can be none so poore As he whose mind in plentie longs for more 17 How generous a thing it is not to succumbe to pleasure and sensualitie NO great exploit can be expected from That man who being profoundly plung'd in his Owne sense permits himselfe to be o'rcome B' a foe s'effeminat as pleasure is For mightie minds most pleasures doe conceive When pleasures over them no power have 18 That we ought not to be sorie at the losse of worldly goods THose things which are to us by fortune lent We Should sequestrat and to such a place From whence she may without our discontent Fetch them away againe before our face For if we grudge thereat by any meanes We doe but vexe our selves and lose our paines 19. What is not vertuously acquired if acquired by vs is not properly ours WHos'ever by sinister meanes is come To places of preferment and to walke Within the bounds of vertue takes no pleasure Provideth onely titles for his tombe And for the baser people pratling talke But nothing for himselfe in any measure For fortune doth with all things us befit Save the sole mind of ours and Vice kils it 20. Riches affoord to vertue more matter to worke upon then povertie can doe FOr Temperance and other qualities Of greater moment men have beene respected In riches but in poverty there is This onely goodnesse not to be dejected Whence shunning want we means embrace which yeeld To vertue a more large and spacious field 21. Death maketh us all alike in so farre as her power can reach 'MOngst all the rites that Nature can pretend In Justice this is chiefest and a sequell Which doth on Mortall principles depend That drawing neare to death we are all equall Therefore we otherwise then by the sense Should betwixt man and man make difference 22 A very ready way to goodnesse and true VVisedome Who vertuously would settle his endeavours To mortifie his passions and be wise Must still remember on received favours Forgetting alwaies by-past injuries For that a friend should prove ingrate is strange And mercy is more Noble then revenge 23. We ought not to regard the contumelies and calumnies of Lyars and profane men ASpersions which base people viciously Inflict upon mens credits I contemne That sentence having small authoritie Where he that is condemned doth condemne And to be hated by a wicked spirit Doth argue oftentimes the greater merit 24. No man should glory too much in the flourishing verdure of his Youth LEt none be proud of life nor thinke that longer He then another will because he 's younger Enjoy his pleasures for though old age stand A great way off death alwaies is at hand Who without taking heed to time or yeares No Living creature spares when she appeares 25. That vertue is of greater worth then knowledge to a speculative Philosopher WHy doe you study Morals if you take No paines t' abate your avarice and lust For how can vertues definition make You valiant prudent temperate or just Jf you industriously purge not your mind Of any vice to which you are inclin'd 26 Consolation to a poore man THat you are poore it should not much disheart you For povertie securely keepes your house From theeves Robbers and makes roome to vertue By banishing of pride and the abuse Of riches the losse thereof and feare of losse Surfets and vices that prejudge the health Which being shut out of doores strive to compose Your mind to quietnesse more worth then wealth For without wealth you may have happinesse But not without tranquillitie and ease 27 The bad returnes of ingrate men should not deterre us from being liberall THough you ingrate receivers dayly find Let not their faults make you lesse Noble prove It not being th' action of a gen'rous mind To give and lose so as to lose and give For that a churle may doe in hope of gaine But this partakes of a heroick straine 28 That riches is a sicknesse to those that doe not possesse the good thereof so much as they are possest thereby Some peoples senses wealth doth so bereave That they to nothingelse their minds can frame So have they wealth as men are said to have The Ague when 't is th' ague that hath them For it afflicts them with the maladies Of covetous desire and avarice 29. A truely liberall man never bestoweth his gifts in hope of recompence A Hearty giver will conceive such pleasure In th' onely action of his good intent That though he be not met in the like measure It never breeds him any discontent For when he doth bestow a benefit He meerely lookes to the receivers profit And in the instant that he guideth it Reapes all the vse that he exspected of it Vertue no other recompence allowing The price of honest deeds being in the doing 30 That the setled quiet of our mind ought not to be moved at sinister accidents MAn should for no infortunate event Deprive himselfe of that which fortune is Vnable to restore him the content Of mind ease and tranquilsity of his Reposed spirit for who lacketh those Can nothing else possesse that 's worth to lose 31. As it was a precept of antiquity to leane more to vertue then Parentage so is it a tenet of Christianity to repose more trust on the blood of Christ then our owne merits VErtue not blood was thought of anciently Yet blood more then our vertue ought to please us For we on blood not vertue should rely Not on our vertue but the blood of Iesus His blood being able to make heavenly Kings Of men plagu'd here for lacke of Earthly things 32 Our inclination is so depraved that it is apt enough of it selfe to runne to sin without any instigation whereby to drive it forward OUr mind 's so prone to vice it needs a bridle To hold it rather then a spurre to prick it For left unto it selfe it hardly stands But if perverse enticements find it idle And push it then it runing on a wicked And headlong course no reason understands While at the windows of the eares and eyes Temptations enter which the soule surprise 33 That there is no true riches but of necessary things THe use of mony is to have the meanes Whereby all needfull things may be possess'd Which are but few and small got with ease What we have more then that ' snot wealth but chains Or Fetters of the mind and at the best But heapes of labour feare and carefulnesse 34. The misery of such as are doubtfull and suspicious of their VVives chastitie CLose Jealous men make not so evident In any thing the madnesse of their braines As that the more that they are diligent They have the greater hope to lose their paines For their whole care to search that is imployed Which not to find they would be overjoyed 35. How deplorable the condition of most men is who though they attaine to the fruition of their praeterit projects by
EPIGRAMS DIVINE AND MORAL BY Sir THOMAS VRCHARD Knight LONDON Printed by BARNARD ALSOP and THOMAS FAVVCET in the Yeare 1641. TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE IAMES LORD MARQVIS OF Hamilton Earle of Arren and Cambridge Lord Baron of Even and Innerdale Lord Master of his Majesties Horses Knight of the most noble order of the Garter and one of his Majesties most Honourable privie Counsell in both Kingdomes c. MY LORD BEing confident that your gracious disposition will hold in greater account the ingenuous meaning of who gives then the sufficiency of the present I here tender to the favour of your Honours acceptance a bundle of Epigrams Which though they be but flashes of wit and such as may with advantage receive point from your ordinary conceptions yet for that nothing doth better recommend them then vivacitie of conceâ—t I cannot figure to my fancie a fitter Patron to protect the sublimest Poems of this Nature then your owne Noble selfe of whose valour and prudence even from your infancie both this and forraine Nations will afford an approbation so Authentick that by the universall consent of all that ever knew your Lordship the depth of experience since the memory of man was never seene wedded to fewer yeares nor the splendor of heroicke vertue to the astonishment of whole Armies and Princes Palaces more evidently apparent then in the magnanimity of your generous carriage What formerly by the most vertuous and pregnant wits could not bee acquired without a long continuance of time and was esteemed to be incompatible with youth and much more extraordinary in young gallants then gray haires or the Gout hath beene still in your Lordship a quality concomitant to the source of all your actions coaevall with the gentile powers of your mind and no lesse naturall then to speake or thinke And what others not being able to reach into have therefore admired in the Legend of the Worthies hath since the yeares of discretion bin the constant Object of your dailie exercise and complyed with your very most neglected cogitations Which glorious and rare endowments out-reaching the extent of vulgar goodnesse and seeming the more wonderfull that it is not long since by your birth you did grace the World with the honour of your presence doe possesse the faculties of my soule with a stedfast resolution so unfainedly to acknowledge the absolute right your Lordship hath over me and the inclinations of my mind that as I cannot impart that portion of the fruits thereof to any which by a prior disposition is not already yours so may not I though the matter be but small without breach of duty devote this Dedication to another Therefore my Lord you may be pleased according to your accustomed manner to vouchsafe a courteous entertainment to this testimony of my regard till Fortune be so favourable as to blesse me with the opportunity one day to make knowne my designments more effectually yours for the best of my affections being touched with the Magnetick vertue of your good parts are fixed on you as on their Pol-estar which serveth to direct the course of my life in a continuall progresse of embracing all the occasions whereby I may testifie how earnest I am and alwayes shall be deservingly to obtaine the title Of Yours My Lord in all humilitie of sincere respect to serve your Lordship Thomas Vrchard EPIGRAMS THE FIRST BOOKE TO the KING GReat Monarch since the worlds nativity No mind nor body had so divine parts To grace the State of Sov'rain Majesty As hath your Royall person whose deserts Soare higher 'bove the reach of other Kings Then the bright Sun transcends terrestriall things 2. That those of a solid wit cannot be puffed vp with applause nor incensed by contumelie WHat vulgar people speake if we be wise Will neither joy nor miscontentment breed us For we ought mens opinions so to prise As that they may attend us and not lead us It not being fit their praise should rule our actions Or that we shun what 's good for their detractions 3 A brave spirit disdaineth the threats of Fortune NO man of resolution will endure His liberty in Fortunes hands to thrall For he 's not free o'r whom she hath least pow'r But over whom she hath no pow'r at all Nor hath she any chaine wherewith to bind The inclination of a noble mind 4. How to become wise WHo would be truly wise must in all haste His mind of perturbations dispossesse For wisedome is a large and spatious guhest And can not dwell but in an empty place Therefore to harbour her we must not grudge To make both vice and passion to dislodge 5. The wise and noble resolution of a truly couragious and devout spirit towards the absolute danting of those irregular affections and inward perturbations which readily might happen to impede the current of his sanctified designes and oppose his already initiated progresse in the divinely proposed course of a vertuous and holy life MY soule shall rule my body raigne o'r it And curb the Pentarchie of sensuall charmes For though they live togither 't is not fit They be compagnons upon equall termes But in my mind J'l harbour such a reason As strongly may o'rmaster each temptation Can be suggested to 't and choake the Treason Of all and ev'ry will-betraying passion In this judicious order the Realme Or little world of mine owne selfe to guide It is my whole intent till J make calme Rebellious motions and suppresse the pride Of flesh then while J breath maintaine that right In spight of Satan and all worldly might 6. That the fellowship of vertuous or vicious people contributes much to the bettering or depraving of the mind THat he must needs be bad there is some likenesse Who to lewd company is much affected For it is the beginning of a sicknesse T' associat with him that is infected Would you be good then haunt the conversation Of them whose actions merit estimation 7. Riches without further can make no man happy AS he whose body is not well in health To search for ease from bed to bed will rise So to a mind that is diseased wealth Is not the end but change of miseries And that which made his poverty to vexe him Will make his riches likewise to perplexe him 8. What man it is that is truly wealthie WHo measures poverty by Natures rules And frames his mind to what he hath is rich For we can never doe but vexe our soules So long's we straine them to a higher pitch And hee whose heart is discontented is But a poore wretch though all the world were his 9. How a valiant was ought to behave himselfe towards those that basely offer to offend him HEE is beyond the reach of common men Who can despise an injury for as The billowes of the Sea insult in vaine Against a Rocke a stout breast finds no cause Of being commov'd at wrongs whereof the Dart Resiles from him as from a brasen
calamities inflicted by sinister fate SEeing crosses cannot be evited I 'l Expose my selfe to Fortune as a Rock Within the midst of a tempestuous Ocean So to gainstand the batt'ry of her spight That though jaile sicknesse poverty exile Assault me all with each a grievous stroak Of sev'rall misery at the devotion Of misadventure ev'ry day and night Yet with a mind undanted all the while I will resist her blows till they be broke Jn the rebounding and without commotion Till all her rage be spent sustaine the fight So that she shall not b'able to subdue One thought of mine with all that she can doe For when sh' hath try'd her worst I will not yeeld Nor let her thinke that she hath gain'd the field 30. That wise men to speak properly are the most powerfull men in the world THe greatest power is to wise men due The pow'r of all men else to theirs being nought For wise men onely what they will can doe Because they will not doe but what they ought Such being their cariage that their reason still Directs their power and informes their will 31. To a rich man become poore YOur poverty should be the more esteemed That by the meanes thereof you are exeemed From stubborne servants lying Sycophants And faigned friends in lieu whereof it grants These three of a more vertuous company Ease humble cariage and sobriety 32. That if we strove not more for superfluities then for what is needfull we would not be so much troubled is wee are IF by the necessary use of things The ornaments wee measure of our honour And not by that which fancy doth suggest us Wee will not need those wares the Marchant brings From forraine Countries and withall exoner Our minds of what might otherwise molest us 33. The onely true progresse to a blessed life VVHo hath of conscience a profound remorse For sins committed and to keepe his senses From all sinister practice doth divorce His thoughts from their accustomed offences Is in the way of vertue which will tend Jt being continu'd to a happy end 34. That wee ought not to be excessively grieved at the losse of any thing that is in the power of Fortune ALL those externall ornaments of health Strength honour children beauty friends wealth Are for a while concredited to men To decke the Theater whereon the scene Of their fraile life is to be acted some Of which must without further be brought home To day and some to morrow th' use of them Being onely theirs till new occasions claime A restitution of them all againe As time thinkes fit to whom they appertaine Though such like things therefore be taken from us Wee should not suffer griefe to overcome us But rather render thankes they have beene lent us So long a space and never discontent us 35. Wherein true Wealth consists VVHo 's truly rich we ought not to esteeme By Lands nor goods but by the mind the title Of a poore man being farre more due to him That covets much then that possesseth little For he is richer doth the world neglect Then who possessing all complaines for lack 36. How difficult a thing it is to tread in the pathes of vertue THe way to vertue 's hard uneasie bends Aloft being full of steep and rugged Alleys For never one to a high place ascends That alwayes keepes the plaine and pleasant Valleyes And reason in each humane breast ordaines That precious things be purchased with paines 37. A counsell to one oppressed with bondage and cruell disasters VVHats'ever be your fortune let your deeds With your affection alwayes jump for by Desiring to doe that which you must needs You 'l blunt the sharpnesse of necessity And making of constraint a willingnesse Be glad in spight of crosses and distresse 38. How Fortune oftentimes most praeposterously pond'ring the aections of men with a great deale of injustice bestoweth her favours FOrtune with wealth and honour at her feet And holding in her hand a ballance sits Weighing human desert as she thinks fit One of the scales whereof the learn'dest wits Most vertuous and of choisest parts containes The other being appointed for such as Are vicious light and destitute of Braines The light are mounted up into the place Where riches and preferment lye exposed To those can reach them while the other scale By th' only weight of worth therein inclosed Is more submissively deprest then all That hangs on Fortunes ballance and the higher That hair-brain'd heads b'advanc'd above the states Of others in this world so much the higher To want and bondage are the wiser pates Of such things then as to the disposition Of Fortune doe pertaine let no man wonder While the most wicked gaine the acquisition That by their meanes the good be brought at under For wheresoever vice is most respected The greatest vertues are the more rejected 39. When a true friend may be best knowne AS the glow-worme shines brightest in the darke And frankincense smells sweetest in the fire So crosse adventures make us best remarke A sincere friend from a dissembled Lyer For some being friends to our prosperity And not to us when it failes they decay 40. The duty of a husband to his wife THough he be head he must not tyrannize Over his mate in sacred bonds of Mariage For in the head the wit and judgement is And therefore he with a judicious cariage Should towards her behave himselfe respect her Instruct her love her and from harme protect her 41. Concerning those who marry for beauty and wealth without regard of vertue HOw can such wedded people lead their lives With a respect unfainedly entire Where husbands are not married to their wives But money to the covetous desire Where men in little estimation hold Womens discretion wit and chastitie But meerely aime at handsomnesse and gold To serve their avarice and Leacherie Which fashion lately is become so common That first w'espouse the money then the woman 42. The speech of a noble spirit to his adversary whom after he had defeated he acknowledgeth to be nothing inferiour to himselfe in worth wit or valour thereby insinuating that a wise man cannot properly bee subdued though he be orthrown in body and worldly commodities I Will not of this victory be glorious Nor ought you for being vanquish'd to repine You not being overcome nor J victorious Your fortune onely is o'rcome by mine For by the force of judgment grace and will You have a mind that is invincible 43. In how farre men are inferiour to many other living creatures in the faculties of the exteriour senses IN touching Spiders are the subtillest The Bores in hearing vulturs in the smell In seeing Eagles and the Apes in taste Thus beasts in all the senses men excell So that if men were not judicious creatures Some brutes would be of more accōplish'd natures 44. To one who was heavily cast downe in Spirit by reason of some scandalous speeches blased forth to
his disadvantage BE not discouraged at calumnies Which are not at the worst but loads of wind And therefore with a strong and patient mind Most easie to support if you be wise For nat'rally such burthens are but light Unlesse the Bearers weaknesse give them weight Thus endeth the first Booke of Sir THOMAS VRCHARDS Epigrams EPIGRAMS The second Booke 1. No crosse adventure should hinder vs from being good though we be frustrate of the reward thereof BY any meanes with all your might endeavour For honesty whats'ever be th' event Although sinister fortune should dissever Vertue from honour be not discontent For if you be deprived of your due The fault is in the time and not in you 2. Those that have greatest estates are not alwayes the wealthiest men THey 're richer who diminish their desires Though their possessions be not amplified Then Monarchs who in owning large Empires Have minds that never will be satisfied For he is poore that wants what he would have And rich who having nought doth nothing crave 3. The couragious resolution of a valiant man SEeing Nature entred me on this condition Jnto the world that J must leav 't I vow A noble death shall be my chiefe ambition To dye being th' end of all J ought to doe And rather gaine by a prime vertue death Then to protract with common ones my breath 4. How abject a thing it is for a man to have bin long in the world without giving any proofe either by vertue or learning that he hath beene at all THat aged man we should without all doubt Of all men else the most disgracefull hold Who can produce no testimony but The number of his yeares that he is old For of such men what can bee testifyed But that being borne they lived long then dyed 5. That a vertuous mind in a deformed body maketh one more beautifull then a handsome body can doe endowed with a vicious mind EXternal comelinesse few have obtain'd Without their hurt it never made one chast But many'adulterers and is sustain'd By qualities which age and sicknesse waste But that whose lustre doth the mind adorne Surpasseth farre the beauty of the bodie For that we make our selves to this we 're borne This onely comes by chance but that by study Jt is by vertue then that wee enjoy Deservedly the stile of beautifull Which neither time nor Fortune can destroy And the deformed body a faire soule From dust to glory everlasting caries While vicious soules in handsome bodies perish 6. To one whom poverty was to be wished for in so farre as he could hardly otherwise be restrained from excessive ryot and feasting YOu should not be a whit the more dejected That as in former times not being sustain'd Your fare and dyet daily doe decrease For want doing what your modestie neglected It is a happy thing to be constrain'd To that which willingly you ought t' embrace 7. That men are not destitute of remedies within themselves against the shrewdest accidents that can befall them IF you expect to be of toyle and care Sometime exeem'd hope may your griefe diminish And patience comfort you ere you despaire Though both those faile Death will your troubles finish Thus are you fitly served with reliefes 'Gainst Fortunes most elaboured mischiefes 8. What sort of benefits one ought to bestow VVOuld you oblige to you a friend by giving Most cheerfully your favours to acquite Give that which gives content in the receiving And when it is received yeelds delight For if it faile in either of those two It will impaire his thankfulnesse to you 9. To one who did glory too much in the faire and durable fabrick of a gorgious Palace which he had caused lately to be built BOast never of the permanence of that Which neither can prolong your dayes nor houres For that your house is stately strong and great The praise is the artificers not yours Death cares not for your Palace who can climb Without a ladder to the tops of Towers And shortly with a visage pale and grim Will come and turne you naked out of doores But make your body like a Church of Marbre A Castle fit a vertuous mind to harbour 10 That a contented man is rich how litle wealth soever he have HE 's rich who craving nothing else doth find Content in the possession of his owne For in so much as doth concerne the mind Not to desire and have is all but one For if the thoughts thereof be rich we 're sure Fortune hath not the skill to make us poore 6. How dangerous it is to write or speake of moderne times THough all some errors doe commit yet few Having committed them would have them told That talke then being displeasing which is true Who cannot flatter he his peace must hold So hand a thing it is to say or pen Without offence the truth of living men 12. That the most solid gaine of any is in the action of vertue all other emoluments how lucrative they so ever appeare to the covetous mind being the chiefest precipitating pushes of humane frailty to an inevitable losse SUch is the thin and ragged maske of vice That whosoe'r to peevish thoughts are pronest Will know some time b'experience that there is No profitable thing which is not honest Nor can there be to God a man more odious Then he who leaves the good for what 's cōmodious 13. What the subject of your conference ought to be with men of judgment and account LEt the discourse be serious you impart To the grave audience of judicious eares Being either of the common-wealth some art Or science on your owne or friendes affaires For if it can to none of those pertaine It must be idle frivolous and vaine 14. That a truly generous mind had rather give a curtesie then be resting one after the presented opportunity to repay it AS stil a greater care doth men possesse To keepe things well then freely to bestowe them So to a noble spirit it is lesse Laborious to giue benefites then owe them In whom brave actions are more naturall Then to the flame to mount or earth to fall 15 To a certain Lady of a most exquisit feature and comely presentation but who gloried too much in the deceitfull excellencie of these fading and perishable qualities THough you be very handsome doe but stay A litle while and you will see a change For beautie flieth with the tyme away Wherwith it comes nor must you think it strange That hardly being skin deepe in the most faire And but a separable accident Of bodys which but living shadowes are And therfore frayle it is not permanent Be then not proud of that which at the best Decrepit age will spoyle or sicknesse wast 16 Who is truly rich and who poore BY the contempt not value of the matter Of worldly goods true riches are possess'd For our desire by seeking groweth greater And by desiring povertie's increass'd So that on earth there