yeeres space were couered with Bees But first some little rock that swarmed eu'ry prime Two surcreases or three made on their tops to clime Aside and all about those nurslings of the Sun At length all o're the cliffes their hony-combs to run Or as two springing Elmes that grow amids a field With water compassed about their stocks doe yeeld A many younger trees and they againe shoot-out As many like themselues encroaching all about And gaining foot by foot so thriue that aft'r a while They for a shared mead a forrest make that Isle Accordinly the men who built th' Assyrian tower Were scattred all abroad though not all in an hower But first enhous'd themselues in Mesopotamie By processe then of time increasing happily They pass'd streame after streame and seizd land after land And were not th'age of all cut short by Gods command No country might be found so sauage or vnknow'n But by the stock of man had bin ere this o'regrown And this the cause is why the Tigre-abutting coast In all the former time of all did flourish most That first began to warre that only got a name And little knew the rest but learned of the same The cause why the first monarchic was in Assiria For Babylon betimes drawne vnd'r a kingly throne Th'emperiall scepter swaid before the Greeks were knowne To frame a politie before by charming tones Amphion walled Thebes of self-empyling stones Yer Latins had their townes yer Frenchmen houshold rents Or Dutchmen cottages or Englishmen their tents The Hebrues their neighbors were learned and religious before the Greeks knew any thing So Hebers sonnes had long abhorred Altars made For any heathen gods with Angels had their trade And knew the great Vnknowue yea ô most happy thing With eyes of faith beheld their vnbeholden king The learned Chaldee knew of stars the numb'r and lawes Had measured the skie and vnderstood the cause That muffleth vp the light of Cinthia's siluer lips And how her thwarting doth her brothers light eclips The Priest of Memphis knew the nature of the soule And straitly marked how the hean'nly flames doe roule Who that their faces might more flaming seeme and gay In Amphitrites poole once wash them euery day He physick also wrote and taught Geometree Before thar any Greeke had learn'd his A Be Cee The Egyptians Tyrians had all riches and delights before the Greeks and Ganles knew the world All Egypt ouershone with golden vtensils Before the limping smith by Aetnaes burning kills Had hammerd iron barrs before Prometheus found The fire and vse thereof vpon th'Argolian ground Alas we were not then or if we were at least We led an vnkouth life and like the sauage beast Our garments feathers were that birds in moulting cast We feasted vnder trees and gaped after mast VVhen as the men of Tyre already durst assay To raze the saltie Blew twixt them and Africa Aduentur'd merchandise with purpl'enguirt their flanks And pleasure kept her court about Euphrates banks For as a peble stone if thou on water fling Of any sleepie poole it frames a little ring First whereabout it fell then furth'r about doth rase The wauing marbl ' or eu'n the trembling Chrystall face VVith mouing paralels of many circles moe That reaching furth'r abroad together-waxing flow Vntill the round at length most outward and most large Strikes of the standing lake both one and other marge So from the Cent'r of All which here I meane to pitch Vpon the waters brinke where discord sproong of speech Man dressing day by day his knowledge more and more Makes arts and wisdome flow vnto the circle-shore As doth himselfe increase and as in diuers bands His fruitfull seed in time hath ouergrowne the lands The first Colonieâ— of Sem in the East From faire Assyriland the Semites gan to trauell Vnto the soile beguilt with glystring Hytan-grauell And peopling Persiland dronke Oroates iuyce And wat'r of cleare Coaspe that licks the walls of Suse So tooke the fruitfull dale and flow'r-embellyd plaines Betwixt high Caucase tops where shortly Arsace raignes And some in Medye dwelt and some began to make The fields abutting on the great Hircanian Lake The second These mens posteritie did like a flood surround And ouerflow in time the Cheisel-fronting ground They came in diuers troopes vpon Tachalistan Caras Gadel Chabul Bedane and Balistan â—he â—hiâ—d Their Of-spring afterward broke-vp with toyling hands Narzinga Bisnagar and all the plenteous lands That Ganges thorow flowes and peopled Toloman The realme of Mein and Aue and muskie Carazan They saw the fearefull sprights in wildernesse of Lop That maske in hundred shapes way fairing men to stop The fourth Long aft'r at sundry times this Race still coasting east Tipura seizd that breeds the horny-snowted beast Mangit and Gaucinchine that Aloes hath store And stopt at Anie straights and Cassagalie shore The first Celonies of Iaphet in the West Now from the Center-point in clining to the Set Far spred abroad themselues the children of Iaphet To Armenie the lesse and after to Cilice So got the hau'ns at length of Tarsis and of Ise The sweet Corician caue that neere to Parnas hill Delights the commers in with Cymball-sounding skill Huge Taure his loftie downes Ionie Cappadoce Meanders winding banks Bythinâ— and Illios The second Then boldly passing-o're the narrow cut of Sest They dronke the water chill of Strimon Heber and Nest The Rhodopean dales they graz'd and laid in swathes The leas that running-by Danubies water bathes The third parted into many câ—anches Thrace did a thonside fill the Grecian territorie Greece peopled Italie law-giuing louing-glory By Italie was France by France was filled Spaine The borderings of Rhine and all the Great Britaine Ath'otherside againe it sent a Colonie Both to the Pont-Eusine and toward Moldauie So raught Transyluanie Morauie Hungarie And Seruie farther-west and eastward Podolie Thence men to Prussie came and Wyxell borders ear'd Then that of Almanie that narre the Pole is râ—ar'd Now turning to the South The firsâ—â— of 〈◊〉 Souâ— consider how Chaldea Spewes-out in Arabie Phenice and Chananea The cursed line of Cham yet ne'rthelesse it growes The second And twixt Myd-sea and Red along int'Egypt goes So stores the towne Corene and that renowmed coast Whereon the Punick Seas are all to-froth betost Fesse Gogden Terminan Argin Gusola The third Dara Tombuto Gualata Melli Gago Mansara The sparkling wildernesse of Lybie breeding-venim Caun Guber Amasen Born Zegzeg Nubye The fourth Benim And of the droughtie soile those euer-moouing sands Where Iesus yet is known and Prestre Ian commands Who though in many points he commeth neere the Iew Yet hath a kind of Church not all vnlike the true How the North was peopled Here if thou meane to know whence all the land so large Which vnder-lies the draught of many a sliding barge All-ouer pau'd with Ise and of the sea
young ones dare assay to wrastl ' against the weather Right so the men who built the great Assyrian Tower Perceiuing Gods great voice in thunder-clashing stower Of their confounded speech each barbarous vnt ' ether Betake them to their heeles all fearefull altogether Some runne the left-hand way and some acoste the right Why God would not haue the posteritie of Noe stay in the plaine of Sennaar All tread th'vnhaunted earth as God ordain'd their flight For that great King of heau'n who long ere creature breath'd In priuie counsaile had this vnder-world bequeath'd Vnto the race of Man ne would at all abide it To be a den of theeues as if men should diuide it By dreadfull dint of sword and eu'ry people border This thickned Element beast-like and out of order But fire of warre to quench he did all try-diuide The earth dinided betweene the sonnes of Noe. Among the sonnes of Noe allotting each his side So Sem enhabited the day-beginning East To Cham befell the South and Iaphet gain'd the West 3. The men who built That which the Poet saith concerning the affright of these builders is implied by the words of Moses Gen. 11.8 they ceased to build by the one is the other vnderstood for vpon the sudden chance of so strange a confusion they were scarred as with a thunder-clap and after by necessitie constrained to sunder themselues Yet I am of their opinion who thinke the diuersitie of tongues is to bee considered not in euery particular builder but only in families As that the goodnesse of God was such in his iudgement that the builders departing thence each led his wife and children with him who vnderstood and spake as he did otherwise mans life could hardly haue beene sustained They also that parted furthest at the first from those of Noes successors that were not leagued in this presumptuous enterprise soonest forgat all their former language And true it is that at the first they sundered not all very farre one from another but as it pleased God more and more to encrease them they sought further and further for new countries to dwell in and all by the secret direction of the wonderfull prouidence of God 4 That great King of heau'n Hee reacheth euen to the first cause of the Colonies and diuers-way-partings of Noes posteritie Staight after the Floud God blessed Noe and his children and said Encrease and multiply and fill the earth and the feare of you and the dread of you shall be vpon euery beast of the earth and vpon euery fowle of the heauen vpon all that moueth vpon the earth and vpon all the fishes of the sea into your hands are they deliuered Gen. 9.1 2. Therefore if the builders had continued and fast setled themselues in the Plaine of Sennaar they had as much as was in them made void the Lords blessing and berest themselues and their posteritie of those great priuiledges which he had granted them But the deree of God must needs be fulfilled and therefore according to his ordinance he chaseth farre away these donataries to the end that yeare by yeare some in one place and some in another they may take possession of that which was giuen them the whole compasse of the world Whereas the Poet saith further that the Lord diuided the whole earth into three Lots that may be gathered out of the tenth Chapter of Genesis and 32. Chap. of Deuteronom vers 8. Noe a wise and learned man and one of groat experience was the instrument of Gods blessing in this behalfe and though the bounds of these habitations be not all and throughly specisied as were the diuisions of the Land of Canaan among the Tribes of Israel yet out of the tenth Chapter of Genesis a man may gather that in those daies Noe and his sonnes and their posteritie knew more a great deale hereof than men can now perceiue as may appeare by so many diuers Colonies so many strange languages so many names changed and rechanged A good Commentary vpon this Chapter would assoile many questions hereabouts arising 5 To Sem was giuen Because the sonnes of Noe were but three therefore here are named but three quarters of the world the East West and South Some of the successors of Iaphet peopled the North also as shall be shewed hereafter Concerning the names of these foure cardinall points somewhat hath beene said vpon discourse of the winds in the second day of the first weeke verse 571. The order of the sonnes of Noe is this Iaphet is the elder Sem the second C ham the last Gen. 9.24 10.21 But Sem is named first because of the fauour of God shewed to his posteritie by thence raising the Messias and there maintaining his Church Iaphet the second for that in the vocation of the Gentiles he is receiued into the reuts of Sem that is vnited to the family of the faithfull Abraham according to the Prophecie and blessing of Noe Gen. 9.27 Now in the tenth of Gen. vers 25. Moses further affirmeth that Heber Sems vnder nephew had two sonnes the one named Peleg which signifieth Diuision or parting asunder for in his time the Earth was diuided and the other Ioktan Whereout some gather that in the time of Peleg that is as I take it before the cofusion of tongues Noe and his sonnes remembred the grant that God had made them of all the Earth and that Noe then made a kinde of partition thereof among his sonnes If we recken the confusion of the builders together with the partition of the world though about the fiftieth yeare of Peleg who was borne but an hundred yeares after the Floud and liued 239. this confusion must happen within 150. yeares after the Floud which were very soone yet some take it sooner as from the time that Peleg receiued his name for remembrance as they say of both things so note-worthy to all posteritie and especially to the Church of God which well might be aduertised therof for Peleg liued 46. yeares after the birth of Abraham as appeareth by the eleuenth Chapter of Genesis Two things then are here to be considered the one that the partition of the Earth which Noe made was to his posteritie a token of Gods great blessing which neuerthelesse the Babel-builders for their part haue turned into a curse the other that this partition as many Diuines and Chroniclers thinke was made before Nimrod and his traine came out of the East and sate downe in the plaine of Sennaar what time they were scattered thence again by the confusion Whereunto this I will adioyne that as then the builders language was confounded so by continuance of time the speech of others also was corrupted especially when they began to forget the true Religion which euen in Sems family was decayed as appeareth plainely out of the 24. Chapter of Iosua where it is said that Terah father to Abraham and Nachor had serued strange gods It was no reason that the Holy
so blest That they and theirs shall golden Scepter weild Whereto must bow and yeild The proudest plant afeild Ph. So here is worke for Muses all but two What hast thou more Mu. Enough for them to do Ph. Nay vse but Clio leaue Melpomene Mu. Why leaue her out a stately Muse is she Ph. But still so sad with looke cast-downe on earth I doubt hir presence will defeat the myrth Mu. No no I will not part her from the Queere But fit her humor and to mend the cheere Out-set all other wofull destinie My fattest lambe shall make a Tragedie And sing the Muse will of no greater bug Then warre betwixt a yong child and his dug Controuling some though not of high degree As cause thereof ye Ladies pardon me The melancholie Muse yet saith not I All that your Sex dishonour I defie But your faire bottles Melpomen doth thinke Dame nature fill'd for your faire bab's to drinke Ph. Milke would she giue else only to the poore Not vnto such as drye't and spill'c a floore Mu. And this 't is like shee 'll adde vnto the rest That Ladies child deserues a Ladies brest That brauer spirit suckt shall more embraue him And make him man-grown like a knight behaue him P. Whē others make their gētle blod far-wors◠By sucking young the basenesse of their nurse Mu For as their Heathen gods the Heathen sayn No mortall blood had running in their vain But Venus wounded once by Diomed Ambrosian liquor at her finger shed Right so in blood of men there is great odds And such among them as are stiled Gods The finest haue to breed their children food Blood was late milk and milk will soone be blood Ph. And some loue more as cause of better luck Then wombe that bore them paps that gaue them luck What parent would not such a reason moue Drawne from the gain or losse of childrens loue Mu. I once beheld where Lady of high degree As with her Lord and others set was she In mids of dinner had her child brought-in And gaue it suck scarce shewing any skin Through ynch-board hole of silk pinn'd vp againe When child was fed without more taking paine Ph. And is not this instinct through all dyssown That eur'y femall hatcheth-vp her owne Well make an end Mu. How can I be too long When Muses beare the burden of my song But here 's a Trumpet Fame selfe hath no better And Clio sounds it well and I 'le entreat her Hereafter sing on high what foe shall bow To th' issues of this happie match but now To surd it as young trompeters are wont And lest it sound too lowd set stop vpon 't Yet first bid welcome with a cheerefull clank The French Deluce to Brytaines Rosy bank Phi. Well fare thine heart for thinking on these things To please the children of so mighty Kings My selfe though poore wil thereto ioine my myte On solemne day so leaue thee for to night Mu. And I so thee time is our sheepe were penn'd The Sunne is soonken at the Landskop end Then Musidor made haste home and began Take order for the busines with his man Wife had he none the more was he distrest See lad quoth he the house and garth well drest To morrow morn for then or soone at least The sweetest Nymph on earth will be my guest Without plash thistles and presumptuous thorns That neare the way grow-vp among the corns For feare they rase her hands more white thē milke Or teare her mantles windy-wauing silke Withìn if Spiders heretofore haue durst With cunning webs where through the stronger burst And weaker flies are caught presume to quyp The sacred lawes of men with besome stryp Both web and weauer downe be-rush the floore The porch and th'entries and about the doore Set eau'n the trestles and the tables wax And strew the windowes house that mistres lacks O how quoth he and deeply sigh'd therat 'T is out of order wants I know not what Haue care my lad and be as 't were my sonne He lowted low and said it should be don Much hereto more was written when the Queene Her beautie shat'd your sea and land betweene But after landing long will be my booke Held vnder presse on part then please you looke Till come the rest but ô with gratious eye And pardon for applying Maiestie To Shepherds stile so may you see conspire Th'English and French as no third tongue comes nigher No not the Greeke vnt ' either though Sir Stephen Hath made the same with French to march full As doth our English and it shall yet more Now heart and hand ye Princes ioyne wherefore eauen I pray and will with Hymen all mine houres That for the good successe of you and yours While earth stands Cent'r and Heau'n in circle goes Together spring French Lillie and English Rose Your Maiesties faithfull subiect and seruant W. L'isle To the Readers COnyes whom Salomon reckons among the wise Little-ones vpon earth do make many skraplets and profers on the ground before they dig earnestly for their neast or litter and writing-schollers draw first in blotting paper many a dash roundell and minime before they frame the perfect letters that shall stand to their coppie so entending some worke that may if I be so happie remain some while after me many waies do I essay and try first my stile and pen that according also to the wise rule of Horace I may thereby iudge my selfe and discerne quid valeant humeri quid ferre recusent Nor do I trust my owne iudgement herein so likely to be partiall but commonly present my worke in writing before it bee printed vnto some Quintilius or other whose noble disposition will authoritie may and learning is able to find fault and aduise me Yet among the sundrie versets or prosets which besides this I haue or shall set-out if you find some that sauour of my younger time passe by them I pray you or affoord them the fauour that my Quintilius doth to let them passe because they were the way that led me to a grauer kind as also the grauest of humain Poetrie brought me at last to the diuine whereof I haue many Essayes now almost readie for the presse This translation of Salust du Bartas what present occasion draweth from me you may well perceiue yet thinke me not herein Acta agere to do that which was before done and very well by Iosua Siluester for it is in a diuers kind and many yeares ere he began this had I lying by me yea partly published in print as Anno 1596 Anno 1598 and dedicated to the late Noble Charles Earle of Nottingham But now the cause why in this I beginne so abruptly is for that I was loth to come neere the booke next aforegoing which our late Soueraigne Lord King Iames in his youth so incomparably made English yet had I a desire to fall vpon that braue commendation of our late Soueraigne Ladie Queene Elizabeth
shall be floong His angers fierie darts that as thy shamelesse toong With bould and brasen face presumes now to deny him Thy miserable estate in time to come may trie him First that God is infind◠vnchäge able Alinightie and incomprehensible I know and God be thankt this Circle all whole sound Whose cent'r hath place in all as ou'r all go'th his round This onely being power feeles not within his mind A thousand diuers fits driu'n with a counter-wind He mooues All yet vnmooud yea onely with a thought Works-vp the frame of Heau'n and pulls downe what he wrought I know his throne is built amids a flaming fire To which none other can but only of grace aspire For breathlesse is our breath and ghostlesse is our ghost When his vnbounded might in circl ' he list to coast I know I know his face how bright it thorow shines The double winged maske of glorious Cherubines That Holy Almightie Great but on his backe behinde None euer saw and then he passed like a winde The step-tracke of his feet is more then meruellable His Being vncomprisd his name vnutterable That we who dwell on earth so low thrust from the skie Do neuer speake of God but all vnproperly For call him happie Ghost ye grant him not an ase Aboue an Angells right say Strong and that 's more base Say Greatest of all Great he 's void of quantitie Say Good Faire Holy one he 's void of qualitie Of his diuine estate the full accomplishment Is meere substantiall and takes not accident And that 's the cause our tongue in such a loftie subiect Attaining not the minde Why wee cannot speake of God but in termes of manhood more then the minde her obiect Doth lispe at euery word and wanting eloquence When talke it would of God with greatest reuerence By Manly-sufferance it hath him Jealous nam'd Repenting pitifull and with iust ang'r enflam'd Repentance yet in God emplies not Repentance and change ascribed vnto God in Scripture is farre from errour and fault as in vs Misdome or ignorance nor is he enuious For all his Iealosie his pitie cannot set him In miserable estate his anger cannot fret him Calme and in quiet is the Spirit of the Lord And looke what goodly worke fraile man could ere afford Thrust headlong on with heat of any raging passion The Lord it workes and all with ripe consideration What 1. Comparison for that purpose shall the Leach behold without a weeping eye Without a change of looke without a swoone or cry The struggling of his friend with many sorts of paine And feele his fainting pulse and make him whole againe And shall not God that was and is and shall be th'same On miserable man looke downe from heau'nly frame Without a fit of griefe without a wofull crie 2. Comparison Nor heale infirmities without infirmitie Or shall a Iudge condemne without all angers sting The strange adulterer to shamefull suffering As aiming sharpe reuenge and setting his entence Not on the sinn'r at all but on the sole offence And shall the fancie of man so binde the will of God That which is Iustice in man cannot be vice in God He may not lift his arme and iust reuenging rod Without some fury against a theefe or Athean Or is' t a vice in God God punisheth not to defend his owne estate but to maintaine vertue and confoun vice that 's held a vertue in man And cannot God abhorre a sinne abominable But of some sinne himselfe he must be censurable He alwaies one-the same ne're takes vp armes to guard him Or his estate from hurt as if some treason skard him Whose campe is pight in heau'n beyond reach of our shot And fens'd with Diman wals this that-way which way not But eu'n to guid our liues to maintaine righteousnesse T' establish wholesome lawes and bridle vnrulinesse The worlds iniquities deserued extreme punishment Nor yet by drowning thus ny-all the world in flood Go'th he beyond the bounds of reason in his mood For Adam who the root was of this world and th' other Shot-forth a forked stocke of Cain and Seth his brother Two ranke and plentious armes the first a wylding bore Disrelisht verdourlesse but in aboundant store Good fruit on th' other grew yet graff'd it was ere long With thossame bastard ympes and thereof quickly sprong What lawlesse match begot Then where on all this round Could any right or good Sith all were corrupted all deserued exile or innocence be found For Sinne that was the right inheritance for Cain To Seths posteritie was giuen in dow'r againe With daughter-heires of Cain so were defiled then The dearest groomes of God by marrying brides of men Yea we we that escape this cruell influence The best without excuse A million witnesses beare in our conscience Which all and each alike vpon our guilt accords Nor haue we any excuse before the Lord of Lords Who deales not tyrant-like to whelme in wauy brees The beast that goes on foot and all on wing that flees Because for mans behoofe they were created all And he that should them vse is blotted by his fall From out the Booke of life Th'acecssory sollowes the principall and why then should they stay When he for whom they were is iustly tak'n away Man is the head of all that drawes the breath of life Let one a member loose he liueth yet but if A deadly sword the head from bodies troonke diuide How can there any life in leg or arme abide But haply God's to feirce that hath the land orewheld Yea A traitour deserues to haue his house raised had so many yeares disloiall man rebeld Against the Lord his King and had the Lord no reason To rase the traitours house for such high points of treason To sow salt on the same and mak 't a monument The flood was no naturall accident but a iust iudgement of God That his diuine reuenge not Sea or Aire hath sent This rauing water-Masse Let all the clowdie weather That round-encourtaines Earth be gathered thicke together From either cope of Heau'n and bee'tall powred downe In place what e're it would but some one countrie drowne But this our sauing ship by floating euery where Now vnd'r a Southern Crosse now vnd'r a Northen Beare And thwarting all this while so many a diuers Clime Shewes all the world is wrapt in generall abysme But if thou vanquisht here to caues in earth do flie With floods there made of Aire thy forces to supplie What are those hills and where with caues so deep wide To hold-in so much ayre as into water tri'de Might heal the proudest heights when hardly a violl 's fil'd With water drop by drop of ten-fould aire dystil'd Besides when th' aire to drops of water melts apace And lesned fals to spring what bodie filles the place For no where in this all is found roome bodilesse Sad waue
raigne without some habitations for himselfe and his subiects and considering that Moses in the selfe-same place affirmâ—th that the Cities founded by Nimrod were in the countrey of Sennaar and that in the 12. verse of the 11. Chapter he saith that these builders of Babel dwelt on a plaine in the countrey of Sennaar by good reason the inuention and beginning thereof is here ascribed to Nimrod who by this meanes sought to set his state on foot Also this Monarchie of Babylon was one of the first and with it that of Niniuie as may be gathered out of the words of Moses But the more particular discourse of these matters and diuers other questions concerning Nimrod and his outrages require a larger commentatie 5. Like as the Vulcan weake The Poet saith that as a small deale of fire let fall by some Shepherds among the drie leaues of a great Forrest setting it selfe and hatching as it were the heat a while at length with helpe of the wind groweth to so great a flame that it taketh the whole Forrest and leaueth not a Driad that is not a tree in his proper or naturall barke So the words first vttered by Nimrod then blowne with the bellowes of his Minions and fauourites set the hearts of the people on fire that he soone obtained his purpose This is it that Moses noteth in the eleuenth Chapter of Genesis the third and fourth verses They said one to another the chiefe men hauing put it in their heads Come let vs make bricke and burne in well in the fire so had they bricke in stead of stone and sâ—â—me had they in stead of morter Then said they Goe let vs build vs a Citie and a Tower whose top may reach vnto the heauens that we may get vs a name lest we be scattered vpon the whole earth The Poet in his verse discourseth vpon this deuise It is thought that this proud building was begun about an hundred and fiftie yeares after the Floud The good Patriarch Noe that liued yet long time after saw his posteritie confounded and scattered for so it was the Lords will to exercise the patient faith of his seruant to whom in recompence he shewed the effect of his blessings in the family of Sem where still remained the Hebrew tongue together with the doctrine and discipline of the true Church Now out of this history of Moses touching the building of the Towne and the confusion of the builders is sprong as it seemeth the fabulous discourse of the Poets set downe by Ouid in his first booke of Metamorphosis touching the Giants that heaped hilles one vpon another to scale heauen and dispossesse Iupiter of his throne Thus hath Satan endeuoured to falsifie the truth of sacred historie Well this arrogant building sheweth vs how vaine are the imaginations of worldly men namely to set at naught the true renowne of heauenly life and seeke after the false of earth Carnall men haue no care at all to worship and reuerence the name of the true God they regard only to be accounted-of themselues and so to write their names in the dust Against the attempts of the men of Babel and all their successours let vs oppose these sentences the 18. and 21. of Prouerbs The name of the Lord is a strong tower thither shall the iust repaire and be exalted There is no wisdome nor vnderstanding nor force can preuaile against the Lord and that which is written Psal the 127. Except the Lord doe build the house the builders labour but in vaine 6. God seeing this Moses in the 5. and 6. verses of the 11. chapter saith Then the Lord came downe to see the Citie and Towre which the sonnes of men had built And the Lord said Behold the people is one and they all haue one language and this they begin to doe neither can they now bee stopped from whatsoeuer they haue imagined to doe come on let vs goe downe and there confound their language that they vnderstand not one another Then he addeth the execution of the sentence saying So the Lord scattered them from thence vpon all the earth and they left off to build the Citie Therefore the name of it was called Babel because the Lord did there confound the language of all the earth and scattered them from thence ouer all the world God that is all in all neuer changeth his place he goeth neither vpward nor downward but the Scripture saith hee goeth downe then when he worketh any thing on earth which falling out beyond and against the ordinary course of nature witnesseth his particular presence Vnder these few words of Moses a many things are to be considered chiefly he noteth the great sinnes of the builders in that he bringeth in the Lord iudge of the whole world vouchsafing to bow downe his eyes particularly vpon that foolish people For it is not without cause that the great God of heauen and earth should arise from his throne and if I durst so say leaue the palace of his glory to come and view these durt-dawbers or morter-makers By this manner of speech Moses sheweth and giueth vs to vnderstand that long time before these Babylonians had built in their hearts most wonderfull high and stately towers and that long agoe they had bak'd in the sire of their concupiscence some maruellous brickes to wit they had much counsailed one with another and discoursed of meanes to get renowme and found no better way to attaine their purpose then to raise a tower vp to the heauens to rauish with astonishment all those that should behold it So Moses saith that this pride and froward selfe trust deserued a grieuous punishment but as God is perfectly iust so layeth he vpon the builders a chastisement proportionable vnto their offence 7. Thus had he said and straight In God it is all one to will and to doe And further he sendeth not lightning winde nor tempest against the tower but contenteth himselfe to strike the proud and puffed-vp braines of the builders and so the building founded vpon their folly was ouerthrowne by their foolish iangling that God mingled with their language and the vainglorious masons insteed of their imagined renowne haue gotten themselues euerlasting shame Who would haue thought that God had had so ready such kinde of rods to punish mankinde withall But let the Reader consider whether the world at this day be not full of Babel-towers Marke what a number of men doe in euery kinde of vocation Sith I doe not take vpon mee but to write bare Annotations I leaue it to the Readers consideration who may see now more then euer that the world continueth the building of Babel that is men madly gainset their owne wisedome and power against the wisedome and power of God who treading as it were with woollen feet and stealing on softly is able with an arme of Iron to surprise and seize vpon these builders and turne by diuers meanes their vaine purposes and weake endeuours to
venter and is desirous to enrich his mother-tongue decketh it bolâ—ly wâ—th that which he borroweth of others setteth forgotten words on foot againe inuenteth new words colouring and fashioning them according Thirdly time altereth a speech as we see it doth all things else that we might be forced thereby daily more and more to see and confesse that nothing is sure and stedfast vnder heauen and to beat downe also the vanitie of â—ans conceit who commonly vaunteth himselfe and taketh pride in such things as haue nothing constant in them but their owne vnconstancy 19. A courage bold This commeth too neere the second reason to be counted a fourth The French Commentar must pardon me I thinke rather the Poet hauing spoken of Writers Merchandise and Time the right and onely meanes whereby new words and phrases are first brought into a language here he sheweth vs how they are accepted for as before he touched in a word that the Courts dislike of old words bred their disuse so here he telleth vs plainly that the authoritie of him that deuiseth or vseth new words is cause of their acceptance which is afterward confirmed by vse Qâ—empenes arbitrium est vis norma loquendi as Horace writeth But forasmuch as vse without Art draweth a language head-long into Barbarisme and so out of request and Art without authoritie of Empire shutteth it vp in a narrow compasse he saith that the Hebrew Latine and Greeke had all these maintaining meanes whereby they haue continued â—o long and spred so farre abroad So beginneth he cunningly to make his passage from words and phrases vnto entire languages the better to come at length to that excellent discourse that followeth in the next Section vpon all the principall tongues now spoken or knowne in the world As for the Hebrew besides the perfections aboue mentioned he saith in it God hath reuealed his will and that it is the originall of the diuine Law both of great force to make the tongue farâ—e knowne and continue long it had further the Art and knowledge of high Priests and Prophets the wisedome and state of Salomon and was a long time vsed and accustomed to be spoke in the famous commonwealth of the Iewes But these because they belong not vnto that tongue onely but as well to the other two the Poet here leâ—ueth our The Greeke he saith in her bookes containeth at large all the liberall Sciences a great cause and most proper to the Greeke the rest as common to the others are let passe The Latine more graue and forcible then the Greeke that was a more neat and wanton tongue was aduanced and continued in request by the Romans force of armes whose Empire was the greatest and most warlike of all the rest and therefore is this cause here onely mentioned as most proper to the Latine tongue and the rest omitted These three tongues doe at this day farre surpasse all others but vngodlinesse and contempt of the true Diuinitie is cause why the Hebrew is not esteemed as it deserueth the more is it regarded of them that know it As for the Greeke that which is now commonly spoken is very grosse The pure and good Greeke is contained within the bookes of Plato Aristotle Zenophon Demosthenes Iscerates Homer Euripides Sophocles Plutarch Basil Nastanzen Chrysostome and many others The Latine after some ignorant and vnlearned men had gready embased it was refined and set on foot againe within these fourescore yeeres at what time there flourished many great and learned personages in Europe as Melancthon Erasmus Picus Myrand and others but they come short of that grace and liuelihood that the ancient Latine writers haue Cicero Caesar Liuie Virgill Horace and a number of others well enough knowne of whom as also of the most excellent authors in other tongues the Poet here goes about to entreat Traçant les derniers vers Le Poëte s'excuse reprend halaine pour entrer plus alaigrement au suiuant discours où il descrit poctiquement represente les langues principales ceux qui ont este plus excellens en icelles Songe du Poete comme à demi-las Du labour attrayant de la saincte Pallas Ie frappe bien souuent du menton ma paictrine Mes deux yeux arrousez d'vne humeur Ambrosine Se ferment peu à peu Ie pers le mouuement La plume de ma main coule tout bellement Dessus le lict cheri de rechefie m'allonge En dans le flot Lethal tous mes enuuis iâ— plonge I'y noye tous mes soins si ce n'est le desir De donner à la France vn vaile plaisir Car le tan sacré-sainct de l'amour qui m'emflamme Ne peut mesme en dormant laisser dormir mon ame Le Songe aux-aisles-d'or sortivers le Leuant Par son huis de cristal qui s'ouure vn peu deuant Que la porte duiour fantastique me guide En vn valou le ioux la nuict fresche-humide Le Ciel calme les Nords les chauds les frimas La pluye l'air serain ne sentresuyuent pas Le May tousioursy regne nuict iour Zephyre De Roses courronné mignardement souspire Par les bruyans rameaux d'vn bois qui doux-flairant Va ce champ porte-fleurs en ouale murant Instement au milieu de la plaine esmaillee Description du logis de l'Image d'Eloquence Se sleue vne grand ' Roche en piedestal taillee Et dessus sacorniche vn Collosse a' airain Qui tient vn clair brandon en sa senestre main En l'autre vn vase d'eau De sa langue doré Naissent mille chenons qui par toute la prée Subtils semblent trainer vn monde d'auditeurs Parl'or cille attachez plus encor parles coeurs Ases pieds le Sanglier gist sans baue sansrage Le Tygrey dort charmé l'Ours s'y desauuage Le proche mont sautelle lenceinte du bois Danse comme on diroit an doux air de savoix Piliers autour de l'image d'eloquence fâ—r lesquels sont les principales langues du mó de auec ceux qui les ont enrichies L'hebraique a pour principaux apuis Moyse De piliers façonnez par vne main subtile A la cariatique vn double peristile De l'Eloquence ceint l'Image rauisseur Hauts piliers qui fondâ—z sur vn plinthe bien seur Portent de quatre en quatre vne langue de celles Quece siecle sçauant couche au rang des plus belles Or entre les esprit qui fauoris des cieux Estançonnent icy la langue des Hebreux Celuy de quile front flambe comme vn Comete Orne-ciel donne-peur qui porte vne baguete Seche fleurie ensemble tient entre ses doigts Leregistre sacré des dixplus sainctes Loix Est la guide d'Isac l'autheur qui premiere ose Vouër à ses neueux ses vers sa prose Escrits
Philip Sydn'y is next who sung as sweet as Swan That slaps the swelling waues of Tems with siluer fan This Riu'r his honour beares and eloquence together To snow-foot Thetis lap and Thetis eu'ry whither But what new sunne is this that beames vpon mine eyes Or For the fourth piller of the English tongue hee nameth our gratious Queene Elizabeth duly and truly praising her for wisdome maintenance of peace learning and cloquence am I rapt amongst the heau'nly companies O what a princely grace what State Emperiall What pleasant-lightning eyes what face Angelicall Say O yee learned guirles begot of heau'nly breath Is' t not the wise Minerue the great Elizabeth Who rules the Briton stout with such a tendering That neuer did he wish to change her for a King She whiles her neighbour Lands are spoil'd with sword and fire By Furies weary of hell with head of snakie tire And whiles the darke affright of tempest roring-great Doth to the worlds Carack a fearefull ship wrack threat Retaines in happie peace her Isle where true beliefe And honorable Lawes are reckned of in chiefe She hath not only gift of plentie delectable To speake her Mother-tongue but readily is able In Latine Spanish French without premeditation In Greeke Italian Dutch to make as good Oration As Greece can as can France as Rome Imperiall As Rhine as Arne can plead in their naturall O bright Pearle of the North martiall Mars-conquering Loue still and cherish th' Arts and heare the Muses sing And in case any time my verses winged-light Shall ouer th' Ocean Sea to thine Isle take their flight And by some happie chance into that fairt hand slide Which doth so many men with lawfull Scepter guide O reade with gracious eye and fauourable thought I want thine eloquence to praise thee as I ought But what are those of France this Image was vnshap'd 9. The French Whence hath the bunglar hand of Idle mason skrap'd No more then th'harder skales of en'ry rugged knor Thee Marot sure it meanes that labourest so hot Without Arc Artist-like and prickt with Phoebus Lance Remouest He'icon from Italy to France Thee Clement I regard eu'n as an old Colosse All soiled all to broke and ouergrow'n with mosse Astabl ' or tombe defac'd more for th'antiquitie Then any bewty in them or cunning that I see What one this other is I searce remember me A Cunning one he seemes what one soere he be I rest yet in suspense sometime he doth appeare To be Iames Amiot sometime Blase Vigineere Great Ronsard is the next who doth of Graces wrong The Grecke and Latine both to grace his Mother-tongue And with a bould attempt doâ—h mannage happily All kinde of Argument of stile of Poetry De Mornay this man is encountring Atheisme Iewes stubborne vnbeleefe and foolish Paganisme With weapons of their owne he godly graue and prest So solideth his stile both simpl ' and courtly-drest That feather'd with faire words his reasons sharpe as darts Instrike themselues adeepe into the brauest hearts The Poets desire considering the learned Writers of France Then thus I spake to them ô bright ô goodly wits Who in most happie case haue consecrate your writs To Immortalitie fith that my feeble shoulders May not among you be the French renownes vpholders Alas sith I vneth you follow can with eye Vpon the twy-top hill so neare acoast the skie Yet suffer me at least here prostrate to embrace Your honourable knees ô giue me leaue to place Vpon your shining heads a garland of the Spring And of your goodnesse grant that these meane tunes I sing May in your glory draw an euerlasting glory And alway this my verse may register your story The end of the Vision They yeelding to my suit made semblance with their head So vanished the vale and all the pillars fled In like sort had the dreame with them together hasted But that I with mine Inke his nimble feathers pasted 20 Tracing these latter lines Before he endeth this Booke or discourse hauing begun to speake of tongues and their comparison one with another he taketh thence occasion to set before our eyes the three principall tongues Hebrue Greeke and Latine accompanied with six other greatly now-a-daies esteemed throughout all Europe For this purpose and to enrich his Poem with some new ornament worthy the things he treateth of he declareth how being weary with ouer-watching himselfe in these his former studies he cast him on his bed and slept yet so as the earnest desire he had to delight and profit his country-men kept still his soule awake which caused him to see in his Dreame the Vision here following A fine inuention and framed to the imitation of the best ancient Poets both Greeke and Latine who being to handle matters of great importance are wont by such deuices cunningly to prouoke the Readers to marke and giue care vnto them 21. And golden-winged Dreame Of Dreames and their causes hath beene spoken sufficiently in the first day of this second Weeke intituled Eden page the 46 47 48 c. hauing here to speake of a Dreame cleere and easie to be conceiued he distinguisheth it from such as are darksome and deceiueable saying it was about the dawning of the day when the golden-winged that is the sweet pleasant and vntroubled Dreame came forth at the Christall gate in the East as much to say as when the day-starre ariseth or the morning draweth on we feele if we were awake before sleepe gently seazing on vs and our spirits comming and going as it were thorow Christall gates for then be Dreames and Visions cleerest and best distinguished whereas before our meat be fully digested our braine ouer-loden with vapours receiueth but troublesome impressions waued so to and fro and so enterlaced one with another that in the twinkling of an eye it frameth a thousand shapes that presently vanish away and are no more remembred Now the Poet saith he was guided as he thought into a place moâ—â— delightfull which he describeth in few verses and it is very fit for the matter following 22 Iust in the middle point First he describeth the dwelling of Eloquence to wit on a great Rocke wrought and fashioned in manner of a foor-stall or base for an image to stand on to shew how stedfast and certaine a thing this excellent gift of God is Secondly the resemblance or Image of Eloquence he calleth a Colosse that is of stature surpassing all others which betoketh thus much that eloquent and faire spoken men goe many degrees beyond others whom they vse at their pleasure and draw whither they list as the example of Pericles and Cicero declare and many proofes thereof are found in the holy Scripture He maketh this Image of Brasse which implieth the faire glosse the sweet sound and strong force of Eloquence he placeth in the left hand a fire-brand to signifie that learned true and faire vtterance maketh men see and touch as it were the
of Nicaragua is by Gomara described in his fist booke chap. 203. so are the other wonders which the Poet here notes in his fourth booke chap. 194. 47 Then Chili they possest Gomara in his fourth booke chap. 131. holds opinion that the men of Chili are the right Antipodes or Counter-walkers vnto Spaine and that the country there is of the same temper with Andaluzie This Chili lyeth on the shore of el Mar Pacisico so also doth Quintete which I haue put for Chinca both neere the Panagones or Giants whose country is full of people and hath certaine riuers that runne by day and stand by night some thinke because of the snowes which in the day time are melted by the Sunne and frozen by the Moone in the night but I take it rather to be some great secret and miracle of nature The cause why here I made exchange of Chinca was first for that the Poet had spoke before of the springs of Chink which I take for the same then because it is so diuerfly placed of the Card-men for Ortelius in his Map of the New World sets it aboue and Theuet beside Chili in either place it stands well to be taken for the Chink aforenamed but Mercator placeth it a great deale lower and on the contarry coast neere the riuer of Plata where indeed is a country called Chica that perhaps hath bred this error Lastly Quintete stands so right in way which the Poet followes from Chili to the Patagones that I thought it not amisse to take the same rather then the doubtfull Chinca By the somie Brack of Magellanus he meanes the Sea and Straight of Magellan close by terra Australis Gomara describeth it well in the beginning of the third booke of his Portugall Historie The Poet hath already shewed how people came first on the North America from the kingdome of Anian ouer the maine land to the Atlantick sea shore then on all the further coasts from Quiuir to the Magellan Straight along the Archipelago de San Lazaro Mar del Zur Pacifico and now hee takes the higher side on the left hand from the Land-Straight of Panama to the riuer of Plata which is not farre from the Magellan noting by the way the most note-worthy places of all this huge reach of ground represented as it is by our late writers in their generall and particular Maps of the New-found world Huo is a great sweat-water streame arising at Quillacingas that lieth vnder the Equator and running athwart the country called Caribage into the Sea at Garra Vraba is the country that lieth betwixt that riuer and Carthagene Concerning Zenu marke what Gomara saith thereof in his second booke and 69. chapter It is the name of a Riuer and Citie both and of a Hauen very large and sure The Citie is some 8. leagues from the Sea There is a great Mart for Salt and Fish Gold the inhabitants gather all about and when they set themselues to get much they lay sine-wrought nets in the riuer of Zenu and others and oftentimes they draw-vp graines of pure gold as big as eggs This country is not farre from the Straight of Darien In the said second booke chap. 72. He describes also Noua Grenada and the Mount of Emeraudes which is very high bare and peeld without any herbe or tree thereon growing and lyeth some fiue degrees on this side the Equator The Indians when they goe-about to get the stones first vse many enchauntments to know where the best veine is The first time the Spaniards came there they drew thence great and little 1800. very faire and of great price but for this commoditie the country is so barren that the people were faine to feed on Pismers till of late the Spanish couetousnesse hath made them know the value of their Mountaine Cumana is described in the foresaid booke chap. 79. in the end whereof Gomara saith the vapours of the riuer Cumana engender a certaine little mist or slime vpon mens eyes so as the people there are very pore-blind Parie is described in the 84 chapter of the said second booke Maragnon a Riuer which as Gomara saith 2 booke 87 chapter is threescore miles ouer It emprieth at the Cape of Alinde three degrees beyond the Aequator but springeth a great way further South by Tarama in Peru thence running Eastward it casteth only an Arme into the Amazon about Picora Which hath caused many the first writers of America to count from that place both but one riuer So also doth our Poet here otherwise he would haue msntioned first how the people passed the Amezon that other great streame now knowne by the name of Orenoque which riseth about Carangui and emptieth as Theuet saith 104. leagues aboue the mouth of Maragnon Bresile which the Spaniard discouered in the yeare 1504. is surnamed fierce because of the Canibales Caribes and other man-eating people there I. de Leri hath written very fully all the historie of his aduenture in part of the country where dwell the people called Toupinamboes The riuer of Plata the Indians call Paranagacuc which word importeth as much as a great water Gomara speaking thereof in the 89. chapter of his second booke saith In this riuer is found siluer pearles and other things of great price It containes in breadth 25. leagues making many Islands and swels like Nilus and about the selfe-same time It springeth first out of the mountaines of Peru and is after increased by the infall of many riuers for the country thereabout is leuell or slat whereof it seemes to haue receiued the name of Plate Thus the Poet guesseth at the manner of this new-found worlds empeopling by the coast of Asia Whereunto I will adde what Arias Mont that learned Spaniard hath written thereof in his booke entituled Phaleg He saith Ioktan the double pety-sonne of Sem that is whose double grandfather Sem was had thirteene sonnes which are named by Moses in the 10. of Genesis and some of them peopled the West Indies from the East That which Moses saith Genesis 10. chap. 30. vers concerning Sephar a mountaine of the East Arias applies to the great hills of Peru which the Spaniards call Andes they reach out further in length then any other in the world and neere them stands an ancient towne called Iuktan Moreouer there lies higher a neere-Isle betwixt Cuba and Mexico called Iukatas which may bee thought to resemble still the name of him that first brought people into the country To Ophir one of the sonnes of Ioktan Arias allots the land of Peru for as much as in the third chapter and six verse of the second booke of Chron. there is mention made of the gold of Paruaim To Iobab the country of Paria which is neere the Straight of Panama very â—iâ—h also in gold and pearle I haue said else-where that Arias Montanus tooke Asia to be all one main-land with America and knew no Anian Straight If that be true sure the
that I need say no more of them 4 For the fourth Article we must consider this that the Earth so enuironed with Sea is a spongie poicus body full of channels conduit-pipes both neare her ouer-face and thorow her inner parts euery way whereby it comes to passe that all the great streams arising of little springs and fountaines farre from Sea and before they come there encountring and bearing with them an ininite company of land flouds brookes and small tides yet encrease not the Sea which affords so much water to the whole Earth by her secret waies afore-said As for the Snow and Raine which falleth sometime in great plentie to encrease the waters this is but an exchange that the Aire still makes in paying that againe which it borrowed of the Sea Yet aboue all is the power and wisdome of God the Creator to be thought-on who by his onely will and command keepes so the waters heapt-together in his great Magazin of the Sea which otherwise both by reason of their nature and daily encrease would ouerflow all as they did before God commanded the dry-land to shew it selfe then fled they at the voice of their Maker as it is said in the 104. Psalme And beholding the shore stopt their course there yea ran againe backward as fearing their Master 5 Hereupon it folleth out fit that I speake somewhat of the Seas Ebbe and Flow. This is the right and proper motion thereof considered not as water but as the Sea The Poet in the third day of his first weeke shewes diuers opinions concerning this Ebbe and Flow. Some thinke that when the waters were first commanded to retire and shew the dry-land God gaue them this perpetuall motion which as a ballance whereof the Equator is beame doth rise and fall without ceasing and hath this vertue from the Primouable and shall continue it to the worlds end But the learneder sort hold the Moone by her diuers apparitions of waxing and waining to cause this motion of the Sea Whereunto the Poet also in place aboue-quoted seemes to encline Some say also the Sunne helpes it forward and breeds great alteration in the masse of waters by his great heat and brightnesse because it is obserued that alwaies when the Sunne and Moone are in coniunction the Seas Ebbe and Flow is greatest but this also comes specially by the Moone as by some reasons here following shall further appeare The holy Scripture indeed here as all where else mining the wonderous order of Nature teacheth vs to lift vp our thoughts to God the Creator who stirres and stayes the Sea how and when it pleaseth him yet may we say neuerthelesse that herein he commonly doth vse the seruice of second causes though keeping still to himselfe the soueraigne authority ouer them all so as he can hinder change and vtterly destroy them at his pleasure With this acknowledgement consider we these Inseriour causes Plutarch in his third booke of the Philosophers Opinions Chap. 17. showes what they thought of old time concerning the Tâ—des and alterations of the Sea Some he saith ascribe the cause of them to the Sunne and Winds others to the Moone a third sort to the high-rising of waters in generall a fourth to the swelling of the Atlanticke Sea Now he distinguishes the motion into three kinds to wit the Streame and that is naturall the Floud and that is violent the Ebbe and that is extraordinarie As for the Floud it is a motion of the Sea water rising and falling twice in some and twentie houres whereby the Sea is purged and cleansed by certaine periods answerable to the rising and setting of the Moone It is in the nâ—ame Ocean open to the winds that the sloud is strongest but appears chiefeâ—y by the shore-side where it is not checkt or staid by some islaÌ„ds The Midland Sea hath not the Tide In the Adriatike and other like Bayes there is searse any The Baltique hath none at all because it is so straightned and bound with land euery way and is so full of Islands If the Moone be in the waine or past the first quaâ—ter the Tide is euery where weake but neare the new Moone or full it waxeth very strong and this is held to be the reason because this Planet being so neere vnto vs and hauing Domimon ouer all moisture encreaseth the waters and drawes them to and fro as she riseth or setteth for where she setteth vnto vs shee riseth vnto the other Hemisphere The Ebbe and Flow is sometime more slow and gentle sometime more swift and violent according as the Moone waineth or waxeth but herein must we note also the diuers seasons of the yeare together with the winds which helpe or hinder much the Tides and cause them to runne more swift or slow This power hath the Moone by motion of the Primouable which maketh her tise and set as the Sunne and other Starres doe in the space of a day When she riseth the sea begins to swell till shee come to the Medridian or Moone-line of any place and from thence abateth all the while she is tending to the set then the Sea descends with her till she come toward the Counter-Meridian where the water is againe at the highest and falles till she rise againe to this our Hemisphere So whereas the Tides keepe no certaine hower but are sometime sooner sometime later the cause is that though the Moone be whirled about with motion of the Primouable yet hauing proper motion in latitude of the Zodiacke thwarting that other she riseth not alwaies at the same time nor in the same Signe not with the same light and distance from the Sunne nor with the same coniunction and aspect of other Planets and fixed Stars all which cause a difference and are some more some lesse disposed to the encrease of waters And these Sea-waters doe also much differ in nature Some are cleare and purified and haue roome enough these flow moderately but higher others muddy thicke and kept-in with straights which runne with more violence though not with so high a Tide This hath God appointed to cleanse and preserue the waters for in time of calmes they grow ranke and the Sea sends-vp ill vapours being the great sinke as it were of corrupt matter which is to be scummed and cleansed by the Tides and winds These also doe serue for Nauigation but chiefly to magnifie the Creators wonderfull power when wee see thereby and consider how truly it is said in the Psalme 107.23 and 24. They that goe dawne to the Sea in shâ—ps and occupie their busiaesse in great waters doe see the workes of the Lord and his wonders in the deepe c. For that huge masse of salt-water yeelds it selfe captiue as it were to the Moone-beames and thereby is easily commanded I will enter no further into the cause of this Miracle but lest I be too long in these notes leaue those to search it deeper that are more able 6 Concerning
called the Mother because shee containes in her wombe as it were diuers other tables seruing for diuers eleuations of the Pole and the back-side whereon are drawne sundrie lines and circles the first of them next the edge shewes the degrees of Altitude whereof there is a double vse for applying them to the numbers in border that exceed not ninety they shew how many degrees the Sunne or other Starre is raised aboue our Horizon with many commodities thereon depending and applying them to the numbers below which goe-on from thirtie to thirtie they shew the degrees of the Zodiake where the Signes are written with their names and characters to know the true place of the Sunne euery day After these you shall finde set downe other circles wherein be the twelue Moneths of the yeare answerable to the Signes with daies vnto each apart or two by two numbred by Fiues or Tens not exceeding 31. which is the quantitie of the greatest Moneth This serues to know in what degree of the Zodiacke the Sunne is euery day Moreouer there are two Diameter-lines crossing each other in Rectangle at the Center of the Astrolabe one called the Noone-line drawne from the Ring by the Center downward and another from East to West which represents the generall Horizon at whose either end indifferently begin the degrees of Altitude aforesaid Six other small lines there are like Arches together with the Skale of heights the Winds and the Rule turning-about on the backside whereof we shall speake anon As for parts of the foreside called the Mother there is first a circle or border diuided into 360. degrees these stand for the Equinoxiall or Eauen night wherein are by iust measure set downe and distributed the 24 houres of the day containing each fifteene degrees and euery degree foure minutes so as euery houre hath threescore minutes The wombe as I said of this Mother is to beare sundry tables according to the Pole height of sundry places these tables haue each about their Centers drawne three concentrike circles whereof the least is the Tropike of Cancer called in the Sphere the Summer Tropike where the dry is at longest about the twelfth of lune the Mid-circle is the Equator passing close by the beginning of Aries and Libra in which two places the Sunne makes day and night equall throughout the whole world to wit about the eleuenth of March and the 13. of September So followes it then that the greatest circle of these three which is towards the edge of each table must be the Tropike of Capricorne where the day is at shortest about the twelfth of December Moreouer in these Tables there are the Almucantaraths by that Arabian word is signified the circle of Pole height vpon our Hemisphere some perfect some imperfect The first of them stands for the slope Horison diuiding the world into two parts whereof the one we see the other is hid from vs. The Center of the least Almucantarath stands for the Zenith or Crowne point from whence to the Horison are ninety degrees euery way drawn-out by Twoes Threes Fiues or Tens according to the capacitie of the Instrument and distance of the lines which are so drawne for the Sunne or other Starre to be thereto applied as often as a man will take their eleuation aboue the Horizon Beside these here are also the Azimuths or crowne circles which doe cut euery Almucantarath by Fiues Tens or Fifteenes into 360 degrees quartered by ninetie and distinguished one quarter from another by the two principall Azimuths which are the Meridian and the Equinoctiall that passeth from the right East-point by our Zenith to the West Where we begin commonly to count the degrees of the Quarters Northward and Southward These are to make knowne in what part of the world the Sun or other Starre riseth and setteth After these doe follow the vnequall houres called the houres of the Planets together with the names and characters of then Planets the lines of twy light noone and mid-night the figures of the twelue houses the line of the Zodiake and consequently the directory or Index which turneth about the Instrument at either side by the brim Lastly there is the Hole of the Net or Cob-web which stands for the Pole of the world and by the pinne that goes thorow the same Hole are all the tables or plates of the Astrolabe ioyned and held fast together Concerning the vse of this Instrument in measuring all heights bulkes lengths breadths thicknesse and depths I. Stoster D. Iaquinot and I. Bassantin haue largely thereon discoursed in their bookes of the Astrolabe And what need I take further paines in Englishing more of this Subiect when the famous Geoffrey Chaucer 233. yeares agoe hath made all so plaine in the best English of his time Somewhat only must be said of that Alhidode as the Poet here calles the Rule it is an Arabian word in Greeke 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in Latine Radius as in Virgil Descripsit radio totum qui gentibus orbem It is the turning Rule on the back-side of the Astrolabe whereon are fastned two square tablets with small sight-holes persed for the height-taking of Sunne or Starre and for measuring of quantities aforesaid or any other vse here specified by the Poet. 46 The pregnant Phaleg yeelds Hauing shewed the excellence of Astronomie he comes now to declare by what meanes the knowledge thereof was deriued vnto vs and saith as it is most likely that from the Hebrues it came to the Chaldeans from them to the Aegyptians from them to the Arabians and so to the Italians and Germans whose names haue beene gathered and set downe by H. Ranzouius in his Treatise of the excellence of Astronomie 47. O right Endymions This is in commendation of the learned Astronomers and their profession The Poets faine that the Moone was so in loue with Endymion that as he slept on a high hill-top shee came thither to kisse and embrace him It is thought he was some great Astronomer At least this fable was ment of Students in Astronomie whom our Author for that cause here termeth Right Endymions The great vse and further commendation of this Art you may reade in Virgil. Georg. 1. Aeneid 1. 3. and almost euery where in Ptolomey but especially in Peucer and such as haue lately written or prefaced vpon Astrologie C'est vous qui parcourez les celestes prouinces En moins d'vn tourne-main qui plus grans que nos Princes Possed z. tout le monde faites demi dieux Tourner entre vos mains les clairs Cercles des cieux Pour vous 4 Il lâ—â—sse l'Astionomie pour consiâ—erer la quatriesme Image qui est la Musique la quelle il descrit auec ses ornemeâ—â— Esprits diuins ma plus diserte-plume Feroit son miel plus doux couler dans ce volume Vous seriez mon subiet si la derniere Soeur Desia ne me trainoit à soy par sa douceur Car i'enten
the breath and Spirit all-aliuing Stirres of the tuned heau'n these wheeles all louely striuing And as their wonted way eternally they trace Some of them trill the Treblâ— and some bomb-out the Base Now all these counter-notes so charmy-sweet Musicke in our Humours Seasons and Elements Bâ—ssâ— appeere Yet not so plainly in heau'n as eu'n among vs heere Th' humour Melancholike the Wint'r and cold dry ground They beare the Bases part and soft and slowly sound The white phleame th'Autom-time the water cold and wet They all aleauell run Tenr and are for Tenor set The Blood the prime of yere the moist and luke-warme Aire Play Descant florisher deuider painter Countertenor strayer The Choller Summer Fire that are so hot and dry Treble Resembl ' a strained chord that soundeth eu'r on high The reason and force of Musicke See then the cause my son why song doth ofteÌ„ win them That are most fierce by kinde there are inclos'd within them The seeds of numb'r and time nor can their life hold-out But by the Spirits helpe that whirleth heau'n about With wisemen Sweet harmony it makes the fiercest Army stay Their deadly fewd and force the griefe it doth allay Of eu'ry pained soule and with a gentle charme And Fooles Withdraweth by degrees the Foole from trickes of harme It bridleth hot desire and putteth-out the flame That makes a louers-heart Idolatrize a dame It heales a man that 's hurt with fly Phalangy's sting That eu'n at point of death will madly daunce and fling With Beasts The Swan delights therein deceiu'd thereby we finde The shye discoullard fowle and fearefull starting hinde The Dolphin loues the Leere th'vnhiued swarme of Bees With tinkling sound of brasse are clustred on the trees With God himselfe O what 's to Musick hard which wont so much to merit Which wont so to preuaile eu'n with th'enspiring Spirit As bring him downe on Saul and in Elisha wed The Spirit rauisher vnto the rauished Yea when th' eternall God to sharpest anger bent Smoakes thunders lightens hailes with all his pow'rs assent And with his heau'd-vp arme and with his backe enfoul't Is ready to discharge his forest blasting-boult Th'armonyons accord that hearts deuout shall weepe His sinnowes albenombes and brings his ang'r asleepe Then sweet-ey'd mercy steales as well shee wont and can From vnd'r his hand the rod deseru'd by rebell man But now as Heb'r had thought t' haue further gon told The practise and the skill of all the Musicke old See Canan searching-out his Iordans fatall walke Vnto the Pillernies and breakes-off all the talke Nor can I further goe this iourneyes irksome length In weaknesse vndertooke hath wasted all my strengthe I must anew entreat some helpe of heau'nly grace And somewhat need recoile to leape a greater space 48 For you ô heauenly wits Shewing that he had a good minde to dilate vpon the praise of this Art he breaks-off to come to the description of the fourth Image which is Musick and her he sets-out with all the most necessarie and gracefull attire both for voice and instruments of diuers sorts It requires a long dispute and hard to resolue what manner of Instruments and how framed they were which we reade by translated names to haue beene in vse among the Hebrues Greeks and other people of old time This would take-vp a whole Volume as also that other question what was their vocall Musicke whereof Plutarch and Boetius both haue treated I perswade my selfe they had in those dayes a kinde of skill in making and managing their musicall Instruments and ioyning voice thereto which is hardly well knowne or conceiued now of vs though some of our Musicians we finde both in voice and vpon instrument so exceeding skilfull that they are able much to moue our affections but short of that wonderfull power which hath been ascribed to the ancient Musicke 49. Sith eu'ry Sphere they say The Poet vpon this occasion of Musicke raiseth himselfe to consider the accord and harmony of the Heauens borrowing his discourse from the Philosophie of Plato whereof I shall endeuour here to set downe the summe He saith then that our Musicke on earth is but a shadow of that superlatiue harmonie which God hath ordained the great Cymbals as it were of heauen to make by their so swift and orderly mouing sithence vnlikely it is but that the Primovable and other Spheres that whirle-about continually and haue done so long should make some noise answerable to their compasse and cadence so proportionall And rather may we presume they make a most excellent melody and far exceeding our earthly Musicke which from that heauenly borroweth her perfection For so it being that God hath made all things in number weight and measure very likely it is that he kept a due proportion in the heauens and that more exactly than on the earth because this is the lowest part of all for habitation of the meanest creatures when they as their English name signifies are heauen-vp on high to make a beautifull and glorious palace for th'All-Creator To consider the matter yet more particularly the Platonikes doe say that God who is the Voice Soueraigne and giueth voice sound and harmony to all things high and low hath in euery Sphere of heauen set an Intelligence some call it Scule some Angell some morion quickned by the Primouable whereby the heauens are moued to their cadence appointed so exactly as no melody can be more pleasing As for mine owne opinion hereof I thinke the Platonicks who say also that God still exerciseth Geometry meant hereby to commend the perfection of Mathematicks and chiefely Astronomy which is most excellent and certaine of them all And because the minde is maruellously delighted with Musicall proportions which no where can be found more perfect then in the heauens who so hath the gift to vnderstand them enioyes a contentment surpassing all sweetnesse of earthly and eare-pleasing Musicke Now to the end this heauenly Musicke may be the better conceiued our Poet here vseth a very choice and daintie comparison and saith the Spirit of God giues the heauens a Musicall motion which breeds a sweet harmony among them euen as an Organist by due fingring the keys of his Instrument stirres vp therein a melodious sound Thus much by the way that the Reader may thereby take occasion to stop his eares against the tempestuous broyles and discords of this world and raise-vp himselfe toward this heauenly concord or rather to fly-vp thither with the wings of faith and learne in the company of Saints and blessed Soules to vnderstand those excellent Songs which are partly set-downe for vs in diuers passages of the Apocalyps 50. Now all these counter-notes Leauing that heauenly Musicke of the Spheres he shewes now that we haue a Musicke also contained euen in the humors of our bodies answerable to the foure Seasons of the yeare and the Elements Our Melancholy like the Earth