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Two roaring Bulls each other hie,
To assault concerning venery.
Symboles are these; I say no more,
Conceive the rest by that's afore.
3. The next of solitariness,
A portraiture doth well express,
By sleeping dog, cat: Buck and Do,
Hares, Conies in the desart go :
Bats, Owls the shady bowers over,
In melancholy darkness hover.
Mark well: If't be not as 't should be,
Blame the bad Cutter, and not me.
4. Ith' under column there doth
stand

Inamorato with folded hand;

6. Beneath them kneeling on his knee,

A superstitious man you see :
He fasts, prays, on his Idol fixt,
Tormented hope and fear betwixt :
For hell perhaps he takes more pain,
Then thou dost Heaven itself to
gain.

Alas poor soul, I pitie thee,
What stars incline thee so to be?

7. But see the madman rage downright

With furious looks, a ghastly sight
Naked in chains bound dothhe lie
And roars amain he knows not why?
Observe him; for as in a glass,
Thine angry portraiture it was.
His picture keep still in thy pre-

sence;

Twixt him and thee, ther's no difference.

8. 9. Borage and Hellebor fill two

scenes,

Soveraign plants to purge the veins Of melancholy, and chear the heart, Of those black fumes which make

it smart ;

To clear the brain of misty fogs, Which dull our senses, and Soul clogs.

The best medicine that ere God made

For this malady, if well assaid.
10. Now last of all to fill a place,

Down hangs his head, terse and po- Presented is the Author's face;

lite,

Some dittie sure he doth indite.

His lute and books about him lie,
As symptoms of his vanity.
If this do not enough disclose,

And in that habit which he wears,
His image to the world appears.
His minde no art can well express,
That by his writings you may guess.
It was not pride, nor yet vain glory,

To paint him, take thyself by th' (Though others do it commonly)

nose.

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Made him do this: if you must

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*These verses refer to the old folio Frontispiece, which was divided into ten compartments that are here severally explained. Though it was impossible to reduce that Frontispiece to an octavo size for this edition, the lines are too curious to be lost. The author's portrait mentioned in the 10th stanza is copied in our xvth page.

Democritus Junior ad Librum suum.

ADE liber, qualis, non ausum dicere, fœlix,

VA

Te nisi fœlicem fecerit Alma dies.

Vade tamen quocunque lubet, quascunque per oras,
Et Genium Domini fac imitere tui.
I blandas inter Charites, mystámque saluta
Musarum quemvis, si tibi lector erit.
Rura colas, urbem, subeàsve palatia regum,
Submissè, placidè, te sine dente geras.
Nobilis, aut si quis te fortè inspexerit heros,
Da te morigerum, perlegat usque lubet.
Est quod Nobilitas, est quod desideret heros,
Gratior hæc forsan charta placere potest.
Si quis morosus Cato, tetricusque Senator,
Hunc etiam librum fortè videre velit,
Sive magistratus, tum te reverenter habeto ;
Sed nullus; muscas non capiunt Aquila.
Non vacat his tempus fugitivum impendere nugis,
Nec tales cupio; par mihi lector erit.
Si matrona gravis casù diverterit istuc,

Illustris domina, aut te Comitissa legat:
Est quod displiceat, placeat quod forsitan illis,
Ingerere his noli te modò, pande tamen.
At si virgo tuas dignabitur inclyta chartas
Tangere, sive schedis hæreat illa tuis:

Da modo te facilem, & quædam folia esse memento
Conveniant oculis quæ magis apta suis.
generosa ancilla tuos aut alma puella

ᏚᎥ

Visura est ludos, annue, pande lubens.
Dic utinam nunc ipse meus* (nam diligit istas)
In præsens esset conspiciendus herus.
Ignotus notusve mihi de gente togatâ
Sive aget in ludis, pulpita sive colet,
Sive in Lycao, & nugas evolverit istas,
Si quasdam mendas viderit inspiciens,

Da veniam Authori, dices; nam plurima vellet
Expungi, quæ jam displicuisse sciat.

Sive Melancholicus quisquam, seu blandus Amator,
Aulicus aut Civis, seu benè comptus Eques

Huc appellat, age & tutò te crede legenti,
Multa istic forsan non malè nata leget.

Quod fugiat, caveat, quodque amplexabitur, ista
Pagina fortassis promere multa potest.

* Hæc comicè dicta cave ne malè capias.

At

At si quis Medicus coram te sistet, amice
Fac circumspectè, & te sine labe geras :
Inveniet namque ipse meis quoque plurima scriptis,
Non leve subsidium quæ sibi forsan erunt.
Si quis Causidicus chartas impingat in istas,
Nil mihi vobiscum, pessima turba vale;
Sit nisi vir bonus, & juris sine fraude peritus,
Tum legat, & forsan doctior inde siet.
Si quis cordatus, facilis, lectorque benignus
Huc oculos vertat, quæ velit ipse legat;
Candidus ignoscet, metuas nil, pande libenter,
Offensus mendis non erit ille tuis,

Laudabit nonnulla. Venit si Rhetor ineptus,
Limata & tersa, & qui benè cocta petit,
Claude citus librum; nulla hic nisi ferrea verba,
Offendent stomachum quæ minùs apta suum.
At si quis non eximius de plebe poeta,

Annue; namque istic plurima ficta leget.
Nos sumus è numero, nullus mihi spirat Apollo,
Grandiloquus Vates quilibet esse nequit.
Si Criticus Lector, tumidus Censorque molestus,
Zoilus & Momus, si rabiosa cohors:
Ringe, freme, & noli tum pandere, turba malignis
Si occurrat sannis invidiosa suis:

Fac fugias; si nulla tibi sit copia eundi,

Contemnes, tacitè scommata quæque feres.
Frendeat, allatret, vacuas gannitibus auras
Impleat, haud cures; his placuisse nefas.
Verum age si forsan divertat purior hospes,
Cuique sales, ludi, displiceantque joci,
Objiciatque tibi sordes, lasciváque: dices,
Lasciva est Domino & Musa jocosa tuo,
Nec lasciva tamen, si pensitet omne; sed esto;
Sit lasciva licet pagina, vita proba est.
Barbarus, indoctúsque rudis spectator in istam
Si messem intrudat, fuste fugabis eum,
Fungum pelle procul (jubeo) nam quid mihi fungo
Conveniunt stomacho non minus ista suo.
Sed nec pelle tamen; læto omnes accipe vultu,
Quos, quas, vel quales, inde vel unde viros.
Gratus erit quicunque venit, gratissimus hospes
Quisquis erit, facilis difficilisque mihi.
Nam si culpârit, quædam culpâsse juvabit,
Culpando faciet me meliora sequi.
Sed si laudârit, neque laudibus efferar ullis,
Sit satis hisce malis opposuisse bonum.

Hæc sunt quæ nostro placuit mandare libello,
Et quæ dimittens dicere jussit Herus.

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