ALL THE SMAL● Works OF THAT FAMOUS Poet  
● OSVAH SILVESTER.  
Gathered into one Volume  
LONDON Printed. Anno 1620.   

THE PARLIAMENT of Virtue's Royal: (Summoned in France; but assembled in England) for Nomination, Creation, and Confirmation of The most Excellent Prince PANARETUS 

A Praesage of Pr. DOLPHIN:  
A Portrait of Pr.— HENRY:  
A Promise of Pr. CHARLES.    
Translated & Dedicated To His Highness, by JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

To the Honourable, Sir Robert Carie: Sir james Fullarton: Sir Robert Carr: Sir David Foulis: Mr. Thomas Murray.  
Grave Guides & Guards of Hopeful CHARLES his Wain,  
Lest I incur the least of Your Disdaigne;  
If, without Leave, I (over-rashly rude)  
Usurp Your Rooms, or on Your Rights intrude;  
I humbly crave Your Licence; and Your Loves,  
For My Address, When My Access behoves.  
I know, the Field of His Young Highness' heart  
So duly tilled by Your deep Care and Art  
(Adding His Father's Royal golden Writ;  
And goodly Practice, to demonstrate it:  
His (late) rare Brother's Pattern, of Renown:  
With Honest Quin's new-cast Prince-Worthy Crown:  
And holy Prompting of that reverend Pair,  
Milborn and Hakwill, from the sacred Chair)  
That little needs He the Stagyrian's store,  
The Corduban's, or th' Attik-Muse his Lore:  
Much less (alas!) My silly Muse's Mite,  
With borrowed Feathers to advance his Flight.  
Yet, sith, too-often, to a tender Ear,  
Too-serious Lectures sound but too-severe;  
Especially, to Princes dainty Taste,  
They seem but harsh, and will not down in haste  
(As holesom'st Dishes, if but homely dressed,  
Some queasy Stomaches hardly can digest):  
Let me presume (with your good leaves) a while  
To imitate Physicians honest Guile;  
Who, oft, in Sugar sheathe their bitter Pills,  
The better so to Cure unwilling Ills,  
When wayward Patients, for the Sugars sake,  
Take-in their Health, which else they would not take,  
Sad Rules of Patience, Abstinence, Austerity,  
Humility, Frugality, Sincerity,  
Religion, Labour, Care of Commonwealth,  
And Many, meet for Prince and People's Health;  
Which hardly can, in their Own Likeness, sink  
In Youth-ful Minds (scarce in their Ears, I think)  
How gravely oft, with greatest Diligence  
Pressed; and impressed with Tullian Eloquence:  
Sweetly disguised, in artificial Suits,  
Dancing the Measures after Delphian Lutes,  
Washed in Nectar, wrapped in sugared Verse,  
Enter more easily, and more deeply pierce.  
This I endeavour: and to This Intent  
I summon CHARLES to Virtue's PARLIAMENT▪   

TO The High-Hopeful CHARLES, Prince of Great-Britanne.  
WHere witty Bertault (in his Fancy) meant  
But a faint Praesage of His Pr. of France;  
Our Hopes of Ours the better to advance,  
We have presumed to call a PARLIAMENT  
Where Royal Virtues, from Olympus sent,  
By several ACTS of sacred Ordinance,  
Conform, confirm Your future Governance;  
So please it Heaven Yor hart & hand consent.  
O! please it Heavn, You may be pleased Thus,  
These Works to imitate, These Acts to act;  
To prove your self, This same PANARETUS,  
When future Age shall see our Hopes in Fact.  
which, while I pray; sweet Prince, in humblest sort  
I cite Yor HIGHnes to This Sovereign Court.  
To Yor Highness Service humbly-devoted, josuah Sylvester.   


TO The right Honourable Lords Spiritual & Temporal: The Knights and Burgesses of the Lower-House: & To all generous and ingenuous Readers.  
PResuming all Your Lordships will appear,  
Not by your Proxies, but in Person, Heer;  
And in your Turns, say (Every-one) Content,  
To Every Act, in Virtue's PARLIAMENT:  
I humbly bring You Every-one A Brief  
Of every Bill; or, at the least, the Chief.   


An Act against Duels, desperate Combats, and Roaring Boys. Page 7  
An Act for better Execution of the former Act. Page 13  
An Act against Hypocrisy. Page 15  
An Act against Superstition. Page16  
An Act against Abuses in the Courts of justice. Page 18  
An Act for some Mitigation of the former Act. Page 21  
An Act for due Execution of justice in general. Page 52  
An Act against Persian State, in proud retiredness. Page 59  
An Act against profuse Prodigality. Page 59  
An Act of exceeding Love and excellent Resolution. Page 60  
An Act of rarest Piety in a Prince. 60  
An Act for Imitation and continuance of the former Act. Page 61  
An Act for right Employment of Public and Private Treasure. Page 61  
An Act against Ingratitude. Page 63  
An Act against King-Killers, Powder-Traitors, and their Abettors. Page 64  
An Act for Clemency, and against Impunity. Page 65  
An Act for Propagation of Princely Piety. Page 66  
An Act against the Mitred-Monarchy. Page 66  
An Act of Admiration. Page 67  
An Act for Reading of Histories. Page 68  
An Act against ignorant and ignominious Chroniclers. Page 68    

THese All are Public Acts: Private, This Session  
Hath passed None: but in the next Impression,  
Your Acts of Bounty, and the rest of Mark,  
Shall be recorded, 
 By Your Vnder-Clark,  
josuah Sylvester.    

Names of the Nobles in This Parliament, Interpreted.  
PANARETUS: 
AL-VERTVOUS.  Andria: 
Prowess.  Phronesia: 
Prudence.  Pistia: 
Fidelity.  Eumenia: 
Clemency.  Euergesia: 
Liberality.  Hypomoné: 
Patience.  Cateria: 
Constancy.  Aletheia: 
Truth.  Dicea: 
justice..  Eusebia: 
Piety.   

Interpretation of other terms used in This Parliament.  
Dysidaimoné: 
Superstition.  Eridea: 
Contention.  Merimné: 
Careful-vexation.  Dapania: 
Charge or Cost.  Adicia: 
Injustice.  Oval: 
Crowncs for unbloody Victors.     

PANARETUS.  

YEARS timely Turns, unto a Lustre run,  
Brought forth at last the long-long wished Sun,  
Whereon our Hopes our just Desires pursewd,  
To see our PRINCELING with a Name indewd  
(Which, Since WE saw, or heard that Happy sound,  
Saturn's slow Teem had trotted twice the Round)  
When, lo, Th' Etern All-Maker's Majesty,  
Quick-darting down his All-discerning Eye,  
Whereby his Goodness all his Works doth guide;  
And seeing pressed the sacred Pomp and Pride  
(As in so solemn Mysteries is wont)  
T'adorn the Altars and the hallowed Font;  
In th'instant summons with a gracious beck  
Nine nimble Scouts, which scudding light and quick,  
Dispatch more speedy than a Thought the things  
Above injoind them by the King of Kings,  
Who, with a most-mildly-maiestike gest,  
In heavenly words, his pleasure thus expressed:  
The young french DOLPHIN is even ready Now  
To take the Name my fore-Decrees allow:  
A frequent Name of Kings, and famous fare;  
Wonders in Peace, Thunders in dreadful War;  
And, One of them, more excellent in Grace,  
Among my Saints hath justly held a place.  
But yet, besides that Name, which France affects  
For one Man's virtue, and for due Respects;  
Besides that Name, which only Men have given,  
I'll give him one myself, as sent from Heaven:  
And such a one as oneday, by Events  
Shall prove it a true Praesage of that Prince;  
And, in One Word, mysteriously contracts  
The History of His succeeding Acts.  
Go therefore, quickly from all Quarters cite  
The rarest Virtues, and most requisite  
For Royal bosoms, that did ever rest  
Within the Closet of a Kingly breast.  
Tell them it is Our pleasure and Decree,  
That to This Prince they All Godmothers be:  
And She among them that is found most fit,  
And best behoves in Crowned souls to sit,  
Shall at the Font, Her sacred Name impose;  
And from thenceforth inspire him, as he grows,  
With all her Powers, to correspond the scope  
And full Extent of that great Empire's Hope,  
Whose Limits yet unlimited appear,  
Where Sire and Son to me are equal dear.  
I see th' Aegean streams, and Thracian strand,  
Already trembling under his Command:  
And th' horned Crescent (which hath scorned to vale)  
Before the Beams of This new Sun grows pale.  
To greatest Ships (as Guides of all the Fleet)  
The cunningest Pilots evermore are meet:  
Mine, most Immediate, seems the sowerain care  
Of Sovereign Kings (who but My Subjects are);  
And therefore, I, that have behight This Lad  
An ampler Rule than ever Monarch had,  
As, of the WORLD to make him Emperor,  
I'll have his Virtue's equal to his Power:  
I'll make them so: and to approve it, all  
The Earth's four Corners I to witness call.  
This published thus: eftsoons the winged Posts  
Address them quick to these inferior Coasts,  
And (swift as Arrow) he that took to find,  
Fair Andria, of great and goodly mind,  
Among the many Idols of our Days  
That sergeant her fashion and her phrase,  
Spied her at last, for her here slight account,  
Ready to leave us, and about to mount  
A winged horse in hope elsewhere to get  
A new Renown, 'mid stranger Nations yet.  
Her Helmet (ever as her head she stirs)  
Seemed to twinkle with a thousand Stars;  
A stately grove of azure Plumes did wave,  
And proudly shadowed her gilt Armour brave:  
The bright keen Blade that by her side she wore,  
Inur'd to blood in battails long before,  
As it were, weary of that rusting rest,  
And greedy longing for his wont feast,  
Seemed malcontent and his proud Sheath-disdaind,  
(The golden Prison that him still detained)  
Whereon were graved (with Arts Art-passing strife)  
By such a hand as could give Metal life,  
The noblest fears of Valour (most extolled)  
In later Times, and in the Days of old,  
Of greatest Monarches that yet ever were,  
Whose marks the World (unto this day) doth bear.  
There, by the Banks of Granic died in grain,  
(As then: no Banks, but rather Hills of Slain)  
Philip's Great Son (inspite of Multitude)  
To his sole Sceptre the whole World subdued.  
There, valiant CAESAR (Rome's first Emperor)  
Quashing the Senates and the People's power,  
And stooping all their Laws to his Sword's law,  
Tramples the Trophies of his Son in Law;  
Who pale without, and all appalld within,  
Flies from Pharsalia, and his Host, unseen.  
Why flies Great Pompey? so (at once) to lose  
Th' Honours so oft won from so many foes?  
Because Thine fainted, must Thou falter too?  
O yes! with Caesar thou hadst here to do.  
Thear's thy Excuse: & though Thou lost the Game,  
Thy Victor yet somewhat abates Thy Shame.  
There (on the Chape of massy gold, unmixed  
With other Metal plain or wrought, betwixt)  
Our own, great HENRY, smeared with blood & dust,  
Pursues th' Iberians with keen falchion just;  
And justly keening his courageous sprite  
Against those daring Demi-Moores despite,  
Beats out of breath the bravest of their Troop,  
Who bleak for fear, begin to faint and droop:  
The gold there lose, seems even to fly and (more)  
Looks pale in faces full of pride before.  
But He (well marked by his milk-white Plume)  
With Kingly scorn, disdaining th' odious fume  
Of vulgar blood, in valiant fury runs  
Upon the proud Commanders Dukes and Donns,  
Who (either proud of Port, or rich Attire)  
Had by his hand a sudden death for hire.  
Their royal Pattern all his Troops take-after,  
And of the rest they make a glorious Slaughter:  
Whence streams of gore that to their Centre feud,  
Met in a Ruby, make a Lake of Blood.  
Such costly Sheath sheathed in such workmanship  
The sheen-keen Blade on Valour's brawny hip,  
(Hung in an azure Scarf, all over sown  
With Crowned-Swords, and Septres overthrown.)  
A thousand other famous Battles, fought  
At sundry times, with Cunning-cost were wrought  
Within her Crimson Bases, waving low  
About her Calves, in Buskins white as snow.  
She seemed like Pallas, 'gainst the Giants pressed;  
Or (on Mount Ida) against Mars addressed.  
At sudden sight of Heavens bright Messenger,  
In milder port she strait composed her;  
And when He briefly to her heedful thought  
Had done the sacred Errand that he brought,  
And (by the way) had questioned her (beside)  
Whether her Haste was bend, she thus replied:  
Celestial Herald, While th'heroic Prince,  
Whose gentle Yoke his Celticks so contents,  
Carved with his Sword a Statue to my Name,  
To stand triumphant in the House of Fame,  
Nothing could hold me from his steps, apart;  
My hand did guide his hand, my hart his hart:  
Yea, I was with him, nay, within him, pressed,  
His spirit's familiar, and perpetual guest.  
But sithence Peace Him now hath quite disarmed,  
And keepeth Mars within her Temple charmed;  
I did give way to my keen Swords Request,  
(Which can no longer lie and rust in Rest)  
And, while his hart, now all in love with Peace,  
Hath left His hand, for me, no business,  
I meant to seek some other Strand for Stage  
To act my Wonders, in Wars dreadful rage;  
That in brave battails I again might reap  
The Palms He wont on my head to heap.  
For, with the sparkles of my glorious fire,  
Th'incensed breasts of Younglings to inspire,  
I can no more find in my hart; sith they  
So rashly rush to cast themselves away,  
So oft, for Trifles (bred of idle breath)  
So madly run to an untimely death;  
So daily sacrifice their Life and Soul,  
In some so foolish Quarrels, some so foul,  
That, in the issue (fatal for the most)  
The Victor's self may rather blush then boast;  
And such, as for such to usurp the Sword  
(Besides the Conquest's even to be deplored)  
Is nothing else but to profane the same,  
And to blaspheme mine honour and my Name.  
Not that I blame (where Blood & Nature binds)  
In point of Honour (Idol of brave minds)  
A Cavalier, so sensible of wrongs,  
To hazard Life and all that him belongs;  
Sith, void of Honour, he is void of sense,  
That holds not Life a deadly Pestilence.  
But I would have them rightly learn before  
(Not, of a heart mere valiant and no more;  
But, of a heart valiant atonce and wise)  
Wherein that Point of precious Honour lies,  
For which, he's happy that his Life shall lose;  
And cursed he that careless it foregoes.  
For such a cup-fume overflows the brain  
Of such whose Souls this Error entertain;  
That One will ween his Honour interess't  
To bear a Word, though spoken but in jest;  
Who never thinks it tainted with a Lie,  
Nor touched with base and wilful Perjury:  
Nor with his Treason, when for some pretence,  
He hath betrayed his Country or his Prince,  
Or yielded-up some un-distressed Place,  
Or fled the first to save a Coward's case.  
So th'Hypocrite, through Superstitious Error,  
Thinks he hath done some Sinn of heinous horror,  
When, by mis-heed, or by mishap, he comes  
Vn-hallow-washt, into the Sacred Rooms;  
Yet, makes no Conscience, yet hath no Remorse  
To have undone, or done to death, by force  
Of unjust Doom, or fraud of Evidence,  
A many poor and harmless Innocents':  
Nay, laughs at Widows and at Orphans tears,  
By his deceit, despoiled of all was Theirs.  
Those valiant Romans, Victors of all Lands,  
They placed not Honour there where now it stands;  
Nor thought it lay, in making of the Sword  
Interpreter of every Private word;  
Nor stood upon Puntillios', for Repute,  
As nowadays your Duellers pursewed.  
But from their Cradle, trained in Rules more fit,  
They neither knew th'abuse nor use (as yet)  
Of Challenges, apples, and Seconds-ayde.  
But, when the Laws their Bridle lose had laid,  
For Public Glory, 'gainst a Public Foe,  
There Honour's point, there Valour's proof to show.  
But, when behooved, bravely and first to front  
An Army's force, or bear their sudden Brunt;  
Or, larded thick with darts, victorious, die  
Upon a Breach, or on a Rampire high;  
Or, leap alive into a yawning Hell,  
To save their City, from Infection fell;  
Lived never Men that lesser feared death,  
More-daring Valour never yet had breath.  
Witness (unto this day) th'undaunted hearts  
In Curtius, Decius, and Horatius Parts:  
With many Worthies more, Immortalised,  
Which for their Countries have Selves sacrificed;  
And whose brave deeds, whose honours, whose deserts  
Move more Despair than Envy in men's hearts:  
For, dying so, Garlands & glorious Verse,  
Not Cries & Tears, honoured their happy Hearse;  
Their Flower of Fame shall never, never shed,  
Because their Death, their Country profited:  
Whereas the death which brings now brainsick Youth  
Unto their Grave, deserves but Tears and Ruth;  
Their Courage casts them even away, for nought;  
Without Memorial, save a Mournful Thought,  
Which, banning but the fury that inflam'd-them,  
Honors enough, if that it have not blam'd-them.  
O what a number of Courageous Knights,  
Abortively, have in These Single Fights,  
Lost the fair Hope the World conceived of them,  
Have idly frustred, of their Valour's gem,  
Their gracious Prince, who justly might expect,  
Against his Foes, their forward Worths effect;  
And, sacrilegious, to their Wrath have given  
And heady Rage (whereby they have been driven)  
The Sacrifice which (with more sacred zeal)  
They ought to God, their King, their Commonweal!  
Enough to make (could they return from death,  
Such as they were, when here they lost their breath)  
Not a sole Squadron, but an Host of Men  
Whose Acts alone would furnish every Pen;  
An Host of Hector's, and Achillese,  
Caesar's and Scipios, who, by Land and Seas,  
Following Great HENRY for their General,  
Might (if he would) have made him Lord of ALL.  
Where, now, they lie in an inglorious Tomb,  
Longing for Light until the Day of Doom:  
Or lower, in eternal Dungeons dwell,  
With Ghosts & Shadows skirmishing in Hell.  
This mischief therefore, springing day by day,  
And spreading so, as nought his course can stay;  
And seeing (too) mine Honour blurred with Blame,  
When these rash Madcaps do usurp my Name;  
To be, from henceforth, from the Rage exempt  
Of such as turn my glory to contempt,  
And thus deface my Virtue's grace with Vice,  
I hoped els-whear some holier Exercise:  
And rather would, hearts so intemperous  
Should not enjoy me, then employ me thus.  
Here Andria ceased: The Angel, gracefully,  
Humours her Anger with this mild Reply;  
Certes, fair Nymph, your Plaint hath Right & Truth,  
But yet, excuse the boiling heat of Youth;  
Perhaps 'tis harder than you ween (precise)  
To be atonce a Frenchman, Young, and Wise.  
This Evil from This inborn Error springs,  
That a Brave Mind, when wronged in any things  
He weens himself (if so he Arms profess)  
Must no-whear seek but in his Sword redress:  
And that an Eye, a No, a Nod, a Nick,  
's Enough t'offend a Noble sense and quick.  
Permitious Error, which doth undermine  
Both Martial Thrones and Civil, and Divine!  
For, to no end the Public Sword shall serve  
If every man may with his Private carve.  
And then, in vain are Soweraine Prince's Laws,  
When Subjects dare Themselves decide their Cause.  
But I believe This Madness will no more  
Praecipitate their courage, as before.  
The curb of Law which by their prudent Prince,  
Is now new made against This Insolence  
Will bar their Boldness, and (directing mean  
How (This dear Honour saved whole and clean)  
A gallant Spirit, wronged in any kind,  
May lawfully his Satisfaction find)  
Will bind their hands, & even glew-in their blades,  
Till, when some Foe the Common Right invades,  
In forward Zeal of their dear Countries good,  
It shallbe honour (even) to dive in blood.  
Disposed therefore to expect Amends,  
Dispatch the Order which Heavens Monarch sends;  
And go not hence where thou art so renowned,  
Till all the world be but This Empires bound:  
Were it for nothing but That Rising Sun  
Whereon all Eyes already have begun  
(Both Friends & Foes) to fix their Hopes and Fears,  
That brave Young Prince, who from his cradle bears  
Thine Image in his eyes, and in his arms,  
Thine Exercise in every kind of Arms.  
Surely, said Andria, 'thad been hard to find  
A stronger Charm here to arrest my mind,  
(Chief, here living my Souls Sympathy,  
His Father; rather, that same other I)  
For, as in th'one I am a Miracle,  
So will I be a matchless Spectacle  
In th'other too, when to his Ancient Right  
His daring Sword shall make his Claim by Fight:  
Whether his Armies royal Front aspire.  
Those craggy Hills whose Name is taen from Fire;  
Or tend unto those fruitful Plains which spread  
Toward Boötes, and Hyperions Bed,  
Whose Princes in their Fables Antique-framed,  
Counts among Kings, Kings among Counts are named.  
After these words, pronounced with voice & gest,  
As Oracles are wont to be expressed,  
Both took their flight through the thin crystal Aire,  
Towards the Place appointed for Repair  
Of all the rest of Royal Virtue's Band,  
Which were convented by Heaven's high Command.  
Royal Eumenia was already come,  
And simple-mannerd (Pistia, thought by some  
Long-since exiled from the World); and She  
Who from afar doth all Events foresee.  
There was (apparent by illustrious things)  
Fair Euergesia, Ornament of Kings,  
And firm Hypomonè, with her Twin-sister  
Cartéria, and She whose Patron and Assister  
Are often shent, Alethia, little known  
To mortal men (no scarce among her own)  
With veils and cloaks they do be-clowd her so,  
Whose spotless Self should rather naked go.  
In brief, of all the Virtues summoned here,  
There wanted none but Dicea to appear,  
And St. Eusebia, in her Shadows hid,  
That long it was yet Her the Angel spid.  
For here among us a quaint Idol haunts,  
Whose simple habit, whose sad countenance,  
Whose lowly look, whose language mildly meek,  
Whose zeale-like gestures, & whose postures like,  
So sergeant Her, with the Mask it makes,  
That many times the wisest it mistakes.  
You'd think, her hart had only God for joy,  
Her Exercise only to fast and pray;  
That she abhors the World, and lodged therein,  
Life's as the Fish that out of waterbin;  
That burning Zeal of Heaven consumes her so,  
That all seems bitter that she tastes below.  
Yet all the while, This hollow Holy-Tricks  
Dotes but of Honours, dreams of Bishopriks',  
Thirsts for Promotion, thrusts for Primacy,  
Hunts glory still, yet seems it to defy,  
Never does good, but for some great applause,  
Nor ever did good, for mere Goodness cause.  
This Baen of Souls, and that same Foppery  
(Of old) surnamed Dysidaimonié,  
Whose hart, deject with Terrors overstrong,  
To fear God 's justice, doth his Mercy wrong  
(Right Servile Fear, with Errors foolifyed)  
Have driven Eusebia hence, else where to bide.  
Because th' one love's not, th' other miss-beloves  
What best to fear and least presume behoves.  
The Angel therefore ferrets every nook,  
And narrowly her wont haunts doth look,  
In every Cloister and in every Cell,  
Where Folk believed that She did ever dwell:  
Yet nothing finds he of her, anie-wheare,  
Save some old tract or footing here and there;  
No, though he visit the austerities  
Of famous abbeys and fair Nunneries:  
But, in Her stead, he meeteth evermore,  
One of These Hags in every Covent Door,  
Dresst in a habit of so humble show,  
That hard it was the difference to know.  
Yet, at the last, prying on every side,  
Her (as concealed) in a by-place he spied,  
Where, with incessant tears she stayed to rue  
And to bewail our Errors old and new;  
Amid an humble Troop, whom like Desire  
To loathe the World, and from it to retire,  
Had made prefer a poor and mean estate,  
Yea Want itself, in place so separate,  
Before the Wealth, the Honours and Delights,  
Wherewith the World inveigles, as invites:  
As choosing rather here to lose all These,  
Then lose thereby, their Souls eternal Ease.  
In this sequestered place, prostrate in Prayer  
(Best Antidote 'gainst Hopes-pride and Despair;  
The Two grand Poisons of Souls Faculties)  
The Angel found Eusebia on her knees.  
Their Talk was short, the Time inportuned so:  
In brief therefore he doth his Message show,  
Acquaints her quickly Whence, and Why he came  
Then She eftsoons consenting to the same,  
Away they post in a swift Airy Coach  
Towards the place where all the rest approach,  
The general Rendez-vous for all This Act:  
Where yet (alas!) the Lady Dice a lacked.  
For, th' Angel tasked to go seek her forth,  
Sees her no more conversing on the Earth,  
Nor finds her sitting (as she want of-old)  
On Prince's Thrones, and Prelates, uncontrolled;  
Nor among Magistrates, which are the Tongue  
And Life of Law, t'interpret Right and Wrong.  
Where-at amazed, and desiring more  
To sound what reason Men could yield therefore,  
Assumes a Body, bearing in his hands  
A bag of Write and seem-Deeds for Lands:  
Comes to a Hall, all full of Murmuring  
Of people pricked with the angry sting  
Of fell Eridea, who her Venom sheds  
Even into Boors and Paisants hearts and heads,  
By Her keen fury (as wiith Brizes) stung;  
And by Merimnè and Dapania wrung:  
In This great Hall, unknown unto Repose,  
Stalks that stern Fury, either among those  
Of her own Fry, or 'mong the wretched Crew  
Whom Her hard Gripes had made (in vain) to rue.  
A Rank of Seats, each unto other fixed,  
And every-one a sundry Name affixed,  
bordered the Walls, smoky with age'and foul;  
Perches of many plumie-pownced Fowl,  
Whose nimble Quills have learnt to fly for that  
Rich Mineral, which makes men peace and prate.  
There was no Order: a lowd-buzzing Press  
With whirling Eddies hurried without cease,  
Full of all Sorts; of Priests, of Gentlemen,  
Merchants, Mechaniks, Grooms and Husbandmen:  
Each justled other, crowding to and fro,  
As here and there the stream did ebb and flow.  
This yauld, that brauld, another beat the Bar;  
One wooed the judge, another urged him far;  
This proves Default, That pleads a Warranty;  
This auoides Witness; That, appeals more high;  
Another, fleering doth his Adverse flout.  
With Rod in hand the Ushers trudge about:  
A world of Lawyers swarmed; yet some had leisure  
(As least employed) the Places length to measure.  
All boiled with Discords; one no sooner done,  
But instantly another New begun;  
With such a Noise as soundeth near the Shore  
When, towards a Storm, the Sea begins to roar.  
Hard-by this Ocean, which Night only stilled,  
Appeerd an Old-man (as one deeply illd,  
And inly galled for some grievous Loss)  
With eyes lift-up, pale cheeks, and arms across;  
Whom th'angel spying, towards him he speeds:  
And (seeming Mortal by his Shape and weeds)  
Good Father, said he (so to sound his mind)  
Where might I (think you) Lady Dicea find,  
Whom I have sought already far and near,  
And surely thought now to have found her here?  
Dicea, my son, said the Old-man (well-nigh  
Gushing out Tears which stood in either eye;  
And sending forth a deep-fet Sigh, before)  
Dicea, alas! is in the World no more.  
That Fire which only Death hath power to quench,  
That fell Desire no Deluge else can staunch;  
The burning Thirst of Worldly Goods and Gold;  
And all Sins, taught to war against her, bold;  
Have forced her to forsake this wretched Frame,  
And fly again to Heaven whence first she came.  
Or, if in Earth she yet have any Stance,  
'Tis with the Chinois, Turks, or Scythians:  
But in This Climate hardly doth appear  
Any small sign, to show she hath been here.  
Cruel Adicea in her Room is set:  
Hate Favour, Fraud, and Madam Counterfeit,  
(Out of all Courts hunting all Conscience quite)  
Make of Right crooked, and of Crooked Right.  
Art and Deceit keep there their open Schools:  
Reason and Law are but the phrase of Fools,  
For Law and Reason are now weighed (by Sleight)  
In golden Scales; where, only GOLD is weight.  
Thus, the Old-man proceeding still complained;  
Till th'angel, thus His Blasphemies restrained:  
Alas! good Father, your fresh Grief (I see)  
For some great Suit, late lost unhappily,  
From your sad lips this bitter language draws;  
Excusable (perhaps) for your Grief's Cause:  
But th'eye of Passion ill discerns the truth.  
This having spoken; the Celestial youth  
Turns to another, less disturbed in mind;  
And likewise asks, Where he might Dicea find.  
He, more discreet, and milder-spoken, far,  
Replies: My Son, sure very few there are  
(Yea of the wisest, who best understand)  
That easily can answer thy demand.  
For One perhaps will think her to be there,  
Whereas, another (seeming wronged) will swear  
By Heaven, and all that in it Heaven contains,  
That not a spark nor mark of her remains:  
Each holding her, present or absent, still  
As his own Cause hath thryved well or ill.  
But I'll assure thee (and past all Appeal)  
That in this Place she doth not always dwell.  
Sometimes she comes, and brings for Company,  
Honour, and Faith, and old Integrity:  
But the strange Tricks of a bold babbling Dame  
Called Quiddi-quirk, as barbarous as her Name,  
Molest her so, that soon they drive her hence;  
For, Both atonce have nowhere Residence:  
And Plutus too, her manytimes dismays.  
With that sweet Power whereby the world he sways;  
Causing her oft return with heavy cheer:  
And that's the Cause she stays so seldom here.  
Oft have I seen her on the souverain Seat  
In that high Senate, whose Edicts complete  
Sway all the Kingdom; and (if anie-where)  
I sure believe, you yet shall find her There,  
If those Abuses whose bold Tyranny  
From other Thrones hath driven her openly,  
Have not creptin by some close Golden Port:  
But, far be That from such a reverend Court.  
Heer ceased He: and instantly, withal  
Losing his sight, the Angel leaves the Hall;  
His aicrie Body to the Air repays.  
And while he takes to other Courts his ways,  
He happily the wished Lady meets:  
Who, inly joyed (which outward gesture sweets)  
Because in judgement she had overthrown  
Wrongs proud Support, & given poor Right his own,  
Came from deciding of a Cause of weight,  
Before the Peers and Council of Estate.  
But, her Content was doubled when she heard  
heavens sacred will (as th'angel had averrd)  
And His high pleasure (whose Omnipotence  
The heavens adore) for Surname of the Prince:  
With him therefore Her speedy she directs  
Towards the Troop which only her expects.  
Now all these Nymphs assembled, seemed pressed  
(All diversely with joy and Hope possessed)  
To take their Flight to that King-favourd Place  
Where (preordained for this Work of grace)  
They should impose the Royal Infant's Name,  
The World's main Hope (as most conceive the same)  
When suddenly there did among them breed  
A noble strife, which stayed their forward speed:  
Though great desire to see the radiance  
Of that young Sun which should enlighten France,  
Hasted their haste: and though on every side  
As well the sacred Pomp as civil Pride,  
The King himself, Princes and Princely Dames  
Glittering in gold, sparkling in precious Flames,  
And all the Court adorned in rich Array,  
Seem as offended at the least Delay.  
But yet, because Heaven's Monarch had decreed,  
That of the Virtues She which should exceed,  
As most conducing to Kings happy state,  
Should with her Name this Princeling nominate;  
When one of those high Hearlds urged them on,  
Among themselves This to consult upon:  
Consult? said Andria: Why consult about  
A Point, whereof (I think) was never doubt?  
Mine, Mine's this Honour: for among us all  
Who more adorns a King's Memorial,  
Or better keeps a Sceptres Majesty  
At his full Height in Royal hands, than I?  
I fill his Name with glory and Renown;  
I make him feared abroad of every Crown.  
I with the terror of his Arms deter  
Ambitious Tyrants that they dare not stir  
Offensive War against Himself or His,  
How ever spurred by Spite or Avarice;  
His famous Valour gaining This, for Meed,  
That at the last he seems it not to need:  
Unless he list his Conquests to extend  
Throughout the World; then is it I that bend  
The proudest Mountains under his Command,  
The strongest Holds, I render to his hand;  
I fill with fear, I chill with trembling Ice  
The boldest hearts of oldest Companies  
That dare resist his quick and thick Alarms,  
With th'only lustre of his glittering Arms.  
I often only with his Trumpets sound  
(Without a stroke) his Enemies confound;  
And dreadful, make the most redoubted here  
Think it no shame to fly his fierce Career,  
As if (no Steel, of proof toward his blows)  
'Twere Rashness more than Valour to oppose.  
Such were of-old those hardy Heròes found,  
For Prowess, Then for Demigods renowned:  
Such, He whose shoulders shored Olympus' walls:  
Such, He who conquered th'Empire of the Gauls:  
Such, that Great Macedon, and such (again)  
Those famous Paladines, whose Fables vain,  
(Yet useful Tales) tho'ld Romants' fain so fit,  
That even they seem by Mórpheus' fingers writ.  
But what they had Idéally from Art,  
That Réally I to a Prince impart.  
Who knows not, that I, only used in Field,  
Serve all the Virtues both for Sword and Shield?  
Yourselves, indeed, seem to agnize no less;  
Although, in words, you shame it to confess.  
For, when the fury of Wars dreadful Stowres  
Begins to thunder near Your dainty Bowers,  
All pale for Fear, all trembling, all dismayed,  
To Me ye fly, to Me ye cry for Aid;  
Under my wings ye creep, to keep you sure:  
Where (and but there) you think yourselves secure.  
And, rather I, than Any (who expose  
Myself alone against the Hail of Blows)  
Begin Estates, beget, and bring them forth,  
And plant (in blood) the Empires of the Earth.  
Th'admired height of Rome's great Sceptre yerst  
(As that of Greece) was but My work, at first;  
And that same Other, famous, glorious Throne,  
Whose Greatness, Yet, doth in its Cinders groan.  
For, though by War, with Fire and Sword, I waste  
What heavens Decree hath doomed to be defaced;  
Even while I raze, I raise; and of the Rubble  
Of petty States, I build One hundred double;  
As horrid Dragons grow so hugely great  
Of many Serpents that alive they eat.  
You are indeed extolled (and worthily)  
For knowing well, to use a Victory:  
But without Me, You can have none to use;  
Without Me then, your Knowledge nought accrues.  
Therefore, your honour's less; at lest 'tis such,  
As (at the best) on Mine dependeth much.  
In brief, in all the sacred Works we do,  
Our Merit's diverse, and our Honour too:  
You rule the humble, I the proudest tame:  
You adorn Kingdoms, and I conquer them:  
You can direct, and I protect a Crown:  
You do besiege, I dare assault a Town:  
You show the utmost of Man's Wit and Art;  
I act your aims with valiant hand and hart:  
You (last) plot, in shady Chambers seld,  
What I perform, abroad, in bloody Field.  
But, in all These, I pass you All, as far,  
As to subdue the stoutest Foes in War;  
To see about one (Lightning-like) to flash  
Millions of Shott, Millions of Swords to clash;  
To hear no noise but Canon's roaring Thunder,  
Divorcing Souls from Bodies pashed in sunder;  
To march in blood even to the Knees; and yet  
In all undaunted, not dismayed a whitt,  
Is both more painful and more Princely too,  
Then, clearing of a cloudy Fraud, or two;  
To shield by counsel Equity oppresst;  
To gain the Fame of Wisdom with the best;  
To fast and pray, or give abundantly;  
Or get the name of gracious Clemency.  
Then well far Valour: and long live the Story  
Of valiant Princes in the Fane of Glory:  
No humane Virtue hides so well as I,  
Obnoxious stains when Ptinces step awry;  
An ALEXANDER ARISTIDES seems,  
Because the splendour of my spreading beams  
With radiant lustre dazzles so the sight,  
That nought is seen but Great and glorious Light.  
Where, if he lack my Rays, or my Renown;  
Boast he of double or of treble Crown,  
Be he benign, be he munificent,  
Just, wise, religous, learned, eloquent,  
Precise of Promise (both to Friend and Foe)  
Princes abroad little regard him though;  
Yea, might he justly all (else) Virtues vaunt;  
Yet wanting me he seemeth all to want.  
His Harelike hart, at Wars lest noise doth quake,  
And to his Beads he doth him all betake;  
His Fear strikes Fear in his best Refuges,  
And his no-courage doth discourage His.  
In brief, as blessed with Peaceful Virtues rare,  
He seems far fit (in a time of War)  
With Keys and Crosiers a POPE's Part to play,  
Then Sword and Sceptre, as a KING, to sway.  
As Andria had ended here her Part;  
She, in whose School we learn the heedful Art  
Of never fondly Undertaking aught;  
Soft, soft, said she: To boast ourselves, we ought  
Not blame our Equals; nor (with proud Exchange)  
To our own Praises their Dispraises change:  
Andria, I grant, Thy merit's great; but Mine  
Is, if not greater, full as great as Thine:  
Sithence, to reign in Soul of Majesty,  
There is no Virtue to be matched with Me.  
For, let a King be full of High-deseigns,  
Let him be Valiant, as your Paladines;  
Let him be gracious, just and liberal,  
True of his word, and so devout withal,  
That at his Feet all Vices prostrately;  
If Me he lack that am all Virtue's Eye,  
Blindfold he uses (nay, well-near abuses)  
These divine Gifts, which bounteous Heaven infuses:  
And right resembles a fair Ship, for Sea  
All ready rigged, and furnished every way  
With every Needful; Men, Munition, Beef,  
Beer, Biscuit, all: only she wants (the Chief,  
The Life and Soul; the Sense, the Law, the Light  
Whereby she life's, moves, stirs, and steers aright)  
A skilful Pilot, with Discretions hand  
Her winged Manedge rightly to command  
With hempen Rains, and wooden Bridle, so  
That never wry she sail, nor wrong she row:  
Without whose guidance, if the puffing gales  
Into the Deep transport her huffing sails,  
She runs at random, and with rueful Knock,  
Soon splits herself upon some Shelf or Rock.  
Even so it fares with Princes, when they make  
Or Peace, or War, and not My Counsel take;  
Or, without Me, as it were blindefold, use  
Their other Gifts the gracious heavens infuse.  
They thrive so little, that (as in a Wrack)  
Their own rich Burden often breaks their back.  
Their forward Valour but sad Fruit doth yield  
They Winn the Victory, yet lose the Field;  
They bravely fight, and yet are bravely foiled:  
Some Error still hath alltheir Actions spoilt.  
Their Bounty binds not, but unbindeth hearts:  
Their Clemency much more than Rigour smarts:  
Their Zeal itself, proves to themselves pernicious;  
And unto others blind and superstitious:  
Their Vice and Virtues them so inter-nex,  
That scarce can one distinguish their Effects.  
Not that Ill still is not Good's Opposite;  
But that, They wanting Me, their only Light,  
Do (even) Good evil; or do, out of season,  
A Good, which is not good, done without Reason;  
And, of fair Virtues, fruitful Seeds of Glory,  
Reap blasted Buds, which stain their goodly Story,  
What famous Conquest ever yet was got  
Which to the Victor I prepared not?  
Thou fightest bravely, and in Victories  
Of bloody blades, gettst the first Crown, for prize;  
But I, by th'u'rt of Providence, dispose  
To glorious issue thy courageous blows.  
I wisely take the fit advantages  
Of Time and Place, to second Courages:  
I, skilfully the Squadrons range and rank;  
I marshal them to show their Front or Flank  
As best befitts (by warlike Stratagem)  
T'enclose their Foes, to clip, or curtail them;  
Or, breast to breast (as angry Lions wont)  
With brave encounter, charge them full affront:  
I by an Ambush, laid with lucky speed,  
Oppressed with number, help thee at thy need.  
I many-times prevent thy like misshap,  
When seem-fly Foes would train thee to the trap:  
I, to be brief, with ever watchful brain  
Assist, to make thy Valour never vain.  
But, if a Prince must needs want one of us,  
And might not be both Wise and Valorous;  
Sure Reason would our glorious Parts assign,  
Thine to brave Soldiers, to great Captain's Mine;  
Because, my Powers are proper to Command,  
As Thine to Execute with hardy hand.  
But though our humours so far diverse be,  
Yet may we Both, in one brave Spirit, agree;  
And, for This Age, we need no Witness else  
But famous HENRY, who in both excels;  
With so great Wisdom ruling on the Throne  
Which with such Valour he hath made his Own:  
His Victories, yet, making Men dispute,  
To which of Us, they should them best impute.  
Yet hundred Laurels never widow-curst,  
And hundred Ovals, which no skin have burst,  
Prove I have often Conquered without Thee:  
But never wert Thou Victor without Me.  
For, I have oft seen Armies dissiped,  
And proud, strong Cities often rendered,  
(Well mured, well manned, & well stored with food)  
Without the spilling of a drop of blood;  
Using no other than the ancient Wile  
Of wasting fields, where Public loss (the while)  
Returned This Gain, to stoop by Famine Those  
Which could not else have been subdued by Blows.  
Besides, th'off-cutting of all Passages,  
As well of Succours, as of Forages;  
Is even to conquer by uncasuall course,  
Fightlesse to fight, and without force to force.  
Great Captains therefore did Us never part:  
Sith either, sole, is as a headless Dart;  
Or (if not headless) heedless thrown (as ill)  
From feeble caster, without aim, or skill.  
'Tis said of Pallas, in the Trojan Broil,  
That She in fight stern Mars himself did foil;  
To show how fare Wise-Valour doth excel  
A rash Excess of Courage boiling fell;  
Whose fume-blind force, wanting Discretions beam,  
Resembles right a sight-less Polyphem.  
But, whether joint or severed be our Powers,  
My Cunning still yields fairer fruits and flowers,  
Then doth Thy Violence (though oft it spread  
Bright virtuous rays about Thy glorious head).  
For, only then are Thy stiff arms employed,  
When stubborn War dares to have all destroyed.  
But, when sweet Peace fills Crowns with Coronets,  
Thou art locked up in Prince's Cabinets;  
Among the Corselets, which, now wariefied  
Through love of Peace, they have new laid aside;  
Or those, which idly (through Time's alteration)  
Hang by the Walls, both out of Use and Fashion.  
But I, indifferent, serve in War and Peace;  
I breed her, feed her, and her years increase,  
By prudent Counsels, provident Decrees,  
Kind turns, calm Treaties (fitting all degrees);  
In brief, by all means meet to render Kings  
Mutually friends; and rule their Underlings:  
Whence to their States if happy fruits accrue,  
Th'honour of all to Me alone is due.  
But, in the World, what State hath ever thriven;  
Or rather, which hath not to Wrack been driven,  
Where lacked My Conduct, and where only Chance  
Hath steerd the course of Public Governance?  
What humane Action, what Design, what Thought,  
Without Mine aid hath ever come to aught?  
What Private stock, what Public stem of Blood,  
Without my Rules hath sprung, or long hath stood?  
All noblest Arts, all nimblest Works of worth,  
Which humane brains conceive, & hands bring forth,  
Hold they not Me for rich and fruitful Womb,  
Fron whence their births (both first & second) come?  
The kindest Counsels, without Mine among,  
May we not call them Treasons of the Tongue,  
When blind and bad Advice (though malice-less)  
Ruins the Friend to whom it meant Redress?  
Nay nothing, nothing under Heavn, may miss  
The Minds guide rays of my Resplendencies:  
I am the true Sun of all humane acts;  
Without Me, Fortune all their praise exacts.  
If aught I leave to Fortune's doubtful deed,  
It shall appear well set, though ill succeed:  
But where My Sceptre hath a sovereign sway,  
Fortune's false Die hath little power to play.  
Then, be't on Cedar, with a Pen of Gold,  
For Memory and Glory too, enrolled,  
That Of all Soule-adorning Gifts divine,  
The Majesty, the Monarchy is Mine:  
That I, Their Queen, life of Their laws and spring,  
Am, of all VERTVES worthiest of a KING.  
To whom, I seem so much more requisite  
(Being both his Guide & Eye to give him Light)  
As hath a Guide (so judge the most discreet)  
More need of Eyes, than either hands or feet.  
Hear ceased Phronésia: Andria instantly,  
Weening her wronged, seems willing to reply,  
And to herself already soft she says,  
She hath less skill in Phrases then in Frays;  
But, to maintain the honour of her Cause,  
Where need requires, not words but swords she draws  
Then St. Eusebia, jointly raising fair  
Her Souls pure Zeal, and her sweet Voices air,  
See, see (said She) how proudly insolent,  
Vain Men, admiring and too confident  
Of Their fond Wisdom, and frail Fortitude,  
(Forgetting Heavns quick Eye and Arm) conclude  
That their own strength, or their own Providence,  
Hath foiled their foes, or given their own defence:  
As silly children (set on form or stool)  
Whose hands are (first) held at the Writing-Schoole,  
Forming some Letter, vaunt it for their Own,  
And think their Art-less fingers skilful grown.  
But, o fond Mortals! Neither is't your Art  
Of mystique State, nor your high hand and hart,  
Which in your Borders Peace and Plenty brings,  
Or ends your Battles in your Tryumphings:  
But Heauns' Right-hand invisibly addressed,  
To rescue You, hath death itself repressed;  
Repelled all Perils, put-by all Miss-haps  
Ready to quell you with tempestuous claps):  
And then retorting all upon your Foes,  
In lieu of Laurels (which They did propose)  
Sends Terrors, Errors, or Disorders rife,  
Or Mutinies, or other Civil strife,  
Or other Mischief, which confounds their powers  
With their own Swords, or makes them fall on yours:  
So that your hands, victorious Thus, do bear  
Right glorious Palms, and Olyves everywhere  
Adorn your Coasts with their rich oily tress:  
And all with you is Victory, or Peace.  
Yet you, ingrate thewhile, through blind Self-love,  
Not seeing that these Gifts come from above,  
Sacrifice to yourselves, confer the honour  
Of all, to all, save to their own right Owner.  
O cursed Soil! o barren Sand and dry!  
Not bettered ought by any husbandry;  
Hardened with heaunly dews, the more the worse:  
More worthy nothing then a heavy Curse.  
O wretch! refer, refer aright, and bring  
These sacred Streams birth to their sacred Spring,  
That perfect Good, which can no more desist  
To do thee good, than Thou Him to resist.  
Through all thy Province let his Name be praised;  
If to a Crown his favour have thee raised,  
Rear Him an Altar in thy Soul anon,  
And for Burnt-Offring lay thy hart thereon:  
His power (alone) adore, implore and trust;  
And in thyself kill every kind of lust:  
So shalt thou not, what ever Hap succeed,  
Neither so much Courage, nor Counsel need.  
For, covering thee with his protecting hand,  
Did all the World in Arms against thee band,  
Besiege thee round, assault thee in such sort,  
That nought could save thee; neither force, nor Fort:  
Amid all dangers which might fright thee there,  
He, he would free thee from all cause of fear;  
And Thine, preserved from death and deadly Foes,  
Would be amazed to conquer without blows.  
Thy Prayers would put a hundred Hosts to flight:  
Had each a Caesar to command them right,  
Yet fight on thy knees, with arms across,  
Thou, thou (alone) shouldst conquer, without loss.  
Again, His Angel would assume the sword  
Wherewith sometimes th' Assyrian swarms he gored;  
Again, Senacherib's braving Blasphemies,  
Should find a King, with water in his eyes,  
To vanquish him with vows: and as with charms,  
Thou shouldst do more with tears, than he with Arms.  
Why then, thus vainly dare We here consult  
Of others Right? or of our Own insult?  
She, she that gives to God (nay, giveth God)  
On Her of right this Crown should be bestowed;  
Sith her possessing, they All Good possess:  
But wanting her, All else is emptiness.  
Let neither Prowess then, nor Prudence, ween  
Herself King's glory, neither Virtue's Queen:  
I have seen Valiant Kings, and Prudent too;  
And such as knew in all turns what to do,  
And such whose Constance was incomparable,  
Live wretchedly, and die as miserable:  
But, never saw I but a happy End  
Of Pious Princes, which on God depend;  
And in all doubts, all dangers (from their Birth)  
Have (sacring unto Heavn the thoughts of Earth)  
With eyes ay-fixt on That sun's sunny side,  
Believed his Love their Guard, his Law their Guide.  
Not that I would a Prince secure and idle,  
Should so let-go his Empire's Rains and Bridle;  
To cast on God the Cares, the Managings,  
And glorious labours that belong to Kings:  
Nay, rather would I, that with Vigilance,  
Constancy, justice, Wisdom, Valiance,  
And all else Virtues which his God hath given,  
He second still th'assisting hand of Heaven;  
Ay well assured that God will not neglect  
just-armed Prayers of his own Elect.  
But, to His only Bounty must they give  
Th'honour of all the fruits they shall achieve  
By their most noble Cares, most Royal Pains:  
Not to the depth of Machiavilian Brains,  
Not to the vain Effort of humane force,  
Nor Martial Courage, mowing Men and Horse,  
Which in effect (how glorious Name it bear)  
Is but a Public, (lawful) Massacre.  
In brief, what Worth, or Wit in King may be,  
Heauns' King command's he make Them wait on Me:  
Make That, the Spur; Me, Rain of each Intent;  
This, of his Counsel; Me, the Precedent:  
Credit Them often, Me continually:  
That They inspire his Hart, his judgement, I.  
And, that in nothing They with Me compare;  
Nor any else (how Royal) Virtues rare:  
But make Me sit in Honour's form the first;  
Yea, without Me, esteem his State accursed:  
Hold Them for helpful, Me for necessary:  
And firm believe, when Times are adversary,  
Rather to fail, with Prowess and Policy,  
Nay fall, with All; then flourish without Me.   

Through such a Faith, that great King-Prophet yerst,  
With little force, so many Foes reversed:  
So oft escaped so many Snares of Death,  
Which Envies hand had set to stop his breath:  
So fortunate, in every jeopardy,  
He almost seemed t'have wedded Victory.  
What Monarch would not gladly be the Heir  
Of these high fortunes of His Virtue's fair?  
Who would not purchase at the dearest rate  
Of all his Pains, the glorious Praise He gate?  
And yet, the Virtue which advanced Him so,  
And on his Acts such honours did bestow;  
Was not his Prowess (though he durst enough)  
Neither his Prudence (though of famous proof);  
But his religious Piety and Zeal  
To serve the Lord, the God of Israel:  
Zeal, which consuming Him with heavenly flame,  
Made him to consecrate his Facts, his Fame,  
Himself, his Sword, his Sceptre, and his Song,  
At the Author's feet, to whom they All belong:  
As still esteeming that he held his Crown,  
By his support who had it first bestow'n;  
Not by the Prowess, or the Policy,  
Of his own darefull hand, or careful Eye.  
Let noblest Princes imitate this Part,  
This pious zeal of his religious hart:  
And let them know, that nor their Heed in sway,  
Nor their Good-hap (which seems t'attend them ay)  
Their Knowledge, Courage, nor Victorious fame,  
About their heads so glorious Garlands frame,  
Neither from heavn so many blessings bring,  
Neither so much do magnify a King,  
Nor dignify the Sceptre in his hand  
So many millions justly to command;  
As I, who, after this world's Diadem,  
Find them anew, in New jerusalem:  
That God himself-vouchsafes to watch Their state,  
Becomes Their Counsel, Their Confederate,  
Their Rock, their Refuge from their Enemies,  
And gets them daily glorious victories:  
That, without Me, no Virtue is complete;  
And that, in That which maketh truly Great,  
I pass the rest, and all the best They can,  
As fare as God in Greatness passeth Man.  
Eusebia here concluding her discourse,  
Dicea began her Title to enforce:  
I have (said she) long lent you ear alike,  
Yet from your Reasons, and your Rhetoric  
I gather nothing, from the most of you,  
But Usurpations of Mine honours due;  
While mine own Noursling from my side you steal,  
Wherein, with justice, you scarce justly deal.  
For, if of Virtues any worthy be  
To reign, as King's eternal Company;  
And with more lustre their great Names do grace,  
I, I am She may justly claim that Place;  
As she alone, who, by One duty, do  
Make happy Kings, & happy Subjects too:  
She, that of all the Graces from above,  
Acquire them most their People's hate or love:  
She that the Stock of Traitors doth extinguish,  
She that good Kings from Tyrants doth distinguish:  
She that to Each due Recompense imparts  
According to their good, or bad Deserts:  
She, without whom, the rife-full strife-full sound  
Of Mine and Thine, would all the World confound.  
Not that I am so inly blunt, or blind,  
As not to value Valours valiant mind;  
Or not to see, What Benefits to Kings  
Sacred Eusebia, and Phronésia brings:  
But save Eusebia (whom I honour more  
Than all the Greatness Worldlings most adore)  
Not one of you produceth her effects  
So fortunate and free from all defects,  
But oftentimes some evil them succeeds  
Which equals oft their Good, sometimes exceeds:  
Much like some Herbs, of doubtful fame and force,  
Which cure one Grief, and cause perhaps a worse.  
'T's a glorious Work triumphing worthily,  
To win by force a famous Victory,  
To flower a field with dead, to swim in blood,  
To glass one's Valour in a Crimson flood:  
●ut, what's all This, but a mere Massacre  
Of furious Lions (not a humane War)  
Unless the Right of the bright Sword victorious  
Make the Cause just, & the Effect as glorious?  
And are not those so bloody Palms, (the while)  
Gathered in Countries, ruined with the spoil  
Of Wars dire fire, flaming on every side  
Of those sad fields, forsaken far and wide?  
O bloody Virtue, for War only fit,  
And for the Mischiefs that do wait on it!  
Yet lest (alas!) her thirsty Steel should rust  
Within her Sheath, too-long restrained; must,  
Must men with Tears see their dear Countries spoilt,  
Their fields with heaps of slaughtered bodies piled,  
Their Cities sacked, their Houses all inflamed,  
Their treasurs shared, their wives & daughters shamed  
Their tender babes (which have no help, but cries)  
Brained, broached, broiled, in horrid Sacrifice?  
Sure, Noble fury of heroïck hearts,  
The hideous Stage whereon thou act'st thy Parts,  
Is too-too-costly to a State; too-deer  
Are all thy Palms; thy Glory walks too-neer  
Deep Miseries, Pains, Perils, Dolours, Deaths,  
And dire Events; which not alone the breaths  
Of Foes bereave, and Foreign States undo;  
But wrack withal thine own Domestics too.  
For, what Effects, but such nefarious things,  
Have been the fruits of thousand valiant Kings;  
Whose memories so ring of Battles yet,  
That even with blood their Stories may be writ:  
Leaving their Names, just Arguments of terror,  
Loading the Earth with Monuments of horror,  
Filling both Land and Sea, with Gore, with Gall,  
And, to no purpose, topsie-turning All:  
Sith all the gain of all their Victories,  
Is but a fame of Valiant Robberies;  
Reproachful praise to Sovereign Potentates,  
To Supreme Pastors, to high Magistrates:  
Yet, most of These have reaped no other fruit,  
From bloody labours, but This odious Bruit:  
Whereas They should (only) their Powers employ,  
To salve, to save; and never to destroy.  
One only King (no further Name is need)  
justly constrained to arm, & mount his steed,  
By force to enter to his Own by Right;  
Hath sacred all his Art, his Hart, his Might,  
To's Empire's good: and chase War away,  
Makes Peace approved his Valour's daughter ay.  
The rest, still greedy of new Isles, new Indeses,  
Have raised such storms with their Ambitious winds,  
As in their own Seas have nigh sunk Themselves,  
And cast their Subjects upon Rocks and Shelves,  
Where (through more woes) they, even with tears, behold  
How ill it is to have a King too Bold.  
Now, for your Prudent (but, mere Prudent) Kings,  
Toomuch Discourse, which from their judgement springs,  
Oft makes them timorous, loath to take-in-hand;  
To lose their time, while waiting Time they stand;  
And, daring nothing, but Discoursing still,  
To Err as much as Those that dared ill:  
Or, makes them, more (in Worldly matters, here)  
Subtle and sharp, then loyal and sincere.  
So that as They, of dangers heedful are;  
Of Them, no less behoves it to beware.  
I will not say, that many times the grounds  
Whereon the worlds, blind, foolish wisdom found'st,  
Are Contrary unto the solid Base  
Which heavns true wisdom every where doth place.  
So that, one Thought never itself extends  
(Nor can) at once, to two so diverse Ends:  
No more than can the sight of mortal eyes  
〈◊〉 one same instant, Heaven and Earth comprise.  
What shall I say of Thee (and do thee right)  
Sweet St. Eusebia, God's own dear Delight?  
Thou fillest Kings, endued with Thy desires,  
With sacred fervour of Celestial fires;  
Thou makest their Lives a lively speaking Law,  
To rule their Subjects more by Love then Awe:  
But yet, thou makest (if Thou alone be Theirs)  
Them too-too-slack in other Kingly Cares;  
Too-mewed in Peace, in War too-scrupulous;  
And think so much of Heavn, that Earth they lose.   

And, Euergésia, praising Thine Effects,  
Amid the best well may we doubt defects:  
For, what in Kings more Heaun-like seems to all,  
Or Godlike more, then to be liberal?  
Yea, liberal Princes seem even Gods on Earth,  
Com'n-down from Heavn to hunt Despair & Dearth  
Care, Indigence, Encumber, and the rest,  
Wherewith poor Virtue often is oppressed.  
Yea, even as Gods, Their Names are honoured here,  
And, for their Service, nothing is too-deer.  
(The ground of which so great benevolence,  
In some, is Hope; in some, Experience);  
So that all Vows, all Voices end in Them,  
And, as the Sun, Their Sceptres brightly beam.  
Yet, oftentimes, those Bounties of thy hand  
Prove public Burdens, bitter to a Land;  
When fluent Princes (lest their Favours source  
Should be exhausted) have too-oft recourse  
To Tributes, Imposts; and some worse withal;  
Whence Flowers to few, to many Thorns befall:  
And Avarice herself unjustly fills  
With what Profusion over-fondly spills.  
Nor Thou, Eumenia, though extolled so high  
As liveliest Type of Heavenly Clemency;  
And only Shield of such as dare infrenge  
My sacred Rules, to save them from Revenge:  
Thou canst not clear thee from the confluence  
Of Evils used to follow Indulgence.  
For, by too-sparing, Thou dost Vices spread;  
Thou losest sound, to save corrupt and dead:  
And filling Cities with home-Enemies,  
Thy Pardons turn to public Injuries.  
But I, by practice of unpartial Rigour,  
Maintain good Orders, keep the Laws in vigour:  
Make Kings atonce beloved and feared too  
(Feared, alone of those that evil do).  
Their Subjects (set on happy Plenty's knee,  
In their possessions from Oppressions free)  
Bless them, adore them, hold them (ever dear)  
Their Country's Fathers, nay their Gods well-near.  
In brief, no Blessing can befall a Realm,  
But Theirs enjoy, from, by, or under Them.  
For, as it is, of the Wilde-Ash-tree, said,  
That th'only savour, nay the only shade,  
Instantly kills (by strong Antipathy)  
What ever Serpents underneath it lie:  
Such, to the Snakes of Vice, those Princes are  
Which 'gainst Injustice have proclaimed War,  
With no less Care to make My Rules to reign,  
Then their own Sceptres in their hands sustain.  
Can no Rebellion spring (at least) none speed  
In their Dominions, neither Factions breed;  
Sith gracious Heavens vouchsafe them this Accord  
For having used so equally My Sword  
(To all Degrees, in City, Field, and Town)  
In Civil War they shall not wear their Own.  
Their People, feeling in Their happy Sway,  
What Hap, what Rest, what Freedom they enjoy,  
Deeming them as their Gods, and meeting (rife)  
Their length of Bliss by Their dear length of life,  
Watch for Their Safeties; and can suffer nought  
'Gainst them to be misdone, mis-said, mis-thought  
No more then 'gainst their Publique's Prospering,  
Whereof they hold Their justice only Spring.  
For, of all rarest Virtues that may meet  
In a just Prince, They only taste the sweet  
Of Mine Effects; and of that Equal Care  
Of not surcharging more than they may bear.  
What boots it that their Majesties be meek,  
Magnanimous, frank, pious, politic,  
And of a spirit surpassing each Extreme;  
Miss they but Me, They little reck of them:  
They love them not, they listen fare and near,  
Some welcome news of their wished death to hear.  
When, if they use My sacred Exercises,  
Though they be stained (perhaps) with other Vices,  
They hold them perfect; and, in spite of Fate,  
Even after death, their Names they celebrate;  
As living Relics, still preserved above  
●n Fames fair bosom, and their People's love.  
Witness, unto this day, that Norman Prince,  
Brave Rollo, still beloved (though dead long since)  
Still called upon (as for His just Revenge)  
When some new Wrong doth their old Right infrenge.  
Henceforth therefore, o Princes, that desire  
To have your Names to highest Fames aspire,  
To leave behind you Monuments of Worth,  
To give your Glories, after death, new Birth;  
Endeavour not to dazzle proudest eyes  
With Towers of Marble mounted to the skies;  
Neither by War (whose Train is Plague & Dearth)  
With fire and blood to mingle Heaven & Earth;  
To thousand Perils to expose your lives,  
Whereby your Greatness, not your Goodness, thrives.  
Only, love Me; let Me be reverenced  
Through all your lands, by all your hands defenced:  
Let Me sit by you on an Awful Throne,  
To daunt the Lewdest with my looks alone;  
And with my Sword still drawn to prune-away  
Luxuriant Twigs that break my just Array:  
Let My Tribunals be the Poors Refuges;  
Let there-on sit no Mercenary judges:  
Let Innocence find there her surest Fort;  
And who wants Right, there let him want Support:  
There let My Balance be impawned to none;  
But, as his Right is, let Each have his Own:  
In brief, with You let Me be set so high,  
That absolute as you do Reign, may I:  
And I shall more enrich your lasting Stories,  
Then all your golden Towers, your Conquering glories  
Your precious Gifts that with full hand you give,  
Or ought beside, whereby your Names can live.  
Dicea as yet did her Discourse pursue,  
Though mild Eumenia, loath to lose her due,  
●oth longer to endure her Vaunts so high,  
With open mouth was ready to reply;  
●nd so her Sister Euergesia eek,  
●ome little choler colouring her cheek)  
When from th' Empyreal (right Imperial) Court,  
●ame a new Nuntio with a new Report,  
● trusty Truchman of supernal Pleas,  
Their gentle jars thus gently to appease.  
Immortal Beauties of past-humane Souls,  
●e that both Globes in his one hand-gripe holds,  
●ooes you to weet, that His high pleasure is  
To quench for ever all your Differences)  
●ou All have th'honour to impose the Name,  
To Whom he means such favour & such Fame,  
ANARETUS (for an auspicious Sign  
●'haue marked him All with all your Tips divine)  
That, All transformed into that reverend Clerk,  
●eav'ns hallowed Organ, for this sacred wark;  
●usebia, Thou (whom He resembles best)  
●halt Name the Child, in name of all the rest;  
After that He hath six times sounded though  
That other Name his Nation fancies so.  
High, high ye then, Time calls you; for the throng,  
These Rites expecting, thinks each minute long.  
And I, the while, with no less speed must spy  
Th'unwholesome Den where Pestilence doth lie,  
And in heavens name, her straight countermand,  
That She presume not once to lift her hand,  
Nor from her Quiver shoot one Arrow out  
At any of the Royal Courtly Rout  
Assembled for the sacred Mystery,  
During the Pomp of That Solemnity.  
Heerwith the Angel henceed, & bent his flight  
Towards Our sad City, which then deeply sighed  
Under the fury of that Monster fell.  
He found her out in a hot-humid Cell,  
About to Arm her, & to scout abroad,  
Even towards the Place which now the heavens forbade.  
Fowl seam-rent rags (which some old Robe had been)  
Cased here and there her yellow-sallow skin,  
Wherein hot fiery Carbuncles were fixed,  
With poisonie Rubies, here and there betwixt:  
A quenchless Thirst, with a continual Fever,  
Broiled in her breast, boiled in her body ever;  
Her very Breath was as a deadly stroke:  
Her cursed Stance ready with stink to choke:  
●o close it was, that never Wind could fan,  
●aue th'unrefined autumnal African,  
Whose noisome air a stuffing fog did pen  
With musty Vapours of a moisty Fen.  
All round about her, by her side did lie  
All sorts of Fruits that soon putrify,  
Millions of Million; Pears, Plums (passing numbers)  
Most-humor-poysoning, crudie-cold Cucumbers;  
Green Grapes; & that soft Persian fruit (so dear)  
baneful at home, & little better here.  
The Angel, wont to heavens Blissful Hall,  
Made little stay in this unwholesome Stall;  
But, loathing soon that thick contagious air,  
He speedily dispatched his Message there:  
And Heav'n-ward quickly from the Fury flew,  
Whose horror yet so seemed him to pursue,  
That he had fainted to have been so nigh-her,  
Had he not felt him of th'immortal Quire,  
Th'immortal Sisters, in one troop, the while  
Which from their Owners every Vice exile)  
Transported swift upon a winged Cloud,  
By their Arrival made the Palace proud.  
The pompous Scaffold, for this purpose reared,  
Seemed at their sight to tremble (as afeard):  
The stately Towers of th'antique Edifice,  
The massy Porch, and Arch, and Frontispiece,  
Seemed round about to lighten smiling flames,  
As at their Entrance to adore these Dames.  
They, shuffling them (unseen) amid the throng  
Of those Good Great, whom (as they passed along)  
A soft sweet Murmur, for their Virtues, blest;  
Served with Them (each in her office pressed)  
That goodly Rising Sun, whose Rays, new spread,  
So rather a Spring of flowering Hopes have bred:  
And, after both his favoured Names were given,  
The humane first, then that they brought from Heaven,  
All, in a ring, about him did appear  
(Under the form of some fair Princess near,  
Or some great Prince then present there in view)  
To do his Name the Honours justly due;  
Each cheering Him to follow for direction  
The Property She brings to King's perfection.  
Mayst Thou (said one, as his sweet Eyes she kissed)  
Great-little Prince, be of the heavens so blessed,  
That, though Augustus' fortunes Thine surpass,  
Thy Fortunes yet may give thy Prudence place:  
Mayst Thou abound in royal Bounty so  
Another said) that Traiane thou outgo:  
May (said another: how my Hopes aspire!)  
Thy Valour, oneday even excel thy Sire:  
May there (said one) oneday appear in Thee,  
Thy Martial Father's matchless Clemency:  
And, mayst Thou, from thy Childhood (said another)  
Exceed in Zeal thy Mother and Godmother.  
●n brief (Pandora-like) Each offered there  
Their precious Gifts, in Praesage (as it were)  
Till with advantage gracious heavens produce  
Their wished-Counsails into Act and Use.  
Grant, God Almighty, King of Kings, that He  
When on These Thrones his royal Turn shall be,  
He may have care t'accomplish everywhere  
What all our Hopes have for him dared to swear,  
And what his Looks, Words, Manners, Motions, seem  
●n every part, to promise still for Him.  
May He, his People tender, love, protect;  
Delight in justice, yield them her Effect:  
May he forbear to over-charge their backs  
With novel Tributs, or with need-less Tax:  
And let them see that of all Titles given  
To all the Kings that have been under Heaven,  
He holdeth Good the best; better then glorious,  
Warrs-thunderbolt, Earths-Terror, Great, Victorious;  
Whose lofty sound makes Princes oft become  
Abroad more feared then beloved at home.  
High swells the Ocean, when the Moon's at full,  
And with proud Billows threats both Hill & Hull;  
But sinks again, and shrinks into his Bed,  
When Cynthia mues her never-constant Head:  
So (swelling proud; so, surly browed the while;  
So, temper-lesse; tempted with Fortune's smile)  
Ignoble Natures are too-lightly puffed;  
And with her Frown as basely counterbufft.  
Fare other be His firm and generous Mind,  
Whether his Fate be cursed, or be she kind;  
Yea, fawn-shee, frown-shee, (firm indeed to none)  
Be He still like himself, The same, still one;  
Still bountiful, still milde-maiesticall,  
And still vouchsafing free Access to all:  
So that no Bar (a Barbarous device)  
But due Respect do sever Him from His.  
For, be a Prince never so mighty Great,  
If betwixt Him and His a Bar He set;  
At length he sets one (which scarce aught repairs)  
Twixt their Affections & his own Affairs.  
●eaue He, to th'idle Pomp of Prester-Ians,  
To miss-proud Sophies, and soft Asians,  
That Care, to keep their tawny Majesties,  
from Subject's sight (save once a year, or twice)  
And let Him daily (like the Sun) go out  
To clear and cheer the cloudy World about;  
To do the poor oppressed Widow right,  
To help the Orphan, overborne by might;  
To ease the just sighs of sad Labourers:  
And always (like that best of Emperors)  
Think That no Day, or think it lost (for nought)  
Wherein he hath not some such Action wrought;  
Or that he life's not then, or lives in vain;  
Or as a Subject, not a Sovereign.  
Consume not He in frivolous Expense,  
What gold a just love's gentle violence  
Shall for his Succour (in extreme Affair)  
Force his poor People from their hands to spare,  
Nay, from their mouths, nay rather from their bellies)  
Perhaps, drawn-dry with Pump of former Tallies.  
But rather, counting it (with some Remorse)  
Not Gold, but Blood; may He with greater force  
Abhor to lavish upon idle Veins,  
His Subject's soul, & th'humor of their Veins.  
That great King-Prophet (so renowned for Song)  
Once for the water of a Well did long,  
Which at the Postern of a City rose,  
Amid an Host of his most deadly Foes:  
Three of his Worthies (in despite of death)  
Broke through their Army, even to underneath  
The very brickwall whereas the Well did spring;  
Whereof they drew a portion for the King.  
Then, off again they bravely come their ways  
(Covered with wounds, but more with worthy Praise)  
And re-arriued in their own Camp, their Prize  
Unto their Prince present in humble wise.  
But He, bethinking through how many deaths  
Those dreadless Champions had then fetched their breaths,  
In fetching of that wished Water so;  
For all his thirst, he would not drink it tho:  
For, what is This (said he) but the hart-bloud  
Of These that Thus have ventured for my good.  
So, to Gods will, His, willing to accord,  
He offers it on th'Altar of the Lord.   

So, may Our Prince anotherday employ  
The public Treasure, which with careful joy,  
His loving Subjects shall (as aught the loyal)  
Yield to support his Port and Charges royal.  
●ay He present to th'in-sight of his Thought,  
With how much Sweat & Sorrow it is bought:  
What Rigour (used in his Name perhaps)  
●xtorts it from oppressed Widows laps,  
from wretched Craftsmen, from hard-racked Swains,  
Whom Poverty at her own Mess maintains:  
And, in Compassion say (with tender grief)  
●his is my Subject's blood, my People's Life:  
This must not then in idle Pomp and Play  
As water spilt) be spent and cast away.  
Then doubting less the damage than th'abuse)  
Vow it to God, as to the rightful Use.  
And, 'tis to consecrate, and vow it right,  
And in a fashion pleasing in God's sight)  
To pour it out in Royal (right) Expense;  
Either in War-works for his Realms defence,  
Or for his Honour; to all Times to seal  
His Kinglike Bounty, Providence, and Zeal.  
Close-fisted therefore may He never be  
To the true Seed of sacred Memory;  
To Those whose lustre doth adorn Renown,  
And honour's Kings more than their orient Crown:  
To stately Structures, speaking Eminence,  
So as their Use match their Magnificence:  
To wall Highways; to heaw-down harmful Ridges,  
To parallel Eld's Aquae ducts and Bridges:  
Found Hospitals, or to endow them founded:  
To stop Sea-Breaches where they have surrounded:  
To fence with Peers & Piles of sundry sorts  
From Neptune's fury his importing Ports:  
To build fair Shops for th' Helyconian Looms,  
T'advance Their Arts, and give chief Parts chief Rooms;  
And (as with living Nets) by Benefits,  
To catch both Valiant Spirits & Learned Wits.  
Millions of Verse have sounded loftily  
The Prudence, Prowess, Pity, Piety,  
And sacred justice of our Sovereign Sir,  
As divers gales their diverse Sails did stir:  
But not a Voice, in low or lofty vain,  
Hath of his Bounty ever sung a strain:  
Yet yearly from his liberal hand hath come  
A million (a more than Royal Sum)  
Among those (happy) whom his Goodness graces,  
Or whom their own in his opinion places.  
Which of his Predecessors (first or last)  
In Gifts or Guerdons these ●a●e limits past?  
Not one of them did ever reach so high:  
Yet Vulgar bruit (half false, half flattery)  
Gives some of them the great and glorious Name  
Of Liberal Princes, of illustrious fame.  
And shall not we then, bear through th' Universe  
●is worthy Praise upon the wings of Verse?  
●hall not we say that his renowned hand,  
●s worthily (in Peace) with Bounty's band  
Can bind unto him whom he worthy knows,  
●s bravely conquer (in the Field) his Foes.  
Be mute that list, and muzzle they their style,  
On whom his Bounty never deigned to smile  
Were't through their own mis-fate, in having none,  
Or having Virtues, not to have them known.)  
But I, whose hap hath been to march with those  
Towards whose laps This golden River flows,  
My Voice and Verse shall tromp-it fare and nigh  
To modern ears, and to Posterity.  
And (without Flattery) say, that all the scope  
Of Wishes waiting on our future Hope,  
And all our Prayers for a Complete Prince  
(As in the rest of Royal Ornaments)  
Need of the heavens no greater Hap require,  
But that in This, the Son be like the Sire;  
And that he may (observing Golden mean)  
Give like a King that means to give again;  
Yet, with such fervour to This glorious Part,  
That still he give less with his hand, than hart.  
Vouchsafe th'eternal Destinies-disposer,  
King's sole Advancer, & Kings sole Deposer,  
That maugre Tyrant's wrath, and Traitor's wile  
(Whose Masterpiece we Here have seen erewhile)  
He may wax old (after his aged Sire)  
In Peaceful Reign, until his Reign expire:  
And never but at Tilt, or Tourney, feel  
The cumbrous burden of a Case of steel;  
Or, when just fury shall inflame his sprite  
Against Usurpers of His ancient Right.  
But, whether lawless Need, or Glories love,  
Him drive, or draw, his Force in Field to prove,  
May He in Counsel, Courage, and Success,  
Match his great Parents constant Happiness,  
So as there be no need to spur Him forth,  
With brave Remembrance of His match-less worth.  
But, Laurel burnt crackles in vain; and ofit  
Champing the Leaf alone, makes not a Prophet,  
If that his Tutors have not more to do,  
To hold him from, then to incite him to;  
To cool, then kindle, that courageous heat,  
Which makes men fear no death, no dangers threat  
But, as once Theseus, ready to be killed,  
Was known to be the King's son, that so wild;  
By his gilt Sword & sign engrav'n thereon:  
He shall be known to be His Father's Son,  
By the Exploits of His, in such a Rank,  
As would have made the two first Caesar's blank.  
Be He Benign, so as his Indulgences  
Breed not Bad-Boldnes, Feed not Insolences:  
Like to some Winters, over-milde and warm,  
Which neither kill the Weed, nor chill the Worm;  
But breed the Plague, Pox, Murrain & the rest,  
That rotten Humours may, in Man and Beast.  
Not, but I know it fare more honourable  
To save then spill (in Cases tolerable)  
●ith here a World of Dust-bred Creatures live,  
Can reave-mans' life, which only God can give:  
But too-oft Pardoning oft too-many draws  
T'have need of Pardon, through contempt of Laws  
And Magistrates; whom the Audacious reek  
But Bugs, & Bridles to base minds & weak.  
In Mildness then, be He so moderate  
For His own safety and the public State)  
That neither Horror taint his Executions;  
Neither his Favours harbour Dissolutions,  
And, too-remisse, by His too-oft Reprieves,  
Turn Pities Temple to a Den of Thiefs.  
May He fear God, love, worship, seek, & serve him,  
Know, it's He sole doth establish & preserve him:  
That Kings, as his Anointed, have Regard:  
That but He guard them, little boots their Guard.  
May he believe His Word, honour, obey;  
Take it, for Compass in this Worldly Sea,  
Make it the Measure of King's Power, in all,  
And counting That of Laws the principal,  
Have it ay written in his hearts deep rooms,  
But, as a Prince, not as a Priest becomes.  
Under th'old Law (now abrogat long since)  
One might be both a Pontife and a Prince,  
For nothing seemed then to hinder them  
From matching so Mitre and Diadem:  
But now their Functions are divided far,  
And Monkish Kings, now but contemned are:  
There Man and Master but Hail-fellow is;  
And subjects play the kings, where Kings play Priests.  
May He be loyal, constant in sincerity;  
In soul, abhorring lies, and loving verity:  
That as his Deeds shall (for the most) be Miracles,  
So may his Words be altogether Oracles.  
Th'Almighty grant, that during all His days,  
All sparks be quenched which Factions wont to raise;  
For, for the most (to double Misery)  
There be Two Kings where two great Factions be.  
But, if there should (which God forbidden) succeed  
Such Mischiefs here (as heretofore there did)  
May He not want sound Counsels happy Light,  
To guide him in his Father's steps aright:  
Who, reaving th'eldest Emperor's their Palms,  
Suddenly turned such Tempests into Calmes,  
By Means so mild, that it was rather thought  
By heavenly Hap, then humane Wisdom wrought.  
But, were it Wisdom, were it Happiness,  
Match He our Wishes, and His Wise success:  
Th'one of Himself, th'other from Heavenly hand,  
That Peace may prosper over all his Land.  
I know that Princes being born for th'Arts  
Which Counsels, Camps, & Dangers school imparts,  
The Books most needful and peculiar Theirs,  
Are Politics, of State, & State-affairs.  
But, sith so few years do our Age comprise,  
That even the greatest of the greedy-Wise,  
Should know but little, if no more they knew  
Then from Experience of one Age they drew:  
That He, at once, may see all Accidents  
Of all past Ages, with his own's Events;  
May He propose & set before his eyes  
The goodly Tables of all Histories;  
And there contempling all the true Records  
Of other Monarches, mighty States, and Lords,  
Observe their Acts, their Counsels, their Discourse,  
All (notable, or rare) in all their Course;  
Both what to follow there, and what to shun,  
And whether Fame or Shame their lives have won:  
May He there glass himself, & mark it brim,  
Whether the same shall not be said of Him.  
For here, Our Verses smoothly sing and smile,  
But History will hisse, in other style:  
And Kings that here have been compared to Gods,  
Entombed once, though under golden Clods,  
If in their Lives they have deserved it, first;  
Shall hear their Names torn, and their Fames accursed▪  
What may I add unto These Wishes more?  
No more but This; that All here wished before,  
And All presaged of the DOLPHIN here,  
Concur in CHARLES: that all His Parts appear  
A living Picture of all Parts of Worth  
Of all those Worthies whence He takes his Birth:  
That gracious Heavens (which promise even as much)  
In all These Virtues deign to make Him such,  
That really he give royal Assent  
To all the Acts of Virtue's PARLIAMENT:  
That in his Turn, the Ages after Us,  
May find, and know him for PANARETUS:  
And, sith That Name must needs Immortal be,  
That no profane hand blurr His History:  
But some sweet Daniel, or some sacred Hall,  
Or civil Hayward, (milde-maiestike, all)  
With purest faith, in a peculiar style,  
A glorious Work of His great Works compile:  
●r, if that Any of more worthy Skillis,  
Be He the HOMER to This new ACHILLES,  
GREAT BRITAN'S great Hope of Great Hap to-come;  
Phoenix arising from a Phoenix Dust:  
〈◊〉 whom the heavens (as merciful, as just)  
Restore our great loss, in Great henry's Toomb.  
● Long, long and Happy (in thy Brother's room)  
succeed Thou CHARLES, ever as Good as Great:  
deriving, old, to Thy old Father's Seat,  
●ise, Great, Good STVARTS, till the Day of Doom.  
Which while I pray, sweet Prince, vouchsafe a space  
〈◊〉 read and rue Your humble Bead-mans' Case.  
Here (like LEANDER in the Hellespont)  
Tossed in a Tempest, in the darkest Night,  
Distract with Fears, divorced from the sight  
Of My High Pharus which to guide me wont:  
Spying Boötes in your HIGHNESS' Front,  
For life I labour towards your hopeful Light  
(May never Care beclowd that Beam so bright,  
Come never Point of least Eclipse upon't)  
Yet, though (alas) your gracious Rays have show'●  
My wracked limbs a likely way to land:  
Unless (by Others Help, or by your Own)  
The tender Pity of your Princely hand  
Quick hale me out, I perish instantly,  
Hal'd-in again by Six that hang on Me.  
SIxe-times already, ready even to faint,  
With grievous Weight of guiltless Want oppressed,  
●ARTAS and I have bowed, and vowed our best  
●efore the Altar of our Sovereign Saint:  
●nd yet, the Ear that heareth every Plaint;  
●he Heart that pities every poor Distressed;  
●one (alas!) seems Deaf to My Request;  
●nd only, is not moved with My Complaint.  
●et must I needs (NEED still importunes so)  
●●portune still, till some mild Soul relent:  
●ut (under Heaven) no Help, no Hope, I know,  
●ue YOU alone, my Ruin to prevent:  
YOU only may, Now only, if at all:  
Past Help, past Hope, If Now YOU fail, I fall.   
Your Highnes' most humbly devoted, and observant Servant, josuah Sylvester.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue.  
THE 

Wonder of Widows:  
Honour of Wives:  
Mirror of Maids.   Translated, & Dedicated To The Sovereign of Women, ANNE Queen of Great-Britan.  
By JOSVAH SYLVESTER. 1614   

TO The right-right Honourable LADIES, 

Lucy, Marchioness of Winchester.  
Lucy, Countess of Bedford.  
Anne, Countess of Dorset.  
Frances, Countess of Exeter.  
Frances, Countess of Hartford.  
Katherine Countess of Salisbury.  
Susan, Countess of Montgon.  
Barbara. Vi-Countess Lisle.  
Elizabeth, Vi-Countess Haddington.  
Elizabeth, Vi-Countess Fenton.  
Sara, Baroness Zouch.  
Margaret, Baroness Wotton.  
Honoria, Baroness Hay.  
Eliza. Baroness Knowlis.  
Eliza. Baroness Cavendish.  
jane, Baroness Roxborough.    
MIrrors of HONOUR, Models of Perfection,  
Lowe, to You all, bows the BETHULIAN Dame;  
Beseeching All, but chief, You, by Name,  
To deign her grace and place in your Affection:  
You Noblest Lights, whose Virtues bright reflection,  
Rare-richly sparkles every-way some flame  
(Divers in Form; in Virtue still the Same)  
On Objects worthy of your Worth's Election:  
Your kind Address She craves, your sweet Direction  
Towards the Presence of Your Sovereign DAME,  
Whose High Endowments, by the Trump of Fame,  
●nvite All Virtuous under Her Protection;  
Which, JUDITH humbly prays You, pray, for Her:  
And, mild interpret Her Interpreter.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue.  
THE FIRST BOOK.  
I Sing the Virtues and the valiant Deed  
Of th' Hebrew Widow, that so bravely freed  
Bethulian Doors from Babylonians Dread;  
And with just Falchion did behead their Head.  
Thou, that to save from Pagans servile Rigour,  
Thine Isaac's Heirs, didst steel with manly vigour  
Weak IVDITH'S hart, my feeble hart advance;  
Raise, raise my Thoughts in high & holy Trance:  
Upon my Spirit, o! let thy Spirit reflect:  
Grant I may handle in a style select  
So sacred Stuff; that whoso reads This Story,  
May Profit reap, I Comfort, and Thou Glory.  
And You, great Comfort of Great-Britan's King,  
Whose Virtues here I under JUDITH sing;  
Thrice-royall ANNE, vouchsafe auspicious Rays  
Of Princely Favour on These Pious Lays  
(Composed first upon a Queen's Command,  
Disposed next into a Queen 's own hand,  
Transposed now to a more Queen's Protection:  
As most peculiar to all Queen's Perfection.)  
Great-gracious Lady, let it not distaste,  
That JUDITH made not (as she ought) more haste  
To kiss Your Hands; nor deem, nor doubt, the worst,  
Though She have seen Your Royal Spouse the first:  
It was her Truchman, much against Her mind,  
Betrayed her so, to go against Her Kind.  
For which Offence, with other more, to Her,  
She hath got her now a new Interpreter;  
She hopes, more faithful (wishes, more discreet)  
To say and lay Her Service at Your Feet:  
To give DU BARTAS (at the last) His Due,  
In Her behalf; and in Her, honour You.  
While Israel a happy Peace enjoyed,  
And, dangerless, with diligence employed  
The fruitful Soil, which 70. years vnsow'n  
Had lain before, with Thistles over-grow'n;  
The Lord, Who often, by some Stroke severe  
Of just Correction, wakes his Own (for fear  
Lest too-long Resting make them like the Horse,  
Which standing still too-long, doth lose his Force,  
forgets to manage; and too-pampred, grows  
Unruly, restive; and his Rider throws)  
Covers their Country with so huge an Host,  
That clouds of Arrows darkened all the Coast,  
Pikes, Bills, and Darts, seemed, as they stirred, or stood,  
A moving Forest, or a mighty Wood:  
And, of all sorts of Soldiers, rankly-rude,  
Under their Ensigns marched such multitude,  
As even drew dry the Rivers where they passed  
Through rich judea; so that, at the last,  
Clear Iordan's Self, in his dry oazie Bed,  
Blushing for shame, was fain to hide his head;  
Because (flat Bankrupt) he no more could pay  
One Tribute-stream, of all he ought the Sea.  
The sunburnt Reaper had yet scarcely rid  
The ridged Acres of their richest Weed:  
The needy Gleaner had scarce gathered clean  
The scattered Ears the Hinder lest, to glean:  
And scarce, as yet, the flails upon the Floors  
Began to groan: When jacob at his Doors,  
Sees HOLOFERNES his weak Frontiers spoil;  
In bloody Rivers drown his fertile Soil;  
Not sparing fell the tender Female-kind,  
Nor hoary hairs (already short confined)  
Nor Sucklings, swaddled in their Mother's arms,  
From insolence of his insulting Arms.  
Then, as a Flock of Sheep, which sees their Foe  
Come forth a Wood (who oft hath scared them so)  
Minds no Defence; but scudding to be gone,  
Makes, in an instant, hundred Flocks of one:  
Th' Isaacians seized with a sudden Fear,  
Thinking his Host behind them every where,  
Dispersed and scattered (like those silly Sheep)  
Fly into Woods, in Rocks & Caves they creep.  
Th'affrighted Swains, neglecting Fields & Flocks,  
To save their lives, climb steepest Hills & Rocks:  
Artificers, leaving their Tools to play,  
Gain-greedy Chapmen, laying Trades away,  
High them to hide them, in securer sort  
In mossy Caves, then in a martial Fort.  
And greatest Lords hold Denns of Wolves & Bears  
A safer Hold, then Gold-lyned Walls of theirs.  
Fear, lending wings to th'Aged, makes them ply  
With lusty speed up to the Mountains nigh:  
Fear makes the Mothers, all forlorn and lost,  
Lug their dear Cradles to the Clouds almost:  
Fear makes the Children (like so many Lambs)  
Crawl on all four after their dabbled Dams:  
there's nothing heard but hideous Cries & Plaints,  
Sad Lamentations, pitiful Complaints.  
O Lord! (say they) will't thou, for ever, Thus  
Thrill down the Darts of thy fierce Wrath on us?  
Shall the Chaldéan Idolists again  
Thy Chosen Flock in servile Yoke enchain?  
Shall our sad Houses, turned to Heaps of stone,  
With Weeds & Thorns again be ouer-grow'n?  
Shall sacrilegious Fire again presume  
Thy sacred House, thine Altar, to consume?  
But joachim, Highpriest of God, that tide,  
And of the Hebrews then the chiefest Guide,  
Follows the stout and expert Pilots guise,  
Who, when he sees a sudden Storm arise,  
Adds not more Fear, with His Fear, to his fellows,  
Nor leaves his Ship to mercy of the Billows;  
But, hiding his distrust, opposes brave  
His Arm and Art against the Wind and Wave:  
For, quick dispatching (hourly) Post on Post,  
To all the Coverts of the Able-most  
For Pate, Prowess, Purse; commands, prays, presses them  
To come with speed unto JERUSALEM.  
Since first th' Eternal gave his sacred Law,  
Upon Mount Sinai (in so dreadful Awe)  
Th' Ark, which contained, in Two leaves of stone,  
Much more sound Wisdom, in itself alone;  
Then subtle Greece, or Rome (renowned for Wise)  
In Worlds of Volumes ever could comprise;  
Wandered from Tribe to Tribe, from Race to Race,  
Throughout all jury, without Restingplace,  
Yea, sometimes too (o too audacious Theft!)  
The sacrilegious Philistines it reft:  
Till th'happy day when Iesse's holy Stem  
Lodged it for ever, in JERUSALEM.  
But, sith as yet, great David's hands were red  
With blood of Thousands he had slaughtered;  
The King of Peace would have a peaceful Prince  
In Peaceful days, with all Magnificence  
To build his TEMPLE; whose high Battlement  
Seemed Earth to scorn, & threat the Firmament,  
Till th'hapless Day wherein a hateful King,  
(In name and nature, just resembeling  
This Tyrant's Lord) with execrable Blaze,  
Did burn it down, & the Foundation raze.  
A longwhile after, Abr'ham's sacred Stems,  
Returned from Shores of Tyrant Tigris streams;  
Beset with Fears, with Peril, and with Pain,  
Rebuilded Heer God's glorious House again.  
Which, though (alas!) That first no more it matched,  
Then a King's Palace a poor Cottage thatched;  
In Bigness yet, Beauty, and Height, obscured  
All Pagan Wonders which most Fame procured:  
Th' Assyrian Queen-king's (sometime) sumptuous Bowers,  
Th' Ephesian Temple, the Egyptian Towers,  
The Pharians Pharus, Carians' costly Toomb,  
Rhodes high Colossus, the huge Heaps of Rome.  
For, for admired Art, This glorious TEMPLE  
Served Ctesyphon for Model and Example;  
Lent rare Apelles curious Pencil Light,  
And led Lycippus cunning Chizel right.  
Thither, by Troops, th' Isaacian Tribes devout,  
Returned to Salem, flock from all about:  
As, when the heavens, opening their Sluices wide,  
Pour sudden Showers, surrounding every side;  
The gurgling Rills with rapid Course descend  
From sundry Hills, and to some River tend.  
But, sad-sweet JUDITH in the midst (almost)  
Shined as Cynthia 'mid the Nightly Host:  
For, God (it seemed) her Beauty's Form had cast  
In rarest Mould of Nature (first or last).  
Th' High Primate then, assisted with the Ligne  
Of Eleazar (Priests, whose sacred Crine  
Felt never Razor) on his oiled head  
A pearly Mitre sadly settelled;  
His sacred Body also soon he heals  
With sacred Vesture, fringed with golden Bells:  
Then burns for Offering, slays for Sacrifice,  
Kids, Lambs, Calves, Heifers, in abundant wise:  
Th'horns of the Altar with their blood bedying,  
And lowely-lowd, thus to th' Almighty crying:  
We come not here, o dreadful Lord of Hosts,  
To plead a Roll of Meritorious Boasts;  
Nor to protest, that, in these Punishments,  
Thou wrong'st thy justice, and our Innocence:  
No; we confess, our foul and frequent Crimes  
Worthy worse Plagues than These, a thousand times;  
Couldst thou forget Thy deer authentik Pact  
With Abraham, or wouldst thou (so exact)  
Forcing thy Mercy in thy justice Scale,  
Our Weight of Sins with judgements countervail.  
Remove our Cause, we therefore (Lord) entreat,  
From justice Barr, unto thy Mercy-Seat:  
O! holy Father, pardon us (we pray)  
●nd turn from us this fearful Storm away.  
Alas! what boots us, that thy mighty hand  
●ath brought us home from Tigris hateful strand,  
●ree from the Yoke, which we so long (before)  
●nder th' Assyrian cruel Tyrants bore;  
●● these fat Fields, we have but new re-tild,  
●● these fair Frames, we do but now rebuild,  
●● these (o Dolour!) our dear loving Wives,  
Our Babes, Sons, Daughters (dearer than our lives)  
●ust serve the Chaldés, Ammonites for Pay,  
●nd be the Persians, and fell Parthians Prey;  
●f This thine Altar, if these hallowed rooms,  
●e re-profaned with Heathen Hecatombs?  
O! if thou wilt not pity Us, abhorred;  
At least, be jealous of Thy Glory, Lord:  
At least, have pity on This Holy Place,  
Where, to no God, but to IEHOVA'S Grace,  
●s Incense burnt, nor any Sacrifice,  
But to thyself, of all the Deities.  
Lord! therefore turn, o turn the Chaldean Torches  
From these rich Cedar Roofs, these stately Porches:  
Preserve these Plates, this precious Furniture,  
From sacrilegious Pilferers impure.  
And let our Sorrow, and our Sacrifice,  
Unto thy justice, for our Sins suffice.  
The Service done, Each doth his way departed,  
And joachim instantly calls apart  
The States of juda, and thus, sadly-sweet,  
Consults with Them, how with this Storm to meet.  
Grave Peers (said he) if your brave Zeal, of old,  
Be not quite quenched, be not yet keycold:  
If Care of Wives, if tender children's love,  
Had ever Power Your Souls dear Souls to move:  
If in your Breasts rests any noble Worth,  
Now, now or never, bring it bravely forth:  
For, but God aid, and your auspicious Speed,  
We are undone, We & our wretched Seed:  
And never more shall the Immortal see  
This Altar Smoking to His Majesty.  
While th' Air is mute, so that it scarce can make,  
In Summer days, an Aspen leaf to shake:  
While Seas be calm, so that, with Streamers brave,  
A thousand Sail slide on the sleeping Wave:  
While all the Winds be mewed up in their Cell;  
'Tis hard to say, which Pilot doth excel.  
But, when a Tempest, one-while sinks a Ship  
Down to the Bottom of th'infernal Deep;  
another-while, with swelling Fury driven,  
●ilts with her Tops against the Stars of Heaven;  
●aking a Shelf now, and a Rock anon;  
●hen, and but then, is a Good Master known.  
Therefore (alas!) let now no carnal Care,  
Of goods, lives, honours (for your private Share)  
Make you forget your Common-Country's Love,  
This Sacred Place, th'honour of GOD above:  
●ut humbly all into His hands resigning  
Your Souls whole Sway, & all your Spirits refining  
●n sacred Flame, from Dross & Mists impure,  
Which too-too-oft the clearest Eyes obscure;  
advice (I pray) the best, in likelihood,  
Most pleasing God, most for the Public Good.  
An aged Traitor then, whose breath distilled  
●weet Honey Words, whose breast with Gall was filled,  
Wring false Tears from his dissembling Eyes,  
His cursed Drift did in These Terms disguise:  
My Spirits faint, my Speech doth fail me quite,  
My frosty hairs for horror stand upright,  
When I consider how This Tyrant fell,  
With Bloud-floods drowning where he comes to quell,  
Draws near Us; threatening to our Houses Flames,  
Death to ourselves, dishonour to our Dames:  
But, when (on th'other side) to mind I call  
This mighty Princes mild Receipt of All  
(Not only such, as, rude and Reason-less,  
Serve (like himself) dumb Idols, Blocks, & Beasts:  
But such, as, matching our Zeal's holy Height,  
Are Abrah'ms Seed, both in their Flesh and Faith;  
Which wisely have (and timely) turned (submiss)  
The deadly Edge of his dread Vengeances:  
I praise the Lord for such a Foe; so meek  
To yielding Lambs, to Lions Lion-like;  
As flexible to humble Tears, as fell  
To Resolutions that (in vain) rebel.  
Sith therefore, yet we may have Choice (for jury)  
Of War, or Peace; his Favor, or his Fury;  
Winking in Dangers, let's not Wilfully  
Fellow our Father's stubborn Sur-●uidry:  
But, striking Sail in such Storms violence,  
Let's live secure under so good a Prince.  
Yet, None mistake, that I this Counsel give,  
To save My Stake, as one too-fain to live:  
Alas! my Years are of themselves of age  
To dye alone, without Assyrians Rage;  
Without the help of their keen Dart or Pole,  
To lance my Hart, or to let out my Soul:  
Where, were my Youth's Spring now re-flowred again  
●nd heateful blood boiling in every vein,  
●y Zeal to GOD, and to my Country's Good  
●hould show me well no Niggard of my Blood,  
●ight (Samson-like) My Death bring Death to all  
●he Pagan Host and their proud General.  
●ut, more I fear, lest, with a Zeal too-Yong,  
We, fight for the Law, the Law impugn;  
inciting so the Soldiers Insolence,  
●censing so the Fury of the Prince,  
●hat they by Conquest of one Day undo  
●eer Israel, and drown GOD's Glory too.  
●or, We bereft, What People, in This Place,  
●ruely-religious, shall implore His grace;  
Who, of all Nations that dispersed Won  
from Shores of Indus, to the Setting Sun;  
●nd from the farthest Hyperborean Coasts,  
●o those whose Climb continual Summer roasts,  
●ath chosen only jacob for his Own,  
●nd on This Mount His drad-deer Glory shown?  
But, good old Cambris (else the mildest Prince)  
●roanes, grieved and pale with Passions vehemence;  
●nd, interrupting That, with This Discourse  
●artens the heartless Peers and Counsellors:  
Rather, o Earth (for which our Earthlings strive)  
Gape under me, and swallow Me alive:  
Rather, just heavens, with sulphury Fire and Fume  
(As Sodom yerst) Mesodainly consume,  
Then I should (Saint without, within Malicious)  
Give Israel a Counsel so pernicious.  
Were it, the Head of this inhuman Band  
Meant but our Bodies only to command,  
Though with our Birth, to this fair Light we brought  
Sweet Liberty (so sweet and deer, that nought,  
No Hopes, no Heaps may be compared to it:)  
The TEMPLE saved, I might perhaps submit.  
But, sith this Tyrant, puffed with foolish Pride,  
With heavier Gyves to load our Souls (beside)  
Which (only Vassals of the Thunder-Thrower)  
Nor know, nor own, to Any Sceptres lower;  
Would that (forgetting Him who made us All,  
And of all People chose us principal,  
And fatherly provides us every thing,  
And shields us ay with Shadow of his wing)  
We take for GOD, His proud ambitious Prince,  
Who Nimrod-like, with hellish Insolence,  
Would climb to Heaven, although his life be such,  
As merits not the Name of Man, by much.  
●s beard him boldly, bravely frand we to't,  
●●s against Arms, Man to Man, Foot to Foot.  
story lies not in vainglorious hearts,  
●mber of Horses, nor of Pikes, and Darts:  
●ese be but Instruments th'Eternal moves,  
crown with Conquest whom his Goodness loves.  
Yet, should the Lord now suffer Heathen's rage  
● overrun his sacred Heritage,  
●ause in life his Name we so dishonour;  
Death, at least, in Death, let's do him Honour:  
●d, if we cannot Assur overcome,  
●'s win, by Patience, Crowns of Martyrdom.  
And, could our Foes (as fell as Lestrygons')  
●m off the Earth extirp our Tribes atonce;  
●cy could not though GOD's glorious Name inter  
●s these Apostates falsely would infer).  
●, He that with so sundry Nations stored  
●vnpeopled World, from one Man; and restored  
●●●g after that) by one small Bark, the waste  
●e Flood had made, when it had All defaced;  
●ot He able even of stones to raise  
People Zealous of his glorious Praise?  
●ot He able once again to open  
●d Sara's Womb, and give her Spouse (past hope)  
More Sons, than Sands on Lybian shores be cast,  
By ruffling Boreas, loud, Cloud-chasing Blast;  
Or twinkling Spangles nightly brightly roll  
On sabled Circles of the whirling Pole:  
Which, with more sacred Voice, more humble Awe,  
Shall sound his Praises, and observe his Law?  
Then rather, Fathers (foul befall You else)  
Let us die Hebrews, then live Infidels.  
Let's not prefer, too-base, and too-too-blame,  
Profit to Duty, idle Fear to Shame.  
Cambr●s Oration was no sooner done,  
But all th' Assembly (as all joined in one)  
Confirmed His Counsel both with voice & gest:  
And joachim, (joy-rapt, above the rest)  
Lifting to Heav'n-ward reverend hands and face,  
Said, Lord we thank thee, that thy special grace  
Hath steeled our hearts, and linked our Wills no less:  
A hopeful Sign of happy good Success.  
Then, to the Princes he the Charge commits  
Of Towns and Provinces, as Each befits:  
Lest any, spurred by Envy or Ambition,  
In Israel should kindle new Sedition.  
So, Each withdraws, and bravely-bold prepares  
To front the worst that martial Fury dares.  
Who th' Aristaean busy Swarms hath seen  
●n Hybla's Top; Whether, with Launcets keen,  
●arging the Drones which over-neer their homes  
●ome humming out to rob their fragrant Combs:  
●hether, collecting their delicious Dew  
●om various Thyme, and other Flowers not few:  
●hether, extending, in rare Symmetry,  
●ith wondrous Art, their Waxed Canapey;  
●nd arching even, so many Thousand Cells,  
● quick, so thick; so like, as Nothing else:  
●hether, conducting their too-ful Supplies  
owhere, to plant their goodly Colonies;  
●hich keep, still constant, in their new Plantation,  
●heir Mother city's Manners, Laws, and Fashion:  
●●th seen the jews as busy Diligence,  
●nd quick Desire to put them in Defence.  
Some stop the Breaches made by Art or Age;  
● the heavens anger, or the Heathens rage:  
●me, lest the Ram, butting with boisterous Falso,  
●ould pash to powder their too-feeble Walls,  
●ith Bastions, Bulwarks, Rampires, Ravelins, Forts,  
●nk on all sides their Cities where imports:  
●me to and fro trudging with Baskets filled,  
● places needful sudden Sconces build:  
Some wanting time, or means their Town to wall,  
With broad deep Trenches soon begirt it all:  
And from a River near they cut a Rill  
The hollow bosom of their Dike to fill.  
While Armourers, in order, beating quick  
Hot sparkling Steel on Anvils hard and thick,  
Transform it soon to Corslets, Curtellaxes,  
Helms, Gorgets, Gauntlets, Bills and Battail-axes;  
And some, for need (to furnish and set-out  
Th'untrained Shepherd, Neatheard, and the Lout)  
Ground the ground-slycing Coultar to a Blade,  
And of the Sickle a strait Weapon made:  
None Young and healthy took Repast or Rest:  
One on his back, another on his Beast,  
Others in Wagons carryed-in apace  
Corn, Wine, and Food to some importing Place:  
Even so, in Summer (as the Wiseman tells)  
Th'Emmets by Troops haste from their hollow Cells  
To get-in Harvest, graving where they gone  
Their Diligence even in a path of Stone:  
The lustiest Swarms for their Provision range,  
The sick and old wait at their thrifty Grange  
T'vnloade the Burdens, and lay-up their Store  
In their great Garnier, biting yet before  
Of every Grain, lest kept so warm below  
Amid the Mould, it after sprout and grow.  
The end of the first Book.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue. THE SECOND BOOK.  
NOw Holofernes, in the Scythik Fort  
Had pight his Standards; and in various Sport  
His Youthful Pagans did them still delight;  
Nought less expecting then Affront, or Fight:  
When he had news, The jews stood bravely out,  
Defied his Pride, and fortified about.  
Shall then (said He) shall then a sort of Slaves,  
A sort of Clowns & Shepherds, armed with Staves,  
With Slings and Stones, presume to stop the Course  
Of Mine exploits: Which, nor the roaring source  
Of rapid Tigris and swift Euphratés,  
Nor snowy Tops of Taure and Niphatés,  
Conspired, could stay? You Chiefs of Moabites,  
Of valiant Ephraim and fierce Ammonites;  
You that as Neighbours (having long conversed)  
Know all the Nations on these Hills dispersed,  
Say, from what People had they their Descent?  
What lies their Strength in? What's their Government?  
For, He that wisely knows his Foe (they say)  
Hath, in a manner gotten half the Day.  
Then Ammon's Prince, bending his humble knee,  
Thus to the Duke replied right prudently  
(For though in hart a Pagan, born and bred;  
Against his Mind, his Tongue divinely led  
By that same Spirit which did the Seer compel,  
Which came to curse, to bless his Israel;  
Of th' Hebrews State did such Relation make,  
As if in Him Moses and Esdras spoke;)  
My Lord, I shall, sith You so please, recite  
Th' Isacians Story; and will follow right  
Th' ingenious Bees, which want not to devour  
All Sweet they meet, nor suck of every Flower;  
But even of those they choose, take but the Crops.  
This People (Sir) upon the Mountain Tops  
Encamped here, originally came  
From forth the Loins of famous ABRAHAM,  
Who, to obey the GOD of Gods, most High  
Maker of All; of All Support, Supply;  
Came to This Country (then, in Occupation  
Of Canaanites, the rich and native Nation)  
Where that same GOD not only heaps with Gold  
And Goods, his House; but also (though He old  
An hundred years; a third part less, his Wife;  
And, till that season, barren all her life)  
Sent him a Son: swearing, His seed should sway  
Triumphant Sceptres many, many-a-day:  
But, when good Abraham's old-old Age expects  
This happy Promise in the sweet effects,  
Th'Immortal Voice (o piteous Mysteries!)  
Commands that He his ISAAC sacrifice.  
Even as a Ship upon the raging Sea  
Between Two Winds Cross-tossed every-way,  
Uncertain, knows not in what Course to set-her,  
Till one of them, striving to get the better,  
Doubles his bellowes, and with boisterous blast  
Drives her (at random) where he list, at last:  
So, th' Hebrew, feeling in-ward War (that season)  
Twixt Love and Duty, betwixt Faith and Reason;  
Doubts what to do; and his Perplexities  
Lean now to that hand, and anon to this:  
Till th'heavenly love he ought his GOD had won  
The earthly love he bore his only Son.  
Then, having ready Fire and Faggot laid,  
And on the Altar his dear Son displayed;  
The knife he draws with trembling hand, and had  
Even heaved his arm about to strike the Lad,  
When GOD, in th'instant stays the Instrument  
Ready to fall on th'humble Innocent:  
As satisfied with so sufficient Trial  
Of Abraham's Faith; to Him his GOD so loyal.  
From ISAAC, JACOB; & from JACOB sprung  
Twelve sturdy Sons; who, with sore Famine wrung,  
Forsaking Canaan, for a great-good-while  
Had happy Biding by the Banks of Nile:  
Where their blessed Issue multiplied so fast,  
That they became th' Egyptian's Fear, at last:  
Yea, though (alas!) their bodies had no rest,  
And though their backs with burdens were oppressed;  
Like noble Palm-Trees, mounting stiflly-strait,  
The more, the more they be surcharged with weight.  
Therefore the Tyrant which then held the Rains  
Of that rich Soil where sad Heaven never raines,  
Commands that all male Hebrew Infants found  
(Poor Innocents'!) be quickly killed, or drowned,  
As soon as Wombs had them delivered;  
That one same day might see them born and dead.  
O Tiger! thinkest thou? thinks that Rage of thine  
To cut-off quite Isaac's Immortal Ligne?  
Well may it reave the scarce-born Life of those  
New-hatched Babes, and them of Light fore-close:  
But notwithstanding, Iacob's swarming Race  
Within few Years shall cover Canaan's Face;  
And, thine own Issue even the first shall be  
To break (and justly) thine unjust Decree.  
Pharao's fair Daughter, with a noble Train,  
For Blood and Beauty rarely matched again,  
One Evening, bathing in the Crystal Brook  
Which through Gossen crawls with many a Crook,  
Heares in the reeds a rueful Infant's voice;  
But thinking it some of the Hebrews Boys  
(As'twas indeed) her Father's bloody Law  
Stopped for a while her tender cares with Awe.  
But, at the last, marking the Infant's face  
(I woat not what unusual Tracts of Grace  
And Types of Greatness sweetly shining there)  
Love vanquished Duty, Pity conquered Fear:  
For, She not only takes him up from thence,  
But brings him up, and breeds him as a Prince,  
Yea, as Her own. O Babe beloved of God  
O Babe ordained to lighten the Hebrew's Load!  
To lead their Bodies, to direct their Minds:  
First, best, most, Wrighter, in all sacred Kinds:  
Thou hadst but now no Mother (to be seen)  
And now for Mother, Thou hast found a Queen.  
Lo, thus (my Lord) could their wise God extract  
Good out of Evil, and convert the act  
Of Persecution (bend against the blood  
And Life of His) unto their greater good.  
So Ioseph's Brethren, by their Envious Drift  
To overthrow him, to a Throne him lift:  
So did proud Haman's deadly Hatred lend  
Sad Mordechay a Ladder to ascend  
To Honour's Top, and trimmed his neck (past Hope)  
With graceful Chain, in steed of shameful Rope.  
One day, this Hebrew, driving Iethro's Sheep  
Upon Mount Horeb (where he used to keep)  
Saw on the sudden a bright blazing Flame  
Burn in a Bush, and yet not burn the same;  
From whence, anon he heard (with Fear & Wonder)  
A Voice, might shake both Heaven & Earth in sunder.  
I, I that (only) AM-WAS-SHAL-BE, Who  
Made All of Nothing; and can All undoo,  
When pleaseth Me: JAM, The Holy-One.  
The Great, The Good, The Just; Whose hand alone  
Sustains, maintains, and rules the World: JAM,  
Th' Omni-potent, The GOD of Abraham;  
Fierce to my Foes with my Revenging Rod,  
But unto Those that worship Me for GOD,  
Me sole, and whole in Thought, in Word, & Deed,  
Most Merciful; to Them and all their Seed.  
Then do my Will: dispatch thee speedy hence;  
Go, say from Me, to that unhallowed Prince  
Which ruleth Memphis, and the fertile Plain  
Where swelling Nelus serves in steed of Rain,  
That he dismiss my People: and lest He,  
Incredulous, distrust thine Embassy;  
Cast-down thy Rod, thy Message to confirm,  
It to a Serpent shall eftsoons transform.  
He throws it down, and instantly withal  
Sees it begin to live, to move, to crawl,  
With hideous head before, and tail behind,  
And body wriggling (after Creepers kind).  
Re-take it up, his GOD commands him then;  
Which, taken, takes the former Form again:  
And, past Man's Reason (by the power of GOD)  
Of Rod turns Serpent, and of Serpent Rod.  
Armed with this Wand, wherewith he was to quell  
The sceptred Pride of many an Infidel,  
He many a time importunes Pharaoh,  
In GOD's great Name, to let the Hebrews go  
Into the Desert, at their liberties  
To serve the Lord, and offer Sacrifice.  
But Pharaoh, deaf unto his sacred Word,  
Stiffly withstands the Message of the Lord:  
Who then, by Moses working many Miracles,  
authorised His Orator and Oracles.  
First, He not only turned into Blood  
●ile's seau'nfold Waves, and every other Flood  
●hat fa●tens Egypt; but even every Spring,  
Whose captive Crystal, golden Pipes do bring  
●o serve the Court: so that the King is forced  
With that red liquor to allay his Thirst.  
Then, from the Fens, from puddly Ponds & Lakes,  
Millions of Millions of foul Frogs he makes  
●o cover Memphis with their ugly Fry,  
●nd not forbear the Kings own Canapy.  
Then, of all Ages, of all sorts, and sexes,  
With burning Ulcers, and hot Biles he vexes;  
●o that th' Egyptians, in uncessant anguish,  
Of unknown Poison, on their Couches languish:  
Nor can their Leeches their own Leeches be,  
●n their unheardof, hidden Malady.  
Then on their Cattle; Flocks, & Herds, & Droves  
●n Downs & Dales, Fens, Forests, Fields & Groves,  
● strong Contagion suddenly he spread;  
Which took so quickly both their heart and head,  
●hat silly Shepherds near the River's side,  
Their Cattle dead, sooner than sick, espied.  
Then turns the Earth's Dust into Swarms of Lice:  
Then dims the Air with dusky Clouds of Flies,  
Of Drones, Wasps, Hornets, humming day & night  
In every place, with every face to fight,  
And fixing deep in every Pagans skin  
Th'unusual anger of their steeled Pin.  
Then (when appeared no Threat of troubled Air,  
No sign of Tempest) at his Servants Prayer  
Th'Eternal thundered down such Storms of Hail,  
As with the noise and stroke did stoutest quail:  
Here falls a Bull, brained with a Hailstones rap;  
There sprawls a Child, split with a Thunderclap:  
Here a huge Forest, lately all a Cloud  
Of tufted Arms, hath neither Shade nor shroud:  
And, if the native Sap again re-suit  
The naked Trees with comely Leaves and Fruit,  
Again (alas!) the Caterpillar crops,  
Within few hours, the Husband's yearly hopes.  
Then, with gross Darkness vailing close the Skies,  
He so field-up stubborn Egyptians eyes,  
That for three days with fearful foot and hand  
They groped their way (except in Gosse●-Land):  
And Titan, tired in his long Course, for ease,  
Se●m'd then to rest him with th' Antipodes.  
But, as the same Sun, the same instant, makes  
The Mud to harden; and to melt, the Wax:  
So had These Works, so full of admiration,  
On divers Subjects, divers Operation.  
The humble Hebrews, GOD'S great hand adore;  
But wilful Pharaoh spurns it more and more:  
Even as a Corselet, when 'tis cold enough,  
The more 'tis beaten grows the harder Proof.  
Yet, at the sad News of the Prince, His Son,  
And all their Heirs, all in one Night undone;  
He was so daunted, that he early bod  
The Hebrews go to serve the Lord their GOD:  
Who, in a Pillar of a Cloud, by Day,  
Of Fire, by Night; directed right their Way.  
But, soon retracting his extorted Grant,  
The stubborn Tyrant strangely arrogant,  
Arms all his Egypt, and in post pursews  
The Armlesse Legions of the harmless jews,  
Then lodged secure along the sandy shore,  
Where th' Erythraean ruddy Billows roar.  
Was not such Noise, when, tearing Gibaltar,  
Th' Herculean Sea came first to spread so far  
Twixt Calpe and Abyle; nor when Oenotrie  
Sad-sighing lost her deer near Trinacrie;  
As in both Armies: Th'one insulting proud;  
Th'other in skriches, & sad cries, as loud,  
Deafened the Shores: while Fifes, Horns, furious Horse,  
With Noise & Neighs, did even the Welkin force.  
Cursed Seducer (cried the jews) what Spite  
Moved thee to alter our Lives happy plight?  
What! are we Fishes, that we here should swim  
Through these deep Seas? Or, are we Fowls to skim  
Over the steepest of these Mountains tall?  
Were there not Graves in Egypt for us all?  
In our dear Gossen? but we needs must come  
In this Red-Sea to seek our rueful Tomb?  
Yet, mildest Moses, with his dead-live Wand  
Strikes th'awful Streams: which, yielding to his hand,  
Discover Sands the Sun had never spied;  
And Walled the same with Waves on either side:  
Between the which (dread-less & danger-less)  
The Hebrews dryshod past the Crimson Seas.  
But, when the Tyrant rashly them pursues,  
Marching the Way was made but for the jews;  
The Sea returns, & overturns his Force,  
Himself, his Men, his Chariots, & his Horse.  
O happy People, for whom GOD (so kind)  
Arms Fire, & Air, & Clouds, & Waves, & Wind!  
Whom All things serve: which hast All things in Pay.  
O! never let Time's File to fret away  
So rare a Favour? rather let the Tongue  
Of All thine Aged tell it to Their Young;  
They to their Seed, & They to theirs again;  
Eternally These Wonders to retain.  
Them, forty years, GOD in the Desert fed  
With Angel's Food, with a celestial Bread;  
And from a Rock (as dry as Pumice first)  
Made Rivers gush, to satisfy their Thirst:  
Kept (even) their Shoes, & all their Garments there,  
As good, the last, as the first day they were:  
And, sith our Souls will faint for want of Food,  
Most liberal in All, for all their Good,  
Gave (on Mount Sinai) in his Sacred Law,  
●oule to their Souls, through sharp-sweet filial Awe:  
Teaching them all (as duty All doth bind)  
To love Him first, & next to Him, Mankind;  
That We might never break That sacred Twine  
Which Man to Man, & Man to GOD doth join.  
Grave Moses dead, brave Iosuah's rule began;  
Whose happy Sword soon conquered Canaan;  
And in few years unto subjection brings  
The Lives and States of one and thirty Kings.  
At His command, more powerful than the Thunder,  
The firmest Rocks & Rampires fall in-sunder;  
Without the Shock of Tortoise or of Ram,  
To batter Breaches where his Army came:  
For, but with bellowing of hoarse Trumpets of Horn,  
As with an Engine, proudest Towers are torn:  
As at his Beck, the heavens obey his will;  
The Fire-foot Coursers of the Sun stand still,  
To lengthen Day, lest under wings of Night,  
His Heathen Foes should save themselves by Flight.  
This scourge of Pagans, in a good old age,  
(To live in Heaven) leaving this Earthly Stage,  
Israel had many Magistrates of Name,  
Whose Memories live ever fresh in Fame.  
Who knows not Ahud, Sangar, Samuel,  
Deborah, Barac, and Othoniel?  
Who hath not heard of mighty Samsons Coil,  
Who, sole, and Arm-less, did an Army foil?  
What Praise with Iephthe's might have well compared  
Had but his Rashness his dear Daughter spared?  
What Clime, what Time, what River, Dale, or Down  
But rings of Gedeon, and his high Renown?  
After the judges; Kings (some good, some bad)  
The sacred Helm of th' Hebrew Vessel had:  
●ad I their david's holy Harp and Skill,  
●othing but David would I warble still:  
●ut as (my Lord) great david's Deeds, could none  
Erewhile) achieve, but david's Self alone;  
Can none but david's Harp, & david's Hymn  
Resound aright the Honour's due to Him:  
will not therefore, with unworthy Lays,  
●eeming to praise him, derogate his Praise.  
But, shall I balk his Son, whom Heaven adorn  
With Health, Wealth, Wisdom, & All-Plenties horn:  
Whose prudent Problems, touching every Theme,  
●raw thousand Sophysts to JERUSALEM,  
Arabians, Indians, Africans, among;  
chained by the Charms of his All-Skilfull Tongue?  
●r Him, whose Zeal the Idols so defaced;  
●e-purg'd GOD'S TEMPLE, & his Rites re-placed?  
●r Him, that saw a heavenly Host descend  
●o succour Zion, and his Foes offend?  
●r Him, whose Army, near to Gerar, yerst,  
●roud Ethyopians swarming Troops dispersed?  
●r Him, who praying for heavens aid, to fight  
'Gainst Ammon, Moab, and Mount-Sëirite;  
●aw, by Themselves, his sad Request fulfilld,  
When, Self-incenst, Themselves they enter-killd?  
But Chaldei's King, by Theirs Captivity,  
Put (late) an End unto That Monarchy.  
Yet did Great Cyrus' Them again restore  
To Liberty; and gave them furthermore  
Leave to elect Two Rulers of their Race:  
Whereof the One (who yet supplies the place)  
Was joachim; who, for his holy Life,  
Prowess, and Prudence, is respected rise,  
Not sole in Zion; but with Ammonites,  
Syrians, Sydonians, Madians, Moabites,  
Thus was (my Lord) the Prime, this the Progression,  
Of ISRAEL, through every Time's succession:  
And Thus the Lord hath lift them (nigh) to Heaven  
Sometimes; sometimes, them (even) to Hell hath driven  
But, whether Princely-Priest, or judge, or King,  
Of th' Hebrew Tribes have had the Governing;  
So long as They observed the sacred Pact  
GOD with their Fathers did by Oath contract;  
Ay prosperous, triumphantly they trod  
On proudest Foes: and all the World abroad,  
Conspired in Spite, could nothing Them annoy,  
Much less distract them; lest of all, destroy:  
On th'other side, soon as they have infrenged  
His Ordinance, their GOD (to be avenged)  
Hath thralled them, now, to cruel Moabites,  
Anon to Edom then to Ammonites,  
Than Philistines: and ay his Wrath hath been  
Heavy upon them, when they happed to sin.  
If so be therefore, any their Offence  
The jealous justice of their GOD incense;  
Mine not their Mounts, nor undermine their Bowers,  
Nor bring thy Rams against their rampired Towers,  
Nor scale their Walls, nor lead thy Legions,  
(With Resolution) to assault them once:  
For, let them heap, on Carmel Libanus;  
On Liban, Niphate; there-on Emmaus:  
Yea, in one Channel let them muster hither  
Indus and Rhone, Nilus and Rhine together,  
Tiber and Iber too, to fence their Coast:  
They cannot scape from thy victorious Host.  
But, if they have not broke the Covenant  
Which GOD to Abraham & his Seed did grant:  
Beware (my Lord) beware how you come near  
This holy Nation, to their GOD so dear.  
For should swart Auster him dispeople quite  
To furnish Thee with all His fit to fight:  
Should swarming Boreas from His utmost end  
All His tall Soldiers to Thy service send:  
Should Zephyrus add to Thy dreadful Power  
His martial Legions, all Hesperians Flower:  
Should (last) Eurus send Thee for Supplies  
His Troops which first see Phoebus Rays arise:  
All These, all-daring, all-devouring Swarms,  
This armed World, or all This World of Arms,  
Can never conquer (in a thousand year)  
The least worst, weakest, of these Cities here;  
Because Their GOD will be Their sure Defence:  
That GOD almighty, whose Omnipotence  
Can with a breath confound all Kings that dare  
(As Thou dost now) 'gainst Him make open War,  
As th'ocean's Billows swell not by and by,  
When (first) the Winds begin to bellow high;  
But, first begin to foam, & then to fume,  
Higher, and higher, till their Rage presume  
To chide the Earth, & check the Welkin's Front,  
And bandy Hills against the Heavenly Mount:  
Even so, the Princes of this Pagan Rout,  
Hearing GOD's praises, forthwith break not out  
In rageful Fury; but as th' Ammonite  
Grows in Discourse, so grow they in Despite;  
Till at the last, with loud, proud murmurings,  
They even blaspheme the glorious King of Kings.  
Kill (cry they) kill; let's hew & hale in pieces  
The subtle Traitor, that with wily Speeches,  
To save his Hebrews from Rhamnusia's Rod,  
Would fright us with a false and idle God.  
Renowned General, send but out a score  
Of All thy Troops, & they shall soon run-o're  
Those rascal Rebels, and reduce them all  
Prostrate and humble at Thy feet to fall:  
Ah Coward, Villain. But, the Viceroy then,  
Stopping their loud outrageous Storms again,  
Began himself Thus to the Ammonite;  
O, impudent Impostor! Tell Me (right)  
What Fiend, what Fury hath inspired these Spells:  
What Trevet told thee, or what Sibyl else  
Made thee believe the Syrians shall not quell  
Th' Isaacian Troop, but stoop to Israel,  
Whose GOD is but their Dream, or Fancy vain,  
Or mere Devise of MOSES subtle brain;  
Neither, of power to give them Victory,  
Nor, from Our hands to rescue Them nor Thee.  
What GOD have we, but the great King of Kings,  
NABUCHADNEZZAR? whose dread puissance rings  
O'er all the Earth: who covering far & nigh,  
The Plains with Horse, Hills with Infantry,  
Shall raze these Runagates; which, fled from Nile,  
Have here usurped Others Right, erewhile.  
Die therefore, villain, die; take the desert  
Of thy false Tongue, & of thy treacherous heart.  
What said I, fond? No, Dastard, I disdain  
My valiant Blade in Thy base blood to slain:  
Thou shalt so quickly not receive the meed  
Of thy disloyal and detested Deed  
(For, a quick Death is Wretch's bliss, we know;  
Them quickly ridding both of Life and Woe)  
But, with thy Days thy Dolours to protrack,  
Thou shalt from hence unto Bethulia pack,  
Where still thou shalt, through infinite dismay,  
Undying, die a thousand times a day;  
Until, with Those invincible (thou sayest)  
With thousand wounds a wretched End thou hast.  
Why tremblest Thou? why doth thy colour fail?  
Why seems thy heart for horror so to quail?  
If so Their GOD be GOD (as thou hast vaunted)  
Now, by thy Face witness thy faith, undaunted.  
Then, the Lord Martial, in Authority  
Under the Viceroy, not in cruelty,  
Transporteth speedy, near Bethulians' side  
Th'vn- pagan Pagan, hand and foot fast tied;  
Leaving His Troops wounded with wondrous grief  
To be deprived of so brave a Chief:  
Even so the Puttock in his crooked Serrs  
The peeping Chicken through the Welkin bears;  
While the poor Dam, below cluk-clucking thick,  
Cries, but in vain, and calls her rapted Chick.  
The Citizens, seeing th'approach of Foes,  
Soon in alarm, them all to Arm dispose;  
And, with meet Number of their Men of worth,  
And choice Commanders, bravely sally forth;  
Faster than Torrents, gushing from the Hills,  
Run hopping down into the lower Fields.  
The Foe, retiring to their mightier Bands,  
Leaves captive Ammon in the Hebrews hands;  
Whom with a forced foot, though free in thought,  
And Will right willing, to their Town they brought.  
Where, round-environd with a curious Crowd,  
Lifting to Heaven his hands and eyes, aloud  
Thus he began: O Thou great GOD, the Guide  
Of Heaven and Earth, and All that is beside;  
Whose living Spirit (spread in, and over All)  
Gives All things Life, Breath, Growth, Original,  
I give Thee, Lord, a thousand Thanks devout,  
That thou hast deigned, your death, to take me out  
Of my wild Stock, to graft me in the Stem  
Of th'happy Tree, dewed with thy Gracious stream;  
Which (maugre Blasts, and Blast, rough & rife)  
Of All the Trees, bears only Fruit of Life.  
And, good Isacians, for GOD'S sake, I pray  
Miss-doubt me not, as coming to betray,  
Or under-mine by wily Stratagem,  
Your Strength or State; or wrong JERUSALEM.  
No: GOD doth know, I suffer This, for You,  
For witnessing before you wicked Crew,  
GOD'S mighty Arm for Your Forefathers shown;  
As ready still, to save and shield his Own:  
Fear not therefore Their mighty multitude,  
Whose sight (almost) so many hath subdued.  
Nor let their Boasts, nor braving Menaces,  
Kill, quail, or cool, your holy Courages:  
For, should the whole Earth send her Sons, in  
Against you only, all to carry Arms;  
So that your Trust be fixed in GOD alone, swarms,  
Not in an Arm of Flesh, not in your Own:  
You shall, no doubt, make ruddy, Mocmur's Flood,  
With Idolist Assyrian Armies blood:  
You shall, no doubt, of Fearful, Fierce become,  
Your strong Assailants stoutly overcome.  
Th'Almighties hand, so ready bend to smite,  
●s, but to humble, not destroy you quite;  
And, but to show you, that in all Distress,  
He, only He, can give you quick Redress.  
As from a Bramble springs the sweetest Rose;  
As from a Weed the whitest Lily grows:  
Even so, divinest Sighs, devoutest Tears,  
Demurest Life, are Fruits Affliction bears.  
For, here the Faithful are much like the Earth,  
Which, of itself (alas!) brings nothing forth  
But Thorns and Thistles, if the Plough she lack,  
With daily wounds to lance her bunchie back.  
But yet the Lord (who always doth relent,  
So soon as Sinners earnestly repent,  
And, in his time, his sharp hand doth retire,  
And cast, at last, his Rods into the Fire)  
Will rid your dangers, and restore you rest,  
Even in an hour, when you can hope it least.  
Then, courage, Friends: let's vanquish GOD with Tears;  
And than Our Arms shall quickly conquer Theirs,  
Their World of Men. And, if as yet in Me  
Rest any Strength; if any Courage be;  
If mine Experience may in aught avail:  
If with mine Age, all be not old & frail:  
I vow it all, and All that else is Mine,  
To your Defence, and for the Law divine.  
The end of the second Book.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue. THE THIRD BOOK.  
FLame-snorting Phlegon's ruddy breath began,  
Reducing Day, to gild the Indian;  
When early wakened with their rattling Drums,  
●ach Heathen Soldier from his Caban comes,  
Takes-up his Arms, and marching in Array,  
Towards Bethulia tends the ready way.  
In May, the Meads are not so pied with Flowers,  
Of sundry Figures, Colours, Savours, Powers;  
●s was this Host, with Squadrons, different  
●n Language, Manners, Arms, and Ornament:  
●o that th'old Châoes (Womb of th'universe)  
Was never made of Members more divers.  
Yet, herein All agreed, for all their Odds,  
To war against th'eternal GOD of Gods,  
Whose breath, whose beck, makes both the Poles to shake,  
And Caucasus and Libanus to quake.  
Heer, cold Hyrcania's bold & braving Seed,  
Mixed with (Their neighbours) both Armenia's Breed,  
Wave wanton Crests. There Parthian Archers try  
Backward to shoot, the while they forward fly.  
The Persian, there, proud of th'imperial state,  
With golden scales scalops his Armed plate.  
Here woul● the Mede show, that for want of Hap,  
Not Heart, He lost His (late) Imperial Cap.  
And that, nor Pomp of his too sumptuous Suits;  
His painted Cheeks, his Phrygik Lays & Lutes;  
His crisped Bush, nor his long, borrowed Lock,  
Had ever power his Manly mind to smock:  
Happy-Arabians, who their Fern-thatcht Towns  
Tumble in Tumbrels up & down the Downs:  
The subtle Tyrians, who did first invent,  
Our winged words, in Barks of Trees to print:  
The men of Moab, and the Ammonites,  
The Iduméans, and the Elamites,  
Learned Egyptians: Those that near confine  
The swel●ng Coasts of swartest Abyssine:  
In brie●e; All ASIA was immured almost  
Within the Trenches of This mighsy Host;  
Wherein, almost as many Nations clustered,  
As th' Hebrews Army single Soldiers mustered.  
But, of all These, none plagued the Israelites,  
More, than their own Apostate Ephraimites;  
Who, not to seem of kin to Israel,  
Raged with more fury, fought more deadly fel.  
As, in the Spring time, while a Pool is still,  
And smooth aloft, the Frogs lie croaking shrill;  
But if the least Stone that a Child can fling  
●ut stir the water, strait they cease to sing:  
●o, while a happy Peace JUDEA blest,  
The Constancy of These stood with the best  
●mong the Saints; and the Lord's sacred Praise  
Was in their mouths daily and many ways;  
●o that they seemed like burning Lamps to shine  
Amid the Flock, devoutly-most-divine:  
●ut, at the Noise of Holofernes Name,  
Their famous Faith nothing but air became;  
Their Mouth is stopped, the Zeal they did presume  
●o highly hot, is vanished into Fume.  
Nay, turned Pagans (for some Profits sake)  
They, worse than Pagans, their poor Brethren rake.  
O! what a Number of such Ephraimites  
●re nowadays (Deceitful Hypocrites!)  
Within the Church, the while a prosperous wind,  
With gentle Gales, blows fair and full behind;  
Which seem with Zeal the Gospel to embrace,  
While that it yields them either Gain, or Grace:  
●ut, if the Chance change; if it hap to puff  
●ut half affront; if She be fain to luffe;  
Faint-hearted, then forthwith they cast about:  
And, with th'Almighty playing bankrupt,  
With greater Rage his Law they persecute,  
Then yerst with Zeal they did it prosecute;  
And in their Malice grow more fierce and furious,  
Then juliaen yerst, or Celsus, or Porphyrius.  
Soon as the Hebrews from their Turrets spy  
So many Ensigns waving in the Sky;  
And such an Host, marching in such Array,  
Begird afar their City every way:  
They faint for dread; not having where to run,  
Save to the GOD their Grandsires trusted on.  
O Father (cry they) Father of Compassion,  
Whose wing is wont to be our strong Salvation;  
Sith now against us all the World doth swarm,  
O! Cover us with thine Almighty arm.  
Thus having prayed, the Careful Governor  
To Charge his Watches doth him quick bestir;  
And when the Sun in his moist Cabin dives,  
With hundred Fires the Day again revives;  
Watches himself amid the Court of Guard;  
Walks oft the Round: and weens, that overhard  
Phoebe's black Coachman drives his sable Steeds,  
Hebrews near Ruin hasting more than needs.  
While, opposite, the Pagans think her fast  
With her Emdymion, in a slumber cast:  
●ut, Mens frail wishes have (alas!) no force,  
To hold, or hasten, the heavens settled Course.  
Soon as they saw Aurora's saffron ray  
On their Horizon to renew the Day;  
The Viceroy makes a thousand Trumpets sound,  
T'assemble all his scattered Troops around;  
Which from all parts with speedy paces went  
●nvironing their Chief-Commanders Tent:  
●s round about a Huntsman, in a morn,  
The Hounds do throng when once they hear his horn  
Having, in vain, summoned the Town; he tries  
A hundred ways, it (wrathful) to surprise:  
●eer, th'engineer gins his Ram to rear;  
●eer mounts his Trepan, and his Scorpion there;  
●ends here his Bricol, there his boisterous Bow;  
●rings here his Fly-Bridge, there his battering Crow:  
●esides high Timber-Towers, on rolling Feet  
●ov'd and removed; controlling every Street.  
Heer, pioneers are put the Ditch to fill;  
●o level Mounts, to make a Hole a Hill:  
To play the Moules, to dig a secret way,  
●nto the Town their Soldiers to convey.  
Heer, others must their Ladders raise the while,  
And quick surprise the Sentinels, by wile:  
Others must under-mine: others aspire,  
With matter fitting, every Gate to fire.  
But the most part stand ready in Array  
To give Assault, soon as they see their Way  
Made meet and easy by the batterring Thunder  
Of all their Engines pashing Walls in sunder.  
Tower-tearing Mars, Bellona thirsting-blood,  
Fill there the faintest with their Furious-mood:  
There fiery Steeds, stamping & neighing loud;  
There Pagan's fell, braving and ●aving proud,  
With hideous noise make th'heavenly Vault resound,  
The Earth to echo; and even Hell astounded.  
But He that keeps eternal Sentinel  
On heavens high Watch-Tower, for His Israel;  
Pitying his People, altars, in a trice,  
The Tyrant's purpose, by a new Advise;  
Causing the Captains of brave Moabites,  
Strong Iduméans, and stout Ammonites,  
Thus to advise: Most noble General,  
Terror of Kings, redoubted Scourge of All;  
We would not wish (my Lord) in any sort,  
You bring Your brave Bands to assault this Fort:  
For, neither Pike, Dart, Sling, Bow, Sword, nor Shield,  
So back the Foe, or make them slack to yield;  
As these proud Rocks, which, by wise Nature's grace,  
Rampire the Rampires of this wretched Place:  
Which yer You scale, undoubtedly will cost  
Ladders of Bodies; and even Tithe your Host.  
The Victor is no Victor, if his Gain  
Pass not his Loss; nor th'honour drown the Stain:  
Wise-valiant Prince, that Fisher, Fool we hold,  
Who for a Gull, venter's a Line of Gold:  
And, ill doth th'honour of a Crown beseem  
Th'inhumane, bloody, barbarous, Head of Him  
Who rather would the Death of many Foes,  
Then Life and Safety of one Friend, to choose.  
You may (my Lord) you may, without Assault,  
Or Loss of Man, reduce them all to nought,  
●f in you Hillocks you but seize the Springs,  
Whence hollow Led the Hebrews Water brings;  
Who, so by Thirst distressed, and so put to't,  
Will come and cast them haltred at your Foot.  
The noble Lion never sets-upon  
Base fearful Beasts, but on the noblest one:  
●OVE'S sulphury Darts He seld or never thrills  
But on Mount Atlas, or the Ryphean Hills:  
And stormfull Auster, ever rather smote  
Clowd-cleaving Turrets than a lowly Coat:  
No more, no more let your dread Arms assail  
So faint a Foe as of himself will quail.  
It is not Fear (my Lord) and much less Pity  
(Fear of ourselves, or Favour to the City)  
Makes us oppose us to Thy Purpose yet:  
For, yer that We Thy happy Standards quit:  
For Thee will We defy th'immortal Gods:  
For Thee we'll break their Altars all to Clods:  
For Thee will We march with unweary soles,  
Beyond the Arctik and Antarctik Poles:  
For Thee will We with winged Arms go fetch  
IOVE's Aigle down; and Neptun's Trident snatch:  
For Thee, the Son shall not his Sire forbear,  
Nor Sire the Son, nor Brother, Brother spare.  
The General, who for Avail revolves,  
Peizes this Counsel; and re-peized, resolves:  
Dispatching speedy a selected Force,  
To seize the Waters, and divert their Course.  
Th' Hebrews, Their Drift, & their Own Danger see  
In that Attempt: so, sally instantly  
To stop the Foe from stopping of the Stream  
Which should derive Liquor and Life to Them.  
Then Pagans fight for ambitious Fame;  
jews, not to die with un-revenged Shame;  
Bravely encounter with so fell Disdain,  
That now the Pagan flies, now fights again;  
Follows his flying Foe: and now the jew,  
Nigh foiled, faints; now doth the Fight renew:  
So that fair Victory seems long to waver,  
As it were, doubtful whether side to favour:  
Till (at the last) th' Hebrews, all over spread  
With Clouds of Shot, back to their Bulwark fled:  
Even as a Pilgrim, in the naked Plain  
Meeting a Storm of mighty Hail or Rain,  
Runs dropping wet some hollow Rock to find,  
Or other Covert built by Nature kind.  
Pagans pursue them, and pell-mell among  
Enter almost the City in the Throng.  
Then every where did dreadful Noise arise:  
From street to street th'amazed Vulgar flies;  
Tearing their hair, beating their breast and face:  
As if the Foe had even possessed the Place.  
Why fly ye Cowards? Whether? Do you know?  
What Fortress have you, if you This forgo?  
Or, in this City seek you for a stronger,  
To guard you better, or preserve you longer?  
If now (alas!) you dare not bear you stout  
Against the Foe, while he is yet without;  
How will you dare resist his violence,  
Were he once Master of your weak Defence?  
The People, chi● thus by their prudent Chief,  
Somewhat re-heart'ned, rescue with relief  
Cambris and Carmis; who, the while, like Towers,  
Had in the Gate withstood th'assaulting Stowers  
Of almost all the furious Infidels.  
For Lance, a long Mast, either strongly wields,  
For Arms an Anvil; each a massy Targe  
Of steel about his neck, as long as large:  
Adown their shoulders from their Helms did wave  
Thick Plumy Clouds of Colours brightly-brave:  
Both like, in age, in Courage, Name, and Nature;  
Both like, in bulk, both like in Strength & Stature.  
Both, like Two Popplars which (on either side  
Some silver Brook) their tressie Tops do hide  
Amid the Clouds; and shaken by the Wind,  
Oft kiss each other, like Two Brethren kind.  
The Heathen, seeing still fresh Troops descend  
From every side, the City to defend;  
Leave-off their Onsett: and, well-nigh disbanded,  
Gladly retreat whether their Heads commanded.  
When I consider the extreme Distress  
Which thirty Days did the Bethulians press;  
●ong sad enough I hardly can invent,  
●o deadly Plight lively to represent:  
●y hand for horror shakes, and can no more  
●uide on this page my Pen as heretofore:  
●et do mine Eyes with Tears be dew it so,  
〈◊〉 well appears a subject full of Woe.  
Thou Spirit which dost all Spirits vivify;  
●hich didst unloose the Tongue of Zachary;  
●nd, through the World thy sacred Name to preach,  
●hy Messengers so sundry Tongues didst teach:  
●rect my weary Quill, my Courage raise,  
●hat I, This Work may finish to Thy Praise.  
Though th' Hebrews saw their Town, on every part,  
●ot with an Host, but with a World begirt,  
●et had they Hope the long Siege would no less  
consume th' Assyrians, than themselves distress:  
●t when the Foe had all the Pipes deprived,  
●hence, Water yerst the sacred Town derived,  
●as! their Hope and even their heart did shrink,  
〈◊〉 quite cut-off, and dried up with their Drink.  
The Rulers though (your Bondage, Death to take)  
●ive to the People what Themselves did lack:  
To wit, a hope, Water enough to keep  
In private Troughs, and public Cesterns deep;  
Both Citizens and Soldiers to suffice,  
So that they would be moderate and wise.  
So th' Officers divide in silver measures,  
To all, of all sorts, of these liquid Treasures,  
This welcome Liquor; which might serve (at first)  
To keep their life a while, not quench their Thirst.  
Their Cesterns dried, they seek in every sink:  
Of every Gutter greedily they drink;  
T'appease their Thirst awhile, not please their taste,  
With Drink whose stink was oft the Drinkers last.  
O wretched Men! O wondrous Misery!  
Little, or much; drink, or drink not; they die.  
Plenty and Lackwit of Liquor, in extreme  
Though Contraries, concurt to murder them:  
Within whose Bodies warreth Thirst, as fell  
As outwardly th'outrageous Infidel.  
Street, Lane, nor Ally had this woeful City,  
Wherein the Sisters, Enemies to Pity,  
Invented not some new and uncouth guise  
To murder Hebrews; and from firmest eyes  
(In sign of Sorrow) showers to extract  
Of pearly Tears, of bitter brine compact;  
Mid all Degrees; if rested anywhere  
But so much moisture as could make a Tear.  
There, an Old man complaineth that a Lad  
Hath new snatched from him all the Drink he had;  
But Thirst contracts his Throat, his voice, & veins;  
And ends at once his Life, his Plaint, and Pains:  
A Soldier here re-swils again (and gladder)  
Th'unsavory Water which had swelled his bladder:  
There th'woeful Mother, on her Couching-Settle,  
Her half-dead Child reviveth with her Spittle:  
●eer the sad Lover sighs her latest breath  
●ith the last Sighs of her dear Love, in Death.  
●or, cruel Thirst, come from Cyrenian Strand  
Where ay She lives amid the burning Sand,  
perpetual panting for continual Drought,  
●anging her Tongue a foot without her Mouth,  
●er Face all wrinkled, both her Eyes deep sunk,  
●er Body lean and light, her Bowels shrunk,  
●er Breast transparent, and her Veins replete  
With Brimstone, all, in steed of Blood's moist Heat)  
●owes from her rotten Lungs a loathsome breath  
Through all the Town; infusing Fumes of Death  
●n th' Hebrews Arteries: causing every Porch  
Obscurely shine with some Funereall Torch.  
So that the heavens, seeing so many Woes,  
Can hold no longer; but would feign with those  
Sad-weeping Hebrews Their sad Tears have melld,  
Save that their Tears the Lord of Hosts withheld.  
And, I myself, that drown mine Eyes with Theirs,  
Unable though well to express those Tears,  
Will with my Silence veil their Countenance;  
Following that Painter's learned Ignorance,  
Who well conceiving that his live-less Colours  
Can not to life express the deadly Dolours  
Of Agamemnon at his Daughter's End,  
Covered his sad Face with a sable Bend.  
Meanwhile, the few that of this Wrack remain;  
Against their sad Chiefs murmur and complain:  
The Lord, say they, in justice recompense  
Your wilful Malice, and Our Innocence:  
The Lord look down upon the wretched Teen  
Your wicked Counsels have here plunged us in:  
For, had you yielded to the Foes demand,  
Yet he had entered on the Holy Land,  
We, happy we, had never seen our Friends  
So h●p-less brought to so untimely Ends.  
Alas! What Comfort rests? O wretched City!  
Those that besiege thee round would show thee Pity;  
Thine Own are Cruel: Foes would fain preserve-thee:  
Thy Friends destroy thee: Those would fain reserv thee,  
Would save thy Children; thine own Children rather  
Run headlong all on wilful Death together.  
Lord, well we know, our wicked Deeds have made  
Thee (just displeased) to draw the keenest Blade  
Of thy fierce-kindled ire, which justly sheds  
Thy deadliest Darts on our disloyal heads.  
Yet, Thou, which dost not long thy Wrath retain,  
Against thine Own) O turn to Us again:  
Lord, change the purpose of our wilful Lords,  
Who 'gainst our Bosoms whet the Pagan Swords:  
Or grant (at least) with thousand Arrows thrilled,  
We rather may by Heathen hands be killed;  
Then longer Langnor of this baneful Thirst  
To linger us in living Death accursed.  
Dear Brethren, 'tis our only Duty binds,  
Their Rulers said (not our sinister minds  
Of undermining, or of pining Ours)  
Thus to hold out against these Heathen Powers.  
If You have Pain, We have our Portion too;  
We are embarked in the same Ship with You:  
On the same Deep we the same Danger run;  
Our Cross is common, and our Loss is one:  
As common shall our comfort be when GOD  
Shall please to ease us of th' Assyrians Rod:  
As sure he will, if Your Impatiency  
Stop not the Course of his kind Clemency.  
Then, strive not with th'All-Perfect; but depend  
On God alone: Whose Actions all do tend  
To profit His: Who, in his Season, ever  
(Almighty) can and will His Church deliver.  
Sometimes the Archer lets his Bow, unbent,  
Hang idly by; that, when it is re-bent  
With boisterous Arms, it may the farther cast  
His winged shafts, and fix them far more fast:  
So, oft the Lord seems, in his Bosom, long  
To hold his hand; and after (as more strong)  
To hammer Those whose impious Impudence  
Miss-spends the Treasure of his Patience,  
Which (at first sight) gives all Impunity  
(As think the Lewd) to all Iniquity.  
But, at the last, his heavy Vengeance pays  
Them home, for all his justice long Delays:  
As th'usurer, forbearing of his poor  
And needy Debtors, makes his Debt the more.  
What though th'high Thunderer, in his Fury dread,  
Strike not in th'instant this proud Viceroy dead?  
●an all th'amass of Waters which he penned  
●bove and under th'ample Firmament,  
seditious, so shake-off his Sovereign Power,  
●s not to send the thirsty Earth a Shower?  
●o, no: though heavens, on every side so clear,  
●o●d nothing less than Rain, or moisture near:  
They with their Tears shall shortly soak the Plain,  
〈◊〉 on the Day when Saul began to reign:  
●or all the heavens, the Stars, and Elements,  
Must execute his high Commandments.  
But still the Plebe, with Thirst and Fury pressed,  
Thus roaring, raving, 'gainst their Chiefs contest:  
O, holy Nation! shall we, shall We die,  
Their Elderships' grave Sights to satisfy?  
O! shall we die to please These foolishwise,  
●ho make themselves rich by our Miseries;  
And with our Bloods would purchase them a Name,  
●o live for ever in the Role of Fame?  
No, no: Let's rather break their servile bands  
Which hold us in: let's take into our hands  
Our City's Helm; that freeing it from Sack,  
We wisely so may free ourselves from Wrack.  
As the Physician, by the Patient Prest,  
Who, on his Bed (unruly) will not rest;  
Permits sometimes what Art prohibiteth:  
Osias so, importuned, promiseth  
To yield the Town, if in five Days appear  
No certain Sign of divine Succour near.  
The People then, their woeful past estate,  
Their present pain, and future Fears, forgot:  
Sith though it should not hap as most they thirst;  
At least, they should of Evils scape the worst.  
But JUDITH (who the while incessant Showers  
From her sad eyes, in sign of Sorrow pours)  
With mournful voice now calls upon the Lord;  
Anon, her sad Soul comforts in his Word:  
Prayers, were her Stairs, the highest heavens to clime  
GOD's Word, a Garden, where (in needful time)  
She found her Simples (in Examples pure)  
The Careful Passion of her Heart to cure.  
There, JUDITH reading (then not casually,  
But by GOD's will, which still works certainly)  
Light on the place where the left handed Prince,  
Who, grieved for Israel's grievous Languishments  
Under the Heathen; to deliver them  
Slew Moab's Eglon, by a Stratagem.  
The more she reads, she marks it, and admires  
That Act of Ahud; and in Zeal desires  
To imitate his valour. But frail flesh  
With thousand Reasons would her purpose dash;  
Proposing, now, the Facts foul odiousness;  
Then, Fear of Death; then, Dangers numberless,  
Whereto she puts her Honour: and that (though,  
●or Israel's sake, God should the Act allow)  
●choues a Man's hand, not a Woman's (there)  
Much fit for a Spindle then a Spear.  
While JUDITH thus with JUDITH doubts doth wage,  
● sudden Puff turns-over that same Page:  
●nd, that which follows shows, how jahel yerst  
courageously the sleeping temples pierced  
Of that fell Pagan, who from th' Hebrews flying,  
accursed found in his Defence his dying:  
●o teach all Tyrants in all Times to-come,  
●hat they may fly, but not outfly their Doom.  
This last Example did so fortify  
●he fearful Widow, that even by and by  
●e would with Engine of Revenge endeavour  
● wicked soul's and body's knot to sever.  
But while apart She plots and plots anew,  
●me wily way her purpose to pursue;  
●e hears reported, by a neighbour Dame,  
●he Town's Decree, much grieved at the same:  
So: to prevent Mischiefs so near at hand,  
She sends forthwith for Those of Chief Command,  
Whom sharply sweet She thus gins to chide:  
Why! How-now, Lordings, shall the Lord be tied  
Unto your Terms? Will you th' Almighty's Arms  
Chain with your Counsels? limit with your Charms?  
O! uniudicious judges, will you Thus  
Give law to GOD, who gives it Heaven & Us?  
Will you subject, to Times confined Stays,  
Th'Author of Times, Months, Moment's, Years and Days  
Be not deceived; The sacred Power Divine  
No Circumstance can compasie or confine:  
God can do, what he will; will, what he ought:  
Aught love his righteous (whom his love hath bought)  
This (Fathers) This my dead Hopes most revives;  
That, in our City not a ma● survives  
Who lifts his hands (after the Heathen fashions)  
Unto the dumb, dead Idols of the Nations.  
All Sins are Sins: but that foul Sin, alone  
Exceeds all blind or bold transgression  
That we have heapt'gainst sacred Heaven: for, that  
Seems to degrade GOD of his Sovereign State;  
To give his Glory to a Wedge of Gold,  
Or Block, or Stock, or Stone of curious mould.  
Sith then That Sin doth not our Conscience taint,  
Of GOD's dear Succour let us never faint:  
Let's think (alas!) how now all Iudas Eyes,  
Aghast, are cast upon Our Constancies:  
Let's think, that All will (over all the Land)  
By our Example, either stoop or stand:  
Let's think, that All these Altars, Houses, Goods,  
●●and (after GOD) on our couragious-Moods:  
●et's think, We keep the Gate of Israel;  
And that, so soon opening to th'Infidel  
Who hates so deadly all our Abramides)  
We shall be held Traitors and Parricides.  
We cannot, neither will we now deny  
●ut that our Counsel (Thus the Chief reply)  
Was foolish, and offensive to the Lord:  
●ut now (alas!) we cannot break our word.  
●ut, if Thou rue our Common miseries;  
●nd canst not see our Tears with tearless Eyes;  
●eep night and day: o! weep & sigh so much,  
●hat thy sad Sighs & Tears with Ruth may touch  
●h'Eternall judge; whose gentle Ear is ay  
●pen to All that to Him humbly pray.  
I shall, said She, and (if GOD say Amen)  
●s-siedge this City, yer we meet again.  
Sound me no further, but expect th'event  
Of Mine (I hope) happy as high Intent:  
And, soon as Night hath spread her dusky Damp,  
Let Me go forth into the Heathen Camp.  
Go on, in GOD's Name: & where ere thou art,  
GOD guide (say They) thy Foot, thy Hand, thy Hart.  
The end of the third Book.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue. THE FOURTH BOOK.  
●VDITH, the while, trills Rivers from her Eyes,  
Atterrs her knees, tends toward th'arched Skies  
●er harm-less hands: then Thus, with voice devour,  
●er very Soul to GOD she poureth out:  
Lord! that didst once my Grandsire Simeon arm  
With justice Sword, t'avenge his Sister's harm;  
sign Me that Sword, that I may punish (just)  
●his Tyrant fell, far passing Sichem's Lust:  
●ho, not sufficed with Virgin's Ravishment,  
●nd Rape of Wives; is execrably bend  
●o root Thy Name out from the Earth around;  
●d raze Thy Temple, levelly with the ground.  
●esumptuous Prince! whose whole Affiance stands  
Hundred-thousand Soldiers He commands,  
Hundred-thousand Horse, which (thirsting-fight)  
●th lofty Bounds the lowly Earth do smite:  
without Belief, that Thou alone (o Lord)  
add'st Heads or Hands; with either Crown or Cord:  
●engthnest the Feeble, quickly foil'st the Strong;  
●d layest the Power of proudest Kings along.  
Grant therefore, grant, good GOD, his charmed brain  
The curious trammels of my Tress may chain:  
Let every look of mine be as a Dart  
With amorous Breach to wound his willing hart:  
O! let the little grace of Face and Form  
Thou hast vouchsafed me, calm his furious storm:  
Let the smooth cunning of my soothing Lips  
Surprise the fell Fox in his Suttleships:  
But, chiefly, Lord, let my victorious hand  
Be Scourge & Hammer of this Heathen Band:  
That all this All may know, that Abram's Race  
Is ever covered with thy Shield of Grace;  
And that no Tyrant ever touched thy jury,  
But felt in fine the Rigour of thy Fury.  
Let not, good Lord, o let not one of These  
Return to taste Hytane or Euphrates.  
Thus JUDITH prays: & in the stead of stops,  
With thousand Sighs her words She interrupts.  
Then, from her sad sole Chamber, late she packs,  
Adorned with Ophir, Gold, and Serean knacks.  
O! siluer-browd Diana, Queen of Night,  
Darest thou appear, while here below, so bright  
Shines such a sacred Star, whose radiant flame  
Would even at Noon thy Brother's splendour shame?  
Though, as unknown, to pass unshown she ween,  
●er Odours made hersmelt, her jewels seen;  
Musk, Ambergris, and Civet, where she went,  
●eft all along an odoriferous Sent:  
● Carbuncle shined on her Brow so bright,  
●hat with the Rays it clarified the Night:  
● silver Tincel waving in the wind,  
●own from her head hung light & lose behind:  
●old bond her golden Tress; her Ivory Neck  
rubies and Saphires, counter-changed in check:  
●t either Ear, a richer Pearl then yerst  
egypt's proud Princess in her Cup dispersed:  
●er soft white Bosom (as with Curtains drawn)  
transparent covered under Cobweb Lawn:  
●er Robe, Sky-coloured Silk, with curious Caule  
●f golden Twist, benetted over all.  
●he rest she wore, might have beseemed for Tire  
●he stately Foundress of th' Euphratean Spires.  
For, though herself were Modesty itself;  
●intice this Pagan to the wrackful Shelf,  
●esides her Own, sh'had borrowed Ornaments  
●f other Ladies of most Eminence.  
Achior, watching in the Court of Guard,  
●ing her pass so late, and so prepared;  
Inquires of Carmis (who then watched too)  
What, Whence, She was, & what she went to do:  
So brave a Gallant, tricked and trimmed so;  
In such a Time, in such a Place of Woe.  
Erewhile, said Carmis, in our City dwelled  
Merari; a man here high in Honour held:  
To whom, for Seed GOD but this Daughter sent;  
His House's joy, This city's Ornament.  
Gain-greedy Fathers, nowadays turmoil  
Bodies & Souls, Heap upon Heap to pile:  
But, have no care with the Mind's Goods to grace  
Th'heirs of their Goods (which after melt apace):  
Much like a Man that keepeth in his Chest  
His costly Garment, folded fair and pressed,  
But lets his Body, it was made to serve,  
Naked the while, in Wet & Cold to starve.  
But, as the Farmer spares no pains, nor cost,  
In husbanding his Land; but careful most,  
Now rids the stones, anon rips-up the Ridges,  
Here casts a Ditch, there plants, there plashes hedges;  
And never is his hand or tool therefrom:  
But chiefly careth there good Seed to sow,  
That when the Summer shall have ryped his Plains,  
His Crop may pay him for his Cost and Pains:  
Or, as some Damsel, having special Care  
Of some fair Flower, which puts-out earely-rare  
Th' Incarnate Bud; weeds, waters every-houre  
The fertile Plot that feeds her Gillyflower;  
That, oneday blown, it may some Sunday-morn  
Her jilly Bosom, or her head adorn:  
So wise Merari did endeavour fair  
To form the Manners of his tender Heir;  
That, in his Age, he thence again might gather  
Th'honour and Comfort worthy such a Father.  
●or soon as ever, stutting yet and weak,  
●er tender Tongue did but begin to speak;  
●ee taught her not (as many Fathers do:  
●oo-many now) vain words, and wanton too,  
●ut some good Prayer, or GOD's Tenfold Law;  
●hat, with her Milk, she might even suck the Awe  
●f the Almighty; which not vain appeers;  
●or that the Damsel brought forth in few years,  
●uits worthy of such Seed: whence did ensue,  
●hat this her Nurture to a Nature grew.  
● doth a Vessel long retain the Sent  
●f the first Liquor we have settled in't:  
● doth a Bough bend ever (when 'tis big)  
●o the same side that it was bend, a Twig:  
So, Bears, Wolves, Lions; & our wildest Game,  
Bred tame with us, with us continue tame.  
When as 12. times She 12. new Moons had passed,  
This virtuous Pattern all Perfection graced.  
For, th'expert Pilot is not more precise  
To shun, in Sailing, all the jeopardies  
Of Cyane Straight, of hateful Syrteses Sand,  
Charybdu Gulf, and of Capharean Strand,  
Then was wise JUDITH to avoid the Dames  
Never so little spotted in their Names:  
Knowing that long conversing with the light,  
Corrupts the sobrest; or at least, though right,  
Right safe th'honour be saved; the Names not so,  
From common Bruit (though often false) we know.  
For, haunting Good, good are we holden ay:  
Bad, with the Bad: Like will to like, we say.  
She, ever modest, never used to stay  
Abroad till midnight at a Mask or Play:  
Nor tripped from Feast to Feast, nor Street-webs span,  
To see, and to be seen of every man.  
But rather, knowing that such fond desire  
To gaze and to be gaz'd-on (Flax and Fire)  
Valid light Dina, and such gadding Dames  
A thousand more; their Noble Houses Shames;  
She wisely kept at home; where, Morn and Even.  
Daily she called upon the God of Heaven.  
The rest of every day in duteous course  
She served her Nursers for a tender Nurse:  
As wont the Storks kind and officious Brood  
For their old Parents to go gather Food;  
And on some high Fir (far-off having flown)  
Bring life to Those from whom they had their own.  
If in the Day, from Housewives needful care,  
She had perhaps an hour or two to spare,  
She spent them reading of the Sacred Book,  
Where faithful Souls for spiritual Manna look.  
Sometimes on Cloth sh'embroidered cunningly  
Some Beast, or Bird, or Fish, or Worm, or Fly.  
Sometime she wrought with silver needle fine  
On Canvas-web some History divine.  
Here Lot, escaped from that dread Flame, from High  
Which burned his Town, with winged Feet doth fly  
To little Zoar: while his Wife (alack!)  
incredulous, and curious, looking back;  
GOD in the instant smighting for that Fault,  
Transforms her Body to a Bulk of Salt.  
Heer, chaste Susanna (slandered of dishonour)  
●eems led to Death, People seem pressed to stone her:  
But, Truth appearing, soon they seem at once  
To turn on th'elder all their storm of stones.  
Here loyal joseph rather leaves behind  
His cloak then hart with his too- Lady-kinde:  
And rather chooseth (by her false disgrace)  
His Irons, than her Arms, him to embrace.  
Heer, rash, rough jephthe in unsacred slaughter  
Imbrews his own Blade in his only Daughter;  
By private and improvident Annoy,  
Troubling the Public & the general joy..  
Weary of Work, on her sweet Lute she plays,  
And sings withal some holy Psalm of Praise;  
Not following such as by lascivious Dances,  
Lavish Expenses, light and wanton Glances,  
Seek to be sought, courted, and loved of most:  
But, as the Fisherman that baits the Coast  
With poysonie Pastes, may have a greater draught,  
And (though less wholesome) hath more Fishes caught  
Then those that only use their Hook, or Net:  
So may these Gallants them more Lovers get,  
Then modest Maids; But, their immodest flame  
Fires none but Fools, Frantikes, or Voids of shame.  
Virtue alone gins, begets, conceives,  
A perfect Love; which, though it slow receives  
His Form & Life, nor is so soon a fire:  
●o, neither doth it half so soon expire.  
●rawe kindles quickly, & is quickly passed:  
●on heats but slowly, & its heat doth last.  
Now IVDITH'S fair Renown through juda rings  
● every City; and great Suitors brings  
From All-form Fashions, from fair painted Faces,  
●●om Powdered Tresses, from forced Apish Graces,  
●●om Prince-fit Pomp; from Peacock's strutting by  
With Bosoms naked to the Navel nigh)  
●o woe Her Virtue. But, Love's burning Dart  
●ould neither harm, nor warm her Icy hart.  
●●r, as hard Hammers, harder Diamant;  
●e harder did resist Love's grace to grant;  
●●uing resolved, sole and single, rather  
●o spend her days with her deer-loved Father.  
●t at the last, importuned long, and pressed  
● her dear Parents, careful of her Rest;  
●e took MANASSES, one of Noble blood;  
●●h, in the Mind's, Nature's, & Fortune's Good.  
Their Marriage then was neither stolen, nor packed,  
●or posted; to prevent some Precontract,  
●o cheat some Heir, some Avarice to choke,  
● cover Others, or their own Sin cloak:  
But duly passed, modest, and reverend,  
With Either's Parents knowledge and consent.  
Dina's Disasters to this day do prove  
The sad successes of preposterous Love;  
Of privy Choice, close Matches, and unkend;  
Which seldom bring Lovers to happy end:  
And that ourselves ought not ourselves bestow,  
But Those from whom our Birth & Breeding grow.  
This happy Match begun thus holily,  
And holy carried, did so firmly tie  
This chaste young Couple, in so mutual love,  
That both their bodies seems one soul to move.  
Th'one never wished but what the other would:  
Both by one Organ their one-minde unfold:  
And, as a Hurt on the Right side (we see)  
Reacheth the Left; even so, by sympathy,  
Her Husband's Sorrows did sad JUDITH share,  
And IVDITH's Sorrows her sad Husband bare.  
The Husband did not his dear Wife control,  
As Tyrant's rule: but as the tender Soul  
Commands the Body; not the same to grieve,  
But comfort rather, cherish and relieve.  
Him JUDITH loved as Brother (or more, rather)  
Feared as her Lord, & honoured as her Father.  
Their House, for Order so religious,  
●eemd more a Temple then a private House:  
There, did no Maid, with merry-tricks, entice  
The bashful Stripling to lascivious vice:  
There did no drunken Groom sick Healths disgorge,  
●or against Heaven blasphemous Oaths re-forge:  
There no broad jester, no bold common Liar,  
●o Gamester, Thief, Rogue, Ruffian, Apple-squire,  
●ad ever harbour: but all Servants there,  
To their grave Rulers Rules conformed were.  
MANASSES, knowing what a Flood of Crimes  
surrounded all, in His enormous Times;  
especially, what Evils Confluence  
Sad even corrupted sacred Governments  
So that, for favour, or for Money (more)  
●…ols, Knaves, Boys, Basest, highest Burdens bore)  
●e modestly refused all Public Charge:  
●olding him happy so, free and at large,  
far from the Courts of State and justice too,  
Quiet at Home, his Household dues to do.  
Yet notwithstanding, knowing too, that none  
●as ever borne so for himself alone,  
●…t that the best part of our days (though few)  
●our Country, Kindred, & our Friends is due;  
No Magistrate, He daily served the State  
More than a hundred that in Office sat.  
For, in His House did sacred justice live,  
And from his Lips would She her sentence give.  
He ever was th'afflicted Poors Protector,  
Widow's Supporter, Silly-ones Director,  
Orphans kind Father: Every age, Sex, Sort,  
Had from his hand some kind of kind Support.  
Never vain Thirst of the ' cursed Earth of Ind,  
Made Him wound Water, neither woe the Wind:  
Never did Avarice his Life endanger,  
With mercenary Sword to serve the Stranger:  
Never did He, to Adverse-Clients, sell  
A double Breath, blowing to Heaven & Hell.  
But, strife-less, using harm-less Husbandry,  
took of his Land both Stock and Usury  
Of his lent Labours. For, sometimes, by Line,  
He plants an Orchard; which he order fine,  
With equi-distant Trees, in Rows direct,  
Of Plums, of Pears, and Apples most select:  
Heer-there He Crab-stocks sets, then grafts thereon  
Some stranger Slip: inocculates anon:  
Anon with keen Share the kind Earth he shreds:  
Anon the Vine unto the Elm he weds:  
●non he prunes-off the superfluous shoots:  
●non the Bodies pares, then bears the roots.  
●or, neither Dog-days, nor December's Ice,  
●ould keep Him Prisoner in his Chamber, nice.  
But, as oneday, his Reapers he beheld,  
Who, swelting, swift the yellow handfuls field;  
●ol, from his head, caused a Catarrh descend,  
Which shortly after caused MANASSES End.  
He that can number, in November, all  
●he withered Leaves that in the Forest's fall:  
●ee that can number all the Drops, in Showers,  
Which Hyades, Pleyades, and moist Orion pours  
●pon the Plains: may tell the Tears She shed,  
●or her dear Husband so untimely dead.  
●he Wealth and Treasure he had left her, kind,  
● steed of easing, more afflicts her Mind:  
●h'vse of his Goods still sets before her eyes  
●heir good old Owners sweet and graceful guise.  
●ad She had all the Gold was gathered ever  
●n all the shoal Sands of the Lydian River,  
● had not been Rich, being bereft of Him,  
without Whom, Wealth doubled her Woes extreme:  
●d, with Whom, glad she would have born the crosses  
●f wretched IOB's, sad, sudden, many Losses.  
Phoebus' had thrice through all the Zodiac past,  
Since His Decease: Yet Time, which all doth waste  
And cures all Cares, could not her Griefs recover,  
For Loss of Him, her dearest Lord and Lover.  
Still therefore, covered with a sable Shroud,  
Hath She kept home; as all to Sorrow vowed:  
For, for the most part, solitary sad,  
Tears in her eyes, sack on her back she had,  
Grief in her heart: so, on the withered Spray  
The Widow- Turtle sighs her mournful Lay;  
Sole, and exiled from all Delights, that move;  
Chastely resolved t'accept no Second Love.  
If any time JUDITH went out of Door  
(As Duty binds) it was to see some Poor:  
Some woeful Woman in deep Passions toiled  
For sudden Loss of her deer only Child:  
Some long-Sick body, or some needy soul,  
With needful Comforts of her Bag, or Boule:  
Or else to go (as GOD commanded Them)  
To pray and Offer at JERUSALEM.  
Thus, dear Companion, have I briefly shown  
Fair IVDITH'S Story: on whose Worth alone  
All eyes are cast, but cannot tell you out  
Whether she goes; lesse, what she goes about.  
●t, if we may, from former things infer  
●ghesse of future; We may hope from Her  
●me Happiness: and sure, me thinks, her Cheer,  
● pleasant changed, bodes some good fortune near.  
●th this Discourse, the wakeful Hebrew Knight,  
●alking between, wore-out the weary Night.  
JUDITH the while, her Handmaid with her, hies  
ewards the Trenches of the Enemies.  
●r from the Fort She had a furlong gone,  
●e Heathen Scouts described her, and anon  
●pake her Thus: O! more than humane Beauty,  
●ence? What are You? What Cause hath hither  
●o th' Assyrian Camp? Alas! I am (brought ye?  
●ghing, quoth She) a woeful Hebrew Dame,  
●ho, to escape so many Deaths, or Thrall,  
●me here to yield me to your General.  
Then to the Duke they lead her. Whosoever  
●th seen, in Cities, how they flock, to hear  
●me prating Montibank; or see some Monster  
●w brought from afric, or from Ind; may construe  
at press of Soldiers from all parts did throng,  
rout his Tent; and even pressed in among  
see that complete She, so comely deemed;  
●o, the more looked on, the more lovely seemed.  
Her waved Locks, some dangling lose, some part  
In thousand rings curld-up, with art-less art;  
With graceful Shadows sweetly did set-out  
Her broad high Fore Head, smooth as Ice, about:  
Two slender Bows of Ebon, equal bent  
Over two Stars (bright as the Firmament)  
Two twinkling Sparks, Two sprightful jetty Eyes  
(Where subtle Cupid in close Ambush lies,  
To shoot the choicest of his golden Darts  
Into the chariest of the chastest hearts):  
'Twixt these Two Suns, down from this liberal Front,  
Descendingly ascends a pretty Mount;  
Which, by Degrees, doth near those Lips extend,  
Where Momus Lips could nothing discommend:  
Her ruddy, round Cheeks seemed to be composed  
Of Roses Lillied, or of Lillies-Rosed:  
Her musky Mouth (for shape and size so meet,  
Excelling Saba's precious Breath, for sweet)  
A swelling Welt of Coral round behemms,  
Which smiling shows two Rows of orient Gemm●  
Her Ivory Neck, and Alabaster Breast  
Ravish the Pagans more than all the rest:  
Her soft, sleek, slender hands, in snow bedipt,  
With purest Pearl-shell had each Finger tipped.  
In brief, so passing Her Perfections were,  
That, if rare Zeuxis had but found Her there,  
Or such another; when from curious Cull  
Of Croton Dames so choicely Beautiful,  
By many Beauties (severally met)  
His cunning Pencil drew the Counterfeit  
Of Her for Whom Europe and Asia fought;  
This only Piece had he sufficient thought.  
JUDITH no sooner came within the Tent,  
But both her Cheeks a bashful Blush besprent;  
Trembling for Fear: until, inviting nearer,  
The courteous General's gentle words re-cheer-her.  
Sweetheart, I am not, I am not so fell  
●s false Report hath told fond Israel:  
Who Me for Father, I for Children take;  
● love whom love my Lord their God to make:  
And who do both, may be assured to have  
What ever Good, Man's heart can hope, or crave:  
Which Israel well should find, would they give care  
●o that King's Favour, whose dread Power they fear:  
●hen fear not Thou, my Love; but tell me free  
●he happy Cause that hither bringeth thee.  
O Prince! said She (with, the●, firm Countenance)  
●preme, for Fortune, Wisdom, Valiance,  
Of all that ever had Command in Field,  
Or ever managed martial Sword and Shield:  
Although my frail Sex, and weak body's state,  
No longer could endure the wretched fate;  
Wants, Labours, Dangers, and the deep Affright  
My fellow Towns-folk suffer day and night:  
Yet is not That the Cause that drives me thence,  
Nor That which draws me to Your Excellence:  
But, 'tis a never-never-dying Worm  
Which gnaws my Conscience; a continual Storm,  
A holy Fear, lest I be forced to eat  
(Among my People) some unlawful meat.  
For, I foresee (Sir) that our Folk, your long,  
With cruel Famine so extremely wrung,  
Will be constrained to fill, and file them too  
With unclean Flesh, which GOD forbids us do:  
And that the Lord (who strikes, with just Revenge  
Whom-ever dare his dread just Law's infrenge)  
Will then, without Fight, give Thee up their Place;  
And one of Thine Thousands of Them shall chase.  
Therefore (my Lord) GOD's Wrath and yours to fly  
Out of BETHULIA, to your Camp come I:  
Beseeching humbly, for your Honour's sake,  
That here no Rigour, neither Wrong I take.  
he's more than Witless that him wilful throws  
Winking) in Dangers that he well foreknows;  
And when he may live, pain-less, and secure;  
●n Toilfull Fears will his own Death procure.  
Now: please thee grant me, in this Vale (away  
From noise and number) nightly to go pray;  
Hebrews no sooner shall GOD's Wrath incense,  
But I, inspired, shall show thine Excellence:  
And then shall I thy valiant Legions lead  
Over all juda; and thy Standards spread  
Shall swell in ZION; where not one shall dare  
Lift Lance against thee, nor Defence prepare:  
No, not a Dog so much as bark at Thine  
Arms-clashing Army, nor their Armours Shine.  
Thy Name alone shall tame the stoutest Troup:  
To Thee the Hills their proudest Tops shall stoop:  
Rivers, for Thee, their rapid Course shall stay,  
To yield Thine Host a new un-wonted way.  
The Prince replies: O, World's sole Ornament!  
Lady, as fair as wise and eloquent;  
●ight- Welcome are You: and we wish you ever  
●n all Contentment with us to persever.  
●nd, if you prove in Truth and Loyalty,  
●s you are pleasing to mine Ear and Eye;  
I shall from henceforth worship evermore  
The mighty GOD you Hebrews do adore:  
You shall from henceforth only Lady be  
Both of my Sceptre, of my Soul, and Me:  
Henceforth your Name with high Renown shall ring  
Where Heber, Ister, Nile, and Ganges spring.  
With Licence then, soon as the Moon with light  
Of silver Rays began to clear the night,  
The Widow hies to a dark Vale apart;  
Where first she baths her hands, and then her heart:  
Then, from her Eyes a lukewarm Rill she showers;  
Then, from her Soul this fervent Prayer powers:  
Lord GOD, no longer now Thine Aid deny  
To those that only on Thine Aid rely.  
Lord rescue Those that ready are to spend  
Their bloods and goods, Thine Honour to Defend.  
Lord, let our Infants sad and cease-less Moans,  
Our woeful Elders deep and dismal Groans,  
Our Matron's Scrieches, Cries of Virgins fair,  
Our sacred Levit's Day-and-nightly Prayer,  
Perce to Thy Throne, to wake thy slumbering Eye.  
Dread GOD of justice, glorious Father; Why  
Do sulphury Bolts of thy best Thunder light  
On Carmel's Top, and little Hermon smite:  
And let th'heaven-threatening Sons of Earth alone;  
On proudest Ossa prouder Pelion?  
Alas! What said I? Ah! forgive me, Lord,  
This idle, rash, and unadvised Word;  
Which, in frail Passion, my fond Lips did borrow  
from fervent Zeal of mine unfeigned Sorrow.  
No: o, Our Lignes sole Pillar dear dread,  
〈◊〉 know, Thou shortly will't their Head be head:  
〈◊〉 know, This hand, by Thy right hand led out,  
●hall at one Blow, This Heathen Army rout.  
The end of the fourth Book.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue. THE FIFT BOOK.  
FOr blood and marrow, in his veins and bones,  
The Viceroy feeds new Pains, new Passions;  
Which, while he shuns, he seeks; feels, yet not knows;  
A dead-live Fire, which of Self's Cinders grows.  
For, th' Hebrew Lady's rapting Rarities  
Being now sole Object of his soul's dim Eyes;  
Sad, peevish, pale, soft, drowsy, dream-awake,  
Care of his Host he doth no longer take:  
Goes no more out, a-nights, to set his Watches,  
And Courts of Guard about, on all Approaches:  
Comes not to Counsel, neither gives The Word:  
Nor views the Quarters of his Camp: nor stirred.  
As Sheep, that miss their wont Guard & Guide,  
Dispersed stray; now, by some River's side,  
Or gurgling Brook; now, up & down the Downs;  
Now, in the Groves; now, on the Fallow grounds:  
So th' Ethnik Army, without Rule or Rhine,  
Pursue their Pleasures, violent, or vain:  
None will obey; None but will now Command;  
Each, as him listeth, dares him now dis-band.  
Hebrews, Why stay you now mewed in your City?  
Now, now or never, doth the Time befit-ye  
To sally on the Foe; whose rank Disorder  
Among themselves, themselves (in Fight) will murder.  
Nay; budge not though: of such a Victory  
GOD will the Honour have, and Author be.  
Yet that blind Cupid did this Tyrant blind,  
To take the Town was Day and Night his mind;  
Now, day and night he minds but how to gain  
A Lady's grace; Who, taken, is not taen  
Her Soul being tempered more than Fancy-proof):  
●er-while, th'undaunted mighty Theban rough  
Can not have feared Him, with his massy Mace;  
Now, but a Glance of a weak Woman's Grace  
Dismays him, daunts him, nay even wounds him deep,  
Past care of Cure; and doth him Captive keep:  
●er-while Ambition, with Drums rattling Din,  
A waked him early, your the Day peept-in;  
Now Love awakes him; and with His Alarms  
Makes him neglect the Hebrews and their Arms:  
●er-while, he had Princes and Kings at bay;  
Now, of Himself hath neither Power nor Sway.  
Alas! alas! Unhappy Change, said He:  
Must I live Captive to my Captive-Shee?  
Is This (alas!) to live: the Body baseed;  
The mind as brute; and both their Power defaced!  
This's not a Life: or is worse Life to feel,  
Then sad Ixion's, on the brazen Wheel  
Eternal turning: or a life (in brief)  
Most like the Life of that celestial Thief,  
Whose ever-never-dying heart and liver  
On Schythian Rocks feed a fell Vulture ever.  
What boots me, t'have subdued so many Lands?  
What, to have tamed with my victorious hands  
All Nations lodged betwixt Hydaspes' large,  
And th'Haven where Cydnus doth in Sea discharge?  
Sith I am vanquished, by the feeble Might  
Of Captive IVDITH's Glance. What boots my brigh●  
Strong steeled Targe? my brazen Burguinet?  
My martial Guard about my Body set?  
Sith the keen Shot which her quick Eye doth dart,  
Through Steel, & Brass, & Guard, doth wound my ha●●  
What boots my Courser swifter than the Wind,  
Leaving the Swallows in his speed behind?  
Sith, on his back flying, I cannot fly  
The willing Chains of my Captivity.  
Change, change then, Hebrews, into Smiles your tears;  
Triumph of Me, mine Host, Arms, Swords & Spears:  
●am no more the Duke, whose Name alone  
●erwhile with Terror shook you every-one:  
●o: I am He whose Courage, late so brave,  
● now become but Slave unto my Slave:  
● am not come, to War with Israel,  
●o burn your Cities, or yourselves to quell:  
●ut to entreat You, to entreat (for Me)  
●our match-less JUDITH, that She milder be.  
But, whither, Witless, whither am I borne  
●y Loves fond Fury; wilfully forlorn?  
●ave I not Her here in my Patronage,  
●hat can the Anguish of my Soul assuage?  
●nd yet with idle Plaints I pierce the Skies;  
●nd thus unmanly melt me at mine Eyes.  
Unhappy Me! my wretched Case is such  
His, who wants most, what he hath toomuch;  
Crystal River flowing to his Lip;  
●et dies for Thirst, and cannot drink a sip:  
●or, so do I respect her Excellence,  
●er Heav'n-given Graces; that, for Reverence,  
●ine eyes dare scarce behold her, and my Tongue,  
●steed of suing, to my roof is clung.  
O that my Breast transparent Crystal were,  
That She might see my hearts dire Torment there;  
And there read plainly, what my Love's excess  
(Alas!) permits not my sad voice t'express.  
Since JUDITH first came to th' Assyrian Camp,  
Thrice had the heavens light & put-out their Lamp;  
And now Aurora, with a saffron Ray,  
Began, in Ind, to kindle the fourth Day:  
When as the Duke, who Food and Rest forsakes,  
This heavy Moan, to 's Eunuch BAGOS, makes:  
BAGOS, my Son, adopted, not by Chance;  
BAGOS, whom I, still studying to advance,  
Have made, of Meanest and neglected most,  
First in my heart, and Second in mine Host:  
BAGOS, I burn, I rave, I rage, I die  
Of wounds received from that fair Strangers Eye.  
Go, seek her out: go quickly: tell her Thou  
My loving Languor: tell her, that I vow  
To make her equal, nay above the best  
Of greatest Dames whom royal Crowns invest:  
Especially, insinuate so, that She  
Be pleased this night to come and sup with Me.  
Wear't not a Folly, nay a Madness mere,  
In Me, to have the rarest Beauty here  
●his Age hath bred; and yet, too-faint a Fool,  
●hould not dare my hearts hot Thirst to cool?  
●ould not my Soldiers laugh at it apace?  
●ay: would not JUDITH blush at My Disgrace?  
BAGOS, too-apt, too-vsed to such a Turn;  
●hus oils the Fire, which but too-fast did burn:  
●y Lord, if Private men (whose otious Care  
●arce pass the Threshold of their own Door dare;  
●hose Minds, content with their unhappy Hap,  
●r other Grace or Greatness never gape)  
●e not content (alas!) unless somewhile  
●us warm Comforts their i'll Cares beguile:  
●w-more unhappy then, are Those that bear  
〈◊〉 Atlas' Burden: Those that Rest forbear,  
●r Others Rest: Those that (like Argus) wake  
●ile Others, fear-less, their full Naps do take:  
〈◊〉 among all their Gall, their Toil, their Teen,  
●e (Cupid's) Honey be not mixed between?  
Then, Sir, pursue your Love: lose not the Game,  
●ich of itself comes to your Net, so tame.  
●d, if in like Employments, heretofore  
●ave found Me fit and faithful evermore;  
This new Trust, you shall by speedy Trial,  
●e me more secret, diligent, and loyal.  
Alas! Howmany Bagos', in our Time  
In Prince's Courts, to highest Honours climb,  
More, for their Cunning in such Embassies,  
Then for Repute of learned, stout, or wise!  
Whilom, great Courts were Virtue's Academs;  
Now, Schools of Vice: now (rather) Sinks of Realms.  
You, who, Great-minded, cannot be content  
To be close-Brokers for th'Incontinent:  
Who cannot brew (with too-too-dangerous Skill)  
Both a Love-Potion, and a Cup to kill:  
Who cannot, noble, your free Nature's strain,  
With flattering pencil on your Face to fain  
A Face of frowns, or Smiles; of Wrath, or Ruth;  
To please the Great (rather with Tales then Truth):  
Come not at Court; if I may counsel you.  
For, There, in steed of Grace and Honour, dew  
Unto your Virtues; you shall nothing gain,  
But that which There still haunts the Good; Disdain.  
You, Noble Ladies, in whose heart is graven  
A filial Fear of th'All-see GOD of Heaven:  
You that more prise your Honour's pure Report,  
Then Love of Princes: keep you from the Court.  
But You, who, having neither Land nor Money,  
Outbrave the bravest: Who with words of Honey,  
And Friend-like Face, Dissemblers, humbly greet  
Whom your false hearts wish in their winding sheet:  
Who, lavish, sell your Wives for Offices:  
Who, make you Noble, by base Services:  
Who, serving Time, can set your Faith to sale;  
Shift your Religion; sail with every Gale:  
Who, Parasites, can put more Faces on  
Then ever Proteus in the Seas hath shown:  
Who, forcing Nature, can your Manners fit  
To my Lord's Humour; and so humour it;  
Like a Chameleon, which, here blue, there black,  
Here grey, there green, doth with his Object take:  
Who can invent new Toules, new Taxes find,  
To charge the People, and the Poor to grind:  
Who, feigning to possess your Prince's Ear,  
Make Suitors crouch and court you everywhere;  
●nd, subtle Shifters, sell them dear your Smoke,  
blinding the Wretches with a wily cloak.  
You, warbling Sirens, whose delicious Charms  
●raw wariest youth into your wrackful Arms:  
●ou Circe's, you whose powerful Spells transmute  
●our Love's to Stones, Hogs, Dogs, & every Brute:  
●ou Stymphalides, whose Avarice devours  
●he richest Treasure of Youth's freshest Flowers:  
You, you, whose Painting, and Pearl-golden-glister,  
Of Priam's old Wife, make young Castor's Sister:  
You Myr●ha's, you Canaces, Semi-ram's:  
And, if there be any more odious Dames:  
Come You to Court: come quickly: There, on You  
A hundred Honours shall be hcapt, undew:  
You, there shall sell justice, Preferments, Places:  
Yea, you shall sell misgoverned Prince's Graces.  
But, Muse, it boots not: Hadst Thou thousand fold  
The Strength & Stomach of Alcides' bold,  
Thou couldst not cleanse These Sin-proud shining Halls,  
Fouler by far then foul Augeas Stalls.  
Let's back to JUDITH; who to bring about  
Her hard deseign, surveys her, sets her out,  
Be-curles her Tresses; makes her Crystal clear  
Her Beauty's judge, which had in Earth no peer.  
Then comes she to the Tent, rich hanged round  
With curious Arras, from the top to ground;  
Where Artful fingers, for a Web of glory,  
Had woven Medes, Persians, Syrian Princes Story.  
There Ninus first, pushed by vain Prides amiss,  
Usurps the East: here comes Simiramis,  
Who, feigning Her a Man, th' Assyrians sways;  
And to the Clouds her BABYLON doth raise.  
See, see a Prince, with soft white fingers fine,  
Effeminate, sits spinning Flaxen Twine:  
And, for a Lance, bearing a Distaff, shows  
That more to Female then to Male he owes:  
See, how he poats, paints, frizzles, fashions him;  
Baths, basks, anoints, views, & re-views his Trim  
Within his Glass, which for a Glaive he wears.  
See, how he shifts to hide his Shame and Fears:  
From Farthingale to Farthingale, he flies  
His brave Lieutenant, lest He him surprise.  
Yet, see, at last (to act one Manly thing)  
He burns himself, not to outlive a King.  
See, here an Infant sucking of a Bitch  
Under a Hedge, and in a shallow Ditch;  
Who, grown a Man, here musters in his Train  
●oth bond and free, the Soldier and the Swain;  
●ubdues the East, and into Persia draws  
The Medes proud Sceptre; & he gives them Laws.  
But, who's That marches so dis-figurd there,  
●efore an Army, without Nose, and Ear?  
'tis that good Servant, who reduced, alone,  
●nder Darius, Rebel Babylon.  
While, with these Shows sad JUDITH entertained  
●er Eyes, but not her hart (too-inly-paind)  
In comes the Duke: & with right courteous cheer  
Kindly salutes her, hands her hand; and near  
Causing her sit in a rich easy Chair,  
Himself, at ease, views & reviewes her Fair.  
Then, seeing him so nigh his wished Pleasure,  
His heart's a fire: nor hath he longer leisure  
To stay for Venus, till, Star-crowned bright,  
On their Horizon She bring back the Night.  
The Widow, knowing Time & Place, as yet,  
For God's Decree, and her Deseign, unfit;  
Finds still Delays: and, to delude his Love,  
She (wily) still Speech upon Speech doth move.  
My Lord, pray tell me, What so great Offence  
So grievously your Fury could incense?  
What? When? Where? Why? How? & by Whom our Foll●  
Can so the Wrath of such a Prince provoke,  
So separate, in Language, Land, and Law;  
Who never Us, and Whom we never saw?  
Vncivil were He (Sweet) replies the Prince,  
Can aught deny to such an Excellence.  
Then: as the heavens cannot Two Suns sustain:  
No more can Earth Two Kings at once contain,  
Of equal Power and State: for sovereignty  
Brooks no Copartner, no Equality.  
Witness my Sovereign: who, offended at  
The Power & Pomp of mighty Arphaxat,  
Who, high aspire, and fare to spread began;  
And to the Clouds had built his Ecbatane,  
Ninive's Shame, and dread of Babylon:  
Bravely endeavours to supplant, His Throne,  
Bereave his Sceptre, sack, raze, ruinated,  
His goodly Cities, and himself dis-State.  
But Arphaxat, as valorous as sage,  
And both, right worthy of his Crown & Age)  
Would rather venture Media's Royal Rings,  
Then veil to Anie. So between Two Kings,  
Two stout, & stirring Spirits (whereof, the one  
Can brook no Peer, th'other, Superior none)  
●egan a dreadful and right deadly War,  
●asting (alas!) too-long, spreading too-far.  
Arphaxat arms Those, where the Flower of Greece  
fetched, not the Locks of an old Golden Fleece,  
●ut massy Ingots, which do richly pave  
The happy Plains great Phasis Streams belave:  
The Harmastans, th' Albanians, wont to mow  
●hree times a year, where only once they sow:  
Whom Oxus boundeth with his swelling Tide:  
Whom Anti-Taurus double Horns divide:  
Those on the Mountain, whose high-lowely back  
Bowed to the Vessel which preserved from wrack  
The World's Abridgement: Those along the Shores  
Where proud jaxartes rapid Current rores:  
In short, besides his Medes he had in Pay  
All, near the Pontic and the Caspian Sea.  
So that, already, This great King-Commander,  
Had Hopes as high as ever ALEXANDER.  
My Prince, resolved to conquer, or to die,  
Omits no point of Opportunity  
For his Affairs: He armeth Sittacene,  
Levies the Archers of all Osrohene:  
Those, whose rich Plains hundred for one repay,  
From Euphrates and Tigris march away:  
Fish-fed Carmanians (who with Seal-skin jacks,  
In stead of Iron, arm their warlike Backs)  
Gold-sanded Hytan's native Shores forgo:  
You, Parthians, Cossians, and Arabians too,  
By your sage Magi's deep prophetic Charms  
Sacredly counselled, take you all to Arms:  
And Thou, Chaldéa, turn'st to Swords & Spears  
And Shields, Thy Rules, Squires, Compasses & Sphere  
For, of his Subjects spares he not a man  
That bear a Lance, or Pike, or Crossbow can:  
Wives, Beldames, Babes, Gray-heads (& Sickly, some)  
Through all his Countries only kept at home.  
He also sends for Persians and Phoenicians;  
For soft Egyptians, Hebrews, and Cilicians,  
Quickly to come, and kindly take his Part:  
But Neuters, They (more Friends in face, than hart)  
Reject his earnest Suit, Himself neglect;  
And use his Legates but with small respect.  
My Lord dissembles for a while This wrong,  
Till having tryumpht of a Foe more strong,  
He may with more ease, and with danger less,  
Their Sacrilege and surly Pride repress.  
In Ragau's ample Plain, one Morning, met  
These Royal Armies, of two Kings, as great  
As ever Mars with steel and Fury armed:  
●ury and Pride so Either Soldier warmed,  
That hardly could they stay till Trumpets shrill  
●enounce the Battle, & give leave to kill:  
●ut, with stern Looks, & braving Threats, afar;  
●t hand, with Blows; they had begun to war;  
exchanging wounds. Two thousand Perduz first  
●iue bravely th' Onset: and not much dispersed,  
from sudden whirlwind of their nimble Slings,  
●o thick a storm of humming Pebbles sings  
So sad a Dirge of Deaths, that they suppose,  
That not one Troop, but All, had been at Blows.  
To second Those, then, in good ordinance,  
With waving Ensigns, thousand Troops advance:  
Both Armies join. Now fiercely fall they to't,  
Mede upon Chaldé, pressing foot to foot;  
Incount'ring felly with a furious noise  
Of clashing Arms, and Angry-braving Voice:  
Lowder then Nile, rushing from Rocky-Coomb;  
Or than Encélade, when he shakes his Toomb.  
Here lies one headless: footlesse there (alas!)  
Another crawls among the gory Grass:  
One's shoulder hangs: another hangs his Bowels  
About his neck (but new bound up in towels):  
This, in the Face, That in the Flank is hurt:  
This, as he dies, a Flood of Blood doth spurt:  
That, neither lives nor dyes; but sees at once  
Both upper Jove's and neather's divers Thrones;  
Because, some little spirit (too-stubborn-stout)  
Still, in the Body, will not yet come out.  
Erewhile the ground was yellow, green, & blue;  
Now only covered with a Crimson hue:  
While one doth (here) another deadly thrill,  
Another Him, Another Him doth kill:  
Still Rage increases: still doth Fury spread,  
Till all the Field be but a Heap of Dead.  
One-while the Syrians by the Medes are chased;  
Anon the Medes by Syrians are re-chased:  
As one-while, from the Sea unto the Shore,  
Surge after Surge, Wave after Wave doth roar;  
Anotherwhile, from Shore to Sea they ply  
Wave after Wave, Surge after Surge to fly:  
Or as (we see) the Flowery Ears, in May,  
When Zephyrus with gentle Puffs doth play)  
Sway to and fro; forward and backward bend;  
Now stoop a little; and now, stand an end.  
Both Kings thewhile, whose Force & Fortitude  
Far past their Subjects, so their Blades imbrued  
●n Blood & Slaughter, that an open Glade  
Where'er they came, in either Camp they made:  
●o that, nor Casks, Cuirets, nor Shields could save  
from mighty Strokes their massy Weapons gave:  
Much like two Torrents, which with headlong fall  
from two opposed Hills, downe-bearing all,  
●anks Bridges, Trees, Corn, Cattell; seem to vy  
Whether of either shall most damnify.  
especially, the Medes King thundered so  
●pon our Battles, that our Bravest tho,  
Began to shrink, & with that shameful sight,  
Our Host disord'red, fell to shameful flight:  
The Foe pursues, slays, slashes (swift as wind)  
Millions of wounds, and every one behind.  
In brief, that Day had Niniué been down,  
Her King undone (dead, and deprived of Crown)  
Had not I (full of Force and Fury) quick,  
Like Lightning, rushed where deadly Blows were thick,  
Mails, Morions, Corselets, Iron, Steel & Brass,  
Before My Sword were brittle all, as Glass.  
And only I, My hand alone, which lent  
More deaths than blows, brought more astonishment  
Unto Their Camp, than all Our Camp beside.  
Their Foot no longer could my Brunt abide:  
Their Horsemen, fainting, in their Saddles shake;  
Arms on their Backs, hearts in their Bellies quake.  
Heer, with a downright Blow, from top to twist,  
I cleave in sunder one that dared resist:  
There, I so deep dive in Another's mind,  
That near two handfuls peers my Sword, behind;  
So, that the Medes, now more than wavering,  
In th'heat of Fight, abandon All their King.  
Who, seeing him so betrayed, his Tresses tore,  
Retired to Ragau, all besmeared with gore:  
There, over-taen by Ours, He bravely fought;  
Mid thickest Darts a glorious Death he sought;  
Heawes, thunders, thrills, & of his Manly blows  
Not one in vain, not one amiss bestows:  
But, yer He die, with quick, keen, Falchion fell,  
He sends before, thousand stout Souls to Hell:  
So the fierce Tiger, compassed everywhere  
With Men & Dogs, to Fury turns his Fear;  
Fights where he finds the greatest dangerly;  
Tears, tosses, kills; not, unrevenged to die.  
But, at the last, the vainly Valiant King,  
Weary of killing, and of conquering,  
Thrilld with a thousand Darts, and wounded rife,  
Ended at once his lofty Rage and Life:  
And, falling, fares as doth a mighty Oak,  
Which, planted high upon a massy Rock,  
〈◊〉 thousand times hath felt the Winds to beat,  
●nd thousand Axes, it a Fall to threat;  
●o that the Root groaned, & the Valley nigh  
echoed the noise unto the steepest Sky,  
While that the Top still reeling to and fro,  
●ow, These; now, Those, threatens with overthrow:  
Yet, still it stands, in spite of all their spite,  
●ill at the last, all under-mined quite  
With million strokes, it falls, and with the Fall,  
Bears to the ground, Trees, Rocks, Corn, Cattell, All,  
For, Arphaxat extinct, extinct withal  
Was Median's glory: and, My Lord of All  
Razed Ecbatane; and now grow Weeds & Grass  
Where, late, His lofty, rare-rich Palace was:  
Where, late, the Lute, & the loud Cornets noise  
In curious Consort warbled sweet their voice;  
The voice of Scriechowles, & Night-Ravens is heard,  
And every fatal and affrighting Bird.  
My King-God, weary of Wars tedious toil,  
In NINIVE the great, for four months-while  
Made Public Feasts: and, when the Feast was done,  
Commands Me leavy a huge Host, anon,  
Of chiefest Men; to go & chastise Those  
That had disdaignd him Aid against his Foes:  
And that, on All that dared His Hests infrenge,  
With Fire & Sword his Honour I avenge;  
And that with speed. But, Madam, see (alas!)  
How fare I am from bringing This too-passe:  
For, coming here, your Nation to subdue,  
Myself am conquered and subdued by You:  
So that (alas!) Death's draddest Tyrannies  
In endless Night will soon siel-up mine eyes,  
Except the powerful sole Preservative  
Of thy sweet Kisses keep me yet alive.  
Nay: good My Lord, said She, Tellon (I pray)  
●our good Success and Service, by the Way.  
Then HOLOFERNES, where he left, began  
A long Narration how He played the Man;  
●alfe Truth, half Tales: For, 'tis great Soldier's guise  
●o bombast oft their Own Exploits with Lies.  
Mine Host all mustered & together brought,  
●'inflame their hearts with martial Heat I sought:  
●ellowes (said I) if ever Your Desire's  
●aue thirsted Fame, to live when Life expires;  
●o w'now, to punish that presumptuous Crew  
Which rudely (late) our sacred Legates slew:  
●o w', to avenge our drad-deer Sovereign Liege  
Of that fell Outrage, nay, foul Sacrilege  
●gainst the Greatest GOD came ever down  
from Heavenly Spheres to sway an Earthly Crown:  
●rm, arm you, brave Bloods, arm your either hand;  
●his, with a Blade; That, with a Firebrand,  
With Fire and Sword to overrun the West,  
●o lay it waste; to bear away the best:  
●o sink it all under a Crimson Flood;  
●r make (at least) your Horses swim in blood:  
Go w', take possession of Your Valour's due,  
The whole World's Crown, which yields it all to you▪  
Take you This Honour; which, in Time-to-come,  
Shall keep your brave Names from th'oblivious Tomb  
Take, take your pleasures of the richest spoils  
Of richest Cities in a hundred Soils  
Which you shall sack. So, may you once in Health  
Come laden home with Honour & with Wealth.  
I ceased: and soon they second, All, my voice  
With Caps castup, with clapped hands; & noise  
Of general joy, to have Me GENERAL.  
Some sixscore Thousand was Mine Host in all,  
Or som-what-more: with which from NINIVE,  
But three-days march I made to Bectileh;  
Thence passed I forward by Hierapolis,  
Then by Amida, then by Nisibis.  
And thence to Charan (at the length) I came,  
Once happy seat of your great Abraham.  
Then won I th'Hill, whose obliqne Horns divide  
All Asia near, and limit fare and wide  
Many large Empires: Where, I sack, I slay,  
I burn, I raze, whatever in my way:  
My Soldiers seem so many Mowers, right,  
Which in a Mead leave not a blade upright;  
But, by long Swaths of their degraded Grass,  
Well show the way their sweeping Sythes did pass:  
This, Phul, and Tharsis, and all Lydia knows,  
●n whose waste Fields now only Bramble grows.  
come near the Strait which serves for Wall & Fort  
To ●oft Phoenicians, and Thief Issians Port:  
The Rosians, Soleans, Mopsians, Tharsians, Issia,  
●nchials, Aegoeans; briefly, all Cilicia;  
Takeup this Gate, with all their Power; in hope  
To stay my Passage, and my Course to stop.  
Should I here tell the dangerous Enterprises  
●raue Charges, Rescues, Sallies, Shocks, Surprises,  
Which there befell, the day would fail (I fear)  
●efore my Speech: for, the Cilicians were  
〈◊〉 fortified by favour of the Place,  
●hat little could we there prevail, a space:  
●ay, all mine Host, which had so often chased  
〈◊〉 many greater Hosts; now stood aghast;  
●ill in despite, and full of desperate rage,  
〈◊〉 thickest dangers, I myself engage;  
●here, round assailed, and wounded in all parts,  
●y Shield thick bristled with a Grove of Darts,  
Never shrunk: but so bestirred me round,  
●hat I alone made All their Host give ground.  
Mine Army then, follows the way amain  
Mine Arm had made, and paved thick with Slain:  
Now our most Cowards (late) for Fear, adying;  
Wound most, kill most, and most pursue them flying.  
Cydnus, your while, for his pure silver Flood,  
Caldoro King of Waters, wallows now in blood:  
And rapid Pyram (past his wont Toll)  
To Neptune, Shields, Helms, Horse & Men doth roul●  
In brief, as here your Mocmur, stopped a while  
By some new Bridge, or some unusual Pile;  
Roars, riseth, foams, fumes, threats, beats, rages, rave●  
Against his new Bank; and with weighty Waves,  
Weighty and strong, bears down at last the Bay,  
And, for a time, outlashing every-way,  
Tears, overturns, and undermines, much worse  
Then when he freely hath his native Course:  
Even so, my Force, having the Force repelled,  
Which in these straits the struggling Passage hel●  
Burns, kills, confounds, what meets it most and leas●  
ASIA, laid waste: returning to the East,  
I conquered Coelé, spoiling, pitiless,  
The fruitful Verge of famous Euphrates:  
Rapsis I razed; and Agraea overthrow'n,  
The Virtue of my mighty Arm hath known.  
Thence, keeping still by the Sea coast, I spoil,  
●he Madianites: then, marching North awhile;  
●owards double Liban, I Damascus race,  
●ith her near Towns, Gaane, Abyle, Hypaepas:  
●hence came I (curious) to that Hill, from whence  
●he Sun, by Night, is seen; and seen from thence  
●so to Rise: Thence, towards the Western Realms  
continual beaten with Phoenician Streams.  
Then, Those of Gaze, Tyre, Sydon, Ascalon,  
●otus, Byblus, joppa, every-one,  
●r'd with my Fame; in greatest humbleness,  
●spatch their Legates to My Mightiness.  
become not here with Force and Arms (say They)  
●o bid thee Battle, or to bar thy Way:  
●t rather, Mightiest Price, in humblest awe,  
〈◊〉 yield us Thine, to accept Thy Will for Law;  
〈◊〉 Life, or Death. Thine are our Fields & Forts;  
●ine are our Cities; Thine our Ships, our Ports,  
〈◊〉 Lands, our Goods, our Cattail, Corn, & Wine;  
●ine are our Children, and ourselves are Thine:  
●ly be pleased (Sir) to accept us so,  
●d so esteem us: and right happy th●  
●ll we esteem ourselves, to have a Lord  
●n wield so well the Sceptre and the Sword,  
The Lance and Balance; and, beside, excels  
Men, equals Gods in every Virtue else.  
Nor did their People, nor their States disprove  
Their Embassies; but by all signs of Love  
Both Young and Old, crowned all with Flora's Favours,  
Of hundred Colours and of hundred Savours;  
Came Dancing out with Musiks' cheerful Moods,  
To offer Me their Bodies and their Goods.  
Nor did I then a Victor's Right abuse;  
But with all Kindness them as Friends I use:  
Leave them their Land: but first, their Forts I manned  
With some of Mine; with some of Theirs, my Band.  
For (Madam) still the farther that I go,  
My Camp, in Bands; my Bands in Soldiers grow:  
Even as Danubius, first, beginning small  
Through Raurak Plains with shallow course to crawl,  
Still swelling more & more, with threescore Rivers,  
To th' Euxine Sea his Sealike Self delivers.  
I hoped, as These, so also Israel  
Would yield themselves; & not at all compel  
My just Revenge to threat Extremities:  
But, when I came here to Scythepolis  
(The Toomb of Her whose happy Milk had yerst  
The twice-born Dennis in his Cradle nourc't)  
● was advertised of this stubborn Folly;  
Which will, no doubt, undo the Hebrews wholly.  
The end of the fift Book.   

BETHULIANS' Rescue. THE sixth BOOK.  

YEt that the Pagan could his Story end,  
Fron highest Hills did dusky Night descend:  
And now the Steward full the Table fraights  
With all, most precious, most delicious Meats;  
As if the Viceroy, to This jovial Feast,  
Had bid the Kings both of the West and East.  
O greedy-guts! O Gulfs insatiate!  
A thousand Worlds, with all their delicate  
And various Cates devised by th' Abderite,  
Cannot suffice your bound-less Appetite.  
O Belly-gods! for You (at any price)  
To the Moluques, must we trudge for Spice;  
To the Canaries, for your Sugars fine;  
To (joves-crete) Candy for your choicest Wine.  
To please your Tastes, your Palates to content,  
Seas sacred Bosom is profanely rend;  
Aieris dispeopled; yea, right hardly can  
The only Phoenix scape the jaws of Man.  
O Poison! worse than Plague to Martial states,  
Which bravest minds basely effeminates.  
While Rome, for Heads, had Curios and Fabricios,  
Whom Roots sufficed for dainties most delicious:  
While Persia was with Salads sole content;  
They flourished Both, admired and Eminent;  
And Either's Arms triumphing everywhere,  
Filled all the Earth with Trophies and with Fear:  
But, since that This, from soft Assyrians took  
His vast Excess of Kitchen and of Cook;  
And, since that That fell under the Dispose  
Of Galba's, Nero's, and Vitellios'  
(More glorying to exceed Others Excess,  
Then conquer Pyrrhus or Mithridates)  
Both have been oft and justly sacked and spoiled  
By petty Nations, whom they oft had foiled.  
nature's sufficed with Little: Over-full  
Deadeth the Courage, & the Wits doth dull.  
Each being set; anon, full filled-out  
●n massy Bowls the Malmsey walks about:  
One drinks devoutly in an Ostrich Egg;  
One in a Lute, another in a Leg;  
One in a Ship, another in a Shell;  
Another takes a broad deep silver Bell,  
To ring his Peal; but so his hand doth sway  
And shake, that half he sheds it, by the way.  
But, above all, the Prince him so behaved,  
That, now, the more he drank the more he craved:  
Much like the Sea; which, though it take this-while  
Twin-named Ister, and Seaven-mouthed Nile;  
Never increases, nor is full therefore;  
But ever ready for as many more.  
Cup calls for Cup; and when the Skinker weens  
T' have done his Service, he afresh gins  
To fill them Liquor: for, till Midnight past,  
Among the Guests this Tippling game did last.  
And then away, with much ado, they went  
(Feeling, and reeling) Each unto his Tent;  
By th'amorous Tyrant often urged before,  
Who thought each minute now a year and more.  
When they were gone, He began embrace and buss  
The trembling Lady; who besoothes him Thus:  
Nay: leave (my Lord): such haste what need you make  
To reap the Fruit which from you none can take?  
Get you to bed: and, if you leave me room,  
I will not fail you by and by to come,  
So soon as I have but disburdened  
My Load of clothes, and made me fit for Bed.  
If suttlest Wits, and if the sobrest Brains,  
Have hardly scaped women's wily Trains,  
Marvel not, Reader, if One, fooled atonce  
By Semele's and Cytheréa's Sons,  
Be thus beguiled: sith Either of the Two  
bereaves the body's and the Minds Force, too.  
Then, letting her slide from his arms away,  
He goes about himself to disarray:  
Now he unbuttons, now pulls-off his hose;  
But, his heat hinders, and his haste foreslows;  
●or (sleep-awake, blinde-seeing) while he plies  
T'vntrusse his Points, them (fumbling) faster ties:  
Till, overcome with Rage, and Longing, more,  
He cuts his knots, and off his clothes he tore;  
●nd then to Bed. Where (as the Crosse-bow-man,  
Who, for his pleasure, watcheth now and than  
By some Crosspath, some Coney, or some Hare;  
●t every Noise, on every side doth stare  
Where stirs a Leaf; and levels thither-ward,  
●t the least Wren, or the least Worm that stirred  
●eer where he stands, still in a Hopefull-Doubt  
●urning his Body and his Bow about)  
The lustful Tyrant, if he hear a Mouse  
Never so little stir about the house;  
Shivering for Joy, he thinks his Mistress there:  
Nay, though he nothing hear, his flattering Ear  
Thinks it hears something, which can nothing be  
But his admired most desired Shee:  
Lifts-up, layes-down, and up again re-lifts  
His heavy Noule: from side to side he shifts;  
Casting the Distance, counting, in his head,  
Howmany steps will bring her to his Bed,  
The which thewhile he full of Thorns doth think.  
But, now the Fume of his abundant Drink,  
Drouzing his Brain, beginneth to deface  
The sweet Remembrance of her lovely Face:  
Already wheels his Bed, already shine  
A thousand Rays before his slumbering Eyes:  
Already in his Ears (now waxed numb)  
A thousand Drones with buzzing Noise do hum  
He sees Chiméras, Gorgon's, Minotaures.  
Medusa's, Haggs, Allecto's, Semitaures.  
But IVDITH's heart still beating thick within,  
Felt a fell Combat in itself begin:  
Now, causing Fear her sacred Fervour quash;  
Anon, her Fervour her faint Fear to dash.  
JUDITH, said She, Thy jacob to deliver,  
Now, is the Time; Now toit. Do-it never.  
O! Yes. O! No. I will. I will not, I:  
Shall I profane kind Hospitality?  
Nay, rather shall I sanctifieed the more,  
When by the same I shall the Saints restore.  
But, Traitors ever bear Dishonours brand.  
Traitors be Those betray; not save, their Land.  
But, Murderers Heavens rigbteous judge abhors.  
Why? all Mankillers are not Murderers.  
But, he's a Murderer who his Prince hath slain.  
This is a Tyrant; not My Sovereign.  
But, GOD hath now bequeathed Him us for Lord.  
he's not of GOD that wars against his Word.  
Why, then, may All, their Tyrants kill and rid?  
So Ahod, jahel, and so jehu did.  
Yea, but from Heaven had They authentic Warrant.  
So hath my Soul (approved and apparent.)  
But, ah! how weak art Thou, this Work to act!  
Whom GOD assisted, never strength hath lacked.  
But, hadst thou done; the Sequel's more to doubt.  
GOD brought me in: & GOD will bring me out.  
What, if He please leave thee in Heathens hands?  
Their Chieftain dead, I fear nor Death, nor Bands.  
But, to their Lust thou shalt be left a Prey.  
Never my Mind; my Body force they may.  
Then, in this point thus sacredly confirmed;  
With hands heaved up, her eyes on Heaven she firmed.  
And softly, Thus pours to the Lord her Prayer:  
O gracious GOD, who with paternal Care  
Hast ever kept thine Israel, strengthen Thou  
Mine Arm with Thine, that it may nimbly now  
Cutoff this Tyrant, who thus dares presume,  
To scale the heavens; Thy Sceptre to assume.  
And, sith thy grace, through thousand storms & more,  
Hath brought my Bark in sight of wished shore,  
O, let it land: with Poppie's sleepiest sap  
This Tyrant's sense benumb in end-less Nap;  
That I may raise this Siege, Thy Thralls release;  
Return Thee Praise; and, to thy ZION, Peace.  
Her Prayer done, the Drunken Prince she hears  
Snotting aloud. Then fair and soft She neeres  
His Pallets side, and quickly takes the Sword  
Which had so oft the groaning Earth begored.  
But, even about the fatal Blow to give;  
Fear, from her hand did the fell Weapon reave:  
Her hart did faint, her strength did fail her quite.  
O GOD (than said She) strengthen by Thy Might  
My timorous heart's, and trembling hand's Consent  
Then on the Duke so stiff a stroke she lent,  
As happily, tri-parted (at the paul)  
Th'Head from the Body, Body from the Soul.  
His Soul to Hell: his Body on the Bed:  
In IVDITH's hand his grim and ghastly Head;  
Which soon her Handmaid in her Night-bag hid.  
Then speeding thence, suspect-less, or unspied;  
Without Impeach the Pagan Host they passed.  
For, if that any saw them trip so fast,  
Heav'n-blinde, they thought She went but (as before) Tower,  
Into the Vale, bright Diane to adore.  
Now, when chaste JUDITH came to th' Hebrews  
Open, open (said She): for the GOD of Power,  
Th' Assyrian Forces hath this Night forlorn,  
And lifted up his chosen Iacob's forlorn.  
The Town, amazed at her Return vn-hoped,  
Press to the Port; which instantly they oped,  
Thronging about her: who a Terrace mounts,  
And her Exploit from point to point recounts.  
Then, from her Bag, for Proof of what she said,  
She pulls thewhile the dreadful Pagans Head.  
The Citizens, when in her hand they saw  
Th' Assyrian's Head's Head; full of humble Awe,  
Extol th'Almighty, who so mighty Foe  
By a weak Woman had subdued so.  
But, most of all did Ammon's Prince admire  
GOD's dreadful judgement: and to scape His ire,  
Who Israel thus, of vanquished, victorized;  
His Flesh and Heart he sudden circumcised.  
How sweetly, Lord, Thy sacred Providence,  
men's suttlest Wisdom, in their Plots, prevents!  
For, thine Elected unto Life, to guide  
Into thy Fold (when most they seem beside)  
Good out of Ill thou drawest: making their Sin,  
Means ('gainst their minds) their Goodness to begin  
Lord! foul Desire of Murder and of Spoil  
Brought this (late) Pagan to th' Isacian Soil;  
Where, meaning (first) Thy People's blood to spill,  
Now, spend his Own for their dear sakes he will:  
Thy mercy so from his malign Affect,  
Maugre his mind, brought forth a good Effect.  
So, near Damascus, mad'st thou, by thy Call,  
Of Wolf a Shepherd, of a Saul a Paul;  
Of Persecutor, an Apostle; (brief)  
Of Chief of Sinners, among Saints the Chief:  
So suddenly, that all the Saints about  
Admired his Doctrine; Yet, his Deeds did doubt.  
So, the Saint Thief, which suffered with our Saviour  
Was led to Life by his Death-dew Behaviour:  
And, when no longer Earth could bear his Sin,  
Was, in a Moment, made Heaven's Citizen.  
O feareful-hopeful Precedent of Grace!  
Such as, but One, GOD's holy Books embrace:  
●ne, that None (humbled) should despair of Pardon:  
But One, that None presume in Sin to harden.)  
So, turn, good Lord, O turn the hearts of Princes,  
Whose Rage their realms with Sts. deer blood berinses:  
O! let the Sword, Thou in their hand hast put,  
None but Thy Foes, none but Those Tyrant's cut,  
Who cursedly Thee, or Thy CHRIST blaspheme  
Usurping JUDA and JERUSALEM,  
●nd all Thy Golden Candlesticks beside;  
Threating the West, too, with their Power & Pride):  
Not Those, who humbly, only, evermore,  
●hee, TRINITY in UNITY, adore.  
Then, as the brave Virago ordered,  
Soldier takes th' Assyrian Tyrant's Head;  
And, for the Hebrews more Encouragement,  
●lad sets it up upon the Battlement.  
There, Parents, Children, Maids, & Widows sad,  
Whom Pagan Swords but new bereft had  
●f Children, Parents, Lovers, Husband's deer,  
betwixt Grief and Anger, as distracted near,  
Pull-off his Beard, pull out his hateful Tongue,  
(Which had blasphemed Heaven & Earth so long)  
Spit in his Face, scratch & poach-out his Eyes;  
And all, that Hate and Fury can device.  
For, live Remembrings of their wrongs, them make,  
On his dead Head, this dead Revenge to take.  
Aurora, weary of the cold Embrace  
Of her old Spouse, began in Ind apace  
To paint her Portal of an Opal hue;  
When, of Bethulians' all the bravest Crew  
Issue in Arms: and such a Noise withal,  
(Such Shouts and Cries) as if, in th'antic Braule,  
All th'Elements, breaking the bands of Order,  
Were by the Ears; and in their old Disorder.  
The Court of Guard (that night unusual strong,  
Towards the Town) hearing such Noise, so long,  
Start from their Sleep: and crying Arm, arm, arm,  
Give suddenly to all their Host Alarm.  
One, for his own, his Fellow's Helm puts-on:  
One, his right Vantbras on left arm doth done:  
One, on his neck, for Lance, a Libbet takes:  
One speeds him quick: another scarce awakes:  
One mounts his Horse, yer he be curbed, or girt;  
And, without Spurs: Others, to show more heart,  
Would make a Stand: some neither wake nor sleep:  
Some, brave in Word; in Deed, as faint as Sheep.  
Now, by degrees, this Noise comes to the Ears  
Of Holosernez Household Officers:  
●o that sad Bagos hies him in all haste  
Unto the Tent where th' Ethnic slept his last.  
With trembling hand, once, twice, or thrice he knocked:  
●ut an eternal Sleep the Doors had locked  
Of his Lord's ears; who had already crossed  
●he Stygian Ferry, not to be recrost.  
Then, hearing still th' Isacians louder shout,  
●e makes the Door fly-open with his Foot;  
●nd, entering, finds, in gory Bed, low shrunk,  
Not Holofernez, but his Head-less Trunk.  
●hen did he tear his hair, and rend his Clothes,  
●nd to the Clouds roars out in yelling Oaths:  
especially, when JUDITH there he missed,  
Whom now the Murderess of his Lord he witted.  
When, rageful rushing from the bloody Tent,  
●his hideous Cry through all the Camp he sent:  
Woe, woe to us! Alas! this cursed Night  
●cursed Captive hath confounded quite  
●ur awful Army, and undone us All,  
〈◊〉 treacherous slaughter of our GENERAL.  
This new Affright redoubled on the first,  
The stoutest hearts doth so dis-hart and burst;  
That All (atonce abandoning their Arms,  
Pikes, Swords, & Shields, Darts, Arrows, all) by swarms,  
Be take them to their heels; o'er Hill & Dale,  
Flying from one death, on a worse to fall.  
Then the Besieged, in great Troops descend,  
And on their backs revenging Bows they bend.  
Both run apace: Those fly; These follow fast:  
But those that fly, make less good speed then haste.  
For, without loss of Man, th' Hebrews, at will,  
The flying Pagan's slaughter, thrash, and thrill:  
Even as a Lion, in Getulian Lawns,  
Bestreawes the soil with fearful Kids and Fawns;  
Where, not a Beast his Fury dares abide,  
Nor lift a horn against his awful pride.  
One, from a Rock himself doth headlong dash,  
And all to pieces all his parts doth pash:  
Other, forgetting that in deepest depth  
Fate finds us out, into a River leap'th.  
But, if by speed, or some good hap, perhaps  
This Mornings first fell Fury any 'scapes,  
He escapes not though those Hebrews outrages,  
Who kept (about) the Straits & Passages:  
So that scarce one of such a Rout could bring,  
To Niniué, the News unto the King.  
The Battle (rather, th'Execution) don,  
Out of the City flocked every-one  
Whom Sex or Age had hitherto restrained;  
To see the dread Revenge the Lord had reigned  
So suddenly, and past all Expectation,  
On those fell Foes of His deer Holy Nation.  
One, full of Wounds, yet gasping, calls in vain  
On lazy Death, to end his linger pain:  
One, grinning ghastly, in his visage grim,  
shows, dead, the Rage that living swelled in him:  
●ome mangled here, some there, some round about:  
●nd every Soul a sundry way went out:  
accordingly as Valour, Sleight, or Chance,  
●ed the dead-doing Sword, or Dart, or Lance.  
〈◊〉 short, This sight so truly tragic was,  
That even the Victors would have sighed, alas,  
●ad they so vanquished any Foe but This.  
But rifling long, among the Carcases,  
●t last the Body of the Duke they found  
Though head-less, known best, by that only wound).  
●hither they throng; That, every blade must thrill,  
●nd every one that Corpse again would kill:  
A hundred Swords, a hundred Pikes, and Darts,  
Are every moment goring all his parts;  
And every Nerve, Vein, Muscle, joint they hack;  
Till room (at last) their Vulgar Rage doth lack.  
For, were his Bulk as big as Atlases,  
His Limbs as many as Encéiades,  
And strong Briareus; yet, yet think I, all,  
Their dire Revenge would still, still think too small.  
For, of the jews, none so base Clown there is  
But would a Gobbet of that Flesh of His.  
Give, Tyrant, give thy Right hand to Cilicians,  
Thy Left to Medes: give one Arm to Phoenicians,  
Th'other to Ishmael: and divide thy Feet  
Between th' Egyptian and the Coelianite:  
That every Nation, whom Thine Arms offenced,  
May, by some Part, be partly recompensed.  
Alas! I err: for, all in Atoms  
Wert Thou divided, all would not suffice.  
But JUDITH, nor forgetful, nor ingrate,  
Would neither bury, nor Selfe-arrogate  
The sacred honour for Assistance given  
In This great Work, by th'All-work hand of Heav'●  
But, tyming meet her Feet to Timbrels noise,  
This Hymn she sings with glad-sad warbling voice;  
Followed by all the Flower of Hebrew Dames  
Maids, Widows, Wives) of faultless Forms & Fames.   

Laude, laud we, loud, with verse, with voice & strings,  
The GOD of Gods', the glorious King of Kings:  
Those Power alone, pulls Tyrants down, & reareth  
●eek in their Room, who HIM ay-faithfull feareth.   

For, who would think, one City, in one Day,  
〈◊〉 suddenly could such an Host dismay,  
Whose high Exploits had all the World astounded,  
And, from the Indeses, to japheths' Inns resounded?   

Lord! who would think, that HOLOFERNES, ●ate  
Proud Conqueror of many a Potentate,  
●hould lose his Life (for all his Selfe-affiance)  
〈◊〉 one weak Woman, not a Troop of Giants?   

Who, who would think, that HE, who late possessed  
At least, had power) from farthest East to West;  
●om Pole to Pole stretching his arms allover,  
●ould not have, left, one Inch of Turse, for Cover?   

That stately Prince, so thick attended-on,  
●●w dead, (alas!) lies, above ground, alone.  
●t, not alone: for, Those that served him, living;  
●●sort him, dead; Proof of their Duties giving:   

Nor yet, above ground; for, the Ravens become  
His mangled body's better-worthy Toomb,  
Then precious Marble, let, and jacynth gilded;  
Which, for his Bones Himself had proudly builded.   

So, so (good Lord) from Henceforth, let us find  
Thee, not our judge, but as our Father kind;  
And so, Henceforth, the Foes of ZION rather  
Feel Thee their judge, than their propitious Father.   

Heer JUDITH ends: Here also end will I,  
With thanks to GOD; and to Your Majesty.  
To GOD, for bringing This my Work about▪  
To You, for deigning to have read it out,   
FINIS.   

LITTLE BARTAS: OR Brief Meditations, ON The Power, Providence, Greatness, & Goodness of GOD, In the CREATION; of the World, for Man: Of Man, For HIMSELF.  
Translated; & Dedicated To the most Royal Lady ELIZABETH.  
by JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   


HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE   royal blazon or coat of arms   

TO The most Royal Lady ELIZABETH, Infanta of England; Princess PALATINE of Rhine.  
SWeet Grace of GRACES, Glory of Your Age,  
Lustre of VERTVES (Moral and Divine)  
Whose Sacred Rays (already) far outshine  
Your Princely State, Your Royal Parentage;  
Here, to your HIGHNESS (with all Good-Presage,  
Congratuling Your little PALATINE)  
I consecrate This LITTLE-One of Mine  
To serve Yourself, first; then, Your Son, for Page.  
Your gracious Favours to my former Brood,  
So bind my Thoughts, so bolden my Desires,  
To show Me grateful, as I know You good;  
That Thus to YOU, This LITTLE Mine aspires:  
Little in Growth; yet of so great a Spirit,  
As (happily) Your Grace's grace may merit.  
To Your Highness' Service, Duly and Truly devoted, josuah Sylvester.   

Souhaits Royaux & Loyaux.  

Au Roy.  
AIusi, l' Ancien des Temps, d' Ans, d'Honneurs, & Bonl  
Comblant ce Chef Royal; couronne voz Labeurs:  
Qui, pour le Droict des Roys, d'vn Glaive tout divin,  
Combattez l'Antichrist, & son grand BELLARMIN.   

Au Prince Charles.  
●insi le Tout-puissant, de sa main de PANDORE,  
Face d'vn Charle-moindre, vn Charlemagne encore;  
Qui, suivant Voz Vertuz, derive, perennel,  
Saincts-Sages-Preux STVARTS au Sceptre paternel.   

Aux Princes Palatins.  
●insi, le Ciel benin de ses Tresors benisse,  
L'Hymen heureux & saint de FRED'RIC & d'ELIZ  
De sort, que d'Iceux, leurs Filz, & leurs Neveuz,  
Nous naissent deformais des EMPEREVRS heureux.   

Aux Anglois & Allemans.  
●insi, Lions ANGLOIS & Aigles d'ALLEMAGNE  
(Triumphants, pour la Foy, de ROME & de l'ESPAG  
Terrassent coup a coup les Lunes du TURQVOIS,  
Pour planter tout par tout les Lauriers de la CROIX.    

LITTLE BARTAS.  

IF wanton Lovers so delight to gaze  
On mortal Beauties brittle little Blaze;  
That not content, with (almost) daily sight  
Of Those dear Idols of their Appetite;  
Nor, with th' Idëas which th'Idalian Dart  
Hath deep imprinted in their yielding heart;  
Nor, with Their Pictures (with precisest charge)  
Done by Decreets, Marcus, or Peake, at large  
(And hanged of purpose, where they most frequent,  
As some fair Chamber's choicest Ornament)  
They must have Heliard, Isaac, or His Son,  
To do in Little, what in Large was done;  
That they may ever, ever bear about  
A Pictures Picture (for the most, I doubt).  
Much more should Those, whose Souls, in Sacred Love,  
Are rapt with Beautie's-Prototype above  
(Sith, here, they cannot see th' ORIGINAL;  
Nor, in themselves, now, find His Principal)  
Thirst for Their Object; and [much less content  
With th'ample Table of the Firmament,  
And various Visage of this goodly Globe,  
Wherein, they see but (as it were) His Robe,  
Embroidered rich; and with Great Works embossed,  
Of Power, of Prudence, & of Goodness, most;  
Yet, so far-off, so massy, so immense,  
As overswaies Their weak Intelligence:  
Or with that lesser Tablet of their Own  
(The Little-World, wherein the Great is shown)  
Which, near & dear, though still about they bear,  
Such Clouds of Passion are still crowding there,  
That seld or never can they ought perceive  
Of those pure Rays it did at first receive]  
Long for Their Longhome, past the Gates of Grace,  
To see Their Love, in Glory, face to face.  
Till when; awhile to entertain them here  
With Prospects fittest Their faint Thoughts to cheer  
(Instead of That Great Universal Table,  
Made in Six Days, with Art so admirable;  
And, by My BARTAS, in His Weeks divine,  
So large and lively drawn in every line)  
DU-VAL, and I (too short of Isaac's Art)  
Have Thus Essaid to play the Limners part,  
And draw in little (like a Quintessence)  
That goodly Labours glorious Excellence;  
For ease of Such, whom Public Charge denies  
Leisure to view so large Varieties:  
And Such, whose Means may not afford their Minds  
So costly Pleasures, of so Gain-less kinds:  
And (lastly) Such, as, loving BARTAS best,  
●ould glad and fain still bear Him in their breast,  
●t in their Bosom, were He Pocket-fit,  
As well He might; would Printers Gain permit.  
Now therefore, Thou, All-forming ONLY-TRINE,  
As, in the Large, Thou ledst His hand & Mine;  
●end likewise here Thy gracious Help again,  
●o guide aright my Pencil and my Pen;  
●o suit my Colours, sweet my Shadows, so,  
●hat This my Little, Thy Great Works may show.  
And, grant, thewhile, I be not like the Hand  
Which at S. Albon, in the Street doth stand  
directing Others in the ready Way;  
●ut, void of mind, itself behind doth stay:  
●or, like a Buoy, which warneth from a Shelf;  
●t lies still wallowing in the Sea, itself.   

SVpernall Lord, eternal King of Kings;  
Maker, Maintainer, Mover of all things:  
How infinite! how excellently-rare!  
How absolute Thy wondrous Works they are!  
How much their Knowledge is to be desired!  
And Thou, in All, to be of All admired!  
Thy glorious Power so suits thy gracious Will:  
Thy sovereign Wisdom meets thy Goodness still:  
Thy Word effects thy Work; and, void of Pain,  
Turns round the heavens, & doth the Earth sustain.  
Thy Spirit, infallible and infinite,  
Filling the World (yet not contained in it)  
By Power and Presence, all, in All things dwells;  
In Essence though, the Heaven of heavens excels.  
Eternally, before All Form began,  
Thou, only GOD, wert in Thyself, even than,  
As absolute, as after all the Term  
Of All thy Works: They, Changefull All; Thou firm.  
The Revolution of This ample All,  
heavens height, Star's light, the Ocean's flood & fa●  
To all Mankind, in some kind, make Thee know●  
But add not Thee more Glory to Thine Own.  
To make a World, or mar it, Thou art free.  
All comes & goes, by Thy divine Decree.  
Thou, at Thy pleasure, hast made All of Nought:  
●ll, at Thy pleasure, shall to Nought be brought.  
Thy Name is (right) I AM: for, without Thee,  
〈◊〉 None: all Beings of Thy BEING be.  
●ll perfect Unity, proper Existence,  
●s only found in Thine own sacred Essence.  
Although the World a goodly Piece appear,  
●T hath, to Thy Greatness, no Proportion near:  
●Tis but a Point, to Thine immense infinity.  
Then, what (alas!) is Man, to Thy DIVINITY?  
Yet, hast thou Him a Tongue & Reason given;  
And Eyes erected towards Thy glittering Heaven,  
To read & ruminate Thy Wonders there;  
And afterwards proclaim them everywhere.  
The heavens declare thy Glory, & they preach  
To Man, Thy Works, Thine Excellence in Each:  
The Elements accorded Discords sound  
How good for us thy goodly Works are found.  
The radiant Stars, in their eternal Sway,  
Th'alternate Changes of the Night & Day,  
The birth of Beasts, the growth of Plants, each hour,  
Teach everywhere Thy Providence & Power.  
From THEE, the Sun receives his Beauty bright,  
And Sovereign Rule of Each celestial Light;  
Whose Yearly Course, in certain Circuiting,  
Makes Winter, Sommer, Autumn, & the Spring.  
Be't cloudy, clear, Eclipse, or Night, or Day;  
His lovely brows are equi-lucent ay:  
And, whether swift or soft He seem to wend,  
His Speed is such, We cannot comprehend.  
Though us He Warm, yet is Himself not hot:  
Though red, or pale, He seem, yet is He not:  
Though small to us; His Orb is eight-score times  
And six, as big as All our Earthly Climbs.  
Did not He draw moist Vapours from below,  
To drench our Fields; here, nothing green would grow:  
Did not He dry excessive Showers again,  
We could not sow, nor mow; our grass, nor Grain.  
Thou Lord, by Him, workest all this Alteration;  
And causest so All Creatures generation:  
Prankest the Earth in diverse-Flowred hue;  
And Yearly, almost, makest the World anew.  
Thou hast disposed His obliqne Body so,  
That Rise he, Set he; be he High, or Low;  
His Noon's perpetual: & he makes atonce  
Day, Night; 

Summer;  
Winter;   frying, freezing Zones.  
When low to Us, he is to Others high;  
When Others see not, We behold his Eye;  
When here he Sets, he Rises otherwhere;  
When here direct, he looketh glancing there.  
When some, in Summer, hear sweet Nightingales,  
Then some in Winter, hear but blustering Gales:  
●ome, see but Buds, when some supply their Granges,  
Each-where, the Sun thus Seasons conter-changes.  
When here, there springs both leaf & grass together,  
●s-where the Meads do hang their heads & whither:  
So, in their turns, so in their times, he measures  
His Gifts to all; and all partake his Treasures.  
In brief: each change of short, long; Day & Night;  
Of Seasons, Times, Turns, & returns of Light;  
Which, in a whole Year, everywhere he forms;  
That, in the whole World, daily He performs.  
So that, dread Lord, were not Thy sacred Lore,  
Man, above All, would likely Him adore  
A● some have done); but Supreme Reason shows  
That all His Glory unto Thine he owes.  
Things finite have Beginning, & Beginner:  
Things moved, a Mover (as the wheel, the Spinner)  
sects, their Cause final; and (formally)  
●der then Time, Nature, or Faculty.  
Even THEE, the Cause of Causes: Source of All:  
First, and Last, Mover; Prime, and Principal.  
Infallible, involuble, insensible;  
All Selfe-comprising, else incomprehensible:  
Immense, Immortal, absolute infinity,  
Omnipotent, Omniscient DIVINITY.  
Even THEE, in Whom only gins all Good,  
And all returns into Thy boundless Flood.  
By Order then of thy Decrees divine,  
thoust set the Sun o'er All the World to shine;  
And (as the Subjects lightly suit their King)  
With His fair Light, t'enlighten every thing.  
His goodly Face, th'vngodly ever fly,  
Seeking for Night's black horrid Canopy,  
To cover Theft, Rape, Incest, Murder too,  
And all foul Sins; which in the Dark, they do  
By Him, We see Thy Works, in their Propriety;  
Discern their Beauties, learn their vast variety:  
Where, without Him, the World would all return  
To th'old first CHAOS, or in Blindness mourn.  
By Him, We calculate our Grandsire's Dates,  
Th'Increase of Kingdoms, & Decay of States:  
By Him, Thou measur'st, Lord, to Us & Ours,  
Years, Ages, Seasons, Months, Days, Minute's, Ho●  
All Wits admire th'immense and wondrous way  
His great bright Body circuits every Day:  
The more his Orb is from the Centre far,  
The longer Daily his great journeys are.  
Besides his Daily Course, his Coursers drive  
One of three hundred threescore Days and five,  
Five Hours, three-quarters: of which Ouer-plus,  
In every fourth Year, grows a Day with us.  
Yet, whoso would the Year exactly rate,  
In five-score-five Years, must one Leap abate;  
And, in threescore, for th'Error ready past,  
Should no Bissextile in our Books be placed.  
But, though We err, He never errs at all:  
Nor, since Thou didst Him in his State install,  
Hath He missed Moment of the Task he ought;  
Though he have seen Men fail and fall so oft.  
Above all Creatures, He retains, of Thee,  
Something conform to Thine Eternity:  
For, though He see our hourly Changes here,  
His Light and Beauty still the same appear.  
How many Changes hath He seen on Earth!  
Kings, Kingdoms, States; their Burial & their Birth;  
Rising and Falling of triumphant Races;  
Raising and razing of renowned Places.  
How often hath He seen Empress reversed?  
Rich Cities sacked? Rare commonweals dispersed?  
Fields turned to Floods, & Seas returned to Sands?  
While steadfast He between his Tropiks stands?  
Him, just betwixt Six Wanderers hast thou placed,  
Which prance about Him with unequal haste:  
All which, without Him, could no Light reflect,  
As is apparent by the Moon's Defect.  
By His Aspect, her Own she daily makes;  
She, Wax-less, Waen-less, doth both waen & wax:  
And though to Us, She seem a Semi-Ray,  
Her Full round Face doth never fall away.  
By His fair Beams, as well by Day as Night,  
The full whole Half of Her thick Orb is bright:  
And, as She draws near, or far off from Him;  
So, more, or less Our Half is clear or dim.  
Her upper Half is full, in her Coition,  
Her lower Half is in her Opposition:  
Her other Quarters, other Forms express;  
And up, or downward, show Her, more or less.  
When We see little, than the heavens have store:  
When heavens see little, then have We thee more:  
Neerer the Sun, the less She seems in sight;  
Turning her Horn still to her Opposite.  
At Even Increasing, She the Sun succeeds;  
At Morn, Decreasing, She his Car precedes:  
So that, each Month, the Sun environs Her,  
On every side His Splendour to confer.  
Her silver Light then only faileth her  
When th'Earth's between Them (in Diameter)  
Which Masks her Beauty with a sable Cloud,  
From Sight of Him, her Brother Golden-browd.  
Good Lord, what changes dost Thou work by These  
Varieties; in Air, in Earth, & Seas!  
Fair, or foul Wether; Wind, or Wet, or Thunder;  
To dry, or drip; or cool, or warm Heerunder.  
If She but smile the fourth day, it will be fair:  
If then She blush, we shall have blustering air:  
If then her brows be muffled with a Frown,  
Most of that Month shall sad Tears trickle down.  
Thus doth the Vigour of the Signs superior  
Rule in the Virtues of these things inferior:  
But All are governed by Thy sovereign Might:  
O! happy He who understands it right.  
Thrice happy He, who sees Thee everywhere,  
In Heaven & Earth, in Water, Fire, and Air:  
Who, due admiring Thy wise Works (of Yore)  
Thee above All, Thee only, doth adore.  
Who knows Thee so, so needs must love Thee too;  
And, with his Will, Thy sacred Will would do:  
Still lifts his Eyes to Heav'n-ward, to contemple  
The stately Wonders of Thy starry Temple.  
Admires the set & measured Dance of Thine  
All-clasping Palace, azure-crystalline,  
Rare-rich-imbost with glittering studs of Gold;  
And, more admires, the more he doth behold.  
'T's a wondrous thing to see That mighty Mound,  
Hindge-less & Ax-less, turn so swiftly round;  
And th'heavy Earth, propless (though downward tending  
Selfe-counter-poized, mid the soft Air suspending.  
On th'ample Surface of whose massy Ball,  
Men (round about) do trample over-all,  
Foot against Foot, though still (o strange Effect)  
Their Faces all be towards Heaven erect.  
Those dwelling under th' Equinoctial, they  
Have, all the Year long, equal Night and Day:  
Those near the Tropiks, have them more un-even;  
The more, the more that they are Nor-ward driven.  
But Those, whose Tents to either Pole are near,  
Have but One Night, & One Day in a year.  
Yet All well compassed by due ruled Rite,  
Neither then other, hath more Dark, or Light.  
Thus have thy Works, o All-Disposing Deity,  
Somewhat conform, for all their great variety:  
Which Harmony, amid so divers things,  
In All, aloud Thy wondrous Wisdom rings.  
But, specially, we wonder at the Place  
Which here thou hast bestowed on Adam's race:  
To see ourselves set on so Round a Ball,  
So firmly hanged just in the midst of All.  
For, This our Globe hangs Prop-less in the Air;  
Yet, but thy Self, can nothing shake or sway-her:  
No roaring Storm, nor rumbling violence,  
Can move the Centre's sad Circumference.  
Which, whoso should oppose in Disputation,  
Might be convinced by easy Demonstration;  
So evident, from Sense and Reason err,  
Who think the heavens stand, & the Earth doth stir.  
The Parts & Whole, of samekind bodies, have  
Same or like Motions; be they light, or grave;  
Upward or downward; round, or overthwart:  
Needs must the Total move as doth his Part.  
So, if we see the Sun & Moon to veer;  
Their ample heavens have even the like Career:  
But, who hath seen a Selflie-turning Stone?  
How then should Earth turn her whole lump alone?  
Let's therefore, boldly, with old Truth, affirm,  
That th'Earth remains unmoveable & firm:  
And (if we credit the Geometer)  
Three thousand leagues is her Diameter:  
This Measure of her vast thick Depth, is found  
By th'admirable Compass of her Round;  
Which hath, by test of Arts Experiments,  
More than nine thousand leagues Circumference.  
Yet, learned Mappists, on a Paper small,  
Draw (in Abridgement) the whole Type of All;  
And in their Chamber (paineless, peril-less)  
See, in an hour, & circuit, Land and Seas.  
This mighty Globe is but a Point, compared  
With th'uppper Globe: yet on This Point are shared  
Millions of millions of Mankind, which plough  
With Keel & Coultar its Twin Back and Brow.  
Man, placed thus, in This Mid-Point, so even,  
Sees always Half of God's great Hall of Heaven:  
Th'other's beneath him; yet abides not there,  
But in a Day doth to him all appear.  
Ah, Sovereign Artist! o how few of us  
Know right the Place where Thou hast placed us thus!  
Alas! howmany know not, to What end  
Thy gracious Wisdom did them hither send!  
Yet, giving Man a quick Intelligence,  
Thou sett'st him just in the World's Midst, that thence  
Seeing thy Wonders round about him so,  
Knowing himself, he might Thee better know.  
By th'usual Circuit of the Heavenly Ball,  
The Stars appear unto us (almost) all:  
That We, in time, observing all their Figures,  
Might contemplate their Courses, Natures, Vigors.  
To view the Stars, is honest Recreation:  
To search their Course, deserveth Commendation;  
So we beware, with some presuming Sects  
To pick things future out of their Aspects.  
We must renounce That Errors patronage,  
That what some Dreamers, by our Births, presage,  
Must needs betide us: tying to their Laws  
Our nature; governed by a Higher Cause.  
Perhaps the Signs some inclination bring,  
inducing hearts to some Affectioning:  
But, by God's grace, well may we vary that;  
●s, never forced by necessary Fate.  
For, sure if Man, by strong Necessity,  
●oo any Ill, ill meriteth not He:  
●id Stars constrain us; neither Virtue, then,  
●or Vice, were worth Praise, or Reproof, in Men.  
If any way the Will of Man be free,  
On These Effects what judgements ground can be?  
What Certainty can from the Stars be known,  
Of Weal or Woe; Life, Death; or Thrall, or Throne?  
When Kings are born, be many born beside:  
Must all be Destined to be Kings, that tide?  
Oft, many atonce are hanged, or drowned, or slain:  
Did all, atonce, their groaning Mother's pain?  
Who can conceive, that such or such Aspect,  
Is good, or bad; bodes Life, or Death's Effect?  
Who can produce so sure Prognostications  
Of our frail Life, so full of Alterations?  
Certain's that Art, which shows the daily Course  
Of restless Stars, their influence & force:  
But, Divination's an uncertain Skill,  
Full of fond Error, false, and failing still.  
What booted, Lord, our humblest Vows to Thee,  
Were their Conclusions certain Verity?  
Disastrous Fate would mate us with Despair,  
And frustrate all religious Faith and Prayer.  
Were it their Say were right certain true,  
Then, of necessity must all ensue:  
But, if Events their Verdicts often thwart,  
False is their Aim, & fallible their Art.  
Observe the Works those subtle Authors write,  
theyare so ambiguous, or so false outright;  
That if, sometimes, some Truth they chance to hit,  
They'll counterpoise a hundred lies for it.  
Too-busie-bold, with Thee, they, Lord, presume;  
And to themselves Thine Office they assume,  
Who, by Stargazing, or aught else below,  
Dare arrogate the Future to foreknowe.  
We hardly see what hangeth at our Eyes:  
How should we read the Secrets of the Skies?  
None knows, Tomorrow what betid him shall:  
How then foretell Years Fortune's yer they fall?  
Then leave we All to GOD's high Providence;  
Not listening for To-morrow-Dayes Events:  
●etter than We, He knows what's meet to send.  
Then, fear we nothing, but Him to offend.  
O! Thou All-knower! Nothing more hath thrust  
●roud Man from Thee, than This Ambitious-lust  
Of knowing All: for, by that Arrogance,  
●n stead of Knowledge, got He Ignorance:  
Man nothing knows, nor nothing comprehends,  
●ut by the Power which Thy pure Spirit him lends:  
〈◊〉, then, Thy Wisdom have so bounded His;  
Why would He hold more than His Measure is?  
Let's humbly stoop our Wits, with all Sincerity,  
Unto Thy Word: there let us seek the Verity.  
And all Predictions that arise not Thence,  
Let us reject for impious Insolence.  
Let us repute all Divination vain  
Which is derived from man's fuming brain,  
By Lots, by Characters, or Chiromancy;  
By Birds, or Beasts; or damned Necromancy.  
Let's also fly the furious-curious Spell  
Of those Black-Artists that consult with Hell  
To find things lost; and Pluto's help invoke  
For hoarded Gold, where oft they find but smoke.  
He's fond that thinks Fiends in his Ring to coop,  
Or in a knife them by a Charm to hoop.  
Such as have tried those Courses, for the most,  
Have felt in fine Their malice, to their cost.  
Woe, woe to Them that leave the living GOD,  
To follow Fiends, and Montibanks abroad;  
Seeking, for Light, dark, dreaming Sorceries;  
And, for the Truth, th'erroneous Prince of Lies.  
Condemning therefore all pernicious Arts,  
Let's be contented with our proper Parts:  
Let's meekly seek what may be safely known;  
Without usurping GOD's peculiar own.  
W'have Stuff enough (besides) our time to spend;  
And Our short life can hardly comprehend  
The half of half the Wonders, licensed us  
To search, & know, and soberly discuss.  
The smallest Garden usually contains  
Roots, Fruits, & Flowers, sufficient for the pains  
Of one man's life, their natures to descry:  
When will he know all Creatures property?  
Earth's but a Point, compared to th'uppper Globe:  
Yet, who hath seen, but half her utter Robe,  
Omitting All her Inwards, All her Water?  
When shall we then see All this vast Theatre?  
What here we see, we see is Exquisite:  
What's This, to That so far above our Sight?  
excelling fair, what to our Eye is sensible:  
●ven to our Soul, the rest's incomprehensible.  
Who then can vaunt himself Omni-scient,  
●o●e, then All-sin-less, pure, and Innocent?  
〈◊〉 none's all-guiltlesse, in thy glorious Eyes,  
●here's none all-knowing thy high Mysteries.  
Yet must we praise & glorify thee fit,  
●…r that we know; and for our good by it:  
●here is no Pleasure can be comparable  
〈◊〉 Contemplation of Thy Wondrous Table.  
There-on the more we muse, the more we may;  
So our Delight Desire increases ay  
Of finding Thee: and that divine Desire,  
Calming our Cares, quencheth our fleshly Fire.  
All other Pleasures have displeasures mixed:  
joys meet Annoys, & Smiles have Tears betwixt:  
Yea, all Delights of Earth have ever been  
Fellowed, or followed, with some tragic Teen.  
But, Who of Thee, & Thine, contemplates ever,  
Scapes all the Fits of th'hot-cold, cruel Fever  
Of Fear, of Love, of Avarice, Ambition,  
Which haunts all others, with small Intermission.  
Man, laborlesse, receives a rare Delight,  
When he observes the settled Order right,  
Whereby all Creatures (with, or wanting, Sense)  
Subsist, through thine Unchanging Providence.  
What more Content can We have here below,  
More high, more happy; then, but This to know  
(This certain Sum) That when This World began,  
Thou mad'st Man for Thyself; & All for Man.  
Th'Horse was not made to glorify thy Name,  
Nor th'Elephant to magnify the same:  
Man only hath voice, memory, and wit  
To sing thy Praise, & sound thy Glory, fit.  
And, to serve Thee, as He is sole ordained;  
So, to serve Him, thou hast the rest darraind:  
All things that fly, that walk, that crawl, or swim,  
Yea, Heaven & Earth, & All are vowed to Him.  
For Him, the Earth yields Herbs, Trees, Fruits, and Flowers,  
To sundry purpose, & of sundry powers)  
Corn of all kinds, in Valleys far and wide  
For Bread & Drink) & dainty Vines beside.  
For Him the Rocks a thousand Rivers gush:  
Here rolling Brooks, There silver Torrents rush;  
indenting Meads & Pastures, as they pass,  
●hose smiling Pride peeps in their liquid Glass.  
For Him, the Mountains, Downs & Forests breed  
●uffs, Biefes, Sheep, Venison; & the lusty Steed  
●o bear him bravely through thick and thin;  
●nd silly Worms, his Silken Robes to spin.  
For Him, the Bullock bears his painful Yoke:  
●or Him, the Wether wears his curled cloak:  
●or Him, the Birds their brooding-chambers build:  
●or Him, the Bees their Wax and Honey yield.  
For Him, the Sea doth many millions nurse;  
●ith whom, the Air helps both his paunch & purse:  
●he Fire's his Cook, to dress th'abundant Cheer  
●hich Air, & Sea, and Earth, do furnish here.  
Yea, Dragons, Serpents, Viper's venomous,  
Have Fel, Fat, Blood; or somewhat good for us;  
In Leprosy, or Lunacy, applied:  
And treacle is also hence supplied.  
He (briefly) He hath use of all that is;  
Wins the most savage of the Savages:  
None so fierce Lion, but to tame he wonts,  
Nor Elephant so high but that he mounts;  
And makes, beside, of his huge Bones, & Teeth,  
Hafts, Boxes, Combs; & more than many seeth.  
Nay, more: for Him, the fell Monocerote,  
Bears on his Brow a sovereign Antidote.  
Yea, many sovereign Remedies He finds,  
For sundry Griefs, in Creatures of All kinds.  
All (in a word) Wild & Domestic too,  
Some way or other, Him some service do.  
For Food, He hath the Flesh of Beasts & Birds:  
For Clothes the Fleece, the Hair & Hyde of Herds  
For House, each Quarr, & every Forest, offers:  
For Metal, Mines furnish his Camp & Coffers.  
For Him, the jarring Elements agree:  
Fire clears the Air; Aire sweeps the Earth, we see;  
Earth bears the Water; Water (moistly mild)  
Cools Fire, calms Air, & gets the Earth with-child  
So, All is made for Man; and Man, for Thee:  
To love, and serve, and laud Thy Majesty;  
Thee above All: Thee only to obey;  
With Thankful Soul walking Thy sacred Way.  
This doth He well, that yields his Will to Thine;  
●ull of Desires, if not of Deeds, divine:  
striving to stoop under the Spirits Awe,  
●he members stubborn & rebellious Law.  
For, Man consists of discordant accords  
What the great World, the little-World affords.  
There Heaven & Earth; Here Heaven & Earth there are;  
●here War & Peace; Here also Peace & War).  
He hath a Heavenly Soul, an Earthly Sheath:  
●hat soars above: This ever pores beneath:  
●hat, lightly-wingd, All Creatures comprehends;  
●his, leaden heeled, but to Corruption tends.  
The Spirit, oft against the Flesh doth fight;  
●nd sometimes, vanquished by his Opposite,  
〈◊〉 carried Captive with the most Dishonour,  
●fter his Foe; & forced to wait upon-her;  
● Till roused again, & raised by Thy Grace,  
●is striving Will recovers wont place:  
●ith better Watch, & braver Resolution,  
●o stand it out, until His Dissolution.  
Surveying then both Heaven & Earth about,  
He bringeth in, what he hath seen without;  
And, marking well th'Effects of nature's visible,  
Ascends by those unto their Cause invisible.  
For, but two Organs hath our Soul, whereby  
To find and know th'eternal Majesty:  
Faith, which believes the sacred Word of GOD;  
And Reason, reading all His Works abroad.  
Those Wonders send us, to their Author, over;  
Those certain Motions, to their certain Mover:  
Then Faith conducts us, where our Reason leaves;  
And what th'Eye sees not, That our Faith conceive  
Faith, firm and lively, doth our Souls persuade  
That, Thy high Power, of Nothing, All hath mad●  
Thine ESSENCE is Eternally-Divine:  
The World Beginning had, & shall have Fine.  
We must not say, Of Nought, is form Nought  
(Although to Man it may be justly brought).  
Th'eternal Spirit can All of Nought produce;  
And instantly, to Nothing All reduce.  
Nor may we ask, What th'Euiternall-One,  
That space-lesse Space, could find to do alone.  
His THREE-ONE-Selfe to know & to partake,  
Is (Countless) more than Thousand Worlds to m●  
A passing Artist is no less Complete,  
Then in Composure, in his rare Conceit:  
For, in the Knowledge Art's perfection lies;  
And, Works deferred, veil not the Work-man's Prize.  
The Mind's not idle, though the hand awhile  
Use neither Pen, Pencil, nor Gouge, nor File.  
The Mind's before the Work; & works within,  
Upon th' Idea, your the Deed begin.  
Would we not say, the World were God indeed,  
●f from no other it did first proceed?  
●ternal, only is GOD's proper term;  
●lone preceding Time, exceeding Term.  
The World supports not Thee, nor Thee supplies:  
●hou dost Thyself sustain, Thyself suffice:  
●nd grossly errs whoever shall suppose,  
●hee, Infinite, within a World to close.  
And, as we may not match the heavens Extense  
●nto Thy Circle, infinite, immense:  
●o more may We, to Thine Eternal-Age,  
compare the World's short, brittle Little-Age.  
Before All Time, Thou, Everlasting-One,  
●ecreedst in time, to make the Sun & Moon.  
●he Worlds few Days & ill (with little cumber)  
●hy sacred Book will teach us soon to number.  
What Book, what Brass, what Marble, aught can show  
But of an hundred-thousand years ago?  
Had Man been Here, from an eternal Ligne,  
Heer must have been (sure) some perpetual Sign;  
Millions of Millions of Years must have past,  
From th'endless Clue of th'eviternal-Vast:  
In all these Years, of all that did survive,  
Of all their Acts, could None to Us arrive?  
We hear (and often) of the Babylonians,  
Medes, Persians, Grecians, Romans, Macedonians:  
But, Where's the Nation, Whose Renowned Glory  
Hath lived a hundred-thousand years in Story?  
Seek All (Greeke, Latin, Hebrew) Authors, roun●  
Of All, will MOSES be the Senior found.  
Who (to His Times) in express terms hath cast  
Th'age of the World, with the Descents that past.  
Now, from His Days to Ours, what years amoun●  
We may with ease within few Hours account;  
And adding Both, soon by the Total, find  
Th'age of the WORLD, & of Our crooked kin●  
Five thousand years, five hundred, forty One,  

1613.  This year are past; since This vast World began.  
Since all the heavens; Fire, Water, Aire, & Earth,  
Had, by thy WORD, their being, & their Birth.  
Then was the Heaven's azure Pavilion spread,  
And with Spur-Royalls spangled over head:  
Then, those Twin- Princess with their Train of Light,  
●egan their Kingdoms, over Day, and Night.  
Then was the Air, the Earth, and Sea, replete  
●ith Birds, and Beasts, and Fishes; small & great:  
With Plants, and Trees, & Fruits; each yielding seed,  
●o propagate their Kind's that should succeed.  
Then (lastly) Man, thy Masterpiece of Art,  
●hou didst appoint to His Imperial Part:  
snobling Him with Sense and Reason's Light,  
●nd in his Soul, graving Thine Image right:  
Gav'st Him Possession of this Earthly Throne,  
●nd gracious Promise of the Heavenly one:  
immortal Soul, thou daign'dst him to inspire,  
●qual (almost) to thine Own Heau'nly-Quire.  
And, as Thy Spirit, all other Spirits excels  
Angel, or other that in Body dwells):  
●o doth His Body all else Bodies pass,  
●or comely Form, and for maiestik Face.  
All Creatures else, low on the ground do poor,  
●nd grovelling feed: but (as was touched before)  
●an hath an Upright and a stately Stature,  
●ith head aloft, agreeing to his nature;  
Which, properly, is to behold the Skies,  
To lift to Thee, his heart, his hand, and Eyes:  
And by his soul's discursive power to peize  
Things past, and present, and of future days.  
For, only Man can measure, number, weigh;  
True, False, Good, Evil; know, cast, sound, survey.  
Man only, hath an in-reflecting Knowledge  
Of his own Self (from Nature's only College)  
Knows his own fact, his form, his load, his strength;  
Knows that he life's, knows he must die (at length):  
And, that a ruled sober life, and sage,  
Preserves his Health, and may prolong his Age.  
Knows how to find ease in his own Disease;  
And, if need be, his Neighbour to appease:  
And for himself and others, make, of Flowers  
Fruits, Herbs, & Roots, Unguents of passing powers  
But, none so powerful (when their Term is spent)  
As can his Own or others Death prevent:  
For, Our short Date; Childe-age, or Wilde-age, ends  
And now but seldom to Old-age extends.  
Yet, What is Old-Age to ETERNITY?  
To Man, expecting IMMORTALITY,  
What ●st to live some Three, or Four score Year:  
Or, Yet Ten more (in Languor) linger here?  
Of all our Time-Past, underneath the Sun,  
Nothing remains, save Good or Evil done:  
Hundreds of Years, once past, are less (in Sum)  
Then a few Days, or a few Hours to-come.  
For, to say Truth, of Time's three-pointed Powers,  
Only the Present (instant) Points is ours.  
W' have, of the Past, but vain Imagination;  
Of that To-come, but doubtful Expectation.  
But, to th'eternal, are All Times, alike  
Instant; and present, Dead as well as Quick:  
Ay is Today with Thee: Lord, in Thy Sight,  
Both Past and Future are even equal bright.  
Though, in Time's Terms the heavens revolved be;  
A Thousand Years are but One Day with Thee:  
And shortest Moment of one only Day  
With Thee is as a Thousand Years (for ay).  
But, Our set Days, to us, are long, or short;  
As them, good Accidents, or bad, consort:  
Sobriety and Peace prolong our Life:  
Which is abridged by Surfait and by Strife.  
Excess, or Cares, now, so cut-off our lives,  
That of a thousand not a man arrives  
Near to the Tithe of the admired Age  
Of those that lived in Nature's Pupillage;  
Eight hundred Years, 9 hundred some, some more;  
In Mind and Body, full of Nature's store;  
To stock the Earth with Issue rational,  
And learn the Course of Heaven's Star-spangled Ball:  
Which, first of all, Their long observance found,  
Then, by degrees, they taught their Heirs the ground;  
And We, from Them (so eased of endless pain)  
Derive that Art, We could not else attain.  
In Their long Age they learned heavens full Careers  
(Not to be compassed, in our Span of Years)  
Whence, One of them might in his life know more,  
Then, in our Days, successively, a Score.  
Of Their so long age, whoso doubtful is,  
Let him but look in sacred Genesis;  
Where Moses mentions diverse famous men  
So old; and shows their Years as ours were then.  
Th'All-drowning Flood-year did 12. Months contain,  
And every Month did his due Days retain:  
Which made up one Year of that Patriarch,  
Who lived seven fifties, having left the Ark;  
And was Six hundred when he came aboard:  
Teaching his Sons his wondrous Skill, by word.  
See, see, alas! how our unhappy Life  
Is now abridged, and charged with Mischief's rife.  
Had we not pleasure in thy Works, o GOD,  
Soon must we sink under the heavy Load  
Of Cares and Crosses (in a thousand things)  
Which this, our wretched, sad, short, Way-fare brings.  
O! let us therefore bend our best and most  
To magnify Thee, Lord, in All thine Host:  
And so, contempling all thy Goodness given,  
With true Content, begin (in Earth) our Heaven.  
Man, knowing Thee, knows all that can be known:  
And having Thee, hath all that is, his Own:  
To long for Thee, is endless joy, internal;  
Disposed to Thee, to Die, is Life Eternal.  
Not knowing Thee; to live, is daily Dying:  
To rest, without Thee, is continual Flying:  
But all extremes of Torments passing measure,  
In Thee, and for Thee, are exceeding Pleasure.  
Yet, no man ought to offer wilful Force  
To his own Self; nor his own Soul divorce:  
But patiently attend Thy cheerful Cal;  
Then, to Thy hands gladly surrender all.  
Nor may We ween our Souls (as Beasts) to Die;  
And with our Bodies Vanish utterly:  
Death's but a Passage from a Life of Pains,  
Unto a Life where death-less joy remains.  
W'have, after Death, another Life to see:  
As, after Storms, a calm & quiet Lee:  
As, after Sickness, Health: as after Durance,  
Sweet Liberty; with Safety and Assurance.  
Two Contraries, opposed, in their Extreme,  
Have This unfailing Property in them;  
That th'One's Privation is the others Ens:  
So, Death, concluding, doth our Life commence.  
For, on each-other Contraries depend,  
Chained (as it were) unto each others End:  
Day after Night: Atonement after Strife:  
And after mortal Death, immortal Life.  
Our soul's immortal then (we must infer it)  
Having beginning of th'immortal Spirit:  
And they are brute (as Beasts) that do contend,  
That with our Bodies, Souls for ever end.  
If there be GOD immortal, All-scient,  
Almighty, just, benign, benevolent;  
Where were his Wisdom, Goodness, justice, Power,  
If Vice He damn not, nor give Virtue Dower?  
Hear, for the most, the Godly suffer still:  
Th'Vngodly, here have most the Wind at Will:  
Shall they not, oneday, change their Difference;  
And oneday look for Divers Recompense?  
Heer, Proud, Rich, Mighty; Meek, Poor, Weak, oppress:  
●ions kill Lambs; Fox strips the Fatherless:  
●! is there not another Life imperible,  
●weet, to the Guiltless; to the Guilty, Terrible?  
Who, for Thy sake, their Lyues have sacrificed,  
●● all the Torments Tyrants have devised;  
O! how unhappy were They, were there not  
●rownes kept with Thee, for their Eternal Lot!  
Then were We Beasts, or worse than Beasts, indeed:  
●or He were best that could the worst exceed.  
●hen, Let us eat, drink, dally, might We say:  
●f, after This, there were no Shot to pay.  
But leaving now that Song of Sensuality,  
●elieue we firm our blessed Immortality;  
●lessed for Those, that, in Perseverance,  
●o Thee alone (Lord) their whole Hopes advance.  
Blessed for Those, who, in sincere Humility,  
acknowledging, as knowing their Debilitie;  
Through th'old Corruption of all Adam's race:  
themselves distrusting, only trust Thy Grace.  
Thou, Lord (alas!) knowst all our Imperfections,  
Our vain Desires, our mutable Affections,  
●ow prone we are to fall; how Wild, how Wood,  
pursuing Evil, and eschewing Good.  
Th'incessant Sway of our continual Ill,  
Requires the Grace of thy prevention still;  
And th'odious Fruits our Nature wonts to breed,  
Lord, of Thy Mercies have continual need.  
Of frailty therefore, when our foot shall slip,  
Or sway, or stray, or turne-awry, or trip;  
Yer flat We fall, vouchsafe thy helping hand,  
To raise us then; and make us, after, stand.  
For, without Thee, our Force is Feebleness;  
Our Wisdom Folly; Will is Waywardness:  
Our Knowledge, Ignorance; our Hope Despair:  
Our Faith but Fancy, and our All but Aire.  
Without Thee, Lord, mere Idols are we all;  
W'have Eyes, but see not: feet, but cannot crawl:  
Ears, but we hear not: Senses without Sense:  
Souls without Soul, without Intelligence.  
Without Thee, all our Counsels & Designs  
Are but as Chaff before the boisterous Winds;  
Our Preparations quickly come to nought;  
Our Enterprises vanish with a Thought.  
Without Thee, boot neither our Foot, nor Horse  
From Thee alone all things derive their Force:  
Thou only givest Virtue, Wisdom, Wealth,  
Peace, Honour, Courage, Victory, and Health.  
Thou hold'st the hearts of Princes in thy hand:  
Their Strength and State is all at thy Command:  
No Chance of War, no Power, no Policy;  
But, Changeless, Thou giv'st Loss, or Victory.  
By Thee Kings reign; bound, equally to all  
To weigh just justice, both to Great and Small;  
To reach the good their Sceptre's helpful Vigour;  
And teach the Lewd their Swords severest Rigour.  
Who Them reject, or Their just Laws repugn;  
Thine Honour, and Thine Ordinance impugn.  
They own their Subjects, justice and Defence;  
Their Subjects Them, Honour, Obedience.  
Each aught to pay Them (in degree, & manner)  
Tribute, where Tribute; Honour, to whom Honour;  
●nd, to their People, They their best Protection,  
And Each his Own; without mis-fond Affection:  
And think themselves (the while) Thy subjects too,  
And bound the more thy sacred Lore to do:  
To show the more Their Virtue's Excellence,  
The more their Charge is, & their Eminence.  
justice's due Dooms slackly to execute,  
Makes some Disloyal, others Dissolute:  
●ome too-outrageous, in Wrongs greediness,  
Others (on th'other side) in all Excess  
T'hath oft been seen (& in Our Times & Climes)  
Good Princes smart for wicked People's Crimes:  
And sometimes also for their Prince's Sin,  
Subjects are plagued outward and within.  
But, O! how highly happy is the Land  
Where a just Prince doth prudently command!  
And where the People in a Love-bred Awe,  
Pay willing Service, and Obey the Law.  
O happy! both, People and Prince (in fine)  
Where both obey Thy sacred Laws divine:  
Who grately using Blessings great and small;  
Acknowledge Thee Owner and Lord of All.  
Of Thee, in Fee, all Princes of the Earth  
Hold their Estates, Goods, Honours, Being, Birth:  
And, without Thee, can neither keep, nor get,  
Lest point of Honour, nor of Earth lest bit.  
Their Arcenals, without Thee are but vain,  
Their Hoards of Treasure, and their Heaps of Grain●  
'Tis vainr, without Thee, to affy in Force  
Of Men, Munition, Champions, Charrets, Horse.  
Without Thee, Order is disordered soon,  
Valour soon vanquished, Policy undone:  
Number but Cumber: and a Multitude  
Of beaten Soldiers, beaten by few rude.  
Thou, at thy pleasure, makest the deepest Sea  
Divide itself, to give Thy Servant's Way:  
And suddenly, again itself to close,  
To over-whelm Thine and Their stubborn Foes.  
Thou, from the Rock makest plenteous Rivers spout,  
For Thine to drink, in sandy Deserts drought.  
And, there, from Heaven send'st them exceeding store  
Of Quails, for meat, till they can eat no more.  
Thou fedst them there, with Angel's bread (a while)  
And gav'st them then a Milk-&-Hony Soil.  
There, without stroke to conquer in the Field;  
And, Mine-less make their tumbling Walls to yield.  
To show the use and power of humble Prayer;  
And How to Thee behoves us still repair:  
While heart and hands Moses to Heaven doth strain,  
●enowned JOSVAH Conquers in the Plain.  
Thou, at thy pleasure, makest the Sun to stay;  
●nd, without Night, to make one Double Day:  
●o give thy Servants complete Victory;  
●nd ever-raze their Foes foul memory.  
Thou, to express thy Power (in Gedeons' Reign)  
●ast by Three hundred. sixscore Thousand slain:  
●nd, by One man, one Goad-groom (Silly Sangar)  
destroyed Six hundred, in religious anger.  
Thou canst in One a Thousands strength compress  
And place it strangely in his slender Tress:  
Which, cut, he lost; and then re-grown, regained;  
And dying, more than living, Foes he brained.  
Thou turnedst to grass, a King of Babylon:  
And setst a Shepherd on a Regal Throne.  
Thou slew'st a Giant, by a gentle Lad,  
Who, for a Pistol, but a Pibble had.  
Howmany Troubles had that Prophet-Prince!  
For happy Service, hateful Recompense;  
Through Hill & Dale, hunted from place to place:  
Yet, still preserved by Thine assisting grace;  
And set, at last, upon his Master's Throne,  
Subduing all civil and foreign Foes:  
Then, in Thine Honour warbles many a Psalm;  
And, hoary, leaves his Son, his Kingdom calm.  
By Thee, His Son, renowned Solomon,  
Obtained the Name of Wisdoms Paragon:  
For, ask only That; Thou gav'st Him Wealth,  
Honour and Peace withal, and Power and Health.  
And, as good Princes thus Thou dost advance;  
So bringst thou down fell Tyrant's Arrogance;  
Such as, transported in their Pride extreme,  
Dare wrong Thy Saints, or Thy d●●d Self blasphem●  
Senacherib must This confess, and rue,  
With nine-score-Thousand which Thine Angel slew,  
Of His proud Host; besides th'unkindly Slaughter  
Of his own Self, by his own Sons, soon after.  
So, That Baal-blinded, blood-soild, Sin-sold payer,  
In whose sad Days the Zealful Thesbits Prayer,  
●or seven Six-Months, seald-up thy heavenly dews)  
●hy Power, Truth, justice, in Their judgement shows.  
●ft-times thy Hook hales moody Tyrants back;  
●ft-times themselves by their own Swords to wrack:  
sometimes, by women's weak unwarlike hands,  
●hou conquer'st Captains, & confoundst their Bands.  
Yea, Lord, at all times, in extremest straits,  
●hy sacred Arm, or Secret Army, waits,  
●o secure Thine (from Famine, Sword, and Fire;  
●nd all the Plots that Foes, or Fiends, conspire)  
And them, so daily, to supply, support  
Their Wants, their Weakness) in so various sort,  
That, all thy Wonders of this kind, to count,  
●en past Examples, past all Numbers mount.  
But, All thy Mercies, unto All, and Each  
●f thine Elect; What Words, what Thoughts can reach!  
●hat Thou hast said, and done unto Thy Vine,  
●hy Love, Thy Dove, that little Flock of Thine!  
To whom Thou sp●kest diverse ways of old;  
In Visions, Dreams, Types, Figures manifold;  
By Priests and Prophets; sealing oft thine Oracles  
Of Wrath, or Mercy; with respective Miracles.  
And last of all, when Times full Term was run,  
Sentest us f●om Heaven Thine Own and only SON  
Whom coeternal GOD Thou didst engender,  
Thine own graved Image, Thine own Glories splendour  
Th'Eternal Word, by Whom, when All began,  
Thou madest All; and since, re-madest Man:  
The Mediator, and the Umpire, given,  
To reconcile revolted Earth to Heaven.  
Who, to impart to us His Immortality,  
Took part with Us in this our frail Mortality;  
And, in all things (except all Sin alone)  
A perfect Man, put all our Nature on.  
Born in the World, to make Us Born-anew:  
In poverty, Us richly to endew:  
Humbling himself, that we might raised be:  
In Servant's Form, to make us ever Free.  
Came down to Earth, Us up to Heaven to mount  
Was tempted ●eer; our Tempter to surmount:  
Died to destroy the Strength of Death and Sin:  
And Risen again, our Righteousness to win.  
How oft did He visit the Poor and Sick?  
Cure the Distracted, and Paralitique;  
Restore the Blind, Deaf, Dumb; and Dead revive;  
And Satan's Captives from his rage reprieve!  
How many Idiots did He make excel  
The Wisest Masters in all Israel!  
●ow many rude, plain, silly Fishermen,  
●are powerful Preachers; Fishers (then) of Men.  
Howmany Sin-sick did he inly cure;  
●nd deep Soule-wounded binde-up, and assure!  
●ow-many Proud, Lose, Cruel, Covetous,  
●ade He Meek, Modest, Gentle, Bounteous.  
By Him, dear Father, come we Thee to know,  
●hy Word, thy Will; to frame our own Wills so:  
●y Him alone Wisdom we seek and find;  
● Cares and Crosses, to confirm our mind.  
By Him alone Thy sacred Truth we learn  
●om suttlest Errors clearly to discern:  
●y Him all Clouds of Darkness are dispelled;  
●olatry and Heresy refelled.  
By Him, We pray to Thee; and what we crave  
lively Faith, we are assured to have:  
●eav'ns Kingdom first, Souls Feast, & Body's Food,  
●race, Comfort, Peaee, & every needful Good.  
By Him, be We Thy Children of Adoption,  
Coheires of Heaven, and Vessels of Election:  
Becoming Man, He is become our Brother;  
So, happy We have also Thee our Father.  
By Him, of Thee, Thine Holy Spirit we have;  
Which in our hearts thy Law doth lively grave:  
The Comforter, the Spirit of Truth, of Love,  
Of Power, of Peace, of Wisdom from above:  
The Spirit, which stays us, when in Storms we ride  
And steers us steady, in our Calmer Tide:  
Which kills the Flesh, and chills infatuate Fires;  
To quicken Souls, and kindle Heav'ns-Desires:  
Which brings the Strays home to Thy holy Fold  
Gives Stutters Tongues, and makes the bashful bold  
Opens the Sense of Sacred Mysteries;  
Gives Form, or Life to every thing that is.  
In Him, Thou built'st Thy Heaven of heavens excelling  
Thy Court prepared for Saints eternal Dwelling:  
In Him, Thou mad'st the World and All to move  
In every Part as doth it best behoove.  
He, to the fainting heart new heart procures,  
Confirms the feeble, fearful Souls assures:  
Gives Faith, and Hope, Love, Grace & godly Zeal.  
Happy the Souls where He delights to dwell.  
For, Those He fills with his abundant Treasures,  
●n diverse manners, and in diverse measures;  
●s diversely befits Thy Churches-state,  
●o Plant, or Prune, or Prop, or Propagate.  
To some he gives a clear, quick Apprehension;  
●o some, deep judgement; some, Divine Invention:  
●o some, the door of graceful Eloquence;  
●o some, the store of Wisdoms Excellence:  
Some, to interpret with Divine Dexterity  
●he sacred Secrets of th'eternal Verity:  
●ome (School-less Scholars; Learned, study-less)  
●o understand and speak all Languages.  
Some (to confirm their Office, and Thine Oracles)  
●o work strange Wonders, great & many Miracles;  
revive the dead, recover native Evils,  
●●re all Diseases; and even cast out Devils.  
Such are th'Effects, Works, Virtues, gifts & graces,  
●hich, by degrees, in diverse times and places,  
●hy Holy Spirit to silly Men hath given;  
●om Them, to Thee, to raise our hearts to Heaven.  
And, as in our frail Bodies (through variety  
●f Members, fitted into One Society)  
●ne very Soul doth actions different,  
●●me more, Some less, Noble, or Excellent:  
So, in the mystic Body of Thy Son  
(Where many Members Love unites in One)  
Thine Own, One Spirit, works actions admirable  
Among themselves more or less honourable.  
Yet, orderly, Each his own Rank observes;  
And properly, Each his own Office serves:  
Nor boasteth any, other not to need:  
For oft the least, the most of all doth steed.  
Therefore the stronger must the weak support:  
The safe and sound, cheer the afflicted sort:  
The Rich and mighty, not despise Inferiors;  
Neither the mean envy or hate Superiors.  
Were All a Head, in This fair Frame of Man;  
Where were the Foot, the Hand, the Stomach than;  
Were All a Tongue, where should the Eye become  
Were All an Eye, where should the Ear have room▪  
O Spirit Eternal! which hast All composed;  
In number, measure, Order, All disposed;  
Make Charity Us (mutual Members) move;  
Unite our Spirits in thy perpetual Love..  
Quench all Contentions, Errors, Heresies,  
Which, both our Minds and Bodies tyrannise:  
Quench all Concupiscence, and foul Desire,  
Which, both our Bodies and Souls Death conspire  
Vouchsafe our Souls, Rest; without Schismik strife;  
Our Body's Health, through chaste and sober Life.  
What could we ask? what should we rather crave,  
Then in sound Bodies as sound Souls to have?  
Sound is the Body kept, by keeping Chaste,  
With moderate Exercise, and mean repast:  
●ound is the Soul, which resteth (sober-wise)  
Content in Thee; unvexed in Vanities.  
Sound is the Soul, free from all Self-Sedition  
Of Pride, Hate, Envy, Avarice, Ambition,  
●nd all the Crowd of Man's Concupiscence;  
●inding His Will, to Thy Obedience.  
Who is so bound (Thy Servant) is most Free:  
●ost Rich, who leaves all Riches else, for Thee:  
●ost easy rests, who most for Thee endures:  
●ost Self-distrusting, most Thy Strength assures.  
So Thee to Serve, is even to Reign: in brief,  
●o to Obey, is to Command in Chief.  
●o walk Thy Ways, is only Liberty.  
●o learn Thy Learning, ENCYCLOPAEDIE:  
O! happy Those that stand in such a state;  
●nd in Thy Statutes always meditate:  
●r, if they slip, or trip, or fail, or fall,  
●eturn betimes, and for Thy Mercy call.  
For, though thy Law, in Fiery Thunder-giv'n,  
Threat still the Stubborn, with Revenge from Heaven▪  
Thy gracious Gospel offers Pardon free,  
To humbled Souls that Sigh, in Faith, to Thee.  
And Thou, who wilt not, Sinners die, but live;  
Hast promised, All, so suing, to forgive.  
Thy Word is Truth: Thy Promise to fulfil,  
Thou (God of Truth) hast ever Power and Will.  
O! bounteous Thou, which dost so oft repair▪  
Our broken Souls, and keep'st them from Despair  
And, blessed We, whose Faith in Love's Physician  
Assures our Hope, of all our Sins Remission.  
Whoso hath Sorrow for his Sinfulness,  
Purpose to mend, Desire of Holiness,  
Trust in Thy Mercy; hath no need to doubt  
But, by Thy Grace, his Sins are wiped out.  
O Cordial Word! O Comfortable breath!  
Reviuing Souls, even in the Gates of Death!  
From jaws of Hell, raising our Hopes to Heaven!  
Therefore, dear Lord, To thou all Praise be given  
Who shall accuse us now, if Thou acquight?  
God being with us, what can us affright?  
Our Faith in Thee (o!) What can shake, or shock  
So surely fixed upon so firm a Rock?  
What shall divide us, Lord, from Love of Thee?  
●hall Shame? shall Sorrow? shall Adversity?  
●hal Famine? Plague? War? Wealth, or Want? (In sum)  
●hall Life? shall Death? things Present, or to-Come?  
Stay, stay, us Lord, and steel our feeble hearts,  
●gainst the sting of temporary Smarts:  
●raw, draw our Souls near to thyself, o Lord,  
With powerful Touches of Thy Spirit & Word.  
Guide, guide our Steps still in thy Gracious Way,  
●uring our Durance in This house of Clay:  
●hat, when This Prison shall be broken down,  
We may with Thee receive a Glorious Crown.  
So shall We ever, with a voice Divine,  
●ing Haleluiahs' to th'ETERNAL TRINE;  
●ecord thy Mercies, which all Thoughts Surmount;  
●nd Thus the Glory of Thy Deeds recount:  
SVpernall Lord, Eternal King of Kings,  
Maker, Maintainer, Mover of All things,  
●ow infinite! How excellently-rare!  
●ow absolute! Thy Works, Thy Wonder are!  
●ow-much Their Knowledge is to be desired!  
●ow, THOU, in All, to be of All admired!   
FINIS.   

MICRO-COSMO-GRAPHIA; The Little-Worlds Description: OR, THE MAP OF MAN (From Latin Saphiks of that Famous, late, Preacher in London, Mr. HEN. SMITH) Translated; & Dedicated To the Right Honourable, HONORIA, Lady HAY.  
By JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

To the right-Right Honourable, HONORIA, Wife of JAMES, Lord HAY, Sole Daughter and Heir of EDWARD Lord DENNY.  
EQually bound, in humble Gratitude,  
To Two dear Equals (to You equal Deer);  
Unable (yet) with Both at once to clear,  
Unwilling yet, with Either to be rude:  
●aine would I crave to have my Bond renewed,  
For a more Happy, or more Hopeful Year,  
When gracious Heaven shall deign to set me freer  
From old cold Cares, which keep my Muse vnmewed.  
Would You be pleased (Madam) to interpose  
Your gentle breath, I would not doubt to speed:  
Such virtue hath Your Virtue still with Those.  
Therefore in Hope of Your kind Help (at need)  
This simple Pledge I Offer at Your Feet;  
Altar of Love, Where both Their Vows do meet.  
Your Honourable virtue's humble Votary, josuah Sylvester.   

THE MAP OF MAN.  

I Sing not, but (in Sighs abrupt)  
Sob-out the State of MAN, corrupt  
By th'old Serpent's baneful Breath;  
Whose strong Contagion still extends  
To every Creature that descends  
From th'old Little World of Death.   

Drad-deer Creator, new-create  
Thy Creature: Saviour, expiate  
This, and all our Own Addition:  
O Sacred Spirit, Our Spirits renew:  
Inform, reform, and tune Me true,  
To condole Our sad Condition.   

In Earth, Man wanders (Pilgrimwise)  
Hopes, doubts; desires, faints, freezes, fries;  
Crossed, tossed to and fro:  
He turns, he winds; he finds no good:  
He ay complains that Euill's Flood  
(Fare and wide) doth ouer-flowe.   

His Birth (in Sin) begins in Tears:  
His Life is rife in Pains and Fears;  
Will-He, nill-He, spoiling sport:  
His Death with groans, in doubtful case,  
Sends him, God knows, unto what place:  
Blessed none rest, but in the Port.   

The Flesh against the Spirit rebels:  
The Spirit again the Flesh repels;  
Ever striving, never still:  
And suddenly, while these contend,  
Their common Foe, the cursed Fiend,  
Finds advantage Both to kill.   

Earth (Step-dam-like) sharp Rodds doth yield,  
To scourge her Sons: the Sea is filled  
(Both above and under too)  
With hideous Horrors, past report:  
Th'air, whirling in Tempestuous sort,  
Beats, and threats All to undo.   

The country's rude, and foe to Fame;  
The Court more brave, and more to blame;  
Painted Faces, graces feigned:  
The City (There, O! bad's the best)  
Seat of Deceit, and Miser's nest;  
Gold their God, ungodly gained.   

jar at the Bar: Stews at the Stage;  
In Way-fare, Thiefs: in War-fare, Rage:  
Noise abroad: Annoys at home:  
In Churches, Purchase, Profanation,  
Fiends seeming Saints; Abomination:  
Everywhere, no Fear of Doom.   

The Throne's not given unto the Just:  
The Faithful is not put in Trust:  
Prophets are not held for true:  
Nor loyal loved, nor learned graced,  
Nor weary eased, nor Worthy placed:  
Nor hath any here his dew.   

The impudent, the insolent,  
The Fool, the Friend in compliment,  
And the sly, we see (by proof)  
Held eloquent, magnanimous,  
Right pleasant, kind, ingenious;  
And the Wealthy, wise enough.   

Reward is heard: words are but wind:  
Each Art is long; Life short confined:  
Might makes Right in every Cause.  
Physic is vile, and vilely used;  
Divinity, disdained, abused:  
Under foot men tread the Laws.   

The Rich with rage, the Poor with plaints,  
With hate the Wise, with scorn the Saints,  
Evermore are curstly crossed:  
With painful toil the Private-man,  
The Nobler states with Envy wan,  
Without end are torn and tossed.   

If good, he fares no better for it;  
If bad, no worse they him support;  
Fortune serveth all alike:  
Though she simper, though she smile,  
Though she laugh outright awhile,  
She is always slippery-sleeke.   

Who lately served, Lords-it now:  
Who lately becked, now doth bow:  
Valleys swell, and Mountains sink:  
Who lately flourished, now doth fade:  
Who late was strong, now feeble made,  
Feeding Worms, in Dust doth stink.   

So, Lowly rests: so, Lofty rues.  
Say that one might his fortune choose,  
Under Heaven to have his will;  
'Twould be a Doubt, among the Wise,  
Whether it better were to Rise  
To High state, or to Sat still.   

Phantasy conceives, Reason receives,  
Passion repugns (and Patience reaves).  
What I wish, What I desire,  
I see: and Sense importunes so,  
I covet, I commend it too:  
Then again it doth retire.   

●ense, whither now? 'tis grief to see  
●hat flits so fast, so suddenly.  
Reason, whither roams thy reach?  
What hurts, were better still be hid,  
●nd still unknown: O! ill-bestid!  
Poor in store, in Wealth a wretch.   

When Fortune comes, she means our Wrack;  
And when she goes, she breaks our back:  
Coming, going, all is one.  
●or, What she gives she takes away,  
Unkind, and blind, inconstant ay;  
Frank to few, and firm to none.   

Oft have I canvased, whethers Case  
●s Worst; the Fallen, or th'ever-base:  
Yet, scarce can I it decide.  
The Fall proves plainly for the first:  
Want Pleads, that ever-want is Worst;  
Partial to their proper side.   

●t irks the Fallen to have been High:  
Th' ay-Poor could wish he had been By:  
Either others state would glad.  
If even in gladness sadness grow,  
Were not I somewhat glad also,  
How extreme should I be sad!   

If Care We take, it Health impairs:  
If not, it takes Us un-awares:  
Whether should we seek or shun?  
Whether (to pass unto the next)  
The good or bad be most perplexed,  
Is another Question.   

The Guilty suffers for his Fault:  
The Guilt-less doubts no less assault  
By Missfortune: both desire  
To live on Earth, to draw this breath:  
Both fear to Die; and, after Death,  
Torment of eternal Fire.   

Hence, slow Day's labour wears us thin:  
Hence, lightly, Nightly fears begin:  
Hence, rather Rising and late Rest:  
Hence, toughest storms, and roughest streams:  
Hence, gripping Cares, and ghastly Dreams,  
Waking, sleeping, do molest.   

Winter's too-colde: Summer's too-hot;  
Autumn too-moist (which breeds the Rot)  
All the hope is in the Spring.  
The lively Spring is lovely fair:  
But, if keen Ice then i'll the Air,  
Little pleasure doth it bring.   

Seas drown the Vales: the Winds do heave  
The Hills to Heaven; the Rocks they cleave.  
Bold Ambition stands amazed,  
Expecting where to build a Fort  
●o strong, and rampyred in such sort,  
That it never may be razed.   

●eace is too-drowned in Lust and Sloth:  
War is too-drunk with Blood and Wrath:  
That, too-gawdie; this, too-grim.  
men's minds are all so delicate,  
●o soft, and so effeminate,  
Small things, all things, grievous seem.   

●●ither the Head doth always ache,  
Or palate sleep, or Palsy shake,  
Or our Belly roars within:  
Or else with Choler we abound,  
Or else with Phlegm, or else (unsound)  
Tumour's humours scald our skin.   

What dread of Death, What greedy Lust,  
●hat Surfait, Sloth, and Deeds unjust,  
Daily plunge in Perils rife;  
What Sword consumeth every hour,  
●nd what the Plague doth quick devour,  
Lengthens Physic, shortens Life.   

Where's now Aeneas? where's his Son?  
Where's Hercules? Where's Solomon?  
Where is David? Where is Saul?  
Where's Cyrus, Caesar, and the rest?  
Ah! He and They are all deceased:  
I must follow: so must all.   

Hark: Thou, whom most the People hails;  
The wisest errs: the justest sails:  
Strongest limpeth now and than:  
The humblest swells: the sobrest sips:  
The holiest sins: the wariest slips:  
God is faultless: never, Man.   

Too-curious or too-carelesly,  
Too-lavish or too-slavishly,  
By the Fool or by the Knave;  
Too-craking, or too-cravenly,  
Too-hatefull, or too-gratefully,  
Haste or waste mars all we have.   

Ambition's end is Rule and Reign:  
Cruelties, Conquest: Guiles, is Gain,  
To grow Rich by hook or crook:  
juggling, and struggling, strife in all:  
No Triumph without Fight will fall;  
Warr-less, none for Peace may look.   

●ee think, but never can intent,  
●ood thoughts well to begin; or end  
If perhaps they be begun:  
●r, if we end them, never find  
However rare, in any kind)  
Recompense when we have done.   

●ur heart it hath an inborn Guest,  
●ll-Ill (it hight): it posteth pressed  
To the Tongue, ill Words to vent:  
●esire, then, rushes to ill Deeds:  
●ngeance anon the Fact succeeds.  
Thus comes Ill to Punishment.   

●ife, this Snake we choke or charm;  
within, again We hug it Warm:  
Daring, doubting, up and down;  
●ll Lust, as lighter, up doth surge;  
●d th'horror of the fearful Scourge,  
Fall, as heavier, to the ground.   

●me Flesh, be frolic, take delight,  
●'s revel now: it will once be night:  
Shall a little Gout, or Colic,  
〈◊〉 sudden Qualm, or sullen Care,  
〈◊〉 addle Fit of idle Fear  
Mar thy Mirth? Come Flesh, be frolik.   

What seeks, we shun; What shuns, we seek:  
What helps, we loathe; What hurts, we like:  
Bird inhand we leave, for bush.  
For, What we Want we panting crave;  
And loosely lavish what We have:  
Brag, of that should make us blush.   

with-child with mirth, we bring-forth Scorn,  
We bring-up Fury; overborn  
(Moved and moving) either way;  
Too-sorrie, or too-merry-mad:  
The happy Mean is never had,  
While we Wretches here do stay.   

We reign and serve: we want and flow:  
We joy and mourn: we freeze and glow:  
Vows we make and break (together):  
We build and batter; join and jar:  
We heap and scatter; make and mar:  
And we flourish, and we whither.   

We look to Heaven, and leap to Hell:  
Our Hope and Fear (by turns) rebel;  
Plunging down, or puffing-up:  
Please would we feign, but find demur;  
Please might we well, did Will concur:  
Sloth doth stay, and Lust doth stop.   

●o, still we stand, and whine the while;  
●ought Labour boots, nor love, nor wile:  
All is lost, when 'tis too-late.  
●uills to th'evil and the good  
●re daily sent: and if withstood,  
We but faster foster Fate.   

〈◊〉 will at once give-over quite  
●oth to be Wicked and Upright;  
To do either Right, or Wrong:  
●or, Goods well-gotten, grow but thin,  
●et hardly up, come slowly in:  
And th'ill-gotten last not long.   

What shall I do? If I forbear  
●y Cause-less Foe, I blush, I fear  
His Despite, and my Disparage.  
〈◊〉 to revenge me, I resolve;  
〈◊〉 satisfies, when I revolve  
None's all-Fault-less, in all Carriage.   

When I have spared, I wish t'have spoke:  
●nd when I speak, I would revoke;  
Better pleased t'have held my peace:  
Would God I could (as Wiser-ones)  
●oth speak and hold my peace at once;  
So to live at Quietness.   

Dear Mind, how dost Thou? Frail & sick,  
My Flesh implores thy Succour quick:  
Canst? O! canst Thou cure her grief?  
O! deign (I prithee) then with speed  
To help thy Servant now at need;  
Send her Reason for relief.   

For, Faithful mind's firm Resolution  
Cures oftentimes th' ill Constitution  
Of a Body sick-inclyned:  
But, than the Body (late deplored  
For weak estate) to Health restored,  
Grows a Burden to the Mind.   

O Sin-bred Hurt! O inbred Hell!  
Nor full, nor fasting, never well?  
Never sound? What shall I say?  
Once all was well, and would be now  
Better then ever, if that Thou  
Cursed Sin wert quite away.   

But Now (alas!) all Mischief lies  
In Ambush with all Miseries,  
Man's Confusion to conspire:  
Desire and Fear atonce torment:  
Fear is a Tyrant; Mal-Content,  
And insatiate is Desire.   

Who fears? who mourns? who wants? who wanders?  
Ah! only Men (Wills ill-Commanders).  
Man alone abounds therein.  
Loud Lamentations, lasting Terrors,  
Heart-wounding Wants, and wilful Errors,  
Had not been, had Man not been.   

Hear Pestilence, there Hunger's jaw,  
Here Drink, there Duel, there the Law,  
Snatches one or other hence,  
Here Cross, there Care: or (better blessed)  
Who hap These Haps to scape the best,  
Age devours without Dispense.   

Perpending This in mind perplexed,  
The Miserable (Envie-vext)  
Cries, O Beasts, O Foules, O Fish!  
You happy, harm-less, storm-less things,  
Precise in Nature's Lessonings,  
Live You long: You Life may wish.   

But, I think, better not be born;  
Or, born, hence quickly to return  
To our Mother's dusty Lap;  
Then living, daily here to die,  
In Cares, and Fears, and Misery,  
By Miss-heed, or by Misshap.   

While Hunger gripes me gut and gall,  
While burning Thirst for Drink doth call,  
While for Cold I quake: alas!  
In languor long I linger-on.  
O! happy Those, whose Woes, whose Moon,  
Ridding quick doth quickly pass.   

The Stout, the Coward, and the Meek,  
All skirmish under Fortune like,  
Striking all with Mischiefs aye;  
The Stout repugns, the Patient prays,  
The Harelike Coward runs his ways;  
Fortune differs not, but They.   

Too-peevish This, too-pleasant That,  
(Too-fierce, or too-effeminate)  
Golden Mean can hardly stand  
Betwixt these Two Extremes, upright,  
'Tis worn so weak, and weighed so light:  
Error plays on either hand.   

Wedlock, with Wife and Children clogs:  
The Single-Life, Lusts heavier Logs,  
(Rare's the Gift of Continence).  
The Youngman stalks, the Old-man stoops,  
That over-dares, This ever droops:  
Th'Infant crawls through Impotence.   

Master's tax Servants, proud, slut, slow;  
Servants, Churl Master, Mistress Shrew:  
Either Others Fault can find.  
The Daughter thinks her Mother froward;  
Mother her Daughter deems un-toward:  
Kit (they say) will after Kind.   

Princes do envy Subject's Wealth:  
Subjects do envy Prince's Health:  
Each doth envy Others Good:  
All, all do envy Learning's Honour  
(If any be conferred upon her)  
O! o wicked, wretched Mood!   

The Soldier likes the Rustics Calm;  
The Clown affects the Soldier's Palm;  
Thus doth Envy inly fret-her:  
Our Pastures parch, our Herds be poor;  
Our Neighbour thrives in every store:  
Others Crop is ever better.   

Fond Lovers languish at their Eyes:  
The Wrathful fosters and defies  
Frenzies, Furies, (wayward Elves):  
What need we call for Whip or Scourge?  
Their punishment what need we urge?  
Their selfs' Errors scourge themselves.   

Fear hunts the Coward at the heel;  
The Cruel, still Revenging steel;  
Ruin Him that Ruin seeks;  
Heavy Revenge on heinous Crimes:  
Yea, in the Sin, the Plague sometimes;  
Heavens just hand so justly strikes.   

Sorrow and Shame, for what is past;  
Care, of the present; Fear (forecast)  
Of the danger yet to-come;  
Make all false Pleasure's shorter seem,  
And sharper too in pain extreme,  
Then even Pain itself to some.   

If I be merry, I am mad  
(Say the Severe): if Sober-sad,  
Merry Greeks me Meacock call.  
Is't possible for anyman,  
Atonce to please (do what he can)  
God, Himself, the World, and all?   

Who Greatness haultily affects,  
Who Great Things happily effects;  
That is hated, This envied:  
But, hoping Greatness, who so haps  
To fail (or fall in After-Claps)  
Him the Vulgar dare deride.   

VIRTUE is vanquished by her Foes,  
Whose Triumph even their Forehead shows,  
'Tis a shame to be ashamed.  
But shall I tell (and tell thee true)  
Thy Fate (the Fruit that shall ensue  
Shame-less shameful life untamed)?   

This Fate than falls to be Thine own,  
Such shalt thou reap as thou hast sown:  
Wages like thy Work expect.  
Who here their Days in Evil spend,  
Shall suffer Evils, without End;  
Such is Minos' Doom direct.   

Then, swagger, stagger, spend and spoil;  
Steal and conceal, and keep a coil;  
Quickly shalt thou all forgo:  
Kill, conquer, triumph; down again  
Shalt thou be cast: bouz, beat, disdaign;  
Th' End's at hand, and comes not slow.   

The Wise bewail men's Follies rife,  
And fain would cure their Vicious life  
With Receipts of heavenly Skill:  
But Sin-sick Fools (whatever prick,  
Benumbed by Custom) lethargike,  
Care not, fear not, feel no ill.   

Who knoweth much, much ill he knows:  
Who little reaks, much good foregoes.  
Hence, perplexed Doubts he casts;  
What is great Knowledge? What so much  
Of Learning? or of Book-Skill such?  
But great Blazes, and light Blasts?   

While Plato, sportive, doth despise,  
The sullen Cyniks' Sloven-guise;  
He, as fast (on th'other side)  
Doth Plato's Pomp as much condemn  
And trample-on: Were both of them  
(Who can tell me?) Wise, or Wide?   

Democritus here laughs a-good:  
Heraclitus there weeps a Flood.  
Glad and sad would mend us fain:  
But now, so stubborn-stiffe is Man,  
That Tears, nor Tunes, nor Ought else can  
Faults restore, nor Fates restrain.   

Sloth never wanteth Want, for Mate;  
Thrift, Sweat and Labour macerate;  
Either in their issue languish:  
So, Health is never without Sin,  
Nor Sickness without Pain within:  
Outward Ache, or inward Anguish.   

Service is to the Lofty mind  
A Curb, a Spur to th'abject Hind;  
Seld or never stoops the Will:  
The Vulgar voice, the Common Cry  
Is, Welcome, Welcome LIBERTY:  
Good for good, but ill for ill.   

A Grief it is alone to be;  
But more, to have ill company:  
More or less (alas!) by This,  
Appeareth plain, when all is done,  
(As Proof hath found) that under Sun,  
here's no full, no perfect Bliss.   

Who never yet himself could please,  
What can content? What use? What Ease?  
What availeth Wealth at will?  
Needy and naked here I live:  
To die, it doth me nothing grieve;  
But to perish, and live still.   

I look to Heaven, and there (alas!)  
With Fear I see my judge's Face,  
Auditing my Sums of Sin:  
I think of Hell, and then I burn  
Like Aetna: then to Earth return,  
Cares and Fears there never lin.   

This feel I, thus I justly far:  
O Man! learn quickly, and have care  
Sacred Duties to observe.  
This Life is rife in Troubles sore:  
But yet (alas!) a Million more  
Our Rebellion doth deserve.   

Much like, or worse than former Age,  
The future's Face we may presage:  
Better seldom comes, they say.  
Now Right, now Wrong; now Good, now Ill;  
Now Fiend, now Friend; now God, now Will,  
Seem to have alternate Sway.   

Nothing is gratis given nor got:  
Each labours more or less (God wots)  
With the hand or with the head:  
None without Art or Virtue thrive;  
Nor Art, nor Virtue all achieve:  
Only, These, not always sped.   

What should I seek or sue for much,  
To live at Rest? Content is Rich.  
Fortune often is too-free,  
And often kills where she's too-kinde:  
But, had we once an equal Mind,  
We should all Contented be.   

But, every one is too-secure  
In sunny Days; and in obscure,  
Too-deiected in Desire:  
Hence, over-faint, or over-full;  
Too-pyned, or too-plentifull,  
Fry we all with inward Fire.   

Now, Dust her dustic Brood expects:  
Come, Earth to Earth (of either Sex).  
Pleasure trembles at her Call;  
Cryes-out of Haste, complains of Heaven:  
But Pain and Sorrow (narrow-driven)  
Are well pleased, an● eased withal.   

Who gives me grace to gushout Tears,  
And lends me space to pour forth Prayers;  
Yet, both seeming to neglect?  
'Tis God the dreadful, Sinners Scourge;  
The gracious God, which oft doth purge  
Ills with Pills, in his Elect.   

Behold me, Thou that didst bestow  
Thy Son on Me: Forgive me, Thou  
That didst suffer for my Sin:  
Assist and stay me evermore  
Thou, Thou that here so oft before,  
In my breast a Guest hast been.   

Regard us, Lord, unworthy though;  
Thy Glory seek, thy Mercy show;  
Enemies approach apace:  
We fail, we fall, we cannot stand,  
Our Foes will have the upper hand,  
But Thou help us with thy Grace.   

Witness myself that here lie slain,  
But, by Thy Touch revived again;  
Glad to live, to live to Thee:  
And yet desire to be dissolved  
(When my due Date shall be revolved)  
As more happy fare for Me.   

Show me the Holy Land, which flows  
With Milk and Honey (Saints Repose).  
Train me in the new Commerce,  
In the New Art of Better Life:  
Then farewell Muses, farewell Strife:  
In Thy Courts I will converse.   

I cannot strike Apollo's string,  
Study for Heaven and timely ring  
Sacred Aaron 's golden Bell;  
Nor sing atonce the Thespian Songs,  
And serve my Country, as belongs:  
Therefore, MUSES, here Farewell.   
FINIS.   

CERTAIN EPIGRAMMS of the same Mr. H.S. Translated; & Dedicated To my deer-affected, due-respected, Dr. HALL., & Dr. HILL.  
I Own You Each a larger Sum:  
Why bring I then to Both a Crumm?  
To show you Both, My Shifts, to live;  
Even fain to Borrow what I give:  
But better so, then (blushless) steal  
Others Conceits; or Debts conceal.  
Till more my Might, divide this Mite.  
A Lark (they say) is worth a Kite:  
Some Greater, greater things present,  
Of lesser Worth, or worse meant.  
GOD measures not our Work, but Will:  
Do You the like: and love me still.  
I. S.   

EPIGRAMMS.  

1. Of a King.  
EXtirp ¹, extol ²; know ³, keep ⁴; love ⁵, learn ⁶ (from High)  
Bade ¹, Good ²; Thyself ³, The Law's 4-path; Peace ⁵, to Die 6   

2. Of a Lawyer.  
Live just (justinian) still: shield ¹, shun ², suppress; ³  
Goodmen's Good ¹ Cause, Bribes ², Brawling 3-peevishnes.   

3. Of a Physician.  
He that can Cure the Sick, and Keep the Sound,  
Shall be My Leech (Whether He Kill, or Wound).   

4. Of a Divine.  
Know GOD; known, teach Him; as thou teachest, trea●  
So shall thy Flock be as well taught, as fed.   

5. Of a judge.  
Both blind and lame I judge Thee best to make;  
Lest that thine Eyes miss-give, thy Hands mistake.   

6. Of a Husbandman.  
Good-morrow bids the Cock, th'owl bids Goodnight,  
To Countrie-Cares: I bid, GOD speed them right.   

7. Of a Captain.  
In War and Peace, CHRIST is the sole Commander  
To lead to God-ward: follow still His Standard.   

Of all the Seven.  
So Rule ¹, Plead ², Practise ³, Preach ⁴, Doom ⁵, Delve ⁶, Direct ⁷  
Climes ¹, Causes ², Cures ³, CHRIST ⁴, Crimes ⁵, Turfs ⁶, Tro●…sel●… ⁷   
FINIS.   

LACHRYMAE LACHRYMARUM: or The Spirit of Tears, Distilled For the un-timely Death of The incomparable PRINCE, HENRY (Late) PRINCE of WALES.  
By JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   


HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE   royal blazon or coat of arms   

LACHRYMAE LACHRYMARUM. A Funeral Elegy.  

The Argument, in an EPITAPH.  

HEre lies (Dry Eyes, read not This EPITAPH.)  
Here lies Great-britans' Stay, Great Iacob's Staff:  
The stately Top-bough of Imperial Stem,  
World's richest jewel, Nature 's rarest Gem,  
Mirror of Princes, Miracle of Youth,  
All Virtue's Pattern, Patron of all Truth;  
Refuge of Arms, ample Reward of Arts,  
Worth 's Comforter, mild Conqueror of Hearts:  
The Church's Tower, the Terror of the Pope,  
Herôik HENRY, Atlas of our Hope.    


However, short of Others Art and Wit,  
I know my powers for such a Part unfit;  
And shall but light my Candle in the Sun,  
To do a work shall be so better Donne:  
Can Tears and Fears give my Distractions leave,  
Of sobbing words a sable Web to wove;  
Can Sorrow's Fullness give my voice a vent;  
How would, how should, my saddest Verse lament,  
In deepest Sighs (in stead of sweetest Songs)  
This Loss (alas!) which unto All belongs!  
To All, alas! though chief to the Chief;  
His royal Parents, Principals in grief:  
To All the Peers, to all Confederate,  
To All the CHURCH, to all the CHRISTIAN State!  
To all the Godly now, and future, far:  
To all the WORLD; except S.P.Q.R.  
To All together, and to Each apart,  
That lives, and love's Religion, Arms, or Art:  
To all abroad; but, to Us most of all  
That nearest stood to my High Cedars fall:  
But, more than most, to Me, that had no Prop  
But HENRY's Hand; and, but in Him, no Hope:  
In Whom, with Nature, Grace and Fortune met,  
To consummate a PRINCE, as Good as Great:  
In Whom, the Heavn's were pleased to show the Earth  
A richer jewel than the World was worth,  
Or worthy of: therefore, no more to make  
So rare a Piece, His precious Mould they broke.   

O soudain Change! O sad Vicissitude!  
O! how the heavens our Earthly Hopes delude!  
O! what is firm beneath the Firmament!  
O! what is constant here that gives Content!  
What Trust in Princes! O! what Help in Man,  
Whose dying Life is but in length a spann!  
Melting, as Snow before the Midday Sun;  
Past, as a Post, that speedy by doth run;  
swift, as the Current of the quickest Stream;  
●ain, as a Thought; forgotten, as a Dream.  
O Dearest HENRY, Heaven and Earth's Delight!  
O clearest Beam of Virtues, Rising bright!  
O purest Spark of Pious Princely Zeal!  
O surest Ark of justice sacred weal!  
O gravest Presage of a Prudent Kind!  
O bravest Message of a Valiant Mind!  
O All-admired, Benign and Bounteous!  
O All-desired (right) PANARETUS!  
PANARETUS (All-vertuous) was thy Name;  
Thy Nature such: such ever be thy Fame.  
O dearest! clearest! purest! surest Prop!  
O gravest! bravest! highest! nighest Hope!  
O! how untimely is this Sun gonn down!  
This Spark put-out! This Ark (as) overthrown!  
This Presage crossed! This Message lost and left!  
This Prop displaced! This Hope of All, bereft!  
O! How, unkind! How, graceless! How, ingrate!  
Have We cut-off Thy likely longer Date!  
For, were This Stroke from heavens immediate hand;  
Or (by heavens leave) from Hell's suborned Band  
Of ROMULIDES (What dare not They presume●  
If this, That Sea a Sulphury Sea consume.)  
Howe'er it were, We were the Moving Cause  
That sweet Prince HENRY breath nolonger draw●  
We all (alas!) have had our hands herein:  
And Each of us hath, by some cord of Sin,  
Haled down from Heaven, from justice awful Seat,  
This Heavy judgement (which yet more doth threat)  
We Clergy first, who too-too-oft have stood  
More for the church-good, them the Churches good  
We Nobles next, whose Title, ever strong,  
Can hardly offer Right, or suffer Wrong:  
We Magistrates, who, mostly, weak of sight,  
Are rather fain to feel then see the Right:  
We Officers, whose Price of every Place  
Keeps Virtue out, and bringeth Vice in grace:  
We Gentry then, who rack, and sack, and sell,  
To swim like Sea-Crabs, in a foure-wheeld Shell:  
We Courtiers, next, who French-Italianate,  
Change (with the Moon) our Fashion, Faith, & Fate.  
We Lawyers then, who Dedalizing LAW,  
And deadding Conscience, like the Horseleech draw:  
We Citizens, who seeming Pure and Plain,  
Beguile our Brother, make our God our gain:  
We Countrymen, who slander Heaven and Earth  
As Authors of Our Artificial Dearth:  
We Pourueyors, last, who taking ten for two,  
Rob both at once, our Prince and People too:  
All, briefly all; all Ages, Sexes, Sorts,  
In Countries, Cities, Benches, Churches, Courts.  
(All Epicures, Witt-Wantons, Atheists,  
Mach'-Arctines, Momes, Tap-To-Bacchonists,  
Batts, Harpies, Sirens, Centaurs, Bib-all-nights.  
Sice-sink-ap-Asses, Hags, Hermaphrodites)  
And We poor Nothings (fixed in no Sphere,  
Right Wand'ring Tapers, Erring everywhere)  
Scorn of the Vulgar, Scandal of the Gown,  
Have pulled this weight of Wrath, This Vengeance down.  
All, All are guilty, in a high Degree,  
Of This High-Treason and Conspiracy;  
More brute than Brutus, stabbing more than CAESAR,  
With Two-hand-SINNES, of Profit and of Pleasure:  
And (th'odious Engine, which doth all include)  
Our Many-pointed proud INGRATITUDE.  
For, for the People's Sins, for Subject's crimes,  
God takes-away good Prince's oftentimes.  
So, good JOSIAH (HENRY 's parallel)  
Was soon bereft from Sinful Israel:  
So, our good EDWARD (HENRY's Pre-cedent)  
For ENGLAND's Sins was hence untimely hent  
So, here, good HENRY is new taken hence,  
For now Great-BRITAN's, great Sin's Confluence.   

We see th'Effect: we have the Cause confessed:  
O! Turn we then, with speed, to Save the rest:  
O! Turn us, Lord; turn to us, turn away  
Thy Frowns, our Fears, with humblest Tears we pray▪  
O save our SOVEREIGN; save his Royal seed;  
That still his Own may on his Throne succeed.  
Let Each of us make privy Search within;  
And having found, bring forth the Traitor SIN  
To Execution, with all Execration  
Henceforth renouncing such In-Sin-newation.  
Let Each of us (as Each hath thrown a Dart,  
A Dart of Sin, at HENRY's princely heart)  
Send-up in Sighs our Souls devoutest breath.  
To Shield our JAMES, ANNE, CHARLES, ELIZABETH,  
And HIM whose Love shall render HER her Brother,  
And make Her soon a happy Prince's Mother.  
Let Each of us cease to lament (in vain)  
Prince HENRY 's Loss: Death is to HIM a Gain.  
For Sauoy's Dukelings, or the Florentine,  
He Weds his Saviour, of a Regal Ligne;  
Glory, for Gold; for Hope, Possession (there)  
Of Crowns so Rich as never entered Ear,  
Eye never saw, nor ever Heart conceived;  
So strong Assured, as cannot be bereaved.  
Wail not his death: His Virtues cannot Die;  
Immortal Issue of ETERNITY.  
His Soul in Bliss beholds her Maker's Eyes:  
His goodly Body shall more glorious Rise.  
Weep not for HIM: weep for ourselves, alas!  
(Not for our Private, or Peculiar case:  
As, for our Son's, Brother's, or Master's lack,  
Or Prince's loss (our Expectations wrack)  
Our Places, Graces, Profits, Pensions lost,  
Our present Fortunes cast, our future crossed)  
Weep for our Sins, our Wicked-provocations,  
Our heinous, horrid, high ABOMINATIONS;  
Both seen and secret; both in High and Low:  
Weep, weep for These; and stripped, from Top to Toe,  
Of guiddie-Gaudes, Top-gallant Tire and Towers,  
Of Face-pride, Case-pride, Shin-pride, Shoo-pride, ours  
(Like NINIVITES so near Their threatened Fall)  
In blackest Sack and Cinders shrouded All:  
Not like a Bulrush, for a day or two,  
To stoop, and droop, and seem as others do,  
(As ACHAB yerst, and PHARAOH, in Distress)  
And then return unto our old Excess  
(As Dogs unto their Mewte, Hogs to their Mire  
But, day by day, until our last exspire,  
With bended Knees, but more with broken hearts.  
And th' inward rest of right Repentant Parts,  
Prostrate our Souls in Fasting and in Prayer,  
Before the Footstool of th' Empyreal chair:  
That So, Whatever bloody DELUGE float  
From th'old Red Dragon's wide-wide-yawning Thro●●  
We, Humbled MOURNERS may be Heavenly Ma 〈…〉  
In mercy's Vessel to be All imbARET.    
FINIS.   

AN EPITAPH.  
WHen Great French HENRY Fates bereft,  
His Name & Fame to OURS He left;  
As ablest ATLAS Then, to prop  
The Weight of WORTH, the World of HOPE:  
But, ENGLAND's Sins (a heavier Load)  
So overlaid His Shoulders broad,  
That, crushed down, Here lies HE dead.  
So, HOPE is fallen, and WORTH is fled.   

ANOTHER.  
WHom All admired, whom All (almost) adored,  
For all the Parts of all PANDORA's Treasure;  
The Hope of all, to have all Good restored;  
HIM, All our Ills have slain, by heavens Displeasure.  
By HIS (late) HIGHNE's First Worst & Poet Pensioner josuah Sylvester.   


HONI SOIT QVI MAL Y PENSE   royal blazon or coat of arms   

AN ELEGIAC-EPISTLE consolatory, Against Immoderate Sorrow for th'immature Decease Of Sr. WILLIAM SIDNEY Knight, Son and Heir apparent To The Right Honourable ROBERT, LORD SIDNEY, L. Viscount Lisle; L. Chamberlain to the Queen, & L. Governor of His Majesty's Cautionary Town of VLUSHING.  
by JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

 blazon (consisting of arrowhead from Sidney armorial bearings)   

To the right Honourable, the Lord Viscount LISLE, and his most virtuous Lady: To Sir Robert SIDNEY, Knight, their Hopeful Son: To the most Worthy Lady WROTH, with the rest of their right virtuous Daughters: & To all the Noble SIDNEY'S & SEMI-SIDNEYS.  
ALthough I know None, but a Sidney's Muse,  
Worthy to sing a Sidney's Worthyness:  
None but Your Own 
* Anagram. LA: WROTH.  AL-WORTH, Sidnëides,  
In whom, Her uncle's noble Vein renews:  
●nd though I know (sad Nobles) to infuse  
My fore-spent Drops into the boundless Seas  
Of Your deep Griefs, for your dear joy's Decease;  
To Your full Ocean nought atall accrues:  
●●t, as the Floods Queen) Amphitrité daignes  
To take the Tribute of small Brooks and Bournes;  
Which to Her Bounty (that Their Streams maintains)  
●e humble Homage of Their Thanks returns;  
Accept These Sighs and these few Tears of Ours,  
Which have their Course but from the Source of Yours.  
Yr Noble Name's & virtue's most Observant, JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

An ELEGIAC EPISTLE.  

WHat Object, less than our Great HENRY's Hers e  
Can so have seized the voice of every Verse?  
What Subject else could have engrossed so  
The public Store and private Stock of Woe?  
What Sea, but th' Ocean of His Virtue's Fame,  
Can drink all Tears, or drown a SIDNEY's Na me  
(As buried quick) so quickly (though so young)  
So un-bewayled, so vn-sighed, un-sung?  
O, glorious HENRY! though alone to Thee,  
I own my all, and more than all of Me;  
And though (alas!) the best and most of mine  
Reach not the least, the lowest Dues of Thine:  
Yet, wouldst thou, couldst Thou hear (as heer-to-fo●  
And grant a Boon; I only would implore  
Thy leave a little, for a SIDNEY's Death  
To sigh a little of my Mournful breath:  
The rather, that, as Yerst He served You here,  
And, in His End attended Yours so near;  
Throughout all Ages subsequent to Ours,  
His Name and Fame may ever wait on YOURS:  
Sith All the MUSES own That Name alone,  
A Dia-pason of each sad-sweet Groan:  
●t, more peculiar, and precisely, Mine;  
lineally bound unto That Noble Ligne.  
ARCADIANS know no Other, for APOLLO,  
●o other MARS (in Arms or Arts to follow  
●s DEMIGODS, as well of War as Wit)  
●hen SIDNEY'S yerst, or SEMI-SIDNEYS, yet.  
●et, fit I said: for, of This dear Descent,  
●ature (of late) too-lavishly hath spent,  
Like My Ill-huswives which at once do burn  
too or three lights, where One would serve the turn)  
●ot her Own only, but more orient Gems,  
●ore rich, more rare; more fitting Diadems.  
As, first, th'old Father, famous-fortunate,  
●he prime firm Founder of our IRISH State:  
●ext, His Son PHILIP (More than PHILIP'S Son)  
●hose World of Worth, a World of Honour won:  
●hen, His sole Heir (sole VENUS-IUNO-PALLAS)  
●ll Beauties Pattern, and All Virtue's Palace;  
Whose memory, on MUSES Fairest Hill  
● Canonised, by a Phoenix Quill).  
●hese Three, the which Three Ages might have graced,  
●ll These and more in My short Age have passed:  
●esides This new SWEET-WILLIAM now deceased  
Th' Epitomè and Sum of All the rest)  
The Flower of Youth, of Honour, Beauty, Blood,  
Th'apparent Heir of All the SIDNEY'S Good;  
For Mind, for Mould, for Spirit, Strength, & Stature,  
A Miracle, a Masterpiece of Nature.  
Alas! How grossly do our Painters err  
In drawing Death's grim Visage (everywhere)  
With hollow holes, as wholly dark and blind!  
Ah! See we not, how still He sees to find  
The fairest Mark, the rarest and the best  
Of Virtues Budds, and lets alone the rest?  
Ravens, Brambles, Bandogs, Sirens, here he leaves;  
Swans, Roses, Lions, Diane's, hence he reaves:  
Nay; th' only PHOENIX hath he newly slain  
(But, maugre Death, That Bird revives again).  
No marvel then, if SIDNEY'S fall so fast.  
So early ripe are seldom apt to last:  
So Eminent are imminent to die;  
Malicious Death doth Such so easily spy.  
But, why of Death and Nature, rave I Thus;  
Another Style (my LISLE) befitteth us.  
Another Hand, another Eye, directs  
Both Death and Nature in These high Effects;  
The Eye of PROVIDENCE, the Hand of POWER,  
Disposing All in Order and in Hour;  
So working in, so waking over All,  
That but by Those doth Nothing here befall.  
Then, not (as Curs) the stone or staff to bite,  
Vn-heeding why, or who doth hurl or smite;  
Unto That Eye let us erect our own;  
And humble us under That Hand alone,  
Which (as the Potter his own Work controls)  
Dissolveth Bodies, and absolveth Souls:  
Unpartial ever, Vn-preposterous;  
However Other it may seem to us.  
For, ever since first WOMAN teemed Twin,  
And at a Birth brought forth both Death & Sin  
Sin, as her Heir; Death, as an Heritage  
●ustly derived down from Age to Age)  
It is Decreed (by a more Chang-lesse Law  
Then ever yet the Medes and Persians saw)  
That All men once (as well as Low, the High,  
Of Either Sex, of Every Sort) must die.  
Yea, th'INNOCENT, for Our imputed Ill  
Who came, not Laws to break, but to fulfil)  
The Son of GOD (The Son of MAN become)  
Th' Immortal yielded to This mortal Doom.  
●o that (for Sin) no Son of MAN hath breath  
But once must dye. Wages of SIN is Death.  
As for the reason, Why it comes to pass  
Sometimes, that Age seems to have turned his Glass;  
While oftentimes Youth's, yer it seem begun,  
Is cracked, or broken, or already run:  
Why Lilies, Roses, Gillie-flowers, be reft;  
When Nettles, Thistles, Hemlocks here be left:  
Why cedars, Okes, Vines, Olives, rather fall,  
Then Brush and Briars (good for nought at all)  
Let Flesh and Blood, let Dust, be rather mute,  
Then with His MAKER saucily dispute.   

Yet here (me thinks) but little Question needs.  
Do not We rather gather Herbs than Weeds?  
Do not We take the timber for our turn,  
And leave the Dottrells, in their time to burn?  
And, in the Shambles, who is it but would  
Be rather sped of young Flesh then of old?  
And yet in Season, when we see it good,  
We weed our Gardens, fell our Underwood;  
And kill old Cattles, lest they gore the young,  
Or fall away, or mix some Mange among.   

Much like, the Lord: who knoweth best all Season  
And best observes. But, will we urge his Reason?  
His Reason is His WIL: His Will is just,  
Or rather justice; which His Power must  
In Wisdom execute (right understood)  
To His Own Glory, and His children's Good;  
Wherein His Goodness through His Mercy shines,  
To clear and cheer devout and humble minds.  
For, to the Godly (in despite of Hell)  
Heaven maketh all things to re-issue well.  
Heer, here's a Harbour; here's a quiet Shore  
From Sorrow's Surges, & all Storms that roar.  
This is Cap Comfort (a high Promontory,  
Of richer Store than here is room to story).  
Here let us bide, and ride-out all Events,  
With Anchor Hope, and Cable Patience;  
Until our Bark some happy Gale shall drive  
Home to the Haven where we would All arrive.  
Come, Noble Viscount, put into This Bay,  
Where (with a Light) our A'M'RAL leads the way,  
Though deepest laden, & the most distressed,  
The greatest Ship of Burden, and the best.  
HIM boldly follow: & though here, as CHIEF  
In Grief, as Greatness, His must drown your Grief,  
Count it an Honour, to be called to try  
Your virtue's Valour, in your Soveraine's eye.  
We All partake His Cross; His Loss is Ours:  
But His Affections (to the life) are Yours.  
The nearer than You match His mournful fate,  
His royal Patience nearer imitate.  
And you, sad Lady, Mother of annoy  
For having lost the prime Son of your joy;  
Ah! see, the Sovereign of your Sex hath so.  
Some think it ease, to have some peer in Woe:  
But, such a PEER, and such a Pattern too,  
Should much (me thinks) confirm & comfort You  
To beare-up hard into this happy Road,  
And lighten somewhat of Your heavy Load:  
The rather, sith (besides the Happiness,  
Which now, above, your Darling doth possess;  
The Crown, the Kingdom, and the Company,  
Of All the holy, heavenly HIERARCHY:  
Besides your Mess of goodly GRACES left  
(Whose WORTH, from All, the Prize of Worth hath reft  
Four lovely Nymphs, four Rivers, as it were,  
Your veins of Virtue through the Land to bear)  
You have another Model of The same,  
To propagate renowned SIDNEY'S Name;  
Another, like in every part to prove  
As worthy of our Honour, and your Love;  
In whom (if now, You, IOB-like, bear this Cross)  
Heaven may restore you, manifold, your Loss.   
FINIS.   

THE SECOND SESSION of the PARLIAMENT of Virtue's Real (Continued by Prorogation) For better Propagation of all true Piëtie, & Utter Extirpation of 

ATHEISM, & HYPOCRISY;  
AVARICE, & CRUELTY;  
PRIDE, & LUXURIE.    
(From th'original) Transcribed, & Inscribed To the High-Hopefull CHARLES, Prince of Great Britain, By JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

A DIVINE & TRUE TRAGICOMEDY; JOB TRIUMPHANT in his Trial: OR THE HISTORY OF His Heroical Patience, In A measured METAPHRASE.   


To ARTHUR'S CASTLE (called by ART'S CHASTE LURE)  
My Hope Hear Hasteth, For My heart's LAST CURE   
Sir, YOU have seen In My PANARETUS, A SWEET IDEA Of— Our hopes in YOU:  
A REAL ACT of That Ideall VIEW, In My LEW●… Roy— ●… Virtue  
Heer (more HEROIK and more HOLY-True)  
I bring Your Highness Yet A Higher Piece  
(Past all the Pattern●… of old Rome & Greece)  
Faith's PATIENTED Champion, in His Triumph due  
Fare be His Crosses Fron my Prince, I pray:  
Near be His Course As the most Complet●…  
In sacred GRACES that beseem The GREAT)  
Towards God and Man; in Clear or Cloudy Day▪  
So much More needful In This Sinful Age,  
By How Much Satan (near his end) doth rage  
With Whom and His, the better Ay to wras tle  
Great Michael guard & strengthen ARTHUR'S CASTLE  
prays Prostrate josuah Sylvester.   

To the Right Reverend & Honourable FAther, GEORGE ABBOT, Lord Archbishop OF CANTERBURY.  
IN Grateful HONOUR  
Of Your MANY Gifts  
Of GRACE. & NATURE  
(Apted to Your Place)  
This DORIC Pillar  
My DEVOTION lifts;  
To show Hear— After,  
What We own your Grace:  
B, for Your Prudence,  
And Your Pious Zeal;  
Learning, And Labour  
In Your Double Charge;  
Swaying The CHURCH.  
Staying the Common-Weal;  
Most STUDIOUS Ever  
EITHER to Enlarge:  
And Last (not least) of all,  
For CONSTANT standing  
On Right's weak Side,  
Against the tide of wrong;  
When PHILISTINES  
And Daliladies banding,  
With Arms or Charms  
Would bind or blind the Strong:  
In Honour of these Honours, this I bring  
To Reverend ABBOT, & His Second; KING.  
VESTER— SYL— VESTER Deditissimus.   

TO The Right Honourable, The Lord ELESMORE, L. High Chancellor of England. * THOMAS EGERTONUS: 
 (Anagramma) * NESTOR THEOMAGUS.  
Grave, * GOD-WISE NESTOR; Never did a Name  
(Save A JUST MASTER) better speak a man  
(As Court & Council, with Me, witness can)  
Than doth Your Own, in This Your Anagram.  
Should I A Volume of Your Virtue's frame,  
Broad as my Breast, & Thicker than my Span;  
Can I say More, more True, more Duly, than  
The Character concluded in This same?  
For, * PIOVS-Prudence cannot but be Just:  
And justice cannot but be Temperate:  
And Temperance from Courage issue must.  
So that Your Name doth Your whole Life relate,  
So NESTOR-like, for graceful, * Godly-Sage,  
That Nothing wants, but (what we wish) His Age.  
Ex Animo exoptat josuah Sylvester.   

To the Right Honourable, WILLIAM HARBERT, Earl of Penbroke, Lord Chamberlain, etc.  
PATIENCE prevails (when Passions are undone)  
This doth This Volume truly intimate:  
So doth Your Virtue, firm, and fortunate,  
Now cheered with Radiance of our Royal Sun.  
O! long and Happy may He shine upon  
So Noble a Plant (more Such to propagate)  
So Graceful, Useful, both in Court and State;  
Helpful to All, Hurtful atall to None.  
Among Those Many whom your Worth hath won  
(Of either Sex, of every Age, and State)  
With glad Applauses to congratulate  
The worthy Honour of Your Charge begun  
(Though not (perhaps) so long and loud, as Many)  
Accept My AVE, as Devout as Any,  
Your Lordship's most obliged, josuah Sylvester.   

To the Right Honourable, Sir EDWARD COKE, Knight; Lord Chief justice of England, and one of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council. * EDVARDUS COCUS: (Anagramma) 
 * SUCCEDO, ARDWS.  
HArdy and Happy may You long Succeed,  
In all the Courses of your Christian Zeal,  
To scourge Abuse; and purge the Publike-Weale,  
Of vicious Humours, with auspicious Speed.  
●ardy and Happy Never more did need,  
To meet with Malice, and with Might to deal;  
And sift the Drift the Serpent would conceal.  
How happy, Heaven You for These times decreed!  
Hardy and Happy may you still proceed,  
Until You find, confound, and suffocate,  
The Viperous Vermin that destroy the State.  
●ardy, and Happy, be your Mind, and Meed  
With GOD and Men: applauded and approved,  
Of Prince and People; of All Good, beloved:  
Ex Animo Exoptat josuah Sylvester.   

TO The Right Honourable Lords Spiritual & Temporal; The Knights and Burgesses of the Lower-House; & To all generous and ingenuous Readers.  

YOur pressed Assistence & Assistance, past,  
Vouchsafed, Heer, when you were summoned last,  
Bind & imbold me once more to present  
My humble Briefs, in form of PARLIAMENT;  
Hoping no less Consent of Your Good-wills  
In passing These, then of Our former Bills;  
Somuch more Needful in this Weed-full Time,  
By How-much Vice doth over Virtue clime.   


An Act against Atheism & Irreligion. Page. 4.7  
An Act of pious and humble PATIENCE. 7  
An Act conformable to the former. 9  
An Act confirming Both. 9.67  
An Act of humane Frailty, to teach the Best, Humility. 10.18.29  
An Act of the Weaker Vessel. 9  
An Act of Imitation, with better Application. 13  
An Act (of many Branches) concerning the justice of GOD in his judgements 14.89  
An Act of Exhortation to Repentance and Humiliation. 16.23.31.60.90  
An Act against Presumption of ourselves. 30.40.91  
An Act touching GOD's Omnipotence, Omniscience, Al-Regencie, Alsufficiencie. 33.89.93  
An Act against rash and erroneous Censures. 35  
An Act against Partiality in judgement, false Witness, Suborned Evidence. ibid.  
An Act, intimating the Comfort and Confidence of a good Conscience. 36.67  
An Act, averring the Shortness of Life, and uncertain Certainty of Death. 37  
An Act against Saducees and Epicures. 38  
An Act against Puritisme. 41.65  
An Act intimating the effects of an evil Conscience. 41  
An Act against the Security & Insolence of fat & Easeful Epicures and Oppressors. 42  
An Act against Hypocrites. 43.67.93  
An Act against Bribrie, Brokery, Usury. 43  
An Act against uncivil Indiscretion in visiting of Friends, Especially against Aggravation of Griess. 43  
An Act for our Imitation. 45.72.76.77.82.104  
An Act against Flattery. 46.84  
An Act of Terror to the Wicked in their sudden & fearful Fall. 47.64. (Anno. 1615.)  
An Act against Ambition conformable to the former. 52  
An Act against Unkindness of Kinsmen, Neighbours, Friends, Servants, Wives, etc. 50  
An Act of lively FAITH, against all Saducees, Epicures, Atheists. 51.  
An Act of Animadversion, that we stumble not at the Prosperity of the Wicked. 55  
An Act, for the Last Assize, and final Sentence and Execution of the ungodly. 57  
An Act against Merit of Works. 58.91.98  
An Act against Works of Supererogation. 58.91  
An Act against the Children of Darkness; Murderers, Adulterers, Burglers, etc. 64  
An Act against all greedy Wringers, wronger's, Vsuters, & Opprestors. 62.68  
An Act of Meditation on the manifold Manifest Works of GOD, mighty and marvellous. 66.96.98  
An Act of Invincible Faith and PATIENCE. 67  
An Act against Tyrants, Extortioners, Rackers, and all Unrighteous and unrelenting Rich. 62.68  
An Act, limiting Man's Wit and Industry from th' illimitable Wisdom & inimitable Works of GOD. 70.83  
An Act against lose and idle Education of Youth. 74  
An Act against Wand'ring & Wanton Eyes. 77  
An Act against Pride & Vanity of all kinds. 77  
An Act against Cozenage, Concupiscence, Cruelty, Bribery. 77  
An Act against Adultery. 77  
An Act against impious and imperious Masters & Mistresses. 78  
An Act against dilatory Almners and solitary Nabals. 78  
An Act against th'uncharity of our Days, suffering so many Poor to die without Doors. 7●  
An Act against all Injury, Inhumanity, etc. 7●  
An Act against Avarice & Infidelity, Superstition & Idolatry, Sacrilege & Surcuidry. 7●  
An Act against insulting over Misery. 8●  
An Act against all manner of Extortion & Cruelty. 8●  
An Act touching the right use and happy issue of Afflictions. 86.92.93.109  
An Act of the proveness of Mercy toward the Penitent. 8●  
An Act against empty & idle FAITH. 8●  
An Act (by implication) against the Pope's depriving & depraving of Princes. 8●  
An Act containing a Divine Lecture of Natural Philosophy. 98. To the last Chapter: which is the Last Act of This Holy PARLIAMENT:    

WHose several Acts, of sweet and sovereign Use  
To cherish Virtue, and to check Abuse  
(Too rough transcribed, by too rude a hand,  
For so high Statutes of the HOLY-LAND)  
Are here presented, as fit Precedents  
Of sacred Rules for your High Parliaments;  
By (th'once, lest Moat in th'upper-houses Sun)  
Your Vnder-Clarke, Unworthily Undone (By over-trusting to a starting Bow-Yer-while too-strong, to my poor Wrong & Woe) JOSVAH SYLVESTER,    

JOB TRIUMPHANT in his Trial.  

The Proëm.  
A Solid Rock, farre-seated in the Sea  
(Where many Vessels have been cast away)  
Though blackest Storms of blustering Winds do threat,  
Though boisterous Rage of roaring Billows beat;  
Though it be raake with Lightning, & with Thunder;  
Though all at once assault, and Each asunder;  
With massy Bulk of itself's Marble Tower,  
Still, still repels th'inevitable Stower;  
And seems still firmer, and more permanent,  
The more the Tempest hath been violent:  
Right so the Faithful; in whose humble Breast  
Religious fear of GOD is deep impressed;  
Whatever Stroke of Fortune threat his State,  
Whatever Danger him discommodate,  
Whatever Mischief that betid him shall,  
Whatever Loss, whatever Cross befall;  
Inflexible, invincible, pursues  
The sacred Footings he did ever use:  
And aye more constant, and confirmed is He,  
The more extreme that his Afflictions be.  
If any Spirit, inspired with Holy-mood,  
Carefully-curious of the Public Good,  
Would lively limne ●h'immortall Excellence  
Of such a Pattern of such PATIENCE;  
As neither Elements displaced quite,  
Nor envious Stars, nor angry Foes despite,  
Nor all the Fiends insatiate Fury fell  
(By fraud or force) could ever quail or quell:  
'tTwere labour lost, to fable (Homer-like)  
The strange long Voyage of a wily Greek;  
The Pains, the Perils, and extreme Disease  
That he endured, both by Land and Seas;  
Sith sacred Truthe's Heaven prompted Books present  
In Constant JOB a worthier Argument.  
Thou then, Urania, to whom right belongs  
The sacred Comfort of Celestial Songs,  
Tune Thou my Voice, Thou teach me to record  
Who did incite, what did invite the Lord,  
With Miseries so rueful and so rife,  
So to disturb his quiet happy Life;  
What heinous Sin, what horrid high Offence,  
The almighty's Vengeance might so deep incense:  
●r else what Cause, what Object else might stir-it.  
●oiles there such Wrath in an impassive Spirit?  
But, o Presumption! Why have I begun  
(Alas! no Prophet, neither Prophet's Son;  
●o Priest, no Levite; nay, no Israelite  
Such as Nathanael) but a Cananite  
●ull of Corruption foul of hand and hart)  
●o touch the ARK? to under-take This Part?  
Ah! pardon Lord; O! purify me all  
from all Profaneness; from sin's bitter Gall:  
And as y●r while it pleased thee to infuse  
〈◊〉 mine unschooled and unskilful Muse  
By virtue of Thine All-sufficing Grace)  
immediate power dubartas Track to trace;  
●o as (however weak and Art-l●sse, I,)  
●hat Work finds Welcome with the gravest Eye:  
●ow more, good Lord, my Wits & Words refine,  
●o treat divinely Matter so Divine:  
●! sacred Spirit, now sanctify my Style;  
Let not my Sensual, thy pure Sense defile:  
●ut tune me, right, to Echo, as belongs.  
Thy HVSSIAN's Sighs & then Thy IESSEAN's Songs.  
And to that end, vouchsafe me at Thy pleasure)  
●esse Need- bookful Life, in a less Care- full leisure▪   


●p. 1.  Near where Idumè's dry and sandy Soil  
Spreads Palmful Forests, dwelled a Man erewhile  
Of life unblotted, and unspotted Fame;  
God-fearing, Justiniano, Sin-flying, JOB by Name.  
With due respect to heaven's & Nature's Law,  
In Wedlock's sweet Yoke did he seemly draw:  
Whence, by that Bounty, whose all Blessings be,  
Seaun Sons he had, and lovely Daughters Three,  
Great was his Substance: for of fleecy Sheep  
Upon the Downs seaun Thousand did he keep;  
Five hundred yoke of Oxen did he owe;  
Five hundred Ass-shees, Camels six times so:  
Great Train within doors, & great Train without,  
Made him esteemed through all the East about.  
His Sons, by turns, their Sisters did invite  
And feast each other, in a Daily Rite:  
JOB blest them every Even; and every Morn  
When first Aurora's rosy beams return,  
The good Old-man, to GOD, in humblewise,  
For each of them did offer Sacrifice:  
Lest They might have misdone, mis-said, mis-thought,  
Or (in their Feasts) offended GOD by aught.  
While happy JOB thus brought the year about,  
It came to pass one day when all the Rout  
Of Lightfull Angels did themselves present  
Before the Footstool of th' Omnipotent,  
There also came the Executioner,  
Th'ambitious Prince, Malicious Lucifer:  
With whom the LORD expostulating, Thus  
Said; Satan, say, Whence comest Thou to us?  
I come, said He, from walking in and out,  
And compassing the Earthly Ball about.  
Hast thou not then surveyed my Servant JOB  
(Replied the LORD) whose like in all the Globe  
There is not found; so full of loving-feare,  
So faithful, fruitful, rightful, and sincere?  
Is it for Nothing, said the subtle Foe,  
That JOB adores, and loves, and fears Thee so?  
Hast thou not hedged him safe on every side?  
Hast thou not heaped him Blessings far and wide?  
But, for awhile withhold thy favour's stream,  
Withdraw thy hand, and hide thy Bounty's beam,  
Then shalt thou see (or double my Disgrace)  
He will anon blaspheme thee to thy Face.  
Lo, said th' Eternal, from this instant hour  
All that he hath is in thy hand and power;  
All, but Himself, Himself I sole exempt.  
Satan eftsoons assumes his bold Attempt.  
As all his Children were together met,  
Their elder Brothers ha●t●e Cheer to eat,  
Cam●one to OB ●unning, & breathless nigh,  
Scarce coul● he speak, yet weakly thus did cry,  
Ah! woe is me to be the Messenger  
Of so sad N●w●s is now I bring you, Sir:  
As all your Oxen under painful yoke,  
Their pointed journeys in your Fallows broke;  
And as your Asses in the Meads did feed,  
S●bê●n ● hieves came forth with furious speed  
And took them all, and all your Servants slew,  
I only 'scaped, to come and tell it you.  
While He yet spoke, there came Another in,  
Hared and hot, and Thus did He begin:  
Sir, from the heavens a sudden Fire did fall  
Among your ●heep, & hath consumed them all,  
And slain your Servant's yer they could eschew;  
I only scaped to come and tell it You.  
While He yet spoke, Another came, amazed,  
And sadly s●d; Sir, while your Camels grazed  
In your own Pastures up and down the Lands,  
The proud Chaldéans, in three armed Bands,  
Surprised them all, and all your Servants slew;  
I only 'scaped, to come and tell it you.  
While He yet spoke, Another came and cried  
In piteous Fright (as if himself beside)  
O, 〈◊〉! your Sons & Daughters (all the rest)  
Were met to day at my young Master's Feast,  
Where, from beyond the Wilderness anon  
A sudden Whirlwind rose, and rushed upon  
The corners of the House, and shaken it so  
That instantly it fell from Top to Toe,  
And with the Fall them altogether slew;  
I only 'scaped, to come and tell it you.  
Then starting up, JOB 'gan his clothes to rend,  
Shaves his hoar hair, his head with ashes sprent;  
As in a swoon falls to the ground with groans,  
And semi-sighing Thus himself bemoans:  
Ah! Naked came I from my Mother's womb,  
Naked I shall return unto my Tomb:  
The LORD hath taken what himself hath given:  
Blessed be GOD, th'Almighty LORD of Heaven.  
Yet did not JOB, for all that him mis-fell,  
Murmur at GOD, nor inly sink or swell;  
Nor sin against th'eternal Providence,  
But suffered all with humble Patience.  
ANother day, when all the sacred Bands 
Ca● ●   
Came all attending their high King's commands,  
Came also He, whose Envy (since He fell  
Fron Heavn) hath striu'n to hale down Man to Hell;  
With whom the LORD expostulateth Thus:  
Now Satan, say, Whence comest Thou to Us?  
I come said He, from walking in and out,  
And compassing the Earthly Ball about.  
Then, Hast thou found, replies th' Omnipotent,  
In all thy Circuit, Man more confident,  
Or mind more Constant, or more faithful Soul,  
Then JOB my Servant: whom thine Envy foul,  
Late, urged my Leave by sharp Assaults to try?  
How hast thou sped? What hast thou got thereby?  
Alas, said He, I reft him but the things  
That fly from Men with transitory wings;  
And therefore he regards his loss the less:  
But would thy Power him somewhat nearer press,  
Wouldst thou permit me touch him to the quick,  
I yield me conquered, if he do not kick;  
If more he serve, trust, pray, or praise thy Grace,  
If he, in fine, blaspheme not to thy Face.  
Pinch but his Body, and then, Skin for Skin,  
he'll wince without, and sudden flinch within.  
Go Fiend, said GOD; sith thou'rt so obstinate,  
Fall on my JOB, him felly cruciate:  
Touch not his Soul; his Body only touch.  
Hence Satan hies, glad that he might so much.  
Without Delay then, with the most Despite,  
He sets on JOB; and in most piteous Plight,  
With ulcerous Anguish fills his body so,  
That crusted all in Scabs from top to toe,  
Amid the Ashes, sad and desolate,  
Scraping his Sores with shells (or sherds) he sat;  
Yet Constant still, still calmly Patiented,  
Without a word of grudging Discontent.  
Then said his Wife, What helps Integrity?  
What boots it, Man? alas! curse GOD, and die.  
Go, foolish Woman, the good man replied,  
Thy rebel heart doth thy rash tongue misguide:  
Shall we, from GOD, of Good receive our F●ll;  
And, at his pleasure, not partake of Ill?  
So JOB as yet, for all that him mis-fell,  
Displeased not GOD, but bore it wondrous well.  
By This, the lightfoot, fether-tongued Dame  
Had fare and wide spread and dispersed the fame  
Of IOB'S Misfortunes (from the first begun)  
That He was half dead, and was whole undone.  
His Friends then, Eliphas the Themanite,  
Bildad the Shuite, the Naamathite  
Zophar (as others) hearing this report,  
As soon as might be towards him resort;  
Resolved with Comforts, to relieve in part  
Their Friend's Affliction, & assuage his Smart.  
But, there arrived, at the very sight  
Of his so woeful and so wretched Plight,  
They all amazed, their Garments sadly tore,  
Their heads with Ashes all besprinkled o'er;  
And for seaun days and nights in Sorrow drowned,  
Lay grieving, by him, grovelling on the ground,  
Without word speaking, lest untimely trouble  
Amid his Anguish should his Dolours double.  

〈◊〉. 3.  JOB therefore straining his obstructed voice,  
Began Thus, sadly with a shivering noise:  
O! Woe be to the Day when I was born:  
O! be it eue● of the Light forlorn:  
O! may it ever under Darkness lie,  
And never S●n vouchsafe it cheerful eye;  
Nor GOD regard it: let a deadly Shade  
O're-clowde it aye, as ever Dismal made.  
O! woe be also to the Night wherein  
My Mother my Conception did begin:  
Lightning & Thunder thrill it evermore,  
Whirlwind & Tempest may it ever roar:  
Of Fogs, of Frosts, of Showers, of Snowes, of Hail,  
Of Mists. of Mildeawes may it never fail:  
May it no more in Calendar be placed,  
But, from the Role of Months and Years be raced:  
May th' Evening Stars be dark: No light returning:  
May it no more see th'Eye-lids of the Morning,  
Because it closed not, at my wretched Birth,  
The fruitful Door that brought me weeping forth;  
But let me pass into this woeful Light,  
To undergo so miserable Plight.  
O! Why, when shapeless in my Mother's Womb  
I l● as dead, Why did not Death strike home?  
Why not (alas!) amid the bearing Throes,  
When I began to feel Man's feeble Woes?  
Why did the knees support me? Why the Breast  
Supply me suck? Why was I swathed and dressed?  
Sith else (alas!) I had now lain at ease,  
Had been at rest, had slept in quietness,  
Among the high and mighty Potentates,  
Kings, Counsellors, great Lords, and Magistrates,  
Who in the World to leave their Names Renown,  
Have built them Bowers which others shall pul-downe:  
And those rich Princes that have heaped of-old  
Their houses full of Silver and of Gold.  
Or, Why (alas!) as an Abortive Birth,  
Was I not hid and buried in the Earth?  
There, Tyrants cease from their imperious Pride:  
There, Virtuous Workers at their rest abide:  
There, Prisoners rest from their Oppressors Brawl:  
There, Slaves are free from their fell Master's Thrall:  
There, High and Lowe (without Disdain, or Dread)  
Rest all together in one Common bed.  
O! wished Death (more to be wished then Life)  
Thou breakest the Force of Envy's Engines rife:  
Thou cuttest-off our Travails Tediousness:  
Thou kill'st our Cares, Thou calmest our most Distress·  
O! to the wretched why is Light imparted?  
Why Life (alas!) unto the heavie-hearted?  
[Who longs for Death: and if it linger long,  
Would feigner seek it then even Gold (among)  
And gladder find it (as of joys the Chief)  
Within their Grave to bury all their Grief]  
Especially, to Him whose Way is hid:  
Whom GOD hath shut-vp, stopped & streightened?  
Sith, yer I eat, My Sighs refel my Food,  
My Roar gush out like a raging Flood.  
For (though my Plenty, never made me proud;  
My Power, imperious; nor to pleasure bowed:)  
What most I doubted I endured, (alas!)  
And what I feared is even comn to pass.  
For Care and Fear, I had no rest before;  
Yet Trouble's come, and trebles more and more.  
JOB ceasing so; began the Themanite, 
C● ●   
jolly perplexed, an Answer thus to dight:  
If We presume to comfort thee, dear Friend,  
Will our Discourse (I fear it will.) offend?  
Will thy Disease our kind Good-wills disdain?  
But, in this Case (alas!) Who can refrain?  
Who so hardhearted, or uncivill-bred,  
That can unmoved see thee thus bestead?  
To see and hear Thee in this deep Distress,  
Who can keep silence? Who can hold his peace?  
Why! Thou wert wont, in thy Prosperities,  
To stay weak hands, and strengthen feeble knees;  
To counsel those that in their Course had strayed,  
To comfort those whom Crosses ouer-layed:  
Now that Mishap on thine own head hath hit,  
Now that the Storm hath thine own vessel smit,  
Now that the Case is Thine, How art thou sunk  
From thine own Succour! From thyself how shrunk!  
Where is, alas! Where is thy Confidence,  
Thy Constancy, thy Hope, thy Patience,  
Thy Piety, thy Faith, thy Fear of God,  
And th'upright Path which Thou hast ever trod?  
O! ponder this: Who ever Innocent  
Hath perished? Hath the Omnipotent  
Eternal justice ever plagued the Just;  
Destroyed the Righteous who Him only trust:  
As I have seen Those that have ploughed and sown  
Iniquity, reap suddenly their own;  
When with the Blast of GOD they blasted fall,  
And with his Breath are quick consumed all?  
GOD, in his Fury starueth in distress  
The roaring Lion and the Lioness;  
Their ravening Whelps are scattered fare away,  
Their Teeth are broken, and they pine for Prey.  
I'll tell thee more: Once, in a certain Night,  
Silent, I heard a Voice, and saw a Sight,  
(About the time when Sleep gins to seize  
Our drowsy Lids, our Daily Loads to ease)  
Amazed with Fear my hair began to heave,  
My heart to tremble, every part to leave  
His proper Part; When to mine eyes a-space  
Appeerd the Image of an unknown Face:  
One stood before me, Whence (yet more dismayed)  
I heard a Voice, and Thus (me thought) it said:  
Shall Man be juster than his GOD (said He)?  
The Creature purer than his Maker be?  
Behold, he found not in his Angels bright  
Firm Fealty, but Folly in his sight:  
How much more then, in Those whose habitation  
Is but of Clay, but Dust their best Foundation?  
Whose brittle Vessels here so little last,  
That yer they know them they are often past:  
Whose fickle Garment (how-so-ever loath)  
Shall be destroyed and done, before the Moth:  
Whose doubtful Days, yer they begin, be gone;  
Cut down by Death, when least they think thereon:  
Whose Dignities (however graced, or Great)  
Shall die with them, and Them the Worms shall eat.  
NOw call thou loud, if any will reply: 
Cap ●   
Among the Saints where wilt thou turn thine eye?  
Two sorts of Fools (th' Idiot and Envious) die;  
Of Anger th'one, th'other of jealousy.  
I have beheld the Fool fair rooted yerst:  
Yet have I soon his Habitation cursed;  
Because his Children succour-less shall suffer  
By justice Doom, and none shall Pity offer:  
Himself withal confounded, void of Hope,  
To gather-in his long expected Crop,  
Which th'hunger-starved from the Thorns shall snatch;  
The Thirsty shall her substance all dispatch;  
A Misery, which GOD doth oft permit:  
For, th' Earth itself is not the Cause of it;  
Sith, were not Sin, it should not barren be:  
But, Man, for Sin, must toil him seruilelie,  
In Sweatfull Labour, borne for Labours end  
As properly as Sparkles to ascend.  
But were My Case, as Thine; in this Distress,  
Rather to GOD would I myself address:  
Him would I seek, of Him would I inquire,  
Whose Works are great, whose Wonders all admire:  
Vnspiable, Unspeakable by Man;  
Immutable, Inser●table to scan:  
Who on the Earth the rain at pleasure pours,  
And in the Streets distils the liquid Showers:  
Who lifts the Lowly up, brings down the Lofty;  
And rears sad Mourners unto Health and Safety:  
Who dissipates the craftiest Policies;  
And disappoints the Counsels of the Wise:  
Who takes the wariest in their proper Wiles;  
And Wicked ones in their own Guile beguiles;  
So that they meet with Darkness in the Day,  
And, as at Midnight, groap at Noon their way:  
But, He preserves the Poor, from sword & tongue,  
And cruel hands of Tyrants, prone to wrong:  
So that the Poor shall have their blessed Hope:  
But Wicked ones their cursed mouths shall stop.  
Lo, then, how happy he whom GOD correcteth!  
Repine not therefore that he Thee afflicteth.  
He wounds, & heals; he strikes, & he restores:  
He sendeth Plagues, & Plasters for the Sores:  
He, in six Troubles, shall deliver thee;  
And in the seaventh, thou shalt be danger-free.  
He will preserve thee from fell Famines rage;  
And from the Sword of War thee disengage:  
Thou shalt be safe from scourging tongues of Momes,  
Nor shalt thou fear Destruction when it comes:  
●ay, thou shalt laugh at it, and Death deride;  
Not dreading Beasts of fellest Paws and Pride.  
●tones, thorns, & thistles shall be friends with thee:  
With thee the Beasts in constant league shall be.  
And, as without, thou shalt have Peace within  
Thy house; thou shalt behold it, and not sin.  
Thou shalt perceive thy Seeds seeds seed to spread  
As Grass in Fields, & Flowers in every Mead.  
●n a full Age to thine own Grave shalt Thou,  
As, in due time, Corn to the Barn or Mow.  
Lo, This is Truth; and Thus we daily tryit:  
Consider it, and to thyself applyit.  

●ap. 6.  JOB then replied: o! were my Sorrows weighed,  
And with my Sufferings in just Balance laid,  
They would exceed the Seas wet Sands in poise:  
Therefore (alas!) they swallow up my voice:  
For th'arrows of th'almighty, keen and quick,  
Have thrilled me, & still within me stick;  
Their Anguish makes my spirits faint & quail me.  
Alas! the Terrors of the LORD assail me.  
Braies the wild Ass if he have grass his fill?  
Or allows the Ox if he have fodder still?  
Vnsavory things who without Salt can eat?  
In whites of Eggs is there a taste of meat?  
Yet am I fain, alas! and forced (indeed)  
Of what my Soul abhorred most to feed.  
O! that the LORD would deign me my desire,  
Grant me my Lo●ging, grant what I require:  
Which is but This; that He would end my days,  
Let go his hand, and let me go my ways.  
So should I yet have Comfort (though I burn  
In bitter pangs of Death, I will not spurn.  
Let him not spare me) for yet do not I  
The holy Word of th' Holy-One deny.  
But, o! What Power have I to persist?  
What may ensue, if I shall long subsist?  
Am I as hard, as tough, as strong (alas!)  
As strongest Stones? or is my Flesh of Brass?  
Nay, am I not already Impotent,  
My spirits consumed, & my strength all spent?  
In Crosses, Comforts should Friends most afford:  
But men (alas!) have left to fear the LORD.  
My Brethren have deceived me, as a Brook.  
As rifing Floods, they have me soon forsook;  
Which, foul and deep, in Winter all o'erflow,  
Or, crusted thick with ice, no moisture show;  
Or else, in Summer, by Sol's thirsty Ray  
Are licked-up, and quickly dried away,  
While Travellers to Thaema, and Saba thought  
To water there, & for their succour sought;  
But failing quite, and frustrate of the same,  
They are confounded, & they blush for shame:  
Even such are you, you see me ill apaid  
In dismal Plight, and you are all dismayed:  
Why are ye so? When have I bid you bring,  
Or out of yours supply me any thing?  
Or craved of you auxiliary Bands  
To rescue me from Foes, or Tyrant's hands?  
Show me mine Error, where I have gone wrong:  
Tell me my Fault, and I will hold my tongue.  
But, bold and free's the speech of Innocence:  
Which of you can reprove; and what Offence?  
Think You advantage of my words to have,  
As if Affliction made me wildly rave?  
Then on the Orphan doth your fury fall;  
You dig a Pit to catch your Friend withal.  
Therefore, vouchsafe me better to revise;  
Wrong me no more: My words be neither lies,  
Neither my deeds (as you shall find, I trust,  
If you return) in that behalf unjust.  
Complain I causeless? Do I counterfeit?  
Is not my mouth with Anguish all replete?  

●ap. 7.  HAth not Man's warfare his set limits here,  
As hath the Hireling (by the day, or year)?  
As toiled Servants for the Night attend;  
And weary Taskers for their Labours end;  
So have I looked, but (alas!) in vain,  
For end of Sorrows, & for ease of Pain.  
Perpetually my fruitless Months proceed;  
My tedious Nights incessantly succeed:  
No sooner laid down but I long to rise,  
Tired with tossing, till the Morning spies.  
My Flesh is clad with Worms; with excrement  
Of loathsome dust, my Skin doth rot and rend:  
My Days flit faster than the Shuttles slide  
From Weaver's hands, whipping from side to side.  
Consider, Lord, my Life is but a Blast:  
Mine eye no more shall see the Goodness past:  
Who now beholds me, shall no more, anon:  
●f Thou look-on Me, I eftsoons am gone.  
As Clouds do pass, & quite away do flit,  
Whoso descends, ascends not from the Pit;  
Neither returns unto his wont owne;  
Nor of his place is any more be-known.  
Therefore (alas!) I will not spare to speak;  
● cannot hold, needs must I silence break,  
Amid the anguish of my Spirits distress,  
And in the depth of my Souls bitterness.  
Am I a Sea? or Whale? that with a Guard  
Thou girtest me, & keep'st me in so hard?  
●f I have said; In silence of the Night  
When drowsy Humour siels-up every Sight;  
When All, above, in, under, Air; Earth, Seas;  
●● quiet Slumber seem to take their Ease)  
● may be that my painful Pangs shall cease:  
● may be that my Passions shall have peace:  
With fearful Visions than thou dost affray me,  
With Dreams & Fancies dreadfully dismay me:  
So that my Soul had rather choose (at once)  
To die then live in Durance of my Bones.  
Weary of life, live always shall I not;  
Then leave me, Lord, alas! my days are nought.  
O! What is Man that thou extoll'st him so?  
That Thou on Him dost even thy heart bestow?  
That every Morning Him thou visitest?  
And every Moment Him examinest?  
How is it that Thou leav'st me not a little?  
Alas! nor lettest me swallow-in my spittle?  
O! Thou Preserver of Mankind, I know,  
And I acknowledge I have sinned: but, O!  
What shall I say? What shall I do to Thee?  
Why, in thy Wrath dost Thou encounter Me?  
Why makest Thou Me (alas!) the Mark & White  
To thy Displeasure, in my self's despite?  
Remit, O Lord, what I have ill omitted:  
Remove (alas!) what I have miss-committed,  
For, now I go down to the dust, to lie:  
And, if Thou seek, to morrow, none am I.  

Caep. 8.  But Bildad then (loath longer to refrain)  
Said; JOB, How long wilt thou this Plea maintain  
With words, as high, as Tempest's vehemence,  
Blown by the breath of thine Impatience?  
Darest Thou, aver, that GOD doth Right subvert?  
Or that th'Almighty, judgement doth pervert?  
Though, sith thy Sons had sinned, them he sent  
To the due Place of their sin's punishment;  
Yet, if Thou early unto GOD repair,  
And to th'Almighty make thine humble Prayer,  
If Thou be pure, and in his sight sincere;  
He will again awake to Thee: and rear  
Thy ruin'd State; thy righteous House restore  
With Peace & Plenty, manifoldly more.  
Ask of the Ages past: inquire (I pray)  
Of th'Ancient Fathers (for, of yesterday  
We Novices know nothing in effect;  
Our days are but a Shadow in respect)  
Will not They teach thee (without wiles of Art)  
And truly speak the language of their hart?  
Can Rushes spring? are Sedges seen to grow,  
Where is no moisture; where no waters flow?  
Say that they should: yet would they sooner whither,  
Though never cut, than all else grass together.  
Such is the way of all that GOD forget:  
So fails the Hope of th'holy-counterfeit:  
His Hope shall be cut off: his Confidence  
Like busy Spider's brittle Residence:  
He shall be leaning on his House, but it  
Shall not be able to support him; yet  
He shall hold fast, & thereon fix him sure;  
But that (alas!) shall never long endure:  
As doth the Tree, which growing in the Sun,  
O'respreads an Orchard with fresh Boughs, anon,  
His happy Roots among the Fountains winding,  
And round about the rocky banks them binding:  
If from his Place to pluck it any ween,  
It will deny; as safe, as if not seen:  
Lo, by this means it will rejoice, the while  
That it may prosper in another Soil:  
So, GOD will never the Sincere reject.  
Neither the wicked by the hand erect.  
Till he have filled thy mouth with merriment,  
Thy lips with triumph (in entire content)  
Thy Foes shall all be with confusion clothed,  
Wrapped in shame, dispersed, despised & loathed;  
Th'vngodly shall be razed to the ground,  
Their Tabernacle shall no more be found.  

Cap. 9  JOB then replied: I know, I grant you This;  
In GOD's respect, that No Man righteous is.  
No: if He argue, if He question;  
O! Who can answer of a Thousand, one?  
What heart so constant! O! what soul so clear,  
That dares for Just before that judge appear?  
He is All-prudent, and All-powerfull too:  
Who thrives, that strives with what he minds to do?  
He mounts the Valleys, and he veils the Mountains:  
He shakes the Earth; he opes & stops the Fountains:  
He bids the Sun shine, and forbids it soon:  
He seals the Stars up; he conceals the Moon:  
He spreads alone the Heaven's large Canapey:  
He treads upon the boundless groundless Sea:  
He makes Arcturus Star, the 
* 〈…〉  Stormy youth,  
The Pleiadés, and Climates of the South:  
He worketh mighty things and manifold,  
Miraculous, and more than can be told:  
He passeth by me, and repasseth so,  
Unseen of me, and unperceived tho:  
He, when him pleaseth, if a Prey he take,  
Who can compel him to restore it back?  
Nay: who so bold into his Acts to pry?  
Or, Who dares question What he doth, or Why?  
His Anger is not stopped, nor stooped a whit;  
But strongest helps are fain to stoop to it.  
Then, how-much-less; O! how-much-less am I  
Able (alas!) with Him my Case to try?  
No● were I just, I were not absolute;  
But to my judge would I make humble Suit:  
And, to my Cry if he reply, yet hard  
Can I believe that He my voice hath heard.  
For, with a Tempest he destroys me stern;  
And wounds me Causeless (for aught I discern);  
Nor suffers me so much as breathe at all;  
But fills me still with Bitterness and Gall.  
If Srength we speak of; Who is strong but He?  
If judgement; then, Who shall mine Umpire be?  
If I would justify myself (with Him)  
He by mine own Mouth will me soon condemn:  
If I would plead me perfect and upright,  
He, He would judge me wicked, in his sight:  
Though I were perfect (to myself) from Sin;  
Alas! I know not mine own Soul within.  
Therefore (Thus vexed and perplexed rife)  
I loathe alas! and I abhor my life.  
Yet, grant I not; but that the Lord doth smite  
(Which you deny) both Wicked and Upright.  
Else, when He strikes a People (old and young)  
Would He seem smile at Good men's Stripes among?  
Would He bestow upon th'ungodly-most  
Earth's Soveraintie, and let them rule the Roast?  
Would He permit profane Bribe-blinded once  
With blunted Sword to si● on justice Thrones?  
While that the Virtuous to the w●llare thrust?  
While th'Innocent are trodden in the Dust?  
For, Who, but He, directs, acts, orders All  
In all the World, what ever doth befall?  
My Days far swifter than a Post have past;  
Past without sight of any Good (to-last):  
As swiftest Ships, so have they slid-away;  
Or as the Eagle hasting to her Prey.  
If that I say, I will forget my Grief,  
Forgo my Wrath, and yet re-hope Relief:  
Ah! than my Torments all afresh affright,  
With Terrors, lest Thou wilt not quit me quite.  
For, if I be ungodly all in vain  
I cry to Thee, and to no end I plain:  
Or, if Unguilty, Clean, and White as Snow  
(In mine own sight) in Thine I am not so;  
But in the sight of Thy pure Eyes, as soiled,  
And with the Garment that I wear defiled.  
GOD is not Man, as I (in equal Suit)  
That I with Him should argue or dispute:  
Nor is there (should we meet) a Moderator,  
Twixt Him and Me to arbitrate the Matter.  
Let him leave-off his hold, take-off his Rod,  
Lay-oft his Awful Majesty, as GOD;  
Then will I speak, and freely, void of Fear:  
But, as it is, I must, I will forbear.  
AS dead alive; upon myself I'll lay  
My sad Complaint; and in mine Anguish pray  
Thus to the Lord: O Lord, condemn me not;  
But show me, why thou huntest me so hot,  
Lord! art Thou pleased to oppress me Thus?  
O! dost Thou judge as do th'unrighteous  
(Unheard, untried, and unsuspect) to trip  
And castaway thine own hands Workmanship?  
Seest Thou, as Man? or hast Thou carnal Eyes?  
Years as Man's Years? Days as Man's Days, who dies;  
That thus Thou rackest Me, and protractst Me still,  
Searching and sifting to find out mine Ill?  
I cannot sin, Thou knowst, but Thou must see:  
For, from Thine hands can None deliver Me.  
Thy hands have made Me, all, and every part:  
And wilt Thou now thine own hands Work subvert?  
Remember, Lord, how frail and brittle stuff  
Thou mad'st me of (than use me not so rough)  
Even of the Clay, as is the Potter's Crust:  
And wilt Thou then re-crush me into Dust?  
Thou pourd'st me out as Milk (within the womb)  
Thou mad'st me there, as Cheese, a Crud become;  
With Skin and Flesh Thou cloth'dst me fair and fit,  
With Bones and Sinews fast together knit:  
Inspir'dst me Life and Soul, Reason and Sense;  
And still preseru'dst me by thy Providence.  
These Things as hidden in thy Bosom be:  
But well I know, that it is so with Thee.  
If I have sinned, Thou wilt sift me near;  
And of my Gild Thou wilt not hold me clear.  
If Wicked I have been; then Woe to Me:  
If Righteous; Yet still will I humble be;  
Though deep confounded, and amazed much,  
To see, and feel, my sad Affliction Such.  
But, be it more: come, Lion-like set on-me;  
Return and show Thee marvellous upon-me:  
And so (indeed) Thou dost: for, Thou renewest  
Thy plagues on me; and me more fierce pursewest:  
Changes of Woes, Armies of Pains extreme,  
Afresh invade me, and me round behem.  
Then, Why (alas!) Why didst thou bring me forth  
From fruitful Womb (being no better worth)?  
O! that I there had perished, unseen:  
And that I were as if I had not been,  
Brought from the Womb (one Tomb, unto Another)  
To Earth my Mother from my Earthly Mother.  
Is not my Glass near out? My Date near done?  
O! let him cease, and leave-oft laying-on;  
That I may take a little Comforts breath,  
Yer quite I go to the dark Land of Death;  
A Land of Darkness, Darkness Self (I say)  
And Sh●de of Death: where is no Light, no Day.  

〈◊〉. 11  THen answered Zophar, the Naamathite;  
Should words prevail? Shall prating pass for right●  
Should all be mute? Shall no man dare reply,  
To mock thy Mocks, and give thy Lie the Lie?  
For, Thou hast said (and that, too-vehement)  
My Words, and Deeds, and thoughts are innocent;  
Pure in Thine eyes. But O! that GOD would speak;  
That He would once His sacred Silence break;  
To show thee Wisdome's Secrets: Thou mightst see,  
Thou meritest double what he lays on Thee;  
And surely know that (in his justice strict)  
After thy Sins, He doth not Sores inflict:  
But seems to have forgotten, or forgiven  
Thy Trespasses against Himself and heaven.  
Canst Thou, by searching, GOD's deep Counsel find?  
Conceive th' Almighty? Comprehend His mind?  
Reach His perfection? It doth Heaven excel  
In Height; in Depth exceeds the lowest Hell:  
Longer than Earth: larger than all the Seas.  
O! What? When? Where? How wilt Thou measure These?  
If He cut-off, shut-vp, collect, reject;  
Who can divert Him? Who his Course correct?  
He knows vain Men: He sees their hearts that heard them  
In Guiles and Wiles; and will not He regard them?  
That foolish man, made wise, may be reclaimed;  
Borne bruit and dull, as an Ass Colt, untamed.  
If therefore, by Repentance, thou prepare  
Thine humbled heart: if that, in hearty Prayer,  
Thou stretch thine hands unto his Throne above:  
Though thou have sinned; if Thou thy Sin remove:  
If Thou remove it, and permit no more  
In quity to dwell within thy Door:  
Then shalt Thou, doubtless, free from Fault & Fear,  
Settled and safe, thy Face again uprear:  
Then shalt thou sure forget thy Misery;  
Or, but esteem it as a Stream passed by:  
Then shall thy Days be, than the Noon more bright;  
And thou shalt shine, as Morning after Night:  
Then shalt thou rest secure and confident,  
Hopeful, and Happy, in thy proper Tent,  
In thine own Dwelling: where, for Eminence,  
Suitors shall flock, with seemly Reverence.  
But, as for stubborn, wilful Wickedones,  
That still run-on in their Rebellions,  
Their Helps shall fail, and all their Hap shall fall;  
And as a Ghasp, their Hopes shall vanish all.  

〈◊〉. 12  THen said the Hussian: You, undoubtedly,  
You are the Men: Wisdom with you must die:  
Yet (would ye knew it) somewhat know I, too;  
I understand perhaps as well as you.  
Nor will I yield you in this jar a lot:  
What you have urged I know: and Who doth not?  
Ye say, I lie; ye tell me, that I mock:  
But I am made my Fellow's Laughingstock:  
Who calls on GOD, and whom He heareth pressed,  
Th' Upright and Just (indeed) is made a lest:  
And He that's going down (in state forlome)  
Like dying Lamp, is to the Rich a Scorn;  
While (for the most) Oppressors prosper, sure;  
And God-provokers, safely and secure,  
Have in their hand (GOD in their hand hath pu●)  
The Horn of Plenty, them at will to glut.  
Ask but the Beasts: inquire of Earth, or Seas;  
Or Fowls, or Fish: for, which is it of These,  
But knows, and shows, & plainly tells thee This;  
That GOD's their Maker: and of All that is:  
That in His hand's the Life of all that life's:  
That He alone, to All Men, Breathing gives.  
Doth not the Ear try Speeches (bad or good)?  
And, for itself, the Palate taste the food?  
So, Wisdom should be to the Many-yeared;  
And Understanding to the Hoary-haired.  
With Him it is (with th' Ancient of Days)  
With Him is Counsel, Wisdom, Power, & Praise:  
Lo, He destroys, and no man can restore:  
Whom He shuts-up, can be let out no more:  
He stops the Streams; then dry they up and shrink;  
He sends them forth; then all the Earth they sink.  
With Him is Strength: with Him is All that is:  
Who erreth, & Who maketh err, are His:  
He doth distract the Counsellors of State:  
He makes the judges as infatuate:  
He breaks the Bonds of Kings Imperial Awe;  
And brings Them bounden under Others Law:  
He leads the Princes as a Captive prey:  
Dismounts the Mighty; and, with strange dismay,  
He dulls the Learned, dumb's the Eloquent,  
And reaves the judgement of the Ancient:  
He pours contempt upon the Noble-born:  
He strips the Strong: He leaves the Stout forlorn:  
He deepest Secrets soon discovereth:  
He brings to light the darkest shades of Death:  
He multiplieth People; and He mows  
Them down again (by Famine, Plague, or Blows):  
He sends them forth in Colonies ●o spread;  
And brings them back (by wrack, lack, sack, or dread):  
He reaves the hearts of those that rule the E●th,  
And makes them roam through Desertsands of Death,  
Where None go by; They grope as in the Dark;  
They have no Light, no Sight; no certain Mark;  
They stray; they stumble; to & fro they wheel:  
And He, He makes Them, Drunkard-like, to reel.  

〈◊〉 3.  A● This mine e●es have seen, mine ears have heard:  
All This my heart hath weighed, & well conferred.  
So that, in Th●●, what you have known, I knew;  
And ●m not Herrein to gi●e ●l●ce to You.  
But, as ●●u wish, I also wish: O! would  
Th'Almighty pleased that I might be so bold  
(In his own Presence, at his Bar to stand)  
To plead with Him the Cause I have in hand.  
For, You, indeed, are too S●● histicall:  
Silly physicians, for my Sickne●●●ll.  
O! that you therefore had still he●● you mute:  
S● might you still have held a wise Repute.  
But, ●i●t you now unto my Arguing:  
Ma●● well my Reasons, & the Proofs I bring.  
Will You speak falsely for th'Almighty Lord?  
Will you for Him pronounce a Guileful word?  
Will you be partial for His persons sake?  
Will you for Him, with Cavils under-take?  
Shall it avail you? will He con you ●●●●●k  
At his great Audit, for this double ●rank?  
(Or, ween you, smoothing, these De●●●s to smother?  
Or but to mock Him, as one Man another)  
No you shall know, He will not brook, nor bear it,  
But chide you sharp; however secret were it.  
Shall not the brightness of His Fac● a●●●y ●●u?  
His Ma●●stie with awful Ra●es dismay ●ou,  
M●er Earth & Ashes (daring thus to play)  
Your B●st but Dust: your rest but Du●t & Clay?  
Hold you your tongues: no more your silence bre●●●  
But (at my Peril) give Me leave to spe●k.  
Why should I ●eare me (as one out of S●)  
With mine own Teeth? or do S●lfe-Violence▪  
No: should He slay me, I would hope again  
(Though in his sight I still my right maintain)  
For, He himself will save and do me right;  
And clear me from your doom of Hypocrite:  
Sith, in His presence Such can have no place,  
Nor hope such help of His assisting Grace.  
Give therefore ear unto my words; & weigh  
With due regard what I shall truly say.  
Lo, here I stand, as ready to be tried  
(And well I know I shall be justified)  
Come, who will charge me, & oppose my Pleas  
(Alas! I die, if now I hold my peace)  
Only, but spare me in Two things: withdraw  
Thy heavy hand; withhold thy glorious Awe  
From frighting me: then, from before thy face  
I shall not hide me; nor betray my Case:  
Then, at thy choice, be in this Cause dependant  
(I am indifferent) Plaintif, or Defendant.  
What? and Howmany are my Sins (pretended)?  
Show me Wherein, and How, I have offended,  
That Thou shouldst shun, & turn thee from me so;  
And handle me as thy most hated Foe.  
Dost Thou vouchsafe a withered Leaf to crush?  
Against dry Stubble dost Thou deign to rush?  
That in so bitter and severe a style  
Thou dost indight me: and recite (the while)  
My sins of Youth (them re-recording fresh,  
With th'Heritage inherent unto Flesh):  
And puttest my feet into the Stocks so straight;  
Watchest my Ways, and at my heels dost wait,  
To find some hole in my foreacted Life  
(Scourging mine Errors with thy Terrors rife)  
While, rotten-like, it wasteth, as a Cloth  
Grown full of holes, & eaten by the Moth.  
MAn, born of Man's & Woman's loins, alas! 
Cap ●   
Hath but few days, & those full sad, to pass:  
Much like a Flower he shooteth up; and fades,  
Quickly cut down: he vanisheth, as Shades;  
Of no continuance [here]. Yet, dost Thou deign  
To frown at Such? & strive with Me, so vain?  
Who, from Pollution, can pure thing extract?  
O! there is None; none that is so exact.  
Sith then his days Thou hast determined;  
Sith that his Months with thee be numbered;  
Sith Thou hast set the certain Time he has  
(To Him uncertain) which He cannot pass:  
Forbear awhile, & from him look away,  
Till (as the Hireling) he hath done his Day.  
For, though a Tree befelled: from the Root,  
〈◊〉 there hope 〈◊〉 inches will re-shoot;  
Though in the Earth 〈…〉 be old and dry,  
T●●● on the Ea●●h 〈…〉 as dead do lie;  
Y●●●y the Se●t of the nee●●inding Flood,  
It w●●●●●e, and as a Plant, re-●ud:  
P●t Man (man's Body from h●● Soul bereft)  
Man down & dead; O! wh●t of Him is left?  
Si●●, a● S●●-wa●ers, past, repass no more;  
As R●●●rs, wried, return not to their Shore:  
Man, Dead-asleep shall never wake again;  
Nor never rise, till Heaven no more remain.  
O! wert thou pleased, me in my Grave to hide,  
Until thy Wrath were past and pacified!  
Or that there were some Time, or Term assigned me,  
When Thou wilt cease; & in thy Mercy mind me!  
Or, shall a Man near dead here live again;  
Still living-dying in continual Pain?  
And shall I still, in this distressed state,  
Wait, all the Days of mine appointed Date,  
Until my Cha●g● (my Ren●●ation) come?  
When Thou shalt call me: nor shall I be dumb,  
But answer thee: Then than Thou wilt approve  
That Thou the Works o● thine own hands dost love;  
Though now my steps thou numbrest so exact;  
Notest all my Sins, & seem'st them to have packed  
As in a Bag, safe sealed; yea, to add  
New Trespasses unto the old, I had.  
So that, as Mountains, mouldering, down do sink;  
As from their places shivered Rocks do shrink:  
As waters break the Stones; as Showers surround  
The dusty Earth; Thou dost Man's hope confounded;  
And tryumph'st ever over Him, dejected;  
Transformed in Face, as from thy Face rejected.  
Nor knoweth He, whether his dear Posterity  
Shall poorly far, or flourish in Prosperity:  
But, while his Soul his Body bears about,  
That, shall have Woe within; & This, without.   

The second Book.  

〈◊〉 15.  TO This of His (so hot and vehement)  
Thus Eliphas (in the same Element):  
Should one so wise (as thou dost vaunt thee here)  
Discourse so vainly? bring such idle gear?  
Vent from the Centre of a swelling breast  
As noisome Gales as the unwholesome East?  
Trifle the Time [about I wot not what]  
In idle and unprofitable chat?  
Nay: nullify Religious Fear and Piety,  
Not praying to, but pleading with the Deity?  
Which thine own mouth hath witnessed too-too-far,  
With subtle Cavils of a Sophister.  
Yea, thine own mouth (not mine) shall thee convince:  
Against thyself thy lips give Evidence.  
Why Man! wert Thou the first man on the earth?  
Or, wert Thou born before the Hills had birth?  
Hast Thou alone GOD's Secret understood?  
And hast Thou only Wisdom, in thy Hood?  
What is't Thou knowest, that We have not kend?  
What understandest Thou, but We comprehend?  
There are of Us as old as Thou; or rather,  
Some (I suppose) more ancient than Thy Father:  
And dost Thou slight our Comforts (godly scent)?  
Or hast Thou of thine Own more excellent?  
Why doth thy heart, and whither, thee transport?  
Why dost thou close thine eyes? that in this sort  
Thy Spirit turns (shall I say spurns?) at GOD:  
And from thy Lips spits words so bold and broad?  
O! What is Man, that He should clean exist?  
Or Woman's Son, that He should Just persist?  
Behold, He found, his Angels stood not sure:  
Neither, the Heanens, in His pure sight, are pure:  
Then, How-much-more, before Him, filthy stinks  
Stock-stained Man, who Sin, as Water, drinks?  
I'll therefore show the (hark, and mark me well)  
What I have seen; I will declare and tell  
What, from their Elders, Sages yerst have known,  
And to their Heirs successively have shown.  
Such as, indeed, have had the Helm in hand,  
To steer their Own, and Strangers to withstand.  
The Wicked Man's in-labour, all his Life;  
In bitter Pains, in Pangs, and Passions rife:  
Number of years are seldom His, to sum:  
A Sound of Fears still in His ears doth hum:  
Or, if at all He seem in ease to swim;  
The swift Destroyer shall soon seize on him,  
H●p-less, and Hope-less ever to recover:  
S●eing the Sword, him ever hanging over.  
Needy, indeed; or greedy still of more  
(Pining in Plenty, starving in his Store)  
He wanders, seeking of his Bread about;  
In dread of Want; of a Black Day, in doubt:  
Trouble and Anguish shall him deep affright;  
As royal Armies ready for the Fight.  
For, He hath stretched his proud●● and at Heaven;  
And stubbornly hath with th' Almighty striv'n,  
Running at Him, rushing upon his Neck;  
Yea, on the Possess of his Shield so thick:  
Because his Fat, his full broad Face doth cover;  
And laddie C●ilops on his sides hang over;  
And dwells in Houses, rather Towns of late,  
(By H●●) ●i-pa●ron'd and depopulate;  
By Him, ●e built, re-gilt, re-glost, re-glased;  
By H●m, renamed (ready to be razed).  
Yet, shall not ●e●● R●ch; nor in Prosperity  
Persist; nor leave Possession to Posterity:  
Nor, onto Darkness ever get shall He;  
Nor ever other then inglorious be:  
His Branch shall whither, and with Flame be wasted:  
Himself shall, sudden, with GOD'S Breath be blasted.  
Then, let not (hard-beleeving hau● Humanity)  
O! let not the Deceived trust in Vanity.  
For, Vanity shall be his Recompense:  
Before his Time shall he be snatched hence:  
His Spring shall never sprout, his Flowers shall fall,  
His Fruit, your ripe, shall be off-shaken all  
(As Grapes and Olives, with untimely Frost)  
The Lord shall shake them, and they shall be lost.  
For, th'Hypocrites Dissembling Congregation,  
Shall be dispersed, and brought to Desolation:  
And suddenly shall Fire consume the Tents  
Of Bribery, with all their Instruments.  
For, They conceive but Mischief; breed but Guile,  
And bring forth vain Iniquity the while.  
HE pausing here, JOB Thus replies him, sad: 
Ca● ●   
Yet more of This? This have we often had.  
You are indeed a sort of Visiters;  
A Crew of cold and wretched Comforters.  
Shall idle, iddle, airy, Words surcease?  
Or what doth make thee dare to dwell on these?  
Can I, as you, if you were in my Case,  
And I in yours; your Soul in my Souls place:  
Can I, against you, words have multipl'ed?  
Insulted on you? at you, shook my head?  
No: I should rather have reached you Relief,  
And with my speeches have assuaged your Grief.  
But, though I plain, my grief's not mitigated;  
Either, forbear I, What is it abated?  
For, He hath wearied me: Yea, Lord, Thou hast  
Spoilt me of All: and laid me wholly waste:  
The wrinkled Furrows, on my Brow and Back  
(Bare skin and bone) bear witness of my Wrack.  
My Foe's fell wrath hath raakt and rend me sore:  
He strives against me; and still angry more,  
More eager still, gnasheth his Teeth upon me;  
And with his eyes keen flashing frowneth on-me.  
My Friends (alas!) they laugh at me the while,  
They buffet me, and bitterly revile;  
They gape upon me, and together gather,  
Not to relieve me, but to grieve me, rather.  
Thus hath GOD hemmed me with ungodly Bands,  
And turned me over into Wicked hands.  
I was at ease; When by the Neck he took-me,  
Broke me asunder, and to shivers shook me:  
And (whether for Disport or for Despite)  
Made me his Butt, and set me as his White.  
His cunning Archers do beset me round:  
He cleaves my Reins; and ruth-less, on the ground  
Poures-out my Gall: with doubled Blows he crushes,  
And Giantlike, upon me fiercely rushes.  
I have in Sackcloth sadly sowed my Skin,  
In Dust and Ashes have I humbled been,  
I have (alas!) besmeared my Face with Tears,  
On mine Eyelids Death's Shade hath swom, in Fears:  
For no foul Sin; neither, for Fashions sake,  
To seem a Saint: pure Prayers did I make,  
Pure and Sincere: else, never may they come  
In Heaven, to have either regard or room.  
Neither, O! Earth! if ever Blood I shed,  
O! let it not by Thee be covered.  
But, lo, my Witness is in Heaven above;  
My Record there, my Conscience to approve.  
My Friends contemn me, and condemn me too:  
But, drowned in Tears, to GOD appeal I do.  
O! that one might (as Man with Man, in Suit)  
That Neighbor-like, one might with GOD dispute.  
For, the few Days of my set Number gone,  
I go the Way, from whence Return is none.  
MY Spirit's spent: my Days are done (& leave me)  
The Graue's already ready to receive me. 
Cap. ●   
Yet are there with me none but those that mock me:  
Doth not mine eye still see them still provoke me?  
But, put me in a Surety, give me Pledge,  
To answer me what I shall then allege.  
Who will undertake it? Who will give his hand,  
That to the Trial Thou wilt deign to stand?  
Sith Thou, O Lord, Their hearts hast hidden quite,  
From Understanding, and from judging right;  
And therefore wilt not, for their Arrogance,  
Admit of them, nor them so high advance.  
Not, that I would, they should have soothed me neither:  
For such shall perish, and their Seed together.  
But, to the Vulgar I am made a Song,  
A Tale, a Tabret unto every Tongue  
(Through grief whereof, mine Eye decays & dims;  
And as a Shadow are my other Limbs):  
The better sort, amazed at my Plight,  
The Innocent, judge me an Hypocrite.  
Yet, shall the Righteous still hold on his Course;  
And the Sincere shall still add force to force.  
Therefore, my Friends, return, recant, recall  
Your hard Opinions, and miscensures, all:  
For, of you all, not one Wise man I find;  
Nor fit Physician for a troubled mind.  
My Days are past; and my Dessignes undone;  
Yea, even my Hopes (my hearts Possessions) gone:  
My Noon (alas!) is changed into Night;  
Small odds there is 'twixt Darkness and my Light.  
What can I look for, but among the Dead  
To make my House? to have my Grave for Bed?  
For, to Corruption, thus alou● I call;  
Thou art my Father: to the Worms that crawl,  
You are my Mother, and my Sisters, all.  
Where's then my Hope? How shall that Hap appear,  
Which you erewhile old so re-promise, here?  
Those things, with me shall down into the Deep;  
And, with my Dost, ●mid the Dust shall sleep.  
THen said the Shuhite: Will you never cease 
Cap. 1●   
Your tedious Talking? Never hold your peace?  
Forbear a while; give ear a little now:  
Observe our Speech, and we will answer you.  
But, why, as Beasts are we upbraided thus?  
And why so basely do you count of us?  
He, rather seems to be beside his Sense,  
That wounds himself in his Impatience.  
Why? Shall the Earth, for Thy sake be forsaken?  
The Rocks removed? and solid Hills be shaken?  
No, no: The Light of Wickedones shall out:  
His Fiery Sparkle shall not shine about:  
Within his Doors shall Darkness be for Light:  
With Him, his Candle shall be quenched quite:  
His Strength shall fail him (or be fatal tohim):  
His Counsels cast him; His own Wit undoo-him:  
For, his own Feet shall bring him to the Net;  
And willingly upon the Gin shall jet:  
Him, by the heel the subtle Snare shall catch:  
Him, shall the Thiefs and Robbers over-match:  
For him are laid the Meshes of Mishap;  
Trains on the ground, and in his ways a Trap:  
Him, on all sides, sad Terrors shall affright;  
And sudden drive him to his Feet, to flight:  
His plenteous Store shall Famine soon devour:  
Destruction's Sword shall hunt-him every-hower,  
Consume his Sinews, and un-bar his Skin:  
And Pestilence (Death's Heir) shall rage's within.  
His Hope shall hop without his expectation:  
His Confidence shall from his Habitation  
Be rooted out, and razed (as it were)  
And bring him down to the dread King of Fear;  
Who aye shall dwell within His Tabernacle,  
(Because not His, not his own Habiracle):  
Some secret Flame, some Flash, some Sulphury shower,  
Shall sudden spread amid his cursed Bower:  
His Roots below shall rot amid the Clay;  
His Boughs above be cut and cast away:  
His Memory shall perish from the Earth;  
His Name here nameless (as before his Birth)  
He shall be driven to Darkness, from the Light:  
And forth the World he shall be hunted quite.  
Nor Son, nor Nephew shall be leave behind;  
Nor in his Houses any of his Kind.  
So that, the Ages, present, and to come,  
Shall stand amazed at his dismal Doom.  
And This is sure the Lot, the heavy Load  
Of Wickedones, that fear not, know not, GOD.  
JOB then replied: Alas! how long will Ye  
Torment my Soul, with words; & torture Me? 
Ca● ●   
Ten times ye have, with too obdurate mind,  
Reproached me This: uncivil and unkind.  
But, put the Case, that I have sinned, indeed:  
Must not I bear it? Then (alas!) what need  
You load me more; and magnify your wit,  
To amplify my Gild, and Grief of it?  
Seeing you see that GOD hath cast me down,  
And with his Net hath compassed me round.  
Lo, I cry-out of wrong & violence;  
Aloud I cry; yet have no Audience,  
Nor Ease at all: He hath so hedged my Way,  
I cannot pass: My Paths, in stead of Day,  
Are Dark beset: He hath my glory reft;  
And from my head He hath the Crown bereft:  
He hath destroyed me, every-way undone:  
My Hope, removed (as a Tree) is gone:  
And more, His Wrath against me fiercely fries;  
He reckons Me among his Enemies:  
His Troops assembled, march against Me, eager;  
And, round about, my feeble Tent bel●guer:  
He hath dispersed my Brethren from me fare;  
To Me, my Kindred as mere Strangers are;  
My Neighbours fly me; my Familiar Friend  
Hath now forgot me (as if never kend):  
Nay▪ mine own Household; Men, Maidservants, all;  
Count me a Stranger, care not for my Call,  
Nor will come at me; though I speak them fair:  
Nay: to mine own Wife (for the noisome air)  
My Breath is strange, though I beseech her, sad,  
By those dear Pledges we together had.  
The Basest scorn me; and when up I rise,  
They spit their Spite in bitter Obloquys.  
Mine Intime-most, Those that I loved best,  
Abhor me All, and me the most molest.  
My Bones, in stead of Flesh, cleave to my skin;  
And that not sound, save what my Teeth grow in.  
Then ●itty me, o pity me, my Friends;  
Sith GOD on me his heavy hand extends:  
Ah! Why do you yet persecute me, rough,  
As GOD? Alas! hath not my Flesh enough?  
O! that my words (the words I now ass●uer)  
Were writ, were printed, & (to last forever)  
Were graved in Marble with an Iron pen  
With Lead in-yoated (to fill up again).  
I surely know that my Redeemer liveth:  
And that He shal● (This firm my Faith believeth.)  
In th'End of Time, return & rise from Dust  
(The Fi●st & Last) to judge and save the Just:  
And that, I shall when worms have eat This Clod,  
I shal● awake, & in my flesh see GOD:  
Yea: I shall see him with These Eyes of mine,  
And with none else: though Now in Pains I pine.  
The rather, therefore should you now retract,  
And Thus Yourselves discreetly now correct:  
Why persecute We Him? Why hate Him, We?  
Sith ●his Foundation is thus fixed in Me.  
Then, be you warned: beware, & fear the Sword:  
For Wickedness & Cruelty [in word]  
Incenseth Wrath: Know, there shall judgement come,  
To doom them right, who Others (rash) misdoom.  
SCarce had He done, when the Naamathite  
Replies him Thus: Therefore my thoughts incite  
My sudden Answer: therefore, am I spurred  
(Regarding light thy sharp and shameful Guird)  
With speed to speak unto the Point in hand,  
What I conceive, & rightly understand.  
knowst thou not This of old, through every Age,  
Since first on Earth began Man's Pilgrimage;  
That the triumphing of the Wicked Sort,  
The joy of th' Hypocrite is ever short.  
Although to Heaven he mount his glorious Top,  
Though to the Clouds his head be lifted up;  
Yet shall he perish, as his dung, for aye:  
And who hath seen them, shall ask, Where are they?  
As Dreams forgotten, shall he take his flight;  
Yea, chased away, as Visions of the Night:  
Th'Eye that hath seen him, shall not see him twice,  
Nor shall his Places him again revise.  
His Children shall be fawning on the Poor;  
And His Extortions shall to them restore:  
His Bones are full of his Youth's sins (his Lust)  
Which shall not leave him till he lie in dust:  
Though to his Taste his Sin be passing sweet,  
Though underneath his Tongue he cover it,  
Though there he spare it, and not spit it out,  
Though on his Palate still it roll about;  
Yet is his Meat turned, in his Bowels, all;  
And is, within him, as the Aspic's Gall:  
H'hath swallowed Wealth, but GOD shall make him fain  
To spew it out, to cast it up again:  
He shall the Aspic's direful Poison suck:  
With Viper's tongues he shall be deadly stuck:  
He shall not see the Oily River's Currents,  
Nor Brooks of Butter, nor the Honey Torrents:  
His Labour never shall regain his Loss:  
He shall restore whom he before did cross;  
The Restitution shall be all his state;  
He never shall digest, nor joy thereat:  
Because the Poor he crushed, and forsook;  
And Others Houses violently took.  
Sure he shall have no quiet Calm within;  
Without, no Store of what he joyeth in.  
There shallbe no Remainder of his meat;  
And his Reversions none shall wait to eat:  
Nay: in his Ruff, and at his Greatest Height,  
He shall be stocked in full many a Straight:  
Continual Hazards shall him round enring;  
Each spiteful hand shall have at him a fling:  
When he is ready for his rich Repast,  
On Him will GOD his fietie Fury cast;  
Amid his Feasts his dead Displeasure thrilling,  
In stead of Food, his breast with horror filling.  
If he escape the Sword; from Bows of steel  
Steel-headed Arrows shall him through thrill:  
The naked Swords bright-shining terror shall  
Peep through his Bosom, creep through guts & gall.  
Horrors shall haunt him: and so, hard-bestid,  
From hiding him, all Darkness shall be hid.  
A Fire vnblow'n him sudden shall consume:  
A●d woe to them that tarry in his Room:  
Heaven shall discover his Iniquities,  
And Earth for witness shall against him rise;  
All his Revenues, all his state, and stay,  
Shall flow to Others in his Wrathful Day.  
This is the Por●ion of the Wicked: This  
His Heritage by GOD appointed is.  
SO Zephar ceased. Then JOB replied: I pray  
Hear heedfully what Now I have to say:  
Be this the Comfort you vouchsafe, alone;  
Let Me but speak; and afterwards, mock on.  
Do I complain or make my moan to Man?  
Why do you cross, or interrupt me, than?  
If I have cause of Grief, should not my spirit  
Be moved withal? Can Flesh & Blood forbear it?  
Behold me well; & be withal dismayed:  
And let your hand upon your mouth be laid.  
Thought of the like (elsewhere) would me affright,  
And daunt my Flesh: How then, my present sight?  
How comes it, that the Wicked live, live long;  
Grow Rich, grow Great; wax Eminent, & Strong?  
They see their Children, & grandchildren, rife  
Settled about them: In their House, no Strife;  
No Fear; no Foe: They feel not any Rod,  
No stripe no stroke, of the dread hand of GOD.  
Their Bullock genders, and proves ever fit:  
Their Heifer calves, & never casteth it:  
Their Little ones, like Lambkins send they out;  
Their striplings play & skip, & dance about;  
They tune their Voice to sweetest Instruments,  
Harp, Pipe & Tabret; to delight their sense:  
In Wealth & Health They live; scarce, ever, sick  
Of long Disease; but to their Graves go quick.  
Yet ●hese are Those, that to th'Almighty say;  
Depart from us; we will not learn thy Way:  
Who is the Lord? that we should Him obey.  
What should we profit, if to Him we pray?  
They have not sure the power in their Own hand,  
To get and keep their Wealth at their Command.  
Be therefore fare, be ever fare from Me,  
Their Works, & Words, & Thought's Impiety:  
Fare their Counsels: far be all their Ways:  
And fare the Peace of their so prosperous Days.  
And yet, how often, is their Lamp put-out?  
How often, are They compassed about  
With swift Destruction? In his Fury strict,  
How oft, doth GOD Their Payment here inflict?  
How oft, as Straw before the wind, are They,  
And as the Chaff with Tempest whift away?  
How oft, doth GOD, in the Vngodly's sight,  
For Their own Gild, their own dear Issue smite?  
Or, let Themselves here see themselves undone;  
Drinking the hot Wrath of th'Almighty-one?  
For, what is it to Them? or what care They  
(Their Months cut off; Their mouths once stopped with clay)  
What hap their house, what hazard follow shall:  
What Weal or Woe, unto their Heirs befall?  
But herein, who GOD's Wisdom shall impeach?  
Or, who shall, Him, that rules the highest, teach?  
One dies at ease, in Strength's perfection growing;  
His Breasts with Milk, his Bones with Marrow flowing.  
Another dies in Anguish of his Spirit;  
And never did good Day or Night inherit:  
Both, are, alike, laid in the Dust together;  
And Worms, alike, do case and cover Either.  
Lo, I conceive your misconceipts, from hence;  
Your mis-collections, and your wrested Sense:  
For, Where (say ye) Where's now the Prince's Court?  
And Where the Palace of the wicked sort?  
Have ye not asked those that travail by?  
And do ye yet, can ye, Their Marks deny?  
That (for the most) the Wicked most are spared,  
Repriued here, till That dread Day prepared  
For dire Destruction: and then (for their Errors)  
Shall be broughtforth, in That great Day of Terrors.  
For, Here so Mighty and so Great they are;  
Who, to their face shall their Offence declare?  
Who dares disclose it? Who shall prosecute?  
And their due Sentence Who shall execute?  
Nay (notwithstanding) to their Grave in peace  
They pass, with Pomp of solemn Obsequies;  
Accompanied, attended (in their kind)  
With Mourning Troops, before them and behind:  
Entombed among their Ancestors: and rest  
In gloomy Vales, as happy as the Best:  
How do You, then, Me comfort, or confute;  
While vainly thus, and falsely you dispute?   

The third Book.  

〈◊〉 22  TH'old Thaemanite, as moved withal, replies:  
Can Man, to GOD (as to Himself, the Wise)  
Be profitable? Any pleasure is't  
Unto the Lord, if Righteous Thou persist?  
If Thou be just, if perfect, and upright;  
Is GOD the better? Gains th' Almighty by't?  
For fear of Thee, will He reprove thee (strict)  
Enter in judgement, and thee thus afflict?  
Is not thy Sin great and thy Wickedness;  
And infinite thy foul unrighteousness?  
Yes: Thou hast ta'en thy Brothers Pledge for nothing,  
And stripped even the Naked of their Clothing:  
Thou hast not given the weary Drink, at need;  
Nor to the Hungry, wherewithal to feed:  
The Eminent and Mighty had their fill:  
They held the Earth, and swayed thee at their will:  
But silly Widows hast thou empty packed;  
And th'arms of Orphans have been crushed and cracked.  
Thence is it, now, that Snares beset thee round,  
And sudden Fears thee trouble and confound:  
Or a black Darkness that thou canst not see;  
And a huge Deluge that ore-whelmeth thee.  
Is not the Lord in th'High Empyreal Bliss?  
Behold the Stars, how high their Distance is:  
And then (sayest Thou) What can th' Almighty mark?  
How judgeth He? What sees he through the Dark?  
Clouds cover Him from spying so far hence:  
He walketh in the heavens Circumference.  
But, hast not Thou observed the ancient Track  
The Wicked trod, to their untimely Wrack;  
Who, quick cut down, supplanted where they stood,  
Had their Foundations swallowed with the Flood?  
Who said to GOD, Depart from us; and thought,  
What can th'Almighty do to us, in aught  
Yet, with good things He filled their habitations.  
But, fare from me be their Inmaginations.  
This see the Righteous; safe the while, and glad:  
And laugh at them, in their Destruction sad.  
For, We shall stand; our Substance not decay:  
But their Remainder shall the Fire destroy.  
Therefore, acquaint thee (and that quickly too)  
With GOD; make peace: & Thou right well shalt do  
Receive (I pray thee) from his mouth Direction;  
And in thy heart, lay-up his Words instruction.  
If, to th'Almighty, Thou atonce return;  
Thou shalt be built-up: and shalt bravely spurn  
Iniquity fare from thyself away;  
And from thy Dwellings put it fare, for aye.  
Then, as the Dust thou shalt have Gold, at will;  
Pure Ophir Gold, as Pebbles of the Rill:  
Yea, the Almighty Thy defence shall be:  
And store of Silver shall be still with Thee.  
For, in the Lord thy Pleasure shalt thou place;  
And unto Him shalt thou lift up thy Face:  
Him shalt Thou pray-to; He shall hear thy Lays,  
And grant thy Suit; and Thou return him Praise:  
Thou shalt decree, and He shall make it good,  
(So thy good Purpose shall not be withstood):  
And on Thy Ways, and in all Works of Thine,  
His Light of Grace (and glory too) shall shine.  
Nay: when-as Others (as thyself art now)  
Shall be cast down; re-comfort them shalt Thou,  
And Thus re-cheer them: Yet, yet may you rise;  
For, GOD will save such as have humbled eyes.  
Yea: on the Noxious will he pity take,  
For th'Innocent; and spare them for thy sake.  
THen answered JOB: 
Cap ●  Tho to this Day my moans  
Right bitter be, my Grief exceeds my Groans:  
How is it then, that I, as yet, am held,  
For having plained, as if I had rebelled?  
O! that I knew, that some would show me, Where  
I might go find my Sovereign Arbitrer.  
That I might speedy unto him repair;  
And even approach to His Tribunal Chair.  
I would before Him ple●d my just Defence,  
And fill my Mouth with pregnant Arguments.  
Then would I know what should His Answer be:  
And understand what He would say to me.  
Would He oppose me with His Power divine?  
No: rather would He steel and strengthen mine.  
There might the Just in his just Plea proceed:  
And I should ever from my judge be freed.  
But, Whether to the West I take my way;  
Or, to the pearly Portall of the Day;  
Or, to the Norward, where he worketh rife;  
Or, to the South, the Cell of blustering-strife:  
Whether I look before me, or behind;  
On This, or That side: Him I cannot find.  
Yet, knows He well my Way: and hath me tried:  
And I, like Gold, shall come forth purified.  
My Foot hath walked in His steps: His Way  
Have I observed; and not gone astray:  
Nor have I started from His Precepts set,  
But prized them more than my appointed Meat.  
Yet, He persisteth in one purpose still.  
Who can divert him? He doth what he will;  
And will perform what is of me decreed.  
And many such things are with Him, indeed.  
Therefore, before Him, am I wonder-smit;  
Afraid of Him, when I consider it.  
For, GOD hath suppled and made soft my heart,  
And deep perplexed me in my inward part;  
Because my Languors neither end, nor I:  
Nor can I see, nor sound the Reason, Why.  

〈◊〉 24  But, can it be (How can it other be?)  
But that the Times of the Divine Decree,  
(Concerning judgements more or less severe;  
When, Why, and Who, and How, & What, & Where)  
Hidden with GOD, and hidden from his Own;  
Should to the World, and wicked be unknown?  
They shift the Landmarks from their ancient seat:  
They take by force men's Flocks, to feed, or eat:  
They drive away the silly Orphan's Ass:  
They take for Pledge the Widow's Ox (alas!):  
They turn the Needy from their nearest Way:  
They make the Poor together hide them aye:  
Lo, Like wild Asses in the Wilderness,  
They ramp about their brutish Business:  
Rising betimes for Boot (like Freebooters):  
The Desert Field yields Food for them and theirs,  
They reap them Each a Crop, from Others Crop:  
They gather Each a wicked Vintage up:  
They cause the Naked without Clothes to lie,  
Quivering for Cold, no Covering but the Sky;  
Washed with the Showers that from the Mountains shed;  
Embracing Cliffs, for Shelter; Rocks for Bed:  
They Pluck the Pupil from the tender Breast:  
They take from Poor a Pawn of all their best:  
They leave them Naked; Nay, the Hungry soul  
Even of his Sheaf, and gleaned handfuls p●ule:  
Yea; Labourers, that in Their service toil;  
That tread their Winepress, & that make their Oil,  
That trudge and drudge in their Affairs; in fine  
They let them starve, and even for thirst to pine.  
The City groans under their Wicked Thrall:  
Th'oppressed, slain, and wounded, cry, and call:  
Yet, 'tis apparent (as the Sun is clear)  
GOD doth not always smite (nor cite) them here.  
Yet, These are Those that aye the Light abhor:  
Know not her Way, nor keep, nor care it for:  
The Murderer rises (early) yet the Light;  
To kill the Poor: and robbeth (late) at Night:  
Th'Adulterer's Eye doth for the Twilight wait;  
And, muffled, thinks, none sees my acquaint Deceit:  
They (Burglars) dig through houses in the Dark,  
Which, in the Day, they for their own did mark.  
But, Light they loath: Morning to Them is Death:  
Death's Terror, Day; which all discovereth:  
On Waters swim they light and swift, for Fear:  
On Earth, as Vagrants, fly they here and there,  
(Their cursed portion) everywhere undone:  
Byways they seek, and the Highways they shun.  
As Heat and Drought, dissolve & drink the Snow;  
The wickedone the Grave shall swallow so.  
The Womb that bore him, shall him quite forget;  
And, to the Worm he shall be welcome Meat.  
He shall, with Men, no more remembered be:  
But broken-off, as is a withered Tree.  
He weds the Barren that brings never forth;  
And, if a Widow, leaves her nothingworth.  
Yet, by his power, He drags the Mighty down;  
And none is safe, if He, in Fury frown:  
No; though, with Presents, they his Patience buy,  
And build on it; on Them he casts an eye.  
Such, for a little, are aloft: Anon  
As low as Others; as All others, gone:  
Soon taken hence, shut-vp, cut-off, & shorn  
As (with the Hail) the tufted ears of Corn.  
If Thus it be not: Who will (I desire)  
Disprove my Speech; and prove me now a Liar.  
TO This, the Shuhite answered shortly Thus: 
Cap ●   
He is Almighty, Dradly-Glorious;  
Whose Power imperial, & All-humbling Awe,  
Rules his High Places in most peaceful Law.  
Is any number of His Armies known?  
What Light so bright, but His hath overshone?  
How, then, may Man, with GOD, be just defined?  
Or, He be Clean, that's born of Womankind?  
Behold, the Moon, before Him, is not bright:  
Stars are not pure in his (All-piercing) sight.  
Then, How-much-lesse? How-much-less Man (alas!)  
The Son of Man: a Worm, a Worthless Mass?  
JOB, hereunto replies incontinent: 
Cap. ●   
Well have ye said; but, How impertinent!  
How hast Thou holp the weak & feeble wight?  
How fit defended him that hath no might?  
How sweetly taught the simple and unwise?  
How full declared the Matter, as it lies?  
To Whom dost Thou this Speech of thine direct?  
What moves thee to it? & to what effect?  
For, I (for My part) know, that, Not alone,  
Th'eternal rules, on his supernal Throne  
The things above, in their harmonious Course;  
But here below, the Better and the Worse.  
Beneath the Waters, dead things form been;  
And, dumb (their own Inhabitants) within:  
Hell is not hid from Him: Destructions Cave,  
From His inspection, can no Covering have.  
He, th'ample heavens over the Void extends:  
He, upon Nothing the sad Earth suspends:  
Within his Clouds He bottles up the Rain,  
Which with it weight tears not the Clouds in twain●  
He hath in-bowd the forefront of his Throne,  
And spread his cloudy Canapey thereon:  
He hath begirt the Waters with a List  
Shall ever last, till Day and Night desist.  
The massy Pillars of the Pole do shake  
If He but chide; & at His check they quake.  
He, by his Power, doth the deep Sea divide:  
His Prudence smites her in her fellest pride:  
He, by his Spirit, the spangled heavens hath dressed  
With glittering Signs; the Serpent, & the rest.  
Lo, These are parcels of his Ways suprem:  
But, o! How little do We hear of Him!  
Who can conceive? Who understands the Thunders  
Of His more secret, & most sacred Wonders?  
WHile none replied, JOB gravely Thus goes on: 
Cap ●   
As life's the Lord, th'Almighty Holy-One,  
Who seems a space my Verdict to suppress,  
Loading my Soul with brunts of Bitterness;  
While Breath is in me; till my Spirit, inspired  
By GOD, be gone, & from me quite expired;  
My Lips shall speak no wickedness, no wile;  
Nor shall my Tongue deliver any guile.  
No; GOD forbidden that I should justify  
Your rash miss-Iudgement. Mine Integrity  
●'ll not abandon, to my Dying-day:  
Mine Innocence I never will betray:  
My Righteousness still will I fast retain;  
And, my clear Conscience while I live, maintain.  
But, as the Wicked, be mine Enemies:  
Those, as Unrighteous, that against me rise.  
For, what's the Hope of th'hollow Hypocrite  
Though He have heaped Treasures infinite)  
When GOD shall take (in a disastrous Day)  
His Land (his Life) his Goods (his Gods) ●way?  
Will GOD regard, or hear his howling Cry,  
When He is compassed with Calamity?  
Or, in th'Almighty can He comfort take?  
Will He to GOD continual Prayer make?  
I'll show you, how th'Almighty hand doth deal:  
God's wont Course I will not now conceal:  
Nay; you yourselves, you all have seen it too.  
Why talk ye then thus vainly as ye do?  
This is, with GOD, the Portion & the Part  
Of the ungodly & the Cruel heart:  
This heritage shall impious Tyrants have  
From the almighty, This they shall receive:  
If many Children be shall leave behind,  
As many shall the Sword or Famine find:  
Or, if that any in Remain be left;  
They, by the Plague, shall, vnbewayled, be reft.  
If He have heaped Silver, as the Dust;  
And Clothes, as Clay; he may: but sure the Justice  
Shall joy his Silver, & his Treasures share;  
And wear● his Wardrobe, how-so rich & rare.  
If brave he build; it is but like the Moth  
(On others ground, as that in others Cloth)  
Soon dispossessed: or, like a Watch-house, soon  
To be set up, and suddenly pull'd-down,  
Such Rich, shall die; and he without regard,  
Vngathered to his Father's Toomb prepared:  
Nothing of Him remains in Memory:  
He vanisheth in Twinkling of an eye.  
Horrors shall seize him, as a Flood, with Fright;  
And as a Tempest, hurry him in the night.  
An Eastern Storm him quite away shall chase;  
And, as Whirlwind, hurl him from his place.  
So pitiless, in wrathful jealousy,  
(While glad & fain he would his fingers fly)  
Will GOD pursue him; & Good men shall smile,  
And clap their hands, & hiss at him, the while.  
Sure, there are Mines & veinlings (under ground)  
Whence Silver's fetched, & wherein Gold is found: 
Ca● ●   
Iron out of Earth, and out of Stone the Brass  
Is melted down (into a purer mass).  
Beyond the bounds of Darkness Man hath pried,  
And th'Excellence of underground descried:  
The rarest Stones, & richest Minerals,  
From deadly Damps & horrid Darks he hales:  
And, if some Torrent come there rushing in  
Such as no Foot hath felt, no Eye hath seen)  
He can revert it, or divert it, soon,  
Without Impeachment to his Work begun.  
Earth's surface yields him Corn & Fruits, for food;  
Her under-folds, some burning Sulphury flood:  
Amid the Quarrs of Stone are Saphires store:  
Among the Dust, the precious Golden Ore  
(Where never Bird, before did Path descry,  
Where never Vulture cast her greedy Eye,  
Where savage Whelps had never never traced;  
Nor furious Lion ever by had past):  
On Cliffs of Adamant He lays his hands;  
Their height & hardness He at will commands;  
Slents them with Sledges, crops their cloudy crown:  
He, by the roots turns Mountains up-side down:  
To let out Rills, He cleaveth Rocks insunder:  
His Eye perceives all that is precious, under:  
He binds the Waters, that they shall not weep;  
And diues for Riches in the deepest Deep.  
All This, & more, hath Man. But where is found  
That sovereign Wisdom, sacred & profound?  
That Understanding of the Ways divine,  
Of GOD's supreme and secret Discipline?  
Man knows it not; nor kenns the worth of it:  
It is not found in any living Wit..  
The Deeps confess, the Sea acknowledgeth;  
'tis not in Me; nor with Me; th'other saith.  
Nor Gold, nor Silver, nor all Gems that are,  
Can purchase it, nor equal it by fare:  
No wedge of Ophir, never so refined;  
No Aethiopian Topaz, Pearl of Ind,  
No precious Onyx, neither Saphire pure  
(Coral and Crystal pass I, as obscure)  
No Carbuncle, no Diamant so rare;  
No One, nor All, with Wisdom may compare.  
But, Whence is then, & Where is to be found  
That sacred Wisdom, secret & profound?  
Sith it is hidden from all humane Eyes;  
And from the sight of every Fowl that flies.  
Death & Destruction; say; We of the same  
Have with our ears but only heard the Fame?  
GOD, GOD alone, doth understand it Way;  
And knows the place where it abideth aye.  
For, He, at once beholdeth All that is  
In all the World: All under Heaven he sees,  
To poise the Winds, & portion (at his pleasure)  
Unto the Waters their due weight & measure.  
When for the Rain he established a Decree,  
And for the Thunder's Lightning Mutiny;  
Then did He see it, and foresee it fit:  
He numbered, pondered, & prepared it:  
And unto Man This Maxim did apply;  
GOD's Fear is Wisdom & from Sin to fly.  

〈◊〉 ●9  JOB yet proceeded, & said furthermore,  
O! were it with me, as it was of yore,  
In my forepassed Months, my former Days,  
When GOD preserved me; when with gracious rays  
His Lightfull Lamp reflected on my head,  
Whereby I walked through Darkness, void of Dread:  
As in my younger times, when yet the Lord  
Vouchsafed me Blessings of my Bed & Board;  
When yet the Lord was with me in my Tents,  
And showered there his hidden Providence.  
When, where I went, my ways were bathed in Butter,  
And Rocks about me Rills of Oil did gutter:  
When I had gone unto the public Gate  
To take my place where all our Senate sat,  
At sight of Me, would Young men hide them thence,  
And th'Elder sort stand up, for reverence:  
Nobles were silent, if I present were;  
And, if I spoke, they turned their ●ongue to Ear:  
And th'ear that heard me blessed me: & the Eye  
That saw me, witnessed mine Integrity.  
For, I delivered every Poor oppressed,  
The Orphan & the Helpless I redressed:  
He blessed me that was well-near undone:  
The Widow's heart I cheered: I put-on,  
● put-on justice, as a seemly Gown;  
●t was unto me as a Robe and Crown.  
● as an Eye unto the Blind became;  
And as a Foot, unto the Halt and Lame:  
A Father was I to the Poor: and where  
The Case was Dark, I would discuss it Clear.  
I also broke th'Oppressors greedy jaws,  
And took the Prey out of his Teeth and Paws.  
Then thought I, sure, to die at home, in rest:  
And said, I shall with long good Days be blest.  
For, by the Waters was my Root out-spred:  
Upon my Top heavens nightly Dew was shed:  
My Wealth increased, mine Honour daily grew,  
My Bow of Health (my Strength) did still renew.  
When I had spoken, every Ear was pressed  
To give me ear, and in my Counsel's rest,  
Without Reply: and as the latter Rain  
The thirsty Earth, my Words they entertain.  
If I had laughed, or smiled on any, near,  
They took no notice, nor would change my Cheer.  
● sat as Chief, I only ruled the roast,  
Dwelled as a King amid an armed Host;  
And, as a Man, amid a mourning Rout,  
That, from his lips, pours lively Comforts out.  

〈◊〉 30  But now (alas!) My Puisnès Me deride:  
The meanest mock me; Yea, and Those (beside)  
Whose ragged Fathers I refused, to keep  
My Shepherd's Curs (much more to cure my Sheep)  
For, to say truth, what Service could they do,  
So idle bred (both Young and Elder too)  
Weakened with Sloth, and wicked Conversation;  
And waxed old, in wretched Desolation:  
For Cold and Hunger wand'ring here and there,  
With Mallows fed, and roots of juniper:  
Pursewd as Thiefs, hunted from place to place  
With Hue and Cries; and ever had in Chase;  
And therefore fain, for Shelter's sake to creep  
In Cliffs and Caves; in Rocks and Dungeons deep:  
Among the Thorns and Thickets roaring rife:  
Wild Outlaws, leading a most Bestial life:  
The Breed of Fools, the Fry of basest birth,  
Of nameless Men: indeed the Scums of Earth?  
And yet, to Such am I now made a Song,  
A Ballad and a Byword on their tongue:  
Yea, These despise me, and despite me too:  
Spit in my Face, and make no more ado.  
Because the Lord my Bowstring hath unbent,  
And slacked my Cord, therefore these insolent  
Insulter's Now lose and let-go the Rains  
Of all Respect, unto their lewd Disdaigns.  
Now, very Boys do take the Wall of me,  
Trip at my Feet; and (in their jollity)  
Misjudge my Life, and of me Rumours raise,  
After their own cruel and cursed Ways:  
They mar my Path that I have walked in,  
Further my Woes, and have no help therein:  
As a wide Flood-breach they have rushed on-me,  
And with the Ruins have roul'd-in upon-me.  
Terrors are turned upon me, and pursue  
My Life as Wind; my Weal, as Vapours flew:  
Therefore my Soul, in sore Afflictions vexed,  
●s poured out, and inly deep perplexed.  
Days dark and irksome have upon me seized:  
And in the Night (when Others most are eased)  
My very Bones within me are oppressed,  
Nay, pierced through; my Sinews take no rest:  
My strange Disease, with angry Violence  
Of th'hot Impostumes loathsome Virulence,  
Hath stained my Garments: &, with straining Dolour,  
About my Neck it gripes me as a Choler.  
Laid in the Dust, I roll the Mire among,  
Become'n, indeed, like Ashes, Dust, and Dung.  
To Thee I cry, to Thee the while I call;  
But, Lord, Thou hearest not, nor dost heed at all.  
Nay, Thou art also Cruel turned, to me;  
With hot Assaults, as on an Enemy:  
Thou lift'st me up, (as in a Storm, the Stubble)  
To ride a Whirlwind, while (with Fear & Trouble)  
I faint, and fall (dissolved, as it were)  
In deadly Swoon, hurried I wots not where:  
But well I wots. Thou soon wilt bring me home  
To Death, the House where all that live shall come;  
Whither, thy H●nd thou wilt no longer stretch;  
And Whence, no Prayers boot, nor need, to fetch.  
Did not I weep, for Others woefulness?  
Was not my Soul grieved at the Poors Distress?  
When Good I looked for, Evil came: when Light,  
A dismal Darkness, worse than blackest Night.  
My bowels boiled with continual heat;  
A troublous Time upon me sudden set:  
Not with the Sun, but Sorrow, black I turned:  
Amid th'Assembly loud I cried and mourned,  
With hideous Noise (for horrid Anguishes)  
As kin to Dragons and to Ostriges.  
My Harp is tuned to a heavy Tone;  
My Music turned to the voice of Moon.  
I Made a Covenant with my constant Eyes, 
Cap. ●   
From gazing out on blazing Vanities:  
(Having my Choice, whereon my thoughts were stayed)  
Why should I once m●-think upon a M●d?  
For, O! for such, what Part, what Portion is  
With GOD, above in th'Heritage of Basse?  
Nay: is there not Destruction still behind,  
Strange Punishment, for Wicked (of this kind)?  
Are not my Paths apparent unto GOD?  
Doth not He see and sum the Steps I trod?  
If I have walked in Vanity and Pride:  
If unto Fraud my Foot have ever hied:  
In his just Balance let him weigh me right,  
And he shall find me by his Beam upright.  
If that my Steps have strayed, or trod awry:  
If that my Heart have hearkened to mine Eye:  
If to my Hand have cleaved any Spot:  
If Blood or Bribes the same did ever Blot;  
Then let me Sow, and Others eat my Crop;  
Yea, let my Plant be ever plucked-up.  
If ever Woman have my heart beguiled;  
Or I laid wait t'have Others Wife defiled:  
Let mine again unto Another grind,  
And me be punished in my Sins own kind.  
For This is sure a high and heinous Crime,  
To be condemned and punished in the prime:  
Yea, 'tis a Fire, whose Fury would not cease,  
But ruin all, and root out my Increase.  
If ever I despised my Man, or Maid,  
Debating with me, and them over-waid;  
What shall I do? What Answer shall I make,  
When GOD, as judge, their Cause shall undertake?  
Did not one Maker them and me create,  
Of Matter like, in Manner like, and Fate?  
If ever I delayed the Poor's desire:  
Or let the Widow's longing Hopes to tyre:  
Or ever eat my Morsels all alone,  
And gave the Orphan and the needy none:  
(He hath been with me from my Childhood bred  
As with a Father: She, in Husband's stead,  
Hath ever had my Counsel for her Guide,  
My Power for Guard; my Purse her Want supplied,)  
If I have seen or suffered any Poor  
To lie and die, Naked, or out of Door:  
Nay, if his Loins be-blest not me from harm,  
Because my Fleece and Cottage kept them warm:  
If ever I, against the Impotent,  
Poor, Fatherless, or Friendless Innocent  
(For Fear or Favour, of a Friend or Foe,  
For Gain, or Grudge (that I did ever owe)  
Have lift my hand, or Him in right withstood;  
Or, when I might have, have not done him good:  
Then let mine Arm off from my Shoulder fall,  
And from the bone be pashed to powder all.  
For, GOD's dread judgements did I always fear:  
Whose Highness Wrath I could nor balk nor bear.  
If I on Gold have fixed my Hope, or Heart;  
Or, to the Wedge have said: My Trust thou art:  
If I have joyed for being grown so Rich;  
Or for my Hands had gotten me so much:  
If, when I saw the Sun or Moon to shine,  
My heart (enticed) in secret did incline  
To th' idle Orgies of an Idolist;  
Or (Heathen-like) my Mouth my Hand hath kissed:  
Or, if, in Summer of my golden Days,  
Or silver Nights shining with prosperous Rays;  
My heart in private hath been puffed too-high,  
Ascribing all to mine own Industry  
Which had been impious Sacrilege and Pride:  
For, then had I the GOD of Heaven denied):  
If I rejoiced at Ruin of my Foes,  
Or have triumphed in their Overthrows;  
Or have so much as let my Tongue to roll,  
Or Heart to wish a curse unto their Soul:  
Though oft, my Servants, in their rage extreme,  
Would fain have beaten, nay, have eaten them.  
If I have shut the Stranger out of Door;  
Or let-not-in the weary Pilgrim poor:  
If I (like ADAM) have concealed my Sin,  
And closely cloaked my Wickedness within:  
(Although I could have overborne, with Awe,  
Whole multitudes; the meanest Groom I saw,  
I feared so, I durst not wring, nor wrong,  
Nor wrangle with: but kept my Tent and Tongue)  
O! that I had an equal Arbitrer,  
(To hear, and weigh, consider, and confer).  
Behold my Aim: th' Almighty I desire  
(A certain Sign of mine Intent entire)  
For, He, I know, would sentence on My side;  
And witness for me, that I have not lied.  
Then, though against me, (in his fell Despite)  
Mine Adversary should a Volume write,  
It, as a Robe, I on my back would bear,  
And as a Garland on my head it wear:  
I would, by piecemeal, show my Conversation,  
All so unlike to all his Accusation,  
That clearing Me, it should him more convince,  
To come and ask me Pardon, as a Prince.  
But, If my Land against me plead or plain;  
Or, If my Furrows cry-out, or complain:  
If, Tithe-lesse, Taxlesse, Wage-lesse, Rightlesse, I  
Have eat the Crop; or caused the Owners die;  
In stead of Barley, and the best of Corn,  
Grow nothing there, but Thistles, Weeds & Thorn.  
Hear JOB surceased.   

The fourth Book.  

〈…〉  H● 〈…〉 Three forenamed Friends  
●m ●rth ●ech (●s hopeless of their ends)  
Sith JOB ●sti● still maintained his right  
Of R●g 〈◊〉 his own proper sight.  
The● angry Zeal began to swelled and swell  
In Elihú the son of Barachel,  
Th● Buz●te borne, and of the Race of Ram:  
B●th against JOB began his wrath to flame,  
(Because, ●s t● of his words employed,  
Rather Himself, than GOD he justified)  
And also Those his ●oe-friends for so strict  
Condemning JOB, untried and unconvict.  
His modesty him hitherto withheld,  
As giving place to others of more Eld:  
But, seeing JOB to a full Period come;  
And th'other ●hree without Reply, as dumb;  
His Zeal burst out, and Thus in brief began.  
I must confess, I am too young a man  
T' have interrupted you (so old) before  
In This Dispute; and therefore I forbore:  
I was in doubt; I durst not speak (till now)  
My weak Opinion, and present it you.  
For, Days (thought I) & Years can farther reach:  
And long Experience Wisdom best can teach.  
Men have a Soul, & Reason's light inherit:  
But, Wisdom is inspired by th' Holy-Spirit  
(Which bloweth where it will, & worketh free,  
Not tied to Age, nor to Authority):  
For, Great men always are not wisest found,  
Nor the most Ancient still the most profound,  
Therefore awhile to Me give ear, I pray;  
And let Me also mine Opinion say.  
I well observed your words, with diligence  
I scanned your Reasons, marked your Arguments:  
Yea, near and narrow have I watched & weighed  
What Each of you, and All of you have said:  
Yet is there None of you (apart, or joint)  
Convinces JOB; or answers to the Point.  
Lest You should say; We Wisdom compass can,  
GOD will evince him; not the Wit of Man.  
For Me, Me yet he never did gainsay:  
Nor do I mean to answer him, your way.  
Here-with amazed, they still continuing mute  
Without Reply, or show of more Dispute  
For I expected yet some Speech from some:  
awaited still: and when as none would come)  
I will, said I, now prosecute my part,  
To give my 〈◊〉 from a single heart:  
For, I am full of matter to the top;  
My Spirit within me, strains me, stirs me up:  
My Breast is like a Wine-Burt, wanting Vent,  
Ready to burst; or Bottles, like to slent.  
I'll therefore speak, that I may yet respire;  
And open my mouth, to fan mine inward fire.  
Yet None, I pray, from Me the while expect  
Smooth, soothing Titles; personal Respect:  
For, soothing Titles know not I to give;  
Nor should I, would my Maker let me live.  

〈◊〉 ●3.  NOw therefore, JOB, hark with attentive bead  
To all the Words that from me shall proceed:  
For, what I speak, premeditated is;  
Not out of Passion, or of Prejudice:  
But most sincere, and from a single heart,  
Out of clear Knowledge (without Clouds of Art).  
One & the same, of the same Mass of Mire,  
Made Me, as Thee; & did my Spirit inspire:  
Fear not therefore, if Thou have aught to say;  
Oppose and answer: put thy Words in ray:  
I am (according to thy wish) to plead  
And parley with thee, in th'Almighties stead;  
And yet, a Man: My Terrors shall not fright thee,  
Neither my hand with heavy Tortures smite thee.  
Lo, Thou hast said (I heard & marked it well)  
In Me, there none Iniquity doth dwell:  
I am Upright, and Clean, and Innocent:  
Yet, as a Foe, He is against me bend:  
He picks occasions to inflict me Strokes;  
Sifts all my Ways, and sets me in the Stocks.  
And lo, in This, even in This saying so,  
Thou art not Just: for (if thou knowst not) know,  
That GOD is Greater than All Men: then, Why  
Strivest Thou with Him? whose supreme Sovereignty  
Yields us no Reason, nor Account at all,  
Of His high Counsels; Why, or How, they fall.  
For once, yea twice, to Man th'Almighty speaks;  
Yet Man perceives not (or it little reaks)  
By Dream, or Vision of the Night, in Sleep  
Upon his Bed; or in some Slumber deep:  
Then opens He men's ears, & him revealeth,  
And sweetly there their meet Instruction sealeth;  
To turn a Man from his intended Ill,  
And hide the Pride of his ambitious Will:  
To keep his Soul back from the brink of Hell;  
And save his Life from Death & Dangers fell.  
Sometimes, He's also chastened on his Bed,  
With grievous Sickness, from the foot to head;  
Incessant burning in his Bones and Blood:  
So that he loatheth the most dainty Food.  
His Flesh consumed, & his Bones so high  
That they appear (as an Anatomy):  
His Life and Soul draw near unto the Pit,  
(The Grave doth gape, & Worms do wait for it).  
If with Him be a holy Messenger  
(One of a Thousand) an Interpreter,  
To show to Man the justice of his GOD,  
In his Correction, with his sharpest Rod;  
And, rightly humbled, readvance the Meek,  
By Faith, above his Righteousness to seek,  
And pray to Him; He will propitious stand,  
And to his Servant He will Thus command,  
Deliver him from going to the Grave,  
I am appeased: a Ransom found I have.  
Then, than a Child shall fresher be his Flesh,  
He shall return unto his Youth afresh:  
Then shall he call on GOD, and GOD shall be  
Right gracious to him: He with joy shall see  
His glorious Face. For, He will render than  
(He will impute) His Righteousness to Man.  
He visits Men; and if that any say,  
I have offended: I have gone astray:  
I have missdone: I have perverted Right:  
Oh! I have sinned, & had no profit by it;  
He will deliver, from Infernal Doom,  
His Soul; his Life from an untimely Toomb.  
Lo, all These things doth GOD do twice or thrice  
(Oft and again) to Man (too prone to Vice)  
To re-reduce his Soul from Death's dark Night;  
To be enlightened with the living Light.  
JOB, mark it well, And hearken farther yet  
What I shall speak: save, when thou seest it fit,  
If ought thou have to answer, or object,  
Speak on, in GOD's Name (for I much affect  
To justify and clear thee (if I may):  
If otherwise, if nought thou have to say;  
Lift, and observe with silence, I beseech;  
And I shall teach thee Wisdom, by my Speech.  
SO, he proceeded, and said furthermore: 
Ca● ●   
Hear Me, ye Sages; Men of Skilful lore:  
For, as the Palate doth discern of Food,  
Th'ear trieth Words (how they be bad, or good).  
Let's then debate This Matter, among us;  
Examine it, and what is right, discuss.  
For, JOB hath said: O! I am Just, Upright;  
And yet (saith He) GOD hath bereft my Right.  
Should I belie my Cause? My thrilled Wound  
Is passed all Cure; and yet no Crime is found.  
What man, like JOB, himself so over-thinks?  
Who (wilfully) Contempt, like Water, drinks:  
Who, with the Wicked & ungodly walks,  
jumps just with Them, & in their language talks.  
For, he hath said; Man hath no profit by't  
To walk with GOD, and in Him to delight.  
But, hear me now, all ye that understand;  
O! be it fare from the All-ruling hand  
Of justice Self (th'Almighty GOD, most High)  
To do Injustice, or Iniquity.  
No: He to Each man his own Work repays;  
And makes him find according to his Ways.  
Undoubtedly, the Lord of Hosts, the Strong,  
Nor hath, nor doth, nor will, nor can, do wrong.  
Who hath to Him charge of the Earth imposed?  
And, Who but He, hath the whole World disposed?  
If He but please on Man to set his mind,  
To reassume his Spirit, his Breath, his Wind;  
All Flesh at once (if He but hold his breath)  
Shall turn to Dust; and perish all, in Death.  
Now note Thou this, if so thou hast a heart  
To understand; list what my Words impart:  
Shall He have Rule, that judgement loathes (& lacks)?  
And for unjust, wilt Thou the justest tax?  
Beseems it Any to a King to say,  
O! Thou art Wicked (in thy partial Sway)?  
Or unto Princes (to upbraid them) Thus  
You are ungodly, you are Impious?  
Then, how-much less to Him that puts no Odds  
Touching the Persons of those Earthly Gods;  
Nor 'twixt the Rich and Poor, the Great and Small;  
For, they (alike) are his own Hands-work, all.  
They (at His will) shall in a moment die;  
Yea, even at Midnight (unexpectedly)  
The People shall be troubled and transported;  
And even the Princes, without hands subverted.  
For, evermore His eyes are open wide  
On all men's Ways, on every Step & Stride.  
There is no Darkness, nor no Shade of Death,  
For Wickedones to hide them underneath:  
Nor, will he, though, Any so over-load,  
That they may justly grudge, or plead with GOD.  
By Heaps, will He to pieces grind the Great,  
And (in their steed) set Others in their seat:  
For, unto Him, their Works are manifest;  
Night turned to Light: and they shall be suppressed.  
Them, as most Wicked, smites he (as it were,  
In all men's sight, in open Theatre)  
Because from Him they did revolt and swerve;  
And would not any of his Ways observe:  
But caused the loud Cries of the Poor ascend  
To Him, who always doth their Cries attend.  
When He gives Quiet, who dares be so bold  
To cause Disturbance? And, if He withhold  
His Countenance, who then behold Him can;  
Whether a People, or a Private man?  
That th'Hypocrite no more may Reign (as King)  
Nor, under him, the snared People wring.  
Us therefore Thus beseems, to say to GOD:  
I bear with Patience thy correcting Rod:  
I will not murmur, nor burst out therefore;  
But sigh in silence, and offend no more:  
Show me my Sins I see not, nor perceive;  
And, Henceforth will I all Injustice leave.  
Or, should it be after Thy pleasure ay?  
No: will-thou-nill, He will (not I) repay.  
Now, therefore speak thy Conscience seriously;  
And let the prudent mark and testify,  
That, void of Knowledge, JOB hath mis-auerred;  
And, wide of Wisdom, his Discourse hath erred.  
Would therefore (Father) he might yet be tried:  
Sith for the Wicked he hath so replied;  
For to his Sin he doth Rebellion ad:  
Claps hands at us, as He the Better had:  
And (too-too-pure in his too-prudent Eyes)  
Against th' Almighty, Words he multiplies.  
ELihú, proceeding, Thus moreover said: 
Ca● ●   
Thinkest Thou this right (●f it be rightly weighed)  
Which thou hast spoken (or thy peech employed)  
My Righteousness is more than GOD's (O Pride!).  
For, Thou hast said, What will it vantage thee,  
What shall I gain, if I from Sin be free?  
I'll answer thee; and with Thee, All so dreaming:  
Lookup, and see the heavens above thee gleaming;  
Behold, how high: if therefore thou transgress,  
And multiply thy Sin and Wickedness;  
What hurt dost Thou to GOD? What Detriment?  
On th' other side, if Thou be innocent,  
If lust; What dost Thou to his Goodness give?  
Or, from Thy hand, What, What doth He receive?  
Thy Wickedness may hurt a Man (like thee):  
Thy righteousness, to Man may helpful be.  
For manifold and frequent Tyranny,  
Oppressors make oppressed-ones to cry;  
Yea, to cry-out for cruel Violence  
Of Mightie-ones, of Men of Eminence:  
But, there is None that saith (as due belongs)  
Where's GOD, my Maker (Who by Night gives Songs,  
Who teacheth us, hath us more Wisdom given,  
Than Beasts of Earth, or to the Fowls of Heaven).  
There cry they oft; but none doth hear or heed,  
For th'evil's sake (who in all Ills exceed):  
For, Vanity, GOD doth not, hath not heard;  
Nor ever will th'Almighty it regard.  
Now, though Thou sayest, thou seest Him not, he's Just:  
With Him is judgement; therefore in Him trust:  
For want whereof, his Wrath hath visited;  
Yet not so hot as Thou hast merited.  
Therefore doth JOB open his Mouth in vain:  
And void of Knowledge, yet, yet, mis-complain.  

〈◊〉 36  ELihu yet said: A little suffer me;  
For I have yet more to allege to Thee,  
On GOD's behalf. I'll fetch mine Arguments  
From fare (confirmed by long Experience)  
To justify my Maker's Holiness,  
Give Him his own, and right his Righteousness.  
I'll speak no Falsehood, nor no Fraud propound:  
All my Discourse shall be sincere and sound.  
Lo, GOD is Mighty; yet doth none despise:  
Omnipotent, Omniscient; Strong and Wise.  
●e spareth not the Life of Wicked wights;  
●ut, the Oppressed in their wrongs he rights.  
●is Eyes are never off the Righteous sort:  
Them on the Throne He doth with King's consort:  
Them He advances; and beyond all Term  
●oth them establish, and them fast confirm.  
Or, if that ever Fetters them befall,  
Or, they be holden in Afflictions Thrall;  
He lets them see their Works, their Wickedness,  
Their wand'ring Byways, and their bold Excess;  
And opens then their Ear to Discipline,  
Commanding quick, that they return from Sin.  
If they return, to serve and Him obey,  
Their Days & Years right happy spend shall They:  
●f not; the Sword shall smite them suddenly:  
And in their wilful Folly shall they die.  
But, Hypocrites, the Men of double heart,  
They heap-up Wrath: they cry not when they smart.  
They die in Youth; their Life among th' Unclean,  
Most Insolent, most Impudent, Obscene.  
He th'humble Poor in his Affliction frees:  
Their Ears he opens, in Calamities:  
So woald He, thou from thy Distress have freed,  
And brought thee forth far from the Streits of Need,  
To spacious Plenty; and thence forth thy B●ord,  
Should with the best and fattest have been stored  
Bu●, Thou, too-wicked-like, too-stifte haste stood;  
As their presumptions seeming to make good;  
Not stooped, but strutted in Contesting Pride.  
Therefore, on Thee doth judgement yet abide.  
Sith wroth he is, beware to tempt him more;  
Lest with his Stroke, he sudden smite therefore:  
Or hisse thee hence with his almighty Breath:  
Then can no Ransom thee redeem from Death.  
Will He regard thy Goods? or reek thy Gold?  
Thy State, or Srength (how much, or manifold)?  
Nor wish Thou (hope-l●ss) for the (hap-less) Night,  
When from their place People are taken quite:  
Beware, regard not Thou Iniquity;  
Neither (alas!) through faint infirmity,  
Choose rather That, than thine Affliction's Part,  
With humble Patience of a Constant heart.  
Behold, the Lord is, for his Power, suprem:  
And, for his Prudence, Who doth teach like Him?  
●ho hath appointed unto Him his way?  
●r, Who can tell him, Thou hast gone astray?  
Rather, remember that thou magnify  
●s public Works, apparent to our eye;  
●visible, that both the young and old,  
●em from a fare do bright and brim behold.  
Lo, GOD is Greater than We comprehend:  
●or can the Number of his years be kend.  
● makes the thick exhaled Vapours thin,  
●at down again in silver Deaws they spin,  
●m strutting Clouds abundantly distilling  
● th'use of Man, the Plains with Plenty filling.  
Also, can Any understand th' Extent  
Clouds, or know the Rattling of his Tent?  
●old, He spreadeth out his Light there-over,  
●d even the bottom of the Sea doth cover.  
●, by the same He worketh diversways,  
●h to his justice and his mercy's Praise:  
●at, through excess causing a fearful Flood;  
●is, temperate, producing store of Food.  
avails the Light with Clouds that come between,  
●bids it shine, and lets it not be seen:  
●ding a Shower, or Storms approaching rage;  
●ich oft, even Cattles of the Field presage.  

〈◊〉. 37  HEre-at, my Heart trembles for inward Fear,  
As if removed from it own place it were:  
Hark, hark with heed unto the hideous Noise,  
The horrid Rumbling of his dreadful Voice,  
Which, with his Lightning, he directeth forth,  
Under whole Heaven, and over all the Earth.  
After the Flash, a Clash there roareth high;  
He thunders-out his Voice of Majesty:  
And then no longer will He keep them back,  
When that is heard over our heads to crack.  
GOD, with his Voice, doth thunder wondrously,  
And works great things that we cannot descry:  
He bids the Snow to cover Hill and Plain;  
So, drizzling Showers; and so, his Mighty Rain;  
Whereby, From Field-works He seals-up men's hands,  
That they may know His works; how He command's.  
Then, to their Den the Savage Herds do high;  
And for a season in their Covert lie.  
From Southern Chambers the hot Whirlwind comes:  
From Northern Cells, That which with Cold benumbs,  
The Frost is given us, by the breath Divine;  
When Crusts of Crystal spreading Floods confine.  
The blackest Cloud He doth exhausted of waters:  
And, his bright Cloud (the Lightnings shrowded he) seatters.  
And (by the Counsel of his Providence)  
All This, by Turns, in round Circumference  
Is turned about: and ready at his Call,  
Throughout the World, to do his will, in all.  
For, He commands them come, for Punishment;  
Or Love to His; or else Indifferent.  
Hearken to This, o JOB; stand still, & ponder  
The Works of GOD, so full of weight & wonder.  
knowst Thou (alas!) when He disposed them;  
Or caused the Light out of his Lump to beam?  
knowst Thou the Clowd's just Poizes (the high or lower,)  
And wondrous works of the All-perfect Knower?  
How, when He calms the Earth with Southern puff,  
Thy thinnest Clothes thou findest warm enough.  
Hast Thou, with Him, spread forth the spangled Sky,  
That (liquid Crystall-like) strong Canopy?  
If so; then show us, what to say to Him:  
For, what to say, we are (alas!) too dim.  
●hould I mis-speak, needs any Him inform?  
Nay, should I not be swallowed up (in storm)?  
None fixly can (when clouds be cleared away)  
behold the bright & shining Lamp of Day:  
from out the North stream goodly Beams of gold:  
With GOD is Light more bright by manifold,  
More pure, more piercing, past a mortal Eye;  
More dreadful fare. His glorious Majesty  
(Dwelling above, in Splendours inaccessible)  
For us to find, out is a Point impossible.  
he's excellent in Prudence: passing Strong:  
Plenteous in justice: and doth No man wrong.  
Therefore Men fear him: Yet, for Their desert,  
Regards not He those that are Wise of hart.  

〈◊〉 ●3.  THen, dread JEHOVA from a Whirlwind spoke  
In sacred terms; & Thus with JOB he broke:  
Where? Who is He, that (to Himself so holy)  
Darkens my Counsels, with contentious Folly?  
Come, gird thy loins, prepare thee, play the Man;  
I will oppose thee: answer, if thou can.  
Why! Where wert Thou, tell (if thou knowst, dismayed)  
When the Foundations of the Earth I laid?  
Who marked first the Measure of it out?  
Or (canst Thou ●ell) Who stretched the Line about?  
What Bases had it; and fixed Where-upon?  
Or, Who thereof laid the first Cornerstone,  
When Morning-Star●s for joy together sang,  
And all GOD's Children cheerful echo rang?  
Or, Who, with Doors, shutin the Sea so straight;  
When from the Womb it rushed with such weight?  
When as I made the Cloud a Clout for it,  
And blackest Darkness as a Swathe-band fit:  
And cradled it, in mine appointed place;  
With Barrs about, & Doors at every pace:  
And laid unto it; Hitherto extend;  
And f●rther, not: Here, thy proud Waves be penned.  
Hadst Thou the Morning from thy birth, at beck?  
Mad'st Thou the Dawn in his due place to break;  
That it might reach the Earth's Circumference,  
And that the Wicked might be shaken thence:  
To stamp it (various, as the Potter's Clay)  
With many Forms, in manifold array,  
When as th'Vngodly shall be all descried;  
That justice hand may break the arms of Pride?  
Hast Thou gone down into the Sea itself;  
Walked in the Bottom; searched every Shelf;  
Survaid the Springs? Or have the Gates of Death  
Been opened to Thee; and those Doors beneath  
Death's ghastly shadows? knowst Thou (to conclude)  
(Tell, if thou knowst) the Earth's just Latitude?  
Which is the way where lovely Light doth dwell?  
And as for Darkness, where hath She her Cell;  
That thou shouldst Both, in both their bounds comprise;  
And know their dwellings, & their Paths, precise?  
Needs must Thou know them: Thou wert born yet than:  
No doubt Thou wert, Thou art so old a man.  
Hast Thou the Treasures of the Snow surveyed?  
Or seen the Storehouse of my Hail (uplaid  
And hid in heaps, against a time of need)  
For Warlike Battery, where I have decreed?  
Which is the way whence Lightning flasheth out,  
Scattering th'unhealthy Eastern Gales about?  
Who hath disposed the upper Spouts & Gutters,  
Whereby the Air his overburthen utters?  
Or given the Lightning & the Thunder way,  
To cause it rain on places parched away;  
On thirsty Deserts, where no People pass;  
On barren Mountains, to revive the Grass?  
Had Rain a Father? Or, begot by whom  
Was pearly Dew? Or, from what pregnant Womb  
Came crystal Ice? Or, canst Thou rightly render,  
Who did the hard & hoary Frosts engender,  
When Waters creep under a Stone-like cover,  
And th'ocean's surface is thick-glased over?  
Canst Thou restrain the pleasant Influing  
Of Pleiades (the Ushers of the Spring)?  
Or, canst Thou lose Orion's Icy Bands  
(Who rules the Winter with his i'll Commands)?  
Canst Thou bring forth (the sultry Summer's Guide)  
Bright Mazaroth (or Dog-star) in his Tide?  
Or canst Thou lead Arcturus (& his Train,  
Th' Autumnal Signs) his Sons (or Charles his Wain)?  
knowst Thou the Statutes of the heavens above?  
Or canst Thou (here) them in their order move?  
Wilt Thou command the Clouds, & Rain shall fall?  
Will Lightning come, & answer, at thy call?  
Who hath infused Wisdom in th'inner part?  
Or Understanding who hath given the hart?  
Who can sum-up the Clouds, or clear the Sky?  
Or open heavens bottles, when the Earth is dry?  
To steep the Dust, & knead the clotted Clay,  
Yerst overbaked with too-hot a Ray?  
WIlt Thou go hunt, th'old Lioness to help; 
Cap. 3●   
Or fetching prey to fill her greedy whelp,  
When they are couchant in their Den, or watch  
For passant Herds, their wont Boot to catch?  
Who, for the Raven, provideth timely Food;  
When as her hungry greedy-gaping Brood,  
Wand'ring about, & wanting what to eat,  
●e (croaking) call, & cry to Me for meat.  
knowest Thou the time when mountain Goats & ●inds  
●e yean and calf (according to their Kind's)?  
Canst Thou keep reckoning of the Months they go,  
And how their Burdens to their Birth-time grow;  
When they but bow them, and forthwith let fall  
Their tender Fruit, and all their Pains withal.  
Who hath sent out the Wild Ass, free to feed;  
Or let him lose (from serving humane need)  
Whose house & haunt I have ordained express  
Within the brackie barren Wilderness.  
He scorns the City's multitude and noise:  
He reaks not of the yawning Drivers voice:  
The craggy Cliffs his shaggy Pastures been;  
Where, off he croppeth what he findeth green.  
Will th'Vnicoine thee willingly obey?  
Or, will he come unto thy Crib, for Hay?  
Will he be brought to harrow or to blow?  
Or, will he bring thy Corn unto thy Mow?  
Wilt Thou presume of Him, for strength in fight?  
Or leave, to him, thy Labour to acquit?  
Didst Thou bestow the Peacocks' goodly Fan?  
Or, gav'st Thou Feathers to the Stork (or Swan)▪  
Or, to the Ostrich her delicious Tress  
(Th'ambitious Badge as well of War as Peace)  
Who lays her eggs, & leaves them in the Dust,  
To hatch them there, with radiant Heat adust,  
Without her help, or heed; lest Tread or Track,  
Of Man or Beast them all to pieces crack:  
Vokindest Dam, the labour of her womb  
That dares annul; while Hers not Hers become:  
So void I made her of Intelligence,  
And kind instinct of Nature's Influence:  
Yet with her Wings & Feet so fast she skips,  
That She the Horse & Rider both outstrips.  
Hast Thou endued the Horse with strengthful wonder,  
And clothed his crest, & filled his breast with thunder?  
Canst Thou affright Him, as a Grass-hopper;  
Whose nostrils pride snorts Terrors every where?  
He paws the Plain, he stately stamps, & neighs,  
And glad goes-on against the armed Arrays,  
Dis●●ining Fear. For, for the Sword & Shield,  
Dart, Pike, & Lance, He'll not forsake the Field,  
Nor turn his back (however thick they shiver)  
Nor for the Cross-bow, & the rattling Quiver.  
He swallowes-up the Earth in furious heat;  
Nor will believe the Sound of the Retreat.  
Among the Trumpets, sounds his cheerful Laugh,  
Haha haha▪ he smelleth a far-off  
The wished Battle; hears the thundering Call  
Of proud Commanders; & loud Shouts of all.  
Is't by thy wisdom that the Hawk doth mew,  
And to the Southward spreads her winged Clew?  
Doth th'Eagle mount so high at thy Behest,  
And build aloft (so near the clouds) her Nest?  
She dwells upon the Rock & ragged Cliff,  
And craggy places the most steep & stiff:  
From whence, about to seek her prey she flies;  
Which, from afar, her quick keen Sight espies:  
Her young ones also, only Blood do suck:  
And where the Slain are, thither do they ruck.  

〈◊〉 40.  Moreover, yet, The LORD, proceeding, said  
To JOB: shall He that dares with GOD to plead,  
Teach Him His part? Let him (who GOD doth tax)  
Here let me hear the Answer that he makes.  
JOB sadly then Thus humbly did reply:  
O! LORD, behold; o! most-most Vile am I.  
What shall I answer Thee? What shall I say?  
Only, my hand upon my mouth I'll lay.  
Once have I spoke, & twice; & tootoo bold:  
But now, for ever I my Tongue will hold.  
Again, the LORD out of the Whirlwind spoke,  
And said to JOB: Yes, yes; thy Theme re-take:  
Gird up thy loins again, and play the Man:  
I'll question thee: now answer, if Thou can.  
Wilt Thou make void my judgements (just & high);  
Condemning Me, thyself to justify?  
Hast thou an Arm like to the Arm divine?  
Or is Thy Voice as Thunderlike as Mine?  
Puton thy Robes of Majesty and Might:  
●●ck Thee with Glory, and with Beauty bright,  
Dart forth the Lightnings of thy wrathful Frown;  
Against the Proud, and bring them tumbling down:  
Behold Thou all and every one that's Proud,  
And down with Them, and all the Wicked Crowd:  
Trample upon them, in their very Place:  
Hid them in Dust at once; there bind their Face:  
Then will I grant (what Thou hast urged so brave)  
That thine own Self thine own right hand can save.  
But, Now, behold (thy Fellow) BEHEMOTH,  
Thy fellow Creature; for, I made you Both.  
●e, like an Ox amid the Field doth graze:  
●'s Loins and Navel his most Srength he has:  
●e whisks his sinewy Tail, stiff as a Cedar;  
●is Stones (within) with Nerves are wreathd together.  
●is Bones and Ribs be strong as Brazen Bars,  
●nd as unyielding as the Iron-Spars:  
●ee's of the Masterpieces of the LORD,  
Who also armed him with a ready Sword.  
The Mountains yield him meat; where night & day,  
All other Beasts do fearless feed and play.  
Beneath the broad-leaved shady Trees he lodges  
Amid the Fens, among the Reeds and Sedges,  
Compassed with Willows of the Brook about;  
Where, when he enters (in the time of Drought)  
The massy bulk of his huge body bays  
The Torrents course, and even the Current stays:  
There, yer he go, the River dry he drinks;  
And in his Thirst to swallow jordan thinks.  
Dare any come, before him, Him to take,  
Or bore his Snout, of Him a Slave to make?  
CAnst Thou hale up the huge LEVIATHAN,  

〈◊〉 41  With hook and line amid the Ocean?  
Canst Thou his tongue with steely Crotchets thril▪  
Or with a Thorn his snuffing Nose, or Guilford?  
Will He come sue, by Supplications, to-thee?  
Will He with smooth & soothing Speeches woo-thee▪  
Will He by Covenant, serve thee, at thy beck?  
Or, be thy Slave, for ever at thy Check?  
Wilt Thou with Him, as with a Sparrow, play;  
And give him tied, unto thy Girls, away?  
Shall Fishermen of Him a Feast prepare?  
Shall They his flesh among the Merchant's share?  
Canst Thou his Skin with barbed pheons pierce?  
Or plant his Head with groves of Otter-speares?  
Lay hold on Him: set on him: but, before  
Think on the Battle, and come there no more.  
For, 'tis so fare from hope of Victory,  
That even His sight would rather make thee fly.  
There's None so fierce that dares Him rouse or hunt.  
[Then, Who shall safely Me myself affront?  
Who hath prevented Me? To Whom have I  
Been first beholding for a Courtesy,  
Or bound at all for any Benefit  
Bestowed on Me, that I should guerdon it?  
Why? is not All Earth's ample arms confine,  
All under Heaven, All in the Ocean, Mine?]  
I will not hide his Parts and Properties;  
Neither his Strength, nor seemly Symmetries.  
Who shall unhood him? Who with double Rain  
Shall bridle him, with Snaffle, Trench, or Chain?  
Or put the Bit between his jaws (his Portall)  
Impaled with Terror of his Teeth so mortally  
His Shield-like Scales, he chief glories in,  
So close compact, glued, sealed; that, between,  
No Air can enter, nor no Engine pierce,  
Nor any Point disjoin them or disperse.  
His Sneesing cause a Light, as brightly burning;  
His Eyes are like the Eyelids of the Morning;  
Out of his Mouth flow blazing Lamps, and fly  
Quick Sparks of Fire, ascending swift and high:  
Out of his Nostrils, Smoak, as from a Pot,  
Kettle or Cauldron when it boileth hot:  
His Breath doth kindle Coals, when with the same  
He whirleth-out a Storm of Fume and Flame:  
Strength dwelleth in his Neck; so that he joys  
In saddest Storms, and triumphs of Annoys▪  
His Flakes of Flesh are solid to his Bone;  
His Heart's as hard as Windmills neather-stone.  
To see Him rise, and how he breaks withal;  
The stoutest stoop, and to their Prayers fall.  
No Weapons of Defence, or of Offence,  
Can Him offend, or from Him be Defence:  
Iron and Brass He weighs as Sticks and Straw:  
Sling-stones and Arrows Him do never awe:  
Darts daunt him not, more than they Stubble were:  
He laugheth at the shaking of a Spear:  
Sharp ragged Stones, Keen-pointed Sherds & Shells,  
He resteth on, amid his muddy Cels.  
He makes the deep Sea like a Pot to boil,  
A Pot of Ointment (casting scummie Soil):  
Where He hath past, he leaves upon the streams  
A shining Path, and th'Ocean hoary seems.  
In Earth is Nothing like Him to be seen;  
So Fearless made, so full of haughty Spleen;  
Despising all High things, Himself beside.  
He is the King of all the Sons of Pride.  
JOB, prostrate then, Thus to the LORD professed: 
Cap ●   
Dread GOD, I know, and I acknowledge pressed,  
That All Thou canst; and All Thou kennest too:  
Our Thoughts not hid; Thine own not hard to do.  
● am the Man, Who (to myself too-Holy)  
Darkened thy Counsels, with Contentious Folly.  
●or, I have spoken what I understood not,  
Of wondrous things which comprehend I could not.  
Yet, LORD, vouchsafe, vouchsafe, I thee beseech,  
An Ear, and Answer to my humble Speech.  
Till now, mine Ear had only heard of Thee:  
But, now, mine Eye thy Gracious Self doth see.  
Therefore, Myself I loathe, as too-too-bad;  
And here repent in Dust and Ashes, sad.  
Now, after This with JOB; it came to pass,  
The LORD did also speak to Eliphaz  
The Thaemanite; and Thus to him said He:  
●y wrath is kindled with thy Friends and Thee:  
For None of You have spoken of My Path,  
So right and just as JOB my Servant hath.  
Therefore, go take you Rams and Bullocks fair,  
seven of a sort; and to my JOB repair;  
Bring for yourselves your Burnt Oblations due,  
And JOB my Servant He shall pray for you  
(For, Him will I accept) lest, justly-strict,  
After your Folly I revenge inflict;  
Because You have not spoken of my Path,  
So right and just as JOB my Servant hath,  
So Eliphaz, the ancient Thaemanite,  
Bildad the Shuhite, the Naamathite  
Zophar, (together) them prepared and went  
And did according GOD's Commandment.  
Also the LORD accepted JOB, and stayed  
His Thralfull State (when for his Friends he prayed)  
And turned it to Solace-full, from sad;  
And gave him double all the Goods he had.  
Then all his Brothers, Sisters all, and Kin;  
And all that had of his acquaintance been,  
Came flocking to his House, with him to feast;  
To wail his Woes, and comfort him their best,  
For all the Evil which the LORD (of late)  
Had brought upon his Person and his state.  
●d Each man gave him (as best bear they could)  
●eece of Money and Ear-ring of Gold.  
So, that the LORD blessed IOB'S later Time,  
●th more abundance than his flowery Prime.  
●r, Fourteen Thousand Sheep were now his flock;  
smells six Thousand; Steers a Thousand yoke;  
●e-Asses twice five Hundred; Family  
〈◊〉 as before: Seven Sons, and Daughters Three.  
Th'Eldest I●mima, Kezia the Next.  
●d K●ren Happuch (saith my sacred Text)  
●e Third he named (Names of goodly Sense,  
●uding to some Graceful Excellence:  
●e first, as much as Lustre of the Morn;  
●ia, the Next; last, Alabastrine Horn)  
●n all the Country were no Women found  
●air as These, JOB, of his Goods and Ground,  
●ong their Brethren gave them Heritage.  
●et, after This, JOB lived a goodly age,  
●ce Seaventy years, & saw his Sons Sons Sons,  
●cessiue●y, Four Generations:  
● then He died, Ancient and Full of Days.  
GOD, for Him, and all his Saints, be Praise,  
for His Succour in These sacred Lays.  
AMEN.   

EPITAPHIUM JOBI.  
Qui Se, qui Sêclum vicit; qui saeva Suorum  
Funera, Amicorum iurgia, Pauperiem;  
Vlcera qui carnis, qui Coniugis impia verba;  
Qui Coelum iratum, ment tulit placida:  
Inuictum virtute JOBUM, Patientia Virgo,  
Nunc vidua, hoc Sponsum condidit in Tumulo.   

Who, SELF, The World, & Satan, triumphto're;  
Who, Wealth's, & Healths, & Child's rueful Loss;  
Who, Friends Rebuke, Foes rage, Wife's cursing Cross;  
Heuns Frown, Earth's for● Hell's Fury, Calmly bore:  
Th' Invincible in Virtue, JOB, Her Fere,  
The Virgin Patience (Widow now) toombed Here.    

MEMORIALS of MORTALITY: Written ●n Tablets, or Quatrains, BY By PIER MATHIEV.  
The first Centurie.  
Translated, & Dedicated To the Right Honourable HENRY Earl of South-hampton.  
By josuah Sylvester.   

TO The Right Honourable, HENRY WRIOTHESLEY, Earl of South-hampton, etc.  
SHall it be said (I shame, it should be thought)  
When After-Ages shall record Thy Worth;  
My sacred Muse hath left SOVTH-HAMPTON forth  
Of Her Record; to Whom so Much she ought?  
●…th from Thy Town (where My Saravia taught)  
Her slender Pinions had their tender Birth;  
And all, the little all she hath of worth,  
Under heavens Blessing, only Thence she brought.  
●●r lack, therefore, of fit Argument;  
And loather Now, it longer to delay;  
Here while the Part of PHILIPS Page I play)  
I consecrate This little Monument  
Of grateful Homage, to Thy noble Bounty;  
And Thankful love to (My dear Nurse) Thy County.  
Humbly devoted josuah Sylvester.   

MEMORIALS of Mortality.  

1  
LEt whoso list, think Death a dreadful thing,  
And hold The Grave in horror & in hate:  
● think them, I, most worth the welcomming;  
Where, end our Woes; our joys initiate.   

2  
Man, Death abhors, repines, & murmurs at-her,  
●lind in that Law which made her, good, for Him:  
●oth Birth & Death the daughters are of Nature;  
●n Whom is nought imperfect, strange, or grim.   

3  
Death's ugliness is but imagined;  
●nder foul Vizard a fair Face She wears:  
●er Vizard off, there is no more to dr●●d;  
We laugh at Children whom a Vizard fears.   

4  
Death, in strange Postures daily is disguised,  
●ith Darts & Sythes in hand, Beers on her back:  
●s Angels are with wings & locks devised;  
●o, Her a Body of bare Bones they make.   

5  
Who fears this Death, is more than deadly sick;  
●midst of Life he seems even dead for dread;  
●ath in his breast he bears, as buried Quick:  
●r, fear of Death is worse than Death indeed.   

6  
Each fears this Death: & with an equal Dread,  
The Young as from a hideous Monster hie-them.  
Th' Old, at her sight shrink down into their Bed;  
All shun her aye, the more She draweth nigh-them.   

7  
What Good, or Bad, bodes Life or Death, to give;  
To be so fond of That, & This so flying?  
Thou wouldst not die, yet knowst not how to live;  
Not knowing, Life to be a living-dying.   

8  
One loves this Life, Another loathes it wholly:  
Some look for Ease, Promotion some, some Profit:  
To love it, for the Pleasures here, is Folly;  
Weakness, to hate it, for the Troubles ofit.   

9  
The Storm at Sea under a Calm is bred:  
Within Good-hap, Ill-hap hath life included;  
Begun in Tears, in Toils continued;  
And, without Dolour cannot be concluded.   

10  
Life, like a Taper, with the weakest Blasts  
Is waved, wasted, melted, puffed out:  
In some, sometimes, even to the Snuff it lasts;  
In others hardly to the half holds-out.   

11  
Fruit on the Trees first blooms, them buds, them grows,  
Then ripes, then rots: Such Our condition just;  
begotten, born, bred, live, die; so roundly goes  
Time's Wheel, to whirl our Bodies back to Dust.   

12  
This Life's a Tree, whose goodly Fruits are Men;  
●ne falls, Himself; Another's beaten down:  
●'s stripped at last of Leaves and Apples then,  
●y Time's same hand which had them first bestown.   

13  
This Life's a Table, where, in earnest-iest  
●oure Gamesters play: Time, eldest, vantage takes,  
●nd biddeth Pass: Love fond sets his Rest:  
Man needs will see it; but, Death sweeps the stakes.   

14  
This Life (indeed) is but a Comedy,  
Where This, the Kaiser plays, & That, the Clown;  
●ut, Death still ends it in a Tragedy,  
Without distinction of the Lord from Loon.   

15  
This Life's a War, civil, & foreign too;  
Within, without, Man hath his Enemies:  
To keep the Fort, Death doth the Town undo;  
To save the Soul, the Body She destroys.   

16  
The World's a Sea, the Galley is this Life,  
The Master, Time; the Pole, Hope promiseth;  
Fortune the Wind; the stormy Tempest, Strife;  
And Man the Rowe-slave, to the Port of Death.   

17  
The World (me thinks) is like our Parliaments,  
Where Right too oft is overborne by Wrong;  
Where Quirks & Quidits are of Consequence;  
Where lastly nought Death's Sentence can prolong.   

18  
The World is much of a fair Mistress mood,  
Which, wily, makes more Fools than Favourites;  
Hugs These, hates Those; yet will of all be wooed:  
But never keeps the Promise that she plights.   

19  
Life's smoothest gloss is like the Sphere of Glass  
Archimedes framed, and filled with Stars;  
As frail as fair: for, the least storm (alas!)  
That raps it, snaps it; and the Pleasure mars.   

20  
Th'honour thou thirstest (as one Dropsie-sick)  
Weening to quaff it, often stops thy wind:  
't' a swelling Bladder; which when Death shall prick,  
(Thou wilt confess) thou but a Puff didst find.   

21  
And that Ambition which affords thee Wings,  
● seek new Seas beyond Our Ocean's Arms,  
● Mounts of Gold and Pearl, & precious things;  
●l not preserve thy Carcase from the Worms.   

22  
That Pleasure too, which stops thy Reason's ears,  
●ots thy Soul, intoxicate thy Sense;  
●d sad Repentance still behind it bears;  
● moment joys, leans Sorrow's Monuments.   

23  
Pleasure which tires thee, but contents thee never,  
●y Body wearing more, than wearying:  
●e Danaides Sieve-like Tub, a-filling ever,  
● never full, for all their bucketing.   

24  
Beauty, which makes the proudest Kings to crouch,  
●ich serves the Soul as Letters in her favour;  
● see, delightful; Dangerous, to touch;  
●m Death's dread Fury, may not, cannot save her.   

25  
But, Beauty, Grace-less, is a Saile-less Bark,  
●reen-less Spring, a goodly light-less Room,  
●un-less Day, a Star-less Night and Dark;  
●d yet this Grace cannot escape the Toomb.   

26  
When body's Beauty with soul's Beauty dwells,  
there's a Perfection passing all the rest:  
Without This, Bewty seems a Blemish else:  
Without That, Virtue seems not seemly dressed.   

27  
That Beauty, which the Air, Age, Ague quails;  
Which busies so our Eyes, Tongues, hands & hearts;  
At fifteen, buds; at twenty, flowers; and fails,  
Or falls, at thirty, and to Dust reverts.   

28  
Gold, the World's God, the Sun of Plutoe's Sons;  
Whom Fire and Sword incessant serve so fell;  
Gold, virtue's Friend, and Vices Fort atonce,  
Serves oft for Bridge to pass in post to Hell.   

29  
Man's Knowledge here, is but mere Ignorance:  
We see the wisest foully stumble oft:  
Learning is puffed with Doubtful Arrogance:  
And Truth is lost while it is toomuch sought.   

30  
With Mysteries the Idiot meddles most;  
Peeps into Heaven, into King's Counsels pries:  
In Pulpit Phormio doth darrain an Host:  
Thersites prates of Arms and Policies.   

31  
Th' assyrians Empire is now seen no more:  
●e Medes and Persians did the Greeks entomb:  
●eat Allexander's Kingdom kinged Four:  
●hose Crowns, in fine, stooped to the State of Rome.   

32  
Where are Those Monarches, mighty Conquerors,  
●hose brows erewhile the whole World's Laurel dressed,  
When Sea & Land could show no Land but Theirs?  
●ow, of it All, only Seven Hills do rest.   

33  
Where are Those Cities (great & goodly States)  
●f Ninive, with thrice five hundred Towers?  
●eat Babylon? Thebes, with a hundred Gates?  
●rthage (Rome's Rival) Didoe's dearest Bowers?   

34  
All These huge Buildings, These proud Piles (alas!)  
Which seemed to threaten, Heaven itself to scale;  
●aue now given place to Forests, Groves, & Grass;  
●nd Time hath changed their Names & Place withal.   

35  
Nay, wilt thou see, how-far Great Kings are foiled?  
●e how sometime in Gold they swallow Poison:  
●e Ptolomeus Crossed, Boleslas boiled,  
●iazeth in a Cage, Richard in Prison.   

36  
See, see a Prince, near Cairo, flayed quick:  
See Sápores by his proud Victor trod:  
See Monk-like shav'n our Cloistered Chilperick:  
See Denis bear, for Sceptre, Pedant's Rod.   

37  
See Gordian there in his own Girdle hung:  
Se Phocas bones broken with furious Bats:  
See Dioméde to his own Horses fling:  
To Wolves Licáon, Popiel to Rats.   

36  
See, see proud Salmon sudden Thunder-slain:  
See Theódorick with horrid Terror thrilled:  
See Longuemare hanged in a golden Chain:  
See a fierce Courser dragging Brunechild.   

39  
See Attalus, having, for Court, a Forge:  
See Phalaris burnt in Perillus Bull:  
See Memprice left the greedy Wolves to gorge:  
Cambyses Sword sheathed in Himself too full.   

40  
Who but will fear amid the Frights of France;  
Seeing how Death Two Henry's reft of Life?  
The Sire, in Paris, with a splinterd Lance;  
The Son, before it, with a poisoned Knife.   

41  
That Queen, whose Court was in a Castle cooped,  
Prisoner, here; above, a Princess, hoped.)  
●ose royal Throne to a Tragic Scaffold stooped,  
● Head she felt with whiffing steel off-chopt.   

42  
That King, who could within his Kingdoms dread,  
〈◊〉 Sol still shine, when hence he vanisheth;  
●o, past Our Seas, another Empire had,  
〈◊〉 All he had, had but a lousy Death.   

43  
Who more his Garden of Salona prized  
●an ROME's great Empire & the World's Command,  
●ew well the Cares from Corwnes inseparized;  
●d Sceptres sad Weight in the strongest hand.   

44  
Towards our End insensibly we slip:  
●, speaking, sporting, laughing, snoring deep,  
●th still draws on-wards: as at Sea the Ship  
●es to her Hav'n-ward, though the Mastersleep.   

45  
Death Each-where kills: in hunting, Carloman;  
● Cave, Caligul●; Aristobulus,  
Bath; by th'Altar, Philip; julian,  
Camp; in Council, conquering JULIUS.   

46  
Death seeks th' Aemathian; & from Nero flies:  
One in a Shallow drowns, who Seas did scape:  
An Emperor in eating Mushrooms dies:  
A Holy-Father in a Harlot's lap.   

47  
No hand but serves Death's turn: Edric by's Mother;  
Alboin by's Wife; Aristo by his Friends;  
By's own Son, Bajazeth; Conrade, by's Brother;  
Mustapha, by his Sire; Self, Cato ends.   

48  
Death diversely makes him familiar here:  
Henry the Black, a bit of Bread could fine;  
A King of Goth's died, in a Tub of Beer;  
Thalis, of Thirst; of Hunger Antonine.   

49  
Death, everywhere, in every thing distils  
Her fell Despite; Fire, Air, Earth, Ocean:  
Drusus, a Pear; a Fig Terpander kills;  
A Fly (in drinking) choketh Adrian.   

50  
As soon, a Sovereign, as a Shepherd's gone:  
Men dying here have but one equal Quality:  
By Birth and Death is Their Condition one;  
Their Stay, and State, between, make th'Inequality.   

51  
There's no Death Sudden to the godly- Wise:  
His heart goes out to meet all haps before:  
When he embarks, he casts Wracks jeopardies;  
And when Wind serves nor, He will row no more.   

52  
Not knowing then, When, Where, thy Death will snatch;  
●t Sea, or Land; young, old; Morn, Noon, or Night:  
Look for it ever, everywhere keep watch.  
●or, what we look-for, little can affright.   

53  
If Infants oft, no sooner breathe then die;  
● Goodmen little-last, and Wicked long:  
●e not too-curious in that Secrets Why?  
●h' are strokes of that hand which struck never wrong.   

54  
Why Good men go, and Why th'Vngodly stay,  
dispute it not; GOD hath permitted so.  
Those die, to live: These live, to die for aye:  
These, live at case; Those in a World of Wo.   

55  
If from thy Days thou but thy Nights subtract;  
●hy Sleeps, thy Care's, thy Mawe's, thy Muse's waste,  
What thy Wife weareth, What thy Friends exact,  
●hy Griefs, thy Suits: How short a Life thou hast!   

56  
The Headache, Toothache, Gout, or Fever rise,  
Or Ulcer in the Leg, Stone, in the Reins,  
By lingering Drops strains out the tedious Life;  
Yet art thou loath that Death should rid thy Pains.   

57  
Thy Term expired, Thou put'st-off Payment yet,  
And weenst to win much by some Month's delay.  
Sith pay thou must, were't not as good be quit?  
For, Death will be no gentler any Day.   

58  
Th'affairs of Parting post not to to-Morn.  
For, on Delay, Repentance waits with Woe:  
The Wind and Tide will in a Moment turn:  
All hours are good for Those resolved to go.   

59  
Grudging to die in flower of thine age,  
Thou grievest to be toosoon discharged from Prison  
repinest, toosoon to have done thy Pilgrimage,  
Loath to havein thy Harvest in due Season.   

60  
Make of thy Deeds, not of thy Days, account:  
Think not how far, but think how fair thou passest:  
See to what Sum thy Virtues will amount;  
For, Life and Gold are chose by weight; the massi'st.   

61  
Life's valued by th'effect, not by the age;  
The labour, not the lasting, praise it most:  
Long hath he lived that liveth to be sage;  
●ood life (too-often) in long life is lost.   

62  
Long Acts commend not most a Comedy,  
'tis still esteemed as the Parts are played:  
●o, in our Lives, not Years considered be;  
●ut, worthy Actions by the Wise are weighed.   

63  
Who grieves because he lived not here, yet born,  
Hundred years; is double worthy laughter:  
●t, treble He who at his Death doth mourn;  
●re not to live a hundred years hereafter.   

64  
Man's not more Happy for long-living here,  
●mber of Days do not more Blisses bring:  
●ore Compass makes not a more complete Sphere.  
●round's a little, as a larger Ring.   

65  
And, if that Death wait on thee, & protract;  
●h Usury, she'll make thee pay it double:  
●y joys in Dream, thy Dolours still in act,  
〈◊〉 make long Life a long Repenting Trouble.   

66  
If He that here thee in his Vineyard hired,  
Pay thee at Noon thy Wages, full as much  
As Those that there all the whole Day have tired;  
Why murmur'st thou? why dost thou grieve & grudge?   

67  
He casts his Work well, well his Workmen ken;  
Thy Slackness, Slowness, Weakness to hold out:  
Therefore, your weary, he thy Way-fare ends;  
Lest, staying longer, thou mar all, 'tis doubt.   

68  
He gives our Task, & he again will take it;  
Who Him, unwilling; Him, unworthy serves:  
Before he call, 'tis folly to forsake it;  
And whoso leaves it, to be left deserves.   

69  
Or first, or last, on All this Stamp is set;  
Early or late, into This Port must We:  
Who gave the Charge, ordained the Retreat;  
One selfsame Law did Life & Death decree.   

70  
The more the Body dures, Soul more endures;  
Never toosoon can She from thence exile:  
Pure, in she came; there living, She impures;  
And suffers there a thousand Woes the while.   

71  
The Soul is forced within the Flesh to dwell;  
●n danger there she life's, & sleeps in fear:  
To hatch her Bird, she needs must break her Shell,  
●nd think It never can toosoon appear.   

72  
Soul blames the Body, Body blames the Soul;  
●t, Death surprising, ends their Quarrel pressed:  
●own goes the Body, in the Dust to roll;  
●he faithful Soul, up to th'eternal Rest.   

73  
Death frees the Soul from Bodies wilful Errors;  
●om the Souls Vices, She the Body saves:  
●he soul's Annoys, are to the Body Terrors;  
●e Bodies Torments, to the Soul are Graves.   

74  
This Body is not Man: His Stuff's more fine;  
●s Beauty, with Heaven's Beauty hath Affinity:  
●e Body dead, That ever-lives, divine;  
〈◊〉 even a Beam from the supreme Divinity.   

75  
If then the Soul, so long Heer languishing  
●hin the Body, do not gladly part;  
〈◊〉 hath forgotten her own Source or Spring,  
●d that She must, from whence she came, revart.   

76  
But, more than Death, Death's Pain appalleth thee;  
That's but a Stream which swiftly vanisheth:  
there's, as no Pain, in that Extremity:  
For, th'Body, down, doth nothing feel in death.   

77  
Then quit those Fears that in thy Fancy stick:  
For, violent Evils have no permanence:  
If that Death's Pain be keen, 'tis also quick;  
And by the Quickness takes away the Sense.   

78  
To leave thy Babes behind, thy hart it gripes;  
In Whose Thou shalt revive, from lap to lap:  
Happy who hath them; for they are our Types:  
And oft Who hath None, 's happy by mishap.   

79  
To leave thy Wife thou wail'st, well worth excusing  
't' a necessary Ill, Good strangerlike;  
Which, clearest Eyes (Selfwise) too-oft mischusing,  
In little Flesh find many Bones to pick.   

80  
thou'rt loath to leave the Court's Delights, Devices,  
Where None life's long vnbraued, or unabhorred:  
Where Treason's Prudence; where the Virtues Vices●  
Where some no Eyes, & where some have no Forehead.   

81  
The Mariner, that runs from Rock to Rock,  
from Wrack to Wrack, dwelling in dangers rife,  
Waue's Bal, Wind's Thrall, & Tempest's Shuttlecock,  
Would not exchange His for the Courtier's Life.   

82  
The Court beguiles thee, as black-Angel-Bands,  
●n giving Leaves for Fruits to Circe's Sisters:  
Their brightest Torches are but funeral Brands:  
●nd, in the Court, All is not Gold that glisters.   

83  
Thou wouldst in Death revenge thy wronged Worth,  
●ake known thy Love, have shown thy brave Ambition,  
●hy framest thou not thy Death unto thy Birth,  
Which brought thee naked forth, & void of Passion?   

84  
Fain wouldst thou see thy Learning's fruit (perhaps)  
●●…pe, yet Thou rot; that's but a vain Desire:  
●●rt nowadays may starve, while Ignorance  
●●th Shades for Summer; & for Winter, Fire.   

85  
All day thou trudgest through thick & thin,  
●●r that dull Bulk which doth thee daily brave:  
●●inice wreaths Ropes, which aye his Ass windes-in:  
●●e Soul that serves the Body, is a Slave.   

86  
As many steps in Death as Life we tread:  
Esteem, for Deaths, all Days since thou hadst breath:  
To comes not Thine; Present, is instant fled:  
And Time, in time, is overcome by Death.   

87  
When Man's embarked on th' Universal Deck,  
He neither can swiften his Course, nor slack it:  
Tide, Wind, and Wether, are not at his Beck;  
And, To put back, hath many often wracked.   

88  
Some, sometimes grieve for one that gladly dies:  
Socrates joys, sith wrong he suffereth:  
Xantippa melts in Tears; He laughs, She cries:  
Diversely judging of these Darts of Death.   

89  
To run unto this Death, is Desperate rage:  
Wise Patience only waits it everywhere:  
Who scorns it, shows a Resolution sage;  
For, Cowards fly it, & the Idiot's fear.   

90  
When the last Sand of our last Glass goes out,  
Without recoiling, we must step our last:  
As, without grudge or noise, dislodge the Stout;  
And when they must go, stay not to be chased.   

91  
The Pilgrim longs to have his journey done;  
The Mariner would fain be off the Seas:  
The Workman joys to end his Work begun;  
●nd yet Man mourns to finish his Disease.   

92  
For a short time Thy Sun is overcast:  
●ut, Thou shalt once re-seeed more bright than ever:  
●nd, that same Day, which here thou thinkest thy last,  
● a Newbirth Day, to be ended never.   

93  
What Wrong doth Death, I prithee Worldling say,  
●hen, losing (under hope of happier matches)  
●utting thy Life, he takes thy Card away;  
●nd when, to save thy Life, thy Light he snatches?   

94  
Fearest thou, Aint-heart, that narrow Plank to pass  
●hich GOD Himself hath gone; which all Men must?  
●at, like a Child, held by the sleeve (alas!)  
●th Eye still glancing on the brim thou go'st?   

95  
Beyond it, thou shalt see those pleasant Plains,  
●ose boundless Beauty all Discourse transcendeth:  
●ere Kings & Subject's souls, have fellow Reigns,  
yblessed Thrones, whose Glory never endeth.   

96  
What shalt thou see more, for more living Heer?  
This Heaven, this Sun, thou oft before hast seen:  
And shouldst thou live another Plato's Year.  
This World would be the same that it hath been.   

97  
Death's end of Ills, and only Sanctuary  
Of him that cannot scape the Grudge, the Gall  
Of a severe judge and proud Adversary:  
It is a Point which Heaven appoints to All.   

98  
At that Divorce sigh Bodies, Souls do solace;  
Th'Exile exulteth at his Home-Retreat:  
This body's but the Inn, 'tis not the Palace:  
Th'immortal Soul, hath an immortal Seat.   

99  
Death's as the Dawning of that happy Day,  
Where without Setting shines the eternal Sun,  
Wherein who walk, can never never stray:  
Nor Fear they Night who to the Day-ward run.   

100  
There's Rest eternal for thy Labours rife:  
There's for thy Bondage bound-less Liberty:  
There when Death endeth, she gins thy Life.  
And where's no more Time, there's Eternity.   
FINIS.   

MEMORIALS of MORTALITY: Written ●n Tablets, or Quatrains, BY PIER MATHIEV.  
The second Centurie.  
Translated, & Dedicated To the Right Honourable, ROBERT, Earl of Essex.  
By josuah Sylvester.   

TO The Right Honourable, ROBERT DEUREUX, Earl of Essex & Ewe, etc.  
Your double Title to My single heart,  
Both by your Purchase, and your Parents Right;  
Claims both a better and a greater Part  
Of grateful Service, than This slender Mite.  
●●t, sith (to profit, more than please) I writ  
More Sighs than Songs (less used to Smiles than Smart)  
Disdain not These Restrainers of Delight;  
Though bitter, fit, than the Soothing Art,  
〈◊〉 keep the Mind and Body both in Health;  
To cool the Fits of Lust, Ambition, Pride  
(Surfaits of Ease, Youth, Liberty, and Wealth)  
●●d cure All Sickness of the Soul, beside.  
Whence, Ever free; and full of Every Good  
From GOD and Men, be ESSEX Noble Bud.  
Ex Animo exoptat josuah Sylvester.   

MEMORIALS of Mortality.  

1  
THat height of Kings, Crowns Ho nor, Worthies Wonder,  
Is now but wind, dust, shade. He whose Approach  
●…pall'd the Proudest: Whom; All trembled under;  
●…ursed base hand butchered in his Coach.   

2  
All Triumph, yesterday; today, all Terror:  
●…y; the fair Morning overcast yet Even:  
●…y; one short Hour saw, live and dead, Wars Mirror,  
●…uing Death's speed-stroak undiscerued given.   

3  
●n all This World, All's fickle; nought is Firm:  
●…s a Sea sanz, Safety, Calm, or Port:  
●●…es, Cities, Empires have but here their Term:  
●●at ever's born must under Death resort.   

4  
Time flits as Wind, and as a Torrent swifteth:  
passes quick, and Nought can stop it flying:  
●ho knows what Ills it every Moment drifteth,  
●…ms, that To leave to live, is To leave dying.   

5  
●an in the Womb knows nothing of his State:  
●…wile of Nature) for, there, had he Reason,  
●hould foreknow this World's too-wretched Fate;  
〈◊〉 rather would intom be him in that Prison.   

6  
Our Birth gins our Beer; our Death, our Brea●  
On that Condition Heer aboard we come:  
To be's as not to be: Birth is but Death:  
there's but a Sigh from Table to the Tomb.   

7  
Life's but a Flash, a Fume, a Froth, a Fable,  
A Puff, a Picture in the Water seeming;  
A waking Dream, Dreams Shadow, Shadows Ta●  
Troubling the Brain with idle Vapours steaming.   

8  
Life, to the life, The Chessboard lineats;  
Where Pawns and Kings have equal Portion:  
This leaps, that limps, this checks, that neks, that ma●  
Their Names are divers; but, their Wood is one.   

9  
Death, Exile, Sorrow, Fear, Distraction, Strife,  
And all those Evils, seen before suspected;  
Are not the Pains, but Tributes of this Life;  
Whence, Kings no more than Carters are protecte●   

10  
No: Sacraments have been no Sanctuary  
From Death; Nor Altars, for King's offering-up:  
Th'Hell- hallowed Host poisons Imperial Harrie:  
Pope Victor dies drinking th' immortal Cup.   

11  
Thou ow'st thy Soul to Heaven; to pay that Debt  
●ot compelled; Christians are willing Payers:  
〈◊〉 yet, thy Soul as a good Guest entreat;  
●om no good Host will tumble down the Stairs.   

12  
●is better fall, then still to fear a Fall:  
better die, then to be still dying:  
〈◊〉 End of Pain ends the Complaint withal:  
〈◊〉 nothing grieves that comes but once, & flying.   

13  
This Life's a Web, woven fine for some, some gross;  
●e Hemp, some Flax, some longer, shorter some:  
●d and Ill Haps are but the Threads across:  
〈◊〉 first or last, Death cuts it from the Loom.   

14  
These Names, which make some blubber, some so brave  
●mes sprung from Injury, or from Ambition)  
●eath are equal: Earl, and Sir, and Slave,  
●er his Empire, are in one Condition.   

15  
●or Friends Deceased, cease not Repast nor Sleep;  
〈◊〉 Sorrow suits not th' Intellectual part:  
〈◊〉 wails man's Death, that He was man doth weep:  
〈◊〉 that He promised, coming, to departed.   

16  
The Young and old go not as equal pased:  
Th' one ambles swift, the other gallopeth:  
'tis good to die, yet we our Life distaste.  
A valiant Man should dare to feel his Death.   

17  
Happy who leave the World when first they come●  
Th' Air, at the best, is here contagious thick:  
Happy that Child, who issuing from the Womb  
Of's Spanish Mother, there returned quick.   

18  
The body's Torments are but Twigs to beat  
And brush the Dust from Virtue's plights about;  
And make the Passions of the Soul more neat:  
As th'air is purest when the Winds roar-out.   

19  
Grieving that Death shuts not thine Eyes at hom●  
And where the heavens vouchfafed them first to ope●  
Thou fearest the Earth too-little for thy Tomb,  
And Heaven too-narrow for thy Corpses Cope.   

20  
heavens have no less Order, then at their Birth,  
Nor Influence: Sun, Moon, and Stars, as bright;  
All hold their own; Fire, Water, Air, & Earth:  
Man, Man alone's fallen from his pristine Plight.   

21  
Worldling, thou sayest, 'Tis yet not time to mend;  
But, GOD hates Sinners that in Sin delight:  
To grossest Sinners doth he Mercy send;  
But, not to Sinners sinning in despite.   

22  
Who, Morn & Even, doth of Himself demand  
accounted of All that he hath done, said, thought;  
●hall find him much eased, when he comes to stand  
To that Account where All shall once be brought.   

23  
For bitter Checks that make thy Cheeks to flame,  
●nd to thy Teeth tell Truths, thou hast no Action:  
●o do the Evil, sith thou hadst no shame,  
●e not ashamed to suffer thy Correction.   

24  
Perhaps, this Child, shall Rich, or Poor, become:  
perhaps a Wretch, perhaps a Liberal:  
perhaps a Wiseman, & perhaps a Mome:  
●t, past perhaps, assured, die he shall.   

25  
When Wine runs low, it is not worth the sparing;  
●he worst & least doth to the Bottom dive:  
●ong not thy leisure (years vouchsafe) in daring:  
●t sometimes look into thy Grave, alive.   

26  
Sinner, thy GOD is not inexorable;  
No Rhadamant, Returning hearts to hate:  
There is no Sin, in Heaven unpardonable;  
Nor no Repentance, in this Life, too late.   

27  
The Eye that fixlie the Sunbeams beholds,  
Is sudden dazed: so, in GOD's judgements high,  
men's clearest judgements are as blind as Moulds:  
None, none but Aegle, can the Lightning eye.   

28  
O wrecked Virtue! wretched is Thy state;  
For, Fortune hath the Fruit, Thou scarce the Flower▪  
Thou art a Stranger at thy proper Gate,  
Thy Friends thence banished, & thy Foes in Bower.   

29  
Man, Knowledge still, to the last gasp, affecteth;  
In learning, Socrates life's, grays, and dies.  
Free from Death's Process Knowledge none protecteth●  
But, to learn Well to die, is to be Wise.   

30  
To live, is to begin One-Work, and end it,  
Life hath, with All, not same Repute, Report;  
't' an Exile, to the Sot; Sage, journey weened it:  
Wherein He walks, not as the Common-sort.   

31  
For having a good Prince, Peers just & wise,  
obedient People, Peace concluded fast,  
State's not sure: Storms after Calms arise;  
●d fairest Days have foulest overcast.   

32  
Man, though thou be from Heaven originary,  
●esume not yet to Peer thee with thy God:  
●e's Sovereign King; Thou but his Tributary.  
●e's every where; Thou but in one poor Clod.   

33  
Of Elephants, the biggest leads the Band;  
●e strongest Bull over the Herd doth reign:  
●, Him behoves who will Mankind command,  
●t ablest Body, but the aptest Brain.   

34  
King's Majesty seems as eclipsed much,  
●ess great Servants in great Troops attend:  
〈◊〉 sure an Honour to be served by Such;  
〈◊〉 on Their Faith 'tis fearful to depend.   

35  
To build a Palace, rarest Stones are sought:  
〈◊〉 build a Ship, best Timber is selected:  
〈◊〉 to instruct young Princes (as they ought)  
●ght all the Virtues to be there collected.   

36  
Art's nowadays a Desert desolate:  
Kings gracious Rays are there no more discerned:  
Philosophers wait at the Wealthies Gate,  
And rarely Rich men do regard the Learned.   

37  
Th'hand bindeth not except the heart with-go:  
What comes not thence, nor Thank nor Thought 〈◊〉 ser●  
He giveth All that doth Himself bestow;  
He Nothing gives who but his heart reserves.   

38  
That curious Thirst of Travail to and fro,  
Yields not the Fruit it promised men in mind:  
Changing their Air, their Humours change not th●  
But, many Lodgings, & few Friends they find.   

39  
In vain the Soul hath Reason's Attribute,  
Which unto Reason cannot Sense submit:  
For, Man (alas!) is bruiter than a Brute,  
Unless that Reason bridle Appetit.   

40  
Self-swelling Knowledge, Wits own Ouerbearer,  
Proves Ignorance, & finds it Nothing knows:  
It flies the Truth to follow Lies and Error:  
And, when most right it weens, most wry it goes.   

41  
The Vicious trembles, always in Alarms;  
●h'Eye of the Virtuous keeps him as at Bay:  
●hen All the World feared Rome's All-reaching Arms,  
●he virtuous Cato did all ROME dismay.   

42  
Vice blinds the Soul, & Understanding clogs,  
●kes good of ill, takes foul for fairest look,  
●a, Dirt for Dainties: so live loathsome Frogs,  
●ther in Puddles than in purest Brook.   

43  
●n Greatest Houses Vice hath battered,  
●ose Honours though no less have shined bright:  
●at are the Graceless to the Good? Not dead,  
● living Branches, in the Tree have Right.   

44  
●f Men might freely take Essay of Court;  
●ne, having tasted, would return so near:  
●e happiest there meets many a Spite in Sport,  
〈◊〉 knows too-well he buys his Weal too-deer.   

45  
To love None; All to doubt; to fain, to flatter;  
●form new Faces, & transform true hearts;  
〈◊〉 offer Service, & flie-off in Matter;  
Coutiers Lessons, and their Ground of Arts.   

46  
Set not thy Rest on Court, Sea's barren sand;  
There grows no Goodness; good, there, evil grows  
Rests Temple yerst did forth the City stand:  
No scent's so sweet, as is the Country Rose.   

47  
Who weens in Court to thrive, will find him weak  
Without two Aiders; Impudence, Immunity:  
For, first behoves him his own Brows to break,  
Yer Others heads he break with Importunity.   

48  
Who is not sorry for Time's loss, in stay  
For Kings slow Favours, seems to have no sense:  
The loss of Goods a Prince may well repay,  
But loss of Time Kings cannot recompense.   

49  
Is't not the Top of Folly's Top, to note  
An Old Sir Tame-asse gallanting in Court,  
To play the Younker, & Swan-white to dote  
On Venus' Dovelings, in despite of Sport?   

50  
A mean Man hardly escapes the Mighties Clawed  
he's as a Mouse play'ng by a sleeping Cat;  
Who lets it run, then locks it in her Paws:  
And all her sports boad but the Death of That.   

51  
World's Vanity is rife in every place,  
Alas! that good Wits should be'witched so!)  
●askt in the Church, in Court with open Face.  
●or, there's the place herperfectly to know.   

52  
By evil Manners is good Nature marred;  
●one falls at once, all Virtue to defy.  
●ee, in the Soul is a strange Plant transferred:  
●nd wert not dressed, it would quickly die.   

53  
With By-Respects Impiety we cover:  
●rth more than Heaven is prized among us Now:  
GOD'S great Name we scarce our heads uncover;  
When Kings are named, every knee doth bow.   

54  
Disorder Order breeds: good Laws have sprung  
●om Euill-lives: Would All keep justice line,  
Westminster there would be soon less Throng,  
●ss Work, less Wrack, less Words for Mine & Thine.   

55  
Law-Tricks now strip the People to their shirt:  
●ift is their Shield, Gold in their only God:  
●asps break the Web, Flies are held fast & hurt:  
●he Guilty quit, the Guiltless undertrod.   

56  
there's now no trust: Brother betrays his Brother:  
Faith's but a fancy, but by Fools esteemed:  
Friend's false to Friend; & All deceive each-other;  
Th'ivy pulls down the Wall by which it climbed.   

57  
Treasons be Trifles: Man's a Wolf to Man:  
Crimes be but Crumbs; Vice is for Virtue vaunted;  
Sodoms and Cypris Sins we suffer can:  
And Impious tricks in all their Tracks are haunted.   

58  
In perfectest Men some Imperfection's sound,  
Somewhat amiss among their good is seen:  
Gold, & pure Gold we dig not from the ground,  
There's Dust & Dross, & grosser stuff between.   

59  
Merit, of old did Friendship feed & fix;  
Where nowadays 'tis founded all on Profit,  
With deep Dissembling & Deceitfull-tricks,  
And evermore the Poor is frustrate of it.   

60  
Th'Earth cannot fill thy hearts unequal Angles;  
Thy Hearts a Triangle, the Earth's a Round:  
A Triangle is filled but with Triangles:  
And th'infinite the finite cannot bond.   

61  
'Ts a Death to die far from ones Native City:  
●et Death's not milder there, then else-about:  
●eath without ROME, did not Rutilius pity;  
Neither, within ROME, Him that ne'er went out.   

62  
When Man is come to th'old last Cast of Age,  
When Nature can no longer lend nor borrow;  
●e thinks not yet to pack, and leave the Stage;  
●ut still, still hopes to live until tomorrow.   

63  
Fain, wouldst thou she love's wanton Luxury?  
●ut-off Occasions: speak far-off; fly Fitness:  
●hun Solitude: live still in Company:  
They fall alone that would not fall with Witness.   

64  
Muse not, to see the Wicked prosper fair:  
●he Sun his Shine even unto Thiefs doth give:  
When of their Patient's Leeches do despair,  
They give them over as they list to live.   

65  
Slander is worse than Hell's burning Torture,  
The Force more fierce, the Heat more vehement:  
●ell, after Death, doth but the Guilty martyr;  
●ander, alive, torments the Innocent.   

66  
Affliction razes, and then raises hearts:  
As, under Weight, victorious Palms are wont:  
As, under Seals the Wax doth swell (in part);  
Under the Cross the Soul to Heaven doth mount.   

67  
Envy, in vain pure Virtue's Anuil bites,  
Breaking her Teeth: as on a Stone the Cur,  
That barks of Custom, rather than Despite,  
At every poor and harmless Passenger.   

68  
Enuies a Torture which doth Men molest;  
Even from their Birth; yer they ought else can do:  
Behold Two Infants nursed at one Breast;  
They cannot brook their Teat for meat to Two.   

69  
This is the Odds 'twixt Honest men & Knaves;  
Th'one tells his Neighbour, All mine own is mine,  
And all Thine too: The other (void of Braves)  
Saith, Thine's not Mine; but, what I have is Thine.   

70  
What Envy likes not, that she makes a Fault:  
joseph, with Ishmael, for his Dream, was bartered:  
Abel's pure Offering to his End him brought:  
And for the Truth the Innocent are martyred.   

71  
Flat-Cap, for whom, hoord'st thou thy heaped Treasures?  
Thy Bodies Sweat, thy Soul's dear Price (poor Sot!)?  
●ir Prodige-all (thine Heir) in Protean Pleasures,  
Will waste, in one Day, All thine Age hath got.   

72  
True Liberality would be entire:  
Yet not atonce, at all times, and to all.  
One may mis-give, to give your one require:  
Yet Gifts un-asked sweetest Gifts I call.   

73  
Content with Fruits from thine own Labour grown,  
A forehand still, a set Revenue save:  
●or, He's a Fool in more respects than one,  
That spends his Store, or more, before he have.   

74  
There is no Goodness in a grovelling heart,  
●ent on the World, bound to this Rock below:  
Were not the Moon so near this Nether part,  
●he would not, could not, be Eclipsed so.   

75  
Goods are great Ills to those that cannot use them:  
Misers mis-keep, and Prodigals mis-spend-them:  
Hellhounds, to hasten toward Hell, abuse-them:  
As Wings, to Heav'n-ward, heav'n-bent-Soules extend them.   

76  
Presumptuous Spirits spring not from right Nobility:  
Courage, that comes from Pride, proves never true:  
Pride ruins hearts, whose Raiser is Humility:  
The humble Shepherd the proud Giant slew.   

77  
Pride glitters oft under an humble Weed:  
Oft lovely Names are given to loathed Effects;  
Men soothe them in the Cause, to ' excuse th'ill Deed:  
And blame Light, rather than their Sight's Defect.   

78  
A Prudent man is, for himself, sought-forth:  
He's more admired than what the World most vaunts:  
Praises are due unto ones proper Worth:  
Not purest Gold adds Price to Diamonds.   

79  
Th' Humble, doth Others prize; himself depress:  
Save against Pride he never bends his Brows:  
The more his Virtue mounts-him, counts-him less:  
God th' humble Sinner, not proud Just, allows.   

80  
O! Hypocrite, which hast but virtue's Veil,  
Seem what thou art, and what thou seemest be:  
To hide thy Filth, all thy Fig-leaues will fail:  
Thou canst not hide thee from thy God, nor Thee.   

81  
Mock- Saints, whose Soul-weal on your Works you lay,  
With eyes & hands to Heaven, while heart's elsewhere:  
For shame you durst not to the least man say,  
What you (profane) dare whisper in God's ear.   

82  
Gold's fined in fire: Souls in Affliction, better:  
●oths gnaw the Garment locked in the Chest:  
●till water stinks, unwholesome, black, and bitter:  
sword's rust in Sheaths, and so do Souls in Rest.   

83  
Opening thy Soul to God, close Mouth from Men:  
●or let thy Thoughts roam from thy due Intent;  
GOD sees the hearts, his judgement soundeth them,  
●nd Them confounds whose Words & Deeds descent   

84  
Gamesters may well All to tomorrow post,  
●o see, or to be seen, th'haue never leisure:  
With adverse Winds their Minds are ever tossed;  
●osse bringing Grief, more than the Gain brings Pleasure.   

85  
To shun Affairs, behoves exceeding heed:  
●roubles unsentfor, and unlookt-for, haste;  
onset, unsowen, too-early grows the Weed:  
We meet toosoon the Care we hoped passed.   

86  
All Idleness, dis-natures Wit, dis-nerues-it;  
A moderate Travel makes it quick, addressed:  
Sloth quells and kills it; Exercise preserues-it:  
But, He's not Free that hath no time to rest.   

87  
Who seeketh Rest in troublous Managings,  
Thinks to find Calm amid Tempestuous Seas:  
The World & Rest are Two, two adverse things:  
Thick streams recleer when Storms & stir cease   

88  
Fortune in Court, is fickle, apt to vary:  
Favours sort seldom to the Suitors mind:  
They many times even in the Port miscarry:  
The hotter Sun, the blacker shade they find.   

89  
Gifts, Honours, Office, Greatness, Grace of Kings,  
Are but the Ushers of Adversity:  
For their last mischief, have the Emmets wings:  
And height of Health betokens Sickness me.   

90  
Youth hath more Lures, more Traps, more Trai● to I●  
Then Fouler Sins, or Baits the Fisherman:  
Age would, but cannot what it would, fulfil:  
Senex, thou leav'st not Sin: Sin leaves Thee, than.   

91  
Th'Eye tends to Beauty, as the Centre ofit:  
●er the Eyes, Heart and Affections draw:  
●s hard to keep safe what so-many covet:  
〈◊〉, men's Desires Kings cannot keep in Awe.   

92  
Good or Ill-hap that here happens thee,  
●mes from Opinion (which All-ruling seems).  
●nion makes us Other than we be:  
●s not unhappy, who him happy deems.   

93  
from contrary Effects is form Sadness:  
●h Smoke & Smiles have made the Eyes to water.  
●o sow in Tears, shall one day reap in Gladness;  
●o sow in joys, shall reap Annoys hereafter.   

94  
●s leave out I, and No, in Conversation:  
●rds now trans-posed, and wax-nosed, Both,  
ROME'S New Doctrine of Equivocation,  
●ich gives a Lie the Credit of an Oath.   

95  
●riends, nowadays, wake at the noise of Gain.  
●ees to Flowers, as Crows to Carrion haste,  
Flies to Flesh, as Birds and Aunts to Grain;  
Friends to Profit thickly flock and fast.   

96  
Who reaves thine Honour, scoffs, if he presume  
T' have done thee favour, that thy life he left:  
Why should the Bird live, having lost her Plume?  
The rest is nothing when the honour's reft.   

97  
Little sufficeth Life, in th'un-delicious;  
The Sun for need may sometimes dress our Victu●  
I blame, alike, the Cynik and Apicius;  
This, for his tootoomuch; That's, too-too-little   

98  
Too-oft is made too-ill Interpretation  
Of Word & Deeds best meant & built by Reason▪  
All's evil to the Evil, by Self-flation:  
Whence Bees their Honey, Spiders suck their Poise   

99  
Happy the People where just-gentle Princess:  
Whose Sword is justice, and whose Shield is Love..  
For These Augustus Deified long-since-is:  
And without These, King's Sceptres maimed pro●   

100  
Good-hap, Good-heart, Favour, and Labours  
Bring Men to Riches and to Honours here;  
But that's the Way about: To be born Great,  
Is great Advantage; Not to buy so dear.   
FINIS.   

HENRY THE GREAT, (The Fourth of that Name) LATE King of FRANCE & NAVARRE: HIS Trophies and Tragedy.  
Written By PIER MATHIEV.  
Translated, & Dedicated 〈◊〉 the Right Honourable, WILLIAM Earl of Salisbury.  
By josuah Sylvester.   

To the Right Honourable WILLIAM CECIL, Earl of Salisbury.  
●Esides the Bonds which did most Vows engage  
To your dear Elders; and besides the Due  
Which to yourself might justly thence accrue;  
apparent Virtues of Your April-age,  
●…leng'd of right This Poems Patronage:  
●he rather, sith we first received from you,  
●he speedy Notice (no less quick than true)  
HENRY'S Death, through Hell's dischained Rage.  
saw this Sun, at his High-Noone-shine Set  
sudden Cloud of his own Royal Blood.  
Horrid Hap! Who ever can forget  
〈◊〉 Fate, such Hate; of one so Great, so Good:  
〈◊〉 Just Revenge, root out th' Ignatian Pack,  
●●e Moules that moved in Faux and Ravaillac.  
IOS. SYL.   

THE trophies of the Virtues and Fortune of HENRY the Great.  
●●nce first Apollo lent the World his light,  
And Earth empregned with his heatfull might,  
●pe hath seen no Potentate, no Prince,  
Parallel Great HENR●●S excellence.  
Term, no Time, his fresh Renown shall shed:  
●er was King more dear, never more dread.  
●oenix of Kings, wonder of Christendom,  
●ng all past, and without Peer to come;  
Courage only matched His Clemency;  
should his Tomb to These Two equal be,  
Spain & France, could not contain the same,  
●ch have so often seen his feats of Fame.  
●s Life's a lamp to Princes, and a line;  
trophy reared by Miracle divine:  
●eater to all the Virtues built;  
●odly Garden with such plenty filled  
●oisest fruits & flowers, that choosing, there  
●●ndance troubles more than Want elsewhere.  
The year that EDWARD in Great Britain died:  
That France (beyond the mountains) Spain defied:  
That Therwin walls were thundered to the ground:  
That a fair flower our Royal Hymen Crowned:  
I'th' winter Solstice (when the year is worn)  
Within Pau Castle This young MARS was born,  
Born for the World's Good, as his Entrance  
Presaged him then the HERCULES of France;  
To readvance her Lilies long decayed:  
For as (by chance) barehead, abroad he played,  
At four years old, a Snake he finds & kills;  
At forty, foils the Hydra of our Ills.  
Nor was He bred in soft delicious wise  
(Which forms young Spirits into the form of Vice  
His Grandsire used him to all Wethers Ire,  
His Sauce was Labour, Exercise his Fire,  
His noble Heart did never ought inflame,  
Save Heaven's desire, & th'Honour of the same.  
Scarce fourteen times had he beheld the birth  
Of th'happy Planet (which praesaged his Worth)  
Predominant in his Natitiall;  
When he became an Army's General,  
Whose hottest flame, without Him was but fume;  
Nor, but by Him, durst any good presume.  
He purchased Peace, the which eftsoons was stained  
●●th His Friend's blood, & his young soul constrained  
〈◊〉 fain some Change of His Religion:  
●inseine Castle He was seized upon,  
●●d to the Court confined; where, discontent,  
〈◊〉 Spirit droops, out of His Element.  
Escaped thence: with restless toil, He tends  
〈◊〉 save the Side of his Afflicted Fiends;  
〈◊〉 peace again he bringeth all in ure:  
●●d Mounsieurs death doth well his Hopes assure  
〈…〉 th' after Crown, who but between him stood;  
〈◊〉 now was He the first Prince of the Blood.  
Then from afar he doth new Storms descry,  
〈◊〉 threat his fortune, and his force to try:  
〈◊〉 meets the danger with undaunted front,  
〈◊〉 in four years bears ten brave Armies brunt,  
〈◊〉 with the might of a great Monarch graced;  
Thereof, at Contras he defeats the last.  
●t last, the King to extreme straits reduced,  
〈◊〉 doubt of all, and daring none to trust,  
●●lores This Prince, who rescues him from Tours,  
●●h just Revenge; & had, your many hours,  
〈◊〉 humbled Paris to her Prince's yoke,  
〈◊〉 for Saint Clement's Paricidiall stroke.  
After which stroke (which all true Frenchmen hate)  
France sadly falls in a most wretched state:  
Who hath least Reason, hath most Insolence;  
Who hath most Power, hath least Obedience.  
Nor Awe, nor Law; Disorder everywhere:  
Good, without hope, and Wicked without fear.  
Rebellion spaunes as fast as (in the Spring)  
Fruit-fretting vermin; it doth Discord bring  
In Families, dearth in Towns, death in Field:  
O! happy you who never deigned to yield  
Unto that Hag; but, Loyal to the Crown,  
Have left your Heirs, Heirs of a true renown.  
Who counts the Cares that on a Crown do wait,  
As well may number Autumns fruitful freight,  
And Flora's too. Yet this great spirit of man,  
Mid th'ebbs and floods of This vast Ocean,  
Seems a tall Ship, which maugre Winds & Waves,  
In wished Haven her & her Burden saves.  
he's never idle, nor his Exercise  
Other than stands with princely offices:  
MARS, & DIANA, & CUPID wait on Him:  
Maugre his Loss, he always gains by Time.  
Unto Affairs his cares are open aye,  
Nor waits he lazying on his bed for day.  
Shafts, Tigers, Torrents; no nor Lightning flies  
pray swift about, than This bold Eagle plies  
●mid all perils) to preserve his State,  
●th Heed & Speed, from Rebel's Pride & Hate.  
Battles first, last in Retreats: in brief,  
Action, Soldier; in Direction, Chief.  
●iepe saw his Fortunes on a desperate Die:  
●e League presumed he needs must yield, or fly:  
●, as a Brook the more we stop his Course,  
●aks down his Bay, and runs with swifter force,  
● foils his Foes at Arques, and shows them plain,  
●t Heavens just hand doth his dear Right sustain.  
'tis, buzzed in Paris, and believed in part,  
●t he is taken; or constrained to start  
●m deep to Dover, to seek England's Aid;  
●, while Him coming Prisoner-wise, they said,  
● the Bastile; He came and over-came  
●ir Suburbs soon, to their Suborners shame.  
conquest attends Him, whether he encamps,  
●marches on: again he takes Estampes:  
●ux, Eureux, Man's, Meulan, Vandosme, Perch,  
Honfleur, foremost in His Trophy march;  
●rnest-pence of His recovered State,  
Crown of France, which well admits no Mate.  
Tiber and Iber then together flow  
(Too strong in wrong) his Right to overthrow.  
There proudeth Power, Heer Prowess brighter shines  
And daily shows us by a thousand Signs,  
How great Advantage a true Birthright brings  
(Against Usurpers) unto lawful Kings.  
In JURY Fields, he seems a Blazing Star;  
Seen in the Front of all his Host, afar:  
Majestic Fury in his Martial Face,  
The bravest Troops, doth in an instant Chase:  
And boldest Rebels, which the rest had led,  
Came Charging one way, and by forty Fled.  
Melun surrenders, to his Warlike Lot,  
Chartres is chastizd with his thundering Shot,  
Lowiers lies humbled at his Conquering Foot,  
Noyon lamenteth her Three Succours rout,  
Espernay yields her wholly to his hest,  
Dreux twice besieged, opens as the rest.  
The League that late so violently burned;  
To a Cold Fever now her Frenzy turned;  
And trusting still in Strange Physycians aid,  
Neglects her Cure till all her strength decayed:  
In dread of all, In doubt her own will quail;  
As a weak Ship afraid of every Sail.  
That (late) ACHILLES of the Spanish-Dutch,  
●rnezean Parma that achieved so much  
Anwerp's Siege, by matchless Stratagem;  
●d weaned the World had had no Peer to Him:  
●d here the heart, twice, to refuse to Fight;  
●d twice departed and bod none Good-Night.  
Fortune, for Him, no longer used her Wheel;  
●t, kind and constant, follows at his heel:  
●'s Happy every where, and over all  
●ring Palms and Laurels: only near Aumale  
murderous Bullet put him to some pain,  
●t hindered not His Rescue of his Train.  
Who weens to vanquish Him, makes Him invict;  
●de to the Meek, to Proudlings stern and strict:  
〈◊〉 love's the Laurels without blood be-sprent,  
Cruel Conquest He doth even lament.  
〈◊〉 Thunder batters but Rebellious Walls:  
●d who least fear him, on them first he falls.  
France, Self to slay, and her own Throat to Cut,  
●ms her own hands; & (in strange rage) doth put  
●e Knife to whet, in Spain's ambitious paws;  
●in that would Spoil her Crowns primordial Laws,  
I would a Sceptre with a Distaff blind:  
● all in vain: The Lilies cannot Spin.  
Re-romanized, so (say They) Heaven conjures;  
His Errors at Saint Denis he abjures:  
This Change, in Court yet changed not one nor other;  
For, though his Subjects have not all one Mother,  
He holds them all his Sons, They him their Sire;  
And Christians all, all to one Heaven aspire.  
Wiihin the Temple of The Mother-Maid,  
That bore her Son, her Sire, her God, her Aid,  
With Heav'n-sent Oil He is anointed King,  
Don's th' Order-Collar; and by every thing,  
To prove, in Him, Saint Lewis Faith and Zeal,  
The Sick he touches, and his Touch doth heal.  
By law of Arms, a City ta'en by Force,  
Should feel the Victor's rage, with small remorse;  
Paris so taken, is not treated so:  
Though well his justice might have razed low  
Those rebel Walls which bred and fed These Wars;  
To save the guilt-less, He the guilty spares.  
There, There's the Hope and Safety of His Side;  
If There he fail, then farewell all beside:  
The Spaniard therefore Thither speedy sends,  
A great strong Convoy to confirm His Friends.  
Which soon defeated, There began the End  
Of Civil Wars, and all to Union tend.  
Th'honour of saving and restoring France,  
●s not alone due to His Valiance?  
His Clemency hath part; which lets him in  
To stronger Holds, than all his Arms could win:  
That, satisfied with Tears, makes from all parts,  
Repentant Rebels yield him up their Hearts.  
Lions, the Porter of one Part of France,  
Roven, that sees none like strong in Ordinance,  
orleans, which England did undaunted prove,  
Marsëillis, jealous of old Neptune's love,  
●ix, Bourges, Sens, Meaux, Poitiers, Troy, Thoulouse,  
And Reins; of These, each to his Bounty bows.  
This gracious Prince excused the simpler sort,  
Whom (Malice-lesse,) blind Passions did transport,  
Against the Laws, with fury of the Time,  
Who self-affraid to fail in fouler Crime,  
●educ't by others sly seditious Lore,  
●ollow'd (like Sheep) their Fellows strayed before.  
This heavenly humane Clemency of His,  
Yet cannot shield Him from some Treacheries;  
One wounds him in the Mouth and breaks withal  
One of his Teeth, (O Act unnatural!)  
〈◊〉 had not God in part put-by the blow,  
●uen then in Paris had he perished so.  
But, having quenched the Civil Fires in France,  
'Gainst his ill Neighbours now his Arms advance;  
In Piedmont-Fields his Lilly-flowers he plants,  
Pills Bourgognie, and all Artois He daunts,  
And makes the great Castilian MARS to fly,  
With Fear within; without, with Infamy.  
Then, those great Warriors that had disobeyed  
(Whom not their Courage but their Cause betrayed  
Which came with shame and sorrow (as was meet)  
To cast their swords at his victorious Feet,  
Fearing his Rigour; He receives them (rather)  
With Kinglike grace, and kindness like a Father.  
Heaven daily works, for Him, some special Mira●  
His Faith's an Altar, and his Word an Oracle:  
His greatest foes have never found him fail.  
And should Sincerity, in all men quail,  
Exiled from the World (as Moor from Spain)  
In This King's soul she had been found again.  
Spain by a train of many Wyles well laid,  
Surpriseth Amiens, France is all afraid:  
The Spaniard, hence prouder than ever, swells,  
Undaunted HENRY Thence him soon repels,  
Regains his City, and constrains His foes,  
To beg their Peace, or to abide his blows.  
The Storms that long disturbed the state are vailed,  
●h' ill Vapours now are from all hearts exhaled,  
●●d France is now all French even all about:  
●nly the Breton stiffly yet stood out.  
●t, those white Ermines at the last must need,  
●f th' only Sent of the fair Lilies feed  
Old PHILIP longs to see the Waters calm,  
●nds all designs vain to supplant This Palm;  
●h the more shaken, it more fast doth grow:  
●e seeketh Peace, the Pope solicits so,  
●ruins doth treat it, Brussels swears it done,  
●nd PHILIP pleased departs the World anon.  
France yet retains one sensible Offence,  
●r which she vows Revenge or Recompense:  
among the Alps her thundering Canons roar,  
●oud-browd Montmeilan flaunts & vaunts the more  
● stop her fury, but in fine is fain  
● rue her rashness and repent in vain.  
God hastens his own Work: This Monarch marries  
●yons Church, the choice, the Chief of Maries;  
●e Heaven's delight, our Lilies ornament:  
●e, in one heart two lovely Souls hath blended:  
●ence Peace is more confirmed, and Discord, dashed.  
●●, by This knot many great Plots are quashed.  
At Fountainbleau (a Paradise for site)  
She brought him forth his Dolphin, his delight,  
Whose tender youth gives happy hopes of Worth;  
One Daughter also did she there bring forth,  
And two Sons more (Supporters of the Crown):  
Two daughters more, Paris for birth doth own.  
His Clemency hath conquered Rebels rage,  
Made of disloyal loyal Vassalage;  
Yea forced Wills by Pardons and by Grace,  
The proof whereof is writ in every place;  
Through all the Towns of France both great & s●  
Where, for Revenge, Reward was deigned to all.  
Once, only once, his Mercy admirable,  
Was deaf to Byron and inexorable;  
Sith when he might, his haut despite would none  
I wonder not to see that Myrmidon,  
In the Bastile, a shameful death to bear:  
But This I wonder, that he would come there.  
Of factious spirits, of close deep hearts and do●  
(Whose Life is strife, whose Rest is best in trouble)  
He knows the drifts, & known dissolves the sam●  
As fast as fire melts Lead within the flame.  
His voice alone, as Dust cast up aloft,  
Breaks Hornets buzzing and their swarming, of●  
Discord disturbing holy Churches rest,  
●ixt Rome and Venice did debates suggest:  
●●bition set in foot, fore-sweld with hope,  
● bridle both the Senate and the Pope;  
●h pressed to fight: His Prudence reconciled  
●●eir Difference, and did their minds remiled.  
●e relished now the harmless Sweets of Peace,  
●illing his People should partake no less;  
● yet somewhere he feels a Thorn to prick:  
● pluck it out he arms and marches quick,  
● to the Frontier: There attains his will,  
odome (so) fitly takes her Season still.  
●ou Nations, that for forty years have seen  
●LONA'S Tempests, & felt MARS his Teen;  
● for your Liberties have pawned your Lives:  
●ely now you joy your Wealth, your Wives:  
●w your Trades into the East you bring,  
●er Heaven's Kingdom) only thank This King.  
●heapt with Honours, This brave King is loath  
●his brave Knights, effeminized by Sloth,  
Games & Dames, during so long a Peace,  
●d still lie still in City's pomp and ease:  
●efore he rears an Army strongly dight,  
●lich's Claim, his wronged friends to right.  
A noble Prince, whose Prowess & Prudence, late  
Buda admired, and Rome hath wondredat  
(The Honour of His Time) was General;  
So stored with Gold, with Guns, with Arms, with all,  
That neighbour Princes all were in alarm:  
Yet Them This Thunder brought more fear than harm,  
Fearless it marches; &, respectless, threats  
Whatever Log its ready Passage lets;  
Gesture and voice already skirmishing,  
And under Conduct of so brave a King,  
Great-britaines', Germans, Swissers, Belgians,  
Serve all the Greatness of the Crown of France.  
Elsewhere, the while, The Duke that rules the Alphonso  
Seemed t'have his heart no more beyond the Calpes;  
Brave noble heart, Saxonically-French.  
Fuentez, afraid, with shoulder-shrinking wrench,  
Doubts lest that Milan stoop to France again;  
And CHARLES provoked prove the Scourge of Sp●  
Heavens now, to Crown his Trophies, had set down  
That at Saint Denis he his Queen should Crown  
With royal Diadem; and in one Day  
The State, the Majesty of France display.  
Nothing but Great; but great Magnificence;  
But, MARY'S Grace excelled all Excellence.  
HEnce, hence false Pleasures, momentary joys;  
Mock us no more with your illuding Toys:  
strange Mishap, hatched in Hell below,  
●th plunged us all in deepest Gulf of Woe,  
●ught us, that all Worlds-hopes as Dreams do fly,  
●d made us all, Cry All is Vanity.  
●our hours from Noon, forth from the Lowre road  
●is mighty Prince (without his Guard) abroad,  
〈◊〉 see His Arsenal: To his Caroche,  
● straight Lane, a Hellhound durst approach;  
● with a Knife, twice stabbing, killed him quite,  
●ning that fairest Day to foulest Night.  
twice did the Monster stab: for else, the first  
● not been mortal; but, the Knife, accursed,  
●illing his Lungs, cut at the second stroke  
●artereal vein, whose bloud-floud soon did choke  
●peerless Prince; His dying Eyes & Hart  
●oring Heaven, soon did his Soul departed.  
●ell Tiger, tell us, tell us Why, or Whence,  
●u durst (accursed) assault so Great a Prince?  
●rein had He to Thee or Thine done wrong?  
● once (your this) Thou didst too near him throng,  
Guard rebuked thee; but, He Them, for That:  
●'d That Thy Malice, & His Murderous fate?  
Fates ruthless Law allots his royal breast  
To die the death that CAESAR thought the best;  
Death without sense of death, a death so quick,  
It seldom leaves King's leisure to be sick;  
Nor gives Him leave of his sixth Decades date  
To fill the Roll; but seven six Months did bate.  
He, He that was the Hope, the Prop of His,  
He that restored France to what it is,  
He that confined the Power of Princes still,  
He that Commanded Victory, at will,  
That was the World's delight, King's glory sheen,  
He, He receives Death's treacherous stroke unseen.  
Th'unhappy street where This fell Hap felout,  
Where woeful Paris saw her Light put out,  
Where cursed Iron pierced her Prince's hart,  
In shall no more be cleped The Iron-mart:  
It shall be called The cursed Corner, still;  
The Hag-street, or The Hell-street: which you will.  
Lord! where wert Thou! When That disloyal wre●●●…  
With cruel hand did Thine Anointed reach;  
Quenching the Rays of Royal Majesty?  
No heart is hid from thine All-piercing Eye,  
It sees the Centre, knows the thoughts, yet thought  
Can it see This, and suffer it be wrought?  
Hell oft before, out of his black Abyss,  
●d spewed up Monsters to have acted This:  
●t, still thy hand from former wounds did ward.  
●d had he not still trusted to Thy Guard,  
〈◊〉 Own had waited Round about his Coach,  
●d This fell Tiger never should approach.  
These Words, these rasher Words escaped my tongue;  
●en I beheld That Monarch laid along  
●d on his Bed; so dead, so butchered;  
●med Heavens, & Whispering soft, I said,  
●use They stopped not This strange Hap before,  
●ir slumbering eyes now watch the World no more.  
●t, are mine eyes mine own? Is This That Prince  
●ch might have made all Europe His, long since,  
●he not thought th'Empire of France enough;  
〈◊〉 Lion-heart, that Courage Cannon-proof,  
●ich did so oft Impossibles achieve?  
●is He: yet scarce my sight believe.  
This That Mighty King, God's lively Image,  
●hom the greatest in the World did Homage?  
●ce a Dove, in War an Eagle quick,  
●TOR in Court, in Camp ACHILLES-like;  
〈◊〉 with a hundred horse, a thousand foiled:  
from most Dangers never yet recoiled.  
Great Rome was strangely mazed and all a-mort,  
When She beheld her CAESAR'S bloody shirt:  
And say, Great City, how wert Thou dismayed,  
When first thou saw'st Thine HENRY sadly laid  
Along his Coach, & covered with a Cloak?  
" I thought the Prop of all my Fortunes broke.  
Those that have seen in Towns surprised (whil● y●  
When to the Churches All have fled for fear,  
May well imagine Paris deep Affright.  
Nothing but shivering: Nobles armed bright,  
Clergy at Prayers, People weep and howl:  
And HENRY's wound hath wounded every Soul●  
Paris in Honour of her peerless Queen,  
Had plotted Shows (more pompous never seen)  
As, rich to th'outward, rare to th'inward sense;  
But, all those Arches (Marks of Magnificence),  
Those Trophies, Terms, Statues, Colossuses, All,  
Make but more Mourners at the Funeral.  
I yield My Pencil: help APELLES, here,  
To Limn (to life) Her dying-living Cheer:  
Belief is hardly in Man's heart impressed,  
Her Grief more hard to be by Art expressed.  
Therefore o Queen! Great Stay, Great Star of 〈◊〉  
This Veil I draw before Thy Countenance.  
Heaven steeled Thy Hart with Fortitude That Day,  
●●y Courage kept the Kingdom from Decay;  
●nd to the Throne Thy Son our Sovereign heft:  
●●ough angry Fates of Father him bereft,  
●t Merciful, they left him such a Mother,  
●●at France could hardly have been ruled by other.  
The sudden Clap of This dread Thunder sounds,  
●om Alexander's to Alcides Bounds:  
●he Kings and Princes stand amazed all,  
●th horror of an Act so Tragical.  
●me, Rest forsake: others, Repast forbear,  
●d Each like Fortune to himself doth fear.  
So suddenly to see Day turned to Night,  
●●●umphant Palms, into Funeral Plight,  
●●e Royal Crown to a deep Mourning Vale,  
●iuing King, to a dead Corpse & pale,  
●●r Flowers to Thorns; seem Tricks of Sorcery,  
●erein, Conceit consents not with our Eye.  
Yes, He is dead: and his eyelids no more  
● view this Light shall open (as before);  
●●ose lovely Eyes, the Load-starrs of the Court,  
●●ose gracious glances, on the Worthy sort,  
●e Virtue vigour; and Whose awful frown  
● dared Vice; are now Eclipsed and down.  
Where are those ready Battaile-ranging Hands?  
Those lightning Eyes whose wrath no wall withstand  
That Voice so dreadful to the stoutest hearts?  
That Heart which wrought so many wondrous pa●  
That piercing Wit, dispersing Clouds of Doubt?  
Where is that mighty King, so Famed about?  
Inexorable Death! inhuman, cruel,  
Thou shalt no more reave us so rare a jewel;  
Nature hath broke the Mould she made Him in.  
In all thy Triumph (trailing every Kin)  
Shall never march His Match, nor worthier Prince,  
T'have been exempted from thine Insolence.  
Ah! poor, weak Virtue, zealous Love of Thee,  
Prolongs not Life, protracts not Death (I see):  
This Prince that gave Thee even his Hart for Temple  
This Prince whose Reign shall serve for rare Exempt  
To future Kings, in future Things dismayed,  
Should have come sooner, or have later stayed.  
His Piety, was neither Fond, nor Feigned;  
His Prowess, neither Fear, nor Rashness stained;  
His Prudence cleared his Counsels, steered his State  
His Temperance his Wrath did temperate;  
His justice with his Clemency did Yoke:  
Yet could not All free Him from Fatal stroke.  
Invincible in all: only, the Darts,  
Which have not spared the Gods immortal hearts,  
●aue often battered His: but, by your leaves,  
● fairest Beauties! (Beauty itself deceives)  
●ou never were the Soverains of his breast:  
●e You (perhaps) You never Him possessed.  
●●u Arms-Art, what He knew not, none can know't,  
●either attempt what He attempted not,  
●eason was aye the Aim of His designs,  
●is brave Exploits (worthy immortal lines)  
● all furnish Theme to Thousand learned Clarks,  
●hose Works shall Honour Him, He more their Warks  
His Royal Gests are everywhere extolled,  
●rauen, Carved, Cast, in Marble, Wood, & Gold;  
●s Life alone's an History admired,  
●herein all Pens, all pencils shall be tired,  
● pourtraying all His valiant Fears to-forn,  
●hose Tables ever shall all Courts adorn.  
His Bounty's Temple had a hard Access,  
●ot known to any but to Worthiness:  
●at Gate (indeed) did seldom open quick.  
●s Liberality, (coy Bewty-like)  
●u'd to be wooed, pressed, and importuned still;  
●a, forced to give, what glad and fain she will.  
Yet, by th'effects to weigh his Clemency,  
Me thinks His Heart must more than humane be,  
Methinks therein some higher Power did shine,  
It surely seemed celestial and divine,  
And but I saw him dying, pale and wan,  
I could have scarce believed This Prince a Man.  
He ever loved rather to save then spill,  
Not cementing his Throne with Blood, with Ill;  
Nor weened, by Fear his Diadem assured;  
With mildness rather, grieved minds he cured:  
His Memory did never wrongs retain;  
Beloved Kings, He thought, securest reign.  
Praise you his Bounty, you that, past the Poles,  
Bear Heaven's Embassage to Belief-less Souls:  
HENRY restored your Country, and your Credit,  
He gave you leave over all France to spread it;  
Restored you Bizance, and each pleasant part,  
Left you his Court, bequeathed to you his Heart.  
If France now flourish, pruning, round about,  
Olives within, and Laurels all without,  
If now, She give the Law to other States,  
If Peace and Plenty reign within her Gates,  
If now She fear no Civil Storms again,  
These are the fruits of This Great HENRY's Reign  
If now Her Schools with learned men abound,  
Her rare wits be through the World renowned,  
● doubts of Faith be cleared and explored,  
● Learning be to her due Place restored,  
● now Desert the Charge in Church attain,  
●hese are the Fruits of This Great HENRY's Reign.  
If now her Buildings pass for beauty fare  
●he World's old Wonders (which so famous are)  
● Paris Thou be peerless to behold,  
●or State, for Store, for People, Goods, & Gold,  
● in thy City, Cities sprout again,  
●hese are the Fruits of This Great HENRY's Reign.  
If the French Sceptre be now Self-entire,  
●ear-less of Foreign or Domestic fire:  
● France have Fellows of ACHILLES Fame;  
●f now in France be nothing out of frame,  
●f now the Indies her Bastile contain;  
These are the Fruits of this Great HENRY's Reign.  
If now we joy to see our Country free  
●rom Thiefs and Rebels (which exiled be):  
●f justice now do keep the lewd in awe,  
●f Desperate Duels be now curbed by Law,  
●f now the Weak weigh not the Strongs' disdain,  
These are the Fruits of This Great HENRY's Reign.  
If Merchants rich, If Magistrates be sound,  
If Officers like Emperors abound,  
If Pursy Lawyers live Princelike at home,  
If now Inventions to their height be come,  
If now good wits find where them to sustain,  
These are the fruits of This Great HENRY's Reign.  
Who loved not Him, never beheld his brows,  
Who knew his Fortunes, must admire his Prowess,  
Who feared him not, His greatness did offend,  
Who weaned Him to beguile, his Wisdom kend:  
Who durst displease Him, knew his mercy's store;  
Who durst not speak, his mildness did ignore.  
Who waileth not his Death, knew not his Life,  
Glory of His and Others Envy rife,  
Incomparable, Admirable Prince,  
Excelling all th'old HEROES Excellence.  
For, His true Story shall their Fables shame:  
Inimitable Life, Illimitable Fame.  
O Frenchmen, stop not yet your weeping flood:  
This Prince for you hath lavished oft his blood.  
O! be not niggards of your Tears expense,  
(Veil here, my Verse, do ANNE a reverence;  
Rare ANNE that shames the rarest wits of Ours,  
Her divine Stances furnish thee these Flowers).  
The Heavens may give us all Prosperities,  
● slain our State, remove our miseries;  
● cannot dry up our Tears bitter stream:  
● extreme Evils remedies extreme.  
astore our King, quick shall our joys recover:  
●, never look our Sorrows should give-over.  
Eech-where our Grief finds matter to augment it,  
● Names remembrance doth each-where present it,  
● famous Gests do busy every Sort,  
●me tell his Wars, others his Works report.  
●hers his Favours past, glad-sad deplore;  
●en, not to mourn, is not to mind Him more.  
Ah! must we live, and see so sudden dead  
●e Life that late our Lives inspirited?  
●ke sail my Soul, let's put-into the Port,  
●ile HENRY lived 'twas good to live (in sort):  
● let us after: sith he's reft of breath,  
● fire of Life is now fare worse than Death.  
●orrow, with us doth both lie-downe and rise,  
●nkles our Brows, withers our Cheeks & Eyes:  
●e shun whatever might our Griefs allay,  
●e wish the Night, w' are weary of the Day,  
aht brings sad Silence with her horrid Shade,  
● even her Colour seems for Mourning made.  
Extremest Woes yet are with Time o'erpast,  
Rivers of Tears are dryed-up at last:  
But never Ours; Ours, ever fresh shall flow:  
We defy Comforts, We'll admit no more,  
Nor seek them, but as Alchemy profound  
Seeks that which is not, or which is not found.  
Who, from the Ocean, Motion can recall,  
Heat from Fire, Void from Air, Order from All,  
From Lines their Points, from IRIS all her Dyes,  
Perils from Seas, from Number's Unities,  
Shadows from Bodies, Angles from the Square,  
May free our Hearts from Grief, our Minds from Ca●  
He must be heartless that is smartles found:  
The Soul that is not wounded with This wound,  
Most brutish, hath no humane Reason in't:  
There is no breast of Steel, no heart of Flint,  
But must bemoan so great a King, so slain.  
Who would not wail a Galleyslave so ta'en?  
Let us no more name Henryes', Kings of France  
Death with two Knives, & with one shivered Lance,  
Hath killed Three HENRY's: one at jousts (in jest);  
Th'other in's Closet; in's Caroche, the best:  
So, Three King RICHARDS, & Five Other, cry  
Some fatal Secret in some Names doth lie.  
What worse Disaster can you have behind,  
● threaten France? O Destinies unkind!  
●at greater Mischief can your Malice bring?  
● good a Father rest, so great a King?  
●at will you more? sith we no more can hope  
● any Good that with This Ill may cope.  
This noble Spirit doth to his Spring re-mount,  
●is Bounty's Flood retireth to his Fount,  
●s Atomie to's Unity unites,  
●s Star returns to the first Light of Lights,  
●s Ray reverts where first it light did take,  
● mortal wounds, This Prince immortal make.  
farewell sole Honour of all earthly Kings,  
●-well rare Prince for All-kinde Managings,  
●●-well Great HENRY, heavens & Nature's Gem,  
●e-well bright Star of Kings, Glories great Beam,  
●e-well sole Mortal that I keep in mind:  
●-well false Hope, Fortune, & Court unkind.  
●eer, lest Oblivion should usurp her room,  
●ME writes in Gold, These Lines upon thy Toomb.  
●is Prince, un-peerd for Clemency and Courage,  
●y Surnamed, the Great, the Good, the Wise,  
aror of Future, Miracle of Fore-Age;  
●hort Mishap forever Happifies,  
FINIS.   

St. LEWIS; the KING: OR A Lamp of Grace, lighting THE GREAT (in the right way) To GLORY.  
Translated, & Dedicated (As a New-yeeres-Gift) TO The High-Hopefull Prince, CHARLES, Heir Apparent of Great-Britan's Kingdoms, & The Hopes of Christendom.  
By JOSVAH SYLVESTER. 1615.   

TO My Gracious Lord, THE PRINCE.  
NOT that your Highness needs My mean Direction  
(Having, within, a Princely spirit for Guide;  
Without, your Parent; round about (beside)  
Precepts & Patterns of divine Perfection)  
●esume I Thus to bring (in dim Reflection)  
This foreign LAMP (admired far & wide):  
But, as An humble Gift This New-Years-Tide,  
To intimate my Faith, and my Affection.  
●r gracious hand Thus binds my grateful heart  
To Offer Heavn my Vows, & You my Verse,  
For that Deliverance You have deigned, in part,  
●ny poor Hopes, wracked in your Brother's Hearse.  
You have begun; Vouchsafe me, Sacred Powers,  
You may go-on, & make Me wholly Yours  
In Effect, as In Affection To your Highness service humbly devoted, josuah Sylvester.   

A HYMN of St. LEWIS (The ninth of that Name) King of France.  
OF all the KINGS, admired over All,  
Whose Prudence, swayed This Crown Imperial,  
●●ose Prowess, most our Lilies Bounds enlarged,  
●ose justice, best their Charge in Peace discharged;  
●om most the Rays of glorious Greatness crowned,  
●o brightest shined, Who was the most Renowned,  
●●t magnified, for Manly Conquering  
●hin the World the World: was th' Holy King  
〈◊〉 whose chaste loins, from out whose loyal Blood  
Heröick Stems of Royal BOURBONS' bud;  
●ous St. LEWIS; Good KING'S Precedent,  
〈◊〉, for his CHRIST, & for His Cross, him spent:  
〈◊〉, by his Valour so renowned his Name,  
〈◊〉 all the Earth hath trembled at the same:  
Who, to free, from captive Fury fell,  
Fields where yerst Our Captain conquered Hell,  
●rageous Zeal setting his Soul on fire)  
●●med FRANCE against the Asian's ire.  
When I his Virtues read, & Acts so great,  
Which Him, so high among the Saints have set;  
And here below, so lasting glory wan,  
I judge them scarce Works of a merely Man;  
But, of an Angel in Man's shape bedight,  
To show the World the Way of Virtue right.  
Amazed, to see, among so many Sins  
As (fatally) the Court breeds & begins,  
Among so many Pleasures, whose sweet Baits  
Entrap the wariest with their wily Sleights;  
A KING to curb him so, in Power supreme,  
To watch himself so, with such care extreme,  
As not to taste Delight (of any kind)  
Which Reason bars a brave and noble Mind:  
But so upright in VERTVES' tract to tread,  
That even in Earth a Heavenly Life he led.  
For, never was there more accomplished KING,  
Whose royal hart had more replenishing  
Of Princely Virtues, fit for Powerful hand,  
Or to be wished in Minds of High Command.  
Nay; would the Heavns, their Treasures all producing  
All Gifts of Body & of Mind conducing,  
Mould for Mankind a Prince or Potentate,  
Worthy to govern th'universal State;  
●●ey could not give the World (& We, much less,  
●h) One more worthy; with more due Address,  
●take into his Royal hand the Helm,  
●ormfull Times so apt to over-whelm.  
● much the Star, which rules in Birth of Kings,  
●en He was destined to These manegings,  
●de and propitious, in His heart connext,  
●, fear of GOD, & love of JUSTICE next:  
●RTVES, whose habit Happiness doth nourish:  
●●kes Common-Wealth flow, & The Church to flourish:  
●es best for Base to each illustrious State:  
●es mightiest KING'S calm Crowns, & fortunate:  
●seth their Subjects fear them lovingly:  
●pes Them, in Dangers, ever danger-free.  
● the Almighty, printing in their Face,  
●le- Majesty, sweet- Terror, dreadful- Grace,  
● heaping Hap upon them everywhere;  
Good, fear, for them; Them, the Evil fear.  
●ow many brave Marks, left his noble Mind,  
●h'Happiness These Virtues bring Mankind;  
●en, full of Constancy, he durst maintain,  
●t, reigning for Him, Who made him to reign,  
●e sacred Twins, nigh from the World dispelled,  
● their Temple, in His Bosom dwelled;  
Guided his Person, governed his Affairs,  
Counselled his Counsels, qualified his Cares,  
Steered all his Course, through all his Voyage here,  
As men their Ships by Card & Compass steer.  
These making him with rarest spirits compeer,  
In holy pride, He even despised here  
The Kings, that, puffed with glory of a Throne,  
Commanded All, except themselves alone.  
By th'one, he happied his own Soul, with Rest:  
By th'other, also he his People blest.  
By th'one, becoming to himself severe,  
He ruled himself; kept his own Power in fear;  
By th'other, giving free Course to the Law,  
He kept his Subjects in: and happy, saw  
Through all his Kingdom, Peace & Plenty flowe●  
In basest Grange, as well as golden Bower.  
But 12. times Sol through the 12. Signs had go●  
When Heavens assigned him to his Father's Throne  
And to the hands of his Man-Childhood left  
The glorious Burden of This Sceptres heft:  
But, as in th'Orchards at Monceaux or Blois,  
The Gard'ners' Care over some Graftlings choice,  
The second year of their adoption there,  
Makes them as good & goodly fruits to bear,  
Trees, whose Trunk & branched Top bewrays  
●●eir Months as many as the Other's days;  
●●rough the Heauns' favour & Earth's fruitfulness,  
●wing that God their young first-fruits doth bless:  
● forward Virtue in his Pupillage,  
●ught forth th'effects of a man's perfect age;  
●prouing quite his feeble signs of youth,  
● proving him invincible (in truth)  
rinsed vain Pleasures, all their Baits condemning:  
rinsed all Perils, Death itself contemning:  
rinsed all Passions, ever them resisting:  
rinsed all Crosses, constant ay-persisting.  
●or, look how low, his hart in humble awe,  
● bowed to GOD, and bended to the Law;  
●●gh he mounts it, in Praiseworthy Pride,  
●ue the World, Fortune, and All (beside)  
●se Vanity, with false gloss gilded o'er,  
● Mortals, most desire, admire, adore:  
●ring, only, with that holy Marie,  
● his degree) That One thing necessary:  
●iring solely th'holy Works, wherein  
Almighty Workers wondrous hand is seen:  
●ring none but th'everlasting One;  
● loving best; fearing but HIM alone.  
Then, bearing aye This Oracle impressed  
Within the Centre of his royal breast,  
That A sincere & true-Religious KING,  
Feared of All, needs fear at all nothing;  
Where He whose Soul hath not This Fear inlaid,  
Of none is feared, but of All afraid.  
Armed with This Breastplate, as with stronger Ar●  
Than Those (of old) blest with enchanting Charms  
He braved all Perils that his Prowess met,  
And His calm Spirit, amid a Storm so great  
As would have cast Youth in a swoon insensible,  
Showed Resolution of a heart invincible;  
Appearing such, indeed, as Painters fain  
Great Hercules, when Juno's fell disdaign,  
Pursuing him, he Monsters quailed and killed;  
A Man in Courage, though in Age a Child.  
Which well he proved to those Rebellious Peers,  
Who making light of his, then-tender years;  
And measuring his inside by his age,  
Troubled his State with storms of Civil Rage:  
Armed against him many a Tower & Town,  
Aimed by Ambush to surprise his Crown.  
When He, to heal, by necessary Ill,  
This Ill, before th'Impostume overfill,  
● Sword in hand their first Assault prevents;  
● as His Subjects, bravely them convents,  
●ome and cast them arm-less at his feet;  
celse, as Foes, his armed Force to meet:  
●n Him, their true Liege (if true French they be)  
●d in the Field, to take This Offer free,  
●nge, or Pardon of their past Mis-deeds,  
●all the Mischief which the same succeeds.  
●one, his Power should press them to, perforce,  
●ther, their Duties, urged with Remorse:  
●eir blind Fury did the One contemn,  
●ther should pour Death & Disgrace on them.  
●! how the words of a brave Prince prevail!  
● daring Speech did so their Courage quail,  
● though the cold Ice of a prudent Fear,  
●not forthwith put-out their frenzy there;  
●id it daily from thenceforth decline,  
●all their Flame turned but to Fume, in fine.  
Those, whose fury dreamt a Diadem,  
●r Side abandon, & disbanding them,  
●ct their vain Hopes; and, in season, fly  
●he King's Mercy for their Remedy.  
●ers, more dreading Rigour of the Law,  
●er protection of the English draw:  
Guilding their Gild with frivolous pretences,  
Arming their weak Cause with as weak defences;  
Till, but increasing their dishonour by't,  
Wanting as well good Fortune as good Right,  
They're also fain to beg his Bounty royal,  
Ill worthy Them, so obstinate-Disloyall.  
What proofs of Prowess, what contempt of dang●  
Expressed this Prince upon the envious Stranger,  
On crystal Charant, in Zantognian Coast,  
When false la-March, backed with a foreign Host,  
Mustered against him from so many parts,  
So many Groves of Lances, Pikes, and Darts?  
There France and England, fully bend to Fight,  
Had both their Armies in their Order pight;  
From Either side mount winged Clouds amain;  
On Either side they pour their Showers again:  
While silver Charant, to have barred their Teen,  
Her swelling shoulders did oppose between.  
This River makes the Reed-crownd Banks to  
By th'arched favour of a Bridge there is:  
Whose gain or loss (besides the honour) bodes,  
Or bars, the Prize of Victory, by odds:  
The English, friended by a Fort at hand,  
Which proudly did the neighbour Plains command  
〈◊〉 won this Passage, and were passing on  
●erely to end their Victory begun:  
●n Lewis, rushing to the Bridge, the first,  
●ells the Foe, and puts him to the worst;  
● dead and wounded all the place he paves,  
● then Horatius, braver him behaves:  
●artens His: re-haleth from the Foe  
● Victory, ready with Them to go:  
●ing alone, as a firm Rock, affront,  
●st alone, to bear the Battle's brunt;  
●onely mark of many thousand Darts,  
●m alone still aimed from all parts:  
●t the last, by his example pressed,  
●inning all, his Army won the rest;  
●, if his Courage shined in Conquering,  
● did his Mildness in the managing.  
●o can recount, and yet who could conceal  
lustrious Virtues, whose industrious zeal  
● the World his honours blazed yerst,  
●hese mists, these first clouds were dispersed,  
scattered all by the bright-shining Rays  
●is new Sun, in Summer of his days,  
〈◊〉 (Europe's Umpire) making Peace with Men,  
War proclaimed against their Vices then?  
The glorious Works his Royal Virtues did,  
Cannot, without impiety, be hid;  
Although, without diminishing their Worth,  
My Muse (alas) can never set them forth:  
For, of all Virtue's sacred Tracts (lest rife)  
His Life's a Picture, limmed to the life.  
And such a Pattern, as to match again,  
The Wish is virtuous, but the Hope is vain:  
Sith, the more wondrous 'tis, & Worthy Table  
To imitate, 'tis more inimitable.  
So that, His Worth, weening to-life to limne,  
I overreach, in stead of reaching Him:  
And, like bad Singers (as too-bold, too-blame)  
Sounding His Praise, rather Myself I shame.  
In heavenly Annals are his Acts enrolled:  
His Royal Gests are yet in Asia told:  
In Africa, yet his Valour is renowned:  
Through Europe ever shall his Virtue's sound;  
And everywhere Ninth LEWIS (Great in Fame  
Seems, not a Man's, but very VERTVES Name  
Never did Faith, Honour, Uprightness, reign,  
With Constancy, in Soul of SOVEREIGN  
More pious-given, more fearing-God, more Foe●  
To Idolrites (Religion's overthrow);  
〈◊〉 more desirous Virtue to prefer,  
●propagate CHRIST's Kingdom everywhere;  
●oot-out Vice, to raze Idolatry,  
● raise the Trophies of Truth's Victory.  
●rning with this Desire (his best Delight)  
Africa, twice, He Crossed Standards pight,  
●old his Life unto the chance of War;  
●ea and Land adventured oft, and far:  
●re, seeking Death, at last, He Durance found,  
●in a faith-less, love-less, lawless Land,  
●ere He, as Gain, & as to reign, did take,  
derue & suffer for his Saviour's sake.  
●t, all the battails, won and lost to sing,  
●ad achieved by this Valiant King:  
Sack of Damiete, & the bloody Spoil  
sarazens, both on the Shores of Nile,  
● of the Sea, thrice strewed (as it were)  
● Carcases of Pagans slaughtered there:  
Siege of Cairo, when brave Victory  
●nd all in Black for His Captivity:  
sacred Terror & Majestic Grace  
●h (from above) shined in his eyes & Face,  
●n two Turk-Traitors (with their Swords, in grain  
● with the blood of their late Sultan slain)  
Coming to kill him, felt, with strange remorse,  
Their fury feebled by a secret force;  
From murderous fists letting their weapons fall  
When they beheld his face majestical.  
His Lybian journey, when to Carthage though  
This Champion seemed another Scipio:  
Th'honour he won at Tunis, where he crowned  
His Life & Fortunes, evermore renowned.  
In brief, to undertake to tell at large  
All his Exploits, were a more weighty Charge  
Then can the powers of my weak Soul support:  
And such a Web to wove in worthy sort,  
Behoves the hand of a more happy Wit,  
Both wa●p and woof with golden Threads to fit.  
I therefore, quitting th'hopeful Arrogance  
Sprung from ignoring of our Ignorance,  
Shall think My Labour crowned sufficient,  
If this my speaking Pencil, Phoebus lent  
To colour Verses, can but duly limb  
Least-glittering Rays that shined with Praise in H●  
Leaving therefore His Wars discourse to Tho●  
Whose buskined Muse Bellona's march outgoes,  
Whose Numbers thunder, & whose style distils  
Fresh drops of Death from their heroïck Quills,  
●fty strains, as gravely, bravely-bold:  
lowly sound his Laurels less extolled,  
●h He (at Peace) won in his War with Vices,  
● happy Toil in holy Exercises.  
● as I cannot His high Prowess express;  
●h-less can I with silent Slothfulness,  
●er Obliuion's rusty keys conceal  
● wondrous Care, the right religious Zeal  
●h from his Youth ay in his heart had burned,  
●ee The seen House of the Lord adorned:  
●n this Virtue, none hath near Him come  
●l the Kings have reigned in Christendom.  
● for, We own to Him the Monuments  
●h with his blood Our saviour's Patience  
●d in his Passion, & whose Sight, as yet,  
●es godly Souls in sad-glad sacred Fit:  
●or (abhorring Shepherds bad & blind)  
●ious Care boiled in his zealous Mind,  
●urn'd his soul's soul with a hot desire,  
● in the Church-Ship, none to Charge aspire,  
wilful, faithful, careful, Mariners,  
● apt for all Affairs of Hers;  
●e holy Labours, in courageous sort,  
●e all Storms, may steer into the Port.  
Devoured of this Zeal, and dreading aye  
Lest He be charged at the latter Day  
By th' only judge, with Vice & Ignorance  
Of those he chose, through all the Folds of France,  
To Feed the Flocks under his Power allied:  
When's royal office bound him to provide,  
With wondrous Care did he their lives explore,  
Whoever had commended them before:  
And never gave he the supreme Degrees,  
Th' Ecclesiastik sacred Dignities,  
But unto Those whose Life & Learning too  
Were Eminent, both to direct and do;  
To feed, as Shepherds; as a Watch, to Ward;  
To heal the Sick, Sound from the Wolf to guard,  
And careful Stewards in due time to break  
The Bread of Life both to the strong and weak:  
Not Those whose Eyes deep veiled with Ignorance  
Or Knowledge stained with Sin's Exorbitance,  
Made like th'old wooden Mercuries, erect  
In public Ways, the Passage to direct,  
Who, with their finger the Right Path did point,  
But, with their foot could never move a joint.  
How, how should Those, for Guide & Lanterns  
To th'Ignorance of People prone to swerve;  
●se Ignorance, devoid of Learning's Light,  
●ot discern from crooked Ways the right?  
How can Those, foul, Sin-sick Souls recure  
●ō Patterns more than Precepts would allure)  
●se Eloquence, whose excellence of Wit,  
●s their Well-saying by Ill-dooing it;  
●e what they Preach, in Practice they deny,  
●y their Deeds, give their own Words the Lie.  
●ither the Learned, of true Virtue void;  
●er the Virtuous, without Learning's aid;  
●n the Flock of CHRIST's Redeemed dear,  
●th'holy Sheep hooks sacred Burden here,  
● that Success which should be wished by Them  
●eek the glory of jerusalem.  
●ing and Virtue must together match,  
● sacred Flocks duly to Wield and Watch:  
●'s their pain, who do not lead, but drive,  
●ing like Shepherds, while like Wolves they live;  
●his good Prince: and that same very Thought  
● from his hart this holy Speech had brought,  
aht forth th'effect: He did so thirst to see  
● flourish; and through th'Industry  
●ourers, divinely Willed and Skilled,  
●s holy Vine-yard, truly, duly tilld.  
Nor was His Care less, nor, much less, his Zeal  
Of Law's support (Props of the Publik-Weal)  
So strict he was & so precise in Choice  
Of Those (not waighd but by their Merits poise)  
Whom, arming with his Sword, as Delegates,  
He sent amid the Rank of Magistrates,  
Garnished with Virtues, graced with Learning, fit  
On bright Astréas sacred Thrones to sit.  
His Predecessors, winking at the Crimes,  
Or else constrained with Mischief of their Times  
(All given to Gain, greedy of Gold) had made  
Of Offices a miserable Trade:  
Never regarding, that they set (withal)  
Both Innocence, Honour, & Right to-sale:  
Sold, to th'insatiate, Licence (as they please)  
To pill the People, under shows of Ease:  
And let the Knave, with his full Purse, prevent  
The known long Merit of the Excellent.  
He, seeing This Abuse to open the Gate  
To all Injustice, to confound a State:  
The Guilty quit, the Innocent condemned;  
Wrong countenanced, Right rated, or contemned;  
And only Favour (under feigned Gown)  
overruling judgements, Equity put-downe:  
●e, in Courts using her Balance bright,  
●aight the Parties Money, not their Right:  
Ignorance, in Dignities supreme,  
●ing their sacred Chairs with Wrongs extreme;  
●ng too-shame-less, too-unconscionable,  
●t She, unworthy, bought unreasonable:  
●g, in brief, his Realms near jeopardy:  
● strength of Laws turned to mere Robbery:  
●rant Thefts, with Warrant under-handed,  
●onely not condemned, but commanded:  
●e as his Valour, quelling all his Foes,  
●et him quiet on his Father's Throne,  
●anisht quite This sad Confusion's Cause,  
● fatal Death of Letters, & of Laws;  
●rding to our Saviour's blessed Example,  
● angry chased the Chapmen forth his Temple.  
●en, where he met a Well-disposed Wit,  
●e Knowledge and whose Carriage, matching fit,  
● him good hope, that being (free) preferred,  
●ould be th'Orphans & the Widow's Guard;  
●oore's Protector, in their Right to stand:  
●e for Favour; & for Bribes, no hand;  
●we of Threats, and for Entreats no Ear,  
●g aside, Love, Hatred, Hope, and Fear,  
When he shall sit as Oracle, to doom;  
Where Man is unto Man, as in God's Room:  
Him would this noble Prince freely create  
A Chancellor a judge, a Magistrate,  
A Dean, a Bishop; without busy Suit  
Of bribed Minions basely to pursued.  
O ever-wished, never hoped Days,  
Which Gold's-contempt so gilded with golden Ray  
How calm you past! How was the People blest,  
Under the Laws of such a Prince's Hest!  
And o! How worthy He, in spite of Time,  
To be renowned over every Clime!  
Through whom Integrity revived again,  
And Sentences, ceasing to pass for Gain  
(As now, God wots, too many witness can)  
Were GOD's own Sentence, in the Mouth of M●  
For neither spared He Rigour nor Reward,  
Where he had hope, by gentle hand or hard,  
To conquer Vice, and that same servile Vein  
Which love's not Goodness, but for Goods & Gain  
And with a hart whose Gold-Thirst never sat is,  
Will never till the Field of VIRTUE, gratis.  
Knowing therefore, that in a Season vicious,  
We sooner find a Pyrrhus, than Fabricius;  
〈◊〉 wisely fearing lest the fear of Want,  
●oue of Wealth should worldly minds supplant,  
make them pass their duties bounds perchance,  
●…m he to place of Honour should advance:  
●eep their Port, with People, venerable;  
●ear their Charge of needful Train & Table;  
●…m'd their Virtue against Poverty  
●…e secret Foe to sound Integrity)  
〈◊〉 ample Stipends, able to repel  
〈◊〉 lawless Laws of those Two Tyrants fell,  
●●●se Iron Sceptre, too-too-often forces  
●●…t honest Natures to dishonest Courses.  
●her, if Favour, Feud, or Avarice,  
●rosse Injustice did their hands entice,  
punished aye their Trespass with such Rigour,  
Laws, recovering then their ancient vigour,  
●●…'d That severe Example to revive,  
●●…h in the Skin of Father flayed alive  
〈…〉 rung Decrees) his Son succeeding thrust;  
●…odie Doom, yet, for Injustice, just:  
● after- judges, by their judge-skin Chair  
B●●hes and Brokage might be warned fair.  
●…ou● all Crimes, his hearts just jealousy  
●●…rred most Murder and Blasphemy:  
Nor ever did the First escape with life;  
Unless by Proofs it were apparent rife,  
That Self-defending, it was unwilling done;  
Forced, deadly Stroak, by deadly Stroak, to shun:  
Th'other was punished where he sinned, just,  
A red-hot Iron through his Tongue was thrust;  
To teach Blasphemous Mouths no more to blame  
That holy, high, unutterable Name,  
Adored in Heaven & Earth, & everywhere;  
Which, even the Angels speak not, but with fear,  
O! how he hated Those light, loathsome, Places,  
Where Venus sells her to all lewd Embraces!  
The Shepherd, finding, under Stacks, or Stones,  
A Nest of Hornets, or a Swarm of Drones,  
Or knot of Vipers, is not bend more fierce,  
Their Cells to spoil, Themselves dispatch, disperse  
Then He was eager, & against Them bent  
Severest Laws, with sharpest punishment;  
Cleansing with Fire those foul Augéan Stalls,  
And, to the ground, razing their filthy Walls.  
Lacing with lashes their unpitied Skin,  
Whom Lust or Lucre had bestowed therein.  
Himself, so chaste of Body, and of Mind  
(If Fame say true: who seldom soothes behind.)  
●at never He (rare in a Prince's Life!)  
●ew other Venus, than his Queen and Wife.  
What Prince was ever, to the silly Poor,  
●re tender-hearted, either helpful more?  
●any Kings have, by high Feats in War,  
●ownd their Names, & spread their Glories far:  
●holesome Laws Licentious Rage repressed:  
●any Proofs their Prudence well expressed:  
●ll the parts of Policy & Prowess,  
● all the Honour's earthly State allows:  
● few vouchsafe to stoop their stately eyes  
●h'humble Poor that on the dunghill lies:  
● little think, that, in those Little ones,  
●t, Christ Himself unto their Greatness groans;  
●s at their Feet, in rags, and hunger-driven;  
● promiseth, for Bread to give Them Heaven.  
● hearts of Adamant! This piteous King  
● Your fell Natures was far differing.  
● oftentimes, from his high Throne descending,  
●owe & reap the Fruits on Alms attending,  
●ll that could from ordinary rate  
●oyall Charge of Kingdom, House, & State,  
●ely spared, with honourable Thrift,  
● such a heart & hand so apt to Gift;  
Would He bestow in building sacred Cells,  
For th' Aged, Poor, Sick, Sight-less (Help-less else)  
In aiding Widows, whom the bliss of Bearing  
Made wretched, wanting for their children's Reari●●  
Redeeming Captives, raising Doweries  
For honest Maidens apt for Marriages,  
(Whose Banes (unasked) still Poverty forbade)  
Passing their Flower in Fears & Languors sad:  
In breeding Orphans, and in feeding Those  
Whose bashful Silence, biting-in their Woes,  
Smothered the Sighs within their swelling breast,  
Which from their Mouths mere Hunger often pre●  
In brief in pouring on all Poor, no less  
Streams of Relief, than Fortune of Distress:  
Approving plain, that, in most Pomp of State,  
Himself a Man he ●ye did meditate.  
His People He so loved, and their Prosperity,  
That, easing them of former King's severity  
In Imposts, Tributs, Taxes, & the rest,  
Wherewith his Kingdom had been sore oppressed:  
He want with Tears to bathe his Cheeks  
When urging Cause compelled him to lay they sa●  
On his poor Subjects any new Excise,  
Never so needful, just, or light to prize;  
●ich yet his Pity rarely did permit;  
〈◊〉 only when Bellona (pressing it)  
rinsed our Lilies some such Storm had blown,  
●ath too-often Empires overthrown.  
〈◊〉, for the Charge of needful Dignity,  
〈◊〉 royal State beseeming Majesty,  
〈◊〉 never sought from other Source to drain,  
●n th'ever-springs of his own just Demain.  
●esting th'use of other Potentates,  
〈◊〉, but to gild their Pride in pompous States,  
〈◊〉 all their Subjects with extreme Excess:  
〈◊〉 then consuming it in Shows & Feasts,  
〈◊〉 scorning those whom they had eaten-up  
●h-out Compassion) in a golden Cup  
●oused deep their wretched People's blood,  
●m God had given Them to protect, in good.  
●hat Lawes-oblivion, What Contempt of GOD  
●s, this good Prince, Them, shrill & sharply chod)  
●ens your Ears against so many a Plaint!  
emane souls, who, touched with bloody Taint,  
●epheards, shear not, but even flay your Fold,  
●urn the Skins to Cas●akins of Gold;  
●ke You, the heavens, which hate all Tyranny,  
●wink at Yours, and let you scape so, free?  
No, no; they'll ruin Your unrighteous Power;  
And, causing soon Your Subjects rise in Stower,  
The just-revenger, who all Realms transfers,  
Of mightiest Kings shall make you Schoolmasters  
Shall break your proud Tax-puffed Sceptres so,  
That, for th'abuse, you shall the use forgo:  
Or shall so curse the cruel Policies  
Your Minions find to feed your Vanities,  
That in Your hands your Gold shall melt away,  
And still the more you pill, the more you may:  
(Like Dropsie-sicke, the more they drink, the drier  
The more you shall devour, the more desire:  
New Erisichthons', through insatiate heat,  
Forced in fine yourselves to tear & eat.  
Branding with Shame of Marks so mercie-less,  
So impious Pride of hearts so Pitie-less,  
Who burd'ning Subjects more than bear they c●●  
Hold neither God for God; nor Man for Man.  
But, whither run I, on so harsh a string,  
Out of my Tune; to tell how This good King  
Reproved bad Princes of his Time for pressing  
Their People cause-less with uncessant Sessing.  
Let's reassume our Song, our proper Theme:  
Let's passe-by Vice, & rather covering them,  
〈◊〉 Them recounting in eternal Story,  
●s return to sing of Virtue's Glory.  
●ow happy is the Prince, who squaring right  
●●cred Laws the limits of his Might,  
〈◊〉 in Well-dooing, and as Just as Wise,  
aches not himself to reign; save, Noblewise,  
〈◊〉 He his People heeds, and hearing aye  
〈◊〉 just Complaints, doth in due time repay  
〈◊〉 every Monarch (with devotion) vows  
●OD & Men, when first his royal Brows  
●er so many solemn Mysteries:  
〈◊〉 hopeful Subjects wishful, joyful Cries)  
●n the glad-sad sacred Diadem,  
〈◊〉 instantly from thenceforth puts on Him  
Robe of Power, which those doth much mis-suit  
●aue not on rare Virtues richest Suit.  
●ong such Kings, who ay, as Right directs,  
●re their Greatness by their Goodeffects;  
●y their Fortunes, or their Force of hand;  
●ny Nations under their Command;  
●at illustrious Prince to whom we pay  
●k Duties in this Hymnik Lay.  
●hile, at home, he happy Peace enjoyed,  
●uer suffered day to vanish void  
Of giving Audience, & extending free  
Fruits of his justice unto each Degree:  
Grieving in mind, grudging at those, as lost,  
Less worthy spent, although unwilling most.  
Persuaded sure, that with what eye or ear  
His People's Case a Prince doth heed and hear;  
With like, the Lord, in his extreme Affairs,  
Will look on Him, & listen to his Prayers:  
That that same pompous, glittering, glorious Slave  
Improperly called Royal (for the Bravery)  
In proper speech (by due Experience scanned)  
IT 's an Onerous-Honor, a Confined Command:  
That Kings were made for Subjects; & not they,  
Not They for Kings: that though both Land & S●  
Adore their Greatness (Laws Support alone)  
Yet, Princes Ears are not indeed their Own;  
But their own People's that do humbly live  
Under th'obedience of the Laws They give:  
That, to be brief, of mightiest Kings that are,  
Labour's the Glory, and their Greatness Care,  
Such sound Instructions, from his Cradle used,  
His virtuous Mother wisely had infused;  
Which in his Princely breast digesting mild,  
A Man, he practised what he learned, a Child:  
●dy to hear the meanest that complain;  
●erring wisely such a sacred pain  
●re the pleasure of the choicest Sport  
●ld be devisd in Country or in Court:  
●nce in his People such Affection spreads,  
●y bless his Birthday, & the ground he treads;  
●him their Father, & with Vows amain  
●uent the Altars for his long-long Reign:  
● that Wish (the Sum of their Desire)  
●ained All all Prayers could require,  
●d to beg of heavens eternal Bounty,  
●king Peace, Riches, Religion, Plentié,  
●ll the Blessings which ASTREA's hand  
●lant or pour upon a happy Land.  
●at Tracts of Art, What Tropes of Eloquences  
●uely represent to modern Princes,  
● even Envies Self shall nought control)  
Self-severe Integrity of Soul,  
●e humble, patiented, constant Temperance,  
●o Successor as yet had in France,  
●et elsewhere, however every State  
●et admire it, none can imitate.  
●ROPE (where ever Vice and Virtue most  
striven for Empire, best & worst to boast)  
Hath whilom seen Kings treading in the Path  
Of notedst Tyrant's, who with Threatful Wrath,  
And all the Terrors, which Mans Cruel Rage,  
To fright Mankind had found in former age,  
Restrained their Subjects from their Death's Conspiring  
Who, so, less-daring, had the more desiring.  
But, This right generous Prince, still walking fit,  
Within the Path which Tyrants never hit,  
Only restrained all Public Insolence,  
By th'even-born Rains of his own Innocence.  
Giving so little hold to Mal-contents,  
Taking, at sharp Reproofs, so small Offence,  
That by effect his Royal Soul did show,  
That in the same no livelier Flame did glow,  
Then a Desire, so Temperate to frame-him,  
That all might boldly, none might justly, blame ●  
Smooth Soothers, poisoning by the Ear the ●  
Pernicious Weeds, who (Ivie-like) subvert,  
Distort, destroy the Trees you climb upon;  
Still feeding Vice with such Contagion,  
That seldom, Souls, who with Applause appro●  
Your praising them, do aught Praiseworthy lou●  
Vizards of Homage, Virtue's Pestilence,  
Right ill-come were You to This Virtuous Pri●  
〈◊〉, shunning aye Your baneful Whisper,  
●●mmon Poisoners of the public Springs,  
erred your presence, & could better brook  
●ss-Fault-finder, than a Fawner's look.  
●uch a Noble Mind, remote from Vice,  
●g true Honour, loatheth Flatteries.  
●●at pleasure took He, how extreme Delight  
● stories where many times he might  
●w him Seife; amazed, to read the things  
● said, of Kings; which none dare say to Kings!  
● was he rapt! how sweetly extased,  
● that divine Eternal Will he read,  
●e, with so liberal, just, & loving hand,  
●hares to His the Heav'nly-Holy-land!  
●at which is said of Alexander's love  
homer's Works (whose graces, all approve)  
●well of Him, for honouring the Miracles  
Heavenly Author, speaking in his Oracles:  
●h, as a precious Treasure, richly cased  
●ld & Cedar, had he near him placed;  
●g it ay his joy of Exercises,  
● u● of Virtues, & the Curb of Vices.  
●●ly his Tublik Cares lent Leasure,  
●nt ●t not in more contenting pleasure,  
Then That so sacred Study's Fruit imparts  
To th'healthy Taste of true God-fearing hearts.  
And well appeared, by rare, rich Effects  
Of Virtues shining over all his Acts,  
That that divine Seed (happy swoon the while)  
Fell in no Thorny, Stony, Sandy Soil.  
For, if that ever Soul did Vice avoid,  
If ever here mere humane Spirit enjoyed  
Prowess, Piety, Prudence, and justice, mixed,  
Without the Foil of Folly's Dross betwixt  
(Fron proudest Wrong, the poorest Right defending  
Disdaining Pleasures towards Vice but tending:  
Mild to the Meek; to Malapert, austere:  
To good men, Bounteous; to the bad, Severe)  
'Twas This brave Prince: Whom, They do best rese●  
In Whom These Virtue's most of all assemble.  
Kings of his Time, reigning in East and West,  
Reuéring him for such, his Greatness blest:  
Th'Afflicted Princess chose him for Refuge;  
The Strong, for Friend; & Those at Strife, for Iudg●  
When they grew weary to dispute their Cause  
By th'old sharp Argument King's Fury draws,  
When, Mars usurping mild Astréa's room,  
In stead of Words, their Swords must give the Do●  
●en Injury with Injury repelling,  
〈◊〉 strength of Laws by stronger Laws refelling  
〈◊〉 back their Own, or Others Claim to bar)  
●y seek their Right in Might; their Peace, in War.  
Such was St. LEWIS: and Such was, well-near,  
Own St. EDWARD (and ELIZA deer;  
〈◊〉 for Her Sex, the Salic Law, perchance,  
●s Her Succession to the Saints of France)  
●ll prime Virtues of a complete Prince  
●ake a Saint-King. And, if ever, Since,  
●ROPE hath seen, or any kingdom known  
●uing Shrine of Both These Saints in One  
●ugh, some, Suspect of the smooth Soothing- Crime;  
●e, gross Neglect of This Ingrateful Time,  
Envy- prove, permit not So to say)  
●ill be Said and Sworn anotherday  
●en swelling Clouds, that dare Eclipse our Sun,  
〈◊〉, by His Rays dispersed, be undone;  
●HE, Himself, in his Own splendour shine)  
As our JUST-MASTER, learned & divine.  
●nd, if that ever (for the Time to come)  
●e have been Hope of like in CHRISTENDOM;  
●e was a Prince, and is a Prince with GOD,  
●e Name is dear, and dear the Dust he trod  
(Whose Memory My Tears must ever mix)  
On Whom all Eyes, in Whom all Hearts did fix:  
Whose Virtues Harvest ripened in his Spring,  
HENRY was made a Saint, before a King,  
Leaving his Brother (where His Best re-flowres)  
Sole Heir apparent to His Hopes and Ours.  
And, if yet, under heavens gilt-azure Cope,  
There now remain Another living Hope  
Of new St. LEWIS, or His like again,  
For godly, goodly, gracious, glorious Reign,  
With Bless to BRITAN, and the Sacred Flock,  
Not built on Peter's ROME, but Peter's Rock;  
This, This is He: My Patron and my Prince,  
PANARETUS; Whose Pupil-Excellence  
Bodes, in his Age, to make This Poem seem  
No Poem, but a Prophecy of HIM.  
For, never was there Son more like to Sire,  
In face, or grace, or Aught that We admire;  
Then is Our CHARLES, in his young Virtues Spri●  
Like th'happy Nonage of that Holy King  
(Like his Own Father; like his Only Brother,  
So as He seems rather The same, then Other)  
For Gracious Gifts, & Native Goodness, tilld,  
By like grave Tutors, in their Function skilled.  
O Thou All-giver! Fountain of all Good!  
●ure daily down upon This Hopeful Bud  
〈◊〉 Dews of Grace: shine on it from above  
〈◊〉 mildest Rays of Mercy and of Love:  
●sted of Suckers, send it Succours still,  
〈◊〉 feed the Root, that That the rest may fill  
●th lively Verdure of a fruitful Sap,  
●oad with Plenty every Virtuous Lap:  
●athe on it Blessings: leave no Weed without,  
〈◊〉 Worm within it: hedge it roundabout  
●m Boars, and Beasts, domestical & Stranger;  
〈◊〉 Wild & Wylie (Where least Dread, most Danger):  
●t it may kindly spring, and timely spread,  
●ulk and Branch, with leaves that never shed:  
●er whose Shade mine Aged Muse may warble  
●e Monument (outlasting Brass & Marble)  
swanlike notes, to My Maecenas Honour,  
●en He bestows some Nest of Rest upon-her.  
●or may my Vows ingratefully forget  
Other Branch (in Other Soil new-set)  
●se tender Leaves, shaken with Sighs of Ours,  
●ed of Tears, have dropped Silver showers  
●ole My Thirst, my Cares to cure, or calm,  
〈◊〉 timely Use of Bounties princely Balm:  
O Sea of Bounty's never-dryed Source!  
So water it with Thy rich Favours Course,  
That, Happy thriving by her PALATINE,  
The Royal Issue of Their Rosie-Vine,  
From Rhine and Ister, may to Tiber spread,  
And, over-topping ROME'S usurping Head,  
From Bramble- Kings recover CAESAR'S Seat,  
With greater Sway than CONSTANTINE the Gre●  
Great Arbitrer, whose Counsels none can sound;  
Who canst all Thrones confirm, and all confound;  
Conferring Kingdoms, and transferring them,  
How, When, & Where Thou wilt, from Stem to Stem;  
Establish, Lord, in Royal JAMES his Race,  
These Kingdom's Geatnes, & Thy Kingdom's Grace!  
Prosper our DAVID, bless his SALOMON,  
That after Them, upon GREAT-BRITAN's Th●●  
(Maugre Hell's malice & the Rage of ROME,  
Their roaring Bulls, their Charms, their Arms, to-come  
Their Powder- Plots, their Pistols, Poisons, Knives;  
And All their jesuites murderous Art contrives)  
Their Seed may sit; and never Other hand  
Then STVARTS sway the Sceptre of This Land;  
Wise, Great, Good, STVARTS, that may shine as c●  
As This St. LEWIS; both in Heaven & Heer.  
AMEN.   

A HYMN of ALMS: OR THE BEGGAR'S BELL; heard, from beyond THE CHARTERHOUSE, To ring All-in, To The Temple of CHARITY; In an Echo Iterated, & Consecrated To The right-right Reverend & Double-Honorable Father, GEORGE ABBOT, L. Archbishop of Canterbury, etc.  
By JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

TO My Lord of Canterbury His Grace.  
MY Wit, weak Orphan, weaned too-too-yong  
Fron PALLAS Breast, & too-too-Truant-bred  
Not, as too- wanton, but too- wanting) led  
●om Arts, to Marts (and Miseries among)  
celse perhaps (besides du BARTAS) sung  
●me native Strains the gravest might have read;  
●nd to your Grace now grately tendered  
●me fit Sound than This rude Bell hath rung.  
●sith it tends to drown th'w Cry  
〈◊〉 Blood here shed by Luxe and Avarice;  
●d to awake the World to CHARITY  
●reof Your Life so lively Pattern is)  
●opitious, pardon mine officious Zeal,  
This loud Echo of a louder Peal.  
Your Grace's most bounden & humble Bead-man, JOSVAH SYLVESTER.   

AD Eundem Praesulem praeoptimum EPIGRAMMA; Ex lat. I. O. 1611.  
●…ane, Oxford's Head; Soon Winton's Dean Thou wert  
●…one, Litchfield had thee Her Diocesan:  
●…e, London had thee Hers, by Thy Desert:  
●…e, England joys Thee Metropolitan:  
●…e, by the King, called to His Counsels High:  
●hat shall I wish thee late? but, late to die.  
Eiusdem 
 Amplissimi 
 ANAGRAMMA 
 Duplex.  
Georgius Abbot. 
 Gregis Tuba, böo: 
 Subitò gregabo,   

AD Reverendissimum Dominum ●piscopum Londinensem, EPIGRAMMA; Ex lat. I. O. 1611.  
●e, learned KING, the learnedst King elected  
●reat LONDON's Pastor; which thou glad-expected:  
●s are wont, that hunt for such Reward  
●it & Art, sue in the SEE's Vacation:  
KING, the King, th'archbishop called, preferred;  
●itie, too; Thou hadst thy SEE's Vocation.  
Eiusdem 
 Praeconis disertissimi 
 ANAGRAMMA. 
 johannes King. 
 Oh, Igni-Canens!   

A HYMN of ALMS.  
ALMS (holy Gift, vouchsafed from above)  
Is a sure Pledge and Symbol of that Love,  
●ch GOD, just Steward, as a Dew poures-out  
Earth, exposed to empty Air about:  
●from this Union, from this constant League,  
●n time to time Mankind doth duly beg  
●at the Sun imparts his powers unto,  
●uing Creatures and un-living too:  
●at, our Being, Begging may we call;  
〈◊〉 of her Maker, Nature borrows all:  
●st Usurers and Churl's Unthankfulness,  
〈◊〉 to CHRIST's Members show them Mercyless.  
●e that, for GOD, but a good Motion hath,  
●ing his Mind up to the Milky Path,  
●mire there (nameless) what he cannot know  
●'eye of Reason (where yet shineth though  
●un of Righteousness; as th'usual Sun,  
●ugh Crannies shines into a Dungeon:)  
He, He (I say) that hath but Nature's sense,  
For Faith; for Law, but native Innocence;  
In his simplicity hath always care  
To practise ALMS, ALMS to receive & share  
So common 'tis with sociable Man  
To give and take the mutual ALMS he can;  
Yea, in our Cradles, yet our Tongues can crave,  
We beg with Cries what we had need to have.  
The heavens, dispensing sacred Influences,  
Predominant in Birth of Poor and Princes,  
Abundantly (with bounteous Ouer-plus)  
Pour the Hebrew's Manna, many ways, on Us;  
To teach that We, by sundry Charities,  
Should mildly ease each others Miseries.  
Even as the Opal, in his orient lustre  
Where various colours of all Stones do muster,  
Shows the rare Riches of the Pearly East;  
Alms is The Glass of well-bred souls and blessed,  
Showing each other Virtue's sacred Quality,  
In th'heaven-allied Man of Liberality.  
ALMS are the Cement of this round Theat●  
Where, in a differing kind, Earth, Air, and Water,  
Intent the same thing; liberally to give  
Their ALMS to Rocks, Plants, Creatures all that li●  
educing Fire withal, whose Force unseen  
●es frankly, too, his helpful Heat between.  
ALMS, in our Bodies worketh all in all:  
Eyes lend it Light; the Hands, most liberal  
corious ALMNERS, being home to the Head  
●needfull Store wherewith the Whole is fed:  
●e Feet supply it with their meet Support;  
● each, each other, as their Parts comport:  
●e Liver, Nurse of Natural Faculties,  
〈◊〉 warms, then feeds, the Nerves, Veins, Arteries;  
●sing the Stomach (as His Alms) receive  
●e Heat which first his virtue doth conceive:  
●e spongy Lungs with gentle Sighs inspire  
●e vital Air our Little-Worlds require:  
Heart quick and ready, with Almes-vowed Vigour,  
●wes to itself (against extremest Rigour,  
outmost Refuge) all our liveliest Heat,  
secure Nature, when Death seems to threat:  
〈◊〉 Soul (solely divine) Life's motion brings  
●all the Members of This Thing of Things,  
●ME'S Heir apparent) to Whom, supreme Sage  
●'ns Alm'ner gave the Earth for heritage;  
〈◊〉, having free received so various Store,  
●hould be frank to th'Needy, Naked, Poor.  
Be bounteous ALMNERS, said All Bounty's Father  
YE are not here Owners, but mere, Stewards rather:  
I have ordained you to provide and care  
For th' Orphan, Poor, that unprovided are.  
If, narrow-hearted, You shrink-in your hands  
From th'humble Beggar that Your ALMS demands  
I'll make Your Goods (like water) leak away;  
Your Lands, a Stranger shall inherit aye;  
Your Gold (your God) before you be ware,  
Some barbarous Soldiers in your sight shall share  
Your stately houses (styled by your Names)  
Wars rage's shall ruin, or some sudden Flames,  
Which I shall kindle (in my just displeasure)  
Against your Selves, your Seed, your Trust, your Treas●  
The Merciless, with Me shall Mercy miss:  
That Vice alone all Virtue's Poison is.  
Abram, Lot, joseph, job, were ALMNERS all  
(To Strangers kind, to Neighbours liberal)  
By sacred record, which renowns them more  
For this rare Virtue, then All else, of yore;  
As if, with GOD (the Author of all Good)  
Their chief perfection in this Function stood,  
Sole Soul of Virtues, second Life of all  
This various vast Orb, which the World we call.  
Calling to record the Rein-searching Eye,  
●er I protest that in My Poverty  
Though these dear Times deign Me so scant a Scope,  
●at having Nothing, I can Nothing hope)  
●ext my Home-charge (where Charity gins)  
●y deepest Sighs (save for my Debts and Sins)  
●se from Compassion, and Desire to steed  
●ers which Helps which yet myself I need:  
Secure Others: to be (like the Sun)  
●ending Light and Heat to Eueryone:  
●e, to All, in some sort, necessary  
●or Virtues Meed, and not as mercenary):  
●her, to give, then take; to lend, then borrow;  
Pound tonight, then but a Crown tomorrow:  
● th'heavenly Wisdom (best, itself knows Why)  
●h still th'Effect of This Affect deny,  
●rying Means and Matter, to express  
●ne inward Zeal to ALMS and Thankfulness;  
●ch oft breakes-out (without a Trumpet blown)  
ogive (GOD knows) more than I know mine Own  
●e more my Grief) the less my Thought of Merit,  
Thirst of Praise, though here I thus averr-it;  
●h'humble Proffer of so Poor a Mite,  
abundant Rich to Bounty to incite.  
Vainglorious ALMNERS are effeminate,  
Affecting Works, but to be wondredat;  
Whose Virtue is mere Vanity (indeed)  
And here receives their momentary Meed:  
The Meritorious (such as ween them so)  
Indebting GOD to Them for what they do;  
In stead of Heaven, where Humble Souls abide,  
Shall purchase Hell, the Portion of their Pride.  
O! Thrice, thrice Happy He, whose free Desires,  
To Charity a holy fervour fires:  
Who only minds GOD's glory, by his Gift,  
And Neighbor's Good; without sinister Drift:  
Famine (familiar unto Rogues that range)  
Shall not come near his Garner nor his Grange:  
His Fields, with Corn, abundant Crop shall cover  
His Vines with Grapes, his Hedge with Roses o●  
His Downs with Sheep, his Daery-grounds with Ne●  
His Mounts with Kids, his Moors with Oxen gre●  
His Groves with Droves (increasing night and day  
His Hills with Herds, his smiling Meads with Ha●  
His Fens with Fowl, his Pills and Pools with F●  
His Trees with Fruits, with Plenty every Dish:  
Content and Health (the best of Earthly bliss)  
Shall evermore remain with Him and His:  
●n, Pride nor Envy never shall molest;  
●r Corrosive Care, Foe to Repast and Rest.  
● th'All-see Eye still carefully respects  
●e ALMNER's House, and ever it protects;  
● finally, when justice endeth All,  
●et Mercy's Voice Him to Heaven's Kingdom call.  
●ut, th' Usurer (however here he thrive  
Herds and Hoards) already dead alive  
● Heat of Love, no Heart to give a Mite,  
●ept to gain and gather double by't)  
●, in That Day (to Him a Day of Woe)  
●e Holy-One, th' All-Knower will not know.  
●me and Confusion shall bespread him over,  
●ishing the Holes to hide, & Hills to cover:  
anal Fire shall fry his thirsty Veins;  
●ortal dying in eternal Pains.  
Eyes, so nice to look on Lazars Sore,  
● swim in Sulphury Tears (tortured the more,  
●ee above, in Bliss and Glory rife,  
●m, Ruth-less, here they would not see, in life):  
Ears, Here deaf unto distressed-ones,  
● there hear Horror of the Damned Groans:  
● shall the voice of Mercy Him salute,  
●o in Effect, to Needy Moans was mute:  
Millions of Masses cannot him redeem,  
Nor all Church-Treasure ever ransom him,  
From all-Thought-passing Pangs of Wretchedness;  
As, End-less, Ease-less, and Remedylesse.  
ALMNES are so usual in the Eastern parts,  
Where Heaven & Earth & Air, improve their Parts,  
That every Village there, in Winter's Need,  
Is wont the Flocks of Wyldest Fowls to feed,  
And break the Ice (of purpose) for their drink,  
When crystal Crusts have glazed the Water's brink,  
A Charity of Infidels, to Fowls;  
Shaming some Christians, towards Christian Souls.  
Rich Anatolia, and her happy Coast  
(Th'abridged Glass of all the World (almost)  
In her huge Cities (rather Shires wall'd-in)  
These hundred years hath not a Beggar seen;  
(GOD's strict Edict they there observe so well,  
Forbidding Beggars in His ISRAEL)  
Sith 'tis misprision of the Law of Nature,  
Nay, impious Pride against our All Creator,  
To suffer Man (GOD's Image, and our Own)  
Whom we may secure, to be overthrown;  
To stark for Cold, to starve for Food, to perish  
In Penury, when we have power to cherish:  
〈◊〉, in such Cases, where (we know) we can,  
●ere not to Comfort, is to Kill a Man.  
Yet, sole the Christian (Each a Wolf to other)  
●dains to look on his Distressed Brother;  
●d here, in LONDON [Coaching swiftly by;  
●stalking on, with Self-suruaying Eye;  
●strutting out, to vie his Purls or Lace:  
● stepping-in, to see some painted Face,  
Firenew Fashion of a Sleeve or Slop;  
●o some Tavern, or Tobacco- Shop;  
● towards Burn- Bull (if not Turnbul) Street;  
●to Blackfriar's, some white Nuns to meet]  
Doores, on Dunghills, under every Stall,  
● pined, sick, poor, naked Christians fall,  
●ut, starve, and dye; for lack but of the Price  
●he least Cross of his last Cast at Dice;  
Of the Tithe but of his Shoe-ties Cost;  
Of the Spangles from his Garters lost:  
Of his jetting the Canaries jig:  
●f the puffing of his Periwig.  
Times! O Manners! O mad, Murderous Vanity,  
Either Sex, of equal Inhumanity!  
●he hideous Cries of the Afflicted, fright  
usable Horrors of the silent Night,  
So that She, pierced with their piteous Case,  
Clothes them with Clouds, and lends them Ease a sp●  
The hollow Rocks, and hardest Marble Stones,  
Weep when they weep, and echo with their Groans:  
Their Shivering fits, their Fears, their Fevers make  
The Firmament, the fixed Poles, to shake:  
Yet here (alas!) th'abundant Riotous  
Are never moved: much less the Covetous  
Rich, raking Wretch; the needy-greedy Chuff,  
Whose (Hell- like) heart can never have enough;  
Who rather grinds, then gives; and beggars many  
Yer to a Beggar he afford a Penny,  
Or pennyworth, of All his plenteous Store  
When Bags, and Banks, and Barns can hold no more,  
O Times! O Manners! O mad murderous Vanity,  
In Young and Old, of equal Inhumanity!  
But, pardon, LONDON; I have ouer-slipt:  
I must recant, lest I be stripped and whipped.  
Christ-Church, S. Thomas, Bartholomew (My Fre●  
Bridewell and Bedlam, better Thee commend:  
Besides a many of peculiar Charges  
Of Companies; and more of Private Largess:  
And, above All, that black Swan (SUTTON) 's N●  
(From One, alone almost worth All the rest)  
●t new Zaccheus, who restored free  
●ld Charter-house to better CHARITY.  
● not These, ALMS? Are not These, Monuments  
●ious Zeal; of kind Beneficence?  
●ant they are (Give GOD and Men their due):  
●reuerend Green-staves, what's All This to You  
●less, as Romists by implicit Creed,  
● hope for Heaven, by Right of others Deed:  
●well with glory of your Elders Good;  
●self-Ignobles boast their Father's Blood)  
These few, dead, here a few Hundreds cherish;  
●uing, You let many Thousands perish;  
●ant, perhaps, not of your Gift, but Gain;  
●ch some, perhaps, from others Gifts restrain;  
●h (if time serve) when they can hold no more,  
● will (perhaps, the tenth-tenth-part) restore  
● they are dead; to build a Front for Five,  
●ose five Hundred they have starved, alive.  
●imes! O Manners! O mad Murderous Vanity,  
●ery Sort, of equal Inhumanity!  
ethiops and Turks against Our Rich shall rise,  
● can behold with unrelenting Eyes  
●e, Aged, Sick Souls gasping out their last;  
●ttle moved, and no more aghast  
Than is the Huntsman, when a Deer at Bay  
Doubles, in vain, and winds to get away.  
During th'old Golden, happy, harmless, Age,  
When Saturn ruled (without Satan's Rage)  
When Reason sat as judge on every Throne:  
When justice shared justly to Each his own:  
When Innocence was City's Citadel:  
Whem Charity sole swayed the Common-weal:  
Then had the heavens nothing but ALMS for E●  
Then had the Earth (which now the heavens defy)  
No other Heaven then th'only Mantle fair  
Of ALMS, bestowed by Water, Earth, and Air,  
And Fire withal; from whose fell Nature, ALM●  
Extracts the Fierceness and the Fury calms.  
ALMS was the Word th'All-perfect Artist said,  
When out of ALMS, He bade, A Heaven be mad●  
A fruitful Earth; a Lightful, heatful Fire;  
A Sighful Air (though Soule-les) to respire;  
A moistful Water, waving Changefully:  
A World (in brief) full of all Quality.  
So that (in fine) of All This All- Theatre  
ALMS is the Form, ALMS is the primer M●  
So necessary for Our Livelihood,  
That, after GOD, it is Man's Soverain-good.  
martha's and Mary's ALMS (in Bounty rife)  
●or'd their Brother to a second Life:  
●who so free the Fire-Coacht Prophet fed,  
●nd happy Guerdon; for (her Darling dead)  
Faithful ALMS, winged with his fervent Prayer,  
●rought the Breath of her Death-seized Heir.  
●LMES is the Glue of friendship's permanence:  
●of all Virtues th'only Quintessence:  
rinsed heavens Anger, 'tis an Anchor sure:  
rinsed Earth's Rage, a Rampire to endure:  
●ck of Honour, against Slanders Arms:  
●ield of safety, against hurtful Charms.  
●or, on the Man where pious Pity dwells,  
●ice can nothing, with Thessalian Spells,  
● Traitor's Poignard, nor his Powder-Wit:  
● cunning mixture of a Murderous Bit:  
● secret Wyles of cheating Hypocrites:  
● privy Thiefs, nor proud Monopolites:  
● aught, nor All, that Mischief can revolve  
●are the Heavens, or Nature to dissolve.  
●LMS calms the Winds, & gives them gentle breath:  
● War of Waves it quickly quieteth:  
●● Shoals and Shelves, from where the Siren sings,  
● ALMNER's Ship it swift and safely brings:  
When need requires, it Oars and Sails supplies;  
And, past the Pole, another Pole espies,  
To steer his Course; if what his heart doth vow  
Abroad, at home, his loyal hand allow  
In liberal ALMS unto the Needy sort  
At his Return into his wished Port.  
The Golden Table that Great Pompey piled  
From Salem, served (as sacred Vengeance willed)  
For Sword to Caesar: GOD so jealous is  
(Though Nought He needs) of what is vowed Hi●  
Th'High treasurer of ASIA's impious Rapt,  
Within the Temple was with Horror wrapped:  
And, but th'High-Priest by Prayer succoured,  
The Sacrilegious had there perished.  
So may they speed, or worse than so, that spoil  
GOD 's living TEMPLFS (by, or Gripe, or Guile  
That from their Pastor, or their PRINCE, detain  
The Tithe, or Tribute, sacred Laws ordain:  
That from the Poor their ancient Rights conceal,  
Or, in their new, with Them unjustly deal:  
That have by secret sacrilegious Theft,  
Robbed Church, or State, or holy Alms bereft:  
O! may they once, as high as Haman, mount;  
And from Mount Falcon give a sad Account  
●all the Wrongs (as Conscience them convinces)  
●ne to their GOD, their Country, Peers and Princes;  
●ile Great-ones, blinded, or as loath to spy,  
● oft their Fingers in the Golden Pie;  
● private Profit or peculiar Pleasure,  
●glecting Poor, Publik's and Prince's Treasure.  
●imes! O Manners, Most to be deploied!  
● sudden mend them, or soon end them, Lord.  
●or, if poor France fall in an All-Consumption,  
Death's sad Crisis will be This Presumption  
Private Lucre, without public Care;  
●ile Each, Self-seruing, winks at Others Share.  
●OD, for his Mercy, grant My Fears be vain:  
●rid me soon out of the Careful Pain  
●fer daily, while so few I see  
●m This Corruption's foul Contagion free:  
● would I had his bred in humblest Thatch,  
●re of the loigns of one that Sprats doth catch;  
●oor in Wit, as not of power to know  
●impious Trains that Empires overthrow:  
happily, more dull of head and heart,  
●●ould I feel un-feeling France's Smart;  
● says herself by Selves- Disloyalties,  
●ng no Foe but her Own Avarice,  
With Pride her Partner, and Impunity,  
Their strong Abettor: Which Triumvirs  
Is able, sole, and soon, to ruinated  
And raze the Glory of the greatest State;  
Or bury it quick i'th' Tomb of careless Princes  
That wink, or shrink under their Insolences,  
Robbing themselves of th'honour and Renown  
Which heavens entail unto a happy Crown.  
But, if I can be willing not to dye,  
'Tis, out of hope, to see the Company  
Of Sacrilegious roundly go-to-pot,  
Exposed in public to some shameful Lot,  
When our Great Hercules (All monsters Dread)  
Shall have cut-off the Golden Hydra's head;  
For an eternal Trophy of his Glory,  
And Argument of an Immortal Story.  
But, now return we to our Theme, from whence,  
Our Charity (through Zeal's too-Vehemence)  
Seems to have strayed. Yet 'twas mere ALMS did mo●  
My grieved Verse These Guilty to reprove;  
To turn their hearts to GOD, and to their King;  
Their private Heaps for public Helps to bring,  
Against th'Ambition of some Foxie Foe,  
That by ourselves, ourselves would overthrow;  
●t by his Arms, but by his ALMS, to Some:  
●, golden Lances, oft have overcome.  
Dear Patriots, That Spightfull ALMS disdain, 
see M● Fra● Ral● fol.   
●ich brings you Crowns; but 'tis Our Crown to gain:  
●th Groves of Honours seems your brows t'imboss;  
● 'tis to grace her Profit and your Loss:  
●ich decks the Church, and doth the Mass adorn;  
●, by the Mass, 'tis but to serve her Turn:  
●res (in show) both PETER's Chair and Keys;  
● if they Open and shut not as she please,  
Charity and Her Devotion dye:  
Her Religion is but Policy;  
Soul, but State; Her Life, but Rules-Desire,  
●ose Heat hath set all Europe on a Fire.  
●ilus (that serves for Rain, to th' Abyssine,  
● lightfoot Memphite, and the Canopine)  
apples with his ALMS the Choler's fervency  
Earth and Air, which there the Sun doth fry:  
●aters the Plains which Orion parcheth aye  
●th twinkling Sparkles of his heatfull Ray:  
●npers the torrid Aethiopian Zone:  
●s to have Life, though it indeed have none,  
●e that of ALMS; sole Cause efficient  
●is fat Liquor, Africk's Nourishment.  
The Heavens, as jealous of so Bounteous Gifts,  
Would shut-vp Nile within Godonian Cliffs:  
And Nature, envious of this Africa Prince  
His lavish Largess and Magnificence,  
Fronts him with Hills that seem to threat the Stars,  
(As if renewing the old Titan's Wars)  
That one would think, amid the Mountains thick,  
Nilus were bay'd-vp, if not buried quick.  
But by the Power which makes him charitable,  
He finds, that ALMS to force the Heavens are a●  
He therefore, rushing, and out-roaring Thunder,  
Surrounds the Rocks that ween to keep him under▪  
And with his swift Course breaks the Cataracts,  
Deafening withal the Parthians and the Bacts.  
Pactolus, Ganges, and the golden Tay,  
Not only steep their Strands, ennammeld gay  
With various Tindge of thousand Flowers and m●  
sown on the surface of their winding Shore:  
But, for a richer ALMS, they Gold bestow,  
As needful now, as Reason (well we know)  
In This Gold-Iron Age; where, who so wants  
Almighty Gold, but Scorn and Scandal haunts.  
When Androde fled his cruel Master's Fist,  
And cause-less Fury (but for Had-I-wist)  
●id the horror of the Woods he meets  
●re ALMS & Mercy then in ROME'S proud streets:  
●ere found he Man, to Man of brute Immanity;  
●er finds he Brutes of mildness and humanity:  
〈◊〉 Lord, there paid his service but with Blows;  
●ion, here him double grateful shows:  
●to the Beast had shown him serviceable;  
〈◊〉 Beast to Him seems much more charitable.  
〈◊〉 having long with his Best Prey's maintained him,  
〈◊〉 in his Den, as dear Guest, entertained him,  
● (two years after) also saves his Life  
●osd (in sport) to Fight and Fury rife  
〈◊〉 Man, and Beast, whom (forced) Hunger, there,  
●ld never force The Slave to touch or tear:  
〈◊〉 th'awful Lion (which such M●n may shame)  
〈◊〉 safely reskues from Rome's bloody Game.  
〈◊〉 noble Lion! thou hast brought to pass,  
●ost yield to old Pythagoras,  
●is Opinion of Metempsychosis,  
●s-animation (so the Word composes)  
●oules deceased, to Bodies good or bad,  
●eer, Delight in Good or Ill they had.  
〈◊〉 durst ●cely in his Doctrine wander,  
●uld suppose Thee second Alexander;  
And that, a Beast, his Habits still are one  
As when a Man and King of Macedon.  
But, leaving Forests, Floods, Fields, Earth & A●  
Whose ALMS already have appeared fair;  
Shall we yet mount among the Wand'ring Seven,  
And see how constant They to ALMS are given  
There shall we find Man's monstrous Self-resisti●  
Being made of Alms, all by mere Alms subsisting  
Beasts, Birds & Plants, Roots, Reptiles, Days & Nig●  
Have second Being from These Heavenly Lights;  
From Whom ourselves, flat Beggars, borrowed ha●  
The Best that makes our Worse part so brave:  
The Sea's their Subject, and th'All-bearing Earth  
Without their ALMS can bring us nothing forth  
Saturn is kind to Merchants, Mariners,  
Storm-wonted Fishers, stooping Labourers,  
Careful Householders, curious Architects;  
And every one that Gain with Pain respects.  
Mild jupiter (more bounteous) Beauty gives,  
Sweet graceful Port, fresh Health (that happy liue●  
ALMONER of Virtues, storing Man with Graces  
Most Angellike, and meet for highest Places:  
Kings, Counsellors, Lords, Princes, Magistrates,  
Hold, after GOD, of Him their High estates.  
Mars, surest Patron of Sarmatians stout,  
●f part of AFRICA, and the Southern Rout;  
●igh daily gives them millions of Delights,  
●nd makes them naked make a thousand Fights.  
●ll Arts, wherein are Fire or Iron required,  
●f his sole Alms are to our Life acquired.  
Sol's Soul of Alms; who, richly Liberal,  
●iues him to All, yet cannot give him all:  
●reat Season-Bounder, artificial Dresser  
●f Years and Days, the even and only Sessor  
●f Times rich Alms, which by his Heat he varies,  
●fter the Inns wherein he Monthly tarries:  
●is Bounty most is bend unto Musicians,  
●ards, Poets, Leeches, Herbarists, Physicians.  
Venus, each Morning, with a gentle Ray  
●shers the Sun, and Summons us away  
from lazy Beds (our Bodies living Graves)  
when Day gins to issue from the Waves.  
●er Alms goes chief to the preservation  
●f Nature's Powers, and Parts of Generation:  
smooth smiles she gives, sweet, cheerful charming Ein  
●oue is Her Gift; a Gift indeed divine.  
Quick Mercury, great Atlas' Daughter's Son,  
wit's treasurer, Well of Invention,  
He gives us Arts, Knowledge; and Floquence,  
Which steals us oft from Reason and from Sense:  
A bounteous ALMONER of Astronomy,  
Rare (for the most) unto Man's feeble Eye;  
Who, yet unseen feels (almost every hour)  
Hundred Effects of its admired power;  
A Power which cannot be sufficient shown  
By Verse or Voice (unless by Hermes own)  
For All that at this Day makes hunger fly  
(Gold, Silver, Bras●) is drawn from Mercury.  
Cynthia, adored with hundred Fumes and Flames;  
Honoured (abroad) by more than hundred Names;  
She gives us Humours more or less abounding,  
As in her Course her Fall or Full is rounding:  
She fashions Time; which She again defaces  
With constant ●urnes of her inconstant Faces:  
She sways the Floods, and shows (by Evidence)  
Herself sole Law of liquid Elements:  
She forms, by Night, the fresh and fruitful Dew,  
Which every morning Flora's Budds doth streaw;  
Whose Purled Pearls are ever bigger found  
And more, the more Lucina waxeth ●ound.  
In brief, All, given to ALMS & Liberality,  
They All teach Man the same supernal Quality,  
●owards the Needy, that doth nought possess,  
●d from his Cradle brought but wretchedness,  
●t Sin and Death; had not Heavens ALMS been shed  
〈◊〉 bloody Bath, to White This Monster's Red;  
Monster, made of Earth, for Earth still burning,  
〈◊〉 though to Earth he see him hourly turning.  
Yea; proudest Kings have had no other Birth  
●en poorest Beggars: Both begin of Earth;  
●th like in Cries, in Perils, and in Pain;  
●th alike Guilty in their Grandsire's Stain:  
●th, as in Birth, so in their Death alike:  
●th Kings and Beggars one same Dart doth strike;  
●th pass together, in one self same Boat,  
●om th'arched Palace and the thatched Coat.  
〈◊〉 that, in Life whatever Odds there be;  
Birth is None: None in their Death, we see.  
Only, the Good (of what Degree soever)  
●e free from Death; & though they die, die never;  
●ue to the Grief of Virtuous Souls (their Friends)  
●hom, to survive the Good, it here offends:  
●ean, in Body, which a Death they hold,  
〈◊〉 Toomb, or Prison, that doth Them withhold  
●om th' Happy Haven; & makes them less inclined  
●o seek their GOD, & his straight Ways to find.  
The Good are They, who, not alone not wring;  
Who not alone not wrong, in any thing;  
Who not alone not hurt; but (from their heart)  
Do Good to Others; and their Own impart  
In liberal Alms unto the Poor's Relief,  
After their power; as grieved with their Grief.  
Such shall not dye, but to live ever Blessed:  
Such shall not live, but to dye here possessed  
Of Grace, and Glory with th'ETERNAL GOD,  
Author of Alms; and ever-scourging Rod  
Of Such Gold-heaped, Iron-hearted Wretches  
As to the Poor impart no part of Riches;  
Nor lend, nor Lodge, nor cloth, nor free, nor feed  
Distressed CHRIST, in His dear Saints, that need.  
Such shall not live, but to dye double martyred:  
Such shall not dye, but to live ever tortured  
In Hell and Horror, without End, or Ease.  
Now, Worldlings, choose You which you will of These  
Fines.   

THE BATAIL of YURY: OR THE BREAK-NECK of The Hellish-Holy League; In That famous Victory won By HENRY the Great; Written By Du BARTAS: Translated, & Dedicated TO The Right Honourable, RICHARD, EARL of DORSET, By ●OSVAH SYLVESTER.   

TO The Right Honourable Earl of Dorset.  
●S th'awful Child, that long hath truanted,  
Dares not return unto the School, alone;  
●or Shame & Fear to be there discipled  
●ith many Stripes for many Faults in One:  
●ares (my Lord) My long Omission  
●f th'humble Thanks I ought have tendered  
●or kind Endeavours You bestowed upon  
My Right, my Wrong to have recovered.  
●d, as (in fine) He brings his Mother forth  
To beg Forgiveness, or his Fault to 'scuse:  
●o bring I beer My deer DUBARTAS Worth,  
immediate for My too-faultie Muse;  
Whom deign to pardon: and in gentle Part  
Accept This last of His, not least in Art.  
Your Lordship's most Obliged, josuah Sylvester.   

Ad eundem Comitem Illustrissimum (Nuper ex Gallijs reducem) EPIGRAMMA Ex Lat. I. O.  
●Yer's Change hath changed (which but rare doth chance)  
Your good, to best; in Science and in Sense:  
●er and better, and Both, from FRANCE:  
Welcome, Great Earl: few are so Well come Thence.  
Eiusdem 
 Clarissimi, 
 ANAGRAMMATA: 
 Clarus, Divis Charus; 
 Richardus Sacvilus: 
 Is Clarus, diu Charus.  
Exoptat I. S.   

THE BATTLE of YURY.  
O! What a Sunshine gilds us, roundabout!  
O! What a Hymn of Triumph troll they out,  
●ll our Temples! o! What cheerful noise!  
●●at Bells! What Bonfires! o! What Publique-Ioyes!  
〈◊〉 Day is Ours: and on the Leaguers head,  
●●e angry heavens have their just Vengeance shed.  
●●e smooth my Brows & You, my throbing thoughts  
●●●ong, deeply sunk in Sorrow's sable Vaults)  
●●…r-vp to Heaven: You Sisters Three-fold-Three,  
●●…o of late Years have scarce vouchsafed Me  
〈◊〉 wet my lips: Now sweetly steep my Tongue  
●our best Syrups: pour, upon This Song,  
●…eaw of Gold, a May of learned Flowers.  
〈◊〉 not mine Eyes, blubbered with private Showers,  
●●…sse public Glee: nor (silent) Me conceal,  
●●ile Others sing, These Trophies of our Weal.  
Ah! now gins my rapted Brain to boil  
●h brave Invention: Now's the fittest while  
〈◊〉 my Career. Others may hold their tongue;  
〈◊〉 hardly can great joys be hidden long.  
But now; How, Where, of What, shall I begin  
This Gold-grownd Web to wove, to warp, to spin●  
For here I list not, in these leaves, my Lord,  
The famous Facts of thy first Arms record;  
So many, and so numbery Armies scattered,  
So many Towns defenced, so many battered  
By Thy young Valour. Neither shall my Pen  
Re-purple Lisle; nor with dead Grease again  
Re-soile the Soil at Courtras: neither (dread)  
Hear reave again thy Rageful Foes of Head.  
Nor shall my Muse relate, how that erewhile  
(Abusing King's and Church's sacred style)  
All EUROPE nigh (all sorts of Rights reneged)  
Against the Truth and Thee, un-holy leagued;  
While Thou (a Prince, nor having Men, nor Treasu●  
But poor, in All; save rich in Hope past measure)  
Resemblest right one of thy Hills in Foix,  
Which stands all Storms, firmed by it selves sad poise  
Boldly beholds the frowning Vpper-Stage,  
Disdaining Winds, deriding Wether's rage:  
And with his brows cleaving the proudest Thunder  
With knobbed knees still keeps it bravely under.  
Nor may I now our Thoughts clear Heaven o'r-ca●  
With Cloudy Theme of Miscries forepast.  
Nor cruelly begin again to lance  
New-skinned wounds, to the new grief of France.  
Sing Others Those: Me shall suffice to sing,  
That in few Months, since Thou wert here Our King,  
Thy valiant hand hath more strong places won  
Then Both the Sides in thirty years have done.  
Though Swarms besieged, in number did surmount  
Besieging Troops, in so unequal count,  
That oft there seemed of Foes more Troops (almost)  
Then single Soldiers in thy Royal Host.  
Thou seemest a Lightning, & thy nimble Bands  
Fellow thy will rather with wings, than hands;  
And imped with plumes of Honor-thirsting minds,  
Are bravely born with Thy Good-fortunes winds:  
Thou cam'st, saw'st, ouercam'st, as swift well near  
As these swift Words I have digested here.  
Only, near Arques, for few days, the Foe  
Thine Expeditions somewhat doth foreslowe:  
But as a Torrent, whose proud stream for stop,  
Hath the thick height of some new Causwaies top;  
The Bottom undermines, beats on the shore,  
And still (in vain) adds Forces more and more,  
Till, at the last, aided with Showers and Snows,  
Fel, foaming, loud, his Prison overthrows,  
Tears Bridges down, bears away Mounds & Mills,  
And having won the Valleys, threats the Hills;  
Swells as a Sea, & in his furious Pother  
Takes Land from some, & giveth more to other:  
So thou re-Campst, runnest rushest, ruinest  
Holds, Houses, Towns, & never ●oost thou rest,  
Till rebel Paris, pale for guilty Fear,  
Behold thy Face with too-iust Fury there,  
In her vast Suburbs; Suburbs flanked strong;  
Suburbs, whose streets with Soldiers thickly throng:  
Thou tak'st Estamps: & losing scarce a man,  
Thy martial Troops ingrateful Vandosme wan.  
Man's is assailed, and taen; Falaise, Eureux:  
Maine follows those; & after that Lizieux,  
And Honfleur too, stoop to thy Sacred Flowers.  
And now began thy Sulphury Thunder-flowers  
To batter Dreux: when as the Leaguers Chief,  
Puffed with some new Supplies, & fresh Relief,  
From fatal Philip (who right Foxie-Wise,  
Wide yawning still after so rich a Prize;  
Ambitious waits, nor wishes nothing more,  
Then that our Great each other enter-gore,  
In Civil Rage; that at the easier rate,  
Himself may snatch the Price of Their debate)  
Draws near thine Host. Then, Thou, whose Fear was great  
Lest He too-feard thee, fainedst a Retreat,  
Seemest loath to fight, seemest thy haut Heat to slack;  
And, to leap further, stepst a little back.  
Thou stopst, He flies; Thou followst, than He stands:]  
And now, both Sides for Battle range their Bands:  
They seem two Forests: ever Chief, apart,  
Darrains his Troops with order, speed, and art.  
The Lightning-flash from swords, casks, courtilaces,  
With quivering beams beguilds the neighbour grasses  
As th'Host of Stars, which shine above so bright,  
Bespangles rich the Mantle of the Night.  
The Soldier now looks sterner than of long;  
Rage in his Eyes, fell outrage on his Tongue,  
Iron on his back, Steel in his hand: and fell  
Erynnis makes in YURY Fields her Hell.  
There's nothing heard but Drums, Fifes, Trumpets noise,  
But sharp-shril neighs, but dreadful Tempests voice.  
Terror and Horror over all are spread;  
Horror's there lovely, and there sweet is Dread:  
Already fight they with their voice and gest;  
Already Horsemen couch their staffs in rest;  
Much like a Lion, meeting hand to hand,  
Some savage Bull, upon the Desert sand;  
Th'one, with wide nostrils, foaming wrathful heat,  
With loud proud bellowes, with a thundrous threat  
Defies his Foe; tosses his head on high,  
Wounds with his hoofs the Earth, with horns the sky:  
Th'other, as furious, from as fiery Throat  
Roaring, replies him with more hideous note;  
Under his horrid Front, in ghastly-wise  
He rolls the Brands of his fierce-flashing Eyes;  
Rearing his Crest, he rears his courage stout,  
And whets his Rage, whisking his train about.  
The Canon's primed, discharged, handstrokes begin:  
Friends, fellows, neighbours, brothers, cousins, kin,  
Lose all respects; save only where they may,  
Deep, deadly Wounds, worthy their Rage, repay.  
But, Northwest wind, under the weeping Kid,  
Never so thick his volleys racqueted,  
Of bounding Balls of Ice-pearl slippery shining,  
On those high Hills my Gascony confining,  
As here rain Bodies, here hail lumps of Lead,  
Making a flood of Blood; a mount of Dead.  
Torn Limbs, tossed Truncheons, Shiuers, Fire, & Smoke,  
As with thick clouds, both Armies round be-cloak:  
Th'Earth quakes for fear, the Air recoileth quick,  
And Pluto's self seems to look pale and sick.  
This Side advances now, and now retreats:  
That, lost but now; and now the better gets.  
For, yet (JOVE'S issue) Victory (begert  
With Sword by-side, & Trump behind, athwart;  
Her head with crowns, her hands with sceptres fraught,  
Her costly Robe with many Conquests wrought,  
Nourished with Palms, figured with Towns about,  
embossed with Ensigns, with Assaults set-out)  
●lyes to and fro; from Camp to Camp she plies,  
●nd in her hand she leads triumphantwise  
●weet-rapting Glory, full of cheerful grace,  
●o either Side showing her lovely Face.  
O Sons of Mars! which, which of you this day,  
●●s worthy Spouse, shall bear for Bride, away  
●his Beauteous Love? Who, by her side shall lie?  
Who, of her Kiss the balmy Bliss shall try?  
thrice happy He: Him shall the Kings adore;  
●im shall the Nobles humbly bow before:  
●im shall the Vulgar (as a Sea it were)  
●ollow, and flock about: and everywhere  
●is famous Face shall set-aworke the chief  
●f Pencils, gravers, Chisels, Moulds: in brief,  
●e shall be Sum of an admired Story;  
●nd every Age shall celebrate his glory:  
His high renown shall only bounded be  
With the World's bounds, and with Eternity.  
Thus having said, into their breasts she blew  
No common Heat, but Fits of Fury new:  
Here Number wins, there Courage, & there Art:  
And yet Good-fortune falls to Either part:  
As when the spiteful sullen Earth hath meant  
War with the Floods, war with the Firmament,  
Sh'incites, inflames, sets-on, in newfound Duel,  
I●e-bearded Boreas, Storm-armd Auster cruel;  
Floods float uncertain, & the Clouds do vary  
Wither it pleases Either Blast to carry:  
Till th'one at last, the other conquering,  
Become air's Tyrant, & the Water's King.  
But, lo My Liege: o Courage! there he comes:  
What ray of Honour round about him looms!  
O! what new Beams from his bright eyes do glance!  
O Princely Port! Presagefull Countenance  
Of Hap at hand! He doth not nicely prank  
In clinquant Pomp (as some of meanest Rank)  
But armed in Steel; that bright abilliment  
Is his rich Valours sole rich Ornament.  
Steel was his Cradle, under Steel he dight  
His Chin with Down, in Steel gins it white:  
And yet, by Steel he conquers, bravely-bold,  
Towns, cities, states, crowns, sceptres, goods & gold.  
Yet, void of Mark, He doth not hide him quite  
Amid the Throng a Plume dread-dancing light  
●eclowds his Cask; & like a Willow shows;  
Which, pruned below, close by a River grows,  
And hath no sooner heavens calm favour lost,  
But instantly his Tops green Tuffe is ●ost,  
Now up, now down, & waves (as please the Wind)  
Now to, now fro; now forward, now behind.  
Thus (to be known) Invincible by Force,  
He, with six hundred, charged six thousand Horse.  
The first that felt his arm and Falchion keen,  
Was, blindly-bold, a Warrior that did ween  
Himself as stout, as strong; as strong, as great;  
And, daring so, ' undaunted HENRY met;  
Who offers pressed his Pistol in his Face,  
Which would not off, although it fired a space.  
Whence somewhat moved, with angry voice (qed he)  
Hence guileful Arms: the glittering Sword for Me:  
And draws withal; then nimbly tossing light  
The flashing Horror of his Falchion bright  
Like an Autumnal ruddy-streaming Star  
Presaging Famine, Pestilence, and War)  
Copes with his Foe, th'Assailant he assaults,  
And resolute observes his Arms defaults:  
At last, betwixt his Breastplate & his Bases,  
Seeks for his Soul, there finds, & thence it chases.  
Go, happy Soul, go tell the news beneath,  
How thou we●t honoured, to have had thy death  
By th'only hand of th' Hercules of FRANCE,  
Th'invincible (for, such a Death, perchance,  
Shall more extol thy famous Memory,  
Then to have won some other Victory):  
Say, here revives a MARTEL, Foes to maul;  
And that ORLANDO rules again in Gaul.  
But, Thou go'st not alone: this deadly Fray  
Thou but beginnest, as Prologue of his Play.  
He deals about as many Deaths as Blows,  
He hacks, heaws, hurts all; all he overthrows,  
Swifter than Wind, or Canonshot, or Thunder,  
Trees, towns, & towers, turns up, beats down, brings under.  
One place, 1. push, 1. deed, 1. death, 1. wound,  
Cannot suffice, nor his brave Fury bound:  
He lays on All; and fiery-fierce, and stout,  
A hundred ways cross-carues the Field about;  
All fall, in fine, but fall not all alike,  
Some did he thrill, some thwart, some downright strike.  
●t, as a Lion, in Numidian Field,  
●ing awhile on trembling Herds that yield;  
●he hear a Bear's noise near about,  
●ing his Ears & Crest, he roareth-out;  
●es Lambs, Kids, Kine; glad he encountered hath  
Object worthier of his noble Wrath:  
●match-less Prince, descrying Duke De maine,  
●e● vulgar blood, and speeds to Him amain;  
●ough thickest troops of stoutest men at-arms,  
●ough horse & foot, through shot, pikes, Ensigns, Arms  
●●t●rs Him: on Him his load he lays;  
●round about on every side assays,  
●e● his Arms, to seek in every part  
● heart which only gave the Leaguers hart.  
●t, dreading his disdain, Demayne withdrew:  
● all his Hopes so sudden dashed, did rue:  
〈◊〉 at his past Bliss, full of careful toil,  
●ing the Field, new witness of his Foil.  
〈◊〉, YURY out of sight, he Mante approaches:  
〈◊〉 ea●y horse, his weary rowel broochs,  
〈◊〉, in ●●k-winded, crest-faln, sweaty-swelted,  
〈◊〉 his grease in and without him melted,  
●●g his cares, hanging his head and neck,  
spur he stirs no more, than stock or stick.  
O, noble Duke! o wherefore fliest Thou?  
What Panik Terror daunts thy Valour now?  
Thy constant Face what paints with pale Affright?  
Alas! thou lackest not Courage here, but Right.  
The Cause confounds thee: CHARLES, yet stay & sta●  
To HENRY's mercy; humbly kiss his hand.  
If red Revenge, for thy dead brethren's chance,  
Made thee take Arms: what's that (alas!) to France  
What, to This King? whose heart & hands are kno●  
From both their Bloods as clear as are thine Own.  
If 'twere Ambition, mought'st thou not expect  
From Him, that knows how Virtue to respect,  
And can, as King, magnifikly advance  
His faithful Servants, & the Friends of France,  
More Honour & Reward, then from the rude  
Poor, giddy, gross, ingrateful Multitude;  
Of many Heads, of more than many Minds,  
Leaking in every Storm, led with all Winds;  
Who pay with Death, or Exile (at the best)  
Their Dions, Photions', Camills, and the rest:  
Whose Rule is Rage; Who (Ivie-like) in time  
Decay the Tower whereby themselves did climb.  
If it were Fear to find His favours gate  
Now barred too-fast for thee to enter at;  
O! was there ever known more gracious King,  
Forgetting Ill-turnes; Good remembering!  
He rather would, by Benefits, then Blows,  
Reduce his Rebels. When his Fury glows,  
'Tis but as Straw-fire: while he strikes, he sighs,  
And (for the most part) from his Enemies  
Draws not more blood, then tender Tears withal  
From his own Eyes: His Spirit's void of Gall  
(Peculiar Gift, hereditary Grace,  
The heavens have given unto the Bourbon's Race):  
And never did the all-discerning Sun,  
Which daily once about the World doth run,  
Behold a Prince religiously more loath  
To shake, for aught, his Honor-binding Oath.  
Offer my Liege the german Empery,  
Spayn's Diadem, the Turks Grand-Signorie,  
Yea, make Him Monarch of the World, by wile;  
he'll spurn all Sceptres, yet his Faith he file.  
But, 'tis (sayest Thou) for the Faith Catholic.  
Why▪ who Commands in matters Politic?  
Who in his Camp? but such as more than Thou  
●ith Tooth & Nail Rome's Vatican avow?  
●es not his Name for Refuge, everywhere  
●●uring Priesthood from all Force and Fear?  
No Athëisme, He, nor Superstition scents:  
he's a right Christian and religious Prince.  
He firm believes, that GOD's reformed Awe,  
He from his Cradle, with his milk did draw:  
Yet, is not partial, nor prejudicate.  
And, if the Church, now nearly ruinated,  
By our profane hands, our strife-stirring Quills,  
May ever look for a Redress of Ills;  
If it may ever hope to re-procure  
A holy and a happy Peace, to dure;  
It shall be, doubtless, under such a Prince,  
So free from Passions blinded Vehemence.  
Back, to the Battle, Muse, now cast about:  
Ah! there they fly; there all are in a Rout:  
All's full of Horror, full of Ruth and Fear,  
Full of Disorder, and Confusion there:  
There, none obey; there none at all command,  
There every Soldier makes apart his Band.  
The ample Plain is covered all about  
With casks, swords, muskets, pikes; and the most stout  
To darkest Groves carry their Deaths conceived,  
In deepest Holes bury their Deaths received.  
The Victor follows, over-takes anon;  
Fears not the way the Flyers feared t'have gone.  
The most he fears, is least Some's shiftfull fear,  
Other's despair, find out for safety there,  
●om Flat, some Ford, some Bank, some bridge, some way  
●o pass the Eure: but pressed with Dismay,  
●ll breath-less, panting in a desperate haste  
●hem here and there, into the River cast.  
Th'immortal Nymph NAVONDA azure-eyed,  
Qu●en of that Crystal, and that Currents Guide;  
●r'd with their noise, above the water bushes  
●●e dropping Head, in Caule of weeping Rushes.  
●! whence (qd she) whence comes this iron spawn?  
Those Metall-men? Fron what mount Gibel drawn?  
●hat Vulcan gave, What Myron lent (I pray)  
●el, life, to stir; to Iron, breath, to neight?  
●eace, Monsters, hence (Wars dreadful work-manship:  
●ith bloody dews your Mother-Earth be-dip;  
●d let us gently, without stop, or stain,  
〈◊〉 meet our Tritons, roll into the Main.  
Her voice doth vanish, in so various noise:  
●s with his Own, that with his Armours poise,  
●s instantly: Some have, in stead of graves,  
●ught but their Steeds, their Steeds no tombs but waves.  
〈◊〉, more dismayed, for Skiff their targets take,  
●oars their arms; their sail their plumes they make:  
But, greedy Whirlpools, ever-wheeling round,  
Suck in at once, Oars, Sails, & Ships to ground.  
Those that, by chance, scape to the other Shore,  
Changing their place, change not their case the more.  
Dikes, Bridges broken, Cities, Rampires cast,  
Cannot secure their more than headlong Hast.  
Did any Squadrons dare thy Conquest cross,  
They but increased Thine Honour, & their Loss.  
Witness the Band of Spanish-Belgian Foes,  
Under three Ensigns marching strongly close;  
Whom, Thou, the fifteenth, chargest; beatest down  
That mighty Body; sudden overthrown;  
Even as a Galley, in smooth Sea subdues  
The tallest Ship that in The straits doth use:  
Or as a jennet in his nimble Speed  
Oft overturns the strongest Germane Steed.  
Thou heaw'st, beatest, breakest down: Thou conquest  
Till dusky Night have robbed thee quite of Day;  
And Death, of Foes. Th' Helvetian Bands alone,  
Loath to disgrace their ancient Valour known,  
Against the Victor their steel Staffs' address,  
As most Courageous in the most distress:  
But, soon the Lightning of thy Martial eyes  
Their Diamantine hearts dissolves to Ice;  
That Ice to Water, That to Vapour vain:  
And Those whom Death rather than Fear could strain,  
●hose, those that never turned their backs at all,  
●t to Wars- Phoenix, Conqueror of Gaul,  
Those King-correcting, Tyrant-scourging Braves,  
●ast at thy feet their Bodies and their Staffs.  
Thou, then, as loath perpetually to brand  
People so loyal to the Lilies Land,  
●lming the rage of thy just hearts disdain,  
●heir Colours to their Cornets giv'st again.  
O! proudest Trophy, which all Trophies passes!  
Brows, whom Bays eternal tress embraces!  
evincible! o more than Royal Breast,  
●ho, of Thyself, & Triumph, tryumphest!  
●o pleasest All: with Victory thine Host,  
●y Foes with Grace: Both with thy Glory, most.  
Earth's Ornament, Thou Honour of our Times,  
● on the wings of mine Heroik Rhymes,  
●●ran● Exploit be bravely borne about:  
●y all our Commons (commonly too-stout)  
●●o bred in Brawls, in Broils, & Insolence,  
●od, as at gaze, distracted in suspense,  
●●pecting th'Issue of This dreadful Fight,  
●●ke their due profit, & apply it right.  
May now the Nobles freely grant, for true,  
That the World's Empire to Thy Worth is due:  
That, now they have Wise happy Prince for Head:  
That, by This Battle Thou hast rendered  
To Them th●● Rank, revenged the King deceased,  
Restored the State, & captive France released.  
May now the Clergy ingenuously confess,  
God on Thy Side, giving Thy Right Success;  
Crowning Thy Virtues, & with sacred Oil  
Of his own Spirit anointing Thee the while.  
May now (in brief) All Frenchmen say & sing,  
Thou art, Thou ought'st, Thou only canst be King.  
But, o! some Gangrene, Plague, or Leprosy,  
O'respreads us all: a Brand of Mutiny  
Barnes France to Ashes. And but Thou (unidle)  
Bear'st-vp so hard this stumbling Kingdoms Bridle;  
Our State (yerst honoured where the Sun doth rise)  
Would fly in Sparks, or die in Atoms.  
Priests strike the Fire, the Nobles blow the Coal  
Of this Consumption: People (peevish whole)  
Pleased with the Blaze, do, wretched-witched Elves,  
For fuel (fools) cast-in their willing Selves.  
O Clergy (mindless of your Cure and Coat)  
Becomes it you to cut your Prince's throat?  
To kill your King? Who, in the Womb (of kin  
To Thousand Kings) that Office did begin:  
Who, for Your Law, Your Altars, & Your Honours,  
Hath ventured oft his blood in many manners:  
Who, as devout to Rome, as any Man,  
Feared most your roaring Bulls of Vatican:  
And canonize amid the sacred Roll  
Of glorious Saints a Patricidiall Soul,  
Whose bloody hand had stabbed with baneful knife  
The Lords Anointed, & Him rest of life?  
Ignoble Nobles, see You not (alas!)  
Your King supplanting, you yourselves abasse?  
And, while you raze this Royal Monarchy,  
You madly raise a monstrous Anarchy,  
A Chaos rude; still whetting, day and night,  
Against yourselves, the People's proud Despite;  
Who hate the Virtuous, & have only Hope  
T'ensue the Swissers too-rebellious Scope?  
And Thou fond People, Who (before a Father,  
A wise, just, King; a valiant Monarch) rather  
Tak'st hundred Tyrants: who, with tusks fell,  
Will suck thy marrow out, & crack thy shell:  
To whom the Gold, from India's bowels brought,  
Or mid the Sands of shining Tagus sought,  
Seems not so good, as doth the Gold they fet  
From out thy Womb, or what thy Tears shall wet.  
No, no: the French, or Deaf, or Lethargik,  
Feel not their danger, though thus deadly Sick:  
Or, if they live and feel; they, frantic, arm  
Against their Leech that fain would cure their harm,  
Applying many sound-sweet Medicines fit:  
But They, the more increase their furious Fit.  
Yet, Courage HENRY, six thy Thoughts heeron,  
Pursue (brave Prince) thy Cure so well begun:  
And, sith so little, gentle Plasters thrive,  
Let it be lanced, lay-on the Corrosive:  
C●oke me This Hydra whence such Monsters sprout,  
And with thy Fam● fill me the World about.  
Fellow thy Fort●●e: Hills most lofty-browd,  
Stoop to thy Steps; swift Rivers, swelling proud,  
Dry-up before thee: Armies, full of Boast,  
Like Vapours vanish at Thy sight, almost.  
Yea, at thy Name alone, the strongest Wall,  
And m●ss●●st Towers shake (as afraid) & fall.  
But yet, My Liege, beware how Thou expose  
Thy blood so oft among thy bloody Foes:  
Be not too-lavish of thy Life; but weigh,  
That Our Good-Hap on Thine dependeth aye.  
But, if Thou light regard This low Request  
Of Thy Fame's Trumpet; list how France (at least)  
Presents her to thee: not as Once She was  
(When Baltik Seas within Her bounds did pass:  
When Nile & Euphrate, as Her Vnder-Realms,  
Through fruitful Plains rolled tributary streams:  
When to proud Spaniards She did Kings allow;  
And to Her Laws imperial ROME did bow)  
But, lean & lank, bleak, weak, & all too-torn,  
And in a Gulf of Miseries forlorn.  
Dear Son (saith She) nay, My Defender rather,  
My Staff, my Stay, my second-founding Father;  
For Grief, and Fury, I should desperate die,  
I should Self stab-mee, I should shamefully  
Stop mine own breath, to stint these Cares of mine▪  
Wert Thou not Mine (my Liege) were I not Thine.  
Therefore, dear Spouse, be of thy Life less lavish;  
Let not, My Lord, Fame's greedy Thirst so ravish  
Thy dauntless Courage into Dangers need-less,  
Nor, too-too-hardy hazard Thee so heed-less.  
A brave, great Monarch in Youth's heat behoves,  
Once, twice, or thrice, to show Courageous proues:  
For, Prowess is bright Honours bravest Gate,  
Yea, the first Step, whereby the Fortunate  
Climb Glory's Mount: & nothing more (in brief)  
Fires Soldier's Valour, than a Valiant Chief.  
But afterward, he must more wary war,  
And with his Wit, ofter than Weapon, far:  
His spirits contenting with the pleasing-paine,  
No● of a Soldier, but Soueraign● 〈…〉  
My So● too often hath thine own hand dealt  
Too-many Blows which thousands yerst have felt:  
My Liege, too-often hast Thou toiled Thee  
For Honour's Prize: brave Prince, My Victory  
Not in thine Arms strength, but ●hy Years length lies;  
Thy Life, my Life, Thy Death, my Death implies.  
If Thou, thyself neglect, respect Me though,  
At least some Pity to thy Country show.  
Weigh, weigh my sad plight, if untimely Death  
Should (o, untimely!) reave My HENRY's breath:  
Even like a widow-Ship, her Pilot lost,  
Her Rudder broke, in rageful Tempest tossed  
Against the horned Rocks, or horrid Banks,  
Hoaring the Shore with her dispersed Planks.  
But, if toomuch Heart, of thy life too-careless,  
Too-soon expose thee not to Sisters-spareless,  
I hope to flourish more than e'er in Arts,  
Wealth, Honours, Manners, Virtues, Valiant hearts,  
●ligion, Laws: and Thy just Reign (at rest)  
〈◊〉 Happiness shall match AUGUSTUS' Best.  
FINIS.   

honour's FAREWELL To Her Honourable Friends: Or The LADY HAY's Last Will: Copied By a Well-willer, in WAKEFUL DREAM; & Dedicated TO Her R. Honourable Executors.   

TO My Reverend Friend, Mr. Doctor Hall.  
NOne should, but Thou, This Lady's death be grieving;  
None knew so well the Virtues of her life:  
Death's robbed of Her death, by Thy labours rife;  
By Thee, is She in Heaven & Earth still living:  
Heaven, by hearing & (through Thee) believing  
Th' eternal Word; which taught Her Holy strife  
'Gainst Hell, & Sin; and (as becomes a Wife)  
Peace with her Spouse, him due Obedience giving:  
Earth, for acting (in so gracious measure)  
The twice- preached Lectures of thy Life & Tongue;  
Alms, Meekness, Mildness (towards Old & Young)  
〈◊〉 giving wrongs, forgetting all Displeasure.  
O happy Seed that fell in such a Ground!  
And happy Soil that such a Seed-man found.  
I. S.   

TO The Right Honourable Executors & Overseers, EDWARD. Lord Denny; JAMES, Lord Hay; & MARY, Lady Denny.  
●●om Gratitude, From Duty, From Affection,  
●o You (my Lords) Your HONOUR, & Your Name  
●●●hout Offence, without Mis-sense, or Blame)  
●…iue, conceive, consider THIS DIRECTION  
●●●INST th' Excess, the Rage, the Insurrection  
●ears, of Sighs, of Sorrows FOR THIS DAME  
●EAD, WHO LIVES (in Soul, in Seed, in Fame)  
●RING Breath, Life, Strength, To THIS COLLECTIOn  
〈◊〉, aimed, meant, FOR quick, kind, keen, CORRECTIOn  
●en, of Minds, of Manners (OUT OF FRAME)  
●ie, Court, & Country (ALL TOO-BLAME)  
●gh Sin's, through Satan's, through ourselves INFECTION.  
●n Vow, Some Verse, Some Monument To HONOUR  
●ought, I ought, and Thus I Dreamt on-Her.  
I. S.   

HONOUR'S FAREWELL.  
FRom Man-Gods Birth (the Scale of Earth to Heaven)  
Th' Year twice Eight hundred & twice single seven:  
●midst the Month which Second Caesar names;  
●on the Day which Diane weekly claims:  
●bout the Hour that golden Morpheus uses  
●hantastikly to feast perplexed Muse's  
●hile Phoebus' Coachman, scarce awake, did seem  
●ing to harness all his fiery Teem)  
●ing, me thought (i'th' Wardrobe, or at Waltham)  
●ong the Chief, where Grief did so assault 'em:  
●n Either side) that neither Great nor Small  
●d one dry Eye, to see My sight withal:  
●e thought, I saw a White bright-shining Creature  
●ust in the Form of Honour's wont Feature)  
approaching softly to a Sable Bed,  
●ere weeping Sorrow laid his sleepeless head;  
●d, with a Voice like one devoutly praying,  
●ill-softly, Thus (me thought) I heard it saying:  
Sweet Love, My Lord, Lodestar of my Desire,  
●hose purest flame had only power to fire  
●e Icy Fort of honour's chaste Affection,  
●onne by thy love; but more by thy Perfection:  
Dear Soul, which drawest (by unseen virtue) so,  
My Soul to greet thee once yet yer I go;  
Cease, cease to weep, give over Sighs & sobbing  
Thine eyes of Rest, thy breast of Comforts robbin●  
For, though soft Water hardest Marble wears,  
Flint-hearted Death is never pierced with Tears.  
Use therefore other Arms against his Rages:  
And, of Thy love, give more authentic Gauges.  
Whom yerst I chose among the choicest Wort●  
Of British Gallants (over South and North)  
For Parts and Port; for mild & Martial manner,  
In brave Deseignes to do their Country honour:  
Who, in mine eye, seemed to excel the rest,  
And Whom my Mind esteemed above the best;  
Must not express His love to Me, departed,  
With vulgar Shows of the most-vulgar-hearted.  
No: light Me Lamps that may Thy love beco●  
Such as may shine, about, above my Tomb,  
To all Beholders, as a holy Mirror,  
Reducing Nobles from Ignobles Error:  
Or as a Pharus to direct the Court,  
From Rocks & Wracks into the Happy Port:  
For, though my love seek but my HAY & DENN●  
My Charity is herein meant to Many.  
●s from the Dead, I come, the Quick to call  
●om sin's deep Sleep: & Thee (Deer) first of All.  
Deer, if thou yet hold-deer a Soul devested  
●f worldly Pomp (which hath the World impested)  
●weet heart, putoff; sweet Hay, now, leave Thou, quick,  
●hat (o!) I left not, till nigh deadly Sick:  
forsake the World yer it have Thee forsaken;  
●nd, yer thy Youth with Ruth be overtaken,  
●egard thy Soul, thy Body less respect:  
●ll Vanity, curb every fond Affect,  
●hereby the World still striveth to imprison  
●he purest Rays of Man's divinest Reason.  
●reep here no longer with thy mortal Dust;  
climb with thy fiery Soul up to the Just.  
exhale thee so, in heavenly things admiring,  
●s to the Place of thy first Birth aspiring.  
Few are thy Days, with many Dolours filled,  
●ith Hoping tired, with Desiring killed,  
●er thou attain what thou wouldst fain & merry:  
Or, if thou dost, anon it makes thee weary.  
●or what Delight that ever Earth thee lent,  
●ast thou aye found pleasing and permanent?  
honour's fair Mask, for all the Pomp & Bravery,  
●n golden Gyves is chained to Silken Slavery.  
Wealth, which the World holds super-soverain,  
With use, doth vanish; without use, is vain:  
And Both, too often (as Coat Cards may cotton)  
Unworthily, as well are lost, as gotten.  
Few Objects here (my Deer) but subject be  
To Labour, more than unto Liberty:  
Youth's Health & Strength are quickly quashed, or dated  
Pleasure & Love as soon are crossed, or sated:  
Affront still drives the Weakest to the Wal:  
The Mightiest aye are under Enuie's Maule:  
A lowly Fortune is of all despised:  
A lofty one, oft, of itself, nullized.  
In Brief, Dear Soul, thou seest how Certain Fate  
Conduces all things to their final Date.  
As on the Shore a rolling Billow splitteth,  
When foaming high, and roaming home, it hitteth  
Against the keen Knees of a horned Cliff,  
Ending his Course in an Encounter stiff;  
Then swells another, which yet higher wallows,  
In the same course; Whom the same Fortune follows▪  
So, We (O, Worlds-waves!) as soon dead as borne,  
With diverse Shock, on the same Rock are torn.  
This Age hath shown great fortune's greedy Minions  
(By hook or crook) above the World's Opinions;  
●boue their own Hopes: nay, above well-nigh  
●he clouded Aime of their insatiate Eye:  
●ut, Now where are they? where's their Grace? their Glory?  
●otten in dust; forgotten all their Story  
Unless, perhaps, what here so goodly shined,  
●ent out in Snuffe, and left ill sent behind)  
●nd all their vain Fume, turned to violent Fire,  
●or ever burns (such is Ambition's Hire):  
Where, tootoo late, they find, unto their Cost,  
●uch Favours, so found, had been better lost.  
Soul's sad Repenting, & Hearts heavy Throeing  
●re surest Fruits that in the World are growing:  
here's Nothing firmer, nothing frequent more,  
Then Death: Which (living) not to mind before,  
Makes Men run headlong to the Gulf infernal;  
●nd, for hour's joys, to lose the joys eternal:  
drawn diversely by diverse Appetites,  
●fter the Humours of their vain Delights.  
Some Apish, acting every Fashions Model:  
●ome Swinish, wallowing in their Surfaits Puddle:  
●ome Goatish, haunting Fillies with their Dams:  
●ome Wolvish, worrying Innocentest Lambs:  
●ome Currish, snarling at all good men's Good:  
●ome Monkish, hollow under Holyhood:  
Some Brutish, Monsters in all kind of Evil:  
Some Hellish, Actors, Factors for the Devil.  
Dear, tread not Thou in Errors common Track:  
But, in thy Life, sure thine Election make.  
Fear, love, believe, serve, sorrow, sue, contemple;  
And rather walk by Precept, than Exemple.  
'Tis utterly to be of judgement void,  
'Tis wilfully to have one's Self destroyed;  
To trust our Soul with such whose Stipulation  
Cannot repair, cannot reprieve, Damnation.  
Who, curious, cares but for the things below,  
Shall find, in fine, that he shall Both forgo:  
But Hope of things above (with due progression)  
Is far more sure, then th''others full Possession.  
Labour Thou therefore for the certain Gain:  
And, if thou lov'st me, higher, higher strain.  
In Holy Pride, henceforth disdaign the Creature,  
And mount thy Thoughts up to the Lord of Nature.  
Love, free thy love from this dark Dungeon here,  
And henceforth fix it in th' Empyreal clear:  
Wither no sooner shall thy Mind be raised,  
But all thy Mournings will be soon appeased,  
With other Comforts than the World affords,  
In bitter Deeds candied in sugar Words.  
The World itself is dying and decaying:  
The Earth more sterile, Heavenly Stars more straying:  
The Spheres distuned. These are the last, last Times;  
Where Virtue fails, where Vice prevails & climes;  
Where good Men melt away; ungodly harden.  
How many Flowers (the choice of all our Garden)  
Of either Sex, of every Age, and Rank;  
From every Quarter, Border, Bed, and Bank  
[Besides that pair of Royal Sister-buds,  
Whose life had promised Europe many Goods:  
Beside That Primrose, Miracle of Princes,  
Whose Hearse as yet a Sea of Tears berinses:  
Besides that knot of Noblest harrington's,  
Th'old Father's Honours doubling in the Sons:  
Besides GODOLPHIN, BODLEY, Muse's Father;  
Rare SACKVIL's- Nevil (new Minerva, rather):  
Besides St. DRURY, SIDNEY's- Rutland, CHEINEY,  
M●rror of Dames, and other Worthies many]  
Hath Our Great Husband lately snatched hence,  
Before his Wrath's approaching Storm commence?  
Why wail'st thou then My happy Dissolution,  
By Nature's Current, & heavens Constitution?  
Repel thy Sorrows: and repeal to Thee  
All active Virtues. Mourn no more for Me.  
I lived long enough; sith while I lived  
Thou lovedst me: but (so should I have grieved)  
Hadst thou appeared unkind unto thy Wife,  
My longer Date had been a shorter Life,  
I leave thee Babes enough; A Son and Daughter:  
Enough to crave thy care, and cause thee laughter:  
Enough for Thee; enough for Me to bear:  
Which oft I wished: And the Almighty's Ear  
(Who here's his Own, and on them ay bestoweth  
Their own desires; or what He better knoweth)  
Herd me in This; and One Petition more;  
That, when We parted, I might pass before.  
So, far thou well (Dear Heart) farewell: my leisure  
Serves now no longer for this last best pleasure.  
Farewell, dear Pheer: Farewell, dear Father too:  
This is my last Will, which I leave with You.  
You, joint Executors I have ordained:  
And for an Help, My Mother's love unfeigned  
As Overseer I beseech you call:  
And for your Counsel use our heauen'ly HALL..  
So, in the heavens, among my joys supernal;  
So, in my Glass, the Vision of th' Eternal;  
If I shall see You, in your Pilgrimage,  
O! be it happy, as my Hope's presage.  
So, in our Children, as their Years be growing,  
May Nature's Gifts, & Heavenly Grace be flowing:  
One have I here; Two have You there below:  
We here have Peace, You there have Wars (we know)  
Without, within: the more therefore behoves-you  
Defence from Hence. So wishes She that love's you.  
So, grant me God (if it be lawful here)  
● never lose remembrance of my Deer:  
●o, calmed be the Tempest of Your mourning  
●or My Decease (according to my warning)  
●o, casting off this Load of Heaviness,  
Our Love unceasing, may Your Sorrow cease.  
So ceased the Voice, and so the Shadow vanished.  
The Mourners then, more ravished then astonished,  
●id still, still, listen with a longing Ear  
●or more such Music: which then missing there  
Me thought) the Sable Curtains back they haled,  
And, looking round, were ready to have called;  
When instantly their Passions so abound,  
●hat down they sink, & as they sink they swoon:  
Where-at, I (grieved to see such Friends bereft me)  
starting to help, disturbed Morpheus left me:  
●ut, as he roused, by chance be cast a Quill,  
●or present Pen to copy honour's Will.   

HONOUR'S EPITAPH.  
Heereunder, lies  
The Wonder of her Kind:  
The rarest Work  
Of Nature & of Grace:  
A beauteous TEMPLE  
Of a bounteous Mind;  
Where Venus, juno,  
Pallas, had their Place.  
Nay; heavens & Natures  
Gifts, singled to Many,  
Here All concurred  
TO HONOUR HAY & DENNY.