University of Virginia Library

PICTORIVS.

To Leonellus. Submission.

Thy mountyng minde doth still aspire,
thou still doest boast and cracke:
And Leonel thou wouldest be
Magister totum fac.
And whilest thou powtst thus puft wt pride,
and deemst thou doest excell
All else beside, thou driuest thy selfe,
to deepest pit of hell.
Ah, yet at length submit thy self,
let Pride thee not beguile:
Deare shalt thou be to Christ, if thou
seeme to thy selfe as, vile.

Sorovvyng for the dead.

Thou weepest still, thou skrechest shrill,
thou halest from head thyne heares:
Thy face all torne with scratchyng clawes,
like S. Ihons face appeares.
Dost thinke thy sonnes departed hence,
may thus againe be had?
To sorrow for the dead, is but
Greef vnto greef to ad.

To Titus. Naughtines borne withall.

I mused what should be the cause,
why men doe nothyng feare
Nor shame to doe offences, suche
as hainous do appeare:
When lo I heard a voice whiche spake,
the wordes whereof were suche:
Ah, wicked deedes and cursed crimes,
are cockered to to muche.

To A man thankeles.

For kinreds sake and curtesie,
thou often doest require:
For frendships cause and amitie,
againe thou doest desire.
And comfort none thou doest receiue,
of frend, nor yet of brother:
And why? because thou wilt not doe
for one good turne, another.

To Sextus. Pittie: almes.

Proude Pallaces with battlements,
thou hast erected hie:
Thy farmes and maner howses, storde
with euery thyng do lye.
Thou dost abound in beddes of downe,
thy fare is passyng fine:
Thy clothes are costly to thy backe:
all passyng that is thine.
Uppon thy selfe, thy goods and coine
thou spendest euermore:
Dost aske how bet they may be spent?
how? marrie on the poore.

To Baptista Castellus.

All men (as well the riche as poore)
of force must one daie die:
And more are riche men hurt by store,
then poore by penurie.
Goods, seldome (they) doe bryng to God:
a Cable shall go in
Muche soner through a Nedels eye,
then Diues heauen win.

To Zoylus. Weepyng teares.

A shipwracke thou hast made of late:
from blubberyng teares refraine:
Lost goods, by loud lamentyng cries,
may not be got againe.
Thy brest is Zoyl a sinke of sinnes:
thou still hast gone astraye:
Wherefore waile Zoylus for thy sinnes,
teares washe mens sinnes awaie:
But thou dost laugh my words to scorne:
no force, laugh if thou please:
Yea laugh thy fill, sweet hony still
the sickly doth displease.

To Homer. an Hypocrite.

I can not chuse but praise thee, that
thou earnest art in Prayer:
And that vnto the Temple thou
so often makest repaire.
That Idlenes thou doste eschew,
whiche breedes a lothsum life:
That thou wilt not be seen to talke,
with any others wife.
That thou dost not in vsurie
nor honour vaine delight:
Yet Homer, all thing is not gold
that shines and glisters bright.

To Zeno. Castigation.

He is not still an enemy
that makes to smart, and smites:
Ne is he still a faithfull frende
that pleaseth and delightes.
Farre better sure it is to haue,
sowre Zeno vs to loue:
Then he that sekes by flattery fayre,
for to allure and moue.

To Caper. tauntes. backbityngs.

Thou doste complaine, thy fate
vnluckie still to be,
Because that Fabius froward foole
bites, blames, and sclaunders thee.
Caper content thy selfe,
who is reproched, he
No miser is, the Sycophantes
themselues the misers be.

To Criticus. Children must be instructed.

Soft claye, may formde and framed be
how and to what you will,
The tender waxe, to any shape,
is prest and pliant still:
So youth in tender yeares may be
instructed hou you list,
And how they frame themselues in youth,
so lightly they persist.
Wherfore in vertue, Criticus
instruct thy child betyme:
To no admonishment their eares
the grauer sort incline.

To Quirinus.

Mens faces diuers are and strange:
so are their hartes likewise:
And what lyes hidden in the hart,
none may discerne with eyes.
For some you see that gentle seeme,
and curteous outwardly:
When scorchyng hatred in their hart
doth burne incessantly.
Some Damons deare, in face appeare,
and Demons dire in chest:
So selde or neuer still you see,
the browe bewraies the brest.
And frende Quirinus, Calaber
the kyng doeth fauour thee,
Yet mayest thou bee assurde of this,
none more thy foe then he.
Perchaunce my boldnesse some will blame,
no force, I care not, I:
Nothyng male lurke or bee concelde,
where frendship firme doeth lye.

To Vrsus. a backbiter.

For that I did refuse,
Vrsus to aunswere thee
Aboute Religion,
thou musest muche at me.
I giue no holie thynges to dogs,
a carpyng currishe wighte,
No better then a curre I counte,
whiche still doeth barke and bite.

To Philenius. a flatterer.

The Mallarde when she sees the Hauke,
in haste she hies awaie:
When horned Harte beholds the Dog,
no lenger doeth he staie.
So frende Philenius, sugred woords
eschue, as enmies darte:
The faunyng flatterer worse then foe,
doeth smite, and make to smarte.

To Petrus. Loue dissimuled.

Unlesse some worthie woorke in verse,
I doe present to thee:
Thou saiest all loue and frendlinesse,
shall ceasse, twixt thee and me.
Euen when you please I am content,
a Flie for suche a frende:
Leude is the loue that doeth not last,
but startyng, taketh ende.

To Arnus. Surfet.

Doest aske with sundrie sicknesses,
why men are vexed so?
By diuers deintie dishes sure,
diseases diuers growe.
Our elders that one dishe did vse,
did healthfull still endure:
Then skant ten herbes in field were founde,
an hurte or sore to cure.
Now hilles, and woods, and seas are sought:
all places more, and lesse:
And eke we practise Magicke arte,
and suche like deuilishnesse.
And yet our soares excede our salues,
and needes it must be so:
For men will rather lose their liues,
then gluttonie forgoe.

To Marius. Armour and weapon against the deuill.

Against the slie deceiptes,
of Sathan tyraunt fell:
My Marius, wouldst thou knowe
how to bee fensed well?
First curet thyne must bee,
All pride for to expell:
Thy helmet, as thy selfe,
To loue thy next as well.
Thy buckler that must bee,
A chast vnspotted brest:
Use patience for thy brigandine,
when Fortune doeth molest.

To Cosmicus. Curiositie in decking the bodie.

With odours sweete of Siria soile,
thy garments all doe smell:
If corps thou washe not thrise adaie,
thou thinkst it is not well.
Thy bushe of heare is braided braue
and friseled woondrous fine:
No spot or mole doeth once deforme,
the comely corps of thyne.
Doe these beseme a seruaunt, of
the liuyng Lorde of light?
No man that setts so by hym self,
can please the Lorde a right.

To Pamphilus. frendship.

If thou doe bid me range abrode,
by lande, or els by seas:
To pleasure thee, I will be preste:
I nill regarde myne ease.
No monstrous beast with grashyng chaps,
in desert that doeth bide,
Shall me deter: nor rumblyng waues,
of Occian sea so wide.
Ice, scorchyng heate of Sommer hotte:
stormes, that so fearce are thought:
Rockes, ratlyng haile, raine, all will I
contemne and set at nought.
Perchaunce thou deemst I speake and prate,
to to outragiouslie:
Tushe Pamphil, what a frende can doe,
no tongue can speake perdie.

Repentaunce.

If thou wilt haue me deme, that thou
repentst thee of thy synne:
To synne a freshe in woonted wise,
see thou doe not beginne.
What beast is he, whiche beyng washt
in waues of flowyng flood,
Will straite goe baske hym self afreshe
in durte, and dablyng mudde.

To Propertianus. a Niggarde.

Who not vouchsafes hymself to helpe,
(Philenis miser he,)
Doest thinke Propercian he will giue,
they lande he promisde thee?
Who will deceiue hym self, no doubt
an other will beguile:
No credite is for to bee giuen,
vnto a miser vile.

To Lazarus. Uice in honour.

Doest maruell why myne anger is,
so greate as now it is?
My soule lothes Lazarus to liue,
in suche a worlde as this.
Who pointed are to punishe synne,
themselues synne openly:
This man he spends the Orphants goods,
this keepes them wrongfully.
Now Iudges bribed are eche where,
now hands are gresde apace:
Now now suborned witnesses,
all thyngs in piteous case.
In fine, my louyng Lazarus,
who is not bent to vice:
They count hym now a coxcombe foole,
a noddie, nothyng wise.

To Paulus B. Of an harlot.

Because Elisia laughes on thee,
Paule therefore thou art glad:
To ioye in ones owne miserie,
a mischief to to bad.
Perchaunce she flattereth thee, and saieth
she neuer will thee leaue:
Ah, neuer credite harlot smothe,
she alwaies doeth deceaue.

To Ponticus. Examples.

Awaie with thyne admonishements
and speache so pleasaunt fine:
Muche moue examples Ponticus,
small moue those woords of thyne.
An easie matter for to speake,
but for to doe, tis harde:
Doe as thou saiest, els what thou saiest,
we will not we regarde.

To Marianus. Stable abidyng.

Thou haste begunne the pathe to shunne,
that leades to vice, tis well:
And for because thou haste doen so,
my ioye no tongue can tell.
But yet remember this bith waie,
not he that doeth beginne:
But who perseuers to the ende,
shall glories garlande winne.

Lithernes.

In daies of olde were champions stout,
That lustie, long in healthe helde out:
For why? of them was slurgyng slothe,
And gluttonie auoided bothe:
Now deintie dishes hasten death,
And bedds bereue our bodies breath.

To Larius. Infirmities.

The greuous goute putts thee to paine:
From women, cates, and wine refraine:
This sicknesse sore, and greef of thine,
Maie bryng to passe, that lawe deuine,
Could neuer bryng to passe in thee:
A newe man this maie make thee bee.
This greef thee vnto God maie winne:
With doloures ioyes doe ofte beginne.

To Maximus. a Miser.

This is thy cast still, Maximus,
thou vsest euermore:
Because thou wilt not spende thy goods,
thou sparst to feede the poore.
Ah caitiffe carle, how art thou witcht
with blinde desire of gaine:
Knowest not that carkyng couetousnesse,
bryngs hell and houlyng paine?
The carle that letts the poore to pine,
and saues his paultrie pelfe,
What seekes he but to spare his goods,
and quight to spill hym selfe?

Luste vnsatiate.

Blacke Proserpine hath neuer suckt,
of humaine bloud her fill:
The drie vnsaciable ground,
doth thurst for moysture still.
And though thou caste (and neuer ceasse)
whole forrests in the fire:
It saies not ho, for more it calles,
more still it doth desire.
So gredy lust vnsatiate,
doth not contented bide,
Untill it hath destroid the corps,
and eke the soule beside.

To Ollus. Patience.

Ne teares auaile the sicke, incence
nor those, in graue now ded:
Ne pearcyng plaintes when ship is sunk,
stande Mariners insted.
So fades no whit thy furie Oll,
when thou dost rage, and rore:
But rather through thy greuous grones,
augments it more and more.
What thou dost suffer take in worth,
and beare with patient minde:
What thou dost beare against thy will,
more lodesome shalt thou finde.

To Iacobus Melitus. Detraction.

Lead still a godly life,
well still thy selfe behaue:
Yet thee shall wicked tongues
reproche, and eke depraue.
It is the pastime and delight
Of Zoyles, at good men still to spight.

To Vincentius Nouatus. shun sloth.

If thou Vincentius carest for
the health that still doth laste:
Then farre from thee continually,
see sluggish sloth thou cast.
When basking slothfull in the sunne,
the fiend his foe doth see:
Then then with mightie hand alwaies
to weapon runneth he:
But whom he sees to labor prest,
theim lets he still alone:
He labor lothes, and loues the luske.
to ease and pleasure prone.

To Flaccus. Extortioners, Cormorauntes.

One sillie drop of water askt
the glotton greedie gorche
With humble sute, to swage the heat
that so his tonge did scorche:
Yet neuer robd he as I reed,
the poore of ought hym selfe to feed.
If that be cause he would not giue,
thus plaugd the riche man was
With torments suche in hell, what shall
become of them (alas)
That nothyng giue, but still oppresse
poore widdowes, and the fatherles.

To Marullus. Almesdeedes.

Doost feare that God will angrie be,
and turne away his face from thee
Marullus mine? I will thee tell
a waye, how to be safe and well.
Thy face turne thou not from the poore:
God, like for like, payes euermore.

The good man feareth nought.

If fortune doe but bend the browe,
and ner so little strike:
Thou out of courage straight art dasht,
I neuer saw the like.
And yet thou countst thy selfe for good:
but by no reason sure:
For goodmen they with manly harts,
do all mishaps indure.
Let murdring Mars be modie mad,
let fire and flame destroie:
Let frettyng famin pine and paine,
let mischefes all annoye.
With stout coragious minds, all thinges
good honest men sustaine:
Knowyng that hereby, onely they,
their hauen and heuen obtaine.
By miseries and daungers great,
by death it selfe, we goe,
Unto the sweete celestiall coast,
where pleasures all do flowe.

To Dionisius Feb. The holy Scripture.

All thinges the fragrant field doth feed,
accordyng vnto kinde:
The birde hath seede: the oxe hath strawe:
the dog his praie doth finde.
Euenso the sacred Bible booke,
for euery kinde and sorte
Hath store of foode and norishment,
that list therto resorte.
Here tender babes haue milke and pap:
here ripe of yeares haue bred:
Here also wanteth not repast
for age with hory head.
Yet hereof small account is made,
the cause may soone be knowne:
Each one doth seeke to feede his eares,
and let his hart alone.

To Archemedorus. A Cussoner.

Peares , Birdes, to Iulius thou dost send,
all thinges both great and small:
And lorde, and king, and little god,
thou alwaies doost him call.
What meanes all this Archemedore?
what thinkst to get by this?
To coosen horie heares, perdie
no easie thing it is.

To Linus. Uice.

Go thou where Phœbus scorching burnes,
or go where Borias raignes:
Go hide thy selfe in dampishe dennes,
where darkenes blacke remaines.
Go where and to what place thou wilte,
thy sinnes will follow thee:
By chaunge of place, this certayn is,
vice can not chaunged be.
If thou be faultie, from thy minde
all vice abandon clere:
And Linus lead another life,
and dwell not other where.

To one verie timerous.

Now Does we may call desperat,
and Hartes coragious bolde:
For Does, and Hartes, lesse timerous
then thee a thousand folde.
To be afraid where is no feare,
is signe of dastardie:
And soone the faint of corage fall
in snares of Sathan slie.
Against all daunger, and mishap,
the chefest thing no dout
Is for to haue a prudent head,
and heart coragious stoute.
Feare not the commyng of mishappe,
but when that it is come:
Then stick vnto thy tacklyng stoute,
and beare both all and some.

To Katharina.

The rumor goes, and told it is
(mine owne good Katherine)
That thou dost blaze my name abroad,
and laude the deedes of mine.
Use measure in thy wordes, and leaue
thy laudyng so of mee:
Whom women laude are seldom likt,
but still suspected be.
And for thou shalt no ill misdeeme,
nor me vnthankfull call:
I thanke thee here, let this suffise
in recompence of all.
A Uirgin rare renoumd thou art.
now wilt thou know of mee
What best and most beseemes a maid?
ay blushing red to be.