Whose riddle who so wise is to unfold Why the Suns course it daily follows so That as that to the South or West doth goe So broad or narrow this doth shut or ope And hight for thy ' the faithfull Heliotrope Then with Rose-buds if Rosebuds may be found It tissue thicke and traile it all around And last a traile of winding Ivie let Run all along on either side beset With sprigs of Daphnis stain'd with drops of gold And Olive leaves that still with peace doth hold In signe that hee with conquest dy'd in peace And doth the number of the Saints increase In eviternall peace free from annoy Of all this worlds fond cares which wont destroy All true content and racks mens hearts in twaine And makes them old before their time to gaine Some one or other worldly good which hence They must not with them beare and this torments Their very soules and makes that grudgingly With great reluctance hopelesse many die So nor in life nor death with peace are blest But to returne whence I too farre digrest Now on his Herse a counterpoint be cast And on this counterpoint this Garland plac't In token of th'integritie and truth And single Caelibat of his chast youth For single life right soberly maintain'd And kept from being vitiously profan'd Gaines thanks of God and man and with renowne And happy praise both life and death doth crowne Now forward set in order two and two And to the Temple doe before him goe Some with long Rosemary-branches in your hands Dangling with blacke and ashie-pale Ribbands And some againe with both your handfulls come Of sav'ry Dyll and senting Marjorum And that Thessalian herbe whence busie bees Suck hunny and with waxe doe load their knees And all the way with slips of wormwood dresse In signe of this dayes bitter heavinesse Clean-purging Isop bring and Germander With Cotton and her sister Lavander Bring Balme that quickly heales any green wound And sage that all the vitall parts keeps sound And Camomel how ever meane and base The Embleme of true constancie and grace That doth against all scornfull feet oppose And much more sweet for thy ' and thicker growes And Sallet-budded Broom wholsome and good To purge and eeke the waterish-wasted blood Bring Strawberry Primrose Plantan leaves Toutsain And all what ever Simples soveraigne For mans reliefe for in or outward cure Bring some of all leave none behinde be sure Bring Saint Iohns Wort whose vertuous oyle may dare For skill in healing with selfe Balme compare And Lungwort soveraigne above all the rest To ease the straitned bellowes of the brest And all the worts that ere yee reckon can For they are all wel-willers unto man And let not herbe of Grace forgotten bee Which as 't is such with him doth well agree For full was hee of grace and as 't is Rewe It us befits our rewfull hearts to shew Yea Rushes bring which strewed wont to been To welcome friendly strangers seldome seene But bring no hearbs I charge of evill fame That banefull ever to mans life became To let in death ere their appointed howre By their cold juice and inward deadly power Therefore I you areed no sleepie slip Of Poppie 'mongst your other hearbs let slip No Coloquintida ne no Henbane Nor Hemlocke that intoxicates the braine Nor Fennell-finkle bring for flattery Begot of lies and fained courtesie But above all as yee love him this day Whose funerall yee doon attend I pray Bring not the leaves of that sowre Indian fume The common Mountebanke which not the rheum But all diseases else to cure dare vaunt At least prevent which in our bodies haunt Which taints the breath and worse than any goat Doth make it stinke whereon men so do doate That morning Noone and Night they wont it take And their continuall deere companion make So like that poysonous Arrian Heresie It all the world hath over-run well nigh For now all matters ended or begun Must through this smoakie purgatory runne And all what ere wee eate and drinke is choak'd Yea sacred meat and drinke therewith are smoak'd With that pragmatick-crotched-pated Fryer Who Niter first devis'd to set on fire And to discharge it from that fatall gin To 'th bane of men to thunder neere of kin May he of all posteritie be curst Who brought this weed in daily practice first Ah for 't was this unsavory fulsome weed That traiterously conspir'd his death indeed Provoking him to cough which broke a veine Within his lungs first causer of his bane All wee for thy ' who now bewitched are With this deceitfull drugge in time beware Now all ye mourners who the honour have To beare him on your shoulders to his grave Take up your load and weeping all the way Unto his shadie chamber him convey The mother earth is readie to receive Her welcome child there in her armes him leave Thus finisht is midway my dolefull song Which ere I any further doe prolong My selfe I doe apply and turne my speech To whom it most concernes and them beseech For his deere sake whose memory is deere As was his life and love to mee too here In Jet or Touch these sorry lines ingraffe Too much though true is for an Epitaph Here WELD hath left his body in this Tombe In pawne till hee againe from Heaven come Whither hee 's gone on pilgrimage before The happy Saints to visit and adore His blessed Lord and Saviour till Doomes-day Where hee to wait on him intends to stand Then underneath his Monument write this Though of farre better hee most worthy is In plates of shining Brasse of purpose made And in black Marble on his Grave inlaid Here lyes the Mould the Coffin and the Shell That doth the Shell the Mould and Coffin hold Where late our deare friends blessed soule did dwell Now Heaven is to this blessed soule the Mould The Coffin and the Shell become untill The generall Assises of the world when all Soules their owne Moulds and Coffins shall fulfill And to their old Shels every Kernell fall In hopefull expectation of which day Our worthy WELD whom wee so justy mourne Leaves here his Gage that he 'll no longer stay Than he must needs but suddenly returne True signe that of his word hee will be just Thus in his absence to leave us the care Of his deere dust as his Feoffees in trust O Grave for his sake sacred be well ware No violence be done unto his dust But kept inviolate untill he come Till then religious Ashes rest in peace More than Mausolus in his glorious Tombe Till the renewing of your lives old lease And as a poore Appendix to his Tombe Writ so as to be read vouchsafe a roome To this my secret plaint and private mone Conceiv'd in silence to my selfe alone When at his grave I did recall to minde The fickle-fraile condition of mankind Ah for my friend who wish'd and lov'd mee well I him as well I
defend it should in sovenance And faire requitall of your love I le pay You teares for teares and sighs for your sighs nay Unwilling barely to repay your owne I le pay you interest of ten for one And till my briny braine be drayned dry Will side with you and mourne incessantly Ab for your griefe will bring to memorie Mine owne unhappy griefe and keepe my wound Still bleeding fresh whilst ev'ry seeming sound And each like word that even but relates And to his name alludes insinuates And will my heart with newes thereof informe Still raising in my bosome a new storme So shall your mone my mournfull mone augment For full of harmony a sweet consent Of sorrow is with sorrow teares with teares And griefe in parts the musicke higher reares But now from you my conference must breake Whilst all my other mourners I do thus bespeake PHYALA LACRHYMARUM YE Lady Graces and yee Muses nine And all ye vertues Morall and Divine Ye Sciences and most renowned Arts And all yee sons of Art come weepe in parts And each good man who goodnesse doth admire And all save ye of the Celestiall Quire Yee Angels and ye blessed Saints possest Alreadie in Heaven of your happy rest For by our losse and sorrow all yee reape A gainfull harvest and for joy do leape All clad in sable weeds with Heben wands And Cypresse branches in your friendly hands Disshevel'd haire about your shoulders throwne With all the sorry signes of hearty mone With panting breasts with sighing well nigh rent With carefull lookes and eyes oft upward sent With ' haviour speaking nothing save neglect Of all but what on sorrow doth reflect Come sit with mee and helpe mee to condole The sad departure of the blessed soule From the dead corps of this deare friend of ours And with your teares as with so many showers Embalme it over all and strew his herse With the sweet fragrant odours of your verse Sith like a body that hath lost a limbe Each of you all do suffer losse in him Yea with so lowd alewes and drerement Let be your plaints and over him lament That future Ages in your griefe likewise For losse of him with you may sympathize And cause an Annuall Obit to be held In his remembrance whom they nee'r beheld But that you may no Ceremonies fit In your last dutie unto him omit Ere yee upon him locke his Coffin doore And in a bath of your salt teares all o're And dewe of Roses steep'd in Amber grize Having first drencht him much as may suffice Bring some of those Arabian merchandise Sweete Aromatick Gummes and pretious spice Pure Frankincense and pounded Cynamom Nutmegs with Cloves and Mace and Saffron some Add Storax-Calamite and Bengewine And pretious Spicknard unto these conjoyne Aloes with Myrrhe and Cassia-Fistula The fragrant fuell and the spicie spray Whereof that bird of selfe dusts selfe worme bred Doth build her neast to serve for her death-bed Which flaming round about her she sits downe And with sweet martyrdome her selfe doth crowne In stead of others more with these same few Thicke over all his pale dead corps bestrew But chiefe and principall of all the rest These three bestrew the Head the Mouth the Breast Sith in these three his Breast his Mouth his Head Many sweet Notions fostred were and bred And Meditations sweet well styl'd indeed The fodder of the soule did hence proceed And many sweet discourses sweetly made And pray'rs so sweet that God selfe could perswade Ne onely thus these pretious perfumes serve His corps from putrefaction to preserve But signifie how sweet and fragrant is How gratefull and accept this sacrifice Of soule and body which in life and death Hee offred hath to God and witnesseth The good report and praise like savory sent Of sweet delicious Nard of 's life well spent Which here he to the world behind him leaves So double guerdon he both here and there receives This done him in his Coffin sweetly lay Yet ere yee to his Beare do him convey Weave him a Chaplet all of flowers sweet For flowers and garlands been for virgins meet Now come with flowers not flowers by them worne Who losse of love do suffer all forlorne Bring here therefore no caytive Columbines Flowers of ill omen and unhappy signes No gaudie Tulips here admitted be Emblemes of false faire-fained sanctitie Whose worth all outward is in shew alone But inward sent hath not ne vertue none For thy ' true flowers I do not them areed But at the best a glorious kinde of weed As worthlesse simples numbred amongst them Gay Dazies of the field which wee contemne Instead of these bring store of fragrant flowers By faithfull friends and pious paramours In honour greatly held whose savorie sent Of mingled sweets doe shew the sweet content Who ere so happy be thereof to taste Of two true hearts in love united fast For well his tongue and ' haviour could indeed Of faithfull love a learned lecture read And well him love became who loyall was Unto his love unhappie love alas Which when both hearts and hands and friends consent Had all clapt hands with infinite content And all things ready to enjoying had Save publication death the Banes forbad Worthy for this were death to be contrould For certes too too blame was death and bold So hopefull crop of love like full ripe wheate To blast and smite which ready was to reape Bring bashfull Pinkes in which is to discry Sweet Embleme of faire-maiden-modestie Which though of flowers least almost the field For sweetnesse to the greatest need not yeeld Then Gilliflowers and sparkling Sops in wine With Rosemary and senting Eglantine Whose leaves with prickles fenc'd teach sweetest gains Is that that 's conquer'd with the hardest paines Next Hyacynths and black-fac'd Violets In which me seems the God of Nature sets The world to schoole not ever to esteeme Ought at first sight as it doth outward seeme But on the hidden vertue to reflect For th' inward good meane outsides to respect Sith though this flowre be blacke of stature low A hanging-guilty looke that makes no show Yet amongst all scarce one may parallel Her savory sent and sweet delightfull smell Bring Hearts-ease store Oh flower most blest of all Which all they weare whom nothing can befall Beyond their expectation ill ne ought So good as to excesse to tempt their thought Of prettie Panses plentie let be brought For this flowers name doth signifie a thought And therefore chiefly unto such belongs Who dare not trust their love unto their tongues But in a Labyrinth of thoughts doe walke And to themselves in pleasing silence talke Unthinking still what ever they first thought So nought by them is into practice brought Bring Medway Cowslips and deft Daffodillies The country Primrose and all sorts of Lillies And Floure-de-Luce Le fleur de lice more right Deliciae flos the flower of delight Then usher in th' obsequious Marigold
be releast Could ere redeeme such is the law of all Onely like fruit some sooner and some later fall I saw this blossome blasted in the spring I saw this flower wither'd in the budde And to my hearts eternall sorrowing This lamp new lighted beeing all too good Longer to burne in it owne oylely blood I drowned saw and quite extinguished Such is condition of all fleshlyhood Just like a buble that 's ingendred Of ayre and blistred water which eftsoone Breakes and with each small puffe of winde 's againe undone Monocchio non e misero nel presenza del cieco VVHen I consult the sacred Histories And other Stories of inferior sort And finde therein what under mysteries And plainly what they of mans life report Oft in the prime oft suddenly cut short And every day sad samples thereof see Mee seemes they secretly do mee exhort To fit my selfe the very next to be And meekly more my misery to beare Compar'd with others greater in degree As hee whose one eye perled is and bleare Seemes blest to him who can at all not see So they who others greater griefe and mone Can call to minde gaine strength to beare their owne Animali d'ogni sorte se trovarno nel Rete della morte HOw many a subtile snare and guilefull gin Hath man devis'd and daily doth devise To take all sorts of feather'd fowles therein Some birds nathlesse so warie been and wise Not to be tane for all his subtilties But there 's a fowler layes his deadly gins Man to intrap as man doth birds surprize Spreading his nets when his life first begins And though all things his fatall nets perceive Yet never bird this fowler could deceive All sorts to him beene all indifferent Ringtailes Buzzards Puttocks Ravens Crowes Pyes Th' imperiall Eagle and the Falcon Gent Pigions Parakitoes Peacocks and Popingies And Nightingales which pipe and minstrelize By night to all that fearfull shunne the day Yea and the Phoenix if yet mortall eyes Such Phoenix ever saw as Stories say In that foule-crab-fac'd-fowlers horrid hands Must gasp their last-fetcht-breath see where he stands O'gni dolore nuntio di morte SOre sicke him chanc'd a jolly Courtier fall Though not to death as he him surely thought But death unthought of doth upon him call And readie was away him to have caught Whereat amaz'd this Courtier him besought Not all so suddenly him to surprize But respit him some time that so he mought Prepare himselfe to die before he dies And three dayes warning prayes him send before He from this light his life did meane to reave To which death soone agrees so takes his leave Many yeares after as this Courtier sate For ought he felt in perfect strength and health Seriously thinking how to antidate Anothers life and seize on all his wealth Death suddenly comes skipping in by stealth Crying away The Gallant him upbraids of promise breach Not I quoth death but thou false to thy selfe Five fits o' th stone foure agues two fevers each Gray-haire the paine and losse of teeth all these With many a wrinkle since I from thee went My warnings and fore-runners I thee sent Dopo il Givoco cosi va nel sacco il Re come il Pedone IF in my weake conceit for selfe disport The world I sample to a Tennis-court Where fate and fortune daily meet to play I doe conceive I doe not much misse-say All manner chance are Rackets wherewithall They bandie men like balls from wall to wall Some over Lyne to honour and great place Some under Lyne to infame and disgrace Some with a cutting stroke they nimby send Into the hazzard placed at the end Resembling well the rest which all they have Whom death hath seiz'd and placed in their grave Some o're the wall they bandie quite away Who never more are seene to come in play Which intimates that even the very best Are soone forgot of all if once deceast So whether silke-quilt ball it bee or whether Made of course cloth or of most homely lether They all alike are banded to and fro And all at last to selfe same end do goe Where is no difference or strife for place No odds betweene a Trype-wife and your Grace The penny-counter's every whit as good As that which in the place of thousands stood When once the Audit's full cast up and made The learned Arts well as the manuall Trade The Prisoner and the Judge upon the Bench The pampred Lady and the Kitchin-wench The noble Lord or Counsailor of State The botchy-Lazer begging at the gate Like Shrubs and Cedars-mingled ashes lye Without distinction when they once do dye Ah for unpartiall death and th'homely grave Looke equall on the freeman and the slave So most unpartiall umpires are these twain A King with them 's but as a common Swain No upper hand 'twixt dust of poore and rich No Marshall there to sentence which is which And once resolv'd to powder none can ken The dust of Kings from dust of other men But as at Chesse when once the game is doon The side which lost and that as well which woon The victor King and conquer'd pawne together Jumbled are tumbled to th' same bagge of lether Without regard whether the pawne or King Therein lye uppermost or underling Nathlesse all sorts each sexe of purpose winke And of this destinie doon seldome thinke Living alacke as life should never faile And deeme of death but as an old wives tale Post mortem nescio cujus VVHy do the mightie beare themselves so high And vant their parentage and long discent Why do the rich so swell with surquedry Of their huge wealth which is but to them lent But till their lives uncertaine terme be spent Though where's the odds or what 's the difference Between the wealthy and the indigent When both unto the grave once part from hence Within a while their dust so mingled is That none can safely say this dust was his or his So have I seene the boistrous-body'd oake That above all her wide-spred armes enhanc't I saw it lopt with many a sturdie stroke From side to side I saw it thorow lanc't I saw it fall and headlong disadvanc't The silly shrub that there beside was growne I likewise saw quite rooted up and rancht I saw them both into the fire throwne I saw them wasted and in ashes lye But whethers ashes were by no meanes could discry Il sonno e una morte vivente VVHen I doe weigh how little differing Life is from death how little or nought at all Death is from sleepe when neere so small a thing Can make them all be transubstantiall Oh what amazement on my minde doth fall And I do wonder how I sleepe or wake Sith unto death in nature they so neere partake And in the morning after quiet sleepe When I consider to how
weake a guard My pretious life I did commit to keepe Being for death a thing not very hard To seize his brothers right sith if compar'd Sleep 's but a breathing death death breathlesse sleep I feele a tingling chilnesse over all my bones to creepe Prosopopeia Corporis Animae valedicturi Adios a rivederci MY lovely frend that long hast been content To dwell with mee in my poore Tenement Whose bulke and all the stuffe both warp and woofe Is all of clay the floor and the roofe Though yet thou ne're foundst fault ne didst upbraid This homely hermitage so meanly made O mine owne darling my deere daintie one And wilt thou now indeed from mee be gone Ah for thou seest all running to decay The thatchie covering 's now nigh falne away The windows which give light to every roome Broken and dimme and mistie beene become The Mill-house and selfe Miller 's out of frame My Kitchin smoakes my Larder is too blame And from the Studds each where the Lome doth shrink And the breeme cold blowes in at every chinke The brases and supporters of my house Tremble and waxen wondrous ruinous So that all bee it grieve mee to the heart To thinke that thou and I old frends must part Yet sith my Cabban's all out of repaire Darling farewell goe sojourne now else where In some cleane place untill that premier Main That built mee first rebuild mee up againe All of the selfe same stuffe but with such art So polisht and imbellisht every part That it shall ne're be out of Kilture more Then shalt thou come againe as heretofore And dwell with mee for ever and for aye So God us both to blesse untill that happie day Dal Cielo al Cielo SUndry opinions amongst learned men Have raised beene about the meanes and way And 'bout the certaine time and season when That soule of man which never can decay Into the bodie doth it selfe convey Whether 't beginning with the body take Or long before if so where it doth stay Which strife the soule it selfe thus plaine doth make From Heaven I not from mans seed proceed For with the bodie if it rise it dies Animae Prosopopeia Morta la pecora non cresce piu la lana YEe gentle frends who mourning here attend My livelesse corps unto this Earthie bed There leaving it to sleepe untill the end When all shall live againe who now are dead Weepe not for mee sith I can neither see Nor heare your teares that here for mee are shed Ne all your prayers a whit can profit mee The sheepe once dead the wooll ne're growes againe But as shee dies it lyes all after-helpes are vaine Agree therefore while yee are in the way With death the adversary of mankinde For when he comes no pray'r can make him stay But hee takes all sorts as he doth them find If good 't is not in him to make them bad If bad no time to mend by him assign'd What faith and hope wee at our parting had Is onely ours but all done after death Nor hurts nor helps but passeth with the breath For whilst we live though at last gaspe wee been Our owne or others pray'rs mote doon us good Betweene the stirrup and the ground betweene The bridge and headlong downfall to the flood Mercie can cause the soule catch hold of grace But soone as once the life forsakes the blood So fast it posteth to its proper place Of weale or woe where it must ever stay No pray'r it overtakes or profit may The ardent suite of that great man of meat Was him deny'd a seeming-small request One moyst coole drop to quench his scalding heat Yet sith before his pray'r he was possest Of his just doome his due-deserved meed His tardie suit forth of the Court was cast For as the soule once from the body freed No more may be recall'd no more can shee By any humane helpe relieved bee In vaine therefore doon silly soules relie On pray'rs of frends at their departure hence Sith with our last breath Heaven instantly Is wonne or lost no comming is from thence Ne is redemption from the place of Hell And Purgatory is a meere non-sense Where goodmens soules till bought from thence must dwell Onely his pray'rs whose blood for us was shed Living and dying stands our soules in stead Divortium Animae HAst ever knowne two faithfull bosome frends Affected like in all their aimes and ends After long absence hast observ'd their meeting Their over-joy and manner of their greeting Silent long-looking in each others faces Whilst each his frend within his armes embraces Like April-showr's and Sun-shine mixt together Each weeping and each laughing over either Till mutuall passions having run their course Both by degrees fall freely to discourse Ah but say now hast ever seene these twaine Upon occasion forc'd to part again Hast seene two lovers new made man and wife Inforc'd to part how bitter is their strife What sighs what teares what namelesse Creve-coeur What greefe unutterable doon they endure What lowd Alewes what heavinesse of heart What lamentations when they come to part What anguish and with what a deale of paine Take these their leave as ne're to meete againe Hast seene a man from his deere home exil'd Hast heard a mother parting from her child What weeping wailing and what heavinesse What contristation even to excesse And how unable reason is to sway Th'unbeveld passion or it make obey Or hast thou ere observ'd that passionate And dolefull quest that heart affecting-blate Of lambes lamenting their deere dammes restraint Or mark'd the mournfull noise and pitteous plaint Doubled and oft redoubled by the dammes At present parting from their little lambes Hast ere beene present at some Cities sacke And seene the havocke and the wofull wrack When to the surly souldier once betraid The modest matron and the untoucht maid So most unmannerly spite of their heart With their deere honours are compell'd to part What reluctation and what sturdie strife What meanes what shifts the jewell of their life To save from spoyle and losse what vows what pray'r What humble ' haviour and what speaking faire What deep distraction and what heavie cheere How loth to yeeld alacke yet ne're the neere Like loth and with as much or more adoe Bodie and soule each other do forgoe Ah when the soule comes warning once to give That shee no longer in her house will live Ne not so much as sojourne any more Where shee hath dwelt so many yeares before At this sad news like fruit with windie blast Downe in a transe the weakly bodie 's cast Inly the very bowels yearne with griefe The stomacke nauseats at wont reliefe The straightned lungs breath hardly short and thicke The head 's distempred and the heart is sicke And every roome and corner of the house Fill'd with darke steems and vapours nubilous In this disconsolate and sickly