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
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
I know thou 'lt aske ' why I no Front do weare To take the distant eye Not I I sweare To give an invitation and no meate Would not be thought a courtesie but cheat Besides if mine owne feares aright divine Thou 'lt find but too much Front in ev'ry line HIPPOLITUS Translated out of SENECA By EDMUND PRESTWICH Together with divers other Poems of the same Authors Verum pone moras studiam lucri Nigrorumque memor dum licet ignium Misce stultitiam conciliis brevem LONDON Printed by G. D. for George Boddington at the Signe of the Crown in Chancery-lane neere the Rolles 1651. TO THE NOBLE and MOST VERTUOUS LADY Mrs. ANNE LEEDES Madam HEre you see what diligence I have used to involve my self into a Lab'rinth out of which my judgement is not clew sufficient to conduct me I blush when I remember how I have betrayed mine own weaknesse to the publike view and like Caecrops Daughter tempted my MINERVA to mine owne ruine for daring to discover an Infant with such deformed feet I have reason to feare ' that those knowing spirits the right heires to all those sacred fountaines within the Diocesse of the Myter'd Hill those profest Champions of Poesie who are so jealous of the Muses Honour will be strict in their examinations severe in their censures and where they find an intruder whose follies are stript thus naked as are mine liberally use that lash which was justly put into their hands But when they shal know I am not so wedded to self-self-love but that were I permitted to cast my bean into the Urne I should bee as ready to condemne my self as expect my sentence from another Perhaps so ingenious a confession might in noble minds quite pluck out the sting of Anger and make their reprehensions rather arise from pitty or a Fatherly affection then Revenge but then I tremble to thinke how I stand engaged amongst all that ignorant and censorious Rabble who because Nature foreseeing how lavish they would be of that little which they had durst not trust them with any considerable stock of wit beleeve they are priviledg'd to cry it down in others Men that conscious of their owne basenesse obstinately arme against truth and knowledge and by custome of Malice are grown so barbarous as they will vindicate a Prostitute or set a spurious birth upon the highest point of Honour but endeavour to stab their forked tongues into the bosome of the most chast and noble Virgin my meaning is that they will cherish common and shallow fancies Births so infamous that they can onely speak their Parents shame when a Legitime Poem often falls a sacrifice to the many-headed and no brained Multitude From the rage of these I fly •o you for Protection as confident how desperately soever otherwise bent they dare not violate so holy a Sanctuary Nor doe I doubt but you will guard me from so treacherous and unjust an Enemy as pretends to reprove my Faults but indeed acts his own Malice and would have persecuted me worse had this been better Neither am I so impudent as to desire you should against the equity of your own Conscience defend a trifle and approve to others what you your self mislike No Madame I request you to be my Judge as well as Patron as well to punish where you finde me faulty as to protect me Innocent and if after due examination had my whole Book shall appeare guilty of cheating my Readers out of so much time for nothing sentence it to the fire and beleeve me I would not bewaile mine owne sufferings if condemned by so Legall a Process But if you shall be pleased to receive it into any degree of Favour I shall be secure that it is not altogether to be despised and in that confidence dare both vindicate my self unto the world and make my owne revenge of such as shall provoke me Your wisdome Justice and singular affection to the MUSES to wrong whom I beleeve you esteem as well as I a sinne next Sacriledge may sufficiently warrant all men that your Judgment will be unbias'd Therefore as that shall determine of me I will either quietly submit my selfe to all censures or rise up in defence of my Innocence In the meane time I will not speake one word in mine own behalfe onely if this shall faile your expectation and prove unworthy this Honour it is advanced to I beseech you exercise both your Justice and Mercy burne it but forgive him who will ever esteeme it his greatest happinesse to be reckn'd amongst the number of Your Servants EDMUND PRESTWICH TO THE IUDICIOUS READER Iudicious Reader AS I must confesse nothing could please me more than to know that my endeavours had pleased thee so I must tell thee nothing can trouble me less than the knowledge that they have not chuse how thy judgement be stated I am resolved to make my benesit of it for if thy applause shall crowne these first Essaies of my Youth the highest soaring ambition could not have expected a more grateful successe than that which besides an ample recompence for what I have already done brings along with it sufficient matter of encouragement for the future and as it were kindly constrains me to continue the pursuite of a study which mine owne Inclinaaion hath but too violently begun making that appeare the child of gratitude which is now perhaps by some accounted folly Nor doe I doubt but the affectionate Zeale of a thankfull soul togeather with a gen'rous scorn to bely a judgement so advantagious to my selfe will prompt my Genius to higher and braver things for thy pleasure then ever yet I could attaine to for mine own but if with what I seek to obtain thy favour I shall only purchase a meritorious anger thou mayst condemn these trifles ad ficum piperem or if thou wilt as unserviceable even there to more base and servile offices and beleeve me I can forgoe without the least act of repentance so fruitlesse a study as yeelds me neither fame nor profit nor shall I esteem it a smal peece of friendship to stop my wild carreere my foot being upon so dangerous a Praecipice Thus far to thee whose censure is grounded upon the sure foundation of an uncorrupted reason Now thou who makest a Lottery of thy mouth and shuffling thy words together fetchest thy dislike or approbation from the meere vertue of chance mayst be pleas'd to consider that I shall not easily be afraid of noise that am so confident against the most imminent dangers therefore if thy sick palate cannot relish such cates as I have set before thee if thou look upon my lines with such a kinde of an odium as petulant Curres do upon Forrainers bark till thy spleen burst thou hurtst not me but if the toy take thee to give me a wretched commendation I shal but give thee cold thanks with a non minimum est quod stultis placui Thus you may both see
Too late denyes to undergo the yoke Himself put on Neither am I mistooke In Princely tumors how the stubborn mind Scorns truth and will not be to right inclind The Fates decrees are welcome who are old To see their end approaching grew more bold First wilt t' oppose nor faulter in that will 'T is next to modesty to know in ill A measure Wretch what wilt thou do Ah why Dost thou increase thy houses infamy And overact thy Mother this exceeds Her sin and more than monstrous be thy deeds For to compulsive Fate we attribute Monsters but sins to manners we impute Think'st thou thy crime more safe and void of fear 'Cause 11 Theseus sees not what is acted here Thou art mistaken for suppose he dwell For ever there doom'd t' a perpetuall Hell What will thy 12 Father doe thy Father aws The Sea and gives a hundred Cities Laws And Parents are quick-sighted What will he Winke at so horrid an Impiety But grant our craft or circumspection might Conceal it from him What will that great Light Of all things Father to thy Mother doe What the Gods fruitfull Seminator who As he his Thunder brandishes doth shake The trembling world are these like to mistake Canst thou yet hope unseen to keep thy crime From these All-seeing Grandfathers of thine But say the fav'ring Deities should hide The fact and as it does great sins betide None credited thy incest yet thou 'lt finde A present pain a self accusing mind With horror big and of is self afraid Some unreavel'd none sin unpunished Bridle thy impious love a crime which yet No barb'rous Nation ever did commit To Goths and Scythians and those who on Inhospitable Taurus dwell unknown From thy chaste brest expell these strange desires Thy Mother warnes thee from such uncouth sires Shall Son and Father have one common bed Thy impious womb fill'd with a mixed seed 13 Well doe with thy illicite flames make war 'Gainst Nature and impose new Laws on her We are at want of Monsters and of late Thy Brothers Court alas is desolate Shall unaccustom'd births the world appall And Nature be as oft unnaturall As a Cretense shall love Ph. I know dear Nurse Your counsel 's good but I must follow worse Fury compelleth Wittingly I stray Striving in vain my judgement to obey So when an over-burdened ship receives The unwelcome Buffets of encountring waves Vain is the Seamans toil in spite of them The Vessel goes with the prevailing stream Love reason vanquishes and countermands Nor will admit a Rivall where he reigns His Kingdome is the World he hath great Iove Scorched with the unruly flames of Love Fired the brest of the stern God of war And the dread-thunder-forging Mulciber He who in Aetna doth for ever turn The glowing Embers with a spark doth burne Phoebus himself who aims his shafts so true By the more skillful Boy is wounded too Gri•vous his power in Heaven in Earth the same Nu. Lust fav'ring Vice did first this Godhead frame And that it might the greater freedome have The name of Deity to fury gave Condemn'd forsooth by Venus for to live Thoroug• the World a restless fugitive He as he through the yeelding air doth fly Fashions his troublesome Artillery And now this Little one so great is grown The Gods submit to his dominion These Vanities were feignd Some guilty mind To her a Godhead him a bow assign'd Swell'd with prosperity who flows in Vice Not daining to admit one pleasure twice Lust the companion of great Fortunes waits On him he is not pleas'd with wonted cates Firm-builded houses nor your grosser meat Why doth this Pallace-haunting plague retreat From humble roofs a pious Love dwells there The Vulgar have affections void of fear Princes and rich men will have more than right When meaner men can cu•b their appetite Who but too much can doe yet would that he Could more Consider thou thy quality And thy returning Husbands Scepter fear Ph. Alas Love swayes his powerfull Scepter here And I fear no returns none gone from hence To the dark house of death find passage thence Nu. Be not too credulous say the gates of Hell Were shut and Cerberus the Centinell Theseus hath forc'd the way hath bin forbid Ph. Yet he perhaps would pardon if did Nu. Why He was cruell to a wife was chaste 14 Antiope can testifie his hast But grant we might appeale thy angry Spouse Yet who can move the stern Hippolitus He doth abhor the very name of wife And obstinately vows a single life Marriage he shuns an Amazon thou knows Ph. Stay he in mountains crown'd with frequent snows Or fly he over the sharp rocks I will Follow him through the woods and ore the hils Nu. Will he be tempted who resisteth Love Will he chaste pleasures for unchast remove Be kind to thee for whom perhaps alone He hates the sexe Ph. With prayers he may be won Nu. Hee 's cruell Ph. Love tameth the cruell too Nu. Hee 'l flie Ph. Flie he by Sea I will pursue Nu. Remember thou thy Father Ph. We doe call Our 15 Mother too to memory withall Nu. All woman-kind he hates Ph. I am the more Secure of being rival'd with a whore Nu. Theseus will come Ph. And 16 Pyrithous together Nu. Thy Father'l come Ph. What 17 Ariadnes Father Nu. By these dear brests by these time-dyed hairs And by this bosome over-worn with cares I pray thee have compassion on thy selfe For to desire it is a peece of health Ph. I have not lost all shame Nurse I obey The Love I cannot rule I conquer may Thou shalt not suffer in thy Fame this is The onely reason bridles my amiss 18 My Husband will I follow and prevent My sin by death Nu. Dear Madam some restraint Give to these passions I the more esteem Your life because you do your self condemn Ph. Yes dye I will but whether halter knife Or leap from Pallas tower conclude my life I know not yet Oh that my chastity Can only guarded by selfe-ruine be Nu. What think'st thou me so impotent my age To suffer this yet moderate thy rage Ph. To such as merit and resolve to dye Reason in vain doth urge the contrary Nu. Thou onely comfort of my aged yeares Since so perverse a fate thy will ore bears Contemn thy fame Fame speaks not as it shou'd Good to the bad and bad unto the good Let us aslay him and this Nature prove So froward so intractable to Love This labour shall be mine I le undertake The Stubborn youth and exorable make Exeunt CHORUS 1 GOddess the off-spring of the troubled floud And Mother to as troublesome a God 2 The twin'd Cupid with what a certain aim Alike immod'rate in his flames and them The boy his shafts doth levell the disease Creeps through the marrow and impoverishes With an insinuating fire the veins The Wound appeareth not in scars but pains Within ransacks the very bones this boy To peace is
a professed enemy Thorow the world his shafts are nimbly thrown Those Coasts that first salute the rising Sun Or •id him last good night those that do sweat Under the torrid Crabs consuming heat And those which doe beneath the cold Bear freeze Peopl'd but with uncertain Colonies Have felt these flames in youth he blows the fire Reviveth age-extinguished desire In crazed limbes and the cold Virgins snow Melts with a warmth her bosome doth not know At his command the Gods forsake the skies And borrowed shapes obscure their Deities Phoebus his harp layes by unequall reeds 3 Gather the herd he in Thessalia feeds 4 How often hath the cloud-dispelling Iove Bin clothed in the meanest shapes for love Now like a Swan he claps his silver wings And sweeter than the dying true one sings Now like a wanton Steer in play doth take The Royall Virgin on his humbled back With his oare-imitating feet he ply•s His 5 brothers waves and unknown Realms descries He breaks the Sea with his opposed brest Of his fair Rape fear'd to be disposest The clear-fac'd Goddess of the night hath burn'd And over her forsaken Ch•riot turn'd To her unskilful Brother now the Sun Doth learn to drive two horses and doth run A shorter course day rises slowly and night Keeps no proportion with the wronged light Retarded by the unaccustom'd weight 7 Alcides hath his quiver laid aside And the N•maean Lions dreadfull hide Now he the Emra•ld to his finger fits And his neglected hair in order fits With gold-embroidered buskins he doth bind His legs his feet in yellow socks contein'd And with that hand in which the club was born He twists the threed and doth the spindle turn Persia and fruitfull Lydia saw the skin Of the fierce beast lye by rejected then And those huge shoulders which did once support And serve for pilla•s to the heavenly Court Clad in a Pall with Tyrian purple dy'd The fire is sacred credit those have try'd And but too potent for as far as land By the salt Ocean is invirond and The scattered Stars illuminate the Skie Reaches the Kingdom of this peevish boy Though guarded by the interposed seas His darts have wounded 8 the Nereides Nor could the Ocean quench the kindled flame The feather'd Nation too hath felt the same By lust provok'd how the fierce Bull hath warr'd To be the sole Commander of the Herd The tim'rous Hart his rival once in sight Fearles himself addresses to the fight And testifies his fury with his voice Then the black Indies tremble at the noise Of spotted Tigres Then all white his mouth With rage engendred foam the wild Boar doth His deadly tushes whet The Lyon when He feels this sting of Love his horrid mane Tosses on high the very forrest faints Then with the noise of her inhabitants The Monsters of the deep this power have prov'd Both they and the Lucanian Oxe have lov'd Nature doth claim a priviledge in all Her yoke is universall hate doth fall At the command of Love that ancient fire Extinguish'd by the new one of desire Why should I more rehearse it is enough We see a Step-dames bosome not of proof Against the Strok of Love What news bringst thou Speak Nurse and s•y where thou halt left her now Finis Actus Primi Actus Secundi Scena Prima Nurse Nu. NO hope can salve this sore nor wil that fire Be ever quench'd which fr•nzy raizes higher Although no crackling flame although conceald In her close br•st 't is by her face reveal'd Her •es doe sparkle and her sh•unke checks flie The light Best pleased with variety Is her divided soul her body feels The motion of her troubled sprite and reels Now her faint limbs a dying measure tread And scarce her weary neck sustains her head Now would she resta while but straight forbears Forgotten sleep and spends the night in teares She rises and again is laid Shee looses Her scattered 〈◊〉 and again composes She varies habit wea•y of her self And grows regardles both of food and health S• languishingly goes her strength decay'd And from her checks the wither'd roses fade Care doth dissolve her joynts a trembling pace She holds not near so comely as shee was And those same eyes that testified her line From Phoebus nothing like her Grandsire shine Still are her cheeks with teares bedewed so A warm showr melteth the dilated snow Upon the cliffs of Taurus but behold The Court is ope where on a couch of gold Leanes the inclined Lover and her brain Distemperd doth her own attire disdain Ph. Good maids these gold and purple garments bear From hence what should the Tyrian dye doe here Or wooll which the trees mollified rind Yeelds to the Sexes a short Zone shall bind My loins for expedition girt no load Of pearl on us by Indian Seas bestowd Shall lengthen out my cares nor will I deck With any Carkanet my widdowed neck No perfume my dishevel'd hair doth need Careless upon my neck and shoulders spread And by the wind displayed my left shall bear A quiver and my right hand shake a spear 1 Such was Hippolita and as she guides From frozen Tanais and Maeotis sides Her troops to Attick coasts her hair collected Into a knot and then again rejected A Crescent shield gaurding her side even so Accoutred I into the woods will goe Nu. Comp•in no more gri•f doth not ease great Q•een The wrete•ed Wil the fire observe a mean Invoke the Virgin Goddess of the wood H•il sacred Q•een of forrests whose abode Alone is on the hills alone who art There worshipped these dire portents avert Thou the woods awfull Deitie the bright Planet of Heaven the ornament of night One of the worlds alternate lamps the trine Aspected Hecate favour our design Tame this hard-hearted youth that he may learn To love and with a mutuall ardour burn Incline his cares his brest unarme his mind Ingraft in hers though froward harsh unkind Let him pay Venus homage thus thy might Employ So still unshaded be thy light Through the dispersed clouds making thy way With thy resplendent horns so from thy sway 2 May no Thessalian Witches thee constrain 3 Nor thou thy honour forf•it to a Swain Goddess invok'd thou 'st heard my prayer lo now I see him paying of his yearly vow Alone he is wherefore are these delayes Art must be us'd Fortune gives time and place What tremble I 't is hard for to obey A Crime but he that fears a prince must lay Conscience aside and modesty expell The bashfull never serv'd a Monarch well Actus Secundi Scena Secunda Hippolitus Nurse Hip. THy weary steps why hither bendest thou With such a clouded face troubled brow Good Nurse I hope my Father is not dead Nor Phaedra nor the pledges of their bed Nu. Fear not obsequious Fortune on thy house Still waits and still the land is prosperous But thou mild as thy houses fate to me Give e•r who'm so sollicitous for
To a Gentlewoman that sued to her Servant whom she had formerly forsaken THou may'st as well leave off thy tears or smiles I count no better than a Crocadiles And all thy protestations are but wiles Thou may'st as easily out-noise the Wind Deaf the rude Sea make Love no longer blind As change the tenor of a setled mind I 'd Lov'd too long should I not know at last How quickly all thy vowes were overpast And thy old servant by a new displac'd And should I know all this and not take heed 'T were pity then but I afresh should bleed And you might begge me for a fool indeed False Woman no thy unsuspected fall Hath quench'd those flames and left of that great All Nought but the ashes of Loves funerall And can'st thou hope to kindle a new fire Where there be left no sparks of old desire And a Love-broken heart is made intire Why then I 'l yeeld but since I cannot be Thy Love such Miracles shal make of thee A God and I 'l adore thy deity But thou art far from that as Heavens from cares So farre thou can'st not hope for 't in thy Prayr's Nor purchase with thy penitential tears For my young hate of thee is so improv'd As I to hate my self am almost mov'd When I but think that I a woman lov'd Yet I 'l not say all Women are untrue Nor but the bad may mend but never you However I wil ne'r beleeve you doe But if as thou hast prodigally swore Thou lov'st me better now than e'r before Shew it me then and trouble me no more How to chuse a MISTRES FIrst I would have a face exactly fair Not long nor yet precisely circular A smooth high brow where neither Age nor yet A froward peevishness hath wrinckles set And under that a pair of clear black eyes To be the windows of the Aedifice Not sunck into her head nor starting out Not fix'd nor rolling wantonly about But gently moving as to whet the sight By some fresh object not the appetite Their Orbs both equal and divided by A wel-proportion'd noses Ivory The nostrils open fit to try what air Would best preserve the Mansion what impair The colour in her cheek so mixt the eye Cannot distinguish where the red doth lye Or white but ev'ry part thereof as loth To yeeld in either equally hath both The mouth but little whence proceeds a breath Which might revive one in the gates of death And envy strike in the Panchayan groves When their spic'd tops a gentle East-wind moves The lips ruddy as blushing to be known Kissing each other by the Lookers on And these not to perpetual talk dispos'd Nor alwayes in a lumpish silence clos'd But e'vry word her innocence brings forth Sweetned by a discreet and harmles mirth The teeth even and white a dimpled chin And al these clothed with the purest skin Then as good painters ever use to place The darker shadow to the fairer face A sad brown hair whose am'rous curles may tye The Pris'ners fast ta'ne captive by her eye Thus would I haue her face and for her mind I 'd have it cloth'd in Vertue not behind The other's Beauty for a house thus drest Should be provided of a noble guest Then would I have a body so refin'd Fit to support this face enclose this mind When all these Graces I in one doe prove Then may Death blind me if I do not love Yet there is one thing more must needs concur She must love me as well as I love her Love without Hope HOpeless ah me I love nor can I tel Whether my Love or my Despair Deserve to be esteem'd the greater Hel For both alike do breed my care Despaires cold •rost cooleth not hot desire Nor yet is warmed at the Neighb'ring fire The faculties of my distemper'd mind• Anothers servants are becom And my corrupted reason hath resign'd To his old enemy his room There the Vsurper now the tyrant playes Ill must that kingdom thrive where Faction sways Toogreedily I gaz'd and through mine eyes My heart did fly unto her brest She with her own contented straight denyes To entertain so poor a guest With tears it begg'd that since it had bestow'd It self on her it might not lye abroad But she by this confirmed in her scorn No tears no prayers were prevalent Coldly she did advise it to return And proud she 'd counsail it it went But ah in vain struck blind with too much light The way was stopt th'rough 〈◊〉 it took its flight Naked and wounded it lay helpless there Till I who once had owned it Was for the Run'way a Petitioner I onely begg'd she would permit The wretch a habitation there to have Though used in the Nature of a slave Indeed I hoped better for could I Imagine she would ever br•nd Her name with breach of Hospitality Whose credit did so candid stand As all that knew her thought they might deter Vice from their Childten if nam'd after her But what 's more free than guift this empty seat Doth feel the absent Captives pain And now too late I do her heart intreat Far Hostage or mine own again Thus by my folly am I overthrown Constrain'd to beg for what was once mine own My heart a Slave Reason of rule bereft My Will and Vnderstanding wait On hers and unto me is only left Th' sad Memory of a better State What can I hope for then who am so poor Besides my sorrows I can give no more The dumb LOVER FAir 〈◊〉 cruell Maid Many Shepherds had enflamed Whose complaints her sport she made Frowning still when Love was named Yet those frowns did Love perswade 'Mong the rest ah hapless Youth Ann•phil did wish to have her Though scant of wealth yet in sooth Passing all that sought her favour For his passing passing truth This poor Wretch sought to suppress With his tears the rising fire But those tears prov'd witnesses To the World of his desire And his paines were ne'r the less Speak he durst not for he fear'd No death worse than a denyall Yet in his eyes still betear'd A too miserable tryall Of what Love can doe appear'd Armes across unsteady pace Eyes cast down as in subjection Broken words and changed face A most desperate affection In the wofull youth betrayes Coward Love oft would he say Who thy shafts on slaves bestowest Wounding such as doe obey But with Rebels meeting throwest Down thine arms and runn'st away Was it not enough that I Willingly thy yoke took on me But I must that service buy Which I fear hath quite undon me With fresh cares fresh misery Was it not enough that thou With thy proper force refused To succour me but that now My tongue th'rough thee speech-disused Cannot mine own thoughts avow Art thou a God who I see Thus thy humblest Vassals wrongest No thy weaker Deity Either yields unto her strongest Or thy sting is lost in me Then his hearty sighs would show
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