fire I know yet know not why I love To CASTARA Looking upon him TRansfix me with that flaming dart Iâ—h ' eye or brest or any part So thou Caâ—taâ—a spare my heart The cold Cymâ—rian by thâ—t bright Warmâ— wound i th' darknesse of his night Might both recover heat and light The rugged Scythian gently move i th' whispering shadow of some groâ—e That 's consecrate to sportive Love December see the Prim rose grow The Rivers in soft murmurs flow And from his head shake off hâ—s snow And crooked age might feele againe Those heates of which youth did complaine While fresh blood swels each withered veyne For the bright lustre of thy eyes Which but â—o warme them would suffice May burne me to a sâ—crifice To the right honourable the Countesse of Ar. WIng'd with delight yet such as still doth beare Chast vertues stamp those Children of the yeere The dayes hast nimbly and while as they flie Each of them with their predecessors vie Which yeelds most pleasure you to them dâ—spence What Time lost with his cradle innocence So â— if fancie not delude my fight See often the pale monarch of tho night Diana 'mong her nimphs For every quire Of vulgar starres who lend their weaker fire To conquer the nights chilnesse with their Queene In harmelesse revels tread the happy greene But I who am proserib'd by tyrant love Seeke out a silent exile in some grove Where nought except a solitary Spring Was ever heard to which the Nimphs did sing Narcissus obsequies For onely there Is mufique apt to catch an am'rous eare Castara oh my heart How great a flame Did even shoot into me with her name Castara hath betray'd me to a zeale Which thus distracts my hopes Flints may conceale In their cold veynes a fire But I whose heart By Love 's dissolv'd ne're practis'd that cold art But truce thou warring passion for I 'le now Madam to you addresse this solemne vow By Vertue and your selfe best friends I finde In the interiour province of your minde Such government That if great men obey Thâ— example of your order they will sway Without reproofe for onely you unite Honour with sweetenesse vertue with delight Vpon CASTARA'S frowne or smile LEarned shade of Tycho Brache who to us The stars propheticke language didst impart And even in life their mysteries discusse Castara hath o'rethrowne thy strongest arâ— When custome struggles from her beaten path Then accidents must needs uncertaine be For if Castara smile though winter hath Lock't up the rivers Summer's warme in me And Flora by the miracle reviv'd Doâ—h â—ven at her owne beauty wondring stand But should she frowne the Northerne wind arriv'd In â—idst of Summer leads his frozen band Which doth to yâ—e my youthfull blood congeale Yet in the midst of yee still flames my zeale In CASTARA All fortunes YE glorious wits who finde then Parian stone A nobler quarry to build trophies on Purchast 'gainst conquer'd time go court loud fame He wins it who but sings Castara's name Aspiring soules who grow but in a Spring Forc't by the warmth of some indulgent King Know if Castara smile I dwell in it And vie for glory with the Favourit Ye sonnes of avarice who but to shaâ—e Vncertaine treasure with a certaine care Tempt death in th' horrid Ocean I when ere I but approach her find the Indies there Heaven brightest Saint kinde to my vowes made thee Of all ambition courts th' Epitome Vpon thought Castara may dye IF she should dye as well suspect we may A body so compact should ne're decay Her brighter soule would in the Moone inspire More chastity in dimmer starres more fire You twins of Laeda as your parents are In their wild lusts may grow irregular Now in your motion for the marriner Henceforth shall onely steeâ—e his course by her And when the zeale of after time shall spie Her uncorrupâ— i th' happy marble lie The roses in her checkes unwithered 'T will turne to love and dote upon the dead For he who did to her in life dispence A heaven will banish all corruption thence Time to the moments on sight of CASTARA YOu younger children of your father stay Swift flying moments which divide the day And with your number measure out the yeare In various seasons stay and wonder here For since my cradle I so bright a grace Ne're saw as you sâ—e in Castara's face Whom nature to revenge some youthfull crime Would never frame till age had weakened Time Else spight of fate in some faire forme of clay My youth I de bodied throwne my sythe away And broke my glasse But since that cannot be I 'le punish Nature for her injurie On nimble moments in your journey flie Castara shall like me grow old and die To a friend inquiring her name whom he loved FOnd Love himselfe hopes to disguise From view if he but covered lies i th' veile of my transparent eyes Though in a smile himselfe he hide Or in a sigh thou art so tride In all his arts hee 'le be discride I must confâ—sse Deare friend my flame Whose boasts Castara so doth tame That not thy faith shall â—now her nâ—me T were prophanation of my zeale If but abroad one whisper steale They love betray who him reveale In a darke cave which never eye Could by his subtlest raâ— descry It doth like a rich minerall lye Which if she with her flâ—me refine I 'de force it from that obscure Mine And then it like pure gold should shine A Dialogue betweene HOPE and FEARE FEARE CHecke thy forward thoughts and know Hymen onely joynes their hands Who with even paces goe Shee in gold he rich in lands HOPE But Castara's purer fire When it meetes a noble flame Shuns the smoke of such desire Ioynes with love and burnes the same FEARE Yet obedience must prevaile They who o're her actions sway Would have her in th' Ocean saile And contemne tâ—y narrow sea HOPE Parents lawes must beare no weight When they hâ—ppinesse prâ—vâ—nt And our sea is not so streight But it roome hath for content FEARE Thousand hearts as victims stand At the Altar of her eyes And will partiall she command Onely thine for sacrifice HOPE Thousand victims must returne Shee the purest will designe Choose Castara which shall burne Choose the purest that is mine To CVPID Vpon a dimple in CASTARA'S cheeke NImble boy in thy warme flight What cold tyrant dimm'd thy sight Hadst thou eyes to see my faire Thou wouldst sigh thy selfe to ayre Fearing to create this one Nature had herselfe undone But if you when this you heare Fall downe murdered through your eare Begge of Iove that you may have In her cheeke a dimpled grave Lilly Rose and Violet Shall the perfum'd Hearse beset While a beauteous sheet of Lawne O're the wanton corps is drawne And all lovers use this breath Here lies Cupid blest in death Vpon CVPID'S death and buriall in CASTARA'S cheeke CUpids dead Who would not dye To
warre Should blast my youth Should I not be thy feare CAST. In flesh may sickenesse horror move But heavenly zeale will be by it refin'd For then wee 'd like two Angels love VVithout a sense imbrace each others mind ARAPH VVere it not impious to repine 'Gainst rigid Fate I should direct my breath That two must be whom heaven did joyne In such a happy one disjoyn'd by death CAST. That 's no divource Then shall we see The rites in life were tipes o' th marriage state Our soules on earth contracted be But they in heaven their nuptials consumate To the Right Honourable HENRY Lord M. My Lord. MY thoughts are not so rugged nor doth earth So farre predominate in me that mirth Lookes not as lovely as when our delight First fashion'd wings to adde a nimbler flight To lazie time who would to have survai'd Our varied pleasures there have ever staid And they were harmelesse For obedience If frailty yeelds to the wild lawes of sence VVe shall but with a sugred venome meete No pleasure if not innocent as sweet And that 's your choyce who adde the title good To that of noble For although the blood Of Marshall Standley and ' La Pole doth flow VVith happy Brandon's in your veines you owe Your vertue not to them Man builds alone o th' ground of honour For desert's our ovvne Be that your ayme I 'le vvith Castara siâ— i th' shade from heat of businesse VVhile my vvit Is neither big vvith an ambitious ayme To build tall Pyramids i th' court of fame For after ages or to win conceit o th' present and grow in opinion great Rich in our selves we envy not the East Her rockes of Diamonds or her gold the West Arabia may be happy in the death Of her reviving Phaenix In the breath Of coole Favonius famous be the grove Of Tempe while we in each others love For that let us be fam'd And when of all That Nature made us two the funerall Leaves but a little dust which then as wed Even after death shall sleepe still in one bed The Bride and Bridegroome on the solemne day Shall with warme zeale approach our Vrne to pay Their vowes that heaven should blisse so farre their rites To shew them the faire paths to our delights To a Tombe TYrant o're tyrants thou who onely dost Clip the lascivious beauty without lust What horror at thy sight shâ—otes through each sence How powerfull is thy silent eloquence Which never flatters Thou instruct'st the proud That their swolne pompe is but an empty cloud Slave to each wind The faire those flowers they have I'resh in their cheeke are strewd upon a grave Thou tell'st the rich their I doll is but earth The vainely pleas'd that Syren-like their mirth Betrayes to mischiefe and that onely he Daâ—es welcome death whose aimes at vertue be Which yet more zeale doth to Castara move What checks me when the tombe perswades to love To CASTARA Vpon thought of Age and Death THe breath of time shall blast the flowry Spring Which so perfumes thy cheeke and with it bring So dâ—rke a mist as shall eclipse the light Of thy faire eyes in an eternall night Some melancholly chamber of the earth For that like Time devoures whom it gave breath Thy beauties shall entombe while all who ere Lov'd nobly offer up their serrowes there But I vvhose griefe no formall limits bound Beholding the darke caverne of that ground VVill there immure my selfe And thus I shall Thy mourner be and my ovvne funerall Else by the vveeping magicke of my verse Thou hadst reviv'd to triumph o're thy hearse To the Right Honourable the Lord P. My Lord. THe reverend man by magicke of his prayer Hath charm'd so that I and your daughter arâ— Contracted into one The holy lights Smil'd vvith a cheerefull lustre on our rites And every thing presag'd full happinesse To mutuall love if you 'le the omen blesse Nor grieve my Lord 't is perfected Before Afflicted Seas sought refuge on the shore From the angry Northvvind Ere th' astonisht Spring Heard in the ayre the feather'd people sing Ere time had motion or the Sunne obtain'd His province o're the day this vvas ordain'd Nor thinke in her I courted wealth or blood Or more uncertaine hopes for bad I stood On th' highest ground of fortune the world knowne No greatnesse but what waited on my throne And she had onely had that face and mind I with my selfe had th' earth to her resign'd In vertue there'â— an Empire And so sweete The rule is when it doth with beauty meete As fellow Consull that of heaven they Nor earth partake who would her disobey This captiv'd me And ere I question'd why I ought to love Castara through my eye This soft obedience stole into my heart Then found I love might lend to th'quick-ey'd art Of Reason yet a purer sight For he Though blind taught her these Indies first to see In whose possession I at length am blest And with my selfe at quiet here I rest As all things to my powre subdu'd To me Ther 's nought beyond this The whole woâ—ld is she His Muse speakes to him THy vowes are heard and thy Castara's name Is writ as faire i th' Register of Fame As th' ancient beauties which translated are By Poets up to heaven each there a starre And though Imperiall Tiber boast alone Ovids Corinaa and to Arâ— is knowne But Petrarchs Laura while our famous Thames Doth murmur Sydneyes Stella to her streames Yet hast thou Severâ—e left and she can bring As many quires of Swans as they to sing Thy glorious love Which living shall by thee The onely Sov'ragine of those waters be Dead in loves firmament no starre shall shine So nobly faire so purely chaste as thine To Vaine hope THou dreame of madmen ever changing gale Swâ—ll with thy wanton breath the gaudy saile Of glorious fooles Thou guid'st them who thee court To rocks to quick-sands or some faithlesse port Were I not mad who when secure at ease I might i th' Cabbin passe the raging Seas Would like a franticke shipboy wildly haste To climbe the giddy top of th' unsafe mast Ambition never to her hopes did faine A greatnesse but I really obtaine In my Castara Wer'â— not fondnesse then T' embrace the shadowes of true blisse And whenâ—â— My Paradise all flowers and fruits doth breed To rob a barren garden for a weed To CASTARA How happy though in an obscure fortune WEre we by fate throwne downe below our seare Could we be poore Or question Natures care In our provision She who doth afford A feather'd garment fit for every bird And onely voyce enough t' expresse delight She who apparels Lillies in their white As if in that she 'de teach mans duller sence Wh'are highest should be so in innocence She who in damaske doth attire the Rose And man t'himselfe a mockery to propose 'Mong whom the humblest Iudges grow to sit She who in purple cloathes
and his vertues quit him from suspitions He freely gives advice but so little peremptory is his opinion that he ingenuously submits it to an abler judgement He is open in expression of his thoughts and easeth his melancholy by inlarging it and no Sanctuary preserves so safely as he his friend afflicted He makes use of no engines of his friendship to extort a secret but if committed to his charge his heart receives it and that and it come both â—o light together In life he is the most amiable object to the soule in death the most deplorable The Funerals of the Honourable my best friend and Kinsman GEORGE TALBOT Esquire Elegie 1. T Were malice to thy fame to weepe alone And not enforce an universall groane From ruinous man and make the World complaine Yet I 'le forbid my griefe to be prophane In mention of thy prayse I 'le speake but truth Yet write more honour than ere shin'd in youth I can relate thy businesse here on earth Thy mystery of life thy noblest birth Out-shin'd by nobler vertue but how farre Th' hast tane thy journey 'bove the highest star I cannot speake nor whether thou art in Commission with a Throne or Cherubin Passe on triumphant in thy glorious way Till thou hast reacht the place assign'd we may Without disturbing the harmonious Spheares Bathe here below thy memory in our teares Ten dayes are past since a dull wonder seis'd My active soule Loud stormes of sighes are rais'd By empty griefes they who can utter it Doe not vent forth their sorrow but their wit I stood like Niobe without a grone Congeal'd into that monumentall stone That doth lye over thee I had no roome For witty grieâ—e fit onely for thy tombe And friendships monument thus had I stood But that the flame I beare thee warm'd my blood With a new life I le like a funerall fire But burne a while to thee and then expire Elegie 2. TAlbot is dead Like lightning which no part o th' body touches but first strikes the heart This word hath murder'd me Ther 's not in al The stocke of sorrow any charme can call Death sooner up For musiqu's in the breath Of thunder and a sweetnesse even i th' death That brings with it if you with this compare All the loude noyses which torment the ayre They cure Physitians say the element Siâ—ke with dull vapors and to banishment Confine infections but this fatall shreeke Without the least redresse is utter'd like The last dayes summons when Earths trophies lye A scatter'd heape and time it selfe must dye What now hath life to boast of Can I have A thought lesse darke than th' horror of the grave Now thou dost dwell below Wer 't not a fault Past pardon to raise fancie 'bove thy vault Hayle Sacred house in which his reliques sleepe Blest marble give me leave t' approach and weepe These vowes to thee for since great Talbâ—t's gone Downe to thy silence I commerce with none But thy pale people and in that confute Mistaking man that dead men are not muâ—â— Delicious beauty lend thy flatter'd eare Accustom'd to warme whispers and thou 'lt heare How their cold language tels thee that thy skin Is but a beautious shrine in which black sin Is Idoliz'd thy eyes but Spheares where lust Hath its loose motion and thy end is dust Great Atlas of the state descend with me But hither and this vault shall furnish thee With more aviso's then thy cosâ—ly spyes And show how false are all those mysteries Thy Sect receives and though thy pallace swell With envied pride 't is here that thou must dwell It will instruct you Courtier that your Art Of outward smoothnesse and a rugged heart But cheates your selfe and all those subtill wayes You tread to greatnesse is a fatall maze Where you your selfe shall loose for though you breath Vpward to pride your center is beneath And 't will thy Rhetorick false flesh confound Which flatters my fraile thoughts no time can wound This unarm'd frame Here is true eloquence Will teach my soule to triumph over sence Which hath its period in a grave and there Showes what are all our pompous surfets here Great Orator deare Talbot Still to thee May I an auditor attentive be And piously maintaine the same commerce We held in life and if in my rude verse â— to the world may thy sad precepts read I will on earth interpret for the dead Elegiâ— 3. LEt me contemplate thee faire soule though I cannot tracke the way which thou didst goe In thy coelestiall journey and my heart Expanssion wants to thinke what now thou art How bright and wide thy glories yet I may Remember thee as thou wert in thy clay Best object to my heart what vertues be Inherent even to the least thought of thee Death wâ—h toth ' vig'rous â—eate of youth brings feâ—â—â— In its leane looke doth like a Prince appeare Now glorious to my eye since it possest The wealthy empyre of that happie chest Which harbours thy rich dust for how can he Be thought a bank'rout that embraces thee Sad midnight whispers with a greedy eare I catch from lonely graves in hope to heare Nâ—wes from the dead nor can pale visions frighâ— His eyâ— who since thy death feeles no delight In mans acquaintâ—nce Mem'ry of thy faâ—e Doth in me a sublimer soule create And now my sorrow followes thee I tread The milkie way and see the snowie head Of Atlas farre below while all the high Sâ—olne buildings seeme but atomes to my eye I 'me heighten'd by my ruine and while I Weepe orâ— the vault where thy sad ashes lye My soule with thine doth hold commerce above Where we discerne the stratagems which Love Hate and ambition use to cozen man So fraile that every blast of honour can Swell him above himselfe each adverse gust Him and his glories shiver into dust How small seemes greatnesse here How not a span His empire who commands the Ocean Both that which boasts so much it 's mighty ore And th' other which with pearle â—ath pav'd its shore Nor can it greater seeme when this great All For which men quarrell so is but a ball Cast downe into the ayre to sport the starres And all our generall ruines mortall warres Depopulated states caus'd by their sway And mans so reverend wisedome but their play From thee deare Talbot living I did learne The Arts of life and by thy light discerne The truth which men dispute But by thee dead I 'me taught upon the worlds gay pride to tread And that way sooner master it than he To whom both th' Indies tributary be Elegie 4. MY name deare friend even thy expiring breath Did call upon affirming that thy death Would wound mâ— poor sad heart Sad it must be Indeed lost to all thoughts of miâ—th in thee My Lord if I with licence of your teares Which your great brother's hearse as dyamonds weares T' enrich deaths glory may but speake my
kisse your hands and take my leave To the Right Honourable Archibald Earle of Ar. IF your example be obey'd The serious few will live i th' silent shade And not indanger by the wind Or Sunshine the complexion of their mind Whose beauty weares so cleare a skin That it decayes with the least taint of sin Vice growes by custome nor dare we Reject it as a slave where it breaths free And is no priviledge denyed Nor if advanc'd to higher place envyed Wherefore your Lordship in your selfe Not lancht faâ—re in the maine nor nigh the shelfe Of humbler fortune lives at â—ase Safe from the rocks oth'shore and stormes oth'Seaâ— Your soule 's a well built City where There 's such munition that no war breeds feare No rebels wilde destractions move For you the heads have crusht Rage Envy Love And therefore you defiance bid To open enmity or mischiefe hid In fawning hate and supple pride Who are on every corner fortifide Your youth not rudely led by rage Of blood is now the story of your age Which without boast you may averre 'Fore blackest danger glory did prefer Glory not purchast by the breath Of Sycophants but by encountring death Yet wildnesse nor the feare of lawes Did make you fight but justice of the cause For but mad prodigals they are Of fortitude who for it selfe love warre When well made peace had clos'd the eyes Of discord sloath did not your youth surprize Your life as well as powre did awe The bad and to the good was the best law when most men vertue did pursue In hope by it to grow in fame like you Nor when you did to court repaire Did you your manners alter with the ayre You did your modesty retaine Your faithfull dealing the same tongue and braine Nor did all the soft flattery there Inchant you so but still you truth could heare And though your roofes were richly guilt The basis was on no wards ruine built Nor were your vassals made a prey And forâ—'t to curse the Coronation day And though no bravery was knowne To out-shine yours you onely spent your owne For 't was the indulgence of fate To give y' a moderate minde and bounteous state But I my Lord who have no friend Of fortune must begin where you doe end 'T is dang'rous to approach the fire Of action nor is 't safe farre to retire Yet better lost i th' multitude Of private men then on the state t' intrude And hazard for a doubtfull smile My stocke of fame and inward peace to spoile I le therefore nigh some murm'ring brooke That wantons through my meddowes with a booke With my Castara or some friend My youth not guilty of ambition spend To my owne shade if fate permit I le whisper some soft musique of my wit And flatter so my selfe I le see By that strange motion steale into the tree But still my first and chiefest care Shall be t'appâ—ase offended heaven with prayer And in such mold my thoughts to cast That each day shall be spent as 't were my last How ere it's sweete lust to obey Vertue though rugged is the safest way An Elegy upon The Honourable Henry Cambell sonne to to the Earle of Ar. IT s false Arithmaticke to say thy breath Expir'd to soone or irreligious death Prophan'd thy holy youth For if thy yeares Be number'd by thy vertues or our teares Thou didst the old Methusalem out-live Though Time but twenty yeares account can give Of thy abode on earth yet every houre Of thy brave youth by vertues wondrous poâ—â—re Was lengthen'd to a yeare Each well-spent day Keepes young the body but the soule makes gray Such miracles workes goodnesse and behind Th' ast left to us such stories of thy minde Fit for example that when them we read We envy earth the treasure of the dead Why doe the sinfull riot and survive The feavers of their surfets Why alive Is yet disorder'd greatnesse and all they Who the loose lawes of their wilde blood obey Why lives the gamester who doth blacke the night With cheats and imprecations Why is light Looked on by those whose breath may poyson it Who sold the vigor of their strength and wit To buy diseases and thou who faire truth And vertue didst adore lost in thy youth But I le not question fate Heaven doth conveigh Those first from the darke prison of their clay Who are most fit for heaven Thou in warre Hadst tane degrees those dangers felt which are The props on which peace safely doth subsist And through the Cannons blew and horrid mist Hadst brought her light And now wert so compleat That naught but death did want to make thee great Thy death was timely then bright soule to thee And in thy fate thou suffer'dst not 'T was we Who dyed rob'd of thy life in whose increase Of reall glory both in warre and peace We all did share and thou away we feare Didst with thee the whole stocke of honour beare Each then be his owne mourner Wee 'le to thee Write hymnes upon the world an Elegie To CASTARA WHy should we feare to melt away in death May we but dye together When beneath In a coole vault we sleepe the world will prove Religious and call it the shrine of Love There when o th' wedding eve some beautious maid Suspitious of the faith of man hath paid The tribute of her vowes o th' sudden shee Two violets sprouting from the tombe will see And cry out ye sweet emblems of their zeale Who live below sprang ye up to reveale The story of our future joyes how we The faithfull patterns of their love shall be If not hang downe yours heads opprest with dew And I will weepe and wither hence with you To CASTARA Of what we were before our creation WHen Pelion wondring saw that raine which fell But now from angry Heaven to Heaven ward swell When th' Indian Ocean did the wanton play Mingling its billowes with the Balticke sea And the whole earth was water O where then Were we Castara In the fate of men Lost underneath the waves Or to beguile Heaven's justice lurkt we in Noahs floating Isle We had no being then This fleshly frame Wed to a soule long after hither came A stranger to it selfe Those moneths that were But the last age no newes of us did heare What pompe is then in us Who th' other day Were nothing and in triumph now but clay To the Moment last past O Whither dost thou flye Cannot my vow Intreat thee tarry Thou wert here but now And thou art gone like ships which plough the Sea And leave no print for man to tracke their way O unseene wealth who thee did husband can Out-vie the jewels of the Ocean The mines of th' earth One sigh well spent in thee Had beene a purchase for eternity We will not loose thee then Castara where Shall we finde out his hidden sepulcher And wee 'le revive him Not the cruell stealth Of
owneâ— I le prâ—ve it that no sorrow ere was knowne Reall as mine All other mourners keepe In griefe a method without forme I weepe The sonne rich in his fathers fate hath eyes Wet just as long as are the obsequies The widow formerly a yeare doth spend In her so courtly blackes But for a Friend We weepe an age and more than th' Anchorit have Our very thoughts confin'd within a Grave Chast Love who hadst thy tryumph in my flame And thou Castara who had hadst a name But for this sorrow glorious Now my verse Is lost to you and onely on Talbots herse Sadly attends And till times fatall hand Ruines what 's left of Churches there shall stand There to thy selfe deare Talbot I le repeate Thy owne brave story tell thy selfe how great Thou wert in thy mindes Empire and how all Who out-live thee see but the Funerall Of glory and if yet some vertuous be They but weake apparitions are of thee So setled were thy thoughts each action so Discreetely ordered that nor ebbe nor flow Was ere perceiv'd in thee each word mature And every sceane of life from sinne so pure That scarce in its whole history we can Finde vice enough to say thou weâ—t but man Horror to say thou wert Curst that we must Addresse our language to a little dust And seeke for Talbot there Injurious fate To lay my lifes ambition desolate Yet thus much comfort have I that I know Not how it can give such another blow Elegie 5. CHast as the Nuns first vow as fairely bright As when by death her Soule shines in full light Freed from th' eclipse of Earth each word that came From thee deare Talbot did beget a flame T'enkindle vertue which so faire by thee Became man that blind mole her face did see But now to'our eye she 's lost and if she dwell Yet on the earth she 's conffin'd in the cell Of some cold Hermit who so keepes her there As if of her the old man jealous were Nor ever showes her beauty but to some Carthusian who even by his vow is dumbe So ' mid the yce of the farre Northren sea A starre about the Articke Circle may Then ours yeeld clearer light yet that but shall Serve at the froxen Pilots funerall Thou brightest constellation to this maine Which all we sinners traffique on didst daigne The bounty of thy fire which with so cleare And constant beames did our frayle vessels steere That safely we what storme so ere bore sway Past ore the rugged Alpes of th' angry Sea But now vve sayle at randome Every rocke The folly doth of our ambition mocke And splits our hopes To every Sirens breath We listen and even court the face of death If painted ore by pleasure Every wave I ft hath delight w'embrace though 't prove a grave So ruinous is the defect of thee To th'undone world in gen'rall But to me Who liv'd one life with thine drew but one breath Possest with th' same mind thoughts 't was death And now by fate I but my selfe survive To keepe his mem'ry and my griefes alive Where shall I then begin to weepe No grove Silent and darke but is prophan'd by Love With his warme whispers and faint idle feares His busie hopes loud sighes and caselesse teares â—ach â—are is so enchanted that no breath Is listned to which mockes report of death I le tuâ—ne my griefe then inward and deplore My ruine to my selfe repeating ore The story of his vertues untill I Not write but am my selfe his Elegie Elegie 6. GOe stop the swift-wing'd moments in their flight To their yet unknowne coast goe hinder night From its approach on day and force day rise From the faire East of some bright beauties eyeâ— Else vaunt not the proud miracle of verse It hath no powre For mine from his blacke herse Redeemes not Talâ—ot who could as the breath Of winter coffin'd lyes silent as death Stealing on th' Anch'rit who even wants an eare To breath into his soft expiring prayer For had thy life beene by thy vertues spun Out to a length thou hadst ouâ—-liv'd the Sunne And clos'd the worlds great eye or were not all Our wonders fiction from thy funerall Thou hadst received new life and liv'd to be The conqueror o're death inspir'd by me But all we Poets glory in is vaine And empty triumph Art cannot regaine One poore houre lost nor reskew a small flye By a fooles finger destinate to dye Live then in thy true life great soule for set At liberty by death thou owest no debt T' exacting Nature Live freed from the sport Of time and fortune in yand ' starry court A glorious Potentate while we below But fashion wayes to mitigate our woe We follow campes and to our hopes propose Th' insulting victor not remembring those Dismembred trunkes who gave him victory By a loath'd faâ—e We covetous Merchants be And to our aâ—mes pretend treasure and sway Forgetfull of the treasons of the Sea The shootings of a wounded conscience We patiently sustaine to serve our sence With a short pleasure So we empire gaine And rule the fate of businesse the sad paine Of action we contemne and the affright Which with pale visions still attends our night Our-joyes false apparitions but our feares Are certaine prophecies And till our eares Reach that caelestiall musique which thine now So cheerefully receive we must allow No comfort to our griefes from which to be Exempted is in death to follow thee Elegie 7. THere is no peace in sinne Aeternall war Doth rage 'mong vices But all vertues are Friends 'mong themselves and choisest accents be Harsh Eccho's of their heavenly harmonie While thou didst live we did that union finde In the so faire republick of thy mind Where discord never swel'd And as we dare Affirme those goodly structures temples are Where well-tun'd quires strike zeale into the eare The musique of thy soule made us say there God had his Altars every breath a spice And each religious act a sacrifice But death hath that demolisht All our eye Of thee now sees doth like a Cittie lye Raz'd by the cannon Where is then that flame That added warmth and beauty to thy frame Fled heaven-ward to repaire with its pure fire The losses of some maim'd Seraphick quire Or hovers it beneath the world t' uphold From generall ruine and expell that cold Dull humor weakens it If so it be My sorrow yet must prayse fates charity But thy example if kinde heaven had daignd Frailty that favour had mankind regaind To his first purity For that the wit Of vice might not except 'gainst th' Ancherit As too to strickt thou didst uncloyster'd live Teaching the soule by what preservative She may from sinnes contagion live secure Though all the ayre she suckt in were impure In this darke mist of error with a cleare Vnspotted light thy vertue did appeare T' obray'd corrupted man How could the rage Of untam'd lust have scorcht
knowes a benefit and the contempt of it ingratitude and therefore loves but not doates on life Death how deformed soever an aspect it weares he is not frighted with since it not annihilates but uncloudes the soule He therefore stands every moment prepared to dyeâ— and though he freely yeelds up himselfe when age or sickenesse sommon him yet he with more alacritie puts off his earth when the profession of faith crownes him a martyr Domine labia mea aperies DAVID NOe monument of me remaine My mem orie rust In the same marble with my dust Ere I the spreadingst Laurell gaine By writing wanton or profane Ye glorious wonders of the skies Shine still bright starres Th' Almighties mystick Characters I le not your beautious lights surprize T' illuminate a womans eyes Nor to perfume her veines will I In each one set The purple of the violet The untoucht flowre may grow and dye Safe from my fancieâ— injurie Open my lippes great God! and then I le soare above The humble flight of carnall love Vpward to thee I le force my pen And trace no path of vulgar men For what can our unbounded soules Worthy to be Their object finde excepting thee Where can I fixe since time controuses Our pride whose motion all thingâ— roules Should I my selfe ingratiate Tâ— a Princes smile How soone may death my hopes beguile And should I farme the proudest state I 'me Tennant to uncertaine fate If I court gold will it not rust And if my love Toward a female beauty move How will that surfet of our lust Distast us when resolv'd to dust But thou Aeternall banquet where For ever we May feede without satietie Who harmonie art to the eare Who art while all things else appeare While up to thee I shoote my flame Thou dost dispence A holy death that murders sence And makes me scorne all pompes that ayme At other triumphes than thy name It crownes me with a victory So heavenly all That 's earth from me away doth fall And I from my corruption free Grow in my vowes even part of thee Versa est in luctum cythara mea IOB LOve I no orgies sing Whereby thy mercies to invoke Nor from the East rich perfumes bring To cloude thy Altars with the precious smoake Nor while I did frequent Those fanes by lovers rais'd to thee Did I loose heathenish rites invent To force a blush from injur'd Chastitie Religious was the charme I used affection to intice And thought none burnt more bright or warme Yeâ— chaste as winter was the Sacrifice But now I thee bequeath To the soft silken youths at Court Who may their witty passions breath To raise their Mistresse smile or make her sport They 'le smooth thee into rime Such as shall catch the wanton eare And win opinion with the time To make them a high sayle of honour beare And may a powerfull smile Cherish their flatteries of wit While I my life of fame begâ—ile And under my owne vine uncourted sit For I have scene the Pine Famed for its travels ore the Sea Broken with stormes and age decline And in some creeke unpittied rot away I have seene Caedars fall And in their roome a Mushrome grow I have seene Comets threatning all Vanish themselves I have seene Princes so Vaine triviall dust weake man Where is that vertue of thy breath That others save or ruine can When thou thy selfe art cal'd t' account by death When I consider thee The scorne of Time and sport of fate How can I turne to jollitie My ill-strung Harpe and court the delicate How can I but disdaine The emptie fallacies of mirth And in my midnight thoughts retaine How high so ere I spread my root 's in earth Fond youth too long I playd The wanton with a false delight Which when I toucht I found a shade That onely wrought on th' error of my â—ight Then since pride doth betray The soule to flatter'd ignorance I from the World will steale away And by humility my thoughts advance Perdam Sapientiam Sapientum To the Right Honorable the Lord Windsor My Lord FOrgive my envie to the World while I Commend those sober thoughts perswade you fly The glorious troubles of the Court. For though The vale lyes open to each overflow And in the humble shâ—de we gather ill And aguish ayres yet lightnings oftner kill o th' naked heights of mountaines whereon we May have more prospect not securitie For when with losse of breath we have orecome Some steepe ascent of power and forc'd a roome On the so envi'd hill how doe our hearts Pant with the labour and how many arts More subtle must we practise to defend Our pride from sliding then we did t' ascend How doth successe delude the mysteries And all th' involv'd designements of the wise How doth that Power our Pollitickes call chance Racke them till they confesse the ignorance Of humane wit Which when 't is fortified So strong with reason that it doth deride All adverse force o th' sudden findes its head Inâ—angled in a spiders slender thread Coelestiall Providence How thou dost mocke The boast of earthly wisdome On some rocke When man hath a structure with such art It doth disdaine to tremble at the dart Of thunder or to shrinke oppos'd by all The angry winds it of it selfe doth fall Ev'n in a calme so gentle that no ayre Breaths loude enough to stirre a Virgins haiâ—e But misery of judgement Though past time Instruct us by th' ill fortune of their crimes And shew us how we may secure our state From pittied ruine by anothers fate Yet we contemning all such sad advice Pursue to build thougth on a precipice But you my Lord prevented by foresight To engage your selfe to such an unsafe height And in your selfe both great and rich enough Resused t' expose your vessell to the rough Vncertaine sea of businesse whence even they Who make the best returne are forc't to say The wealth we by our worldly traffique gaine Weighes light if ballanc'd with the feare or paine Paucitatem dierum meorum nuncia mihi DAVID TEll me O great All knowing God What period Hast thou unto my dayes assign'd Like some old leafelesse tree shall I Wither away or violently Fall by the axe by lightning or the Wind Heere where I first drew vitall breath Shall I meete death And finde in the same vault a roome Where my â—ore-fathers ashes sâ—eepe Or shall I dye where none shall weepe My timelesse fate and my cold earth intombe Shall I'gainst the swift Parthians fight And in their flight Receive my death Or shall I see That envied peace in which we are Triumphant yet disturb'd by warre And perish by th' invading enemie Astrologers who calculate Vncertaine fate Affirme my scheme doth not presage Any abridgement of my dayes And the Phisitian gravely sayes I may enjoy a reverent length of age But they are jugglers and by slight Of art the sight Of faith delude and in their
schoole They onely practise how to make A mistery of each mistake And teach strange words credulity to foole For thou who first didst motion give Whereby things live And Time hath being to conceale Future events didâ—t thinke it fit To checke th' ambition of our wit And keepe in awe the curious search of zeale Therefore so I prepar'd still be My God for thee o th' sudden on my spirits may Some killing Apoplexie seâ—ze Or let me by a dull disease Or weakened by a feeble age decay And so I in thy favour dye No memorie For me a well-wrought tombe prepare For if my soule be 'mong the blest Though my poore ashes want a châ—st I shall forgive the trespasse of my heire Non nobis Domine DAVID NO marble statue nor high Aspiring Piramid be rays'd To lose its head within the skie What claime have I to memory God be thou onely prais'd Thou in a moment canst defeate The mighty conquests of the proude And blast the laurels of the great Thou canst make brightest glorie set o th' sudden in a cloude How can the feeble workes of Art Hold our 'gainst the assault of stormes Or how can brasse to him impart Sence of surviving fame whose heart Is now resolv'd to wormes Blinde folly of triumphing pride Aeternitie why buildâ—t thou here Dost thou not see the highest tide Its humbled streame in th' Ocean hide And nâ—â—â—â—he same appeare That tide which did its banckes ore-flow As sent abroad by th' angry sea To levell vastest buildings low And all our Trophes overthrow Ebbes like a theefe away And thou who to preserve thy name Leav'st statues in some conquer'd land How will posterity scorne fame When th' Idoll shall receive a maime And loose a foote or hand How wilt thou hate thy warres when he Who onely for his Fire did raise Thâ— counterfet in stone with thee Shall stand Competitor and be Perhapes thought worthier praise No Laurell wreath about my brow To thee my God all praise whose law The conquer'd doth and conqueror bow For both dissolve to ayre if thou Thy influence but withdraw Solum mihi superest sâ—pulchruuâ— IOB WElcome thou safe retreate Where th' injured man may fortifie 'Gainst the invasions of the great Where the leane slave who th' Oare doth plye Soft as his Admirall may lye Great Statist t is your doome Though your defignes swell high and wide To be contracted in a tombe And all your happie cares provide But for your heire authorized pride Nor shall your shade delight i th' pompe of your proud obsequies And should the present flatterie write A glorious Epitaph the wise Will say The Poets wâ—â— here lyes How reconcil'd to fate Will grow the aged Villager When he shall see your funerall state Since death will him as warme inter As you in your gay sepulcher The great decree of God Makes every path of mortals lead To this darke common period For what by wayes so ere we tread We end our journey 'mong the dead Even I while humble zeale Makes fancie a sad truth indite Insensible a way doe steale And when I 'me lost in deaths cold night Who will remember now I write Et fugit velut umbra IOB To the Right Honourable the Lord Kintyre My Lord THat shadow your faire body made So full of sport it still the mimick playde Ev'n as you mov'd and look'd but yesterday So huge in stature Night hath stolne away And this is th' emblem of our life To please And flatter which we sayle ore broken seas Vnfaithfull in their rockes and tides we dare All the sicke humors of a forraine ayre And mine so deepe in earth as we would trie To unlocke hell should gold there hoarded lie But when we have built up an aedefice T'outwrastle Time we have but built on ice For firme lowever all our structures be Polisht with smoothest Indian Ivory Rais'd high on marble our unthankfull heire Will scarce retaine in memory that we were Tracke through the ayre the footesteps of the wind And search the print of ships sayl'd by then finde Where all the glories of those Monarchs be Who bore such sway in the worlds infancie Time hath devour'd them all and scarce can fame Give an account that ere they had a name How can he then who doth the world controle And strikes a terror now in either Pole Th' insulting Turke secure himselfe that he Shall not be lost to dull Posterity And though the Superstition of those Times Which deâ—fied Kings to warrant their owne crimes Translated Caesar to a starre yet they Who every Region of the skie Survay In their Coelestiall travaile that bright coast Could nere discover which containes his ghost And after death to make that awe survive Which subjects owe their Princes yet alive Though they build pallaces of bralle and jet And keepe them living in a counterfet The curious looker on soone passes by And findes the tombe a sickenesse to his eye Neither when once the soule is gone doth all The solemne triumph of the funerall Adde to her glory or her paine release Then all the pride of warre and wealth of peace For which we toild from us abstracted be And onely serve to swell the history These are sad thoughts my Lord and such as fright The easie soule made tender with delight Who thinkes that he hath forfetted that houre Which addes not to his pleasure or his powre But by the friendship which your Lordship daignes Your Servant I have found your judgement raignes Above all passion in you and that sence Could never yet demolish that strong fence Which Vertue guards you with By which you are Triumphant in the best the inward warre Nox nocti indicat Scientiam DAVID WHen I survay the bright Coelestiall spheare So rich with jewels â—ung that night Doth like an Aethiop bride appeare My soule her wings doth spread And heaven-ward flies Th' Almighty's Mysteries to read In the large volumes of the skies For the bright firmament Shootes forth no flame So silent but is eloquent In speaking the Creators name No unregarded star Contracts its light Into so small a Charactar Remov'd far from our humane sight But if we stedfast looke We shall discerne In it as in some holy booke How man may heavenly knowledge learne It tells the Conqueror That farre-stretcht powre Which his proud dangers traffique for Is but the triumph of an houre That from the farthest North Some Nation may Yet undiscovered issue forth And ore his new got conquest sway Some Nation yet shut in With hils of ice May be let out to scourge his sinne 'Till they shall equall him in vice And then they likewise shall Their ruine have For as your selves your Empires fall And every Kingdome hath a grave Thus those Coelestiall fires Though seeming mute The fallacie of our desires And all the pride of life confute For they have watcht since first The World had birth And found sinne in it selfe accurst And nothing permanent