then cease to quilt A web of specious lies upon your guilt This aggravates what I of late suspected Heav'n will not you should thus passe undetected Great Sir quoth they you justly may upbraid Us with your love we justly are betrayd The fact is clear what shall we then allege To clear our selves and who shall be our pledge Wee scarce have blood in all our veins great Lord Enough to stain your Vice-revenging sword Creat Sir we beg if bondage expiates Our Crime then mercy rules among the Fates Nay quoth the Lord my heart 's not Adamant No rocky Isle where such like Furies haunt Nor hath my Soul so liquorish a gust That nought but blood can satiate her lust Mercy and Justice here are neer a kin Our mercy here 's still greater than the sin Think I have pitty on your Fathers age Nor will enslave you all in vassalage I 'll onely recompence upon that Youth That had my Cup bonds for his breach of truth No sore-tormenting Probe unto the quick More deeply searcht a wound nor of the sick No launcet hit more sure the master-vein Than did his Lordships words pierce through each swain Who ever thus in tearms accutely coucht Rub'd on the matter they would have untoucht Some beg'd some wept and some confus'dly mutter'd Some indigested resolutions utter'd At last quoth Judah humbly on his knee Great Sir yet what you spake your vow decree Let not your anger flame that I so rude In language and in habit thus intrude You ask'd when first wee hither did repair Doth yet your Father breath the common air Have you alive a Brother more at home Our speech in devious falshoods did not come But kept truths rode quoth we Our Father 's old Half wearied Fate doth yet her distaff hold We have a Brother more a youthfull page Whom He esteems the comfort of his age His Fathers joy since his deceased Brother The onely Son of his expired mother And since our Father 's old and lame and dim He only walks and breaths and sees in him Then saidst thou as a witness of your truth Bring down your Brother let me see the youth Great Sir quoth we our Brother stands between Death and our Fathers lamp as th' only screen And He remov'd our Sires declining snuff Would soon b'extinguisht by some envious puff Yet saidst thou to thy servants bring the Child If that you will we shall be reconcil'd All this we to our Father did rehearse With the proceedings of our last commerce Our Corn exhausted there was long dispute 'T wixt Want and Nature we renew'd our sute To him to send our brother and at large Importunately urg'd your Lordships charge So quoth our father were I most forlorn By Rachaell I had two children born Whereof one parting hence became a feast Ay me I fear unto some rav'nou Beast With whom fled half my life then leave his Brother 'T were Paricide to take away the other O think my sons should you remove the prop That stayes my age I in my grave should drop Were there a Chrystall window in each Brest We know no more than what we have confest Now should we home and leave his son behind As with Prophetick doubts his fear divin'd Both hope and life would fail him should I know That I my self were the unhappy Bow Through whom false death aim'd her remorsless dart To the true mansion of my Fathers heart What should I do that shall both guilty seem Both of my Brothers loss and death of him I to my Sire was surety for the youth Have pitty on his age and on my truth When death quoth I my lamp of life shall quench May my good name dy in a noysome stench And with like vows I heaven did implore If I his son not safely did restore Then if my Lord please to reverse his doom I 'd gladly serve bound in my Brothers room Great Sir be pleas'd t' admit me in exchange I 'd weary cruelty and mock revenge I 'd count deaths sentence but an idle breath Yer I 'd seem guilty of my Fathers death Good Sir have pitty I would dare to meet A Thunderbolt wrapt in a lightning sheet Yet I 'd provoke a Fathers angry gall Since Parents curses are Propheticall As a new tun'd Cask of unpurged Wine Wind pris'ned in the earth or like a Mine The one if clos'd will make a furious vent The other break forth in a thundring rent Such were his Lordships tears such was his joy Which Passion though it long seem'd strange and coy And fickle in the wooing th' end did prove In it was coucht a Brothers tender love Which he no more was able to resist Than the quick pulse that thumpt within his wrist And joy like wind impris'ned in the earth Will shake th' hearts center but 't will have a birth Now since he could no longer thus contest H'intended secretly t' unlock his breast Shame that 's sins daughter wer 't not for this care Might here have prov'd the mother of despair Open reproofs like an impetuous rain Do wash away but not refresh the grain Now would he think to speak and then retreat Then on the prize his heart a charge would beat And though the cause as yet obscurely slept Yet Pharaohs servants heard him while he wept At last he thus began I Joseph am Is th' Oyl yet spent that fed my Fathers flame This on the porches of their ears he beat But all in vain that sense had left her seat And with the eyes by horrour scattered Had to the brain as an Asylum fled Yet being the kingly hearts chief centinells He by degrees dismist them from their cells For sense-bereaving horrors are like lees Which being once stirr'd will sinke but by degrees Now when they something had expell'd their fears Hee with these speeches board anew their ears I am your brother Joseph whom you sold Is yet my Father ' mongst th'alive inroll'd Come neer and see I have no false reserves Come on this visage spend your visive nerves I am the same as when you took my coat Though chang'd in hiew and of a rougher throat Though heav'n have chang'd my Fortune years my stature Nor time hath chang'd my love nor clime my nature Fear not the fact though gross shall not be blaz'd 'T is from the book of my remembrance rac'd Then judge your selves not rashly bless the deed For I was promis'd to preserve your seed Two years are past wherein remorsless dearth Hath knit the bowels of the teeming earth And yet these five years Nile in vain shall flowe The Husband-man in vain shall plough and sow Like a true Alchimist hath providence Drawn Honey from the Poyson of offence You sold God sent me hither heav'n be blest That turn'd your very sin unto the best Hast then with winged swiftness and infuse Fresh spirits in our Father with this news Say thus saith Joseph whom thou thoughtst to be Seal'd in the bosome of
eternity Thus saith thy Son who by the common vogue Was thought one of grim deaths large catalogue Thus saith our Brother here I am ador'd As Pharaohs Father and all Egypts Lord Come down thou with thy house thy heards and flocks Time limps away methinks with leaden socks Untill thou come accept of my advice Thine shall be Goshen Egypts Paradise Let no delay this thy descent prorogue Lest Famine in a fatall Epilogue End thee and thine come that with my Protection I in some sort may answer thy affection The Sun five times shall pass through all his Inns Till dearth shall fully expiate our sins Mean while descend and of my store partake Since heav'n by me prepar'd it for thy sake Hast for your own sakes that I may refresh And cloath your naked bones with tender flesh My words and actions have not divers centers Both end in one but if upon the tenters This stretch your faith beside the foretold signs Observe this visage and its wonted lines Sweet Benjamin blest were th' Astrologers If as I know these eyes they knew the Starrs If so though all events be closely seal'd No doubt the future should be all reveal'd His Lordships speeches were no sooner ended But he and Benjamin together blended Themselves in close embraces both did lie Entwined like the Zodiacks Gemini As if they meant lest we again should part Come by the strings let 's knit each others heart Their eyes now pay'd their long-retained debt Each on anothers neck entwined wept That done the rest with sweet inviting phrases He even wearied in his close embraces Then kist them all and Chorus-like enquir'd Again is not my Father yet expir'd God will be su'd to who no other task Imposeth on our wants but this to ask And though he seem long in majestick pause Not onely not to hear but slight our cause 'T is but to edge devotion to inhance His Grace upon our Souls before he grants All distance then is chang'd to an imbrace Wrath falleth as a Vizzard from his face He not defers nor his affection smothers Nor doth disdain at all to call us Brothers As one that dreams he 's falling from a steep And tow'ring precipice into the deep Awaking finds himself free from such harms And taking safe repose in friendly arms Such were the Brethrens fears and sad extremes Which now did seem but fancies and vain dreams When Joseph in their Passions Extasie Reviv'd their senses from their Lethargie With sundry Passions were at once their minds Like a Ship tost 'twixt two opposing winds Now would they joy then grief by shame being backt Their new resolved greetings would distract The tears from divers springs seem'd to proceed Which they not so much seem'd to weep as bleed Within their brain two floods at once arose Of joy and grief as when two Seas oppose Some wept some weeping smil'd like Aprils weather Which rains then shines then rains and shines together Now were they all resolved to regreet Their Brothers courtesie but as a fleet Which comming neer the harbour back is thrust Into the Ocean by some angry gust Shame would retard intention some would smother In silent whispering the name of Brother Glad Reuben though he gave to God the glory Yet blest perswasion and his oratory And Judah though he sold him yet was bold To say he joy'd though griev'd he thus was sold Now they confest his Dreams no vain Phantasms But heav'nly and inspir'd Enthusiasms Their Sheaves and Stars had bow'd the sawcy Boy Was now their Lord and Egypts chief Vice-roy Glad Benjamin admiring the results Of their immanity thus now exults A Brother lost and found is worth like mirth As if you joyed at a Brothers birth Come then let 's triumph for who could expect From this so bad a cause so good effect To hear the Lord speak how he was re-sold How often fashion'd in afflictions mold His Chastity which with a full mouth'd blast Shall fill Fames trump as long as time shall last How he ran Chance as blind as ever painted Yet he by adoration thus was Sainted In mens opinions would make a dint And deep impression in hearts of flint For joy some swounded and each circumstance Of each relation struck them in a trance Each passage made each minutes time the mother Of some new joy so one joy crown'd another Had th' whole world seen each act heard each rehearsall No doubt the joy had here been Universall T' express the triumph fully would extort Descriptions treasury undoe report Now tell-tale Fame hath with a nimble wing Proclam'd these tidings to the Court and King Who thus to Joseph placed next his Throne We to thy Fathers care thy Mothers grone All owe our lives nay more for to him seeng Thou being ow'st we owe him all well being Now since he liveth and the fatall Star That blasts our Kingdomes plenty spreads so far Her fatall influence as Canaans clime Send for thy Father on our Souls this crime Shall not write guilt that He amidst our store Should faint whom for thee all are bound t' adore To Him alone for thee all Egypts bound So deep more than conceit hath line to sound Thy duty shall joyn issue with my will Since his one life exceeds the num'rous Bill So far that daily doth attend our gates As doth one Phoenix life whole clouds of Gnats Thus by thy Brethren say wee youth and dotage Both lofty Palace and the lowly cotage Owe thee the Father of a Son so blest More than by Hieroglyhick can b'exprest Thus saith the King let not thy thoughts be gravell'd In doubts thy Joseph who my Dreams unravell'd Which all our Sophies did in vain examine Shall nourish and protect thee in this famine Which though it have set limits to my wish And scarcity doth season every dish Delay not thy descent for thou deservests The greatest measure of our sev'n years Harvests This to thy Brethren say go take the best That Egypt yeelds and lead each man his beast Since that remorslesse dearth to death proscribes Your aged Father and his hopefull tribes Think Egypts King for Joseph's sake deplores Your empty Wine-presses and threshing-floores Go bring your Father down if Egypts Map Have land whose poares breath a more vigo'rous sap Than this that is more fertile and more pleasant Come down none shall resist thee Peer nor Peasant This say and for thy Fathers ease take Waggons And for thy Brethren spare no sprightly Flaggons To ratifie their welcome since with them Thou art a Branch sprung from the self same stem Glad Joseph was that Pharaoh's thus inclin'd To what before he had himself design'd Envy could not upbraid his want of love So much he did the means and time improve Scarce Morpheus could at all betray his sense But care would counter-charm His influence When bright Hyperion mounted Phlegons back He gave command to fill each Brothers Sack To all he gave provision lest the length Of the
had Egypt for all kind of grains Exchang'd their Coin their Jewels and their Chains All which our loyall Joseph never wrests To his own use but adds to Pharaohs Chests This store exhausted you may ghess for bread Thus the Egyptians to Joseph plead Dread Sir great Pharaoh's darling Egypts Saint Vouchsafe a patient ear to our complaint We have for Corn exchang'd our coin and gold And yet Dearth rageth as your Grace foretold Our Barns are empty not through our default Nor hath an en'my sow'd our Fields with Salt None enviously have choakt our Fields with stones None of these things are authors of our mones Great Nile's offended and no wonted shout Awakes the Echo since no flood ran out Through his fat banks cut by our num'rous troops No Nile within his shallow chanell stoops Our Money faileth and who will not hold A grain of Corn well worth an ounce of gold Our hopes are faild and when the main-spring Hope Is out of tune the lesser wheels will stop Of joy and pleasure yet we 'll not desist Since in thee bounty hath with goodness kist Think on thy honour let it not be said That we now perish whom you first didst aid Redeem us from the jawes of Death which boon Will make thy fame shine bright as Titans noon Sirs quoth the Lord my troubled heart doth languish In true imagination of your anguish Yet though I you condole I hope each knowes That I dispense as Pharaoh doth dispose Yet will he grant such is his mild remorse Corn in exchange for Heards and teams of Horse Glad was all Egypt nor at all deferr'd T' accept his love each brings his team and heard On which exchange they liv'd this year yet pind In sad conceit of two years yet behind More then with food refresh'd so ranging Deers Fear more emacerates than plenty cheers The year being ended which as in a ring It self within it self again doth bring Sad Egypt having all their cattle spent Which Industry had got or Fortune lent Ghess them in a full press with bended ham And prostrate faces unto Ioseph came Great Sir quoth they now this is the third time We have appeald to thee and yet no prime Is Nile after so many years effluxions Th' earth weary grown after so oft productions And so expects like an exhausted soil A rest and respite from the wonted toil Our Share tusts and our tools that digg'd the earth Hang like some Trophies dedicate to dearth Each body here 's her Obelisk that bears Her triumph Grav'd in meager Characters Since Pharaoh first our Cause to thee refer'd There 's none but hath exchang'd his Teem and Herd Wee not a Beast detain there 's none great Prince That can thy servants of such fraud convince Now if our persons may and each ones land Ioyn'd with thy love in equall ballance stand With one years diet more we have to boast Nor will as yet esteem our selves as lost So Pharaoh shall a double title have In each one of subject and a slave View but these looks well thou wilt not demur Nor will thy pity need another spur Thou art our nostrills breath why should we dy The breath of all our nostrills being by And since now 's the last year by fate decreed That Dearth shall rage we further beg some seed To sow the land that it may be reduc'd Which in its ancient Chaos lies confus'd Sirs quoth our Lord my heart with you condoles The bitter anguish of your troubled Souls Yet 't were a sin in me beyond excuse Should I not all dispence to Pharaohs use Yet as I pittie what you have disclos'd So will I grant you what you have propos'd Ghess Ioseph now for Pharaoh wisely changes Bread for their Fields their Mannors and their Granges And with the Citizens for Pharaoh Barters For Corn their Houses Liberties and Charters And that their lands and rights might all be known By some clear evidence as Pharaohs own Th' Egyptians were to Cities far remov'd To the lands end so Pharaohs right was prov'd Yet the Priests lands and I sis Princely Flamines Became not Pharaohs nor the greedy Famins As if 't were Sacrilegious extortion Ev'n in this Panic sale to buy their portion Nor were they famished for Pharaohs stores They made as bold with as their threshing floors And which those Priests who then serv'd I sis Cow Or they that serve the Lamb of heaven now Are worth most honours reader fear and pray Lest Pagans judge us at the latter day Ghess Egypt now were in a full convention By Joseph summond then to soft attention To whom quoth he Sirs there is none but knowes And will acknowledge still with thankfull vowes That y' are preserved not by common Power Since Fate and Fortune on you all did lower If Pharaoh's bounty did not intervene Your Play were marr'd now in the latter Scene And you like long-toss'd Vessells should fall short And drown within the kenning of the Port Now so will Pharaoh as you do importune In true commiseration of your fortune Not out of Avariee for to supplant But out of pitty to supply your want Be 't then in Egypts Notaries inroll'd That y'have your lands and selves to Pharaoh sold Lo here is seed go sow the land in peace Which with its former vigour shall increase Whereof a fifth part you shall grant the King You now being safe under his Graces wing You for your houshold shall the rest reserve To nourish them Bread's natures chiefest nerve This he Enacted and a Statute seal'd Which to this day 's not cancell'd nor repeal'd At this quoth Egypt most renowned Prince Whose truest Hieroglyphick were a Lynce For as with him compar'd each creature 's blind Each spirits dark to thy inlightned mind Nature the worlds great Soul must needs confess Thee alone her preserver th' world must bless Thee the sole cause thy pitty and remorse That Dearth on both now acts not a divorce To thee we owe we here converse with men And not with Ghosts in deaths unsavoury den Thee that our Wives by her impartiall Bawd Not ravish'd are for death we praise we laud Thee that our children like so many elves Shrink not to nought but yet look like themselves Admit us safe under thy Graces wing Renowned Prince so will we serve the King Grant now that debt that Adam did ingage All men in Death hath claim'd of Jacobs age Who swearing Joseph to transport his bones Hath breath'd his last in blessings on his Sons Grant Ioseph next by generall suffrage Attended on in mourning equipage His Fathers corps to Canaan brought interr'd In Machpelah so of his oath was cleer'd When Iacob thus had deaths arrest obeyd Conscience within the Brethren 'gan t' upbraid Their old offence anew thus guilt would plead Their Brothers hate but slept though it seem'd dead Occasion now might wake it th' end might prove That with their Father di'd their Brothers love That wounds are dang'rous when they