But he is dead we may outdare Death now as having nought to feare The world hath lost her chiefest blisse Heaven the onely gainer is One blow hath kil'd more then the plague and we In losing one have lost plurality A sense might have beene better spar'd your price We would have thought too but a sacrifice Such as was I saacks Ram that sav'd in one Iust Patriarch a generation One star we may see shoot without a grone But should we lose a constellation 'T would puzzle Astrologie nay almost By losing one your science would be lost Fate 's wisdome see that he might leave our tast In rellish he cut off your choycest last H. B. Vpon the Death of my Lord STAFFORD the last Baron of that Ancient Stocke GRieve not ye Sacred Ancestours of Fame As if this were the carcasse of your Name The Barke now flourishes we may presume He 's planted and not buryed in the Tombe Your famous branches by his fall are blowne His fate becomes your Resurrection Good deeds were all his Progeny whilst he Leaves them no other state but memory The Titles and Revenues let them hoord That doe delight to heare these words My Lord In Stafford I confesse they bore some weight Cause they spoke him as well as this estate It was his Name not Title and that tone Made him not famous onely better knowne Deserts well plac'd shine more It is a tie And reverence to Vertue to be high Should the Sunne falling to the earth fixe here Hee 'd suffer an eclipse from his owne sphere Sure to prevent that old and glorious itch He dy'd before the age of being Rich No Lands was ever he possess'd of save That small unhappy portion of a grave Death did deliver him we may be bold To stile it his redemption from Gold Wealth is a sinne though us'd and to be free Yet never want is but kind usury He was so witty yet sincere that we Dare say he meant ev'n an Hyperbole He could not flatter what he spake was knowne No complement but an expression Postures in him were Vertues for when he Did bend it was not pride but charitie His hat went off so honestly we may Affirme he onely did himselfe betray Not like to those that study the Court stride And learne the decent stitch on the left side He nothing to the streame o' th' Time did owe The Staffords manners from themselves still flow We must despaire thy equall unlesse he Could with thy Titles too inherit thee H. R. On the Death of the Right Honorable Edward Lord Stafford WHen brave Heroick spirits flie from hence That govern'd others by their influence Each Muse with Cypresse crownd instead of Bayes Makes them the subject of their teares and prayes Who were examples living being dead With living Monuments are honoured When other's course earth doth neglected lye That liv'd as if they onely liv'd to die But with what Marble or what Brasse shall we Honour the Noble Staffords memory Whose very Name inscrib'd would lustre give Enough to make those dead materials live The glorious minde dwelt in his Noble brest Did entertaine each Vertue for its guest And what soe're was opposite and foule For ever banisht from his Christan soule He was as good as great and taught the Time By what safe steps men might to Honour climbe Yet ventrous death with his impartiall Darts Hath disunited those his different parts Whilst th' earth doth his more richer earth containe What came from Heaven is thither flowne againe E. B. Medii Templi On the deplored Death of Edward Lord Stafford the last Baron of his Name STay Death and heare a short plea we would crave Onely the mercy of a single grave And that at one stroke thou wouldst kill but one In him thou slayst a generation Then ere thou strikst Death know thy sin for this Not a plaine Murder but Massacre is Compendious slaughter of a Family What yet unknowne Plague shall we title thee What Power art thou what strange Influence That thus usurpst the spleene of Pestilence Can the Grave propagate that there should be As yet a new kinde of mortality Sure I mistake our misery this was not That which we call disease but a Chaine-shot Death hath foregone his Archery and Dart And practises the Canon that dire Art Of murdering by the hundreds Thus alone We lose not Stafford but a Legion Take a friends counsell yet grim fate and stay Doe not bereave thy selfe of future prey Let him survive to a large Progenie Which will be but a number that must dye Visit some Friery there thy wrath expresse There where Religion is barrennesse That were a thrifty cruelty and to save This Youth were mercy would enrich thy grave Cheate not our hopes thus riddling Destiny When we did pray Stafford might multiply As numberlesse as are the sands there 's none Meant such a fatall propagation His owne dust for an Off spring our best prayers Forbid such sad increase Atomes for Heires Howere be not so speedy gods but give Him breath till he has taught us how to live Must we thus wholly lose him and such worth Ere in Example he can bring it forth And must this be his period cannot we Expresse a man beyond his Elegie And Epitaph can we pen History What if long-liv'd this little one would be Where is your Art Genethliakes who dare From the Brachygraphy of some Prophet starre Transcribe the life of every birth if Fate And your great skill be such Death comes too late To prejudice your knowledge and you can When he has seiz'd the Corps reprieve the Man And pen him a long-liv'd Example though He had beene borne a livelesse Embryo I pray goe calculate and tell us then What Stafford in his ripe yeares would have been Describe him at some Canon guarded Hill Leading his daunted Generall and we will Lessen our present despaire into feare And tremble lest our Stafford should fall there Then prosecute your story till his yeares List him among the graver headed Peeres And in the bustle of some fcard-state-rent Let 's heare him tutoring a Parliament Alas such thoughts but aggravate our crosse Instead of comfort summing up our losse Cease then all prattle with the Grave and Herse Silence suites better then the saddest Verse Ri. Paynter Ioan. Ox. To the Memory of the Right Honorable the Lord STAFFORD the last Baron of his Family Great soule of Stafford T Was not for want of Merit that thy Herse So long hath lack'd it's tributary Verse Things whose fraile mem'ry scarce outlives the time Their Elegies a reading may have a Rime In halfe an houre flung on them Earthen plate 'S fram'd at a turne when the rich Porcelane's date Is a full Age Raptures that doe befit Objects of wonder are the fruites of Wit And choice not Fury This kept Phaebus Quire Silent so long that nought but hallow'd fire And purest gums might crowne thine Vrne yet still They find thy
good digestion of a little He made according to the Proverbe no more haste than good speed finding that to come to the end of a long journey required not to runne a pace but to be ever going Was it language and words he onely hunted after Neither of those for he loved the Kirnell farre better than the shell If none of these what then was the aime of his study surely nothing but vertue which hee knew to bee Res non Verbum as one sayes A Thing not a Wordonely And understanding that the Poets feigne her to have short armes inferring that he who covets to be embrac'd by her must make a neare approach to her before hee can come within her reach and attaine to that supreame Happinesse he came so close up to her and convers'd so frequently with her that all his actions ever after savour'd of her sweetnesse Her hee made his supporter knowing that ingenious Antiquity represented her to us by a Hieroglyphick γ whose toppe parts two wayes and resembles a Musket Rest to denote the aide and support shee affords those that put their trust in her And because she divides her selfe into many branches whereof some are divine some morrall he resolved seriously and intentively to practise first the former then the later The three Theologicall hee first chose to exercise himselfe in were Humility Obedience and Charity and that taske ended hee purposed to make a strong Essay to gaine a habit in all the Cardinall and lesser Morall Vertues In the service of these he made a vow to spend the remainder of his dayes setting apart the vertues of Italy where every Painter Dancer Tooth-drawer and Mountebanke is cald a Vertuoso Here his religious parents stept in againe to his ayde who did not imitate the Images of Mercury set up in times past in the common Roades with the fore-finger poynting out the way to passengers but standing still themselves not bearing them company This loving couple as happy in themselves as in him were his guides not onely by Advice but Action The reason why hee beganne with Humility was that it render'd him more apt and able to acquire the rest and was the vertue his and our blessed Master commenc'd and ended with and all the Saints in imitation of him have studied and with diligence put in practice Our sweetest Saviour forbade his Disciples to divulge his miracles least the World might thinke he gloryed in them as appeares by his cure of the Leprous of the Blind of the Lame and of the Dumbe c. In his Transfiguration hee gave them the same charge Reveale this Vision to no body His Disciples demanding who should be the greatest in the Kingdome of Heaven he answered Whosoever shall humble himselfe like one of these little ones shall bee greatest there What taught he but Humility when hee said When thou art invited to a wedding take not the first place at the Table What can perswade a man sooner to avoyd Vaine-glory and to enrole himselfe amongst the servants of Humility than his moving example of the Pharisee and the Publican He made choise to bee conceived of a poore humble Mother and to bee borne not onely in no remarkable Country but in a Stable where beasts onely were witnesses of his Birth Thirty yeares hee lurked in the World in somuch that we read little or nothing of him in all that time save that when hee was twelve yeares old hee was found hearing interrogating and determining in the Temple About his thirtieth yeare hee sent not for Saint Iohn Baptist but came to him and demanded Baptisme at his hands wherein wee learne a profitable lesson for the proud who disdaine to visite their Inferiours Hee that came from Heaven scorn'd not to wait on earth on his owne servant and shall insolent men who live on earth and are made of earth scorne or grudge to give each other a visite He began his preaching in the same humble manner as John did Repent c. He intruded not into the Nuptials of the rich and lofty but of the meeke and penurious where Wine was wanting When hee understood they meant to make him a King hee flew into the Mountaines to conceale himselfe He being Lord of all things paid Tribute as a servant Hee travailed commonly on foot and when he was weary hungry and dry his lodging and fare were little better then that of the irrationall Creatures This is with ease proved for he complains himselfe that hee hath not a house to put his head in and wee finde that when hee was faint and thirsty hee had no other repose then on the ground nor no other drinke then that pure Water drawne for him by that purer Samaritan Hee elected humble Disciples and preached to them Humility Hee said not to them Be Omnipotent as I am Omnipotent Be Wise as I am Wise No no his Doctrine flew a lower pitch and was delivered in a more stooping phrase Be humble as I am humble He named himselfe the sonne of man oftner then the sonne of God and though hee was truly both in that he participated of both Natures yet hee chose his Denomination oftner from the inferiour nature then from the superiour Hee made his Entry into Hierusalem not like a Triumpher in a Chariot nor on a proud Courser with rich Trappings but on a sily Asse void of rich Furniture Being to depart out of this World that he might leave behind him an unequall'd and unheard of Example of Humilitie he wash'd his Disciples feet and wip'd them with the linnen cloth wherewith hee was girt Lastly every circumstance of his Passion rellisheth humilitie Did the Saints digresse a whit from this path trod by their Redeemer Surely no one proofe whereof we have in St. John Baptist whose thoughts deeds and words were all humble The Iewes enquiring of him whether hee were Christ or a Prophet he answered negatively to both whereas our Saviour protesteth that the Humane Race could never boast of a greater then he Hee assumed no higher a stile then I am the voice in the Wildernesse c. His Diet his Raiment and his Lodging were all contemptible How often did that faire recover'd Bankerupt of all Grace Mary Magdalene fall at our Saviours feet and wash them with her teares After the miraculous cure of the lame by Peter his speech was lowly not attributing the fact to himselfe but to the divine Vertue and the Invocation of the Name of JESUS When upon his entry into Caesaria Cornelius meeting him fell at his feet hee rais'd him up saying I am a man also as thou art Paul and Barnabas hearing that the Inhabitants of the City of Lystris concluded they were Gods and resolved to sacrifice to them cut their garments in pieces and running into the midst of the Throng cried out What mean you to do Wee are no other then poore Mortals as you are Yet with this their clamour could they hardly keep the superstitious people from
Schoole with the same countenance Malefactors looke on the Gibbet I cannot say whether his alacrity in receiving or his care in executing his Tutors commands were the greater The esteeme of the holy Prophets Apostles and Fathers of the Church had this Vertue in ought to advance it much in our esteeme God bound man to obedience presently after his creation in the state of innocencie the breach whereof hee severely punish'd Noah readily obey'd all Gods commands when the Floud was at hand The swift obedience of Abraham was admirable when without any delay at all he made haste to sacrifice his sonne and with his owne hands to let out his own blood It is worthy our observation that when ever the Children of Israel or any of Gods servants fought with or against his will they had accordingly good or bad successe God told that if hee willingly executed all his precepts hee would ever fixe the Throne of his Kingdome in Hierusalem but on the contrary if he did not perform them he would cut Israel from off the face of the earth Therefore saith S. Gregory is obedience better then sacrifice because by sacrifice anothers flesh but by obedience our own wils are subdued slaine and offerd up to the Almightie An obedient man saith Saint Bernard deferres not the execution of a command but straight prepares his eares to heare his Tongue to speake his feet to walke his hands to worke and all his thoughts are fix'd on the will of his Commander And in another place the same Father saith That there is no doubt but hee deserves more grace and favour who prepares and makes himselfe readie to receive a command then hee who willingly executes the same To this alludes that of Plantus Pater adsum Impera quid vis neque tibi ero in mora Neque latebrosè me abs tuo conspectu occultabo And that of Terence Facis ut te decet cum isthoc quod postulo impetro cum gratia Wee will conclude this point with that which Ovid speaks of Achilles Qui toties socios toties exterruit hostes Creditur annosum pertinuisse senem The next that presents it selfe to our view is Charity a Vertue that will usher any man to Gods presence who is ambitious of that greatest of Glories This Love is the King of all the passions of the soule and motions of the Heart he attracts all the rest to him and renders them conformable to himselfe His Essence consists in doing good works readily diligently frequently Let us heare that excellent Father Saint Augustine magnifie this Vertue In Charity saith hee the poore are rich and without it the rich are poor This sustaines us in adversitie tempers us in prosperity fortifies us against unruly passions and makes us joyfully do good works This was it made Abel delightfull in Sacrifice Noah secure in the Floud Abraham faithfull in his peregrination Moses merry amidst injuries and David meek in tribulation This made the fire a playfellow to the Children in the Furnace This caused Susanna to be chast above the temptations of man Anna after the use of man and the blessed Virgin without the knowledge of man This animated Paul to be free in arguing Peter humble in obeying the Christians gentle in their confessions and Christ himselfe prone to pardon sinners What shall I say should I speake with the tongues of men and Angels and want Charitie I were nothing it being the soule of Divine Knowledge the Vertue of Prophesie the salvation contained in the Sacraments the fruit of Faith the riches of the poore and the life of the dying He addes A man may have all the Sacraments and yet be evill but he cannot have Charitie and be so Againe Science if it be alone is puffed up with pride but because Charitie edifies she suffers not Knowledge to swell He calls it in another place the cement of soules and the societie of the Faithfull Saint Hierome commends it to us in these words I do not remember any one hath died an ill death who willingly perform'd the Works of Charity the reason is because hee hath many Intercessours and it is a thing impossible that the prayers of many should not penetrate the sacred eares of God Sweetly saith St. Gregory As many boughs spring from one root so many Vertues are deriv'd from Charitie alone in which not rooted no branch of goodnesse can flourish To these Suffrages I will adde that of Hugo O divine Charitie I know not how I should speake more in thy prayse then that thou didst draw God from Heaven to Earth and didst exalt Man from Earth to Heaven Needs must thy force be great since by thee God was so humbled and Man so exalted In so few yeares as fourteene a man can expect onely a propension to this and all other Vertues yet he that looks for no small progresse in this and most of the other for the practice of some are not incident to that tender age shall not have his expectation deceiv'd For his Charity I may truly averre that it was extensive not onely to his friends and acquaintance but to the poore to strangers and enemies also Some friends he chose both for support and ornament as appeares by his love and imitation of his truly good and great Guardian the Earle of Arundell Lord Marshall of England for no sooner had age ripened his judgement but hee elected him for the object of his affections and the modell of his actions A copy drawne from so faire an originall you will say could not prove deform'd Others hee chose for delight and all hee lov'd with a heart wherein Truth kept her Court Some he would to his power so suddenly secretly and cunningly relieve that they often times found their wants supplyed before they knew from whence the benefit came resembling in this a Physician who cures his patient unawares before he dreams of a recovery Hee approved that speech of Diogenes Manus ad amicos non complicatis digitis extendi oportere That a closed hand is not to bee reached out to a Friend Where he discovered a compleat worth he disdained not to be a suitor and first to make an offer of his service in imitation of a Husbandman who first tilleth and soweth the ground and then expects the fruit of his labour His word and the effect of it were as inseparable as heat and fire This true property of a Gentleman the Ancients decipher'd to us when they painted a Tongue bound fast to a Heart He was no importunate or severe Exactor of the returne of a love answerable in greatnesse to his owne wisely and nobly considering that hee is no true friend who is alwayes no more a friend then his friend is Marry I must confesse hee was exceedingly curious and cautious in his choice following in that the counsell of Bias the Philosopher Amicos sequere quos non pudeat elegisse Follow such friends whom to have chosen you need
and whither his beames cannot reach thither his warmth extends Though all cannot enjoy the honour of his presence all are sharers in the comfort of his benefits We are not more happy in living than this brave deceased Lord was unfortunate in immaturely dying under so gratious a King diligent in the search after desert and magnificent in rewarding it who in all probability upon a proofe made of his faith and merit might in him have raised his whilome great House to that Height from which Tyranny unmercifully threw it downe I say to the same Height not the same Titles As concerning the immaturity of his Death I willingly acknowledge the suddaine unexpectted deprivation of one so deare and so hopefull must needs be bitter and grievous to all those whom blood friendship or acquaintance had link'd to him Yet ought they not to grieve immoderately the sorrow of a Christian being by Christ himselfe bounded and confin'd Wee may deplore the absence of our departed friends but we must not too much bewayle their deaths because they are with God As not to feele sorrow in sad chances is to want sence so not to beare it with moderation is to lack understanding since it is fit that griefe should rather bewray a tender then a dejected minde The effects of our sorrow must not too long out-live the cause We moysten not the earth with pretious Waters they were distill'd for nobler ends either by their Odour to delight us or by their operation to preserve our health Our Teares are Waters of too high a price to be prodigally powred into the dust of any Graves But we unwisely court sorrow and as a Lover alwaies espyes something in his Mistris that in his opinion exalts her above her Sexe so wee labour to finde out causes for our excessive griefe and to prove our present losse unequall'd though indeed it have many paralells As the light handling of a Nettle makes it sting us but the hard griping of it prevents that harme so wee should not stroke and cherish our griefes but out of Divinity and Humanity compose a probe that may search them to the quicke Hee who heateth an Iron takes it not out by that part which the fire hath enflamed but by that end which remained without Nor should wee take our afflictions by the wrong end but if wee can finde any comfort to arise from them wee should discreetly lay hold on that Hee who comes into a Rosary findes every Rose guarded with innumerable Thorns yet he warily gathers the one without being pricked by the other The most bitter accident hath a graine of sweetnesse and Consolation in it which a wise man extracts and leaves the Gall behind To apply this out of the subitary death of this Noble Gentleman wee may cull many comforts True it is that Death is sayd to kill the old by Maturity and the young by Treachery and that unripe untimely ends are by all extreamly pittied but if we will harken to Reason issuing out of the mouths of the most profound Philosophers she will tell us that brevity of Life is to be preferred before longevity If we will give beliefe to Seneca he will assure us that Nature never bestowed a greater Benefit on man than shortnesse of Life it being so full of Cares Feares Dangers and Miseries that Death is become the Common wish of all men afflicted He who dyes soone should no more complaine than he whose Navigation in a rough troubled sea is quickly ended We account not those the best trees that have withstood the rage of many Winters but those who in the least time have borne the most fruit Not hee who playes longest but sweetliest on an Instrument is to bee Commended Compared with Eternity the longest and the shortest Life differ not Life is not a constant Fountaine but a fickle Floud that quickly rises and as suddainly falls Some have compared life to a Bird in a Childes hand which sometimes flies away before hee can well fasten his hold on it By the vertue of that Organ wherewith wee first behold the shine of the sun by the defect of the same we are brought into the darknesse and shadow of death It is so it is so Hee that built this faire Fabricke would have nothing stable and permanent in it but himselfe This goodly rationall subtle creature Man above the Stars themselves and next to God himselfe in Dignity able to penetrate into the deepest secrets of Nature to observe the motions of the heavens to compasse both heaven and Earth in a thought is onely immortall here below by succession Generation being as restlesse as corruption The mistocles rightly affirmes that no creature is so miserable as Man in that none but he knows the use of life yet when with great studie and industry hee hath attain'd to that knowledge he is by death depriv'd both of life and it together Age brings to us experience in one hand and Death in the other Iust were the teares and sweet was the Humanity saith Pliny of that Royall and youthful * Graecian who wept to thinke that not one of that glorious immense Army hee then commanded should survive one Age Such a gentle commiseration of humane frailty made Anselme thus cry out O durus Casus Heu quid perdit homo quid invenit perdi dit beat itudinem ad quam factus est invenit mortem ad quam factus non est O hard hap Alas What did man lose What did he finde Hee lost the blessednesse to which he was made and found death to which he was not made Shal then the valiant the learned have a harder fate then fools in so soon parting with those Crownes which Mars and Apollo have placed on their heads shall they so suddenly be deprived of the comfort of that faire Fame which with bloud and sweat with fasting and watching they have purchas'd Yes yes Caesar shall never terrifie the World again with his valour nor Cicero charme it with his eloquence The sword of the one and the pen of the other have now with their Lords the same eternall and unprofitable rest Alas alas Mans is as brittle as glasse but not so conserveable As he encreases in growth his life decreases As whether one sleeps or wakes in a ship under saile he is insensibly as it were carried away towards his intended Port so what ever we are doing we unawares sail towards the region of death Time deals with man Arithmetically He first addes to his Beauty and multiplies his Graces and then hee substracts all these and makes a long lasting Division between him and Nature It were strange if we should think wee shall never arrive there whither wee are ever going Plutarch writes of creatures in a certain part of the World which are borne in the morning are in their prime at noon grow aged towards the evening and are dead ere night Had these reasonable soules as wee have
they would have also the same passions They would after our womanish custome lament their untimely death who die before noon esteeme them happy that live till the evening and yet bewaile them too who depart at night Our fond whining were seasonable and to purpose if it could prevent the death of our friends or call them from the dead but it savours of a vain foolish arrogant ambition to desire they should be privileged and exempted from the fatall common condition of Mankinde since wee cannot be ignorant that God hath set down a period beyond which Nature her self shal not passe Nothing representeth better to us this world then a theater wheron one acts a King another a Lord a third a Magistrate others again play the base servil parts of fools messengers mutes Some of them stay stare strut look big a long time on the Stage others only shew themselvs without speaking one word as soon as they come on go off againe to conclude all have their Exits So we poore Mortals who are sent by our provident omnipotent Creator into this world to undergo several charges some wherof are honorable some ignominious have al an egresse out of this life aswel as an ingresse allotted us Some a long time be at this earthly Stage with the Majestie of a Tragedian others are fools sneak up down to the laughter of all men others again lie manacled bed-rid or which is the worst of Fates distracted Some no sooner enter but they go out again as did that child in the besieged depopulated desolate town of Saguntum who by an instinct of Nature no sooner put his head out of his Mothers wombe but he pull'd it in again as divining the approching destruction of his Citie and himself To continue the similitude As hee who acted an Emperor the Play once done is no better then he who represented a slave so the Grave as Horace saith equals all the King the Beggar Pertinently to this S. Ambrose We are born naked saith he and die naked there is no difference between the carcasses of the rich and the poore save that the former stinke worse through a repletion with excrements which surfets of delicious fare have left behinde This world is Deaths region about it as a triumpher over all flesh he rides his circuit Since then his cōming is so necessary so inevitable whether he comes in the dawne the noon or twilight of life let us bid him welcome What should hinder us to doe so I cannot tell since as there is no ship but in one Voyage or other dasheth not against some hidden rock or shelf so the most happy life is not free from infinite crosses and disasters Yet though every man knows the inconveniences perils of this life saith S. Austin and that he must once die yet all men seeke to shun and defer the houre of death not onely the heathen but they to who believe the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting To our reproch the holy Father spake this for though it be no shame for a Gentile to fear death whose onely scope of life is to see and be seen to know be known yet to a Christian it is whose aime and desire should be not onely to serve God faithfully here but also to raigne gloriously with him hereafter What is necessarily to be done a wiseman does voluntarily let us not therefore with the foolish Tyrant in Lucian either with tears prayers or bribes vainly think to perswade inexorable Death but wisely consider that wee are neither the first nor the last All have gone before and must follow us Nay not a man dies that hath not at the same time many to accompany him who arrive at the house of Death by severall waies Life is a due debt to God and Nature as long as we have it we enjoy a benefit when wee are deprived of it wee have no wrong Let us then daily render it backe to him that gave it since hee is a bad debtour who unwillingly payes As a Souldier the signe once given readily obeyes the command of his Generall and armed at all poynts followes him through all Dangers and faceth Death himselfe so must we chearefully observe the very Beck of our Heavenly Commander and through all miseries and destruction it selfe make our way to him Death should be no longer formidable to us since our Redeemer hath taken out his sting and hee is now no other then an old toothlesse Dragon It is a foolish thing to delight in sleep and abhorre Death sleepe being onely a continuall imitation of it Hee that seriously contemplates the priviledges and advantages that accompany a Christian Death will be in love with it It is the Refuge of the afflicted and the end of all earthly evils It takes not life from us but presents it to the custodie of Eternity It is not an end but an intermittance of life nor no longer a punishment but a Tribute and we are gainers by it As he who hath a long time layne in a darke dungeon is beyond imagination joyfull when he comes to the light so the soule when shee is freed from the vapours and clouds in which the flesh involv'd her is ravish'd with delight While shee is yet in the body though her ambition reach at Heaven yet is shee still clogg'd with that heavy masse of earth and cannot so nimbly and nobly operate as she would She may fitly be call'd the Guest and the Body the Host that makes her pay dearly for her clayie lodging For if a Magistrate be vexed and busied to subdue and pacifie the Rebels of a seditious Citie needs must the soule be troubled and afflicted who hath a harder office assign'd her which is to bridle and restrain the vitious inordinate dissolute affections which are inseparable adjuncts to her while shee hath a conjunction with the body The prerogatives of Death being so many and so certaine let us no longer condole the decease of this our compleatly noble Friend but congratulate his happy departure hence and his safe arrivall in the Imperiall Heaven When Proculus Iulius had reported to the Romans that hee had seene Romulus and that assuredly hee was a God a Wonder it was saith Livie how much they gave credit to this Tale and how greatly the misse of Romulus both amongst the Commons and Souldiers was by this beliefe of his Immortalitie digested Much more should our sorrow be mittigated by the confidence we have that this our blessed Friends soule is ascended to him from whom it descended When Brasse or Gold is melted to make the Statue of some great deserving Man wee say not that the Mettall is lost but dignified In like case when a Body is turn'd into its first Principles Dust and Ashes wee who have an eye to the glorious Resurrection of it thinke not it is utterly ruin'd but dissolv'd to be refin'd As in the Eclipse of the
Sunne or Moone wee nothing at all wonder or grieve because wee know either Starre will reassume its former splendour So wee who are conscious of the divine promise of Immortality should undismay'd believe the death of this our honour'd friend no other then a passage to a better eternal life I wil conclude with this double consolation to all his Honourers First that hee died with that matchlesse comfort The love of all men and heard yet living the judgement men would passe on him dead and was as it were present with Posterity Secondly that whereas here hee ranne a perpetuall hazard in that hee carried a heavenly Treasure in an Earthy Vessell hee now lives in an unmoved Securitie and that Treasure is enclosed in a Magazine to which the Heavens are Walls and the Angels Warders It is now high time to cover this sweet beautifull issue who with the Rose and Violet is lay'd downe to sleepe in the Bosome of his first Mother the Earth and shal enjoy though it may be not so suddaine yet as certaine a Spring as they and which is more an everlasting FINIS ELEGIES VPON THE DEATH OF THE LAST LORD STAFFORD AS over-rich-men find it harder farre T' employ what they possess then poore men are Such is the state of those who write of thee Whilst in that larger field displaid they see All objects which may helpe invention in They know not where to end where to begin And as into this Labyrinth they fall Loth to omit the least praise lose them all Then whilst some stile thee with the glorious name Of lineall heire to Mighty Buckingham And tels the greatnesse of thy line that springs From such as could raise up and throw downe Kings I le not looke backe but with the Indians runne To meete and court thee as my rising Sunne My offrings to thy mem'ry shall be seene In telling what thou wert or wouldst have beene Why say I wouldst when the most jealous eye Could find no want though in thine infancy Which some say promist much this I disdaine For where the gifts are promises are vaine Since in this noble youth who did not see The old mans wisdome young mans industrie An humble Majesty that could tell how To scorne a league with pride yet make it bow Whose courage was not in extreames like ours With ebs and flowes causd by the passions powers But was a constant ever grafted love To blessed goodnesse and the powers above Who though he joyed in this fraile mortall life As one whose soule had felt no ingor'd strife Nor labour'd with impatient hast like some To breake their prison ere the freedome come Yet when the ever seeing power had found So faire a flowre planted in barren ground Whose glorious beauties which that frame inspir'd Were envyed more then followed or admir'd Resolv'd to take what he had onely lent As giving him reward us punishment Then death was welcome and he so resign'd Not feeling griefe to leave nor feare to find That such his parting was as might be said Whilst he staid here he liv'd not but obey'd That happy call which all cleare soules expect Whose doubtfull states are chang'd to be elect Let then such friends as mourne the sad decay Of his great house in him the onely stay Lift up their wondring eyes and for him looke In Angels Quires not in a Heralds Booke Yet though the roote be taken hence to plant Where heavenly moisture it can never want There yet remaines a branch shall ever shine Engrafted in the noble Howards line Iohn Beaumount Vpon the Death of the most hopefull the Lord STAFFORD MVst then our Loves be short still Must we choose Not to enjoy onely admire and loose Must Axioms hence grow sadly understood And we thus see 'T is dangerous to be good So Bookes begunne are broken off and we Receive a fragment for an History And as 't were present wealth what was but debt Lose that of which we were not Owners yet But as in bookes that want the closing line We onely can conjecture and repine So must we heere too onely grieve and guesse And by our fancy make what 's wanting lesse Thus when rich webs are left unfinished The Spider doth supply them with her thred For tell me what addition can be wrought To him whose Youth was even the bound of thought Whose buddings did deserve the Robe whiles we In smoothnesse did the deeds of wrinckles see When his state-nonage might have beene thought fit To breake the custome and allow'd to sit His actions veil'd his age and could not stay For that which we call ripenesse and just day Others may waite the staffe and the gray-haire And call that Wisedome which is onely Feare Christen a coldnesse temp'rance and then boast Full and Ripe Vertue when all action 's lost This is not to be noble but be slacke A Stafford ne're was good by th' Almanacke He who thus stayes the season and expects Doth not gaine habits but disguise defects Heere Nature outstrips Culture He came try'd Strait of himselfe at first not rectifi'd Manners so pleasing and so handsome cast That still that overcame that was shewne last All mindes were captiv'd thence as if 't had beene The same to him to have beene lov'd and seene Had he not bin snatchd thus what drive hearts now Into his nets would have driven Cities too For these his Essaies which began to win Were but bright sparkes which shew'd the Mine within Rude draughts unto the picture things we may Stile the first beames of the encreasing day Which did but onely great discoveries bring As outward coolenesse shewes the inward spring Nor were his actions to content the sight Like Artists Pieces plac'd in a good light That they might take at distance and obtrude Something unto the eye that might delude His deeds did all most perfect then appeare When you observ'd view'd close and did stand neere For could there ought else spring from him whose line From which he sprung was rule discipline Whose Vertues were as Bookes before him set So that they did instruct who did beget Taught thence not to be powerfull but know Shewing he was their blood by living so For whereas some are by their bigge lippe knowne Others b' imprinted burning swords were showne So they by great deeds are from which bright fame Engraves free reputation on their name These are their Native markes and it hath bin The Staffords lot to have their signes within And though this firme Hereditary good Might boasted be as flowing with the blood Yet he nere graspt this stay But as those who Carry perfumes about them still scarce doe Themselves perceive them though anothers sense Sucke in th' exhaling odours so he thence Ne'r did perceive he carry'd this good smell But made new still by doing himselfe well T' embalme him then is vaine where spreading fame Supplies the want of spices where the Name It selfe preserving may for Ointments passe And he still