brave Store-house of Noble worth Vertues best seat Where first like Sisters she and Beauty met Made but a Trophey for a Conquer'd slave And what inferrs all this •ut that I am Hers by the Rule of War who overcame Into what errors do poor Lovers slip But now I did affirm Pandora made So fayr that man might better be betray'd Were the Gods cheated in their workmanship But that they knew Mans frailty had they sent Her thus adorned for a punishment Here have I mixed truths with falshoods right Indeed it is that in a vertuous Love The Soul is fix'd and findeth no remove But 't were as base and false for to endite A vertuous Woman for destroy'ng Mankind As th' Sun when the rash gazer is Struck blind I Love alas I Love nor all the skill Of my subjected reason can resist His power who Tyrannises as he list Acknowledging no Law besides his will And I by striving doe but make my sore Fester my bondage harder than before To Almanna Why She should Marry Me HOw comes this suddain change my Dear I will be sworn not full two dayes agoe Thou wert most excellently fayr But now I grieve to say 't thou' rt nothing so No sicknes could disfigure you Nor sorrow plough such wrinckles in your face Your happy bosome never knew That saw•y thought which durst disturb your peace But yet if grief or sicknes should Have the good Fortune to approach so nigh Sicknes it sel• recover would And sorrow be converted into joy Nor can I yet believe you owe Ought unto Art for the last face you wore A Borrow'd Beauty you I know Despise and would have none at all before Chuse how it be methinks that face Appears to me now no such Miracle Yet still it is the same it was Only it doth not please me half so well Then you will say t is evident The change is in my judgment and not you It is so but then you must grant 'T is ' c•use I know more now than then I knew Sweet I will tell thee heretofore I never pierced further than thy Skin Reading thy body o'r and o'r Without examining what was within And then indeed I did esteem Thy matchless Beauty at so high a rate That ev'r• object else did •eem A mere deformity compar'd to that But now this happy day I have Discovered a new and richer mine I all my admiration gave To that most admirable soul of thine Which so dims all exterior form That now thy Body worthless did appear And sure had faln beneath my scorn But that I see thy soul is lodged there Now if thy Body in revenge Shall yeeld it self to base desires thou l't see Another but a far worse change Thy Body fair thy Soul deform'd will be But if thou wilt give me a right To call them both mine own thou so shalt make Them both seem precious in thy sight Yet neither from the others lustre take For while my soul is thus alone The Iudge both of thy soul and body made It partially inclines to one And no regard is to the other had But if my body once were join'd In the Commission with it then would thine A farre more equall sentence find Being supported by the Love of mine Like is best judge of like we say And sure in shape I wondrous like thee am Since thus by the whole world we may So easily be taken for the same Then plight me but thy troth and thou Both in thy Mortall and Immortall part Shalt seem more fair than thou seem'st now Nay were it possible more fair than th' art Then I all day will gaze on thee And feast at night on what I then did view And thou my Dear shalt so both be My study and my recreation too Nor shalt thou yet though made one flesh With me lose any thing at all thereby But grow to more by being less And even by contraction multiply Our very souls shall twine and be So close in mutuall embraces knit They shall grow Parents too and we New vertues will as well as Children get Still'd th'rough th' alimbeck of desire Our bodies by degrees shall melt away And purg'd by a still equall fire From all their dross grow souls as well as they But if thou trust to others eyes And shalt reject so generous a flame Beleeve it others shal thee prize Not as the wonder of thy sex but shame The brighter that the Angels were Before they from their first Creation fel Each one did afterwards appear By so much the more dark and terrible And if thou look but back thou l't find Pride and Rebellion c•uses of their fall Sinnes to which Murther will be joyn'd In thee and make thee the great'st Dev'l of all For know this heart of mine was given Long since up to the power of Love but he God-like did still keep state in Heaven And only ruled there by Deputy And since he had the faith suspected Or skill of any one particular He unadvisedly erected An Aristocracy of ev'ry fair But thence such evils did ensue And my poor heart was so in pieces rent That he at length did fix on you And made it a Monarchick Government Then now thou 'st All that All they had Should'st thou turn Tyrant with fire sword Thine own Dominions invade Would'st thou not be by the whole world abhorr'd The Angels thinking to de pose The Deity were into Devils turn'd And fear'st not thou the fate of those Whose sin thou imitat'st if I be scorn'd For though thou covet not the Throne Yet thou dethronest Loves great Deity And though thou make them not thine own The Subject kill'st and kingdom dost destroy The Meteor DId you behold that glorious Star my Dear Wch shin'd but now me thought as bright As any other childe of light And seem'd to have as good an interest there How suddenly it fell our Eyes Pursuing it through all the spacious Skies Through which the now extended Flame Had chalk'd the way to Earth from whence it came And were you not with wonder struck to see Those Forms which the Creation had At first in number perfect made Thus sometimes more and sometimes lesse to be Or rather in this second Birth To see Heav'n copy'd out so near by Earth As were it not for their own fall We should not know which were the Original Fair one these diff'rent Lights do represent Such as pretend unto the Love Of you of• which some Meteors pr•ve Some Stars some high fix'd in Loves Firmament And some that seem as bright and fair More basely humble hover in the Air Of words and with fine dextrous art Do act a Passion never touch'd their heart Yet these false Glow-worm fires a while do shine Equal to the most Heav'n-born flame And so well counterfeit the same That they though almost beastly seem divine But should some blinde unlucky chance Deform you any ways or make your wants Vie Greatnesse with
What his tongue had left unspoken And he beat his brest to know If his heart already broken Now were quite consum'd or no And as if those windy sighs Had in him a tempest raised Flouds would seem to drown his eyes Because they too much had gazed For unsafe discoveries Once he in this wofull Plight Had his lovely Saint espyed But at that unlook'd for sight The storm was lay'd the flouds dryed And his eyes beheld the light How he then amazed stood With what more than glutton-greediness He devour'd that precious food Health could not diswade his neediness From what his sence found so good His eyes left Physicians rules Measure in such feasts observed Is a lesson fit for fools They from such nice precepts swerved Traind in Love and Beautyes Schools Yet his tongue would fain have gat So much leisure from their wonder As might serve for to relate What a burthen he lay under But to speak it knew not what And when he her heart to bow Had fram'd a speech full of passions Mingling many a faithfull vow With more humble supplications Then alas it knew not how Yet his other parts did prove Friends to its determination All his gestures spoke of Love All did seem to begge compassion Even his silent lips did move And in words which never are Heard but by the understanding Whisper'd forth O heav•enly •aire O Godess all al commanding Deign to hear a Caitiff's prayer Long have I lov'd loved well Faithfull Love not hate deserveth What salvage mind is so fell As his loving flock he sterveth If not sav'd by Miracle Long have I serv'd service true Requires wages for paines-taking And though stipends were not due What Miser's so given to raking As he would no favour shew Long have I in fetters lay'n Misery compassion breedeth And though Pity quite were slain The bloody'st mind never feedeth On such as count death a gain See but how the Sun displayes His beams on the meanest Creatures And will you withdraw your rayes From one who admires your features And knows no light but your face See our fruitfull Mother earth How she in her Womb doth cherish The Seed till a happy birth Makes the Lab'rors fields to flourish And will you bring forth a dearth Mark how ev'ry grateful tree Yeelds the Swain a yearly blessing And will you undressed be Ere you 'l either pay for dressing Or accept the Courtesie When a fruitfull showr of rain From a melting cloud distilleth The earth drinks it up again And it the earths wrinckles filleth Shall my tears then fall in vain Breath you forth a fervent Pray'r Heav'n therewith is straight acquainted And you hope will ease your care Should not then my sute be granted Since you so like to Heav'n are Love the neighb'ring Elm and Vine In such strict embraces tyeth Love doth make the Turtle pine When his loving marrow dyeth And have you no sense of mine Love his power doth each where prove Ev'ry thing hath Love about it Trees Beasts Birds and Gods above And are you alone without it The most lovely void of Love Change O change this hum'rous mind Never by a name be fooled Greater glory will you find Be by Flesh and Bloud but ruled If you leave a Babe behind Were you now laid in your grave And this beauteous out-side rotten No monuments your fame could save Vertue quickly is forgotten If the world no Pictures have Then if Marriage be the best The best Lover should be chosen Will you warm a Niggards brest Whose desire with care is frozen And his Mistress in his chest Or shall any sensuall slave Glory in so rich a Treasure One who covets but to have You to satisfie his pleasure Which his lust not Love doth crave Rather take a man would dye One who goods and life despiseth Might he pleasure you thereby This from perfect Love ariseth Such an one though poor am I Thus within himself he pray'd But receiv'd small satisfaction For she heard not what be said And she would not read his action So the Wretch is quite dismay'd A Remedy against LOVE IF thou like her slowing tresses Which the unshorn •haebus stain Think what grief thy heart oppresses And how ev'ry curls a chain Onely made to keep thee fast Till thy sentence be o'rpast If thou' rt wounded by her eyes Where thou thinkest Cupids lie Think thy self the Sacrifice Those the Priests that make thee die If her forehead beauteous show Think her forehead Cupid's bow If the Roses thou hast seen In her cheek still flourishing Argue that there dwels within A calme and perpetuall Spring Though she never us'd deceit Believe all is counterfeit If her tempting voice have power To amaze and ravish thee Sirens sung but to devour Yet they sung as well as shee O beware those poyson'd tongues That carry death in their songs If the best perfumes seem vile To her odorif'rous breath And the Phoenix fun'rall pile When she propagates in death Then remem•er how that she Lives by that doth poyson thee If her comly body ha's Fairest in thine eye appear'd Think how that a Trophey was Only for thy ruine rear'd Women oft their beauties praise On their Lovers ruines raise And if she have ev'ry part May a Woman perfect make And without the help of Art Firmest resolutions shake Know Pandora had so too Who was made but to undoe But if vertue please thee most And thou like her Beautious mind Then I give thee o'r for lost There no remedy I find Yet if she be vertuous then Sure she will not murther men Answer to the former OH Vain lip-wisdom that dost make me school Another in those things I cannot learn My self only this diff'rence I discern To be 'twixt thee and a professed fool He wears his cognisance but thou hast hit Asse-like upon the Lyon skin of Wit Fool that I was what if those curles be chains What if her eyes do murther my content What if her brow be to my ruine bent Are fear of death hate of a prisoners pains Of power to set the wretched captive free And not rather augment his misery How id'ly have I talk'd if I could rack My faith till I believed she did paint Would not the wrong don such a faultless Saint Be a fresh torment to my soul and make Me hate my self who did so basely err Rather than have a misconceit of her Sure too much wit hath made me mad I said The Sirens only sung to work our harm But who at any time avoids the charm Vlisses did Vlisses was afraid And since he scap'd may thank his timely fears That taught him e're he heard them t' stop his ears But here 's a potent argument indeed There is forsoth such an antipathy Betwixt us two her breath doth poyson me I would I might upon such poyson seed But were it so have I nor •inely brought An Antidote when 't hath already wrought Here comes more stuff of the stamp that
that I being above either hope or feare crave not any thing at your hands onely one small request I have and that litle relating to my self namely that since some Friends have been pleased to usher my darke f•et into the World that you would not by my weaknesse measure their discretion but affection grant this and however you censure me I shall continue Your Friend EDMUND PRESTWICH To my Noble Friend Mr Edmund Prestwich upon his Elegant POEMS SIR You have gently cur'd my fears and I Congratulate Emergent Poesie And you her Tutelar Angel who have made Her live and by your wit secur'd her shade By you his better Seneca reviv'd Hippolitus is now grown longer liv'd And Seneca himself that could not dye Hath gain'd another Immortality Yet here you but translated when you chuse An amarous Tract and speake your own free Muse My admiration over-reads my Eye And I am last in the full Harmony JA: SHIRLEY To my Worthy Friend Mr Edmund Prestwich on his Translation of Hippolitus HArd is thy Fate great wit thus to advance Thy Poem in this age of Ignorance To send it forth in such a time as this Where none must judge but such as judge amisse Course fordid censurers that thinke their eyes Abus'd if sixt on ought but Mercuries When honest judgements will not doubt to swear Thy work deserves an Amphitheatre Nor is this piece such as of late hath been The tedious stuff• of Poetasters seen Wit to a nobler height doth thine intend No common labour to no common end For by thy Version wee are taught anew T' interpret what we vainly thought we knew But still mistook so that in this we finde Thou canst do Mira•les and cure the blinde The Orac'lous mist from Seneca is fled Which with fresh Laurel crowns his verdant head And the black curtain of his clowded sense Is drawn by thy exact Intelligence Hippolitus that erst was set upon By all mangled by mis-construction Dis-membred by mis-prison now by thee And thy ingenious Chirurgerie Is re-united to his limbs and grown Stronger as thine then when great Theseus son Go on then wits example and revive What none but such as thee can keep alive Slack not the work for want of Industry For not a line of those thou writ'st can die Char Cotton To his most Honoured and most Ingenious Friend Mr. Edmund Prestwich upon his happy Translation of Seneca his Tragedy of Hippolitus WRetched Translators they who only know How like the Moon reflections faint to show To those benighted Ignorants that dare Not look upon the Sun in his own Sphear That their Translations are the Authors Hell Where nothing but their ghastly shaddows dwell Thine's a Parhelion in height and glory Yet not prodigious nor transitorie By this thy Version Seneca doth get A better Genius fresher bayes hath met What can I say but thou translat'st him even As God would man from Paradise to Heaven But sin those coppies blur'd so that but one True Manuscript could find Translation Hippolitus hath such a handsome Mine Drest by thee thy Muse worse than th' Attick queen Will I 'm afraid in this transplanted Grove Inc•stuously her own Issue Love Hee 's truly Virbius for thou hast done More for him now then erst did Phoebus sonne When his torn limbs lay like a shatter'd lute He them patch'd up with new breath did recruit In Miracles yet him thou dost out-doe Giv'st other life and that Immortall too Ioves Vengeance damp't his art that durst controul The Laws of Fate bring home a once fled soul Thine to doth thee to Heavens envy raise But th' art secure from thunder by thy bayes But why translate gild hatch why not appear Thy solid self sad Ingot neat not tear As when men court the Maidenhead of light Desire to see the first first rayie flight Of Phaebus shafts they face about toth ' West There see some cliffe kist by the new-come Guest So in the ponent of things past must we Look for thy day-break and lo there we see Thy dawning wit with early glory play On this Iberian Mount of Corduba And I 'm content 'cause my weake eyes are able To see thy Sun thus in the water dabble But risen to his Zenith Oh who can Stare at thy Halos when Meridian Cromwel Stanhop To his much Lov'd Friend Mr Edmund Prestwich on his Translation of Hippolitus Dearest MIstrust not thy Hippolitus Will rellish much with God with Us And I 'm ascertain'd that this Nation Likes nothing like to a Translation RIC. ROGERS To his Honoured and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edmund Prestwich on his Translation of Hippolitus TO say that now the Pedant understands Words which no comment open'd to his hands Or sense his brains less able to obey Than patience or the forgotten quarter-day head Were praises of a pestilence more dead Than thunder t' blast thy Laurel 'bout thy To bring thee commendations from their schools Were to translate the wisemen into fools As if we added unto Books more state By Imprimaturs fetch'd from Billinsgate No to praise thee 's to shew this age of ours How far thy Fancy outwings Cesars powers He who joynd seas piniond Neptuns arms Aff•ighted Nature with the wild alarms Of his Triumphant madness might transfer His hand ore th' life of that Philosopher Thy Poets Ancestor which to restore Must make ev'n vanquish'd Nero cry no more Here all my powers make Alt but thou hast made Thy Poet a new body to his Shade Not the long sleep of fifteen hundred yeers Nor the confusion of inrich't Sepulchers Where 's better part lay gnawn on by those moths Of happy Spirits ignorance goths Affright thy daring Genius thou dost state The laws of Nature and decrees of Fate Bidst massie Marble her entomb'd up give Command'st ev'n dust re-animate and live Mak'st this Tragedian by new life be known Less signall in all Tragedies than 's own He lives in greater beauty than whē th' throng Of ravish'd Romans fed their ears with 's song Thus Poets if their happy thought can clime But to as high an excellence as thine Like the last Angel in th' dissolvent skies Bid but the dead awake and they arise Edward Williams To his Honoured and Ingenious Friend Mr. Edmund Prestwich upon his Poems and Translation of Hippolitus MOst men wil sure mistake when they behold My rustick Muse thus confidently bold Entruding in your Front till they shall know Her humbler pride conceal'd her far more low Until surpris'd commanded and confin'd Unto this height by your Magnetick minde Which you so richly have Imbodyed here Though in anothers mould you can appear I do believe in full as various shapes As Jupiter ere did to act your rapes Upon our Muses since your curious art Hath wrought a miracle of this desert Which like a Verger I would stand and tell Did not its Character too much excell My crepid fancy whilst by your Translation As by a Magically replantation From the vitriall form old
refuse I life courage my mind Try execute what thou thy self injoyn'd Speak boldly she who fearfully doth crave Begs a deniall my worst crime I have Acted long since Shame commeth now too late I 've lov'd a sin if in it fortunate A Husbands name may palliate the deed Those sins are oft thought honest which succeed Go too begin my soul Sir I a while desire Your privacy let all the rest retire Hip. See here is none to interrupt us speak Ph. But m• seal'd lips cannot the silence break Both urg'd to speech and forced to be still I call you Gods to witness that my will Hip. Can you not speak your mind Nu. Great griefs are best By silence little ones by words exprest Hip. Mother give me the burthen of your cares Ph. The name of Mother to much distance bears An Humbler name becomes our Love Call us Thy sister or thy maid Hippolitus But rather maid I the most slavish yoke Will wear Command it shall be undertook I le clime the frozen Pindus through deep snows Run through the fire and armed t•oops expose My naked brest to naked swords receive 1 This Scepter then and let me be thy slave To rule becommeth thee me to obey It ill becomes a womans arm to sway So great a Nation thou who 'rt in the pride Of blooming youth thy Fathers people guide Protect thy suppliant in thy bosome hid Take pitty on a widdow Hip. Heaven forbid Madam my Father will come safely back Ph. •rom Styx and those insatiate realms no track Doth lead to the forsaken light shall he 2 Who came a ravisher dismissed be ' Lesse Plut'ol sit down a tame Cuckold too Hip. Heavens far more equall power this will doe But while it yet rests in suspence I le please My Brethren with all fitting offices Protect Thee that thou seem not widdowed I The absence of my Father will supply Ph. O credulous Lovers O deceitfull Love Hath he not said enough now prayers shall move O pitty hear even my silence wooe I would yet would not speak Hip. What ailest thou Ph. That which thou little thinks a step-dame should Hip. Speak plainly and thy doubtful words unfold Ph. Why Love within my raging bosome fumes And with a cruel fire my reins consumes The flame which in my bowels hid remains Thence shooteth up and down my melting veins As agile fire over dry timber spread Hip. What with chast love of Theseus thou art mad Ph. Thou art in the right I love that ancient face Which Theseus had when he a stripling was When first the down budding upon his chin He saw the house the 3 Minotaur was in And crooked mazes the long thred up wound How glorious then his hair with sillets bound A dainty blush over his cheek was spread And his soft arms were the securest bed Like thy Diana or my Phaebus then Or rather thee thus thus he looked when He pleas'd his foe thus loftily did bear His head but thou art something hansomer Thou 'st all thy fathers parts and yet against Reason some of thy Mothers too retain'st A S•ythian rigour in a Graecian face Had'st thou come with thy Father in those dayes Then Ariadnes clew had sure been thine Thou thou my Sister wherefoere thou shine In spangled •kies a cause so like thine own Assist one family hath both undone The Father thee and me the Son thou sees A suppliant Princes fallen on her knees Free from aspersions innocently good Chang'd but to thee I 'm sure none else have woo'd This day to gri•f or life an end shall bring Pitty a Lover Hip. Thou Almighty King Of Gods canst thou so mildly see so mildly hear Her wickednes if now the Heavens be clear When wilt thou thunder let the troubled air Now run on heaps and day a Vizard wear May the reversed Stars now backwards •un And what dost thou thou the irradi•te Sun Behold thy Grand•ilds lusts for shame lay by Thy beams and into utter darkness fly And why art thou idle Spectator turn'd Great Iove the world not yet with lightning burn'd Thunder at me let thy quick flame consume Me I am wicked and deserve the doom I 've pl•as'd my Step-dame merit I to be Inc•ous thought for this Impiety Seem'd I most fit deserves my strictness this O Women excellent in wickedness O thou in thy unbounded lusts more wild Than was thy Mother Sh•e only defil'd Her self yet was the wicked the•t betray'd By the Prodigious issue which shee had The doubtfull birth witness'd his Mothers shame With his fierce look from the same womb thou came Thrice happy are they in their prosp'•ous fate Who are by fraud consum'd destroid by hate Father I envie thee this sin this sin Is greater then Medeas could have been Ph. I know our houses Fate I crave I know What is forbid but cannot h•lp it tho Thee thorough flames o're rocks the foaming deep And heady torrents comp•ny I 'le keep Where ere thou goes there frantick I will be Behold coy youth again I kneel to thee Hi. Keep of and touch not my chast lims what now Immodest wretch wilt thou imbrace me too Then shall my sword du• vengeance take my hand Wreath'd in her hair her shameless neck doth bend Bow-bearing Goddess never bloud with more Justice was on thy Altars spilt before Ph. Why now Hippolitus I have my wish Thou curst my frenzy 'bove my hope was this To perish by thy hand and chast Hip. Avaunt And live least any thing to thee I graunt Nor shall this steel by thee polluted ere Defile my chaster side by hanging there What Tanais what Maeotis which doth pay His waters tribute to the Pontick sea Can wash me clean not all great Neptunes flouds Can expiate this crime O Beasts O Woods Nu. Why so dull sulled now the crime is known Let us plead force and uncompelled own The impious act Sin is best hid by sinn Who fear to be accused should begin Whether the lewd attempt were ours or his Since secret who shall be his witnesses Help help Athenians servants the obscene Hippolitus is ravishing the Queen Her with his naked sword he threatneth And awes her chastity with fear of death See now he flyes and by his fearfull speed Hath left his sword a witness of the deed First chear the Queen but let her hair still be Thus torne and thus disordered as you see These pregnant testimonies of an act So vile bear to the City recollect Your senses Madam Why alas do you Afflict your self and sly the publike view No Woman ever was from the event Esteem'd immodest but from the assent Exeunt CHORUS SWift as a tempest doth he fly so fast Cloud-gathering Chorus doth not make such hast A shooting Meteor doth more slowly stream When rapid winds fan the extended flame Now may admiring Fame conferr on thee The honour due to all antiquity For so thy beauty doth all others passe As Phoebe seemeth fairer then she was When at the
recovered another by Hippolitus Act the fifth Scene the first 1. SEe the third Scene Act the third numb. 3. 2. By his indiscrete credulity in believing Phaedra and his ra•h passion in killing Antrope 3. Scini• was an infamous theef which tied passengers to trees forcibly bended together which afterwards permitted to return to their naturall course tare in Pieces all such as were held to them 4. Procrustes of the same condition with •cinis only varying something in cruelty passengers under colour of entertainment were brought to a bed which if they were too long for by amputation of the extending part they were equall if too short they with racks were stretch'd out even with it 5. The Minotaure of Crete formerly spoken of 6. Dedalus made that Labyrinth 7. It was a custome amongst the Ancients at the interment of their friends by way of testification of their sorrow and in honour of the deceased to cover their faces and cut off their hair as if they took no delight in any ornament of Nature after the decease of those persons in whom they placed their supream contentment 8. Acheron in English joyless is a River imagined to receive first the souls of the deceased because at the Moment of death a certain fatall sadness seiseth so on the Spirits that an easy divination may be made of death approaching for then the memory and conscience of past actions the River which we must first pass over puts our immortall part into an apprehension of sinking under the burthen 9. Averna is a Lake in Campania neer the Bajae which because of the male-odoration of the air antiquity supposed to be the first descent into Hell 10. It seems those superstious ages ascribed severall descents into Hell for Tonarus is here taken for it at the straits whereof Hercules descended thither from whence he redeemed Theseus and captivated Cerberus 11. Leth• is another of those fabulously designed Rivers of which whatever ghost tasted an immediate forgetfuluess of all things past was its attendant though in truth Lethe is a River about the utmost extent of the Sirtes which submerged and latent for some miles breaks out again neer the City Berenice from hence the wide-throated faith of the Ancient swallowd an opinion that it had his emergency from Hell 12. Proteus a Sea God the son of Oceanus and Tethis is said to feed Neptunes Sea-monsters to be extream skilfull in divinations and to transform himselfe into any shape 13. Theseus imagining all places here accuseth himself that in all places are full testiment of his guilt in the shie Ariadnes constellation witnesses his ingratitude in her trecherous desertion Hell endures his accompanying Pyritheus thither to assist his adultery upon Proserpine The Sea accuseth him by his careless obedience to have sent his father precipitated thither 14. Sisiphus for his numerous depredations upon Attica was kill•d by Theseus The Punishment aflicted upon him in Hell is supposed to be an injuctive taske to roule a great stone up to the top of a high Mountain to which when a•ved by its relaxency to the bottom it makes his labour still beginning but never accomplish'd 15. Titius endeavouring to ravish Latona Apollos mother was by Iupiter struck dead with Thunder others say kill'd by Apollo his sufferings are said to be by a Vultur gnawing perpetually on his Liver which undiminishably continues 16. Ixion the father of Pyritheus taken up by Iupiter into Heaven entertained lustfull thoughts towards Iuno of which Iupiter informed framed a Cloud in the effigies of Iuno upon which the deceived adulterer begot the Centaure being returned to earth he vaingloriously boasted of his embraces with the Queen of heaven Iupiter to punish his violence sunk him into h•l with a Thunder-bolt where he is tied to a wheel and tormented with perpetuall circumrotation 17. Those dead of whom the Ancients had any cause to detest the memory were usually followed with an imprecation that the earth might lie heavy on them out of a strange conceipt that the soul which they believed to be inhumed with the body could slowly if at all remove to the seat of the happy by reason of 〈◊〉 depressure with such a weight DIVERSE SELECT POEMS By the same Author On an old ill-favoured Woman become a young Lover LOve me Heaven bless me Hadst thou told me all The common miseries which can befall A man to make him wretched I had met Them and embrac'd them with a youthfull heat Rather then heard thee talke of Love this newes Is worse then all the plagues the Gods can us To punish blacke offenders with to thee Want and continuall sickesse blessings be Sure thou dost now like beggars who to crave Take a delight though they may nothing have For I can nere beleeve thou canst acquaint Thy hopes with expectation of a graunt Be thine owne Judge or call thy partiall glasse To witness canst thou finde in all that Masse Of monstrous ugliness one peece that can Render thee fit for the most sinful man If all the rest were answerable no Thou may'st securely boast that none can show So full a harmony no part of thine Can at his fellows richer form repine Nor can they for Supremacie contest When ev'ry part is worst and none is best Some when Pandora's boxe was op'ned doubt That thou wert all those plagus which thronged out And most agree as ev'ry gen'rous God A sev'rall ornament on her bestow'd The sportive Deities have giv'n to thee Each a particular deformity Iove gave thee an imperious mind his Queen Made thee a scold and gave thee tongue and spleen Sol tan'd thy skin Iris did paint thy face Hermes taught theft Saturn gave length of dayes God Momus gave thee a repining soul Phoebe to keep thee chaste hath made thee foul Yet it seems Venus whom thou dost adore Enrag'd at that hath made thy will a whore And Mulciber who would not be behind His courteous wife gave thee a halting mind But by what chance into the world thou fell None can conceive under a miracle Thy Mother hadst thou had one at thy birth Had frantick run as soon as brought thee forth The trembling Mid wife from her shaking hands Had let thee fall killd in thy swathing bands The timely zeale else of the standers by Had rid the world of such a Prodigy Or had'st thou by their feare from present death A while preserv'd drawn a contemned breath None would have fatherd thee nor had'st thou bin Esteem'd the lawlesse progeny of sinne And of the people Spurnd from each ones blood Thou so had'st perished for want of food But thou' rt no humane seed thy shapelesse age Allowes thee not of mortall Parentage Yet 't would almost perswade me to beleeve That if thou be a woman thou art Eve Onely I think man might have stood till now If Eve had been no hansomer than thou For 't is not time or age could change thee thus Thou wert by Nature made so leperous
stay And rest awhile who travail a rough way For mine own part I 'm willing to apply My self to th' study of Cheirology And talk with thee by signes so thou l't command Thy tongue give place to th' Rhet'rick of thy hand But thou' rt I doubt too greedily inclin'd To quit so many trades 't expresse thy mind Besides 't is naturall to thy disease Neither to let men speak nor hold their peace And a plague take thee speech he little needs Who is so plainly spoken by his deeds Vpon Lucretia NOw the chast Matron being left alone Had leasure to consider what was done And though the sinfull act committed were Against her wil she could not chuse but fear Th' uncertaine voice of Fame which doth but prize Suspected vertue as apparent vice Then melting into tears O Gods saith she Is this the best reward for Chastity Or do you hate that vertue that we must Be forced when we will not yield to Lust What balm what comfort have you to asswage My furious sorrow miserable age When most doe willingly this sin commit And such as would cannot live free from it Then did she wring her hands and tear her hair Sighing her body almost into ayr So true a grief had been enough to make Her innocent although she did partake Of Tarquin's guilt But now at length she dries Those wealthy pearls from her o'rcharged eyes And with a calmer look these teares saith she Are booteless Childish sorrow cannot free Me from mens censures Something must be done To expiate his crime lest thought mine own There did she stay awhile and with her eyes Cast down as studying on her enterprise By chance she did the Tyrants Ponyard find Which he at his departure le•t behind She took it up and a sad smile did show Her joy for her approaching overthrow Yet will I triumph over shame and by My death quoth she confirm my Chastity And thou polluted steel which once didst •orce Me to the breach of wedlock shalt divorce Me now for ever then she said no more But acting what she had resolv'd before Drove the continu'd wound unto her heart The noble Spirit hastned to depart Perhaps it was affraid it might defile It selfe by staying with that Flesh awhile The Power of Love POets made the a God and Love if thou Be Deify'd make me a Poet now Then will I sing thy praises and reherse Thy feared name th'rough the wide Vniverse Some faithful grove where no close spy discovers The strict embraces of enjoying Lovers Shall be thy Temple hallow'd by my prayers The cheerfull Birds shall be the Choristers A Poet shall be Priest and I will bring My wounded heart to be the offering My body shall be th' Altar and mine eyes Shall feed the flame that burns the Sacrifice Then in thy powerfull name I will all jars Compose and once more free the Earth from wars Beasts hunting after prey shall then grow tame Arrested by the accents of thy name The Lyon then shall kisse the Lamb and keep Him harmless while the Wolf defends the sheep The Bear and Dog be friends the Crocadile Shall weep no more when as he would beguile The Si•ens tempting voice shal then have power Onely to calm the waves not to devoure And ravish'd with the tune the rising Seas Shall dance for joy not gape for carkasses The Turtles shall leave off their courtship and As listning to the musick silent stand But at the close of ev'ry melting strain Approving what they hear shall Bill again The Virgin Phoenix shall beleeve a Mate A fitter means than death to propagate The Nightingale shall change her note mourn No longer for her Rape but for her scorn The Loving Pelican shall spend her blood More freely to preserve her Mate than Brood The Salamander feel a hotter fire The Gennet shall not have the Wind his fire Rivers to kisse th' embracing banks shall stay Till forced by the upper streams away And then with a sad murmure forward creep As loth to intermingle with the deep All Trees shall grow like Palmes by two and two And fade at once as they together grew None shall be barren all thus match'd shall bear Some gratefull issue to the kindly year Stil with fresh Verdure shall the Earth be clad And yield encrease for what she never had Scorning by her spruce Lover to be found At any time with wither'd Chaplets crown'd Children whose tender age as yet affords Them but the Liberty of half-clip'd words Shall learn the Dialect of Love and break Their mindes by acting what they cannot speak While forty Ecchoes who have onely tongue For that shall bear the burthen of my song And taking it from one another bear Thy praises thorough either Hemisphaere Till the whole Earth with joinct consent approve All things are subject to the power of Love The new Niobe MErcy great Love and hence I 'l swear My self a vassall to thy Shrine And ev'n when th' art raging here My verse shall speak that rage divine Though my insufferable smart Perswades me thou a Fury art So thou'lt but cast one other dart Why should she still unmoved stand And set at nought thy power and thee Defying thy dead-doing hand Her language than her soul more free While thou her prophanations heares And as if thou had'st •ost thy eares As well as eyes to strike forbeares What was my over-active crime What Blasphemies have I ere spoke Which could to Heav'n so nimbly clime And your quick Fury thence provoke Perhaps I call'd thee boy and blind Scorn'd Love doth not she bear that minde Why then in punishment not joyn'd Are Women privileg'd alone Securely to do ill or can One trespas be less monstrous grown In Woman than it is in Man No no I see that thou hast sworn We both shall pay the price of scorn With diff'rent passions overborn Yet am I us'd no worse by thee Than the great ruler of the day I Love a Stone and he a Tree Shee by her prayers became a Bay And mine like Niobe is grown By often weeping to a Ston But chang'd by my tears not her own Love thou art just and t is but fit She should into a Statue Freeze Who in her self the hopes of it Destroys as well as she •at sees Her ofspring which she glories in Slaine by her pride but for that sin A Mother too she might have been Gaine in Losse AWay fond Boy away What tempts thee for to stay Hov'ring about my brest Thou canst not hope to sway Whereas disdaines possest With such an interest And Honour'l not alow That thou should'st lower bow When daily Conquests post Afresh to Crown thy Brow And every shaft almost A heart or two can boast Yet if thou entr'st here By thine own power I swear All glory thou must quit No Bow nor Quiver bear But unto Scorn submit Thy self an Anchorite Thus spake Almanna and Cupid smil'd To think how much she was beguil'd Then
your Beauty then They drop to their own Element agen That Witch self-love is the sole Guide to these And sets such Charms upon their Bloud That 't is with it or Ebb or Floud According to their own Conveniencies And now those seem thus clear and high They also mount and shine but by and by Not able to maintain that height Fall over-charg'd with their own sordid weight That seeming Star which shot but now was made Of Vapors by the Sun exhal'd When our Meridian he scal'd And still •ad stayed there had he still stay'd But now its proper Centre is Thus interposed betwixt him and this In that forc'd height it will remain No longer but inclines to Earth again So while your Beauty its bright Rayes projects Vpon these grov'ling sons of Earth It giveth new affections Birth And to a nobler height their •ouls erects So winging their new-born desire Their towring thoughts dare at your self aspire And gotten the half way do there Hover a while 'twixt yours and their own Sphere But when the night of Absence doth divide You from their view and their first base Desires possesse the middle space And court them back again their thoughts abide No longer in suspense nor stay So much as the decision of the Day But ere that can with you return They all unite themselves to the first-born Now such as love like me are truly Stars And even then do shine most bright When most you do absent your light Let Chance let Nature place the strongest bars Of wealthy Earth 'twixt you and me Or masque you with a Cloud of Leprosie Yet still my Love should be the same And at some part of your great soul still light its flame An EPITHALAMIVM Upon T. P. and M. H. INsulting Night proud in her lengthned sway Hail glorious Maid whose brighter beams display And with fresh lustre wing the tardy Day Phoebus who worn with Age now bed-rid lies Looks out to see what God his room supplies And takes new vigor from your sparkling eyes Some who your morning Blushes saw did swear The Sun look'd red and a foul day was near But all the showre will be a maiden tear Fair Virgin blush not though a Bride to none Are you beholding for the Light which shone Guided unto the Temple by your own No intermedling God can claim a share In this Conjunction you your selves did pair They not Assistants but Spectators were Cupid his Quiver empty'd had in vain Your Husband did retort his shafts again But with one glance shot from your eye was slain The pitying Epidaurian straight was mov'd But all his Balsams ineffectual prov'd 'T is known he dies you wound if not belov'd Glad Love with his recovered shafts perswades Himself he easily can conquer Maids And with his dull Artillery you invades But his ill-headed Darts did all rebound Onely soft pity there an entrance found So Buff daunts Swords which a weak straw will wound The blow was double you your self did grone When you beheld what you your self had done And surely lov'd his wound because your own Hymen the Priest of Heav'n then left the Skies To wait on you in these Solemnities But had his Torch extinguish'd by your eyes The busie God that he might something do Studied a Benediction then but you Prov'd both the Blessing and the Donor too Ioves Herald warned by the Trump of Fame His Hat and Feet new-winged hither came To blesse you in his absent Fathers name Who would have come himself but that afraid The Gyants of this Age should Heav'n invade Were they not by his awfull Thunder staid Thus should the God have spoke but he doth stand With wonder dumb from his trembling hand The Charmer charm'd le ts fall his snaky wand Bac•hus beheld who all amazed cry'd Had Semel ' had these Rayes she had not dy'd But Iove himself though arm'd with lightning Straight he his wine-press leaves bringeth down fry'd For you his Ariadnes starry Crown But findes you wear a richer of your own The God of War doth from the Battail •lie Hangs up his uselesse Sword and layeth by All other tokens of Hostility His crimson'd hand from bloud his brow from sweat And dust now cleans'd he humbly doth intreat He may on you to Concor•'s Temple wait But while he covets peace the God doth wage A War within himself whose potent rage Doth in the Conflict all his Pow'rs engage The twice repulsed • 〈◊〉 who his sight For this days triumph begd doth curse the light Before but hood-winckt now he 's blinded quite Vulcan his Forge in Sicily neglects And hither his lame steps in haste directs Heav'ns peril nor Ioves anger he respects A thousand Hammers in his brain do beat And all his study is how he may get You •etter'd in his Artificial Net But the deceived God while that he plac'd And in conceit already you embrac'd Was by a look of yours himself chain'd fast His Wife at once blush'd wept and sigh'd and frown'd And cri'd Now is my Pap•os unrenown'd And all her Glory in this Mue•t-lake drown'd My Mars hath left me would she would allow Me but my long despised Husband now But he is Pris'ner too I know not how This said she yokes her Doves resolv'd to see If by her Beauty she again might free Whom yours had brought into Captivity Vain was her Enterprize she soon confest The Magick of her Face could not contest With yours and so stood gazing with the rest The warlike Pallas knits her martial brows And as she shakes her trembling spear she vows Revenge then her unveiled Gorgo• shows But strait she found her Error You alone Did more than she determin'd to have done Medusa's Head and She both turn'd to stone The bashfull Ph•ebe with a down-cast look To beg your kinde Reflexion hither took A journey and her dark'ned Orb forsook But ready now to utter her Desire The light was such she durst approach no nigher Nor yet in that amazement could retire Great Iuno backs a Cloud and as she sails Thorow the Air her blushing Face she vails Now vanquish'd twice with her stript Peacocks Her Argos hundred Eyes she hates and pin'd tails With Envie wishes that she had been blinde Her self when first she did your Beauty finde The Goddess stoops to Earth thinks to shrowd You from Ioves view in a condensed Cloud But you disperst it and more glorious shew'd Thus all the Gods this morning suffer'd shame By you alone and stood as in a Dream Till you once joyn'd unto themselves they came And now Bacchus and Ceres strive who best Shall please your company for you they gh•st Would most on one anothers Faces feast The others daring not appear have sent By me their Proxy this short complement Which once delivered away they went BRight Virgin though your blooming youth abound With all those Virtues which the Earth adorn Though ev'ry part be with that Beauty crown'd May make it noon ere