The Passionate Poet With a Description of the Thracian Ismarus. By T. P. [i.e. Thomas Powell] |
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The Oake. |
 | The Passionate Poet |  |
The Oake.
Th' Iouian tytle plac't amisse,
Hir ragged rynd, hir Cantharis.
Hir ragged rynd, hir Cantharis.
Scarce is the breath dislolu'd to subtill ayre,
wherewith I cald it Iouian: O how far
Did I mistake, when not a liuing tree
More subiect to Ioues thunder than is he.
Shall I respire and call it back againe?
No, first preuaricate, and maist thou faine:
Say any thing, but doe not temporize,
Though all the world be bent to poetize.
As sayes the world, Ioue to the Oak assignd
His name in smoother bark, not ragged rynd,
I say the bark is smooth and euen set,
Where the seuerer naile can find no fret.
The world but now allowde distinguishment,
And now attributes al to his ascent.
Is't but a ascent? and is it not accesse,
If it reserue but a respectiuenes?
Why Ioue allowes a competence to state,
But the accesse he can not tollerate.
How continent is he, would he were many,
Supplies, but not exceedes of dutyes any?
The cause may be from forme, or height, or station,
If these dumbe shewes haue ought of inuocation.
For Thunders either free, and such is tending
Onely t'assoyle the ayre without offending:
Or cald from Heauen by some significance
Of Characters, such as the Romanes once
By power of Kinglie office might produce,
Or by attractiue vertue thats infuse
Into some hearb or tree, which may inuoke;
The like instinct is powerfull in the Oake;
Whose greatnes doth inuite like Hostils charmes,
That answered nothing but his proper harmes
By strong attraction: Or the Prophetesse
That promis'd others what was hir successe.
Yt now succeeds, This Plant extends as far
In earth, as it's incorporate to ayre.
Heer other some do challenge hir of pride,
That one ambitious tree should so bestride
This litle Ismarus how far remote,
Is this ambition from the Iouian Oake,
That growes on sandy soyle, as heath, or plaine?
What presidence can such ambition gaine,
That others can suborn hir selfe subdue,
To whom the least of enuie doth accrue,
That onely hates the Persick plant: and why?
It doth pertake his birthrights seigniorie,
His greatest style; (vice thats familliar,
Being extraduc't from parents and from state.)
Greatnes will enuie greatnes to the end,
And Iouian with the Iouian will contend.
Hir leaues haue deepe incision, and the barkt,
When aged once, tis craz'd and roughlie crackt.
It shewes hir fruite when Sunne exceedes the twinnes,
And sleepes till the solstitian heat begins:
When it puts forth hir gall, or akernell,
Which yet sustein'd these earthlie bodies well,
In vse of bread being ignorant of graine,
From whence some say the Oake assum'd hir name:
And not because the Gentile Gods replied,
From the concealing Oake so deified,
When wizzard Seers enquir'd: nor is't approu'd,
For louers sought the names of their belou'd
Ycaru'd in Oake it had hir name from hence,
Being more of accent in the former sense.
The vulgar sort that neuer speculate
Beyond obseruance, do prognosticate
By the innated brood of Oaken gall,
Of after accidents which shall befall
Vnto the land: If Flie, or Ant, or Spider;
Or war, or famine shall, or plague betyde her.
I looke not on the fruit that hangs aloft,
Nor euery thing within the senses brought.
Much lesse of diuination; onely this,
Within the Oake I view a Cantharis;
A feeding flie: And this I dare diuine,
That flie shall make hir wither ere hir time.
wherewith I cald it Iouian: O how far
Did I mistake, when not a liuing tree
More subiect to Ioues thunder than is he.
Shall I respire and call it back againe?
No, first preuaricate, and maist thou faine:
Say any thing, but doe not temporize,
Though all the world be bent to poetize.
As sayes the world, Ioue to the Oak assignd
His name in smoother bark, not ragged rynd,
I say the bark is smooth and euen set,
Where the seuerer naile can find no fret.
The world but now allowde distinguishment,
And now attributes al to his ascent.
Is't but a ascent? and is it not accesse,
If it reserue but a respectiuenes?
Why Ioue allowes a competence to state,
But the accesse he can not tollerate.
How continent is he, would he were many,
Supplies, but not exceedes of dutyes any?
The cause may be from forme, or height, or station,
If these dumbe shewes haue ought of inuocation.
For Thunders either free, and such is tending
Onely t'assoyle the ayre without offending:
Or cald from Heauen by some significance
Of Characters, such as the Romanes once
Or by attractiue vertue thats infuse
Into some hearb or tree, which may inuoke;
The like instinct is powerfull in the Oake;
Whose greatnes doth inuite like Hostils charmes,
That answered nothing but his proper harmes
By strong attraction: Or the Prophetesse
That promis'd others what was hir successe.
Yt now succeeds, This Plant extends as far
In earth, as it's incorporate to ayre.
Heer other some do challenge hir of pride,
That one ambitious tree should so bestride
This litle Ismarus how far remote,
Is this ambition from the Iouian Oake,
That growes on sandy soyle, as heath, or plaine?
What presidence can such ambition gaine,
That others can suborn hir selfe subdue,
To whom the least of enuie doth accrue,
That onely hates the Persick plant: and why?
It doth pertake his birthrights seigniorie,
His greatest style; (vice thats familliar,
Being extraduc't from parents and from state.)
Greatnes will enuie greatnes to the end,
And Iouian with the Iouian will contend.
Hir leaues haue deepe incision, and the barkt,
When aged once, tis craz'd and roughlie crackt.
It shewes hir fruite when Sunne exceedes the twinnes,
And sleepes till the solstitian heat begins:
When it puts forth hir gall, or akernell,
Which yet sustein'd these earthlie bodies well,
In vse of bread being ignorant of graine,
From whence some say the Oake assum'd hir name:
And not because the Gentile Gods replied,
From the concealing Oake so deified,
When wizzard Seers enquir'd: nor is't approu'd,
For louers sought the names of their belou'd
Being more of accent in the former sense.
The vulgar sort that neuer speculate
Beyond obseruance, do prognosticate
By the innated brood of Oaken gall,
Of after accidents which shall befall
Vnto the land: If Flie, or Ant, or Spider;
Or war, or famine shall, or plague betyde her.
I looke not on the fruit that hangs aloft,
Nor euery thing within the senses brought.
Much lesse of diuination; onely this,
Within the Oake I view a Cantharis;
A feeding flie: And this I dare diuine,
That flie shall make hir wither ere hir time.
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