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 |  |
He squeaseth in his hand the sponge of cloudy soods;
And makes it thund'r & flash, & powre down showry floods.
Forthwith the foamie drains, the riuers and the brooks,
Are puft vp all at once: their mingled water lookes,
And cannot finde, her bound; but hauing got the raine,
Bears haruest as it runs into the brackie Maine.
All Earth begins to quake, to sweat, to weepe for feare,
That nor in veine nor eye she leaueth drop or teare.
And thou, O heau'n, thy selfe draw'st all the secret sluses
Of thy so mighty Pooles to wash away th'abuses
That had thy sister soyld, who void of law and shame
Pleas'd onely to displease thy King and scorne his name.
Now lost is all the land. Now Nereus hath no shore;
Into the watry waste the riuers run no more;
Themselues are all a Meere, and all the sundry Meeres
That were before, are one: This All naught else appeares
But as a mighty Poole, and as it would conuent
And ioyne flood with the floods aboue the firmament.
The Sturgeon mounting ore high Castles is abasht
To see so many townes all vnder water dasht.
And makes it thund'r & flash, & powre down showry floods.
Forthwith the foamie drains, the riuers and the brooks,
Are puft vp all at once: their mingled water lookes,
And cannot finde, her bound; but hauing got the raine,
Bears haruest as it runs into the brackie Maine.
All Earth begins to quake, to sweat, to weepe for feare,
That nor in veine nor eye she leaueth drop or teare.
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Of thy so mighty Pooles to wash away th'abuses
That had thy sister soyld, who void of law and shame
Pleas'd onely to displease thy King and scorne his name.
Now lost is all the land. Now Nereus hath no shore;
Into the watry waste the riuers run no more;
Themselues are all a Meere, and all the sundry Meeres
That were before, are one: This All naught else appeares
But as a mighty Poole, and as it would conuent
And ioyne flood with the floods aboue the firmament.
The Sturgeon mounting ore high Castles is abasht
To see so many townes all vnder water dasht.
The Secalues and the Seales now wand'r about the rocks,
Where late of bearded goats, were fed the iumping flocks.
Camoysed Dolphins haunt the place of birds, and browse
Vpon the hugest hils, the tallest Cedar browes.
A Greyhound or a Tygre, a Horse, a Haire, a Hinde,
It little auailes them now to run as wight as winde.
They swin and try to stand, and all but little auailes them;
The more they footing seeke (alas) the more it failes them.
The cruell Crocodile, the Tortesse and the Beuer
Haue now but wet aboad that wet and dry had euer.
The Wolfe swims with the Lambe, the Lyon with the Deere,
And neither other frayes; the Hawke and Swallow steere
About with weary wings against a certaine death,
At length for want of perch in fierce waue loose their breath.
Where late of bearded goats, were fed the iumping flocks.
Camoysed Dolphins haunt the place of birds, and browse
Vpon the hugest hils, the tallest Cedar browes.
A Greyhound or a Tygre, a Horse, a Haire, a Hinde,
It little auailes them now to run as wight as winde.
They swin and try to stand, and all but little auailes them;
The more they footing seeke (alas) the more it failes them.
The cruell Crocodile, the Tortesse and the Beuer
Haue now but wet aboad that wet and dry had euer.
The Wolfe swims with the Lambe, the Lyon with the Deere,
And neither other frayes; the Hawke and Swallow steere
About with weary wings against a certaine death,
At length for want of perch in fierce waue loose their breath.
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