and red But vpstarts now haue tooke that glory from her Most imitate the fashion few the honor But she which for this vertue liues a wonder Lashes not loosly into such extreames But keeps without constraint her greatnesse vnder And with her honor and her state dispneses Fitting her habit euer to her minde Most ciuill modest pure of vertues kinde She decks not out with gawdy ostentation This earthly substance to be gaz'd vpon No new inuentions and disstinguish'd fashion These changing times can tempt her to put on But liues alone makes vertue all her gaine Despising worldly pompe and glory vaine She couets not this popular admiration The which ambitious nations most desire Nor makes her glory this worlds reputation Which sets the heart of men so much on fire Nor stands on honors titles nor renowne Whose broken trust hath cast a number downe 〈…〉 Nor doth she spend her time like some of those In dressing trimming varnishing of beauty Wherein too many doe such trust repose They cleane forget all heauenly loue and duty And spend their deerest howers and sweetest daies In flourishing that faire which soone decaies Nay which is worse a lamentable case Some new complexious and adulterous art They can deuise to paint their fading face And helpe that worke which nature doth impart Whose dambd inuentions seekes to mend that hew Whom heauen at first did make most best and true And pamper vp the flesh in all delights And sooth their pleasures in what they doe craue Which in vaine studies spend whole daies and nights What diet fashion and attire to haue Consuming halfe their time in flattering glasses To idolize that which is dust and ashes Which trim and dresse with artificiall shapes Their painted bodies like to rotten combs And onely but for worldy glory gapes As if they sprung not from corrupted wombs But had some priuiledge both from heauen nature To be adored like Gods not mottall creatures Whose proud ambitious thoughts do swell so high They thinke no mortall worthy to come neere them But they must crouch or kneele submissiuely Their looks and greatnes makes them so to feare them That scarce a furlongs distance will content them f prostrate duty be not done and sent them Nay when they'aue done the best and all they can If grace speech action doth not well adorne him And rarest gesture art can giue to man The 'le hold him for a seruile clowne and scorne him His duty and behauiour comes far short To grace such honors as attends the Court. Yee glorious heau'ns to whom all honor 's due Yee blinde vs not to such strict seruice here So that our hearts be firme vpright and true And your great reuerent name doth loue and feare These outward duties yee did ne're require Which greatest bloods and mightiest men desire Yet there be duties would but true ones serue them That none in humaine iustice can deny For to be giuen to those that best deserue them And keepe their thoughts from mounting vp too high But if they once abuse them dutie flies And flatterers straight doe sooth them vp with lies VVhat will this age come to will it not burst With vice and sinne and split it selfe a sunder Can patient heauens forbeare their lingring curse And not with speedy vengeance quickly thunder Then truth and conscience iustice loue and pitty Fly quickly hence to that eternall citty For here is no respect nor friendship dwelling For any of you clad in pouerty It is ingrost quite vp by all mens telling Within the closset of eternitie Where they doe dwell sithence as little worth Till Christ doth come againe to iudge the earth Art thou a Lady great in birth and honor Art thou of state ranke meanes to equall others Then why should'st thou take any glory from her Or by obscurity thus thy greatnesse smother Is there a better honor bred within thee That from these worldly honors thus can win thee Yet Lady had thy neuer ranging eye Tooke but a viewe of what they might behold How many vanities might they soone descrie Which nature needs not dayly to be sold Where more spent far in superfluitie Then would some nature in necessitie But thou which from these vaine delights didst flie And little knowes the vices of these times Clos'd vp in one roome from societie In better studies and in arts diuine Didst shew thy temperance from all worldly ioyes And those false baytes which many minds annoyes Thus didst thou spend thy pretious howers and time In reading vertuous and most sacred bookes And truly seruing of the powers diuine Nor to these worldly vanities once lookes Wherewith thou hadst continuall warre and strife Which crownes thee such a meritorious wife Her senses were not organs vnto folly Nor conducts to receiue in vanitie These outward entrances she kept more holy And not expos'd to worldly amitie But for heauens zeale and glory stopt those sluces And bars the passage which might cause abuses Nor did her eares itch after nouelties Nor yet inquisitiue was in curious matters But ere restraine those powers and faculties From smoth tongud Gnatoes which are vs'd to flatter Whose whispring tōgues if that they once come neer thē Will strait infect them if they deigne to heare them And like to hony drop into their eares That poyson which soone swell ambitious spirits That nothing else they doe desire to heare But their owne praises honors worth and merits And rockt asleepe in their securitie Make themselues equall to the deitie Oh had but great men or great princes courts Bene free from this how happy had they bin Such treasons massacres and plots of sundry sorts None had contriu'd to snare the mighty in They might haue stept securely without feares Had not this rancker crept into their eares Oh snare to honor stayne to noble blood Thou great disease obsequious adulation Which Vulter-like doest feede vppon the good And preys vppon them in so faire a fashion That thou doest bite by fawning kil'st by smiling Strangl'st by loue and by most trust beguiling But she which loues not no such Sirens singing Doth tune far better musick to her minde And knowes those rare contents cōforts bringing With all those ioyes which those that proue them finde Whilst many cares and troubles vext their spirits Which hunt for praise and glorie vaine inherits And waste their bodies and their soules together To compasse here this windy blast of praise Which hauing got they haue but caught a feather And like to smoake and vapours soone decaies But those whom truest fame and vertue raises Ne're luls themselues a sleepe with their owne prayses Pardon great Lady my vnworthy quill That it should doe thy name and honor wrong And looke not to my art but to my will Which more affords then can be told with tongue What learning wants let something else supply I know his pitch is for my reatch to high She that did liue so long and rule alone And fairely did
were to perish Thus did thy faith beare sweete and pleasant fruits Which euer from that flourishing tree proceeds VVith such rich graces as best honor sutes And did extend it selfe to bounteous deeds Relieuing cheerefully those silly elues VVhich had no meanes here for to help themselues Thou faire example liue without compare Thou map of honor be for euer blest Since to the poore such pitty thou dost beare Which meaner persons in their pride detest And dost extend thy hand to helpe their neede Whilst their fell cruelties make their harts to bleede Nay not contented thus thou lefts behinde As long as any age or time indures A faire example of thy bounteous minde Which shall for euer stand most firme and sure Where thou hast meanes and liuing left in store To helpe the helpelesse and releiue the poore Could I but reckon what her honor gaue Or what a number at her gate she fed How many needie wretches liues she sau'd For want of foode halfe pinde and almost dead The sum I feare would grow so wondrous large And far extend my weakenesse to discharge No 't is not to be told with any tongue Those great accounts my pen must let alone Vnlesse attempting I should doe her wrong To take away from her what is her owne For numberlesse they are and so I 'le leaue them Where endlesse ioyes for endles good receiue them For what she gaue to those she lent to him VVhich will repay 't againe vnto a penny She shall not loose by that she knowes but win And crowned be in heauen with ioyes as many VVhere double recompence she shall surely haue And thousand fold more finde then here she gaue Her goods possessing she did not possesse But made them free for others which did neede them They were not hers she often would confesse But lent her to refresh the poore and feede them Where she as tenant held from his great hands All that she did possesse both goods and lands And knew right well that she account must giue Of all those rich demeanes she here inioyd And in so great a calling how she liue Vnto what vse her Talent was imployd Where now with that good seruant she doth finde Her masters ioy and ten times more assignde Oh Lady why doe I this vertue vrge So much in thee and cannot finde in others Art thou alone vnto these times a scourge To whip their dulnesse forward and discouer Those monstrous wolues which neuer will be fed But eate vp poorest Orphants like to bred Religion is the cause of this I hold That to good workes will not ascribe saluation Which makes our age in charitie grow so cold As few will giue because 't is out of fashion Then let our works be meritorious found It may be then more charity will abound Thus doth this topsie-turuie age delight In contraries and leaues the good vndon Wrong hath the vpper hand of truth and right And euery man to swift perdition runs If this saluation were as none it is Who would be damn'd then that should doe amisse But world thy share will come farre short I feare For vain 's that hope whose faith brings forth no fruit Nor showes it selfe in vertuous actions here What 's better for a tongue if one be mute Or for that rise which breeds a greater fall Or for that faith which showes no workes at all Good Lady thou which did'st possesse so much And spent'st so little vpon idle pleasure How farre doest thou digresse from these I touch And seeke to store thy soule with better treasures Those secret graces which the heau'ns impart To such as be vpright and true of heart Where zeale grace faith loue hope and pietie Concurre in one to make a blessed soule Where temperance bountie and humilitie Doe all foule Vice and errors false controule Where her renowned hospitalitie Makes her most happie ioyn'd with charitie Where with that worthy Captaine well shee speeds Nor feares shee death that freely is forgiuen Her prayers gifts rewards and almesdeeds Are now remembred in the sight of heauen Where shee doth heare the voice of him shee lou'd Which hath her faith through such affliction prou'd And where her workes and deeds and vertues all Attends her after this expired breath And did not suffer her great name to fall Into obliuion by forgetfull death But breakes those prison doores and sweetly sings Hell where 's thy victorie Death where 's thy sting Thou fore-decreed by that eternall doome A sacred vessell of most free election A marke of pietie to the times to come Seal'd with heau'ns finger at thy first conception Grac'd with his grace which doth all grace secure VVhich time consumes not but doth still endure Looke when as Tytan from his scarlet bed Doth rise and all thicke vapors driue away And all the curtaines of the heau'ns are spred VVithout a cloud to blemish any way Where that bright frame to mortalls doth appeare Most wondrous calme most perfect faire cleare Euen so this rising Sunne of honor shines The hopefull signe of a most glorious day And all the graces firmely so combines That mists nor clouds nor vapors can dismay This faire vnblemish'd frame keepes still true honor Which Time Death Fortune neuer shal take frō her What man so great in pompe and earthly glorie That hunts full crie with hungrie breath for fame Can write insuing sinnes a fairer storie Or win more honor or a grater name Or graces be with more desarts and prayse Then shee had beene so truely all her dayes Those that in the full circuite ride of pride Liu'd in a world of eyes for to behold them Had what this earth could grace them with beside And at the highest rise of fame hath sold them Made all their words and deeds like Herods then Which cried the voice of God and not of men Yet in the mid'st of all their pride deceiued Haue brought their honor to vntimely ends And of their golden hopes haue bene bereaued VVhich with the world would die such mighty freinds Their mistris with vae vobis leaues them all VVhen they doe least dreame and suspect to fall But they which build their house one vertues ground And leade that life which thou before hast done No age no fortune euer shall confound Their honors when their naturall glasse is run But they shall flourish faire and still suruiue Death takes not them like those which dye aliue Thus hauing loos'd theese earthly fetters here That heauie bondage worse then Egipts thrall And ouercome by faith those doubts and feares VVhich greues the best and doth in question call Our liues and deeds with many frailties shaken How shal we stād when such strict reckonings taken But fly to the heauens true and onely sonne Deere Sauiour and redeemer whose strong might Di'dst that huge blacke internall host orecome And put those powers and enemies all to flight That conquerest quite hell sathan death and sin VVhich none before nor since
support her houses fame A widdow wife and maide confinde in one In all and seuerall states so free from blame That enuy nor the iniurious hand of time Could euer staine or touch with any crime Her thoughts so continent and her chast desires Which neuer rioted in exppense of time Sprung from those true eternall liuing fires Which doth all vertue to it selfe combine Not lightly led nor starting now and then To place new fancies in affecting men But truely kept her selfe vnto her loue Her worthy loue in youth in age in death So constant faithfull true as turtle doue Where her affections gaue no second breath But liu'd in one pure loue and neuer changed In thoughts so firmly knit they neuer ranged Which for the space of almost thirty yeares Did rule alone her house admir d of many Such holy graces in her life appeares Such perfect vertues seldome seene in any A virgin wife a widow maide to be So old in honor yet from folly free Could not her long deceased spouse before Grac'd with so many worthy after loues Nor time nor nature which could argue more Nor any thing from that strict course remoue But still her resolution doth perseuer Inuiolate vnto the first for euer Why then poore pen doest thou attempt so far And canst not touch the riches of her honor Nor nothing neere describe this glorious starre But rather much vnhidden worth take from her The little world of thy poore wit on fire Will rather burne then satisfie desire Yet giue me leaue great Readers to admire Faire imitators of her honors worth Although I cannot satisfie desire Nor set her high desarts and honor forth Accept my will which must remaine your debtor Till time or heau'ns shall grace me to sing better She in whose breast grace such impression tooke That made her time not like a mortall creature Which honors state and dignities forsooke A thing most hard and wondrous strange to nature That vertue should be found for to contemne Such meanes and fortunes as aduanceth them Could grace and vertue natures force expell And breake those lawes wherein she binds too many Could heauenly gifts in such a concord dwell So welbelou'd within the heart of any That in so many daies they should not fall Nor yet be toucht with any crime at all Pure-thoughted Lady which preserues thy soule So cleane from fleshly crimes and carnall pleasures Nor didst consent vnto such actions foule Wherein too many wallow out of measure That inbred sin which neuer leaues the most Till nature's ready to yeeld vp the ghoast One loue thy soule delighted which decease Did liue a fresh in the still vndiuided Two persons ioynd in one makes no release Till both be dead in loue so firmly guided Death parts the body but the soule doth honor In shadie groues to meete so true a louer So constant Lady thou which after death In strengh of yeares to no such bayts did yeeld Gaines fame a second life and longer breath Whose stedfast loue on better ground did build Where palmes of victorie in thy hands are found And lawrell wreaths to girt thy temples round Where thou Diana-like didst lead a life In sacred loue mixt with most chast desire Or like those holy vestalls void of strife Which keepes their honors spotlesse and intire And neuer lookes so true a course they liue To those inchantments which the world doth giue Where purest loue like to the morning dew Sent downe from him which all good gifts infuses Inioyes those rare contents giuen but to few To very few which worldly traffique vses So great and meeke so chast and yet a wife For not a mortals but an Angels life Which onely keeps not from societie Thy person free but quencht those inward fires And from loose thoughts and vaine delights didst flie Hating th'imbracements of vnchast desires And gaue no place to such inticements vaine Which proues the owners losse the actors paine How canst thou then great Lady all forsake So many thousand bayted hopes to see And many great ones little rest to take Whilst thou securely sleeps from dangers free No thy chast bosome neuer lusted so To loose a freind for to imbrace a foe Thou worthy patterne of this wanton age Whose pure affections dispossesseth sin And acts thy part vpon this earthly stage As chast as she whose loue Troy towne did win Oh who would wish more honor in this life Then die a vertuous widow virgin wife Thou mighst haue knit thy selfe in sacred bands With honorable persons in degree In Hymens rites vniting hearts and hands And not haue wrong this first loue being free Oh but thy soule sayes to thy selfe alone That fayth most firme that keeps it selfe to one No friend nor louer since thy bosome smothers But Christ thy Sauiour spouse and husband deare For whose deare sake thou hast forsooke all others How great or rich so e're they liued here And sworne vnto thy selfe and made a vow To serue loue feare and keepe him onely now Oh happy choyse yet man and wife do varry From these pure paths which vnto vertue tends They care not who nor yet how oft they marry For loue of lucre lust or worldy freinds Exchanging oft the better for the worse Who weds a second neuer lou'd the first Such soule respects are so ingrauen in vs First beauty that faire obiect doth allure vs. Then mighty friends in state or meanes doth win vs That from insuing dangers may secure vs But last and greatest is wealth reuenewes riches The which the soules of men so much bewiches Long maist thou liue in thy more happier choise That euerlasting loue which fadeth neuer Long mayst thou with that Bridegroome faire reioice In those triumphing ioyes which lasteth euer Long maist thou honor praise and glory sing Vnto the soueraigne Lord the King of Kings Where thy pure thoughts chast bosome vertuous life Weds thy vnspotted soule to endlesse ioyes Whose loue to that great spouse makes a chast wife And whose rare gifts weake flesh and bloud destroyes Whose outward honors many equals finde But few to match the honor of the minde Why should my striuing pen desire to tell What it by force cannot attaine to know Why should my will against my skill rebell My passions thus ' gainst reasons lawes to show What ardent furies workes within my minde To seeke for that no wit nor toile can finde Oh giue me leaue to breake off thou my Muse I cannot diue so deepe I may be drown'd Then spare my weakenesse and defects excuse Which must retire when it can feele no ground That glorious streame of honor 't is too deepe For my weake braine aboue the waues to keepe But yet her bountie doth inuite my pen That vertue which doth challenge praise with best And vrges my dull hand to write agen Which crownes her with more glory then the rest And makes her name and honor mount the higher With such great grace as makes the
and curious times Of many mightie troubles made the ground VVhom ouer-searching doubts and errors blindes So many truths that which of them to take To many wandering wits doe question make This is the truth they 'le neuer start away From this vnto another straight they are gone Then to that sect they know not what to say Thus are they busie in all but firme in none Then this they like then that then straight they le turne To any thing I thinke before they le burne Such trees which like the fig-tree seemes most faire VVhen nought but leaues and blossomes it affords And in the eyes of th' world are iudg'd most rare That onely paints Religion out in words That learnes to tip their tongues with Artes diuine VVhen damn'd Hypocrisie resteth in their minde VVhose gesture workes lookes words and actions all VVith similar showes are varnish'd to deceiue men VVith heau p vp hands and eyes to heauen they call As if deuotion would of sense bereaue them And knock their brests when as their hearts within Lie buried vp in flesh and bloud and sinne Such strange comixtures of Religion holds them That they like mad-men care not where they bite And Iudas-like a little price hath sold them That euen the worst of errors they doe like Thus are they through their owne rash-daring skill Led captiue of the Diuell to doe his will How many strange Religions are there found That will dispute of truth and seeme to know it How many sects and rules yet all vnsound As this vaine light-beleeuing age can show it If such a number into errors fall How many more which hold no truth at all Good God which art the onely truth and guide Keep 's from those errors wherein some are caught That we from thee may neuer fall nor slide But willingly embrace the Gospell taught That no inuentions heresies crafts or guiles May worke in vs our safetie to beguile But worthy Lady who did'st keepe the truth From superstition and Idolatrie free Both in old age in middle yeares and youth That in such greatnesse few haue done like thee Where many liue to whom that name belongs Which onely Christianize it in their tongues But thy firme resolution fixed was And vnremoued stood against all those Which seemes to set a colour and a glosse Vpon Religion falshood to inclose Vnder which faire pretext often doth lie Most dangerous deepe deceits our soules to trie The truth thy soule delighted not to striue On idle questions which no profit brings Whil'st some new sought inuentions can contriue To draw hard questions from the meanest things Wresting those words that sence to what they 'd haue it And not as right and true constructions craue it But thou the praise of these vnconstant times Mad'st not this world the patterne to doe ill But like a candle did'st in darknesse shine And fram'dst thy life vnto thy Makers will Not tossed to and fro with euery winde Which wraps in many errors wandring mindes But did'st continue to thy vtmost breath A zealous Protestant and religious friend Not stain'd with heresie in thy life nor death But seald'st thy last gaspe with a glorious end Which made the Angels sing and heauens reioyce That thou with Mary madest so good a choyse Thy faith as great and rare did apprehend The second person in the Trinitie On whom thy whole saluation did depend Wrought by his passions so effectually Not mingling of his merits with humane powers Ascribing that to vs which is not ours But to thy selfe by priuate application Did'st ceize on all those promises sweet and faire Writ in the Scriptures for our consolation To keepe vs vp from horror and despaire That when deepe flouds waters seeme to drowne vs Our faith may shine in darknesse then crowne vs. And bring our soules into that glorious rest Wrought by his passions sufferings death and merit Which he hath purchas'd for the chosen best After this mortall labour to inherit Redeeming vs when we were cast away With such a price as none but he could pay That holy one that pure vnspotted Lambe That did descend from his eternall throwne For vs vile sinners being God and man To satisfie the wrath of heauen alone And vnderwent such torments griefes and paines To make his greatest losse our greatest gaines Oh happie Lady whose erected minde This glorious obiect of thy faith so loues Thy soules delight which ioyes and comforts finde Where all the triall of thy faith he proues And viewes the pure deuotions of thy heart Which for his seruice thou had'st set apart There in that euerlasting booke of fate Are written downe the triall of thy loue Thy faith zeale piety and that happy state Which far beyond our thoughts thy soule doth proue Such great felicitie ioyes which ioyes excell That tongues of men and Angels cannot tell Could the heau'ns see thy labours and endeuor And to thy louing cares giue no regard Thy constancie whereby thou did'st perseuer Vnto the end and yeeld thee no reward Oh no 't is hard to thinke but worse to say That heau'ns great giuer should himselfe denay He that rewards vniust and wicked men With ample benefits shall he not be kinde Vnto his owne deare chosen children then Or suffer them to slip out of his minde If he so liberall be to the vniust What shall he be to those that in him trust Oh no Great Lady he will doe no wrong Nor once deny himselfe let none so thinke Hee 's iust and true although he beareth long Nor is he blinde although he seeme to winke But doth behold thy faith which neuer faints Where he doth crowne thee with his dearest Saints That bitter combate held with flesh and blood And mightie conflict which assaults the best Which by his powerfull hand thou hast withstood And quench'd those fiery darts which neuer rest But still new battailes warre and strife begin Against our soules faire Sions for t to win Yet all these cannot shake thy glorious hold See firme and constant faith doth still endure Which makes thy trust and confidence so bold Ayde him that most vndoubted ayde assure He takes thy part he will not see thee foil'd Nor to thy foes become a prey nor spoild Heere did the triall of thy faith appeare In his continuall fight with flesh and blood Which shew'd thy loue vnto thy Sauiour deare Which could not be by worldly hopes withstood But still persisted striuing for to winne That powerfull monster Hydra-headed sinne Thou neuer vnto Saints and Angels prayde Nor mad'st petitions to them in thy need Which whil'st they liu'd did want our Sauiours ayde Whose sinnes as well as ours did make him bleed And was the cause that stopp'd his glorious breath To ransome them as well as vs from death Yet will not these proud Pharisees be perswaded But vrge traditions from their fathers taught And haue the Gospell through their power inuaded And many holy needlesse reliques sought Of ancient Saint
cannot pay thee halfe thy due But tossed am vpon misfortune shelfe And cannot sing thy honors full nor true Yet from these ashes may a Phaenix spring VVhen they haue heard thy worth and better sing Then take this vertue now into thy hand My feeble spirits begin for to retire Such power thy vertues haue they can withstand A better pen and bid my thoughts admire And glory in the subiect not my Muse VVhich can more faults then I haue done excuse Yet giue me leaue a little to proceed And some more graces of her minde discouer My fond affection in this vaine to feed One vertue still you see calls in another VVhere though I doe begin and speake of many Yet can I finde no end of praysing any Thy hospitalitie did as much renowne thee As cannot be by mortall tongues exprest And with as great desarts and prayses crowne thee Filling thee with more glory then the rest And brings thee forth vpon this stage to show thee VVhat thy desarts and their affections owe thee Thy speaking praise from Cottage to the Throne Attend thee Ladie with no common glorie Thy bounteous deeds so spred abroad and knowne VVrites in mens hearts thy neuer dying storie VVhere it shall liue past all succeeding ages As willing pen and vertue true presages Thy bounteous table kept who may declare Or greatnesse of thy hospitalitie VVhose liberall minde no cost at all doth spare To grace thy honor with more dignitie VVhere ouerwhelmed with affections store Shee to her friends thinkes greatest bountie poore VVhat long enduring house hath honor kept And with thy bounteous cheere and wondrous store Fed many mouthes whil'st some haue basely slept In Mammons armes still coueting more and more Snorting in mines of gold feeding their soules VVith that the best and worthiest mindes controlls VVhich loues to heare the fall of honor true And enuie those rare gifts they doe possesse Detracting those which bounteous deeds ensue And yet these slaues will creepe and be their guests To all those famous houses which they heare Doe keepe vp bountie and maintaine good cheere VVhil'st they doe scrape and gleane what they can get From Bounties hands and liberall dispositions VVhich ne're a good house kept themselues as yet Nor ne're will doe so base are their conditions If they can creepe but into honors fauours Thei le feede and burst vpon anothers labours Thus from great persons free and bounteous tables They heape vp wealth by wretched miserie And make their heires so strong in meanes and able That in the compasse of gentilitie They must be drawne and honored of some men Although their fathers basely begg'd for them I doe not vrge this most renowned Lady Though many men haue bettered beene by thee To ayme or point at any thing that may be Thought preiudiciall to thy dignitie But as thou art most liberall free and kinde So to expresse the bountie of thy minde Now can the Citie Countrie and the Court VVhose eares haue heard of thy dispersed fame Vnto thy Princely Palace make resort And fill their thoughts with thy admired name VVhere hearts eyes eares and all desires to proue The great magnificence of thy grace and loue VVith curteous kinde and honor'd dispositions Such as is wont in noble brests to dwell Thou entertaines great birthes and faire conditions VVith such rare grace and gestures as excell No wise conceits nor curious Artist found But for thy courteous grace thy praises found No worthy Lady of the noblest straine VVhich for her parts and wisdome was diuine But thou with bounteous hand did'st entertaine And show thy selfe as free as Caesars minde VVhose salutations were as fairely drest And powdred with the wisdome of the best Heere greatnesse doth another greatnesse grace Loue meetes with loue heere honor honor kisses Heere noble mindes each other doe embrace Nought to make vp such sweete contentment misses So faire a troupe of worthy persons meeting But few haue seene in such great honor greeting Here liberall Ceres plaies no niggards part Here Heau'n earth Seas their greatest plenty brings Here Bacchus cheeres the melancholly heart Whil'st a learn'd consort of sweete Musicke sings A feast that did more sumptuous cost afford Then Cleopatra did that noble Lord. Who hath beene fam'd for hospitalitie That hath not ranckt her name among the rest Who haue for bountie and for dignitie Admired beene and left her vnexprest Who hath a worthier house kept all her daies Then she hath done and liu'd in greater praise No Lady though our Shire did thee containe Yet are thy honors and thy bountie spred And can as great a share and glorie claime As theirs can doe and grace thee being dead With true deseruing fame for euer blest To equall Pellam Ramsey and the rest No niggards hand nor greedy gaine did hold her The noblest mindes are not in loue with riches Nor haue her vertues for such trifles sold her Though many great ones powerfull gold bewitches But what meanes heere the heauens her freely lent Shee wasteth nor though liberally shee spent But to a better end and purpose vsde them The hungrie members of our Lord to feed And not in such disordred sort abus'd them But help'd the weake afflicted in their need With Ioseph to refresh the brethren poore Which stands and waits for charitie at the doore Her yerning pitie did so farre extend That deepe compassion shee did on them take And in their great necessities did befriend Their soules and bodies for meere charities sake With gifts and good rewards shee did supplie Their extreame wants and sau'd them like to die How many hath shee eas'd of Lazars crue The poorest members of our dying Lord Whose great distresse the kindest natures rue Tost to and fro and in this world abhorr'd Despis'd and made a scorne of euery eye Which doth behold their woe and misery Thus doe they show from whence they are descended From that old serpent their adopted father Which neuer will nor euer haue extended The least reliefe as Diues crummes to gather His dogs were kinder for to licke his sores Then mē are now which beats them frō their dores But thou great Lady wherein vertue rested Did'st daily feed them at thy bounteous gate And the poore members of Christs flocke hast feasted Comiserating heere their wofull state Which nothing haue in this world to relieue them But what such liberall minds as yours doth giue thē Poore naked wormes which feele the sharpest aire Which wants food cloth and home which many haue What is heere left to keepe yee from despaire When all your hopes and comforts are the graue And if it were not for some worthie mindes Your soules would faint and die before your times But thou most true deuoted Ladie giues Both cloth food harbour to such orphanes poore And helpest those which in extremities liue And ne're expuls'd the needie from thy doore But at the point of death their soules did cherish And sau'd those liues which ready