 | The Passionate Poet |  |
To the Right honorable and my most vertuous Ladie, The Ladie Frauncis Countesse of Kildare.
T. P. wisheth all perseuerance, with soules happynes.
Thrice did we read what passion wrought at once,It pleas'd, displeas'd vs, and it pleas'd againe.
Front-fallowed Athens ministred in frownes,
Which Ismarus to Comick did reclaime.
May she propugne those wronges, and onely those,
But Thracian refuge do not we propose.
They weare not Athens furrowes that offended,
And be she powerfull in her reprehension,
But want of worthines to thee intended,
To thee (great Ladie) life of mine inuention.
Tis from thy fauour, or seuerer sence,
We smyle or take acquaintance with offence.
Vouchsafe (thou fairest of Elisaes trayne)
From bewties eliment one gratious dymple,
Th' immensiuenes whereof shall entertayne
And countenance the errour of the symple.
If thou be pleas'd, then all are satisfide,
Or be thou pleas'd, so frowne the world beside.
Your Ladyships in all dutifull office Tho. Powell.
I. P. to the Author.
One is the streame that flowes in both our vaynes,Our name, our fortunes, blind of disproportion:
And shall a kinsmans interest restraine?
Thy due forbids suspect such darke extortion.
I'le straine my selfe to praise, and not exceed
Th' abounded boundes of thy deseruing meed.
How well these Hæmaroides of thy wit
Decipher to our Artists Artes true vices!
How well do'st thou thy selfe, thy selfe acquit,
Assuming that contempt which thence ariseth!
Laying thy stage in Thracian Ismarus,
A modell of this vniuerse diffuse;
In it conuai'd a Theme of seriousnes,
Of weilding common and the states affaires;
Pretending fable, where lies nothing lesse,
Onely to call away seuerer eares.
What neede he couch in morall, or els feare,
Whose lines are modest to the most seuere?
And such are thine from meeker spirit flowing;
Cherish that spirit in her towardnesse:
So shall thy labors with my praises growing
Be registred, (suspition in recesse.)
Beleeue it, I suspire no fresher aire,
Then are my hopes of thee, and they stand faire.
The Passionate Poet.
With that Ioues yssue did prouoke the God,Whose visage is compact of salarode;
To leaue his throne of waters and descend;
To giue their serious Controuersie end,
Vrging being vrg'd herselfe by hope of fame,
The yong Ionia might affect hir name.
Neptune his dangling bawdricke cast aside,
Which to a well tun'd Lyre his hand did guide.
And then sustaines his scepter, which to beare
Is Isthmian labor; Thus Tridentifer
Gazing at honors worth, forsakes his Court,
Where Mermaids do for choristers resort,
Whose diuidence incestuous and vnchaste
Rauisht the Citizens of seas laid waste.
Vpon a faire find Dolphin did he ride,
While blew Nereides lackey by his side,
And with their measuring feet checke corall beds,
The richest meteor that the Ocean breeds:
The Godhead that in shape of Bull did lie,
Had not a carriage of such Maiestie.
By this the Seas great Arbiter attain'd
The farthest bounds Oceanus had gain'd,
And now the yeelding sand did testifie
That earth shooke vnderneath his surquedrie.
The azure God at Agas strond arriued,
Their thriftie fodder, Agas well suruaid
The faire sonicke structure vnderlaid:
This infant citie plac't in Attica,
Was proud of his accesse, there did he stay.
There Pallas and Palæmon do allow
The moderation of their randeuow.
The disputants thus haue they both decreed,
That humane censure shall preferre the deed
Whereby their deities may best disclose,
Who ought so faire a title to impose.
His mother Vestaes sonne did inuocate,
And on her bosome laid his scepters waight:
Thus the desire of Flamen and of Phane,
Causde him to wound her breast coniure her name:
Out of whose entralls did prosiliate
A horse from whom his kind is propagate.
Hereby he woed the suffrage of mankind,
And made Hyppona Goddesse of that shrine:
She that vnknowne by Trytons side did sit,
Contemn'd the God and counterpois'd the gift,
Stirculeus did inspire her with his Arte,
Diuiding natures influence apart.
For Neptune cald him Sire falcipotent,
And when he stood proscript to banishment:
Did he diuide his heauen wrackt soule from harmes,
And vnto Latium beares him in his armes,
Lamenting him and his attending feares,
Made the worldes greater part a sea of teares:
Whose teares the faire Hyperion from his cheekes
Extracts, and swolne with moysture kindly weepes,
The God that chang'd his Scepter for a scythe,
Inspird the Dame that did with Neptune striue:
He taught her exorcismes and practicke skill
To make the earth obsequious to her will.
In honor of Minerua did it yeild
For this the Consistorie did assigne
To gratifie him with Ionicke shrine.
There the Filamines with temples bound,
Present large Vrnes that are with incense crownd,
Whose flame with soueraigne liquor they infuse
Conuerts to smoke and makes the ayre obtuse.
Hereat the enuious Saturnist repinde,
His weake assumption retrograde enclinde:
Albeit they gaue him temple and a flame,
Yet fortune had not equallisde their fame.
His comicke Alcoran was desolate,
VVhilst hers with Nardus fumes did suffocate:
His Priests their emptie challices extend,
Her Ministers amnionius sente commend;
And through their nostthrils conduit entertaine
The gentle odor they expire againe:
From hence Ennosigaus did acquest
The motiue which his drooping soule deprest;
And this the rather aggrauates the same,
That Athens should affect Athenaes name.
Ioue-lou'd Athena great in Athens loue
Aspir'd the spheare where Ions starre did moue,
And forc't him from his separable orbe,
whose exhalation Neptune did absorbe:
wherewith enrag'd the furious Orgist raues,
And with his head subornd the purple waues.
This exit introduct a second stage,
where Athens did intend the vmpirage
Of her Athena, in whose breast appears
Legends of acts, deceiptfull characters:
There Athens in abrasiue lines did write
A borrowed name with brittle Chyrsolite:
In Times compendious booke did she ymprage
A name vnguiltie of succeeding age;
VVhy then, O name recorded to misprision,
Their mutuall loue suspir'd a liuely heate,
When misaffecting rites were incomplete:
For many rites are intercedent there,
Where loue with arts and arts with loue conspire:
So Athens loude Athena for her name,
And so for loue was she turnd Artisane.
O happie change if neuer to returne,
Thynesian mount with arts might euer burne.
The seeing Goddesse vsd a seemely might
To make her Athens see with learnings light:
But eyes that trauaile vnderneath her zone
Sustaine ecclypse of reputation:
And such as are to schollership enclind,
Learne best to see how they may best be blind.
Her Athens was the Muses Helicon,
For there she raisd a second Hieron:
That Gymnasie which platane shades enchase,
Concealing it from each celestiall face.
O had it bin immur'd with reputation,
Or had it not such ciuill intimation,
Then vile respect that child of ignorance,
Had not conspird with learned arrogance.
But woe is me for arte lies prostitute
While ignorance doth tread her vnder foote.
The Phocion is insatiate in his lust,
Whose hot coniunction makes my muse combust:
Thus is she most vnhappie of the nine,
Thus is her ill made worse by being thine.
Like chaste Euridice she flies from fate,
Euridice faire and infortunate,
VVhile he pursues with Aristæan will
My muse from whom this passion doth distill.
Yet were she free from any serpents sting,
If sanctuarie were an holy thing:
But faction abrogates her holy vse,
She harbors enuie and not emulation,
Sinceritie is made selfe affectation.
Beleeue mee Athens, this imputes thy worth,
That monster faction was by thee brought forth.
The loue of him hath made thee arrogant,
He hath betraid thee to the ignorant.
By faction didst thou fall from thy estate;
T'was faction made thee first infortunate:
That all in ill and ill in euery part,
Hath made thee factious Athens as thou art:
T'is arte indeed whom thou hast wrong'd in this;
T'is I for loue of both made Bigamis.
I flie contempt of learning it is I
That cannot meete with true sinceritie:
To me the vice of schollership belongs,
I haue an inward feeling of her wrongs:
T'is I whom learning tempts to imprecation,
Being impatient of her estimation.
I challenge faction for her vile estate,
And cursing it, I still asseuerate,
Since arte from Athens tooke her opprobrie,
And both their ills did transmigrate in me;
It was because I plac't my loue amisse,
Where no respect nor good opinion is.
For louing her am I opinions grate,
And out of loue become thus passionate:
If this be made the vmpire of her liking,
May faint defection practise mine acquiting.
I'le change this arte for some mechanicke skill,
And Athens for a moderne Thracian hill:
A Muse-forsaken Thrace, an Ismarus,
Long lif'd by memorie of Orpheus;
Orpheus, who dignified with legacie
Hebrus and heauen for head and choristrie.
What imputation is familiar,
If borrow wings to flie from Mercurie;
T'is but defection not Apostasie.
When heau'n was turbulent with Iouian pride,
Liu'd not Apollo by Amphrysus side?
For there he did auoid a troubled aire,
And here Admetus he was passing faire.
At Thracian Ismarus will I repose
Within the mount Hermaphrodite, that knows
Two parts distinguisht, and as different
In qualitie for their distract intent.
Whats Ismarus, thou art so rapt with seeing?
T'is any thing but that which hath no beeing.
Europe of her descent doth vainely boast,
Much owes she vnto Thrace, to England most.
The Countrie loues this faire Hermaphrodite,
The Citie knowes her for the Cities type,
In Court a Courtier, and the Courtier, it
Is nothing but a somewhat Ismarit,
In liuing there I shall not liue abstract,
Nor to one residence my selfe contract:
Since Ismarus each Nation doth affine,
Saue Athens onely all the world is mine.
The world is mine in natures sympathie,
For both sustaine but contrarietie:
So Ismarus earths partie coloured kertle,
Hath one side barren and the other fertle.
Her barren part that's bare in all good parts,
Whether from outward cause or els desarts,
Or from a well beseemd distinguishment,
Or all, I doubt how safely to assent.
This onely doth his steril mold suggest,
Each land of euery plant is not possest;
For this blame Nature, and yet blame her not,
Shee's better idle then Haliphlœot.
If Nature were alike industrious,
Each part were reconcil'd, and Cedars height
Should leuell with the earth of meanest sprite.
But she in wisedome thought it no offence,
By rest to giue to shrubs preeminence:
So we vphold the state of gouernement,
As Natures instance makes vs prouident.
Admit that either side of Ismarus
VVere equall apt in his materiall drosse
To entertaine each forme that's vegitant
Of herbe or tree or whatsoeuer plant.
Nature being prodigall of influence,
Should yeeld her wisdome to suspicious sense.
Giue vnto heauen alike in euery part.
Like grosse densation, and Apolloes harpe,
Shall be as pale an obiect in the eie,
(Though set with gold) as brasse pau'd Galaxie,
And it, as much vnable to reflect,
As where the Cynthides make breach vncheckt.
Repine at this, so shalt thou call in question
Natures decree and by strong insurrection
Be openly rebellious to that state,
VVhereby thou wert thy selfe predestinate:
So shalt thou in thine owne immodestie
Looke vppon heauen with a Promethean eie,
Endeuour to reduce the earth againe
Into her ancient indigested frame,
Rob heauen of stars, stars their intelligence,
The world of motion, light and influence.
Of this repining sect, two sects there are,
VVhose fortunes (albeit vnfamiliar)
Coniure herein. The one is Atheist:
The other thinks that God is onely his.
Atheisme an Ismarite and Politician,
Being rich in generall for his condition:
So giues all franchisement of libertie
Disputes that Mightines must be attaind
Through broken vowes through faith and conscience staind.
These darke endeuors are religion
To Atheisme, other faith he knoweth none:
But making of deuotion an extent,
Exceeds a Democraticke gouernement,
As not sufficient spacious to admit
A generall weale of equallisde conscript.
So he repines the poorest rational
Should dwell contented by his natiue thrall,
Since in ambition lies his remedie,
And by neglecting curious pollicie,
He leaues the meanes whereby he may inuite
Fortune that's flexible to all alike.
Precisianisme whose zeal's at interest,
Who of himselfe doth selfe conceit it best,
Exemplifies his instance in proces,
And wils an vniuersall barrennes:
Forbids the day producing chariot,
To draw about the all suruaying God:
Because his seruile hand doth well sustaine
The needie traces of a Lydian waine:
Enuies the gouernement that's temporall,
Repines at order hierarchicall,
And in his scruple doth extenuate
Whateuer office fortune or estate.
Yee faithfull vnto orthodoxall terror,
Religious authors of religious error,
Vsing her proper organs and protect
In selfe conspiracie which you affect,
O wherefore is the name of Magistrate
So harsh of cadence? wherefore doe you hate
The purple garment or the scarlet mantle?
How ill beseemes it those rude palmes to handle
The scepter or the sword, how more then ill
The price of this strong heresie contriu'd,
Thy faith must be deprau'd, thy selfe depriu'd
Of all commercement with sincere deuotion,
For thou art mou'd vnto that violent motion
Of Atheisiue blind of God, and both agree
By different meanes to worke equalitie:
The one commends the Sunne for his accesse,
What he elates, the other doth depresse,
And what they both preferre, it is to all,
Each season for an Equinoctiall,
Improouing the premist necessitie
Of Ismarus dispo'sd so diuersly.
This Thracian hill contends to imitate
Man in his liuely forme and inward state:
And how conuenient is the presidence
Of soule and mind and intellectuall sense
Before the bodie that affects but clay,
Let the repiner in his manhood say:
Then shall he seriously affirme with me,
That speake out of mine owne necessitie.
I speake the necessary barrennesse
Of Ismarus and natures inaccesse:
Albeit I do preferre her fruitfull side,
Not led by discontent that child of pride,
But by innated loue of selfe well willing,
We wish all fruitfull parts within our dwelling.
There dwell where Ismarus in iocund sense
Of Natures hand commends her excellence.
Vnto that fertile part her fairer field,
Will I my poesie and my passion yield:
Faire is that field which richly shal infuse
Nature for arte, spirit for Genius.
Into her Orpheus did she breath such spirit
And nature such as none since did inherit.
For since his time all studie was disposd
Who cares for simples skill? or who is he,
That vnto trees will play his minstrelsie?
Arte beares a nimbler wing, the Lupricall
Is made the pearch where Learning loues to fall.
Then soare aloft and shadow with your wings
A cash't Athenian, who in passion sings
To Ismarus exceeding in the fertle
Of Vine and Oliue, and the conquerors Mirtle,
The Rose, the Tamarix, and the Iouian Oake,
The Laurell vnacquainted with the stroake
Of thunder, the Italian Cyprus tree,
The Pine, the Poplar and the Mulberie:
Lethiferous Ewe, whose nature euer craues
Some Golgotha or seat of dead mens graues:
I'le sing to Plants of others and of these,
And call no auditorie but of trees.
The fruitfull Ismarus did iustly boast
That she exceld in Vine and Oliue most:
Then let thy song measure her symphony
In time as semblable: that thou thereby
Maist make their donatiue the former place
To giue vnto thy verse a measures grace.
The Vine.
Sing vnto her generous selfe,
Sing her pleasance and of health:
To th' innated Ipes sing,
And the Orgists reuelling.
Sing her pleasance and of health:
To th' innated Ipes sing,
And the Orgists reuelling.
Some call her Vine, as if she were inuited,
Borne and yet taught, though willing, yet incited
To industrie, and some do well contend
She were no Vine, did she not apprehend
What euer neighbouring tree within her tendrels,
When neighbourhood is dead and trees are friendles.
But I must blesse her by no other name
Then that of Vine, because she is the same.
Because shee's vitall in mortalitie,
By whose well tempered heat they liue and be.
They liue and be where honor health and pleasure
Admit no emulation, meane nor measure.
Of Plants, the Vine is onely generous,
Powerfull in medicine and Physicks vse,
So is she pleasures bed, trees chiefest beautie,
For at her feete they prostitute all dutie.
Delight, whose complacence is gracious,
Proues her the Maiestie of Ismarus;
Honor of Plants, and syluane Emperie,
A gracious Vine, a pleasing Maiestie.
Assist me, O thou spirit once traduc'te
From nature of a more heroick Muse.
Thou soule of musicke houering in the ayre,
Vnto thy Ismarus at length repaire,
Returne and stand my strong intelligence,
That I may sing the Vines faire presidence:
Excusse my feare, lest fearing I do faint
In the cold blood which shall my heart attaint:
Preuent it, O preuent it, and repute me
Able to sing her greatnesse worth and beautie.
Borne and yet taught, though willing, yet incited
She were no Vine, did she not apprehend
What euer neighbouring tree within her tendrels,
When neighbourhood is dead and trees are friendles.
But I must blesse her by no other name
Then that of Vine, because she is the same.
Because shee's vitall in mortalitie,
By whose well tempered heat they liue and be.
They liue and be where honor health and pleasure
Admit no emulation, meane nor measure.
Of Plants, the Vine is onely generous,
Powerfull in medicine and Physicks vse,
So is she pleasures bed, trees chiefest beautie,
For at her feete they prostitute all dutie.
Delight, whose complacence is gracious,
Proues her the Maiestie of Ismarus;
Honor of Plants, and syluane Emperie,
A gracious Vine, a pleasing Maiestie.
Assist me, O thou spirit once traduc'te
From nature of a more heroick Muse.
Thou soule of musicke houering in the ayre,
Vnto thy Ismarus at length repaire,
Returne and stand my strong intelligence,
That I may sing the Vines faire presidence:
Excusse my feare, lest fearing I do faint
In the cold blood which shall my heart attaint:
Preuent it, O preuent it, and repute me
Able to sing her greatnesse worth and beautie.
That she is generous, the vse makes good;
It fils the veines of Kings with royall blood.
No liquor but that of the purple grape,
Makes blood so pure, so fresh, so roseate,
T'is that extracted and essentiall spirit,
Which from the foure a second place doth merit:
T'is euer such, as euer is the same,
So lustre fresh, as moyst within the veine.
For why the Vine, as time and age aspire,
So nouell good doth excellence acquire.
So is it pure as fresh, and who not knowes,
That pure and fresh do both affect the Rose?
All celebrations do preferre the Vine:
The festall and the sacrificing shrine.
In it the deities are reconcil'd,
It makes the countenance of Gods more milde,
And well deserues of men, whose feastes do know,
Th' administred wine addes royaltie thereto,
And grace, whereof those feasts may glory most,
Which in the knowledge of their Vine do boast.
O do not thou this grace and man disseuer,
But make the Gods propitious, O for euer.
It fils the veines of Kings with royall blood.
No liquor but that of the purple grape,
Makes blood so pure, so fresh, so roseate,
T'is that extracted and essentiall spirit,
Which from the foure a second place doth merit:
T'is euer such, as euer is the same,
So lustre fresh, as moyst within the veine.
So nouell good doth excellence acquire.
So is it pure as fresh, and who not knowes,
That pure and fresh do both affect the Rose?
All celebrations do preferre the Vine:
The festall and the sacrificing shrine.
In it the deities are reconcil'd,
It makes the countenance of Gods more milde,
And well deserues of men, whose feastes do know,
Th' administred wine addes royaltie thereto,
And grace, whereof those feasts may glory most,
Which in the knowledge of their Vine do boast.
O do not thou this grace and man disseuer,
But make the Gods propitious, O for euer.
Shee's generous, that's most vnto her selfe,
But shee's more soueraigne within the health
Of others, hauing both the power and will,
To search and cleanse all crude infectious ill:
And to confirme those necessary parts,
Whose dissolution vtterly subuerts
The bodies state. My verse may be replete
With faire distinguishment of formes concrete,
To whose dissent the Vine doth moderate
In kind obseruance of the better state,
Contending to make actiue her intent
In homogeneall and in excrement
Diuided: Neither could I not relate,
How t'is the vine that doth assimilate
The better nutritiues, how it is shee,
That purgeth the corrupting reliquie,
Disioynes the good from bad, digesteth all,
To proue it so, is no prouinciall.
Thou soueraigne Plant, O cleanse this body still,
Be euer Iudge betwixt the good and ill.
But shee's more soueraigne within the health
Of others, hauing both the power and will,
To search and cleanse all crude infectious ill:
And to confirme those necessary parts,
Whose dissolution vtterly subuerts
The bodies state. My verse may be replete
With faire distinguishment of formes concrete,
To whose dissent the Vine doth moderate
In kind obseruance of the better state,
Contending to make actiue her intent
In homogeneall and in excrement
Diuided: Neither could I not relate,
How t'is the vine that doth assimilate
The better nutritiues, how it is shee,
That purgeth the corrupting reliquie,
Disioynes the good from bad, digesteth all,
To proue it so, is no prouinciall.
Thou soueraigne Plant, O cleanse this body still,
Be euer Iudge betwixt the good and ill.
Shee's generous great: and in salubritie
Vnto that greatnesse she doth multiplie
More worth: O but the Vine's most worthie then,
Her excellence preferd into the Scene.
I do pretend that beautie whose delight
In faire applause commends it to the sight.
Pleasure the subiect of true complacence,
There hath she laid her primate residence.
Sing ye of this, that in aduersitie
Make her your refuge and your sanctuarie:
That vnderneath her capreols do debar
The scorching heat of a Meridian star,
And with her leauie teguments elate
The cold of ayre admoued and dislocate.
Your testimonie is requir'd herein,
That euer liu'd securely by the Vine.
Yee Catadupæ deafe vnto the fall
Of Nilus, or the spheres so musicall
Acknowledge thy securer Lethargie,
As from the Vine and not a Poppie tree:
Thy great dimension howsoeuer great,
Is by the Vine conceald from cold and heat;
To the secur'd, distrest, or whomsoeuer,
T'is in the vse of refuge, or of pleasure.
The body of this tree it selfe is small,
But notwithstanding it hath armes withall,
Whose faire extent so large, so spacious
Shadowes the Citizens of Ismarus,
Not borrowing light or lustre from the great,
But as the Sunne which makes each star repleat
With light of his, so doth she lend to all,
And hence it is some do her Cynthia call,
But that's in heau'n: They know her on the earth,
The chaste Alphæa or Latonaes birth;
Vnder her shade Apollo well discloses
Diana sleeping on a bed of Roses:
Sleepe on, and sleepe securely, for thy bed
Is all of Roses, mixt with white and red.
O how shall I acquite me of this tree,
Being so engag'd to her amenitie?
If flie from inward pleasance, t'is in vaine,
Her outward greatnesse meets thee there againe;
If I reuerse my sight as blind of these,
Her soueraigne hand is seene on other trees:
That hand whose Generous beautie led me forth,
And now consounds me in her Soueraigne worth.
As moderne Painters in their arras story
Shew many arches vnderneath one body:
So fares this Ode referd vnto the Vine,
Whose many heads one body must conioyne,
Being all imperfect and impertinent,
As meere position and no argument.
The subtill matter is so implicit,
I suffocate in condigesting it;
And then I faint, and so did Cissus die,
She fell before the vine, and so must I.
She (by the earths aduice) embrac't the tree,
With iuie leaues and such like borderie,
In token of her loue in ages past,
And with such iuie is our vine enchast.
With loue of Cissus Cissos euer liues,
And life and loue in vines are relatiues.
From this relation many do pretend
A zealous loue, when life's proposd the end,
The scope the exigent, and destinie,
Of all their saffron guilded obsequie.
And such the vermin of these subtill times,
Such are th' innated Ipes of our vines,
Bred of the bodies thrift and fat increase,
Begotten by the Sunne that shines in peace:
Like the Egyptian frie when Amphytrite
Giues slimy Nilus to the Theorite:
As Sunne and slime engender those Nilites,
So hot and moyst begets our ages Ipes.
Our husbandmen which trauaile much herein,
Do find this woorme obnoxious to the vine;
Yea some suggest that are more Chymicke wise,
These are the Ipes that anotomize
This goodly tree, that feed vpon her leaues,
And whats without the rinde, this worme bereaues,
And but that Hydraes waues are of such force,
That no obiection counterchecks her course,
Time might produce a some-Herculean wit,
Which by elaborate hand might limit it.
Besides these Ipes, there are Orgists too,
which to the world the shapes of-men do show:
But O how much inhumane are they then,
whom wholesome wine makes monsters, and no men?
Too much haue they, that are immoderate,
And change the vines true vse appropriate,
That surfet in her bountie, and beguile
Their senses with the too much sweet of wine,
That being drunke dares wrong the innocent,
And in his outrage be incontinent,
Aduance th' unworthie rich: what dares he not
In frenzie to deuise? contriue, complot,
And yet the Vine is not in cause of it,
The draft is all vnguiltie of the drift:
Their furie is the better arguist,
To proue her powerfull where she doth insist:
So best Elixers make compendious breath,
And fairest obiect soonest rauisheth.
I dare sustaine that no infectious ayre
Can penetrate the Moones more solid spheare;
Nor prophanation in a borrowed shape
Be entertaind within the temples gate.
So are my thoughts secure. Great God secure them,
That Vines conceale no serpents to inure them;
But make this tree the fairest of our time,
Like Sphere and Temple solid and diuine:
Of thee we aske it, and it is in thee,
To giue her greatnesse, pleasance, soueraigntie.
T'is thine to punish drunkards, and t'is thine
To bruise th' innated Ipes of our Vine.
May neuer Monster be of able power,
Nor serpent-time in all her nights, deuoure
This goodly tree, each Ismarite prostrate
Here say Amen, and all asseuerate.
Vnto that greatnesse she doth multiplie
Her excellence preferd into the Scene.
I do pretend that beautie whose delight
In faire applause commends it to the sight.
Pleasure the subiect of true complacence,
There hath she laid her primate residence.
Sing ye of this, that in aduersitie
Make her your refuge and your sanctuarie:
That vnderneath her capreols do debar
The scorching heat of a Meridian star,
And with her leauie teguments elate
The cold of ayre admoued and dislocate.
Your testimonie is requir'd herein,
That euer liu'd securely by the Vine.
Yee Catadupæ deafe vnto the fall
Of Nilus, or the spheres so musicall
Acknowledge thy securer Lethargie,
As from the Vine and not a Poppie tree:
Thy great dimension howsoeuer great,
Is by the Vine conceald from cold and heat;
To the secur'd, distrest, or whomsoeuer,
T'is in the vse of refuge, or of pleasure.
The body of this tree it selfe is small,
But notwithstanding it hath armes withall,
Whose faire extent so large, so spacious
Shadowes the Citizens of Ismarus,
Not borrowing light or lustre from the great,
But as the Sunne which makes each star repleat
With light of his, so doth she lend to all,
And hence it is some do her Cynthia call,
But that's in heau'n: They know her on the earth,
The chaste Alphæa or Latonaes birth;
Vnder her shade Apollo well discloses
Diana sleeping on a bed of Roses:
Sleepe on, and sleepe securely, for thy bed
Is all of Roses, mixt with white and red.
Being so engag'd to her amenitie?
If flie from inward pleasance, t'is in vaine,
Her outward greatnesse meets thee there againe;
If I reuerse my sight as blind of these,
Her soueraigne hand is seene on other trees:
That hand whose Generous beautie led me forth,
And now consounds me in her Soueraigne worth.
As moderne Painters in their arras story
Shew many arches vnderneath one body:
So fares this Ode referd vnto the Vine,
Whose many heads one body must conioyne,
Being all imperfect and impertinent,
As meere position and no argument.
The subtill matter is so implicit,
I suffocate in condigesting it;
And then I faint, and so did Cissus die,
She fell before the vine, and so must I.
She (by the earths aduice) embrac't the tree,
With iuie leaues and such like borderie,
In token of her loue in ages past,
And with such iuie is our vine enchast.
With loue of Cissus Cissos euer liues,
And life and loue in vines are relatiues.
From this relation many do pretend
A zealous loue, when life's proposd the end,
The scope the exigent, and destinie,
Of all their saffron guilded obsequie.
And such the vermin of these subtill times,
Such are th' innated Ipes of our vines,
Bred of the bodies thrift and fat increase,
Begotten by the Sunne that shines in peace:
Like the Egyptian frie when Amphytrite
Giues slimy Nilus to the Theorite:
As Sunne and slime engender those Nilites,
So hot and moyst begets our ages Ipes.
Do find this woorme obnoxious to the vine;
Yea some suggest that are more Chymicke wise,
These are the Ipes that anotomize
This goodly tree, that feed vpon her leaues,
And whats without the rinde, this worme bereaues,
And but that Hydraes waues are of such force,
That no obiection counterchecks her course,
Time might produce a some-Herculean wit,
Which by elaborate hand might limit it.
Besides these Ipes, there are Orgists too,
which to the world the shapes of-men do show:
But O how much inhumane are they then,
whom wholesome wine makes monsters, and no men?
Too much haue they, that are immoderate,
And change the vines true vse appropriate,
That surfet in her bountie, and beguile
Their senses with the too much sweet of wine,
That being drunke dares wrong the innocent,
And in his outrage be incontinent,
Aduance th' unworthie rich: what dares he not
In frenzie to deuise? contriue, complot,
And yet the Vine is not in cause of it,
The draft is all vnguiltie of the drift:
Their furie is the better arguist,
To proue her powerfull where she doth insist:
So best Elixers make compendious breath,
And fairest obiect soonest rauisheth.
I dare sustaine that no infectious ayre
Can penetrate the Moones more solid spheare;
Nor prophanation in a borrowed shape
Be entertaind within the temples gate.
So are my thoughts secure. Great God secure them,
That Vines conceale no serpents to inure them;
But make this tree the fairest of our time,
Like Sphere and Temple solid and diuine:
To giue her greatnesse, pleasance, soueraigntie.
T'is thine to punish drunkards, and t'is thine
To bruise th' innated Ipes of our Vine.
May neuer Monster be of able power,
Nor serpent-time in all her nights, deuoure
This goodly tree, each Ismarite prostrate
Here say Amen, and all asseuerate.
The Oliue.
Here is Oliues lenitie,
And the Vine in Emperie.
Vine and Oliue in concrete,
Making gouernement complete.
And the Vine in Emperie.
Vine and Oliue in concrete,
Making gouernement complete.
Whil'st yet these outward senses all surchargd,
With the deluge of curious Arte enlargd
Beyond the natiue bounds which Nature knowes,
And Arte with Nature both were interposd,
The sensiue matter and the mysterie,
As yet her workemanship we did applie.
But when this grosser ayre was so dispergd,
We saw the Vine with Oliue tree invergd.
Here written Bountie matcht with Prouidence,
Vnder this offered dutie did commence.
Within a girdle was the Vine empaild,
Much like that Amarynthian star enraild
In her discoulored cyrcle, or the zone
Which once Thaumantiaes sire bestowed vpon
The vaporous Iuno. This faire Coronet
Was of the choysest Oliue trees complet
That tree which most affects her, and from hence
We view that part of Natures prouidence.
Of many Oliues she compos'd the same,
And here Th' assumption is requir'd againe,
Vnto her bountie multiplied thus,
Vpon this little hill of Ismarus.
If Nature be so rich in donatiue,
If see the thing that yet is blind of life,
Then may I liue to her that so aduerts
When I am dead to Athens and to Arts.
And from a liberall hand with bountie crownd,
The Oliue and her lenitie resound.
To sing of faire accord and mutuall vse
In Wine and Oyle the Oliues exprest iuice.
At Ismarus this is a worthie tree,
For ther's her Tryne or best triplicitie.
Since to the Vine it holds a neere accesse,
T'is high, t'is; O but do not thou impresse
Thy lowly selfe within descriptions weight,
For honor is a slight suspending bayt.
And how vnworthy might I there insist,
That am the Vineyards yongest herborist.
My skil's my counterfait within this act,
And both as yet of genuine infract.
But shee's suggestiue to selfe-flatterie,
Soothing her imperfections to soothe me.
And when I say the Oliue tree is tall,
Of faire dimension, beautifull withall,
Her oft diuided roote so deepely laid,
And head like blossomes on the Palme displaid:
If say her pyth is rare, and so disperst
T'is seldome seene, though many times trauerst:
This flattering Giglot susurrates as much,
And sweares this accent is a Doricke touch;
Though harsh of musicke, and of measuring,
Yet stops and strikes vnto the selfe same string.
This delinition stimulates vs on,
And bids me set a nice diuision
In gardaine Oliues, and be discrepant
Betwixt the melancholie stipticke Plant
And the fat Oliue, from whose subtill parts
We drayne the oyle of many chearefull hearts.
This was the suffrage spousall which the Dame
Propos'd to Athens for her borrowed name,
When strife was vnder wing, and since that time
Her branches well beseeme th' Ionicke shrine.
This tree, as of it selfe is so abounding
In thriftie fat, that added moystur's drowning,
And suffocates the pure and subtill oyle:
wherefore the fattest's not the fittest soyle
where to insert this Oliue: O but yet
It withers, if the Sunne be opposit.
For wisely say our ancient herborists,
It is affected to the rorall mists:
And bee't, with limitation that her seat
Be not exempt from sense of heauenly heat,
which may be able to extenuate,
And lay her foggie moisture separate,
which in a moderne heat an Aprils Sunne
Is powerfull to attract, but not consume;
Her beries yet on tree are immature,
And (though by many yeeres) they so endure.
which that they may attaine a sauorie taste,
Our skilfull husbandmen do vse to place
A modest quantitie of riper ones,
In a congested pile whereon enthrones
Such fauourable and conforting shine,
As some makes timely ripe, some fore their time.
But in confirmed iuice the oyle is best,
That's drayn'd and separated easiest
From purse or huske, and such like iuice as this,
Is not with earth or earthly parts commist
The most experienc't husbandman sustaines;
Bad Oliues aske no soyle, the good no paines:
Good needes nor scythe nor pruning instrument,
For so vnskilfull husbandmen preuent
Th' increase of after seasons, and such bleeding
Ads detriment vnto the yeeres succeeding.
This tree requires no hands applied to wound it,
No trident rake, nor trenching spade to sound it;
She needes not these, nor needs it vs to wrong her,
Disclose the roote, but take we nothing from her.
Perhaps we may the earth discumulate,
Descrie some gowte or branch adulterate,
Some tuberous prim, or superfluitie
About the root of her vnwittingly;
(As not a tree in fruitfull Ismarus,
But these attempt t'infect and choake her thus;
And fairest Plants conceals the fowlest weed)
If any such in Oliue be descried,
Incision must be vsde, yet warilie:
Cut off th' adulterate branch, but touch no tree.
For why it well deserues, that well discernes
Preseruatiue for good, and cure for harmes.
From hence the Romanes had it still in vse,
When Ianus gates were ope and when occluse.
For with her taglets did they stephanize
Their peace-affected heads in ciuill wise.
And in a forraigne expedition,
When fire-eyd war had leaue to looke vpon
Their neighbouring Prouinces, as to preuent
And obuiate defection imminent;
Their store in wine and oyle did they propose,
And where these wanted, there supplied their woes.
And such was Oyle. But this is serious,
I rather do propose her homely vse:
To speake her as the cause of permanence
In colour, light, or such familiar sense.
For when the industrious hand would faine pretend
Some inabrasiue worke vnto whose end
No later age aspires, t'is layd in Oyle,
Whose durance neither time nor age assoyle.
And when our Lampes are niggard of their light,
Th' infused Oyle makes smoake to burne more bright.
This liquor's of an ayerie qualitie,
And still aspires to principalitie:
T'is liquids president, t'is auersate
With other moists to be incorporate,
Albeit that moyst and dry and euery thing
Reteine the fauor of her moystening.
So doth it penetrate and finde euasion
Throughout the incompacted pores dilation:
And therefore we appoint his proper place,
The solid matter of this brittle glasse:
This brittle glasse. And what's not glasse and brittle?
The flower that scapes the sythe shall meete the sickle.
From glasse this precious vnguent we extract,
Though it be brittle, yet is it compact;
So should it be transparent with the eyes
Of worthie patients, not of Polities:
Because the constant vessell of our oyle,
In whose behalfe may all these senses toyle,
Much to her selfe, but more for sympathie
With wine and the viniferous qualitie.
For Vine and Oliue knowes one horoscope,
Albeit the Vine first answered Natures hope
Their sometimes mother vnder timely birth,
And therefore iustly held the heire of earth.
Yet in their mutuall vse we find that meane,
That's equall different from each extreame.
The Vine is Physicks powerfull Emperie,
The Oliue of a yeelding lenitie,
T'is milde in practise as a soueraigne thing
Her too much vse is too much nourishing
In the rancke feeding bodies of our state,
Whose commessation is immoderate,
Their senses languishing in excrement,
The stomacke opilate and findes no vent,
If wine not interuent, and well decide it;
And to such maladie we must prescribe it.
When oyle makes ranck, and rancour so possest
By powerfull wine his station is deprest;
The sword of Physicke purging remedie,
To indigested parts which excrefie,
T'is like the wealth of many Seas enlarg'd,
Whose all-conspiring waues together charg'd,
Disfound the highest arches and defence,
Preferring all before their violence:
Such is th' abstracted wine, as in it selfe,
That will not daine t'intreat the bodies health,
When it hath power to search the very raines,
Th' interimies, and all that life sustaines.
With the deluge of curious Arte enlargd
Beyond the natiue bounds which Nature knowes,
And Arte with Nature both were interposd,
The sensiue matter and the mysterie,
As yet her workemanship we did applie.
But when this grosser ayre was so dispergd,
We saw the Vine with Oliue tree invergd.
Here written Bountie matcht with Prouidence,
Vnder this offered dutie did commence.
Within a girdle was the Vine empaild,
Much like that Amarynthian star enraild
In her discoulored cyrcle, or the zone
Which once Thaumantiaes sire bestowed vpon
The vaporous Iuno. This faire Coronet
Was of the choysest Oliue trees complet
That tree which most affects her, and from hence
Of many Oliues she compos'd the same,
And here Th' assumption is requir'd againe,
Vnto her bountie multiplied thus,
Vpon this little hill of Ismarus.
If Nature be so rich in donatiue,
If see the thing that yet is blind of life,
Then may I liue to her that so aduerts
When I am dead to Athens and to Arts.
And from a liberall hand with bountie crownd,
The Oliue and her lenitie resound.
To sing of faire accord and mutuall vse
In Wine and Oyle the Oliues exprest iuice.
At Ismarus this is a worthie tree,
For ther's her Tryne or best triplicitie.
Since to the Vine it holds a neere accesse,
T'is high, t'is; O but do not thou impresse
Thy lowly selfe within descriptions weight,
For honor is a slight suspending bayt.
And how vnworthy might I there insist,
That am the Vineyards yongest herborist.
My skil's my counterfait within this act,
And both as yet of genuine infract.
But shee's suggestiue to selfe-flatterie,
Soothing her imperfections to soothe me.
And when I say the Oliue tree is tall,
Of faire dimension, beautifull withall,
Her oft diuided roote so deepely laid,
And head like blossomes on the Palme displaid:
If say her pyth is rare, and so disperst
T'is seldome seene, though many times trauerst:
This flattering Giglot susurrates as much,
And sweares this accent is a Doricke touch;
Though harsh of musicke, and of measuring,
Yet stops and strikes vnto the selfe same string.
This delinition stimulates vs on,
In gardaine Oliues, and be discrepant
Betwixt the melancholie stipticke Plant
And the fat Oliue, from whose subtill parts
We drayne the oyle of many chearefull hearts.
This was the suffrage spousall which the Dame
Propos'd to Athens for her borrowed name,
When strife was vnder wing, and since that time
Her branches well beseeme th' Ionicke shrine.
This tree, as of it selfe is so abounding
In thriftie fat, that added moystur's drowning,
And suffocates the pure and subtill oyle:
wherefore the fattest's not the fittest soyle
where to insert this Oliue: O but yet
It withers, if the Sunne be opposit.
For wisely say our ancient herborists,
It is affected to the rorall mists:
And bee't, with limitation that her seat
Be not exempt from sense of heauenly heat,
which may be able to extenuate,
And lay her foggie moisture separate,
which in a moderne heat an Aprils Sunne
Is powerfull to attract, but not consume;
Her beries yet on tree are immature,
And (though by many yeeres) they so endure.
which that they may attaine a sauorie taste,
Our skilfull husbandmen do vse to place
A modest quantitie of riper ones,
In a congested pile whereon enthrones
Such fauourable and conforting shine,
As some makes timely ripe, some fore their time.
But in confirmed iuice the oyle is best,
That's drayn'd and separated easiest
From purse or huske, and such like iuice as this,
Is not with earth or earthly parts commist
The most experienc't husbandman sustaines;
Good needes nor scythe nor pruning instrument,
For so vnskilfull husbandmen preuent
Th' increase of after seasons, and such bleeding
Ads detriment vnto the yeeres succeeding.
This tree requires no hands applied to wound it,
No trident rake, nor trenching spade to sound it;
She needes not these, nor needs it vs to wrong her,
Disclose the roote, but take we nothing from her.
Perhaps we may the earth discumulate,
Descrie some gowte or branch adulterate,
Some tuberous prim, or superfluitie
About the root of her vnwittingly;
(As not a tree in fruitfull Ismarus,
But these attempt t'infect and choake her thus;
And fairest Plants conceals the fowlest weed)
If any such in Oliue be descried,
Incision must be vsde, yet warilie:
Cut off th' adulterate branch, but touch no tree.
For why it well deserues, that well discernes
Preseruatiue for good, and cure for harmes.
From hence the Romanes had it still in vse,
When Ianus gates were ope and when occluse.
For with her taglets did they stephanize
Their peace-affected heads in ciuill wise.
And in a forraigne expedition,
When fire-eyd war had leaue to looke vpon
Their neighbouring Prouinces, as to preuent
And obuiate defection imminent;
Their store in wine and oyle did they propose,
And where these wanted, there supplied their woes.
And such was Oyle. But this is serious,
I rather do propose her homely vse:
To speake her as the cause of permanence
In colour, light, or such familiar sense.
For when the industrious hand would faine pretend
No later age aspires, t'is layd in Oyle,
Whose durance neither time nor age assoyle.
And when our Lampes are niggard of their light,
Th' infused Oyle makes smoake to burne more bright.
This liquor's of an ayerie qualitie,
And still aspires to principalitie:
T'is liquids president, t'is auersate
With other moists to be incorporate,
Albeit that moyst and dry and euery thing
Reteine the fauor of her moystening.
So doth it penetrate and finde euasion
Throughout the incompacted pores dilation:
And therefore we appoint his proper place,
The solid matter of this brittle glasse:
This brittle glasse. And what's not glasse and brittle?
The flower that scapes the sythe shall meete the sickle.
From glasse this precious vnguent we extract,
Though it be brittle, yet is it compact;
So should it be transparent with the eyes
Of worthie patients, not of Polities:
Because the constant vessell of our oyle,
In whose behalfe may all these senses toyle,
Much to her selfe, but more for sympathie
With wine and the viniferous qualitie.
For Vine and Oliue knowes one horoscope,
Albeit the Vine first answered Natures hope
Their sometimes mother vnder timely birth,
And therefore iustly held the heire of earth.
Yet in their mutuall vse we find that meane,
That's equall different from each extreame.
The Vine is Physicks powerfull Emperie,
The Oliue of a yeelding lenitie,
T'is milde in practise as a soueraigne thing
Her too much vse is too much nourishing
In the rancke feeding bodies of our state,
Their senses languishing in excrement,
The stomacke opilate and findes no vent,
If wine not interuent, and well decide it;
And to such maladie we must prescribe it.
When oyle makes ranck, and rancour so possest
By powerfull wine his station is deprest;
The sword of Physicke purging remedie,
To indigested parts which excrefie,
T'is like the wealth of many Seas enlarg'd,
Whose all-conspiring waues together charg'd,
Disfound the highest arches and defence,
Preferring all before their violence:
Such is th' abstracted wine, as in it selfe,
That will not daine t'intreat the bodies health,
When it hath power to search the very raines,
Th' interimies, and all that life sustaines.
T'is in the simple practize ouer strong,
Vnlesse some other mixture do prolong,
Call backe, and mitigate the violence
Which her sequestred spirits shall commence.
And what is so competible concreat?
What more restringing the intentiue heat
Of cleansing wine, when wine admits restraint,
(As Votaries sometime direct their Saint)
Then smooth and gentle Oyle of milde aspect,
That wine represt by it, may it erect?
T'is milde: so is the wine that's ministred
At sound mens tables, not the sicke mans bed:
To well disposed bodies soueraigne Wine,
But in prescript of potion t'is enclind
To Emperie, where the disease requires
Extinguishment to opilations fires.
But oyle alone infus'd relieues the same,
Where Oyle with Wine hath power to quench his flame.
Or rather soueraigne Wine as it doth tend
To maintenance and a preseruing end.
For when it cleanseth, nothing is subiected,
But some vnnecessaries which infected
The better parts: and when Purgations force
Moues other loyall members with the sourse
And strength thereof, th' enacted violence
Sauors of nothing more than prouidence,
That lowly rectifies by inquisition,
Least they retaine some tincture from Ambition
So doth it search them and so rectifie,
That pure may sauor nought but puritie.
So is it soueraigne Wine, and so alone,
As to the sound, and in abstraction:
And notwithstanding of it selfe consisting
T'is great in Medicine, yet in commixing
With gentle Oyle it is more general,
For wine and oyle are Phisicks all in all.
Vnlesse some other mixture do prolong,
Call backe, and mitigate the violence
Which her sequestred spirits shall commence.
And what is so competible concreat?
What more restringing the intentiue heat
Of cleansing wine, when wine admits restraint,
(As Votaries sometime direct their Saint)
Then smooth and gentle Oyle of milde aspect,
That wine represt by it, may it erect?
T'is milde: so is the wine that's ministred
At sound mens tables, not the sicke mans bed:
To well disposed bodies soueraigne Wine,
But in prescript of potion t'is enclind
To Emperie, where the disease requires
Extinguishment to opilations fires.
But oyle alone infus'd relieues the same,
Where Oyle with Wine hath power to quench his flame.
Or rather soueraigne Wine as it doth tend
For when it cleanseth, nothing is subiected,
But some vnnecessaries which infected
The better parts: and when Purgations force
Moues other loyall members with the sourse
And strength thereof, th' enacted violence
Sauors of nothing more than prouidence,
That lowly rectifies by inquisition,
Least they retaine some tincture from Ambition
So doth it search them and so rectifie,
That pure may sauor nought but puritie.
So is it soueraigne Wine, and so alone,
As to the sound, and in abstraction:
And notwithstanding of it selfe consisting
T'is great in Medicine, yet in commixing
With gentle Oyle it is more general,
For wine and oyle are Phisicks all in all.
It is her gouernement of Optimatee
Who vnder presidence confirme a State.
Who vnder presidence confirme a State.
The vulgar Plants out of this Emperie
Reseruing but a modest libertie,
Be they applied vnto the outward parts,
When wine erects or inwardly subuerts
Out of occasion: when the Wine with oyle
Is more of power t'establish or assoyle,
More victuall: wherefore sometimes guilded age
Held their inseparable equipage,
Prescribing Wine and Oyle to euery griefe,
The one to cleanse, the other for reliefe.
For both may this griefe-labouring Ismarus
Vpon her arbitrating power infuse
Myriads of mulsiue Orasons whose sense
May giue to wine and oyle long residence.
That after seasons may present them yet
To purge and rectifie each Ismarit.
Reseruing but a modest libertie,
Be they applied vnto the outward parts,
When wine erects or inwardly subuerts
Out of occasion: when the Wine with oyle
Is more of power t'establish or assoyle,
More victuall: wherefore sometimes guilded age
Held their inseparable equipage,
Prescribing Wine and Oyle to euery griefe,
The one to cleanse, the other for reliefe.
For both may this griefe-labouring Ismarus
Vpon her arbitrating power infuse
Myriads of mulsiue Orasons whose sense
May giue to wine and oyle long residence.
That after seasons may present them yet
To purge and rectifie each Ismarit.
The Myrtle.
Myrsine occupies the stage,
Freshly bleeding to our age.
Th' incensed Goddesse in remorse
Here imposed Athens curse.
Freshly bleeding to our age.
Th' incensed Goddesse in remorse
Here imposed Athens curse.
At
Athens: who names Athens here in Thrace?
Licentious Fame that holds her still in chace.
And is there yet conceal'd some obscure deed
From Ages past, which makes her now to bleed.
Shall Athens (O shall shee) with infamie
Stand vpright in this last Chronologie?
And shall these dayes of ours speake Myrsines death,
The long since Myrsine, that dispos'd a wreath
In those enacted lustes and Tournament,
VVhat time the Arbitrate indifferent
Extending Garlands to th' applauded head,
Distinguisht Conqueror and the conquered?
At Athens there the faire Myrsina liu'd,
Athens the same that Myrsines life depriu'd.
An enuious Athens that proscribes her best;
Expels her Bees that Drones may be possest.
Do greater lights obscure thy glymmering?
Or makes it way vnto thy Soueraigning.
Amongst the blind that know not to descrie
Thy infinite abuse of Monarchie?
Such is their gouernement, and so austere,
That they expose the man whom they but feare;
Feare him that but obserues; and if he see;
That eye of his peruerts his destinie.
And those faire hopes which Nature did inscoffe,
Adapting fortunes equall to his Birth.
And though thou laydst a most repining hand
Vpon thy child, (act worthie to be scand
By after houres from intermitted ages,
Which shall declare to them these natiue strages)
Yet see thy Goddesse, whose Imagerie,
Thou more esteem'st then others deitie,
Abhors this deed that cannot hate thy name,
Shee'l challenge thee, thy infamie disclame.
See how shee weeps vpon Myrsinaes breast,
And swears that Athens thenceforth, dispossest
Of her belou'd, should to the selfe same fate
Commit all knowledge of the publike state.
What els from learning? By her selfe she swore,
That Athens should be Athens and no more:
Arte should discerne of nought but what was right,
And Schollers meerely seene in schollership.
Besides she swore, that Arte when at the height,
Euen then her reputation to be light:
Then least of estimate least priz'd; and why?
It erres in too much popularitie.
Yet she continued in this imprecation,
And yet enioyn'd her to selfe affectation,
To discontentment which shall carry her
Through stranger Nations and remoted far:
Her better wits to be the most vnstaide,
In giddie action venturous to wade
Beyond themselues, yea and her grauest hed
Strong in eroticke sects opinioned:
To many mo of Arts the proper vices
Disease as manifold, which thence arises,
As Melancholy, Rheume, a hollow eie,
A downeward looking, and the maladie
Of head and head-ach, leane and pale aspect,
A backe inur'd to bend and to deflect,
A stomacke nice, and apt to be offended,
Diseases to th' extreamer parts extended,
With twice as many griefes, which Arte best knowes,
All these th incensed Goddesse did impose
At Myrsines death, and Learning since her wracke,
Mournes for the fayre Myrsina all in blacke,
To expiate the sinne whose memorie
Is lif'd in Statua of a Myrtle tree.
For so the weeping Goddesse did allow
No more a Myrsine but a Myrtle now.
A tree, whose better kind is very rare:
A tree, that can abide no vncouth ayre:
A marrish, but no muddie tegument
About the roote to hinder her ascent,
A tree that's choakt with too much manurie,
Yet neuer thriues but by seueritie:
That at the bitter roote is somewhat slow,
But in maturitie it doth outgrow
All other Plants, and of these trees we find
Two diuers sorts, and of a differing kind:
Of which the greater is not held the best,
Nor that of earthly parts the most possest.
For earth restraines the spirits industrie,
Assimulating to her qualitie,
And but what's sensuall from the sense bereaues,
Nor is that best, which shewes the blackest leaues.
For is there any braine so foule with sud,
But knowes the fiend may vse a Friers hood?
Nor is that best, which first puts forth her flower,
Being all as apt to wither in an hower:
Or that, whose branching armes are euer greene,
Yet neuer fruite on armes or branches seene.
Some Myrtle showes her fruite vnto the Sunne,
And shuts her flower but in such Horizon.
Yea, some performes it by the silent night;
And they are such, whose deeds do hate the light.
Some in continuall labor, some in rest,
But yet no any of these kinds is best:
And that in Myrtles holds the Primacie,
That knowes no dayly toyle nor Lethargie;
That brookes the day by night, and night by day;
That's timely ripe, true colour'd, free from clay.
And such a Myrtle's manifold in vse,
If so th' incensed powers can reduce,
Reuerse, and nullifie th' imposed curse
If they be reconcil'd, it is of force
Within the bodies cure: In other termes,
T'is not of vertue to relieue her harmes.
In fields t'is Myrtle, and in Athens yet
Schollers discerne of nought but Schollership.
Whereas enlarg'd the Myrtle's physical,
And Learning manumist most meet instal'd
In publike office. Be not this offence.
I wish to Learning some experience.
Licentious Fame that holds her still in chace.
And is there yet conceal'd some obscure deed
From Ages past, which makes her now to bleed.
Shall Athens (O shall shee) with infamie
Stand vpright in this last Chronologie?
And shall these dayes of ours speake Myrsines death,
The long since Myrsine, that dispos'd a wreath
In those enacted lustes and Tournament,
VVhat time the Arbitrate indifferent
Extending Garlands to th' applauded head,
Distinguisht Conqueror and the conquered?
At Athens there the faire Myrsina liu'd,
Athens the same that Myrsines life depriu'd.
An enuious Athens that proscribes her best;
Expels her Bees that Drones may be possest.
Do greater lights obscure thy glymmering?
Or makes it way vnto thy Soueraigning.
Amongst the blind that know not to descrie
Thy infinite abuse of Monarchie?
Such is their gouernement, and so austere,
That they expose the man whom they but feare;
Feare him that but obserues; and if he see;
That eye of his peruerts his destinie.
And those faire hopes which Nature did inscoffe,
And though thou laydst a most repining hand
Vpon thy child, (act worthie to be scand
By after houres from intermitted ages,
Which shall declare to them these natiue strages)
Yet see thy Goddesse, whose Imagerie,
Thou more esteem'st then others deitie,
Abhors this deed that cannot hate thy name,
Shee'l challenge thee, thy infamie disclame.
See how shee weeps vpon Myrsinaes breast,
And swears that Athens thenceforth, dispossest
Of her belou'd, should to the selfe same fate
Commit all knowledge of the publike state.
What els from learning? By her selfe she swore,
That Athens should be Athens and no more:
Arte should discerne of nought but what was right,
And Schollers meerely seene in schollership.
Besides she swore, that Arte when at the height,
Euen then her reputation to be light:
Then least of estimate least priz'd; and why?
It erres in too much popularitie.
Yet she continued in this imprecation,
And yet enioyn'd her to selfe affectation,
To discontentment which shall carry her
Through stranger Nations and remoted far:
Her better wits to be the most vnstaide,
In giddie action venturous to wade
Beyond themselues, yea and her grauest hed
Strong in eroticke sects opinioned:
To many mo of Arts the proper vices
Disease as manifold, which thence arises,
As Melancholy, Rheume, a hollow eie,
A downeward looking, and the maladie
Of head and head-ach, leane and pale aspect,
A backe inur'd to bend and to deflect,
A stomacke nice, and apt to be offended,
With twice as many griefes, which Arte best knowes,
All these th incensed Goddesse did impose
At Myrsines death, and Learning since her wracke,
Mournes for the fayre Myrsina all in blacke,
To expiate the sinne whose memorie
Is lif'd in Statua of a Myrtle tree.
For so the weeping Goddesse did allow
No more a Myrsine but a Myrtle now.
A tree, whose better kind is very rare:
A tree, that can abide no vncouth ayre:
A marrish, but no muddie tegument
About the roote to hinder her ascent,
A tree that's choakt with too much manurie,
Yet neuer thriues but by seueritie:
That at the bitter roote is somewhat slow,
But in maturitie it doth outgrow
All other Plants, and of these trees we find
Two diuers sorts, and of a differing kind:
Of which the greater is not held the best,
Nor that of earthly parts the most possest.
For earth restraines the spirits industrie,
Assimulating to her qualitie,
And but what's sensuall from the sense bereaues,
Nor is that best, which shewes the blackest leaues.
For is there any braine so foule with sud,
But knowes the fiend may vse a Friers hood?
Nor is that best, which first puts forth her flower,
Being all as apt to wither in an hower:
Or that, whose branching armes are euer greene,
Yet neuer fruite on armes or branches seene.
Some Myrtle showes her fruite vnto the Sunne,
And shuts her flower but in such Horizon.
Yea, some performes it by the silent night;
And they are such, whose deeds do hate the light.
Some in continuall labor, some in rest,
And that in Myrtles holds the Primacie,
That knowes no dayly toyle nor Lethargie;
That brookes the day by night, and night by day;
That's timely ripe, true colour'd, free from clay.
And such a Myrtle's manifold in vse,
If so th' incensed powers can reduce,
Reuerse, and nullifie th' imposed curse
If they be reconcil'd, it is of force
Within the bodies cure: In other termes,
T'is not of vertue to relieue her harmes.
In fields t'is Myrtle, and in Athens yet
Schollers discerne of nought but Schollership.
Whereas enlarg'd the Myrtle's physical,
And Learning manumist most meet instal'd
In publike office. Be not this offence.
I wish to Learning some experience.
The Rose.
White is here vermillioned,
Mutuall strife of white and red:
Here an arburating field,
Both the Roses reconcil'd.
Mutuall strife of white and red:
Here an arburating field,
Both the Roses reconcil'd.
How much inconstancie, what Innouation?
Hath wizzard Time seene since the worldes creation.
Many September Moones which haue recanted,
Transported Monarchies, and states supplanted.
VVhat change in others, and what personate,
How much varietie might Time dilate?
There was a time, fore Gods did disaccord,
Obseru'd none els but the first moouing Orbe,
Then errant stars, and then the firmament
No Motion knew, but what was violent
And from an outward cause: Yet was it thus,
Till Sonnes of heauen became licentious.
First was Monarchall rule, but Tyrannie,
VVhich now no longer had his sufferancie.
Then they enquir'd into their optimates,
And held it for a too ambiguous state:
And then anon was faire Democracie
Turnd Pop'lar licence and free Libertie:
Then subiects spheres turn'd head against their Mouer.
Some err'd, some in their doubtfulnesse discouer
A voluntary course and free incesse,
To which they toyle in moouing tardinesse.
And semble laggie spiders most in this,
That slow, do yet aspire the Pyramis
Of some erected spoke within the wheele
That's downeward driu'n, or Mariners in keele,
VVhere sayles are spread before some boysterous gale;
They backeward walke, with face on wind and saile,
And like rebellious Libertines insist
To make the primate violence remisse:
It forceth them, they him againe recall,
And still the while, Time must obserue them all.
Looke downe on Ismarus, and Time well knowes,
That in his memorie it had a Rose,
An only Rose, and that, as onely white,
Amongst the rest her fayrest Ismarite.
It saw one age in white, so had it more,
Had not this Rose bin steep't in royall gore:
Vntill the greatest of Nobilities
Did gaze on beauties worth with lustfull eyes;
Till Lust or'ecame, and Beautie rauished,
Then was the white turn'd to vermillion red.
Some say loues Queene pursuing her belou'd,
Despair'd, because vntimely death improu'd
And check't her in the course of fairest hope,
She gaue her swelling heart a pulsiue scope:
And all enrag'd, all naked, all vnmaskt,
Vpon a roseat bed herselfe she cast;
And the vermilion drops which issued,
Tinguisht the palefac't Rose in deepest red.
Others say it was Nectar from aboue,
Which when the wanton boy in dalliance stroue
To free him from his mothers armes yfolding,
Checkt with his wings the faire Mounteagle holding
An ample Cœnophron with Nectar crownd,
Which from his hand admou'd, bedewd the ground,
And sperst his moyst vpon a roseat bed,
What time her white was all vermillioned.
Hower'e it was, lust caus'd them both to fall,
And Beauties wracke was the Prouinciall:
And now the Rose was red, and now the rather
Men lou'd it for the shape then for the sauor.
For though it had the shape of seeming Rose,
It sauour'd but of some Abrotonos.
The sent was of a practicke deepe intention,
When swelling blood exceeding veines dimension,
By strong eruption sought to coole their heate,
And turne the sourse out of his current quite.
T'was deadly imposition to the braine
Of vertue to enrage, infect, inflame:
Besides it had such strong intent of taste
As families extinguisht, and layd waste
The fruitfull Ismarus. This Age of red,
Long kept the Rose, and long continued;
Vntill the earth fearing her owne estate,
Least such continuance might depopulate
Herselfe: least Time protracted might discouer
Her nakednesse to those which liue aboue her,
Coniur'd the faire assisting hand of Nature,
By laying forth, how but a subiect Creature,
Inspir'd by Arte, had brought vpon her head
Strong imputation, chang'd her white to red.
How red had stain'd her with discoloured gore:
And any thing she spake, which might implore
Or call reliefe; and powerfully she spake.
For now the rose and red were separate.
And now the earth prepar'd a subiect matter,
Able to entertaine, not Arte, but Nature:
A speciall forme which might distinguish it,
From flowers of other kind, not of her sect;
A rose in which there was no ministrie
For colour to detaine the busied eie.
But yet the while, Art out of sound inuention,
Contriu'd to abrogate her owne suspension,
Applying colour of the deepest graine,
That euer did this Microcosme sustaine.
Much matter of her owne she ministred,
With more supplie of bloud disentralled,
Much more in vaine of wealthy veines made poore,
Which to this worke did emptie all their store,
And all to little conquest or successe:
For now no tinguishment might here impresse,
And euery present might haue beene the same;
And had not white blusht at such homebred shame,
Now did she blush, that could not yet forbeare,
To looke vpon this natiue massacre,
This Summers heate gaue wings vnto the red.
Which warre ycleept and earst discomfited,
That warre I count, that vnto this dissent,
Prescrib'd a rule and strong arbitrement:
I count it warre, the rather for his might,
That powerfully call'd backe the red to white.
Thus mutually the roses dimicate:
Now this aspir'd, or that held principate,
Till white at length assum'd a paler forme.
(O crooked age! where whites in white forlorne,)
And borrowes terrible, aspect from death,
Who whilom her of soueraigntie bereft.
This pale-fac't Rose was fearefull to her selfe,
Vntimely borne a Rose, and borne by stealth.
T'extirp the goodliest plants that beutifide
The Tharcian Ismarus on fruitfull side.
How like a Boare enlarg'd and free of head,
Ranging through desert soile vnpeapleld,
Where not the wandring Pilgrime hath accesse,
Applies his fangs with doubled meagernesse
On trees and mushrom shrubs, disheuering them,
Euen from the highest capreolls to the stem?
So did he tyrannize: yet seems it me,
To speake of satiue Rose in modesty:
Sufficeth that the Bor's incontinent,
Prowd of his prey, yea, and so insolent,
That now insulting pride seemd to implore,
Some venturous Knight t'encounter with the bore.
This cal'd the worlds assoyler from a farre,
Who now to Erymanthus did repaire,
By Iunoes imposition, so to free,
Th' Arcadian hill, from death and tyrannie.
This was the worlds rich Rose, and fairest red,
That euer palled Monster sequestred.
And now the Bore espied his Hunteresse,
Who! (fearing lest he promised successe
Might intercept his friends and call supplie
From other beastes of his conspiracie)
Vpon a champion strond he her accoasted,
With doubled strength, vnworthie to be boasted;
Vnworthie any glory, had it bin,
Had he stood Epilogue vnto this Scene,
That vnder retinue seem'd to containe
The greatest ones that did possesse the plaine.
How much the greater was that Victory,
Where Red or'ecame in his minority;
And wrought more wonders in his pupill age,
Than euer was presented to this stage;
That reconcil'd the simple to her red,
Mixture that might not be distinguished;
And this was neither red nor white I weene,
But that of Prouince or the Damascene:
That Rose, whose zulape in the fourth degree,
Is much astringent for her qualitie;
The Floramour of fields, that sists the course
Of bloods incontinence and liberall sourse;
That fans exulcerations feruencie,
Calls hot to temperate, cold and moist to drie:
Such is our Rose. O Gods may neuer shee
Exceed her Prouince or the fourth degree.
Hath wizzard Time seene since the worldes creation.
Many September Moones which haue recanted,
Transported Monarchies, and states supplanted.
VVhat change in others, and what personate,
How much varietie might Time dilate?
There was a time, fore Gods did disaccord,
Obseru'd none els but the first moouing Orbe,
No Motion knew, but what was violent
And from an outward cause: Yet was it thus,
Till Sonnes of heauen became licentious.
First was Monarchall rule, but Tyrannie,
VVhich now no longer had his sufferancie.
Then they enquir'd into their optimates,
And held it for a too ambiguous state:
And then anon was faire Democracie
Turnd Pop'lar licence and free Libertie:
Then subiects spheres turn'd head against their Mouer.
Some err'd, some in their doubtfulnesse discouer
A voluntary course and free incesse,
To which they toyle in moouing tardinesse.
And semble laggie spiders most in this,
That slow, do yet aspire the Pyramis
Of some erected spoke within the wheele
That's downeward driu'n, or Mariners in keele,
VVhere sayles are spread before some boysterous gale;
They backeward walke, with face on wind and saile,
And like rebellious Libertines insist
To make the primate violence remisse:
It forceth them, they him againe recall,
And still the while, Time must obserue them all.
Looke downe on Ismarus, and Time well knowes,
That in his memorie it had a Rose,
An only Rose, and that, as onely white,
Amongst the rest her fayrest Ismarite.
It saw one age in white, so had it more,
Had not this Rose bin steep't in royall gore:
Vntill the greatest of Nobilities
Did gaze on beauties worth with lustfull eyes;
Till Lust or'ecame, and Beautie rauished,
Then was the white turn'd to vermillion red.
Some say loues Queene pursuing her belou'd,
Despair'd, because vntimely death improu'd
She gaue her swelling heart a pulsiue scope:
And all enrag'd, all naked, all vnmaskt,
Vpon a roseat bed herselfe she cast;
And the vermilion drops which issued,
Tinguisht the palefac't Rose in deepest red.
Others say it was Nectar from aboue,
Which when the wanton boy in dalliance stroue
To free him from his mothers armes yfolding,
Checkt with his wings the faire Mounteagle holding
An ample Cœnophron with Nectar crownd,
Which from his hand admou'd, bedewd the ground,
And sperst his moyst vpon a roseat bed,
What time her white was all vermillioned.
Hower'e it was, lust caus'd them both to fall,
And Beauties wracke was the Prouinciall:
And now the Rose was red, and now the rather
Men lou'd it for the shape then for the sauor.
For though it had the shape of seeming Rose,
It sauour'd but of some Abrotonos.
The sent was of a practicke deepe intention,
When swelling blood exceeding veines dimension,
By strong eruption sought to coole their heate,
And turne the sourse out of his current quite.
T'was deadly imposition to the braine
Of vertue to enrage, infect, inflame:
Besides it had such strong intent of taste
As families extinguisht, and layd waste
The fruitfull Ismarus. This Age of red,
Long kept the Rose, and long continued;
Vntill the earth fearing her owne estate,
Least such continuance might depopulate
Herselfe: least Time protracted might discouer
Her nakednesse to those which liue aboue her,
Coniur'd the faire assisting hand of Nature,
By laying forth, how but a subiect Creature,
Strong imputation, chang'd her white to red.
How red had stain'd her with discoloured gore:
And any thing she spake, which might implore
Or call reliefe; and powerfully she spake.
For now the rose and red were separate.
And now the earth prepar'd a subiect matter,
Able to entertaine, not Arte, but Nature:
A speciall forme which might distinguish it,
From flowers of other kind, not of her sect;
A rose in which there was no ministrie
For colour to detaine the busied eie.
But yet the while, Art out of sound inuention,
Contriu'd to abrogate her owne suspension,
Applying colour of the deepest graine,
That euer did this Microcosme sustaine.
Much matter of her owne she ministred,
With more supplie of bloud disentralled,
Much more in vaine of wealthy veines made poore,
Which to this worke did emptie all their store,
And all to little conquest or successe:
For now no tinguishment might here impresse,
And euery present might haue beene the same;
And had not white blusht at such homebred shame,
Now did she blush, that could not yet forbeare,
To looke vpon this natiue massacre,
This Summers heate gaue wings vnto the red.
Which warre ycleept and earst discomfited,
That warre I count, that vnto this dissent,
Prescrib'd a rule and strong arbitrement:
I count it warre, the rather for his might,
That powerfully call'd backe the red to white.
Thus mutually the roses dimicate:
Now this aspir'd, or that held principate,
Till white at length assum'd a paler forme.
(O crooked age! where whites in white forlorne,)
Who whilom her of soueraigntie bereft.
This pale-fac't Rose was fearefull to her selfe,
Vntimely borne a Rose, and borne by stealth.
T'extirp the goodliest plants that beutifide
The Tharcian Ismarus on fruitfull side.
How like a Boare enlarg'd and free of head,
Ranging through desert soile vnpeapleld,
Where not the wandring Pilgrime hath accesse,
Applies his fangs with doubled meagernesse
On trees and mushrom shrubs, disheuering them,
Euen from the highest capreolls to the stem?
So did he tyrannize: yet seems it me,
To speake of satiue Rose in modesty:
Sufficeth that the Bor's incontinent,
Prowd of his prey, yea, and so insolent,
That now insulting pride seemd to implore,
Some venturous Knight t'encounter with the bore.
This cal'd the worlds assoyler from a farre,
Who now to Erymanthus did repaire,
By Iunoes imposition, so to free,
Th' Arcadian hill, from death and tyrannie.
This was the worlds rich Rose, and fairest red,
That euer palled Monster sequestred.
And now the Bore espied his Hunteresse,
Who! (fearing lest he promised successe
Might intercept his friends and call supplie
From other beastes of his conspiracie)
Vpon a champion strond he her accoasted,
With doubled strength, vnworthie to be boasted;
Vnworthie any glory, had it bin,
Had he stood Epilogue vnto this Scene,
That vnder retinue seem'd to containe
The greatest ones that did possesse the plaine.
How much the greater was that Victory,
Where Red or'ecame in his minority;
Than euer was presented to this stage;
That reconcil'd the simple to her red,
Mixture that might not be distinguished;
And this was neither red nor white I weene,
But that of Prouince or the Damascene:
That Rose, whose zulape in the fourth degree,
Is much astringent for her qualitie;
The Floramour of fields, that sists the course
Of bloods incontinence and liberall sourse;
That fans exulcerations feruencie,
Calls hot to temperate, cold and moist to drie:
Such is our Rose. O Gods may neuer shee
Exceed her Prouince or the fourth degree.
The Tamarix.
Mutuall parts and Symphonie
Of the Vine and Tamarix tree.
Of the Vine and Tamarix tree.
I sing of Tamarix that Thracian Plant,
A tree which all vnciuill Nations want:
For why? in peacefull soyle t'is onely found,
And cannot prosper in dissentious ground.
It growes at Thrace, yet not aboundanthe,
For husbandmen do much mistake this tree:
Because there are so many sembling kinds,
Whose searie truncks no Myricke sap designes.
There is one noble Tamarix, for her site,
No vpland Thracian but an Ismarite.
There thriues it best, and in her better thriuing,
Requires to ripenesse mickle times detriuing;
And when maturitie presents it selfe
In flowers, which are her only Myricke wealth,
Some enuious blast disseuers all her leaues,
And on his wings transfers them to the Seas.
Through many tedious seasons thee presents them,
And still the Wind or reaues or els preuents them,
Some say our Tamarix doth insert the Rose.
As doth the Sea that by obseruance flowes
Or ebs vnto the Moone, that that affects
No tree so much, as this of Tamarix,
Yea, and they be so mutually affin'd,
That either seemes on other to depend;
Nor can the Rose vnto her selfe so wither,
As that our Tamarix perish not together;
Nor Myricke so impropriate in his fall,
But Rose must needs be inward therewithall.
Well may the Curclew yeeld herselfe reliefe,
But these implore as they impart their griefe.
The one vnable to erect his head,
If not suffulc't, suborn'd, and furthered,
By his correllatiue; such sympathie
Confirmes them both, when in their seigniorie.
And now it seemes to me yong Herborist,
That Rose and Tamarix should be at the highest,
As I confer this season with times past,
Not that my hopes expected haue their last.
A tree which all vnciuill Nations want:
For why? in peacefull soyle t'is onely found,
And cannot prosper in dissentious ground.
It growes at Thrace, yet not aboundanthe,
For husbandmen do much mistake this tree:
Because there are so many sembling kinds,
Whose searie truncks no Myricke sap designes.
There is one noble Tamarix, for her site,
No vpland Thracian but an Ismarite.
There thriues it best, and in her better thriuing,
Requires to ripenesse mickle times detriuing;
And when maturitie presents it selfe
In flowers, which are her only Myricke wealth,
Some enuious blast disseuers all her leaues,
And on his wings transfers them to the Seas.
Through many tedious seasons thee presents them,
And still the Wind or reaues or els preuents them,
Some say our Tamarix doth insert the Rose.
As doth the Sea that by obseruance flowes
Or ebs vnto the Moone, that that affects
No tree so much, as this of Tamarix,
Yea, and they be so mutually affin'd,
That either seemes on other to depend;
Nor can the Rose vnto her selfe so wither,
As that our Tamarix perish not together;
Nor Myricke so impropriate in his fall,
Well may the Curclew yeeld herselfe reliefe,
But these implore as they impart their griefe.
The one vnable to erect his head,
If not suffulc't, suborn'd, and furthered,
By his correllatiue; such sympathie
Confirmes them both, when in their seigniorie.
And now it seemes to me yong Herborist,
That Rose and Tamarix should be at the highest,
As I confer this season with times past,
Not that my hopes expected haue their last.
The Oake.
Th' Iouian tytle plac't amisse,
Hir ragged rynd, hir Cantharis.
Hir ragged rynd, hir Cantharis.
Scarce is the breath dislolu'd to subtill ayre,
wherewith I cald it Iouian: O how far
Did I mistake, when not a liuing tree
More subiect to Ioues thunder than is he.
Shall I respire and call it back againe?
No, first preuaricate, and maist thou faine:
Say any thing, but doe not temporize,
Though all the world be bent to poetize.
As sayes the world, Ioue to the Oak assignd
His name in smoother bark, not ragged rynd,
I say the bark is smooth and euen set,
Where the seuerer naile can find no fret.
The world but now allowde distinguishment,
And now attributes al to his ascent.
Is't but a ascent? and is it not accesse,
If it reserue but a respectiuenes?
Why Ioue allowes a competence to state,
But the accesse he can not tollerate.
How continent is he, would he were many,
Supplies, but not exceedes of dutyes any?
The cause may be from forme, or height, or station,
If these dumbe shewes haue ought of inuocation.
For Thunders either free, and such is tending
Onely t'assoyle the ayre without offending:
Or cald from Heauen by some significance
Of Characters, such as the Romanes once
By power of Kinglie office might produce,
Or by attractiue vertue thats infuse
Into some hearb or tree, which may inuoke;
The like instinct is powerfull in the Oake;
Whose greatnes doth inuite like Hostils charmes,
That answered nothing but his proper harmes
By strong attraction: Or the Prophetesse
That promis'd others what was hir successe.
Yt now succeeds, This Plant extends as far
In earth, as it's incorporate to ayre.
Heer other some do challenge hir of pride,
That one ambitious tree should so bestride
This litle Ismarus how far remote,
Is this ambition from the Iouian Oake,
That growes on sandy soyle, as heath, or plaine?
What presidence can such ambition gaine,
That others can suborn hir selfe subdue,
To whom the least of enuie doth accrue,
That onely hates the Persick plant: and why?
It doth pertake his birthrights seigniorie,
His greatest style; (vice thats familliar,
Being extraduc't from parents and from state.)
Greatnes will enuie greatnes to the end,
And Iouian with the Iouian will contend.
Hir leaues haue deepe incision, and the barkt,
When aged once, tis craz'd and roughlie crackt.
It shewes hir fruite when Sunne exceedes the twinnes,
And sleepes till the solstitian heat begins:
When it puts forth hir gall, or akernell,
Which yet sustein'd these earthlie bodies well,
In vse of bread being ignorant of graine,
From whence some say the Oake assum'd hir name:
And not because the Gentile Gods replied,
From the concealing Oake so deified,
When wizzard Seers enquir'd: nor is't approu'd,
For louers sought the names of their belou'd
Ycaru'd in Oake it had hir name from hence,
Being more of accent in the former sense.
The vulgar sort that neuer speculate
Beyond obseruance, do prognosticate
By the innated brood of Oaken gall,
Of after accidents which shall befall
Vnto the land: If Flie, or Ant, or Spider;
Or war, or famine shall, or plague betyde her.
I looke not on the fruit that hangs aloft,
Nor euery thing within the senses brought.
Much lesse of diuination; onely this,
Within the Oake I view a Cantharis;
A feeding flie: And this I dare diuine,
That flie shall make hir wither ere hir time.
wherewith I cald it Iouian: O how far
Did I mistake, when not a liuing tree
More subiect to Ioues thunder than is he.
Shall I respire and call it back againe?
No, first preuaricate, and maist thou faine:
Say any thing, but doe not temporize,
Though all the world be bent to poetize.
As sayes the world, Ioue to the Oak assignd
His name in smoother bark, not ragged rynd,
I say the bark is smooth and euen set,
Where the seuerer naile can find no fret.
The world but now allowde distinguishment,
And now attributes al to his ascent.
Is't but a ascent? and is it not accesse,
If it reserue but a respectiuenes?
Why Ioue allowes a competence to state,
But the accesse he can not tollerate.
How continent is he, would he were many,
Supplies, but not exceedes of dutyes any?
The cause may be from forme, or height, or station,
If these dumbe shewes haue ought of inuocation.
For Thunders either free, and such is tending
Onely t'assoyle the ayre without offending:
Or cald from Heauen by some significance
Of Characters, such as the Romanes once
Or by attractiue vertue thats infuse
Into some hearb or tree, which may inuoke;
The like instinct is powerfull in the Oake;
Whose greatnes doth inuite like Hostils charmes,
That answered nothing but his proper harmes
By strong attraction: Or the Prophetesse
That promis'd others what was hir successe.
Yt now succeeds, This Plant extends as far
In earth, as it's incorporate to ayre.
Heer other some do challenge hir of pride,
That one ambitious tree should so bestride
This litle Ismarus how far remote,
Is this ambition from the Iouian Oake,
That growes on sandy soyle, as heath, or plaine?
What presidence can such ambition gaine,
That others can suborn hir selfe subdue,
To whom the least of enuie doth accrue,
That onely hates the Persick plant: and why?
It doth pertake his birthrights seigniorie,
His greatest style; (vice thats familliar,
Being extraduc't from parents and from state.)
Greatnes will enuie greatnes to the end,
And Iouian with the Iouian will contend.
Hir leaues haue deepe incision, and the barkt,
When aged once, tis craz'd and roughlie crackt.
It shewes hir fruite when Sunne exceedes the twinnes,
And sleepes till the solstitian heat begins:
When it puts forth hir gall, or akernell,
Which yet sustein'd these earthlie bodies well,
In vse of bread being ignorant of graine,
From whence some say the Oake assum'd hir name:
And not because the Gentile Gods replied,
From the concealing Oake so deified,
When wizzard Seers enquir'd: nor is't approu'd,
For louers sought the names of their belou'd
Being more of accent in the former sense.
The vulgar sort that neuer speculate
Beyond obseruance, do prognosticate
By the innated brood of Oaken gall,
Of after accidents which shall befall
Vnto the land: If Flie, or Ant, or Spider;
Or war, or famine shall, or plague betyde her.
I looke not on the fruit that hangs aloft,
Nor euery thing within the senses brought.
Much lesse of diuination; onely this,
Within the Oake I view a Cantharis;
A feeding flie: And this I dare diuine,
That flie shall make hir wither ere hir time.
The Bay.
Lawrels sinewes withered.
Sleeping Fame with worthies dead.
Sleeping Fame with worthies dead.
Was this that Ismarus, or this that tree,
To whom the Lyrick tuned his minstrelsie?
Was this the price of vertue and the breath,
Which it suspir'd amidst a sea of death,
The Poets grace, Apolloes sometimes mynion?
To see the errour of this foole opinion!
And shall the vilest spirit choose his seat,
Where to repose for moysture and for heat;
The whil'st our generall soule shall animate
A saples trunck, and be incorporate
To abstract earth? Such is erotick Loue,
Whose dotage still opinion must approue.
Thou Soule, which ammat'st empiricie,
And makes hir out side seeme sinceritie;
That with thy ignorance and strong conceipt
Maintein'st his life, and dailie dost beget
More bastard Lawreats than the world implores,
Might all the world consist of theators:
Out on thee foole, blind of thy impotence,
Thou dost admire but in a popular sense;
Esteeming more a Pasquils harsher lines,
Then Iliads worth which Chapmans hand refines.
What might perswade opinion, but for thee,
The Lyrick sung to such an out side tree;
Or Poets glory in their Lawracie,
When I awrels haue their veines shrunck vp and drie?
And yet herhaps the seasons are inuerted,
Ours differs from the Lawrels first inserted.
The amorous God admiring Daphnes worth,
Out of hir statua drayn'd the spirit forth.
This season yeelds more Bayes then did the first,
But all things neer the end grow near the worst:
Witnes the withered Bay that wants hir iuice;
Be more of witnes they that are obtuse
To penetrate, and call from monument
The sleeping worth of such whose soules were spent,
In honorable termes to terminate
And yeeld their memory with life to fate;
Y dutie rob'd, and bodyes yet vnpurg'd:
O how accommodate might this be vrg'd!
Once was there such a Sidney. It sufficeth,
That from the graue his onely name reuiueth.
So had this age a Burrowes. O but he
Sleepes with his fame in lasting lethargie.
Norris, and Morgan sleepe, and still the while,
Our better Lawreats studie to compile
Some thing prospectiue, and obserue the time:
Heroes yet neglected in their shrine.
And since it was deni'd me to assoile
The times; I therefore studied to report
Of what was past, vnable ought to wage
With the inuention of this nymble age.
May others make the eares euaporate,
When they vnmask the times and worlds estate:
I will admire, yet neuer will insect,
I am not prone but onely to reflect.
I'le write vnto the dead amongst the liuing,
Take some peculiar theam without corriuing.
Enable all ye Gods as I pretend,
When ye acquite and giue this passion end.
To whom the Lyrick tuned his minstrelsie?
Was this the price of vertue and the breath,
Which it suspir'd amidst a sea of death,
The Poets grace, Apolloes sometimes mynion?
To see the errour of this foole opinion!
And shall the vilest spirit choose his seat,
Where to repose for moysture and for heat;
The whil'st our generall soule shall animate
A saples trunck, and be incorporate
To abstract earth? Such is erotick Loue,
Whose dotage still opinion must approue.
Thou Soule, which ammat'st empiricie,
And makes hir out side seeme sinceritie;
That with thy ignorance and strong conceipt
Maintein'st his life, and dailie dost beget
More bastard Lawreats than the world implores,
Might all the world consist of theators:
Out on thee foole, blind of thy impotence,
Thou dost admire but in a popular sense;
Esteeming more a Pasquils harsher lines,
Then Iliads worth which Chapmans hand refines.
What might perswade opinion, but for thee,
The Lyrick sung to such an out side tree;
Or Poets glory in their Lawracie,
When I awrels haue their veines shrunck vp and drie?
And yet herhaps the seasons are inuerted,
Ours differs from the Lawrels first inserted.
Out of hir statua drayn'd the spirit forth.
This season yeelds more Bayes then did the first,
But all things neer the end grow near the worst:
Witnes the withered Bay that wants hir iuice;
Be more of witnes they that are obtuse
To penetrate, and call from monument
The sleeping worth of such whose soules were spent,
In honorable termes to terminate
And yeeld their memory with life to fate;
Y dutie rob'd, and bodyes yet vnpurg'd:
O how accommodate might this be vrg'd!
Once was there such a Sidney. It sufficeth,
That from the graue his onely name reuiueth.
So had this age a Burrowes. O but he
Sleepes with his fame in lasting lethargie.
Norris, and Morgan sleepe, and still the while,
Our better Lawreats studie to compile
Some thing prospectiue, and obserue the time:
Heroes yet neglected in their shrine.
And since it was deni'd me to assoile
The times; I therefore studied to report
Of what was past, vnable ought to wage
With the inuention of this nymble age.
May others make the eares euaporate,
When they vnmask the times and worlds estate:
I will admire, yet neuer will insect,
I am not prone but onely to reflect.
I'le write vnto the dead amongst the liuing,
Take some peculiar theam without corriuing.
Enable all ye Gods as I pretend,
When ye acquite and giue this passion end.
The Cyprus.
Scene resound the policie,
Of th' Italian Cyprus tree.
Of th' Italian Cyprus tree.
It was no Thracian tree before our time,
But forraigne Cyprus and a transmarine,
Transfer'd from Italy to Ismarus,
Or from those parts of France which are adust
With heat and bee't I am no Florentine,
Ile speake the pollicie that's Cuprespine.
This stranger tree, it is a Plant for kind,
That from an others roote doth euer climbe
Ingrafted and it growes as secretly,
Yea, makes no outward shew of surquedrie:
Discern'd from other trees and specifi'd,
For speciall subtiltie that's vndescri'd:
Of body naked, while t'is yet vpright,
But when she shall aspire her greatest height,
She apprehends the opportunest wether,
And then puts forth her branch and fruit together:
To hide that indirectnes she applies,
Whil'st in concealing teguments it lies.
How like an Adder wreathing many wayes,
Compells her length when she expects her prayes,
Administring the more encouragement,
To traine him in the circuite of extent?
So manifolded is the Cyprus tree
Vnder those branches: such her obloquie.
That wealth compos'd fils vp the continent,
Which none but she discernes or deprehend.
T'is sweet in sente, O who can feed vpon
Perfumed words, but some Cameleon?
It is no restauration, nor receiu'd
Into the body when it is agrieu'd:
T'is brieflie to her selfe most prouident,
But vnto others alwayes fraudulent;
Professing what it is deni'd to be,
And still concealing her abilitie.
The heathen Gentiles only vs'd the same,
When they consum'd their dead in Cyprus flame,
Or made them Idols out of Cyprus tree,
As best beseeming such Imagerie.
Time was they vsde it, and t'was onely Gentile,
And then Religion was but in the simple,
And knew not how for disputations sake,
T'impugne the Godhead or religious state:
But now religious and the most prophane
Partake one Idol and one Cyprus flame.
Such are these latter times, that would improue
More constancie then all the Spheres they moue.
I blame the times, and wreake that ill on them,
That appertaines vnto the sonnes of men,
Time-studious men: O had I libertie
To reprehend them, as I challenge thee.
But forraigne Cyprus and a transmarine,
Transfer'd from Italy to Ismarus,
Or from those parts of France which are adust
With heat and bee't I am no Florentine,
Ile speake the pollicie that's Cuprespine.
This stranger tree, it is a Plant for kind,
That from an others roote doth euer climbe
Ingrafted and it growes as secretly,
Yea, makes no outward shew of surquedrie:
Discern'd from other trees and specifi'd,
For speciall subtiltie that's vndescri'd:
Of body naked, while t'is yet vpright,
But when she shall aspire her greatest height,
She apprehends the opportunest wether,
And then puts forth her branch and fruit together:
To hide that indirectnes she applies,
Whil'st in concealing teguments it lies.
How like an Adder wreathing many wayes,
Compells her length when she expects her prayes,
Administring the more encouragement,
To traine him in the circuite of extent?
So manifolded is the Cyprus tree
Vnder those branches: such her obloquie.
That wealth compos'd fils vp the continent,
Which none but she discernes or deprehend.
Perfumed words, but some Cameleon?
It is no restauration, nor receiu'd
Into the body when it is agrieu'd:
T'is brieflie to her selfe most prouident,
But vnto others alwayes fraudulent;
Professing what it is deni'd to be,
And still concealing her abilitie.
The heathen Gentiles only vs'd the same,
When they consum'd their dead in Cyprus flame,
Or made them Idols out of Cyprus tree,
As best beseeming such Imagerie.
Time was they vsde it, and t'was onely Gentile,
And then Religion was but in the simple,
And knew not how for disputations sake,
T'impugne the Godhead or religious state:
But now religious and the most prophane
Partake one Idol and one Cyprus flame.
Such are these latter times, that would improue
More constancie then all the Spheres they moue.
I blame the times, and wreake that ill on them,
That appertaines vnto the sonnes of men,
Time-studious men: O had I libertie
To reprehend them, as I challenge thee.
The Ewe.
Taxus fatall and relieuing
Cyprus tree by her exceeding.
Cyprus tree by her exceeding.
And why should Rome call Nero from his graue,
And terme him good, whom earst they did depraue?
Or why should I but now impute that tree,
Which now I must commend respectiuelie?
Nero was hatefull Nero, and despis'd,
Till the succeeding Galba tyranniz'd:
Cyprus engag'd, till Taxus tree relieu'd it:
And drownd his blacke in Eben that exceeds it.
Cyprus is onely practicke in the senses,
Makes sowre seeme sweet, and varnisheth offences;
When eyes see double subiects, and not see
The double dealings of the Cyprus tree.
But Ewe is fatall in the very notion,
The same Cicuta of Th' athenian potion,
Extending to the life by taste or sauour,
To them that sleepe in shade or els receiue her
Into the body; yet reseruing force,
When spirits are from heart and heat diuorc't.
The Cyprus is as index to the page,
Where Ewe capitulates his fatall rage.
Both know one Ismarus, one Italie;
Both vs'd in flame and in Imagerie:
Onely the Ewe for greatnes and intension,
Exceeds the Cyprus and my reprehension.
And terme him good, whom earst they did depraue?
Or why should I but now impute that tree,
Which now I must commend respectiuelie?
Nero was hatefull Nero, and despis'd,
Till the succeeding Galba tyranniz'd:
Cyprus engag'd, till Taxus tree relieu'd it:
And drownd his blacke in Eben that exceeds it.
Cyprus is onely practicke in the senses,
Makes sowre seeme sweet, and varnisheth offences;
When eyes see double subiects, and not see
The double dealings of the Cyprus tree.
But Ewe is fatall in the very notion,
The same Cicuta of Th' athenian potion,
Extending to the life by taste or sauour,
To them that sleepe in shade or els receiue her
Into the body; yet reseruing force,
When spirits are from heart and heat diuorc't.
The Cyprus is as index to the page,
Where Ewe capitulates his fatall rage.
Both know one Ismarus, one Italie;
Both vs'd in flame and in Imagerie:
Onely the Ewe for greatnes and intension,
Exceeds the Cyprus and my reprehension.
The Pine.
The Egyptians did bedew their mountaine Pine,Not with the moyst of Nilus; but of wine.
How can that Pine but prosper then and flourish,
Whose tender roote the purest wine doth nourish?
Shall it not thriue manur'd with gracious hands?
Shall it not make a Rich-mount where it stands?
The Fig-tree and the Palme.
Their fruit is sensuall, pleasing for the time,But softnes doth the sense and soule deline.
The present pleasure hath an after vice;
The Date her leprie, and the Figge breeds lyce.
The Poplar.
Herculeanish , what Conquest is in that,When Hercules himself's essen inate?
The Lotus.
I passe Celaster, for it is selfe-willd,That neuer thriues but in the fairest field:
The more I write vnto the Mulberrie,
The lesse opinion's mine, if any be.
Ile blame no Ashe for Hypermnestraes fate,
I know the foolish girle was desperate.
Let Cedar be ambitious in her height;
Yet be not thou in passion infinite,
And reprehend each, that is offered, vice,
Lest others thinke thy verses morallize:
Or rather for I feare a Symphonie
Of Ismarites wanting varietie,
And change of argument delights vs best,
Where Scenes affin'd induce but tediousnes.
And what in trees praise-worthie is deriu'd,
From beautie of the outward part's contriu'd;
Or some inherent Vertue, so againe
In the vnworthie Plants alwayes draine
Inuectiue, either from th' ingratefull sente,
From shape, or from the quallities intent,
Or other such like vices: now the while
Good do the bad, and both themselues beguile.
Some one thats generall good hauing his due,
Preuents the praise belongs to them ensue:
So is't in bad, and so it shall suffice,
Onely to speake of one in contraries.
Vertue illustrates vice, describes defines it,
What's not of her, she vnto vice assignes it,
Hence is't, this spatious subiect I sustaind,
Is now at length abridg'd and much restraind
And it compell, fearing to be distrest
Of sentence, and of words equiuocate.
Vnles I streine the sense, or iterate;
When words and sentence and the selfe same sense,
Are oft required in the subsequents.
Of many trees I haue reserued one,
Some call it Lotus, others Citragon;
Hir fruit is enuious to the memorie,
Conducing all things vnto fantasie.
Belieue it, sometimes hath my selfe conuerst
With such as wot not what they were at first,
Lotophagi, who rauished by tast,
Forget them selues, friends, countrie, and what's past.
This fruit receiu'd shall make me quite forget,
I was in passion, or an Ismarit.
And now me thinkes she practiseth hir force
Vpon these senses: now she doth discurse,
Now seperates what sorrow did attone,
Making it but some Hemoridion.
My day is done, now is my passion ended,
And but hir reliques on myne eyes suspended.
Baccharis Coronaria.
The toyled lims and senses earst opprest,Do now aduise securely where to rest.
Vnder Baccharis go shade thee,
Where no Serpent shall inuade thee,
Where the Viper cannot liue,
Nothing enuious may corriue.
Strowe the Carpet all about,
With her flowers to keepe them out:
Bind thy Temples with the wreathes,
Pleated in Chiroticke leaues:
Browes and eye-lids faine of rest,
With the iuice may they be sperst.
Here repose, for here assure thee,
Thou shalt sleepe, and sleepe securelie.
Stand hope of mine confirm'd and let me rest
In Castell guarded with a Lionesse.
------Cum tonat ocyus Ilex
Sulphure discutitur sacro quam tuque domusque.
Sulphure discutitur sacro quam tuque domusque.
FINIS.
| The Passionate Poet | |