his very soule did groane Then had not I been stickler in this strife The beast had had a male-kinde to his wife Heere did I cut this grosse deuice a sunder Weary to heare a base absurded tale I tooke this foppish babling for a wonder I kickt his palfrey and began to rayle The fellow lookt vpon me very pale And spurring of his horse bad me adew And swore by God what he had sayd was true Anon a Muse had brought me vnawares Before a goodly strong built city gate I wholy thirsted after those affaires And in I entred to behold the state All costly thinges were bartred at a rate Amazd at that I neuer saw before I heard one sweare an oath it cost me more I start and saw that fellow swore the oath Sell that for lesse than he did sweare it cost Thought I here conscience liues her fullest growth Where buyers win by that the seller lost But yet I durst not be too bould to boast For straight I saw Symonus in his shop A hollow ring of gold with lead drosse stop And yet he quickly solde it by the weight Lead was a better friend to him then gold I tooke it for a very pretty sleight But when the buyer had his money told Away he went and then I might behold Simonius rub his arme and laugh out right That hee had done his neighbor wrong for right Anon Lapistus with his faithlesse fist Insceptred with a subtill peece of wood Was measuring foorth such trifles as he list Hard at his arme his wife my mistres stood Commending that her husband sold for good Looking the buier wistly in the face Whilst Lapist nickt the measure in the space Forthwith great Gurmond to his codpeece chain'd A payre of groate gloues wrapped in his hand On top of which a nosegay long remaind Was trudging to lend money vpon land Vpon a statute marchant he doth stand But gentle sir take heed you keep your day Or els your mortgage shall the forfect pay By this time long-gownd Lumen walkt abroad Vnder his girdle greene-waxt labels hung Although his pace was slow gold was his goad And as the Petifogger went he sung His greas'd belt and the waxe together clung He sware a mighty oath his writs were spoyld And by that meanes his client should be foyld I tract his steps and followed him alloofe Weary with those Mecanicke meane deceipts At last he entred to a spatious roofe Where greatmen sat in high iudiciall seates And iuglers play at euen and odde with feates As now sir it shall goe with you to day To morrow tis against you you must pay This hall they say is builded of such wood That cobwebs on the rafters are not spun By right the nature of these trees are good Yet there be held I mighty spyders run And by their sucking little flyes vndone A thing most strange that poysoned things must dwell Where nature scarce alloweth them a cell There stoode Briarius with a hundred hands And euery one was ready to receiue As many sundry toongs as seas haue sands And when he sayd the truth I do conceiue Then meant the hell-hound soonest to deceiue There saw I twelue good fellowes cald together That would for-sweare their father for a feather I saw the widdow in a mourning weede Wringing her painefull hands to get her right Th'oppressed soule tormented with more neede And cruelty with scarlet cloth'd in spight As who should say in bloud is my delight Then thought I ôh there is a Iudge aboue Will all this wrong with one true sentence moue Such sweating for base pelfe I did behold Such periuries to get the vpper hand The innocent with falshood bought and sould Such circumstance before the truth was scand Such scorched cōscience markt with Sathās brand That straight bereft of my Satyrick wit I was possessed with a frantick fit So leauing this vast rumor of mans voyce I made my run vnto a riuer side Where sinke or swim I tooke no better choyce With desperate leape in headlong did I glide And for I would no more repeate this pride I did imagine I was in a dreame And so concluded my vnorder'd theame Ashwednesday O Holyest holy three yet wholy one Vouchsafe the piercing splendor of thine eye My soules true Martyrdome to looke vpon Where thou mayst in-borne penitence espy Without the cloke of false hypocrisy And though my tong proclaimes not publike fast Yet prayers to prayse thee is my spirits repast Behold to cinders haue I burnt my sinnes An acceptable sacrifice to thee Which heauenly ioyes in heauenly mansion wins The ashes on my sad heart scatterd be The pensiue patient of all misery In my brest mourning sits she like a doue And fears through sin to lose sweet Christ her loue And though I weare no shirt of Cammels haire A boasting shew the flesh to macerate Nor lash my body with the whips of care Nor on my knocking brest my prayers debate Nor with high voice my faults deliberate Although I strew no ashes on my head Nor with beguiling abstinence am fed Yet see my heart prickt with true faiths desire With longing to behold thy sacred face Whipt with the feare of thy inraged fire Which will the pride of all weake brags deface And my soule knocks to haue thy promist grace With lowly voyce the ashes of my sinnes Scatterd abroad and so my fast begins When I do this I walke not in the streete And tell the world my base dissembling guile Nor tread the cold stones with vncouered feete Such hypocrites their wretched wayes defile No let the heart true parts of griefe compile That is the sweete Ashwensday I obserue Fast still to this and thou shalt neuer sterue Lay not my sinnes O Lord vnto my charge CAst down those eies dread deere redeeming Lord That shed salt teares for poore Ierusalem In pitty of my sinnes by thee abhorr'd And when thou hast with loue perused them By which thou often hast excused men And seest how headlong I haue run at large Yet Lord lay not my crimes vnto my charge Let that sweete toong sayd woman sinne no more Thy healing hand most kinde Samaritane Pronounce a pardon for my hearts deplore And make my black sinnes whiter than the Swan Defilde with mischiefes since my life began Oh lay not those foule treasons to my charge But stop them least they run too much at large What glory is it that so meane a soule Earths vassaylage the wormes subiected slaue Whose honor dust downe-trodden doth inroule Should quite be damnd whom thy deere word may saue And thou thy self the purchast praises haue Sauiour I know my sinnes shall haue discharge Where mercy with thy merits is so large With bloud more pretious than the worlds rich wealth Remember thou hast ransomd me from hell Cald me thine owne thy sonne thy sauing health Prouidedst me a place with thee to dwell A place which doth all pallaces excell Then let me not in deserts
her prowde vnknobbed stalke to bow No longer will the plants her pompe alow So haue I seene ere now a goulden Crowne In a darke vault his pretious head lay downe Let him then thinke that happines will thinke It lyes not in the glosse of humaine eyes How sodainely that vading ioy would shrinke When euery minute liuing pleasure dyes Like the bright clowded mistnes of the skyes If wild-bred Satyres so their lesson can Tis better be a Satyre than a man Spes imperfecta THou Treasurer of heauen where hast thou clos'd This hidden wealth of mens true happines In nothing humane fancy hath compos'd Yet on the earth once dwelt this blessednes To bring the earth from cursed wretchednes Open that secret coffer we may see If not possesse that heauenly treasury SOLA faelicitas Christus mihi Phoenix IN the balme sweet imparadized wombe Of a choyce Virgin sanctified by grace Where second Adam had his fleshly home Since the first man his glory did deface And curse of heauen possest his sinfull race My Phoenix was with sacred Manna bred And by the holy Ghost with Angels fed Kings of the earth his spicery did make Of Franckinsence pure gold and pleasing Mirrh A glorious star appeared for his sake And the melodious cherubins did stir And all caelestiall bodyes doth inferre Chiefe prayse to him for by his blessed birth Heauen was well pleas'd fruitfull was the earth My Phoenix like that swift returning Doue That in his mouth the branch of Oliue brought The badge of peace the ensigne of true loue When this base world by sin was suncke to naught And the earths bosome was with water fraught That like the Pellican pickt from his brest The bloud that brought his yong ones peaceful rest That like the rocke whence liquid cristall flowed Opened his side to giue the thirstie drinke Like the calme winde that on the red sea blowed When thankles Israel weakely thought to sinke Like the best good the soule of man can thinke Oh chiefest best be best to vs the worst Blest be we by thee best the most accurst Oh clock me vnderneath thy spreading wing Safe sanctuary for a sinfull soule Where if I sigh sky-turned voyces sing For thou once pleas'd nor earth nor ayre wil scoule Thy feathers shaking stormy winds controule The musick of thy note inchaunts huge hell Oh let me then within thy shadow dwell Behold me like a winter-wythered tree Or like a Beacon on a barren hill Consum'd by sin anothers watch to bee Killing to teach another not to kill Spoyling my selfe least other wretches spill Oh sacred bird a lower pitch vouchsafe Touch but my top and then I shall be safe Behold to saue me from aeternall thrall My Phoenix takes his flight vnto a crosse Not as the faynd Arabian bird did fall Worne out by age by fire consum'd to drosse So looseth that which nature makes a losse And of his ashes doth another mount Exceeding all faire Foule of rare account No no my Phoenix is but yong in yeeres Immortall too yet doth he dye for me He on the crosse vnto the world appeares Offering himselfe on that vnhallowed tree To bring my soule to sweet felicity But see hearts-ioy my Phoenix liues againe Passing hell torment with vnspoken paine And now he doth ascend his high-built nest A place vnthought vnknowne vnseene vnsaid Where with omnipotence he shall be blest And I behold this sacred Bird obay'd And I by him there by his merits stayd And like a Doue sit by him most content Whose innocence makes me so innocent Satyrus peregrinans ABote a Bote or I shall set my feete Vpon the incke-black bubbles of this streame And with my rough armes these mudde-billows greet Foule ferry monster waft me to that realme Where men in sleepe do wake waking dreame Where the feet stāds where ruling heads shold be And elbowes take the office of the knee A shoare a shoare I long to see the soyle Oh the worlds pleasure of this new-found earth They say it will a well staid sence beguile Bring liberall plenty to a niggard dearth Make a sad doomes day of an infants birth Now I am heere Ile try conclusions Direct degrees or indirect confusions All hayle greene bearded trees green headed men A high way to a harbour I haue spyde Sir where I am I very faine would ken I aske one on a raw boan'd iade doth ride And gently treate him deigne to be my guide The iolly tyder coyly lookes a side And checks his proude eye least to me it glide A hauke my yongster had vpon his fist And by his side a fiue groate canuasse bag An olde cut suite with Couentry blew twist The collor fae't with oreng-tawny shag His spurs hung in the belly of his nag Vpon his head a Monmouth cap he wore With a greene parrats feather broucht before He scarce would speake for that he said he seru'd Lollus a gentleman made ploughmans sonne Who rightly from his birth-right neuer swaru'd And now in his affaires his horse must run For that to wooe his master had begun I checkt his bit and would not let him passe Till he confest his master was an Asse And briefly bred him to this short discourse I serue quoth he a braue imbroadred foole Heyre to a sun-shine swayne yet will perforce Borrow a tytle from a learned schoole Indeed his grandsire rid vpon a mule Yet if you will but let me goe my frend Ile tell you all his life but gesse his end He is in loue with euery painted face Saluting common truls with rybauld lines In songs and sonnets taking such a grace As if he delu'd for gold in Indian mines But see how fortune such great wit repines In this sweet traffique his bargaines are so ill That he is made a iade by euery Iill Heele enter in an ergo with the proudest And pot a verse with any grammer scholler Speake ten at once his tongue will be the lowdest Take him but downe O vnexpected dollor His present passion brings him to a chollor With wagers and with oath at last tis tride And then his argument is not denyde Take him within the streete he is a Lord And in a Tauerne better than a king With thousand brags heele beawtifie the boord But in his purse the beggars bell doth ring Yet once a yeere as Cookoes vse to sing He hath a little stipendary gold Which sum is spent before it can be told And once Ile tell you how this gallant sped He was inamour'd of a players boy And certaine sharkers that vpon him fed Did soone instruct the stage boy to be coy That but with him he had no other ioy In womans queint attyre they drest the lad That almost made the foole my maister mad They soone perswaded him she was an heyre And onely daughter to a knight well knowne He saw her young rich amorous and faire Haue her he must or dye he would with moane In sleepy nights
run at large But take me to thy safe protecting charge Frō foorth thy Temple thou didst banish theeues That Saints might praise thee where thou wast prophand And creatures liue y t on thy name beleeues I am thy temple let it not be staynd For there too long hath cursed Sathan raynd Cast forth that tempter giue the feend discharge Binde that old Serpent least he flye at large And when I finde that enemy is gone That soothes my soule with vile impiety Thy name oh Father I will call vpon And keepe it from bould sinnes society And from false pleasures curst variety Then let thy spirit walke with my spirit at large And Lord lay not my sinnes vnto my charge Who will prayse thee Lord within the Pit WIth reuerent toong and groaning spirit opprest My bones like rocks beaten with seas of teares And worne with stormy sighs of my vnrest Behold Messias my vext soule appeares Afflicted with a legion of pale feares And humbly prayes thee Lord to be appeas'd That my hearts killing dollor may be easd How shall I do thee honor in the graue Or praise thee in the darkenes of despaire No light of gladnes shines in sorrowes caue No morning Harp can hymne thy name in care Except some comfort to the sence repaire Let then one sparke of fauour but appeare And I will say my Lord my God is there Like withered stubble bended to the ground The horse and yoaked Oxe treade on my brest And ploughmen gash my reynes with many a woūd The poisoned adder makes my flesh her nest I Lord and that oppression is my least Yet none but thou canst fling me to the graue O saue me thence and thou shalt worship haue Thy seruant Iob by suffered sathan tempted Knew by thy grace he should be rays'd againe For from the pit his body was exempted The curst soule-foe could there no conquest gain Thou gau'st him strength the conflict to maintain I haue no power no strength no force of wit Then much more Lord preserue me from the pit Like to a vanquisht bloody battaile won Few now are left to beate Iehouahs name Those which escapt from faiths true fight haue run Reserue yet some though they be halt and lame For thou canst cure the soule that hath a maime Let me sweete Christ be one thou meanst to saue Then know I that I shall not touch the graue Passio Christi O Father if it be thy will let this cup passe DIuine humane humane Diuine my God Behold thy sonne corruptlesse virgins flesh Spirit of the which with thee hath abod Who than thy selfe of thy selfe is no lesse Vouchsafe thy heauenly issue so to blesse That if thou wilt ô wilt thou without wroth Let this cup passe I may not taste thereof Thy bitter imposition comes of loue Therefore thy gracious will not mine be done This bloudy swet a fathers name might mooue But ô great righteousnes what is begun Saue many a child by torment of one sonne Father eternall better thine heyre dye Than all the rest in vtter darkeneslye This anguish like a sucking serpent drawes My conduit-flowing veines of bloud so fast And my sharpe wounding passion will not pause But shewes me death to come not torments past And pale aspect of weakenes stands agast Soueraigne of Kings supreme of ioyfull rest With thy imperiall scepter touch my brest But must thy deare begotten smart for all Must all the worlds huge sinnes be layd on me What shall I suffer then what kinde of thral What cruell bondage what sharpe misery What deaths what frighting horrors must there be If that one sinne and but of one man too Deserue hell fire what shall all mens sinnes doe For euery sinne of euery seuerall man Sweet Father must I beare a seuerall hell Why then my paine is pleasure yet began But in the end where must thy chosen dwell Where thou wilt Lord I will account all well Heauen hell death life I will endure my crosse Reckoning for one deaths conquering lifes losse All plagues for all all yoakes my backe shal beare Which in this brim-full cup of death I put And so auoide tempting cold shiuering feare For I will drinke this draught of gall quite vp And my inuaded spirit from terror shut So take the resolution of thy Sonne For Father not my will but thine be done Explicit Christus Resurrectio Christi ARchangels Angels Martyrs holy Saints Oh heauens celestiall family appeare Giue all your powers vnnaturall restraints Sound Cherubin-like musicke in his eare Whose glorious being banisht all hell-feare The Sonne is ri's Gods deare elected Sonne And now ascends where his first birth begun Cloudes clap together with mellodious voice And with your softnes cloath his blessed brest From his great Father heare a thundering noyse That crownes his bright Sonne in eternall rest Of all oh onely all thou art most blest And earthly men forsake your vaine delight Kneele pray and praise this vncompared might Ionas that in the huge Leuiathan Three hell-darke nights dayes imprisoned was Is like a chosen Prophet come againe Oh how thy word drad king is come to passe So is this Prophet which doth all surpasse Rose from the foggy entrailes of the graue Mankinde vngratefull minded-man to saue Baptizing Iohn that in the wildernes Liu'd as an exile in that barren land Feeding on Locusts in his sharp distresse Subiect to monsters and at deaths command Hath conquer'd all this with his faithfull hand And is returnd So our Baptizer is Who not with water but with bloud brings blisse Since whose abode deuouring hell is frighted Quaking for feare when Iesus Christ was there And quick-eyd death become but dimly sighted And since when he is nam'd they shake for feare If but thy name do such amazement beare What did the person of so great a king Hels victory controule and kill deaths sting Then from the fleshly prison of base sinne Rise oh thou foule infected soule of mine Arise or else death will the battaile winne And kill thee with a thousand darted crime Come quickly from this filthy graue in time Rise thus and thou shalt euer rise with ioy And as thy Sauiour did thou shalt destroy FINIS