The second Anniversary.
The Harbinger to the
PROGRESSE.
TWO Soules move here, and mine (a third) must move
Paces of admiration, and of love;
Thy Soule (deare virgin) whose this tribute is,
Mov'd from this mortall Spheare to lively blisse;
5And yet moves still, and still aspires to see
The worlds last day, thy glories full degree:
Like as those starres which thou o'r-lookest farre,
Are in their place, and yet still moved are:
No soule (whiles with the luggage of this clay
10It clogged is) can follow thee halfe way;
Or see thy flight, which doth our thoughts outgoe
So fast, that now the lightning moves but slow:
But now thou art as high in heaven flowne
As heaven's from us; what soule besides thine owne
15Can tell thy joyes, or say he can relate
Thy glorious Journals in that blessed state?
I envie thee (Rich soule) I envy thee,
Although I cannot yet thy glory see:
And thou (great spirit) which hers follow'd hast
20So fast, as none can follow thine so fast;
So far, as none can follow thine so farre,
(And if this flesh did not the passage barre
Hadst caught her) let me wonder at thy flight
Which long agone hadst lost the vulgar sight,
25And now mak'st proud the better eyes, that they
Can see thee less'ned in thine ayery way;
So while thou mak'st her soule by progresse knowne
Thou mak'st a noble progresse of thine owne,
From this worlds carkasse having mounted high
30To that pure life of immortalitie;
Since thine aspiring thoughts themselves so raise
That more may not beseeme a creatures praise,
Yet still thou vow'st her more; and every yeare
Mak'st a new progresse, while thou wandrest here;
35Still upward mount; and let thy Makers praise
Honor thy Laura, and adorne thy laies.
And since thy Muse her head in heaven shrouds,
Oh let her never stoope below the clouds:
And if those glorious sainted soules may know
40Or what wee doe, or what wee sing below,
Those acts, those songs shall still content them best
Which praise those awfull Powers that make them blest.
Of the Progresse &c. 1612-69: The second Anniversary. 1612-69 (in 1612-21 it stands at head of page)
The Harbinger &c.] In 1612-25 this poem printed in italics
8 are:] are 1612-25
12 that now] as now 1635-69, Chambers
27 soule] soules 1612
28 owne, 1635-69: owne. 1612-33
34 while] whilst 1669
35 upward] upwards 1612
OF
THE PROGRESSE
OF THE SOULE.
The second Anniversarie.
The entrance.[1]
NOTHING could make me sooner to confesse
That this world had an everlastingnesse,
Then to consider, that a yeare is runne,
Since both this lower world's, and the Sunnes Sunne,
5The Lustre, and the vigor of this All,
Did set; 'twere blasphemie to say, did fall.
But as a ship which hath strooke saile, doth runne
By force of that force which before, it wonne:
Or as sometimes in a beheaded man,
10Though at those two Red seas, which freely ranne,
One from the Trunke, another from the Head,
His soule be sail'd, to her eternall bed,
His eyes will twinckle, and his tongue will roll,
As though he beckned, and cal'd backe his soule,
15He graspes his hands, and he pulls up his feet,
And seemes to reach, and to step forth to meet
His soule; when all these motions which we saw,
Are but as Ice, which crackles at a thaw:
Or as a Lute, which in moist weather, rings
20Her knell alone, by cracking of her strings:
So struggles this dead world, now shee is gone;
For there is motion in corruption.
As some daies are at the Creation nam'd,
Before the Sunne, the which fram'd daies, was fram'd,
25So after this Sunne's set, some shew appeares,
And orderly vicissitude of yeares.
Yet a new Deluge, and of Lethe flood,
Hath drown'd us all, All have forgot all good,
Forgetting her, the maine reserve of all.
30Yet in this deluge, grosse and generall,
Thou seest me strive for life; my life shall bee,
To be hereafter prais'd, for praysing thee;
Immortall Maid, who though thou would'st refuse
The name of Mother, be unto my Muse
35A Father, since her chast Ambition is,
Yearely to bring forth such a child as this.
These Hymnes may worke on future wits, and so
May great Grand children of thy prayses grow.
And so, though not revive, embalme and spice
40The world, which else would putrifie with vice.
For thus, Man may extend thy progeny,
Untill man doe but vanish, and not die.
These Hymnes thy issue, may encrease so long,
As till Gods great Venite change the song.
A iust disestimation[2] of this world.
45Thirst for that time, O my insatiate soule,
And serve thy thirst, with Gods safe-sealing Bowle.
Be thirstie still, and drinke still till thou goe
To th'only Health, to be Hydroptique so.
Forget this rotten world; And unto thee
50Let thine owne times as an old storie bee.
Be not concern'd: studie not why, nor when;
Doe not so much as not beleeve a man.
For though to erre, be worst, to try truths forth,
Is far more businesse, then this world is worth.
55The world is but a carkasse; thou art fed
By it, but as a worme, that carkasse bred;
And why should'st thou, poore worme, consider more,
When this world will grow better then before,
Then those thy fellow wormes doe thinke upon
60That carkasses last resurrection.
Forget this world, and scarce thinke of it so,
As of old clothes, cast off a yeare agoe.
To be thus stupid is Alacritie;
Men thus Lethargique have best Memory.
65Look upward; that's towards her, whose happy state
We now lament not, but congratulate.
Shee, to whom all this world was but a stage,
Where all sat harkning how her youthfull age
Should be emploi'd, because in all shee did,
70Some Figure of the Golden times was hid.
Who could not lacke, what e'r this world could give,
Because shee was the forme, that made it live;
Nor could complaine, that this world was unfit
To be staid in, then when shee was in it;
75Shee that first tried indifferent desires
By vertue, and vertue by religious fires,
Shee to whose person Paradise adher'd,
As Courts to Princes, shee whose eyes ensphear'd
Star-light enough, t'have made the South controule,
80(Had shee beene there) the Star-full Northerne Pole,
Shee, shee is gone; she is gone; when thou knowest this,
What fragmentary rubbidge this world is
Thou knowest, and that it is not worth a thought;
He honors it too much that thinkes it nought.
Contemplation of our state in our death-bed.
85Thinke then, my soule, that death is but a Groome,
Which brings a Taper to the outward roome,
Whence thou spiest first a little glimmering light,
And after brings it nearer to thy sight:
For such approaches doth heaven make in death.
90Thinke thy selfe labouring now with broken breath,
And thinke those broken and soft Notes to bee
Division, and thy happyest Harmonie.
Thinke thee laid on thy death-bed, loose and slacke;
And thinke that, but unbinding of a packe,
95To take one precious thing, thy soule from thence.
Thinke thy selfe parch'd with fevers violence,
Anger thine ague more, by calling it
Thy Physicke; chide the slacknesse of the fit.
Thinke that thou hear'st thy knell, and think no more,
100But that, as Bels cal'd thee to Church before,
So this, to the Triumphant Church, calls thee.
Thinke Satans Sergeants round about thee bee,
And thinke that but for Legacies they thrust;
Give one thy Pride, to'another give thy Lust:
105Give them those sinnes which they gave thee before,
And trust th'immaculate blood to wash thy score.
Thinke thy friends weeping round, and thinke that they
Weepe but because they goe not yet thy way.
Thinke that they close thine eyes, and thinke in this,
110That they confesse much in the world, amisse,
Who dare not trust a dead mans eye with that,
Which they from God, and Angels cover not.
Thinke that they shroud thee up, and think from thence
They reinvest thee in white innocence.
115Thinke that thy body rots, and (if so low,
Thy soule exalted so, thy thoughts can goe,)
Think thee a Prince, who of themselves create
Wormes which insensibly devoure their State.
Thinke that they bury thee, and thinke that right
120Laies thee to sleepe but a Saint Lucies night.
Thinke these things cheerefully: and if thou bee
Drowsie or slacke, remember then that shee,
Shee whose Complexion was so even made,
That which of her Ingredients should invade
125The other three, no Feare, no Art could guesse:
So far were all remov'd from more or lesse.
But as in Mithridate, or just perfumes,
Where all good things being met, no one presumes
To governe, or to triumph on the rest,
130Only because all were, no part was best.
And as, though all doe know, that quantities
Are made of lines, and lines from Points arise,
None can these lines or quantities unjoynt,
And say this is a line, or this a point,
135So though the Elements and Humors were
In her, one could not say, this governes there.
Whose even constitution might have wonne
Any disease to venter on the Sunne,
Rather then her: and make a spirit feare,
140That hee to disuniting subject were.
To whose proportions if we would compare
Cubes, th'are unstable; Circles, Angular;
She who was such a chaine as Fate employes
To bring mankinde all Fortunes it enjoyes;
145So fast, so even wrought, as one would thinke,
No Accident could threaten any linke;
Shee, shee embrac'd a sicknesse, gave it meat,
The purest blood, and breath, that e'r it eate;
And hath taught us, that though a good man hath
150Title to heaven, and plead it by his Faith,
And though he may pretend a conquest, since
Heaven was content to suffer violence,
Yea though hee plead a long possession too,
(For they're in heaven on earth who heavens workes do)
155Though hee had right and power and place, before,
Yet Death must usher, and unlocke the doore.
Incommodities of the Soule in the Body.[3]
Thinke further on thy selfe, my Soule, and thinke
How thou at first wast made but in a sinke;
Thinke that it argued some infirmitie,
160That those two soules, which then thou foundst in me,
Thou fedst upon, and drewst into thee, both
My second soule of sense, and first of growth.
Thinke but how poore thou wast, how obnoxious;
Whom a small lumpe of flesh could poyson thus.
165This curded milke, this poore unlittered whelpe
My body, could, beyond escape or helpe,
Infect thee with Originall sinne, and thou
Couldst neither then refuse, nor leave it now.
Thinke that no stubborne sullen Anchorit,
170Which fixt to a pillar, or a grave, doth sit
Bedded, and bath'd in all his ordures, dwels
So fowly as our Soules in their first-built Cels.
Thinke in how poore a prison thou didst lie
After, enabled but to suck, and crie.
175Thinke, when'twas growne to most,'twas a poore Inne,
A Province pack'd up in two yards of skinne,
And that usurp'd or threatned with the rage
Of sicknesses, or their true mother, Age.
But thinke that Death hath now enfranchis'd thee,
Her liberty by death.
180Thou hast thy'expansion now, and libertie;
Thinke that a rustie Peece, discharg'd, is flowne
In peeces, and the bullet is his owne,
And freely flies: This to thy Soule allow,
Thinke thy shell broke, thinke thy Soule hatch'd but now.
185And think this slow-pac'd soule, which late did cleave
To'a body, and went but by the bodies leave,
Twenty, perchance, or thirty mile a day,
Dispatches in a minute all the way
Twixt heaven, and earth; she stayes not in the ayre,
190To looke what Meteors there themselves prepare;
She carries no desire to know, nor sense,
Whether th'ayres middle region be intense;
For th'Element of fire, she doth not know,
Whether she past by such a place or no;
195She baits not at the Moone, nor cares to trie
Whether in that new world, men live, and die.
Venus retards her not, to'enquire, how shee
Can, (being one starre) Hesper, and Vesper bee;
Hee that charm'd Argus eyes, sweet Mercury,
200Workes not on her, who now is growne all eye;
Who, if she meet the body of the Sunne,
Goes through, not staying till his course be runne;
Who findes in Mars his Campe no corps of Guard;
Nor is by Iove, nor by his father barr'd;
205But ere she can consider how she went,
At once is at, and through the Firmament.
And as these starres were but so many beads
Strung on one string, speed undistinguish'd leads
Her through those Spheares, as through the beads, a string,
210Whose quick succession makes it still one thing:
As doth the pith, which, lest our bodies slacke,
Strings fast the little bones of necke, and backe;
So by the Soule doth death string Heaven and Earth;
For when our Soule enjoyes this her third birth,
215(Creation gave her one, a second, grace,)
Heaven is as neare, and present to her face,
As colours are, and objects, in a roome
Where darknesse was before, when Tapers come.
This must, my Soule, thy long-short Progresse bee;
220To'advance these thoughts, remember then, that she,
She; whose faire body no such prison was,
But that a Soule might well be pleas'd to passe
An age in her; she whose rich beauty lent
Mintage to other beauties, for they went
225But for so much as they were like to her;
Shee, in whose body (if we dare preferre
This low world, to so high a marke as shee,)
The Westerne treasure, Easterne spicerie,
Europe, and Afrique, and the unknowne rest
230Were easily found, or what in them was best;
And when w'have made this large discoverie
Of all, in her some one part then will bee
Twenty such parts, whose plenty and riches is
Enough to make twenty such worlds as this;
235Shee, whom had they knowne who did first betroth
The Tutelar Angels, and assign'd one, both
To Nations, Cities, and to Companies,
To Functions, Offices, and Dignities,
And to each severall man, to him, and him,
240They would have given her one for every limbe;
She, of whose soule, if wee may say, 'twas Gold,
Her body was th'Electrum, and did hold
Many degrees of that; wee understood
Her by her sight; her pure, and eloquent blood
245Spoke in her cheekes, and so distinctly wrought,
That one might almost say, her body thought;
Shee, shee, thus richly and largely hous'd, is gone:
And chides us slow-pac'd snailes who crawle upon
Our prisons prison, earth, nor thinke us well,
250Longer, then whil'st wee beare our brittle shell.
Her ignorance in this life and knowledge in the next.[4]
But 'twere but little to have chang'd our roome,
If, as we were in this our living Tombe
Oppress'd with ignorance, wee still were so.
Poore soule, in this thy flesh what dost thou know?
255Thou know'st thy selfe so little, as thou know'st not,
How thou didst die, nor how thou wast begot.
Thou neither know'st, how thou at first cam'st in,
Nor how thou took'st the poyson of mans sinne.
Nor dost thou, (though thou know'st, that thou art so)
260By what way thou art made immortall, know.
Thou art too narrow, wretch, to comprehend
Even thy selfe: yea though thou wouldst but bend
To know thy body. Have not all soules thought
For many ages, that our body'is wrought
265Of Ayre, and Fire, and other Elements?
And now they thinke of new ingredients,
And one Soule thinkes one, and another way
Another thinkes, and 'tis an even lay.
Knowst thou but how the stone doth enter in
270The bladders cave, and never breake the skinne?
Know'st thou how blood, which to the heart doth flow,
Doth from one ventricle to th'other goe?
And for the putrid stuffe, which thou dost spit,
Know'st thou how thy lungs have attracted it?
275There are no passages, so that there is
(For ought thou know'st) piercing of substances.
And of those many opinions which men raise
Of Nailes and Haires, dost thou know which to praise?
What hope have wee to know our selves, when wee
280Know not the least things, which for our use be?
Wee see in Authors, too stiffe to recant,
A hundred controversies of an Ant;
And yet one watches, starves, freeses, and sweats,
To know but Catechismes and Alphabets
285Of unconcerning things, matters of fact;
How others on our stage their parts did Act;
What Cæsar did, yea, and what Cicero said.
Why grasse is greene, or why our blood is red,
Are mysteries which none have reach'd unto.
290In this low forme, poore soule, what wilt thou doe?
When wilt thou shake off this Pedantery,
Of being taught by sense, and Fantasie?
Thou look'st through spectacles; small things seeme great
Below; But up unto the watch-towre get,
295And see all things despoyl'd of fallacies:
Thou shalt not peepe through lattices of eyes,
Nor heare through Labyrinths of eares, nor learne
By circuit, or collections to discerne.
In heaven thou straight know'st all, concerning it,
300And what concernes it not, shalt straight forget.
There thou (but in no other schoole) maist bee
Perchance, as learned, and as full, as shee,
Shee who all libraries had throughly read
At home in her owne thoughts, and practised
305So much good as would make as many more:
Shee whose example they must all implore,
Who would or doe, or thinke well, and confesse
That all the vertuous Actions they expresse,
Are but a new, and worse edition
310Of her some one thought, or one action:
She who in th'art of knowing Heaven, was growne
Here upon earth, to such perfection,
That she hath, ever since to Heaven she came,
(In a far fairer print,) but read the same:
315Shee, shee not satisfied with all this waight,
(For so much knowledge, as would over-fraight
Another, did but ballast her) is gone
As well t'enjoy, as get perfection.
And cals us after her, in that shee tooke,
320(Taking her selfe) our best, and worthiest booke.
Of our company in this life, and in the next.
Returne not, my Soule, from this extasie,
And meditation of what thou shalt bee,
To earthly thoughts, till it to thee appeare,
With whom thy conversation must be there.
325With whom wilt thou converse? what station
Canst thou choose out, free from infection,
That will not give thee theirs, nor drinke in thine?
Shalt thou not finde a spungie slacke Divine
Drinke and sucke in th'instructions of Great men,
330And for the word of God, vent them agen?
Are there not some Courts (and then, no things bee
So like as Courts) which, in this let us see,
That wits and tongues of Libellers are weake,
Because they do more ill, then these can speake?
335The poyson's gone through all, poysons affect
Chiefly the chiefest parts, but some effect
In nailes, and haires, yea excrements, will show;
So lyes the poyson of sinne in the most low.
Up, up, my drowsie Soule, where thy new eare
340Shall in the Angels songs no discord heare;
Where thou shalt see the blessed Mother-maid
Joy in not being that, which men have said.
Where she is exalted more for being good,
Then for her interest of Mother-hood.
345Up to those Patriarchs, which did longer sit
Expecting Christ, then they'have enjoy'd him yet.
Up to those Prophets, which now gladly see
Their Prophesies growne to be Historie.
Up to th'Apostles, who did bravely runne
350All the Suns course, with more light then the Sunne.
Up to those Martyrs, who did calmly bleed
Oyle to th'Apostles Lamps, dew to their seed.
Up to those Virgins, who thought, that almost
They made joyntenants with the Holy Ghost,
355If they to any should his Temple give.
Up, up, for in that squadron there doth live
She, who hath carried thither new degrees
(As to their number) to their dignities.
Shee, who being to her selfe a State, injoy'd
360All royalties which any State employ'd;
For shee made warres, and triumph'd; reason still
Did not o'rthrow, but rectifie her will:
And she made peace, for no peace is like this,
That beauty, and chastity together kisse:
365She did high justice, for she crucified
Every first motion of rebellious pride:
And she gave pardons, and was liberall,
For, onely her selfe except, she pardon'd all:
Shee coy'nd, in this, that her impressions gave
370To all our actions all the worth they have:
She gave protections; the thoughts of her brest
Satans rude Officers could ne'r arrest.
As these prerogatives being met in one,
Made her a soveraigne State; religion
375Made her a Church; and these two made her all.
She who was all this All, and could not fall
To worse, by company, (for she was still
More Antidote, then all the world was ill,)
Shee, shee doth leave it, and by Death, survive
380All this, in Heaven; whither who doth not strive
The more, because shees there, he doth not know
That accidentall joyes in Heaven doe grow.
But pause, my soule; And study, ere thou fall
On accidentall joyes, th'essentiall.
Of essentiall joy in this life and in the next.
385Still before Accessories doe abide
A triall, must the principall be tride.
And what essentiall joy can'st thou expect
Here upon earth? what permanent effect
Of transitory causes? Dost thou love
390Beauty? (And beauty worthy'st is to move)
Poore cousened cousenor, that she, and that thou,
Which did begin to love, are neither now;
You are both fluid, chang'd since yesterday;
Next day repaires, (but ill) last dayes decay.
395Nor are, (although the river keepe the name)
Yesterdaies waters, and to daies the same.
So flowes her face, and thine eyes, neither now
That Saint, nor Pilgrime, which your loving vow
Concern'd, remaines; but whil'st you thinke you bee
400Constant, you'are hourely in inconstancie.
Honour may have pretence unto our love,
Because that God did live so long above
Without this Honour, and then lov'd it so,
That he at last made Creatures to bestow
405Honour on him; not that he needed it,
But that, to his hands, man might grow more fit.
But since all Honours from inferiours flow,
(For they doe give it; Princes doe but shew
Whom they would have so honor'd) and that this
410On such opinions, and capacities
Is built, as rise and fall, to more and lesse:
Alas, 'tis but a casuall happinesse.
Hath ever any man to'himselfe assign'd
This or that happinesse to'arrest his minde,
415But that another man which takes a worse,
Thinks him a foole for having tane that course?
They who did labour Babels tower to'erect,
Might have considered, that for that effect,
All this whole solid Earth could not allow
420Nor furnish forth materialls enow;
And that this Center, to raise such a place,
Was farre too little, to have beene the Base;
No more affords this world, foundation
To erect true joy, were all the meanes in one.
425But as the Heathen made them severall gods,
Of all Gods Benefits, and all his Rods,
(For as the Wine, and Corne, and Onions are
Gods unto them, so Agues bee, and Warre)
And as by changing that whole precious Gold
430To such small Copper coynes, they lost the old,
And lost their only God, who ever must
Be sought alone, and not in such a thrust:
So much mankinde true happinesse mistakes;
No Joy enjoyes that man, that many makes.
435Then, Soule, to thy first pitch worke up againe;
Know that all lines which circles doe containe,
For once that they the Center touch, doe touch
Twice the circumference; and be thou such;
Double on heaven thy thoughts on earth emploid;
440All will not serve; Only who have enjoy'd
The sight of God, in fulnesse, can thinke it;
For it is both the object, and the wit.
This is essentiall joy, where neither hee
Can suffer diminution, nor wee;
445'Tis such a full, and such a filling good;
Had th'Angels once look'd on him, they had stood.
To fill the place of one of them, or more,
Shee whom wee celebrate, is gone before.
She, who had Here so much essentiall joy,
450As no chance could distract, much lesse destroy;
Who with Gods presence was acquainted so,
(Hearing, and speaking to him) as to know
His face in any naturall Stone, or Tree,
Better then when in Images they bee:
455Who kept by diligent devotion,
Gods Image, in such reparation,
Within her heart, that what decay was growne,
Was her first Parents fault, and not her owne:
Who being solicited to any act,
460Still heard God pleading his safe precontract;
Who by a faithfull confidence, was here
Betroth'd to God, and now is married there;
Whose twilights were more cleare, then our mid-day;
Who dreamt devoutlier, then most use to pray;
465Who being here fil'd with grace, yet strove to bee,
Both where more grace, and more capacitie
At once is given: she to Heaven is gone,
Who made this world in some proportion
A heaven, and here, became unto us all,
470Joy, (as our joyes admit) essentiall.
Of accidentall joys in both places.
But could this low world joyes essentiall touch,
Heavens accidentall joyes would passe them much.
How poore and lame, must then our casuall bee?
If thy Prince will his subjects to call thee
475My Lord, and this doe swell thee, thou art than,
By being greater, growne to bee lesse Man.
When no Physitian of redresse can speake,
A joyfull casuall violence may breake
A dangerous Apostem in thy breast;
480And whil'st thou joyest in this, the dangerous rest,
The bag may rise up, and so strangle thee.
What e'r was casuall, may ever bee.
What should the nature change? Or make the same
Certaine, which was but casuall, when it came?
485All casuall joy doth loud and plainly say,
Only by comming, that it can away.
Only in Heaven joyes strength is never spent;
And accidentall things are permanent.
Joy of a soules arrivall ne'r decaies;
490For that soule ever joyes and ever staies.
Joy that their last great Consummation
Approaches in the resurrection;
When earthly bodies more celestiall
Shall be, then Angels were, for they could fall;
495This kinde of joy doth every day admit
Degrees of growth, but none of losing it.
In this fresh joy, 'tis no small part, that shee,
Shee, in whose goodnesse, he that names degree,
Doth injure her; ('Tis losse to be cal'd best,
500There where the stuffe is not such as the rest)
Shee, who left such a bodie, as even shee
Only in Heaven could learne, how it can bee
Made better; for shee rather was two soules,
Or like to full on both sides written Rols,
505Where eyes might reade upon the outward skin,
As strong Records for God, as mindes within;
Shee, who by making full perfection grow,
Peeces a Circle, and still keepes it so,
Long'd for, and longing for it, to heaven is gone,
510Where shee receives, and gives addition.
Conclusion.
Here in a place, where mis-devotion frames
A thousand Prayers to Saints, whose very names
The ancient Church knew not, Heaven knows not yet:
And where, what lawes of Poetry admit,
515Lawes of Religion have at least the same,
Immortall Maide, I might invoke thy name.
Could any Saint provoke that appetite,
Thou here should'st make me a French convertite.
But thou would'st not; nor would'st thou be content,
520To take this, for my second yeares true Rent,
Did this Coine beare any other stampe, then his,
That gave thee power to doe, me, to say this.
Since his will is, that to posteritie,
Thou should'st for life, and death, a patterne bee,
525And that the world should notice have of this,
The purpose, and th'authoritie is his;
Thou art the Proclamation; and I am
The Trumpet, at whose voyce the people came.
[1] The entrance. 1612-21: om. 1625-33: no notes, 1635-69
5 All, 1612: all, 1625-69
10 Though] Through 1612-25
12 be fail'd,] he fail'd, 1621-33
13 twinckle] twincke 1625
20 strings: Ed: strings. 1612-69
23 are Ed: are, 1612-69
24 was fram'd, 1612-25: was fram'd: 1633-69
27 Deluge, 1612-25: deluge, 1633-69
29 all. Ed: all, 1612-33: all; 1635-69
33 Maid, 1612-25, 1669: maid, 1633-54
35 is, 1612-25: is 1633-69
43 thy] they 1621-25
issue, 1612-33: issue 1635-69. See note
[2] disestimation
46 safe-sealing] safe-fealing 1621-39
47 goe] goe; 1612-25
48 Health, 1612-33: Health; 1635-69, Chambers and Grolier
so. 1612-21: so, 1625-69, Chambers and Grolier. See note
50 bee. Ed: bee 1612-35: bee, 1639-69
51 why, 1612-21: why 1625-69
nor] or 1669
57 more, 1612-25: more 1633-69
67 was but] twas but 1612-25
81 Shee, shee 1621-25: Shee, she 1633-69
82 is] is. 1612-25
96 parch'd 1612-21, 1639-69: pach'd 1625: patch'd 1633-35
99 knell,] knell 1633
101 So this, 1612-33: So, this 1635-69
103 thrust;] trust; 1669
113 shroud] shourd 1621-25
116 exalted] exhalted 1621
goe,] goe. 1612-21
123 Complexion 1612-25: complexion 1633-69
124 Ingredients 1612-25: ingredients 1633-69
134 a point, 1612-21: a-point. 1625: a point: 1633-69
136 there. 1612-25: there, 1633-69
137 wonne] worne 1612-25: woon 1633
140 to 1612-25: too 1633-69
146 Accident 1612-25: accident 1633-69
156 Death 1612-25: death 1633-69
[3] Incommodities &c. 1612-21: om. 1625-33
161 thee, both 1612-25: thee both 1633-69
172 first-built 1612-25: first built 1633-69
173 didst] dost 1669
177 the rage 1612-25: a rage 1633-69
179 Death 1612-25: death 1633-69
181 Peece, discharg'd, 1612: Peece, discharg'd 1625: Peece discharg'd 1633: Peece discharg'd, 1635-69
183 This 1612-25: this 1633-69
185 soule, 1612-21: soule 1625-69
187 Twenty, perchance,] Twentie, perchance 1625: Twenty perchance 1633-69
197 Venus] no ital. 1612-25, and so with Hesper &c.
retards] recards 1612-25
201 Who, if 1612-25: Who if 1633-69
204 barr'd;] bard; 1612-39
209 the] those 1669
214 her] om. 1650-69
219-20 text 1612-25 (but soul 1612-25, and then 1625 and shee 1612-25):
This must, my Soule, thy long-short Progresse bee,
To'advance these thoughts; Remember then that she,
1633-69, Chambers and Grolier. See note
231 discoverie] Discoveree. 1612-25
232 Of all,] Of all 1612-25
236 assign'd Ed: assigned 1612-69
238 Dignities, 1612-25: dignities, 1633-69
241 Gold, 1612-25: gold, 1633-69
243 understood] unstood 1621-25
249 well,] well 1612-25
251 little] little 1633
[4] Her ignorance &c.: 1612-25: om. 1633
265 Ayre, and Fire, 1612-25: aire, and fire, 1633-69
266 ingredients, 1612: ingredients. 1621-69
268 'tis] ty's 1612-21
270 breake 1612: brake 1621-33: break 1635-69
287 said. 1612-25: said, 1633-69
291 Pedantery] Pedantry 1650-69
292 taught] thought 1612-25
300 shalt] shall 1612-25, 1669
308 all] aie 1612-21: are 1625
314 print,] point, 1612-33
323 earthly] early 1625
324 there.] there, 1633-39
326 choose 1612-25: chose 1633-69
327 will not] will nor 1612-25
328 Divine 1612-25: Divine, 1633-69
329 Great 1612-25: great 1633-69
333 wits 1612-25: wits, 1633-69
336 some] some, 1633
338 lyes] wise 1612-25
353 thought] thoughts 1612-25
366 rebellious] rebellions 1635-69
369 impressions 1612-25: rest impression
378 ill,)] last bracket dropped 1612-33
380 whither] spelt whether 1612-33
383 study, 1635-69: study 1612-33
391 that ... that] no italics 1612-25
397 eies, 1612-21: eyes 1625: eyes; 1633-69, Chambers. See note
398 Saint, 1612-25: Saint 1633-69
vow] row 1612-25
399 remaines;] remaines, 1612-25
402 that] in italics 1633-69
404 Creatures 1612-25: creatures 1633-69
416 Thinks] Thinke 1612-25
420 enow] enough 1633
421 this 1612: his 1621-69
421-2 place, ... little, 1612: place ... little, 1621-33
423 affords] affoords 1612-25
world, foundation 1633-69: worlds, foundatione 1612-25
426 Benefits ... Rods] capitals from 1612-25
428 Warre] no capital 1612-39
429 that] the 1625
433 much] much, 1633-39
435 up] upon 1612-25
449 Here 1612-25: here 1633-69
463 cleare,] cleane, 1635
475 My Lord] no italics 1612-25
477 redresse] Reders 1612-25
482 What e'r] What eye 1612-25
500 where] waere 1612
501 even] ever 1625
506: within; Ed: within, 1612-39: within. 1650-69
516: invoke] inroque 1612-25
518 French 1635-69: french 1612-33
520 Rent] Rent. 1633
EPICEDES AND OBSEQVIES
Vpon
The deaths of sundry Personages.
Elegie upon the untimely death of the incomparable Prince Henry.
LOOKE to mee faith, and looke to my faith, God;
For both my centers feele this period.
Of waight one center, one of greatnesse is;
And Reason is that center, Faith is this;
5For into'our reason flow, and there do end
All, that this naturall world doth comprehend:
Quotidian things, and equidistant hence,
Shut in, for man, in one circumference.
But for th'enormous greatnesses, which are
10So disproportion'd, and so angulare,
As is Gods essence, place and providence,
Where, how, when, what soules do, departed hence,
These things (eccentrique else) on faith do strike;
Yet neither all, nor upon all, alike.
15For reason, put to'her best extension,
Almost meetes faith, and makes both centers one.
And nothing ever came so neare to this,
As contemplation of that Prince, wee misse.
For all that faith might credit mankinde could,
20Reason still seconded, that this prince would.
If then least moving of the center, make
More, then if whole hell belch'd, the world to shake,
What must this do, centers distracted so,
That wee see not what to beleeve or know?
25Was it not well beleev'd till now, that hee,
Whose reputation was an extasie
On neighbour States, which knew not why to wake,
Till hee discover'd what wayes he would take;
For whom, what Princes angled, when they tryed,
30Met a Torpedo, and were stupified;
And others studies, how he would be bent;
Was his great fathers greatest instrument,
And activ'st spirit, to convey and tie
This soule of peace, through Christianity?
35Was it not well beleev'd, that hee would make
This generall peace, th'Eternall overtake,
And that his times might have stretch'd out so farre,
As to touch those, of which they emblems are?
For to confirme this just beleefe, that now
40The last dayes came, wee saw heav'n did allow,
That, but from his aspect and exercise,
In peacefull times, Rumors of war did rise.
But now this faith is heresie: we must
Still stay, and vexe our great-grand-mother, Dust.
45Oh, is God prodigall? hath he spent his store
Of plagues, on us; and onely now, when more
Would ease us much, doth he grudge misery;
And will not let's enjoy our curse; to dy?
As, for the earth throwne lowest downe of all,
50T'were an ambition to desire to fall,
So God, in our desire to dye, doth know
Our plot for ease, in being wretched so.
Therefore we live; though such a life wee have,
As but so many mandrakes on his grave.
55What had his growth, and generation done,
When, what we are, his putrefaction
Sustaines in us; Earth, which griefes animate?
Nor hath our world now, other Soule then that.
And could griefe get so high as heav'n, that Quire,
60Forgetting this their new joy, would desire
(With griefe to see him) hee had staid below,
To rectifie our errours, They foreknow.
Is th'other center, Reason, faster then?
Where should we looke for that, now we'are not men?
65For if our Reason be'our connexion
Of causes, now to us there can be none.
For, as, if all the substances were spent,
'Twere madnesse, to enquire of accident,
So is't to looke for reason, hee being gone,
70The onely subject reason wrought upon.
If Fate have such a chaine, whose divers links
Industrious man discerneth, as hee thinks;
When miracle doth come, and so steale in
A new linke, man knowes not, where to begin:
75At a much deader fault must reason bee,
Death having broke off such a linke as hee.
But now, for us, with busie proofe to come,
That we'have no reason, would prove wee had some.
So would just lamentations: Therefore wee
80May safelyer say, that we are dead, then hee.
So, if our griefs wee do not well declare,
We'have double excuse; he'is not dead; and we are.
Yet I would not dy yet; for though I bee
Too narrow, to thinke him, as hee is hee,
85(Our Soules best baiting, and midd-period,
In her long journey, of considering God)
Yet, (no dishonour) I can reach him thus,
As he embrac'd the fires of love, with us.
Oh may I, (since I live) but see, or heare,
90That she-Intelligence which mov'd this spheare,
I pardon Fate, my life: Who ere thou bee,
Which hast the noble conscience, thou art shee,
I conjure thee by all the charmes he spoke,
By th'oathes, which onely you two never broke,
95By all the soules yee sigh'd, that if you see
These lines, you wish, I knew your history.
So much, as you, two mutuall heav'ns were here,
I were an Angell, singing what you were.
Epicedes &c. 1635-69: Elegie upon &c. 1613, in the Lachrymae Lachrymarum &c. of Joshua Sylvester. See note: Elegie on Prince Henry. 1633-54, O'F: similarly, Cy, N, TCD: An Elegie on the untimely &c. 1669
8 man 1633-69: men 1613
17 neare] nere 1633
18 that 1633-69: the 1613
19 might credit 1633-69: could credit 1613
21 moving 1633-69: movings 1613
22 shake, 1650-69: shake. 1633-39
26 extasie Ed: exstasie, 1633-69
31 bent; Ed: bent, 1613, 1633-69
34 through 1613-33: to 1635-69
Christianity? 1669: Christianity: 1633-54
42 did 1633: should 1613, 1635-69
44 great-grand-mother, 1613: great grand mother, 1633: great grand-mother, 1635-69
46 us;] us, 1633
48 to dy? Ed: to dy. 1633: to die! 1635-54: no stop, 1669
57 animate?] animate; 1633
66 Of 1633-69: With 1613
67 as, 1613: as 1633-69
69 So is't to] So is' to 1669
71 Fate 1633-69: Faith 1613
72 thinks; Ed: thinks, 1613, 1633-69
73 come, 1633-69: joine; 1613
so steale in 1633-69: to steal-in 1613
77 proofe 1633-69: proofes 1613
78 some. 1633: some, 1635-69
80 hee. 1633: hee, 1635-69
82 and we are. 1633-54: we are. 1613, 1669
83 I would not 1633-54: would not I 1669
91 Who Ed: who 1633-69
92 shee, 1633-69: she. Chambers
97 So much, as you, 1633-69: So, much as you Chambers
To the Countesse of Bedford.
Madame,
IHAVE learn'd by those lawes wherein I am
a[1] little conversant, that hee which bestowes any cost upon the dead, obliges him which is dead, but not the[2] heire; I do not therefore send this paper to your Ladyship, that you should thanke mee for it, or thinke that I thanke you in it; your favours and benefits to mee are so much above my merits, that they are even above my gratitude, if that were to be judged by words which must expresse it: But, Madame, since your noble brothers fortune being yours, the evidences also concerning it are yours,[3] so his vertue[4] being yours, the evidences concerning it,[5] belong also to you, of which by your acceptance this may be one peece, in which quality I humbly present it, and as a testimony how intirely your familie possesseth
Your Ladiships most humble
and thankfull servant
John Donne.
To the Countesse &c. 1633-69, and in most of the MSS. as next page
[1] a 1633-54: om. 1669
[2] the] his 1669]
[3] yours, 1633: yours: 1635-69
[4] vertue 1633: vertues 1635-69
[5] it, 1633: that 1635-69
Obsequies to the Lord Harrington, brother to the Lady Lucy, Countesse of Bedford.
FAIRE soule, which wast, not onely, as all soules bee,
Then when thou wast infused, harmony,
But did'st continue so; and now dost beare
A part in Gods great organ, this whole Spheare:
5If looking up to God; or downe to us,
Thou finde that any way is pervious,
Twixt heav'n and earth, and that mans actions doe
Come to your knowledge, and affections too,
See, and with joy, mee to that good degree
10Of goodnesse growne, that I can studie thee,
And, by these meditations refin'd,
Can unapparell and enlarge my minde,
And so can make by this soft extasie,
This place a map of heav'n, my selfe of thee.
15Thou seest mee here at midnight, now all rest;
Times dead-low water; when all mindes devest
To morrows businesse, when the labourers have
Such rest in bed, that their last Church-yard grave,
Subject to change, will scarce be'a type of this,
20Now when the clyent, whose last hearing is
To morrow, sleeps, when the condemned man,
(Who when hee opes his eyes, must shut them than
Againe by death,) although sad watch hee keepe,
Doth practice dying by a little sleepe,
25Thou at this midnight seest mee, and as soone
As that Sunne rises to mee, midnight's noone,
All the world growes transparent, and I see
Through all, both Church and State, in seeing thee;
And I discerne by favour of this light,
30My selfe, the hardest object of the sight.
God is the glasse; as thou when thou dost see
Him who sees all, seest all concerning thee,
So, yet unglorified, I comprehend
All, in these mirrors of thy wayes, and end.
35Though God be our true glasse, through which we see
All, since the beeing of all things is hee,
Yet are the trunkes which doe to us derive
Things, in proportion fit, by perspective,
Deeds of good men; for by their living here,
40Vertues, indeed remote, seeme to be neare.
But where can I affirme, or where arrest
My thoughts on his deeds? which shall I call best?
For fluid vertue cannot be look'd on,
Nor can endure a contemplation.
45As bodies change, and as I do not weare
Those Spirits, humors, blood I did last yeare,
And, as if on a streame I fixe mine eye,
That drop, which I looked on, is presently
Pusht with more waters from my sight, and gone,
50So in this sea of vertues, can no one
Bee'insisted on; vertues, as rivers, passe,
Yet still remaines that vertuous man there was.
And as if man feed on mans flesh, and so
Part of his body to another owe,
55Yet at the last two perfect bodies rise,
Because God knowes where every Atome lyes;
So, if one knowledge were made of all those,
Who knew his minutes well, hee might dispose
His vertues into names, and ranks; but I
60Should injure Nature, Vertue, and Destinie,
Should I divide and discontinue so,
Vertue, which did in one intirenesse grow.
For as, hee that would say, spirits are fram'd
Of all the purest parts that can be nam'd,
65Honours not spirits halfe so much, as hee
Which sayes, they have no parts, but simple bee;
So is't of vertue; for a point and one
Are much entirer then a million.
And had Fate meant to have his vertues told,
70It would have let him live to have beene old;
So, then that vertue in season, and then this,
We might have seene, and said, that now he is
Witty, now wise, now temperate, now just:
In good short lives, vertues are faine to thrust,
75And to be sure betimes to get a place,
When they would exercise, lacke time, and space.
So was it in this person, forc'd to bee
For lack of time, his owne epitome:
So to exhibit in few yeares as much,
80As all the long breath'd Chronicles can touch.
As when an Angell down from heav'n doth flye,
Our quick thought cannot keepe him company,
Wee cannot thinke, now hee is at the Sunne,
Now through the Moon, now he through th'aire doth run,
85Yet when he's come, we know he did repaire
To all twixt Heav'n and Earth, Sunne, Moon, and Aire;
And as this Angell in an instant knowes,
And yet wee know, this sodaine knowledge growes
By quick amassing severall formes of things,
90Which he successively to order brings;
When they, whose slow-pac'd lame thoughts cannot goe
So fast as hee, thinke that he doth not so;
Just as a perfect reader doth not dwell,
On every syllable, nor stay to spell,
95Yet without doubt, hee doth distinctly see
And lay together every A, and B;
So, in short liv'd good men, is'not understood
Each severall vertue, but the compound good;
For, they all vertues paths in that pace tread,
100As Angells goe, and know, and as men read.
O why should then these men, these lumps of Balme
Sent hither, this worlds tempests to becalme,
Before by deeds they are diffus'd and spred,
And so make us alive, themselves be dead?
105O Soule, O circle, why so quickly bee
Thy ends, thy birth and death, clos'd up in thee?
Since one foot of thy compasse still was plac'd
In heav'n, the other might securely'have pac'd
In the most large extent, through every path,
110Which the whole world, or man the abridgment hath.
Thou knowst, that though the tropique circles have
(Yea and those small ones which the Poles engrave,)
All the same roundnesse, evennesse, and all
The endlesnesse of the equinoctiall;
115Yet, when we come to measure distances,
How here, how there, the Sunne affected is,
When he doth faintly worke, and when prevaile,
Onely great circles, than can be our scale:
So, though thy circle to thy selfe expresse
120All, tending to thy endlesse happinesse,
And wee, by our good use of it may trye,
Both how to live well young, and how to die,
Yet, since we must be old, and age endures
His Torrid Zone at Court, and calentures
125Of hot ambitions, irrelegions ice,
Zeales agues, and hydroptique avarice,
Infirmities which need the scale of truth,
As well as lust, and ignorance of youth;
Why did'st thou not for these give medicines too,
130And by thy doing tell us what to doe?
Though as small pocket-clocks, whose every wheele
Doth each mismotion and distemper feele,
Whose hand gets shaking palsies, and whose string
(His sinewes) slackens, and whose Soule, the spring,
135Expires, or languishes, whose pulse, the flye,
Either beates not, or beates unevenly,
Whose voice, the Bell, doth rattle, or grow dumbe,
Or idle,'as men, which to their last houres come,
If these clockes be not wound, or be wound still,
140Or be not set, or set at every will;
So, youth is easiest to destruction,
If then wee follow all, or follow none.
Yet, as in great clocks, which in steeples chime,
Plac'd to informe whole towns, to'imploy their time,
145An error doth more harme, being generall,
When, small clocks faults, only'on the wearer fall;
So worke the faults of age, on which the eye
Of children, servants, or the State relie.
Why wouldst not thou then, which hadst such a soule,
150A clock so true, as might the Sunne controule,
And daily hadst from him, who gave it thee,
Instructions, such as it could never be
Disordered, stay here, as a generall
And great Sun-dyall, to have set us All?
155O why wouldst thou be any instrument
To this unnaturall course, or why consent
To this, not miracle, but Prodigie,
That when the ebbs, longer then flowings be,
Vertue, whose flood did with thy youth begin,
160Should so much faster ebb out, then flow in?
Though her flood was blowne in, by thy first breath,
All is at once sunke in the whirle-poole death.
Which word I would not name, but that I see
Death, else a desert, growne a Court by thee.
165Now I grow sure, that if a man would have
Good companie, his entry is a grave.
Mee thinkes all Cities, now, but Anthills bee,
Where, when the severall labourers I see,
For children, house, Provision, taking paine,
170They'are all but Ants, carrying eggs, straw, and grain;
And Church-yards are our cities, unto which
The most repaire, that are in goodnesse rich.
There is the best concourse, and confluence,
There are the holy suburbs, and from thence
175Begins Gods City, New Jerusalem,
Which doth extend her utmost gates to them.
At that gate then Triumphant soule, dost thou
Begin thy Triumph; But since lawes allow
That at the Triumph day, the people may,
180All that they will, 'gainst the Triumpher say,
Let me here use that freedome, and expresse
My griefe, though not to make thy Triumph lesse.
By law, to Triumphs none admitted bee,
Till they as Magistrates get victorie;
185Though then to thy force, all youthes foes did yield,
Yet till fit time had brought thee to that field,
To which thy ranke in this state destin'd thee,
That there thy counsailes might get victorie,
And so in that capacitie remove
190All jealousies 'twixt Prince and subjects love,
Thou could'st no title, to this triumph have,
Thou didst intrude on death, usurp'dst a grave.
Then (though victoriously) thou hadst fought as yet
But with thine owne affections, with the heate
195Of youths desires, and colds of ignorance,
But till thou should'st successefully advance
Thine armes 'gainst forraine enemies, which are
Both Envy, and acclamations popular,
(For, both these engines equally defeate,
200Though by a divers Mine, those which are great,)
Till then thy War was but a civill War,
For which to Triumph, none admitted are.
No more are they, who though with good successe,
In a defensive war, their power expresse;
205Before men triumph, the dominion
Must be enlarg'd and not preserv'd alone;
Why should'st thou then, whose battailes were to win
Thy selfe, from those straits nature put thee in,
And to deliver up to God that state,
210Of which he gave thee the vicariate,
(Which is thy soule and body) as intire
As he, who takes endeavours, doth require,
But didst not stay, t'enlarge his kingdome too,
By making others, what thou didst, to doe;
215Why shouldst thou Triumph now, when Heav'n no more
Hath got, by getting thee, then't had before?
For, Heav'n and thou, even when thou livedst here,
Of one another in possession were.
But this from Triumph most disables thee,
220That, that place which is conquered, must bee
Left safe from present warre, and likely doubt
Of imminent commotions to breake out:
And hath he left us so? or can it bee
His territory was no more then Hee?
225No, we were all his charge, the Diocis
Of ev'ry exemplar man, the whole world is,
And he was joyned in commission
With Tutelar Angels, sent to every one.
But though this freedome to upbraid, and chide
230Him who Triumph'd, were lawfull, it was ty'd
With this, that it might never reference have
Unto the Senate, who this triumph gave;
Men might at Pompey jeast, but they might not
At that authoritie, by which he got
235Leave to Triumph, before, by age, he might;
So, though, triumphant soule, I dare to write,
Mov'd with a reverentiall anger, thus,
That thou so earely wouldst abandon us;
Yet I am farre from daring to dispute
240With that great soveraigntie, whose absolute
Prerogative hath thus dispens'd with thee,
'Gainst natures lawes, which just impugners bee
Of early triumphs; And I (though with paine)
Lessen our losse, to magnifie thy gaine
245Of triumph, when I say, It was more fit,
That all men should lacke thee, then thou lack it.
Though then in our time, be not suffered
That testimonie of love, unto the dead,
To die with them, and in their graves be hid,
250As Saxon wives, and French soldurii did;
And though in no degree I can expresse
Griefe in great Alexanders great excesse,
Who at his friends death, made whole townes devest
Their walls and bullwarks which became them best:
255Doe not, faire soule, this sacrifice refuse,
That in thy grave I doe interre my Muse,
Who, by my griefe, great as thy worth, being cast
Behind hand, yet hath spoke, and spoke her last.
Obsequies to &c. B, S96 and similarly A25, C, D, H49, JC, Lec, N, O'F, S, TCD: Obsequies to the Lord Harringtons brother. To the Countesse of Bedford. 1633-54: Obsequies on the Lord Harrington, &c. To the Countess of Bedford. 1669
7 mans 1633, D, H49: mens 1635-69 and most MSS.
11 these 1633-69: those B, D, H49, JC, O'F, S, TCD
15 midnight, now 1633-69: midnight; now Chambers: midnight now, Grolier
26 that Sunne] this Sunne N, TCD
30 hardest] hardyest 1669
34 end. D: end; 1633-69
35 our true glasse, 1633-69 (glass, 1633): truly our glass A25, B, D, H49, JC, Lec, N, O'F, S, S96, TCD
see] see. 1633 some copies, 1635
38 Things, in proportion fit, by perspective, D: Things, in proportion fit by perspective, 1633: Things, in proportion, fit by perspective, 1635-54, Chambers: Things in proportion, fit by perspective, 1669. See note
39 men; D: men, 1633: men: 1635-69
living 1633: beeing 1635-69, Chambers and Grolier
40 neare. 1635-69: nere; 1633
44 contemplation. Ed: contemplation; 1633-69
51 on; Ed: on, 1633-69
52 was. Ed: was; 1633-69
53 feed 1635-69 and MSS.: feeds 1633
63 would 1633: should 1635-69
69 to have his 1633, A25, D, H49, JC, Lec, N, S, S96, TCD: to'have had his 1635-69, O'F, Chambers
70 old; Ed: old, 1633-39: old. 1650-69
71 So, then that Ed: So then, that 1633: So, then, that 1635-69
76 exercise] exercse 1633 some copies: encrease D, H49, Lec: exercise: they S
lacke 1633-54: last 1669
time] room A25, B, JC, O'F, S, S96, TCD
78 epitome: D: epitome. 1633-69
80 Chronicles] Chroniclers 1669
can touch.] can touch; 1633
84 he] om. 1669, O'F
86 Aire; 1669: Aire. 1633-35: Air, 1639-54
87 instant] instant, 1633
98 good; Ed: good. 1633-69
102 this A25, B, C, D, H49, JC, N, O'F, S, TCD: the 1633-69
tempests A25, D, H49, JC, N, S96, TCD: tempest 1633-69, O'F, S
106 death, Ed: death 1633-69
110 man] man, 1633
hath.] hath, 1633 some copies, 1633-39
117 When ... when 1633-69, D, H49, Lec: Where ... where rest of MSS.
118 circles, than can D: circles, then, can 1633-69
121 it] that many MSS.
125 ambitions,] ambition, 1669
126 agues, Ed: agues; 1633-69
127-8 in brackets 1635-69
128 As well as lust, 1669: As well, as lust 1633-54
130 tell us 1633, 1669, A25, D, H49, N, S, TCD: set us 1635-54, B, O'F, S96, and Chambers
133 hand gets A25, B, C, D, H49, JC, N, S, TCD: hands get 1633-54: hands gets 1669. See note
135 flye, 1633: flee, 1635-69
138 houres come, 1633-54: hour come, 1669: hours are come, Chambers
142 none. 1635-69: none; 1633
146 fall; Ed: fall. 1633-69
154 great] grave A25, C
155 wouldst] wouldest 1639-54
any 1633-35, and MSS.: an 1639-69, Chambers
158 when 1633-69: where C, D, H49, N, O'F, S, TCD: whereas B
161 was 1633: were 1635-69
165 grow sure, 1633, D, H49, Lec: am sure, 1635-69
170 and 1633-69: or A25, B, C, N, O'F, S, S96, TCD
176 them. D: them; 1633, 1639-69: them, 1635
178 Triumph; 1633: Triumph. 1635-69
184 victorie; Ed: victorie, 1633-69
186 brought] wrought 1639, Chambers
192 usurp'dst B, D, H49, N, TCD: usurp'st 1633, Lec, S96: usurpe 1635-69, A25, JC, O'F, Chambers
193 Then 1635-69: That 1633
198 acclamations 1669, A25, B, D, H49, JC, Lec, N, O'F, S, S96, TCD: acclamation 1633-54
202 are. D: are; 1633-69
204 expresse; Ed: expresse. 1633-69
212 endeavours, 1633-54, A25, B, D, H49, JC, Lec, N, O'F, S, S96, TCD: Indentours, 1669, Chambers
216 'thad] t'had 1633-39
218 were. D: were; 1633-69
222 out: 1635-69: out. 1633
224 His 1633-54: This 1669
then 1633-69: but D, H49, N, O'F, S, S96, TCD
231 reference] reverence 1650-54
239 I am] am I B, O'F, S, S96
241 with 1633-69, O'F: for A25, D, H49, Lec, N, TCD
247 time,] times, 1669, B, JC, O'F, N, S, S96, TCD
250 soldurii D, H49, Lec: soldarii 1633-69
251 expresse] expresse, 1633
257 Who, 1633: Which, 1639-69
Elegie on the Lady Marckham.
MAN is the World, and death th'Ocean,
To which God gives the lower parts of man.
This Sea invirons all, and though as yet
God hath set markes, and bounds, twixt us and it,
5Yet doth it rore, and gnaw, and still pretend,
And breaks our bankes, when ere it takes a friend.
Then our land waters (teares of passion) vent;
Our waters, then, above our firmament,
(Teares which our Soule doth for her sins let fall)
10Take all a brackish taft, and Funerall,
And even these teares, which should wash sin, are sin.
We, after Gods Noe, drowne our world againe.
Nothing but man of all invenom'd things
Doth worke upon itselfe, with inborne stings.
15Teares are false Spectacles, we cannot see
Through passions mist, what wee are, or what shee.
In her this sea of death hath made no breach,
But as the tide doth wash the slimie beach,
And leaves embroder'd workes upon the sand,
20So is her flesh refin'd by deaths cold hand.
As men of China,'after an ages stay,
Do take up Porcelane, where they buried Clay;
So at this grave, her limbecke, which refines
The Diamonds, Rubies, Saphires, Pearles, and Mines,
25Of which this flesh was, her soule shall inspire
Flesh of such stuffe, as God, when his last fire
Annuls this world, to recompence it, shall,
Make and name then, th'Elixar of this All.
They say, the sea, when it gaines, loseth too;
30If carnall Death (the yonger brother) doe
Usurpe the body,'our soule, which subject is
To th'elder death, by sinne, is freed by this;
They perish both, when they attempt the just;
For, graves our trophies are, and both deaths dust.
35So, unobnoxious now, she'hath buried both;
For, none to death sinnes, that to sinne is loth,
Nor doe they die, which are not loth to die;
So hath she this, and that virginity.
Grace was in her extremely diligent,
40That kept her from sinne, yet made her repent.
Of what small spots pure white complaines! Alas,
How little poyson cracks a christall glasse!
She sinn'd, but just enough to let us see
That God's word must be true, All, sinners be.
45Soe much did zeale her conscience rarefie
That, extreme truth lack'd little of a lye,
Making omissions, acts; laying the touch
Of sinne, on things that sometimes may be such.
As Moses Cherubines, whose natures doe
50Surpasse all speed, by him are winged too:
So would her soule, already'in heaven, seeme then,
To clyme by teares, the common staires of men.
How fit she was for God, I am content
To speake, that Death his vaine hast may repent.
55How fit for us, how even and how sweet,
How good in all her titles, and how meet,
To have reform'd this forward heresie,
That women can no parts of friendship bee;
How Morall, how Divine shall not be told,
60Lest they that heare her vertues, thinke her old:
And lest we take Deaths part, and make him glad
Of such a prey, and to his tryumph adde.
Elegie &c. 1633-54: An Elegie &c. 1669: similarly, A18, A25, B, C, Cy, D, H40, H49, JC, L74, Lec, N, P, S96, TC
6 And breaks 1633-54: To break 1669
bankes D, Cy, H40, H49, JC, Lec, O'F, P, TCC: bounds A25, C: banke, 1633-69, N (s added), TCD
8 firmament,] firmament. 1633
10 Funerall, Ed: Funerall. 1633-69
11 these D, H49, Lec: those 1633-69
12 after Gods Noe, drowne 1633-54 (No, 1633-54): after God, new drown 1669
our world 1669, B, D, H49, L74, Lec, N, O'F, P, S96, TCD: the world 1633-54, A18, A25, JC, TCC
16 mist] mistes Cy, L74, N, TCD
19 embroder'd 1635-54: embroderd 1633: embroider'd 1669
21 stay, Ed: stay 1633-69
25 which Ed: which, 1633-69
28 then, 1633: then 1635-39: them 1650-69
34 and both deaths dust. Ed: and both Deaths' dust. Grolier: and both, deaths dust. 1633: and both death's dust. 1635-69 and Chambers: and both dead dust. D, Cy, H40, H49, JC, Lec, S96. See note
36 loth, Ed: loth. 1633-69
37 die; Ed: die, 1633-69
42 cracks 1633-69, A25, Cy, P (crackt): breakes A18, D, H40, H49, JC, L74, Lec, N, O'F, S96, TC
glasse! Ed: glasse? 1633-69
44-5 omitted in 1633 between foot of one page and top of next
45 rarefie,] rectify, D, H40, H49, JC, Lec, S96
48 sometimes 1633 and MSS.: sometime 1635-69, and Chambers
52 teares,] tears Chambers
the ... men in brackets A18, N, TC
54 Death D: death 1633-69
58 women 1635-69, A18, A25, D, H49, JC, L74, Lec, N, P, TC: woman 1633, Cy
parts] parte Cy, JC. This line written in large letters in several MSS.
60 vertues, 1633-35, 1669: vertue, 1639-54
thinke] thinks 1639
old: Ed: old. 1633-69
62 tryumph 1633-69, A25, D, H40, Lec: triumphes A18, B, H49, JC, L74, N, O'F, P, S96, TC]
Elegie on Mris Boulstred.
D EATH I recant, and say, unsaid by mee
What ere hath slip'd, that might diminish thee.
Spirituall treason, atheisme 'tis, to say,
That any can thy Summons disobey.
5Th'earths face is but thy Table; there are set
Plants, cattell, men, dishes for Death to eate.
In a rude hunger now hee millions drawes
Into his bloody, or plaguy, or sterv'd jawes.
Now hee will seeme to spare, and doth more wast,
10Eating the best first, well preserv'd to last.
Now wantonly he spoiles, and eates us not,
But breakes off friends, and lets us peecemeale rot.
Nor will this earth serve him; he sinkes the deepe
Where harmelesse fish monastique silence keepe,
15Who (were Death dead) by Roes of living sand,
Might spunge that element, and make it land.
He rounds the aire, and breakes the hymnique notes
In birds (Heavens choristers,) organique throats,
Which (if they did not dye) might seeme to bee
20A tenth ranke in the heavenly hierarchie.
O strong and long-liv'd death, how cam'st thou in?
And how without Creation didst begin?
Thou hast, and shalt see dead, before thou dyest,
All the foure Monarchies, and Antichrist.
25How could I thinke thee nothing, that see now
In all this All, nothing else is, but thou.
Our births and lives, vices, and vertues, bee
Wastfull consumptions, and degrees of thee.
For, wee to live, our bellowes weare, and breath,
30Nor are wee mortall, dying, dead, but death.
And though thou beest, O mighty bird of prey,
So much reclaim'd by God, that thou must lay
All that thou kill'st at his feet, yet doth hee
Reserve but few, and leaves the most to thee.
35And of those few, now thou hast overthrowne
One whom thy blow makes, not ours, nor thine own.
She was more stories high: hopelesse to come
To her Soule, thou'hast offer'd at her lower roome.
Her Soule and body was a King and Court:
40But thou hast both of Captaine mist and fort.
As houses fall not, though the King remove,
Bodies of Saints rest for their soules above.
Death gets 'twixt soules and bodies such a place
As sinne insinuates 'twixt just men and grace,
45Both worke a separation, no divorce.
Her Soule is gone to usher up her corse
Which shall be'almost another soule, for there
Bodies are purer, then best Soules are here,
Because in her, her virtues did outgoe
50Her yeares, would'st thou, O emulous death, do so?
And kill her young to thy losse? must the cost
Of beauty,'and wit, apt to doe harme, be lost?
What though thou found'st her proofe 'gainst sins of youth?
Oh, every age a diverse sinne pursueth.
55Thou should'st have stay'd, and taken better hold,
Shortly, ambitious; covetous, when old,
She might have prov'd: and such devotion
Might once have stray'd to superstition.
If all her vertues must have growne, yet might
60Abundant virtue'have bred a proud delight.
Had she persever'd just, there would have bin
Some that would sinne, mis-thinking she did sinne.
Such as would call her friendship, love, and faine
To sociablenesse, a name profane;
65Or sinne, by tempting, or, not daring that,
By wishing, though they never told her what.
Thus might'st thou'have slain more soules, had'st thou not crost
Thy selfe, and to triumph, thine army lost.
Yet though these wayes be lost, thou hast left one,
70Which is, immoderate griefe that she is gone.
But we may scape that sinne, yet weepe as much,
Our teares are due, because we are not such.
Some teares, that knot of friends, her death must cost,
Because the chaine is broke, though no linke lost.
Elegie on Mris Boulstred. 1633-69, A18, A25, B, Cy, D, H40, H49, L74, Lec, N, O'F, P, S, TCC, TCD: in Cy, O'F, P this and the Elegie, Death, be not proud (p. 416) are given as one poem. See note
5 there are set] and the meate A18, L74, N, TC
6 dishes 1633, 1650-69: dished 1635-39, A18, L74, N, O'F, S96, TC
10 first,] fruite or fruites A18, H49, L74, N, TC: first fruit P
14 keepe, 1635-39: keepe. 1633, 1650-69
15 by Roes 1633: the Roes 1635-54: the Rows 1669: by rows A18, N, O'F, P, S96, TC
18 birds Ed: birds, 1633-69 (Heavens choristers)] brackets from HN
27 lives, 1635-69, A25, Cy, O'F, P, S: lifes, HN: life, 1633, A18, D, H49, L74, Lec, N, TC
34 to thee. 1633: for thee. 1635-69
35 thou hast 1633-69: hast thou HN
36 blow] blow, 1633
41 King 1633, A18, A25, B, Cy, D, H49, HN, Lec, N, O'F, P, TC: Kings 1635-69
45 worke 1633-69, HN, O'F, S: workes A18, Cy, D, H49, L74, N, P, TC: makes Lec. See note
56 Shortly,] Shortly 1633
ambitious; 1635-69: ambitious, 1633
62 mis-thinking] mistaking Cy, HN, O'F (but altered to text)
64 profane; 1669: profane, 1635-54: profane. 1633
74 though 1635-69, A18, A25, HN, L74, N, O'F, P, S, S96, TC: but 1633, D, H40, H49, Lec
Here follow in 1635-54 By our first strange (p. 111), Madame, That I (p. 291), and Death be not proud, (p. 422). In 1669 My Fortune and (p. 292) precedes Madame, That I
Elegie.
Death.
LANGUAGE thou art too narrow, and too weake
To ease us now; great sorrow cannot speake;
If we could sigh out accents, and weepe words,
Griefe weares, and lessens, that tears breath affords.
5Sad hearts, the lesse they seeme the more they are,
(So guiltiest men stand mutest at the barre)
Not that they know not, feele not their estate,
But extreme sense hath made them desperate.
Sorrow, to whom we owe all that we bee;
10Tyrant, in the fift and greatest Monarchy,
Was't, that she did possesse all hearts before,
Thou hast kil'd her, to make thy Empire more?
Knew'st thou some would, that knew her not, lament,
As in a deluge perish th'innocent?
15Was't not enough to have that palace wonne,
But thou must raze it too, that was undone?
Had'st thou staid there, and look'd out at her eyes,
All had ador'd thee that now from thee flies,
For they let out more light, then they tooke in,
20They told not when, but did the day beginne.
She was too Saphirine, and cleare for thee;
Clay, flint, and jeat now thy fit dwellings be;
Alas, shee was too pure, but not too weake;
Who e'r saw Christall Ordinance but would break?
25And if wee be thy conquest, by her fall
Th'hast lost thy end, for in her perish all;
Or if we live, we live but to rebell,
They know her better now, that knew her well.
If we should vapour out, and pine, and die;
30Since, shee first went, that were not miserie.
Shee chang'd our world with hers; now she is gone,
Mirth and prosperity is oppression;
For of all morall vertues she was all,
The Ethicks speake of vertues Cardinall.
35Her soule was Paradise; the Cherubin
Set to keepe it was grace, that kept out sinne.
Shee had no more then let in death, for wee
All reape consumption from one fruitfull tree.
God tooke her hence, lest some of us should love
40Her, like that plant, him and his lawes above,
And when wee teares, hee mercy shed in this,
To raise our mindes to heaven where now she is;
Who if her vertues would have let her stay
Wee'had had a Saint, have now a holiday.
45Her heart was that strange bush, where, sacred fire,
Religion, did not consume, but'inspire
Such piety, so chast use of Gods day,
That what we turne to feast, she turn'd to pray,
And did prefigure here, in devout tast,
50The rest of her high Sabaoth, which shall last.
Angels did hand her up, who next God dwell,
(For she was of that order whence most fell)
Her body left with us, lest some had said,
Shee could not die, except they saw her dead;
55For from lesse vertue, and lesse beautiousnesse,
The Gentiles fram'd them Gods and Goddesses.
The ravenous earth that now wooes her to be
Earth too, will be a Lemnia; and the tree
That wraps that christall in a wooden Tombe,
60Shall be tooke up spruce, fill'd with diamond;
And we her sad glad friends all beare a part
Of griefe, for all would waste a Stoicks heart.
Elegie. 1633: Elegie XI. Death. 1635-54 (being places among the Elegies): Elegie XI. 1669: An Elegie upon the death of Mris Boulstred. A18, B, Cy, H40, L74, N, O'F, P, S, TCC, TCD: no title, HN
2 sorrow 1633, B, Cy, H40, HN, L74, N, P, TC: sorrowes 1635-69, O'F, S
8 desperate. Ed: desperate; 1633-69
10 Tyrant, 1633, 1669 (no comma): Tyran, 1635-54
20 beginne. Ed: beginne; 1633-69
21 for 1635-69: to 1633
26 for in her 1633 and all the MSS.: in her we 1635-69, Chambers
28 They ... that ... well; 1633, Cy, H40, HN, L74, N, S, TC: That know her better now, who knew her well. 1635-69, B, O'F, P, S96
29 and pine, and] or pine, or Cy, H40, HN, O'F, P, S, S96: or pine, and L74, TCC
30 miserie. Ed: miserie; 1633-69
34 The Ethicks speake 1633, A18, Cy, H40, L74, N, P, TC: That Ethickes speake 1635-69, B, O'F, S: The ethenickes spake HN
Cardinall. Ed: Cardinall; 1633-69
36 that kept out] to keep out HN, P
sinne. Ed: sinne; 1633-69
37 She had no more; then let in death for we 1669
38 tree. Ed: tree; 1633-69
41-2 And when we see his mercy shewne in this 'Twill &c. S
44 holiday. Ed: holiday; 1633-69
All the MSS. omit have, but O'F inserts it later
48 That what 1633-69: That when HN
turne] turn'd Cy, HN, P, S96
to feast, Ed: to feast, 1633-69
feast] feasts L74, N, O'F, TC
to pray, Ed: to pray, 1633-69
50 last.] last; 1633
53 Her body left 1633, A18, HN, N, TC: Her bodie's left 1635-69
56 fram'd] fain'd Cy, P: form'd H40, HN
57 wooes] woes 1633
be] be, 1633
58 All the MSS. omit a before Lemnia, but O'F inserts
61 sad glad 1633-69: glad sad B, Cy, L74, N, O'F, P, S, S96
62 waste 1633, A18, Cy, H40, HN, L74, N, P, TC: breake 1635-69, B, O'F
Elegie on the L. C.
SORROW, who to this house scarce knew the way:
Is, Oh, heire of it, our All is his prey.
This strange chance claimes strange wonder, and to us
Nothing can be so strange, as to weepe thus.
5'Tis well his lifes loud speaking workes deserve,
And give praise too, our cold tongues could not serve:
'Tis well, hee kept teares from our eyes before,
That to fit this deepe ill, we might have store.
Oh, if a sweet briar, climbe up by'a tree,
10If to a paradise that transplanted bee,
Or fell'd, and burnt for holy sacrifice,
Yet, that must wither, which by it did rise,
As we for him dead: though no familie
Ere rigg'd a soule for heavens discoverie
15With whom more Venturers more boldly dare
Venture their states, with him in joy to share.
Wee lose what all friends lov'd, him; he gaines now
But life by death, which worst foes would allow,
If hee could have foes, in whose practise grew
20All vertues, whose names subtile Schoolmen knew.
What ease, can hope that wee shall see'him, beget,
When wee must die first, and cannot dye yet?
His children are his pictures, Oh they bee
Pictures of him dead, senselesse, cold as he.
25Here needs no marble Tombe, since hee is gone,
He, and about him, his, are turn'd to stone.
Elegie &c. 1635-69, following Death be not proud (p. 422): Elegie, Funerall Elegie, or no title, B, Cy, HN, O'F, S96: Elegie VI. (being placed among the Elegies) 1633: Elegie. (being eighth among Elegies) D, H49, Lec: Elegia tercia. S: Elegie XIIIa. JC, W
1 who 1633-39: that 1650-69
2 prey. 1633: prey, 1633-54: Pay. 1669
4 thus. 1669: thus; 1633-54
13 dead: 1633-69: dead. HN, Grolier
16 Venture their states] Venter estates B
share. D, H49, Lec, W: share 1633: share, 1635-69, Chambers and Grolier. See note
17 him;] him, 1633
20 names] name 1635-69
knew. Ed: knew; 1635-69
24 he. 1650-69: he, 1633-39
An hymne to the Saints, and to Marquesse Hamylton.
To Sir Robert Carr.
Sir,
I PRESUME you rather try what you can doe in me, then what I can doe in verse; you know my uttermost when it was best, and even then I did best when I had least truth for my subjects. In this present case there is so much truth as it defeats all Poetry. Call therefore this paper by what name you will, and, if it bee not worthy of him, nor of you, nor of mee, smother it, and bee that the sacrifice. If you had commanded mee to have waited on his body to Scotland and preached there, I would have embraced the obligation with more alacrity; But, I thanke you that you would command me that which I was loath to doe, for, even that hath given a tincture of merit to the obedience of
Your poore friend and
servant in Christ Jesus
I. D.
WHETHER that soule which now comes up to you
Fill any former ranke or make a new;
Whether it take a name nam'd there before,
Or be a name it selfe, and order more
5Then was in heaven till now; (for may not hee
Bee so, if every severall Angell bee
A kind alone?) What ever order grow
Greater by him in heaven, wee doe not so.
One of your orders growes by his accesse;
10But, by his losse grow all our orders lesse;
The name of Father, Master, Friend, the name
Of Subject and of Prince, in one are lame;
Faire mirth is dampt, and conversation black,
The household widdow'd, and the garter slack;
15The Chappell wants an eare, Councell a tongue;
Story, a theame; and Musicke lacks a song;
Blest order that hath him! the losse of him
Gangreend all Orders here; all lost a limbe.
Never made body such hast to confesse
20What a soule was; All former comelinesse
Fled, in a minute, when the soule was gone,
And, having lost that beauty, would have none;
So fell our Monasteries, in one instant growne
Not to lesse houses, but, to heapes of stone;
25So sent this body that faire forme it wore,
Unto the spheare of formes, and doth (before
His soule shall fill up his sepulchrall stone,)
Anticipate a Resurrection;
For, as in his fame, now, his soule is here,
30So, in the forme thereof his bodie's there.
And if, faire soule, not with first Innocents
Thy station be, but with the Pænitents,
(And, who shall dare to aske then when I am
Dy'd scarlet in the blood of that pure Lambe,
35Whether that colour, which is scarlet then,
Were black or white before in eyes of men?)
When thou rememb'rest what sins thou didst finde
Amongst those many friends now left behinde,
And seest such sinners as they are, with thee
40Got thither by repentance, Let it bee
Thy wish to wish all there, to wish them cleane;
Wim him a David, her a Magdalen.
An hymne &c. 1633-69, in all of which it is classed with the Divine Poems, following Resurrection. In 1635-69 it is preceded by the letter To Sir Robert Carr.: in 1633 the letter follows, and has no heading: similarly in A18, O'F, TCC. See note
2 verse; 1635-69: verse, 1633
3 best] at the best A18, TCC
subjects. 1635-69: subjects, 1633: subject, A18, TCC
6-7 of him ... sacrifice. 1635-69: of you nor of him, we will smother it, and be it your sacrifice. 1633: of him, nor of you, nor of anye; smother it, and bee that the sacrifice. A18, TCC
9 the 1635-69: your 1633, A18, TCC
more] much 1633
10 loath] loather 1633
in Christ Jesus] om. A18, TCC
1 Whether] Whither 1633, and so in 3
2 new; Ed: new, 1633-69
6 so,] so? 1633
7 alone?) 1635-54: alone;) 1633: alone) 1669
8 so. Ed: so; 1633-69
12 are 1633, A18, TCC: is 1635-69, O'F
16 song; 1633: song. 1635-69
17 him! Ed: him, 1633-69
18 Gangreend 1635-69: Gangred 1633
limbe. 1633-35: limbe: 1639-69
22 none; Ed: none: 1650-69: none, 1633-39
23 one instant 1633: an instant 1635-69
25 this 1633, A18, TCC: his 1635-69
29 For, as in his 1633-39: For, as it his 1650-54: For, as it is his 1669
30 there. Ed: there; 1633-39: there, 1650-69
36 in eyes] in the eyes A18, O'F, TCC
EPITAPHS.
EPITAPH ON HIMSELFE.
To the Countesse of Bedford.
MADAME,
THAT I might make your Cabinet my tombe,
And for my fame which I love next my soule,
Next to my soule provide the happiest roome,
Admit to that place this last funerall Scrowle.
5Others by Wills give Legacies, but I
Dying, of you doe beg a Legacie.
My fortune and my will this custome breake,
When we are senselesse grown to make stones speak,
Though no stone tell thee what I was, yet thou
10In my graves inside see what thou art now:
Yet th'art not yet so good; till us death lay
To ripe and mellow there, w'are stubborne clay,
Parents make us earth, and soules dignifie
Vs to be glasse, here to grow gold we lie;
15Whilst in our soules sinne bred and pampered is,
Our soules become worme-eaten Carkasses.
Epitaph. B, D, H40, H49
On himselfe. 1635-69
To the Countesse of Bedford. O'F, S96: no heading, and epistle only, A25, C The introductory epistle, and the first ten lines of the epitaph, the whole with heading Elegie., is printed 1635-54 among the Funerall Elegies. The full epitaph without epistle and with heading On himselfe. is included among the Divine Poems, where it follows the Lamentations of Jeremy. In his note Chambers (II. 234) reverses these facts. In 1669 On himselfe. is transferred to the Funerall Elegies and is followed immediately by the Elegie, i.e. the epistle and incomplete epitaph. They are here given for the first time in a separate group
5 Others by Wills 1635-69: Others by testaments A25, C, O'F (altered to wills), S96: Men by testament B: Then by testament H40: O then by testament D, H49
10 now: 1650-69: now, 1635-39
12 there, 1635, 1669: thee, 1639-54
Omnibus.
MY Fortune and my choice this custome break,
When we are speechlesse grown, to make stones speak,
Though no stone tell thee what I was, yet thou
In my graves inside seest what thou art now:
5Yet thou'art not yet so good, till death us lay
To ripe and mellow here, we are stubborne Clay.
Parents make us earth, and soules dignifie
Vs to be glasse; here to grow gold we lie.
Whilst in our soules sinne bred and pamper'd is,
10Our soules become wormeaten carkases;
So we our selves miraculously destroy.
Here bodies with lesse miracle enjoy
Such priviledges, enabled here to scale
Heaven, when the Trumpets ayre shall them exhale.
15Heare this, and mend thy selfe, and thou mendst me,
By making me being dead, doe good to thee,
And thinke me well compos'd, that I could now
A last-sicke houre to syllables allow.
Omnibus. D, H49: To all. H40, RP31: Another on the same. (i.e. Mrs Boulstred) P: On himselfe. 1635-69: no title, B, S96: in MSS. this complete epitaph follows the epistle (p. 291); but in B they are separated by various poems and in P the epistle is not given
3 tell] tel 1635
4 seest] see D, H49: compare incomplete version.
5 Yet 1635-69: Nay S96
thou'art Ed: thou art 1635-69
8 lie. Ed: lie; 1635-69
14 them] then 1669
16 to thee, B, D, H40, H49, O'F, S96: for thee, 1635-69
INFINITATI SACRUM,
16. Augusti 1601.
METEMPSYCHOSIS.
Poêma Satyricon.