Fovre bookes of Du Bartas I. The Arke, II. Babylon, III. The Colonnyes, IIII. The Columues or Pyllars: In French and English, for the Instrvction and Pleasvre of Svch as Delight in Both Langvages. By William Lisle ... Together with a large Commentary by S. G. S |
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The third Booke of Noe, or the Colonies.
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85
The third Booke of Noe, or the Colonies.
VVhile ore th'vnpeopled world, I lead the fruitfull stocke
Of him that first assaid the waters wrackfull shocke;
While I by sea and land all in their places range
Discou'ries fortunate of many a kingdome strange;
And while of mightie Noe I toile to spread and twine
Fro th'one to th'other Sea the many-branched Vine;
O what twilight ycloud by day shall guide my sight,
What fiery pillar shall my course direct by night
To seats each peopl' ordaind before the Pair-of-Man
Their twy-fold-one estate in Paradise began!
Of him that first assaid the waters wrackfull shocke;
While I by sea and land all in their places range
Discou'ries fortunate of many a kingdome strange;
And while of mightie Noe I toile to spread and twine
Fro th'one to th'other Sea the many-branched Vine;
O what twilight ycloud by day shall guide my sight,
What fiery pillar shall my course direct by night
To seats each peopl' ordaind before the Pair-of-Man
Their twy-fold-one estate in Paradise began!
Thou Holy-holy Flame, that led'st the Persian Wyses,
From th'all-perfumy coast where-out faire Titan rises,
To shew the cradle of Christ, whose youth in liuing light
For euer flourisheth; driue hence the gloomie night
That seeleth-vp mine eyes: and so my Muse it shall
Search all the darker nookes of this great earthy Ball.
For though my wandring thought al-throw this iorney long
Turne here and there, yet I no way more bend my song,
Nor ought doe more desire, than to direct and waine
My Readers to the Childe that was Diuine-humaine.
From th'all-perfumy coast where-out faire Titan rises,
To shew the cradle of Christ, whose youth in liuing light
For euer flourisheth; driue hence the gloomie night
That seeleth-vp mine eyes: and so my Muse it shall
Search all the darker nookes of this great earthy Ball.
For though my wandring thought al-throw this iorney long
Turne here and there, yet I no way more bend my song,
Nor ought doe more desire, than to direct and waine
My Readers to the Childe that was Diuine-humaine.
87
As, when the skie o're-cast with darksome cloudy rack
A woods hart thorow-strikes with some great thunder-crack,
The Birds eu'n all at once their nest and pearch forsake,
And throw the troubled aire they flit for feare and quake,
One heare, another there; their pinions whizzing sound
Is nois'd all round-about; no greisell Turtle is found
Together with her mate; with downy-callow feather
Some young ones dare assay to wrastl' against the weather:
Right so the men who built the great Assyrian Tower,
Perceiuing Gods great voice in thunder-clashing stower
Of their confounded speech, each barbarous vnt'ether
Betake them to their heeles all fearefull altogether.
Some runne the left-hand way, and some acoste the right;
All tread th'vnhaunted earth as God ordain'd their flight.
For that great King of heau'n, who long ere creature breath'd
In priuie counsaile had this vnder-world bequeth'd
Vnto the race of Man, ne would at all abide it
To be a den of theeues, as if men should diuide it
By dreadfull dint of sword, and eu'ry people border
This thickned Element beast-like and out of order:
But, fire of warre to quench, he did all try-diuide,
Among the sonnes of Noe allotting each his side.
So Sem enhabited the day-beginning East,
To Cham befell the South, and Iaphet gain'd the West.
A woods hart thorow-strikes with some great thunder-crack,
The Birds eu'n all at once their nest and pearch forsake,
And throw the troubled aire they flit for feare and quake,
One heare, another there; their pinions whizzing sound
Is nois'd all round-about; no greisell Turtle is found
Together with her mate; with downy-callow feather
Some young ones dare assay to wrastl' against the weather:
Right so the men who built the great Assyrian Tower,
Perceiuing Gods great voice in thunder-clashing stower
Of their confounded speech, each barbarous vnt'ether
Betake them to their heeles all fearefull altogether.
Some runne the left-hand way, and some acoste the right;
All tread th'vnhaunted earth as God ordain'd their flight.
For that great King of heau'n, who long ere creature breath'd
In priuie counsaile had this vnder-world bequeth'd
Vnto the race of Man, ne would at all abide it
To be a den of theeues, as if men should diuide it
By dreadfull dint of sword, and eu'ry people border
This thickned Element beast-like and out of order:
But, fire of warre to quench, he did all try-diuide,
Among the sonnes of Noe allotting each his side.
So Sem enhabited the day-beginning East,
To Cham befell the South, and Iaphet gain'd the West.
89
From Peake of Perosites, where doth himselfe discharge
The stately running Ob, great Ob, fresh waters King,
A riuer hardly crost in six daies trauelling,
To Malaca, to th'Isles from whence are brought huge masses
Of Calamus and Cloues: Samotra whereon passes
Heau'ns Equinoctiall line; and to the waters far
Of Pearly Zeilan Isle, and goldie Bisnagar:
And from the Pont-Eusine, and from the brother waues
Of those two Chaldee streames, vnto the Sea that raues
With hideous noise about the Straight of Aniens,
To Quinsies moorie poole, and to Chiorza, whence
Come Elephantick buls with silken-haired hides;
This hight the share of Sem: for Gods decree it guides
91
Chal, Rezen, Niniué, their tow'rs to heau'n may raise.
The Persian hilles possest great Elams kingly race,
And those fat lands where-through Araxes bent his pace.
Lud held the Lydian fields, Aram th'Armenia,
And learned Arphaxad the quarter Chaldean.
94
Cham Lord was of the Land that Southward is beset
With blacke Guineas waues, and those of Guagamet;
Of Benin, Cefala; Botongas, Concritan,
That fruitfull is of drugs to poison beast or man.
It Northward fronts the sea from Abil pent betweene
The barren Affrick shore, and Europs fertill greene:
And on the Westerne coast, where Phœbus drownes his light,
Thrusts-out the Cape of Fesse, the green Cape and the white:
And hath on th'other side, whence comes the Sun from sleepe
Th'Arabick seas, and all the ruddy-sanded deepe.
Nay all the land betwixt the Liban mountaine spred,
And Aden waues, betwixt the Persick and the Red,
This mightie Southerne Prince, commanding far and wide,
Vnto the Regiment and scept'r of Affrick tide.
With blacke Guineas waues, and those of Guagamet;
Of Benin, Cefala; Botongas, Concritan,
That fruitfull is of drugs to poison beast or man.
It Northward fronts the sea from Abil pent betweene
The barren Affrick shore, and Europs fertill greene:
And on the Westerne coast, where Phœbus drownes his light,
Thrusts-out the Cape of Fesse, the green Cape and the white:
And hath on th'other side, whence comes the Sun from sleepe
Th'Arabick seas, and all the ruddy-sanded deepe.
Nay all the land betwixt the Liban mountaine spred,
And Aden waues, betwixt the Persick and the Red,
This mightie Southerne Prince, commanding far and wide,
Vnto the Regiment and scept'r of Affrick tide.
For Canan, one his sonne began, to build and dwell
By Iordan, gentle streame, whereas great Israel
Was after to be lodg'd: Phut peopled Lybia.
Misraijm Egypt had, Chus Ethiopia.
By Iordan, gentle streame, whereas great Israel
Was after to be lodg'd: Phut peopled Lybia.
Misraijm Egypt had, Chus Ethiopia.
95
Now Iaphet spred along from th'Ellesponticke waters,
Th'Euxine, and Tanaies, vnto the mount Gibraltars
Renowned doubl'ascent, and that sun-setting Maine,
Which with his ebbe and flow playes on the shore of Spaine:
And from that higher sea, vpon whose frozen alleyes
Glide swiftly-teemed carres insted of winged gallies,
Vnto the Genoan Tyrrhene and prouence Seas,
With those of learned Greece, and of Peloponese.
Accoast the goodly shore of Asia the lesse,
(The second paradise, th'worlds chiefe happinesse)
And Tartarie, the ground that reacheth from Amane
Vnto the springs of Rha, and pleasant bankes of Tane.
Th'Euxine, and Tanaies, vnto the mount Gibraltars
Renowned doubl'ascent, and that sun-setting Maine,
Which with his ebbe and flow playes on the shore of Spaine:
And from that higher sea, vpon whose frozen alleyes
Glide swiftly-teemed carres insted of winged gallies,
Vnto the Genoan Tyrrhene and prouence Seas,
With those of learned Greece, and of Peloponese.
Accoast the goodly shore of Asia the lesse,
(The second paradise, th'worlds chiefe happinesse)
And Tartarie, the ground that reacheth from Amane
Vnto the springs of Rha, and pleasant bankes of Tane.
All those braue men at armes, that France haue ouer-spred,
Of Gomers fruitfull seed, themselues professe, are bred;
And so the Germans are, sometime hight Gomerites:
Of Tubal Spaniards came, of Mosoch Moscouites,
Of Madai sprong the Medes, of Magog Scythians,
Of Iauan rose the Greekes: of Thyras Thracians.
Of Gomers fruitfull seed, themselues professe, are bred;
And so the Germans are, sometime hight Gomerites:
Of Tubal Spaniards came, of Mosoch Moscouites,
Of Madai sprong the Medes, of Magog Scythians,
Of Iauan rose the Greekes: of Thyras Thracians.
96
Of that suppos'd Berose, abusing all that reade
As he and others doe; well might I let you see
Of all our Ancestors a fained pedegree:
I boldly might assay of all the worlds Prouinces,
From father vnto sonne, to name the former Princes:
To sing, of all the world, each peoples diuers lot,
And of the meanest townes to lay the grunsill-plot.
97
To leaue the former course, and rashly assay to row,
(The bright Load-starre vnseene) vpon the waues vnknow'n
Of such an Ocean sea, so full of rockes bestrow'n
And Scyllaes glutton gulfes; where tumbleth equall store
Of shipwracks on the sands, and billowes to the shore:
Not hauing other guide then writers such as faine
The names of ancient Kings, and romants tell vs vaine;
Who make all for themselues, and gaping after glory,
On footing of a flie can frame a perfect story.
Th'Allusion of words is not a suer ground
For any man thereon a steddy worke to found;
Sith greatest hilles and seas, and most renowmed riuers
(Though they continue still) among long-after liuers
Are often diuers-nam'd; as eke the generation
Of him that built a wall, or laid a townes foundation,
Enhabits not the same; nor any mortall race
Hath an eternall state in any one earthly place:
But holds for terme of life, in fee-farme, or at will,
Possession of a field, a forrest, or an hill.
And like as when the wind amid the main-sea rustles,
One waue another driues, and billow billow iustles;
So are the peopl' at oddes each one for others roome,
One thrusts anoth'r away, and scarce the seconds, come
To threshold of that house whereas he meanes to keepe,
But comes a third and makes him forth at window creepe.
For any man thereon a steddy worke to found;
Sith greatest hilles and seas, and most renowmed riuers
(Though they continue still) among long-after liuers
Are often diuers-nam'd; as eke the generation
Of him that built a wall, or laid a townes foundation,
Enhabits not the same; nor any mortall race
Hath an eternall state in any one earthly place:
But holds for terme of life, in fee-farme, or at will,
Possession of a field, a forrest, or an hill.
And like as when the wind amid the main-sea rustles,
One waue another driues, and billow billow iustles;
So are the peopl' at oddes each one for others roome,
One thrusts anoth'r away, and scarce the seconds, come
98
But comes a third and makes him forth at window creepe.
So from great Albion th'old Britton being chas'd
By Saxon-English force, the Gaules forthwith displac'd
That wond in Armoricke, and call'd the Land Brittaine,
Where Loyre his gliding charge vnloadeth on the maine.
By Saxon-English force, the Gaules forthwith displac'd
That wond in Armoricke, and call'd the Land Brittaine,
Where Loyre his gliding charge vnloadeth on the maine.
So when the Lombard left (with minde to rome a large)
Vnto the Skotched Hunnes the diuers furrow'd marge
Of Ister double-nam'd, he made the French to flie
By force of warlike rage from out rich Insubrie;
But vnder-fell againe the French reuenging heat,
And was to bondage brought by sword of Charles the Great.
Vnto the Skotched Hunnes the diuers furrow'd marge
Of Ister double-nam'd, he made the French to flie
By force of warlike rage from out rich Insubrie;
But vnder-fell againe the French reuenging heat,
And was to bondage brought by sword of Charles the Great.
And so th'Alaine, and so the Northen-borne Vandall.
Dislodged by the Goth from Cordube and Hispall,
In Carthage harboured, then by the conquering stroke
Of him that fram'd our Lawes, sustain'd the Roman yoke.
The Roman eke, and all the soyle Barbarian
Of frizell-headed Moores, obay'd th'Arabian.
Dislodged by the Goth from Cordube and Hispall,
In Carthage harboured, then by the conquering stroke
Of him that fram'd our Lawes, sustain'd the Roman yoke.
The Roman eke, and all the soyle Barbarian
Of frizell-headed Moores, obay'd th'Arabian.
This hunger ne'r-suffiz'd of gold and great Empire,
This thirst of sharpe reuenge, and further this desire
Of honour in conceit (all builded on rapines,
On slaughters, cruelties, towne-burnings and ruines)
Dishabiteth a Land, and diuers waies and farre
To waue and wander makes the people sonnes of Warre.
This thirst of sharpe reuenge, and further this desire
Of honour in conceit (all builded on rapines,
On slaughters, cruelties, towne-burnings and ruines)
Dishabiteth a Land, and diuers waies and farre
To waue and wander makes the people sonnes of Warre.
I doe not speake-of here the spoiling Arabes,
The Hordies ancient Scythes or shepheards Nomades,
Who gazing on in troopes disdained eu'ry fence,
And pitched where they list their bristle-hairy ten's;
Like as with wing are wont black swarmes of swallowes swift
Crosse o're th'embillowed sea their airy bodies lift,
And changing their abode, as 'twere on progresse goe
For milder season'd aire, twice yearely to and fro;
But other Nations fierce, who for a war-renowne,
With often losse of Bloud haue roamed vp and downe:
Who better skill'd the way how t'ouercome then weild;
To conquer, then to keepe; to pull downe, then to build;
And chosing rather warre, than holy and lawfull rest,
Haue boldly diuers lands, and one aft'r other, prest.
The Hordies ancient Scythes or shepheards Nomades,
Who gazing on in troopes disdained eu'ry fence,
And pitched where they list their bristle-hairy ten's;
Like as with wing are wont black swarmes of swallowes swift
Crosse o're th'embillowed sea their airy bodies lift,
And changing their abode, as 'twere on progresse goe
For milder season'd aire, twice yearely to and fro;
But other Nations fierce, who for a war-renowne,
With often losse of Bloud haue roamed vp and downe:
Who better skill'd the way how t'ouercome then weild;
To conquer, then to keepe; to pull downe, then to build;
And chosing rather warre, than holy and lawfull rest,
99
Right such that Lombard was, who, borne in Schonerland,
Seiz'd on Liuonia, thence went to Rugiland;
And hauing wrought reuenge vpon the Bulgar-men
Of Agilmond his death, he boldly ventur'd then
Vpon Polonia; so march'd on braue and fine
To bathe his golden haire in siluer streame of Rhine:
Thence turning him about he setled in Morauie,
And so to Buda went, and after flew to Pauie:
There raign'd two hundred yeares, and honour'd Tesin so,
He princely dares compare streames with his neighbour Po.
Seiz'd on Liuonia, thence went to Rugiland;
And hauing wrought reuenge vpon the Bulgar-men
Of Agilmond his death, he boldly ventur'd then
Vpon Polonia; so march'd on braue and fine
To bathe his golden haire in siluer streame of Rhine:
Thence turning him about he setled in Morauie,
And so to Buda went, and after flew to Pauie:
There raign'd two hundred yeares, and honour'd Tesin so,
He princely dares compare streames with his neighbour Po.
Such was the Goth, who left the freezing-cold Finland,
Scanzie, and Scrifinie, Norway and Gottherland,
To sit on Wixel-bankes; and, for that aire did please,
As most in temper neare his owne of Baltick seas,
With his victorious hoste entring Sclauonia
Supprised Zipserland and all Valachia:
Then fortifi'd in Thrace; but scorning long to toile
Among the beggar Greekes, for hope of greater spoile
Foure times the Roman tride, God Mars his elder sonne,
To rob him of the crowne that he from all had wonne,
Led once by Radaguise, led once by Alarick,
Then vnder Vidimare, then vnder Dietrick:
And after dwelt in France; then (chased from Gascoine)
Aboade in Portugal, Castile and Cataloine.
Scanzie, and Scrifinie, Norway and Gottherland,
To sit on Wixel-bankes; and, for that aire did please,
As most in temper neare his owne of Baltick seas,
With his victorious hoste entring Sclauonia
Supprised Zipserland and all Valachia:
Then fortifi'd in Thrace; but scorning long to toile
Among the beggar Greekes, for hope of greater spoile
Foure times the Roman tride, God Mars his elder sonne,
To rob him of the crowne that he from all had wonne,
Led once by Radaguise, led once by Alarick,
Then vnder Vidimare, then vnder Dietrick:
And after dwelt in France; then (chased from Gascoine)
Aboade in Portugal, Castile and Cataloine.
Such whilome was the French, who, roaming out as farre
As darted are the beames of Titans firie carre,
Inuaded Italy, and would in rage haue spilt
The Tow'rs that Romulus, or Mars himselfe, had built:
Went thence int' Hungary, then with his conquering plough
He fallow'd-vp the soile cold Strimon runneth through:
The faire Emathick fields he then doth all-to-fleece,
And spareth not at all the greatest gods of Greece:
At last with Europe cloy'd he passeth Helespont,
Of th'Eunuck Dindym hill he wasteth all the Front,
Pisidia ruineth, surpriseth Mysia,
And plants another Gaule in mid'st of Asia.
As darted are the beames of Titans firie carre,
Inuaded Italy, and would in rage haue spilt
The Tow'rs that Romulus, or Mars himselfe, had built:
Went thence int' Hungary, then with his conquering plough
He fallow'd-vp the soile cold Strimon runneth through:
The faire Emathick fields he then doth all-to-fleece,
And spareth not at all the greatest gods of Greece:
At last with Europe cloy'd he passeth Helespont,
Of th'Eunuck Dindym hill he wasteth all the Front,
Pisidia ruineth, surpriseth Mysia,
And plants another Gaule in mid'st of Asia.
100
Of people most renown'd the darke antiquitie
Is like a Forrest wide, where hardy-foolery
Shall stumbl' at eu'ry step, the learned Souuenance
It selfe entangled is; but blind-fold ignorance
By blundring through the darke of her eternall Fogges,
Falls headlong downe in pits, in dungeons and bogges:
Is like a Forrest wide, where hardy-foolery
Shall stumbl' at eu'ry step, the learned Souuenance
It selfe entangled is; but blind-fold ignorance
By blundring through the darke of her eternall Fogges,
Falls headlong downe in pits, in dungeons and bogges:
105
It shall suffice me then to follow the ancient bounds,
And from the golden mouth of Moses taking grounds,
With all religious heed in verses to record
How Sem, Iaphet and Cham, the world with people stor'd;
And how of mighty Noe the far-out-roaming boat
Did thus the second time all countries ouer-float.
And from the golden mouth of Moses taking grounds,
With all religious heed in verses to record
How Sem, Iaphet and Cham, the world with people stor'd;
And how of mighty Noe the far-out-roaming boat
Did thus the second time all countries ouer-float.
Yet not as if Sems house from Babilon did run
Together all at once vnto the rising sun;
To drinke of Zaiton the water siluer-fine,
To peopl' all rich Catay with Cambalu and Chine:
Nor Iaphet vnto Spaine; nor that vngodly Cham
Vnto the droughty soile of Meder and of Bigam,
The fields of Cephala, the Mount of Zanzibar,
The promontory of Hope, which Africk thrusts-out far.
Together all at once vnto the rising sun;
To drinke of Zaiton the water siluer-fine,
To peopl' all rich Catay with Cambalu and Chine:
Nor Iaphet vnto Spaine; nor that vngodly Cham
Vnto the droughty soile of Meder and of Bigam,
The fields of Cephala, the Mount of Zanzibar,
The promontory of Hope, which Africk thrusts-out far.
For as th'lblean hills, or those Hymettick trees,
Not all in one yeeres space were couered with Bees;
But first some little rock, that swarmed eu'ry prime
Two surcreases or three, made on their tops to clime,
Aside and all about those nurslings of the Sun,
At length all o're the cliffes their hony-combs to run:
Or as two springing Elmes, that grow amids a field
With water compassed, about their stocks doe yeeld
A many younger trees; and they againe shoot-out
As many like themselues encroaching all about;
And gaining foot by foot, so thriue: that aft'r a while
They for a shared mead a forrest make that Isle:
Accordinly the men who built th'Assyrian tower,
Were scattred all abroad; though not all in an hower;
But first enhous'd themselues in Mesopotamie;
By processe then of time increasing happily,
They pass'd streame after streame, and seizd land after land;
And were not th'age of all cut short by Gods command,
No country might be found so sauage or vnknow'n
But by the stock of man had bin ere this o'regrown.
And this the cause is why the Tigre-abutting coast,
In all the former time of all did flourish most.
That first began to warre, that only got a name,
And little knew the rest but learned of the same.
For Babylon betimes drawne vnd'r a kingly throne
Th'emperiall scepter swaid before the Greeks were knowne
To frame a politie, before by charming tones
Amphion walled Thebes of self-empyling stones;
Yer Latins had their townes, yer Frenchmen houshold rents,
Or Dutchmen cottages, or Englishmen their tents:
So Hebers sonnes had long abhorred Altars made
For any heathen gods; with Angels had their trade;
And knew the great Vnknowne, yea (ô most happy thing!)
With eyes of faith beheld their vnbeholden king.
The learned Chaldee knew of stars the numb'r and lawes,
Had measured the skie, and vnderstood the cause
That muffleth vp the light of Cinthia's siluer lips,
And how her thwarting doth her brothers light eclips.
The Priest of Memphis knew the nature of the soule,
And straitly marked how the heau'nly flames doe roule;
Who, that their faces might more flaming seeme and gay,
In Amphitrites poole once wash them euery day:
He physick also wrote and taught Geometree,
Before that any Greeke had learn'd his A Be Cee.
All Egypt ouershone with golden vtensils,
Before the limping smith by Ætnaes burning kills
Had hammerd iron barrs: before Prometheus found
The fire and vse thereof vpon th'Argolian ground.
Not all in one yeeres space were couered with Bees;
But first some little rock, that swarmed eu'ry prime
Two surcreases or three, made on their tops to clime,
Aside and all about those nurslings of the Sun,
At length all o're the cliffes their hony-combs to run:
106
With water compassed, about their stocks doe yeeld
A many younger trees; and they againe shoot-out
As many like themselues encroaching all about;
And gaining foot by foot, so thriue: that aft'r a while
They for a shared mead a forrest make that Isle:
Accordinly the men who built th'Assyrian tower,
Were scattred all abroad; though not all in an hower;
But first enhous'd themselues in Mesopotamie;
By processe then of time increasing happily,
They pass'd streame after streame, and seizd land after land;
And were not th'age of all cut short by Gods command,
No country might be found so sauage or vnknow'n
But by the stock of man had bin ere this o'regrown.
And this the cause is why the Tigre-abutting coast,
In all the former time of all did flourish most.
That first began to warre, that only got a name,
And little knew the rest but learned of the same.
For Babylon betimes drawne vnd'r a kingly throne
Th'emperiall scepter swaid before the Greeks were knowne
To frame a politie, before by charming tones
Amphion walled Thebes of self-empyling stones;
Yer Latins had their townes, yer Frenchmen houshold rents,
Or Dutchmen cottages, or Englishmen their tents:
So Hebers sonnes had long abhorred Altars made
For any heathen gods; with Angels had their trade;
And knew the great Vnknowne, yea (ô most happy thing!)
With eyes of faith beheld their vnbeholden king.
The learned Chaldee knew of stars the numb'r and lawes,
Had measured the skie, and vnderstood the cause
That muffleth vp the light of Cinthia's siluer lips,
And how her thwarting doth her brothers light eclips.
The Priest of Memphis knew the nature of the soule,
And straitly marked how the heau'nly flames doe roule;
Who, that their faces might more flaming seeme and gay,
In Amphitrites poole once wash them euery day:
He physick also wrote and taught Geometree,
107
All Egypt ouershone with golden vtensils,
Before the limping smith by Ætnaes burning kills
Had hammerd iron barrs: before Prometheus found
The fire and vse thereof vpon th'Argolian ground.
Alas, we were not then, or, if we were, at least
We led an vnkouth life, and like the sauage beast,
Our garments feathers were, that birds in moulting cast;
We feasted vnder trees and gaped after mast.
VVhen as the men of Tyre already durst assay
To raze the saltie Blew twixt them and Africa,
Aduentur'd merchandise, with purpl'enguirt their flanks,
And pleasure kept her court about Euphrates banks.
For as a peble stone if thou on water fling
Of any sleepie poole, it frames a little ring
First whereabout it fell; then furth'r about doth rase
The wauing marbl', or eu'n the trembling Chrystall face
VVith mouing paralels of many circles moe,
That reaching furth'r abroad together-waxing flow
Vntill the round at length most outward and most large
Strikes of the standing lake both one and other marge:
So from the Cent'r of All (which here I meane to pitch
Vpon the waters brinke where discord sproong of speech)
Man dressing day by day his knowledge more and more
Makes arts and wisdome flow vnto the circle-shore;
As doth himselfe increase, and as in diuers bands
His fruitfull seed in time hath ouergrowne the lands.
We led an vnkouth life, and like the sauage beast,
Our garments feathers were, that birds in moulting cast;
We feasted vnder trees and gaped after mast.
VVhen as the men of Tyre already durst assay
To raze the saltie Blew twixt them and Africa,
Aduentur'd merchandise, with purpl'enguirt their flanks,
And pleasure kept her court about Euphrates banks.
For as a peble stone if thou on water fling
Of any sleepie poole, it frames a little ring
First whereabout it fell; then furth'r about doth rase
The wauing marbl', or eu'n the trembling Chrystall face
VVith mouing paralels of many circles moe,
That reaching furth'r abroad together-waxing flow
Vntill the round at length most outward and most large
Strikes of the standing lake both one and other marge:
So from the Cent'r of All (which here I meane to pitch
Vpon the waters brinke where discord sproong of speech)
Man dressing day by day his knowledge more and more
Makes arts and wisdome flow vnto the circle-shore;
As doth himselfe increase, and as in diuers bands
His fruitfull seed in time hath ouergrowne the lands.
From faire Assyriland the Semites gan to trauell
Vnto the soile beguilt with glystring Hytan-grauell,
And peopling Persiland dronke Oroates iuyce,
And wat'r of cleare Coaspe that licks the walls of Suse:
So tooke the fruitfull dale and flow'r-embellyd plaines
Betwixt high Caucase tops, where shortly Arsace raignes:
And some in Medye dwelt, and some began to make
The fields abutting on the great Hircanian Lake.
Vnto the soile beguilt with glystring Hytan-grauell,
And peopling Persiland dronke Oroates iuyce,
And wat'r of cleare Coaspe that licks the walls of Suse:
So tooke the fruitfull dale and flow'r-embellyd plaines
Betwixt high Caucase tops, where shortly Arsace raignes:
And some in Medye dwelt, and some began to make
The fields abutting on the great Hircanian Lake.
These mens posteritie did like a flood surround
And ouerflow in time the Cheisel-fronting ground:
They came in diuers troopes vpon Tac[illeg.]istan,
Caras, Gadel, Chabul, Bedane and Balistan.
And ouerflow in time the Cheisel-fronting ground:
108
Caras, Gadel, Chabul, Bedane and Balistan.
Their Of-spring afterward broke-vp with toyling hands
Narzinga, Bisnagar, and all the plenteous lands
That Ganges thorow flowes, and peopled Toloman,
The realme of Mein, and Aue, and muskie Carazan:
They saw the fearefull sprights in wildernesse of Lop,
That maske in hundred shapes wayfairing men to stop.
Narzinga, Bisnagar, and all the plenteous lands
That Ganges thorow flowes, and peopled Toloman,
The realme of Mein, and Aue, and muskie Carazan:
They saw the fearefull sprights in wildernesse of Lop,
That maske in hundred shapes wayfairing men to stop.
Long aft'r at sundry times this Race still coasting east
Tipura seizd that breeds the horny-snowted beast,
Mangit and Gaucinchine that Aloes hath store;
And stopt at Anie straights and Cassagalie shore.
Tipura seizd that breeds the horny-snowted beast,
Mangit and Gaucinchine that Aloes hath store;
And stopt at Anie straights and Cassagalie shore.
Now from the Center-point inclining to the Set
Far spred abroad themselues the children of Iaphet,
To Armenie the lesse, and after to Cilice,
So got the hau'ns at length of Tarsis and of Ise,
The sweet Corician caue, that neere to Parnas hill
Delights the commers-in with Cymball-sounding skill:
Huge Taure his loftie downes, Ionie, Cappadoce,
Meanders winding banks, Bythine and Illios.
Far spred abroad themselues the children of Iaphet,
To Armenie the lesse, and after to Cilice,
So got the hau'ns at length of Tarsis and of Ise,
The sweet Corician caue, that neere to Parnas hill
Delights the commers-in with Cymball-sounding skill:
Huge Taure his loftie downes, Ionie, Cappadoce,
Meanders winding banks, Bythine and Illios.
Then boldly passing-o're the narrow cut of Sest,
They dronke the water chill of Strimon, Heber and Nest:
The Rhodopean dales they graz'd, and laid in swathes
The leas that (running-by) Danubies water bathes.
They dronke the water chill of Strimon, Heber and Nest:
The Rhodopean dales they graz'd, and laid in swathes
The leas that (running-by) Danubies water bathes.
Thrace did a thonside fill the Grecian territorie;
Greece peopled Italie, law-giuing, louing-glory;
By Italie was France, by France was filled Spaine,
The borderings of Rhine and all the Great Britaine:
Ath'otherside againe it sent a Colonie
Both to the Pont-Eusine, and toward Moldauie;
So raught Transyluanie, Morauie, Hungarie,
And Seruie farther-west, and eastward Podolie.
Thence men to Prussie came and Wyxell borders ear'd,
Then that of Almanie that narre the Pole is rear'd.
Greece peopled Italie, law-giuing, louing-glory;
By Italie was France, by France was filled Spaine,
The borderings of Rhine and all the Great Britaine:
Ath'otherside againe it sent a Colonie
Both to the Pont-Eusine, and toward Moldauie;
So raught Transyluanie, Morauie, Hungarie,
And Seruie farther-west, and eastward Podolie.
Thence men to Prussie came and Wyxell borders ear'd,
Then that of Almanie that narre the Pole is rear'd.
Now turning to the South, consider how Chaldea
Spewes-out in Arabie, Phenice and Chananea,
The cursed line of Cham; yet ne'r the lesse it growes,
And twixt Myd-sea and Red along int'Egypt goes:
So stores the towne Corene, and that renowmed coast
Whereon the Punick Seas are all to-froth betost;
Fesse, Gogden, Terminan, Argin, Gusola, Dara,
Tombuto, Gualata, Melli, Gago, Mansara,
The sparkling wildernesse of Lybie breeding-venim,
Caun, Guber, Amasen, Born, Zegzeg, Nubye, Benim;
And of the droughtie soile those euer-moouing sands,
Where Iesus yet is known and Prestre Ian commands;
Who, though in many points he commeth neere the Iew,
Yet hath a kind of Church not all vnlike the true.
Spewes-out in Arabie, Phenice and Chananea,
The cursed line of Cham; yet ne'r the lesse it growes,
109
So stores the towne Corene, and that renowmed coast
Whereon the Punick Seas are all to-froth betost;
Fesse, Gogden, Terminan, Argin, Gusola, Dara,
Tombuto, Gualata, Melli, Gago, Mansara,
The sparkling wildernesse of Lybie breeding-venim,
Caun, Guber, Amasen, Born, Zegzeg, Nubye, Benim;
And of the droughtie soile those euer-moouing sands,
Where Iesus yet is known and Prestre Ian commands;
Who, though in many points he commeth neere the Iew,
Yet hath a kind of Church not all vnlike the true.
Here if thou meane to know whence all the land so large,
Which vnder-lies the draught of many a sliding barge,
All-ouer pau'd with Ise, and of the sea of Russe
Enuironed about with surges mutinous,
Was come-vnto by men; thinke after they forsooke
The plaine where Tegil flood swift-running ouertooke
Once and againe the streame of running-far Euphrates
They lodged at the foot of hoary hill Nyphates.
Which vnder-lies the draught of many a sliding barge,
All-ouer pau'd with Ise, and of the sea of Russe
Enuironed about with surges mutinous,
Was come-vnto by men; thinke after they forsooke
The plaine where Tegil flood swift-running ouertooke
Once and againe the streame of running-far Euphrates
They lodged at the foot of hoary hill Nyphates.
So forth of Armenie the field Hiberian,
The Colchish, th'Albanick, and high Bospherian
Might well be furnished, and thence vnto th'Vprist
Might come the Tartar fell, who roameth where he list
All on that circuit huge; and thence accoast the Set
Was stoard the land that Rha doth neere his rising fret,
The shore of Lyuonie, the plaine, of Moscouie,
Byarmie, Permie, Russe, White-lake and Scrifinie.
The Colchish, th'Albanick, and high Bospherian
Might well be furnished, and thence vnto th'Vprist
Might come the Tartar fell, who roameth where he list
All on that circuit huge; and thence accoast the Set
Was stoard the land that Rha doth neere his rising fret,
The shore of Lyuonie, the plaine, of Moscouie,
Byarmie, Permie, Russe, White-lake and Scrifinie.
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But all this other world that Spaine hath new found-out
By floting Delos-like the Westerne Seas about,
And raised now of late from out the tombe of Leath,
And giu'n it (as it were) a liuing by a death;
How was't inhabited? if long agone: how is't
Nor Persians, nor Greeks, nor Romans euer wist,
Or inkling heard thereof, whose euer conquering hosts
Haue spred abroad so farre, and troad so many coasts?
Or if it were of late, how could it swarme so thieke
In euery towne, and haue such workes of stone and bricke,
As passe the tow'rs of Rome, th'antike Egyptian Pyramis,
The King Mausolus tombe, the wals of Queene Semiramis?
By floting Delos-like the Westerne Seas about,
And raised now of late from out the tombe of Leath,
And giu'n it (as it were) a liuing by a death;
How was't inhabited? if long agone: how is't
Nor Persians, nor Greeks, nor Romans euer wist,
Or inkling heard thereof, whose euer conquering hosts
Haue spred abroad so farre, and troad so many coasts?
Or if it were of late, how could it swarme so thieke
In euery towne, and haue such workes of stone and bricke,
As passe the tow'rs of Rome, th'antike Egyptian Pyramis,
The King Mausolus tombe, the wals of Queene Semiramis?
How thinke you then? belike these men fell from the skie
All ready-shap'd, as doe the frogges rebounding frie,
That aft'r a sulty day, about the sun-set houre
Are powred on the meads by some warme Aprill-showre,
And entertouch themselues and swarme amid the dust,
All or'e the gaping clifts that former drought had brust:
Or grew of tender slips and were in earthly lap
(Instead of cradle) nurst, and had for milke the sap:
All ready-shap'd, as doe the frogges rebounding frie,
That aft'r a sulty day, about the sun-set houre
Are powred on the meads by some warme Aprill-showre,
And entertouch themselues and swarme amid the dust,
All or'e the gaping clifts that former drought had brust:
Or grew of tender slips and were in earthly lap
(Instead of cradle) nurst, and had for milke the sap:
Or, as the Musherome, the Sowbread and the Blite,
Among the fatter clods, they start vp in a night:
Or as the Dragons teeth sow'n by the Duke of Thebes,
They brauely sprong all-arm'd from-out the fertill glebes.
Indeede this mighty ground, ycleaped Americke,
Was not enhabited so soone as Affericke;
Nor as that learned soyle, tow'r-bearing, louing-right,
Which after Iupiter his deare-beloued hight;
Nor as that other part, which from cold Bosphers head
Doth reach the pearly morne at Titons saffran bed:
For they much more approach the diaprized ridges;
And faire-endented bankes of Tegil bursting-bridges;
From whence our ancestors discamp'd astonished,
And like to Partridges were all-to-scattered;
Then doth that newfound world whereto Columbus bore
First vnder Ferdinand the Castill armes and lore.
But there the buildings are so huge and brauely dight,
So differing the states, the wealth so infinite;
That long agone it seemes some people thither came,
Although not all at once, nor all by way the same.
For some by cloudy drift of tempest raging-sore,
Percase with broken barks were cast vpon the shore:
Some others much auoid with famine, plague and warre,
Their ancient seats forsooke and sought them new fo farre:
Some by some Captaine led, who bare a searching minde,
With weary ships arriu'd vpon the Westerne Inde.
Among the fatter clods, they start vp in a night:
Or as the Dragons teeth sow'n by the Duke of Thebes,
They brauely sprong all-arm'd from-out the fertill glebes.
Indeede this mighty ground, ycleaped Americke,
Was not enhabited so soone as Affericke;
Nor as that learned soyle, tow'r-bearing, louing-right,
Which after Iupiter his deare-beloued hight;
Nor as that other part, which from cold Bosphers head
Doth reach the pearly morne at Titons saffran bed:
For they much more approach the diaprized ridges;
And faire-endented bankes of Tegil bursting-bridges;
From whence our ancestors discamp'd astonished,
And like to Partridges were all-to-scattered;
Then doth that newfound world whereto Columbus bore
117
But there the buildings are so huge and brauely dight,
So differing the states, the wealth so infinite;
That long agone it seemes some people thither came,
Although not all at once, nor all by way the same.
For some by cloudy drift of tempest raging-sore,
Percase with broken barks were cast vpon the shore:
Some others much auoid with famine, plague and warre,
Their ancient seats forsooke and sought them new fo farre:
Some by some Captaine led, who bare a searching minde,
With weary ships arriu'd vpon the Westerne Inde.
Or could not long ere this, the Quinsay vessels finde
A way by th'Anien straight from th'one to th'other Inde?
A way by th'Anien straight from th'one to th'other Inde?
As short a cut it is, as that of Hellespont
From Asia to Greece; or that, where-ore they wont
Saile from the Spanish hill vnto the Realme of Fesse;
Or into Sicilie from out the hau'n of Resse.
From Asia to Greece; or that, where-ore they wont
Saile from the Spanish hill vnto the Realme of Fesse;
Or into Sicilie from out the hau'n of Resse.
So from the Wastes of Tolme and Quiuer (where the kine
Bring calues with weathers fleece, with Camels bunchie chine
And haire, as Genets, slicke) they peopled Azasie;
Cosse, Toua, Caliquas, Topira, Terlichie,
And Florida the faire, Auacal, Hochilega,
The frosen Labour-lands, Canada, Norumbega.
Bring calues with weathers fleece, with Camels bunchie chine
And haire, as Genets, slicke) they peopled Azasie;
Cosse, Toua, Caliquas, Topira, Terlichie,
And Florida the faire, Auacal, Hochilega,
The frosen Labour-lands, Canada, Norumbega.
They sow'd ath'other side the land of Xalisco,
Mechuacan, Cusule; and founded Mexico
Like Venice, o're a Lake; and saw, astonished
The greenest budding trees become all withered,
As soone as euer touch'd; and eke a mountaine found
Vesevus-like enflam'd about Nicargua ground.
So passing forth along the straight of Panama,
Vpon the better hand they first Oucanama,
Then Quito, then Cusco, then Caxamalca built;
And in Peruuiland, a country thorow-guilt,
They wondred at the Lake that waters Colochim,
All vnder-paued salt, and fresh about the brim:
And at the springs of Chinke, whose water strongly-good
Makes pebble-stones of chalke, and sandy stones of mood.
Mechuacan, Cusule; and founded Mexico
Like Venice, o're a Lake; and saw, astonished
The greenest budding trees become all withered,
As soone as euer touch'd; and eke a mountaine found
Vesevus-like enflam'd about Nicargua ground.
So passing forth along the straight of Panama,
Vpon the better hand they first Oucanama,
Then Quito, then Cusco, then Caxamalca built;
And in Peruuiland, a country thorow-guilt,
They wondred at the Lake that waters Colochim,
All vnder-paued salt, and fresh about the brim:
118
Makes pebble-stones of chalke, and sandy stones of mood.
Then Chili they possest, whose riuers cold and bright
Run all the day apace, and rest them all the night:
Quinteat, Patagonie, and all those lower seats,
Whereon the foamy bracke of Magellanus beats,
Vpon the left they spread along by Darien side,
Where Huo them refresh'd, then in Vraba spide
How Zenu's wealthie waves adowne to Neptune rould
As bid as pullets egges the massie graines of gould;
A mount of Emeralds in Grenad saw they shine;
But on Cumana banks hoodwinked weare their eyne
With shady night of mist: so quickly from Cumane
They on to Pary went, Omagu and Caribane:
Then by Maragnon dwelt, then entred fierce Bresile
Then Plata's leauell fields, where flowes another Nile.
Run all the day apace, and rest them all the night:
Quinteat, Patagonie, and all those lower seats,
Whereon the foamy bracke of Magellanus beats,
Vpon the left they spread along by Darien side,
Where Huo them refresh'd, then in Vraba spide
How Zenu's wealthie waves adowne to Neptune rould
As bid as pullets egges the massie graines of gould;
A mount of Emeralds in Grenad saw they shine;
But on Cumana banks hoodwinked weare their eyne
With shady night of mist: so quickly from Cumane
They on to Pary went, Omagu and Caribane:
Then by Maragnon dwelt, then entred fierce Bresile
Then Plata's leauell fields, where flowes another Nile.
Moreouer, one may say that Picne by Grotland,
The land of Labour was by Brittish Iserland
Replenished with men: as eke, by Terminan,
By Tombut and Melli the shore of Corican.
The land of Labour was by Brittish Iserland
Replenished with men: as eke, by Terminan,
By Tombut and Melli the shore of Corican.
125
Well may I grant you then (faith one perhaps) ther's naught
In all this lower world, but will at length be raught
By mans ambition; it makes a breach in hills;
It runneth dry by Sea among the raging Scylls;
And in despite of thirst it guides the Carauands
Amids the drie Tolmish, Arabick, Numyd sands.
But yet he lewdly thinks it goes against all sense
That one house, beds but foure, should breake so large a sense,
As t'ouerbreed the lands of Affrick, Europe, Ase,
And make the world appeare too narrow for the race.
In all this lower world, but will at length be raught
By mans ambition; it makes a breach in hills;
It runneth dry by Sea among the raging Scylls;
And in despite of thirst it guides the Carauands
Amids the drie Tolmish, Arabick, Numyd sands.
But yet he lewdly thinks it goes against all sense
That one house, beds but foure, should breake so large a sense,
As t'ouerbreed the lands of Affrick, Europe, Ase,
And make the world appeare too narrow for the race.
What ere thou be, if light thou reck th'Immortals hest,
That once againe the bond of sacred mariage blest,
And said Encrease and fill: if thou profane denie
That Iacobs little traine so thicke did multiplie
On Pharoh's fruitfull ground, that in foure hundred yeere
The seuentie liuing soules fiue hundred thousand were.
That once againe the bond of sacred mariage blest,
And said Encrease and fill: if thou profane denie
That Iacobs little traine so thicke did multiplie
On Pharoh's fruitfull ground, that in foure hundred yeere
The seuentie liuing soules fiue hundred thousand were.
Alas, yet thinke at least, how (for in elder time
The fruits they ate ne grew not on so foggy slime
As ours doe now, nor was their meats with sawces dight,
Nor altered as yet with health-empairing slight
Of gluttonating Cooks; and for with murdring sword
Of neighbour enemies they seld were swept aboord;
And for their mightie limbes they dulled not by sloth,
Or want of exercise) they wox in liuely groth,
And liu'd some hundred yeeres, and in their latter daies
With siluer haired heads were able sons to raise.
So that Polygamie, then taken for a right,
This world an ant-hill made of creatures bolt-vpright,
And many peopl' arose in short time (if thou marke)
From out the fruitfull raines of some one Patriarch.
The fruits they ate ne grew not on so foggy slime
As ours doe now, nor was their meats with sawces dight,
Nor altered as yet with health-empairing slight
Of gluttonating Cooks; and for with murdring sword
Of neighbour enemies they seld were swept aboord;
And for their mightie limbes they dulled not by sloth,
Or want of exercise) they wox in liuely groth,
126
With siluer haired heads were able sons to raise.
So that Polygamie, then taken for a right,
This world an ant-hill made of creatures bolt-vpright,
And many peopl' arose in short time (if thou marke)
From out the fruitfull raines of some one Patriarch.
Eu'n as a graine of wheat, if all th'increase it yeelds
Be often-times resow'd vpon some harty fields,
Will stuffe the barnes at length and colour mighty launes
With yellow-stalked eares: and as two fishes spaunes
Cast int' a standing poole, so fast breed vp and downe,
That aft'r a while they store the larders of a towne.
And haue we not of late a certaine Elder knowne,
That with his fruitfull seed a village had o're-growne
Of fiuescore houses big; so blessed that he saw
His sonnes and daughters knit by ord'r of mariage law?
The tree of parentage was ouershort and thin
To branch-out proper names for their degrees of kin.
Who knowes not that within three hundred yeeres and lesse,
A few Arabians did Lybie fill and presse
With new inhabitants, and taught Mahound in Fesse
In Oran, in Argier, in Tunis, Bugy and Tesse?
Now if they so increas'd that woon'd in Afferick,
That with an humor sharpe, fretting, melancholick,
Prouok'd are day and night, and made more amorous,
Then able to beget, (for deed venerious,
Be often-times resow'd vpon some harty fields,
Will stuffe the barnes at length and colour mighty launes
With yellow-stalked eares: and as two fishes spaunes
Cast int' a standing poole, so fast breed vp and downe,
That aft'r a while they store the larders of a towne.
And haue we not of late a certaine Elder knowne,
That with his fruitfull seed a village had o're-growne
Of fiuescore houses big; so blessed that he saw
His sonnes and daughters knit by ord'r of mariage law?
The tree of parentage was ouershort and thin
To branch-out proper names for their degrees of kin.
Who knowes not that within three hundred yeeres and lesse,
A few Arabians did Lybie fill and presse
With new inhabitants, and taught Mahound in Fesse
In Oran, in Argier, in Tunis, Bugy and Tesse?
Now if they so increas'd that woon'd in Afferick,
That with an humor sharpe, fretting, melancholick,
Prouok'd are day and night, and made more amorous,
Then able to beget, (for deed venerious,
The more enforc'd, the lesse it is of force (no doubt)
And inward doe they freize that most doe boyle without)
Imagine how the men, who neerer to the Poule
Behold the flaming wheeles of heau'nly chariots roule,
Doe wax and multiplie: because they come but feeld
And at well-chosen times, to Cithareas field:
And sith cold weather staies about the northen Beare,
O're all that rugged coast triumphing euery where,
The liuely heat retires into the bodies tower,
And closer-trussed makes their seed of greater power.
And inward doe they freize that most doe boyle without)
Imagine how the men, who neerer to the Poule
Behold the flaming wheeles of heau'nly chariots roule,
Doe wax and multiplie: because they come but feeld
And at well-chosen times, to Cithareas field:
And sith cold weather staies about the northen Beare,
O're all that rugged coast triumphing euery where,
The liuely heat retires into the bodies tower,
127
And thence the Cimbrians, Gaules, Herules and Bulgares,
The Sweues, Burgundians, Circassians and Tartares,
Huns, Lombards, Tigurines, Alanes, and Estergoths,
Turks, Vandalls, Teutonicks, Normans, and Westergoths,
Haue ouerflow'd the lands, and like to Grashoppers
Destroy'd the fairer parts of all this Vniuerse:
Whereas the barren South in all those former daies
Hath scarce been able enough two martiall bands to raise
That could the North affright; one vnder Haniball;
Who brought the Punick State both vnto rule and thrall;
Anoth'r impression made as far as Towers wall,
And there with Abderame was knockt by Charles the Maule.
The Sweues, Burgundians, Circassians and Tartares,
Huns, Lombards, Tigurines, Alanes, and Estergoths,
Turks, Vandalls, Teutonicks, Normans, and Westergoths,
Haue ouerflow'd the lands, and like to Grashoppers
Destroy'd the fairer parts of all this Vniuerse:
Whereas the barren South in all those former daies
Hath scarce been able enough two martiall bands to raise
That could the North affright; one vnder Haniball;
Who brought the Punick State both vnto rule and thrall;
Anoth'r impression made as far as Towers wall,
And there with Abderame was knockt by Charles the Maule.
128
O world of sundry kinds! O Nature full of wonders!
For euery part thereof, as from the rest it sunders,
It hath not only men of diuers haire and hew,
Of stature, humor, force; but of behauiour new:
Be't that some custome held at length a nature makes,
Or that the younger sort still after th'elder takes,
Or that the proper lawes of diuers-coasted Realmes
Doe greatly disagree, or these enflowing beames
Of h'umour-altring lights, that whirling neuer stint,
Here in our minds below their heau'nly force imprint.
For euery part thereof, as from the rest it sunders,
It hath not only men of diuers haire and hew,
Of stature, humor, force; but of behauiour new:
Be't that some custome held at length a nature makes,
Or that the younger sort still after th'elder takes,
Or that the proper lawes of diuers-coasted Realmes
Doe greatly disagree, or these enflowing beames
Of h'umour-altring lights, that whirling neuer stint,
Here in our minds below their heau'nly force imprint.
The Northen man is faire, the Southern fauor'd-hard;
One strong, another weake; one white, another sward;
This hath haire fine & smooth, that other grosse and twinde;
He loues the bodies paine, and he the toile of minde;
Some men are hot and moist, some other hot and drie;
Some merry, and other sad; one thunders out on hie,
Another speaketh low; one dudgen is and spightfull,
Another gentl' and plaine; one slow, another slightfull.
Some are vnconstant so, they often change their thought;
And others ne'r let goe conceits they once haue caught.
He tipples day and night, and he loues abstinence;
A penyfath'r is one, and one spares no expence.
One is for company, another hath his moods,
And like a Buggle-bo straies eu'r amids the woods:
One goes in leathern pelch, another richly dight;
On's a Philosopher, another borne to fight.
One strong, another weake; one white, another sward;
This hath haire fine & smooth, that other grosse and twinde;
He loues the bodies paine, and he the toile of minde;
Some men are hot and moist, some other hot and drie;
Some merry, and other sad; one thunders out on hie,
Another speaketh low; one dudgen is and spightfull,
Another gentl' and plaine; one slow, another slightfull.
Some are vnconstant so, they often change their thought;
And others ne'r let goe conceits they once haue caught.
He tipples day and night, and he loues abstinence;
A penyfath'r is one, and one spares no expence.
One is for company, another hath his moods,
And like a Buggle-bo straies eu'r amids the woods:
One goes in leathern pelch, another richly dight;
129
The middle man takes part of all the qualities
Of people dwelling neere the two extremities;
In bodie strong'r is made, but not of minde so franke,
As they who till the gleabes of Nyle his fruitfull banke.
Againe, he's not so strong, but many waies more fine
Then they that dwell betwixt the Donaw and the Rhine.
Of people dwelling neere the two extremities;
In bodie strong'r is made, but not of minde so franke,
As they who till the gleabes of Nyle his fruitfull banke.
Againe, he's not so strong, but many waies more fine
Then they that dwell betwixt the Donaw and the Rhine.
For in the wide precinct of th'vniuersall Towne
The Southern men that oft with ouer-musing sowne,
That fall int' extasies, that vse to dreame and proue,
That measure how the heau'ns by rules appointed moue,
And are so curious none other knowledge base
May satisfie their minds; they hold the Priest his place.
The Northen whose conceit in hand and finger lurkes,
That all, what ere he list, in wood and mettall workes,
And like Salmoneus with thunder-sound compares,
He's for the man of warre, and makes all cunning wares.
The meane, as knowing well to gouerne an Estate,
Sits with a grauer grace in throne of Magistrate:
And, to be short, the first seeks knowledge wondrously,
The second handie-crafts, the third good policie:
Though fourescore yeeres ago Themis that mends abuses,
Apollo, Mercurie, Minerua with her Muses,
Haue taught their holy schooles as neer the Northen coast,
As Vulcan euer forg'd, or Mars encamp'd his hoast.
Now eu'n among our selues that altogether mell,
And haue of all the world no more whereon to dwell
Then as it were a clot, how diuers are the fashions?
How great varietie? the Dutch of all our Nations
Most stout, is hir'd to warre; the Spaniard soft and neat;
Th'Italian mercilesse; the Frenchman soone on heat.
The Dutch in counsaile cold, th'Italian all things weeting,
The Spaniard full of guile, the Frenchman euer-fleeting.
Th'Italian finely feeds, the Spaniard doth but minse,
The Dutch feeds like a swine, the Frenchman like a Prince.
The Frenchman gently speaks, the Spaniard fierce and braue,
The German plaine and grosse, the Roman fine and graue.
The Duch attire is strange, the Spanish is their owne,
Th'Italian sumptuous, and owers neuer knowne.
We braue an enemie, th'Italian friendly looks him,
The Duchman strikes him straight, the Spaniard neuerbrooks him.
We sing a cheerefull note, the Tuscan like a sheep;
The German seems to howle, the Lusitan to weep.
The French march thick & short, the Duch like battel-cocks,
The Spaniards Fencer-like, the Romans like an Oxe.
The Duch in loue is proud, th'Italian enuious,
The Frenchman full of mirth, the Spaniard furious.
The Southern men that oft with ouer-musing sowne,
That fall int' extasies, that vse to dreame and proue,
That measure how the heau'ns by rules appointed moue,
And are so curious none other knowledge base
May satisfie their minds; they hold the Priest his place.
The Northen whose conceit in hand and finger lurkes,
That all, what ere he list, in wood and mettall workes,
And like Salmoneus with thunder-sound compares,
He's for the man of warre, and makes all cunning wares.
The meane, as knowing well to gouerne an Estate,
Sits with a grauer grace in throne of Magistrate:
And, to be short, the first seeks knowledge wondrously,
The second handie-crafts, the third good policie:
Though fourescore yeeres ago Themis that mends abuses,
Apollo, Mercurie, Minerua with her Muses,
Haue taught their holy schooles as neer the Northen coast,
As Vulcan euer forg'd, or Mars encamp'd his hoast.
Now eu'n among our selues that altogether mell,
And haue of all the world no more whereon to dwell
Then as it were a clot, how diuers are the fashions?
How great varietie? the Dutch of all our Nations
Most stout, is hir'd to warre; the Spaniard soft and neat;
Th'Italian mercilesse; the Frenchman soone on heat.
The Dutch in counsaile cold, th'Italian all things weeting,
The Spaniard full of guile, the Frenchman euer-fleeting.
Th'Italian finely feeds, the Spaniard doth but minse,
The Dutch feeds like a swine, the Frenchman like a Prince.
The Frenchman gently speaks, the Spaniard fierce and braue,
The German plaine and grosse, the Roman fine and graue.
130
Th'Italian sumptuous, and owers neuer knowne.
We braue an enemie, th'Italian friendly looks him,
The Duchman strikes him straight, the Spaniard neuerbrooks him.
We sing a cheerefull note, the Tuscan like a sheep;
The German seems to howle, the Lusitan to weep.
The French march thick & short, the Duch like battel-cocks,
The Spaniards Fencer-like, the Romans like an Oxe.
The Duch in loue is proud, th'Italian enuious,
The Frenchman full of mirth, the Spaniard furious.
Yet would th'Immortall pow'r appoint so strange a race
Of this great earthie bowle to couer all the face:
To th'end he clensing all his children from the foile
Of sinne, which had as 'twere bestain'd their natiue soile,
His mercy might vnfold, and shew how heaun'ly signes
A little only moue, but not o'resway our mindes.
That eu'n in further parts his seruants eu'rychone
A sacrifice of praise might offer to his throne:
And that his holy name from Isye Scythia
Might sound vnto the sands of red-hot Africa:
Nor should his treasures hid in far-asunder lands
Created seeme in vaine, and neuer come to hands.
But that all country-coasts where Thetis enter-lyes
Might trafficke one with oth'r and change commodities.
Of this great earthie bowle to couer all the face:
To th'end he clensing all his children from the foile
Of sinne, which had as 'twere bestain'd their natiue soile,
His mercy might vnfold, and shew how heaun'ly signes
A little only moue, but not o'resway our mindes.
That eu'n in further parts his seruants eu'rychone
A sacrifice of praise might offer to his throne:
And that his holy name from Isye Scythia
Might sound vnto the sands of red-hot Africa:
Nor should his treasures hid in far-asunder lands
Created seeme in vaine, and neuer come to hands.
But that all country-coasts where Thetis enter-lyes
Might trafficke one with oth'r and change commodities.
For as a Citie large containes within her wall
Here th'Vniuersitie and there the Princes Hall;
Here men of handie-crafts, there Merchant-venterers;
This lane all full of ware and shops of shoomakers,
That other changing coyne, that other working gold,
Here silke, there cloth; here hats, there leather to be sold;
Here furniture for beds, there doublets ready made;
And each among themselues haue vse of others trade:
Here th'Vniuersitie and there the Princes Hall;
Here men of handie-crafts, there Merchant-venterers;
This lane all full of ware and shops of shoomakers,
That other changing coyne, that other working gold,
Here silke, there cloth; here hats, there leather to be sold;
Here furniture for beds, there doublets ready made;
And each among themselues haue vse of others trade:
So from the Canar Isles the pleasant sugar comes,
And from Chaldea spice, and from Arabia gums,
That stand vs much in stead both for perfume and plaster,
And Peru sends vs gold and Damaske Alabaster;
Our Saffron comes from Spaine, our Ivory from Inde,
And out of Germanie our horse of largest kinde;
The scorched land of Chus brings Heben for our chamber,
The Northren Baltike Sound imparts her bleakish Amber,
The frostie coasts of Russe her Ermyns white as milke,
And Albion her Tynne, and Italie her silke.
Thus eu'ry country payes her diuers tribute-rate
Vnto the treasurie of th'vniuersall state.
And from Chaldea spice, and from Arabia gums,
That stand vs much in stead both for perfume and plaster,
131
Our Saffron comes from Spaine, our Ivory from Inde,
And out of Germanie our horse of largest kinde;
The scorched land of Chus brings Heben for our chamber,
The Northren Baltike Sound imparts her bleakish Amber,
The frostie coasts of Russe her Ermyns white as milke,
And Albion her Tynne, and Italie her silke.
Thus eu'ry country payes her diuers tribute-rate
Vnto the treasurie of th'vniuersall state.
And as the Persian Queene this prouince call'd her chains,
And that her stomachers; her plate this, that her traines;
And that her stomachers; her plate this, that her traines;
So man may say; for loe, what desert so vntrad,
What hill so wilde and waste? what Region so bad?
Or what so wrackfull sea? or what so barren shore
From North to South appeares, but payes him euermore
Some kind of yearely rent, and grudging not his glory
Vnto his happy life becomes contributory?
What hill so wilde and waste? what Region so bad?
Or what so wrackfull sea? or what so barren shore
From North to South appeares, but payes him euermore
Some kind of yearely rent, and grudging not his glory
Vnto his happy life becomes contributory?
These moores enamelled where many purling brooks
Enchase their winding wayes with glassie-wauing crooks,
They stand for garden plots; their herbage, ere it fades,
Twise yearely sets on worke our swapping two-hand blades.
The plaine field Ceres holds, the stonie Bacchus fills;
These ladders of the skie, the rough-aspiring hills,
The store-houses of stormes, and forging-shops of thunders,
(Which thou vntruly call'st th'erths faults & shamfull wonders,
And thinkst the liuing God (to say't I am aferd)
Created them of spight, or in creating err'd)
They bound the kingdoms out with euer-standing marks,
And for our shipping beare of timber goodly parks:
The same afford thee stuffe to build thy sumptuous Hold;
The same in winter-time defend thee from the cold:
They pow'r-out day and night the deep-enchaneld riuers,
Which breed & beare on them to feed the neighbour-liuers:
They oft manure the lands with fruitfull clouds and showers,
They helpe the mylls to turne, and stand instead of towers
And bulwarks to keepe-off Bellona's dreery stound,
They morter to the sea the mid-point of the ground.
The wasternesse of land, that men so much amazeth,
Is like a common field where store of cattell grazeth,
And whence by thousand heads they come our tylth t'enrood,
To furnish vs with furre, with leather, wooll and food.
The Sea it selfe, that seemes for nothing else to sarue
But eu'n to drowne the world (although it neuer swarue)
That roaring ouer-heales so many a mightie land,
Where, in the waters stead, much wauing corne might stand;
A mightie Stew it is, or vnd'r a watry plaine
Flocks numberlesse it feeds, to feed mankind againe.
For of the Cates thereof are thousand Cities saru'd,
Which could not otherwise but languish hunger-staru'd,
As doth a Dolphin whom vpon the shore halfe-dead
The tide vntrustie left, when backe againe it fled:
It shorter makes the wayes, increases marchandise;
And causes day and night the reaking mysts arise,
That still refresh our ayre, and downe in water flowing,
Set, eu'n before our eyes, the graynie pipe a growing.
Enchase their winding wayes with glassie-wauing crooks,
They stand for garden plots; their herbage, ere it fades,
Twise yearely sets on worke our swapping two-hand blades.
The plaine field Ceres holds, the stonie Bacchus fills;
These ladders of the skie, the rough-aspiring hills,
The store-houses of stormes, and forging-shops of thunders,
(Which thou vntruly call'st th'erths faults & shamfull wonders,
And thinkst the liuing God (to say't I am aferd)
Created them of spight, or in creating err'd)
They bound the kingdoms out with euer-standing marks,
And for our shipping beare of timber goodly parks:
The same afford thee stuffe to build thy sumptuous Hold;
The same in winter-time defend thee from the cold:
They pow'r-out day and night the deep-enchaneld riuers,
Which breed & beare on them to feed the neighbour-liuers:
They oft manure the lands with fruitfull clouds and showers,
They helpe the mylls to turne, and stand instead of towers
132
They morter to the sea the mid-point of the ground.
The wasternesse of land, that men so much amazeth,
Is like a common field where store of cattell grazeth,
And whence by thousand heads they come our tylth t'enrood,
To furnish vs with furre, with leather, wooll and food.
The Sea it selfe, that seemes for nothing else to sarue
But eu'n to drowne the world (although it neuer swarue)
That roaring ouer-heales so many a mightie land,
Where, in the waters stead, much wauing corne might stand;
A mightie Stew it is, or vnd'r a watry plaine
Flocks numberlesse it feeds, to feed mankind againe.
For of the Cates thereof are thousand Cities saru'd,
Which could not otherwise but languish hunger-staru'd,
As doth a Dolphin whom vpon the shore halfe-dead
The tide vntrustie left, when backe againe it fled:
It shorter makes the wayes, increases marchandise;
And causes day and night the reaking mysts arise,
That still refresh our ayre, and downe in water flowing,
Set, eu'n before our eyes, the graynie pipe a growing.
But shall I still be rost with Boreas boysterous puffs?
Still subiect to the rage of Nere's counterbuffs?
And shall I neuer see my country-chimnies reake?
Alas, I row no more, my boat begins to leake:
I am vndone, I am, except some gentle banke
Receiue, and that with speed, this wrack-reserued planke.
O France, I ken thy shore; thou reachest me thine arme;
Thou op'nest wide thy lap to shend thy sonne from harme:
Nor wilt I end my dayes from home so many a mile,
Nor o're my bones triumph the Caniball Bresile,
Nor Catay o're my fame, nor Peru o're my verse;
As thou my cradle wert, so wilt thou be mine herse.
O thousand thousand times most happy land of price,
O Europes only pearle, and earthly paradise!
All-haile renowmed France: from thee sprong many a knight,
Which hath in former time his flag of triumph pight
Vpon Euphrates banks, and blood with Bylboe shed
Both at the suns vprist, and where he goes to bed.
Thou breedest many men which happy and boldly dare
In works of handy-trade with Nature selfe compare:
And many wits that seeke out all the skill diuine
From Egypt, Greece and Rome, and o're the learned shine
As o're the paler hewes doe glister golden yellowes,
The Sun aboue the star's, thy flow'r aboue the fellowes.
Still subiect to the rage of Nere's counterbuffs?
And shall I neuer see my country-chimnies reake?
Alas, I row no more, my boat begins to leake:
I am vndone, I am, except some gentle banke
Receiue, and that with speed, this wrack-reserued planke.
O France, I ken thy shore; thou reachest me thine arme;
Thou op'nest wide thy lap to shend thy sonne from harme:
Nor wilt I end my dayes from home so many a mile,
Nor o're my bones triumph the Caniball Bresile,
Nor Catay o're my fame, nor Peru o're my verse;
As thou my cradle wert, so wilt thou be mine herse.
O thousand thousand times most happy land of price,
O Europes only pearle, and earthly paradise!
All-haile renowmed France: from thee sprong many a knight,
Which hath in former time his flag of triumph pight
Vpon Euphrates banks, and blood with Bylboe shed
133
Thou breedest many men which happy and boldly dare
In works of handy-trade with Nature selfe compare:
And many wits that seeke out all the skill diuine
From Egypt, Greece and Rome, and o're the learned shine
As o're the paler hewes doe glister golden yellowes,
The Sun aboue the star's, thy flow'r aboue the fellowes.
Thy riuers are like Seas; thy Cities prouinces,
In building full of state, and gentle in vsages;
Thine ayre is temperate, thy soile yeelds good increase,
Thou hast for thy defence two mountaines and two seas:
Th'Egyptian Crocodile disquiets not thy banks,
Th'infectious kind of Snakes with poyson-spotted flanks
Ne crawle not burst-in-plights vpon thy flowrie plaines,
Nor mete an ak'r of ground by length of dragling traines:
No Hircan Tygers flight boot-hailes thy vaulted hills,
Nor on thy scorched wasts th'Arcadian Lion kills
Thy wandring habitants; nor Cayrick water-horses
Drag vnd'r vncertaine tombe thy childers tender corses;
And though like Indie streames, thy fairest riuers driue not
Among their pebbles gold, although thy mountains riue not
With veines of siluer Ore, nor yet among thy greet
Carbuncles, Granats, Pearles, lie scattred at our feet;
Thy cloth, thy wooll, thy woad, thy salt, thy corne, thy wines,
(More necessarie fruits) are all sufficient mines,
T'entitle thee the queene of all this earthie scope:
Thy want is only peace. O God that holdest ope
Alwaies thine eyes on vs, we humbly thee desire
Quench with thy mercy-drops the France-deuouring fire:
O calme our stormous ayre; Deere Fath'r vs all deliuer,
And put thine angers shafts againe into thy quiuer.
In building full of state, and gentle in vsages;
Thine ayre is temperate, thy soile yeelds good increase,
Thou hast for thy defence two mountaines and two seas:
Th'Egyptian Crocodile disquiets not thy banks,
Th'infectious kind of Snakes with poyson-spotted flanks
Ne crawle not burst-in-plights vpon thy flowrie plaines,
Nor mete an ak'r of ground by length of dragling traines:
No Hircan Tygers flight boot-hailes thy vaulted hills,
Nor on thy scorched wasts th'Arcadian Lion kills
Thy wandring habitants; nor Cayrick water-horses
Drag vnd'r vncertaine tombe thy childers tender corses;
And though like Indie streames, thy fairest riuers driue not
Among their pebbles gold, although thy mountains riue not
With veines of siluer Ore, nor yet among thy greet
Carbuncles, Granats, Pearles, lie scattred at our feet;
Thy cloth, thy wooll, thy woad, thy salt, thy corne, thy wines,
(More necessarie fruits) are all sufficient mines,
T'entitle thee the queene of all this earthie scope:
Thy want is only peace. O God that holdest ope
Alwaies thine eyes on vs, we humbly thee desire
Quench with thy mercy-drops the France-deuouring fire:
O calme our stormous ayre; Deere Fath'r vs all deliuer,
And put thine angers shafts againe into thy quiuer.
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