thinges I have let them be helpfull to thinges within me would any know when they have this beauty goe to the looking glasse the word of God into which all of both sexes should looke more carefully for composure of life then the fairest Bride doth for ornament of body into the clearest Christall and never should wee thinke our selves well dressed but by direction of that undeceiving Glasse But now when your beauty is truly amiable like Iob's daughters none so good in the land like Susanna a very faire woman and one that feared God Yet such is Gods ordinance and mans frailty you must wither you must like the flower of the field be cut downe Hebr. 9.27 it is appointed to all men once to dye a decree is gone forth against these beautifull flowers some lasted a long time not the Oake now as the flowers did once I meane the Fathers before the floud yet all came under Adams Epitaph Gen. 5.5 and he died so that no man now may presume of a long life no not when the flower is most vernant Eccles 14.12 remember that death will not be long a comming but remember it without sadnesse eamus laeti agentes gratias Cic. Tusc 1. In the vulgar it is testamentum hujus mundi est morte morietur you have the legacy Gen. 2. in the day thou eatest therof morte morieris And this is falne hastily upon us our birth is an entrance upon death beauty is decayed Libitina and Venus were the same eâdem Deâortibus interitibus praesidente Plutarch Morall wise men never put the remembrance of death farre off Ioseph of Arimathea makes his Sepulchre in his health and strength and in his garden amidst his pleasures The glory then of man must goe into the dust and into ashes as the flower which is cut downe nay as the flower which though not cut downe will wither and decay debemur morti nos nostraque not wee only that are a mouldring dust but our stately houses our curious workes time will gnaw on them and consume them and us Yet have we nothing to complaine of 1 Man is in the hands of his maker as tenants at the will of the Lord as money lent Data est usura vita tanquam pecunia nullo praestituto die Tusc 1. Cic. life is given unto man as mony lent without nomination of day of payment due in Law presently God hath his divine purpose in it Si mors certae cōstituta esset aetati fieret homo insolentissimus humanitate omni careret Lact. l. 1. c. 4. de opif. Dei. were death appointed at a set age man would be most insolent and voyd of all humanity for that man who is so forgetfull of himselfe now in this uncertainty while hee may dye in hoc nunc I while I am speaking you while you are hearing O how unbrideled would man be if he had certaine assurance that he should not this 20.30.40.50 yeares be called to account for thinges done in the body 2 wee cannot complaine that dye wee must and suddainly we may every dieing friend may say to us as dieing Calanus to Alex then in health and young brevi te videbo neither should it daunt us Socrates triduo concesso primo bibit having three dayes of death given him underwent it the first though his Consolation in death was but philosophicall the Athenians have adjudged thee to dye thē nature he replieth he knew not that through Christ withering is flourishing death a passage to life that life that dieth no more vita vobiscum est de morte solliciti estis Orig. tom 2 p 443. with you is life of angels are you troubled at the cogitation of death what is the cause saith hee tom 2. pag 522 the mind of wise men of old men is hardly brought ut cedat naturae legibus this Hagar of feare must be cast out if shee be immoderate shee cannot be he ire with the child of the free woman Hope of Salvation Ejus est mortem timere qui ad Christum nolit ire ejus est ad Christum nolle ire qui se non credat cum Christo incipere regnare Cyprian de mortalit p 341 it is for him to feare death who would not goe to Christ and it is for him to be unwilling to goe to Christ who doth not beleeve that hee doth already begin to raigne with Christ But some men happily can resolvedly dye who cannot without great sorrow looke upon deaths stroke in their friendes such as was our beloved here taken from us for which losse I see your great heavinesse I feele my owne The councell is good Eccl. 22 11 if wee could obey it make litle weeping for the dead hee is at rest sorne wee may nay great mourning for some dead Gen 50 10 at the threshing floure of Atad was a great and sore lamentation for Iacob and from that sore lamentation I will take my exhortation that according to Saint Paul none do sorrow as men without hope v 1. Ioseph mourning wept over his dead father and kissed him Teares doe expresse sorrow kisses comfort wee must mingle in our mourning our Teares with Kisses not as if Corporall presence of dead friendes could still be enjoyed Abraham intreateth roome to bury his dead out of his sight hee looked for no more of that content but no doubt hee never ceased upon fit occasions to remember and delight in the manifold comforts once enjoyed which pious remembrances are as so many Kisses of present and beloved friendes our kisses take not away our moderate teares mourne wee may as sensible of our losse none have lost more none may sorrow more then my selfe heare a litle of his person and you will be very sensible of my sorrow This gentleman whose Corps lieth before us was the only and most justly beloved child of Sir PATRICIUS CURWEN Baronet and his vertuous Lady ISABELLA of a most auncient and noble family in Cumberland the child I could perceive for I looked throughly into him and may be a competent reporter was modestly sensible of birthes priviledge knew which much his elders forget that of Cicero nobilitas est nihil aliud quà m cognita virtus which posterity is to imitate and perpetuate otherwise Et genus proavos quae non secimus ipsi vix ea nostra voco Plutarch noteth of Lysander that he yeelded nothing to the posterity of Hercules unlesse they did imitate the vertues of Hercules and Cicero ad Quint. fratrem vides ex amplissimis familiis homines quòd sine nervis sint tibi pares non esse you do see how men of very great families are not equall to thee an upstart because they have not other worth Come wee then to what was this gentlemans own not borrowed frō his honourable progenitors if you consider him in his bodily partes he was a flowre a Lilly wee found it in his fragrancy I would we had not found it
the Stars thy sudden start Workes admiration and my heart Led by thy trace concludes from hence Heaven is thus caught by violence Nature invites but grace denies Thy longer pilgrimage heaven espies Thy rip'ned vertue to which Station Thy Enochs life findes his translation Thou'hast payed thy debt too soone whiles wee Must run on score to follow thee Thou didst more nobly then dull age Who feeles the slow pac'd Hecticks rage The Gowte or Palsy yet out-lives The long wisht legacy he gives Thy soule like elementall fire Mounts to it's spheare and thy desire Out strips thine hast as if delay Had staid thee here beyond thy day Oh why so soone deare Saint oh heare Thy Fathers groane observe the teare Thy tender mother sheds thy friend Whose love admits and brookes no end Of thy society envites Thy longer day but Heaven delights Have rapt thine eagre soule whiles wee Weepe to behold thine obsequie Farewell brave spirit I le not envy Thy glory he must more then dye That meanes to purchase heaven thy dayes Though short unparallell'd wee praise Thy patterne he that lives like thee Can never dye too suddenly There needes no Epitaph thy name Is thine owne marble modest fame Shall sing this distich here lies hee Whose fourteen spake him sixty three Stephen Axtill Bac. in Medic. Heu nimium nimiumque patri jucundus ocellus Eripitur Parcae sic mala pensa volunt Nec possunt flecti juvenili Tartara vultu Rumpere saevitiam nec probitatis amor Invida dic quaeso cur unguibus optima curvis Carpere gavisa es gaudia nostra malùm Vernantes quare secuisti falcibus annos Sub pedibus sternens spemque decusque patris Cessandumque tibi quid ni violenta putabas Vulnere namque gravi tota sepulta domus Respice quid damni nobis inimica tulisti W Vulnera nam patitur flebilis ista domus Vix possunt animo luctum tolerare sodales Et moesti lacerant ungue rigente genas Nec tales Niobe duxit de pectore questus Vel Priamus natus cum raperetur equis Sis nimium licet vili contenta Sepulchro Haud erit vili fama reposta loco Ingenium probitas aevo cantabitur omni Et quem non norunt secla futura scient Paul Solomeaux Gallus Vandomiensis Sweet soule enjoy thy happy rest Prepar'd for thee whose harmelesse brest Ne're harbour'd ill but the disease That suddainly thy life did seize So th'apple falls unperfected By that which inwardly it bred What could be wisht to make compleat Body mind in thee were heap't Such radiant vertues did appeare In thy rich soule which made thee here Shine like a Starre and though but greene In yeares yet was there clearely seene In all thine actions such a grace As did proclaime thy birth and place To be the only hope and heire Of noble parents and a faire Large fortune did no whit elate Thy wiser Genius but to fate Thou didst submit to let us know Thou valuedst not these things below These could not tempt the but away Thou hastes as if th'hadst knowne the day Of thy solution being come And spent in meeke devotion With winged speed thou didst addresse To meet that coward mercilesse Pale tyrant death who in despight Hath ravisht us of our delight Sleepe on sweet soule whose every lim Threatned to conquer death and not death him F. K. Heu mors parce precor paulisper surripis ipsum E gremio puerum delitiasque patris Non Deus est aliquis fraenet qui jussa sororum Est sed parcarum jura dat ipse Deus Restant grandaevi multis optata fuisti Cura immaturo flore teratur hama Vel mors tu timida es nimiùm aut consector Erynnis Sternere nam plures non solet illa simul Cum tu permultos simul tot tristia nobis Volvas quò luct◠nunc Schola tota jacet Rarius aut mitis nunquam crudelia siste Vulnera spem multam sustulit una dies Eludat nullos immunes morte juventus Nam quae Curwenum sustulit illa furit John Hoare A Dialogue Passenger Poet. Passenger Tell me I praye what doth this Marble close Poet. A bud it is of a new blooming rose A rose that would such an odour infuse As to walke by none would refuse A rose bereaft of sharpe and pricky thorne A rose as faire as ever could be borne Passenger Why so soone cropt why was it not let stand To grace the rest whose was the fatall hand That did the fact Poet. A blast a chilling blast Did nip it so though it stood pretty fast And ere it could its full perfection show Most hastily it was enforc'd to bowe O cruell wind oh blast infortunate To blast that flower kept for to propagate None of the stock is left the branch decay Why didst thou then gainst it thy force assay If thou must rage why do'st thou not downe crush Those empty buds that are not worth a rush Passenger Lament no more thy complaint thy moane Is good for naught for be it late or soone Both good and bad perish fall away For every man there is a certaine day Thou must thy lot beare with a constant mind And yet not think the fates to thee unkind As for thy bud the sent did recreate Men here below so it will elevate It still on high even to the heavens above Where mercy dwells peace charity love And in the place wherein too soone it fell Perpetuate ever its most pleasing smell Poet. I hope it shall and ever from it rise Nothing but Musk or Myrrhe or Ambergriese And let me now this Epitaph engrave In future times to stand upon his Grave Hold off I cannot passe this hallowed shrine Ere I have paid due tribute of my teares Nothing of Horrour's here all is divine Rare melody enchaunt the listning eares Yeelding such sweet content expell all teares Come nearer friend who in this dead of night Visit's with me pale Tombes see see this light Regard that voice for mee no teares no cryes Wast not thy pretious drops in vaine thy eyes Ere let be two alimbecks to distill Numbers of teares for thy owne passed ill Paul Solomeaux Gallus Vandomiensis FINIS
A SAD MEMORIALI OF HENRY CVRWEN ESQUIRE THE MOST WORTHY AND ONELY CHILD OF Sr PATRICIUS CURWEN Baronet of Warkington in Cumberland WHO WITH INFINITE SORROW OF all that knew him departed this life August 21. being Sunday 1636. IN THE FOURTEENTH yeare of his age and lyes interred in the Church of Amersham in Buckingham shire OXFORD Printed by W. TURNER 1638. TO MY HONORABLE FRIENDS Sr PATRICIUS CURWEN Baronet and his vertuous LADY peace and comfort Right Noble and R. Vertuous YOu were pleased to put into my hands a Jewell of great price your onely Child I received him with joy I lost him with griefe Vpon this paper I have spent more teares than inke sighs than sentences could my groanes have fetch'd him the grave had yeelded him But now you and I must learne God prosper the Lesson Wee must goe to him hee cannot returne to us God hath taken but his owne and wee may not murmure my love to the deceased my devotednesse to You hath drawne into view the substance of five houres meditation and those distracted with sorrows as love hath composed these lines so love I trust will shelter them if I may doe any thing to You acceptable to the memory of my Jewell friendly that day in all my life shall be accounted by me a great day for no longer shall I live than I shall also live Yours ever devoted to Your service Ch. C. THE AVTHOR TO THE READER Gentle Reader THese papers have lien two years in Cumberland in a Manuscript which privacie not satisfying the great affection of Noble Parents towards their deceased Son they are now come to thy view The memory of the Gentleman the mournfull subject you will soone perceive was worthy all continuance Achilles is yet remembred for Homer but if I Be thought on it is for worthy CURWEN Achilles for the excellencie of the writer I of the subject for I freely acknowledge the Penman will deserve little of his Reader but the Gentleman that is described all imitation Fruere vale Iob. 14.2 He commeth forth as a flower and is cut downe HOly but yet afflicted Iob from the sad meditation of mans fraile condition in generall Man borne of a woman is of few daies and full of trouble and sharpe sense of his owne in particular verse 3. deprecates very earnestly Gods judgements doest thou open thine eye upon such a one and bringest mee into judgement with thee me a man of few dayes me a flower me a shadow wilt thou looke narrowly upon the actions of mortalls saith Pineda and trie them summo jure in rigour wilt thou set an appointed day for man to answere thee as at a fearefull barre of judgement wilt thou open thine all seeing eyes to prye severely into this creature This manner of expression speakes thus much it cannot be thou wilt not doe this thing Thou wilt not condemne him that in poenitentiall sorrow judgeth himselfe nor afflict beyond measure so weake a creature but v. 6. thou wilt turne from him that hee may rest and accomplish as a hireling his day In briefe Iob inferres from mans frailety that he standeth in neede of the compassion indulgence and tender mercies of his maker A great part of frailty here bewailed is mans transitory estate and subjection unto death man and doluit are couched in the same 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 so long as he is man he is in paine hee weares away which momentany condition Iob expresseth by resemblances taken from a flower and a shadow the one withereth or is cut downe the other suddenly passeth away The one hath a short being and the other is nothing This flower may signify either whatsoever is of eminency strength vivacity comelinesse in mans life all which like Ionah his Gourd is withered as soone as growne up or it may signifie the spring and flourishing time of mans age his youth which hath no more priviledge against death then the grasse and flower of the field hath against the sithe of the mower The flower to which the most flourishing men are resembled hath two properties here laid before us 1. to flourish 2. to decay or to be cut downe it is thus with the flower it is thus with all the glory of man heare it and be instructed by it First man is as a flower it may be admitted in the growth fragrancy comelinesse beauty of a flower youth hath much of this and our blessed friend departed had all of it God hath made of meane matter of a little red earth an excellent fabrick hee hath put miris modis bloud into the veines into the bones marrow into the limmes proportion into the lineaments comelinesse in the complexion beauty into the handes strength the tongue pleasantnesse the eyes majesty and the head capacity that ex venustate dignitate the beauty of man might be compleat 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Basil in hexam hom 6. Understand O man thine owne dignity thou art earth by nature yet the worke of divine handes the worke of those handes that give the flower out of dust beauty out of ashes This beauty this flourishing of the flower is not a meane favour if any be lifted up for this gift wee say with Saint Austin lib. 15. d. c.d. c. 28. it is temporale carnale infimum bonum yet let the modest know let such as cannot heare of beauty without the beauty of a blush know it is bonum quid and given bonis God gave it to Rachel and David and Ioseph and Iob cap 42. verse 15 it is said as a thing to be noted none were found so faire in all the land as the daughters of Iob as those daughters God gave him for a comfort and reward after his patient abiding of sorrowes Their beauty is mentioned as commending and setting them forth unto posterity as mentioning a solace to comfort those eyes of Iob that had seene so much evill and deformity in his owne flesh when c. 2.8 hee scraped himselfe with a potsheard and sate downe among the ashes Though his body was Leprous by the stroke of Satan yet he lives to see the most comely issue of his loines mentioned in Scripture as a gift of Gods power and goodnesse The heathen Goddesse not meanly did expresse her power and kindnesse to her favorite to whom shee would give a fit consort pulchrâ faciet te prole parentem gifts shew the doner Beauty is called by Tertullian foelicitas corporis de cult mulier animae urbana vestis a holy dayes apparell which even resurrection will not diminish but augment But let us heare these things with Sobriety and adde comlinesse of life to that of body Some reade Iob 42.15 for none so faire none were found so good in all the land as the daughters of Iob beauty is then compleat when it is joyned with vertue 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 give mee to be faire in the inward things Cl. Alex. out of Plato strom Lib. 1.269 and whatsoever outward