University of Virginia Library

TO HIS MOST EXCELLENT MAIESTIE THE HVMBLE PETITION OF his Heighnes Orator Al. Craig at Christmas in VVhitehall.

Apelles some-time came
To Ptolomæus feast,
And had well nye return'd againe
Inglorius and disgrac't.
For Ptolomæus ask'd,
Who cald him to that place,
Then with a coale vpon the wall,
He painted Planus face.
The King knew Planus well,
And did at once protest
That hee should fast, and hee would feast
Appelles with the best.
So am I come Great King,
Vnto thy Christmas chere,
And Povertie against my will,
Invit's me to be heere.
You are a greater King
Then Lagus sonne, altho
With Ægipt, Afric, he vsurpt,
And was th' Arabians fo.
Let Povertie I pray,
Receaue his due disgrace:
And let thy Poet at this feast
Supplie the Painters place.
But Lacon some-time said
Vnto a begging slaue,
Giue what I will it is thy craft
To beg, and ever craue.
Be not affrai'd for that,
(Thogh for this time J cry)
Jf succurd once, nor seeke againe
J rather sterue and dye.

COMPLAINT TO HIS Majestie.

TO John LORD Ramsay, Vicunt of Hadington, the Author bemoneth his hard Fortunes in England.

Alas, why sould Calisthenes remaine
Where Agis both and Cleo beare the sway,
These Sicophants and Parasites profaine,
Draw Macedoes magnific minde astray:
Jt Aristip in Court make any stay,
Some Tyran straight shall spit into his face,
Thus feeling ill, and fearing worse each day,
A miriad of mis-fortunes I embrace.
How carefull is Entimeon poore thy case
At home, abrod, since Fortun is thy foe;
But ere thou turne to Griece with more disgrace,
Jn Persia die, and there intomb thy woe:
To him that liues, and must die Fortunes slaue,
Jf nothing else, good Persians grant a graue.

AD EVNDEM DE EODEM.

Beyond the Mountains of the frostie North,
I some-time seru'd a Caledonian Dame:
The first of all for Vertue, wit, and Worth,
That ever yet adorn'd the rols of fame:
She fed my heart on fansies sweetest flame,
Yet haue I left both heart and her behind,
And to this land spoild of my heart I came
To follow Fortune, which J can not find:
Strange is the state wherein I stand, J see
Twix Fortune heere, and my affections there:
I fled from these, this flees againe from mee,
Here Povertie, and yonder springs Dispare.
Blind Cupid thus, blind Fortune are againe mee,
My Loue at home, my Luck abrod disdaine mee.

NEW YEARE GIFT TO his Majestie.

To Cresus rich shall Codrus gifts propyne,
To Maro wise must Mevius ryms present:
O pearles Prince, O Poet most divyne,
My Muse is dead, my moyen all is spent:
Wise Maro writ, weake Mevius wonder ay,
Rich Cresus giue, poore Codius beg and pray.

TO HIS MAJESTIE IN NAME of his Noble Master.

TO MY LORD SARVSBVRIE.

Two potent Kings over Siciles two Empyre,
That famous Ile where Siracusa stood:
Where gainst the heavens Encelad voms his fyre,
King Philip bruks with much Iberian blood:
But wise King Iames (O blest and happie case)
Commands a Cecill of more price in peace.

TO MY LORD HAY, AT HIS LEGATION to France.

Since thou must sail to see the Celtick shore,
From titular to him that keeps the Crown:
Which with thy Name thy Nation shall decore,
And fett more quils to further thy renown:
My wishes both, and prayers shall attend thee,
At home, abroad, the living Lord defend thee.

TO MY LORD ADMIRALL AT his mariage with Ladie Margaret Stewart.

Mars , Hercules, and Iupiter we finde,
With Venus, Lyda, Læda were in loue,
And for obedience to the Archer blind,
The Sword, the Club, and Scepter they remoue:
And Neptuns deput leau's the fomie strand,
To pearse a Margarit fet from Murray land.

A Counsell to Courteours.

To my Lady Hartfurde at his Majesties first progres to Totnem.

The tempest beat and falling Farne (fair Dame)
Receaves new life, new strength, new smell wee see:
And for thy sake thy Soveraigne weares the same
Heigh on his head to serue and honour thee:
These are the frutes thy bewtie braue brings forth,
Thy least propynes are valued of most worth.

TO HIS DEAR FRIEND Mr. Al. Dickson Mr. of the Art of Memorie who dyed at Winchester in England. EPITAPH.

That Thracian forme at birth of friends to weepe,
And to be glad when as againe they dye:
My sigh-swolne heart can not content to keepe,
Since J deare friend must sigh, and murne for thee.
Now haue I los'd my second selfe J see,
To whom shall J (since thou atr dead) bemone:
Most rich of all (the Scythians say) is hee
That hath true friends, now I, alas, haue none:
No other death of ould the Hircans choos'd,
But to be kild by these same dogs they fed:
Displeasure so to be ingratlie vs'd,
Hath broght braue Dickson to his cognat bed.
Thou taught the Art of Memorie to those
That seemd thy friends, yet prou'd in end thy foes.

TO HIS VNKINDE FRIEND.

Of all the wounds whereof that Roman great,
Braue Iulius Cæsar in the senat died:
The wounds from Brutus (burreau most ingrate)
Did grieue him most, on Brutus still he cri'd:
So were my life to take last leaue of mee,
Still wold I cry (vnkinde, vnkinde) on thee.

TO HIS CVSNING FRIEND.

TO COVETOVS COVRTIERS.

TO VIRTEOVS AND NOBLE Cynthia.

Fane wold J render thanks for thy good-will:
But thanks are words, and words compense no deeds,
And thus must J remain thy debter still,
For which my heart within my bosome bleeds:
But if it chance that in thy debt I die,
My froward Fortune hath the fault, not I.

TO HIS DEAR FRIEND, AND fellow student Mr. Robert AEton.

Sing swift hoof'd Æthon to thy matchles selfe,
And be not silent in this pleasant spring:
I am thy Echo, and thy Aerie elf,
The latter strains of thy sweet tunes I'll sing:
Ah, shall thy Muse no further frutes forth-bring,
But Basia bare, and wilt thou write no more
To higher notes, J pray thee tune thy string:
Be still admir'd as thou hast bene of yore,
Write Æthon writ, let not thy vain decay,
Least we become Cymerians dark, or worse.
If Æthon faill, the Sun his course must stay,
For, Phœbus Chariot laks the cheefest horse:
Thogh Fortun frown, ah, why should vertue die,
Sing Æthon sing, and J shall Echo thee.

AETHON Cragio Svo.

Fane wold I sing, if songs my thoghts culd ease,
Or calme the tempest of my troubled mynde:
Fane wold J force my silent Muse to please,
The gallant humor of thy wanton vane:
But O a miser mancipat to paine,
Sould slaue to sorrow, wedded to mischief,
By mirth of songs, perhaps more greefe might gane,
Jn vane of them J should expect releif:
Then sacred Craig if thou wold ease my greef,
Jnvite me not to wantonize with thee:
But tune thy notes vnto my mourning cleif,
And when J weepe, weepe thou to Echo mee.
Perhaps the teares that from a Craig shall floe,
May proue a Soveraigne balme to cure my woe.

AGAINST THE SELLERS of Tobacco.

Thou that hast made of selling smoak a trade,
And Jew and Gentill but remorse do'st gull,
And by these base Nicotian bleads are glade
To spoill, mar, blek, the stomach, brane, and skull:
As thou deseru'st Turinus-like J doome thee,
By selling smoak thou liv'st, let smoak consume thee.

TO HIS LORD AND Mr. George Earle of Dunbar.

TO LADIE ANNA HAY COVNTES OF Winton, one of the Ladies of her Majesties most royall bed chalmer,

at her return from England.

A DISSVVASION TO HIS friend from his intended mariage.

Fair famous Ile where Zoroastres raign'd,
Where Bactrum once the statelie cittie stood:
VVhich (when th' ould name Ariaspe) was disdain'd,
VVas Bactria cal'd from fertill Bactrus flood;
VVhere some-time Ceter, Arams sonne began,
Of thousand citties the foundation sure.
In thee the wyues abuse the maried man,
And both with slaue and stranger play the whoore,
The Dame with Distaff beats her yeelding Lord,
And for her pryde but punishment skaips free:
And poore Acteon dare not speak one word,
From Bactrian wyues the Lord deliver thee:
Nor lead a life infamous, heart-brock, thrall,
Far better were to wed no wife at all.

A DESCRIPTION OF A PARDOND, yet still vnrepenting proditor Plexirtus.

EPITAPH OF IOHN FIRST MARQUES of Hammilton.

FORTVNA SAEVO LAETA NEGOTIO: transmutat incertos honores.

Strange are the changes of this changing age,
The cloun turns knight, the knight again turns cloun:
Now is he Lord, who, was of late a page,
And he that threatned all, is now thrown doun:
Thrise happie he, whose heart can be content,
To serue his God in peace with sober rent.

To his afflicted friend.

In wether fair, and in a temperat spring,
The waikest bird with warbling songs will soare,
But in a storme, or winters rage to sing
With mirrie notes, deserues a praise much more:
Thy spring is gone, thy winter growes, O than
Sing sweetlie now, and shew thy selfe a man.

To his fortunate friend.

The Fox and Kat, were walking by the way,
(As Æsop fains) and lo for all his wits
The Fox became to hungrie hounds a pray,
Whilst in a trie the Kat securlie sits.
Since Foxes false (dear friend) must fall, and die,
Climb with the Kat, and make the truth thy trie.

Vivitur parvo bene.

A Prayer for his imprisoned friend.

To Idea for his long absence.

To eloquent Erantina.

Cleombrotus a Heathen man did heare
Wise Plato, with such reverence and respeck,
As for the loue he to his lessons beare,
He went abrod (kinde man) and brok his neck:
Thy charming words inchant me so that J
Doe nothing now, but mourne, sigh, weep, and die.

To his absent and loving Lesbia.

To absent Idea.

To Idea at her bownes.

TO HIS BANISHED FRIEND

Two wofull weeds, the mother Church must weare,
One Crimson rid, the other mourning black:
The black betokneth sorrow, pane, and care,
The rid bods death, fearce persecution, wrack:
It maters not what rags she beare abrod,
Once she'll be cloth'd in robs of white with God.

To his singular good Lord and Master.

Long mai'st thou liue an argument of praise,
A lordlie subject to my loving pen,
That on thy worth the wondring world may gaise,
A magistrat admir'd amongst all men.
Yea, more and more heavens grant thee from aboue,
The Makers mercie, and the Masters loue.

Auream quisquis mediocritatem.

It merits praise to manage litle well,
A cunning coachman turns in litle roume:
In poore estate a rich content I feell,
And smyle to see a wretches wealth consume:
J'ill studie then to steward what J haue,
And not be curious more and more to craue.

His regrate for the lose of time at Court.

O how Time slips, and slelie slids away,
God is forgot, and woe is me therefore:
J waste the night, and weare away the day,
I sleepe, dres, feed, talke, sport, and doe no more:
Far better were with care to haue redemed,
Nor sell for noght the thing I most estemed.

To his aspyring friend.

Since charge and honor march together still
For charge but honour were a toyle too great:
And honor but a charge were ease at will,
To want them both is not the worst estate:
I loath those loads which lightnesse first pretend,
But break the neck before the journeys end.

Nulla dies sine linea.

The standing poole will quicklie stink and rott,
The currant streame is cleanlie both and cleare:
The idle man is Sathans prey, God wott,
A verteous minde the Devill darr not draw neare,
My fantasies can profit few, and yet
It hurteth none, but doth me good to writ.

The praise of Glad-povertie.

Three sorts of men vnto the market go,
One buyes, one selles, an other doth behold,
Great greef and care is in the former two,
Th' expectant waiks secure and vncontrold.
He liu's (poore man) contented with his lot,
Vsing the world as if he vs'd it not.

His vnambitious minde.

Three things there be for which J'ill not contend,
The Way, the wall, and Tables highest seat:
What foole is he will frown, or yet offend
For any place, so hee can reach his meat.
But in good faith, the idlest strife of all,
Js in my judgement for the way, or wall.

To his friend who seemd sorie when he left Court.

I scorne to liue at Court, because J spy
The wicked heaps vp wealth, the foole hath grace:
The wise man weeps, and in disgrace must die,
And vanitie must march in vertues place:
Far better were on shore secure t'abide,
Nor saill in vane against both wind and tide.

Against Pryde.

Th' ambitious man no greater foe can haue,
Then is himselfe, for whilst he still aspires,
He grinds his heart for greef vnto the graue,
With foolish hopes, with fear's, and fond desires:
God grant my pryde may grow to this degree,
Jn earth his child, in heaven his Sant to bee.

To vnfortunat and pure Æmilian at Court.

Emilian begs with heart half-brok for sorrow,
Yet finds not frute at all, but long delay:
As leaue me now, or come againe to morrow,
My lasure serues not yet, I pray thee stay:
None pitties thee Æmilian, do not griue,
They get no thing, that haue no thing to giue.

That he neither loues to be too glad nor too sad.

Ioyes come like oxen heavie peas'd and slo,
But tak their leaue like horses running post:
Greifs come at post, on foot againe they go,
And leaue sad discontentment with their host:
Both Ioys and Griefs as passingers J'il vse,
They shall not be my ghaists, if J can chuse.

His contents at his Tugur.

When lose of Tyme at Court was all my gane,
To take my leaue, J thoght it was my best:
And in some privat mansion to remaine,
Where J might frie from Envyes rage take rest:
Now blest be God, no Portar bars my doore
By day, by night none keeps me but my kurre.

Against ignorance and ill example.

The law of God is Lanterne full of light,
And good example beares this Lantern still:
Which shews the way to walk, and march vpright,
To doe all good, and to decline from ill:
Without this light who walks, he can not see,
And such (will God) shall be no gyde to thee.

To Mistres Hartside at Orknay her natall soyle.

Proscribed Orcas thogh J hate thy forms,
J must commend and praise thy courage still,
I saw thee proue both wise and stout in storms,
And thou art barren sore against my will:
For had thou sonnes of thy Amazon stamp,
They might be Captains of the Emperors camp.

Perswasions of certainties are vnnecessarie.

No greater fools then Philodoxes fond,
And such as loue opinions of their own:
Thy wit (wise Plato) when I think vpon'd,
Made men to doubt on things that were well known:
These Why, How, What, mad questions of thy schools,
Wold make the wise men of our age seeme fools.

Against drunkards and lichers.

In sinfull Sodome to liue cleane and poore,
Jn Asia chast amid allurements such:
To hate in Rome the bordell and the whoore,
And to be still abstemius with a Dutch:
Do'th merit praise, yet this much with correction,
J find but few can haunt them but infection.

To his Lord and Master G. E. Dunbar.

Against ingratitude.

First let me die before I proue ingrate,
No, let the earth devore me ere J die:
Before I liue in such a wretched state,
To haue no hand but one, no tongue to cry:
Vnthankfull mouths are graues, then if J take,
I will at least giue praise and prayers back.

To his Lord and Master to be ware of envy.

To John EARLE OF MONTROSE first Vice-Roy of Scotland. EPITAPH.

If Rhadamanthus in th' Elisian field,
VVith Æacus and Minos Judges bee.
And Gods over ghosts, they all of due must yeeld,
For Piëtie, Truth, Justice, place to thee:
At least Montroes for Minos must command,
And beare his Scepter in the blessed land.

The Rapt of Proserpina.

Against Sycophants and Parasits.

The praise of humilitie in his L. and Mr.

It seems (me think) a thing of small effect,
When Fortun frowns for to be meek and lowlie:
But he that can eies, heart, looks thoghts, deject,
VVhen Fortun fauns is happie both and holie:
He looks like God, and hath his makers show,
VVhose pow'r is much, whose sprit is meek and low.

Of true friendship.

In shaddie night the glow-worme shines like fire,
And yet no heat to frostie hand she lends:
In calme who swear's he lou's thee, is a lier,
He'ill shrink in storme, and so his friendship ends:
Let Pythias then take Damon by the hand,
VVho for his friend in Fortuns stormes can stand.

TO THE MOST HONORABLE and religious Lord G. Earle Marschell, great Commissionar of Scotland for his Majestie.

Braue Cincinnatus from his house was broght,
To be Dictator in the towne of Rome:
Thou in this sort, (Religious Lord) art soght,
Thy Princes place and seat for to assume:
He in a month put Rome to rest and peace,
And thou hast done much more in much lesse space.

Contempt of Death.