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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 | Fovre bookes of Du Bartas |  |
Keepe faster then in brasse for euer grau'n in minde,
In faithfull minde, these rules, which thou shalt proued finde,
Not by vaine syllogismes or probable arguments;
But whose vndoubted truth appears eu'n vnto sence:
An Art of certainties, whose euer-fruitfull wombe
With wonders new-deuis'd shall fill the world to come.
By her the gentle streame, by her the feeble winde,
Shall driué the whirling presse, and so be taught to grinde
The graine of life to meale; that with increase it may
Vnto the sparing Dames all that is due repay.
By her the brasen throat shall vomit Iron balles,
With smoake and roaring noyse, vpon besieged walles:
The force whereof shall rent the hardest rocks asunder,
And giue more fearefull thumps then any bolt of thunder.
By her the borrowed wings of some assisting winde
Shall beare from out Bresile vnto the rich East-Inde,
And to the frozen Sea from Affricks boyling flood,
A iogging towre, or eu'n a floating towne of wood:
Wherein the Pylot set shall with a leauer light
Most huge waights easily moue, and make all coast aright.
So shall one Printer worke more learned sheets aday,
Then eu'n a thousand hands of ready-writers may:
One Crane shall more auaile then Porters many a score;
And then a thousand men one Staffe shall profit more
To measure-out the fields; to part th'earth into lines,
And all the cope of heau'n int' eight and fortie signes:
So shall the wat'r, and sand, the Style and clock in towers,
Most euenly part the day to foure and twentie howers:
An Image made of wood some voice shall vtter plaine;
An artificiall globe heau'ns wonders shall containe:
Men through th'ayres emptinesse their bodies peysing right
Shall ouer-mount the Seas with bold-aduentring flight.
And doubtlesse if the wise Geometer had place
To plant his engins on, and stand himselfe in case
To stirre them aft'r his Art, so could he thrust and shoue,
That like some pettie-god the world he might remoue.
In faithfull minde, these rules, which thou shalt proued finde,
Not by vaine syllogismes or probable arguments;
But whose vndoubted truth appears eu'n vnto sence:
An Art of certainties, whose euer-fruitfull wombe
With wonders new-deuis'd shall fill the world to come.
By her the gentle streame, by her the feeble winde,
Shall driué the whirling presse, and so be taught to grinde
The graine of life to meale; that with increase it may
Vnto the sparing Dames all that is due repay.
By her the brasen throat shall vomit Iron balles,
With smoake and roaring noyse, vpon besieged walles:
The force whereof shall rent the hardest rocks asunder,
And giue more fearefull thumps then any bolt of thunder.
By her the borrowed wings of some assisting winde
Shall beare from out Bresile vnto the rich East-Inde,
And to the frozen Sea from Affricks boyling flood,
A iogging towre, or eu'n a floating towne of wood:
Wherein the Pylot set shall with a leauer light
Most huge waights easily moue, and make all coast aright.
So shall one Printer worke more learned sheets aday,
Then eu'n a thousand hands of ready-writers may:
One Crane shall more auaile then Porters many a score;
151
To measure-out the fields; to part th'earth into lines,
And all the cope of heau'n int' eight and fortie signes:
So shall the wat'r, and sand, the Style and clock in towers,
Most euenly part the day to foure and twentie howers:
An Image made of wood some voice shall vtter plaine;
An artificiall globe heau'ns wonders shall containe:
Men through th'ayres emptinesse their bodies peysing right
Shall ouer-mount the Seas with bold-aduentring flight.
And doubtlesse if the wise Geometer had place
To plant his engins on, and stand himselfe in case
To stirre them aft'r his Art, so could he thrust and shoue,
That like some pettie-god the world he might remoue.
| Fovre bookes of Du Bartas | |