Divine poems :: :: University of Virginia Library

Now whē three daies had run their howers out,
And left no hope for wit-forsaken doubt
To be resolv'd, the desp'rate undertakers
Conjoyn'd their whispring heads; (being all partakers
And joynt-advisers in their new-laid plot)
The time's concluded: Have ye not forgot
How the old Tempter, when he first began
To worke th'unhappy overthrow of man,
Accosts the simple woman; and reflects
Vpon the frailty of her weaker Sex;
Even so these curs'd Philistians (being taught
And tutor'd by the selfe same spirit) wrought
The selfesame way; Their speedy steps are bent
To the faire Bride; Their haste could give no vent
To their coarcted thoughts; their language made
A little respite; and, at length, they said;

Fairest of Creatures: Let thy gentle heart
Receive the crowne, due to so faire desert;
We have a Suite, that must attend the leisure
Of thy best thoughts, and joy-restoring pleasure;
Our names, and credits linger at the stake
Of deepe dishonour: If thou undertake,

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With pleasing language, to prevent the losse,
They must sustaine, and draw them from the drosse
Of their owne ruines, they shall meerely owe
Themselves unto the goodnesse, and shall know
No other Patron, and acknowledge none,
As their redeemer, but thy love alone:
We cannot reade the Riddle, whereunto
We have engag'd our goods, and credits too;
Entice thy jolly Bridgroome; to unfold
The hidden Myst'ry, (what can he withhold
From the rare beauty of so rare a brow?)
And when thou knowst it, let thy servants know:
What? dost thou frowne? And must our easie triall;
At first, reade Hierogly thickes of deniall?
And art thou silent too? Nay, we'l give ore
To tempt thy Bridall fondnesse any more:
Betray your lovely husbands secrets? No,
You'l first betray us, and our land: but know,
Proud Samsons wife, our faries shall make good
Our losse of wealth and honour, in thy bloud:
Where faire entreaties spend themselves in vaine,
There fur shall consume, or else constraine.
Know then, falsehearted Bride, if our request
Can finde no place within thy sullen brest,
Our hands shall vindicate our lost desire,
And burne thy fathers house, and thee with fire:
Thus having lodg'd their errand in her cares,
They left the roome; and her, unto her feares;
Who thus bethought; hard is the case, that I
Must or betray my husbands trust, or dye;
I haue a Wolfe by th'eares: I dare be bold,
Neither with safety, to let goe, nor hold:
What shall I doe? Their mindes if I fulfill not,
'Tis death; And to betray his trust, I will not:

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Nay, should my lips demand, perchance, his breath
Will not resolve me,: Then, no way, but death:
The wager is not great; Rather the strife
Were ended in his losse, than in my life;
His life consists in mine, I fought amisse
Befall my life, it may indanger his:
Wagers must yeeld to life; I hold it best,
Of necessary evils, to chuse the least:
Why doubt I then? when Reason bids me doe;
Ile know the Riddle, and betray it too:
With that, she quits her chamber, with her cares,
And in her closset locks up all her feares,
And, with a speed untainted with delay,
She found that brest, wherein her owne heart lay;
Where resting for a while, at length, did take
A faire occasion to looke up, and spake:

Life of my soule, and loves perpetuall treasure,
Jf my desires be suiting to thy pleasure,
My lips would move a Suite; My doubtfull brest
Would faine preferre an undeny'd request:
Speake then (my joy): Let thy faire lips expound
That dainty Riddle, whose darke pleasure crown'd
Our first dayes feast; Enlighten my dull braine,
That, ever since, hath mus'd, and mu'sd in vaine;
Who, often smiling on his lovely Bride,
That longs to goe away resolv'd, reply'd;

Ioy of my heart, let not thy troubled brest
Take the denyall of thy small request,
As a defect of love: excuse my tongue
That must not grant thy suite without a wrong
To resolution, daring not discover
The hidden Myst'ry, till the time be over;
Cease to importune then, what cannot be;
My parents know it not, as well as thee:

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In ought but this, thy Suite shall overcome me;
Excuse me then, and goe not angry from me.