University of Virginia Library

Miscellaneous Poems

[In Biddy's Cheeks ye roses blow]

[Oft have I read that Innocence retreats]

Oft have I read that Innocence retreats
Where cooling streams salute ye summer Seats
Singing at ease she roves ye field of flowrs
Or safe with shepheards lys among the bowrs
But late alas I crossd a country fare
And found No Strephon nor Dorinda there
There Hodge & William Joynd to cully ned
While Ned was drinking Hodge & William dead
There Cicely Jeard by day the slips of Nell
& ere ye night was ended Cicely fell
Are these the Virtues which adorn the plain
Ye bards forsake your old Arcadian Vein
To sheep those tender Innocents resign
The place where swains & nymphs are said to shine
Swains twice as Wicked Nymphs but half as sage
Tis sheep alone retrieve ye golden age.

For Philip Ridgate Esq.

To friend with fingers quick & limber,
I send this piece of tunefull timber:
that, as 'tis said in Orpheus story,
He may teach trees to dance a Bory;
Or else in modern Phrase more knavish,
He may the heart of broomstick ravish.
The man whose parts in Taverns shine,
Doates on the merry pipe of wine;
& he who late has got his pate full,
perceives the water pipe is gratefull;
But these are pipes that still are mute,
there is some musick in a flute.
Which since I as a present send,
the presents worth to recommend,
Ile in soft words its praises warble,
translated from Italian marble.
“When ere we hear its strains & closes,
“Enchanted reason sweetly dozes,
“on laps of nymphs, & beds of roses;
“the Soul that all its charms admires,
“for lodgings in the ear enquires;
“Gay pictures do the Fancy store;
“& passions felt but heard no more.
All that my author says is true,
When th' instrument is playd by you.
& least you think I came by this ill,
Splut her was preed her from a whistle.

[When Haizy clouds obscure the night]

When Haizy clouds obscure the night
No more the starrs afford us light
When ruffling winds arise at sea
tho smooth as glass & clear as day
the mudd workes up the ocean frys
& thickend waters stopp the eyes,
The brook which from the mountain flows
oft runs astray if rocks oppose
then woud you with the piercing sight
of reason see the truth aright
still woud you tread in virtues way
remove the hindrance & you may
Banish Joy & banish love
Banish hope & banish fear
the mind has clouds we run astray
& reason's captive when they sway

Caius Rubrius Urbanus Romae in domo Lud: Matthæi. E Grutero.

The Father lying in Bed hugging in his left arm a pot of Mony & laying severall pieces out of it before him. the son sitts at his feet in the habit of a souldier taking with his right hand some pieces that drop. A three footstool stands near him on which three other pots: this written.
The Man who livd with avaritious care
Who starvd the growing virtues of his heir
Who bound to slav'ry by the vice he chose
Coud envy to himself his own respose
Woud have his latest image here exprest
Thus lolling on ye Genial bed of rest
That since with death his long vexations cease
His Stone might speak him with an air of peace
Beneath his feet the son a Souldier leans
Compelld by want to warr in forreign plains
There fell the Youth by deaths unerring dart
& with fresh sorrows broke ye misers heart
Here both seem pleasd but what avails ye sight
No Picturd kindness gives ye dead delight
The Father Never thus supplyd the son
But thus to bless them both he shoud have don