All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet Being Sixty and three in Number. Collected into one Volume by the Author [i.e. John Taylor]: With sundry new Additions, corrected, reuised, and newly Imprinted |
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| THE PRAISE AND VERTVE OF a JAYLE and JAYLERS:
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 | All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet |  |
THE PRAISE AND VERTVE OF a JAYLE and JAYLERS:
WITH THE MOST EXCELLENT MYSTERIE, and necessary vse of all sorts of Hanging.
ALSO A TOVCH AT Tybvrne FOR A PERIOD, AND THE Avthors FREE LEAVE TO LET THEM be hangd, who are offended at the Booke without cause.
Dedicated To the Sensible, Reasonable, Affable, Amiable, Acceptable, minded, Honourable, in VVit, Iudgement, and Vnderstanding Able, Robert Rugge Gentleman, Reare Adelantado of the Holy Iland, the Fairne, and the Staples, on the Coast of Northumbria.
No hanging Tap'strie, Quilt, or Couerlet,This dedication of my wit could get:
No Mattresse, Blanket, Sheet, or Featherbed,
Could haue these labours of my working head:
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My inclination still hath lou'd a Rugge:
Which makes my thankefull Muse thus bold to be,
To consecrate this worthlesse worth to thee:
Thou that within those happy Iles doest bide,
Which Neptunes waues doe from our Land diuide,
Where in the Holy Iland stands a Fort
That can defend, and iniuries retort:
That doth command a goodly Hauen nigh,
Wherein a hundred ships may safely lye:
Thou in the Fairne and Staples bearst such sway,
That all the dwellers there doe thee obey:
Where Fowle are all thy faire inhabitants,
Where thou (Commander of the Cormorants)
Grand Gouernour of Guls, of Geese and Ganders,
O'r whom thou art none of the least Commanders:
Whereas sometimes thou canst not stirre thy legs,
But thou must tread on tributary egs:
For they like honest, true, plaine-dealing folkes,
Pay thee the custome of their whites and yolkes,
Which to thy friends oft-times transported be,
As late thou sentst a barrell-full to me:
And in requitall to so good a friend,
This Prison, and this Hanging here I send.
Because within the Fairne and Staples too,
The dwellers doe as they doe please to doe
Their pride and lust, their stealing and their treason,
Is all imputed to their want of reason:
I therefore haue made bold to send thee this,
To shew them what a Iayle and Hanging is.
Thou hast from Hermes suck'd the Quintessence
Of quicke Inuention, and of Eloquence:
And thou so well doest loue good wittie Bookes,
That makes thee like Apollo in thy lookes:
For nature hath thy visage so much grac'd,
That there's the ensigne of true friendship plac'd.
A chaulkie face, that's like a pewter spoone,
Or buttermilke, or greene cheese, or the moone,
Are either such as kill themselues with care,
Or hide-bound miserable wretches are.
Giue me the man, whose colour and prospect,
Like Titan when it doth on gold reflect;
And if his purse be equall to his will,
Hee'l then be frolicke, free, and iouiall still:
And such a one (my worthy friend) art thou,
To whom I dedicate this Pamphlet now;
And I implore the Heau'ns to proue so kinde,
To keepe thy state according to thy minde.
Yours with my best wishes, Iohn Taylor.
Reader, you must note, that this Gentleman did send me from the Fairne Iland, a barrell of Gulls and Cormorant egges, by the eating of which, I haue attained to the vnderstanding of many words which our Gulls and Cormorants doe speaks here about London.
The Fairne Iland standing 7. miles from the Holy Iland into the Sea, the Holy Iland stands seuen miles from Barwicke. In the Fairne all sorts of Sea-fowle breed in such abundance, as you cannot step but vpon Egges or Fowle: They misse not to lay on Saint Markes day, and a fortnight after Lammas there is none to be seene. The Staple Ilands belong to the Fairne, and stand two miles from it into the Sea, where the Fowle vpon the rockes (like pinacles) are so thicke both vpon the sides, and vpon the tops, and with such curiosity build their nests, as the wit of man cannot lay that egge in his place againe that is once taken vp, to abide in the same place. Vpon their flight the Sea is couered for halfe a mile, and the heauens aboue head obscured for the present.
There is but one house there, all the dwellers else being Sea-fowle, vvho will neither know offences nor punishments.
THE VERTVE OF A IAYLE, AND NECESSITIE OF HANGING.
My free-borne Muse of bondage rudely treats,And strange vagaries in my Brain-pan beats:
Whilst I vnmaske, vnuisor, or vnueile
The vertues of a Iaylor and a Iayle:
And then of Hanging, and the Hang-mans art
My lines doe end, and at the Gallowes part:
First, I doe finde in Histories enrold,
Iayles for antiquity, are very old:
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That he his Masters Wife would haue abus'd.)
And all the world doth vnderstand, a Prison
Is not an vpstart Fable newly risen.
And Ieremie was vnder bolts and locks,
By Pashur once imprison'd in the stocks:
And after that he twice was put in thrall,
For true foretelling Israel, Iudah's fall.
The Sacred Histories doe well declare,
That Prisons for their time most ancient are.
Yet though my lines doe speake of Iayles, I see
That mine inuention and my Muse is free:
And I doe finde the name of Prisone, frames
Significant alluding Anagrams.
As thus.
1. Prisone. Anagramma. Nip Sore.
There men are Nip'd with mischiefes manifold,With losse of freedome, hunger, thirst, & cold,
With mourning shirts, and sheets, & lice some store,
And thus a Prison truely doth Nip sore.
2. Prisone. Anagramma. In Ropes.
Againe the very word portends small hopes,For he that's in a Prisone, is In Ropes.
3. Prisone Anagramma. In Prose.
To all good verses, Prisons are great foes,And many Poets they keepe fast In Prose.
4. Prisone. Anagramma. No Prise.
In deed it is no profit, or No Prise,But woefull purchase of calamities.
The name of Iayles (by letters transposition)
Doth very well discouer their condition.
5. Iayles. Anagramma. I Slaye.
And well it doth befit it euery way,The nature of all Iayles is still to slay:
There are men slaine most strange tormēting waies,
In name, fame, state, and life, with long delayes.
6. Bondage. Anagramma. Bandoge.
And Bondage like a Bandogge still doth gnaw,Fangd with the tushes of the byting law.
7. Iayler. Anagramma. I Rayle.
This doth befit the Iayler wondrous trimme,He at the prisoners railes, and they at him.
8. Aresting. Anagramma. A Stinger.
A Resting very well with this agrees,It is A Stinger worse then Wasps or Bees.
OR, 9. Aresting. Anagramma. In Grates.
This very word includes poore prisoners fates,Aresting briefly claps em vp In Grates.
10. Serieant Anagramma. In Areste.
To turne this word vnto the very best,A Serieant In Areste doth breed vnrest.
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OR, 11. Serieant. Anagramma. In Teares.
In cares and Teares he leaues men to lament,When credit, coyne, and goods, and all are spent.
12. Wardes. Anagramma. Drawes.
A prisoners purse is like a nurse, for why,His Ward or lodging drawes or sucks it dry:
A Iury here of Anagrams, you see,
Of Serieants and of Iailes empanneld be;
And now my pen intends to walke a station,
And talke of Prisons in some other fashion.
That Iailes should be, there is Law, sense and reason,
To punish bawdry, cheating, theft and treason,
Though some against them haue inuective bin,
And call'd a Iaile a magazin of sin,
An Vniuersitie of villany,
An Academy of foule blasphemy,
A sinke of drunkennesse, a den of Thieues,
A treasury for Serieants and for Shrieues,
A mint for Baylifes, Marshals men and Iailers,
Who liue by losses of captiu'd bewailers:
A nurse of Roguery, and an earthly hell,
Where Deu'ls or Iaylers in mens shapes doe dwell:
But I am quite contrary to all this,
I thinke a Iaile a Schoole of vertue is,
A house of study and of contemplation,
A place of discipline and reformation,
There men may try their patience and shall know,
If they haue any friends aliue or no:
There they shall proue if they haue fortitude,
By which all crosses stoutly are subdu'd.
A Prison leades the creditor vnto
His coozning debter, that would him vndoe,
'Tis physicke that preserues the Common-wealth,
Foule treasons snaffle, and the curbe of stealth,
The whip of hellish pride, the scourge of lust,
The goodmans helpe in plaguing the vniust.
Were thieues and villaines not in prison put,
A world of throats (past number) would be cut:
For when diseases are growne desperate, then
They must haue desperate remedies, and when
Men mend not for repoofe, or admonition,
A Iaile then is the Surgeon or Physician.
The roaring Knaue, that like a horse or mule,
His parents, master, or no friends could rule.
But that he daily would be drunke and sweare,
And like a demy-deuill domineere,
Though to good course he neuer meant to bend him,
A prison at the last will mend or end him.
The deeds of darknesse that doe hate the light,
Frays, brawls & bloudshed which start out by night,
The watch like cunning Fowlers lye in wait,
And catch these Woodcocks in their Sprindges strait,
These Birds are in the Iaile mew'd vp from riot,
Where they may learn more manners and be quiet.
A Iail's a glasse wherein old men may see,
The blemish of their youths deformity;
And yong men quickly may perceiue from thence,
The way to wisdome and experience.
And though the lights of prisons are but dim,
A prisoners candle yet may shew to him
At midnight, without light of Sunne or Moone.
More then he euer could perceiue at noone;
It shewes the fleeting state of earthly pelfe,
It makes him wisely learne to know himselfe,
The world vnto his view it represents,
To be a map or masse of discontents,
It shewes his fained friends like butter-flyes,
That dogg'd his summer of prosperities:
And in a word it truly doth set forth
The world, and all that's in it nothing worth.
These things vnto a wisemans iudgement brings,
A hate to earth, and loue to heauenly things.
T'a wise man nothing in a Iaile doth bide,
But it to some good vse may be applide:
He heares a Ruffin sweare, and so doth heare
That he doth stand in feare, and hate to sweare:
He spies another drunke, and so doth spy
That such vnmanly beastlinesse hee'l fly.
He notes the curtall cannes halfe fild with froth,
Tobacco piping hot, and from them both
His iudgement doth discerne, with wisdomes eye,
The world is vapour, froth, and vanity.
His homely bed and vermines sundry formes,
Doe make him mind his graue, & crawling wormes;
The Spiders cobweb, lawne, or tapestry,
Shew odds 'twixt idlenesse and industry.
The churlish keepers, rattling chaines and fetters,
The hole or dungeon for condemned debters,
Blaspheming wretches of all grace bereauen,
Doe make him thinke on hell, and wish for heauen.
And thus though wise mens corps in prison bee,
Their minds are still at liberty and free.
Besides, experience daily teacheth this,
The soule a Prisoner in the body is:
Our Reason should the keeper be to guide,
The Heart doth lodge within the Masters side,
The Braines the Knights ward may be termed fit,
There lies the vnderstanding and the wit:
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Is in the Brest where sad despaire doth lye:
Our Sinnes the Manacles, and Bolts, and Giues,
Which fetter vs in bondage all our liues:
Sad melancholy sorrow, griefe and care,
Continuall waiters in those Prisons are,
Our partiall selfe-loue all our crimes excusing,
Our Consciences true euidence accusing,
Our sighs and teates the Messengers we send
To God, that all our sorrowes may haue end;
And then through faith and hope we doe beleeue,
To gaine a pardon, better than repreeue;
Then lastly, death doth free the soule from thrall,
And makes a Iaile delivery vnto all.
Thus is our flesh the wals, our bones the grates,
Our eyes the windowes, and our mouthes the gates;
The Nose the Chimney, Kitchen is the brest,
Our tongue the taster of the worst and best,
Our hands the Caruers, teeth the Cookes to mince,
The diet of a Peasant or a Prince:
Our hunger is best sawce, as I doe thinke,
Our bellies cellers where we lay our drinke:
And in these corps of ours deciphered thus,
Our soules are prisoners vnto all of vs.
As grace guides vs, so we by grace guide them,
The way vnto the new Ierusalem.
Sterne rugged winter, with frosts, stormes and gusts,
Close prisoners yeerely in the earth it thrusts,
Herbs, roots, flowers, fruits, & worms til sun & raine,
With Summers heat doth baile them forth againe.
But of all men aliue, I find a Tailor
Is an approued artificiall Iailor:
Some doe commit themselues vnto his charge,
And may, but will by no meanes goe at large.
I haue seene many in the Taylors Iaies,
Haue labour'd till they sweat with tooth and nailes,
(The whilst a man might ride fiue miles at least)
To get their clothes together on the brest,
And being then in prison button'd vp,
So close, that scarcely they could bite or sup,
Yet I haue heard their pride how loud it lide,
Protesting that their clothes were made too wide.
These men loue bondage more then liberty,
And 'tis a gallant kinde of foolery,
When thus amongst themselues they haue a Law,
To decke and dawbe the backe, and pinch the Maw.
Me thinkes their soules should be in mighty trouble,
Poore Animals, they are imprison'd double,
In Corps and Clothes, and which is true and plaine,
They seeme to take great pleasure in their paine.
A Shoomaker's a kind of Iailor too,
And very strange exploits he dares to doe:
For many times he hath the power and might,
To clap into his Stocks a Lord or Knight,
The Madam and the Maid he cares not whether,
He laies them all fast by the heeles in lether.
Plaine Honesty and Truth, both Prisoners are,
Although they seldome come vnto the barre,
Yet are they kept so closely day and night,
That in an age they scarsely come in sight.
And but for many of our Countries pillers,
True Tailers, Weauers, and cleane finger d Millers,
Good Serieants and kind Brokers did releeue them,
I know not who would any comfort giue them.
No doubt but many a Lasse that faine would wed,
Is her owne Iailor to her maidenhead,
With much vnwillingnesse she keepes it close,
And with her heart she'l gladly let it lose.
But looke to't wenches, if you giue it scope,
'Tis gone past all recouery, past all hope;
Much like old Time which ceaselesse doth run on,
But neuer doth returne, once being gone.
The Gowt's a sawcy Prisoner, and will haue
His keepers to maintaine him fine and braue;
His Iailors shall no needy beggers be,
But men of honour and of high degree,
And ouer them he beares such great command,
That many times they can nor goe, nor stand;
And if he would breake Iaile and flie; 'tis thought
He by his keepers neuer should be sought.
And money is close Prisoner I thinke sure,
Where no man can its liberty procure:
The Diuels Stewards and his Bailifes vow,
That monies freedome they will not allow,
Vnlesse vnto a Miser or a Whore,
But by all meane fast hold it from the poore.
I wish Coine were as painfull as the Gout,
To those that hoard it; and I make no doubt
But miserable Pailers would agree
To ope their Prisons, and let money flee,
And were it not a lamentable thing,
That some great Emperour or some mighty King
Should be imprison'd by a vassall slaue,
And lodg'd aliue (as twere within his Graue.)
Such is the case of Siluer and of Gold,
The chiefest of all mettals fast in hold,
And darknesse lies held in the Misers stocks,
In steele and iron bars, and bolts and locks.
Though gold and siluer royall mettals be,
Yet are they slaues to yron, at we see.
But leauing Gold and Gowr, Ile turne my pen,
To what I haue digrest from Iayles and men:
Let man examine well himselfe, and he
Shall find himselfe his greatest enemie;
130
He can accuse non for it, but himselfe:
How passions, actions, and affections cluster,
And how to ruinate his state they muster,
His frailty armes his members and his senses,
To vndertake most dangerous pretences.
The backe oft tempts him vnto borrowed brauery,
And all his body suffers for't in slauery;
His Belly tempts him to superfluous fare,
For which his cops lyes in a Iaylors snare;
His Eyes from beauty to his heart drawes lust,
For which he's often into prison thrust;
His Eares giue credit to a knaue or theefe,
And's body suffers for his eares beleefe.
His Tongue much like a Hackney goes all paces,
In City, Country, Court and Campe, all places,
It gallops and false gallops, trots and ambles.
One pace or other still it runnes and rambles:
Of Kings and Princes states it often prattles,
Of Church and Common-wealth it idly tattles,
Of passing of it's word and suretiships,
For which at last the Iayle the carkasse nips.
Mans Hands haue very oft against him warr'd,
And made him of his liberty debarr'd:
A stab, a blow, a dashing of a pen,
Hath clap'd him closely in the Iaylors den.
The Feet which on the ground men daily tread,
The way to their captiuity doe lead.
Now for the inward faculties, I find
Some lye in Prison for their haughty mind,
Some for their folly, some because too wise,
Are mew'd vp in the Iaylors custodies;
Some for much gaming, or for recreation,
Doe make a Iayle their homely habitation;
And thus it plainly may be proued well,
Mans greatest foes within himselfe doe dwell.
And now two contraries I will compare,
To shew how like, and how vnlike they are:
A Iayle, our birth, our death, and setting free,
These foure doe all agree and disagree;
For all degrees, our birth and life we know
Is naturall, one way, for high and low:
But death hath many thousand wayes and snares,
To take our liues away all vnawares.
And therefore of our liues it is no doubt,
That ther's but one way in, and many out;
But to a Iayle there's many waies to win,
Ten thousand tricks and sleights to clap men in:
And ther's but one way out as I doe know,
Which is by satisfying what we owe.
O west thou the Law thy life, dispatch and pay,
And from the Prison thou art freed away:
Dost thou owe mony, quickly pay thy score,
And farewell, goe thy wayes man, there's the dore.
As men in all that's ill, are Satans Apes,
So sundry sinnes bring death in sundry shapes;
Life from the God of life, which is but one,
To all degrees one way giues life alone.
And so our seuerall frailties, seuerall waies
Our wretched Carkasses in prison layes,
But there's but one way out that e'r I saw,
Which is by satisfying of the law.
The faults we doe in spring-time of our youth,
In Summer of our man-hood gather growth:
Then Haruests middle age doth make them ripe,
Which winters old age doth in prison gripe;
And thus the very seasons of the yeare,
Fit emblemes of our thraldome doe appeare.
In London and within a mile, I weene,
There are of Iayles or Prisons full eighteene,
And sixty Whipping-posts, and Stocks and Cages,
Where sin with shame and sorrow hath due wages.
For though the Tower be a Castle Royall,
Yet ther's a Prison in't for men disloyall:
Though for defence a Campe may there be fitted,
Yet for offence, men thither are committed.
It is a house of fame, and there is in't
A Palace for a Prince, a Royall Mint,
Great Ordnance, Powder, Shot, Match, Bils and Bowes,
Shafts, swords, pikes, lāces, shouels, mattocks, crows,
Bright armor, muskets, ready still, I say,
To arme one hundred thousand in a day.
And last, it is a prison vnto those
That doe their Soueraigne or his lawes oppose.
The Gatehouse for a prison was ordain'd,
When in this land the third king Edward reign'd:
Good lodging roomes, and diet it affoords,
But I had rather lye at home on boords.
Since Richards reigne the first, the Fleet hath beene
A Prison, as vpon records is seene:
For lodgings and for bowling, there's large space,
But yet I haue no stomacke to the place.
Old Newgate I perceiue a theevish den,
But yet ther's lodging for good honest men.
When second Henry here the Scepter swaid,
Then the foundation of that gate was laid.
But sixty six yeeres ere our Sauiours birth,
By Lud was Ludgate founded from the earth;
No Iayle for theeues, though some perhaps as bad,
That breake in policie, may there be had.
The Counter in the Powltry is so old,
That it in History is not enrold.
And Woodstreet Counters age we may deriue,
Since Anno fifteene hundred fifty fiue.
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And as they bake, a Gods name let them brew.
Bridewell vnto my memory comes next;
Where idlenesse and lechery is vext:
This is a royall house, of state and port,
Which the eighth King Henry built, and there kept Court.
King Edward somewhat ere his timelesse fall,
Gaue it away to be an Hospitall:
Which vse the City puts it well vnto,
And many pious deeds they there doe doo:
But yet for Vagabonds and Runnagates,
For Whores, and idle knaues, and such like mates,
'Tis little better then a Iayle to those,
Where they chop chalke, for meat and drinke and blowes.
In this house those that 'gainst their wils doe dwell,
Loue well a Bride (perhaps) but not Bridewell.
Fiue Iayles or Prisons are in Southwarke plac'd,
The Counter (once S. Margrets Church defac'd)
The Marshalsea, the Kings Bench, and White Lyon,
Where some like Tantalus, or like Ixion.
The pinching paine of hunger daily feele,
Turn'd vp and downe with fickle fortunes wheele:
And some doe willingly make there abode,
Because they cannot liue so well abroad.
Then ther's the Clinke, where handsome lodgings be,
And much good may it doe them all, for me.
Crosse but the Thames vnto S. Katherins then,
There is another hole or den for men.
Another in East-Smithfield little better,
Will serue to hold a theefe or paltry debter.
Then neere three Cranes a Iayle for Hereticks,
For Brownists, Familists, and Schismaticks.
Lord Wentworths Iayle within White Chappell stands,
And Finsbury, God blesse me from their hands.
These eighteene Iayles so neere the Citty bounded,
Are founded and maintain'd by men confounded:
As one mans meat may be anothers bane,
The Keepers full, springs from the Prisners wane:
This hath beene still the vse, and euer will,
That one mans welfare comes from others ill.
But (as I said) mans selfe is cause of all
The miseries that to him can befall.
Note but our corps, how euery member lyes,
Their seuerall offices, and faculties:
And our owne iudgement will informe vs than,
The likenesse 'twixt a prison and a man:
For as man hath his limbs and linaments,
His sinewes, muscles, nerues, and ligaments:
His Panicles, his Arteries, his Veines,
His ioynts, his membranes, and his beating braines:
So hath a Iayle, Writs, Warrants, & Attachments,
Arestings, Actions, Hues, Cries, & Appeachments:
With Garnish, Sharing fees, and Habeas Corpus,
(Which feede some Iaylors fatter than a Porpus)
And last, for euerlasting Executions,
Vntill the prisoners bodies dissolutions;
And if a man be hurt in legge or arme,
Or head, or heele, 'tis said the man hath harme:
If inward griefe doe pinch in any part,
The anguish is a terror to the heart;
And should a Iayle want these things nam'd before,
It quickly would be miserable poore:
Like men dismembred or of sense bereft,
With scarcely any life or being left.
For in mans corps (like prisners) alwayes lies
His vertues, and his foule iniquities.
And which of these his fancie liketh best,
Shall still be kept in bondage, or releast.
As Wisdome, Bounty, and Humilitie,
(Despised in these dayes of vanitie)
Some keepe so close, not suffering them to walke,
So much as in bare thoughts, or deeds, or talke,
Whilst Folly, and close-fisted Niggardize,
With Barbarisme, haue ease and liberties.
Faith, Hope and Charitie, are pent vp close,
And doubts, despaire and cruelty let loose.
Lust reuels it, rich clad in Robes of Pride:
Friendship and Loue, are liberty denide,
Whereby the liberall Arts in number seuen,
Are of their liberall liberties bereauen,
The whilst the seuen delightfull deadly sinnes,
The game and glory of the whole world wins.
The Cardnall vertues, as vnworthy prices,
Are made but vassals to all Carnall vices.
The Muses are mew'd vp, with woes and wants,
Whilst fortune followes knaues and Ignorants:
And thus within mans little Common-weale,
He like a partiall Iaylor oft doth deale:
Permits his goodnesse neuer to appeare,
And lets his badnesse ramble any where,
So Rorers, Rascals, Banquerouts politicke,
With money, or with friends will finde a tricke
Their Iaylor to corrupt, and at their will
They walke abroad, and take their pleasure still:
Whilst naked vertue, beggerly, despis'd,
Beleguerd round, with miseries surpris'd,
Of hope of any liberty defeated,
For passing of his word is meerely cheated:
And dungeond vp, may tell the wals his mones,
And make relation to the senselesse stones,
Where sighs and grones, & teares may be his feast.
Whil'st man to man, is worse than beast to beast.
Till death he there must take his sad abode,
Whil'st craft and coozenage walke at will abroad.
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Man to a Iayle may fitly likened bee:
The thought whereof may make him wish with speed
To haue his prisoned soule releast and freed.
Thus Iayles and meditations of a Iayle,
May serue a Christian for his great auaile.
But now my Muse, thus long in bondage pent,
Begins to thinke of her infranchizement:
And hauing of a Prison spoke her part,
She mounts vnto the Hangman and his Art.
Wee are all borne im one forme, and come into the world of one fashion, but wee dye and leaue the world infinite wayes.
Besides Poleaxes, Partizans, Halberts, Iauelins, Battleaxes, Crosbowes, halfe Pikes, Pistoles, and Petronels.
THE NECESSITIE OF Hanging.
Of Hangings there's diuersity of fashions,Almost as many as are sundry Nations:
For in the world all things so hanged are,
That any thing vnhang'd is strange and rare.
Earth hangs in the concauity of Water,
And Water hangs within the Ayerie matter,
The Ayre hangs in the Fierie continent:
Thus Element doth hang in Element,
(Without foundation) all the Massie Globe
Hangs, which the skies encompasse like a Robe,
For as an egge, the yolke within the white,
The white within the skin's enuellop'd quite,
The skin within the shell doth outmost lye:
Eu'n so these Elements hang midst the skie.
First, all the world where mortals liue, we see
Within the Orbe of Luna hanged be;
Aboue her, Mercurie his course doth steere,
And next aboue him is bright Venus Sphere.
And in the fourth, and middle firmament,
Sol keepes his hot and fiery Regiment.
Next aboue that runs Mars, that star of warre:
Beyond him Iupiter, that Iouiall starre;
Then last is sullen Saturnes ample bounds,
Who once in thirty yeeres the world surrounds;
This earthly Globe (for which men fight & brawle)
Compar'd to Heauen, is like an Artom small,
Or as a Needles point compar'd to it,
So it to Heauen may be compared fit;
And it doth Hang, and hath its residence
I'th centre of the skies circumference.
Thus to proue Hanging naturall, I proue,
We in a Hanging world doe liue and moue.
Man is a little world, wherein we see.
The great worlds abstract or epitomie.
And if we note each linament and lim,
There are not many parts vnhang'd of him;
His haire which to his head and beard belongs,
Hangs, if not turn'd vp with the Barbers tongs,
His armes, his hands, his legges and feet we know,
Doe all hang pendant downewards as they grow:
Ther's nothing of him that doth hanging skip,
Except his eares, his nether teeth and lip,
And when he's crost or sullen any way,
He mumps, and lowres, and hangs the lip, they say:
That I a wise mans sayings must approue,
Man is a tree, whose root doth grow aboue,
Within his braines, whose sprigs & branches round,
From head to foot grow downward to the ground.
Thus world to world, and man to man doth call,
And tels him, Hanging is most naturall:
The word Dependant doth informe our reason,
That Hanging will be neuer out of season.
All that depends doth hang, which doth expresse,
That Great men are like Iybbets for the lesse.
It is an old phrase, many yeeres past gone,
That such a Lord hath many hangers on;
Thereby describing, that all mens Attendants
As it were hangers on, were call'd Dependants:
And sure of all men, they are best indeed,
Who haue most hangers on to cloath and feed;
For he that hath the meanes, and not the grace,
To helpe the needie, is a Miser base.
Hee's no good Steward, but a hatefull Thiefe,
That keepes from good Dependants their reliefe:
And of all Theeues, he hanging doth deserue,
Who hath the power to feed, and lets men sterue.
To end this point, this consequence I'll grant,
He that hath wealth, no hangers on can want;
For since the time that mankinde first began,
It is a destinie ordain'd to man,
The meane vpon the mighty should depend,
And all vpon the Mightiest should attend.
Thus through all ages, Countries and Dominions,
We each on other hang like ropes of Onions.
Some wealthy slaues, whose consciences condem,
Will hang themselues, lest others hang on them;
And some spend all on Hangers on so fast,
That they are forc'd to steale, and hang at last.
If they from these Extremes themselues could wean,
There is betwixt them both a Golden meane,
Which would direct their superfluities,
They would not hang themselues for niggardize,
Nor wastefully or prodigally spend,
Till want bring them to hanging in the end,
And they and many others, by their purse,
Might scape that hanging which is cald a curse.
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Of Gold and Veluet, Silke, and Spanish leather,
Whose ragged Hangers on haue mou'd my minde,
To see pride goe before, and shame behinde,
With scarce a button, or an elboe whole,
A breech, or any shooe that's worth a sole:
Those that like golden lybbets, and their traines
Are like poore tatter'd Theeues hang'd vp in chains.
He that doth suffer Whores, or Theeues, or Knaues,
Base flattering Villaines, or such kinde of slaues,
To hang vpon him, and knowes what they are,
That man vnto a Gallowse I compare.
That Vintner I account no friend of mine,
Who for good money drawes me scuruie wine,
And by the rule of Conscience (not of Law)
That he is fitter made to hang, then draw.
The Lawyer that at length doth spin mens causes,
With false delayes, and dilatory clauses,
Who makes a trade to broach and draw contention,
For him a hanging were a good preuention.
But holla, Muse, come backe, you beare my Rime,
To hanging in good earnest ere the time.
There are a many sorts of hangings yet
Behinde, which I by no meanes must forget:
One hanging is a necessary thing,
Which is a pretty gamball, cald a Swing,
And men of good repute I oft haue seene
To hang, and stretch, and totter, for the spleene:
This hanging is a military course,
Not by the Law, but strength of armes, and force:
Thus euery morning for a little spurt,
A man may hang himselfe, and doe no hurt.
This hanging oft (like Tyburne hath a tricke,
Saues charge of physicke, or of being sicke.
Besides, the word Hang is so much in vse,
That few or none will take't as an abuse;
It doth a great mans kindnesse much approue,
When he shall bid a man Be hang'd in loue:
And with some men 'tis common courtesie,
To say, Farewell, be hang'd, that's twice God bwy.
The pictures of the dearest friends we haue,
Although their corps are rotten in the graue,
We hang them for a reuerend memory
To vs, and vnto our posterity.
Some hang their wiues in picture, which haue cause
To hang their persons, wer't not for the lawes:
Some hang their heires in picture, who would faine
Wish their good fathers hang'd, their lands to gaine.
I oft haue seene good garments for mens wearing,
Haue very thriftily beene hang'd to ayring;
And I haue seen those garments (like good fellows)
Hang kindly with their master at the Gallowse,
And then into the Hangmans Wardrobe drop,
Haue beene againe hang'd in a Broakers shop,
Which after by a Cut purse bought might be;
And make another iourney to the Tree;
Twixt which, and twixt the Broaker, it might goe
Or ride, some twelue or thirteene times, or moe.
Thus th' hangmans haruest, and the Brokers grow,
They reape the crop, which sin and shame doth sow.
There are rich Hangings made of Tapestrie,
Of Arras, and of braue embrodery;
Those are for Princes, and for men of worth,
T'adorne their roomes, and set their greatnes forth.
But as dead bones in painted Tombes doe bide,
These Hangings, filthy rotten wals doe hide.
A Harts-horne to a post fast nailed on,
Serues well for men to hang their hats vpon:
But if they knew their heads would serue the turne,
They would not shift their hats from horne to horn.
Mens swords in Hangers Hang, fast by their side,
Their Stirrops Hang, when as they vse to ride:
Our Conies and our Deere are Hang'd in toiles,
Our meat hangs o'r the fire when as it boiles;
Our light Hangs in the Lanthorne, all men sees
Our fruit wee eat was hang'd vpon the trees,
Signes hang on posts, shew whereas tradsmen dwels,
In steeples all men know are Hang'd the Bels,
The scales or ballance hangs where things are weigh'd
Goods Hang'd in Craines, that's in or out conuei'd;
Yards, sailes, sheets, tacks, lists, caskets, bolins, braces,
Are fitly hang'd in their conuenient places.
The compasse that directs where windes doe blow,
Is Hang'd vpon the Needles point we know:
In stately buildings, Timber, Lead and Stone,
Are Hang'd and hoist, or Buildings would be none.
Our Maps wherein the world described be,
Are all Hang'd vp against the wals we see:
Our Cazements Hang as they doe ope and shut,
Our Curtaines Hang, which 'bout our beds we put;
Our Hogs are Hang'd, else Bacon we might looke.
Doores Hang on hinges, or I am mistooke;
And many a trusty Padlocke Hangs no doubt,
To let in honest men, and keepe knaues out.
Sea-Cabins Hang, where poore men sleepe and rest,
Our Clokes Hang on our backs 'tis manifest:
The Viall, Citterne, the Bandore and Lute,
Are cas'd or vncas'd, all Hang'd vp and mute:
Our Linnen (being wash'd) must Hang to dry,
Or else Lice will Hang on and multiply:
Thus Hanging's beneficiall to all States,
Whilst Gods dread curse Hangs o'r the reprobates.
And as for those that take my lines amis,
And will be pleas'd to be displeas'd with this,
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I'll giue them all leaue to be Hang'd together;
Since Hanging then is prou'd so naturall,
So beneficiall, so generall,
So apt, so necessary, and so fit,
Our reason tels vs we should honour it.
It is a good mans life, and 'tis their death,
That rob and rifle men of goods and breath:
This kind of Hanging all offences ends,
From which God euer blesse me and my friends.
I from the Hangman this conclusion draw,
He is the fatall period of the Law:
If thieues or traytors into mischiefe runne,
If he haue done with them, then they haue done.
'Tis often seene that many haplesse men
Haue beene condemn'd and iudg'd, reprieu'd agen,
And pardon'd, haue committed new transgressions,
And in againe oft many a Size and Sessions:
When many warnings mend them not therefore,
The Hangman warnes them, they offend no more.
Hee's the Catastrophe and Epilogue
Of many of the desperate Catalogue;
And he is one that cannot wanted be,
But still God keepe him farre enough from me.
All the world is in comparison for greatnesse to the Heauens, as a hand-worme or a Nit may be compared to the world.
If all traitors, hypocrites, flatterers, extortioners, oppressours, bribetakers, cheaters, panders, bawds, &c. were hang'd vp in the woods on seuerall trees, there is no Arras, or Tapestry can grace and adorne a Princes Court, as those Hangings could become a Common-wealth.
THE DESCRIPTION OF TYBVRNE.
I haue heard sundry men oft times disputeOf trees, that in one yeere will twice beare fruit.
But if a man note Tyburne, 'will appeare,
That that's a tree that beares twelue times a yeere.
I muse it should so fruitfull be, for why
I vnderstand the root of it is dry,
It beares no leafe, no blossome, or no bud,
The raine that makes it fructifie is bloud.
I further note, the fruit which it produces,
Doth seldome serue for profitable vses:
Except the skilfull Surgions industry
Doe make Desection Anatomy.
It blossomes, buds, and beares, all three together,
And in one houre, doth liue, and die, and wither.
Like Sodom Apples, they are in conceit,
For touch'd, they turne to dust and ashes streight.
Besides I find this tree hath neuer bin
Like other fruit trees, wall'd or hedged in,
But in the high-way standing many a yeere,
It neuer yet was rob'd, as I could heare.
The reason is apparent to our eyes,
That what it beares, are dead commodities:
And yet sometimes (such grace to it is giuen)
The dying fruit is well prepar'd for heauen,
And many times a man may gather thence
Remorse, deuotion, and true penitence.
And from that tree, I thinke more soules ascend
To that Cœlestiall ioy, which ne'r shall end:
I say, more soules from thence to heau'n doe come,
Than from all Church-yards throughout Christendome.
The reason is, the bodies all are dead,
And all the soules to ioy or woe are fled.
Perhaps a weeke, a day, or two, or three,
Before they in the Church-yards buried bee.
But at this Tree, in twinkling of an eye,
The soule and body part immediatly,
There death the fatall parting blow doth strike,
And in Church-yards is seldome seene the like.
Besides, they are assisted with the almes
Of peoples charitable prayers, and Psalmes,
Which are the wings that lift the hou'ring spirit,
By faith, through grace, true glory to inherit.
Concerning this dead fruit, I noted it,
In stead of paste it's put into a pit,
And laid vp carefully in any place,
Yet worme-eaten it growes in little space.
My vnderstanding can by no meanes frame,
To giue this Tyburne fruit a fitter name,
Than Medlers, for I find that great and small,
(To my capacity) are Medlers all.
Some say they are Choak'd peares, and some againe
Doe call them Hartie Choakes, but 'tis most plaine,
It is a kinde of Medler it doth beare,
Or else I thinke it neuer would come there.
Moreouer where it growes, I find it true,
It often turnes the Herke of grace to Rue.
Amongst all Pot-herbes growing on the ground,
Time is the least respected, I haue found,
And most abus'd, and therefore one shall see
No branch or bud of it grow neere this Tree:
For 'tis occasion of mans greatest crime,
To turne the vse, into abuse, of Time.
When passions are let loose without a bridle,
Then precious Time is turnd to Loue and Idle:
And that's the chiefest reason I can show,
Why fruit so often doth on Tyburne grow.
There are inferiour Gallowses which beare
(According to the season) twice a yeare:
And there's a kinde of watrish Tree at Wapping,
Wheras Sea-theeues or Pirats are catch'd napping:
But Tyburne doth deserue before them all
The title and addition capitall,
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Whilst all the rest like ragged Laqueyes stand;
It hath (like Luna) full, and change, and quarters,
It (like a Merchant) monthly trucks and barters;
But all the other Gallowses are fit,
Like Chapmen, or poore Pedlers vnto it.
Thus Iayles and Iaylors being here explain'd,
How both are good, and for good vse ordain'd:
All sorts of Hanging which I could surmise,
I likewise haue describ'd before your eyes;
And further hauing shew'd what Tyburne is,
With many more inferiour Gallowsis,
My pen from paper with this Prayer doth part,
God blesse all people from their sinnes desart.
FINIS.
Except Pauls Churchyard and Saint Gregories, where many inhabitants are dwelling, as Drapers, Stationers, empty Trunk and Tragicall blacke Bottle-makers, who now and then doe dye there; whom I doe verily beleeue haue soules. Also I except the Close at Salisbury, with all Cathedrall Churchyards, and others, where any body dwels, if it be but a Sumner, or a Sexton.
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