And still look'd downe to find more if he might For well he found he found well by that sleight 20 Philosophers that gold did still neglect Lookt only but wise-fooles to find their Stone Which toy in truth was nothing in effect But to get all the world to them alone For with that Stone they would pure gold proiect Worth all the world by computation But whiles they sought a Stone so rich and faire They perfect gold but turn'd t'imperfect aire 21 Thus at the heeles of Fortune all attend Whom well shee feëd for attending so On th' other side Death to and fro did wend To seeke one that with him would gladly go But none he found which made him those to end He ouertooke in going to and fro For those which are vnwilling Death to meete He is most willing soonest them to greete 22 Nor could those Officers that him foreranne Sickenesse Mischance Disgrace and Destinie Affect with his affection any Man For none they found that willingly would die Sith all before with fauours Fortune wan And such desir'd to liue eternally For it is death to thinke on Death with such That Fortune makes too merry with too much 23 Throgh Campes Hosts he trauel'd with a trice For soldiers needs must meet deth by their trade At last he came where some were throwing dice Who first a Breach should enter newly made Lord how some chaf'd through Glories auarice For missing that which they wold not haue had And he that wan to lose his life did striue Yet so as faine he would haue scapt aliue 24 Among the rouing Crew at Sea he sought For one that willing was to go with him Who thogh they valu'd all their liues at nought And oft for trifles ventred life limme Yet when their woorthlesse bloods were to bee bought They sold them deerely and in blood did swim From bloody death as long as they could moue For thogh they fear'd not death they life did loue 25 Through the Turkes Gallies 'mong the Slaues he went To seek some desp'rat slaue that loÌ„g'd to die But loe not one to die would yeeld consent For all through hope still lookt for libertie Hope doth the hart enlarge that Griefe forespent And Faith keepes Hope and Life in charitie Dispaire can neuer seize that hopefull hart That can through Faith endure an hell of smart 26 At last he to a Monasterie came Where mortified life is most profess'd And sought for one to meete him in the same But all therein from sodaine death them blest And praâ—'d to Iesus so their liues to frame That sodainely Death might not them arrest A Pater noster Aue and a Creede They thought right wel bestow'd so wel to speed 27 Thence went he to an holie Ancrets Cell Who seem'd to be quite buried there aliue He Death embrac'd but yet the feare of Hell Made him with Death for life in loue to striue He knew himselfe old Fox perhappes too well Strait to presume that God would him forgiue So was most willing and vnwilling too To do as present Death would haue him doo 28 In fine Death doubting in his Cause to faile Intreated Sickenesse such an one to finde That wold not flinch thogh Deth did him assaile And scorn'd the fauors of that Godddesse blinde So Sickenes went throgh many a lothsome Iaile And found at last one mortified in minde Who though he were but poore yet held it vaine To follow Fortune that did him disdaine 29 On whom seiz'd Sickenesse with resistlesse force And pull'd him downe so low he could not stand To whom Death came to make his corps a Corse Yet as his friend first shak'd him by the hand And by perswasions would him faine enforce With willing minde to be at his command Which if he would Death promis'd faithfully He should die sleeping or most easily 30 This forlorne wrech thaÌ„kt death for his good wil But yet desird one happy howre to liue Which ended he would Deaths desire fulfill Who from him with a Purge did Sicknesse driue Which shortly did one of his Kinred kill From whome as heire he did some wealth receiue And being well in state of health and wealth He followed Fortune more theÌ„ Death by stealth 31 Now hee betooke him to a Furriers Trade And hauing Stock hee multiplide his Store Then Death did mind him of the match he made But him hee answer'd as hee did before Quoth he O marre me not ere I am made But let me get kind Death a little more ConteÌ„te quoth Death thou shalt haue thy desire So I may haue thereby what I require 32 Sables and Ermines Death for him did kill And made his wealth thereby by heapes increase Who hauing now death thoght the world at will He asked him if now he would decease Who yet desired life of Dearh to fill His coffers to the top theÌ„ would he cease Death yet seem'd pleas'd and brought all those to nought Th'reuersions of whose States he erst had bought 33 Then when he had a world of wealth obtain'd Death came againe for his consent to die But now he told Death his mind more was pain'd With thought and care then erst in pouertie Therefore he prai'd his death might be refrain'd Till he had gotten some Nobilitie And then he would go willingly with Death And nobly yeelde to him his deerest breath 34 Death yet agreed sith his good will he sought And gaue him leaue to compasse his intent Who of a noble-man decayed bought Both Land Lordship Honor House Rent Then Hee turn'd Courtier and with Courtiers wroght By Deaths assistance with mony lent That he in time became a mightie King And al his Proiects to effect did bring 35 Then Death not doubting of his will to die Vnto him came to know his will therein But he did Death intreate most earnestly That sith to him he had so gracious bin He yet might gaine imperiall Dignitie Before his Death which soone he hop'd to win And then he would most willingly resigne His life to Death although a life diuine 36 Death hoping that the greater he was made The greater glorie he by him should gaine Which might the vmpire Iupiter perswade That Death in powre was Fortunes Soueraigne Made neighbour Kings each other to inuade To whom this King a Neuter did remaine Who wheÌ„ they had by wars themselues consum'd He all their States as Emperour assum'd 37 Now being Caesar Death came strait to him As most assured of his company But to the Emperour he seem'd more grim Then erst he did which made him loath to die Come on quoth Deth therwith held a limme No oddes there must be now twixt you and I To Ioue I le bring you then with goodwill go To him with me and see you tell him so 38 Alas said hee I am but newly come To honors height and
But vsher'd Death where ere themselues did go For they the purest Aire did so defile That whoso breath'd it did his breath forgo At London sincke of Sinne as at the Fount This all-confounding Pestilence began According to that Plagues most wofull wont From whence it flowing all the realme o'reranne Which to preuent at first they pestered Pest-houses with their murraine-tainted Sicke But though from them thence the healthie fled They ere suspected mortified the Quicke Those so infected being ignorant That so they are conuerse with whom soere Whose open Shops and Houses all doe haunt And finde most danger where they least do feare And so not knowing sicke-folke from the sound For such ill Aire 's not subiect to the sense They One with Other do themselues confound And so confound all with a pestilence Out flies one from the Plague and beares with him An heauy Purse and Plague more ponderous Which in the hie-way parteth life from limbe So plagues the next of his coine couetous In this ditch lies one breathing out his last Making the same his Graue before his death On that Bancke lies another breathing fast And passers by he baneth with his breath Now runnes the Rot along each bancke ditch And with a murraine strikes Swine Sheep and all Or man or beast that chance the same to touch So all in fields as in the Cities fall The London Lanes themseluet thereby to saue Did vomit out their vndigested dead Who by cart loads are carried to the Graue For all those Lanes with folke were ouerfed There might ye see Death as with toile opprest Panting for breath all in a mortall sweat Vpon each bulke or bench himselfe to rest At point to faint his Haruest was so great The Bells had talkt so much as now they had Tir'd all their tongs and could not speake a word And Griefe so toild herselfe with being sad That now at Deaths faint threats shee would but bourd Yea Death was so familiar ah become With now resolued London Families That wheresoere he came he was welcome And entertain'd with ioyes and iolities Goods were neglected as things good for nought If good for aught good but to breed more ill The Sicke despis'd them if the Sound thē sought They sought their death which cleaued to thē stil So Sicke and Sound at last neglected them As if the Sound and Sicke were neere their last And all almost so fared through the Realme As if their Soules the Iudgement day were past This World was quite forgot the World to come Was still in minde which for it was forgot Brought on our World this little day of Dome That choakt the Graue with this contageous Rot No place was free for Free-men ne for those That were in Prisons wanting Libertie Yet Prisoners frëest were from Plagues and Woes That visite Free-men but too lib'rally For al their food came frō the helthy house Which then wold giue Gods plags from thence to keep The rest shut vp could not like bountie vse So woefull Pris'ners had least cause to weepe The king himselfe O wretched Times the while From place to place to saue himselfe did flie Which from himselfe himselfe did seeke t'exile Who as amaz'd not safe knew where to lie It s hard with Subiects when the Soueraigne Hath no place free from plagues his head to hide And hardly can we say the King doth raigne That no where for iust feare can well abide For no where comes He but Death follows him Hard at the Heeles and reacheth at his head So sincks al Sports that wold like triumphs swim For what life haue we when we all are dead Dead in our Spirits to see our Neighbours die To see our King so shift his life to saue And with his Councell all Conclusions trie To keepe themselues from th' insatiate Graue For hardly could one man another meete That in his bosome brought not odious Death It was confusion but a friend to greet For like a Fiend he baned with his breath The wildest wastes and places most remote From Mans repaire are now the most secure Happy is he that there doth finde a Cote To shrowd his Head from this Plagues smoaking showre A Beggars home though dwelling in a Ditch If farre from London it were scituate He might rent out if pleas'd him to the Rich That now as Hell their London homes doe hate Now had the Sunne the Ballance entered To giue his heate by weight or in a meane When yet this Plague more heate recouered And scowr'd the towns that erst were clēsed clean Now sad Dispaire clad in a sable weede Did All attend and All resolu'd to die For Heat cold they thought the Plague would feede Which like a Ierffe still sinn d in gluttony The heau'nly Coape was now ore-canopide Neere each ones Zenith as his sense suppos'd With ominous impressions strangely died And like a Canopie at toppe it clos'd As if it had presag'd the Iudge was nie To sit in Iudgement his last doome to giue And caus'd his cloth of State t' adorne the Skie That All his neare approach might so perceiue Now fall the people vnto publike Fast And all assemble in the Church to pray Earely and late their soules there take repast As if preparing for the later day Where fasting meeting with the sound and sicke The sicke the sound do plage while they do pray To haste before the Iudge the dead and quicke And pull each other so in post away Now Angells laugh to see how contrite hearts Incounter Death and scorne his Tiranny Their Iudge doth ioy to see them play their parts That erst so liu'd as if they ne'r should die Vp go their harts hands and downe their knees While Death wēt vp down to bring thē down That vp they might at once not by degrees Vnto the High'st that doth the humble crown◠O how the thresholds of each double dore Of Heau'n and Hell were worne with throngs of ghosts Ne'r since the Deluge did they so before Nor euer since so pollisht the side-posts The Angells good and bad are now all toil'd With intertaining of these ceaselesse throngs With howling some in heat and horror broild And othersome in blisse with ioyfull Songs Th' infernall Legions in Battallions Seeke to inlarge their kingdome lest it should Be cloid with Collonies of wicked ones For now it held more then it well could hold The Angells on the Cristall walls of Heau'n Holpe thousands ore the Gates so glutted were To whom authoritie by Grace was giu'n The prease was such to helpe them ouer there The Cherubin eie-blinding Maiestie Vpon his Throne that euer blest hath bin Is compast with vnwonted Company And smiles to see how Angells helpe them in The heau'nly streets do glitter like the Sunne With throngs of Sonnes but newly glorifide Who still to praise their Glorifier runne Along those streets full fraught on either side Now was
euer interdicts Is this the Soule we thought with flesh should die Which feeles these mortall plagues immortally 175 Here some with hands fast frozen to their mouth Do seeke to thaw them with their warmest breath But lo the frost that breath so fast pursuth That it doth freeze in comming from beneath So hand and mouth thereby the faster growth Yet liue they still though frozen quite to death For like to Alabaster Tombs they stand Frozen to death yet liue at Deaths command 176 Here boistrous Bugbeares do at foot-ball play With a still-tost and tumbled groning Ghost To catch thē heat which done they dāce the Hay About it breathlesse being ouer-tost So with transmuted formes it to dismay With feare that may afflict the seeing most While that poore Soule lies panting like an Hare Among foule hounds that seeke the same to share 177 Now Matacheyns they daunce with visage grim And at ech chāge they chāge their horrid shapes And at ech turne they torture life and limb Of this tormented Soule that gasping gapes As if the Ghost were yeelding at the brim Of deepe Not-beings Pit which yet it scapes At point of death to liue immortally Is still to liue and liuing still to die 178 Now comes a chased Ghost that flies for life Before a foule-mouth'd crie of hellish hounds And being caught twixt them is deadly strife Which of them all shall giue it deadliest wounds Each of whose teeth is like an Hangmans knife Which torments if not utterly confounds O! thinke then what an hell of feare that hart Must hold that such infernall Hounds do start 179 Here winds that whistle while they freezing are As if they merry were for freezing so Bring with their working pitchy clouds of Care Wherewith they are involu'd that thither go Those biting frosts do there make all things bare Which make the same a naked world of woe Where nought but nipping frosts are felt seene Ne'r-vading griefes do flourish euer greene 180 Here stands a Fowler fowle with Nets of Wire To take a flight of Soules that staruing flee Late fled from whence they neuer can retire So when in that fast-holding Net they bee He dragges them to the frost or to the fire Where either are in the extream'st degree This is the welcome which they first receaue That of their life mis-spent haue tane their leaue 181 This flight thus caught the Legions of the North Fill all those Regions with their hellish houles And with their vgliest formes come roaring forth To share among them those feare-shaken Soules The worthiest takes the Soule of smallest worth To execute thereon the greatest doles Quake flesh to heare what fraile flesh heere doth feele For endlesse plagues turne here still like a wheele 182 Here may you see for anguish some to tear Their flesh from bones yea bones and flesh to gnaw That so they may no more those torments beare Which make thē burst with choler in their Maw Some grate their teeth as teeth they grīding were To cut the flesh which they before did saw And all and some are so with tortures tir'd That they seeme quietst when they most are fir'd 183 Here Bugs bestirre them with a bellowing rore As at a Scamble we see Boyes to sturre Who for Soules scamble on a glowing flore Biting and scratching like the Cat and Curre Whiles with their Talons they their prey do gore And thogh they striue they do therein concurre Within whose gripes the Soule in silence grones For feare of feeling thousand hells at once 184 Here in a corner sits an vgly forme That on the matter of a liuing Corse Finds matter of much mirth which is t' informe Himselfe of all the sinews and their force Who with a knife the flesh doth all deforme To pull out nerues and sinews in their course Which like strings broken hanging at a Lute So hang these nerues the Body all about 185 Here may you see some others driuing nailes Vnder the nailes of endlesse sorrowes slaues Some others threshing them like flax with flailes Thē moow thē vp in groūdlesse gulfs by thraues Some playing on their hart-strīgs with their nails Some others broaching them on ragged staues And all and some more busie farre then Bees To gather hony from the gall of these 186 If Paine her vtmost pow'r awhile for beare As seld she doth for there she 's still in force It is suppli'd with feare surmounting feare For loe in Azur'd flames with voices horse Farre off approaching grisly Formes appeare Which feare far off neare at hand much worse For Fantasie with paine is more orecome When it is comming then when it is come 187 And all about in darknesse thicke as darke Are seene to shine like Gloworms vgly eies Which like a Partrige sprong ech soule do mark So that to scape no Soules pow'r can deuise For should they mount as doth the nimble Lark A gastly Griphon doth them strait surprise Or should they sincke into Pits bottomlesse There shuld they meet the like with like distresse 188 In mortall life though mortall be mens woes Three things their vtmost rage do qualifie That 's Comfort Hope and Rest but none of those Come neare this place of paines extremity Mens Rackers here being tir'd do let them loose But they are Sprites that men there crucifie Who can endure all labour without paine While they do Sprites that is for ere remaines 189 But if mens plaguers here immortall were And were of pow'r vntir'd to plague them still Yet would they them yer long to nothing weare Or them with lacerating torments kill But all so plagu'd are made immortall there Who thogh they stil are spoil'd yet noght cā spill Thē thogh Time wears that on Time doth depēd Yet they weare not for Time doth them attend 190 Yea thogh their Plaguers themselues were such Yet in this life the Instruments of paine To nought would waste with vsing long much But that same firie Lake doth still remaine Which though it quite cōfounds but with a tuch Yet it confounds but to torment againe And lest the fire should out prepar'd there is A Sea of Sulphure which still feedeth this 191 These present paines the Wit do pining waste But those to come the Will do martire most The Memory is plagu'd with pleasures past And Vnderstanding with the pleasures lost Which on the Soule the Soule of Sorrowes cast For endles Ioyes to lose crosse-woūds our Ghost To haue bin well doth but encrease our curse But to lose endlesse being well is worse 192 Then what remaines to ease the wounded spright When Hope that keeps it whole becoms Dispaire For in that dungeon of eternall night That most doth ruine that should most repaire For Immortalitie right good by right The Soule and Bodies powres doth most impaire Then hauing but one good thing naturall
would not haue that had the Hart inflates Yet would I haue my Lucke light on that Lot That mends the drouping Mind Bodies states In too much Nature oft is ouershot And oft too little Art disanimates Then in this life that seeke I for my part That Nature keepes in life and quickens Art 94 To bury Liuing thoughts among the dead Dead earthly things is ere Death comes to die For dead they are that lie in Gold or Lead As they are buried that in Earth still lie The thoughts are most relieu'd when they are fed With Angells foode or sweete Philosophie But some seeme on this Manna still to liue Whom Quailes and Woodcoks most of al relieue 95 Well let these some out-liue as many yeares As they haue haires they do but liuing die If so their Soules must needs be full of feares Whose Hopes in this dead life alone do lie For they weare euer double as Time weares In Soule and Body weare they double die O then how painefull is that pleasant life Wherein all ioy with such annoy is rife 96 Beare with me Readers that 's the recompence I aske for telling you this merry Tale For running out of my Circumference I le come in strait before a merry Gale But yet a word or two ere I goe hence And then haue with you ouer Hill and Dale Nothing shall let me to relate the rest For commonly behind remaines the best 97 This world me seemes is like I wot not what That 's hard for that is no comparison Why that 's the cause I it compare to that For who 's he like to that is like to none T is not like God for t is too full of hate Nor like the Diu'l for he feares God alone It is not like to Heau'n Earth nor Hell Nor aught therein for they in compasse dwell 98 Then what is 't like if like to any thing It s like itselfe and so it is indeede Or if you will like to the oldest Ling That limes their fingers that on it doe feede So that all things they touch to them do cling And let them so from doing purest deede If so it be how mad are men the while To cleaue to that which do them so defile 99 Now this most noghtie thing or thing of noght I cannot skill of though but bad I am Therefore by me it least of all is sought Though oft I seeke for pleasure in the same Which yet I hope shall not be ouer-bought For I will giue but good-will for my game And if good-will will me no pleasure bring I le buy therewith I hope a better thing 100 Now from my selfe I eft to Fortune flie And yet I flie from Her and She from me Who came thus followd with this Company That Iupiter did enuie it to see There did she muster them in policie That Ioue of all might well informed be For when an heape confus'd are call'd by Poll The many parts do make the number whole 101 Mongst whom Philosophers and Poets came Last of the Crowde and could not well appeare To whoÌ„ blind Fortune gaue noght else but fame Wherof they fed but lookt lean with their cheere So they in Heau'n deifi'd this Dame Sith they poore souls could not come at her here And euer since a Goddesse call'd she is Poets thanke her for That Shee you for This. 102 Who though they be perhaps but passing poore Yet can they deâ—fie whom ere they will Then Demy-gods should cherish them therefore That they may make theÌ„ whol gods by their skil Twixt whom there shuld be interchange of store And make of Wit and Wealth a mixture still That may each others woefull wants supply For men by one another liue or die 103 Vaine fooles what do ye meane to giue hir heau'n That giues you nothing but an earthly hell That 's only aire which she to you hath giu'n To make ye pine whilst ye on earth do dwell Ne'r speake of Wit for ye are Wit-bereau'n To lie for nought and make Nought so excell For now who for him self 's not wise alone Is vainely wise though wise as Salomon 104 By this time Death came with his Emperor Who followed Death far off which Ioue did see To whom Death said Loe vpright Iupiter This Kesar though a Caesar followes mee He doth indeed said Ioue though somewhat farre But kept in off to shew indiffrencie For though the Iudge do iudge aright sometime Before both Tales be heard it is a crime 105 How saist quoth he Lieutenant didst thou come With Death to vs of thy meere owne accord Whereat the Emprour was stroken dumbe For he fear'd death as slaues do feare their Lord Yet with desire of glorie ouercome At last he spake yet spake he but a word Which was saue I the shortest word of words For No a letter more then I affords 106 Which he with submisse voice scarse audible Vtterd as one that would not well be heard But Iupiter although most sensible Tooke on him not to heare and prest him hard To speake through feare not so insensible For my vice Ioues quoth he are ne'r afeard Therefore on thy allegeance vnto mee I charge thee speake as thou from death wert free 107 Then with a princely death-out-daring looke He said Dread Ioue I had bin worse then mad Sith your Lieutenancie to me you tooke If I so great a grace neglected had Which so I had if so I had forsooke Without your notice that which made me glad Nor would I haue with Death come now to you But that he threatned me to bring me low 108 Wherewith the Iudge iust Ioue did sentence giue On Fortunes side which made Death rage so sore That at the Emprour he amaine did driue Whilst Ioue lookt on and Fortune fled therefore Short tale to make he did him life depriue And euer since Death rageth more and more That now all men false Fortune doe preferre Before iust Death nay iuster Iupiter 109 And thus with Death that All in fine doth end We end our Tale and if a lie it be Yet naked Truth dares such a lie defend Because such lies doe lie in veritie But though loude lies do lie they will not bend So lowe as most profound Moralitie Then be it lie or be it what it will It lies too high and lowe for Death to kill Bene cogitata si excidunt non occidunt Mimi Publiani Finis The Triumph of DEATH OR The Picture of the Plague According to the Life as it was in Anno Domini 1603. SO so iust Heau'ns so and none otherwise Deale you with those that your forbearaunce wroÌ„g Dumb Sin not to be nam'd against vs cries Yea cries against vs with a tempting tong And it is heard for Patience oft prouokt Conuerts to Furies all-consuming flame And fowlest sinne thogh ne'r so cleanly cloakt Breaks out
to publike plagues and open shame Ne'r did the Heau'ns bright Eie such sins behold As our long Peace and Plenty haue begot Nor ere did Earths declining proppes vphold An heauier plague then this outragious Rot Witnesse our Citties Townes and Villages Which Desolation day and night inuades With Coffins Cannon-like on Carriages With trenches ram'd with Carkases with Spades A shiu'ring cold I sensibly do feele Glides through my veines and shakes my hart and hand When they doe proue their vertue to reueale This plague of plagues that ouerlades this Land Horror stands gaping to deuoure my Sense When it but offers but to mention it And Will abandon'd by Intelligence Is drown'd in Doubt without her Pilot Wit But thou O thou great giuer of all grace Inspire my Wit so to direct my Will That notwithstanding eithers wretched case They may paint out thy Plagues with grace with skil That so these Lines may reach to future times To strike a terror through the heart of Flesh And keep It vnder that by Nature climbes For Plagues do Sin suppresse when they are fresh And fresh they be when they are so exprest As though they were in being seene of Sense Which diuine Poësie performeth best For all our speaking Pictures come from thence The obiect of mine outward Sense affords But too much Matter for my Muse to forme Her want though she had words at will is words T' expresse this Plagues vnvtterable * Storme Fancie thou needst not forge false Images To furnish Wit t' expresse a truth so true Pictures of Death stoppe vp all Passages That SeÌ„se must needs those obuious obiects view If Wit had powre t' expresse what Sense doth see It would astonish Sense that heares the same For neuer came there like Mortalitie Since Death from Adam to his Children came Scarse three times had the Moone replenished Her empty Horns with light but th' empty Graue Most rauenous deuoured so the Dead As scarse the dead might Christian buriall haue Th' Almighties hand that long had to his paine Offer'd to let his Plagues fall by degrees And with the offer pull'd it backe againe Now breakes his Viall and a Plague out-flees That glutts the Aire with Vapors venemous That puttrifie infect and flesh confound And makes the Earthes breath most contagious That in the Earth and Aire but Death is found A deadlie Murraine with resist lesse force Runnes through the Land and leuells All with it The Coast it scoured in vncleanlie Course And thousands fled before it to the Pitte For ere the breath of this Contagion Could fully touch the flesh of Man or Beast They on the sodaine sinke and strait are gone So instantlie by thousands are decreast No Phisicke could be found to be a meane But to alâ—aie their Paine delaie their Death In this Phisitions Haruest They could gleane But corrupt Aire and Danger by that Breath All Artes and Sciences were at a stand And All that liu'd by them by them did die For death did hold their heads staid their haÌ„d Sith they no where could vse their Facultie The nursing Mothers of the Sciences Withdrew their Foster-milke while witt did fast For both our forlorne Vniuersities Forsaken were and Colledges made fast The Magistrates did slie or if they staid They staid to pray for if they did command Hardly or neuer should they be obaid For Death dares all Authority withstand And where 's no Magistrate no Order is Where Order wants by order doth ensue Confusion strait and in the necke of this Must silent Desolation all subdue For feare wherof both king kingdome shakes Sith Desolation threatens them so sore All hope of earthly helpe the Land forsakes And Heau'n powres plags vpoÌ„ it more more Now Death refreshed with a little rest As if inspired with the Spirit of Life With furie flies like Aire throgh man and beast And makes eftsoons the murraine much more rife London now smokes with vapors that arise From his foule Sweat himselfe he so bestirres Cast out your Dead the Carcasse-carrier cries Which he by heaps in grouÌ„dlesse graues interres Now scowres he Streets on either side as cleane As smoking showrs of raine the Streets do scowre Now in his Murdring he obserues no meane But tagge and ragge he strikes and striketh sure He laies it on the skinnes of Yong and Old The mortall markes whereof therein appeare Here swells a Botch as hie as hide can hold And Spots his surer Signes do muster there The South wind blowing froÌ„ his swelling cheeks Soultry hot Gales did make Death rage the more That on all Flesh to wreake his Wrath he seekes Which flies like chaffe in wind his breath before He raiseth Mountaines of dead carkases As if on them he would to Heau'n ascend T' asswage his rage on diuine Essences When he of Men on Earth had made an end Nothing but Death alone could Death suffize Who made each Mouse to carry in her Coate His heauy vengeance to whole Families Whilst with blunt Botches he cuts others throate And if such Vermine were thus all imploide He would constraine domestike foules to bring Destruction to their haunts So men destroid As swiftly as they could bestirre their wing So Death might well be said to flie the field And in the House foile with resistlesse force When he abroad all kinde of Creatures kill'd That he found liuing in his lifelesse Course Now like to Bees in Summers heate from Hiues Out flie the Citizens some here some there Some all alone and others with their wiues With wiues and children some flie All for feare Here stands a Watch with guard of Partezans To stoppe their Passages or too or fro As if they were nor Men nor Christians But Fiends or Monsters murdring as they go Like as an Hart death-wounded held at Bay Doth flie if so be can from Hunters chase That so he may recouer if he may Or else to die in some more easie place So might ye see deere Heart some lustie Lad Strooke with the Plague to hie him to the field Where in some Brake or Ditch of either glad With plesure in great painâ— the ghost doth yield Each Village free now stands vpon her guard None must haue harbour in them but their owne And as for life and death all watch and ward And flie for life as Death the man vnknowne For now men are become so monsterous And mighty in their powre that with their breath They leaue no ils saue goods from house to house But blow away each other from the Earth The sickest Sucklings breath was of that force That it the strongest Giant ouerthrew And made his healthie corpse a carrion Corse If it perhaps but came within his view Alarme alarme cries Death downe downe with All I haue and giue Commission All to kill Let not one stand to pisse against a wall Sith they are all so good in works
* Fortune * Deaths eloqueÌ„ce is harsh to the eare of flesh blood * That which cures one may kill another * â—ouetousnes is lâ—ke the Dropsie the more it drinks the more 〈◊〉 may * The more interest wee haue in this world the more loath we are to leaue it * â—hen life is at the best thâ—n Death iâ— better * A custome among the Germaneâ— * Which had makes death the more irksome * Men in fortunate estate had rather go with life to the Diueâ— then by death to God * It s a double death to die when we haue attained the highest happinesse of life * Death yeeldeth double terrour * Where the Carcases are the Eagles resort Matth. 28. * Gaine take away the thought of paine * All coueâ— all lose * Lest hee would plague him for plaging others with racking * Wrackt for those that will rather racke then any waie relieue them * The soldiers sword cuts out the Portions of Kings * Of blowes * Audacâ—s fortuna iuuat * A Squire of low Degree is a Squire of no degree * Not remembring who or what they were * A venial sin at most as these â—imes esteeme it * A Hangerblade in a green scabbard * Changed their Countenance with artificiall complexions * That which is deerely bought must be deerely sold * All is not golde that glisters * The iniurious offer * They had Iacobs voice and Esaus hands * Truth * For their raritie * Such dependencie is as ful of difficulty as vncertaintie Enuyings among the seruants cause of the first mutabilitie of those great mens mindes occasioneth the last * In their own not in their Lords right for many get mony in their Lords seruice to buy their Lords lands to do them seruice * London measure * Who are wise in their owne eies there is more hope of a fool then of such Prou. 26.125 * Meere Scholers * Men lerned without iugement whome the Prouerbe The greatest Clarkes are not the wisest men concerneth * Genus and Species * Misuse that little learning they catch * Mathematitians * The Mathematiques are most pleasing and alluring knowledges iâ—l rewarded yet they steale the studierâ— thereof from themselues * â—or little * Magiâ—ians * Coniurers and Witches are alwaies Beggars * Distillators Extracters of Quintessences * Of liquoâ—s * Subtil Sophisterâ— Orators * Fortune doth wel most commonly by men that do speake well Astronomers Prognosticators Musitions Linguists * Many golden Linguâ—sts haue leaden inuention * Penne-men or faire writers It is a badde bargaine to giue aught for nought * They shame the 〈…〉 vtterly * For their recompence * Fencers * In straite prison * Stage plaiers * Shewing the vices of the time * W.S.R.B. Sui cuique mâ—râ—s fingunt fortunam * When men haue gotten wealth they are said to be made Panders * They liue like flesh flies vpon the sorts of men Land-badgers Drouers Lawyers Gold sets an edge on an Orators tongue and makes it cut like a razor * Gold is the God of this world thâ—t â—uines and windes the same as it listeth * Hire Mercenary Swizers and Souldiers to maintaine all vniust quarels euen with Monarches * So saith the rich miser Riches gather many friends but the poore is seperate froÌ„ his neighbor Prou. 19.4 The worlde in his vniust Ballance weighs men accordidg to their Wealth not by any other worthinesse * No wisemaÌ„ comparable to the golden Asse But it is meere madnesse not to bâ—â—re with insensible creatures blessed are those that in this inâ—â—â—ious world possesse their Souleâ— in patience Better is a litle with the feare of God then great treasure 〈◊〉 trouble 〈…〉 15 16. * The touchstone trieth gold and gold trieth men Beâ—rer is a dry morsell with peace then an house full of sacrifices with strife Prou. 17.1 That that is to be desired of a man is his goodnesse Pâ— 19 22. which seldom is fouÌ„d among much goodes * Head and Muse * Praise * As farre froÌ„ want as from too much * Mindes alwaies conuersant with these meâ—talls are dull make the bodies dead to all goodnesse wherein they are * Diuinity * Die eternally in both The world is like nothing sith by sinâ—◠〈◊〉 was mâ—rreâ— after it 〈◊〉 made 〈◊〉 is nothing becauseâ— he 〈◊〉 that made aâ—l things made it not Simile * Euery â—â—nger as good as â— lime twiâ—ge Prouerb * Harmelesse recreation * It makes the number appeaâ—e as it is Philosophers and Poets furthest off Fortune * They affect misery much more then Diuinitie * Flesh-pineing Praise * Men like the deuill great and nought * If thou be wise thou shalt be wiâ—e for thy selfe Prou. 9.12 * The more we loue the world the more wee feare death * â—â—are is a stranger to great hearts * No courage 〈◊〉 the dâ—sperate Cowards Iupiters Sentence * Scripture Parables containe trueth in their moralitie though not in the Letter * Therefore haâ—h the curse deuoured the Land and the inhabâ—tantes therof are desolate Isai 24 6. * Who among you shall harken to this and take heed and heaâ—e for afterwards Isai 42.23 * Now goe write it before them in a Table and note it in a booke that it may be for the last day for euer and euer Isai 30.8 * I am the man that hath seene afflictioÌ„ in the rod of his indâ—gnatioÌ„ Lament 3.1 * Heare yee deafe and yee blinde regard that ye may see Isa 42 18 Thou hast for sakeÌ„ mee saith the Lord and gone backeward therfore will I stretch out mine hand against thee and destroy thee for I am weary with repenting Ierem. 15.6 * Feare the pit the snare are vpon thee O inhabitant of the earth Isai 24.17 * Phisitions * Vniuersities * Then said I Lord howe long and he answered vntill the Cities bee wasted without inhabitant and the houses without man and the Land be vtterly desolate Isai 6 11 * And the Cities that are inhabited shal be left void the land shall be desolate ye shall know that I am the Lord Ezech. 12.20 * Zephon 2.2 * Euen the mouse shal be consumed together saith the Lord Isa 66.17 * Tame Pigeons Cockes Hennes Capons c. * Arise and depart for this is not your rest because it is polluted it shall destroy you euen with a sore destruction Michah 2.10 * And he that flieth from the noise of the feare shall fall into the pit c. Isa 24.18 * Yee shall coÌ„ceiue chaffe bring forth stubble the fire of your breath shall deuoure you Isai 33.11 * Aske now among the Heathen who hath heard such things the virgine of Israel hath done very filthily Ierem. 18 13. * A mountain in Thesâ—alâ—e * Auernus a lake in Italie where they say this sinne is frequent * Pride the cause of Adams fall and so of all sinne
Humours Heau'n on Earth With The Ciuile Warres of Death and Fortune As also The Triumph of Death Or The Picture of the Plague according to the Life as it was in Anno Domini 1603. By Iohn Dauies of Hereford O! t' is a sacred kinde of Excellence That hides a rich truth in a Tales pretence Printed at London by A. I. 1609. ¶ To the right Noble Algernon Lord Percy sonne and heire apparant to the right Honorable Henry Earle of Northumberland THrice Noble and more hopefull Pupill I Who learnes thy Hand to shew thy Hearts conceits Would make thy heart before it Vice doth trie To know her Lures to shunne her slie deceits But in the Prime but of thy Pupillage Before the ioynts of Iudgement can be knit Although for Wit thou mai'st be Wisedomes Page Vice throwes her Lures aboue thy reach of Wit But yet when Time shall throwly close thy Mould Wherein all rare Conceits still cast shall bee Then shalt thou with cleere eies darke lines behold That leade thee to all knowledge fit for thee And sith that Childhood more in Tales delights Then saddest Truths I le tell thee merry Tales Of Lords and Ladies with their merry Knights Their merry Blisses and their sory Bales The outside of these Tales are painted o're With colours rich to please thine eagre sence But lin'd with naked Truth yet richly poore More fit for thy more rich Intelligence When thou canst cracke this Nut within the Shell Thou shalt a Kernell finde will please thy Taste The Pallate of thy Wit will like it well When thou shalt swallow it for ioy in haste Then make this Nut a whirligigge the while To make thee merry if thou canst be so To see the turning of our Sports to toile Wherein obserue how pleasures come and go For as a whirligigge doth turne so fast That sharpest sights the fruit do scarse perceiue So can no Pallate fruits of Pleasure taste When they are come so soone they take their leaue Readâ— little Lord this Riddle learne to reede So first appose then tell it to thy Pecres So shall they hold thee both in Name and Deed A perfect Pierc-ey that in darkenesse cleeres A Pierc-ey or a piâ—rcing Eie doth shâ—w Both Wit and Courage and if thou wilt learne By morall Tales sinnes mortall to eschew Thou shalt be wise and endlesse glorie earne That so thou mai'st the meanest Tutors praise So Percies fame shall pierce the Eie of Daies Then by those Raies my Pen inflam'd shall runnâ— Beyond the Moone to make thy Moone a Sunne Meane while and euer I rest prest to honour thee with my poore vttermost Iohn Dauies To the good Knight and my much honored Scholler Sir Philip Carey SIth Death deere Sir hath lately beene so fell To reaue that life than deere life deerer farre This record of his greater rage may quell The lesse perhaps in your particular Faine would I if I could beguile your griefe With telling you of others heauie harmes But ah such guile giues Griefe too true reliefe In your true humane heart that Pitty warmes Life is a Plague for who doth liue must die Yet some that haue the Plague doe scape aliue So life's more mortall than Mortalitie Then sith that life like death doth life depriue You may reioyce sith your Adolphus liu'd True Vertues life which cannot be depriu'd Viuat post funera virtus As much grieu'd for your losse as glad any way to shew his loue Iohn Dauies To the right worshipfull my deere Scholler Sir Humfrey Baskeruile of Earsley Knight And the no lesse louely than vertuous Lady his Wife SIth I am Lecturing my noblest Schollers You being two this Lecture deigne to reade For thogh it treats of nought but death dollers Yet it with pleasure may your passion feede For plagues to see vnplagu'd doth Nature please Although good nature gladly grieues thereat As we are well-ill pleas'd to see at Seas The wofull'st wracke while we are safe from that In health to tell what sickenesse we haue past Makes vs more souÌ„d for Gladnes health defends O then your eies on this Plagues-Picture cast To glad and grieue you for glad-grieuous ends But my sole End by this poore Meane to yee Is but to tie your Eares and Hearts to mee Iohn Dauies To my deere meeke modest and intirely beloued Mistris Elizabeth Dutton Mistris Mary and Mistris Vere Egerton three Sisters of hopefull destenies be all Grace and good Fortune SIth on my worthiest Schollers I doe muse How should my Muse to minde you once neglect Sith you are such TheÌ„ such she shuld abuse Should she not vse you with all deere respect Thou virgin Widow eldest of the Three That hold'st thy widows state of Death in chief Death in thy youth being fast hath made thee free Free from thy Ioy fastned thee to Griefe But he that is the Lord of lordly Death Reserues thine honor'd Sires most honor'd Sire From Deaths dispite while he draweth breath Thou lowly Soule art likely to aspire Thy Sisters like in Nature as in Name And both in Name and Nature nought but good Beloued Pupills well may hope the same Sith of like grace there is like likelihoode Yet in the height of Earths felicitie A meeke regard vnto this Picture giue To minde you so of lifes mortalitie So shall you liue to die and die to liue Meane while I hope through your cleere Stars to spie A Trinitie of Ladies ere I die He which for the exercise of your hie humilitie you please to call Master Iohn Dauies To my worthy and worthily beloued Scholer Thomas Bodenham Esquier sonne and heire apparant of Sir Roger Bodenham of Rotherwas Knight of the Bathe ANd if among them that are deere to mee Remembred by my Pen my Muses Tongue I should forget to shew my loue to thee My selfe but much more thee I so should wrong Nay wrong the right which I to thee doe owe But neuer shall my loue so guilefull proue As not to pay thee so deseru'd a due For I confesse thou well deseru'st my loue Thou wert my Scholer and if I should teach So good a Pupill such a Lesson ill By mine example I might so impeach Mine honest fame and quite disgrace my skill But when I learne thee such detested Lore Then loathe my loue and learne of me no more Yours as what 's most yours Iohn Dauies The last Booke being a Picture according to the Life dedicated To the no lesse high in Birth then honorable in Disposition right noble in either the Ladie Dorothie and Ladie Lucy Percies GReat-little Ladies greatly might you blame My little care of doing as I ought Should I neglect to set your noble Name First of those Principalls whose hands I taught Yet the more high your Birth and Places are The more ye ought to mind the blast of Breath As Philips Page did shew his Masters care When most he flourisht most to thinke on death Then with most blisse when
And He for wisedome that had greatest fame Loue so with Lust inflam'd his coldest blood That He a thousand had to quench the same For no Age Wisedome Pow'r or Policie Haue pow'r t' impugne diuine Formositie 32 Aske Mars the sterne and stubberne god of warre How much frail Beuty made him crouchiÌ„g bow Nay aske if men may aske the Thunderer The high'st of gods by lordly Loue brought low Why he did make his mansion in a Starre Yet fell from heau'n an earthly Dame to know But that both Gods and Men most lowlily By nature serue diuine Formositie 33 Giue me a Wench that hath the skill and wit To let me loue-sicke bloud in Lustes right vaine And can with pleasure ease me in the fit Yet ease me so that Loue may still complaine Of heate that is for Lusts life onely fit Which to the life of Loue yeelds pleasant paine That can so humour me and what I feele That she may hurt me still my hurt to heale 34 Such a Crafts-mistris in the Arte of Loue Doth crowne the Touch with an imperiall kisse For she makes Touching tast ioy farre aboue The reach of Arte to tell men what it is For feelinglie she can both staie and moue About the Center of Loues boundlesse blisse Then boundlesse is the Touches excellence That by a Lasse can so beheau'n the sense 35 Thus did this Orator of Lechery Dilate the shortsweete of his liues delight Which Hyselophronus did not deny As though quite opposit but bent his might To proue high'st blisse was borne of Maiesty Begot by Potency right or vnright The greatest ioy to Greatnesse appertaines For ioy doth raign quoth he in that which raigns 36 A roiall Robe a Scepter Mound and Crowne Are the true Signals of the truest ioy They neede not feare the threat of Sorrows frown That can confound all causers of anoy The hand of Maiesty puts vp and downe The meanes of mirth and those that mirth destroy Hee 's a rare Clarke that Râ—gnum can declyne And Meus Mea Meum ad in fine 37 What Hart is not enlarg'd with ioy as much As it can hold when pow'r is more enlarg'd Then Earth can hold or on the same none such When all by him and he by none is charg'd No not so much as with the smallest touch Touching his life lest such be life-discharg'd It is the greatest glorie of Mans state When man like God doth raigne in spite of Hate 38 To eate and drinke and do the acts of lust Is common vnto Beasts as well as Men What praise get they that do what needs they must But such as shames the praised now and then For so may men be praisd for deedes vniust Sith Men by nature wrong their Bretheren But to correct Men with directing Rods Is proper vnto none but Demi-gods 39 The Spheare of Greatnes like the highest sphere That turnes the neather with resistlessesway Is the high'st step to his Throne without Peere And to the Sunne that makes eternall day Where Blisse abounds an euerlasting yeare For which the most deuout doe inly pray Then Greatnes is the great'st good vnder heau'n Which vnto none but Gods on Earth is giu'n 40 O! how it rapts the Eie of Maiestie To see all downe-cast vnderneath her feete That may if please her march vpon the Hie Till she with none but with the Lowly meete Then Wisedomes reach doth tend to Emperie And none but fooles neglect it as vnmeete It is the highest Note that Arte can reach To rule the voice when Sou'raigntie doth preach 41 And what a glorie is 't to mortall Man That when he bends his high-erected front Death in the foldes doth play the Artezan And kill but with alooke the highest Count Yet with a word like Him that all things can To create others making them to mount Then who hath pow'r all men to marre or make Must be a God that life doth giue and take 42 A Seepter's Circes Rod which Men and Beasts Doth easlie tame how wilde so ere they bee For Birds that in the Stars doe build their neasts Farre farre aboue all Birds of prey doe flee To which pitch if they mount they scorch their crests For heat so high is in extreame degree Highnesse is sacred and the sacred Hie With their pow'rs wing aboue all perills flie 43 O! t is a blisfull glitt'ring glorious state Able to make Mortalitie diuine Which with inspection binds the hands of Fate And like the Sunne among the Stars doth shine Till Nature doth the Flesh inanimate And in the mouthes of Men mens fames enshrine Then if in Earth be any diuine thing It 's more then God if it be not a King 44 Poliphagus though he his Intralls seru'd As if they were his Fancies Soueraignes Or rather Gods by which he was preseru'd Yet hee allowance to their fancie faines That so fraternitie might be conseru'd Which concord in conceit together chaines And thus immod'rately doth moderate The diffrence of the doubtfull Questions state 57 But now as wak'ned from a tedious sleepe * Logus chiefe guide of * Psyche their chiefe guide While they were plunged in all pleasures deepe Thus gan their sensuall-senslesse Soules to chide Whither O whither runne ye ye lost sheepe Not weying in what danger ye abide The Blinde eates many a flie and so doe you That chew sweet poyson which ye should eschue 58 But ere wee further prosecute her speach We will describe their Garments as we may For as we said the Coate and Cut do teach Sight to discerne what mood the mind doth sway Logus was clad as could no State impeach Sith she was cloth'd with mean thogh cleane aray For she with Garments farre more fit then faire But sauegard sought from Passions of the Aire 59 But Psyche whom she guided like a Quâ—â—ne Was richly deckt with ornaments diuine Who liu'd so closely that she scarce was seene Yet through her Pallace did her glory shine As if at least she had a Goddesse beene Whose virtues were apparant to the Eine Her Ornaments were Wit Will Memory Which richly roab'd her with Regality 60 Vpon her sacred Head she ware a Crowne Like that of Ariadnes all of Starres To light her feete in darke waies and vnknowne And keepe the safest way in Passions warres Those Starres were royall vertues of her owne Which some call Cardinall her gard in Iarres Who was deckt inly with Pow'r Grace and Arte Being wholy in the whole and in each Part. 61 Her Vnderstandings Pow'r that Pow'r did line Which Heau'n and Earth religiously adore And in her Will she ware Grace most diuine But in her Memory she Artes did store That made the Whole most gloriously to shine But most diuinely did those three decore Affects and Fantasies her Seruants were Which were all cloakt with Good how ill so ere 62 Hir priÌ„cely train which was of works wel
wroght Was borne by Iudgement her chiefe Officer Then Contemplation held her as she ought By the right Arme so that she could not steere Frō those right waies whereon before she thoght And double-Diligence before did cleere The outward Senses her Purueiours were To whom the Common-sense was Treasorer 63 Thus were these two attended and araid Which I haue thus described by the way And now to prosecute what Logus said From thence where I before did make him stay Quoth hee what meane ye thus to be betraid By sinfull Sense which seekes but your decay You are to seeke to know her Fallacies But know them not by seeking in this wise 64 How neere to temporall and eternall death You are God wot ye wot not ne yet care Not weying how worlds weale wastes with your breath And that your breaths within your nostrills are Which to the Aire you must of force bequeath Perhaps forthwith at least ere ye beware If temp'rall death attach ye in this plight Your temp'rall daies will turne t'eternall night 65 To yong and old Death is indifferent The Court and Cottage he frequents alike Yet of the twaine he Courts doth more frequent And loues those that do mind him least to strike He wounds the lustfull vaine and insolent With their owne weapons quickly to the quicke For euer he doth enuy lifes delight And makes the same most subiect to his might 66 How can vaine pleasures please men hauing sense To feele the sweete and sowre of sinne and grace For if they feele the sting of Conscience All pleasures of the flesh will giue it place That grieues the Will that grieues th' Intelligence Which take no pleasure in their owne disgrace But still the lusts offraile flesh to fulfill Is to disgrace Intelligence and Will 67 The obiect of the Will is perfect Good Which the Intelligence to her presents That neuer yet was found in roiall food In dainty Dames or regall gouernments By Vnderstanding these are vnderstood To yeeld but short and counterfet Contents If so they do how madde are they the while That giue their pretious Soules for things so vile 68 The wisest yet that euer breath'd this Aire Of sinfull race who in his wisedomes might Made proofe of all that was sweet great or faire Yea of all pleasures which the sense delight Said of them all like Wisedoms truest Heire They were than skumme of Vanitie more light If such great Wisedome found them to be such They are much more thē fools that loue thē much 69 Aske eu'ry sense what pleasure they doe proue In all their obiects they must needes replie Sith consciēce knows it nought to gaine our loue For we loue nought but what we good do trie But Proofe these pleasures doe in fine reproue Sith they no sooner liue but sooner die For Triall knowing them to be but vaine Kills their delight ere we it entertaine 70 And Crownes are Hiues where stinging cares do swarme Pomp's but the White whereat fell Enuy shoots which are as trees whēce groes their owners harm Harms are the fruit crowns flours kīgdōs roots The Arme of flesh is but a feeble Arme And in such strong Extreames it little bootes He knowes not yet the nature of a Crowne That knows not none may call the same his owne 71 What bootes a purple Robe when purple blood Doth issue from the wofull wearers hart And of such issue there 's more likelihood Then issue of his loines to take his part For oft such issue doth him little good Who conquer Nature by the aide of Arte They learne by Arte weake Nature to command When Crowns betwixt the Sire Son doe stand 72 Sou'raignes are subiect to extreame despight For lo a Dog sometimes supplide their place A King of Norway conquering in fight The King of Swethland for the more disgrace Did make a Dog their King to shew his spight And made thē neere him that were neere as bace Then are they worse then dogges that damne their soules To catch a kingdom that a dog cōtroules 73 What ioy can be accompanied with feare Sith that companion doth all ioy confound But terrene ioyes about with them do beare An hell of feare wherein true Hell is found For where 's vnsuretie feare must needs be there And all 's vnsure that surgeth from the ground Of this vast Sea of extreame miserie True Antitype of true felicitie 74 Besides no pompe how euer glorious No ioy or pleasure if sublunarie But brings sacietie soone with their vse As they best know that haue best meanes to trie And none haue right ioy but the righteous For ne'r doth saciate their felicitie Which doth content Desire and Feare exclude Which is the summe of true Beatitude 75 Then if my power ore your Soueraigne If my words rules of Reason can perswade Vaine pleasures fly throgh which ye fly to paine Which still haue marr'd but neuer any made Containe your selues and you shall ioy containe If you be good then glorious is your trade For nought is great on Earth but that great hart That scornes all ioyes by Nature bred or Art 76 Rouze vp your selues shake off this sloth of sprite Put on the mind that men of mind becomes Away with all effeminate delight That none but worse then women ouercomes Shew your selues men of strength in Frailties spite For graceles ioyes possesse but graceles groomes O t is Dominion in the high'st degree When men to Reasons rules obedient bee 77 Hereat their Conscience touched to the quicke Beganne halfe fainting inwardly to bleede No pricke more mortal then the consciēce pricke It makes our faith to faint and kills our Creede Yet frozen in their dregges therein they sticke Without all feeling that which must succeede And with hard harts thogh said for their behoofs They Logus thus reprooue for his reproofes 78 What wight art thou presumptuous that thou art That com'st to Councell yer thou called bee By what pow'r dost thou this by what desart Think'st thou we all should be controld by thee We know no pow'r thou hast nor wit nor Art To take the guidance of our actions free Being a meere stranger to vs and our state Yet dost from either more then derogate 79 Thou would'st bee taught that thus presum'st to teach To know good maners persons time and place These circūstances they should know that preach Or else they may disgrace their Sermons grace And those that liue by preaching do beseech Not sharply checke which tendeth to disgrace Then think we o're our passions haue great powre That giue thee sweet aduice for cheeke so sowre 80 You may be gon we need no councellors That breathe out worse thē wormwood with their words We are twice seau'n and our owne gouernors Your proffred seruice no good sent affords We are the highest Powres Compettitors And fight for pleasure with our
Loues Band doth hold Whom factiously you seeke to disagree I take their part but as a Mother should That her deere Childrens good desires to see For it a tender Mother doth become As life to loue the Children of her wombe 100 And are they not of flesh and blood compos'd Then can such mixture be aught else but fraile Or would you haue them otherwise dispos'd Then Adams heires that hold but by the Taile And flesh and blood to strength are still oppos'd Yet strength in weaknes gainst it doth preuaile Sith so it is my Sonnes may be excus'd That haue in weakenes powrefull pleasures vs'd 101 Now well I see quoth Logus thy fond loue Makes thee vnapt to iudge what 's requisite But how if their loose liues the monster moue Monstrous Gehenna to deuoure them quite For he loues such to eate as such do proue May you not thanke your selfe for such despite If Babes do burne them in a Candles flame Are they or those that giue it them too blame 102 These heauy words suncke deepe in Phusis minde Who as astonied at the same did muse Breath'd short in passion as if wanting winde Yet at the last hi◠Spirite she vp did rowze And askt of Logus in the kindest kinde What practise she to saue her Sonnes might vse I hate as Hell that Monster and I would My Sons quoth she frō him by force with-hold 103 Now Logus glad her nature had such grace Said for mine owne part I will but aduise Not deale with them sith they did me disgrace Therefore I councell that in any wise You hie you to the Lady Aletheias Place And there inuoke her aide with carefull Cries Who is indu'd with power will and skill To tell them of their misse and mend their ill 104 Entreate her who will soone intreated bee For she doth loue to satisfie Good-will To go vnto thy Sonnes of each degree And tell them of this Monster made to spill All those that liue secure in Pleasures glee And greedily their hungry lusts fulfill I will said Phusis but where doth she dwell Thou know'st deare Logus but I cannot tell 105 She wonted was said he to neighbour mee But since that Fraus and Dolus wicked Twinnes The World produc'd I do her seldome see For she from my sights reach so slily rinnes As though to her I were an enemy Or made prodigious through my subiects sinnes Who prosecute her with extreame despight That now she euen loathes to see the light 106 Shall I quoth Phusis on the Earth her finde Hardly quoth Logus being chas'd from thence In th' Aire or Water then or in the Winde Or else within the Fires Circumference Is she quoth she said Logus these by kinde Are mutable and full of difference Which she cannot abide for she is one And rather will then with such liue alone 107 Is she to Heau'n return'd quoth she againe That 's like said Logus but th' art ne'r the neere For without her thou canst not Heau'n attaine For all by her must come that must come there Alas said she how shall I her obtaine Sith I must haue herselfe her selfe to cleere For as without the Sunne none sees the Sunne So without her none wots where she doth wonne 108 This once quoth Logus I will thee direct The best I can but cannot as I could I oft haue heard and finde true by effect That she is seene about the Mansion old Of father Chronus which he did erect For him and her his daughter deere to hold Or Thanatus his Man who riddes away That which his Master bringeth to decay 109 Which Man and Masters habites we might paint Though we but Chalke Coles and Ashes had For Chronus clad is like a mortall Saint In skinnes of Beasts to shew how life doth fade Which of their age did seem to make complaint Girt with an Halter or with Girth as bad Vpon whose Head in stead of Hat there stoode An Houre-glasse as an Embleme of his moode 110 His Haire was white as was the driuen Snow And from his Head it seem'd to hang by drifts Turn'd vp againe eu'n as the same doth show When it doth hang so driuen vpon Clifts His Beard beneath his girdle-stead did grow Which platted in his bosome oft he shifts Whose right hand did a Sithe still mouing weld And in his left an Horologe he held 111 His Man hight Thanatus bare to the bones Was more then naked from the toppe to toe All hairelesse toothlesse eielesse stocks or stones Are all as quicke though he much more can doe And all he said I was as you are once Which was in sullen silence spoken to Vpon a Spade he leanes as if he did By his day-labour liue call'd Wincke all hid 112 To these did Logus Phusis wish to wend Which were to her the loathsom'st wights aliue And hardly thought that Logus was her frend Although she could not otherwise beleeue Sith her and hers she sought still to defend That would to her such wofull councell giue And with the water swelling in her eies She thus to Logus mournefully replies 113 Alas quoth she and to them must I goe To their most hatefull houses must I hie That are the greatest workers of my woe And faine would haue me vtterly to die What words can please a prowd insulting foe That holds in scorne his foes humilitie Then what hope haue I with them ro preuaile Who though I kneele to them will me assaile 114 What shall I say alas what shall I do To winne their fauour that will not be wonne To go to them I shall my selfe vndo For though I kisse their feete they 'l me ore-runne If not they 'l paine me and compell me to Both which if I do go I cannot shunne I am amaz'd I know not what to say If go I die if no my Sonnes decay 115 What shall I do deere Logus tell me what O happy were I if this feare were past There is no cause quoth Logus to feare that That no wight liuing can auoide at last The Stag the Rauen and the nine-liu'd Cat Must know those houses then be not agast But go on boldly with erected Front Where you shall see her liue in high account 116 If at the first you cannot see her face Their Porter Nosus will you soone direct Vnto her priuy chamber where her grace Will talke with you in secret in effect But see you bribe the Porter of the place With Calor naturalis most select So may you passe securely through each Gate That leades to this obscured Ladies State 117 This Nosus was a true Anatomie Though Thanatus be truely call'd the same Of mortall griefe or curelesse maladie Whose Head was hāp'red which him ill became With homely clowts tide as vnhansomly And with a staffe he went as he were lame
on the right hand lies scarse now in vse The other on the left vs'd commonly That on the left is full of all abuse And leades vnto a world of misery Wherein Gehennaes Hold is scituate Which without Patterne thus wee figurate 157 A ruinous Rowme whose bottom's most profoūd A Pit infernall full of endlesse dole A lothsome Lake where choaking damps abound A dungeon deepe a dreadfull darkesome hole Wher noght but howlīgs shriks grons do soūd And humane flesh still makes a quenchlesse Cole The common Burse where none but Bugs repaire An Harbor full of horror and despaire 158 Whos 's light is darke which darke is palpable Whose pleasur 's paine which pain no pen cā tell Whose life is death which death is damnable Whose peace is strife which strife is discords well Whose ease is toile which toile's vnthinkable Where most obedience learnes most to rebell Where all confusion raignes in endlesse date In a tumultuous State-disord'ring State 159 Where toads and vipers snakes and vermine vile Whose hissings make an hellish harmony With slimie gleere the place do cleane defile Swimming in Suddes of all sordiditie While one on others backe themselues they pile To touch the top of toplesse misery Where heate and coldnes are in their extreames And frozen harts do floate in sulphred streames 160 The wals are hung with Cobwebs which cōtaine Soule-catching hellhounds clad in Spiders shape The Roofe of burning Brasse which droppes like raine Frō which no one below could ere escape The pauement's ful of groundlesse gulfes of paine Which thogh they stil deuoure they stil do gape Whose glowing Mawes cannot cōcoct the meate Which there lies boiling in an hell of heate 161 Here weeping warbleth notes that anguish show And gnashing Teeth tunes Iigges vntuning ioy Here Seas of boiling Lead their Bounds oreflow To make a boundlesse deluge of annoy The Sands whereof are Soules orewhelm'd with woe Which though destroi'd yet death canot destroy For endlesse lords of death still life do giue To those that in that death there still do liue 162 From whose wide open Throats great flames they cast Which thūder forth with sense-cōfounding noise The din whereof makes Horrors heart agast Which in that den no other blisse enioyes Such Gall of Gall affords no better tast Which stil doth feed with that which stil annoyes Such boistrous Bugs can yeeld no other glee But mirth is mone whereas such Monsters be 163 Whos 's foule blasphemos mouths are fraught with spite That boils with heat of baneful poisō there Which spite they spit against the Cause of Light Such is the enuy which to It they beare Yet from their glowing eies flie sparkles bright As they no eies but Vulcans Forges were The sight whereof the sight doth so annoy As thogh that sight that sense wold quite destroy 164 Imagine now you see as there is seene Millions of Legions of this foule mouth'd crue With fangs more huge then Elephāts more keene Then Crocadiles chiefe grinders to pursue Soules diuing in those deepes to be vnseene Which ouergorg'd them vp againe do spue While these dogs watch to take them in the rise With teeth to teare feare them with their cries 165 Here may you see a Goblin grisly grim With hooke and line stand fishing for a Soule Which in those boiling Seas do sinking swim Baiting their hooks with Salamanders foule Which being hang'd he hales it to the brim And all the while as hunger-band doth howle Which fingred forthwith in the diuells name In go the fangs that inch-meale teare the same 166 Then others watch as Spiders for a Flie In obscure Nookes to catch a flying Ghost That to those Nooks to hide it selfe doth flie Which caught they binde it lest it should be lost And to their webs of woe with ioy they hie Where the poore Soule is still in torment tost In whom they all their deadly poison poure Which more then kills them sith they it endure 167 Now sullen Silence raignes as all were dead Then sodainely a world of Clamor rings Whereby the much more horror still is bred For sodaine feare with it most horror brings No heart so heauie as the hart of Lead Yet sodaine feare doth start it when it stings The Lightnings flash doth feare more than the flame That stil is seene and stil is seene the same 168 Heere in a Chimney all of burning Brickes Sits Grimnesse and a red-hote Spit doth turne Whereon a humane Creature melting stickes Whose grease doth make the fire the more to burn Which Turne-spit oft his filthy fingers lickes And with this liquor doth his lippes adorne Basting the roast with what most torment giues Whiles the poore Creature dies because he liues 169 But that which is most horrid to bee heard But much more hatefull to be felt or seene These Cookes oft gash their flesh to interlard The same with sulphure with woe waxen leane Lest the soft marrow the hard bone should guard From feeling woes incomparable keene So bone and marrow sinew nerue and vaine Do there endure paines farre exceeding paine 170 In other Coasts of this infernall Realme Confusions Land Gehennaes lording place True Antitype of new Ierusalem It freezeth flesh which pines in staruing case Where some do naked sticke amidst a streame To yce congeal'd whom cold winds freeze apace Yet draw they breath more cold thē coldest frost To freeze their intralls and congeale their ghost 171 If any spit for rheums cold places breede It s blowne in Ice-cicles into their face For those keene winds do forthwith do the deede And haile of drops make in a moments space On ycie morsells there the mouth must feede Sith mouthes to ycie morsells turne apace Here is cold comfort where is nought but cold That all congeales on which it taketh hold 172 Here some but new arriu'd while blood is warme Attempt by motion so to keepe the same But strait they cannot stirre nor Leg nor Arme For in the offer they freeze stiffe and lame Yet hold they vitall heate the more their harme For Ice like Oile doth feede their vitall flame If such a foe to life as such a cold Keepes life in being life hath hatefull hold 173 Who are so madde with paine that they do crie O what is this we feele we feele O what Is 't limbes of Flesh that brooke this agony All they haue rag'd with paine but this to that Is like the Ocean to a fountaine drie This flesh nerues ioynts once Racks did lacerate Yet that with this compar'd was Heau'n to Hell O what is this we feele Sense die or tell 174 It 's but a moment since we hither came Yet feele what paine Eternity inflicts And though eternally we feele the same Yet vs with what we ne'r felt it afflicts Proteus like still paines new fashons frame And one another
Yet that made worse then Ill how ill is All 193 There raignes what not that is not to be told With tong nor pen that sense afflicts with griefe There is Perditions home Damnations Hold Which giues death life death giues life reliefe It is the vtmost reach of Hot and Cold And of Dispaire the habitation chiefe In summe it is the summe of all distresse Which subdiuided makes it nothing lesse 194 These are Gehennaes Consorts these are they That still associate those that thither go This is the Place of that fell Monsters stay The Place where paine is infinite in woe The way thereto is plaine broad greene and gay All strew'd with floures to tice men thither so All which to Phusis erst by Logus told On Aletheia made her fasten hold 195 Now to returne to Phusis and her plaint Quoth she and her embraced all the while Deere Aletheia help me for I faint To thinke my Sonnes are neere this monster vile Who with his Tuske will teare and all to taint Their tender flesh which filthy Lusts defile Which to preuent I faine would learne of thee For thou best know'st what 's best for them mee 196 And for I know thou canst aright perswade For all thy words are held in reuerence I thee beseech from Vice them to disswade And from this Land sith none returns frō thence O bid them leaue their idle wandring Trade And tell them of this inconuenience Go Lady go the way thou canst not misse To all their homes and tel them home of this 197 I would quoth Aletheia gladly goe But that I feare they will entreate me ill For Logus sake neare kin to me they know But thy desire I will herein fulfill For I will go though I my selfe forgoe To bar their course and breake them of their will For life is wonne though lost in those Assaies Wherein the loser gaines immortall praise 198 Go gracious Ladie glory be thy guide Quoth Lady Phusis to this hardy Dame And I meane while will at this Gate abide With my friend Nosus Porter to the same So on this iourney Aletheia hi'd For she though wounded oft was neuer lame In all her Actions shee 's most vpright still For she will neuer halt how euer ill 199 This while sate Phusis at this narrow dore Talking with Logus who came to her there Because she did as he her will'd before Who told him all her hope and all her feare How Aletheia did her case deplore And went to schoole her Children eu'ry where For Hearts are eas'd when Tongs vnfold at large The griefes or ioyes which do them ouercharge 200 Logus her course herein did much commend And cheer'd her as she could with heu'nly words Praid her with patience to expect the end And comfort eu'ry way to her affords Strengthning her hope that now her sons would mend Sith Aletheias sayings would like swords Subdue all rancke rebellion of the sense For powrefull words winne more then violence 201 They had not thus sate reas'ning there awhile But Aletheia they farre off might see Flying to them-wards ouer stoppe and Stile Oft looking backe as those that chased bee Thē wel they knew hope did their hopes beguile Which they till they had tri'd could not foresee For that which is contingent who doth kno Are onely wise and none but ONE is so 202 But comming neere thē almost breathlesse quite She panting told them windlesse as she could How she had bin by vertue of her might About the whole world and with courage bold For which she said she was in painefull plight All Phusis children of their errors told To whom quoth she in diuerse formes I came Yet kept my nature though I chang'd my name 203 Some tooke me for grosse Error some for mad Some superstitious some hereticall Some for Deceipt and some for Vice as bad Presumptuous some some hipocriticall But the most part most malice to me had For they at first sight draue me to the wall Some seem'd to take my part with Tooth Naile That did indeed me most of all assaile 204 The Curious rent my Maske to see my face The Prowd ore lookt nay troade me vnderfeete The Learned grac'd themselues with my disgrace Th'vnlerned graueld filld my mouth with Greet Which made me faine and speake as one in chase So all I met withall with me did meete Truth gets but hate but Adulation loue That this is truth vnto my paine I proue 205 So when I saw the perill I was in Away I fled thus wounded as you see I held it base to keepe vnscar'd my skin Sith mine aduenture might bring ease to thee But Phusis this I did thy loue to win Whom I do loue how ere thou louest me No dearer loue can Loue bewray then this To venture that for Loue that dearest is 206 Ah woe is me quoth Phusis that thou shouldst For my poore Loue which thou dost well deserue Venture that Iewell which thou dearest holdst Yet that rare hazard not my turne to serue Thy will I see in that I see thou wouldst Venture thy life my sonnes liues to preserue And that thou shouldst for that be wounded so And they the worse for that the worse my woe 207 Can neither Caueats of Mortalitie Which flow frō thy mouth with almighty force Nor my perswasions more then motherly Giue them some feeling of their senslesse course Are their Soules seared with impiety That they for it therein feele no remorce Then what shall I a woefull mother do But wish I Were not and my children too 208 But what I pray did Princes say to thee When thou did'st mind them that they once must die They said therewith stabb'd at me quoth she I like a deuill in my Throate did lie These of all others most I sought to flee And yet I honor roiall Maiestie Without my hand sustaine Thrones reeling stand For all staid Thrones are staied by my hand 209 And how quoth Phusis doe the Iudges liue Many of them replied she doom'd me death Because I would not as did others giue Them goldē Scabberds Iustice Sword to sheath How Lawyers They by others losses thriue And oft quoth she on all sides sell their breath Physitions how They reason doubtfully Till Fees they finger past recouery 210 Poore Poets how while they quoth she do fill The world with Fables feed thēselues with hopes More fabulous so hold they but at will Their tearme of life of some great Lord that opes His Mouth more then his Purse their Eares to fill More then their Mawes which greedie Famine grops Whose biting stomacks stil do stomack it The while they starue for want of wealth and wit 211 Ah these deere Harts I pitty in my hart Who liue by sweet Lines which do end their life For to liue long they hang themselues by Arte
Or kill themselues with sharpe Inuentions knife Sith they to liue thus die without desart Long may they liue where glorie is more rife For greater glory no flesh can attaine Then die for glorie so to liue againe 212 And doe my sonnes quoth Phusis fare but thus O then aduise me Lady what to doe Who said sith they no better are for vs Thou must Astrea my deere Sister wooe To rule them with the Rod of Summum ius Before themselues they vtterly vndoe And wooe thy selfe to take it patiently For better thou shuldst beare then they shuld die 213 For if she rule them not when wilde they bee She will ore rule them being truely tam'd If in their life she doe them not oresee She in their death will see they shal be damn'd Thogh she be blind she with mine Eies doth see And I doe see how life and death are fram'd And thus the best aduice that I can giue Is them to mortifie that they may liue 214 Which hauing said she Logus with her tooke To dresse her wounds and hi'd her to her Bed So Phusis being of them both forsooke Sate at the doore of Thanatus neere dead And fell asleepe till Logus her awooke Who came againe to her as if he fled Whom when she saw her hart receiued cheare And in her face the same did soone appeare 215 Logus aduis'd her strait to take aduice Of Thanatus and Chronus what to do Which to performe she seemed somewhat nice Because she thought they sought her to vndoo Yet her loue to her sonnes did her entice Her enemies in this behalfe to woo And thus resolu'd she boldly rushed in Those Gates which erst to her had fearefull bin 216 Whos 's slipp'ry thresholds had neere made her fall Into the Lake of Lethe hard at hand But Logus held her vp yet therewithall She grew so fearefull that she scarse could stand But held by Logus and a lomy Wall Then Logus her besought that might command That she no more that passage would attempt For t is not good the Fates too much to tempt 217 But I quoth she will Chronus call outright Who forthwith came on her sweet sounding call Holpe by two wings one blacke the other white And in his hand a Sithe to cut downe All Who seem'd behind but low and poore in plight But yet before most pretious trimme and tall Thus came he forth and to these Ladies said Who calls and spake with motion most vnstaid 218 T' was I quoth Logus know'st thou not my voice Or wilt not sith thou wilt become vnkinde The time hath bin when It did thee reioyce Though now it seemes to thee it seemes but wind Wilt be vnconstant so to change thy Choice And shall I making thee thee fickle find But if I shall of this thou shalt be sure Thou shalt the lesser while for that endure 219 Thus Logus Chronus did reproue because He wold not know that voice which wel he knew But Chronus he himselfe from them withdrawes As one that fear'd worse chiding to ensue But Logus bade him stay or shew a cause Which shews to Logus are all onely due Without whose help old Chronus doth but dote And cannot sing or say right Word or Note 220 On this Iniunction Chronus mute did stand Yet stood as one that still on Thornes had stood While Logus seem'd his seruice to command And gaue his Tongue powre to be vnderstood Quoth he let Phusis haue thy helping hand To make if so thou canst her children good For they that hurt must heale or make amends Then hurting them on thee their help depends 221 Here Phusis hearing how he thus was chid Was at the point at him likewise to raâ—â—e But Logus bade her in her Eare take heede For faire words wold with Chronus most preuaile Wherewith her headstrong Will she bridle did For Logus loue and for her sonnes auaile But yet she said he did great hauocke make Of her deere children in that Lethe Lake 222 In which respect she meekely him besought By way of satisfaction that he would Preuent her Childrens going all to nought And with Examples them from that withhold For I their Mother quoth she still haue sought To make them liue as toward children should And if they perish it shall be their blame For I le leaue nought vnsought to let the same 223 I will quoth Chronus and away he flew And in one instant made the world throughout Babes youths youths Men Men Old Old Babes anew Phâ—sis mean while with Logus talkt about The hope she had that Chronus would subdue Her sonnes to Logus rule which He did doubt For no man of a rationall discourse Can thinke thei 'l mend that still waxe worse and worse 224 While thus they talkt they on the sodaine saw Chronus vpon his wings returning fast Which in her smoothest hope did make a flaw For so he fled as he had beene agast What news quoth she as he neere them did draw Fearing ere she had spoke he would be past What do my Children Chronus say O what Speake speake O speake I long to heare of that 225 They are quoth he I know not what to say Following their pleasures and do thinke of noght But how they may shift me with ease away Yet I thereby the sooner them haue caught O what a world it is to see them play Like Apes with each vaine toy too deerely bought He is no man that cannot do what not That wise men neuer knew or haue forgot 225 Ayme therefore quoth she but didst not thou With thy Sithe menace them to manage them Didst thou not tell them thou their Backs wouldst bow And that this mortal life was but a dreame O! couldst thou not with all this cast them low To mount them more to high Ierusalem What haue they sense and cannot vse the same That haue no kinde of sense of sinne and shame 226 When night was come quoth he I told ech one The day was past and when the Sabboth came I said a weeke was fully past and gone A month expir'd I told them of the same And when the Sun his compleate course had run I said a yeare was past and spent with shame But they that take delight to runne awrie Learne so to runne by Sols course in the Skie 227 In Childhood I did teach in Youth did threat In Manhood I reprooued and in Age With their own bones their bones I sore did beat And in Decrepitenesse I worse did rage For I did euen quench their vitall heat And to the gripes of death did them ingage Yet for all this they worse and worse became Still spoiling me till them I ouercame 228 What life then do my Yonglings liue quoth she The life said he of wanton skipping Roes What the Yongmen Of
wilt thou throw me downe Ere I be warme or settled in my Roome And so my Brows scarse feele th'â—mperiall crown O suffer me to liue to tell the summe Of the Contentments from my Grandure grown For better had it bin still Low to lie Then being at the Highest straite to die 39 Either quoth Death come willingly with me Or thou shalt die a death thou most dost feare Hee hearing this from Death did seeke to flee And cried on Fortune to assist him there Peace villaine then quoth Death I coniure thee Or lower speake that Fortune may not heare Yet Fortune which he follow'd was at hand And laught for ioy to heare him Death withstand 40 But by this Time the Time prefixt by Ioue Expired was and Fortune with her brought A world of people following Her in loue Who willingly for Fortune long had sought These as she moved with hir still did moue Because she rais'd them higher then she ought In which respect she had more followars Then Sol that lights Heau'ns lamps had waiting Stars 41 Lordâ— how some sweating dropt in foll'wing hir To whoÌ„ shee dropt that which be dropt theÌ„ more For they were laden so they scarse could stirre Who vnder-went the same with labour sore And othersome themselues did so bestirre That they in each mans Boat would haue an Ore But seeking to gripe more then well they could Were forc'd to lose that which they had in hold 42 Among the rest there was an Vsurer Whose Backe his Belly did for debt arrest Who being fearefull of iust Iupiter Made nice to goe with Fortune and the rest Sith well he knew He was a Thunderer In and from whom he had no interest For he did neuer deale with such perhaps That gaue for intrest nought but Thunderclaps 43 The Souldier came and gaue them much offence That stood betweene his Breast Fortunes Back So Souldiers haue backe-fortune euer since For they for others good go still to wracke And for their wracks haue wrackful recompence For they are sackt if they chance not to sacke And if they doe the Publique Purse must haue That which must keepe them as a publique Slaue 44 They with right Swords do ballance kingdomes rights A glorious office they perform the while The woorths of Kings appeares by those their weights Which proue theÌ„ to be valorous or vile Yet they gaine nought but blows in blody fights So store they get without or fraude or guile The while the gown-maÌ„ keeps vnscarr'd his skin And with his Pen in peace the world doth win 45 O thou true Ioue bow downe thine vpright Eare To heare thy lowest Seruants Orisons Which in the loue which he to them doth beare He makes for them that wracke still ouer-runnes Incline the hearts of Princes farre and neare As Marses Minions to loue Marses * sonnes And make this little Land yeeld great increase To stay their stomackes great in warre and peace 46 A Soldiers sword from sheath here Fortune took To knight all those that her had followd well Now eu'ry man did for a Knighthood looke That scarse had found an house wherein to dwell Yet some did much their betters ouer-looke And thrust in for it while their lookes did swell So Fortune seeing them to looke so big Possest them knights without or Turffe or Twig 47 Sois Cheualier Arise sir Knight quoth she Then vp he springs for feare lest Fortune would Recall hir word for his debilitie Now Knight he is for nought but being bold For Fortune fauours Squires of lowe degree If they be more audacious then they should Now Honor hath He get Grace where He can Yet Fortune gaue him grace to keepe a man 48 Some layd on all which they by Fortune got Vpon their backes that brauely sought to beare The Sword vpon their shoulders yet could not For it fell in the sheathe ere it fell there Fell lucke it was that so they were forgot Yet they forgat themselues as did appeare But when they saw they mist of what they sought Thei bar'd their backs to line their guts for noght 49 Which Iupiter himselfe did laugh to see For these so much were mou'd with this disgrace That they were at the point to Death to flee And Fortune leaue for such their fortune bace Yet followed her most malecontentedly Beceuse they followed her vnto that place To cast away long seruice on a spleene Is not to foresee but to be oreseene 50 O! t was a world to see what shift was made To hold vp Greatnes with a little stay T' were sinne to say some vs'd the Cheaters trade To borrow with a purpose ne'r to pay And get all howsoe'r that might be had No no they did not so I dare well say But this I say perhaps they liu'd by wit And so to liue some great Ones thinke it fit 51 Now in these knightly times ye might haue seene If you for pleasure had but tane the paine Each one ye met withall a Knight in greene And so the world b'ing old grew greene againe As if the same but in the Blade had beene For each one did his Hanger on sustaine Now Time stood still to sport himselfe in Maie For all was Greene and at that state did stay 52 Some shuffled for some Office some to gaine Some Monopole which then could not be got For Fortune did those Monopoles restraine Because she thought t' was to hir Rule a Blot To pleasure One by all her Subiects paine Thogh oft they made theÌ„ seem as they were not Some cried for warre and othersome for peace But Fortune thogh they cried still held hir peace 53 Now some for Coine their Offices did sell As if they had bin cloid with Fortunes grace And those that bought them others did compell To pay for them when they were in their Place And some in seeking somewhat did rebell But Fortune broght them soone to wretched case Some strong sent long men to Ierusalem Out of the way to make a way for them 54 Now for Truths Matters there was much adoe Some this some that som none of both wold haue And yet all three did restlesse Fortune woe To yeeld to neither that did either craue In worlds behalfe or fleshes fixt thereto But all in shew did seeke but Trueth to saue For all seem'd to sollicite Sions cause Which they would haue confirmed by the Lawes 55 Some sed they lied that only Truth did teach Some enuied them that liu'd by teaching so And at their liues and liuings sought to reach Which they forgaue but would not so forgo Somes Tongues defended Truth which they did preach Whose actioÌ„s gaue hir many a bitter blo Some liu'd as dying while they sought to liue And some died liuing yet did most reliue 56 Some Liers called Carnall-libertie The glorious Libertie of Truths deere Sonnes And her they vrg'd to prooue that
Yet ran behind hand still from place to place So with their Hands they caught but A B C Which by interpretation of the place Is a all b base c Cheaters are that so doe flee I wish those Hand-men their hands well had vs'd For I know Pen-men that are so abus'd 75 But some of Fortunes followers were her foes And Deaths true friends who for him swords vnsheath But shewd it not lest she shuld thē dispose Wher if thei wold thei could not meet with deth These followed her for nothing but for blowes For they with fencing kept themselues in breath And for they could but breath by that their trade They still were willing Fortune to inuade 76 Some followed her by acting all mens parts These on a Stage she rais'd in scorne to fall And made them Mirrors by their acting Arts Wherin men saw their faults thogh ne'r so small Yet some she guerdond not to their desarts But othersome were but ill-Action all Who while they acted ill ill staid behinde By custome of their maners in their minde 78 If maners make mens fortunes good or bad According to those maners bad or good Then men ill-manner'd still are ill bestad Because by Fortune they are still withstood Ah were it so I muse how those men had Among them some that swamme in Foizons flood Whose maners were but apish at the best But Fortune made their fortunes but a Iest 79 There were knights-arrant that in Fortunes spite Because they could not king it as they would Did play the Kings at least prowd kings in sight And oft were prowder then a Caesar should Yet Nature made them men by Fortunes might And Fortune made them Natures Zanees bold So those in nature Fortune flowted so That though she made them Kings she kept them low 80 But some there were too many such there are That follow'd Fortune in more abiect kinde These matches made between the Hoūd Hare I would say whoore for men hunt such to finde These faithlesse beastly Brokers of crackt ware Had too too often Fortune in the winde Who followed so the sent that oft they did Find her where she frō those they spoil'd lay hid 81 Some others followed her by badging Land Or beastly grazing yet made men thereby For they that did those myst'ries vnderstand Caught hold of Fortune in obscuritie To whom she strumpet-like lay at command Who lusting for her gript her greedily Till they grew great by her O monstrous birth Where Shee the He makes great with Grasse and Earth 82 The Lawyers went with these with hands as full Of Deedes and Manuscripts as they could hold But Fortune from the same those Scripts did pull And in exchange fill'd either fist with Gold For whiles they had but Papers their were dull But be'ng wel-mettl'd they were blithe and bold For Gold 's a soueraigne Restoratiue And makes men more then dead much more then liue 83 Aurum potabile is of that powre If store thereof be powrde in out of hand Like Iupiters preuailing Golden Showre That it will make Death lie at Lifes command It is the Aqua-vitae which doth cure All sore Consumptions that our weale withstand Nay t is the Aqua fortis which will eate Throgh leaden Brests Cares fretting thēce to fret 84 O giue me Gold and I will doe what not And let but store of Angells waite on me I le make my selfe a God with Thunder-shot Nay I will make the Earthly Gods to flee To Hean'n or Hell where they shall be forgot Sith there no God but I will minded be But God thou knowst the Age is yron the while That hammer can a God of thing so vile 85 O! gold the god which now the world doth serue This Midas-world that would touch nought but gold Gilding hir body while hir soul doth sterue How glorious art thou held fast to behold Thou mak'st a Beast a Man and Man to swerue More then a Beast yet thou dost all vphold For whom thou tak'st into thy Patronage It matters not what is his Title-Page 86 Men value men according to thy weight For be their value ne'r so valorous It s held but base and made by nature sleight Nor can it be nor good nor glorious Without thy vertue doe it ouer-freight And so remaine they without Grace or Vse But if thou list to lade a leaden Asse While thou rid'st on him he ore gods doth passe 87 Come Gold thē come deere Gold ride on me I le be thine Asse or Pack-horse which thou wilt Although thou heauy art I le carry thee Albe't thou art much heauier through thy guilt Lade me good Gold till my backe broken bee Sith thou againe canst make me being spilt For all men now may vse me like a Sot That beares abuse because I beare thee not 88 Then foote it not whiles Copper rides on mee Base Copper dogs be'ng made thēselues to beare But logs and faggots for a staruing fee And in a Chimneis end away to weare Then vp faire Gold Ile so mount vnder thee As if no ground should hold me when I reare For by how much the more thou mak'st me bend So much the more thou mak'st me to ascend 89 Ride on me Gold and I will ride on those If so I lust of men or women-kinde That shall be great or faire or friends or foes Vntill I ridden haue them out of winde But Heau'n my Heart still otherwise dispose For riding so I blister should my minde Which still would runne with matter of annoy And Soule and Body so perhaps destroy 90 Then gold sith thou woldst tēpt me to this spoile Farewell deere Gold I le not buy thee so deere I am content without thy help to toile For so much Siluer as will arme me heere ' Gainst wounding Wants which there do keepe a coile Where nothing is but care and griefe and feare My Backe and Belly kept in rest I le sleep Throgh coniuring Bookes from gold that diuels keepe 91 The Fox will eate no Grapes well be it so I le eate no Grapes that set my teeth on edge To eate such bittes as bane where oft they go And Heart and Minde do all alike besiege Who gathers golden fruits in Hell that gro Do for the same oft put their Soules to pledge But in that state that stands with little cost Is found the golden life that Adam lost 92 Touching this World to my blame be it sed I thinke of nothing but what nothing brings And yet no thing more musing then my head And yet my Muse my head with nothing mings Both feed on Aire wherewith is nothing fed But dead or dull or else meere witlesse things For sure that wit ne'r came neere wisdoms schools That weenes meere Aire fats any thing but fooles 93 I would and would not haue what I haue not I
the earthly Mammon which had held Their Harts to Earth held most contagious A Beggar scornd to touch it so defilde So none but castawaies were couetous Now Auarice was turned Cherubin Who nought desir'd but the extreamest Good For now she saw she could no longer sinne So to the Time she sought to suite her moode The loathsome Leacher loath'd his wonted sport For now he thought all flesh was most corrupt The brainsicke brawler waxed all-amort For such blood-suckers Bane did interrupt The Pastors now steep all their words in Brine With woe woe woe and nought is heard but woe Woe and alas they say the powres diuine Are bent Mankind for sinne to ouerthrow Repent repent like Ionas now they crie Ye men of England O repent repent To see if so yee maie moue Pitties Eye To looke vpon you ere you quite be spent And oft whilst he breathes out thess bitter Words He drawing breath drawes in more bitter Bane For now the Aire no Aire but death affords And lights of Art for helpe were in the wane Nor people praying nor the Pastor preaching Death spared ought but murd'red one and other He was a walme he could not stay impeaching Who smoakt with heat chokt all with the smother The babe new born hempt strait in the head With aire that through his yet vnclosed Mould Did pierce his brains throgh theÌ„ poison spread So left his life that scarse had life in hold The Mother after hies the Father posts After the Mother Thus at Base they runne Vnto the Gole of that great Lord of Hoasts That for those keepes it that runnes for his Sonne The rest Death trippes and takes them prisoners Such lose the Gole without gainesaying-strife But all and some are as Deaths Messengers To fetch both one and other out of life The Sire doth fetch the Sonne the Sonne the Sire Death being impartiall makes his Subiects so The Priuate's not respected but intire Death pointing out the way away they go The ceremonie at their Burialls Is Ashes but to Ashes Dust to Dust Nay not so much for strait the Pit-man falles If he can stand to hide them as he must A Mount thus made vpon his Spade he leanes Tired with toile yet tired prest to toile Till Death an heape in his inu'd Haruest gleanes That so he may by heapes â—ft seed the Soile Not long he staies but ah a mightier heape Then erst he hid is made strait to be hild The Land is scarse but yet the Seed is cheape For all is full or rather ouerfill'd The Beere is laid away and Cribbes they get To fetch more dung for Fields and Garden-plots Worke-men are scarse the labour is so great That ah the Seede vnburied often rottes It rottes and makes the Land thereby the worse For being rotten it ill vapors breedes Which many mortall miseries doe nurse And the Plague ouerfed so ouerfeedes Here lies an humane Carcasse halfe consum'd And there some fow or beast in selfe same plight Dead with the Pestilence for so it fum'd That all it touched it consumed quite Quite through the hoast of Natures Animalls Death like a Conquerer in Triumph rides And ere he came too neare each Creature falls His dreadfull presence then no flesh abides Now man to man if euer fiends became Feare of infection choakt Humanitie The emptie Maw abandon'd got but blame If it had once but sought for Charitie The Poore must not about to seeke for foode And no man sought them that they might be fed Two Plagues in one inuaded so their blood Both Famine and Infection strikes them dead Some staid in hope that Death would be appeas'd And kept the towns which theÌ„ theirs had kept Till their next neighbors were perhaps diseas'd Or with Deaths fatall Fanne away were swept TheÌ„ fain wold fly but could not thogh thei wold For wil they nill they they must keep their house Till throgh some chink on theÌ„ Death taketh hold And vs'd them as he did their neighbours vse If any at some Posterne could get out As good they staid sith sure they staid should be For all the Countries watcht were round about That from the towne none might a furlong flee Then who from Death did flie the feare of Death Made Free-men keep the fliers in his Iawes Where poison'd with his fowle infectious breath Their flesh and bones he ne'r suffized gnawes Now might ye see the Plague deuoure with speed As it neare famisht were lest in a while It might be so and want whereon to feede So fed the future hunger to beguile Now doth it swell hold hide nay breake or die Till skin doth crack to make more room for meat Yet meat more meate it neuer cloid doth crie And all about doth runne the same to get The Graues do often vomit out their dead They are so ouer-gorg'd with great and small Who hardly with the earth are couered So oft discouer'd when the Earth did fall Those which in hie waies died as many did Some worthlesse wretch hir'd for no worthles fee Makes a rude hole some distance him beside And rakes him in farre off so there lies hee But if the Pit-man haue not so much sense To see nor feele which way the winde doth sit To take the same he hardly comes from thence But for himselfe perhaps he makes the pit For the contagion was so violent The wil of Heau'n ordaining so the same As often strooke stone-dead incontinent And Natures strongest forces strait orecame Here lieth one vpon his burning brest Vpon the Earths cold breast and dies outright Who wanting buriall doth the Aire infest That like a Basaliske he banes with sight There reeles another like one deadly druncke But newly strooke perhaps then downe he falls Who in the Streets or waies no sooner suncke But forthwith dies and so lies by the walles The Hay-cockes in the Meades were oft opprest With plaguy Bodies both aliue and dead Which being vs'd confounded Man and Beast And vs'd they might be ere discouered For some like Ghosts wold walk out in the night The Citie glowing furnace-like with heate Of this contagion to seeke if they might Fresh aire where oft they died for want of meate The Traueler that spied perhaps his Sire Another farre off comming towards him Would flie as from a flying flame of fire That would if it he met waste life and limbe So towns fear'd townes and men ech other fear'd All were at least attainted with suspect And sooth to say so was their enuy stirr'd That one would seeke another to infect For whether the disease to enuy mou'd Or humane natures malice was the cause Th' infected often all Conclusions prou'd To plague him that froÌ„ theÌ„ himselfe withdrawes Here do they Gloues and there they Garters fall Ruffs Cuffs handkerchers and such like things They strow about so to endanger all For Enuy now most pestilently stings So heau'n and earth
Hell is heauenly in shew * All the earth calleth for Truth and the Heauen blesseth it and al things are shaken treÌ„bâ—e neither is there any vniust thing in it 1. Eâ—dr 4.36 * In Heâ—l is no redemption * Truth and Reason neare of kinne * Truth is the strength and kingdome the power and maiesty of all ages 1. Esdr 4 40. * Nature is greatly grieued till her sonnes be reformed * Reason doth cheere the heuinesse of our nature in case of distresse * Patience a daughter of the Heauens the best companioÌ„ of a forlorne fortune * Contingent Accidents are hid from the eie of Reason * God * ReprehensioÌ„ vnwelcome to all resolute in euill * Truth is like herselfe in vnlike subiects * This guileful world is mortall enemy to Trueth * Made Truth to speak most for the maintenaunce of earthly matters c. * The wine is wicked the King is wicked women are wicked all the childreÌ„ of men are wicked and al their wicked workes are such there is no truth in them but they perish in their iniquitie But Truth doth abide and is stroÌ„g foreuer liueth and raigneth for euer and euer 1. Esdr 4.37.38 * Truth is in extreame perill of deprauation among the vncleane * The Soule that hath no feeling of sin is dead in sin * They that lacke least worldly things most lacke friends that will tell them the trueth * Veritie and Iustice supports the Thrones of Princes * Euer since Astrea forsooke th' earth whosoeuer offers Iustice a golden Scabberd she will sheathe her sword therein * That life is worse then death that depeÌ„ds on a miÌ„â—ers pleasure * Immortall lines in Poesie are worse then mortall lines that end our misery for the first make vs labour for our trauell the last make vs labor for heauen if wee die well * Iustice * Iustice sees with Truthâ— eies * The countenance bewrais how the heart is affected * Time and Death enimies to Nature * Body of clay * Day night are the wings of Time * When men die their yereâ— seeme but so many daies before they dy all their dayes so many yeres The time future seems loÌ„g but that past extream short * Time's euer in motion * Before mans fall * Time made by God the fountaine of Reason * Iniquitie shal shorten Times continuance * Reasons are yeelded by Reason * Still moouing * The office of Reason * Our Nature is apt to insult vpon the least incoragement * A forcible meane to reduce the euill to good * Euery moment seemes an Age to â—ne that longs to heare that which his soule desires to know * Foolishnesse is ioy to him which is destitute of vnderstanding c. Prou. 15.21 * Vanitie holdeth nothing too deere for things nere so worthlesse that may any way tend to her pleasure * Iob 7.6 * No warning will preuaile with the wilfull * The Sunne runnes an oblique course in the heauens which measures time and in time men learne to doe amisse * Men lewdly liuing make a spoâ—le of time till 〈◊〉 spoile them The vices familiar with our natures in the seuerall ages of our life * Ther is none that doth good no not one Psal 17. * In time by reason experience wee reforme our maners if we be not vtterly void of grace * Leauing her last â—ooâ—esteps among the men which nâ—w are least acquainted wâ—th her or her steps Husbandmen * Venter auribus caret * No gracelesse wretch so vnnaturall but knowes the voice and law of nature because it is written in all meÌ„s hearts * Sathan winnoweth vs like wheate Luke 21.31 * They liue ill that thinke to liue euer * It is an abhominâ—tion to fooles to depart from euil Proâ— 13.19 * To haue heauen in this life is to holde hell in the other * We measure our frinds well-doing altogether by the line of worldly prosperitie * A scorner loues not him that rebukes him neither will he goe to the wise Pro. 15.12 * Reason is euer impugned and impeached by carnall Libertines * This makes so many miseries by reason of flatterers in the world for euery one couets to please for feare of frownes * Vicious liuers are strangers or rather enemies to Trueth â—nd her doctrine * These are the last and there fore the worst times which rather seeke to reforme by windy then explanary doctrine which perswades coldly * All times apter to Vice then Vertue * They that liue without thinking of their end doe commonly die ere they think of Death * The first death to the wicked is the entrance into the second * Repentance may be too late but neuer too soone * Tyrants * If good â—hey raise if bad they ruine it * A great torment in the life to come is due to those that can and will take such an immortall reuenge for any mortall inâ—urie * Feare * None are forsaken of God that cleaue to him by humble hearty praiee * The Kay of Intelligence * The Sonne of Gods first miracle hee wroght at the marriage Ioh. 2. honouring the feast with his personall presence * The wisest men are oft thus mistâ—ken for not being able â—o foresee perfectly future euents * The best meÌ„ Death soonest â—akes away because this wicked world is vnworthie of them * Fortune is euer in that mâ—â—ion like a waue moâ—ued with the wind * A sport so called * The contentious take small occasion to contend * Yet mightie men of our present times thinke otherwise as appeareth by their actions Oppression * All elementall Bodies subiect 〈◊〉 death * Which shall haue an end * Al that hath motion is subiect to dissolution * The Eie is saide to cause our blushing c. * Iustice Fortune Death are eielesse sith they haue no respect of persons * A kingdomâ— diuided is at point to be dissolued * Vntimely as well as vnreasonable taxings withdraw the loues of the Subiects * Princes often become odious to their subiects thorow the fault of those whoÌ„ they put in trust to gouerne vnder them * The readiest way to winne hearts * Loue and Bounty the best Baites to catch men * Captare beneuolentiam * Men are honored and folowed in this world onely for their fortunes * They got Territories which they could not holde * Fortune fauors fooles * Chirurgions * The way to thriue in that function * Elixir * A little therof multiplies infinitely as Alchymists affirme * Life is sweet * O Death how bitter is thy remembrance to a maÌ„ that hath pleasure in his riches Ecclus. 41.1 * Fronâ—â—â—ullae â—ides * Hope of future good in this life maks men feare death as an intollerable eâ—ill * 1. Iohn 5.4 * None so mortified but feares death in point of dying * The feâ—re of finall or particular iudgement makes Death vnwelcome
* They are waxen fat and shining they doe ouerpasse the deedes of the wicked c. Iere 5 2â— * Strawberies Cherries c. when they first come in * Shillings Crownes or Pounds * Then will I turne mine haÌ„d vpoÌ„ thee and burne out thy drosse till it be pure and take away thy Tinne Isai 1.25 * And euery one will deceiue his friâ—d and wil not speake the truth for they haue taught their tongues to speake lies and take great paines to doe wickedly Ierem 9 5. * â—s a Cage is full of Birds so are their houses full of deceit thereby they are become great waxen â—ich Ierem. 5.27 * For all their Tables are full of filthy vomitings no place is cleane Isai 28.8 * Their Bill of Sale * And they lie downe vpon cloths laide to pledge by euery Altar and they drink the wine of the condemned in the house of their God Amos 2.8 * And death shall be desired rather theÌ„ life of all the residue that râ—maâ—n of this wicked family Iere 8 3. * Thy Sonnes haue fainted â—e at head of al the streets as a wild Bull in a net and are full of the wrath of the Lord and rebuke of thy God Isa 51.20 * I will dâ—sh them one against another euen the â—athers and the sons together saith the lord I wil not spare I will not pitty not haue compassion vpon them but destroy them â—erem 13.14 * â—herefore will I be vnto Ephraim as a moaâ—h and to the house of Iuda as a rottennes Hosea 5.12 * Neither their siluer nor their golde shall be able to deliuer them in the day of the lords wrath c Zepha 1.18 * Her filthinesse is in her skiâ—â—s she remembred not her last end therefore shee came downe wonderâ—ully she had no coÌ„forter c. Lament 1.9 * The mirâ—h of tabâ—ets ceaseth the noiâ—e of them that reiâ—â—ceendeth the ioy of the harpe ceaseth Isaâ— 24.8 * Libra September * A Beast neuer but feeding and when he hath eaten as much as his 〈…〉 hold goe to a forâ—ed tâ—ee and there straines out his fonde vndigested betweane the twist of the â—â—ee and so agâ—ine presently falles to seâ—ue and being full againe to the tree and so eftsoones to feede * Isai 57.15 * The world is diuided into twelue partes and ten partes of it are gone already and halfe of the tenth part there remaineth that which is after the halfe of the tenth part 2. Esd 14.10 11 * Neuertheles saith the lord at those dâ—ys I will not make a full end of you Ier 4.18 * For it is the day of the Lords vengeance and the veâ—eâ—â— reâ—â—rence for the iâ—dgement of 〈◊〉 Isai 34.8 * Dung-cribs * They shall die of deaths and diseases they shall not be lamented neither shall they be buried but they shall be as dung vpon the earth c. Ier. 16.4 * They haue compassed her about as the witchmen of the field because she hath prouoked me to wrath saith the Lord Iere. 4.17 * If the botch breake not the Patient liueth not * It killes others with breaking * They that feed delicately perish in the streetes they that were brought vp in scarlet embrace the dâ—â—g Lament 4.5 * And their corpes shall lie in the streetes of the great citie c. Reuel 11.8 * Because of their pride the Cities shall be troubled the houses shall be afraid men shall feare 2. Esd 15.18 * Destruction vpon destruction is cried for the whole Land is wasted c. Iere. 4.20 * Iob 41.20 Simil. * Plagues are sent vnto youâ— and who can driue them away 2. Esd 16.4 Simil. * Many dead Bodies shal be in euery place they shall cast them foorth with silence Amos 8.3 * This no fiction nor inserted by poeticall licence But this verily was performed in the borough of Leominster in the county of Hereford the one at the commandement of sir Herbert Crost knight one of the Councell of the Marches of Wales the other by the instigation of Sathan and prococation of the disease * Torments deuised by infinite wisedome are infiite in paine * Mortall life is no more at the most compared to Eternitie * So fares it with sensuall Epicures and Libertines * The conuersion of a sinner is most miraculous * Man is Microcosmos * As appeareth by the Plague bills euerie weeke Simil. * Micah 7.4 * Psal 14 2.4 * Ephes 5.12
so ill Vnioynt the body of their Common-weale Hew it in peeces bring it all to nought With Rigors boistrous hand all Bands canceale Wherin the heau'ns staÌ„d bound to Earth in aught Wound me the scalpe of humane Policie Sith it would stand without the help of heau'n On rotten proppes of all impietie Away with it let it be life-bereau'n With plagues strike through Extortions loathed loines And riuet in them glowing pestilence Giue giue Iniustice many mortall foynes And with a plague send send the same froÌ„ hence Wind me a Botch huge Botch about the Necke Of damn'd disguis'd man-pleasing Sanctitie And Simony with selfe same Choller decke Plague these two Plagues with all extremitie For these are Pearles that quite put out the eies Of Piety in Christian Common-wealths These these are they from whoÌ„ all plagues do rise TheÌ„ plagues on plagues by right must reaue their healths Dash Veng'aÌ„ce viall on the cursed brow Of Zodomy that euer-crying sinne And that it be no more whole Pelions throw Of plagues vpon it both without and in Throgh black Auernus hels mouth send the same Into the deepest pit of lowest hell Let neuer more the nature nor the name Be known within the Zones where meÌ„ may dwel Oppresse Oppression this Lands burning-feauer With burning sores of feauers-pestilent And now or neuer quell it now and euer For it doth quell the Poore and Innocent Bring downe damn'd Pride with a pure pestileÌ„ce Deriued from all plagues that are vnpure Extracted to th' extreamest quintessence For Pride all Sinnes plagues for sin procures In Atheismes breast instead of her curst hart Set an huge Botch or worse plague mâ—re coÌ„pact That it may neuer conuert or peruert Nor haue powre to perswade much lesse coact Beblaine the bosome of each Misteris That bares her Brests lusts signes ghests to allure With a plague kisse her that plagues with a kisse And make her with a murraine more demure Our puling puppets coy and hard to please My too strait-laced all-begarded Girles The skumme of Nicenesse London Mistresses Their skins imbroder with plagues orient Pearls For these for First-fruits haue Fifteenes to spare But to a Beggar say We haue not for yee Then do away this too-fine wastefull Ware To second death for they do most abhorre mee Then scowre the Brothel-houses make them pure That flow with filth that wholsomst flesh infects Fire out the Pox from theÌ„ce with plages vnpure For they do cause but most vnpure effects Plague carnall Colleges wherein are taught Lusts beastly lessons which no beast will brooke Where Aratine is read and nearely sought And so Lusts Precepts practiz'd by the Booke Who knowes not Aratine let him not aske What thing it is let it suffice hee was But what no Mouth can tell without a Maske For Shame it selfe will say O let that passe He was a Monster Tush O nothing lesse For Nature monsters makes how ere vnright But Nature ne'r made such a Fiend as this Who like a Fiend was made in Natures spight Therefore away with all that like his Rules Which Nature doth dislike as she doth Hell Break vp those free yet deere damned Schools That teach but gainst kinde Nature to rebell Rogh-cast the skin of smooth-fac'd glozing Guile With burning blisters to consume the same That swears to sell crackt wares yet lies the while And of gaine by deceiuing makes her game Who but to vtter but a thing of nought Vtters all othes more precious then her Soule And thinks them well bestowd so it be bought So vtters wares with othes by falshood foule This foule offence to Church Commonwealth Sweep cleane away with Wormewood of annoy For it consisteth but by lawfull stealth Then let the truest Plagues it quite destroy Of Tauerns reaking still with vomitings Draw with the Owners all the Drawers out Let none draw Aire that draw on Surffettings But Excesse and her Slaues botch all about Sith such by drawing out and drawing on Do liue let such be drawne out on a Beare For they with wine haue many men vndone And famisht them in fine through belly-cheare Browne-paper Merchants that do venâ— such trash To heedlesse heirs to more wealth borne then wit That gainst such Paper-rocks their houses dash While such slie Merchants make much vse of it Vse them as they do vse such heires to vse That is to plague them without all remorce These with their Brokers plague for they abuse God King and Law by Lawes abused force Then petti-botching-Brokers all bebotch That in a month catch eighteene pence in pound Six with a Bill and twelue for vse they catch So vse they all they catch to make vnsound That they may catch them and still patches make Which in the pound do yeeld theÌ„ eighteen pence Forc'd like sheep trespassing the Pownd to take Leauing their Fleece at last for recompence Hang in their hang-mans wardrop plagues to aire That all may flie or die that with it mell And so when none will to their ragges repaire They must forsake their liues or labour well Briefly kill cursed Sinne in generall And let Flesh Bee no more to harbour it Away with filthie Flesh away with all Wherein still-breeding Sinne on broode doth sit This was Deaths charge this charge did he giue Which was perform'd forthwith accordingly For now the dead had wasted so the liue Or wearied so that some vnburied lie For All obseru'd the Pestilence was such As laught to scorne the help of Phisickes art So that to death All yeelded with a touch And sought no help but help with ease to part An hell of heate doth scorch their seething vaines The blood doth boile and all the Body burnes Which raging Heate ascending to the Braines The powres of Reason there quite ouerturnes Then t is no sinne to say a Plague it is From whence immortall miseries do flow That makes men reason with their rest to misse And Soules and Bodies do endanger so Here crie the parents fot their Childrens death There howle the children for their parents losse And often die as they are drawing breath To crie for their but now inflicted crosse Here goes an husband heauily to seeke A Graue for his dead wife now hard to haue A wife there meets him that had done the like All which perhaps are buried in one Graue The last suruiuor of a Familie Which yesterday perhaps were all in health Now dies to beare his fellowes company And for a Graue for all giues all their wealth There wends the fainting Son with his dead Sire On his sole shoulders borne him to interre Here goes a father with the like desire And to the Graue alone his Sonne doth beare The needie greedie of a wealthie Pray Runne into houses cleans'd of Families From whence they bring with goodes their bane away So end in wealth their liues and miseries No Cat Dog Rat Hog Mouse or Vermine vile