should so soone downe beat So great a castle And having for her house Got the streight cloyster of a wreched mouse As basest men that have not what to eate Nor enjoy ought doe farre more hate the great Then they who good repos'd estates possesse This Soule late taught that great things might by lesse Be slain to gallant mischiefe doth herselfe addresse XXXIX Natures great master-peece an Elephant The onely harmlesse great thing the giant Of beasts who thought no more had gone to make one wise But to be just and thankfull loth to offend Yet nature hath given him no knees to bend Himselfe he up-props on himselfe relies And foe to none suspects no enemies Still sleeping stood vex't not his fantasie Blacke dreames like an unbent bow carelesly His sinewy Proboscis did remisly lie XL. In which as in a gallery this mouse Walk'd and surveid the roomes of this vast house And to the braine the soules bed chamber went And gnaw'd the life cords there Like a whole towne Cleane undermin'd the slaine beast tumbled downe With him the murtherer dies whom envy sent To kill not scape for only hee that ment To die did ever kill a man of better roome And thus he made his foe his prey and tombe Who cares not to turn back may any whither come XLI Next hous'd this Soule a Wolves yet unborne whelp Till the best midwife Nature gave it helpe To issue It could kill as soone as goe Abel as white and milde as his sheepe were Who in that trade of Church and kingdomes there Was the first type was still infested soe With this wolfe that it bred his losse and woe And yet his bitch his sentinell attends The flocke so neere so well warnes and defends That the wolfe hopelesse else to corrupt her intends XLII Hee tooke a course which since succesfully Great men have often taken to espie The counsels or to breake the plots of foes To Abels tent he stealeth in the darke On whose skirts the bitch slept ere she could barke Attach'd her with streight gripes yet hee call'd those Embracements of love to loves worke he goes Where deeds move more then words nor doth she show Nor much resist nor needs hee streighten so His prey for were shee loose she would not barke nor goe XLIII Hee hath engag'd her his she wholy bides Who not her owne none others secrets hides If to the flocke he come and Abell there She faines hoarse barkings but she biteth not Her faith is quite but not her love forgot At last a trap of which some every where Abell had plac'd ends all his losse and feare By the Wolves death and now just time it was That a quicke soule should give life to that masse Of blood in Abels bitch and thither this did passe XLIV Some have their wives their sisters some begot But in the lives of Emperours you shall not Reade of a lust the which may equall this This wolfe begot himselfe and finished What he began alive when hee was dead Sonne to himselfe and father too hee is A ridling lust for which Schoolemen would misse A proper name The whelpe of both these lay In Abels tent and with soft Moaba His sister being yong it us'd to sport and play XLV Hee soone for her too harsh and churlish grew And Abell the dam dead would use this new For the field being of two kindes made He as his dam from sheepe drove wolves away And as his Sire he made them his owne prey Five yeares he liv'd and cosened with his trade Then hopelesse that his faults were hid betraid Himselfe by flight and by all followed From dogges a wolfe from wolves a dogge he fled And like a spie to both sides false he perished XLVI It quickned next a toyfull Ape and so Gamesome it was that it might freely goe From tent to tent and with the children play His organs now so like theirs hee doth finde That why he cannot laugh and speake his minde He wonders Much with all most he doth stay With Adams fift daughter Siphatecia Doth gaze on her and where she passeth passe Gathers her fruits and tumbles on the grasse And wisest of that kinde the first true lover was XLVII He was the first that more desir'd to have One then another first that ere did crave Love by mute signes and had no power to speake First that could make love faces or could doe The valters sombersalts or us'd to wooe With hoiting gambolls his owne bones to breake To make his mistresse merry or to wreake Her anger on himselfe Sinnes against kinde They easily doe that can let feed their minde With outward beauty beauty they in boyes and beasts do find XLVIII By this misled too low things men have prov'd And too high beasts and angels have beene lov'd This Ape though else through-vaine in this was wise He reach'd at things too high but open way There was and he knew not she would say nay His toyes prevaile not likelier meanes he tries He gazeth on her face with teare-shot eyes And up lifts subtly with his russet pawe Her kidskinne apron without feare or awe Of nature nature hath no gaole though shee hath law XLIX First she was silly and knew not what he ment That vertue by his touches chaft and spent Succeeds an itchie warmth that melts her quite She knew not first now cares not what he doth And willing halfe and more more then halfe Tooth She neither puls nor pushes but outright Now cries and now repents when Tethelemite Her brother entred and a great stone threw After the Ape who thus prevented flew This house thus batter'd downe the Soule possest a new L. And whether by this change she lose or win She comes out next where the Ape would have gone in Adam and Eve had mingled bloods and now Like Chimiques equall fires her temperate wombe Had stew'd and form'd it and part did become A spungie liver that did richly allow Like a free conduit on a high hils brow Life keeping moisture unto every part Part hardned it selfe to a thicker heart Whose busie furnaces lifes spirits do impart LI. Another part became the well of sense The tender well arm'd feeling braine from whence Those sinowie strings which do our bodies tie Are raveld out and fast there by one end Did this Soule limbes these limbes a soule attend And now they joyn'd keeping some quality Of every past shape she knew treachery Rapine deceit and lust and ills enow To be a woman Themech she is now Sister and wife to Caine Caine that first did plow LII Who ere thou beest that read'st this sullen Writ Which just so much courts thee as thou dost it Let me arrest thy thoughts wonder with mee Why plowing building ruling and the rest Or most of those arts whence our lives are blest By cursed Cains race invented be And blest Seth vext us with Astronomie Ther 's nothing simply good nor ill alone Of every quality
Wardship to thine Angels be Native in heavens faire Palaces Where we shall be but denizen'd by thee As th' earth conceiving by the Sunne Yeelds faire diversitie Yet never knowes which course that light doth run So let mee study that mine actions bee Worthy their sight though blinde in how they see VII The Patriarches And let thy Patriarches Desire Those great Grandfathers of thy Church which saw More in the cloud then wee in fire Whom Nature clear'd more then us grace and law And now in Heaven still pray that wee May use our new helpes right Be sanctified and fructifie in mee Let not my minde be blinder by more light Nor Faith by Reason added lose her sight VIII The Prophets Thy Eagle-sighted Prophets too Which were thy Churches Organs and did sound That harmony which made of two One law and did unite but not confound Those heavenly Poëts which did see Thy will and it expresse In rythmique feet in common pray for mee That I by them excuse not my excesse In seeking secrets or Poëtiquenesse IX The Apostles And thy illustrious Zodiacke Of twelve Apostles which ingirt this All From whom whosoever do not take Their light to darke deep pits throw downe and fall As through their prayers thou'hast let mee know That their bookes are divine May they pray still and be heard that I goe Th' old broad way in applying O decline Mee when my comment would make thy word mine X. The Martyrs And since thou so desirously Did'st long to die that long before thou could'st And long since thou no more couldst dye Thou in thy scatter'd mystique body wouldst In Abel dye and ever since In thine let their blood come To begge for us a discreet patience Of death or of worse life for Oh to some Not to be Martyrs is a martyrdome XI The Confessors Therefore with thee triumpheth there A Virgin Squadron of white Confessors Whose bloods betroth'd not marryed were Tender'd not taken by those Ravishers They know and pray that wee may know In every Christian Hourly tempestuous persecutions grow Tentations martyr us alive A man Is to himselfe a Dioclesian XII The Virgins The cold white snowie Nunnery Which as thy mother their high Abbesse sent Their bodies backe againe to thee As thou hadst lent them cleane and innocent Though they have not obtain'd of thee That or thy Church or I Should keep as they our first integrity Divorce thou sinne in us or bid it die And call chast widowhead Virginitie XIII The Doctors Thy sacred Academie above Of Doctors whose paines have unclasp'd and taught Both bookes of life to us for love To know thy Scriptures tells us we are wrought In thy other booke pray for us there That what they have misdone Or mis-said wee to that may not adhere Their zeale may be our sinne Lord let us runne Meane waies and call them stars but not the Sunne XIV And whil'st this universall Quire That Church in triumph this in warfare here Warm'd with one all-partaking fire Of love that none be lost which cost thee deare Prayes ceaslesly ' and thou hearken too Since to be gratious Our taske is treble to pray beare and doe Heare this prayer Lord O Lord deliver us FroÌ„ trusting in those prayers though powr'd out thus XV. From being anxious or secure Dead clods of sadnesse or light squibs of mirth From thinking that great courts immure All or no hâ—ppinesse or that this earth Is only for our prison fram'd Or that thou art covetous To them whom thou lovest or that they are maim'd From reaching this worlds sweet who seek thee thus With all their might Good Lord deliver us XVI From needing danger to bee good From owing thee yesterdaies teares to day From trusting so much to thy blood That in that hope wee wound our soule away From bribing thee with Almes to excuse Some sinne more burdenous From light affecting in religion newes From thinking us all soule neglecting thus Our mutuall duties Lord deliver us XVII From tempting Satan to tempt us By our connivence or slack companie From measuring ill by vitious Neglecting to choake sins spawne Vanitie From indiscreet humilitie Which might be scandalous And cast reproach on Christianitie From being spies or to spies pervious From thirst or scorne of flame deliver us XVIII Deliver us for thy descent Into the Virgin whose wombe was a place Of midle kind and thou being sent To'ungratious us staid'st at her full of grace And through thy poore birth where first thou Glorifiedst Povertie And yet soone after riches didst allow By accepting Kings gifts in the Epiphanie Deliver and make us to both waies free XIX And though that bitter agonie Which is still the agonie of pious wits Disputing what distorted thee And interrupted evennesse with fits And through thy free confession Though thereby they were then Made blind so that thou might'st from theÌ„ have gone Good Lord deliver us and teach us when Wee may not and we may blinde unjust men XX. Through thy submitting all to blowes Thy face thy clothes to spoile thy fame to scorne All waies which rage or Justice knowes And by which thou could'st shew that thou wast born And through thy gallant humblenesse Which thou in death did'st shew Dying before thy soule they could expresse Deliver us from death by dying so To this world ere this world doe bid us goe XXI When senses which thy souldiers are Wee arme against thee and they fight for sinne When want sent but to tame doth warre And worke despaire a breach to enter in When plenty Gods image and seale Makes us Idolatrous And love it not him whom it should reveale When wee are mov'd to seeme religious Only to vent wit Lord deliver us XXII In Churches when the'infirmitie Of him which speakes diminishes the Word When Magistrates doe mis-apply To us as we judge lay or ghostly sword When plague which is thine Angell raignes Or wars thy Champions swaie When Heresie thy second deluge gaines In th' houre of death the'Eve of last judgement day Deliver us from the sinister way XXIII Heare us O heare us Lord to thee A sinner is more musique when he prayes Then spheares or Angels praises bee In Panegyrique Allelujaes Heare us for till thou heare us Lord We know not what to say Thine eare to'our sighes teares thoughts gives voice and word O Thou who Satan heard'st in Jobs sicke day Heare thy selfe now for thou in us dost pray XXIV That wee may change to evennesse This intermitting aguish Pietie That snatching cramps of wickednesse And Apoplexies of fast sin may die That musique of thy promises Not threats in Thunder may Awaken us to our just offices What in thy booke thou dost or creatures say That we may heare Lord heare us when wee pray XXV That our eares sicknesse wee may cure And rectifie those Labyrinths aright That wee by harkning not procure Our praise nor others dispraise so invite That wee get not a slipperinesse And senslesly decline
comparison The onely measure is and judge opinion HOLY SONNETS La Corona 1. DEigne at my hands this crown of prayer and praise Weav'd in my low devout melancholie Thou which of good hast yea art treasury All changing unchang'd Antient of dayes But doe not with a vile crowne of fraile bayes Reward my muses white sincerity But what thy thorny crowne gain'd that give mee A crowne of Glory which doth flower alwayes The ends crowne our workes but thou crown'st our ends For at our end begins our endlesse rest The first last end now zealously possest With a strong sober thirst my soule attends 'T is time that heart and voice be lifted high Salvation to all that will is nigh ANNVNCIATION 2 Salvation to all that will is nigh That All which alwayes is All every where Which cannot sinne and yet all sinnes must beare Which cannot die yet cannot chuse but die Loe faithfull Virgin yeelds himselfe to lye In prison in thy wombe and though he there Can take no sinne nor thou give yet he'will weare Taken from thence flesh which deaths force may trie Ere by the spheares time was created thou Wast in his minde who is thy Sonne and Brother Whom thou conceiv'st conceiv'd yea thou art now Thy Makers maker and thy Fathers mother Thou'hast light in darke and shutst in little roome Immensity cloysterd in thy deare wombe NATIVITIE 3 Immensitie cloysterd in thy deare wombe Now leaves his welbelov'd imprisonment There he hath made himselfe to his intent Weake enough now into our world to come But Oh for thee for him hath th'Inne no roome Yet lay him in this stall and from the Orient Starres and wisemen will travell to prevent Th' effects of Herods jealous generall doome Seest thou my Soule with thy faiths eyes how he Which fils all place yet none holds him doth lye Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high That would have need to be pittied by thee Kisse him and with him into Egypt goe With his kinde mother who partakes thy woe TEMPLE 4 With his kinde mother who partakes thy woe Ioseph turne backe see where your child doth sit Blowing yea blowing out those sparks of wit Which himselfe on the Doctors did bestow The Word but lately could not speake and loe It sodenly speakes wonders whence comes it That all which was and all which should be writ A shallow seeming child should deeply know His Godhead was not soule to his manhood Nor had time mellowed him to this ripenesse But as for one which hath a long taske 'T is good With the Sunne to beginne his businesse He in his ages morning thus began By miracles exceeding power of man CRVCIFYING 5 By miracles exceeding power of man Hee faith in some envie in some begat For what weake spirits admire ambitious hate In both affections many to him ran But Oh! the worst are most they will and can Alas and do unto the immaculate Whose creature Fate is now prescribe a Fate Measuring selfe-lifes infinity to span Nay to an inch loe where condemned hee Beares his owne crosse with paine yet by and by When it beares him he must beare more and die Now thou art lifted up draw mee to thee And at thy death giving such liberall dole Moyst with one drop of thy blood my dry soule RESVRRECTION 6 Moyst with one drop of thy blood my dry soule Shall though she now be in extreme degree Too stony hard and yet too fleshly bee Freed by that drop from being starv'd hard or foule And life by this death abled shall controule Death whom thy death slue nor shall to mee Feare of first or last death bring miserie If in thy little booke my name thou enroule Flesh in that long sleep is not putrified But made that there of which and for which 't was Nor can by other meanes be glorified May then sinnes sleep and death soone from me passe That wak't from both I againe risen may Salute the last and everlasting day ASCENTION 7 Salute the last and everlasting day Joy at the uprising of this Sunne and Sonne Yee whose just teares or tribulation Have purely washt or burnt your drossie clay Behold the Highest parting hence away Lightens the darke clouds which hee treads upon Nor doth hee by ascending show alone But first hee and hee first enters the way O strong Ramme which hast batter'd heaven for mee Mild lambe which with thy blood hast mark'd the path Bright torch which shin'st that I the way may see Oh with thy owne blood quench thy owne just wrath And if thy holy Spirit my Muse did raise Deigne at my hands this crowne of prayer and praise Holy Sonnets I. AS due by many titles I resigne My selfe to thee O God first I was made By thee and for thee and when I was decay'd Thy blood bought that the which before was thine I am thy sonne made with thy selfe to shine Thy servant whose paines thou hast still repaid Thy sheepe thine Image and till I betray'd My selfe a temple of thy Spirit divine Why doth the devill then usurpe on mee Why doth he steale nay ravish that 's thy right Except thou rise and for thine owne worke fight Oh I shall soone despaire when I doe see That thou lov'st mankind well yet wilt'not chuse me And Satan hates mee yet is loth to lose mee II. Oh my blacke Soule now thou art summoned By sicknesse deaths herald and champion Thou art like a pilgrim which abroad hath done Treason and durst not turne to whence hee is fled Or like a thiefe which till deaths doome be read Wisheth himselfe delivered from prison But damn'd and hal'd to execution Wisheth that still he might be imprisoned Yet grace if thou repent thou canst not lacke But who shall give thee that grace to beginne Oh make thy selfe with holy mourning blacke And red with blushing as thou art with sinne Or wash thee in Christs blood which hath this might That being red it dyes red soules to white III. This is my playes last scene here heavens appoint My pilgrimages last mile and my race Idly yet quickly runne hath this last pace My spans last inch my minutes latest point And gluttonous death will instantly unjoynt My body and my soule and I shall sleepe a space But my'ever-waking part shall see that face Whose feare already shakes my every joynt Then as my soule to'heaven her first seate takes flight And earth borne body in the earth shall dwell So fall my sinnes that all may have their right To where they' are bred and would presse me to hell Impute me righteous thus purg'd of evill For thus I leave the world the flesh the devill IV. At the round earths imagin'd corners blow Your trumpets Angells and arise arise From death you numberlesse infinities Of soules and to your scattred bodies goe All whom the flood did and fire shall o'erthrow All whom warre death age agues tyrannies Despaire law chance hath slaine and you whose eyes Shall behold God and
commend Who knowes thy destiny when thou hast done Perchance her Cabinet may harbour thee Whither all noble ambitious wits doe runne A nest almost as full of Good as shee When thou art there if any whom wee know Were sav'd before and did that heaven partake When she revolves his papers marke what show Of favour she alone to them doth make Marke if to get them she o'r skip the rest Marke if shee read them twice or kisse the name Marke if she doe the same that they protest Marke if she marke whether her woman came Marke if slight things be'objected and o'r blowne Marke if her oathes against him be not still Reserv'd and that shee grieves she 's not her owne And chides the doctrine that denies Freewill Ibid thee not doe this to be my spie Nor to make my selfe her familiar But so much I doe love her choyce that I Would faine love him that shall be lov'd of her To the Countesse of Bedford HOnour is so sublime perfection And so refinde that when God was alone And creaturelesse at first himselfe had none But as of the elements these which wee tread Produce all things with which wee'are joy'd or fed And those are barren both above our head So from low persons doth all honour flow Kings whom they would have honoured to us show And but direct our honour not bestow For when from herbs the pure part must be wonne From grosse by Stilling this is better done By despis'd dung then by the fire or Sunne Care not then Madame ' how low your prayses lye In labourers balads oft more piety God findes then in Te Deums melodie And ordinance rais'd on Towers so many mile Send not their voice nor last so long a while As fires from th' earths low vaults in Sicil Isle Should I say I liv'd darker then were true Your radiation can all clouds subdue But one 't is best light to contemplate you You for whose body God made better clay Or tooke Soules stuffe such as shall late decay Or such as needs small change at the last day This as an Amber drop enwraps a Bee Covering discovers your quicke Soule that we May in your through-shine front our hearts thoughts see You teach though wee learne not a thing unknowne To our late times the use of specular stone Through which all things within without were shown Of such were Temples so and such you are Beeing and seeming is your equall care And vertues whole summe is but know and dare But as our Soules of growth and Soules of sense Have birthright of our reasons Soule yet hence They fly not from that nor seeke presidence Natures first lesson so discretion Must not grudge zeale a place nor yet keepe none Not banish it selfe nor religion Discretion is a wisemans Soule and so Religion is a Christians and you know How these are one her yea is not her no. Nor may we hope to sodder still and knit These two and dare to breake them nor must wit Be colleague to religion but be it In those poore types of God round circles so Religions tipes the peeclesse centers flow And are in all the lines which alwayes goe If either ever wrought in you alone Or principally then religion Wrought your ends and your wayes discretion Goe thither stil goe the same way you went Who so would change do covet or repent Neither can reach you great and innocent To the Countesse of Bedford Begun in France but never perfected THough I be dead and buried yet I have Living in you Court enough in my grave As oft as there I thinke my selfe to bee So many resurrections waken mee That thankfullnesse your favours have forgot In mee embalmes mee that I doe not rot This season as'tis Easter as'tis spring Must both to growth and to confession bring My thoughts dispos'd unto your influence so These verses bud so these confessions grow First I confesse I have to others lent Your stock and over prodigally spent Your treasure for since I had never knowne Vertue or beautie but as they are growne In you I should not thinke or say they shine So as I have in any other Mine Next I confesse this my confession For 't is some fault thus much to touch upon Your praise to you where half rights seeme too much And make your minds sincere complexion blush Next I confesse my'impenitence for I Can scarce repent my first fault since thereby Remote low Spirits which shall ne'r read you May in lesse lessons finde enough to doe By studying copies not Originals Desunt caetera A Letter to the Lady Carey and Mrs Essex Riche From Amyens MADAME HEre where by All All Saints invoked are 'T were too much schisme to be singular And ' gainst a practise generall to warre Yet turning to Saincts should my'humility To other Sainct then you directed bee That were to make my schisme heresie Nor would I be a Convertite so cold As not to tell it If this be too bold Pardons are in this market cheaply sold Where because Faith is in too low degree I thought it some Apostleship in mee To speake things which by faith alone I see That is of you who is a firmament Of virtues where no one is growne or spent They' are your materials not your ornament Others whom wee call vertuous are not so In their whole substance but their vertues grow But in their humours and at seasons show For when through tastlesse flat humilitie In dow bak'd men some harmelessenes we see 'T is but his flegme that 's Vertuous and not Hee Soe is the Blood sometimes who ever ran To danger unimportun'd he was than No better then a sanguine Vertuous man So cloysterall men who in pretence of feare All contributions to this life forbeare Have Vertue in Melancholy and only there Spirituall Cholerique Crytiques which in all Religions find faults and forgive no fall Have through their zeale Vertue but in their Gall. We are thus but parcel guilt to Gold we' are growne When Vertue is our Soules complexion Who knowes his Vertues name or place hath none Vertue'is but aguish when 't is severall By occasion wak'd and circumstantiall True vertue is Soule Alwaies in all deeds All. This Vertue thinking to give dignitie To your soule found there no infirmitie For your soule was as good Vertue as shee Shee therefore wrought upon that part of you Which is scarce lesse then soule as she could do And so hath made your beauty Vertue too Hence comes it that your Beauty wounds not hearts As Others with prophane and sensuall Darts But as an influence vertuous thoughts imparts But if such friends by the honor of your sight Grow capable of this so great a light As to partake your vertues and their might What must I thinke that influence must doe Where it findes sympathie and matter too Vertue and beauty of the same stuffe as you Which is your noble worthie sister shee Of whom if what in
lips eyes thighs differ from thy two But so as thine from one another doe And oh no more the likenesse being such Why should they not alike in all parts touch Hand to strange hand lippe to lippe none denies Why should they brest to brest or thighs to thighs Likenesse begets such strange selfe flatterie That touching my selfe all seemes done to thee My selfe I embrace and mine owne hands I kisse And amorously thanke my selfe for this Me in my glasse I call thee But alas When I would kisse teares dimme mine eyes and glasse O cure this loving madnesse and restore Me to mee shee my halfe my all my more So may thy cheekes red outweare scarlet dye And their white whitenesse of the Galaxy So may thy mighty amazing beauty move Envy ' in all women and in all men love And so be change and sicknesse farre from thee As thou by comming neere keep'st them from me The Annuntiation and Passion TAmely fraile body'abstaine to day to day My soule eates twice Christ hither and away She sees him man so like God made in this That of them both a circle embleme is Whose first and last concurre this doubtfull day Of feast or fast Christ came and went away Shee sees him nothing twice at once who'is all Shee sees a Cedar plant it selfe and fall Her Maker put to making and the head Of life at once not yet alive yet dead She sees at once the virgin mother stay Reclus'd at home Publique at Golgotha Sad and rejoyc'd shee 's seen at once and seen At almost fiftie and at scarce fifteene At once a Sonne is promis'd her and gone Gabriell gives Christ to her He her to John Not fully a mother Shee 's in Orbitie At once receiver and the legacie All this and all betweene this day hath showne Th' Abridgement of Christs story which makes one As in plaine Maps the furthest West is East Of the'Angels Ave ' and Consummatum est How well the Church Gods Court of faculties Deales in some times and seldome joyning these As by the selfe-fix'd Pole wee never doe Direct our course but the next starre thereto Which showes where the'other is and which we say Because it strayes not farre doth never stray So God by his Church neerest to him wee know And stand firme if wee by her motion goe His Spirit as his fiery Pillar doth Leade and his Church as cloud to one end both This Church by letting those daies joyne hath shown Death and conception in mankinde is one Or 't was in him the same humility That he would be a man and leave to be Or as creation he hath made as God With the last judgement but one period His imitating Spouse would joyne in one Manhoods extremes He shall come he is gone Or as though one blood drop which thence did fall Accepted would have serv'd he yet shed all So though the least of his paines deeds or words Would busie a life she all this day affords This treasure then in grosse my Soule uplay And in my life retaile it every day Goodfriday 1613. Riding Westward LEt mans Soule be a Spheare and then in this The intelligence that moves devotion is And as the other Spheares by being growne Subject to forraigne motion lose their owne And being by others hurried every day Scarce in a yeare their naturall forme obey Pleasure or businesse so our Soules admit For their first mover and are whirld by it Hence is 't that I am carryed towards the West This day whē my Soules forme bends toward the East There I should see a Sunne by rising set And by that setting endlesse day beget But that Christ on this Crosse did rise and fall Sinne had eternally benighted all Yet dare I'almost be glad I do not see That spectacle of too much weight for mee Who sees Gods face that is selfe life must dye What a death were it then to see God dye It made his owne Lieutenant Nature shrinke It made his footstoole crack and the Sunne winke Could I behold those hands which span the Poles And tune all spheares at once peirc'd with those holes Could I behold that endlesse height which is Zenith to us and our Antipodes Humbled below us or that blood which is The seat of all our Soules if not of his Made durt of dust or that flesh which was worne By God for his apparell rag'd and torne If on these things I durst not looke durst I Upon his miserable mother cast mine eye Who was Gods partner here and furnish'd thus Halfe of that Sacrifice which ransom'd us Though these things as I ride be from mine eye They' are present yet unto my memory For that looks towards them thou look'st towards mee O Saviour as thou hang'st upon the tree I turne my backe to thee but to receive Corrections till thy mercies bid thee leave O thinke mee worth thine anger punish mee Burne off my rusts and my deformity Restore thine Image so much by thy grace That thou may'st know mee and I 'll turne my face THE LITANIE I. The FATHER FAther of Heaven and him by whom It and us for it and all else for us Thou madest and govern'st ever come And re-create mee now growne ruinous My heart is by dejection clay And by selfe-murder red From this red earth O Father purge away All vicious tinctures that new fashioned I may rise up from death before I 'am dead II. The SONNE O Sonne of God who seeing two things Sinne and death crept in which were never made By bearing one tryed'st with what stings The other could thine heritage invade O be thou nail'd unto my heart And crucified againe Part not from it though it from thee would part But let it be by applying so thy paine Drown'd in thy blood and in thy passion slaine III. The HOLY GHOST O Holy Ghost whose temple I Am but of mudde walls and condensed dust And being sacrilegiously Halfe wasted with youths fires of pride and lust Must with new stormes be weatherbeat Double in my heart thy flame Which let devout sad teares intend and let Though this glasse lanthorne flesh do suffer maime Fire Sacrifice Priest Altar be the same IV. The TRINITY O Blessed glorious Trinity Bones to Philosophy but milke to faith Which as wise serpents diversly Most slipperinesse yet most entanglings hath As you distinguish'd undistinct By power love knowledge bee Give mee a such selfe different instinct Of these let all mee elemented bee Of power to love to know you unnumbred three V. The Virgin MARY For that faire blessed Mother-maid Whose flesh redeem'd us That she-Cherubin Which unlock'd Paradise and made One claime for innocence and disseiz'd sinne Whose wombe was a strange heav'n for there God cloath'd himselfe and grew Our zealous thankes wee poure As her deeds were Our helpes so are her prayers nor can she sue In vaine who hath such titles unto you VI. The Angels And since this life our nonage is And wee in
From hearing bold wits jeast at Kings excesse To'admit the like of majestie divine That we may locke our eares Lord open thine XXVI That living law the Magistrate Which to give us and make us physicke doth Our vices often aggravate That Preachers taxing sinne before her growth That Satan and invenom'd men Which well if we starve dine When they doe most accuse us may see then Us to amendment heare them thee decline That we may open our eares Lord lock thine XXVII That learning thine Ambassador From thine allegeance wee never tempt That beauty paradises flower For physicke made from poyson be exempt That wit borne apt high good to doe By dwelling lazily On Natures nothing be not nothing too That our affections kill us not nor dye Heare us weake ecchoes O thou eare and cry XXVIII Sonne of God heare us and since thou By taking our blood owest it us againe Gaine to thy selfe or us allow And let not both us and thy selfe be slaine O lambe of God which took'st our sinne Which could not stick to thee O let it not returne to us againe But Patient and Physition being free As sinne is nothing let it no where be SEnd home my long strayd eyes to mee Which Oh too long have dwelt on thee Yet since there they have learn'd such ill Such forc'd fashions And false passions That they be Made by thee Fit for no good sight keep them still Send home my harmlesse heart againe Which no unworthy thought could staine Which if it be taught by thine To make jestings Of protestings And breake both Word and oath Keepe it for then 't is none of mine Yet send me back my heart and eyes That I may know and see thy lyes And may laugh and joy when thou Art in anguish And dost languish For some one That will none Or prove as false as thou art now A nocturnall upon S. Lucies day Being the shortest day T Is the yeares midnight and it is the dayes Lucies who scarce seaven houres herself unmaskes The Sunne is spent and now his flasks Send forth light squibs no constant rayes The worlds whole sap is sunke The generall balme th'hydroptique earth hath drunk Whither as to the beds-feet life is shrunke Dead and enterr'd yet all these seeme to laugh Compar'd with mee who am their Epitaph Study me then you who shall lovers bee At the next world that is at the next Spring For I am every dead thing In whom love wrought new Alchimie For his art did expresse A quintessence even from nothingnesse From dull privations and leane emptinesse He ruin'd mee and I am re-begot Of absence darknesse death things which are not All others from all things draw all that 's good Life soule forme spirit whence they beeing have I by loves limbecke am the grave Of all that 's nothing Oft a flood Have wee two wept and so Drownd the whole world us two oft did we grow To be two Chaosses when we did show Care to ought else and often absences Withdrew our soules and made us carcasses But I am by her death which word wrongs her Of the first nothing the Elixer grown Were I a man that I were one I needs must know I should preferre If I were any beast Some ends some means Yea plants yea stones detest And love all all some properties invest If I an ordinary nothing were As shadow a light and body must be here But I am None nor will my Sunne renew You lovers for whose sake the lesser Sunne At this time to the Goat is runne To fetch new lust and give it you Enjoy your summer all Since shee enjoyes her long nights festivall Let mee prepare towards her and let mee call This houre her Vigill and her eve since this Both the yeares and the dayes deep midnight is Witchcraft by a picture I Fixe mine eye on thine and there Pitty my picture burning in thine eye My picture drown'd in a transparent teare When I looke lower I espie Hadst thou the wicked skill By pictures made and mard to kill How many wayes mightst thou performe thy will But now I have drunke thy sweet salt teares And though thou poure more I 'll depart My picture vanish'd vanish feares That I can be endamag'd by that art Though thou retaine of mee One picture more yet that will bee Being in thine owne heart from all malice free COme live with mee and bee my love And wee will some new pleasures prove Of golden sands and christall brookes With silken lines and silver hookes There will the river whispering runne Warm'd by thy eyes more then the Sunne And there the'inamor'd fish will stay Begging themselves they may betray When thou wilt swimme in that live bath Each fish which every channell hath Will amorously to thee swimme Gladder to catch thee then thou him If thou to be so seene beest loath By Sunne or Moone thou darknest both And if my selfe have leave to see I need not their light having thee Let others freeze with angling reeds And cut their legges which shells and weeds Or treacherously poore fish beset With strangling snare or windowie net Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest The bedded fish in banks out-wrest Or curious traitors sleavesicke flies Bewitch poore fishes wandring eyes For thee thou needst no such deceit For thou thy selfe art thine owne bait That fish that is not catch'd thereby Alas is wiser farre then I. The Apparition WHen by thy scorne O murdresse I am dead And that thou thinkst thee free From all solicitation from mee Then shall my ghost come to thy bed And thee fain'd vestall in worse armes shall see Then thy sicke taper will begin to winke And he whose thou art then being tyr'd before Will if thou stirre or pinch to wake him thinke Thou call'st for more And in false sleepe will from thee shrinke And then poore Aspen wretch neglected thou Bath'd in a cold quicksilver sweat wilt lye A veryer ghost then I What I will say I will not tell thee now Lest that preserve thee ' and since my love is spent I 'had rather thou shouldst painfully repent Then by my threatnings rest still innocent Dull sublunary lovers love Whose soule is sense cannot admit Absence because it doth remove Those things which elemented it But we by a love so much refin'd That our selves know not what it is Inter-assured of the mind Care lesse eyes lips hands to misse Our two soules therefore which are one Though I must goe endure not yet A breach but an expansion Like gold to ayery thinnesse beate If they be two they are two so As stiffe twin compasses are two Thy soule the fixt foot makes no show To move but doth if the'other doe And though it in the center sit Yet when the other far doth rome It leanes and hearkens after it And growes erect as that comes home Such wilt thou be to mee who must Like th' other foot obliquely runne Thy firmnes makes my circle just
mee The Canonization FOr Godsake hold your tongue and let me love Or chide my palsie or my gout My five gray haires or ruin'd fortune flout With wealth your state your minde with Arts improve Take you a course get you a place Observe his honour or his grace Or the Kings reall or his stamped face Contemplate what you will approve So you will let me love Alas alas who 's injur'd by my love What merchants ships have my sighs drown'd Who saies my teares have overflow'd his ground When did my colds a forward spring remove When did the heats which my veines fill Adde one more to the plaguie Bill Soldiers finde warres and Lawyers finde out still Litigious men which quarrels move Though she and I do love Call us what you will wee are made such by love Call her one mee another flye We' are Tapers too and at our owne cost die And wee in us finde the'Eagle and the dove The Phoenix ridle hath more wit By us we two being one are it So to one neutrall thing both sexes fit Wee dye and rise the same and prove Mysterious by this love Wee can dye by it if not live by love And if unfit for tombes and hearse Our legends bee it will be fit for verse And if no peece of Chronicle wee prove We 'll build in sonnets pretty roomes As well a well wrought urne becomes The greatest ashes as halfe-acre tombes And by these hymnes all shall approve Us Canoniz'd for Love And thus invoke us You whom reverend love Made one anothers hermitage You to whom love was peace that now is rage Who did the whole worlds soule contract drove Into the glasses of your eyes So made such mirrors and such spies That they did all to you epitomize Countries Townes Courts Beg frow above A patterne of our love The triple Foole. I am two fooles I know For loving and for saying so In whining Poëtry But where 's that wise man that would not be I If she would not deny Then as th' earths inward narrow crooked lanes Do purge sea waters fretfull salt away I thought if I could draw my paines Through Rimes vexation I should them allay Griefe brought to numbers cannot be so fierce For he tames it that fetters it in verse But when I have done so Some man his art and voice to show Doth Set and sing my paine And by delighting many frees againe Griefe which verse did restraine To Love and Griefe tribute of Verse belongs But not of such as pleases when'tis read Both are increased by such songs For both their triumphs so are published And I which was two fooles do so grow three Who are a little wise the best fooles bee Lovers infinitenesse IF yet I have not all thy love Deare I shall never have it all I cannot breath one other sigh to move Nor can intreat one other teare to fall And all my treasure which should purchase thee Sighs teares and oathes and letters I have spent Yet no more can be due to mee Then at the bargaine made was ment If then thy gift of love were partiall That some to mee some should to others fall Deare I shall never have Thee All. Or if then thou gavest mee all All was but All which thou hadst then But if in thy heart since there be or shall New love created bee by other men Which have their stocks intire and can in teares In sighs in oathes and letters outbid mee This new love may beget new feares For this love was not vowed by thee And yet is was thy gift being generall The ground thy heart is mine what ever shall Grow there deare I should have it all Yet I would not have all yet Hee that hath all can have no more And since my love doth every day admit New growth thou shouldst have new rewards in store Thou canst not every day give me thy heart If thou canst give it then thou never gavest it Loves riddles are that though thy heart depart It stayes at home and thou with losing savest it But wee will have a way more liberall Then changing hearts to joyne them so wee shall Be one and one anothers All. Song SWeetest love I do not goe For wearinesse of thee Nor in hope the world can show A fitter Love for mee But since that I Must dye at last 't is best To use my selfe in jest Thus by fain'd deaths to dye Yesternight the Sunne went hence And yet is here to day He hath no desire nor sense Nor halfe so short a way Then feare not mee But beleeve that I shall make Speedier journeyes since I take More wings and spurres then hee O how feeble is mans power That if good fortune fall Cannot adde another houre Nor a lost houre recall But come bad chance And wee joyne to'it our strength And wee teach it art and length It selfe o'r us to'advance When thou sigh'st thou sigh'st not winde But sigh'st my soule away When thou weep'st unkindly kinde My lifes blood doth decay It cannot bee That thou lov'st mee as thou say'st If in thine my life thou waste Thou art the best of mee Let not thy divining heart Forethinke me any ill Destiny may take thy part And may thy feares fulfill But thinke that wee Are but turn'd aside to sleepe They who one another keepe Alive ne'r parted bee The Legacie VVHen I dyed last and Deare I dye As often as from thee I goe Though it be but an houre agoe And Lovers houres be full eternity I can remember yet that I Something did say and something did bestow Though I be dead which sent mee I should be Mine owne executor and Legacie I heard mee say Tell her anon That my selfe that 's you not I Did kill me and when I felt mee dye I bid mee send my heart when I was gone But I alas could there finde none When I had ripp'd me ' and search'd where hearts did lye It kill'd mee againe that I who still was true In life in my last Will should cozen you Yet I found something like a heart But colours it and corners had It was not good it was not bad It was intire to none and few had part As good as could be made by art It seem'd and therefore for our losses sad I meant to send this heart in stead of mine But oh no man could hold it for t was thine A Feaver OH doe not die for I shall hate All women so when thou art gone That thee I shall not celebrate When I remember thou wast one But yet thou canst not die I know To leave this world behinde is death But when thou from this world wilt goe The whole world vapors with thy breath Or if when thou the worlds soule goest It stay t is but thy carkasse then The fairest woman but thy ghost But corrupt wormes the worthyest men O wrangling schooles that search what fire Shall burne this world had none the wit Unto this knowledge
to be possessor Of old or new love himselfe being false or weake Thought his paine and shame would be lesser If on womankind he might his anger wreake And thence a law did grow One might but one man know But are other creatures so Are Sunne Moone or Starres by law forbidden To smile where they list or lend away their light Are birds divorc'd or are they chidden If they leave their mate or lie abroad a night Beasts doe no joyntures lose Though they new lovers choose But we are made worse then those Who e'r rigg'd faire ship to lie in harbors And not to seeke new lands or not to deale withall Or built faire houses set trees and arbors Only to lock up or else to let them fall Good is not good unlesse A thousand it possesse But doth wast with greedinesse The Dreame DEare love for nothing lesse then thee Would I have broke this happy dreame It was a theame For reason much too strong for phantasie Therefore thou wakd'st me wisely yet My Dreame thou brok'st not but continued'st it Thou art so truth that thoughts of thee suffice To make dreames truths and fables histories Enter these armes for since thou thoughtst it best Not to dreame all my dreame let 's act the rest As lightning or a Tapers light Thine eyes and not thy noise wak'd mee Yet I thought thee For thou lovest truth an Angell at first sight But when I saw thou sawest my heart And knew'st my thoughts beyond an Angels art When thou knew'st what I dreamt whē thou knew'st whē Excesse of joy would wake me and cam'st then I must confesse it could not chuse but bee Prophane to thinke thee any thing but thee Comming and staying show'd thee thee But rising makes me doubt that now Thou art not thou That love is weake where feare 's as strong as hee 'T is not all spirit pure and brave If mixture it of Feare Shame Honor have Perchance as torches which must ready bee Men light and put out so thou deal'st with mee Thou cam'st to kindle goest to come Then I Will dreame that hope againe but else would die A Valediction of weeping LEt me powre forth My teares before thy face whil'st I stay here For thy face coines them and thy stampe they beare And by this Mintage they are something worth For thus they bee Pregnant of thee Fruits of much griefe they are emblemes of more When a teare falls that thou falst which it bore So thou and I are nothing then when on a divers shore On a round ball A workeman that hath copies by can lay An Europe Afrique and an Asia And quickly make that which was nothing All So doth each teare Which thee doth weare A globe yea world by that impression grow Till thy teares mixt with mine doe overflow This world by waters sent from thee my heaven dissolved so O more then Moone Draw not up seas to drowne me in thy spheare Weepe me not dead in thine armes but forbeare To teach the sea what it may doe too soone Let not the winde Example finde To doe me more harme then it purposeth Since thou and I sigh one anothers breath Who e'r sighes most is cruellest and hasts the others death Loves Alchymie SOme that have deeper digg'd loves Myne then I Say where his centrique happinesse doth lie I have lov'd and got and told But should I love get tell till I were old I should not finde that hidden mysterie Oh 't is imposture all And as no chymique yet th'Elixar got But glorifies his pregnant pot If by the way to him befall Some odoriferous thing or medicinall So lovers dreame a rich and long delight But get a winter-seeming summers night Our ease our thrift our honor and our day Shall we for this vaine Bubles shadow pay Ends love in this that my man Can be as happy'as I can If he can Endure the short scorne of a Bridegroomes play That loving wretch that sweares 'T is not the bodies marry but the mindes Which he in her Angelique findes Would sweare as justly that he heares In that dayes rude hoarse minstralsey the spheares Hope not for minde in women at their best Sweetnesse and wit they' are but Mummy possest The Flea MArke but this flea and marke in this How little that which thou deny'st me is It suck'd me first and now sucks thee And in this flea our two bloods mingled bee Thou know'st that this cannot be said A sinne nor shame nor losse of maidenhead Yet this enjoyes before it wooe And pamper'd swells with one blood made of two And this alas is more then wee would doe Oh stay three lives in one flea spare Where wee almost yea more then maryed are This flea is you and I and this Our mariage bed and mariage temple is Though parents grudge and you w' are met And cloysterd in these living walls of Jet Though use make you apt to kill mee Let not to that selfe murder added bee And sacrilege three sinnes in killing three Cruell and sodaine hast thou since Purpled thy naile in blood of innocence Wherein could this flea guilty bee Except in that drop which it suckt from thee Yet thou triumph'st and saist that thou Find'st not thy selfe nor mee the weaker now 'T is true then learne how false feares bee Just so much honor when thou yeeld'st to mee Will wast as this flea's death tooke life from thee The Curse WHo ever guesses thinks or dreames he knowes Who is my mistris wither by this curse His only and only his purse May some dull heart to love dispose And shee yeeld then to all that are his foes May he be scorn'd by one whom all else scorne Forsweare to others what to her he' hath sworne With feare of missing shame of getting torne Madnesse his sorrow gout his cramp may hee Make by but thinking who hath made him such And may he feele no touch Of conscience but of fame and bee Anguish'd not that 't was sinne but that 't was shee In early and long scarcenesse may he rot For land which had been his if he had not Himselfe incestuously an heire begot May he dreame Treason and beleeve that hee Meant to performe it and confesse and die And no record tell why His sonnes which none of his may bee Inherite nothing but his infamie Or may he so long Parasites have fed That he would faine be theirs whom he hath bred And at the last be circumcis'd for bread The venom of all stepdames gamsters gall What Tyrans and their subjects interwish What Plants Myne Beasts Foule Fish Can contribute all ill which all Prophets or Poets spake And all which shall Be annex'd in schedules unto this by mee Fall on that man For if it be a shee Nature before hand hath out-cursed mee AN ANATOMIE OF THE WORLD Wherein By occasion of the untimely death of Mistris ELIZABETH DRVRY the frailty and the decay of this whole World is represented The first Anniversary
justly proud and gladly safe that thou dost dwell with me She that Oh broke her faith would soon breake thee Negative love I Never stoop'd so low as they Which on an eye cheeke lip can prey Seldome to them which soare no higher Then vertue or the minde to'admire For sense and understanding may Know what gives fuell to their fire My love though silly is more brave For may I misse when ere I crave If I know yet what I would have If that be simply perfectest Which can by no way be exprest But Negatives my love is so To All which all love I say no. If any who deciphers best What we know not our selves can know Let him teach mee that nothing This As yet my ease and comfort is Though I speed not I cannot misse The Prohibition TAke heed of loving mee At least remember I forbade it thee Not that I shall repaire my'unthrifty wast Of Breath and Blood upon thy sighes and teares By being to mee then that which thou wast But so great Joy our life at once outweares Then least thy love by my death frustrate bee If thou love mee take heed of loving mee Take heed of hating mee Or too much triumph in the Victorie Not that I shall be mine owne officer And hate with hate againe retaliate But thou wilt lose the stile of conquerour If I thy conquest perish by thy hate Then least my being nothing lessen thee If thou hate mee take heed of hating mee Yet love and hate mee too So these extreames shall ne'r their office doe Love mee that I may die the gentler way Hate mee because thy love is too great for mee Or let these two themselves not me decay So shall I live thy stay not triumph bee Lest thou thy love and hate and mee undoe To let mee live Oh love and hate mee too The Expiration SO so breake off this last'lamenting kisse Which sucks two soules and vapors Both away Turne thou ghost that way and let mee turne this And let our selves benight our happiest day Wee aske none leave to love nor will we owe Any so cheape a death as saying Goe Goe and if that word have not quite kil'd thee Ease mee with death by bidding mee goe too Oh if it have let my word worke on mee And a just office on a murderer doe Except it be too late to kill me so Being double dead going and bidding goe The Computation FOr the first twenty yeares since yesterday I scarce beleev'd thou could'st be gone away For forty more I fed on favours past And forty'on hopes that thou would'st they might last Teares drown'd one hundred and sighes blew out two A thousand I did neither thinke nor doe Or not divide all being one thought of you Or in a thousand more forgot that too Yet call not this long life But thinke that I Am by being dead Immortall Can ghosts die Elegie LAnguage thou art too narrow and too weake To ease us now great sorrow cannot speake If we could sigh out accents and weepe words Griefe weares and lessens that tears breath affords Sad hearts the lesse they seeme the more they are So guiltiest men stand mutest at the barre Not that they know not feele not their estate But extreme sense hath made them desperate Sorrow to whom we owe all that we bee Tyrant in the fift and greatest Monarchy Was 't that she did possesse all hearts before Thou hast kil'd her to make thy Empire more Knew'st thou some would that knew her not lament As in a deluge perish th' innocent Was 't not enough to have that palace wonne But thou must raze it too that was undone Had'st thou staid there and look'd out at her eyes All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies For they let out more light then they tooke in They told not when but did the day beginne She was too Saphirine and cleare to thee Clay flint and jeat now thy fit dwellings be Alas shee was too pure but not too weake Who e'r saw Christall Ordinance but would break And if wee be thy conquest by her fall Th' hast lost thy end for in her perish all Or if we live we live but to rebell They know her better now that knew her well If we should vapour out and pine and die Since shee first went that were not miserie Shee chang'd our world with hers now she is gone Mirth and prosperity is oppression For of all morall vertues she was all The Ethicks speake of vertues Cardinall Her soule was Paradise the Cherubin Set to keepe it was grace that kept out sinne Shee had no more then let in death for wee All reape consumption from one fruitfull tree God tooke her hence lest some of us should love Her like that plant him and his lawes above And when wee teares hee mercy shed in this To raise our mindes to heaven where now she is Who if her vertues would have let her stay Wee'had had a Saint have now a holiday Her heart was that strange bush where sacred fire Religion did not consume but'inspire Such piety so chast use of Gods day That what we turne to feast she turn'd to pray And did prefigure here in devout tast The rest of her high Sabaoth which shall last Angels did hand her up who next God dwell For she was of that order whence most fell Her body left with us lest some had said Shee could not die except they saw her dead For from lesse vertue and lesse beautiousnesse The Gentiles fram'd them Gods and Goddesses The ravenous earth that now woes her to be Earth too will be a Lemnia and the tree That wraps that christall in a wooden Tombe Shall be tooke up spruce fill'd with diamond And we her sad glad friends all beare a part Of griefe for all would waste a Stoicks heart Elegie to the Lady Bedford YOu that are she and you that 's double shee In her dead face halfe of your selfe shall see Shee was the other part for so they doe Which build them friendships become one of two So two that but themselves no third can fit Which were to be so when they were not yet Twinnes though their birth Cusco and Musco take As divers starres one Constellation make Pair'd like two eyes have equall motion so Both but one meanes to see one way to goe Had you dy'd first a carcasse shee had beene And wee your rich Tombe in her face had seene She like the Soule is gone and you here stay Not a live friend but thother halfe of clay And since you act that part As men say here Lies such a Prince when but one part is there And do all honour and devotion due Unto the whole so wee all reverence you For such a friendship who would not adore In you who are all what both was before Not all as if some perished by this But so as all in you contracted is As of this all though many parts decay The pure which