Propped Siou's Wall (all ready to decline)  
With his own back; and, in his happy Reign,  
The Truth re-flowred, as in her Prime again:  
Yet Iaeob's Heirs strive to resemble still 
Simile.   
A stiff-throw'n Bowl, which running down a Hill,  
Meets in the way some stub, for rub, that stops  
The speed a space; but instantly it hops,  
It over-iumps; and stays not, though it stumble,  
Till to the bottom upsidedown it tumble.   

With puissant Host proud Nabuchadnezzar  
Now threatened juda with the worst of War: 
Nabuchadnezar besiegeth jerusalem.   
His Camp comes marching to jerusalem,  
And her old Walls in a new Wall doth 'em.  
The busy Builders of this newer Fold,  
In one hand, Swords, in th' other Trowels hold,  
Nor felder strike with blades than hammers there;  
With firmer foot the Sieged's shock to bear,  
Who seem a swarm of Hornets buzzing out  
Among their Foes, and humming round about  
To spit their spite against their Enemies,  
With poysonie Darts, in noses, brows and eyes.   

Cold Capricorn hath paved all juda twice  
With brittle plates of crystal-crusted Ice,  
Twice glazed jordan; and the Sappy-blood  
Of Trees hath twice re-perriwigd the Wood,  
Since the first Siege: What? said the younger sort,  
Shall we grow old, about a feeble Fort?  
Shall we (not Martial, but more Maçon-skild)  
Shall we not batter Towers, but rather build?  
And while the Hebrew in his sumptuous Chamber  
Disports himself, perfumed with Nard and Amber,  
Shall We, swelting for Heat, shivering for Cold,  
Heer, far from home, lie in a stinking Hold?  
Shall time destroy us? shall our proper sloth  
Annoyed us more than th' Hebrues valour doth?  
No, no, my Lord: let not our Fervour fault,  
Through length of Siege; but let us to th' Assault.  
Let's wined and wear it: tut (Sir) nothing is  
Impossible to Chaldean courages.   

Contented, said the King: brave Bloods away,  
Goeseck Renown, 'mid wounds and death, today.   

Now, in their breasts, brave Honour's Thirst began: 
Nabuzaradan.   
Me thinks, I see stout Nabuzaradan  
Already trooping the most resolute  
Of every Band, this plot to prosecute.  
Each hath his Ladder; and, the Town to take,  
Bears to the Wall his Way upon his back:  
But, the brave Prince cleaves quicker than the rest  
His slender Firr-poles, as more prowes-full priest.   

Alike they mount, affronting Death together; 
A Scal●d●.   
But, not alike in face, nor fortune neither:  
This Ladder, slippery plaçed, doth slide from under:  
That, over-sloap, snaps in the midst asunder,  
And soldiers falling, one another kill  
(As with his weight, a hollow Rocky-Hill, 
Simile.   
Torn with some Torrent, or Tempestuous winds,  
Shivers itself on stones it under-grindes):  
Some, rashly climbed (not wont to climb so high)  
With giddy brains, swim headlong down the Sky:  
Some, over-whelmd under a Mill-stone-storm,  
Lose, with their life, their living bodies form.   

Yet mounts the Captain, and his spacious Targe  
Bears-off a Mountain and a Forest large  
Of Stoans and Darts, that fly about his ears;  
His teeth do gnash, he threats, he sweats, and swears:  
As steady there as on the ground he goes;  
And there, though weary, he affronts his Foes,  
Alone, and halfly-hanging in the air,  
Against whole Squadrons standing firmly fair:  
Upright he rears him and his Helmet brave  
(Where, not a Plume, but a huge Tree doth wave)  
Reflecting bright, above the Paripet,  
Affrights th' whole City with the shade of it.  
Then as half Victor, and about to venture  
Over the Wall, and ready even to enter;  
With his bright Gantlet's scaly fingers bent  
Grasping the coping of the battlement,  
His hold doth fail, the stones, vn-fast●ed, fall  
Down in the ditch, and (headlong) he withal:  
Yet, he escapes, and gets again to shore;  
Thanks to his strength: but, to his courage more.   

Now, here (me thinks) I hear proud Nergal rave, 
Nergal.   
In War (quoth he) Master or Match to have,  
By Mars I scorn▪ yea, Mars himself in Arms;  
And all the Gods, with all their braving Storms.  
O wrathful heavens, roar, lighten, thunder, threat;  
Gods, do your worst; with all your batteries beat:  
If I begin, in spite of all your powers,  
I'll scale your Walls, I'll take your Crystal Towers.  
Thus spewed the Cur; and (as he spoke) withal  
Climbs-up the steepest of a dreadful Wall,  
With his bare-feets on roughest places sprawling,  
With hook-crookt hands upon the smoothest crawling.   

As a fell Serpent, which some Shepheard-lad 
Simile.   
On a steep Rock encounters gladly-●ad,  
Turning and winding nimbly to and fro,  
With wriggling pace doth still approach his Foe,  
And with a Hiss, a Frisk, and flashing eye,  
Makes suddenly his faint Assailer fly:  
Even so the Duke, with his fierce countenance,  
His thundring-voice, his helms bright radiance,  
Drives Pashur from the Walls and jucal too  
(A jolly Prater but a jade to do;  
Braver in Counsel then in Combat, far)  
With Sephatiah, tinder of this War;  
And Malchy, he that doth in Prison keep  
Under the ground (a hundred cubits deep)  
Good ●eremie, and instrument, alone  
Inspired with breath of th' everliving ONE.   

Let's fly, cries P●shur: fly this Infidel,  
Rather this Fiend, the which no weight can fallen.  
What force can front, or who in count ●r can  
An armed Falcon, or a flying Man?   

While Nergal speeds his Victory too-fast,  
His hooks dis-pointed disappoint his haste;  
Prevent him, not of praise, but of the Prize  
Which (out of doubt) he did his own surmise.  
He swears and tears: (what should? what could he more)?  
He cannot up, nor will he down, therefore.  
Unfortunate! and vainly-valiant!  
He's fain to stand like the Funambulant 
Simile.   
Who seems to tread the air, and fall he must,  
Save his Self's weight him counterpoyseth just;  
And save the Lead, that in each hand he bears,  
Doth make him light: the gaping Vulgar fears,  
Amazed to see him; weening nothing stranger  
Than Art to master Nature, lucre danger.  
At last, though loath (full of despite and rage)  
He slideth down into a horrid hedge,  
Cursing and banning all the Gods; more mad  
For the disgrace, than for the hurt he had.   

Elsewhere the while (as imitating right  
The Kinde-blinde Beast, in russet Velvet dight) 
Mines & Coūtermine●.   
Covertly marching in the Dark by day,  
Samgarnebo seeks under ground his way.  
But Ebedmelech, warned of his Designs,  
Within the Town against him countermines  
Courageously, and still proceedeth on,  
Till (resolute) he bring both Works to one;  
Till one strict Berrie, till one winding Cave  
Become the Fight-Field of two Armies brave.   

As the self-swelling Badgerd▪ at the bay 
Simile.   
With boldest Hounds (enured to that Fray)  
First at the entry of his Burrow fights,  
Then in his Earth; and either other bites:  
The eager Dogs are cheered with claps and cries,  
The angry Beast to his best chamber flies,  
And (angled there) sits grimly inter-gerning;  
And all the Earth rings with the Terryers' yearning:  
So far these Miners; whom I pity must,  
That their bright Valour should so darkly ioust.   

While hotly thus they skirmish in the Vault,  
Quick Ebedmelech closely thither brought  
A Dry-Fat sheathed in latton plates without,  
Within with Feathers filled, and round about  
Bored full of holes (with hollow pipes of brass)  
Save at one end, where nothing out should pass;  
Which (having first his jewish Troops retired)  
Just in the mouth of th' enter-Mine he fired:  
The smoke whereof with odious stink doth make  
The Pagans soon their hollow Fort forsake:  
As from the Berries in the Winter's night 
Simile.   
The Keeper draws his Ferret (fleshed to bite).   

Now Rabshakeh (as busy) otherwhere  
A rolling tower against the Town doth rear,  
And on the top (or highest stage) of it  
A flying Bridge, to reach the Courtin ●it,  
With pulleys, poles; and planked Battlements  
On every story, for his Men's defence.  
On th' other side, the Townsmen ar● not slow  
With counterplots to counterpush their Foe:  
Now, at the wooden side, then at the front;  
Then at the Engines of the Persian Mount,  
With Brakes and Slings, and 
* Instruments of War wherein wild fire is put.  Phalariks they play,  
To fire their Fortress and their Men to slay:  
But yet, a Cord-Mat (stiffly stretched about)  
Defends the tower, and keeps their Tempests out.   

While thus they deal; Sephtiah, desperate,  
Him secretly out of the City got,  
And with a Pole of rozen-weeping Fir,  
So furiously he doth himself bestir,  
That with the same the walking Fort he fires:  
The cruel flame so to the top aspires,  
That (maugre Blood, shed from above in slaughter,  
And, from below, continual spouting Water)  
It parts the Fray: stage after stage it catches,  
And th' half-broyld soldiers head long down it fetches.   

The King (still constant against all extremes)  
To press them nearer yet; with mighty beams  
Rears a new Platform, nearer to the Wall,  
And covers it, with threefold shelter, all;  
The Timber (first) with Mud, the Mud with Hides,  
The Hides with Woll-sacks (which all Shot derides). 
Simile.   
As th' Air exhaled by the fiery breath  
Of th' Heavenly Lion, on an open Heath,  
Or on the tresses of a tufted Plain,  
Pours-down atonce both Fire and Hail and Rain:  
So all atonce th' Isaacia● Soldiers threw  
Floods, Flames, and Mountains on these Engines new;  
But th' hungry Flames the Muddy-damp repels,  
The Mounts, the Wool; the drowning Floods, the Fel●.   

Thear-under (safe) the Ram with iron horn,  
The brazen-headed clov'n-foot Capricorn,  
The boisterous Trepane, and steel Pick-ax play  
Their parts apace, not idle night nor day.  
Heer, thorough-riv'n from top to toe, the Wall  
On reeling props hangs, ready even to fall:  
There, a vast-Engine thundereth upsidedown  
The feeble Courtin of the sacred Town.   

If you have been, where you have seen somewhiles, 
Simile.   
How with the Ram they drive-in mighty Piles  
In Dover Peer, to bridle with a Bay  
The Sand-cast Current of the raging Sea;  
Swift-ebbing streams bear to the Sea the sound,  
Echo assisteth, and with shrill rebound  
Fills all the Town, and (as at Heavenly Thunder)  
The Coast about trembles for fear and wonder:  
Then have you heard and seen the Engines beating  
On Sion's Walls, and her foundations threating.   

In fine, the Chaldeis take jerusalem,  
And reave for ever juries Diadem.  
The smoky burning of her Turrets steep  
Seems even to make the Sun's brightey to weep:  
And wretched Salem, buried (as it were)  
Under a heap of her own Children dear,  
For lack of Friends to keep her Obsequies,  
Constraineth sighs (even) from her Enemies.  
Her massy Ruins and her Cinders show  
Her Wealth and Greatness, yer her overthrow.  
A sudden horror seizeth every eye  
That views the same: and every Passer-by  
(Yea, were he Get, or Turk, or Troglodyte)  
Must needs, for pity of so sad a Sight,  
Bestow some tears, some swelling sighs, or groans  
Upon these battered skulls, these scattered stones.  
In Palaces, where lately (gilded rich)  
Sweet Lutes were heard, now luckless' Oules do screech:  
The sacred TEMPLE, held (of late) alone  
Wonder of Wonders, now a heap of stone:  
The House of God (the Holyest-Holy-Place)  
Is now the House of Vermin vile and base:  
The Vessels, destined unto sacred use,  
Are now profaned in Riot and Abuse:  
None scapeth wounds, if any escape with life:  
The Father's reft of Son, the Man of Wife:  
Iacob's exiled, Iuda's no more in jury,  
But (wretched) sighs under the Chaldean fury.   

Their King in chains, with shame and sorrow thrilled, 
Hoshea.   
Before his face sees all the fairest peeled;  
Yea, his own Daughters, and his▪ Wives (alas!)  
(Rich Vines and Olives of his lawful Race)  
Whose love and beauty did his age delight,  
Shared to the Soldiers, ravished in his sight.   

O, Father, Father, thus the Daughter's cry  
(About his neck still hanging tenderly)  
Wither (alas!) O, whither hale they us?  
O, must we serve their base and beastly Lusts?  
Shall they dissolve our Virgin-zones? Shall they  
(Ignoble Grooms) gather our Mayden-May,  
Our spotless Flower, so carefully preserved  
For some great Prince, that mought have us deserved?  
O Hony-dropping Hills we yerst frequented,  
O Milk-full Vales, with hundred Brooks indented▪  
Delicious Gardens of deer Israel;  
Hills, Gardens, Vales, we bid you all farewell:  
We (will-we-nill-we) hurried hence, as slaves,  
Must now, for Cedron, sip of Tigris waves;  
And (weaned from our native Earth and Air)  
For Hackney-Iades be sold in every Fair.  
And (O hearts-horror!) see the shameless Foe,  
Forcing our Honours, triumph in our woe.   

All-sundring Sword! and (O!) all-cindring Fire!  
Which (mercyles) do SION's Wrack conspire,  
Why spare you us, more cruel (cried the Wives)  
In leaving ours, then reaving other's lives?  
Your pity's pityles, your Pardon Torture:  
For, quick dispatch had made our Sorrows shorter;  
But your seem-Favour, that prolongs our breaths,  
Makes us, alive, to die a thousand Deaths.  
For, O dear Husband, dearest Lord, can we,  
Can we survive, absented quite from Thee,  
And slaves to those whose Talk is nothing else  
But thy Disgrace, thy Gyves, and Israel's?  
Can we (alas!) exchange thy Royal bed  
(With cunning-cost rare richly furnished)  
For th' ugly cabin and the lousy Couch  
Of some base Buffoon, or some beastly Slouch?  
Can we, alas! can wretched we (I say)  
We, whose Commands whole Kingdoms did obey,  
We, at whose beck even Prince's knees did bend,  
We, on whose Train there daily did attend  
Hundreds of Eunuches, and of Maids of Honour  
(Kneeling about us in the humblest manner)  
To dress us neat, and duly every Morn  
In Silk and Gold our Bodies to adorn;  
Dress others now? work, on disgraceful frame  
(Weeping the while) our SION's woeful flame?  
Dragging like Moils? drudge in their Mills? and hold  
Brooms in our hands, for Sceptre-Rods of gold?   

Come, Parrots, come, ye have prated, now enough  
(The Pagan's cry in their insulting ruff)  
On Chaldè shores you shall go sigh your fill,  
You must with us to Babel: there at will  
You may bewail: there, this shall be your plight,  
Our Maids by day, our Bedfellows by night.  
And, as they spoke, the shameless lustful crew  
With furious force the tender Ladies drew  
Even from between th' arms of the woeful King,  
Them haling rough, and rudely hurrying;  
And little lacked the act of most despite,  
Even in their Father's and their Husband's sight,  
Who, his hard Fortune doth in vain accuse,  
In vain he raves, in vain he roars and rews:  
Even as a Lion, prisoned in his grate,  
Whose ready dinner is bereft of late,  
Roars hideously; but his fell Fury-storm  
May well breed horror, but it brings no harm.   

The proud fell Pagans do yet farther pass:  
They kill, they tear, before the Father's face  
(The more to gore: what Marble but would bleed?)  
They massacre his miserable seed.   

O! said the Prince, can you less piteous be  
To these Self-yielders (prostrate at your knee)  
Than sternly-valiant to the stubborn-stout  
That against your rage courageously stood-out?  
Alas! what have they done? what could they do  
To urge revenge and kindle wrath in you?  
Poor silly Babes under the nurses wing,  
Have they conspired against the Chaldean King?  
Have these sweet Infants that yet cannot speak,  
Broke faith with you? Have these, so young and weak,  
Yet in their Cradle, in their Clouts, bewailing  
Their Woes to-come (to all Mankind, unfayling)  
Disrayed your Ranks? Have these that yet do craul  
Upon all four, and cannot stand, at all,  
Withstood your Fury, and repulsed your Powers,  
Frustred your Rams, fired your flying Towers?  
And, bravely sallying in your face (almost)  
Hew'n-out their passage through all your Host?   

O! no, Chaldeans, only I did all:  
I did complot the King of Babel's fall:  
I foiled your Troops: I filled your sacred Flood  
With Chaldean bodies, died it with your blood.  
Turn therefore, turn your bloody Blades on-me;  
O! let these harm-less Littleones go free;  
And slain not with the blood of Innocents'  
Th' immortal Trophies of your high Attents.  
So, ever may the Riphean Mountains quake  
Under your feet: so ever may you make  
South, East, and West your own: on every Coast  
So, ay victorious march your glorious Host:  
So, to your Wives be you thrice welcome home,  
And so God bless your lawfull-loved womb  
With Selflike Babes, your substance with increase,  
Yourselves (at home) with hoary hairs in Peace. 
Simil●.    

But, as a Rock, 'gainst which the heavens do thunder,  
Th' Air roars about, the Ocean rageth under,  
Yields not a jot: no more this savage Crew;  
But rather, muse to findeout Tortures new.  
Heer, in (his sight) these cruel Lestrigons  
Between them take the eldest of his Sons,  
With keenest swords his trembling flesh they hew,  
One gobbet here, another there they streaw.  
And from the veins of dead-lyve limbs (alas!)  
The spiritful blood spins in his Father's face.  
There, by the heels his second Son they take,  
And dash his head against a chimneys back:  
The skull is pashed to pieces, like a Crock,  
Or earthen Stean, against a stony Rock:  
The scattered battered Brains, about besmeared,  
Some hang (O horror▪) in the Father's beard.  
Last, on himself their savage fury flies,  
And with sharp bodkins bore they out his eyes▪  
The Sun he loses, and an endless night  
Beclowds for ever his twin-balled sight:  
He sees no more, but feels the woes he bears;  
And now for crystal, weeps he crimson tears.  
For, so God would (and justly too, no doubt)  
That he which had in juda clean put-out  
Th' immortal Lamp of all religious light,  
Should have his eyes put-out, should lose his sight;  
And that his body should be outward blind,  
As inwardly (in holy things) his mind.   

O Butchers (said he) satiat your Thirst,  
Swill, swill your fill of Blood, until you burst:  
O! broach it not with bodkin, but with knife;  
O! reave me not my body's light, but life:  
Give me the sight not of the Earth, but Skies:  
Pullout my heart: O! poach not out mine eyes.  
Why did you not this barbarous deed dispatch,  
Yer I had seen me an un-sceptred Wretch,  
My cities sacked, my wealthy subjects piled,  
My Daughters ravished, and my Sons all killed?  
Or else, why stayed you not till I had seen  
Your (Beastlike) Master grazing on the Green:  
The Medes conspiring to supplant your Throne:  
And Babel's glory utter overthrown?  
Then had my soul with Fellow-Falls been eased,  
And then your pain, my pain had part appeased.   

O rageful Tyrants! moody Monsters, see,  
See here my Case; and see yourselves in me.  
Beware Contempt: tempt not the Heavenly Powers,  
Who thunder-down the high-aspiring Towers;  
But mildly pardon, and permit secure  
Poor Cottages that lie below obscure:  
Who Pride abhor; who lift us up so high,  
To let us fall with greater infamy.  
Th' Almighty sports him with our Crowns and us;  
Our glory stands so fickle-founded thus  
On slippery wheels, already rolling down:  
He gives us not, but only shows the Crown:  
Our Wealth, our Pleasure, and our Honour too  
(Where at the Vulgar make so much ado)  
Our Pomp, our State, our All that can be spoken,  
Seems as a glass, bright-shining, but soon broken.   

Thrice-happy He, whom with his sacred arm,  
Th' Eternal props against all Haps of harm:  
Who hangs upon his providence alone,  
And more prefers GOD'S Kingdom than his own.   

So happy be great BRITTANNE Kings (I pray)  
Our Sovereign JAMES, and all his Seed, for ay;  
Our hopeful HENRY, and a hundred more  
Good, faithful STVARTS (in successive row)  
Religious, righteous, learned, valiant, wise,  
Sincere to Virtue, and severe to Vice;  
That not alone These days of Ours may shine  
In Zeal-full Knowledge of the TRUTH divine  
And We (illightened with her sacred rays)  
May walk directly in the Saving ways  
Offaithfull Service to the ONE true Deity,  
And mutual Practice of all Christian Piety;  
But, that our Nephews, and their Nephews (till  
Time be no more) may be conducted still  
By the same Cloud by day, and Fire by night  
(Through this vast Desert of the World's despite)  
Towards their Home, the heavenly CANAAN,  
Prepared for us yer the World began:  
That they with us, and we (complete) with them,  
May meet triumphant in JERUSALEM;  
Within whose Pearly Gates and jasper Walls  
(Where, th' Holy LAME keeps his high Nuptials,  
Where needs no shining of the Sun, or Moon;  
For, God's own face makes there perpetual Noon:  
Where shall no more be wailings, Woes, nor Cries▪  
For, God shall wipe all tears from weeping eyes)  
Shall enter nothing filthy or unclean;  
No Hog, no Dog, no Sodomit obscene,  
No Witch, no Wanton, no Idolater,  
No Thief, no Drunkard, no Adulterer,  
No Wicked-liver, neither wilful Liar:  
These are without, in Tophet's endless Fire.   

Yet, such as these (or some of these, at least)  
We all have been: in somewhat all have missed  
(And, had we broken but one Precept sole,  
The Law reputes us guilty of the whole):  
But, we are washed, in the Sacred-Flood;  
But, we are purged, with the Sprinkled-Blood;  
But, by the Spirit, we now are sanctified;  
And through the Faith in IHSUS, iustify'd.  
Therefore no more let us ourselves defile,  
No more return unto our Vomit vile,  
No more profane us with Concupiscence,  
Nor spot the garment of our Innocence:  
But, constant in our Hope, fervent in Love  
(As even al-ready conversant Above)  
Proceed we cheerly in our Pilgrimage  
Towards our happy promised Haeritage,  
Towards That City of heart-bound-les Bliss  
Which CHRIST hath purchased with his Blood, for His:  
To Whom, with FATHER, and the SPIRIT, therefore  
Be Glory, Praise, and Thanks, for-evermore.   
Amen Amen Amen.   
FINIS.   


PIBRAC. Quad. 5.  
Say not, My hand This Work to END hath brought:  
Nor, This my Virtue hath attained to:  
Say rather thus; This, GOD by me hath wrought:  
GOD's Author of the little Good I do.    

D. O. M. S. GULIHLMO SALUSTIO POETARUM FACILE PRINCIPI, SCRIPTORI MIRABILI, PIO MIRABILIUM ASSERTORI, PRAECONI VIRT VTIS DULCI  
DOCTOQ. CVIVS MONUMENTA DOCUMENTA POSTER IS FUTURA SUNT: QVI MUS AS EREPTAS PROFANAE ' LASCIVIAE SACRIS MONTIBUS▪ REDDIDIT, SACRIS FONTIBUS ASPERSIT, SACRIS CANTIBUS  
IMBVIT, VIRO VERE NOBILI, MORTALIBUS EXWIIS SPOLIATO, IMMORTALITATIS COMPOTI,  
A●MM. PP.   


HIs, fateor, nemo exwijs inscribere honorem,  
Aut pater Aonij debuit ipsechori:  
Gratia sed quoniam taciti propè nulla doloris,  
Neu videar moest as non maduissegenas;  
Audiat ecce gemensetiam me turba gementem:  
Ecce, meus vano munere peccet amor.  
Et titulus saltem esto, BONA SUPER AETHERA FAMA NOTUS, EGET NULLO, QVI JACET HIC, TITULO.   
jac. Lectius.   

TO MY EVER-MOST-honoured Mistress, Mris Essex, wife to the right worthy William Essex of Lamborn, Esquire; and eldest Daughter of the right valiant, and Nobly-descended, Sir Walter Harecourt of Stanton-Harecourt Knight, Baron of Ellen-Hall.  

WIt's, beauty's, virtue's perfect Quintessence  
(Yet graçed in soul with more Divine perfection)  
Grace, with a glance of your mild Eye's reflection,  
This humble Pledge of Zeal and Reverence:  
Which (as the Stork, for grateful recompense,  
Where she hath bred, one of her Birds bestoweth)  
My thankful Muse (who you like Duty oweth)  
Here consecrates to your dear excellence.  
Dear ESSEX here (to make your Faith apparent  
Unto the Faithful, and confirm the same)  
Embrace (I pray) the Faith of ABRAHAM  
Offering his Isaac (on th' Almighty's warrant):  
So shall th' Imputer of his Righteousness  
Impute you yours; and your young isaac's bless.   
Your virtue's ever-vowed Servant, JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

TO virtues Pattern, and Beauty's Paragon, Mris jone Essex: now wife to the right worthy William Anderson Esquire (second Son of the late Lord Anderson) and only Sister of the Honorably-descended William Essex of Lamborn, Esquire.  

URANIA (noblest of the learned NINE)  
Coming from Heaven, to call my Muse from Earth,  
From Love's lose Sonnets, and lascivious Mirth;  
In sacred WEEKS to sing the Works divine:  
Of all the Nymphs extract from mortal Ligne,  
For sweet Companion picks you only forth  
(As best resembling her self's grace and worth)  
Dear Beauties best, Wits wonder, virtue's shrine.  
Sweet, heavenly temper of a human soul  
(Whose lovely smiles set coldest hearts afire;  
But, instantly, with modest brows control  
Th' aspiring hope of any bold desire)  
Deign t'entertain in your mild graceful manner  
This Heavenly Maid, the mirror of your Honour.   
Your virtue's humble Votary, JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

URANIA. OR The Heavenly Muse.  

1  
SCarce had I th' April of mine Age begun,  
When brave desire t' immortallize my Name,  
Did make me (oft) Rest and repast to shun,  
In curious project of some learned Frame.   

2  
But, as a Pilgrim, that full late doth light  
Upon a crossway, stops in sudden doubt;  
And, 'mid the sundry Lanes to find the right,  
More with his Witthan with his feet doth scout:   

3  
Among the many flowery paths that lead  
Up to the Mount, where (with green Bays) Apollo  
Crowns happy Numbers with immortal meed,  
I stood confused, and doubtful which to follow.   

4  
One while I sought, the Greekish-Scaene to dress  
In French Disguise: in loftier Style anon  
T'mbrew our Stage, with Tyrant's bloody Gests,  
Of Thebes, Mycaena, and proud Ilium.   

5  
Anon, I sacred to th' Aönian Band  
My Country's Story; and, condemning much  
The common error, rather took in hand  
To make the Mein, French, than the Sein be Dutch.   

6  
Anon, I meant with fawning pen to praise  
Unworthy Prince; and with gold and glory,  
T▪ enrich my Fortunes, and my Fate to raise,  
Basely to make my Muse a Mercenary.   

7  
Then (gladly) thought I, the Wagg-Son to sing  
Of wanton Venus; and the bitter-sweet,  
That Toomuch Love to the best wits doth bring:  
Theme, for my nature and mine age, too-meet.   

8  
While to and fro thus (tossed by Ambition)  
Yet unresolued of my Course, I rove;  
Lo, suddenly a sacred Apparition;  
Some Daughter (think I) of supernal jove.   

9  
Angelical her gesture and her gait;  
Divinely-sweet her speech and countenance;  
Her Ninefold Voice did choicely imitate  
Th' Harmonious Music of heavens nimble Dance.   

10  
Upon her Head, a glorious Diadem,  
Seaven-double-folded, moving diversely;  
And on each fold sparkled a precious Gem,  
Obliquely turning o'er our heads on high:   

11  
The first of Lead, the second Tin (me thought)  
Third Steel, the fourth of yellow Gold was cast,  
The fift of pale Electrum seemed wrought;  
sixth Mercury; of Silver was the last.   

12  
An azure Mantle on her back she wore,  
With artless Art, in orderly disorder;  
Flourished, and filled with thousand Lamps and more,  
Her sacred Beauty to setforth and further:   

13  
Heer flames the Harp, there shine the tender Twins,  
Heer Charles his Wain, there twinkling Pleyades,  
Heer the bright Balance, there the silver Finns,  
And thousand Stars more than I can express.   

14  
I am URANIA (then a-loud said she)  
Who humankind above the Poles transport,  
Teaching their hands to touch, and eyes to see  
All th' intercourse of the Celestial Court.   

15  
I quint-essence the Soul, and make the Poet  
(Passing himself) in a Divine Discourse  
To draw the deafest, by the ears untoit,  
To quicken stones, and stop the Ocean's course.   

16  
I grant, my learned Sisters warble fine,  
And ravish millions with their Madrigals:  
Yet all, no less inferior unto mine,  
Than Pies to Sirens, Geese to Nightingalls.   

17  
Then take Me (BARTAS) to conduct thy ●e●▪  
Soar-up to Heaven; Sing-me th' almighty's praise,  
And tuning now the jessean Harp again,  
Gain thee the Garland of eternal Bays.   

18  
I cannot (grief-less) see my Sister's wrongs  
Made Bawds to Lovers, in deceitful feignings,  
In forged sighs, false tears, and filthy Songs,  
Lascivious shows and counterfeit complainings.   

19  
Alas! I cannot▪ with dry eyes behold  
Our holy Songs sold and profaned thus  
To grace the grace-less; praising (tootoo bold)  
Caligula, Nero, and Commodus.   

20  
But, most I mourn to see r●●e Verse applied  
Against the Author of sweet Composition:  
I cannot brook to see heavens King defied  
By his own Soldiers, with his own Munition.   

21  
Man's eyes are ●ield-vp with Cimmerian mist:  
And, if aught precious in his Life he reach,  
Through sundry hands, by the heavens bounty is't:  
But God, himself, the Delphian Songs doth teach.   

22  
Each Art is learned by Art: but PO●SI●  
Is a mere Heavenly gift; and none can taste  
The Dews we drop from Pindus plenteously,  
If sacred Fire have not his breast imbraçed.   

23  
Thence is't, that many great Philosophers,  
Deep-learned Clarks (in Prose most eloquent)  
Labour in vain to make a graceful Verse,  
Which many a Novice frames most excellent.   

24  
Thence is't, that yerst, the poor Meonian Bard,  
Though, Master, means, and his own eyes he misses,  
Of Old and New is for his Verse preferred,  
In's stout Achilles, and his wise Ulysses.   

25  
Thence is't, that Ovid cannot speak in Prose:  
Thence is't, that David (Shepherd, turned Poet)  
So soon doth learn my Songs: and Youths compose  
After our Art, before (indeed) they knoweit.   

26  
Dive day and night in the Castalian Fount,  
Dwell upon Homer and the Mantuan Muse,  
Climb night and day the double-topped Mount,  
Where the Pierian learned Maidens use:   

27  
Read while thou wilt, read over every Book  
In Pergamus, and in the famous City  
That her great name, of Alexander took;  
Still ply thy Pen, practise thy language (witty):   

28  
Take time enough, choose seat and season fit,  
To make good Verse at best advantage place thee:  
Yet worthy fruit thou shalt not reap of it,  
For all thy toil, unless Minerva grace thee.   

29  
For, out of Man, Man must him all advance,  
That time-proof Poems ever hopes to utter;  
And, extased (as in a holy Trance)  
Into our hands his Sensive part must pother.   

30  
For, as a human Fury makes a man  
Less than a man: so Divine-fury makeshim  
More than himself; and sacred Frenzy than  
Above the heavens bright-flaming Arches takes-him.   

31  
Thence, thence it is that Divine Poets bring  
So sweet, so learned, and so lasting Numbers,  
Where heavens and Nature's secret works they sing,  
Free from the power of Fates eternal slumbers.   

32  
True Poets, right are like winde-Instruments,  
Which full, do sound; empty, their noise surceases:  
For, with their Fury lasts their Excellence;  
Their Muse is silent, when their Fury ceases.   

33  
Sith therefore Verses have from Heaven their spring,  
O rarest spirits! how dare you (damned scorners)  
Profanely wrest against Heaven's glorious King,  
These sacred gifts given for your lives adorners?   

34  
Shall your ingrateful pens be always waiting,  
As Servants to the Flesh, and slaves to Sin?  
Will you your Volumes evermore be freighting  
With Dreams and Fables, idle Fame to win?   

35  
Still will you fill the World with Lovesick groans?  
Still will you fawn on Fools, and flatter Evil?  
Still will you parbreak loathsome passions?  
Still will you make an Angel of a Devil?   

36  
Still will you comment on this common Story?  
And (Spider-like) weave idle Webs of folly?  
O! shall we never hear you sing the glory  
Of God, the great, the good, the just, the holy?   

37  
Is't not enough, that in Your souls, ye feel  
Your Paphian Fire? but every Brothel-Lover,  
T' inchaunt the wanton with his wanton style,  
Must (Strumpet-like) his lust full flame discover?   

38  
Is't not enough that you yourselves do wallow  
In foul delights? but that you must entice  
Your heed-less Readers your lose Race to follow;  
And so, for Virtue, make them fall to Vice?   

39  
Tunes, Notes, and Numbers (whence we do transfer  
Th' harmonious power that makes our Verse so pleasing)  
The sternest Cato's are of force to stir,  
Man's noblest spirits with gentle Fury seizing.   

40  
And, as a Seal printeth in wax (almost)  
Another Seal; A learned Poet graveth  
So deep his passions in his Readers ghost,  
That oft the Reader, th' Author's form receiveth.   

41  
For, Verse's virtue, sliding secretly  
(By secret pipes) through th' intellectual Notions;  
Of all that's portrayed artificially  
Imprinteth there both good and evil motions.   

42  
Therefore did Plato, from his None-Such banish  
Base Poetasters, that with vicious verse  
Corrupted manners, making virtue vanish,  
The wicked, worse; and even the good perverse.   

43  
Not those, that cared to match their graceful Phrases  
To grave-sweet matters: singing now the praise  
Of justest jove; anon from errors mazes  
Keeping th' un-steady, calling-back the strays.   

44  
O profane Wrighters▪ your lascivious Rhyme  
Makes our best Poets to be basely deemed,  
As jugglers, jesters, and the scum of Time;  
Yea, with the Vulgar less than these esteemed.   

45  
You make chaste Clio, a light wanton Minion;  
Mount Helicon, a Stews: your ribaldry  
Makes prudent Parents (strict in their opinion)  
To bar their Children reading Poëtry:   

46  
But, if you would (yet'at the last) inure-yee  
Your Gnidian Idols in the dust to trample,  
And rouse the Genius of your sacred-Furie,  
To show the World some holy Works example;   

47  
All would admire your Rhymes, and do you honour,  
As Secretaries of the Heavenly Court;  
And Majesty would make you wait upon-her,  
To manage Causes of the most import.   

48  
The chain of Verse was at the first invented  
To handle only sacred mysteries  
With more respect: and nothing else was chanted  
For long time after in such Poësies.   

46  
So did my David on the trembling strings  
Of his divine Harp only sound his God:  
So milde-souled Moses, to lehovah sings  
jacobs' deliverance from th' Egyptian's Rod.   

50  
So Deborah and judith, in the Camp;  
So job and jeremy, in cares oppressed;  
In tune-ful Verses of a various stamp,  
Their joys and sighs, divinely-sweet expressed.   

51  
And therefore Satan (who transforms him slily  
T' an Angel of the Light, the more t'abuse)  
In's Oracles and Idols speaking wily,  
Not common Prose, but curious Verse did use.   

52  
So the fond Maid-Priests of Apollo sung  
His Oracles in sweet Hexameters,  
With doubtful Riddles from a double tongue,  
To hap-less-hopefull, conquered-Conquerers.   

53  
So th' ancient voice in Dodon worshipped,  
So Aesculapius, Hamon, and the fair  
And famous Sibyls spoke and prophesied  
In Verse: in Verse the Priest did make his prayer.   

54  
So Orpheus, Linus, and Hesiodus  
(Where of the first charmed stocks, and stones, they say)  
In sacred Numbers dared (to profit us)  
Their divine secrets of deep skill convaigh.   

55  
O! you that long so, for the Laurel Crown,  
Where's possible a richer Theme to take,  
Than his high praise, who makes the heavens go round,  
The Mountains tremble, and dark Hell to quake?   

56  
This subject, is a deep, broad, boundless Ocean,  
Th' abundant Horn of Plentiful discourse;  
The Magazine of wealth for Wits quick motion;  
Of divine Eloquence th' immortal source.   

57  
Base Argument, a base style ever yields:  
But (of itself) a lofty subject raises  
Grave-stately words, and (of itself) it gilds  
Itself; and crowns the Author's Pen with praises.   

58  
If then you would survive yourselves so gladly,  
Fellow not him, who burned (to purchase fame)  
DIANA's Temple: neither him that madly  
To get renown, a Brazen Bull did frame.   

59  
Employ no more th' Elixir of your spirit  
On Cytheréa and her winged Son.  
How better never to be named were-it,  
Then named (blamed) for a mischief done?   

60  
We, Thrice-three Sisters of Parnassus Hill,  
Be Virgins all: your Pallas self is so,  
So is that sacred Tree-turned Lady still,  
From whose pure Locks your stil-green Laurels grow.   

61  
Then, consecrate-me (rather) your Wits miracles,  
To sacred Stories: spend your Eloquence  
In singing loud those holy heavenly Oracles,  
Pour there your Souls pure precious quint-essence.   

62  
Let CHRIST (as Man-God) be your double Mount  
Whereonto Muse, and, for the winged hoove  
Of Pegasus, to dig th' Immortal Fount,  
Take th' Holy-Ghost, typed in a Silver Dove.   

63  
Excelling Works, preserve the Memory  
Of those that make them: The Mausolean tomb  
Makes Artemisia, Scopas, Timothy,  
Live to this day, and still in time to come.   

64  
Nameles had Hiram been, but for his aid  
Towards God's Temple, built in Israel:  
And, but for God's Ark, in dark silence laid  
Long since had been th' Hebrew Bezaleel.   

65  
Then, sith these great and goodly Monuments  
Can make their makers, after death abide;  
Although themselves have Vanished long since,  
By Age, and Rage, Fire, Arms and Storms destroyed:   

66  
O think (I pray) how-much-much greater glory  
Shall you attain, when your Diviner quality,  
In sacred strains shall singth ' almighty's Story,  
Sith from immortal things springs Immortality.   

67  
I know, you'll answer, that the Ancient Fictions  
Are (even) your Song's soul: and that every Fable  
Ay breeding other, makes by their commixtions,  
(To Vulgar ears) your Verse more admirable.   

68  
But, what may be more admirable found,  
Then Faith's Effects? or what doth more control  
wit's curious pride? or with more force confound  
The reach and reason of a human soul?   

69  
I'd rather sing the tower of Babylon,  
Than those three Mountains, that in frantic mood  
The Giants piled to pull love from his Throne:  
And Noah's rather than Deucalion's Flood.   

70  
I'd rather sing the sudden shape-depriving  
Of Assurs Monarch, than th' Arcadian King:  
And the Bethanian Lazarus reviving,  
Than valiant Theseus Sonn's re-sodering.   

71  
Th' one, only doth delight their ears, that hear it;  
The other tends to profit in some measure▪  
But, only He the Laurel Crown doth merit,  
Who wisely mingles profit with his Pleasure.   

72  
As sweetest walks are by the water's side,  
And safest swimming near the flowery shore:  
So, prudent writers never do divide  
Knowledge from Mirth, Mirth from instruction's lore.   

73  
Such shall you be, if such a task you take;  
For, teaching others, you yourselves shall learn-all  
Rules of good life: and happy so shall make,  
As is your subject, your own Songs eternal.   

74  
Abandon then those Olde-wives-tales and Toys;  
Leave the Blind Lad, who but the blind abuses;  
And only, addle, idle hearts annoys.  
Henceforth no more profane the Sacred Muses.   

75  
But (O!) in vain, in vain (alas!) I plain-me;  
Some (subtle Aspics) to eschew my Charming,  
Stop their dull ears; some (Epicures) disdain-me  
And my advice; and scoff my zealous warning.   

76  
Some, for a season listen to my Laws,  
But soon Relapse, through the World's sorceries;  
And this discourse (which but the Virtuous draws)  
Enters at one ear, and at th' other flies.   

77  
Alas! I see scarce one (nay, none at all)  
That courts not Venus; or corrupts not more  
His golden Honey, with profaner Gall:  
Although this Age of happy Wits have store.   

78  
But thou (my Darling) whom before thy birth,  
The Sacred Nine that lip th' immortal spring  
Of Pegasus, predestined to set forth  
Th' almighty's glory, and his praise to sing:   

79  
Although their Subject seem a barren soil,  
Which finest Wits have left for fallow fields;  
Yet, do thou never from this task recoil:  
For, what is rarest, greatest glory yields.   

80  
Faint not (my- Sallust) though fell Envy bark  
At the bright Rising of thy fair Renown;  
Fear not her malice; for, thy living Work  
(In spite of spite) shall not be trodden down.   

81  
That Fames-foe Monster, is much like a Cur,  
That fiercely barks at every new-com Guest;  
But, once-acquainted, after doth not stir,  
Saving at strangers; fawning on the rest.   

82  
Or like a thick, dark, pitchy Cloud of smoke,  
That roundabout, a kindling Fire suppresses  
With waving smother, the new Flame to choke:  
But, as the Flame augments, the Fume decreases.   

83  
Wherefore (my deer) that sacred Path pursue,  
Where none but Heaven▪ blessed happy spirits can pace:  
And here I swear, that shortly for thy due,  
Among best Wits thou shalt have worthy place.   

84  
With these sweet accents (graced in utterance)  
URANIA, holding in her Maiden-hand  
A glorious Crown, rapt-up (in sacred Trance)  
My prostrate soul, priest to her high Command.   

85  
Since when, alone that Love my hearthath fired;  
Since when, alone that Wind my sails hath spread:  
O happy! might I touch that Crown (desired)  
But with my hand, not put it on my head.   

86  
Now out of zeal to your dear Name and You  
(Dear noble Name, that I must aye affect:  
And whose Disasters; I must ever rue)  
This MONUMENT of Honour I erect  
To you (sweet ESSEX) as your virtues due,  
For an eternal token of Respect:  
Where, your great worth, and my goodwill shall stand  
Enrolled for ever, with VRANIA's hand.   
FINIS.   

THE TRIUMPH of FAITH, formerly DEDICATED, and now again, for ever Consecrated to the grate-ful Memory of the first kind Fosterer of our tender Muses, my neversufficiently-honored dear Uncle W. PLUMB, Esq.  
For whose dear Bones we would a tomb advance Of Gold, and Silver, and CORINTHIAN Brass, With Ivory Pillars mixed with jest and Rance, Rarer and richer than th' old CARIAN's was;  

And stately deck the same  
With Stories of his Fame:  
And roundabout it wright  
His Virtues shining bright:   
But, sith the most of our poor Means (alas!) Not the least part of that Rich Pride affords; For want of Wealth, we build a tomb of Words:  

Which (though it cost less) shall outlast  
The proud cloud threatening Battlements,  
Th' aspiring Spires by NILUS plaçed,  
And Hell-deep-founded Monuments.   
For greedy waste of Hours, that all things else devours, Spares the sweet Maids of sacred HELICON: And those fair Ladies, to their Friends alone, This precious Gift do give, Still (after Death) to Live.   

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.  
To Guy de Faur, Lord of Pibrac: W. Salustius du BARTAS.  

I Hate those satires, that the best still bite:  
I hate the shameless pens that soothe the vicious:  
For, these be flatterers, and those malicious:  
But, wise is he can hit the Mean aright.   

I pinch not oft, nor do I often praise:  
Yet, must I needs praise the praiseworthy still:  
I cannot hold my free and forward quill  
From those whom Heaven adorns with special rays.   

Now, all that God doth by retail bestow  
On perfectest men, to thee in gross he gives:  
Therefore my Muse thy praise so often drives,  
For duties sake, but not to flatter so.   

Our Age's wonder! when thy tongue (refined  
By use and Art) in our King's name dilates  
With Counsels, german or furred Polish States,  
The sweet-tongued Cyneas thou dost make us mind.   

In Privy counsel, when our miseries  
Thou dost be-moan, most Nestor-like thou art:  
And when, in Paris Parliament, thy part▪  
Of Laws thou plead'st, thou seem'st to Scaevolize.   

Thy Latin Prose doth match smooth Salusts style:  
And when thy Pen distils the Nectar sweet  
Of Helicon (where all the Muses meet)  
Me thinks I read sweet Virgil all the while.   

In honour of these gifts, this gift I bring,  
Small for my pains, great for the Argument:  
But if the heavens had richer treasure lent,  
Thy New-yeeres-gift should be some better thing.   

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.    

THE TRIUMPH OF FAITH.  

Canto I.  

1  
Near th' hour that Erycin' Aurora calls,  
And she the Sun, sad Morpheus entering in  
Through's horny gate, to show me did begin  
A sacred Virgin's stately TRIUMPHALS.   

2  
Then Faith (for so she height) bids, with celerity,  
Of Pen and Paper that I make provision  
To wright the sum of this celestial Vision,  
To be recorded unto all Posterity.   

3  
I know my task to be impossible:  
I know, in this, man's eyes are beetle-blinde:  
His ears quite deaf: clean void of sense his mind:  
But, hardest things Faith makes most possible.   

4  
Eternal Sun, O scatter with thy Light  
All misty clouds, that make me not to see  
Thy healthful face; and give true Faith to me,  
Since Faith (sans Faith) cannot be known aright.   

5  
FAITH sits triumphant on a Carr of gold,  
Of Tubals making, where blue sapphires shine,  
Rich Diamonds, and many Rubies fine,  
And if ought else the world more costly hold.   

6  
Her glorious Charret's rolling wheels are like  
The holy wheels the great Ezekiel saw;  
For, one self spirit, self wind, and will doth draw,  
Their restless courses, equal, both alike.   

7  
The Bird that led the Roman Standards out:  
The Bird, that fixtly can oppose his eyes  
Against the greatest light in all the skies;  
High through the air, draws this rich Coach about.   

8  
Faith flaunts it not in silver, silk, nor gold,  
Nor precious scarlet of the Tyrian Die,  
Nor paints her face to hide deformity;  
But, as she is, she doth herself unfold.   

9  
Her body (that all bodies doth disgrace)  
Like Juno's Bird, is full of watchful eyes  
Whose holy glances pierce the lofty skies,  
Pearce Air, and Heaven, and see God face to face.   

10  
She hath many sweet and flowing tongues to praise  
The Lord of Hosts: she hath strong and mighty wings  
(Passing the swiftness of all earthly things)  
That in a moment up to Heaven her raise.   

11  
Her glorious head is compassed with a Crown,  
Not made of Olive, Pine, or Laurel bough,  
Nor Parsley Wreath, which Grecians did allow  
Th' Olympian games, for signals of renown:   

12  
But, of fresh Roses plucked from Honour's Tree,  
That never shrink for Winter's chilling frost,  
Nor whither not, when Titan patcheth most:  
For, by the Lord they ever watered be.   

13  
Now, stain-les Truth for Standards doth display  
Two Testaments: next, Courage marshal's right  
Th' undaunted Troops that are prepared to fight  
Under her Colours, into ba●●ail-ray.   

14  
Then, Constancy bears a twoedged Blade,  
And Patience an impenetrable Shield,  
Whose brightness hath inforçed more Monsters yield,  
Then that which of grim Gorgon's head was made.   

15  
Next, Charity, that kindly doth prefer  
Her neighbours good before her own utility:  
Repentance, Hope, and hearty-milde Humility,  
Do flank the wings of Faith's triumphant Carr.   

16  
For, Faith (indeed) without her Maids were vain.  
But, as the Sun can never lack his light,  
Nor fire want heat: so (if we mark-aright)  
Faith cannot want these Handmaids in her train.   

17  
Before this Coach, there is a Beldame gone,  
That seems (at first) fairer than Helen was:  
But, nearer viewed, she is more foul (alas!)  
Then fell Megaera, Allecto ' r Tisiphone.   

18  
She never goes (like Faith) with open face;  
But seeks for masks, visard's, and garments gay,  
For cloak on cloak, to keep the light away,  
Of her loathed limbs to hide the foul disgrace.   

19  
She hath tongues (like Faith) with which she boldly chats,  
Blaspheming Heaven with filthy vanities;  
She hath eyes, like Faith: but yet (alas!) those eyes  
See clear by night, by day are blind as Bats.   

20  
She hath wings (like Faith) with which she soars on high,  
Like Icarus, she proudly mounts aloft;  
Forgetting that her feathers are so soft,  
Till Phoebus' force her waxed wings dofri●.   

21  
She (whom, sans reason, men have Reason height)  
Since first, in Fire, the Lord the Air enclosed;  
In Air the Sea, in Sea the Earth disposed;  
Hath with mild Faith maintained continual fight;   

22  
Now, arming Kings, and putting in their brains,  
That nothing less beseems their Royal State,  
Than under Faith their Sceptres to abate:  
Then to endure her gentle-ruling reans.   

23  
Anotherwhile, she puffs with poysony pride  
(Whom their Disciples only Doctors deem)  
Such as (I grant) have spent much oil, and time,  
To draw men's souls from the true way, too-wide.   

24  
Yet still, the Lord (who still upholds the just)  
Hath still the cause of holy Faith maintained:  
Hath still, so well her holy side sustained,  
That still her Foes lie grovelling in the dust.   

25  
A thousand Princes, bound in fetters fast,  
Before her march, that her mild Yoke disdeigned:  
That all the Earth with blood of Saints disteyned,  
And Christ his Church with Fire and Sword did waste.   

26  
He that (the first) in this world's Pupillage,  
Brained his own brother, leads this bloody crew: 
Cain.   
Then th' hardened Tyrant that did dare pursue  
Through the Red-Sea God's chosen Heritage. 
Pharaoh.    

27  
Then saw I him, that Zachary did stone, 
joash.   
Athalia, Ahab, wicked Abian,  
Occozias, Amon, Ahaz, and joram:  
Then all that sat on the Samarian Throne.   

28  
I saw Senacherib, and Him whose Grace 
Nebuchadnezar   
Was turned to grass, proud Hammon and withal  
Brave Holophernes, and who on the Wall  
Read how his Kingdom to the Medes should pass. 
Baltsazar.    

29  
Annas and Caiaphas, and he that set  
His hateful Idol in the holy Place,  
Which five jew-brethrens bravely did deface: 
Antiochus illustris.   
These all, too-late, in sad repentance fret.   

30  
The Tyrant too, that (at our Saviour's birth) 
Herod.   
In Cradles killed so many Innocents':  
And that vile judge, whose seared conscience 
Pilate.   
Condemned the guiltless judge of all the earth.   

31  
That viperous Monster (of Mankind the shame) 
Nero.   
Who, Mother, Wives, Brethren, and Sisters slew,  
Then from a lofty tower did laugh to view  
Rome's glittering Spires all on a burning flame,   

32  
With Seventh Severus came accompanied:  
jule, Maximin, with fell Maximian,  
Cruel Gallerian, fond Domitian,  
That (God-less) would like God be honoured.   

33  
Then saw I him, that served Sapores  
For footstool base: I saw Aurelian, 
Valeri●●.   
Decius, Lycinus, and Hostilian;  
And fell Maxentius, marching next to these.   

34  
I saw great trajan, learned Aurelius,  
And learned Dioclesian: all which three  
Among wise Caesar's might well praised be,  
Had they not been against Christians barbarous.   

35  
justin, Theodorus, Constantinus Son, 
An●stasius.   
Heraclius, Ualence, Constance, Manuel,  
And that Bizantian Prince, that did mis-tell  
A fourfold Essence in the only ONE. 
Comn●●●●s.    

36  
Then (Goths and Uandals) Gens'ric, Trasimond)  
Honorius, Theodorus, Totilas,  
Alaricus, and Rhotoris (alas!)  
Who Rome, and Africa with S 〈…〉 blood have drowned,   

37  
But who is this that laden so with chains,  
By thousand hangmen racked with despite,  
By thousand furies tortured day and night,  
For Godless deeds receives so righteous pains?   

38  
'Tis Mahomet, who more by Mavors' Art, 
Sergius a Nestorian Monk holp Mahomet to make his Alcoran.   
Than's Koran (Bird of a friars nest)  
Hath all subdued the wealthy golden East,  
And won withal the triple world's best part.   

39  
I see Prince Saladine, of matchless force,  
But th' Koran, too-deeply favouring:  
Haly th' Caliphe, and the wanton King  
That did our Maids on Edess Altars force.   

40  
With wrath and woe, old Ottoman oppressed,  
Too-late repentance in his face presents;  
And Mahomet, the second, much laments  
That he the Greekish Empery suppressed.   

41  
So the proud scorn of (scourge-Turk) Tamburlaine, 
Bajazeth.   
That in an iron Cage was cooped strait;  
And he that first presumed to pass the Straight,  
Which Europe's bounds divides from th' Asian.   

42  
Then he that quittance did with Scythia cry,  
And over Sea his Sceptre raised again; 
Mahomet 3   
And Amurath, that did repel amain  
Uincenslaus, that first had made him fly.   

43  
Orcan (the Phrygian▪ s fear) and Calipine,  
Who foiled Sigismond's host, his Father feared;  
And Bajazeth, that, being haughty reared  
By german Trophies, did their peace repine.   

44  
He that his Sire and Brother put to death, 
Selim ●   
Is with a Cable killed; his Son, that quailed  
Th' Hungarian King, and Rhodes, and Bud assailed, 
Solyman.   
With trembling fear now quakes like Aspen leaf.   

45  
And near this Solyman there doth remain  
An empty room for him that yet survives, 
Selim.   
Who (by our King's strange jars) so richly thrives,  
That (proud) he threats both Germany and Spain.   

46  
O wretched Christians! while your civillrage  
'Gainst your own hearts doth arm your proper hands,  
O see you not the Turks invade your Lands,  
And safely spoil the Lord's choice heritage?   

47  
The discord grown 'twixt the Bulgarian King,  
And th' Eastern Caesar, even the Bridge it was  
For hate-Christ Turk's the Hellespont to pass,  
And so in Greece a Pagan Sceptre bring.   

48  
The discord of two brethren Morea lost,  
And (O!) I fear lest Christians homebred frays  
(Dejecting quite Christ's name, and all his praise)  
Bring Turks to land in farthest Western coast.   

49  
Forget then (Christians) your un-christian iarr●  
(Your civil strife for wagging of a straw)  
join hearts & hands, and all joint weapons draw  
In Faith's defence to fight Iehoua's wars.   

50  
In Asia and Egypt make your Forces known:  
Recover Gaza, A●tioch, Ascalon,  
tire, Sidon, joppa, and King David's Throne,  
And Famagosta lost a year agone.    

Canto II.  

1  
THough bloody Tyrants had in every age,  
Busiris Altars, Bulls of Phalaris,  
Gemonid Ladders, making Land and Seas,  
And fire, and air, racks of their beastly rage:   

2  
Yet could they never wound the Church so much,  
As have the Writings of the worldly Wise,  
Which on men's souls do felly tyrannize;  
The tortures, only did the body's touch.   

3  
These Sages, puffed with selfconceited pride,  
Dare to control th' Almighty's match-less work,  
Where mystik Secrets from our senses lurk,  
The search whereof the Lord hath us denied.   

4  
And, though the spread of our too-feeble wings,  
Scant raise us from the ground, they mount aloft  
Even up to Heaven, where they do measure oft  
(By their Wit's compass) God's eternal things.   

5  
Their knowledge is but merely ignorance,  
They lose the truth in seeking it too much:  
For, Truth doth still conceal herself from such,  
And to the humble doth herself advance.   

6  
Truth always dwells within the holy Tables  
Of God's live Word; not in our wanton brain,  
Which daily coining some strange Error vain,  
For Gold takes Led, for Truth electeth Fables.   

7  
Long time their reasons were with Reason ri●e,  
To wrack the Church, and Faith to ruinated:  
But, now I see they do detest too late,  
Their former errors and their former life.   

8  
In foremost rank, march all Gymno-sophists 
1 The ancient Sages of the world   
Followed by all the cunning Persian Mages,  
Th' old French Druids, learned Calde-Sages,  
And flower of all the Brachmane-sophists.   

9  
Pathagoras, Zeno, Xenophanes, 
2 Philosophers, Greeks & Latins   
Parmenides, merry Democritus,  
Empedocles, and sad Heraclitus,  
Archytas, Naucides, Nausiphanes.   

10  
Brief, all the Doctors of the Latin Sect  
Tearing their Tresses, melting into tears,  
Beating their breasts, detest those Dreams of theirs:  
And so the greatest of the Greeks Elect.   

11  
Anaximander, Anaximenes,  
Mylesian Thales, Anaxagoras,  
Gnawn with continual care, cry out (alas)  
On their own Errors, and so Socrates.   

12  
Cleanthes, and Chrysippus next to these,  
With Zeno (Sto●k●) that have often strayed:  
And next the Cyn●ks (all as ill-appayed)  
Diogenes, Crates, Antisthones.   

13  
There, the grand Patrons of each Anadem,  
Plato, Speusippus, and Zenocrates,  
Clytomachus, Crantor, Carneades;  
And he that labours to conciliate them.   

14  
There mourns in vain Pirrhon (Son of Plistarchus)  
That (fond) believes not what his ears do hear,  
Eyes see, nose smells, tongue tastes, and hands do bear:  
Then Timon, Hecate, and Anaxarchus.   

15  
There, the Stagirian (that with learned vain, 
Aristotle.   
In's Works includes the Encyclopedy)  
Sorry t'have led so many souls awry,  
With Strato and Theophrastus doth complain.   

16  
There carnal Epicurns wails with tears,  
And Metodorus, next to whom there came  
Both Aristipp●, Aretas, and that same  
Vile wretch that coined a worse sect than theirs:   

17  
I mean that Monster Theodorus height,  
Who shame-less says, There is no God at all:  
And that the Wise may (when occasions fall)  
Be Liar, Traitor, Thief, and Sodomite.   

18  
Alas! how true the Proverb proves too plain,  
Saying, Bad weeds grow everywhere apace:  
But, wholesome herbs scant spring in any place  
Without great labour, and continual pain.   

19  
O Grecians Baen, thy mortifying mores  
To grow in Rome the swelling Seas have crossed;  
From Rome too soon over the Alps have past  
As far as France, and all her neighbour shores.   

20  
Thy deadly Plant now buds on justice Throne,  
In Christian Camps, and Courts of Christian Kings,  
In Church and Chair, and everywhere so springs,  
That with thy thistles all is overgrowen.   

21  
But, now return we to our task again:  
All these Wisemen, of God have false defined,  
Of Cheefest-good, Souls, or wrong place assigned,  
Where (dead) we feel, or endless peace or pain.   

22  
Those that since Christ (true Son of righteousness) 
3. Deceitful Sophists and Apostates, open Enemies of Christ.   
On our Horizon brought the days broad light,  
Have led men's souls in dark eternal night,  
Feel torments worthy of their wickedness.   

23  
Next Symmachus, Porphirius marches first,  
Lucian, and Celsus then, whose hardened heart  
The Gospel (known) did labour to subvert,  
And julian also, of all Caesar's worst:   

24  
Who, knowing well that tortures were but vain  
To force the Saints from the right Faith to stray;  
(By sugared style) studies another way,  
Turns truth to lies, and lies to truth again.   

25  
Next, I perceive the Circumcised Crew 
4. Cabalists, and Talmudists, Rabbis.   
Of Cabalists, and butly Talmudists,  
Troubling the Church with their mysterious Mists,  
Who well-nigh dead'gainst CHRIST do spit and spew:   

26  
Much like to Snakes, that wag their stingles sting,  
When as (their heads and bodies being slain)  
They threat their Foes with force-less fury vain,  
And to their Graves their Thirst of vengeance bring.   

27  
Now come the Doctors of the Koran, 
5. Turkish Doctors.   
Who mingling poison, by their subtle gloze,  
The World's blind eyes with darker Clouds enclose;  
They show their sorrow by their saddest moan.   

28  
But, who are these that wear Faith's Livery, 
6. Heretics old and new.   
And bear the badge of Faith's best Soldiers;  
And yet are laden with such bolts and bars;  
And so despised of Faith's company?   

29  
These (if I ere not) are the Heretics▪  
Who (pushed by proud and curious spirits) do blend  
Both Heaven and Earth, and busily contend,  
To lead the World in crooked paths and Creeks.   

30  
Now, as soft winds, with strait constrained breath  
(Through chinks and crannies stealing privily)  
Hurt more our health, than boisterous blasts that fly  
And roll (abroad) the stones upon a heath:   

31  
And, as the Foe that shakes the city's wall●  
With thundering shot, is not so dangerous,  
As a lewd Burgess false and mutinous,  
That in the Town stirs-up domestik brawls:   

32  
So, Pagans, Turks, jews, do not damnify  
The Faith, like these: their open violence  
May be avoided: but false fair-pretence  
Is hardly scaped with much jeopardy.   

33  
They make (like us) a fair religious show:  
They have (like us) one Church, one FAITH, one Lord:  
They read (like us) one Bible, and one Word:  
So sly they are, God's Church to overthrow.   

34  
In foremost rank, here go the Sadduces,  
That to deny Angels, and Resurrection;  
Both Spirits of grace, and of rejection:  
Then th' Esseans foul, and Formal Pharises.   

35  
Next, that deceiver, that devised first 
Simon Magus. Nicolaus, Author of the Sect of the Nicolaites.   
Church-chaffering: and after him ensues  
That mariage-Foe, who brutishly renews  
Pluto's (not Plato's) Common-law accursed.   

36  
Cerinthus next, all bruised, and bleeding fresh,  
Of Beam-pasht wounds that brained him suddenly,  
When in the Baths (profane) he did deny  
Christ's holy Godhead, hidden in our flesh.   

37  
For having likewise warred against the same  
Godhead of th' only Man-God; Ebion,  
Paul, Samyan, Photin, Carp'crate, Artemon,  
Show by their looks their sorrow and their shame.   

38  
There mourns that Manés; who did fond fain  
Two diverse Gods, Authors of Good and Ill;  
There Valentin the air with cries doth fill,  
Who did deny that bodies Rise again.   

39  
Cerdon (great Patron of the Stoïcall)  
Martion, Menander piteous Moan do make:  
There sighs Apelles, saying Christ did take  
Not (simply) flesh, but flesh fantastical.   

40  
There goes Basilides, who canonised  
Cyrenean Simon, in our SAVIOUR'S steed;  
Montanus there (afrantik head indeed)  
Who guiltless Children killed and sacrificed.   

41  
There, Tatians, Encrati●s, Severio●s,  
Sabellians too, which (seeking th' unity,  
In God's great Essence) lost the Trinity;  
Abhor too-late their fond conclusions.   

42  
There, th' Alexandrian Priest, that yerst did void 
Arrius.   
His entrails at the stool, whose Heresy  
(Witching well-near th' Earth's University)  
With Sword and Schism the World so much annoyed,   

43  
Sadly beholds sad-marching Macedonius  
And Eunomus, who at the first had sown  
His poysonie seeds; but after, of their own  
They gathered two other Sects erroneous.   

44  
Bizantian Nestor, and (our own) ●●lagius,  
Libyan Donatus, Luciferians,  
Euticheans fond, and fond Priscillians,  
All frown and fret, for inward grief outrageous.   

45  
Shall I conceal servetus, and the train  
Of those Dëists that in Sarmatia swarms:  
And (Kingling) Muncer, that with frantic arms,  
Found'st hundred sorts of Anabaptists vain?   

46  
Both Syrteses sands I might as easily number,  
As number those, whose sweet in chanting Writs  
With Error's dregs have drenched wanton Wits,  
Chiefly'n this Age, which all corruptions cumber.   

47  
For, Satan now him so insinuates  
In faithless hearts, that ween themselves be wise,  
That so foul Error can he not devise,  
But shall be backed by strong associates.   

48  
I see the Beast, that bears the purple Whore  
(Great Anti-christ usurping power divine) 
7. Antichrist & the schismatics.   
Set on Seven Hills; who with her whordom's wine  
Makes drunk the Princes that her Seat adore.   

49  
And (last of all) I see the schismatics,  
Which (renting Christ's unseamed coat in twain)  
Trouble the Church-peace with contentions vain;  
Following too near the steps of Heretics.    

Canto III.  

1  
GReat Sire's great Son! Olive, God's lively face,  
Wisdom conceived of the only Wise:  
To us given Giver: First and Last: born twice;  
Once, in full Time; once, out of all Time's space.   

2  
Beam of that Sun which fills the world with Light:  
Life of our life, our death's death, Stinger's sting:  
Our perfect, wise, just, holy, valiant King,  
Word, that no word can full express aright:   

3  
O Lord, draw, draw me, draw me from this throng,  
Whose feet and hands are bold to war with thee;  
For, with dry eyes I can them never see,  
Nor without grief recite them in my Song.   

4  
Ah! I am out; now (my deer God) I go  
From Babel to jernsalem, the Land  
Of Life, Saint's house, and holy Ark, to stand  
Against all Seas, and all rough storms that blow.   

5  
Lo here these Champions that have (bravely-bold)  
Withstood proud Tyrants, stoutly consacring  
Their lives and souls to God, in suffering:  
Whose names are all in Life's fair Book enrolled.   

6  
All-hail, Saint-Souldiers, let us once embrace:  
O valiant Knights! let me your hands and brows  
Adorn with Palms, and with Apollo's boughs:  
Let present honours former shames deface.   

7  
Come, sacred Kings; O holy Princes come:  
Come to this Triumph, Lords, whose valiant hands  
Have Satan's kingdom sought to bring in bands,  
And in your Crowns given Faith the chiefest room.   

8  
He, that (the first) Isaac infranchized, 
Moses. josua.   
Leads by the hand that Duke, whose faithful word  
Stopped Phoebus' Coursers, and whose conquering Sword  
Subdued the Land the Lord had Promised.   

9  
He that, but armed with an Ass' bone, 
Samson.   
Slew thousand Foes, Sangar, Othoniel,  
Ahod, and jeptha, Barac, Samuel,  
And (th' Heathen's scourge) triumphant Gedeon.   

10  
That great King-Prophet, Poet, Conqueror, 
David.   
Sweet Psalmograph: Asa, that Idols broke:  
He that made all the Idol-altars quake; 
josias.   
And (after) did the Paschal Lamb restore.   

11  
jehosaphat, joathan, Azarias;  
And he, whose life the Lord did dis-abbridge,  
Whom Heavenly arms, from Assur did unsiedge,  
The most religious, match-less Ezechias.   

12  
Wise Mardochey; and the five Maccabees;  
All, the right heirs of heart and zeal paternal,  
Receive their guerdon from the great Eternal,  
And up again their stooping standards raise.   

13  
Before these Warriors, and the Royal band,  
March holy Fathers, that with virtue rare,  
And holy Doctrine, did the Devil dare;  
foiling the force of his infernal hand.   

14  
Enos, by whom this World's great Archi-tect  
Was called upon, leadeth (religious)  
That holy Father God took up from us: 
Henoch. Noah.   
And him whose ship did save the world Elect.   

15  
Then Sem and japheth, and great Abraham, 
Isaak.   
The Faithfull's Father; and his faithful Son,  
And then his Nephew that saw Angels run 
jacob.   
Both up & down from Heaven to th' earthly frame.   

16  
Aron, Eleazar, Phinees full of zeal,  
Good joyada, and hundred Priests select,  
That were by Heaven, by zeal, and Church elect,  
To keep the law, the Lord did once reveal.   

17  
His Father, who was sent to sweep the way 
Zacharias. joseph.   
Of sweet Messiah; then, the man supposed  
To be His Sire, than He that Him enclosed  
In's joyful arms, and sung a Swanlike Lay. 
Simeon.    

18  
Then Barnabas, Titus, and Timothy,  
(Paul's famous Friends, Sins fierce and deadly Foes)  
And he that did, by Sol's Eclipse, suppose  
Some greater Sun to be Eclipsed than he.   

19  
Then (this brave Triumph to adorn the more)  
All on a row a hundred Prophets come,  
Which have so sure foretold the things to-com,  
As if (indeed) they had been done before.   

20  
There first comes he, that in the Coach of fire 
Elias.   
By God's strong Spirit was rapt above the Air: 
Elizeus.   
And then his Servant, that was made his heir  
Of cloak and knowledge, as he did desire.   

21  
He that reproved old Ishay's Sceptred Son, 
Nathan.   
For double fault; Amos, Ezechiel,  
joel, Semyah, Abdiah, Daniel,  
And he that three days in the Sea did won. 
jonas.    

22  
With these, I see the son of Barachie, 
Zachariah.   
Both Michais, Baruc, jehu, jeremias,  
Agg ', Abacuc, Nahum, and Sophonias.  
Ahias, Hosè, Esdras, Malachi.   

23  
The glorious troop, that march before this troop,  
Are Martyrs all, who (full of constant zeal)  
Their faith infract with their own bloods did seal,  
And never did to any Tyrant stoop.   

24  
Their blessed blood is like the morning dew,  
To make more fertile all the Church's field:  
These are the weapons that enforce to yield  
The furious foe (examples not a few).   

25  
For, as a fruit-Treelopped in December,  
For one old Trunk, many new twigs returns,  
Which Nature kindly with sweet fruit adorns:  
So, one sole Martyr many doth engender.   

26  
First Abel goes, then Ioyads zealous Son  
That near the Altar (constant) yielded breath; 
Esay. john Baptist.   
The next goes he Manasses put to death;  
Then he whose head th' incestuous Dancer won.   

27  
Next Salone and her Sons, who rather chose  
To cross the King than God, strengthening each other  
Even in their death; Sons worthy such a Mother,  
And Mother worthy of such Sons as those.   

28  
That protomartyr, the young faithful Steven,  
Whom th' hateful jews with hellish rage did stone;  
Who, dying, saw Christ jesus on his Throne,  
Leads those that for like cause their lives have given.   

29  
Some, smeared with honey, for the Flies were feasts:  
Some, men did eat, some were on Gridirons broiled:  
Some, nailed on Crosses, some in cauldrons boiled.  
And some were thrown to most devouring beasts.   

30  
After the Champions of this humble Troop,  
I see fair Sara, Rebecca, Rachel:  
Then Deborah, stout judeth, and jahel,  
Who (Faiths Viragoes) their proud Foes did stoop.   

31  
Then she that (raised to Royal state and style) 
●ester.   
Preserved her people, in a rank she goes  
With Naomi, Ruth, and the Dame that chose  
Rather to die, than Nuptial bed defile. 
Susanna.    

32  
From these, mineeie no sooner traverseth,  
But I discern three Lady's zealous-led,  
That sought their living Lord among the dead:  
Then Anna, Martha, and Elizabeth.   

33  
But, my weak eyes cannot endure to gaze 
The Virgin Mary.   
On beaming beauties of that Mother-Maid,  
Who Sier-less bore her Sire, yet ever-maid;  
Of Faith and Love th' inimitable maze.   

34  
This, this (my Muse) this is th' Aurora clear  
Which brought the Sun to light the world unkind,  
A Virgin pure in body and in mind,  
Christ's Mother, Sister, Spouse, and Daughter deer.   

35  
God's holy Temple, and the happy stair,  
Whereby the heavens came down to dwell with Earth,  
Rich-fraighted Ship, Vessel of rarest worth,  
Where Phoebus hide his beams most bright and fair.    

Canto FOUR  

1  
I Thought to have been now at my Races end,  
T' have (though unworthy) born away the prize:  
But I fall short, my task doth longer rise;  
For, half the Trophè is yet hardly penned.   

2  
Before Faith's Coach, born in convenient height,  
Are curious Tables drawn by cunning hand,  
Where (after guise of warlike Romans) stand  
The Victories of never-conquered Faith.   

3  
Heer, Iericho's cloud-kissing Towers do fall, 
josua. 6. 20.   
Battered alone by Faith's great Ordinance:  
A coumpt-less host of craking Idolants, 
2. King. 18, 13 2. Chron. 32, 20 Esa. 37, 21   
By Esa●e's Faith, is here confounded all.   

4  
By Faith, meek Moses with a zeal-full ire  
Arms smallest Worms, th' Egyptian King to vex; 
Exod. 7, 8, 9   
Daniel, by Faith, fierce lions fury checks, 
Dan. 6. 12   
And quenches Dragons hot empoisoning fire.   

5  
Heer, Paul, by Faith, fears not (in Mitylene) 
Act. 28, 5   
The deadly sting of th' ugly Viper-worm:  
Here, mitching jonas (sunk in sudden Storm) 
jonas 22   
Of his Deliverance finds a fish the mean.   

6  
Then, in another Table, that was framed  
By Art, exceeding Art; I did espy  
Pale Death, blithe Health, and frail Infirmity,  
That had by Faith a thousand times been tamed.   

7  
Moses, by Faith doth Myriam leperize: 
Num. 12, 10   
By Faith, Elisha (curing Naaman 
2. King. 6, 14, 17   
The Syrian Prince) strikes instantly his man  
With his Disease, for Bribing Covetise.   

8  
A man of God, by Faith, first strangely dried, 
1. King. 13, 4, 6   
Then healed again that King's unholy hand,  
Who made ten Tribes of God's (then) chosen Land  
From God, and from their lawful Prince to slide.   

9  
By Faith, Saint Paul stark-blinded Elymas: 
Act. 13, 11   
By Faith, Saint Peter (full of just disdaign)  
With sudden death did smite those perjured twain  
That durst dissemble with the Spirit of Grace. 
Act. 5, 5, 16    

10  
By Faith▪ young Toby kindly doth restore 
Tob. 11, 11 Act. ●, 6, & 14, 10.   
His Father's sight; by sacred Faith likewise  
Two crooked Cripples are made strait to rise;  
In Listra th' one, th' other at Templedore.   

11  
By Faith, Saint Paul did a rich Maltois cure  
Of grievous Flix, that him afflicted sore: 
Act. 21, 8   
By Faith, Saint Peter likewise did restore  
A Palsie-sick that eight years did endure. 
Act. 9 34    

12  
By Faith, Saint Paul did Eutichus relyve: 
Act. 20, 10 1. King, 17, 21 2. King, 4, 33   
By Faith, Elias raised the Sareptite;  
Elisha raised the young Sunamite:  
At joppa, Peter Dorcas did revive. 
Act. 9, 40    

13  
Then in another Picture I did view 
The four Elements.   
The four first bodies of this massy Globe;  
Green-gowned Tellus, Vulcan Scarlet-robe,  
Pied mantled juno, Neptune clad in blue.   

14  
Elisha's Faith brought, from the lofty Skies, 
2. King. 6. 17   
Bright fiery charet against the Syrian host; 
1. King. 18, 38   
Elias Faith (scorning the Baal-Priests boast)  
Fired without fire his moated Sacrifice.   

15  
By Faith, three Hebrues, cast in sevenfold flame  
By a proud Prince, escape the raging Fire 
Dan. 3, 27   
(Their very garments sent-less and entire)  
While their Tormentors perish in the same.   

16  
Moses, by Faith, makes fire from Heaven to fall 
Levit. 10, 21 Num. 16, 35   
In th' Hebrew host, those wretches to consume,  
Whose profane hands with profane Fire and Fume,  
God's holy Altar had polluted all.   

17  
Moses by Faith (heard by the God of power)  
Compels the Mountain's burly sides to shake;  
Commands the Earth to rend, and yawn, and quake, 
Num. 16, 30   
To swallow Rebels, and them quick devour.   

18  
Moses by Faith divides the Sea in twain, 
Exod. 14, 21   
When israel came out of Egypt Land:  
Then, in the Desert's dry and barren sand, 
Exod. 17, 9   
From flinty Rocks doth plenteous Rivers strain.   

19  
Moses, by faith converts to foul black blood 
Exod. 7, 20   
The Crystal Current of the sevenfold Nile:  
By Faith again, he makes (another while) 
Exod. 15, 25   
Those stinking waters, wholesome, sweet, and good.   

20  
Thrice, silver jordan did itself divide,  
To give safe passage to God's deer-beloved;  
Once by the Faith of valiant josuah proved: 
josua. 3, 16 2. King. 2, 8, 14   
Elias once: once by Elisha tried.   

21  
The zealous Thisbit did by Faith seal-up  
The heavens wide windows, that there fell no Rain  
In seaven-six months; and then by Faith again 
1. King. 18, 41   
(To drench the dry Earth) set them all wide-ope.   

22  
Likewise by Faith the nimble-winged train,  
That cleave the Air, are to our service set,  
The Ravens are made to bring Elias meat, 
1. King. 16, 6 Gen 8, 11 Exod. 16, 13   
The Dove serves Noah, Quails for Moses rain▪   

23  
O! who is able Faith to countermand?  
If Faith do force all-taming iron yield,  
If Faith make iron float on Neptune's field, 
2. King. 6, 6   
If that Elisha's Faith strong steel command.   

24  
Faith hath not only power on things terrene,  
Both high and low; but often times doth force,  
God's justice too, and sometimes seems (perforce)  
God's purposes to change and alter clean.   

25  
The Ninivits, by Faith (repenting) shun  
Their overthrow, that jonas threatened near: 
jonas. 3, 10   
And Ahaz Son by Faith adds fifteen year 
2. King. 20. 10   
To his short life, that seemed already done.   

26  
Now, if the giver of this Faith (we see)  
Seem to incline and bow unto her still,  
As bound and ready to obey her will;  
What marvel is't if Angels be not free?   

27  
The Angels serve in Ezechias pay; 
2. King. ●9, ●5 1. King, 19 Acts 12. 7 Gen. 32, 1.   
By Faith, they bring the Thisbit needful Cates:  
By Faith, they open for Peter prison gates:  
By Faith, to jacob they direct the way.   

28  
About twelve paces past these former Pomps,  
Full many sacred Minstrels sound, on high,  
Triumphant Faith's great name and dignity,  
Tuning aloft their Clarions, Flutes, and Tromps.   

29  
Mark, Matthew, Luke, & (the Lords dearest) john,  
Christ's Secretaries, wind with such a breast,  
Their warbling Cornets, that from East to West  
Through all the World their sacred sound is gone.   

30  
Both james, one the Son of Zebedeus,  
Th' other Alphcus, Thomas, Simon, Andrew,  
Peter, Mathias, Philip, Bartholomew,  
Paul (Gentile's Doctor) withthe good Thaddeus,   

31  
Sound with so sweet accord their Sagbuts long,  
And their shrill mischiefs (heard from the North to Nile)  
As if one spirit did fill them all the while,  
And one same hand had set their holy Song.   

32  
While thus my spirit this strange discourse did cumber,  
Rare-builder Prognè, earlier than the rest,  
Beginning th' out-most of her curious nest,  
Brake, with her prattling, my deep pleasing slumber.   

33  
Sorry to be so sudden waked; I would  
I were a Dormouse for a hundred year,  
That I might sleep full twenty Lustres here,  
To shun the woes that waking I behold.   

34  
For now (alas!) waking (with grief) I see  
Babel triumphing over Zion still:  
And on the Good th' ungodly work their will:  
The Wicked praised, the Righteous scorned be.   

35  
I see (alas!) in these lamented Times,  
men's greatest zeal in bloody murder stands:  
Profane our hearts, and so profane our hands:  
Bare Christian Name serves but to cloak our crimes.   

36  
Incest's a sport, and Murder Manhood thought:  
Disloyalty a special Virtue deemed:  
And Perjury sound Policy esteemed:  
Medea's Arts, and Sodomy are taught.   

37  
Maidens be bold, and Wives be impudent,  
Princes are Tyrants, people full of rage:  
This Age is sink of every former Age,  
Receiving each sin's ugliest excrement.   

38  
But, my swollen breast, shut-vp thy sighe's sad gate:  
Stop, Stop, mine eyes, the passage of your tears;  
Cast-off, my heart, thy deep despairing fears;  
That which most grieves me, most doth consolate.   

39  
No, no: my Dream is true; soon shall we see  
Faith's glory shine; Satan (perceiving nigh  
His pride's Eclipse) his greatest force doth try,  
To stop great Faith's triumphant victory.   

40  
Sure if my Card and Compass do not fail,  
W' are near the Port, where (danger being passed)  
We need not fear the billow, nor the blast  
Of blustering winds, nor Seas that can assail.   

41  
Our beastly manners, like Gomorrha's guise:  
The troubled Seasons: Wars domestical:  
The threats of Heaven: are the forerunners all  
Of CHRIST that comes to hold his last Assize.   

42  
That drad-desired Day shall soon appear,  
Christ comes the Rav'ns from Swans to set aside:  
The tars from wheat: and Goats from Lambs divide:  
And this brave Triumph (that I sing) is near.   

43  
O Father! while this Triumph I expect,  
Waiting to see the Wicked's utter Fall,  
And thy just Sceptre Ruling over all;  
Let lively Faith my Reason still direct.    
FINIS.   

TETRASTICHA. OR The Quadrains of Guy de Faur, Lord of Pibrac.  
Translated, By JOSVAH SYLVESTER.  
Acceptam referro.   

TO The right excellent, and most hopeful young Prince, Henry.  

AFfter so many golden Rules of State,  
Religious Lessons, Moral Precepts grave,  
As in your Father's ROYAL-GIFT you have; 
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉.   
These seem supersfluous, or to come too-late:  
Yet, 'tis no Error tore-iterate  
The Voice of Wisdom to the tender Ear  
Of Princes (chief) such as You, that bear  
The Hope and Hap of Europe in your Fate:  
And, though You want not these weak helps of ours,  
To consummate Your Self in Excellence:  
Yet may those Subjects, which shall once be Yours,  
Draw virtuous Wisdom, and all Duty hence:  
If You but deign with your dear Name to grace it,  
Which (Load-stone-like) shall draw them to embrace-it.   
josuah Sylvester.   

The Quadrains of Pibrac.  

1  
DIEV tout premier, puis Pere & Mere honore.  
Sois just & droict: & en toute saison  
Del' innocent pren en main la raison:  
Car Dieu te doit la-haut iuger encore.   

First honour God, and then thy Parents dear;  
Be true and Just: and see thou never grudge▪  
The Innocents' oppressed cause to clear;  
For oneday God shall also be thy judge.   

2  
Si en iugeant la faveur te command,  
Si corrompu par or ou par presence,  
Tu fais justice au grè des Courtesans,  
Ne doubt point que Dieu ne te le rend.   

If gold and bribes corrupt thy conscience,  
If fear or favour in thy judgement sway thee,  
If thou respect the Persons difference;  
Be sure that God will in the end re-pay-thee.   

3  
Auecle iour commence ta iournèe,  
De l'Eternel lesainct nom benissant:  
Le soir aussi ton labeur finissant,  
Love-le encor', & pass ainsi l'annèe.   

Begin thy Dayes-work when the Day gins,  
First blessing God's thrice-blessed Name (devout)  
And then, at Evening when thy labour ends  
Praise him again: so bring the year about.   

4  
Adore assis (come le Grec ordonne)  
Dieu en courant ne veut estre honorè:  
D'vn far me cueur il veut estre adorè,  
Mais ce cueur là il fault qu'il nous le donne.   

Adore thou, sitting (as the Greek doth bid)  
For running Prayer is preposterous:  
With steadfast Heart God will be worshipped,  
But such a heart himself must give to us.   

5  
Ne va disant, ma main a faict cest oewre,  
Oumavertu cebel oewre a parfaict:  
Mais dis ainsi, Dieu par moy l'oeuure a faict:  
Dieu est l'autheur du peu de bien que i'oeuure.   

Say not; My hand this Work to end hath brought:  
Nor, This my Virtue hath attained to:  
Say rather thus; This, God by me hath wrought:  
God's Author of the little Good I do.   

6  
Tout l'Vniuers n'est qu'vne citè ronde:  
Chacun a droict de s'en dire bourgeois,  
Le Scythe & More autant que le Gregeois,  
Le plus petit que le plus grand du monde.   

The World is all but a round City like,  
Where each may right be said a Citizen:  
As well the rude Barbarian as the Greek,  
As well the meanest as the mightiest men.   

7  
Dans le pourpris de ceste cite bell  
Dieu a logé l'homme come en am saint,  
come en un Temple, ou luy mesmes s'est peinct  
En mil endroicts de couleur immortelle.   

In this fair city's goodly Walls God planted,  
And placed man as in a Sanctuary,  
Where He, himself in thousand parts hath painted  
With lively colours that do never vary.   

8  
Il n'y a coing si petit dans ce temple,  
Ou la grandeur n'apparoisse de Dieu:  
L'homme est plantè iustement au milieu,  
A fin que mieux par tout il la contemple.   

There's not a nook so small in all this Temple,  
Wherein God's Greatness doth not plain appear:  
Which that we might the better all contemple,  
He placed man just in the middle here.   

9  
Il ne scauroit ailleurs mieux la cognoistre  
Que dedans soy, où, come en un miroir,  
La terre il peut & le ciel mesme voir:  
Car tout le monde est compris en son estre.   

Yet can he nowhere better know the same  
Then in himself, wherein he may behold  
(As in a Glass) Earth, Water, air, and Flame:  
For, All the World, his Essence doth enfold.   

10  
Qui a de soy parfaicte cognoissance,  
N'ignore rien de ce qu'il fault scavoir.  
Mais le moyen asseurè de l'auoir,  
Est se mirer dedans la sapience.   

Who of Himself hath perfect Knowledge gained,  
Ignoreth nothing that he ought to know:  
But the best means whereby it is attained,  
Is oftentimes to wisdoms Glass to go.   

11  
Ce que tu vois de l'homme n'est pas l'homme,  
C'est la prison où il est enserrè,  
C'est le tombeau où il est enterrè,  
Le lict branlant où il dort un court somme.   

That which thou seest of Man, it is not Man:  
'Tis but a Prison that him Captive keeps:  
'Tis but a Tomb where he's interred (wan):  
'Tis but the Cradle where a while he sleeps,   

12  
Ce corpse mortel, où l'oeil ravy contemple  
Muscles & nerfs, la chair, le sang, la peau,  
Ce n'est pas l'homme, il est beaucoup plus beau,  
Aussi Dieu l'a reseruè pour son temple.   

This mortal Body, where the ravished sense  
Sees sinews, flesh, bones, muscles, blood, and skin,  
It is not Man: Man's of more excellence,  
As the fair Temple that God dwellethin.   

13  
Abien parler, ce que l'homme on appelle,  
C'est un rayon de la divinitè:  
C'est un atom esclos de l'vnitè:  
C'est un degout de la source eternelle.   

Rightly to speak: what Man we call, and count,  
It is a beamling of Divinity:  
It is a dropling of th' Eternal Fount:  
It is a moatling hatched of th' Unity.   

14  
Recognoy donc (homme) ton origine:  
Et brave & haut dedaigne ces bas lieux,  
Puis que fleurir tu dois la hault ès cieux,  
Et que tu es une plant divine.   

Then know (O Man) thine own Original:  
And brave-ambitious, scorn base Cells of Earth,  
Sith thou shalt flourish in heavens glistering Hall,  
And art indeed a Divine Plant by Birth.   

15  
Il t'est permis t'orgueillir de la race,  
Non de ta mere, outon pere mortel,  
Mais bien de Dieu ton uray pere immortel,  
Qui t' a moulè au moule de sa face.   

Well mayst thou vaunt thee of thy glorious Race,  
Not from thy mortal Parents either Ligne:  
But from thy true Immortal Father's Grace,  
Who, by the Model of his Face, made thine.   

16  
Au ciel n'y à number infiny d'Idèes,  
Platon s'est trop en cela mesconte  
Denostre Dieu la pure volontè  
Est le seul moule à toutes choses nèes.   

There's not in Heaven, a number infinite  
Of bright Idéas (Plato did mistake):  
God's only Will (the only Rule of Right)  
Was th' only mould of all that he did make.   

17  
Il veut, c'est faict: sans travail & sans pain  
Tous animaux, iusqu'au moindre qui vit,  
Il a creè, les soustient, les nourrit,  
Et les deffaict du vent de son aleine.   

He Willed, and it was done: He (without pain)  
All kind of Creatures (to the least that is)  
Created, feedeth, and doth still sustain:  
And re-dissolues them with that breath of his.   

18  
Hausse tes yeux: la voute suspendue,  
Ce beau lambris de la couleur deseaux,  
Ce rond parfaict de deux globes i●meaux,  
Ce firmament esloignè de la veve:   

Lift up thine eyes: The hanging Vault above,  
The goodly Ceiling of a Watery hue,  
The perfect Orbs of Twins that ever move,  
The spangled Firmament so far from view:   

19  
Brief, ce quiest, qui fut, & qui peut estre,  
En terre, en mer, au plus cachè das cieux,  
Si tossed que Dieu l'a voulu pour le mieux,  
Tout aussi tost il a receu son estre.   

All (to be brief) past, present, and to come,  
In Earth and Sea, and Air (beyond your seeing);  
So soon as God thought good, each in their room,  
Immediately received all their Being.   

20  
Ne va suiuant le troupeau d'Epicure,  
Troupeau villain, qui blaspheme en tout am,  
Et mescroyant ne cognoit autre Dieu,  
Que le fatal order de la nature.   

Shun Epicures profane and filthy Sect▪  
(Boldmis-creants, blaspheming every way)  
The which no God acknowledge nor respect,  
Save only Nature and her fatal Sway.   

21  
Et ce pendant il se veautre & patroville  
Dans un bourbier puant de tous costez:  
Et du l●mon des sales voluptez  
Il se repaist, come une orde grenoville.   

And in the meanwhile (like the grunting Hogg)  
Lie always wallowing in the stinking Mire:  
And feed on filth (like to the loath some Frogg)  
Uoluptuous filth, of every flesh desire.   

22  
Heureux qui met en Dieu son esperance,  
Et qui l'inuoque en sa prosperitè,  
Autant ou plus qu en son adversitè:  
Et ne se fie en humane asseurance.   

Happy whose hope on God alone relies;  
And who on him in either Fortune call;  
As well in calms as in calamities:  
And put no Trust in human helps at all.   

23  
Voudroistu bien mettre esperance seure  
En ce qui est imbecille & mortel?  
Le plus grand Roy du monden'est que tel,  
Et a besoing plus quetoy qu'on l'asseure.   

Canst thou assure thy hopes on worldly things,  
Frail mortal things (I prithee tell me how)  
Such are the greatest of all earthly Kings,  
And have more need to be secured than Thou?   

24  
De l'homme droict Dieu est la safeguard,  
Lors que de tous il est abandonnè,  
C'est lors que moins il se trouue estonné,  
Car il scait bien que Dieulors plus le guard.   

God is the iust-man's Anchor and his Aid,  
His sure Defence, when all the World forsakes-him;  
And therefore, then is he the least dismayed,  
Knowing that God than most to safeguard takes-him.   

25  
Les biens du corpse, & ceux de la Fortune,  
Ne sont pas biens, à parler proprement:  
Ils sont subjects au moindre changement,  
Mais la vertu dem●ure tousiours une.   

The Goods of Fortune and the Body (called)  
They are not Goods, if we them rightly name;  
For, to lest changes they are ever thralled:  
" But Only Virtue still persists the same.   

26  
Virtue qui gist entre les deux extrèmes,  
Entre le plus & le moins qu'il ne fault;  
N'excede en rien, & rien ne luy default:  
D'autruy n'emprunte, & suffit à soymesmes.   

Virtue, between the Two extremes that haunts,  
Between too-mickle and too-little sizes;  
Exceeds in nothing, and in nothing wants:  
Borrows of none: but to itself suffices.   

27  
Quite pourroit, Virtue, voir toute nue,  
O qu'ardemment detoy seroit espris?  
Puis qu'en tout temps, les plus rares esprits  
T'ont faict l'amour au travers d'vne nue.   

O Virtue! could we see thy naked face,  
How would thy sacred Beauties sweetly madd-us?  
Sith rarest Wits (rapt with a Seeming Grace)  
Have in all Ages courted (even) thy Shadows.   

28  
Le sage fils est du pere la joy:  
Or, si tu veux ce sage fils avoir,  
Dress le ieune au chemin du devoir:  
Mais ton exemple est la plus court voye.   

The Parent's comfort is a prudent Son:  
Now, such a Son if thou desirest aye,  
Direct him young in Duties race to run:  
But, Thine Example is the nearest way.   

29  
Si tu es nè, enfant d'vn sage peer,  
Que ne suis tu le chemin ja battu?  
S'il n'est pas tel, que ne t'esforces tu,  
En bien faisant, cowrir ce vitupere?   

If thou be borne Son of a prudent Sire,  
Why treadest thou not in his fair beaten Trace?  
If otherwise: why dost not thou desire  
(By virtuous Deeds) to cover this Disgrace?   

30  
Ce n'est pas peu, (naissant d'vn tige illustre)  
Estre esclairé par ses antecesseurs:  
Mais c'est bien plus luire à ses successeurs,  
Que des ayeux seulement prendre lustre.   

'Tis no small Honour, from illustrious Ligne  
To be descended by our Predecessors:  
But 'tis much more, then by their Light to shine,  
Ourselves to shine unto our own Successors.   

31  
Iusqu' au cercueil (mon fils) vueilles apprendre,  
Et tien perdu le iour qui s'est passè,  
Si tu n'y as quelque choose amass,  
Pour plus scavant & plus sage te render.   

Cease not to learn until thou cease to live:  
Think that Day lost, wherein thou drawest no Letter,  
Nor gainest no Lesson, that new grace may give,  
To make thyself Learneder, Wiser, Better.   

32  
Levoyageur qui horse du chemin err,  
Et esgarè se perd dedans les bois,  
Au droict chemin remettretule doibs:  
Et s'il est cheu, le releuer de terre.   

If any Stranger in his journey stray  
Through doubtful Paths (as happens now and then)  
Direct him rightly in his ready way;  
And if He fall, soon help him up again.   

33  
Aim l'honneur plus que ta proprevie:  
I'entens l'honneur, qui consist au devoir  
Que render on doit (selon l'humain powoir)  
A DIEV, au Roy, aux Loix, à sa Patrie.   

Thine Honour, more than thine own Life respect,  
Th' honour (I mean) which each man's duty draws  
(Toth'vttermost weare able to effect)  
To GOD, our King, our Country, and our Laws.   

34  
Ce que tu peux maintenant, ne differe  
Aulendema●n, come les paresseux:  
Et guard aussi que tu ne sois de ceux  
Qui par autruy font'ce qu'ils pourroient fair.   

What Now thou canst, defer not till tomorrow,  
Like selfelame Sloth (of foulest Sins the Mother):  
Nor be like those who others hands do borrow,  
And what themselves might do▪ will do by other.   

35  
Haunt les bons, des meschans' net'accointe,  
Et mesmement en la ieune saison,  
Que l'appetit pour forcer la raison  
Arm nos sens d'vne brutal point.   

Frequent the good, fly from ungodly folk,  
Especially in thy Youths tender season,  
The while outrageous appetites provoke,  
And arm thy Sense against the sway of Reason.   

36  
Quand au chemin fourchu de ces deux Dames  
Tu te verras come Alcide semond,  
Suy celle-la qui par un aspremont  
Teguide au ciel, loing des plaisirs infames.   

When to the double Way of those two Dames  
(Alcides-like) thou shalt be summoned,  
Fellow thou her who far from glorious shames,  
Over steep Mountains up to Heaven doth lead▪   

37  
Ne mets ton pied au travers de la voye  
Du pawre aveugle: & d'vn piquant propos:  
De l'homme mortne trouble lerepos:  
Et du malheur d'autruy ne fay ta joy.   

Set not thy foot to make the blind to fall:  
Nor wilfully offend thy weaker Brother.  
Nor wound the Dead with thy Tongues bitter gall:  
Neither rejoice thou in the fall of other.   

38  
En ton parler so is tousiours veritable,  
Soit qu'ilte faille en tesmoignage ovyr,  
Soit quepar fois tu vevilles resiovir  
D'vn gay propostes hosts a latable.   

Let thy Discourse be True in every Word,  
Whether as public Witness thou be priest  
To clear a Question: whether, at thy Board  
With pleasant chat thou cheer thy welcome Guest.   

39  
La Veritè d'vn Cube droict se form,  
Cube contrair au leger mowement:  
Son plan quarrè iamais ne se dement,  
Et en tout sens à tousiours mesme form.   

The Truth resembles right the right Cubes Figure  
(The Cube, contrary to light instability)  
Whose quadrat flatness never doth dis-figure;  
Whose solid Form admits no mutability.   

40  
L'oyseleur caut se sert du doulx ramage  
Desoysillons, & contrefaict leur chant  
Aussi, pour mieux decevoir, le meschant  
Des gens de bien imite le language.   

The crafty Fowler, to beguile the Birds,  
Deceit fully their own sweet Notes doth feign:  
So subtle Mates do counterfeit the words,  
And simple guise of honest men and plain.   

41  
Ce qu'en secret lon t'à dit ne reveal:  
Des faicts d'autruy ne sois trop enquerant.  
Le curieux volontiers tousiours meant:  
L'autre merit estre dict infidele.   

Reveal not what in secret hath been told;  
Nor busily of Others things require.  
Th' inquisitive can hardly Counsel hold:  
The carrie-Tale is commonly a Liar.   

42  
Faith pois equal, & loyal measure,  
Quand tu deurois de nul estre apperceu:  
Mais le plaisir que tu auras receu,  
Ren le tousiours' avecques quelque vsure.   

Make always equal weight and lawful measure,  
Though none could spy, thy dealing to discover:  
But where thou hast received any Pleasure,  
Restore it still with some advantage over.   

43  
guard, soigneux, le depost à toute heure:  
Et quand on veult de toy le recowrer  
Neva subtle des moyens contrower  
Dans un palais, à fin qu'ilte demeure.   

Keep carefully what thou hast ta'en in charge:  
And when the Owner shall demand-againe-it,  
Deny it not; neither with Conscience large  
By subtle Law-tricks strive thou to detaine-it.   

44  
L'homme de sang te soit tousiours en haine:  
Hue sur luy, come fait le berger  
Numidien surle Tiger leger,  
Qu'il voit de loing ensanglanter la plain.   

Hate evermore the bloody Homicide;  
Hunt him with hue and cry: as Shepherds hunt  
The Lybian Tiger which they have espied  
Spoiling his Prey, and rioting upon't.   

45  
Ce n'est pas toutne fair à nul outrage:  
Il faut de plus s'opposer à l'effort  
Du malheureux, qui pourchasse la mort,  
Ou du prochain la honte & le damage.   

'Tis not enough, that thou do no man wrong:  
Thou even in others must suppress the same;  
Righting the Weak●, against th' unrighteous Strong,  
Whether it touch his Life, his Goods, or Name.   

46  
Qui a desir d'exploiter sa provess,  
Domteson ire, & son ventre, & ce feu,  
Qui dans nos cueurs s alum peu à peu,  
Soufflè du vent d'erreur & de paresse.   

Whoso the Fame of Valour doth desire,  
Must Tame his Anger and his Belly both,  
And that heart-swelting, Marrow-melting Fire,  
Blown by the wind of Error and of Sloath.   

47  
Vaincre soy mesme est la grand victoire:  
Chacun chez soy loge ses ennemis,  
Qui par l'effort de la raison soubmis,  
Ouurent le pas à l'eternelle gloire.   

Our-owne-selfes' Conquest is the most victorious:  
For in ourselves ambush our greatest Foes;  
And th' only way to make us ever glorious,  
Is by stout Reason still to vanquish those.   

48  
Si ton amy a commis quelque offence,  
Ne va soudain country luy t'irriter:  
Ains doucement, pour ne le despiter,  
Faith luy ta plaint, & recoy sa defence.   

If so thy Friend have done thee some Offence,  
Fall not out flat, nor urge him with abuse;  
But mild and meekly, without insolence,  
Make thy complaint, and take thou his excuse.   

49  
L'homme est fautif: nul vivant ne peut dire  
N'auoir failly: ès hommes plus parfaicts,  
Examinant & leurs dicts & leurs faicts,  
Tu troweras, si tu veux, à redire.   

All men are faulty: none alive can say,  
I have not Erred; even the Perfectest,  
If thou his Life in word and deed suruaigh,  
Thou shalt perceive he hath Perfection mist.   

50  
Voy l'hypocrite avec sa triste mine,  
Tu le prendrois pour l'aisnè des caton's,  
Et ce pendant toute nuict à tastons  
Il court, il va pour tromper sa voysine.   

See th' Hypocrites severe and Saintlike guise,  
Whom th' elder Cato thou wouldst think for life;  
Yet in th' dark he groping hunts and hies  
T'entice and trap his honest Neighbour's wife.   

51  
Cacher son vice est une pain extrème,  
Et pain en vain: fay ce que tu voudras,  
A toy au moins cacher ne te pourras:  
Car nul ne peult se cacher à soy mesme.   

'Tis a most busy, yet a bootless pain,  
To hide one's fault: for do the best thou can  
Thou canst not hide it from thyself (though feign)  
For who can hide him from himself (O Man)!   

52  
Ay de toy plus que des autres honte,  
Nul plus que toy par toy n'est offensè,  
Tu dois premier, si bien y as pensè  
Rendre de toy-mesme le count.   

More of thyself, then others he ashamed;  
Thyself art most wr●ng'd by thine own offence,  
And of thyself, thyself first (Selfly-blamed)  
Must give account to thy selfes' Conscience.   

53  
Point ne te chaille estre bon d'apparence,  
Mais bien de l'estre à prewe & par effect:  
Country un faulx bruit que le vulgaire faict,  
Il n'est rempart tel que la conscience.   

Care not so much, to seem in outward show,  
As to be good (in deed and in the proof)  
For, from false Rumours which the Uulgar blow,  
A selfe-cleere Conscience is Defence enough.   

54  
A l'indigent monster toy secourable,  
Luy faisant part de tes biens à foison:  
Car Dieu benit & accroit la mai●on  
Qui a pity du pawre miserable.   

Relieve the Needy, after thine ability,  
And in their wants participate thy store.  
For, God doth Bless with Plenty and Tranquillity  
The House that pities the distressed Poor.   

55  
Làs! que te sert tant d'ordedans la bourse,  
Au cabinet maint rich vestment,  
Dans tes greniers tant d'orge ou de froment,  
Et de bon vin en ta cau eune source?   

What boot thy bags to be so crammed with Coin?  
Thy Wardrobe stuffed with such store of change?  
Thy Cellars filled with such choice of Wine?  
And of all Grains such plenty in thy Grange?   

56  
Si ce pendant le pawre nud frissonne  
Devant ton huys: & languissant dè faim,  
Pour tout en fin n'a qu'vn morceàu de pain,  
Ou s en reuà sans que rien on luy donne?   

If all the while the naked Poor (half dead  
With cold and hunger) shiver at thy Gate;  
And at the length gets but a piece of bread,  
And many times (perhaps) but hardly that?   

57  
As tu, cruel, le cueur de tell sort,  
De mespriser le pawre infortunè,  
Qui, come toy, ●s● en ce monde nè,  
Et, come toy, de Dieu l'image port?   

Hast thou a heart so cruel, as to scorn  
Th' unhappy Poor, that at thy beck doth bow,  
Who like thyself into this World is borne,  
And bears God's Image even as well as Thou?   

58  
Le malheur est commun à tous les hommes,  
Et mesmement aux Princes & aux Roys:  
Le sage seul est exempt de ces loix:  
Mais où est-il, 'las, au siecle où nous sommes?   

Misfortune is a common lot to all;  
Yea, even to Princes, Kings, and Emperors:  
Only the Wise are freed from her thrall,  
But O, where are they, in this Age of ours▪   

59  
Le sage est libre enferrè de cent chains,  
Il est seul rich, & iamais estranger:  
Seul asseurè au milieu du danger,  
Et le uray Roy des fortunes humaner.   

The Wiseman's free, among a thousand chains;  
He's only Rich (content with his estate)  
Only secure in Dangers, eased in Pains;  
Only true King of Fortune and of Fate.   

60  
Le menasser du Tyrann nel' estonne:  
Plus se roidit quand plus est agitè:  
Il cognoist seul ce qu'il a meritè,  
Et nel'attend horse de soy de person.   

He is not daunted with a tyrants threat,  
But by his Trouble grows more strong and hard:  
Knows his own merit, looks not from the Great  
For Recompense; virtue's her own Reward.   

61  
Virtue ès moeurs nes'acquiert parl' estude,  
Ne par argent, ne par faveur des Roys,  
Ne par un act, ou par deux, ou par trois,  
Ains par constant & pas longue habitude.   

True Moral Virtue cannot purchased be  
By Study, Treasure, or the Grace of Kings:  
Nor by one action, nor by two, nor three:  
But long-long practice her perfection brings.   

62  
Qui lit beaucoup, & iamais ne medite,  
Semble à celuy qui mange avidement,  
Et de tous mets surcharge tellement  
Son estomach, querien neluy profit.   

Who Readeth much and never Meditates,  
Is like a greedy Eater of much Food.  
Who so surcloys his stomach with his Cates,  
That Commonly they do him little good.   

63  
Maintun powoit par temps devenir sage,  
S'iln'eust cuidèl ' estre ja tout à faict.  
Quell artisan fut onc master parfaict,  
Du premier iour de son apprentissage?   

How many might (in time) have wise been made;  
Before their time, had they not thought them so?  
What Artist e'er was Master of his Trade,  
Yer he began his Prenticeship to know?   

64  
Petite source ont les grosses Rivieres:  
Qui bruit si hault à son commencement,  
N'a pas long course, non plus que letorrent  
Qui perd son nom ès prochaines fondrieres.   

From smallest springs, the greatest Rivers rise:  
But those that roar so loud and proud at first,  
Run seldom far, but soon their glory dies  
In some near Bogg, by their selfs-fury burst.   

65  
Maudit celuy qui fraud la semence,  
Ou qui retient le salaire promis  
Au mercenaire: ou qui desesamis  
Ne se sowient si non en leur presence.   

Cursed is he that doth de fra●d the seed:  
Or who detains the Hirelings promis'dright:  
Or who (ingrateful for the kindest deed)  
Thinks never of his Friends but in their sight.   

66  
Neat pariure en aucune manner,  
Et situ es contrainct fair serment,  
Le ciel ne iure, soul ' homme, soul ' element,  
Ains paste nom de la cause premiere:   

Forswear thee not, what ever cause be given:  
And if for aught thou needs an Oath must take,  
Swear not by Man, nor by the Earth, nor Heaven,  
But by his sacred Name who all did make.   

67  
Car Dieu qui hait le pariure execrable,  
Et le punit come il a meritè,  
Neveult quelon tesmoigne veritè,  
Par ce qui est mensonger ou muable.   

For God, who doth all Perjury detest,  
And justly plague's it as most execrable:  
Would not we should the constant Truth contest  
By anything that's false or alterable.   

68  
un art sans plus, en luy seul t'exercite:  
Et du mestier d'autruy ne t'empeschant,  
Va dans letien le parfaict recherchant:  
Car exceller n'est pas gloire petite.   

To some one Art apply thy whole affection;  
And in the Craft of others seldom mell:  
But in thine own, strive to attain perfection.  
For'tis no little honour, to excel:   

69  
Plus n'embrasser què lon ne peut estraindre:  
Aux grandshonneurs convoiteuxn ' aspirer:  
Vser des biens, & ne les desirer:  
Ne souhaiter la mort, & nela craindre.   

T'embrace no more than one can manage fit,  
Not to the top of Greatness to aspire:  
To use the World, and yet not covet it:  
Neither to dread Death, neither death desire.   

70  
Il nefault pas aux plaisirs de la couch,  
De chastetè restreindre le beau don:  
Et ce pendant hurer à l'abandon  
Sesse yeulx, ses mains, son oreille & sa bouche.   

We must not Chastities fair Gift restrain,  
Only to th' actual Pleasure of the Night:  
And in the mean while not awe hit refrain  
Our hart, our hand, our tongue, our ear, our sight.   

71  
Hà le dur coup qu'est celuy del' oreille!  
On en deuient quelque foisforcenè:  
Mesmes alors qu'il nous est assenè  
D'vn beau parler plain de doulce merueille.   

O what a hard blow is a box on th' Ear!  
Sometime it drives men even besides their Wit,  
Especially when (stunned as it were)  
With the sweet wonder of smooth words, 'tis smit.   

72  
Mieulx nousvaudroit des aureillettes prendre,  
Pour nous sawer de ces coups dangereux:  
Par là s'armoient les Pugils valeureux,  
Quand surl'arèneil leur falloit descendre.   

'Tis therefore best our tender Ears to arm,  
To shun the danger of those deadly blows:  
Wary Ulysses so eschewed the Charm  
Of those soule-rapting Imps of Acheloes.   

73  
Ce qui en nous par l'oreille penetre,  
Dans le cerueau cowl soudainement,  
Et ne scaurions y pouruoir autrement,  
Que tenant close au mal ceste fenestre.   

What e'er it be that enters by the Ear,  
Immediately unto the Brain doth creep;  
And th' only mean to shun the mischief there,  
Is the Ears Casements ever close to keep.   

74  
Parlour beaucoup on ne peut sans men song,  
Ou pour le moins sans quelque vanitè:  
Le parler brief convient à verité,  
Et l'autre est propre à la fable & au song.   

Much talk is seldom without Lies among,  
Or at the least without some idle babbles:  
Unto the Truth, brief Language doth belong:  
And many words are fit for Dreams and Fables.   

75  
Du Memphien la grave countenance,  
Lorsque sa bouche il ●erre avec le doigt,  
Mieulx que Platon ensign come on doit  
Reveremment honnorer le silence.   

Th' Egyptians grave aspect and sober brow,  
When his forefinger seals his lips so sure;  
Better than Plato, doth instruct us how  
To honour Silence, with devotion pure.   

76  
come lon voit, à l'ouurir de la port  
D'vn cabinet Royal, maint beau tableau,  
Mainte antiquaille, & tout ce que de beau  
Le Portugais des Indes nous apport:   

As at the Opening of the Cabinet  
Of some great Prince, many rare Things we see,  
Rich Monuments, and all that fair and neat,  
From either Ind, Portugeses bring, or we:   

77  
Ainsi deslors que l'homme qui medite,  
Et est scavant, commence de s'ouurir,  
un grand thresor vient à se descowrir,  
Thresor cachè au puis de Democrite.   

So when the Wise and Learned doth begin  
T'open the Organs of his plenteous Wit,  
A wondrous Treasure suddenly is seen,  
A Treasure hidden in th' Abderians Pit:   

78  
On dict soudain, voila qui fut de Grece,  
Cecy de Rome, & cela d'vn tel am,  
Et le dernier est tire de l'Hebrien,  
Mais tout en somme est remply de sagesse.   

And Standards by, say by and by, This came  
From Greece, from Rome That That from such a Place,  
And (lastly) That from th' Hebrew: and the same,  
And all the rest most full of Prudent grace.   

79  
Nostre heur, pour grand qu'il soit, nous semble moindre:  
Les ceps d'autruy portent plus de raisins:  
Mais quant aux maulx que souffrent nos voysins,  
C'est moins que rien, ils ont tort de s'en plaindre.   

Our Goods (how ever great) the least do seem,  
Our Neighbour's Fields still bear the better Grain:  
But Others harms we always light esteem;  
Tush they are Nothing: why should they complain?   

80  
A l'enuieux nul torment ie n'ordonne,  
Il est de soy le iuge & le bourreau:  
Et ne fut one de DENYS le Toreau  
Supplice tell, que celuy qu'il se donne.   

To th' Enuious-man no Torment I assign;  
For, judge and Hangman to himself he is:  
And there's no Denis Bull, nor Rack (in fine)  
So fell a Torture as that Heart of his.   

81  
Pour bien au vi● peindre la calumny,  
Il la faudroit peindre quand on la scent:  
Qui par bon heur d'elle ne se ressent,  
Croire ne peult quelle est ceste Fury.   

To portray Slander, to the life, behooves  
To do't in th' instant while one feeleth her:  
For who so happy that her never proves,  
Can scarce imagine what she is, or where,   

82  
Elle ne faict en l'air sa residence,  
Nigh soubs les eaux, ny au profond des bois:  
Sa maison est aux ore●lles des Roys,  
D'ou elle brave & flestrit l'innocence.   

Neither in th' Air hath She her residences,  
Nor in the wild Woods, nor beneath the Waves:  
But she inhabits in the ears of Princes,  
Where th' Innocent and Honest she depraves.   

83  
Quand une fois ce monstre nous attach,  
Il scait si fort ses cordillons nouèr,  
Que bien qu'on puisse en fin les desnouèr,  
Restent tousiours les marquess de l'attache.   

And when this Monster hath once chanced to trap-us,  
Her spiteful Cords she can so closely knit:  
That though at last we happen to un-wrap-us;  
The print thereof still in our Fames will sit.   

84  
judge ne donne en ta cause sentence:  
Chacun se trompe en son faict aizèment:  
Nostre interest force le judgement,  
Et d'vn costè faict pancher lafoy balance.   

Never give Sentence in thy proper cause:  
In our own case, we all Err easily:  
Our interest our partial judgement draws;  
And ever makes the Balance hang a-wry.   

85  
Dessus la loy tes iugemens arreste,  
Et non sur l'homme: ell sans affection,  
L'homme au contrair est plain de passion:  
L'vn tient de Dieu, l'autre tient de la best.   

Upon the Law thy judgements always ground,  
And not on Man: For that's affection-les;  
But Man in Passions strangely doth abound:  
Th' one all like God; th' other too-like to Beasts.   

86  
Le number sainct se iuge par sa prewe,  
Tousiours equal, entier ou departy:  
Le droict aussi en Atoms party,  
Semblable à soy tousiours equal see true.   

The sacred Number proveth always even,  
Whether divided or entire it be:  
So justice (shared in Atoms) is given  
Still like itself, in just equality.   

87  
Noweau ulysse appren du long voyage  
A gowerner Ithaque en equitè:  
Maintun a Scylle & Charybde evitè,  
Qui heurte au port, & chez soy faict naufrage.   

Learn by long Travail (as Ulysses conned)  
To govern right thy Native Ithaca:  
Many have Scylla and Charybdis shunned,  
That have at home been after castaway.   

88  
Song long temps avant que de promettre:  
Mais si tu as quelque chose promis,  
Quoy que ce soit, & fust-ce aux ennemis,  
De l'accomplir en devoir te fault mettre.   

Before thou Promise, ponder what and why:  
But having Promised, whatsoever 'twere,  
Yea, were it to thy greatest Enemy,  
Thou must perform, thy Tongue hath tied thee there.   

89  
Lafoy loy soubs qui l'estat sa force a prize,  
guard la bien, pour goffe qu'elle soit:  
Le bon heurvient d'où lon ne s'appercoit,  
Et bien souuent de ce que lon mesprise.   

Maintain those Laws (how ever rude and plain)  
Whereby (before) thy Commonwealth hath thrived:  
Good Fortune oft comes by the meanest mean,  
How or from whence sometimes is scarce perceived.   

90  
Fuy ieune & vieil de Circe le brwage:  
N'escouteaussi des sirens les chants,  
Car enchantè tu courrois par les champs,  
Plusabruty qu'vne best sawage.   

In youth and age shun Circe's baneful Bowl,  
Lend not thine Ear to Sirens wanton Notes:  
Lest thou (enchanted in thy sense and Soul)  
Become more brute than Hogs, and Dogs, and Goats.   

91  
Vouloir ne fault chose que lon ne puisse,  
Et ne powoir que cela que lon doit,  
Mesurant l'vn & l'autre par le droit,  
Surl' eternel mole de la justice.   

We must our Will still limit with our Power,  
And bound our Power within the Lists of Law;  
Measuring both, and what so else is our,  
By the Right line th' eternal Just did draw.   

92  
Changer à coup de loy & d'ordonnance,  
En faict d'estat est un poinct dangereux:  
Et si Lycurgue en ce poinct fut heureux,  
Il ne fault pas en fair consequence.   

A sudden Change in any mighty State,  
Is full of Danger unto each Degree:  
And though Lycurgus found it fortunate,  
No consequent can that Example be.   

93  
je hay ces mots, De puissance absoluè,  
De plain powoir, de propre mowement:  
Aux saints Decrets ills ont premierement,  
Puis à nos loix, la puissance tolue.   

I hate these phrases: Of Power absolute:  
Of full Authority: Of proper motion.  
The Divine Laws they have trod under foot,  
And Humane-too; for private men's promotion.   

94  
Croire leger, & soudain se resoudre,  
Ne discerner les amis des flateurs:  
jeune counsel, & noweaux seruiteurs,  
On't missowent les haults estates en powder.   

Not right-discerning Friends from Flatterers,  
Light-crediting, and sudden Resolution,  
Young giddy Counsel, and new Servitors,  
Have often caused the highest States confusion.   

95  
Dissimuler est un vice servile,  
Vice suivy de la desloyautè:  
D'où sourd ès cueurs des grands la cruautè,  
Qui aboutit à la guerre civil.   

Dissimulation is a servile Vice,  
A vice still followed by Disloyalty,  
Whence in Great hearts doth Cruelty arise,  
Which always ends in civil Mutiny.   

96  
Donner beaucoup sied bien à un grand Prince,  
purvey qu'il donne à qui l'à meritè,  
Et par proportion, non par equalitè,  
Et que cesoit sans fouler sa Province.   

Nought more beseems a Prince than Liberality,  
So it be given to those that Merit well,  
By due proportion, not by just equality,  
And without Burden to the commonweal.   

97  
Plus que Sylla c'est ignorer les letters,  
D'auoir induit les peuples à s'armer:  
On trowera les voulant desarmer  
Que desubiects ils sont devenus mistress.   

'Tis to be more than Sylla Letter-lesse,  
To hurry Arms into the Vulgars' hand:  
For, when again you think them to suppress,  
Instead of Subjects, they will All command.   

98  
Ry situ veux un ris de Democrite,  
Puis que le monde est pure vanitè:  
Mais quelque fois touchè d'humanitè,  
Pleure noz maux des larmes d'Heraclite.   

Sith all the World is nought but merely vanity,  
Laugh if thou list like blithe Democritus:  
Yet sometimes touched with tender-souled humanity,  
Weep for our Woes with sad Heraclitus.   

99  
A l'estranger sois humain & propice,  
Et s'il se plainct incline à sa raison:  
Mais luy donner les biens de la maison,  
C'est fair aux tiens & honte & injustice.   

Be kind to Strangers and propitious,  
And to their cause thy willing ear incline:  
But to bestow thy Goods out of thy House,  
Is shame and wrong unto thyself and thine.   

100  
je t'apprendray, situ veux, en peu d'heure,  
Le beau secret du breuuage amoureux:  
Aim lestiens, tu seras aymè d'eux:  
Il n'y a point de recepte meilleure.   

I'll teach you here (if any list to prove)  
A passing Love-drink, any hart to get;  
Love virtuously, and be assured of Love:  
And this (beleeve-it) is the best Receipt.   

101  
Crainte qui vient d'amour & reverence,  
Est un appuyferme de Royautè:  
Mais qui se faict craindre par cruautè,  
Luy-mesm● craint, & vit en deffiance.   

The Fear that springs from Love and Reverence,  
A firm support to Royal Greatness gives:  
But he that makes him feared for violence,  
Himself fears most, and in distrust still lives.   

102  
Quiscauroit bien que c'est qu'vn Diadème,  
Il choisiroit aussi tost le tombeau,  
Que d'aff●ubler son chef de ce bandeau:  
Car aussibien il meurt lors à soy mesme.   

He that knew right what were a Diadem,  
As soon would seek in a cold Tomb to lie,  
As gird his Temples with that glorious Gem:  
For, then gins he to himself to die.   

103  
Deiour, denuict fair la sentinelle,  
Pour lesalut d'autruy tousiours' veiller,  
Pour le public sans nul gré travailler,  
C'est en un mot ce qu'Empire i'appelle.   

For, day and night to stand as Sentinel;  
For Public good, ingrateful toil to take;  
Incessantly to watch for others weal:  
This is, to Reign, if we it rightly take.   

104  
je ne veis one prudence avec ieunesse,  
Bien commander sans avoir obey,  
Estre fort craint, & n'estre point hay,  
Estre Tyrant, & mourir de vieillesse.   

I never saw Wisdom and Youth, but two:  
Nor him Commandwell, that had not Obeyed:  
Nor any feared, that was not hated too:  
Nor Tyrant, aged in his Tomb be-layed.   

105  
Ne voice aubal qui n'aymerà la danse,  
Nigh au banquet quine voudrà manger,  
Nigh sur la mer qui craindrà le dangèr,  
Nigh à la Cour qui dirà ce qu'il pense.   

Come not at Revels, who delights not Dance:  
Nor on the Sea, who fears rough waves and wind:  
Nor at a Feast, who a good stomach wants:  
Nor at the Court, who means to speak his mind.   

106  
Du mesdisant la langue venimeuse,  
Et du flateur les propos emmielez,  
Et du moqueur les brocards enfielez,  
Et du maling la poursuite animeuse:   

The soothing honey of smooth Parasites:  
The poys'nie Tongues of slanderous Sycophants:  
The jeering Buffoon, that the best still bites:  
The brazen-face of begging Cormorants.   

107  
Hair le uray, se feindre en toutes choses,  
sunder le simple à find l'attraper,  
Braver le foible, & sur l' absent draper,  
Sont de la Cour les oeillets & les roses.   

To gull the Simple; and the Weak to brave:  
To hate the Truth; to halt in every-thing:  
To under-mine: The Absent to deprave:  
These are the Flowers that in the Court do spring.   

108  
Aduersitè, des faveur, & querelle,  
Sont trois essais pour sunder son amy:  
Tell a ce nom qui nel'est qu'à demi,  
Et ne scauroit endurer la coupelle.   

An Enemy, Misfortune, and Disgrace,  
Are three Essays to prove if Friends be loyal:  
For many have the Name, and bear the face;  
That are not so, if they be put to trial.   

109  
Aymel ' estattel que tu le vois estre:  
S'il est royal, aim la Royautè:  
S'il est de peu, ou bien communautè,  
Aymel ' aussi, cue and Dieu t'y à faict naistre.   

Commend the State where-under born you are:  
If it be Royal, love the Royalty:  
If, of the Best, or merely Popular;  
Allow of either, where thy Lot shall be.   

110  
Il est permis souhaiter un bon Prince,  
Maistel qu'il est, il le convient porter:  
Car il vault mieux un tyrant supporter,  
Que de troubler la paix de saprovince.   

'Tis lawful (where they want) to wish good Princes:  
But men the while must bear them as they are,  
'Tis better bear a Tyrant's insolences,  
Then to disturb the commonweal with War.   

111  
A tun Seigneur & ton Roy neat jove:  
Et s'il t'en pry, il t'en faut excuser:  
Qui des faveurs des Roys cuide abuser,  
Bien toast, froissè, choit au bas de la rove.   

Sport not too-boldly with thy Lord and King;  
And though he bid thee (if thou canst) refuse:  
From highest Fortunes sudden down they ding,  
Who do presume a Prince's grace t'abuse.   

112  
Qui de bas am (miracle de fortune)  
En un matin t'es haulsè si avant,  
Penses tu point que ce n'est que duvent,  
Qui calmerà, peut estre, sur la brune?   

Thou (Fortunes wonder) that from lowest place  
Dost in a morning to the top attain:  
Suppose it but a wind that blue a-space  
Which yet yer night (perhaps) will calm again.   

113  
L'estat moyen est l'estat plus durable:  
On. voit des eaux le plat pays noyè,  
Et les haults monts ont le cheffoudroyè:  
un petit tertre est seur & agreeable.   

The mean Estate is the most permanent:  
We see the Vales with every shower are drowned;  
And Mountain tops with every Thunder rend:  
But Little Hills are pleasant, safe, and sound.   

114  
De peu de biens nature se content,  
Et peu suffit pour viure honestement:  
L'homme enemy de son contentement,  
Plus à, & plus pour avoir se tourment.   

Nature's with little pleased: enough's a Feast:  
Assober life, but a small charge requires:  
But Man, the Author of his own un-rest,  
The more he hath, the more he still desires.   

115  
Quand tu verras que Dieu au ciel retire  
A coup à coup les hommes vertueux,  
Die hardiment, l'orage impetueux  
Viendra bien toast es branler cest Empire.   

When thou shalt see th' Almighty take from hence,  
By one and one the Virtuous of the Land,  
Say boldly thus; These are the Arguments  
Of some dread Tempest of his Wrath at hand.   

116  
Les gens debien cesont come gros terms,  
Ou forts pilliers, qui servant d'arcs-boutans,  
Pour appuyer country l'effort du temps  
Les haults estates, & les maintenir fermes.   

For Virtuous Men are even the Buttresses,  
The mighty Columns and the Arches strong,  
Which against all Time's fellest outrages  
Support a State and do maintain it long.   

117  
L'homme se plaint de satrop court vie,  
Et ce pendant n'employe où il deuroit  
Le temps qu'il à, qui suffir luy pourroit,  
Si pour bien viure auoit de viure envy.   

Man doth the shortness of his Life repine;  
Yet doth not duly spend nor rightly drive  
The Time he hath: which might suffice his mind,  
If, To live well, he did desire to live.   

118  
Tu ne scaurois d'assez ample salaire  
Recompenser celuy quit'a soignè  
En ton enfance, & qui t'● enseignè  
A bien parler, & surtout à bienfaire.   

Thou hardly canst sufficiently requite  
Him, who thy Childhood hath been Tutorto;  
Nor Him, that hath instructed thee aright,  
Both, well to speak, but chief, well to do.   

119  
Es ieux publics, au theatre, à la table,  
Cedeta place au viellard & chenù:  
Quand tu seras à son age venù,  
Tu troweras qui fera le semblable.   

In theatres, at public Plays and Feasts,  
Give always place unto the hoary head:  
So, when like age shall siluerize thy Tress,  
Thou shalt by others be like-honoured.   

120  
Cil qui ingrat enuerstoy se demonstre,  
Va augmentant le loz de ton bien faict:  
Le reprocher maint homme ingrat a faict:  
C'est se payer, que du bien fair monster.   

Who, for thy Friendship shows himself ingrate,  
Unwillingly extols thy Benefit:  
But to upbrayde one, makes a Man ingrate;  
Who vaunts his Kindness, pays himself for it.   

121  
Boire, & manger, s'exercer par measure,  
Sont de santè les outils plus certains:  
L'excez enl'vn de cestrois, aux humains  
Haste la mort, & force la nature.   

To eat, and drink, and exercise, in measure,  
Three props of Health, the certainest she hath:  
But the excess in these (or other Pleasure)  
Enforceth Nature, and doth hasten Death.   

122  
Si quelquefois le meschant te blasonne,  
Que t'en chautil? alas, c'est ton honneur:  
Le blasme prend la force du donneur:  
Le loz est bon, quand un bon nous le donne.   

If evil men speak sometimes ill of thee,  
What needest thou care? alas, it is thy Praise:  
Blame, from the Author takes authority,  
And'tis a good Report that good men raise.   

123  
Nous meslons tout, le uray parler se change:  
Sowent le vice est du nom revestu  
De la prochain opposite virtue:  
Le loz est blasme, & le blasme est lovange.   

We all confound; true Language is transformed:  
Vice oftentimes puts-on the virtues name  
Next opposite: 'Tis Form to be de-formed:  
Blame is a Praise; and Commendation Blame.   

124  
En bonne part ce qu'on dit tu dois prendre,  
Et l'imparfait du procham supporter,  
Cowrir ●a fault, & ne la rapporter,  
Prompt a lover, & tardif à reprendre.   

Of what is spoken, ever make the best:  
Bear the defect of Neighbour and of Friend:  
Cover their fault; publish it not (at least):  
Ready to praise, and slow to reprehend:   

125  
Cil qui se pense & se dit estre sage,  
Tien le pourfol, & celuy qui scavant  
Se faict nommer, sonde le bien avant,  
Tu troweras que ce n'est que language.   

He that esteems and vaunts himself for wise,  
Think him a fool: And Him that doth assume  
The name of Learned, whoso sound tries,  
Shall find him nothing but bare words and fume.   

126  
Plus on est docte, & plus on se deffie  
D'estre scavant: & l'homme vertueux  
jamais n'est veu estre presumptueux.  
Voila des fruits de ma Philosophy.   

The better Learned, learn the more their want,  
And more to doubt their own sufficiency:  
And Virtuous men are never Arrogant.  
These are the Fruits of my Philosophy.   
FINIS.   

SONNETS Upon the (late) miraculous Peace in France.  

Acceptam refero.    

To the most honourable, learned, and religious Gent. M. Anthony Bacone.  

BOund by your Bounty and mine own desire,  
To tender still new tribute of my zeal  
To you (your Countries watchful Sentinel,  
Whose Wisdom, ours and other States admire)  
Lo, here I tune uponmine humble Lyre  
Our neighbour Kingdoms unexpected weal,  
Through sudden ceasing of Wars enterdeale;  
As Celtike Muses to my Muse inspire.  
Miraculous the Work; and so his wit  
That firstly sung this sacred MIRACLE:  
A gracious Theme (If I dis-grace not it)  
That your grave eyes my deign for spectacle.  
What e'er it be, accept it as a due  
From him whose all doth all belong to You.   
josuah Sylvester.   

To the French King, Henry the fourth.  

SONNET 1.  

HEnry, triumphant though thou wert in War,  
Though Fate and Fortitude conspired thy glory,  
Though thy least Conflicts well deserve a Story;  
Though Mars his fame by thine be darkened far;  
Though from thy Cradle (Infant Conqueror)  
Thy martial proofs have dimmed Alcides' praise;  
And though with Garlands of victorious Bays  
Thy Royal temples richly crowned are:  
Yet (matchless Prince) nought hast thou wrought so glorious  
As this unlooktfor, happy PEACE admired;  
Whereby, thyself art of thyself victorious:  
For, while thou mightst the world's Throne have aspired,  
Thou by this Peace thy warlike hart hast tamed:  
What greater conquest could there then be named?    

SONNET 2.  

But, what new Sun doth now adorn our Land,  
And gives our sky so smooth and smiling cheer?  
For, 'tis not Phoebus; else his golden brand  
Shines brighter now then ' thath don many a year.  
Sweet Angel-beauty (sacred PEACE) heavens present;  
Is't not the Rising of thy new-com star,  
Which makes the Air more clear, the spring more pleasant,  
Zephyre more calm, and Flora merrier?  
Ah, I perceive the Olive, Dove, and Bow,  
Divine presages that the Flood abates  
(The dismal flood where blood and tears did flow)  
And janus now locks-up his Temple gates:  
justice and Faith do kindly kiss each other:  
And Mars, appeased, sits down by Cupid's Mother.    

SONNET 3.  

Fair fruitful Daughter of th' Omnipotent,  
Great Umpire that dost either World sustain,  
Without whose help all would return again  
(Like hideous Chaos) to confusion bend.  
O Mother of the living, second Nature  
Of th' Elements (Fire, Water, Earth, and Air)  
O Grace (whereby men climb th' heavenly stair)  
Whence void, this world harbours no happy creature.  
Pillar of Laws, Religion's pedestal,  
Hope of the godly, glory of th' Immortal;  
Honour of Cities, Pearl of Kingdoms all;  
Thou Nurse of Virtues, Muses chief supportall;  
Patron of Arts, of Good the special spring:  
All hail (dear Peace) which us all heal dost bring.    

SONNET 4.  

Comforth (dear France) from thy dark Cell of moan,  
Come (as newborn) from Wars unkindly quarrels:  
Turn tragic Cypress to triumphant Laurels;  
Change black to green, and make thy Grave a Throne.  
Let Cores dwell upon thy Desert Plain,  
Bacchus, and Diana, on thy Hills and Groves,  
Pomana in Gardens, Pan among thy Droves,  
Secure all Rhodes, and open all Gates again.  
Resume (O Cities) Rule and Reverence;  
Revest (ye States) your Robes of dignity;  
Rise-up (ye Ruins) in fair Battlements;  
Come, Muses, Pallas, Themis, Mercury,  
Restore us Laws, Learning, and Arts, and Trade:  
And let our Age, a golden Age be made.    

SONNNET 5.  

Most Christian Kingdom, thou wert ne'er so near  
Drowned in the deep Gulfs of thy Civil war,  
As in the tempest of this later lar,  
Which past conceit of calming did appear.  
When all the winds adversly armed were,  
(Though selfly-foes, yet friends to work thy wrack)  
Thy Ship a helm, thyself a heart didst lack,  
On troubled waters tossed here and there:  
Then▪ from above (O bounty most admired!)  
Saint Hermes shined▪ whose gentle light presageth  
That then the anger of the heavens assuageth.  
O happy PEACE! less hoped then desired:  
O grace much honoured, little yet conceived;  
O blessed guile, that thus our sense deceived.    

SONNET 6.  

Who could expect (but past all expectation)  
So sudden order, from so sad confusion;  
So loyal friendship, from false emulation;  
So firm possession, from so fierce intrusion?  
Who could expect (but past all likelihood)  
From such a storm, such and so sweet a calm;  
From France her cinders, such a Phoenix-brood;  
Pandora's box to yield so rare a balm?  
Who could expect (but past all human thought)  
So frank a freedom from a thrall so late,  
Or certain Rudder of so rend a State?  
True Aesculapius, thou alone hast wrought  
This MIRACLE, not on Hippolytus,  
But on this Kingdom, much more wondrous.    

SONNET 7.  

Th' unlookt-forworking of all things almost,  
Inconstant-constant, in succession strange,  
Amazeth those whose wits we chief boast,  
To see this sudden unexpected change.  
Each feels th' effect, but none the cause descries  
(No though he have with stars intelligence):  
God to himself reserves such Mysteries,  
Disposing Kingdoms by his Providence.  
O end-less Bounty! In the midst of Broils  
He gives us PEACE, when war did us inflame;  
And reaves the mischief we pursued yerwhiles:  
But, this doth most extol his glorious Name,  
That when most sharply this extremest Fit  
strove to be cureless, soon he cured it.    

SONNET 8.  

Some reasoned thus; No violence can last:  
Revolted Subjects, of themselves will quail:  
Just Sovereignty can never be displaced;  
And lawful Princes first or last prevail:  
But, who could think, that the conjoined powers  
Of Spain and Rome, with an exceeding number  
Of rebel Cities, and false States of ours,  
So weak a King so little should encumber?  
Others discoursed in another sort,  
While all things sorted to another end  
Then their imaginations did purport:  
That earth may know, it cannot comprehend  
The secret depths of judgements all-divine,  
No: there's no ground, beginning, midst, nor fine.    

SONNET 9  

Admire we only Gods Omni-potence,  
His deep-deep Wisdom, and his Mercy deer.  
For, with these three, he hath surmounted here  
Our hateful foes, our hopes, and all our sense:  
His power appears upon our Lord and King,  
As yerst on David: for, they both attain  
By warlike broils their pre-appointed Reign;  
Strangers, and subjects, and selves conquering:  
His Prudence shines, when to preserve us thus,  
All human wit his wisdom doth convince:  
His gracious bounty in our bounteous Prince.  
Ovarious wonders! mel delicious  
Flows from a living Lion, Mars is quiet,  
Valour relenting, Conquest void of riot.    

SONNET 10.  

This was no action of a human hand,  
But th' only work of the great Thunderer,  
Who (wise-directing all the things that are)  
In us divinely works his own command.  
Some men, unwilling, benefit their Land,  
Or un-awares their Country's good prefer;  
Another motions PEACE, but mindeth War,  
And PEACE, succeeds whatever drifts withstand.  
Th' Arch-Architect, the matchless Artisan  
All instruments unto good uses proves:  
Man's but a wheel, which that great Mover moves;  
Each gracious gift in that first cause began:  
Each good's a gleam of that first light alone,  
If Ill approach us, only that's our own.    

SONNET 11.  

If God dart lightning, soon he dews down rain;  
A dreadful judge, and yet a gentle Father:  
Whose wrath slowe-kindled is soon quenched again,  
To move us sinners to repent the rather.  
Against Hellbred Hydra, heaven-born Theseus brings  
The great Alcides' arm and armoury:  
Of greatest Ill, a greater Good there springs;  
And Mercy still doth Rigour qualify.  
Ah France, so many Monsters to suppress,  
Thou hadst great need of Royal fortitude,  
Else hadst thou been an Africa Wilderness.  
O happy lost Realm▪ for, it hath ensued,  
That now thy gain is more, in restoration,  
Then was thy loss in all thy desolation.    

SONNET 12.  

But, if I sing great Henry's fortitude;  
Shall I not then be blamed for overdaring?  
If overslip it, then be taxed for fearing,  
Of silent dread, and dumb in gratitude?  
What ere befall, my youth-bold thoughts conclude  
(Like Icarus) my nimble Muse to raise:  
And if I fall in such a Sea of praise:  
What rarer Mausole may my bones include?  
A sacred rage of some sweet-furious flame,  
Will-nill-I, rapts me boldly to rehearse  
Great Henry's Trophies, and his glorious name.  
Then roll thou Torrent of my tender verse:  
Though his high Theme deserve a consort rather  
Of all the Muses, and all musics Father.    

SONNET 13.  

Great Prince, not pleased with a vain vertue-seeming:  
Great Victor, prone to pardon humbleness,  
Happy, all Hap heavens only gift esteeming;  
Warrior, whose wars have wrought his Country's PEACE:  
Noble by deeds, and noble by descent;  
Ancient Achilles, youthful Nestor sage,  
Whose ripe-experiençed courage confident,  
To knocks knits counsel, and gives rule to rage.  
As hard in toil, as in compassion soft:  
enured to that, by nature born to this;  
Who sheds no blood, but sheddeth tears as oft,  
Who never fights but still the field is his.  
So like to Mars, that both in loves and wars,  
Bellona and Venus take him still for Mars.    

SONNET 14.  

A spirit, to virtues cheerfully addressed;  
Apt to all goodness, to no ill inclined;  
Quick to conceive, ingenious to digest;  
Whose tongue is still true Trumpet of the mind:  
A body, testing when it hath no rest;  
A waxed mildness in a steely mind;  
A soul tra-lucent in an open breast,  
Which others thoughts through bony walls can find;  
Whose front reflects maiestical-humillity,  
Whose grave-sweet look commandingly-intreats,  
Which in one instant fear and love begets:  
A King still warring to obtain tranquillity,  
To save his Country scorning thousand dangers;  
Mirror of France, and miracle of Strangers.    

SONNET 15.  

If that, before thee fall rebellious Towers,  
If battered walls, before thy Soldiers, loof:  
If hugest Rocks be pierced by thy powers;  
If against thine Arms, no armour be of proof:  
If that our fields flow with Iberian blood,  
If that thy Camp composed of many a Caesar  
Can by no dismal dangers be withstood;  
jousting with Giants, as it were at pleasure:  
If lofty Mountains to thine homage vail;  
If valleys rise to bulwark thee about;  
If for thy sake, rivers do flow and fail;  
IT was neither Canons, nor our conflicts stout,  
Nor strength, nor stomach got these victories:  
No, it was thy presence (Henry) and thine eyes.    

SONNET 16.  

They be to blame then, that thy boldness blame,  
For having put thyself so oft in danger:  
Sith, against Rebels and against the Stranger,  
Thy looks, like lightning did thy Troops inflame.  
France fought before, all bloody, faint, and lame,  
Craving thine aid to venge her hateful wrong:  
When, like a Lion to preserve her young  
Thou lay'dst about thee to redeem the same.  
Then hadst thou cause to hazard so thy life  
(In extreme perils, extreme remedies)  
But spare thee now, thy State is free from strife:  
Sovereign, our safety in thy safety lies.  
Codrus could keep his, only by his death:  
Thou thine, alone by thine own living breath.    

SONNET 17.  

What wreath were worthy to become thy Crown,  
What Carr-Triumphant equal with thy worth,  
What marble statue meet for thy renown,  
Thou that hast raised the Lily of the Earth?  
What honourable Title of Addition  
Dost thou deserve, who (joining might with mildness)  
Hast saved this great Ship from a sad perdition,  
Nigh lost in th' Ocean of wars civil wildness?  
O modern Hercules (thy Country's Father)  
Hope not of us thy iust-deserved meed:  
Earth is too-base, in Heaven expect it rather.  
Our Laurels are too-pale to crown thy deed,  
Who thus hast salved the universal Ball:  
For, th' health of France imports the health of all.    

SONNET 18.  

Pardon me (Henry) if heavens silver rain,  
Dewing thy Pearls, impearle mine humble Lays:  
And if my verse (voided both of price and pain)  
Presume thy virtues passing-price to praise:  
Pardon (great King) if that mine Infant Muse  
Stutter thy name; and if with skill too-scant  
I limne thee hear, let zeal my crime excuse;  
My steels attracted by thine Adamant.  
For, as the Sun, although he do reflect  
His golden Rays on grosser Elements,  
Doth never spot his beautiful aspect:  
So, though the praises of thine Excellence  
Do brightly glister in my gloomy style,  
They nothing lose of their first grace the while.    

SONNET 19  

Now, sith as well by conquest as succession  
France is thine own; O keep it still therefore.  
'Tis much to conquer: but to keep possession  
Is full as much, and if it be not more.  
Who well would keep so plentiful a portion,  
Must 'stablish first the Heavenly Discipline;  
Then human Laws, restraining all extortion;  
And Princely wealth with public weal combine.  
A Prince's safety lies in loving People;  
His Fort is justice (free from Stratagem)  
Without the which strong Citadels are feeble.  
The subjects love is won by loving them:  
Of loving them, n' oppression is the trial:  
And no oppression makes them ever loyal.    

SONNET 20.  

Bold Martialists, brave Imps of noble birth,  
Shining in steel for France, and for your King:  
Ye Sons of those that heretofore did bring  
Beneath their yoke, the pride of all the earth.  
It is an honour to be high-descended;  
But more, t'have kept once Country and fidelity.  
For, our own virtues make us most commended:  
And Truth's the title of all true Nobility.  
Your shoulders shoared up France (even like to fall)  
You were her Atlas; Henry, Hercules:  
And but for you, her shock had shaken All;  
But now she stands steadfast on Civil PEACE:  
Wherefore, if yet your warlike heat do work,  
With holy Arms go hunt the hateful Turk.    

SONNET 21.  

But, you that vaunt your antic Petigrees,  
So stately tymbring your surcharged shields,  
Perking (like Pines above the lower Trees)  
Over the Farmers of your neighbour fields;  
Is't lack of love, or is it lack of courage,  
That holds you (Snail-like) creeping in your houses,  
While over all your Country's Foes do forage,  
And rebel outrage every corner rouses?  
If no example of your Ancestors,  
Nor present instance of bright-armed Lords,  
The feeble Temper of your stomach stirs,  
If in your lives ye never drew your swords  
To serve your King, nor quench your Country's flames,  
Pardon me, Nobles, I mistook your names.    

SONNET 22.  

You sacred Order, charged the Church to watch,  
And teach the holy Mysteries of Heaven,  
From henceforth all seditious plots dispatch,  
And (Fatherlike) to all be always even.  
Through superstition stir to strife again;  
Revolts a mischief evermore pernicious:  
Pluck up abuses, and the hurtful grain  
Sprung from the Ignorant and Avaricious.  
Avoid Ambition (common cause of strife)  
Your reverend rob be free from stains of blood,  
Preach holy Doctrine, prove it by your life:  
Fly Idleness, choose exercises good;  
To wit, all works of lively faith and piety.  
So, to your fold shall flock the blessed Society.    

SONNET 23.  

You grave assembly of sage Senators,  
Right Oracles, ye Ephori of France;  
Who, for the States and justice maintenance,  
Of Sword and Balance are the Arbitrers:  
That from henceforth (against all enemies)  
Our PEACE may seat her in a settled Throne;  
Repress the malice of all mutinies,  
Which through th' advantage of these times have grown.  
At a low tide 'tis best to mend a breach,  
Before the flood return with violence:  
'Tis good in health to counsel with a Leech:  
So, while a People's calm from insolence,  
'Tis best that Rulers bridle them with awe;  
And (for the future) curb the lewd with law.    

SONNET 24.  

People, less settled than the sliding sand;  
More mutable than Proteus, or the Moon;  
Turned, and returned, in turning of a hand:  
Like Euripus ebbe-flowing every Noon.  
Thou thousand-headed headless Monster-most,  
Oft slain (like Antheus) and as oft new rising,  
Who, hard as steel, as light as wind arttost;  
Chameleon-like, each objects colour prysing.  
Unblind thy blind soul, opethine inward sight;  
Be no more Tinder of intestine flame:  
Of all fantastic humours purge thy sprite:  
For, if past-follies urge yet grief and shame,  
Lo (like oblivions law) to cure thy passion,  
State-stabling Peace brings froward minds in fashion.    

SONNET 25.  

Engines of Vulcan, Heav'n-affrighting wonders,  
Like brittle glass the Rocks to cinders breaking;  
Deafening the winds, dumbing the loudest thunders;  
May ye be bound a thousand years from speaking.  
Ye hate-peace Hackster's fleshed in Massacres,  
Be you for ever banished from our soil;  
Ye steeled Tools of slaughter, wounds, and wars,  
Be you condemned to hang, and rust a while:  
Or (not to languish in so fruit-lesrest)  
Be you transformed to husband-furniture,  
To blow those fields you have so oft depressed:  
Of (if you cannot leave your wont ure)  
Leave (at the least) all mutinous alarms,  
And befrom henceforth justice lawful Arms.    

SONNET 26.  

O Paris, know thyself, and know thy Master,  
As well thy heavenly as thine earthly guider:  
And be not like a Horse, who (proud of pasture)  
Breaks Bit, and Reanes, and casts his cunning Rider  
Who nill be Subjects, shall be slaves in ●ine:  
Who Kings refuse, shall have a Tyrant Lord:  
Who are not moved with the mild rods divine,  
Shall feel the fury of heavens venging Sword.  
Thy greatness stands on theirs that wear the Crown,  
Whereof, th' haste had now seventy (saving seven)  
Think one sufficient soon to pull thee down:  
King's greatness stands on the great King of Heaven.  
Knowing these two, then Paris know thyself,  
By wars afflictions, and by pieces wealth.    

SONNET 27.  

Swell not in pride O Paris (Princely Dame)  
To be chief City, and thy Sovereign's Throne:  
City? nay model of this total Frame,  
A mighty Kingdom of thyself alone.  
The scourge that lately with paternal hand  
For thine amendment did so mildly beat-thee,  
If any more against thy Kings thou stand,  
Shall prove that then God did but only threat-thee.  
Wert thou a hundred-thousand-fold more mighty,  
Who in th' Olympike Court commands the thunders,  
In his least wrath can wrack thee (most Almighty).  
Thebes, Babel, Rome, those proud heav'n-daring wonders,  
Low under ground in dust and ashes lie:  
For earthly Kingdoms (even as men) do die.    

SONNET 28.  

But, O my sorrows ● whither am I tos●?  
What? shall I bloody sweet ASTREA'S Songs?  
Re-open wounds that are now healed almost,  
And new-remember nigh-forgotten wrongs?  
Sith storms are calmed by a gentle Star,  
Forget we (Muse) all former furie-moods,  
And all the tempests of our viper-Warre:  
Drown we those thoughts in deep-deep Lethe floods.  
O but (alas) I cannot not-retaine  
So great, notorious, common miseries,  
Nor hide my plaint, nor hold my weeping rain:  
But 'mid these hideous hellish outrages,  
I'll show and prove by this strange spectacle,  
Our civil PEACE, asacred Miracle.    

SONNET 29.  

As he that, 'scaped from Shipwreck on a plank,  
Doubts of his health, and hardly yet believes  
(Still faintly shivering on the fearless bank)  
That (through that frail help) certainly he lives:  
As he that new freed from strange servitude,  
Returns again to tread his native allies,  
Seems still to fear his Patron's rigour rude,  
And seems still tugging, chained in the Galleys:  
So always, ruth, ruin, and rage, and horror  
Of troubles past do haunt me everywhere,  
And still I meet Furies and ghastly Terror:  
Then, to myself thus rave I (rapt with fear)  
From pleasures past, if present sorrow spring,  
Why should not past cares present comfort bring?    

SONNET 30.  

We must not now up braid each others crimes  
Committed wrongly in the time of War;  
For we have all (alas) too oftentimes  
Provoked the vengeance of the Lord too far:  
Some robbing justice, under mask of Reason;  
Some blowing coals, to kindle-up Sedition;  
Some against their King attempting open Treason;  
Some Godding Fortune (Idol of Ambition).  
Alas, we know our cause of malady,  
All apt t'accuse, but none to cleanse th' impure;  
Each doth rebuke, but none doth remedy:  
To know a grief, it is but half a cure:  
Is it our sins? let's purge away that bane;  
For what helps Physic if it be not ta'en?    

SONNET 31.  

Who cloak their crimes in hoods of holiness,  
Are double villains: and the Hypocrite  
Is most-most odious in Gods glorious sight,  
That takes his Name to cover wickedness.  
Profane Ambition, blind and irreligious,  
In quest of Kingdoms, holding nothing holy:  
Thinkest thou th' Eternal blind (as thou in folly)  
Or weak to punish Monsters so prodigious?  
O execrablevizard, canst thou hide thee  
From th' All-pierce Eye? are treason, rape, and murder  
Effects of Faith, or of the Furies-order?  
Thy vail is rend, the rudest have descried thee.  
'Tis now apparent to each plain Opinion,  
Thy hot Devotion hunted but Dominion.    

SONNET 32.  

'Tis strange to see the heat of Civil brands.  
For, when we arm us brother against brother,  
O then how ready are our hearts and hands,  
And Wits awake to ruin one another!  
But, come to countermine against secret treason,  
Or force the forces of a stranger foe,  
Alas, how shallow are we then in reason,  
How cold in courage, and in camping slow▪  
France only strives to triumph over France:  
With selfe-kill Swords to cut each others throat.  
What swarms of Soldiers every where do float,  
To spend and spoil a kingdoms maintenance?  
But, said I Soldiers? ah I blush for shame,  
To give base thieves the noble soldiers name.    

SONNET 33.  

Is't not an endless scandal to our days:  
(If possible our heirs can credit it):  
That th' holy name of PEACE, so worthy praise,  
Hath been our Watchword for a fault unfit?  
That the pure Lily, our own native flower,  
Hath been an odious object in our eyes?  
That kingly Name, and Kings heav'n-stablisht power,  
Hath been with us a mark of treacheries?  
T'have banished hence the godly and the wise,  
Whose sound direction kept the State from danger;  
Yea, made their bodies bloody Sacrifice?  
And (to conclude) seeking to serve a Stranger,  
T'have stabbed our own? but (O Muse) keep that in,  
The fault's so foul, to speak it were a sin.    

SONNET 34.  

I wail not I so much wars wasteful rigours,  
Nor all thy ruins make me half so sorry,  
As thy lost honour (France) which most disfigures,  
Losing thy loyalty, thy Native glory.  
From Moors to Moscovites (O cursed change!)  
The French are called, Faithless Parricides:  
Th' yerst-most-prince-●oyall people (O most strange!)  
Are now Prince-treachers more than all beside:  
With us, Massacres pass for Piety;  
Theft, rape, and wrong, for iust-attaind possessions;  
Revolt for Merit, Rage for Equity:  
Alas, must we needs borrow the transgressions  
And imperfections of all other Nations,  
Yerst only blamed for inconstant fashions?    

SONNET 35.  

Not without reason hath it oft been spoken;  
That through fair Concord little things augment,  
And (opposite) that mightiest things are broken  
Through th' ugly Discord of the discontent.  
When many tunes do gently symphonize  
It conquers hearts and kindly them compounds;  
When many hearts do gentle sympathise  
In sacred friendship, there all bliss abounds.  
Alas, if longer we divide this Real me,  
Losing to every Partisan apart;  
Farewell our Lilies and our Diadem.  
For, though it seem to breath now somewhat pert,  
Our sins (I fear) will work worse afterclaps:  
And there's most danger in a re-relaps.    

SONNET 36.  

O, how I hate these partializing words,  
Which show how we are in the Faith devised:  
Is't possible to whet so many Swords,  
And light such flames 'mong th' In-one-Christ-baptized:  
Christians to Christians to be brute and bloody,  
Altars to Altars to be opposite,  
Parting the limbs of such a perfect Body,  
While Turks with Turks do better fa●revnite?  
We, in our Truth find doubts (whence follow Schisms)  
They, whose fond Law doth all of Lies consist,  
Abide confirmed in their vain Paganismes.  
One nought believes, another what him list,  
One over-creeds, another Creeds too-short;  
Each makes his Church (rather his Sect) apart.    

SONNET 37.  

Putoff (dear French) all secret grudge and gall,  
And all keen stings of vengeance on all parts:  
For, if you would have PEACE proclaimed to all,  
It must be first fair printed in your hearts.  
Henry, the mildest of all Conquerors  
(Your perfect glass for Princely clemency)  
He, to appease and calm the State from ●arres,  
For his friend's sake, hath saved his enemy.  
Let's all be French, all subjects to one Lord;  
Let France from henceforth be one only State;  
Let's all (for God's sake) be of one accord:  
So (through true zeal Christ's praise to propagate)  
May the most Christian King with prosperous power  
On Zion walls re-plant our Lilly-flower.    

SONNET 38.  

O Christian corrosive! that the Mahomite  
With hundred thousands in Vienna Plain,  
His Mooned Standards hath already pight,  
priest to join Ostrich to his Thracian Reign:  
Malth, Corfu, Candie, his proud Threats disdain;  
And all our Europe trembles in dismay;  
While striving Christians (by each other slain)  
Each other weak'ning, make him easieway.  
Rhodes, Belgrade, Cyprus, and the Realms of Greece,  
Thralled to his barbarous yoke, yet fresh-declare,  
That while two strive, a third obtains the fleece.  
Though name of Christian be a title fair;  
If, but for Earth, they all this while have striu'n,  
They may have Earth, but others shall have Heaven.    

SONNET 39  

May I not one day see in France again  
Some new Martellus (full of stout activity)  
To snatch the Sceptre from the Saracen,  
That holds the Holy Land in straight captivity?  
May I not see the selfe-weale-wounding Lance  
Of our brave Bloods (yerst one another goring)  
Turned with mo●e valour on the Musulmans,  
A higher pitch of happy prowess soaring?  
But who (dear France) of all thy mens-at-arme  
Shall so far ●e●ce renew thine ancient Laurels:  
Sith here they plot thine and their proper harms?  
I rather fear, that (through these fatal quarrels)  
That hate-Christ Tyrant will in time become  
The Lord and Sovereign of all Christendom.    

SONNET 40.  

Mid all these mischiefs, while the friend foe Strangers,  
With us. against us, had intelligence;  
Henry our King, our Father, voids our dangers,  
And (O heavens wonder) planteth PEACE in France.  
Thou judge that sittest on th● supernal Throne,  
O quench thy fury, keep us from hostility:  
With eyes of mercy look thou still upon  
Our PEACE, and found it on a firm stability:  
Sith (in despite of discord) thou alone,  
Inward and outward, hast thus salved us (Lord)  
Keep still our France (or rather Lord thine own)  
Let Prince's love, and live in just accord:  
Disarm them (Lord) or, i● Arms busy them,  
Be it alone for thy jerusalem.    
FINIS.   

A Dialogue upon the Troubles past: BETWEEN HERAclitus and Democritus, the weeping and the laughing Philosophers.  

Acceptam refero.    

A DIALOGUE.  Heraclitus. 

ALas, thou laughest, perhaps not feeling well  
The painful torments of this mortal Hell:  
Ah! canst thou (teare-les) in this iron Age,  
See men massacred, Monsters borne to rage?   Democritus. 

Ha, but why weep'st thou? wherefore in this sort  
Dost thou lament amid this merry sport?  
Ha, canst thou choose but laugh, to see the State  
Of men's now-follies, and the freaks of Fate?   Heraclitus. 

He hath no heart that melts not all in tears,  
To see the treasons, murders, massacres,  
Sacks, sacrileges, losses, and alarms  
Of those that perish by their proper arms.   Democritus. 

Who all dismayed, swouneth suddenly  
To hear or see some feigned Tragedy  
(Held in these days, on every Stage as common)  
Is but a heartless man, or but a woman.   Heraclitus. 

O! would to God our Country's tragic ruth  
Were but a fable, no effected truth:  
My soul then should not sigh to angry Heaven,  
Nor for her plagues my tender heart be riv'n.   Democritus. 

I take the world to be but as a Stage,  
Where net-maskt men do play their parsonage.  
'Tis but a mummery, and a pleasant show;  
Sith over all, strange vanities do flow.   Heraclitus. 

Those vanities I have in detestation,  
As cursed causes of God's indignation:  
Which makes me always weep, sith on the earth  
I see no object for the meanest mirth.   Democritus. 

Thus, from one Subject sundry sequels spring,  
As diversly our wits conceive a thing.  
I laugh to see thee weep; thou weep'st to see  
Me laugh so much, which more afflicteth thee.   Heraclitus. 

Laugh while thou list at mortal miseries,  
I cannot choose but even weep out mine eyes:  
Finding more cause for tears in bloody slaughter,  
Then for thy senseless, ill-beseeming laughter.   Democritus. 

Melt thee, distil thee, turn to wax or snow;  
Make sad thy gesture, tune thy voice to woe;  
I cannot weep, except sometimes it hap  
Through laughing much, mine eyes let fall a drop.   Heraclitus. 

I weep to see thus every thing confused,  
Order disordered, and the Laws abused;  
justice reversed, and Policy perverted;  
And this sick State near utterly subverted.   Democritus. 

I laugh to see how Fortune (like a ball)  
Plays with the Globe of this inconstant All:  
How she degradeth these, and graceth those;  
How, whom she lifts-up, down again she throws.   Heraclitus. 

I rain down Rivers, when against their King  
City's rebel, through subjects bandying:  
When Colleges (through Arms) are rest of Art:  
When every County Kingdomes-it apart.   Democritus. 

I burst with laughter, when (confounding State)  
I see those Rebels hunt their Magistrate:  
When I hear Porters prate of State-designes,  
And make all common, as in newfound Indeses.   Heraclitus. 

I weep to see God's glory made a vail  
To cover who his glory most assail:  
That sacred Faith is made a mask for sin,  
And men run headlong to destructions gin.   Democritus. 

I laugh (with all my heart) at the transforming  
Of juggling Proteis, to all times Conforming:  
But, most I laugh t'have seen the world so mad  
To starve and die, when those damned Atheists bad.   Heraclitus. 

I weep (alas) to see the People weep,  
Oppressed with restless weight in danger deep;  
Crying for PEACE, but yet not like to get-her,  
Yet her condition is not greatly better.   Democritus. 

I laugh to see all cause of laughter gone,  
Through those which (yerst thou saidst) have caused thy moan:  
Noting th' old guise, I laugh at all their new;  
I laugh at more, but dare not tell it you.   Heraclitus. 

Some sorrows also I in silence keep;  
But in the Desert, all my woes shall weep:  
And there (perhaps) the Rocks will help me then;  
For, in these days they are more mild than men.   Democritus. 

I'll dwell in Cities (as my Genius guides)  
To laugh my fill; for, smiling PEACE provides  
Such plenteous store of laughing-stuffe to fill me,  
That still I'll laugh, vn-les that laughing kill me.   
FINIS.   

AN ODE OF THE LOVE AND beauties of Astraea.  
To the most matchles-faire, and virtuous, M. M. H.  


TETRASTICON.  
THou, for whose sake my freedom I forsake,  
Who, murdering me, dost yet maintain my life:  
Hear, under PEACE, thy beauty's Type I make,  
Fair, warlike Nymph, that keep'st me still in strife.    


Sacred PEACE, if I approve thee,  
If more than my life I love thee,  
'Tis not for thy beauteous eyes:  
Though the brightest Lamp in skies  
In his highest Summer shine,  
Seems a spark compared with thine,  
With thy pair of selfelike Suns,  
Past all els-comparisons.   

'Tis not (dear) the dews Ambrosial  
Of those pretty lips so Roseal,  
Make me humble at thy feet:  
Though the purest honey sweet  
That the Muse's birds do bring  
To Mount Hybla every spring,  
Nothing near so pleasant is,  
As thy lively loving kiss.   

'Tis not (Beauty's Empress)  
Th' Amber circlets of thy tress,  
Curled by the wanton winds,  
That so fast my freedom binds:  
Though the precious glittering sand  
Richly strowed on Tagus' Strand;  
Nor the grains Pactolus rolled  
Never were so fine a gold.   

'Tis not for the polished rows  
Of those Rocks whence Prudence flows,  
That I still my suit pursue;  
Though that in those Country's new  
In the Orient lately found  
(Which in precious Gems abound)  
'Mong all baits of Avarice  
Be no Pearls of such a price.   

'Tis not (Sweet) thine ivory neck  
Makes me worship at thy beck;  
Nor that pretty double HILL  
Of thy bosom panting still:  
Though no fairest Leda's Swan,  
Nor no sleekest Marble can  
Be so smooth or white in show,  
As thy Lilies, and thy Snow.   

'Tis not (O my Paradise)  
Thy front (evener than the ye)  
That my yielding heart doth tie  
With his milde-sweet Ma●ostie:  
Though the silver Moon befaine  
Still by night to mount her wain,  
Fearing to sustain disgrace,  
If by day she meet thy face.   

'Tis not that soft Satin limb,  
With blue trails enameled trim,  
Thy hand, handle of perfection  
Keeps my thoughts in thy subjection:  
Though it have such curious cunning,  
Gentle touch, and nimble running,  
That on Lute to hear it warble,  
Would move Rocks and ravish Marble.   

'Tis not all the rest beside,  
Which thy modest vail doth hide  
From mine eyes (ah too injurious!)  
Makes me of thy love so curious:  
Though Diana being bare,  
Nor Leucothoe passing rare,  
In the Crystall-flowing springs  
Never bathed so beauteous things.   

What then (O divinest Dame)  
Fires my soul with burning flame,  
If thine eyes be not the matches  
Whence my kindling Taper catches?  
And what Nectar from above  
Feeds and feasts my joys (my Love)  
If they taste not of the dainties  
Of thy sweet lips sugared plenties?   

What fell heat of covetise  
In my feeble bosom fries;  
If my heart no reckoning hold  
Of thy tresses purest gold?  
What inestimable treasure  
Can procure me greater pleasure  
Than those Orient Pearls I see  
When thou deign'st to smile on me?   

What? what fruit of life delights  
My delicious appetites,  
If I overpass the mess  
Of those apples of thy breasts?  
What fresh buds of scarlet Rose  
Are more fragrant sweet than those  
Then those Twins, thy Strawberrie teats,  
Curled-purled Cherrielets?   

What (to finish) fairer limb,  
Or what member yet more trim,  
Or what other rarer Subject  
Makes me make thee all mine object?  
If it be not all the rest  
By thy modest vail suppressed  
(Rather) which an envious cloud  
From my sight doth closely shroud.   

Ah't's a thing far more divine,  
'Tis that peerless Soul of thine,  
Masterpiece of heavens best Art,  
Made to maze each mortal hart.  
'Tis thine all-admired wit,  
Thy sweet grace and gesture fit,  
Thy mild pleasing courtesy  
Makes thee triumph over me.   

But, for thy fair Souls respect,  
I love Twin-flames that reflect  
From thy bright tra-lucent eyes:  
And thy yellow locks likewise:  
And those Orient-Pearly Rocks  
Which thy lightning Smile unlocks:  
And the Nectar-passing blisses  
Of thy honey-sweeter kisses.   

I love thy fresh rosy cheek  
Blushing most Aurora-like,  
And the white-exceeding skin  
Of thy neck and dimpled chin,  
And those juorie-marble mounts  
Either, neither, both at once:  
For, I dare not touch, to know  
If they be of flesh or no.   

I love thy pure Lily hand  
Soft, and smooth, and slender; and  
Those fine nimble brethren small  
Armed with Pearle-shel helmets all.  
I love also all the rest  
By thy modest vail suppressed  
(Rather) which an envious cloud  
From my longing sight doth shroud.    
FINIS.   


SONNET 1.  

Sweet mouth, that send'st a musky-rosed breath;  
Fountain of Nectar, and delightful Balm;  
Eyes cloudy-clear, smile-frowning, stormy-calm;  
Whose every glance darts me a living-death:  
Brows, bending quaintly your round Ebon arks:  
Smile, that then Venus sooner Mars besots;  
Locks more than golden, curled in curious knots,  
Where, in close ambush wanton Cupid lurks:  
Grace Angellike; fair forehead, smooth, and high;  
Pure white, that dimm'st the Lilies of the Vale;  
Vermilion Rose, that makest Aurora pale:  
Rare spirit, to rule this beauteous Empery:  
If in your force, Divine effects I view,  
Ah, who can blame me, if I worship you?    

SONNET 2.  

Thou, whose sweet eloquence doth make me mute;  
Whose sight doth blind me; and whose nimbleness  
Of feet in dance, and fingers on the Lute,  
In deep amazes makes me motionless.  
Whose only presence, from myself absents me;  
Whose pleasant humours, make me passionate;  
Whose sober mood, my follies represents me:  
Whose grave-milde graces make me emulate.  
My heart, through whom, my heart is none of mine:  
My All, through whom, I nothing do possess  
Save thine Idea, glorious and divine.  
O thou my Peace-like War, and warlike PEACE,  
So much the wounds that thou hast given me, please;  
That 'tis my best ease, never to have ease.     

Epigramms and Epitaphs upon War and Peace.  

Upon the League.  

FRaunce, without cause thou dost complain  
Against the League for wronging thee.  
Sh'hath made thee large amends again,  
With more than common usury:  
For, for thy one King which she slew,  
Sh'hath given thee now a thousand new.    

Upon the taking of Paris.  

1  
When Paris (happily) was won  
With small or no endangering,  
Such sudden common joy begun,  
That one would say (t'have seen the thing)  
Th' King took not Paris, Paris took the King.   

2  
O rarest sight of joyful woe,  
Adorned with delightful dread;  
When Henry with oneself-same show,  
Conquered at once and triumphed!   

3  
Sith, thee from danger and distress to free,  
The King thus took, or rather entered thee;  
Paris, it was not in stern Mars his month,  
But in the month that mild ASTREA owneth.    

Upon the fall of the Millars-bridge.  

1  
The Miller's in the River drowned,  
While Paris was beleagerd round;  
To die were all resolved in mind,  
Because they had no more to grind.   

2  
Then was their fittest time to die,  
Because they might intend it best:  
But their intent was contrary,  
Because they then lived so at rest.   

3  
As, after long sharp famine, some (forlorn)  
Of surfeit Die, their greediness is such:  
This Mill-bridge, having fasted long from corn,  
Is drowned (perhaps) for having ground toomuch.    

Upon the recovery of Amiens.  

I know not which may seem most admirable;  
To take or retake such a City's force:  
But, yet I know which is most honourable,  
To take by fraud, or to retake by force.   

2  
Each where they sing a thousand ways  
The glory of this enterprise:  
But yet of all their merry Lays.  
The best is still in the Re-prise.   

3  
Hernand was happy by this Enterprise,  
To take so soon our Amiens without blow:  
More happy yet, to die yer the Re-prise,  
Else had he died for shame to leave it so.    

Upon the Reduction of Nantes.  

Nantes would not yield so soon (they said)  
Nor be recovered so good cheap:  
And yet, for all defence it made,  
IT was made to make the Britton Leap.    

Upon PEACE.  

●  
soldiers, late priest, are now suppressed;  
Crossed and cassierd from further pay:  
Yet will they (in this time of rest)  
Take up their lend by the Way.   

2  
This PEACE (it seemeth) doth not sound  
To all the world; for everywhere  
More Sergeants now do go the Round,  
Then Soldiers yerst accustomed were.    

Upon Captain Coblar.  

A merry Coblar left the wars,  
To turn unto his Occupation:  
And, asked by his Customers  
The reason of his alteration:  
IT hath pleased (quoth he) the King t'ordain  
That each his Office take again.    

Upon War.  

Here, under this huge heap of stones  
Lately interred, lies cruel WAR:  
Pray God long rest her soul and bones:  
Yet, there is nothing worse for her.    

Upon Rowland Rob-Church.  

Here lieth Rowland, that was lately slain,  
In robbing of a wealthy Chapel, spied:  
Yet I believe he doth in Heaven remain,  
Sith only for the Churches Good he died.    

Upon Captain Catch.  

Here under, Captain CATCH is laid,  
Who six times changed from side to side,  
Of neither side (it seemed) afraid:  
He wore a white Scarf when he died:  
Yet some suspect (and so do I)  
For his inconstance shown before,  
That to the Black-band he did fly:  
But now he can revolt no more.    

Upon Sir Nequam Neuter.  

Here lieth he, who the more safe to pray  
On both sides; Neuter, between both abode:  
Whether his Soul is gone, I can not say,  
Sith he was, nor for Devil, nor for God.   Pax omnibus una.  
FINIS.   

A l'honeur de la Paix, chantée par Monsieur du NESMF, & rechantée en Anglois par Monsieur SYLVESTRE.  

SAns Paix rien ne sub siste: en Paix tout croist & dure:  
Dieu maintient par sa Paix le beau Grand Vnivers  
Et le Petit, bastis de membres si divers,  
Touts s'entr' aydans l'vnl' autre en common facture:  
Elle unit a son Dieu l'humaine creature:  
Elle emplit de Citez les Royaumes deserts:  
Elle bride les fols, & rend les champs couverts  
De biens donans plaisirs, vesture, & nouriture.  
Enuoy-la donc (O Dieu) a nos Princes & Roys,  
En nos maisons, en nous; & fay que d'vne voix  
Nous suyvions les accords de ton Nesme admirable:  
Lors (a iamais) sir as louè de nos Gaulois  
Par ses chants tout-divins: & Syluestre, en Anglois  
Redoublerace loz d'vn style imitable.   
P. CATELLE. I'attens le temps.   

THE PROFIT of Imprisonment.  
A PARADOX, Written in French by Odet de la Nove, Lord of Teligni, being Prisoner in the Castle of Tournay.  
Translated by JOSVAH SYLVESTER.  
Acceptam refero.   

To his long-approoved friend, M. R. Nicolson, I. S. wisheth ever all true content.  

TO thee (the same to me as first I meant)  
Friend to the Muses, and the well-inclinde,  
Loving, and loved of every virtuous mind:  
To thee the same, I the same Song present  
(Our mutual love's eternal Monument)  
Wherein, our Nephews shall hereafter find  
Our constant Friendship how it was combined  
With links of kindness and acknowledgement.  
Accept again this Present in good part,  
This simple pledge of my sincere affection  
To Tangley, Thee, and thy Soon-calm-in-hart  
(Perfect goodwill supplies all imperfection).  
Chameleons change their colour: Guile her game:  
But (in both Fortunes) virtue's still the same.    

A Sonnet of the Author to his Book.  

THe body, over prone to Pleasures and delights  
Of soft, frail, dainty flesh, and to selfe-ease addicted,  
Abhors Imprisonment, as a base pain inflicted  
To punish the defaults of most unhappy wights.  
The soul, as much surprised with love of heavenly sights,  
And longing to behold the place that appertaines-her,  
Doth loath the body, as a Prison that detaines-her  
From her high happiness among the blessed sprights.  
Then, sith both body and soul their bondage never brook,  
But soul and body both do love their liberty:  
Tell, tell me (O my Muse) who will believe our Book?  
He that hath learned aright both these to mortify,  
And serve our Saviour Christ in body and in spirit,  
Who both from thrall hath freed by his own only merit.    

A Paradox, That Adversity is more necessary than Prosperity; and that, of all afflictions, close Prison is most pleasant, and most profitable.  

However fondly-false a vain Opinion seem,  
If but the Vulgar once the same for right esteem;  
Most men account it so: so (in absurdest things)  
Consent of multitude exceeding credit brings.  
Nor any mean remains when it is once received,  
To wrest it from the most of erring minds deceived.  
Nay, whose shall but say, they ought to alter it,  
He headlong casts himself in dangers deepest Pit.   

For, never nimble Bark that on adventure runs  
Through those blue bounding Hills where hoary Neptune wunnes,  
Was set-upon so sore with never-ceast assault  
Maintained on every side by winds and waters salt,  
When, raging most, they raise their roughest tempest dreaded,  
As th' idiot multitude, that Monster manyheaded  
Bestirs itself, with wrath, spite, fury, full of terror,  
'Gainst whatsoever man that dares reprove her error.  
Who undertakes that task, must make account (at first)  
To take hot wars in hand, and bear away the worst.  
Therefore a many Works (worthy the light) have died  
Before their birth, in breasts of Fathers terrified,  
Not by rough deeds alone; but even by foolish threats:  
Yet, only noise of words base cowards only beats.   

Then fear who list (for me) the common people's cry,  
And who so list, be mute, if other-minded: I  
(Scorning the feeble force of such a vain endeavour)  
Will freely (spite of fear) say what I censure ever:  
And, though my present State permit me not such scope,  
Mine un-forbidden pen with Errors pride shall cope.   

Close Prison (now a-daies) th' extremest misery  
The world doth deem, I deem direct the contrary:  
And therewithal will prove, that even Adversities  
Are to be wished more than most Prosperities.  
And, for Imprisonment, though that be most lamented,  
Of all the griefs wherewith men fear to be tormented;  
Yet, that's the Sat most stored with pleasure and delight,  
And the most gainful too to any Christian wight.  
A Paradox, no doubt more true, then creditable;  
The which myself sometimes have also thought a fable,  
While guileful vanities, fed not, but filled my mind,  
For strengthening sustenance, with unsubstantial wind.   

I hated Death to death, I also did detest  
All sickness and disease that might a man molest.  
But, most I did abhor that base esteemed State,  
Which to subjections Law ourselves doth subjugate,  
And our sweet life enthralls unto another's will,  
For, as my fancy wished I would have walked still.  
Death (thought I) soon hath done, and every grief beside,  
The more extreme it is, the lesser time abides:  
But now, besides that I esteemed the prisoners trouble  
Much worse, me thought the time his martyrdom did double.  
So that, to scape that scourge, so irk some to my hart,  
I could have been content to suffer any smart.   

Lo, by blind ignorance how judgements are misled:  
Now that full thirty months I have experienced  
That so-much-feared ill, 'tis now so used to me,  
That I (a prisoner) live much more content and free,  
Then when as (under cloak of a false freedom vain)  
I was base slave (indeed) to many a bitter pain.   

But, now I see myself mocked everywhere almost,  
And feeble me alone met by a mighty host  
Of such, as (in this case) do not conceive as I,  
But do esteem themselves offended much thereby.   

And therefore (Father dear) this weak abortive Child,  
For refuge runs betweeneth ' arms of his Grandsire mild.  
If you accept of it, my labour hath his hire:  
For, careless of the rest, all that I here desire,  
Is only that yourself (as in a Glass) may see  
The Image of th' estate of my Captivity:  
Where, though I nothing can avail the Commonweal,  
Yet, I avail myself (at least) some little deal.  
Praising th' all-powerful Lord, that thus vouch saves to pour  
Such favours manifold upon meevery hour;  
Whereof yourself (yer while) so sweet sure proof have tasted,  
In cruel bitterness of bands that longer lasted.   

Now, I beseech his Grace to bless mine enterprise,  
My heart and hand at once to govern in such wise,  
That what I writ, may nought displeasing him contain:  
For, void of his sweet aid, who works he works in vain.   

Within the wide-spred space of these round Elements,  
Whatsoever is indewd with living soul and sense,  
Seeks (of itself) selfe-good; this instinct natural  
Nature herself hath graven in hearts of Creatures all:  
And of all living things (from largest to the least)  
Each one to fly his ill doth evermore his best.  
Thereof it comes (we see) the wild Horse (full of strength)  
Tamely to take the bit into his mouth at length;  
And so, by force we tame each most untamed beast,  
Which, of itself, discreet, of evils takes the least:  
And though that that which seems to be his chief restraint  
He oftentimes despise, that's by a worse constraint:  
As when the Lion fierce, fearless pursues the shining  
Of bright keen-piercing blades, and's royal crest declining,  
Full of the valiant Fire, that courage wonts to lend,  
Runs midst a million swords, his whelplings to defend,  
More fearing far that they their liberty should lose,  
Than on himself the smart of thousand wounding blows.   

But, all things have not now the self same goods and ills;  
What helpeth one, the same another hurts and kills:  
There's odds between the good that savage Beasts do like,  
And that good (good indeed) which soul-wiseman must seek:  
When Beasts have store of food, and free from foe's annoy,  
Smartlesse, and sound, and safe, may (as they list) enjoy  
Their fill of those delights, that most delight the sense:  
That, that's the happiness that fully them contents:  
But reasonable souls (as God hath made mankind)  
Can with so wretched Good not satisfy their mind.  
But, by how much the more their inly sight excels  
The brutish appetite of every creature else,  
So much more excellent the good for which they thirst:  
Man of two parts is made: the body is the worst,  
The heaven-born soul, the best, wherein man's bliss abides;  
In body that of beasts, nought having else beside:  
This body stands in need of many an accessory,  
To make it somewhat seem: the soul receives this glory,  
That selfly she subsists; and her abundant wealth  
(Unlike the body's store) is ever safe from stealth.   

Our body took his birth of this terrestrial clod:  
Our spirit, it was inspired of th' inly breath of God;  
And either of them still strives to his proper place,  
This (earthborn) stoops to earth; that stics to heaven apace.  
But, as the silly bird, whose wings are wrapped in lime,  
Feign (but in vain) attempts to fly full many a time:  
So, our fair soul, surcharged with this foul rob of mud,  
Is tootoo often held from mounting to her GOOD.  
She strives, she strikes, sometimes she lifts her up aloft:  
But, as the worse part (we see) prevaileth oft,  
This false frail flesh of ours with pleasure painted lure,  
Strait makes her stoop again down to the dust impure.   

Happy who th' honour hath of such a victory,  
He crowns his conquering head with more true majesty  
Then if he had subdued those Nations, by his might,  
Which do discover first Aurora's early light,  
And those whom Phoebus sees from his Meridian Mount,  
Th' Anti-podes, and all; more than the sand to count.  
For, small the honour is to be acknowledged King  
And Monarch of the world, ones self un-maistering.   

But, each man on his head this Garland cannot set,  
Nor is it given to all this victory to get,  
Only a very few (Gods deere-beloved Elect)  
This happy Goal have got by Virtues live effect:  
Therest, soon weary of this fame so painful War,  
Like well of Heaven, but love the earth above it far:  
Some, drunk with poysony dregs of worldly pleasures brute,  
Know where true good consists, but never do ensueed:  
Some do ensue the same, but with so faint a heart,  
That at the first assault they do retire and start:  
Some, more courageous, vow more than they bring to pass  
(So much more easy 'tis to say, then do, alas)  
And all, through toomuch love of this vain world's allurements,  
Or toomuch idle fear of sufferings and endurements:  
Meerevanities, whereto the more men do incline,  
The farther-off they are from their chief Good divine.   

Therefore, so many think themselves so miserables:  
Therefore the air is filled with outcries lamentable,  
Of such as do● disdain the thing that better is,  
To entertain the worse, with forfeit of their bliss:  
Therefore we see those men that riches do possess,  
Afflicted still with care: and therefore, heaviness  
Abandons never those, that, fed with honours fill,  
Fawn upon Potentates, for ●litting favours still.  
And, cause (God wots) they have, to be at quiet never,  
Sith their felicity is so uncertain ever.  
Neither are Kings themselves exempted from vexation,  
However Soveraignesway they bear in any Nation:  
For, now they wish to win, anon fear loss no less,  
Yea, though (for Empire) they did this wide world possess,  
Not one of them, withal, could full contented be:  
For, how man more attains, the more attempteth he.  
Who (therefore) covets most such soon-past goods uncertain,  
Shall ne'er enjoy the joy of goods abiding certain:  
But, who so seeks to build a true content, to last;  
On else-what, must elsewhere his first foundation cast.  
For, all things here below are apt to alter ever;  
here's nothing permanent, and therefore whosoever  
Trusts thereto, trusteth to a broken staff for stay;  
For no earth's vanity can bless a man for aye.  
We must, to make us blest, our firm assurance found  
Elsewhere then in this world, this change-inthralled ground:  
We must propose ourselves that perfect, perish-les,  
That true unfeigned good, that good all dangerles  
From th' unjust spoil of thieves, which never, never stands  
In need of guard, to guard from Soldiers pilling hands.   

Now, 'tis with spiritual hands and not with corporal  
That we do apprehend these heavenly treasures all:  
Treasures so precious, that th' only hope to have-them  
In full fruition once, with him that frankly gave-them,  
Fills us with every joy, our sorrows chokes and kills,  
And makes us feel, amid our most tormenting ills,  
A much more calm content, than those that every day  
On this frail earth enjoy their hearts-wish every way.   

It's therefore in the spirit, not in the flesh that we  
Must seek our Sovereign Good and chief Felicity.  
Th' one is not capable of any injury,  
Th' other's thrall to th' yoke of many a misery,  
Th' one endless, ever-lasts, th' other endures so little,  
That well-nigh yered be got 'tis gone, it is so brittle.   

For, who is he that now in wealth aboundeth most,  
Or, he that in the Court King's favours best may boast,  
Or, he that's most with robes of dignity bedight,  
Or, he that swims on Seas of sensual sweet delight,  
But is in peril still to prove the contrary,  
Poor, hated, honour-les, and full of misery?   

But, one, that scorning all these rich proud pomps & pleasures  
About him (Bias-like) bears always all his treasures,  
Even (like to him) can leave his native Country sacked,  
Without sustain of loss: and, with a mind infract,  
Even vanquished bereave, the Victor's victories,  
Who, though his La●d he win, cannot his hart surprise.   

Let exile, prisonment, and tortures great and small,  
With their extremest pains atonce assail him all:  
Let him be left alone among his mighty foes,  
Poor, friendless, naked, sick (or if aught worse than those)  
He doth nor only bear all this with patience,  
But taketh (even) delight in such experience:  
Regarding all these griefs, which men so much aff●ight,  
As Baby fearing bugs, and skar-crowes void of might:  
He chooseth rather much such exercise as these,  
Then mid the flesh-delights to rust in idle ●ase.   

But, very few there are, that thus much will admit:  
Nay, few or none there are that easily credit it;  
The most part taking-part with common most conceit,  
Yet they have heard of this, sustain the t'other straight:  
Not seeing, that themselves shun and refuse as ill,  
What unto other men, for good they offer still.   

Not one of them will brook his Son in sloth to lurk,  
But moves, and stirs him up incessantly to work:  
Forbids him nothing more than sin-seed idleness:  
Nor any pleasure vain permits him to possess,  
(For well he knows, that way to virtue doth not lead,  
But thitherward who walks a path of pain must tread)  
If he offend in aught, he chastens and reproves him,  
In so much sharper sort by how much more he loves-him.   

Thus handleth man the thing that most he holdeth dear,  
Yet thinks it strange himself should be so handled here.  
May we not rather think we are beloved of God,  
When as we feel the stripes of his iust-gentle rod?  
And that, whom here he lets live as they list in pleasure,  
Are such as least he loves, and holds not as his treasure?  
〈…〉, not of our slaves, but of our sons elect▪  
By sharp-sweet chastisements the manners we correct.  
In very deed God doth as doth a prudent Sire,  
Who little careth what may cross his child's desire,  
But what may most avail unto his betterment:  
So, knowing well that ease would make us negligent:  
He exerciseth us▪ he stires us up, and presses,  
And, though we murmur much, yet never-more he cease●,  
He chastens, he afflicts, and those whom most he striketh,  
Are those whom most he loves, and whom he chief liketh.   

No valiant men of war will murmur or mislike,  
For being placed to prove the for most push of pike●▪  
Nay, rather would they there already front the foe,  
With loss of dearest blood; their dauntless hearts to show.  
If an exploit approach, or Battel-day drawnie,  
If ambush must be laid, some Stratagem to try;  
Or, must they 〈◊〉 the foe in eager skirmish fell,  
Or, for the sleepy host all night keep sentinel:  
From grudging at the pains, so far off are they all,  
That blest they count themselves; therefore their General  
Employs them oftentimes, as most● outrageous,  
And, them approved, he plants in places dangerous;  
But, no man makes account of such as shu●● the charge▪  
Whose pain is not so little as their shame is large▪   

All of us (in this world) resemble Soldiers right,  
From day-break of our birth even to▪ our dying night:  
This life it is a war, wherein the vall●ntest;  
With hottest skirmishes are ever plied and pr●sh▪  
Whom our grand-captain most sets-by, he sets a- 〈◊〉  
The forward as most fit to bear the chiefest brunt:  
Cares, exiles, prisonments, diseases, dolours, losses,  
Maims, tortures, torments, spoils, contempts, dishonours, crosses,  
All these are hard exploits, & full of bickering bold,  
Which he commits to those whom he doth dearest hold:  
But, leaveth those behind for whom he careth little,  
To stretch themselves at ●ase amid their honours brittle,  
their pomps, their dignities, their joys, their gems, their tres●●●  
Their dainties, their delights, their pastimes & their pleasures▪  
Like coward Grooms that guard the baggage & the stuff,  
While others meet the foe, and show their valour's proof.   

But have not these (say some) in these afflictions part?  
No; but of punishment, they often feel the smart.  
Afflicted those we count, whom chastenings tame, and turn▪  
The other punished, that at correction spurn,  
The first (still full of hope) reap profit by their rods,  
The later (desperate) through spite wax worse by odds.   

Boy-st●●gle●s of a Camp, so should be punished then,  
Being naked forc'● to fight with troops of armed men,  
Who cannot reap nor reach the pleasure, nor th● meed,  
Nor th' honour incident for doing such a deed:  
To such praise-winning place, brave Soldiers gladly run,  
Which as a dangerous place these faint-harts sadly shun.   

What Warrior in the world, that had not rather try  
A million of extremes (yea rather even to die)  
Then with disgraceful spot to stain his Honour bright  
In these corporeal Wars? Yet, in the ghostly fight  
(Of glory careless all) we shun all labours pain,  
To purchase with reproach a rest-nestidly-vain.  
Virtue is not achieved, by spending of the year  
In pleasures soft, sweet shades, down beds & dainty cheer▪  
Continual travel it is that makes us there arrive,  
And so by travel too Virtue is kept alive:  
For, soon all virtue vades without some exercise,  
But, being stirred, the more her vigour multiplies.   

Besides, what man is he, that feels some member rotten,  
Whereof he fears to die, but causeth strait be gotten  
Some surgeon, that with saw, with cauter, or with knife,  
May take that part away, to save his threatened life:  
And suffers (though with smart) his very flesh and bones  
To be both seared, and sawed, and clean cut-off atonce.  
But, to recure the soul (the soul with sin infected)  
All wholesome remedies are hated and rejected:  
With the Physician kind th' impatient Patient frees,  
Nor to come near him once his helpful hand he lets:  
We are half putrefied, through sins contagious spot,  
And without speedy help the rest must wholly rot:  
Cutoff th' infected part, then are we sound and free,  
Else all must perish needs, there is no remedy.   

Most happy they, from whom in this frail life, the Lord  
(With smart of many pains) cuts-off the pains abhorred  
Of th' ever-never death, wherein they lie and languish,  
That here have had their ease and never tasted anguish.   

But many, which as yet the adverse part approve,  
Conceive (●●not confess) that it doth more behove.  
By faintless exercise fair Virtue to maintain,  
Then overwhelmed with Vice, at rest to rust in vain.  
But y●● th'▪ extremity of sufferings doth dismay-them,  
The force where-of they fear would easily over-lay them:  
They love the exercise, the chastenings likewise like them,  
But yet they would have God but seld & softly strike-them,  
Else are they priest to run, to ruin, with the Devils,  
They are so▪ sore afeard of false-supposed evils:  
Most wretched is the man that for the fear of nis●●●,  
All lively-breathing hopes of happy goodness stifles.  
Of nifles, sir, say they? seem all their bitter crosses,  
As nothing? nor their pains, nor lamentable losse●,  
That daily they endure? were not the wretches blest,  
If from their heaule load their shoulders were released?   

Who is not happy (sure) in misery and woe,  
No doubt prosperity can never make him so:  
No mo●e than he that's sick should find more ease upon  
A glorious golden bed, then on a wooden one.  
Man harbours in himself the evil that afflicts him,  
And his own fault it is, if discontentment pricks-him:  
And all these outward ills are wrongfully accused;  
Which flesh and blood doth blame; for, being rightly used,  
They all turn to our good: but whoso takes offence  
Thereby, hath by and by his just rough recompense▪  
For neither in their power, nor in their proof the same  
Are evil lau● effect, but in conceit and name,  
Which when we lightly weigh, the least of us surmounts them,  
Nor hurt they any one but him that over-counts them.   

Neither aught that (indeed) for evil to be rated,  
Which may by accident be unto good translated:  
Focyll is ever ill, and is contrary ever  
Directly unto good, so that their natures never  
Can be constrained to brook each other, neither yet  
Can th' ●●e ●● ever turned to th' other opposite:  
But, plainly we perceive, that there's no languor such,  
But long continuance and custom lighten much:  
Familiarizing so the Fit, that how so fret it,  
Even in th' extremity one may almost forget it.  
What better proof of this, than those poor Galleyslaves,  
Which (having been before such Rogues and idle Knaves)  
As shunning services to labour were so loath,  
That they would starve & die rather than leave their sloth,  
But being used a while to tug the painful Oar,  
Labour that yerst they loathed they now desire the more:  
Or those that are assailed with burning Feverfit,  
Even then when least of all they dread or doubt of it:  
Who carefully complain, and cry, and rave, and rage,  
Frying in inward flames, the which they cannot suage;  
Yet, if it wax not worse, the daintiest body makes it  
In eight days as a use, and as a trifle takes it:  
Or, those that have sometimes the painful rack endured,  
Who without change of pain being a while enured,  
The pain that did constrain them to bewail and weep,  
Seems them so easy then, they almost fall asleep.   

All are no● evils then, that are surnamed so,  
Sith evil never can his nature mingle, no,  
Nor turn it into good; whereas we plainly see  
On th' other side, that these are changed suddenly.  
And, were they ills (indeed) sith they so little last,  
Were't no●●●eri● sha●e to be so much aghast   

But here again (say they) th' ones nature never taketh  
The others nature on, but still the stronger maketh  
His fellow give him place, and only beareth sway  
Till that, returned again, drive it again away.   

Nay, that can never be: for never perfect good  
Can by his contrary be banished (though withstood):  
For, good is ever good, and where so ere it go  
Evil doth ever strive, but with too strong a foe.  
There is no reason then, these, good, or ill to call,  
That altar in this sort, and never rest at all:  
Neither to bless or blame them for the good or ill  
That ever in herself our soul concealeth still.   

For, if that from without, our bale, or else our bliss  
Arrived: evermore withal must follow this,  
That always, unto all, self ill, self pain, would bring:  
Self good, one self content: but 'tis a certain thing,  
They are not taken for their quality and kind,  
But rather as th' affects of men are most inclined.   

One, losing but a crown hath lost his patience quite:  
Another, having lost five hundred in a night,  
Is never mo●'d aiote, though (having less in store,  
Then th' other hath by odds) his loss might grieve him more.  
One, being banished, doth nothing but lament,  
Another (as at home) is there as well content.  
And, one in prison penned, is utterly dismayed,  
Another, as at home, lives there as well apaid.   

Needs must we then confess, that in ourselves doth rest  
That which uphappieth us, and that which makes us blest:  
In us (indeed) the ill, which of ourselves doth grow:  
And in us too the good, which from God's grace doth flow,  
To whom it pleaseth him: true good that none can owe-yet,  
Save those on whom the Lord vouch safeth to bestowit:  
And that the bitter smart of all the pains that wring-us,  
From nothing but our sin, receiveth strength to sting-us.   

Yea, surely in ourselves abides our misery:  
Our Grandsire Adam left us that for Legacy,  
When he enthralled himself unto the Law of sin,  
Wherein his guilty heirs their grief-full birth begin.   

The Lord had given to him a Nature and a feature,  
Perfect (indeed) and blest above all other creature;  
And of this Earthly world had stablished him as King,  
subjecting to his rule the reanes of every thing:  
His spirit within itself noselfe-debates did nurse,  
Having no knowledge yet of better nor of worse:  
His body ever blithe and healthful felt no war  
Of those four qualities that now do ever jar:  
Nor any poysony plant, nor any Serpent fell,  
Nor any noisome beast could hurt in any deal:  
He might, without the taste of bitter death attain  
Unto the Haven of Heaven, where all true joyss do reign.  
And, had he not misdone, he might have well bequeathed  
The same inheritance to all that ever breathed:  
How happy had he been, if he had never eaten  
Th' unlawful fatal fruit that double Death did threaten?  
O that he never had preferred the Serpents flatter  
Before th' eternal Law of all the world's Creator.   

You shall be (said the Fiend) like supreme Deities:  
This sweet fruits sugared juice shall open both your eyes  
Which now your tyrant God (envying all your bliss)  
Blinds with a filmy vail of black Obscurities,  
Lest that you should become his equals in degree,  
Knowing both good and ill as well as ever he.   

Poor Eve believes him strait, & Man believes his wife,  
And biteth by and by the Apple asking-life:  
Whereof so soon as he had tasted, he gins  
(But all too-late alas) to see his cursed sins.   

His eyes (indeed) were open, and then he had the skill  
To know the difference between the good and ill,  
Then did he know how good, good wa● when he had lost-it,  
And evil too he knew (but ah too dearly costit)  
Leaving himself (besides the sorrow of his loss)  
Nothing but sad despair of succourin his cross.   

He found himself fallen down from blissful state of peace  
Into a civil war where discords never cease:  
His soul revolting, soon became his bitter foe.  
But (as it oft befalls that worst do strongest grow)  
She is not eased at all by th' inly striving jars,  
Which do annoy her more than th' ireful open wars.  
Wrath, hatred, envy, fear, sorrow, despair, and such:  
And passions opposite to these, afflict as much,  
Distracting to and fro the Princess of his life,  
In restless mutinies, and never ceasing strife.  
Then th' humor-brethrens all, hot, cold, and wet, and dry,  
Fallen out among themselves, augment his misery.  
So that (by their debate) within his flesh there seeded  
A harvest of such weeds as never can be weeded.  
All creatures that before (as Subjects) did attend-him,  
Now, 'mong themselves conspire by all means to offend-him:  
In brief, Immortal borne, now mortal he became,  
And bound his soul to bide Hells everburning flame,  
Leaving his woeful heirs (even from their birth's beginning)  
Heirs of his heavy pain, as of his heinous sinning.   

So that, in him, the Lord condemned all mankind,  
To bear the punishment to his foul sin assigned:  
And none had ever 'scaped, had not the God of grace  
(Desiring more to save, then to subvert his race)  
Redeemed us by the death of his deer only Son,  
And chosen us in him before the World begun:  
Forgiving us the fault, and with the fault the fine;  
All save this temporal death; of Adam's sin the sign.   

Now in the horror of those easeless, endless pains,  
It may be rightly said that evil ever reigns:  
That's euill's very self; and not this seeming-woe,  
Whereof the want on world complaineth daily so.   

Lived we ten thousand years continually tormented▪  
In all fell tortures strange that ever were invented,  
What's that compared to time, that never shall expire,  
Amidth'infernall flames, whose least-afflicting fire▪  
Exceedeth all the pains, all mortal hearts can think?  
Sure, all that we endure, till Lethe drops we drink,  
Is all but ease to that, or if it be a pain,  
'Tis in respect of that a very trifle vain.   

But, were't a great deal worse, why should we evil name  
That which we rather find a medicine for the same?  
Health, wealth, security, honour, and ease do make us  
Forget our God, and God for that doth soon for sake us:  
Whereas afflictions are the ready means to mooveus,  
To seek our health in him that doth so dearly love-us.   

'Tis true indeed (say some) that benefit they bring-us,  
But yet the smart thereof doth so extremely wring-us,  
That th' evil which they feel that do endure the same,  
Makes them esteem it just to give it that for name.   

Man's nature, certainly (it cannot be denied)  
Is thrall to many throes, while here on earth we bide  
In body and in soul: the troubled soul sustains  
A thousand passions strong, the body thousand pains,  
And that's the wretched State, the which erewhile I said,  
Was justly due to us, when Adam disobeyed.   

But, he that's once new-born in jesus Christ by faith,  
Who his assured hope in God sole settled hath,  
Who doth believe that God gives essence unto all;  
And all sustaineth still: that nothing doth befall  
But by his sacred will, and that no strength that striveth  
To stop his just decrees, can stand, or ever thriveth:  
Not only doth accept all pains with patience,  
The which he takes for due unto his deep offence:  
Nor only is content (if such be Gods good pleasure)  
To feel a thousand-fold a much more ample measure,  
But even delights therein, and void of any fear,  
Expects th' extremity of all assaults to bear:  
Whether almighty God abate their wonted vigour,  
Or (that his may not feel their crosses cruel rigour)  
Do wholly arm them with new forces for the nonce,  
To bear the bitter brunt: or whether both atonce.   

And, to approve this true; how many daily drink  
Of torments bitter Cup, that never seem to shrink?  
Alas, what sharper smart? what more afflicting pains?  
What worse grie●e than that, which ceaslesly sustains  
He that by some mischance, or else by martial thunder,  
Unhappily hath had some main bone broke in sunder?  
What torment feeleth not the sore-sicke deepe-diseased?  
One while with cruel fit of burning Fever seized:  
Another while assailed with Colic and with Stone,  
Or, with the cureless Gout, whose rigour yields to none?  
Or, thousand other griefs, whose bitter vexing strife  
Disturbs continually the quiet of our life?  
Yet notwithstanding this, in all this painful anguish,  
(Though the most part repine, & plain, & mourn, & languish,  
Murmuring against the Lord, with malcontented voice)  
Some praise his clemency, and in his rods rejoice.   

How many such (dear Saints) have fell torments seen,  
To die between their hands, through moody tyrant's teen?  
So little daunted at their martyrdom and slaughter,  
That in th' extremity they have expressed laughter?  
How many at the stake, nay, in the very flame,  
Have sung with cheerful voice, th' Almighty's prais-ful name?   

Yet were they all compact of arters and of veins,  
Of sinews, bones, and flesh: and sensible of pains  
(By nature at the least) as much as any other,  
For being issued all from one self earthly Mother.   

What makes them then to find such extreme smart so sweet?  
What makes them patiently those deadly pangs to meet?  
No doubt it is the Lord, who first of nothing made-us,  
Who with his liberal hand of goodness still doth lade-us,  
Some more and other less: and never ceaseth space  
From making us to feel the favours of his grace.   

Accursed are they (indeed) whom he doth all abandon  
To do their Lust for Law, and run their life at random:  
Accursed who never taste the sharp-sweet hand of God:  
Accursed (ah, most accursed) who never feel his rod.  
Such men (by nature borne the bondslaves unto sin)  
Through selfe-corruption, end worse than they did begin:  
For, how they longer live, the more by their amiss,  
They draw them nearer Hell, and farther-off from bliss.  
Such men, within themselves their evils spring contain:  
There is no outward thing (as falsely they complain)  
Cause of their cureless ill: for good is everything,  
And good can (of itself) to no-man evil bring.   

Now, if they could aright these earthly pleasures prise  
According to their worth, they would not in such wise,  
For lack, or loss of these (so vain and transitory)  
Lament so bitterly, nor be so sadly-sorrie.  
But, overloving still these outward things unstable,  
To rest in true content an hour they are not able,  
No, not a moment's time, their fear doth so assaile-them:  
And, if their fear fall true, that their Good-fortune faile-them,  
Then swell their sullen hearts with sorrow till they burst,  
And then (poor desperate souls) they deem themselves accursed  
And so (indeed) they are: but yet they err in this,  
In blaming other things, for their own selfe-amisse,  
Other indifferent things, that neither make, nor mar,  
But to the good, be good; to th' evil, evil are.   

Is't not great foolishness, for any to complain,  
That something is not done, which doth him nought constrain?  
Sith, if he use the same, soule-health it hurteth not,  
Or, if he do not use▪ t, it helpeth not a jot.   

But needs must we complain (say some) for we have cause:  
Then at your peril be't; for, that which chief draws  
You thereto, 'tis in truth your brutenesse in mis-deeming  
Things evil, that are good (for sense-contrary seeming)  
And, while that in the dark of this foul errors missed,  
Your drowsy spirits do droop, alas what marvel is't▪  
If evil follow you, and if (injurious) still  
To others you impute your self-engendred ill?   

Happy are they to whom the Lord vouch safeth sight▪  
To see the lovely beams and life-infusing Light▪  
Of his sweet sacred Truth; whereby we may perceive  
And judge a-rightly, what to love, and what to leave.  
Such men within their souls, their goods have wholly placed,  
Such goods, as never fire can either burn or waste:  
Nor any Thief can steal, nor Pirate make his pray,  
Nor usury consume, nor Tyrant take away;  
Nor times all-gnawing tooth can fret away, nor finish,  
Nor any accident of sad mischance diminish.  
For, it is built on God, a Rock that ever stands:  
Not on the vanities of these inconstant sands,  
Which are more mutable than wind, and more unstable,  
And day by day do make so many miserable.   

O, to what sweet content, to what high joys aspires  
He that in God alone can limit his desires!  
He that in him alone his hopes can wholly rest,  
He that for only end, waits for the wages blest,  
Wherewith he promiseth for ever (sans respect  
Of their self-meriting) to guerdon his Elect?   

What is it can bereave the wealth of such a man?  
What is it that disturb his perfect pleasures can?  
What is it can supplant his honours and degrees?  
Sith all his treasures, his delights, his dignities  
Are all laid up in Heaven, where it were all in vain  
For all the sons of earth to war with might and main.   

No doubt (will some man say) each Christian doth aspire  
(After their body's death) to those dear treasures higher,  
That are reserved in Heaven, whereof the sweet possession  
Fears not the violence of all the world's oppression:  
But, while that here below this frail flesh-burthen ties-him,  
But the bare hope he hath: which how can it suffice-him  
Against the sharp assaults of passions infinite,  
Whose glad-sad cross conflicts afflict him day and night?   

Needs must I grant (indeed) that that same perfect joy  
We cannot perfectly upon this earth enjoy:  
But, that that Hope alone doth not sufficiently  
Bless his life where it lives (for my part) I deny.  
Some do not fear (we see) to spend their stock and store,  
To under-take the task of many travails sore,  
To hazard limbs, and lives in service of some Lord;  
Depending oft upon his foole-fat-feeding word;  
Or waiting else (perhaps) without all other hold,  
Until it please himself his frankness to unfold:  
Not reeking all their pain, they are so inly pleased  
With hoped benefit, whereof they are not seized?  
And, shall th' assured hope of ever-blisses then,  
For which we have the word, not of vain mortal men,  
That teach their tongues to lie; but of the highest God,  
The God of truth, truth's self, where truth hath still abode:  
Shall that (I say) not serve to settle our faint hearts,  
Against (I will not say) like dangers and like smarts:  
But against these petty griefs, that now and then do pain-us,  
No more like those then heaven near earth that doth sustain-us?  
Ah, shall we then despise all trouble and vexation,  
Supported by a prop of doubtful expectation?  
And, while for earthly things we can endure all this,  
Shall we not do as much for an immortal bliss?   

Indeed not of ourselves: for, selfly nought we can,  
But God (when pleaseth him) doth give this strength to man,  
Whereby he standeth stout; even like a mighty rock  
Amid the mounting waves when Eole doth unlock  
Stern Austers stormy gate, making the waters wrestle  
And rush with wrathful rage against the sturdy castle,  
While it (for all the force of their fell fury shown)  
Is not so much as moved, and much less overthrown.   

So fareth such a man: for, if from high degree,  
He suddenly do slide to live contemnedly  
With the vile vulgar sort: that cannot make him waver:  
For, well he is assured that Gods high holy favour  
Depends not on the pomp▪ nor vaine-proud state and port,  
That for the grace of K●ngs adorns the courtly sort.   

If he be kept in bands, thryl to the tyrannies  
And extreame-cruell laws of ruthless enemies,  
Both void of help and hope, and of all likelihood  
Of being ever freed from their hands thirsting-blood;  
Inspite of them, he knows that one day he shall die,  
And then he shall enjoy an endless Liberty.   

If he be forced to fly from his dear country-clime,  
In exile to expire the remnant of his time,  
He doth suppose the World to be a Country common,  
From whence, no tyranny (till death) can banish no-man.   

If that he must forsake his Parents and his Kin,  
And those whose amity he most delighteth in:  
He knows, that where he finds a man, he finds a Kinsman,  
For, all mankind is come from oneselfe Father (sinnes-man).   

If (being spoiled of wealth, & wanton-pampering plenty)  
He find upon his board two dishes scant of twenty,  
And to his back one coat to keep the cold away,  
Whereas he had before, a new for every day:  
He learneth of Saint Paul, who bids us be content  
With food and furniture to this life competent:  
Sith nothing (as saith job) into this world we brought,  
Nor with us when we die can we hence carry aught.   

If he be passing poor, and in exceeding glack  
Of every needful thing for belly and for back,  
He learneth of the Son, that God the Father heedeth  
To give to every one (in time) the thing he needeth:  
And that the Fowls of Heaven, and cattle small and great,  
Do neither sow nor reap, yet find they what to eat:  
Yea, that the Lilies fair which grow among the grass,  
Do neither spin nor work, and yet their garments pass  
(For colour and for cost, for Art and ornament)  
The glorious Salmon's rich robes of Parliament.   

If so, that he be sick, or wounded; in the arm,  
In body, back, or breast, or such like kind of harm:  
If in extremity of angry pain and anguish,  
Enfeebled still by fits, he bedrid lie and languish:  
If all the miseries that ever martyred man,  
At once on every side afflict him all they can:  
The more that he endures, the more his comforts grow,  
Sith so his wretchedness he sooner comes to know;  
That from world's vanities he may himself advance,  
Which hold all those from heaven, that still delight that dance:  
He fears not those at all that with their utmost might,  
Having the body slain, can do no farther spite:  
But only him that with ten thousand deaths can kill  
The soul and body both; for ever if he will:  
He knows it is their lot that seek to please their God  
To be afflicted still with persecutions rod:  
So that, what ever cross, how ever sharp assaile-him,  
His constant harts-content and comfort cannot faile-him.   

But, he must die (say you): alas can that dismay?  
Where is the Labourer that (having wrought all day  
Amid the burning heat, with weariness oppresl)  
Complains that night is come when he shall go to rest?  
The Merchant that returns from some far for rain Lands,  
Escaping dreadful rocks, and dangerous shelves and sands,  
When as he sees his ship her home-haven enter safe,  
Will he repine at God, and (as offended) chafe  
For being brought too soon home to his native soil,  
Free from all perils sad that threaten Saylours' spoil?  
He knows, from thousand deaths that this one death doth lose him,  
That in heavens ever-ioyes, he ever may repose-him:  
That he must bring his Bark into this creak, before  
In th' everlasting Land he can set foot ashore:  
That he can never come to in-corruption,  
Unless that first his flesh do feel corruption:  
So that, all rapt with joy, having his help so ready,  
This shipwreck he escapes, as on a rock most steady.   

But, more (perhaps) than death the kind of death dismayeth,  
Which serves him for a bridge that him to heaven convaieth.  
Whether he end his days by natural disease:  
Or in a boisterous storm do perish on the Seas:  
Or, by the bloody hands of armed foes be slain:  
Or by mischance a stone fall down, and dash his brain:  
Or by the murdering ball of newfound earthly thunder,  
By day, or else by night his bones be pashed asunder;  
Or burned at a stake; or bitterly tormented  
By cruel slaughtermen, in tortures new-inuented.  
Alas, alas, for that, muchlesse then lest he careth:  
For, as a man fallen down into a Pit, he fareth;  
Who, if he may be drawn up from the noisome place,  
Where Adders, Toads, and Snakes crawl over feet & face,  
Respects not, whether that ye use a silken skaine,  
Hemp-rope, or chain of gold, so he get up again:  
Even so, so he may come to his desired bliss,  
The manner and the means to him in different is:  
As for the differing pain (if any him do torture)  
If it be violent, he knows it is the shorter:  
But, be it ne'er so long, long sure it cannot last  
To us, whose Post-like life is all so quickly passed.   

Now, such a man, in whom such firm contents do hive,  
Who can deny to be the happiest man alive?  
And who so impudent, that dareth now profess  
That this worlds feigned sweet (whose unfeigned bitterness  
Brings (to this very life) full many torments fell,  
And after dingeth down to th' endless pain of Hell)  
Should be preferred before these seeming-sowrs, that make us  
Taste many true-sweet sweets yer this dead life forsake us,  
And after, lift us up to that same blessed joy,  
That evermore shall last, exempt from all annoy.   

So few there will be found (as I suppose) so deeming,  
As many which (more feared with these ills falsly-seeming,  
Than inly falne-in-love with Heaven-ioyes excellence)  
Approving this estate, flyeed as the pestilence.   

And yet, in this estate is found felicity  
(As far forth as it may, amid the vanity  
Of this frail fading world, where each thing hourly changes):  
For, never from itself true happiness estranges:  
It never doth decay, it never doth decrease,  
Inspite of angry War, it ever lives in peace:  
Maugre poor want, it hath ten thousand kinds of wealth:  
Amid infirmities it hath continual health:  
Environed round with woe, it doth rejoice and sing:  
Deprived of dignities, it's greater than a King:  
It sits secure and safe, free from hart-pining fears:  
For, ever with itself it all dear treasures bears.  
Not needing any aid of mens-of-arme to watch them,  
Nor fearing fraud, nor force of any foe to catch-them.   

Whereas, we daily see so many men, whose mind  
To transitory trash of world-wealth is inclined,  
In their abundance beg, and in their plenty poor  
(For who hath had so much, that hath not wished more?)  
No treasures can suffice the gulf of their desire,  
Yea, make them Emperors, yet will they more aspire:  
Peace cannot pacify the fell rebellious broil  
That in their troubled soul doth ever burn and boil.  
For every short content of any false delight,  
A thousand bitter throws torment them day and night.  
All their estate doth stand abroad in hands of Strangers:  
Therefore, the more their wealth, the more their daily dangers,  
The more their miseries, because the more they need  
Much strength and many men unto their hoards to heed:  
Dreading (with cause) lest craft and cruelty, or either  
Bereave them of their bliss, and treasure both together.   

Needs must we then confess, that in adversity  
There is more happiness then in prosperity;  
Sith that the mind of man so soon itself betrays  
Unto the guileful snares that worldly pleasure lays,  
Which make us at the last headlong to Hell to run:  
All which, adversity doth make us safely shun.   

But here it may be asked, if pleasure, state, and store  
Plunging us in the Pit of vices more and more)  
Be subject so to make us more and more accursed,  
Must we esteem that grief (which sense esteemeth worst)  
Moore fit to better us, and bring us unto bliss,  
Then those whose smarting sting is not so strong as this?  
Sure, sith that in ourselves our cause original  
Of bliss and bale we hide, it matters not at all:  
For, still the faithful man one and the same remains,  
Whether the grief be great or little he sustains:  
Sith, how so e'er it be, he takes occasion thence,  
To seek in God alone, his comfort and defence.  
But for because our soul (the while she doth consort  
With this gross fleshly lump) cannot, but in some sort  
Suffer as sensible, yea, oftentimes so far,  
That her best functions all, less apt and able are,  
Than else at other times: I do suppose the proof  
Of one, than other ill, avails more in behoof.   

That this is so, we see, a sick-man oft to find  
Such joyful quietness, and comfort in his mind;  
That he esteems himself the best content alive:  
But yet the sharp disease (which doth his health deprive)  
Withholdeth in some sort his senses and his wit,  
That freely otherwhere he cannot use them fit.   

And so it fares with him, that (through-resolued well)  
Endures the cruel strains of any torture fell.   

Now, for the banished man, the changing of his dwelling  
Never disturbs his joy. And he whose wealth excelling  
Turns in a trice to want, by whatsoever chance,  
His courage never shrinks, nor yet his countenance.   

So that in their content, all four are all alike,  
Alike rejoicing all in their afflictions eke:  
Alike contemning all world's pompous vanities:  
But, the two last have odds in their extremities;  
In that, without impeach, they may apply their mind  
To many goodly things, wherein great joy they find  
(I mean when each distress offends a man alone,  
Not when he is assailed at once of every one.)   

Yet, perill's quickly passed, danger endureth not,  
Exile so easy grows that it is soon forgot,  
The greatest loss that is we mind not many hours:  
For, thousand accidents distract this soul of ours,  
Which cannot in such sort the senses still restrain,  
But that they will go feed on many objects vain;  
Whereby at un-awares she oftentimes, surprised,  
Is overreached by those, whose rigour she despised:  
And so, the pleasant taste she doth untimely miss,  
Wherewith affliction sweet doth season here her bliss.  
So that, some other State (wherein our soul, less fed  
With sundry objects vain, shall be more settled)  
May rightly be preferred to these which make her stay,  
And stumble oftentimes, unto her own decay.   

And therefore, I maintain, close Prison to be best,  
Of all afflictions that may a man molest.  
Considering, all defects to other crosses common,  
In this are seldom found, and almost, felt of no man.   

For Prison is a place where God sequesters men,  
far from the vile prospect of vanities terrene,  
To make them thence withdraw their hearts, and to confess  
That in his grace alone consists their happiness.  
It is a learned School, where God himself reads clearly  
True wisdoms perfect rules, to those he loveth dearly.   

There, th' understanding (free, amid the many chains,  
That bind the body fast) finds out a thousand means,  
To learn another day to be more apt and able  
(According to our place) for uses serviceable,  
To profit publike-weal: for evermore we ought  
(In seeking self-gain) see that common good be sought.  
Knowledge is only learned by long exercitation:  
For which, whàt fit mean than such a sequestration,  
Where each-man undisturbed, through diligence may grow  
According to the gifts that gracious heavens bestow:  
One, in ability to rule a lawful State,  
The virtuous to advance, and vicious to abate:  
Another, from the Tomb to fetch Antiquity:  
Another to discern true Truth from Sophistry,  
Another (by the feats of elder men at Arms)  
To frame wise Stratagems for woeful wars alarms,  
For, Soldiers oftentimes may more experience get  
By reading, than they can where Camp and Camp is met)  
And (briefly to conclude, some, gravely to advise,  
Some, bold to execute, as each man's calling lies:  
But most of all, to search within the sacred Writ,  
The secret mysteries to man's salvation fit.   

A world of vanities, that do distract us here,  
During our Liberty; in Durance, come not near:  
The wall that lets our legs from walking out of door,  
Bounding us round about within a narrow floor,  
Doth guard us from the gall which Satan (spring of spite)  
Mingles among the sweet of this vain world's delight.  
If he be happier man that liveth free from foes,  
Then he whom angry troops of enemies in close:  
Much more the Prisoner then of his high bliss may boast,  
For being so far off from such a huge host  
Of hateful foes so fierce in malice and in might,  
Himself so faint and weak, and so unfit to fight:  
For he, and we (God wots) in steed of standing toit  
(However in a vein, we vaunt that we will do-it)  
When't cometh to the brunt we cannot brook the field,  
But either fly like Hares, or else like cowards yield.   

The sundry objects fond, which make us soon forget  
Each other chastisement, in this do never let.  
For turn we where we list, and look which way we will,  
At all times to our sight one thing is offered still:  
Whether on pavement, roof, or wall, we cast our eye,  
Always of our estate an Image we descry,  
And so it also fares with our newes-greedy ear,  
One very sound resounds about us every where:  
Wherever hearken we, we hear of nought but foes,  
Our Keepers commonly are not too-kinde (God knows)  
By the least noise that is, continually they tell  
In what estate we stand, and in what house we dwell.  
So that, incessantly our hearts are lift on high:  
Sometimes to praise the Lord for his benignity,  
Who doth not punish us after our foul offence,  
Though by a thousand sins we daily him incense:  
Sometimes to magnify his admirable might,  
Which hath our feeble hearts with such great force be light,  
That we, in steed of grief, or grudging at the pains  
Of sharpest chastisements, whereof the world complains,  
Leaving this loathed Earth, we mount the bighest place,  
Where (through true faith) we taste his honey-sweeter grace:  
Sometimes to give him thanks for all the wealth exceeding,  
Which from his liberal hand we have to help our needing:  
And to be short, sans cease to meditate on all  
The countles benefits that from his goodness fall,  
Not suffering any hour to pass away for nought  
Without exalting him, in deed, or word, or thought.   

Yet, doth the world esteem this, a most hard estate,  
And him that feels the same, it counts un fortunate:  
But I would gladly see some other state, wherein  
(With such commodity) so much content is seen;  
Wherein less hindrance, and less encumbrance lies,  
To make men miss the path unto perfections prize.   

Sure sir (will some man say) you set a good face onit,  
One might at length convert, commenting so upon-it,  
The cruelest Prisonhouse into a Mansion fair,  
Where 'twere not hard to live content, and void of care:  
You take your Prisoner for a practive man of Art,  
But such as those God knows you find the fewest part:  
You fain him to be friend to solitude and quiet,  
But the most part are prone to revel and to riot:  
One must be free from noise that means to study well:  
Whereof, who can be sure in such a servile Hell?  
Besides, he must have Books, and Paper, Pen, and Ink,  
All which in Prisoners hands are seldom left I think;  
So that, you do not fain your gail so good and gainful,  
As to find out the same is difficult and painful.   

I answer in a word (if any so shall wrangle)  
I do not bound all bliss within so strait an Angle:  
I say, great happiness and hart-reviving joy  
Follows th' afflicted sort in every sharp annoy:  
But that there is no cross that doth so much quail,  
To make us fit to help our neighbour, as the gail,  
Wherein the God of grace at his good pleasure gives  
Means to effect the same, unto the least that lives.   

But be it so, in bands, that nothing learn we can,  
'Tis to be learned enough, to be an honestman:  
And this is th' only School, wherein th' Arch-maisterteacheth,  
Himself, by secret means, rules that the rudest reacheth.  
Th' advise of such a one more profit doth impart,  
Then of the wicked sort with all their curious Art.   

Concerning solitude, although that commonly  
Our nature be inclined unto the contrary:  
There, the assistant grace of God we chief find,  
Who changing of our place doth also change our mind.   

For being free from noise, and for obtaining tools  
To help our knowledge with, as in all other Shools:  
God ever cares for those that fear his name for love:  
And, if that any such, such inconvenience prove,  
If any money need, or else (through ample distance)  
Be destitute of friends, he gets them (for assistance)  
The favour of their foes, whose hearts he handles so  
(How ever they intent his children's overthrow)  
That his, of what they need have evermore enough,  
According as he knows to be to their behoof.   

Now say that we consent (say some) that this is true:  
But what, if somewhat worse than all this worst ensue?  
What, if he be enforced his Country to forsake?  
What, if continual fits his sickly body shake?  
What, if he lose at once his wealth and reputation?  
replete on every side with every sharp vexation?  
Can he still keep his joy, and can he still retain  
Such means to profit still, for all his grief and pain?   

Concerning his content, it's always all alike,  
Whether that every grief particularly strike,  
Or, whether all at once he feel their ut most anger:  
And if he be surprised with so extreme a languor  
That (as I said before) the spirit it in force  
(Through suffering of the smart that doth afflict the corpse)  
To leave his Offices so that he cannot write  
Nor read, nor meditate, nor study, nor indight;  
It is so quickly passed, that in comparison,  
Regarding so great good, 'tis not to think upon.  
For by a mighty grief, our life is quickly ended,  
Or else, by remedy itself is soon amended:  
And, if it be but mean, then is it born the better,  
And so unto the soul it is not any letter.  
Besides, we must conceive, our spirit (as oppressed  
With fainting weariness) sometimes desireth rest,  
To gather strength again, during which needful pause  
We are not to be blamed sith need the same doth cause:  
So, that the time that's lost while such sharp pangs do pain,  
May be supposed a time of taking breath again.   

In prison (to conclude) a man at once may t●●e  
All manner of extremes of earthly misery:  
In which respect (perhaps) the worsesom deem of it,  
Being (as 'twere) the Butt that all men strive to hit;  
But, I esteem the same the perfecter for that:  
For, if one cross alone can make us elevate  
Our groveling earth-desires from cogitations base,  
To have recourse to God, and to implore his grace;  
Seeking in him alone our perfect joy and bliss:  
Much more shall many griefs at once, accomplish this.  
For many can do more than one (without respect)  
And still, the greater cause, the greater the effect.   

Indeed (say othersom) these reasons have some reason:  
But, then whence comes it, that so many men in Prison  
With hundred thousand pains, pinched and oppressed sore;  
In steed of bettering there, wax worse than before:  
In steed of sweet content, do still complain and cry;  
In steed of learning more, lose former industry?  
Though (in appearance great) your sayings seem but just,  
Yet plain experience (sure) we think is best to trust.   

That hidden virtue ●are, that so great good achieves,  
Lies in the Prisoner's hart, not in his heavy gives;  
The good grow better there, the bad become the worse:  
For, by their sin they turn God's blessing into curse.  
And that's the cause the most are mal-content and sad:  
Sith ever more the good are fewer than the bad.   

But, wherefore doth not God to all vouchsafe this grace?  
Proud earthworms, pause we there: let's fear before his face,  
Admiring humbly all his holy judgements high,  
Exceeding all too far our weak capacity.  
The Potter's vessel vile, doth us our lesson show,  
Which argues not with him why he hath made it so:  
Much less may we contend, but rather rest content  
With that which God hath given. He is omnipotent,  
All gracious, and all good, most just, and perfect wise:  
On some, he pours a Sea of his benignities,  
On some, a shallow Brook, on other some, a Flood:  
Giving to some, a small; to some, a greater Good:  
As, from eternity hath pleased th' eternal Spirit  
To love men more or less, without respect of merit.   

For my part, should I live ten Nesto●s years to pass,  
Had I a hundred tongues more smooth than Tully's was,  
Had I a voice of steel, and had I brazen sides,  
And learning mor● then all the Helyconian guides;  
Yet were I all too-weak to tell the many graces  
That in ten thousand sorts, and in ten thousand places,  
Ten hundred thousand times he hath vouchsafed me  
(Not for my merits sake, but for his mercy free):  
But yet, 'mong all the goods that of his liberal bounty  
I have received so oft, none to compare accoumpt-I  
With this close prisonment, wherein he doth with-drawe-me  
Far from the wanton world, and to himself doth draw-me.   

I posted on apace to ruin and perdition,  
When by this sharp-sweet Pill, my cunning kind Physician  
Did purge (maugre my will) the poysony humour fell  
Where with my sin-sick hartal●oady 'gan to seville.  
I look● for nothing less than fo● these miseries  
And pains that I have proved: the world's vain vanities  
Had so seduç'tany soul with baits of sugared bane,  
That it was death to me, from pleasure to be ta'en:  
But (crossing my request) God (for my profit) gave  
Me quite the contrary to that which I did crave  
So that, my body barring from a freedom small,  
He set my soul at large, which unto sin was thrall.  
Wounding with musket-shot my feeble arm, he cured  
The festering sores of sin, the which my soul endured:  
Tripping me from the top of some mean dignity,  
Which drew me upto climb the Mount of vanity,  
He raised me from the depth of vices darksome Cell,  
The which incessantly did ding me down to Hell:  
Easing me (to conclude) of all the grief and care,  
Wherewith these false delights forever sauced are,  
He made me find and feel (amid my most annoys)  
A thousand true contents, and thousand perfect joys.   

But some (perhaps) amazed, will muse what kind of pleasure  
Here I can take, and how I pass my time and leisure:  
For, in foul idleness to spend so large a time,  
It cannot be denied to be a grievous crime.   

First, in the morning, when the spirit is fresh and fit,  
I suck the honey sweet from forth the sacred Writ,  
Wherein (by faith) we taste that true celestial bread,  
Whence our immortal souls are ever only ●ed:  
Then, search I out the saws of other sage Divines  
(The best here to be had) among whose humainlines,  
Supported by the grace of God's especial power,  
I leave the thorn behind, and pluck the healthsom flower.  
Sometimes, I do admire, in books of Heathen men,  
Grave-saying savouring more a sacred Christian pen,  
Than many of our age, whose bold unlearned pride  
Thinking to honour God, hath erred on every side:  
Sometimes when I observe in every ancient story,  
Such virtues precedents, trim patterns of true glory;  
I woefully bewail our wretched wicked days,  
Where virtue is despised, and vice hath all the praise.  
Oft I lament to see so many noble Wits  
(Neglecting God's high praise, that best their learning fits)  
To sing of nought but lies, and loves, and wanton Themes,  
False sooth-sin flatteries, and idle Fairy dreams.  
Then, turning towards those, that filled with holier flame,  
For only object choose th' eternals sacred name:  
These chief I admire, whose honourable brows  
Disdain the feigned crown of fading Laurel boughs:  
Then full-gorged with the sweets of such a dainty feast  
(Pricked forward with desire to imitate the best)  
Oft-times I exercise this Artless Muse of mine  
To sing in holy Verse some argument divine.  
One while to praise my God for all received good:  
Another while to beg, that in his dear Sons blood  
My black sins he will wash, and that he will not weigh  
At his high justice beam, how I have gone a-stray.  
Sometimes, these wretched times to pity and deplore,  
Wherein the wicked ones do flourish more and more.  
Sometime to wail the State of sad distressed Zion  
Imploring to her aid the Tribe of judah's Lion.  
If any other Theme at any time I take,  
Yet never doth my Verse the settled bounds forsake  
That Verity prescribes, nor now no more disguise  
The ugly face of sin with mask of painted lies.  
And though that (heretofore) I also in my time  
Have writ loves vanities, in lose and wanton r●me:  
'Twas as a whetstone that, whereon I whet my style,  
Yer it were ably-apt aught graver to compile:  
Yet I repent thereof: for, we must never tend  
To bring by evil means a good intent to end.   

When as my weary spirits some relaxation ask,  
To recreate the same, I take some other task:  
One while upon the Lute, my nimblejoints I ply,  
Then on the Virginals: to whose sweet harmony  
Marrying my simple voice, in solemn Tunes I sing  
Some Psalm or holy Song, unto the heavenly King▪  
So that, the idlest hour of all the time that flies  
So fast, is never free from some good exercise:  
Where in I joy as much, as ever I have done,  
In the most choice delights found underneath the Sun.   

But, you can never walk, nor go to take the air,  
Nor once look out of door, be weather ne'er so fair:  
But there in solitude you lead your life alone,  
Bard from the fellowship of (almost) every one:  
Which doubtless (at the last) must grieve you needs I think.  
A man that never thirsts hath never need of drink:  
So, though I be bereft these other things you speak of,  
I miss nor mind them not, as things I never reak of.  
For, I have schooled my heart since my captivity,  
To wish for nothing else, but what is granted me:  
And, what is granted me, contents me passing well.  
In each condition doth some contentment dwell:  
But men of differing states have difference in delights,  
What pleaseth common eyes, that irketh Princes sights,  
What rashlings do delight, that sober men despise,  
What fools take pleasure in, doth but offend the wise,  
What prosperous people loath, afflicted folk will love,  
And what the free abhor, that prisoners will approve:  
But all have equally indifferent power to make  
Them equally content, that can them rightly take:  
For, whoso presently himself can rightly bear,  
Hath neither passed ill, nor future ill to fear:  
Th' one, which is now no more, ought now no more affray-us.  
Th' other, which is not yet, as little can dismay-us.  
For, what no essence hath, that also hath no might,  
And that which hath no power, can do a man no spite:  
Besides, sith that our life is but a pilgrimage  
Through which we daily pass to th' heavenly heritage:  
Although it seem to thee that these my bands do let me,  
Yet haste I to the goal the which my God hath set me,  
As fast as thou that run'st thyself so out of breath  
In posting night and day, by dales and hills and heath.   

If thou have open fields, and I be prisoner;  
T'mporteth me no more, then to the mariner  
Whether he go to sea shipped in some spacious ark,  
Or else (at lesser scope) aboard some lesser bark.  
Nay, here the least is best, sith this vast Ocean wide  
Whereon we daily sail, a thousand rocks doth hide,  
'Gainst which the greater ships are castaway full oft;  
While small boats (for the most) float over, safe, aloft.   

Then may I well conclude with reason and assurance  
That there's no better state then to be kept in durance.  
A sweeter kind of life I never proved then there:  
Nor was I ever touched with lesser grief and c●re:  
If that I care at all, it is for others cause,  
And for the miseries this times corruption draws.  
But, being well a●●ur'd that nothing here ●●●●deth  
Against God's ordinance and will that all things guideth:  
And knowing him to be good, just, and most of might,  
I gladly yield myself to th' order he hath ●ight.  
For he it is, that now makes me accept so●●ll  
And like of this estate which others hate as hell:  
He'tis, that heretofore vouchsafed me like relief,  
When as I was oppressed with a more grievous grief:  
He'tis from whom I hope in time to-come no less,  
Although a hundred fold were doubled my distress.  
Yea, he it is that makes me profit every day,  
And also so content in this estate to stay,  
That of my liberty I am not now so feign  
To think by liberty a happier life to gain:  
For, I were well content no more from hence to go,  
If I might profit most my friends and country so.   

Now here I humbly pray (expecting such an end)  
The Lord still towards me his favour to extend,  
And that he will vouchsafe still to allot like grace,  
To all that for like cause are handled in like case.   
FINIS.   

OF THE WORK, AUTHOR, AND TRANSLATOR.  

LOheer, a MONUMENT admired of all  
That weigh the compass, weight, and height of It;  
O'retopping E●uie's clouds, and ever shall,  
Sith built by deepest Art, and highest Wit.   

The BAS● that bears it, is the WORD that stands  
True GROUND of highest glory, truth, and grace:  
The BVILDING reared by two rare Heads and Hands  
(Divinely holp) to glorify that BASE.   

Heer French and English, join in friendly fight  
(On even Ground) to prove their utmost power;  
Who show such equal Skill, and equal Might,  
That hard it is to say who's Conqueror.   

But, English bound to foot it like the French,  
And offer nought, but what shall like her foe,  
It is as glorious seld to take a Wrench,  
As, being free, to give an Overthrow.   

If French to English were so strictly bound,  
It would but passing lamely strive with it;  
And soon be forc'● to lose both grace and ground,  
Although they strove with equal Skill and Wit.   

Besides, all Prose is easier to translate  
Than Verse; and easier low, than lofty Lines:  
Then, these LINES, reaching to the top of STATE,  
Are hardest of all; yet none of all declines.   

O fair Translation then, with smoothed face,  
Go forth t'allure TIMES Turns to turn Thee o'er:  
So shall they in thy folds unfold thy grace;  
And, grace thee with Fame's glory, more and more.   

If 
* O●id. Metamor.  HE, that churned the cream of Poetry,  
To honeyed Butter, that the Muses feeds,  
Divined truly, it should never die;  
Then, what shall This, that far the same exceeds?   

He laboured Lines, which though they do endure  
All turns of Time, yet was their Stuf profane:  
But, These are drawn of STUF more heavenly-pure,  
That most shall shine; when Those are in the wane.   

He, though his Brains (profanely) were divine,  
And glorious Monuments of Art composed,  
Was yet exiled for many a loser Line,  
That made them wantoness, chastened else disposed:   

But, Thou (clear BARTAS, his dear SYLVESTER,  
Whose Lines do lead to virtues only gain,  
And with sweet Poesies strewest the way to Her)  
How should the World remunerate thy pain?   

And, if from Heart's Abundance Tongues do speak;  
And what we most affect, we most do mind:  
It argues, thou this Argument didst seek;  
Sith, in thy Soul before, thou didst it find.   

So, BARTAS was but Midwife to thy Muse,  
With greater ease to utter her Conceits;  
For whose dear birth, thou didst all ease refuse,  
Worlds-weal, and (being a Merchant) thy Receipts.   

This pain, so pleased thy labouring Thoughts, that thou▪  
Forsook'st the Sea, and took'st thee to the Soil;  
Where (from thy royal Trade) thou fellest to Blow▪  
Arts furrows with thy Pen, that yield but toil.   

This stole thee from thyself, thyself to find  
In sacred Raptures on the Muse's Hill:  
And, wentest out of thy Body with thy Mind,  
More freely so, to use thy Wit and Will.   

And (O!) how hapless had we Bri●tans been,  
(Sith here is stored such sweet Soul- ravishments)  
Hadst thou not made them to us clearly seen:  
Who give thee for it praising- Discontents.   

If so great Art and Grace, find nought but Fame  
Of famous Men for grace; the Press shall be  
priest but for Vice's Service (Source of Shame).  
So, Times to come, in Print our shame shall see.   

But O▪ be't far from this so famous Isle  
For Arms and Learning, either to neglect;  
Sat it doth grace and glory quite exile;  
And is the cause of many a bad effect.   

O terren Gods, as ye to State aspire  
Lift Learning up with you; especially  
If matched with Wisdom, and divine desire:  
So shall yetwice be like the DEITY!   

And, weigh what power the PENS of such possess  
(Of such; for others will but gild your Crimes)  
Their PENS eternize can your worthiness,  
And make ye glorious past succeeding Times.   

But you do justly to neglect and scorn  
The cursed crew, that do the Muse abuse:  
For, they your praises to dispraises turn;  
As Vice, in praising virtues grace, doth use.   

Their wine-driven Brains, inuolved in Folly's Cloud,  
Fly here, and there, (and where not?) with a trice;  
And, though both Beggars base, yet passing proud;  
Constant in nothing but in constant Vice.   

Making lose lines (forsooth) their Scala Coeli;  
A Tavern for a Temple to adore  
Their only god, their guts, their beastly Belly;  
To whom they offer all their slender Store.   

The Laudes of such, are odious like their Lives)  
They (Pitch) pollute whatever they do but touch;  
Whose glory to the foulest shame arrives:  
Then, well you fence your fame to keep off such▪   

But they whose lives, and lauds, and lines are SOURCE  
Of Moral virtue, running by each stone  
(Men High, and Hard; that let them in their Course)  
To Seas of glory, like clear Helicon;   

O! these ye should support, and still receive  
Into the Ocean of your bound-less love:  
For, these (like truest Friends) will take, and give  
No more but what true Virtue shall approve.   

If these should pine away, through your neglect,  
Your memories shall die, or live with shame;  
Sith such a Muse is the chief Architect,  
To rear, from Earth to Heaven, a lasting NAME.   

Achilles' fame, with him, had been interred,  
Had HOMER'S lines nottyed it to the Stars;  
And, of Aeneas we had never heard,  
Had Virgil's STRAINS not been his Trumpeters.   

One of the NINE had been our Warwick's GVY,  
(The NINE, whose worth all Times so much commend;  
And so disrankt great BOULOGNE'S GODFEREY)  
Had he but had a TASSO for his friend.   

LAURA had near so greenly grown above  
Her Peers, as now she doth, to aftertimes,  
Had she not had a PETRARCH to her Love;  
Which made her mount, with N●TCTAR dropping Rhymes.   

No, no: ye cannot but outlive your Eme,  
If yev phold not FAME'S best Notaries:  
If these yescorn, your glory is but game;  
For, when ye die, in game your glory dies.   

And, though blessed PHACE hath turned our Spears, to Spades,  
Let it not turn our Pens to Ploughs, or worse;  
By Learning some should live, as some by Trades,  
In blessed STATES, that would incur no curse.   

Where Virtue is not raised, and Vice suppressed,  
There all to Vice will run; and so to wrack:  
For, then the worst shall Lord it o'er the best;  
And where that is, all goes to utter sack.   

Reward and Punishment (like Arms of Steel)  
Do still uphold each KING upholding STATE:  
For, neither wants, but it gins to reel;  
But, both employed, stands sure in spite of Hate.   

Then may thy HOPES (winged by thy virtuous Muse,  
Dear Sylvester) expect some cherishment,  
In this blessed State, that still those Arms will use,  
To stay her Grace, and grace her Government:  
But, if thy pains acquire but pure renown,  
Thou art Christ's Image; crossed, for Glories crown.   Beneficium dando accipit, qui digno dedit. 
The unfeigned lover of thine Art, honesty, and virtue, JOHN DAVIES of Hereford.  
FINIS.   

A brief Index, explaining most of the hardest words scattered through this whole Work, for ease of such as are least exercised in these kind of readings.  

A  
A Bysse a gulf or bottomless pit.  
Abderian & Abderite, Democritus, the laughing Philosopher of Abdera, a city in Thracia.  
Aben-Roes, a learned Philosopher of Corduba, sprung from Arabian parents.  
Abydos, Leander's Town.  
Academian Shades, Plato's School.  
Aceberon, a river in Hell.  
Acconite, Leopard's (or Wolves) bane.  
Achilles, the most valiant captain of the Myrmidons.  
Adonis, a most beautiful young man, beloved of Venus.  
Adrian, Sea, the gulf of Venice.  
Adriatic Sea, the gulf of Venice.  
Aeson, the father of jaso made young again by the skill of Medea.  
Etherial, heavenly.  
Aes●ulapius, an excellent Physician, father of Apollo.  
Africa, the Southquarter of the World.  
ajax Shield, a proverb, for azure defence.  
Aiguescald, a bath in Gasconie.  
Alarbies', and Alarbians, wild & upland Arabian thieves.  
Albion, England, the I'll of great Britain.  
Alcest●, the most chaste and loving wife of admetus', that gave her own life to save her husbands.  
Alcides, Hercules: Alcides spires Hercules Pillars: Alcides' grief, the falling Sickness.  
Alcmaena, the mother of Hercules.  
Koran, the Turks Law, and Religion.  
Aleband, a City in Caria, of old famous for the best Bowe-strings.  
Allecto, look Furies.  
Alexander's Altars, were at the foot of the Ryphean Mountains.  
Almic●●th●rats, and Almadarats, Arabian names of Circles which are imagined to pass through every degree of the Meridian, Parallel to the Horizon up to the Zenith.  
Alhidade, a Rule on the back of the Astrelabe to measure heights, breadths & depths.  
Amafrosse, gutta serena a disease in the sinews of the Sight.  
Amalthean Horn, plenty of all things.  
Amblygone, a flat Triangle.  
Ambrosia, the God's meat.  
American, the French disease brought first from the Indies to Naples, from thence to France, etc.  
Amia, a fish like a Tunny, found in the Seaneere Constantinople.  
Amphitrite, the Sea.  
Amphisbaena, a Serpenthaving a head at both ends.  
Amphion, the author of Harmony and builder of Thebes.  
Amyclean Harp, Arion, the Lesbian Harper.  
Amyot, a learned Frenchman, translator of Plutarch, and other Greek Authors.  
Ancossa, a Bath in Gasconie:  
Andromeda, the Wife of Perse●is, (with her husband, Father and Mother) turned into a Star.  
Androdus, a Roman slave gratefully requited of a Lion.  
Anorexia a queasiness of stomach.  
Antheus, Antenor's son, beloved and unwillingly slain by Paris.  
M. Anthony, competitor with Octavius and Lepidus for the Roman Empire.  
Antiperistasis, encounter of contraries, or contrarie-circumstance.  
Antipodes, those people that dwell directly underus.  
Antarctic, Southern.  
Aonian band, the Muses.  
Apelles, an excellent Painter.  
Apiumrisus, a kind of Crowfoote that kills men with laughing.  
Appi●n way, one of the broadest ways in Rome.  
Apollo, the Sun▪ the God of Music and Physic.  
Apoplexy, a kind of dead palsy.  
Apog●, the point farthest from the Centre of the earth.  
Arabians, people of Asia, inhabiting between Iud●a & Egypt, rich in aromatical spices and sweet Odours.  
Arcadian scout, Mercury.  
arsenal, an armory or storehouse.  
Archelaus, a king much praised by Plutarch and others for wisdom & temperance, & for delight in husbandry.  
Archimedes a famous Mathematician of Syracuse.  
Architas, a noble Philosopher of Tarentum.  
Arion, a famous Harper and lyrike poet, born at Methymna in the I'll of Lesbos.  
Arne, a River in Italy.  
Arcenik, or pine▪ supposed okar  
Artemisia, Queen of Caria, wife of Mausolus.  
Artemisian stem, mugg-woorte.  
Armorik, Britain in France.  
Armadas, Spanish Armies, or great ships of War.  
Artik▪ Northern, or of the north  
Aristotle, the most famous Philosopher of Stagyra.  
Asia, a third part of the world, in former times most famous for Learning & Religion; but now for the most part miserably yoked under the Turks tyranny.  
Asylum, a refuge or defence.  
Assur, one of the Sun of S●●●: also the country of Assyria.  
Astaroth, an Idol of the Philistines.  
Astraea, justice.  
Astrelabe, an instrument to gather the motion of the Sta●●.  
Asthma, short windedness.  
Attaius, a wealthy King of Pergamus, delighted in the country life.  
Atlantic Sea, is the Mediterranean, or a part thereof.  
Atlas, a King skilful in Astronomy, therefore feigned to bear up Heaven, it is also a mountain in Barbary.  
Athenian Sage, Socrates.  
Attic Muse, Xenophon.  
Atheists, those that acknowledge no God, infidels.  
Aurora, the morning.  
Auster, the South wind.  
avernus, Hell.  
Avicen, a learned Philosopher & Physician, borne at Sevil, of Arabian stock.  
Aziminths, great Circles meeting in the Zenith, or vertical Point.  
Anian, a Straight, or narrow Sea between Asia and America, as yet little discovered.  
Aglaia, look Graces.  
A●tna, a burning Mountain in Sicilia.  
Asphalti●, Mare mortnus. The stinking lake, where Sodom & her execrable sisters stood.  
Annals, Histories from yeeree to year.  
Arch. Colonel, usurped for the General, or chief Captain of the Host.  
Anathem, execration, curse, excommunication.  
Anatomy, the incision or cutting up of the body of Man or Beast as Surgeons do, to see the parts.  
Amphitryonide, Hercules, begotten by jupiter on Alcmaena, the wife of Amphitryo.  
Attic, a Province of Greece; wherein stood the City of Athens.  
Atropos, look Parca's.  
Allecto, look Furies.  
Assabine, jupiter with the Assyrians.  
Aglaia, look Graces.  
Architrave, the crown or chapter of a Pillar: also a principal beam in any Building.  
Arabian bird, the Phoenix.  
Argolian showers, jupiters' golden Rain in the lap of Danae daughter of Acrisius, King of Argives, Argolikes, or Argolians.  
Aegisthus, look Clytaemnestra.  
Aspics, venomous little serpents  
Anchyses Fere, is Venus on whom he begat Aenea●▪  
Abramide, of the race of Abraham.   

B  
Baltik Ocean, the Danish sea.  
Baignere, a Bath in Gasconye.  
Bandans, the Islanders of the Moluques, rich in excellent ●●s.  
Bacchanalian Frowes, Women-priests of Bacchus, the God of Cups.  
Bards, ancient Poets & Sages.  
Barege, a Bath in Gasconie.  
Barr-geeses and Barnacles, a kind of fowls that grow of rotten Trees & broken ships.  
Bek, a Phrygian word, signifying bread.  
Belgian, of the Nether-lands.  
Belgrade, a Town in Hungary, taken by the Turk.  
Bellona, Goddess of war.  
Belus Son, Ninus, first King of Assyria, supposed to be inventor of Navigation.  
Bitumen, a kind of oily, slimy, gummy, or clammy Clay.  
Byzantium, Constantinople.  
Brontes, one of Vulcan's Forge-men.  
Briareus, a Giant with 100▪ hands  
Brutus' heirs, Englishmen, Britain's.  
Bacco●i, Poisonie confections, Italian figg●●.  
Bon-iours, Good morrows▪  
Bonarets, a kind of Beastplantes.  
Boots, a little star in the North Pole near to Vrsaminor, used for the North.  
Boreas, the north-wind.  
Bosphores, 2▪ Straicts, so called of an Ox's wading over: the one surnamed Thracian, the other Cimmerian.  
Bo●●i●●, a hungry, or greedy disease in a cold stomach.  
Bucephalus, the courageous Horse of Alexander the great▪  
Busiris, a most cruel Tyrant of Egypt which used to sacrifice strangers ●o jupiter▪  
Butric, a learned and eloquent German (of late days) Counsellor to Oassimirus.  
Bombards, great Ordinance.  
Bubastik, that is Egyptian.  
Bethel, a Mountain in the South Confines of Israel where jeroboham set up one of his Calves.  
Birdene, a Wilderness in the West of Egypt.  
Babel's, indeed Babbles, idle Monuments of Pomp and Plenty.  
Belzebut, the God of Accaron the prince of Devils.  
Brachmen, Indian Philosophers, Modern writers call them Brahmins.  
Bigaurian Hills, part of the Pyrene Mountains between France and Spain.   

C  
CAbalistik, mystical Traditions among the jews Rabbins.  
Caesar's, Emperors, so called from C. julius Caesar the first Emperor.  
Cadmus, son of Agenor, who slew a serpent & pulling out his teeth sowed them in the ground, whereof instantly there sprung-up ready armed men.  
Cairo, a City in the midst of Egypt, of old called Babylon, and thought one of the greatest in the world.  
Calamarie, a fish that may be well called the Sea-Clarke, being furnished with necessaries for a scribe.  
Calliorates, an excellent Carver, especially in small works.  
Calpe, a Mountain within the Sraights of Gibaltar▪ just opposite to Abila: these two are called the Pillars of Hercule●.  
Cannibals, people in the South part of America that ●ate mans-flesh.  
Candia, an Island in the Mediterranean Sea, subject to the Venetians.  
Cana, a Town in Galilee, where Christ wrought his first miracle; at a marriage.  
Cantharus, a fish of admirable chastity.  
Capharea● Rock, a most dangerous and rocky Coast of Euboea, now called Negropont.  
Carpeses, a venomous plant, whose juice causeth deep sleep, and so strangleth the Patient.  
Carinthia, a Duchy belonging to the Dukes of Austria.  
Carraques, great Spanish Vess●le.  
Cal●gula, a most wanton and wicked Emperor of Rome.  
Cassagale, the City Quinzay, in the East Indies.  
Cassi●peia, Mother of Andromeda.  
Castalian Well, springs, Fount, Springs at the foot of Parnassus sacred to the Muses.  
Cathay, a large Country in East Asia fronting on the Sea, now called Cambalu.  
Catharact, a violent fall of any Water, causing deafness with the noise, also a disease in the Eye distilling a tough humour like jelly.  
Catiline, a factlous Citizen of Rome, famous for his dangerous conspirecie against his Country.  
Cato, a reverent and renowned Roman both for his temperate life, and resolute death.  
Caudrets, a Bath in Gascony.  
Caucasus, a very high Mountain that divides Scythia from India.  
Ceres, Goddess of Harvest, inventresse of Tillage and of the use of Corn, sometimes used for the earth.  
Shafalus, the husband of P●ocris, the minion of Aurora.  
Centaurs, half men, half horses, hegotten by Ixion on a Cloud.  
C●●aste●, a Serpent of sundry colours, with horns like a Ram.  
Cerathus, a River in Candi● from whence comes the best Mal●isi●.  
Cerbas, a Tree in the Indieses, of 15 fathom about.  
Cerberus, the threeheaded dog of Hell, the Porter there.  
Celtike, a part of France.  
Chaos, a confused heap, the matter of the World before it received form.  
Chaldea, the Country wherein Babylon stood: where were great Astronomers, Magicians, and soothsayers.  
Charles Martel, K. of France, overthrew 400000. Turk's near unto Tours.  
Chermez, the grain wherewith Skarlat and Crimson are died.  
Chimeras, strange Fancies, monstrous Imaginations, Castles in the Air.  
Cincinnatus, one called from the Plough (all dusty & almost naked) to the Roman Dictatorship.  
Cimmerians, People far North, that are thought never to see the Sun.  
Citadel, a Castle built, with a small Garrison to keep a great Town in awe.  
Cirques, round Lists to behold public Races.  
Chus, Aethyopia.  
Clio, one of the Muses, re●iting the glorious Acts of Wor thinnessthinness.  
Cli●us, one of Alexander's greatest Minions, whom yet in his drunkenness he slew.  
Cocos, an admirable Nut brought from the Indies.  
Cocytus, a River in hell.  
Coichos, Medea's country from whence jason fetched the Golden Fleece.  
Codrus, a King of Athens, that gave his own life for the safeguard of his Country.  
Colonies, numbers of People sent to inhabit some new conquered Country.  
Colours, ●. Circles in heaven wherein the Sun-stops are caused.  
Cochenel, grain wherewith Purple is died.  
Colossuses, huge Statues erected in honour of any person.  
Columbus, a Genoese, discoverer of America for Ferdinando, King of Castille.  
comitial Ill, the Falling sickness.  
Commodus, a most vicious Emperor.  
Cones, geometrical figures, broad beneath, and sharp above, with a Circular bottom.  
Concentrik, having one common  
Copernicus, a learned Germane that maintaineth the heavens to stand still, & the Earth to turn round about.  
corvinus, a Roman Orator, that after a great sickness forgot his own name.  
Corfu, an Island in the Ionian Sea, subject to the Venetians.  
Critik, and Critical, sharp Censurers: all dangerous days for health, observed by Physicians.  
Crescent, the Moon increasing  
Ctesiphon, the builder of Diana's Temple at Ephesus.  
Ctesibes, an excellentinuenter of water Engines.  
Cubes, geometrical figures foursquare, like a Die.  
Cucuio, a strange bird in new Spain.  
Cupid, the bastard of Mars, and Venus, the little God of love.  
Curius, a Citizen of Rome, famous for frugality & temperance, who delighted rather to command the rich, then to be rich.  
Cylindres, geometrical figures round and long, consisting from top to toe of two equal parallel-Circles.  
Cyclops, Giants with one eye, working in the Forge of Vulcan.  
Cyprus, a fruitful Island in the Gulf of Issa, formerly subject to the Venetians, but now usurped by the Turk, anciently consecrated to Venus.  
Cynthia, Phoebe, Diana, the Moon.  
Cytharea, Venus.  
Cynosure, 7 stars in the North pole, the North Pole, the North-star.  
Cymbrians, the people of Denmark and Nor-way.  
Cyrus, the great King of Persia, conqueror of the Medes, and after slain by Tomyris Queen of the Massage●s.  
Charites, look Graces.  
Clotho, look Parcae.  
Camosh, the Idol of the Moabits  
Chiron, a Centaur, an excellent both Physician and Musician the Master of Achilles.  
Cornaline, look Onyx.  
Clarian, Lot-guider.  
Cornich, look Freeze.  
Crisis, the dangerous, or (as Physicians call it) critical day for any disease.  
Clyde, a River running by Dom bertan in Scotland.  
Cycladeses, floating islands in the Aegean Sea.  
Cedron, & Ked●on, a Brook in judea.  
Civik-garland, a crown or chaplet of Oaken sprigs, given to honour Him that had rescued a city.  
Clytaemnestra, wife of Agamennon, whom with the help of her Adulterer Aegis●hus, in a sleeveles shirt she murdered.  
Cypris sap, seed of generation.  
Castor & Pollux: Twins begot on Leda, by jupiter in the shape of a Swan: & supposed Sea-Gods favourable to Sailours.  
Crimson Gulf: the red Sea.  
Cecropian that is, Athenian: of Cecrops, first King of Athens.  
Cineas, a Thessalian, exceeding eloquent and of admirable memory, Ambassador from King Pyrrhus to the Romans.  
Carthaginian, of that famous City of Africa built by Dido, & by Hannibal undone.  
Cadmean, by sorn wrighters used for Carthage.  
Coronan, that is Lacedemoniam: for Corone, was a city of the Messenians, who were subject to that State.  
Cest, in Latin Cestus & Cestum the Bride's Girdle which the Bridegroom took off at night  
Coloquintida, a kind of wild Gourd, that purgeth Choler.  
Chrysocolle, Boras, gold-soder.  
Cibele, look Rhea.   

D  
DAmon, the most faithful friend of Pythias, both disciples of Pythagoras.  
Dana●, daughter of Acrisius, who kept her locked in a brazen Tower; jupiter reigned himself in a Golden shower into her lap.  
Darubius, the greatest River in Europe, called also Isther.  
Dardan Aunts, Indian Emmets  
Darius, a King of Persia, vanquished by Alexander the great.  
Delian Twins, the Sun and Moon.  
Delian Princess. Diana.  
Delos, an Island, one of the Cycladeses, which for a longtime floated as hidden in the Sea, and after suddenly appeared  
Delphian Oracle, the Oracle of Apollo, at Delphos.  
Delphos God, Apollo.  
Democritus, the laughing Philosopher of Abydus.  
Demosthenes, the best Orator of the Grecians.  
Denis, or Dionysius, a Tyrant of Syracuse.  
Deucalion, son of Prometheus, who with his wife Pyrrah, escaped the Flood & (as the Poets fain) restored the world.  
Diabete, adisease, when one cannot hold his water.  
Diapason, a Concord of all.  
diarrhea, a lask or looseness of the Belly.  
Diameter, a straight line dividing any figure into equal parts, passing through the middle point of any figure.  
Dialect, a form of speech divers from others in any language  
Diana, the Goddess of virginity, the Moon.  
Dirceanwalles, Thebes.  
Disenteria, the bloody-flixe:  
Dodochaedrons', figures of 12. Angles.  
Druids, ancient learned Priests & Sages of France: supposed, to have first issued out of this I'll of Britain.  
Dombertan, a Town in Scotland.  
Dagon, the Idol of the Philistines.  
Demain, Possessions of inheritance, time out of mind continued in the occupation of the Lord.  
Duel, single Combat.  
Demigods, look Heroik.  
Dorik music, soft and effeminate music, here opposed to the Phrygian, whtch was more lofty and full of life, and fit to stir up a Courageous spirit.  
Dan, a Town in the North frontier of judea, where jetoboam erected his other Calf.  
Ditthyrambik, Song in the Ho nour of Bacchus.   

E  
ECliptik line, a great Circle in the middle of the Zodiac through which the Sun runneth his proper course in 365. days.  
Egyptian flood, The River Nilus'  
Electrum, Amber.  
Electra, one of the sisters oh Phaeton, who incessantly weeping for her brother's fall, was turned into a Tree that droppeth Amber.  
Elixir, an Arabian word, signifying Quintessence, the Philosopher's stone.  
Elysium, the feigned Paradise of heathen Poets.  
Eldebag, a learned Arabian Satirical Poet.  
Embryon, the Child in the mother's Womb before it have received shape.  
encyclopedy, that learning which comprehendeth all liberal Sciences.  
Endymion, a young shepherd the favourite of Cynthia.  
Engastromith, one possessed, which seems to speak in his belly.  
Empyema, an imposthume in the Breast.  
Enyon, the same that Bellona sister to Mars, & Goddess of Battle.  
Enthousiasmos, poetical fury.  
Eoan Monarch, Alexander the great.  
Eolian scouts, the winds.  
Ephemerideses, Day-books, Registers, journals.  
Ephesian Temple, the Temple of Diana in Ephesus.  
Ephesian moan, Heraclitus, weeping at the world's miseries.  
Ephori, a kind of Magistrates, protectors of the people.  
Epi●emik ills, Universal Diseases.  
Epicicle, a lesser Circle, whose centre is in the circumference of a greater.  
Epicurus, a Philosopher that placed man's felicity in the pleasures of the Sense, belee ving no God but Fortune.  
Epilepsis, the Falling-sickness.  
Epithalamie, a nuptial song.  
Epitaph, a funeral song, or an Inscription on a Tomb or Grave.  
Epithets, additions to nouns, expressing some quality.  
Epitome, an Abbridgement.  
Epirus, a Country in Greece (now called Albania) famous in late times by the Noble exploits of G. Castr●ot (surnamed Scanderbag) against the Turk.  
Equinoctial, a Circle in Heaven through which when the Sun passeth, the days and nights be of equal length.  
Eroetrian soil, medicinable Earth, brought from Eretria.  
Erebus, a River in hell: Hell.  
Erythraean Deep, the red Sea.  
Erynnis, one of the Furies.  
Eridanus, a figure in Heaven, the River Po, in Lombardy.  
Eurus, the East wind.  
Euripus, a narrow Sea, which ebbeth and floweth seven times in 24. hours.  
Euphrates, one of the Rivers of Eden, that runs through Babylon.  
Europa, Christendom, or this Western part of the world.  
Eccentrik, that hath his centre wholly separated from the Centre of the Earth.  
Erysipiles, hot & red swellings, called S. Anthony's fire.  
Erycina, Venus.  
Euphrosyne, look Graces.  
Euphorbium, a certain medicinable Plant found and named by Euphorbus, King jubas' Physician.  
Eth●ik, see Pagan.  
Entidorian.  
Etesian gates, easterly winds.  
Ephod, a linen garment worn by the Priests and Levites of Israel.  
Edom and Idumea, a part of Palestine.  
Eleutherian, Deliverer.  
Epicarpian, Fruit-keeper.   

F  
FAbritius, a famous Roman, contemner of Riches, and in extreme poverty most puissant for virtuous valour and integrity.  
Faustina, a most Ias●iuious Em press, wife to Marcus Aurelius, and daughter of Antous Pius.  
Fez. a Kingdom in Barbary.  
Finland, a Dukedom under the king of Sweden.  
Flamine, a Sacrificer, or high Priest, among the Heathen.  
Flavio, Melphio a Neapolitan inventor of the needle in the Mariner's compass, and the use thereof.  
Foix, a Country belonging to Navarr, near the Pyrene Mountains.  
Flora, a fair and rich harlot which made the people of Rome her Heir: in respect whereof, they made her God desk of Flowers: and kept yearly Feasts in honour of of her.  
Furies, 3 (viz.) Allecto, Megaera, and Tisiphone (sometimes also called Persyphone) which are said to be Torments of the damned in Hell, wittily feigned to express the fear and Fury of a guilty conscience.  
Freeze and Cornich, the crests, furniture & finishing at the upper end of a column.  
Farfalla, a Candle fly.  
Fergusius, Euenus, Donaldus, famous ancient Kings of Scotland.  
Fanes, Temples, consecrated Places.  
Funambulant, a Rope-walker.  
Feretrian, Peace-bringer or dread-striker.   

G  
GAlen, a famous Physician born at Pergamus, whose learned works through all ages have been honoured.  
Galenite, one skilful in Physic, wherein Galen excelled.  
Ganges, a great River in India.  
Gauls, the ancient name of the French men.  
Genius, a man's spirit, or natural instinct or inclination.  
Gemonide, or Gemonian Ladders: a place in Rome from whence condemned persons were thrown down.  
Ghion, one of the rivers in Eden  
Gnidian Idols, Venus and Cupid: for in Gnidos she was worshipped.  
gonorrhea, a foul and involuntary Flux of seed, the Running of the Reins.  
Gordian knot, a knot thought impossible to be undone, wherewith Gordius had fastened his Oxe-yoake in the Temple of Apollo.  
Gorgon's, ugly hellish monsters, in form of scaly Dragons, with crooked teeth, one eye, Iron talents, and mighty wings.  
Graces, look Charites.  
Gymnosophists, Philosophers of India, so called, because they went naked.  
Groonland, an exceeding cold Country, butting upon the Sea, beyond Izland.  
Grave, is as much as an Earl with us: but in this place used for the General and Governor, JOSVAH.  
Galactite, a kind of white Marble, or Alabaster.   

H  
HAlcyon, a little water-bird thought to be the king's fisher.  
Harpies, ravenous Birds, with faces like women.  
Hecatombs, Heathen Sacrifices wherein were offered 100 Beasts.  
Hebe, Ioues Cupbearer: the Goddess of youth.  
Heber, of whom the Hebrues and Hebrew Tongue are so called, the great— great— Grandchild of Sem, the son of Noah.  
Hecuba, the Frantic and disfigured, old withered wife of Priamus King of Troy, and here opposed to the fresh, young, beautiful Helena, the fatal Prize of their son Paris.  
Helicon, a Mountain sacred to Apollo and the Muses.  
Helena, the wanton wife of Menelaus: cause of the tedious siege & final sack of Troy.  
Hemisphere, half the compass of heaven which we behold.  
Hercules, the most renowned Monster-Tamer of Thebes.  
Hermes, Mercury.  
Hero, the fair Sestian Nun, for whose sake Leander was drowned in Hellespont.  
Heroes, half Gods, excellent Men, for valour, and virtue.  
Herophilus, a very ancient Phylomuse sician.  
Herodotus, an Eloquent Greek Historiographer.  
Hesiodus, an ancient Greek Poet  
Hesperian Plant, Golden fruit-Trees guarded by a Dragon which was slain by Hercules: but here it is used for the Sugar Cane, a richer Plant than those (feigned) golden fruits.  
Hexameters, verses of six feet  
Hiades, 5. stars (some hold 7.) in the head of the Bull.  
Hiero, a king of Sicilia (after Agathocles) greatly delighted in husbandry.  
Hieroglyphiks, secret Ciphers, strange characters, mystical wrighting by sundry forms of things.  
Hiram, King of Tyrus, remem bred in the Scripture for sending Timber and workmen to Solomon, to the building of the Temple in jerusalem.  
Homer, so called for his blindness, the most excellent of all the Greek Poets.  
Horizon, a Circle dividing the half-sphere of the firmament which we see ●uer us, from the other half under us, which we see not.  
Hun furious, Attyla, who surnamed himself the scourge of God, and Terror of the World.  
Hyantian Fount, springs sacred to the Muses.  
Hydrantik brawl, Music artificially made with the fall of waters.  
Hyaena, a horrible Beast that counterfaiteth man's voice.  
Hydrargire, quicksilver.  
Hydra, a Serpent with 50. heads slain by Hercules.  
Hybla, & Mountains abounding in bees and honey.  
Hymetus Mountains abounding in bees and honey.  
Hymen, the God of Marriage.  
Hyper-borean, above or beyond the blowing of the north-wind.  
Hippocrates, a most excellent Physician.  
Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, who shunning the wanton enticements of his stepdame Phaedra, was (through her false accusations) torn in pieces.  
Hyren, a fair Greek Maiden Captive, on whom Mahom●t the 2. extremely doted.  
Hesperus, the Euening-starre, the Evening.  
Helleborus, an herb whereof be 2. kinds, supposed our Lingwort and Bears-foot.  
Heroik, noble: but anciently appropriate to those which were counted Demigods, supposed to be born & begot of a heavenly & an earthly Parent, as Aeneas, of Venus and Anchyses.  
Hebridian Wave, the Sea about the Isle's Hiberides, to the North from Ireland.   

I  
janus, an ancient King of Italy, whom in respect of his wisdom & providence, they figured with 2. faces, as looking back into things past, and foreseeing things to come.  
jaffa, (anciently joppa) a notable Haven-towne in Syria, where they land that Travail to jerusalem.  
japetus, a Thessalian, more famous by his two sons (Prometheus, and Epimetheus) then for any great worth of his own.  
jaeson, Captain of the Argonau tes, by the favour of Medea, surmounting all dangers, brought home the golden Fleece.  
Ibis, a certain high Bird, with a long Bill and stiff leg●, worshipped by the old Egyptians.  
Ibnu-farid, a learned Arabian, Not much known in these parts.  
Iberians, Spaniards.  
Icarus, the son of Dedalus, who presuming to fly, was drowned in that Sea, which after bore his name.  
Ichneumon, Pharaohs Rat: a little Beast, enemy to the Crocodile.  
Idalian Fire, the burning heat of loves desire.  
Idea, an Image or Pattern of things conceived in the Fancy.  
Idioma, a proper and peculiar form of speech.  
jessean▪ Harp, the holy music of David the Son of Ishai, commonly called jesse.  
Iliaca Passio, a kind of Colic.  
Ilium, and Ilium: Troy.  
Imaus, a Hill in India, part of Caucasus.  
Impartial maids, the Fatal sisters, Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos.  
I'll of Iron, or Isola di-Ferro, one of the fortunate islands now called Canaries.  
Incubus, a disease oppressing the stomach in our sleep, which the ignorant have thought to be a sprite: it is commonly called the Night Mare.  
Individunm, a body that cannot be divided.  
Ioues Bird, the Eagle.  
Iris-bowe, the Rainbow.  
junos' bird, the Peacock.  
Isleban, glory of Wittinberg: Martin Luther.  
Isthmus, a narrow-strait of land between two Seas.  
Isther, Danubius.  
Ithacan, Ulysses the prudent husband of the most chaste Penelope.  
jupiter, the chief God of the Pagans.  
jubilee, a year of liberty and releafe, which was every fiftieth year.  
justinian, a learned Emperor Compiler of the Civil laws.  
juturna, the North part of Scotland towards the Orcadeses.  
jaboc, a little Brook running into the River jordan.  
Isis, the wife of Osiris, both Idols of the Egyptians.  
juadan.  
jove, jupiter, chief of the Heathen Gods.  
juno, the sister & wife of jove: Goddess of Dominion and wealth, and supposed helper to women in▪ travail: sometimes taken for the Air.  
Iris, the Rainbow.  
japhean (or jaffian) Seas beat upon the Coast of Zabulon towards tire and Sydon, on the farthest North of judea: here opposed to Tigris in Mesopotamia, the farthest South of the same.  
jaffa, of old called joppa.  
Isaacians, children of Isaac, Israelites.  
Iceland, an Island in the farthest North towards Groonland.  
jebusites, the Heathen inhabitants of jerusalem, before it came to the Possession of the Israelites.   

K  
KAros, a drowsy, and stupefying disease in the head.  
Kennet, a pleasant River running through Berkshire, near unto whose flowery banks, our callow Cignets had their nest.   

L  
Lacedaemon (called also Spar ta) a City and a Commonwealth, most famous and flourishing under the Laws of Ly●urgus.  
Laconia, the Country where that City stood.  
Lachesis, look Parcae.  
Leda, the wife of Tyndarus, who by the help of jupiters' Swan, laid 2. eggs, whereof were hatched double Twins: of the one, Pol-lux and Helena, of the other Castor & Clytaemnestra.  
Latmos, a Hill in jonia, where Cynthia is said to have embraced her deer Endymion.  
Latona, the Mother of Diana and Apollo.  
Latonian Twins, those Children of hers, the Sun and Moon.  
Lais, a beautiful & costly Harlot of Corinth, frequented by many gallants of Greece.  
Lee, a neat little Town in Essex, in the mouth of the Thames.  
Leander, a young man of Abydus beloved of Hero, drowned in Hellespont while he was swimming to her.  
Lers, a river in France, of most strange quality.  
Lethe, a river in Hell, which causeth forgetfulness.  
Lethargy, the sleepy disease.  
Lestrigons, a cruel people of Campania in Italy, which were said to feed on Man's Flesh.  
Lyguria, the Territory of Genoa.  
Lycurgus, the famous Lawmaker of the Lacedæmonians.  
Lemnos, Vulcan's Island, Now called Stalimene.  
Limbo, Hell.  
Linus, an excellent ancient Musician, master of Orpheus.  
Linx, a beast of exceeding quick & piercing sight.  
Leucippus, a Philosopher that imagined infinite worlds.  
Leucothoe, a Sea Goddess.  
Liquour-God. Bacchus.  
Lopez, a late jew-spanish Physician, executed for infinite Treasons against this State.  
Lotos, an admirable plant, strangely sympathising with the Sun.  
Lucania, a province of Italy, now called Basilicata.  
Lucina, juno, and Diana, supposed of old to be assistant to women in their travel.  
Lucr●●ta, the chaste wife of Collatinus, ravished by Tarquin. (Poet.  
Lucretius, a very ancient Latin  
Luna, the Moon●e.  
Lupercales, Sacrifices & Feasts solemnised to Pan.  
Lyceum, the School of Aristotle.  
Legislator, a Lawmaker, or a Lawgiver.  
Lesbian Squire: the Lesbians were so perfect Workmen, that they made Rules and Squires by their Work, and not their Work by the Rule.  
Loumond, a great Lake in Scot land, wherein they say, there is a floating Island.  
Luc●for, the Prince of the proud Angels that fell from heaven. The Devil, also the morning-star.  
Lachesis, look Parca's.  
Locusts, a kind of Grasshoppers  
Libanus and Libanon, a mountain in Syria, famous for the fairest Cedar Trees.   

M  
MAdera, one of the Canaries, from whence come excellent Sugars.  
Malta, an Island in the Mediterranean Sea, where the Knights (that were) of Rhodes, now keep their residence  
Many, a disease in the head causing madness.  
Martian-field, a field between Tiber, & the City of Rome, where they used to behold the fight of condemned men with wild Beasts.  
Mars, the God of war.  
Mark Pole, a not able Venetian Navigator and Discoverer.  
Maiz, Indian wheat.  
Mausole, a sumptuous Tomb built by Artemisia Queen of Caria, for her husband Mausolus.  
Marcellus, a most noble Roman Captain, Conqueror of Syracuse, and five times Consul.  
Mah omit, the Turkish Emperor, worshipping Mahomet.  
Mantuan Muse, the Poet Virgil  
Massacres, horrible murders.  
Medea, a sorceress, or (as some call them) a cunning-woman.  
Meanders, crooked turnings, so called of the River. Meandex, for his exceeding crookedness.  
Medici's, the late Queen mother of France, being of the house of Florence.  
Medusa's Tress, a head with snakelike hairs, turning the beholders into stones.  
Mein, a River in Germany, where on stands Frankfort, the famous Mart of the World.  
Meonian Bard, Homer.  
Maecenas, a noble Roman, & liberal favourer of Virgil.  
Megaera, one of the Furies.  
Melt, an admirable Tree in Mexico, a mighty kingdom of America. 

Egyptians.  
Memphians,  
Memphites.  
Memphists.  
Memphitists.    
Mercury, one of the Planets, the God of wit, eloquence, invention, and subtlety, and the messenger of the Gods.  
Mercurial (as it were) a Chancery, controlling and revoking false judgements of inferior Courts. 

Meridian, the south circle.    
Metaphoras, borrowed speeches.  
Metempsychosis, transmigration of souls from one body to another: after Pythagoras.  
Metaphysical, supernatural,  
Milo, a man of prodigious strength, that carried a Bull on his back, killed him with his fist, & eat him up in one day.  
Mince, a River near Mantua, where Virgil was borne.  
Minerva, the same that Pallas: Goddess of wit and war.  
Moly, an herb brought from heaven by Mercury to Ulysses, supposed to be our Rue, or herbe-grace.  
Moloch, the Idol of the Ammonites.  
Moluques, rich islands in the East Indies, plentiful in all kind of excellent Spices, & other Treasures.  
Moors, the people of Ethiopia, subjects of Prester john.  
Morpheus, the God of Dreams  
Mummy, a drug, taken for part of ancient embalm bodies.  
Musculus, a little Fish most officious to the Whale.  
Musulmans, Arabians.  
Mycaena, Agamemnon's Kingdom.  
Midas, a wealthy King of Phry gia, whose touch (by the grant of Bacchus) turned all things into Gold: so that at last his Gold-turned meat in his mouth choked him.  
Myrmecides, a cunning & curious Carver in small works.  
Myron, an excellent statuary, or Image-maker.  
Mount banks, jugglers.  
Meroe, an Island in the River Nilus.  
Megaera, look Furies.  
Mages, Sages, Wisemen, soothsayers.  
Morisco, and Mattachine, Antic & fantastic dances.  
Moderatrix, a Regent or Governess.  
MAGNIFICENCE, Greatness, State, glory, pomp.  
Munificence, bounty, liberality  
Medals, Images of wood, stone, or metal.  
Musaik work, a kind of painting so curiously shadowed, that it seems in some places embossed, in some carved, in some inlayde, in some graven, etc.  
Meteors, or exhalations, strange apparitions of comets, or other figures in the air.  
Megarian, where flourished the Philosopher Euclides, in the same time that Socrates in Athens.   

N  
NAcre, the Pearle-shell, or mother of Pearl.  
Nadir, the point directly under us, just opposite to the Zenith or point vertical.  
Anatolia, Asia minor, now whole lie under the Turk.  
Nectar, the drink of the Gods.  
Neptune, the Sea.  
Nephelian, Crook-horne, the Sign Aries.  
Nepenthe, an herb which being steeped in wine, is thought to expel sadness.  
Nereus, the Sea.  
Nero, a most cruel Emperor of Rome, the monster of nature, & shame of mankind.  
Nestor, a wise & eloquent Greek who being nigh 300. years old, came to the siege of Troy.  
Nile, and Nilus, the famous River of Egypt, used often for Egypt itself.  
Nimrod, the builder of Babel, the first ambitious usurper of sovereignty.  
Niphates, a mountain from whence the River Tigris hath his source.  
Nitre, a light, white, spongy matter, much like salt, which some have (falsely) thought to be saltpeter.  
Noremberg, a City in Germany, especially famous for curious handicrafts.  
Nubian, of a Kingdom fronting on the South of Egypt.  
Numidian●, people of a part of Africa, accustomed to live continually in the fields with their flocks, & herds, removing often for fresh pastures.  
Numa Pompileus, 2. from Romulus' King of the Romans and their first lawgiver.   

O  
OBsequies, funeral ceremonies.  
Ocean, and Oceanus, the Sea.  
Odipus, a Riddle-Reader of Thebes.  
Oedems, thin, waterish, and flegmatik swellings.  
Olympius, an Arrian Bishop, struck dead with Lightning for blaspheming the Deity of Christ.  
Olympus, a very high hill fronting on Macedonia: it is often used for Heaven.  
Ophthalmy, a disease in the Eye through inflammation of the uttermost tunicle.  
Optic sinew, is that which bringeth sight unto the Eye.  
Orgies, Sacrifices to Bacchus.  
Oracles, Mysteries of the heathen Gods, delivered by divers means, and in divers manners.  
Orion, a tempest-boading star.  
Orpheus, an excellent Poet & Musician of Thrace.  
Oromene, a Mountain in India, full of Salt-quarres.  
Ortygian Delos, a floating Island where Diana, and Apollo were borne.  
Orithia's love, Boreas, the north-wind.  
Ottoman, the first Emperor of Turks.  
Ovid's heirs: wanton Poets.  
Oxygone, a sharp-Triangle.  
Omer, a certain measure among the Hebrues.  
Ophir, supposed to be Peru.  
Onyx, a red precious stone, fit for Seals. (Clear.  
Orient, the East Sunrising  
Oran, a Port-town in Barbary, within the Streictes of Gibraltar.   

P  
Pactolus', a river in Lydia, which (after the washing of King Midas) is said to have Golden sands.  
Pallas, the Goddess of Arts & Wisdom.  
Palaemon, a Sea God, called also Melicertes.  
Palestine, judea, the holy land, first called Cannon.  
Pan, the God of Shepherds.  
Pandects, Books treating of all manner of Arguments.  
Panchaya● Fumes, Incense.  
Pannonia, Hungary & Austria.  
Panope, a Sea-Nymph.  
Pandora, feigned (by Hesiodus) to be the first woman, and made by Vulcan: endued by all the Gods with several excellent gifts, but afterward by jupiter (in his displeasure) sent to her spouse Epimetheus, with a Box full of all manner of miseries.  
Paphos' Archer, Cupid, the little God of love.  
Paphian, Fire or shot his Arrows.  
Parrhasius, a most excellent painter of Ephesus.  
Parthians, a people of Asia, excellent Archers, and notorious enemies to the Romans.  
Par●s, an Island in the Archipelago (which divideth Europe & Asia minor) wherein is excellent white Marble or Alabaster.  
Parca's, Parcaes, (à non parcendo) the Destinies, or 3. fatal Sisters, (viz) Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos: Death itself, the enevitable end of all.  
Parallels, lines every where like distant.  
Paradox, an argument maintained contrary to the common and received opinion.  
Pegasus, the flying Horse of Bellerophon, which straining to fly up to Heaven, with his hoof razed the top of Helicon, whence immediately gushed out a spring, which therefore is called Hippocrene.  
Penelope, the most chaste wife of the wandering Prince Ulysses.  
Peneian Uale, is Tempe a most pleasant valley in Thessaly, on the verge of the River Peneus.  
Pentheus, a young Prince, who for contemning the drunken feasts of Bacchus, was by his own mother (Agave) murdered.  
Peripneumonie, the Impostume of the Lungs.  
Perige, that point of Heaven wherein the Sun (or other planet) is nearest to the centre of the Earth.  
Persephone, or Proserpina: the Queen of Hell and Horror.  
Perseus, a most triumphant Champion, that rescued Andromeda from the Sea-monster: who for his prowess is both by Poets and Astronomers magnified as a God, and placed among the Stars.  
Parnassus, the mountain of the Muses.  
Persian Monarch with the heaven of glass, was Sapores.  
Peru, one of the largest and richest parts of America.  
Phaeton, the Son of Phoebus, who presuming to guide his father's Chariot, set the world on fire, and fell himself headlong into the River Eridanus.  
Phoebus, the Sun.  
Phalaris, a most cruel Tyrant of Agrigent.  
Phalec, the son of Heber.  
Pharos, a Lantern Tower to bear a light for the guide of Sailors in a haven by night: also an Island.  
Phlegon, one of the horses of the suns Chariot.  
Phlegeton, a River in Hell, taken oft for Hell itself.  
philtre-charmd, enchanted with lovepotions.  
Phantik, such as are haunted with strange & illuding Visions.  
Philirian Scout, the sign Sagittarius.  
Philometor, an ancient king of Egypt, much given to husbandry, and delighting in the Country life.  
Phlebotomy, Blood-letting.  
Phlegmons, hot & red inflammations of blood.  
Phrygian Skinker, the sign Aquarius.  
Phrixus sister, was Helle, drowned in Hellespont, which of her is so called.  
Frenzy, a most violent and dangerous disease of the brain.  
Phthisik, The consumption of the Lungs.  
Phthiriasis, the lousy disease.  
Pica, the longing disease of women with child.  
Physon, one of the Rivers in the garden of Eden.  
Pigmies, little people of the North, a Cubit high.  
Pyrene, a princess from whom Pyrene Mountains (which divide France and Spain) are so called.  
Pindus, a Mountain sacred to the Muses.  
Pierian Maids, the Muses.  
Pirrhon, (read Pirrho) a Philosopher always doubtful of all things, yea even of those subject to our senses.  
Plato, Prince of the Academiks, surnamed divine, and indeed the most near approaching divinity of all the heathen.  
Pleyades, the 7. Stars,  
Plessis, a noble learned Frenchman of our time, a notable defender of the Truth of Christian religion, against all jews, Turks, Pagans, Papists, Atheists, and Infi-Infidels whatsoever.  
Pluto, the God of Hell and of Riches, the Devil and all.  
Po, the river that watereth Lum▪ bardy the garden of Italy.  
Polypes, a subtle fish called a Manie-feetes, or Pourcontrell.  
Polymnia, manifold memory, in variety of knowledge.  
Poles, the imagined Hinges of the Heavens, whereon the World is turned, commonly used for heaven.  
Poetasters, Base, Counterfeit, unlearned, witless, & wanton Poets that pester the World, either with idlevanities or odious villainies.  
Porphirie, Marble.  
Porus, a King of India of huge stature, overcome by Alexander.  
Polygamy, the having of many wives.  
Polyphem, a huge and cruel Giant, with one eye in his forehead.  
Pomona, Goddess of fruits.  
Pontik heath, Pontus is a region in Asia minor, fronting Eastward upon Colchis.  
Progne, Pandions' daughter, sister of Philomele, and wife of Tereus, transformed to a swallow.  
Proteus, a Sea-god, that taketh on him all shapes.  
Problems, mathematical propositions, referred especially to practise.  
Prometheus, is feigned to have made the first man, and to have stolen fire from heaven, to put life into his Creature.  
Pryenian Sage, Bias.  
Ptolomeus Philadelphus, most famous for his learning and love to the learned, and especially for his noble Library, erected in Alexandria.  
Pyramids, exceeding huge & high Spires, built by the kings of Egypt for fond & idle ostentation of their riches and pride.  
Pyrausta, a fier-flye, or winged worm, breeding and living only in the fire.  
Python, a horrible Dragon slain by Apollo. 

Pagan, Heathen, an Infidel, uncircumcised, unbaptized, that knows not God.    
Phydias, a famous Carver in wood and stone.  
Persyphone, look Furies.  
Pirene's, look Bigaurian.  
Phrygian Music, look Dorik.  
Pellean Prince, Alexander the great, borne in the City of Macedonia called Pella, as was also Philip his father.  
Panomphean, all-hearing.  
Phyxian, fugitive.  
Proselyte, a stranger new-conuerted to our faith & fashion.  
Pharan, a City between Egypt & Arabia: also a Wilderness which the Israelites passed in their Pilgrimage to Canaan.  
Pharus, look Pharos.  
Pyrrhus, a valiant King of the Epirots, a notable Enemy to the Romans.  
Pass-Lamb, the Paschal Lamb.  
Pelusian Ford, Nilus the great River of Egypt. 

Pythian Knight, is Apollo, surnamed Pythias, for slaying the dreadful Serpent Pytho.    
Parian Rocks, mountains of white Marble or Alabaster, in the I'll of Paros.  
Patagons', Indian Cannibals, such as eat man's flesh.  
Posthumus, one borne after his Father's death.  
Prodigies, extraordinary and miraculous accidents.  
Picts, ancient inhabitants of a part of Scotland.  
Paranymphes, Bride-dressers, too curious prankers of themselves.  
Pyrrhik Galliard, a kind of dancing in armour, invented by Pyrrhus.  
Porphire, a kind of red Marble.  
Plynth, a part of the base of a pillar, flat square like a Tile.   

R  
Rabbins, great Doctors among the jews.  
Rabican, the name of a gallant horse in Orlando Furioso.  
Regulus, a noble Consul, and resolute Captain of the Romans in the Punik-war.  
Remora, a little fish (which some call a Suckstone) that suddenly stoppeth a ship under all her sails in her full course  
Rendez vous, an appointed place of meeting.  
Rome's Dragon, the Pope.  
Ryphean wood, Forests of Scythia.  
Rhea, the same that Cibele, Vesta,, Tellus, the Earth.  
rhubarb, an excellent roost, and very precious for the purging quality.  
Rubric, the Titles & Directions in the old Psalters, or Seruicebookes: so called, because they are written or printed in red Letters.   

S  
SAba, chief City of the Sabaeans in Arabia, abounding in Cinnamon, Cassia, Frankincense, and Myrrh.  
Salamander, a spotted beast like a Lizard, whose extreme coldness quencheth the fire.  
Salmoneus, a King that with certain violent Engines, counterfeited Thunder.  
Sallust, a notable Roman Histo riographer, also the surname of our noble and renowned Author du BARTAS.  
Samian wise, Pythagoras.  
Sardanapalus, a most effeminate king, the last of the Assyrians.  
Sargus, a Fish strangely lustful.  
Saturn's door, the end of Time.  
Saturnales, feasts kept in December in the honour of Saturn.  
satires, nipping Poesies that reprove vice sharply, without respect of persons.  
Scaliger josephus, now living, a Frenchman, admirable in all Languages, for all manner of learning▪  
Scipio (surnamed Affirican) a most wise, valiant, & virtuous Captain of the Romans, who being ill requited for infinite honourable services, sequestered himself to a Country-life.  
Scirrhes, a kind of hard (yet painless swellings in the flesh.  
Scolopendra, a certain Fish that easleth forth her bowels, to clear them from the hook.  
Scopas, a notable Architect, employed in the building of Mausolus' Tomb, which is numbered among the seven wonders of the world.  
Syrteses, dangerous sands in the Lybian Sea.  
Serean Forests (now Cathay, and Cambalu) are in Asian Scythia, abounding in the best Silks.  
Serranus, a worthy Roman fetched from his plough to the Dictatorship, which was (for the time) an office of Kinglike Authority.  
Sentinel, a scout, or Night-watch in a Camp or Town of Garrison.  
Seraphin, an Angel.  
Sein, the river of Paris.  
Shynar, or Sennaar, the plain where Nimrod built the Tower of Babel.  
Sibyls, Prophetesses: Varro remembreth 10. of them.  
Semiramis, the proud and wanton Queen of Babylon, wife of Ninus.  
Sirius, the Dog star, at whose rising the dogdays always begin.  
Skinc Alexandrian, a kind of Serpent, a land Crocodile.  
Skinker, the sign Aquarius.  
Sol, the Sun, one of the 7. Planets.  
Solides, 5. regular bodies or figures Geometrical (viz.) the Circle, Cube, Pyramid, Cilinder and Dodochaedron.  
Sostrates, a notable Architect builder of the Lanthorn-Tower in the I'll of Pharos.  
Stagirian, Aristotle, there born 

Hell.  
Styx,  
Stygian strand,    
Steropes, one of Vulcan's Cyclopes.  
stoics, severe Philosophers, pretending to condemn all Passions: and esteeming all things to be ordered by an inevitable necessity of Fate of Destiny.  
Strymon, a River between Macedon and Thrace.  
Swisses (we call them Switzers) the warlike people of the Cantons of Helvetia.  
Sulphur, Brimstone.  
Star-shippe, Argos a sign or Constellation in Heaven, supposed to have been the Ship that jason and his fellows fetched the Golden Fleece in.  
Synonimas, words of the same signification.  
Symbolise, to resemble or agree.  
Sympathy, consent or resemblance of quality.  
Symphony, consent of time or harmony.  
Symmetry, proportion of parts between themselves, & to their whole.  
Syracuse, a great, wealthy, and wanton City in Sicilia.  
Sirens, Mermaids.  
satire, a wild wood-monster, half man, halfegoate: also a kind of nipping Poesy, reproving vice unpartially.  
Salem, jerusalem.  
Spartans', look Lacedaemon.  
Sina, or Sinai, a mountain in Arabia, the same that Horeb, where the Law was given to Moses.  
Salamina, an Island and City in the Euboic Sea, now called the Gulf of Negrepont.  
Stentorian, Homer reports him to have had the voice of 50. men.  
Signories, Lordships, Dominions.  
Sues, a Port in the East part of Egypt upon the red Sea.  
Seir, a mountain in Idumaea, between Asphaltis and Egypt.  
Siddim, the place where Lot, with the Princes of Sodom, was taken prisoner by Chedor Laomer.  
Sanctum Sanctorun, the inmost Sanctuary, the Holy of Holies, where only the high Priest might enter once a year.  
Stratian, Warlike.  
Scammony, alias Diagridium, an herb purging Choler mightily.   

T  
Tagus', the River of Lisbon in Portugal.  
Tanais, a mighty River dividing Asia from Europe.  
Tantalus, a King of Phrygia, whom they feigned to stand in Hell up to the chin in water, and to have delicate Fruits, dangling over his upperlip, yet can touch neither: either to ease his hunger, or allay his thirs●:  
Tambut, A Country of the Negroes, which is a part of Africa extending to the uttermost bounds thereof toward the South and East.  
Taprobane, An Island under the Equinoctial (now called Sumatra) Situate between Malaca and java Mayor, above 450. leagues long, and above 120. broad: abounding in Gold, & very plentiful in other excellent Commodities.  
Tarentum, a famous City in Calabria.  
Tarnasser, is in the East Indies, near the gulf of Bengala.  
Thebes, a City in Boeotia where Hercules was borne: it was first built built by Cadmus, but more beautifully restored by Amphion.  
Thetis, the Sea.  
Themis, justice.  
Thersites, the foulest Lubber in all the Graecian Camp, whom Achilles slew with his fist.  
Theseus, for valour, another Hercules: but most famous for his kind and constant friendship to Pirithous.  
Thesiphone, one of the Furies.  
Thisbe's Tree, the mulberry.  
Thule, an Island beyond the Orcadeses, the farthest North that was known to the Romans, therefore then called Ultima Thule.  
Timanthes, one of the most excellent of the ancient Painters.  
Tindarides, Castor and Pollux.  
Tigris, a River in Asia, passing by the East of Mesopotamia, through Armenia & Media.  
Titan, the Sun.  
Tirrhenian, the Tuscan Seas.  
Tyrians, Merchant men of Tyrus, a City of Syria, anciently flourishing in trade, and famous for the excellent purple-Die.  
Tivoli, a village near Rome, where the Cardinal of Ferrara hath a sumptuous house of pleasure, furnished with infinite Curiosities.  
Torpedo, the Cramp-fish.  
Tresor-trove, Gold, money, or other Riches found under ground.  
Troglodytes, a people of Aethiopia, that dwell under ground, go naked, and eat Serpents.  
Tropics, two great Circles in heaven in equal distance from the Equinoctial, the one called the Tropik of Cancer, the other of Capricorn, at the which the Sun turneth either higher (having been at the lowest) or lower (having been at the highest) whereof they are so called.  
Tritons▪ Neptune's Trumpeters.  
Tuscan, Italian.  
Tiber, the River of Rome.  
Typhis, the master or Captain of the Ship Argos that sailed with jason to Colchis for the Golden Fleece.  
Tymothy, an excellent carver that wrought on Mausolus' Tomb.  
Typhon, a huge Giant, that in devoured to pull jupiter out of Heaven.  
Type, a figure or stamp of any thing.  
Tisiphone, or Thesiphone one of the Furies.  
TROPHETS, glorious Monuments erected in honour of some famous victory.  
Timotheus' Milesius, an excellent musician, that flourished under Philip of Macedon and Alexander his son.  
Theory, Contemplation, study.  
Tully, Cicero, the Prince of Roman Orators.  
Te●yphone, look Furies.  
Thalia, look Graces, & Muses.  
Tabernacle, properly a Tent or Pavilion.   

V  
VAlois, one of the Royal families of France, extinguished in the late Henry the third, (slain by a Friar before Paris) who in his Monsieurship (with his mother and the Duke of Guise) had been too busy an Actor in the bloody Massacre.  
Venus', the Goddess of Love and Beauty, also one of the planets.  
Venus' Escuage, Knights (or Nights) service to Ladies.  
Venerean mirth, Idem.  
Ver, the Spring.  
Vertumnus, animagined God of the Romans that took on him all shapes.  
Vespucio, Americus Vespucius, a Florentine, first discoverer of America, of whom, it was so called.  
Viginere, a learned Frenchman of late times, translator of Caesar, Livius, and other Latin writers.  
Vienna, a City in Austria, where usually the Emperor keeps his Court.  
Urania, one of the Muses, especially handling Heavenly things, therefore called the Heavenly Muse.  
urim, and Thummim, 2. words graven in the Breastplate of Aaron, signifying Illumination and integrity.  
Ulysses, the politic Prince of Ithaca, husband of Penelope.  
Vulcan, the God of Fire and forge-men.  
Vranascopus, a fish always gazing up to heaven.   

X  
XAnth, called also Scamander, the River of Troy, there is also an Island in the Archipelago, so called.  
Xenian, hospitious, mild-entertainer.   

Z.  
ZEbut, an Island in the west Indies, exceeding rich in Gold, Sugar, & Ginger.  
Zenith, the point vertical, the point of Heaven right over our heads, the contrary point is called Nadir.  
Zeno, the chief of the Stoic Philosophers.  
Zeuxis, a most cunning and exceeding rich Painter.  
Zodiac, a byaz or sloping Circle in the Heavens, wherein are the 12. Signs, through which all the planets pass.  
Zones, Imagined Circles, dividing the World into five parts.  
Zopyrus, a Persian that strange lie disfigured himself to do his Prince an important service.  
Zephyrus, the West, the west-wind.   
FINIS.   

THE HISTORY OF JUDITH, IN FORM OF A POEM.  
Penned in French, by the Noble Poet, G. SALLUST. Lord of BARTAS.  
Englished by Tho. Hudson.  
Ye learned, bind your brows with Laurer hand:  
I press but for to touch it with my hand.  
ET VSQVE AD NUBES VERITAS TVA   printer's or publisher's device 
1611.   

The Printer to the Reader.  
Perceiving our divine du BARTAS so generally applauded, even of the greatest and the gravest of this Kingdom; and all His works so welcome unto all: to make the same (in this second Edition) more complete, I have presumed to annex This Piece; indeed no part of his incomparable WEEKS (neither here apparelled by the same Workman) yet doubtless a Child of the same Parent, and (if I be not deceived) one of his first borne: which arriving long-since in Scotland, was there (among the rest) royally received, and thus (as you see) suited, somewhat to that Country fashion. Whose Dialect and Orthography (considering under what authority it was first published, & now the rather respecting our happy union by the same established) I have not dared at all to alter. Accept it therefore (gentle Reader) as it is: and allow at least of my good will; who, wishing thee the profit of these happy labours, have adventured (to do thee pleasure) to incur (I doubt) double displeasure.  
Thine, H. L.   

TO THE MOST HIGH AND MIGHTY PRINCE, JAMES the sixth, King of Scotland, his majesties most humble Servant, THO. HUDSON, wisheth long life with everlasting felicity.  
AS your Majesty, Sir, after your accustomed and virtuous manner was sometime discoursing at Table with such your Domestiques, as chanced to be attendant;  
It pleased your Highness not only to esteem the peerless style of the Greek Homer, and the Latin Virgil to be inimitable to us (whose tongue is barbarous and corrupted): But also to allege (partly thorough delight your Majesty took in the Haughty style of those most famous Writers, and partly to sound the opinion of others) that also the lofty Phrase, the grave indictment, the facound terms of the French Sallust (for the like resemblance) could not be followed nor sufficiently expressed in our rude and impolished English language. Wherein, I more boldly then advisedly (with your majesties licence) declared my simple opinion; not calling to mind, that I was to give my verdict in presence of so sharp and clear-eied a Censor as your Highness is: But rashly I alleged, that it was nothing impossible even to follow the footsteps of the same great Poet Sallust, and to translate his verse (which nevertheless is of itself exquisite) succinctly, and sensibly in our own vulgar speech. Whereupon it pleased your Majesty (among the rest of his works) to assign me, The History of judith, as an agreeable Subject to your Highness, to be turned by me into English verse: Not for any special gift or Science that was in me, who am inferior in knowledge and erudition to the least of your majesties Court: but by reason (peradventure) of my bold assertion, your Majesty, who will not have the meanest of your house unoccupied, would have me to bear the yoke, and drive forth the penance, that I had rashly procured. Indeed, the burden appeared heavy, and the charge almost insupportable to me: nevertheless, the fervent desire which I had to obtemper unto your majesties commandment, the earnest intention to verify my rash speaking, and the assured confidence which I ankred on, your highness help and correction, encouraged me so, & lightened on such wise my heavy burden, that I have with less pain, brought my half despaired work to final end. In the which, I have so behaved myself, that through your majesties concurrence, I have not exceeded the number of the lines written by my Author: In every one of the which, he also hath two syllables more than any English bears. And this notwithstanding, I suppose your Majesty shall find little of my Author's meaning pretermitted. Wherefore if thus much be done by me, who am of another profession, and of so simple literature, I leave it to be considered by your Majesty, what such as are consummate in letters, and knows the weighty words, the pithy sentences, the polished terms, and full efficacy of the English tongue, would have done. Receive them, Sir, of your own servant, this little work at your own commandment enterprised, corrected by your majesties own hand, and dedicated to your own Highness. If I have done well, let the praise redound to your Majesty, whose censure I have underlyen. If otherwise, let my default of skill be imputed to myself, or at the least my good intention allowed, whereby others may have occasion to do better. To your highness consideration, referring Sir, both my diligence done in this small translation, and the inveterate affection which I have, and aught always to bear unto your Majesty, I commit with all humility, your Highness, your Realm and estate, to the government of God, who governeth all the World.   



IR   
SONNET.  

SInce ye immortal sisters nine hes left  
All other countries lying far or near,  
To follow him who from them all you reft,  
And now hes caused your residence be here;  
Who though a stranger yet he loved so dear  
This Realm and me, so as he spoiled his own,  
And all the brooks and banks, and fountains clear  
That be therein, of you, as he hath shawne  
In this his work: then let your breath be blawne  
In recompense of this his willing mind,  
On me; that sine may with my pen be drawn  
His praise. For though himself be not inclined  
Nor presseth but to touch the Laurer tree:  
Yet well he merits crowned therewith to be.   
FINIS.   

SONNET:  

THe Muses nine have not revealed to me  
What sacred seeds are in their garden sown;  
Nor how their Sallust gains the Laurer tree,  
Which throw thy toil in Britain ground is grown:  
But, sith they see thy travel truly shown  
In virtues school, th' expiring time to spend,  
So have they to his Highness made it known,  
Whose Princely power may duly thee defend.  
Then you, that on the Holy Mount depend  
In crystallayr, and drinks the cleared spring  
Of Poetry, I do you recommend  
To the protection of this godly King:  
Who for his virtues, and his gifts divine,  
Is only Monarch of the Muses nine.   
FINIS.  M. V F.   

The Author's admonition to the Reader.  
Beloved Reader, it is about fourteen years past, since I was commanded by the late Illustrate and most virtuous Princess jean, Queen of Navarre, to reduce the History of judith, in form of a Poem Epique. Wherein I have not so much aimed to follow the phrase or text of the Bible, as I have pressed (without wandering from the verity of the History) to imitate Homer in his Iliads, & Virgil in his Aenel does, and others who hath left to us works of such like matter: thereby to render my work so much the more delectable. And if the effect hath not answered to my desire, I beseech thee to lay the fault upon her who proposed to me so mean a Theme or subject, and not on me who could not honestly disobey. Yet in so much as I am the first in France, who in a just Poem hath treated in our tongue of sacred things, I hope of thy favour to receive some excuse; seeing that things of so great weight cannot be both perfectly begun and ended together. If thou neither allow my style nor workmanship, at least thou shalt be driven to allow the honest pretence and holy desire which I have to see the youth of France so holily by mine example exercised.  
I may not forget, that they do greatly wrong me, who thinks that in discriving the Catastrophe of this History (truly tragical) I am becomne a voluntary Advocate to these troublesome and seditious spirits, who (for to serve their temerarious passions, and private inspirations) conspires against the lives of placed princes. For, so much do I disassent that this example and the like aught to be drawn in consequence, that I am verily persuaded that the act of Ahud, of jael, and of judith, who under colour of obeisance & pretext of amity laid their revenging hands upon Aeglon, Sisara, and Holophernes: had been worthy of a hundredth gallows, a hundredth fires, and a hundredth wheels, if they had not been peculiarly chosen of God for to unloose the chains, and break the bands which retained the Hebrew people in more than Egyptian servitude, and expressly called to kill those Tyrants with a death as shameful as their lives were wicked and abominable. But seeing this question is so diffuse that it cannot be absolved in few words, and that my brain is too weak for so high an enterprise; I send you to those who have spent more oil and time in turning the leaves of the sacred scriptures, than I have done for the present. It me sufficeth for the time to admonish the Reader, to attempt nothing without a clear and indubitable vocation of God against those whom he hath erected above us; and above all things, not to abuse the law of human hospitality, and other holy bands, for to give place to these frenetike opinions so to abolish a pretended tyranny. I have also to warn thee of two different sorts of men: of the which one sort is so depraved that they can hear nothing, but that which is altogether profane; and the other is so superstitious, that they make conscience not only to write, but also to read of holy things in verse, as though that the measure and jointure of syllabes were so constrained as it were unpossible to keep the sense unperuerted, or at least not excessively obscured. Now if I perceive that this my first assay may be to thee agreeable, I shall continue more gladly my new commenced race, in such sort that thou shalt not repent thine indulgence nor I my passed pains. But if contrary fall, in time to come I will be ware to lày out my smalpack in this ample Theatre of France, where there is almost as many judgements as beholders. A Dieu.  
GSSDB.   

The Argument of the whole History of judith.  
AFter that the Children of Israel were delivered from captivity and returned to their land, the City of jerusalem re-edified, the Temple builded and prepared to the service of the Lord, the multitude of the people, being scattered in sundry towns and places of the Land, where they lived in peaceable rest: the Lord knowing man to be negligent of GOD and his salvation, chief when he lives at ease, and all things frames unto his frail desire; to th' end that his people should not fall in such an inconvenience, would exercise them with a fearful affliction and temptation, sending upon their Country an army so great in number and puissance, that made the whole earth to tremble. This expedition was under the Persian Monarch, named in the history Nebuchadnezar (which nevertheless is not his right name). His chief Lieutenant general and Conductor of the whole Army, was Holophernes, who (wheresoever he came) overthrew all religion, permitting none to invocate or acknowledge any other God, but Nebuchadnezar, his Master; whom he enforced to constitute and establish for the only God. So entered he judea with intent to destroy it all: which the people perceiving, and that his power was so great that no nation could resist him, and also knowing his cruel hatred; were sore affrayed, and almost driven to extreme desperation; seeing none other thing present before them, but ruin and destruction. And this the Lord suffered, to show (in time) his work to be more wonderful. For the people being humbled, and having called to the Lord for mercy and secure at his hand, he both heard and succoured them at need. The mean was not through strength or stoutness of some worthy Captain; but by the hand of judith, a tender feeble woman, to the shame of this most proud and cruel tyrant, and all his heathen host. For she cut off his head, put all his camp to slight, destroyed his men of Arms, in such wise that they fled here and there; and, seeking to save their lives, left all their tents and baggage. Thus the Lord, by the weak, and those that are not regarded, makes his works admirable. By one self mean he saved his own, and executed his justice against his enemies. In which we have to consider his singular ptovidence and goodness, and the care which he hath in especial for his faithful, and all his whole Church. This History is entitled by the name of judith, because it contains the narration of her great virtues, and for that the Lord used her as an instrument for the deliverance of his people. It is not certain who was the first Author hereof: nevertheless the reading of it hath been received in the Church, for the doctrine and utility of the same.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The I. BOOK.  
HOLOPHERN●●, Lieutenant general and chief of the army of Nebuch●dnezza● K o● the Assyrians, was in the field for to subdue divers people, and amongst others, the jews. All the Nation is seized with great fear, for the cruelties committed by the enemy. Then, as it falls out ●n bruits of war, all the whole people were troubled: some saving themselves in corners for fear, others attending (in great perplexity) some sad and Tragical end, the last sort calls upon God. This while JOACHIM the chief Priest governed the people: h● by his letters and express commandment recalls those that were fled and scattered, and made them return to jerusalem: where, in presence of the Levites, he made sacrifice & earnest prayer unto God to withdraw his ire and to be merciful to his people: which done he enters in counsel and requires his Princes to consult upon the cause, and consider what i● most 〈◊〉: and to prefer the love of God's law and the count● i●, before all private things▪ the first that gainstands this exhortation is an hypocrite, and favourer of the enemy▪ who gives counsel to render them to HOLOPHERNE●, calling him a Prince gracious to those that applauds to him, and invincible in battle to those that dare resist him. But the second Lord replying ●●alously again, detecteth his false hypocrisy and careless security, exposing the people to the mercy of a barbarous godless enemy, before the duty they ought to their God and their country: and to establish in place of the true God, a wicked N●MROD consummate in all impiety and wickedness, to abolish all virtue and godliness. For he proves, that if the nations should be rooted out for the right religion, God should be more honoured in the death of the jews, then in their lives; and that it is more worthy to die Hebrews, then to live infidels; and free men, than slaves: Shortly, that they ought to prefer honour and duty before fear and a vain hope to prolong their doleful days. This reply encouraged all the a●●ist●ts: whereof JOACHIM gave thanks to God, and (resolving himself upon a just defence for the onseruation of the service of God, and the freedom of his nation, and the lives of the innocent against this villainous invatision) wise by de●a●●ed the regiments of towns to persons convenient; who passed to their ●●●igned places, each one preparing according to their power unto the war with courage, pain, and diligence.  

The first Book of judith.  

I Sing the virtues of a valiant Dame, 
Proposition & sum of this work.   
Who (in defence of jacob) overcame  
Th' Assyrian Prince, and slew that Pagan stout,  
Who had beset Bethulia walls about.  
O thou, who kept thine Izak from the thrall 
Invocation of the true God.   
Of infidels, and steeled the courage small  
Of feeble judith, with a manly strength;  
With sacred fury fill my heart at length:  
And, with thy Holy spirit, my spirit inspire,  
For matter so divine. Lord I require  
No human style; but that the Reader may  
Great profit reap, I joy, thou praise always.   

And since in vulgar verse I press to sing 
Dedication of the Author altered by the translator.   
This godly Pooeme to a Christian King,  
To him who God in goodness hath erect  
For princely Pillar, to his own elect:  
For lawful Lord, to reign with truth and right:  
For lovesom Laurer, to the virtuous wight:  
Him (I beseech) this travel to defend,  
That to his pleasure I the same may end.    


WHen Izrell was in quiet rest and peace,  
And fruitfully the ground gave her encreise,  
Which seventy year untilled lay before,  
And nothing bare but thistle, weed and thorn;  
It pleased God (upon his just correction)  
T'awake his own, that were of his election;  
Lest that the longsom peace should them withhold,  
And dull their spirits, as doth the warrior bold,  
Who spoils his horse with pampering in the stable,  
That makes him for the manaige more unable▪  
He spread their land with bands of enemies stout,  
Whose clouds of shot bedimd their land about.  
Their Host, with arrows, pikes, and standards, stood 
The Army of Holopherne.   
As bristle-pointed, as a thorny wood.  
Their multitude of men, the rivers dried,  
Which throw the wealthy juda sweet did slide:  
So that flood jordane finding dry his bank,  
For shame he blushed, and down his head he shrank,  
For woe that he his credit could not keep,  
To send one wave, for tribute to the deep.   

Scarce had the Haruest-man, with hook in hand,  
Despoiled the fruit and let the stubble stand:  
Scarce had the hungry Gleaner put in bindc  
The scattered grain, the Shearer left behind:  
And scarce the flapping flail began to thrash,  
When unto jacob, news was brought afresh,  
That Holophern his frontiers did invade,  
And past all Rivers, straits, and murders made  
So vile, that none he left that drew the breath;  
But old and young, he put to sudden death:  
The sucking babes, upon their mother's knee,  
His cruel cut-throats made them all to dee.  
Then like a flock of sheep, that doth behold  
A wolf come from the wood upon their fold,  
Shapes no defence, but runs athwart the lands,  
And shortly makes of one, a hundredth bands:  
So Isaaks sons, indreading for to feel  
This tyrant, who pursued them at the heel, 
The Hebrews   
Dissundring fled, and sought their lives to save  
In hills, and dales, and every desert cave.   

The sheep heard of his flock had now no care: 
Fear of the enemy.   
But fearing death, fled to some mountain bare.  
The Crafts man now his lumes away hath laid:  
The Merchant lest his traffic and his trade,  
To hide himself more safely in a vault,  
Then in a Rampire, to sustain th' assault.  
The Lords esteemed themselves in surer hold  
In Dens of beasts, than castles gilded with gold.  
Fear lent the wings for aged folk to fly,  
And made them mount to places that were high.  
Fear made the woeful women for to bear  
Their cradles sweet to hills that highest were:  
Fear made the woeful child to wail and weep,  
For want of speed, on foot and hand to creep:  
All where was nothing heard but hideous cries,  
And piteous plaints that did the hearts agrize.   

O Lord (said they) will't thou still, day by day,  
The arrows of thine anger never stay? 
Affliction causeth prayer.   
Wilt thou that Called conquer us again?  
Shall juda yet the Heathen yoke sustain?  
Wilt thou again that they make every town,  
But stony heaps of houses casten down?  
Again shall sacrilegious fire devour  
Thy holy house where we do thee adore?   

Then joachim the priest of God most high,  
Who over juda then had chief degree,  
Stood like a Pilot stout in tempest great,  
Who seeing wind and weather for to threat,  
Yet to his mates, his fear no terror draws,  
Nor leaves his ship unto the wrackful waves;  
But, with disguising fear, his face up casts,  
And stoutly doth gain-stand the baleful blasts:  
Right so this prudent prelate sent, in haste,  
Two hundredth men to pass where men were placed  
In places strong, and thence commanded them  
For to repair unto jerusalem.   

Now since th' Erernall did reveal his will,  
Upon the sacred top of Syna Hill,  
The Ark of God which wisdom more did hold,  
In Tables two, than all the Greeks have told;  
And more than ever Rome could comprehend,  
In huge of learned books that they penned: 
Sam. 1. 4.   
Long wandered it throw tribes, throw kin and kin, 
Sam. 2. 6.   
And found no certain place of resting in.  
Yea, sometime it the shameful spoil hath been  
To sacrilegious hands of Palestine,  
Until that time, that jessies' holy race,  
For ever lodged it in jebus place.   

But, for that David's hands with blood were fi●d, 
jerusalem.   
Throu infinits of humains he had killed;  
The king of peace would have a king of rest  
To build his Temple far above the best: 
Sam. 2. 7.   
His house, whose front upreard so high and even,  
That lightlied earth, and seemed to threat the heaven,  
Until that wicked time a tyrant vile,  
Of name and deed that bore the semble style, 
Nabuchadnezar.   
That did this king, that building brave he wracked,  
And to the sacred ground all whole it sacked.   

Yet when, long after, Abrahms holy race,  
Of Tiger banks had left the captive place, 
Esd. 6.   
With combers great they redified with pain,  
That most renowned house of God again.  
Which though unto the first it seemed as small,  
As to a Prince's house, a shepherds hall:  
And though the hugeness were not as it was,  
Yet sure the height and beauty did surpas  
And overseilde the famous work of Pharie,  
Ephesus Temple, and the tomb of carry,  
The Rhodian Collos, and the chaldean wall,  
That Semirame set up with tourrets tall.  
Also the wondrous work of this same Temple  
Might serve a C●esiphon for his example:  
Lysippus eke to carve by square and line,  
Or guide Apelles pencil most divine.  
Here in this place, all Izrel, most devout,  
Withdrew themselves to Salem round about;  
As when the Heaven his sluices opens wide,  
And makes the floods upon the ground to glide,  
The brooks that breaks adown from divers hills  
With course impetuous till one deep distils.   

Amongst the Dames, that there devoutest were  
The holy judith, fairest did appear:  
Like Phoebus that above the star doth shine:  
It seemed that she was made on mould divine.   

This primate then assisted with the kin  
Of great Eleazar (priests whose head and chin  
Was never shav'n) devoutly on he priest:  
A pearled Mitre on his balmed crest,  
And with a holy Alb, with garnettes spread,  
And golden Bells, his sacred body clad:  
And slew, and burnt, the bulks (as was the guise)  
Of many a kid, and kalfe for sacrifice:  
And with their blood, the Altars horns he died,  
And praying thus, to God immortal cried.   

" O Lord of Hosts, we come not unto thee, 
Prayer.   
" To weigh our merits with thy majesty:  
" Nor to protest before thy heavenly might,  
" That sacklesly, thy scourge doth on us light:  
" But rather we confess (as true it is)  
" Our sins have justly merit more than this.  
" But Lord if thou thy covenant would forget,  
" Which thou with Abrahm made, and so wilt set  
" For mercy great, thy justice most sevear,  
" Thou should a greater plague upon us rear.  
" Change then our process from thy justice seat,  
" And save us at thy throne of mercy great.  
" Forgive us Lord, and hold, far from us all,  
" These plagues, that on our heads are like to fall.   

Alas, what helpeth us thy heavy stroke,  
To bind our necks to such a servile yoke,  
Wherewith th' Assyrian tyrants long have grieved  
Thine Izak till their bondage thou relieved;  
If so this native ground that new is tilled,  
If so these Hostries new with folk refild,  
If so (alas) our chaste and modest Dames,  
Our infants young, our Virgins good of fames,  
Should be a pray to Ammon, and to pierce,  
To Called, and the mutiny Parthian fierce;  
If that we see this Altar made profane,  
And witches it abuse with Idols vain:  
Yet Lord if thou no pity on us take,  
At least great God, do (for thy glories sake)  
Have pity on this holy building now,  
Where not a God hath sacrifice but thou:  
Where not a God but thou hast residence,  
To feel the savour sweet of frankincense.   

Hold back (O Lord) the chaldean cressets bright  
From these rich Cedar vaults of stately height.  
Preserve these vessels, ornaments of gold,  
From sacrilegious hands of neighbours bold:  
And let the blood of beasts before thy face,  
Thy justice stay, and grant thy servants grace.   

This prayer done, the people went their way,  
Then joachim conuened, that present day,  
The princes all of juda, and them prayed,  
'Gainst this mischief for counsel, and thus said:   

Companions, if your former zeal remain,  
If ardent love to God ye still retain:  
If wife, or child, may cause your care or love,  
Which should the Centres of your senses move:  
If in your breasts a noble hart doth bide,  
Let deed bear witness at this woeful tide.  
For, saving God and your foresight, in deed  
'tis done, 'tis done with us, and all our seed:  
And after this, th' Immortal shall not see  
This altar fume before his majesty.   

When th' Air is calm, and still; as dead and deaf, 
Comparison.   
And under Heaven quakes not an aspen leaf,  
When Seas are calm, and thousand vessels fleet  
Upon the sleeping seas with passage sweet,  
And when the variant wind is still and loon,  
The cunning Pilot never can be known.   

But when the cruel storm doth threat the Bark  
To drown in deeps of pits infernal dark,  
While tossing tears both father, mast, and sail,  
While mounting seems the Azure sky to skail,  
While drives perforce upon some deadly shore,  
There is the Pilot known, and not before.   

Alas, I pray you then what care and strifes  
Have we to keep our honours, goods, and lives?  
Forget not then the care of this same place,  
Your countries weal, God's glory and his grace:  
But humbly give yourselves into the hand  
Of God most high, and with a holy brand  
" Repurge your spirits from every hateful sin,  
" Which causeth God his justice to begin:  
And see what may to God be agreeable,  
For jacobs' weal, and for you profitable.   

This said: an ancient traitor, from his youth,  
Who fostered gall in hart, with honey in mouth,  
Enforcing from his eyes some feigned tear  
(To cloak his malice) spacke as ye shall hear:   

My tongue me fails, my hair for dread up-starts,  
My heavy spirit from pensive corpse departs, 
The oration of a subtle worldling.   
When I be think me of yone tyrant stout,  
Who hath bed round the world with blood about,  
Approaching threats our towns with fiery flames,  
Ourselves with death, dishonour to our Dames:  
Yet when I call to mind the curtsy great,  
That this great Lord doth use, who doth entreat▪  
Not only those that bestial are become,  
And have their hope in brutal Idols 〈…〉▪  
But even to zealous folk who do embrace  
The faith, and law (like us) of Abraham's race:  
Who, being well advised, did humbly sue  
His pardon, and escaped his vengeance due;  
Then thank I God, who sends us such a foe,  
As plagues the proud, and lets the humble go:  
For we assoon shall vanquish him with tears,  
As will be long to wrack him with our wears.  
Then whilst we may have choice of eitherstate,  
Of peace or wars, his favour or his hate;  
Let us not follow (seeing skath at hand)  
The folly of our fathers, to gainstand:  
But rather let us bear another sail,  
And serve his king as best for our avail.  
But think not yet, that I this counsel give  
For craft, or warrant forty self to live:  
For I have else my days so nearly spent,  
That for to die I could be well content.  
Th' Assyrian need not in my breast to strike  
His feathered Dart, nor yet his trembling pike:  
Yea, if my youth to me should eft return,  
And make my youthly blood within me burn,  
So honour I my God, and country dear,  
That for to die for them, I would not fear,  
As Samson did, if so my death might yield  
The victory of the Uizroy, and the field.  
But most I (fear) lest we, with curious zeal,  
Fight for the law, yet fight against her weal,  
Against ourselves, to bring so great a wrack,  
That proud, and cruel tyrants shall us sack,  
And grow in pride (suppressing judas strength)  
For to contemn the glory of God at length.  
For, Israel being lost, who shall ensue,  
To render here to God devotions due?  
What people sparsed on this earthly ball  
From Indian shore to where the Sun doth fall,  
Or from the Climate of the northern blast,  
Unto that place where summer ay doth last;  
Hath God elect, save Israel for his own  
Upon this Hill to have his glory shown?   

At this the valiant Cambris of renown,  
With righteous rage grew pale and 'gan to frown,  
And broke the silence with a vehement style,  
His courage moved the Princes all the while.   

Nay rather where I stand let open the ground  
(Quoth he) to swallow me in pit profound:  
Yea rather righteous Heaven let fiery blast  
Light on my head that thou on Sodom cast,  
Ere I my malice cloak or oversile,  
In giving Izac such a counsel vile.  
For, if the Leader of this folk profane  
Upon our bodies only sought to reign,  
Although that we have dearly bought always  
Our freedom from our first maternal day  
(Which dearer is than gold for to be kept)  
I would assent, the holy Church except:  
But since more pride this tyrant's heart enrols  
To lay a greater burden on our souls,  
Who are the vassals of that only King,  
That Thunder sends and sceptres down doth thring:  
‛ Should we forget him who made us of nought,  
‛ More than all wondrous things that he hath wrought,  
Who treats and loves us like our Father & King,  
Still under shadows of his wondrous wing?  
Will he that we receive a Prince ambitious?  
For God, a god's contemner, Nemrode vicious?  
Whose beastly life is of so vile a fame,  
That of a man he merits not the name?  
Go to, go to, let men for men assay  
With sword and shot to deal it as we may:  
The victory lies not in mortal hands,  
Nor barded horse, nor force of armed bands.  
These are but second instruments of God;  
Who, as him list, may send them even or odd.  
But if our sovereign God wills such annoy;  
That folk uncircumcised our land destroy,  
Because we him offend while we have breath;  
Alas, yet honour, honour him in death:  
And if we lose and all be overcome,  
Let patience win the glory of martyrdom.   

Forsooth, though Assurs soldiers brave and bold  
Extinguish quite the race of Izak old,  
Yet shall they not deface the living Lord,  
As these apostates falsely do afford.  
For he, who peopled first this world so round,  
But with one man, from whom the rest abound:  
And who long after, in an ark of wood,  
Repaired the waste, made by the general flood;  
May he not eke transform the hardened stone,  
To people who will honour him alone?  
And may not he do now, as he hath done,  
Who gave to Abraham's barren wife a son?  
Them giving Children more, then in the heaven  
Are starry Circles, light as fiery leaven:  
And more, then Northern winds (that drives the Rack)  
Of Cyrene sands in number can compack;  
Who will observe his law an hundredth fold  
More zealously than we, who should it hold.  
‛ Then, fathers chose you wars: for better tells,  
to lose like jews, then win like infidels.  
‛ Let not the greed of gain your hearts attame,  
to leave the right: prefer not fear to shame.   

Scarce enden was th' Oration of this Lord,  
When all the Princes (with a sound accord)  
By word and deed confirmed his good advise.  
The chief Priest, gladdest of this enterprise,  
Unto the heaven held up his hands and face,  
And said, I thank the Lord, who of his grace  
‛ Conjoines no less our wills, then bolds our hearts:  
HE sure presage, that God is on our parts.   

This done, unto his princes he divides  
The tribes and towns, and ordains them for guides;  
For fear least some of them led with ambition  
In Izrell might stirre-up some sedition.  
So they withdrew, and stoutly did provide,  
This furious storm of Mars for to abide.   

Then as ye see sometime the honey Bees 
Comparison.   
Exerce themselves on buds of sweetest trees,  
Where they sometime assault the buzzing wasp,  
That comes too near, their flowers away to clasp;  
Or when they honey draw from smelling Time,  
Or from the palm, or Roses of the prime:  
And how they draw their wax with wondrous art,  
Observing jointure just in every part,  
Both up and down they build ten thousand shops,  
With equal spaceful filled upto the tops:  
Or where the master Be, of thousand bands,  
Conducts the rest in legions throw the lands,  
Who daily keeps within their City's wall:  
Their house, their work, their laws and manners all:  
So thus the sons of jacob plied their pain,  
With hot desire their quarrel to sustain.   

Some built the breaches of their broken town, 
Preparations of defence.   
That Heaven, and Panim ire, had casten down.  
Some other found a cautel, 'gainst the Ram,  
To save the wall unbroken where it camme.  
Thus jacobs' towns on all sides had their flanks,  
With Gabions strong, with bulwarks and with banks.  
Some others busy went and came in routs  
To terrace towers, some under baskets louts:  
Some others also wanting time and might  
To strength their towns, yet used all kind of slight,  
To dig up ditches deep, for cisterns good,  
To draw them to the best and nearest flood.   

While th' Armourers with hammers hard and great  
On sti●hies strong the sturdy steel● doth ●eate,  
And makes thereof a corpslet or a ●acke,  
Sometime a helm, sometime a mace doth make,  
While shepherds they enarme unused to danger,  
While simple birds, and whiles the wandering stranger;  
Thetilling Coulter then aspeare was made,  
The crooked scythe became an evened blade:  
The people food forgets, no ease they take,  
Some on a horse, some on his proper back,  
Some on a Cart, some on a Camel bears  
Corn, wine, and flesh, to serve for many years;  
As done these Emmets, that in summer tide, 
Comparison.   
Comes out in swarms their houses to provide:  
In harvest time (their toil may best be seen  
In paths where they their carriage bring between)  
Their youth they send to gather-in the store,  
Their sick and old at home do keep the score,  
And over grainels great they take the charge,  
Oft turning corn within a chamber large  
(When it is dight) lest it do spro●te or seed,  
Or come again, or weevels in it breed.    
FINIS.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The II. BOOK.  
WE have heard before, how the people of God used all diligence to maintain the liberty of God's true religion & their Country. Now is set forth the extreme pride of Ho●ophernes, who thought with one word to overthrow them all. But to make himself some pastime, he assembleth his Council to understand of them what people they were, that inhabited the mountains in the Frontieres of JUDEA, that durst make him resistance. Upon this he is informed by the mouth of one of his chief captains, of that which he looked not for: to wi●te▪ a discourse of the History of the jew, from the time of ABRAHAM'S coming out of Caldea to enter into the land of Promise, unto them deliverance from the Captivity of Babylon, following the order of the times quoted by the holy scriptures▪ with the praises of the providence of the almighty God, in defending of his Church, and a sharp threatening to those that dare presume to disquiet the same. The chief Counsellors of the Heathen hearing this, became more truth incensing their General to murder this Captain. But HOLOPHERNE with vain ambition defer●eth their bloody request; and, after that he had outraged him in words, he further blasphemeth the living Lord. And lastly caused him to be bound hand and ●oote, and so carried near to the City of Bethulia: where he is by the bes●oged Soldiers brought into the City, and there declareth his case; exhorting them to continue constant, to God, and their Country, and promiseth his assistance to his lives end.  

THE SECOND BOOK of JUDITH.  

Now Holophern in Scythique Rampire stood,  
With standards pight of youthly heathen blood;  
Of nothing thinking less, than war and fight,  
But in devising pastime day and night:  
Till he was war, that jacob would advance,  
Against his Panim force and arrogance.   

A pack of what? a pack of country clowns  
(Quoth Holophern) that them to battle bounds,  
With beggars, bolts, and 〈…〉 to arrest  
My warriors strong▪ with whom I have suppressed  
Both Tigris swift, and fair Euphrates stream, 
People of Asia.   
With frosty Taurus and rock Niphathoame.  
Are they not wracked? ye Cheefs of Moabits,  
And valiant Ephrem, ye strong Ammoni●s:  
Ye that as neighbours knows this folk of old,  
That scattered thus, do all these mountains hold:  
Tell me what men are they, of what offspring,  
What is their force, their customs and their king?  
‛ For, wise is he that wots with whom he plays,  
‛ And half is victor, as the Proverb says.   

The Lord of Ammon then, with reverence due,  
Right wisely spa●k the Duke; and yet, for true,  
He was a Panim both of faith, and kind:  
But so (with feigned tongue) he spoke his mind,  
And all the Hebrews acts discoursed so well,  
That Esdr' and Moses seemed in him to dwell,  
As did that spirit that made the Prophet bless 
Num. 23.   
The Israelites, whom Balec did address  
To curse them all, and wage his covetous tongue,  
Which spoke contrary that he would have sung:   

So please it you my Lord, I shall descry  
The story of Izrell: yet, so doing, I  
Am like the modest Bee, that takes but small  
Of every flower, though she have choice of all:  
For where she list, the sweetest off she crops.   

These people that ye see on mountain tops, 
A brief discourse of the estate of the jews.   
Encamped in these craggs, are of the line  
Of Abraham; who (serving God divine,  
That mighty God of Gods who create all,  
And firmly knit and built this mighty ball)  
Came to this Land that then was tilled and sown, 
Gen. 12.   
And by the name of wealthy Canaan known:  
Where only God his wealth did multiply,  
In goods, and silver, gold, and family.  
And when of age he was an hundred year,  
His wife eke barren, never child did ●ear;  
God gave them Isaac, swearing that his seed  
Should many Sceptres rule, and Land bespreed:  
But, when that holy Abraham was old,  
And hoped well the promise made should hold  
(O piteous case) Th' immortal voice him spoke,  
And bade him sacrifice his son Isaac.  
Then like a ship between two winds beset, 
Gen. 22.   
Upon the raging sea on both sides bet,  
In doubtsom fear, ●e wots what way to keep,  
Lest one of them confound her in the deep:  
Makes close her ports, and slides on Neptune's back;  
At pleasure of the hoisteous winds to wrack:  
So felt this Hebrew, in his heart to fight  
Both love, and duty, reason, faith and right.  
Nor witted he way to take: his troubled soul,  
From this to that continually did roll,  
Until the time, his heavenly fear and love  
His natural earthly pity did remove.  
Then having built the fire and all, anon  
His son he laid upon the sacred stone,  
And with a trembling hand the curtlasse drew,  
With heavied arm the stroke for to ensue;  
When, lo, th' Eternal stayed the baleful knife,  
And down it fell, and spaird the guiltless life.  
Then God, content to have so great assay  
Of Abraham's faith, defended him always.   

Of Isaac, jacob came, and jacob than  
Of valiant sons had twelve in Canaan,  
Who (forçed by famine) fled to Egypt Land:  
Where for a while, their dwelling good they found; 
Exod. 1   
And grew so great in number, that they were  
A fear to those that had them harboured there.  
And though th' Egyptians daily them oppressed,  
And burdens on their sweeting backs were dressed:  
Yet like the valiant Palm they did sustain  
Their peisant weight, redressing up again.  
This moved King Pharo to command through all  
Great Nilus' Land, where rain doth never fall,  
He bade his folk should slay (whereso they came)  
All children males the seed of Abraham;  
Assoon as they from mother's wombs were free,  
Their day of birth should be their day to dye.   

O cruel Tiger, thinks thou that this deed  
Of Izak may cut-off th' immortal seed? 
Exclamation.   
Well may it stay the sucklings for to live,  
And kill th' accustomed fruit that heaven doth give:  
But, spite of this, men jacobs seed shall see  
In flowering state to rule all Cananee:  
The first of every house shall feel the hand  
And wrath of God against this law to stand.   

It fortuned Pharo's daughter, with her train  
Of Ladies fair, to play them on the Plain,  
Upon the shore where Gossan flood doth slide:  
Where, after many pastimes they had tried,  
She hears an enfant weep amongst the reeds.  
Then, judging it for one of Izaks seeds,  
As so it was (yet, with Paternal fear)  
Against his piteous plaint she closed her ear:  
But after, viewing in that infant's face  
I know not what of favour and of grace,  
Which did presage his greatness to ensue;  
Love vanquished law, and pity dread withdrew:  
So from the flood not only she him caught,  
But curiously she caused him to be taught,  
As her own son. O son elect of God, 
Admiration.   
That once shall rule the people with thy rod,  
Thou haste not found a servant for thy mother,  
But even a Queen to nurse thee and none other.  
" Now see how God, always for his elect, 
Note.   
" Of wicked things can draw a good effect:  
" His providence hath made a wicked thing,  
" Unto his own, great profit for to bring.  
" When joseph's brother sold him like a slave, 
Gen. 41   
" He after came a kingly place to have.  
" Of Haman proud the dark envious hate  
" Brought Mardoche the just to great estate.  
" For, where his enemy sought his shameful end, 
Est.   
" The same unto the worker he did send.   

This Hebrew Moses once as he did keep  
On Horeb mount his father jethro his sheep: 
Father in Law.   
He saw a fearful sight, a flaming fire  
Enclose a thorny bush whole and entire:  
From whence a mighty voice unto him spoke,  
Which made the ground between the Poles to shake:   

I am that One, is, was, and ay shall be, 
Exod. 3.   
Who create all of nought, as pleaseth me:  
I can destroy, I am the great, and just,  
The fair, the good, the Holy one to trust,  
Whose strong right hand this world hath set in frame,  
I am th' Almighty God of Abraham:  
I plague my foes, and grant my servants grace,  
All those that knowledge me, and all their race.   

Then follow thou my will, and quickly go,  
From me, to that profane King Pharaoh,  
Who holds the towers of Memphis and the field,  
Of Nilus' shore that rich increase doth yield;  
And bid him let my people freely go:  
But, if with hardened hart, he will not so,  
Stretch out thy staff for to confirm thy charge,  
And it shall turn into a Serpent large.  
And this he shortly did, the thing to prove:  
It quickened lo, and on the ground 'gan move.  
(O Miracle) he saw without all ●aile,  
It grew a Serpent fell with head and tail:  
Which crangling crept, and ran from trod to trod  
In many a knot, till time th' Almighty God  
Commanded him the same for to retain,  
Which to the former shape returned again.  
Thus siling human sight, it changed form,  
One while a Rod, one while a creeping worm.   

Then armed with this staff, the Lord him sent,  
The proud idolatrous princes to torment.  
He, in the name of God, full oft did pray  
The King, to let the Hebrews go their way,  
Unto the desert where he did devise,  
To offer God a pleasant sacrifice.  
But Pharo closed his ear against the Lord,  
And to his holy word would not accord.   

Then God th' Eternal wrought by Moses hand, 
Exod. 4   
To approve his word, great wonders in that Land.  
For, he not only Rivers turned to blood, 
Exod. 7   
But also all the heads of Nilus' flood  
(Which watereth wealthy Egypt with his sources)  
Was turned to blood amid their silver courses:  
So that the king himself, his life to feed,  
Was feign to use such water for his need.   

This Moses made the frogs in millions creep, 
Exod. 8   
From floods and ponds, and scrall from ditches deep:  
Who clad all Misraim with their filthy fry,  
Even on the king and all his family.   

To young and old of either Sex that while, 
Exod. 9   
He sent a plague of scalding botches vile:  
So that the Memphites, laid on beds to rest,  
With uncouth venom daily were oppressed:  
To Medciners, the medicine valled not;  
So sore the poisoned plague did under cot.   

He also smote the for rests, herbs, and graze,  
The flocks of sheep and every beast that was:  
Throw poison of th' infected ground so ●ell,  
The Morrain made them all to die or swell:  
So that the Shepherd, by the river side,  
His flock hath rather dead then sick espied.  
He, earthly dust, to loathly louse did change,  
And dimmed the Air, with such a cloud so strange  
Of flies, grasshoppers, hornets, clegs and clocks, 
Exod. 10   
That day and night throw houses flew in flocks,  
That with incisions sharp did shear the skins  
Of Egypt paynim, throw their proudest inns.   

And when the heaven most quiet seemed and fair,  
Th' Eternal sent a tempest through the air,  
And (at this Hebrew's prayer) such a rear  
Of thunder fell, that brought them all in fear.  
Here lay a Bull, that woodran while he braced:  
There lay the Keeper, burnt with thunder blast:  
And now the forest high, that hide the air,  
With many a spreeding arm, is spoiled and bair:  
So that the sap that grafters keeps with pain,  
Which should restore the stock, and leaf again,  
Is lost (alas) in less than half a day,  
The husband's hoped fruit gone to decay.   

What more? th' Eternal darkened so the sky,  
For three days space none could another spy:  
That cloud, so thick, the Memphis rebels found,  
That they might firmly feel it with their hand:  
It seemed that Phoebus left his ancient Round,  
And dwelled three days with men of underground.  
" And as the sun at one self time is felt,  
" With heat to harden clay, and wax to melt:  
" So Amrams sacred son, in these projects,  
" Made one self cause, have two contrair effects.  
" For, Izak humbly knew the Lord divine:  
" But Pharo, more and more, did still repine;  
" Like to the corpslet cold, the more 'tis het  
" With hammers hard, more hardness it doth get.   

Yet when his son was slain by th' Angel's hand, 
Exod. 11 Heir.   
Amongst the eldest heirs of Egypt Land;  
He was afraid, and let them go that night,  
Where pleased them to serve their God of might:  
Who sent a cloud before them all the day,  
By night a Pillar of fire, to guide their way.  
But so dainly this tyrant did gainstand  
His former grant, and armed all Egypt Land  
With hot pursuit against all jacobs' host,  
That were encamped on the Red-sea cost.  
Such noise was never, since the foreign tide  
Brak throw Gibraltar, when it did divide  
The Calp, from Abill, or when Sicill strand  
Divorced was from her Italia Land;  
As was in these two camps: that one, with boast,  
That other with their wail filled the coast:  
It seemed the sounds of furious horse and men,  
With horns and pipes, to heaven resounded then. 
Exod. 14. They murmur.    

O juggler said the jews, what hateful strife  
Hath moved thee to change our happy life?  
What? are we fishes, for to swim the seas?  
Or are we fowls, to fly whereas we please,  
Beyond the Sea? or over hills to soar?  
Was there not graves for us on Gossen shore;  
But, in this desert here to die, or have  
The blood-red Ocean Sea, to be our grave?   

Then Moses, with his quickened rod, that tide,  
He smote the sea, which (fearful) did divide;  
Discovering land that sun had neverseene,  
And stayed the sea, as there two walls had been:  
Which made a passage dry of ample space,  
For all to pass who were of Isaac's race:  
But contrary the Red-sea did devower  
The barbarous tyrant with his mighty power,  
Who proudly durst himself to that present,  
Which opened but to save the innocent.   

O happy race, since God doth arm for thee,  
Both fire and air, the winds, the clouds and see  
(Which all unto thy pay have whole inclined)  
Let not consuming time wear out of mind  
So rare a grace; but let thine elders show  
This to their noble seed that shall ensue:  
And let their sons, unto their sons record  
Throw all the world these wonders of the Lord.   

God, with Celestial bread (in time of need)  
His loved jacob forty year did feed: 
Exod. 6.   
And gave them water from the solid stone,  
Which of itself had never moisture none.  
Their caps, their coats, and shoes, that they did wear,  
God kept all fresh and new, full forty year.   

And farther, lest their souls, for want of food, 
Exod. 20.   
Should faint or fail; he, of his mercies good,  
Gave them his law, pronounced by his voice,  
His spirit to theirs, in him for to rejoice:  
So teaching them, and us in precepts ten,  
Our duty first to God, and next to men;  
To th' end that man to man should truly stand,  
And join with God, and never break that band.   

This mighty Prophet dead; Duke josua than, 
josua.   
Their Captain stout, this Palmy province wan:  
Throw might of God, he Sceptres did subdue  
Of thirty tyrant Kings, whom all he slew.  
At his commandment like the thunder sound,  
The Rampers strong fell fearfully to ground;  
Before the Tortoise, or the horned Ram,  
Had bet, or mined, from their wall a dram:  
For, even of horns, full hoarse, their simple blast  
An engine was, their towers adoune to cast.   

He prayed the heaven for to prolong the day,  
And made the horses of the sun to stay;  
To th' end, the night should not with cloud be clad,  
To save the faithless, that before him fled.  
Now when this Panim scourge (with age at last)  
Had left this life, and unto heaven past;  
Then Isaac had of Rulers sundry men,  
Whose glorious acts deserves eternal pen.  
Who knows not Samgar, Barac, and othoniel? 
judges.   
Tha valiant Delbor, Ahud and good Samuel?  
What Land (O Samson) rings not thy renown,  
Who sole, unarmed, bet an Army down?  
What laud to jephthe justly might we low,  
Had he not hurt his own, through hasty vow?  
What hill or dale, what flood or fixed ground,  
〈◊〉 not the famous Gedeons' praise resound?  
In later time, their kings some good, some bad,  
Of all the Hebrew state the ruling had.  
Had I the Harp of David (holy King)  
None other sound but David would I sing.  
〈…〉 ven as all the deeds that David did,  
〈…〉 ot be done by none, but by David:  
So none but David, on his yv'rie harp,  
The glorious praise of God could only carp.  
But, here, his praise I press not to proclaim,  
Lest I throw want of skill obscure the same:  
Yet leave I not his Son, whom grace divine 
Solomon.   
Made no lesserich, then wondrous of engine:  
Whose doctrine drew to Salem from all where,  
A hundred thousand wyzards him to hear:  
From Araby, from Ynde, to Africa shore;  
His tongue enticed them with his cunning lore. 
josias.   
Shall I forget the kings, who overthrew  
Idolatry, and plaçed religion dew?  
Shall I forget that King, who saw descend 
Hezekiah. jerusalem. Asa.   
A winged Host, Solyma to defend?  
Shall I forget him, who before his even,  
Enchased the bands of Chus on Gerar green?  
Shall I forget him, who preparing fight 
josaphat.   
Against Ammon, Seir, and Moabs' Idol might;  
Saw each of their three hosts on others fall,  
And with them selves their selves, disconfit all?   

Yet, for their sins God gave them in the hands  
Of Called Kings, who conquered all their Lands:  
And took King Zedekee, and made an end  
Of that empire; till God did Cyrus send,  
Who set them free, and gave them of his grace  
Two rulers of their own. And now this place  
Is kept by sacred joachim, whose powers  
Consists not only within Zions towers;  
But, Edom, Sidon, Moab, and we all  
Do know his strength and knows him principal.   

Now Sir, you hear the progress first and last  
Of Is●acs race in order as it past.  
One while the Lord enhanced them to the sky:  
One while he drew them down in deep to lie.  
‛ But were he judge, or Prince, or King of might,  
‛ Who reuled the Hebrews policy aright,  
‛ While they observed th' alliance made before  
‛ By their forefathers, who to God them swore,  
‛ In happy state all others they surpassed:  
‛ And underfoot their proudest foes were cast.  
‛ And all the world, that their destruction sought,  
‛ Against their state, and name prevailed nought.  
‛ But, contrary, as oft as they astraide  
‛ From God their guide, he on their shoulders laid  
‛ The Barbare yock of Mo●b, and oft-times  
‛ Of Palestine and Ammon for their crimes,  
‛ The heavy hand of God was seen to be,  
‛ On their ingrateful infidelity.   

Now, if so be that any odious sin  
Provoke their Lord his justice to begin:  
Then mine not you their towers and tourets tall,  
Nor bring the wrack some engine to their wall:  
Nor place thy batteries brave, nor yet adventure,  
With thy courageous camp, the breach to enter.  
For, if Libanus mount, or Carmell fair  
Or Niphathaei should park them from repair:  
If Ynde and Nilus with the Rhine and Rhone  
To close them round about, should run in one,  
For their defence: yet shall they notwithstand  
(With all their force) thy flurious fight ●and▪  
But if they have not broke the ●and indeed  
That God with Abraham made and with his seed;  
Beware, my Lord, beware to touch or move  
These people that the Lord so much doth love.  
For, though south Aùtan would dispeople his Lands,  
And bring the blackest Moors to swarm in bands:  
If Northern Boreas, under his banners cold,  
Would bring to field his hideous Soldiers bold:  
If Zephyrus from sweet Hesperia cost,  
Would send his chosen armed men to Host:  
If Eurus, for to aid thine enterprise,  
Would bring his men from whence the sun doth rise:  
Yet all their numbers huge, and forces strong,  
Can never do to Israel any wrong,  
Nor hurt one hair, if their great God say nay▪  
That God will them defend, because he may  
With one small blast confound all Kings that dare  
(As thou dost now) provoke him unto war.   

Then like as ye behold the quiet see  
Not raging when the winds engendering be:  
But, blancheth first, then grows in little space,  
In wallowing waves to flow with foamy face,  
And lastly beats the banks, and ships unshrouds,  
With wrackful waves uphoist to highest clouds:  
So, almost all the princes of that host,  
With inward anger 'gan to be embossed,  
As oft as they the praise of God did hear;  
So to his speech increased their spiteful cheer:  
Which, in the end, to blasphemy them brought,  
Th' immortal God of Gods to set at nought.   

Kill and cut off (quoth they) this traitor fine,  
Whose subtle talk, with all his whole engine,  
Pretends to save these Hebrews from our hands,  
And threats us with vain Gods of foreign Lands:  
For if it please you (noble prince) to send  
But twenty men of value that are ●end,  
Within your camp, these reckless rebels than  
Shall be a pray to all your warlike men.  
(O wicked wight!) but then the Uizroy stout,  
With power, appeased the murmur of the rout:  
And to him said: O shameless Prophet thou,  
What sybil, or what charmer tell me now?  
What Devil or Daemon so doth thee inspire,  
That Izrell shall of us have his desire?  
Such men, as with no God can be content,  
But such as pleased Moses to invent  
Of his own head: a God that hath no power 
●lasphemic.   
For to deliver them, nor thee this hour.   

Have we an other God, or king of kings,  
Then our great Persian Monarch now that rigns?  
Whose barded horse over runs the Nations all,  
Whose armed men, out of these mountains tall,  
Shall rake these Rebels that from Egypt came  
To this, where they unjustly keep the same.  
Dye, die, thou shalt, O wretch: thy tongue untrue,  
And double heart, shall have their wages due.  
But, fool, what speak I thus? no haste, a while:  
Thy blood (O villain) shall not me defile.  
So just a pain, so soon thou shalt not have,  
For thy deceit, so soon to go to grave.  
‛ For, in a wretches sudden death, at ones  
‛ Their long some ill is buried with their bones.  
But, to that end I may prolong thy strife,  
In Bethull town I will prolong thy life:  
Where every hour, thou shalt have such affray  
To die undead a thousand times a day,  
Till time with them who thou so strong hast thought  
To shameful end with them thou shalt be brought.  
What? wherefore temblest thou and art so pale?  
What sorrow makes thy heart so soon to fail?  
If God be God, as thou right now hast said,  
Then of thy faith give witness, undismayed.   

A marshal of the camp then being priest  
(Who was not yet so cruel as the rest)  
There took this demi Pagan (Ammon's Lord)  
And sent him bound to Bethull (with a cord).  
Then even as in his claws the kite doth bear  
The chirping chicken, throu the weather clear,  
While that the cackling hen, below on ground,  
Bewails her bird with vain lamenting sound:  
So in like woe his worthy men were left,  
For that so worthy a chief was them bereft.   

The Townsmen then beholding near their wall  
These Miscreants, to armour strait they fall,  
Clad in plate and mail, and runs in bands,  
And fiercely fronts their foes with steel in hands;  
As fast as done the rivers down the hills,  
That with their murmur huge the deeps upfils.  
The Heathen, seeing this, retired away,  
And left the Lord of Ammon for a pray  
To th' Hebrew soldiers; who did him constrain,  
Though he was willing, with them to remain.  
When all the folk with press about him past,  
His eyes and hands up to the pole he cast,  
‛ And thus he spoke: O God that great abides  
‛ Upon th' Immortal seat, and justly guides  
‛ The ruled course of heaven, whose living spirit  
‛ reviving spreads, and through all things doth fleet;  
‛ I render thee, O God, immortal praise,  
‛ For that before I end my woeful days,  
‛ Now from th' unfruitful stock thou dost me race,  
to graft me in thy fruitful tree of grace;  
‛ Where in despite of all contrary strife,  
‛ I shall bring forth the fruits of lasting life.  
And ye, O jacobs' sons, think not at all  
That I of purpose captive am and thrall,  
So that I mean hereby your wrack to bring,  
For, God he knows, I think not such a thing:  
But I am captive thus, because I told,  
What wondrous works the Lord hath done of old,  
To you and your forefathers ever still,  
delivering them that would obey his will.  
Then doubt not you a thousand ●la●●ing flags,  
Nor horrible cries of ●●leous heathen hags:  
Cool not your hearts. For, if the world about  
Would compass you with all their warriors stout  
(Providing first ye seek your help at need  
At power divine, and not at mortal seed)  
You surely shall see Mocmurs renning flood,  
Made red, with Assurs host and Ethnique blood:  
Ye surely shall see men, not used to fight,  
Sub due their foes, that seems of greater might.  
The hand of God assails you not with hate:  
But, for your weal, your pride he will abate;  
To let you wit, it is within his power,  
To leave or to relieve you every hour.   

As on th' unsavoury stock the lily is borne:  
And as the rose grows on the pricking thorn:  
So modest life, with sobs of grievous smart  
And cries devout, comes from an humbled hart.  
For, even the faithful flock are like the ground,  
That for good fruit, with weeds will still abound,  
If that the share and coulter idlelye  
That rives the soil, and roots the brambles buy:  
But, in the end, God will his ire relent,  
Assoon as sinners truly will repent:  
And save you from these plagues that present be  
In shorter time than ye do think to see.  
Take courage, friends, and vanquish God with tears:  
And, after, we shall vanquish with our wears  
These enemies all. Now, if there rest in me  
The former force that once was wont to be:  
If eld have not decayed my courage bold,  
That I have had with great experience old;  
I render me to serve you to my end,  
For jacobs' weal, God's law for to defend.    
FINIS.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The III. BOOK.  
IN this third book, the Poet setteth forth the siege of Bethulia, and the extremity that God permitted them to feel, thereby to give an entry to his miraculous deliverance; who is accustomed to lead his people to the gates of death, and from thence to retire them above all human expectation, to the end they should confess that the arm of flesh, nor worldly wisdom maintains not the Church: but the only favour of the Almighty, to whom the whole glory of duty should be rendered. Father, three principal things are to be noted: First, the preparations of the beseegers, and the defences of the besieged; and how after, throw the counsel given to Holopberne for the restraint of the water from the town, ensues a furious assault, which the jews repelled with great pain: Secondly, the extreme desolation through want of water, whereof proceedeth sundry sorts of death, with lamentations, murmurations, and danger of muti●e within the City, and how the Governor endeavours himself with wise and godly admonitions to appease the same: But the Commons, in this hard estate regarding no reason, required to render the City, rather than to perish in such apparent misery. The Governor, being carried with a human prudence, promiseth to render the Town within five days, if God send them no succour. Yet such is the estate of God's Church in this world, that when all things faileth, God manifesteth his power. And therefore in the third partis JUDITH introduced, who (being especially moved by the reading of Holy Scriptures) is encouraged to deliver her Country: but when she understood the resolution of the Magistrates, She (being in estimation honourable) modestly reproves them. After their excuse, she promiseth to attempt something for the public weal: not showing her devise, but only desired to have passage by night unto the enemy's camp, and this is granted.  

THE THIRD BOOK of JUDITH.  

THe Snoring snout of restless Phlegon blewe  
Hot on the Ynds, and did the day renew  
With scarlet sky, when Heathen men awoke  
At sound of drum: then pike and dart they took,  
In order marching, and to combat ●alles  
Th' undaunted sons, within their City's walls.  
The meeds in May with flowers are not so decked,  
Of sundry savours, hews, and sere effect,  
As in this camp were people different far  
In tongues and manners, habits, tents, and war.  
Yea Chaos old, whereof the world was founded,  
Of members more confuse, was not compounded:  
Yet sound they in union did accord  
To wage the war against th' Almighty Lord,  
Who shakes the Poles, whose only breath doth beat  
Libanus mount, and makes Caucasus sweat.  
There came the Kettrinks wild, of cold Hyrcania,  
joined with the men of great and less Armania:  
With coppintanks: and there the Parthian tall  
Assayed to shoot his shafts, and flee withal.  
The Persians proud (th' Empire was in their hands)  
With plates of gold, surbraved all their bands.  
The Medes declared through fortunes overthwart▪  
They lost their Sceptre, not for lack of hart:  
And that no costly cloth nor rich array,  
Nor painting fine, that on their face they lay,  
Nor borrowed hair, of fair and comely length,  
Might aught impair their ancient power and strength.  
There were the happy Arabs, those that buields  
In thatched wagons, wandering throu the fields.  
The subtle Tyrians, they who first were clarks,  
That stayed the wandering words in leaves and barks,  
The men of Moab, Edom, Ammon, and  
The People spersed on large Elimia land.  
The learned Memphians, and the men that dwell 
Engines of War.   
near to the Aethiopians black and fell:  
In short, the most of Asia (as it wair)  
Encamped was within that army fair.  
So that this Duke more foreign souldierslad,  
Then all the Hebrews native people had.  
But they, who did the Hebrews greatest wrong,  
Were Apost●ts of Ephrem fierce and strong:  
Who fought with hateful hearts, them to deface,  
Lest they should be esteemed of Izaks race.  
Then, as in time of Spring the water is warm,  
And crowping frogs like fishes there doth swarm;  
But with the smallest stone that you can cast  
To stir the stream, their crouping stays as fast:  
So while judea was in joyful days,  
The constancy of them was worthy prays:  
For that in every purpose ye should hear  
The praise of God, resounding every where;  
So, that like burning candles they did shine  
Among their faithful flock, like men divine.  
But, look how soon they heard of Holopherne,  
Their courage quailed and they began to darn:  
Their ardent zeal with closed mouth they choke;  
Their zeal too hot returned to fuming smoke:  
The fear of loss of life, and worldly good,  
Brought Infidels to shed their brother's blood.   

Alas, how many Ephramits have we,  
In our unhappy time? all which we see  
Within the Church like hypocrites to dwell,  
So long as by the same they prosper well:  
Who feines a zeal, th' Euangill to maintain,  
So long as serves their honour, or their gain:  
But, turn the chance with some contrary wind,  
So that their brows but half a blast do find;  
Then faints their hearts, and they seek other way,  
Like bankers out their God they disobey,  
Discyphring then their malice to be more  
To God's contempt, than was their zeal before;  
And fights against the Lord with greater hate,  
Then Celsus did, or julian Apostate.   

The Hebrews now, from heights of houses fair,  
Who saw so many banners beat the air,  
And men to march against their forces small,  
Who now might well decern their feeble wall;  
They swoon with fear, and found none other aid,  
But of that God, to whom their fathers prayed.  
O father (quoth they) father, holy king,  
Who shields us always underneath thy wing;  
Since now the world against us doth conspire,  
Defend us mighty Lord we thee require.   

Thus having humbly prayed the Lord of might,  
The Governor renforced his watch's wight,  
And fires at midnight built in every way;  
Which made the night appear as clear as day;  
And wakerife through the corpsgard of the past:  
And thought that Phoebe hied her course too fast  
With horses pail to steal away the night,  
To leave the Hebrews to their enemies sight.  
Again, the Pagan thought she did but creep,  
Or that with Latmies' son she was on sleep.  
" But human wishes never hath the power  
" To haste or hold the course of heaven one hour.  
Then as Aurora rose with sanguine hue,  
And our Horizon did the day renew;  
The Vizroy made a thousand trumpet's sound,  
To draw his scattered Cornets to ● Round,  
Who from all parts with speed assembled wear  
About the General's tent, his will to hear:  
As doth the hounds about their hunt at morn  
Com gladishing at hearing of his horn.   

Now when the town his sommonds did disdain, 
Engines of War.   
To conquer it perforce he plied his pain:  
And their, th' Engineers have the Trepan dressed,  
And reared up the Ram for battery best:  
Here bends the Briccoll, while the cable cracks,  
Their Crossbows were uprent with iron Racks.  
Here crooked Coruies', fleeing bridges tall,  
Their scathfull Scorpions, that ruins the wall.  
On every side they raise with jointure meet,  
Thetymber towers for to command each street.  
The painful pioneers wrought against their will,  
With fleaks and faggots, ditches up to fill:  
Or under ground they delve in dust with pain,  
To raise a mount, or make a mount a Plain,  
Or Caverns cut, where they might soldiers hide,  
T' assail the town at sudden unespide.  
Some ladders dressed to seal the wall, or else  
To steal upon the sleeping Sentinels.  
Some undermines, some other undertook  
To fire the gates, or smore the town with smoke:  
The greatest part did yet in trenches lurk,  
To see what harm their engines first would work,  
That if the wall were bet, they would not fail  
With brave assault the City to assail.  
There Mars towre-myner, there Bellona wood,  
Enforced feeble Cowards to suck blood.  
Their hideous horses braying loud and clear,  
Their Pagans fell, with clamour huge to hear,  
Made such a din as made the heaven resound,  
Retented hell, and tore the sixed ground.   

Yet, God who keeps his watch above the skies  
For his elect, who never ydlelyes;  
Took pity on his people in that tide,  
Repressing (part) this cruel prince's pride,  
In causing all the chiefs of Moabites,  
Of Edom strong, and awful Ammonites  
To speak him thus, and thus him terrors dressed.   

O Prince, that Sceptre bears above the rest,  
And gives them law, and holds the world in thrall,  
Set not thy soldiers to assault this wall.  
For neither bow, nor sling, nor weapons long,  
Nor sword, nor buckler, will be found so strong  
And is this threatening rock whose mighty corpse  
Sustains their wall, of such eternal force,  
That thou can make no skallade on no cost,  
But on the corpses dead of half thine host.  
‛ The victor can no honour justly claim  
to lose the men who should advance the same.  
‛ O valiant Prince, that fisher is not fine,  
‛ Who for a frog will lose a golden line.  
‛ The holy head band seems not to attire  
‛ The head of him, who in his furious ire  
‛ Prefers the pain of those that have him teend  
‛ Before the health and safety of one friend.  
You may (my Lord) you may, in little fight,  
Subdue these Rogues, and not to lose a knight.  
Surprise me first their chiefest water spring,  
From whence these rebels do their conduits bring;  
Then drought shall drive them from their whole defence,  
In cords to yield them to thine excellence.  
‛ The noble Lion never sleas the least;  
‛ But always prays upon some worthy beast.  
‛ The thunder throws his sulphred shafts adown  
‛ On Atlaeas' high or cold Riphes' crown.  
‛ The tempest fell more fervently doth fall,  
‛ On houses high, then on the homely hall:  
So you my Lord need not to press your power,  
Against such foes as will themselves devour.  
Sir, this is not for favour or for meed,  
Nor that this City's sack may causeus dread:  
Nor that we mean thy high attempts to stay.  
For, ere we from thy standards stir away,  
For thee, th' immortal Gods we shall defy:  
For thee, we shall break down their altars high:  
For thee, we frankly shall pursue and those,  
Th' eternal heat and cold of either Pole:  
For thee, our hardy hands shall help to tear,  
From jove and Neptune, both their Eagle and spear:  
For thee the son for father shall not care,  
Nor father son, nor brother, brother spare.   

Now, Holopherne to conquest whole inclined,  
And weighing well this counsel in his mind;  
Dismissed from his camp a galliard rout  
Of men, to guard the Rivers round about.  
This stratagem, the Hebrews well might know,  
To see their fountains run with passage slow.  
Then manfully their soldiers out they send  
Against their foes, the water to defend,  
There fought the Pagan for to win him fame:  
The Hebrew meant, he would not die with shame.  
Together soon they shock with hateful ire,  
And first they forçed the heathen to retire:  
Who (turning face) again do them pursue,  
And wins the victory from the victor's new.  
So doubtful was the fight, none could define  
(Save God) to whom the victrie would incline;  
Till Izrell was on all sides overeled  
With clouds of short: then to their town they fled.  
As doth the Pilgrim passing through the Plain,  
Who is beset with tempest, hail, or rain,  
Who leaves his way, and seeks himself to hide  
Within some cave, or hollow mountain side.  
The paynim them pursued without all pity,  
And Peslmell entered almost in the City  
At open gate. Then rose the cry unsweet  
Of fearful folk who fled in every street,  
And rend their hair and their affrighted face,  
As paynim else had won that holy place.   

How flee you cowards now, and leaves your Port?  
(The Captain says) have ye another Fort?  
Think ye to find for safety of your crown  
In this Bethulia another Bethull town?  
(Alas) if ye make no defence at all,  
While time this tyrant is without your wall;  
How dare you him resist, when he hath won  
This fort of yours, from which ye feebly run?  
The commons with this check, brought to their powers,  
Where Cambris and Sir Carmis, like two towers,  
Stood at th' assaulted gate, and did withstand  
The Heathen host with each of them in hand  
An iron mace (in stead of lances long)  
And brazen bucklers beating back the throng:  
Their habergions like stiddies stithe they baire  
With helmets high and pennons pight in air:  
Of equal age they were, and equal length,  
Of equal courage, and of equal strength:  
Like Poplers twain that reacheth up their tops,  
And holds their heads so high that none them crops;  
But on the rivers side do sweetly sway  
Like german brother hailsing oft a day.   

The Heathen, seeing thus the jews descend,  
With edge of sword their City to defend;  
They left th' assault▪ and thence retiring went  
(As they commanded were) unto their tent.   

But when I think how thirty, days that town  
Tormented was with mischief up and down;  
Too sad a song I cannot here invent  
So great a sadness right to represent:  
My hand for horror shakes, and now no more  
Can lead my sacred pen as erst before.  
For, now mine eyes, that watered are with tears,  
Declares my matter all of mischief bears.  
Oh Spirit, from whence all spirit and life doth come,  
Thou loosed the tongue of Zacharie that was dumb;  
And sent thy Heralds through the world to preach  
Thy name, and in a hundredth tongues to teach;  
Guide thou my pen, and courage to me lend,  
That to thy honour I this work may end.   

Although that Izak saw on every hand  
A world of folk against his town to stand;  
Yet (tracting time) he thought he would provide  
No less to keep, then cool th' Assiegers pride:  
But, when they found the conduits cut and rend,  
By which, their water to their town was sent;  
Their courage bold, and all their craks (alas)  
As liquor failed, so did their stoutness pas.   

Their Lords, preferring death to bondage vile,  
Made them believe the thing did them beguile:  
To wit, they gave men hope that they might keep  
Sufficient water in wells and cisterns deep,  
Through all the town, the people to relieve,  
That thirst should not the soldiers greatly grieve.  
The magistrates in deed had great regard  
To see this water wisely spent and spared,  
That Bottle sweet, which served at the first  
To keep the life, but not to slocken thirst. 
A vive description of Thirst.   
When wells grew dry, the Commons ran in rage,  
And sought out every sink their thirst t'assuage:  
And drank with long some draft the pools in haste,  
To quench their thirst with ill contented taste:  
Which poisoned air, infect their purest breath;  
Whereby the drinker drank his present death.   

O wretched folk who felt so hard a strife!  
Drink, or not drink, both ways must lose their life.  
For, he that drank, and he that did refrain,  
Had of their enemies, both an equal pain.  
For why? the water vile slew them throughout,  
No less, than did their enemies them about.  
That wretched town had never a street nor rue,  
But Parca's there had found some fashion new  
To murder men, or martyr them with fears,  
As moved the most indurate hart to tears:  
If so much water in their brains had been,  
As might forbear a drop to weet their een.  
There plained the old man, that the soldier strong  
Had reft his Bottle from his head with wrong:  
But while he spoke, his hart (for thirst) did faint,  
And life him left, which frustrate his complaint.  
The soldier brave, Oh hart break for to tell,  
His proper urine drank, thirst to expel.  
The woeful mother with her spittle fed  
Her little child half dead in cradle bed.  
The Lady with her Lord, at point of death.  
Embracing falls and yields their latest breath.  
" For, cruel thirst came out of Cyren Land,  
" Where she was fostered on that burning sand,  
" With hot intracted tongue, and sunken e'en,  
" With stomach worn, and wrinkled visage keen,  
" With light and meigre corpse and pailed veins,  
" In stead of blood that brimstone hot retains:  
" Her poisoned mouth blue, throw that holy town,  
" Such hellish air, that stifled up and down  
The Arters of the jews in such a way,  
That nought was seen but burials night and day:  
So that the heaven, to see their dolours deep,  
Can scarcely keep his course, but preasd to weep;  
And would have joined his tears to their complaint,  
If God of hosts had made them no restraint.  
Yea, I myself must weep, who cannot speak  
The woes, that makes my heavy hart to break;  
And so will silent rest, and not rehearse,  
But counterfeit the painter (in my verse)  
Who thought his colours pail could not declare  
The special woe, king 
Look the Table.  Agamemnon bare,  
When sacrificed was his only race:  
With bend of black, he bond the father's face.   

Now while the people were in this estate,  
And with their princes wrangling in debate,  
They thus besought the Lord for to decide  
Between their simplesse and their prince's pride:  
The Lord be judge of that which ye have wrought,  
And what your wicked counsels hath us brought.  
If you had offered peace to this great Lord  
At first, we might have won him to accord.  
Then happy happy days we might have seen,  
And not so many soldiers murdered been.  
Alas, what hope have we within this hold?  
Our enemies are more meek a thousand fold,  
Then are our own. They, haps, would us preserve:  
Our wilful own, pretends to see us starve.  
Our children do our children's weal denay,  
And headlong hastes unto their own decay.  
We know, O Lord, the breaking of thy law,  
Hath caused thee this sword on us to draw:  
And justly thou thine ireful bow dost bend,  
On our unloyall heads the shot to send.  
But thou, who doth not long retain thine ire  
Against thine own, thy mercy we require.  
Change thou the purpose of our foolish guides,  
And of these Heathen, armed at our sides:  
Or else let us upon their weapons fall,  
And of their hands to be destroyed all,  
Er we this drought and deadly venom have,  
With languishing to send us to the grave.   

My brethren dear (the Ruler than 'gan say)  
Our whole desire hath been, both night and day,  
Not for to see the seed of Abrahm lost,  
For which we strive against this furious host.  
What? have ye pain? so likewise pain have we:  
For in one boat we both embarked be.  
Upon one tide, one tempest doth us toss:  
Your common ill, it is our common loss.  
Th' Assyrian plague shall not us Hebrews grieve,  
When pleaseth God our mischief to relieve:  
Which he will do if ye can be content,  
And not with grudge his clemency prevent.  
Then strive not you against that puissant king  
Who create all, and governs every thing  
For comfort of his Church and children dear,  
And succours them, though time do long appear.  
Sometime an Archer leaves his bow unbent,  
And hung upon a nail, to that intent  
It may the stronger be to bend again,  
And shoot the shot with greater might and main:  
Right so th' eternal doth withhold his ill  
A longer time (perchance) for that he will  
More eagerly revenge him of their crime,  
Who do abuse his long for bearing time.  
When men applauds to sin, they count it light,  
And but a matter small in sinner's sight:  
But in the end the weight doth so increase,  
That justice leaves the sinner no release;  
Like th' Usurer who lends upon the score,  
And makes the reckless debtor debt the more.  
What if the thundering Lord his justice stay,  
And (for such sin) do not this tyrant slay?  
The waters of the ground and in the aere  
Are in the hand of God: than who is there,  
That dare seditiously his yoke refuse,  
Although he have not water now to use?  
No, no, though heaven do seem serene and clear,  
On every part, and wete doth not appear;  
He may with moisture mildly weet the land,  
As fallen when Saul the Sceptre had in hand. 
Sam. 1. 12.   
For, all the stars, that do the heaven fulfil,  
Are all but executors of his will.   

All this could not the people's thirst assuage;  
But thus with murmurs they their Lord's outrage:  
What? shall we die, O sacred soldiers bold,  
For pleasure of our Lords these traitors old?  
What? shall we die on credit, for to please  
These wyzard fools, who winks at our unease?  
Who, with our blood, would win them selves renown,  
So lovable, as never shall go down?  
Nay, nay, let us cut off this servile chain:  
To free ourselves, let us in hands retain  
The ruling of this town, the fort and all;  
Lest we into these deadly dangers fall.   

Then like a wise Physician, who persave▪  
His patient that in fervent fever raves,  
Yet heights him more than Art can well perform:  
So Prince Osias in this rural storm,  
He promised to the people their intent  
If God within five days no succonr sent:  
Then Izak left their sorrows all and some,  
And present woe and fear of chance to come;  
For that if they, through this, got not their will,  
At least they would avoid the greatest ill.   

But judith then whose eyes (like fountains two)  
Were never dry, which witnessed well her woe;  
Right sad in sound th' Almighty she besought,  
And on the sacred scriptures fed her thought.  
Her prayers much avaylde to raise her spirit  
Above the sky: and so the scriptures sweet,  
A holy garden was where she might find  
The medcyne meet for her molested mind.  
Then judith reading there, as was her grace,  
She (not by hazard) happened on that place, 
judicum.   
Where the lame handed Ahud (for disdain  
To see the jews the Heathen yock sustain)  
Sm ote Eglon with a dagger to the heft,  
And from his flank the blood and life bereft.  
The more she read, the more she wonder had  
Of Ahuds' act, and hot desire her lad  
T'ensue his virtue: yet her feeble kind  
impeached oft the purpose of her mind;  
Proposing oft the horror of the deed,  
The fear of death, the danger to succeed,  
With haszard of her name: and more than that,  
Though she like wise the people's freedom got;  
Yet for a man, this act more seemly wear,  
Than for a wife to handle sword or spear.   

While judith thus with judith did debate,  
A puff of wind blew down that leaf by fate;  
Discovering up the story of jael, how  
She drove a nail into Sisaras' brow,  
And ●lew that Pagan sleeping on her bed,  
Who from the Hebrews furious host was fled:  
In teaching us albeit a tyrant flee,  
Yet can he not avoy de the Lords decree.   

This last example now such courage lent  
To feeble judith, that she now was bend,  
With wreakful blade, to slay and to divorce  
The Heathen soul from such a sinful corpse.  
But while she did her careful mind employ  
To find some means to murder this Vizroy;  
She heard report (that made her hart to swoon)  
Of the determination of the town.  
Then, all the present perils to prevent,  
Unto the Rulers of the town she went;  
Reproving them with words of bitter sweet,  
What do ye mean, O princes indiscreet?  
Will ye the helping hand of God restrain,  
And captive it within your counsels vain?  
Will ye include him under course of times,  
Who made days, years, all seasons and their primes?  
Do not abuse your selves: his power profound  
Is not to men's Imaginations bound.  
God may all that he wills, his will is just:  
God wils all good to them that in him trust.  
Now fathers: that which doth my hopereviue  
Is only this; There is no wight on live,  
Within this town, that hath contracted hands  
To serve dumb Gods, like folk of foreign Lands.  
All sins are sin: but sure this sin exceeds  
Our former faults; by which, our blind misdeeds  
Offends the heaven; by which, the Lord of might  
Is frauded of his honours due and right,  
In wresting of the title of his name,  
To stocks, and stones, and metals, men do frame.  
Since Izak then from such a fault is free,  
Let us to God's protection cast our ee.  
Consider that all juda rests in fear,  
Aspecting only our proceed hear.  
Consider that all jacob in this tress  
Will follow either our force or feebleness.  
Consider that this house and altar stands  
(Next under God) upholden with your hands.  
Think, that of Izrell whole ye keep the kaye:  
Which if ye quite, and give this tyrant way,  
Who more than death hates all of Izaks kin,  
Ye shall the name of kin-betrayers win.  
Then said the Captain, I cannot deny,  
That we offended have the Lord most high.  
Unwise are we, our promises are vain:  
But what? we may not call our word again:  
But if thou feel thy hart so sore oppressed,  
That moveth thee to tears for our unrest,  
Alas, weep night and day and never tire;  
So that thy weep may appease the ire  
Of that high judge, who hears in every part  
The perfect prayer of the humble hart.   

I will, quoth she; and, if God give me grace,  
Repel the siege of this afflicted place  
By famous stroke. But stay me in no wise,  
But bide the end of my bold enterprise:  
And let me go, when night his mantle spreeds,  
To th' enemies Camp. Quoth he, if thou wilt needs;  
The great repressour of oppressors pride,  
Preserve thy hart and hand, and be thy guide.    
FINIS.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The FOUR BOOK.  
ACcording to the promise that judith made to the besieged Captains in Bethulia, she prepareth herself with armour meet for the execution of her enterprise: to wit, The invocation of the name of God, with a holy determination to deliver her country from the hand of the Tyrant; whom she deliberates to overcome with the sweet and fair appearance of her amiable beauty and behaviour. At her departing to the enemy's camp, our Poet introduceth one of the chief Captains of the town discriving, to another, her stock and up bringing, with the progress of her three estates, Virginity, Marriage, and Widowhood: Thereby setting forth a singular example of all womanly behaviour & virtue. After her entrance to the Camp, she is brought to Holophernes, who was curious to know the cause of her coming there. And after audience given, he is so surprised with her beauty and eloquent language, that she obtaineth licence to withdraw herself by night to the next valley, there to pray to God. And, continuing this exercise, she requireth strength of the highest, that in taking away the chieftain, she might at one instant destroy all the Heathen Army. Herein giving example that the beginning, and end of all high attempts, aught to be grounded upon the favour and earnest calling upon him, without whom all wisdom, and humane force is nothing but wind: and who, contrariwise, may by the most feeble instruments of the world, execute things most incredible and incomprehensible to humane capacity.  

THE FOURTH BOOK of JUDITH.  

THen woeful judith, with her weeping ees  
Beholding Heaven, and prostrate on her knees,  
Held up her guiltless hands and God besought,  
Discouv'ring him the secrets of her thought.  
O God (quoth she) who armed with a spear  
Dan simeon, who revenged his sister dear;  
Lend me the blade in hand, that I may kill  
This Tyrant, that exceeds all Sichems' ill:  
Who not contents to soil the sacred bed  
Of wedlock chaste; but more with mischief led,  
Intends thy holy name for to confound,  
And race Solyma temple to the ground;  
Ambitious Satrap he, whose hope doth stand  
In mortal men, led with unrighteous hand:  
Who rules a hundredth thousand stalworth steeds,  
That combat craves, and in our pastures feeds;  
Not dreading thee, who daunts both man and beast,  
And kills and captives them when they ween least:  
Who strengths the poor, and pridefull men down thrings,  
And wracks at once the powers of puissant kings.  
Grant, gracious God, that his bewitched wit  
May with my crisped hair be captive knit.  
Grant, that my sweet regards may gall his hart  
With darts of love, to cause his endless smart.  
Grant, that these gifts of thine, my beauty small,  
May bind his furious rage, and make him thrall.  
Grant, that my artificial tongue may move  
His subtle craft, and snare his hart in love:  
But chief Lord grant, that this hand of mine  
May be the Pagans scourge and whole ruin;  
To th' end, that all the world may know, our race  
Are shrouded so in rampires of thy grace,  
That never none against us durst conspire,  
That have not felt at last thy furious ire:  
Even so good Lord, let none of these profane  
Return to drink of Euphrate, nor Hytane.   

Thus judith prayed, with manya trickling tear,  
And with her sighs her words retrenched wear.  
At night, she left her chamber sole and cold,  
Attired with Ceres' gifts and Ophir gold.  
O silver Diane, regent of the night,  
darest thou appear before this lucent light?  
This holy star, whose contr' aspect most clear  
Doth stain thy brother's brightness in his Sphere?   

While thus she meant (unseen) away to slide,  
Her pearls and jewels caused her to be spied:  
The musk and civet Amber, as she passed,  
Long after her a sweet perfume did cast.   

A Carboncle on her Crystal brow she pight,  
Whose fiery gleams expelled the shady night.  
Upon her head a silver crisp she pinned,  
Lose waving on her shoulders with the wind.  
Gold, band her golden hair: her yury neck,  
The Rubies rich, and sapphire blue did deck.  
And at her ear, a Pearl of greater value  
There hung, then that th' Egyptian Queen did swallew.  
And through her collet she showed her snowy breast:  
Her utmost rob was colour blew Coelest,  
Benetted all with twist of perfit gold,  
Beseeming well her comely corpse t'enfolde.  
What else she wore, might well been seen upon  
That Queen who built the tours of Babylon.  
And though that she most modest was indeed,  
Yet borrowed she some garments at this need,  
From Dames of great estate, to that intent  
This Pagan Prince she rather might prevent.   

Achior then, who watched at the gate,  
And saw this Lady passing out so late,  
To Carmis spoke, who warded eke that night,  
What is she this? where goes this gallant wight  
So trim, in such a time? hath she no pity  
Of this most wretched persecuted City?   

Quod Carmis then, their flowrisht here of late  
Merari, one, that was of great estate;  
Who had no child but one, and this is she,  
The honour of that house and family.  
The fathers now do venture body and soul,  
That treasures upon treasures they may roll:  
But, for the wit or learning, never cares,  
That they should leave to their succeeding hairs:  
Like those that charyly keeps their rich array  
In coffers close, and lets it there decay;  
While that the naked bodies dies for cold,  
For whom the clothes are dearly bought and sold.   

But as the painful ploughman plies his toil, 
Comparison.   
With share and coulter shearing through the soil  
That cost him dear, and ditches it about,  
Or crops his hedge to make it under-sprout,  
And never stays to ward it from the weed:  
But most respects to sow therein good seed;  
To th' end, when summer decks the meadows plain,  
He may have recompense of costs and pain:  
Or like the maid who careful is to keep  
The budding flower that first gins to peep  
Out of the knop, and waters it full oft,  
To make it seemly show the head aloft;  
That it may (when she draws it from the stocks)  
Adorn her gorget white, and golden locks:  
So wise Merari all his study styled,  
To fashion well the manners of this child;  
That in his age he might of her retire  
Both honour and comfort, to his heart's desire.  
For, look how soon her childish tongue could chat,  
As children do, of this thing or of that;  
He taught her not to read inventions vain,  
As father's daily do that are profain:  
But in the holy scriptures made her read;  
That with her milk she might even suck the dread  
Of the most high. And this was not for nought:  
Insomuch as in short time she out-brought  
Apparent fruits, of that so worthy seed,  
Which changed her earthly nature far indeed:  
As done the pots that long retains the taste  
Of liquor such, as first was in them placed▪  
Or like the tree that bends his eldrens branch  
That way where first the stroke hath made him launch.  
So see we wolves, and bears, and hearts full old,  
Some tamenes from their daunted youth to hold.   

Thus ere the Moon twelve dosin changes past, 
Virginity.   
The maidens manners fair in form were cast.  
For, as the perfit pilot fears to run  
Upon the rocks, with singling sheet doth shun  
Cyane's straits or Syrteses sinking sands,  
Or cruel Capharois with stormy strands:  
So wisely she dishaunted the resort  
Of such as were suspect of light report:  
Well knowing, that th' acquaintance with the ill,  
Corrupts the good. And though they ever still  
Remain upright: yet some will quarrel pike,  
And common bruit will deem them all alike.  
For, look how your Companions you elect;  
For good, or ill, so shall you be suspect.   

This prudent Dame delighted not in dance,  
Nor sitting up, nor did herself advance  
In public place, where plays and banquets been  
In every house, to see and to beseen:  
But rather understanding such a trade  
Had been the wrack of manya modest maid,  
Who following wandering Dina wanton dame,  
Have oft time put their noble house to shame;  
She kept at home her father's habitation,  
Both day and night in godly conversation.  
She piteous Nurse applied her painful thought,  
To serve and nourish them that her upbrought:  
Like to the grateful stork that gathereth meat,  
And brings it to her elders for to eat;  
And on a firtree high, with Boreas blown,  
Gives life to those, of whom she had her own.  
But if she might some hour from travel quite,  
At vacant time it was her chief delight  
To read the scriptures, where her faithful mind  
Might comfort of the heavenly Manna find.  
Sometime she broided, on the canvas gall,  
Some bird or breast, or A eagle, or Elephant tall.  
While subtly with silver needle fine  
She works on cloth some history divine.  
Here Lot, escaping the devouring fire,  
From sinful Zodom shortly doth retire  
To Segor; where his wife, that was unwitty,  
Cast back her eye to see the sinful City:  
And, for her misbelief, God plagued the fault,  
Transforming her into a Pillar of salt.  
Here she Susannaes' story vively wrought,  
How near she was to execution brought;  
And yet how God the secret did disclose,  
And made the mischief fall upon her foes.  
Here joseph's story stands with wondrous art,  
And how he left his cloak, and not his heart,  
To his lascivious Dame; and rather chose  
The Prison, than her arms him to enclose.  
Her cruel I●phte, with his murdering knife,  
To keep his vow, bereaves his daughter's life.   

(Her travel done) her lute she than assays,  
And unto God she sings immortal prays:  
Not following those that plies their thriftless pain  
In wanton verse and wasteful ditties vain;  
Thereby t' entrap great men, with luring looks:  
But, as the greedy fisher lays his hooks  
Alongst the cost to catch some mighty fish,  
More for his gain, then wholesome for the dish  
Of him that bees: even so these sister's brave  
Have lovers more, then honest may dens have.  
But none are burnt with their impudent flame,  
Save fools and light lunatikes void of shame.  
Of virtue only, perfect love doth grow:  
Whose first beginning though it be more slow  
Than that of lust, and quickens not so fast;  
Yet sure it is, and longer time doth last.  
The straw en kendles soon, and slakes again:  
But iron is slow, and long will hot remain.   

Thus was the holy judiths' chaste renown  
So happily spread, through Israel up and down,  
That many a man disdained the damsels fine,  
With jewels rich and hair in golden twine,  
To serve her beauty: yet, loves fiery dart  
Can never unfriese the frost of her chaste hart:  
But, as the Diamant bids the hammer strong,  
So she resisted all her suitors, long;  
Unminded ever for to wed, but rather  
To spend her days with her beloved father:  
Till at the last her parents, with great care,  
Withstood her will, and for her did prepare  
Manasses, one who was of noble race,  
Both rich and fair as well of spirit as face.  
Her marriage, than was not a slight contract 
Marriage.   
Of secret bills, but by a willing act  
" Before her friends. The chance that once befell  
" To wandering Dina, may be witness well,  
" That secret marriage, that to few is kend,  
" Doth never lead the lovers to good end.  
" For, of our bodies, we no power may claim,  
" Except our parents do confirm the same.   

Then see how love, so holily begun,  
Between these two, so holy a race they run  
(This chaste youngman and his most chastest wife)  
As if their bodies twain had but one life.  
What th' one did will, the other willed no less;  
As by one mouth, their wills they do express.  
And as a stroke, given on the righter eye  
Offends the left: even so by Sympathy,  
Her husband's dolours made her hart unglad,  
And judiths' sorrows made her husband sad.  
Manasses, than his wife would not control  
Tyranniously: but look how much the soul  
Exceeds the corpse, and not the corpse doth grieve,  
But rather to preserve it and relieve:  
So judith with Manasses did accord,  
In tender love and honoured him as Lord.  
Their house at home so holy was, to tell  
It seemed a Church, and not a private Cell.  
No servant there, with villain jests uncouth,  
Was suffered to corrupt the shamefast youth.  
No idle drunkard, nor no swearing wight  
Unpunished durst blaspheme the Lord of might.  
No pleasant skoffer, nor no lying knave,  
No daily Dycer, nor no Ruffian brave,  
Had there abode: but all the servants wear  
Taught, of their Rulers, Gods eternal fear.  
Manasses, he who saw that in his time  
All justice was corrupt with manya crime,  
And that the most perverse and ignorant,  
For money, or favour, would none office want  
Of high estate, refused all public charge;  
Contenting him with ease to live at large,  
From Court, and Palace, free from worldly pelf:  
But, since he thought him borne not for himself,  
But also that some charge he ought to bear  
For comfort of his friends and country dear;  
Yet did he more, not being magistrate,  
For public weal, than men of more estate:  
So that his house was even the dwelling due  
Of justice, and his mouth a sentence true.  
Th' afflicted poor he daily did defend,  
And was the widows aid, and tutor kend  
To Orphelines, and was the whole support  
And chief comforter of the godly sort.  
The vain desire of Indian treasures great  
Made never his ship to sail nor oar to beat.  
The greedy hope of gain, with venturous danger,  
Made never his sword be drawn to serve the stranger.  
He never sold, within the wrangling Bar,  
Deceitful clatters, causing clients jar;  
But quietly manurde his little field,  
And took th' increase thereof that time did yield.  
He sowed and planted, in his proper grange  
(Upon some savage stock) some frutry strange.  
The ground, our common Dame, he undermines:  
On stake and rice, he knits the crooked vines,  
And snoddes their bows: so neither hot nor cold  
Might him (from labour) in the chamber hold.  
But once as he beheld his harvest train,  
With crooked Circle cutting down the grain;  
The sun a distillation on him sent,  
Whereof he died: his soul to heaven it went.   

He that the number of the leaves could cast,  
That in November falls by winter blast:  
He that could tell the drops of rain or slete,  
That Hyad, Orion, or Pleiades weet  
Sheds on the ground, that man might only tell,  
What tears from judiths' eyes incessant fell.  
What treasure and gold, and what he left her tho, 
Widowhood.   
In place of pleasure, caused all her woe.  
The sight of them made her in heart record  
Their old possessor, and her loving Lord.  
Though she had had as much of gold and good,  
As Lydia Land, or Tagus' golden flood;  
Yet, losing him, of treasure she was bare:  
For whom, all other treasures caused her care.  
Yet in this state she stoutly did sustain,  
Like patiented job (contemning) all her pain.  
Three times the Sun returned had his prime,  
" Since this befell: and yet the sliding time,  
" That wont is to wear walloes away,  
Can never for his death her dolour stay:  
But always in some black attire she went  
Right modestly, and lived on little rent.  
Devout she was, and most times sole and sad,  
With dole in heart, and mourning vesture clad,  
Out shedding tears, as doth the turtle dove  
On withered stalk, that wails her absent love▪  
And widowlike all pleasures doth forsake,  
And never intends to take a second make.   

Thus judith chaste within her house abode,  
And seldom was she seen to come abroad:  
Unless it were to see some woeful wife,  
Whose child or husband was bereft of life:  
Or for to visit some in sickness rage,  
Their longsom pain and dolours to assuage:  
Or for to go to Church as God allows,  
To pray and offer and to perform her vows.   

Thus have I shortly told you, brother dear,  
The state of her, on whom our City hear  
Have fixed all their eyes: but I can nought  
Tell where she goes, much less what's in her thought.  
But if we may of passed things collect  
The things to come: then may we well aspect  
Great good of her, for that even in her face  
Is sign of joy, and great presage of grace,  
Or some good hap. With this and other talk,  
They cut the night as they together walk.   

This while, the worthy widow with her maid  
Past towards th' enemies camp not unafraid:  
For, ere she had two hundredth paces past,  
The Syrian Soldiers in her way were cast:  
Who spack her thus; O fair excellent wight,  
Whence? what art thou? what dost thou here this night  
In Syrian camp? I am (quoth she) again  
An Israelite, whom dolours doth constrain  
To flee this town, and for my life's relief,  
Submits me to the mercy of your Chief.   

They took her to the Duke. But who hath seen  
The throngs of folk where proclamations been  
In some great town, or where some monstrous beast  
Is brought and wondered at by most and least;  
That man might judge what flocks of soldiers came  
From every part to see that Hebrew Dame:  
To see that fair, so chaste, so amiable.  
The more they gazed, she seemed more admirable,   

Her wavering hair disparpling flew apart  
In seemly shed: the rest with reckless art  
With manya curling ring decored her face,  
And gave her glashie brows a greater grace.  
Two bending bows of Ebony coupled right  
Two lucent stars that were of heavenly light,  
Two geaty sparks where Cupid chastened hides  
His subtle shafts that from his quiver glides.  
'Tween these two suns and front of equal size,  
A comely figure formally did rise  
With draft unlevell to her lip descend,  
Where Momus self could nothing discommend.  
Her pitted cheeks aperde to be depaint,  
With mixed rose and lilies sweet and saint.  
Her dulcet mouth, with precious breath replete,  
Excelde the Saben Queen in savour sweet.  
Her Coral lips discov'red, as it were,  
Two ranks of Orient pearl with smile cheer.  
Her yv'ry neck, and breast of Alabastre,  
Made Heathen men, of her, more Idolastre.  
Upon her hand no wrinkled knot was seen;  
But as each nail of mothet of pearl had been.  
In short, this judith was so passing fair,  
That if the learned Zeuxis had been th'air,  
And seen this Dame, when he with pencil drew  
The Croton Dames, to form the picture true 
Helen.   
Of her, for whom both Greece and Asia sought.  
This only patron chief he would have sought;   

No sooner judith entered his Pavilion,  
But in her face arose the red vermilion,  
With shame fast fear: but then with language sweet  
The courteous General mildly 'gan her greet.   

My love, I am, I am not yet so fell,  
As false report doth to you Hebrews tell.  
They are my sons, and I will be their father,  
That honours me, and them I love the rather,  
That worships for their God th' Assyrian King:  
They shall be well assured to want nothing.  
And this shall Isaac know, if they will render  
Unto that bounteous king as their defender.  
For thy (my love) tell me, withouten fear,  
The happy motyf of thy coming hear.   

O Prince (quoth she, with an assured face)  
Most strong and wise and most in heavens grace,  
That draws the sword, with steel upon his breast,  
With helm on head, and lance in iron rest:  
Since that my feeble Sex, and tender youth,  
Cannot long time endure, the cruel drought,  
The wakrife travels, frays, and haszards great,  
That day and night our Burgesses doth threat:  
Yet nevertheless this is not whole the cause  
That from my City's body me withdraws.  
To this your Camp: but that most grudging grief,  
Which burns my zealous hart without relief,  
Is this, my Lord; I have a holy fear  
To eat those meats that God bids us forbear:  
But, Sir, I see that our besieged town  
Is so beset with mischiefeup and down,  
The people will be forçed to eat in th' end  
The meats that God expressly doth defend:  
Then will the Lord with just revenge him wreak  
Upon all those, that do his statutes break.  
Withouten fight their Cities he will sack,  
And make one man of thine ten thousand wrack,  
That flies his fury, and thy furious face.  
Now, I of Bethul am; and in this place  
Beseech thy noble Grace, if so thee please,  
With courteous aid, to give my dolours ease.  
‛ Of common sense he is deprived clean,  
‛ That falls with closed eye on danger seen.  
‛ And he that may both pain and hurt eschew,  
‛ Is vain if he his proper death pursue.   

Then in this quiet dale if I may bide  
(In secret for to pray each evening tied  
To God; I shall, as he doth me inspire,  
Assure you when enkendled is his ire,  
Against our folk. Then shall I take on hand  
To lead thine army through all jury Land,  
And streaming standards set on Zion hill,  
Where none with weapons dare resist thy will.  
No, not a very dog, in evening dark,  
At noise of harness shall against thee bark.  
Thy only name shall fray the Armies bold. R  
Before thy face the mountain tops shall fold. R  
The floods shall dry, & from their running stay, R  
To make thine Host a new and uncouth way.   

O jewel of the world (quoth he) O Dame,  
For gracious speech and beauty worthy fame,  
Now welcome here: would God it might you please  
Long time with us to dwell in rest and ease.  
For, if your faith and troth concurrent be,  
To this your talk, which greatly pleaseth me;  
I will from this time forth with you accord  
To serve your only Hebrews God and Lord;  
And will my service whole to you enrol,  
Not of my Sceptre only, but my soul.  
I will your name and honour ay defend  
From Hebrew bounds unto the world his end.  
This said: with silence, as the moon arose,  
This widow▪ her withdrew, and forth she goes  
Unto avalley close on every part,  
Where as she washed her corpse and cleansed her heart;  
And with her weeping eyes the place be●aid,  
And to the God of Isaac thus she prayed:   

O Lord, withdraw not now thy helping hand  
From those, that at thy mercy only stand.  
O Lord defend them that desire to spend  
Their goods and blood, thy cause for to defend.  
O Lord grant that the cries of Children may,  
With plaints of Oldmen weeping night and day,  
And virgins voices sad in shroud of shame,  
And laudes of levites sounding forth thy fame,  
Mount to thy throne, and with dissundring break  
Thy heavy sleep. Wherefore dost thou awreake  
Thyself on Hermon with thy burning blast?  
Or why dost thou on careful Carmell cast  
Thy dreadful darts? forgetting all the space,  
These Giants that thy Sceptre would displace?  
Ah wretch, what say I? Lord apardon me.  
Thy burning zeal (and none hypocrisy)  
That frets my heavy heart at every hour,  
Compels my tongue this language out to power.  
O thou, the everliving God and Guide  
Of all our race, I know thou wilt provide  
For our relief against this furious boast,  
And justly kill the Captain of this host.  
I know, that thou wilt help my only hand,  
To be the wrack of all this heathen Band.    
FINIS.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The V BOOK.  
HOlophernes, being surprised with the sweet language, and excellent beauty of the chaste judith, becometh altogether negligent of his charge and government. Wherein is represented the unability of the reprobate, who cannot withstand such temptations as the Lord sendeth upon them. But as they become slaves to their own affections, so by the same they are enforced to fall into perdition. In place of some faithful servant to warn him of his vices, Holophernes conferreth with Bagos an Eunuch, who feedeth him in his humour, & bringeth judith to his Tent. And here the Poet reproves all flatterers and bawds, with the vices of all Courts in General. judith seeing her chastity in peril, and the time unmeet to execute her enterprise: subtly draws the Tyrant to talk of other affairs. He thinking to insinuate himself the more into her favour, taketh pleasure to crack of his conquests and of his special worthiness; discoursing so long till suppertime approached & she avoided the inconvenience. And here is to be noted, that whilst the tyrant's boast of their cruelty against the Church, God provideth for his own, & preserveth them for that work, that he hath ordained by them to be done.  

THE FIFT BOOK of JUDITH.  

IN stead of marrow-in bone, and blood in veins,  
Great Holopherne doth feed his cruel pains:  
He bootless flees, and feels; but he ne knows  
The quenched fire that of his ashes grows.  
For, so the charming Image of this Dame,  
The only mark where at his soul did ame,  
Transported him in passions of despair,  
That of his mighty camp he quits the care,  
And goes no more his matters to dispatch,  
Nor views his corpsgard, nor relieves his watch,  
Nor Council calls, nor sent to spy the cost,  
Nor views the quarters of his spacious host.  
But as the sheep that have no hired nor guide,  
But wandering strays along the rivers side,  
Throw burbling brooks, or throw the forest green,  
Throw meadows closures, or throw shadows sheen:  
Right so the Heathen host without all bridle,  
Runs insolent, to vicious actions idle,  
Where none obeys, each one commanding speaks,  
Each one at pleasure from his banner breaks.  
What do you Hebrews now within your wall?  
Now time to fight, or never time at all,  
To pay these Pagans, whose confused corpse  
Combats against themselves with deadly force.  
Nay, stay a while: of such a great victory,  
Your only God will have the only glory.   

Before this tyrant was with love yblent,  
To win the town he plied his whole intent:  
But now, both night and day, his mind doth frame  
To conquer this most chaste unconquest Dame.  
So lust him led: th' undaunted Theban knight,  
With weighty mace, had never him affright:  
But now a woman's look his hart enfeares,  
And in his breast the cureless wound he bears.  
Ambition, erst, so had him overcumme,  
That made him daily rise by sound of drum.  
Now Cupid him awaks with hot alarms,  
That him with holds to do the Hebrews harms.  
Before, he ruled above both Prince and King:  
Now can he not himself in order bring.   

Alas (quoth he) what life is this I have, 
Complaint.   
Becoming captive to my captive slave?  
(Unhappy chance) what life is this I say?  
My virtue gone, my forces falls away.  
Nay sure no life it is, more pain I feel,  
Then Ixion torn upon th' Eternal wheel: 
Prometheus.   
My life is like the thiefs that stole the fire,  
On whose mortal hart there doth always tyre  
A ravenous fowl, that gnaws him to the bone,  
reviving still, bound to the Scythian stone.  
What serves it me, t'have won where I have haunted?  
What serves my victor arm, for to have daunted  
The people situate 'tween Hydaspe large,  
And port where Cydnus doth in sea discharge;  
Since I am vanquished by the feeble sight  
Of captive judith? what avails my might,  
My targe of steel, my Burguinet of Brass,  
My guard of warriors stout whereso I pass;  
Since her sweet eye hath sent the pointed dart  
Through men and weapons, piercing throu my hart?  
What serves my coursers, who with swiftness light  
Exceeds the swallow, swiftest bird of flight;  
Since I on him cannot avoid, one inch,  
The care that night and day my heart doth pinch?  
Then change (O Hebrews) change your tears in song,  
And triumph o'er my host and army strong.  
I am no more that Duke, whose name alone  
Hath made great warriors quake both limb and bone:  
But I am he, whose hart was sometime brave;  
Now less than nought, the slave but of a slave.  
I come not here your Isaac to annoy,  
With fire and sword, your houses to destroy:  
But to require your judith, her to render  
More mild to me. What? is my wit so slender  
(Berapt with love) have I not here my joy,  
That only may relieve me from annoy?  
Yet nevertheless I clieve the air in vain,  
With plaints, and makes mine eyes but fountains twain.   

I wretch am like the wretched man indeed, 
Tantalus.   
The more he hath the greater is his need.  
Although he deeply plunge in water clear,  
To quench his thirst: yet he is not the near.  
For, so do I respect the heavenly grace,  
That largely is bestowed upon her face,  
That with mine eyes I dare not her behold,  
My tongue doth stay and in the palate fold.  
Why have not I a heart of Crystal clear,  
Tronsparent through, to let my pain appear?  
That there she might of all my torments reed,  
Which love with holds within my heart in dread?   

Now, since that judith to this camp arrived,  
The light of heaven had thrice his course revived,  
And darkened thrice, and 'gan with saffron hue  
To light the Ynds, the fourth day to renew;  
When thus the Duke, who leftrepast and rest,  
Unto his Eunuch this like porpos dressed.   

O Bagos, son adoptife, not by chance,  
Whom I have chose of nought thee to advance,  
By special grace, and made thee (though I boast)  
First of my hart, and second of mine Host;  
I rage, I burn, I die in desperate thought,  
Through love, by this same stranger's beauty brought,  
Go, seek her then, and shortly to her say,  
What secret flame torments me day by day:  
Show that I shall her to such honours bring,  
As he that bears the Sceptre of a King:  
But chief see thy talk be framed thus,  
That she do come this night and sup with us.  
Now should it not to me be folly and shame,  
To have within my hold the fairest dame,  
That ground doth hear, if I dare not aspire  
To quench the burning flame of my desire?  
I should but serve my soldiers for a jest:  
And judith fair would count me but a beast.   

Then Bagos well acquaint with such a cast,  
He fed the lamp that brunt but overfast.  
If private men (quoth he) and people poor,  
That goes not over the threshold of their door,  
But spends their days in travel and debate,  
And never seeks to win a better state,  
lives not content, if that the Cyprian Dame  
Do not sometime their frozen hearts inflame;  
What slaves are those then, on whose backs are dressed  
The burdens of this world, who takes no rest  
For Public weal, but wakes with Argus eyes,  
For others ease that to no care applies;  
If they, among so many great vexations,  
May not receive in love some recreations?  
Pursue your love my Lord, and make no let  
To take the fish that else is in your net.  
And as ere this you have me faithful found,  
In like Ambassades when ye them propound:  
So shall you find me, in this love of new,  
To be as faithful, secret, trest, and true.   

Alas, how many such are in our times  
In princes Courts, that high to honour climes,  
More for their handling such an enterprise,  
Then for their being valiant, learned, or wise?  
Sometimes the Courts of kings were virtuous schools:  
Now find we nought in Court but curious fools.  
O you, whose noble hearts cannot accord  
To be the slaves to an infamous Lord:  
And knows not how to mix, with perilous Art,  
The deadly poison of the Amorous dart:  
Whose natures, being free, wills no constraint,  
Nor will your face with flattering pencil paint,  
For well, nor woe, for pity, nor for hire,  
Of good my Lords their favours to acquire;  
Go not to Court if ye will me believe:  
For, in that place where ye think to retreve  
The honour due for virtue, ye shall find  
Nought but contempt, which leaves good men behind.   

Ye worthy Dames, that in your breasts do bear  
Of your all-seeing God no servile fear:  
Ye that of honour have a greater care,  
Then sights of Courts, I pray you come not there.  
Let men, that in their purse hath not a mite,  
Cloth them like kings, and play the hypocrite,  
And with a lying tale and feigned cheer,  
Court-cozen them whom they would see on bear.  
Let there the Pander sell his wife for gain,  
With service vile, his noblesse to attain.  
Let him that serves the time, change his intent,  
With faith unconstant sail at every vent.   

Ye sons of craft, bear ye as many faces  
As Proteus takes among the Marine places,  
And force your natures all the best ye can  
To counterfeit the grace of some great man;  
chameleon like, who takes to him each hue  
Of black or white, or yellow, green, or blue,  
That comes him next: So you that finds the fashion  
To hurt the poor, with manya great taxation:  
You that do press to have the prince's ear,  
To make your names in Provinces appear:  
Ye subtle Thurims, sell your fumish wind,  
To wicked wights whose senses ye do blind.   

Ye fearful Rocks, ye ymps of Achelois,  
Who wracks the wisest youth with charming vois:  
Ye Circe's, who by your enchantment strange,  
In stones and swine, your lovers true do change:  
Ye Stymphalids, who with your youth uptaks,  
You ravens that from us our riches raks:  
Ye, who with riches art, and painted face,  
For Priam's wife, puts Castor's sister in place:  
The Myrrha's, Canaces, and Semirames,  
And if there rest yet more defamed dames,  
Come all to Court, and there ye shall re●aue  
A thousand gains unmeet for you to have.  
There shall you sell the gifts of great provinces,  
There shall you sell the grace of graceless princes.   

Stay here my Muse: it thee behoves to have  
Great constancy and manya Hercles' brave  
To purge this age, of vices more notable,  
Then was the stalls of foul Aegeans' stable.   

Return to judith, who to bring to pass  
Her high attempt, before her sets her glass,  
And gins to deck her hair like burnished gold,  
Whose beauty had no peer for to behold.  
Then went she to his tent, where she espied  
The gorgeous tappestries, on every side,  
Of Persian Kings, of Meds', and Syrian stories,  
How Ninus first (pricked forth with great vain glories)  
Subdued the East: then next in order came  
(Disguised in kind) his wife Queen Semirame;  
Who took the Sceptre and with tourrets high  
Great Babylon erected to the sky.  
Lo, how a Prince, with fingers white and fine, 
Sardanapalus.   
In women's weed the tender twist doth twine,  
Who bore a Rock in stead of Royal mace,  
And for a man with woman changeth grace  
In gestures all: he frisles and he fards,  
He oynts, he baths, his visage he regards  
In Crystal glass, which for his sword he wore,  
And lost his crown without all combat more.  
Amongst his vertugals, for aid he drew,  
From his Lieutenant, who did him pursue,  
And won his Sceptre. Yet with f●eble ire,  
He burned himself, and ended his empire.  
Behold, a Bitch than feeds sucking child,  
Amongst the pricking thorns and brambles wild; 
Cyru●.   
Who grew so great and was of such a fame,  
That bond, and free, his waged men became,  
And afterward subverted, to his law,  
The Median sceptre under Persians awe.  
But what is he that so reformed goze  
Before the camp, and wants his ears and noze?  
That was that servant true, who by that slight,  
Brought Babylon again in Darius' might.   

While judith fed her eyes with figures vain,  
Her hart replete with passions and with pain;  
The General came, and with a visage gent,  
Saluted her, and by the hand her hent,  
And caused her sit down upon a chare,  
The more at ease to view her beauty's rare.  
Then, when he saw himself so near his pleasure,  
He brunt in hart, and scarce could bide the leisure  
Till Venus with her garland showed in sight,  
On his Horizon to renew the night.   

This widow, finding then the time unmeet,  
God's just determination to complete;  
Made much delay, and found full manya sku●e,  
With sundry talk this tyrant to abuse:  
And said; my Lord, I pray you show to me,  
What fury just hath moved your majesty?  
What have our people done (please it your Grace)  
By whom or when that Izaks holy race  
Might so provoke a Prince to wrackful war,  
In tongues, and laws, so separate from us far?   

Then said the Duke, uncourteous should I be  
If I deny (O fair) to answer thee.  
Now as the heaven two Suns cannot contain,  
So in the earth two kings cannot remain  
Of equal state. So doth ambition crave,  
One king will not another equal have.  
My Prince is witness: who at wars did fall,  
With king Arphaxat, cause he raised his wall  
Of Ecbatane so high that it did shame  
To Ninive, and Babel feared the same:  
For which, he undertook to spoil his throne,  
And race his Sceptre to the lowest stone:  
With spite, his buildings brave he cast adown.  
Arphaxat then, a man of great renown,  
And worthy of his Sceptre and his state,  
Thought better in the field to make debate,  
Then bear a scorn, his Meds to battle drew:  
Thus between them two did cruel war ensue.  
Arphaxa● armed all the isles of Greece,  
Where jason was, but sought no golden fleece,  
But golden lingots with abundant gain,  
Where Phasis stream bedeawes the pleasant Plain.  
The Harmastans, and Alban, strong, and wise,  
That sows but once, and have their harvest thrice:  
The men that near to Oxus banks abides,  
And those that Antitaurus horns divydes:  
And those that man's the mount upon whose breast  
The ship that scap't the general flood did rest:  
And those that are (not hid) within the Ream,  
Where proud jaxartes flows with furious stream:  
In short; the Medes brought men to aid their plea,  
From Pontus far beyond the Caspian sea:  
And of this Host Arphaxat was commander,  
With hope and heart more high than Alexander.   

My prince desirous then to win or die,  
Left nought undone that furthred to supply  
His troubled state. He armed Syttacene,  
And waged Archers out of Osrohene:  
Ye Lords of Lands that yields the hundredth corn,  
Leave Euphrates and bounds where ye were borne:  
The Carman's bold that all on fish do feed,  
And of their pelts do make your warlike weed;  
Leave Hytan bounds, go seek the golden sands:  
Ye Parths, ye Cosses, Arabs, and ye lands,  
That of your Magis Prophets thinks ye know  
Their spells divine, yourself for p●kmen show.   

O Called, change thine Astrolab and square  
To spear and shield: for, we no wight will spare  
Of able age, of high or low degree  
That trails the pike, or lance lays on his thy.  
Let women, Children, and the burghers old  
At home alone, let them their houses hold.   

We summoned eke the Persians and Phoenicians,  
The soft Egyptians, Hebrews, and Cilicians,  
To come in haste, and join their force to ours:  
But they disdainfully deteind their powers;  
And, with their wicked hands, and words unsage,  
They did our sacred messengers outrage.   

My master for a time, putup this wrong,  
Attending time, to quite these enemies strong;  
With purpose, more at leisure, to provide  
T' abate this sacrilegious people's pride.   

Two greater kings were never seen before, 
Battle.   
Then camped was in Ragau field at morn,  
With haughty hearts enarmed all in ire:  
Each soldier set another so on fire,  
That scarcely they could keep them in their bound,  
Till pipe, or Cymbal, or the trumpets sound,  
Denounce the choke: but with their furious faces,  
They threat their foes afar with fell menaces,  
And strokes at hand: two thousand Lads forlorn  
(To blunt the sword) were down in battle borne.  
Upon their flanks flew fervently the stones,  
That bet their bucklers to their bruised bones.  
The squadrons than steps sternly to the strokes,  
With hearts in human all the battle yokes,  
And are supplied with many mighty bands:  
Some counters them, and sternly them withstands:  
With foot to foot each other over plies:  
Both Meds and calls clasp with ghastly cries;  
Like Nilus' stream that from the rocks doth rumble,  
Or Encelade when he in tomb doth tumble.   

Here some lies headless: some, that cannot stand,  
Trails on his womb, and wants both foot and hand,  
Cut off with strokes: some perked throu plate and nails:  
Some shoulder-●lasht: some panched in th' entrails:  
Some brains outbet: some in the guts were gored:  
Some dying vomit blood: and some were smored:  
Some neither quick nor dead, do yet attend  
What place it pleaseth God their souls to send:  
So loath the little life, that doth abide,  
Is, from the dying body to divide.  
The ground that erst was yellow, green, and blue,  
Is overclad with blood in purpur hue.  
While this man gives some one his deadly bane,  
He of another gets the like again.  
The rage increasing grows with ireful flame:  
The field is spread with bodies dead and lame.   

Like as ye see the wallowing sea to strive,  
Flood after flood, and wave with wave to drive, 
Comparison.   
Then waves with waves, the floods with floods do chase,  
And eft returns unto their former place:  
Or like the crops of corn in mids of May  
(Blown with the western wind) aside doth sway,  
Both to and fro, as force doth them constrain,  
And yet their tops redresseth up again:  
So, whiles the Syrians are by Medes displaced;  
And whiles the Medes by Syrians are rechased.   

Then, like two raging floods that down do fall,  
From two contrary mutiny mountains tall;  
Down bearing bridge and bank, and all destroys,  
And strives which one may do the most annoys:  
So, these two kings, in force and courage stout,  
Excels the rest with slaughter them about:  
Wherso they'preast, they left on either side,  
Behind them, two long opened ways and wide:  
For, all their bucklers, Mo●ions, and Quiraces  
Were of no proof against their peisant maces.  
Yet (for the time) the Mede● so fiercely fought,  
That they th' Assyrian bands in terror brought,  
And pauld his soldiers hearts, and brak their might;  
Who (overcome) took them to shameful flight.  
The Medes pursewd, and wounded, in that chase,  
Ten thousand men; but none, upon the face.   

In short, this day our Sceptre had deprived,  
Had I not like the thunder dint arrived  
In battles brunt. Their male and their vantbras,  
Their helm and shield, before my Cutlass,  
Were frail as glass: and never a stroke I lent  
But deadly was, and them more terror sent  
Then all our camp. The soldier then in fear  
With trembling hand could scarcely wield his spear.  
The pal-hewd knight with hart in breast that quakes,  
His thighs in saddle, and feet in stirrups shakes  
For dread of me. There some, with trenchant glaive  
From height of head, to middle down I claive.  
And some so far I foyned through the jack,  
The blade aperde a foot behind his back:  
So that the Medes, afraid at such a thing,  
In heat of fight they fled and left their king.  
Who seeing himself betrayed, his clothes he rend,  
And bloody towards Ragau town he went:  
Where we him met, yet (Brave) did him defend,  
And sought amongst his foes a famous end:  
As doth the Tiger wild who sees her den  
Beset about with hunter's dogs and men,  
That turns her fear to furious raging rife  
And will not unrevenged lose her life:  
So he them thunderbet wherso he went,  
That never a stroke in vain his right hand spent:  
But ere with murdering blade they could him quell,  
Full manya bold precursor he sent to hell.  
At last, Arphaxat 'gan of slaughter tire,  
And (wounded sore) left both his life and ire,  
And fell, as doth some huge high planted oak,  
That long hath bide the winds, and manya stroke  
Of many an axe; yet stoutly doth sustain  
Their travels long, and frustrats all their pain;  
The root doth sigh, the dale doth roaring sound,  
And to the heaven the noise doth high rebound;  
His head now here, now there, seems to incline,  
And threats him here and there with great ruin:  
Yet stands upright above the highest oaks,  
Till, vanquished with a thousand thousand strokes,  
He falls at last, and brings with him to ground  
Both trees and cattle to the Plain profound:  
So with Arphaxat fell the Medes empire.   

My king the king of kings, then in his ire  
Razed Ecbatan: and now grows weed and herb,  
Where sometime stood his palaces superb.  
So that where erst the lute and loud Haubois  
Were wont to sound with sweet concordant nois,  
Now shrieking owls and other monsters more  
In funeral sound fulfils the place with woe.   

My potent Prince, when all this war was ceased  
Consumed months four in Royal feast,  
In Ninive the great: which banquet done,  
He me commanded to assemble soon  
His Royal host, to punish all and some,  
That to his former aid disdained to come:  
And that I shortly should with sword and flame  
Revenge his honour: but alas, Madam,  
Full far am I from that I would pursue.  
For, coming here thy nation to subdue,  
I vanquished am by thee; so that deaths might,  
Shall shortly close mine eyes with endless night,  
If you not (with a loving kiss) to me  
Restore my life. O worthy Prince, quoth she,  
Continue your discourse, and to me tell  
What great adventures to your Host befell.   

Then he retook his tale he left o'late,  
And made a long discourse of all his state,  
Part, true, part false: as do some warriors brave,  
Who speaking of their Acts will lie and rave.   

My Camp assembled, then 'gan I t'inflame 
Oration.   
My soldiers hearts thus, for to win them fame:  
Companions, now, if ever ye pretend  
To win renown that never shall have end,  
Go forwards now, plague these inhuman Lands,  
That on our sacred Legates laid their hands.  
Revenge, revenge, ye men, your most high Prince,  
That ever Sceptre bore in rich province,  
That ever came adown with mighty arm,  
From circled stars. Alarm' soldats, alarm:  
Take blades in hand, and brands of burning ire,  
To waste the western world with sword and fire.  
With bloody seas bedew each mount and wood,  
And make your horses fierce to swim in blood.  
Receive the Sceptre great and crown of might  
Of all this world which is to you behight.  
Receive this laud, that for your conquest brave,  
Shall draw your fames from the forgetful grave.  
Receive ye valiant men the noble spoil  
Of manya land that ye shall put to foil.  
Let men behold that sees you day by day,  
How ye are cloyed with honour spoil and pray:  
Thus ended I. And as my words were spent,  
They bet their bucklers, showing them content  
With courage bold, to fight with me and bide.  
Then sixscore thousand men I had to guide,  
Or more, and so from Niniuè we past  
And marched unto (Bectilè) at last,  
I through Edessi, Amidi, and Carran came,  
Where sometime dwelled your father Abraham:  
I won the mount whose thwarting horns divides  
All asia; and serves for bounds on sundry syds,  
To many great Empyrs: I ●lew, I brent  
All in my way. My felon soldiers went  
Like moawers with their scythes in sowple hands,  
Who leaves not after them a straw that stands;  
But ample swaths of grass on ground doth cast,  
And shows what way their sharped scythes have passed.  
All Lydia knows, that nought now grows in it  
But weeds. And Phuli-and Tharsis feels it yet.  
I was well-near the straits that closeth all  
Phoenicia and th' Ishique Rovers, like a wall,  
When Rosea, Solea, Mops, Anchiali ' and Iscia,  
And sweet Egeis: and (short) the whole Cilicia,  
This passage took before and lay in wait,  
To stay my Army for to pass this strait.  
If I the harms and has●ards all should tell  
Of all th' affairs and bloody frays that fell,  
And succours sent; the day should slide away  
Before my tale. For that Cilicia I say,  
Through great advantage of their ground so narrow,  
Defended them from both the spear and arrow:  
So that my Host, that gave before the chase,  
To puissant kings, now fled with great disgrace. 
Craking.   
Then foaming in despite, despair, and ire,  
I cast myself where shot flew like the fire:  
And though they hurt me in a hundred parts,  
And though my buckler bore a wood of darts:  
Yet left not I, but with audacious face  
I bravely fought, and made them all give place.  
My army followed, where my arm made way  
With trenching blade, on bodies dead that lay.  
The greatest coward, that my captains led,  
Pursewd and ●lew the most of them that fled.  
The Cydnus stream (who for his silver flood  
Esteemed a king) ran now with humane blood:  
The Pyram fierce, in seas discharged than  
Full manya helm, and sword, and worthy man.  
In short as your own river seems to rest,  
With swelling tyds and frothy foods repressed,  
Within his bank: yet furiously him wreaks  
With weighty force and banks and bridges breaks,  
And stroies the Plains, and makes for manya day  
More wrak, then if his channels open lay:  
In semble sort their bands I did enchase,  
That kept the entrance of that craggy place.  
I brunt, I ●lew, cast down, all that I found;  
And, Asia spoiled, I entered th' easter Land.  
I won Cele●, and raged pitiless  
Upon the fruitful shore of Euphrates.  
I bet the desert Rapse, and Eagria Land,  
Who knows the virtue of my conquering hand.  
From thence to seaward sewing mine intent  
I wasted Madian. Northward then I went  
To L●ban-ward, Damascus overrinning,  
With other towns, Abil●a, and Hippas' winning.  
From thence, with curious mind my standards sties  
The hill, where sun is seen to set and ryes.  
And so from thence I forward led mine host,  
To th' Occident on the Phoenic●an cost.  
Then Sidon, Bible, Beryte, tire, and Gaze,  
With Ascalon, and Assot, in a maze  
For fear, sent humbly to my sacred seat,  
Wise messengers, my favour to entreat.  
We come not here, my Lord said they, with arms  
For to resist the chok of thy Gens ●'armes:  
But Prince, we come, of thee for to resave  
Both life and death, and what law we shall have.  
Our towns are thine, our cities and our hills,  
Our fields, our flocks, our wealth is at your wills.  
Our service, and our treasures, great and small,  
Ourselves, our wives, and our fair children all,  
Now only rests to thee, if so thee please  
To take us thus, O God what greater ease:  
O God what greater good may us befall,  
Then unto such a Chief for to be thrall:  
Who wields the valiant lance and balance right,  
With virtue, like the Gods of greatest might.   

So were to me as gracious to behold  
Their towns and Cities both: for, young and old  
With crowns, and presents of the Flora sweet,  
And costly odours, humbly did me greet.  
At sounds of horns and pipes they dancing went,  
With goods and bodies me for to present.   

Then I, abusing not the law of arms,  
Entreated them, and did to them no harms,  
Nor to their Lands: But first their forts I manned,  
With men of mine, and theirs took in my Band.  
For where that I my people farthest drew,  
My camp in bands, from bands, to armies grew,  
As doth the Danow which gins to flow,  
By Raurak fields with snakish crangling slow,  
Then swells his floods with sixty rivers large,  
That in the golf Euxinus doth discharge.  
I wend Madame that Izrell, like the rest,  
Would yield to me, that I should not be strest  
Against their breast to move my murdering spear:  
But as I came the Scythique rampire near  
(The Tomb of her whose milk had such a hap  
To feed the twice borne Denis in her lap)  
I heard their wilful rage first in that place:  
Which doubtless will destroy all Abraham's race.    
FINIS.   

THE SUMMARIE OF The VI BOOK.  
IVdith, having escaped the peril of her chastity, is brought to a sumptuous banquet prepared by Holophernes for the in●ert unment of her, & farther provocation of his filthy lust: In which the abominable vice of gluttony is by the Poet vively descriued, and sharply reprehended. And whereas the Tyrant thought by such excess to overcome the chaste widow: himself is so over come with wine, that upon a very simple delay he lets her go till he was in his bed. And here is noted that the snares that the wicked lays for others, they fall in them their selves. Whiles the Tyrant contemplated his lust, judith in trouble called upon her God, who made way for her works through the Tyrants own wickedness: who heaping sin upon sin, approached at last to the end of his tragedy: and mounting upon the scaffold of the ire of God, falls asleep in his sinful bed, and is by judith beheaded in his beastly drunkenness. True it is that in this execution she felt her great infirmity: but likewise she found that God was able to strengthen the most feeble for the execution of his justice. And as before she was preserved in the midst of her enemies: so the Lord to make a miraculous end of his work, brings her safe home to her people. The Bethulians gives thanks to God. The Ammonit ranished with this miracle, embraced the true religion. The head of Holophernes (that judiths' servant brought) being set up for a terrible spectacle to the Heathen encouraged the citizens to give assault upon the camp. Bagos who had been an instrument of the Tyrant's wickedness, is the first that finds his master's headless Carcase, and puts the camp in such affray, that they fled all before Israel, in such sort that scarce one was left to bring news to Ninive, of the fortune of the battle. And that was God's justice, that those that had followed this Tyrant in his wickedness should be companions of his death. judith last of all celebrates the deliverance of God, with a song, to the honour and glory of his almighty name.  

THE sixth BOOK of JUDITH.  

BEfore the Pagan had his purpose ended,  
The night obscure from mountains high descended,  
And sewers set the board with costly meat,  
Of passing price, so delicate to eat,  
That Holopherne unto his joyous feast  
Aperd t'have called the kings of west and east.   

O glutton throats, O greedy guts profound! 
Exclamation.   
The chosen meats, within the world his bound  
By th' Abderois' invented, may not staunch,  
Nor satisfy your foul devouring paunch:  
But must in Moluke seek the spices fine,  
Canary sugar, and the Candy wine.  
Your appetits (O gluttons) to content, 
Gluttony.   
The sacred breast of Thetis blew is rend:  
The Air must be dispeopled for your maws:  
The Phoenix sole can scarce escape your jaws.  
‛ O plague, O poison to the warrior state!  
‛ Thou makes the noble hearts effeminate.  
‛ While Rome was ruled by Curioes' and Fabrices,  
‛ Who fed on roots and sought not for delices:  
‛ And when the only Cresson was the food  
‛ Most delicate to Persia; then they stood  
‛ In happy state, renowned in peace and ●arre,  
‛ And throu the world their triumphs spread afar:  
‛ But when they after, in th' Assyrian hall,  
‛ Had learned the lessons of sardanapal:  
‛ And when the other, given to belly cheer,  
‛ By Galba's, Nero's, Vitells governed wear,  
‛ Who gloried more to fill a costly plate,  
‛ Then kill a Pyrrhus' or a Mythridate;  
‛ Then both of them were seen for to be sacked  
‛ By nations poor, whom they before had wracked.  
‛ Of little, Nature lives: superfluous meat  
‛ But dulls the spirit, and doth the stomach fret.  
‛ When they were set, then throw that Royal rout  
The Maluesie was quaffed oft about.  
One drinks out of an Alabastar Cup:  
One out of Crystal doth the Nectar sup:  
Some out of curious shells of Unicorn:  
Some spills the wine, and some to beds were borne,  
But namely there the Vizroy would not tire,  
But more he drank, the more he had desire:  
Like to the Ocean-Sea, though it resaves  
All Nilus' floods, yea all fresh water craves  
From East to West, yet grows he not a grain,  
But still is ready for as much, again.  
One glass draws on another glass: and when  
The butler meant to cease, he but began  
To skink god Bacchus: thus this drunken wight  
Among his drunkards tippled till midnight:  
Then each of them, with stackring steps out went,  
And groping hands, retiring to his tent.  
This tyrant wished them oft away before:  
To whom each moment seemed to be a score.   

Assoon as they were gone, then 'gan he press  
The trembling judith: Cease, great prince, O cease  
The widow said: what hast need you to make  
To reap the flower that none can from you take?  
My Lord, go to your bed and take your ease;  
Where I your sweet embracings will complease,  
Assoon as I my garments may remove,  
That binds my body brunt with ardent love.   

Now, if that sober wits and wily brains  
Cannot avoid the female tricks and trains:  
Abash not reader though this reckless Roy  
(Bewitched by Semels' son, and Venus' boy)  
Was thus beguiled: considering, both these twain  
Confounds the force of those that them retain.   

So letting judith slide out of his arm,  
He 'gins to lose his garments soft and warm:  
But throw his haste, his hand came lesser speed,  
And though he was deceived, yet took no heed,  
But weening well t'vntruss his peevish points,  
He knits them twyfold with his trembling joints;  
So long till he, with anger discontent,  
Cuts me them all, and off his clothes he rend,  
And naked went to bed. Then as ye see  
The bloody boweman stand behind a tree,  
Who warily watches for the wandering dear:  
To every part, where the doth think to hear  
Some trembling bush, some beast or Lezard small,  
That motion makes, so turneth he withal  
His face and hand to shoot, but all in vain  
For to relieve his long aspecting pain:  
Even so, this foolish tyrant when he hard  
Some rat or mouse, than thought he to himward,  
His Mistress came: and when he heard no more,  
Yet thought (she came) whom most he did adore.  
While up he lifts his head, while lets it fall:  
While looks about, while counts the paces all,  
That she should pass, to come unto his bed.  
Thus turning oft, as ardent lust him led,  
He thought his bed was sown with pricking thorn:  
But now the drink, that he had drunk before,  
Brewed in his brain, and from his mind it took  
The sweet remembrance of her loving look.  
So fell on sleep: and then to him appears  
Ten thousand flames, ten thousand dinnes he hears,  
And dreams of Devils, and Daemons dark and dim,  
Medusa's, Minotaurs, and Gorgon's grim.   

This while, the hart of judith 'gan to beat  
Incessantly, beset with battle great:  
One while her fear refeled her first intent:  
One while her action just her courage lent.   

Then said she, judith, now is time, go to it,  
And save thy people: Nay, I will not do it.  
I will, I will not; Go fear not again:  
Wilt thou the sacred gestning then profane?  
Not it profane; but holier it shall stand,  
When holy folk are helped by my hand.   

But shameful lives the trey tour evermore;  
No trayt or she who doth her town restore.  
But murderers all, are of the heaven forsaken:  
All murder-is not for murder always taken.  
Alas, are they not murderers sleyes their Prince?  
This tyrant is no prince of my province:  
But, what if God will have us under his-awe?  
he's not of God that fights against his law.  
For than should Ahud, jahel, and jehew,  
Be homi●ids, because they tyrants slew.   

But what? they were commanded of the Lord:  
To such an act, my hart should soon accord.   

Alas, my hart is weak for such a deed:  
Th' are strong enough whom God doth strength at need.  
But when 'tis done who shall my warrant be?  
God brought me here, God will deliver me.  
What if the Lord leave thee in Heathen hands?  
Were this Duke dead, I fear no death nor bands.  
But what if they pollute thee like a slave?  
My body with my hart they shall not have.   

Thus she resolved in her mind at last,  
Her hands and eyes unto the heaven she cast,  
And with an humble voice to God she prayed:   

O gracious God that always art the aid  
To thy beloved Izak, I thee pray  
To strength my hand, even my right hand this day,  
That I may make this bloody tyrant die,  
That to discepter thee would scale the sky.  
But since thy goodness hath preserved me,  
And brought my boat so near the shore to be;  
Grant that some sleepy drink I may provide,  
To dull this tyrant's hart and daunt his pride,  
To th' end that I may free thy congregation;  
Unto thy honour, and our consolation.   

This prayer done, she looked round about,  
And heard this drunken prince in sleeping rout:  
Then stepped she to his sword that by him stood,  
Which oft had bathed the world with human blood:  
But as she priest this tyrant for to quell,  
Fear reft the sword from her, and down she fell,  
And lost at once the strength of hart and corpse.   

O God (quoth she) now by thy mighty force  
Restore my strength. This said (with pale annoy)  
She rudly rose, and struck this sleeping Roy,  
So fell, that from his shoulders flew his paul,  
And from his body fled his Ethnique ●owle  
High way to hell. His bulk all blood bestaind  
Lay still, his head in judiths' hand remained;  
The which her maid put up into a sack:  
Thus throw the camp they close away do pack,  
Impeached of none. For, those that had her seen,  
Supposed she went (as she had wont been,  
The nights before) unto the valley, where  
They thought she went to serve Diana clear.   

When judith chaste came near the Hebrew wall;  
Let in (quoth she) for our great God of all  
Hath broke this night the whole Assyrian power,  
And raised the horn of Izak at this hour.   

Then men, amazed of her unhoped state,  
About her ran assembling at the gate,  
Where holy judith on a hill was mounted,  
And all her chance from point to point recounted;  
And there discovering drew out of the sack  
The bloody head of th' enemy of Izak.   

The Citizens, that saw how she did stand  
With th' end of Assurs head in her right hand;  
They praised God, who by her hand had slain  
And punished that traitor in human.   

‛ But, most of all Duke Ammon did admire  
‛ The work of God. Then he t'escape their  
‛ Of jacobs' God, who aids the weakest part,  
‛ He shortly circumcised his flesh and hart.  
‛ O God, that rightly by foresight divine  
‛ Repels the purpose of all men's engine:  
‛ Who for to lead th' elect to destnyed health  
‛ (Even when it seems them farthest from their wealth)  
‛ Of ill, thou draws the good, and some in ill  
‛ Thou lets them run thy justice to fulfil;  
‛ (O Lord) the vile desire of blood and sak,  
‛ Made Holopherne to war upon Izak:  
‛ But where that he would Izaks blood have shed,  
‛ He lost his own for Izak, on his bed.  
‛ Thus thy good grace hath made his vain invention  
to take effect contrary his intention.  
‛ So Paul became a Saint, who was a Pharisee;  
‛ And, of a tyrant, teacher of thy verity:  
‛ So was the thief, that hung with our Messiah,  
‛ (For all his sin) preserved with Elias:  
‛ His vicious corpse could have no life here down;  
‛ His soul by grace yet got a heavenly crown.  
‛ Change then (O God) the hearts of christian princes,  
‛ Who sheds the faithfuls blood in their provinces.  
‛ Let thou that sword, that thou gives them to guide,  
‛ Upon thy enemies only be applied;  
‛ Upon those tyrants whose unrighteous horn  
‛ Deteins the Land where thy dear son was borne:  
‛ Not on the backs of those, who, with humility,  
‛ Adores the Triple one great God inunitie.   

Then, at commandment of this widow chaste,  
A soldier took the tyrant's head in haste;  
And, for to give the Hebrews hart withal,  
He fixed it upon the foremost wall.  
Their fathers came, and sons, and wives, and maids,  
Who erst had lost, amongst the Heathen blayds,  
Their sons, their parents, makes, and lovers dear;  
With heavy hearts and furious raging cheer,  
They piled and paired his beard, of paled hue,  
Spit in his face, and out his tongue they drew,  
Which used to speak of God great blasphemies,  
And with their fingers poched out his eyes.  
The rife remembrance of so late an ill,  
Made vulgar folk such vengeance to fulfil.   

This while, Aurora ceased to embrace  
Her ancient love, and rose with ruddy face,  
Upon the Indian heaven: the warriors strong,  
That kept the town, now sorted forth in throng,  
Enarmed all, with such a hideous sound  
As seemed the elements four for to confound,  
And break the bands that keeps them in their border,  
Retiring them unto their old disorder.   

The Pagan watches next the City's side  
(Awaked with this din) start up and cried  
Alarm, Alarm, like fearful men aghast:  
Then through the Camp, the hot Alarm past.  
Some takes his neighbour's armour first he finds, 
Confusion.   
And wrong on arms the brace●● both he binds.  
Some takes a staff for haste, and leaves his lance:  
Some madling runs, some trembles in a trance:  
Some on his horse ill saddled gins to ride,  
And wants his spurs, some boldly do abide:  
Some neither wakes nor sleeps, but mazing stands:  
Some, brave in words, are beastly of their hands.  
This brute from hand to hand, from man to man,  
Unto the Pagan's Court at last it ran.  
Then Bagos, Eunuch, sadly forth he went  
T'awake the sleeping Ethnique in his tent;  
And knocked once, twice, or thrice, with trembling hand:  
But such eternal sleep his temples band,  
That he had passed already (miserable)  
Of Styx so black the flood irrepassable.   

Yet Bagos, hearing Izaks cry increase,  
He with his foot, the door began to press,  
And entered: where the bed he did behold  
All bled with Holophernes carcase cold:  
He tore his hair; and all his garments rend,  
And to the heaven his howling cries he sent.  
But when he missed the Hebrew-Dame away,  
Then raging he began a ghastly fray.  
And from the bloody tent as he ran out,  
Among the Heathen thus began to shout:  
Woe, woe, to us, a slave (they judith call)  
In slaying Holopherne, hath slain us all,  
That daunted all the world. These novels last,  
joined to the former fear that lately passed,  
Affrighted so the soldiers one and all,  
That pike and dart, and target they let fall,  
And fled through mountains, valleys, and throw heaths,  
Where every chance procured them worse deaths.   

Then all th' assieged folk in flocks descended,  
And on their enemies backs their bowes they bended.  
Both parties ran: but th' one that other chased,  
The weary flyers flight, themselves defaced.  
The Hebrews there, in fight not one they lost;  
But they bet down and slew the Heathen host:  
As doth a Lion of Getulia would  
Bespread the land with woried beasts and blood,  
So long as he may find a beast abide,  
That dare oppone him to his cruel pride.   

Some head long throws themselves from craggy Rocks,  
And breaks their bones and all their brains out knocks:  
Some hath forgot, that Parca's, every where,  
Waits on their end that drown in water clear:  
But if that any scaped by some great hap,  
He scaped the first, but not the after clap:  
Fore all the straits and passages were set,  
That none should scape alive where thy were met:  
Yea scarcely one was left to tell the king,  
At Ninive, of all this wondrous thing.   

This battle done, all those whose Sex and age  
With held at home (their dolours to assuage)  
Came forth out of their fort to see and hear  
What God had done for them his people dear.  
They found some men dismembered having breath,  
That cried in vain a hundredth times for death.  
Another gnashes with his teeth, in pains:  
Some dead in face their former rage retains.  
And some is shot directly throw the hart.  
Each soul departs to his appointed part,  
According to the value, or the chance,  
That fortuned them to die on sword or lance.  
In short: to see this sight so dreadful was,  
That even the Hebrews would have said Alas,  
If they had vanquished any enemy else.  
This while, amongst the corpses infidels,  
Among a hundred thousand, their was found  
The cheftains carcase rend with manya wound  
Of spear and sword, by th' Hebrews in their ire.  
There was no sinew, Arter, vain, nor lyre,  
That was not mangled with their vulgar rage:  
No time nor moment might their ire assuage.  
If Holopherne had been like Atlas long,  
Or like in limbs unto Briareus strong;  
Yet should his body been too small a pray,  
To sati fie their fury every way.  
For, in that Camp was not so small a knave,  
But of his flesh some collup he would have.   

O tyrant now (quoth they) give thy right hand  
To the Cilicians, and to Media Land:  
Leave thou thy left. And to Celia sweet,  
To Ishmael and Egypt leave thy feet;  
To th' end that all the world by thee offenced,  
With such a present may be recompensed.  
But here I fail thy corpse thus to devise  
In Attomy: for, it will not suffice.   

This thankful widow then who never thought  
To smore this wondrous work that God had wrought,  
Entuned her verse, and sung to sweet consort  
Of instruments, and past with gracious port  
Before the chosen Dames and virgins their,  
That were esteem the for honest chaste and fair.   

Sing sing, with hart and voice and sounding strings,  
And praise the Lord of Lords, and King of Kings,  
Who doth disthrone the great, and in their place  
Erects the poor that leans upon his grace.  
Who would have thought that in a day one town  
Can overcome a camp of such renown,  
Who daunted all the world, whose pride was felt  
From Indian shore to where the Calpees dwelled?  
Great God, who will believe that Holopherne,  
Who did a hundred famous princes darn,  
Should be disceptred, slain, left in a midow,  
By no great Giant, but a feeble widow?  
Great God, who will believe that he who rained,  
From north to south, and in his hands retained▪  
Both East and West; now gets not grace to have  
An inch of Gazon ground to be his grave?  
This Conqueror, that came with no army small,  
Now lies on ground abandoned of them all;  
Not sole: for, those companions him in death,  
That followed him while he had life and breath.  
Not now the ground, but Ravens hunger-starved,  
Are now his tomb as he hath well deserved.  
No vaults of Marble rich, nor Porphyr pure,  
That he had built, could be his sepulture.  
Even so good Lord from hence forth let us find  
Thee not our judge, but for our father kind:  
But let all tyrants that against thee gather,  
Find thee their judge; but not their loving father.   

Here judith ends: And also hear I stay, 
The Translator.   
With thanks to God. So, for his state I pray  
At whose command I undertook this deed,  
To please his Grace, and those that will it reed.    
FINIS.   

A TABLE OF SIGnification of some words as they are used before.  
* ⁎ *  
Words. 
Significations.  ABderois, 
Profane and delicate Epicures.  Abile. 
A hill in Africa, one of the Pillars of Hercules.  Abraham. 
Father of the jews or the faithful.  Achelois imps. 
sirens or Mermaids.  Amram. 
The father of Moses.  Assur. Assurs head, 
The Country of Assyria or their king.  Assyrian Prince. 
Holophernes. Vizroy or General.  Agamemnon. 
The General of the Greeks', being present at the sacrificing of his only Daughter, was painted with a bend about his eyes, either for the unskilfulness of the painter, who could not sufficiently express the father's special tears, or else for that he thought it not decent to paint so mighty a Prince weeping; or unnatural, not to weep.  Aconite. 
A poisonable herb.  Autan. 
The South or south wind.  Aurora. 
The morning.  Arphaxat. 
Supposed to be Arbactus, King of Medes.  Atlas. 
A great Giant.  Argus. 
Had a hundredth eyes.  Alexander. 
The great.  Apelles. 
An excellent painter.  Bethull or Bethulia. 
The City where judith dwelled.  Babel. 
Babylon, or the whole country  Bellona. 
Goddess of Battle.  Briccoll. 
An engine of war.  Briareus. 
A Giant with a hundredth hands.  Bacchus. 
Wine or drunkenness.  Boreas. 
The North or north wind.  Chameleon. 
A beast that changeth his colours.  Ctesiphon. 
A cunning Architector or builder.  Chaos. 
A confusion before the world's creation.  Capharois. 
Two perilous Rocks.  Cyane's 
straits  Calpe. 
A hill in Spain, one of the pillars of Hercules.  Cyprian Dame. 
Venus, love, or lust.  Cupido. 
Love or lust.  Coruies'. 
Crooked irons to draw down buildings.  Castor's sister. 
Helen, the dishonest wife of Menelaus.  Canaces. 
Incestuous women.  Circe's. 
Witches, abusers of lovers.  Cyrene. 
A dry sandy country, or drought.  Carmell. 
A mountain in judea, or the whole country.  Danow. 
Danubius, a river in Germany.  Denis twice born. 
Bacchus.  Diana or Cynthia. 
The Moon.  Dina. 
The daughter of jacob.  Egyptian Queen. 
Cleopatra the Concubine of M. Antonius, who swallowed a rich pearl.  Elimia Land. 
The Elamits.  Eurus. 
The East, or East wind.  Aegeans' stable. 
Where horses devoured men.  Encelade. 
A Giant buried under mount Aetna.  General. 
Holophernes.  Gibraltar. 
A City in Spain, near to Calpe-hill▪ one of the Pillars of Hercules.  Holopherne. 
Vizroy, chief of the Army.  Hermon. 
A Hill in judea, or the country of judea.  Hesperian cost. 
The west.  Hyade. 
A water nymph or watery star.  Heralds. 
Apostles, or preachers.  jacobs' sons. 
The people of Izrell.  Izrell or jacob. 
The Land of judea.  Izaak. 
The people of the jews.  Ishmael. 
Idumeans or Edom.  Ixion. 
One tormented in Hell.  jebus place. 
jerusalem or Zion.  judith. 
of Bethulia of the tribe of Reuben.  jessies' race. 
David and his seed.  jethro. 
Father in law to Moses.  Latmies' son. 
Endymion, the long sleeper, supposed to lie with the Moon.  Lysippus. 
A cunning carver.  Monarch. 
One sole governor.  Memphits. 
Men of that City in Egypt.  Misraim. 
The Land of Egypt.  Mocmur. 
The river near Bethulia.  Momus. 
A scornful detractor of all things.  Mars. 
God of strife or battle.  Myrrhaes & Sulla's. 
Women betrayers of their country.  Minotaurs. 
Unnatural monsters.  Medusa's. 
Furies of hell.  Neptune's back. 
The Sea.  N●phathai. 
A mighty strong Rock or mountain in Syria.  Palestine. 
The Land of the Philistines.  Pharia. 
A famous tower in Egypt.  Phlego●. 
One of the four horses that was supposed to draw the sun.  Phoebus. 
The sun.  Phoeb●. 
His sister the moon.  Proteus. 
A man changing himself in sun dry forms: there is a fish of like nature.  Priam's wife. 
Hecuba the honourable.  Pestmell. 
All mixed confusedly together.  Ram. 
An engine of war for battery.  Sina-hill. 
Sinai-hill.  Salem. 
jerusalem.  Solym●. 
jerusalem.  Sichem. 
The ravisher of Dina.  Sabean Queen. 
Savours of Saba land.  Simeon. 
Dinaes' brother.  Scythique Rampire. 
The tomb of Semele, mother of Bacchus.  Styx. 
A River in hell.  Sympathy. 
Concordance of natures and things.  Sentinelles. 
Watchmen.  Semirames. 
Women Viragoes.  Syrteses. 
Dangerous sands.  Satrap. 
Prince.  Stymphalideses 
Ravenous fowls with female faces, Harpies.  Syrian camp. 
The Host of Holophernes.  Semels' son. 
Bacchus or wine.  Transparent. 
That which may be seen through and whole, like glass.  Tortoise. 
An engine of war.  Trepan. 
An engine of war.  The foreign tide. 
Supposed to have been the flood of Noah, or the deluge of Deucalion that divided Africa from Europe, and Sycilia from Italia.  Thetis. 
The Sea.  Thurim●. 
Deceitful Advocates.  Theban knight. 
Captain of the Greeks army.  Thief that stole the fire. 
Prometheus, who stole fire from jupiter.  Zedechias. 
Last king of the jews.  Zephyrus. 
West or west wind.  Zeuxis. 
A painter of Italy, who being required to paint the picture of Helen, desired to have all the fairest women of Creton to be present for his pattern.   
FINIS.   

1611.  
OS · HOMINI · SUBLIME · DEDIT ✚   printer's or publisher's device 
AT LONDON Imprinted by H. L. and are to be sold by Arthur johnson at the sign of the white horse, near the great North door of Paul's Church.