would euer weare He was forsworne for see what did ensue He wore the olde till the olde was the newe Epigr. 18. in Scillam SCilla were I in loue with brauerie With caualeers and with the gallant crew With captaines soldiers and such men as you I neuer would forsake the company But if a word passe vnaduisedly If eyther iest or earnest please you not Out flies the dagger friendship is forgot Stabbing is but a common courtesye And though the stranger catch it now and than The newe acquaintance at his first repaire And he that meets you in the street or fayre Yet for the most your friend is your first man How should I dare loue him which dares defend He is no man which dares not stab his friend Epigr. 19. LAlus was noted for vaine talke and prating Carus for drinking and Tobaccho taking When they both dy'de and were ript vp apart One had no breath the other had no heart Epigr. 20 In hospitem quendam MIne hoast Porsenna when I am with you I must praise all though all be out of fashion Or else mine hoast will fight and his friendes to And his friends friends all the generation I dranke bad beere my throate can say no lesse I say so now I durst not say so then I supt with clownes rough rude and mannerlesse But I must say t'were courteous gentlemen I praisde your building if I may so terme it Your hilly prospect your pasture thinne Your ayre your language though I could not learne And all your pedegree and all your kinn But iustly was I plaug'de for this I thinke For see when I came home my breath did stinke Epigr. 21. in Cinnam CInna tolde a long tale to no effect Ile say so much quoth Scilla in a worde That happy worde we longing did expect And forth it came as leasure could afford Which when we heard much like the cuckoes song The tale was short and Scillas worde was long Epigr. 22. Ad Robertum Wiliams WHo is my friend Williams dost thou enquire He that will loue my want and pouertye He that will loue through water through fire Through shame through euery kinde of misery Which will not scorse me for a better friend Nor for sweet goold the father of all strife Which will not hate me though I doe offende Nor sell mee for a tale nor for his wife He whom I smooth and round perfect proue Tyring out all the euils which molest me Making me happy with his constant loue Which is the earthly heauen where I rest me He which doth loue nor more nor lesse then this He is my friend VVilliams and I am his Epigr. 23. FIrst Clerus by fayre flattrye Princes sought Then was cast of to the Nobilitie He flattred them till he was set at nought And was thrust downe to the gentilitie Now he speakes fayre to them and th'yeomanrye Epigr. 24. OLde Abbeyes who that liues doth not despise Which knew their fall knows they cānot rise And I despise the new because I see They were but are not these will neuer be But wer't not sinne and might I be so bold I would desire one newe for many olde Epigr. 25. THe Spaniardes are a warlike nation We are more warlike as they know and feare But they are strong to make inuasion But we more strong to chase them euery where But they haue multitudes to make supplye We are more peopled fuller of fresh blood They loue their Prince and country zealously But we more zealous for our soueraignes good Yet we should feare them for our wickednesse They are more wicked here we onely lesse Epigr. 26. in Papam THe Pope when tender health her infant sense Receiueth from the now approaching Sunne And new borne blood of heauens influence With prime of life to blossome hath begunne Forbids all flesh and sweeter nutriment Which sappy Nature to lifes roote would laye Yea he forbids meates most indifferent Egs cheese butter and milke and all saue hey He not content false wolfe as others doe To kill the soule would kill the body to Epigr. 27. Ad Reginam Elizabetham LOue the sweete band of thy desired reigne From thine owne heart is so shedd into many As owd'e of all can not be payde of any Least all in one vnited should contayne Such loue in such an heart as nere was any Which would to loue thee yet wish it selfe many Epigr. 28. Ad Lectorem REader thou think'st that Epigrams be rife Because by hundred they are flocking here I reade an hundred pamphlets for my life Could I finde matter for two verses there Two hundred ballets yeelded me no more Besides barraine reading and conference Besides whole legends of the rustie store Of stories and whole volumes voyde of sense And yet the Printer thinkes that he shall leese Which buyes my Epigrams at pence a peece Epigr. 29. Epitap Iacobi Iugler ANd was not death a sturdie strugler In ouerthrowing Iames the iugler Which when he liu'de small trueth did vse That here he lies may be no newes Epigr. 30. VPon the plaine as I rode all alone Assaulted by two sturdie lads I was I am a poore man Sires let me be gone Nay but ye shall be poore before ye passe And so I was yet lost nothing thereby Would they had robde me of my pouerty Epigr. 31. DAdus payde deare for learning but the time Did crosse him so he could not haue his foorth For when he was by study a Diuine And at his best learning was nothing worth Is learning nothing worth so deerly bought Which could buy all things when it was in prime Sett we the goolden sciences at nought And sell we heauen for earth and goolde for slime Yet were I Dadus I would not repent A schollers want excels a clownes content Epigr. 32. Epitaphium Iohannis Coferer HEre lyes Iohn Coferer and takes his rest Nowe he hath changde a cofer for a chest Epigr. 33. A Pilgrim beggar on a day Did meete a Lorde vpon the way I trust your honour will be good As was my dreame last night by th'roode For why me thought a per'lous thing Vpon a soddaine ch'was a King Helpe him which had his dreame beene trewe Last night mought donne so much for you The Lord replying answered than O happy dreame O wretched man And happy man although but poore If thou had'st neuer waked more And yet thy fancy was not meane Beggar I enuie at thy dreame This answere made the beggar prate Sir take my dreame for your estate This much your reason will afforde Sleepe you a King Ile wake a Lorde Thus euery state receiues his punishment The poore of want the rich of discontent Epigr. 34. In Titum TItus is fast and hath no starting waies As fast as is the naile driuen to the head Or as pale goold kept vnder many keyes Or as a trueloue knott well hampered Not for his vertue enuie did this deed Nor
thou dost liue giue life vnto my pen Which when thou dyest will pay it the agen Epigr. 22. Ad Lectorem REader I grant I doe not keepe the lawes Of riming in my verse but I haue cause I turne the pleasure of the ende sometimes Least he that likes them not should call theÌ„ rymes Epigr. 23. De tribus pueris in fornace ignea WHat were the children Nabucadnessar Which walking in the fornace thou did'st see Was each an Angel or an heauenly starre Aboue the act of natures soueraigntie Were they three wedges of the finest goold Which the heauens treasurer doth so desire Or had they power to turne the heat to colde Were they three Salamanders in the fire The flame was martyred with her heat spent And the fire suffred for the innocent Epigr. 24. Epitaphum Cannij OF fighting Cannius here lye the bones Which neuer receiued the lye but ones He thought to auenge him he drew forth his sword He ventured his life vpon a bare word Now I say he lyeth in him the cause is Had he tane that lye he had not tane this Epigr. 25 OVr Water Drake long seas strange ieopardies Farr countries great attempts haue ouertane Hee payde his life there whence his glory came Adorne him India for in thee he lies We haue a worthier worthy of our state And would not leaue our Water for our Drake Epigr. 26. INdie which so long fearde now hath our Drake Her feare lyes buried in her golden sands Which we will oft reuisite for his sake Till we haue ransomde him out of her handes You which will venter for a goolden pray Go on braue lads by Water is your way Epigr. 27. In cultum reliquiarum TO seeke thee in thy Tombe sweete Iesu when The women with their oyntment hastened Two Angels did appeare forbidding them To seeke thee liuing there among the dead Did Rome by diuing in the tombes of saintes But seeke the liuing whence they now are sled Yet might they heare the Angels making plaint Seeke not the liuing Rome among the dead But to tye holy worshipp to dead bones To bowe religion to the wicked trust Of crosses reliques ashes flickes and stones To throwe downe liuing men to honour dust Is not to seeke but like Mezentius rather To ioyne the liuing and the dead together Epigr. 28. Epitap Richardi Pinuer HEre lyes Dicke Pinner O vngentle death Why didst thou rob Dick Pinner of his breath For liuing he by scraping of a pinn Made better dust then thou hast made of him Epigr. 29. Ad Lectorem REader but halfe my labour is expirde And Poet matter witt and all are tyrde Thrise fiftie labours haue worne out my veyne An hundred meanings and an halfe remayne Heere would I rest were my first worke to doe VVere the last at an end heere would I to Epigr. 30. MElus was taught to speake to read to write Yet clerkly sooth he can do none of these He learned Logicke and Arithmetique Yet neither brauls nor ciphers worth a peaze The musicke schoole did teach him her sweet art He dealt with Rhetorique and Astrologie Yet nether can he chaunt it for his part Ne can he tell a tale or prophesie And yet he â—ides as scholerlike tis thought As neuer any yet was neuer taught Epigr. 31. De Francisco Walsingham Philppo Sidneio Equit. SIr Francis and sir Philip haue no Toombe Worthy of all the honour that may be And yet they lye not so for want of roome Or want of loue in their posteritie Who would from liuing hearts vntombe such ones To bury vnder a fewe marble stones Vertue dyes not her tombe we neede not raise Let theÌ„ trust tombs which haue outliu'd their praise Epigr. 32. WHen I beholde with deepe astonishment To famous Westminster how there resorte Liuing in brasse or stony monyment The princes and the worthies of all sorte Doe not I see reformde Nobilitie Without contempt or pride or ostentation And looke vpon offenselesse Maiesty Naked of pompe or earthly domination And howe a play-game of a painted stone Contents the quiet now and silent spirites Whome all the world which late they stood vpon Could not content nor squench their appetites Life is a frost of cold felicity And death the thawe of all our vanitie Epigr. 33. THe first and riper world of men and skill Yeeldes to our later time for three inuentions Miracolously we write we saile we kill As neither ancient scroll nor story mentions The first hath open'd learnings old conceald And obscurde artes restored to the light The second hiddeÌ„ countries hath reuealed And sent Christes Ghospell to each liuing wight These we commend but O what needed more To teach death more skill then it had before Epigr. 34. Ad Iohannem Reynolds DOe I call iudgement to my foolish rimes And rarest art and reading them to viewe Reynoldes Religions Oracle most true Mirrour of arte and Austen of our times For loue of these I call thee which I pray That thou in reading these would'st put away Epigr. 35. I Sawe a naked corpse spread on the ground Ouer the dead I sawe the liuing fight If euer ought my senses did confound Or touch my heart it was this wofull sight To wound the graue to dare the dead to dye To sprinkle life on ashes putrifide To weepe with blood to mourne with villanie To looke on death and not be mortifide Such funerals if we sustaine to keepe I thinke the dead will rise and for vs weepe Epigr. 36. CHito and Trogus sinn th'extremitie Chito of pride Trogus of gluttonie Chito will weare his dinner on his backe Trogus will eate his shoes rather then lacke Chito hath earthen plate but golden cuts Tragus hath a freize coate but veluet guts Epigr. 37. De Gualtero Deurox in expeditione gallica caeso T'Honour and blisse Deurox thou didst aspyre By worthy means though fortune not thy friend Tooke from thy ioyes what vertue did desire To giue thy life but paide thee in thine ende Onely at this thy country doth repine That her reioycing is not ioynde with thine Epigr. 38. Ad Lectorem HAd I my wish contented I should be Though nether rich nor better then you see For tis nor wealth nor honour that I craue But a short life Reader and a long graue Epigr. 39. Ad Henricum Wottonem WOtton my little Beere dwels on a hill Vnderwhose foot the siluer Trowt doth swim The Trowt siluer without and goold within Bibbing cleere Nectar which doth aye destill From Nulams lowe head there the birds are singing And there the partiall Sunnne still giues occasion To the sweete dewes eternall generation There is greene ioy and pleasure euer springing O iron age of men O time of rue Shame ye not that all things are goold but you Epigr. 40. MY merry exercises of conceipt When I was once in a seuerer veyne Had felt one dash my fury was so great Vp was my pen and scarse
for his vice he suffereth of the lawes For good and euill both hurt if they exceed But for his word and for no other cause He plaints vnto his friends and cries O Lord. I am kept for not keeping of my word Epigr. 35. ANtiquitie of learning holding deare Made vawtes and goodly shrines to close it in And raisde her stately pillars yeare by yeare To make her outsides answere that within Our age hath razd those goodly moniments And pearst the temples where the muses lay To all succeeding times astonishment Digging for ignorance out of their clay Yet spare that little which is not defast While her decayes doe suffer her to stand You which that ritch and pietious balme do wast Which did so sweetly smell in all our land And for your Prince and countries sake relent Yours is the sinne thers is the punishment Epigr. 36. IN quiet sleepe a iudgement seat I sawe Two brought as guilty to their triall when The quest was chargde according to the lawe To giue their verditt on these silly men But by the iury he which had donne ill Acquited was the innocent betrayde Then stoode I vp although I had no skill To pleade before a iudge and this I said This is no iurie things of right to trye But to say trueth this is an iniurie Epigr. 37. IF I dreame Epigrams I doe as they Which vse to dreame of what they did the day Epigr. 38. Ad Georgium Morton armig de Truta a se capta MOrton how foolish was this silly trowte Which quickly sawe and pertly plaide about The little flye of bignesse of a pinn But ouersawe the fisher and his ginn So men doe oft which greedy are of gaine Eyde to their profit but blinde to their paine Epigr. 39. De Richardo Tharliono WHo taught me pleasant follies can you tell I was not taught and yet I did excell T'is harde to learne without a president T'is harder to make folly excellent I sawe yet had no light to guide mine eyes I was extold for that which all despise Epigr. 40. De Barnei Poesi BArneus verse vnlesse I doe him wrong Is like a cupp of sacke heady and strong Epigr. 41. Oeuus now olde and spent and hard bestead Taking much trauaile for a little bread Wisheth for youth in which he could endure To toyle and sweate and labour euery hower As if Prometheus eaten vp with paine Should wish his heart fresh to be gnawne againe Epigr. 42. Ad Guilielmum Arnoldum ARnold the fathers Oracles profound Sinke deep into mens hearing wheÌ„ we cite them And sometimes Poets verses beare such ground As great diuines diuinely do recite them And though the summ substaÌ„ce maine they beare Whose setled studies yeeld that sweet encrease Yet sometimes with decorum we may heare A Poet speake a father hold his peace As when a father like a Poet creakes And when a Poet like a father speakes Epigr. 43. in Seuerum SEuerus would not haue me slacke my veyne Nor vary sense to diuers kindes of writing Nor play with meanings which may ease my braine And case my reader if they doe not like him But I must racke my wits till all be spent That he may nothing but cry excellent Finis Libri Sexti ΕΠΙΓΡΑΜΜΑΤΩΠLiber Septimus Epigr. 1. Ad Lectorem IF thou thinke Reader that desire of gayne Hath mou'de me to indite or stir'de my veyne Or rather if thou thinke I vndertake To come vpon this stage for glories sake Ile giue thee all that profitt and that praise And make me but a Lawyer for three daies Epigr. 2. De Mathone MAtho bethought what life him best might fitt For basenes sake he scornd all occupation Studie he could not for he wanted witt And fight he durst not hence he tooke occasion To loue of all liues this life pleasde him best Till loue to all these euils him obiected To labour study fighting and the rest More these by all then euer he suspected Thus they endure which liue in louers state For one thing lou'de a thousand things they hate Epigr. 3. In Cophum COphus is a fine dancer and a trimme A nimbler head to dance you haue not seene Dance you he danceth cease yet danceth he Praise or dispraise him yet about will he When you are weary he will hold it out When he is weary he will skippe about All that behold are weary and are gone Yet Cophus danceth being left alone At last Cophus himsefe departes but so Me thinkes Cophus doth dance when he doth go Epigr. 4. SExtus is thrall to goold as many be But hath it in his chest happy is he Dacus three ships do cut the Ocean waue What neede he grudge to be a goolden slaue Misus good land by coueting hath got I am a thrall to goold and haue it not Epigr. 5. De Fortuna sua I See good Fortune runne before As Palinurus sawe the shoare And if I die before it hitch Welfare mine eyes for they be rich Epigr. 6. Ad Thomam Strargwayes de Martialis Epigrammate Aurum opes rura c. GOold wealth and gleab how many friends will yeeld But few in witt will giue place to their friend Why Martiall many haue goold wealth gleab But few haue witt if so our strife hath ende And sooth se sayes Strangwaies but yet I would That I for want of witt might say heers goold Epigr. 7. ad Lectorem REader I warne thee now the second time Stand not vpon th'exactnes of my rime I' admitt a small to shunn a great offence Better ten â—â—mes should perish then one sense Epigr. 8. In Carum WHen Carus dy'de these were the last he spake O friend's take heed Tobaccho was my death You that can iudge tell me for Carus sake He which dy'de so dy'de he for want of breath If so he did then am I more in doubt How breath being taken in may blow breath out Epigr. 9. De senectute inuentute AGe is deformed youth vnkinde We scorne their bodies they our minde Epigr. 10. Ad Iohannem Sooche THou with the last sweete doctor nam'de by me Of any of thy name first in desart First in my loue first placed in mine heart Demaundest thou the cause what it may be To my desire inuention seemed scant Which now doth set thee forth yet doth want Epigr. 11. De nono orbe THe worlds great Peers mighty conquerours Whose sword hath purchas'de theÌ„ eternal fame If they suruiued in this age of ours Might add more glory to their lasting name For him which Carthage sackt and ouerthrewe We haue found out an other Africa Newe Gauls and Germaines Caesar might subdue And Pompey great an other Asia But you O Christian Princes do not so Seeke not to conquer nations by the sworde Whom you may better quell and ouerthrowe By winning them to Christ and to his worde Giue him the new worlde for olde Asias losse And set not vp your