as husht now with their Spells Let them recruit their Garners and their Cells Astrologie's undone now let them dine On joynts of Taurus or some empty signe I 'll make no nice enquiries I have had A full rehearsall of thy life and trade Thus thou wouldst speak but I anticipate Thy sad complainings which would thus debate That as Deucalions flood drown'd all the Earth Some fear lest it dispeopled be by dearth That your Earths chaps yawn like so many graves To swallow you unless that plenty saves That Famine's grown a Monster of huge stature Which not with few content exacts on Nature Since plenty as if Bankrupt of her store Keeps private house in Egypt you implore Thy Joseph being her Steward she would daign T' accept thee and thy sons amongst her train I 'll not impose upon thy lungs a task Of large long-winded answers but this ask Since Nature in thee fails thy eyes decline And in thy two-leav'd Spheres withdrawes their shine And each decaying part doth seem to crave With bended ham of ev'ry land a grave How long was 't since thy Souls inspired flame Possession took of this declining frame Dread Sir quoth Jacob rudeness are and age Unfit to act upon a Kingly stage A hundred and full thirty years I 've seen Both few and evill all my dayes have been Nor have I yet attained to the age Of my fore-Fathers in their Pilgrimage Though I am antient I may truly say Sorrow as well as age hath made me gray 'T is grief postdates my time which 't were but vain To think that joy can antidate again An ounce of grief emacerates the flesh More than a pound of joy can it refresh Sol sooner may regrade his morning track Than joy can change this gray to youthfull black If I 've a Son whom all of all degrees From those that fry ev'n unto those that freeze Under their Zones are bound to praise and love Impute it not as his but Gods above Let not the Husbandman give to the clod That glory which is onely due to God Yet if his merit be so much and more Than he can be made Bankrupt of w'implore That you would lay it if our charge surmount Your expectation on my Sons account This said again on them he blessings breath'd And them departing to his God bequeath'd And glad he brought his wishes to this close Resigns himself as Joseph should dispose Ghess him in Goshen next where he immerds The fruitfull Pastures with his Flocks and Heards I' th' Land of Ramisses he liv'd a soyl Which Famine could not of its vigour spoyl And though it laught not now with kinds of grains It smil'd with Pastures to delight our Swains To him by Joseph all respect was shown No Manumissive Corbon yet was known To Supersedeas a Son for he Still gave yet ne'r esteem'd himself as free No though he cherish'd had his age as long As He by him was nourish'd being young For filiall dutie 's Gods command no Bull Can it repeal no Vote can change or null No wit or art reverse it no mans joint Carv'd it 't was sculptur'd by his fingers point That publish'd it by thunder and His bolt Or worse shall vengeance take on their revolt That dare oppose it for they who explode Duty to Parents next will theirs to God Old Jacobs Cells were stor'd with Wine and Corn As full and free as was that plenteous Horn Jove gave his Nurse ev'n such was Joseph's love Unto his Father great as that of Iove Nor time nor charge could dull it even so Wells if you draw them will the freer flow Nor was our Joseph's duty onely such But to his Brethren was his love as much Though for their former rage he once seem'd strange Yet now they found in him a bounteous change As pardon is the daughter of Contrition So love's the common issue of remission He who was like the Sun that could dispense Upon the mean'st his bounteous influence Could not neglect the Starres could not deny Unto his Brethrens want his gracious eye Not like to some whose proud advanced height Looks on all other men as out of sight As fixt in higher Sphears out of the view And the Horizon of the common crew As if conceit of honour with th' affection Had likewise chang'd the temper and complexion But Joseph thought it honour to descend His Brethrens Father and his Fathers friend Now more and more the Dearth began to rage Advancing on in horrid equipage New maladies outbrav'd the Physicks skill And desp'rate murther acted now its will Faintness had some confined to their Beds As if Dearth meant to ravell out their threds Or if she scorn'd the common way by knife And meant t'untwind their fatall glomes of life The Barns were empty where was nought unless The mournfull Owle to wail their emptiness The gawdy gallants spirit now grew dull And wish'd a Garner for his Wardrobe full His Robes no better than the Beggers raggs The poor mans Scrip good as the rich mans baggs Though Gold be cordiall it but to the sight But a sad meale to hungry appetite The clown that thought that metall was divine Had rather find a Garner than a Mine Were Nole a Tagus and each fand i' th' stream Such stones whereof Philosophie doth dream Yet Midas now would gladly change his wish For roots or Acorns or so mean dish The Harvests pass the Clown no longer reaps But now his Husbandry lay all in heaps O'r-grown with Burrs rough Thistles Docks and Sedges The Culter rusted and the fruitfull Hedges Now with disorder'd boughes grew perewigg'd None plow'd prun'd planted sow'd manur'd or digg'd Dearth so purvei'd for Death now were the rodes Wherein they justled with their plenteous loads So much o'r-grown through scarcitie of men Each fearfull Beast there boldly made his den Each house as empty stood the owner 's dead As were their Bodies now their Souls were fled Each look so meager none could know almost Where 't were the man that walk'd or else his Ghost Who now with weakness bow'd their feeble hams Like late-earnd Lambkins yer they suck'd their dams The Oxe i' th' Commons motionless did lie The Gum down-roping from his pale dead eye The Cow lob'd down her head the raw-bon'd Ass His mouth was foul with half-chew'd roots of grass Each Beast half starv'd drooping the side and hip Not moving for the Scourge goad spur or whip Unto the Cities there was no resort Except of Crows who tore in knavish sport Their dead and still impatient of delay Rookt on the house tops waiting for their prey Their streets o'rgrown with rubbish seem'd t' express Unto the eye a civill wilderness So pining Dearth had shriv'led each ones skin With looks distorted they did strangely grin Which when they view'd in glasses and in brooks Amazedly they startled at their looks In fine a task that lames both tongue and pen All nothing but the shales or husks of men This while
whose presence would disperse Such vapours vice could here have no commerce Declining was no wonder there appears If pitchie vapours now did blot the sphears Which Joseph knew when he in humble sort Vnto his father brought their ill report Yet not in base revenge and ranc'rous spleen As is in some maligning Brethren seen Who strive to raise the Trophies of their name And Triumph on the Tombes of others shame Or some as if their envie were so nice To wound the Person and to spare the Vice But Joseph's heart with Zealous sorrow bleeds While to his father he reheaâ—st their deeds Nay further thus he did exasperate His Brethrens spleen and mov'd their sweiling hate Quoth he Dear Brethren not a foggy stream From a distemper'd liver no vain theam Ingrost my fancie when thus by your leaves I dreampt you and my self were binding sheaves My sheaf me thought rose up all your's in signe Of duty did obeysance unto mine His Brethren start and check him how so plain And must thou thus become our King and raign True in your robes your Majestie 's impall'd Oh how we long to see your grace install'd A scepter for him no thou sawcy swain A Rod to whip thee to thy wits again Nay further harmlesse Joseph did incur Their hate which needed not a second spur Brethren quoth he No aim to disinherit You of your Birth-right 't is no private Spirit My head like th' highest region of the air From all such Meteors is pure and fair I dream'd the Sun and Moâ—â— did with a troop Of'leven starrs unto mee humbly stoop No sooner spoke but all his Brethren rouz One stamps and fumes another frownes and vowes Must Father Mother and we all eleven Submit to thee how long since cam'st from heaven When is your Majestie 's inauguration King of your country Father of your nation These Temples are too stately to be bound With rosie Chaplets no they must be crown'd These armes of late too massie grown to weigh The worthlesse sheephook must a scepter sway Joseph takes all with an unfurrow'd brow And mildly crowcheth with a lowly bow Anon unto his Father tells again The heav'nly dreams of his inspired brain Who though his son was yet in years but green It fills him more with wonder than with spleen Quoth he Thine and thy Brothers purity Spark like a constellation in my skie In whom Vice ne'r could get a patronage Free from the sins that do ingross this age But that I with the rest shall prostitute Submissively to thee I yet dispute This in the Brethren had ill blood begotten Which by hot rage was soon to rancour rotten And yet no opportunity had been That they might vomit their impostum'd spleen Time was when youthfull Joseph's Brethren fed Their fleecy charge on Shechems flow'ry bed Anon-their wanton Lambkins further rov'd And they with them to Dothan next remov'd When Jacob calling Joseph to his tent With such like words him to his Brethren sent Run and make hast again my darling son On whose life 's thread that of my life is spun I through whose Organs breath my life and whose Eys if long absent mine would quickly close These apples in thy cheek my pretty page Are th' onely food that do sustain my age Thou knowst in Shechem now thy Brethren are Run and bring how they and their flocks do fare Obedience wing'd with loyalty now posts With nimble speed to Shechems past'rall coasts And finding not his Brethren there he wanders In crooked by-paths mazes and Meanders Thus roved he perplex'd till found by one Who told him they to Dothan late were gone Thither he bends and might anon behold His Brethren and their flocks as late was told One of his Brethren seeing him in hast Cryes yonder commeth our Enthusiast All with consent giv'd way to headstrong fury Sans the convention of the sacred Jury Of reason love and faith Joseph must die Grim death shall cast him in a Lethargy Then when he wakes let him with dreams out-brave Our thoughts thus slain let 's cast him in some Cave This said thus starts up Reuben Heav'n forbid We should be guilty all of fratricide Forbear the milder Citizens of th' wood Upon each tree will carve this theam of blood Forbear the Fish will lose their being mute Each Bird ' gainst murther quaintly will dispute Forbear our Lambs with bleating Oratory When they come home will tell of Josephs story Our Heards miscarry and each pregnant Ew Enix abortive Lamb-kins at the view Forbear the raging winds will burst their lungs And in articulate tones pronounce his wrongs O be not taught by self-experience Consider Cains just curse for this offence And since God is the same can we expect But like proceedings should have like effect Yet if your charity cannot forgive Then let humanity grant that he live Into the pit let 's cast the silly Swain So spoke that he might set him free again This said our nimble youth with active pace Where they consulted had attaind the place All rush on him God save our Soveraign sheaf Nay prethee speak not resolution 's deaf Do'st blush wee 'l empty all these veins of blood As clean as is thy soul from grace and good This is the coat this that Majestick sute To which we all must humbly prostitute A coat of Sack-cloth for to expiate Thy sin and to appease deserved hate Far better would become thee thou shalt die Pale death shall cloath thee in her livery What not a word unless you wear a Crown Pray knit your brows wee 'l tremble at your frown I prethee weep I prethee sigh my Boy That we may dance that we may sing for joy Let 's place him on yon-hillock for a throne Then to his Majestie wee 'll all fall proue Come come strip off this coat and next prepare For to uncloath thy soul why dost thou stare Rapt in some strange Enthusiasm we know Death quoth another shall intrance him now At this our youth grew pale his blood retreats And to his heart a fierce alarum beats Knees bended hands expans'd erected eye All silent Rhet'rick of humility Got nought but this We will without remorse Of soul and body make a quick divorce Like poor Absyrtus by his Sister slain Or wretched Itis so he beg'd in vain Quoth he I doe not use this bootless strife For to obtain that worthless name of life I fear not death yet Brethren pittie take If not for mine yet for my Fathers sake Since ther 's a God to Heaven I appeal If I you hate may not the stones conceal But give me strait the lie my soul is white Black guilt on her ne'r could such trespass write If that it could then I would never grudge Nay should my self-condemn were I my Judge Had I deserv'd death I 'd yeeld to dye Justice should swill untill my veins were dry Oh how his pittie-pleading eyes would view Now sadly one then to another sue Then to their
brouze May ne'r the Boars on it commit their rapes Nor in their mud lie drunken with her grapes Now Dan's instructed with a feigned prize Of Josephs coat to pierce his Fathers eyes Quoth he Sir walking partly for to muse Partly to gather hurdles for our Ewes I saw my Curr strangely to breath the wind Anon this bloody garment for to find I doubt 't is Josephs and I could not rest Till you resolv'd what yet my fears suggest Then Jacob rent his cloathes puts sackcloth on Doubtlesse quoth he some beast hath torn my son Come grief unsluce the floodgates of my brain Break ope the springs let forth the silver rain Hath age or passion drain'd my humours drie What means within my brain this strangury My brain 's a barren cloud though it have felt The heat of grief 't will not dissolve nor melt Me thinks now should my dropsi'd skin deplore My Iosephs death with tears through ev'ry pore I 've heard great sorrow's dumb and wanteth words But now griefs barren and no tears affords My brain and fancy both alike are drie I can nor weep nor speak my miserie Would from the North I stormy sighs could borrow Tears from the fleeting South to weep my sorrow My heavy heart as moated round with led Doth lie within my bosome buried I 've heard some have been nourished by Beasts Some children have been fostred at their Breasts Then then could not my Joseph's inn'cent ey E'n charm all Beasts from their Antipathy Dans words did grate the grisles of my ears Crackt not my eye-strings when I saw through tears The Coat O would it had been a disguise But tears were not false glasses to mine eyes I 'd weep the dreggs of tears these seem the froth Of triviall grief since tears cause childrens growth Come Benjamin Now thou mayst justly borrow Thy Mothers name Benoni son of sorrow Th' art not so young in years but canst conceive Of this our losse how canst thou choose but grieve Father quoth he then were his eyes afloat When as as he viewd the parti-coloured coat Do not all sorrow to your self ingrosse You weep a Sons and I as Brothers loss O would my tears were of that pretious rate That they slain Joseph could redeem from fate Joseph's not lost I 've heard you oft rehearse That Enoch had with God so neer commerce That God did take him might not providence Have like respect to Joseph's innocence If so I 've likewise often heard you name How that my faithfull Grandsire Abraham Would in obedience unto Gods command His only Son with an impartiall hand Offer to God you 've many he no more Grudge not to spare God one of all your store Quoth Jacob Oh these hopes are counterfeit I 'd gladly cheat my grief with such deceit My fear 's too reall then his tears he showr'd Doubtless quoth he some beast hath him devour'd Come come my children weep with me awhile While that I lie like to a floating Ile Soaking in tears come and in Sympathie Of Josephs fortunes lend a bleeding eie Talk not of cloaths this is griefs ornament Sorrow my food and Machpalah my tent Would I had never seen these dismall years Then ne'r had I thus dy'd imbalm'd in tears Grief be my Sexton Sorrow toll my Bell. Death my Vespillo bee Fates ring my knell My Nun-like soul is weary of her cloyster So sorrow sucks my marrow dries my moysture In pitty of his tears what tyrant keeps His eyes from raining when an old man weeps With the Venetian sorrow hath a Sea Espoused to my brain tears are griefs plea Whose headstrong torrent who can but affront What Xerxes can but guive my Holiespont The Midianties as doubting a reprieve Of their lov'd purchase strait to Memphis drive Whose burnish'd turrets as they did approach Shewd like some Saphyrs dropt from Phoebus Coach Whose lofty Pinacles transparent light Did seem to mock the twinckling starrs by night The Merchants willing to obtain regard Of Putiphar Captain of Pharoahs guard And good opinion of their trading truth With humble Court'sie thus present our youth Great Sir quoth they as we pasto'r the plains It was our chance to meet with Hebrew swains At whose much importunity we bought This youth whom we have to your Lordship brought Assuring thus our selves that if the grace Of mind be answerable to his face So sweet a face so blest a Genius Is fitter for your Lordship than for us Quoth Putiphar it argues not your thrift To tender gratis such a worthy gift Let not your courtesie thus seem so nice Nor circumstantiall but tell the price Quoth one the Hebrews askt Spice Balm or gum But twenty silver pieces was the sum At this the Captain starteth How so cheap So rare a purchase for so small a heap Were I a King and such a son had lost I would redeem him at my kingdom's cost Nay though twice Egypt and though Nile did stream In golden Cataracts surpast a dream Though each sand were a Saphyr on his banks Take gold for silver for your love take thanks These homely weeds do not beseem my lad Thou shalt in scarlet and in silks be clad Nor by extorting trialls will I prove How thou hereafter wilt deserve my love Though I am not like those that doe rejoyce When that they buy in nature more than choice This said the multitude about him crowds Hee like a star bemantled round with cloudes Or like a Diamond if richly set In the circumference of a ring of jet You in his face might read whom he ador'd And in their visage whom they oft implor'd Now to his home the Captain brought his page Drest with the rest in scarlet equipage Whose blushing cheeks natures fresh livery Did shame the scarlet with a nobler die Jove ne'r was serv'd by such a Ganymede No false Ixion to his masters bed What e'r he did some Angel did attend And brought his actions to a prosperous end And for his sake his Masters care and pain Was ever recompence'd with double gain This seen there 's granted to his providence The office of a steward to dispense Where God 's the supervisor who will fear T' a faithfull steward God's a treasurer Successe the midwife was and gain the heir And happy issue still of each affair Envy at this repines and madly shakes About her horrid head her ratling snakes Her looks more meager grew her limbs more thin And with her rusty teeth begins to grin At Josephs Fortunes he must drink a sup Of hers as well as Fortunes pleasant cup Among the rest that homage did of duty And vow'd adorates were to Josephs beauty His mistris fair Iempsar tore the veil Of modesty no counsell could be bail For captive reason J seph gave the wound And who to cure't but Joseph may be found First reason to her fancy read this lecture Should this be known what would the Court conjecture Reason exiled judgment thus deprav'd Thou to thy servile
hence Send one mean while ye shall be all restraind To prove if that your words be true or feign'd But if th' event convince you of a lie Why then by Pharaohs life ye come to spie Now were the Brethren all imprisoned Till thrice the Sun had left Aurora's bed When thus his Lordship spake Sirs if y' are true Doe this I fear a God as well as you If your cause spring from an unfeigned source No false injustice shall divert its course If true you blunt if false you whet the edge Of our proceedings leave one as a Pledge Of our return yet see you doe not fail None but that Brother proves your pledges bayl Now conscience like a wound by time o'r-skin'd Launc'd by the memory of what they 'd sinn'd Grew to an Ulcer which seem'd sound before And guilt like Titius Vultur gripes the sore Crosses the Midwives to the conscience be From the gross womb of dull security As Sols fierce heat dissolves the ycic plain That drowns the murmur of the roaring main So crosses soon the frozen heart-strings thaw As if a flaming Hell were in the Maw Heart-gnawing Vultures gripes are not so fierce As those that do a frighted conscience pierce Like a fierce lightning which doth frie at once The marrow and incinerates the bones No Tyrants cruelty nor are the phangs Of rav'nous Beasts more horrid than those pangs Which now the Brethren knew when that they felt Their wounded hearts even in their Brests to melt Brethren quoth one would we could that forget Which doth our conscience-seared heart-strings fret When we O horrid piacle inroll'd In heavens notaries our Brother sold Tyrants had wept but we would not condole The bitter anguish of his troubled soul This Curse our Brother did to us bequeath Whom we undoubtedly betrayd to death The fact was haynous and the sin most gross So here is rage for rage and cross for cross Me thinks as yet his mones do pierce my ears My heart drops blood fast as his ey wept tears Our scourging conscience more doth tyrannize Than did our rage upon so weak a prize This said quoth Reuben Brethren spake not I Soon as I heard your Plot your Tragedy Although I fortun'd not to intervene When you were acting of that rigid Scene O spare the Child but you prov'd to my plea As deaf and unrelenting as the Sea Bondage is Bawd to death I fear whose knise Made quick abridgement of his tender life We justly bondage fear and which is worse His blood may challenge blood a greater curse Little the Brethren thought that their remorse Of Conscience their language and discourse His Lordship understood whose meanings were Deliver'd them by an Interpreter Who now no longer could his passion smother But as in Tydes one wave pursues another Oft ceasing not till in their rolling ranks They drown all Barriers and fencing Banks So at each circumstance his passion higher And higher swell'd then did so high aspire That he retiring could not tears refrain But through his eyes discharg'd his troubled brain Who though the rain was past would yet allow Some frowning clouds to triumph on his Brow Anon quoth he returning to the room Your reason 's woven in too thin a Loom To take our faith my will by oath is seal'd By vow my sentence not to be repeal'd Since you no other evidence a lege To prove your truth thus will I choose my pledge Before them all then Simeon was bound Ev'n thus quoth he the truth I 'll justly sound Of your intents you gain no further grace Unless that younger Brother see my face That youngest Brother only shall redeem This Brother bound then traffick with esteem Why do you whisper thus speak if your cause Be just demur not thus Truth needs no pause Now had he charg'd the Steward of his Treasure To fill their Sacks with Corn in bounteous measure To store them for the journey and to pack Their Money in the mouth of each mans Sack Their Asses loaden now you may conceive With humble promises they take their leave And lest old Jacob might through their delay Do not lest they might prove an untimely prey Unto some danger lest his hopes might bleed T' a lingring death they make the greater speed Now at his Inne as each his Asse did bait Opening their Sacks their Money in full weight Was in their Sacks mouth much they did resent With sad amazement that strange accident One doubted Egypts spells another fear'd Th' abused Medium which another clear'd A third non-payment and a fourth pursute But all concluded in confus'd dispute But all grant 't was an act that God had wrought Which should b'unravel'd far beyond their thought Conceive them now at home where you may ghess They tell their Father of their sad success Dear Sir quoth one the Master of the Land Dealt roughly with us and began to brand Us with the name of Spies as some that aim'd To search their weakness which we all disclaim'd We humbly all our sute for Corn inferr'd As witness of our truth and more averr'd We 're twelve quoth we and by one man begot The youngest is at home and one is not Excuse nor plea could not maintain our cause But He th' advantage taking of that clause The youngest is at home thus aim'd to prove Where we were such that to such ends did rove Quoth he where either you speak truth or feign I 'll doe no more than Justice shall maintain Take for to nurse your houses and be gon And come not here without that youngest Son If y'have at home a Brother as you spoke That labours with you under the same yoke Of filiall duty if you here approach Sans him as Spies no doubt you now encroach And that you may conceive how far your wit Shall fail of our suspect you to acquit Let one of you here as your Pledge reside Till your return so shall your truth be tri'd You me quoth mourning Jacob have beguil'd Of Simeon now and Joseph whilst a Child And think you with this slight me to supplant To take his Brother This I cannot grant At this quoth Râ—uben let my Sons be slain If I return thy son not safe again Both mine I 'll sacrifice unto thy rigour If that he come not home in perfect vigour My Son quoth Jacob shall not hence go down To be a prey to those of Memphis town The journey 's dangerous and at each pace Death may arrest him with his Ebon Mace Oh be advis'd my sons when Joseph di'd My Soul neer sayl'd forth with his purple tide And should his Brother fail the self same dart Would cut the Cables of my an'chring heart Or weigh it from my bosomes anchorage Deliberate take pitty on my age Now Jacobs Corn was spent and yet this year Small shew of future harvest did appear Who calling for his Children thus began My Sons quoth he life which some tearm a span Dearth will t'an inch reduce
inward bleed And if their Brother all this while should feed Upon revenge since full rage now had vent It 's poys'nous rancour should on them be spent Fear by guilt raised seldome is remiss Till in conclusion hope and pardon kiss Nor were our Brethren negligent but strove To gain firm int'rest in their Brothers love Yet so conceit had of their weak demerits Dissolv'd their courage and outbrav'd their spirits That they came not but sent nor durst they frame The message in theirs but their Fathers name Know'ng if their sute in Iacobs name were coucht 'T would like a Charm not cease till it had touch'd Their Brothers midriffs with remorse 't would wrest A soft remission from his melting Brest Great Sir this was the burthen of their sute And thus they humbly taught to prostitute Thus said our Father yer in Ephrons Urn He pawn'd his body for his Souls return Thus in my name you shall to Ioseph speak Remember not thy Brethrens sin nor wreak Thy just revenge upon their hate which sin Than all their sinns in gross hath greater been Remit what God hath pardond and in this On their soft Souls thy pardon seal with His Thus did our Father bid whose Soul above Hovers with blessings yet to crown thy love Now this offence remit we thee intreat Whose hearts with true devotion truly beat Of Jacobs God t' whom from our hearts arise Zealous affection in Sacrifice For Gods for Iacobs sake our fault remit Though we for neither would at all acquit Thy innocence and if it yet appears Thy rage doth flame we 'll quench it with our tears Mild Joseph pittying their anxious fears Could not but second grief again with tears Now griev'd he they suspected him and wept Then joy'd their conscience not securely slept Now as one having foil'd a fell disease Wherein he long hath labour'd doth not cease Untill that Physick shall the reliques purge Which after might in wonted Symptoms urge Ev'n so the Brethren though they now might judge Their Brother reconcil'd and that no grudge Did swell his peacefull Brest but that with tears He entertained had their anxious fears Yet Conscience never leaves her nice inquests Till in the Bosome shee of pardon rests Nor were the Ten remiss till they found out By true experience they had nought to doubt Wherefore all in a personall submission Thus beg their Pardon and thus couch contrition Neither presum'd they on an equall greet But thus fell prostrate at their Brothers feet Dread Sir in Jacobs name and for his sake We come to second what our message spake Thus Jacob said yer he enjoy'd on high The blessings purchas'd by his lamed thigh This in my name to Ioseph speak pray blot Thy Brethrens sin if it be not forgot From thy remembrance since they are convinc'd And their Souls in repentant tears are rinc'd Trample not grief guilt is a greater scourge That can revenge inflict or Justice urge 'T is true the fault was great and to be brief Such as me thinks yet startles my belief Yet think not on revenge their fault forget And let not rage usurp mild mercies seat This did our Father bid before his death Yer Angells suck'd his Soul out with his breath And now we hope our fault did not so harden Thy heart but tears may melt it to my pardon Huge winds they say are still'd by little rain Then let not all our tears thus fall in vain Thou at first sight we hope was 't reconcil'd For ever since thy carriage hath been mild And if yet mercy in thy Brest bear sway Our hopes are anchor'd in a happy Bay If not but then their passion grew so high That with th' Aposiopesis of a sigh They there must stop to whom quoth Joseph thus I know already what you would discuss 'T is true your fact was gross and since y' are come If you want tears I here will lend you some For to lament it God did you prevent And unto good did wrest your bad intent Who hath so many sav'd alive by one Unworthy person as you see is done I long for no revenge but that you sentence Your sin to death by an unfeign'd repentance Tears are the blood I thirst for since to God Belongs revenge I 'll not usurp his rod Yet since you fear I will revenge your deed That false suggestion doth from guilt proceed For though there be no cause yet busie guilt Still holds her hand upon her Daggers hilt Envy doth burn like fire and then no doubt But once in seventeen years it would break out But yet thus may your busie guilt insist My cords of friendship you may doubt were twist Upon my Fathers heart-strings and guilt durst Infer perchance both were together burst Fear not my Brethren this the end shall prove That guilt 's a traitour which misconstrues love Doubt no close malice fear no poys'nous rancour But in this Bosome let your hopes cast anchor I 'll nourish you respect you little ones And when I die the like will charge my Sons With such advice as this you may suppose Mild Ioseph did his satisfaction close Ev'n so as these Gods Saints do never cease Till through repentance they have purchas'd peace I in Gods mercy ioy that he did die A sacrifice for me yer I was I Yet can I not but grieve and grieving mourn That I him crucifi'd yer I was born Nay greater cause of grief for I 'm the Iew And him each minute crucifie anew My sighes should wing me to some Hermites Cave Where with my nayles I 'd hourly dig my grave And there would live a sorrowfull Recluse Tears should be Helicon and grief my Muse And as an Anch'ret would my self immure Yet live in tears a gawdy Epicure When Ioseph fully pardon'd had this crime Admit a certain Intervall of time When Fortune serving whom she can't seduce As proud of his acceptance grew profuse T'wards Ioseph in her favours which he took Still with a thankfull not ambitious look Vertue commandeth Fortune and doth clip Her wings or holds her like an anchor'd ship Nor doubted he lest that with giddy changes She should vacillate in her wonted ranges God who Alph ' and Omega is is love Which still doth Alpha and Omega prove Thus Ioseph long in honour liv'd the strength Of whose old age extended to that length That his Posterity to three degrees Descent he saw and on his aged knees Were Machirs children brought Manasseh's Son So might he boast as Iacob once had done Who comming one o'r Iordan was increast When he came back a Nation at the least Now as the glorious Sun who proudly oft Hath rid in triumph through the azurd loft Anon meets an Eclips which in a brook If view'd affronts him with a gloomy look So death which makes a falling-Star of each Although he mount unto the highest reach And altitude of honour in his Sphere Began to threaten Ioseph with such fear Rude death esteems not honour and Fate dooms With equall sentence Monarchs and their Grooms Shuffles the Beggers scabs and Ladies paint Into a clod nor Villain knowes nor Saint So Ioseph with the mean'st of Adams race Must feel th' arrest of Deaths imperious Mace When Fates black-bed-roul of diseases 'gan T' assault the suburbs of his inward man He conscious of his weakness 'gan to doubt His Souls frail mansion could not long hold out Wherefore his Brethren he as one convenes To whom Sirs I perceive what heaven means For death Gods Bayliff with his Ebbon Scepter Stands ready to arrest me as his debtor Nought but my life acquits me and each day Presents my senses with some new decay Now Brethren since you know my youthfull Dreams Th' event can witness were no idle theams I 'll speak a truth too now but it propounds Its burthen to your thoughts on surer grounds 'T is truth as if 't were by the heavens hoasts Proclaim'd and witness't by our Fathers Ghosts That God will sure in his appoined time To Can'an bring you back your Native clime Which Abr'ham Jsaack and to Jacob both He gave by promise and confirm'd by oath Then do not my expiring spirit grieve Nor forfeit Can'an by your unbelief Believ 't as if each of you as an heir Unto Gods promise now breath'd Can'ans air Record it on your Souls in after years Let these my words still echo in your ears And when you see th' event doth not fall short Of expectation swear for to transport My bones with you to Can'an for I lust To be dissolved with my Fathers dust So Joseph yeelded to the Fates so old That he an hundred and ten years had told Did all the Muses Springs unto my brain Pay Tribute as all Rivers to the Main I could not weep him as he was nor fits My creeping stile with Egypts tow'ring wits Yet thus conceive they mourn'd th' Astrologers Began to curse the base-revolting Stars Could one command the Sun he 'd make him burn As an obsequious Tapor on his Urn The Moon a second then unto his Hearse The yesty Sea should pay its brackish tears A third the Orbs then he would make them meet On earth in honour for his Winding sheet A fourth the Air then should some Meteors shine Like to a Fun'rall lamp stand o'r his shrine A fift the Earth then should her teeming womb Spread a continued May about his Tomb A sixth command the Fire then he would bid A ne'r to-be-extinguish'd Pyramid Blaze on his Hearse A seventh would set forth Fit Hieroglyphicks to describe his worth Pharaoh devested of his Kingly State In mourning wailes Zaphnath-Paaneahs fate The princely Priests lament and Isis Cow Within her Temple did in mourning low Th'embalming Doctor not at all forbears But with his Odours doth commix his tears One in commemoration of his alms With them his name as with sweet odour balms Grief witty grew in some each day his years Some vie with sighes and some his months with tears 'T were infinite to quote their Fun'rall Odes Endless for to describe their mourning Modes Fit Mourners were they all whom you might see Nature had deck'd in mourning Cap-a-pe But this large task had dull'd my tyred Muse My fingers are benum'd my Pen's obtuse Leave him in Egypt where on this Divorce Worms sweetly fed on his embalmed Course FINIS