University of Virginia Library

On the Lady Dorothy Arden sister to the Earle of Denbigh.

Paint Ladies paint, & laugh talke lowd & lie
While servants like your selfes long eares applie
Lay forth your brests, hang out your plaisterd skinns
Like cousening signes advanc'd to common Inns
Till like a beggars cloake so patchd you grow
That men dare wager if the same or noe
Shees dead that nature scornd with art to staine
And slew your mountaine pride vpon a plaine
Now then looke vp you sinfull dames no more
Darke envie nourish, Shee whose shining store
Of chast and brave example strooke your eyes
Arden the good the Noble Arden dies
Ah! for that word thy pardon I beseech
To say thou die'st is most improper speech
God but dissolues thy dust, which vp is layd
And brighter shall by his last hand be made
And till't be done, a guarde of Angells daigne
To watch and saue thy reliques to a graine
Meane time thy soule with acclamations mett
By their full quier in endlesse blisse is sett.
Haile thou fresh saint, of praise regardlesse growne
Or tears, yet must our greifes & loues be showne
Thy noble father (who from knighthoods rape
And persecution; made a strange escape
And stands a faire old peice of time to chide
Our new exchandge of witt & wealth to pride)
Laments, and needs a vaile to hide his mone
The female honour of his issue gone
O death too cunning! this was cruell skill
Tearing a top branch off the root to kill
Which if not quite exhausted dayly wears
The sapp thats left, still running out in tears
Growne to a streame while each good soule applies
Prest from their hearts the tribute of their eyes
And mingled with the crys of all thy bloud
And great Allies, encreases to a floud
Wheron a sweet & gentle gale of fame
Made of best peoples breath conveighs thy name
But when this wind is layd and water dry
What shall preserve it then? saue such as I?
That haue the powerfull art to frame a herse
Past brasse or marble, of immortall verse
To teach succeeding ages how thy mind
Was purely chast yet hospitably kind
The stuffe rich virtues all, so closely wrought
That when the world, or gold, or title brought
Or planted other engines to deceiue
She could not make thy selfe, thy selfe vnweave
For this the muse ascending in the shape
Of Ioue, intent vpon his Phrygian rape
Climbs past the clouds, and breaks the marble skies
Vp to hir Phœbus with vndaunted eyes
And on his whirling chariotts golden frame
Hangs round the scedules of thy glorious name
That vnconfin'd to one poor Isle it may
Be knowne as far as ever there is day
Apollo pleas'd from off his crowned haire
Pulls sacred bayes chardging the muse repayre
To earth, and say's: a branch of this bright wreath
To our victorious Arden we bequeath.
Go twine hir name in spriggs of all the rest
Then place them on the brows of all the best,
Find first that brace of roiall Dames we sent
To gladd mankind along the banks of Trent
Crown them, and next at Ancor make a stay
And lett our Votress weare a Lawrell spray
Then stoop noe more till the now purged aier
Of Wiltshire lett thee fall, vpon a paire
Of noble sisters, whose excelling grace
Impression bears of their illustrious race
Whose braver brothers height no muse aspire
To reach, a subiect only for my lyre
Theise fiue invested thus, if more thou find.
Right heirs of virtue and of Ardens Kind
Then consecrate lett all theise sisters be
Stil'd the new order of Saint Dorothy.