The works of Sr William Davenant ... Consisting of Those which were formerly Printed, and Those which he design'd for the Press: Now published Out of the Authors Originall Copies |
 |
|
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. | Canto the Fifth. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
| 8. |
| 3. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
|
|
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3-4. |
| 5. |
| 6. |
| 7. |
 | The works of Sr William Davenant |  |
109
Canto the Fifth.
The ARGUMENT.
The House of Astragon; where in distressOf Nature, Gondibert for Art's redress
Was by old Ulfin brought: where Art's hard strife,
In studying Nature for the aid of Life,
Is by full wealth and conduct easie made;
And Truth much visited, though in her shade.
1
From Brescia swiftly o're the bord'ring Plain,Return we to the House of Astragon;
Where Gondibert, and his successfull Train,
Kindly lament the Victory they won.
2
But though I Fame's great Book shall open now,Expect a while, till she that Decad reads,
Which does this Dukes eternal Story show,
And aged Ulfin cites for special deeds.
3
Where Friendship is renown'd in Ulfinore;Where th' ancient musick of delightful verse,
Does it no less in Goltho's Breast adore,
And th'union of their equal hearts reherse.
4
These weary Victors the descending SunLed hither, where swift Night did them surprise;
And where, for valiant toiles, wise Astragon,
With sweet rewards of sleep, did fill their Eyes.
5
When to the needy World Day did appear,And freely op'd her Treasury of light,
His House (where Art and Nature Tennants were)
The pleasure grew, and bus'ness of their sight.
6
Where Ulfin (who an old Domestick seems,And rules as Master in the Owners Breast)
Leads Goltho to admire what he esteems;
And thus, what he had long observ'd, exprest.
7
Here Art by such a diligence is serv'd,As does th' unwearied Planets imitate;
Whose motion (life of Nature) has preserv'd
The world, which God vouchsaf'd but to create.
110
8
Those heights, which else Dwarf Life could never reach,Here, by the wings of diligence they climbe;
Truth (skar'd with Terms from canting Schools) they teach;
And buy it with their best sav'd Treasure, Time,
9
Here all Men seem Recov'rers of time past;As busie as intentive Emmets are;
As alarm'd Armies that intrench in haste,
Or Cities, whom unlook'd-for sieges skare.
10
Much it delights the wise Observers Eye,That all these toiles direct to sev'ral skills;
Some from the Mine to the hot Furnace hie,
And some from flowry Fields to weeping Stills.
11
The first to hopefull Chymicks matter bring,Where Med'cine they extract for instant cure;
These bear the sweeter burthens of the Spring;
Whose vertues (longer known) though slow, are sure.
12
See there wet Divers from Fossone sent!Who of the Seas deep Dwellers knowledge give;
Which (more unquiet then their Element)
By hungry war, upon each other live.
13
Pearl to their Lord, and Cordial Coral thesePresent; which must in sharpest liquids melt;
He with Nigella cures that dull disease
They get, who long with stupid Fish have dwelt.
14
Others through Quarries dig, deeply belowWhere Desart Rivers, cold, and private run;
Where Bodies conservation best they know,
And Mines long growth, and how their veines begun.
15
He shewes them now Tow'rs of prodigious height,Where Natures Friends, Philosophers remain
To censure Meteors in their cause and flight.
And watch the Wind's authority on Rain.
16
Others with Optick Tubes the Moons scant face(Vaste Tubes, which like long Cedars mounted lie)
Attract through Glasses to so near a space,
As if they came not to survey, but prie.
17
Nine hasty Centuries are now fulfill'd,Since Opticks first were known to Astragon;
By whom the Moderns are become so skill'd,
They dream of seeing to the Maker's Throne.
18
And wisely Astragon, thus busie grew,To seek the Stars remote societies;
And judge the walks of th' old, by finding new;
For Nature's law, in correspondence lies.
111
19
Man's pride (grown to Religion) he abates,By moving our lov'd Earth; which we think fix'd;
Think all to it, and it to none relates;
With others motion scorn to have it mix'd;
20
As if 'twere great and stately to stand stillWhilst other Orbes dance on; or else think all
Those vaste bright Globes (to shew God's needless skill)
Were made but to attend our little Ball.
21
Now near a sever'd Building they discern'd(Which seem'd, as in a pleasant shade, retir'd)
A Throng, by whose glad diligence they learn'd,
They came from Toyles which their own choice desir'd
22
This they approach, and as they enter itTheir Eyes were stay'd, by reading o'er the Gate,
Great Natures Office, in large letters writ;
And next, they mark'd who there in office sate.
23
Old busie Men, yet much for wisdom fam'd;Hasty to know, though not by haste beguil'd;
These fitly, Nature's Registers were nam'd;
The Throng were their Intelligeneers stil'd:
24
Who stop by snares, and by their chace o'retakeAll hidden Beasts the closer Forrest yields;
All that by secret sence their rescue make,
Or trust their force, or swiftness in the Fields.
25
And of this Throng, some their imployment haveIn fleeting Rivers, some fix'd Lakes beset;
Where Nature's self, by shifts, can nothing save
From trifling Angles, or the swal'wing Net.
26
Some, in the spacious Ayre, their Prey o'retake,Cous'ning, with hunger, Falcons of their wings;
Whilst all their patient observations make,
Which each to Nature's Office duely brings.
27
And there of ev'ry Fish, and Foule, and Beast,The wiles these learned Registers record,
Courage, and feares, their motion and their rest;
Which they prepare for their more learned Lord.
28
From hence to Nature's Nursery they goe;Where seems to grow all that in Eden grew;
And more (if Art her mingled Species show)
Then th' Hebrew King, Nature's Historian, knew.
29
Impatient Simplers climbe for Blossomes here;When Dewes (Heav'n's secret milk) in unseen show'rs
First feed the early Childhood of the year;
And in ripe Summer, stoop for Hearbs and Flow'rs.
112
30
In Autumn, Seeds and Berries they provide;Where Nature a remaining force preserves;
In Winter digg for Roots, where she does hide
That stock, which if consum'd, the next Spring sterves.
31
From hence (fresh Nature's flourishing Estate!)They to her wither'd Receptacle come;
Where she appears the loathsome Slave of Fate;
For here her various Dead possess the Room.
32
This dismall Gall'ry, lofty, long, and wide;Was hung with Skelitons of ev'ry kinde;
Humane, and all that learned humane pride
Thinks made t' obey Man's high immortal Minde.
33
Yet on that Wall hangs he too, who so thought;And she dry'd by him, whom that He obey'd;
By her an El'phant that with Heards had fought,
Of which the smallest Beast made her afraid.
34
Next it, a Whale is high in Cables ty'd,Whose strength might Herds of Elephants controul;
Then all, (in payres of ev'ry kinde) they spy'd
Which Death's wrack leaves, of Fishes, Beasts, and Fowl.
35
These Astragon (to watch with curious EyeThe diff'rent Tenements of living breath)
Collects, with what far Travailers supply;
And this was call'd, The Cabinet of Death.
36
Which some the Monument of Bodies, name;The Arke, which saves from Graves all dying kindes;
This to a structure led, long known to Fame,
And call'd, The Monument of banish'd Mindes.
37
Where, when they thought they saw in well sought Books,Th' assembled soules of all that Men held wise,
It bred such awfull rev'rence in their looks,
As if they saw the bury'd writers rise.
38
Such heaps of written thoughts (Gold of the Dead,Which Time does still disperse, but not devour)
Made them presume all was from Deluge free'd,
Which long-liv'd-Authors writ ere Noah's Show'r.
39
They saw Egyptian Roles, which vastly great,Did like faln Pillars lie, and did display
The tale of Natures life, from her first heat,
Till by the Flood o'er-cool'd, she felt decay.
40
And large as these (for Pens were Pencils then)Others that Egypts, chiefest Science show'd;
Whose River forc'd Geometry on Men,
Which did distinguish what the Nyle o're-flow'd.
113
41
Near them, in Piles, Chaldean Cous'ners lie;Who the hid bus'ness of the Stars relate;
Who make a Trade of worship'd Prophesie;
And seem to pick the Cabinet of Fate.
42
There Persian Magi stand; for wisdom prais'd;Long since wise Statesmen, now Magicians thought;
Altars and Arts are soon to fiction rais'd,
And both would have, that miracles are wrought.
43
In a dark Text, these States-men left their Mindes;For well they knew, that Monarch's Mistery
(Like that of Priests) but little rev'rence findes,
VVhen they the Curtain op'e to ev'ry Eye.
44
Behinde this Throng, the talking Greeks had place;VVho Nature turn to Art, and Truth disguise,
As skill does native beauty oft deface;
With Termes they charm the weak, and pose the wise.
45
Now they the Hebrew, Greek and Roman spie;Who for the Peoples ease, yoak'd them with Law;
Whom else, ungovern'd lusts would drive awry;
And each his own way frowardly would draw.
46
In little Tomes these grave first Lawyers lie,In Volumes their Interpreters below;
Who first made Law an Art, then Misterie;
So cleerest springs, when troubled, cloudy grow.
47
But here, the Souls chief Book did all precede;Our Map tow'rds Heav'n; to common Crowds deny'd;
Who proudly aim to teach, ere they can read;
And all must stray, where each will be a Guide.
48
About this sacred little Book did standUnweildly Volumes, and in number great;
And long it was since any Readers hand
Had reach'd them from their unfrequented Seat.
49
For a deep Dust (which Time does softly shed,Where only Time does come) their Covers beare;
On which, grave Spyders, streets of Webbs had spread;
Subtle, and slight, as the grave Writers were.
50
In these, Heav'ns holy Fire does vainly burn;Nor warms, nor lights, but is in Sparkles spent;
VVhere froward Authors, with disputes, have torn
The Garment seamless as the Firmament.
51
These are the old Polemicks, long since read,And shut by Astragon; who thought it just,
They, like the Authors (Truth's Tormentors) dead,
Should lie unvisited, and lost in dust.
114
52
Here the Arabian's Gospel open lay,(Men injure Truth, who Fiction nicely hide)
Where they the Monk's audacious stealths survey,
From the World's first, and greater second Guide.
53
The Curious much perus'd this, then, new Book;As if some secret wayes to Heav'n it taught;
For straying from the old, men newer look,
And prise the found, not finding those they sought.
54
We, in Tradition (Heav'n's dark Mapp) descrieHeav'n worse, then ancient Mapps farr India show;
Therefore in new, we search where Heav'n does lie;
The Mind's sought Ophir, which we long to know.
55
Or as a Planter, though good Land he spies,Seeks new, and when no more so good he findes,
Doubly esteems the first; so Truth men prise;
Truth, the discov'ry made by trav'ling Mindes.
56
And this false Book, till truly understoodBy Astragon, was openly display'd;
As counterfeit; false Princes, rather shou'd
Be shewn abroad, then in close Prison lay'd.
57
Now to the old Philosophers they come;Who follow'd Nature with such just despaire,
As some do Kings farr off; and when at home,
Like Courtiers, boast, that they deep secrets share.
58
Near them are grave dull Moralists, who giveCounsell to such, as still in publick dwell;
At sea, in Courts, in Camps, and Citties live;
And scorn experience from th' unpractis'd Cell.
59
Esop with these stands high, and they below;His pleasant wisdome mocks their gravity;
Who Vertue like a tedious Matron show,
He dresses Nature to invite the Eye.
60
High skill their Ethicks seemes, whilst he stoops downTo make the People wise; their learned pride
Makes all obscure, that Men may prise the Gown;
With ease he teaches, what with pain they hide.
61
And next (as if their bus'ness rul'd Mankinde)Historians stand bigg as their living looks;
Who thought, swift Time they could in fetters binde;
Till his Confessions they had ta'ne in Books:
62
But Time oft scap'd them in the shades of Night;And was in Princes Closets oft conceal'd,
And hid in Battels smoke; so what they Write
Of Courts and Camps, is oft by guess reveal'd,
115
63
Near these, Physitians stood; who but reprieveLike life a Judge, whom greater pow'r does awe;
And cannot an Almighty pardon give;
So much yields Subject Art to Nature's Law.
64
And not weak Art, but Nature we upbraid,When our frail essence proudly we take ill;
Think we are robb'd, when first we are decay'd
And those were murder'd whom her law did kill.
65
Now they refresh, after this long survey,With pleasant Poets, who the Soul sublime;
Fame's Heraulds, in whose Triumphs they make way;
And place all those whom Honor helps to climbe.
66
And he who seem'd to lead this ravish'd Race,Was Heav'n's lov'd Lanreat, that in Jewry writ;
Whose Harp approach'd Gods Ear, though none his Face
Durst see, and first made inspiration, wit.
67
And his Attendants, such blest Poets are,As make unblemish'd Love, Courts best delight;
And sing the prosp'rous Battels of just warre;
By these the loving, Love, and valiant, fight.
68
O hireless Science! and of all aloneThe Liberal! Meanly the rest each State
In pension treats, but this depends on none;
Whose worth they rev'rendly forbear to rate.
| The works of Sr William Davenant | |