The Anatomy of Baseness
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A19444.0001.001
Project Note
This is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND. This license allows reusers to copy and distribute the material in any medium or format in unadapted form only, for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator.
The source of this document is the Early English Books Online (EEBO-TCP) website. Those books were transcribed in a character for character manner and can be very cumbersome to read since there was no standard spelling during that time. Many spelling variations such as "unlesse", "vnlesse", and "vnles" regularly appear.
This project was conceived to clean up those books as much as possible and make them more accessible to the interested reader, leading to the creation of a massive list of variant spellings and their corrections. This was used to clean up the text, but is of course only as complete as the list itself. Because of the nature of the original transcription, some words have missing characters or places where the original language (e.g., Greek) was not transcribed. This effort does not change that. Be aware that the original transcription can also be faulty and in some cases entire sentences may be missing.
Although this is no substitute for a properly compared, proofed, and scholarly edition, I believe that the result is a document which is far more accessible, particularly for searching for terms using standard spelling. The document has been cleaned and presented in what I hope is a pleasing and useful format for the vast majority of Christian brothers and sisters who just want access to read these spiritually nourishing works.
However, a word of warning: The Puritans were a very diverse group of people and their age was characterized with godliness, but also much upheaval, disputation and strife. They disagreed on many doctrines and some of these works contain less orthodox or Scriptural views than others. The reader is strongly advised to read with discernment, particularly if it is unknown whether author is trustworthy.
This project took a huge amount of time and skill to bring to fruition. I would particularly like to thank David Jonescue for the initial list of Puritans he found on EEBO and the concept behind this project as well as the continuous, unceasing efforts toward seeing this complete. Without his labor, this would not be available. Alex Sarrouf was invaluable in providing the initial list of over 7,000 spelling variations he had identified and corrected, as well as continuing to review more than 16,000 additions to that list for any typos.
Logan West
(with David Jonescue and Alex Sarrouf)
www.puritansearch.org
THE ANATOMIE Of BASENESSE. Or The four quarters of a Knaue;
- Flattery,
- Ingratitude,
- Envy,
- Detraction.
He that hath these four parts, need no more have To be recorded for a complete Knaue.
Imprinted at London for Richard Redmer, and are to be sold at the West dare of Paul's at the sign of the Star. 1615.
TO THE TRVELY ennobled both by Virtue and birth, Sir ROBERT SYDNEY Knight of the BATH: I. A. wisheth the reward of his Virtue, honor in this world, Glory in the next.
Honorable Sir:
T O imitate the common method of Epistolizers in this kind, were rather to write of you, then to you, which course though I affect not, J cannot altogether neglect, though I shall thereby either wrong you, or myself; for in publishing (though sparingly) my knowledge of your worth to the world, such, to whom you are unknown will so much injure me, as to tax me with (what I condemn in others) flattery; whereas some (to whom you are no stranger) will censure me as much on the contrary to have dealt with you rather, according to the poverty of my ability, then to the fullness of your merit.
Jt will peradventure seem strange unto you (if this poor work chance to come to your view) what assurance of your good acceptance begot such presumption in me as to dedicate the same unto you. J must first answer, I have not done it mercenarily; for then I would have presented it to your hand: nor vain-gloriously; for then I would either have craved your allowance, or subscribed my name; but freely and honestly out of that respect which I owe to that innate Goodness which I know to be in you. Though I forbear (out of some respects) to have my name published; yet I can acknowledge the Book to be mine without blushing. If it be (by any) ill digested, the fault must be in the taker not in the Author: it was written with a right hand, and I wish it may not be sinisterly entertained by any; but if some will needs be so forward, the care is taken. In you I am made so confident by that (I might justly use Honorable, Noble, Worthy, or some such high Epithet: but I will rather say) Honest (a poor phrase will some think) and virtuous disposition which accompanies you, that I must account it may happiness that I live to know a second, whose breast Goodness makes her habitation; yet pardon me if I say, I enjoy not this happiness without some touch of grief; I shall not need to implore your protection, though your pardon. I acknowledge I have presumed, and know you can and will remit the errors of Affection in him that is,
The wisher of your Honor, and honourer of your VERTVES J. A.
THE ANATOMY of Baseness. OF THE FLATTERER.
T
Hey that compare the fawning
Parisite
unto the Spaniel, do the cur much wrong;
for he will often hear his masters tongue,
When in the field he follows his delight:
Yet never quest; but th'ecchoing
Sicophant
at every word, by his weak favorer spoken,
cries good, 'tis true, and this is held a token
Of much respect and love; though from the haunt
Of worth and merit, his base nature range
as far as falsehood, from the strong built nest
of
Truth
and
Goodness,
which in every breast
Should like two twins be nourished; but tis strange
To see how this poor worthless humor lives,
even in those bosoms where good blood and parts,
have their abiding, poisoning generous Arts
With that, to which no language spoken gives
An Epithet too bad: and to those men
(if I may term them so) whose only words
such sweetness to the flattered ear affords,
To yield a fitting title by my pen:
I am as much unable, as unapt
to imitate their baseness; which indeed
had I not chancit tohave heard, into my Creed
Could nere have come, but it hath often happt
To sound within the compass of my hearing,
whereby mine ears as to the pillory,
seemed to be nailde in such gross flattery;
Yet in their checks no sign of shame appearing.
It may seem strange (yet I dare sayit is true)
that I have blusht to see their impudence,
while they (vn-man-like) seemed to have no sense
Of their own baseness: of this thriving crew.
I have observed both Sexes to be free;
too free in some respect, though in some kind
more bound then slaves, for our best part (the mind)
Was chiefly given diuinest things to see:
And not to be by ought that shares with us,
in the short course of our mortality
so fettered, least unhappily it be,
Depriv'd of its best good in being thus.
Have I not heard one tell, the Crowe she's white,
and
Midas
-like prefer the pipe of
Pan
before
Appollo
's harp? wherein this man
(Who thus from Art and Nature tears their right).
Thus from the
Phrygian
differs,
Midas
wears
(as the reward and badge of ignorance)
th'ears of an Ass; but 't is the others chance
To thrive by clawing th'ignorant Asses ears.
Have I not heard some tell the prodigal,
't is for his honor to be bountiful:
and with applause commend the humorous Gull
In all his actions? I have seen them fall
And kiss the feet of a great golden calf;
whose very best of his admired worth
was by a
Taylor
to the world brought forth,
To whom his Honor ought his better half.
Let a man chafe (though no just cause there be)
and then obsequious Apes will fret as fast,
as had they seen a verier slave tohave past
By, then themselves: or be your humor free
And
Iouially
disposed, they will
Ianus
-like
strait show a clearer face, where you may see
the true proportion of hypocrisy
Drawne to the life; (which loves as others like)
Many years since the famous
Chaucer
writ,
that, these same men which bear a double visage,
are as mere monsters in good Natures linage;
And for good men's society unfit.
Like your
Chameleons
these will change their hew
as you your color, be it good or ill,
change nere so oft, yet you shall find them still,
(From what they were) transform as fast as you.
Seeme to be most unlike yourself, or speak
what you least think they 'le be, and speak like you;
tell them they 're
Knaues
theyle smile and say so too;
Faine yourself ill, they will swear they find you weak.
TO THE FLATTERED.
F
Ond Man, that suck'st the pleasing poison in
(which from the
Sirens
unsuspected tongue
Is kindly offered to thine ear) wherein
are all the drugs and dregs of vildnesse wrung:
Assure thyself; if in thy bosom live
ought that deserves the name of worth, 't is known
More then thyself, nor shalt thou need to give
Fame
a reward to have thy mercy blown:
For 't is her care, the more she finds thee slow,
or careless, whether thy desert shall be
Knowne unto any, but thyself, or no;
to sownd the louder: (so to honor thee)
Thorough her golden Trumpet, (good men's throats:)
Or if thine ear shall love, and itch to hear
Thine own praise sung in smooth and pleasing notes,
(which makes true worth unlike it self appear)
She hath another Trumpet blown by those,
whose mercenary tongues shall sownd thy praise;
But with a breath which blasteth as it blows,
and ruins that which it pretends to raise.
For do but note, you shall perceive their plots,
are (being once assured of you as friends)
To thrust their blanks amongst your high prized lots,
so by your loss to compass their own ends.
But self-conceit so much corrupts your sense,
that to your judgment, only that same man
Seemes wise, and honest, and gives no offense
that by this Art, can make a Goose a Swan.
If by the breath of these, you strive to raise
your
Reputation,
your Ambition's weak;
You must resolve of such to buy your praise,
not for the
Truth,
but for reward they speak.
If on the former (who for
Virtues
sake
honor that good is in you) you rely,
Their approbation shall have power to make
your glory live to all Posterity.
Do not you think that man deserves much blame
who finds his own infirmity, yet feeds
Daily on that which nourisheth the same,
And dangerously the brains corruption breeds?
Such is your case (weak men and women) for
you like the meat because the sauce is sweet;
What bitter is (though wholesome) you abhor,
disabling that which judgment holdeth meet.
But Judgment, is no judgment, if it seem
to contradict your humor; but the longer
Y' are constant to this poorenesse, (which you deem
worth in yourselves) your weakness proves the stronger.
Though to the palate pills distasteful be
they to the health more beneficial prove,
Then things more pleasing to the sense; we see
cutting doth oft in curing much behoove:
But you like
Herod
think, that he most loves you
who cries, you speak more like a God then man,
Beheading him that honestly reproves you,
not caring though it be baptizing
John
:
Let a man seem but cheerfully to sing
Placebo
to your words and actions, then
You quite forget, near honey lies a sting;
and that the devil (clarke-like) saith
Amen
:
Where flatterers (his Chaplains) read the Mass
whose superstition (making you their Saint)
You do allow as currently to pass,
for
Truth,
as Gospel (which no tongue can taint.)
TO THE FLATTERER.
T
Hou that canst grieve because another smiles,
and give, to vndeseruing spirits, stiles
Which thou dost filch from gen'rous noble minds;
because thy poor obsequious humor finds
Cold entertainment there, tell me; dost think
that all are blind that are content to wink?
Or that thy shameless flattery beguiles
every man that at thy glozing smiles?
Assure thyself thy thoughts deceive thee much;
for many smile to see thy baseness such:
And such as thou thinkest blind more truly see
thy heart, then they that hug thy flattery;
And (scorning by thy pitch to be defiled,
or by thy sweet tuned lullabies beguile'd)
Do loath to view thy vile deformity,
which pleasing is to such as favor thee.
That every man be master of his own
all men allow; but it is lately grown
To such a custom, (first by thee brought in)
among th'
Ambitious
of this age of sin,
That to a man (if I profess to love him)
I must give titles some degrees above him:
Or else be tax'd with envy or neglect,
though my soul knows, I give more true respect
Then you that id'lie light a torch at noon,
and tell the Sun he's brighter then the Moon;
Which argues only that your humor is,
still to be doing though you do amiss
In gilding gold. This I observed have
in some, whose age did homage to the grave,
Whose words in pray'rs more fitly had been spent,
and with devotion on embassage sent
To make their peace with heaven, then to obey
that which would guide them by the
broader way.
If it be hateful even in younger years
to temporize and gloze, sure it appears
Monstrous in age, whose part it rather is
to grieve for what in youth it did amiss;
Then in the last act of a life misled,
To heap more blows upon a wounded head.
Could I instruct, or might I but advise;
I'd teach, or wish you to become more wise:
But 'twill be thought preposterous in youth
to tutor Age, though by the
Word of Truth
Such proofs as it doth bring approved be:
Therefore I leave you to your humor free;
Wherein (no doubt) you'le one day find this true,
You make your fav'rers fools, they knaves of you.
Too mild a style, for that's a term for men;
if so, too good for any flatterer then:
What shall I call thee devil, monster, beast?
if not all these, thou 'rt one of them at least
Transform'd to th' shape of man; nor seems it strange
if thy grand Master (who himself can change
Into an Angels likeness) make thee seem,
a Saint-like man in many men's esteem;
Instructing thee upon what vain to work,
and where thou mayest the most securely lurk
With best assurance, bids thee plie that mind
where thou the weakest easiness shalt find:
Such thou mayest puff as Butchers do their meat,
and with thy breath persuade them they are as great
As thou dost make them; and above the rest,
be sure (my child) thou suff'rest not a
Iest,
Be 't nere so poor to pass without a
Good,
though by none else the same were understood
How to deserve applause; and then thou hear'st
amongst that Sect (where gracious thou appear'st)
A tedious talker, sencelesly discourse
(till he dull others, and himself grow hoarse)
Let thy attention (till his tongue lie'th still)
stare in his face, then let him find thy skill.
These be the rules, and many worse then these
thou must observe, if thou desir'st to please;
Thy Tutor saith, whose help will nere deceive thee,
and to whose favor wretched man I leave thee.
OF THE INGRATEFVL.
S
Ome have compared (and not improperly)
him that is tainted with this worst of ills
unto the Swine, who (freely, daily) fills
His hungry mawe even to sacietie
Upon such Maste as from the fruitful tree
falls to the ground; yet his dejected eye
is fixed only where his food doth lie,
And never raised the
Giuers
face to see.
Guilty of this unpardonable crime,
where diverse kinds of these inhumane men,
discoursed by th' industrious famous pen
Or heathen
Tully
living in his time.
The first Dissemblers were of favors reap'd
proportioning the same (being more or less)
To the small measure of their thankfulness,
Though a full hand on them the same had h
•
ap'd
The next acknowledged freely that occasion,
off'ring it self (joined with ability)
to make requital (for each courtesy)
Seem'd deaf to opportunities persuasion.
An other sort there was, whose shameless craving
would not admit denial, but being made
master of their desires could soon persuade
Their tongues (too basely) to
deny the having.
The fourth and last (and
worst
my Author writes)
were such as, what they had received,
forgot.
Vnthankfull he then that remembers not;
He that denies, dissembles, not requites.
Let me add one kind more, which I conceive
worse then all these, who like the
frozen snake,
stings that same bosom, whence it warmth did take;
And would, what gave it life, of life bereave.
Such there hath been my observation knows,
who (from a poor, dejected
miser
state)
being raised (by
Great ones)
proved so ingrate,
To bring their Raysers neck near th'axes blows.
Should I demand why such vnnumbred were
among the former, some man might reply;
(as unto him who asked the reason why,
Among so many laws, so strict, severe,
Made by the
Romans,
none was known to touch
the child, whose hand should guide the fatal knife;
to cut his throat who gave his being life):
Because that
Tully
thought there lived none such.
But since the time perfidious
Judas
died
(who at his end (I fear) bequeathed his
curse,
to some that do in these days
bear the purse
)
Such there have been, such have been
Deifide.
If your prosperity strike sail, be sure
These Kites, which stoop to you while you can feed them,
come to an others fist; and if you need them
They soar aloof, check at your empty lure.
Much like their Emblem which (for the full payles)
follow the maid that bears them; if she fall
and spill the meat, to that they run, and all
Respect of her that us'd to feed them, fails.
Or
Cuckoe-like,
they to your Summers sun
sing merrily (though suck your eggs withal)
but when they find your Summer fail, and fall
Draw near, they are gone, and their harsh music done.
TO THE BOVNTIFVLL.
I
F on the waters you shall cast your bread
it is not lost, but if your pearls you throw
Unto these swine, be sure the same they'll tread
under their feet; good seed in good ground sown,
for if that hand which liberally bestows,
(Though it (in giving) other men's exceeds)
not the true use of Bounty rightly knows,
Twere better be more sparing, for to give
is proper to all creatures in their kind:
The meanest thing which we can say doth live,
in some respect we beneficial find.
But unto man is only given the pour
to limit Bounty, know when, how, on whom,
Best to bestow; not like a heedless shower
to let fair flowers die in their mothers womb
For lack of moisture, whilst upon vild weeds
it (in abundance) pours refreshing drops;
This kind of giving naturally proceeds
from partial hands, which in the course soon stops.
Nor should your bounty (like the sun) run round
and shine on all alike, though (like the beams)
The same should seldom in the eclipse be found;
the truest Bounty lives between extremes.
as to deserve a covetous report:
Nor still in action like your Prodigal,
who makes expense his most delightful sport:
Long since were none then Good-men held more fit
to taste your Bounty (then 'twas rightly us'd);
But in those days, such men must naked sit:
thus is true liberality abused.
He that can now most temporize, best thrives,
and great men, more then good men, Bounty taste;
Honie is brought unto the fullest hiues,
small rivers give unto the sea (in waste.)
Many (again) like Husband-men do lay
their seed in th'bosom of the fattest ground;
Whose richness will with much advantage pay,
where for each grain there shall an ear be found:
And some of you, to gain a knaves good word;
orby a Iester to be highly praised
Will give with both hands, place them at your board;
when good-men are not ore your threshold raised.
Bounties pure current in this muddy time,
is by the fogs of Prodigality
So steinchit, with stinking airs, so 're-spread with slime,
that (as it were not) no such thing we see.
We find the stream as contrary to run,
unto that course which it should rightly hold:
As is the West to th'rising of the sun,
or Southerne heat unto the Northern cold.
Nay more,
this Virtue suffers so much wrong,
as to be made a subject nay a slave;
Even unto such whose base malicious tongue
the Giuers reputation dare deprave:
Yet have they still gift after gift received,
even to the full of their desires.
Shall I
(in saying so) of sense and honesty.
If a cursed dog (fed at your table) bites you,
you'le kick him (if not hang him) at the least:
And in a man (which doggedly requites you)
reward you that, you punish in a Beast?
I know not what to term this kind of giving:
nor will I make my brain a minte for phrase;
But wish that men (whilst their fair fame is living,
would manifest it comes of Virtues race:
Whose true-borne children should relieve her friends;
but Virtue starves, they so degenerate
whilst she and hers (though praised) are desolate.
Alas poor Virtue, (only poor to such,
as do not know thy worth, who live and die
Without all sense of goodness, or a touch,
of ought but
Beast-like sensuality
):
Or rather let me pity them then thee.
for though the strange deformed Brats of vice
Be richly clad now, thine in poverty;
they valued high, but thine at meanest price;
The time may come, when Bounty shall appear
pure, like it self, and like fair Virtues friend.
When Ostentation shall not dare come near,
nor Prodigality persuade her spend,
But upon such as merit more then crave;
then shall no bawling fool, no wit-bare Iester,
No fawning base insinuating slave
presume, the place where Bounty lives to pester.
And you that now it thus abuse, shall then
curse your much-giving, and misgiving hand.
When you shall see the deeds of other men,
graven in brass, yours written in the sand.
Such mettle are men's hearts, the thankful part
cannot forget the good it doth receive,
But (as in brass) record it in his heart,
of which no time can ere the same bereave.
Th'ungrateful Nature (sand-like) doth retain
th'impression of your hand, and more perceives
An aptness in it self to take again,
then to make show it anything receives.
TO THE INGRATEFVLL.
I
S 't long of thy short memory, that thou
yield'st not due thanks, where thou the same doest owe?
Alas, good man; why doest thou not forget
to beg as well? or dost thou think it fit
For men to crave thy thanks; because to thee
vnaskit their favors came not? can there be
Excuse allowed for such a fault? O no;
But contrary, no Tyrants law can show
A torture too severe for such an Ill:
Look how an ore-charged piece breaking doth kill
The gazers on, and yet the Gunner stand
not hurt at all, though from his fatal hand
Death took his flight; so doth thy want of Art
rightly to use a friend, make many smart
And suffer too unjustly: For, thy fault
makes honest hearts (with no such baseness fraught)
Suspected; which approves the Proverb true
men scalt with hot, cold water do eschew.
inur bane fool,
who did with ill requite
Fauours received) had been to death pursude
(but for his wife) for his Ingratitude.
Arr thou relieved in want, and canst forget
(unworthy wretch) what gracious hand did set
Thy misry free? dost think there's nothing more
to be performed, when of thy leprous sore
Of
Pouerty
thou art cured; no thanks, no praise,
rendered to him which changed thy painful days
To times of ease? more grievous is thy sore
(through thy neglect) by much then 't was before.
Thine outward sense then only felt the smart;
but now it sticks so close to thy false heart,
(And vlc'ring lie'th in thy corrupted blood)
that not from thence proceeds a thought that's good.
If by sinister means thou hast obtained
what thou enjoy'st, thou canst not say 'tis gained.
By wealth that's purchased with the loss of Fame,
men do grow rich in nothing else but shame:
In whom, desert, no thankfulness doth move,
they do no less then cheat men of their love.
Thou with a hollow heart, false, stop'd within,
on thy best friends wilt play, so thou mayest win:
whose faculty can easily dispence
With any Stock, with any ground, or dung
(beeit never so base, or vild for any tongue
But thine to touch) from whence it doth proceed,
though in thy bosom with the same doth breed
Hatefull
Ingratitude
; whose brazen brow
(bold Impe of Impudence) will not allow
A blush to touch it. I confess my fault
from misconstruction came, in that I thought
Thou hadst been man, as well in deed, as Name,
which title died to thee, when thou to shame.
OF THE ENVIOVS.
D
Oe we not hold him mad, that in his hand
dare gripean Adder, though he crush it dead?
or seems it strange, if he by whom is fed
A Lions whelp, or hath of Bears command,
Shall have his blood by them untimely shed?
What shall we think him then that entertains
a Viper next his heart, which from his veins
Sucks his best blood, and leaveth in the stead
A fretting poison? whose effect is this,
It makes him grieve and rage at others good,
to stab himself to spill an others blood,
And think himself cursed in an others bliss.
Let him be gorg'd, even to the very throat;
yet will he vex to hear another call
for a poor crust of bread; it frets his gall
To see a sail belongs not to his boat.
If with the price of one of his own eyes
he can buy both another man's, he'l dooit:
'It is to be feared too, for a Soul to boot
He'l give his own to hell a sacrifice.
This is the man which from his mothers womb
hath been perverse and froward, whose vild life
is nourished only by the breath of strife;
Which birth and breathing cannot want a room
At last in hell; for he that trauells here
(this Monster-like) with mischief, cannot find
a place more suiting to his diu'lish mind,
Then where his friends and father may be near,
To be delivered of his hell-bred seed:
for there some damned infernal Hagge or other
may be the Midwife, fit for such a mother
This is the man who sits, and laughs to spy
where men do (Wolf-like) by the throat, each other
tear: how th'inhumane brother kills the brother,
And by the hand of children, Parents die.
Where he perceives an others down-fall nigh,
He thirsts to see their ruin, more then they
whose high-flown Falcons (watchful for their prey)
Threatning to bring Destruction from the sky,
Long to behold the fearful game struck dead.
'It is
Enuies
life, soul,
summum bonum,
all
which we term deer, to see another fall,
Though 't be the man that gives his hunger bread.
To see his neighbor fast is his best food,
It makes him lean to see another fat;
He pines to naught, when he finds naught whereat
He may repine. To have him understood,
And to the full described; thus in a word,
it grieves his staru'ling spirit more to see
Though it cut deeper then Afflictions sword.
TO THE ENVIED.
I
S it not strange, that such can live, whose food
is dres'd by
Envy,
and with poison mixed,
Whose heart's the kitchen, and whose canker'd blood
the meager
Cook
carowseth; while betwixt,
His master and the devil are begotten
prodigious Monsters, which appear as barren
Of honesty as Hell, their joints as rotten
through want of marrow, as a piece of carrion?
By these th'art malic'd; but be not dismayed
nor grieve thou at them, rather for them grieve
If so thou canst thy
Charity
persuade,
(which as thou art flesh and blood, I scarce believe.)
When a fierce Dog comes running at thee, stay
and thou shalt find he'l rather back retire,
Then offer to assault thee: if away
from him thou fly'st thou further'st his desire.
So these (far worse then dogs) will fiercely bite,
when they perceive their venom makes thee stir:
For nothing gives such fullness of delight
to th'snarling spleen of a malicious Curr,
As to behold the mischief that he doth.
But where well-tempered patience doth preserve
of
Enuies
whelps) they pine away, and starve.
This to thy Fare-well; if thy Virtues make thee
hateful to th'bad, their envy is thy glory:
If love to vice make good men's love forsake thee,
resolve thyself they envy not, they 're sorry.
To the Envious.
B
Vt that I know thy face, I must confess
I should have trembled; for an Object less
Fearefull, were able without Physicks Art
To make a Costiue man play a loose part.
I cannot think the worst of
Pharaoh's
kine
Lookit half so bare, as this poor trunk of thine;
Which like Sir
Cranion,
or a starv'ling Capon
Staukes here and there, proportionably shapen
To thy lean spirit, whose repining hate
Hath brought thy Carcasse to this pining state.
I see there are more ways to th'wood then one.
Not age, or wedlock, bring'th a man alone
Unto a Night-cap; for a wretched mind
Gaue thine to thee; O had it been so kind
T'have put a Nose-gaie too into thy hand;
And in thy Ruffes room placed a falling band,
Many had looked tohave seen thee turn, and Hope
Would have presumed that next had come a Roape:
Whereto thy hanging ominous looks presage
Thou must do homage; in th'mean time, engage
That little hope thy wretched soul enjoys
Of Heaven, to him who thy best good destroys,
In feeding thy insatiable spleen;
Which, (had not help from hell transported been)
Could not have been so devilish as 't hath proov'd,
But it in thee infernal powers have moved:
Scarce Hell it self, could conster that for ill;
Which (damned) thou (to satisfy thy will)
Hast vrg'd (
I know
) as an extreme offense,
Against vnguiltie, harmless
Innocence.
Which hiath by some (too credulous weak men)
(Out of their wisdoms) been found faulty; when
Had they been masters but of so much sight,
As to distinguish between day and night,
They had been less injurious, or more just;
But to such Judges must the guilty trust,
Whilst
Innocence
must suffer; yet not so
But it may live to see their overthrow
Who moale-like heave unseen, till at the last
Their working be discovered, and they cast
Out of their hollow trenches, and withal
Trod on by them, whom they desired might fall;
Then shall your sable Cacodaemon be
Hang'd with a twig upon some willow tree;
To all which Envious undermining slaves,
I wish no fairer Ends, no better graves.
OF THE DETRACTER.
T
His comes in last, because he comes behind
those whom he wrongs, though in his doing so
the devil cannot him in skill forego;
Unto the last but this, This last I find
To be as near alli'd in Baseness, as
a brother can be to a brother twinne,
in feature, though (as oft) Nature therein
Proportion them so like, that each doth pass
For other. Only this one difference I note
this last, allow'th more freedom to his tongue
then
Envy
doth, and other men are stung
By him more then himself; he makes his throat
An open grave,
where
his contagious breath,
labors to blast the spotless fame of such,
whose
Reputation
it shall chance to touch.
Nor can the hand of
Reconciling Death
Free men from this injurious Monsters sting,
which through the bowels of the earth doth pierce,
and in the quiet vault appears more fierce
Then Death (the graves stern tyranizing King.)
Were a man here as free from
actual ill,
as when he first moved in his mothers womb;
or as the man that calls the Heaven his home
Guiltlesse of sin; yet would this try his skill.
If in a bul-rush he can find a knot;
or from pure honey (which the harmless Be
sucked from those flowers which like it self was free)
Straine poisoned juice; where if he find one jot
Which he can judge doth relish of a weed
(from which the toilsome Be cheerfully flies,
home to the hive with honey-laden thighs)
He strait concludes no good can thence proceed.
So strange is the distraction of this
Tom
of
Bedlam,
that all places, times, and men
without distinction seem alike: for when
The furious railing fit comes on him, from
His stinking stomach, he 'le belch forth such geere,
such filth; and with such violence, as though
he meant to cast his rotten garbage: so
He joys to make his loathsomeness appear.
This (what shall I term him?) will devour your bread,
call you his master, crouch with cap in hand,
profess he falls, if you shall fail to stand;
Yet curse you living, joy when you are dead.
He 'le be the Herald of your Infamy,
and scandalize your worth, though you have bred
him to the shape of man even from a shred.
To the Detracted.
T
Hough Wolves against the silver Moon do bark,
they blemish not her brightness, nor the spite
Of bawling Curres, (which she disdains to mark)
can any whit eclipse her of her light.
So mayest thou slight the railing of ill tongues,
if a clear shining conscience be thy guard;
Which to defend thee from the worst of wrongs,
will, as a wall of brass, be found as hard.
Men are by Nature apt to blame, and hate
such as distaste what they approve as good:
If thou dislike to hear a Parrot prate,
and tell a tedious tale of
Robin-hood
;
He 'le shoot Detractions boult against thy brain,
terming it shallow, barren, poor and dull;
Because not vented by a windy vain,
empt'ing it self to make thy mouth show full.
They are most fools (say they) that use most words:
That silence argues folly, 't is not so;
for virtues branches no such fruit affords.
Admit a
Turk
should call thee
Infidel
;
wouldst be offended? or imagine, that
One dubbe thee knave, in whose own heart doth dwell
baseness enough, to make him wondered at
By all that know him? shall the first persuade thee,
that thy Religion knows more God's then one;
Or to deny the
sacred power
that made thee,
or togive his honor to a carved stone?
Or can the second force thee to confess
through his report, thou art as base as he?
If none of these thou wilt, their power's the less,
thy worth the more by their detracting thee.
An honest fame (like spice) the more 'tis brus'd
savors the sweeter, which when we are dead
Will be the sweetest sear-clothe can be us'd
to wrap us in; it will out-last the lead
Wherein that body lies, in which did live
a spotted conscience, a detracting spirit;
Which to it self an earthly heaven did give,
and of Heavens joys it self did disinherit.
TO THE DETRACTER.
T
Hink'st thou it makes thy Reputation fair,
if by thy muddy tongue thou canst impair
An other man's? look how a murderer can
(whose fatal hand shall kill another man)
Add to his own by shortening others days;
so by detracting others grows by praise.
Perchance thou feed'st thyself with a conceit,
that every man that hears thee rail, doth strait
Believe that all thou sayst is true, for that
they contradict thee not; I will tell thee what,
In my opinion thou shouldst rather fear,
it makes them tremble and amazed to hear,
How diu'lishly thou second'st what thou sayest
with oaths, and curses; or admit thou mayest
Light upon some who (knowing not thy use)
may be persuaded, that from some abuse
Offer'd to thee, proceeds thy railing fit:
Yet all the glory thou enjoy'st by it
Is, they will note thee euerafter, for
a creature which all good men should abhor.
Or say thou shalt some man, to some deprave
who know him honest; thinkest thou for a knave
They can do less then judge thee? and beware
thou rayl'st to no men that iuditious are:
For they 'le soon find that thou dishonest art,
and therefore know thou take'st no good man's part:
Whose praise they judge is equally the same,
Where Just men do applaud, or thou defame.
I might have spared my breath in wishing thee
to men of judgment not to be too free;
For thou art chiefly careful in this point
to plie his ear whose judgment's out of joint:
By whom as yet was never understood
how any cause could, but the first, be good;
Whose ignorance (I think) might argue rather
Th' Vicar of fools will prove their ghostly father.
And as for thee, thou dost resolve I know
thou must die mad, thy brain's distemperd so.
Which will be for thy credit when thou 'rt dead:
for some will lay the fault upon thy head,
And say thy brain enforced thy tongue to rave.
Better be thought a mad-man then a knave.
FINIS.
Qui ducis vultus, & non legis ista libenter,
Omnibus iuuideas liuide, nemo tibi.
Mart.