Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonets [by Henry King] |
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To my Noble and Judicious Friend Sir Henry Blount upon his Voyage.
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 | Poems, Elegies, Paradoxes, and Sonets |  |
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To my Noble and Judicious Friend Sir Henry Blount upon his Voyage.
Sir, I must ever own my self to be
Possest with humane curiositie
Of seeing all that might the sense invite
By those two baits of profit and delight:
And since I had the wit to understand
The terms of Native or of forreign land;
I have had strong and oft desires to tread
Some of those voyages which I have read.
Yet still so fruitless have my wishes prov'd,
That from my Countreys smoke I never mov'd:
Nor ever had the fortune (though design'd)
To satisfie the wandrings of my mind.
Therefore at last I did with some content,
Beguile my self in time, which others spent;
Whose art to Provinces small lines allots,
And represents large Kingdomes but in spots.
Thus by Ortelius and Mercators aid
Through most of the discover'd world I strai'd.
I could with ease double the Southern Cape,
And in my passage Affricks wonders take:
Then with a speed proportion'd to the Scale
Northward again, as high as Zemla sayl.
Oft hath the travel of my eye outrun
(Though I sat still) the journey of the Sun:
Yet made an end, ere his declining beams
Did nightly quench themselves in Thetis streams.
Oft have I gone through Ægypt in a day,
Not hinder'd by the droughts of Lybia;
In which, for lack of water tides of sand
By a dry deluge overflow the land.
There I the Pyramids and Cairo see,
Still famous for the warres of Tomombee,
And its own greatness; whose immured fence
Takes fourty miles in the circumference.
Then without guide, or stronger Caravan
Which might secure the wild Arabian,
Back through the scorched Desarts pass, to seek
Once the worlds Lord, now the beslaved Greek,
Made by a Turkish yoak and fortunes hate
In language as in mind, degenerate.
Possest with humane curiositie
Of seeing all that might the sense invite
By those two baits of profit and delight:
And since I had the wit to understand
The terms of Native or of forreign land;
I have had strong and oft desires to tread
Some of those voyages which I have read.
Yet still so fruitless have my wishes prov'd,
That from my Countreys smoke I never mov'd:
Nor ever had the fortune (though design'd)
To satisfie the wandrings of my mind.
Therefore at last I did with some content,
Beguile my self in time, which others spent;
Whose art to Provinces small lines allots,
And represents large Kingdomes but in spots.
Thus by Ortelius and Mercators aid
Through most of the discover'd world I strai'd.
112
And in my passage Affricks wonders take:
Then with a speed proportion'd to the Scale
Northward again, as high as Zemla sayl.
Oft hath the travel of my eye outrun
(Though I sat still) the journey of the Sun:
Yet made an end, ere his declining beams
Did nightly quench themselves in Thetis streams.
Oft have I gone through Ægypt in a day,
Not hinder'd by the droughts of Lybia;
In which, for lack of water tides of sand
By a dry deluge overflow the land.
There I the Pyramids and Cairo see,
Still famous for the warres of Tomombee,
And its own greatness; whose immured fence
Takes fourty miles in the circumference.
Then without guide, or stronger Caravan
Which might secure the wild Arabian,
Back through the scorched Desarts pass, to seek
Once the worlds Lord, now the beslaved Greek,
Made by a Turkish yoak and fortunes hate
In language as in mind, degenerate.
113
And here all wrapt in pity and amaze
I stand, whil'st I upon the Sultan gaze;
To think how he with pride and rapine fir'd
So vast a Territory hath acquir'd;
And by what daring steps he did become
The Asian fear, and scourge of Christendome:
How he atchiev'd, and kept, and by what arts
He did concenter those divided parts;
And how he holds that monstrous bulk in aw,
By setled rules of tyrannie, not Law:
So Rivers large and rapid streams began,
Swelling from drops into an Ocean.
I stand, whil'st I upon the Sultan gaze;
To think how he with pride and rapine fir'd
So vast a Territory hath acquir'd;
And by what daring steps he did become
The Asian fear, and scourge of Christendome:
How he atchiev'd, and kept, and by what arts
He did concenter those divided parts;
And how he holds that monstrous bulk in aw,
By setled rules of tyrannie, not Law:
So Rivers large and rapid streams began,
Swelling from drops into an Ocean.
Sure who ere shall the just extraction bring
Of this Gigantick power from the spring;
Must there confess a higher Ordinance
Did it for terrour to the earth advance.
For mark how 'mongst a lawless straggling crew
Made up of Arab, Saracen, and Jew,
The worlds disturber, faithless Mahomet
Did by Impostures an opinion get:
O're whom he first usurps as Prince, and than
As Prophet does obtrude his Alcoran.
Next, how fierce Ottoman his claim made good
From that unblest Religion, by blood;
Whil'st he the Eastern Kingdomes did deface,
To make their ruine his proud Empires base.
Then like a Comet blazing in the skies,
How Death-portending Amurath did rise,
When he his horned Crescents did display
Upon the fatal Plains of Servia;
And farther still his sanguin tresses spread,
Till Croya Life and Conquests limited.
Lastly, how Mahomet thence styl'd the Great,
Made Constantines his own Imperial Seat;
After that he in one victorious bond
Two Empires graspt, of Greece and Trabezond.
Of this Gigantick power from the spring;
Must there confess a higher Ordinance
Did it for terrour to the earth advance.
For mark how 'mongst a lawless straggling crew
Made up of Arab, Saracen, and Jew,
The worlds disturber, faithless Mahomet
Did by Impostures an opinion get:
O're whom he first usurps as Prince, and than
As Prophet does obtrude his Alcoran.
114
From that unblest Religion, by blood;
Whil'st he the Eastern Kingdomes did deface,
To make their ruine his proud Empires base.
Then like a Comet blazing in the skies,
How Death-portending Amurath did rise,
When he his horned Crescents did display
Upon the fatal Plains of Servia;
And farther still his sanguin tresses spread,
Till Croya Life and Conquests limited.
Lastly, how Mahomet thence styl'd the Great,
Made Constantines his own Imperial Seat;
After that he in one victorious bond
Two Empires graspt, of Greece and Trabezond.
This, and much more then this, I gladly read,
Where my relators it had storyed;
Besides that Peoples Manners and their Rites,
Their warlike discipline and order'd fights;
Their desp'rate valour, hardned by the sence
Of unavoided Fate and Providence:
Their habit, and their houses, who confer
Less cost on them then on their Sepulchre:
Their frequent washings, and the several Bath
Each Meschit to it self annexed hath:
What honour they unto the Musty give,
What to the Soveraign under whom they live:
What quarter Christians have; how just and free
To inoffensive Travellers they be:
Though I confess, like stomacks fed with news,
I took them in for wonder, not for use,
Till your experienc'd and authentick pen
Taught me to know the places and the men;
And made all those suspected truths become
Undoubted now, and cleer as Axiom.
Where my relators it had storyed;
Besides that Peoples Manners and their Rites,
Their warlike discipline and order'd fights;
Their desp'rate valour, hardned by the sence
Of unavoided Fate and Providence:
Their habit, and their houses, who confer
Less cost on them then on their Sepulchre:
115
Each Meschit to it self annexed hath:
What honour they unto the Musty give,
What to the Soveraign under whom they live:
What quarter Christians have; how just and free
To inoffensive Travellers they be:
Though I confess, like stomacks fed with news,
I took them in for wonder, not for use,
Till your experienc'd and authentick pen
Taught me to know the places and the men;
And made all those suspected truths become
Undoubted now, and cleer as Axiom.
Sir, for this work more then my thanks is due;
I am at once inform'd and cur'd by you.
So that, were I assur'd I should live o're
My periods of time run out before;
Nere needed my erratick wish transport
Me from my Native lists to that resort,
Where many at outlandish Marts unlade
Ingenuous manners, and do onely trade
For vices and the language. By your eyes
I here have made my full discoveries;
And all your Countreys so exactly seen,
As in the voyage I had sharer been.
By this you make me so; and the whole land
Your debtour: which can onely understand
How much she owes you, when her sons shall try
The solid depths of your rare history,
Which looks above our gadders trivial reach,
The Common Place of travellers, who teach
But Table-talk; and seldomly aspire
Beyond the Countres Dyet or Attire;
Whereas your piercing judgement does relate
The Policy and Manage of each State.
And since she must here without envy grant
That you have further journey'd the Levant
Then any noble spirit by her bred
Hath in your way as yet adventured;
I cannot less in justice from her look,
Then that she henceforth Canonize your book
A Rule to all her travellers, and you
The brave example; from whose equal view
Each knowing Reader may himself direct,
How he may go abroad to some effect,
And not for form: what distance and what trust
In those remoter parts observe he must:
How he with jealous people may converse,
Yet take no hurt himself by that commerce.
So when he shall imbark'd in dangers be,
Which wit and wary caution not foresee;
If he partake your valour and your brain,
He may perhaps come safely off again,
As you have done; though not so richly fraught
As this return hath to our Staple brought.
I am at once inform'd and cur'd by you.
So that, were I assur'd I should live o're
My periods of time run out before;
Nere needed my erratick wish transport
Me from my Native lists to that resort,
Where many at outlandish Marts unlade
Ingenuous manners, and do onely trade
For vices and the language. By your eyes
I here have made my full discoveries;
116
As in the voyage I had sharer been.
By this you make me so; and the whole land
Your debtour: which can onely understand
How much she owes you, when her sons shall try
The solid depths of your rare history,
Which looks above our gadders trivial reach,
The Common Place of travellers, who teach
But Table-talk; and seldomly aspire
Beyond the Countres Dyet or Attire;
Whereas your piercing judgement does relate
The Policy and Manage of each State.
And since she must here without envy grant
That you have further journey'd the Levant
Then any noble spirit by her bred
Hath in your way as yet adventured;
I cannot less in justice from her look,
Then that she henceforth Canonize your book
A Rule to all her travellers, and you
The brave example; from whose equal view
Each knowing Reader may himself direct,
How he may go abroad to some effect,
And not for form: what distance and what trust
In those remoter parts observe he must:
117
Yet take no hurt himself by that commerce.
So when he shall imbark'd in dangers be,
Which wit and wary caution not foresee;
If he partake your valour and your brain,
He may perhaps come safely off again,
As you have done; though not so richly fraught
As this return hath to our Staple brought.
I know your modesty shuns vulgar praise,
And I have none to bring: but onely raise
This monument of Honour and of Love,
Which your long known deserts so far improve,
They leave me doubtfull in what style to end,
Whether more your admirer or your friend.
And I have none to bring: but onely raise
This monument of Honour and of Love,
Which your long known deserts so far improve,
They leave me doubtfull in what style to end,
Whether more your admirer or your friend.
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