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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| 5. | THE FIFT DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK. |
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91
THE FIFT DAY OF THE FIRST WEEK.
The Argvment.
Fish in the Sea, Fowls in the Aire abound:The Forms of all things in the Waters found:
The various Manners of Sea-Citizens,
Whose constant Friendship far exceedeth Mens:
Arions strange escape: The Fowls attend
On th'onely Phœnix, to her end-less end:
Their kinds, their customs, and their plumes variety;
Some presidents of Prudence, som of Piety:
The gratefull Eagle, burning in the Flame
With her dead Mistress, the fair Sestian Dame.
Latonian
Lamps, conducting divers wayes,
About the World, successiue Nights and Dayes;
Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Cars:
And passing swiftly both th'opposed Bars
Of East, and West, by your returning Ray;
Th'imperfect World make elder, by a Day.
Yee Fish, that brightly in Heav'ns Baldrick shine,
If you would see the Waters wauing brine
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion,
If he expect, in his prefixt Career,
To hoast with you a Month in every Yeer.
About the World, successiue Nights and Dayes;
Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Cars:
And passing swiftly both th'opposed Bars
Of East, and West, by your returning Ray;
Th'imperfect World make elder, by a Day.
Yee Fish, that brightly in Heav'ns Baldrick shine,
If you would see the Waters wauing brine
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion,
If he expect, in his prefixt Career,
To hoast with you a Month in every Yeer.
And thou, eternall Father, at whose wink
The wrathfull Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,
And stubborn storms of bellowing Windes be dumb,
Their wide mouthes stopt, and their wilde pinions num;
Great Souerain of the Seas, whose hooks can draw
A man aliue from the Whales monstrous maw,
Provide me (Lord) of Steers-man, Star, and Boat,
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:
Or rather teach me dyue, that I may view
Deep vnder water all the Scaly crew;
And dropping wet, when I return to land
Laden with spoyls, extoll thy mighty hand.
The wrathfull Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,
And stubborn storms of bellowing Windes be dumb,
Their wide mouthes stopt, and their wilde pinions num;
Great Souerain of the Seas, whose hooks can draw
A man aliue from the Whales monstrous maw,
92
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:
Or rather teach me dyue, that I may view
Deep vnder water all the Scaly crew;
And dropping wet, when I return to land
Laden with spoyls, extoll thy mighty hand.
The first part of this Book: wherin he handleth how by the Comandement of the Lord, the Fishes began to moue in the Waters.
The Plain with grain, the Mountain tops with woods,
Severd the Aire from Fire, the Earth from Water,
Had he not soon peopled this large Theatre
With liuing Creatures: Therefore he began
(This-Day) to quicken in the Ocean,
In standing Pools, and in the straggling Riuers
(Whose folding Chanell fertill Champain severs)
So many Fishes of so many features,
That in the Waters one may see all Creatures,
And all that in this All is to be found;
As if the World within the Deeps were drown'd.
Seas haue (as well as Skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars:
(As well as Aire) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares:
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushroms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange then these)
As very Fishes living in the Seas:
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lyons, Vrchins, Elephants, and Dogs,
Yea Men and Mayds: and (which I more admire)
The Mytred Bishop, and the Cowled Fryer:
Whereof, examples (but a few yeers since)
Were showen the Norways, and Polonian Prince.
(As well as Aire) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares:
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushroms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange then these)
As very Fishes living in the Seas:
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lyons, Vrchins, Elephants, and Dogs,
Yea Men and Mayds: and (which I more admire)
The Mytred Bishop, and the Cowled Fryer:
Whereof, examples (but a few yeers since)
Were showen the Norways, and Polonian Prince.
You divine wits of elder Dayes, from whom
The deep Invention of rare Works hath com,
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?
Which partly in the Waues, part on the edges
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,
Pikes, Percers, Nedles, Mallets, Pipes and Yoaks,
Owers, sayls, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,
Plumes, Cornets, Kniues, Wheels, Vices, Horns, and Hammers.
And, as if Neptune, and fair Panopé,
Palæmon, Triton, and Leucothoé,
Kept publike Roules, there is the Calamary;
Who, ready Pen-knife, Pen and Ink doth cary.
The deep Invention of rare Works hath com,
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?
Which partly in the Waues, part on the edges
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,
Pikes, Percers, Nedles, Mallets, Pipes and Yoaks,
Owers, sayls, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,
Plumes, Cornets, Kniues, Wheels, Vices, Horns, and Hammers.
And, as if Neptune, and fair Panopé,
Palæmon, Triton, and Leucothoé,
Kept publike Roules, there is the Calamary;
Who, ready Pen-knife, Pen and Ink doth cary.
As a rare Painter draws (for pleasure) here
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satyre there:
Heer a huge Cyclop, there a Pigme Elf:
Somtimes, no less busying his skilfull self,
Vpon some vgly Monster (seldom seen)
Then on the Picture of faire Beauties Queen:
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's varietie,
We might the more admire his powerfull Dëitie;
And that we might discern by differing features
The various kinds of the vast Oceans creatures;
Forming this mighty Frame, hee every Kind
With diuers and peculiar Signet sign'd.
Som haue their heads groveling betwixt their feet
(As th'inky Cuttles, and the Many-feet):
Som in their breast (as Crabs): some head-less are,
Foot-leess, and finn-less (as the bane-full Hare,
And heat-full Oyster) in a heap confus'd,
Their parts vnparted, in themselues diffus'd.
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satyre there:
Heer a huge Cyclop, there a Pigme Elf:
Somtimes, no less busying his skilfull self,
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Then on the Picture of faire Beauties Queen:
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's varietie,
We might the more admire his powerfull Dëitie;
And that we might discern by differing features
The various kinds of the vast Oceans creatures;
Forming this mighty Frame, hee every Kind
With diuers and peculiar Signet sign'd.
Som haue their heads groveling betwixt their feet
(As th'inky Cuttles, and the Many-feet):
Som in their breast (as Crabs): some head-less are,
Foot-leess, and finn-less (as the bane-full Hare,
And heat-full Oyster) in a heap confus'd,
Their parts vnparted, in themselues diffus'd.
The Tyrian Marchant, or the Portuguze
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees:
Put of one Tortoise, when he list to float,
Th'Arabian Fisher-man can make a Boat:
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees:
Put of one Tortoise, when he list to float,
Th'Arabian Fisher-man can make a Boat:
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.
Shall I omit the monstrous Whirl-about,
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)
Are over-whelm'd and sunken suddenly?
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)
Are over-whelm'd and sunken suddenly?
Shall I omit the Tunnies, that durst meet
Th'Eoan Monarchs never danted Fleet,
And beard more brauely his victorious powrs
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towrs;
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;
Or great Darius, that three Battails lost?
When on the Surges I perceiue, from far,
Th'Ork, Whirl-pool, Whale, or huffing Physeter,
Me thinks I see the wandring Ile again
(Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,
Me seems some Tempest all the Seas doth toss.
Orr fear-less Saylers in far Voyages
(More led by Gain's hope then their Compasses)
On th'Indian shoare, haue somtime noted som
Whose bodies covered two broad Acres room:
And in the South-Seas they haue also seen
Some like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;
And other-som whose monstrous backs did bear
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were
Much like the winged and wide spreading sayls
Of any Winde-mill turn'd with merry gales.
Th'Eoan Monarchs never danted Fleet,
And beard more brauely his victorious powrs
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towrs;
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;
Or great Darius, that three Battails lost?
When on the Surges I perceiue, from far,
Th'Ork, Whirl-pool, Whale, or huffing Physeter,
Me thinks I see the wandring Ile again
(Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,
Me seems some Tempest all the Seas doth toss.
Orr fear-less Saylers in far Voyages
(More led by Gain's hope then their Compasses)
On th'Indian shoare, haue somtime noted som
Whose bodies covered two broad Acres room:
And in the South-Seas they haue also seen
Some like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;
And other-som whose monstrous backs did bear
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were
Much like the winged and wide spreading sayls
Of any Winde-mill turn'd with merry gales.
But God (who Nature in her nature holdes)
Not only cast them in so sundry moldes:
But gaue them manners much more differing,
As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring
In admiration; that men evermore,
Praising his Works, might praise their Maker more.
Some loue fresh Waters, some the salt desire,
Some from the Sea vse yeerly to retire
To the next Rivers, at their owne contenting,
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:
For Winter th'one, th'other for Sommers heat.
Not only cast them in so sundry moldes:
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As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring
In admiration; that men evermore,
Praising his Works, might praise their Maker more.
Some loue fresh Waters, some the salt desire,
Some from the Sea vse yeerly to retire
To the next Rivers, at their owne contenting,
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:
For Winter th'one, th'other for Sommers heat.
As Citizens, in some intestine braul,
Long cooped vp within their Castle wall;
So soon as Peace is made, and Siege romov'd,
Forsake a while their Town so strong approv'd;
And, tir'd with toyl, by leashes and by payrs,
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the ayrs:
So, dainty Salmons, Chevins thunder-scar'd,
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the Spring Season the rough Seas forsake,
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take;
And yet the plenty of delicious foods,
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystall floods,
The fragrant sents of flowry banks about,
Cannot their Country's tender loue wipe out
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,
In th'irefull Ocean to go seek their Tomb:
Like English Gallants, that in Youth doo go
To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po;
Where though their Sense be dandled, Dayes and Nights,
In sweetest choice of changeable Delights,
They never can forget their Mother-Soyl,
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoyl,
Long languishing with an extream Desire
To see the smoak of their deer Natiue Fire.
Long cooped vp within their Castle wall;
So soon as Peace is made, and Siege romov'd,
Forsake a while their Town so strong approv'd;
And, tir'd with toyl, by leashes and by payrs,
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the ayrs:
So, dainty Salmons, Chevins thunder-scar'd,
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the Spring Season the rough Seas forsake,
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take;
And yet the plenty of delicious foods,
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystall floods,
The fragrant sents of flowry banks about,
Cannot their Country's tender loue wipe out
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,
In th'irefull Ocean to go seek their Tomb:
Like English Gallants, that in Youth doo go
To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po;
Where though their Sense be dandled, Dayes and Nights,
In sweetest choice of changeable Delights,
They never can forget their Mother-Soyl,
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoyl,
Long languishing with an extream Desire
To see the smoak of their deer Natiue Fire.
One (like a Pirat) only liues of prizes,
That in the Deep he desperatly surprizes:
Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam:
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating theeving,
Eats nought at all, of liquor onely living;
For, the salt humour of his Element
Serues him (alone) for perfect nourishment.
That in the Deep he desperatly surprizes:
Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam:
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating theeving,
Eats nought at all, of liquor onely living;
For, the salt humour of his Element
Serues him (alone) for perfect nourishment.
Some loue the clear streams of swift tumbling Torrents,
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents
Break Banks and Bridges; and doo never stop,
Till thirsty Sommer come to drink them vp:
Some almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools, and never brook the flood
Of Crystall streams, that in continuall motion
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:
As the most part of the Worlds Peers prefer
Broyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:
And some again (of a far differing humour)
Holde Rest so deer, that but the onely rumour
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;
And wanting Peace, they count their States accurst.
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents
Break Banks and Bridges; and doo never stop,
Till thirsty Sommer come to drink them vp:
Some almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools, and never brook the flood
95
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:
As the most part of the Worlds Peers prefer
Broyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:
And some again (of a far differing humour)
Holde Rest so deer, that but the onely rumour
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;
And wanting Peace, they count their States accurst.
O watry Citizens, what Vmpeer bounded
Your liquid Liuings? O! what Monarch mounded
With wals your City? What severest Law
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain aw,
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders
Of your swim-brethren? as (against all Orders)
Men dayly practice, ioyning Land to Land,
House vnto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)
World vnto World, if they could work it possible.
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,
Or for your seeds securer propagation,
Doo somtimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;
What learned Chalde (skild in Fortune-telling)
What cunning Prophet your sit time doth showe?
What Herralds Trumpet summons you to go?
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions
Through path-less paths in vnacquainted Regions?
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,
Measures your course in your aduentures farre?
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,
Who in your Nature some Ideas wrought
Of Good and Evill; to the end that we,
Following the Good, might from the Evill flee.
Your liquid Liuings? O! what Monarch mounded
With wals your City? What severest Law
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain aw,
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders
Of your swim-brethren? as (against all Orders)
Men dayly practice, ioyning Land to Land,
House vnto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)
World vnto World, if they could work it possible.
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,
Or for your seeds securer propagation,
Doo somtimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;
What learned Chalde (skild in Fortune-telling)
What cunning Prophet your sit time doth showe?
What Herralds Trumpet summons you to go?
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions
Through path-less paths in vnacquainted Regions?
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,
Measures your course in your aduentures farre?
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,
Who in your Nature some Ideas wrought
Of Good and Evill; to the end that we,
Following the Good, might from the Evill flee.
Th'adulterous Sargus doth not onely change
Wiues every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)
As if the honey of Sea-loues delights
Could not suffice his ranging appetites,
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassie shore,
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before;
Contrary to the constant Cantharus,
Who, euer faithfull to his deerest Spouse
In Nuptiall Duties spending all his life,
Loues never other then his onely wife.
But, for her Loue, the Mullet hath no Peer;
For, if the Fisher haue surpriz'd her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shoar she followeth,
Prest to consort him both in life and death:
As yerst those famous, louing Thracian Dames
That leapt aliue into the funerall flames
Of their dead Husbands; who deceast and gone,
Those loyall Wiues hated to liue alone.
Wiues every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)
As if the honey of Sea-loues delights
Could not suffice his ranging appetites,
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassie shore,
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before;
Contrary to the constant Cantharus,
Who, euer faithfull to his deerest Spouse
In Nuptiall Duties spending all his life,
Loues never other then his onely wife.
But, for her Loue, the Mullet hath no Peer;
For, if the Fisher haue surpriz'd her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shoar she followeth,
Prest to consort him both in life and death:
As yerst those famous, louing Thracian Dames
That leapt aliue into the funerall flames
96
Those loyall Wiues hated to liue alone.
O! who can heer sufficiently admire
That Gaping-Fish whose glistering eyes aspire
Still toward Heav'n? as if beneath the skies
He found no obiect worthy of his eyes.
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lill
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,
To catch the Emets; when, beguil'd with-all,
The busie swarms about it creep and crawl:
Th'Vrano-Scope, so, hid in mud, doth put
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,
Most like vnto a little Worm, (at sight)
Where-at eft-soons many small Fishes bite:
Which ther-withall this Angler swallowes straight,
Alwayes self-aimed with hook, line, and bait.
That Gaping-Fish whose glistering eyes aspire
Still toward Heav'n? as if beneath the skies
He found no obiect worthy of his eyes.
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lill
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,
To catch the Emets; when, beguil'd with-all,
The busie swarms about it creep and crawl:
Th'Vrano-Scope, so, hid in mud, doth put
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,
Most like vnto a little Worm, (at sight)
Where-at eft-soons many small Fishes bite:
Which ther-withall this Angler swallowes straight,
Alwayes self-aimed with hook, line, and bait.
The suttle
Smell-strong-Many-foot, that fain
A dainty feast of Oyster-flesh would gain,
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,
Wedging with stones his yet wide-yawning lips,
Least else (before that he haue had his prey)
The Oyster, closing clip his limbs away,
And (where he thought t'haue ioy'd his victories)
Himselfe become vnto his prize a prize.
A dainty feast of Oyster-flesh would gain,
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,
Wedging with stones his yet wide-yawning lips,
Least else (before that he haue had his prey)
The Oyster, closing clip his limbs away,
And (where he thought t'haue ioy'd his victories)
Himselfe become vnto his prize a prize.
The Cramp-fish, knowing that she harboureth
A plague-full humour, a fell banefull breath,
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,
Benumming all that dare too-neer her venter;
Pours forth her poyson, and her chilling Ice
On the next Fishes; charm'd so in a trice,
That she not onely stayes them in the Deep,
But stuns their sense, and luls them fast a-sleep;
And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;
Whose frozen limbs (still liuing) seem but dead.
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took
Into her throat the sharp deceitfull hook,
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle
When they be prickt, and plunge, and striue and struggle;
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,
Faster and faster on the hook do tangle:
But, wily clasping close the Fishing Line,
Soddenly spews into the Silver Brine
Her secret-spreading, sudden-speeding bane;
Which, vp the Line, and all along the Cane,
Creeps to the hand of th'Angler; who with-all
Benumm' and sense-less, suddenly lets fall
His hurtfull pole, and his more hatefull prize:
Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)
Seems in his sleep to see som gastly Ghost;
In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost,
He cals his wife for ayd, his friends, his folks,
But his stuft stomack his weak clamour choaks:
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;
But sleep and feare his feeble hands doo hold:
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,
He feels his feet fetterd with heauy Gyues.
A plague-full humour, a fell banefull breath,
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,
Benumming all that dare too-neer her venter;
Pours forth her poyson, and her chilling Ice
On the next Fishes; charm'd so in a trice,
That she not onely stayes them in the Deep,
But stuns their sense, and luls them fast a-sleep;
And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;
Whose frozen limbs (still liuing) seem but dead.
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took
Into her throat the sharp deceitfull hook,
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle
When they be prickt, and plunge, and striue and struggle;
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,
Faster and faster on the hook do tangle:
But, wily clasping close the Fishing Line,
Soddenly spews into the Silver Brine
Her secret-spreading, sudden-speeding bane;
Which, vp the Line, and all along the Cane,
Creeps to the hand of th'Angler; who with-all
Benumm' and sense-less, suddenly lets fall
His hurtfull pole, and his more hatefull prize:
Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)
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In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost,
He cals his wife for ayd, his friends, his folks,
But his stuft stomack his weak clamour choaks:
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;
But sleep and feare his feeble hands doo hold:
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,
He feels his feet fetterd with heauy Gyues.
But, if the Scolopendra haue suckt-in
The sowr-sweet morsell with the barded Pin,
She hath as rare a trick to rid her from it:
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;
And having clear'd them from the danger, then
She fair and softly sups them in again,
So that not one of them within her womb
Changeth his Office or his wonted room.
The sowr-sweet morsell with the barded Pin,
She hath as rare a trick to rid her from it:
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;
And having clear'd them from the danger, then
She fair and softly sups them in again,
So that not one of them within her womb
Changeth his Office or his wonted room.
The thriuing Amia (neer Abydos breeding)
And suttle Sea-Fox (in Steeds-loue exceeding)
Without so vent'ring their dear life and lyning,
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their vntwining:
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,
Aboue the hook they it in sunder shear;
So that their foe, who for a Fish did look
Lifts vp a bare line, robd of bait and hook.
And suttle Sea-Fox (in Steeds-loue exceeding)
Without so vent'ring their dear life and lyning,
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their vntwining:
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,
Aboue the hook they it in sunder shear;
So that their foe, who for a Fish did look
Lifts vp a bare line, robd of bait and hook.
But timorous Barbles will not taste the bit,
Till with their tails they haue vnhooked it:
And all the baits the Fisher can deuise
Cannot beguile their wary iealousies.
Till with their tails they haue vnhooked it:
And all the baits the Fisher can deuise
Cannot beguile their wary iealousies.
Euen so almost, the many spotted Cuttle
Wel-neer insnared, yet escapeth suttle;
For, when she sees her self within the Net,
And no way left, but one, from thence to get,
She sodainly a certaine Ink doth spew,
Which dies the Waters of a sable hew;
That dazling so the Fishers greedy sight,
She through the Clouds of the black Waters night.
Might scape with honour the black streames of Styx,
Wherof already, almost lost, she licks.
Wel-neer insnared, yet escapeth suttle;
For, when she sees her self within the Net,
And no way left, but one, from thence to get,
She sodainly a certaine Ink doth spew,
Which dies the Waters of a sable hew;
That dazling so the Fishers greedy sight,
She through the Clouds of the black Waters night.
Might scape with honour the black streames of Styx,
Wherof already, almost lost, she licks.
And, as a Prisoner, (of som great transgression,
Conuict by Witness and his owne Confession)
Kept in dark Durance full of noysom breath,
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;
Spies euery corner, and pries round about
To finde som weake place where he may get out:
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye,
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,
And thrusting in his tail, makes th'Osiers gape
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:
But, if his fellow finde him thus bested,
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;
That thereby holding fast with gentle iaw,
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.
Or, (if before that he were captiuate)
He see him hooked on the biting bait,
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.
Conuict by Witness and his owne Confession)
Kept in dark Durance full of noysom breath,
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;
Spies euery corner, and pries round about
To finde som weake place where he may get out:
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye,
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,
And thrusting in his tail, makes th'Osiers gape
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:
98
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;
That thereby holding fast with gentle iaw,
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.
Or, (if before that he were captiuate)
He see him hooked on the biting bait,
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.
You stony hearts, within whose stubborn Center
Could neuer touch of sacred friendship enter,
Look on these Seas my Songs haue calmed thus:
Heer's many a Damon, many a Theseus.
The gilden Sparlings, when cold Winters blast
Begins to threat, themselues together cast,
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,
Liue; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th'Ocean scum; seeing themselues a pray
Expos'd in euery Water-Rouers way,
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold
Combine themselues, that their ioint strength doth hold
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieues sallies;
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Gallies.
Could neuer touch of sacred friendship enter,
Look on these Seas my Songs haue calmed thus:
Heer's many a Damon, many a Theseus.
The gilden Sparlings, when cold Winters blast
Begins to threat, themselues together cast,
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,
Liue; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th'Ocean scum; seeing themselues a pray
Expos'd in euery Water-Rouers way,
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold
Combine themselues, that their ioint strength doth hold
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieues sallies;
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Gallies.
As a great Carrak, cumbred and opprest
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-boord and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers:
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Either of Friseland, or of German breed,
Can neuer manage half so readily,
As Spanish I ennet, or light Barbarie:
So the huge Whale hath not so nimble motion,
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But somtimes rudely 'gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in som roaring straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could liue a Twelue-month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend)
A little Fish; hat swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar:
Much like a Childe that louing leads about
His aged Father when his eyes be out;
Still wasting him through euery way so right,
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-boord and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers:
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Either of Friseland, or of German breed,
Can neuer manage half so readily,
As Spanish I ennet, or light Barbarie:
So the huge Whale hath not so nimble motion,
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But somtimes rudely 'gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in som roaring straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could liue a Twelue-month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend)
A little Fish; hat swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar:
Much like a Childe that louing leads about
His aged Father when his eyes be out;
Still wasting him through euery way so right,
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.
Waues-Mother Thetis, though thine arms embrace
The World about, within thine ample space,
A firmer League of friendship is not seen
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn betweene;
Both haue but one repast, both but one Palace,
But one delight, death, sorrow, and one solace:
That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates
His Land-lords kindnes, with all needfull Cates.
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,
Much Fry (allur'd with the bright siluer Iustre
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth make-her
That instantly her shining shell she close
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knowes):
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithfull scout.
The World about, within thine ample space,
A firmer League of friendship is not seen
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn betweene;
99
But one delight, death, sorrow, and one solace:
That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates
His Land-lords kindnes, with all needfull Cates.
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,
Much Fry (allur'd with the bright siluer Iustre
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth make-her
That instantly her shining shell she close
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knowes):
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithfull scout.
And so the Sponge-Spy, warily awakes
The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.
The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.
But O! what stile can worthily declare
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexteritie
In Saylers Art, for safeness and celeritie?
If Iaffa Marchants, now Comburgers seem
VVith Portugalls, and Portugalls with them:
If VVorlds of Wealth, born vnder other Sky,
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly
From North to South, and from the East to West,
Through hundred sundry way-less waies addrest:
If (to be brief) this VVorld's rich compass round,
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece
That styl'd to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowrs,
To mate the VVindes storms, and the VVaters stowrs;
What e'r he were, he surely learn'd of you
The Art of Rowing and of Sayling too.
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexteritie
In Saylers Art, for safeness and celeritie?
If Iaffa Marchants, now Comburgers seem
VVith Portugalls, and Portugalls with them:
If VVorlds of Wealth, born vnder other Sky,
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly
From North to South, and from the East to West,
Through hundred sundry way-less waies addrest:
If (to be brief) this VVorld's rich compass round,
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece
That styl'd to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowrs,
To mate the VVindes storms, and the VVaters stowrs;
What e'r he were, he surely learn'd of you
The Art of Rowing and of Sayling too.
Heer would I cease, saue that this humorous song
The Hermit-Fish compels me to prolong.
A man of might that builds him a Defence
'Gainst VVeathers rigour and Warr's insolence,
First dearly buies (for, VVhat good is good-cheap?)
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:
But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,
Or borrowing House, or paying Rent therefore,
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoar
Some handsom shell, whose Natiue Lord, of late
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;
Therein he enters, and he takes possession
Or th'empty Harbour by the free concession
Of natures Law; who Goods that Owner vvant
Alwaies allots to the first Occupant.
In this new Cace, or in this Cradle (rather)
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell
Wherein at Sea his later Daies to dwell.
The Hermit-Fish compels me to prolong.
A man of might that builds him a Defence
'Gainst VVeathers rigour and Warr's insolence,
First dearly buies (for, VVhat good is good-cheap?)
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:
But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,
Or borrowing House, or paying Rent therefore,
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoar
Some handsom shell, whose Natiue Lord, of late
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;
Therein he enters, and he takes possession
Or th'empty Harbour by the free concession
100
Alwaies allots to the first Occupant.
In this new Cace, or in this Cradle (rather)
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell
Wherein at Sea his later Daies to dwell.
But Clio, wherefore art thou teadious
In numbering Neptunes busie Burgers thus?
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth
Of the Seas Soverain, bring but only forth
One little Fish, whose admirable Story
Sufficeth sole to shewe his might and glory.
Let all the Windes in one Winde gather them,
And (seconded with Neptunes strongest stream)
Let all at once blowe all their stiffest gales
A-sterna Galley vnder all her sails;
Let her be holpen with a hundred Owers,
Each lively handled by fiue lusty Rowers:
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,
Stayes her stone-still, while all her stout Consorts
Saile thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.
Then loose they all the sheats, but to no boot:
For, the charm'd Vessell bougeth not a foot;
No more then if three fadom vnder ground,
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:
No more then doth an Oak that in the Wood
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) withstood,
Spreading as many massy roots belowe,
As mighty arms aboue the ground do growe.
O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose
Thy selfe alone against so many foes.
O! tell vs where thou doo'st thine Anchors hide,
VVhence thou resistest Sayls, Owers, Wind, and Tide.
How on the sodain canst thou curb so short
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?
VVhence is thine Engin, and thy secret force
That frustrates Engins, and all force doth force?
In numbering Neptunes busie Burgers thus?
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth
Of the Seas Soverain, bring but only forth
One little Fish, whose admirable Story
Sufficeth sole to shewe his might and glory.
Let all the Windes in one Winde gather them,
And (seconded with Neptunes strongest stream)
Let all at once blowe all their stiffest gales
A-sterna Galley vnder all her sails;
Let her be holpen with a hundred Owers,
Each lively handled by fiue lusty Rowers:
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,
Stayes her stone-still, while all her stout Consorts
Saile thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.
Then loose they all the sheats, but to no boot:
For, the charm'd Vessell bougeth not a foot;
No more then if three fadom vnder ground,
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:
No more then doth an Oak that in the Wood
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) withstood,
Spreading as many massy roots belowe,
As mighty arms aboue the ground do growe.
O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose
Thy selfe alone against so many foes.
O! tell vs where thou doo'st thine Anchors hide,
VVhence thou resistest Sayls, Owers, Wind, and Tide.
How on the sodain canst thou curb so short
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?
VVhence is thine Engin, and thy secret force
That frustrates Engins, and all force doth force?
I had (in Harbour) heav'd mine Anchor o're,
And ev'n already set one foot a-shoar;
When lo, the Dolphin, beating 'gainst the bank,
'Gan mine obliuion moodily mis-thank.
Peace, Princely Swimmer: sacred Fish, content thee;
For, for thy praise, th'end of this Song I meant-thee.
Braue Admirall of the broad briny Regions,
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,
VVho liuing, ever liv'st (for, neuer sleep,
Deaths liuely Image, in thy eyes doth creep)
Lover of Ships, of Men, of Melody,
Thou vp and down through the moyst World doost ply
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou louest so,
That lacking that, thy life thou doest forgo:
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th'happy Boat, of yore
Which safely brought th'Amiclean Harp a-shoar.
And ev'n already set one foot a-shoar;
When lo, the Dolphin, beating 'gainst the bank,
'Gan mine obliuion moodily mis-thank.
Peace, Princely Swimmer: sacred Fish, content thee;
For, for thy praise, th'end of this Song I meant-thee.
Braue Admirall of the broad briny Regions,
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,
VVho liuing, ever liv'st (for, neuer sleep,
Deaths liuely Image, in thy eyes doth creep)
101
Thou vp and down through the moyst World doost ply
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou louest so,
That lacking that, thy life thou doest forgo:
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th'happy Boat, of yore
Which safely brought th'Amiclean Harp a-shoar.
Arion, match-less for his Musiks skill,
Among the Latines hauing gain'd his fill
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain
To re-salute his learned Greece again;
Vnwares, imbarks him in a Pyrates ship:
Who, loath to let so good a Booty slip,
Soon waighes his Anchors, packs on all his sail;
And Windes conspiring with a prosperous gale,
His winged Fregat made so speedy flight,
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of sight;
And all, saue Skies, and Seas, on euery side;
VVhere, th'onely Compass is the Pylots guide.
The Saylours then (whom many times we finde
Falser then Seas, and fiercer then the VVinde)
Fall straight to strip him, ryfling (at their pleasure)
In every corner to find out his treasure:
And, hauing found it, all with one accord
Hoist th'Owner vp, to heaue him ouer-boord.
Who weeping said. O Nereus noble issue,
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:
For, my chiefe Treasure in my Musick lyes
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prize
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,
That vnder-foot all worldly wealth they throwe.)
No (braue Triumphers ouer VVinde and VVaue,
VVho in both VVorlds your habitation haue,
VVho both Heav'ns Hooks in your adventures view)
'Tis not for That, with broken sighes I sue:
I but beseech you, offer no impieties
Vnto a person deer vnto the Deities.
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,
Be euer mute when you your voyage make,
And Tritons Trumpet th'angry Surges swage,
When (iustly) Neptune shall against you rage.
But if (alas!) I cannot this obtaine
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plaine)
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,
My dolefull fingers to consort their noise:
That so the Sea Nymphs (rapt in admiration
Of my diuine, sweet, sacred lamentation)
Dragging my corps to shoar, with weeping showrs
May deaw the same, and it entoomb in flowrs.
Then play (said they) and giue vs both togither
Treasure and pleasure by thy comming hither.
Among the Latines hauing gain'd his fill
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain
To re-salute his learned Greece again;
Vnwares, imbarks him in a Pyrates ship:
Who, loath to let so good a Booty slip,
Soon waighes his Anchors, packs on all his sail;
And Windes conspiring with a prosperous gale,
His winged Fregat made so speedy flight,
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of sight;
And all, saue Skies, and Seas, on euery side;
VVhere, th'onely Compass is the Pylots guide.
The Saylours then (whom many times we finde
Falser then Seas, and fiercer then the VVinde)
Fall straight to strip him, ryfling (at their pleasure)
In every corner to find out his treasure:
And, hauing found it, all with one accord
Hoist th'Owner vp, to heaue him ouer-boord.
Who weeping said. O Nereus noble issue,
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:
For, my chiefe Treasure in my Musick lyes
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prize
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,
That vnder-foot all worldly wealth they throwe.)
No (braue Triumphers ouer VVinde and VVaue,
VVho in both VVorlds your habitation haue,
VVho both Heav'ns Hooks in your adventures view)
'Tis not for That, with broken sighes I sue:
I but beseech you, offer no impieties
Vnto a person deer vnto the Deities.
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,
Be euer mute when you your voyage make,
And Tritons Trumpet th'angry Surges swage,
When (iustly) Neptune shall against you rage.
But if (alas!) I cannot this obtaine
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plaine)
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,
My dolefull fingers to consort their noise:
That so the Sea Nymphs (rapt in admiration
Of my diuine, sweet, sacred lamentation)
Dragging my corps to shoar, with weeping showrs
May deaw the same, and it entoomb in flowrs.
102
Treasure and pleasure by thy comming hither.
His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent
Th'inchanting sinnews of his Instrument:
Wherewith he charm'd the raging Ocean so,
That crook-tooth'd Lampreys, and the Congers rowe
Friendly together, and their natiue hate
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgate,
And Lobstars floated fear-less all the while
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.
Th'inchanting sinnews of his Instrument:
Wherewith he charm'd the raging Ocean so,
That crook-tooth'd Lampreys, and the Congers rowe
Friendly together, and their natiue hate
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgate,
And Lobstars floated fear-less all the while
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.
But among all the Fishes that did throng
To daunce the Measures of his Mournefull song,
There was a Dolphin did the best accord
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:
Who gently sliding neer the Pinnass side,
Seem'd to inuite him on his back to ride.
By this time, twice the Saylours had essayd
To heaue him o're; yet twice himselfe he staied:
And now the third time stroue they him to cast;
Yet by the shrowds the third time held he fast:
But lastly, seeing Pyrats past remorse,
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;
Who on the Oceans azure surges slid;
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)
One would haue thought him rather fly, then swim:
Yet feares he every Shelfe and euery Surge
(Not for himselfe, but for his tender charge)
And, sloaping swiftly overthwart those Seas
(Not for his owne but for his Riders ease)
Makes double haste to find some happy strand,
Where his sweet Phœbus he may safely land.
Mean-while, Arion, with his Musick rare,
Paies his deer Pylot his delightfull Fare.
And heaving eyes to Heav'n, the Hav'n of Pity)
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;
To daunce the Measures of his Mournefull song,
There was a Dolphin did the best accord
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:
Who gently sliding neer the Pinnass side,
Seem'd to inuite him on his back to ride.
By this time, twice the Saylours had essayd
To heaue him o're; yet twice himselfe he staied:
And now the third time stroue they him to cast;
Yet by the shrowds the third time held he fast:
But lastly, seeing Pyrats past remorse,
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;
Who on the Oceans azure surges slid;
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)
One would haue thought him rather fly, then swim:
Yet feares he every Shelfe and euery Surge
(Not for himselfe, but for his tender charge)
And, sloaping swiftly overthwart those Seas
(Not for his owne but for his Riders ease)
Makes double haste to find some happy strand,
Where his sweet Phœbus he may safely land.
Mean-while, Arion, with his Musick rare,
Paies his deer Pylot his delightfull Fare.
And heaving eyes to Heav'n, the Hav'n of Pity)
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;
O thou Almightie! who Mankind to wrack,
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,
And yet didst saue, from th'vniuersall Doom,
One sacred Houshold, that in time to com
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;
Looke down (O Lord) from thy supernall rayes;
Look, look (alas!) vpon a wretched man,
Halfe Toomb'd already in the Ocean:
O! bee my Steers-man, and vouchsafe to guide
The stern-less Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;
So that, escaping Windes and VVaters wrath,
I once againe may tread my natiue path:
And hence-forth, heer with solemn vowes I sacre
Vnto thy glory (O my God and Maker)
For this great fauour's high Memoriall,
My Heart and Art, my voyce, hand, Harp, and all.
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,
And yet didst saue, from th'vniuersall Doom,
One sacred Houshold, that in time to com
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;
Looke down (O Lord) from thy supernall rayes;
Look, look (alas!) vpon a wretched man,
Halfe Toomb'd already in the Ocean:
O! bee my Steers-man, and vouchsafe to guide
The stern-less Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;
So that, escaping Windes and VVaters wrath,
I once againe may tread my natiue path:
103
Vnto thy glory (O my God and Maker)
For this great fauour's high Memoriall,
My Heart and Art, my voyce, hand, Harp, and all.
Here-with, the Seas their roaring rage refrain,
The Clowdy Welkin waxed cleer again,
And all the Windes did sodainly conuert
Their mouths to ears, to heare his wondrous Art.
The Dolphin then, discrying Land (at last)
Stormes with himselfe, for hauing made such haste,
And witht Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,
T'haue ioy'd the while his Musicks excellence.
But, 'fore his owne delight, preferring far
Th'vnhoped safety of the Minstrell rare,
Sets him ashoare, and (which most strange may seem)
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.
The Clowdy Welkin waxed cleer again,
And all the Windes did sodainly conuert
Their mouths to ears, to heare his wondrous Art.
The Dolphin then, discrying Land (at last)
Stormes with himselfe, for hauing made such haste,
And witht Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,
T'haue ioy'd the while his Musicks excellence.
But, 'fore his owne delight, preferring far
Th'vnhoped safety of the Minstrell rare,
Sets him ashoare, and (which most strange may seem)
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.
But now (deere Muse) with Ionas let vs hie
From the Whales belly; and from ieopardy
Of stormfull Seas, of wrackfull Rocks and Sand,
Com, com (my Darling) let vs haste to Land.
From the Whales belly; and from ieopardy
Of stormfull Seas, of wrackfull Rocks and Sand,
Com, com (my Darling) let vs haste to Land.
While busie, poaring downward in the Deep.
I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)
See how the Fowles are from my fancy fled,
And their high prayses quight out of my head:
Their flight out-flies me; and my Muse almost
The better halfe of this bright Day hath lost.
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)
Seeming to flutter on the Waters face,
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.
I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)
See how the Fowles are from my fancy fled,
And their high prayses quight out of my head:
Their flight out-flies me; and my Muse almost
The better halfe of this bright Day hath lost.
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)
Seeming to flutter on the Waters face,
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.
But first I pray (for meed of all my toyl
In bringing you into this Happie Ile)
Vouchsafe to waken with your various Notes
The sense-less senses of those drowsie Sots,
Whose eye-lids laden with a waight of Lead
Shall fall a-sleep the while these Rymes are read.
But, if they could not close their wakefull eyes
Among the Water's silent Colonies;
How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound
Through Heav'n and Earth and Ocean doth redound?
In bringing you into this Happie Ile)
Vouchsafe to waken with your various Notes
The sense-less senses of those drowsie Sots,
Whose eye-lids laden with a waight of Lead
Shall fall a-sleep the while these Rymes are read.
But, if they could not close their wakefull eyes
Among the Water's silent Colonies;
How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound
Through Heav'n and Earth and Ocean doth redound?
The Heav'nly Phœnix first began to frame
The earthly Phœnix, and adorn'd the same
With such a plume, that Phœbus, circuiting
From Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:
Such form, such feathers, and such Fate he gaue-her,
That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver:
Two sparkling eyes; vpon her crown, a crest
Of starrie Sprigs (more splendent then the rest)
A goulden doun about her dainty neck,
Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,
Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine.
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,
And Deaths cold kisses to restore her heer
Her life again, which neuer shall expire
Vntill (as she) the World consume in fire.
For, hauing passed vnder diuers Climes,
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;
Worn-out with yeers, wishing her endless end,
To shining flames she doth her life commend,
Dies to reuiue, and goes into her Graue
To rise againe more beautifull and braue.
Perched, therfore, vpon a branch of Palm,
With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm,
By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room)
Her Vrn, her Nest, her Cradle, and her Toomb:
VVhere, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting.)
To burn her sacred bones to seedfull cinders
(Wherein, her age, but not her life, she renders)
The Phrygian Skinker with his lauish Ewer,
Drowns not the Fields with shower after showr;
The shivering Coach man with his Icy Snowe
Dares not the Forrests of Phœnicia strowe:
Auster presumes not Libyan shoars to pass
VVith his moist wings: and gray-beard Boreas
(As the most boistrous and rebellious slaue)
Is prisoned close in th'Hyper-Borean Caue:
For, Nature now propitious to her End,
To her liuing Death a helping hand doth lend:
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildly sted
Her Funeralls, her fruitfull birth, and bed:
And Sol himself, glancing his goulden eyes
On th'odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes
Th'immortall Phœnix, both her flesh and plumes.
But instantly out of her ashes springs
A Worm, an Egg then, then a Bird with wings,
Iust like the first (rather the same indeed)
Which (re-ingendred of it's selfly seed)
By noblely dying a new Date begins,
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:
End-less by'r End, eternall by her Toomb;
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)
Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:
Teaching vs all, in Adam heer to dy,
That we in Christ may liue eternally.
The earthly Phœnix, and adorn'd the same
With such a plume, that Phœbus, circuiting
From Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:
Such form, such feathers, and such Fate he gaue-her,
That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver:
Two sparkling eyes; vpon her crown, a crest
Of starrie Sprigs (more splendent then the rest)
104
Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,
Her wings and train of feathers (mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine.
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,
And Deaths cold kisses to restore her heer
Her life again, which neuer shall expire
Vntill (as she) the World consume in fire.
For, hauing passed vnder diuers Climes,
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;
Worn-out with yeers, wishing her endless end,
To shining flames she doth her life commend,
Dies to reuiue, and goes into her Graue
To rise againe more beautifull and braue.
Perched, therfore, vpon a branch of Palm,
With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm,
By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room)
Her Vrn, her Nest, her Cradle, and her Toomb:
VVhere, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting.)
To burn her sacred bones to seedfull cinders
(Wherein, her age, but not her life, she renders)
The Phrygian Skinker with his lauish Ewer,
Drowns not the Fields with shower after showr;
The shivering Coach man with his Icy Snowe
Dares not the Forrests of Phœnicia strowe:
Auster presumes not Libyan shoars to pass
VVith his moist wings: and gray-beard Boreas
(As the most boistrous and rebellious slaue)
Is prisoned close in th'Hyper-Borean Caue:
For, Nature now propitious to her End,
To her liuing Death a helping hand doth lend:
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildly sted
Her Funeralls, her fruitfull birth, and bed:
And Sol himself, glancing his goulden eyes
On th'odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes
Th'immortall Phœnix, both her flesh and plumes.
But instantly out of her ashes springs
A Worm, an Egg then, then a Bird with wings,
Iust like the first (rather the same indeed)
Which (re-ingendred of it's selfly seed)
By noblely dying a new Date begins,
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:
End-less by'r End, eternall by her Toomb;
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)
Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:
105
That we in Christ may liue eternally.
The Phœnix, cutting th'vnfrequented Aire,
Forth-with is followed by a thousand pair
Of wings in th'instant by th'Almighty wrought,
VVith diuers Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.
Forth-with is followed by a thousand pair
Of wings in th'instant by th'Almighty wrought,
VVith diuers Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.
The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro,
As swift as shefts fly from a Turkish Bowe,
When (vse and Art, and strength confedered)
The skilfull Archer draws them to the head:
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,
Whose Plot may serue in rarest Arch'tecture:
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,
Whereof she Morter makes, and there-with-all
Aptly she builds her semi-circle Wall.
As swift as shefts fly from a Turkish Bowe,
When (vse and Art, and strength confedered)
The skilfull Archer draws them to the head:
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,
Whose Plot may serue in rarest Arch'tecture:
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,
Whereof she Morter makes, and there-with-all
Aptly she builds her semi-circle Wall.
The pretty Lark, climbing the VVelkin cleer,
Chaunts with a cheer, Heer peer-I neer my Deer;
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rew)
Adieu (she saith) adieu, deer Deer, adieu.
Chaunts with a cheer, Heer peer-I neer my Deer;
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rew)
Adieu (she saith) adieu, deer Deer, adieu.
The Spink, the Linot, and the Gold Finch fill
All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.
All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.
But, These are nothing to the Nightingale,
Breathing, so sweetly from a breast so small,
So many Tunes whose Harmony excels
Our Voice, our Violls, and all Musick els.
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oken Grove,
In the cool shadow haue I stood and strove
To marry mine immortall Layes to theirs,
Rapt with delight of their delicious Aiers!
And (yet) me thinks, in a thick thorn I hear
A Nightingale to warble sweetly, cleer.
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,
Anon the Trebble, then the Counter-Tenor:
Then all at once; (as it were) chalenging
The rarest voices with her self to sing.
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafie Sprayes,
Another Nightingale repeats her Layes,
Iust Note for Note, and adds som Strain at last,
That she hath conned all the VVinter past:
The first replyes, and descants there-vpon;
With divine warbles of Division,
Redoubling Quauers; And so (turn by turn)
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:
So that the conquest in this curious strife.
Doth often cost the one her voyce and life:
Then, the glad Victor all the rest admire,
And after count her Mistress of the Quire.
At break of Day, in a Delicious song
She sets the Gam-vt to a hundred yong:
And, when as fit for higher Tunes she sees them,
Then learnedly she harder Lessons giues-them;
VVhich, strain by strain, they studiously recite,
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.
Breathing, so sweetly from a breast so small,
So many Tunes whose Harmony excels
Our Voice, our Violls, and all Musick els.
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oken Grove,
In the cool shadow haue I stood and strove
To marry mine immortall Layes to theirs,
Rapt with delight of their delicious Aiers!
And (yet) me thinks, in a thick thorn I hear
A Nightingale to warble sweetly, cleer.
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,
Anon the Trebble, then the Counter-Tenor:
Then all at once; (as it were) chalenging
The rarest voices with her self to sing.
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafie Sprayes,
Another Nightingale repeats her Layes,
Iust Note for Note, and adds som Strain at last,
That she hath conned all the VVinter past:
The first replyes, and descants there-vpon;
With divine warbles of Division,
Redoubling Quauers; And so (turn by turn)
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:
So that the conquest in this curious strife.
Doth often cost the one her voyce and life:
106
And after count her Mistress of the Quire.
At break of Day, in a Delicious song
She sets the Gam-vt to a hundred yong:
And, when as fit for higher Tunes she sees them,
Then learnedly she harder Lessons giues-them;
VVhich, strain by strain, they studiously recite,
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.
The Colchian Pheasant, and the Partridge rare,
The lustfull Sparrow, and the fruitfull Stare,
The chattering Pye, the chastest Turtle-Doue,
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Princes Boords)
And the greene Parrat, fainer of our words,
Wait on the Phœnix, and admire her tunes,
And gaze themselues in her blew golden plumes.
The lustfull Sparrow, and the fruitfull Stare,
The chattering Pye, the chastest Turtle-Doue,
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Princes Boords)
And the greene Parrat, fainer of our words,
Wait on the Phœnix, and admire her tunes,
And gaze themselues in her blew golden plumes.
The ravening Kite, whose train doth well supply
A Rudders place, the Falcon mounting high,
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle-Tercell,
Th'Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcell
Follow the Phœnix, from the Clouds (almost)
At once discovering many an vnknow'n Coast.
A Rudders place, the Falcon mounting high,
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle-Tercell,
Th'Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcell
Follow the Phœnix, from the Clouds (almost)
At once discovering many an vnknow'n Coast.
In the swift Rank of these fell Rovers, flies
The Indian Griffin with the glistring eyes,
Beak Eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,
VVhite (Swan-like) wings, fierce talons, alwaies prest
For bloody battails; for, with these he tears
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigres, Bulls, and Bears:
VVith these, our Grandams fruitfull panch he pulls,
VVhence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:
VVith these, he guards against an Army bold
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;
As wroth, that men vpon his right should rove,
Or theevish hands vsurp his Tresor-troue.
The Indian Griffin with the glistring eyes,
Beak Eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,
VVhite (Swan-like) wings, fierce talons, alwaies prest
For bloody battails; for, with these he tears
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigres, Bulls, and Bears:
VVith these, our Grandams fruitfull panch he pulls,
VVhence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:
VVith these, he guards against an Army bold
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;
As wroth, that men vpon his right should rove,
Or theevish hands vsurp his Tresor-troue.
O! ever may'st thou fight so (valiant Foul)
For this dire bane of our seduced soule:
And (with thee) may the Dardan Ants so ward
The Gold committed to their carefull Guard,
That hence-forth hopeless, mans frail mind may rest-her
From seeking that, which doth it's Masters master.
O odious poyson! for the which we dive
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive
Our Mother Earth; and, not contented with
Th'abundant gifts she outward offereth,
VVith sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,
And ransack deeply in her bosom tender,
While vnder ground wee liue in hourly fear
When the frail Mines shall over-whelm vs there:
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roule
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;
And, maugre Windes and Waters enmity,
We every Day new vnknow'n VVorlds descry:
For which (alas!) the brother sels his brother,
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?
For this dire bane of our seduced soule:
And (with thee) may the Dardan Ants so ward
The Gold committed to their carefull Guard,
That hence-forth hopeless, mans frail mind may rest-her
From seeking that, which doth it's Masters master.
O odious poyson! for the which we dive
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive
Our Mother Earth; and, not contented with
Th'abundant gifts she outward offereth,
VVith sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,
And ransack deeply in her bosom tender,
107
When the frail Mines shall over-whelm vs there:
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roule
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;
And, maugre Windes and Waters enmity,
We every Day new vnknow'n VVorlds descry:
For which (alas!) the brother sels his brother,
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?
Neer these, the Crowe his greedy wings displayes,
The long-liv'd Rav'n, th'infamous Bird that layes
His bastard Egges within the nests of other,
To have them hatcht by an vnkindely Mother:
The Skrich-Owle, vs'd in falling Towres to lodge,
Th'vnlucky Night-Rav'n, and thou lasie Madge
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.
The long-liv'd Rav'n, th'infamous Bird that layes
His bastard Egges within the nests of other,
To have them hatcht by an vnkindely Mother:
The Skrich-Owle, vs'd in falling Towres to lodge,
Th'vnlucky Night-Rav'n, and thou lasie Madge
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.
But (gentle Muse) tell me what Fowls are those
That but even-now from flaggy Fenns arose?
Tis th'hungry Hern, the greedy Cormorant,
The Coot and Curlew, which the moors doo haunt,
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,
And the Kings-Fisher; which so builds her nest
By the Sea-side in midst of Winter Season,
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)
Cannot devise, with all the wit he ha's,
Her little building how to raise or raze:
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;
For, Æolus, fearing to drown her brood,
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.
The Pirat (dwelling alwayes in his Bark)
In's Calendar her building Dayes doth mark:
And the rich Marchant resolutely venters,
So soon as th'Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.
Mean-while, the Langa, skimming (as it were)
The Oceans surface, seeketh every where
The hugy VVhale; where slipping-in (by Art)
In his vast mouth, shee feeds vpon his hart.
That but even-now from flaggy Fenns arose?
Tis th'hungry Hern, the greedy Cormorant,
The Coot and Curlew, which the moors doo haunt,
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,
And the Kings-Fisher; which so builds her nest
By the Sea-side in midst of Winter Season,
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)
Cannot devise, with all the wit he ha's,
Her little building how to raise or raze:
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;
For, Æolus, fearing to drown her brood,
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.
The Pirat (dwelling alwayes in his Bark)
In's Calendar her building Dayes doth mark:
And the rich Marchant resolutely venters,
So soon as th'Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.
Mean-while, the Langa, skimming (as it were)
The Oceans surface, seeketh every where
The hugy VVhale; where slipping-in (by Art)
In his vast mouth, shee feeds vpon his hart.
Nevv-Spain's
Cucuio, in his forhead brings
Two burning Lamps, two vnderneath his wings:
Whose shining Rayes serue oft, in darkest night,
Th'Imbroderer's hand in royall VVorks to light:
Th'ingenious Turner, with a wakefull eye,
To polish fair his purest Ivory:
The Vsurer, to count his glistring treasures:
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.
Two burning Lamps, two vnderneath his wings:
Whose shining Rayes serue oft, in darkest night,
Th'Imbroderer's hand in royall VVorks to light:
108
To polish fair his purest Ivory:
The Vsurer, to count his glistring treasures:
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.
But note we now, towards the rich Moluques,
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds) Mamuques
(VVond'rous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or Sky,
Saw ever wonder, swim, or goe, or fly)
None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:
Food-less they liue; for, th'Aire alonely feeds them:
VVing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,
Till with their flight, their vnknow'n lives-date ends.
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds) Mamuques
(VVond'rous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or Sky,
Saw ever wonder, swim, or goe, or fly)
None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:
Food-less they liue; for, th'Aire alonely feeds them:
VVing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,
Till with their flight, their vnknow'n lives-date ends.
The Stork, still eying her deer Thessalie,
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and officious Childe:
Th'one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom shee had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding vnder her warm brest
Their age-chill'd bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them vpon her back
Through th'empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.
The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood
To heal her young, and in a wondrous sort
Vnto her Children doth her life transport:
For finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rents her brest, and doth vpon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recouering heat,
They by her death, another life do get:
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thrall'd man to free,
Became a Captive; and on shamefull Tree
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to save-vs,
And salue the wounds th'old Serpent firstly gave-vs:
And so became, of meer immortall, mortall;
Therby to make frail mortall Man, immortall.
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and officious Childe:
Th'one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom shee had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding vnder her warm brest
Their age-chill'd bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them vpon her back
Through th'empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.
The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood
To heal her young, and in a wondrous sort
Vnto her Children doth her life transport:
For finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rents her brest, and doth vpon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recouering heat,
They by her death, another life do get:
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thrall'd man to free,
Became a Captive; and on shamefull Tree
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to save-vs,
And salue the wounds th'old Serpent firstly gave-vs:
And so became, of meer immortall, mortall;
Therby to make frail mortall Man, immortall.
Thus doo'st thou print (O Parent of this All)
In every brest of brutest Animall
A kind Instinct, which makes them dread no less
Their Childrens danger, then their owne decease;
That so, each Kinde may last immortally,
Though th'Indiuiduum pass successively.
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)
But for his Deer Whelps taken from his Den
By Hunters fell: He fiercely roareth out,
He wounds, he kils; amid the thickest rout,
He rushes-in, dread-less of Spears, and darts,
Swords, shafts, and staues, though hurt in thousand parts;
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack,
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)
When, over-layd with might and Multitude,
He needs must dy; dying, he more bemoanes,
Then his owne death, his Captiue little-Ones.
So, for their yong our Masty Currs will fight,
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.
So, in the Deep, the Dog-Fish for her Fry
Lucina's throes a thousand times doth try:
For, seeeing when the suttle Fisher followes them,
Again alive into her womb shee swallows them;
And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,
As from the Cabins of a safe defence;
And (thousand liues to their deer Parent owing)
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.
In every brest of brutest Animall
A kind Instinct, which makes them dread no less
Their Childrens danger, then their owne decease;
That so, each Kinde may last immortally,
Though th'Indiuiduum pass successively.
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)
But for his Deer Whelps taken from his Den
109
He wounds, he kils; amid the thickest rout,
He rushes-in, dread-less of Spears, and darts,
Swords, shafts, and staues, though hurt in thousand parts;
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack,
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)
When, over-layd with might and Multitude,
He needs must dy; dying, he more bemoanes,
Then his owne death, his Captiue little-Ones.
So, for their yong our Masty Currs will fight,
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.
So, in the Deep, the Dog-Fish for her Fry
Lucina's throes a thousand times doth try:
For, seeeing when the suttle Fisher followes them,
Again alive into her womb shee swallows them;
And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,
As from the Cabins of a safe defence;
And (thousand liues to their deer Parent owing)
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.
I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry;
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,
By the braue orders practiz'd vnder her,
Instructeth souldiers in the Art of War.
For when her Troops of wandring Cranes forsake
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take
Truce with the Northren Dwarfs, to seek adventure
In Southren Climates for a milder Winter;
Afront each Band a forward Captain flies,
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;
Two skilfull Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,
And with their voyce hasten their tardy Flight;
And when the honey of care-charming sleep
Sweetly begins through all their veins to creep,
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Hoast,
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod.
Another doth as much, a third, a fourth,
Vntill, by turns, the Night be turned forth.
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,
By the braue orders practiz'd vnder her,
Instructeth souldiers in the Art of War.
For when her Troops of wandring Cranes forsake
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take
Truce with the Northren Dwarfs, to seek adventure
In Southren Climates for a milder Winter;
Afront each Band a forward Captain flies,
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;
Two skilfull Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,
And with their voyce hasten their tardy Flight;
And when the honey of care-charming sleep
Sweetly begins through all their veins to creep,
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Hoast,
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod.
Another doth as much, a third, a fourth,
Vntill, by turns, the Night be turned forth.
There, the fair Peacock beautifully braue,
Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-graue,
Wheeling his starry Trayn, in pomp displayes
His glorious eyes to Phœbus golden rayes.
Close by his side stands the courageous Cock,
Crest-peoples King, the Peasants trusty Clock,
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,
The Lyons terror, true Astronomer,
Who daily riseth when the Sun doth rise;
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.
Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-graue,
Wheeling his starry Trayn, in pomp displayes
His glorious eyes to Phœbus golden rayes.
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Crest-peoples King, the Peasants trusty Clock,
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,
The Lyons terror, true Astronomer,
Who daily riseth when the Sun doth rise;
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.
There, I perceiue amid the flowry Plain
The mighty Estridge, striving oft in vain
To mount among the flying multitude
(Although with feathers, not with flight indu'd):
Whose greedy stomach steely gads digests;
Whose crisped train adorns triumphant crests.
The mighty Estridge, striving oft in vain
To mount among the flying multitude
(Although with feathers, not with flight indu'd):
Whose greedy stomach steely gads digests;
Whose crisped train adorns triumphant crests.
Thou happy Witness of my happy Watches,
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches,
To bear about vpon thy paper-Tables,
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects (end-less to rehearse)
Limn'd with the pencill of my various Verse;
Sith These are also His wife Workmanships
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:
And sith in These he shows vs every howr
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty powr
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.
For, if olde Times admire Callicrates
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermècides
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small
That with her wings a Bee can hide it all
(Though th'Artfull fruits of all their curious pain,
Fit for no vse, were but inuentions vain)
Admire we then th'all-wise Omnipotence,
Which doth within so narrow space dispence
So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant heart,
So loud a voyce, so prudent wit and Art.
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches,
To bear about vpon thy paper-Tables,
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects (end-less to rehearse)
Limn'd with the pencill of my various Verse;
Sith These are also His wife Workmanships
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:
And sith in These he shows vs every howr
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty powr
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.
For, if olde Times admire Callicrates
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermècides
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small
That with her wings a Bee can hide it all
(Though th'Artfull fruits of all their curious pain,
Fit for no vse, were but inuentions vain)
Admire we then th'all-wise Omnipotence,
Which doth within so narrow space dispence
So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant heart,
So loud a voyce, so prudent wit and Art.
For, where's the State beneath the Firmament,
That doth excell the Bees for Government?
No, no: bright Phœbus, whose eternall Race
Once every Day about the World doth pase,
Sees heer no Citie, that in Rites and Laws
(For Equitie) neer to their Iustice draws:
Not That which flying from the furious Hun,
In th'Adrian-Sea another World begun.
Their well-rul'd State my soule so much admires,
That, durst I loose the Rains of my desires,
I gladly could digress from my designe,
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:
But if, of all, whose skilfull Pencils dare
To counterfait th'Almightie's Models rare,
None yet durst finish that fair Peece, wherein
Learned Apelles drew Loue's wanton Queen;
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climbe,
And sing the Bees praise in mine humble rime?
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?
That doth excell the Bees for Government?
No, no: bright Phœbus, whose eternall Race
Once every Day about the World doth pase,
Sees heer no Citie, that in Rites and Laws
(For Equitie) neer to their Iustice draws:
Not That which flying from the furious Hun,
In th'Adrian-Sea another World begun.
Their well-rul'd State my soule so much admires,
That, durst I loose the Rains of my desires,
I gladly could digress from my designe,
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:
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To counterfait th'Almightie's Models rare,
None yet durst finish that fair Peece, wherein
Learned Apelles drew Loue's wanton Queen;
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climbe,
And sing the Bees praise in mine humble rime?
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?
Yet may I not that little
Worm pass-by,
Of Fly turn'd Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:
Two births, two deaths, heer Nature hath assign'd-her,
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-liue) seed behinde-her,
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaues
Of Thisbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaues
(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, Silken slakes
Which more for vs, then for her self, she makes.
O precious fleece! which onely did adorn
The sacred loyns of Princes heertoforn:
But our proud Age, with prodigall abuse,
Hath so profan'd th'old honourable vse,
That shifters now, who scarce haue bread to eat,
Disdain plain Silk, vnless it be beset
With one of those deer Metals, whose desire
Burns greedy soules with an immortall fire.
Of Fly turn'd Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:
Two births, two deaths, heer Nature hath assign'd-her,
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-liue) seed behinde-her,
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaues
Of Thisbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaues
(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, Silken slakes
Which more for vs, then for her self, she makes.
O precious fleece! which onely did adorn
The sacred loyns of Princes heertoforn:
But our proud Age, with prodigall abuse,
Hath so profan'd th'old honourable vse,
That shifters now, who scarce haue bread to eat,
Disdain plain Silk, vnless it be beset
With one of those deer Metals, whose desire
Burns greedy soules with an immortall fire.
Though last, not least; braue Eagle, no contempt
Made me so long thy story hence exempt
(Nor LESS-EX told shall thy true vertues be,
For th'Eyrie's sake that ownes my Muse and mee;
There Iov's and Iuno's stately Birds be billing,
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling
(Azure they bear three Eaglets Argentine,
A Cheuron Ermin grailed Or between).
WItt, CHieftie, RICHess, to THem all I Wish
In earth; in Heav'n th'immortall Crown of Bliss.)
For, well I knowe, thou holdest (worthily)
That place among the Aëry flocks that fly,
As doth the Dragon, or the Cocatrice
Among the banefull Creeping Companies:
The noble Lion among savage beasts:
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Dyuing guests.
I knowe thy course; I know, thy constant sight
Can fixly gaze against Heav'ns greatest Light.
But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth glister,
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.
Made me so long thy story hence exempt
(Nor LESS-EX told shall thy true vertues be,
For th'Eyrie's sake that ownes my Muse and mee;
There Iov's and Iuno's stately Birds be billing,
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling
(Azure they bear three Eaglets Argentine,
A Cheuron Ermin grailed Or between).
WItt, CHieftie, RICHess, to THem all I Wish
In earth; in Heav'n th'immortall Crown of Bliss.)
For, well I knowe, thou holdest (worthily)
That place among the Aëry flocks that fly,
As doth the Dragon, or the Cocatrice
Among the banefull Creeping Companies:
The noble Lion among savage beasts:
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Dyuing guests.
I knowe thy course; I know, thy constant sight
Can fixly gaze against Heav'ns greatest Light.
But, as the Phœnix on my Front doth glister,
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.
On Thracian shoar of the same stormy stream,
Which did inherit both the bones and name
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence
Where loue-blind Heros hap-less diligence,
In steed of Loves lamp, lighted Deaths cold brand,
To waft Leanders naked limbs to land)
There dwelt a Maid, as noble, and as rich,
As faire as Hero, but more chaste by much:
For, her steel brest still blunted all the Darts
Of Paphos Archer, and eschew'd his Arts.
Which did inherit both the bones and name
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence
Where loue-blind Heros hap-less diligence,
112
To waft Leanders naked limbs to land)
There dwelt a Maid, as noble, and as rich,
As faire as Hero, but more chaste by much:
For, her steel brest still blunted all the Darts
Of Paphos Archer, and eschew'd his Arts.
One day, this Damsell through a Forrest thick
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)
Vnto a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top
(Where, one (almost) would fear to clamber vp)
Two tender Eaglets in a nest espies,
Which 'gainst the Sun sate trying of their eyes;
Whose callow backs and bodies round about
With soft short quils began to bristle out;
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape
For wonted fees out of their Parents rape.
Of these two Fowls the fairest vp she takes
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes
Down from the Rock, and shiuering yet for fear
Trips home as fast as her light feet can bear:
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,
And having stoln (at last) some Lamb away;
Flyes with down-hanging head, and leereth back
Whether the Mastife doo pursue his track.
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)
Vnto a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top
(Where, one (almost) would fear to clamber vp)
Two tender Eaglets in a nest espies,
Which 'gainst the Sun sate trying of their eyes;
Whose callow backs and bodies round about
With soft short quils began to bristle out;
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape
For wonted fees out of their Parents rape.
Of these two Fowls the fairest vp she takes
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes
Down from the Rock, and shiuering yet for fear
Trips home as fast as her light feet can bear:
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,
And having stoln (at last) some Lamb away;
Flyes with down-hanging head, and leereth back
Whether the Mastife doo pursue his track.
In time, this Eagle was so throughly mann'd,
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand
At the first call 't would come; and faun vpon-her,
And bill and bow, in signe of loue and honour:
On th'other side, the Maiden makes as much
Of her deer Bird; stroking with gentle touch
Her wings and train, and with a wanton voyce
It wantonly doth cherish and reioyce:
And (prety-fondling) she doth prize it higher
Then her owne beauties; which all else admire.
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand
At the first call 't would come; and faun vpon-her,
And bill and bow, in signe of loue and honour:
On th'other side, the Maiden makes as much
Of her deer Bird; stroking with gentle touch
Her wings and train, and with a wanton voyce
It wantonly doth cherish and reioyce:
And (prety-fondling) she doth prize it higher
Then her owne beauties; which all else admire.
But (as fell Fates mingle our single ioyes,
With bitter gall of infinite annoyes)
An extream Fever vext the Virgins bones
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)
Consum'd her flesh, and wanly did displace
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her louely face.
Then far'd the Foul and Fairest both a-like;
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick;
So that, to note their passions, one would gather
That Lachesis spun both their liues together.
But oft the Eagle, striving with her Fit,
Would fly abroad to seek som dainty bit,
For her deer Mistress: and with nimble wing,
Som Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;
Paying with food, the food receiv'd so oft,
From those fair Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,
During her nonage, yer she durst essay
To cleaue the sky, and for her selfe to prey.
With bitter gall of infinite annoyes)
An extream Fever vext the Virgins bones
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)
Consum'd her flesh, and wanly did displace
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her louely face.
Then far'd the Foul and Fairest both a-like;
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick;
So that, to note their passions, one would gather
That Lachesis spun both their liues together.
But oft the Eagle, striving with her Fit,
Would fly abroad to seek som dainty bit,
For her deer Mistress: and with nimble wing,
Som Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;
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From those fair Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,
During her nonage, yer she durst essay
To cleaue the sky, and for her selfe to prey.
The Fever now with spitefull fits had spent
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,
And Life resign'd to cruell Death her right;
Who three dayes after doth the Eagle cite.
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,
And Life resign'd to cruell Death her right;
Who three dayes after doth the Eagle cite.
The fearfull Hare durst now frequent the Down;
And round about the Wals of Hero's Town,
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,
Dread-less of the Eagle that so well they knew:
For she (alas!) lies on her Ladies bed,
Still-sadly mourning; though a-liue, yet dead:
For, O! how should she liue, sith Fatall knife
Hath cut the thread of her liues deerest life?
And round about the Wals of Hero's Town,
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,
Dread-less of the Eagle that so well they knew:
For she (alas!) lies on her Ladies bed,
Still-sadly mourning; though a-liue, yet dead:
For, O! how should she liue, sith Fatall knife
Hath cut the thread of her liues deerest life?
O're the deer Corps somtimes her wings she hovers,
Somtimes the dead brest with her brest she covers,
Somtimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,
Somtimes she kisses the cold lips and face;
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.
Somtimes the dead brest with her brest she covers,
Somtimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,
Somtimes she kisses the cold lips and face;
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.
Thrice had bright Phœbus daily Chariot run
Past the proud Pillars of Alcmænas son,
Since the fair Virgin past the fatall Ferry
Where (lastly) Mortals leaue their burthens weary;
And yet this dolefull Bird, drown'd in her tears,
All comfort-less, Rest and Repast forbears:
So much (alas!) she seemeth to contend,
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.
Past the proud Pillars of Alcmænas son,
Since the fair Virgin past the fatall Ferry
Where (lastly) Mortals leaue their burthens weary;
And yet this dolefull Bird, drown'd in her tears,
All comfort-less, Rest and Repast forbears:
So much (alas!) she seemeth to contend,
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.
But lastly, finding all these means too-weak,
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,
Vnnaturally her proper brest she gaged,
And tears her bowels, storming bitterly
That all these deaths could yet not make her dy.
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,
Vnnaturally her proper brest she gaged,
And tears her bowels, storming bitterly
That all these deaths could yet not make her dy.
But, lo the while, about the lightsom door
Of th'hap-less house, a mournfull troop, that bore
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their brests;
Who, taking vp the sacred Load (at last)
Whose happy soule already Heav'n embrac't;
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatall Pile
With solemn pase: The silly Bird, the while,
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails;
Honouring, with convoy, two sad Funerals.
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame
Embrac't the Body of her tender Dame,
But suddenly, distilling all with blood,
Down soust the Eagle on the blazing wood:
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand,
A hundred times to beat her from her stand:
For, to the midst still of the Pile the plies;
And, singing sweet her Ladies Obsequies,
There burns her selfe, and blendeth happily
Her bones with hers she lov'd so tenderly.
Of th'hap-less house, a mournfull troop, that bore
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their brests;
Who, taking vp the sacred Load (at last)
Whose happy soule already Heav'n embrac't;
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatall Pile
With solemn pase: The silly Bird, the while,
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails;
Honouring, with convoy, two sad Funerals.
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame
Embrac't the Body of her tender Dame,
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Down soust the Eagle on the blazing wood:
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand,
A hundred times to beat her from her stand:
For, to the midst still of the Pile the plies;
And, singing sweet her Ladies Obsequies,
There burns her selfe, and blendeth happily
Her bones with hers she lov'd so tenderly.
O happy Pair! vpon your sable Toomb,
May Mel and Manna ever showring come;
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Herse,
And evermore liue you within my Verse.
May Mel and Manna ever showring come;
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Herse,
And evermore liue you within my Verse.
So Morne and Euening the Fift Day conclude,
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.
And God perceiu'd that all his works were good.
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