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 |
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| 4. | THE FOVRTH DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK. |
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 | Du Bartas |  |
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.
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:
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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.
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.
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.
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,
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.
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
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With sober speed, brings what he hath begun.
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.
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
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.
Do turn so swiftly from our hand and eye,
That man can neuer (rightly) reach, to seeing
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
(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.
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.
Whose busie-idle stile so stifly vrges,
The Heav'ns bright Cressets to be living creatures,
Ranging for food, and hungry fodder-eaters;
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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
Selfs-motion) turn with others turns about.
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
Selfs-motion) turn with others turns about.
As th'Ague sicke, vpon his shivering pallet,
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.
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.
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.
Equally distant should continue still.
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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:
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.
T'assaile the reasons of Copernicus;
Who, to salue better of the Stars th'appearance,
Vnto the Earth a three-fold motion warrants:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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
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.
Had need inuent som new Arithmetick;
77
Had need for Counters take the Ocean's sand:
Yet haue our wise and learned Elders found
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
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 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.
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 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;
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:
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,
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,
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,
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
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.
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,
With two bright Lamps couers his loathsom brest;
And fain, from both ends, with his double sting,
Would spet his venom over everything;
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.
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.
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
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.
Thou buttest brauely 'gainst the New years bound;
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:
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,
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,
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,
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
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.
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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,
With two bright Lamps couers his loathsom brest;
And fain, from both ends, with his double sting,
Would spet his venom over everything;
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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;
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.
With Art-less Art, diuinely excellent;
Th'Almighties finger fixed many a million
Of golden Scutchions in that rich Pavillion:
79
But one a-peece, vnto the severall Seav'n;
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
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
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.
He made to twinkle with such trembling capers
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
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.
Now as the Winde, buffing vpon a Hill
With roaring breath against a ready Mill,
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.
With roaring breath against a ready Mill,
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,
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
(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.
So straightly subiect to anothers will,
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,
80
At once they poste to two contrary places:
Like as my selfe, in my lost Marchant-years
(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.
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.
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 which th'vn-niggard hand of Maiesty
Poudred so thick with Shields so shining cleer,
Spends in his voyage nigh seaven thousand yeer.
The which th'vn-niggard hand of Maiesty
Poudred so thick with Shields so shining cleer,
Spends in his voyage nigh seaven thousand yeer.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Fair dainty Venus, whose free vertues milde
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.
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,
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.
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,
Regent of humors, parting Months aright,
Chaste Emperess, to one Endymion constant;
Constant in Loue, though in thy looks inconstant
(Vnlike our Loues, whose hearts dissemble soonest)
Twelue times a year through all the Zodiack runnest.
Regent of humors, parting Months aright,
Chaste Emperess, to one Endymion constant;
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,
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.
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,
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
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 .
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,
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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.
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.
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.
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.
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,
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:
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.
As th'Horned Queen doth either shrink or growe;
And that the more she Fills her forked Round,
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:
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.
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.
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;
83
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
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.
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,
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.
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,
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.
Fountain of Heat, of Light the liuely sourse,
84
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.
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)
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.
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)
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.
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.
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,
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.
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;
85
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,
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.
Wounded with Loues pure Honor-winged dart
(As Hardy Lælivs, that great Garter-Knight,
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
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.
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,
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.
And match-less Flowrs as in thy Garland are,
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;
86
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
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.
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
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,
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.
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,
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.
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.
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
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.
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,
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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
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.
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
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,
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,
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
A mean-born wife: so doth the glorious lustre
Of radiant Titan, with his beams, embright
Thy gloomy Front, that selfly hath no light.
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,
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
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.
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.
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.
88
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.
Delighting change: and mortall things, ensuing
(As subiect to thee) thy selfs transmutation,
Feel th'vnfelt force of secret alteration.
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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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 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:
89
His, but to Earth, nor to all places neither.
For, th'hideous Cloud, that cov'red so long since
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 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.
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 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?
(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,
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.
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:
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Wondred to see their mighty shades goe back.
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.
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.
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.
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.
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