nature put thee in And to deliver up to God that state Of which he gave thee the vicariate Which is thy soule and body as intire As he who takes endeavours doth require But didst not stay t' enlarge his kingdome too By making others what thou didst to doe Why shouldst thou Triumph now when Heav'n no more Hath got by getting thee then t 'had before For Heav'n and thou even when thou livedst here Of one another in possession were But this from Triumph most disables thee That that place which is conquered must bee Left safe from present warre and likely doubt Of imminent commotions to breake out And hath he left us so or can it bee His territory was no more then Hee No we were all his charge the Diocis Of ev'ry exemplar man the whole world is And he was joyned in commission With Tutelar Angels sent to every one But though this freedome to upbraid and chide Him who Triumph'd were lawfull it was ty'd With this that it might never reference have Unto the Senate who this triumph gave Men might at Pompey jeast but they might not At that authoritie by which he got Leave to Triumph before by age he might So though triumphant soule I dare to write Mov'd with a reverentiall anger thus That thou so earely wouldst abandon us Yet I am farre from daring to dispute With that great soveraigntie whose absolute Prerogative hath thus dispens'd with thee ' Gainst natures lawes which just impugners bee Of early triumphs And I though with paine Lessen our losse to magnifie thy gaine Of triumph when I say It was more fit That all men should lacke thee then thou lack it Though then in our time be not suffered That testimonie of love unto the dead To die with them and in their graves be hid As Saxon wives and French soldarii did And though in no degree I can expresse Griefe in great Alexanders great excesse Who at his friends death made whole townes devest Their walls and bullwarks which became them best Doe not faire soule this sacrifice refuse That in thy grave I doe interre my Muse Who by my griefe great as thy worth being cast Behind hand yet hath spoke and spoke her last Elegie AS the sweet sweat of Roses in a Still As that which frō chaf'd muskats pores doth trill As the Almighty Balme of th' early East Such are the sweat drops of my Mistris breast And on her necke her skin such lustre sets They seeme no sweat drops but pearle coronets Ranke sweaty froth thy Mistresse's brow defiles Like spermatique issue of ripe menstruous boiles Or like the skumme which by needs lawlesse law Enforc'd Sanserra's starved men did draw From parboild shooes and bootes and all the rest Which were with any soveraigne fatnes blest And like vile stones lying in saffrond tinne Or warts or wheales it hangs upon her skinne Round as the world 's her head on every side Like to the fatall Ball which fell on Ide Or that whereof God had such jealousie As for the ravishing thereof we die Thy head is like a rough-hewne statue of jeat Where marks for eyes nose mouth are yet scarce set Like the first Chaos or flat seeming face Of Cynthia when th' earths shadowes her embrace Like Proserpines white beauty-keeping chest Or Joues best fortunes urne is her faire brest Thine's like worme eaten trunkes cloth'd in seals skin Or grave that 's dust without and stinke within And like that slender stalke at whose end stands The wood-bine quivering are her armes and hands Like rough bark'd elmboughes or the russet skin Of men late scurg'd for madnes or for sinne Like Sun-parch'd quarters on the citie gate Such is thy tann'd skins lamentable state And like a bunch of ragged carrets stand The short swolne fingers of her gouty hand Then like the Chymicks masculine equall fire Which in the Lymbecks warme wombe doth inspire Into th' earths worthlesse part a soule of gold Such cherishing heat her best lov'd part doth hold Thine's like the dread mouth of a fired gunne Or like hot liquid metalls newly runne Into clay moulds or like to that Aetna Where round about the grasse is burnt away Are not your kisses then as filthy and more As a worme sucking an invenom'd sore Doth not thy fearefull hand in feeling quake As one which gath'ring flowers still feares a snake Is not your last act harsh and violent As where a Plough a stony ground doth rent So kisse good Turtles so devoutly nice Are Priests in handling reverent sacrifice And nice in searching wounds the Surgeon is As wee when wee embrace or touch or kisse Leave her and I will leave comparing thus She and comparisons are odious Elegie The Autumnall NO Spring nor Summer Beauty hath such grace As I have seen in one Autumnall face Yong Beauties force our love and that 's a Rape This doth but counsaile yet you cannot scape If t' were a shame to love here t' were no shame Affections here take Reverences name Were her first yeares the Golden Age That 's true But now they' are gold oft tried and ever new That was her torrid and inflaming time This is her tolerable Tropique clyme Faire eyes who askes more heate then comes from hence He in a fever wishes pestilence Call not these wrinkles graves If graves they were They were Loves graves for else he is no where Yet lies not love dead here but here doth sit Vow'd to this trench like an Anachorit And here till hers which must be his death come He doth not digge a Grave but build a Tombe Iere dwells he though he sojourne ev'ry where In Progresse yet his standing house is here Iere where still Evening is not noone nor night Where no voluptuousnesse yet all delight In all her words unto all hearers fit You may at Revels you at counsaile sit This is loves timber youth his under-wood There he as wine in Iune enrages blood Which then comes seasonabliest when our tast And appetite to other things is past Xerxes strange Lydian love the Platane tree Was lov'd for age none being so large as shee Or else because being yong nature did blesse Her youth with ages glory Barrennesse If we love things long sought Age is a thing Which we are fifty yeares in compassing If transitory things which soone decay Age must be lovelyest at the latest day But name not Winter-faces whose skin 's slacke Lanke as an unthrifts purse but a soules sacke Whose Eyes seeke light within for all here 's shade Whose mouthes are holes rather worne out then made Whos 's every tooth to a severall place is gone To vexe their soules at Resurrection Name not these living Deaths-heads unto mee For these not Ancient but Antique be I hate extreames yet I had rather stay With Tombs then Cradles to weare out a day Since such loves motion natural is may still My love descend and journey downe the hill Not panting after growing beauties so I shall ebbe out
grow good But I remaine a poyson'd fountaine still But not your beauty vertue knowledge blood Are more above all flattery then my will And if I flatter any 't is not you But my owne judgement who did long agoe Pronounce that all these praises should be true And vertue should your beauty ' and birth outgrow Now that my prophesies are all fulfill'd Rather then God should not be honour'd too And all these gifts confess'd which hee instill'd Your selfe were bound to say that which I doe So I but your Recorder am in this Or mouth or Speaker of the universe A ministeriall notary for 't is Not I but you and fame that make this verse I was your Prophet in your yonger dayes And now your Chaplaine God in you to praise To M. I. W. ALl haile sweet Poët more full of more strong fire Then hath or shall enkindle any spirit I lov'd what nature gave thee but this merit Of wit and Art I love not but admire Who have before or shall write after thee Their workes though toughly laboured will bee Like infancie or age to mans firme stay Or earely and late twilights to mid-day Men say and truly that they better be Which be envyed then pittied therefore I Because I wish thee best doe thee envie O wouldst thou by like reason pitty mee But care not for mee I that ever was In Natures and in fortunes gifts alas Before thy grace got in the Muses Schoole A monster and a begger am a foole Oh how I grieve that late borne modesty Hath got such root in easie waxen hearts That men may not themselves their owne good parts Extoll without suspect of surquedrie For but thy selfe no subject can be found Worthy thy quill nor any quill resound Thy worke but thine how good it were to see A Poëm in thy praise and writ by thee Now if this song be too'harsh for rime yet as The Painters bad god made a good devill 'T will be good prose although the verse be evill If thou forget the rime as thou dost passe Then write then I may follow and so bee Thy debter thy'eccho thy foyle thy zanee I shall be thought if mine like thine I shape All the worlds Lyon though I be thy Ape To M. T. W. HAst thee harsh verse as fast as thy lame measure Will give thee leave to him My pain pleasure I have given thee and yet thou art too weake Feete and a reasoning soule and tongue to speake Tell him all questions which men have defended Both of the place and paines of hell are ended And 't is decreed our hell is but privation Of him at least in this earths habitation And 't is where I am where in every street Infections follow overtake and meete Live I or die by you my love is sent And you' are my pawnes or else my Testament To M. T. W. PRegnant again with th' old twins Hope and Feare Oft have I askt for thee both how and where Thou wert and what my hopes of letters were As in our streets sly beggers narrowly Watch motions of the givers hand or eye And evermore conceive some hope thereby And now thy Almes is given thy letter'is read The body risen againe the which was dead And thy poore starveling bountifully fed After this banquet my Soule doth say grace And praise thee for'it and zealously imbrace Thy love though I thinke thy love in this case To be as gluttons which say ' midst their meat They love that best of which they most do eat At once from hence my lines and I depart I to my soft still walks they to my Heart I to the Nurse they to the child of Art Yet as a firme house though the Carpenter Perish doth stand as an Embassadour Lyes safe how e'r his king be in danger So though I languish prest with Malancholy My verse the strict Map of my misery Shall live to see that for whose want I dye Therefore I envie them and doe repent That from unhappy mee things happy'are sent Yet as a Picture or bare Sacrament Accept these lines and if in them there be Merit of love bestow that love on mee To M. C. B. THy friend whom thy deserts to thee enchaine Urg'd by this unexcusable occasion Thee and the Saint of his affection Leaving behinde doth of both wants complaine And let the love I beare to both sustaine No blott nor maime by this division Strong is this love which ties our hearts in one And strong that love pursu'd with amorous paine But though besides thy selfe I leave behind Heavens liberall and earths thrice-faire Sunne Going to where sterne winter aye doth wonne Yet loves hot fires which martyr my sad minde Doe send forth scalding sighes which have the Art To melt all Ice but that which walls her heart To M. S. B. O Thou which to search out the secret parts Of the India or rather Paradise Of knowledge hast with courage and advise Lately launch'd into the vast Sea of Arts Disdaine not in thy constant travailing To doe as other Voyagers and make Some turnes into lesse Creekes and wisely take Fresh water at the Heliconian spring I sing not Siren like to tempt for I Am harsh nor as those Scismatiques with you Which draw all wits of good hope to their crew But seing in you bright sparkes of Poetry I though I brought no fuell had desire With these Articulate blasts to blow the fire To M. B. B. IS not thy sacred hunger of science Yet satisfy'd Is not thy braines rich hive Fulfil'd with hony which thou dost derive From the Arts spirits and their Quintessence Then weane thy selfe at last and thee withdraw From Cambridge thy old nurse and as the rest Here toughly chew and sturdily digest Th' immense vast volumes of our common law And begin soone lest my griefe grieve thee too Which is that that which I should have begun In my youthes morning now late must be done And I as Giddy Travellers must doe Which stray or sleepe all day and having lost Light and strength darke and tir'd must then ride post If thou unto thy Muse be marryed Embrace her ever ever multiply Be far from me that strange Adulterie To tempt thee and procure her widdowhood My nurse for I had one because I 'am cold Divorc'd her selfe the cause being in me That I can take no new in Bigamye Not my will only but power doth withhold Hence comes it that these Rymes which never had Mother want matter aud they only have A little forme the which their Father gave They are prophane imperfect oh too bad To be counted Children of Poetry Except confirm'd and Bishoped by thee To M. R. W. IF as mine is thy life a slumber be Seeme when thou read'st these lines to dreame of me Never did Morpheus nor his brother weare Shapes soe like those Shapes whom they would appeare As this my letter is like me for it Hath my name words hand feet heart minde
Staies he new light from these to get And finding here such store is loth to set And why doe you two walke So slowly pac'd in this procession Is all your care but to be look'd upon And be to others spectacle and talke The feast with gluttonous delaies Is eaten and too long their meat they praise The masquers come too late and ' I thinke will stay Like Fairies till the Cock crow them away Alas did not Antiquity assigne A night as well as day to thee O Valentine VI. They did and night is come and yet wee see Formalities retarding thee What meane these Ladies which as though They were to take a clock in peeces goe So nicely about the Bride A Bride before a good night could be said Should vanish from her cloathes into her bed As Soules from bodies steale and are not spy'd But now she is laid What though shee bee Yet there are more delayes For where is he He comes and passes through Spheare after Spheare First her sheetes then her Armes then any where Let not this day then but this night be thine Thy day was but the eve to this O Valentine VII Here lyes a shee Sunne and a hee Moone here She gives the best light to his Spheare Or each is both and all and so They unto one another nothing owe And yet they doe but are So just and rich in that coyne which they pay That neither would nor needs forbeare nor stay Neither desires to be spar'd nor to spare They quickly pay their debt and then Take no acquittance but pay again They pay they give they lend and so let fall No such occasion to be liberall More truth more courage in these two do shine Then all thy turtles have and sparrows Valentine VIII And by this act of these two Phenixes Nature againe restored is For since these two are two no more Ther 's but one Phenix still as was before Rest now at last and wee As Satyres watch the Sunnes uprise will stay Waiting when your eyes opened let out day Onely desir'd because your face wee see Others neare you shall whispering speake And wagers lay at which side day will breake And win by'observing then whose hand it is That opens first a curtaine hers or his This will be tryed to morrow after nine Till which houre wee thy day enlarge O Valentine ECCLOGUE 1613. December 26. Allophanes finding Idios in the country in Christmas time reprehends his absence from court at the mariage Of the Earle of Sommerset Idios gives an account of his purpose therein and of his absence thence Allophanes VNseasonable man statue of ice What could to countries solitude entice Thee in this yeares cold and decrepit time Natures instinct drawes to the warmer clime Even small birds who by that courage dare In numerous fleets saile through their Sea the aire What delicacie can in fields appeare Whil'st Flora ' herselfe doth a freeze jerkin weare Whil'st windes do all the trees and hedges strip Of leafes to furnish roddes enough to whip Thy madnesse from thee and all springs by frost Have taken cold and their sweet murmures lost If thou thy faults or fortunes would'st lament With just solemnity do it in Lent At Court the spring already advanced is The Sunne stayes longer up and yet not his The glory is farre other other fires First zeale to Prince and State then loves desires Burne in one brest and like heavens two great lights The first doth governe dayes the other nights And then that early light which did appeare Before the Sunne and Moone created were The Princes favour is defus'd o'r all From which all Fortunes Names and Natures fall Then from those wombes of starres the Brides bright eyes At every glance a constellation flyes And sowes the Court with starres and doth prevent In light and power the all-ey'd firmament First her eyes kindles other Ladies eyes Then from their beames their jewels lusters rise And from their jewels torches do take fire And all is warmth and light and good desire Most other Courts alas are like to hell Where in darke places fire without light doth dwell Or but like Stoves for lust and envy get Continuall but artificiall heat Here zeale and love growne one all clouds disgest And make our Court an everlasting East And can'st thou be from thence Idios No I am there As heaven to men dispos'd is every where So are those Courts whose Princes animate Not onely all their house but all their State Let no man thinke because he is full he hath all Kings as their patterne God are liberall Not onely in fulnesse but capacitie Enlarging narrow men to feele and see And comprehend the blessings they bestow So reclus'd hermits often times do know More of heavens glory then a worldling can As man is of the world the heart of man Is an epitome of Gods great booke Of creatures and man need no farther looke So is the Country of Courts where sweet peace doth As their one common soule give life to both I am not then from Court Allophanes Dreamer thou art Think'st thou fantastique that thou hast a part In the Indian fleet because thou hast A little spice or Amber in thy taste Because thou art not frozen art thou warme Seest thou all good because thou seest no harme The earth doth in her inner bowels hold Stuffe well dispos'd and which would faine be gold But never shall except it chance to lye So upward that heaven gild it with his eye As for divine things faith comes from above So for best civill use all tinctures move From higher powers From God religion springs Wisdome and honour from the use of Kings Then unbeguile thy selfe and know with mee That Angels though on earth employd they bee Are still in heav'n so is hee still at home That doth abroad to honest actions come Chide thy selfe then O foole which yesterday Might'st have read more then all thy books bewray Hast thou a history which doth present A Court where all affections do assent Unto the Kings and that that Kings are just And where it is no levity to trust Where there is no ambition but to'obey Where men need whisper nothing and yet may Where the Kings favours are so plac'd that all Finde that the King therein is liberall To them in him because his favours bend To vertue to the which they all pretend Thou hast no such yet here was this and more An earnest lover wise then and before Our little Cupidhath sued Livery And is no more in his minority Hee is admitted now into that brest Where the Kings Counsells and his secrets rest What hast thou lost O ignorant man Idios I knew All this and onely therefore I withdrew To know and feele all this and not to have Words to expresse it makes a man a grave Of his owne thoughts I would not therefore stay At a great feast having no grace to say And yet I scap'd not here for being
come Full of the common joy I utter'd some Reade then this nuptiall song which was not made Either the Court or mens hearts to invade But since I 'am dead and buried I could frame No Epitaph which might advance my fame So much as this poore song which testifies I did unto that day some sacrifice I. The time of the Mariage THou art repriv'd old yeare thou shalt not die Though thou upon thy death bed lye And should'st within five dayes expire Yet thou art rescu'd by a mightier fire Then thy old Soule the Sunne When he doth in his largest circle runne The passage of the West or East would thaw And open wide their easie liquid jawe To all our ships could a Promethean art Either unto the Northerne Pole impart The fire of these inflaming eyes or of this loving heart II. Equality of persons But undiscerning Muse which heart which eyes In this new couple dost thou prize When his eye as inflaming is As hers and her heart loves as well as his Be tryed by beauty and than The bridegroome is a maid and not a man If by that manly courage they be tryed Which scornes unjust opinion then the bride Becomes a man Should chance or envies Art Divide these two whom nature scarce did part Since both have th'enflaming eye and both the loving heart III. Raysing of the Bridegroome Though it be some divorce to thinke of you Single so much one are you two Let me here contemplate thee First cheerfull Bridegroome and first let mee see How thou prevent'st the Sunne And his red foming horses dost outrunne How having laid downe in thy Soveraignes brest All businesses from thence to reinvest Them when these triumphs cease thou forward art To shew to her who doth the like impart The fire of thy inflaming eyes and of thy loving heart IIII. Raising of the Bride But now to Thee faire Bride it is some wrong To thinke thou wert in Bed so long Since Soone thou lyest downe first t is fit Thou in first rising should'st allow for it Pouder thy Radiant haire Which if without such ashes thou would'st weare Thou which to all which come to looke upon Are meant for Phoebus would'st be Phaëton For our ease give thine eyes th'unusuall part Of joy a Teare so quencht thou maist impart To us that come thy inflaming eyes to him thy loving heart V. Her Apparrelling Thus thou descend'st to our infirmitie Who can the Sun in water see Soe dost thou when in silke and gold Thou cloudst thy selfe since wee which doe behold Are dust and wormes 't is just Our objects be the fruits of wormes and dust Let every Jewell be a glorious starre Yet starres are not so pure as their spheares are And though thou stoope t o'appeare to us in part Still in that Picture thou intirely art Which thy inflaming eyes have made within his loving heart VI. Going to the Chappell Now from your Easts you issue forth and wee As men which through a Cipres see The rising sun doe thinke it two Soe as you goe to Church doe thinke of you But that vaile being gone By the Church rites you are from thenceforth one The Church Triumphant made this match before And now the Militant doth strive no more Then reverend Priest who Gods Recorder art Doe from his Dictates to these two impart All blessings which are seene Or thought by Angels eye or heart VII The Benediction Blest payre of Swans Oh may you interbring Daily new joyes and never sing Live till all grounds of wishes faile Till honor yea till wisedome grow so stale That new great heights to trie It must serve your ambition to die Raise heires and may here to the worlds end live Heires from this King to take thankes you to give Nature and grace doe all and nothing Art May never age or error overthwart With any West these radiant eyes with any North this heart VIII Feasts and Revells But you are over-blest Plenty this day Injures it causeth time to stay The tables groane as though this feast Would as the flood destroy all fowle and beast And were the doctrine new That the earth mov'd this day would make it true For every part to dance and revell goes They tread the ayre and fal not where they rose Though six houres since the Sunne to bed did part The masks and banquets will not yet impart A sunset to these weary eyes A Center to this heart IX The Brides going to bed What mean'st thou Bride this companie to keep To sit up till thou faine wouldst sleep Thou maist not when thou art laid doe so Thy selfe must to him a new banquet grow And you must entertaine And doe all this daies dances o'r againe Know that if Sun and Moone together doe Rise in one point they doe not set so to Therefore thou maist faire Bride to bed depart Thou art not gone being gone where e'r thou art Thou leav'st in him thy watchfull eyes in him thy loving heart X. The Bridegroomes comming As he that sees a starre fall runs apace And findes a gellie in the place So doth the Bridegroome hast as much Being told this starre is falne and findes her such And as friends may looke strange By a new fashion or apparrells change Their soules though long acquainted they had beene These clothes their bodies never yet had seene Therefore at first shee modestly might start But must forthwith surrender every part As freely as each to each before gave either eye or heart XI The good night Now as in Tullias tombe one lampe burnt cleare Unchang'd for fifteene hundred yeare May these love-lamps we here enshrine In warmth light lasting equall the divine Fire ever doth aspire And makes all like it selfe turnes all to fire But ends in ashes which these cannot doe For none of these is fuell but fire too This is joyes bonfire then where loves strong Arts Make of so noble individuall parts One fire of foure inflaming eyes and of two loving hearts Idios As I have brought this song that I may doe A perfect sacrifice I 'll burne it too Allophanes No Sr. This paper I have justly got For in burnt incense the perfume is not His only that presents it but of all What ever celebrates this Festivall Is common since the joy thereof is so Nor may your selfe be Priest But let me goe Backe to the Court and I will lay'it upon Such Altars as prize your devotion Epithalamion made at Lincolnes Inne THe Sun-beames in the East are spred Leave leave faire Bride your solitary bed No more shall you returne to it alone It nourseth sadnesse and your bodies print Like to a grave the yielding downe doth dint You and your other you meet there anon Put forth put forth that warme balme-breathing thigh Which whē next time you in these sheets wil smother There it must meet another Which never was but must be oft more nigh Come glad from thence goe gladder then you came To day put
Love let mee Some senslesse peece of this place bee Make me a mandrake so I may grow here Or a stone fountaine weeping out my yeare Hither with christall vyals lovers come And take my teares which are loves wine And try your mistresse Teares at home For all are false that tast not just like mine Alas hearts do not in eyes shine Nor can you more judge womens thoughts by teares Then by her shadow what she weares O perverse sexe where none is true but shee Who 's therefore true because her truth kills mee Valediction to his booke I 'Ll tell thee now deare Love what thou shalt doe To anger destiny as she doth us How I shall stay though she Esloygne me thus And how posterity shall know it too How thine may out-endure Sybills glory and obscure Her who from Pindar could allure And her through whose helpe Lucan is not lame And her whose booke they say Homer did finde and name Study our manuscripts those Myriades Of letters which have past twixt thee and mee Thence write our Annals and in them will bee To all whom loves subliming fire invades Rule and example found There the faith of any ground No schismatique will dare to wound That sees how Love this grace to us affords To make to keep to use to be these his Records This Booke as long-liv'd as the elements Or as the worlds forme this all-graved tome In cypher writ or new made Idiome Wee for loves clergie only'are instruments When this booke is made thus Should againe the ravenous Vandals and the Goths invade us Learning were safe in this our Universe Schooles might learne Sciences Spheares Musick Angels Verse Here Loves Divines since all Divinity Is love or wonder may finde all they seeke Whether abstract spirituall love they like Their Soules exhal'd with what they do not see Or loth so to amuze Faiths infirmitie they chuse Something which they may see and use For though minde be the heaven where love doth sit Beauty a convenient type may be to figure it Here more then in their bookes may Lawyers finde Both by what titles Mistresses are ours And how prerogative these states devours Transferr'd from Love himselfe to womankinde Who though from heart and eyes They exact great subsidies Forsake him who on them relies And for the cause honour or conscience give Chimeraes vaine as they or their prerogative Here Statesmen or of them they which can reade May of their occupation finde the grounds Love and their art alike it deadly wounds If to consider what 't is one proceed In both they doe excell Who the present governe well Whose weaknesse none doth or dares tell In this thy booke such will there something see As in the Bible some can finde out Alchimy Thus vent thy thoughts abroad I 'll studie thee As he removes farre off that great heights takes How great love is presence best tryall makes But absence tryes how long this love will bee To take a latitude Sun or starres are fitliest view'd At their brightest but to conclude Of longitudes what other way have wee But to marke when and where the darke eclipses bee GOod wee must love and must hate ill For ill is ill and good good still But these are things indifferent Which wee may neither hate nor love But one and then another prove As wee shall finde our fancy bent If then at first wise Nature had Made women either good or bad Then some wee might hate and some chuse But since shee did them so create That we may neither love nor hate Onely this rest All all may use If they were good it would be seene Good is as visible as greene And to all eyes it selfe betrayes If they were bad they could not last Bad doth it selfe and others wast So they deserve nor blame nor praise But they are ours as fruits are ours He that but tasts he that devours And he that leaves all doth as well Chang'd loves are but chang'd sorts of meat And when hee hath the kernell eate Who doth not fling away the shell Loves growth I Scarce beleeve my love to be so pure As I had thought it was Because it doth endure Vicissitude and season as the grasse Me thinkes I lyed all winter when I swore My love was infinite if spring make'it more But if this medicine love which cures all sorrow With more not onely bee no quintessence But mixt of all stuffes paining soule or sense And of the Sunne his working vigour borrow Love 's not so pure and abstract as they use To say which have no Mistresse but their Muse But as all else being elemented too Love sometimes would contemplate sometimes do And yet no greater but more eminent Love by the spring is growne As in the firmament Starres by the Sunne are not inlarg'd but showne Gentle love deeds as blossomes on a bough From loves awakened root do bud out now If as in water stir'd more circles bee Produc'd by one love such additions take Those like so many spheares but one heaven make For they are all concentrique unto thee And though each spring doe adde to love new heate As princes doe in times of action get New taxes and remit them not in peace No winter shall abate the springs encrease Loves exchange LOve any devill else but you Would for a given Soule give something too At Court your fellowes every day Give th' art of Riming Huntsmanship or play For them which were their owne before Onely I have nothing which gave more But am alas by being lowly lower I aske no dispensation now To falsifie a teare or sigh or vow I do not sue from thee to draw A non obstante on natures law These are prerogatives they inhere In thee and thine none should forsweare Except that hee Loves minion were Give mee thy weaknesse make mee blinde Both wayes as thou and thine in eies and minde Love let me never know that this Is love or that love childish is Let me not know that others know That she knowes my paines least that so A tender shame make me mine owne new woe If thou give nothing yet thou' art just Because I would not thy first motions trust Small townes which stand stiffe till great shot Enforce them by warres law condition not Such in loves warfare is my case I may not article for grace Having put love at last to shew this face This face by which he could commnd And change the Idolatrie of any land This face which wheresoe'r it comes Can call vow'd men from cloisters dead from tombes And melt both Poles at once and store Deserts with cities and make more Mynes in the earth then Quarries were before For this love is enrag'd with mee Yet kills not if I must example bee To future Rebells If th' unborne Must learne by my being cut up and torne Kill and dissect me Love for this Torture against thine owne end is Rack't carcasses make ill Anatomies SOme man unworthy
mixe againe And makes both one each this and that A single violet transplant The strength the colour and the size All which before was poore and scant Redoubles still and multiplies When love with one another so Interanimates two soules That abler soule which thence doth flow Defects of lonelinesse controules Wee then who are this new soule know Of what we are compos'd and made For th'Atomies of which we grow Are soules whom no change can invade But O alas so long so farre Our bodies why doe wee forbeare They are ours though not wee Wee are The intelligences they the spheares We owe them thankes because they thus Did us to us at first convay Yeelded their senses force to us Nor are drosse to us but allay On man heavens influence workes not so But that it first imprints the ayre For soule into the soule may flow Though it to body first repaire As our blood labours to beget Spirits as like soules as it can Because such fingers need to knit That subtile knot which makes us man So must pure lovers soules descend T'affections and to faculties Which sense may reach and apprehend Else a great Prince in prison lies To'our bodies turne wee then that so Weake men on love reveal'd may looke Loves mysteries in soules doe grow But yet the body is his booke And if some lover such as wee Have heard this dialogue of one Let him still marke us he shall see Small change when we' are to bodies gone Loves Deitie I Long to talke with some old lovers ghost Who dyed before the god of Love was borne I cannot thinke that hee who then lov'd most Sunke so low as to love one which did scorne But since this god produc'd a destinie And that vice-vice-nature custome lets it be I must love her that loves not mee Sure they which made him god meant not so much Nor he in his young god head practis'd it But when an even flame two hearts did touch His office was indulgently to fit Actives to passives Correspondencie Only his subject was It cannot bee Love till I love her that loves mee But every moderne god will now extend His vast prerogative as far as Jove To rage to lust to 〈◊〉 to commend All is the purlewe of the God of Love Oh were wee wak'ned by this Tyrannie To ungod this child againe it could not beo I should love her who loves not mee Rebell and Atheist too why murmure I As though I felt the worst that love could doe Love may make me leave loving or might trie A deeper plague to make her love mee too Which since she loves before I 'am loth to see Falshood is worse then hate and that must bee If shee whom I love should love mee Loves diet TO what a combersome unwieldinesse And burdenous corpulence my love had growne But that I did to make it lesse And keepe it in proportion Give it a diet made it feed upon That which love worst endures discretion Above one sigh a day I'allow'd him not Of which my fortune and my faults had part And if sometimes by stealth he got A she sigh from my mistresse heart And thought to feast on that I let him see 'T was neither very sound nor meant to mee If he wroung from mee'a teare I brin'd it so With scorne or shame that him it nourish'd not If he suck'd hers I let him know 'T was not a teare which hee had got His drinke was counterfeit as was his meat For eyes which rowle towards all weepe not but sweat What ever he would dictate I writ that But burnt my letters When she writ to me And that that favour made him fat I said if any title bee Convey'd by this Ah what doth it availe To be the fortieth name in an entaile Thus I redeem'd my buzard love to flye At what and when and how and where I chuse Now negligent of sports I lye And now as other Fawkners use I spring a mistresse sweare write sigh and weepe And the game kill'd or lost goe talke and sleepe The Will BEfore I sigh my last gaspe let me breath Great love some Legacies Here I bequeath Mine eyes to Argus if mine eyes can see If they be blinde then Love I give them thee My tongue to Fame to'Embassadours mine eares To women or the sea my teares Thou Love hast taught mee heretofore By making mee serve her who 'had twenty more That I should give to none but such as had too much before My constancie I to the planets give My truth to them who at the Court doe live Mine ingenuity and opennesse To Jesuites to Buffones my pensivenesse My silence to'any who abroad hath beene My mony to a Capuchin Thou Love taught'st me by appointing mee To love there where no love receiv'd can be Onely to give to such as have an incapacitie My faith I give to Roman Catholiques All my good works unto the Schismaticks Of Amsterdam my best civility And Courtship to an Universitie My modesty I give to souldiers bare My patience let gamesters share Thou Love taughtst mee by making mee Love her that holds my love disparity Onely to give to those that count my gifts indignity I give my reputation to those Which were my friends Mine industrie to foes To Schoolemen I bequeath my doubtfulnesse My sicknesse to Physitians or excesse To Nature all that I in Ryme have writ And to my company my wit Thou love by making mee adore Her who begot this love in mee before Taughtst me to make as though I gave when I did but restore To him for whom the passing bell next tolls I give my physick bookes my writen rowles Of Morall counsels I to Bedlam give My brazen medals unto them which live In want of bread to them which passe among All forrainers mine English tongue Thou Love by making mee love one Who thinkes her friendship a fit portion For yonger lovers dost my gifts thus disproportion Therefore I 'll give no more But I 'll undoe The world by dying because love dies too Then all your beauties will bee no more worth Then gold in Mines where none doth draw it forth And all your graces no more use shall have Then a Sun dyall in a grave Thou Love taughtst mee by making mee Love her who doth neglect both mee and thee To'invent and practise this one way to'annihilate all three The Funerall WHo ever comes to shroud me do not harme Nor question much That subtile wreath of haire which crowne my arme The mystery the signe you must not touch For'tis my outward Soule Viceroy to that which unto heaven being gone Will leave this to controule And keepe these limbes her Provinces from dissolution For if the sinewie thread my braine le ts fall Through every part Can tye those parts and make mee one of all Those haires which upward grew and strength and art Have from a better braine Can better do' it except she meant that I By this should
know my pain As prisoners then are manacled when they' are condem'nd to die What ere shee meant by'it bury it by me For since I am Loves martyr it might breed idolatrie If into others hands these reliques came As 't was humility To afford to it all that a Soule can doe So 't is some bravery That since you would have none of mee I bury some of you The Blossome LIttle think'st thou poore flower Whom I have watch'd sixe or seaven dayes And seene thy birth and seene what every houre Gave to thy growth thee to this height to raise And now dost laugh and triumph on this bough Little think'st thou That it will freeze anon and that I shall To morrow finde thee falne or not at all Little think'st thou poore heart That labours yet to nestle thee And think'st by hovering here to get a part In a forbidden or forbidding tree And hop'st her stiffenesse by long siege to bow Little think'st thou That thou to morrow ere that Sunne doth wake Must with this Sunne and mee a journey take But thou which lov'st to bee Subtile to plague thy selfe wilt say Alas if you must goe what 's that to mee Here lyes my businesse and here I will stay You goe to friends whose love and meanes present Various content To your eyes eares and tast and every part If then your body goe what need your heart Well then stay here but know When thou hast stayd and done thy most A naked thinking heart that makes no show Is to a woman but a kinde of Ghost How shall shee know my heart or having none Know thee for one Practise may make her know some other part But take my word shee doth not know a Heart Meet mee at London then Twenty dayes hence and thou shalt see Mee fresher and more fat by being with men Then if I had staid still with her and thee For Gods sake if you can be you so too I will give you There to another friend whom wee shall finde As glad to have my body as my minde The Primrose VPon this Primrose hill Where it Heav'n would distill A shoure of raine each severall drop might goe To his owne primrose and grow Manna so And where their forme and their infinitie Make a terrestriall Galaxie As the small starres doe in the skie I walke to finde a true Love and I see That 't is not a mere woman that is shee But must or more or lesse then woman bee Yet know I not which flower I wish a sixe or foure For should my true-Love lesse then woman bee She were scarce any thing and then should shee Be more then woman shee would get above All thought of sexe and thinke to move My heart to study her and not to love Both these were monsters Since there must reside Falshood in woman I could more abide She were by art then Nature falsify'd Live Primrose then and thrive With thy true number five And women whom this flower doth represent With this mysterious number be content Ten is the farthest number if halfe ten Belongs unto each woman then Each woman may take halfe us men Or if this will not serve their turne Since all Numbers are odde or even and they fall First into this five women may take us all The Relique WHen my grave is broke up againe Some second ghest to entertaine For graves have learn'd that woman-head To be to more then one a Bed And he that digs it spies A bracelet of bright haire about the bone Will he not let'us alone And thinke that there a loving couple lies Who thought that this device might be some way To make their soules at the last busie day Meet at this grave and make a little stay If this fall in a time or land Where mis-devotion doth command Then he that digges us up will bring Us to the Bishop and the King To make us Reliques then Thou shalt be a Mary Magdalen and I A something else thereby All women shall adore us and some men And since at such time miracles are sought I would have that age by this paper taught What miracles wee harmelesse lovers wrought First we lov'd well and faithfully Yet knew not what wee lov'd nor why Difference of sex no more wee new Then our Guardian Angells doe Comming and going wee Perchance might kisse but not between those meales Our hands ne'r toucht the seales Which nature injur'd by late law sets free These miracles wee did but now alas All measure and all language I should passe Should I tell what a miracle shee was The Dampe WHen I am dead and Doctors know not why And my friends curiositie Will have me cut up to survay each part When they shall finde your Picture in my heart You thinke a sodaine dampe of love Will through all their senses move And worke on them as mee and so preferre Your murder to the name of Massacre Poore victories But if you dare be brave And pleasure in your conquest have First kill th'enormous Gyant your Disdaine And let th'enchantresse Honor next be slaine And like a Goth and Vandall rize Deface Records and Histories Of your owne arts and triumphs over men And without such advantage kill me then For I could muster up as well as you My Gyants and my Witches too Which are vast Constancy and Secretnesse But these I neyther looke for nor professe Kill mee as Woman let mee die As a meere man doe you but try Your passive valor and you shall finde than In that you'have odds enough of any man The Dissolution SHee'is dead And all which die To their first Elements resolve And wee were mutuall Elements to us And made of one another My body then doth hers involve And those things whereof I consist hereby In me abundant grow and burdenous And nourish not but smother My fire of Passion sighes of ayre Water of teares and earthly sad despaire Which my materialls bee But ne'r worne out by loves securitie Shee to my losse doth by her death repaire And I might live long wretched so But that my fire doth with my fuell grow Now as those Active Kings Whose foraine conquest treasure brings Receive more and spend more and soonest breake This which I am amaz'd that I can speake This death hath with my store My use encreas'd And so my soule more earnestly releas'd Will outstrip hers As bullets flowen before A latter bullet may o'rtake the pouder being more A Ieat King sent THou art not so black as my heart Nor halfe so brittle as her heart thou art What would'st thou say shall both our properties by thee bee spoke Nothing more endlesse nothing sooner broke Marriage rings are not of this stuffe Oh why should ought lesse precious or lesse tough Figure our loves Except in thy name thou have bid it say I 'am cheap nought but fashion fling me'away Yet stay with mee since thou art come Circle this fingers top which did'st her thombe Be