All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet Being Sixty and three in Number. Collected into one Volume by the Author [i.e. John Taylor]: With sundry new Additions, corrected, reuised, and newly Imprinted |
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A Funerall Elegie.
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 | All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet |  |
334
A Funerall Elegie.
And
first my Muse findes, that his Graces name
Significantly makes an Anagram.
Significantly makes an Anagram.
Lewis Stewarde.
Anagram.
Vertv is wel Eas'd.
His Vertues such continuall paines did take
For King and Countrie, Church and peoples sake;
That for Earths courtly toyle, to him 'twas giuen,
His Vertv is wel Eas'd i'the Court of Heauen.
For King and Countrie, Church and peoples sake;
That for Earths courtly toyle, to him 'twas giuen,
His Vertv is wel Eas'd i'the Court of Heauen.
Great
God, that to thy self wilt take thine own,
By sundry waies, and means to man vnknown,
Whose Eye of prouidence doth still perceiue
When, where, why, who to take, or else to leaue,
Whose mercy, and whose Iustice equall are,
Both Infinite, to punish or to spare,
All men doe know, that men to dye are borne,
And from the earth, must to the earth returne.
But Time and Circumstance coniecture may,
For some great cause thou took'st this Duke away.
Amongst vs lurks so many a foule offence,
Which giues thee cause to take good men from hence:
And that this Prince was good as well as great,
His life and timelesse losse doth well repeate.
Deuout and zealous to his God aboue:
True to his King, as did his seruice proue:
Discreet in Counsell, Noble in his minde,
Most Charitably, Honourably kinde:
So Affable, so Hopefull vnto all,
And so Repleat with vertues generall,
That we may say, This Land in losing him,
Hath lost a gracious Peere, a prop, a lim.
It must be true, that well he spends his daies,
Whose actions doe attaine all peoples praise:
And surely I suppose hee doth not liue,
Who of this Duke a bad report can giue.
So full endu'd he was of all good parts,
With Noble Courtesie he wan all hearts,
To loue and honour his admired minde,
So well addicted, and so well enclin'd,
That as a Diamond in gold transfixt,
His vertues with his greatnesse were so mixt,
That he as one of an immortall Race,
Made Vertue vertuous, and gaue Grace to grace.
Then since his goodnesse was so generall,
The losse of him is Gen'rall vnto all:
This being true, let's recollect our spirits,
And weigh his worth with our vnworthy merits;
And then our fraileties truely will confesse,
God tooke him hence for our vnworthinesse:
Death was in Message from th'Almighty sent.
To summon him to Heau'ns high Parliament,
He chang'd his Gracious Title transitory,
And (by the grace of God) attain'd true Glory;
And as his King had his integrity;
So did the Commons share his Clemency,
Which was so pleasing to his Makers sight,
That bounteously he did his life requite,
That Lambe-like, mildely hence hee tooke him sleeping,
To his Eternall euer-blessed keeping.
Thus as his name includes, so God is pleas'd,
(From worldly sorrows) VERTV IS WEL EAS'D.
No sicknesse or no physicke made him languish,
He lay not long in heart-tormenting anguish:
But as Gods feare was planted in his brest,
So at his Rest, God tooke him to his Rest.
When like a good Tree, laden full of fruite,
Of Grace, of Vertue, Honour, and Repute:
Euen in his best estate, too good for Earth,
Then did his soule put on a second Birth.
And though his part of fraile mortality,
In Monumentall Marble heere doth lye:
Yet thousands weeping soules, with deepe laments,
As his most woefull mourning Monuments,
I daily see, whose visages doe show
That Hee's inter'd within their hearts below;
Whose faces seeme an Epitaph to beare,
That men may Reade who is intombed there.
By sundry waies, and means to man vnknown,
Whose Eye of prouidence doth still perceiue
When, where, why, who to take, or else to leaue,
Whose mercy, and whose Iustice equall are,
Both Infinite, to punish or to spare,
All men doe know, that men to dye are borne,
And from the earth, must to the earth returne.
But Time and Circumstance coniecture may,
For some great cause thou took'st this Duke away.
Amongst vs lurks so many a foule offence,
Which giues thee cause to take good men from hence:
And that this Prince was good as well as great,
His life and timelesse losse doth well repeate.
Deuout and zealous to his God aboue:
True to his King, as did his seruice proue:
Discreet in Counsell, Noble in his minde,
Most Charitably, Honourably kinde:
So Affable, so Hopefull vnto all,
And so Repleat with vertues generall,
That we may say, This Land in losing him,
Hath lost a gracious Peere, a prop, a lim.
It must be true, that well he spends his daies,
Whose actions doe attaine all peoples praise:
And surely I suppose hee doth not liue,
Who of this Duke a bad report can giue.
So full endu'd he was of all good parts,
With Noble Courtesie he wan all hearts,
To loue and honour his admired minde,
So well addicted, and so well enclin'd,
That as a Diamond in gold transfixt,
His vertues with his greatnesse were so mixt,
That he as one of an immortall Race,
Made Vertue vertuous, and gaue Grace to grace.
Then since his goodnesse was so generall,
The losse of him is Gen'rall vnto all:
This being true, let's recollect our spirits,
And weigh his worth with our vnworthy merits;
335
God tooke him hence for our vnworthinesse:
Death was in Message from th'Almighty sent.
To summon him to Heau'ns high Parliament,
He chang'd his Gracious Title transitory,
And (by the grace of God) attain'd true Glory;
And as his King had his integrity;
So did the Commons share his Clemency,
Which was so pleasing to his Makers sight,
That bounteously he did his life requite,
That Lambe-like, mildely hence hee tooke him sleeping,
To his Eternall euer-blessed keeping.
Thus as his name includes, so God is pleas'd,
(From worldly sorrows) VERTV IS WEL EAS'D.
No sicknesse or no physicke made him languish,
He lay not long in heart-tormenting anguish:
But as Gods feare was planted in his brest,
So at his Rest, God tooke him to his Rest.
When like a good Tree, laden full of fruite,
Of Grace, of Vertue, Honour, and Repute:
Euen in his best estate, too good for Earth,
Then did his soule put on a second Birth.
And though his part of fraile mortality,
In Monumentall Marble heere doth lye:
Yet thousands weeping soules, with deepe laments,
As his most woefull mourning Monuments,
I daily see, whose visages doe show
That Hee's inter'd within their hearts below;
Whose faces seeme an Epitaph to beare,
That men may Reade who is intombed there.
Epitaph.
Good , Gracious, Great, Richmond & Linox Duke,God, King, and Countries seruant heere doth lye;
Whose liuing Merits merit no rebuke,
For whose liues losse lamenting Memory,
Our hearts are groning Graues of griefes and cares,
Which when we dye, wee'l leaue vnto our heyres.
FINIS.
| All the workes of Iohn Taylor the Water-Poet | |