Fovre bookes of Du Bartas I. The Arke, II. Babylon, III. The Colonnyes, IIII. The Columues or Pyllars: In French and English, for the Instrvction and Pleasvre of Svch as Delight in Both Langvages. By William Lisle ... Together with a large Commentary by S. G. S |
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 | Fovre bookes of Du Bartas |  |
But let the twinkling Ball now vpsidowne be rowld,
And with like curious eye the sotherne halfe behold:
O know you not the face of this fierce warlike wight,
That neere the shining Bull enlustres heau'n with light?
The sonne of Nun it is, that worthy Ioshuah,
Who dry ore Iordan went as on a sandy bay:
And did those Ganan dogges from prey vnworthy scare,
And set his conquering soot vpon Loues hartlesse Hare.
And with like curious eye the sotherne halfe behold:
O know you not the face of this fierce warlike wight,
That neere the shining Bull enlustres heau'n with light?
The sonne of Nun it is, that worthy Ioshuah,
Who dry ore Iordan went as on a sandy bay:
And did those Ganan dogges from prey vnworthy scare,
And set his conquering soot vpon Loues hartlesse Hare.
Loe here that Argosie which all the world did saue,
And brauely now triumphs both ouer wind and waue.
Lo here the yellow plights of Moses brasen snake,
That shone in wildernesse all others sting to slake.
Lo here that happy Rav'n which did Elia feed:
Here Iosephs golden cup wherein he wont arreed
His wondrous prophesies: and here that heau'nly knight
Which vnto Machabee appeared all in white;
His ang'r-enflamed launce so strooke this Pagan Woolfe
With paine and bursten-rot athwart the belly-gulfe,
That on Gods Altar-stone prophaned many a yeere
Now reeks a sweet perfume; and Levies hallowed queere
Sings ioyfull Psalms againe in Gods temple Idol-staind,
And th'ldumean Race this Crowne at length obtainde,
To raigne in Israel. Now here the Fish behold
With tribute paid for him that was for sinners sold:
And here the gaping Whale, whose ill-digesting maw
Three daies a Prophets life held as empawn'd by law.
While Heb'r all sings for me, with Muse so bold, new, odd,
And strikes a string vntouchd, and walks a path vntrod,
Thinke not (ô Christen peopl') I take all that he saith
Concerning th'oast of heau'n for articl' of my faith:
Or that I ment set-vp old Zenoes schoole againe,
T'embound th'eternall God, and so relinke the chaine
Of Stoyck destinie: or would of all to come
(As Caldeman) arreed in books of heau'n the summe.
No, nothing lesse I meane; but only thought by grace
Of such a new deuise, as here I enterlace,
Refresh your weary minds; that hauing past before
So many a foamy flood; such warre against the shore,
And hurly-burling rage of counterbuffed waue;
So many a ghastly Wylde, a dyke, a rock, a caue:
You might set foot at length on some delightfull place,
Whereon the skie may shew for eu'r a louely face:
Where runs a siluer streame, the wind blowes sweetly awhile,
And where to welcome you the ground-selfe seems to smile.
And brauely now triumphs both ouer wind and waue.
173
That shone in wildernesse all others sting to slake.
Lo here that happy Rav'n which did Elia feed:
Here Iosephs golden cup wherein he wont arreed
His wondrous prophesies: and here that heau'nly knight
Which vnto Machabee appeared all in white;
His ang'r-enflamed launce so strooke this Pagan Woolfe
With paine and bursten-rot athwart the belly-gulfe,
That on Gods Altar-stone prophaned many a yeere
Now reeks a sweet perfume; and Levies hallowed queere
Sings ioyfull Psalms againe in Gods temple Idol-staind,
And th'ldumean Race this Crowne at length obtainde,
To raigne in Israel. Now here the Fish behold
With tribute paid for him that was for sinners sold:
And here the gaping Whale, whose ill-digesting maw
Three daies a Prophets life held as empawn'd by law.
While Heb'r all sings for me, with Muse so bold, new, odd,
And strikes a string vntouchd, and walks a path vntrod,
Thinke not (ô Christen peopl') I take all that he saith
Concerning th'oast of heau'n for articl' of my faith:
Or that I ment set-vp old Zenoes schoole againe,
T'embound th'eternall God, and so relinke the chaine
Of Stoyck destinie: or would of all to come
(As Caldeman) arreed in books of heau'n the summe.
No, nothing lesse I meane; but only thought by grace
Of such a new deuise, as here I enterlace,
Refresh your weary minds; that hauing past before
So many a foamy flood; such warre against the shore,
And hurly-burling rage of counterbuffed waue;
So many a ghastly Wylde, a dyke, a rock, a caue:
You might set foot at length on some delightfull place,
Whereon the skie may shew for eu'r a louely face:
Where runs a siluer streame, the wind blowes sweetly awhile,
And where to welcome you the ground-selfe seems to smile.
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