The Colonies of Bartas VVith the Commentarie of S. G. S. in diuerse places corrected and enlarged by the Translatour [i.e. William Lisle] |
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 | The Colonies of Bartas |  |
[But Englands great negocies will not let]
But Englands great negocies will not letYour Lordship reade or heare much prose or song:
For (as in Embleme I before haue set,
To paint in short what honours you belong)
BY SEA AND LAND you are the Fense of Sion;
By SEA her Ancor, and By LAND her Lion.
Liue then renoumed both BY SEA AND LAND,
And daunt the Spaniard as you haue tofore:
That England fast may with your Ancor stand,
And by your Lion enimies be tore.
So shall you ridde the world of Tyrants threat;
Therfore be tytled Englands Charles the Great;
And alway (for so guarding this her Isle)
Of Prince be graced; lou'd and song of Lisle,
VVho still remaines your Lordships ready at commaund.
THE COLONIES.
[While ore th'vnpeopled vvorld I leade the fruitfull stocke]
While ore th'vnpeopled vvorld I leade the fruitfull stockeOf him that first assay'd the vvaters vvrackfull shocke;
While I by sea and land, all in their places, range,
Discou'ries fortunate of manie a kingdom strāge:
And while of mighty Noe I toyle to spread and twine
Fro th'one to th'other sea the many-branched vine;
O 'what twy-lightie cloud by day shall guide my sight!
What firie piller shall my course direct by night,
To Seats each peopl' ordain'd before the Paire-of-man,
Their twyfold-once estate in paradise began!
'Thou holie-holie Flame, that ledst the Persian Wises,
Who left the coast parfum'd vvherout faire Tytan rises,
To view the cradl' of him, vvhose youth in liuing light
For euer flourisheth, driue hence the gloomy night
That seeleth vp mine eyes: and so my Muse it shall
Search all the darker nookes of this great earthie Ball.
For though my wandring sprite althrough this iourney long
Waue here and there, yet I no vvay more bend my song,
Nor aught do more desire, then to direct and waine
My readers to the Childe that was Diuine-humaine,
2
[As when the skie orecast vvith darkesome cloudy racke]
As when the skie orecast vvith darkesome cloudy racke,A vvoods heart thorow-strikes vvith some great thunder-cracke,
The birdes eu'n all at once their neast and pearch forsake,
And through the troubled aire they flote for feare, and quake,
3
Is noysed all about: no gressell Turtl' is found
Together with her make; with downie callow feather
Some yong ones dare assay to vvrastl' against the vveather.
Right so the men vvho built the Babylonian tower,
Perceiuing Gods great voice in thunder-clashing stower,
Of their confounded speech, each barbarous to either,
Betake them to their heeles, all fearfull altogether.
Some to the left hand run, and some run to the right,
All tread sh'vnhaunted earth, as God ordaind their flight.
For that great king of heau'n, vvho long ere creature breath'd
In priuie counsell had this vnder-world bequeath'd
Unto the kind of Man, could not at all abide it,
To be a den of theeues, or that men should deuide it
By dreadfull dint of sword, and eu'ry people border
This thickned Element beast like and out of order:
But, fire of getting barr'd, as did himselfe deuide,
Sem, Cham, and Iaphet held all this the vvorld so vvide:
To Sem vvas giu'n in fee the day-beginning East,
To Cham befell the South, & Iaphet gain'd the West.
6
[This countrey reaching foorth as rich as it is large]
This countrey reaching foorth as rich as it is large,From Peake of Perosites (where doth himselfe discharge
The stately running Ob, great Ob, fresh waters king,
A riuer hardly crost in sixe dayes trauelling)
To Malaca, to th'Isles from vvhence are brought huge masses
Of Calamus and Cloues: Samotra whereon passes
The night-equalling line, and to the waters far
Of Zetlan breeding-pearle, and goldie Bisnagar:
And from the Pont-Eusine, and from the brother waues
Of those Chaldean streames, vnto the sea that raues
With hideous noise about the Straight of th'Aniens,
To Quinzats moorie poole, and Chiorzeke, from whence
Come Elephantick buls with silken haired hides;
That was the share of Sem: for Gods decree it guides
Ashur t' Assiriland, that after some few dayes
Chal, Rezen, Niniué, their towres to heau'n may raise.
The Persian hils possest great Elams princely race,
And those fat lands where-through Araxes runnes apace.
Lud held the Lydian fields, Aram th' Armenian,
And learned Arphaxad the quarter Chaldean.
12
[Cham Lord was of the land that Scuthward is bese]
Cham Lord was of the land that Scuthward is bese:With scorch'd Guineas waues, and those of Guagames,
Of Benin, Cefala, Botongas, Concritan
That fruitfull is of droogs to poison beast or man.
Northward it fronts the sea from Abile, pent betweene
The barren Affricke shoare and Europe fruitfull-greene:
And on the Westerne coast, where Phœbus drownes his light,
Thrusts out the Cape of Fesse, the greene Cape and the white:
And hath on th'other side whence comes the sunne from sleepe
Th'Arabike seas, and all the blood-resembling Deepe.
Nay all the land betwixt the Liban mountaine spred
And Aden waues, betwixt the Persicke and the Red,
This mighty Southerne Prince commanding far and nide
Vnto the regiment and scept'r of Affricke tide.
Cananone of his sonnes began to build and dwell
By Iordans gentle streame, whereas great Israell
Was after to be plac'd. Phut peopled Lybia,
Mizraijen Egypt had, Chus Æthiopia.
14
[Now Iaphet spred along from th'Ellesponticke waters]
Now Iaphet spred along from th'Ellesponticke waters,Th'Euxine and Tanais, vnto the mount Gibratars
Renoumed double top, and that sunne-setting Maine
Which with his ebbe and flow plaies on the shore of Spaine,
And from that other sea, vpon whose frozen allies
Glide swiftly-teemed Carres in stead of winged Gallies.
Vnto the sea Tyrrhene, Ligusticke, Prouencall,
Moreas waters and the learned Atticall:
Against the goodly coast of Afa the lesse,
The second Paradise, the worlds cheife happines
15
Vnto the springs of Rha, and pleasant bankes of Tane
As those braue men of war that France haue ouerspred,
Of Gomers fruitfull seed themselues professe are bred:
So are the Germaneseie, once called Gomerites:
Of Tuball Spaniards came, of Mosoch Muscouites,
Of Madas sprong the Medes, of Magog Scythians,
Of Iauan roseth: Greekes, of Thyras Thracians.
19
[Here if I were disposd vpon the ground to tread]
Here if I were disposd vpon the ground to treadOf that supposd Berose, abusing all that read
As he and others do; well might I let you see
Of all our Auncesters a fayned 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 diuerse lot,
And of the meanest townes to lay the grunsill-plot.
But what? I meane not I, as eu'ry wynd shall blow
To leaue my former course, and straight begin to row
(The Load-starre bright vnseene) vpon the waues vnknowne
Of such an Ocean, so full of rocks bestrowne
And Scylla's glutton gulfes, where tumbleth equall store
Of shipwracks on the sands, and billowes to the shore.
Not hauing other guide then vvriters such as faine
The names of auncient kings, and tell vs fables vaine:
Who make all for themselues, and gaping after glory,
Vpon one Cirons foote can build a perfect story.
20
[Th' Allusion of words is not a suer ground]
Th' Allusion of words is not a suer groundFor any man thereon a steddy worke to found;
Sith greatest hils and seas and most-renoumed riuers,
Though they continue still, among long-after liuers
Are often diuerse-nam'd: as eke the generation
Of him that built a wall, or laid a townes foundation,
Inherits not the same; nor any mortal race
Hath an eternall state in this same earthly place:
But holds for tearme of life, in fee-farme, or at will,
Possession of a field, a forest, or an hill.
And like as, when the wind amids the maine sea rustles,
One waue another driues, and billow billow iustles;
So are the people at oddes each one for others rome:
21
Unto that houses dore whereas he meanes to keepe,
But comes a third and makes him forth at window leep.
So from great Albion th'old Bretton being chas'd
By Saxon-English force, the Gaules forthwith displac'd
That wond in Armoricke and call'd the land Brettaine,
Where Loyre his glyding charge vnloadeth on the maine:
So when the Lombard left (with mind to rome at large)
Vnto the skotched Huns the diuerse-furrow'd marge
Of Ister double-nam'd, he made the French to flie,
By force of warly rage, out of rich Insubrie:
But vnder-fell againe the French reuenging heate,
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 stroake
Of him that fram'd the lawes sustain'd the Romane yoake.
The Roman aft'r and all the land Barbarian
Of frizel-headed Moores obayd th'Arabian.
This hunger neare-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 diuerse-wayes and farre
To waue and wander makes the people sonnes of warre.
I do not speake-of here the spoiling Arabes,
The Hordies proper Scythes, or Sheppardes Nomades,
Who grazing on in troopes despised eu'ry fence,
And pitched where they list their bristel-hairie tents:
Like as with wing are vvont blacke swarmes of Swallovves swift
Acrosse the sayled sea their bodies light to lift,
And chaunging their aboade as'twere on prograce go
For loue of sweeter aire twice yearely too and fro:
But other peoples feirce, who for Bellones renowne
With often losse of bloud haue romed vp and downe.
And weeting better how to ouercome them vveild;
To conquer, then to keepe; to pull dovvne them to build;
22
Haue boldly diuerse lands, one after other prest.
Right such that Lombard was, who borne in Schonerland
Seiz'd on Liuonia, thence went to Rugtland;
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 bath his golden haire in siluer flote of Rine:
Thence turning him about he setled in Morauie,
And so to Buda went, and after flew to Pauie:
There rain'd two hundred yeares, and honour'd Tosin so
He princely dares compare streames with his neighbour Po.
Such was the Goth, who left the freizing-cold Finland
Scanzie, and Scrifiaie, Norway and Gotterland,
To sit on Wixel-banks; and for that aire did please,
In temper keeping neare that of the Baltik seas,
With his victorious hoast entring Sclauoniæ
Surprized Zapserland and all Vælachia:
And then set foote in Thrace, but scorning long to toile
Among the beggar Greekes, for hope of richer spoile
Four times the Roman tryde, God Mars his elder Sonne,
To robbe him of the crowne that he from all had wonne;
Once led by Radaguise, once led by Alarick,
Once vnder Vidimer, once vnder Theodricke.
And after dwelt in France, then chased from Gascoine
Aboade in Portugal, Castile and Cataloine.
Such was the French of old, who roaming out as farre
As darted are the beames of Titans firie carre,
Inuaded Italie, and would in rage haue spilt
The tow'rs that Romulus, or Mars himselfe, had built:
Went thence to Hungarie, then with his conquering plough
He fallowes vp the ground cold Strimon runneth through:
The faire Emathick fields doth alto spoile and fleece,
And spareth not at all the greatest Gods of Greece.
At length with Europe Cloy'd he passeth Hellespont,
And wasteth as he goes of Dindyma the Front,
Pisidia ruineth, surprizeth Mysia,
23
Of people most renownd the darke antiquitie
Is like a forest wide where Hardy-foolery
Shall stumble at eu'ry step, the learned Souenance
It selfe intangled is, and blindfold ignorance
Blundring athwart the thick of her dark-nighty wits
Is euer-throwne in Caues, in Quagmiers and Pitts.
32
[It shall suffise me then to keepe me neare th'encloses]
It shall suffise me then to keepe me neare th'encloses,He groundeth all his discourse vpon holy writ; and sheweth more particularly how the 3. sons of Noe peopled all the World.
Amram his learned sonne, in verses to record
33
And that of mighty Noe the far out-roming boat,
Did thus the second time all countries ouer-flowt.
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 Cambala & Chine:
Nor Iaphet vnto Spaine; nor that vngodly Cham
Vnto the droughty soyle of Meder and Bigam,
The fields of Cefala, the mount of Zanzibar,
The Cape of hoped good, in Affrick most afarre.
For as th'Iblean hills, or those Hymettick trees,
Were not in one yeares space all ouer-buzz'd with bees;
But that some litle rocke that swarmed ev'ry prime
Two surcreases or three, made on their tops to clime,
Their sydes and all about, those nurslings of the Sun,
At length all ore the Clyffes their hony-combes to run:
Or as two springing Elmes, that grow amids a field
With water compassed, about their stocks do yeeld
A many yonger trees, and they againe shoot-out
As many like themselues encroaching all about;
And gaining peece by peece so thriue that aft'r a while
They for a shared mead a forest make that Isle:
Accordingly the Wrights that built proude Babels towre
All scattering abroad (though not all in an howre)
At first enhous'd themselues in Mesopotamie;
By proces then of time encreasing happily
Past riuer after riuer, and seiz'd land after land,
And, had not God forboad the world should euer stand,
No countrey might be found so sauage and vnknowne,
But by the stocke of Man had bin ere this ore-growne.
And hence it comes to passe the Tig'r-abutting coast
In all the former Age of all did florish most:
That first began to war, that only got a name,
And little knew the rest but learned of the same.
For Babilon betimes draw'n vnd'r a kingly throne,
Th' emperiall scepter swayd before the Greekes were knowne
34
Amphion walled Thebes of selfe-empyling stones.
Or Latins had their townes, or Frenchmen houshold-rents,
Or Almains Cottages, or Englishmen their tents.
The sonnes of Heber had with Angels often spoke,
And of all stranger Gods detested th'altar-smoke,
They knew the great vnknowne, and (ô most happy thing)
With faithfull eyes 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 beames eclips:
The priest of Memphis knew the nature of the soule,
And straightly marked how the heau'nly flames do roule.
(Who, that their faces might more flaming seeme and gay,
In Amphitrites poole once wash them eu'ry day)
He Phisick also wrote, and taught Geometree,
Before that any Greek had learnd his A Be Cee.
All Egypt ouer shone with golden vtensills
Before the limping Smith by Ætna's burning kill's
Had hammerd Iern barres, before Prometheus found
The fire and vse therof 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 must.
When as the men of Tyre already durst assay
To rase the salty Blew twixt them and Africa;
Were set on Marchandize, with purpl'en-guirt their flankes,
And all the pleasures rain'd about Euphrates bankes.
As, if a pebblestone thou on the the water fling
Of any sleepy poole, it frames a litle ring
About whereas it fell, and far about doth rase
The wauing marbl', or eu'n the trembling Chrystal face,
With gentil moouing of a number circles mo,
That reaching further out together waxing flow
Vntil the round at length most outward and most large
35
So from the cent'r of All, which here I meane to pitch
Vpon the the waters brinke where discord sprong of speech,
Man dressing day by day his knowledge more and more
Makes Arts and wisdome flow vnto the Circle-shore;
As doth himselfe encrease, and as in diuerse bands
His fruitfull seede in time hath ouergrowne the lands.
For from Assyria the Semites gan to trauell
Vnto the land beguilt with Hytans glistring grauell,
And peopling Persiland dronke Oroates luyse,
And cleere Coaspes eke, that luckes the walles of Suse;
So to the fruitfull dale and flowerbearing plaine
Betwixt high Caucase tops, whereas th' Arsaces raigne.
And some in Medie dwelt, and some began to make
The fields abutting on the great Mesendin lake.
These mens prosteritie did like a flood surround
And ouerflow in time the Cheisel-fronting ground:
They came in diuerse troopes vpon Tachalistan,
Carz, Gadel, Chabula, Bedane, and Balestan.
Their ofspring afterward broke vp with toiling hands
Narzinga, Bisnagar, and all the plenteous lands
That Gauges thorow-flowes, and peopled Toloman,
The Realme of Mein, and Aue, and muskie Carazan;
And saw the fearfull sprights in wildernesse of Lop,
That maske in hundred shapes wayfaring men to stop.
Long after sundry times this Race still coasting East
Tipura seizd that breedes the horny-snowted beast,
Mangit and Gaucinchine that Aloes hath store,
And stopt at Anie Straights and Cassagalie shore.
Now from the center-point enclining to the Set
Far spread abroade 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 sweete Corician Caue, that neare Pernassus Hill
Delights the commers-in with Cimbal-sounding skill:
Hvge Taure his lofty downes, Ionie, Cappadoce,
Mœanders winding bankes, Bithyne and Illios.
36
They dronke the waters cold of Strimon, Heb'r, and Nest:
The Rhodopean dales they graz'd, and laid in swathes
The leas that (running-by) Danubies water bathes.
Thrace did athonside fill the Grecian Territory:
Greece people Vitalie lawgiuing, louing-glory:
By Italy was France, by France was filled Spaine,
The borderings of Rhyne, and all the great Brettaigne.
Ath'other side againe it sent a Colonie
Both to the Pont-Eusine and towards Moldauie:
So raught Transsiluanie, Morauie, Hungarie,
And Seruie farther west, and east-ward Podolie:
Thence men to Prussie came, and Wixell borders eard
And that of Almanie, that narre the pole is reard,
Now turning to the South, consider how Chaldea
Spewes out in Arabie, Phœnice and Cannæa,
The cursed line of Cham; yet nerthelesse it growes,
And right betwixt two seas downe into Egypt goes:
So stores the towne Corene, and that renowmed coast
Whereon the punick Seas are all to froth betost:
Fosse, Gogdea, Terminan, Argin, Gulosa, Dara,
Tombuto, Gualata, Melli, Gago, Mansara,
The sparkling wildernesse of Lybie breeding-venim,
Cana, Guber, Amasen, Born, Zegzeg, Nubie, Benim,
And of the droughty soyle those euer-mouing sandes,
Where Iesus yet is knowne, and Prestre Ian commands;
Who, though in many points he commeth neare the law,
Yet hath a kind of Church not all vnlike the true.
And if thou long to know whence all the land is large,
That vnder-lyes 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 cora-vnto by men, thinke after they forsooke
The plaine where Tegill stood swift-running ouertooke
Once and againe the streame of running-far Euphrates,
They lodged at the foot of hoary hill Niphates,
So forth of Arvseny the field Hiberian,
37
Were furnished with mer; thence to the Suns Vprist
The cruel Tartar went, that roameth where he list
All ore those quarters huge: and thence acoast the Set
Was stoar'd the land that Rha doth neare his rising fret,
The shore of Liuonie, the plaines of Moscouie,
Biarmie, Permie, Russe, Whitelake and Scrifinie.
46
[But all this other world, that Spaine hath new found out]
But all this other world, that Spaine hath new found outBy 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) the Being by the death;
How was't inhabited? if long agone, how is't
Nor Persians, nor Greeks, nor Romans euer wist,
Or inckling heard thereof, whose euer-conquering hoasts
Haue spred abroad so far and troad so many coasts?
Or if it were of late, how could it swarme so thick
In euery towne, and haue such works of stone and brick,
As passe the tow'rs of Rome, th'antike Ægyptian Pyramis,
The King Mausolus Tombe, the walles of Queene Semiramis?
What then alas? belike these men fell from the skie
All readie-shap'd, as do the Frogs rebounding frie,
47
Are powred on the meades by some warme April shower:
And entertouch themselues, and swarme amid the dust
About the gaping clifts that former drought had brust:
Or grew of tender slips and were in earthy lap
(Instead of cradle) nurst, and had for milk the sap:
Or as the Mousherom, the Sowbred, or the Blite
Among the fatter clots they start-vp in a night:
Or, as the Serpents teeth sow'n by the Duke of Thebes,
They brauely sprong all arm'd out of the broken glebes.
Indeed this mightie ground, that call'd is Americk,
Was not inhabited so soone as Afferick;
Nor as that learned soyle tow'r-bearing, louing-right,
That after Iupiter his deer-beloued hight;
Nor as that other part which from cold Bosphors head
Doth reach the pearly dew of Tithons saffran bed.
For they much more approach the diaprized ridges
And fair endented banks 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 Castile armes and lore.
But there the buildings are so huge and brauely dight
So differing the States, the wealth so infinite,
That long agon it seemes some people thither came,
Although not all at once, nor all by waies the same.
Some by the clowdy drift of tempest raging-sore
Perhaps with broken barks were cast vpon the shore:
Some other much anoyd with famin, plague and warre,
Their ancient Seates forsooke, and sought for new so farre;
Some by some Captaine led, that bore a searching minde,
With wearie ships arriu'd vpon the Westerne Inde.
Nay could not long ere this the Quinsay vessels finde
Away by th' Anian straight fro th'one to th'other Inde?
As short a cut it is, as that of Hellespont
From Asia to Greece; or that wher-ore they wont,
Sayle from the Spanish hil vnto the Realme of Fesse,
48
So from the wastes of Tolm and Quiuir (where the kine
Bring calues with weathers fleece, and camels bunchy chine,
and hair of Courserots) they peopled Azasie,
Coss, Toua, Caliquas, Topira, Terlichi,
The slow'r-entitled Soile, Auacal Hochilega,
Saguenai, Baccalos, Canada, Norumbega,
And those white Labour-lands, about whose bleachy shore
The sweeter waterd seas are most-anon befrore.
They soa'd athother side the land of Xalisco,
Mechuacan, Cusule, and founded Mexico
Like Venise ore the wat'r, and saw astonished
The greenest growing trees become all withered
As soone as euer touch'd; and eck a mountaine found
Vesenus-like enflam'd about Nicargua ground.
So passing foorth along the straight of Panama,
Vpon the better hand they first Oucanama,
Then Quito, then Cusco, then Caxamalca built,
And in Peruvi-land, a countrie thorow-guilt,
They wondred at the Lake that waters Colochim,
Al vnder-paued salt, and fresh about the brim:
And at the springs of Chinck, whose water strongly good
Makes pebble stones of chalk, and sandy stones of mood.
Then Chili they possest, whose Riuers cold and bright
Run all the day a pace, and slumber all the night:
Quinteat, Patagonie, and all those lower seates,
Whereon the fomy Brack of Magellanus beats.
Upon the left they spred along by Darien side,
Where Huo them refresht, then in Vraba spide
How Zenu's wealthie waues down vnto Neptune rould
As big as Pullets egges fair massie graines of gould;
And in Grenada saw mount Emeraudy shine:
But on Cumana banks hoodwinked were their eyne
With shadie thickned mist: so quickly from Cumana
They on to Parie went, Omagu, Caribana:
Then by Maragnon dwelt, then entred fierce Bresile,
Then Plata's leuell fields, where flowes another Nile.
49
The Land of Labour was by Brittish Izerland
Replenished with men; as eck by Terminan,
By Tombut and Melli the shore of Corican.
60
[Well may I graunt you then (thou'lt say perhaps) ther's naught]
Well may I graunt you then (thou'lt say perhaps) ther's naughtIn all this vnder-world, but may at length be raught
By mans Ambition: it makes a breache in Hilles,
It runneth dry by sea among the raging Scylles,
And in despight of Thirst it guides the sailing Holme
Amids th' Arabick Sandes, the Numid and the Tolme.
But verely methinks it goes against all sence,
One house, beds only four, should break so large a fence,
As t'ouerbreed the landes af Affrick, Europe, Ase,
And make the world appeer to narrow for the Race.
If little thou regard th'Imortals pow'rfull hest,
That once againe the bond of sacred Marriage blest,
And said, Encrease and Fill: If thou profane deny
That Iacobs little train so thick did multiplie
On Pharses fruitfull ground, that in 400. yere
The 70. lyuing soules fiue hundred thousand were:
At least consider, how (because in elder time
The fruites they ate grew not vpon so foggy slime
As ours doe now, nor was their meates with sauces dight,
Nor altered as-yet with health-destroying slight
Of gluttonating Cookes; because with murdring sword
Of raging enemies they were not laid aboord;
Because their bodies were not ouercome by sloth,
Or void of exercise) they waxt in liuely groth,
And liu'd some hundred yeres, and eu'n in latter daies
With siluer-haired heads were able sonnes to raise.
So that Polygamie, then taken for a right,
This world an Ant-hill made of creatures bolt-vpright:
And many people rose in short time, if thou marke,
From out the fruitfull reines of some one Patriarch.
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Be often times resow'd vpon some harty feildes,
Will stuffe the barnes at length and colour mighty lawnes
With yellow-stalked eares: likewise two fishes spawnes,
Cast int' a standing poole, so fast breed vp and downe,
That aft'r a while they stoare the larders of a towne.
Hath not there been of late a certain Elder known
That with his fruitfull seed a village had oregrown
Of fiue skore houses big, so blessed that he saw
His sonnes and daughters knit by ord'r of mariage Law!
The tree of Parentage was ouer-short and thin
To braunch-out proper names for their degrees of kin.
Who knowes not that within three hundred yeres and lesse,
A few Arabians did Lybie fill and presse
With new Inhabitantes, and Mahom taught in Fesse,
In Oran, in Argier, in Tunis, Buge and Tesse?
Now if they so encrease who dwelt in Afferick
And with an humor sharp, fretting, melancholick,
Prouoak'd are day and night and made more amorous
Then in begetting babes fruitfull and vigorous
(Because the more they force the Citherean deed
The more enfeebled is their vnpreserued seed:
So are their inward parts the colder and the nummer,
By how much more without they feel a boyling summer)
Imagin how the men, who neerer to the Pole
Behold the flaming wheeles of Welkins charrot role,
Doe breed and multiplie: because they come but seeld
And at well-chosen times to Cithereas feild:
And sith colde weather stayes about the northen Beare,
Ore all that rugged coast triumphing eu'ry wheare,
The liuely heate retires within their bodies tower;
And closer trussed makes their seed of greater power.
And thence the Cimbrians, Gaules, Herules, and Bulgares,
The Sweues, Burgundians, Circassians and Tartares,
Huns, Lombardes, Tigurines, Alanes and Eastergoths,
Turks, Vandals, Teutonicks, Normans and Westergoths,
Haue ouerflow'd the landes, and like to grassehoppers
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Whereas the barren South in all these former daies
Hath scarce been abl' enough two martiall bandes to raise
That could the North affright; one vnder Hanniball,
Who brought the Punick State both vnto rule and thrall;
Another powred forth as far as Towers wall,
And there with Abderam was knockt by Charles the Maul.
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[O world of sundry kindes! O nature full of wonders!]
O world of sundry kindes! O nature full of wonders!For eu'ry part thereof, as from the rest it sunders,
It hath not only men of diuers haire and hew.
Of stature, humour, force; but of behauiour new:
Be't that a 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 so much disagree, or these enflowing beames
Of th'vmour-altring Lights, that whirling neuer stint,
Here in our mindes below their heau'nly force emprint.
The Northen man is faire, the Southern fauor'd-hard;
One strong, another weake; one white, another sward;
Ones haire is fine and smooth anothers grosse and twinde:
One loues the bodies paine, another toyles the minde:
Some men are hoat and moist, some others hoat and dry,
Some merry, and other sad: He thunders out on hye,
This other speaketh small; he dudgen is and spightfull,
This other gentle and plaine; he slow, this other slightfull.
Some are vnconstant so they often change their thought;
And others ne're let goe conceits they once haue caught.
He typples day and night, and he loues abstinence;
One is a scatter-good, another spares expense:
One is for company, another in his moodes
Is like a Bugger-bo, and strayes amids the woodes.
One goes in leathern peltch, another richly dight;
On's a Philosopher, another borne to fight.
The middle man takes part of all the qualities
Of people dwelling neere the two extremities;
His body stronger is, but not his minde so franke,
As theirs who till the gleabes of Nilus fruitfull banke:
Again he's not so strong, but many wayes more fine,
Then they that drinke the streames of Donaw and of Rhine.
For in the sacred close of th'vniuersall Town
The southern men that ofte with ouer-musing sown,
And fall int' extasies, and vse to dreame and poue;
That measure how the heau'ns by rules appoynted moue,
And are so curious none other knowledge base
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The Northen, whose conceit in hand and singer lurkes,
That all what ere he list in wood and mettall workes,
And like Salmoneus with thunder-sound compares,
Hee'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 seekes knowledge wondrously,
The second, handy-crafts; the third, good policy.
Though some skore yeares agone Themis that mendes 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 Oast.
But 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
Is stout, but hir'd in Warre: the Spaniard soft and neat;
Th' Italian merciles; the Frenchman soone on heat.
The Dutch in counsaile colde, th'Italian althing weeting,
The Spaniard full of guile, the Frenchman euer fleeting.
Th'Italian finely feedes, the Spaniard doth but minse,
The Dutch fares like a clowne, the Frenchman like a Prince.
The Frenchman gently speakes, the Spaniard fierce and braue,
The German plaine and grosse, the Roman wise and graue.
The Dutch attire is strange, the Spanish is their owne,
Th'Italian sumptuous, and owers neuer knowne.
We braue an Enimie, th'Italian friendly lookes him,
The Dutchman strikes him straight, the Spaniard neuer brookes him.
We sing a cheerfull note the Tuscan like a sheepe,
The German seemes to howle, the Lusitan to weepe.
The Frenchpase thicke and short, the Dutch like battel-cocks,
The Spaniards Fencer-like, the Romans like an Oxe.
The Dutch in Loue is proud, th'Italian enuious,
The Frenchman full of mirth, the Spaniard furious.
Yet would th' Immortall God appoynt so strange a race
Of this great earthie bowle to couer all the face:
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Of sinne, which had as 'twere bestain'd their natiue soile,
Might his great mercy shew, and how the heauenly Sines
A little only moue, but not ore sway our mindes.
That in the furthest partes his seruants eu'rych one
A sacrifice of praise might offer to his throne:
And that his holy name from Isie Scythia
Might sound vnto the sandes of red-hoat Africa.
Nor should his treasures hid in far-asunder land
Created seeme in vaine, and neuer come to hand.
But that all cuntry coasts where Thetis enter-lies
Should trafficke one with oth'r and chaunge commodities.
For as a Citie large containes within her wall
Here th' Vniuersitie, and there the Princes hall;
Here men of handy-craftes, there marchant-venterers;
This lane all full of ware and shops of shoomakers,
That other chaunging coyne, that other working gould;
Here silke, there pots and cups; here leather to be sould,
There cloth; here hats and caps, there doublets redy-made;
And each among themselues haue vse of others trade:
So from the Canar Isles our pleasant Sugar comes,
And from Chaldæa Spice, and from Arabia gummes
That stand vs much instead both for parfume and plaster,
And Peru sends vs golde, and Damask alabaster:
Our Saffern comes from Spaine, our Iuory from Inde,
And out of Germany our Horse of largest kinde:
The skorched land of Chus yeelds Heben for our Chamber;
The Northen Baltike Sound emparts her bleakish Amber;
The frosty coast of Russe, her Ermins white as milke,
And Albion her Tinne, and Italy her Silke.
Thus eu'ry country payes her diuers tribute-rate
Vnto the treasury of th'vniuersall State.
And as the Persian Queene this prouince call'd her Chaines,
And that her stomachers; her plate this, that her traines;
Man may the like professe: what Desert so vntrad,
What Hill so wild and waste, what Region so bad;
Or what so wrackefull Sea, or what so barren Shore
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Some kinde of yearly rent, and grudging not his glory,
Vnto his happy life becomes contributorie?
These miores enameled, where many rooshing brookes
Enchase their winding wayes with glassie wauing crookes,
They stand for Garden-plots: their herbage, ere it fades,
Twise yearely sets on worke our two-hand mowing blades.
The plaine feilde Ceres heales, the stony Bacchus filles.
These ladders of the skie, these rough-aspiring Hilles,
The stoare houses of stormes, the forging-shops of thunders,
Which thou vntruly cal'st th'earthes faults & shameful wonders,
And think'st the liuing God (to say't I am aferd)
Created them of spight, or in creating err'd,
They bound the kingdomes out with euer-standing markes,
And for our shipping beare of timber goodly parks:
The same affoord thee stuffe to build thy roofed holde,
The same in winter-time defend thee from the colde:
They powre-out day and night the deep-enchanel'd Riuers,
That breed, and beare on them, to feede the neighbour liuers:
They remanure the lands with fruitfull cloudes and showers,
They helpe the Milles to turne, and stand instead of towers
And bulwarkes to defend Bellonaes angry wound,
And morter to the sea the Center of the ground.
The Wasternes of land that men so much amazeth,
Is like a common feild where store of cattell grazeth,
And whence by thousand heads they come our tylth to rood,
To furnish vs with furre, with leather, wood 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 rumbling ouer-heales so many a mighty land,
Where in the waters stead much wauing might corne stand;
A great store-place it is and vnd'r a watry plaine
Flocks numberles it feedes to feed mankind againe:
And of the cates thereof are thousand cities saru'd,
That could not otherwise but languish hunger staru'd,
As doth a Dolphin whom vpon the shore halfe-dead
The tyde vntrusty left when back-againe it fled:
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And causes day and night the reaking mists arise,
That still refresh our ayre, and downe in water flowing
Set, eu'n before our eyes, the grainy pipe a growing.
But shall I still be tost with Boreas boystrous puffes?
Still subiect to the rage of Neptunes counterbuffes?
And shall I neuer see my country-chimnies reake?
Alas my rowing failes, my boate begins to leake.
I am vndone, I am, except some gentle banke
Receaue, and that right soone, my wrack-reserued planke.
Ha France, I ken thy shore; thou reachest me thine arme:
Thou opnest wide thy lap to shend thy sonne from harme:
Nor wilt in stranger landes I roaming step in age;
Nor ore my bones triumphe Bresile anthropophage,
Nor Catay ore my fame, nor Peru ere my verse;
As thou my cradle wert, so wilt thou be my herse.
O thousand thousand times most happy land of price!
O Europes only pearle! O earthly Paradise!
All-hayle renowned France: from thee sprong many a Knight
That hath in former times his triumph-laurels pight
Vpon Euphrates bankes, and blood with Bilbo shed
Both at the sunnes vprist, and where he goes to bed:
Thou breedest many men, that bolde and happie dare
In works of handy-craft with Nature selfe compare:
Thou breedest many wits that with a skill diuine
Teach Ægypt, Greece and Roome, and ore the learned shine,
As ore the paler hewes doe glister golden yellowes,
The sunne aboue the starres, his floure aboue the fellowes:
Thy streames are little seas, thy Cyties Prouinces,
In building full of state, and gentle in vsages:
Thy soyle yeeldes good encrease, thine ayre is full of ease;
Thou hast for strong defence two mountaines and two Seas.
Th'e Ægyptian Crocodile disquiets not thy bankes,
The plaguie Lybian snakes with poyson-spotted flankes
Crawle not in broken pleights vpon thy flowry plaines,
Nor meats an aker out by length of dragling traines.
No Hyrcan Tigers flight boot-hails thy vaulted hilles,
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Thy wandring habitants, nor Cairik Water-horses
Drag vnd'r a rowling tombe thy childrens tender corses:
And though like Indy streames thy fairest riuers driue not
Among their pebbles golde, although thy mountaines riue not
With vaines of siluer vre, nor yet among thy greet
Carbuncles, Granats, Pearles are scattred at our feet:
Thy Cloth, thy Wooll, thy Woade, thy Salte, thy Corne, thy Wines,
More necessary fruits, are well-sufficient mines
T'entitle thee the Queene of all this earthly scope:
Peace is our only want. O God that holdest ope
Alwaies thine eyes on vs, we humbly thee desire,
Quench with thy mercy-drops this Fraunce-consuming fire.
O make our Aïer calme; deere Father vs deliuer,
And put thine angry shaftes againe into thy quiuer.
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Amen.
FINIS.
| The Colonies of Bartas | |