rich as poore Dame Natures debt must pay The great the good the just the wise the high Princes and Pierreponts too they all must dye And must he die then rather is he dead Was there no Proxy to appear in 's stead Might not one poor Debt be forgiven him Who many a poor man's Debt had oft forgiven 'T is payd 't is payd Then Reader passe not by But pay a Tear if not an Elegy As tributary to his noble Hearse Whose name wil stand in Prose as well as Verse And needs no Poet to proclaime him good In words rather exprest then understood Whilst â—ho him understood knew him a man Meek not Morose though Presbyterian Had only such been trusted with that key Good men had all been for Presbytery Though vast in parts and Patrimony rather H' appear'd a giving then a gifted Brother And yet his gifts were high enough to reach As far to judge as any man 's to preach Grace crown'd his gifts glory now crownes his graces Heav'n with supplies fill up such vacant places Sic cecinit Lachrymans Sic Lachrymans precatur G. Pigot Vpon the much lamented Death of the Honourable FRANCIS PIEREPONT Esq EAch Debtor has been call'd his dues to bring Of just acknowledgements an Offering To make upon the sad and mournful Urne Of this Beloved Saint shal others mourne Much lesse concern'd then I I silent stand Whom you when living might of right command To whom I ought of Love and service more Then if my All was sould would pay that score Dame Natures Debt or yours I know not whether The greater but like to be clear'd together So great a summe requires a longer day I now the Interest alone can pay But why so long ere that comes in my Muse Oh! blame me not heark to my just Excuse My Plumes have been so steept in teares that I Could not til now get wing neither so high As others can I soare I 've only breath To crawle upon the ground and chide with Death Who hath bereft me and not me alone But ev'n the Church and Common-Wealth of one Whose parts and virtues will eclipsed be If my dul pen set forth his Elegy I 'le only hint what in a larger story More fully may be spoke of Piereponts glory Nature being lavish to 'm with art did strive Which longest should his name preserve alive Heralds he left his birth to tell did scorne That as below a person Heaven borne Heroick Acts not words spoke his Discent His Freindship real was 'bove Complement His noble spirit deck't with humility His humble soule inrich't with Majesty His Justice gave to every one his own His Wisdome sav'd his His Charity was sown In each fit soile His Piety was free From common errors or State policy Pious and politick rare in our State These in a Statesman should concenterate Hold Muse the Field is large should'st over run Thy self canst thou add Lustre to the Sun Darken it thou dost its time now to retire Sigh out thy remnant dayes observe admire What cannot by the loftiest stile b'exprest Labour to imitate le ts not disturb the rest Of this deare soule with thy Caelestiall Graces â—le repone te in Heavens imbraces Collonell White Vpon the much lamented Death of the Honourable Francis Pierrepont Esq VVEll may I be asham'd and blush that in This Worthies praises I have silent bin When others trumpets sound so loud that I Might though unfit to speake an Eccho be But greif that 's great vents slowly first it will Utter it self in briny teares which still The Pen may steep in that strives to expresse What 't is to want so great a happinesse As I and more enjoy'd whilst the Sun shone clear Now alas set in this our Hemisphere Pardon then Reader when 't is so great worth If my dull Muse fall short in setting forth In such a publick cause it is I see Hard to speak full as hard to silent be O! how my greif renewes while each fresh thought Of him cloath'd with a sigh heart-deep breakes out In broken Language that the World may tell My losse but only they that feel 't can spell My meaning out but lest the torrent should Too soon drye up I cannot but behold How the Wound bleeds afresh in 's consorts eyes Whilst shee think 's on her dearest's Obsequies As the widow'd Dove deprived of her Mate To greive is all her joy to mourne her State Her teares her daily bread are as if he Who in one moment ceased for to be Was by th' all wise creator who in vaine Does nought each minute giv'n and tak'n againe Her losse so great as he that doth it view May think what Poets faine might here prove true With Greif one turned quite into a stone Nature would yeild indeed 't is grace alone Makes this a fiction yet the sword cuts deep And when God strikes then it is grace to weep Excuse her passion then because her head Her joy part of her selfe her Husband 's dead Death only could that knot unty where Love Inform'd two bodies with one soule to prove There was not Freindship here but unity And he though dead lives in her memory And still will live His name 's not writ i' th sand A nobler Tombe inshrines him whose command Ore each rebellious passion shew'd how far He did excell what common Mortalls are Though high yet humble high in parts not pride His power great his pittie nere deny'd The poore mans suit who ere had cause to say He came complaining that went sad away Learn'd in what was worth his study and that His cheif delight was to communicate Thus virtue that in 's greener yeares did lye Sown in his heart grew to maturity Till's Harvest came when he full ripe from us Was take'n and layd amongst what 's precious In Gods peculiar store house where he stayes Waiting to see those long expected dayes When what death parts shall reunite and then No night that joy will overcloud againe George Fisher On the lamented Death of the truly Honourable Francis Pierepont Esq TO thy dear memory blest Soul I pay This humble tribute though in such a way As rather doth proclaim my want of skill That n'ere set foot on high Pernassus hill Than thy great merit Greif knowes not the art To break that silence which might break an heart My deep Resentments of thy noble Love And faithfull freindship I so oft did prove With all those Heavenly virtues did inspire Thy generous breast with more than common fire I faine would utter and thereby engage The cold attempts of a declining age Which may admire thy Candor but dispaire To match that copy thou hast drawn so faire Whom not our words as thy own worth commends Dear to thy God thy Country and thy Freinds But why do I in vaine strive to rehearse Thy praises in the ligatures of Verse I 'le leave that work most worthy to be done By those in words that not
ELEGIES On the much Lamented Death of the Honourable and Worthy Patriot FRANCIS PIEREPONT Esq Third Son of the Right Honourable ROBERT EARL OF KINGSTON Who dyed at Nottingham the 30 th day of Ianuary 1657 8. Printed in the Year 1659. TO THE HONOURABLE THE LADY Alisamon Pierepont MADAM WHen Debtors all have brought their hasty Crop You well may wonder at my tedious stop I 'm angry at my self and think to pay But straight an inward whisper bids me stay 'T is conscience tels me that I owe too much Great Debts are slow and mine I 'm sure is such This Tortoise pace is properly my own Who in this kind can shew no currant coyn Nature lent me not one propitious Muse And since I had the Schools farewel I use With Poets at no time to hold commerce 'T is indignation now that dictates Verse What may seem sharp let then imputed be To that unruly Passion not to me What 's dull and flat you may call truly mine That is the mark which proves it genuine If ought be thought beyond the Moon know I A Star for subject have that 's pierc'd the skie Then take them Madam read weigh and excuse If others snarle and censure say but thus The Author tempts his Stars beyond their light To offer up a Duty in my sight Who knows his obligations and must say All falls farre short of what He ought to pay O. P. MEMORIAE VIRI ILLUSTRIS FRANCISCI PIEREPONT Nobilitate doctrinâ pietate suavitate-morum fortunâ florenti O Nulli proavis nobilitate secunde Sed placida cunctis humilitate minor I sursum magno dextram conjunge Magistro Quo major nullus humiliorque fuit Qui potuit miro summus licet incremento Humilitate suum nobilitare decus Te Domini mites animos moresque sequutum Haud dubie Domini gloria dia beat Summo virtutis ejus admiratori apposuit Ludovicus Molinaeus Historiarum Professor Vpon the sensible losse of the Honourable FRANCIS PIEREPONT Esq who departed hence Jan. 30th 1657. BLUsh Blush remorsless Parcae Was not your Names Antiphrasis confirm'd enough till Fames Sad Trumpet tels the World a Potentate A Pillar of the Church a Prop of State Is wholly sunk Forc'd by what fatal Must Cut you at once the thread of Great Good Just This speaks your envy to Mankind for we Could draw by Him Virtues Epitome List worst of the three Daughters of the Night I must proclaim thy everlasting spight Th' hast rob'd me of a Noble Learned Friend With whom no precious hour I e're could spend But some encrease of Knowledge in me wrought Some favour heap'd or else some Virtue taught For would I what was vain and idle fly 'T was then enough to keep him company Was Good my thirst His Soul did it display By a most gentle and familiar way And in His noble body thus inshrin'd Nobility it self hath far out-shin'd He suck'd no Sophismes from the Schools to raise Sins Dark-Lanthorn our purblind Reason's praise That Ignis fatuus which 'twixt Good and Bad Curs'd Mortals in a mist hath alwaies led Above the Soul's essential Faculty That bright first-breath'd Lamp of Innocency But did eclipse the Badge of humane fall With Science purely Intellectuall Which own'd Gods Type and in His Cask of Clay Enjoy'd the Virgin Light of its first day His private Alms he alwaies strove to smother One hand in them was stranger to its Brother His publick Deed 's but a Record to show What Governours of Hospitals should doe Improve the Patrimony of the Poor Not pocket up their Rents but give them more He taught not bound His Offspring Charity Who then 's her self when in full Liberty Would Rich men then in Pierepoint's footsteps tread The poor need not to ask or cloths or bread He could Astraea's Sword directly weild Knew whom to punish with it whom to shield The Ballance He 'twixt all could evenly poize To charm their discord and their jarring noise He lov'd the ancient Scripture-Hierarchy The Ruling-Elder with 's Presbytery But when high Northern blasts by th' root had torn Those ever-virid Yews and almost born The tottring Temple down He help'd to shroud Their naked Members under Jonah's Gourd And i' th' spight of Criticks He 'd rather bear A Soloecisme in Church Lay-Presbyter Then see it Monster-like without a Head But now He 's Dead that Pious man is Dead Dead did I say Oh false Opinion Pure Gold 's not subject to corruption The skilful Artist to delude the eye Can by a mixture of crude Mercury Turn it to dust and with as easie sleight By Vulcan's help cast it again more bright But though he sweat puff blow and try his all He finds that body Homogeneal Call then the Sons of Art they 'l thus the Process read In proper tearms This now innobled Lead A vessel 's of Almighty-Chymistry The Body separate from its Soul which we Saw lock'd with Hermes seal from mortals eyes Great Piereponts body now Fermenting lyes In Natures prouder womb where 't shortly must By Saturns cold be fix'd in noble dust Whence when the fierie Tryal it hath run 'T will rise more glorious than the morning Sun To re-invest its widdow-soul from ground Call'd up by 'th last shril Trumpets joyful sound And joyntly Both new link'd inseparably Present their claim to Immortality Then style 't not Death which the first step must be To lift us up to our Eternity Here 's comfort Madam be not á la mort Your longer stay casts you not one day short Your Husband should goe first but in this wheel You and we all tread closely on his heel O. Pottlintun An Elegy expostulating Deaths arrest upon my Honourable dear and noble Freind Mr. Francis Pierrepoint Esq AVant grim Serjeant with thy grisly Face Be gone I le break thy bald pate and thy glasse If th' entrest here this is no common ground Thou Rogue thou treadst on no it will be found The Lord of th' soyle thou seekst for is of Fame Above Arrest knowst any of the name Of Pierrepont Debtors T is a name we know For Wealth for Learning and for Wisdome too The Nation boasts of besides high discent Which others have which all the other want Such as have seen the Vatican at Rome * Lord Marquesse * Mr William Pierepont * Mr. Fran. Pierepont Say Pierrepont lives the Vatican at Holme States who fetcht Wisdom from the men of Greece Confesse one Pierrepont then the seven more wise Whilst all of all sorts do attest this truth Second to none is third Brother to both And dar'st thou arrest him He can retain The greatest schollar and the wisest man Advocates of his own house to plead his cause Besides his Innoâ—ence and our just Lawes Thus for my Freind expostulating I Maugre my threats was made me this reply Pale death with equal foot attends the doore Of Pallaces and Cottages ful poore By statute Law there 's an appointed day When
in numbers run Whose task doth lead them in a stile more free T' instruct the world how much it lost in thee In whose example it might plainly read Their Doctrine and find out the way will lead To be both great and good whole life could teach What men should do or what themselves did preach Vere Harcourâ— To the never dying Memory of that thrice Noble person and patriot the Honourable Francis Pitrepont Esq Who departed this Life at Nottingham the 30th day of January 1658. IT 's somewhat to be Nobly borne and much I'inherit thousands by the yeare what such A Birth and birth-right speakes i' th' world appeares By the homage paid on all hands unto Peeres And their Coequalls whom all men adore As supreme powers â—nd to say no more Such civil Adoration is their Due Which bids that monstrous Parity Adieu That All-confounding Monster whose lean Iaws Gape wide to swallow both estates and Lawes Long may the Grandieur of this Nation be Stockt with such Gentry and Nobility As share the glory of their An'cestries And carry it on to their posterities But yet all this at highest speakes but low A worldly glory at the best a show Of earthly influences which altogether Cannot exceed the Line of this life neither Adde one cubit to a better See 'm Nothing'd in death to us us so to them T is sad when great ones have no other birth T' ennoble them than what they have from th' earth Better unborne then not be borne again The new birth is the noblest there 's a vein Of bloud runs in the heart of the Beleiver Bespeaks him Heavenly borne and never Doth that Birth faile So borne doth never dye But hath in death Life t' all eternity How glorious then must he be to whose Herse We sadly pay the Tribute of this Verse Whose Noble Lineage Great Estate and all CoÌ„tentments flowing from them he could call Things on this side true Happiness Elswhere He sought and found that Happines which ne'r Shall end or fade and whose Foundation Th' eternal Spirit layd in Regeneration True Saving-grace the Diamond in the Ring Shin'd bright in his sweet Nature Every thing Had such a gracious lustre in Him as The Good appear'd stil with the Great and was Above it rather His Humilitie Exalted him Greater you could not see Lodg'd in a Noble breast His spirit might Be read in 's habit void of Pride and quite Another thing than vain Without ostent Both for the one was as the other meant That holy heat of Love which in his breast Faith had enkindled He with warmth exprest In 's dear affections to Gods Ordinances His Ministers and People His observances Of holy Duties private and personal Grac'd with his walking answerable were all Fair evidences at the least of his Sinceritie ne're to fall short of bliss Bring forth the person rich poor old or young Can justly say He ever did him wrong Me-thinks I see the Country round about In a bemoaning Posture groaning out Their sighs with this condoling Sympathy We have lost our Patriot and he 's mist already Me-thinks I hear the City making moan One to another our best Neighbour's gone The Ministry especially we have lost A Stay a Prop a Patron and almost Our selves in losing Him who was indeed Our Friend and stil we found him so at need A Friend to Truth and Peace but no divider That heal'd our Breaches never made them wider How full of Bowels to the Poor What day Pass'd without works of Mercy to them Nay Scarce any Meal but at his Gates he fed Whole troups of hungry souls with daily bread When Winters cold or blustrings made their stay At 's Gates less comfortable he would say Let in the Poor and serve ' um If he saw Any among them naked he would draw Out his compassions to them and command Cloaths to be put upon them His own hand Rather than fail would do it How the knel These rang at 's Death out-groan'd the Passing-bell To none an enemy but to those whose sin Proclaim'd them to be so to God Wherein He could not hold but with an holy zeal Brake forth and sometimes ring an angry Peal An innocent in doing ought was evil A very bungler in the works o' th' Devil A soul fitted for Heav'n where glorious Grace Triumphs with him in 's ever-mansion place His dearest Consort then may not return Her comforts back again upon his Urn With showers of Tears which still dissolve afresh With thought or mention of his Name Much less Nothing her self with grief A greater Honour Cannot in this life be conferr'd upon Her Then this of Hers that she did once possess All in her dear'st save endless Happiness John Viner of Westm In obitum Nobilissimi ac verè cordati viri Francisci Pierepont Armigeri c. PLurima jam strages agrum confecerat orbem Nunc edax multo funere pinguis humus Exemplo quatiente animos cum nuncia fati Tristis ad exitium tota parata fores Pulsaret faciles non immortalis Amici Supremam Domino claudere jussa diem Prodit huic Genius volucris custodia vita Ac cupit intrantis sistere posse gradum Non patet haec inquit sceleratae janua turba Improbus haud nostras ausus adire domos Non hic contemni se laesa potentia coeli Questa est indignis exagitata modis Hîc malè confictum nec Religionis amorem Impietas prae se ferre superba solet Hîc nemo socium vix cautum pessimus arte Prodidit intactam dissimulando fidem Pauperis oppressi non hinc penetralia clamor Vindicis assuevit sollicitare Dei. Nullius hîc famam mendaci lividus ore Polluit indoctus censor honesta loqui Nulla caperatam faedat nubecula frontem Si fortè alloquiis auris amica vacat Non musis invisa domus non grata socordi Compositos juvenes non tulit iste locus Nec sunt haec Domini crudelis inhospita tecta Prompta sed officio gratia fratris adest Ergo alio concede tuis nunc parce sagittis Laethalis senibus findat arundo latus Aut quibus indignas animas sua corpora gestant Hîc virtus Pictas nobilitatis bonos Hunc vinum posciâ—â—â—â—leâ— hunc uxor amici Hunc cives dives pauper ubique jacens Quà m voluit Christi nova nupta puerpera membrum Laetetur secum quodque simul doleat Vota nihil prosunt lachrymae nihil impigra telum Mors jacit medium guttur utrinque ferit Per jugulos humor funesto spargitur aestu Noxius allisi pectoris ima gravans Donec pars melior sedes pertaesa priores Ac gaudens coelo liberiore frui Dum nequit ulteriùs molem sufferre cadentem Quae malè conceptis ignibus usta tumet Incola carceribus displosi corporis ardens Emicat angelicis associanda choris Jam fatis defuncte Deo qui charus ab alto Subjectam faelix despice victor
humum Ac tutos sponsi thalamos ingresse boati Convivae niveâ cingito veste latus Caelicolúmque pie primâ te classe repone Dum subit infernas impia turba domos The same in English GReat was the havock Death had made Whilst every where men dread a shade The famish'd ground was then full fed With a rich feast of bodies dead What time that breathless Post of Fate Knocks at our friends attentive gate With hastie summons to invite The man to bid the World goodnight The watch that had the guard that day Prevents his speed and bids him stay Then holding parley know said he From lewd companions we are free No horrid crimes this house doth hide Nor is that Heaven-assaulting Pride Which vainly scorns the powers above Charg'd here nor the dissembled love Of pure Religion made a paint To wash and falsifie a Saint Nor may a Judas here commend Kiss and betray his fearless Friend The oppressed Poor's vindictive cries Do not from hence to heaven arise Detracting envy here must raise No damps to poyson others praise No sullen cloud cast o're the face Obscures the entertainers grace Which did the Muses so far take As made them frequent visits make And bless the place from drowsie Fools That fill the seats in Bacchus Schools Yet hospitable kindness feasts The civil ever-welcome guests Then pass us by and aim thy darts At wither'd and out-dated hearts Or let thine arrows find out those Whose brutish corps like Souls inclose Must Virtue Grace and noble Birth Descend into sepulchrall earth And the dear consort of his life Be now a Widdow not a Wife And must that stock be now cut down Whose branches are so fairly grown Let theirs let Friends and Neighbours teares Both rich and poor prolong his years How faign would Christs black comely Bride This flow'r might still uncrop'd abide That they might smile and droop together Or in Serene or Cloudy weather Tears have no force nor wishes power To intercept the fatal hour Death's deaf to all soon strikes a note That sounds harsh from his wounded throat Now the fell humour doth infest The troubled region of his breast So long till the diviner Form Not able to ride out the storm Fain in safe harbour would retire And quit the Bark which all on fire Is soon blown up and forc'd to Land Her Pilot on the Ethereal strand Unbody'd Saint now safely rest From the foul worlds black tempests blest And in the Bridegrooms closet dress Thy self with Robes that may confess A richer glory and more white Than his that doth eclipse the light With crowned Elders then repose Thy pious self while graceless foes Sail down the Stream the Port forsake And perish in th' Inferal Lake S. Brunsil In obitum celeberrimi viri Francisci Pierepont Armigeri Carmen funebre O Si vel pietas vitae candórve moverent Supremos Divos Tartareasve domos Si summum Ingenium studiumque notabile cursum Fatorum potuit sistere vivus adhuc Et graâ—us vivis mortis contempserat iram Pierepont verus Nobilitatis honos Sed durae nimium Parcae nec talia curant Fatorum rabiem sistere nemo queat Thus Englished O That these links of Noble Birth high Parts Candor that gave him int'rest in all hearts Bounty inlarged unsoyl'd integrity Wel-temper'd zeal wel-fixed piety Had made a chain t' have ty'd th' Immortal guest His Heav'n-born soul to th' Mansion of his breast Then the much loved Pierepont stil should live By 's own Embalming self-preservative We should not then sit down by weeping crosse Computing his great worth and our great losse This 's all we say to make the reckoning even He though thus good was not too good for heaven Laurence Palmer On the Death of that Honorable and worthy Patriot FRANCIS PIEREPONT Esq Sic flevit Z. C. IF to be deeply wise and honest too If to know well to speak and well to do If to be learned and the learned's friend If much in Alms nothing in Pride to spend If to grow rich on his own Patrimony Without the loss or grief or curse of any If to profess Religion and withall Not to be dangerous or schismatical If to be noble at th' old Herald's rate And humbler far than those o' th' mushroom's date If to be both in love and blood most near To the great Aesculapius Dorchester If to be Parent Master Husband all As each relations rule doth strictly call If to attain that heavenly art to end And umpire strifes and yet lose neither friend If these may be esteem'd a good mans glory They were constellated in Pierepont's story And if these lost at once can make the world Wisely consider her last sand is running Cause such a prop and pillar down is hurl'd We need no Sedgwick t' tell us Doomesday's coming Zach. Cauderey On the death of the Honourable Francis Pierepont Esq Third Son of the Right Honourable Robert Earl of Kingston BUt is he dead can I believe That he should dye and we should live Me-thinks we may the knot untie Better to live fitter to dye Death I see doth wisely chuse The Gold but doth the dross refuse If each place had had its right Thou long since hadst bid's good-night But now th' art gone in doubt are we Whether to joy or grieve for thee Our loss is great greater thy gain Our comfort doth exceed our pain He that writes thy sad Elegy Shews more love to himself then thee Blest soul I can no more relate Thy life past than thy present state My Pen can onely blot the story Of thy life and of thy glory Our all 's unwelcome courtesie At best but wel-meant injury Long may thine live and forward grow In Grace and Goodness for to show The world that as they bear thy name They are heirs also of thy Fame Sam. Pickring Vpon the praemature and much lamented death of of the Honorable Francis Pierrepont Esq deceased January 30 1657. AH Why so fast great Sir the soul that was but sent A while agoe so soon to quit its Tenement And leav's is sad and strange to us such sudden flight Doth cloud our day and turn it to a darksom night And thus it needs must do for though some Stars appear Yet when the Sun is set it 's night i' th' Haemisphere And so it is with us for since our sad deprival Of thy self where is thy Compeer or thy Rival If to thy birth we cast our eyes thou wast of them Whom well we may call Surcles shot from noble stem In glistering beams of Honor thou did'st brightly shine And virtues Pearly Chain to deck thee it was thine With all the gifts and richest ornaments of nature Thou wast stor'd which might adorn and bless a creature The sev'ral parts of happiness which scattered be In others all concentred were and met in thee Then why so fast away since to make up thy bliss All things did thus concur O sure the cause was