Selected quad for the lemma: fire_n
Text snippets containing the quad
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A23820
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Upon the late lamentable fire in London in an humble imitation of the most incomparable Mr. Cowley his Pindarick strain / by J.A. of Kings-Colledge in Camb., Fellow.
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Allison, John, 1644 or 5-1683.
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1667
(1667)
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Wing A1216; ESTC R7464
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4,386
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16
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Upon the late Lamentable Fire IN LONDON In an humble Imitation Of the most Incomparable Mr. Cowley his Pindarick Strain By J. A. of Kings-Colledge in Camb. Fellow Licensed the 1st of December 1666. Roger L'Estrange LONDON Printed for H. Brome over against the Dial in Little-Britain 1667. Upon the late LAMENTABLE ACCIDENT OF FIRE IN THE Famous CITY of LONDON After Mr. Cowley his Pindarick Strain I. AWake proud Man and take a view What miseries thy sins persew Thou who art unconcern'd in such a desperate state And only learn'st by what is lost And that so late Thy knowledge proves not worth thy cost Remember the dominion which by Heav'n In the estate of innocence was giv'n Think how the whole Creation still Mov'd by thy Father Adam's will The Natures of the Elements were known To be as harmless as his own Until in thee They did combine against a Deity And their Allegiance with thy innocence Became imperfect thence And ever since Thou who once the whole did'st sway Both theirs and thy own nature dost obey A Lord but lately yet a slave to day II. When the Almighty did repent Of what so lately he call'd good Over the infant World he sent An universal flood But when good Noah's off-spring many grew And Noah's seed were sinners too When they were ripe for punishment and all Their vice did for a signal judgment call The thirsty earth did gape again Impatient of an other flood of rain And opening swallow'd some alive because't had lookt in vain While Men in sin grew wiser yet And various in their wickedness God himself did think it fit Their punishment should be no less The Air it self which makes our breath Became an instrument of death If still offences of a deeper die Offend his purer eye He gives an other Judgment birth Fire comes from Heav'n or Fire from Earth Thus the four Elements take turns He Drowns he Swallows us alive he Plagues or else he Burns III. About those hours which silence keep To tempt the froward World to ease Just at the time when cloath'd with subtile air Guilty spirits use t' appear When the hard Students to their pillows creep All but the Aged Men that wake Who in the morn their slumbers take When Fire themselves are put to sleep Onely the thrifty lights that burn and Melancholick persons please Just then a message came Brought by a murmuring wind Not to every obvious flame Thousands of those it left behind And chose a treacherous heap of sparks Which buryed in their ashes lay Which when discover'd by some secret marks The Air fann'd the pale dust away What less than Heav'n could e're this message send The Embers glowing wak't and did attend IV. In an unusual tone The Embassie deliver'd was The teeming Air it self did groan Nor for its burden could it farther pass Their Dialects but to themselves unknown Onely by sad effects we see They did agree To execute the great Decree And all with the same secrecy conspire That as heav'n whisper'd to the Air the Air should to the Fire The drowsie Coals no sooner understand The purport of their large command And that th'officious wind did there attend It s needful aid to lend But suddenly they seek out The work they were to go about And sparks which had before unactive lain Each sep'rate had his portion tane Though scatter'd for a while design'd to meet again V. Thus far contriv'd the Wary Fire Thinking how many 't would undoe Fearing their just complaint And the perpetual restraint Men would hereafter put it to It winck't as one would think 't would fain Have slept again Had not the cruel wind rose higher Which forc'd the drooping Coals revive To save themselves alive Thus without fresh supply of food Not able to subsist Much lesse resist A breath by which they were so rudely kist They seiz'd a neighbouring stack of wood Which strait into one horrid flame did turn Not as it stood design'd to burn Thus while each other they oppose Poor mortals trace the mighty foes By the vast desolations each makes where e're he goes VI. Whether dispos'd by too much â—hlegm Or Melancholick that o're loads the heart That turns sound sleep to an unruly dream And makes the Body with Convulsions start Or whether yet so much belov'd As by his waiting Genius mov'd Suggesting Fire to be his Phancies theam That that might work and he might wake and all might seem A Sympathetick Dream I know not but the Man that own'd the wood did wake A seasonable time when life 's at stake And so amaz'd did hardly know Whether he still did Dream or no His suddain and surprising fear That would not give him time to arm Himself with thoughts against his harm Quickly turn'd into despair Grief for what 's lost afflicts his mind Glad he could his Neighbours call Then love creeps in to what was left behind And hopes of saving something though not all His passions thus maintaining mutual strife Left him just wit enough to save his life VII Now uncontroul'd the greedy Fire Shews its unlimited desire And though not high enough for sight Makes all the neighbouring tops of houses bright Like the warm Guest That takes his journey from the blooming East Suppos'd himself t' appear When yet beneath our Hemisphere By those who his reflected rayes mistake And think the Sun and day together break The Watches now in every street Eccho the dreadful noyse of Fire Which calls with the same energy from bed As the last Trumpet shall the dead And bids them all draw nigher The shiv'ring multitudes in bodies meet And some it raiseth by its light and others by its heat VIII Those sluggards that did longest stay Haste to seek the danger out Scarce believing what they heard As truths at distance often turn to doubt And still they went and still they feard Then blam'd their own delay And wonder'd in their way To meet so many up at work before 't was break of day Now first the people understood The ill consequence of neighbour-hood Against a Fires impetuous force For wise though weak defendants better know To tire a lawless over-bearing foe By tedious marches than by open force But what hope 's left this enemy to subdue Whose forces at each house renew While one another they undoe Whose houses ev'n too many were and they themselves too few IX Now all the foolish Engines play And all the water they convey Will not half its thirst allay So far they are from lessening its heat They serve but to digest its meat And still the surly flame doth fiercer hiss By an Antiperistasis And with such ease defi'd The smaller Conduits in full pride Towards his mortal foe he did in triumph ride Now London thy astonisht Thame Then which no River lowder sung by Fame For who knows which most honour doth confer Shee on thee or thou on her Having dispatcht part of her watry train As tribute to the
Usurping Ocean Was glad to spare some water more To call them back again Shrinking her head from the affrighted Shore Fearing before her Flood return'd Her darling City would be burn'd X. When they drew nigh the folding Flames Salute and take their prospect o're the Thames When lo upon the further side They a spacious Town espi'd Hither they bend whose rage admits no stay From any thing to which there seem'd a way To find out that with eager pace They did the flying peoples footsteps trace Who shun'd their scorching face And seiz'd the wondrous street which stood Trampling upon the conquer'd Flood Thus busie man intends Security ' gainst what may come amiss Though inconveniencie depends On what most profitable is So who endeavoured to provide Against the damage of a swelling tide Were almost by a second Foe undone By that which serv'd to fetter one When glad they would have set the River free T' have swallow'd up the greater Enemy Had not the Fire at those same Ruines staid VVhich though so many years ago he knew himself had made XI Though stopt in crossing o're the foaming Tide It gain'd along the River side And roar'd while yet the water did but glide Here it found the richest prey For safety was remov'd away VVares whose great worth and weight prolong'd their stay The persecuting Flame the while grew swifter far than they By this time the vast hollow deep VVas full yet did its limits keep Vast piles of Merchandize against the Flood Even with its surface stood Of such as the best foreign Coast Or rich America can boast Their Owners watch them and did pray As kind a stream as brought them there would carry them away When the expected Flood was come Some untoucht it rescu'd some Half destroy'd were quencht and found within her watry womb Those which it could no way save Had their ashes in a wave With reverence transported home XII It s fury still increas'd and all Houses and Churches undistinguisht fall Resolv'd to know no limits now less than a City wall Still the fuel was remov'd And still the Fire its force improv'd Whose eager and devouring heat Into the heart of th' City eat Whose appetite no industry could quell And when their costly Wares were gone The place they us'd to traffique on Gresham's famous building fell The Fire was now so monstrous grown It knew no proper fuel of its own And scarce distinguisht between Wood and Stone The advantage Stone had over Wood Was only that it stood And what the Founders Majesty had wore Now only counterfeited well what was it self before As bodies in the dry Egyptian sand Upright in their Repositories stand Preserv'd by warmth and kept from Air Fresh as when living and as fair But once expos'd to outward touch Soon betray their Age too much By crumbling into-dust and our burnt Stone is such XIII Now with a holy passion fir'd I have vow'd some time to meditate And think Great Paul's upon thy Fate Whom all the world not only we admir'd Whose lofty and unequall'd Spire Suffer'd once before by Fire But that was from an angry Lightnings flame Yet howsoe're it came It were absurd to think it were not so For what could reach thee from below Thou who for ought I see Might'st for ever have been free From any Culinary Fire Had it not with Pains rose higher Only to stare and to admire Till it such a pitch had gain'd That it Elementary grew Such as Aristotle only faign'd Oh had it been as harmless too Now Air so much with Fire did share That it requir'd an equal care As 't did from Fire before to keep thee now from Air. XIV The circling Flames had taken in All that did about thee stand Before they durst with thee begin Whose Structure did a reverend fear command As by a subtile Enemy Places of strength are first survey'd Who the weakest place descry Before their Batteries are play'd So it may of thee be said For that to which the Fire did first draw near Doth yet untoucht appear Thy sacred Altar which could ne're endure Any Fire that was impure Now not thy strong foundation On Faith defended by Tradition Of Books whose worth and number was so great They will hereafter silence the Vaticans like Fate Not thy pious Prince his care To have made thee once more fair Could support thy aged head No though thou wert a sacred place How foolish then were they who thought The brutish Element was better taught Then they who did themselves thy glory most deface Thus when thy smaller children now were dead Thou thy self didst soon decline into thy humble bed XV. When great Pauls was seen to fall People bid adieu to all And what hopes they had resign'd For they had little reason sure To think any thing secure When they cast their eyes behind Still it runs and still it thrives Down to the City Gates it drives One of which was still possest By those who are opprest With Principal and Interest Th' other contain'd a desperate crew Of Thieves and Murderers too Their Goalers gave them timely liberty Where they imprison'd use to be The Fire it self went free To these a welcom Guest And only by such miscreants blest Thus on the conquest when the Triumph ends A General Goal-delivery attends Soon after this whether with eating tir'd VVhen all the City now was fir'd In its own ashes it expir'd How I can't tell I only know It begun strangely and it ended so FINIS