Latin Epigrams Englished
The source for this document is https://quod.lib.umich.edu/e/eebo/A53744.0001.001
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
[illustration]
IOANNES OWENVS CAMBRO BRITANNVS OXONIENSIS.
IOANNES OWENVS CAMBRO BRITANNVS OXONIENSIS.
John Owen's LATINE EPIGRAMS Englished By THO. HARVEY, Gent. Dedicated By the Author M r . John Owen unto the Lady Mary Nevill, Daughter of the Earl of DORSET.
Nec verbum verbo curabis reddere
—
Horat. de Art Poet.
Licensed May 25. 1677. Roger L'Estrange.
LONDON, Printed by Robert White, for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul 's Church-yard, and Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower de Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
THE LATINE EPIGRAMS OF John Owen, LATE One of the Fellows of New College in OXFORD.
Rendred into English by Thomas Harvey, Gent. Once a Commoner in the College at Winchester ; Both Colleges being Founded and Indowed by William Wickam, heretofore Bishop of Winton, in Anno Dom. 1389.
Anno 12 0 . Richardi secundi Regis Angliae.
Dignum laude virum Musa vetat mori. Horat.
LONDON, Printed by Robert White, for Nevill Simon's at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul 's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the Three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
To Mr. Thomas Harvey upon his Translation of Owen 's Epigrams.
WHo could divine a Branch so old could bring
Such specious Blossoms as might suit the Spring
Of youths best Fancy? for here stand at vie
The Cream of wit, and Oil of Industry.
I wonder how this English Muse could sink
Into
Owen's
depths, into each hole and chink
Of his hid sense: Sure All thy year is
May,
And owns no darkness; For I needs must say
When I read
Owen,
I conceived each part
Of his Laconick Epigrams so smart,
So sharp, so short, so comprehensive, that
No English Genius could it adequate.
Pardon my Country, that my Thoughts so rov'd
And undervalu'd Thee; For here 'tis proved,
An English Pen makes That inventive Brain,
For all its intricate Conceits, so plain
That now each Epigram, each Riddle lies
Anatomiz'd to All unclouded eyes.
His Criticismes dissected and made bare,
And so Diaphanous, that now They are
(Although not word for word, yet sense for sense)
Unriddled, and with such quaint Eloquence,
That as I read Both, I could swear almost
That
Harvey
's Muse consulted
Owen
's Ghost;
For but Compare Them, and you will censure, that
Harvey
hath hit what
Owen
aimed at.
David Lochard.
To Mr. Thomas Harvey of his Englishing Owen 's Latin Epigrams.
SMooth
Ogleby
for
Virgil; Sandys
won
The Garland, what for
Ovid
he hath done.
And
Martial
's Epigrams hath
Fletcher
dressed
In English Garb:
Horace
is so expressed
By divers Persons, eminent for worth
••
genious
Brome
(deceased) did set them forch.
But as for
Owen
's Epigrams, there's none
As yet, hath vent'red a Translation,
But only
Harvey;
and He
Mantuan
thus
Hath made most happily conspicuous.
The Sun's unclouded now, what
Owen
writ
In shadowed mysteries of Roman wit,
His de
•
torous hand Translated hath, and Pen'd
That
•
h
••
h none yet attempted, f
•
w can mend.
Robert Coxshall.
Of the same.
OWen
composed,
Harvey
Translated well;
The question's, which of these doth most excel?
The answer in few words is quickly done,
Which like you best the
Shadow
or the
Sun?
Robert Coxshall.
To the Book.
OWen
had many Patrons, I have None:
None that will be my Patron, no, not One.
None that to Me will give a Choir of Paper,
Nor Pens, nor Ink, nor a poor Farthing Taper.
To the Reader.
THough I These Epigrams which
Owen
writ
Have done int' English, Thou must not expect
Like quaint Conceits, like Criticismes of wit
In the Translator, as in th' Architect.
For in their Idiome and Dialect
Each Language diff'rent is, as man from man:
One from Another differs in Aspect,
In Nuture, in Condition; nor Can
Translations with th' original hold weight;
In sense They may Consent, not in Conceit.
But takeit as 'tis, and with a Candid Eye
Read, Ruminate, Remember and apply.
September. 26. 1672.
Sic dixit Tho. Harvey.
To his Patroness.
MIne English
Owen
Patron-less did pine,
Wanting an Heros, or an Heroine
To Potronize It: Almost in despair:
Until a candid Nymph (
Mecaenas
heir)
Not willing Papers fitted for the Press
Should be suppressed, became my Patroness.
Tho. Harvey.
IN rendering mine, with
Owen,
parallels,
I am like One than rings or Chimes the Bells;
If I do jangle (venidl's the sin)
It is to soul a better Ringer in.
Tho. Harvey.
In Praise of the Author.
To the Reader.
A.
Clerick art? or Laic? read This Book;
Here Thou shalt find thy will, if well Thou look.
D. Du-Tr. Med.
2. To D. John Owen of his Book.
What hinders, but thy Book should pass the Press?
If I know Verse, This Age will say no less.
Suppose not, so great hazard's of thy wit:
Yet This my judgment is, I think it fit.
John Hoskins, J. C.
3. To John Owen of his three Books of Epigrams.
Results of Love, the Graces effluence,
The Muses mirth,
Apollo'
s Eloquence,
Wise Sentences, and Criticisms of Art,
The Genius of an ingenious Heart;
All These Thy Book, O
Owen,
represents
Unt' us, replenished with rare Arguments.
John Bowman, Theol.
4. To John Owen.
Owen,
dost ask what Epigrams w' approve?
Those, which That Engine of thy wit doth move,
What's short, chaste, learned, quick, polite withal,
That many Satires hath, yet free from Gall.
Thy Muse, thy Genius gives This; no less
By Thee 'tis promised to thy Patroness.
Thine, William James, Theol.
5. In Praise of the Author.
What was, is, shall be still the Poets use,
Women and Men are Censur'd by thy Muse:
Yet in my Judgment, thy rare wit, thy Pen
Deserveth Praise of Women and of Men.
Jane Owen of Oxford.
6. To the Reader, in Praise of the Author, whose Epigrams were published the second Time within a Month 1606.
Greek, Latin Authors, Epigrams have writ,
Whose Work took up their Life to finish it:
Owen
except, he sole unparalleled,
Hath equaliz'd Them All, if not excel'd.
D. Du-Tr. Med.
7. Of the Third Edition of these Epigrams.
To the Author.
This Book is like the world, moves, and is moved:
Though silent, It is by the Printer proved:
For These thine Epigrams have had Access
Thrice to the Printer, and half tired the Press.
John Hoskins, J. C.
The First Book.
To the Lady Mary Neville.
I Dedicate, lest Patron-less It be,
My Book to th' Reader, and My Self to Thee.
2. To the Reader.
The Folly's blamed, if Thou Commendest all
That here Thou readest, no Thing if, thy Gall.
3. Of his Book, to John Hoskins, a Lawyer.
This Book is as The World: as Men, The Verse:
Good Verses Here, as There good Men, are scarce.
4. To the Lady Mary Neville.
If us
Pythagoras
doth not delude,
Thou,
Juno, Pallas, Venus,
dost include:
For in Thee, though but One, Three virtues be:
Where, One of Them is rare, in other Three.
5. To the same.
As in the Skies the Sun, i' th' Sun the Light,
So virtue's splendor in thy Face seems scite:
Who comes a Looker on; becomes a Lover:
Thy Virtue, or thy Beauty's the sole Mover.
6. To her Son Thomas Neville.
Such rare Things of thy Genius are Pen'd,
That though All true, they All belief transcend.
Hope in a Child, not present Worth, is praised:
Thee present Worth, not Hope alone hath raised.
7. To her Daughter Cecily.
Thou like thy Mother art, and needest none other
Applause: It is enough, th' art like thy Mother.
8. Know thy Self. Of Harpalus.
Thou worthy to be known art not of worth:
Fit for thy knowledge then seek something forth.
9. To a Lawyer.
If happy's he who knows of Things the Cause:
How happy thou Cause-Pleader with Applause?
10. Of John Prote.
To lead a Wife, that is, to marry One,
Oft hast Thou menac'd; Drunkards can do none:
Rather a Wife must marry Thee, to lead
Thee drunken from the City to thy Bed.
11. To Aulus an ignoble Noble-man.
Thou to thine Ancestors ow'st All: to Thee
Posterity shall not indebted he.
12. To Hernicus.
Thou bought'st a Fool for Twenty Pounds, but I▪
Will not at such a price the Buyer buy.
13. Of Venus.
Love's first Sweet's better; bitter is in Fine:
Venus
comes smiling, mourning doth decline;
So run fresh Rivers to the Sea, whose Taste
Returns Them brackish-brinish at the last.
14. To Mr. Gilbert.
Thou th' Earth denyst to stand: prodigious Note,
Thus writing, Thou perhaps wert in a Boat.
15. To Physicians and Lawyers.
Galen,
thine Health doth from our sickness rise;
Justinian,
our Folly makes Thee wise.
16. O Times, O Manners!
Learn'd
Scaliger
The Worlds deformed Times
Reformed: Who shall Now reform Men's Crimes?
17. Paris his judgment.
When
Paris
was elect a Judge to be
Between Three Goddesses, and of the Three,
Doubtful which to prefer;
Pallas
was wise,
Juno
majestic:
Venus
wan the Prize.
Love Conquer'd All: wereit now to vote again,
One money'd
Juno
would the Prize obtain.
18. Germanical Truth.
Democritus
affirmed that Truth was drowned
In some profound Abyss, not to be found.
If hid in Wine, as Proverbs have assigned,
The
Teutons
have It found, or will It find.
19. To Linus.
20. To a certain young Noble-man.
Old Age, not Death's Thee wished: the Sickness; Age,
Not Death, the Cure, is wished Thee by the Sage.
21. To a certain poor Physician.
Physic Thou givest the Sick, he gives Thee Coin,
Thus his Disease Thou curest, and he Thine.
22. Of a certain Woman.
Thy Form brought forth thy Fame: But O the Child
Did kill the Mother: fair Form; Fame defiled.
24. Upon modern Writers. To the Reader.
Whether the vulgar more untruths unmask
In Quart', Octav', or Folio dost ask?
In
Sexto-decimo
some Writers I
Suspect in every Folio to lie.
25. Of Phillis.
Phillis,
Thou wilt not give, but take'st a kiss,
Knowing that taking One, a giving is.
26. To the same.
If Love be Fire (as doth the Proverb prove)
Ah, woe to Me, how Cold a Fire's thy Love?
27. A wicked Atheist.
Use present Times and Things: A Time will be
When there will be no Time at all for Thee:
Grammarians, Past, Future Times display,
But I will use the Present while I may.
28. The Atheist's Epitaph.
He died, as if dead, no Life There were:
As if There were no Death, He lived Here.
29. The Optative Mood.
Th' Infinitive is near th' Optative Mood,
For Infinite's the wish of Goods or Good.
30. Of Alana.
Wedlock to be th' intolerablest yoke
Alana
cries all day: but doth revoke
When Night is come her Clamorous Regreet,
And saith, No yoke like Wedlock is so sweet.
31. Prophets, Poets.
Prophets of Things to come the Truth predict:
But Poets of Things past write false and fict.
32. Of Life and Death.
Life tends to Death, as Rivers to the Seas:
For Life is sweet, Death bitter, doth displease.
33. Of Vulcan.
Vulcan
made splendid Arms for
Mars
his Breast,
Mars
gave unt' him a specious-spacious Crest:
Thou wert well paid O
Vulcan
for thy pains,
Horns for thine Iron; Were such
Glaucus
gains?
34. An English Grammar.
The Feminine doth unt' It self design
What's proper to the Gender Masculine.
35. Free Will.
Freedom of will, which is The worlds Contest,
Husbands have lost, but Wives have It possessed.
36. Of Life and Love.
Though every Action unt' its End doth tend,
Yet Life and Love abominate their End.
37. The Elysian Fields.
Through Hells dark-dismal Cell
A
•
neas
walked
Into th'
Elysian
Fields, as Poets talked:
For when He shot
Elisa
's Gulf, who can
Deny, He was i' th' Fields
Elysian?
38. An Husband, and an Adulterer.
The Husband.
I have A wife, others her Love: so rather
For Others not Themselves Bees Honey gather.
The Adulterer.
This Seed I raised, but in Another's Field:
So Birds for Others, not Themselves do build.
39. New Rhetoric.
His Arguments, who Money wants, are sick:
Gifts Now, not words, are the New Rhetoric.
40. Of Cotta lately made a Monk.
That dying He might die no Cuckold thought.
41. Geneva' s Arms.
Geneva
in her Ensign doth display
Th' Imperial Eagle, and the Popedoms Key:
But how
Geneva
Them to keep dost hope,
42. Upon the Trifles of Borbonius a Poet.
Thou Trifles thought'st not, what Thou so didst call:
I call Them not, but think Them Trifles All.
43. Of Faith.
Not Faiths, but Faith is mentioned on Record:
For former Times did but one Faith afford.
44. Of Paulinus a Physician.
Wherefore's a sick Man called thy Patient,
Since He's impatient at thine Advent?
By suff'ring He's thy Patient, for He
Doth suffer more, than by's disease, by Thee.
45. Of Cottula.
Th'art Wise: Thou knowest, Thou Nothing knowest: Adiew▪
46. Of Fabiana.
If Fields be fertile called that bear much Corn,
Then
Fab'an
's fertile; for she hath many born.
47. A Joque upon Covetous Men.
The Vulgar, Nature pleased with little praise,
And on the Covetous a Scandal raise:
Yet sole the Covetous pleased with least we see;
Nature, Enough thinks little, Nothing He.
48. To Philopater.
Though for Ones Country noble 'tis to die,
Yet nobler 'tis to live for It, think I.
49. The World.
I' th' world's no Constancy; All's Circular:
What wonder Then no Rectitude is There?
50. Of Aretinus.
In All Things there's a Mediocrity,
Excepting in the Thing called Venery:
Lust hath found out a Thousand means, with Art
To do, what should be done on Natures part.
51. Of Silius.
Th'art Atheist: For Papist Thou mayst not be;
And to b' a Protestant disliketh Thee.
52. Against Atheists.
No House doth want Its Lord; shall Then (alone)
This specious-spacious House the World have None?
53. A Physician.
Physicians take Gold, but seldom give:
They Physic give, take none; yet healthy live.
A Diet They prescribe; the Sick must for it
Give Gold; Each other Thus supply-support.
54. Of Lawyers
Lawyers are prudent, provident beside,
For prudently They for Themselves provide.
55. A Courtier.
If good, Thou mayst be better, but not greater:
If great, more great; not better, nor compleater.
56. To Marcus a Monoculist.
Thou
Marcus
wantest an Eye; Enough's one Eye:
Both Eyes may more, not better Things espy:
I have both Ears, but hear no Truth now told;
Both Eyes, but can with Them no good behold.
57. Of Paulus.
Thou to preserve thy Fame, hast built thy Tomb:
As if that Tombs should not to ruin come.
58. A Secret against Grey Hairs. To Bithynicus.
Lest in old Age thine hairs should silver'd be,
Thy youth hath made Thee bald: O happy Thee!
59. Of Theodore.
Thou newly married didst think th' hadst found
A narrow Passage to the Starry Round:
But that New Passage led t' another Road,
T' a lower, not the strait way, but the broad.
60. Of Apollo and the Muses.
The Muses Femes,
Apollo
's Masculine:
For One
Apollo
's worth the Muses Nine.
61. Of Alanus, grown old.
His Cubit with's Wives Cubit measuring,
Alanus
said, O sweet concubiting!
62. The Calends of January. Of Olus and Quintus.
To th' Rich
Ole
gives not, lest his Gifts ask more;
Nor to the Poor, because Himself is poor.
But
Quintus
gives expecting by that shift,
For what He durst not ask, a better Gift.
63. Of Pontia.
One wished All Cuckolds cast i' th' Sea; but t' Him
His Wife thus said, Learn (Husband) first to Swim.
64. A work of Darkness.
'It is to preserve the Species of profit,
But th' Individuum's th' Opposer of it.
65. Thou Lyest.
Beware, t' a Soldier give not the Lye:
He takes it for the greatest Indignity:
Ye that the Lye for such Disgrace esteem,
Why then to Lye so great a grace d'ye deem?
66. Of an Hypocrite.
Thou wilt not swear, 'tis Sin: but thou wilt Lye:
Is this Religion or Hypocrisy?
67. Androgynus.
Who
Venus
-like, and
Mercury
's in fight,
Nor Man nor Woman, 's an Hermaphrodite.
68. Venus.
Love like the Sea doth flow, doth Ebb again:
What wonder? For
Venus
sprung from the Main.
No Trust's in Her, she's light; and placed (with
Mars
)
Among the Planets, not the fixed Stars.
69. Of Rivals.
Each unt' himself would
Phillis
have, but There
Doth more of Envy than of Love appear.
70. A Woman.
A woman from man's Womb was ham'd: but
Eve
Did from Mans Bone, not Flesh, her Form receive.
71. The Alliance of Physicians and Lawyers.
Physicians and Lawyers in their Trade
Are like, their gain of others loss is made.
To Patients Those, to Clients These apply
Their helping-hand, but help themselves thereby.
72. Of Pamphilus to Philippe.
Nature doth no Vacuities admit:
Pamph'
therefore as his Leader follows It.
73. To one Bald.
Leaves to the Trees, and Grass returns to Ground:
But not one hair on thy bald pate is found.
74. Nile in the Eyes. Aetna in the Heart.
Cold
Nile
entered hath my burning Eyes,
Mine Heart with
Aetna
's Flames inflamed fries:
No Floods of Tears can quench so great a Fire,
Nor burning Love can make those Floods retire;
So though discording Fire and Water be,
Concording yet They show their force in me.
75. Caeteris paribus.
The rest alike.
Of Camilla.
•
woe Suiters did
Camilla
love and Court;
The beautiful, in Stature yet but short:
That other not so fair, but taller proved:
The Maid b'ing asked which of them best she loved,
•
he looking on the Taller, when she spies
•
is Nose, Arms, Leggs, Feet, all of longest size,
•
he thus, or Impudent, or prudent spake,
•
f all he like, I will this long Man take.
76. Of Giants and Dwarfs.
Giants and Dwarfs are Monsters in their Forms,
Those are like Elephants, and these like Worms.
77. Of an Abbot's two Bastards.
When in the Temple with the rest you pray,
You two, not fictly, Abba, Father say.
78. Of Priests.
Priests wedded are: what thereby gain they more?
They had as much as that in Tenths before.
79. A Participle.
A Verb if
Eras, Mus
a Noun's declined,
What is
Erasmus
let the Reader find.
80. A Cuse. To the Lawyers.
A Man lies with a Wife, which is his own
Whom he supposed Another's, till 'twas known:
Whether the Child by such mistake begot,
Be spurious, legitimate, or not?
81. Of the Morning.
Dost wonder why the Light's expatiated
•
th' Morn before the Sun? 'twas First created.
82. Of the Day.
Though Night than
Argus
be more full of Eyes,
The Day's One Eye more clearly things descries.
83. Of the Night.
Why doth dark Night put on her black Array?
It Widow-like mourns for departed Day:
Should not the Stars enlighten mourning Night,
Grief would oppress us e're the Mournings light.
84. To Marcus.
Thy Verses praise Me, but I think because
I should thy Verses praise with mine Applause.
85. Of Death.
Thieves shall restore their Theft, Robbers their Prey,
But Nothing Death; For Death takes All away.
86. To his Friend.
Half of thy Dear, whom Thou dost dearly love,
Since th' art, and Half thine own, how Mine dost prove
Yet writ'st thyself still Mine: while having thine
Own Wife, art scarce thine own, how canst be Mine?
87. A good Man.
If what is Rare 's preclare, and of Account,
A good Man doth all Rarities surmount.
88. Of a certain Old man.
Thy Beard once black, Age hath made white: thy Min
•
▪
Once white 's now black; once candid, now's unkind.
89. Of Paulinus.
When I thy Friend a Boon from Thee would borrow,
Thine Answer is, It shall be done to Morrow:
Wilt that I Thanks condign should Thee repay?
Thou shalt have Thanks to Morrow, not today.
90. Of painted Ladies.
You that your Faces paint, may well, nay must
91. Of Cotta.
Thy Wives Thou Wholly, but not solely art:
She's solely Thine, not wholly, but in part.
92. A Politician.
Dissemble, Feign: Thy Self comport-comply
With Humours, with the Times: 'tis Policy.
If Thou be wise, thy Self comply-comport
To serve the Times, that Times may serve Thee for it.
93. Of Venus.
Why follows
Venus Mars
his lawless Flame?
Because t' his lawful
Venus Vulcan
's lame.
94. Of Marinus.
None can Two Masters serve (without disaster)
But Thou Two Mistresses dost serve, no Master.
95. Of Marcus.
〈◊〉
Beard doth grow, thine hairs from head do fall:
•••
ve bearded, but light-headed th' art withal.
96. To Mr. John Hoskins.
••
en I conversed with Thee (my Friend instill'd)
〈◊〉
without doubts, in doubts I found thy love,
〈◊〉
Friendship without Fraud I oft did prove:
〈◊〉
that thy Love, which then thou showed'st to Me,
••
mands, commends These grateful Lines to Thee.
97. Of Death to Epicharmus.
••
y wouldst not die, but yet be dead? O why
••
uldst without dying,
Epicharmus,
die?
〈◊〉
of bringeth Death; Death Grief extinguisheth:
〈◊〉
therefore (
Epicharme
) is worse than Death.
98. Of Phylllis.
〈◊〉
Parthians in their Flight shoot, wound their Foe,
〈◊〉
Lovers,
Phyllis
fleeing, woundeth so.
99. Of Hallus the Grammaticaster.
••
mous am while fasting, but when full,
〈◊〉
, saith
Hallus,
Infamous and dull.
100. Of the Loadstone.
〈◊〉
Court
Magnates
Gold to Them attract,
〈◊〉
on the
Magnetes
; All exact:
〈◊〉
not deal with Such, in Asking learned,
〈◊〉
Giving flack, in Taking most concerned:
〈◊〉
to Them go, none from them come again,
〈◊〉
I nill ask them, lest I ask in vain.
101. Of Death.
102. Of Clients.
••
nts before a Thief run singing home,
〈◊〉
from the City Money-less they come.
103. To Zoilus.
〈◊〉
I bad Manners check, thou carp'st at Me,
•
onscious for reprehending Thee.
Why fear'st thou more than others? I perhaps
Blaming bad Manners, blame mine own Relapse.
104. Children and Fools tell Truth.
Our Proverb calls Truth-tellers Fools: What then?
Isit Folly to tell Truth in English Men?
105. To one Bald-headed.
Thy Front had certain Measure, till a blast,
I know not of what Wind thy Leaves off cast:
Thy Front hath sithence All thine Head ingrost,
And is perpetual at last, not lost:
Thou canst not tell the largeness of thy Front,
No Trust is therefore to be built upon it.
106. To the same.
Mine hairs I cannot number, 'cause so many:
Nor canst Thou number thine, because not any.
107. Fortunes Apology.
Dame Fortune doth an equiballance bear,
She fills the Poor with Hope, the Rich with Fear.
108. On Cotta.
Cotta
the Stews advent'ring in, returned
T' his house ('tis said) with something that was burn'
•
▪
109. On Procillus a Noble-man.
If thou to Liars wouldst not lend thine Ear,
None with a Lye before Thee durst appear.
110. To Paulus a Lawyer.
Between thyself and Wife thou dost disjoin
The year, so that scarce Half is wholly Thine:
One part's thy Wives, Vacation called, t' apply
Thy Wives Vocation, or Vacuity.
That other part's not wholly thine; thy Bride
Neglected, Thou by Clients art employed.
This Part o' th' year the Term is called, and why?
Because It Terminates thy Venery.
111. To the same.
No Terms determine, no Vacation's vain,
Thou wholly Vacant art by Strifes to gain.
112. To Marinus.
As oft as from the Bed thy wife doth rise
Untouch'd by Thee, her Nails assault thine Eyes:
Thou speak'st her Fair, but words in vain proceed,
She must be pleased in doing of the Deed.
113. A Surgeon.
Shall I wish Wars, or Peace? Each serves for me:
Fierce
Mars,
fair
Venus,
both my Patrons be.
114. The Venetian disease.
My Country's
Italy,
my Parents
Gauls,
'It is doubt which of those Names to me befalls.
115. Back-biters, Flatterers.
This Age hath Many seen as sad, as bad:
The Fox a Crow's white Feathers praised: Ah me,
How many Foxes in this Age have we?
116. To Ponticus.
Thou said'st thou wouldest repent: I scarce believe Thee,
For I did never yet so wise perceive Thee.
117. An Herculean labor.
To tame a shrewd Wives Tongue, and haughty mind,
A Thirteenth Labor
Hercules
will find.
118. Mars, Mors.
War, Death.
War bringeth Dearth, Dearth Death to Men on Earth;
War therefore's worse than either Death or Dearth.
Our Troubles War begins, Death finisheth,
In War small distance is 'twixt Dearth and Death.
119. To Cynthia.
O that thy Feats were like thy Feature: And
O that thine Heart were candid like thine Hand.
120. To Gellia.
In secret sins thou thinkest thyself secure;
Though Nothing's done in secret that's impure.
121. Of Albinus.
A Friend
Albinus
meeting, said, Retire,
Thine shakes, for O thy Neighbors Wall's on Fire:
Albinus
hasting home, his wife did take
In th' Act; O Now, quoth He, my Wall doth shake.
122. Of Claudius a Philosophaster.
Sick
Claudius,
poor, foolish, parts by's Art
Good in Three Parts; but of Them hath no Part.
123. Of Bardella a Thief at Mantua.
A Monk the Thief
Bardella
judged to die
Thus Comforted, O thou shalt Sup on high:
Bardella
then replied, I fast this day,
Please you to Sup There in my Place, you may.
124. Of Flitting Flora.
In thy Coition thou didst boast thine Act,
Thy boasting was more sinful than thy Fact.
125. Of Quintillus.
He nothing gives t' his Friend, but liberal
T' his Friendless, gives Himself, his Wealth, his All.
126. To Aulus of old Quintius.
Though
Quintius
a young wild Wife did Wed,
Why sentst an Epithalamy t' his Bed?
An Epitaph were fitter to confer:
For his own Grave he dig'd in Bedding her.
127. Of Costus.
Thou sin'st impunely, but thy Fore-man paid
Thy Penance with his Head: 'twas burned, 'tis said.
128. An Answer to Cynthia 's Letter.
Thy Paper's white, thy Letter's black within:
This doth denote thine Heart, and That thy Skin.
129. To Sextilian a Bastard.
Not to Create Thee, but to recreate
Himself, thy Father thee begot ('twas Fate,)
If Givers Minds than Gifts b' accepted rather,
Thou dost not owe thy Life unto thy Father.
130. Of Porcia an Hypocrite.
Thou, 'cause my Book a Fore-man Names, dost flout it:
Books Thou wouldst have, but not a Man without it.
131. Of Saturns Three Sons.
Divines, Physicians, Lawyers; These Three
Do regulate the World in their degree.
132. Of a single Life. To a Married man.
Saint
Paul
doth much Commend a single Life:
That's double, This, but single Woe can be.
133. Of Corneus.
Hear, mark, be silent: he whose Feminine
Is wanton, to these three must most incline.
134. Of Cajus.
When
Cajus
was accused of Bigamy,
Confessing, he professing did reply,
A Bishop Husband of One wife may be:
May not a Lay-man then have Two or Three?
135. Of Pomponia.
She's punctual, herself that prostitutes:
Because with profit, pleasure she commutes.
136. Of Pinotus sick with the Colick.
Thy Life was saved by breathing out thy Breath:
That was thy Life which proves unt' others Death.
137. Of Pomponia.
A Plume of Feathers brave
Pomponia
wears:
What
Mars
his Ensign was now
Venus
bears:
As
Mars
his favor She doth wearit, that she
May show how friendly
Mars
and
Venus
be.
138. To H. L.
Thou lov'st thy Neighbors wife, he thine doth love:
So that ones own doth not still pleasing prove.
139. Venus.
Since
Venus
is exposed to sale like Wine,
Why hangs there not before her door a Sign?
140. To Marinus. Difficilia quae pulchra.
If difficult what's fair, on this Result
Take Facile thou, give me the Difficult.
141. To Theodorus.
By th' now▪new Law thou mayest not wed, what then?
By th' old thou mayest without offending men
Thy first wife was a whore, a widow this.
142. Ka'end. Jan To Germanicus.
Instead of Gifts I Verses send to thee:
Send Gifts instead of Verses unto Me.
143. Sara.
She that her Maid would unt' her Husband give,
As did rare
Sara,
now doth rarely live.
144. To D. T.
Thy Titles, Scholars Servant, Masters Lord,
Mine Envy and my Pity both afford.
145. Of Paula an Atheist.
Whether a Man two Wives, or Husbands two
A Maid should have, 'twas asked: This knot t' undo,
Thus
Paula
said, A Maid two Men should have,
Else how can two consist in one Concave?
146. In Medio virtus.
Between two Men a pompous Woman sat,
Virtue the middle Place hath lost of late.
147. Of Acerra.
He's blest, whom others Horns have made afraid,
Unwedded
A'cer
oft t' his Father said.
148. To Pinotus.
Dost ask, What I would have a Feminine?
Not Venale, Vendible I would have Mine.
149. Of Quintus and Quintina.
Quintus
his Wifes Entreaties for Commands,
Her words for Laws, her Beck for Statute stands:
She leads, she drives at will, the silly Sot,
As if she had an Husband, and had not:
'Gainst Nature, Laws, Arts Rules: Grammarian
Avaunt: For Here's He Woman, and She Man.
150. A Paradox to his absent Mistress.
I burn with Love: And I the more am burned,
The more remote from me the Fire is turned.
151. Of Paulina.
False to the First false to the second Bed:
Both void, She lived unblam'd-unblemished,
Not for the fear of Sin; but fear of Shame
Preferr'd Her without Blemish, without Blame:
Though many did her treat, did her entreat,
She granted unto none the Vacant Seat.
152. Of Gellia.
If it be Simony to Merchandize,
And at a price Things consecrate to prize,
We well may call thee Simoniacal,
Who sellest Love, For Love's Spiritual.
153. Of a certain Woman.
In small time how immense thy Things did grow?
Of late but Omicron, Omega now.
154. Aenigma.
Tell where that Creature is, on Hill, or Vale,
Whose Father Female, Mother is a Male?
155. To Ponticus.
That Both thine Eyes thou hast I wonder: Why?
Because thy Parents Each had but One Eye.
156. Of D. Vitus.
I know not whether Horn'd, I know (by signs)
That th' art a Bull, having Three Vitulines.
157. Of a Dactyle, to a certain Lover.
Wouldst with a pleasing Verse thy Mistress Court?
'T were fit to know what Feet should it support:
Of all the Measures which a Verse do summon,
The Dactyle Measure best delights a woman.
158. Of Love descending.
From th' Eyes Love riseth, by the Mouth descends
Into Loves Center, where It hath it's Ends.
159. Of Balba.
Balba,
leave taking of her Spouse, said Thus
Phi-Philip
you will b' I hope soon-soon with us.
160. Of Theft, a Problem, to Lawyers.
Who takes a thing,
•
illing his Lord, 's a Thief;
But what if's Lordess in that Act be Chief?
161. Of Ponticus.
Of Promise thou dost no Performance make:
Physician-like, who gives not, yet saith Take.
162. Of Cerellia, married to an Eunuch.
Now to the Spartane Customs I agree,
That Men, Maids, when they wed should naked be:
For
Cerill
having late espous'd a Frank,
Thiking to gain a Prize, got but a Blank.
163. Of Horns, a Problem.
When any Wife betrays the Marriage Bed,
Why wears her Husband Horns? Because he's Head.
164. To Germanicus, Calend. Jan.
Or give m' a Gift, my Verses or restore,
Which I on that condition gave before.
165. Christ-Church College in Oxford.
Though this imperfect House to ruin tend,
Its large Quadrangle yet doth it commend.
166. Of Phyllis.
Phyllis
pretends my Verse her Fancy moves;
She loves a Verse, but something more she loves.
167. Of Himself.
I spend the Time in Trifles, and in Folly:
Thus lest my Time be lost, I lose it wholly.
168. To the Reader, of Himself.
My Brevity perchance seems Sloth t' imply:
Believe me no small labor, 's Brevity:
I not as some, speak much in foolish sort:
Perhaps my Speech is foolish, but 'tis short.
169. Of boasting Thraso.
Why doth Sir
Thraso
wear great Spurs? Because
Glory doth wear great Spurs to gain Applause.
170. Of Himself.
Ask, saith Saint
James,
it shall be given thee:
O that King
James
would say the same to me.
171. Court Music consisting of two Voices.
The Favorite's advanced, and
Elah
sings:
Another, all his Tunes t' a Cadence brings.
〈♫〉
〈♫〉
172. To the Reader.
Lest this my Book should make Tobaco vapor,
Wipe rather thy Posteriours with my Paper.
173. To his Book.
My Book, Me living, thou mayest die perhaps:
What then? A Child doth oft to death elapse
Before his Father: So then, whether I
Survive Thee, or Thou me, We both must die.
The End of the First Book.
To M r . Thomas Harvey on his Translation of the First Book of Owen 's Epigrams.
WHen what's begun, tha' ast finishit,
Owen
sha
••
▪
Be the Translation, thine th' original:
Thy Native Tongue the vigor doth express
More of his Fancy, than his Latin dress.
So from thy Version, he derives this Good,
To be esteemed, in being understood.
T. M.
THE SECOND BOOK OF THE EPIGRAMS OF John Owen.
Englished by Thomas Harvey, Gent.
Incept. 10. Novemb. 1672.
1. To the Reader.
LEst this my Book please Fools, whereof are Many,
I would not have It many please, if any:
Few Readers are enough, but One (if wise)
If none do read me, none shall me suffice.
2. To the Lady Mary Neville.
The Praise of many's raised by Poets Art,
But all thy Praise springs from thine own desert.
3. To the same.
Thou to thy Foes, if any be, dost will-
Dost wish none ill, to Friends art Candid still:
This one thou never dost forget: That other
Thou never didst remember, Maid nor Mother.
4. To the same.
In Tables men fair Faces paint and place,
There to survive, when Fates the Face deface:
I cannot paint, but I can Poetize,
And Verses can give Life, when Picture dies:
Though sole
Apollo,
sole
Apelles
able's
Thee to describe in Verse, to paint in Tables.
5. To D. J. H.
I am no learned Poet, but a Learner:
No Learner Thou, but Poets learned Discerner.
6. What News?
The foolish People, as I pass the Street,
I
••
uisitive, thus ask (when me they meet)
What News? I tell them I know nothing New:
Or if I knew, I say no News I knew.
7. The Court.
He that complies not in the Princes Hall
With All the witty, hath no wit at all.
8. Of Aulus.
Wert Knighted, that thy wise should love thee more?
She loves thee less, herself more than before:
Her Garb, her Garments must new fashioned be,
So that thy Dear will be more dear to thee.
9. Of the Chymist.
The Chymist Gold decocts, till (leaving none)
He loseth all his Gold to find a Stone.
10. A Trojan.
Troy
lost, at last the
Trojans
Wiser grew:
What man is not in this a
Trojan
true?
11. Loves Remedy.
Take Wood from Fire (thy Lust with Fasting tame)
Sit from a Woman far, as from a Flame:
If nor the former cool thee, nor the later,
Then take a wife, she will b' instead of water.
12. Troynovant.
To the Londoners.
As Phoenix Ashes do the Phoenix breed,
So from old
Troy
new
London
did proceed.
13. The Lawyers Deity.
Rome
had one God, called
Terminus
of old:
But
Westminster
more Terms than one doth hold.
14. Of the Earth.
In all things we the Middle things commend,
For they to Mediocrity do tend:
Th' Earth therefore than the Skyes hath greater grace,
Because i' th' world it holds the middle Place.
15. To King James, Defender of the Faith.
Thou greatest art of Christian Kings, in this
That to thy Faith the Faith committed is.
16. To the Lord Treasurer of England.
Th' art Kings and Kingdoms faithful Treasurer:
Thy Faith before all Treasures I prefer.
17. To the Kings Principal Secretary.
Thou secret keep'st the Kingdoms Secrets, even
So secret, that Faith to thy Faith is given.
18. To the Venetians.
Your Cities Situation (O wonder)
Is Founded unconfounded; th' Ocean's under:
Lest only Fish should in the water dwell,
Y' have seated in the Sea your Citadel:
Where th' Ocean was, a City's now complete,
What Nature made a Sea, Art made a Seat:
Y' have constituted (to your grand Renown):
Th' Inconstant water constant to your Town:
What wonder then by Laws your City stands,
When it the lawless waters countermands.
19. To the Lord Chancellor of England.
Lest Force the greatest Enemy to Law,
Should violate it, Law keeps Force in awe:
But thou the Laws Extreams hast power t' abate,
And in the Chancery to moderate.
20. To Richard Sackeville Earl of Dorset.
Though thou from Noble Ancestors wert born,
And dost thy Birth with Noble Parts adorn:
Yet thou (which was a wonder heretofore,
And for a Prodigy now stands, or more)
Merit to Mercenaries, Peace to War,
Virtue to Strength, Worth dost to Birth prefer.
21. Caecil Treasurer of England 1597.
Arms are, and Stratagems of small concern,
If
Caecil
's Counsel sits not at the Stern:
Caecil
and
Atlas
nobly both prognate,
This doth support the Skyes, and that the State.
22. To Guil. Caecil : Virtut Duce, Comite Fortuna.
Great Queen
Elisa
Fortune made a Count,
Why Virtue did She not t' a Dukedom mount?
23. To Richard Vaughan Bishop of London.
O, of the British Thou th' immortal Grace,
24. To the same.
I like those Preachers best, who Preach and Act;
Not those that only Preach but wave the Fact:
Thou therefore dost excel, for thou dost teach
What should be done, and dost what thou dost Preach.
25. To Thomas Bilson Bishop of Winchester.
Bilson,
I was thy Scholar heretofore,
And to thy Precepts owe these Lines, and more.
26. The Life of William Wickham, formerly Bishop of Winchester, written in Latin by Thomas Martin, Dr. in the Civil Law.
Life to the Dead to give, the Dead to raise
From Death to Life, 's a Work deserving Praise:
Which hadst not done, thou
Martin
hadst been dead:
But now both in this one Book live, are read.
27. Winchester College.
Europes
prime School: whereof a little Part
I was to my greatest praise in Learnings Art:
Zoilus
himself will not to thee deny,
(Thy Founder
Wickham
known) this Primacy.
28. To Sir Philip Sidney.
Great
Alexander
called
Achilles
blest,
Whom
Homer
praised in Verse above the rest:
Unhappy I, because thou half Divine,
Canst not made happy be by Verse of Mine.
29. To Sir Philip Sidney.
Whose Deeds worth writing, Lines worth reading are,
Is Rare▪ Thou therefore doing both art Rare:
Thy Lines worth reading, Deeds worth writing show
Thee learned, candid: equaliz'd by Few.
30. Upon the Marriage of William Earl of Pembroke, and Mary, daughter of the Earl of Shrewsbury 1605.
In Manners, Personage, Wit, Age, Estates,
And in Nobility, you Both are Mates,
Yet thou deserve'st a better Bride than She:
A better Bridegroom She deserve than Thee.
31. To Elizabeth Countess of Rutland, Sir Philip Sidney' s Daughter.
'Twas
Philip
's Praise thou wert his Child: But rather
Thine, that thou Daughter wert of such a Father.
32. To Lucy Countess of Bedford.
Jury,
thy splendid Name
à Luce
came,
That splendent through the World might be thy Names
Thy Noble Parents brought thee forth to sight,
But thee thy Virtues brought into the Light.
33. A Knights Ring. To Henry Goodyeer, Knight.
Nobility the Gold, the Gem be Grace:
This Ring upon thy Finger ever place.
34. To D. J. H.
Thy Verse is Nameless, though not worthless, while
Others their worthless Verse with Names instile.
35. To D. B.
Thou livest well, if one well hid, well lives:
And thy great wit concealed more splendor gives.
36. To Th. M. the Princes Tutor.
Thou so dost form, inform the Prince, that He
King of his Realms, and of Himself will be:
This Fifth to prize before those Kingdoms Four,
And of Himself, as well of them t' have Power.
37. To Th. M. the Princes Tutor.
Thou so dost teach (for times of Sword and Gown)
The docile Prince, prime Hope of
Britain's
Crown,
That scarce in future times 'twill be discerned,
Whether He be more great, more good, more learned.
38. To Walter Gwyn.
Th' Increase of the good Prince thou votest fair,
Nature gave Wit, may Grace attend his youth,
Grow may thine Honor with the Princes growth.
39. Francis Drake 1581.
Thy Travels,
Drake,
have reached Earths utmost bound,
Have seen both sides of the Terrestrial Round:
If men be mute, the Stars will blaze thy Name;
And both the Poles will sound-resound thy Fame
I greater am than
Hercules
the Great.
40. Britain's Strength.
To the Prince.
Camp, Seas; Forts, Bodies; Hearts, the Generals.
41. The Terrestrial Globe.
Of Water and of Earth's the Globe, (Sea, Land)
That movable, this unremov'd doth stand.
42. Health, unhealthy.
The more thou drink'st of drunken Healths, the less
Of Health, of Happiness thou dost possess:
I wish a thousand of such Healths to thee,
And envy not: One Health's enough for me:
One Health's enough for sober men and sane:
No Health's in Drinking Healths, no Boon, but Bane.
43. The Divine.
To know thine's nothing, if not known 'tis known.
The Politician.
If known 'tis nothing then to know thine own.
44. All Things affect good.
From
Opto
's
Optimus,
without contest,
For he that's wise doth wish himself the best.
45. A Phoenix on Earth.
A certain Maid of
Burgundy
surprised
With Maiden Sickness, helpless and advised
To take a little Ment, an Herb, a thing
Helpful to many (taken in the Spring)
She rather than to live by sin, would die:
Death being all the Purchase sin did buy.
46. Democritus, and Heraclitus.
That only laughed, this only wept: but whether
Shall be laughed at, or wept for? Both, or Neither?
47. Of Langa.
Langa
(she Papist) 'spous'd t' a Lutheran,
T' avoid contesting, thus to speak began:
Lest future Discords should disturb our Peace,
To me be facile, and I thee will please;
Grant me the Liberty of Conscience,
And with all other things I will dispence.
48. King Arthur 's Round-Table.
Why thy Round Table dost t' a Square prefer?
49. To Theophila B. C.
He must love much, and have no vulgar spirit,
Who doth thee praise, and love as thou dost merit.
50. Of Hernicus.
His Soul to God, his Body to the Ground
Hernick
bequeathed: And lying in a Swound
He heard some whisp'ring, that his wife had gained
A new-another Husband, which disdained
By th' envious Man, he gave his wife the Lye:
Reviv'd, whereas before he thought to die.
51. Of Love and Faith.
Love is from Faith divorc'd: that ever is
Suspicious, not once suspected this.
52. A Lover.
Uncertain Hope, Fear constant, flying Pleasure,
Sad Joyes, sweet Grief, Love bitter. Where's the Treasure?
53. The Golden Age.
Before the virtue was of Gold disclos'd,
Why was that Age the Golden Age supposed?
54. Of Alana.
In Bed
Alana
's Place is lowest, yet
At Table in the high'st Place She's set:
Her facile Husband parts with her the Sway,
He rules by Night, She governs all the day.
55. Germanick Death, to Polynicus.
Death's not to be, saith
Seneca
; some think,
(And
Germans
too) that Death is not to drink.
56. Of Philodemus.
Rare things, 'cause dear, thou shunnest, seekest common,
To thee more dear's a vile than dearer Woman.
57. Of Battus.
Thou secrets tell'st, crave'st pardon for the wrong:
Wouldst have no need of Pardon? Hold thy Tongue.
58. The Gordian Knot.
The Gordian Knot cut once with Sword; Is it
Now rather to be loos'd by Sword, or Wit?
None can dissolve this Knot by Wit or Word:
Nor yet can
Alexander
with his Sword.
59. Love.
Wars, Peace again: these things occur in Love:
Content, Contention in one Circle move.
60. Strifes, Laws, to J. C.
Strife Laws produced, and Law produceth Strife:
None without One of these can live this Life.
61. The Miser and Prodigal.
My study's Rhetoric saith Prodigal:
And mine the Miser saith is Logical.
Logic, close-fisted Avarice descries,
And Rhetoric men's Prodigalities.
62. Labor.
Though th' active
Romans
Grief no Labor deemed,
Th' inactive
Greeks
Labor a Grief esteemed.
63. A good, strong, wise man.
Good Men want Wealth (but have divine supplies)
Wit to the Strong, Faith's wanting to the Wise.
64. The Order of the Golden Fleece.
Philip
the Duke of
Burgundy,
'tis feigned,
That Order of the Golden Fleece ordained:
Whose Heirs the Golden Indies now possess:
This Order was an Oracle: no less.
65. The Motto of Thomas Earl of Dorset.
Nec temere, nec timide.
Not hastily, nor heartlessly.
Wisely suspect, and stoutly things expect;
Be circumspect, lei thee no Fear deject.
66. The Motto of Henry Neville, Knight.
Ne vile velis : Not vile's thy will.
Neville,
thy will
ne-vile,
or vain brings forth:
Since vile things little, vain are Nothing worth.
67. To Sir Philip Sidney of his Arcadia.
Thou didst command, when passing to thine Urne,
(Witness thy Wife) they should th'
Arcadia
burn,
If it should die, for kindling Lovers Flames,
It ought not to be burned, but drowned in
Thames
:
(In this thy Book no Line, no Letter's found
That merits either to be burned or drowned.)
What ever censure on thy Book may fall,
Thy Wit nor censure merits, Death, nor Gall.
68. To Jane Owen a most learned woman.
None of thy Sisters have I heard or seen,
Though Five to th' aged Father born have been.
How many then I know, but what they be
I know not: yet I know, if like to thee.
69. To his Friend.
He be none's Enemy, nor twice a Friend;
My Friendship where it doth begin shall end.
70. The Usurers Grammar.
Things Creeping, Swimming, Going, Fleeing, All
Love These, Those, all things, all Men doth inthral:
He, She, That, Coyn, Money, and Gold, these Three
Do conquer Love, by whom all conquered be.
71. To one like neither Parent.
Why did thy Parents thee, not like unt' Either
Beget, when they Consented Both together?
Thou no right form of Either Parent hast,
While both of them to form thee did what's past.
72. To two (nameless) returning from Venice.
That your Adventure fourfold might return,
Your Journey you to
Venice
did adjourn;
From whence, when with your gain you came again,
Your Friends, though to their loss, rejoiced amain.
73. Adultery and Fornication.
What differs base Adulterers from vile
Fornicators? Tragic as from Comick style.
74. Of Hercules, to C. D.
No force could force, or
Hercules
remove:
What was the greatest of his Labors? Love:
A Lioness, not Manness he could tame:
No Monstress, him a Mistress overcame.
75. A Saluting Kiss.
Give me three Kisses,
Phyllis:
if not three,
So many as thy Lips are, give to Me:
Thou givest and takest one, deny'st one more,
Or take thou thine, or mine to me restore.
76. A Problem to Naturalists, of Kisses.
If Kisses to the Taste bring nothing sweet,
Why Kiss we with our mouth when Friends we meet?
77. Of Labienus.
This Thief the Gallows mounting, there to die,
Thus, thus, said he, we scale the Starry Sky.
78. Of Alexander.
One World, one
Alexander
not confined:
O than the world, immenser was his mind.
To this one World, one Man was not complete:
Great
Alexander,
but the World more great.
79. To Firmicus, of Aulus.
Thou
Firmick
credit'st none, all credit thee:
Aulus
trusts all, but cannot trusted be.
80. Of a certain Poetaster.
Thou pottest so as if no Pot, no Poet.
No Poetry; as if Pots only show it.
Take
Mi,
the rest to thee will well accord.
81. Of ones Lying Letters.
Thy false Epistle oft comes to my sight:
Or rare, or never thou dost Gospel write.
82. Physician heal thyself, to Gilbertus.
Vain is advice to thee, thyself to cure,
For 'tis thy greatest care, that cure t' ensure.
83. Of a certain Usurer.
The thousand Pounds thou didst to
Flava
lend,
Thou for it with full Usury dost send.
If like for like she gave, th'art paid thereby:
Thou hadst her Bodies use for th' Usury.
84. Of an Hypocrite.
All things he doth dissemble, or surmise:
Though Labor hence, thence Dolour doth arise.
85. Of Erasmus his Book of Follies.
Erasmus
was the first who Folly praised:
This Folly showed his wit, his wisdom raised.
86. Of Anagrammatists.
Whither, O whither will your wits enforce.
Vowels and Letters here and there to course?
As when
Augustus
leisure gave, in one
Thyrsis
his Sheep, his Goats brought
Corydon.
87. Of a certain indoctrin'd Doctor.
Master in Art, thou Beardless-Artless wert:
Now Bearded Doctor th'art, but more inert.
88. Of naked Love.
Nature the Fields, the Birds, the Sheep, the Beasts,
With Grass, with Plume, with Fleece, with hair invests:
What ever under th' Air is born or bred,
By Nature, or with Art is covered.
Why are all clothed but naked Love? express,
The more Love naked is 'tis called the less.
89. Of the Exchequer, to Sir William Pits, Knight.
Into the Treasury collected Coyn
Out of the Treasury the Coyn dispersed,
Runs as the Rivers from the Sea reversed:
Nor all those Rivers can the Sea supply,
Nor are the Fountains in the Mountains dry.
90. Of a perfidious Person.
I learn by trusting, not to trust Pretences:
My false and hapless Hope beguile'd my Senses.
91. The Silver Sin.
No Whoremongers did
Saturns
Kingdom stain:
The World was chaste till
Jupiter
did Reign.
92. A Bawd.
No part from Sale is of thy Body Free,
Nor is thy Soul, if one would buyit of thee:
Thy Soul's exposed to Sale, but none will buy it,
For all, except the Devil, will deny it.
93. Self-Love.
I the First Person, Second Thou, Third He;
Yet Each t' himself seems First of all the Three.
94. Wisdom.
Who's Rich? the Wise: Who's Poor? the Fool: by which
If I be wise, I shall be quickly Rich.
Who's wise? the Rich: Who's Fool? the Poor: then se
•
▪
If Rich I am not, I a Fool must be.
95. The Etymology of Venus.
Unt' all things: doth he not u
•
t' all men mean?
96. Of a certain Drunkard.
If Potable, as Optable were Gold,
What Mines of Gold would thy vast Guts insold?
97. To Polla.
A Kiss thou nor deny'st, nor givest one;
But turn'st thy Cheek, arid as is a Bone.
If new things must have new Names (not the same)
Kisses must have a New, another Name.
98. A Friend and a Wife.
Life's dear unt' us, a Friend is therefore dear:
A Wife t' her Husband's dear, why? 'cause so near.
99. Anger.
Because that Anger Valour doth precur,
Call'd
Aristotle
Anger, Valours Spur?
100. The Roman Flora.
Proud
Rome,
to which the world did Tribute pay,
Paid Tribute unto thee by night by day.
For All that was contributed to thee,
For Portage thou mayest call thy Tribute Free.
101. The Etymology of the English word Anger (Ira.)
Angry men Anguish have in Deed in Name:
102. Of Himself.
I grave in Trifles, Study playing: when
In grave things trifling, I play studying then.
103. Womens Titles.
A Court, when spous'd, his Wife a Countess makes:
A Countess makes no Count the Spouse she takes.
So from the Sun, the Moon receives her Light:
The Sun's Light is his own, no borrowed Right.
104. To Zoilus.
The Praiser Praise, the Lover Love doth merit:
Praise then if Praise; Love, if thouit Love inherit.
105. Of the middle Age an indefinite Definition.
While drawing is our frail Life's latest Line,
No Line the Middle Place can it assign.
That which th' unlearn'd and learned call Middle Age,
None knows, till finished is his Pilgrimage.
106. To a Grey-hair'd Dier.
Thy Beard, once color'd Black, 's now color'd White:
This Nature, not thine Art wrought, brought to Light.
107. To Aulus.
New
Rome
expel'd her King, proud she the proud:
What wonder? Pride Kings loved not, nor allowed:
Tell why so few Kings Friends are found? 'cause there's
Few that are Kings Competitors, or Peers.
108. The Bed.
What th'
English
Bed, the
Welch
call Sepulcher:
The Bed a Tomb, and Sleep doth Death infer.
109. Riders Library.
What means arrided
Riders
Book, thus stilled
A Library, since but one Book's compil'd,
And that of words? It therefore should not carry
The Name of Library, but Dictionary.
110. Nummus, Money.
That, which the Greeks
Nome
and
Nomisme
proclaim?
Or isit O
Nummus
'cause thou numbered art,
Thy Name from Numb'ring comes, in whole or part?
Or isit because the world esteems Queen Coyn
To be some Goddess,
Numen,
or Divine?
111. Of J. S. a Covetous Man.
An Iron Chest thy Gold, Iron bars inviron
Thy Gate, House and House-holder all are Iron.
112. Of Roman Flora, to Grammarians.
The Romans for the Flowers of their Fruit
Did
Flora
for a Goddess constitute.
She too too prodigal of Flesh and Fame,
Did neither bear good Fruit, nor keep good Name:
But prostitute i' th' Flower of her youth
She lost both Fruit and Flowers in their growth.
113. Of J. Protus.
As Leaves from Trees in Autumn by the wind
Are whiffled all away, none left behind;
The bald-man so, by shaking of his head
Hath shook off all those Hairs which there were bred.
114. Of Theodorus.
When
David
threescore years and Ten was old,
A fair young Virgin kept him from the cold:
Thou to be like that
Prophet
great and sage,
A young wife hast espous'd in thine old Age.
115. Of the Plague in England 1603.
This Plague so many men and women slew,
That scarce is place for any Plague anew.
116. To a certain Woman.
If Fortune had thee favor'd, as did Nature,
England
had not a more accomplished Creature:
When
Trojan
Wars began hadst thou been born,
Troy
for thy sake might have been sacked and torn.
117. Of a Perjured Person Convicted by his own Hand-writing.
In vain perfidious; thy words deny
That Truth which thine own hand doth testify:
That words more constancy than Deeds should have,
One Mouth to thee, not two thy Maker gave,
But one Tongue, though two hands to thee belong;
Why single are thine Hands, double thy Tongue?
118. Of Cottula, a Grammaticaster.
Thus
Cottula
did Labyrinth expound,
Because (quoth he) great labor init is found.
119. Anagram of Rome, to the Carthaginians.
Stout
Annibal
in a few hours delayed
His fortune, having not
Rome's
wealth survey'd:
He knew to conquer, knew not how to prize
His Conquest, though an
African
and wise.
Alas, what loss had he? Procrastination
Though small, preserved great
Rome
from Devastation.
120. Of a great Clark.
Sick Stomachs much receive, not much concoct;
So thou knowest much, I know, yet art indoct.
121. Of one called Davis.
From
London Davisses
thou brag'st Descent,
And dost dissent from
British
Orient.
Ignoble thou, a noble Stock and pure
Disclaim'st, and claim'st from Parents more obscure:
Thou with thy native soil dost well agree,
For thou of it, and it's ashamed of thee.
122. Of Aulus.
Thee wise men think a fool: Fools think thee wise:
What art? what thinkest thou of thyself? Advise.
123. Of Linus a Doctor.
Why dost for form things frame? so coveting
Wit slightest: Form gives Essence to the thing.
If thou deny this Philosophic Norme,
I vouch it; thou wert Doctor made for Form.
124. Of Thais.
O would thou wert less fair, or honest more,
For nothing's fouler than the fairest Whore.
125. Of a nameless Voluminous Writer.
When dire-dure Hunger, and sad wants oppressed thee,
When Thirst insatiated did molest thee,
Thy Books thou (self distracted) didst distract,
What shouldest thou do? Famine advised that Act.
Thee Poverty compel'd, thy Books (with sweat
Compil'd) first penned, after to vend, and eat.
126. On a Bald Pate.
Lo, not an hair thine heads bald Crown doth Crown:
Thy Faithless Front hath not one hair thine own:
Before, Behind thine hair's blown off with Blast,
What's left thee to be lost? thine Head at last.
127. To Claudius and Linus.
Lewd
Claud,
to make thee good, thou want'st sole will:
Thou
Linus
want'st sole Power to make thee ill.
128. To George.
Wherein a Verse averse is, if thou look:
Trophys in Verse, oft sounding Thine-their Praise:
Due thanks, my Verse cannot due thanks repend:
In this thy Name well pleaseth Me-my Muse.
Thou in th' extremest Place shalt still b' install'd.
Longer to hold with thee a long Discourse.
129. A Lover is a Warrior.
Soldiers with Harlots,
Aulus
well compared:
Mars
bodies armed,
Venus
unarm'd doth guard.
130. The Military Oath.
The Latins Sacrament, called sacred Oath,
Which Soldiers to their Captain did betroth:
If Sacraments be but an Oath, then there
More Sacraments than two will soon appear.
131. Of Alanus, Covetous and Lame.
Give but a Gift t'
Alanus,
He, though Lame,
Is hundred-handed to receive the same:
But if for Gift a Gift he must restore,
He's Lame that hundred-handed was before.
132. The Condition of Kings.
While This forbears, That fears Truth to relate
To Kings, O miserable Kingly state!
133. Vis, Jus, Force, Right, to J. C.
Vis,
Force;
Jus,
Right are adverse: yet the Name
Of
Vis
and
Jus
inverted, is the fame.
134. Of Marcus.
Wives, Widows, Maids, Whores, Wenches, (women-kind)
Thou lov'st, but thine own Wife thou leave'st behind:
Among so many kinds of
Venus
sports,
Why leave'st the lawful, lov'st th' unlawful sorts?
135. Desperate Debt.
None solid, but insolvent is in This.
136. Of Culianus.
Then now there is no wise man; no, not one.
But
Culian,
th' art wise: then wonders are;
Or thou from wisdom,
Culian,
art far.
137. Of Marcus, a man venust or comely.
That in some Part thou mayest
Venustus
be.
138. Of Adrian 5.
Derided Epigrams, derided Verse
Thou writest, which with mirth have no commerce:
No mirth is in them; yet the Reader smiled,
Because both wit and mirth from them's exiled.
139. I, Thou, He.
There's no man but prefers Himself unt' All
Hence the first Person, I, we count and call.
Thou fam'st thy present, blam'st thine absent Friend,
He Thou next Me, and He next Thee doth tend.
140. Petite & dabitur vobis.
Ask and it shall be given you.
That which was promised Askers heretofore
Is given now to Givers: men no more
Will
gratis
give: what's
gratis
comes from Heaven:
141. Married Persons, Children, Parents.
Husband and wife once two, are now but one:
Once one, two now are Father and his Son.
142. Of Marcus a Lawyer.
Thou pleadest for thyself not Client; he
Not for himself, but brings his Gold for thee:
The certain Laws uncertain Causes cross:
Thou sure of gain, thy Client's sure of loss.
143. To his Father.
As man more excellent than woman is,
I so thy son do more excel in this.
144. An Italian.
Th'
Italians
of their wives (as Books comprize)
The parts
incluse-s
•
cluse
Monopolize:
This, what God said unt'
Eve,
the woman gains
By this, I will multiplicate thy pains.
145. What Wife the Author would have.
I like a woman facile to be loved,
To love difficile, comely, well approved:
Rivals in love I like; deserve she should
The love of all, not love alone I would.
146. To one complaining that his Children were not like him.
Would'st on thy wife beget a Self-like Child?
First get a wife like thee composed-compil'd.
147. To the Married.
Of Conjugal Love.
When
Adam
had espoused
Eve
his Bride,
No woman was for him to love beside:
Love Conjugal is therefore First and best:
Paternal doth the Second Love attest.
148. Sir Francis Drake' s Epitaph.
Though Papistry should rage in time to come,
It would not,
Drake,
I think, dig up thy Tomb:
Thou needest not fear it should thy Body burn,
For in the water safe from Fire's thine Urne.
149. A Childs Epitaph dying before his Grandfather and Father.
Death keeps no method, Logic's Art denies:
A Son before his Sire and Grandsire dies.
150. Epitaph of Maurus.
His Soul of 's Corps, his Corps of 's Soul's hereft;
Maurus
wants both: his Name is only left.
151. Epitaph of Pyramus and Thisbe.
Death friendly-foe from you that grief removed
Which brought on Death before: because you loved.
152. Tho. Moor, dying.
Moor
had his Head from's Body severed:
But would not have his Hair cut from his Head.
153. Three Languages Crucified.
Hebrew, Greek, Latin, First, Next, Third commixt;
Sacred, Learn'd, Roman, all three Crucifixt.
154. Don Antonio King of Portugal.
Between thee and thy Kingdom a Divorce
Was lately made against thy will, by force:
Now thou mayest of thy Kingdom (took away)
155. Alexander, Aristotle.
He greatest of Kings, of Sophists this compleater,
Great
Alexander, Aristotle
greater:
This learned, made
Alexander
more complete;
Great He, made
Aristotle
not more great.
156. Of Plato.
The Bees which swarm'd on
Plato
's lips, do still
Distill rare Sweets from his mellistuous Quill.
157. Virgil' s Georgicks.
Thou,
Maro,
writ'st rich Verse of Husbandry,
And dost manure the Readers wit thereby.
158. Persius the Poet.
Dark
Persius
I read, but not conceive:
I' th' dark he doth his Readers lead and leave.
159. Tacitus.
Thee Candor made Truth-telling, Nature wise,
Briefness obscure, and Gravity concise.
160. To Martial.
Persons thou knowest to spare, to speak of things,
All thy Conceits are honyed, have no Stings.
161. To Petrarch.
While O thy
Laura
's read, the doubt will be,
Laurel or
Laura
whether fit'st for thee.
162. Pliny, Englisht by Philemon Holland, a Physician.
Pliny writes many things, is long: is short
163. Of Cicero, to Catullus.
What thou didst tell
Catullus,
and foretell
Of
Cicero,
was true: for it befell.
164. Of Historians in this Age.
Historians of old wrote truth, no lies:
Now to write lies, no truth, it doth suffice.
This Nay, that Yea concludes: O which I pray
Shall the next Age believe of Yea or Nay?
The certain Reader is uncertain, whether
He Neither of them shall believe, or Either.
165. Kings. People.
By Kings unlearn'd the People's led-misled,
Like faultring feet by a distemp'red Head.
166. The Senate.
Kings Reign alone, why rule they not alone?
He ruleth best, who's ruled by more than one.
167. To an Historian.
Thou conversant in Histories dost read,
And travelst without danger, without dread:
An History doth teach in Time, though short,
More than long Times Experience doth comport.
168. Of Diet, to J. H.
If old thou wouldst be slowly, then use all
Med'cines, like
Modicums,
Reciprocal.
Like too much meat, Med'cines may health infest;
And meat like Med'cines used is most times best.
169. The Peers of France.
Not altogether Peers: for it appears
Imparity with Parity co-heres.
170. P. Magnus, C. Major, F. Maximus, Pompey, Cato, Fabius.
This greatest, less than the great, greater than he
The Greater: which is greatest of the three?
171. To T. S.
Thy wit and Judgment in my Verse to show
My wit and Judgment are too weak, too low.
Thy wit and Judgment I transcendent find,
Or else my wit and Judgment both are blind:
But whatso'ere my Judgment is, or wit,
I to thy wit and Judgment mine submit.
172. Of himself.
What wonder if bad Verse my Muse unveils?
For I nor claw mine Head, nor gnaw my Nails.
173. The Five Senses.
These Five to will and pleasure that relate,
Do they their Office, or officiate?
174. Seeing.
The more the sight assimilates the Mind,
The more it draws it, makes it more inclined.
175. Hearing.
How soon sounds vocal vanish from our Ear?
Like Air they come, like Air they disappear.
176. Smelling.
Between the mouth and Eyes th' expanded Nare
Doth carnal with spiritual things compare.
177. Tasting.
That meat may be more pleasing to the Taste,
Hunger, like Sauce, will sweeten the repast.
178. Touching.
Some Touch sole pleaseth, some hath Titillation:
This youth, that Age affects with Delectation.
179. Objects of the Senses.
Sight, Hearing, Smelling, Tasting, Touching, these
Affect, infect my Senses as they please.
180. Touching and Tasting.
Some are, who can nor Smell, nor Hear, nor See:
And of five Senses are deprived of three:
Why want none Tasting, Touching? 'cause of these
That th' individ, this guards the Species.
181. Epigrams, Satires.
Satires are but long Epigrams; And these
Are but short Satires, to displease, or please:
Satires avail not, if they be not tart;
Nor Epigrams, unless like Satires, smart.
182. A dumb man.
He moves his Lips, but utters no true sound,
Let
Apollonius
his mind expound.
183. Blind and Deaf.
Why this with's Eyes, with's Ears more quick is he?
This hears with's Eyes, he with his Ears doth see.
184. Teeth and Tongue.
From Licking; each from what doth t' it belong.
185. The Phoenix and the Viper.
The dying Phoenix leaves a living seed;
But living Vipers dying are to breed.
186. The Silk-Worm.
Me skill doth kill, I make myself my Tomb,
I draw my fatal Thread, spin Death my Doom.
187. The Right-Hand.
To give or take I use my Right-Hand; Why?
Lest what my Right-Hand doth, my left should 'spy.
188. The Left-Hand.
From Pleasantness the Left-Hand hath its name;
An idle Hand, and in all Labor lume.
189. Sunday.
Why's that day called (when Light was first dilated)
Sunday, when yet the Sun was not created?
190. Terra di Lavoro.
Why is
Campania
so fully famed
For Pleasure, now the Land of Labor named?
191. Garments.
New things wax old, and old things are renewed:
Thus men are pleased with a vicissitude.
192. Wine.
Wine from sad hearts expelleth Grief; and mine
Letificates, dilating when supine.
193. A Sheep.
Want we flesh, skins, young, dung, dice, Music-strings,
Wooll, Milk? one Sheep supplies with all these things.
194. Soyling of Fields.
Dung's a vile Excrement; yet hath its worth:
Its Element mine Aliment brings forth.
195. Harmony.
Discording Concords best concur in Nature:
So man and woman generate a creature.
196. A Parret.
If words t' invert be lawful, and unblam'd,
A Parret then a prater shall be named.
197. Ink and Paper.
That it may more apparent be, we write
With cole-black Ink on Paper Snow-like white.
198. A Comedy.
The Scene our facts obscene describes▪descries:
Our faults are found not feigned in Comedies.
199. A Cloak.
My Cloak from th' Earth, than I myself more far's:
A Gown.
My Gown sweeps th' Earth, my Mind transcends the Stars.
200. A Satire.
One reason Satires did produce and Laws:
Ill Manners of both's being were the Cause.
201. An Eunuch.
My Testicles I want, yet I attest
My self a Man, a Masculine at least.
202. An Hour-glass.
False is the truest Hour-glass: for with use
The Sand wears smaller, wider grows the Sluce.
203. A Merchant.
'It is hard to say That Merchant's rich or poor,
Who to the trustless Seas intrusts his store.
204. Lust.
That thing's deformed, fair formed by night should seem,
'It is not black Nights, but 'tis blind Lust's esteem.
205. Donna, Lady.
By how much more man's Lord of 's wife, why than
His wife, his Lady calls th' uxorious Man?
206. A Soldier.
Though Wars give bloody Skarrs, yet more are harm'd
By naked
Venus,
than by
Mars
when armed.
207. An Army.
Huge Hulk, Faith faithless, inhumane, too greedy
Of bloodshed, to shed human blood too speedy.
208. Lovers Tears.
As fervent fire from wood the moisture drills,
So Love within the Tears from th' Eyes distills.
209. The Stars.
He that affects th' odd Number (that is) God
Created all the Stars, in number odd.
210. The Venetians.
As Seas with Waters, Skyes with Stars abound:
So Riches the
Venetians
surround.
211. An Harp.
Since th' Harps discording Strings concording be,
Isit not a shame for men to disagree?
212. A Fowler.
Shun cruel Flames, not knowing sports events.
All Elements give thy sport Aliments.
213. The Echo.
No skill nor Art a voice can form, or found:
Sole Echo doth reiterate the sound.
214. A Looking-glass.
Than
Phid'ias
or
Apelles
wiser, thou
The Bodies moti'on form'st, they knew not how.
215. The Echo, and Looking-glass.
Nothing of Life hath th' Echo, but to squeake:
The Glass would seem to live, if it could speak.
216. Music.
The name of Music from the Muses came;
Best Art; none other Science hath this Name.
217. Albion, To the King.
England
was once an Heptarchy: that while
Into nine Parts was parted all this Isle.
Unhappy
Britain
when divided thus;
United, happy made by thee for us.
The End of the Second Book.
THE THIRD BOOK OF JOH. OWEN'S Epigrams.
1. To the Lady Mary Neville.
I Gloze not, lie not thee when I applaud:
None more deserveth, less desireth land.
Thou seek'st not praise, though thou deserve'st it best:
And of thy praises this is not the least.
2. To the same.
Thou who before thy Birth a burden were
Unto thy Parent, born, her honor 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, 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 Hollander 1602.
Thou not against
Minerva
's will didst fight,
Whilst
England's Pallas
backed thee with her might.
But thy fate changed; 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
Britain's,
that divided were
Unite; of Peace should th' Olive Branches bear:
That having Peace, all good unt' us comes forth,
7. To the Prince.
Great
Britain's
Hope, son of so great a Sire,
Half of each Parent; for Example higher
Almost than imitation; in rare Parts
Follow'd by few, beloved in all men's hearts.
Hadst thou these virtues from thy Sires instinct?
Or from thy Mothers Breasts? from both I thinkit.
8. Basilicon Doron, to the King.
None needs this Author, none this Book proclaim:
He This, This Him resounds with Trump of Fame.
9. To the Lady Mary Neville.
Thy Glass reflects thee fair, fame calls thee chaste;
Thou nor from Glass, nor Fame a fable hast;
Fame that of all things hath the swiftest wing,
Dares not presume thy fame to stain, or sting.
10. Of her daughter Cecily.
No Painter can delineate the mind:
Yet in this Picture thou thyself mayest 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 good
Thou call'st, (black Reader) so thy censure stood.
12. Hercules By-way.
Some in Quadruples, some in Triples err:
Th'
Herculean Duple
is most sinister.
13. Of Virtue.
Virtue contemneth praise, though praise incline
To Virtue Shadows as to Bodies join;
For Virtue's real, praise but verbal, bare
As Bodies something, Shadows nothing are.
14. Lifes Dial.
From East to West without return am I,
Born yesterday, live this day, next day die.
15. Of God.
So great thy Greatness
Euclid
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 soolish as to makeit 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 deprived 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
tie,
God made them one again to multiply:
God first made one, then two, then (as before)
He made them one to multiply the more.
20. Union.
Divine is Union, Division evil's:
For there's one God, innumerable Devils.
21. Three Tempters.
The World, Flesh, Devil; are three Sophisters;
In Logic 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
-
God,
-
Wolf.
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 the Baptist.
The
Baptist
Christ preceded, as the Light
Precedes the Sun, brings day, dispells the night.
27. Of Autumn.
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 i
•
, he would be poor and wretched still.
29. Of Nature and Grace.
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 ten things do if thou wilt enter Heaven.
31. A Rich Man.
Why are few rich men saved? because their bent
Repents Expences, nothing else repent.
32. O guileful Hopes!
O rather guileful things; our Hope a friend
Most faithful, us concomitates to th' end.
33. The Redeemer.
One man by dying, man from Death hath freed,
Which was to man for one man's sin decreed:
Christ all things did post-pone, lost man to win,
Contemn'd-condemned, 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' esteemed a man of might.
36. Of a King.
Law, where's no King's like light when Sun's away:
King, where'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'd in Laws, what Law shall them conjoin?
The Kingdoms safety best of Laws divine.
39. Henry the Roses, James the Kingdoms. To the King.
The Roses,
English
colors Red and White,
Like
Cadmus
new-sprung Host engaged in Fight,
And as the Twins, which one Egg 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,
An Isle which
Tacitus
not tacitly
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 passed in Nuptial Bed,
Which Union, lest Change or Chance divide
The Roses, His: The Kingdoms are thy Bride.
40. The Apocalypse of John Napeir.
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 surmise?
Lest thou a Liar shouldest 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 others Miracles admire: but I
Admire their Maker only, God on high.
45. Adam' s Fall.
Men's Bodies, Goods, and Souls,
Adam
's foul fall
To Physic, Law, Divines did first enthrall.
46. To Adam.
False
Eve,
Death's Parent, thee deceived by Fruit;
And foully ruined with a fair salute.
47. To Preachers.
The Cock (the Mornings Herald) claps his wings,
To rouse himself before he Crows or Sings:
Preachers should do the like, first should begin
To rouse themselves; next others raise from sin.
48. The Tempter.
As Mice in Walls, so Satan in man's heart
Orfinds, or makes a way with his black Art.
49. Mortification.
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 named:
To Morrow shall be yesterday proclaimed:
To Morrow not yet come, nor far away,
What shall to Morrow then be called? 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 transpiere'd the Doors fast shut at Even:
So Prayers pierce th' Impenetrable Heaven.
53. Mary Magdalens Tears.
Vain wandering 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 infused in th' Eye.
54. Of Hope and Fear.
Riches and Fear, Hope want concomitate:
Hope's to be wished 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.
The way to Law than Justice more we trace,
Though this the shorter, that's the longer Race.
57. Intemperance.
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.
58. To Ponticus.
Art poor? 'tis hard to make thee rich: but when
Th' art rich, 'tis easy 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-greatest virtue'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 didst Cross endure.
63. Christ's Cross.
The Cross bare Christ, Christ bare the Cross: and thus
Christ bare the Cross, the Cross Christ: all for us.
64. Of Religion.
A pleasant Tree planted in pious breast,
Whose Root hath labor, fruit hath honors Crest:
Fear first brought God's into the world: no lie:
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 his 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.
God's Spouse, her Fathers Parent, her Sons Child,
Virgin by man, without man Mother stilled.
70. What's rare, not dear.
A Paradox.
Vice common is, yet nothing is more dear:
Virtue seems vile, yet rare it doth 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, pleased 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 supplied;
Which wills us to take Nature for our Guide.
74. Freedom of Speech.
Thou seemest t' have freedom fables to relate;
But free enough's the Tongue that less doth pra
••
.
75. To Marcus, a Problem.
Be'st good or bad what matter's it? For those
Force like the Laws, these Laws like force oppose.
76. Upon Old and New Fashions.
'It is foolish Envy new things to despise;
And envious folly new things sole to prize.
57. 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,
Earth's Salt, Heavens Sun, the Souls sole saving Plea:
Death, by thy death is killed, 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.
'It is 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 soil:
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 Heretics.
Virgil
from
Enn'us
dross did Gold extract:
But Heretics from Gold do dross compact.
84. An Encomiastick.
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 Virtues way thou makest hast:
Good counsel used in hast, proves bad we find:
First recollect, and then correct thy mind.
86. The Envious, and Fool.
This wants right Reason, that a candid heart:
This cannot, and that will not Truth assert.
87. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Sermo, Speech.
God's Speech all Reason's, ours all Oraizon:
So what God speaks, and man's a speaking Tone.
88. Opinion.
None will believe, yet all would be believed:
•
o faith like friendship is by gain atchiev'd.
89. Art.
God hath all Arts laid up in Natures breast,
That man might thence require, acquire the best.
90. Adams Apology.
Why am I blamed as Author of man's sin?
I sinned not first:
Eve
did to me begin.
91. The Serpent.
Thou thyself-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 endured,
For by those wounds our wounds are closed, are cured.
95. Feigned Friendship.
While the dark World, the Suns bright beams accend,
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. Virtue.
Virtue 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 broughtest 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.
Since in things future, artless is my Skill,
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 virtue, but the praise thereof disclaim:
Not of the man the praise is, but the Name.
103. Faith.
Faith in
Pythag'ras
principles '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.
The Times which first produced things in view,
Were the New Times, for then the world was new:
Tell me learned Reader of the Books inroll'd,
Whether our Times be the New Times, or Old?
106. The Will.
Wilt thou be good? Will sole, it shall be so:
Who gave thee Will, will on thee Power bestow.
107. To the Sun.
Fair
Phoebus
who twice fourscore times (by guess)
Art than th' Earth greater though thou seemest 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 a Preacher.
Multiloquy shows Ignorance: what needs
So many words when thou dost see the Deeds?
111. Death with and against Nature.
By Natures course, O Death, thou shouldst not gather,
Nor take away the Son before his 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,
114. To Ponticus.
Thou ask'st what years thou hast? I answer None:
For what thou hadst, thou hast not: they be gone.
115. Love and Friendship, to Carolus.
From a long custom Nature doth dissent,
As Love from friendship differs in th' extent.
116. Princes.
You seem to show a zealous-pious care,
For true Religions Progress to prepare:
But your Religion moves t' have Honor more,
Not th' Honor 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 but one way, a thousand ways 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 there might 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 every Sphere doth move.
121. Christ on the Cross.
When Christ was Crucifi'd two Thieves between,
Then Virtue, never, or i' th' midst was seen.
122. Times Daughter.
Though truth be sometimes hid, 'twill be proclaimed,
123. Physic and Law.
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 us 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. Virtues Complaint.
Rare's love of love, love of Virtue's rare:
Price is now prized, and Honors honor'd are:
Riches are prostitute, Coyn Money buys,
And Virtue'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:
'It is 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. Miracles.
Since Miracles are ceased (what shall I speak?)
Is God's hand shorter? or our faith more weak?
133. To Irus.
Thou still wouldst live, but live thou caust not still,
Though still to live thou mayest, dost wish, and will,
But since thou liv'st so poor, I know not why,
Though life thou will'st, thou shouldest 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.
Jerusalem's
last High Priest
Caiaphas
was;
But
Rome's
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 begun,
Abel
was killed by
Cain,
Rome
Founded,
Remus
was by
Rom'lus
slain:
The world and
Rome
with blood alike stained stand,
Both did begin in blood by Brothers hand.
142. Mans Perfection.
The chief Perfection of every 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, Luk. Cap. 17.
Faith needs not an increase, but a decay,
Since scarce so many men as Faiths bear sway:
Each hath his Faith, his Tutor of his own,
144. On the Covetous.
He,
Hercules Nil ultra, doth
pass by,
And
Carolus 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 Mortals 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 so short:
The life of pleasure, pleasures life arise
Both short, who vilipends them both is wise.
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 feared Hell:
Fear in the prudent hope creates: 'tis well.
150. Of Battologus.
Thou not content to tire the learned ear
With words, and with vain babbling, Time to tear,
But after a Tautology long spun,
Dost 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.
O foolish folk, what madness doth y' ensnare
To think there be more God's 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 cherished, perished there,
As Whetstones make Knives sharp, and sharpening 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. Of Moranus an old man.
Not to be learned, 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 Laic Gain, not Christ seeks, uncontroll'd,
And thou, O Clerick, seek'st not God, but Gold.
159. Of Brunonius.
Why doth the Pest, as is supposed, attest
God's wrath, since thee the Pest doth not infest?
The reason's ready, and a solid one,
Thou to thy Country 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.
Prudence is useful matters to dispence,
And of three Virtues is the Quintessence:
For what is Good in Life she doth impart,
As Logic 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 enjoin'd thee t' eat thy bread in sweat
Will not to th' idle give th' eternal Meat.
166. Of Faith and Charity.
As Trees first planted are e're Fruit they bear,
So where are virtues faith must first appear;
Life lives by Faith, not without Love: as poor
Do live in hope, yet labor more and more.
Faith's first, Love's chief; for 'tis a virtue great
God to believe, to love God's more complete.
167. If thy right Eye, &c. Mat. 5.29.
If the Right Eye, by sinning oft, must out,
The world would suddenly be blind no doubt.
168. Christian Adverbs.
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
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.
Not temerous, nor timorous, 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 justify? 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 virtue love:
Few therefore now on Earth good men do prove:
Vice is so prized; Virtue so vile reputed,
That 'tis almost a sin to b' unpolluted.
177. Mary Magdalens Tears.
Two 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 colors cannot turn to white,
So from dark Hell none can return to Light.
181. To a poor Friend.
Isit 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,
183. The Causes of Discord.
Self-sense, Self-reason each man regulates;
Each his own will, his own Faith estimates:
Each willful 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? Al is, unnam'd, and unbaptiz'd,
O Christ, I nameless must by thee b' agniz'd:
I' th' Book of Life without a Name me write,
For in thy name alone mine hope is scire.
188. The Flatterer and 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 for 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
nowhere doth his wants deplore.
191. Socrates.
Thou nothing knowest, this one thing knowest, and this
One thing is something, something, nothing is.
192. Man.
Born weeping, being born at first didst cry:
Thou then not pleased, why now displeased to die?
193. To Paul inhum'd.
Thou naked camest to th' world from mothers womb,
With Shirt and Shroud returnst unto thy Tomb:
More than thou broughtest thou take'st hence to thy Grave,
Thou givest thy mother more than she thee 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.
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 men's hearts, their hands this doth confine.
197. To Doctor John Gifford a Learned Physician.
That in
Apollo
's Art thou skillful art,
No wonder, for thy parts thou knowest apart:
If
Galen
saith not this, yet wise
Apollo
Saith, Know thy Self: his dictates thou dost follow.
198. 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 vexed 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 learned doth
Paul
appear.
201. Of the Conspirators in the Gun-Powder Treason upon Tuesday the Fifth of November 1605.
Heaven to provoke from Earth, and from below
Upon the God's 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,
Ash wednesday
is the day designed 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
Britain's
Brow,
For her three Nations are united now:
Scotland
with Shield,
Wales
doth like Walls immure
Thy Land, O
England
: thou mayest rest secure.
205. To Thomas Nevill, an hopeful Child.
Extract from
Nevill
's Noble Blood, the Grace
Of both thy Parents shines in thy sweet Face.
Their Natures, not sole Features thou shewst forth,
Thy Mothers Virtues, and thy Fathers worth.
206. Upon the Death of Charles Blount, Earl of Devonshire 1606.
Whether with Eulogies, or Elegies,
With Praise, or Tears thy Death to solemnize
'It is 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 show:
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.
The End of the Third Books
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBROBRITAN.
A Single Book.
Dedicated To the most Learned Heroine the Lady ARBELLA STUART.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul 's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
John Owen's EPIGRAMS.
A Single Book.
1. To the Lady Arbella-Stuart.
ILlustrious Virgin, sprung from Regal Race,
Whose Real worth thy Royal Birth doth Grace.
He that his wits First-fruits thee gave, even He
Doth tender render now new Fruits to Thee,
I consecrate, I sacrifice my wit.
2. To the same.
Thy constant Life doth from thy youth express
The Genius of thine Ingeniousness:
Adverse things quell thee not, nor prosp'rous swell
Thy Sails; thy front and mind are parallel:
And thy rare signal virtues are the cause
That none will think I flatter for applause.
3. To his Book.
Before innum'rous Judges thou must plead,
Not one or two will censure when they read.
Perhaps unread thou shalt not censures flee:
And more Reprovers will than Readers be.
4. Union, to the Britain's, 1606.
Who, unless mad, will off'red Gold refuse?
Here's Union: This Pearl who will not choose?
5. Vacuity.
The Ethics of vacuities complain,
But Physicks show that nothing's made in vain.
6. On Zoilus.
Zoilus
is torn with an eternal Verse,
Though e're two thousand years he lies on's Hearse.
Is it because his heirs do never die,
He's punished for his whole Posterity?
7. From the Center to the Circumference.
Not from the Center to th' Circumference
Sole one Line's, yet but one way t' Heaven's hence.
8. Cock-Crowing, to the Prince.
France
felt and did our
English
Forces see,
No
Gallick
sound could make our Lion flee.
9. Of Quintus.
Money's a Noun, a Verb, to promise: he
Promis'd a Noun, but gave a Verb to me.
10. Three Dimensions on Battologus.
Of three Dimensions thou but one dost sound,
That's broad enough, too long, but not profound.
11. To the Reader.
As after several Births a woman's womb,
Past Fifty, fruitless, childless doth become:
So my three former Books of better strain
Have stupifi'd, and arifi'd my brain.
12. To Simon Waterson, Stationer.
Kind
Waterson,
who first my Book didst take,
And undertake it public for to make:
Though Monopolies Laws against arise,
Yet thou shalt all my wit Monopolize.
13. The Sea.
Salt Meats cause thirst: what's salter than the Seas?
Fresh waters therefore are drank up by these.
14. The Solstice, of Ponticus an Atheist.
Death is Life's Solstice: the Sun seems t' our Eyes
To stand, but stands not: man to die, not dies.
15. To his Book.
My little Book by me forewarned, forearm'd,
Observe at Court to keep thyself unharm'd.
Perhaps thou there mayest find someone thy friend,
And some perchance that thee will reprehend;
If any be too rigid, too severe,
Say thus, My Master blame, but me forbear.
16. Courtship, to his Friend a Courtier.
Loves thee the King? his Page will then thee love,
As Shadows when the Bodies move, do move:
Frowns but the King? his Page will on thee frown,
As Shadows Bodies when the Sun's gone down.
17. On Corbulo.
Why's
Corbulo
so bald upon his Pate
For want of hair? was it his fault or fate?
18. To Pontilian.
Pontilian,
thee
Christ'pher
sues at Law
•
Not thee, but money 'tis from thee to draw.
19. To Sir Edward Herbert, Knight,
Fame whisper'd that thou didst commend my Lays:
O that I could but equalize this praise?
Thou who dost praise this slender Muse of mine,
Dost merit to be praised by th' Muses Nine.
20. Envies Genealogy, to J. H.
Virtue brings Envy forth, brought forth defends:
From virtue this one-only Vice descends:
Know'st why to thee this Epigram I write?
Thou mayest of right expect pale Envyes spite.
21. Of Virtue, a Paradox.
Each virtue 'twixt two vices hath its place:
If vice were placed there, better were the case.
22. The Seven Planets, to Paula.
Among th' Erratick Stars thou well didst mark
Five Males, two Females wandering in the dark.
23. To Marcus.
More than thy Promise thou must keep, not less:
Hence but one Tongue, two Hands thou dost possess:
But thou dost promise much, performest none,
As if thou two Tongues hadst, and Hands not one.
24. A Roman Priest.
Would'st have Adultery not punished
By death? no wonder: th' art unmarried.
25. A Minister of Geneva.
Would'st have Adultery have loss of Life?
No wonder: for thou hast a buxom Wife.
26. Self-loving Poet.
The Moon because of her vicinity,
Though least, seems greatest Planet in our Eye:
So, since I am next myself, myself the best
I think of Poets, though I am the least.
27. Of a penurious Client.
Wonder'st the Judges Ears are shut to thee,
When unto them thine hands not open be?
28. Of a certain Ass.
That I thee call, not name an Ass, dost grieve?
We Names unt' Horse, not unt' Asses give.
29. Of the Picture in the Looking-glass.
Thou smiling, there thine Image seems to smile,
And while thou weep'st, it seems to weep the while.
It winks, thee winking, it thee moving moves:
But though thou speak'st, thine Image speechless proves.
30. Glaucus Change.
His Birth-right
Esau
unt' his brother sold:
Jacob
his Pottage for it gave, not gold.
31. Of Asellus a Dreamer.
Thou sleeping art inspired with Mysteries,
Which waking are concealed from thine Eyes:
O how would Death inform thee, since that sleep,
Deaths Image, prompteth thee with things so deep?
32. Wales and Kent.
Wales
keeps, though not its name, its ancient Nation:
Kent
keeps its name, but not its first Plantation.
33. Heauton-timoroumenos, Self-vexing.
Angels not having Bodies happy are.
And the brute Beasts which Reason want, want care;
Sole man, who soul and body doth possess,
Is wretched, knows and feels his wretchedness:
Yea every man hath
Menedemus
Fates,
Whom Reason ruinates, not regulates.
34. Of Linus.
Thou bound wert to me, when I did thee lend▪
Wilt have me bound to thee? my Coyn repend.
35. Single Life.
If Heaven to Good works be ascribed as Merit,
Thy Single Life hath wherewith Heaven t' inherit.
36. The Creation.
In the beginning God made Heaven, Earth, Man.
Why? 'cause not to be sole he then began.
37. Of Marcus.
Promise, thou sayst, makes rich: but I by thee.
Thy Promises shall never richer be.
38. Of Aulus an Atheist.
When we with thee discourse of God and Heaven,
With thee who prizest God, at six and seven:
Thou sayst, what's us above concerns us not:
True: for the lowest hole in Hell's thy lot.
39. Man a Stage-Player.
Hope is Lifes Argument (for Life's a Fable)
World, Scene: Faith, Prologue: Acts are Love unstable
40. To the Reader.
Why am I in mine Epigrams so brief?
It is, O Reader, for thy sake in chief:
As Gold than Silver is more light to carry,
So than long Epigrams short make less weary.
41. New Style.
Wherefore doth
Rome,
which new things so detests,
So dotes on old, ordain new Fasts, new Feasts?
42. To Marinus.
Motion's the praise of th' Heavens constant Station.
Earths glory fixed upon a firm Foundation:
Whence to thee
Phillis
seems of heavenly birth,
Still moveable, she nothing hath of Earth.
43. Eves Fall.
The Sun's not oft: the Moon's oft in th' Eclipse:
So women are than men more prone to slips.
44. Neither in this nor in the World to come, of Damianus.
Whether I present things, or future mind,
I none more wretched than thyself do find
Th' art wicked, future times will thee condemn,
A Fool th' art: present times do thee contemn.
45. By wanting rather than having, to Ponticus.
Thou knowest what wit, what valor is, if by
Their want, one their true value may descry.
46. Manslaughter.
One man himself may kill a thousand men:
But two can scarce beget one man agen.
47. Friendship to his Friend.
Why seeks Likes like Friends friend? because that none
Can long stand steadfast on one foot alone.
48. To Sir John Harington, son of the Lord Harington.
If virtue may be guessed at by the front,
Thy Face hath wit and virtue stamped upon it:
And herein is thy Fathers wisdom seen,
That learned
Tovey
hath thy Tutor been:
Since all this Isle of
Britain,
but a few
Tutors like him, Pupils like thee can show.
49. Polydore Virgil.
Two
Virgil's
were; one
Maro
(soaring higher)
A Poet; next thou
Polydore
a Lyar.
50. Upon Momus an unjust Censurer of the former Epigrams.
Among so many wicked then alive,
Had but
Gomorrhah
found of just men five
It yet had stood.—
And thou, malignant Reader, for a few
Loose Lines, wouldst all the Structure overthrow?
51. On the same.
One, whom I know not, infamous by Fame
Diana
's Temple burned to get a Name:
So with black Teeth thou dost my Verses bite,
Hoping to have thy name in what I write:
But bite, backbite thy fill, I will deceive
Thine hopes, and thee without a name will leave.
52. Upon a domestic Carper.
And me thy Brother, thou my Brother dear
Woundst with thy tongue, and with thy teeth dost tear.
Why dost malign my Verse, if praise it merit?
If blame, to spare it 'twere a brothers spirit.
53. A Cuckold.
Why for my Wives close Thefts am I (alas)
Traduc'd? men call me Cuckold as they pass,
And point at me: For what I did not sign
(But you, I know not who) I call not mine.
54. A Self-Lover.
Love, like thyself, thy Neighbor, saith the Text:
I do, thou sayest, I to myself am next.
55. Fortune assists the Bold.
Fair women are like Fortune: Neither she,
Nor they love men that slothful-bashful be.
56. Love blind.
Love not too fierce at first hath large extent:
For slow things longer last than violent.
Lovers in hast, are like that breeding kind,
which like blind love, bring forth their younglings blind.
57. Love not blind, to Firmicus.
Love is not blind:
Argus
to love is prone,
But
Polyphemus,
blinded loveth none:
Love's bred by Seeing: therefore Love's not blind,
Which through th' Eyes windows doth inflame the mind.
58. To Quintus, a Courtier.
Ulysses
fear, hast (
Quintus
) but one Eye?
An hundred hast? beware of
Mercury.
59. Epitaph of Justice.
E're since
Astraea,
last of heavenly Race,
Abandon'd Earth, and took in Heaven her place,
Laws Altars, Justice Temples are forsook,
60. Of Marcus, skulking.
Wisely th' art hid, if hid thine hiding were:
But open thy close hiding doth appear.
61. Jesus College, and Christ Church College in Oxford not fully Finished 1607.
Jesus,
one House unfinish'd bears thy Name,
And
Christ,
thou hast another like the same:
Among so many Noble Structures, those-
Thy two, thy former Poverty disclose.
62. Merchants Trust.
Poor
Irus
paid rich
Croesus
all: now which
Is of the greater credit, Poor or Rich?
63. Muses most sad.
Shorne is
Apollo
now, unshorne e're while:
Scarce in a year doth our
Apollo
smile.
O he mistook who called the Muses merry:
Phoebus
his Harp's untun'd, his hand is weary.
64. Incredulity.
Credulity's an error, not a fault;
Too much an error is too little, naught.
65. Credulity.
Him I distrust, who trusteth all by guess:
The more thou me, I credit thee the less.
66. Faiths Obsequiousness, to young men.
I like
Pythagoras
his Discipline
Which seven years Trial did for Trust assign:
Wilt have th' unlearn'd thee trust? th' learned trust rather:
Wilt have thy son thee trust? trust then thy Father.
67. Better to give than receive.
God giveth, man receiveth (and doth bow)
Never, I think, were fewer God's than now.
68. Of Ponticus, a Client.
Thy Gout's i' th' hand, thy Lawyer dost not Fee,
His is in's Feet, he moves no Foot for thee.
69. Tho. Wolsey, I, and my King.
I, and my King with Grammar Rules comply:
Good Manners teacheth thus, My King and I.
This is the way to live, that to discourse,
This in the Court, that in the School's of force.
70. To the Gauls.
Each drinks in his own Glass, I like it well:
But who's content with his own wife to dwell?
71. Philautus to Philaristus, Calend. January.
Thou lookst I should a Gift to thee commend,
I but myself have nothing else to send.
72. Philaristus to Philautus.
Thou nothing sent'st, thy nothing I repel:
Thou gavest thyself, I give thee back. Farewell.
73. To Henry Fanshaw, Knight, 1606.
Augustus
Empire had it been thy Fate
T' have had, or else
Mecaenas
his Estate,
In these our times had many
Maro
's been,
Now no
Mecaenas,
nor no
Maro
's seen.
74. To Henry Good-year, Knight, upon his Wifes Decease, 1606.
Men to command, women t' obey, to bear
Nature enjoins: thy Wife did both, while here
Sh' obeyed, she bare sweet Pledges, hopeful Sons,
Which props support the Ports of greatest
Dons.
O happy
Good-year
thrice, four times and more,
If one as good succeed as went before.
75. Ulysses and Penelope.
Death's t' us
Ulysses
-like when snatched from's Wife:
As she her Thread, so we spin out our Life.
76. Of Mancinus an Artless Master.
Thou the whole day from Street to Street dost walk,
Yet lest thou shouldst be thought thy Book to baulk,
Thou sleep'st at night by Candle-light: thine Oil
Mancinus
thou wilt lose, but not thy Toyl.
77. Upon a certain woman.
Though thy two sons be both unlike to thee,
Each yet with's Fathers likeness doth agree.
78. The Celestial Archer, to William Ravenscroft, J. C.
Thine Arrow, Faith: Bow, Love: thy Bow-string, Hope:
Let Heaven be thy Mark, and God the scope.
79. Ponderous things descend.
No Creature in the World is more sublime
Than Man, why must he slabber in the slime?
Of th' Elements, of what's the World within
The solid Earth most pond'rous is, save sin.
What wonder then that man is downward pressed?
Since man is nothing else but sin at best.
80. Of a litigious Debtor.
Thou dost not pay me, dost the Lawyer pay:
Thy Folly this, that doth thy Fault display.
81. Of the same.
Thy care is not to pay thy Debts: thy care
Is not to pay thy Debts what e're they are.
82. Of the Church Derivative.
Since that there's but one Faith, one Church that's true,
Sprung from the Fount of Life; within the new
Jerusalem,
what Church doth not derive
It self from thence, errs from the Primitive.
83. Four Seas.
Britain
's Trine-like, Triangular: why be
Four Seas therein, and yet but Kingdoms three?
84. To a Rich Friend.
If by the want of things their worth is known,
I know the worth of Wealth, for none's mine own.
85. The Generation of one is the corruption of two.
The male and female, in the course of nature,
Corrupt two bodies to produce one Creature.
86. The Wedding Ring.
A Ring at Nuptials the Bridegroom gave
The Bride in sign of Love: a custom grave.
The wife should rather give the Ring to th' man:
Let him reach out his Finger for it than.
87. The Worlds of Democritus.
If Worlds so many were, as doth attest
Democritus,
this were the worst o' th' rest.
88. Of Epigrams to the Reader.
An Epigram is like a fair-faced woman,
Which is, because more beautiful, more common:
But common once her beauty's out of date,
And then Adulterers it nauseate.
89. The Earth.
The Heavens, though in motion, constant prove,
For with the self-same motion still they move:
But th' Earth is most inconstant, though fast fixed,
Each Angle of it is with Errors mixed.
90. The Moon.
Cynthia
th'art called the Star that rules the Seas,
Thou rather rulest now the Land than these.
91. Covetous Liberality, to Acerra.
Thou givest to take, not take'st to give
Acerra
:
Thy mark's Receiving, Giving is thine Arrow.
92. Of Paula, a false Catholic.
If any ask of
Paula,
what's her Faith,
'It is Catholic, Apostolic she saith.
I think her love is Catholic unt' all;
But I would have her Faith Catholical.
93. A Prodigy.
Penelope
's chaste trust a Proverb was:
But for a Prodigy it now may pass.
94. Of Annetta, a Franck.
Nature with very little is content:
But of thy Nature this I think's not meant.
95. Of Marcus a Soldier, blind and blear-cy'd.
One of thine Eyes doth,
Marcus,
yet remain,
Which with continual drops thy Face doth slain:
Why is that Eye with Tears so much im
•
ost?
Because his Brother in the Wars was lost.
96. Peace in Europe, to Divines.
Kings war; and Kings in peaceful Leagues combine:
'It is something yet t' enjoy sweet peace in Fine:
The Priests with an immortal strife contend;
And their contests nor measure have, nor End.
Hence by Tongues virulence it doth appear
That than the Sword, the Pen is more severe.
97. To Carolina.
As oft as in the Glass thou view'st thy face,
Lest that thy beauty make thee proud, abase-
Abate thy Pride: think though th'art fair (alas)
Th' art frail, though beautiful yet like thy Glass.
98. Florals.
As in the Scene obscene came
Cato,
thence
To go: so man comes here, to pass from hence:
And never to come hither from his Urne,
As
Ca
•
o
to the Scene did not return.
99. Man's Epitaph.
Who lies here? no man: no man here doth lie:
A lifeless Corps doth not a man imply.
100. The Souls Horizon.
Th' high Elements we see not, Fire and Air:
Water and Earth we see, the lower pair:
So we know men and beasts with us below:
But God and th' Angels (ah) we do not know.
101. The Souls Eclipse.
As th' Earth 'twixt Sun and Moon doth stand we see
In her Eclipse: so sin 'twixt God and me.
102. A Merchant.
Plautus
a Tale, the Merchant called, compil'd:
The next, like it, is the Deceiver stilled.
103. Worshipper: of Images.
Who Grandees honor, Idolize: 'tis clear:
Since woman man's, man doth God's Image bear.
104. Erasmus his desire.
Erasmus Desiderius
I could
Desire; who sole might write what e're he would?
105. A Neuter.
Pompey
and I, if
Pompey
win the Field:
If
Caesar,
then to
Caesar
I will yield.
106. Scandalizing Grandees, to the Servants of Servants.
The Master saith, I will my Servant have
To be still faithful: how? my Goods to save.
Stand, watch, go, come: perform the most th' art able,
Th' art yet a Servant, but unprofitable.
107. Mars and Venus.
Venus
and
Mars
themselves alike extend,
Mars
common Foe,
Venus
a common Friend.
108. February.
Thou sole of many Brothers, not one other,
Hast eight and twenty days, most like thy mother.
109. To E. J.
Thy modesty thee (virtue like) doth praise,
I to thy wit, with leave, would Tropheys raise:
But O thy modest Face, and candid spirit
Cause me to praise thee less than is thy Merit.
110. A Circles Square.
What is a Circles Square? but this alone,
Th'Earth parted in four parts, at first but One.
111. Whether an Arithmetical unite answereth to a Geometrical Point.
God than a Point is more, yet is but One:
112. From the Womb to the Tomb.
Man's born to death most certain, which comes on,
As a lean Ox feeds to be fed upon.
113. To the King.
O of what Force Example's in a King?
Actest? thou bidst: forbearst? forbidst the thing.
A Prince moves principal; a King doth steer.
As Skyes the Stars, so Kings the People bear.
114. The Head and Body, to the same.
Reason's i' th' Head, there its five Agents
•
bide:
Little's Divine in the whole Man beside.
115. Report of the Death of Henry 4. the French King: To the French King.
What Kings to hear, and Servants fear to tell,
Fame sounds i' th' Ear, To die remember well.
116. Light and Air.
Air, though a Body, is unseen with th' Eye:
Light hath nobody, yet is seen on high.
117. One God, many Friends.
Though no man can two Masters serve as slave,
What hinders but two Patrons one may have?
One God forbids not to seek many friends,
As one Faith many Arts not discommends.
118. Donna, Danno.
Adam
a Rib lost for the woman's sake:
And for her sake he laid his Soul at stake.
119. Womens Tire.
This is more like an house than cov'ring: this
Is not to deck, t' erect the Head it is.
120. All things Nothing.
All things who made of Nothing, He's sole All:
What God of Nothing made, we Nothing call.
121. The East and Western Church.
The right-true Faith i' th' Worlds left Part resounds:
Faith sinister i' th' Worlds right Part abounds.
122. Anger, Patience.
Ire minds inflames, and Patience cools that Ire:
As Fire doth temper water, water fire.
123. Ruin of Heaven and Earth.
Th' Earth lowest is, Heaven highest is of all:
Yet that hath whither, this nowhere to fall.
124. To Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton.
Ally'd unt' one, Uncle to two great Counts,
Of great Account, thy Fame thy Name surmounts:
Of many Noble Dukes sprung from the Stemm,
Ones Brother; Nephew unto three of them;
An Earls son, who (but Fates did not so please)
Had been the fourth Duke in this Series:
An Earl thyself: None wonders at thy Fates,
Whom wit conducts, Fortune concomitates!
125. To Pontia.
I from thy sight, which wounds mine Heart, remove,
Not that I love thee not, but that I love.
126. To an Adulterer.
Adam
in
Eden
was forbid to taste
One Fruit, the rest were all for his Repast.
I wonder, having so much at command,
That He from One could not withhold his hand.
Thou contrary, art All forbid but One,
That thou mayest use, the rest must let alone.
Less strange, than
Adam,
that thou didst decline,
Whose Liberty was greater far than thine.
127. To the Reader.
Salt meats cause thirst: O that my verses might
The Reader cause to thirst with Appetite.
128. To an Uxorious Man.
Let not thy Wife command, give if she crave;
Make not thy Wife thy Master, nor thy Slave.
129. To Ponticus.
Thy Life's a Comick, Death a Tragic Story;
Unlike thy Death will be to thy Life's Glory.
130. Of a certain married Priest.
A Levite born, a Levite made, thy Wife
Of
Levi
's Tribe, Levitical's thy Life.
131. Of Innovators.
You pull down All Things, No Thing you rebuild,
Are you with Zeal, or fiery fury filled?
The Spirit, you pretend, doth you compel;
132. Of Cotta.
God out of Nothing, All things did Create,
Thou Chymist All things dost Annihilate.
133. Tho. Egerton Chancellor of England, and Francis Leigh his Son-in-law.
•
any Virtue loves, and Honors Arts,
•
hat Father, and this Son act both these parts:
•
ave
Egerton,
Brave
Leigh
the Muses love,
•
he Son would not unlike the Father prove.
134. Consubstantiation.
To the same Francis, and Mary his Wife.
You have not both one Soul, but both one Mind,
Nor both one Body, but one flesh conjoin'd:
Man, Wife, in name are two, but one in Troth,
They diff'rent are in Sex, but human both.
135. Funeral Sermons.
Good men are wronged while living, praised when dead;
O black Life, O Death candid-honored.
136. Paul 's Cross, and the Cross in Cheap, in the Parish of St. Peter.
Why's
Peter
's Golden,
Paul
's a Leaden Cross?
Why, because Golden words
Paul
's Cross ingross.
137. Loves Chronicle.
A Moment multipli'd amounts t' an Hour,
A Day's made up with Hours twenty four:
Days many make a Month, twelve Months a year:
So, with more Times, my Love doth more appear.
138. Twins.
Nothing's unlike in us, all's like; sole we
Differ in number, we two Bodies be.
139. Friends.
We scarce in number differ: Two we be,
Yet One: You Twins in Body, In Mind we.
140. Of the Art of Love.
Though
Naso
's Art of Love some prove-approve,
Yet men unexpert know not what is Love:
Love is by Nature taught, not learned by Art,
By th' Eyes, not Ears, Love enters int' our Heart.
140. Seneca the Philosopher.
Thy Dictates seem like Epigrams almost,
But that in Numbers they be not ingrost.
141. To Attalus.
Thou saidst once at thy Table (as I take it,)
Thou didst not relish Salt, but didst forsake it:
For Salt thou needest not care, nor isit a fault,
All, almost, that thy Tongue doth speak, is Salt.
142. Sir Philip Sidney' s Life.
Who while they lived writ Books deserving Fame,
Their Lives need not he writ, there lives their Name:
The Corps, not Life of
Sidney
's in the Tomb,
His short Lifes longer Glory keeps more room.
143. The Bodies Valediction to the Soul.
I for thy sake did Mother Earth forsake.
The Soul departing.
Fool, I left God my Father, to betake
My self to Thee: Now called, I t' him return;
And leave thee to thy Mother in thine Urn.
Till when (For we till then shall meet no more)
Th' Earth Thee to Me, God Me to Thee restore.
144. A Kingdom divided.
Two Kingdoms undivided are, Heaven, Hell,
As in themselves: There Good, here Bad do dwell:
On Earth alone (oh shame) Division reigns,
Which Good and Bad promiscuously sustains.
But time will come when th' Earth shall lie divast,
When Heaven and Hell shall both be filled at last.
145. How Waters.
Tears pressed-expressed do tacit Love declare,
Love Tears begets, Fire Water: Strange and Rare.
146. Of Wit and Memory.
To Ponticus.
'It is asked, Why wit is called sharpness? Why?
Because what's sharp doth pierce more inwardly:
The Memory is to retain, not pierce,
Thus Vessels are made round, and with reverse.
Whence I suspect that or thy Wit is round,
Or sharp thy Memory: Both unprofound.
147. Comfort for the Poor.
To the Rich.
Inconstant Fortune various appears:
Whence Hopes arise to Me, to The
•
but Fears.
148. Of Titius and Gellia.
One in disgrace did
Titius
upbraid
That's Wife, when first he took her, was no Maid.
What's that to Me, thus
Titius
replied,
She then was
Semprones
Daughter, not my Bride.
149. The Heart.
Why in the left side rather than the right
Is Mans Heart placed? to Good 'cause opposite.
150. The Flesh and Spirit.
God made man's Body first, and when created,
He with a living Soul it animated.
Hence the dull Body, doth, I think, deny
T' obey the Soul; pleads Seniority.
151. The Innocents, Proto-Martyrs.
For Christ the Children suff'red death, before
152. To his Friend.
The Dual Number oft doth Friendship bound:
Scarce in the Plural Number Love is found.
153. To a friend growing old. 1607.
Thou wert a youth, when I a Child: And now
Thou art grown old, while I a youth do grow:
Thee therefore Death expects, and Old Age Me;
Certain's thy lot, though mine uncertain be.
154. Of A. G.
Thy Name and Face is Mans, Wit, Animals,
A Fool in
Specie,
learned in Generals.
155. Harmony. To Divines.
Of Gospels Harmony have divers writ:
But who that Harmony? Great Labor's it.
156. Dissonancy.
So great discordance doth abound with Men,
That what Souls Peace is, scarce knows One of Ten:
Here's Base, depressed, There
Elah
too much reared,
That scarce the Tenor, or the Mean is heard.
157. To Pontilianus.
Art jealous of thy Wife? Th' art wise in part:
But art not jealous? Then thou wiser art.
To watch thy Wife is vain: That wife loves best
That though can, will not raise her husbands Crest.
158. To Porcia.
Art thou the Daughter of the Night, or Light,
Born in the Day, begotten in the Night?
159. An Epitome of the Histories of his Time.
To Marianus.
We worse are than our Fathers, worser they
Than their Fore-fathers, apt to run astray:
If our Posterity prove worse than we,
Nothing can worse than our Poster'ty be.
160. London.
To J. W. A London Gold-smith.
As
Thames
the Rivulets drinks up and drowns,
So
London
swalloweth the poorer Towns:
Though
Thames
with Flux, re-flux, Send and resend,
Its Floods to Sea, Th' art still a constant Friend.
161. Debtor and Creditor.
To Will. Cawley, A London Merchant.
Though in my Book, thou find, if there thou look,
Thy Name, My Name, yet, is not in thy Book:
I owe thee naught but Love: Of this to thee
A Creditor and Debtor still will be.
162. Fools and Dwarfs.
Though we be not accounted men of might.
Yet are we great men's sport, and their delight.
163. To Pontilian.
Poor
Irus
still was careful, why? 'Cause poor.
Croesus
was careful, why? For's wealth was more.
One's vexed, because he wants a Wife, and thou,
Because thou hast a wife, art vexed now.
164. Union.
To Married Britain's.
One God and Union, the World supply,
Wedlock on Earth was the first Unity.
165. The Elements War.
Though God created all things for man's sake,
Yet th' Elements against us Wars do make:
How many have (alas) been swept from hence
With the contagious Air, by Pestilence?
How near hath
London
felt the
Trojan
Flames?
How many have been drench'd and drowned in
Thames
?
Earth stops her Fruits: Yet no man doth repent;
Though Heaven with Tears, and Earth our sins lament:
Though th' Earth be mollified with moistening showers,
Yet sin our stubborn hearts more-more obdures.
166. An Epithalamy, To Tullia.
By day, Thou, the sole Object of my Sight,
Shalt be the Subject of my Love at Night.
167. To Sextus, an Academian.
That thou mayst mind thy Grave before th' art dead,
'It is said, by day thou makest for Night thy Bed.
That in Remembrance thou thy Death mayst keep,
Why dost not oftener go to Bed and Sleep?
168. To his Beloved.
Thee known I love, I loved thee when unknown,
Fame then, thy Face hath made me now thine own:
I now know Love; I love, not loved: Yea, now
I know not to be loved, to love I know.
169. The Younger Brother.
I m poor: My Parents Fault (not mine, nor other,)
Who did not me beget before my Brother.
170. The Firmament.
Th' Earth stands unmov'd, standing there moves the Creature:
Heaven moves, yet the fixed Stars move not by Nature.
171. The blessed Virgin.
Although the blessed Virgin we thee call,
Thou among women blessed art withal:
I profit nothing by thy Virgin vest,
But as a Mother, Me Thou profitest.
172. Hope and Faith.
Faith is no Faith, unless but One, firm fixed:
Nor Hope is Hope, if not with doubts commixt.
173. Novelty.
Reviv'd are many things which heretofore
Fell, and shall fall, though now they flourish more.
New things now please, but will not still, because
What's now new will wax old, and full of Flaws.
174. Marcus his Looking-glass.
Why is thy Fool before thee still? (All-Ass,)
Thou view'st thyself in him, as in a Glass.
175. To one Uxorious.
The Field's not always plough'd: Thy Wife's a Field,
Yet she loves daily to be duly tilled.
176. To a Friend.
Four years, and more,
praeter-plu-perfect
past,
First sprung thy love, and then was rooted fast:
In vain thou now dost seek it to remove,
No new young Plant, an old grown Tree's thy Love.
177. To Porphyrius.
We read that Christ wept twice, not laughed at all:
Why dost man's Nature Risible then call?
178. To Pontilianus.
As a Blind Man, by Boy or Woman led,
Ways t' him unseen-unknown doth often tread:
So
Venus
or her Boy, thee blind in Love,
Hither and Thither lead, move and remove.
179. Love is beyond all Exception.
To a certain Friend.
Though some new cause old Love may (chance) suspend,
I, by the Laws of Friendship, am thy Friend:
My Love's beyond Exception unto thee,
Except, thou lov'st not, as thou shouldst love me.
180. Of Ponticus aged sixty years.
In all thy Life thou good hast done to none:
When wilt thou now begin? Thou sayst upon
My death, I all will to the poor bequeath:
Too late he's wise, that is not wise till death.
181. Of Nigella, Candidated.
Rare Bird on Earth thou art, and Swan-like white,
White are thy Cloaths, thy Skin as black as night.
182. Le Carneval de la vit.
Why doth the Soul abhor the Bodies death?
Fears that to die, when this hath lost its Breath?
Or doth it fear that after death remains
Unt' it short Judgment, but long lasting pains?
I doubt, this doth the Soul in death dismay,
That to the Flesh it cannot farewell say.
183. Quintina' s Praise.
Should I thee praise, thou then wouldst prouder be:
I praise thee not: Th'art proud enough I see.
184. Earth' s Son.
Heaven looks on us, and we must look on Heaven,
For Stars in Skies, God Eyes to thee hath given:
Thou scarce the thousandth part of Earth canst see:
Half Heaven yet is visible to thee.
Fool, why dost Earth prefer unt' Heaven rather,
But as some love their Mother more than Father.
185. The lowest Species.
Though Mankind is the chief, yet him we call-
We account the lowest Species of all:
Heaven hath but few: More men in Hell do lie,
Who men's unhappiness can then deny?
186. Of Envy, a Paradox.
If Virtue did, Envy would less abound:
For where's more Virtue, there less Vice is found.
187. James, of that Name, The sixth King of Scotland, The first of England, Happiness to Britain.
What hath been often wished, scarce hoped for, came
'Twixt Hope and Fear unto thy royal Name:
King
James,
the first, the sixth of Regal Line,
Sice Ace,
the best chance of the Dice was thine.
188. To James the First, King of Great Britain, &c.
Thine Hand four Crowns, four Scepters doth command,
Four Languages are spoken in thy Land;
The Britain's Language, though not one, their Heart
Is One, of thy three Kingdoms being part.
At first the Devil did men's hearts divide:
But God their Languages: And all for Pride.
189. Kings and Prophets.
Out of his Country, no King rules in chief,
No Prophet in his Country gains Belief.
190. Virtue.
A double Genius, (while transitory,)
Attends on Virtue, Good, Bad, Envy, Glory.
191. Envy.
Envy corrodes men's praises (like a Slave)
As Worms corrode their Bodies in the Grave.
192. Of Battus.
Thy many Queries I in brief respond,
Not 'cause so many, but 'cause foolish, fond.
193. Sleep. Death.
Though in my sleep I seem as dead in sort,
Yet no part of my Life's the sweeter for it:
'It is strange what should in Death so bitter be;
Since Sleep, Deaths Image, is so sweet to me.
194. The Triumvirs.
Clients unto the Lawyer go, because
Wealth, their chief Good's secured by the Laws:
In Sickness the Physician comes; next Wealth,
The second thing to be secured, is Health:
Divines, who first to have been sent for ought,
Come last unto the sick
••
sent-unsought.
195. Lovers Patience.
Lover, wouldst have thy wish? Be patient:
He that will live in Peace, must be content.
196. Of a certain Grammaticaster.
Thou Letters knowest, a good Grammarian:
And nothing knowest but them; A learned man.
197. To a pompous Dame.
Be like
Men'laus,
or
Ulysses
Wife,
If thou wouldst famous live beyond thy Life:
For Vice, not only Virtue doth survive:
Helen's, Penelope
's Names are yet alive.
198. Of Aulus, a Grandee.
Truth-telling Fools speak things to be concea
•
'd,
But wise men see what's sit to be revealed:
Aulus
to trust his Servants wits afraid,
Keeps four fools still about him, for their Aid.
199. Gold from Dung.
Virgil
from
Ennius
Dung did Gold extract:
What
Virgil's
was, is now Physicians act.
200. Loves Secret.
A Lover's seldom loved: Be loveless, if
Thou wilt not be beloved, love then in chief.
201. Mon Tout, To Marcia.
Oft thou me call'st all thine: That I deny,
All thine I am not; But thine, all am I.
202. Of Quintus and Orus.
Quintus
and
Orus
have of late declared
Themselves Papistical: On what regard?
That for their Faiths Antiquity: And this
For Novelty thereof a Papist is.
203. Ariadne' s Thread.
As
Theseus
by
Ariadne
's Thread▪
Was Led, so Men, One Faith to Truth doth lead.
204. Of Wills and Vows.
In Testaments or Wills the Last must stand:
In Vows, if good, the first hath chief command.
When God created all things with one vote,
Two Wills or Testaments he made-he wrote.
205. To a Covetous Friend.
The Covetous hath all himself, not giving:
He nothing hath Himself, but wants while living.
206. To Ponticus, A Lawyer.
Part of thy Life thou to thy wife dost give,
Part to thy Client: When to th' self wilt live?
207. Of Preachers and Players.
Preachers and Players check our crimes: With Tears▪
The Preachers, and the Players with their Jeers:
To that I wretched, foolish seem to this.
This numbers, and that ponders mine amiss.
208. The Births of Christ, and J. Baptist.
John
in the Summer,
Christ
in Winter came:
That did Baptize with Water; This with Flame:
Our Sins Fire purgeth, Water washeth clean.
209. No Man is hurt but from himself.
None's free from Crimes, nor Discords: For most times
Our Discords are procured by our own Crimes.
210. Upon a bawling Ass.
I do not call thee
Momus,
every Ass,
But that which the false Prophet
Balaam's
was.
Not that which into
Salem
Christ did carry,
For this was mild and mute, but that contrary.
211. Of his Heirs.
To the Lawyers.
None of his wife, but
Adam,
was secure,
And none but
Eve,
was of her husband sure:
In Wedlock the poor husbands sole defense,
And comfort is, in's Wife t' have confidence.
212. An hollow Tooth.
The Fire, Me cast therein doth not consume,
But I am hollow made by Watrish Rheum.
213. Virtues Praise.
As the Suns constancy consists in Motion,
So Virtue's force in Action hath best Notion.
214. Aesop' s Tongue.
No Member is, that doth to man belong
More Noble, or Ignoble, than the Tongue.
215. To the Children of Winchester College.
I am not what I was, once all for Plays;
A Child of Festivals and Holy-days.
216. Wisdom leading, Fortune following.
Of Ancus.
If ill advice chance well, in vulgar Eyes;
Ancus
the Fool, shall be reputed wise:
If good advice come by mischance to naught,
Wise
Cato
shall himself a Fool be thought.
217. Grief.
Loss present's to be grieved for We bemoan;
Past, ah, too late, and future loss too soon.
218. Vicissitude.
Mirth, Mourning ends, and Mourning Mirth concludes,
Hope, Fear, w'are various by Vicissitudes.
219. To Germanicus.
Thy Wife hath raised the Number of thy Friends,
This her fertility in part commends:
This Benefit in Wedlock doth accrue,
A new Wife gains new Friends, and Friendship new.
220. Armed Wickedness.
Of Linus.
As the best Wine makes Vinegar most tart,
So the more witty, thou more wicked art.
221. Opinionist.
How, ah, Opinion reigns the World thoughout:
The Truth I know not, yet I must not doubt.
Who doubteth errs not: Yet for both prepared:
Error b' Opinion, not by doubt's declared.
222. Alma Mater Academia Oxonia.
Fair Mother Oxford University.
Nature was Mother of my Brain, Thou Now:
She
dura Mater, pia Mater
Thou.
223. The Poet.
Rewards, not words
Me
•
enas
Poets gave;
The Grandee.
What more than words can I from Poets have?
224. Man is to Man a God.
A Man's a Man, though he but sparing lives:
A Wolf that spoils, a God who freely gives.
225. Homer.
If that be true, which some of thee do write,
Thou never sawst, thy Books yet see the Light.
226. Three Secretaries.
Thou must to th' Lawyer thy whole case untwist,
To th' Doctor thy Disease, thy Sins to th' Priest.
If thou respect'st thy Soul's and Body's weal,
Nothing from this Triumvirate conceal.
227. To D. C. G.
The Gout thee vexeth, and a pest contrary:
Thy Wife makes thee to run, the Gout to tarry.
228. Ubiquitaries.
All th' Earth's before the poor, where e're he roam
He's never exiled, ever is at home.
229. Lovers.
Love is in us, as in the Wood is Fire;
As Fire the Wood, Love burns us with desire:
But Fire in Air, Wood t' Ashes doth consume:
We Ashes are; And what's our Love but fume?
230. Speech.
A Speech is like to Grief, is like to sport:
If long, 'tis trivial, if grave, 'tis short.
231. On an esseminate old man.
Bacchus
old age,
Venus
doth youth engage,
This therefore fit for youth, and that for age.
232. On Harpalus, a covetous Youth.
The World thy Friendess is, wretch thou t' adore it.
That's old, thou youthful, 'tis enough t' abhor it.
233. To the Reader.
Who writes, is famed of these, is blamed of those;
Himself to censure still he doth expose:
He daily pleads his cause, desisteth Never,
And, Reader, unto Thee, the Judge is ever.
234. Of a Looking-glass.
Thou gavest m'a Glass my Face to represent:
One to present thy Face would more content.
235. Of Quintia, a Hypocrite.
Learn'd, Comely, youthful, fair, Benign and Chast
Thou, if not proud of these, some Goodness hast.
236. A Problem.
The Prodigal the Miser doth detest.
Why then do Misers Prodigals love best?
237. Sleep. Venus.
Shall I you call Death's Sisters, or Allies,
Thou pleasing
Venus,
Thou Sleep, easing Eyes?
You both indulge your Selves on Beds to lie:
And Feds are made your Pleasures to supply.
Dull Sleep, lewd
Venus
hate the light: And this
Is the Souls Death, the Senses Death that is.
238. Lifes length and shortness.
To slothful men the Day, Night, Month and Year
Seem long, though posting on with swift career.
We trifle out our long-thought time in vain,
Why of Life's shortness do we then complain?
239. The Treasury.
Birds are with Bird-lime caught, both young and old:
So Treasuries like Lime-twigs catch our Gold.
240. To self-loving Ponticus.
Thy mind and Eye, themselves did never see.
That thou so lov'st thyself, how can it be?
241. Scrutiny.
O, that what Christ unt' his Disciples spake,
Prince, Priest and people would their Query make;
What do men say of me? This askd, in th' end
Men would their Errors see, and them amend.
242. Light of Grace.
The Moon enlight'ned by the Sun doth shine.
So shines the Soul inspired with Grace divine.
243. Fame. Error.
Rumours and Errors further going; grow
Greater and greater like a Ball of Snow.
244. Historical Tradition of King Brutus, To William Camden.
Books may be burned, and Monuments may lie
Demolished; thy works and mine may die:
But a Tradition National, alive
While is that Nation, will in force survive.
245. To Roger Owen, A Learned Knight.
Thou knowest the
Britain's
Laws, their old, new Rites,
And all that their whole History recites:
In thy Discourse, Th' art so profoundly read,
A living Library seems in thine Head.
246. On a Covetous Man.
Thou wretched man, why for a thousand year
Provid'st, and canst not live one hundred here?
Why such vast sums of Moneys up dost heap,
And seek'st long Joys in this short life to reap?
Thou sayst; I one day shall be rich, if I
Live close? Why sayst not, I shall one day die?
247. One Foot in the Grave.
We live upon Deaths shore, our life's as near
To death, as Seas unto the Shores appear:
Life, Death; are almost one thing in repute,
As Earth and Water one Globe constitute.
248. Britain's Mercury. To J. H.
Of mundane things
Moore
wrote the best, and good:
Thou writ'st the worst, but Truth, if understood.
249. Of Himself.
Some say I am no Poet, 'tis no lie:
For I write nothing else but verity.
250. To William Butler Physician at Cambridge.
Some to desired Health prefer their Wealth;
Thou sleightest Wealth, thy care's for cure, for Health.
Thee the Physician, let none despair
Of Health, that's sick: Physic, as
Phoebus
Heir,
Thou givest: I flatter not, the truth I speak;
Nor comes this Praise from one that's Sick, or weak.
251. To Paulus, A Lawyer.
Why calls the common Law a Relict, her
Whose husband's dead? to th' wedded that refer:
No need, a Wife her husbands death expect,
To lodge in mournful Bed with Face erect.
252. The last Divorce.
If man to Bliss, to
Dis
wife pass away,
Or contrary; No more one flesh are they.
253. The World.
The Earth is like a Gaol, like Walls the Skies,
The Gaoler's Sin, the Fetters Womens Eyes.
254. Laws Nullity.
We many Laws have made, almost not any:
For if not any kept, what good's so many?
That Laws be kept, this one Law more ordain,
Which if soon mar'd will soon be made again.
255. The state of man.
If one Foot down, Then th' other is above:
Thus one man's Fall, another's Rise doth prove.
256. To a certain Man.
Doctor beginning, O begin to be
Now
Ductior
: more learned for thy degree.
257. Beside Women and Children.
Read through the sacred writ, though they surmount,
Women and Children are not Officers,
Nor are they trained up, or armed for wars:
Women and Children for their Garments have
Long Coats, they beardless are, and never shave:
Women and Children will Tears quickly shed,
And are by Flatterers soon led-misled.
O with what Arts do you man-kind destroy
Thou woman
Venus, Cupid
thou, her Boy?
258. A Nose of Wax.
Do sacred Scriptures promise good unt' us?
Our Faith believes it, soon is credulous.
Do they require our duty? Then, O then
'It is
durus sermo,
difficult for men.
259. Heavens Ladder. 1 Cor. 13.8.13.
| y | ||
| t | ||
| h | i | |
| t | r | e |
| i | a | p |
| a | h | o |
| F | C | H |
Three Virtues, as by steps, ascend int' Heaven,
Good Hope by four, by five Faith, Love by seven.
Hope to the Moon, Faith doth to th' Sun aspire,
But Charity to th' highest Heaven, and higher.
260. Of Battus.
Thy Tongue thine Heart interprets, let thine Heart
Be silent, e're thy Tongue thy Mind impart.
Th' interpreter must silent stand, as long
As the Ambassador doth use his tongue.
261. The Praise of the Ass.
Be ye not like an Horse or Mule which have no understanding.
With Horse and Mule, why was not th' Ass brought on?
Because he was to carry
David
's Son.
262. A pair of impair Courtiers. The Carper, the Parasite.
They well agree not, nor keep equal ways,
This all things praiseth, that doth nothing praise.
263. Four causes of man.
What is Mans form, but a bad mind, vain will?
What Principle Material? But
Nily.
Suspect not matter with the form, respect
Th' Efficient and End: On these reflect.
264. The last Line.
Sad Death is of a merry Life last Act;
A serious Life doth Joys in Death attract.
265. Upon the Death of Rich. Vaughan Bishop of London, 1607.
I who thee living did most justly praise,
Well knowing that thy worth deserved the Bays,
Ah, thee now dead, why praise I not more full?
Joys did my wit make brisk, Grief makes it dull.
While with more Tears, than Verse, I found thy knell,
My Tears confound my Verse, my words: farewell.
266. Of Life and Death.
One way to Life, to Death a thousand's had;
'It is well Death is a good thing, Life a bad.
267. Of decrepit Paul, A Builder.
Thou build'st an House, wherein to die, not dwell:
Whether thine House, or Tomb, thou canst not tell.
268. Of Sextus, a Prodigal Robber.
We thee confess Munificent, who thine
Not only givest, but take'st from me, what's mine.
269. On Zoilus.
Thou spar'st the Dead, the Living dost envy:
I will not therefore wish myself to die.
270.
A Pair Royal of Friends. To the
-
English-Scots,
Britain's.
-
Scots-Welsh,
Britain's.
-
Welsh-English
Britain's.
In friendship this doth seem a royal pair,
When three between, one love commands the Chair:
To make a pair in Love; if there be three,
Each of the three must then twice numbered be.
271. A Kingdom divided.
This world hath nothing pertinent: And this-
World cannot stand, because divided 'tis.
272. The Ring of Concord, To the Britain's in Parliament, 1607.
Scotland
the Jewel brings, to make the Ring,
England
the Gold, the Goldsmith is the King:
Speed
Europes
Peace, lest else the Ring-like year,
Before the Ring be finished, disappear.
273. Britain.
As thou wert i' th' Beginning, now as then,
So, O so be, World without End: Amen.
274. Steganography. To the curious Reader.
Why, that my Verses are obscure, dost say,
Not well to b' understood without a Key?
An Epigrammatist must not dilate:
'It is therefore fit he should abbreviate.
275. One God.
One
Adam
was the Father of all Men:
Nor can there be more God's than Fathers then.
276. To the Lady Arbella Stuart.
If in bare words were honor, I could raise-
Could write a thousand Verses in thy Praise:
My Muse may by thy worth ennobled be,
But my poor Muse can nothing add to thee.
FINIS.
An Anagram of the Authors Name, Invented by D. Du. Tr. of Paris. JOANNES AUDOENUS, Ad Annos Noah Vives.
Of the same, A Distich.
This Anagram is false concerning thee;
But of thy Book it verifi'd may be.
D. Du. Tr. Med.
Of the same.
Of Thee, thy Book, this Anagram is right:
Thou broughtest thy Book, thy Book brings thee to light.
John Ross, J. C. A Temples.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN.
Three Books, Two Dedicated unto Henry Prince of Wales. One unto Charles Duke of York.
Englished by Thomas Harvey.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul 's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
The Author to the Reader.
IN th' Authors Praise, according to the Mode;
Dost wonder thou canst find nor Verse, nor Ode?
No Patronage can to my Verses add;
For if they are good, they are good: if bad, they are bad.
The same, to the same.
MIne Epigrams are not like strifes, nor are
They like a Lawyers Client at the Bar:
None can our Verses (nor have Kings such power)
If low, make lofty, lofty if, make lower.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen A CAMBRO-BRITAN. To Henry Prince of Wales. The First Book.
1. To Prince Henry.
IN Love, for Custom Books we Dedicate,
And I the Prince choose for my Principate.
2. To Mecaenas.
I for my Verses no
Mecaenas
look,
I want one for myself, not for my Book.
3. To Marcellus, A Lawyer.
Thou wert
Paulinus
Patient; for it
Let him thy Client be; Then are you quit.
4. To Henry, Prince of Wales.
Thy Breast, Brain, Reason, Head, Affections, Heart,
In thee with good Effects perform their Part:
Thy Wit thy Courage, Reason rules thy Sense;
Thine Head completes thine Heart with Eminence.
And Thou, Great Prince, shalt be the fourth proclaimed.
5. Mercury Gallo-Belgic.
Not every Tree will make a Mercury,
This Artist yet doth toit all Woods apply.
6. Orpheus.
Orpheus
did fetch his Wife from Hell: But when
Fetch'd any Wife her Husband from that Den?
7. Academical Vests. To the Students of Oxford and Cambridge.
Why are you Students, and our Clergy clad
In black, their Vestments wearing fable, sad?
Isit that our Muses for
Apollo
mourn?
Or for
Mecaenas
closed in his Urn?
Mecaenas
yet left Heirs: 'It is true, someone
Heir of his Goods, but of his Goodness, none.
8. Wheter Peter were at Rome.
Whether at
Rome
Saint
Peter
ever were,
'It is doubtful: doubtless
Simon
was, is there.
9. To Be and Have.
'It is good to Be and Have, A Greek, I think,
Once said, an Alman added, and to drink.
10. To Ligurinus.
Arr'us
thy Wife doth till, doth fill: The seed
He sowed, but thine's what Harvest it doth breed.
11. Thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not steal.
Thou shalt not steal, this Law's for Lawyers writ:
Thou shalt not kill, this for Physician's fit.
12. Of Alanus, A decocting Chymist.
This Chymist Gold to Not-Gold brought, in Fact:
But he from not-Gold could not Gold extract.
13. To the Prince.
Ones own be first: If not, let none decline
Another's to be, while he may be thine.
14. To Richard Earl of Dorset returned from France.
The change of Air hath changed (which is most rare)
Thy Qualities and wit: both bettered arc.
More learned, more good thou now return'st: thy Fate
In both, great Earl, I do congratulate.
15. Nine
-
Muses,
-
Mutes.
When mute the Muses be, what odds (in fine)
Whether thou sayst nine Mutes, or Muses nine?
If th' Idiome the diff'rence constitutes,
What diff'rence 'twixt the Muses and the Mutes?
16. Honors
-
Etymology.
-
Genealogy.
In
Hebrew
wealth's called Hon, in
French,
Gold, Or:
Hence Hon-or hath its name and Metaphor.
17. To Cornutus.
Pythagoras
his Letter hath upon it
A Bipartite; That Letter's on thy front.
18. To Dindimus.
Of Salt a Bushel thou with me must eat
Thou sayst, to make our Amity complete:
Thou never eatst, as I remember, Salt:
What, shall thy friendship then forever halt?
119. A Cannical Woman.
A Woman's like a Rule that's general:
Which many times deceives, so women all.
20. Solomon's wish.
Why did the wise King wisdom wish, not Health?
Had
Solomo
•
been wise h' had wished for wealth?
But
Solomon
wished wiser, He did prize
Wisdom 'fore Wrath,
〈…〉
was not
〈◊〉
.
21. What News?
Here's nothing, new saith
Solomon
; yet, bold
Columbus
found a new World in our old.
22. A Trine of British women from whom came the British union.
Happy, O Son, happy O Husband rather,
23. Doron Basilicon. A Kingly Gift.
To thee the Wisdom's wished of
Solomon
:
Thy wish thou hast
Doron Basilicon.
24. Blessed are
-
Munisicents.
-
Pacisicents.
King
James
the Britain's state munites, unites:
Munificent, unificent he writes.
25. Of Gaurus, a Church-Canon.
Wisdom is read in Texts Apocryphal,
Thou, though unwise, art yet Canonical.
26. A Snayl: Emblematical.
Like Snayls are disagreeing Man and Wife:
One House will not contain them in their strife.
27. Christopher Columbus.
That Land appeared, and waters did abate:
And thou
Columbus
was the first, whose hand
This Gold, an Olive Branch that did produce,
That Pleasures, and this Treasures for man's use.
28. Against Regicides.
Then pull it out, what Member more or less
Is peccant in the Body, strike it dead:
29. A Gratulation. To George Arch-bishop of Canterbury, 1511.
At
Oxford
Rector, thence thou didst arise
A Dean, two Cities didst Episcopize:
Thou
London's
Bishopric soon hadst; and thee
The Metropolitan we soon did see:
Thou in the Triple Senate fit'st on high:
30. To Decianus, a Judge.
I would not have thee deaf, nor dumb, but blind:
Not lame, but maim'd; not cruel, nor too kind.
31. To Caesar, Caesar's, to God, God's.
All Power on Earth, beginning hath and end:
God solely doth beyond them both extend:
Indefinite not infinite are Powers:
On Earth God's Infinite, but finite Ours.
32. Three Sabbaths.
Saturn,
The Sun, and
Venus
in a Trine,
To th'
Jews, Turks, Christians
Sabbaths three design:
The
Jews
their Sabbath have: And they the same
From pale-faced-leaden color'd
Saturn
name:
The
Turk,
whose Law permitteth many Wives,
His Sabbaths Name from
Venus
Name derives:
But
Christians
their Sabbath, on the Day
The Sun of Righteousness arose, display.
33. To David Murray, Knight, one of the Bed-chamber unto Prince Henry.
Kings Favors to their Favorites impart;
Wise Kings to those alone of best desert:
Our King in this excels: For, Favors he
Daigns sole to worthy men, to Thee, like Thee.
34. I can, will, will not.
Anomals.
I will, but cannot, what I can, I nill.
Mans total Life is only Nill, and will.
35. Patience.
The man that suffers, overcomes: But then
The suff'ring woman's overcome by men.
236. Of Genu-flexion, A Problem.
When Honor is confer'd, or Friend to Friend;
Why man but one Knee, Woman both doth bend?
Man once, but Woman twice must serve in Life:
While Maid, her Father: Husband, when a Wife.
37. To William Earl of Pembroke, one of the Kings privy Council.
Not old in years, nor young in Judgment sound,
The King, thee fit for him, -thy Country found;
Shall I for this thine Honor, praise thy Fate?
Or thy Desert? I both congratulate.
38. To the Bishop of London.
The learned King, of the
Metropolis
Thee Pastor made: The City wished for this:
The See-seat vacant, many sought for it,
As their Reward for Learning and for Wit:
The King, th' Arch-bishop; thee the City called:
And thou the See-seat vocant art install'd.
39. Of rising and setting.
Remember at Sun-setting Death, thine Urn:
And at Sun-rising mind thy thence return.
40. To Peter Junius, a Scot-Britain, formerly Tutor to King James.
He's born unworthy, from whom none is born,
But thou thy birth, thy being dost adorn:
For seven from thy Loins are issu'd forth,
Th' Idea's of thy Body, Wit and worth.
So many learned from thee their Father sprung
As Wise men did to learned
Greece
belong.
41. Of Gaurus.
Thou wise, and foolish art: Who credits it?
Wise in conceit, Foolish, for want of Wit.
42. S. T.
S T.
though a note of silence, doth expound,
Without a Vowels help, a vocal sound.
43. The saying of Henry Earl of Northampton, Uni & Univoce.
One and Only.
We
Britons
are univocal, serve one.
Only King
James,
uniting us alone.
44. Of Quintus a Dreamer.
Oft in the Morn I thee complaining heard
That in thy Dreams by Night no Truth appeared:
What wonder? while by day thou speakest but lie
•
,
That all thy Dreams by Night are falsities?
45. To Robert Carre of the Kings Council, &c.
The vulgar seldom love whom Kings prefer,
The King as seldom loves the popular:
'It is difficult to purchase both their Loves;
Thy Motion's double, for with both it moves.
46. Of a certain Hypocrite.
Thy left hand knows not what thy right hand gives:
True: For it gives to none, nor one relieves.
47. The death of Justus Lipsius, 1606.
The seventi'th and sixth year of thine Age
Finish'd (oh Grief) thine Earthly Pilgrimage:
That Day brought first mine Epigrams to Light,
When thon didst die, my morning was thy night.
48. Sir Thomas Overbury 's ingenious Poem of a Compleat Wife.
Thou dost describe a Wife in such a dress
As
Tully
doth an Orator express:
And if to such a wife thou wedded wert,
She would be far too short of thy desert.
49. Conferring Benefits.
Good done t' a Child is lost, at least forgot:
Good done t' an old man, is as good as not.
50. Ambiguous Right.
Physicians and Lawyers expert are,
These for our wealth, those for our Health take care.
These to the Clients their just Portion give,
With just proportion those the sick relieve:
Dost ask what difference is between their Notions?
These arid Portions give, those liquid Potions.
51. To Prince Henry, born the nineteenth of February, 1594. ( good or ) Golden luck, 1612. 19. Jun.
Thou hast attained thy Nineteenth year of Age,
And this a Golden year (if I not err)
52. To the King.
Noah,
who lived before the Flood, and since,
Di'd in his Nineteenth
Jubily
: Great Prince,
Likes ages, as he
Jubilies,
to see.
53. On a Certain Miser.
I praise thy Tongue, but not thine Hand: None knows
To promise more than thou, none less bestows.
54. Of Thomas More formerly Chancellor of England.
To Thomas Baron of Elesmere Chancellor of England.
Integrity of Life, sweet Eloquence,
Rare Wit advanced
More
to more Eminence.
And thee, thy Wisdom, Candor, grave Aspect
Makes Eminent, sublim'd from Vulgar Sect.
Thy Life with such Integrity, so led,
Proves thee to
More
more like; but that he's dead.
And thou to
More
shalt be more like in all,
Except his fatal end, and final fall.
55. Natura Brevium.
Praise of Brevity.
To the Reader.
Some praise prolixe Polysticks, I affect
Short Disticks, Dwarf-like, a short dialect:
Not sole in Epigrams, but in what sort
Of Things soe're, What's Neat, Good, Sweet, is short.
56.
Thou shalt marry a Wife, and another shall sleep with her.
Deut. 28.
Thou shalt marry a Wife, and another shall sleep with her.
Deut. 28.
This Scripture is in these our Days complete,
One weds a wife, another doth her treat.
57. The Original of Britain's union.
58. To the learned King James.
To b' a good Poet's rare, if understood:
As rare a thing, a man to be that's good:
But a good King is a transcendent thing:
Yet thou good Poet art, good man, good King.
59. Of Cotta.
Saint
Paul
's Rule
Cotta
keeps t' his wife: He's one▪
That hath a Wife, and is as if h' had none.
60. As well to Mars, as Mercury.
Neptune
to
Bacchus, Mars
t'
Apollo
join,
Art calmeth Rage as Water cooleth Wine.
61. To John Harington, Knight.
Nobility, Wit, Virtue, these in thee
Strive for Precedence: Honorable three.
These noting to speak Truth why should I fear:
Of youths in Court thy Peer doth scarce appear.
62. The Lottery: in French, the Blank.
Here mourn the White, the Black rejoice; Yet this
Black color proper more for mourning is.
Why gains the Black? the White the while doth lack?
Isit for that
Dis
give Wealth? And
Dis
is black.
63. To G. R. A Bachelor.
A Wife is good, a good Wife better; best
No Wife; I wish thee this; me that, at least.
64. On trifling Cotta.
In serious things thou trislest seriously;
Thy folly's serious, thy Wit's laid by.
65. On Paetus.
Thy Front hath Horns: 'It is asked who fixed them there?
An Author gave them, write; what-ere he were.
Write, Authors gave them; On the Moon-like front,
There must be two that fixed those Horns upon it.
66. Deltoton, Or the Letter D.
Rocks to man's Life three Deltaes are; these be
67. The Gallows: To P. L.
A Robber's End's a Rope; Death circles it.
And Ropes for Thieves I think are Robes most sit:
But many scape: 'It is true: some have some scope:
Yet commonly a Robber's End's a Rope.
68. Of Womens Wit. A Problem.
Why is a woman, than a Man, less wise?
Because
Eve
from man's Rib, not Head did rise.
69. Minerva, Eve.
Minerva, Joves
Brains issue, wedded none:
But
Eve
was wedded, born from
Adams
Bone.
70. Of Helius.
Lawyers grow rich by Clients, at Debate:
Thus
Helius
hath gained a vast Estate.
71. The State of Britain's Union.
To the King.
This I will,
Elisa
reigning, was like Wool,
By thee spun,
Henry
will makeit Cloth in full.
72. Whether Bacchus be a God? To Germanus.
Seest not when drunk with Wine, that
Bacchus
shakes
Thine Head above, thy low Feet lofty makes?
He raising humble Feet, Heads list on high
Dejecting, proves himself a Deity.
73. To Sir Thomas Chaloner Chamberlain to Prince Henry.
Thee from thy youth endowed with noble Arts,
Advanc'd by
Caesar
for thine able Parts,
Thee who to thy poor friends a friend dost prove,
Not, as so great, but, as so good, I love.
74. I love, a Passive; I am loved, an Active Voice.
Who loves, doth serve: Who's loved doth bear the sway;
This Active is, that Passive; must obey.
75. On Julius, a pretended Monk.
Not in the World is
Julius
; but rather
The World's in him: This from his Life I gather.
76. Priest and People.
Priests pray for People, for Priests People toil:
Those praying, these are ploughing all the while.
77. On Pope Julius 2.
Behold two Swords said
Peter,
armed with Sword:
Behold two Keys O
Peter,
said his Lord.
Peter
left Sword, and did the Keys receive,
But thou dost take the Sword, the Keys dost leave.
78. Like to like.
Females deformed though, find Males by kind.
And knavish
Dav
•
s
will a Master find.
79. Know thy Self.
Wouldst know thy Self? Then Nature join to Grace,
This shows the Souls, and that the Bodies Face.
80. Death's Equity.
Rivers from Rivers differ; Man from Man:
While Men in Life, Rivers in Channels ran.
Ingulph'd in Seas, all Rivers have like Taste:
So Death doth all men equal make at last.
To Thomas Button, 1612.
From
Britain,
almost all the World apart;
I wish fair Gales, thou sailing Westward art.
Seek, thou shalt find the great Seas Mysteries;
Prince
Henry
's way's found by the Destinies.
82. On Gellia, painted.
Thy Picture is not like thee: But 'tis plain
Thou like thy picture art, as vile, as vain.
83. Conjurers contest.
In Magic Art the Conjurers contest,
Scottus Parmensis
did excel the rest:
He with the Devil had a contract made,
Who knew most, could do most in that black trade:
Like as chief servants in the Courts of Kings,
Under great Masters can perform great things.
84. Of Ruffus, An Hypocrite.
Thou sayst that Ignorance makes men devout:
Thou then shalt be the chief of all that Rout.
85. To the English. A Problem.
Wherefore do
Spanish, French, Italian
86. To Cinna, A Physician.
Thou cur'st Diseases, How? Thou kill'st the Sick:
And what thou dost (like
Judas
) thou dost quick:
Thy Patient is blest: Thou wilt not wrong
His Patience, to let him languish long.
87. We have one Advocate in Heaven.
One Advocate we have in Heaven, saith
Paul
;
Are no more Advocates within that Hall?
88. To one young in years, old in manners.
Why doth the Gout, which doth unt' age belong,
Thee vex, A Soldier, Scholar, and so young?
The Gout mistook, it saw thee grave and sage,
And took thee for an old man, full
•
of age.
89. Anger is a short fury.
Though wrath be short, 'tis not for fury sit:
If furious, 'tis fit to shorten it.
90. To Henry Good-year, Knight, Kal. Jan. 1610.
What new-years Gift shall I present to thee?
91. Love Active and Passive. To Pontia.
Wilt know what differs I am loved, from I love?
That, I suppose: My knowledge this doth prove.
92. To the Prince.
My dreams by night are much of Royal Gold,
But in the morning there's no Gold, all's cold.
If thou, O Prince, wilt with thine Hand assist,
I shall have Real Gold, not in a Mist.
93. Arithmetical Division. To J. S. Merchant. 1607.
Though living thou give nothing to thy Friends,
The total Sum at Death in nothing Ends.
94. The Court Louse.
The prattling Parasite, through all the court,
To Grandees Chambers make their most resort:
So this vile Beast the Louse doth ost infest
Men's Bodies, but their Heads above the rest.
95. Aesculapius Three-faced.
The Physic Doctor seems three-faced to be
Unto the Sick; God, Man, and Devil's he:
In giving Physic, he doth seem a Man:
If the disease be cured a God he's than.
If Health's restored, and the disease destroyed:
When Doctor comes for Fees, Satan avoid.
96. Of Galatea.
The Stag, 'tis said, his Horns doth yearly mew:
Thine Husband daily doth his Horns renew.
97. Waters and Earths Epithalamy.
All generated are in Earth and Water:
Both these God hath united, former, later:
That nothing to Man-kind unkind should prove,
Th' Earth lieth under, Water flows above.
Earth's waters Wife, Both one Globe constitute,
98. Of the same.
Why Water, which flows round, doth slow from th' Earth?
'Cause Thirst this should not suffer, nor that Dearth.
99. Death's in the Pot. To Court Critics.
For
Plautus
saith, Pot, Court the same import.
100. The Deluge. A double Problem.
Fish sole was saved when all the World was drowned.
All drowned, why were the Fish from drowning freed?
Because the Mother would preserve her breed.
101. A Cole of Wood.
Born in the Fire, and perishing thereby:
Woods spoiling, I deserve by Fire to die.
102. Of Gellia.
Thou from thy youth a Papist wert: But now
Worse Papist art; How? Catholic art thou.
103. Of Aulus.
As ost as Sickness casts thee on thy Bed,
Or hollow Tooth doth ache; or stupid Head:
O would I were in Heaven from this smart,
Thou sayst: Thine Heir saith, O would thou wert.
104. A Woman, what Creature.
Virgins untouched want sense, and Husbands grant
To them their sense, but then they Reason want.
105. Reason and Oratory.
Rhet'rick's the Palm, and Dialect's the fist:
This Combats, that Triumphs within the List.
106. Testicles.
To signify the Sex? or is our Name
Call'd Testicles, t' attest thy Sin-thy Shame?
107. Upon the Death of Hen. Cuff, 1600.
Learn'd well in
Greek,
happy thine
Alpha
was,
But thine
Omega
hapless proved; Alas.
108. Of Festus.
Wilt marry now th' art old? If thou b
••
wise
With
Lilies
learned Grammar first advise:
There indeclinable the Horn thou wilt find;
Old men have seldom that hard Rock declined.
109. Sir Thomas Moore.
Imprison'd
Moore,
to guess what would befall,
Inspects his Urne in an Urinall:
He saw no signs of Death: But had he seen
The Kings, the signs there of his death had been.
110. Of Cornelius.
Thou knowest Th' art Horn'd, tacit
Cornelius
:
Now thou shalt be
Cornelius Tacitus.
A Tripple Lie
- Vented,
- Invented,
- Painted.
111. On Tullus.
Carvers invent, the painters paint a Lie,
Who vents it? Thou. Thou dost adventure high.
The End of the First Book.
THE SECOND BOOK OF JOH. OWENS Epigrams. To Prince Henry.
1. To Henry Prince of Wales.
GOD grant thee will the best, the Truth to know:
2. To James of Great Britain, &c.
King, the Best-Greatest.
Tyrants are feared of all, fear all: Nor wants
Their fearing force, fearful concomitants:
No need for thee (O thou great King of Kings,
Best King) to fear such formidable things.
3. Hysteron Proteron.
In English • The Cart before the Horse.
Cambridge
and
Oxford,
words so placed in force
Are like to these, The Cart before the Horse.
4. On a decrepit Husband of a third Wife.
First
Clotho, Lachesis
thy second wife,
Thy third wife
Atropos
cuts off thy life.
5. Love.
Imprison'd-Liberty, Peace-war, sweet-sour,
Hope-fear, Gall-honey, Love doth laugh and lowre.
6. Minos.
A Judge, who to be Just, on Bribes doth look,
Is like a Fish, which while it takes, is took.
7. Doubtfulness.
Both I suspect, know neither, ready either
To credit:
Phoebus
he can tell me whether.
8. To the Princes Secretary.
Honors men's former Manners' change in Fine;
'It is the worlds course, but 'tis no course of thine:
Thou changed dost not change: 'It is strange to see
Some follow fortune, but she follows thee.
9. To Thomas Puckeringe, Knight and Baronet.
Dear
Thomas,
if to speak such things be fit,
I first did exercise thy noble Wit:
I thy first Tutor was, thou Pupil mine:
I am not what I was, but still am thine.
10. Three Draughts.
First draught thirst past, present the next abates.
And the third future thirst anticipates.
11. A double Riddle.
12. Of Faith.
A five-fold Anagram.
True Faith is sure, no Schismatic, nor Greek,
Nor Crete, whose Faith is fleeting, or to seek,
13. To Sir Edward Cook, Knight, a learned Lawyer, Judge, &c.
The Laws of Nature, Nature of the Laws
Thou knowest, thou judgest Clients and their cause:
Thine Answers, (our
Apollo
) are more clear
Than th' Oracles, that were at
Delphi,
were.
Thou cut'st off present strifes, dost countermand
The future: Those with Tongue, and these with hand.
14. A Mathematical Instrument vulgarly called a Jacob's Staff.
To the Mathematician.
I more by this, than thou by that, shall see.
15. Earth's Situation.
Th' Earth ever stands, if
Solomon
we credit:
If
Naso,
then it sits, for
Naso
said it.
Sitting, it weary would be quaking found,
If standing fallen: What then? it lieth round.
16. To Henry Davers, Baron of Dantesay.
Thy Valour, Fortune; Prudence conquers Chance:
Thine Hopes above vile-servile fear advance:
Thee Fortune follows, fellows; Prudence leads;
None but th' Almighty's Arm, thine Armor dreads:
March on, where e're the King thee calls; Thee guide
Leading, or serving conquest's on thy side.
17. Death' s Epitaph.
To the Death of Death.
The cross flew Death, no more from Death to rise:
Thy Death was Death's, thy Cross his Obsequies.
18. Of the Pope, and Luther.
The Pope, indulgent Father, frees, for fees,
Men's Souls, with indulgencies, from the Lees
Of Purgatory: But more Indulgence
Luther
doth grant; He Souls exempts from thence.
19. Of God and Man.
God is the Word, and with his Word made all,
We Men make Words, and like our Words do fall.
20. To Sir George Carew, Knight, Master of the Pupills, 1612. Jun. 13.
The King Commending Pupills to thy care,
He doth his care of thy deserts declare.
21. Of fasting.
Why keeps the Pope so many fasts i' th' year?
'Cause
Peters
successor he might appear.
22. A New Metamorphosis.
A loving Man and Wife make up one Man.
Which four feet hath, that with two Feet began.
23. Of Anonyma.
Thou
Fabians
nerve inflamed hast: Now he
May truly say, I
•
urn with love of thee.
24. Good from the Dung.
The Scavenger from Dung doth Gold extract:
The like Physicians and Rusticks act.
25. To Face no Trust.
The Wives offense i' th' Husbands front is writ;
Yet Man for Pen, Woman for Paper's fit.
26. To Will. Ravenscroft, J. C.
A Bachelor.
In single Life leading a Life divine,
What few can be thou canst be, solely thine:
Thy Friends and kindred are as Sons to thee:
While I thy Kinsman or thy Friend may be.
27. History of this time.
Th' old Law for History was this, none might-
Nor dared untruth, nor feared the truth to write:
But Hist'ries now-new Law doth th' old oppose,
None fears untruth, nor dares the truth disclose,
28. A fair Dowry.
I like a naked Beauty, but not bare:
I would, that matter, with the form should square.
29. A Gallick Virgin.
Gallick virginity belongs t' a Child,
An English Virgin.
•
est
English
with
French
words should near assent,
•
latonick
men are by our Virgins meant.
30. Upon a new Noble-man.
Thy Mother spun, thy Father fish'd with nets:
•
hence thy Descent from a long Line thou get'st.
31. Penelope 's Riddle to her Suitors.
Thou wouldest I should on thee bestow the same;
The former Syllable's mine husbands due;
Take thou, I am not hard, those other two.
32. Bias.
Who said, that all that's mine, with me I carry,
•
ias,
the wise, It seems did never marry.
33. Chrysostom in Greek by H. S. exactly set forth at Eaton.
To H. S. 1612.
Good-godly
Chrysostom
lived in the flesh;
•
n Spirit, now deceased, he lives afresh.
He lives in's Books: First life was Natures Fee,
The next to God, the third is due to thee.
34. The Philosophers Wife.
Vulcan
fair
Venus, Jove
did
Juno
wed,
But chaste
Minerva
was not married;
Why so? She, wisest of the Deities,
Would wed no man, why? because no Man's wise.
35. Propria quarto modo.
He falsely spake, who said that
Thais
was common;
Each, every man hath singly
Thais,
as Woman.
36. A pair of Fools.
Both for their dullness to their Parents owe.
37. To Edward Sack-ville, the Earl of Dorsets only Brother returned from France.
Nature thy prudent Mother gave thee Wit,
Experience abroad improved it.
From
Sirens
Songs, and
Circes
charms th' art come
More sage, though with more age, unto thine Home.
38. Of Jealousy. English-French-Italian.
Why do th'
Italians,
in more grievous sort
Than
French
or
English,
take their Wives stolen sport?
Beast's worse than Bird; Th'
Italians
wife's loose smile.
English
and
French
are Birds: th'
Italian
Sole horn'd Beast, of these three must lead the Van.
39. Socratical Wisdoms.
All things I thought I knew; But now confess
The more I know, I know, I know the less.
40. King Arthur 's round Table.
The
Delphic
Oracle willed write (no Fable)
The seven wise men's Names in a round Table.
So thy Knights Names wise
Arthur,
first and last
On the round Table were in order placit.
41. Subsidy.
Clergy, Purse-Prayers; People Bodies bring,
The Nobles Courage-Coyn, t' assist the King.
42. A new World.
The Cabalists of many Worlds assure us:
Innumerous they be, saith
Epicurus.
But count aright, sole two th' account affords,
That old of Deeds, our now-new World of Words.
43. Two-faced Janus.
Thy force of Wit, and strength of Memory
Before, behind, to see thou dost apply.
44. Earth 's Body.
Th' Earth's Bones are Stones, Skin, Surface, Metalls, Nerves,
The Grass for Hair, for Blood the Water serves.
45. To Pannicus, of Maurus.
What
Maurus
hath, between thy Wife and Thee
•
e doth divide, thou Words, and Deeds hath she.
46. Of Paula, an English Dissimulatrix.
With painted Face, with counterfeit Address
•
hy Custom is, to dress thy wickedness.
•
hou driv'st the Drones, dull Cattle, from thy Stall:
•
nd what's thy Love, but Honey mixed with Gall?
47. A Physician, and Lawyers.
•
ost'nan
gives Honors,
Galen
Wealth, so be
•
his be no Patient, nor Client he.
48. To Edward Wotton, Baron, &c.
One of his Majesty's privy Council.
He's dead who did his place to thee resign,
Which was before, in
Pallas
Judgment, thine.
None worthier than thou this place t' inherit;
And thy great worth a greater place doth merit.
49. Galen; Anagram, Angel.
Galen,
art
Angel
good or bad? A good-
Angel,
preserving Health, if understood.
50. Blind Love is Deaf.
Their Wives defaults kind Husbands will not see.
Who truly love, by love all-blinded be.
Against their Dears they trust nor Eyes, nor Ears:
Thus Love not only Blind, but Deaf appears.
51. Of Dind • mus, amerchant.
Arithmeticks three first parts learned thou hast;
Learn but the fourth, thou shalt be blessed at last.
52. Anagramma Uxoris, The Anagram of a Wife.
Orcus and Uxor: But the English words will not complete it.
Saith the wise King: He did them both compare:
Who falls on Wife, descends into the Pit:
A Wife in sense, not sound is like unt' it.
53. The Answer.
A Wife I am named, not that I vex the man,
But that mine Housewifes care's Quotidian:
Is Man in Woman as
Belzeb
's in Hell?
Man's
Satan
then, if Woman be that Cell.
54. The Religious.
What's well done's ill done, if in public done:
The Politician.
What's ill done's well done, if revealed to none.
55. Three Goddesses.
Chast
Juno,
wanton
Venus, Pallas
learned-
Pure Virgin, 's rare between those two discerned.
56. English Proteus.
New-fashions in Apparel 'states do wast:
Sole Pleasure pleaseth us, though lost at last.
57. One protects two.
The saying of H. 4. The French King.
One King protects two Kingdoms, yet both failed
Thee to protect but one when Death th' assail'd.
58. The Birth and Scite of the Sun.
The Sun, fourth, midst is of the Planets seven:
59. The Sepulchers of Caesar, Pompey and Crassus.
Africa
for
Pompey, Asia
doth mourn
For
Crassus, Europe
hath great
Caesar's
Urn.
60. City Buildings most City-like, of Henry Earl of Northampton.
The Structure of an House, Beneath, Above
The Builders Ingenuity doth prove.
Who raise rude Piles of Buildings (to thy Praise)
By thine Example may their Buildings raise.
61. To Oranus.
Thy Wifes rich Sire oft said, This Daughter mine
In stable Wedlock I to thee will join:
Too stable Wedlock hath you join'd, since she
So much unstable is in love to thee.
62. Of Felix.
Felix
through all the City walks
per deiu,
Who scarce two Cities in the World did view.
Who many Men and Cities saw, the Poor
In his own City beggeth at the door.
63. Francis Drake.
No time shall
Drake
forget; He crossed the Seas
And Drake-like swam unto th'
Antipodes.
Or This.
Drakes
Name and Fame no time shall ravel out,
He sailed, amid the Seas, the World about.
64. Man.
Before thy Birth (which thou rememberest not)
Thou nothing wert; Dead, something is thy lot.
65. Of Phoebus and Neptune.
The Sun's of swift, the Sea's of swister force;
That runs but once, this twice a day its course.
66. Uxor Vi(n)cta, that is, A Wife bound, Conquer'd.
The Brides Tongue brid'led, th' Husband's Conquerer:
He sole o'recomes his Wife, that quiets her.
67. Naked Truth, Of Alethus.
If (as saith
Plato
) Virtue, naked might
Be seen, 'twould fill men's hearts with rare Delight.
Naked, at
Venice,
and did them deflour.
68. Of Bacchus and Byrrhia, Wine and Beer.
Wine simple-single's praised, but double Beer:
Double is good, but single best doth cheer.
69. Of Gellia.
To the first Matter
Gellia
inclines,
That all forms fancies, this sole Masculines.
70. Of Papilus, pulling off his hoar Hairs.
Thou needest not pull thine hoar hairs from thine head,
71. Be not many Masters.
While none would Scholars be, but Masters all;
All Scholars, none we can a Master call.
72. Hen. 8. Defender of the Faith.
To th' King of Flow'rs and Lions did assign.
73. To Pope Leo.
That Title, with the Sword thou gavest the King:
He thee denies; the Sword thy Death did bring.
74. The Pride of Life.
Man, though of vile Earth made, with Pride doth swell,
Th' Earth made of nothing swells with man as well.
So man like th' Earth aspires above his kind,
Th' Earth mounts in Mountains, Man mounts up in Mind.
75. To Guarene Tounsend, J. C.
Thy Tongue no Law-court courts, nor avaricious
Is prostitute t' excuse the guilty, vicious:
Thou dost contemplate Natures Mysteries,
Scripture, Laws, History thou dost revise:
Three Graces, seven Arts, Sisters thrice three
Causes to know, but not to plead, teach thee.
76. Genesis and Saint Matthew's Gospel.
Christ's Birth in this,
Adam
's that Book is in;
Gospel and Law from
Genesis
begin.
77. Some Body, No Body.
The sacred
Hebrew
Text Men, Souls doth style,
As if that Man were solely Soul the while.
None, nobody, one, somebody we call
In English, as if we were Bodies-All.
78. A Love Fancy.
If
Lesbia,
thou wert the Zodiac,
I would I were the Sun, for thy sweet sake:
The Sun completes the Zodiac once a year,
But once a Night I would complete thy Sphere.
79. To Book-gelders.
If wise, then gild my Book, but geld it not
That other Books by this may be begot.
80. To Gellia.
In earnest speak; Why dost thou so profuse
Give that to many promised for ones use;
'It is an old custom, common as a Clock,
That many Keys should be t' a single Lock.
81. Eve 's and the Serpents Conventicle.
By
Eves
and
Satan's
Parley, sin did come;
O would she had been deaf, or he been dumb.
82. To Robert Johnson, a Scottish-Britain.
Thy self, I like thy Method, both approve:
No such Book's extant, that's more genuine,
More genial, than that same Book of thine;
83. Of Himself.
I, of the
Minor
Brothers orders am:
My Fathers Lands to th' Major Brother came.
84. Sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor. To Paetus.
Of this Advice thou kept'st the former part,
But not the latter: There remiss thou wert.
Th' hast sold, and given all; Part to thy Whore,
Part to thy Riot; nothing to the Poor.
85. Nor
-
Of Evils the least.
-
Of Good the greatest.
Though she were best, I would not have my Bride
A Giant, nor a Dwarf, though worst beside.
86. Sirens Songs.
If thou thy Reins wouldst keep from Blain-from
•
ane;
Flee
Sirens
Songs, thou shalt be safe, and sane.
87. A Love Letter.
Love wants not Hope, in hope the Lover lives:
But Hope without thee,- thine, me nothing gives.
88. Blind Love.
Love and Ebriety are like: They blind
Men's Eyes, of Body this, that of the Mind.
89. The Will of rich T. S.
Thou givest all, no longer here to live,
Nor hence to take it: Couldst? Th' wouldest nothing give.
90. Air, Water, Earth, Hell.
The fordid Earth receives the dross of th' Air:
Earth's dregs unto th' infernal Caves repair.
What Evil's in the World shall t' Hell descend:
As pond'rous things unto the Center tend.
91. The Christian Zodiac.
The twelve Apostles, their Stars, four times three,
My Zodiac, Faith, and Christ my Sun shall be.
92. Erasmus Praise of Folly.
Thou didst not folly praise,
Erasmus,
solely:
Thee many praise, and many praise thy folly.
93. Of Gymnicus, A Pastor.
Thou feed'st thy flock with words, they thee with weeds;
Thy care's for Tythes, no care to cure misdeeds.
94. Of Dardanus.
Paleness in Face, Leanness in Corps doth sit,
Thou nothing hast that's fat, but thy gross Wit.
95. Pleas in the year 1609. between Rob. Calvin, Plaintiff; and John Bingley, and Richard Gryffin, Defendants.
When the
Post-nati
were in Law of late,
Robert
the Son of
James
o'recame; blest fate:
Th' one
English,
th' other
Welsh,
the Victor
Scot
O'recame them, guilty both: A lucky lot.
I love good luck: Britain's, Hearts-Hands unite;
This Island shall no more be bipartite.
Their Sons Sons Sons shall see, there shall be then
One Kingdom under but one King,
Amen.
96. Of our times Discords.
Logic doth things define, divide beside:
But we no things define, all things divide.
97. Evil Manners produce good Laws.
God t'
Adam
gave a Law before his Sin,
Ill manners therefore all Laws brought not in.
98. Four Articles of Faith, 1, 2, 3, 4.
Let Faith the fourth, with the four Councils be.
99. To the Prince.
As a great Bear a little Lion flees,
So flees great Hope, when small things come it sees:
Most happy Prince, mine hope depends on thee;
From me take Hope, and I shall happy be.
100. To the Reader.
Do thou the same, when thou my Verse dost cite.
The End of the Second Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen A CAMBRO-BRITAN To Charles Duke of York, Brother to the Prince the Kings Son. The Third Book.
1. A Jove Principium, Begin in God.
GOd's the beginning, i' th' beginning's God,
Before and after, without Period,
Without beginning the beginning: From
This sole beginning all beginnings come.
2. To the Reader.
I published former Books with Verses clad,
I, to the former this, not naked add.
If more remain, they better will appear,
Kind Reader thou dost hope, but I do fear.
3. To Charles, Duke of York.
The Kings, the Kingdoms next Hope-Happiness,
Great
Charles,
yet then the Prince of
Camb'ra
less:
Thy Tutors Counsel use, thee which instruct:
Sage-sane advice, a Duke will safe conduct.
Be like thy Father, Second to thy Brother;
Thy Second, or thy like will be none other.
4. The Art of Memory.
Simonides
invented Mem'ries Art,
But th' Art of Wit none yet, in whole or part.
5. Things, Names and Words.
God all things did Create, Man gave them Names,
Woman gave words: But word for word inflames.
6. Redemption and Regeneration.
Satan
from
Eve
bought Man, Christ man re-bought:
Adam
did death procure, the cure Christ wrought.
7. The Praise of Liberality.
A Gift's eternal, follows him that gives;
The Giver and Receiver It relieves.
8. Oxford 's new Library. To the Readers, 1610.
Authors seek ye? Ready, before your Eyes,
Each Classic Author in his Classis cries:
Of this great Work, scarce parallel'd on Earth,
Seek ye the Founder?
Bodley
gave It birth.
9. To the University of Oxford.
No Library there is with thine that dare
Compare, nor with thy Wits that can compare.
10. To Queen Anne.
Sister, Wife, Mother, Daughter of a King,
Queen
Anne
: What greater Titles can we bring?
Four Virtues thou with these four Titles hast;
What canst thou to thy Virtues add at last?
11. To Elizabeth the Kings Daughter.
Born of a Kingly,-long continued Line,
A King, a
Caesar
meriting for thine:
Shouldst for an Husband stay, who could out-vie
Thy worth, thou mightest a Virgin live and die.
12. Speech and Writing.
Mute Hand's the speaking Tongues Interpreter,
As speaking Tongue's the mute Hearts messenger.
13. A new Man.
Depel, Dispel that old-grown Man of Sin,
And, with the new Man, a new life begin.
14. An healthful Anagram, Opto, I wish, Poto, I drink.
I wish much Health, but drink no Health to thee:
Better's a dry, than drunken Health for me.
15. The forbidden Fruit.
It was not sole an Apple, It was worse,
Adam
brought Sins Original, the Curse.
16. Cal. January.
Greeks
and Gift-givers,
Tros
thus saith, I fear:
Who's
Greek?
The Poor: Who
Tros?
The Usurer.
17. Of Alcon.
Alcon
wants credit, he will credit none;
All credit him; His credit then's not gone.
18. To Robert Carey, Knight, Governor of Charles Duke of York.
Great Queen
Elisa,
in Alliance nigh
Unto thy Parent, graced thy family:
The King of
Britain's
Son thy Pupil is;
That's th' Honor of thy Kind, of thy Mind, this,
19. Example.
Virtue by good Example's taught and learned:
In teaching me, my Teacher is concerned.
20. A double Medium.
Th' Earth in the middle stands, yet low doth lie:
And Virtue's in the midst, yet soareth high.
21. N. O.
N
leads,
O
follows: Nothing's more Old than All:
For God of Nothing made what th' Orb we call.
22. To James Fullerton, Knight, Governor of Charles Duke of York.
Learn'd
Fullerton,
the credit of thy Nation,
Thou the Kings Son hast in thine Education:
And that the Son may like his Father move,
Thy Labor that, thine Honor this will prove.
23. Holiness, Healthfulness.
All wish long Life, few to live well endeavor:
Wouldst thou live long? live well, and live forever.
24. Sheep and Goats.
The Goats climb Rocks, and Promontories steep,
The lower Ground depasture flocks of Sheep:
'It is so now, but it will not still be so,
The Sheep on high, the Goats below shall go.
25. A Ship.
The Stern's the Train, Bulk, Belly, Bill the Prore;
The Sails are Wings; Ships sail, as Birds do soar.
26. To Thomas Murrey, Tutor to Charles Duke of York.
If
Jacobines
be the Kings Friends, I will
My self a
Jacobine
acknowledge still:
If
Scotists
be the Regal favorites,
I will a
Scotist
be by days, by nights:
Learn'd
Thomas,
thou me
Thomist
makest to be;
And
Scotist,
thou
Scotch-Britain
makest me.
27. Blood not Virtue.
Virtue, than Blood, 'twas said, is more preclare:
But Blood is better than all Virtues are:
Blood better is than Virtue: Not by Merits,
But by thy Blood, O Christ, man Heaven inherits.
28. The Sun, and time.
Sometime stood still, but th' Hour that time did run.
29. The Blood.
I am Crude, called Blood: A circled course I keep,
And Snake-like through the bodies Veins I creep.
30. Of Pannicus, a rich Fool.
Forture doth favor Fools: Or credit me,
Or else believe thy Self, thou then shalt see.
31. Brevity.
Perspicuous Brevity doth please in chief:
In words, which things concerned contain, be brief.
32. The Tomb of John Puckeringe, Keeper of the Great Seal.
This Tomb presents three Brothers, Sisters five,
One Sister's dead, one Brother's yet alive.
33. Homer.
No wonder,
Homer,
former was of Lyes;
His Ears were his Informers, not his Eyes.
34. Erasmus.
'It is asked, why men
Erasmus
thee do call?
Answer.
If Mouse, I was the best, or none at all.
35. A little, nothing; too much, enough.
The Poor have little, Beggars that are common,
Have nothing, rich too much, enough hath no man.
36. To Henry Wotton, Knight, the Kings Ambassador, &c. 1612.
In dubious things thou didst remember me,
In serious, though late, I think on thee:
Thou Legate wert, fair Winds thee back did bring.
The King must pay thee what he thee doth owe,
'It is secret when: But that he will I know.
37. Foresee thine End.
Mans death, not birth declares his bane, or bliss:
None blessed before his death, nor wretched is.
38. The Polar Sabbath.
To the Polars.
One day, one Night, doth your whole year display:
So that your Seventh year, 's your seven
•
h day.
39. To the Desirers of the Salick Law.
In
France
the Virile Law sets men at th' Helm,
The female Distaff must not rule the Realm.
Would ye the
Salick
Law should here come in,
O
Britain's?
Be robust: At home begin.
46. To G. Gwyn.
That I no Disticks in thy praise design,
It is because thine better are than mine.
41. Irus and Croesus Epitaph.
Croesus
and
Irus
thus are different,
Both dead, that hath, this hath no Monument.
42. The Inter-Calar Month, 1612.
Why
February
sole each fourth year grows?
'Cause 'tis the least month from the Moon that flows.
43. Of Felix.
Rich, while alive, thou wert, now dead, poor art:
Wishing with
Lazarus
a place, a part.
45. Logic.
A Creature horn i' th' dark, Rude, Infant, Child;
Unt'
Oxford
sent, will soon a man be stilled.
46. To Samuel Daniel, Poet.
A. Pen thy right Hand, Sword thy left doth follow:
Mars
is Sinister,
Dexter
's thine
Apollo.
47. Lover of Truth. To Paulus.
Fond Novelties, sottish Antiquities
Me please not, truth is all I praise-I prize:
I follow neither new, nor old: 'It is true:
But Truth I love, whether 'tis old, or new.
48. Humility.
Long Grass in valleys, short on Mountains grows:
Low minds more Wisdom have, than lofty Brows:
A Mind's a Mount, whose Top's a Type of Wit,
Each Top is bare, and Type is like unt' it.
49. Three Self-Lovers.
I next myself, and thou, thyself art next;
What hinders, but that he should be context?
50. Saint Marks Festival.
To Marianus, a Shepherd.
Why marks Saint
Mark
's day Sheep, not Goats? Tell why?
Sheep Shall hereafter live, when Goats shall die.
51. To Dindimus.
Devouring time devoureth all that's our:
But thou misspending time, dost time devour.
52. Of Heaven and Earth, a double Paradox.
Heavens Motion errs not, erring is th' Earth's Station,
Fast, steadfast though, yet full of Variation.
Trod underfoot, Plough'd, Harrow'd every Morn,
Poor Earth, while I am Earth, I shall be torn.
53. The Year.
Spring, Summer, Autumn, Winter, make the year:
Autumn doth Summer, Spring doth Winter cheer.
54. A Client.
Hast care to cure, and to secure thy Cause?
Incline then, Client, to thy Lawyers Laws.
55. Of the Covetous.
Shooes wider than thy Feet thou wilt not have;
Why then more Wealth than's fit, or needs, dost crave?
56. Patience.
I will, or must be patient, hoping still:
All things by this I suffer can, or will.
57. The Serpent, Eve, Adam.
The Serpent, not deceived, deceived poor
Eve
;
Adam
deceived not, but he did believe
His Wise, and was deceived: The Woman's fault
Was Active, Passive: Catch'd herself, she caught.
58. The Swan.
When Fates me call, the Rivers Bank close by,
I sweetly sing my Requiem, and die.
59. To Polydore.
The Dative case than Ablative is better;
The Taker to the Giver is a Debtor.
Ah, th' Ablative doth here too long remain,
When will the Dative case return again?
60. To N. N.
Unhappy Servant of two Masters thou,
This Nothing doth, that Nothing hath t' allow.
61. A Three-fold Continency of the Eyes, Ears, and Tongue.
Lest ill thou seest, or hear'st, thy Windows close:
Lest ill thou speak'st Locks on thy Lips impose.
62. Saturns three Sons.
Nummipotent
is one, Hells President:
Next
Amnipotent,
third
Omnipotent.
63. The old man speaks to the young Man.
My Life is short, nor can long time import;
Thy Life seems long; but shortly will be short.
64. Of my Book.
Salted at
Oxford
(youth then) 'tis the Mode;
Pepper'd at
Winton
(then Child) I abode:
If this my Book of Salt, or Pepper taste,
First,
Winton
Pepper gave, Salt
Oxford
last.
65. To Theo-door, God's Gift, A Physician.
In
Greek
and
Latin Theodore
's thy Name;
66. Of Quintus.
At School, a Boy, thou learn'dst four Swearing Adverbs,
Now grown a Man, thou swear'st four thousand Mad Verbs.
67. To an Angry man.
Let Anger set; but not rise with the Sun;
Still let it with the Sun t'
Antipo
•
es
run.
68. Of a Cloak and Coal.
Blew Coats, with Sleeves and Badges, yearly new
Here Serving Men did wear, a lazy crew:
Now Cloaks they wear: Why Cloaks? Because they may
Flagens or Capons, under Cloaks convey.
69. Death.
Nothing's here human, but inhum'd must be;
Earth swallows Earth, but Souls from Earth flee free.
70. Of Pontius, A Poet.
Pont'us
on one Foot halts, with th' other stumbles;
Hexameters, Pentameters he rumbles.
71. Of Fabian.
Do what thou sayest, or say what thou doest do,
But
Fabian
doth neither of the two.
72. Edition of Books.
It happens, that when Verses I have pen'd,
Fasting or full, Edition is their end.
73. God loves a cheerful Giver.
Regard not what Reward thou givest the poor:
God will Regard, and it Reward with more.
74. Of Quintus Ramista his Fathers third Son.
As if one Tree bare two
•
oughs, none beside;
So thou dost all things in two Parts divide.
If all thing else should bipartited be,
What of thy Fathers Goods would come to thee?
75. Cupid 's Arms, Bow and Arrows.
Offensive not Defensive weapons, why
Doth
Cupid
use? He conquers all thereby.
76. Of Prose and Verse.
A Problem.
Why runs a Speech in Verse than Prose more fleet?
Because that wanteth not, this wanteth Feet.
77. Heaven.
Heaven's the specious-spacious House of God;
All-potent Lord, House patent all abroad.
78. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .
Water's made holy for Regeneration:
But 'tis but simply water in Creation.
79. A Nest of Boxes
-
Suscipio Pyxidum Trias.
-
Scipio Pyxidum Trias.
-
Pio Pyxidum Trias.
The English cannot reach the conceit.
I for my Country, Fathers, People, I
Adventure dare, said
Scipio,
to die.
80. Of Pontilian.
The fawning Dog with wagging Tail doth flatter:
Pontill
for want of Tail with's Tongue doth chatter.
81. We are Dust and Ashes. Horace.
Let none, though clad with Earth, of Heaven despair;
Nor any, though a Shadow, thin as Air:
Dust is our Flesh, Christ's Body's of like clod:
Our Soul's a shadow, shadow yet of God.
82. An Aenigma.
83. A Rich Man.
While I wish Wealth, I worse am, and in fine
Greatness to gain, I Goodness do decline.
84. Conversion of Paul.
Thou, lately
Saul,
art now Saint
Paul
; Thou late
Didst persecute, but now dost predicate.
85. Right Reason.
That in our times Reason's over-ruled 'tis grief.
'Twere Joy, if Reason might command in chief.
86. To Thomas Morrey, Tutor unto Charles Duke of York.
I thee, thy
Genius,
ingenious head;
Know, read thy Writings worthy to be read:
Thou Doctor-ductor to the Duke, than thee
None fitter, by thy Rules while ruled is he,
Not forced, but by Propensity; What Praise
Hast gained, to lead thy Leader in his ways?
87. To the Hebrews.
Your Law is your Religion, Faith is ours,
Our want's to do well, to believe well's yours.
88. Irus, a Beggar.
By this word
Hospes
Host, and Guest's expressed:
I am to many, none to me's a Guest.
89. God.
Though God's Infinitie's dispersed most clear'
•
Through the whole World, God yet is sought for there.
90. An Eagle.
In Temples th' Eagle sacred Scripture bears,
Now great
Jehovah
's Bird, once
Jupiter
's.
91. Toby Matthew.
Thy first Name from th' Old Testament, thy Next
Is from the new: Both Names from sacred Text.
Strange, that a
Gentiles
name Canonical
Should he, which in the Fount's
Apocryphal.
92. On a Paraphrase.
This Paraphrase is circle-like wrought round,
From Center to circumference 'tis found;
It toucheth the Diameter's both ends,
But to the Center in no part extends.
93. Of Corbulo.
Thou ruinest, and raisest,
Corbulo
;
Thy Wealth thou ruin'st, raisest nothing: No.
94. Of Gellia, a Grammaticastrix.
Grammar was th' Art of speaking called of old;
Thou needest not learn it, thou canst speak, and scold.
95. On a certain Grammaticaster.
A Shred, an Hair, a Nut-shell, half a Groat,
Thou me dost prize at: What I thee? for naught.
96. Warr.
War, sole to Soldiers seems pleasant: Why?
Because sole Soldiers gain,
•
live thereby.
97. Riches.
Sole Gold's a God: Goods, God's: Coyn, Queen
••
some
Pluto
speaks with applause, but
Plato
's dumb.
98. Three Genders.
Wives (though most chaste) o' th' Doubtful are, o' t
••
commo
•
Are Whores, o' th' feminine is every Woman.
99. S T. a note of Silence.
What mean this
Roman S T
? What? Express:
S,
stands for Silence,
T,
for Taciteness.
100. Patria est ubicun{que} est been.
Where I do well, there I dwell.
I count my Country, not where born, or bred;
But that, where known, where with mine own I'
•
fe
••
My Country, that I count, where I do well;
Where I have my subsistence, there I dwell.
101. 〈…〉
That Wife is for a Duke, and King unfit,
Which will not be led, ruled, nor submit.
102. Rhetoric and Dialect.
Rhet'rick to speak, Logic to teach is th' Art:
This Wisdom, that to th' Wise doth strength impart
That neater, this compleater couched than it;
That seasoned, this seasoneth the Wit.
Rhet'rick doth veil, Logic doth Truth reveal;
This warns, that moves, that woundeth, this doth heal.
103. Actaeon.
Actaeons
Doggs devoured his Flesh, Bones, Skin;
But yet his Horns some Cities are within.
104. Arithmetical Multiplication and Division.
Division Right, left Hand Multiplication
Respects, why? Virtue's that, this a Privation:
Why upward that, why downward this aspects?
This unto man, that unto God directs.
105. A Tree.
Spring makes me green, me Summers heat doth scald;
Autumn hoar-headed, Winter makes me bald.
106. To Theodore Prise, an Oxonian Divine.
One Verse my love to thee cannot declare;
•
f two will serve, lo, here two Verses are.
107. One God.
And
Deus
with the Plural Number quotes:
O, what Blasphemers our Grammarians are,
109. Government of the body.
•
ools strain, but prudent men restrain their voice:
Which hath least labor, silence, or a noise?
110. Malorum, the least and greatest, To Maximus.
•
t Table sitting choose of ills the least,
•
he greatest of Apples, if the greatest be best.
112. Of Dreams. A Paradox.
••
d Dreams are good, good, bad: Why? when I wake
•
f bad, I am glad, if good, mine heart doth ache.
113. Waters Original.
(
•
)
Unda,
the Latin word hath Declination:
•
sk'st, whence derived? It hath no derivation:
The year and River circulating run,
114. Covetousness.
To th' Ocean, Rivers run all places from:
It saith not whence d' ye come, but hither come.
115. The Adamant.
To Lovers Adamants ought to be sent:
Cupid
can make an Adamant relent.
116. Dog and Hare.
Though light-foot Hare more swift than Grey-hou
••
They run in hope, she (light) doth hopeless flee.
117. Speech and Writing.
The nimble Tongue th' Hearts secrets doth expound,
But writing hath a voice without a sound.
118. The Laurel.
I,
Phoebus
Tree, still frondent, flourishing,
Nor bald, nor grisled, verdant as the Spring.
119. Dicacity and 〈◊〉 .
Wit without Wisdom's as without Meat, Salt:
Inurbane wit's what? Salt-less Meat, like fault.
120. Something of nothing.
An Arithmetical Riddle.
121. To William Sutton, an Oxonian Divine.
I owe thee more than can my Verse express;
Me thy perpet'all debtor I confess.
122. Three Sons of Saturn and Ops, Co-heirs.
Saturns
three Sons, all rich,
Dis, Neptune, Jove
;
Whose Mother
Ops,
Beneath, About, Above
Them placed; I should be richer than those three,
123. Of a certain superfluous Orator.
When all th' hast said, Thou want'st to say, I have done;
•
ut word would please me more than those fore-gone.
124. To the Readers.
•
Readers, Hearers all I will not please,
•
r am I pleased with all of those, or these.
The End of the Third Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN.
Three Books dedicated to three, Each a Mecaenas. To Edward Noel, Knight and Baronet, one. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet, another. To Roger Owen, a Noble Knight the third.
LONDON, Printed by R. White, for Nevill Simmons at the Sign of the Prince's Arms in St. Paul 's Church-yard, and for Thomas Sawbridge at the three Flower-de-Luces in Little-Britain. 1677.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN. To Sir Edward Noel, Knight, and Baronet. The First Book.
1. To the Prince of Wales.
MEcaenas
(gracious in
Caesar's
Eyes)
Virgil
and
Horace
daign'd to patronize.
And thou, great Prince, dost not disdain to lend
Thine Help unto mine Hope, for better end.
Three Knights me patronize; though each to me
Mecaenas
is, thou shalt my
Caesar
be.
2. To his three Patrons, E.N. G.S. R.O.
When old friends me forsook, as 'tis in use,
Unhop'd for Help you three did me produce:
Your three Names therefore, next the Prince his name
I join,
Mecaenas
sole deserves such fame.
3. Lawyer and Physician.
Unless he subtle be, this rashly bold,
They both perhaps may beg their bread, when old.
4. The Courtiers Ladder.
None, but by many steps doth rise at Court,
But falling, one's enough, too much, though short.
5. To Edward Noel, &c.
Though I,
Mecaenas,
send this Book to thee;
Others may read it, ifit worth reading be.
How is my Patron better by this sped
Than Readers? Thus, he readeth, and is read.
6. On Tomasine.
Many, these times, in praise of Asses writ,
I read a Book, and read thy praise in it.
7. To — A Courtier.
The bold by Fortune, th' eaters are by meat
Aided: Wilt something be? be bold and eat.
8. Honor and Riches compared.
God gives men Riches, Honor claims as Donor.
Preferr'd before all Riches therefore's Honor.
9. On fabulous Poets.
Poets of old, making small difference
'Twixt Truth and Lies, made something of each
Ens
:
Their proper name, from making, Poets gather,
From making something, making nothing rather.
10. On Fabianus.
Some bald without, thou bald within, 'tis plain:
They want their Hair, thou want'st as much of Brain.
11. Osculum, a Kiss.
Lovers affect three Syllables; this word
Is given by the Lovers that accord.
Is the first given? Doubtless, then, in fine
The rest will follow from the femi
•
i
•
e.
12. Delilah.
Strong
Samson's
Wife, despoyl'd him of his hair,
Our times have many
Delilah's,
as fair.
13. Coventry and Warwick, Midland Cities.
Not the same Prelate, the same Judge you see;
Your Spirits differ, but one flesh you be.
14. The Birth-day.
To present born, reborn to future things,
The present's first, the last more comfort brings.
15. On the Art of Love.
I think 'twas rudeness th' Art of Love t' impart,
Love is the work of Nature, not of Art.
16 On Gallio.
Rare Judge, who giftless doth his office; Why?
Because with gifts he did his office buy.
17. On Phyllis.
The Love of
Phyllis
for a Solar year
Endures not; Lunar 'tis, like
Phoebe
's Sphere.
Her love is like her Body, monthly sick:
Lunar's her Love, herself is Lunatick.
18. On Paetus. A Problem.
Nor Father, Step-father, nor kin to those
Thy Wife brought forth: What shall we thee suppose?
19. On Pontiliana.
Why wert thou wedded on bright
Lucy
's light?
Because 'twas shortest Day, and longest Night.
20. To Fronto, a Lawyer.
I many Penal statutes,
Fronto,
saw
But not one Premial in all your Law:
Laws Penal, Premial support a State;
This age hath lost the last, the first's in date.
21. To Edward Noel, &c.
Wise Nature did to thee much Wit impart
To Natures strength thou dost add helps of Art.
Good Fortune with thy Virtue doth combine,
Unto thine Art and Wit thou Wealth dost join.
Fortune enables thee to succor wants,
And Virtue makes thee willing: Both God grants.
22. On Festus, an unjust Judge.
What
Judas
did, or
Pilate,
do the same:
Hang'd wouldst not be? Wash then thine hands from blame.
23. Paronomasia, ( i. ) Gingling with words.
A Maid looks on her Lovers face, not mind:
If wedded, 'tis enough, her Husband's kind:
Venus
had rather courted be than painted;
With Acts, than Complements she's more acquainted.
24. To Martha, Of Quintus.
Quintus
in Love is prodigal, recluse:
Of thy Love covetous, of's own profuse.
25. Of
Mans Back-parts are in Latin Neuters stilled:
But all his parts please Women, well compil'd.
26. Of Colinus dying Intestate.
Dying
Colinus
nothing did bequeath,
Lest all: In Life a Dog, an Hog at his Death.
27. Of Virginity and Wedlock.
Virginity's a narrow way; a broad
Is Wedlook: Hence most People ride this road.
28. Of Pansa.
Great strife 'twixt
Pansa
and
Eunomius
Arose about Church Rites, which they discuss:
Eunomius
to prove his Period
The Scripture cites, th' undoubted word of God:
With Scripture what have I to do, replies
Pansa,
my Bible in my Law books lies.
29. To D. T.
Thou followest two Masters; strange to me
If, or thou pleasest both, or both please thee.
30. Merchants Faith.
Where Debtors credit's less, less credit give
The Creditors; by trust how should they live?
Sole trust, these times hath many Merchants split:
To trust now therefore 'tis nor safe, nor fit.
31. Gerunds and Supines.
Di-do-dum
while
Aeneas
was away
Did want her
Gerunds,
and
Un-supine
lay.
32. Give me an Angel, and I will give thee the Spirit.
The Spirit here, an Angel,
Michael
Is promised there; here Gifts, there Hands excel.
33. To a certain rich Man.
If now thou givest much, thy love's complete:
If much thou creditest, thy Faith is great.
34. To a servant of two most penurious Sisters.
Three
Parce,
fatal Sisters, once were known;
Thou now, poor wretch, two such dost serve and own.
35. A Louse.
Thou me dost bite, I kill thee: True, but small
Thy Crime's, thy Punishment is Capital.
36. From bad to worse.
He falls on
Scylla
that
Charybdis
shuns,
Who newly sick to the Physician runs:
Fools one extreme t' avoid act the contrary,
When trifles men to Law to Lawyers carry.
37. Of the Prodigal and Covetous.
Both these are wretched: And it oft doth fall
That th' Heirs of Cov'tous men prove Prodigal.
38. Divine Vengeance on G. R. 1603.
Thou kept'st the Prelates House against his mind;
39. Of Damas.
As oft as I thy promise claim, and I
Claim it more oft, since thou dost not comply;
Thou never sayst, I have, oft sayst I will;
No more I will, but say, I do fulfill.
40. On unfortunate Linus.
What wonder, fortune is to thee contrary?
Thy front is bare and bald, her Front is hairy.
41. To Gaurus.
Thy Whispers did of me some samll gift crave;
Wilt have a
Culus
gift? Thou shalt it have.
42. Man all-eating.
Air, Water, Earth, with all the vast Extents
Of th' Elements, scarce serve Mans Aliments.
If all man eateth, int' his Substance ran,
As 'tis supposed, what Monster would be man?
43. The broad way.
Broad is the way, much trod, unt' Hell that leads;
The Blind, himself the Guide, this broad way treads.
44. To, In, Of.
Of, In, To, these three words my Book inhems:
Of, Teacheth, To, Commendeth, In, Condemns.
45. On unmerciful Quintus.
When any Poor, or Naked, at thy door
Beg Alms, how canst deny, while such implore?
Thou sayst, none ought to Begg by th'
English
Laws,
But no Law bars relief to th' poor, when cause.
46. Error is human.
I read a just man falls seven times a day:
How oft a Woman falls, I cannot say.
47. On a certain foolish writer.
O, that all black had been thy Papers white;
Or tinctured with no black, when thou didst write.
48. The usurers Apology.
What good doth me my Money without use?
Gold's bright with use, use doth me gain produce.
49. On a Cuckold.
Hadst Horns by Nature, them thou mightest Cashier:
But th' Horns, thy Wife thee gave, thou needs must wear.
50. Things adjudged.
Though
Cicero
call Law the sum of Reason,
And that Law's best which thence proceeds in season:
Few Lawyers are Logicians; Use, Example,
The Laws and Statutes are of either Temple.
51. A Woman.
Fair women, famous: Youthful, sportful are:
If Witty, Wise: Buxome and Chast are rare.
52. The four Terms at Law.
The first Term's from Saint
Michael
declared;
The next is
Hilary,
this Term doth cause
The Lawyers Hilarity by th' Laws.
The third from
Easter
Feast its Title took,
The fourth Term's called
Trinity
: But why?
53. The Cross in the Poultry.
To Christ.
The Crosses Image stands, thine's took from thence:
Than thee, the Cross hath greater Reverence.
54. That the Lawyers two Colleges, the Middle and Inner Temple are the same.
One house both have, and both one Law apply,
No Middle-Inner sense i' th' Law doth lie.
What's Middle, is the great World's inner Cell;
For than the Center, what doth inner dwell?
The Middle Temple then, though Middle wrote,
From th' Inner Temple differs not one Jot.
55. Of the same.
Two Parl'aments you have, one convocation;
Two Kitchens, but one Altar for oblation:
One Master calls to Supper, but the same.
One Horn doth not your Dinner time proclaim;
Nor the same winding both your Horns inflates,
Yet one mind both your bodies animates.
56. A bountiful Mecaenas.
Thou liberal and free dost nourish many,
And me thou nourishest as well as any.
57. To Faustinus.
Thou sayst my Book is good: O, ifit be good,
I wish I were my Book, and understood.
58. O the times!
The Times are Changed, and in them Changed are we:
How? Man as Times grow worse, grows worse we see.
59. Stammering. To Balbinus.
Though thou dost stammer in thy Speech, yet none
60. Agna-Oxford.
Thou Bride to
Benedict
(not so well named)
Suppos'd a Lamb, a Wolf art found, art famed.
61. To Aulus, a Physician, a vernal Gratulation.
Sick persons purge their Bodies in the Spring:
I thee salute, Spring doth thine Harvest bring.
62. A Poet Laureate.
In Fire the Bay-leaves crackle, Poets live
In Death; Hence to the Poet Bays we give.
63. To a Citizen.
Sick of a Fever, thou dost make repair
From Town to Country, for exchange of Air,
And going thither, leaving Cities gain,
Thy former Health thou dost again attain:
Returning home to
London
healthful, poor
Thou dost increase in Wealth: But, as before
Thy Fever comes: Now which is better, try,
Sickness with Wealth, or Health with Poverty?
64. Of Labienus, A Self-Lover.
He solely loves himself, beside loves none;
Loves sole himself, and loves himself alone.
65. A Widow.
Who weds a Widow, buys (asit may be scann'd)
A Garment in
Long-Lane,
at second hand:
For all such Garments more or less were wore;
So more or less all Widows were before.
66. Pyramus and Thisbe.
A fatal wall us parted: O how near
How far asunder we two lovers were.
67. To Pollux, a Client.
Thy Suit depends in law: Better suspend
Than it should long depend: Pay, there's an end.
68. Hot Cold.
Women, though cold, their lovers yet inflame;
So Lime in water cast, doth heat the same.
69. By my Faith.
None swear by Love, too many by their Faith:
70. Astrology.
Physiology.
Sublime Astrology soars in the Sky;
And Natures secrets in the Center lie.
I neither of these Mysteries can sound;
That for me's too sublime, this too profound.
71. Of Ponticus.
Thou nothing givest, but dying wilt: Then dy:
He giveth twice, who giveth speedily.
72. Unequal Conflict.
His Sword at all Times
Matho
cannot wield,
But
Pontia
still ready hath her Shield.
73. Of Lands and Money.
To Pontilian, a Merchant.
All Money with its Interest hath bounds;
But (doubtless) bottomless are Lands and Grounds
Founts better are than Cisterns, Ground than Chest:
Though Cisterns greatest are, and Fountains least.
74. Of Fame.
Fame seldom praiseth good, bad oft proclaims
Freely; from thence, evil the name of Fame's.
75. Of Galla.
Thine Eyes inflame me
Galla
; Touch me not:
If seeing burn, touching will be more hot.
76. Of decrepit Linus.
Saturn
from
Saturate,
or full of years
Was called; thine age now
Saturn
-like appears.
77. A Dance.
Th' Heart dictates Love, Tongue's silent, Feet advance
Love's cunning meaning in a wanton Dance.
78. The Meditations and Vows of Joseph Hall of Cambridge.
Thou vowing vow'st, writ'st to be read, blest man,
Who reads thy Vows, if them perform he can.
79. Anagram to Priscus, an old man.
Priscus,
thine Hairs were Crisped; Why no more?
I
Priscus
am, who
Crispus
was before.
80. The Britain's Night.
But
British
Maid no long Night hath dismayed.
81. To Naevia.
We wish for th' absent Sun, the present shun:
O how our Love in this is like the Sun?
82. Of Festus, a Lyar.
All men are Liars,
Festus
will confess:
Then call him man, he's Lyar called; no less.
83. Of Carpophorus.
From home he laughs with Lasses which he keeps:
At home, with's weeping wife, dissembling weeps.
84. The World.
Two Worlds are in the World; one undefiled;
This most defiled; yet each the World is stilled.
85. To an Usurer.
The more thou givest, the more thou gainst a Friend:
But get'st a Foe, where thou the more dost lend.
86. Of Giving and Satisfying.
Give, cries Laws voice in the
West-minster
Hall;
Though satisfy saith Law Pontifical:
Lawyers take much, give little; much apply
Themselves to speak, little to satisfy.
88. Against that common Proverb, (viz.)
The younger Brother is the ancienter Gentleman.
Adam
was first of generous Mankind,
For him his maker next himself designed:
Then he that's nearest t'
Adam
's period,
More generous is, and nearer unto God.
89. No man hath seen God.
Dark minds see not God's might, nor Owls the Light;
These see not day, nor those the God of might.
90. An old man is no man.
A young Man's laughing; weeping, Child and Woman;
An old man dry, both hath unlearn'd, he's no man.
91. Of a Saracen Atheist.
Bless'd
Abr'hams
Bosom seems a tale to thee;
In
Sara
's bosom thou wouldest rather be.
92. Custom.
Custom and usage seems t' have force of Law:
Now wickedness the balance down doth draw.
93. Of Albinus.
Merchant
Albinus
is of all berest,
Goods, Credit; He to lose hath nothing left:
In Love he lost Faith, Hope; All ill did prove;
What's left him now to lose at last? sole Love.
94. An Anagram, Gerere, Regere.
To bear Rule, and to bear, are proper, where
Is Man and Wife: Let Man Rule, Woman bear.
95. A forsaken Lover.
As Tophets Fire is burning without light,
So me thy Love doth burn, though nothing bright:
My Love to thee's like Elementar fire,
It shines, but burns thee not with my desire.
96. The punishment of Thais, A Problem.
Since in her former; not her hinder part
Thais
did offend, why should her hinder smart?
Whether, because the sin before was signed,
The Punishment must therefore come behind.
97. Irus his Obsequies.
The Poor is like a Quartan; not one Bell
For the Poor's tacit Fun'ral rings a knell.
98. The Epitaph of Croesus and Irus.
Under a Marble Tomb lies
Croesus,
there;
But
Irus
where? The Poor lies everywhere.
99. Of Momus.
That I might love, approve, or praise in thee,
Or that I envy might, I nothing see.
100. Unite no number.
Of Forreign writers, and Britannicks Tone,
I of no number am; yet I am one.
The End of the First Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAN. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet. The Second Book.
1.
To a Critical Courtier.
-
Labor, Labos, Englished Labor
-
Arbor, Arbos, Englished A Tree
-
Honor, Honos, Englished Honor.
THese words, the same in sense, but not in sound:
He's wise that with the last of them is crowned.
2. Faith.
Reason demonstrates God, makes it our Creed;
And by this Reason, Faith is Reasons deed.
3. God.
God all things sees, and yet is seen of none;
Sole in all places seen, unseen alone.
4. To William Sidley, Knight, and Baronet, &c.
Thy sundry Languages, thy skill i' th' Laws,
Arts, Piety, sublime thee with applause.
Thy counsel many, poor thy money have;
Thus Virtue leads the Journey to the Grave.
Live so to Christ, thy Country, to thy King,
Thy self, till Angels thee to Glory bring.
5. To John Sidley, only Son of the aforenamed William Sidley.
Thou
Janus
art, but sole in name, now young;
Thy Father emulate, in Deed ere long.
Thou shalt be
Janus,
hard 'tis to precel
Thy Father, if thou equal'st him, 'tis well.
6. A perpetual Equinoctial, To a blind man.
Thy Days and Nights are equal; thou canst see
Nor Day, nor Night, Aequators all to thee.
7. To Ponticus, an Anabaptist.
Wouldst keep good diet, for thy Souls Salvation?
Sup oft, wash once in thy Regeneration.
8. The God's of Inconstancy.
Romans, Vertumnus, Greeks, Proteus
adored;
What people make not each of these their Lord?
9. Wheel-grease.
Men grease their Axle-trees left Wheels should creak:
But Lawyers must be greas'd to make them speak.
10. Of Harpalus, the reputed Father of two Sons.
The Son, that bears thy name, is not thine own:
But he that bears another's, thine is known.
11. The Creation of Woman.
When
Paul
the Gospel preached, his language then
O Brethren pray, (but not O Sisters pray)
The Priest in saying of the Mass doth say.
When
Moses
most exactly doth relate
The things, which God in order did create,
God solely good, who nothing made in vain
Or useless, God (saith
Moses
) did explain,
And call his Works all good, excepting one,
When he the Woman made of
Adam
's Bone.
12. Of Papinianus and Ponticus.
He saith he cannot err, and yet doth err;
This that he may, but errs not doth aver.
13. Of Tustonus.
Tuston
is dead: Now dead, his Coyn doth come,
Rising out of his Chest, as from a Tomb.
14. Of Sin and Punishment.
The Doctors place Sin with Non-Entities:
Why place they not its Punishment there likewise?
15. Of the Moors who paint Angels Black, and Devils White.
Art cannot Metamorphose Black to White;
But Art roakes White take Black, though black as night.
Divines affirm no Devil can repent:
Satan
's not White, then Black's his Element.
16. L' Argent faict tout.
Whence comes it that after so many slain,
English
and
French
each in their own Land reign?
17. Of a certain Drunkard.
Nothing's more thirsty than dry prattling:
Bess
-
Thy Wife prates more than thee; why drinks she less?
18. Verona, Placentia, Beneventum, To an Italian.
Few pass
Verona
from, to
Benevent
;
19. Time, Truth, Hatred.
Truth is Times Daughter, Hatred's Mother is,
Then Hatred's Nephew unto Time by this.
20. Daughter of Time.
I who Times Daughter was in times of yore,
Am I Times Daughter now, as heretofore?
Daughter of those, not of these Times am I:
Times Daughter's Christ, th' Eternal Deity.
21. Wedlock Love.
No weddings, but much Love's in Heaven above:
On Earth are many Weddings, but no Love.
22. The Decalogue, the Lord's Prayer, and the Apostles Creed.
One Love, ten Precepts: One Hope, seven votes:
Twelve Articles, one Faith, Religion notes.
23. To Calistratus.
Pain'd with the Spleen, said I, 's a painful thing?
The Spleen doth laughing cause, doth weeping bring.
24. The Sun.
Three Planets higher, lower three there be;
Thy Virtue,
Sol,
's amid the double three.
25. A Metaphor.
Bare knowledge knows not Natures voice; no sound
Of Natures words in Dictionary's found.
Farmers by Figures do their Sense express,
Rusticks their talk with City language dress.
Mans as to words, t' his life doth figures give;
'It is figured all, and, as we speak, we live.
26. Christ a Divine, Physician, Lawyer.
Christ, here on Earth was a Physician,
A Preacher, is in Heaven, a Judge, God-Man.
27. Of Law, English-Welsh-French.
Erring's directed, Errors are by Law
Corrected, Laws Rule rules, keeps all in awe.
28. Castor and Pollux.
In Heaven the two Brother-Stars agree;
In Earth, I doubt, scarce two such Brothers be.
29. What is defer'd is not auferr'd.
Long Life deferrs but takes not Death away;
What differs then, to die this, or next day?
30. Venale Honors Apology.
To the Baronets.
Gold, Honor, Lands, are Goods which Fortune lends;
And what on man's Arbitrement depends:
Health, Beauty, Strength, the Bodies Goods: These three,
And the Minds Goods from Price- from sale are free.
'It is madness to sell Bodies, sinful, Souls:
Fortune to sell, to buy, no Law controuls.
31. Authority and Reason.
In human words, not who, but what I weigh:
In words divine, not what, but who doth say.
32. Luci-fer.
The splendid Planet
Venus
doth adorn
With her resplendent Ray the Night, the Morn;
In Heaven she still waits upon the Sun:
Why then, the light on Earth, should
Venus
shun?
33. Of the end of the World.
The Worlds beginning,
Genesis
unt' us
34. To Pontilian.
Whether two Wives, both good; or one, a bad
Were best to marry with, thy Query's had?
If I must choose, I then would choose the least
Of both these Evils, one, though bad, is best.
35. Love is the fulfilling of the Law.
Of the ten Precepts keep two, of the two
Keep one, that's Love; it will suffice: This do.
36. Devotion.
The pious people caused the Clergy's weal;
Ungrateful offspring of religious Zeal.
37. Of Heaven and Earth.
Th' Earth's greatest part is hid, Heaven spreads abroad:
I think that th' Earth's ashamed of Men, her load.
38. To Aulus, On Sextus, Of Quintus.
Me
Sextus
envies, him I pity, I:
Quintus,
who me not envies, I envy.
39. Of Pollio.
Thy Wife thou dost forsake, but why? Before
Thou didst her wed, thou saidst, she was a Whore.
A Pre-contract doth Wedlock break, I know;
But why a Pre-contact should doit, me show?
40. Meer trifles. To —
Thou truly saidst that Whores mere trifles are;
For Harlots skins are always base and bare.
41. To banished Pannicus.
A Problem.
In Exile, free thou liv'st asit were, the while
Thy native Soil did thee from it exile.
Which of these Fortunes gives thee best content?
Freedom abroad, or from home Banishment?
Rather I would (for I disclose my mind)
From home live free, than live at home confined.
42. The Evening.
The Sun declined behind leaves little light,
So God's sole back was showed to
Moses
sight.
The Morning.
We see bright
Phoebus
shine in th' Orient,
Th'
Antipodes
on's Back, look discontent.
43. Baptism, to the Jew.
Baptism doth cure, but Circumcision wound;
The Laws wounds are by Baptism rendered sound.
44. Heatuontimoroumenos.
Self-vexing.
While Death to shun, Life to preserve, poor Man
Doth vex himself the space of all his span.
•
rute Beasts enjoy the present Life's supply,
Living they live, and when they die, they die.
45. To William Sidley, Knight and Baronet.
Thy noble worth doth Gold, doth Honor merit;
Yet both flag far beneath thy gen'rous spirit.
46. To J. P.
A brisk, wise Wife, that
Latin
speaks and
Greek,
That can dispute in Logic, thou dost seek;
One, that the Major and the Minor takes,
And from bad Premises worse sequence makes.
One that was versed in puny Naturals
While puny Maid, now Mistress of her Art in all's.
One that can render all Opponents mute,
And of all entities can well dispute.
•
f such a Wife, so rational, were mine,
•
would exchange with thee, though brute were thine.
47. On Ramista, bipartite.
Thou first definest, then what was defined
Thou dost divide, defin'st-divid'st each kind;
The whole thou in so many parts dissect'st,
That now thy comment's longer than the Text's.
48. To Saint Paul, Of the City of God.
Thou for thyself, when threatened with the Scourge,
A Citizen of
Rome
to be, didst urge:
But in the fatal day of final Doom
Wilt serve to plead that privilege of
Rome
?
49. Christ.
Christ came into this World, saw mortal men,
Death overcame, returned into Heaven.
50. To W. Cambden, Of his Britannia.
Great
Britain's
Isle, almost forgot, almost
In
Lethe
's Lake of black Oblivion lost,
In name, in fame by thee reduced alive,
Thou shalt in her, while she survives, survive.
51. To Perpenna.
Like a Parenthesis thy fore-head is
Horn'd, Crescent-like: An hard Parenthesis.
An hard Metathesis; Thy Wife too free-
Of flesh, all flesh, doth make all Horn of thee.
52. Of Vices and Riches.
No man doth crimeless live, or Coinless here,
A full filled Purse from crime is seldom clear.
53. Apology of Death, and the Shambles.
If Death no Youths, Butchers no Bullocks killed,
The World with Fools and Calves would soon be filled.
54. Eve and Proserpine compared.
The Serpent
Eve
seduced, and
Proserpine
Was caught by
Pluto
's specious design:
Eve
fell from Paradise to prejudice
For eating th' Apple which she thought no Vice.
And
Proserpine
might have escaped
Dis,
Had she not been surprised in that Abyss.
Death captiv'd
Eve,
and
Pluto Proserpine,
This, of feigned
Jove,
that, Child of
Jove
divine.
Both took forbidden things, this Flow'rs, that Fruit,
Like Punishments to their like Sins did suit.
55. Astrologer and Geographer.
You two the total World divide: The Stars
Astrologers, th' Earth claim Geographers.
56. To Fannia, Noble, Fair, Poor.
Fann'a,
thou-fain wouldst with some rich man wed,
But for thy Poverty canst not be sped:
Though thou be nobly born, of fair aspect,
The sordid Lover Wealth doth more affect:
In Categoricks, substance sole we find
More prevalent in Love, than form or kind.
57. Con-sci-ence.
Love's Verbal now, not regal as of yore;
Belief depends on sense, not reasons score.
Religion scars i' th' Head, not sinks i' th' Heart,
It in the Brain, not Breast doth act its part.
58. An unspotted Sacrifice.
God's Temple's th' Earth, Altar, the Cross, the Priest,
The Sacrifice, and Sacrificer's Christ.
59. Of Mortal and Venial Sin, To Christ.
Thy Death hath cleared the Sins men double call;
Thy Cross doth Mortal Sins make Venial.
60. Upon in-hospitable persons.
〈◊〉
to those houses am no Page, nor Guest,
Whose Gates are to the Thresholds fast, when Feast.
61. Another, the same.
His own, none others let him be that's mine,
Let him be friendly that's my Friend, in fine.
62. Suffer little Children to come unto me.
The wanton flesh doth youth to sin seduce;
Old age in wickedness is more profuse.
Hence I suspect that few (scarce one in seven)
Of old men, or of young men enter Heaven.
63. Of Paracelsus.
She Salt of th' Earth Christ his Disciples named:
64. Of Eggs.
The second Person human form assumed,
The third like an Egg-breeding Dove was plum'd:
The great Creator Birds and Fishes blest,
Egg-breeders, not Life-breeders had his Test.
65. Of Rome, and the World.
Old
Rome
was square, and then the World was round,
The World's now square, and new
Rome
Wheels hath found.
66. Magical Generation.
If
Satan
man succumb in Woman's stead,
No Child from such coition can proceed:
But if like man h' incumb a Woman, thence
Some monstrous birth may chance t' have Effluence.
67. Of Bread and Butter.
68. The Age of Moses and David.
King
David
said, man in his Pilgrimage
Each of them lived so long, before they died,
As each had said; his Death each propheci'd.
He who taught
Moses, David,
(the Divine)
69. Even and uneven Number.
Each Number hath its mid, odd half doth want;
What's even hath its half, of mid is scant.
70. Physicians and Lawyers compared.
To Galen.
Galen,
the feared Tyrants fear thee; Why?
The Life and Death of Kings in thee doth lie.
Physicians next to God, are Arbiters
Of Life and Death; none can their Power reverse.
A Judge may Sentence give of Death (though loath)
Not without Crime and witness, thousans both.
71. Of King, People, Law.
Kings, Shepherds: People, Sheep: Laws, Fodder are:
For sick Sheep, Doctors, Kings, Laws cure prepare.
Orthography, and Orthodox Faith, To the Hebrews.
If the Right hand the Right side should decline,
And the left hand the left side: Both disjoin.
But if the left incline to th' right, the right
Incline unto the left hand, Both unite.
You
Jews
right Writers, we right Teachers are,
The Spirit's ours, yours is the Letter bare.
73. Few are chosen.
Each, and sole man adores the Power divine;
Each and sole man offends against the trine:
Each, and sole man the Savior came to save;
Sole man, yet not each man this Boon shall have.
74. Of salt Pits. Ambiguous.
Though generous
English
have Ingeniousness,
Yet Salt they prize at little, Wit at less:
Though
English
Salt be white, and
Gallick
brown;
Yet that
French
Salt sells dearer than our own.
75. Novelty.
What's new, will not continue new; nor will
A pleasing Novelty be pleasing still.
What new then solely pleaseth not, 'cause new,
But that best pleaseth whence good doth ensue.
76. Man, no man.
Man's born by Nature, man did Arts invent;
Art is man's work, not man Arts instrument:
None follow Natures Rules, by Art all live:
And now man's work t' Himself a Work doth give.
77. Authors of Sin.
To Grammarians, Authors of Errors.
Autor and Auctor you too much confound;
Pythagoras
his (a) saying was renowned.
Th' unhappy Tree produced Original Sin;
Whence
Adam
are; but did not first begin.
The Serpent Autor was,
Eve
did proceed:
78. Anagram of Diabolus, The Devil.
〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 .
Vis, Fraus, Force, Fraud.
The Devil like a Lion seeks to find
Souls, to devour with force, more fierce than Wind:
He, Fox-like, spreads close frauds, and secret snares,
Surprizing, or by Force, or unawares.
79. To Teach and Do, Acts 1.1.
Preachers good words teach people to believe;
But their good Works more lively Doctrine give.
He preacheth best, whose Words and Works do preach;
Their ill Works hurt more, than their good Words teach.
80. Usury and Lot.
Be with thy Lot content, Usurious gain
Is sinful, with thy Lot content remain.
81. Invention of Truth.
To the Dubious.
Pythagoras
('tis said) when Truth he found,
Lid sacrifice an Ox, with Garlands crowned:
Truth now's so rarely seen with mortal eyes,
A Calf's enough for thee to sacrifice.
82. Circumcision and Baptism.
Thou, Christ, wast Circumcis'd, thou wast Baptiz'd,
Though neither thou didst need; yet both were prized:
Sins, which both cannot purge, though join'd together,
Why may not I, O Christ, have one of either?
83. The Wisdom of Solomon, and of Siracides.
Wisdomes two Books Apocryphal we call;
Wise men must then be still Apocryphal.
84. On Covetous Persons.
Sell all that thou hast, and give to the Poor.
This killing Letter doth all misers kill;
What, say they, doth the Spirit herein will?
The Spirit wills, what you will not, your store
To give, but you give nothing to the poor.
85. Of Sextus.
Is the Church visible? Thou ask'st: Why? Ours
Is visible, invisible is yours.
86. An Exiles Comfort.
Not banished while I live, while Earth doth stand,
Nor exiled shall I be while th' Earth's called Land:
When dead, exiled from Earth I shall at rest
In Heaven be blessed among the blest.
87. Man, an Hunter, Fisher, Fowler.
I hunt for Riches, Fowl for Praise and Honor,
I Fish for Mysteries: Would know their Donor.
While Fool, I strive to know, Proud, Honors crave,
Sordid seek Wealth, I travel to my Grave.
88. Of the same.
The Dog hunts on the Ground, Fish swim in Seas,
The winged Birds poys'd are in th' Air at case,
A wise man Fish-like sounds things hid-profound;
Proud men soar Bird-like, covetous hunt like hound.
89. Foot-men's Comfort.
An Horse int' Heaven did not
Castor
bear,
Nor rode
Triptolemus
in's Chariot there:
Heavens way's strait-narrow, Foot-men travel it;
The broad way's most for Horse and Chariot fit.
90. Of Wax.
I trebly useful am, for Church, Laws, Health:
I bring Divines, Physicians, Lawyers, Wealth.
91. Of a certain Fair Fickle Woman.
The King of Stars thee decks, the Queen directs
The Sun thy Face, the Moon thy Breast aspects.
92. Of the Soul and Body.
A Problem.
The
Greeks
their Slaves did Bodies call, because
The Soul's free from the servile Bodies Laws:
A Lord's the Bodies Lord, a King's its King,
But not the Souls: From God Souls solely spring.
Bodies begotten are; But Souls divin'd,
Deduce from God their unbegotten kind.
93. Of Christ's Miracles.
To one incredulous.
Thy Faith's not great, wonders thou canst do none;
Nor hast thou Faith to credit what are done.
94. The Old Testament.
A Testament, while the Testator lives,
Is of no force, invalid, nothing gives:
Yet God's word's called th' Old Testament: But why?
Since God, who did ordain it, cannot die.
95. The New Testament.
This was of Christ called the New Testament,
By few first, now by general consent:
Yet not a letter of this Book was writ,
While the Testator lived t' attestate it.
96. All things are full of Errors. Cic.
Physicians are sick, Lawyers mistake,
Many Divines pass to th' infernal Lake.
97. Against all Nations.
One only God, one man did make on Earth;
One man, once made, to many God's gave Birth.
98. On Atheists.
Fear first taught to fear God: But now, alas,
The fear of God without all fear doth pass.
99. To his Mecaenas, William Sidley, &c.
Who to thee wisheth not old
Nestors
years,
Would wishes serve, before thou climb the Sphears?
I wish thee not more years, one year wish I,
I wish thee
Plato
's year, before thou die.
100. On Cotta, a poor and foolish writer.
Thou sayst thou wantest new Clothes; That's true, I grant:
But I think, rather, thou new Wit dost want.
The End of the Second Book.
EPIGRAMS OF John Owen AN OXONIAN AND CAMBRO-BRITAIN. To his Mecaenas, Roger Owen, Knight. The Third Book.
1. To Roger Owen, his Mecaenas.
IT is thy Virtue, Virtue to propose
To be thy Study, this thy Judgment chose:
Where thou most Virtue find'st, thou lov'st it there,
While thou with the most vert'ous art Compeer.
2. To Ponticus, Sound-unsound.
In health and wealth thou dost with Pride abound:
But, when thou shalt be sick, thou wilt be sound.
3. What a Clock isit?
Death creeps on Life, and Age on youth: The while
'It is asked, What isit a Clock? Hours us beguile.
4. Bacchus his Deifying.
Wine Truth doth speak, doth secret things display;
Dry Souls are silent, moist things open lay:
Wine hearts doth open; Rhenish Wine descries
The Reins; Who
Bacchus
then a God denies?
5. Of silent Labienus.
If wise, th' art foolish not to speak; but if
A Fool (as th' art) it is thy Wisdom chief.
6. Faith in Wax.
Without or Wax or Seal men once lent money;
But now without them both none will lend any.
7. To Firmicus. Of the seven Planets.
The Sun's like Gold, the Moon shows Silvers smile;
Venus
like
Coppress
(
Cyprus
was her I will)
Quick-silver'd
Mercury
; stern
Mars
strikes dead
With fatal Steel;
Jove
's Time, and
Saturn
Lead.
The last five of the seven take to thee:
One Sun's enough, one Moon's enough for me.
8. Of a certain Niggard.
Verses can from the Skies deduce the Moon,
As soon as from thy Purse produce one Boon.
9. Wedlocks Primacy.
The man by day, by night the feminine
Bears rule: So Sun and Moon alternate shine.
10. Of a certain Woman.
Thine Head wears Feathers, Corks thy Feet up rear:
From Head to foot thy lightness doth appear.
11. Faith.
I see the Stars, the Pole's imaginary;
Eyes view the Skies, but Faith to God doth carry.
12. To Thomas, Baron of Ellesmer, Chancellor of England, &c. 1612.
Thou late one Son, one-only Daughter late
Hast lost, yet hast one Son preserved from fate:
He of the three like
John,
sole Son to thee;
Summest of all, the Sum of all the three.
13. Contempt of the World.
Wilt live an happy life? Thy Life contemn:
He wretched lives, whose life unt' him's a Jem.
14. To Robert Cary, Viscount Rochester, and Henry Danvers, Baron of Dantesay, &c.
Five Jacobines you gave me, even then
When I five Distichs gave you from my pen.
I merit not your Love, nor Gifts; by which
(If so dear were the rest) I might be rich.
15. To his Friend, A Bachelor.
Dost burn with lust? 'It is sin: Espouse a Bride;
The flesh will be the better mortifi'd.
16. Of Baldinus.
He Books unworthy light, to Light brought forth:
Yet Books deserving Fire, else nothing worth.
17. The Decalogue and Creed.
Why's my Belief, than Life, bound more unto?
'Cause 'tis more easy to believe than do.
18. Knowledge and Charity.
I must know two things, two things love must I,
God and my Self, God and my Neighbor by.
19. Of Tythes. To the Laity.
What Fruit comes hence, best fruit's beyond compute,
After the Ninth, before th' Eleventh Fruit:
How good is God? who takes not for his due
More than the tenth, but gives the tenth to you.
20. Of God and the World.
This World in God exists, God is not here:
We are i' th' World, O would in God we were.
21. The Right of Tythes and First-Fruits.
God is the First and Last; most justly then
The First-fruits and the Tythes he claims of men.
22. Faith, Hope, and Charity.
Sole Love with us doth Heaven penetrate,
Faith, Hope are useless; Both within that Gate.
There's nothing to believe, all's in our Eine;
Nothing to Hope for, for w' enjoy the Trine;
Love's ever there, Love after Death's alive,
While God himself in Heaven doth survive.
23. Of Polydorus.
Clos'd in a Chest, as dead, he money keeps;
Quick-silver 'tis not, 'tis or dead, or sleeps.
24. To myself.
Owen,
the Printer sought thy Book to buy,
The price thou ask'st, he gave it readily.
The Book is printed, and thou buyest it;
Owretched man, thou sell'st and buy'st thy Wit.
25. Of one Uxorious.
Thou sit'st at Stern, but thee thy Boat doth guide;
Which Pinnace-like thee bears with Wind and Tide.
26. Of Husband and Wife.
Two in one Flesh.
If Love unite not Hearts, espous'd together,
Both of them are not one, but two are either.
27. Man Solar.
The Sun contrary to the Globe doth run:
Let then man's course of Life be like the Sun.
28. Of Sylvanus.
The force of's wit is fi'ry,
Sylvan
says;
And thence concludes, that Fire doth nothing raise.
29. London.
The barren City fruits converts to dung;
The fertile Fields turn Dung to fruits e're long:
Thou debtor art for Food and Life to th' Clown;
He debtor is for compost to thy Town.
30. To his Friend and Kinsman Theodore Prise, Theologer.
In things uncertain thou my certain Friend
Hast been, and still to be so dost intend:
What words profess, thy Deeds express, I grant;
Thy life to th' vocal tongue is consonant.
31. Of Atheists and (a) Polytheists.
The poor his wants, as many God's doth fear;
Rich Averice doth wish no God's there were.
Poor Penury sins less than Plenty doth;
32. Solicitude. To Ponticus.
By day, by night thy Wife with clamours fills
Thine Ears, and with solicitude thee kills:
What cure is there from this thee to secure?
In Solitude thou mayst be safe and sure.
33. F A S.
Faith, Hope, and Love's the way to scale the Sky,
Without these three no man can soar so high.
Hope on the left, Faith is on Love's right hand;
Love, the chief Virtue, in the midst doth stand.
34. To the Learned and Judicious Knight, Roger Owen.
Thou mayst seem to be young (most learned) to some,
If either I were Deaf, or thou wert Dumb:
None will thee young, unless he's Deaf, suppose;
Nor old, unless he doth his Eye-lids close.
35. Eight.
The Savior of the world twice four did bless;
And
Noah
's saving Ark saved eight; no less.
36. Of man's Primacy. A Problem.
Why did the Lord from
Adam, Eve
create?
Because with him she should not b' adequate.
Had she been made of Earth, she would have deemed
Her self his Sister, and his equal seemed.
37. Conjux. Man and Wife.
Since Wives their Husbands subjects are: Then why
Doth
Conjux
Wife and Husband signify?
Why doth this Word
Conjux
conioyn them, when
Wives most perverse, are most averse to men?
38. Epigram.
We, that have fancies t' Epigrammatize,
Can out of any Wood make Mercuries:
I am versed in Words, as Galenist in Herbs;
He's master of his Herbs, I of my Verbs.
39. Of Paula, a most lectick Woman.
Dost wonder, why th' art called most lect? 'It is soon
40. Of a certain litigious Lawyer.
Wert not cause-maker thou, thy need to serve,
Thou, no cause-pleader, mightest for hunger starve.
41. Scripture Reading.
The Thief, the Traveler are armed with Sword;
Fanatics, Catholics, all read God's word.
42. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britain, Dr. in Divinity, Principal of Jesus College in Oxford.
Thou dost the Scriptures search, both old and new;
Thou
Janus
art, before-behind doest view.
43. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britain, a Divine, and fellow of St. Johns College in Cambridge
Ingenious youth, do not thy Talent hide,
The
Cambrians
Honor shall by thee abide.
44. To John Williams, a Cambro-Britain, the Kings Goldsmith in London.
Thy civil wit doth more than civil seem;
Thee wiser than a Citizen I deem.
45. To all those three.
You three my Kinsmen are, and each my Friend,
Three
Johns,
and I your
John
am to mine end.
46. To the Creditor.
Thy Debtor is thy Servant, he, that pays
Thy Friend, thy Master Payment that gainsays.
47. Truth in the deep. To one painted.
False things appear, Truth's hid; 'It is seen in thee;
Thy Face is painted, thy facts tainted be.
48. Of Phyllis.
Thou take'st, but wilt not
Gratis
give a kiss;
Thy Gift not grateful, but ingrateful is.
49. Gravity and Levity.
Though light and pond'rous things are oppos
•
te,
I would not have mine head too grave, too light:
Ills opposite I hate: I would not have
My Wife to be too light, nor yet too grave.
50. Of a Pratler, sick with the Cholick.
Thy Tongue is loose, thy Body close; Both ill:
With Silence this, with Loquence that doth kill.
51. Of Theologaster, a Sophister.
What is thy knowledge without Goodness? Vain.
Cease then to know much; rather Goodness gain.
52. Action and Passion.
Who doth much ill, shall suffer much for it;
But who much suffers, doth less ill commit.
53. Repentance and Reminiscence.
I wretch am grieved when I recount my sins;
But, when I count my suff'rings, Joy begins.
54. The Damned.
Thy sad Fate's like
Decembers
'leventh Ray;
A long night follows thy short-cloudy Day.
55. The Blessed.
Like
Junes
eleventh Day thy Fate shines bright,
A long-long day succeeds thy short-short Night.
56. Felix and Festus.
57. Democritus and Heraclitus.
This wept for the then times Defaults, and Crimes;
That laughed at the Follies of the times.
Mortals will still be foolish, wretched, frail;
That this may laugh, that ever may bewail.
58. Always the same.
Let Faith, Hope, Charity be still the same;
The same thy Wit, still kept within its frame.
59. Of ignorant-arrogant Linus.
Thee, double ignorance doth captivate,
Thou nothing knowest, and knowest not that thy state.
60. Of the Poet Maevius.
Non-Entities and Evil, like we call;
Thou makest, though many Verses, none at all.
61. Helena and Penelope.
Fame hath fair
Helen
mounted to the Skyes;
Glory
Penelope
doth Eternize.
Penelop
's-
Helen
's Names shall never die:
Because this would, that would not falsify.
62. Of Life.
Nature man's life, as Spiders Webs, doth weave;
Each Labor's long, apt to decay-deceive.
63. Of Paula.
Thou with thy Bodies use, with usury
Thine Husband trades; He this, thou that, dost ply.
64. Of a Covetous Miser.
To number, add, or multiply thy store,
'It is nothing; but divide, thou shalt have more.
65. Verity and Virtue.
Never so few, who now learn well to live;
Never so many, who good Doctrine give:
Many, these times, the ways of Faith display;
But they who taught the ways, taught not the way.
66. Modern Writers.
We carp at former Works, and Words; yet we
Now writers, but the formers Echoes be.
67. The Worlds three Rulers.
Let the Divine be sage, to b' all unt' all;
The Lawyer wise, Physician literal.
68. The Authors Vote.
I wish not Poverty, nor riches great,
Too little, nor too much: Enough's complete.
69. Forbidden Books.
We covet things forbid, denied, desire;
A Wife cloggs youth, a Dams
•
l sets on Fire:
One, though deformed, enjoy'd, seems fair by night:
Forbidden Books are read witth most delight.
70. On Festus.
I am to thee trusty, trustless th' art to me;
But why? Thou sayest, th' art next thyself, so be.
Be next thyself; Thou shalt not me be next;
I love not by bad Neighbors to be vext.
71. The false Church.
What Church doth not herself Christ's Spouse declare?
How many yet of them but Harlots are?
If the false Church doth not herself deceive,
Christ shall, than
Solomon,
more Spouses have.
72. To Decianus.
The World, thou sayst, is wicked: True; but thou
Art one of them that makes it wicked now.
73. Of Dindymus.
A Bachelor in
Venus
Art thou art;
Thou shalt (when
Pander
) act a Masters part.
74. To G. T. 1606.
Thy Servants Scholar, and his Lord to be,
An Honor is, a Misery to thee.
75. Rule of State.
The common Wealth was once the Rule of Right:
But now new Rules of Right are brought to light.
76. Of a certain Cross-wearing Hypocrite.
Belzebub
's thought to th' Cross an Enemy,
Which seeing, he doth turn, return, and fly;
But not from every Cross: For though thy Breast
Thou cross, yet Satan in thine Heart dost rest.
77. Christ's Life and Death.
For me Christ did, and suff'red many things:
God in his Deeds, Man in his Sufferings.
78. The wise men's Star.
A Star t' Astronomers unknown, was lent
To light the Kings, to Christ, from th' Orient:
The wise men by that Star found Christ, the King:
O may my Star, my Faith, to Christ me bring.
79.
The Golden Calf broken by
Moses.
Exod. 32.20.
The Golden Calf which
Aaron
did calcine,
Moses
destroyed, made it less Belluine.
80.
The Triumvirs
-
Divines,
-
Lawyers,
-
Physicians.
These of the World the grand Triumvirs be:
What are Divines? Divinest of the three.
81. To the Histor •• grapher.
In History speak'st free? That bad may be:
Speak'st nothing false? Silence may censure thee.
Dissimulate or simulate, who writes
An History, must serve all appetites.
82. Of the Deluge, and end of the World.
The wicked World with sinful Lusts inflamed,
Was drowned by Water: So those Lusts were tamed.
The now-new World, in Charity grown cold,
Shall be consumed with Fire as was that old
With Water: Physic thus makes cures entire
By contraries; Fire Water, Water Fire.
83. Debtor and Creditor.
I owe thee naught but Evangelic Love;
The with Apostolic Faith, I prove, approve.
84. Of God and the Devil.
God would have all men saved; The Devil none:
These no men's persons do respect, not one.
85. Of Good and Evil.
Thee Good, shall have Rewards, the Bad, severe
Torments hereafter: That hath hope, this fear.
86. Do likewise. To Atta • us, J. C.
Thou practice must to Theory conjoin;
Read the Saints lives; do likewise then in thine.
87. The Redeemer.
To thee my Sight, my Taste hath sole relation;
Thou art my Sun, my Salt, my sole Salvation.
88. Money's Method.
'It is virtue great, of Gold to get tuition;
Its good use greater, greatest its fruition.
89. Of Writers in these times.
A fatal error causeth fools to write:
Enough they seem to gain, when seen in Light:
While they self-pleasing, rashly write, poor Elves;
They seldom others please, who please themselves.
90. A Paradox.
Though Atheists all descend int' Hell, there roar:
None Atheist now's in Hell, there was before.
91. Of Gaurus.
Thou praisest nothing, all reprovest; see
While thou none pleasest, no man pleaseth thee.
92. To myself.
Owen,
wouldest know what friends thou canst procure?
By weight, not number count, thou shalt be sure:
The number, and the Finger oft beguile;
Though Love be Fire, it pond'rous is the while.
93. Difference between Kings and Tyrants.
Good-Godly Kings what's Just and Right perpend:
But Tyrants, what they will, command-commend:
A good Kings Treats I prize Tore Tyrants Threats;
This, what he speaks, commands; that but intreats.
94. Of a certain—
Bedlam
for Fools,
Bride-well
for Knaves is best;
To which of these thou wilt thou mayst b' a Guest.
95. The Mother Church.
You be Christ's Brethren, I his Spouse; thereby
I am your Sister, called your Mother, why?
96. Of Sects.
Five Senses in a man the Sophist finds,
Three Souls: But who can tell how many minds?
97. Life in the Blood.
Moses,
the Legislator, did confine
98. To Thomas, Baron of Ellesmer, Chancellor of England, a Consolation upon the death of Mary, his only Daughter, an excellent Woman, 1612.
Nestor,
no doubt, and old
Mathusalem
Saw many Funerals, and wept for them:
Long livers live, oft see their Children's Urns:
An happy man, unhappy Fortune mourns,
I, of thy Children grieve thy Loss to see;
But glad, that they saw not the loss of thee.
99. On a foolish Writer.
Thy Books eternal are: My vote I spend;
For neither they beginning have, nor end.
100. To his three Mecaenates, E. N. G. S. and R. O.
You strive, still may you strive, which of you three
Should be the best
Mecaenas
unto me.
This Strife (a strife-less strife) I will foment;
And wish your Emulation permanent.
You by this noble Strife have nothing lost;
And I thereby great profit have ingrost.
101. Upon the Death of Prince Henry, 1612.
Dead is the Prince, bewall'd with Floods of Tears,
Great
Britain's
Hope, his Parents Joys and Fears.
His second no man, but his German Brother;
And, but his German Sister, not another.
A Prince, while living, honor'd, dead, beloved;
Both of his Country, while he lived, he proved.
While I these things with weeping Eyes perpend
Salt Tears from both mine Eyes like Floods descend,
Reader, believe me, this me so doth touch,
That I can speak no more I weep so much.
102. To the Prince his Ghost.
Thou, living, didst m' an yearly Stipend give;
Lost now, because thou didst no longer live.
Yet, O I wish thou hadst surviv'd, thought
Had nothing gained by thy superstity.
Though neither of us now can t' each incline,
Yet who can bar my thanks unto thy Shrine?
103. To the same Prince Henry.
Must now, alas, Thou wast my
Caesar,
cry.
The End of the Third Book.
The Epilogue.
To the Readers.
The
British Owen,
with his
Latin
verse,
Is here raised up in
English
from his Hearse:
Here many things of note accost your Eye:
'Twere pity such-so many things should die.
Not, but that they survive in what he writ,
Yet all our
English
understand not it.
If anything seem in the Scene obscene,
'It is washed, and here wrapped up in Linnen clean;
You need not fear to lodge between the Sheets,
They be perfumed with Aromatick Sweets.
I wish t' ye all a sweet-a safe repose
By day, by night: And thus the book I close.
Tho. Harvey.
Epitaphium Johannes Owen in Templo Divi Pauli Londini.
Parva T
•
be Statua est, quia parva Statura, Supellex
•
Parva, volat parvus magna per ora Liber;
Sed non parvus honos, non parva est Gloria, quippe
Ingenio haud quicquam est majus in Orbe tuo:
Parva domus texit, Templum sed grande; Poetae
Tum vere vitam, cum moriuntur, agunt.
Posuit Reverendus Pater D. Johannes Williams, Episcopus Lincolniensis, Magni Sigilli Anglia custos.
This Epitaph thus Englished.
Thy Statue, Stature, thine Estate, thy Book,
All little, great Men yet on this do look:
Nor is thine Honor, or thy Glory small,
For greater wit than thine, is not at all:
Thy little house in a great Temple lies,
A Poet lives not truly till he dies.
Tho. Harvey.
FINIS.