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1. TO THE RIGHT ILLUSTRIOUS AND RIGHT PRAISEWORTHY LADY MARY NEVILLE, HIS PATRONESS 
I Gloze not, lye not thee when I applaud: (Lie
None more deserveth, less desireth laud.
Thou seek’st not praise, though thou deserv’st it best:
And of thy praises this is not the least.
2. TO THE SAME Thou who before thy Birth a burden wert
Unto thy Parent, born, her honour art.
3. TO THE READER. OF HIS BOOK Lest this my Book displease the candid Eye
I fear; and fear lest it with Fools comply.
4. THE VIRGIN BIRTH OF ELIZABETH, LATELY QUEEN OF ENGLAND, 1602 England and Scotland are united by
Th’ auspicious Birth of thy Virginity.
T’ unite then multiply’s of greater worth:
And thou best Parent by not bringing forth.
5. TO THE H Thou not against Minerva’s will didst fight,
Whil’st Englands Pallas back’d thee with her might.
But thy fate chang’d; Death (like Ulysses come)
Took hence thy Pallas and Palladium.
6. TO JAMES, KING OF GREAT BRITAIN &c. The Golden Age is come, long since foretold,
When but one King should wear Brute’s Crown of Gold:
Who should the Britains, that divided were
Unite; of Peace should th’ Olive Branches bear:
That having Peace, all good unt’ us comes forth,
We now may say (most truly) from the North.** For Owen, Grandfather to King Henry the seventh came from North Wales: and King James from the North of great Britain.
7. TO THE PRINCE Great Britaines Hope, son of so great a Sire,
Half of each Parent; for Example higher
Almost than imitation; in rare Parts
Follow’d by few, belov’d in all mens hearts.
Hadst thou these vertues from thy Sires instinct?
Or from thy Mothers Breasts? From both I think’t.
8. BASILICON DORON None needs this Author, none this Book proclaim:
He This, This Him resounds with Trump of Fame.
9. TO THE LADY MARY NEVILLE, DAUGHTER OF THE EARL OF DORSET, HIS PATRONESS Thy Glass reflects thee fair, fame calls thee chast;
Thou not from Glass, nor Fame a fable hast;
Fame that of all things hast the swiftest wing,
Dares not presume thy fame to stain, or sting.
10. OF HER DAUGHTER CECILY No Painter can delineate te mind:
Yet in this Picture thou thy self maist find.
11. TO THE CANDID READER My good Verse, best: indifferent mine ill,
Kind Reader thou dost call with candid will.
TO THE MALEVOLENT READER My bad Verse, worst: indifferent, my my good
Thou call’st, (black Reader) so thy censure stood.
12. HERCULES BY-WAY. TO A NOBLE YOUTH OF HIGH HOPES, SIR THOMAS PUCKERING Some in Quadruples, some in Triples erre:
Th’ Herculean Duple is most sinister.
13. OF VERTUE. TO HIS KINSMAN MAURICE MERICK Vertue contemneth praise, though praise incline
To Vertue Shadows as to Bodies joyn;
For Vertue’s real, praise but verbal, bare
As Bodies something, Shadows nothing are.
14. LIFES DYAL. TO HIS FRIEND JOHN WEST From East to West without return am I,
Born yesterday, live this day, next day die.
15. OF GOD So great thy Greatness Euclide could not show:
And such as Aristotle did not know.
16. OF AN ATHEIST There is no God the Fool in secret saith:
But none so foolish as to make’t his Faith.
If none a God deny, who’s th’ Atheist? He
Who doth desire that there no God should be.
17. CHARITY As Wives where loveless, there do faithless prove,
So’s Faith depriv’d of Charitable love.
18. DIVES AND LAZARUS The Gospel doth a nameless Rich man blame,
Where Lazarus hath an eternal Name.
19. INCREASE AND MULTIPLY The first man was at first but one, till God
Of him made two, evening the number odd:
After when God unt’ Eve did Adam tye,
God made them one again to multiply.
20. UNION Divine is Unition, Division evil’s:
For there’s one God, innumerable Devils.
21. THREE TEMPTERS The World, Flesh, Devil, are three Sophisters;
In Logick he, in Rhet’rick they converse.
22. THE SPIRIT AND FLESH Me Flesh and Spirit hither, thither force;
Jove, Caesar are in me Competitors:
Peace to you both: were you but once at Peace,
Peace then in all the world would soon increase.
23. MAN TO MAN A WOLF, MAN TO MAN A GOD Man is to man a God, a Wolf: why? when?
For Christ’s a God, Adam a Wolf to men.
24. GOD’S WORD Men few things see, God all things sees-foresees:
Hence men speak often, God but once decrees.
25. THE BROAD AND NARROW WAY The Scripture bids us strive (’tis our concern)
To walk the Narrow way to Life eterne:
If that way leads us not t’ inherit Bliss,
The broader way will lead us down to Dis.
26. ST. JOHN BAPTIST The Baptist Christ preceded, as the Light
Precedes the Sun, brings day, dispells the night.
27. OF AUTUMN. TO HIS FRIEND DOMINUS RICHARD CONOK Autumn shakes off the Leaves, and for man’s use
Produceth fruit: let us the like produce.
28. THE MISERY OF LIFE Who long would live, wretched although and poor,
That is, he would be wretched more and more:
Poor-wretched Irus dies against his will:
That is, he would be poor and wretched still.
29. OF NATURE AND GRACE. TO THE REVEREND THEODORE PRICE, HIS KINSMAN Nature like to the Moon gives pallid Light:
Grace like the Sun more splendid shines and bright.
30. THE CATECHISM Twelve things thou must believe, must pray for seven,
And then things do if thou wilt enter Heaven.
31. A RICH MAN Why are few rich men sav’d? because their bent
Repents Expences, nothing else repent.
32. O GUILEFUL HOPES! TO HIS BROTHER THOMAS OWEN O rather fuileful things; our Hope’s a friend
Most faithful, us concomitates to th’ end. (Accompanies
33. THE REDEEMER One man by dying, man from Death has freed,
Which was to man for one mans sin decreed:
Christ all things did postpone, lost man to win,
Contemn’d-condemn’d, O Adam, for thy sin.
34. THE HOLY SPIRIT As Doves to whitest Houses soonest come,
So th’ holy God makes cleanest Hearts his home.
35. FORTITUDE The Wise doth know, the Just will do what’s right,
Who dares thus, shall b’ esteem’d a man of might.
36. OF A KING Law, where’s no King’s like light when Sun’s away:
King, wher’s no Law’s like Sun without a Ray.
People first chose a King: The King with them
Made Laws, yet subject to the Diadem.
37. A WELCH MAN English and Scots by name are one with thee:
Now Welch-man, sole thou shalt not British be.
38. ENGLISH-SCOTS Disjoyn’s in Laws, what Law shall them conjoyn?
The Kingdoms safety best of Laws divine.
39. HENRY THE ROSES, JAMES THE KINGDOMS. TO THE KING The Roses, English colours Red and White,
Like Cadmus new-spring Host ingag’d in Fight,
And as the Twins, which one Egge did include,
Do Rise and Set in a vicissitude,
As Day the Night, as Night succeeds the Day,
The Roses so did bear alternate sway,
Till Mother Mona,* British Angels’y,
An Isle which Tacitus not tacitely
Recordeth, happy Mother, happier
By bearing British Owen Theodor:
From whom arose a Noble Prince, a Rose
Whose Wife and Mother sprung from stem of those,
Who thousand dangers pass’d in Nuptial Bed,
United both the Roses White and Red.**
Which Union, lest Change or Chaunce divide
The Roses, His: The Kingdoms are thy Bride.* A British Proverb, Mon Man Gymri, in English thus, Anglisey the mother of Wales. ** Remarkable here that the Triple Empire of Britain by a certain occult Fate was restored to the British Blood, 1.) the Kingdom of Scotland by Stuart. 2.) the Kingdom of England by Tyder. 3.) The Empire of the whole Island by James the first, descended from both.
40. THE APOCALYPSE OF JOHN NAPIER Ninety two years the World continue shall,
If as thou Calculat’st, it stand and fall:
Why dost not th’ End to be more near surmize?
Lest thou a Lyer should’st be found: th’ art wise.
41. GOD, MAN God cannot die, nor man Death conquer can:
But Christ did both, he was both God and Man.
42. DEATH Death unto bad men bane, to good men bliss:
An endless Ill, or End of all Ill is.
43. GOD God is Immense, all measuring alone:
And He’s Innumerable; for but but one.
44. MIRACLE Let other Miracles admire: but I
Admire their Maker only, God on high.
45. ADAM’S FALL Mens Bodies, Goods, and Souls, Adam’s foul fall
To Physick, Law, Divines did first inthrall.
46. TO ADAM False Eve, Death’s Parent, thee deceiv’d by Fruit;
And foully ruin’d with a fair salute.
47. TO PREACHERS The Cock (the Mornings Herald) claps his wings,
To rouze himself before he Crows or Sings:
Preachers should do the like, first should begin
To rouze themselves; next others raise from sin.
48. THE TEMPTER As Mice in Walls, so Satan in man’s heart
Or finds, or makes a way with his black Art.
49. MORTIFICATION. TO A CERTAIN AGING FRIEND We live to die, and die to live: O why
Then learn we not to die, before we die?
50. HODIE, TO DAY This Day was yesterday to Morrow nam’d:
To Morrow shall be yesterday proclaim’d:
To Morrow not yet come, nor far away,
What shall to Morrow then be call’d? To Day.
51. AGAINST THEE ONLY HAVE I SINNED Subjects do sin ’gainst God, the King, the Laws,
A King ’gainst God alone: A King because.
52. PRAYER As Christ transpierc’d the Doors fast shut at even:
So Prayers pierce th’ Impenetrable Heaven.
53. MARY MAGDALENS TEARS. TO HIS KINSMAN ELLIS WYNN Vain wandring Eyes sinning by seeing vain:
Wip’d off, by weeping with those Eyes, sins stain:
I err, if not that weeping faculty,
Because th’ Eye first did sin, ’s infus’d in th’ Eye.
54. OF HOPE AND FEAR. TO HIS FRIEND ROBERT BOWYER Riches and Fear, Hope Want concomitate: (Combine
Hope’s to be wish’d for, Fear’s a froward fate.
Poor men have Hopes, the Rich men Fears, but I
These Fears had rather than those Hopes apply.
55. MATHUSALEM IS DEAD Life is not long, but still to live: what profit
Is in long life, when Death’s the sequel of it?
56. OF LAW AND JUSTICE. TO HIS FRIEND RICHARD TREVOR, DOCTOR OF LAW The way to Law than Justice more we trace,
Though this the shorter, that’s the longer Race.
57. INTEMPERANCE. TO JOHN GIFFORD, A MOST LEARNED DOCTOR OF MEDICINE We who desire long life before we die,
Why do we shorten it by Luxury?
We will, and will not lengthen our short spans:
We nill ourselves, will, by Physicians. (Do not want
58. TO PONTICUS Art poor? ’tis hard to make thee rich: but when
Th’ art rich, ’tis easie to be richer then.
59. THE PHARISEES They say, but do not: ’tis our Ages sin:
First say, then do: Faith so doth enter in.
60. LIBERTY If happy’s he that all things hath at will,
Why do men will, yet are repining still?
The best-great’st vertue’s Liberty: sole he
Can live at will, whose will is well to be.
61. CHRIST, WHENCE? Conceiv’d at Nazareth, at Beth’lem born:
Thy Natures two, two Countries did adorn.
62. CHRIST CRUCIFIED To th’ Erring, Dying, Sick, the Way, Life, Cure,
The Crosses Cross, Deaths Death did Cross endure.
63. CHRISTS CROSS The Cross bare Christ, Christ bare the Cross: and thus
Christ bare the Cross, the Cross Christ: for all of us.
64. OF RELIGION. TO HIS FREND, THE REVEREND JOHN BOWMAN A Pleasant tree planted in pious breast,
Whose Root hath labour, fruit hath honours Crest:
Fear first brought Gods into the world: no lye:
For to fear God is the prime Piety.
In Piety’s root’s Gall, Honey’s above:
For Fear’s Religion’s Fount, the River, Love.
65. ON THE PRODIGAL AND MISER This till his death gives nothing; that at’s death
Hath nothing left to give, or to bequeath.
66. THE MARRIED Let man love’s wife, let wife submissive be
T’ her husband; he’s her Head, his Heart is she.
67. STUDY Students grow mad by studying much to know;
None mad by studying to be good doth grow.
68. REMEMBER DEATH Death of uncertains hath most certainty;
Uncertain when, but certain once to die:
None from his birth, none from his death is far,
Yet none of this is a Remembrancer.
69. THE BLESSED VIRGIN Gods Spouse, her Fathers Parent, her Sons Child,
Virgin by man, without man Mother stil’d.
70. WHAT’S RARE, NOT DEAR. A PARADOX Vice common is, yet nothing is more dear:
Vertue seems vile, yet rare doth it appear.
71. A BEAST Past hope, what’s past; sole future hope doth rest,
Things hopeless pass, hopes fruitless with the Beast.
While past things vex, future perplex with care
Us men; Beasts, wiser, pleas’d with present are.
72. REASON Reason’s the Queen of things; their Mother’s Nature:
This brings them forth; that is their Regulater.
73. NATURE Wise Nature hath with Reason us supply’d;
Which wills us to take Nature for our Guide.
74. FREEDOM OF SPEECH Thou seem’st t’ have freedom fables to relate;
But free enough’s the Tongue that less doth prate.
75. TO MARCUS. A PROBLEM Be’st good or bad what matter’s it? For those
Force like the Lawes, these Laws like force oppose.
76. UPON OLD AND NEW FASHIONS ’Tis foolish Envy new things to despise,
And envious folly new things sole to prize.
77. A CHRISTIANS DEATH Death, like the way, leads thee to life; and is
No dying, but an Entrance into Bliss.
78. TO CHRIST Anchor of Hope, Faiths Ship, Loves shoreless Sea,
Earths’s Salt, Heavens Sun, the Souls sole saving Plea:
Death, by thy death is kill’d, Death dead doth lie:
Yet who would think that ever Death could die?
79. SELF-LOVE Who sees not his own faults, but others spies,
Is wise unt’ others, but t’ himself unwise.
80. SAINTS LIVES ’Tis vain Saints LIves to read, and not to lead;
Do both; the lives of Saints, read, lead: lead, read.
81. OUR COUNTRY A good man’s still at home, not in Exile:
Each Land each Sea is as his native soyle:
Exile’s where ill, our country where contrary:
In this Good, Bad are each ubiquitary.
82. UPON AN ATHEIST No faith of past, nor hopes of future move
Within thy Soul, the present’s thy sole love.
83. OF HERETICKS Virgil from Enn’us dross did Gold extract:
But Hereticks from Gold do dross compact.
84. THE MANIFOLD RESULTS OF PRAISE. TO ENCOMIASTS The Good by praise is better, worse the bad,
The Crafty craftier, the fool more mad.
85. NOT TOO FAST None’s on the sudden good: hast not too fast,
Although in Vertues way thou makest hast:
Good counsel us’d in hast, proves bad we find:
First recollect, and then correct thy mind.
86. THE ENVIOUS, AND THE FOOL This wants right Reason, that a candid heart:
This cannot, and that will not Truth assert.
87. LOGOS, SERMO, SPEECH Gods Speech all Reason’s, our all Oraizon: (Oration
So what God speaks, and man’s a speaking Tone.
88. OPINION None will believe, yet all would be believ’d:
So faith like friendship is by gain achiev’d.
89. ART God hath all Arts laid up in Natures breast,
That man might thence require, acquire the best.
90. ADAM’S APOLOGY Why am I blam’d as Author of mans sin?
I sin’d not first: Eve did to me begin.
91. THE SERPENT Thou thy self-tempter, self-deceiver wert,
None did attempt to tempt, or thee pervert.
92. STILL THE SAME One God in all the World was, is, and shall:
Why is not then the same one faith for all?
One faith, like day, the world t’ enlighten, even
As one Sun’s in the Sky, one God in Heaven.
93. MENTAL PRAYER Let Soul be pure, House Oratory, Reader
The Spirit, cleansed Heart, Prayers the Pleader.
94. THE FIVE WOUNDS Balsoms not wounds were th’ wounds which Christ endur’d,
For by those wounds our wounds are clos’d, are cur’d.
95. FEIGNED FRIENDSHIP. TO HIS FRIEND, DOMINUS JOHN SUCKLING While the dark World, the Suns bright beams ascend,
The shadow on the body doth attend:
But when Clouds intervening shade the shine,
The shadow doth thy body then decline:
While Fortune smiles, thy friends will follow thee,
As shadows Bodies, when Sun shines, we see.
96. VERTUE Vertue consisteth not in words but Deeds:
Faith, Hope, and Charity are Herbs not Weeds.
97. RACHEL Why dost bewail thy loss in thy lost Son?
Thou brought’st him forth with pain, with grief he’s gone.
98. SOLOMON So many Miracles, as wise men, are:
For than a wise man, what’s more strange, more rare?
But Solomon’s before the seven Sages,
He’s’ then the first, not the Eighth by our Suffrages.
99. HOPE Sith in things future, artless is my Skill, (Since
Why should I hope for good, or fear what’s ill?
Yet I despair not, without hope I die:
Long hope prolongs my short Lifes Brevity.
100. MANS IGNORANCE I scarce know what’s to live: no wonder I
Then know not what ’tis to be born, or die.
101. CHRIST THE WAY Would’st know the way which doth unt’ Heaven tend?
The Way from Heaven doth to thee descend.
102. OF FAME Seek vertue, but the praise thereof disclaim:
Not of the man the praise is, but the Name.
103. FAITH Faith in Pythag’ras principle ’s a Prince:
His ipse dixit did convince-evince.
104. AEQUANIMITY Whether Deaths hour be come or not, abhor it
To be too willing, or unwilling for it.
105. NEWEST TIMES. TO HIS FRIEND CHARLES RYVES, DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY The Times which first produced things in view,
Were the New Times, for then the world was new:
Tell me learn’d Reader of the Books inroll’d,
Whether our Times be the New Times, or the Old?
106. THE WILL Wilt thou be good? Will sole, it shall be so:
Who gave thee Will, will on thee Pow’r bestow.
107. TO THE SUN Fair Phoebus who twice fourscore times (by guess)
Art than th’ Earth greater though thou seemst less,
Thou who to me poor worm so small dost seem,
How little (Ah) am I in thine esteem?
108. HONESTY The wise man than the good’s more wise: no matter,
While that the good is than the wise man better.
109. MAN His Heart’s but care, his flesh a Carkass, and
Sickness his Birth, his Life at Deaths command.
110. MULTILOQUY. TO PREACHERS Multiloquy shews Ignorance: what needs
So many words when thou doest see the Deeds?
111. DEATH WITH AND AGAINST NATURE By Natures course, O Death, thou shouldst not gather,
Nor take away the Son before the Father.
In Life and death we Natures Rules apply,
Nature will have men live, will have men die.
112. ELOQUENCE Not to speak much, but well, is Eloquence:
As fertile Fields good fruit not much dispence.
113. GOD As from our sight thick Clouds the Skies obscure,
So God’s invisible to minds impure:
None have seen God: and few have heard Him speak,
Hence Faith’s so rare, but Love’s more rare,* more weak.* Faith is by Hearing: Love by Seeing.
114. TO PONTICUS Thou ask’st what years thou hast? I answer None:
For what thou had’st, thou hast not: they be gone.
115. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP. TO CHARLES RYVES, DOCTOR OF THEOLOGIE, AND OLD FRIEND From a long custom Nature doth dissent,
As Love from friendship differs in th’ extent.
116. PRINCES You seem to shew a zealous-pious care,
For true Religions Progress to prepare:
But your Religion moves t’ have Honour more,
Not th’ Honour true Religion to restore.
117. O TIMES, O MANNERS! Why doth man blame the Manners, and the Times,
Imputing to their pravities his Crimes?
In Times or Manners is no fault at all.
Not by Them, in Them are we criminal.
118. PHILOSOPHY All much would know, but to believe it few:
Hence many much believe, yet few do know.
119. INFINITE EVIL Born in one way, a thousand waies we die,
Our thousand Sores have but one Remedy.
120. OF CONTROVERSIES Divines contend, and yet is their contest
Under the Judge: O would it might there rest!
Divines contend, and of the Judge complain:
O would that all the strife did there remain!
Or that in us there was such strife of Love,
As Love of strife in ev’ry Sphere doth move.
121. CHRIST ON THE CROSS When Christ was Crucifi’d two Thieves between,
Then Vertue, never, or i’ th’ midst was seen.
122. TIMES DAUGHTER Though truth be sometimes hid, ’twill be proclaim’d,
Hence by the Greeks it is Alethes* named.* Without oblivion.
123. PHYSICK AND LAW. TO HIS FRIENDS HENRY MARTIN, MOST PRUDENT DOCTOR OF CIVIL LAW, AND JOHN GIFFORD, MOST PRACTISED DOCTOR OF MEDICINE If Mortals would as Nature dictates live,
They need not Fees to the Physicians give:
If men were wise, they need not have their Cause
Pleaded, prolonged by th’ ambiguous Laws.
So Bartolus might (Feeless) go to Bed,
And Mice corrode Hippocrates unread.
124. MAN AND WIFE The total House us holds not, when we chide,
But one Bed serves both when pacifi’d.
125. THE SHORTEST DAY One Day, the last is our Lifes shortest Day,
For it is next our End, and will away.
126. VERTUES COMPLAINT Rare’s love of love, love of Vertue’s rare:
Price is now priz’d, and Honours honour’d are:
Riches are profiture, Coyn Money buyes,
And Vertue’s vile, she must her own worth prize.
127. AN HARD FATHER A sparing Father is most liberal
T’ his Son: For dying he doth leave him all.
128. A PRAYER TO GOD IN SICKNESS Nature of Nature, O good God, when I
Can live no longer, give me will to die.
129. TO A LITIGIOUS PERSON If Judge to thee be deaf, thy Cause is lost,
Thy gain is vain Experience with cost:
’Tis better Judges please than plead the Laws,
Those before these indulge unto thy Cause.
130. OF BRUNONIUS Our Fathers instituted Fasts that (they)
Their Flesh the Spirit, that it might God obey:
But with full Table thou keep’st Fast that thence
Thy spirit may thy flesh, thy flesh serve sense.
131. TIME Age all things brings, all things bears hence with it:
All things have Time, and Time hath all things fit.
132. THE CEASING OF MIRACLES Sith Miracles are ceas’d (what shall I speak?) (Since
Is Gods hand shorter? or our faith more weak?
133. TO IRUS Thou still wouldst live, but live thou canst not still,
Though still to live thou maist, dost wish, and will.
But sith thou liv’st so poor, I know not why, (Since
Though life thou will’st, thou should’st not wish to die.
134. KNOWLEDGE Methinks they sole are happy here below
That either all things, or else no things know.
135. CHRIST As Morning ends the Night, begins the Day,
So thou Death’s End wert, and Lifes rising Ray.
136. WHO ART THOU? Whom do mine Eyes behold, mine Eyes are blind:
What sees my mind, my mind doth want a mind.
If my best part, my mind, it doth not know,
How can I, what I am, unto thee show?
137. THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN Why do so few the Kingdom gain of Heaven?
Because the way’s so strait, uncouth, uneven.
138. GRIEF AND PLEASURE Mans heart and body present Grief doth grieve,
Future with fear doth vex, past doth relieve:
Present Delight, bought with past pain, doth please,
But fear of future pain doth it disease.
139. PETER Herusalems last High Priest Caiaphas was:
But Romes first High Priest was (they say) Kephas.
140. OF SLEEP If Sleep be but as death, Death but as Sleep,
The more I Sleep, the less of Life I keep.
141. ROME The world begin, Abel was kill’d by Cain,
Rome Founded, Remus was by Rom’lus slain:
The world and Rome with blood alike stain’d stand,
Both did begin in blood by Brothers hand.
142. MANS PERFECTION The chief Perfection of ev’ry Creature
Is to return t’ its principles by Nature:
Then I shall perfect be, when I return
My Soul to God, my Body to mine Urne.
143. LORD INCREASE OUR FAITH* Faith needs not an increase, but a decay,
Sith scarce so many men as Faiths bear sway: (Since
Each hath his Faith, his Tutor of his own,
Never more Faiths, more faithless men were known.Lord, diminish our Faith.
* Luke Cap. 17.
144. ON THE COVETOUS He, Hercules’ Nil ultra, doth pass by,
And Charles’ old Plus ultra doth apply.
145. GOOD TRANSCENDING Good all transcends and boundless is alone,
None therefore in the world is good, not one.
146. ALL IS VANITY Heraclite living would our Manners mourn,
Our Times Democritus would laugh to scorn:
Though to deride what vain on Earth is seen,
Democritus hath not enough of spleen:
Nor to lament poor Mortal miseries,
Heraclitus hath tears in both his Eyes.
147. OF EPICURUS Young men complain that short’s their youthful sport;
And old men murmur that their Life’s too short:
The life of pleasure, pleasures life arise
Both short, who vilipends them both is wise. (Disdains
148. WORKS Good men shall follow their good works: But then
Their wicked works shall follow wicked men.
149. WISDOMS BEGINNING None would for Heaven hope, if none fear’d Hell:
Fear in the prudent hope creates: ’tis well.
150. OF A CHATTERER Thou not content to tire the learned ear
With words, and with vain babbling, Time to tear,
But after a Tautology long spun,
Doth yet complain that Time too fast did run,
Return unt’ Oxford, and distinguish better
Thy Sermon long, short time was not thy debtor.
151. OF THE SAME Learn’d Tullius long Orations seem not long,
Nor would thy Sermons, couldst thou clip thy Tongue.
152. OF POLYTHEANS (Polytheists O foolish folk, what madness doth y’ insnare
To think there be more Gods than worlds there are?
153. OF WIT AND STUDY Wit, if not whet with Study, waxeth null,
As Knives without the Whetstones help are dull;
Wit is by Study cherish’d, perish’d there,
As Whetstones make Knives sharp, and sharpning tear.
154. KNOW THY SELF None knows himself aright: yet mind he can
Himself a Child, when old, a younger man.
155. LONG ART, SHORT LIFE An Age to make one wise doth not suffice:
Death’s at our backs before we can be wise.
156. FOR MORANUS, AN OLD MAN Not to be learn’d, but to be unlearn’d by thee,
Are many things if thou wilt better be.
But how thou wilt unlearn, or learn wilt thou
To be made good, thus old, is hopeless now.
157. TO D. T. Twice wretched thou, because once fortunate,
Twice happy’s he, who wretched was of late.
158. ALL SEEK THEIR OWN The Laick Gain, not Christ seeks, uncontroll’d,
And thou, O Clerick, seek’st not God, but Gold.
159. OF BRUNONIUS Why dost the Pest, as is suppos’d, attest
God’s wrath, sith thee the Pest doth not infest? (Since
The reason’s ready, and a solid one,
Thou to thy Countrey art a Pest alone.
160. RESPECT THINE END Look back on thy beginning, and thine End
Foresee, scorn Earth, in Soul unt’ Heaven ascend.
161. SENSE, REASON, FAITH, CHARITY, GOD Sense without Reason, Reason faithless, dull
Faith without love, love without God is null.
162. OF PRUDENCE. TO HIS FRIEND DOMINUS THOMAS BRIDGES Prudence is useful matters to dispence,
And of three Vertues is the Quintessence:
For what is Good in Life she doth impart,
As Logick teacheth what is Truth in Art.
163. TO HIS PARENTS Dear Parents I am of your Flesh and Bone:
You both are in my Flesh, yet Flesh but one.
164. PRUDENCE AND FORTITUDE Wise men must ills beware, Strong must them bear,
That those may suffer none, these none may fear.
165. IN THE SWEAT OF THY BROWS, &c. He that injoyn’d thee t’ eat thy bread in sweat
Will not to th’ idle give th’ eternal Meat.
166. OF FAITH AND CHARITY. TO HIS KINSMAN, THE REVEREND OWEN GWYN As Trees first planted are e’re Fruit they bear,
So where are vertues faith must first appear;
Life lives by Faith, not without Love: as poor
Do live in hope, yet labour more and more.
Faith’s first, Love’s chief; for ’tis a vertue great
God to believe, to love God’s more compleat.
167. IF THY RIGHT EYE, &c.* If the Right Eye, by sinning oft, must out,
The world would suddenly be blind no doubt.* Mat. 5.29.
168. CHRISTIAN ADVERBS. TO HIS FRIEND JOHN TOVEY Adverbs all Adjectives do far excel:
God less rewards good Deeds, than Deeds done well.
169. LIFES BREVITY T’ an unborn Infant, and an old man dead
Time’s all alike, that’s future, this is fled:
Abate time past, abate the time to come (Subtract
From both, how little then’s Lifes total Summ.
170. LIKE FOR LIKE. TO AULUS Thy Predecessors Facts thou dost not read:
Strange if Posterity read thine, when dead.
171. TIME Time, things Devourer, us and all out-wears:
We wear out Time: and thus are we compeers.
172. ABUNDANT CAUTION. TO MICHAEL HEYDEN, HIS FRIEND Not temerous, nor timerous, nor late,
Art quickly wary, not precipitate:
Is nature fearful? Prudence strength prepares,
None danger fears, of danger that bewares.
173. JOHN OPPOSING Though all Antiquities oppose thy sense,
Thou canst them all with one word (No) convince.
174. JUSTIFICATION Do Faith or Facts sole justifie? Declare.
Facts, Faith by God sole justified are.
175. DOOMSDAY When all for all their works shall t’ answer come,
Sufficeth one day, for so great a Doom?
176. TO MARIANUS The Good hate sin, because they vertue love:
Few therefore now on Earth good men do prove:
Vice is so priz’d; Vertue so vile reputed,
That ’tis almost a sin to b’ unpolluted.
177. MARY MAGDALENS TEARS To fluent Fountains from two Mountains rise,
Whence flows a double River from mine Eyes.
178. OF THE SOUL The Soul’s from god, not drawn from mortal Line,
For with the Body then it would decline.
179. TO MARCUS In Bed thou prayest with thy Face erect:
No wonder slothful Prayers want effect:
Such praying, as vain words of one not praying
God hears, as if he heard not, by gainsaying.
180. HELL As Art black colours cannot turn to white,
So from dark Hell none can return to Light.
181. TO A POOR FRIEND Is’t bad? I would ’twere worse: for at the worst
Oft better things succeed than came at first.
182. THE PARTS OF THE WORLD The world though round is parted int’ a Square,
Whereas four Parts, so four Religions* are.* Jews, Christians, Mahumetans, Pagans.
183. THE CAUSES OF DISCORD Self-sense, Self-reason each man regulates;
Each his own will, his own Faith estimates:
Each wilful is: hence Brethren strive: the while
Will only wants all strifes to reconcile.
184. THE LIBERAL The just man gives unt’ each his own; but thou
To Rich men theirs, to poor must thine allow.
185. THE TEMPERATE He that things causes knows, with Times complies,
Calms his affects, orders his acts, is wise.
186. THE WISE Fate governs Fools, the wise more sublimate,
Themselves by wisdom govern, not by Fate.
187. ANONYMOUS, AN INFANT DEAD BEFORE BAPTIZ’D What dead? Alas, unnam’d, and unbaptiz’d,
O Christ, I nameless must by thee b’ agniz’d: (Acknowledged
I’ th’ Book of Life without a Name me write,
For in thy name alone mine hope is scite. (Scanty
188. THE FLATTER AND THE CARPER These differ not in Nature but in Name,
This Good, that Bad maligneth: Both to blame.
189. LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP The knot of Friendship’s to be broke for Love:
But Love of Friendship must not once remove.
190. PETER AND PAUL The Sword keeps Kingdoms, Coyn the Keys, by which
Peter than Paul reputed is more rich.
Saint Paul in an Epistle saith he’s poor:
Saint Peter no where doth his wants deplore.
191. SOCRATES Thou nothing knowst, this one thing knowst, and this
One thing is something, something nothing is.
192. MAN Born weeping, being born at first did cry:
Thou then not pleas’d, why now displeas’d to die?
193. TO PAUL INHUM’D Thou naked cam’st to th’ world from mothers womb,
With Shirt and Shroud returnst unto thy Tomb:
More than nou broughtst thou tak’st hence to thy Grave,
Thou givest thy mother more than she gave.
194. TO THE COURTLY READER If much for School, for court here’s little, note
That this for Court, that for the School we wrote.
195. WISE SIMPLICITY. TO HIS MOST FRIENDLY FRIEND JOHN CLAPHAM That thou do wrong to none be like a Dove:
That none thee wrong, wise like a Serpent prove.
196. THE COMMON-WEALTHS EYES Religion and Law conjoin, combine,
That curbs mens hearts, their hands this doth confine.
197. TO DOCTOR JOHN GIFFORD, A LEARNED PHYSICIAN That in Apollo’s Art thou skilful art,
No wonder, for thy parts thou knowst apart:
If Galen saith not this, yet wise Apollo
Saith, Know thy Self: his dictates thou dost follow.
198. THE DAW AND THE GOOSE
The Daw No Birds more loquent-eloquent than I.
The Goose But I write more than thou canst Crake, or Cry.
199. JOBS MISERIES Satan (the Lord permitting) did disrobe
Of Children, Wealth, and Health poor-poorest Job:
When all was gone, his wife did yet remain,
Who vex’d him more than all his loss and pain.
200. THE TEMPLES OF ST. PAUL IN LONDON, ST. PETER IN WESTMINSTER At Peter’s West th’ Exchequer Law Courts are,
White-hall the Princes Palace thence not far.
At Paul’s the Preacher things divine declares,
And Stationers there vend their sacred Wares.
All things convene, here Paul, and Peter there:
Peter more rich, more learn’d doth Paul appear.
201. OF THE CONSPIRATORS IN THE GUN-POWDER TREASON UPON TUESDAY THE FIFTH OF NOVEMBER, 1605 Heav’n to provoke from Earth, and from below
Upon the Gods above our threats to throw,
What is if this be not t’ accumulate
On Ossa Pelion? to fabricate
The Tower Babel, old Troy new to burn,
And int’ a Chaos all things to return?
202. OF THE SAME And would you Troynovant to Cinders turn
By the same Fate which Phrygian Troy did burn?
Unfit was Tuesday for such fatal Flashes,
Ashwednesday is the day design’d for Ashes.
203. THE KING. TO BRITAIN Fame brought a Rumour of my death to thee:
O do not credit Fame, but credit Me.
204. TO ENGLAND. OF THE UNITING OF BRITAIN Concord intern-etern Crowns Britains Brow,
For her three Nations are united now:
Scotland with Shield, Wales doth like Walls immure
Thy Land, O England: thou maist rest secure.
205. TO THOMAS NEVILLE, SON OF SIR HENRY AND LADY MARY NEVILLE, A BOY OF GREATEST HOPE AND BEST NATURE Extract from Nevil’s Noble Blood, the Grace
Of both thy Parents shines in thy sweet Face.
Their Natures, not sole Features thou shewst forth,
Thy Mothers Vertues, and thy Fathers worth.
206. UPON THE DEATH OF THE RIGHT NOBLE SIR CHARLES BLOUNT, EARL OF DEVONSHIRE, 1606 Whether with Eulogies, or Elegies,
With Praise, or Tears thy Death to solemnize
’Tis doubtful: divers men speak divers things:
Good speak the best, malignants wound with Stings.
207. TO THE READER Reader these Epigrams are short, and few:
For many if, though short, they long would shew:
Reader, these Epigrams are few, and short,
For few, if long, a many would import.
208. OF SPEAKING AND WRITING Though words be living voices, writings dead,
Yet these survive, when those are vanished.
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