many frailties tempt vs might But by this meanes shall also scape the blot Wherwith i◠toungs our names would seek to spot Which if you feare and would auoyd the wrongs That may befall you by malicious tongues Then seeke my absence for I haue in that Vnto my friends been too vnfortunate Yet as I loue faire-virtue there is no man Ere heard me boast the fauours of a woman To her dishonour neither by my soule Was I ere guiltie of an Act so foule As some imagine Neither doe I know That woman yet with whom I might be so For neuer kindnesses to me were show'd Which I dar'd thinke for euill end bestow'd Nor euer to this present houre did I Turne friendship fauour opportunitie Or ought vouchsaft me thereby to acquire Those wicked ends which 〈◊〉 doe desire For whensoeuer lust begun to flame It was extinguisht by true loue and shame But what would this my innocence preuaile When your faire Name 〈◊〉 should assayle And how abhord should I hereafter be If you should suffer infamy by me You feare it not one halfe so much you say As you are loth I should depart away And hap what will you thinke to be content Whilst I am here and you still innocent Indeed those friends approue I not which may By euery slanderous tongue be talkt away But yet I like not him that will not striue As much as in him lyeth free to liue From giuing iust occasions of offence For else he vainely braggs of innocence And so doe we vnlesse that without blame We purpose with our loue to keepe our fame Then let vs pleased part and though the dearenes Of our affection couets both a nearenes In mind and body let vs willingly Beget a Virtue of necessitie And since we must compelled be to liue By time and place diuided let vs striue In the despight of time and distance so That loue of virtue may more perfect grow And that this seperation we lament May make our meeting fuller of content Betwixt our bodies this I le not deny There is a deare respectiue sympathy Which makes vs mutually both ioy and grieue As there is cause And farther I belieue That our contentment is imperfect till They haue each other in possession still But that which in vs two I Loue dare name Is twixt our Soules and such a powerfull flame As nothing shall extinguish nor obsure Whilst their eternall substance doth endure No not our absence nor that mightie space Betwixt my home and your abiding place For ere your Eyes my eyes had euer seene When many thousand furlongs lay betweene Our vnknowne bodies And before that you Had seene my face or thought the same to view You most entirely loued me you say Which shewes our soules had then found out the way To know each other And vnseene of vs To make our bodies meet vnthought of thus Then much lesse now shall hill or dale or groue Or that great tract of ground which must remoue My body from you there my soule confine To keepe it backe from yours or yours from mine Nay being more aquainted then they were And actiue spirits that can any where Within a moment meet They to and fro Will euery minute to each other go And we shall loue with that deare loue wherein Will neither be offence nor cause of sinne Yea whereas carnall loue is euer colder As youth decayes and as the flesh growes older And when the body is dissolued must Be buried with obliuion in the dust We then shall dearer grow and this our loue Which now imperfect is shall perfect proue For there 's no mortall power can rob true Friends Of that which noblest Amitie attends Nor any seperation that is able To make the virtuous Louers miserable Since when disasters threaten most deiection Their Goodnesse maketh strongest their affection And that which works in others loues deniall In them more noble makes it by the triall T is true that whē we part we know not whether These bodies shall for euer meet together As you haue said Yet wherefore should we grieue Since we a better meeting doe belieue If we did also know that when we die This loue should perish euerlastingly And that we must as bruitish creatures do Lose with our bodies all our dearnesse to Our seperation then a sorrow were Which mortall heart had neuer power to beare And we should faint and die to thinke vpon The passions would be felt when I were gone But seeing in the soule our loue is plac't And seeing soules of death shall neuer tast No Death can end our loue Nay when we dye Our soules that now in chaines and fettters lie Shall meet more freely to pertake that ioy Compard to which our friendship 's but a toy And for each bitternesse in this our loue We shall a thousand sweet contentments proue Meane while we that together liuing may Through humane weaknesses be led astray And vnawares make that affection foule Which virtue yet keeps blamelesse in the soule By Absence shall preserued be as cleane As to be kept in our best thoughts wee meane And in our Prayers for each other shall Giue and receiue more kindnesses then all The world can yeeld vs. And when other men Whose loue is carnall are tormented when Death calls them hence because they robbed be Of all their hope for euermore to see The obiect of their Loue we shall auoid That bitter anguish wherewith they are cloyd And whensoer'e it happens thou or I Shall feele the time approaching vs to dye It shall not grieue vs at our latest breath To mind each other on the bed of death Because of any ouersight or sinne Whereof we guiltie in our soules haue bin Nor will death feare vs cause we shall perceiue That these contentments which we had not leaue To take now we are liuing shall be gaind When our imprison'd soules shall be vnchaind Nay rather wish to dye we might possesse The sweet fruition of that happinesse Which we shall then receiue in the perfection Of Him that is the fulnesse of Affection If Time preuented not I had in store To comfort thee so many Reasons more That thou wouldst leaue to grieue although we should Each others persons neuer more behold But there is hope And then that know you may True Friends can in their absence find the way To compasse their contentments whom they loue You shall ere long the powre it hath approue Meane while you still are deare yea liue or dye My soule shall loue you euerlastingly And howsoere there seeme such cause of sorrow Yet those that part and thinke to meet to morrow Death may diuide to night And as before Their Feare was lesse their Griefe will be the more Since therefore whether far I liue or nigh There is in meeting an vncertaintie Let vs for that which surest is prouide Part like those Friends whom nothing can diuide And since we Louers first became that we Might to our power each others comfort be Let 's not the sweetnesse of our loue destroy But turne these weepings into teares of ioy On which condition I doe giue thee this To be both Mine and Sorrowes parting-kisse PHIL'ARETE FINIS The Stationers Postscript THere bee three or foure Songs in this Poeme aforegoing which were stollen from the Authour and heeretofore impertinently imprinted in an imperfect and erronious Copie foolishly intituled His Workes which the Stationer hath there falsely affirmed to bee Corrected and Augmented for his owne Aduantage and without the said Authours knowledge or respect to his credit If therfore you haue seene them formerly in those counterfet Impressions let it not be offensiue that you finde them againe in their proper places and in the Poeme to which they appertaine Vale. I. M.
Dragon for the fruite of gold And made blacke Cerberâ—â— the day behold These were his twelue stout Labours And they say With fifty Virgins in one night he lay If true it be t is thought he labourd more In that one act then in the twelue before Being 〈◊〉 by a Gentleman in his Dining-roome where was nothing but a Map of England to entertaine him he thus turned it into Verse FAire England in the bosome of the Seas Amid her two and fiftie Prouinces Sits like a glorious Empresse whose rich Throne Great Nymphes of honor come to wayt vpon First in the height of brauery appeares Kent East and South and Middle-Saxon Shires Next Surry Barkshire and Southampton get With Dorcet VVilton and rich Sommerset Then Deuon with the Cornish Promontory Gloster and VVorster faire Sabrinas glory Then Salope Suffolke Northfolke large and faire Oxford and Cambridge that thrice learned paire Then Lincolne Darby Yorkeshire Nottingham Northamption VVarwick Stafford Buckingham Chester and Lancaster with Heards well stord Huntingdon Hartford Rutland Hereford Then Princely Durham Bedford Leister and Northumber Cumber and cold VVestmerland Braue English shires with whom lou'd equally Welch Munmouth Radâ—or and Mountgomery Adde all the glory to her Tâ—aine they can So doth Glamorgan Brecknâ—â— Cardigan Caernaruan Denbigh 〈◊〉 Shire With Anglesey which ore the sea doth reare Herâ— lofty head And with the first though last Flint Pembrooke and Carmarthen might be plaâ—â— For all of these vnto their power maintaine Their Mistrisse England with a royall Traine Yea for Supporters at each hand hath she The VVight and Man that two braue Ilands be From these I to the Scottish Nymphes had iorny'd But that my Friend was backe againe returned Who hauing kindly brought me to his home Alone did leaue me in his Dining Rome Where I was faine and glad I had the hap To begg an entertainment of his Map An Epitaph vpon the Right Vertuous Lady the Lady SCOTT LEt none suppose this Relique of the Iust as here wrapt vp to perish in the dust No like best 〈◊〉 her time she fully stood Then being growne in Faith and ripe in Good With stedfast hope that shee another day Should rise with Christ with Deaâ—h here downe she lay And that each part which Her in life had grac't Preseru'd might be and meet againe at last The Poore the Worlâ— the Heauens and the Graue Her Almes her Praise her Soule her Body haue An Epitaph vpon a Woman and her Child buried together in the same Graue BEneath this Marble Stone doth lye â—he Subiect of Deaths Tyranny A Mother who in this close Tombe Sleepes with the issue of her wombe Though cruelly enclinde was he And with the fruit shooke downe the Tree Yet was his cruelty in vaine For Tree and Fruit shall spring againe A Christmas Carroll SO now is come our ioyfulst Feast Let euery man be iolly Each Roome with Yuie leaues is drest And euery Post with Holly Though some Churles at our mirth repine Round your forheads Garlands twine Drowne sorrow in a Cup of Wine And let vs all be merry Now all our Neighbours Chimneys smoke And Christmas blocks are burning The Ouens they with bakt meats choke And all their Spits are turning Without the doore let sorrow lie And if for cold it hap to die Wee le bury't in a Christmas Pye And euermore be merry Now euery Lad is wondrous trimm And no man minds his Labour Our Lasses haue prouided them A Bag-pipe and a Tabor Young men and Mayds and Girles Boyes Ciue life to one anoâ— hers Ioyes And you anon shall by their noyse Perceiue that they are merry Ranke Misers now doe sparing shun Their Hall of Musicke soundeth And Dogs thence with whole shoulders run So all things there aboundeth The Countrey-folke themselues aduance For Crowdy-Mutton's come out of France And Iack shall pipe and Iyll shall daunce And all the Towne be merry Ned Swash hath fetcht his Bands from pawne And all his best Apparell Brisk Nell hath bought a Ruffe of Lawne With droppings of the Barrell And those that hardly all the yeare Had Bread to eat or Raggs to weare Will haue both Clothes and daintie fare And all the day be merry Now poore men to the Iustices With Capons make their arrants And if they hap to faile of these They plague them with their Warrants But now they feed them with good cheere And what they want they take in Beere For Christmas comes but once a yeare And then they shall be merry Good Farmours in the Countrey nurse The poore that else were vndone Some Land-lords spend their money worse On Lust and Pride at London There the Roysters they doe play Drabb and Dice their Landt away Which may be ours another day And therefore le ts be merry The Clyent now his suit forbeares The Prisoners heart is eased The Debtor drinks away his cares And for the time is pleased Though others Purses be more fat Why should we pine or grieue at that Hang sorrow care will kill a Cat. And therefore le ts be merry Harke how the Wagges abrode doe call Each other foorth to rambling Anon you le see them in the Hall For Nutts and Apples scambling Harke how the Roofes with laughters sound Annon they 'l thinke the house goes round For they the Sellars depth haue found And there they will be merry The VVenches with their Wassell-Bowles About the Streets are singing The Boyes are come to catch the Owles The Wild-mare in is bringing Our Kitchin-Boy hath broke his Boxe And to the dealing of the Oxe Our honest neighbours come by flocks And here they will be merry Now Kings and Queenes poore Sheep-cotes haue And mate with euery body The honest now may play the knaue And wise men play at Noddy Some Youths will now a Mumming goe Some others play at Rowland-hoe And twenty other Gameboyes moe Because they will be merry Then wherefore in these merry daies Should we I pray be duller No let vs sing some Roundelayes To make our mirth the fuller And whâ—lest thus inspir'd we sing Let all the Streets with ecchoes ring Woods and Hills and euery thing Beare witnesse we are merry An Epitaph vpon the Porter of a PRISON HEre lye the bones of him that was of late A Churlish Porter of a Prison gate Death many an euening at his lodging knockt But could not take him for the dore was lockt Yet at a Tauerne late one night he found him And getting him into the seller drownd him On which the world that stil the worst is thinking Reports abroad that he was kild with drinking Yet let no Prisoner whether Thiefe or Debtor Reioyce as if his fortune were the better Their sorrows likely to be nere the shorter The Warden liues though death hath took the Porter A Sennet vpon a stolne Kisse NOw gentle sleepe hath closed vp those eyes Which waking kept my boldest thoughts in awe And fâ—eeaccesse vnto that sweet lip lies From whence I
sighs or smiles Some whose bodies want true graces Haue sweete features in their faces Others that doe misse them there Louely are some other where And to our desires doe fitte In behauiour or in witte Or some inward worth appearing To the soule the soule endearing But in her your eie may find All that 's good in Womankind What in others we preferre Are but sundry parts of her Who most perfect doth present What might one and all content Yea he that in loue still ranges And each day or howrly changes Had he iudgement but to know What perfection in her grow There would find the spring of store Sweare a faith and change no more Neither in the totall frame Is she only void of blame But each part suruei'd a sunder Might beget both loue and wonder If you dare to looke so high Or behold such maiestie Lift your wondring eies and see Whether ought can better'd be Ther 's her Haire with which Loue angles And beholdes eies intangles For in those faire curled snares They are hampred vnawares And compeld to sweare a duty To her sweete inthrauling beauty In my mind t is the most faire That was euer called haire Somewhat brighter then a browne And her Tresses wauing downe At full length and so dispread Mantles her from foote to head If you saw her Arched Brow Tell me pray what Art knowes how To haue made it in a line More exact or more diuine Beauty there may be diseri'd In the height of all her pride T is a meanly rising plaine Whose pure white hath many a vaine Interlacing like the springs In the earths enamilings If the tale be not a toy Of the little winged Boy When he meanes to strike a heart Thence he throwes the fatall dart Which of wounds still makes a paire One of Loue one of Dispaire Round her visage or so neare To a roundnes doth appeare That no more of length it takes Then what best proportion makes Short her Chinne is and yet so As it is iust long enow Louelines doth seeme to glory In that Cyrcling Promontory Pretty mouing features skip Twixt that hillocke and the lip If you note her but the while She is pleas'd to speake oâ— smile And her Lips that shew no dulnes Full are in the meanest fulnes Those the leaues be whose vnfolding Brings sweete pleasures to beholding For such pearles they doe disclose Both the Indies match not those Yet are so in order placed As their whitenesse is more graced Each part is so well disposed And her dainty mouth composed So as there is no distortion Misbeseemes that sweete proportion When her Iuorie Teeth she buries Twixt her two enticing cherries There appeares such pleasures hidden As might tempt what were forbidden If you looke againe the whiles She doth part those lips in smiles T is as when a flash of light Breakes from heauen to glad the night Other parts my pencill craue But those lips I cannot leaue For me thinkes I should goe And forsake those Cherries so Ther 's a kind of excellence Holds me from departing hence I would tell you what it were But my cunning failes me there They are like in their discloses To the mornings dewie roses That beside the name of faire Cast perfumes that sweet the Aire Melting-soft her kisses be And had I now two or three More inspired by their touch I had praisd them twise asmuch But sweete Muses marke yee how Her faire eies doe checke me now That I seem'd to passe them so And their praises ouer goe And yet blame me not that I Would so faine haue past them by For I feared to haue seene them Least there were some danger in them Yet such gentle lookes they lend As might make her foe a friend And by their allurings moue All beholders vnto loue Such a power is also there As will keepe those thoughts in feare And command enough I saw To hold impudence in awe There may he that knowes to loue Read contents which are aboue Their ignoble aimes who know Nothing that so high doth grow Whilst she me beholding is My hart dares not thinke amisse For her sight most peircing cleare Seemes to see what 's written there Those bright Eies that with their light Often times haue blest my sight And in turning thence their shining Left me in sad darkenes pining Are the rarest loueliest gray And do cast forth such a ray As the man that black prefers More would like this gray of hers When their matchles beames she shrouds T is like Cynthia hid in Clouds If againe she shew them light T is like morning after night And t is worthy well beholding With how many a pretty folding Her sweet eye lids grace that faire Meanly fring'd with beaming haire Whereby neatly ouerspread Those bright lamps are shaddowed Twixt the Eyes no hollow place Wrinkle nor vndecent space Disproportions her in ought Though by Enuy faults were sought On those Eye-browes neuer yet Did disdainefull scowling sit Loue and Goodnesse gotten thither Sit on equall thrones together And doe throw iust scorne on them That their gouernment contemne Then almost obscur'd appeares Those her Iewell-gracing Eares Whose owne Beauties more adome Then the richest Pearle that 's worne By the proudest Persian Dames Or the best that Nature frames There the voice in loues Meanders Those their pretty cirklings wanders Whose rare turnings will admit No rude speech to enter it Stretching from mount Forhead lies Beauties Cape betwixt her eyes Which two Chrystall-passing lakes Loues delightfull Isthmus makes Neither more nor lesse extending Then most meriteth commending Those in whom that part hath beene Best deseruing praises seene Or surueid without affection Came the neerest to perfection Would scarce handsome ones appeare If with her compar'd they were For it is so much excelling That it passeth meanes of telling On the either side of this Loues most louely Prospect is Those her smiling Cheekes whose colour Comprehends true Beautie fuller Then the curioust mixtures can That are made by art of Man It is Beauties Garden plot Where as in a True-loue-knot So the Snowy Lilly growes Mixed with the Crimson Rose That as friends they ioyned be Yet they seeme to disagree Whether of the two shall raigne And the Lillies oft obtaine Greatest sway vnlesse a blush Helpe the Roses at a push Hollow fallings none there are Ther 's no wrinkle ther 's no scar Onely ther 's a little Mole Which from Venus cheeke was stole If it were a thing in Nature Possible that any Creature Might decaying life repaire Onely by the helpe of Aire There were no such Salue for death As the balme of her sweet breath Or if any humane power Might detaine the Soule an houre From the flesh to dust bequeathing It would linger on her breathing And be halfe in mind that there More then mortall pleasures were And whose fortune were so faire As to draw so sweet an ayre Would no doubt let sleighted lie The perfumes of Arabie