world and taken-vp in the Church for an admirable peece of that Art to vye with the Angels the Cherubins and Seraphins themselues to frame the like Nor yet was she so pleased to heare herself sing only as to listen to her Spouse the voice of her beloued knocking and saying My sister open vnto me to whom she would answer againe Behold my beloued speaks vnto me Oh let thy voice stil sound in mine eares and a thousand other affects of her Musical hart would she dayly sing besides to the Angelical troups which enuironed her round And lastly for her loue to wine that is to the Angelical Nectar she was dayly feasted with of spiritual gladnes as tasts before hand of her future ioyes which might appeare by the quantitie she tooke of those wines and the qualitie againe by the frequent extasies of loue she would breake into remaining in her Closet as we may piously beleeue being inebriated therewith THE EMBLEME THE POESIE TO Bethlem's sillie shed me thinkes I see The Virgin hasten like a busie Bee Which in a tempest subiect to be blowne In lieu of ballast beares a little stone As 't were with oares beats to and fro his wings Collects heauens deaw which to the hiue he brings Within that store-house lyes the daylie frait Le ts fal the stone Euen so of greater weight Cut without hands the Virgin now is gone To lay the prime and fundamental stone Heauens Deaw condens'd was in the honie-comb She was the Bee the Hiue her Sacred Womb. THE THEORIES COntemplate first how little soeuer the Bee seemes yet how great its excellencies and eminencies are and measure not the singular properties it hath with the outward shew it giues forth For though it seeme no more indeed then as raysed but a little higher then an ordinarie fly yet is it a miracle in nature an astonishment to men and a liuelie Symbol of our Blessed Ladie who being so singular and eminent in al prerogatiues and graces Celestial and Diuine made no greater a shew then she did in being so priuate in her Closet or Oratorie where she was as a Bee in her Cel a-framing the delicious honie of her admirable examples of life to sweeten the world with for after-ages Where you may note her stupenduous humilitie that seing herself elected the Mother of God and consequently the Queene of Angels and men yet held herself to be no more then as a seruiceable Bee to worke the precious honie of Man's Redemption in her Virginal Womb when she sayd Behold the hand-mayd of our Lord. Consider then that as one of the properties of the Bee is when it is on the wing and feares to be carried away with the winds of the ayre to take vp a stone to keep itself steadie therin through the poyse therof So our blessed Virgin in her highest contemplation of heauenlie mysteries which was frequent and ordinarie with her would take herself to her little Iesus the mystical stone for Christ was a Stone for feare of being carryed away with the wind of vanitie she would fly and soare aloft but yet hold her to her little Nothing which she euer tooke herself to be O admirable humilitie of our incomparable and industrious Bee Ponder lastly that if the Bee is so admired for its singular guists of Continencie of Policie and Industrie and especially so affected by al men for the benefit of the honie they receaue from it how admirable needes must the blessed Virgin be so chast as to be the first and onlie patterne of al Chastitie both Virginal Coniugal and Vidual so wise politick wel-gouerned in herself to haue Sensualitie so obedient to Reason and Reason to GOD as to haue no deordination in her either of the inferiour to the superiour part and so industrious withal as to work so exquisit a loome of al Perfection as wel Human as Angelical in the whole course of her diuine life Yea how ought she to be honoured and worshipped of vs al for the Celestial Diuine fruit she brought vs forth that mellifluous Honie of the Diuine Word Incarnate and made Man in her most precious and sacred Wombe THE APOSTROPHE O Great Monarkesse and Princesse of intercession in heauen most constant and immoueable in thy Virginal purpose who hadst rather not to haue been so great in the kingdome of God then to falsify thy promise vow of perpetual Virginitie if in being the Mother of God the same had been put in the least danger O help me then to guard this inestimable treasure of Chastitie in my state of life by that sweetest Honie-comb thou hredst within thee and broughtst into the world thy deerest Sonne Ah let me not be perfidious disloyal or a breaker of my faith nor rash in my good purposes made to His Diuine Maiestie For that O soueraigne Ladie displeases him highly and offends thee likewise deare Princesse of Virgin-soules THE VIII SYMBOL THE HEAVENS THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Heauens are the glorious Pallace of the Soueraigne Creatour of al things the purple Canopie of the Earth powdred ouer and beset with siluer-oes or rather an Azure Vault enameld al with diamants that sparckle where they are And for that there is aloft aboue this seeling they make a pauiment likewise for the Intelligences and Angelical Spirits strewed as become such inhabitants with starres It is a Court where those blessed Spirits as Pensioners stand continually assisting in the King's presence with the fauour to behold him to face in his greatest glorie while the Starres as Pages attend in those spacious Hals lower roomes If al togeather should make vp the bodie of an Armie ranged and marshalled in the field the Spirits themselues would make the Caualrie and the Infanterie the Starres S. Muhael General of the one and Phoebus of the other where euen as the Foot that are as the Corps of the whole Batallions make a stand so remaine the whole multitude of Starres al fixt in the Firmament while the Planets which are as the Collonels of the rest with the speedie Coursers of their proper Orbs fly vp and down to marshal the Legions and to keepe the Companies in their due squadrons If they shoot their shafts and darts they send are but their influences they powre on mortals and terrene things good and bad some sweet of loue as those which Venus shoots from her Regiment headed with gold some with steel as those of Mars and his troups and some againe as more malignant dipt in venome as those of Saturn and the Caniculars As the Earth hath beasts the Heauens haue their Lion and Beare the great and lesse Where the Sea hath fish the Heauens haue theirs and waters enough as wel aboue as vnder the Firmament As the Ayre hath birds the Heauens haue Angels as birds of Paradise And if the vpper Region of the Elements be of fire the Seraphins are al of amourous fires of Diuine loue and the
when he set vp his Pillar so in the then vtmost Spanish Gades and called it his Non plus vltra But alas Since that hath a new whole world been discouered far beyond it One Painter with his art deceaued the birds with a bunch of grapes and he thought verily he had done a great peece of matter when comes me another streight and with his art likewise deludes the verie Painter himself in his owne art One drawes me a line which he held to be indiuisible comes me another with a lighter touch and cuts that line asunder with another line It is often seen the Scholler goes beyond the Maister Plato excelled his Maister Aristotle his and so haue infinit others the reason yealds that ReuereÌ„d Father Southwel in his Spiritual Poems Deuise of man in working hath no end What thought can think another thought can mend GOD when he framed the world might as wel haue built manie more and happely a second better then the first so a third and so a fourth because al are in the compas of his Omnipotencie but so can not maÌ„ do in his works for stil there wil be found an vtmost tearme beyond the which he can not passe because he is finit The Giants in their big conceipts had framed in their imagination a Stayre-case vp to Heauen by setting Pelion vpon Ossa's back but when they had brought it to a certain pitch they could reare their building no whit higher but downe comes Ossa much sooner then he got vp and al was but a Castle in the ayre which hangs there stil the foundation being shrunck away Such are the works of Mortals and so are they limited in al they do GOD only is he who is boundles in al. Yet when he framed the Incomparable Virgin Marie and chose her to be his Mother he made her so incomparable a PhaÌ„enix not only to al that euer were or shal be but euen to such as he intended or was able to frame since being not able to be greater then he is himself he could not make her to be a greater Mother then she is * making her his owne Mother therefore wel may besayd NEC SIMILIS VISA NEC SECVNDA THE CHARACTER THE Phenix is the Cesar of birds and sole Dictatour amongst them which admits no Pompey in his kind therefore Nature hath framed but one at once to take away the cause of ciuil iarres He is the miracle of Nature and a prime maister-peece of her workmanship wherin she seemes contrarie to her custome to shew some art He is euen the honour of Arabia Felix or the felicitie of that Region the of-spring of the Sun that might wel haue been his father if either two Suns had been possible or two Phenixes at once He is a Treasurer or rather an Vsurer of spices with the interest of his life He is the Heyre apparant to himself and feares no other 's clayme to that nature bred of ashes and as we al to ashes must returne againe and yet immortal while he dyes not but renewes rather and not as the Hawke which mewes his feathers only but himself The Tomb is his cradle the Fire his midwif himself the Damme the Sun his Sire There being but one at once they are framed without a pattern and yet so like as they are taken for the same He can speake much of others Ancesters but nothing of his owne He is the Alpha and Omega of his kind the first and last because alwayes the same Being solitarie he is apt to scruples but puts them ouer through the innocencie of his life for though by nature he be a Prince yet dares he not say We because there is no more then he If he steale they are but spices wherof he makes no conscience because for his Altar of Holocausts nor hath anie Casuist with him to put that scrupule into his head And being so accessarie to his owne death he makes as litle scruple of that also as done through the inspiration of Nature as he calles it to maintaine his House and to rayse his seed Were he not wel knowne otherwise to the Arabians to be a bird by manie faire demonstrations it had been a wonder that people had not chosen him for a GOD. But GOD it seemes would not permit it as a special fauour to this singular and miraculous Bird. Like the Camelion he liues by the ayre and no maruel the spirit of birds should liue of its proper Element the ayre being the ElemeÌ„t of birds as the waters of the fish The Fire he makes his Purgatorie in this world and that so efficaciously as he becomes renewed to an other life or like the Snake which changing his coat only is stil the same but yet more fresh Whereby obseruing the precept he puts off the old man to be take him self to a new being in newnes of life BEhold how Death aymes with his mortal dart And wounds a Phaenix with a twin-like hart These are the harts of Iesus and his Mother So linkt in one that one without the other Is not entire They sure each others smart Must needs sustaine though two yet as one hart One Virgin-Mother Phenix of her kind And we her Sonne without a father find The Sonne 's and Mothers paines in one are mixt His side a Launce her soule a Sword transfixt Two harts in one one Phâ—nix loue contriues One wound in two and two in one reuiues THE SWAN THE DEVISE THE MORALS AD VADA CONCINENS ELISII ARistotle sayth that harmonie and Musrck is a worthie great and Diuine thing whose bodie is composed of parts discordant in theÌ„selues yet accordant one with the other which entring into the bodie by the eare with I know not what diuinitie as it were rauisheth the soule The World therefore is much obliged to the first Inuentour of Musick being the sweet charme of al the annoyes of our pittiful mortalitie For euen they who are plunged in the abysse of al euils at the least touch of sweet Musick do euen swim vault like Dolphins as Poets say at the feet of that Minstrel Orion What grief or trouble is so great that reuiues not when a gentle Treble mounts vpto heÌ„auen and there soaring and houering aloft as on the wing comes like a Falcon at last to seize vpon the Base as a prey euen to the losse of breath sense of hearing or when the Base after a long pursuit of the Treble and not able to reach it as it would as in a rage in despite with itself seemes to precipitate and plunge itself euen to the Center of the earth Who would not wonder to see the gentle Orpheus haue such power vpon sauage beasts to make them to forget their prey and chase to feed and fatten themselues with such mincing diuisioÌ„s by the eare feed on those Diuine viands who when he made his Harp to speak and his fingers to runne so fast marrying his Angelical
grow without rayne or waters cast vpon them where this plantation hath no need of waters but rather al industries are vsed to keep them out The Tortoyes in this respect is better housed not charged with reparations as long as his Lease lasts for terme of his life but yet hauing none els to trust to looke vnto it he is faine to carrie it about him The Cockle hath his house tiled with slate which hauing no lock and key too he is forced to keep at home for feare of theeues And not so much as the poore snayle but hath a house of his owne which in his pace like a Pedler with his pack wil he carrie about him throughout the world and do that with time which the Sunne can no more then do with al his swiftnes Nay you eate not an Oyster but you vn-house him and put him out of his tenement The Sun is the house of light that needs no windowes being nothing els but light And for the 12. principal houses and Pallaces in the Heauens they are but weakely built without foundation more then the Astronomers working braines The Moone is the house of the Flux and Reflux of the Seas who thence go in and out by turnes at their pleasures The Almond is a house of the kernels within which neuer comes forth til the roof comes fluttering downe about her eares that costs her life The Hiue is a house and Colledge of Bees where they liue Collegially togeather the Combs are their Refectorie The Birds for proper houses haue their neasts whose children are the yong ones and she the good huswif that keeps at home THE MORALS SEDES SAPIENTIAE LOoke where the Prince is there is the Court and where the Court there his Seate Wisedome is the Prince of the whole Microcosme of man His Court then and seate must needs be in the Power of the Vnderstanding where he chiefly resides and not where soeuer his dominion stretcheth for so should he be in euerie place in person which stands not with the Maiestie of so great a Prince Wel may his Ministers like Purseuants and Heralds performe and execute the Royal commands as the hands to make prouisions to maintaine the State the feet to trauel for that purpose the eyes to keep Centenel in the turrets of his pallace and that neer to his person against forren iuuasions and the like but yet the Prince himself in his Royal person departs not a whit from his proper Chamber of presence the Intellect And GOD himself the Monarck of the whole Vniuers is seen to be euerie where within his Dominions through his essence power and presence but not in that particular manner as he is in heauen in his proper seat or as he was in earth in his humanitie or in the Sacrament itself most mysteriously and Diuinely For to speake in general his seat is euerie where The Heauens are the roof the Starres the Seelings the earth al diaperd and diuersifyed with infinit coulours his footstool and pauements and the maruels of Nature his shop of wonders but his proper and peculiar seat where he resides in as in his Court is either in the Empyreal Heauē as I sayd or in Christ's excellent Humanitie or in the most Venerable and dreadful Sacrament of the Aultar nor hath he made choice of anie other seats to dwel in as not worthie or able to comprehend him Where then had Wisedome properly set vp his seat but in that pallace he had built for himself founded in so great an humilitie and so wel sustained with the seauen-fold pillars of the Holie-Ghost I meane in the Virgin-Womb of the Incomparable Ladie who receauing and so long entertaining the Wisedome Increated in her virginal Lap as the true Salomon indeed reposing sweetly in his Iuorie Throne may wel be stiled SEDES SAPIENTIAE THE ESSAY A House being a meer artificial and no natural thing hath its first subsistence in the Idea of Man's brayne according to whose model good or il the house so built proues good or il We recurre then to the Architect for direction in al. This Architecture is a soueraigne Mistris of building which giues the addresses for disposing al the parts of a house with relations in themselues in comlines proportion ornaments situation distances eleuations and a thousand of the like of al which yealds it a pertinent and satisfactorie reason to the curious examiners why euerie thing is so done this and not that Some are Architects by hand only and no more who frame their buildings by roat taking forth copyes heer and there but can afford no reason at al for what they do nor inuent ought that is worth a rush and for a final reason say nothing but such is the custome so to do Others are Architects by booke only and by discourses which they haue read but they haue no hands to put in practise and know but the Theorie only such as they are good for nothing but to build a house for Plato of Ideas al suspending in the ayre The good Architect should linck his spirit with his hand and the compas with his reason setting his hand to work as wel as the brayne The first do frame but bodies without a soule the second soules without a bodie the third do build the whole and are men of note and reputation indeed The perfect Architect indeed should be ignorant in no Science otherwise if he do wel it is by chance or els by nature as beasts do which do manie goodlie things and know not why nor wherefore He had need be a Painter to make his plaines eleuations designes to copie-out a thousand rarities to please the phantasie withal a Geometrian to handle the compas for the vse of Circles rulers squares plummets and the like To haue the Perspectiue to let-in lights into his house to steale-in the day in certain corners to content the eye with diuers aspects and if not directly to introduce the Sunnie rayes at least obliquikly through reflexions The Arithmetick to cast vp and calculate the charges he is at to number the materials and degrees that belong thereto The Historie for al the enrichments of buildings Armes statues and other ornaments are nothing els but Historie true and fayned which if he knowes not he shal commit a thousand errours To haue Philosophie to know the nature of beasts the seas the elements flowers fruits and al whatsoeuer in nature Astrologie and Phisick in planting his house in a holsome and sound climat in choosing the best Sun a good wind the purest ayre holesome waters a faire and free prospect a good situation for pleasure and profit This is certain that al art is then in truest perfectiō when it may be reduced to some natural Principle or other For what are the most iudicious Artizans but the Mimiks of Nature This same in our House is seen comparing it with the fabrick of our natural bodies wherin the high Architect of the world hath
that stand in a readines with iauelins in hand and the Qui va la in the mouth with whom is but a word and a blow or rather whose words are blowes that fetch the bloud It is the Metropolis of the Graces where they hold their Cōmon-wealth and where the Senat of al odoriferous Spices keepe their Court It is the chiefest grace of Spouses on their Nuptial dayes and the Bride wil as soone forget her fillet as her Rose It is the maister-peece of Nature in her garden-works and euen a verie spel to Artizans to frame the like for though perhaps they may delude the eye yet by no meanes can they counterfeit the odour the life and spirit of the Rose When Flora is disposed to deliciate with her minions the Rose is her Adonis bleeding in her lap the Rose her Ganimed presenting her cups ful of the Nectar of her sweets It is euen the Confectionarie-box of the dantiest Conserues which Nature hath to cherish-vp herself with when she languisheth in Autumne The Cellarie of the sweetest lickours either wine or water her wines being Nectars and her waters no lesse precious then they whose dryed leaues are the emptie bottles In a word the Rose for beautie is a Rose for sweetnes a Rose and for al the graces possible in flowers a verie Rose the quintessence of beautie sweets and graces al at once and al as epitomized in the name of ROSE THE MORALS CASTO PERFVSA RVBORE IT is a cōmon Saying The honest Bridegroome and the bashful Bride For so when Rebecca first was brought to the youthful Isaac as a Spouse she put her scar for veile before her eyes So Rachel did and manie others Lucretia the Chast chose rather to wallow in her bloud then to suruiue her shame wherin she blushed indeed but yet without cause for yet stil she remaynes in al mens mouths the Chast Lucretia The hart and cheeks haue their intelligences togeather and the purest bloud is messenger betweene them The hart is put into a fright the obsequious bloud comes-in anon and asks What ayle you Sir Goe get you vp and mount to the turret of the cheeks my onlie friend and cal for help the bloud obeyes and makes the blush that rayseth such alarmes intender Virgins most especially What feares the Virgin when she blushes so The wrack of her honour you wil say How so Is Honour in the Bodie or the Mind If in the Mind the Mind is a Citadel impregnable not subiect to violence nor to be betrayed but by itself Then blush not Virgin for the matter thy hold is sure enough and thou in safetie if thou wilt thyself But this of al other Vertues neuer is safe and secure enough this of al others feares the verie shadowes themselues and trembles like an Aspin-leaf at the least motions Now lookes she pale like a verie clowt and now through modestie the colour moūtss into her cheeks and there sets-vp his ruddie standard as if the Fort were his til feare againe preuayling plucks it downe And these were the vicissitudes our Sacred VIRGIN had when her glorious Paranimph discoured his Embassage to her in her secret closet presenting her a shadow only seeming opposite to her chast Vow wher at She trembled in his sight CASTO PERFVSA RVBORE THE ESSAY BEhold heer the Princesse of flowers the Pearl of Roses with al its varieties the Damask Rose the Musk-Rose The Red the Cinamon the Carnation the Prouince the White the Sauage Rose which growes in the Eglantines and lastly the Golden Rose faire indeed to behold but not so sweet The Rose growes on a speckled thorn swelling into sharp or pointed buttons somwhat green which riues by little and little and opens at last then vnbuttons and discloses its treasure the Sunne vnfolds it and opens the lights and leaues making it display itself and take life so affording it the last draught of beautie to its scarlet and now hauing perfumed it and made the infusion of rose-Rose-water therinto in the midst appeares as in a cup certain golden points and little threds of Musk or Saffron sticking in the hart of the Rose But to speake of the fires of its Carnation the snow of the white Satin the fine Emralds cut into little toungs round about to serue as a trayne to wayt vpon it of the Balme and ambergrees that breathes from this little crop of gold which is in the midst of the sharpnes of the thorns that guard it from the little theeues that would be nibling it away with their beaks of the iuice and substance which being squeezed embalmes al round about it with its fauour of a hundred hidden vertues as to fortify the hart to cleer the cristal of the eyes to banish clowds to coole our heats to stirre-vp the appetite and a thousand the like were a world to deale with but I hasten to the Mistris-flower herself who mysteriously sits in this goodlie oeconomic of Sweets and beauties as in her Bower wherin She delights to shrowd herself THE DISCOVRSE Two things in the Rose chiefly doe I note what inwardly it containes and what vertue and qualitie the Rose outwardly giues forth It is strange the same should be hot and cold togeather cold in the leaues hot in the seed so as passions proceeding of excessiue heat it alayes and qualifyes with its leaues and with the heat and vigour of its seeds it quickens and virifyes the frigid and melancholie affections of the bodie Some men are tepid yea cold in the loue of God they are so dul stupid in Diuine things that they cannot rayse vp the mind from terreue and earthlie cogitations to sublimer thoughts being immured with base affections But our Mystical Rose with the seed of Grace in her wherewith She was replenished inflames their harts to the loue of God Oh seed of our Rose She shal not feare her house for the colds of the snowes for al her houshold are cloathed double This snow so cold is a frigiditie of mind but against this cold she cloathes her Deuotes with double suites of charitie to God and their Neighbour Some also are hot and most desperatly inflamed with the fires of Concupiscence these heats she tempers and extinguishes with the deawes of her refrigerating grace as with the leaues or mantle as it were of her gracious protection The Rose the more it is wrung or pressed the sweeter odour it sends forth and yealds such a redolent fragrancie withal that al are wonderfully taken with the odoriferous breath it giues and this our Rose the more she was wrung and pressed with the cruel fingar of tribulations and afflictions the greater her sanctitie appeared Being banished into Aegypt she gaue forth a most fragrant odour of Patience wherewith she embalmed al Aegypt and fructifyed afterwards into an infinit race of Deuotes to her and her Sonne witnes the Pauls the Anthonies the Hilarions the Macarians of Aegypt In the Passion of her Sonne
powder of Industrie in her when conceauing with fire through the match of Fiat she flew so â—imbly ouer hils and dales to her Cosen Elizabeth the subiect of Charitie wherin truly she shewed herself OPEROSA ET SEDVLA THE ESSAY The Bee is the greatest Politick in the world the gouerment of their litle commoÌ„-wealth is most admirable The King is he that hath the best preÌ„seÌ„ce with him a Royal looke al his subiects obey him with submission reuerence not doing anie thing against their oath of alleageance The King himself is armed with Maiestie and beautie if he haue a sting he neuer makes vse of it in the whole manage of his estate He carryes nothing but honie in his coÌ„mands one would not beleeue the great seueritie and courtesie there is amongst them liuing in communitie with good intelligences abroad al goes with them with weight and measure without errour or mistakings In the winter they keep wholy within not knowing otherwise how to defend themselues from the force of the weather and violence of the winds hold their little assemblies in some place deputed for that effect and keep correspondencies one with another but for the drones and idle bees they banish them quite from their common-wealth They commit not themselues to the discretion of the weather abroad vntil such time as the beanes begin to blowe and from that time they wil loose no day from labour They frame the wax from the iuice which they suck from flowers hearbs and trees and for honie they deriue it also from trees gommie reeds hauing a glue and viscous lickour on theÌ„ They wil make their wax likewise of euerie herb and flower saue only they neuer light on a dead or withered one Their sting is fastned in their bellie and when they stick it so as they cannot draw it forth againe without leauing the instrument behind they dy of it and if the sting remaine but half they liue as castrat and become as droans not being able to gather either honie or wax THE DISCOVRSE THE mellifluous Doctour S. Ambrose in his sweet booke of Virgins sayth the Bee feeds of the deaw engenders not at al and frames the honie Which three properties peculiarly and singularly appertaine to Virgins but most expresly and sublimely of al to the Sacred Virgin herself the Queen of Virgins For as al other creatures liue of the earth or water as birds beasts and fishes some few excepted to wit the Camaeleon of the ayre and the Salamander of the fire the Bee as a choicer creature more curious then the rest feeds no worse then of the deaw that falles from Heauen and wheras al other creatures not bred of putrefaction are subiect to libidinous heat in their kinds the Bee is free therof and multiplies by a way more chast and where other creatures are wholy maintained at their Maister 's charge and some wil eate you more then their bodies are worth or their labour comes to the Bee makes its owne prouision of itself and leaues his owner rich with the bootie and spoyle they make of the flowers of the field without anie cost or charge of the Maister so industrious they are to the great confusion of men Iust so our Ladie not taken with the bayts and allurements of this world for spiritual life liued not but of the heauenlie deaw of Diuine grace being capable of no other heat then of the chast and amourous fire of Diuine Loue not conceauing Fruit but by an admirable mysterious and miraculous way through the work of the Holie-Ghost remaining a Virgin before in and after her Child-birth and lastly framed without anie cost or merits of ours that Honie of honies that Honie-comb distilling which carries the honie in his lips The honie indeed is engendred in the ayre through the fauour and influence of certain starres as in the Canicular dayes we may note betimes in the morning the leaues to be charged and sugred with it Such as go forth at that time before day shal find themselues to be moistned therewith which the Bees suck from the leaues and flowers and tunne-vp in their little stomaks to discharge againe and to make it perfect honie in al points for the vse of men So our incomparable Virgin receauing this Deaw or honie of the Eternal Word as it came from Heauen into her Virginal womb so wrought it in her as being deliuered therof it proued a honie most apt for the vse of man the true Bread of Life indeed Most happie Bee and a thousand times most blessed HONIE Where it is to be noted that Bees are exceedingly delighted with these things first with faire serene weather for then those deawes more plentifully fal are more delicious and of the contrarie in the raynie more boysterous weather they are wholy hindered from their vintage as it were or gathering those sugred deawes Secondly they are pleased much with abundance of flowers from whence they gather their purest honie for though the deawes fal vpon the leaues and they gather it no doubt from them also yet is it not so delicious and pure for the nature of deawes participats much of the places they light on which makes the Bee farre more busie and industrious on the flower then on the leaues Thirdly they are wonne with a sweet sound For Aristotle sayth they are exceedingly allured with the harmonie of musick and sweet sounds which we ordinarily practise now adayes to stay them with when they are in a great consult to take their flight and be gone for then with the striking of a pan only insteed of other musick are they brought to settle themselues neer home so Musical they are And lastly they ioy greatly insweet wine as we find by experience and daylie practise as often as they begin to swarme are now on the wing and point to trauel into forren parts Al these things the Blessed Virgin was exceedingly affected to and had them al as it were within her as first a serenitie in the internal conscience where appeared no clowd in the ayre of her Mind and where the pacifical Salomon sat peacefully indeed as in his Iuorie Throne Al the glorie of the King's daughter was wholy within her Then had she the flowers of al Vertues and Graces within her to wit the diuersities of al vertues the lillies of chastitie the blush and moâ—estie of the rose the hope of the Violet the charicie and Diuine loue of the Heliotropion and the like Her soule was a Garden of al flowers and no lesse then a Paradise which had the Archangel as Paranimph Guardian therof with the two-edged sword of Humilitie and the chast Feare of God O delicious Paradise and more then terrestrial euen when she was dwelling on the earth Thirdly she was affected to Musick and very rare and singular therin as appeares by that excellent and melodious Canticle of hers the Diuine Magniâ—â—at so chanted now adayes in the
such complacencie in the Rainebow that when he is in the highest point of his iust choler if he cast but his eye thervpon he is suddenly appeased I wil looke on my Bow and wil remember c sayth he And no maruel surely since the Bow he regards so much is the Symbol heer of his deerest Mother the Incomparable Virgin Let vs see then how this heauenlie Bow deciphers the Queen of Heauen this mirrour of Nature and the astonishment of man-kind The Generation and extract of anie thing discouers it most This Iris then or Raynebow is caused by the reflexion of the Sunnie beames vpon a lucid clowd concaue and waterish Clowdes are engendred of the marine vapours or exhalation of the seas where the vapoural parts of the Ocean are attracted by the vertue of the Sun which conglomerated togeather engender a clowd when the brackishnes of the Sea-water is turned to sweetnes And so was our Ladie a true clowd since in her were found these marine vapours that is incredible tribulations bitter and brackish of themselues though to her made sweet through the force and vertue of Diuine Loue. The Sunnie beames therefore that is the grace of GOD being a ray as it were of the Diuine Essence reflecting on the purest Virgin a lucid clowd concaue and waterish produced the Iris or Rainebow in the Hierarchie of the Church as in the firmament of the Heauens and therefore called the Iris or Celestial Bow a signe of the Reconciliation of GOD with al mankind She was concaue through humilitie and therefore very apt to receaue the rayes of the Sunne of Iustice the influence of Diuine graces as she was waterish no lesse through compassion and pietie because her hart was a Spring and her eyes as continual-standing pooles of teares A bow commonly hath a string is bent with an arrow in it and hath the horns conuerted towards vs as menacing the Foes Our Blessed Vigin is a Bow indeed but without the string of seueritie because most iust and without menaces and feare because most sweet and hath two horns withal to wit Grace and Mercie which she holdeth towards vs while grace she affordeth to the iust and mercie to sinners and is therefore called the Mother of Grace and Mother of Mercie Aboue al the Rayne-bow hath its proper subsistence in coulour which it seemes to borrow as Bede sayth of the foure Elements For of the fire it contracts a ruddie coulour from the water a Cerulean from the ayre the coulour of the Hyacinth and from the earth the green it hath al which seeme spiritually to be found in our Celestial Bow the Incomparable Ladie for red she was being wholy inflamed with the fire of Diuine loue which she tooke from the Diuine fire God being our consuming fire a fire indeed that burns and consumes others but not her because although she were a bush and burning too yet incombustible She might borrow that coulour likewise from her dead Sonne as he lay on her lap being taken from the Crosse al bathed with his precious Bloud which mixed with her faire complexion might wel appeare like to flames in our heauenlie Iris. She had the Cerulean which is the coulour of the Sea because she is properly the Starre of the Sea and hath therefore a great correspondencie with that liquid Element and through meer compassion was become as it were al liquid according to that of the Psalmist My hart is become as dissolued or liquifyed wax as wel for the abundance of teares she was wont to shed as the puritie of her mind which made them so limpid and cleare She had thirdly the coulour of the Hyacinth which she tooke as from the ayre since al her conuersation was in the ayre as it were abstracted from the earth or terrene cogitations She was wholy as the Bird of Paradise which hath no feet to touch the earth with from the time that her Sonne ascended to heauen from the mount Oliuet she could do nothing but cast vp her eyes thither-wards and so powerfully perhaps contracted that coulour through the vehemencie of her attention and application to that object til her Assumption haply when she left it by the way in her Bow to remayne for euer as a signe of her puritie But now to conclude with the green which she tooke from the earth what might it be but a continual Spring of al Graces and Vertues which she practised on earth Looke into a garden in that season of the Spring and whatsoever your eyes can behold truly delicious there in the greennes of the plots and arbours both open and close and in the green-sword allies and bancks your vnderstanding shal be able to paralel and find-out her vertuous conuersation on earth For if you consider her green walks they were al as streight as garden-walks for streight were the paths of her whole life If on the arbours you shal find her continually in her closet her plots were nothing els but how to become more gratful to her Sonne her Spouse her Lord and those alwayes new euer green so as in the garden of her mind was a perpetual Spring to be seen of al vertues while she liued amongst vs no maruel then the green was so dear vnto her to be put into her bow THE EMBLEME THE POESIE FRom heauen the Father viewes his Sonne below Vpon the Crosse as on a clowde a Bowe When vapours from the earth exhal'd arise The Mother likewise sees with mourning eyes Her Sonne al black blew pale wan red Green with a crowne of thornes fixt on his head Al which reflect by reflexion die The Mother like a Raine-bow in the skie To her for mercie when the Sinner sues The Sonne his Mother as a Raine-bow viewes That pleades for mercie to her Sonne appeales Who signes the Pardon and his Wounds are Seales THE THEORIES COntemplate first that if Nature be able to frame so rare a peece of workmanship as the Rayne-bow and that no wit of man can truly comprehend the reasō of its forme and figure with the admirable diuersitie of coulours in it so as among her other works most choice and rare the same is accounted as a cheef miracle in Nature in the visible Heauens I imagin the while what GOD himself is able to doe in his works of Grace being disposed as it were to vye with Nature in framing an Iris likewise in this Heauen of Heauēs to astonish not Mortals only but the Angels and blessed Spirits themselues better able to iudge of the diuersitie of coulours in her to wit the mysteries and graces wherewith he hath adorned her Consider then that as the Rayne-bow of it-self is no more then a meer Meteor in the ayre if it be so much whose whole luster it takes from the Sun and vanisheh as soone as he is either in a clowd or hath his aspect some other way since it is wholy of him and so of him as
At certain times of the yeare to wit in the Spring and Autumne the cockles oysters or scollops or cal them what you wil approach to the Sea-shore and lye there gaping and opening themselues and receaue the celestial deaw into their bowels from the coagulation wherof as abouesayd are the Margarits engendred Now this Shelfish oyster or Mother-Pearl for the Mother or issue Pearl are al of a substance as mothers and embrions vse to be is the Virgin-Mother-Pearl it self which opened her Virginal soule at her mysterious Annunciation in the Spring of the yeare by the quiet shore of her tacit and silent contemplation to receiue the heauenlie Deaw the new Margarit that is to conceaue that precious Pearl Christ Iesus in her womb For she opened her consent to the great Angel her singular Paranimph to obey GOD in al things saying Behold the handmayd of our Lord c. and her soule likewise to the Holie-Ghost to ouershadow her and after the opening thus of her free consent and her Angelical soule the Celestial deaw of the Holie-Ghost descended into her and so this infant Pearl was diuinely begot in the virginal womb of the Virgin-mother Pearl Of which deawing of the Holie-Ghost and opening of the Blessed Virgin therevnto it is prophetically sayd Deaw you heauens thervpon and let the clouds rayne downe the Iust let the earth open and bring forth the Sauiour These Pearls besides if they be right Margarits indeed are faire white and cleer for such as are so are truly of the best and a great deale better then those which are dimmer and of a yellow and duskish coulour For those which are faire white and cleer are bred of the morning-deaw and the others of thar which falles in the euenings And our Incomparable Margarit was predestinate so from the morning of the eternal Decree in Heauen so created as it were ab initio ante secula while the other pearls of lesse regard were only produced in the euening after that sinne was brought into the world This Margarit therefore so faire so white and cleer signifyes our heauenlie Margarit and glorious Virgin who was beautiful and faire in mind through a more then Angelical puritie of hers consisting in the mind most snowie and white in bodie through an immaculate chastitie and virginitie and cleer and sincere in works through a simple sanctitie and Saintlie simplicitie in al her actions in the whole course of her blessed and incomparable life which she led on earth I sayd aboue that Pearls being stampt and beat to powder are holesom soueraigne and medicinal for manie maladies wherof I find the Naturalists chiefly to reckon three First they are purgatiue because they purge and euacuate the bodie of al noxious and superfluuous humours secondly restrictiue staying the flux of bloud or venter and thirdly they comfort and corroborate the hart being readie to faynt or swoune through debilitie of the spirits or the vital parts To these infirmities the applications of these pownded Pearls so beat to powder are of singular auayle In this manner the Blessed Virgin being seriously pressed with importunitie of prayers and often vrged and called vpon with incessant vowes relenting and mollifyed at last as fallen into powder applyes herself first through a purgatiue power to purge vs of our sinnes by procuring vs the grace of Contrition and the holesome Sacrament of Pennance to bewayle and purge our sinnes past secondly with her restrictiue vertue to restraine the soule from flowing and falling againe into future sinnes and thirdly with her restoratiue comfortatiue and corroboratiue power to strengthen and fortify the hart in present occasions of sinnes THE EMBLEME THE POESIE A Rare and precious Pearl is hardly found That 's Great Heauie Smooth pure-white and Round The Sonne of God came from his heauenlie Throne Factour for Pearles aet last found such an one Great to containe himself Heauie ful of grace And therefore sunck vnto a Handmayds place Smooth without knob of Sinne. Virgin pure-white Round in perfection more then mortal wight This pleas'd his eye a long time hauing sought Gaue al that ere he had this he bought Vnion's a Pearle no twinnes it-self but one Such was the Virgin-Mother Paragon THE THEORIES COntemplate first how this Pearl or Margarit is vsually called as we sayd by the name of Vnion whether it be for the great vnion and sympathie there is between the Mother and the Pearl I know not for you can not mention the Mothers name but needs must you bring-in the Pearl withal or for the vnion of the Celestial deaw with the Conchal nature to make vp a Pearl in the lap of the fish I wil not say this I am sure of that our blessed Pearl heer is called Deipara as much to say as the Mother of GOD nor can she be so called a Mother as she is but GOD must needs be vnited to her to make vp her name Consider then that as the Mother-pearl being otherwise only a meer shel-fish of its owne nature and of no greater a ranck then a playne oyster of the Sea yet through the appetite she had to suck and draw in the heauenlie deaw into her bowels obtained the especial priuiledge and prerogatiue to become indeed the Mother of the true oriental Pearl So the virgin-mother though she were as she sayd herself the sillie handmayd of our Lord and of our human nature subiect to the natural fray leties therof yet through a singular immunitie with the puritie of her intention integritie of bodie and Angelical candour of mind disposing herself most affectuously and ardently indeed to receaue the Celestial deawes frō heauen that is the grace of perfect Vnion with GOD in her pure soule she deserued to become the Mother of the Pearl of Pearles sweet IESVS Ponder lastly that if a meer Pearl being so basely bred in an oyster-shel whose extract at the best is but meer Deawes let fal from the nether Region of the Ayre and those but drops of fresh water as it were impearled in the fish through benefit of the Sun should come to be so highly prized as we haue sayd being no more then a meer seed of Pearl somwhat fairer then the rest of that kind how are we to prize and magnify trow you our heauenlie Pearl heer whether you meane the Pearl or Mother herself the Pearl himself for being such a Pearl so truly descending from heauen and her for being the Mother of such a Pearl THE APOSTROPHE MOST sweet most debonnaire Virgin-Mother the Immaculate through emphasis the Mother of faeyre dilection Mother of Iesus regard me poore wretched soule and obtaine that my hart and affection be pure and clean at least like the seed pearl according to the proportion of my litlenes and my bodie wholy free from the duskish blemishes of the least sinnes and that by day and night my thoughts being repurged from al immundicities and vncleane obiects the flourishing bed
not communicable to mortal wights THE APOSTROPHE O Virgin Marie Fountain of grace Fountain I say of the Paradise of pleasure Thou cristal Well of the liuing waters which flowe with impetuositie from Libanus O signed and sealed Fountain such as the Wise-man so points forth that beganst to rise from the earth of a barren soile to fructify the world with thy Merits and to water it with thy Graces Thou litle Fountain as then now growne to a great and ample Riuer who in thy birth appearing as a litle Spring by humilitie and then a Fountain of more note and so encreasing stil with sanctitie in conuersation becamest atlast to be a swelling Riuer when so thou conceauedst in thy WoÌ„b the source of al graces that precious Oyle CHRIST IESVS so as now from the plenitude of this Fountain through al places of the Church haue balsomed liquours been deriued to vs Obtayne ô incomparable Virgin inexhaustible Fountain of Graces of that deare Sonne of thine that the waters of his Celestial graces may so water my soule that through spiritual ariditie it be not enforced to languish vtterly This I beseech thee thou Fountain of liuing waters THE XX. SYMBOL THE MOVNT THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Mount or Mountains are of the noblest and best extraction of the earth and therefore aptest to take fire witnes Aetna or Mongibel They are as great Barons in England and Grandes in Spaine for their eminencie aboue the rest of Hils in the Vpper-house the other as Knights Bourgeses of the Lower the Vallyes being no more then the Commons of the Land who choose them out to stand for the people They are the Cedars of the earth and Cesars in the Senat of the highest towers as topping them al and keeping them vnder They are the Piramides of mould more ancient and more lasting then those of Egipt and the true Mausoleums of the Monuments of Nature the statelie Collosses of earth erected as Gog Magogs among the lesser people of the Hils or Hillocks They are as Sauls far higher then their brethren by head and shoulders and the rest as litle Dauids more fit to keep sheep in the lower playnes Had not Mount Arrarat stood so a tipt-toe as it were the Ark had been forced to haue made a longer nauigation and Natures shop had not been opened so soone to expose her Specieses of liuing things to the new world nor yet the doores and windowes therof so soon had been vnbolted within The Mountains then are as Atlas shoulders to sustaine and bear vp the Welkin with If the earthlie Paradise be yet on earth it must be surely on some Mountain top or els as hanging in the ayre and so no earthlie Paradise They are the Rocks of the Ayre against the which the racking clowds like Argoseyes dash and breake themselues and suffer shipwrack They haue the honour of the first salutes of the glorious Sun in the Aurora of his first appearing and haue his last kisses ere he goe to bed They haue their intelligences with the Intelligences themselues and were they not so pursie and vnweildie might euen dance to their musicks howsoeuer they may listen to them as they stand THE MORALS IN VERTICE MONTIVM THere is nothing honourable that is not good nothing good that is not equitable and nothing equitable that is not wholy opposit to al deordinations True honour consists in fearing GOD and to spare neither life nor ought that is deerest in augmentation of one's glorie It stands not vpon its Ancesters in seeking so much to borrow luster from them as to earne it of itself So as if it can not arriue to their vertue who haue left it anie Title by inheritance it blushes more for its owne infirmitie therin then vaunts of the blazon of its House whose greatnes makes it not haughtie or imperious but rather as the fixed starres the higher it is the lesse it desires to appeare nor regards it so much an outward pomp or swelling oâ—teÌ„tation as the solid veritie of a Soule truly noble Courtesie and sweetnes can no more be seuered from it then the bodie from the soule to remayne true honour nor doth it of anie base facilitie to insinuate with but out of a natural courtesie coming from a true esteeme of its self None more enclined to compassion towards the afflicted or more disposed to succour them then it and then most when they haue least help otherwise and lesse possibilitie to requite It is more careful to yeald true honour to the Creatour then to receaue it froÌ„ anie one In a word it so behaues itself as it holds the Bodie of true honour to consist not in the bloud or dignitie only but the Soule in the eminence of vertue aboue others This true Nobilitie and honour the glorious Virgin had in high measure who being lineally descended from the race of Kings and which is more exalted to the soueraigne degree of the Mother of GOD and consequently raysed aboue al the hils of the blessed Spirits in Heauen yea the Cherubins and Seraphins themselues stiled herself the handmayd of our Lord being arriued I say to sit IN VERTICE MONTIVM THE ESSAY MOVNTAINS are one of the gallantst things in Nature especially if we regard the Prospect they afford to deliciat the eyes with when taking a stand vpon some good aduantage you behold from thence a goodlie riuer vnderneath which in token of homage as it were runnes kissing the foot therof along as it goes But the most delicious it is wheÌ„ you see on the other side a vast playne suspended before you and diuersifyed with litle risings hils and mountains heer and there which bounding not the view too short suffers the eyes with freedome to extend themselues into the immensitie of Heauen while the Riuer creeping along the meadowes with Meander-windings encloses the Hil about in forme of an Iland whence manie vessels of al sorts riding there at ancker may be discryed the neerest questionles very easily discerned the rest farther off through interposition of baÌ„cks between not perceaued the tops of the masts only appearing like a Groue or wood in winter without leaues the litle closes or fields thereabout with the hedge-rowes enuironing the same seeming as Garden-plots hedged in with prim and the lanes and high wayes as dressed into allyes The verdures giue forth themselues delicious to behold like a LaÌ„dskap in a table with al the greenes to be fouÌ„d in the neck of a mallard heer a bright there a dark and then a bright and a dark againe al by reason of the leuels with the risings and fallings togeather with the lights reflectioÌ„s caused through the dawning of the day in the morning or twylight of the euening the rayes of the sunne being an open enemie to such neer prospects offending the view with too much simplicitie sinceritie of dealing It is a great curiositie in Nature to enquire how these Mountains
an other world since there is no liuing creature but hath its like in the Sea also implicitiuely he hath likewise appointed her to be the Ladie and Mistris of al the world For how should she saue from shipwrack if were not Ladie Mistris of the waues and winds And how should she be Ladie of the Seas alone if she were not the Ladie likewise of the land Since she who is stiled the Ladie of the Seas is the true and natural Mother of him who is Lord both of Sea and land and al the world THE APOSTROPHE O Ladie of the Ocean Starre of the Sea Sea of graces Fountain of life Spring of liuing waters that flow froÌ„ the Libanus of the candour of glorie Thou great Abysse of limpid waters whose bottome none can reach vnto whence nothing ariseth but the purest exhalations of Paradise light clowd whence nothing falles but deawes and showres of graces O immense Ocean of Charitie which bearest vp al things and where easily nothing sincks bitter but in the dolours and passions of thy Sonne sweet to the creatures that liue of thee or depend vpon thee O grant I beseech thee that wholy relying on thee I perish not and by neglecting thee and thy seruice I incurre not thy disgrace nor so running on the rocks of thy displeasure I split not on them nor suffer shipwrack of my soule THE XXI SYMBOL THE SHIP THE DEVISE THE CHARACTER THE Ship is the artificial Dolphin of the Seas that much addicted to musick is neuer set on a merrier pin then when the winds whissel to her dancing It is a floating Castle that hath the gates open indeed but trusts to her Battlements which she hath wel planted with Canons and Sacres wherin she more confides then manie do in Sacred Canons her whole saluation depending vpon them It is a litle Common-wealth whose whole Reason of State consists in iealousies spyes which she sends vp to her turret-tops to discouer if the coasts be clear stil standing on her guard against the neighbour waues that seeke but to swallow her vp And al her care is to walke vpright amidst her enemies least vnawares they arrest her and cite her to appeare at Pluto's Court for euerie errour or default of the least ship-boy There is no Bride requires so much time to dresse her on her wedding-day as she to be rigd whensoeuer she goes to sea If they haue their fillets to bred and wreath their haires with she hath her tacklings to trim her vp whose ropes are as manie as intricate as they if they haue their veyles to spread vpon them she hath her sayles to hoyse vp to go her wayes It is the Lion of the seas that feares no Monsters but is as dreadful herself as anie Monster hauing as manie mouthes as Gun-holes in euerie mouth a Serpent tongue that spits vomits fire which euen spits her teeth too in the face of her enemies which often sincks them vnder water It is one of the prettiest things in the world to see her vnder sayle how like a Turkiecock she strouts it out as brauing euen the Elements themselues both aboue and beneath her wherof the one she ploughes with her slicing share and braues the other with her daring look She is an excelleÌ„t swimmer bnt no good diuer at al which she neuer doth but sore against her wil and that with so il successe as likely she is neuer seen more The first that euer was seen to our Antipodes was thought by them to haue had indeed a liuing soule with her els would the simple people say how could so great a bulk so easily wind turne it sell euerie foot this because they knew but the Oare only and not the Rudder What would they haue said then had they knowne the effects of her Card and Compas doubtles she had a reasonable soule She likely neuer goes without her Pages with her to wit her Long-boat and her Cockboat wherof she makes such vse now then as without them she might starue for ought I know She is very ciuil if a Marchant-man but when she is a Man of warre then Marchants beware and looke to your selues THE MORALS DE LONGE PORTANS PANEM IN the TeÌ„ple of Salomon no gold would serue his greatcuriositie but that of Ophir Which the Southern QueeÌ„ of Saba knowing wel perhaps thought no doubt her presents would be gratful to him coming so froÌ„ parts remote Who is he that is not takeÌ„ much with verie toyes that come froÌ„ China which carrie I know nor how in themselues at least in our opinioÌ„ a kind of luster with theÌ„ greater farre then otherwise they would The preseÌ„ts which the Magi brought vnto the Crib coming from the East were deemed by them sit presents for a King yea for a GOD. And how were Iosue Caleb the Spyes Intelligencers of the people of Israel extolled magnifyed at their returne with those rare admirable booties fetched from Canaan And yet the gold of Ophir was but gold a yellow earth the presents made by Saba such as that Countrie afforded those IndiaÌ„ toyes but toyes indeed Yea the guifts the Magi brought had greater luster with them from the giuers harts then froÌ„ theÌ„selues more respected for the place to which theÌ„ wheÌ„ce they came And for those forren fruits they came indeed froÌ„ the laÌ„d of promise froÌ„ Palestin which was but the figure only of the Heauenlie countrie But lo our IncoÌ„parable Virgin like a Ship most richly fraighted hath brought vs Bread froÌ„ farre What bread but the true liuing bread How farre As farre as Heauen But how bread Bread whose corne was haruested in the Mightie man's rich Boozfield framed by the hand of the Maister Baker himself of a most pure meale or flower to wit of the immaculate Bloud of the holie Virgin herself baked in the Ouen of an ardeÌ„t Loue which She hath brought into the world And therefore is truly sayd DE LONGE POâ—TANS PANEM THE ESSAY I Can not tel whether in the world besides be a more statelie fight to behold then an English Ship vnder sayle riding in the Ocean cutting the watrie playnes with her sharp keel in case she haue a gallaÌ„t gentle gale in the poop for then they feast it and make good chear who are the liuing soules abiding in this bulk of human art compiled togeather in despite of Nature to frame a liuing creature more then she intended that neither should be fish nor fowle yet liue in the ayre and water But if the Seas proue rough al the marine MoÌ„sters vise vp against her coÌ„spiring with the blustering Spirits of the ayre to sinck her quite it is a sport to see how she rides prances on his crooked back sporting herself the while and making a meer scoff at al their menaces There is an infinit number of seueral sorts of these artificial creatures in the world