University of Virginia Library

previous section Wittes Pilgrimage
next section

An amorous Colloqui twixt Dorus, and Pamela.

In a Garden rich of Flowres
Walld with Baies, and Hawthorn Towres,
In a Towre the rest forsaking,
Wo kept Philomela waking.
Here heard Dorus and his Saint
This Birds musicall Complaint:
VVhile they harkned to her singing
Their hands were each other wringing.
When their Eares were cloid to heare
Notes that neuer cloie the Eare?
Sith Hands, Harts did so discouer,
Dorus thus did Woo his Louer.
Sweet you see, and feeling see,
How our Hands, and Harts agree
And sith Hands, and Harts conspier,
Let vs likewise in Desier.
Time, and Place vs both do woo,
To do that we needs must do,
If we will be linkt for euer
VVith the Knot that none can seuer.
Time, once past, returneth not:
Place, once lost, is hardly got.
Then sith both attend our Pleasure,
Let vs waite vpon their leisure.
Think not Lust corrupts my loue,
Though effects of both I proue
Sith that Lust, aloue, seems acting
Where Loue, only, is Compacting.

This Coniunction I desire
Not to quench vnhallowed fire,
But sith I would onely owe thee,
I, in loue alone, would know thee.
Of himselfe Loue iealous is,
Lest he should in duty misse,
Sith it is his bounden duty
To do seruice still to Beauty.
Bound, nay treble bound I am,
By thy Beauty, Grace, and Fame,
That no Right should be neglected
Due to one so much affected!
Sith Loue can no better doo,
Then to make still One, of Two:
That Loue, Loue is best acquiting
That comes neerest to vniting.
My Soule from my Lips would flie,
And, of Thine to Thine would hie,
That their Powres they might be mixing
In desire of faster fixing.
Sith our Soules (through Loues desire)
Labour thus to be intire,
O! then let our Bodies being
Make one Essence, through agreeing.
So to be, is to be One:
Which is by Coníunction:
One in Spirit, and Flesh, and either
Made by Coupling fast together.
This I long for, but not long
That this should thy Vertue wrong:
Sith its vertue in affection,
That desires to make Connexion.
When desire hath had hîs will

Thou shalt be what thou art still:
Myne owne life whose fame I tender,
More then what my life can render.
My Loue's Loue, whose Obiect is
Vertues beauty, Beauties blisse;
Nere made poore for Fleshes pleasure,
Sith her Meanes are without measure!
Loue it selfe it selfe doth hate
Till it be incorporate
With his deere beloued Obiect,
Raigning in It, to It subiect.
O then, Deere (more deere to me
Then my lifes felicity)
Yeeld, ò yeeld, without gainesaying
Sith that Danger's in delaying.
This he said, and saying straue
To enioy what he would haue
Warrd with Fire, and Sword of Louers
While hir Forces he discouers.
Forces put in Beauties hand,
Which rare Vertues did command:
Wherewith She him so restrayned
As the sight grew more vnfained.
Loth she was to put him back,
But more lothd hir Houorr wrack,
Thus while Resolution houerd,
Resolution He discouerd
Spare, ò spare my deerest Deere
(Quoth she to him (Victor neere)
Let me die ere liue deposed
Of my Trust in Thee reposed.
Thee my Loue doth so obay
That it hates to say thee nay,

Did not Vertue, bid myne Honor
Charge my loue to waite vpon hir.
Tis no scruple loue doth make
That thou shouldst such Tribute take;
Sith thou art my loues true owner,
But I feare the foile of Honor.
Sweet, deere Sweete, let be let be:
VVrong not Right thou hast in mee:
O! forbeare vnciuill action,
Which procureth ciuil faction.
If the best bloud of my Harte
VVould but ease thy easiest smart,
I protest I would effuse it,
That thou mightst, at pleasure, vse it.
Can my Dorus feele annoy
And Pamela ease enioy?
No, the smarte of thy least finger
Galls my Soule lik Conscience Stinger
Arte thou Rackt? thy Rack constraines
The convulsion of my vaines:
Wherein flovves the Sanguine Humor
That frō thee should vvash fovvle Rumor.
Loue me (Sweet) but loue me so
That me, faultlesse, thou maist kno
So to know me, is to know mee
Worth the loue which thou dost ow me.
My Hart shrines thy louing Hart,
Still in me thou bideing art:
Do not then polute thy Temple
With the filth of fowle Example.
Thou shalt haue me how thou wilt
When such Hauing Hath no guilt:
Bvt if now I should yeeld to thee,

I should feare I should vndo mee.
Sith I should seem most obscene
In thy Soules Eye pure, and cleane:
If not, I should ban my Folly
To loue such a soule vnholy.
Do what ere thou wilt with me,
So thou make me meet for Thee:
Thou art good, none can mistake Thee
(Being Noble) good, then, make me.
Ile be Thine while good I am,
Neuer Thine with euill name:
Let me glory but in glory
Brightning our Affections Story.
Yet (deere Sweet) these Lips of mine
Shall still Labour more then thine
VVith sweet VVords and sweeter Kisses
To misse no ioy but Amisses.
I will melt with feruor free,
And infuse my selfe in thee,
That thou shalt possesse me wholy,
So thou wilt possesse me holy.
I, perhaps do wish that done
VVhich in Loue, we haue begun:
(Blamelesse) so to blesse thy Fortune
VVith what, now, thou dost importune.
But, till then (as Reason would)
Hold thou all that I do hold,
Thou shalt haue all (said shee weeping)
But what is in Honors keeping.
O then, Sweet, perswaded be
Witnesse be my Teares with me
How loath I am to displease thee,
If with honor, I could please Thee.

Hereupon in Dorus Eyes
Teares of ioy, and griefe did rise,
And while words were issue seeking,
Hands, hard wrong, exprest their speking.
Yet at last, when Passion had
Ceast, in being VVoe, and glad,
Louing Dorus his Tongue tried
To vnfold what it denied.
While (quoth he) Pamela deere
I thy charming Reasons heare
I am so inchanted by them
As I want will to deny them.
But let me, ô let me take
The deere offer thou didst make
VVhich was, harmlesse kindest kissing
Sith it is my greatest blissing.
Herewith he her Body clips
Sucking Sucket from her Lips,
Twixt whose sucking all his Speaches
Were as sweet, as full of breaches.
Though quoth he (and then he kist)
Sweet, I should (and then he mist
Of what he was then in speaking
Kisses still his Speaches breaking)
Though, I say (said he) yet then
Lips fore Tongue, and VVit did ren)
My Lips nere should ceasse to kisse thee
My Lips nere shold too much blisse thee.
Should I life, and breath consume
In thy blisfull Breaths perfume
I could neuer too much loue Thee
Sith, as good as kind I proue thee.
For, as in a Glasse, I see

What I ought to be, in thee:
Sith thou dost my faults Discouer
Making me a perfect Louer.
I will loue thee as I should
That is, so as Reason would:
Reason would such diuine Graces
Should be loud with chast Embraces.
Come, the Rector of my Soule,
VVhich Commands by thy Controule
Who hast giun hir Reason power
Ore sweet Sin, and Passion sower.
Come then (Sweet) let vs from hence
Walke in Loues Circumference:
Till we may (within the Center)
Do these Rights without aduenter.

The picture of Formosity.

Who would my LOVES diuine Idea see
(So to diuine his humane fantasie)
Looke in these Lines which her delineate
And see an heaunly Forme in earthly state!

Haire.

Hir Haire, Golds Quintessence, ten times refind,
(In substance far more subtill then the Wind)
Doth Glorifie that Heauns Diuexity

Head.

(Hir Head) where Wit doth raigne inuincibly.

Forehead.

Her Front's the Field wherein, in loue, contends
True Grace and Grauity for gracefull Ends;
Whose doubtfull Conflict giues vndoubted grace

Face.

To Loues extreamst Horizon, hir sweet face.
On the declyning of this vpper Plaine
(Where Modesty in Maiesty doth raigne)

Eybrovve.

An heaunly Hemispheare ore Canopies

Eyes.

Two Sunnes, the Lights of earthly Paradise:
Who, with the force of their faire influence,
Delight Mens inward, light their outward sense.
In which faire Mirrors all Eyes loue to prie,
Sith there themselues they glad and glorifie.

Cheeks.

Hir Cheekes! Lyllies, and Roses are too fowle
For Similies, t'xpresse true Beauties Soule:
For, there that Soule imparadized lies
Like Grace, alone, that made it ioy of Eyes!
Two Dimples, like two Whirlepits, there appeare,
More beauty to deuoure then Flesh can beare!

Nose.

Hir Nose, the Gnomon of Loues Diall bright,
Doth, by those Sunnes, still shadow out that light
That makes Times longest howres, but Moments seeme:
For Months but Minuts Senses, ioyd, esteeme.

Lips.

Hir Lips! blush Cherries, Currall, Rubies blush:
For your Prim's far inferior to their Flush:
Theil gaine the Prize if you, with Them, contend,

Whose Beauty's more then Hues can comprehend!
Hir Teeth, A Row of rarest Margarites,

Teeth.


Impale a Tongue that giue all Tongues their Rights;

Tongue.


From whom their Dialect deriues such grace,
As Eares it drawes with it from place to place:
VVho, when she lists (with Balme-breaths Ambrosie)
Shee it enaíres in Prose, or Poësy;
That flow so boldly from her fluent Tongue
As if they could not, though they would, go wrong.
But ô her Voice! ô fie I wrong the same,

Voice.


To call much more, no more but by that name;
But, briefly thus; It is That of those Quires
That wonder rap diuine, and humanes Eares!
VVhich when she tunes to Siluer-sounding strings,
Hir voice much more then Siluer-sounding rings;
So that though she thereto her Voice doth fit
Yet sweetest Strings she makes but foiles to it.
Hir Chin (where GRACE hir glory brings about)

Chin.


Is like a Promontory iutting out
Into a Sea of Sweets, hir Neck, and Brest,

Neck and Brest. Paps.


Where Beauties

Neck.

Billowes rest still in vnrest?
Whose seemly Swellings beating on this Point
Doth Beauties Deluge seem to disappoint:
So, BEAVTY sits in Dimple of this Chin
To ouersee the Sweets this Sea within:
Who can but touch this Cape (Cape of good Hope)
The way from thence, to Pleasure lieth ope,
Which lieth on hir Lips, which if Lips touche
Pleasure her selfe will at that pleasure gruche.
Fall from these Eaues of BEVTYES heaunly house
(Where Grace, and Nature are miraculous)
Along the Christall

Bozome.

Columne that it staies,
Then Mount my Muse and fly ore Pleasures

Belly.

Seas
Into Desires delicious Continent,
Where Loues Desire liues, couertly, content:
Hir Belly bounds the life of Loues desire,
With all the Comforts, that it can require:
There is the Milky waie that doth direct
To Ioues hid Court, the Court of LOVES Elect.
Is is th' Olimpus where Sense-pleasing sweetes
In actiue games to striue for glory meets:

Vpon the Toppe whereof Joues Alter lies,

Nauel.

Where zealous Thoughts their Children sacrifize
In flames of lawfull Lust, to Lawlesse LOVE,
Where they, with ioy, sweete Martirdomes do proue!
Iust at the foote of this my Muses Mount,
There lies, but what! that doth my Muse surmount,
T'expresse It as It is, without offence,
Such is this Secrets vnknowne Excellence!
But, at Olimpus Foote runns Helicon;
Then thinke what makes good my Comparison
(With purest Thought) and so perhapps yee shall
Neere gesse from whence Loues Helicon doth fall.

Thighes,

Hir Thighes, bee snowy Standards, gracefully great,
Which are (strange Paradox) congeal'd with Heate!
Whose Bases, lifted vpwards, hold on hie
That Mount, and Fount of Earthes felicitie;
And, growing downwardes, small, or Taper-wise,
Two Pirameds, reuersed, make hir Thighes:
VVhose Pointes, depending on a Bony Bowle,
With motion meete them to, and fro doth rowle.

Apple of the knee. Knees,

The Biace of which Boowles doth make the Knees
From whence Loues lightest Muses take their veeze
To leape into those Seas, which Cares destroy,
Where to be drown'd is to be drunke with ioy.
Those well compacted Knees (vnknowne to all
Saue knowne by measures-Geometricall)
Are Beauties Hinges: which each Legge, and Thighe
VVith nimble-wel made Ioynts togeather tye:
So, that faire Frame which on these Hinges playes
Doth, by a Consequent, implie their praise.

Leggs.

Then, from hir Knees slide downe hir Leggs alonge
(Dull Muse, that dost hir Partes perfection wrong,
And right them in Discription of this Parte
VVhich, in a worde, surmounts Discriptions Arte!)

Foote.

Vnto hir Foote, Perfections Pedestall,
No more, nor lesse then keepes hir Corpes from fall:
VVhich, for the quaint proportion, doth perswade
It rather is imagined, then made!
Now, from hir Heele, to Head, climbe back my Muse
Alonge hir Back-Parts and those Parts peruse,
VVith forwards backwardnesse, because they are

More Common to hir Kind though no lesse rare:
Hir Butt, but ô! quick VVitt lend me a Worde

Buttocks,


That fairely may that Part a name afforde
Fitt for the fairenesse of hir fowlest Parte,
But thinke what tis to spare new words of Arte:
To call them Hanches were but to prophane
Their names that are for Globes-Celestiall tane:
For, they are so composd by Natures Skill
That Agent, mixt with Azure, them do fill!
But, leaue these Partes (lest partlie some perceaue
That I am lothe these pleasant Partes to leaue)
And scale Beauties Meridian which doth lie

hir back. Ribbs. Rigebone.


Vpon theis Christall Heauns pluralitie.
There Lock the Side-railes of this totall Frame
VVithin a Propp, that vpright holds the same:
And, for that Propp of many Ioyntes consists
It seemely stands or bowes which way shee lists.
She bows to all, yet none can make hir bowe:
For, with the high, Shees high, and low, with lowe.
VVhose Back beares witnesse that hir Brest is such
That stifly stands, or bows, still more then much!

The holous of the back bone


A Trench, wise Nature, in the same hath Cutt
Where all the hottest Shot of Loue are shutt,
That can orecome what ere their force withstand
And, though by Loue commaunded, Loue Cōmand.
Vpon the Margins of this Trench do lie
(That slowlie, by degrees, mount meanely highe)
Beauties faíre Walkes, or Daízie-couerd Downes

The outward hollounes of the back.


Whereto She flíes, for solace, when She frownes:
And all alonge downe to the Posterne Gate
Where Nature thrusts out that which shee doth hate.
Beauties do runne at Bace, and kindlie take
Each other Prisners for sweete Beauties sake!
Hir Shoulders broade; whereto hir Armes are knitt,

Shoulders


Within whose Circuit Ioy doth sadly sitt:
Because, that Ioy shee will impart to none
But vnto Fames Superlatiues alone!
Along those Armes (like Armes of Seas, and Brooks]

Armes.


Rūne the blew Vaines, with many branching Crooks;

Vaines.


VVhich, in a Soile, with Milk cleane ouerflowne,
Do darkly make those Riuers Channells knowne.

But ô hir Hand! (which my Muse Captiue holds
And drownes hir in drie-moisture in the Folds)
Is a meere Laborinth of Faries, farre sought,
That yeelds no comming out t'a wandring Thought.
That Hand, in faire Hands, can so show hir mynd
That in that show Witt may Witts Substance finde:
And handles so eache praised Instrument
As Shee of them had supreame gouerment.
What should I speake of other Qualities
Done by that Hand (the Hand of Sciences)
Sith no Skill that doth Greatnesse glorifie
But hir Hand can, their rarenesse, rarifie!

Table of the hād

The Tables of those Hands LOVES Tables are;

Fingers

Hir fingers are the Points, both whitest Ware:
Whose Sides are edged with the sweetest Aire,
So to distinguish them, more sweete, pure, faire!
Here LOVE at Tick-tack plaies, or at Queens-game;
But, Irishe hates, for hauing Trickes too blame:
Here Hee casts Doublets, Double Points to take,
(The Hart, and Hand) both which an end do make
Of all LOVES Games, saue when the Vies are paid
Hee playeth with the Prize, for which he plaide,
But to paint out hir Part these Parts within
I might much more then Zeuxis glorie winn:
But, as he drew a Vaile vpon that Parte
Hee could not show by Coulors, nor by Arte:
So must I do, and say, nay sweare, it is
Vertue Contracted, to abstracted Blisse!
For, all hir Parts are the true Properties
Of diuine Grace, and Princlie Qualities!
O Dull Inuention how dost thou abuse
This Queene of Beauty Subiect of my Muse?
For that too base is eache Comparison
Arte yeelds too blaz on Natures Paragon.
Then, ô Inuention make my Muse confesse
Shee's more then Arte, and Nature can expresse.
So, not as I began, my Songe I ende,
My LOVES Idea none can comprehend.

In Loue is no Lothsomnes.

If but no more then base Bum-fiddling
Respected were in Loues delicious Sceane,
Then, at the Close, such irksome piddling
Would make the Acte as odious, as obscene:
For, might my Muse, with modestie, demaund
VVhat pleasure takes fraile Sense in? In's ynough,
To point at That which all do vnderstand
A sport, if sport it bee, as rude, as rough.
And what feeles Flesh, but Fleshe? and what is that
(Though made in height of Natures Arte, and pride)
But Dunge, and Dust (bee it or leane, or fatt)
And who to fall to such Filth can abide?

To stire vp throughly the stincking puddle of the filthie manners of vvātons, it would turne vp the stomackes of the honest and chast bearers through the hatefull & villanous sound therof. Pitha.


But say that Mother Nature doth procure
(For procrertions sake) hir fleshly Broode
To ioyne together in this Acte impure,
Yet is it farre lesse gracefull, then its good:
For, did not Adams Aples iuyce infect
Our perfectst bloud in being ming'd with it,
VVee should not this affect, nor scarse effect,
As beeing, for pure Saints Edenizd, vnfitt.
Then should no ioy-pain'd tickling of the Sense
(Like that of Arme-pitts, payning vs with pleasure)
Haue drownd our Feeling with the Confluence
Of lustfull pleasures flouds, sunck in Displeasure.
VVee should not then lie soaking in Shames Soile,
And melting inlaciuious Extasie;
Nor should, with heat of Lust, our Liuers boile
Till our life-bloud bee quite drid vp thereby.
Nor should the Marrow-Malady, consume
That Oile of life that makes vs strong, and freshe;
Nor should wee neede our Garments to parfume
To cloke the stinck of our still-rotting Fleshe.
No, Loue hath in it vertue more Diuine,
And the Beloud more Cause of deere delight!

Where Vertue sits enthrond in Beauties Shine,
To make each others splendor double bright.
There Modesty to Maiesty is knit,
And Uenus Dian Claspes, with chast embrace
There stayed Wisedom's matcht to nimble Wit
And Nature Chequers vp all gifts of Grace!
Now, in such Confluence of Diuine graces
(That do beheaun the Hart, entrance the Mind!)
How can base flesh, once mind fleshly embraces
When fleshly Motions these stayd Vertues bynd.
VVere Flesh perswaded that an Angell were
In Womans Forme within hir Couerture
Could she desire to know a Thing so cleere
With other knowledge then diuine, and pure?
No no, she could not though she were inflamd
With Fire that kindled Zodoms hellish fire;
She could not, no, though she sought to be damd
(Through hir desires) so damd a deed desire!
No more can Loue haue mind of hatefull Lust,
When as hir Obiect is Angelicall;
But then it doth embrace (as needs it must)
That Obiect with Armes supernaturall:
This is the highest Heaun of humane Loue,
Which none but diuine Creatures seeke to proue!
previous section Wittes Pilgrimage
next section