University of Virginia Library

Concerning Buls, sure no man is so Dull,
Or ignorant, but that he knowes a Bull:
There are more sorts of Bulls then Beares by ods,
For Iupiter, (the chiefe of Heathen gods)
Into a Bull, was pleas'd himselfe to Shape,
When on Europa he committed Rape:
And to a Bull, he turn'd his forme divine
When he (on Ceres) got faire Proserpine.
Taurus (the Bull) is if you wisely Note
A Signe Cælestiall for the Necke and Throat,
If any doubt of it, let them but go
And buy an Almanacke, hee'le finde it so.
Pasipha Queene of Creet, (a Royall Trull)
Was monstrously enamour'd of a Bull:
'Twixt whom the Monster Minotaure was got,
As in th'eighth Booke of Ovid it was wrot.
But sure the stories truth is better fram'd,
That sayes there was a man there (Taurus nam'd)
Who was beloved of the lustfull Queene,
And had with her too oft familiar beene.
'Tis said Semiramis (King Ninus Mother)
Did love a Bull, which is as true as 'tother.
When as Just Minos, (Creets victorious King)
The Megarans did to's subjection bring,
For which to Iove a feast he solemniz'd,
Wherein a hundred Buls were sacrific'd.
The Brazen Bull of Phallaris the Tyrant,
Was such a Beast, as made the World admire on't,
In which men Roasted, were to death Tormented,
And he first suffred in't that it Invented.
There dwels a man at Rome, that Buls can make,
To make seduced Kings, and Kingdomes Quake,
Which Buls (though Lead) (O wondrous to behold
Are quickly Metamorphos'd into Gold.
There's the Philosophers Admired Jemme,
(That long sought Jewell, worth a Diademe)
That hard, hard stone, which many men have sought
And all they found, they found themselves worth nought;
The Castle Angello, doth it Immure
And there turnes drossy Lead, to Gold most pure.
There are Bulbeggers, which fright Children much,
There are Bull Taverns, that mens Wits will tutch;
And further (for the Buls Renowne and fame)
We had an ex'lent Hangman of that name.
Suppose a man's match'd with a beauteous Wife,
Who with an ugly Dwarfe defiles her life,
To please her husband, she can fiddle, faddle,
Whilst oftentimes a Monkey sits his Saddle,
A man may say, that he most basely is
Bull'd with an Urchin, through his Wifes amisse.
And now of late a Bull's a Common Creature,
For men (with nonsence) do speak Bull's by Nature,
From East to West, from North unto the South,
Bull's are produc'd each houre, by Word of Mouth.
Which every day are brought unto the Printer,
Faster then Mother Puddings made her Winter.
To the decay of many a Tallow Taper,
And the consuming many a Reame of Paper,
Soft mault doth make sweet Fire, the Proverb sayes,
Or else the Bull sayes so, you see which wayes.
If men would use to Leape before they Looke,
Bulls should not thus be thrust in many a Booke,
For though Care may be Kill'd with any Cat,
You are not sure the Fire is in the Fat,
Fooles faine (say they) do often make faire Words,
Yet some may Catch the Bush, some beat the Birds.
But Better comes the seldome, I desire
For My Kill set the Peck of Maulte on fire.
This any man may, to himselfe apply
That when the Larks fall, we may catch the skie.
But if my Judgement do me not deceive
I do esteeme it better lacke then leave.
Though Brawne and Bacon breeds from Bores and Hoggs,
Yet hungry Puddings will eat dirty Doggs.
And sure a man had better bide away,
Then come to late, A Faire after the Day.
If such a one speed well, it is as rare,
As tis To catch a Taber with a Hare.
Which is as certaine as blind Fortunes Wheele,
Or hold fast Like a wet Taile by the Eele.
Let every man a true decorum keepe,
Because tis ill, A waking Dogge to sleepe.
And tis a Proverb throughout Christendome,
That never One day was not built in Rome.
If great men give me nothing, I say plaine,
Ile hurle as much as that at them againe.
He that stickes downe a Goose, and steales a Feather,
Doth (by that match) not save, or profit neither.
A long Corne for short harvest men may see,
Like tedious woeing for a scornefull shee.
Tis folly for a man to fall at strife
With Women, who hath nine Cats like a life;
For when the Gray-Horse is the better Mare,
A Blinde man may be taken with a Hare.
Spet in your hold, take better hands I say,
We may be heere to Morrow, and gone to day.
The man that angrie is without amends,
Tis fit (without a cause he be made friends:)
For though men know their Cattel by their marks
The greatest men are not the wisest Clarkes.
I purpose no mans credit to defame,
But He that is halfe hang'd, hath no good name.
Though all these Rimes are scarcely worth a Token
The Water to the Pott goes till tis broken.
Who cuts their fingers must abide them bleed,
And when Geese preach, then let the Fox take heede.
Tis hard to make me thinke, or late, or soone,
That ever Greene Cheese was made of the Moone.
Nor is it fit (as I doe understand)
To put a mad Sword in a nak'd mans hand.
A man may be a Drunkard or a Leacher,
And yet mend as the Bolt doth mend the Fletcher.
Or as the sowre Ale mends the Sommer, so
A man (mistooke) may make his friend, his foe.
For all this, 'tis not fitting to be book'd,
How once olde Lincolne ore the Devill look'd.
The Ancient Proverb still doth stand in force,
Some better may looke one then steale a Horse.
It may be some will not these lines allow,
But then they take a wrong Eare by the Sow.
Twas never yet a question in the Law,
To stumble at a Blocke, leape ore a straw.
But any man of simple wit may finde,
That all this Corne hath shaken downe no Winde.
He that will wrangle for an Egge thats Addle,
Although he lose the Horse, may winne the Saddle.
And thus my Muse, most lowly elevated,
These English Proverbs hath to Bulls translated.

More worthy, and Remarkeable observations of the Bull.

As is before Repeated in my lines,
Taurus (the Bull) 'mongst the Celestial Signes;
So Taurus is a Mountaine, whose high Top
Doth seeme to scale the Skies, and underprop
The Bull that's stellified; That Hill doth Bound
All Asia on the North, about it round
Is many a Kingdome and large Continent,
Which shewes the Bull is mighty in extent.
A Bull's a Beast of State and Reputation,
For he that eats Bull Beefe, (by approbation)
With eating such strong meate, I do assure ye
'Twill puffe him up, and make him swell with fury.
If any man will but himselfe examine,
Hee'le find a Bull, a Buckler against famine,
A Bull's a happy Creature, whence proceeds
Most of the food, whereon most people feeds:
He, and his sweet hearts (most beloved Kine)
Yeelds thousands wherewithall to suppe and dine.
The Calves, (his sonnes and daughters) plenteously
With young and tender Veale, our wants supply.
And from the Bull'd Cow, (in perpetuall motion)
Milke flowes amongst us daily like an Ocean,
Sweet Creame, and Cockney Curds they yeeld each day,
And (for the poor) Whig, Buttermilk and Whay,
Cheese Raw, or Toasted, or to Bait Mouse-traps,
And Butter, to annoint the Flemmings Chaps,
The Milk-Pans do allow, like bounteous Pooles,
Meanes to make Cheese-cakes, Custards, Flawns, and Fools,
And at the Milk-pale I have seene and heard
Good Sullabubs, have been both made and mard.
It is the Bull's Conjunction with the Cow
(With blest encrease) that doth these things allow.
Without the Bull we should be so unslor'd,
The Kingdome could not yeeld a Posset Curd.
Know then by this (good Reader) what a Bull is,
And he that will not know it, but a Gull is.
The Oxe (the Buls strong Eunuch son) is Chiefe
Of Mortall meats, (man-feeding vigorous Beefe)
And who so will amongst the Butchers seeke
In London, and in Westminster each weeke,
With those two Cities Bounds, and Liberties,
With Countrey Butchers, and the great supplies
That Market folkes do to those parts Impart
(The Load of many a Horse, and many a Cart)
The Beeves thus slaine, and eaten would appeare
Above 3000, each weeke through the yeere.
Chines, Surloyns, Flanks, Clods, Legs, doth fill us full,
Brisket and Marrow-bones comes from the Bull;
A Neats-tongue dri'd is deere, a Dish of State,
At Stilliard any man may know the Rate.
With many more things which Ile not Recite,
'Twould trouble men to Read, and I to write.
Thus do the Butchers Thriue, the Grasiers Gaine,
The Cooks and Victualers, do their states maintain,
Sowse-wives grow plump and fat, and 'tis because
Their sale is quicke for Muggets Paunches, Mawes,
Tripes, Reads, Neatsfeet, Cowheels, & Chitterlings,
Whilst many thousands feed on Bag-puddings.
Note but how well the Cheese-mongers do live,
And what a usefull gainfull Trade they drive:
Yet in their shops there is true Justice found
The poore mans peney, and the rich mans pound
Shall have true, weight according to proportion,
Without conivence, falshood, or extortion.
Were there no Buls, Chandlers were beggerd quite
Nor could they sell our darknesse any light
At any price of Reason, then our Guise
Were soone to go to Bed, and late to Rise.
Thus is the Bull, and the Bulls Breed descected
In Flesh and Entrales; now my Quil's erected
(In what is writ before I have not Lyde)
And now Ile flourish ore the Hornes and Hyde.
The Tanners wealth encreaseth day and Night,
'Till at the last his Sonne is dub'd a Knight:
And Daughters should be (could they purchase pride)
With Portions, and proportions Ladyfi'de.
The Currier also needs not Curry favoure,
For though his Trade smell, somethidg hath some savour.
Nor would men be so mad as to prefer
Their sonnes bound prentise to a Shoomaker;
But that their future hopes do them perswade,
It is no Bare-footed and Bootlesse Trade.
Nor will it ever lack, or live in scorne,
'Till all our children without feet are borne;
For (more then any Trade) hee'le sing and play,
Whilst every Munday is his Holiday.
And when a Shoomaker falls to decay,
Hee'le be a Cobler new, and mend that way:
But there's a monstrous Trade, of late sprung forth,
Doth spoil more Leather then their skins are worth;
The best Hydes they devoure, and Gurmundize,
Which makes the worst in price too high to Rise;
With them the World doth bravely run on Wheeles,
Whilst poore men pinch and pay, quite out at heels.
But hold, what vessell have I set a Broach,
What is muse got jolting in a Coach?
Out with a vengeance, walk on foot I pray
And to the Bull again direct your way.
Now for the excellent Admired Horne
More profitable then the Unicorne.
For Hoopes, for Spectacles, for Combs to dresse you
(Which when they come so neere your heads, pray
And 'tis a Bull I have heard often said (blesse you)
Reach me the Iron Shooing Horne good Maid.
And when the Hunted Stag bids life farewell,
The Huntsmans Horn doth bravely Ring his Knell,
Which was the Bull-calves, or the Buls-horns once
Before the Gelder reft him of his stones.
Thus from the Bull, and the Bulls Breed you see,
A world of people still maintained be;
He finds flesh, Bootes, Shooes, Lights, and stands instead
And great importance to afford us Bread.
The Bulls deare sonne (the Oxe) with daily toyle,
Weares out himselfe with plowing and turmoyle,
And all to find us bread, and when he dyes,
His Flesh, Hyde, Hornes, and all our wants supplies.
So much for Bulls now in particular,
For our Beare-Garden Bull, a Bull of war,
A stout, a valiant, and a Head-strong-Beast,
Which did not fight this 18 Moneths at least;
A Beast of mighty pollicy and power,
That at his Dog foes will looke Grim, and Lower,
Hee'le Knit the Brow with terror, in such sort,
That when he chafes most, then he makes most sport;
At push of Pike, he with his head will play,
And with his feet spurne injuries away;
Hee'l turne and wind as nimble as an Eele,
And kicke, and skornes abuses with his Heele;
Hee'le fling and throw, hee'le bravely tosse & turn,
Hee'le hurle and heave, and dangerously spurne,
Note but his valour, when hee's at the stake,
How he prepares himselfe the Dog to take:
His feet fix'd fast, disdaining once to stirre,
His wary eye upon the angry Cur.
Whilst politickly with his Head he weaves,
And with advantage up his foe he heaves,
With such a force, that often with the fall
Hee's dead, or lam'd, or hath no power to sprawle.
Thus hath our Bull fought in his owne defence,
And purchas'd (for his Master (Crowns and pence.
And for that purpose may do so agen,
(I wish I had the knowledge to know when)
For since the time a Bull a Dog could tosse,
Our Beare-Garden had never such a losse:
But lets not lay the fault upon the Times,
But let us blame our selves, and cease our Crimes.