Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects Occasionally Composed By An Eminent Author. Collected and Published by Sergeant-Major P. F. [i.e. James Howell] |
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Of the strange vertu of VVords,
Before The Great NOMENCLATURA;
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 | Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects |  |
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Of the strange vertu of VVords, Before The Great NOMENCLATURA;
Wherein are the proper Terms in four Languages belonging to Arts Mechanical and Liberal:
Words
are the Souls Ambassadors, who go
Abroad upon her Arrands to and fro.
They are the sole Expounders of the mind,
And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind.
They are those Airy Keys that ope (and wrest
Sometimes) the Locks and Hinges of the Breast.
By Them the Heart makes Sallies: VVit and Sence
Belong to Them: They are the Quintessence
Of those Ideas which the Thoughts distil,
And so calcine and melt again, until
They drop forth into Accents in whom lies
The Salt of Fancy, and all Faculties.
Abroad upon her Arrands to and fro.
They are the sole Expounders of the mind,
And correspondence keep 'twixt all mankind.
They are those Airy Keys that ope (and wrest
Sometimes) the Locks and Hinges of the Breast.
By Them the Heart makes Sallies: VVit and Sence
Belong to Them: They are the Quintessence
Of those Ideas which the Thoughts distil,
And so calcine and melt again, until
They drop forth into Accents in whom lies
The Salt of Fancy, and all Faculties.
The World was fram'd by the Eternal Word,
VVho to each Creture did a name afford;
And such an Union made 'twixt Words and Things,
That ev'ry Name a Nature with it brings.
VVho to each Creture did a name afford;
And such an Union made 'twixt Words and Things,
That ev'ry Name a Nature with it brings.
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Words do involve the greatest mysteries:
By Them the Jew into his Cabal pries.
The Chymik says, In Stones, in Herbs, in Words,
Nature for ev'ry thing a cure affords.
Nay, some have found the Glorious Stars to be
But Letters set in an Orthography
The Fate of Kings and Empires to foretel,
VVith all things els below, could we them spell.
By Them the Jew into his Cabal pries.
The Chymik says, In Stones, in Herbs, in Words,
Nature for ev'ry thing a cure affords.
Nay, some have found the Glorious Stars to be
But Letters set in an Orthography
The Fate of Kings and Empires to foretel,
VVith all things els below, could we them spell.
That gran distinction between Man and Brute,
VVe may to Language chiefly attribute.
The Lyon roars, the Elephant doth bray;
The Bull doth bellow, and the Horse doth neigh:
Man speaks: 'Tis only man can Words create,
And cut the Air to sounds articulate
By Natures special Charter. Nay, Speech can
Make a shrewd discrepance 'twixt Man and Man.
It doth the Gentleman from Clown discover;
And from a Fool the grave Philosopher:
As Solon said to one in Judgement weak,
I thought thee wise until I heard thee speak.
For Words in man bear the most Critick part:
VVe speak by Nature, but speak well by Art.
And as good Bells we judge of by the sound,
So a Wise man by Words well plac'd is found.
Therefore it may be call'd no vain pretence,
VVhen 'mong the rest the Toung would be a Sence,
The Toung's the Rudder which mans fancy guides,
VVhilst on this worlds tempestuous Seas he rides.
VVe may to Language chiefly attribute.
The Lyon roars, the Elephant doth bray;
The Bull doth bellow, and the Horse doth neigh:
Man speaks: 'Tis only man can Words create,
And cut the Air to sounds articulate
By Natures special Charter. Nay, Speech can
Make a shrewd discrepance 'twixt Man and Man.
It doth the Gentleman from Clown discover;
And from a Fool the grave Philosopher:
As Solon said to one in Judgement weak,
I thought thee wise until I heard thee speak.
For Words in man bear the most Critick part:
VVe speak by Nature, but speak well by Art.
And as good Bells we judge of by the sound,
So a Wise man by Words well plac'd is found.
Therefore it may be call'd no vain pretence,
VVhen 'mong the rest the Toung would be a Sence,
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VVhilst on this worlds tempestuous Seas he rides.
Words are the Life of Knowledge; They set free,
And bring forth Truth by way of Midwifry:
The activ'st Cretures of the teeming Brain;
The Judges who the inward man arraign:
Reasons chief Engin and Artillery
To batter Error, and make Falshood fly:
The Canons of the minde, who sometimes bounce
Nothing but VVar, then Peace again pronounce.
The Rabbins say, Such is the strength of VVords,
That they make deeper VVounds then Spears or Swords.
This Book may then be call'd a Magazine
Of Arms and Words: It keeps, and doth combine
Four Toungs: 'tis like a Frame on divers VVheels;
One follows still the other at the heels.
The smooth Italian, and the nimble Frank,
The long-lung'd Spanish march all in a rank:
The English heads them, so commands the Van;
And reson good in this Meridian.
But Spain brings up the Rear, because we know
Her Counsels are so long, and Pace so slow.
And bring forth Truth by way of Midwifry:
The activ'st Cretures of the teeming Brain;
The Judges who the inward man arraign:
Reasons chief Engin and Artillery
To batter Error, and make Falshood fly:
The Canons of the minde, who sometimes bounce
Nothing but VVar, then Peace again pronounce.
The Rabbins say, Such is the strength of VVords,
That they make deeper VVounds then Spears or Swords.
This Book may then be call'd a Magazine
Of Arms and Words: It keeps, and doth combine
Four Toungs: 'tis like a Frame on divers VVheels;
One follows still the other at the heels.
The smooth Italian, and the nimble Frank,
The long-lung'd Spanish march all in a rank:
The English heads them, so commands the Van;
And reson good in this Meridian.
But Spain brings up the Rear, because we know
Her Counsels are so long, and Pace so slow.
| Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects | |