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Poems On several Choice and Various Subjects

Occasionally Composed By An Eminent Author. Collected and Published by Sergeant-Major P. F. [i.e. James Howell]

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Before ΟΗΡΟΑΟΓΙΑ.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Before ΟΗΡΟΑΟΓΙΑ.

Or, The Parly of Beasts. 1658.

Trees spake before, now the same strength of Art
Makes Beasts to cun the Alphabet by heart,
And cut their Breaths to sound Articulat
Discoursive congruous Accents to prolate:
For Speech is breath, Breath Air let in and out,
But 'tis the Mind that brings the work about.
Such a rare Charter the worlds Architect
Vouchsaf'd to give the Human Intellect
To create Words: for 'tis Mankind alone
Can Language frame, and syllabize the tone.
But here Beasts speak, they mone, chide, cry, complain,
And at the Bar of Justice men arraign:

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Such are our crying sins, that Beasts resent
Our wickedness, and wretched case lament.
Which shews the world is Hectical, and near
Its great, and fatal Climacterik year:
The whole Creation mourns, and doth deplore
The ruthful state of Human Kind; Therefore
If Men cannot be warn'd when Men do teach,
Then let them hearken here what Beasts do preach.
In Formas mutata novas Mens dicere gestit Corpora; & in primas iterum transversa Figuras, Dii faveant cœptis.