صور الصفحة
PDF
النشر الإلكتروني

ΧΙΧ.

Out crept a fparrow, this Soul's moving inn,
On whofe raw arms ftiff feathers now begin,
As children's teeth through guns, to break with
pain:

His flesh is jelly yet, and his bones threads;
All a new downy mantle overfpreads:

A mouth he opes, which would as much contain
As his late houfe, and the first hour speaks plain,
And chirps aloud for meat: meat fit for men
His father fteals for him, and fo feeds then
One that within a month will beat him from his
hen.

XX.

In this world's youth wife Nature did make hafte,
Things ripen'd fooner, and did longer laft:
Already this hot cock in bush and tree,
In field and tent, o'erflutters his next hen:
He asks her not who did fo tafte, nor when;
Nor if his fifter or his niece fhe be,
Nor doth the pule for his inconftancy
If in her fight he change; nor doth refufe
The next that calls; both liberty do ufe.

[blocks in formation]

Where ftore is of both kinds, both kinds may These tricks to catch food, then they were not

freely choofe.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small]

Elfe might he long have liv'd; man did not know
of gummy blood which doth in holly grow,
How to make bird-lime, nor how to deceive,
With feiga'd calls his rets or enwrapping fnare,
The free inhabitants of the pliant air.

an to beget, and woman to conceive, Ak'd not of roots, nor of cock-fparrows, leave; Yet choofeth he, though none of thefe he fears, leafantly three; then ftraitor.'d twenty years To live, and to encreaft ins race hift if outwears.

[ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

wrought

As now, with curious greediness, to let
None 'fcape, but few and fit for ule to get)
As in this trip a rav'nous pike'was ta'en,
Who, though himfelf diftreft, would fain have flain
This wretch; fo hardly are ill habits left again.

XXVII.

Here by her fmalinefs the two death's o'erpaft,
Once innocence 'fcap'd, and left th' oppreffor faft;
The net through fwain, he keeps the liquid path,
And whither the leap up fometimes to breath
And fuck in air, or find it underneath,
Or working parts like mills or limbecks hath,
To make the water thin, and air like faith,
Cares not, but safe the place she's come unte,
Where fresh with falt waves meet, and what to do
She knows not, but between both makes a board
or two.

[ocr errors]

So far from hiding her guests water is,
That the fhews them in bigger quantities
Than they are. Thus her, doubtful of her way,
For game, and not for hunger, a fea-pie
Spy'd through his traiterous spectacle from high
The fully fish, where it difputing lay,
And t' end her doubts and her, bears her away;
Exalted, the's but to th' exalter's good;
(As are by great ones men which lowly flood)
It's rais'd to be the raifer's inftrument and food.

[merged small][merged small][ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

A fudden stiff land-wind in that self hour
To fea-ward forc'd this bird that did devour
The fish; he cares not, for with ease he flies,
Fat gluttony's best orator: at last,

So long be hath flown, and hath flown so fast,
That, leagues o'erpast at sea, now tir'd he lies,
And with his prey, that till then languisht, dies:
The Souls, no longer foes, two ways did err.
The fish I follow, and keep no calender

Of th' other: he lives yet in fome great officer.

[ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

Confpir'd against him; and it might undo
The plot of all that the plotters were two,
But that they fishes were, and could not speak.
How fhall a tyrant wife ftrong projects break,
If wretches can on them the common anger
wreak?

XXXVI.

The flail-finn'd thresher, and steel-beak'd fword. fish

Only attempt to do what all do with :
The thresher backs him, and to beat begins;
The fluggard whale leads to oppreffion,
And, t'hide himself from shame and danger, down
Begins to fink: the fword-fifh upwards fpins,
And gores him with his beak; his ftaff-like fins,
So well the one, his sword the other, plies,
That, now a fcoff and prey, this tyrant dies,
And (his own dole) feeds with himself all com,
panies.

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

To die did ever kill a man of better room)
And thus he made his foe his prey and tomb:
Who cares not to turn back may any wither come.

XLI.

Next hous'd this Soul a wolfe's yet unborn whelp,
Till the best midwife, Nature, gave it help
To iffue: it could kill as foon as go.
Abel, as white and mild as his sheep were,
(Who, in that trade, of church and kingdoms there
Was the first type) was still infefted fo
With this wolf, that it bred his lofs and woe;
And yet his bitch, his centinel, attends

The flock fo near, fo well warns and defends, That the wolf (hopeless elfe) to corrupt her intends.

XLII.

He took a course, which fince fuccefsfully
Great men have often taken, to espy

The counfels, or to break the plots, of foes;
To Abel's tent he stealeth in the dark,

On whose skirts the bitch flept: ere she could bark,

Attach'd her with strait gripes, yet he call'd those
Embracements of love: to love's work he goes,
Where deeds move more than words; nor doth
The show,

Nor much refift, no needs he freighten fo
His prey, for were the loofe fhe would not bark

nor go.

XLIII.

He hath engag'd her; his fhe wholly bides;
Who not her own, none others fecrets hides..
If to the flock he come, and Abel there,
She feigns hoarfe barkings, but she biteth not!
Her faith is quite, but not her love forgot.
At laft a trap, of which fome every where
Abel had plac'd, ends all his iofs and fear

By the wolfe's death; and now just time it was
That a quick Soul fhould give life to that mais
Of blood in Abel's bitch, and thither this did pafs.

XLIV.

Some have their wives, their fifters fome begot,
But in the lives of emp'rors you shall not
Read of a luft the which may equal this:
This wolf begot himself, and finished
What he began alive when he was dead.
Son to himself, and father too, he is
A riding luft, for which fchoolmen would mifs
A proper name. The whelp of both these lay
In Abel's tent, and with foft Moaba,

His fifter, being young, ir us'd to sport and play.

XLV.

He foon for her too harsh and churlish grew,
And Abel (the dam dead) would ufe this new
For the field; being of two kinds thus made,
He, as his daru, from theep drove wolves away,
And, as his fire, he made them his own prey.
Five years he liv'd, and couzened with his trade,
Then, hopeless that his faults were hid, betray'd
Himfelf by flight, and by all followed,
From dogs a wolf, from wolves a dog, he fled,
And, like a fpy, to both fides falfe, he perished.

XLVI.

It quick'ned next a toyful ape, and fo Gamefome it was, that it might freely ga

From tent to tent, and with the children play:
His organs now fo like theirs he doth find,
That why he cannot laugh and speak his mind
He wonders. Much with all, most he doth stay
With Adam's fifth daughter, Siphatecia;
Doth gaze on her, and where the paffeth pass,
Gathers her fruits. and tumbles on the grafs;
And, wifeft of that kind, the first true lover was.

XLVII.

He was the first that more defir'd to have
One than another; first that e'er did crave
Love by mute figns, and had no power to speak;
First that could make love-faces, or could do
The vaulter's fomberfalts, or us'd to woo
With hoiting gambols, his own bones to break,
To make his mistress merry, or to wreak
Her anger on himself. Sins against kind
They eas'ly do that can let feed their mind
With outward beauty; beauty they in boys and
beafts do find.

XLVIII.

By this mifled too low things men have prov'd,
And too high; beafts and angels have been lov'd :
This ape, though elfe through vain, in this was
wife;

He reach'd at things too high, but open way
There was, and he knew not fhe would fay Nay.
His toys prevail not; likelier means he tries;
He gapeth on her face with tear-shot eyes,
And uplifts fubtilely, with his ruffet paw,
Her kid-fkin apron without fear or awe
Of Nature; Nature hath no gaol, though fhe hath
law,

XLIX.

Firft fhe was filly, and knew not what he meant :
That virtue, by his touches chaft and spent,
Succeeds an itchy warmth, that melts her quite;
She knew not firft, nor cares not what he doth;
And willing half and more, more than half wrath.
She neither pulls nor pushes, but out-right
Now cries, and now repents; when Thelemite,
Her brother, enter'd, and a great ftone threw
After the ape, who thus prevented flew.
This houfe, thus batter'd down, the Soul poffeft

anew.

L..

And whether by this change fhe lose or win,
She comes out next where th' ape would have
gone in.

Adam and Eve had mingled bloods, and now,
Like chemic's equal fires, her temperate womb
Had ftew'd and form'd it; and part did become
A fpungy liver, that did richly allow,
Like a free conduit on a high hill's brow,
Life-keeping moisture unto every part;
Fart harden'd itself to a thicker heart,
Whole bufy furnaces life's fpirits do impart.

LI.

Another part became the well of fenfe,
The tender well-arm'd feeling brain, from whence
Thofe fincw ftrings which do our bodies tie
Are ravell'd out; and faft there by one end
Did this Soul limbs, thefe limbs a Soul attend;
And now they join'd, keeping fome quality
Of every paft nape; she knew treachery,

[blocks in formation]

QUOD Crux nequibat fixa, clavique additi,
(Tenere Chriftum fcilicet, ne afcenderet)
Tuive Chriftum devocans facundia,
Ultra loquendi tempus; addit Anchora:
Nec hoc abundè eft tibi, nifi certa Anchora
Addas Sigillum; nempe fymbolum fuæ
Tibi debet unde et terra çertitudinis.

Quondam feffus Amor loquens amato,
Tot et tanta loquens amica, fcripfit:
Tandem et fefla manus dedit Sigillum.

Suavis erat, qui fcripta dolens lacerando recludi,
Sanctius in regno magni credebat Amoris
(In quo fas nihil eft rumpi) donare Sigillum!

Munde, fuas fugiafque licet, nos noftraque fixi; Deridet motus fancta catena tuos,

ALTHOUGH the cross could not Chrift here detain,

Though nail'd unto 't, but he afcends again,
Nor yet thy eloquence here keep him ftill,
But only while thou speak'ft, this Anchor will:
Nor canft thou be content, unless thou to
This certain Anchor add a Seal; and fo
The water and the earth both unto thee
Do owe the symbol of their certainty.

When Love, being weary, made an end
Of kind expreffions to his friend,
He writ; when his hand could write no more
He gave the Seal, and fo left o'er.

How fweet a friend was he who, being griev'd
His letters were broke rudely up, believ'd
'Twas more fecure in great Love's common weal
(Where nothing should be broke) to add a Seal!

Let the world reel, we and all ours stand fure; This holy cable is of all storms fecure.

TO MR. GEORGE HERBERT,

Sent him with one of my Seals of the Anchor and Chrift,
Qui priùs affuetus Serpentum fafce tabellas
Signare (hæc noftræ fymbola parva Domûs)
Adicitus domui Domini, patrioque relicto
Stemmate, nancifcor ftemmata jure nova. [vacro,
Hinc mihi Crux, primo quæ fronti impreffa la-
Finibus extenfis, Anchora facta patet.

Anchoræ in effigiem Crux tandem definit ipfam,
Anchora fit tandem Crux tolerata diu.
Hoc tamen ut fiat, Chrifto vegetatur ab ipfo
Crux, et ab affixo eft Anchora facta Jefu.
Nec natalitis penitus Serpentibus orbor;
Non ita dat Deus, ut auferat ante data.
Quà fapiens, dos eft; quà terram lambit et ambit,
Peftis; at in noftrâ fit medicina Cruce
Serpens; fixa Cruci fi fit Natura; Crucique
A fixo nobis gratia tota fluat.

[lum

Omnia cum Crux fint, Crux Anchora fixa, Sigil-
Non tam dicendum hoc, quàm catechifmus erit,
Mitto, nec exigua, exiguâ fub imagine, dona,
Pignora amicitiæ, et munera, vota, preces.

Plura tibi accumulet fanctus cognominis ille,
Regia qui flavo dona Sigillat equo.

A foeaf of Snakes ufed heretofore to be my Seal, the crest of our poor family.

ADOPTED in God's family, and fo
Our old coat loft, unto new arms I go.
The Crofs (my feal at baptifm) fpread below,
Does by that form into an Anchor grow.
Croffes grow Anchors: bear, as thor shouldst do,
Thy Crofs, and that Crofs grows an Anchor too.
But he that makes our Croffes Anchors thus
Is Chrift, who there is crucify'd for us.
Yet may I, with this, my firft Serpents hold;
God gives new bleflings, and yet leaves the old.
The Serpent may, as wife, my pattern be;
My poifon, as he feeds on duft, that is me:
And as he rounds the earth to murder fure,
My death he is, but on the Crofs my cure.
Crucify Nature then, and then implore
All grace from him crucify'd there before.
When all is Crofs, and that Croís Anchor grown,
This Seal is a catechism, not a Seal alone.
Under that little Seal great gifts I fend,
Works, and prayers, pawns, and fruits of a friend.
And may that faint which rides in our great Seal
To you who bear his name great bounties deal.

[merged small][ocr errors][merged small]

May thy foul, ever cheerful, ne'er know cares;
Nor thy life, ever lively, know gray hairs:
Nor thy hand, ever open, know bafe holds;
Nor thy purfe, ever plump, know plaits or folds;
Nor thy tongue, ever true, know a falfe thing;
Nor thy words, ever mild, know quarrelling;
Nor thy works, ever equal, know difguife;
Nor thy fame, ever pure, know contumelies;
Nor thy prayers know low objects, still divine:
God grant thee thine own with, and grant thee

mine.

He that cannot choose but love,
And strives against it still,
Never fhall my fancy move,
For he loves against his will:

Nor he which is all his own,
And cannot pleasure choose;
When I am caught he can be gone,
And when he lift refuse:

Nor he that loves none but fair,
For fuch by all are fought;
Nor he that can for foul ones care,
For his judgment then is naught:

Nor he that hath wit, for he
Will make me' his jeft or flave;
Nor a fool, for when others--
He cau neither-

Nor he that still his mistress prays,
For fhe is thrall'd therefore;
Nor he that pays not, for he says
Within fhe's worth no more.

Is there then no kind of men Whom I may freely prove? I will vent that humour then In this mine own felf-love.

THE heavens rejoice in motion; why should I
Abjure my fo much-lov'd variety,

And not with many youth, and lov'd, divide?
Pleasure is none if not diverfify'd.

The fun that, fitting in the chair of light,

Sheds flame into what elfe foever doth feem bright,
Is not contented at one fign to inn,

But ends his year, and with a new begins.
All things do willingly in change delight,
The fruitful mother of our appetite;
Rivers the clearer and more pleafing are,
Where their fair spreading streams run wide and
clear;

And a dead lake, that no strange bark doth greet,
Corrupts itself, and what doth live in it.
Let no man tell me fuch a one is fair,
And worthy, all alone, my love to share :
Nature in her hath done the liberal part
Of a kind mistress, and employ'd her art

To make her loveable; and I aver

Him not humane that would turn back fro her,

I love her well, and would, if need were, die
To do her service: but follows it that I
Must ferve her only when I may have choice?
The law is hard, and shall not have my voice.
The laft I faw in all extremes is fair,
And holds me in the fun-beams of her hair;
Her nymph-like features fuch agreements have,
That I could venture with her to the grave:
Another's brown, I like her not the worfe;
Her tongue is foft, and takes me with difcourfe
Others, for that they well defcended were,
Do in my love obtain as large a share;
And though they be not fair, 't is much with me
To win their love only for their degree;
And though I fail of my required ends,
Th' attempt is glorious, and itfelf commends.
How happy were our fires in ancient time,
Who held plurality of loves no crime?
With them it was accounted charity
To ftir up race of all indifferently:
Kindreds were not exerapted from the bands,
Which with the Perfians ftill in usage stands.
Women were then no fooner ask'd than wen,
And what they did was honest, and well done :
But fince this little honour hath been us'd,
Our weak credulity hath been abus'd;
The golden laws of Nature are repeal'd,
Which our first fathers in fuch reverence held;
Our liberty's revers'd, and charter's gone,
And we made fervants to Opinion,

A monfter, in no certain shape attir'd.
And whofe original is much defir'd;
Formless at first, but growing on its fashions,
And doth prescribe manners and laws to nations.
Here Love receiv'd immedicable harms,
And was defpoiled of his daring arms;
A greater want than is his daring eyes,
He loft thofe awful wings with which he flies;
His finewy bow, and thofe immortal darts
Wherewith he's wont to bruise refifting hearts:
Only fome few, frong in themselves, and free,
Retain the feeds of ancient liberty;
Following that part of love, although depreft,
And make a throne for him within their breaft;
In spite of modern cenfures him avowing
Their fovercign, all fervice him allowing :
Amongst which troop, although I am the least,
Yet equal in perfection with the beft;"
I glory in fubjection of his hand,
Nor ever did decline his least command;
For in whatever form the meffage came,
My heart did open and receive the fame.
But time will in its courfe a point defery,
When I this loved service must deny;
For our allegiance temporary is;
With firmer age return our liberties.
What time in years and judgment we repos'd,
Shall not fo eas'ly be to change difpos'd,
Nor to the art of feveral eyes obeying,
But beauty with true worth fecurely weighing,
Which being found affembled in fome one,
We'll love her ever, and love her alone.

« السابقةمتابعة »