Du Bartas His Divine Weekes And Workes with A Compleate Collectio[n] of all the other most delight-full Workes: Translated and written by yt famous Philomusus: Iosvah Sylvester |
 |
 | 1. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 1. |
| 1. |
| 2. |
| 3. |
| 4. |
The Handy-Crafts.
|
| 2. |
| 3. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 | Du Bartas |  |
219
4. The Handy-Crafts.
THE IIII. PART OF THE FIRST DAY OF THE II. WEEK.
The Argvment.
The Praise of Peace, the miserable statesOf Edens Exiles: their vn-curious Cates,
Their simple habit, silly habitation:
They find out Fire. Their formost Propagation:
Their Childrens trades, their offerings; enuious Cain
His (better) Brother doth vnkindly brain:
With inward horror hurried vp and down,
He breakes a Horse, he builds a homely Town:
Iron's inuented, and sweet Instruments:
Adam fortels of After-Worlds euents.
Heav'ns sacred Imp, fair Goddess that renew'st
Th'old golden Age, and brightly now re-blew'st
Our cloudy skie, making our fields to smile:
Hope of the vertuous, horror of the vile:
Virgin, vnseen in France this many a yeer,
O blessed Peace! we bid thee welcom heer.
Th'old golden Age, and brightly now re-blew'st
Our cloudy skie, making our fields to smile:
Hope of the vertuous, horror of the vile:
Virgin, vnseen in France this many a yeer,
O blessed Peace! we bid thee welcom heer.
Lo, at thy presence, how who late were prest
To spur their Steeds, and couch their staues in rest
For fierce incounter; cast away their spears,
And rapt with ioy, them enter-bathe with tears.
Lo, how our Marchant-vessels to and fro
Freely about-our trade-full waters go:
How the graue Senate with iust-gentle rigour,
Resumes his Robe; the Laws their antient vigour.
Lo, how Obliuions Seas our striefes do drown:
How walls are built that war had thundred down:
Lo, how the Shops with busie Crafts-men swarm;
How Sheep and Cattell cover every Farm:
Behold the Bonfires waving to the skies:
Hark, hark the cheerfull and re-chanting cries
Of old and young; singing this ioyfull Dittie,
Iö reioyce, reioyce through Town and Cittie,
Let all our ayr, re-eccho with the praises
Of th'everlasting glorious God, who raises
Our ruin'd State: who giveth vs a good
We sought not for (or rather, we with-stood):
So that to hear and see these consequences
Of wonders strange, we scarce beleeue our senses.
O! let the King, let Mounsieur and the Sover'n
That doth Nauarras Spain wrongd Scepter gouern,
Be all, by all, their Countries Fathers cleapt:
O! let the honour of their names be kept,
And on brass leaues ingrav'n eternally
In the bright Temple of fair Memory,
For having quencht, so soon, so many fires,
Disarm'd our arms, appeas'd the heav'nly ires,
Calm'd the pale horror of intestine hates,
And dammed-vp the bifront Fathers gates.
To spur their Steeds, and couch their staues in rest
For fierce incounter; cast away their spears,
And rapt with ioy, them enter-bathe with tears.
Lo, how our Marchant-vessels to and fro
Freely about-our trade-full waters go:
How the graue Senate with iust-gentle rigour,
Resumes his Robe; the Laws their antient vigour.
Lo, how Obliuions Seas our striefes do drown:
How walls are built that war had thundred down:
220
How Sheep and Cattell cover every Farm:
Behold the Bonfires waving to the skies:
Hark, hark the cheerfull and re-chanting cries
Of old and young; singing this ioyfull Dittie,
Iö reioyce, reioyce through Town and Cittie,
Let all our ayr, re-eccho with the praises
Of th'everlasting glorious God, who raises
Our ruin'd State: who giveth vs a good
We sought not for (or rather, we with-stood):
So that to hear and see these consequences
Of wonders strange, we scarce beleeue our senses.
O! let the King, let Mounsieur and the Sover'n
That doth Nauarras Spain wrongd Scepter gouern,
Be all, by all, their Countries Fathers cleapt:
O! let the honour of their names be kept,
And on brass leaues ingrav'n eternally
In the bright Temple of fair Memory,
For having quencht, so soon, so many fires,
Disarm'd our arms, appeas'd the heav'nly ires,
Calm'd the pale horror of intestine hates,
And dammed-vp the bifront Fathers gates.
Much more, let vs (deer, World-diuided land)
Extoll the mercies of Heav'ns mighty hand,
That (while the World; Wars bloody rage hath rent)
To vs so long, so happy Peace hath lent
(Maugre the malice of th'Italian Priest,
And Indian Pluto (prop of Anti-christ;
Whose Hoast, like Pharaoh's threatning Israel,
Our gaping Seas haue swallowed quick to hell)
Making our Ile a holy Safe-Retrait
For saints exil'd in persecutions heat.
Extoll the mercies of Heav'ns mighty hand,
That (while the World; Wars bloody rage hath rent)
To vs so long, so happy Peace hath lent
(Maugre the malice of th'Italian Priest,
And Indian Pluto (prop of Anti-christ;
Whose Hoast, like Pharaoh's threatning Israel,
Our gaping Seas haue swallowed quick to hell)
Making our Ile a holy Safe-Retrait
For saints exil'd in persecutions heat.
Much more, let vs with true-heart-tuned breath,
Record the Praises of Elizabeth
(Our martiall Pallas and our milde Astræa,
Of grace and wisdom the divine Idea)
Whose prudent Rule, with rich religious rest,
Wel-neer nine Lustres hath this Kingdom blest.
O! pray we him that from home-plotted dangers
And bloody threats of proud ambitious Strangers,
So many years hath so securely kept her,
In iust possession of this flowring Scepter;
That (to his glory and his deer Sons honour)
All happy length of life may wait vpon her:
That we her Subiects, whom he blesseth by her,
Psalming his praise, may sound the same the higher.
Record the Praises of Elizabeth
(Our martiall Pallas and our milde Astræa,
Of grace and wisdom the divine Idea)
Whose prudent Rule, with rich religious rest,
Wel-neer nine Lustres hath this Kingdom blest.
O! pray we him that from home-plotted dangers
And bloody threats of proud ambitious Strangers,
So many years hath so securely kept her,
In iust possession of this flowring Scepter;
That (to his glory and his deer Sons honour)
All happy length of life may wait vpon her:
That we her Subiects, whom he blesseth by her,
Psalming his praise, may sound the same the higher.
But waiting (Lord) in som more learned Layes,
To sing thy glory, and my Soueraigns praise;
I sing the young Worlds Cradle, as a Proëm
Vnto so rare and so diuine a Poëm.
To sing thy glory, and my Soueraigns praise;
221
Vnto so rare and so diuine a Poëm.
Who, Fvll Of wealth and honours blandishment,
Among great Lords his yonger yeares hath spent;
And quaffing deply of the Court-delights,
Vs'd nought but Tilts, Turneis, and Masks, and Sights:
If in his age, his Princes angry doom
With deep disgrace driue him to liue at home
In homely Cottage, where continually
The bitter smoak exhales aboundantly
From his before-vn-sorrow-drained brain
The brackish vapours of a silver rain:
Where Vsher-less, both day and night, the North,
South, East, and West windes, enter and goe forth:
Where round-about, the lowe-rooft broken wals
(In stead of Arras) hang with Spiders cauls:
Where all at once he reacheth, as he stands,
With brows the roof, both wals with both his hands:
He weeps and sighs, and (shunning comforts ay)
Wisheth pale Death a thousand times a day:
And, yet at length falling to work, is glad
To bite a brown crust that the Mouse hath had,
And in a Dish (for want of Plate or Glass)
Sups Oaten drink in stead of Hypocras.
So (or much like) our rebell Elders, driven
For ay from Eden (earthly type of Heav'n)
Ly languishing neer Tigris grassie side,
With nummed limbs, and spirits stupefied.
Among great Lords his yonger yeares hath spent;
And quaffing deply of the Court-delights,
Vs'd nought but Tilts, Turneis, and Masks, and Sights:
If in his age, his Princes angry doom
With deep disgrace driue him to liue at home
In homely Cottage, where continually
The bitter smoak exhales aboundantly
From his before-vn-sorrow-drained brain
The brackish vapours of a silver rain:
Where Vsher-less, both day and night, the North,
South, East, and West windes, enter and goe forth:
Where round-about, the lowe-rooft broken wals
(In stead of Arras) hang with Spiders cauls:
Where all at once he reacheth, as he stands,
With brows the roof, both wals with both his hands:
He weeps and sighs, and (shunning comforts ay)
Wisheth pale Death a thousand times a day:
And, yet at length falling to work, is glad
To bite a brown crust that the Mouse hath had,
And in a Dish (for want of Plate or Glass)
Sups Oaten drink in stead of Hypocras.
So (or much like) our rebell Elders, driven
For ay from Eden (earthly type of Heav'n)
Ly languishing neer Tigris grassie side,
With nummed limbs, and spirits stupefied.
But powrfull Need (Arts ancient Dame and Keeper,
The early watch-clock of the sloathfull sleeper)
Among the Mountains makes them seek their living,
And foaming rivers, through the champain driving:
For yet the Trees with thousand fruits yfraught
In formall Checkers were not fairly brought:
The Pear and Apple liued Dwarf-like there,
With Oakes and Ashes shadowed every-where:
And yet (alas!) their meanest simple cheer
Our wretched Parents bought full hard and deer.
To get a Plum, somtimes poor Adam rushes
With thousand wounds among a thousand bushes.
If they desire a Medlar for their food,
They must go seek it through a fearfull wood;
Or a brown Mulbery, then the ragged Bramble
With thousand scratches doth their Skin bescramble.
The early watch-clock of the sloathfull sleeper)
Among the Mountains makes them seek their living,
And foaming rivers, through the champain driving:
For yet the Trees with thousand fruits yfraught
In formall Checkers were not fairly brought:
The Pear and Apple liued Dwarf-like there,
With Oakes and Ashes shadowed every-where:
And yet (alas!) their meanest simple cheer
Our wretched Parents bought full hard and deer.
To get a Plum, somtimes poor Adam rushes
With thousand wounds among a thousand bushes.
If they desire a Medlar for their food,
They must go seek it through a fearfull wood;
Or a brown Mulbery, then the ragged Bramble
With thousand scratches doth their Skin bescramble.
Wherefore (as yet) more led by th'appetite.
Of th'hungry belly then the tastes delight,
Living from hand to mouth, soon satisfi'd,
To earn their supper, th'after-noon they ply'd,
Vnstor'd of dinner till the morrow-day;
Pleas'd with an Apple, or som lesser pray.
Then, taught by Ver (richer in flowrs then fruit)
And hoary Winter, of both destitute,
Nuts, Filberds, Almonds, wisely vp they hoord,
The best provisions that the woods affoord.
Of th'hungry belly then the tastes delight,
Living from hand to mouth, soon satisfi'd,
To earn their supper, th'after-noon they ply'd,
222
Pleas'd with an Apple, or som lesser pray.
Then, taught by Ver (richer in flowrs then fruit)
And hoary Winter, of both destitute,
Nuts, Filberds, Almonds, wisely vp they hoord,
The best provisions that the woods affoord.
Touching their garments: for the shining wooll
Whence the roab-spinning pretious Worms are full,
For gold and silver wov'n in drapery,
For Cloth dipt double in the scarlet Dy,
For Gemms bright lustre, with excessiue cost
On rich embroideries by rare Art embost;
Somtimes they doe the far-spread Gourd vnleaue,
Somtime the Fig-tree of his branch bereaue:
Somtimes the Plane, somtimes the Vine they shear,
Choosing their fairest tresses heer and there:
And with their sundry locks, thorn'd each to other,
Their tender limbs they hide from Cynthias Brother.
Whence the roab-spinning pretious Worms are full,
For gold and silver wov'n in drapery,
For Cloth dipt double in the scarlet Dy,
For Gemms bright lustre, with excessiue cost
On rich embroideries by rare Art embost;
Somtimes they doe the far-spread Gourd vnleaue,
Somtime the Fig-tree of his branch bereaue:
Somtimes the Plane, somtimes the Vine they shear,
Choosing their fairest tresses heer and there:
And with their sundry locks, thorn'd each to other,
Their tender limbs they hide from Cynthias Brother.
Somtimes the Iuie's climing stems they strip,
Which lovingly his liuely prop doth clip:
And with green lace, in artificiall order,
The wrinkled bark of th'Acorn-Tree doth border,
And with his arms th'Oaks slender twigs entwining,
A many branches in one tissue ioyning,
Frames a loose Iacquet, whose light nimble quaking,
Wagg'd by the windes, is like the wanton shaking
Of golden spangles, that in stately pride
Dance on the tresses of a noble Bride.
Which lovingly his liuely prop doth clip:
And with green lace, in artificiall order,
The wrinkled bark of th'Acorn-Tree doth border,
And with his arms th'Oaks slender twigs entwining,
A many branches in one tissue ioyning,
Frames a loose Iacquet, whose light nimble quaking,
Wagg'd by the windes, is like the wanton shaking
Of golden spangles, that in stately pride
Dance on the tresses of a noble Bride.
But, while that Adam (waxen diligent)
Wearies his limbs for mutuall nourishment:
While craggy Mountains, Rocks, and thorny Plains,
And bristly Woods be witness of his pains;
Eue, walking forth about the Forrests, gathers
Speights, Parrots, Peacocks, Estrich scattered feathers,
And then with wax the smaller plumes she sears,
And sowes the greater with a white horse hairs,
(For they as yet did serue her in the steed
Of Hemp, and Towe, and Flax, and Silk, and Threed)
And thereof makes a medly coat so rare
That it resembles Nature's Mantle fair,
When in the Sunne, in pomp all glistering,
She seems with smiles to woo the gawdie Spring.
Wearies his limbs for mutuall nourishment:
While craggy Mountains, Rocks, and thorny Plains,
And bristly Woods be witness of his pains;
Eue, walking forth about the Forrests, gathers
Speights, Parrots, Peacocks, Estrich scattered feathers,
And then with wax the smaller plumes she sears,
And sowes the greater with a white horse hairs,
(For they as yet did serue her in the steed
Of Hemp, and Towe, and Flax, and Silk, and Threed)
And thereof makes a medly coat so rare
That it resembles Nature's Mantle fair,
When in the Sunne, in pomp all glistering,
She seems with smiles to woo the gawdie Spring.
When (by stoln moments) this she had contriv'd,
Leaping for ioy, her cheerfull looks reviv'd,
Sh' admires her cunning; and incontinent
'Sayes on her selfe her manly ornament;
And then through path-less paths she runs apace,
To meet her husband comming from the Chase.
Leaping for ioy, her cheerfull looks reviv'd,
Sh' admires her cunning; and incontinent
'Sayes on her selfe her manly ornament;
And then through path-less paths she runs apace,
To meet her husband comming from the Chase.
223
Sweet-heart, quoth she (and then she kisseth him)
My Loue, my Life, my Bliss, my Ioy, my Gem,
My soules deer Soule, take in good part (I pree-thee)
This pretty Present that I gladly giue-thee.
Thanks my deer All (quoth Adam then) for this,
And with three kisses he requites her kiss.
Then on he puts his painted garment new,
And Peacock-like himselfe doth often view,
Looks on his shadow, and in proud amaze
Admires the hand that had the Art to cause
So many severall parts to meet in one,
To fashion thus the quaint Mandilion.
My Loue, my Life, my Bliss, my Ioy, my Gem,
My soules deer Soule, take in good part (I pree-thee)
This pretty Present that I gladly giue-thee.
Thanks my deer All (quoth Adam then) for this,
And with three kisses he requites her kiss.
Then on he puts his painted garment new,
And Peacock-like himselfe doth often view,
Looks on his shadow, and in proud amaze
Admires the hand that had the Art to cause
So many severall parts to meet in one,
To fashion thus the quaint Mandilion.
But, when the Winters keener breath began
To crystallize the Baltike Ocean,
To glaze the Lakes, and bridle-vp the Floods,
And perriwig with wooll the bald-pate Woods;
Our Grand-sire, shrinking, gan to shake and shiver,
His teeth to chatter, and his beard to quiver.
Spying therefore a flock of Muttons comming
(Whose freez-clad bodies feel not Winters numming)
He takes the fairest, and he knocks it down:
Then by good hap, finding vpon the Down
A sharp great fishbone (which long time before
The roaring flood had cast vpon the shore)
He cuts the throat, flayes it, and spreads the fell,
Then dries it, pares it, and he scrapes it well,
Then cloathes his wife therewith; and of such hides
Slops, Hats, and Doublets for himselfe provides.
To crystallize the Baltike Ocean,
To glaze the Lakes, and bridle-vp the Floods,
And perriwig with wooll the bald-pate Woods;
Our Grand-sire, shrinking, gan to shake and shiver,
His teeth to chatter, and his beard to quiver.
Spying therefore a flock of Muttons comming
(Whose freez-clad bodies feel not Winters numming)
He takes the fairest, and he knocks it down:
Then by good hap, finding vpon the Down
A sharp great fishbone (which long time before
The roaring flood had cast vpon the shore)
He cuts the throat, flayes it, and spreads the fell,
Then dries it, pares it, and he scrapes it well,
Then cloathes his wife therewith; and of such hides
Slops, Hats, and Doublets for himselfe provides.
A vaulted Rock, a hollow Tree, a Caue,
Were the first buildings that them shelter gaue:
But, finding th'one to be too-moist a hold,
Th'other too-narrow, th'other over-cold;
Like Carpenters, within a Wood they choose
Sixteen fair Trees that never leaues do loose,
Whose equall front in quadran form prospected,
As if of purpose Nature them erected:
Their shady boughs first bow they tenderly,
Then enterbraid, and binde them curiously;
That one would think that had this Arbor seen,
'T had been true seeling painted-over green.
Were the first buildings that them shelter gaue:
But, finding th'one to be too-moist a hold,
Th'other too-narrow, th'other over-cold;
Like Carpenters, within a Wood they choose
Sixteen fair Trees that never leaues do loose,
Whose equall front in quadran form prospected,
As if of purpose Nature them erected:
Their shady boughs first bow they tenderly,
Then enterbraid, and binde them curiously;
That one would think that had this Arbor seen,
'T had been true seeling painted-over green.
After this triall, better yet to fence
Their tender flesh from th'ayry violence,
Vpon the top of their fit-forked stems,
They lay a-crosse bare Oken boughs for beams
(Such as dispersed in the Woods they finde,
Torn-off in tempests by the stormy winde)
Then these again with leauy boughes they load,
So covering close their sorry cold abode,
And then they ply from th'eaues vnto the ground,
With mud-mixt Reed to wall their mansion round,
All saue a hole to th'Eastward situate,
Where straight they clap a hurdle for a gate
(In steed of hinges hanged on a With)
Which with a sleight both shuts and openeth.
Their tender flesh from th'ayry violence,
Vpon the top of their fit-forked stems,
They lay a-crosse bare Oken boughs for beams
(Such as dispersed in the Woods they finde,
Torn-off in tempests by the stormy winde)
Then these again with leauy boughes they load,
So covering close their sorry cold abode,
224
With mud-mixt Reed to wall their mansion round,
All saue a hole to th'Eastward situate,
Where straight they clap a hurdle for a gate
(In steed of hinges hanged on a With)
Which with a sleight both shuts and openeth.
Yet fire they lackt: but lo, the winds, that whistle
Amid the Groues, so oft the Laurell iustle
Against the Mulbery, that their angry claps
Do kindle fire, that burns the neighbour Cops.
Amid the Groues, so oft the Laurell iustle
Against the Mulbery, that their angry claps
Do kindle fire, that burns the neighbour Cops.
When Adam saw a ruddy vapour rise
In glowing streame; astund with fear he flies,
It followes him, vntill a naked Plain
The greedy fury of the flame restrain:
Then back he turns, and comming somwhat nigher
The kindled shrubs, perceiving that the fire
Dries his dank Cloathes, his Colour doth refresh,
And vnbenums his sinews and his flesh;
By th'vnburnt end, a good big brand he takes,
And hying home a fire he quickly makes,
And still maintains it, till the starry Twins
Celestiall breath another fire begins.
But, Winter being comn again it griev'd him;
T'haue lost so fondly what so much reliev'd him,
Trying a thousand waies, sith now no more
The iustling Trees his domage would restore.
In glowing streame; astund with fear he flies,
It followes him, vntill a naked Plain
The greedy fury of the flame restrain:
Then back he turns, and comming somwhat nigher
The kindled shrubs, perceiving that the fire
Dries his dank Cloathes, his Colour doth refresh,
And vnbenums his sinews and his flesh;
By th'vnburnt end, a good big brand he takes,
And hying home a fire he quickly makes,
And still maintains it, till the starry Twins
Celestiall breath another fire begins.
But, Winter being comn again it griev'd him;
T'haue lost so fondly what so much reliev'd him,
Trying a thousand waies, sith now no more
The iustling Trees his domage would restore.
While (else-where musing) one day he sate down
Vpon a steep Rocks craggy-forked crown,
A foaming beast come toward him he spies,
Within whose head stood burning coals for eyes;
Then suddenly with boisterous armes he throwes
A knobby flint, that hummeth as it goes;
Hence flies the beast, th'ill-aimed flint-shaft grounding
Against the Rock, and on it oft rebounding,
Shivers to cinders, whence there issued
Small sparks of fire no sooner born then dead.
Vpon a steep Rocks craggy-forked crown,
A foaming beast come toward him he spies,
Within whose head stood burning coals for eyes;
Then suddenly with boisterous armes he throwes
A knobby flint, that hummeth as it goes;
Hence flies the beast, th'ill-aimed flint-shaft grounding
Against the Rock, and on it oft rebounding,
Shivers to cinders, whence there issued
Small sparks of fire no sooner born then dead.
This happy chance made Adam leap for glee:
And quickly calling his cold company,
In his left hand a shining flint he locks,
Which with another in his right he knocks
So vp and down, that from the coldest stone
At every stroak small fiery sparkles shone.
Then with the dry leaues of a withered Bay
The which together handsomly they lay,
They take the falling fire, which like a Sun
Shines cleer and smoak-less in the leaf begun.
And quickly calling his cold company,
In his left hand a shining flint he locks,
Which with another in his right he knocks
So vp and down, that from the coldest stone
At every stroak small fiery sparkles shone.
Then with the dry leaues of a withered Bay
The which together handsomly they lay,
They take the falling fire, which like a Sun
Shines cleer and smoak-less in the leaf begun.
Eue, kneeling down, with hand her head sustaining,
And on the lowe ground with her elbowe leaning,
Blowes with her mouth: and with her gentle blowing
Stirs vp the heat, that from the dry leaues glowing
Kindles the Reed, and then that hollow kix
First fires the small, and they the greater sticks.
And on the lowe ground with her elbowe leaning,
225
Stirs vp the heat, that from the dry leaues glowing
Kindles the Reed, and then that hollow kix
First fires the small, and they the greater sticks.
And now, Man-kinde with fruitfull Race began
A litle corner of the World to man:
First Cain is born, to tillage all adicted;
Then Abel, most to keeping flocks affected.
Abel, desirous still at hand to keep
His Milk and Cheese, vnwildes the gentle Sheep
To make a Flock; that when it tame became
For guard and guide should haue a Dog and Ram.
Cain, more ambitious, giues but little ease
To's boistrous limbs: and seeing that the Pease,
And other Pulse, Beans, Lentils, Lupins, Rïce,
Burnt in the Copses as not held in price,
Som grains he gathers: and with busie toyl,
A-part hee sowes them in a better soyl;
Which first he rids of stones, and thorns, and weeds,
Then buries there his dying-living seeds.
A litle corner of the World to man:
First Cain is born, to tillage all adicted;
Then Abel, most to keeping flocks affected.
Abel, desirous still at hand to keep
His Milk and Cheese, vnwildes the gentle Sheep
To make a Flock; that when it tame became
For guard and guide should haue a Dog and Ram.
Cain, more ambitious, giues but little ease
To's boistrous limbs: and seeing that the Pease,
And other Pulse, Beans, Lentils, Lupins, Rïce,
Burnt in the Copses as not held in price,
Som grains he gathers: and with busie toyl,
A-part hee sowes them in a better soyl;
Which first he rids of stones, and thorns, and weeds,
Then buries there his dying-living seeds.
By the next Haruest, finding that his pain
On this small plot was not ingrately vain;
To break more ground, that bigger Crop may bring
Without so often weary labouring,
He tames a Heifer, and on either side,
On either horn a three-fold twist he ty'd
Of Osiar twigs, and for a-Plough he got
The horn or tooth of som Rhinocerot.
On this small plot was not ingrately vain;
To break more ground, that bigger Crop may bring
Without so often weary labouring,
He tames a Heifer, and on either side,
On either horn a three-fold twist he ty'd
Of Osiar twigs, and for a-Plough he got
The horn or tooth of som Rhinocerot.
Now, th'one in Cattle, th'other rich in grain,
On two steep Mountains build they Altars twain;
Where (humbly-sacred) th'one with zealous cry
Cleaues bright Olympus starry Canopy:
With fained lips, the other low'd-resounded
Hart-wanting Hymns, on self-deseruing founded:
Each on his Altar offereth to the Lord
The best that eithers flocks, or fields affoords.
On two steep Mountains build they Altars twain;
Where (humbly-sacred) th'one with zealous cry
Cleaues bright Olympus starry Canopy:
With fained lips, the other low'd-resounded
Hart-wanting Hymns, on self-deseruing founded:
Each on his Altar offereth to the Lord
The best that eithers flocks, or fields affoords.
Rein-searching God, thought-sounding Iudge, that tries
The will and heart more then the work and guise,
Accepts good Abels gift: but hates the other
Profane oblation of his furious brother;
Who feeling, deep th'effects of Gods displeasure,
Raues, frets, and fumes, and murmurs out of measure.
The will and heart more then the work and guise,
Accepts good Abels gift: but hates the other
Profane oblation of his furious brother;
Who feeling, deep th'effects of Gods displeasure,
Raues, frets, and fumes, and murmurs out of measure.
What boots it (Cain) O wretch! what boots it thee
T'haue opened first the fruitfull womb (quoth he)
Of the first mother; and first born the rather
T'haue honour'd Adam first, with name of Father?
Vnfortunate, what boots thee to be wealthy,
Wise, actiue, valiant, strongly-limb'd, and healthy,
If this weak Girl-boy, in mans shape disguis'd,
To Heav'n and Earth be dear, and thou despis'd?
What boots it thee, for others night and day
In painfull toyl to wear thy self away:
And (more for others then thine own relief)
To haue deuised of all Arts the chief;
If this dull Infant, of thy labour nurst,
Shall reap the glory of thy deeds (accurst)?
Nay, rather quickly rid thee of the fool,
Down with his climbing hill, and timely cool
This kindling flame: and that none over-crowe thee,
Re-seise the right that Birth and Vertue owe thee.
T'haue opened first the fruitfull womb (quoth he)
Of the first mother; and first born the rather
T'haue honour'd Adam first, with name of Father?
Vnfortunate, what boots thee to be wealthy,
Wise, actiue, valiant, strongly-limb'd, and healthy,
226
To Heav'n and Earth be dear, and thou despis'd?
What boots it thee, for others night and day
In painfull toyl to wear thy self away:
And (more for others then thine own relief)
To haue deuised of all Arts the chief;
If this dull Infant, of thy labour nurst,
Shall reap the glory of thy deeds (accurst)?
Nay, rather quickly rid thee of the fool,
Down with his climbing hill, and timely cool
This kindling flame: and that none over-crowe thee,
Re-seise the right that Birth and Vertue owe thee.
Ay in his minde this counsail he revolues:
And hundred times to act it he resolues,
And yet as of relents; stopt worthily
By the pains horror, and sins tyranny.
And hundred times to act it he resolues,
And yet as of relents; stopt worthily
By the pains horror, and sins tyranny.
But, one day drawing with dissembled loue
His harm-less brother far into a Groue,
Vpon the verdure of whose virgin-boughs
Bird had not pearcht, nor never Beast did brouz;
With both his hands he takes a stone so huge,
That in our age three men could hardly bouge,
And iust vpon his tender brothers crown,
With all his might he cruell casts it down.
His harm-less brother far into a Groue,
Vpon the verdure of whose virgin-boughs
Bird had not pearcht, nor never Beast did brouz;
With both his hands he takes a stone so huge,
That in our age three men could hardly bouge,
And iust vpon his tender brothers crown,
With all his might he cruell casts it down.
The murdred face lies printed in the mud,
And lowd for vengeance cryes the martyr'd blood:
The battered brains fly in the murd'rers face.
The Sun, to shun this Tragike sight, a-pace
Turns back his Teem: the amazed Paricide
Doth all the Furies scourging whips abide:
Externall terrors, and th'internall Worm
A thousand kindes of living deaths do form:
All day he hides him, wanders all the night,
Flies his owne friends, of his own shade affright,
Scarr'd with a leaf, and starting at a Sparrow,
And all the World seems for his fear too-narrow.
And lowd for vengeance cryes the martyr'd blood:
The battered brains fly in the murd'rers face.
The Sun, to shun this Tragike sight, a-pace
Turns back his Teem: the amazed Paricide
Doth all the Furies scourging whips abide:
Externall terrors, and th'internall Worm
A thousand kindes of living deaths do form:
All day he hides him, wanders all the night,
Flies his owne friends, of his own shade affright,
Scarr'd with a leaf, and starting at a Sparrow,
And all the World seems for his fear too-narrow.
But for his Children, born by three and three,
Produce him Nephews, that still multiply
With new increase; who yer their age be rife
Becom great-Grand-sires in their Grand-sires life;
Staying at length, he chose him out a dwelling,
For woods and floods, and ayr, and soyl excelling.
Produce him Nephews, that still multiply
With new increase; who yer their age be rife
Becom great-Grand-sires in their Grand-sires life;
Staying at length, he chose him out a dwelling,
For woods and floods, and ayr, and soyl excelling.
One fels down Firs, another of the same
With crossed poles a little lodge doth frame:
Another mounds it with dry wals about
(And leaues a breach for passage in and out)
With Turf and Furse: som others yet more grosse
Their homely Sties in stead of walls inclose:
Som (like the Swallow) mud and hay do mix,
And that about their silly Cotes they fix:
Som make their Roofs with fearn, or reeds, or rushes,
And som with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes.
With crossed poles a little lodge doth frame:
Another mounds it with dry wals about
(And leaues a breach for passage in and out)
With Turf and Furse: som others yet more grosse
Their homely Sties in stead of walls inclose:
227
And that about their silly Cotes they fix:
Som make their Roofs with fearn, or reeds, or rushes,
And som with hides, with oase, with boughs, and bushes.
He, that still fearfull, seeketh still defence,
Shortly this Hamlet to a Town augments.
For, with keen Coultar having bounded (wittie)
The four-fac't Rampire of his simple Citie;
With stones soon gathered on the neighbour strand,
And clayie morter readie there at hand,
Well trod and tempered, he immures his Fort,
A stately Towr erecting on the Port:
Which awes his owne; and threats his enemies;
Securing som-what his pale tyrannies.
Shortly this Hamlet to a Town augments.
For, with keen Coultar having bounded (wittie)
The four-fac't Rampire of his simple Citie;
With stones soon gathered on the neighbour strand,
And clayie morter readie there at hand,
Well trod and tempered, he immures his Fort,
A stately Towr erecting on the Port:
Which awes his owne; and threats his enemies;
Securing som-what his pale tyrannies.
O Tigre! think'st thou (hellish fratricide)
Because with stone-heaps thou art fortifi'd,
Prince of som Peasants trained in thy tillage,
And silly Kingling of a simple Village;
Think'st thou to scape the storm of vengeance dread,
That hangs already o'r thy hatefull head?
No: wert thou (wretch) incamped at thy will
On strongest top of any steepest Hill:
Wert thou immur'd in triple brazen Wall,
Having for aid all Creatures in this All:
If skin and heart, of steel and yron were,
Thy pain thou could'st not, less auoid thy fear
Which chils thy bones, and runs through all thy vains,
Racking thy soule with twentie thousand pains.
Because with stone-heaps thou art fortifi'd,
Prince of som Peasants trained in thy tillage,
And silly Kingling of a simple Village;
Think'st thou to scape the storm of vengeance dread,
That hangs already o'r thy hatefull head?
No: wert thou (wretch) incamped at thy will
On strongest top of any steepest Hill:
Wert thou immur'd in triple brazen Wall,
Having for aid all Creatures in this All:
If skin and heart, of steel and yron were,
Thy pain thou could'st not, less auoid thy fear
Which chils thy bones, and runs through all thy vains,
Racking thy soule with twentie thousand pains.
Cain (as they say) by this deep fear disturbed,
The first of all th'vntamed Courser curbed;
That while about on others feet he run
With dustie speed, he might his Deaths-man shun.
Among a hundred braue, light, lustie, Horses
(With curious ey, marking their comly forces)
He chooseth one for his industrious proof,
With round, high, hollow, smooth, brown, ietty hoof,
With Pasterns short, vpright (but yet in mean);
Dry sinewie shanks; strong, flesh-less knees, and lean;
With Hart-like legs, broad brest, and large behinde,
With body large, smooth flanks, and double-chin'd;
A crested neck bow'd like a half-bent Bowe,
Whereon a long, thin, curled mane doth flowe;
A firm full tail, touching the lowely ground,
With dock between two fair fat buttocks drownd;
A pricked ear, that rests as little space,
As his light foot; a lean, bare bonny face,
Thin joule, and head but of a middling size,
Full, liuely-flaming, quickly rowling eyes,
Great foaming mouth, hot-fuming nosthrill wide,
Of Chest-nut hair, his fore-head starrifi'd,
Three milky feet, a feather on his brest,
Whom seav'n-years-old at the next grass he ghest.
The first of all th'vntamed Courser curbed;
That while about on others feet he run
With dustie speed, he might his Deaths-man shun.
Among a hundred braue, light, lustie, Horses
(With curious ey, marking their comly forces)
He chooseth one for his industrious proof,
With round, high, hollow, smooth, brown, ietty hoof,
With Pasterns short, vpright (but yet in mean);
Dry sinewie shanks; strong, flesh-less knees, and lean;
With Hart-like legs, broad brest, and large behinde,
With body large, smooth flanks, and double-chin'd;
A crested neck bow'd like a half-bent Bowe,
Whereon a long, thin, curled mane doth flowe;
A firm full tail, touching the lowely ground,
With dock between two fair fat buttocks drownd;
A pricked ear, that rests as little space,
As his light foot; a lean, bare bonny face,
Thin joule, and head but of a middling size,
Full, liuely-flaming, quickly rowling eyes,
228
Of Chest-nut hair, his fore-head starrifi'd,
Three milky feet, a feather on his brest,
Whom seav'n-years-old at the next grass he ghest.
This goodly Iennet gently first he wins,
And then to back him actively begins:
Steady and straight he sits, turning his sight
Still to the fore-part of his Palfrey light.
The chafed Horse, such thrall ill-suffering,
Begins to snuff, and snort, and leap, and fling;
And flying swift, his fearfull Rider makes
Like som vnskilfull Lad that vnder-takes
To holde som ships helm, while the head-long Tyde
Carries away the Vessell and her Guide;
Who neer deuoured in the jawes of Death,
Pale, fearfull, shivering, faint, and out of breath,
A thousand times (with Heav'n erected eyes)
Repents him of so bold an enterprise.
And then to back him actively begins:
Steady and straight he sits, turning his sight
Still to the fore-part of his Palfrey light.
The chafed Horse, such thrall ill-suffering,
Begins to snuff, and snort, and leap, and fling;
And flying swift, his fearfull Rider makes
Like som vnskilfull Lad that vnder-takes
To holde som ships helm, while the head-long Tyde
Carries away the Vessell and her Guide;
Who neer deuoured in the jawes of Death,
Pale, fearfull, shivering, faint, and out of breath,
A thousand times (with Heav'n erected eyes)
Repents him of so bold an enterprise.
But, sitting fast, less hurt then feared; Cain
Boldens himselfe and his braue Beast again:
Brings him to pase, from pasing to the trot,
From trot to gallop: after runs him hot
In full career: and at his courage smiles;
And sitting still to run so many miles.
Boldens himselfe and his braue Beast again:
Brings him to pase, from pasing to the trot,
From trot to gallop: after runs him hot
In full career: and at his courage smiles;
And sitting still to run so many miles.
His pase is fair and free; his trot as light
As Tigres course; as Swallows nimble flight:
And his braue gallop seems as swift to goe
As Biscan Darts, or shafts from Russian bowe:
But, roaring Canon, from his smoaking throat,
Never so speedy spews the thundring shot
(That in an Army mowes whole squadrons down,
And batters bulwarks of a summon'd Town)
As this light Horse scuds, if he doe but feel
His bridle slack, and in his side the heel:
Shunning himself, his sinewie strength he stretches;
Flying the earth, the flying ayr he catches,
Born whirl-winde-like: he makes the trampled ground
Shrink vnder him, and shake with doubling sound:
And when the sight no more pursue him may,
In fieldy clouds he vanisheth away.
As Tigres course; as Swallows nimble flight:
And his braue gallop seems as swift to goe
As Biscan Darts, or shafts from Russian bowe:
But, roaring Canon, from his smoaking throat,
Never so speedy spews the thundring shot
(That in an Army mowes whole squadrons down,
And batters bulwarks of a summon'd Town)
As this light Horse scuds, if he doe but feel
His bridle slack, and in his side the heel:
Shunning himself, his sinewie strength he stretches;
Flying the earth, the flying ayr he catches,
Born whirl-winde-like: he makes the trampled ground
Shrink vnder him, and shake with doubling sound:
And when the sight no more pursue him may,
In fieldy clouds he vanisheth away.
The wise-waxt Rider, not esteeming best
To take too-much now of his lusty Beast,
Restraines his fury: then with learned wand
The triple Corvet makes him vnderstand:
With skilfull voice he gently cheers his pride,
And on his neck his flattering palm doth slide:
He stops him steady still, new breath to take,
And in the same path brings him softly back.
To take too-much now of his lusty Beast,
Restraines his fury: then with learned wand
The triple Corvet makes him vnderstand:
With skilfull voice he gently cheers his pride,
And on his neck his flattering palm doth slide:
He stops him steady still, new breath to take,
And in the same path brings him softly back.
229
But th'angry Steed, rising and reaning proudly,
Striking the stones, stamping and neighing loudly,
Calls for the Combat, plunges, leaps and praunces,
Befoams the path, with sparkling eys he glaunces,
Champs on his burnisht bit, and gloriously
His nimble fetlocks lifteth belly-high,
All side-long iaunts, on either side he iustles,
And's waving Crest courageously he bristles,
Making the gazers glad on every side
To give more room vnto his portly Pride.
Striking the stones, stamping and neighing loudly,
Calls for the Combat, plunges, leaps and praunces,
Befoams the path, with sparkling eys he glaunces,
Champs on his burnisht bit, and gloriously
His nimble fetlocks lifteth belly-high,
All side-long iaunts, on either side he iustles,
And's waving Crest courageously he bristles,
Making the gazers glad on every side
To give more room vnto his portly Pride.
Cain gently shoaks him, and now sure in seat,
Ambitiously seeks still som fresher feat
To be more famous; one while trots the Ring,
Another while he doth him backward bring,
Then of all four he makes him lightly bound;
And to each hand to manage rightly round;
To stoop, to stop, to caper, and to swim,
To dance to leap, to hold-vp any lim:
And all, so don, with time-grace-ordered skill,
As both had but one body and one will.
Th'one for his Art no little glory gains:
Th'other through practice by degrees attains
Grace in his gallop, in his pase agility,
Lightnes of head, and in his stop facility,
Strength in his leap, and stedfast managings,
Aptnes in all, and in his course new wings.
Ambitiously seeks still som fresher feat
To be more famous; one while trots the Ring,
Another while he doth him backward bring,
Then of all four he makes him lightly bound;
And to each hand to manage rightly round;
To stoop, to stop, to caper, and to swim,
To dance to leap, to hold-vp any lim:
And all, so don, with time-grace-ordered skill,
As both had but one body and one will.
Th'one for his Art no little glory gains:
Th'other through practice by degrees attains
Grace in his gallop, in his pase agility,
Lightnes of head, and in his stop facility,
Strength in his leap, and stedfast managings,
Aptnes in all, and in his course new wings.
The vse of Horses thus discovered,
Each to his work more cheerly fetteled,
Each plies his trade, and trauels for his age,
Following the paths of painfull Tubal sage.
Each to his work more cheerly fetteled,
Each plies his trade, and trauels for his age,
Following the paths of painfull Tubal sage.
While through a Forrest Tubal (with his Yew
And ready quiver) did a Boar pursue,
A burning Mountain from his fiery vain
An yron River rowls along the Plain:
The witty Huntsman, musing, thither hies,
And of he wonder deeply 'gan devise.
And first perceiving, that this scalding mettle,
Becomming cold, in any shape would settle,
And growe so hard, that with his sharpned side
The firmest substance it would soon divide;
He casts a hundred plots, and yer he parts
He moulds the ground-work of a hundred Arts:
Like as a Hound, that (following loose, behinde
His pensive Master) of a Hare doth finde;
Leaves whom he loves, vpon the sent doth ply,
Figs to and fro and fals in cheerfull Cry;
And with vp-lifted head and nosthrill wide
Winding his game, snuffs-vp the winde, his guide:
A hundred wayes he measures Vale and Hill:
Ears, eys, nor nose, nor foot, nor tail are still,
Till in her hot Form he haue found the pray
That he so long hath sought for every way.
And ready quiver) did a Boar pursue,
A burning Mountain from his fiery vain
An yron River rowls along the Plain:
The witty Huntsman, musing, thither hies,
And of he wonder deeply 'gan devise.
And first perceiving, that this scalding mettle,
Becomming cold, in any shape would settle,
And growe so hard, that with his sharpned side
The firmest substance it would soon divide;
He casts a hundred plots, and yer he parts
He moulds the ground-work of a hundred Arts:
Like as a Hound, that (following loose, behinde
His pensive Master) of a Hare doth finde;
Leaves whom he loves, vpon the sent doth ply,
Figs to and fro and fals in cheerfull Cry;
And with vp-lifted head and nosthrill wide
Winding his game, snuffs-vp the winde, his guide:
230
Ears, eys, nor nose, nor foot, nor tail are still,
Till in her hot Form he haue found the pray
That he so long hath sought for every way.
For, now the way to thousand works reveal'd,
Which long shall liue maugre the rage of Eld:
In two square creases of vnequall sises
To turn to yron streamlings he devises;
Cold, takes them thence: then off the dross he rakes,
And this a Hammer, that an Anvill makes;
And, adding tongs to these two instruments,
He stores his house with yron implements:
As, forks, rakes, hatchets, plough-shares, coultars, staples,
Bolts, hindges, hooks, nails, whittles, spoaks and grapples;
And grow'n more cunning, hollow things he formeth,
He hatcheth Files, and winding Vices wormeth,
He shapeth Sheers, and then a Saw indents,
Then beats a Blade, and then a Lock invents.
Which long shall liue maugre the rage of Eld:
In two square creases of vnequall sises
To turn to yron streamlings he devises;
Cold, takes them thence: then off the dross he rakes,
And this a Hammer, that an Anvill makes;
And, adding tongs to these two instruments,
He stores his house with yron implements:
As, forks, rakes, hatchets, plough-shares, coultars, staples,
Bolts, hindges, hooks, nails, whittles, spoaks and grapples;
And grow'n more cunning, hollow things he formeth,
He hatcheth Files, and winding Vices wormeth,
He shapeth Sheers, and then a Saw indents,
Then beats a Blade, and then a Lock invents.
Happy device! we might as well want all
The Elements, as this hard minerall.
This, to the Plough-man, for great vses serves:
This, for the Builder, Wood and Marble carves:
This arms our bodies against adverse force:
This clothes our backs: this rules th'vnruly Horse:
This makes vs dry-shod daunce in Neptunes Hall:
This brightens gold: this conquers self and all;
Fift Element, of Instruments the haft;
The Tool of Tools, and Hand of Handy-Craft.
The Elements, as this hard minerall.
This, to the Plough-man, for great vses serves:
This, for the Builder, Wood and Marble carves:
This arms our bodies against adverse force:
This clothes our backs: this rules th'vnruly Horse:
This makes vs dry-shod daunce in Neptunes Hall:
This brightens gold: this conquers self and all;
Fift Element, of Instruments the haft;
The Tool of Tools, and Hand of Handy-Craft.
While (compast round with smoaking Cyclops rude,
Half-naked Bronis, and Sterops swarthy-hewd,
All well-neer weary) sweating Tubal stands,
Hastning the hot work in their sounding hands,
No time lost Iubal: th'vn-full Harmony
Of vn-even Hammers, beating diversly,
Wakens the tunes that his sweet numbery soule
Yer birth (som think) learn'd of the warbling Pole.
Thereon he harps, and ponders in his minde,
And glad and fain som Instrument would finde
That in accord those discords might renew,
And th'iron Anvils rattling sound ensew,
And iterate the beating Hammers noise
In milder notes, and with a sweeter voice.
Half-naked Bronis, and Sterops swarthy-hewd,
All well-neer weary) sweating Tubal stands,
Hastning the hot work in their sounding hands,
No time lost Iubal: th'vn-full Harmony
Of vn-even Hammers, beating diversly,
Wakens the tunes that his sweet numbery soule
Yer birth (som think) learn'd of the warbling Pole.
Thereon he harps, and ponders in his minde,
And glad and fain som Instrument would finde
That in accord those discords might renew,
And th'iron Anvils rattling sound ensew,
And iterate the beating Hammers noise
In milder notes, and with a sweeter voice.
It chanc't, that passing by a Pond, he found
An open Tortoise lying on the ground,
Within the which there nothing else remained
Saue three dry sinews on the shell stiff-strained:
This empty house Iubal doth gladly bear,
Strikes on those strings, and lends attentiue ear;
And by this mould frames the melodious Lute,
That makes woods harken, and the windes be mute,
The Hils to dance, the Heav'ns to retro-grade,
Lions be tame, and tempests quickly vade.
An open Tortoise lying on the ground,
Within the which there nothing else remained
Saue three dry sinews on the shell stiff-strained:
This empty house Iubal doth gladly bear,
Strikes on those strings, and lends attentiue ear;
231
That makes woods harken, and the windes be mute,
The Hils to dance, the Heav'ns to retro-grade,
Lions be tame, and tempests quickly vade.
His Art, still waxing, sweetly marrieth
His quavering fingers to his warbling breath:
More little tongues to's charm-care Lute he brings,
More Instruments he makes: no Eccho rings
'Mid rocky concaves of the babbling vales,
And bubbling Rivers rowl'd with gentle gales,
But wiery Cymbals, Rebecks sinews twin'd,
Sweet Virginals, and Cornets curled winde.
His quavering fingers to his warbling breath:
More little tongues to's charm-care Lute he brings,
More Instruments he makes: no Eccho rings
'Mid rocky concaves of the babbling vales,
And bubbling Rivers rowl'd with gentle gales,
But wiery Cymbals, Rebecks sinews twin'd,
Sweet Virginals, and Cornets curled winde.
But Adam guides, through paths but seldom gone,
His other Sons to Vertues sacred throne:
And chiefly Seth (set in good Abel's place)
Staff of his age, and glory of his race:
Him he instructeth in the waies of Verity,
To worship God in spirit and sincerity:
To honour Parents with a reverent aw,
To train his children in religious law:
To love his friends, his Country to defend,
And helpfull hands to all mankinde to lend:
To knowe Heav'ns course, and how their constant swaies
Divide the yeer in months, the months in daies:
What star brings Winter, what is Sommers guide;
What signe foul weather, what doth fair betide;
What creature's kinde, and what is curst to vs;
What plant is holesom, and what venimous.
His other Sons to Vertues sacred throne:
And chiefly Seth (set in good Abel's place)
Staff of his age, and glory of his race:
Him he instructeth in the waies of Verity,
To worship God in spirit and sincerity:
To honour Parents with a reverent aw,
To train his children in religious law:
To love his friends, his Country to defend,
And helpfull hands to all mankinde to lend:
To knowe Heav'ns course, and how their constant swaies
Divide the yeer in months, the months in daies:
What star brings Winter, what is Sommers guide;
What signe foul weather, what doth fair betide;
What creature's kinde, and what is curst to vs;
What plant is holesom, and what venimous.
No sooner he his lessons can commence,
But Seth hath hit the White of his intents,
Draws rule from rule, and of his short collations
In a short time a perfect Art he fashions.
The more he knowes, the more he craves; as fewell
Kils not a fire, but kindles it more cruell.
But Seth hath hit the White of his intents,
Draws rule from rule, and of his short collations
In a short time a perfect Art he fashions.
The more he knowes, the more he craves; as fewell
Kils not a fire, but kindles it more cruell.
While on a day by a cleer Brook they travell,
Whose gurgling streams frizadoed on the gravell,
He thus bespake: If that I did not see
The zeal (dear Father) that you bear to me,
How still you watch me with your carefull ein,
How still your voice with prudent discipline
My Prentice ear doth oft reverberate;
I should misdoubt to seem importunate;
And should content me to haue learned, how
The Lord the Heav'ns about this All did bow;
What things have hot, and what have cold effect;
And how my life and manners to direct.
But your milde Love my studious heart advances
To ask you further of the various chances
Of future times: what off-pring spreading wide
Shall fill this World: What shall the World betide;
How long to last: What Magistrates, what Kings
With Iustice Mace shall govern mortall things?
Whose gurgling streams frizadoed on the gravell,
He thus bespake: If that I did not see
The zeal (dear Father) that you bear to me,
How still you watch me with your carefull ein,
How still your voice with prudent discipline
My Prentice ear doth oft reverberate;
I should misdoubt to seem importunate;
And should content me to haue learned, how
The Lord the Heav'ns about this All did bow;
What things have hot, and what have cold effect;
And how my life and manners to direct.
But your milde Love my studious heart advances
To ask you further of the various chances
232
Shall fill this World: What shall the World betide;
How long to last: What Magistrates, what Kings
With Iustice Mace shall govern mortall things?
Son (quoth the Sire) our thoughts internall ey
Things past and present may by means descry;
But not the future, if by speciall grace
It read it not in th'One-Trine's glorious face.
Things past and present may by means descry;
But not the future, if by speciall grace
It read it not in th'One-Trine's glorious face.
Thou then, that (onely) things to come dost knowe,
Not by Heav'ns course, nor guess of things belowe.
Nor coupled points, nor flight of fatall Birds,
Nor trembling tripes of sacrificed Heards,
But by a clear and certain prescience
As Seer and Agent of all accidents,
With whom at once the three-fould times do fly,
And but a moment lasts Eternity;
O God, behould me, that I may behold
Thy crystall face: O Sun, reflect thy gold
On my pale Moon; that now my veiled eyes,
Earth-ward eclipst, may shine vnto the skyes.
Ravish me, Lord, ô (my soules life) reviue
My spirit a-space, that I may see (alive)
Heav'n yer I dy: and make me now (good Lord)
The Eccho of thy all-celestiall Word.
Not by Heav'ns course, nor guess of things belowe.
Nor coupled points, nor flight of fatall Birds,
Nor trembling tripes of sacrificed Heards,
But by a clear and certain prescience
As Seer and Agent of all accidents,
With whom at once the three-fould times do fly,
And but a moment lasts Eternity;
O God, behould me, that I may behold
Thy crystall face: O Sun, reflect thy gold
On my pale Moon; that now my veiled eyes,
Earth-ward eclipst, may shine vnto the skyes.
Ravish me, Lord, ô (my soules life) reviue
My spirit a-space, that I may see (alive)
Heav'n yer I dy: and make me now (good Lord)
The Eccho of thy all-celestiall Word.
With sacred fury suddenly he glowes,
Not like the Bedlani Bacchanalian froes,
Who, dancing, foaming, rowling furious-wise
Vnder their twinkling lids their torch-like eys
With ghastly voice, with visage grizly grim;
Tost by the Fiend that fiercely tortures them,
Bleaking and blushing, panting, shreeking, swouning,
With wrathless wounds their senseless members wounding:
But as th'Imperiall Airy peoples Prince,
With stately pinions soaring-hy from hence,
Cleaves through the clouds, and bravely-bold doth think
With his firm ey to make the Suns ey wink:
So Adam, mounted on the burning wings
Of a Seraphick love, leaves earthly things,
Feeds on sweet Æther, cleaves the starry Sphears,
And on Gods face his eys he fixtly bears:
His brows seem brandisht with a Sun-like fire,
And his purg'd body seems a cubit higher.
Not like the Bedlani Bacchanalian froes,
Who, dancing, foaming, rowling furious-wise
Vnder their twinkling lids their torch-like eys
With ghastly voice, with visage grizly grim;
Tost by the Fiend that fiercely tortures them,
Bleaking and blushing, panting, shreeking, swouning,
With wrathless wounds their senseless members wounding:
But as th'Imperiall Airy peoples Prince,
With stately pinions soaring-hy from hence,
Cleaves through the clouds, and bravely-bold doth think
With his firm ey to make the Suns ey wink:
So Adam, mounted on the burning wings
Of a Seraphick love, leaves earthly things,
Feeds on sweet Æther, cleaves the starry Sphears,
And on Gods face his eys he fixtly bears:
His brows seem brandisht with a Sun-like fire,
And his purg'd body seems a cubit higher.
Then thus began he: Th'ever-trembling field
Of scaly folk, the Arches starry seeld,
Where th'All-Creator hath disposed well
The Sun and Moon by turns for Sentinell;
The cleer cloud-bounding Air (the Camp assign'd
Where angry Auster, and the rough North-winde,
Meeting in battell, throwe down to the soil
The Woods that middling stand to part the broil);
The Diapry Mansions, where man-kinde doth trade,
Were built in Six Daies: and the Seav'nth was made
The sacred Sabbath. So, Sea, Earth and Air,
And azure-gilded Heav'ns Pavilions fair;
Shall stand Six Daies; but longer diversly
Then the daies bounded by the Worlds bright ey.
Of scaly folk, the Arches starry seeld,
Where th'All-Creator hath disposed well
The Sun and Moon by turns for Sentinell;
The cleer cloud-bounding Air (the Camp assign'd
Where angry Auster, and the rough North-winde,
133
The Woods that middling stand to part the broil);
The Diapry Mansions, where man-kinde doth trade,
Were built in Six Daies: and the Seav'nth was made
The sacred Sabbath. So, Sea, Earth and Air,
And azure-gilded Heav'ns Pavilions fair;
Shall stand Six Daies; but longer diversly
Then the daies bounded by the Worlds bright ey.
The First begins with me: the Seconds morn
Is the first Ship-wright, who doth first adorn
The Hils with Vines: that Shepheard is the Third,
That after God through strange Lands leads his Heard,
And (past mans reason) crediting Gods word,
His onely Son slaies with a willing sword:
The Fourth's another valiant Shepheardling,
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling,
And to a Scepter turns his Shepheards staff,
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph:
The Fift begins from that sad Princes night
That sees his children murdred in his sight,
And on the banks of fruitfull Euphrates,
Poor Iuda led in Captiue heauiness:
Hoped Messias shineth in the Sixt;
Who, mockt, beat, banisht, buried, cruci-fixt,
For our foul sins (still-selfly innocent)
Hath fully born the hatefull punishment:
The Last shall be the very Resting-Day,
Th'Air shall be mute, the Waters works shall stay;
The Earth her store; the Stars shall leave their measures,
The Sun his shine: and in eternall pleasures
We plung'd, in Heav'n shall ay solemnize, all,
Th'eternall Sabbaths end-less Festiuall.
Is the first Ship-wright, who doth first adorn
The Hils with Vines: that Shepheard is the Third,
That after God through strange Lands leads his Heard,
And (past mans reason) crediting Gods word,
His onely Son slaies with a willing sword:
The Fourth's another valiant Shepheardling,
That for a Cannon takes his silly sling,
And to a Scepter turns his Shepheards staff,
Great Prince, great Prophet, Poet, Psalmograph:
The Fift begins from that sad Princes night
That sees his children murdred in his sight,
And on the banks of fruitfull Euphrates,
Poor Iuda led in Captiue heauiness:
Hoped Messias shineth in the Sixt;
Who, mockt, beat, banisht, buried, cruci-fixt,
For our foul sins (still-selfly innocent)
Hath fully born the hatefull punishment:
The Last shall be the very Resting-Day,
Th'Air shall be mute, the Waters works shall stay;
The Earth her store; the Stars shall leave their measures,
The Sun his shine: and in eternall pleasures
We plung'd, in Heav'n shall ay solemnize, all,
Th'eternall Sabbaths end-less Festiuall.
Alas! what may I of that race presume
Next th'irefull Flame that shall this Frame consume,
Whose gut their god, whose lust their law shall be,
Who shall not hear of God, nor yet of me?
Sith those outrageous, that began their birth
On th'holy groundsill of sweet Edens earth,
And (yet) the sound of Heav'ns drad Sentence hear,
And as ey-witnes of mine Exile were,
Seem to despight God. Did it not suffize
(O lustfull soule!) first to polygamize?
Suffiz'd it not (O Lamech) to distain
Thy Nuptiall bed? but that thou must ingrain
In thy great-Grand-sires Grand-sires reeking gore
Thy cruell blade? respecting nought (before)
The prohibition, and the threatning vow
Of him to whom infernall Powrs do bow:
Neither his Pasports sealed Character
Set in the fore-head of the Murderer.
Next th'irefull Flame that shall this Frame consume,
Whose gut their god, whose lust their law shall be,
Who shall not hear of God, nor yet of me?
Sith those outrageous, that began their birth
On th'holy groundsill of sweet Edens earth,
And (yet) the sound of Heav'ns drad Sentence hear,
And as ey-witnes of mine Exile were,
Seem to despight God. Did it not suffize
(O lustfull soule!) first to polygamize?
Suffiz'd it not (O Lamech) to distain
Thy Nuptiall bed? but that thou must ingrain
In thy great-Grand-sires Grand-sires reeking gore
Thy cruell blade? respecting nought (before)
The prohibition, and the threatning vow
Of him to whom infernall Powrs do bow:
234
Set in the fore-head of the Murderer.
Courage, good Enos: re-advance the Standard
Of holy Faith, by humane reason slander'd,
And troden-down: Invoke th'immortall Powr;
Vpon his Altar warm bloud-offrings pour:
His sacred nose perfume with pleasing vapor,
And teend again Truths neer-extinguisht Taper.
Of holy Faith, by humane reason slander'd,
And troden-down: Invoke th'immortall Powr;
Vpon his Altar warm bloud-offrings pour:
His sacred nose perfume with pleasing vapor,
And teend again Truths neer-extinguisht Taper.
Thy pupil Henoch, selfly-dying wholly,
(Earths ornament) to God he liveth solely.
Lo, how he labours to endure the light
Which in th'Arch-essence shineth glorious-bright:
How rapt from sense, and free from fleshly lets,
Somtimes he climbs the sacred Cabinets
Of the divine Ideas everlasting,
Having for wings, Faith, fervent Praier and Fasting:
How at somtimes, though clad in earthly clod,
He (sacred) sees, feels, all enioyes in God:
How at somtimes, mounting from form to form,
In form of God he happy doth transform.
Lo, how th'All-fair, as burning all in love
With his rare beauties, not content above
T'haue half, but all, and ever; sets the stairs
That lead from hence to Heav'n his chosen heirs:
Lo, how he climeth the supernall stories.
(Earths ornament) to God he liveth solely.
Lo, how he labours to endure the light
Which in th'Arch-essence shineth glorious-bright:
How rapt from sense, and free from fleshly lets,
Somtimes he climbs the sacred Cabinets
Of the divine Ideas everlasting,
Having for wings, Faith, fervent Praier and Fasting:
How at somtimes, though clad in earthly clod,
He (sacred) sees, feels, all enioyes in God:
How at somtimes, mounting from form to form,
In form of God he happy doth transform.
Lo, how th'All-fair, as burning all in love
With his rare beauties, not content above
T'haue half, but all, and ever; sets the stairs
That lead from hence to Heav'n his chosen heirs:
Lo, how he climeth the supernall stories.
Adieu, dear Henoch: in eternall glories
Dwell there with God: thy body, chang'd in quality
Of Spirit or Angell, puts-on immortality:
Thine eys already (now no longer eyes,
But new bright stars) doo brandish in the skyes:
Thou drinkest deep of the celestiall wine:
Thy Sabbath's end-less: without vail (in fine)
Thou seest God face to face; and neer vnite
To th'One-Trine Good, thou liv'st in th'Infinite.
Dwell there with God: thy body, chang'd in quality
Of Spirit or Angell, puts-on immortality:
Thine eys already (now no longer eyes,
But new bright stars) doo brandish in the skyes:
Thou drinkest deep of the celestiall wine:
Thy Sabbath's end-less: without vail (in fine)
Thou seest God face to face; and neer vnite
To th'One-Trine Good, thou liv'st in th'Infinite.
But heer the while (new Angell) thou dost leaue
Fell wicked folk, whose hands are apt to reaue,
Whose Scorpion tongues delight in sowing strife,
Whose guts are gulfs, incestuous all their life.
Fell wicked folk, whose hands are apt to reaue,
Whose Scorpion tongues delight in sowing strife,
Whose guts are gulfs, incestuous all their life.
O strange to be beleev'd! the blessed Race,
The sacred Flock, whom God by speciall grace
Adopts for his, ev'n they (alas!) most shame-less
Do follow sin, most beastly-brute and tame-less,
With lustfull eys choosing for wanton Spouses
Mens wicked daughters; mingling so the houses
Of Seth and Cain; preferring foolishly
Frail beauties blaze to vertuous modesty.
The sacred Flock, whom God by speciall grace
Adopts for his, ev'n they (alas!) most shame-less
Do follow sin, most beastly-brute and tame-less,
With lustfull eys choosing for wanton Spouses
Mens wicked daughters; mingling so the houses
Of Seth and Cain; preferring foolishly
Frail beauties blaze to vertuous modesty.
From these profane, foul, cursed kisses sprung
A cruell brood, feeding on blood and wrong;
Fell Gyants strange, of haughty hand and minde,
Plagues of the World, and scourges of Mankinde.
A cruell brood, feeding on blood and wrong;
235
Plagues of the World, and scourges of Mankinde.
Then, righteous God (though ever prone to pardon)
Seeing His mildeness but their malice harden,
List plead no longer, but resolves the Fall
Of man forth-with, and (for mans sake) of all:
Of all (at least) the living creatures gliding
Along the air, or on the earth abiding.
Seeing His mildeness but their malice harden,
List plead no longer, but resolves the Fall
Of man forth-with, and (for mans sake) of all:
Of all (at least) the living creatures gliding
Along the air, or on the earth abiding.
Heav'ns crystall windows with one hand he opes,
Whence on the World a thousand Seas he drops:
With th'other hand he gripes and wringeth forth
The spungy Globe of th'execrable Earth,
So straightly prest, that it doth straight restore
All liquid flouds that it had drunk before:
In every Rock new Rivers doo begin;
And to his aid the snowes com tumbling in:
The Pines and Cedars haue but boughs to showe,
The shoars doo shrink, the swelling waters growe.
Alas! so many Nephews lose I heer
Amid these deeps, that but for mountains neer,
Vpon the rising of whose ridges lofty,
The lusty climb on every side for safety,
I should be seed-less: but (alas!) the Water
Swallows those Hils, and all this wide Theater
Is all one Pond. O children, whither fly-you?
Alas! Heav'ns wrath pursues you to destroy-you:
The stormy waters strangely rage and roar,
Rivers and Seas haue all one common shoar,
(To wit) a sable, water-loaden Sky
Ready to rain new Oceans instantly.
Whence on the World a thousand Seas he drops:
With th'other hand he gripes and wringeth forth
The spungy Globe of th'execrable Earth,
So straightly prest, that it doth straight restore
All liquid flouds that it had drunk before:
In every Rock new Rivers doo begin;
And to his aid the snowes com tumbling in:
The Pines and Cedars haue but boughs to showe,
The shoars doo shrink, the swelling waters growe.
Alas! so many Nephews lose I heer
Amid these deeps, that but for mountains neer,
Vpon the rising of whose ridges lofty,
The lusty climb on every side for safety,
I should be seed-less: but (alas!) the Water
Swallows those Hils, and all this wide Theater
Is all one Pond. O children, whither fly-you?
Alas! Heav'ns wrath pursues you to destroy-you:
The stormy waters strangely rage and roar,
Rivers and Seas haue all one common shoar,
(To wit) a sable, water-loaden Sky
Ready to rain new Oceans instantly.
O Son-less Father! O too fruitfull hanches!
O wretched root! O hurtfull, hatefull branches!
O gulfs vnknown! O dungeons deep and black!
O worlds decay! O vniversall wrack!
O Heav'ns! O Seas! O Earth (now Earth no more)
O flesh! O bloud! Heer, sorrow stopt the door
Of his sad voice; and, almost dead for wo,
The prophetizing spirit forsook him so.
O wretched root! O hurtfull, hatefull branches!
O gulfs vnknown! O dungeons deep and black!
O worlds decay! O vniversall wrack!
O Heav'ns! O Seas! O Earth (now Earth no more)
O flesh! O bloud! Heer, sorrow stopt the door
Of his sad voice; and, almost dead for wo,
The prophetizing spirit forsook him so.
| Du Bartas | |