Du Bartas :: :: University of Virginia Library

Du Bartas

His Divine Weekes And Workes with A Compleate Collectio[n] of all the other most delight-full Workes: Translated and written by yt famous Philomusus: Iosvah Sylvester

Sylvester, Josuah (1563-1618)

[section]

Anagammata Regia: Regi.

Iacobvs Stvart: Iusta Scrutabo.

CORONA DEDICATORIA.

[These laureat Temples which the Laurel grace]

EPIGRAM. To M. Iosuah Sylvester.

In praise of the Translator.

To M. Iosvah Sylvester, of his Bartas Metaphrased.

To my good friend, M. Sylvester, in honour of this sacred Work.

To M. Iosvah Sylvester. A SONNET.

Flexanimo Salustij du Bartus interpreti, Ios. Sylvesteri, carmen Encomiasticon.

In Commendation of du Bartas, and his Translator, M. Iosvah Sylvester. A Sonnet.

In Commendation of this worthie Worke.

An Acrostick Sonnet, to his friend M. Iosva Sylvester.

To the Same.

Du BARTAS His FIRST WEEK, OR BIRTH OF THE WORLD:

Du BARTAS HIS SECOND WEEKE, DISPOSED (After the proportion of his First) Into Seaven Dayes: (viz.)

[dedication]

1. Sonnet.

2. Sonnet.

TO THE RIGHT EXCELLENT, and most hopefull young Prince, Henry, PRINCE of WALES.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, the Lord High Chancelor of England.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, the Earle of Salisbury, Lord high Threasurer of England.

TO THE RIGHT HONOBLE, the Earle of Dorset (late) Lord high Threasurer of England.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE, the Earle of Pembroke.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE the Earle of Essex, Earle Marshall of England, &c.

TO THE SAME RIGHT Honourable Earle of ESSEX, &c.

TO THE RIGHT HONORABLE Charles Lord Mount-ioy, Earle of Deuonshire.

TO THE SAME RIGHT Honourable Earle of Deuonshire, &c.

TO THE SAME RIGHT Honourable the Earle of Deuonshire, &c.

TO THE HONORABLE, learned, and religious Gentleman, Sir Peter Yovng of Seton, Knight, Almoner of Scotland, and one of his Maiesties Priuy Councell there.

TO THE RIGHT VERTVOVS (fauourer of Vertue, furtherer of Learning) Sir Thomas Smith (of London) Knight, (late) Lord Embassadour for his Maiesty, to the Emperour of Rvssia.

TO THE MOST HONORABLE, learned, and religious Gent. Mr. Anthony Bacone.

TO THE SAME MOST Honourable Gentleman, Master Anthony Bacone.

TO MY EVER-MOST HONOVRED MISTRESS, Mris Essex, wife to the right worthy, William Essex of Lamborn, Esquier; and eldest Daughter of the right valiant, and Nobly-descended, Sir Walter Harecourt of Stanton-Hare-court, Knight Baron of Ellen-Hall.

TO VERTVES PATTERNE, AND BEAVTIES Paragon, Mris Ione Essex: now wife to the right worthy, William Anderson Esquier (second Son of the late Lord Anderson) and only Sister of the Honorably-descended William Essex of Lamborn, Esquire.

VRANIA. OR The Heauenly Muse.

THE TRIVMPH OF FAITH

TETRASTICHA. OR THE QVADRAINS OF GVY DE FAVR, Lord of Pibrac.

SONNETS Vpon THE LATE MIRACVLOVS PEACE IN FRANCE.

A DIALOGVE VPON THE TROVBLES PAST:

AN ODE OF THE LOVE AND BEAVTIES OF ASTRÆA.

EPIGRAMS & EPITAPHES vpon Warre and Peace.

THE PROFIT OF IMPRISONMENT.

LITTLE BARTAS:

Micro-cosmo-graphia: THE LITTLE-WORLDES DESCRIPTION; OR THE MAP OF MAN

CERTAIN EPIGRAMS of the same Mr. H. S.

THE MAIDENS BLVSH:

THE PARLIAMENT OF VERTVES ROYALL:

A DIVINE & TRVE TRAGI-COMEDY; IOB TRIVMPHANT in his Triall:

BETHVLIANS RESCVE.

A HYMN OF ALMS: OR THE BEGGERS BELL; heard, from beyond THE CHARTER-HOVSE,

MEMORIALS OF MORTALITIE.

St. LEWIS; THE KING:

HENRIE THE GREAT (The Fourth of that Name) LATE King of France and Navarr: HIS Tropheis and Tragedie. Written in French By Piere Mathiev.

THE BATTAIL OF YVRY:

SIMILE NON EST IDEM: Seeming is not the Same.

A GLIMSE OF HEAVENLY IOYES:

AVTO-MACHIA: OR The Self-Conflict of a Christian.

TOBACCO BATTERED;

LACRYMÆ LACRYMARVM:

AN ELEGIAC-EPISTLE Consolatorie.

HONOR'S FARVVEL To Her Honorable Friends: Or The Ladie Hay's Last Will

A FVNERAL ELEGIE

To Gods Glory. IN PIOVS MEMORY OF the nobly vertuous and religious Matrone, Margarite, Wife of Robert Hill, Dr. of Divinity, and Pastor of this Parish.

Vxor Felix. Loquitur post funera virtus.

A HOLY PREPARATION to a ioifull Resurrection.

THE MYSTERIE OF MYSTERIES.

Collapse All | Expand All expand section

Du BARTAS His FIRST WEEK, OR BIRTH OF THE WORLD:

Where-in In Seven Dayes the glorious Worke of the Creation is divinely handled.

In the 1 Day, The Chaos.

In the 2 Day, The Elements.

In the 3 Day, The Sea and Earth.

In the 4 Day, The Heavens, Svn, Moon, &c.

In the 5 Day, The Fishes and Fovles.

In the 6 Day, The Beasts and Man.

In the 7 Day, The Sabbath.

THE FIRST DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

GOD's Aide implor'd: the Summe of all propos'd:
World not eternall, nor by Chance compos'd:
But of meer Nothing God it essence gaue:
It had Beginning: and an End shall haue:
Curst Atheists quipt: the Heathen Clarkes control'd:
Doom's glorious Day: Star-Doctors blam'd for bold:
The Matter form'd: Creation of the Light:
Alternate changes of the Day, and Night:
The birth of Angels; some for Pride deiected:
The rest persist in Grace, and guard th'Elected.

Thou glorious Guide of Heav'ns star-glistering motion,

The Poet imploreth the gracious assistance of the true God of Heauen, Earth, Air and Sea, that he may happily finish the worke he takes in hand.

Thou, thou (true Neptune) Tamer of the Ocean,
Thou Earth's drad Shaker (at whose only Word,
Th'Eölian Scouts are quickly still'd and stirr'd)
Lift vp my soule, my drousie spirits refine,
With learned Art enrich This Worke of mine:
O Father, grant I sweetly warble forth
Vnto our seed the World's renowned Birth:
Grant (gracious God) that I record in Verse
The rarest Beauties of this Vniverse;
And grant, therein Thy Power I may discern:
That, teaching others, I my selfe may learn.

And also grant (great Architect of wonders,

The Translater, knowing & acknowledging his own insufficiency for so excellent a labour, craueth also the aide of the All-sufficient God.

Whose mighty Voyce speakes in the midst of Thunders,
Causing the Rocks to rock, and Hils to teare;
Calling the things that Are not, as they were;
Confounding Mighty things by meanes of Weak;
Teaching dum Infants thy drad Praise to speak;

Inspiring Wisdom into those that want,
And giuing Knowledge to the Ignorant)
Grant mee, good Lord (as thou hast giv'n me hart
To vndertake so excellent a Part)
Grant me such Iudgement Grace, and Eloquence,
So correspondent to that Excellence,
That in some measure, I may seeme t'inherit
(Elisha-like) my deare Elias spirit.

The world was not from euerlasting.

Clear Fire for euer hath not Aire imbrac't,
Nor Aire for-ay inuiron'd Waters vast,
Nor Waters alwaies wrapt the Earth therein;
But all this All did once (of nought) begin.
Once All was made; not by the hand of Fortune
(As fond Democritus did yerst importune)
With iarring Concords making Motes to meet,
Inuisible, immortall, infinite.

Neither made by chance; But created together with Time by the almighty wisdome of God.

Th'immutable diuine Decree, which shall
Cause the Worlds End, caus'd his Originall:
Neither in Time, nor yet before the same,
But in the instant when Time first became.
I meane a Time confused: for, the course
Of yeares, of months, of weeks, of daies, of howrs,
Of Ages, Times, and Seasons, is confin'd
By th'ordred Dance vnto the Stars assign'd.

God was before the World was.

Before all Time, all Matter, Form, and Place,
God all in all, and all in God it was:
Immutable, immortall, infinite,
Incomprehensible, all spirit, all light,
All Maiesty, all-self-Omnipotent,
Inuisible, impassiue, excellent,
Pure, wise, iust, good, God raign'd alone (at rest)
Himselfe alone, selfs Palace, host, and guest.

He confuteth the Atheists, questioning what God did before he created the World.

Thou scoffing Atheist, that enquirest, what
Th'Almightie did before he framed that?
What weighty Work his minde was busied on
Eternally before this world begun
(Sith so deep Wisedom and Omnipotence,
Nought worse beseems, then sloth and negligence)?
Knowe (bold blasphemer) that, before, he built
A Hell to punish the presumptuous Guilt
Of those vngodly, whose proud sense dares cite
And censure too his Wisedom infinite.

Can Carpenters, Weauers, and Potters passe
And liue without their seuerall works a space?
And could not then th'Almightie All-Creator,
Th'all-prudent, BEE, without this frail Theater?

Shall valiant Scipio Thus himself esteem,
Neuer lesse sole then when he sole doth seem?

And could not God (O Heav'ns! what frantick folly!)
Subsist alone, but sink in Melancholy?

Shall the Pryenian Princely Sage auerr,
That all his goods he doth about him bear:
And should the Lord, whose Wealth exceeds all measure,
Should he be poore without this Worldly treasure?

God neuer seeks, out of himself, for ought;
He begs of none, he buyes or borrowes nought;
But aye, from th'Ocean of his liberall bounty,
He poureth out a thousand Seas of Plenty.

Yer Eurus blew, yer Moon did Wex or Wane,

What God did before he created the World.

Yer Sea had fish, yer Earth had grass or grain,
God was not void of sacred exercise;
He did admire his Glorie's Mysteries:
His power, his Iustice, and his Prouidence,
His bountious Grace, and great Beneficence
Were th'holy obiect of his heauenly thought;
Vpon the which, eternally it wrought.
It may be also that he meditated
The Worlds Idea, yer it was Created:
Alone he-liv'd not; for his Son and Spirit
Were with him ay, Equall in might and merit.

Of 3. Persons in one only Essence of God: of the eternall generation of the Son.

For, sans beginning, seed, and Mother tender,
This great Worlds Father he did first ingender
(Towit) His Son, Wisedom, and Word eternall,
Equall in Essence to th'All-One Paternall.

Of the Holy-Ghost proceeding from the Father and the Sonne: The which three Persons are one only and the same God.

Out of these Two, their common Power proceeded,
Their Spirit, their Loue; in Essence vndiuided:
Onely distinct in Persons, whose Diuinitie,
All Three in One, makes One eternall Trinitie.

Soft, soft, my Muse, launch not into the Deep,
Sound not this Sea: see that aloof thou keep
From this Charybdis and Capharean Rock,
Where many a ship haue suffered wofull wrack,
While they haue fondly vent'red forth too-far,
Following frail Reason for their only Star.
VVho on this Gulf would safely venture fain,

How to think & speak of God.

Must not too-boldly hale into the Main,
But 'longst the shoar with sailes of Faith must coast;
Their Star the Bible; Steer-man th'Holy-Ghost.

How many fine wits haue the World abus'd,

The Heathen Philosophers lost themselues and others in their curiosities: and meaning to be wise, became fooles.

Because this Ghost they for their Guide refus'd;
And, scorning of the loyall virgins Thred,
Haue them and others in this Maze mis-led?

In sacred sheets of either Testament
'Tis hard to finde a higher Argument,
More deep to sound, more busie to discuss,
More vse-full, knowne; vnknowne, more dangerous.

So bright a Sun dazels my tender sight:
So deep discourse my sense confoundeth quite:
My Reason's edge is dull'd in this Dispute,
And in my mouth my fainting words be mute.

God, the Father, Sonne, & Holy-Ghost created of Nothing the Worlds goodly frame.

This Trinitie (which rather I adore
In humbleness, then busily explore)
In th'infinit of Nothing, builded all
This artificiall, great, rich, glorious Ball;
Wherein appears in grav'n on euery part
The Builders beauty, greatness, wealth, and Art;
Art, beauty, wealth, and greatness, that confounds
The hellish barking of blaspheming Hounds.

Learning curious speculations, the Poet teacheth how to contemplate God in his Works.

Climb they that list the battlements of Heav'n:
And with the Whirl-wind of Ambition driv'n,
Beyond the World's wals let those Eagles flie,
And gaze vpon the Sun of Maiestie:
Let other-some (whose fainting spirits do droop)
Downe to the ground their meditations stoop,
And so contemplate on these Workmanships,
That th'Authors praise they in Themselues eclipse.

My heedfull Muse, trained in true Religion,
Diuinely-humane keeps the middle Region:
Lest, if she should too-high a pitch presume,
Heav'ns glowing flame should melt her waxen plume;
Or, if too-lowe (neer Earth or Sea) she flag,
Loaden with Mists her moistned wings should lag.
It glads me much, to view this Frame; wherein
(As in a Glasse) God's glorious face is seen:
I loue to look on God; but, in this Robe
Of his great Works, this vniuersall Globe.
For, if the Suns bright beams do bleare the sight
Of such as fixtly gaze against his light;
Who can behold aboue th'Empyriall Skies,
The lightning splendor of God's glorious eyes?
O, who (alas) can finde the Lord, without
His Works, which beare his Image round about?

God makes himselfe (as it were) visible in his Works.

God, of himselfe incapable to sense,
In's Works, reueales him t'our intelligence:
There-in, our fingers feel, our nostrils smell,
Our palats taste his vertues that excell:
He shewes him to our eyes, talkes to our eares,
In th'ord'red motions of the spangled Sphears.

Sundry comparisons, shewing what vse Christians should make in considering the works of God in this mighty World.

The World's a School, where (in a generall Story)
God alwaies reads dumb Lectures of his Glory:
A paire of Staires, whereby our mounting Soule
Ascends by steps aboue the Arched Pole:
A sumptuous Hall, where God (on euery side)
His wealthie Shop of wonders opens wide:

A Bridge, whereby we may pass-o're (at ease)
Of sacred Secrets the broad boundless Seas.

The World's a Cloud, through which there shineth cleer,
Not fair Latona's quiv'red Darling deer;
But the true Phœbus, whose bright countenance
Through thickest vail of darkest night doth glance.

The World's a Stage, where Gods Omnipotence,
His Iustice, Knowledge, Loue, and Prouidence,
Do act their Parts; contending (in their kindes)
Aboue the Heav'ns to rauish dullest mindes.

The World's a Book in Folio, printed all
VVith God's great Works in letters Capitall:
Each Creature is a Page; and each Effect,
A faire Character, void of all defect.

But, as young Trewants, toying in the Schools,
In steed of learning, learne to play the fools:
VVe gaze but on the Babies and the Couer,
The gawdy Flowrs, and Edges gilded-ouer;
And heuer farther for our Lesson look
VVithin the Volume of this various Book;
VVhere learned Nature rudest ones instructs,
That, by His wisedome, God the World conducts.

To read This Book, we need not vnderstand

Although the world discouer sufficiently euen to the most rude the Eternity & Power of God: Yet only the true Christians do rightly conceiue it.

Each strangers gibbrish; neither take in hand
Turks Characters, nor Hebrew Points to seek,
Nyle's Hieroglyphikes, nor the Notes of Greeke.
The wandring Tartars, the Antarticks wilde,
Th'Alarbies fierce, the Scythians fell, the Childe
Scarce seav'n yeare old, the bleared aged eye,
Though void of Art, reade heer indifferently.
But he that wears the spectacles of Faith,
Sees through the Sphears, aboue the highest heighth:
He comprehends th'Arch-moouer of all Motions,
And reads (though running) all these needfull Notions.
Therefore, by Faith's pure rayes illumined,
These sacred Pandects I desire to read,
And (God the better to behold) behold
Th'Orb from his Birth, in's Ages manifold.

Th'admired Author's Fancie, fixed not

God, needing no Idea, nor premeditation, nor Patterne of his work, of nothing made all the World.

On some fantastik fore-conceited Plot:
Much less did he an elder World erect,
By form whereof, he might his Frame erect:
As th'Architect that Buildeth for a Prince
Some stately Palace, yer he do commence
His Royall VVork, makes choice of such a Court
VVhere cost and cunning equally consort:
And if he finde not in one Edifice
All answerable to his queint deuice;

From this faire Palace then he takes his Front,
From that his Finials; here he learns to mount
His curious Stairs, there finds he Frise and Cornish,
And other Places other Peeces furnish;
And so, selecting euery where the best,
Doth thirty Models in one House digest.

Nothing, but Nothing, had the Lord Almighty,
Whereof, wherewith, whereby, to build this Citie:
Yet, when he, Heav'ns, Aire, Earth, and Sea, did frame,
He sought not far, he sweat not for the same:

A fit Simile to that purpose.

As Sol, without descending from the sky,
Crowns the fair Spring in painted brauery;
Withouten trauaile causeth th'Earth to beare,
And (far off) makes the World young euery yeare.

The Power and Will, th'affection and effect,
The Work and Proiect of this Architect,
March all at once: all to his pleasure ranges,
Who Alwaies One, his purpose neuer changes.

Yet did this Nothing not at once receiue

Of Nothing, God created the matter, whereunto afterward he gaue the form & figure which now we behold in the creatures.

Matter and Forme: For, as we may perceiue
That He, who means to build a warlike Fleet,
Makes first prouision of all matter meet
(As Timber, Iron, Canuase, Cord, and Pitch)
And when all's ready; then appointeth, which
Which peece for Planks, which plank shall line the Waste,
The Poup and Prow, which Fir shall make a mast;
As Art and Vse directeth, heedfully,
His hand, his tool, his iudgement, and his eye.
So God, before This Frame he fashioned,
I wote not what great Word he vttered
From's sacred mouth; which summon'd in a Masse
Whatsoeuer now the Heav'ns wide arms embrace.
But, where the Ship-wright, for his gainfull trade,
Findes all his stuffe to's hand already made;
Th'Almighty makes his, all and euery part,
Without the help of others Wit or Art.

That first World (yet) was a most formless Form,

What that new created Chaos was, before God gaue it form, figure, place, and situation.

A confus'd Heap, a Chaos most deform,
A Gulf of Gulfs, a Body ill compackt,
An vgly medley, where all difference lackt:
Where th'Elements lay iumbled all together,
Where hot and colde were iarring each with either;
The blunt with sharp, the dank against the drie,
The hard with soft, the base against the high,
Bitter with sweet: and while this brawl did last,
The Earth in Heav'n, the Heav'n in Earth was plac't:
Earth, Aire, and Fire, were with the Water mixt;
Water, Earth, Aire, within the Fire were fixt;

Fire, Water, Earth, did in the Aire abide;
Aire, Fire, and Water, in the Earth did hide.
For yet th'immortall, mighty Thunder-darter,
The Lord high-Marshall, vnto each his quarter
Had not assigned: the Celestiall Arks
Were not yet spangled with their fiery sparks:
As yet no flowrs with odours Earth reuiued:
No scaly shoals yet in the Waters diued:
Nor any Birds, with warbling harmony,
Were born as yet through the transparent Sky.

All, All was void of beauty, rule, and light;
All without fashion, soule, and motion, quite.

Gens. 1. 2.

Fire was no fire, the Water was no water,
Aire was no aire, the Earth no earthly matter.
Or if one could, in such a World, spy forth
The Fire, the Aire, the Water, and the Earth;
Th'Earth was not firme, the Fier was not hot,
Th'Aire was not light, the Water cooled not.
Briefly, suppose an Earth, poore, naked, vaine,
All void of verdure, without Hill or Plaine,
A Heav'n vn-hangd, vn-turning, vn-transparent,
Vn-garnished, vn-gilt with Stars apparent;
So maist thou ghesse what Heav'n and Earth was that,
Where, in confusion, raigned such debate:
A Heau'n and Earth for my base stile most fit,
Not as they were, but as they were not, yet.

This was not then the World: 'twas but the Matter,

The Chaos how to be considered.

The Nurcery whence it should issue after;
Or rather, th'Embryon, that within a Weeke
Was to be born: for that huge lump was like

A simile.

The shape-less burthen in the Mothers womb,
Which yet in Time doth into fashion com:
Eyes, eares, and nose, mouth, fingers, hands, and feet,
And euery member in proportion meet;
Round, large, and long, there of it selfe it thriues,
And (Little-World) into the World arriues.
But that becomes (by Natures set direction)
From foul and dead, to beauty, life, perfection.
But this dull Heap of vndigested stuf
Had doubtless neuer come to shape or proof,
Had not th'Almighty with his quick'ning breath

Of the secret power of God in quickning the matter whereof the World was made.

Blow'n life and spirit into this Lump of death.

The dreadfull Darknes of the Memphytists,
The sad black horror of Cimmerian Mists,
The sable fumes of Hell's infernall vault
(Or if ought darker in the World be thought)
Muffled the face of that profound Abyss,
Full of Disorder and fell Mutinies:

So that (in fine) this furious debate
Euen in the birth this Ball had ruinate,
Saue that the Lord into the Pile did pour
Some secret Mastick of his sacred Power,
To glew together, and to gouern faire
The Heav'n and Earth, the Ocean, and the Aire;
VVho ioyntly iustling, in their rude Disorder,
The new-borne Nature went about to murder.

The Spirit of God, by an inconceiuable meane, maintained, and (as it were brooding) warmed the shape-lesse Masse. Genes. 1.

As a good Wit, that on th'immortall Shrine
Of Memory, ingraues a Work Diuine,
Abroad, a-bed, at boord, for euer vses
To minde his Theam, and on his Book still muses:
So did Gods Spirit delight it selfe a space
To moue it selfe vpon the floting Masse:
No other care th'Almightie's mind possest
(If care can enter in his sacred brest).
Or, as a Hen that fain would hatch a Brood
(Some of her owne, some of adoptiue blood)
Sits close thereon, and with her liuely heat,
Of yellow-white bals, doth lyue birds beget:
Euen in such sort seemed the Spirit Eternall
To brood vpon this Gulf; with care paternall
Quickning the Parts, inspiring power in each,
From so foul Lees, so faire a World to fetch.
For 't's nought but All, in't selfe including All;
An vn-beginning, midless, endless Ball.
'Tis nothing but a World, whose superfice
Leaues nothing out, but what meer nothing is.

That ther is but one World: confuting the Error of Leucippus & his Disciples, by two reasons.

Now, though the great Duke, that (in dreadfull aw)
Vpon Mount Horeb learn'd th'eternall Law,
Had not assur'd vs that Gods sacred Power
In six Daies built this Vniuersall Bower;
Reason it selfe doth ouer-throw the grounds
Of those new Worlds that fond Leucippus founds:
Sith, if kinde Nature many Worlds could clip,
Still th'vpper World's water and earth would slip
Into the lower; and so in conclusion,
All would returne into the Old Confusion.
Besides, we must imagin empty distance
Between these Worlds, wherein, without resistance
Their wheels may whirle, not hindred in their courses,
By th'inter-iustling of each others forces:
But, all things are so fast together fixt
With so firme bonds, that there's no voyd betwixt.
Thence comes it, that a Cask pearc't to be spent,
Though full, yet runs not till we giue it vent.
Thence is't that Bellowes, while the snout is stopt,
So hardly heaue, and hardly can be op't.

Thence is't that water doth not freeze in Winter,
Stopt close in vessels where no aire may enter.
Thence is't that Garden-pots, the mouth kept close,
Let fall no liquor at their fiue-like nose.
And thence it is, that the pure siluer source,
In leaden pipes running a captiue course,
Contrary to it's nature, spouteth high:
To all, so odious is Vacuitie.

God then, not only framed Nature one,

Confutation of another Error of such as make Nature and the Heauens infinit.

But also set it limitation
Of Forme and Time: exempting euer solely
From quantity his owne self's Essence holy.
How can we call the Heav'ns vnmeasured?
Sith measur'd Time their Course hath measured.
How can we count this Vniuerse immortall?
Sith many-waies the parts proue howerly mortall:
Sith his Commencement proues his Consummation,
And all things aye decline to alteration.

Let bold Greek Sages fain the Firmament
To be compos'd of a fift Element:
Let them deny, in their profane profoundnes,
End and beginning to th'Heav'ns rowling roundnes:
And let them argue, that Deaths lawes alone
Reach but the Bodies vnder Cynthias Throne:
The sandy grounds of their Sophistick brawling
Are all too-weake to keep the World from falling.

One Day, the Rocks from top to toe shall quiuer,

A liuely description of the end of the world.

The mountaines melt and all in sunder shiuer:
The Heav'ns shall rent for feare; the lowely Fields,
Puft vp, shall swell to huge and mighty Hils:
Riuers shall dry: or if in any Flood
Rest any liquor, it shall all be blood:
The Sea shall all be fire, and on the shoar
The thirsty Whales with horrid noyse shall roar:
The Sun shall seize the black Coach of the Moon,
And make it midnight when it should be noon:
With rusty Mask the Heauens shall hide their face,
The Stars shall fall, and all away shall pass:
Disorder, Dread, Horror, and Death shall come,
Noise, Storms, and Darkness shall vsurp the roome.
And then the Chief-Chief-Iustice, venging Wrath
(Which heer already often threatned hath)
Shall make a Bon-fire of this mighty Ball,
As once he made it a vast Ocean all.

Alas! how faith-less and how modest-less

Against iudicial Astrologers, that presume to point the very time thereof.

Are you, that (in your Ephemerides)
Mark th'yeer, the month and day, which euermore
Gainst years, months, dayes, shall dam-vp Saturnes dore!

(At thought whereof, euen now, my heart doth ake,
My flesh doth faint, my very soule doth shake)
You haue mis-cast in your Arithmetick,
Mis-laid your Counters, groapingly yee seek
In Nights black darknes for the secret things
Seal'd in the Casket of the King of Kings.
'Tis hee, that keeps th'eternall Clock of Time,
And holds the weights of that appointed Chime:
Hee in his hand the sacred booke doth bear
Of that close-clasped finall Calendar,
Where, in Red letters (now with vs frequented)
The certaine Date of that Great Day is printed;
That dreadfull Day, which doth so swiftly post,
That 'twill be seen, before fore-seen of most.
Then, then (good Lord) shall thy dear Son descend.
(Though yet hee seem in feeble flesh y pend)
In complete Glory, from the glistering Skie:
Millions of Angels shall about him flie:
Mercy and Iustice, marching cheek by ioule,
Shall his Diuine Triumphant Chariot roule;
Whose wheeles shall shine with Lightning round about,
And beames of Glory each-where blazing out.

Those that were loaden with proud marble Toombs,
Those that were swallow'd in wild Monsters woombs,
Those that the Sea hath swill'd, those that the flashes
Of ruddy Flames haue burned all to ashes,
Awaked all, shall rise, and all reuest
The flesh and bones that they at first possest.
All shall appear, and heare before the Throne
Of God (the Iudge without exception)
The finall Sentence (sounding ioy and terror)
Of euer-lasting Happiness or Horror.
Some shall his Iustice, some his Mercy taste;
Some call'd to ioy, some into torment cast,
VVhen from the Goats he shall his Sheep disseuer;
These Blest in Heav'n, those Curst in Hell for euer.
O thou that once (scornd as the vilest drudge)
Didst bear the doom of an Italian Iudge,
Daign (deerest Lord) when the last Trump shall summon,
To this Grand Sessions, all the World in common;
Daign in that Day to vndertake my matter:
And, as my Iudge so be my Mediator.

Hauing spoken of the creation of the Matter, he sheweth how & what Forme God gaue vnto it, creating in six Daies his admirable works.

Th'eternall Spring of Power and Prouidence,
In Forming of this All-circumference,
Did not vnlike the Bear, which bringeth-forth
In th'end of thirty daies a shapeless birth;
But after, licking, it in shape she drawes,
And by degrees she fashions out the pawes,

The head, and neck, and finally doth bring
To a perfect beast that first deformed thing.
For when his Word in the vast Voyd had brought
A confus'd heap of Wet-dry-cold-and-hot,
In time the high World from the lowe he parted,
And by it selfe, hot vnto hot he sorted;
Hard vnto hard, cold vnto cold he sent;
Moist vnto moist, as was expedient.
And so in Six Dayes form'd ingeniously
All things contain'd in th'Vniversitie.

Not but he could haue, in a moment, made

Wherefore God imployed six Daies in creating the World.

This flowry Mansion where mankind doth trade;
Spred Heav'ns blew Curtains & those Lamps haue burnisht;
Earth, aire, and sea; with beasts, birds, fish, haue furnisht:
But, working with such Art so many dayes,
A sumptuous Palace for Mankinde to raise,
Yer Man was made yet; he declares to vs,
How kinde, how carefull, and how gracious,
He would be to vs being made, to whom
By thousand promises of things to-come
(Vnder the Broad-Seal of his deere Sons blood)
He hath assur'd all Riches, Grace, and Good.
By his Example he doth also shew-vs,

How men should imitate God in his works.

We should not heedless-hastily bestowe vs
In any Work, but patiently proceed
With oft re-vises Making sober speed
In dearest business, and obserue by proof,
That; What is well done, is done soon enough.

O Father of the Light! of Wisedom fountain;

The 1. creature, extracted form the Chaos, was Light.

Out of the Bulk of that confused Mountain
What should (what could) issue, before the Light?
Without which, Beauty were no beauty hight.
In vain Timanthes had his Cyclop drawn,
In vain Parrhasius counterfeited Lawn,
In vain Apelles Venus had begun,
Zeuxis Penelope; if that the Sun,
To make them seen, had neuer showen his splendor:
In vain, in vain, had been (those Works of Wonder)
Th'Ephesian Temple, and high Pharian-Tower,
And Carian Toomb (Tropheis of Wealth and Power)
In vain had they been builded euery one,
By Scopas, Sostrates, and Ctesiphon;
Had All been wrapt-vp from all humane sight,
In th'obscure Mantle of eternall Night.

What one thing more doth the good Architect
In Princely Works (more specially) respect,
Then lightsomness? to th'end the Worlds bright Eye,
Careering daily once about the Sky,

May shine therein; and that in euery part
It may seem pompous both for Cost and Art.

Sundry opinions concerning the matter, and creation of Light.

Whether Gods Spirit mouing vpon the Ball
Of bubbling Waters (which yet couered All)
Thence forc't the Fire (as when amid the Sky
Auster and Boreas iusting furiously
Vnder hot Cancer, make two clouds to clash,
Whence th'aire at mid-night flames with lightning flash):
Whether, when God the mingled Lump dispackt,
From Fiery Element did Light extract:
Whether about the vast confused Crowd
For twice six-howrs he spread a shining Cloud,
Which after he re-darkned, that in time
The Night as long might wrap-vp either Clime:
Whether that God made, then, those goodly beams
Which gild the World, but not as now it seems:
Or whether else some other Lamp he kindled
Vpon the Heap (yet all with Waters blindled)
Which flying round about, gaue light in order
To th'vnplac't Climates of that deep disorder;
As now the Sun, circling about the Ball
(The Light's bright Chariot) doth enlighten All.

Gen. 1. 3.

No sooner said he, Be there Light, but lo
The form-less Lump to perfect Form gan growe;
And, all illustred with Lights radiant shine,
Doft mourning weeds, and deckt it passing fine.

Of the excellent vse and commoditie of Light.

All-hail pure Lamp, bright, sacred and excelling;
Sorrow and Care, Darknes and Dread repelling:
Thou World's great Taper, Wicked mens iust Terror,
Mother of Truth, true Beauties only Mirror,
Gods eldest Daughter: O! how thou art full
Of grace and goodnes! O! how beautifull!
Sith thy great Parent's all-discerning Eye
Doth iudge thee so: and sith his Maiesty
(Thy glorious Maker) in his sacred layes
Can doo no less then sing thy modest prayse.

Why God ordained the Night and Day alternatly to succeed each other.

But yet, because all Pleasures wex vnpleasant,
If without pawse we still possesse them, present;
And none can right discerne the sweets of Peace,
That haue not felt Wars irkesom bitterness;
And Swans seem whiter if swart Crowes be by
(For, Contraries each other best discry)
Th'All's-Archietect, alternately decreed
That Night the Day, the Day should Night succeed.

The commoditie that the Night bringeth us.

The Night, to temper Daies exceeding drought,
Moistens our Aire, and makes our Earth to sprout.
The Night is she that all our trauailes easeth,
Buries our cares, and all our griefs appeaseth.

The Night is she, that (with her sable wing,
In gloomy Darknes hushing euery thing)
Through all the World dumb silence doth distill,
And wearied bones with quiet sleep doth fill.

Sweet Night, without Thee, without Thee (alas!)
Our life were loathsom; euen a Hell to pass:
For, outward paines and inward passions still,
With thousand Deaths, would soule and body thrill.
O Night, thou pullest the proud Mask away
Where-with vaine Actors, in this Worlds great Play,
By Day disguise-them. For, no difference
Night makes between the Peasant and the Prince,
The poore and rich, the Prisoner and the Iudge,
The foul and faire, the Master and the Drudge,
The foole and wise, Barbarian and the Greek:
For, Night's black Mantle couers all alike.

He that, condemn'd for some notorious vice,
Seeks in the Mines the baits of Auarice;
Or, swelting at the Furnace, fineth bright
Our soules dire sulphur; resteth yet at night.
He that, still stooping, toghes against the tide
His laden Barge alongst a Riuers side,
And filling shoares with shouts, doth melt him quite;
Vpon his pallet resteth yet at Night.
He, that in Sommer, in extreamest heat
Scorched all day in his owne scalding sweat,
Shaues, with keen Sythe, the glory and delight
Of motly Medowes; resteth yet at Night,
And in the arms of his deer Pheer forgoes
All former troubles and all former woes.
Onely the learned Sisters sacred Minions,
While silent Night vnder her sable pinions
Foldes all the World, with pain-lesse paine they tread
A sacred path that to the Heav'ns doth lead;
And higher then the Heav'ns their Readers raise
Vpon the wings of their immortall Layes.

Even Novv I listned for the Clock to chime

Before he conclude the first Day, he treateth of Angels.

Dayes latest hower; that for a little time,
The Night might ease My Labours: but, I see
As yet Aurora hath scarce smil'd on me;
My Work still growes: for, now before mine eyes
Heav'ns glorious Hoast in nimble squadrons flyes.

Whether, This-Day, God made you, Angels bright,

The time of their Creatiō not certainly resolued.

Vnder the name of Heav'n, or of the Light:
Whether you were, after, in th'instant borne
With those bright Spangles that the Heav'ns adorne:
Or, whether you deriue your high Descent
Long time before the World and Firmament

(For, I nill stifly argue to and fro
In nice Opinions, whether so, or so;
Especially, where curious search, perchance,
Is not so safe as humble Ignorance);
I am resolv'd that once th'Omnipotent
Created you immortall, innocent,
Good, faire, and free; in briefe, of Essence such
As from his Owne differd not very much.

Som of them are fallen, reuolting from God: and are cast into Hell, therefore called Euil Angels, Wicked Spirits and Deuils.

But euen as those, whom Princes fauours oft
Aboue the rest haue rais'd and set-aloft,
Are oft the first that (without right or reason)
Attempt Rebellion and do practice Treason;
And so, at length are iustly tumbled down
Beneath the foot, that raught aboue the Crown:
Euen so, some Legions of those lofty Spirits
(Enuying the glory of their Makers merits)
Conspir'd together, stroue against the streame,
T'vsurpe his Scepter and his Diademe.
But He, whose hands doe neuer Lightnings lack
Proud sacrilegious Mutiners to wrack,
Hurld them in th'Aire, or in some lower Cell:
For, where God is not, euery where is Hell.

This cursed Crew, with Pride and Fury fraught,
Of vs, at least, haue this aduantage got,
That by experience they can truely tell
How far it is from highest Heav'n to Hell:
For, by a proud leap they haue tane the measure,
When headlong thence they tumbled in displeasure.

The insolent and audacious attempts of Satan and his Fellows against God and his Church.

These Fiends are so far-off from bett'ring them
By this hard Iudgement, that still more extream,
The more their plague, the more their pride encreases,
The more their rage: as Lizards, cut in peeces,
Threat with more malice, though with lesser might,
And euen in dying shew their liuing spight.
For, euer since, against the King of Heav'n
Th'Apostate Prince of Darknes still hath striv'n,
Striv'n to depraue his Deeds t'interr their Story,
T'vndoo his Church, to vnder-mine his Glory;
To reaue this World's great Body, Ship, and State,
Of Head, of Master, and of Magistrate.

But, finding still the Maiesty diuine
Too strongly fenc't for him to vnder-mine;
His Ladders, Canons, and his Engines, all
Force-less to batter the celestiall Wall;
Too weak to hurt the Head, he hacks the Members:
The Tree too hard, the Branches he dismembers.

The Fowlers, Fishers, and the Foresters,
Set not so many toyls and baits, and snares,

To take the Fowle, the Fish, the sauage Beasts,
In Woods, and Floods, and fear-full Wilderness:
As this false Spirit sets Engines to beguile
The cunningest that practice nought but wile.

With wanton glance of Beauties burning eye

The diuers baits of the Diuell to entrap mankind.

He snares hot Youth in sensuality.
With Gold's bright lustre doth he Age intice
To Idolize detested Auarice.
With grace of Princes, with their pomp, and State,
Ambitious Spirits he doth intoxicate.
With curious Skill-pride, and vain dreams, he witches
Those that contemn Pleasure, and State, and Riches.
Yea, Faith it selfe, and Zeale, be sometimes Angles
Wherewith this Iuggler Heav'n-bent Soules intangles:
Much like the green Worm, that in Spring deuours
The buds and leaues of choisest Fruits and Flowrs;
Turning their sweetest sap and fragrant verdure
To deadly poyson, and detested ordure.

Who but (alas!) would haue been gull'd yer-whiles

Their Oracles.

With Night's black Monark's most malicious wiles?
To heare Stones speak, to see strange wooden Miracles,
And golden Gods to vtter wondrous Oracles?
To see Him play the Prophet, and inspire
So many Sibyls with a sacred fire?
To raise dead Samuel from his silent Toomb,

1. Sam. 28. 14. 17.

To tell his King Calamities to-come?
T'inflame the Flamine of Ioue Ammon so
With Heathen-holy fury-fits to knowe
Future euents, and somtimes truely tell
The blinded World what afterwards befell?
To counterfait the wondrous Works of God;

Their false Miracles. Exod. 7. 11. 22. & 8. 7.

His Rod turn Serpent, and his Serpent Rod?
To change the pure streams of th'Egyptian Flood
From clearest water into crimsin blood?
To rain-down Frogs, and Grass-hoppers to bring
In the bed-chambers of the stubborn King?
For, as he is a Spirit, vnseen he sees
The plots of Princes, and their Policies;
Vnfelt, he feeles the depth of their desires;
Who harbours vengeance, and whose heart aspires:
And, as vs'd daily vnto such effects,
Such feats and fashions, iudges of th'effects.

Their Wiles.

Besides, to circumvent the quickest sprighted,
To blind the eyes euen of the clearest sighted,
And to enwrap the wisest in his snares,
He oft foretels what hee himselfe prepares.

Wherefore their effects are so strange and wonderfull.

For, if a Wise-man (though Mans daies be don
As soon almost as they be heer begun;

And his dul Flesh be of too slowe a kinde
T'ensue the nimble Motions of his minde)
By th'onely power of Plants and Minerals
Can work a thousand super-naturals:
Who but will think, much more these Spirits can
Work strange effects, exceeding sense of Man?
Sith, being immortall, long experience brings
Them certain knowledge of th'effects of things;
And, free from bodie's clog, with less impeach,
And lighter speed, their bold Designes they reach.

God restraines them at his pleasure.

Not that they haue the bridle on their neck,
To run at random without curb or check,
T'abuse the Earth, and all the World to blinde,
And tyrannize our bodie and our minde.
God holds them chain'd in Fetters of his Power;
That, without leaue, one minute of an hower
They cannot range. It was by his permission,

1. King. 22. 35.

The Lying Spirit train'd Achab to perdition;
Making him march against that Foe with force,
Which should his body from his soule diuorce.
Arm'd with Gods sacred Pass-port, he did try

Iob 1. 15. &c.

Iust humble Iob's renowned Constancy:
He reaues him all his Cattell, many wayes,
By Fire and Foes: his faithfull Seruants slayes:
To loss of Goods he adds his Childrens loss,
And heaps vpon him bitter cross on cross.
For th'Only Lord, sometimes to make a tryall

Why the Lord sometimes lets loose these wicked Spirits.

Of firmest Faith, somtimes with Errors violl
To drench the Soules that Errors sole delight,
Lets loose these Furies: who with fell despight
Driue still the same Nail, and pursue (incensed)
Their damned drifts in Adam first commenced.

But, as these Rebels (maugre all that will)

Of the good Angels seruing to the glory of God, and good of his Church both in generall & particular.

T'assist the Good, be forc't t'assault the Ill:
Th'vnspotted Spirits that neuer did intend
To mount too high, nor yet too lowe descend,
With willing speed they euery moment goe
Whither the breath of diuine grace doth blowe:
Their aimes had neuer other limitation
Then God's owne glory, and his Saints saluation.
Law-less Desire ne'r enters in their breast,
Th'Almightie's Face is their Ambrosiall Feast:
Repentant tears of strayed Lambs returning,
Their Nectar sweet: their Musick, Sinners Mourning.
Ambitious Man's greedy Desire doth gape
Scepter on Scepter, Crown on Crown to clap:
These neuer thirst for greater Dignities.
Trauail's their ease, their bliss in seruice lies.
For, God no sooner hath his pleasure spoken,

Or bow'd his head, or giuen som other token,
Or (almost) thought on an Exploit, wherein
The Ministery of Angels shall be seen,
But these quick Postes with ready expedition
Flie to accomplish their diuine Commission.

One followes Agar in her pilgrimage,

Gen. 21. 17. 18.

And with sweet comforts doth her cares asswage.
Another guideth Isaacs mighty Hoasts;

Exod. 23. 23. & 33. 2.

Another, Iacob on th'Idumean Coasts.
Another (skill'd in Physick) to the Light
Restores old faithfull Tobies failing sight.

Tobi. 11. 7. 11. & 12. 14. & 15.

In Nazareth, another rapt with ioy,
Tels that a Virgin shall bring-forth a Boy;

Luk. 1. 26.

That Mary shall at-once be Maid-and-Mother,
And bear at-once her Son, Sire, Spouse, and Brother:
Yea, that Her happy fruitfull woomb shall hold
Him, that in Him doth all the World infold.
Some in the Desart tendred consolations,
While Iesvs stroue with Sathans strong Temptations.

Matth. 4. 11.

One, in the Garden; in his Agonies,
Cheers-vp his feares in that great enterprise,

Luk. 22. 43.

To take that bloody Cup, that bitter Chalice,
And drink it off, to purge our sinfull Malice.
Another certifies his Resurrection

Matth. 28. 25.

Vnto the Women, whose faith's imperfection
Suppos'd his cold limbs in the Graue were bound,
Vntill th'Archangels lofty Trump should sound.
Another, past all hope, doth pre-auerr

Luk. 1. 13.

The birth of Iohn, Christ's holy Harbenger.

Acts. 12. 1.

One, trusty Seriant for diuine Decrees,
The Iewes Apostle from close Prison frees:
One, in few howers, a fearfull slaughter made
Of all the First-born that the Memphians had;

Exod. 12. 29.

Exempting Those vpon whose door-posts stood
A sacred token of Lambs tender blood.

2.King.10.35.

Another mowes-down in a moments space,
Before Ierusalem (Gods chosen place)
Senacharib's proud ouer-daring Hoast,
That threatned Heav'n, and 'gainst the Earth did boast;
In his blasphemous Braues, comparing ev'n
His Idol-Gods, vnto the God of Heav'n.

His Troups, victorious in the East before,
Besieg'd the Citie, which did sole adore
The onely God; so that, without their leaue,
A Sparrow scarce the sacred Wals could leaue.
Then Ezechias, as a prudent Prince,
Poyzing the danger of these sad euents
(His Subiects thrall, his Cities wofull Flames,

His childrens death, the rape of noble Dames,
The Massacre of Infants and of Eld,
And's Royall Selfe with thousand weapons queld;
The Temple raz'd, th'Altar and Censer void
Of sacred vse, Gods Seruants all destroid)
Humbled in Sack-cloath and in Ashes, cries
For aid to God, the God of Victories;
Who heares his suit, and thunders down his Fury
On those proud Pagan Enemies of Iury.
For, while their Watch within their Corps de Garde
About the Fire securely snorted hard,
From Heav'n th'Almighty looking sternly down
(Glancing his Friends a smile, his Foes a frown)
A sacred Fencer 'gainst th'Assyrians sent,
Whose two-hand Sword, at euery veny, slent,
Not through a single Souldiers feeble bones,
But keenly slyces through whole Troops at once;
And heaws broad Lanes before it and behinde,
As swiftly whirling as the whisking winde.

Now gan they fly; but all too slowe to shun
A flying Sword that follow'd euery one.
A Sword they saw; but could not see the arm
That in one Night had done so dismall harm:
As we perceiue a Winde-mils sails to go;
But not the Winde, that doth transport them so.

Blushing Aurora, had yet scarce dismist
Mount Libanus from the Nights gloomy Mist,
When th'Hebrew Sentinels, discov'ring plain
An hundred foure score and fiue thousand slain,
Exceeding ioyfull, gan to ponder stricter,
To see such conquest and not know the Victor.

O sacred Tutors of the Saints! you Guard
Of Gods Elect, you Pursuiuants prepar'd
To execute the Counsails of the Highest;
You Heav'nly Courtiers, to your King the nighest;
Gods glorious Heralds, Heav'ns swift Harbengers,
'Twixt Heav'n and Earth you true Interpreters;
I could be well content and take delight
To follow farther your celestiall Flight;
But that I feare (heer hauing ta'n in hand
So long a iourney both by Sea and Land)
I feare to faint, if at the first (too fast
I cut away, and make too-hasty haste:
For, Trauailers, that burn in braue desire
To see strange Countries manners and attire,
Make haste enough, if only the First Day
From their owne Sill they set but on their way.
So Morne and Euening the First Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that All his Works were good.

embrace.

THE SECOND DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

Lewd Poets checkt: Our Poets chast Intents:
Heav'ns Curtain spread: th'all forming Elements;
Their number, nature, vse and Domination,
Content, excesse, continuance, situation:
Aire's triple Regions; and their Temper's change:
Windes, Exhalations, and all Metors strange;
Th'effects, the vse (apply'd to Conscience):
Mans Reason non-plust in some Accidents:
Of Prodigies: of th'Elementall Flame:
Heav'ns ten fold Orbs: Waters aboue the same.

Those learned Spirits, whose wits applied wrong,

A iust reproof of wanton & lasciuious Poets of our Time.

With wanton Charms of their inchanting song,
Make of an olde, foul, franticke Hecuba,
A wondrous fresh, faire, wittie Helena:
Of lewd Faustina (that loose Emperess)
A chaste Lucretia, loathing wantonness:
Of a blinde Bowe-Boy, of a Dwarf, a Bastard,
No petty Godling, but the Gods great Master;
On thankless furrowes of a fruitless sand
Their seed and labour lose, with heedless hand;
And (pitching Nets, to catch I little wott
What fume of Fame that seems them to besott)
Resemble Spiders, that with curious pain
Weaue idle Webs, and labour still in vain.

But (though then Time we haue no deerer Treasure)
Loss should I wail their miss-expence of leasure,
If their sweet Muse, with too-well spoken Spell,
Drew not their Readers with themselues to Hell.

For, vnder th'hony of their learned Works
A hatefull draught of deadly poyson lurks:
Whereof (alas) Young spirits quaffe so deep,

The danger of their seduced Readers.

That drunk with Loue, their Reason fals asleep;
And such a habit their fond Fancy gets,
That their ill stomack still loues euill meats.

Th'inchanting force of their sweet Eloquence
Hurls headlong down their tender Audience,
Aye (childe-like) sliding, in a foolish strife,
On th'Icie down-Hils of this slippery Life.

The Songs their Phœbus doth so sweet inspire,
Are euen the Bellowes whence they blowe the fire
Of raging Lust (before) whose wanton flashes
A tender brest rak't-vp in shamefac't ashes.

Our Poets modest purpose.

Therefore, for my part I haue vow'd to Heav'n
Such wit and learning as my God hath giv'n;
To write, to th'honour of my Maker dread,
Verse that a Virgine without blush may read.

Again, he calls vpon God, for assistance in the description of the second Days work.

Cleare Source of Learning, soule of th'Vniuerse
(Sith thou art pleas'd to chuse mine humble Verse
To sing thy Praises) make my Pen distill
Celestiall Nectar, and this Volume fill
With th'Amalthean Horn; that it may haue
Some correspondence to a Theam so graue:
Rid thou my passage, and make cleare my way
From all incumbers: shine vpon This Day;
That guided safely by thy sacred Light,
My Rendez-vous I may attaine yer night.

Which is the Firmamēt mentioned by Moses in the 1. Ch. of Gen. V. 6. 7. 8. Comprehending the Heauens, & all the Elementary Region. Of the foure Elements, simple in themselues: wherof al things subiect to our sense, are composed.

That Hvge broad-length, that long-broad height profound,
Th'infinite finite, that great moundless Mound,
I meane that Chaos, that self-iarring Mass,
Which in a moment made of Nothing was;
Was the rich Matter and the Matrix, whence
The Heav'ns should issue, and the Elements.

Now th'Elements twin-twins (two Sons, two Daughters)
To wit, the Fire, the Aire; the Earth, and Waters
Are not compounded: but, of them is all
Compounded first, that in our sense can fall:
Whether their qualities, in euery portion
Of euery thing, infuse them with proportion:
Whether in all, their substance they confound,
And so but one thing of their foure compound:
As in a Venice Glass, before our eyne,

Diuers Similes.

We see the water intermix with wine:
Or, in our stomack, as our drink and food
Doe mingle, after to conuert to blood.
This in a Fire-brand may we see, whose Fire
Doth in his Flame toward's natiue Heav'n aspire,

His Aire in smoak; in ashes fals his Earth,
And at his knots his Water wheezes forth.
Euen such a War our Bodies peace maintains.
For, in our Flesh, our Bodie's Earth remains:
Our vitall spirits, our Fire and Aire possess:
And, last, our Water in our humours rests.
Nay, ther's no Part in all this Bulk of ours,
Where each of these not intermix their powers;
Though't be apparent (and I needs must grant)
That aye some one is most Predominant.
The pure red part, amid the Mass of Blood,
The Sanguine Aire commands: the clutted mud,
Sunk down in Lees, Earths Melancholy showes:
The pale thin, humor, that on th'out-side flowes,
Is watery Phlegme: and the light froathy scum,
Bubbling aboue, hath Fiery Cholers room.

Not, that at all times, one same Element

A vicissitude of the Elements prædominance.

In one same Body hath the Regiment:
But, by turns raigning, each his subiects drawes
After his Lore: for, still New Lords new Lawes;
As sans respect how Rich or Noble-born,
Each Citizen rules and obayes, by turn,
In chart'red Towns; which seem, in little space,
Changing their Ruler, euen to change their face
(For, as Chameleons vary with their obiect,
So Princes manners do transform the Subiect):
So th'Element in Wine predomining,
It hot, and cold, and moist, and dry doth bring;
By's perfect or imperfect force (at length)
Inforcing it to change the taste and strength:
So that it doth Grapes sharp-green iuice transfer
To Must, Must t'Wine, and Wine to Vineger.

As while a Monarch, to teach others aw,

Excellēt Similes shewing the commodity or discommodity of the proportion or excesse of euery of the Elements.

Subiects his owne selfs-Greatness to his Law,
He ruleth fearless: and his Kingdoms flourish
In happy Peace (and Peace doth Plenty nourish);
But if (fell Tyrant) his keen sword be euer
Vniustly drawn, if he be sated neuer
With Subiects blood; needs must his Rage (at last)
Destroy his State, and lay his Countrie waste:
So (or much like) the while one Element
Ouer the rest hath modest Gouernment;
While, in proportion (though vnequall yet)
With Soueraign Humours Subiect Humours fit,
The Bodie's sound; and in the very face
Retains the Form of beauty and of grace:
But if (like that inhumane Emperour
Who wisht, all People vnderneath his Power

Had but one head, that he might butcher so
All th'Empires Subiects at one only blowe)
It, Tyrannizing, seek to wrack the rest,
It ruines soon the Prouince it possest;
Where soon appears, through his proud vsurpation,
Both outward change, and inward alteration.

Excesse of moisture.

So, too-much Moist, which (vnconcoct within)
The Liuer spreads betwixt the flesh and skin,
Puffs vp the Patient, stops the pipes and pores
Of Excrements: yea, double bais the dores
Of his short breath, and slowly-swiftly curst,
In midd'st of Water makes him euer thirst:
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.

Of Drought.

So too-much Drought a lingring Ague drawes,
Which seeming pain-less, yet much pain doth cause,
Robbing the nerues of might, of ioy the heart,
Of mirth the face, of moisture euery part
(Much like a Candle fed with it owne humour,
By little and little it owne selfs consumer)
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones
Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.

Of Heate.

So, too-much Heat doth bring a burning Feuer,
Which spurrs our Pulse, and furrs our Palat euer;
And on the tables of our troubled brain,
Fantastickly with various pensill vain
Doth counterfait as many Forms, or moe
Then euer Nature, Art, or Chance could showe:
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite till his bones
Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.

Of Colde.

So, too-much Cold couers with hoary Fleece
The head of Age, his flesh diminishes,
Withers his face, hollowes his rheumy eyes,
And makes himselfe euen his owne selfe despise;
While through his marrow euery where it enters,
Quenching his natiue heat with endless Winters:
Nor giues man Rest, nor Respite, till his bones

Of the continuance of the Elements, maintaining that whatsoeuer is now new formed, hath all his substance from the Materia prima: & whatsoeuer dissolues, resolues into the same, changing onely form: and also confuting the contrary Errors.

Be raked vp in a cold heap of stones.

Yet think not, that this Too-too-Much, remises
Ought into nought: it but the Form disguises
In hundred fashions, and the Substances
Inly, or outly, neither win nor leese.
For, all that's made, is made of the First Matter
Which in th'old Nothing made the All-Creator.
All, that dissolues, resolues into the same.
Since first the Lord of Nothing made This Frame,
Nought's made of nought; and nothing turns to nothing:
Things birth, or death, change but their formall clothing:

Their forms do vanish, but their bodies bide;
Now thick, now thin, now round, now short, now side.

For, if of Nothing any thing could spring,
Th'Earth without seed should wheat and barly bring:
Pure Mayden-woombs desired Babes should bear:
All things, at all times, should grow euery where.
The Hart in Water should it selfe ingender;
The Whale on Land; in Aire the Lambling tender:
Th'Ocean should yeeld the Pine and Cornell Tree;
On Hazels Acornes, Nuts on Oaks should be:
And breaking Natures set and sacred vse,
The Doues would Eagles, Eagles Doues, produce.

If of themselues things took their thriuing, then
Slowe-growing Babes should instantly be Men:
Then in the Forests should huge boughes be seen
Born with the bodies of vnplanted Treen:
Then should the sucking Elephant support
Vpon his shoulders a well-manned Fort;
And the new foaled Colt, couragious,
Should neigh for Battail, like Bucephalus.

Contrariwise, if ought to nought did fall;
All, that is felt or seen within this All,
Still losing somwhat of it selfe, at length
Would come to Nothing: If Death's fatall strength
Could altogether Substances destroy,
Things then should vanish even as soon as dy.
In time the mighty Mountains tops be bated;
But, with their fall, the neighbour Vales are fatted;
And what, when Trent or Auon ouer-flowe,
They reaue one field, they on the next bestowe:
Loue-burning Heav'n many sweet Deaws doth drop
In his deer Spouses faire and fruitfull lap;
Which after she restores, straining those showrs
Through th'hidden pores of pleasant plants and flowrs.

Whoso hath seen, how one warm lump of wax

By an apt similitude, be sheweth the continuall Change of the World, in the matter & form therof, according to Gods pleasure, in such sort, yet, that the matter remains, though is receiue infinite Formes.

(Without increasing, or decreasing) takes
A hundred figures; well may iudge of all
Th'incessant Changes of this neather Ball.
The Worlds owne Matter is the waxen Lump,
Which, vn-self-changing, takes all kind of stamp:
The Form's the Seal; Heav'ns gratious Emperour
(The liuing God)'s the great Lord Chancellour;
Who at his pleasure setting day and night
His great Broad Seales, and Priuy Signets right
Vpon the Mass so vast and variable,
Makes the same Lump, now base, now honourable.

Heer's nothing constant: nothing still doth stay:
For, Birth and Death haue still successiue sway.

Heer one thing springs not, till another die:
Onely the Matter liues immortallie
(Th'Almighties Table, body of this All,
Of change-full Chances common Arcenall,
All like it selfe, all in it selfe contained,
Which by Times Flight hath neither lost nor gained)
Change-less in Essence; changeable in face,
Much more then Proteus, or the subtill race
Of rouing Polypes, who (to rob the more)

Sundry Similes to that purpose.

Transform them howrly on the wauing shore:
Much like the French (or like our selues, their Apes)
Who with strange habit do disguise their shapes;
Who louing nouels, full of affectation,
Receiue the Manners of each other Nation;
And scarcely shift they shirts so oft, as change
Fantastick Fashions of their garments strange:
Or like a Laïs, whose inconstant loue
Doth euery day a thousand times remoue;
Who's scarce vnfolded from one Youths embraces;
Yer in her thought another she embraces;
And the new pleasure of her wanton Fire
Stirs in her, still, another new desire:
Because the Matter, wounded deep in heart
With various Loue (yet, on the selfe same part,
Incapable, in the same time, at once
To take all figures) by successions,
Form after Form receiues: so that one face
Anothers faces features doth deface.

The chief motiue of this change of Formes in the matter.

Now the chiefe Motiue of these Accidents,
Is the dire discord of our Elements;
Truce-hating Twins, where Brother eateth Brother
By turns, and turn them one into another,
Like Ice and Water that beget each other;
And still the Daughter bringeth-forth the Mother.

Enigma.

But each of these hauing two qualities
(One bearing Rule, another that obayes)
Those, whose effects do wholly contradict,
Longer and stronger striue in their Conflict.
The hot-dry Fire to cold-moist Water turns not;
The cold-dry Earth, to hot-moist Aire, returns not,
Returns not eas'ly: for (still opposite)
With tooth and nail as deadly foes they fight.
But Aire turne Water, Earth may Fierize;
Because in one part they do symbolize;
And so, in combate they haue less to doo;
For, 't's easier far, to conquer one then two.

Of the Situation of the Elements, & of the effects therof, compar'd to the Notes of Musik, & to the letters of the Alphabet.

Sith then the knot of sacred Mariage,
Which ioynes the Elements, from age to age

Brings forth the Worlds Babes: sith their Enmities,

With fell diuorce, kill whatsoeuer dies:
And sith, but changing their degree and place,
They frame the various Forms, wherewith the face
Of this fair World is so imbellished
[As six sweet Notes, curiously varied
In skilfull Musick, make a hundred kindes
Of Heav'nly sounds, that rauish hardest mindes;
And with Division (of a choice deuice)
The Hearers soules out at their ears intice:
Or, as of twice-twelue Letters, thus transpos'd,
This World of Words, is variously compos'd;
And of these Words, in diuers order sowen,
This sacred Volume that you read, is growen
(Through gracious succour of th'Eternall Deity)
Rich in dicourse, with infinite Variety]
It was not cause-less, that so carefully.
God did diuide their common Signory;
Assigning each a fit confined Sitting,
Their quantity and quality befitting.

Whoso (somtime) hath seen rich Ingots tride,

A Simile liuely representing the separation of the Elements.

When forc't by Fire their treasures they diuide
(How fair and softly Gold to Gold doth pass,
Siluer seeks Siluer, Brass consorts with Brass;
And the whole Lump, of parts vnequall, seuers
It self apart, in white, red, yellow Rivers)
May vnderstand how, when the Mouth Diuine
Op'ned (to each his proper Place t'assigne)
Fire flew to Fire, Water to Water slid,
Aire clung to Aire, and Earth with Earth abid.

Earth, as the Lees, and heauy dross of All

Situation of the Earth and Fire.

(After his kinde) did to the bottom fall:
Contrariwise, the light and nimble Fire
Did through the crannies of th'old Heap aspire
Vnto the top; and by his nature, light
No less then hot, mounted in sparks vpright:
As, when we see Aurora, passing gay,
With Opals paint the Seeling of Cathay,
Sad Flouds do fume; and the celestiall Tapers,
Through Earths thin pores, in th'Aire exhale their vapors.

But, lest the Fire (which all the rest imbraces)
Being too neer, should burn the Earth to ashes;
As chosen Vmpires, the great All-Creator
Between these Foes placed the Aire and Water:

Of aire & water placed between the earth and fire.

For, one suffiz'd not their stern strife to end.
Water, as Cozen did the Earth befriend:
Aire, for his Kinsman Fire, as firmly deals:
But both, vniting their diuided zeals,

Took vp the matter, and appeas'd the brall;
Which doubt-less else had discreated All.
Th'Aire lodg'd aloft, the Water vnder it,
Not casually, but so disposed fit
By him, who (Nature in her kinde to keep)
Kept due proportion in his Workmanship;
And, in this Store-house of his Wonders treasure,
Observ'd in all things number, waight and measure.

Why the Aire was lodged next the Element of Fire.

For, had the Water next the Fire been plac't,
Fire, seeming then more wrongd and more disgrac't,
Would suddenly haue left his Adversary,
And set vpon the Vmpire (more contrary).
But all the Links of th'holy Chain, which tethers
The many Members of the World togethers,
Are such, as none but onely He can break them,
Who at the first did (of meer nothing) make them.
Water, as arm'd with moisture and with cold
The cold-dry Earth with her one hand doth hold;

The disposing & combining of the Elements. A Similitude.

With th'other th'Aire: The Aire, as moist and warm,
Holds Fire with one; Water with th'other arm:
As Country-Maidens, in the Month of May,
Merrily sporting on a Holy-day,
And lusty dancing of a huely Round
About the May-pole, by the Bag-pipes sound;
Hold hand in hand, so that the first is fast
(By means of those between) vnto the last.

For, sith 'tis so, that the dry Element
Not onely yeelds her owne Babes nourishment,
But with the milk of her aboundant brests,
Doth also feed th'Aires nimble winged guests,
And also all th'innumerable Legions
Of greedy mouthes that haunt the Briny Regions
(So that th'Earth's Mother, or else Nurse of all
That run, or flee, or swim, or slide, or crawl)
'Twas meet, it should be it self's Counterpoize,
To stand still firm against the roaring noise
Of wrackfull Neptune, and the wrathfull blasts
Of parching South, and pinching Boreas:

Why the Earth is the lowest, & enuironed with the other three Elements, wherof it is the center.

'T was meet, her sad-flowe body to digest
Farther from Heav'n than any of the rest:
Lest, of Heav'ns Course th'Eternall swift Careers,
Rushing against her with their whirling Sphears,
Should her transport as swift and violent,
As ay they do their neighbour Element.

And sith on th'other side th'harmonious Course
Of Heav'ns bright Torches is th'immortall source
Of earthly life: and sith all alterations
(Almost) are caus'd by their quick agitations

In all the World, God could not place so fit
Our Mother Earth, as in the midst of it.
For, all the Stars reflect their liuely rayes
On Fire and Aire, and Water, diuers wayes;
Dispersing, so, their powerfull influence
On, in, and through these various Elements:
But, on the Earth, they all in one concurr,
And all vnite their seuerall force in her;
As in a Wheele, which with a long deep rut

Simile.

His turning passage in the durt doth cut,
The distant spoaks neerer and neerer gather,
And in the Naue vnite their points together.

As the bright Sun shines through the smoothest Glasse,

Simile.

The turning Planets influence doth passe
Without impeachment through the glist'ring Tent
Of the tralucing Fiery Element,
Th'Aires triple Regions, the transparent Water;
But not the firm Base of this faire Theater.
And therefore rightly may we call those Trines
(Fire, Aire and Water) but Heav'ns Concubines:
For, neuer Sun, nor Moon, nor Stars inioy
The loue of these, but onely by the way,
As passing by: whereas incessantly
The lusty Heav'n with Earth doth company;
And with a fruitfull seed, which lends All life,
With-childes, each-moment, his owne lawfull wife;
And with her louely Babes, in form and nature
So diuers, decks this beautifull Theater.

The Water, lighter then the Earthy Masse,

The Water, between the Earth and Aire.

Heauier then Aire, betwixt them both hath place;
The better so with a moist-colde, to temper
Th'ones ouer-driness, th'others hot distemper.

But, my sweet Muse, whither so fast away?

Leauing the Earth and Sea till the next Book he comes to treat of the Aire.

Soft, soft, my Darling: draw not dry To-Day
Castalian Springs; defer the Cirque and Seat,
The power and praise of Sea and Earth as yet:
Do not anticipate the Worlds Beginning;
But, till To-Morrow leaue the enter-blinning
Of Rocky Mounts, and rouling Waues so wide.
For, euen To Morrow will the Lord diuide,
With the right hand of his Omnipotence,
These yet confus'd and mingled Elements;
And liberally the shaggy Earth adorn
With Woods, and Buds of fruits, of flowers and corn.
'Tis time, my Loue, 'tis time, mine onely Care,
To hie vs hence, and mount vs in the Aire:
'Tist me (or neuer) now my dearest Minion,
To imp strong farcels in thy sacred pinion;

That lightly born vpon thy Virgin back,
Safe through the VVelkin I my course may take:
Com, com, my Ioy, lend me thy lilly shoulder;
That thereon raised, I may reach the bolder
(Before the rest of my deer Country-men,
Of better wit, but worse-applied pen.)
At that green Laurel, which the niggard Skies
So long haue hidden from my longing eies.

The Aire distinguished into 3. Regions.

Th'Aire (hoste of Mists, the bounding Tennis-ball,
That stormy Tempests toss and play withall;
Of winged Clouds the wide inconstant House,
Th'vnsettled kingdom of swift Æolus,
Great VVare-house of the VVindes, whose traffick giues
Motion of life to ev'ry thing that liues)
Is not throughout all one: our Elder Sages
Haue fitly parted it into three Stages.

The High.

VVhereof, because the Highest still is driv'n
VVith violence of the First-mouing Heav'n,
From East to West; and, from the West returning,
To th'honored Cradle of the rosiall Morning,
And also seated next the Fiery vault;
It, by the learned, very hot is thought.

The Lowe.

That, which we touch, with times doth variate,
Now hot, now cold, and sometimes temperate;
Warm-temp'red showrs it sendeth in the Spring:
In Autumn likewise, but more varying:
In Winter time, continuall cold and chill:
In Summer season, hot and soultry still:
For then, the Fields, scorched with flames, reflect
The sparkling rayes of thousand Stars aspect;
And chiefly Phœbus, to whose arrows bright
Our Globy Grandame serues for But and White.

The Middle Region of the Aire.

But now, because the Middle Region's set
Far from the Fiery feelings flagrant heat,
And also from the warm reuerberation
Which aye the Earth reflects in diuers fashion;
That Circle shiuers with eternall colde.

Of the causes of Haile.

For, into Hail how should the Water molde,
Euen when the Summer hath gilt Ceres Gowne,
Except those Climes with Ycicles were sowen?

So soon as Sol, leauing the gentle Twins,
With Cancer or thirst-panting Leo Inns,
The mid-most Aire redoubleth all his Frosts;
Being desieged by two mighty Hoasts
Of Heat, more fierce 'gainst his Cold force then euer,
Cals from all quarters his chill troops together,
T'incounter them with his vnited Powr,
Which then dispersed, hath far greater powr:

As Christian Armies, from the Frontiers far,
And out of fear of Turks outrageous War,
March in disorder, and become (disperts)
As many Squadrons as were Souldiers yerst;
So that somtimes th'vntrained Multitude
With bats and boawes hath beat them and subdu'd:
But, if they once perceiue, or vnderstand
The Moony Standards of proud Ottoman
To be approaching, and the Sulph'ry thunder
Where with he brought both Rhodes and Belgrade vnder;
They soon vnite, and in a narrow place
Intrench themselues; their courage growes apace,
Their heart's on fire; and Circumcised Powrs,
By their approach, double the strength of ours.

'Tis (doubt-less) this

Contrary Circumstance. The effect, therof in the middle Region of the Aire.

Antiperistasis
(Bear with the word. I hold it not amiss
T'adopt sometimes such strangers for our vse,
When Reason and Necessity induce:
As namely, where our natiue Phrase doth want
A Word so force-full and significant)
VVhich makes the Fire seem to our sense and reason
Hotter in Winter then in Sommer season:
Tis it which causeth the cold frozen Scythia
Too-often kist by th'husband of Orithya,
To bring forth people, whose still hungry brest
(Winter or Sommer) can more meat digest
Then those lean staruelings which the Sun doth broil
Vpon the hot sands of the Libyan soyl:
And that our selues, happily seated faire,
Whose spongy lungs draw sweet and holesom Aire,
Hide in our stomacks a more liuely heat,
While bi-front Ianus frosty frowns do threat,
Then when bright Phœbus, leauing swarty Chus,
Mounts on our Zenith, to reflect on vs.

Th'Almighties hand did this Partition form;

Why the air was that distinguished in the 3. Regions.

To th'end that Mist, Comets, and Winde, and Storm,
Deaw, drizling Showrs, Hail, slippery Ice, and Snowe,
In the three Regions of the Aire might growe:
VVhereof some, pointed th'Earth to fertilize,
Others to punish our impieties,
Might daily graue in hardest hearts the loue
And fear of him, who Raignes in Heav'n aboue.

For, as a little end of burning wax,

Of exhalations, and whereunto they are approriate, by the Sun and the Regions of the Aire.

By th'emptiness, or of it selfe attracts
In Cupping-glasses, through the scotched skin
Behinde the Poule, superfluous humours thin,
Which fuming from the braine did thence descend
Vpon the sight, and much the same offend:

So the swift Coach-man, whose bright flaming hair
Doth euery Day gild either Hemisphear,
Two sorts of vapours by his heat exhales
From floating Deeps, and from the flowry Dales:
Th'one somwhat hot, but heauy, moist, and thick;
The other, light, dry, burning, pure, and quick;
Which, through the Welkin roaming all the yeare,
Make the World diuers to it selfe appear.

Of Mist.

Now, if a vapour be so thin that it
Cannot to Water be transformed fit,
And that with Cold-lym'd wings, it houer neer
The flowry Mantle of our Mother deer;
Our Aire growes dusky; and moist drowsie Mist
Vpon the Fields doth for a time persist.

Of Deaw and Ice.

And if this vapour fair and softly sty,
Not to the cold Stage of the middle Sky,
But 'boue the Clouds, it turneth (in a trice)
In April, Deaw; in Ianuary, Ice.

But, if the Vapour brauely can aduenture
Vp to th'eternall seat of shivering Winter,
The small thin humour by the Cold is prest
Into a Cloud; which wanders East and West
Vpon the Winde's wings, till in drops of Rain
It fall into his Grandames lap again:
VVhether som boistrous winde, with stormy puff
Ioustling the Clouds with mutuall counter-buff,
Do break their brittle sides, and make them shatter
In drizling Showres their swift distilling water:

Diuers Similes, shewing how the Rain is caused through the incounter of the Clouds, which are the matter of it.

As when a wanton heedless Page (perhaps)
Rashly together two full glasses claps;
Both being broken, suddenly they pour
Both their brew'd liquors on the dusty flour.
VVhether some milder gale, with sighing breath
Shaking their Tent, their tears disseuereth:
As after rain another rain doth drop
In shady Forests from their shaggy top,
When through their green boughs, whiffing Winds do whirl
VVith wanton pufs their wauing locks to curl.
Or whether th'vpper Clouds moist heaviness
Doth with his waight an vnder Cloud oppress,
And so one humour doth another crush,
Till to the ground their liquid pearles do gush:
As the more clusters of ripe grapes we pack
In Vintage-time vpon the hurdles back;
At's pearced bottom the more fuming liquor
Runns in the scummy Fat, and fals the thicker.

Whence if procedeth, that sometimes it raineth Frogs.

Then, many Heav'n-floods in our Floods do lose-am;
Nought's seen but Showres: the Heav'ns sad sable bosom

Seems all in tears to melt; and Earths green bed
VVith stinking Frogs is somtimes couered:
Either, because the floating Cloud doth fold
VVithin it selfe both moist, dry, hot, and cold,
Whence all things heer are made: or else for that
The actiue windes, sweeping this dusty Flat,
Somtimes in th'aire som fruitfull dust doo heap:
VVhence these new-formed vgly creatures leap:
As on the edges of som standing Lake
VVhich neighbour Mountains with their gutters make,
The foamy slime, it selfe transformeth oft
To green half-Tadpoles, playing there aloft,
Half-made, half-vnmade; round about the Flood,
Half-dead, half-liuing; half a frog, half-mud.

Somtimes it happens, that the force of Cold

Of Snowe.

Freezes the whole Cloud: then we may behold
In siluer Flakes a heav'nly Wooll to fall;
Then, Fields seem grass-less, Forests leafe-less all,
The World's all white; and, through the heaps of Snowe,
The highest Stag can scarce his armour showe.

Somtimes befals, that, when by secret powr,

Of Haile.

The Cloud's new-chang'd into a dropping showr,
Th'excessiue cold of the mid-Aire (anon)
Candies-it all in bels of Icy-stone:
Whose violent storms somtimes (alas!) doo proin,
Without a knife, our Orchard and our Vine;
Reap without sickle, beat down Birds and Cattle,
Disgrace our Woods, and make our Roofs to rattle.

If Heav'ns bright Torches, from Earth's kidneys, sup

Of som Vapours, or exhalations whirling in the Low & Middle Regions of the Aire, & wherof the winds are ingendred.

Som somwhat dry and heatfull Vapours vp,
Th'ambitious lightning of their nimble Fire
Would suddenly neer th'Azure Cirques aspire:
But scarce so soon their fuming crest hath raught,
Or toucht the Coldness of the middle Vault,
And felt what force their mortall Enemy
In Garrison keeps there continually;
When down again, towards their Dam they bear,
Holp by the waight which they haue drawn from her:
But in the instant, to their aid arriues
Another new heat, which their heart reuiues,
Re-arms their hand, and hauing staied their flight,
Better resolv'd brings them again to fight.

Well fortifi'd then by these fresh supplies,
More brauely they renew their enterprize:
And one-while th'vpper hand (with honour) getting,
Another-while disgracefully retreating,
Our lower Aire they tosse in sundry sort,
As weak or strong their matter doth comport.

This lasts not long; because the heat and cold,
Equall in force and fortune, equall bold
In these assaults; to end this sudden brall,
Th'one stops their mountiong, th'other stayes their fall.
So that this vapour, neuer resting stound,
Stands neuer still, but makes his motion round,
Posteth from Pole to Pole, and flies amain
From Spain to India, and from Inde to Spain.

But though these blustring spirits seem alwaies blow'n
By the same spirit, and of like Vapour grow'n;
Yet, from their birth-place, take they diuersly
A diuers name and diuers quality.

Of the Winds, whereof there are foure, principall, compared to the foure Seasons, the foure Complexions, the foure Elements & the foure Ages of man, and assigned to the foure Corners of the World: And called East, West, North & South.

Feeling the fower Windes, that with diuers blast,
From the fower corners of the World doo haste;
In their effects I find fower Temp'raments,
Foure Times, foure Ages, and foure Elements.
Th'East-winde, in working, follows properly
Fire, Choler, Summer, and soft Infancy:
That, which dries vp wilde Affrick with his wing,
Resembles Aire, Blood, Youth, and liuely Spring:
That, which blowes moistly from the Western stage,
Like Water, Phlegme, Winter, and heauy Age:
That, which comes shiv'ring from cold Climates solely,
Earth, withered Eld, Autumn, and Melancholy.
Not, but that Men haue long yer this found-out
More then these four Windes, East, West, North, and South:
Those that (at Sea) to see both Poles are wont,
Vpon their Compass two and thirty count,
Though they be infinite, as are the places
Whence the Heav'n-fanning Exhalation passes:
But wheresoeuer their quick course they bend,
As on their Chiefs, all on these Foure depend.

Diuers effects of the Windes.

One while, with whisking broom they brush and sweep
The cloudy Curtains of Heav'ns stages steep:
Anon, with hotter sighes they dry the Ground,
Late by Electra and her sisters drownd.
Anon refresh they, with a temp'rate blowing,
The soultry Aier; vnder the Dog-starre glowing:
On Trees anon they ripe the Plum and Pear,
In cods the Poulse, the Corn within the ear:
Anon, from North to South, from East to West
VVith ceas less wings they driue a Ship addrest:
And somtimes whirling, on an open Hill,
The round-flat Runner in a roaring Mill,
In flowry motes they grind the purest grain,
Which late they ripened on the fruitfull Plain.

Diuers effects of hot exhalations.

If th'Exhalation hot and oyly proue,
And yet (as feeble) giueth place aboue

To th'Airy Regions euer-lasting Frost,
Incessantly th'apt tinding fume is tost
Till it inflame: then like a Squib it falls,
Or fire-wingd shaft, or sulph'ry Powder Balls.

But if this kinde of Exhalation tour

Of Comets.

Aboue the walls of Winters icy bowr,
'T inflameth also; and anon becoms
A new strange Star, presaging woful dooms:
And, for this Fier hath more fewell in't
Then had the first, 'tis not so quickly spent:
Whether the Heav'ns incessant agitation,
Into a Star transforming th'Exhalation,
Kindle the same: like as a coal, that winkt
On a sticks end (and seemed quite extinct)
Tost in the dark with an industrious hand,
To light the night, becoms a fier-brand:
Or whether th'vpper Fire doo fire the same;
As lighted Candles doo th'vnlight inflame.

According as the vapour's thick or rare,

Of other fiery impressions in the regions of the Aire.

Euen or vn-euen, long or large, round or square,
Such are the Forms it in the Aire resembles:
At sight whereof, th'amazed Vulgar trembles.
Heer, in the night appears a flaming Spire;
There a fierce Dragon folded all in fire;
Heer, a bright Comet; there, a burning Beam;
Heer, flying Launces; there, a fiery Stream:
Heer seems a horned Goat, enuiron'd round
With fiery flakes, about the Aire to bound.
There, with long bloudy haire, a Blazing Star
Threatens the World with Famin, Plague and War:
To Princes, death: to Kingdoms, many crosses:
To all Estates, ineuitable Losses:
To Heard-men, Rot: to Plough-men, hap-lesse Seasons:
To Saylers, Storms: to Cities, ciuill Treasons.

But hark: what hear I in the Heav'ns? me thinks

A liuely description of thunder and lightning.

The VVorlds wall shakes, and his Foundation shrinks:
It seems euen now that horrible Persephone,
Loosing Meger', Alecto and Tysiphone,
VVeary of raigning in black Erebus,
Transports her Hell between the Heav'n and vs.

'Tis held, I knowe, that when a Vapour moist

How they are engendred.

As well from Fresh as from Salt water's hoist
In the same instant with hot-Exhalations,
In th'Airy Regions secondary stations;
The Fiery Fume, besieged with the Croud
And keen-cold thicknes of that dampish Cloud,
Strengthens his strength; and with redoubled Volleys
Of ioyned Heat, on the Cold Leagher sallies.

A simile.

Like as a Lion, very late exil'd,
From's natiue Forrests; spet-at and reuil'd,
Mockt, moov'd, and troubled with a thousand toyes,
By wanton children, idle girles and boyes;
With hideous roaring doth his Prison fill,
In's narrow Cloistre ramping wildely, still,
Runs to and fro; and furious, lesse doth long
For liberty, than to reuenge his wrong:
This Fire, desirous to break forth again
From's cloudy Ward, cannot it selfe refrain;
But, without resting, loud it grones and grumbles,
It roules and roares, and round-round-round it rumbles,
Till (hauing rent the lower side in sunder)
With sulph'ry flash it haue shot-down his thunder:
Though, willing to vnite, in these alarms,
To's Brothers Forces, his own fainting arms;
And th'hottest Circle of the World to gaine,
To issue vp-ward, oft it striues in vaine:
But, 'tis there fronted with a Trench so large,
And such an Hoast, that though it often charge,
On this and that side, the Cold Camp about,
With his Hot Skirmish; yet still, still the stout
Victorious Foe repelleth ev'ry push;
So that (despairing) with a furious rush
(Forgetting honour) it is fain to fly
By the back-door, with blushing infamy.

Their effects.

Then th'Ocean boyls for fear: the Fish doo deem
The Sea too shallow to safe-shelter them:
The Earth doth shake; the Shepheard in the field
In hollow Rocks himself can hardly shield:
Th'affrighted Heav'ns open; and, in the vale
Of Acheron, grim Plutoe's self looks pale:
Th'Aire flames with Fire: for, the loud-roaring Thunder
(Renting the Cloud, that it includes, asunder)
Sends forth those Flashes which so blear our sight:

Simile.

As wakefull Students, in the Winters night
Against the steel glauncing with stony knocks,
Strike sodain sparks into their Tinder-box.

Moreouer, Lightning of a fume is fram'd:
Through't selfs hot-drinesse, euermore inflam'd:

Admirable effects of lightning.

Whose powr (past credit) without razing skin,
Can bruiz to powder all our bones within:
Can melt the Gold that greedy Mizers hoord
In barred Cofers, and not burn the boord:
Can break the blade, and neuer singe the sheath:
Can scorch an infant in the Womb to death;
And neuer blemish, in one sort or other,
Flesh, bone, or sinew of th'amazed Mother:

Consume the shooes, and neuer hurt the feet:
Empty a Cask, and yet not perish it.
My younger eyes haue often seen a Dame,
To whom the flash of Heav'ns fantastick flame
Did else no harm, saue (in a moment's space)
With windy Rasor shaue a secret place.

Shall I omit a hundred Prodigies

Of Crownes and circles about the Sun, Moone and other Planets.

Oft seen in forehead of the frowning Skies?
Somtimes a Fiery Circle doth appeare,
Proceeding from the beautious beams and clear
Of Sun and Moon, and other Stars aspect,
Down-looking on a thick-round Cloud direct;
When, not of force to thrust their rayes through-out-it,
In a round Crown they cast them round about-it:
Like as (almost) a burning candle, put

Simile.

Into a Closet with the door close shut;
Not able through the boords to send his light,
Out at the edges round about shines bright.

But, in's declining, when Sols countenance
Direct vpon a wat'rish Cloud doth glance
(A wat'rish Cloud, which cannot easily
Hold any longer her moist Tympany)
On the moist Cloud he limns his lightsom front;

Of the Rainbow, and how it is made.

And with a gawdy Pencill paints vpon't
A blew-green-gilt Bowe bended ouer vs:
For, th'aduerse Cloud, which first receiueth thus
Apollo's raies, the same direct repells
On the next Cloud, and with his gold it mells
Her various colours: Like as when the Sun
At a bay-window peepeth in vpon

Simile.

A boawl of water, his bright beams aspect
With trembling lustre it doth far reflect
Against th'high feeling of the lightsom Hall,
With stately Fret-work ouer-crusted all.

On th'other side, if the Cloud side-long sit,
And not beneath, or iustly opposite
To Sun and Moon; then either of them forms

How it comes to passe that sometimes appear diuers Suns and Moons at once.

With strong aspect double or trebble Forms
Vpon the same. The Vulgars then affright
To see at once three Chariots of the Light;
And, in the VVelkin on Nights gloomy Throne,
To see at once more shining Moons then one.

But, O fond Mortals! wherefore doo yee striue

A check to mans Pride in striuing to yeeld reason in Nature of all these accidents.

VVith reach of Sense, Gods wonders to retriue?
VVhat proud desire (rather, what Furie's drift?)
Boldens you god-less, all Gods works to sift?
I'le not deny, but that a learned man
May yeeld some Reason (if he list to scan)

Of all that moues vnder Heav'ns hollow Cope;
But, not so sound as can all scruple stop:
And though he could, yet should we euermore,
Praysing these tools, extoll His fingers more
Who works with them, and many-waies doth giue
To deadest things (instantly) soules, to liue.

True Philosophy for Christians, to apply al to their conscience for amendmēt of life.

Me thinks I hear, when I doo hear it thunder,
The voice that brings Swains vp, and Cæsars vnder:
By that Towr-tearing stroak, I vnderstand
Th'vndaunted strength of the Diuine right hand:
When I behold the Lightning in the Skies,
Me thinks I see th'Almighties glorious Eies:
When I perceiue it rain-down timely showrs,
Me thinks the Lord his horn of Plenty pours:
When from the Clouds excessiue Water spins,
Me thinks God weeps for our vnwept-for sins:
And when in Heav'n I see the Rain-boaw bent,
I hold it for a Pledge and Argument,
That neuer more shall Vniuersall Floods
Presume to mount ouer the tops of VVoods
VVhich hoary Atlas in the Clouds doth hide,
Or on the Crowns of Caucasus doo ride:
But, aboue all, my pearced soule inclines,
VVhen th'angry Heav'ns threat with prodigious Signes;
VVhen Natures order doth reuerse and change,
Prepost'rously into disorder strange.

All the learned in the World cannot out of the schoole of Nature giue reason or many things that are created in the High and Middle Regions of the Aire.

Let all the VVits, that euer suckt the breast
Of sacred Pallas, in one VVit be prest,
And let him tell me (if at least he can
By rule of Nature, or meer reach of man)
A sound and certain reason of the Cream,
The VVooll and Flesh that from the Clouds did stream:
Let him declare what cause could erst beget,
Amid the Aire, those drizzling showrs of VVheat,
VVhich in Carinthia twice were seen to shed;
VVhereof that people made them store of Bread.

The true cause of these Prodigies.

God, the great God of Heav'n, somtimes delights
From top to toe to alter Natures Rites;
That his strange Works, to Nature contrary,
May before-runners of som misery.
The drops of Fire which weeping Heav'n did showr

Exāples drawn out of the History of the Romans, Iewes, Turks & Frēch, both Ecclesiasticall & profane.

Vpon Lucania, when Rome sent the Flowr
Of Italy, into the wealthy Clime
VVhich Euphrates fats with his fruitfull slime;
Presag'd, that Parthians should, the next year, tame
The proud Lucanians, and nigh quench their Name.
The clash of Arms, and clang of Trumpets heard
High in the Aire, when valiant Romans warr'd

Victoriously, on the (now-Canton'd) Suisses,
Cymbrians, and Almans, hewing all in pecces;
'Gainst Epicures profane assertions, showe
That 'tis not Fortune guides this World belowe.
Thou that beheld'st from Heav'n, with triple Flashes,
Cursed Olympius smitten all to ashes,
For Blasphemies 'gainst th'One Eternall-Three;
Dai'st thou yet belch against the Trinitie?
Dar'st thou, profane, spet in the face of God,
Who for blasphemers hath so sharp a rod?

Iewes (no more Iewes, no more of Abr'ham Sons;
But Turks, Tartarians, Scythians, Lestrigons)
Say what you thought; what thought you, when so long
A flaming Sword ouer your Temple hung;
But that the Lord would with a mighty arme
The righteous vengeance of his wrath performe
On you, and yours? that what the Plague did leaue,
Th'infatiate gorge of Famine should bereaue?
And what the Plague and Famine both did spare,
Should be clean gleaned by the hand of War?
That sucking Infants, crying for the teat,
Self-cruell Mothers should vnkindly eat?
And that (yer long) the share and coultar should
Rub off their rust vpon your Roofs of gold?
And all, because you (cursed) crucifi'd
The Lord of life, who for our ransom dy'd.

The ruddy Fountain that with blood did flowe:
Th'huge Fiery Rock the thundring Heav'ns did throwe
Into Liguria: and the bloody Crosses
Seen on mens garments, seem'd with open voyces
To cry aloud, that the Turk's swarming hoast
Should pitch his proud Moons on the Genoan coast.

O Frantick France! why dost not Thou make vse
Of Strangefull Signes, whereby the Heav'ns induce

The Poet seuerely taxeth his Countrimen for not marking, or not making vse of strange and extraordinary tokens of Gods imminent displeasure.

Thee to repentance? Canst thou tear-less gaze
(Euen night by night) on that prodigious Blaze,
That hairy Comet, that long streaming Star,
Which threatens Earth with Famine, Plague, and War
(Th'Almighty's Trident, and three-forked fire
Wherewith he strikes vs in his greatest Ire)?
But what (alas!) can Heauens bare threatnings vrge?
Sith all the sharp Rods which so hourely scourge
Thy sens-less back, cannot so much as wrest
One single sigh from thy obdurate brest?
Thou drink'st thine own blood, thine own flesh thou eatest,
In what most harmes thee thy delight is greatest.
O sens-les Folk, sick of a Lethargy,
Who to the death despise your Remedy!

Like froward Iades that for no striking stur,
But wax more restif still the more we spur:
The more your wounds, more your secureness growes,
Eat with afflictions, as an Asse with blowes:
And as the sledge hardens with strokes the steel;
So, the more beaten, still the less ye feel.

Upon like consideration the Translator sharply citeth England; and to rouze her from her present security proposeth feareful examples of her own troublous changes, and other terrible chastisements.

And wanton England, why hast thou forgot
Thy visitation, as thou hadst it not?
Thou hast seen signes, and thou hast felt the rod
Of the revenging wrathfull hand of God.
The frowning Heav'ns in fearfull Sightes fore-spoke
Thy Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman Toak:
And since (alas!) vnkinder wounds then those,
The Ciuill rents of thy diuided Rose:
And, last of all, the raging Wolues of Rome,
Tearing thy limbs (Christs Lambs) in Martyrdome.
Besides Great Plagues, and grievous Dearths, which (yerst)
Haue oft the Sinnews of thy strength reuerst.

But thou, more faulty, more forgetfull art
Then Boyes that fear but while they feel the smart:
All this is past; and Thou, past feare if it,
In Peace and Plenty, as a Queen doost sit,
Of Rods forgetfull, and for Rest ingratefull
(That sottish dulness: this, a sin most hatefull)
Ingratefull to thy God, who all hath sent;
And thy late Queen, his sacred instrument,
By whose pure hand, he hath more blessed Thine,

Esay chap. 5. 1. 2. 3. &c.

Then yerst his owne Choyce-planted Hebrew Vine:
From whence he look't for Grapes (as now from thee);
That bore him Crabs: Thou worse (if worse may be):
That was destroy'd, the wilde Boar entred in.
England beware: Like punishment, like sin.

But, O! what boots, or what auailes my song
To this deaf Adder, that hath slept so long,
Snorting so loud on pillowes of Security,
Dread-less of danger, drowned in Impurity;
Whose Senses all, all ouer-grow'n with Fat,
Haue left no door for Fear to enter at?
Yet once again (deer Countrie) must I call:
England repent; Fall, to preuent thy Fall.
Though thou be blinde, thy wakefull watchmen see
Heav'ns Irefull vengeance hanging over thee
In fearfull Signes, threatning a thousand Woes
To thy Sinn's Deluge, which all over-flowes.

Thine vncontrold, bold, open Athëism:
Close Idol-seruice: Cloaked Hypocrism:
Common Blaspheming of Gods Name, in Oaths:
Vsuall Profaning of his Sabbaoths:

Thy blind, dumb, Idol-shepheards, choakt with steeples,
That fleece thy Flocks, and do not feed thy Peoples:
Strife-full Ambition, Florentizing States:
Bribes and Affection swaying Magistrates:
Wealth's mercy-less Wrong, Vsury, Extortion:
Poore's Idleness, repining at their Portion:
Thy Drunken Surfets; and Excess in Diet:
Thy Sensuall wallowing in Lascivious Riot:
Thy huft, puft, painted, curld, purld, Wanton Pride
(The Baud to Lust, and to all Sinns beside)
These are thy Sinnes: These are the Signes of Ruin,
To every State that doth the same pursue-in:
Such, cost the Iewes and Asians Desolation,
Now turned Turks, that were the Holy Nation.
Happy who take by others dangers warning:
All that is writ, is written for our learning:
So preach thy prophets: But, who heeds their cry:
Or who beleeues? Then much less hope haue I.
Wherefore (Deer Bartas) hauing warned them;
From this Digression, turn we to our Theam.

As our All-welcom Soveraign (Englands solace,

Simile.

Heav'ns care, Earths comfort) in his stately Palace,
Hath next His Person, Princes of his Realms
Next him in blood, extract from Royall Stems;
Next those, the Nobles; next, the Magistrates
That serue him truly in their seuerall States;
As more more or less their diuers Dignitie
Coms neer the Greatness of his Maiestie:
So, next the Heav'ns, God marshall'd th'Element
Which seconds them in swift bright Ornament:

Hauing sufficiently discoursed of the Aire, he begins to handle the Element of Fire.

And then the rest, according as of kin
To th'Azure Sphears, or th'Erring Fires they bin.

Yet som (more crediting their eyes, then Reason)
From's proper place this Essence doo disseisin;

Against such as deny the Fire to be an Element.

And vainely striue (after their Fancies sway)
To cut the World's best Element away,
The nimble, light, bright-flaming, heatfull Fire,
Fountain of life, Smith, Founder, Purifier,
Cook, Surgeon, Soldier, Gunner, Alchymist,
The source of Motion: briefly, what not is't?
Apt for all, acting all; whose arms embrace,
Vnder Heav'ns arms, this Vniuersall Mass.

For, if (say they) the Fire were lodg'd between

Their Reasons.

The Heav'ns and vs, it would by night be seen;
Sith then, so far-off (as in Meads we pass)
We see least Glow-worms glister in the grass:
Bosides, how should we through the Fiery Tent,
Perceiue the bright eyes of the Firmament?

Sith heer the soundest and the sharpest ey
Can nothing through our Candle-flames descry.

Answers.

O! hard-beleeuing Wits! if Zephyrus
And Austers sighes were neuer felt of vs,
You would suppose the space between Earth's Ball,
And Heav'ns bright Arches, void and empty all:
And then no more you would the Aire allow
For Element, then th'hot-bright Flamer now.

Difference between th'Elementary fire & ours.

Now ev'n as far as Phœbus light excels
The light of Lamps, and every Taper els
Wherewith we vse to lengthen th'After-noon
Which Capricorn duckes in the Sea too soon;
So far in pureness th'Elementall Flame
Excels the Fire that for our vse we frame.
For, ours is nothing but a dusky light,
Grofs, thick, and smoaky, enemy to sight:
But, that aboue (for, being neither blent
With fumy mixture of gross nourishment,
Nor tost with winds, but far from vs) coms neer
It's neighbour Heav'n, in nature pure and cleer.

Heere for conclusion of this second booke, he commeth to discourse of the Heauens, & first intreateth of their matter & Essence. According to the opinion of the Philosophers.

But, of what substance shall I, after-thee
(O matchless Master) make Heav'ns Canapey?
Vncertain, heer my resolutions rock
And waver, like th'inconstant Weather-Cock;
Which, on a Towr turning with every blast,
Changeth his Master, and his place as fast.
Learned Lycæum, now awhile, I walk-in:
Then th'Academian sacred Shades I stalk-in.

Treading the way that Aristotle went,
I doo depriue the heav'ns of Element,
And mixture too; and think, th'omnipotence
Of God did make them of a Quint-Essence;
Sith of the Elements, two still erect

Their course.

Their motion vp; two euer down direct:
But the Heav'ns course, not wandring vp nor down,
Continually turns onely roundly round.
The Elements haue no eternall race,
But settle ay in their assigned place:
But th'azure Circle, without taking breath,
His certain course for euer gallopeth;
It keeps one pase, and mov'd with waight-less waights,
It neuer takes fresh horse, nor neuer baits.

Things that consist of th'Elements vniting,
Are euer tost with an intestin fighting;

Heauen not subiect to alteration, as are the Elements.

Whence, springs (in time) their life and their deceasing,
Their diuers change, their waxing and decreasing:
So that, of all that is, or may be seen
With mortall eyes, vnder Nights horned Queeen,

Nothing retaineth the same form and face,
Hardly the half of half an howers space.
But, the Heav'ns feel not fates impartiall rigour:
Years add not to their stature nor their vigour:
Vse wears them not; but their green-ever Age
Is all in all still like their Pupillage.

Then suddenly, turnd studious Platonist,

What vse of Elements in the Heauens.

I hold, the Heav'ns of Elements consist:
Tis Earth, whose firm parts make their Lamps apparent,
Their bodies fast; Aire makes them all transparent:
Fire makes their restless circles pure, and cleer,
Hot, lightsome, light, and quick in their career:
And Water, noynting with cold-moist the brims
Of th'enter-kissing turning Globes extreams,
Tempers the heat (caus'd by their rapid turning)
Which else would set all th'elements a-burning.

Not, that I doo compare or match the Matter

Difference between the Elements whereof the Heauens are composed, and these inferiour Elements.

Whence I compose th'All-compassing Theater,
To those gross Elements which heer belowe
Our hand and eye doth touch and see and knowe:
'T's all fair, all pure; a sacred harmony
Those bodies bindes in end less Vnity:
That Aier's not flitting, nor that Water floating,
Nor Fire inflaming, nor Earth dully doating:
Nor one to other aught offensiue neither,
But (to conclude) Celestiall altogether.

See, see the rage of humane Arrogance:

Detesting the presumption of those curious wits searching these secrets, He limits himselfe, within the bounds of Christian Sobriety.

See how far dares man's erring Ignorance,
That with vnbridled tongue (as if it oft
Had try'd he mettle of that vpper Loft)
Dares, without proof or without reason yeelded,
Tell of what timber God his Palace builded.
But, in these doubts much rather rest had I,
Then with mine error draw my Reader wry;
Till a Saint Paul doo re-descend from Heav'n,
Or till my self (this sinfull roab be reav'n,
This rebell Flesh, whose counterpoize oppresses
My pilgrim Soule, and euer it depresses)
Shall see the beauties of that Blessed Place:
If (then) I ought shall see, saue Gods bright Face.

But ev'n as many (or more) quarrels cumber

Diuers opinions of the number of the Heauens.

Th'old Heathen Schools about the Heav'ns number.
One holds but one; making the Worlds Eyes shine
Through the thin-thickness of that Crystall line
(As through the Oceans cleer and liquid Flood
The slippery Fishes vp and down doo scud.)
Another, iudging certain by his eye,
And (seeing Seav'n bright Lamps, moov'd diuersly,

Turn this and that way: and, on th'other side,
That all the rest of the Heav'ns twinkling pride
Keep all one course; ingeniously, he varies
The Heav'ns rich building into eight round Stories.
Others, amid the Starriest Orbe perceiuing
A triple cadence, and withall conceiuing
That but one naturall course one body goes,
Count nine, some ten, not numbring yet (with those)
Th'empyreall Palace, where th'eternall Treasures
Of Nectar flowe, where ever-lasting Pleasures
Are heaped-vp, where an immortall May
In bliss-full beauties flourisheth for ay,
Where Life still liues, where God his

Assises.

Sises holds
Enuiron'd round with Seraphins, and Soules
Bought with his precious blood, whose glorious Flight
Yerst mounted Earth aboue the Heav'ns bright.
Nor shall my faint and humble Muse presume
So high a Song and Subiect to assume.

He stoppeth at the contemplation and praise of the Heauens: Which hee considereth as distinguished into ten stages or Heauens.

O fair, fiue-double Round, Sloath's Foe apparent,
Life of the World, Dayes, Months, and Years owne Parent;
Thine owne selfs modell, never shifting place,
And yet thy pure wings with so swift a pase
Fly ouer vs, that but our Thought alone
Can (as thy babe) pursue thy motion:
Infinite finite: free from growth and grief,
Discord and death; dance-louer; to be brief,
Still like thy self, all thine owne in thee all,
Transparent, cleer, light; law of this lowe Ball:
Which in thy wide bout, bound-less all doost bound,
And claspest all, vnder, or in thy Round;
Throne of th'Almighty, I would faine rehearse
Thy various Dances in this very Verse,
If it were time, and but my bounded Song
Doubteth to make this Second-Day too-long.
For, notwithstanding, yet another day
I fear som Critick will not stick to say,
My babbling Muse did fail with euery gale,
And mingled yarn to length her web withall.

The summe of what hath been handled in this book, & what is to be vnderstood by the firmamēt which Moses discribeth in the first of Gen. 6.

But knowe, what e'r thou be, that heer I gather
Iustly so many of Gods works together,
Because by th'Orbe of th'ample Firmament
(Which round This-Day th'Eternal Finger pent
Between the lower Waters and the higher)
I mean the Heav'ns, the Aire, and th'vpper Fire,
Which separate the Oceans waters salt,
From those which God pour'd o'r th'Ethereall Vault.

Against those that think there are no waters aboue the firmament: Whom he confuseth by diuers Reasons.

Yet haue I not so little seen and sought
The Volums, which our Age hath chiefest thought,

But that I know how suttly greatest Clarks
Presume to argue in their learned Works,
T' o'r-whelm these Floods, this Crystall to deface,
And dry this Ocean, which doth all imbrace.

But as the beauty of a modest Dame,

Simile.

Who, well-content with Natures comly Frame,
And natiue Fair (as it is freely giv'n)
In fit proportion by the hand of Heav'n)
Doth not, with painting, prank, nor set-it out
With helps of Art, sufficient Fair without;
Is more praise-worthy, then the wanton glance,
Th'affected gait, th'alluring countenance,
The Mart of Pride, the Periwigs and painting,
Whence Courtisans refresh their beauties fainting:
So doe I more the sacred Tongue esteem

1. The word of God to be preferred before the voice of man.

(Though plaine and rurall it do rather seem,
Then schoold Athenian; and Diuinitie,
For onely varnish, haue but Verity)
Then all the golden Wit-pride of Humanity,
Wherewith men burnish their erroneous vanity.

I'l rather giue a thousand times thely

2. Gods word mentioneth waters before the firmament.

To mine owne Reason, then but once defy
The sacred voice of th'ever-lasting Spirit,
Which doth so often and so loud averr-it,
That God, aboue the shining Firmament,
I wot not, I, what kinde of Waters pent:

Gen. 1. 7. Psal. 104. 3. Psal. 148. 4.

VVhether, that pure, super-celestiall Water,
With our inferiour haue no likely nature:
VVhether, turnd Vapour, it hath round embow'd
Heav'ns highest stage in a transparent Cloud:
Or whether (as they say) a Crystall case
Do (round about) the Heav'nly Orb embrace.

But, with coniectures wherefore striue I thus?
Can doubtful proofs the certainty discuss?
I see not, why Mans reason should withstand,

3. The power of God ought to be of greater authority than Mans Reason.

Or not beleeue, that He whose powrfull hand
Bay'd-vp the Red-Sea with a double Wall,
That Israels Hoast might scape Egyptian thrall,
Could prop as sure so many waues on high
Aboue the Heav'ns Star-spangled Canapy.

See we not hanging in the Clouds each howr
So many Seas, still threatning down to pour,

4. The consideratiō of the waters which hang of the Aire, and of the Sea which compasseth the Earth.

Supported onely by th'Aire's agitation
(Selfly too weak for the least waight's foundation)?
See wee not also, that this Sea belowe,
Which round about our Earthly Globe doth flowe,
Remaines still round; and maugre all the surly
Æolian Slaues, and Water's hurly burly,

Dares not (to levell her proud liquid Heap)
Neuer so little past her limits leap?
Why then beleeue we not, that vpper Sphear
May (without falling) such an Ocean bear?

5. Diuers effects continuall and admirable in Nature.

Vncircumcised! O hard hearts! at least
Lett's think that God those Waters doth digest
In that steep place: for, if that Nature heer
Can form firm Pearl and Crystall shining cleer
Of liquid substance; let's beleeue it rather
Much more in God (the Heav'ns and Nature's Father)
Let vs much more, much more lett's peiz and ponder
Th'Almighties Works, and at his Wisedom wonder:
Let vs obserue, and boldly-weigh it well,
That this proud Palace where we rule and dwell
(Though built with match-less Art) had fall'n long since,
Had't not been seel'd-round with moist Elements.
For, like as (in Man's Little-World) the Brain
Doth highest place of all our Frame retain,
And tempers with it's moistfull coldness so
Th'excessiue heat of other parts belowe:
Th'eternall Builder of this Beautious Frame
To enter-mingle meetly Frost with Flame,
And cool the great heat of the Great-World's Torches,
This-Day spred Water over Heav'ns bright Arches.

These Seas (say they) leagu'd with the Seas belowe,
Hiding the highest of the Mountains tho,
Had drown'd the whole World; had not Noah builded

Taking occasion by his former discourse, he treateth of the incounter of the vpper waters with the lower: whence followed the generall flood in the daies of Noah: Which here he liuely representeth.

A holy Vessell, where his house was shielded:
Where, by direction of the King of Kings,
He sav'd a seed-pair of all liuing things.
No sooner shipt, but instantly the Lord
Downe to th'Æolean dungeon him bestirr'd,
There muzzled close Cloud-chasing Boreas,
And let loose Auster, and his lowring race,
Who soon set forward with a dropping wing;
Vpon their beard for euery hair a spring,
A night of Clouds muffled their brows about,
Their wattled locks gusht all in Riuers out;
And both their hands, wringing thick Clouds asunder,
Send forth fierce lightning, tempest, rain, and thunder.
Brooks, Lakes, and Floods, Rivers and foaming Torrents
Suddenly swell; and their confused Currents,
Losing their old bounds, break a neerer way
To run at random with their spoils to Sea.
Th'Earth shakes for fear, and (sweating doth consume her,
And in her veins leaues not a drop of humour.
And thou thy self, O Heav'n, didst set wide ope
(Through all the Marches in thy spacious cope)

All thy large sluces, thy vast Seas to shed
In sudden spouts on thy proud Sisters head;
Whose aw-less, law-less, shame-less life abhord,
Only delighted to despight the Lord.

Th'Earth shrinks and sinks; now th'Ocean hath no shore:
Now Rivers run to serue the Sea no more;
Themselues are Sea: the many sundry Streams,
Of sundry names (deriv'd from sundry Realms)
Make now but one great Sea: the World it self
Is nothing now but a great standing Gulf,
Whose swelling surges strive to mix their Water
With th'other Waues about this roued Theater.
The Sturgeon, coasting over Castles, muses
(Vnder the Sea) to see so many houses.
The Indian Manat, and the Mullet float
O'r Mountain tops, where yerst the bearded Goat
Did bound and brouz: the crooked Dolphin scuds
O'r th'highest branches of the hugest Woods.
Nought boots the Tigre, or the Hart or Horse,
Or Hare, or Grey-hound, their swift speedy course;
For, seeking Land, the more they strain and breath them,
The more (alas) it shrinks and sinks beneath them.
The Otter, Tortoise, and fell Crocodile,
VVhich did enioy a double house yer-while,
Must be content with only water now.
The Wolf and Lamb, Lions and Bucks, do rowe
Vpon the Waters, side by side, suspectless.
The Glead and Swallow, labouring long (effect-less)
'Gainst certain death, with wearied wings fall down
(For want of Pearch) and with the rest do drown.

And, for mankinde, imagine som get vp
To som high Mountains over-hanging top;
Som to a Towr, some to a Cedar tree,
Whence round about a World of deaths they see:
But wheresoever their pale fears aspire
For hope of safety, th'Ocean surgeth higher;
And still-still mounting as they still do mount,
When they cease mounting, doth them soon surmount.
One therefore ventures on a Plank to rowe,
One in a Chest, another in a Trough:
Another, yet half-sleeping, scarce perceives
How's bed and breath, the Flood at once bereaves;
Another, labouring with his feet and hands,
Awhile the fury of the Flood withstands
(Which by his side hath newly droun'd his Mother,
His Wife, his Son, his Sister, Sire, and Brother):
But, tyr'd and spent, weary and wanting strength,
He needs must yeeld (too) to the Seas at length;

All, all must die then: but

Parcæ, à non parcendo: the none-sparing Fates, that is to say, Death.

th'impartiall Maids,
Who wont to vse so sundry tools for aids,
In execution of their fatall slaughters,
Had only now the furious foaming Waters.

Safely, the while, the sacred Ship did float
On the proud shoulders of that boundless-Moat,
Though mast-less, oar-less, and from Harbour far;
For God was both her Steers-man and her Star.
Thrice fifty dayes that Vniuersall Flood
Wasted the World; which then the Lord thought good
To re-erect, in his Compassion great.
No sooner sounds he to the Seas retrait,
But instantly waue into waue did sink
With sudden speed, all Riuers gan to shrink;
Th'Ocean retires him to his wonted prison;
The Woods are seen; the Mountain tops are risen
Out of their slimy Bed: the Fields increase
And spread apace; so fast the waters cease.
And (briefly th'only thundring hand of God
Now Earth to Heav'n, Heav'n vnto Earth re-show'd;
That he again Panchaian Fumes might see
Sacred on Altars to his Maiesty.

He concludeth with a most godly prayer accommodated to the state of the Church in our time.

Lord, sith 't hath pleas'd thee likewise, in our Age,
To saue thy Ship from Tyrants stormy rage,
Increase in Number (Lord) thy little Flock;
But more in Faith, to build on thee, the Rock.

So Morne and Euen the second Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.

THE THIRD DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

The Sea, and Earth: their various Equipage:
Seuer'd a-part: Bounds of the Oceans rage:
'T imbraceth Earth: it doth all Waters owe:
Why it is salt: How it doth Ebb, and Flowe:
Rare streames, and fountains of strange operation:
Earth's firmness, greatness, goodness: sharp taxation
Of Bribes, Ambition, Treason, Auarice:
Trees, Shrubs, and Plants: Mines, Metalls, Gemms of price:
Right vse of Gold: the Load-stones rare effects:
The Countrey-life preferr'd in all respects.

My sacred Muse, that lately soared high

Frō the Heauen and Regions of the Aire, the Poet descendeth to the Earth and Sea.

Among the glist'ring Circles of the Sky
(Whose various dance, which the first Moover driues
Harmoniously, this Vniverse revives)
Commanding all the Windes and sulph'ry Storms,
The lightning Flashes, and the hideous Forms
Seen in the Aire; with language meetly braue
Whilom discourst vpon a Theam so graue:
But, This-Day, flagging lowely by the Ground,
She seems constrain'd to keep a lowely sound;
Or, if somtimes, she somwhat raise her voyce,
The sound is drown'd with the rough Oceans noyse.

O King of grassie and of glassie Plains,

He calleth vpon the true God to be assisted in the description of these two Elements, and the things therein.

Whose powrfull breath (at thy drad will) constrains
The deep Foundations of the Hils to shake,
And Seas falt billowes 'gainst Heav'ns vaults to rake:
Grant me, To-Day, with skilfull Instruments
To bound aright these two rich Elements:

In learned Numbers teach me sing the natures
Of the firm Earth, and of the floating Waters;
And with a flowring stile the Flowrs to limn
Whose Colours now shall paint the Fields so trim.

God in this 3. Day, gathers together the Waters, & separates them from the Earth.

All those steep Mountaines, whose high horned tops
The misty cloak of wandring Clouds enwraps,
Vnder First Waters their crump shoulders hid,
And all the Earth as a dull Pond abid,
Vntill th'All-Monarch's bountious Maiesty
(Willing t'enfe of man this worlds Empety)
Commanding Neptune straight to marshall forth
His Floods a-part, and to vnfold the Earth;
And, in his Waters, now contented rest,
T'haue all the World, for one whole day, possest.

By an apt cōparison, he sheweth how the Water withdrew from off the Earth.

As when the muffled Heav'ns haue wept amain,
And foaming streames assembling on the Plain,
Turn'd Fields to Floods; soon as the showrs do cease,
With vnseen speed the Deluge doth decrease,
Sups vp it selfe, in hollow sponges sinks,
And's ample arms in straighter Chanell shrinks:
Even so the Sea, to 't selfe it selfe betook,
Mount after Mount, Field after Field forsook;
And suddenly in smaller caskdd tun
Her Waters, that from euery side did run:
Whether th'imperfect Light did first exhale
Much of that primer Humor, wherewithall
God, on the Second-Day, might frame and found
The Crystall Sphears that he hath spred so round:
Whether th'Almighty did new place prouide
To lodge the Waters: whether op'ning wide
Th'Earth's hollow Pores, it pleas'd him to conueigh

Of the ledging and bed of the Sea.

Deep vnder ground some Arms of such a Sea:
Or whether, pressing waters gloomy Globe;
That cov'rd all (as with a cloudy Robe)
He them impris'ned in those bounds of brass,
Which (to this day) the Ocean dares not pass
Whithout his licence. For, th'Eternall, knowing
The Seas commotiue and inconstant flowing,

The Sea kept within her bound by the Almighty power of God.

Thus curbed her; and 'gainst her enuious rage,
For ever fenc't our Flowry-mantled Stage:
So that we often see those rowling Hils,
With roaring noise threatning the neighbour Fields,
Through their own spite to split vpon the shore,
Foaming for fury that they dare no more.

For, what could not that great, high Admirall
Work in the Waues, sith at his Seruants call,
His dreadfull voyce (to saue his ancient Sheep)
Did cleaue the bottom of th'Erithræn Deep?

And toward the Crystall of his double source

Exod. 14. 11 Iosuah. 3.16 Gen 7. 21 Exod. 17. 6.

Compelled Iordan to retreat his course?
Drown'd with a Deluge the rebellious World?
And from dry Rocks abundant Rivers purl'd?

Lo, thus the waighty Water did yer-while
With winding turns make all this world an Ile.
For, like as molten Lead being poured forth
Vpon a leuell plot of sand or earth,
In many fashions mazeth to and fro;

A fit Simile shewing the winding turns of the Sea aboue the Earth.

Runs heer direct, there crookedly doth go,
Heer doth diuide it self, there meets againe;
And the hot Riv'let of the liquid vain,
On the smooth table crawling like a worm,
Almost (in th'instant) euery form doth form:
God pour'd the Waters on the fruitfull Ground
In sundry figures; som in fashion round,
Som square, som crosse, som long, som lozenge-wise,
Som triangles, som large, som lesser size;
Amid the Floods (by this faire difference)
To giue the world more wealth and excellence.
Such is the German Sea, such Persian Sine,
Such th'Indian Gulf, and such th'Arabian Brine,
And such Our Sea: whose divers-brancht

Windings.

retortions,
Divide the World in three vnequall Portions.

And, though each of these Arms (how large soeuer)
To the great Ocean seems a little Riuer:

The arms of the Sea distinguished into smaller members with commodities & vse thereof.

Each makes a hundred sundry Seas besides
(Not sundry in waters, but in Names and Tides)
To moisten kindely, by their secret Vains,
The thirsty thickness of the neighbour Plains:
To bulwark Nations, and to serue for fences
Against th'invasion of Ambitious Princes:
To bound large Kingdomes with eternall limits:
To further Traffick through all Earthly Climates:
T'abbridge long Iourneys; and with ayd of Winde
Within a month to visit either Inde.

But, th'Earth not only th'Oceans debter is

A Catalogue of most of the most famous Riuers in the World.

For these large Seas; but owes him Tanäis,
Nile (Agypts treasure) and his neighbour stream
That in the Desart (through his haste extream)
Loseth himselfe so oft; swift Euphrates;
And th'other proud Son of cold Niphates:
Fair spacious Ganges, and his famous brother,
That lends his name vnto their noble Mother:
Gold-sanded Tagus, Rhyne, Rhone, Volga, Tiber,
Danubius, Albis, Po, Sein, Arne, and Iber;
The Darian Plate, and Amazonian River
(Where Spain's Gold-thirsty Locusts cool their liver):

Our siluer Medway (which doth deepe indent
The Flowrie Medowes of My natiue Kent;
Still sadly vveeping (vnder Pensherst vvalls)
Th'Arcadian Cygnet's bleeding Funerals)
Our Thames and Tweed, our Severn, Trent, and Humber,
And many moe, too infinite to number.

Of him, she also holds her Siluer Springs,
And all her hidden Crystall Riverlings:

Fountains Springs and Riuers welling out of the Earth.

And after (greatly) in two sorts repaies
Th'Humour she borrows by two sundry waies.
For, like as in a Limbeck, th'heat of Fire
Raiseth a Vapour, which still mounting higher
To the Still's top; when th'odoriferous sweat
Above that Miter can no further get,

A Similie shewing how the waters of the Earth are exhaled by the Sun, & then poured into the Sea.

It softly thickning, falleth drop by drop,
And Cleer as Crystall, in the glass doth hop;
The purest humor in the Sea, the Sun
Exhales in th'Aire: which there resolv'd, anon,
Returns to water; and descends again
By sundry waies vn o his Mother Main.

For, the dry Earth, having these waters (first)
Through the wide five of her void entrails searst;
Giving more room, at length from Rockie Mountains

How the Fountaines come to breake forth of the Earth.

She (night and day) pours forth a thousand Fountains:
These Fountains make fresh Brooks with murmuring currents;
These murmuring Brooks, the swift and violent Torrents;
These violent Torrents, mighty Rivers; These,
These Riuers make the vast, deep, dreadfull Seas.

The increasing of Brooks and Riuers, and of their falling into the Sea.

And all the highest Heav'n-approaching Rocks
Contribute hither with their snowie locks:
For, soon as Titan, having run his Ring,
To th'ycie climates bringeth back the Spring;
On their rough backs he melts the hoary heaps,
Their tops grow green; and down the water leaps
On every side, it foames, it roares, it rushes,
And through the steep and stony hills it gushes,
Making a thousand brooks; whereof, when one
Perceiues his fellow striving to be gone;
Hasting his course, he him accompanies;
After, another and another hies,
All in one race; ioynt-losing all of them
Their Names and Waters in a greater stream:
And He that robs them, shortly doth deliuer
Himselfe and his into a large Riuer
And That, at length, how euer great and large
(Lord of the Plain) doth in some Gulf discharge
His parent-Tribute to Oceanus,
According to th'Eternall Rendez-vous.

Yet, notwithstanding, all these Streams that enter

Why the sea receiueth no increase of all the Waters that fall therein.

In the Main Sea, do nought at all augment her:
For that, besides that all these Floods in one,
Matcht with great Neptune, seem as much as none;
The Sun (as yerst I said) and Windes withall,
Sweeping the sur-face of the Brinie-Ball,
Extract as much still of her humours thin,
As weeping Aire and welling Earth pours in.

But as the swelting heat, and shivering cold,
Gnashing and sweat, that th'Ague-sick do hold,
Come not at hazzard, but in time and order
Afflict the body with their fell disorder:
The Sea hath fits, alternate course she keepes,

Of the Ebbing and Flowing of the Sea: & sundry causes therof.

From Deep to Shoar, and from the Shoar to Deeps.
VVhether it were, that at the first, the Ocean
From Gods owne hand receiu'd this double Motion,
By means whereof, it never resteth stound,
But (as a turning Whirli-gig goes round,
VVhirls of it self, and good-while after takes

Simile.

Strength of the strength which the first motion makes:
VVhither the Sea, which we Atlantick call,
Be but a peece of the Grand Sea of all;
And that his Floods entring the ample Bed
Of the deep Main (with fury hurried
Against the Rocks) repulsed with disdain,
Be thence compelled to turn back again:
Or whether Cynthia, that with Changefull laws
Commands moist bodies, doth this motion cause:
As on our Shoar, we see the Sea to rise
Soon as the Moon begins to mount our skies.

Proofe of the third cause: viz. that the waxing and waning the Moon, causeth the flowing and ebbing of the Sea.

And when, through Heav'ns Vault vailing toward Spain,
The Moone descendeth, then it Ebbs again.
Again, so soon as her inconstant Crown
Begins to shine on th'other Horison,
It Flowes again: and then again it falls
When she doth light th'other Meridionalls.

VVee see more-ouer, that th'Atlantik Seas
Doo Flowe far farther then the Genöese,
Or both the Bosphores; and that Lakes, which growe
Out of the Sea, do neither Ebb nor Flowe:
Because (they say) the siluer fronted Star,
That swells and shrinks the Seas (as pleaseth her)
Pours with less pow'r her plentious influence
Vpon these straight and narrow streamed Fennes,
And In-land Seas, which many a Mount immounds,
Then on an Ocean vast and void of bounds:
Euen as in Sommer, her great brothers Ey,
When winds be silent, doth more eas'ly dry

Wide spreading Plains, open and spacious Fields,
Then narrow Vales vaulted about with Hills.

Why the tide is not so well perceiued at sea as by the shoare.

If we perceiue not in the Deep, so well
As by the shoar, when it doth shrink and swell;
Our sprightfull Pulse the Tide doth well resemble,
Whose out-side seems more then the midst to tremble.

Nor is the glorious Prince of Stars less mighty
Then his pale Sister, on vast Amphitrite.

The cause of the saltnes of the sea.

For Phœbus, boyling with his lightsom Heat
The Fish-full Waves of Neptunes Royall Seat,
And supping vp still (with his thirsty Rayes)
All the fresh humour in the floting Seas,
In Thetis large Cells leaveth nought behind,
Saue liquid Salt, and a thick bitter Brine.

But see (the while) see how the Sea (I pray)
Through thousand Seas hath caried me away,
In feare t'haue drown'd my selfe and Readers so,
The Floods so made my words to over-flowe.
Therfore a-shore; and on the tender Lee

Of waters separated from the Sea.

Of Lakes, and Pools, Rivers, and Springs, let's see
The soverain vertues of their severall Waters,
Their strange effects, and admirable natures,
That with incredible rare force of theirs,
Confound our wits, ravish our eyes and ears.

Wonderfull effects of diuers Fountains.

Th'Hammonian Fount, while Phœbus Torch is light,
Is cold as Ice; and (opposite) all night
(Though the cold Crescent shine thereon) is hot,
And boiles and bubbles like a seething Pot.

They say (forsooth) the Riuer Silarus,
And such another, call'd Eurimenus,
Convert the boughs, the barke, the leaues and all,
To very stone, that in their Waters fall.

O! should I blanch the Iewes religious River,
Which every Sabbath dries his Chanell over;
Keeping his Waues from working on that Day
Which God ordain'd a sacred Rest for ay?

If neere vnto the Eleusinian Spring,
Som sport-full Iigsom wanton Shepheard sing,
The Ravisht Fountaine falls to daunce and bound,
Keeping true Cadence to his rustick sound.
Cerona, Xanth, and Cephisus, doe make
The thirsty-Flocks that of their Waters take,
Black, red, and white. And neer the crimsin Deep,
Th'Arabian Fountain maketh crimsin Sheep.

Salonian Fountain, and thou Andrian Spring,
Out of what Cellars do you daily bring
The Oyl and Wine that you abound with, so?
O Earth! do these within thine entrails grow?

What? be there Vines and Orchards vnder ground?
Is Bacchus Trade and Pallas Art there found?

What should I, of th'Illyrian Fountain, tell?
What shall I say of the Dodónean VVell?
Whereof, the first sets any cloathes on-fire;
Th'other doth quench (Who but will this admire?)
A burning Torch; and when the same is quenched,
Lights it again, if it again be drenched.
Sure, in the Legend of absurdest Fables
I should enroule most of these admirables;
Saue for the reuerence of th'vnstained credit
Of many a witnes where I yerst haue read it:
And sauing that our gain-spurr'd Pilots finde,
In our dayes, Waters of more wondrous kind.

Of all the Sources infinite to count,
Which to an ample Volume would amount,

A continuation of the admirable effects of certain Waters.

Far hence on Forrain vnfrequented Coast,
I'l onely chuse som fiue or six at most,
Strange to report, perhaps beleev'd of few;
And yet no more incredible then true.

In th'Ile of Iron (one of those same Seav'n
Whereto our Elders

Insulafortunate.

Happy name had giv'n)
The Savage people neuer drink the streams
Of Wells and Riuers (as in other Realms)
Their drink is in the Aire; their gushing spring
A weeping Tree out of it selfe doth wring:
A Tree, whose tender-bearded Root being spred
In dryest sand, his sweating Leafe doth shed
A most sweet liquor; and (like as the Vine
Vntimely cut, weeps (at her wound) her wine,
In pearled tears) incessantly distills
A Crystall stream, which all their Cisterns fills,
Through all the Iland: for, all hither hy;
And all their vessels cannot draw it dry.

In frosty Islands are two Fountains strange:
Th'one flowes with Wax: the other stream doth change
All into Iron; yet with scalding steam
In thousand bubbles belcheth vp her stream.

In golden Peru, neere Saint Helens Mount
A stream of Pitch coms from a springing Fount.

What more remaines? That New-found World, besides,
Toward the West many a faire River guides;
Whose floating VVaters (knowing th'vse aright
Of VVork-fit Day, and Rest-ordained Night,
Better then men) run swiftly, all the Day;
But rest, all Night, and stir not any way.

Great Enginer, Almighty Architect,
I fear, of Enuy I should be suspect,

O Baths and Measurable Waters.

Enuy of thy Renown and sacred glory,
If my ingratefull Rimes should blanch the Story
Of Streams, distilling through the Sulphur-Mines,
Through Bitumen, Allom, and Nitre veins;
VVhich (perfect Leaches) with their vertues cure
A thousand Griefs we mortals heere endure,
Old in the April of our age therewith,
VVhose rigour striues to ante-date our death.

Of the excellent Bathes in Gascony.

Now, as my happy Gascony excells,
In Corne, VVine, VVarriours, every Country els;
So doth she also in free Bathes abound;
VVhere strangers flock from every part around.
The barren womb, the Palsie-shaken wight,
Th'vlcerous, gowtie, deaf, and decrepit,
From East and VVest arriving, fetch from hence
Their ready help with small or no expence.
VVitnes Ancossa, Caud'rets, Aiguescald,
Barege, Baigners; Baigners, the pride of all,
The pride, the praise, the onely Paradise
Of all those Mountaines mounting to the skies,
VVhere yerst the Gaulian Hercules begot
(VVanton Alomena's Bastard, meane I not)
On faire Pirene (as the fame doth go)
The famous Father of the Gascons; who
By noble deeds do worthily averr
Their true descent from such an Ancester.
On th'one side, Hils hoar'd with eternall Snowes,
And craggy Rocks Baigneres doe inclose:
The other side is sweetly compast-in
With fragrant skirts of an immortall Green,
Whose smiling beauties far excell, in all,
The famous praise of the Peneïan Vale:
There's not a House, but seemeth to be new;
Th'even-slated Roofs reflect with glistring blew.
To keep the Pavement ever cleane and sweet,
A Crystall River runs through every Street,
Whose Silver stream, as cold as Ice, doth slide
But little off the Physick Waters side;
Yet keeps his nature, and disdaines, a iot
To intermix his cold with th'others hot.

But all these Wonders, that adorn my Verse,
Yet come not neer vnto the wondrous Lers.
If it be true, that the Stagyrtan Sage
(With shame confu'd, and driv'n with desperate rage)
Because his Reason could not reach the knowing
Of Euripus his seav'n-fold Ebbing-flowing,
Leapt in the same, and there his life did end,
Compriz'd in that he could not comprehend;

What had he done, had he beheld the Fountain,

Of the most wonderfull Fountaine of Belestat.

Which springs at B'lestat, neere the famous Mountain
Of Foix; whose floods bathing Maserian Plains,
Furnish with wood the wealthy Tholousains?
As oft as Phœbus (in a compleat Race)
On both th'Horizons shewes his radiant Face,
This wondrous Brook (for foure whole months) doth Flowe,
Foure-times-six-times, and Ebbes as oft as lowe.
For halfe an houre may dry-shod passe that list:
The next halfe hour, may none his course resist.
VVhose foaming streame striues proudly to compare
(Even in the birth) with Fame-full'st Floods that are
O learned (Nature-taught) Arithmetician!
Clock-less so iust to measure Time's partition.

And little Lambes-Bovrn, though thou match not Lers,
Nor hadst the Honor of DuBartas Verse;
If mine haue any, Thou must needs partake,
Both for thine Owne, and for thine Owners sake;
Whose kind Excesses Thee so neerely touch,
That Yeerely for them Thou doost weepe so much,
All Summer-long (while all thy Sisters shrinke)
That of thy teares a million daily drinke;
Besides thy Waast, vvhich then in haste doth run
To vvash the feet of Chavcer's Donnington:
But (vvhile the rest are full vnto the top)
All VVinter-long, Thou never show'st a drop,
Nor send'st a doit of need-less Subsidie,
To Cramm the Kennet's Want-less Treasurie,
Before her Store be spent, and Springs be staid:
Then, then alone Thou lendst a liberall Aid;
Teaching thy vvealthy Neighbours (Mine, of late)
How, When and Where to right-participate
Their streams of Comfort, to the poore that pine,
And not to greaz still the too-greazy Swine:
Neither for fame, nor for me (vvhen others doo)
To giue a Morsel, or a Mite or two;
But seuerally, and of a selfly motion,
When others miss, to giue the most devotion.

Most wisely did th'eternall All-Creator
Dispose these Elements of Earth and VVater:

The intermedling of the Earth and Sea, and of the commodities thence arising, & contrariwise of the confusion that would follow, if they were separated.

For, sith th'one could not without drink subsist,
Nor th'other without stay, bottom and list,
God intermixt them so, that th'Earth her brest
Op'ning to th'Ocean, th'Ocean winding prest
About the Earth, a-thwart, and vnder it:
For, the VVorld's Center, both together fit.
For, if their mixt Globe held not certainly
Iust the iust midst of the VVorlds Axle-tree,

All Climats then should not be serv'd aright
VVith equall Counterpoiz of day and night:
The Horizons il-leuell'd circle wide,
VVould sag too-much on th'one or th'other side:
Th'Antipodes, or we, at once should take
View of more Signes then halfe the Zodiack:
The Moon's Eclipses would not then be certain,
And setled Seasons would be then vncertaine.

The Masse of the Earth and Water together make a perfect Globe.

This also serueth for probation sound,
That th'Earth and VVaters mingled Mass is Round,
Round as a Ball; seeing on euery side
The Day and Night successiuely to slide.
Yea, though Vespasio (famous Florentine)
Marke Pole, and Columb, braue Italian Trine,
Our (Spain's Dread) Drake, Candish, and Cumberland,
Most valiant Earle, most worthy High Command,
And thousand gallant modern Typheis else,
Had neuer brought the North-Poles Parallels
Vnder the South; and, sayling still about,
So many New-vvorlds vnder vs found out.
Nay, neuer could they th'Articke Pole haue lost,
Nor found th'Antarticke, if in euery Coast
Seas liquid Glass round-bow'd not euery where,
With sister Earth, to make a perfect Sphear.

How it commeth to passe that the Sea is not flat nor leuel; but rising round and bowed about the Earth.

But, perfect Artist, with what Arches strong,
Props, staies, and Pillars, hast thou stay'd so long
This hanging, thin, sad, slippery Water-Ball,
From falling out, and ouer-whelming all?
May it not be (good Lord) because the Water
To the Worlds Center tendeth still by nature;
And toward the bottom of this bottom bound,
VVilling to fall, doth yet remain still round?
Or may't not be, because the surly Banks
Keep VVaters captiue in their hollow flanks?
Or that our Seas be buttrest (as it were)
VVith thousand Rocks dispersed heere and there?
Or rather, Lord, is't not Thine onely Powr
That Bows it round about Earth's branchy Bowr?

The second part of this 3. Booke intreating of the Elemēt of earth and first of the firmnes thereof.

Doubtless (great God) 'tis doubtless thine owne hand
VVhereon this Mansion-of Mankind doth stand.
For, though it hang in th'Aire, swim in the Water,
Though euery way it be a round Theater,
Though All turn round about it, though for ay
It selfes Fundations with swift Motions play,
It rests vn-mooueable: that th'Holy Race
Of Adam there may find fit dwelling place.

Earth is the Mother, Nurse, and Hostesse of mankind.

The Earth receiues man when he first is born:
Th'Earth nurses him; and when he is forlorn

Of th'other Elements, and Nature loaths-him,
Th'Earth in her bosom with kind buriall cloaths-him.
Oft hath the Aire with Tempests set-vpon-vs,
Oft hath the Water with her Floods vndon-vs,
Oft hath the Fire (th'vpper as well as ours)
With wofull flames consum'd our Towns and Towrs:
Onely the Earth, of all the Elements,
Vnto Mankind is kind without offence:
Onely the Earth did neuer iot displace
From the first seat assign'd it by thy grace.

Yet true it is (good Lord) that mov'd somtimes

Of Earthquakes and of the opening of the earth.

With wicked Peoples execrable crimes,
The wrathfull power of thy right hand doth make,
Not all the Earth, but part of it to quake,
With ayd of Windes: which (as imprisoned deep)
In her vast entrails, furious murmurs keep.
Fear chils our hears (what hart can fear dissemble?)
When steeples stagger, and huge Mountains tremble
With wind-les wind, and yawning Hell deuours
Somtimes whole Cities with their shining Towrs.

Sith then, the Earth's, and Water's blended Ball

The Globe of the Earth & Sea, is but as a little point, in comparisō of the great circumference of Heauen:.

Is center, heart, and nauel of this All;
And sith (in reason) that which is included,
Must needs be less then that which doth include it;
'Tis question-less, the Orb of Earth and Water
Is the least Orb in all the All-Theater.

Let any iudge, whether this lower Ball
(Whose endles greatness we admire so, all)
Seem not a point, compar'd with th'vpper Sphear
Whose turning turns the rest in their Career;

Sith by the Doctrins of Astronomers, the least Starre in the Firmament is 18 times bigger then all the earth.

Sith the least Star that we perceiue to shine
Aboue, disperst in th'Arches crystalline
(If, at the least, Star-Clarks be credit worth)
Is eighteene times bigger then all the Earth:
Whence, if we but subtract what is possest
(From North to South, & from the East to West)
Vnder the Empire of the Ocean
Atlantike, Indian, and American;
And thousand huge Arms issuing out of these,
With infinites of other Lakes and Seas:
And also what the two intemperate Zones
Doo make vnfit for habitations;
VVhat will remaine? Ah! nothing (in respect):
Lo heer, O men! Lo wherefore you neglect
Heav'ns glorious Kingdom: Lo the largest scope

By consideration wherof the Poet taketh occasion to censure sharply the Ambitiō, Bribery, Vsury,.

Glory can giue to your ambitious hope.

O Princes (subiects vnto pride and pleasure)
VVho (to enlarge, but a hair's breadth, the measure

Extortion, Deceipt, and generall Couetousnes of Mankind.

Of your Dominions) breaking Oaths of Peace,
Couer the Fields with bloudy Carcases:
O Magistrates, who (to content the Great)
Make sale of Iustice, on your sacred Seat;
And, broaking Laws for Bribes, profane your Place,
To leaue a Leek to your vnthankfull Race:
You strict Extorters, that the Poor oppress,
And wrong the Widdow and the Father-less,
To leaue your Off-spring rich (of others good)
In Houses built of Rapine and of Blood:
You Citty-Vipers, that (incestuous) ioyn
Vse vpon vse, begetting Coyn of Coyn:
You marchant Mercers, and Monopolites,
Gain-greedy Chap-men; periur'd Hypocrites,
Dissembling Broakers, made of all deceipts,
Who falsifie your Measures and your Weights,
'T inrich your selues, and your vnthrifty Sons
To Gentilize with proud possessions:
You that for gaine betray your gracious Prince,
Your natiue Country, or your deerest Friends:
You that to get you but an inch of ground,
With cursed hands remoue your Neighbours bound
(The ancient bounds your Ancestors haue set)
What gain you all? alas! what do you get?
Yea, though a King by wile or war had won
All the round Earth to his subiection;
Lo heer the Guerdon of his glorious pains:
A needles point, a Mote, a Mite, he gains,
A Nit, a Nothing (did he All possess);
Or if then nothing any thing be less.

God hauing discouered the earth, commaunds it to bring forth euery green thing, hearbs, trees, flowers and fruits.

VVhen God, whose words more in a moment can,
Then in an Age the proudest strength of Man,
Had seuered the Floods, leuell'd the Fields,
Embas't the Valleys, and embost the Hils;
Change, change (quoth hee) O fair and firmest Globe,
Thy mourning weed, to a green gallant Robe;
Cheer thy sad brows, and stately garnish them,
VVith a rich, fragrant, flowry Diadem;
Lay forth thy locks, and paint thee (Lady-like)
VVith freshest colours on thy sallow cheek.
And let from hence-forth thy aboundant brests
Not only Nurse thine own Wombs natiue guests,
But frankly furnish with fit nourishments
The future folk of th'other Elements;
That Aire, and water, and the Angels Court,

Of Trees growing in Mountains and in Valleys.

May all seem iealous of thy praise and port.

No sooner spoken, but the lofty Pine
Distilling-pitch, the Larch yeeld-Turpentine,

Th'euer-green Box, and gummy Cedar sprout,
And th'Airy Mountaines mantle round about:
The Mast-full Oke, the vse-full Ash, the Holm,
Coat changing Cork, white Maple, shady Elm,
Through Hill and Plain ranged their plumed Ranks.
The winding Riuers bordered all their banks
With slice-Sea Aldars, and green Osiars smal,
With trembling Poplars, and with Willows pale,
And many Trees beside, fit to be made
Fewell, or Timber, or to serue for Shade.

The dainty Apricock (of Plums the Prince)

Of fruit-trees.

The veluet Peach, gilt Orenge, downy Quince,
All-ready beare grav'n in their tender barks,
Gods powerfull prouidence in open marks.
The sent-sweet Apple, and astringent Pear,
The Cherry Filberd, Wal-nut, Meddeler,
The milky Fig, the Damson black and white,
The Date, and Olyue, ayding appetite,
Spread euery-where a most delightfull Spring,
And euery-where a very Eden bring.

Heere, the fine Pepper, as in clusters hung:

Of shrubs.

There Cinamon and other Spices sprung.
Heer, dangled Nutmegs, that for thrifty pains
Yearly repay the Bandans wondrous gains;
There growes (th'Hesperian Plant) the precious Reed
Whence Sugar sirrops in aboundance bleed;
There weeps the Balm, and famous Trees from whence
Th'Arabians fetcht perfuming Frankinsence.

There, th'amorous Vine coll's in a thousand sorts

Of the Vines, and the excellent vse of Wine temperately taken.

(With winding arms) her Spouse that her supports:
The Vine, as far inferiour to the rest
In beauty, as in bounty past the best:
Whose sacred liquor, temperately taen,
Reviues the spirits and purifies the brain,
Cheers the sad heart, increaseth kindly heat,
Purgeth gross blood, and doth the pure beget,
Strengthens the stomack, and the colour mends,
Sharpens the wit, and doth the bladder cleanse,
Opens obstructions, excrements expels,
And easeth vs of many Languors els.

And though through Sin (wherby from Heav'nly state

He preuenteth an obiection, & sheweth that not withstanding mans fall, the, Earth yeeldeth vs matter inough to praise and magnifie her Maker: Simile.

Our Parents barr'd vs) th'Earth degenerate
From her first beauty, bearing still vpon her
Eternall Scars of her fond Lords dishonour:
Though with the Worlds age, her weakage decay,
Though she becom less fruitfull every day
(Much like a Woman with oft teeming worn;
Who, with the Babes of her owne body born,

Having almost stor'd a whole Towne with people,
At length becomes barren, and faint, and feeble)
Yet doth shee yeeld matter enough to sing
And praise the Maker of so rich a Thing.

Neuer mine eies in pleasant Springs behold
The azure Flax, the gilden Marigold,

Of Flowers.

The Violet's purple, the sweet Rose's stammell,
The Lillie's snowe, and Pansey's various ammell,
But that (in them) the Painter I admire,
Who in more Colours doth the Fields attire,
Then fresh Aurora's rosie cheeks display,
When in the East she Vshers a fair Day:
Or Iris Bowe, which bended in the Sky
Boades fruitfull deaws when as the Fields be dry,

An addition by the Translator, of the rare Sun-louing Lotos.

Heer (deer S. Bartas) giue thy Seruant leaue
In thy rich Garland one rare Flower to vveaue,
Whose vvondrous nature had more vvorthy been
Of thy diuine, immortalizing Pen:
But, from thy sight, vvhen Sein did swell vvith Bloud,
It sunk (perhaps) vnder the Crimsin Flood.
(When Beldam Medices, Valois, and Guise,
Stain'd Hymens Roab vvith Heathen cruelties)
Because the Sun, to shun so vile a view,
His Chamber kept; and vvept vvith Bartholmew.

For so, so soon as in the Western Seas
Apollo sinks, in siluer Euphrates
The Lotos diues, deeper and deeper ay
Till mid-night: then, remounteth toward Day:
But not aboue the Water, till the Sun
Doo re-ascend aboue the Horizon.
So euer-true to Titans radiant Flame,

Semper eadem.

That (Rise he, Fall hee) it is Still the same.

A Real Emblem of her Royall Honour
That vvorthily did take that Word vpon-her;
Sacred Eliza, that ensu'd no less
Th'eternall Sun of Peace and Righteousnes;
Whose liuely lamp (vvhat euer did betide her)
In either Fortune vvas her onely Guider.
For, in her Fathers and her Brothers Daies,
Fair rose this Rose vvith Truth's new-springing raies:
And vvhen again the Gospels glorious Light
Set in her Sisters superstitious Night,
She sunk vvithall vnder afflictions streams
(As sinks my Lotos vvith Sols setting beams):
But, after Night, vvhen Light again appear'd,
There-vvith, again her Royal Crown she rear'd;
And in an Ile amid the Ocean set
(Maugre the Deluge that Romes Dragon spet,

With spightfull storms striuing to ouer-flowe her,
And Spain conspiring ioyntly t' ouer-throwe-her)
Her Maiden Flowr flourisht aboue the Water;

Elizabeta Regina. Anagram Ei ben t'alza e gira.

For, still Heav'ns Sun cherisht his louing Daughter:
Bel fiord' Honor, ch'in Mare'l Mondo ammira,
Al sole sacro, ch' Ei Ben T'Alza E Gira
(So, my deer Wiat, honouring Still the same,
In-soul'd an Imprese with her Anagramm):
And last, for guerdon of her constant Loue,
Rapt her intirely, to himselfe aboue.

So set our Sun; and yet no Night ensu'd:
So happily the Heav'ns our Light renu'd:
For, in her stead, of the same Stock of Kings
Another Flowr (or rather Phœnix) springs;
Another like (or rather Still the same)
No less in Loue with that Supernall Flame.
So, to God's glory, and his Churches good,
Th'honour of England, and the Royall blood,
Long happy Monark may King Iames persist;
And after him, His; Still the same in Christ.

God, not content t'haue given these Plants of ours

Of diuers hearbs and Plants, and of their excellent vertues.

Precious Perfumes, Fruits, Plenty, pleasant Flowrs,
Infused Physick in their leaues and Mores,
To cure our sickness, and to salue our sores:
Else doubt-less (Death assaults so many waies)
Scarce could we liue a quarter of our Daies;
But like the Flax, which flowrs at once and fals,

Simile.

One Feast would serue our Birth and Burials:
Our Birth our Death, our Cradle (then) our Toomb,
Our tender Spring our Winter would becom.

Good Lord! how many gasping Soules haue scap't
By th'ayd of Hearbs, for whom the Graue hath gap't;
Who, euen about to touch the Stygian strand,
Haue yet beguil'd grim Pluto's greedy hand!
Beard-less Apollo's beardy

Esculapius.

Son did once
With iuyce of Hearbs reioyn the scattered bones
Of the chaste

Hippolytus.

Prince, that in th'Athenian Court
Preferred Death before incestuous sport.
So did Medea, for her Iason's sake,
The frozen limbs of Æson youthfull make.
O sacred Simples that our life sustain,
And when it flies vs, call it back again!
'Tis not alone your liquor, inly taen,
That oft defends vs from so many a baen:
Put even your fauour, yea, your neighbour-hood,
For some Diseases is exceeding good;
Working so rare effects, that only such
As feel, or see them, can beleeue so much.

The vertue of Succorie. Of Swines-bread.

Blew Succorie, hangd on the naked neck,
Dispels the dimness that our sight doth check.
Swines-bread, so vsed, doth not only speed
A tardy Labour; but (without great heed)
If over it a Child-great Woman stride,
Instant abortion often doth betide.
The burning Sun, the banefull Aconite,
The poysonie Serpents that vnpeople quite
Cyreniam Defarts, never Danger them
That were about them th'

Mugwart.

Artemisian Stem.

Peonie.

About an Infants neck hang Peonie,
It cures Alcydes cruell maladie.
If fuming boawls of Bacchus, in excess,
Trouble thy brains with storms of giddiness,

Saffron.

Put but a garland of green Saffron on,
And that mad humour will be quickly gon.
Th'inchanting Charms of Syrens blandishments,
Contagious Aire ingendring Pestilence,
Infect not those that in their mouthes haue taen

Angelica.

Angelica, that happy counter-baen,
Sent down from Heav'n by some Celestiall scout,
As well the name and nature both avow't.

Pimpernel or Burnett.

So Pimpernel, held in the Patients hand,
The bloody-Flix doth presently with-stand:

Madder.

And ruddy Madder's root, long handeled,
Dies th'handlers vrine into perfect red.
O Wondrous Woad! which, touching but the skin,
Imparts his colour to the parts within.

Nor (powerfull Hearbs) do we alonely find
Your vertues working in fraile humane kind;
But you can force the fiercest Animals,
The fellest Fiends, the firmest Minerals,
Yea, fairest Planers (if Antiquitie.
Haue not bely'd the Haggs of Thessalie).
Onely the touch of Choak-pard

Lebbards bane.

Aconite,
Bereaues the Scorpion both of sense and might:

Helleborus.

As (opposite) Helleborus doth make
His vitall powers from deadly slumber wake.
With Betonie, fell Serpents round beset,

Betonie.

Lift vp their heads, and fall to hiss and spet,
With spightfull fury in their sparkling eyes,
Breaking all truce, with infinite defies:
Puft vp with rage, to't by the ears the goe,
Baen against baen, plague against plague they throwe,
Charging each other with so fierce a force
(For friends turn'd foes haue lightly least remorse)
That wounded all (or rather all a wound)
With poysoned gore they couer all the ground;

And nought can stint their strange intestine strife,
But onely th'end of their detested life.
As Betonie breakes friendships ancient bands,
So Willo-wort makes wonted hate shake hands:

Willo-wort.

For, being fastned to proud Coursers collers,
That fight and fling, it will abate their cholers.
The Swine, that feed in Troughes of Tamarice,

Tamarice.

Consume their spleen. The like effect there is
In Finger-Ferne: which, being given to Swine,

Finger-ferne.

It makes their Milt to melt away in fine,
With ragged tooth choosing the same so right
Of all their Tripes to serue it's appetite.
And Horse, that, feeding on the grassie Hils,
Tread vpon Moon-wort

Lunaria.

with their hollow heels;
Though lately shod, at night goe bare-foot home,
Their Master musing where their shooes become.
O Moon-wort! tell vs where thou hid'st the Smith,
Hammer, and Pincers, thou vnshoo'st them with?
Alas! what Lock or Iron Engine is't
That can thy subtle secret strength resist,
Sith the best Farrier cannot set a shoo
So sure, but thou (so shortly) canst vndoo?
But I suppose not, that the earth doth yeeld
In Hill or Dale, in Forrest or in Field,
A rarer Plant then Candian

Dictaminsom Candia.

Dittanie;
Which wounded Dear eating, immediately
Not onely cures their wounds exceeding well,
But 'gainst the Shooter doth the shaft repell.

Moreover (Lord) is't not a Work of thine

Great varietie in colour and form of Plants, & strange contraciety of effects, according to the bodies that they work vpon.

That every where, in every Turfe we find
Such multitude of other Plants to spring,
In form, effect, and colour differing?
And each of them in their due Seasons taen,
To one is Physick, to another baen:
Now gentle, sharp anon: now good, then ill:
What cureth now, the same anon doth kill.
Th'Hearb

Fenel-gyant.

Sagapen serues the slowe Asse for meat;
But, kils the Ox if of the same he eat.
So branched

Hemlock.

Hemlock for the Stares is fit;
But, death to man, if he but taste of it.
And

Rose-bay.

Oleander vnto beasts is poyson;
But, vnto man a speciall counter-poyson.
What ranker poyson? what more deadly baen
Then

Wolfes-bane.

Aconite, can there be toucht or taen?
And yet his iuice best cures the burning bit
Of stinging Serpents, if apply'd to it.
O valiant Venome! O courageous Plant!
Disdainfull Poyson! noble combatant!

That scorneth ayd, and loues alone to fight,
That none partake the glory of his might:
For, if he finde our bodies fore-possest
With other Poyson, then he lets vs rest,
And with his Rivall enters secret Duell,
One to one, strong to strong, cruell to cruell,
Still fighting fierce, and never over-giue
Till they both dying, giue Man leaue to liue.

And to conclude, whether I walke the Fields,
Rush through the Woods, or clamber vp the Hils,
I find God every-where: Thence all depend,
He giveth frankly what we thankly spend.
Heer for our food, Millions of flow'ry grains,

Of grain, silke, Cotton-Wool (or Bombace) Flax & Hemp which the Earth produceth.

With long Mustachoes, waue vpon the Plains;
Heer thousand fleeces, fit for Princes Robes,
In Serean Forrests hang in silken Globes:
Heer shrubs of Malta (for my meaner vse)
The fine white balls of Bombace do produce.
Heer th'azure-flowred Flax is finely spun
For finest Linnen, by the Belgian Nun:
Heer fatall Hemp, which Denmark doth afford,
Doth furnish vs with Canvass, and with Cord,
Cables and Sayles; that, Winds assisting either,
We may acquaint the East and West together,
And dry-foot dance on Neptunes Watry Front,
And in adventure lead whole Towns vpon 't.
Heer of one grain of

Indian-wheat.

Maiz, a Reed doth spring,
That thrice a year, fiue hundred grains doth bring;
Which (after) th'Indians parch, and pun, and knead,
And thereof make them a most holesom bread.

Th'Almighty Voice, which built this mighty Ball,
Still, still rebounds and ecchoes over all:
That, that alone, yearly the World reviues;
Through that alone, all springs, all liues, all thriues:
And that alone makes, that our mealy grain
Our skilfull Seed-man scatters not in vain;
But being covered by the tooth-full Harrow,
Or hid a while vnder the folded furrow,
Rots to reviue; and, warmly-wet, puts forth
His root beneath, his bud aboue the Earth;
Enriching shortly with his springing Crop,

An exact description of the growing of wheat & other like kinds of grauie.

The Ground with green, the Husbandman with hope:
The bud becomes a blade, the blade a reed,
The reed an eare, the eare another seed:
The feed, to shut the wastefull Sparrows out
(In Haruest) hath a stand of Pikes about,
And Chaffie Husks in hollow Cods inclose-it;
Lest heat, wet, wind, should roste, or rot, or lose it:

And left the Straw should not sustaine the eare,
With knotty ioynts 'tis sheathed heer and there.

Pardon me (Reader) if thy ravisht Eyes
Haue seen To-Day too great varieties
Of Trees, of Flowrs, of Fruits, of Hearbs, of Grains,
In these my Groues, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Plains;
Sith th'Ile of Zebut's admirable Tree
Beareth a fruit (call'd Cocos commonly)

Of the Indian Cocos a most admirable fruit.

The which, alone, far richer Wonders yeelds
Then all our Groues, Meads, Orchards, Gardens, Fields.
What? wouldst thou drink? the wounded leaues drop wine.
Lack'st thou line linnen? dress the tender rine,
Dress it like Flax, spin it, and weaue it well,
It shall thy Cambrick and thy Lawn excell.
Long'st thou for Butter? bite the poulpy part,
And neuer better came to any Mart.
Neodest thou Oyle? then boule it to and fro,
And passing oyle it soon becommeth so.
Or Vineger, to whet thine appetite?
Then sun it well, and it will sharpely bite.
Or want'st thou Sugar? steep the same a stound,
And sweeter Sugar is not to be found.
'Tis what you will: or will be what you would:
Should Mydas touch't (I think) it would be Gold.
And God (I think) to crown our life with ioyes,
The Earth with plenty, and his name with praise,
Had don enough; if he had made no more
But this one Plant so ful of wondrous store:
Saue that, the World (where one thing breeds satiety)
Could not be fair, without so great variety.

But, th'Earth not onely on her back doth bear
Abundant treasures glistring every where
(As glorious vnthrifts, crost with Parents Curse,
Wear golden Garments; but an empty Purse:
Or Venus Darlings, fair without; within
Full of Disease, full of Deceipt and Sin:
Or stately Toombs, externly gilt and garnisht;
With dust and bones in wardly fill'd and furnisht)
But inwardly shee's no less fraught with riches,
Nay rather more (which more our soules bewitches).

Of the riches vnder or within the Earth.

Within the deep folds of her fruitfull lap,
So bound-less Mines of treasure doth she wrap,
That th'hungry hands of humane avarice
Cannot exhaust with labour or device.
For, they be more then ther be Stars in Heav'n,
Or stormy billowes in the Ocean driv'n,
Or cares of Corn in Autumn on the Fields,
Or Savage Beasts vpon a thousand Hils,

Or Fishes diving in the silver Floods,
Or scattred Leaues in Winter in the Woods.

Of Minerals.

Slat, Iet, and Marble shall escape my pen,
I over-pass the Salt-mount Oromene,
I blanch the Brine-Quar Hill in Aragon,
Whence (there) they pouder their provision.
I'le onely now emboss my Book with Brass,
Dye't with Vermilion, deck't with Coperass,
With Gold and Silver, Lead, and Mercury,
Tin, Iron, Orpine, Stibium, Lethargy:
And on my Gold-work I will onely place
The Crystall pure, which doth reflect each face;
The precious Ruby, of a Sanguin hew,

Of precious stones.

The Seal-fit Onyx, and the Saphire blew,
The Cassidonie, full of circles round,
The tender Topaz, and rich Diamond,
The various Opal, and green Emerald,
The Agate by a thousand titles call'd,
The sky-like Turquez, purple Amethists,
And fiery Carbuncle, which flames resists.

I knowe, to Man the Earth seems (altogether)
No more a Mother, but a Step-dame rather:
Because (alas!) vnto our loss she bears
Blood-shedding Steele, and Gold the ground of cares:
As if these Metalls, and not Man's amiss,
Had made Sin mount vnto the height it is.

The vse, or abuse of things, make them good or euill: helpfull or hurtful to Mankind.

But, as the sweet bait of aboundant Riches,
Bodies and Soules of greedy men bewitches.
Gold gilds the Vertuous, and it lends them wings
To raise their thoughts vnto the rarest things.
The wise, not onely Iron well apply
For houshold turns, and Tools of Husbandry;
But to defend their Countrey (when it cals)
From forrain dangers, and intestine brals:
But, with the same the wicked neuer mell,
But to do seruice to the Haggs of Hell;
To pick a Lock, to take his neighbours Purse,
To break a House, or to doo somthing worse;
To cut his Parents throat, to kill his Prince,
To spoile his Countrey, murder Innocents.
Even so, profaning of a gift diuine,
The Drunkard drowns his Reason in the Wine:
So sale-tongu'd Lawyers, wresting Eloquence,
Excuse rich wrong, and cast poore Innocence:
So Antichrists, their poyson to infuse,
Miss-cite the Scriptures, and Gods name abuse.
For, as a Cask, through want of vse grow'n fusty,
Makes with his stink the best Greeke Malmsey musty:

So God's best gifts, vsurpt by wicked Ones,
To poyson turn through their contagions.

But, shall I baulk th'admired Adamant?

Of the rare vertue of the Load-stone.

Whose dead-live power, my Reasons power doth dant.
Renowned Load-stone, which on Iron acts,
And by the touch the same aloofe attracts;
Attracts it strangely with vnclasping crooks,
With vnknow'n cords, with vnconceived hooks,
With vnseen hands, with vndiscerned arms,
With hidden Force, with sacred secret charms,
Wherewith he wooes his Iron Misteriss,
And never leaues her till he get a kiss;
Nay, till he fold her in his faithfull bosom,
Never to part (except we, loue-less, loose-em)
With so firme zeale and fast affection
The Stone doth loue the Steel, the Steel the Stone.
And though somtime some Make-bate come betwixt,
Still burns their first flame; 'tis so surely sixt:
And, while they cannot meet to break their minds,
With mutuall skips they shew their loue by signes
(As bashfull Suters, seeing Strangers by,
Parley in silence with their hand or eye).
Who can conceiue, or censure in what sort
One Loadstone-touched Ann'let doth transport
Ano her Iron-Ring, and that another,
Till foure or fiue hang dangling one in other?
Greatest Apollo might he be (me thinks)
Could tell the Reason of these hanging links:
Sith Reason-scanners haue resolved all,
That heavy things, hangd in the Aire, must fall.

I am not ignorant, that He, who seeks
In Roman Robes to sure the Sagest Greeks,
Whose iealous wife, weening to home-revoke-him
With a loue potion, did with poyson choak-him;
Hath sought to showe, with arguing subtily,
The secret cause of this rare Sympathy.
But say (Lucretius) what's the hidden cause
That toward the North-Star still the Needle draw's,
Whose point is toucht with Load-stone? loose this knot,
And still-green Laurell shall be still thy Lot:
Yea, Thee more learned will I then confess,
Then Epicurus, or Empedocles.

W'are not to Ceres so much bound for Bread,

Of the excellent vse of the Mariners Compasse.

Neither to Bacchus, for his Clusters red,
As (Signior Flauio) to thy witty triall,
For first inuenting of the Sea-mans Diall
(Th'vse of the Needle, turning in the same)
Diuine deuice! O admirable Frame!

Whereby, through th'Ocean, in the darkest night,
Our hugest Caraques are conducted right:
Whereby w'are stor'd with Truch-man, Guide, and Lamp
To search all corners of the watery Camp:
Whereby a Ship, that stormy Heav'ns haue whurld
Neer in one Night into another World,
Knowes where she is; and in the Card descries
What degrees thence the Equinoctiall lies.
Cleer-sighted Spirits, that cheer with sweet aspect
My sober Rymes, though subiect to defect;
If in this Volume, as you ouer-read it
You meet some things seeming exceeding credit,
Because (perhaps, heer proued yet by no man)
Their strange effects be not in knowledge common:
Think, yet, to some the Load stone's vse is new;
And seems as strange, as we haue try'd it true:
Let therefore that which Iron draw's, draw such
To credit more then what they see or touch.

Of medicinable Earths.

Nor is th'Earth onely worthy praise eternall,
For the rare riches on her back ex ernall,
Or in her bosom: but her owne selfs worth
Solicits me to found her glory forth.
I call to witness all those weak diseased,
Whose bodies oft haue by th'effects been eased
Of Lemnos seal'd earth, or Eretrian soil,
Or that of Chios, or of Melos Ile.

The Earths Encamion.

All-hail fair Earth, bearer of Towns and Towrs,
Of Men, Gold, Grain, Physick, and Fruits and Flowrs,
Fair, firm, and fruitfull, various, patient, sweet,
Sumptuously cloathed in a Mantle meet
Of mingled-colour; lac't about with Floods,
And all embrodered with fresh blooming buds,
With rarest Gemmes richly about embost,
Excelling cunning, and exceeding cost.
All hail great Heart, round Base, and stedfast Root,
Of all the World, the Worlds strong fixed foot,
Heav'ns chastest Spouse, supporter of this All,
This glorious Buildings goodly Pedestall.
All-hail deer Mother, Sister, Hostess, Nurse,
Of the Worlds Soverain: of thy liberall purse,
W' are all maintayned: match-less Emperess,
To doo thee service with all readiness,
The Sphears, before thee bear ten thousand Torches:
The Fire, to warm thee, foulds his heatfull arches
In purest flames aboue the floating Cloud:
Th'Aire, to refresh thee, willingly is bow'd
About the Waues, and well content to suffer
Milde Zephyrs blasts, and Boreas bellowing rougher:

Water, to quench thy thirst, about thy Mountains
Wraps her moist arms, Seas, riuers, lakes and fountains.

O how I grieue, deer Earth, that (given to gays)

Commendations of the Country-life.

Most of best wits contemn thee now a-days:
And noblest hearts proudly abandon quight
Study of Hearbs, and Country-lifes delight,
To brutest men, to men of no regard,
Whose wits are Lead, whose bodies Iron-hard.
Such were not yerst the reuerend Patriarks,
Whose praise is penned by the sacred Clarks.
Noah the iust, meek Moses, Abraham
(Who Father of the Faithfull Race becam)
Were Shepheards all, or Husbandmen (at least)
And in the Fields passed their Dayes the best.
Such were not yerst Attalus, Philemetor,
Archelaus, Hiero, and many a Pretor;
Great Kings and Consuls, who haue oft for blades
And glistering Scepters, handled hooks and spades.
Such were not yerst, Cincinnatus Fabricius,
Serranus, Curius, who vn-self-delicious,
With Crowned Coulters, with Imperiall hands,
With Ploughs triumphant plough'd the Roman lands.
Great Scipio, sated with fain'd curtsie-capping,
With Court-Eclipses, and the tedious gaping
Of golden beggers: and that Emperour,
Of Slaue, turn'd King; of King turn'd Labourer;
In countrey Granges did their age confine:
And ordered there, with as good Discipline,
The Fields of Corn, as Fields of Combat first;
And Ranks of Trees, as Ranks of Souldiers yerst.

O thrice, thrice happy He, who shuns the cares
Of City-troubles, and of State-affairs;
And, serving Ceres, tils with his own Teem
His own Free-land, left by his Friends to him!

Never pale Envie's poysonie heads do hiss

Free from enuy, ambition, and auarice and consequently from the diuelish practises of Machiauilian Politicks.

To gnaw his heart; nor Vultur Avarice:
His Field's bounds, bound his thoughts: he never sups,
For Nectar, poyson mixt in silver Cups;
Neither in golden Platters doth he lick
For sweet Ambrosia deadly Arsenick:
His hand's his boaul (better then Plate or Glass)
The silver Brook his sweetest Hypocrass:
Milk, Cheese, and Fruit (fruits of his own endeuour)
Drest without dressing, hath he ready ever.

False Counsailers (Concealers of the Law)

Not vexed with coūterfait wreslings of wraigling Lawyers.

Turn-coat Attourneys, that with both hands draw;
Sly Peti-Foggers, Wranglers at the Bar,
Proud Purse-Leaches, Harpies of Westminster,

With fained chiding, and foul iarring noyse,
Break not his Brain, nor interrupt his ioyes:
But cheerfull Birds, chirping him sweet Good-morrows,
With Natures Musick do beguile his sorrows;
Teaching the fragrant Forrests, day by day,
The Diapason of their Heav'nly Lay.

Not dreading shipwrack nor in danger of Pirates.

His wandring Vessell, reeling to and fro,
On th'irefull Ocean (as the Windes do blowe)
With sudden Tempest is not ouer-whurld,
To seek his sad death in another World:
But, leading all his life at home in Peace,
Alwaies in sight of his own smoak; no Seas,
No other Seas he knowes, nor other Torrent,
Then that which waters, with his silver Current,
His Natiue Medowes: and that very Earth
Shall giue him Buriall, which first gaue him Birth.

Not diseased in body through delicious Idleness.

To summon timely sleep, he doth not need
Æthyop's cold Rush, nor drowsie Poppy-seed;
Nor keep in consort (as Mecænas did)
Luxurious Villains (Viols I should haue said);
But on green Carpets thrumd with mossie Beuer,
Frenging the round Skirts of his winding River,
The streams milde murmur, as it gently gushes,
His healthy limbs in quiet slumber hushes.

Not drawen by factions to an untimely Death.

Drum, Fife, and Trumpet, with their loud A-larms,
Make him not start out of his sleep, to Arms:
Nor deer respect of some great Generall,
Him from his bed vnto the block doth call.
The crested Cock sings Hunt is vp to him,
Limits his rest, and makes him stir betime,
To walk the Mountains, or the flowry Meads,
Impearld with tears, that sweet Aurora sheads.

Not choaled with contagion of a corrupted Aire.

Neuer gross Aire, poysond in stinking Streets,
To choak his spirit, his tender nostrill meets;
But th'open Sky, where at full breath he liues,
Still keeps him sound, and still new stomack giues:
And Death, drad Seriant of th'eternall Iudge,
Comes very late to his sole-seated Lodge.

Nor (Chameleō-like) changing, with euery obiect, the colour of his cōsience.

His wretched years in Princes Courts he spends not:
His thralled will on Great mens wils depends not:
He, changing Master, doth not change at once
His Faith; Religion, and his God renounce:
With mercenary lies he doth not chant,

Nor soothing Sin: nor lacking the Tayl of Greatness.

Praysing an Emmet for an Elephant:
Sardanapalus (drown'd in soft excess)
For a triumphant vertuous Hercules;
Thersites soul, for Venus louely Loue;
And every Changeling for a Turtle-Doue;

Nor lavishes in his lascivious layes,
On wanton Flora, chaste Alcestes praise.
But all self-private, serving God, he writes
Fear-less, and sings but what his heart indites.

No sallow, Fear doth day or night afflict-him:

Neither prest with Fear, nor plotting Fraud.

Vnto no fraud doth night or day addict-him;
Or if he muse on guile, 'tis but to get
Beast, Bird, or Fish, in toil, or snare, or net.

What though his Wardrobe be not stately stuft
With sumptuous silks (pinked, and pounc't, and puft)
With gold-ground Velvets, and with silver Tissue,
And all the glory of old Eues proud Issue?
What though his feeble Cofers be not cramd
With Misers Idols, golden Ingots ramd?
He is warm-wrapped in his owne-growen Wooll;
Of vn-bought Wines his Cellar's ever full;
His Garner's stor'd with grain, his Ground with flocks,
His Barns with Fodder, with sweet streams his Rocks.

For, heer I sing the happy Rusticks weal,
Whose handsom house seems as a Common-weal:
And not the needy, hard rack-rented Hinde,
Or Copy-holder, whom hard Lords do grinde;
The pined Fisher or poor-Daiery-Renter
That liues of whay, for forfeiting Indenture;
Who scarce haue bread within their homely Cotes
(Except by fits) to feed their hungry throats.

Let me, good Lord, among the Great vn-kend,
My rest of dayes in the calm Countrey end.
Let me deserue of my deer Eagle-Brood,
For Windsor-Forrest, walks in Almes-wood:
Bee Hadley Pond my Sea; Lambs-bourn my Thames;
Lambourn my London; Kennet's silver streams,
My fruitfull Nile; my Singers and Musicians,
The pleasant Birds with warbling repetitions;
My company, pure thoughts, to work thy will;
My Court, a Cottage on a lowely Hill;
Where, without let, I may so sing thy Name,
That times to come may wonder at the same.

Or, if the new North-star, my Soverain Iames
(The secret vertue of whose sacred beams
Attracts th'attentiue seruice of all such
Whose mindes did euer Vertue's Load-stone touch)
Shall euer daign t'inuite mine humble Fate
T'approach the Presence of his Royall State:
Or, if my Duty or the Grace of Nobles,
Shall driue or draw me neer their pleasing-Troubles;
Let not their Fauours make me drunk with folly:
In their Commands, still keep my Conscience holy:

Let mee, true Honour, not the false delight;
And play the Preacher, not the Parasite.

So Morne and Euening the Third Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.

THE FOVRTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

The twinkling Spangles of the Firmament:
The wandring Seav'n (Each in a seuerall Tent);
Their Course, their Force, their Essence is disputed;
That they (as Beasts) do eat and drink; refuted.
Heav'ns (not the Earth) with rapid motion roule:
The famous Stars observ'd in either Pole:
Heav'ns sloaping Belt: the Twelue celestiall Signes
Where Sol the Seasons of the Year confines:
Dayes glorious Prince: Nights gloomy Patroness:
His Light and Might: Her constant Change-fulness.

In the beginning of the fourth book alling vpon the God of Heauen, our Poet prayeth to be lift vp in the Heauens, that he may discourse (as be ought) of the starrs fixed and wandring.

Pvre Spirit that rapt'st aboue the Firmest Sphear,
In fiery Coach, thy faithfull Messenger,
Who smiting Iordan with his pleighted Cloak,
Did yerst divide the Waters with the stroak:
O! take me vp; that, far from Earth, I may
From Sphear to Sphear, see th'azure Heav'ns To-Day.
Be thou my Coach-man, and now Cheek by Ioule
With Phœbus Chariot let my Chariot roule;
Driue on my Coach by Mars his flaming Coach;
Saturn and Luna let my wheels approach:

That having learn'd of their Fire breathing Horses,
Their course, their light, their labour, and their forces,
My Muse may sing in sacred Eloquence,
To Vertues Friends, their vertuous Excellence:
And with the Load-stone of my conquering Verse,
Aboue the Poles attract the most perverse.

And you fair learned soules, you spirits diuine,
To whom the Heav'ns so nimble quils assigne,
As well to mount, as skilfully to limn
The various motion of their Tapers trim;
Lend me your hand; lift me aboue Parnassus;
With your loud Trebbles help my lowly Bassus.
For sure, besides that your wit-gracing Skill
Bears, in it selfe, it self's rich guerdon still;
Our Nephews, free from sacrilegious brauls,
Where Horror swims in blood about our wals,
Shall one day sing that your deer Song did merit
Better Heav'n, hap, and better time to hear-it.

And, though (alas!) my now new-rising Name
Can hope heer-after none, or little Fame:
The time that most part of our better wits
Mis-spend in Flattery, or in Fancy-Fits,
In courting Ladies, or in clawing Lords,
Without affection, in affected words:
I mean to spend, in publishing the Storie
Of Gods great works, to his immortall glorie.
My rymes begot in pain, and born in pleasure,
Thirst not for Fame (the Heathens hope's chiefe treasure):
'T shall me suffice, that our deer France do breed
(In happy season) some more learned seed,
That may record with more diuine dexterity
Then I haue done, these wonders to Posterity.

Much less may these abortiue Brats of Mine
Expect respect (but in respect of Thine):
Yet sith the Heav'ns haue thus entaskt my layes
(As darkly Cynthia darts her borrow'd rayes)
To shadow Thine; and to my Countrey render
Some small reflection of thy radiant splendor;
It is enough, if heer-by I incite
Some happier spirit to do thy Muse more right;
And with more life giue thee thy proper grace,
And better follow great du Bartas trace.

God's None of these faint idle Artizans,

Heer resuming his course, hee prosecutes the work of the Creation.

Who at the best abandon their designes,
Working by halfs; as rather a great deal,
To do much quickly, then to do it well:
But rather, as a work-man never weary,
And all-sufficient, he his works doth carry

To happy end; and to perfection,
With sober speed, brings what he hath begun.

In the fourth day, God created the fixed Stars, the two great Lights, (vis.) the Son and the Moon, together with the other fiue Planets.

Hauing therefore the Worlds wide Curten spred
About the circuit of the fruitfull Bed,
Where (to fill all with her vnnumbred Kin)
Kind Natures selfe each moment lyeth-in:
To make the same for ever admirable,
More stately-pleasant, and more profitable;
He th'Azure Tester rimm'd with golden marks,
And richly spangled with bright glistring sparks.

I knowe, those Tapers, twinkling in the sky,
Do turn so swiftly from our hand and eye,
That man can neuer (rightly) reach, to seeing

Of their Course, Force, Essence, and Substance.

Their Course and Force, and much-much less their Being:
But, if coniecture may extend aboue
To that great Orb, whose moving All doth moue,
Th'imperfect Light of the first Day was it,
Which for Heav'ns Eyes did shining matter fit:
For, God, selecting lightest of that Light,
Garnisht Heav'ns sieling with those Torches bright:
Or else diuided it; and pressing close
The parts, did make the Sun and Stars of those.

Opinion of the Greek touching the matter of the Stars.

But, if thy wits thirst rather seek these things,
In Greekish Cisterns then in Hebrew Springs;
I then conclude, that as of moistfull matter,
God made the people that frequent the Water;
And of an Earthy stuff the stubborn droues
That haunt the Hils and Dales, and Downs and Groues:
So, did he make, by his Almighty might,
The Heav'ns and Stars, of one same substance bright;
To th'end these Lamps, dispersed in the Skies,
Might with their Orb, it with them, sympathize.
And as (with vs) vnder the Oaked barke

Simile.

The knurry knot with branching veines, we marke
To be of substance all one with the Tree,
Although farr thicker and more rough it be:
So those gilt studs in th'vpper story driv'n,
Are nothing but the thickest part of Heav'n.

Their substance is of Fire.

When I obserue their Light and Heaty blent
(Meer accidents of th'vpper Element)
I think them Fire: but not such Fire as lasts
No longer then the fuell that it wastes:
For then, I think all th'Elements too-little
To furnish them only with one dayes victuall.

Refutation of such as haue thought that the Stars were lining creatures that did eat & drink.

And therefore smile I at those Fable-Forges,
Whose busie-idle stile so stifly vrges,
The Heav'ns bright Cressets to be living creatures,
Ranging for food, and hungry fodder-eaters;

Still sucking-vp (in their eternall motion)
The Earth for meat, and for their drink, the Ocean.
Sure, I perceiue no motion in a Star,
But naturall, certain, and regular;
Whereas, Beasts motions infinitely vary,
Confus'd, vncertain, diuers, voluntary.
I see not how so many golden Posts
Should scud so swift about Heav'ns azure coasts,
But that the Heavn's must ope and shut som-times,
Subiect to passions, which our earthly climes
Alter, and toss the Sea, and th'Aire estrange
From itselfs temper with exceeding change.
I see not how, in those round blazing beams,
One should imagine any food-fit limbs:
Nor can I see how th'Earth, and Sea should feed
So many Stars, whose greatness doth exceed
So many times (if Star-Diuines say troth)
The greatness of the Earth and Ocean both:
Sith heer our Cattle, in a month, will eat
Seav'n-times the bulk of their own bulk in meat.

These Torches then range not at random, o're
The lightsom thickness of an vn-firm Floor:
As heer belowe, diuersly mooving them,
The painted Birds between two aires do swim;
But, rather fixed vnto turning Sphears,
Ay, will-they, nill-they, follow their careers:
As Car-nails fastned in a wheel (without

Simile.

Selfs-motion) turn with others turns about.

As th'Ague sicke, vpon his shivering pallet,

A Comparison.

Delayes his health oft to delight his palat;
When wilfully his taste-less Taste delights
In things vnsauory to sound Appetites:
Even so, some brain-sicks liue there now-adayes,
That lose themselues still in contrary wayes;
Prepostrous Wits that cannot rowe at ease,
On the smooth Chanell of our common Seas.
And such are those (in my conceit at least)
Those Clarks that think (think how absurd a iest)
That neither Heav'ns nor Stars do turn at all,
Nor dance about this great round Earthly Ball;
But th'Earth it self, this Massie Globe of ours,
Turns round-about once euery twice-twelue hours:
And we resemble Land-bred nouices
New brought aboord to venture on the Seas;
Who, at first lanching from the shoar, suppose
The ship stands still, and that the ground it goes.

So, twinkling Tapers, that Heav'ns Arches fill,
Equally distant should continue still.

Opinion of Copernicus cōfuted.

So, neuer should an Arrow, shot vpright,
In the same place vpon the Shooter light;
But would doo (rather) as (at Sea) a stone
Aboord a Ship vpward vprightly throw'n;
Which not within-boord fall's, but in the Flood
A-stern the Ship, if so the winde be good.
So, should the Fowls that take their nimble flight
From Western Marches towards Mornings Light;
And Zephyrus, that in the Summer time
Delights to visit Eurus in his clime;
And Bullets thundred from the Cannons throat
(Whose roaring drowns the Heav'nly thunders note)
Should seem recoil: sithens the quick career,
That our round Earth should daily gallop heer,
Must needs exceed a hundred-fold (for swift)
Birds, Bullets, Winds; their wings, their force, their drift.

Arm'd with these reasons, 'twere superfluous
T'assaile the reasons of Copernicus;
Who, to salue better of the Stars th'appearance,
Vnto the Earth a three-fold motion warrants:

Leauing to dispute farther vpon the former Paradox, be proceedeth in his discourse, & by a liuely comparison representeth the beautifull ornament of the Heavens about the Earth.

Making the Sun the Center of this All,
Moon, Earth, and Water, in one only Ball.
But sithens heer, nor time, nor place doth sute,
His Paradox at length to prosecute;
I will proceed, grounding my next discourse
On the Heav'ns motions, and their constant course.

I oft admire greatness of mighty Hils,
And pleasant beauty of the flowry Fields,
And count-less number of the Oceans sand,
And secret force of sacred Adamant:
But much-much more (the more I mark their course)
Stars glistering greatness, beauty, number, force.

Simile.

Even as a Peacock, prickt with loues desire,
To woo his Mistress, strowting stately by her,
Spreads round the rich pride of his pompous vail,
His azure wings and starry-golden tail;
With rattling pinions wheeling still about,
The more to set his beautious beauty out:
The Firmament (as feeling like aboue)
Displayes his pomp; pranceth about his Loue,
Spreads his blew curtain, mixt with golden marks,
Set with gilt spangles, sow'n with glistring sparks,
Sprinkled with eyes, specked with Tapers bright,
Poudred with Stars streaming with glorious light,
T'inflame the Earth the more, with Louers grace,
To take the sweet fruit of his kind imbrace.

The number of Stars vnder both the Poles innumerable.

Hee, that to number all the Stars would seek,
Had need inuent som new Arithmetick;

And who, to cast that Reck'ning takes in hand,
Had need for Counters take the Ocean's sand:
Yet haue our wise and learned Elders found

And why the ancient Astronomers obserued 48.

Foure-dozen Figures in the Heav'nly Round,
For aid of memory; and to our eyes
In certain Howses to diuide the Skyes.
Of those, are Twelue in that rich Girdle greft

Of the signes in the Zodiacke.

Which God gaue Nature for her New-years-gift
(When making All, his voyce Almighty most,
Gaue so fair Laws vnto Heav'ns shining Hoast)
To wear it biaz, buckled over-thwart-her;
Not round about her swelling waste, to girt-her.

This glorious Baldrick of a Golden tindge,
Imbost with Rubies, edg'd with Silver Frindge,
Buckled with Gold, with a Bend glistring bright,
Heav'ns biaz-wise environs day and night.
For, from the period, where the Ram doth bring

The Zodiacke.

The day and night to equall balancing,
Ninty degrees towards the North it wends,
Thence iust as much toward Mid-Heav'n it bends,
As many thence toward the South; and thence
Towards th'Years Portall, the like difference.

Nephelian Crook-horn, with brass Cornets crown'd,
Thou buttest brauely 'gainst the New years bound;

Aries Mid-March begins the Spring.

And richly clad in thy fair Golden Fleece,
Doo'st hold the First House of Heav'ns spacious Meese.
Thou spy'st anon the Bull behinde thy back:

Taurus in mid-Aprill.

Who, lest that fodder by the way he lack,
Seeing the World so naked; to renew't,
Coats th'infant Earth in a green gallant sute;
And, without Plough or Yoak, doth freely fling
Through fragrant Pastures of the flowry Spring.
The Twins, whose heads, arms, shoulders, knees and feet,

Gemini in mid-May.

God fill'd with Stars to shine in season sweet,
Contend in Course, who first the Bull shall catch,
That neither will nor may attend their match.
Then, Summers-guide, the Crab comes rowing soft,

Cancer in mid-Iune begins the Sommer.

With his eight owres through the Heav'ns azure loft;
To bring vs yeerly, in his starry shell,
Many long dayes the shaggy Earth to swele.
Almost with like pase leaps the Lion out,

Leo in mid-Iuly.

All clad with flames, bristled with beams about;
Who, with contagion of his burning breath,
Both grass and grain to cinders withereth.
The Virgin next, sweeping Heav'ns azure Globe

Virgo in mid-August.

With stately train of her bright Golden robe,
Milde-proudly marching in her left hand brings
A sheaf of Corn, and in her right hand wings.

Libra in mid-September begins Autumns.

After the Maiden, shines the Balance bright,
Equall diuider of the Day and Night:
In whose gold Beam, with three gold rings there fastens
With six gold strings, a pair of golden Basens.
The spitefull Scorpion, next the Scale addrest,

Scorpio in mid-October.

With two bright Lamps couers his loathsom brest;
And fain, from both ends, with his double sting,
Would spet his venom over everything;

Sagittarius in mid-Nouember.

But that the braue Half-horse Phylerian Scout,
Galloping swift the heav'nly Belt about,
Ay fiercely threats, with his flame-feathered arrow
To shoot the sparkling starry Viper thorough.

Capricornus in mid-December, beginneth Winter.

And th'hoary Centaure, during all his Race,
Is so attentiue to this onely chase,
That dread-less of his dart, Heav'ns shining Kid
Comes iumping light, iust at his heels vnspid.

Aquarius in mid-Ianuary.

Mean-while the Skinker, from his starry spout,
After the Goat, a silver stream pours-out;
Distilling still out of his radiant Fire
Rivers of Water (who but will admire?)
In whose cleer chanel mought at pleasure swim

Pisces in mid-February.

Those two bright Fishes that do follow him;
But that the Torrent slides so swift away,
That it out-runs them ever, even as they
Out-run the Ram, who ever them pursues;
And by renewing Yearly, all renues.

The names of the Principall stars of the North Pole.

Besides these Twelue, toward the Artick side,
A flaming Dragon doth Two-Bears diuide;
After, the Wainman comes, the Crown, the Spear;
The Kneeling Youth, the Harp, the Hamperer
Of th'hatefull Snake (whether we call the same
By Æsculapius, or Alcides name)
Swift Pegasus, the Dolphin, louing man;
Ioues stately Ægle, and the silver Swan:
Andromeda, with Cassiopeia neer-her,
Her father Cepheus, and her Perseus deerer:
The shining Triangle, Medusa's Tress,
And the bright Coach-man of Tindarides.

The names of the Stars of the South-Pole.

Toward th'other Pole, Orion, Eridanus,
The Whale, the Whelp, and hot-breath't Sirius,
The Hare, the Hulk, the Hydra, and the Boule,
The Centaure, Wolf, the Censer, and the Foule
(The twice-foul Rauen) the Southern Fish and Crown,
Through Heav'ns bright Arches brandish vp and down.

The fixed stars are in the eight Heauen.

Thus on This-Day working th'eightth azure Tent,
With Art-less Art, diuinely excellent;
Th'Almighties finger fixed many a million
Of golden Scutchions in that rich Pavillion:

But in the rest (vnder that glorious Heav'n)
But one a-peece, vnto the severall Seav'n;

And the seauen Planets vnder them each in his proper Sphear.

Lest, of those Lamps the number-passing number
Should mortall eyes with such confusion cumber,
That we should never, in the cleerest night,
Stars diuers Course see or discern aright.

And therefore also, all the fixed Tapers
He made to twinkle with such trembling capers

Why the Planets twinkle not, & the fixed stars do twinkle.

But, the Seauen Lights that wander vnder them,
Through various passage, never shake a beam.
Or, he (perhaps) made them not different;
But, th'hoast of Sparks spred in the Firmament
Far from our sense, through distance infinite,
Seems but to twinkle, to our twinkling sight:
Whereas the rest, neerer a thousand fold

The firmament much farther from the Earth thē the Sphears of the Planets.

To th'Earth and Sea, wee doo more brim behold.
For, the Heav'ns are not mixtly enterlaced;
But th'vndermost by th'vpper be imbraced,
And more or less their roundels wider are,
As from the Center they be neer or far:
As in an Egg, the shell includes the skin,
The skin the white, the white the yolk with-in.

Simile.

Now as the Winde, buffing vpon a Hill
With roaring breath against a ready Mill,

Two similes representing the motion of the eight interiour Heav'ns, throgh the swift turning of the ninth which is the Primum Mobile.

Whirls with a whiff the sails of swelling clout,
The sails doo swing the winged shaft about,
The shaft the wheel, the wheel the trendle turns,
And that the stone which grinds the flowry corns:
Or like as also in a Clock well tended,
Iust counter-poize, iustly thereon suspended,
Makes the great Wheel goe round, and that anon
Turns with his turning many a meaner one,
The trembling watch and th'iron Maule that chimes
The intire Day in twice twelue equall times:
So the grand Heav'n, in foure and twenty hours,
Surveying all this various house of ours,
With his quick motion all the Sphears doth moue;
Whose radiant glances gild the World aboue,
And driues them every day (which swiftness strange-is)
From Gange to Tagus; and from Tay to Ganges.

But, th'vnder-Orbs, as grudging to be still
So straightly subiect to anothers will,

Each of the 8. Heaven so transported by the Primum Mobile hath also his proper oblique and distinct course each from other.

Still without change, still at anothers pleasure
After one pipe to dance one onely measure;
They from-ward turn, and traversing aside,
Each by himselfe an oblique course doth slide:
So that they all (although it seeme not so)
Forward and backward in one instant go,

Both vp and down, and with contrary pases,
At once they poste to two contrary places:
Like as my selfe, in my lost Marchant-years

The same explaned by a proper Simile.

(A loss, alas, that in these lines appears)
Wafting, to Brabant, Englands golden Fleece
(A richer prize then Iason brought to Greece)
While toward the Sea, our (then, Swan-poorer) Thames
Bare down my Bark vpon her ebbing streams:
Vpon the hatches, from the Prow to Poup
Walking in compass of that narrow Coop,
Maugre the most that Winde and Tide could doo,
Haue gone at once towards Lee and London too.

Why som of these Heauens haue a slower course & shorter compasse then other som.

But now, the neerer, any of these Eight,
Approach th'Empyreall Palace wals in height,
The more their circuit, and more dayes they spend,
Yer they return vnto their Iourneys end.

It's therefore thought, That sumptuous Canapy,

The terme of the reuolution of the Firmament.

The which th'vn-niggard hand of Maiesty
Poudred so thick with Shields so shining cleer,
Spends in his voyage nigh seaven thousand yeer.

Of the seuenth, which is the Sphear of Saturn.

Ingenious Saturn, Spouse of Memory,
Father of th'Age of Gold; though coldly dry,
Silent and sad, bald, hoary, wrinkle-faced,
Yet art thou first among the Planets placed:
And thirty years thy Leaden Coach doth run
Yer it arriue where thy Career begun.

Of the 6. which is the Sphear of Iupiter.

Thou, rich, benign, Ill-chasing Iupiter,
Art (worthy) next thy Father sickle-bear:
And while thou doost with thy more milde aspect
His froward beams disastrous frouns correct,
Thy Tinnen Chariot shod with burning bosses,
Through twice-six Signes in twice six twelue months crosses.

Of the 5. which is the Sphear of Mars.

Braue-minded Mars (yet Master of mis-order,
Delighting nought but Battails, blood, and murder)
His furious Coursers lasheth night and day,
That he may swiftly passe his course away:
But in the road of his eternall Race,
So many rubs hinder his hasty pase,
That thrice, the while, the lively Liquor-God
With dabbled heels hath swelling clusters trod,
And thrice hath Ceres shav'n her amber tress,
Yet his steel wheels haue done their business.

Of the 4. which is the Sphear of Sol..

Pure goldy-locks, Sol, States-friend, Honour giuer,
Light-bringer, Laureat, Leach-man, all Reviuer,
Thou, in three hundred threescore dayes and fiue,
Doost to the period of thy Race arriue.
For, with thy proper course thou measur'st th'Year,
And measur'st Dayes with thy constrain'd career.

Fair dainty Venus, whose free vertues milde

Of the 3. which is the Sphear of Venus.

With happy fruit get all the world with-childe
(Whom wanton dalliance, dancing, and delight,
Smiles, witty wiles, youth, loue, and beauty bright,
With soft blind Cupids evermore consort)
Of lightsom Day opens and shuts the port;
For, hardly dare her siluer Doues goe far
From bright Apollos glory-beaming Car.

Not much vnlike so, Mercury the witty,

Of the 2. which is the Sphear of Mercury.

For ship, for shop, book, bar, or Court, or Citty:
Smooth Orator, swift Pen-man, sweet Musician,
Rare Artizan, deep-reaching Politician,
Fortunat Marchant, fine Prince-humour-pleaser;
To end his course takes neer a twelue-months leasure:
For, all the while, his nimble winged heels
Dare little bouge from Phœbus golden wheels.

And lastly Luna; thou cold Queen of Night,

Of the 1. which is the Sphear of Luna.

Regent of humors, parting Months aright,
Chaste Emperess, to one Endymion constant;

The lowest Planet nearest the Earth.

Constant in Loue, though in thy looks inconstant
(Vnlike our Loues, whose hearts dissemble soonest)
Twelue times a year through all the Zodiack runnest.

Now, if these Lamps, so infinite in number,
Should still stand-still as in a sloathfull slumber,
Then should some Places (alwaies in one plight)
Haue alwaies Day, and some haue alwaies Night:
Then should the Summers Fire, and Winters Frost,

Of the necessity of diuers motiōs of the Heauens.

Rest opposite still on the selfe same Coast:
Then nought could spring, and nothing prosper would
In all the World, for want of Heat or Cold.
Or, without change of distance or of dance,
If all these Lights still in one path should prance,
Th'inconstant parts of this lowe Worlds contents
Should never feele so sundry accidents,
As the Coniunction of celestiall Features
Incessantly pours vpon mortall Creatures.

I'l ne'r beleeue that the Arch-Architect

Of the force and influence of the Cœlestiall bodies vpon the terrestriall.

With all these Fires the Heav'nly Arches deckt
Onely for Shew, and with these glistering shields
T'amaze poor Shepheards watching in the fields.
I'l ne'r beleeue that the least Flowr that pranks
Our Garden borders, or the Common banks,
And the least stone that in her warming Lap
Our kind Nurse Earth doth covetously wrap,
Hath some peculiar vertue of it owne;
And that the glorious Stars of Heav'n haue none:
But shine in vain, and haue no charge precise,
But to be walking in Heav'ns Galleries,

And through that Palace vp and down to clamber,
As golden Guls about a Princes Chamber .

Sens-less is he, who (without blush) denies
What to sound senses most apparent lies:
And 'gainst experience he that spets Fallacians,
Is to be hist from learned Disputations:
And such is he, that doth affirm the Stars
To haue no force on these inferiours;
Though Heav'ns effects we most apparent see
In number more then heav'nly Torches be.

Sundry proofs of the same. 1. The diuers seasons. 2. The fearfull accidents that commonly succeed Eclipses.

I nill alledge the Seasons alteration,
Caus'd by the Sun in shifting Habitation:
I will not vrge, that never at noon dayes
His envious Sister intercepts his Rayes
But som great State eclipseth, and from Hell
Alecto looses all these Furies Fell,
Grim, lean-fac't Famine, foul infectious Plague;
Blood-thirsty War, and Treason hatefull Hag:
Heer pouring down Woes vniversall Flood,
To drown the World in Seas of Tears and Blood.

3. The ebbing & flowing of the Sea.

I'l over-pass how Sea doth Eb and Flowe,
As th'Horned Queen doth either shrink or growe;
And that the more she Fills her forked Round,

4. The increase and decrease of marrow, blood and humours in diuers creatures.

The more the Marrow doth in Bones abound,
The Blood in Veines, the sap in Plants, the Moisture
And lushious meat, in Creuish, Crab and Oyster:
That Oak, and Elm, and Firr, and Alder, cut
Before the Crescent haue her Corners shut,
Are never lasting, for the builders turn,
In Ship or House, but rather fit to burn:

5. The apparent alterations in the bodies of sick persons.

And also, that the Sick, while she is filling,
Feele sharper Fits through all their members thrilling.
So that, this Lamp alone approoues, what powrs,
Heav'ns Tapers haue even on these soules of ours:
Temp'ring, or troubling (as they be inclin'd)
Our mind and humours, humours and our minde,
Through Sympathy, which while this Flesh we carry,
Our Soules and Bodies doth together marry.

A particular proofe by the effects of certain notable stars, ordinarily noted in some Month of the year.

I'l onely say, that sith the hot aspect
Of th'Heav'nly Dog-Star, kindles with effect
A thousand vnseen Fires, and dries the Fields,
Scorches the Vallies, parches-vp the Hils,
And often times into our panting hearts,
The bitter Fits of burning Fevers darts:
And (opposit) the Cup, the dropping Pleiades,
Bright glistering Orion and the weeping Hyades,
Never (almost) look down on our aboad,
But that they stretch the Waters bounds abroad;

With Clowdy horror of their wrathfull frown,
Threatning again the guilty World to drown:
And (to be brief) sith the gilt azure Front
Of Firmest Sphear hath scarce a spark vpon't
But poureth down-ward som apparent change,
Towards the Storing of the Worlds great Grange;
We may coniecture what hid powr is given
T'infuse among vs from the other Seaven,
From each of those which for their vertue rare
Th'Almighty placed in a proper Sphear.

Not that (as Stoïks) I intend to tye

Reiecting the Stoiks, he sheweth that God, as the first Cause, doth orace all things, & what vse we should make of the force Course, & Light of the celestiall bodies.

With Iron Chains of strong Necessity
Th'Eternal's hands, and his free feet enstock
In Destinies hard Diamantine Rock:
I hold, that God (as The First Cause) hath giv'n
Light, Course, and Force to all the Lamps of Heav'n:
That still he guides them, and his Providence
Disposeth free, their Fatall influence:
And that therefore (the rather) we belowe
Should study all, their Course and Force to knowe:
To th'end that, seeing (through our Parents Fall)
T'how many Tyrants we are wexen thrall,
Euer since first fond Womans blind Ambition,
Breaking, made Adam break Heav'ns High-Commission:
We might vnpuff our Heart and bend our Knee,
T'appease with sighs Gods wrathfull Maiestie;
Beseeching him to turn away the storms
Of Hail, and Heat, Plague, Dearth, and dreadfull Arms,
Which oft the angry Stars, with bad aspects,
Threat to be falling on our stubborn necks:
To giue vs Curbs to bridle th'ill proclivitie
We are inclin'd-to, by a hard Nativitie:
To pour some Water of his Grace, to quench
Our boyling Fleshes fell Concupiscer ce,
To calm our many passions (spirituall tumours)
Sprung from corruption of our vicious humours.

Latonian Twins, Parents of Years and Months,

Heer proceeding to the second part of this book, he treateth at large of the Sun & Moon.

Alas! why hide you so your shining Fronts?
What? nill you shew the splendor of your ray,
But through a Vail of mourning Clouds I pray?
I pray pull-off your mufflers and your mourning,
And let me see you in your natiue burning:
And my deer Muse by her eternall flight,
Shall spread as far the glory of your Light
As you your selues run, in alternat Ring,
Day after Night, Night after Day to bring.

Thou radiant Coach-man, running endless course,

Of the Sun: entring into the description whereof he confesseth that he knowes not well where to begin.

Fountain of Heat, of Light the liuely sourse,

Life of the World, Lamp of this Vniverse,
Heav'ns richest Gemm: O teach me where my Verse
May but begin thy praise. Alas! I fare
Much like to one that in the Clouds doth stare
To count the Quails, that with their shadow cover
Th'Italian Sea, when soaring higher over,
Fain of a milder and more fruitfull Clime,
They come, with vs to pass the Summer time:
No sooner he begins one shoal to summ,
But more and more, still greater shoals do com,
Swarm vpon Swarm, that with their count-less number
Break off his purpose, and his sense incumber.

The Sun as Prince of the Celestiall lights marcheth in the midst of the other six Planets which inuiron him.

Dayes glorious Eye! Even as a mighty King,
About his Countrey stately Progressing,
Is compast round with Dukes, Earles, Lords, and Knights,
(Orderly marshall'd in their noble Rites)
Esquires and Gentlemen, in courtly kinde
And then his Guard before him and behinde;
And there is nought in all his Royall Muster,
But to his Greatnes addeth grace and lustre:
So, while about the World thou ridest ay,
Which onely liues by vertue of thy Ray,
Six Heav'nly Princes, mounted evermore,
Wait on thy Coach, three behinde, three before,
Besides the Hoasts of th'vpper Twinklers bright,
To whom, for pay thou giuest onely Light.
And, ev'n as Man (the little-World of Cares)

The Sun is in Heauen as the heart in mans body.

Within the Middle of the bodie, beares
His heart (the Spring of life) which with proportion
Supplyeth spirits to all, and euery portion:
Even so (O Sun) thy Golden Chariot marches
Amid the six Lamps of the six lowe Arches
Which feel the World, that equally it might
Richly impart them Beautie, Force, and Light.

His notable effects vpon the Earth.

Praising thy Heat, which subtilly doth pearce
The solid thickness of our Vniverse,
Which in th'Earths kidnyes Mercury doth burn,
And pallid Sulphur to bright Metall turn;
I do digress, to praise that light of thine,
Which if it should, but one Day, cease to shine,
Th'vnpurged Aire to Water would resolue,
And Water would the mountain tops inuolve.

Scarce I begin to measure thy bright Face,
Whose greatness doth so oft Earths greatness pass,
And with still running the Cœlestiall Ring,
Is seen and felt of euery liuing thing;
But that fantastickly I change my Theam
To sing the swiftness of thy tyer-less Teem;

To sing, how, Rising from the Indian Waue,

Excellent comparisons borrowed out of the 19. Psalm.

Thou seem'st (O Titan) like a Bride-groom braue,
Who from his Chamber early issuing out
In rich array, with rarest Gems about;
With pleasant Countenance, and louely Face,
With golden tresses, and attractiue grace,
Cheers (at his comming) all the youthfull throng
That for his presence earnestly did long,
Blessing the day, and with delightfull glee,
Singing aloud his Epithalamie.

Then, as a Prince that feeles his Noble heart,
Wounded with Loues pure Honor-winged dart
(As Hardy Lælivs, that great Garter-Knight,

The same exemplified in an honorable personage of our time now very aged: but in his yong years, the glory of Arms and Chiualrie.

Tilting in Triumph of Eliza's Right
(Yeerly that Day that her deer raign began)
Most brauely mounted on proud Rabican,
All in gilt armour, on his glistering Mazor
A stately Plume, of Orange mixt with Azur,
In gallant Course, before ten thousand eyes,
From all Defendants bore the Princely Prize)
Thou glorious Champion, in thy Heav'nly Race,
Runnest so swift we scarce conceiue thy Pase.

When I record, how fitly thou dost guide

Of Gods wonderfull prouidence in placing the Sun in the midst of the other Planets, & of the commodities that come thereof.

Through the fourth Heav'n, thy flaming Coursers pride,
That as they pass, their fiery breaths may temper
Saturn's and Cynthia's cold and moist distemper
(For, if thou gallop'tst in the neather Room
Like Phaëton, thou would'st the World consume:
Or, if thy Throne were set in Saturn's Sky,
For want of heat, then euery thing would dy)
In the same instant I am prest to sing,
How thy return reviveth every thing;
How, in thy Presence, Fear, Sloath, Sleep, and Night,
Snowes, Fogs, and Fancies, take their sudden Flight
Th'art (to be briefe) an Ocean wanting bound,
Where (as full vessels haue the lesser sound)
Plenty of Matter makes the speaker mute;
As wanting words thy worth to prosecute.

Yet glorious Monarch, 'mong so many rare
And match-less Flowrs as in thy Garland are,

Of the Sunnes continuall and daily course.

Some one or two shall my chaste sober Muse
For thine Immortall sacred Sisters chuse.
I'l boldly sing (bright Soverain) thou art none
Of those weak Princes Flattery works vpon
(No second Edvvard, nor no Richard Second,
Vn-kinged both, as Rule-vnworthy recon'd)
Who, to inrich their Minions past proportion,
Pill all their Subiects with extream extortion;

And charm'd with Pleasures (O exceeding Pity!)
Lie alwaies wallowing in one wanton City;
And, loving only that, to mean Lieutenants
Farm out their Kingdoms care, as vnto Tenants.
For, once a day, each Countrey vnder Heav'n
Thou bidst Good-Morow, and thou bidst Good-Ev'n.
And thy far-seeing Eye, as Censor, views
The rites and fashions. Fish and Foule do vse,
And our behauiours, worthy (euery one)
Th'Abderian Laughter, and Ephesian Mone.

But true it is, to th'end a fruitfull lew

Of his oblique or By-course, cause of the foure seasons: and of the commodities of all Climats in the world.

May every Climat in his time renew,
And that all men may nearer in all Realms
Feel the alternat vertue of thy beams;
Thy sumptuous Chariot, with the Light returning,
From the same Portall mounts not every Morning:
But, to make know'n each-where thy daily drift,
Doo'st every day, thy Coursers Stable shift:
That while the Spring, prankt in her greenest pride,
Raigns heer, else-where Autumn as long may bide;
And while fair Summers heat our fruits doth ripe,
Cold Winters Ice may other Countries gripe.

No sooner doth thy shining Chariot Roule

A pleasant and liuely descriptiō of the foure seasons of the year.

From highest Zenith toward Northren Pole,
To sport thee for three Months in pleasant Inns
Of Aries, Taurus, and the gentle Twinns,
But that the mealie Mountains (late vnseen)
Change their white garments into lusty green,
The Gardens prank them with their Flowry buds,
The Meads with grass, with leaues the naked Woods,

The Spring.

Sweet Zephyrus begins to buss his Flora,
Swift-winged Singers to salute Aurora;
And wanton Cupid, through this Vniverse,
With pleasing wounds, all Creatures hearts to perce.

Summer.

When, backward bent, Phlegon thy fiery Steed,
With Cancer, Leo, and the Maid, doth feed;
Th'Earth cracks with heat, and Summer crowns his Ceres
With gilded Ears, as yellow as her hair-is:
The Reaper, panting both for heat and pain,
With crooked Rasor shaues the tufted Plain;
And the good Husband, that due season takes,
Within a Month his year's Provision makes.

When from the mid-Heav'n thy bright flame doth fly

Haruest.

Toward the Cross-Stars in th'Antartik Sky,
To be three months, vp-rising, and down-lying
With Scorpio, Libra, and the Archer flying,
Th'Earth by degrees her louely beauty bates,
Pomona loads her lap with delicates,

Her Apron and her Osiar basket (both)
With dainty fruits for her deer Autumns tooth
(Her health-less spouse) who bare-foot hops about
To tread the iuice of Bacchus clusters out.

And last of all, when thy proud-trampling Teem,
For three Months more, to soiourne still doth seem
With Capricorn, Aquarius, and the Fishes
(While we in vain revoke thee with our wishes)
In stead of Flowrs, chill shivering Winter dresses

Winter.

With Isicles her (self-bald) borrow'd tresses:
About her brows a Periwig of Snowe,
Her white Freeze mantle freng'd with Ice belowe,
A payr of Lamb-lyn'd buskins on her feet,
So doth she march Orythias loue to meet;
Who with his bristled, hoary, bugle-beard,
Comming to kiss her, makes her lips afeard;
Where-at, he sighs a breath so cold and keen,
That all the Waters Crystallized been;
While in a fury with his boystrous wings
Against the Scythian snowie Rocks he flings,
All lusks in sloath: and till these Months do end,
Bacchus and Vulcan must vs both befrend.

O second honour of the Lamps supernall,

Of the Moon & her alterations.

Sure Calendar of Festiuals eternall,
Seas Soveraintess, Sleep-bringer, Pilgrims guide,
Peace-loving Queen: what shall I say beside?
What shall I say of thine inconstant brow,
Which makes my brain wauer, I woat not how?
But, if by th'Eye, a mans intelligence
May ghess of things distant so far from hence,
I think thy body round as any Ball,

Of her roundnes and brightnesse borrowed of the Sunne.

Whose superfice (nigh equall ouer all)
As a pure Glass, now vp, and down anon,
Reflects the bright beams of thy spouse, the Sun.
For, as a Husbands Nobless doth illustre

Simile.

A mean-born wife: so doth the glorious lustre
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, embright
Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light.

Yet 'tis not alwaies after one self sort.

Of her waxing & waning whē she is in her last quarter, & whē she renues and commeth to her Full.

For, for thy Car doth swifter thee transport,
Then doth thy Brothers, diversly thou shin'st,
As more or less thou from his sight declin'st.
Therefore each month, when Hymen (blest) aboue
In both your bodies kindles ardent loue,
And that the Stars-king all inamoured on thee,
Full of desire, shines down direct vpon thee;
Thy neather half-Globe toward th'Earthly Ball
(After it's Nature) is observed all.

But, him aside thou hast no sooner got,
But on thy side a silver file we noat,
A half-bent Bowe; which swels, the less thy Coach
Doth the bright Chariot of thy spouse approach,
And fils his Circle. When the Imperiall Star
Beholds thee iust in one Diameter,
Then by degrees thy Full face fals away,
And (by degrees) Westward thy Horns display;
Till fall'n again betwixt thy Lovers arms,
Thou wink'st again, vanquisht with pleasures charms.

Thus dost thou Wex and Wane, thee oft renuing;
Delighting change: and mortall things, ensuing
(As subiect to thee) thy selfs transmutation,
Feel th'vnfelt force of secret alteration.

Of the cause of the diuers aspect of the Moon.

Not, but that Phœbus alwaies with his shine,
Cleers half (at least) of thine aspect divine;
But't seemes not so; because we see but heer
Of thy round Globe the lower Hemisphear:
Though wexing vs-ward, Heav'n-ward thou dost wane;
And waning vs-ward, Heav'n-ward grow'st againe.

Yet, it befals, even when thy face is Full,
When at the highest thy pale Coursers pull,
When no thick mask of Clouds can hide away,
From living eyes, thy broad, round glistring Ray,
Thy light is darkned, and thine eyes are feel'd,
Covered with shadow of a rusty shield.
For, thy Full face in his oblique designe
Confronting Phœbus in th'Ecliptick line,
And th'Earth between; thou losest, for a space,
Thy splendor borrowd of thy Brothers grace:

Of the cause of the Eclips of the Sunne.

But, to reuenge thee on the Earth, for this
Fore-stalling thee of thy kind Lovers kiss,
Somtimes thy thick Orb thou doo'st inter-blend
Twixt Sol and vs, toward the later end:
And then (because his splendor cannot pass
Or pearce the thickness of thy gloomy Mass)
The Sun as subiect to Deaths pangs, vs sees-not,
But seems all Light-less, though indeed he is not.

Difference between the Eclipses of the Sun, & of the Moon.

Therfore, far differing your Eclipses are;
For thine is often and thy Brothers rare:
Thine doth indeed deface thy beauty bright;
His doth not him, but vs, bereave of Light:
It is the Earth, that thy defect procures;
It is thy shadow, that the Sunne obscures:
East-ward, thy front beginneth first to lack;
West-ward, his brows begin there frowning black:
Thine at thy Full, when thy most glory shines;
His, in thy Wane, when beauty most declines:

Thine's generall, toward Heav'n and Earth together;
His, but to Earth, nor to all places neither.

For, th'hideous Cloud, that cov'red so long since

Of the admirable and extraordinary Eclipse of the Sun, on the Day that our Sauiour suffered on the Crosse, for our Redemption, Mat. 27. ve. 45. Mar. 15. ve. 33. Luk. 23. ve. 44..

With nights black vail th'eyes of the Starry-Prince
(When as he saw, for our foul Sinfull slips,
The Match-less Maker of the Light, eclipse)
Was far, far other: For, the swarty Moores,
That sweating toyl on Guinnes wealthy shoares:
Those whom the Niles continuall Cataract
With roaring noise for ever deaf doth make:
Those, that survaying mighty

Quinzay.

Cassagale,
Within the Circuit of her spacious Wall
Do dry-foot dance on th'Orientall Seas;
And pass, in all her goodly crossing waies
And stately streets fronted with sumptuous Bowrs,
Twelue thousand Bridges, and twelue thousand Towrs:
Those that, in Norway and in Finland, chase
The soft-skind Martens, for their precious Cace;
Those that in Ivory Sleads on Ireland Seas
(Congeal'd to Crystall) slide about at ease;
Were witness all of his strange grief; and ghest,
That God, or Nature was then deep distrest.
Moreover Cynthia, in that fearfull stound,
Full-fild the Compass of her Circle round;
And, being so far off, she could not make
(By Natures course) the Sun to be so black;
Nor, issuing from the Eastern part of Heav'n,
Darken that beauty, which her owne had given.
In brief, mine ey, confounded with such Spectacles
In that one wonder sees a Sea of Miracles.

What could'st thou doo less, then thy Self dishonour
(O chief of Planets!) thy great Lord to honour?
Then for thy Fathers death, a-while to wear
A mourning Roab on th'hatefull Hemi-sphear?
Then at high noon shut thy fair eye, to shun
A sight, whose sight did Hell with horror stun?
And (pearc't with sorrow for such iniuries)
To please thy Maker, Nature to displease?

So, from the South to North to make apparant,

Of the going back of the Sun in the time of Ezechias. 1. King. 26. 11 Esay 38. 8..

That God revoak't his Serieant Death's sad Warrant
'Gainst Ezechias: and that hee would giue
The godly King fifteen years more to liue:
Transgressing Heav'ns eternall Ordinance;
Thrice in one Day, thou through one path didst prance:
And, as desirous of another nap
In thy vermillion sweet Aurora's Lap,
Thy Coach turn'd back, and thy swift sweating Horse
Full ten degrees lengthned their wonted Course:

Dials went false, and Forrests (gloomy black)
Wondred to see their mighty shades goe back.

Of the Sunnes standing still in the time of Iosuah. Iosu. 12. 13..

So, when th'incensed Heav'ns did fight so fell
Vnder the Standard of deer Israel,
Against the Hoast of odious Ammorites;
Among a million of swift Flashing Lights,
Rayning down Bullets from a stormy Cloud,
As thick as Hail, vpon their Armies proud
(That such as scaped from Heav'ns wrathfull thunder,
Victorious swords might after heaw in-sunder)
Coniur'd by Iosuah, thy braue steeds stood still,
In full Career stopping thy whirling wheel;
And, one whole Day, in one degree they stayd
In midst of Heav'n, for sacred Armies ayd:
Least th'Infidels, in their disordred Flight,
Should saue themselues vnder the wings of Night.

Those, that then liv'd vnder the other Pole,
Seeing the Lamp which doth enlight the Whole,
To hide so long his lovely face away,
Thought never more to haue re-seen the Day;
The wealthy Indians, and the men of Spain,
Never to see Sun Rise or Set again.
In the same place Shadows stood still, as stone;
And in twelue Houres the Dialls shew'd but one.

So Morne and Euening the Fourth Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.

THE FIFT DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

Fish in the Sea, Fowls in the Aire abound:
The Forms of all things in the Waters found:
The various Manners of Sea-Citizens,
Whose constant Friendship far exceedeth Mens:
Arions strange escape: The Fowls attend
On th'onely Phœnix, to her end-less end:
Their kinds, their customs, and their plumes variety;
Some presidents of Prudence, som of Piety:
The gratefull Eagle, burning in the Flame
With her dead Mistress, the fair Sestian Dame.

Latonian Lamps, conducting divers wayes,
About the World, successiue Nights and Dayes;

After a Poeticall manner he craueth time & opportunity to discourse in this Day of the creation of Fishes & of Fowle.

Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Cars:
And passing swiftly both th'opposed Bars
Of East, and West, by your returning Ray;
Th'imperfect World make elder, by a Day.
Yee Fish, that brightly in Heav'ns Baldrick shine,
If you would see the Waters wauing brine
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion,
If he expect, in his prefixt Career,
To hoast with you a Month in every Yeer.

And thou, eternall Father, at whose wink

To which purpose especially he calleth on the true God.

The wrathfull Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,
And stubborn storms of bellowing Windes be dumb,
Their wide mouthes stopt, and their wilde pinions num;
Great Souerain of the Seas, whose hooks can draw
A man aliue from the Whales monstrous maw,

Provide me (Lord) of Steers-man, Star, and Boat,
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:
Or rather teach me dyue, that I may view
Deep vnder water all the Scaly crew;
And dropping wet, when I return to land
Laden with spoyls, extoll thy mighty hand.

The first part of this Book: wherin he handleth how by the Comandement of the Lord, the Fishes began to moue in the Waters.

In Vain had God stor'd Heav'n with glistring studs,
The Plain with grain, the Mountain tops with woods,
Severd the Aire from Fire, the Earth from Water,
Had he not soon peopled this large Theatre
With liuing Creatures: Therefore he began
(This-Day) to quicken in the Ocean,
In standing Pools, and in the straggling Riuers
(Whose folding Chanell fertill Champain severs)
So many Fishes of so many features,
That in the Waters one may see all Creatures,
And all that in this All is to be found;
As if the World within the Deeps were drown'd.

The Seas no lesse stored with priuiledges & presidents of Gods glorious power, then Heauen & Earth: & of the strange Fishes that liue therin.

Seas haue (as well as Skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars:
(As well as Aire) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares:
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushroms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange then these)
As very Fishes living in the Seas:
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lyons, Vrchins, Elephants, and Dogs,
Yea Men and Mayds: and (which I more admire)
The Mytred Bishop, and the Cowled Fryer:
Whereof, examples (but a few yeers since)
Were showen the Norways, and Polonian Prince.

You divine wits of elder Dayes, from whom
The deep Invention of rare Works hath com,
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?
Which partly in the Waues, part on the edges
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,
Pikes, Percers, Nedles, Mallets, Pipes and Yoaks,
Owers, sayls, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,
Plumes, Cornets, Kniues, Wheels, Vices, Horns, and Hammers.
And, as if Neptune, and fair Panopé,
Palæmon, Triton, and Leucothoé,
Kept publike Roules, there is the Calamary;
Who, ready Pen-knife, Pen and Ink doth cary.

Why God created so many sorts of strange Fishes.

As a rare Painter draws (for pleasure) here
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satyre there:
Heer a huge Cyclop, there a Pigme Elf:
Somtimes, no less busying his skilfull self,

Vpon some vgly Monster (seldom seen)
Then on the Picture of faire Beauties Queen:
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's varietie,
We might the more admire his powerfull Dëitie;
And that we might discern by differing features
The various kinds of the vast Oceans creatures;
Forming this mighty Frame, hee every Kind
With diuers and peculiar Signet sign'd.
Som haue their heads groveling betwixt their feet

Examples. The Four-Cuttle. Cuttle. Crab. Sea-Hare. Oyster.

(As th'inky Cuttles, and the Many-feet):
Som in their breast (as Crabs): some head-less are,
Foot-leess, and finn-less (as the bane-full Hare,
And heat-full Oyster) in a heap confus'd,
Their parts vnparted, in themselues diffus'd.

The Tyrian Marchant, or the Portuguze
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees:
Put of one Tortoise, when he list to float,

The Tortoise.

Th'Arabian Fisher-man can make a Boat:
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.

Shall I omit the monstrous Whirl-about,
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)
Are over-whelm'd and sunken suddenly?

Shall I omit the Tunnies, that durst meet

The Tunny.

Th'Eoan Monarchs never danted Fleet,
And beard more brauely his victorious powrs
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towrs;
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;
Or great Darius, that three Battails lost?
When on the Surges I perceiue, from far,
Th'Ork, Whirl-pool, Whale, or huffing Physeter,

Diuers kinds of Whales.

Me thinks I see the wandring Ile again
(Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,
Me seems some Tempest all the Seas doth toss.
Orr fear-less Saylers in far Voyages
(More led by Gain's hope then their Compasses)

Of their monstrous shape, & huge greatness.

On th'Indian shoare, haue somtime noted som
Whose bodies covered two broad Acres room:
And in the South-Seas they haue also seen
Some like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;
And other-som whose monstrous backs did bear
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were
Much like the winged and wide spreading sayls
Of any Winde-mill turn'd with merry gales.

But God (who Nature in her nature holdes)
Not only cast them in so sundry moldes:

Of the diuers qualities of Fishes.

But gaue them manners much more differing,
As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring
In admiration; that men evermore,
Praising his Works, might praise their Maker more.
Some loue fresh Waters, some the salt desire,
Some from the Sea vse yeerly to retire
To the next Rivers, at their owne contenting,
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:
For Winter th'one, th'other for Sommers heat.

Simile. Describing the custome of certain Sea-Fishes, frequenting the fresh Waters in some seasons of the yeare.

As Citizens, in some intestine braul,
Long cooped vp within their Castle wall;
So soon as Peace is made, and Siege romov'd,
Forsake a while their Town so strong approv'd;
And, tir'd with toyl, by leashes and by payrs,
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the ayrs:
So, dainty Salmons, Chevins thunder-scar'd,
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the Spring Season the rough Seas forsake,
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take;
And yet the plenty of delicious foods,
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystall floods,
The fragrant sents of flowry banks about,
Cannot their Country's tender loue wipe out
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,
In th'irefull Ocean to go seek their Tomb:
Like English Gallants, that in Youth doo go

Comparison.

To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po;
Where though their Sense be dandled, Dayes and Nights,
In sweetest choice of changeable Delights,
They never can forget their Mother-Soyl,
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoyl,
Long languishing with an extream Desire
To see the smoak of their deer Natiue Fire.

The Fishes feeding.

One (like a Pirat) only liues of prizes,
That in the Deep he desperatly surprizes:
Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam:
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating theeving,
Eats nought at all, of liquor onely living;
For, the salt humour of his Element
Serues him (alone) for perfect nourishment.

Some loue the clear streams of swift tumbling Torrents,
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents
Break Banks and Bridges; and doo never stop,
Till thirsty Sommer come to drink them vp:
Some almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools, and never brook the flood

Of Crystall streams, that in continuall motion
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:
As the most part of the Worlds Peers prefer
Broyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:
And some again (of a far differing humour)
Holde Rest so deer, that but the onely rumour
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;
And wanting Peace, they count their States accurst.

O watry Citizens, what Vmpeer bounded

Of the prouidēce of God in their diuers & notable manner of liuing: affording many Lessons to Man-kinde.

Your liquid Liuings? O! what Monarch mounded
With wals your City? What severest Law
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain aw,
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders
Of your swim-brethren? as (against all Orders)
Men dayly practice, ioyning Land to Land,
House vnto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)
World vnto World, if they could work it possible.
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,
Or for your seeds securer propagation,
Doo somtimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;
What learned Chalde (skild in Fortune-telling)
What cunning Prophet your sit time doth showe?
What Herralds Trumpet summons you to go?
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions
Through path-less paths in vnacquainted Regions?
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,
Measures your course in your aduentures farre?
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,
Who in your Nature some Ideas wrought
Of Good and Evill; to the end that we,
Following the Good, might from the Evill flee.

Th'adulterous Sargus doth not onely change

Strange nature of the fish Sargus.

Wiues every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)
As if the honey of Sea-loues delights
Could not suffice his ranging appetites,
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassie shore,
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before;
Contrary to the constant Cantharus,

Of Cantharus.

Who, euer faithfull to his deerest Spouse
In Nuptiall Duties spending all his life,
Loues never other then his onely wife.
But, for her Loue, the Mullet hath no Peer;

Of the Mullet.

For, if the Fisher haue surpriz'd her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shoar she followeth,
Prest to consort him both in life and death:
As yerst those famous, louing Thracian Dames

Simile.

That leapt aliue into the funerall flames

Of their dead Husbands; who deceast and gone,
Those loyall Wiues hated to liue alone.

O! who can heer sufficiently admire

The Vrano-Scopus.

That Gaping-Fish whose glistering eyes aspire
Still toward Heav'n? as if beneath the skies
He found no obiect worthy of his eyes.
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lill
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,
To catch the Emets; when, beguil'd with-all,
The busie swarms about it creep and crawl:
Th'Vrano-Scope, so, hid in mud, doth put
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,
Most like vnto a little Worm, (at sight)
Where-at eft-soons many small Fishes bite:
Which ther-withall this Angler swallowes straight,
Alwayes self-aimed with hook, line, and bait.

The suttle

The Ozena.

Smell-strong-Many-foot, that fain
A dainty feast of Oyster-flesh would gain,
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,
Wedging with stones his yet wide-yawning lips,
Least else (before that he haue had his prey)
The Oyster, closing clip his limbs away,
And (where he thought t'haue ioy'd his victories)
Himselfe become vnto his prize a prize.

The Torpedo.

The Cramp-fish, knowing that she harboureth
A plague-full humour, a fell banefull breath,
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,
Benumming all that dare too-neer her venter;
Pours forth her poyson, and her chilling Ice
On the next Fishes; charm'd so in a trice,
That she not onely stayes them in the Deep,
But stuns their sense, and luls them fast a-sleep;
And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;
Whose frozen limbs (still liuing) seem but dead.
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took
Into her throat the sharp deceitfull hook,
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle
When they be prickt, and plunge, and striue and struggle;
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,
Faster and faster on the hook do tangle:
But, wily clasping close the Fishing Line,
Soddenly spews into the Silver Brine
Her secret-spreading, sudden-speeding bane;
Which, vp the Line, and all along the Cane,
Creeps to the hand of th'Angler; who with-all
Benumm' and sense-less, suddenly lets fall
His hurtfull pole, and his more hatefull prize:

Simile.

Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)

Seems in his sleep to see som gastly Ghost;
In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost,
He cals his wife for ayd, his friends, his folks,
But his stuft stomack his weak clamour choaks:
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;
But sleep and feare his feeble hands doo hold:
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,
He feels his feet fetterd with heauy Gyues.

But, if the Scolopendra haue suckt-in

The Scolopendra.

The sowr-sweet morsell with the barded Pin,
She hath as rare a trick to rid her from it:
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;
And having clear'd them from the danger, then
She fair and softly sups them in again,
So that not one of them within her womb
Changeth his Office or his wonted room.

The thriuing Amia (neer Abydos breeding)

The Amia. The Sea-Fox.

And suttle Sea-Fox (in Steeds-loue exceeding)
Without so vent'ring their dear life and lyning,
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their vntwining:
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,
Aboue the hook they it in sunder shear;
So that their foe, who for a Fish did look
Lifts vp a bare line, robd of bait and hook.

But timorous Barbles will not taste the bit,
Till with their tails they haue vnhooked it:

The Barbel.

And all the baits the Fisher can deuise
Cannot beguile their wary iealousies.

Euen so almost, the many spotted Cuttle
Wel-neer insnared, yet escapeth suttle;

The Cuttle.

For, when she sees her self within the Net,
And no way left, but one, from thence to get,
She sodainly a certaine Ink doth spew,
Which dies the Waters of a sable hew;
That dazling so the Fishers greedy sight,
She through the Clouds of the black Waters night.
Might scape with honour the black streames of Styx,
Wherof already, almost lost, she licks.

Simile.

And, as a Prisoner, (of som great transgression,
Conuict by Witness and his owne Confession)
Kept in dark Durance full of noysom breath,
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;
Spies euery corner, and pries round about
To finde som weake place where he may get out:
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye,
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,

The Golden-eye or Guilt-head.

And thrusting in his tail, makes th'Osiers gape
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:

But, if his fellow finde him thus bested,
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;
That thereby holding fast with gentle iaw,
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.
Or, (if before that he were captiuate)
He see him hooked on the biting bait,
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.

Sundry instructions that Fishes giue to men.

You stony hearts, within whose stubborn Center
Could neuer touch of sacred friendship enter,
Look on these Seas my Songs haue calmed thus:
Heer's many a Damon, many a Theseus.

The Sparlings.

The gilden Sparlings, when cold Winters blast
Begins to threat, themselues together cast,
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,
Liue; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th'Ocean scum; seeing themselues a pray
Expos'd in euery Water-Rouers way,
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold
Combine themselues, that their ioint strength doth hold
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieues sallies;
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Gallies.

Simile.

As a great Carrak, cumbred and opprest
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-boord and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers:

Another.

And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Either of Friseland, or of German breed,
Can neuer manage half so readily,
As Spanish I ennet, or light Barbarie:

Of the Whale and his friend Musculus.

So the huge Whale hath not so nimble motion,
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But somtimes rudely 'gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in som roaring straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could liue a Twelue-month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend)
A little Fish; hat swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar:

Simile.

Much like a Childe that louing leads about
His aged Father when his eyes be out;
Still wasting him through euery way so right,
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.

Waues-Mother Thetis, though thine arms embrace
The World about, within thine ample space,

Strange League betweene the Pearl-Fish and the Prawne.

A firmer League of friendship is not seen
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn betweene;

Both haue but one repast, both but one Palace,
But one delight, death, sorrow, and one solace:
That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates
His Land-lords kindnes, with all needfull Cates.
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,
Much Fry (allur'd with the bright siluer Iustre
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth make-her
That instantly her shining shell she close
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knowes):
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithfull scout.

And so the Sponge-Spy, warily awakes

Also between the Sponge and his spy. The Gally-Fish, The Sayle-Fish, Boat Crab. Sea-Vrchin.

The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.

But O! what stile can worthily declare
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexteritie
In Saylers Art, for safeness and celeritie?
If Iaffa Marchants, now Comburgers seem
VVith Portugalls, and Portugalls with them:
If VVorlds of Wealth, born vnder other Sky,
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly
From North to South, and from the East to West,
Through hundred sundry way-less waies addrest:
If (to be brief) this VVorld's rich compass round,
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece
That styl'd to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowrs,
To mate the VVindes storms, and the VVaters stowrs;
What e'r he were, he surely learn'd of you
The Art of Rowing and of Sayling too.

Heer would I cease, saue that this humorous song
The Hermit-Fish compels me to prolong.

The sea-Hermit.

A man of might that builds him a Defence
'Gainst VVeathers rigour and Warr's insolence,
First dearly buies (for, VVhat good is good-cheap?)
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:
But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,
Or borrowing House, or paying Rent therefore,
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoar
Some handsom shell, whose Natiue Lord, of late
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;
Therein he enters, and he takes possession
Or th'empty Harbour by the free concession

100

Of natures Law; who Goods that Owner vvant
Alwaies allots to the first Occupant.
In this new Cace, or in this Cradle (rather)
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell
Wherein at Sea his later Daies to dwell.

But Clio, wherefore art thou teadious
In numbering Neptunes busie Burgers thus?
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth
Of the Seas Soverain, bring but only forth
One little Fish, whose admirable Story

The strange and secret property of the Remora or Stop-ship.

Sufficeth sole to shewe his might and glory.
Let all the Windes in one Winde gather them,
And (seconded with Neptunes strongest stream)
Let all at once blowe all their stiffest gales
A-sterna Galley vnder all her sails;
Let her be holpen with a hundred Owers,
Each lively handled by fiue lusty Rowers:
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,
Stayes her stone-still, while all her stout Consorts
Saile thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.
Then loose they all the sheats, but to no boot:
For, the charm'd Vessell bougeth not a foot;
No more then if three fadom vnder ground,
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:
No more then doth an Oak that in the Wood
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) withstood,
Spreading as many massy roots belowe,
As mighty arms aboue the ground do growe.
O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose
Thy selfe alone against so many foes.
O! tell vs where thou doo'st thine Anchors hide,
VVhence thou resistest Sayls, Owers, Wind, and Tide.
How on the sodain canst thou curb so short
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?
VVhence is thine Engin, and thy secret force
That frustrates Engins, and all force doth force?

I had (in Harbour) heav'd mine Anchor o're,
And ev'n already set one foot a-shoar;

Dolphin.

When lo, the Dolphin, beating 'gainst the bank,
'Gan mine obliuion moodily mis-thank.
Peace, Princely Swimmer: sacred Fish, content thee;
For, for thy praise, th'end of this Song I meant-thee.
Braue Admirall of the broad briny Regions,
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,
VVho liuing, ever liv'st (for, neuer sleep,
Deaths liuely Image, in thy eyes doth creep)

101

Lover of Ships, of Men, of Melody,
Thou vp and down through the moyst World doost ply
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou louest so,
That lacking that, thy life thou doest forgo:
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th'happy Boat, of yore
Which safely brought th'Amiclean Harp a-shoar.

Arion, match-less for his Musiks skill,

The strange aduenture of Ariō saued by a Dolphin.

Among the Latines hauing gain'd his fill
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain
To re-salute his learned Greece again;
Vnwares, imbarks him in a Pyrates ship:
Who, loath to let so good a Booty slip,
Soon waighes his Anchors, packs on all his sail;
And Windes conspiring with a prosperous gale,
His winged Fregat made so speedy flight,
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of sight;
And all, saue Skies, and Seas, on euery side;
VVhere, th'onely Compass is the Pylots guide.
The Saylours then (whom many times we finde
Falser then Seas, and fiercer then the VVinde)
Fall straight to strip him, ryfling (at their pleasure)
In every corner to find out his treasure:
And, hauing found it, all with one accord
Hoist th'Owner vp, to heaue him ouer-boord.
Who weeping said. O Nereus noble issue,
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:
For, my chiefe Treasure in my Musick lyes
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prize
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,
That vnder-foot all worldly wealth they throwe.)
No (braue Triumphers ouer VVinde and VVaue,
VVho in both VVorlds your habitation haue,
VVho both Heav'ns Hooks in your adventures view)
'Tis not for That, with broken sighes I sue:
I but beseech you, offer no impieties
Vnto a person deer vnto the Deities.
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,
Be euer mute when you your voyage make,
And Tritons Trumpet th'angry Surges swage,
When (iustly) Neptune shall against you rage.
But if (alas!) I cannot this obtaine
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plaine)
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,
My dolefull fingers to consort their noise:
That so the Sea Nymphs (rapt in admiration
Of my diuine, sweet, sacred lamentation)
Dragging my corps to shoar, with weeping showrs
May deaw the same, and it entoomb in flowrs.

102

Then play (said they) and giue vs both togither
Treasure and pleasure by thy comming hither.

His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent
Th'inchanting sinnews of his Instrument:
Wherewith he charm'd the raging Ocean so,
That crook-tooth'd Lampreys, and the Congers rowe
Friendly together, and their natiue hate
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgate,
And Lobstars floated fear-less all the while
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.

But among all the Fishes that did throng
To daunce the Measures of his Mournefull song,
There was a Dolphin did the best accord
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:
Who gently sliding neer the Pinnass side,
Seem'd to inuite him on his back to ride.
By this time, twice the Saylours had essayd
To heaue him o're; yet twice himselfe he staied:
And now the third time stroue they him to cast;
Yet by the shrowds the third time held he fast:
But lastly, seeing Pyrats past remorse,
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;
Who on the Oceans azure surges slid;
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)
One would haue thought him rather fly, then swim:
Yet feares he every Shelfe and euery Surge
(Not for himselfe, but for his tender charge)
And, sloaping swiftly overthwart those Seas
(Not for his owne but for his Riders ease)
Makes double haste to find some happy strand,
Where his sweet Phœbus he may safely land.
Mean-while, Arion, with his Musick rare,
Paies his deer Pylot his delightfull Fare.
And heaving eyes to Heav'n, the Hav'n of Pity)
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;

O thou Almightie! who Mankind to wrack,
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,
And yet didst saue, from th'vniuersall Doom,
One sacred Houshold, that in time to com
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;
Looke down (O Lord) from thy supernall rayes;
Look, look (alas!) vpon a wretched man,
Halfe Toomb'd already in the Ocean:
O! bee my Steers-man, and vouchsafe to guide
The stern-less Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;
So that, escaping Windes and VVaters wrath,
I once againe may tread my natiue path:

103

And hence-forth, heer with solemn vowes I sacre
Vnto thy glory (O my God and Maker)
For this great fauour's high Memoriall,
My Heart and Art, my voyce, hand, Harp, and all.

Here-with, the Seas their roaring rage refrain,
The Clowdy Welkin waxed cleer again,
And all the Windes did sodainly conuert
Their mouths to ears, to heare his wondrous Art.
The Dolphin then, discrying Land (at last)
Stormes with himselfe, for hauing made such haste,
And witht Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,
T'haue ioy'd the while his Musicks excellence.
But, 'fore his owne delight, preferring far
Th'vnhoped safety of the Minstrell rare,
Sets him ashoare, and (which most strange may seem)
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.

But now (deere Muse) with Ionas let vs hie
From the Whales belly; and from ieopardy
Of stormfull Seas, of wrackfull Rocks and Sand,
Com, com (my Darling) let vs haste to Land.

While busie, poaring downward in the Deep.

The second part of this book, treating of Fowles.

I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)
See how the Fowles are from my fancy fled,
And their high prayses quight out of my head:
Their flight out-flies me; and my Muse almost
The better halfe of this bright Day hath lost.
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)
Seeming to flutter on the Waters face,
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.

But first I pray (for meed of all my toyl
In bringing you into this Happie Ile)
Vouchsafe to waken with your various Notes
The sense-less senses of those drowsie Sots,
Whose eye-lids laden with a waight of Lead
Shall fall a-sleep the while these Rymes are read.
But, if they could not close their wakefull eyes
Among the Water's silent Colonies;
How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound
Through Heav'n and Earth and Ocean doth redound?

The Heav'nly Phœnix first began to frame

Of the admirable and Onely Phœnix.

The earthly Phœnix, and adorn'd the same
With such a plume, that Phœbus, circuiting
From Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:
Such form, such feathers, and such Fate he gaue-her,
That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver:
Two sparkling eyes; vpon her crown, a crest
Of starrie Sprigs (more splendent then the rest)

104

A goulden doun about her dainty neck,

Her description.

Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,
Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine.
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,
And Deaths cold kisses to restore her heer

Her life.

Her life again, which neuer shall expire
Vntill (as she) the World consume in fire.
For, hauing passed vnder diuers Climes,
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;
Worn-out with yeers, wishing her endless end,
To shining flames she doth her life commend,
Dies to reuiue, and goes into her Graue
To rise againe more beautifull and braue.
Perched, therfore, vpon a branch of Palm,
With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm,
By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room)
Her Vrn, her Nest, her Cradle, and her Toomb:
VVhere, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting.)
To burn her sacred bones to seedfull cinders

Her death.

(Wherein, her age, but not her life, she renders)
The Phrygian Skinker with his lauish Ewer,
Drowns not the Fields with shower after showr;
The shivering Coach man with his Icy Snowe
Dares not the Forrests of Phœnicia strowe:
Auster presumes not Libyan shoars to pass
VVith his moist wings: and gray-beard Boreas
(As the most boistrous and rebellious slaue)
Is prisoned close in th'Hyper-Borean Caue:
For, Nature now propitious to her End,
To her liuing Death a helping hand doth lend:
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildly sted
Her Funeralls, her fruitfull birth, and bed:
And Sol himself, glancing his goulden eyes
On th'odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes
Th'immortall Phœnix, both her flesh and plumes.

Her re-generation.

But instantly out of her ashes springs
A Worm, an Egg then, then a Bird with wings,
Iust like the first (rather the same indeed)
Which (re-ingendred of it's selfly seed)
By noblely dying a new Date begins,
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:
End-less by'r End, eternall by her Toomb;
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)
Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:

105

Teaching vs all, in Adam heer to dy,

The best application.

That we in Christ may liue eternally.

The Phœnix, cutting th'vnfrequented Aire,

Birds that follow the Phœnix, and their natures.

Forth-with is followed by a thousand pair
Of wings in th'instant by th'Almighty wrought,
VVith diuers Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.

The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro,
As swift as shefts fly from a Turkish Bowe,

The Swallow.

When (vse and Art, and strength confedered)
The skilfull Archer draws them to the head:
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,
Whose Plot may serue in rarest Arch'tecture:
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,
Whereof she Morter makes, and there-with-all
Aptly she builds her semi-circle Wall.

The pretty Lark, climbing the VVelkin cleer,

The Lark.

Chaunts with a cheer, Heer peer-I neer my Deer;
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rew)
Adieu (she saith) adieu, deer Deer, adieu.

The Spink, the Linot, and the Gold Finch fill

The Linot. The Finch.

All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.

But, These are nothing to the Nightingale,

The Nightingale.

Breathing, so sweetly from a breast so small,
So many Tunes whose Harmony excels
Our Voice, our Violls, and all Musick els.
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oken Grove,
In the cool shadow haue I stood and strove
To marry mine immortall Layes to theirs,
Rapt with delight of their delicious Aiers!
And (yet) me thinks, in a thick thorn I hear
A Nightingale to warble sweetly, cleer.
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,
Anon the Trebble, then the Counter-Tenor:
Then all at once; (as it were) chalenging
The rarest voices with her self to sing.
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafie Sprayes,
Another Nightingale repeats her Layes,
Iust Note for Note, and adds som Strain at last,
That she hath conned all the VVinter past:
The first replyes, and descants there-vpon;
With divine warbles of Division,
Redoubling Quauers; And so (turn by turn)
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:
So that the conquest in this curious strife.
Doth often cost the one her voyce and life:

106

Then, the glad Victor all the rest admire,
And after count her Mistress of the Quire.
At break of Day, in a Delicious song
She sets the Gam-vt to a hundred yong:
And, when as fit for higher Tunes she sees them,
Then learnedly she harder Lessons giues-them;
VVhich, strain by strain, they studiously recite,
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.

Diuers other delicate, and gentle Birds.

The Colchian Pheasant, and the Partridge rare,
The lustfull Sparrow, and the fruitfull Stare,
The chattering Pye, the chastest Turtle-Doue,
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Princes Boords)
And the greene Parrat, fainer of our words,
Wait on the Phœnix, and admire her tunes,
And gaze themselues in her blew golden plumes.

The ravening Kite, whose train doth well supply

Rauenous Birds.

A Rudders place, the Falcon mounting high,
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle-Tercell,
Th'Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcell
Follow the Phœnix, from the Clouds (almost)
At once discovering many an vnknow'n Coast.

In the swift Rank of these fell Rovers, flies
The Indian Griffin with the glistring eyes,
Beak Eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,
VVhite (Swan-like) wings, fierce talons, alwaies prest
For bloody battails; for, with these he tears
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigres, Bulls, and Bears:
VVith these, our Grandams fruitfull panch he pulls,
VVhence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:
VVith these, he guards against an Army bold
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;
As wroth, that men vpon his right should rove,
Or theevish hands vsurp his Tresor-troue.

Detestation of Auarice, for her execrable & dāgerous effects.

O! ever may'st thou fight so (valiant Foul)
For this dire bane of our seduced soule:
And (with thee) may the Dardan Ants so ward
The Gold committed to their carefull Guard,
That hence-forth hopeless, mans frail mind may rest-her
From seeking that, which doth it's Masters master.
O odious poyson! for the which we dive
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive
Our Mother Earth; and, not contented with
Th'abundant gifts she outward offereth,
VVith sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,
And ransack deeply in her bosom tender,

107

While vnder ground wee liue in hourly fear
When the frail Mines shall over-whelm vs there:
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roule
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;
And, maugre Windes and Waters enmity,
We every Day new vnknow'n VVorlds descry:
For which (alas!) the brother sels his brother,
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?

Neer these, the Crowe his greedy wings displayes,
The long-liv'd Rav'n, th'infamous Bird that layes

Night-Fowles and solitary Birds.

His bastard Egges within the nests of other,
To have them hatcht by an vnkindely Mother:
The Skrich-Owle, vs'd in falling Towres to lodge,
Th'vnlucky Night-Rav'n, and thou lasie Madge
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.

But (gentle Muse) tell me what Fowls are those

Water fowles.

That but even-now from flaggy Fenns arose?
Tis th'hungry Hern, the greedy Cormorant,
The Coot and Curlew, which the moors doo haunt,
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,
And the Kings-Fisher; which so builds her nest
By the Sea-side in midst of Winter Season,
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)
Cannot devise, with all the wit he ha's,
Her little building how to raise or raze:
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;
For, Æolus, fearing to drown her brood,
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.
The Pirat (dwelling alwayes in his Bark)
In's Calendar her building Dayes doth mark:
And the rich Marchant resolutely venters,
So soon as th'Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.
Mean-while, the Langa, skimming (as it were)
The Oceans surface, seeketh every where
The hugy VVhale; where slipping-in (by Art)
In his vast mouth, shee feeds vpon his hart.

Nevv-Spain's Cucuio, in his forhead brings

Strange admirable Birds.

Two burning Lamps, two vnderneath his wings:
Whose shining Rayes serue oft, in darkest night,
Th'Imbroderer's hand in royall VVorks to light:

108

Th'ingenious Turner, with a wakefull eye,
To polish fair his purest Ivory:
The Vsurer, to count his glistring treasures:
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.

But note we now, towards the rich Moluques,
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds)

With vs cald Birds of Paradise.

Mamuques
(VVond'rous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or Sky,
Saw ever wonder, swim, or goe, or fly)
None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:
Food-less they liue; for, th'Aire alonely feeds them:
VVing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,
Till with their flight, their vnknow'n lives-date ends.

Charitable Birds.

The Stork, still eying her deer Thessalie,
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and officious Childe:
Th'one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom shee had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding vnder her warm brest
Their age-chill'd bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them vpon her back
Through th'empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.
The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood
To heal her young, and in a wondrous sort
Vnto her Children doth her life transport:
For finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rents her brest, and doth vpon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recouering heat,
They by her death, another life do get:
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thrall'd man to free,
Became a Captive; and on shamefull Tree
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to save-vs,
And salue the wounds th'old Serpent firstly gave-vs:
And so became, of meer immortall, mortall;
Therby to make frail mortall Man, immortall.

Lessons for mankinde, out of the consideration of the natures of diuers creatures.

Thus doo'st thou print (O Parent of this All)
In every brest of brutest Animall
A kind Instinct, which makes them dread no less
Their Childrens danger, then their owne decease;
That so, each Kinde may last immortally,
Though th'Indiuiduum pass successively.
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)
But for his Deer Whelps taken from his Den

109

By Hunters fell: He fiercely roareth out,
He wounds, he kils; amid the thickest rout,
He rushes-in, dread-less of Spears, and darts,
Swords, shafts, and staues, though hurt in thousand parts;
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack,
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)
When, over-layd with might and Multitude,
He needs must dy; dying, he more bemoanes,
Then his owne death, his Captiue little-Ones.
So, for their yong our Masty Currs will fight,
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.
So, in the Deep, the Dog-Fish for her Fry
Lucina's throes a thousand times doth try:
For, seeeing when the suttle Fisher followes them,
Again alive into her womb shee swallows them;
And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,
As from the Cabins of a safe defence;
And (thousand liues to their deer Parent owing)
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.

I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry;
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,

The Crane. Y.

By the braue orders practiz'd vnder her,
Instructeth souldiers in the Art of War.
For when her Troops of wandring Cranes forsake
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take
Truce with the Northren Dwarfs, to seek adventure
In Southren Climates for a milder Winter;
Afront each Band a forward Captain flies,
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;
Two skilfull Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,
And with their voyce hasten their tardy Flight;
And when the honey of care-charming sleep
Sweetly begins through all their veins to creep,
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Hoast,
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod.
Another doth as much, a third, a fourth,
Vntill, by turns, the Night be turned forth.

There, the fair Peacock beautifully braue,

The Peacock.

Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-graue,
Wheeling his starry Trayn, in pomp displayes
His glorious eyes to Phœbus golden rayes.

110

The Cock.

Close by his side stands the courageous Cock,
Crest-peoples King, the Peasants trusty Clock,
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,
The Lyons terror, true Astronomer,
Who daily riseth when the Sun doth rise;
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.

There, I perceiue amid the flowry Plain

The Estrige.

The mighty Estridge, striving oft in vain
To mount among the flying multitude
(Although with feathers, not with flight indu'd):
Whose greedy stomach steely gads digests;
Whose crisped train adorns triumphant crests.

Thou happy Witness of my happy Watches,
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches,

Of Insects: in the Creation wherof the wisedom of their Maker shineth admirably.

To bear about vpon thy paper-Tables,
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects (end-less to rehearse)
Limn'd with the pencill of my various Verse;
Sith These are also His wife Workmanships
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:
And sith in These he shows vs every howr
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty powr
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.
For, if olde Times admire Callicrates
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermècides
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small
That with her wings a Bee can hide it all
(Though th'Artfull fruits of all their curious pain,
Fit for no vse, were but inuentions vain)
Admire we then th'all-wise Omnipotence,
Which doth within so narrow space dispence

Of Flyes.

So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant heart,
So loud a voyce, so prudent wit and Art.

For, where's the State beneath the Firmament,

Of Bees.

That doth excell the Bees for Government?
No, no: bright Phœbus, whose eternall Race
Once every Day about the World doth pase,
Sees heer no Citie, that in Rites and Laws
(For Equitie) neer to their Iustice draws:
Not

Voice.

That which flying from the furious Hun,
In th'Adrian-Sea another World begun.
Their well-rul'd State my soule so much admires,
That, durst I loose the Rains of my desires,
I gladly could digress from my designe,
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:

111

But if, of all, whose skilfull Pencils dare
To counterfait th'Almightie's Models rare,
None yet durst finish that fair Peece, wherein
Learned Apelles drew Loue's wanton Queen;
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climbe,
And sing the Bees praise in mine humble rime?
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?

Yet may I not that little

The Silk-worm.

Worm pass-by,
Of Fly turn'd Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:
Two births, two deaths, heer Nature hath assign'd-her,
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-liue) seed behinde-her,
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaues
Of Thisbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaues
(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, Silken slakes
Which more for vs, then for her self, she makes.
O precious fleece! which onely did adorn
The sacred loyns of Princes heertoforn:
But our proud Age, with prodigall abuse,
Hath so profan'd th'old honourable vse,
That shifters now, who scarce haue bread to eat,
Disdain plain Silk, vnless it be beset
With one of those deer Metals, whose desire
Burns greedy soules with an immortall fire.

Though last, not least; braue Eagle, no contempt
Made me so long thy story hence exempt
(Nor LESS-EX told shall thy true vertues be,
For th'Eyrie's sake that ownes my Muse and mee;
There Iov's and Iuno's stately Birds be billing,
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling
(Azure they bear three Eaglets Argentine,
A Cheuron Ermin grailed Or between).
WItt, CHieftie, RICHess, to THem all I Wish
In earth; in Heav'n th'immortall Crown of Bliss.)
For, well I knowe, thou holdest (worthily)
That place among the Aëry flocks that fly,
As doth the Dragon, or the Cocatrice
Among the banefull Creeping Companies:
The noble Lion among savage beasts:
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Dyuing guests.
I knowe thy course; I know, thy constant sight
Can fixly gaze against Heav'ns greatest Light.
But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth glister,
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.

On Thracian shoar of the same stormy stream,

A strange and notable story of the loue and death of an Eagle.

Which did inherit both the bones and name
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence
Where loue-blind Heros hap-less diligence,

112

In steed of Loves lamp, lighted Deaths cold brand,
To waft Leanders naked limbs to land)
There dwelt a Maid, as noble, and as rich,
As faire as Hero, but more chaste by much:
For, her steel brest still blunted all the Darts
Of Paphos Archer, and eschew'd his Arts.

One day, this Damsell through a Forrest thick
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)
Vnto a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top
(Where, one (almost) would fear to clamber vp)
Two tender Eaglets in a nest espies,
Which 'gainst the Sun sate trying of their eyes;
Whose callow backs and bodies round about
With soft short quils began to bristle out;
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape
For wonted fees out of their Parents rape.
Of these two Fowls the fairest vp she takes
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes
Down from the Rock, and shiuering yet for fear
Trips home as fast as her light feet can bear:
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,
And having stoln (at last) some Lamb away;
Flyes with down-hanging head, and leereth back
Whether the Mastife doo pursue his track.

In time, this Eagle was so throughly mann'd,
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand
At the first call 't would come; and faun vpon-her,
And bill and bow, in signe of loue and honour:
On th'other side, the Maiden makes as much
Of her deer Bird; stroking with gentle touch
Her wings and train, and with a wanton voyce
It wantonly doth cherish and reioyce:
And (prety-fondling) she doth prize it higher
Then her owne beauties; which all else admire.

But (as fell Fates mingle our single ioyes,
With bitter gall of infinite annoyes)
An extream Fever vext the Virgins bones
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)
Consum'd her flesh, and wanly did displace
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her louely face.
Then far'd the Foul and Fairest both a-like;
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick;
So that, to note their passions, one would gather
That Lachesis spun both their liues together.
But oft the Eagle, striving with her Fit,
Would fly abroad to seek som dainty bit,
For her deer Mistress: and with nimble wing,
Som Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;

113

Paying with food, the food receiv'd so oft,
From those fair Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,
During her nonage, yer she durst essay
To cleaue the sky, and for her selfe to prey.

The Fever now with spitefull fits had spent
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,
And Life resign'd to cruell Death her right;
Who three dayes after doth the Eagle cite.

The fearfull Hare durst now frequent the Down;
And round about the Wals of Hero's Town,
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,
Dread-less of the Eagle that so well they knew:
For she (alas!) lies on her Ladies bed,
Still-sadly mourning; though a-liue, yet dead:
For, O! how should she liue, sith Fatall knife
Hath cut the thread of her liues deerest life?

O're the deer Corps somtimes her wings she hovers,
Somtimes the dead brest with her brest she covers,
Somtimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,
Somtimes she kisses the cold lips and face;
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.

Thrice had bright Phœbus daily Chariot run
Past the proud Pillars of Alcmænas son,
Since the fair Virgin past the fatall Ferry
Where (lastly) Mortals leaue their burthens weary;
And yet this dolefull Bird, drown'd in her tears,
All comfort-less, Rest and Repast forbears:
So much (alas!) she seemeth to contend,
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.

But lastly, finding all these means too-weak,
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,
Vnnaturally her proper brest she gaged,
And tears her bowels, storming bitterly
That all these deaths could yet not make her dy.

But, lo the while, about the lightsom door
Of th'hap-less house, a mournfull troop, that bore
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their brests;
Who, taking vp the sacred Load (at last)
Whose happy soule already Heav'n embrac't;
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatall Pile
With solemn pase: The silly Bird, the while,
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails;
Honouring, with convoy, two sad Funerals.
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame
Embrac't the Body of her tender Dame,

114

But suddenly, distilling all with blood,
Down soust the Eagle on the blazing wood:
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand,
A hundred times to beat her from her stand:
For, to the midst still of the Pile the plies;
And, singing sweet her Ladies Obsequies,
There burns her selfe, and blendeth happily
Her bones with hers she lov'd so tenderly.

O happy Pair! vpon your sable Toomb,
May Mel and Manna ever showring come;
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Herse,
And evermore liue you within my Verse.

So Morne and Euening the Fift Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.

115

THE SIXT DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

Inuiting all which through this world, aspire
Vnto the next, God's glorious Works t'admire;
Heer, on the Stage, our noble Poet brings
Beasts of the Earth, Cattell, and creeping things:
Their hurt and help to vs: The strange euents
Between Androdus, and the Forrest Prince.
The little-World (Commander of the greater)
Why formed last: his admirable Feature:
His Heav'n-born Soule; her wondrous operation:
His deerest Rib: All Creatures generation.

You Pilgrims, which (through this worlds Citie) wend

An exhortation to all which through the Pilgrimage of this life, tend toward the euerlasting Citie, to consider well the excellent works of God, been represented by our Poet.

Toward th' happy Citie, where withouten end
True ioyes abound; to anchor in the Port
Where Deaths pale horrors never do resort?
If you will see the fair Amphitheaters,
Th'Arks, Arcenals, Towrs, Temples, and Theaters,
Colosses, Cirques, Pyles, Ports, and Palaces
Proudly dispersed in your Passages;
Com, com with me: for, there's not any part
In this great Frame where shineth any Art,
But I will show't you. Are you weary, since?
What! tyr'd so soon? Why, will you not (my friends)
Having already ventur'd forth so far
On Neptun's back (through Windes and Waters war)
Rowe yet a stroak, the Harbour to recover,
Whose shoars already my glad eyes discover?

116

Almighty Father, guide their Guide along,
And pour vpon my faint vnfluent tongue
The sweetest hony of th'Hyanthian Fount,
Which freshly purleth from the Muses Mount.
With the sweet charm of my Victorious Verse,
Tame furious Lions, Bears, and Tigers fierce;
Make all the wilde Beasts, laying fury by,
To com with Homage to my Harmony.

The Elephant.

Of All The Beasts which thou This-Day didst build,
To haunt the Hils, the Forrest, and the Field,
I see (as vice-Roy of their brutish Band)
The Elephant The Vant-gard doth command:
Worthy that Office; whether we regard
His Towred back, where many Souldiers ward;
Or else his Prudence, wherewithall he seems
T'obscure the wits of human-kinde somtimes:
As studious Scholar, he self-rumineth
His lessons giv'n, his King he honoureth,
Adores the Moon: moved with strange desire,
He feels the sweet flames of the Idalian fire,
And (pearc't with glance of a kinde-cruell ey)
For humane beauty, seems to sigh and dy.
Yea (if the Græcians doo not mis-recite)
With's crooked trumpet he doth somtimes write.

His combat with the Rhinocerot.

But, his huge strength, nor subtle wit, cannot
Defend him from the sly Rhinocerot:
Who never, with blinde fury led, doth venter
Vpon his Fo, but (yer the Lists he enter)
Against a Rock he whetteth round about
The dangerous pike vpon his armed snout:
Then buckling close, doth not (at randon) hack
On the hard Cuirass on his Enemies back;
But vnder's belly (cunning) findes a skin,
Where (and but there) his sharpned blade will in.

The scaly Dragon, beeing else too lowe
For th'Elepant, vp a thick Tree doth goe;
So, closely ambusht almost every Day,
To watch the Carry-Castle, in his way:
Who, once approaching, straight his stand he leaues,
And round about him he so closely cleaues
With's wrything body; that his Enemy

His combat with the Dragon.

(His stinging knots vnable to vn-ty)
Hastes to som Tree, or to som Rock, whereon
To rush and rub-off his detested zone,
The fell embraces of whose dismall clasp
Haue almost brought him to his latest gasp.
Then, suddenly, the Dragon slips his hold
From th'Elephant, and sliding down, doth fold

117

About his fore-legs, fetter'd in such order,

The true Image of Ciuill War.

That stocked there, he now can stir no furder;
While th'Elephant (but to no purpose) strives
With's winding Trunk t'vndoo his wounding gyves,
His furious fo thrusts, in his nose, his nose;
Then head and all; and there-withall doth close
His breathing passage: but, his victory
He ioyes not long; for his huge Enemy,
Falling down dead, doth with his waighty Fall
Crush him to death, that caus'd his death, withall:
Like factious French-men, whose fell hands pursue

Simile.

In their owne brests their furious blades t'embrew,
While pitty-less, hurried with blinded zeal,
In her owne blood they bathe their Common-weal;
When as at Dreux S. Denis, and Mountcounter,
Their parricidiall bloody swords encounter;
Making their Countrey (as a Tragick Tomb)
T'enter th'Earth's terror in her hap-less womb.
Or, like our own (late) York and Lancaster,

Sunne.

Ambitious broachers of that Viper-War,
Which did the womb of their own Dam deuour,
And spoil'd the freshest of fair England's Flowr;
When (White and Red) Rose against Rose, they stood,
Brother 'gainst Brother, to the knees in blood:
While Wakefield, Barnet and S. Alban's streets
Were drunk with deer blood of Plantagenets:
Where, either Conquer'd, and yet neither won;
Sith, by them both, was but their Owne vndon.

Neer th'Elephant, comes th'horned.

Alias Gyraffa, alias Anabula: an Indian Sheep, or a wilde Sheep.

Hirable,
Stream-troubling Camell, and strong-necked Bull,
The lazy-pased (yet laborious) Asse,
The quick, proud Courser, which the rest doth passe
For apt address; Mars and his Master loving,
After his hand with ready lightness moving:
This, out of hand, will self advance, and bound,
Corvet, pase, manage, turn, and trot the Round:
That, followes loose behinde the Groom that keeps-him;
This, kneeleth down the while his Master leaps-him:
This, runs on Corn-Ears, and ne'r bends their quils;
That, on the Water, and ne'r wets his heels.

In a fresh Troup, the fearfull Hare I note,

The Hare.

Th'oblivious Conney, and the brouzing Goat,

The Conny. Goat.

The sloathfull Swine, the golden-fleeced Sheep,

Sheep. Swine.

The light-foot Hart, which every yeer doth weep
(As a sad Recluse) for his branched head,

Deere.

That in the Spring-time he before hath shed.
O! what a sport, to see a Heard of them
Take soyl in Sommer in som spacious stream!

118

One swims before: another on his chine,
Nigh half-vpright, doth with his brest incline;
On that, another; and so all doe ride
Each after other: and still, when their guide
Growes to be weary, and can lead no more,
He that was hindmost coms and swims before:
Like as in Cities, still one Magistrate
Bears not the Burthen of the common State;
But having past his Yeer, he doth discharge
On others shoulders his sweet-bitter Charge.

But, of all Beasts, none steadeth man so much
As doth the Dog; his diligence is such:
A faithfull Guard, a watchfull Sentinell,
A painfull Purvayor, that with perfect smell
Provides great Princes many a dainty mess,
A friend till death, a helper in distress,
Dread of the Wolf, Feare of the fearfull Thief,
Fierce Combatant, and of all Hunters chief.

Squirrill.

There skips the Squirrill, seeming Weather-wise,
Without beholding of Heav'ns twinkling eyes:
For, knowing well which way the winde will change,
Hee shifts the portall of his little Grange.

Weazell. Fox.

There's th'wanton Weazell, and the wily Fox,

Monkey.

The witty Monkey, that mans action mocks:

Ciuit Cat.

The sweat-sweet Ciuit, deerly fetcht from far
For Courtiers nice, past Indian Tarnassar.

Beuer, or Bezar.

There, the wise Beuer, who, pursu'd by foes,
Tears-off his codlings, and among them throwes;
Knowing that Hunters on the Pontik Heath
Doo more desire that ransom, then his death.

Hedge-hog.

There, the rough Hedg-hog; who, to shun his thrall,
Shrinks vp himselfe as round as any Ball;
And fastning his slowe feet vnder his chin,
On's thistly bristles rowles him quickly in.
But th'Ey of Heav'n beholdeth nought more strange

Chameleon.

Then the Chameleon, who with various change
Receiues the colour that each obiect giues,
And (food-less else) of th'Aire alonely liues.

My blood congeales, my sudden swelling brest
Can hardly breath, with chill cold cakes opprest;
My hair doth stare, my bones for fear do quake,
My colour changes, my sad heart doth shake:
And, round about, Deaths Image (ghastly-grim)
Before mine eyes all-ready seems to swim.
O! who is he that would not be astound,
To be (as I am) heer environ'd round,

Creatures venomous, & offensiue to man.

With cruell'st Creatures, which for Mastery,
Haue vow'd against vs end-less Enmity?

119

Phœbus would faint, Alcides self would dread,
Although the first drad Python conquered,
And th'other vanquisht th'Erymanthian Boar,
The Némean Lion and a many more.
What strength of arm, or Art-full stratagem,
From Nile's fell Rover could deliuer them,

The Crocodile.

Who runs, and rowes, warring by Land and Water
'Gainst men and Fishes, subiect to his slaughter?
Or from the furious Dragon, which alone

Dragon.

Set-on a Roman Army; whereupon
Stout Regulus as many Engines spent,
As to the ground would Carthage wals haue rent?
What shot-free Corslet, or what counsell crafty,
'Gainst the angry Aspick could assure them safety,

Aspick.

Who (faithfull husband) over Hill and Plain
Pursues the man that his deer Pheer hath slain;
Whom he can finde amid the thickest throng,
And in an instant venge him of his wrong?
What shield of Aiax could avoid their death
By th'Basilisk, whose pestilentiall breath

Basilisk.

Doth pearce firm Marble, and whose banefull ey
Wounds with a glance, so that the soundest dy?

Lord! if so be, thou for mankinde didst rear

Why God created such noysom and dangerous creatures: Sin the occasion of the hurt they can do vs.

This rich round Mansion (glorious every where)
Alas! why didst thou on This-Day create
These harmfull Beasts, which but exasperate
Our thorny life? O! wert thou pleas'd to form
Th'innammel'd Scorpion, and the Viper-worm,
Th'horned Cerastes, th'Alexandrian Skink,
Th'Adder, and Drynas (full of odious stink)
Th'Eft, Snake, and Dipsas (causing deadly Thirst):
Why hast thou arm'd them with a rage so curst?

Pardon, good God, pardon me; 'twas our pride,
Not thou, that troubled our first happy tyde,
And in the Childehood of the World did bring
Th'Amphisbena, her double banefull sting.
Before that Adam did revolt from Thee,
And (curious) tasted of the sacred Tree,
He lived King of Eden, and his brow
Was never blankt with pallid fear, as now:
The fiercest Beasts, would at his word, or beck,
Bow to his yoak their self-obedient neck;
As now the ready Horse is at command

Simile.

To the good Rider's spur, or word, or wand;
And doth not wildely his own will perform,
But his that rules him with a steddy arm.
Yea, as forgetfull of so foul offence,
Thou left'st him (yet) sufficient wisdom, whence

God hath giuen vs wisedome to auoid and vanquish them.

120

He might subdue, and to his seruice stoop
The stubborn'st heads of all the savage troop.

Of all the creatures through the Welkin gliding,
Walking on Earth, or in the Waters sliding,
Th'hast armed som with Poyson, som with Paws,
Som with sharp Antlers, som with griping Claws,
Som with keen Tushes, som with crooked Beaks,
Som with thick Cuirets, som with scaly necks;
But mad'st Man naked, and for Weapons fit
Thou gav'st him nothing but a pregnant Wit;
Which rusts and duls, except it subiect finde
Worthy it's worth, whereon it self to grinde;
And (as it were) with envious armies great,
Be round about besieged and beset.
For, what boot Milo's brawny shoulders broad,
And sinnewie arms, if but a common load
He alwaies bear? what Bayes, or Oliue boughs,
Parsley, or Pine, shall crown his warlike brows,
Except som other Milo, entring Lists,
Courageously his boasted strength resists?
“In deepest perils shineth Wisdoms prime:
“Through thousand deaths true Valour seeks to clime;
“Well knowing, Conquest yeelds but little Honour,
“If bloody Danger doo not wait vpon her.

God hath set them at enmity among themselues.

O gracious Father! th'hast not onely lent
Prudence to Man, the Perils to prevent,
Wherewith these foes threaten his feeble life:
But (for his sake) hast set at mutuall strife
Serpents with Serpents, and hast rais'd them foes

The Viper and Scorpion with their young.

Which, vnprovoked, felly them oppose.
Thou mak'st th'ingratefull Viper (at his birth)
His dying Mothers belly to gnaw forth:
Thou mak'st the Scorpion (greedy after food)
Vnnaturally devour his proper brood;
Whereof, one scaping from the Parents hunger,
With's death doth vengeance on his brethrens wronger:

The Weazell against the Basiliske.

Thou mak'st the Weazell, by a secret might,
Murder the Serpent with the murdering sight;
Who so surpris'd, striving in wrathfull manner,
Dying himself, kils with his baen his Baner.

The Ichneumon against the Aspick.

Thou mak'st th'Ichneumon (whom the Memphs adore)
To rid of Poysons Nile's manured shore;
Although (indeed) he doth not conquer them
So much by strength as subtle stratagem.
As he that (vrg'd with deep indignity)
By a proud Chalenge doth his foe defie,
Premeditates his posture and his play,
And arms himselfe so complete every way

121

(With wary hand guided with watchfull eye,
And ready foot to traverse skilfully)
That the Defendant, in the heat of fight,
Findes no part open for his blade to light:
So Pharaohs Rat, yer he begin the fray
'Gainst the blinde Aspick, with a cleauing Clay
Vpon his coat he wraps an earthen Cake,
Which afterward the Suns hot beams doo bake:
Arm'd with this Plaister, th'Aspick he approcheth,
And in his throat his crooked tooth he broacheth;
While th'other boot-less striues to pearce and prick
Through the hard temper of his armour thick:
Yet, knowing himselfe too-weak (for all his wile)
Alone to match the scaly Crocodile;
He, with the Wren, his Ruin doth conspire.

The Ichneumon and the Wren against the Crocodile.

The Wren, who seeing (prest with sleeps desire)
Nile's poys'ny Pirate press the slimy shoar,
Suddenly coms, and hopping him before,
Into his mouth he skips, his teeth he pickles,
Clenseth his palate, and his throat so tickles,
That charm'd with pleasure, the dull Serpent gapes
Wider and wider with his vgly chaps:
Then like a shaft, th'Ichneumon instantly
Into the Tyrants greedy gorge doth fly,
And feeds vpon that Glurton, for whose Riot
All Nile's fat mergents scarce could furnish diet.

Nay, more (good Lord) th'hast taught Mankind a Reason

God hath taught vs to make great vse of them.

To draw Life out of Death, and Health from Poyson:
So that in equall Balance balancing
The Good and Euill which these Creatures bring
Vnto Mans life, we shall perceiue, the first
By many grains to ouer waigh the worst.

From Serpents scap't, yet am I scarce in safety:

Fierce and vntameable beasts.

Alas! I see a Legion fierce and lofty
Of Sauvages, whose fleet and furious pase,
Whose horrid roaring, and whose hideous face
Make my sense sense-less, and my speech restrain,
And cast me in my former fears again.
Already howls the waste-Fold Wolf, the Boar

The Wolf. Boar.

Whets foamy Fangs, the hungry Bear doth roar,

Bear.

The Cat-faç't Ounce, that doth me much dismay,

Ounce.

With grumbling horror threatens my decay;
The light-foot Tigre, spotted Leopard,

Tigre. Leopard.

Foaming with fury do besiege me hard;
Then th'Vnicorn, th'Hyæna tearing-tombs,

Vnicorn. Hyæna.

Swift Mantichor', and Nubian Cephus coms:

Mantichora, a kind of Hyæna. Cephus a kind of Ape or Monkey Chiurcæ.

Of which last three, each hath (as heer they stand)
Man's voice, Man's visage, Man-like foot and hand.

122

I fear the Beast bred in the bloody Coast
Of Cannibals, which thousand times (almost)
Re-whelps her whelps, and in her tender womb
Shee doth as oft her liuing brood re-tomb.

The Poroupine.

But O! what Monster's this that bids me battell,
On whose rough back an Hoast of Pikes doth rattle:
Who string-less shoots so many arrows out,
Whose thorny sides are hedged round about
With stiff steel-pointed quils, and all his parts
Bristled with Bodkins, arm'd with Auls and Darts,
Which ay fierce darting, seem still fresh to spring,
And to his aid still new supplies to bring?
O fortunate Shaft-neuer-wanting Boaw-man!
Who, as thou fleest, canst hit thy following foe-man,
And neuer missest (or but very narrow)
Th'intended mark of thy selfs-kinred Arrow:
Who, still self-furnisht, needest borrow neuer
Diana's shafts, nor yet Apollo's quiver,
Nor boaw-strings fetcht from Carian Aleband,
Brazell from Peru, but hast all at hand
Of thine own growth; for in thy Hide do growe
Thy String, thy Shafts, thy Quiver and thy Bowe.

The Lion, King of Beasts.

But (Courage now.) Heer coms the valiant Beast,
The noble Lion, King of all the rest;
Who, brauely-minded, is as milde to those
That yeeld to him, as fierce vnto his foes:
To humble suiters neither stern nor statefull;
To benefactors never found ingratefull.

A memorable History of a Lion acknowledging the kindnes he had receiued of Androdus a Roman Slaue.

I call to record that same Roman Thrall,
Who (to escape from his mechanicall
And cruell Master, that (for lucre) vs'd him
Not as a Man; but, as a Beast, abus'd him)
Fled through the desart, and with trauell tir'd,
At length into a mossie caue retir'd:
But there, no sooner 'gan the drowzy wretch
On the soft grass his weary limbs to stretch;
But, coming swift into the caue, he seeth
A ramping Lion gnashing of his teeth.

A thief, to shamefull execution sent
By Iustice, for his faults iust punishment,
Feeling his eyes clout, and his elbows cord,
Waiting for nothing but the fatall Sword;
Dies yer his death, he looks so certainly
Without delay in that drad place to Dy:
Even so the Slaue, seeing no means to shun
(By flight or fight) his fear'd destruction
(Having no way to flee, nor arms to fight,
But sighs and tears, prayers and wofull plight)

123

Embraceth Death; abiding, for a stown,
Pale, cold, and senseless, in a deadly swown.
At last, again his courage 'gan to gather,
When he perceiv'd no rage (but pitty rather)
In his new Hoast, who with milde looks and meek
Seem'd (as it were) succour of him to seek,
Shewing him oft one of his paws, wherein
A festering thorn for a long time had been.
Then (though still fearfull) did the Slaue draw nigher,
And from his foot he lightly snatcht the bryer;
And wringing gently with his hand the wound,
Made th'hot impostume run vpon the ground.

Thenceforth the Lion seeks for Booties best
Through Hill and Dale, to cheere his new-com Guest,
His new Physician; who, for all his cost,
Soon leaues his Lodging, and his dreadfull Hoast;
And once more wanders through the wildernes,
Whither his froward Fortune would address,
Vntill (re-taen) his fell Lord brought him home,
For Spectacle vnto Imperiall Rome,
To be (according to their barbarous Laws)
Bloudily torn with greedy Lions paws.
Fell Cannibal! Flint-harted Polyphem!
If thou would'st needs exactly torture him
(Inhumane Monster, hatefull Lestrigon)
Why from thine owne hand hast thou let him gon,
To Bears and Lions to be giuen for prey,
Thy self more fel, a thousand-fold, then they?
African Panthers, Hyrcan Tigres fierce,
Cleonian Lions, and Pannonian Bears,
Be not so cruell, as who violates
Sacred Humanity, and cruciates
His loyall subiects; making Recreations
Of Massacres, Combats, and sharp Taxations.

'Boue all the Beasts that fill'd the Martian Field
With bloud and slaughter, one was most beheld;
One valiant Lion, whose victorious fights
Had conquered hundreds of those guilty wights,
Whose feeble skirmish had but striv'n in vain
To scape by combat their deserued pain.
That very Beast, with faint and fearfull fect
This Runnagate (at last) is forc't to meet;
And being entred in the bloody List,
The Lion rowz'd, and ruffles-vp his Crest,
Shortens his body, sharpens his grimey,
And (staring wide) he roareth hideously:
Then often swindging, with his sinnewy train,
Somtimes his sides, somtimes the dusty Plain,

124

He whets his rage, and strongly rampeth on
Against his foe; who, nigh already gon
To drink of Lethe, lifteth to the Pole
Religious vows; not for his life, but soule.

After the Beast had marcht som twenty pase,
He sodain stops: and, viewing well the face
Of his pale foe, remembred (rapt with ioy)
That this was he that eased his annoy:
Wherefore, conuerting from his hatefull wildenes,
From pride to pittie, and from rage to mildenes,
On his bleak face he both his eyes doth fix,
Fawning for homage, his lean hands he licks.
The Slaue, thus knowing, and thus being knowen,
Lifts to the Heav'ns his front now hoary growne,
And (now no more fearing his tearing paws)
He stroaks the Lion, and his poule he claws,
And learns by proof, that A good turne at need,
At first or last, shall be assur'd of meed.

Nosce te ipsum.

Ther's vnder Sun (as Delphos God did showe)
No better Knowledge, then Our selfe to Knowe:

The second part of this sixt book: Wherein is discoursed at large of the creation of Man.

Ther is no Theam more plentifull to scan,
Then is the glorious goodly Frame of Man:
For in Man's self is Fire, Aire, Earth and Sea;
Man's (in a word) the World's Epitome
Or little Map: which heer my Muse doth try
By the grand Pattern to exemplifie.

And of the wonders of Gods wisedom, appearing both in his body and Soule.

A witty Mason, doth not (with rare Art)
Into a Palace, Paros Rocks conuert,
Seel it with gold, and to the Firmament
Rayse the proud Turrets of his Battlement,
And (to be brief) in euery part of it,
Beauty to vse, vse vnto beauty fit,
To th'end the Skrich-Owl, and Night-Rauen should
In those fair walls their habitations hold:
But rather, for som wise and wealthy Prince
Able to iudge of his arts excellence:
Even so, the Lord built not this All-Theater,

The world made for Man.

For the rude guests of Air, and Woods and Water;
But, all for Him, who (whether he survey
The vast salt kingdoms, or th'Earth's fruitfull clay,
Or cast his eyes vp to those twinkling Eyes
That with disordered order gild the Skyes)
Can every-where admire with due respect
Th'admired Art of such an Architect.

Man was created last, & why.

Now of all Creatures which his VVord did make,
Man was the last that liuing breath did take:
Not that he was the least; or that God durst
Not vndertake so noble a VVork at first:

125

Rather, because he should haue made in vain
So great a Prince, without on whom to Raign.
A wise man neuer brings his bidden Guest
Into his Parlour, till his Room be drest,

Fit comparison.

Garnisht with Lights, and Tables neatly spred
Be with full dishes well-nigh furnished:
So our great God, who (bountious) euer keeps
Heer open Court, and th'ever-bound-less Deeps
Of sweetest Nectar on vs still distills
By twenty-times ten thousand sundry quills,
Would not our Grandsire to his Boord inuite,
Yer he with Arras his fair house had dight,
And, vnder starry State-Cloaths plaç't his plates
Fill'd with a thousand sugred delicates.

All th'admirable Creatures made beforn,

All other creatures nothing in respect of Man, made to the Image of God, with (at it were) great preparation, not all at once, but by interims first his Body, and then his reasonable Soule.

Which Heav'n and Earth, and Ocean doo adorn,
Are but Essays, compar'd in every part,
To this divinest Master-Piece of Art.
Therefore the supream peer-less Architect,
When (of meer nothing) he did first erect
Heav'n, Earth and Aire, and Seas; at once his thought,
His word and deed all in an instant wrought:
But, when he would his own selfs Type create,
Th'honour of Nature, th'Earths sole Potentate;
As if he would a Councell hold he citeth
His sacred Power, his Prudence he inuiteth,
Summons his Loue, his Iustice he adiourns,
Calleth his Goodnes, and his Grace returns,
To (as it were) consult about the birth
And building of a second God, of Earth;
And each (a-part) with liberall hand to bring
Som excellence vnto so rare a thing.
Or rather, he consults wi h's only Son
(His own true Pourtrait) what proportion,
What gifts, what grace, what soule he should bestowe

Gen. 1. 15.

Vpon his Vice-Roy of this Realm belowe.
When th'other things God fashion'd in their kinde,
The Sea t'abound in Fishes he assign'd,
The Earth in Flocks: but, having Man in hand
His very self he seemed to command.
He both at-once both life and body lent
To other things; but when in Man he meant
In mortall limbs immortall life to place,
Hee seem'd to pawse, as in a waighty case:
And so at sundry moments finished
The Soule and Body of Earth's glorious Head.

Admired Artist, Architect divine,

Inuocation.

Perfect and peer-less in all Works of thine,

126

So my rude hand on this rough Table guide
To paint the Prince of all thy Works beside,
That graue Spectators, in his face may spy
Apparant marks of thy Divinity.

Almighty Father, as of watery matter
It pleas'd thee make the people of the VVater:

Mans body created of the dust of the Earth.

So, of an earthly substance mad'st thou all
The slimy Burgers of this Earthly Ball;
To th'end each Creature might (by consequent)
Part-sympathize with his own Element.
Therefore, to form thine Earthly Emperour,
Thou tookest Earth, and by thy sacred power
So tempered'st it, that of the very same
Dead shape-less lump didst Adams body frame:
Yet, not his face down to the Earth ward bending
(Like Beasts that but regard their belly, ending
For ever all) but toward th'azure Skyes
Bright golden Lamps lifting his louely Eyes;
That through their nerues, his better part might look
Still to that place from whence her birth she took.

His head the seat of vnderstanding.

Also thou plantedst th'Intellectuall Powr
In th'highest stage of all this stately Bowr,
That thence it might (as from a Cittadell)
Command the members that too-oft rebell
Against his Rule: and that our Reason, there
Keeping continuall Garrison (as't were)
Might Auarice, Enuy, and Pride subdue,
Lust Gluttony, Wrath, Sloath, and all their Crew
Of factious Commons, that still striue to gaine
The golden Scepter from their Soverain.

The Eyes full of infinite admiration.

Th'Eyes (Bodie's guides) are set for Sentinel
In noblest place of all this Cittadel,
To spy far-off, that no miss-hap befall
At vnawares the sacred Animal.
In forming these thy hand (so famous held)
Seemed almost to haue it self excell'd,
Them not transpearcing, least our eyes should be
As theirs, that Heav'n through hollow Canes do see,
Yet see small circuit of the welkin bright,
The Canes strict compass doth so clasp their Sight:
And least so many open holes disgrace
The goodly form of th'Earthly Monarch's face.

These louely Lamps, whose sweet sparks liuely turning,
With sodain glaunce set coldest hearts a-burning,
These windows of the Soule, these starry Twinns,
These Cupids quivers haue so tender skinns
Through which (as through a pair of shining glasses)
Their radiant point of pearcing splendor passes,

127

That they would soon be quenched and put-out,
But that the Lord hath Bulwarkt them about;
By seating so their wondrous Orb, betwix
The Front, the Nose, and the vermillion Cheeks:
As in two Vallies pleasantly inclosed

The Browes and Eyelids.

With pretty Moon ains orderly disposed.
And as a Pent-house doth preserue a Wall
From Rain and Hail, and other Storms that fall:
The twinkling Lids with their quick-trembling hairs
Defend the Eyes from thousand dang'rous fears.

VVho fain would see how much a human face
A comly Nose doth beautifie and grace;
Behould Zopyrus, who cut-off his Nose
For's Princes sake, to circumvent his foes.
The Nose, no less for vse then beauty makes:

The Nose:.

For, as a Conduit, it both giues and takes
Our liuing breath: it's as a Pipe put-vp,
Whereby the moyst Brain's spongy boan doth sup
Sweet smelling fumes: it serueth as a gutter
To voyd the Excrements of grossest matter;
As by the Scull-seams and the Pory Skin
Evaporate those that are light and thin:
As through black Chimneyes flyes the bitter smoak,
VVhich but so vented would the Houshould choak.

And, sith that Time doth with his secret file
Fret and diminish each thing every-while,
And whatsoever heer begins and ends,
VVears every howr and its self-substance spends;
Th'Almighty made the Mouth to recompence

The Mouth.

The Stomachs pension, and the Times expence
(Even as the green Trees, by their roots resume
Sap for the sap, that howrly they consume)
And plaç't it so, that alwayes by the way,
By sent of meats the Nose might take Essay,
The watchfull Ey wight true distinction make
'Twixt Herbs and Weeds, betwixt an Eel and Snake;
And then th'impartiall Tongue might (at the last)

The Tongus.

Censure their goodnes by their savory taste.

Two equall ranks of Orient Pearls impale

The Teeth.

The open Throat: which (Quern-like) grinding small
Th'imperfect food, soon to the Stomach send-it
(Our Maister-Cook) whose due concoctions mend-it.
But least the Teeth, naked and bare to Light,
Should in the Face present a ghastly sight;
With wondrous Art, ouer that Mill do meet
Two moouing Leaues of Corall soft and sweet.

O mouth! by thee, our savage Elders, yerst

The Lips.

Through way-less Woods, and hollow Rocks disperst,

128

VVith Acorns fed, with Fells of Feathers clad

Of the excellent vse and end of speach.

(VVhen neyther Traffik, Love, nor Law they had)
Themselues vniting, built them Towns, and bent
Their willing necks to civill Government.
O Mouth! by thee, the rudest Wits haue learn'd
The Noble Arts, which but the wise discern'd.
By thee, we kindle in the coldest spirits
Heroïk flames affecting glorious merits.
By thee, we wipe the tears of wofull Eyes:
By thee, we stop the stubborn mutinies
Of our rebellious Flesh, whose rest-less Treason
Striues to dis-throne and to dis-sceptre Reason.
By thee, our Soules with Heav'n haue conuersation.
By thee, we calm th'Almighties indignation,
When faithfull sighs from our soules centre fly
About the bright Throne of his Maiesty.
By thee, we warble to the King of Kings;
Our Tongue's the Bowe, our Teeth the trembling Strings,
Our hollow Nostrils (with their double vent)
The hollow Belly of the Instrument;
Our Soule's the sweet Musician, that playes
So divine lessons, and so Heav'nly layes,
As, in deep passion of pure burning zeal,
Ioues forked Lightnings from his fingers steal.

The Eares.

But O! what member hath more marvails in't,
Then th'Ears round-winding double labyrinth?
The Bodie's Scouts, of sounds the Censurers,
Doors of the Soule, and faithfull Messengers
Of diuine treasures, when our gracious Lord
Sends vs th'Embassage of his sacred Word.
And, sith all Sound seems alwaies to ascend,
God plac't the Ears (where they might best attend)
As in two Turrets, on the buildings top,
Snailling their hollow entries so a-sloap,
That, while the voyce about those windings wanders,
The sound might lengthen in those bow'd Meanders;
As, from a trumpet, Winde hath longer life,
Or, from a Sagbut, then from Flute or Fife:

Sundry Similies expressing the reason of the round winding Mazes of the Eares.

Or as a noyse extendeth far and wide
In winding Vales, or by the crooked side
Of crawling Riuers; or with broken trouble
Between the teeth of hollow Rocks doth double;
And that no sodaine sound, with violence
Pearcing direct the Organs of this Sense,
Should stun the Brain, but through these Mazie holes
Conueigh the voyce more softly to our Soules:

Another comparison to that purpose.

As th'Ouse, that crooking in and out doth run
From Stony-Stratford towards Huntingdon,

129

By Royall Amptill; rusheth not so swift,
As our neer Kennet, vvhose Trowt-famous Drift
From Marleborow, by Hungerford doth hasten
Through Newbery, and Prince-grac't Aldermaston,
Her Siluer Nymphs (almost) directly leading,
To meet her Mistress (the great Thames) at Reading.

But will my hands, in handling th'human Stature,

The hands.

Forget the Hands, the handmaids vnto Nature,
Th'Almighty's Apes, the Instruments of Arts,
The voluntary Champions of our hearts,
Minde's Ministers, the Clarks of quick conceipts,
And bodies victuallers, to prouide it meats?

Will you the Knees and Elbow's springs omit,

Ioynts. The Knees and Armes.

Which serue th'whole Body by their motions fit?
For, as a Bowe, according as the string,
Is stiff or slack, the shafts doth farther fling,
Our Nerues and Gristles diuersly dispense,
To th'human Frame, meet Motion, Might and Sense:
Knitting the Bones, which be the Pillars strong

The Sinewes, Gristles and Bones.

The Beams and Rafters, whose firm Ioynts may long
(Maugre Deaths malice, till our Maker calls)
Support the Fabrick of these Fleshly Walls?
Can you conceal the Feets rare-skilfull feature,

The Feet.

The goodly Bases of this glorious Creature?

But, is't not time now, in his Inner Parts,
To see th'Almightie's admirable Arts?
First, with my Launcet shall I make incision,
To see the Cells of the twin Brains diuision:
The Treasurer of Arts, the Source of Sense:
The Seat of Reason; and the Fountain, whence
Our sinewes flowe: whom Natures prouidence
Arm'd with a helme, whose double lynings fence
The Brain's cold moisture from its boany Armor,
Whose hardnes else might hap to bruise or harm-her:
A Registre, where (with a secret touch)
The studious daily som rare Knowledge couch?
O, how shall I on learned Leaf forth-set
That curious Maze, that admirable Net,
Through whose fine folds the spirit doth rise and fall,
Making its powrs of Vital, Animal!
Euen as the Blood, and Spirits, wandering
Through the preparing vessels crooked Ring,
Are in their winding course concoct and wrought,
And by degrees to fruitfull Seed are brought.

Shall I the Hearts vn-equall sides explain,

Of the Heart.

Which equall poiz doth equally sustaine?
Wherof, th'one's fill'd with bloud, in th'other bides
The vitall Spirit which through the body slides:

130

Whose rest-less panting, by the constant Pulse,
Doth witness health; or if that take repulse,
And shift the dance and wonted pase it went,
It shewes that Nature's wrongd by Accident.

Of the Lungs.

Or, shall I cleaue the Lungs, whose motions light
Our inward heat doo temper day and night;
Like Summer gales wauing, with gentle puffs,
The smiling Meadows green and gaudy tuffs:
Light, spungy Fans, that euer take and giue
Th'æthereall Air, whereby we breathe and liue:
Bellows, whose blast (breathing by certain pawses)
A pleasant sound through our speech-Organs causes?

Of the Stomach.

Or, shall I rip the Stomachs hollowness,
That ready Cook concocting euery Mess,
Which in short time it cunningly conuerts
Into pure Liquor fit to feed the parts;
And then the same doth faithfully deliuer

Of the Liuer.

Into the Port-vain passing to the Liuer,
Who turns it soone to Blood; and thence again
Through branching pipes of the great Hollow-vain,
Through all the members doth it duly scatter:

An apt Similitude.

Much like a Fountain, whose diuided Water
It selfe dispersing into hundred Brooks,
Bathes som fair Garden with her winding Crooks,
For, as these Brooks, thus branching round about,
Make heer the Pink, there th'Aconite to sprout,
Heer the sweet Plum-tree, the sharp Mulbery there,
Heer the lowe Vine, and there the lofty Pear,
Heer the hard Almond, there the tender Fig,
Heer bitter Worm-wood, there sweet-smelling Spike:

Of the Bloud & Nourishment.

Euen so the Blood (bred of good nourishment)
By diuers Pipes to all the Body sent,
Turns heer to Bones, there changes into Nerues,
Heer is made Marrow, there for Muscles serues,
Heer Skin becoms, there crooking Veins, there Flesh,
To make our Limbs more forcefull and more fresh.

But, now me list no neerer view to take
Of th'inward Parts, which God did secret make,
Nor pull in pieces all the Human Frame:
That work were fitter for those men of Fame,
Those skilfull sons of Æsculapius:
Hippocrates; or deep Herophilus:
Or th'eloquent and artificiall Writ
Of Galen, that renowned Pergamite.
'T sufficeth me, in som sort, to express
By this Essay the sacred mightiness,
Not of Iaphetus witty-fained Son,
But of the true Prometheus, that begun

131

And finisht (with inimitable Art)

Of the Creation of the Soule.

The famous Image, I haue sung in part.

Now, this more peer-less learned Imager,
Life to his louely Picture to confer,
Did not extract out of the Elements
A certain secret Chymick Quint-essence:
But, breathing, sent as from the liuely Spring
Of his Diuineness som small Riuerling,
It self dispersing into euery pipe
Of the frail Engin of this earthen Type.
Not, that his own Selfs-Essence blest he brake,

Of her Essence and Substance.

Or did his Triple-Vnity partake
Vnto his Work; but, without Selfs-expence
Inspir'd it richly with rare excellence:
And by his powr so spred his Rais thereon,
That euen as yet appears a portion
Of that pure lustre of Cœlestiall Light
Wherwith at first it was adorn'd and dight.

This Adam's spirit did from that Spirit deriue

Whence it is preceeded.

Which made the World: yet did not thence depriue
Of Gods Self-substance any part at all;
As in the Course of Nature doth befall,

Diuers Similes.

That from the Essence of an Earthly Father,
An Earthly Son essentiall parts doth gather:
Or as in Spring-time from one sappy twig
Ther sprouts another consubstantiall sprig.
In brief, it's but a breath. Now, though the breath
Out of our Stomachs concaue issueth;
Yet, of our substance it transporteth nought:
Onely it seemeth to be simply fraught
And to retain the purer qualities
Of th'inward place whence it deriued is.
Inspired by that Breath, this Breath desire
I to describe. Whoso doth not admire
His spirit, is sprightless; and his sense is past,

Of the excellence of Mans soule.

Who hath no sense of that admired Blast.
Yet wot I well, that as the Ey perceiues
All but it self, even so our Soule conceiues
All saue her own selfs-Essence; but, the end
Of her own greatnes cannot comprehend.
Yet as a sound Ey, void of vicious matter,
Sees (in a sort) it self in Glass or Water:

How she may knowe her selfe.

So, in her sacred Works (as in a Glass)
Our Soule (almost) may see her glorious face.

The boistrous Winde, that rents with roaring blasts

Three fit comparisons to that purpose.

The lofty Pines, and to the Welkin casts
Millions of Mountains from the watery World,
And proudest Turrets to the ground hath whurld:

132

The pleasing fume that fragrant Roses yeeld,
When wanton Zephyr, sighing on the field,
Enammels all; and, to delight the Sky,
The Earth puts-on her richest Lyuory:
Th'accorded Discords, that are sweetly sent
From th'Iuory ribs of som rare Instrument,
Cannot be seen: but he may well be said
Of Flesh, and Ears, and Nose in irely void,
Who doth not feel; nor hear, nor smell (the powrs)
The shock, sound, sent; of storms, of strings, of flowrs.

The Soule not onely vitall, but a so diuine and immortall.

Although our Soule's pure substance, to our sight
Be not subiected; yet her motion light
And rich discourse, sufficient proofs do giue,
We haue more soule than to suffize to liue;
A Soule diuine, pure, sacred, admirable,
Immortall, end-less, simple, vnpalpable.

The Seat of the Soule.

For, whether that the Soule (the Mint of Art)
Be all in all, or all in euery part:
Whether the Brain or Heart doo lodge the Soule,
O Seneca, where, where could'st thou enroule
Those many hundred words (in Prose or Verse)
Which at first hearing thou could'st back reherse?

Notable examples of excellent Memories.

Where could great Cyrus that great Table shut
Wherein the Pictures and the names he put
Of all the Souldiers, that by thousands wander'd
After the fortunes of his famous Standard?
In what deep vessell did th'Embassader
Of Pyrrhus (whom the Delphian Oracler
Deluded by his double-meaning Measures)
Into what Cisterns did he pour those Treasures
Of learned store, which after (for his vse)
In time and place, he could so fit produce?
The Memory, is th'Eyes true Register,
The Peasants Book, Times wealthy Treasorer,
Keeping Records of Acts and Accidents
Whats'euer, subiect vnto humane sense,
Since first the Lord the Worlds foundations laid,
Or Phœbus first his golden locks displaid,
And his pale Sister from his beaming light
Borrow'd her splendor to adorn the Night.
So that our Reason, searching curiously
Through all the Roules of a good Memory,
And fast'ning closely with a Gordian knot
To Past Euents, what Present Times allot,
Fore-sees the Future, and becoms more sage,
More happily to lead our later age.

And, though our Soule liue as imprison'd here,
In our frail flesh, or buried (as it were)

133

In a dark Toomb; Yet at one flight she flies

Of the quick swiftnes, & sodain motion of the Soule: comprehending all things in Heauē and Earth.

From Calpe t'Imaus, from the Earth to Skies;
Much swifter then the Chariot of the Sun,
Which in a Day about the World doth run.
For, somtimes, leaving these base slimy heaps,
With cheerfull spring aboue the Clouds she leaps,
Glides through the Aire, and there she learns to knowe
Th'Originals of Winde, and Hail, and Snowe,
Of Lightning, Thunder, Blazing-Stars and storms,
Of Rain and Ice, and strange Exhaled Forms.
By th'Aires steep-stairs, she boldly climbs aloft
To the Worlds Chambers; Heav'n she visits oft,
Stage after Stage: she marketh all the Sphears,
And all th'harmonious, various course of theirs:
With sure account, and certain Compasses,
She counts their Stars, she metes their distances
And differing pases; and, as if she found.
No Subiect fair enough in all this Round,
She mounts aboue the Worlds extreamest Wall,
Far, far beyond all things corporeall;
Where she beholds her Maker, face to face,
(His frowns of Iustice, and his smiles of Grace)
The faithfull zeal, the chaste and sober Port
And sacred Pomp of the Celestiall Court.

What can be hard to a sloath-shunning Spirit,

Of learned, curious, pleasant, maruailous, and more then humane inuention of mans wit.

Spurr'd with desire of Fames eternall merit?
Look (if thou canst) from East to Occident,
From Island to the Moors hot Continent;
And thou shalt nought perfectly fair behould,
But Pen, or Pencill, Graving-tool; or Mould,
Hath so resembled, that scarce can our ey
The Counterfait from the true thing descry.

The brazen Mare that famous Myron cast,
Which Stalions leapt, and for a Mare imbrac't:
The liuely picture of that ramping Vine

Of Caruing and Painting.

Which whilom Zeuxis limn'd so rarely fine,
That shoals of Birds, beguiled by the shapes,
Peckt at the Table, as at very Grapes:
The Marble Statue, that with strangest fire
Fondly in flam'd th'Athenian Youths desire:
Apelles Venus, which allur'd well-neer
As many Loues, as Venus selfe had heer;
Are proofs enow that learned Painting can,
Can (Goddess-like) another Nature frame.

But th'Art of Man, not onely can compack

The subtile conclusions of the Mathematickes. witnes Archytas Doue.

Features and forms that life and Motion lack;
But also fill the Aire with painted shoals
Of flying Creatures (Artificiall Fowls)

134

The Tarentines valiant and learned Lord,
Archytas, made a wooden Doue, that soar'd
About the Welkin, by th'accorded sleights
And counterpoize of sundry little weights.

The Eagle and the Fly, of Iohn de Monte-Regio: or Regi-Montanus.

Why should I not that wooden Eagle mention
(A learned Germanes late admir'd invention)
Which mounting from his fist that framed her,
Flew far to meet an Almain Emperour;
And hauing met him, with her nimble train,
And weary wings, turning about again,
Follow'd him close vnto the Castle Gate
Of Noremberg; whom all the Showes of State,
Streets hangd with Arras, Arches curious built,
Loud-thundring Canons, Columns richly gilt,
Gray-headed Senate, and Youth's gallantise,
Grac't not so much, as onely This Deuice.
Once, as this Artist (more with mirth then meat)
Feasted some friends that he esteemed great,
From vnder's hand an iron Fly flew out;
Which having flowen a perfect Round-about,
With weary wings, return'd vnto her Master,
And (as iudicious) on his arme she plac't-her.
O divine wit! that in the narrow womb
Of a small Fly, could finde sufficient room
For all those Springs, wheels, counterpoiz, and chains,
Which stood in stead of life, and spur, and rains.

Astronomy.

Yea, you your selues ye bright Celestiall Orbs,
Although no stop your rest-less Dance disturbs,
Nor stayes your Course; yet can ye not escape
The hands of men that are but men in shape.

The king of Persia his Heauen of Glasse.

A Persian Monarch, not content, well-nigh
With the Earths bounds to bound his Empery:
To raign in Heav'n, rais'd not with bold defiance
(Like braving Nimrod, or those boisterous Gyants)
Another Babel, or a heap of Hils:
But, without moving from the Earth, he builds
A Heav'n of Glass, so huge, that there-upon
Somtimes erecting his ambitious, Throne,
Beneath his proud feet (like a God) he saw
The shining Lamps of th'other Heav'n, to draw
Down to the Deep, and thence againe advance
(Like glorious Brides) their golden Radiance:
Yet had the Heav'n no wondrous excellence
(Saue Greatness) worthy of so great a Prince.

Admirable Dialls & Clocks, namely, at this Day, that of Straesbourg.

But, who would think, that mortall hands could mould
New Heav'ns, new Stars, whose whirling courses should
With constant windings, though contrary waies,
Mark the true mounds of Years, and Months, and Dayes?

135

Yet 't is a story that hath oft been heard,
And by graue Witness hundred times averr'd,
That, that profound Briareus, who of yore
(As selfly arm'd with thousand hands and more)
Maintain'd so long the Syracusian Towns
'Gainst great Marcellus and his Roman Powrs:

The Engines of Archimedes, & his Sphear.

Who fin'd his foes Fleet with a wondrous Glass:
Who hugest Vessels that did ever pass
The Tirrhen Seas, turn'd with his onely hand
From Shoar to Sea, and from the Sea to Land:
Framed a Sphear, where every Wandring Light,
Of lower Heav'ns and th'vpper Tapers, bright,
Whose glistring flames the Firmament adorn,
Did (of themselues) with ruled motion turn.

Nor may we smother, or forget (ingrately)

The Heauen of Siluer sent by the Emperor Ferdinand to Solyman the great Turk.

The Heav'n of Silver, that was sent (but lately)
From Ferdinando (as a famous Work)
Vnto Bizantium to the Greatest Turk:
Wherein, a spirit, still moving to and fro,
Made all the Engin orderly to go:
And though th'one Sphear did alwaies slowely slide,
And (opposite) the other swiftly glide;
Yet still their Stars kept all their Courses ev'n
With the true Courses of the Stars of Heav'n.
The Sun, there shifting in the Zodiack
His shining Houses, never did forsake
His pointed Path: there, in a Month, his Sister
Fulfill'd her course, and changing oft her lustre
And form of Face (now larger, lesser soon)
Follow'd the Changes of the other Moon.

O compleat Creature! who the starry Sphears

Of mans resemblāce to his first Patern, which is God.

Canst make to moue, who 'boue the Heav'nly Bears
Extend'st thy powr, who guidest with thy hand
The Day's bright Chariot, and the nightly Brand:
This curious Lust to imitate the best
And fairest Works of the Almightiest,
By rare effects bears record of thy Linage
And high descent; and that his sacred Image
Was in thy Soule ingrav'n, when first his Spirit
(The spring of life) did in thy limms inspire-it.
For, as his Beauties are past all compare;
So is thy Soule all beautifull and fair.
As hee's immortall; and is never idle:
Thy Soule's immortall; and can brook no bridle
Of sloath, to curb her busie Intellect:
He ponders all; thou peizest each effect:
And thy mature and settled Sapience
Hath som alliance with his Prouidence:

136

He works by Reason; thou by Rule: Hee's glory
Of th'Heav'nly Stages; thou of th'Earthly Story:
Hee's great High-priest; thou his great Vicar heer:
Hee's Soverain Prince; and thou his Vice-Roy deer.

Other testimonies of the excellency of Man, constituted Lord of the World.

For, soon as ever he had framed thee,
Into thy hands he put this Monarchy;
Made all the Creatures knowe thee for their Lord;
And com before thee of their own accord:
And gaue thee power (as Master) to impose
Fit sense-full Names vnto the Hoast that rowes
In watery Regions; and the wandring Heards
Of Forrest people; and the painted Birds.
O too-too happy! had that Fall of thine
Not cancell'd so the Character diuine.

Wherein consisteth Mans felicity.

But sith our Soules now-sin-obscured Light
Shines through the Lanthorn of our Flesh so bright;
What sacred splendor will this Star send forth,
When it shall shine without this vail of Earth?
The Soule, heer lodg'd, is like a man that dwels
In an ill Aire, annoy'd with noysom smels;

Execellent comparisons.

In an old House, open to winde and weather;
Never in Health, not half an houre together:
Or (almost) like a Spider, who confin'd
In her Webs centre, shak't with every winde;
Moues in an instant, if the buzzing Flie
Stir but a string of her Lawn Canapie.

Of the Creation of Woman made for an ayde to Man, and without whom Mans lyfe were miserable.

You that haue seen within this ample Table,
Among so many Modules admirable,
Th'admired beauties of the King of Creatures,
Com, com and see the Womans rapting features:
Without whom (heer) Man were but half a man,
But a wilde Wolfe, but a Barbarian,
Brute, ragefull, fierce, moody, melancholike,
Hating the Light; whom nought but naught could like:
Born solely for himselfe, bereft of sense,
Of heart, of loue, of life, of excellence.
God therefore, not to seem less liberall
To Man, then else to every animall;
For perfect patern of a holy Loue,
To Adams half another half he gaue,
Ta'en from his side, to binde (through every Age)
With kinder bonds the sacred Mariage.

Simile.

Even as a Surgeon, minding off-to-cut
Som-cureless limb; before in vre he put
His violent Engins on the vitious member,
Bringeth his Patient in a sense-less slumber,
And grief-less then (guided by vse and Art)
To saue the whole, sawes off th'infected part:

137

So, God empal'd our Grandsires liuely look,
Through all his bones a deadly chilness strook,
Siel'd-vp his sparkling eyes with Iron bands,
Led down his feet (almost) to Lethè Sands;
In briefe, so numm'd his Soule's and Body's sense,
That (without pain) opening his side, from thence
Hee tooke a rib, which rarely He refin'd,
And thereof made the Mother of Mankind:
Graving so liuely on the living Bone
All Adams beauties; that, but hardly, one
Could haue the Lover from his Loue descry'd,
Or know'n the Bridegroom from his gentle Bride:
Sauing that she had a more smiling Ey,
A smoother Chin, a Cheek of purer Dy,
A fainter voyce, a more inticing Face,
A Deeper Tress, a more delighting Grace,
And in her bosom (more then Lillie-white)
Two swelling Mounts of Ivory, panting light.

Now, after this profound and pleasing Transe,

Their Mariage.

No sooner Adams rauisht eyes did glance
On the rare beauties of his new-come Half,
But in his heart he gan to leap and laugh,
Kissing her kindly, calling her his Life,
His Loue, his Stay, his Rest, his Weal, his Wife,
His other-Selfe, his Help (him to refresh)
Bone of his Bone, Flesh of his very Flesh.

Source of all ioyes! sweet Hee-Shee-Coupled-One,

Their Epithalamie, or wedding Song.

Thy sacred Birth I never think vpon,
But (rauisht) I admire how God did then
Make Two of One, and One of Two again.

O blessed Bond! O happy Marriage!
Which doost the match 'twixt Christ and vs presage!

O chastest friendship, whose pure flames impart
Two Soules in one, two Hearts into one Hart!
O holy knot, in Eden instituted
(Not in this Earth with blood and wrongs polluted,
Profan'd with mischiefs, the Pre-Scæne of Hell
To cursed Creatures that 'gainst Heav'n rebell)
O sacred Cov'nant, which the sin-less Son
Of a pure Virgin (when he first begun
To publish proofs of his drad Powr Diuine,
By turning Water into perfect Wine,
At lesser Cana) in a wondrous manner
Did with his presence sanctifie and honour!

By thy deer Fauour, after our Decease,

The commodities of Mariage.

We leaue-behinde our liuing Images,
Change War to Peace, in kindred multiply,
And in our Children liue eternally.

138

By thee, we quench the wilde and wanton Fires,
That in our Soule the Paphian shot inspires:
And taught (by thee) a loue more firme and fitter,
We finde the Mell more sweet, the Gall less bitter,
Which heer (by turns) heap vp our humane Life
Ev'n now with ioyes, anon with iars and strife.

This done; the Lord commands the happy Pair

Propagation by the blessing of God.

With chaste embraces to replenish Fair
Th'vnpeopled World; that, while the World endures,
Heer might succeed their living Portraitures.
He had impos'd the like precept before,
On th'irefull Droues that in the Desarts rore,
The feathered Flocks, and frutfull-spawning Legions
Thar liue within the liquid Crystall Regions.
Thence-forth therefore, Bears Bears ingendered;
The Dolphins, Dolphins; Vulturs, Vulturs bred;
Men, Men: and Nature with a change-less Course,
Still brought forth Children like their Ancestors:

Vnnatural Coniunctions produce monstrous Births.

Though since indeed as (when the fire hath mixt-them)
The yellow Gold and Silver pale betwixt them
Another Metall (like to neither) make,
Which yet of eithers riches doth partake:
So, oft, two Creatures of a diuers kinde,
Against the common course through All assign'd,
Confounding their lust-burning seeds together,
Beget an Elf, not like in all to either,
But (bastard Mongrell) bearing marks apparent
Of mingled members, ta'en from either Parent.

Of things ingendered without seed or commixtion of sexes.

God, not contented, to each Kinde to giue
And to infuse the Vertue Generatiue,
Made (by his Wisdom) many Creatures breed
Of line-less bodies, without Venus deed.

So, the colde humour breeds the Salamander,
Who (in effect) like to her births Commander
With childe with hundred Winters, with her touch
Quencheth the Fire though glowing ne'r so much.

So, of the Fire in burning furnace, springs
The Fly Pyrausta with the flaming Wings:
Without the Fire, it dies; within it, ioyes;
Living in that, which each thing else destroyes.

So, slowe Boötes vnderneath him sees,
In th'ycy Iles, those Goslings hatcht of Trees;
Whose fruitfull leaues, falling into the Water,
Are turn'd (they say) to liuing Fowls soon after.
So, rotten sides of broken Ships do change
To Barnacles; O Transformation strange!
'Twas first a greeen Tree, then a gallant Hull,
Lately a Mushrom, now a flying Gull.

139

THE SEVENTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.

The Argvment.

In sacred Rest, vpon This sacred Day
Th'Eternall doth his glorious Works suruay:
His only Powr and Providence perseuer
T'vphold, maintain, and rule the World for euer:
Maugre Mens malice and Hels raging mood,
God turneth all thing to his Childrens good:
Sabbaths right vse; From all Worlds-Works to cease;
To pray (not play) and hear the Word of Peace:
Instructions drawn from dead and liuing things,
And for our selues; for all Estates; for Kings.

The cunning Painter, that with curious care,

By an excellent Similitude of a Painter delighted with the sight of a curious table which he hath lately finished: our Poet sheweth how God rested the seuenth Day, & saw (as saith the Scripture) that all that hee had made was Good.

Limning a Land-scape, various, rich, and rare,
Hath set a-work, in all and every part,
Invention, Iudgement, Nature, Vse, and Art;
And hath at length (t'immortalize his name)
With weary Pencill perfected the same;
Forgets his pains; and, inly fill'd with glee,
Still on his Picture gazeth greedily.

First, in a Mead he marks a frisking Lamb,
Which seems (though dumb) to bleat vnto the Dam:
Then he obserues a Wood, seeming to waue:
Then th'hollow bosom of som hideous Caue:
Heer a High-way, and there a narrow Path:
Heer Pines, there Oaks torn by tempestuous wrath:
Heer from a craggy Rocks steep-hanging boss
(Thrumm'd halfe with Iuy, halfe with crisped Moss)
A siluer Brook in broken streams doth gush,
And head-long down the horned Cliff doth rush;

140

Then, winding thence aboue and vnder ground,
A goodly Garden it be-moateth round:
There, on his knee (behinde a Box-Tree shrinking)
A skilfull Gunner with his left eye winking,
Levels directly at an Oak hard by,
Whereon a hundred groaning Culuers cry;
Down fals the Cock, vp from the Touch-pan flies
A ruddy flash that in a moment dies.
Off goes the Gun, and through the Forrest rings
The thundring bullet, born on fiery wings.
Heer, on a Green, two Striplings, stripped light,
Run for a prize with laboursom delight;
A dusty Cloud about their feet doth flowe
(Their feet, and head, and hands, and all do goe)
They swelt in sweat; and yet the following Rout
Hastens their haste with many a cheerfull shout.
Heer, six pyed Oxen, vnder painfull yoak,
Rip vp the folds of Ceres Winter Cloak.
Heer in the shade, a pretty Sheperdess
Driues softly home her bleating happiness:
Still as she goes, she spins; and as she spins,
A man would think som Sonnet she begins.
Heer runs a River, there springs forth a Fountain,
Heer vales a Valley, there ascends a Mountain,
Heer smokes a Castle, there a Citie fumes,
And heer a Ship vpon th'Ocean looms.
In brief, so liuely, Art hath Nature shap't,
That in his Work the Work-mans selfe is rapt,
Vnable to look off; for, looking still,
The more he looks, the more he findes his skill:

God rested the seuenth Day, & contemplates on his works.

So th'Architect (whose glorious Workmanships
My cloudy Muse doth but too-much eclipse)
Having with pain-less pain, and care-less care,
In these Six Dayes, finisht the Table fair
And infinite of th'Vniuersall Ball,
Resteth This Day, t'admire himselfe in All:
And for a season eying nothing els,
Ioyes in his Work, sith all his Work excels
(If my dull, stutting, frozen eloquence

A briefe recapitulation & consideration of the Works of God in the whole World and a learned Exposition of the words of Moses Gen. 1. 31. God saw that all that he had made, was perfectly good.

May dare coniecture of his high Intents).

One while, hee sees how th'ample Sea doth take
The Liquid homage of each other Lake;
And how again the Heav'ns exhale, from it,
Aboundant vapours (for our benefit):
And yet it swels not for those tribute streams,
Nor yet it shrinks not for those boyling beams.
There sees he th'Ocean-peoples plentious broods,
And shifting Courses of the Ebbs and Floods;

141

Which with inconstant glaunces night and day
The lower Planets forked front doth sway.
Anon, vpon the flowry Plains he looks,
Laced about with snaking siluer brooks.
Now, he delights to see foure Brethrens strife
Cause the Worlds peace, and keep the World in life:
Anon, to see the whirling Sphears to roule
In rest-less Dances about either Pole;
Whereby, their Cressets (carried diuers waies)
Now visit vs, anon th'Antipodés.
It glads him now to note, how th'Orb of Flame,
Which girts this Globe, doth not enfire the Frame:
How th'Airs glib-gliding firmless body bears
Such store of Fowls, Hail-storms, and Floods of tears:
How th'heavy Water, pronest to descend,
'Twixt Air and Earth is able to depend:
And how the dull Earth's prop-less massie Ball
Stands steddy still, iust in the midst of All.
Anon his nose is pleas'd with fragrant sents
Of Balm and Basill, Myrrh and Frankinscense,
Thyme, Spiknard, Hyssop, Sauory, Cinnamon,
Pink, Violet, Rose, and Cloue-Carnation.
Anon, his ear's charmd with the melody
Of winged Consorts curious Harmony:
For, though each bird, guided with art-less Art,
After his kinde, obserue a song a-part,
Yet the sole burden of their seuerall Layes
Is nothing but the Heav'n-Kings glorious prayse.
In briefe, th'Almightie's ey, and nose, and ear,
In all his works, doth nought see, sent, or hear
But showes his greatness, sauours of his grace,
And sounds his glory over every place.
But aboue all, Mans many beautious features
Detaine the Lord more then all other Creatures:
Man's his own Minion; Man's his sacred Type:
And for Man's sake, he loues his Workmanship.

Not that I mean to fain an idle God,
That lusks in Heav'n and never looks abroad,
That Crowns not Vertue, and corrects not Vice,
Blinde to our seruice, deafe vnto our sighs;
A Pagan Idoll, void of powr and pietie,
A sleeping Dormouse (rather) a dead Deitie.
For though (alas!) somtimes I cannot shun,
But some profane thoughts in my minde will run,
I never think on God, but I conceiue
(Whence cordiall comforts Christian soules receiue)
In God, Care, Counsail, Iustice, Mercy, Might,

Of the Prouidence of God.

To punish wrongs, and patronize their right:

142

Sith Man (but Image of th'Almightiest)
Without these gifts is not a Man, but Beast.

Epicurus and his followers, denyng the same, confused by sandry Reasons.

Fond Epicure, thou rather slept'st, thy self,
When thou didst forge thee such a sleep-sick Elf
For life's pure Fount: or vainly fraudulent
(Not shunning the Atheïsts sin, but punishment)
Imaginedst a God so perfect-less,
In Works defying, whom thy words profess.

God is not sitting (like some Earthly State)
In proud Theatre, him to recreate
With curious Obiects of his ears and eyes
(Without disposing of the Comœdies)
Content t'haue made (by his great Word) to moue
So many radiant Stars as shine aboue;
And on each thing with his own hand to draw
The sacred Text of an eternall Law:
Then, bosoming his hand to let them slide,
With reans at will, whether that Law shall guide:

Simile.

Like one that having lately forc't som Lake,
Through some new Chanell a new Course to take,
Takes no more care thence-forth to those effects,
But lets the Stream run where his Ditch directs.

The Lord our God wants neither Diligence,

1. Gods power, goodnes, & wisdom, shine gloriously in gouerning the world.

Nor Love, nor Care, nor Powr, nor Providence.
He prov'd his Power, by Making All of nought:
His Diligence, by Ruling All he wrought:
His Care, by Ending it in six Daies space:
His Loue, in Building it for Adams Race:
His Providence (maugre Times wastefull rages)
Preseruing it so many Years and Ages.

For, O! how often had this goodly Ball
By his own Greatness caus'd his proper Fall?
How often had his World deceast, except
Gods mighty arms had it vpheld and kept?

2. In him, and through him, all things liue and moue, and haue their Beeing.

God is the soule, the life, the strength, and sinnew,
That quickens, moues, and makes this Frame continue.
God's the main spring, that maketh every way
All the small wheels of this great Engine play.
God's the strong Atlas, whose vnshrinking shoulders
Haue been and are Heav'ns heavy Globes vpholders.

3. All things particularly are guided by his Ordinance and Power, working continually.

God makes the Fountaines run continually,
The Daies and Nights succeed incessantly:
The Seasons in their season he doth bring,
Summer and Autumn, Winter, and the Spring:
God makes th'Earth fruitfull, and he makes the Earth's
Large loignes not yet faint for so many births.
God makes the Sun and Stars, though wondrous hot,
That yet their Heat themselues in flameth not;

143

And that their sparkling beams prevent not so,
With wofull flames, the Last great Day of wo:
And that (as mov'd with a contrary wrest)
They turn at-once both North, and East, and West:
Heav'ns constant course, his heast doth never break:
The floating Water waiteth at his beck:
Th'Air's at his Call, the Fire at his Command,
The Earth is His: and there is nothing fand
In all these Kingdoms, but is mov'd each howr
With secret touch of his eternall Powr.

God is the Iudge, who keeps continuall Sessions,

4. God is the Iudge of the World: hauing all Creatures visible & invisible, ready aimed to execute his Iudgements.

In every place to punish all Transgressions;
Who, voyd of Ignorance and Avarice,
Not won with Bribes, nor wrested with Device,
Sans Fear, or Favour; hate, or partiall zeal;
Pronounceth Iudgements that are past appeal.
Himselfe is Iudge, Iury, and Witness too,
Well knowing what we all think, speak, or doo:
He sounds the deepest of the doublest hart,
Searcheth the Reins, and sifteth every part:
Hee sees all secrets, and his Lynx-like ey
(Yer it be thought) doth every thought descry:
His Sentence given, never returns in vain;
For, all that Heav'n, Earth, Aire, and Sea contain,
Serue him as Sergeants: and the winged Legions,
That soar aboue the bright Star-spangled Regions,
Are ever prest, his powrfull Ministers:
And (lastly) for his Executioners,
Sathan, assisted with th'infernall band,
Stands ready still to finish his Command.

God (to be briefe) is a good Artizan
That to his purpose aptly manage can
Good or bad Tools; for, for iust punishment,

Yea, he maketh euen the wicked his instruments to punish the wicked, and to proue his Chosen.

He arms our sins vs sinners to torment:
And to prevent th'vngodly's plot, somtime
He makes his foes (will-nill-they) fight for him.

Yet true it is, that humane things (seem) slide
Vnbridledly with so vncertain tide,
That in the Ocean of Events so many,
Somtimes Gods Iudgements are scarce seen of any:
Rather it seemes that giddy Fortune guideth

Againe, against Epicures, who hold that all things happen in the World by Chance.

All that beneath the silver Moon betideth.
Yet, art thou ever iust (O God) though I
Cannot (alas!) thy Iudgements depth descry:
My wit's too shallow for the least Designe
Of thy drad Counsails, sacred, and divine:
And thy least-secret Secrets, I confess
Too deep for vs, without thy Spirit's address.

144

1. Gods Iudgements, past our search: yet euer iust in thēselues.

Yet oftentimes, what seemeth (at first sight)
Vniust to vs, and past our reason quite,
Thou mak'st vs (Lord) acknowledge (in due season)
To haue been done with equitie and reason.

Gen. 45. ve. 6.7 and Gen. 50. ve. 20.

So, suffring th'Hebrew Tribes to sell their brother,
Thy eternall Iustice thou didst seem to smother.
But Ioseph (when, through such rare hap, it chanced
Him of a slaue to be so high advanced,
To rule the Land where Nilus fertill flood
Dry Heav'ns defects endeuours to make good)
Learn'd, that his envious brethrens treacherous drift,
Him to the Stern of Memphian State had lift,
That he might there provide Reliefe and Room
For Abraham's Seed, against (then) time to com.

2. In executing his iudgements on the rebellious, be sheweth mercie on his Seruants.

When thy strong arm, which plagues the Reprobate,
The World and Sodom did exterminate,
With flood and flame: because there liued then
Some small remaines of good and righteous men,
Thou seem'dst vniust: but when thou sauedst Lot
From Fire, from Water Noah and his Boat,
'Twas plainly seen, thy Iustice stands propitious
To th'Innocent, and smiteth but the vitious.

3. He sheweth his power in the confusion of the mightiest: and in the deliuerance of his Church.

He wilfull winks against the shining Sun,
That see's not Pharao, as a mean begun
For th'Hebrews good; and that his hardned hart
Smoothed the passage for their soon-depart:
To th'end the Lord, when Tyrants will not yeeld,
Might for his Glory finde the larger field.

Who sees not also, that th'vniust Decree
Of a proud Iudge, and Iudas treachery,
The Peoples fury, and the Prelats gall,
Serv'd all as organs to repair the Fall
Of Edens old Prince, whose luxurious pride
Made on his seed his sin for euer slide?

4. He turnes the malice of Satan and his instruments, to his own glory, and the good of his: of whom he hath alwaies speciall case.

Th'Almighties Care, doth diuersly disperse
Ore all the parts of all this Vniverse:
But more precisely, his wide wings protect
The race of Adam, chiefly his Elect.
For, aye he watcheth for his Children choice,
That lift to him their hearts, their hands, and voyce:
For them, he built th'ay-turning Heav'ns Theater;
For them, he made the Fire, Aire, Earth, and Water:
He counts their hairs, their steps he measureth,
Handles their hands, and speaketh with their breath;
Dwels in their hearts, and plants his Regiments
Of watchfull Angels round about their Tents.

But heer, what hear I? Faith-less, God-less men,
I maruell not, that you impugn my pen:

145

But (O!) it grieues me, and I am amaz'd,

A remedy for temptation of the godly, seeing the prosperity of the wicked, and the afflictions of Gods children.

That those, whose faith, like glistering Stars haue blaz'd
Even in our darkest nights, should so obiect
Against a doctrine of so sweet effect;
Because (alas!) with weeping eyes they see
Th'vngodly-most in most Prosperitie,
Clothed in Purple, crown'd with Diadems,
Handling bright Scepters, hoording Gold and Gems,
Croucht-to, and courted with all kinde affection,
As priuiledged by the Heav'ns protection;
So that, their goods, their honours, their delights
Excell their hopes, exceed their appetites:
And (opposite) the godly (in the storms
Of this Worlds Sea) tost in continuall harms:
In Earth, less rest then Euripus they finde,
Gods heauy Rods still hanging them behinde:
Them, shame, and blame, trouble and loss pursues;
As shadows bodies, and as night the deawes.

Peace, peace, deer friends: I hope to cancell quite

The same cōforted in diuers sorts with apt Similitudes, confirming the reason, and declaring the right end of Gods diuers dealing with men.

This profane thought from your vnsettled Sp'rit.
Knowe then, that God (to th'end he be not thought
A powr-less Iudge) heer plagueth many a fault;
And many a fault leaues heer vnpunished,
That men may also his last iudgment dread.

On th'other side, note that the Crosse becomes
A Ladder leading to Heav'ns glorious rooms:
A Royall Path, the Heav'nly Milken way,
Which doth the Saints to Ioues high Court convay.
O! see you not, how that a Father graue,
Curbing his Son much shorter then his Slaue,
Doth th'one but rare, the other rife reproue,
Th'one but for lucre, th'other all for loue?
As skilfull Quirry, that commands the Stable
Of some great Prince, or Person honourable,
Giues oftest to that Horse the teaching Spur,
Which he findes fittest for the vse of War.
A painfull School-master, that hath in hand
To institute the flowr of all a Land,
Giues longest Lessons vnto those, where Heav'n
The ablest wits and aptest wills hath giv'n.
And a wise Chieftain neuer trusts the waight
Of th'execution of a braue Exploit,
But vnto those whom he most honoureth,
For often proof of their firm force and faith:
Such sends he first t'assault his eager foes;
Such 'gainst the Canon on a Breach bestowes:
Such he commands naked to scale a Fort,
And with small number to re-gain a Port.

146

Afflictions profitable to the Faithfull.

God beats his Dear, from birth to buriall,
To make them knowe him, and their pride appall,
To draw deuout sighes from calamity,
And by the touch to try their Constancy,
T'awake their sloth, their mindes to exercise
To trauell cheer'ly for th'immortall Prize.

They are necessary to cure the diseases of the soule.

A good Physician, that Arts excellence
Can help with practice and experience,
Applies discreetly all his Recipes
Vnto the nature of each fell-disease;
Curing this Patient with a bitter Potion,
That, with strict Diet, th'other with a Lotion,
And somtime cutteth off a leg or arm,
So (sharply-sweet) to saue the whole from harm:
Euen so the Lord (according to th'ill humours
That vex his most-Saints with soule-tainting tumours)
Sends somtimes Exile, somtimes lingring Languor,
Somtimes Dishonour, somtimes pining Hunger,
Somtimes long Law-suits, somtime Loss of good,
Somtimes a Childes death, or a Widowhood:
But ay he houldeth, for the good of His,
In one hand Rods; in th'other, Remedies.

Without them Gods children decline.

The Souldier, slugging long at home in Peace,
His wonted courage quickly doth decrease:
The rust doth fret the blade hangd vp at rest:
The Moath doth eat the garment in the Chest:
The standing Water stinks with putrefaction:
And Vertue hath no Vertue but in action.

All that is fairest in the world, we finde
Subiect to trauail. So, with storms and winde
Th'Air still is tost: the Fire and Water tend,
This, still to mount; that, euer to descend:
The spirit is spright-less if it want discourse,
Heav'n's no more Heav'n if it once cease his Course.

The Crosse, an honorable mark.

The valiant Knight is knowne by many scars:
But he that steals-home wound-less, from the Wars,
Is held a Coward, void of Valours proof,
That for Deaths fear hath fled, or fought a-loof.

God will be glorified in the constant sufferings of his Seruants.

The Lord therefore, to giue Humanity
Rare presidents of daunt-less Constancy,
And crown his deer Sons with victorious Laurels
Won from a thousand foes in glorious quarels;
Pours down more euils on their hap-less head,
Then yerst Pandora's odious Box did shead;
Yet strengthning still their hearts with such a Plaister,
That though the Flesh stoop, still the Spirit is Maister.

There is nothing euill in Mans life, but sin: and vertue is best perceiued in the proofe.

But, wrongly I these euils Euill call:
Sole Vice is ill; sole Vertue good: and all,

147

Besides the same, is selfly, simply, had
And held indifferent, neither good nor bad.
Let envious Fortune all her forces wage
Against a constant Man, her fellest rage
Can never change his godly resolution,
Though Heav'n it self should threaten his confusion.

A constant Man is like the Sea, whose brest

True constancy liuely represented by two comparisons.

Lies ever open vnto every guest;
Yet all the Waters that she drinks, cannot
Make her to change her qualities a iot:
Or, like a good sound stomach, not soon casting
For a light surfet, or a small distasting;
But, that, vntroubled, can incontinent
Convert all meats to perfect nourishment.

Though then, the Lords deep Wisdom, to this day,

God, Resting on the seuenth day, and blessing it; teacheth vs that in resting one day of the Week, we should principally employ it in his seruice: That we should cease from our worldly and wicked works, to giue place to his grace, and to suffer his Spirit to work in vs by the Instrument of his holy word.

Work in the Worlds vncertain-certain Sway:
Yet must we credit, that his hand compos'd
All in six Dayes, and that He then Repos'd;
By his example, giuing vs behest
On the Seaventh Day for evermore to Rest.
For, God remembred that he made not Man
Of Stone, or Steel, or Brass Corinthian:
But lodg'd our Soul in a frail earthen Mass,
Thinner then Water, Brittler then the Glass:
He knowes, our life is by nought sooner spent,
Then hauing still our mindes and bodies bent.
A Field, left lay for som few Years, will yield
The richer Crop, when it again is till'd:
A River, stopped by a sluce a space,
Runs (after) rougher, and a swifter pase:
A Bowe, awhile vnbent, will after cast
His shafts the farther, and them fix more fast:
A Souldier, that a season still hath lain,
Coms with more fury to the Field again:
Even so, this Body, when (to gather breath)
One Day in Seav'n at Rest it soiourneth;
It recollects his Powrs, and with more cheer
Falls the next morrow to his first Career.

But the chief End this Precept aims at, is
To quench in vs the coals of Covetize;
That, while we rest from all profaner Arts,
Gods Spirit may work in our retired hearts:
That we, down-treading earthly cogitations,
May mount our thoughts to heav'nly meditations:
Following good Archers guise, who shut one ey,

Simile.

That they the better may their mark espy.

For by th'Almighty, this great Holy-day

Against profaners of the Sabbath.

Was not ordain'd to dance, to mask, and play,

148

To slugg in sloth, and languish in delights,
And loose the Reans to raging appetites:
To turn Gods Feasts to filthy Lupercals,
To frantick Orgies, and fond Saturnals:
To dazle eys with Prides vain-glorious splendor,
To serue strange gods, or our Ambition tender;
As th'irreligion of loose Times hath since
Chang'd the Prime-Churches chaster innocence.

We ought on the Lords day attēd his seruice, and meditate on the euerlasting Rest, & on the works of God.

God would, that men should in a certain place
This-Day assemble as before his face,
Lending an humble and attentiue ear
To learn his great Name's dear-drad Loving-Fear:
He would, that there the faithfull Pastor should
The Scriptures marrow from the bones vnfould,
That we might touch with fingers (as it were)
The sacred secrets that are hidden there.
For, though the reading of those holy lines
In private Houses som-what moue our mindes;
Doubtless, the Doctrine preacht doth deeper pearce,
Proves more effectuall, and more waight it bears.

The practice of the faithfull, in all reformed Churches, on the Sabbath Day.

He would, that there in holy Psalms we sing
Shrill praise and thanks to our immortall King,
For all the liberall bounties he bestow'th
On vs and ours, in soule and body both:
He would, that there we should confess his Christ
Our onely Saviour, Prophet, Prince and Priest;
Solemnizing (with sober preparation)
His blessed Seals of Reconciliation:
And, in his Name, beg bouldly what we need
(After his will) and be assur'd to speed;
Sith in th'Exchequer of his Clemency
All goods of Fortune, Soule, and Body ly.

The Corporall Rest, a figure of the Spirituall.

He would, this Sabbath should a figure be
Of the blest Sabbath of Eternity.
But th'one (as Legall) heeds but outward things;
Th'other to Rest both Soule and Body brings:
Th'one but a Day endures; the others Date
Eternity shall not exterminate:
Shadows the one, th'other doth Truth include:
This stands in freedom, that in seruitude:
With cloudy cares th'one's muffled vp som-whiles;
The others face is full of pleasing smiles:
For, never grief, nor fear of any Fit
Of the least care, shall dare com neer to it.
'Tis the grand Iubile, th'Feast of all Feasts,
Sabbath of Sabbaths, end-less Rest of Rests;
Which, with the Prophets, and Apostles zealous,
The constant Martyrs, and our Christian Fellows,

149

Gods faithfull Servants, and his chosen Sheep,
In Heav'n we hope (within short time) to keep.

He would this Day, our Soule (sequestered

Meditations on the works of God, especially on the day of Rest.

From busie thoughts of worldly cares) should read
In Heav'ns bow'd Arches, and the Elements,
His bound-less Bounty, Powr and Providence;
That every part may (as a Master) teach
Th'illiterate, Rules past a vulgar reach.

Com (Reader) sit, com sit thee down by mee

Exhortations to this Meditation, with the vse & profit thereof.

Think with my thoughts, and see what I do see:
Hear this dumb Doctor: study in this Book,
Where day and night thou maist at pleasure look,
And thereby learn vprightly how to liue:
For, every part doth speciall Lessons giue,
Even from the gilt studs of the Firmament,
To the Base Centre of our Element.

Seest thou those Stars we (wrongly) Wandring call,

The Planets teach vs to follow the will of God.

Though divers wayes they dance about this Ball,
Yet evermore their manifould Career
Follows the Course of the First Mouing Sphear?
This teacheth thee, that though thine own Desires
Be opposite to what Heav'ns will requires,
Thou must still striue to follow (all thy daies)
God (the first Mover) in his holy waies.

Vain puff of winde, whom vaunting pride bewitches,

The Moon teacheth that we haue not any thing that we haue not receiued.

For Bodies Beauties, or Mindes (richer) Riches;
The Moon, whose splendor from her Brother springs,
May by Example make thee vail thy wings:
For thou, no less then the pale Queen of Nights,
Borrow'st all goodnes from the Prince of Lights.

Wilt thou, from Orb to Orb, to th'Earth descend?

The Elementary fire and ours, where, our happiness, and where our misery consists.

Behould the Fire which God did round extend:
As neer to Heav'n, the same is cleer and pure;
Ours heer belowe, sad, smoaky, and obscure:
So, while thy Soule doth with the Heav'ns converse,
It's sure and safe from every thought perverse;
And though thou won heer in this world of sin,
Thou art as happy as Heav'ns Angels bin:
But if thy minde be alwayes fixed all
On the foul dunghill of this darksom vale,
It will partake in the contagious smells
Of th'vnclean house wherein it droops and dwells.

If envious Fortune be thy bitter foe,

The Air, that afflictions are profitable for vs.

And day and night doo toss thee to and fro;
Remember, th'Air corrupteth soon, except
With sundry Windes it oft be swing'd and swept.

The Sea, which somtimes down to Hell is driv'n,

The Sea, that we ought for no respect to transgress the the Law of God.

And somtimes heaues a froathy Mount to Heav'n,

150

Yet never breaks the bounds of her precinct,
Wherein the Lord her boistrous arms hath linkt;
Instructeth thee, that neither Tyrants rage,
Ambition's windes, nor golden vassallage
Of Avarice, nor any loue, nor fear,
From Gods Command should make thee shrink a hair.

The Earth, that we should bee constant.

The Earth, which never all at once doth move,
Through her rich Orb received, from above,
No firmer base her burthen to sustent
Then slippery props of softest Element;
By her example doth propose to thee
A needfull Lesson of true Constancy.

The Ears of Corn, that we should be humble.

Nay, there is nought in our dear Mother found,
But pithily som Vertue doth propound.
O! let the Noble, Wise, Rich, Valiant,
Be as the base, poor, faint and ignorant:
And, looking on the fields when Autumn shears,
There let them learn among the bearded ears;
Which still, the fuller of the flowry grain,
Bow down the more their humble heads again;
And ay the lighter and the less their store,
They lift aloft their chaffie Crests the more.

The Palm Tree, that we should bechaste.

Let her, that (bound-less in her wanton wishes)
Dares spot the Spouse-bed with vnlawfull kisses,
Blush (at the least) at Palm-Trees loyalty,
Which neuer bears vnless her Male be by.

Cinnamon teacheth Diligence and Prudence.

Thou, thou that prancest after Honors prize
(While by the way thy strength and stomach dies)
Remember, Honor is like Cinnamon,
Which Nature mounds with many a million
Of thorny pricks; that none may danger-less
Approach the Plant, much less the Fruit possess.

The Sun and the Marigold direct us unto Christ, the Sun of righteousnes.

Canst thou the secret Sympathy behould
Betwixt the bright Sun and the Marigould;
And not consider, that we must no less
Follow in life the Sun of righteousnes?

O Earth! the Treasures of thy hollow brest
Are no less fruitfull Teachers then the rest.
For, as the Lime doth break and burn in Water,

Lime in water, teacheth vnto shew our vertue in extremity.

And swell, and smoak, crackle, and skip, and scatter;
Waking that Fire, whose dull heat sleeping was
Vnder the cold Crust of a Chalky Mass:
He that (to march amid the Christian Hoast)
Yeelds his hearts kingdom to the Holy-Ghost;
And, for braue Seruice vnder Christ his Banner,
Looks to be crown'd with his Chief Champions honor,
Must in affliction wake his zeal, which oft
In Calmer times sleeps too-securely soft.

151

And, opposit, as the rich Diamond

The Diamōd exhorts to constancy.

The Fire and Steel doth stoutly both withstand:
So the true Christian should, till life expire,
Contemn proud Tyrants raging Sword and Fire.
Or, if fell Rigour with som ruth-less smart
A little shake the sinnews of his heart,
He must be like the richest Minerall,

Gold in the furnace to magnanimity & purity.

Whose Ingots bow, but never break at all;
Nor in the Furnace suffer any loss
Of waight, but Lees; not of the Gold, but dross.

The pretious Stone, that bears the Rain-bowes name,

The stone Iris, to edification of our Neighbour.

Receiues the bright face of Sols burnisht flame;
And by reflexion, after, it displaies
On the next obiect all those pointed raies:
So, whoso hath from the Empyreall Pole,
Within the centre of his happy Soule,
Receiv'd som splendor of the beams divine,
Must to his Neighbour make the same to shine;
Not burying Talents which our God hath giv'n
To be employ'd in a rich trade for Heav'n,
That in his Church he may receive his Gold
With thirty, sixty, and an hundred fold.

As th'Iron, toucht by th'Adamant's effect,

The needle in the Marmers compass shewes that we should instantly look on Christ our only loadstar.

To the North Pole doth ever point direct:
So the Soule, toucht once by the secret powr
Of a true liuely Faith, looks every howr
To the bright Lamp which serues for Cynosure
To all that sail vpon the Sea obscure.

These presidents, from liue-less things collected,

Lessons from liuing Creatures.

Breed good effects in spirits well affected:
But lessons, taken from the things that live,
A liuelier touch vnto all sorts doo give.

Vp, vp, ye Princes: Prince and People, rise,

Bees, to Subiects and to Princes.

And run to School among the Honey-Flies:
There shall you learn, that an eternall law
Subiects the Subiect vnder Princes aw:
There shall you learn, that a courageous King
To vex his humble Vassals hath no sting.

The Persian Prince, that Princely did conclude

The Marlin, to the vnthankful.

So severe laws against Ingratitude,
Knew that the Marlin, hauing kept her warm
With a liue Lark, remits it without harm;
And lest her friend-bird she should after slay,
She takes her flight a quite contrary way.

Fathers, if you desire, your Children sage

The Eagle, to Parents.

Should by their Blessings bless your crooked age;
Train them betimes vnto true Vertues Lore
By Aw, Instruction, and Example (more):

152

So the old Eagle flutters in and out,
To teach his yong to follow him about.
If his example cannot timely bring
His backward birds to vse their feeble wing,
He leaues them then som dayes vnfed, whereby
Sharp hunger may at length constrain them fly.
If that prevail not, then he beats them, both
With beak and wings, to stir their fearfull sloth.

The Turtle, to Wedlock-breakers.

You, that to haste your hated Spouses end,
Black deadly poyson in his dish doo blend;
O! can you see with vn-relenting eies
The Turtle-Doue? sith, when her husband dies,
Dies all her ioy: for, never loves she more;
But on dry boughs doth her dead Spouse deplore.

Wilde-geese, to Babblers.

Thou, whom the freedom of a foolish tongue
Brings oft in danger for thy neighbours wrong;
Discreetly set a hatch before the door:
As the wise Wilde-geese, when they over-soar
Cicilian Mounts, within their bills doo bear
A pebble-stone both day and night; for fear
Lest rauenous Eagles of the North descry
Their Armies passage, by their cackling Cry.

Diuers Fishes, to vnnaturall Mothers, that will not nurse their own Children.

O! Mothers, can you? can you (O vnkinde!)
Deny your Babes your breasts? and call to minde
That many Fishes many times are fain
Receive their seed into their wombs again;
Lucinas sad throes, for the self-same birth,
Enduring oft, it often bringing forth.

Dolphins, to the cruell.

O! why embrace not we with Charity
The living, and the dead with Piety?
Giving these succour, sepulture to those:
Even as the Dolphins do themselues expose,
For their liue-fellows, and beneath the Wanes
Cover their dead-ones vnder sandy Graues.

The wilde Kid, to children.

You Children, whom (past hope) the Heav'ns benignity
Hath heapt with wealth, and heaved-vp to dignity,
Doo not forget your Parents: but behould
Th'officious Kids, who (when their Parents ould,
With heavy Gyves, Elds trembling fever stops,
And fetters-fast vpon the Mountain-tops)
As carefull purveiours, bring them home to brouz
The tendrest tops of all the slendrest boughs;
And sip (self-thirst-less) of the Rivers brink,
Which in their mouths they bring them home to drink.

The Spiders, to Man and Wife.

For House-hold Rules, read not the learned Writs
Of the Stagirian (glory of good wits):
Nor his, whom, for his hony-steeped stile,
They Proverbiz'd the Attick Muse yer-while:

153

Sith th'onely Spider teacheth every one
The Husbands and the Huswifes function.
For, for their food the valiant Male doth roam;
The cunning Female tends her work at home:
Out of her bowels wooll and yarn she spitteth,
And all that else her learned labour fitteth:
Her waight's the spindle that doth twist the twine,
Which her small fingers draw so ev'n and fine.
Still at the Centre she her warp begins,
Then round (at length) her little threds she pins,
And equall distance to their compass leaues:
Then, neat and nimbly her new web she weaues,
With her fine shuttle circularly drawn
Through all the circuit of her open lawn;
Open, lest else th'vngentle Windes should tear
Her cipres Tent (weaker then any hair)
And that the foolish Fly might easier get
Within the meshes of her curious Net:
Which he no sooner doth begin to shake,
But straight the Male doth to the Centre make,
That he may conquer more securely there
The humming Creature hampred in his snare.

You Kings (that bear the sword of iust Hostility)

The Lion, to Kings.

Pursue the Proud, and pardon true Humility;
Like noble Lions that do neuer showe
Their strength and stomach on a yeelding Foe,
But rather through the stoutest throngs do forrage,
'Mid thousand Deaths to shew their daunt-less courage.

Thou sluggard (if thou list to learn thy part)

The Emmet and Hedge-hog to the slothfull.

Go learn the Emmets and the Vrchins Art;
In Summer th'one, in Autumn th'other takes
The Seasons fruits, and thence provision makes,
Each in his Lodging laying vp a hoord
Against cold Winter, which doth nought affoord.

But, Reader, we resemble one that windes

Man may finde in himself excellent instructions.

From Saba, Bandan, and the wealthy Indes
(Through threatning Seas, and dangers manifold)
To seek far-off for Incense, Spice and Gold;
Sith we, not loosing from our proper Strand,
Finde all wherein a happy life doth stand;
And our own Bodies self-contained motions
Giue the most gross a hundred goodly Notions.

You Princes, Pastors, and ye Chiefs of War,

The head teacheth all persons in authority.

Do not your Laws, Sermons and Orders mar;
Lest your examples banefull leprosies
Infect your Subiects, Flocks, and Companies;
Beware, your euill make not others like:
For, no part's sound if once the Head be sick.

154

The Eys instruct Princes and Noble-men.

You Peers, O do not, through self-partiall zeale,
With light-brain'd Counsels vex your Common-weal:
But, as both Eys do but One thing behould,
Let each his Countries common good vp-hould.

The Teeth, such as trauell for others.

You that for Others trauell day and night,
With much-much labour, and small benefit,
Behould the Teeth, which Toul-free grinde the food,
From whence themselues do reap more grief then good.

The Heart, the Ministers of the Word.

Euen as the Heart hath not a Moments rest,
But night and day moues in our panting brest,
That by his beating it may still impart
The lively spirits about to every part:
So those, to whom God doth his Flock betake,
Ought alwayes study, alwayes work, and wake,
To breathe (by Doctrin and good Conversation)
The quickning spirit into their Congregation.

The Stomach, the same.

And as the Stomach from the holesom food
Diuides the grosser part (which is not good)
They ought from false the truth to separate,
Error from Faith, and Cockle from the Wheat,
To make the best receiv'd for nourishment,
The bad cast forth as filthy excrement.

The Hands, all Christians to Charity.

If Bat or Blade doo threaten sudden harm
To belly, brest, or leg, or head, or arm,
With dread-less dread the Hand doth ward the blowe,
Taking herself her brethrens bleeding woe:
Then 'mid the shock of sacrilegious Arms
That fill the world with bloud and boistrous storms,
Shall we not lend our helping hands to others,
Whom Faith hath made more neer and dear then Brothers?

The whole body, the whole society of mankinde, that euery one ought to stand in his own vocation.

Nor can I see, where vnderneath the Sky
A man may finde a iuster Policy,
Or truer Image of a calme Estate
Exempt from Faction, Discord and Debate,
Then in th'harmonious Order that maintains
Our Bodies life, through Members mutuall pains:
Where, one no sooner feels the least offence,
But all the rest haue of the same a sense.
The Foot striues not to smell, the Nose to walk,
The Tongue to combat, nor the Hand to talk:
But, without troubling of their Common-weal
With mutinies, they (voluntary) deal
Each in his Office and Heav'n-pointed place,
Be 't vile or honest, honoured or base.

But, soft my Muse: what? wilt thou re-repeat
The Little-Worlds admired Modulet?
If twice or thrice one and the same we bring,
'Tis teadious; how-euer sweet we sing.

155

Therefore a-shoar: Mates, let our Anchor fall:
Heer blowes no Winde: heer are we Welcom all.
Besides, consider and conceiue (I pray)
W' haue row'd sufficient for a Sabbath Day.

The End Of The First Week.