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A65722
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Janua divorum, or, The lives and histories of the heathen gods, goddesses & demi-gods with divine and moral observations upon their most remarkable actions, adorned with 25 copper cuts proper to each deity, and put into verse / by Robert Whitcombe.
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Whitcombe, Robert.
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1677
(1677)
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Wing W1743; ESTC R33590
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47,294
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212
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hurl'd Lab'ring in Travel of an unborn VVorld From whose large Soul deriv'd in after time VVere all those Deities they term'd Divine As Mistress of the Earth she now Infuses That genial heat which Hearbs and Flow'rs produces And by the Suns imbraces yet does bring Into the world each Year a lusty Spring For which the grateful Painters do bestow Small Towns like Lawrels circling round her Brow In a low Vale a fertil Hill does rise Whose Fruit does bound the Prospect of her Eyes Whilst in a stately Chariot she o'relooks Fair Landskips Lac'd with glittering Silver Brooks Which 'twixt their flowry Banks do gently fly Rend'ring their Beauty double to the Eye Thus was this Reverend Goddess use to Ride With crouds of Shepheards Lacquing by her side PLUTO The Poetical History of Pluto BEyond the utmost Limits of the Earth In a vast space which gave young Time its Birth Where dancing Atoms silently do Mourn Because they cannot Jumble into Form A piece of that old Vacuum or Shade Where Eldest Spirits their first Revels made And frisking Demons afterwards were hurl'd Free from the croudings of this Bulky World Which push'd and shov'd 'em up to lesser Room Making incroachments on their Vacuum There wrapt in Flames a dreadful Throne does stand O're which Infernal Pluto bears command Stretching his Firy Scepter out so far As loudly speaks him Hells great Emperor Burning Grannadoes ' stead of Jems appear Like blazing studds on his supported Chair VVhich o're remoter shades large prospects takes From the strong Atlas of grim Spirits backs His shrill Command the silent Grott invades Which caught by Eccho's bandy'd through the shades Till startled Ghosts from out their Bushes run Like frighted Hares about the Elyzium And fleshless Skeletons surprized so They leave their Brakes and wrattle as they go Departing Souls to this Infernal Court VVhen they forsake their lifeless Trunks resort VVhere correspondent toth ' deeds they have done They trembling sit to hear deserved doom From Minos Radamanthus and the rest VVhose spotless Lives deserv'd that power best VVhom to that Office Pluto did prefer For their unbyas'd Justice practic'd here At the poor Souls approach the Judges call For their Diurnal or that hideous Scrall Carefully kept in Heav'ns great Capital All to be daub'd with wretched Sinners names VVhich all their close and open Sins proclaims In Letters Capital so plain toth ' Eye That when the trembling Sinner comes to die Like Boys in horn-Horn-Books h'reads em through the Skie Judgment according to their Crimes b'ing past The wicked Souls to Tartarus were cast That by a certain time of suffring there They might Attone those Sins they acted here The first thing there the amazed Souls beheld VVas mighty Gyants under Mountains quel'd Down to hot flames because before they strove From Heav'ns bright Throne to pull the Pow'rs above The next which beg'd attention from the Eye VVas wretched Ixion whose Love soar'd so high To court compliance in stern Juno's will For which attempt she bound him to a wheel VVhich in a swift unseasant pace did move To give him Torture for his saucy Love But that which admiration most obtains VVas Sysiphus his unsuccessful pains Condemn'd for Theft to Roll a mighty Stone Up a steep Hill which faster tumbled down And by the force of it's prevailing weight Renders him hopeless of a milder Fate In hellish Tartarus to stay their Times Appointed were according to their Crimes Some small some great which soon as e're expir'd The now confined Soul with joy retir'd To those cool shades where lavish Blessings run Frequent as Air and make Elyzium The shape of Ghosts they now retain no more But each resumes his Form as heretofore There Lovers which this peevish World deny'd Their wisht Conjunction happily reside Free from disturbance ' mongst those shady Groves Reaping the utmost wishes of their Loves Some wast their happy Minutes to declare Th' affronts and crosses which they meet with here And then with thoughts renew'd those griefs destroy Pond'ring the freedom which they now enjoy Here mighty Love does all his charms disclose Here Friends nor Law nor Im'rest interpose But ev'ry Lover to his Mate is giv'n With whom he lives and makes a perfect Heav'n Here lovely Chen when th' obliging Gods Shall call us to them in these Green aboads Beneath some pensive Willow thou and I Condemned here alas to Gaze and Sigh Shall their those Pow'rs themselves to Envy move VVhen we comâ—leat our long suspended Love Gods will 〈◊〉 their Essences and wish To be like us wheâ— they behold our Bliss And envious Lovers at their Fates repine When thy warm Arms shall cling as close as mine VVhen of thy Beauties I shall be possest And Love and Youth make up an endless Feast And if at any time our fervour shall Admit an hour or two of Interval Resembling Recreation I shall find VVhen I contemplate thy Illustrious mind Thou hast a Soul so noble and refin'd And so transcending silly VVoman kind That when in blest Elyzium it appears The wond'ring Gods will think it one of their Treat it accordingly till I do prove Thee mine alone by Tenure of my Love Ah! whilst I think on thee my Pen does write VVith so much satisfaction and delight That common Lovers in their sweetest Joys May wish my Pleasures whilst I write thy Praise Pardon great Pluto that so long I Rove I left my Theme a while to meet my Love So once with Amorous thoughts thy Breast did swell VVhen Proserpina thou Redeemd'st from Hell Furies nor Fire could not then remove The wild Excursion of thy Frantick Love But thou to Heav'n through both did'st her convey As Old Archises rid through Flames of Troy PROSERPINA The Poetical History of Prosperpina WHat Mighty Mines of hidden Magick lie In the small Circle of a Womans Eye VVhen Statemens Policies and Heroes Arms Are fain to stoop to its prevailing Charms And on this score concede to mighty Love VVhat conquer'd them has done the same by Jove VVho first his God-head as a Victim lays Down to the Mercy of Latona's Eys And then divests himself of all his Power To young Denae in the Brazen Tower To tell the various Intrigues of his Love VVould but a Herculean labour prove It is enough the Courteous Reader knows That Jove at length to Ceres Beauty bows On whom his Promises such Credence gain She yields the Fort which ne're before was tane And Proserpina Heav'ns Imperial Queen Her being owes to the Lascivious Sin The dauning Glories of whose Morning years A Prodigee to neighbouring Gods appears VVho by those Seeds of Beauty fate had sow'n In her fair cheeks presag'd the Cropp when grown Each Amorous Deity attempts t' engage In Youth her Love against she comes to Age VVhilst she as coyly does their Flames disown And scorns a Present lesser than a Crown Her Native Grandure and her Courtlike Meen Dispos'd her only fit to be a Queen Nor can in Heav'n
with her old Soveraignty or greatness of Mind Venus with her delicate Beauty And Alcides with his Godlike Courage and brave Spirit And in short they affirm'd that all those Noble Qualifications for which they were formerly Deify'd were only Concenter'd in your Self and therefore humbly desired the Honor of your Patronage tho Presented by so mean a Hand as that of Madam Your most humble and Devoted Servant ROBERT WHITCOMBE TO THE READER I Remember the Incomparable Author of PARTHENISSA tells us in one of his Epistles that for a long time he had an unusual aversness to Reading till being call'd upon occasion into France and conversing there with the accomplish'd Ladies of those times he found it as absolutely necessary to be skill'd in Romance as in any other part of Conversation whatsoever Whereupon he betook himself to Books and what Proficiency he has made therein is best known by those Excellent Poems wherewith he has since oblig'd the World at so large a Rate that it will be her greatest Prudence to plead Poverty since she is not able to render him a Requital That a Competent knowledge of the Laws and Grounds of Poesie in general is as absolutely requisit amongst the English-Gentry now as that of Romance only was among the French then is so easie a Problem that he who has ventur'd but as far as Charing-Cross or attempted to come within the perfume of a Courtier can deside it on the Affirmative 'T is thought as necessary to the Complement of a Courtier as the knowledg of the Compass to the Composition of a Seaman neither Man nor Woman can safely Sail in the Courts dangerous Ocean without it unless they are resolved to expose themselves to those Impetuous Storms of Scorn and Neglect which Augmented by Envy and Interest will immediately hurry them into one of those Dangerous Gulphs Ruine or Disgrace How necessary the Knowledg of the Lives and Histories of the Heathen Gods will be to those Ingenious Spirits who design to make an inspection into this Noble Science will most evidently appear if we but turn our heads over our shoulders to look back into the infancy of Poesie where we shall find Homer so inquisitive after their Offices and Dispositions that at length he is able to give us an account of both their Nature and Affections and to compleat his Poem was forc'd to divide them into almost as many Sects and Factions as we have now in England There was no Battel but some God or Goddess was partial in the event And since by the severe Mandates of Imperious Fate Troy was to be Conquer'd it was no small Comfort unto the declining Glory of the defeated Trojans that their Deities rather than their Armies were overcome in the Contest Lofty Virgil lays hold of the same assistance and that Italian Shakesphear Ovid Tho miraculously throng'd with those Poetical Blessings Judgment and Phansie durst not hazard his Reputation on their Bottoms but discreetly laid the steady foundation of his Immortal Poem on the same Basis and cemented it with the like Ligaments as his Two famous Predecessors had done before So that the question will not be so much whether the knowledg of the Heathen Gods be necessary to Poesie as why I attempted their Lives in Verse since they were so excellently Written in Prose The truth is I must needs submit to the Learning of several Authors who have writ of this Subject I only pretend to be a gleaner in their wealthy fields and acknowledg the Wheat in my little Mow ows its Original to their labours I began this small Piece for my own Satisfaction But I know not how some of the sheets being scatter'd abroad at last came to a Stationers hand who was pleased to think them worthy of Publick View and had intended to adorn them with all Copper Cuts like those of Venus Mercury and Diana but being prevented by a tedious fit of sickness they were forc'd to take up with such as you see I can say little as to the Book and only thus much for my self that it was writ in the Countrey about 18 Months ago and has ever since lain in the Printers hands who by reason of my absence has misplaced several of the Histories and not being acquainted with my hand has likewise made many gross Errors some whereof he has directed you to in the Errata and the rest leaves to the Correction of the Judicious Reader I might farther excuse my Circumlocutions or large Exordiums which I make many times to take up more room than the Histories themselves which I know is contrary to Art and can only say I was in most places forc't to it for being by Reason of the Sculptures oblig'd to make every History almost equal in number of Lines I thought it to supply someof those Nigardly Stories which I might have compriz'd in half a Page with useful Observations which naturally arising from the most remarkable Actions of that Deity treat of will I hope prove more grateful to any â—ntelligent Reader than an accumulated bundle â—f invented Fables which I must otherwise have â—lapt in their room But all these Apologies with many others which I might reasonably add could not have prevail'd with me to appear in Print had I not considered that there are many excellent Wits of both Sexes whom cruel Custom or incroaching Business has debar'd the benefit of the Greek and Latin Tongues to whom I thought this small Poem illustrated with Cuts proper to every God and Goddess c. might not be altogether insignificant nor any thing the less acceptable because in Verse whose Chiming Periods seem at once to strike both the Fancies and Memories of the illiterate To whom if this Contributes any assistance it has effected the intention of Thy loving Friend R. W. SATVRNE The Poetical History of Saturn WHen the great Fabrick of the world was wrought And all things newly started out of Nought Ran into form and made a goodly show None could immagin whence they came or how Sudden th' appear'd and pleasing to the Eie As gaudy Rainbows in a Cloudy Skie Form'd as 't is thought by some Superior Good Who the first Elements well understood Knew their composures and with Artful hand Made 'em obedient to his lowd Command The which down hither he so neatly hurl'd That in their fall they dropt into a World Within whose spacious Confines there was none But Coelus found to Rule the Empty Throne Who as he walk'd his Boundless Empire spide The Goddess Terra whom he took for Bride Out of whose Firtil Womb he soon begot Tytan and Saturn Gods of wondrous Note And Monstrous Cyclops Born but with one Eie Amidst their Front at which Deformitie The Throbing Breast of Coelus did so swell That Furiously he hurl'd them down to Hell Condemn'd them there Eternally to Fry In forming bolts for Jove's Artillery Which dismal News when it approacht the Ears Of Virtuous Terra set her all in Tears Who soon