VISIONES RERUM.  
THE VISIONS OF THINGS. OR Four Poems.  

1. Principium & Mutabilitas Rerum. Or, The beginning and Mutability of all things.  
2. Cursus & Ordo rerum. Or, Art and Nature.  
3. Opineo & Ratio rerum. Or, Wealth and Poverty.  
4. Malum & finis rerum, Or, Sin and Virtue, concluding with the last judgement and end of all things.   
Wherein the Author expresseth his invention by way of dream.  
By JOHN HAGTHORPE Gent.  
LONDON, Printed by Bernard Alsop and are to be sold at his house in Distaff Lane at the sig●…e of the Dolphin. 1623.   

TO THE MOST ILLUSTRIOUS AND most excellent CHARLES, Prince of Wales, Duke of Cornwall, Earl of Chester, etc.  
AS all Eyes gaze upon the Sun (most excellent Prince) the Treasurer of Light and Time: so for the most part all thoughts level at the bestower of dignities and rewards, the Prince, who resembles the Sun in his sphere. And though it be true that to me (the least and most unfortunate of all men, wrapped up through infinite calamities in a Cimmerian night of unknown obscurity) whether I consider the humbleness of my Muse, or Fortunes, it may seem sufficient, to obtain by reflection even the least heat and light from the smallest star in your Horizon. Yet having ●…o particular respect, nor influence from any of ●…hese, being indifferently a stranger to all, and ●…herefore fearing a wrong star, like a bad Seaman, ignorant (save by uncertain relation) both of their aspects and effects, their diverse motions proper, for●…t, etc. Ignorant of all planetary revolutions and eccentricities: and, in this Age of doubtfulness, where the most certain things are most subject to question, seeing least reason (with Copernicus') to believe, that which strives most to enfo●…ce the sense. I resolved upon a sudden boldness to look up to your Princely light, constant still in its cou●…se and shining. And having of late presented your Royal father with a small book of Meditations, and a Suit. So renewing the said Suit, I mak●… bold now again to present your Grace with these most rude and most unpolished lines, but honest matter, and not unfit for your contemplation, which my poor Mus●… having wandered round the World to gather, lays down at length at your Princely feet (as a measure of sweets and spices) brought from the gardens of India: upon which if it please your Grace to cast but the least beam of your bright splendour and perfection●…, it kindles in me such a flame of affectionate zeal to to your Princely service, as the length of time can never extinguish.  
Your Grace's most poor but loyal and devoted servant, JOHN HAGTHORPE.   

TO THE READER.  
REader I present to thy view some few things most obvious and most necessary for every man's contemplation. Namely,  

1 Time, Folly, Reason, with the mutability of all things.  
2 Nature and Art, the two Parents of all things.  
3 Wealth and Poverty the two balances of all things.  
4 Sin and Virtue, the recompensers of all things.   
With the descriptions of most of them ab effectis.  
The first shows, how Folly first entertains us at our entrance into the house of Time, del●…ding us with a more certain assurance of things most incertain (until Reason approaching, brings us truer releation, showing the mutability, uncertainti and change of all things.  
In the second, Art and Nature seem to vie which of them ought to be accounted the more indulgent mother to mankind, with many reasons to to intimate whether it were better to be governed by Art & Discipline, or to live as some of the West Indian savages ●…o, only by the rule of Nature.  
The third objects a contentious litigation between Wealth and Poverty, with the most frequent objections used on either part, their events and accidents incident, wherein I must entreat the judicious Reader not to think me satirical (as perchance some carper will) but rather that I aim at the Ideas of the things, which I protest is truth.  
The last seems to demonstrate the misery which Virtue suffers under the burden of Sin: wher●…n Sin seems to erect four Altars to herself, where she receives adoration and sacrifice from the high and mighty. What the scope of this is, the Reader may quickly see; and it is concluded with that which concludes all things, the last judgement.  
Now for this way of expression that I seem thu●… to present things past, present, and to come; the beginning progress, continuance and end of all things in a Dream. Let no man marvel, for this life is no better, whether you respect the shortness and uncertainty. Prosperity is a pleasant Dream, Adversity a troublesome: only the good or bad euen●… is all. To which (gentle Reader) I leave thee wishing thee as myself, not what thou desirest 〈◊〉 deservest.  
I. H.   

Visiones Rerum.  

Principium & Mutabilitas rerum.  
CONTAINING A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE PALACE of old Cronos or Time; and Logos his speech concerning Mutation.  
CRONOS, Time. MORIA, Folly. LOGOS, Reason.  

1.  
BE still a while ye Wolves that me devour,  
You sadder thoughts and sorrows of my 〈◊〉  
Which through my soul an Icy numbness power,  
And wholly rob me of that better part,  
Which God and Nature did me once impart,  
Until I briefly can unfold and show  
An accident be fell me long ago.   

2  
Which Story that I here intent to write,  
A Dream or Vision is that me befell,  
When drowned in deepest sleeps of Darksome night,  
I seemed transported (how I cannot tell)  
Into a Palace, which did so excel  
For glorious structures, that mine Artless pen  
Mu●…t pass their praise, unfit to utter them.   

3  
A stately Hall me thought I entered,  
The Pavement set with Marble and pure Gold;  
An A●…ure roof, with Stars illumined,  
And in the same a Sun I did behold,  
Which seemed by Art about the Centre ●…old;  
And Silver Cynthia thirteen times the year,  
Seeming quite darkened, and as often clear.   

4  
All sorts of creatures proper to the Land,  
All those the watery deeps inhabiting;  
Or such as 'twixt them both indifferent stand:  
All those the 〈◊〉 Region travelling;  
All Shrubs or Trees in Earth, or Sea, that spring,  
Framed for Man's pleasure, and his use alone,  
Within these walls were wrought in wood and bone.   

5  
Where whilst I wandered with no ●…mall content,  
Gazing about, aloft I ch●…nc't to spy  
These lines: Thou Mor●…all that art hither sent  
To Cronos house, prepare thyself to die.  
This touch●… me deep: for often heard had I  
Of cruel 
§ 〈◊〉.  Cronos, and his cutting scythe,  
Oft (though I felt it not) th'effects did lithe▪   

6  
But straight there did before mine eyes appear,  
A wanton Dame that came with folli●…k grace,  
§ Moria vain, who scoffed my drooping cheer:  
Fain●… Heart (quoth she) what means this sorrow base?  
Can lusty Youth fear Cronos wrinkled face?  
This Dotard shall not find thee many a year.  
Lo, while he sleeps, I'll steal his Wings and's Gear. 
* Folly.    

7  
This said, away she went, and straight returned,  
Bringing a Read whereon she got astride.  
Me thought 'twas brave to see her thus adorned.  
Two wings she fitted then with nimble pride  
To her own shoulders, hanging down each side;  
And to be sure Time's Glass should not run out,  
She broke that all, and strewed the sand about.   

8  
Then (quoth she) for thy Hat (and reached her wing)  
Pluck out this feather. 'tis an ornament  
For all my followers well fashioning;  
And such as scorn old Cronos detriment.  
Come, let us spend our time in merriment;  
Let's laugh, let's gather Flowers Here many a Dance  
She learned me, and much wanton Dalliance.   

9  
But straight she vanished even as Phantasms do,  
Or Demons, which do airy shapes acquire;  
When Cronos in the throng himself did show,  
And both his old arms, and his scythe did tyre  
With killing, and left me her tales t'admire:  
For, noting Cronos had both Sith and Wings,  
I thought her false, and longed to know these things.   

10  
Within this Hall a world of people were,  
All Cronos children (yet destinguisht tho)  
Some Friends, and some as Servants did appear.  
Then looked I round, wishing to see or know  
Some stranger like myself: and thinking so,  
A thing of greatest strangeness did afford  
Itself to view, which here I will record.   

11  
Amongst the rest an 
1 Mutation, Time's eldest child.  Actor did I spy,  
Whose force (though weak in show) did Giants prove,  
(I say I saw, but nothing perfectly,  
For in a Cloud it ever seemed to move)  
A mighty Globe; it seemed to roll and shove,  
Where millions sought with ladders still to attain  
The top, but when she st●…rd, still down they came.   

12  
This made me now wish more than erst I did,  
Some wise Oe●…ipus to show me all;  
Nor sooner had I wished, but I descried  
A reverend Sire, which gen●…ly did me call  
Into a secret corner of this Hall;  
And first of all himself to me he named  

1 Reason.  Logos, and afterward this speech he framed.   

13  
Young man (quoth he) I see thou lately art  
Armed within this place of misery;  
I am to let thee know it is my part  
and Office to direct this company:  
Tho most of them indeed my precepts fly,  
Trusting Moria rather, and her Mates;  
But I of thee divine some better Fates.   

14  
Thou seest how here each hath his several guise,  
Each follows his own way, and choose their like.  
Some here consume their time in flatteries,  
And some in Pride: diverse delight to strike  
And kill their fellows: others nothing like,  
But ease and belly-cheer (to feel, to taste)  
But Cronos sweeps them all away at last.   

15  
A few there be, whose well directed mind  
Retire themselves from forth the press and throng,  
Whose thoughts to contemplation are designed:  
Not to prevent old Cronos, nor prolong,  
But to prepare for what they cannot shun:  
And to avoid Morias cunning bai●…es,  
Who first abused the entering at the Gates.   

16  
Logos (quoth I) Gramercy, I do owe  
To thee myself: thou'st cured my doubts and fears.  
And now my chief desires remains to know  
Her, that behind that turning Globe appears.  
Content (quoth he) lend then a while thine ears;  
While these feast, fight, or sleep; my task shall be  
To spend an hour upon her History.   

17  
It is Mutation, Goddess great of things.  
That in her turn doth triumph over all;  
Who tramples on the heads of mighty Kings,  
And makes the strongest Towers demolished, fall,  
Of whom I muse, and marvel ever shall,  
That ancient Rome such Temples should erect  
To trivial things, and yet her power neglect.   

18  
For if the course of mundane things below,  
Be guided by the ●…uer chan●…ing Fate  
Of Heavenly Orbs, from whence the causes flow  
Of their effects, and what they procr●…ate.  
Her birth is then Divine, and may relate,  
And challenge Alta●…s far more due, than either  
Fortune, Lyeus, Venus altogether.   

19  
Some few examples therefore will I take,  
And small remonstrance from the memory  
Of former times, her forces known to make;  
That men asleep rocked by 〈◊〉,  
Which vainly dream here of eternity,  
May wake and see, since Human and Divine  
Things feel her force, they must account with Time.   

20  
That they which d●…e repute their states so fixed,  
As Lightning cannot blast, misfortune shake,  
Might hence observe, the web of chance is mixed,  
And as they give themselves, so must they take,  
Whereof examples thousands may we make  
From every Age; yet shall a few suffi●…e,  
Drawn both from men's and Time's best memories.   

21  
First, to begin with Heaven; the Heavenly 
1 The fall & mutation of the Angels into devils.  Quires  
Have not been ever from her power exempt,  
But fell by Pride into eternal fires;  
From complete joy, from happy true content,  
To be tormented there, and to torment:  
Where though the rest's by one example warned,  
Yet are not men by thousand thousands armed.   

22  
The 
1 Change in the Planets.  Lamps of Heaven, the Planets change above,  
As well in sight, aspect, as influence.  
The Sun from his diurnal arch doth move  
After his proper motion, either hence  
Certain degrees, or nearer us; from whence  
Proceed the diverse seasons, Autumn, Spring,  
Winter & Summer, whose change, change ●…ch thing.   

23  
And gadding Phoebe, whose still changing face,  
Doth so much spot her female chastity,  
Varies not only in her way, but pace;  
And to our seeming in her quantity,  
Which some ascribe to eccentricity.  
But all of them till Plato's year be run,  
Stray from the place of their creation.   

24  
The 
2 The continual change and transmigration in the Elements.  Elements, on which each thing's composed,  
(Beneath the Moon) being and Vegetive  
To daily transmigrations are disposed,  
And 'mongst themselves retain a mutual strife  
Each to become other (much like our life)  
Air doth sometimes to Fire or Water run;  
And Fire an earthly habit doth put on.   

25  
Some think, the 
1 The cause of Fountains and Rivers, according to Aristotle, by reason of the Airs condensation and changing into water.  Air in hollow Caves condensed  
To be the Founts of Or●…noque or R●…yne:  
But all men see the vapours which 〈◊〉  
And ra●…ified, ambitiously do clime  
To th'airs cold Region, whence they▪ straight decline  
To snow●…e Clouds conucrted, then to ●…aine,  
And seeking so their native place again.   

26  
The 
2 The generation of Thunder.  hot dry ●…umes with watery clouds shut in,  
Environed round, and as in prison gyude,  
To struggle straight for liberty begin,  
Tho long in va●…ne, repulsed on every side;  
Until at last (inflame) ●…hey flames forth glide,  
Shunning their foes embracements, while their thunder  
Amaze the people, both with fear and wonder.   

27  
The 
3 The change of Winds, Seas, Days, Nights, Winter, Summer, etc.  Winds still change, the Seas still ebb and flow;  
The Days succeed the Nights, Nights follow Days.  
The chequered Meads give place to Frosts and Snow;  
And cloudy Winter, when the Sun●…e displays  
His Sundays suit, her sto●…my Camp doth raise,  
And yields to conquering Time, as Time must do  
To him that Earth shall change, and Heaven to.   

28  
Who marvels now if ha●…lesse 
1 The fall of Adam, and his change from great happiness to unspeakable misery.  Adam fel●…  
From Innocence, and from his blessed estate,  
His earthly part being stuff so mutable▪  
Subjected unto change by laws of Fate,  
And influence of Stars contaminate  
Amongst things ever changing here confined?  
Or that to's issue he this plague resigned?   

29  
Who marvels now, that 
2 Change and vi●…issitude of Greatness.  Princes, great and wise,  
Are subject to her power 'mongst other things.  
Th' Assyrian Monarches, whose great Emperies,  
Reached Western 〈◊〉, first example bri●…gs;  
First, King, than Madman, Beast, yet last a K●…ng,  
And Ze●…xes he that made the 〈◊〉 ●…lote,  
Who fled from Salamine with one poor boat.   

30  
That Croessus, whom old Solo●…; wit implored,  
To cen●…ure no man happy till his end;  
Those hidden Caske●…s that he so adored,  
Proved but a bait his Neighbour King to send  
To's 〈◊〉, where recording this his Friend,  
〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 gyves him Life and State,  
Lest some should make him like unfortunate▪   

31  
Caesar and Pompey, that with tragedies  
Filled this World's grand cirque. jugurth, Hannibal,  
Cassius, Brutus, both the Anthony's,  
Make all repayment when revenge doth call;  
And some by foes, some by themselves do fall:  
But diverse others far more strangely feel  
Th'effects of our great Goddess changing wheel.   

32  
Great Marius, sprung but from rustic sire,  
And in the fields of Arpos nourished;  
First, but a legionary, rising higher,  
Was sixth time Consul; lastly, banished,  
In ruin'd Carthage forced to beg his bread:  
Yet after all, by lands and seas thus tossed,  
Died with far greater glories than he lost.   

33  
Why should I hear Sertorius relate,  
That tasted erst so many ebbs and flows?  

1 Agathocles, a Potter's son, attained the Kingdom of Sicily, and being driven from his Kingdom, yet again regained it, and in his old age again lost all, and died in misery. justine.  Agathocles? or woeful 
2 Mithridates' Kindred in his Infancy sought his life many ways, setting him to manage a fierce Horse, which danger by his dexterity he escaped. They attempted the like by Poison, and thereby compelled him for safeguard of his life to live four years in the Wilderness. After which reassuming his state and kingdom, his wife (having played false) seeks to poison him; which he escapes by his Antidotes. Grows mighty; conquers diverse Kingdoms with good success. But making war with the Romans, he suffers all the changes and adversities of Fortune with great constancy (the very Elements fight against him, and his most trusty Servant betraying his children to the Romans); till his own Son rising against him, and besieging him, constrained him at last to kill himself. justine.  Mithridate,  
Than whom none tasted greater wealth or woes?  

3 Valerian, Emperor of Rome, being overcome in battle by Sapor, King of the Parthians, was made his Footstool.  Valerian (Sapours Footstool) each man knows.  
And, Gelnier, Vandal Prince, compelled to beg  
Three 
4 To wipe away his tears: To make him merry: To relieve his hunger.  things, a Sponge, a Harp, a Loaf of bread.   

34  
●…ut no example doth illustrate more  
The power of our Mutation, than the pride  
●…f Bajazet, whom 〈◊〉 adore,  
Coop●… in a Cage▪ that 〈◊〉- like lived and died.  
●…ut here at home I 〈◊〉 have esp●…de  
Eclipsed; the British Eledur●…s thrice  
Enthroned, deposed; and our late Edward twice▪   

35  
The 
1 The change and demolition of Cities.  Courts where heretofore the Trojan Knights  
And all this 〈◊〉 pomp did keep;  
And where the tents were pight of haughty greeks,  
Now on their back the Ploughman furrows deep,  
And silly Shepherds feed their nibbling Sheep.  
Stupendious Babel to, that lasting wonder,  
L●…es with her name entombed, her ashes under.   

36  
And Babylon (where Chaldian Ninus reigned,  
And Percian ●…yrus conquered) by whose ●…owres  
Heavens studded Canopy did seem sustained;  
Her guilted 〈◊〉, her vaulted Orchards, Bowers,  
And pleasant soil, made ●…at with fertile showers,  
To dens of Beasts and Th●…eues converted be,  
And barren Sands, as Esay did foresee.   

37  
Where's stately jericho and strong Acre?  
What's Egypt's Thebes:, her Alexandria?  
Where's E●…batane, and mighty Niniveh?  
What's ancient Sydon and C●…saita?  
And Tyre, whose Daughters Leptis, Utica,  
And Carthage? though they life to others gi●…e,  
Have long ago themselves disseast to li●…e.   

38  
What of th' E●…hesians glory is become,  
Built for the honour of Diana's grace?  
The stately Temple of proud 〈◊〉,  
Where Golden veins did 〈◊〉 and enchase  
Each costly Stone? Alas, in deep disgrace.  
The Labyrinths of Candie and of Nile?  
Some no where found, the rest are ruins vile.   

39  
What's now the shells, where sometime Athens grew,  
And Lacedaemon that so much did prize  
Wise Solons and Luurgus Laws? where's now  
Delightful 
4 Deinde reductum pro fundum littus in finum Baias' apperit, aqua s que calidas, & ad voluptatem & ad sanandos morbos accommodissimas. Strab. Geographicorum, lib. 5.  Ba●…a with her Luxuries?  
Great 
5 Cuma, vetustissimum Chalcedensium & Cumeorum aedificium antiquitate cunctas Sicilliae & Italiae urbes antecellit. Strabo. Ibidem.  Cuma to entombed in tuins lies?  
And modern Rome doth now no more extol  
Herself for Vaults▪ Circques▪ Collumnes, Capitol.   

40  
Nor doth our Grandam singlely admit  
These marks of hers, and changes in her face▪  
Whereby she seemeth like a Lover stripped  
Of choicest jewels, yielding chiefest grace,  
But her rich intrals suffer in like case;  
Even Tagus Golden streams are grown so poor,  
Because the Hills their tributes pay no more. 
(1) Changes in the intrals of the Earth, her Mines, and Treasures exhausted; those places that in former times have been rich, becoming poor.    

41  
And but that Nature like a frugal Dame,  
Doth in her secret Cabinet still hold  
Some thing for after times (for fear the shame  
Of poverty should brand her being old,  
Or Children tax her of unkindness) Gold,  
Rich stones, and Minerals, this lauis●… time,  
I think, to glass their places would resign.   

42  
And yet not these alone her forces feel,  
Paying Allegiance to her powerful Name;  
Not Angels, Stars, Fire, Air, Men, Towns, Gold, Steele,  
But Countries and whole Nations do the same;  
But even 
1 Changes of Religion.  Religion subject doth remain  
To change ●…o in external form and place,  
That men mistake her Robes, her Rites, her face.   

43  
For (all her old apparel thrown away,  
Both Ar●…ns Ephod, and his Incense too;  
And all those Lambs and Goats that each where lay  
On fuming Altars) her old servants now  
Mutiny against her, her new tires mis-know;  
And while themselves lie plunged in Hell black night  
Of Ignorance, say others lack their sight.   

44  
The 
1 jerusalem.  place where erst were holy▪ Co●…enants made,  
And where jehova Marriage 〈◊〉 did knit  
With his dea●…e 〈◊〉, now 〈◊〉 doth 〈◊〉,  
And Irreligion and 〈◊〉 ●…it  
Triumphing with an insolence unfit,  
And true Religion banished quite away,  
Is no where known within those coasts to stay▪   

45  
And Rome where once the Martyr's blood did rai●…e,  
To moist the seed of Christianity.  
afric (though nearer to the Sun) and  
In utter darkness now be nighted lie,  
And know it not (the greater misery.)  
Fair Italy, that counted once the World  
All Barbarous, for barbarismes abhorred.   

46  
Religion there's become a very scorn,  
Their Cannons and traditions have her plac●…,  
Which like false witnesses they still suborn,  
To testify vntr●…ths against her face:  
But not content to do her one disgrace,  
Simony, Murder, Pride, Hypocrisy,  
Lust, Blasph●…my, exile her utterly.   

47  
Again, the North that sometime did produce  
Nothing but darkness, that did nought good keep  
In her frozen man●…ions, nought but Snows, Fogs, Dews,  
And Icy Mountains floating in the deep;  
The foster of Stupidity and Sleep,  
The parent of unpolished savage minds,  
Both fierce and bloody, like the Silua●…e kinds,   

48  
Is now become more blest than other Climes,  
For pure Religions true profession:  
For (that which was 〈◊〉 former time●…),  
Her warm Zeal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the 〈◊〉 
That is in Iseland, and some parts of Norway, 〈◊〉 the cir●…le Arctic.  Zone:  
For here with us Religion hath her Throne;  
justice and Mercy 〈◊〉 at either hand,  
And Truth, her 〈◊〉, doth before her stand.   

49  
Behind her come Humility and Peace,  
Plenty and Charity (both wondrous aged)  
And though Bellona and Erennis fierce,  
Allecto and the Furies all enraged  
With this her glory, have themselves engaged  
Against-her train, in hope to work her spite;  
Yet guards of Angels throw them at her feet.   

50  
And all her Courts with Princely Servants shine:  
The best of Kings her Harrold is become▪  
Proclaiming both her worth to present Times;  
And to succeeding Ages; while his own  
(Outlasting Time) eternal shall become  
Then Arts and Arms, and all the other Graces,  
Are ranked about her in their several places.   

51  
But now, dear Clio, I thine aid impiore,  
T'impart some portion of thy sacred skill,  
Or sweet Euterpe of thy Nectared store,  
Into my brain some scruple to distil,  
Till I have shown with this my rustic quill,  
The various change of ●…▪ Body and of Mind  
By Logos, to this Micr●…cosme assigned▪ 
1. The changes Men suffers in Body.    

52  
This lesser World (quoth he) the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 map▪  
Of Fire and Water, Earth and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪  
The Sea of change, the subject of 〈◊〉;  
The Bulwatke 'gainst a world of 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪  
Oh that the Heavens had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉▪  
To write the 〈◊〉 of this little thing▪  
Which learned 〈◊〉 ●…all the World's great King▪   

53  
The wondrous changes which it doth admit,  
First, from not being once, to come to be;  
Then from a rude unpolished Chaos yet,  
For to be 〈◊〉 a thing to hear and see:  
And from a thing of such infirmity,  
That creeps amongst the dust, and li●…ks the mould,  
To grow a Man of Courage stout and bold.   

54  
Then from a thing of such accomplished form,  
Whom Nature hath decreed with all the best,  
Both of her skill and treasures to adorn  
With fairest beauties, having right impressed  
Both Soul and Body; far before the rest  
Imparting wit, and memory to know  
Both things above, and in the earth below.   

55  
With crisped locks outshining Libyan Gold;  
With skin for whiteness passing Atlas' snow;  
And 〈◊〉, the Pearls in stately Ormus sold;  
And cheeks, the Roses that in jury grow:  
Whose eyes like two pure Crystal▪ Heavens show;  
Whose lips as Cherries, breath as incense sweet●…,  
And tongue as sweetest Music doth delight.   

56  
That such an one 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a span of Time  
Be thus disro●…de of 〈◊〉 excellence,  
So changed I sa●… (by 〈◊〉 divine)  
For our 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 high offence,  
 
 
  

57  
Should turn like those scratched by the Beldame Ape,  
Where 
6 Pendents que genas & tales aspice rugas, quales umbriferos ubi pandit Tabraca saltus. In vetula scalpit iam matter simia bucca. Iwenal. Sat. 10. 193.  Tabraca her shady Groves displays.  
What change of more amazement can one shape,  
Then this Time's Map of ruin and disgrace;  
Deaf, Sinew-shrunke, the story of ill days;  
Calendar of Disease, which last returns  
All frosted ore, a banquet for the Worms.   

58  
Now here again an 
1 Of the Soul briefly.  Ocean should I enter,  
Of stormy billows, where these barks of yours  
Are bruised and beaten, while abroad they venture  
From our known coasts to gather gaudy flowers,  
With vain Moria in her fatal Bowers;  
Where 'gainst the Capes of Pride and Lust they run▪  
Oft split before their Voyage be begun.   

59  
The passions of the Soul I should 〈◊〉▪  
Which is a sea of more extended 〈◊〉;  
A●…d where more rudely crossing 〈◊〉 press  
Each other, then in th'Ocean can be found  
In Malstrom, or the 〈◊〉 Sound●…▪  
For here ten thousand contraries 〈◊〉,  
Both frozen Ice, and Aetna's burning flame▪   

60  
Chameleons do not colours faster change  
Then these affections: nor do idle men  
In wax or paper form more antics strange  
Then may be noted in the souls of them,  
Whom Logos doth not compass in, and hem:  
New passions, and irregular desires,  
New motions and mutations turning Gires.   

61  
While tossed with fevers and contrary fits,  
Of seeming zeal, but true Hypocrisy,  
Now Hope wins ground, and straight Despair that gets;  
Now Avarice, now Prodigality;  
Now haughti●… thoughts, then great Humility;  
Both burning Anger, and i'll frozen Fear,  
Do●… in their turns insult and domineer.   

62  
Envy, Revenge and Malice others whet,  
To perpetrate in human bloody acts,  
By Sword and Poison their intents to get;  
Or (worst of all) by some infernal pacts:  
Which done, the sweetness of those filthy facts  
Tur●…e into horror and confounding fear,  
They wi●…h 〈◊〉 thousand deaths, their c●…science clear●…▪   

63  
Many there be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ambition●… car,  
Do madly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Alpine Mounts,  
To get beyond all 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 far:  
But find 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of their accounts,  
Not free from 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉▪ at the founts  
Of all those 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ●…epent  
That ever near 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they went▪   

64  
Men seek for things they wish they had not found;  
They wish for that which makes them oft lament;  
Lament that lost, which made their griefs abound,  
And grieve for lack of that they must repent:  
If had, men kiss and kill incontinent.  
They pine with love, and yet extremely hate,  
Whom so they loved, with having satiate.   

65  
Now plump cheeked mirth, now sadness they commend,  
Now sweet content yet plunge themselves in care:  
To fatting ease, and sleep their Youths they bend,  
And in old Age, their limbs forget to spare  
Toiling for gain, whereof they lose their share,  
Both thanks and travail: thus are mortal Hearts  
The stage where vainest Actors play their parts.   

66  
Sometime they praise the Country, than the Town;  
Now hi●…h estate, now humble, low degree,  
Now fruitful travail, straight soft beds of Down;  
Now Courtly greatness pleaseth: by and by  
The life retired, and leisure for to d●…e.  
Now bloody Ensigns, and the Cannon's sound;  
Then straight way Peace, whence sweeter tones redound.   

67  
The married man commends the single life,  
And liberti●…, detesting to be tie  
To still renewing cares, and wanton strife:  
Yet (freed again) he cannot so abide.  
He pin●…s; till he some second war have tried  
In all affections gidd●…ly they rove,  
Not constant what to hate, or what to love▪   

68  
No certain state of goodness do they prove,  
Or badness here: for both do by degrees  
Unto their proper periods still move.  
Hell is the end assigned to those that lose  
The time, and grace ordained to them: but these  
That by the stairs of Virtue upward passed,  
Meet with perfection in the Heavens at last.   

69  
Now since the Heavens, and the Celestial Quires,  
And all the Elements thus change. We see  
Since Princes, Cities, stateliest Towers, and Spires,  
In time demollish●… and forgotten be.  
Since all things taste of Mutability  
That God created; let none think it strange,  
That Times are changed, and we in them do change.   

70  
This said, my Vision vanished, and revolving  
Logos discourse within my troubled breast;  
And (notwithstanding my known wants) resolving  
To keep that piece which in my mind did rest,  
These Lines I limbed, whereof you are possessed,  
Whose use is this, that Man (a changeling ever)  
Might learn to worship him that changeth never.    

Cursus & Ordo rerum. OR ART AND NATURE.  

1  
THe Winter past, and Phoebus now begu●…  
T'approach our Northern Tropic, to r●…uiue  
His tender Infants hid in Flora's womb,  
And with his beams their fetters to vngiu●…;  
When Men and Plants seemed to receive new life,  
Themselves attiring in their best array,  
To honour Phoebus, and adorn the day,   

2  
ay (only I) clouded in discontent,  
Wrapped up in woe, stung with misfortunes strokes,  
Hid●…ng myself, my sorrows so to vent,  
In solitary unfrequented 
1 This was written whilst I lived in the cold C●…stle of Scarborough, standing upon a most high Rock almost surrounded by the Sea,  Rocks,  
Which Thetis as enamoured on, fast locks  
Within her arms; here keeping of my Sheep  
With Morpheus Charms, my senses fell asleep.   

3  
If I did sleep I dreamed: if waking were;  
There was indeed presented to mine eye  
Two Royal Queens, whose persons did appear  
The types of beauty, and of sovereignty,  
Surpassing faite seemed that, this fair and high;  
That lowly seemed of modest compliment,  
This courtly, graceful, and magnificent▪   

4  
That on her brow a rosy Chaplet bore,  
A Lily, for a Sceptre in her hand;  
A Kirtle to of grassy green she wore;  
Wherein with cunning skill did painted stand  
All living creatures proper to the Land:  
All sorts of Trees, Shrubs, Flowers, and Vegetals,  
Both costly gems, and hidden Minerals.   

5  
Here silver streams slide through th'adopted Meads,  
Where towering Cedars, tusts of M●…rtle seem.  
Here fed the frisking Coneys, there the Herds;  
And in this cirque three battles strange were seen,  
The 
1 The Dragon and the Elephant have between them a natural antipathy and war, therefore the Dragon watches him by the way, and from some high tree lances himself upon him. The Elephant makes towards some tree to rub off these his unkind embracements: but to prevent him, the Dragon than manacles his legs▪ with his long winding tail. Then tries the Elephant with his hand (his Trunk) to unloose himself. Into this the Dragon presently chaps his head, and there so long sucks his blood (which he mightily thirsts for to cool himself) that at last the Dragon drunk, and the Elephant dry, they both fall down dead together: for the Elephant falling up-upon the Dragon, crushes him to death; gaining that revenge in death, which in life he could not attain to. Plin. lib. 3. cap. 11. & 12.  Dragon and the Elepha●…t between;  
Betwixt 
2 The Ichnewmon, or Rat of Nilus, watching the Crocodile while he sleeps, leps in at his mouth, whips from thence into his belly, and from thence gnaws herself a passage, killing the Monster. Plin. lib. 8. cap. 25. lin. 5.  th' Ichnewmon, and N●…les monstrous King;  

3 The Serpent being the natural enemy of the Chameleon, is watched by him, where he useth to sleep under the shadow of some tree; and there the Chameleon attends him in the tree, and while he sleepeth, she distils from her mouth a clear shining drop by a thread of the same stuff, just upon the Serpent's head, which no sooner toucheth him, but he dies, so strong a poison it is. M. Sands his Travels, fol. 121.  Th' Asp and Chameleon, whose Spit quits her Sting.   

6  
The Phoenix then (of winged things) was not,  
Nor th'▪ neat House-wright Sea-charming 
4 The Halcyon builds a nest of the dried Sea-froth so strong, that Iron cannot hurt it. Arist. Animalium. lib. 9 cap. 14.  Halcyon;  
Nor was 
5 This bird called Auis Paradisus (by some Apodes, or Manu codiata,) it is found only in the molluca's of the East Indies. It is never found alive; for it never toucheth the earth, but flies and hovers continually aloft in the air, where they lay their Eggs in a certain hollow place of their Males back, and their sit and hatch their young, living, as some think, only by the Air. It is now worn as a Plume, the Bird being but a very small thing in the head of the Plume. Scal. Excercitations. 228.  Molluca's plumy bird forgot,  
That hath no Nest nor Cradle for her young,  
But her Males hollow back, where fast tie on  
With their own strings, they restless ever row  
Through th'air (their fare) and wretched earth ne'er know▪   

7  
The little 
1 The Tomaneio is a very small Bird little bigger than a Fly, or a bumble-bee, having most delicate Feathers, a most lofty, shrill, and delightful Note, not inferior to our Nightingale, which is most admirable in so little a body, whose Nest with herself in it have been found to weigh but twenty four Grains: they be common in the West Indies. Lerius and Acosta.  Tomaneio here I spied,  
And 
2 The Cucwio a small Bird of Hispaniola, hath two marvelous bright Eyes under her Wings, besides those in her head, which serve the Barbarians in stead of Candles, or Torches, either abroad, or at home; abroad they tie them to their sho●…es, if at any time they chanced to travel late. Pet. Mart. Decades, pag. 274.  she whose forehead bears two burning Lights,  
And two beneath her wings, which serve to guide  
The cunning Workman's hands in darkest night:  
And she of which the Britain wonders writes,  

3 The Barnacle.  Fish, Fowle and Fruit: nor was she less adorned  
Byth' 
4 The Silkworm.  seed to worm, from worm to fly, transformed.   

8  
Here all the Flowers of Tauris, Padua;  
And all the Plants the Eastern Orchards yields,  
Upon their Downie Carpets smiling Lay:  
And all the Drugs and Sweets of Indian fields,  
And 
1 Balsam: this grew first in judea, from thence transplanted near Cairo in Egypt, where they built a great wall to fence it, to keep it safe. They say there is now but little of it remaining. They slit the Bark of it with an ivory instrument, and from thence the precious liquor distils. Paulus jovius. That which we have now, com●…s from the West Indies.  Balsam, for which Egypt strong wall●…s builds.  
The Cinnamon, the Sugar-caine, the Vine,  
And 
2 The Frankincense and Myrrh trees: they use to cut them at the time of the year, and from them distils a liquor, which after turns to this kind of Gum. Plin. They grow in Arabia Foelix.  hallowed boughs that weep those fires divine.   

9  

1 Arbore de raise: it is a Tree in the hot Countries, whose boughs by reason of his natural humidity, after they have spread a pretty distance from the first Trunk or Bowl, bend down to the earth again, and there take new root, and from thence grow up as it were a new tree, some of them in this sort covering an Italian mile. Linsc. p. 103.  The Indian Roote-tree shading miles of lands,  
Whose moist boughs make the coolest Galleries.  
The 
2 The Herba Sentida, when any man comes towards it, shrinks in all the Leaves; and going away, she displays her beauty as before. Scal. Excercitation. 182. And Captain Hercourts' Tra●…ailes in Guiana.  feeling Shrub, that shrinks from human hand.  

3 Arbore triste de diu, is a tree in the East Indies about Goa: it bears no fruit, but the flower of it is like a Cross; the nature of it is to flourish all the night full of these flowers, which at the Sunrising▪ or soon after, she puts off again; and it should seem they wither thus, by reason of the tenuity of the Sap which feeds them. Linsc. pag. 105.  And mournful Tree which still at Phoebus' rays  
Puts off her Flowers, nights beauteous liveries.  
The 
4 Euphrates Lote is one of the Solsequiae, a lover of the Sun: it hath a great long stalk which it advanceth out of the water still by little and little as the Sun riseth: but when the Sun comes to his Meridian, he turns his head downwards, and by midnight (as if he would seek him through the Centre, if it were possible,) he is then so lo under water, that the Watermens can hardly find him with long poles and crooks. Plin. lib. 13. cap. 16.  Lote was here that seems to seek her Lover:  
And 
5 It is reported, I know not how truly, that in java there is a tree, whose Pith is as hard as Iron.  th'Iron tree, not Iron, but his Brother.   

10  
Upon her shoulders then a Scarf she had  
Of party colours, grey, red, blue and green,  
In which the pourtraicts of each thing was made,  
That in the licquid regions may be seen;  
Both friendly Fish, and Monsters fell and keen,  
Mongst whom th'earth never touching Dolphin b●…re  
Chief place, that set th' Laconian Harp ashore.   

11  
The Tyburone was here, whose nimble sin  
Outstrips the fleetest Sail in swiftest flight,  
Th' Echynis, stay ship Remora next him,  
Tho small of body, yet of greatest might,  
The 
1 Pliny speaks of this Sea- Stella, I know not how truly. Lib. 9 cap. 60.  burning Star was here that shines so bright,  
Whose touch sears all things; and although it drench  
In deepest waves, yet water cannot quench.   

12  
The double sighted 
1 The Elops or Sturgeon (a Fish well known) is said to have in his eyes two sights, which in the water is easily perceived; the one is directed still upwards out of the water, the other within.  Elops to was here.  
The 
2 The Torpedo or Cramp-fish.  Cramp-fish to, that makes the Fisher lame:  
Triton's like men: and some whose heads appreare  
Like rocks. The Morse that at relief is ta'en,  
Sea-Vnicorne, Ox and Hippopotame,  
The monstrous Rhoyder, and the Oily Whale,  
And she that with her turning wheels may sail.   

13  
Within this Scarf were intertexted to,  
Three bat●…ailes that my wand'ring eyes beguile:  

1 Plin. lib. 4. cap. 25. lin. 20. And Seneca in his natural questions, lib. 4. cap. 2. relates this fight between the Dolphins and Crocodiles (seen by Babillius, then Governor of Egypt for the Romans) at one of the mouths of Nilus, where after a long fight as it were for the Sovereignty, the Crocodiles (b●…ing many of them slain) the rest overcome, fled.  A seull of Dolphins first that each year go  
Procession to their briny bounds in Nile,  
Whom to repulse attends the Crocodile,  
But to his cost: for though he's armed each where,  
Save under's belly, his false foe speeds there.   

14  
The next was of the 
1 This story is so well known to Seamen, that it needs not any relation. The Swordfish with his Nose or Beak, as I may call it, being fashioned just like a Scotch Sword (of which I have seen one or two newly taken) assaults th●… Whale below under water, and with his trenchant blade so cuts and wounds him below, that he forces him above water, where the Thresser meets him, and so pays him, that the monstrous beast roars and trembles for woe.  Swordfish and the Whales;  
The Sword fish aided by the Thresser-fish:  
The last, where 
2 The manner of the Whale-fight is this: two or three boats armed with five men a piece, three Rowers, one Stearer, and him that strikes; they come upon the Whale where he lies sleeping, most commonly at first directed to his place by his loud snorting. If he be fast alseep when he is strucken, he lies trembling and shaking in a kind of amazement, so that they have good time to clear themselves, and to keep off at a distance. If he be awake there is more danger of spoiling or drowning with the strokes of his tail. But having struck him, he plunges then down to the bottom, froting his wounded side to get out the Harping-Iron, which thereby takes the faster hold: the Boat being often in peril to go under water by his violent motions, if the line in vearing chance to snarl; for prevention of which, they have an Hatchet always ready, they doing all the while nothing but follow him, whilst he worketh himself to death.  Man this monstrous Fish assails,  
Whose haughti●… thoughts acquire true fame in this;  
Since a small cord, and Harping iron is  
The engine, which being lanced at him asleep,  
Doth captivate the King of all the Deep.   

15  
These few I noted of her ornaments,  
Before mine eyes did to that Goddess move,  
Which seemed like Palace, when her course she bent  
Through the blue Welkin with the Queen of Love,  
And jealous juno, when with gifts they strove  
To bribe the Trojan Boy unto their wills,  
That fed his Snow-white Lambs on Ida's Hills.   

16  
Nor had she only prudent Pallac●… grace,  
And sacred wisdom, but did more contain  
That Majesty and Beauty in her face,  
Which men ascribe unto the other twain.  
In brief, she had no blemish, nor no stain,  
But rather seemed more fair then in her Youth;  
A wonder, and but few will think us truth.   

17  
In a triumphant Chariot did she sit,  
By which the ●…other captive-like did stand;  
Beneath her feet a Globe, a footstool fit;  
That hand a Book, this bore a silver Wand,  
Whose powerful charms doth stocks and 〈◊〉 command,  
Lions and Tigers▪ and upon her back  
Two wings she had, th'one white, the other black.   

18  
Upon her head a Coronet she bore  
Of rich 
1 The best Pearls are got in the Arabian Gulf at Barreyn, Catifa, julfar, Camaron, and from thence sent to Ormus: the next to these are those gotten at the Cape Comorrin, or the Island of Seylon: the West Indies be far worse, the British of least reputation. Linsc. pag. 131. and Maffeus.  Arabian Pearl her Curls to stay;  
A Syndon Veil of Belgia she wore,  
Wrought full with acquaint works of Hesperia:  
A Purple Robe of Maced●…nia  
Upon her shoulders, and with cunning rate  
Therein were wrought ten thousand works most fair.   

19  
In stead of Genne●…s▪ or of Flemish Mares,  
Two Eagles and two Elephants had she:  
And for ●…o manage such unequal pairs,  
Two mighty Giants, Gain and Fame went by  
To whip them on; the Coachman, Industry:  
Plenty and Pleasure Lackeys were assigned;  
Virtue and Honour came as Friends behind.   

20  
And in this Chariot she was mounted high  
In a high Seat, which Contemplation hight  
Sustained by four Wheels which do make it fly,  
Wherein in Golden characters were writ,  
First, Logic, in the second Rhetoric;  
Next, 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 still pressed,  
To count the 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉, 〈◊〉 of the rest.   

21  
Beneath upon her very skirts, mine eye  
Ten thou●…and Flowers, and precious beauties spied:  
(For nearer I presume not, nor more high,  
It might be construed arrogance and pride  
For him that there so little hath descried:)  
Ten thousand neat conceits and textures there,  
Strange works and rare inventions did appear.   

22  
Therein were wrought ten thousand Instruments.  
Ten thousand Wheels, measures of swift Time:  
Ten thousand Engines strange for rare intents,  
Such as Archimedes his wit divine,  
Devisde for Ladders up to Heaven to climb,  
To steal the motions of the Stars, and here  
For to comprise them in his Vitrean Sphere,   

23  
All scattered round about her skirts there lay  
A thousand Cities wrought by cunning hand,  
Where battlements and steeples did display  
Their lofty pride; 'bout some of which there stands  
Brave Troops of plumed Horse, and footmen's Bands,  
Squadrons of Pikes to guard the thundering shot,  
Some seeming for●…'t, some force regarding not.   
Let the Reader look for the rest of the Notes at the Latter end the Poem, by reason of the too largeness of them.  

24  
Here to the life were wrought the Naval Fights.  
(1) Sallamine, (1) Actium, (1) Corinth; where the Arms  
Of East and West contended 'bout their rights;  
Whilst Neptune laughed, gaining by both their harms:  
Tho Europe aye triumphs, who with love's charms  
Hath so▪ entangled Neptune, that he still  
Is most obsequious to perform her will:   

25  
Much more I saw which Time and mine intent  
Of brevity will not permit me say;  
Which while I pondering stood, these Ladies bend  
Their course to me, me thought with this array,  
And with this equipage: the truth to say,  
Much did I muse what such a Sovereignty,  
Might have to do with my rusticity.   

26  
And musing long what titles might be fit,  
What compliments might best with them agree,  
The chief of them which seemed enthroned to sit,  
Thus shook me from my dumps. Shepherd (quoth she)  
First know, that we two, Art and Nature be.  
Next, understand thy Guests come from above,  
Tho mortal she, immortal Fates I prove.   

27  
Thirdly, observe that she and I have then  
A certain Argument, which of us two  
Be most benign and kind to mortal men,  
She Natur●…, and I Art. And lastly, know  
The censure of our Arguments we do  
Wholly refer to thine integrity,  
To whom we equal Benefactors be.   

28  
(〈◊〉 I) Great Goddesses! unworthy most  
Am I into your presence for to come:  
Vnworthier alas to be your Host,  
Being thus despoiled by Fortunes angry doom,  
Both of your benefits, and of her own:  
But most unworthy doubt I to appear  
judge of so great a controverfie here.   

29  
But she replied: Do not disestimate  
Thy better talent for thy poverty,  
Tho false opinion and prejudicate  
Of vulgar wit, with dim and dropping eye  
Save Fortunes) sees not any Deity;  
We know Heaven loves the poor man many time,  
And hates those rich, whose outsides only shine.   

30  
Our pleasure therefore is, that thou attend  
To hear our Arguments with diligence;  
Which duly heard and pondered in the end,  
Then shalt thou sentence this our difference,  
Giving the Victor that pre-eminence  
The justice of their cause deserves. And straight  
She thus began, and spoke what now I write.   

31 The Speech of Art.  
This Dame (quoth she) of Mortals all the Mother,  
Of all that be composed of th'Element,  
Seems to profess, that only Man, none other,  
Is the chief object whereto her care's bend,  
That he's her Darling, all things else but lent  
For his behoof▪ Now I prove she hath been,  
More Benefactor unto beasts, then him,   

32  
For when she first into this World's light sends them,  
She kindly suits them new at her own cost,  
With clothes that can from cold and heat defend them,  
And still repairs their livery h●…rt or lost.  
Poor man comes naked to this f●…rraine coast,  
And without help of Mid wives, Nurses, Clothes,  
He perishes: but Beasts need none of those.   

33  
The Fowl with spread wings o'er her Chickens hovers:  
Within her arms the Ape her youngling bears:  
The Adder in her Maw her vile brood covers.  
When'th (2) Succurathe the Hounds pursuing hairs,  
Upon her back a tent for hers she rears,  
That scorns the Hunter. In her wondrous womb  
Doth the (3) Chyarca hers as oft retombe.   

34  
But Neptune's tributaries, watery Nation,  
'tis they of men have greatest odds in this,  
Blest in this kind by rights of their creation,  
Whose industry and care no greater is,  
About their Spawn, and breeding businesses,  
Then in Earth's womb to cover their ei●…ction,  
Then leaved to Citharea's safe protection.   

35  
Even to the winds and fleeting waves they throw it,  
Which severed from them many a mile is blown▪  
Why's this? Because their World's their own they know it,  
Kind Nature tells them that they be at home.  
Then here's the first Scene where her love is shown;  
For which from greatest bounty doth proceed  
Wants to supply, or take away that need.   

36  
Long are poor men appendices to Mothers,  
And half their time in documents they spend  
Amongst their Nurses, Schoolmasters, and oth●…rs,  
To know wherefore they live, and to what end.  
Long is their Seed time▪ Harvest quickly Ined:  
But long-lived beasts do in a short time grow,  
Fit for those ends that Nature sramed them to.   

37  
No weapons she to him at all assigns,  
Neither offensive not defensive Arms;  
To these she hath imparted several kinds,  
Force to rep●…ll with force, and offered harms:  
Teeth, Claws, Hooves, Horns, Stings fit for hot alarms;  
And for defensive, diverse do not want  
Such privy Coats, as Shot and Pikes can daunt.   

38  
Of these (4) Niles steely. sided Monster's one:  
The (5) Tort●…yse with his bullet▪ daunting house:  
The (6) pu●…ple spotted yellow Champion:  
The (7) Carry-towre, that only fears the Mouse▪  
The (8) Armadillo, and the (9) Indian Boas.  
All these in Armour well appointed go,  
And diverse diversely defensed to.   

39  
She gives the Cockatrice a kill cie,  
(10) The subtle H●…en and enchanting foot;  
(11) The Crampfish a benumbing quality;  
(12) The Cuttle Inky humours black as soot  
To die the waves, while from the nets he scout.  
The (12) Zibra venomed hairs to kill her Rider;  
The (14) Porcupine a never-empty Quiver.   

40  
She hath instructed beasts with Physics light:  
The wounded Deer run straight to (15) 〈◊〉.  
The Swallows find out (16) Cellandine for sight.  
The Dog in Knotgrass finds his remedy.  
The (17) Bears with Aron cure there malady▪  
(18) ●… ' 〈◊〉 knows th'use of letting blood;  
(19) tortoise and ●…oades know Antidotes right good:   

41  
Each one of these, and thousands more are proud  
Of some kind benefit she hath them given,  
Only on man she nothing hath bestowed,  
But tender limbs, a smooth transparent skin,  
Through which each little worm gives death to him  
Yea, greater weaknesses in him appears,  
He drinks it often through his eyes and's ear●…s.   

42  
Beasts be not subject unto griefs, cares, fears,  
No future wants their present joys control:  
Blood-drying sighs, nor brain consuming tears;  
Heart-eating Envy feeds not on their soul:  
Not A●…arice nor Pride doth them defoul,  
Winged Ambition that inflames the bre●…ts  
Of mortal men, doth not disturb their rests.   

43  
This said, in silence Art straight sat her down,  
To let her Rival answer what she could.  
So Nature rising like the morning-Sun,  
Whose brighter beams, moist vapours over▪ cloud,  
Half veiled in modest blushes, long she stood  
At these enditements. But at last she broke  
Her silence thus, and for herself thus spoke.   
Here Art seems to conclude her first speech, and gives Nature leave to reply, as followeth.  

44  
Mortal (quoth she) these imputations here,  
And foul aspersions cast on my clear fame,  
I truly must return them (being clear)  
On Art herself, from whence at first they came:  
'tis manife●…t that ●… for men ordain  
One only benefit, that balances  
All these that she calls disadvantages.   

45  
Reason, a heavenly gift, which crownes him King  
Of all the Worlds so large extend●…d bound:  
Which (though he's borno weak, wanting every thing)  
A●…foords him all, wi●…h friends encompassed round,  
(Whom Reason doth instruct with judgement sound)  
And neighbours, for to help at such a time;  
By charity and mutual love men shine.   

46  
When he's grown up, this yields him all things fit,  
And to him is an armour of defence.  
What Engines doth he frame with pregnant wit,  
Keen Swords and Spears, blessed guards of innocence?  
What fiercest monster is not in suspense,  
To see his glistering Helm? or a'the report  
Of his fire▪ spitting musket scuds not for't?   

47  
All creatures fear him, as their King and Lord:  
For of their flesh he at his choice doth feed;  
For him fit clothing also they afford,  
Hair, Wool and Hide which he converts at need  
To many an use, such as the Heauen●… decreed  
E'er their creation, he should best devose,  
To accommodate to his necessities.   

48  
For him the Bee makes Honey; and the Ewe  
And gainful Cow for him their Milk they yield:  
For him the pretty Silk worm weaves her clew:  
For him, not for herself, the Dove doth build:  
For him the Flocks bear Wool: for him the Field  
Doth each year revel in luxurious pride:  
The Trees bear Fruit, and Meads are richly died.   

49  
For him alone the Indian (20) tunal Tree  
Upon her Leaves brings forth those costly Worms  
That now those Tyrian Fishes wants supply.  
For him the (21) Bezars and the (22) Unicorns  
Bring these their Antidotes, their Stones and Horns.  
For him the Elephant his cordial Teeth▪  
The (23) Cat her costly Sweat, of Sweets the chief.   

50  
For him and for his sake alone they know  
The Wether's change, and times and seasons render,  
Not for themselves, that neither plough, ne sow,  
But serve the Rustic for his true Calendar:  
And for him only do examples tender  
Of Surgery and Physic; loss of breath  
Being to them the be●…t thin▪ Heavens bequeath.   

51  
Yet this is only half the good which he  
Receives from beasts, whom Reason right doth guide.  
Of moral virtues many sparks there be  
In them, which serve abundantly to chide  
Their hapless Master, when his foot doth slide:  
The greatest grief that wise men ere be●…alls,  
To see their shame in brutish animals.   

52  
Of these there be provided many a one,  
Fair Characters, wherein poor erring men  
May read their duties. Fir●…t, the Haleion,  
True pattern of conjugal love: for when  
Old age enfeebled hath her mate, the Hen  
Forsakes him not, but helps his weak estate,  
Because in youth he was her loving mate.   

53  
They have the Dove to show them Innocence,  
The Pelican to ●…each paternal love:  
The Swallow to over come by patience:  
Filial duty doth the Stork approve:  
The loss of friends the Turtle true doth mou●…  
To solitariness: for Industry  
They have the Silkworm, Ant, and pretty 〈◊〉.   

54  
The profitable Ox, and ready Horse,  
The map of courage, and of mortal pride:  
The Elephant of most admired force,  
And diversthings domestic to beside,  
To obedience and humili●…ie him guide:  
For these acknowledge some small benefits,  
Which he for many great ones still forg●…ts.   

55  
The silly (24) Cur still at his Master's foot,  
Which pattern of an honest servant is,  
Which knows his Master's friends, and who be not;  
Defends his goods, and suffers nought amiss;  
He prompts him still with his good qualities,  
Being the mirror of fidelity,  
Of perfect friendship, magnanimity.   

56  
And wherefore this? to teach the ungrateful man:  
(Unworthy Bani●…ter I think on thee,  
Which sold thy Noble Master Buckingham)  
That thankful Dogs than those men better be,  
Which fawn and flatter that prosperity  
Which feeds them: but if Fortune frown,  
Then soon bite, and help to pluck it down.   

57  
The venombde (25) Asp, whose vengeance few can 〈◊〉  
(The poison of his angry mind is such)  
I force from loathsome cave to light to come  
To teach those minds, whose souls no virtues touch,  
That justice hath with men endured so much;  
She flies to worms, whom neither hate nor love  
Can make unjust like wretched men to prove.   

58  
I cause the ●…iercest beasts of sea and land,  
The Dragon, Lion, Sealie (§) Crocodile,  
To know their Masters, and ●…'endure his hand,  
Growing domestic servants in short while;  
To t●…ach in human man that will defile  
His hands with blood of those that nourished him,  
That bruitest beasts and Serpents think it sin.   

59  
I bring the raging (26) Lion from his den  
In Nubian Deserts, where he used to pray  
On weary passenger●… and travelling men,  
Whose hard misfortunes led them to his way,  
Unto 〈◊〉 public Theatre to display,  
That benefits even savage beasts doth bind,  
Tho thank fullness seem fled from human kind.   

60  
I bring the King of Pegues shady Groves,  
From unfrequented saultes and places strange,  
To teach Man that his own way still approves,  
Only however crooked and wide it range,  
With straighter paths of noblest beasts to change,  
Whose many virtues wise mortals discover,  
(27) Devot, (28) just, (29) faithful, (30) thankful, (31) glori●…s lover.   

61  
A world of which examples may be found  
In birds and beasts even those of brutest kind,  
From whence to men great profit might redound,  
If ponderd well they were, and borne in mind.  
Such letters fair, as might instruct the blind.  
For what is he that will not virtue love,  
When Lions, Tigers, Serpents it approve?   

62  
This said, me thought Art thus again replied:  
Blind Nature would betray the erring Man,  
Who woes thee thus to follow her (blind guide)  
When I alone thy prudent Tutoress am;  
Teaching thee both the Monsters fierce to tame,  
And to get sovereign Antidotes from these  
That hurt thee wor●…t, and choyce●…t remedies.   

63  
The silly rural person, if he meet  
The cordial flowers, the violet or the Rose,  
He passes by, or treads them under feet,  
Even things that greatest virtues do enclose:  
Whilst he diseased might oft be cured by those;  
Time, Hyssop, ●…odder, Anthos, that do grow  
In's Garden, he them knows, but doth not know.   

64  
His Cow, his Sheep, his Pullen and his Swin●…,  
Contain ten thousand virtues hid in them,  
Which might preserve his life at many a time,  
If Nature were not blind, deprived by sin,  
Of her true light; and therefore this light's 〈◊〉  
By Heaven to me, that I might it dispose  
To those, whom God for this end fittest knows,   

65  
I teach him from the Scorpion to get  
An Oyl●…, the Antidote against her teeth,  
Nothing against the Viper's sting so fit  
As Merridate, where her own flesh is chief  
Ingredient. Nothing gives more relief  
Forth ' Water-Snakes sting, or the mad Dog's tooth  
Then their own livers sod, and eaten doth,   

66  
What thing more horrid than the Crocodile?  
Few parts of him which are not (32) physical.  
Who at the angry Elephant dares smile?  
Who trembles not? His (33) teeth are cordial.  
The (34) 〈◊〉 yields me a stone medicinal.  
The Serpents (35) Caymans', and fell (36) Tybur●…ne▪  
They do the 〈◊〉; so doth (37) Lincurions.   

67  
Nor doth she less herself mis-understand,  
That to herself doth arrogate the praise,  
In moral virtues, for instructing man;  
Since I therein enlight him with my rays,  
And ●…each him to apply such things always  
To his own good, for such as know not ●…e,  
By such examples nothing better be.   

68  
Witness (38) Brasile, Perwia, and all  
The savage Nations of the Western world,  
Where Nature hath been each way prodigal:  
Yet are their minds and manners most abhorred,  
Which few signs of humanity afford;  
Of virtue none▪ Man-eaters, bruit and evil.  
Not serving God, but worshipping the Devil.   

69  
Those that have seen fair Florence, or the Towre●…  
Of Naples 〈◊〉, or aged Rome,  
Or Regal Tauris thy delightful Bowers,  
Or the captive face of Constantine's sad Town;  
Or Pharaoh's Tower, which Pharaoh's Rocks doth crown,  
Whose lofty Turrets kiss th'enamoured skies,  
Whose various objects steal men's dazzled eyes.   

70  
Their ornaments in Stone, Silver and Gold  
Pictures in Tables wrought, Glass, Marble, Clothes,  
With so rare skill, that those which them behold,  
Seem changed sometime to these, and these to those;  
Their purple States, and their triumphal shows  
Of Princes, People, best of all can tell,  
How, much my gifts to men do●… 〈◊〉 excel.   

71  
Yet these external gif●…s are poor and small,  
Compared with other benefits of mine,  
Who as a Gnomon do direct them all  
To look from shadows, on that Sun diune,  
Which through the world both Light and Life doth 〈◊〉  
Since 〈◊〉 beauties only shadows be  
Of that true complete Beauti●…, One and Three.   

72  
This said, her finger locked her lip and me;  
She beckoned straightway with her other hand,  
That I informed, now sentence should decree,  
Because her modesty did here command  
Her silence, and that we might understand  
How much self-praise doth true fame interest,  
She ceased, well hoping I would speak the rest.   

73  
A task, which pondering mine own weakness right,  
I found myself less fit to undertake,  
Then Pigmies be with Giants for to fight;  
And craving they some fitter choice would make,  
Even hear me thought, even while these words we spoke,  
A reverend Matron entered into place,  
Called 
a Truth  Alethia, her I showed the case:   

74  
Requested her the matter to decide  
To hear, weigh, judge with best discretion.  
To which me thought she instantly replied:  
Friend, for that purpose am I hither come,  
Therefore observe and lis●…en to my doom;  
Tho bodies great, we cannot wholly view,  
We judge the whole by a part, one thread the clew.   

75  
Nature is saire, but Art it makes her shine.  
Nature is great, but Art she makes her more.  
Nature is wise, Art makes her seem divine.  
Nature is rich, but Art still mends her store.  
Nature is strong, yet doth she aid implore  
From Art. Art better than by consequent,  
Since she her strength, wealth, beauty doth augment.   

76  
Nature is of herself but a rude mass,  
Which of itself each day to ruin tends:  
Whom Art still ●…triues to beautify and grace,  
And to preserve and form it ever bends  
Her chief endeavour, tending still to mend  
What errs, or wants in Nature, and to plain  
Her ruder works with some more polished frame.   

77  
Since Nature brings Man forth imperfect then,  
With sense relucting always to the mind:  
And Art she tills and forms the souls of men,  
Giving them light, whom Nature hath made blind;  
My sentence is to Art wholly inclined.  
Since as the ancient sages truly tell,  
'tis better ne'er to be, than not be well.   

78  
This said, my Vision vanished: nothing stayed  
But th'airy clouds, vast sea, demoli●…ht Fane,  
Myself and my sad thoughts, but ill appaide  
With certain gifts they gave me for my pain:  
For Nature angry and incensed with shame,  
Warded me sickness: Art for all my toil,  
Poverty, cause I did her praises soil.   

(1) These three Naval Battles were the greatest of the World: for the prime Forces both of the East and West were drawn into them: the first was that wherein Zerxes, the great Mo●…arch was overcome by the small forces of 〈◊〉, who was so puffed up with conceit of his great, but unprofitable Army, that he raged against the Elements, as appears by that of the Poet.  
Ille tamen qualis rediit Salamina relicta, In corum, atque Eurum, sollitus seuire flagellis, Barbarus, Eolio nunquam hoc incarcere passos, Ipsum compedibus qui vinxerat Ennosigaeun? Nempeuna nave.  
The next was that of Augustus Caesar and Anthony. Marcus Antonius brought all the forces of the East, Augustus those of the West, and in this Anthony lost the Empire. The last was that of Lepanto, fought in the Bay of Corintho, wherein Don john of Austria, General for the Christians, gave the Turks a great overthrow.  
(2) This bea●…t is found in the Northern parts of America; when she is pursued, she takes up her young upon the hollow of her back, and with her broad bushy tail covers them as in a tent, and so flies with them.  
(3) The Chyurca is bred in the Southern parts of America; she hath certain lappets of skin under her belly, which she opens and shuts at her liking; and in the same she receives and harbours her young ones, and so bears them till they grow up. Scalig. Exer●…. 206. They term it Obassom in Virginia. Maffeus calls it Cerigon lib. 2. pag. 73.  
(4) The Crocodile hath such hard Scales all over his body (saving underneath his belly) that no Sword or Spear, can hurt him, nor small shot, hardly slain with a Falkonet. Scal.  
(5) There be Tortoises in India, whose shells weigh three hundred pound weight. They cover houses with them in some places of the Indies. Plin. lib. 6. Scal. Excercit. 196. In the same place Scaliger relates a story of a Traveller, who being benighted in the I'll of Trapobana, weary and seeking some convenient place to take up his lodging in upon the bare Earth for that night, and espying hard by a thing like an old Tomb all Moss-begrowne about the sides of it, and supposing it indeed to be such as it seemed, he lay down upon it for to rest all night, and slept sound. But in the morning perceiving himself borne far out of his way, a●…d from the place where he lay down, he began to marvel very much, looking about as a man afeard of an Earthquake; till at last he spies the pernicious head of his supposed Tomb, where he had mistaken his lodging, and perceived it to be a great Tortoise. Scalig. Excercitations, 196. They use the lesser Tortoise shells in stead of Shields.  
(6) The rhinoceros hath his body all over armed with impenetrable Scales, or rather shields, of y●…llow colour, spotted all through with purple spots: diverse have mistaken him for the Unicorn; for the rhinoceros hath two hor●…es, one upon his nose, the other on his brow. Scal. Exercitations 204.  
(7) The El●…phants be at this day used in the wars, as formerly; they set Soldiers upon them in small Turrets, with some small pieces of Ordnance; his skin will bear the thrust of any weapon, and push of Pike; the Indian Kings ride upon them. There be of them 〈◊〉 foot high; the Ethiopians are less than those of India, but those of India less than those of Saint Laurence. Scal. Excercitation, 204. Plin. lib. 8. Linsc.  
(8) The Armadillo is a little beast of the West Indies, all covered over with hard shields. Lerius.  
(9) Attilius Regulus, General of the Romans in afric, assailed one of these Serpents, near the River Bragada, of one hundred and twenty foot long; whereon he was forced to spend his Darts and Arrows, and to use all his Brakes, and Slings; and Engines of Artillery, as if he had given the assault to some strong Town of war: and the proof of this was to be seen by the marks in his skin and chaws, which till the war of Numantia, remained in a Temple of Rome. Plin. l. 8. cap. 14.  
(10) Pliny would persuade us, that if the Hyena compass or circle in any thing, Man or Beast, they shall not be able to stir from the place. lib. 8. cap. 30.  
(11) The Torpedo sends forth a benumbing humour up the Line, the Rod, and even to the Fisher's hand, and over his whole body sometimes, so that diverse have fallen down therewith into the Rivers; and in stead of catching Fish, have catcht their death. Aristot. de Animal. lib. 9 cap. 37. There is a River in India, in the Island of Zeilam, called Arotan, very full of Fish, but not to be eaten: for if one do but take one of the Fish in his hand, he is presently seized with a Favour; letting the Fish go, freed from it. Scal. Excerc. 218. 6.  
(12) The Cuttle when she is sought and laid for by the Fisher, vents out of her mouth a certain black Inky humour, wherewith she dies the waves, so that she ●…scapeth unseen. Plin. l. 9 c. 29.  
(13) The Zibra is a certain beast in afric (most common in Congo) like a Mule, her body rowed with rows of several colours: they be not used, because they hold an opinion, that some of their hairs are venomous. Hist. of Congo.  
(14) The Porcupine is a kind of Hedgehog, but greater, and hath this particular, that by contracting her skin together when she list, she will dart forth her sharp pricks which grow vpo●… her back in manner of Arrows, at those which pursue her. Plin. lib. 8. cap. 35.  
(15) Dictamum, an Herb only growing right in Candy; the Dear are wont to seek out the same to feed upon when they be shot, or wounded. Arist. l. 9 c. 6.  
(16) The use of Celandine was first found out to help the eyes by Swallows. Ibid.  
(17) The Bears having lived in their den a good part of Winter only by sleep, and sucking their nails; when they go abroad, the first thing they do is to search out the Herb Aron, or Wake Robin, to open their Guts withal, obstructed with long fasting. Plutarch's Morals: and Plin. l. 8 c. 36. and Arist. de animalibus, l. 9 c. 6.  
(18) The Hippopotame finding his body too full of humours, goes to certain broken Reeds, and thereon presseth certain Veins of his legs, and when he hath bled sufficiently, he lutes up the orifice again with mud. Plutarch and Plin. lib. 4. cap. 26.  
(19) The Tortoise being to fight with the Serpent, prepares herself with Sweet Marierom. Arist. Animalib. And the Toad having fought with the Spider, uses Plantain as her relief. Plut. Plin.  
(20) The tunal Tree is a small Plant in Mex●…co very common, out of whose Leaves spring little Worm●…s, so much famous for their costly Dye in Grain, but especially for their rich Scarlet in grain, which have now the chiefest praise & price, as sometime the Tyrian Purple had in Rome, which was so tincted by th●… blood of certain Fish, called Purples. Acosta. Hist. Ind. l. 4. and Plin. l. 9  
(21) The Bezoar Stone is found in the Maw of a Sheep or Goat with a small piece of Wood, sometimes a Straw, Tag or Pin in the middle. It is observed, that the beast which breeds them in Perue feeds much upon one Herb, which it is thought they use as an Antidote against all others, poisons, and that the Bezoar is engendered in the Maw, by the juice of this Herb. Linsc. p. 134. and Acosta. l. 4. c. 42. Monardes.  
(22) The Unicorn no fabulous story by the judgement both of learned and honest Authors: for though it be hardly, or peradventure not to be found at this day, yet the testimony of good Authors that have seen them alive, and their Horns yet so highly esteemed, whereof diverse are to be seen almost whole and entire in the possession of great Princes, agreeing both in shape and effects, with the ancient opinion conceived of them, makes it clear that such there were. One the Senate of Venice sent to Solyman the Magnificent: another Pope Clement sent to Francis the French King. P. jovius Tome 1. lib. 18. p. 863. Scaliger speaks of diverse that he saw; one very fair one, whole, was at Windsor Castle. But Vertomannus, who had the reputation of an honest Man, saith, he saw two of these beasts alive, which were sent out of Aethiopia to the Sultan of Mecha.  
(23) Zibeth vocatur odoramentum quoddam pingue crassum nigri saponis fancy: quod sudor animalis est cui felis est figura. Qui liquorem eius esse s●…men arbitrantur ineptiunt. Strigmentum enim est, non humour exactus è loculis genitalibus. Scal. 211.  
(24) The trustiness and fidelity of Dogs is so much commended by good Authors, that in the Book entitled, Sir Philip's Sidneys Urania, it is advised, that those which in this World covet to find a true Friend, should make search among Dogs and Spaniels for him. Authority and praise sufficient, if there were no more. But it is beside confirmed by a world of t●…stimonies; why should I therefore (amongst so many) mention Fabius his Dog, related by Plutar●…h and Pliny. I will crave thy patience (Gentle Reader) to insert one late domestic Story, 〈◊〉 this domestic Animal, which I have from Authors of good credit, yet living in London, and which also heard the Murderer at his dea●…h confess the fact: and thus it was. A Waterman taking in a Passenger at Black-wall for London, late in the Evening, going betwixt Black-wall and Greenwich, murders his Fair as he lay sleeping in the boat, and so in the thick Reeds leaves him. The man thus slain had a Spaniel with him, which so long stays by his dead Master, till hunger compelled him to swim over the water to Greenwich 〈◊〉 reli●…fe; where having filled himself, he returns again to his dead Master: and when hunger again pressed him, swims back as before for new relief; so long holding this course, till he was observed by the then Keeper of Greenwich House for Queen Elizabeth, who sent Oars to follow him, and so by that means discovered the murdered body. Whereupon the Keeper of the House took home the Dog, and held him ever after as a most diligent servant, the Dog waiting still upon his new Master to the Court, and through the City, yet never losing him. But to conclude this Story; so it happened some certain time after, that this poor beast following his new Master, spies out amongst a multitude, the Murderer of his old Master, whom presently he flies upon, ready to tear him in pieces. The man threatens to kill the Dog, if they take him not up. Hereupon they take off the Dog, and tie him up. But the Dog's Master (entertaining some scruple) caus●…d the Dog to be loosed again, to see if again he would find out the same man: which done, the Dog finds him out straight amongst many others, and there again flies upon him in most v●…hement manner. Whereupon they suspected him to be the Murderer, carried him before the justice, where he presently confessed the fact, and died for the same.  
A thousand examples of this kind every man can record out of his own particular knowledge, therefore only two shall be annexed out of famous julius Scaliger, which se●…me to me not less effectual and remarkable, than those more ancient. The first is of a Country Fellow in the I'll of Corsica, who tracing a Bear into the Mountains in a deep Snow, only accompanied with his Dog, forgetting the danger through desire to meet with the Bear, follows so far, that when he would have returned (all the paths being filled up with Snow) he could not by any means discern his way home again, so that in fine he is there frozen to death. Some two or three days after his friends find him with his Dog lying at his feet: but when they come near to touch him, his Dog flies at them, fights, tears, barks, bites them, puts them all to flight, thinking they came to rob his Master; neither becomes he more gentle by the coming in of his master's Brothers, from whom he had oft received meat, but continues in his pertinacy so long, till they were forced to shoot at him, and to kill him.  
The other is a French History of a Courtier, who being offended either with the treachery of his friend, or else envying him, secretly killed him, and as secretly buried him in a field not frequented. By chance the man thus slain had a Dog with him, who being not far off, and seeing his Master thus put in a hole, sat so long upon his Grave, till his affection overcome with hunger, forced him to return back to the Court. The Chamber-fellows of the party thus slain give him meat: straight to the Grave again goes he, but hungry returns as before, and so long holds he this course, till men began to suspect the matter. Hereupon they follow him to the place, dig up the Grave, find the Man, whom knowing they bury, taking the Dog home with them. After a while this Murderer returns to the Court; the Dog spies him, flies upon him, barks and bays at him, and will not be kept off him. Hereupon he grows suspected; yea, the King himself takes notice, through the Dog's perseverance in this manner of accusation. The King commands him to show the reason, why the Dog dod this. The Man denies the fact, and stands upon his innocence: but still the Dog barks, and as much as in him lies, seeks to disturb him in his excusations. At last therefore the King decrees, to have the matter tried by combat: Wherein the Dog overcame, and his Victory is portrayed in Gold in one of the King's dining-roomes; and ever as it decays, is by commandment from the King repaired. Scalig. Exercitations 202. Section 6.  
For Magnanimity, the Dog sent to Alexander by Porus the Indian King, is a sufficient testimony; who when the King commanded Boars, Hearts, or Bears to be set before him, never moved at them, as things unworthy of his courage. But when he lets out a Lion to him, him the Dog tears in pieces: and then setting him upon an Elephant, him also he brings to the ground. Quintus Curtius, and Plinnius, liber. 8. cap. 40.  
(25) Pliny, lib. 10. cap. 74. relates this Story of an Asp that haunted much to a wealthy Farmer's House in Egypt, and was continually feed by him under his Table. It chanced one time one of the Asps young ones to sting and kill one of the Farmer's children, for which deed the old Asp in justice flies at her own, and kills it.  
(§) The Egyptians who (after the manner of their vain superstition) gave divine honours, and religious worship to diverse beasts, and likewise to Serpents, and Monsters, kept within their Temples diverse of them, and had Crocodiles so tame, that they would at their call come and receive meat at their hands. Strabo Geography.  
(26) This place hath relation to the Story of Androdus the Dacian slave, reported by Plutarch, and others, and of late repeated by Montaigne, and sung by that famous Du Bartas, which because it is so well known, I forbear to relate it.  
(27) It is observed by some, that the Elephants do a kind of worship (falling down on their knees) to the Moon.  
(28) There appears in all his actions of revenge, a proportion between the punishment and the offence; as for example, if a child chance to throw a stone at him, which cannot hurt him, for this he will only heave him up gently with his trunk to fear him, setting him down without other harm. If his Keeper mingle his provant with straw and chaff, and deceive him of half his allowance, he thinks it enough of he can get loose to do as much to the Keeper's Porrege-pot, as it appears in Plutarch But if one do him a greater injury, as to beat himself, or his Master, he repays that with a cuff or two, or carries him to the water, and ducks him well over head and ears, and then sets him down where he found him.  
(29) Where shall a man see the office of a more faithful servant, then in Porus Elephant? who when his Master's mortally wounded in the battle against Alexander, and sainting through loss of blood, the beast perceiving him about to fall, kneels gently down to let his Lord descend with more ease. But when the Soldiers run to disarm him, the beast draws courage from his wounds, sets upon them afresh, beats them off him, and then strives to reseate his Master again upon his back, never giving over to discharge the part of a loyal servant till he fell down dead with wounds in the place. Q. Curtius, l. 8. The like of this happened of late years to the Kings of Pegue and Avarice, who having drawn millions of men to field to descide their quarrel, at last both agreed to fight it out hand to hand themselves (like our Edmond and Canutus) but in stead of Horse they fought on Elephants. The event was this; the King of Avarice was slain, and the King of Pegues Elephant. The Peguan mounts the beast of his enemy: but he with sorrow of his Master's loss droops: they strive to comfort him with good words: but he refuses all comfort, weeping incessantly all the term of days which they observe in that Country, to mourn for the dead. Linsc.  
(30) An example no less strange there happened in the City of Goa, the perfect pattern of thankfulness. The Elephants there use, during their time of Winter, to grow furious and mad, and then often they break loose from their keepers, and do much mischi●…fe. It chanced on a time that one of them breaking out from his keeper, in this manner ran through, and through the streets, overthrowing all things in his way: from thence he goes to the Market place, from whence all the people fled to save their lives; amongst the rest one Hearb-wife (who had used before to give the beast Lettuce, and such Herbs, as he passed by with his keeper) for haste forgets b●…hind her, her little son, left in a basket under her stall; this the Elephant spies, takes it up with his trunk, and (remembering that it was the child of his Benefactor, when all the people made aecount to have seen it dashed in pieces) he gently sets it up upon the stall, as a place of more safety than underfoot: this done, goes on in his mad humour, overthrowing all things as before. Linsc. pag. 137.  
(31) There are innumerable examples both in ancient and modern Authors, witnessing the Elephants almost equal desire and thirst of glory, even with Man himself.  
(32) Pliny lib. 28. cap. 8. relates many virtues of the Crocodile. The Crocodiles Fat good for Gangrenes. Scaligers Exercitations, 196.  
(33) ivory is a Cordial much used in Physic.  
(34) The Toadstone good against inflations of venomous Beasts, and against the Stone. Weckeyrus.  
(35) The Cayman breeds in his stomach a stone good against the Quartain. Wekeyrus. There be a kind of Serpents, whose flesh is commended for Ulcers, Fat for wounds, and their sloth for help in women's affairs. Parcelsus, Tom 5, pag. 238. 239. 240. and 241.  
(36) The Portingalls and Spaniards have reported, the stone got out of the Tyburones head to be a divine thing against the Stone and Gra●…ell. Weckeyr.  
(37) The Lyncurions, a certain stone found in the Sand are thought to be the congealed 〈◊〉 of the Ounce. Plin. 8. cap. 30.  
(38) For although bountiful Nature seems even to pour herself out upon these Nations in her greatest abundance of Fish and Fowl, excellency of Plants, fertility of soil, abounding not only with external, but internal endowments: yet all these no better than curses to them through want of Art to polish them, and divine grace to govern and civilize them: for their devices in fishing and fowling gives ample testimony both of their wit and courage, notwithstanding their detestable barbarousness in manners and conversation. joseph Acosta relates one of their fights with a Cayman or Crocodile, where the naked Indian swimming under his belly, there stabbed him to the heart, and killed him. The like of their taking the Whale, whom he assails after this manner: he draws up close in his Canow towards the Whale sleeping, and suddenly leaps forth upon her neck, wherewith incredible dexterity he strikes a sharp stake into her nostril, or vent; and when the Whale diues, he holds fast, and goes down with it, and at his coming up, comes up likewise, and then strikes he another stake into his other vent, which compels the beast to shoot himself on shore. Their Balsaes or bundles of Bulrushes, upon which they use to fish in the roughest Sea, sat on horseback upon them (like so many Neptunes) are no less admirable. joseph. Accost. Hist. Ind. l. 3. c. 15. and Monardes. But 〈◊〉 manner of fowling is yet more strange, where the Fowler, be it upon Lake or River observes the wind, and having store of empty Gourds for the purpose, le's them first drive with the wind amongst them, which they quickly grow familiar with, and suffer them to rub against their sides and breasts; which when the Fowler espies, he puts on his head a Helmet of the same stuff, with a close Vizor therein, with which he swims or wades to the Fowl so cunningly, that nought but his head appears, which still he rowles and wags to resemble the empty tottering Gourds, and so he plucks them by the legs under-water, and finely conveys them into his bag; the rest of the Flock suspecting nothing, but supposing that they dive. Peter Martyrs Decades.    

Opineo & Ratio Rerum: OR, A DISPUTE BETWIXT WEALTH AND Poverty, etc.  

1  
IN Winter time while Bor●…as with blasts keen●…,  
Had stripped fair Flora of her livery;  
And all the Forests of their beauteous green,  
Wrapping all in grey frozen poverty,  
My Muse and I pinched with this misery,  
For want of fire, and means good house to keep,  
We went to bed, to eure our cares with sleep.   

2  
Sleeping, I dreamed, that in a flinty way,  
I travelled, all with Briers and Thorns beset,  
Narrow, uneven, not tracted every day  
To a great City, and on business great,  
And in this journey with this vision met;  
Whose circumstances as they fell me there,  
I purpose here most briefly to declare▪   

3  
Within this path I had not iournide long,  
Before a knot of travellers I s●…ide;  
A feeble sort God wot, and nothing strong.  
Whose names to spare the labour might betide  
In vain demands (were writ on each man's sidè.  
Both the commandress, and her children two,  
Friends, Servants, Horses, Wheels & Coach had so.   

4  
She that within the Wagon sat as chief,  

a Poverty.  Penia hight, her raiment torn and vile:  
Pale wrinkled checks she had, through hearty grief,  
Upon her head a wreath of Camman●…ile;  
Wan were her lips, where mirth did seldom smile;  
Two sad slow-mooving eyes, shut casements covered,  
'Bout which dark-weeping clouds of woes still hoverd.   

5  
Her children then that there beside her sat,  
Obedience and Humility▪ Next them  
Sat Servitude, her Page and Fellow-mate.  
The Waggoner that did direct this frame,  
Was holy Fear: two white Doves drew the same,  
Fair Honesty and snowy Conscience:  
Her Cart was Care; Wheels, Hope and Patience.   

6 Digression to show the house of Poverty.  
That her, or her sib si●…ler I had seen  
●… Upon a Moor, woning no neighbour near,  
In Cottage poor, and lonesome, I did ween  
Icleeped (a) 〈◊〉, bare and thin of gear:  
For but one Dish, one Table was there there;  
One only Stool, where each did sit by turn;  
And Crum●…cks dung served them with fire to burn. 
(2) Obscurity.    

7  
For from her dugs did their whole Market come.  
A Garden digged to bring an Oaten Cake;  
One Christ all Fount, whose stream as it did run,  
Seemed as good Music, as pure Wine to make.  
One only Spade was here, one Sickle, Rake;  
One only Knife, one Trencher, and one Pan;  
In stead of Plate, a Coal-black Ebon Can.   

8  
One wooden Spoon, one precious pewter Salt,  
One Seave, for Candles here were never seen.  
And yet if greatness had not made her fault,  
She would have lived content as Ceres' Queen:  
For Silence, Love, and Peace here borne did seem,  
Where Nacke, and Ball, and simple Sim the son,  
At Bed and Board like dear Friends all were one.   

9  
Security set open here the Gate:  
For those that nothing have, can nothing fear.  
Here Peace and Love close in the corner sat;  
Content and Silence crowned with Poppy near▪  
A dish of Apples was their high day's cheer:  

a This is a pith of a certain plant in the East Indies, which they eat to quench the fires of Lust, those that would not have children.  Carussa cold, and Lettuce of light cost,  
Which entertain sweet sleeps, and banish Lust.   

10  
But to return, Penia onward passed  
Towards Aretes Temple; so did I▪  
When straight there came a troop, whose winged haste  
O'erthrew Penia rudely passing by;  
For just they met where two ways cross did lie,  
This to the Fane of Arete went on,  
That unto Fortune and Argyrion.   

11  
This Gallant in a lofty Coach was placed,  
And Opulence was writ upon her breast,  
Her face with quick and sparkling eyes were graced,  
Smooth was her front, her cheeks with laughter pressed,  
Her members poulpous, and her forehead blest  
With a proud Coronet, and in her hand  
She likewise bore the Ensigns of command.   

12  
Her costly garments did more colours show  
Then juno's foul, or thenth ' Chameleons thought,  
Or those we see in Iris beauteous Bow;  
All full of eyes her robes before were wrought  
Her worldly circumspection to denote:  
Her object Pleasure sat, and on each side  
As her companions jocus and Cupid.   

13  
Upon her Coach man's breast I written view  
Oblivion of God, such was his name.  
The Horses then that this her Chariot drew,  
Rapine and Fraud were writ upon the same,  
Her Chariot Ease, the Wheels that it sustain  
Injustice had and Avarice insculpt,  
Cruelty and Oppressionth ' last inculpt.   

14  
Her Children and Attendants followed last,  
And some on Coursers bravely mounted were,  
And some on Palfreys fine and smoothly paest:  
And Boasting, Curiosity and Fear,  
Hardness of Heart, Disdain, Pride, Children were:  
Her Tendants, Vain Delights and Luxuries,  
Vulgar Applause, Opinions, Flatteries.   

15  
A thousand Leuits there I did behold;  
Ten thousand Pleaders each where scattered lay,  
And each of these (a wonder to be told)  
With Golden Hammers seemed to pave her way,  
And as she passed, devoutly did her pray  
To think on them, her Lackeys to for bread,  
Fair Maia's sons knit Garlands for her head.   

16  
Much troubled was Penia with her 
a Patientia.  Wheel,  
A little cracked, which while she sought to spell,  
A bitter jar between them happed the while:  
For the poor Wretch i'th' mire no sooner fell,  
But Opulence extremely 'gan to swell  
Like Dragon fraught with angry poison showing,  
And in her head, her eyes, like Aet●…ae glowing.   

17  
A thousand bitter terms she did bestow  
On poor Penia, making th'earth resound  
With curses, which from her black mouth did flow;  
And wi●…h her oaths did seem the Heavens to wound:  
And all this fire did from this fault redound,  
Because (o'erthrown by her) she stopped the way,  
And seemed her journey to retard and stay.   

18  
She calls her twenty times base beggars brat;  
N●…y more, professeth her, her slave to be,  
Framed only for her use; and worse than that,  
Accursed by Fate and all her progeny:  
Then vaunts she her own birth and fortunes hie,  
And that her constitution doth surpass  
Penia's more, than Dimond common Glass,   

19  
And that when first God framed this beauteous Ball,  
He gave her as a blessing most divine,  
Both in the earth, in sea, and through them all,  
Each where with most resplendent beams to shine▪  
And that Penia was not known that time,  
Till Eve by tasting the forbidden tree,  
Bred her, the curse of her impiety.   

20  
In humble sort Penia did reply;  
She was no slave, but free, with like price bought:  
And, though she vaunt not of Nobility.  
If honest, not ignoble to be thought.  
Beside their pedigree from one Sire brought,  
One matter and like form, in like springs moving,  
If minds be like, deserves but like approving.   

21  
But great impiety thou dost commit,  
Thinking my soul (quoth she) like Horses framed  
To bear thy burdens, 'tis a vessel fit  
To hold divine things (and how much less stained  
With the world's dregs more fit) why then is fortune named?  
Blood, money, earth, as vantage? who have start  
In betternes 'tis in their better part.   

22  
Touching my Birth, thou errest no less in that;  
For Adam knew me first in Paradise,  
While he lived naked in his best estate;  
Rich in the midst of mundaine poverties.  
I teach Humility unto the wise,  
Obedience, and a thousand virtues more,  
Had Adam kept me, he had still lived so:   

23  
But lest thou deem me too contemptibly,  
Conceive it thus. The World's God's Instrument;  
The Rich and Poor, Troubles and Bases be;  
Where from the Base, though deepest sounds be sent,  
Yet yield the lesser strings much sweet content;  
And gently touched, much harmony beget;  
Much grief if broke, while to the Base they're set:   

24  
Oh God (quoth Opulence) thou Caitiff blind,  
Seest not that I'm the glory of the day?  
The beauty of the face, and joy of mind?  
Where thou art, each thing languisheth away;  
The flower doth fade, and beauty doth decay;  
A Winter of i'll woes nips every thing,  
Of joy or pleasure is there never spring.   

25  
All laws of friendship dost thou violate;  
Through thee the Sy●…e wishes his children dead.  
The wife repines, the brothers grudge and hate,  
And oft through thee is sold the Husband's bed.  
What's more, through thee all mortal men are led  
Into vile courses: Hence these mischiefs comes,  
Frauds, Rapines, Murders, Thefts, Oppressions.   

26  
I give the studeous better means to know:  
Through thee have perished many Noble wits.  
I give the bounteous better means to show  
Their virtue, in requiting benefits:  
But on thy tongue (alas) there only sits  
An empty thanks, through thee are those ingrate,  
Whose better thoughts would else remunerate.   

27  
Excepting thee I think just no where is  
The true Torpedo; whom though none would find,  
Yet while they angle for some better fish,  
They meet with thee, whose hidden force so binds  
Their members, and so manacles their minds,  
That straight they seem transformed to wood & stone,  
Like those that erst Medusa looked upon.   

28  
And as the Thunder sours the Milk or Wine,  
So the best humours are by thee quite changed  
Into sour Accide, purest sanguine:  
But I amongst th'immortal Gods am ranged  
By mortal men: for by me grief's estranged,  
And melancholy banished from each heart;  
I mitigate disease, deaths dolorous dart:   

29  
I pour in men beauty and comeliness,  
And with the spirit of fortitude them fill.  
'tis I that do with Art and Wisdom bless,  
Refine the wit, and rectify the will;  
Whose parts t'advance, as thine to ruin still:  
I raise them from the dunghill, and do place  
Them many a time in Fortune's highest grace.   

30  
'tis I that pierce the centre, thence to rend  
Earth's hidden treasures, to adorn the shrines.  
'tis I that make the Walls, Towers, Spires transcend  
Above the clouds, which unto after times,  
Like fair characters may declare the minds  
Of those that built them: But with thine remain  
Of Wit or Worth, no past or present Fame;   

31  
It is for me the utmost Isles are found;  
For me that Nature's closerts are made known,  
To make my Courtly Palaces abound  
With ornaments of Glass, Silk, Wood and Stone:  
For me that Neptune doth with burdens groan,  
Whilst the good Huswives of each happy State  
Wed Kingdoms, and their wealths communicate,   

32  
With this discourse Peni●… deeply moved,  
Returned this speech to Oppulence again.  
If what thou sayst by others were opproued,  
Then shouldst thou need no trumpet to proclaim  
Thine own worth, but thyself, nor mine to stain:  
But false are thy selfe-praises, and untrue  
Thy scandals, notwithstanding their fair show.   

33  
Strange Virtues of thyself thou wouldst persuade,  
That by thy means, men polished are with Arts;  
And that by thee men's minds are thankful made;  
By thee endued with loyal loving hearts;  
By thee made honest; and by thy good parts▪  
Enriched with honour, valour, health and wit,  
Peace in this life, and heaven succeeding it.   

34  
A comment fair, if good words could prevail  
(Without due circumstance) and bare belief:  
But doubtless here thy credit needs must fail;  
For evident it is thou 〈◊〉 the thief,  
That robs men's understandings; Author chief  
Of wanton pleasures; Enemy to these  
Sweet knowledges, that are not got with ease;   

33  
How many thankful persons canst thou show  
For benefits received, that may require  
(Having got means, so often wished) and do,  
If future use or service not invite?  
I could name thousands that expecting right  
And merited reward, at last have gained  
Nought but disgrace, or death, where love was aimed.   

34  
How many youthful Heirs are to be found,  
(Although their Sires have toiled hard many a day  
And year for them, to add ground unto ground,  
And Coin to Coin) that sit not down and pray,  
Great jupiter to take them soon away?  
Or Wives that tears for dying Husbands shed,  
That wish not pleasures new from wanton bed?   

35  
No man by thee the honester is made,  
These qualities unto the soul adhere  
Not things. We see the mighty men invade  
The weaker, and them grind, devour and tear.  
The poor are curbed by law, restrained by fear:  
Presumptuous greatness acteth far more ill,  
Then impotency urged by want, not will.   

36  
Thou mayst afford an honourable name:  
But these bare shadows without substance be,  
'tis only virtue that acquires clear fame:  
Which he that wants, is like a fruitless tree,  
Where nothing else but leaves and blossoms be;  
Or like an Apple, whose exterior part  
Perchance seems fair, but's rotten at the heart.   

37  
Lest needst thou boast of Valour, Health, or Wit;  
Excess corrupts the body, dims the mind:  
A thousand Fevers, Gouts, and Dropsies sit  
Waiting upon full platters, and we find  
An active soul but seldom is confined  
To full fed body, where the mists and showers  
Of daily surfeits, suffocates her po●…res.   

38  
As touching peace, thou no such thing dost give;  
The sting for wealth extorted, fear to lose,  
Anxiety wherein they hourly live,  
Still doubtful where to leave't, to these, or those;  
Their souls (like beasts in Toils) so fast enclose,  
That both in life and death to earth fast glued,  
They make it doubtful that no peace ensued.   

39  
Now for myself to answer in excuse  
Thy false objections, whereby thou wouldst show,  
That every mischief which the times produce,  
Proce●…des from me, that men dishonest grow  
Hence only: I deny that this is so;  
Then Fortune were a Goddess: but we see  
Wealth makes not worth, nor want dishonesty.   

40  
I no man dull whom Nature did not frame  
Of courser mould; as spur●…es I rather screw  
To prick him on, by virtue to a●…taine  
Those Glories, Wisdom, honesty deserve,  
And valour; and what Fortune doth reserve  
For her own children▪ and to him deny  
To make him gain by worth and industry.   

43  
Indeed I build no Cities nor proud Towers  
Of costly things, of Treasures vaunt not I:  
I live in humble Cottages and Bowers  
In peace, except I be disturbed of thee:  
But thou art cheynd in loved captivity,  
Most strongly gyude, and all that take thy part,  
Not loosely by the legs, but by the heart.   

44  
No rest at all thou giv'st, of peace no taste,  
Which not in outward things, but in content  
And right religion of the soul is placed.  
Thy peace bea●…es every hour some detriment;  
Each loss of Office, favour, suit, or rend,  
Overthrow it quite; to be in bravery  
Outshined perchance: a frown makes diverse die.   

45  
The vanity of which did whilom move  
Those worthy Pagans, most of all to prise  
That kind of peace, my humble state doth prove;  
And counting thee the bait of miseries,  
Despised thee so, that 
a Spargit Aristippus mediis in Sirtibus aurum. Ausonius.  Aristippus, wise,  
Threw all thy guyts i'th' sea; who sure did find,  
That they disturbed his peace, and vexed his mind.   

46  
Xenocrates, and 
1 Anacreon the Philosopher having received five talents by gift of Polycrates the Tyrant, was so troubled by day in his mind, by casting and meditating with himself how to bestow it, and so tormented for want of sleep in the night, for the fear he had of thieves, that at five days end he came to Polycrates, and restored him all his money; telling him, that he would not thereafter ever sell the quiet content and security of poverty for a greater sum of money. Stobaeus. Zenon, another Philosopher, having lost all his goods by a tempest at Sea, saving a threadbare cloak that he kept about him, greatly rejoiced, and thanked Fortune that she had taken away his goods, whereby she had delivered his mind from captivity, and made it fit to receive those excellent treasures of Philosophy, whereunto ever after he meant to betake himself. Pluta●…ck in his Treatise of the quietness of the Mind.  diverse other more;  
Diogenes did wholly thee refuse,  
Because he held thee unto peace a foe  
And virtue And even God himself did choose  
My rank, while he did mortal body use;  
So did his friends and servants, both by word  
And by example, all my praise record.   

47  
Scarce had Penia spoke these words of ours,  
When Oppule●…ce like some great River swo●…ne  
By Wint●…rs tempests, and excessive showers,  
Which bears down Corn and Meadows lately mo●…ne,  
And mighty Woods, in many ages grown)  
Flew on Pen●…a, and her passion swellin●…  
o'er Reason's banks) was scarcely held from killing.   

48  
But half her cote there from her back she tore,  
Which she did challenge to herself as due  
By rights I knew not; and away thence bore,  
As 〈◊〉 of the praise to'er conquest due,  
And with her train in haste away thence flew  
So swift, that scarce mine eyes could ●…rackt her pace,  
Returning straight unto her native place.   

49  
Long after whom Pen●…a did not stay,  
But followed speedily to get redress  
By some petition, or some other way,  
With weeping cheer, and hearts great pensiveness.  
I lo●…ging much to understand no less  
The end, than entrance to this tragedy,  
To old 
a Invention.  Eyrema, Artful Wi●…ch I fl●…e.   

50  
And her besought out of her powerful skill,  
To Oppulentia's Palace me to bear.  
Which granted, up we flew, more high than hill,  
Higher than th'avrie dwellers ever were,  
From whence great Cities, but small Towns appear,  
And Mountains, Mose hills. Here she made me vie●…  
Fair Belgi●…▪ s rich Towns, and Seeples new.   

51  
But here she said Penia was not known;  
Yet were she there, the liberality  
And kind compassion should to her be shown,  
And various ways for fruitful industry,  
Would change her Nature. But from thence flew we  
Over the vast sea, and the continent  
Through strange lands, & to 
a Stambolda is as much as Civitas Magna.  Stambolds City went   

52  
Near which she said this Opulentia bode,  
And had for use and ostentation raised  
Ten thousand stately buildings. Then she showed  
When on the sight we thoroughly had gazed,  
Structures indeed deserving to be praised,  
For richness, beauty, pleasure; and by Art  
(Unseen) co●…ueyde me through each secret part.   

53  
There did she show a thousand works divine,  
Wrought in white Paros, and red porphery,  
In Golden Theba●…, spotted Serpeutive  
Tables and Collumes thrown most curioss●…e,  
Whole rooms seeled through with sable ●…bonie,  
And hung with Clothes, from Nile's blessed Memphis brought,  
Or those more fair, by Virgin's fingers wrought.   

54  
Then showed she me the Beds in-laid with Gold,  
And some with richer Stones embellished;  
The Sheets pe●…fum'd with Sweets from Ba●…tham sold,  
The Flores with costly Carpets overspread,  
Through which into the Wardrobes me she led,  
Where Silk and Cloth for differing seasons fit,  
In monstrous shapes, be●…ray'd her wand'ring wit.   

55  
From thence into her Cabinet she went,  
And showed of Ormuz Pearls the costly Chains,  
The sparkling Diamonds from Ca●…baya sent,  
〈◊〉 pure Gold, digged from rich 〈◊〉 veins,  
Which Stella wearing, Iun●…'s form reteynes.  
Then showed she all her masks, her 〈◊〉, her tires,  
Ruffs, garte●…s, scarves, plumes, lotions, pendants, wires.   

56  
Which having seen without the least offence,  
Or notice taken of our being there,  
We next observed her great magnificence,  
Her state, attendants, and excessive cheer,  
Her trains of servants ever ready near,  
With hu●…ble reverence, with cap and knee,  
And Kookes that still devising dishes be.   

57  
Her Cup-boards loaden all with Red and White,  
And all her vessels wholly of the same,  
Loaden with dainties, all that may delight;  
Both Venison, Pheasant, Quail, and all else ta'en  
In Earth and Sea: then Banquet's brought from Spain●…,  
The pre●…ious Perfumes that vast Neptune yields  
She showed me, and the Sweets of Indian fields.   

58  
Why should I hear the dainty Syndo●… touch,  
Richly perfumed, and crisped with cost so trim,  
That Rome's preservers were not worth so much?  
Or the Jellies, under which with nimble fin,  
In Musky waves live little Fishes swim?  
Why name I Wines, both Spanish full of fire,  
Can●…rie, Crect, French, Hydelberg, and Spire?   

59  
Why should I note her Coaches, and Caro●…ies?  
Her easy Litter, easier Palamkeen?  
The stately Saddles, curious Bits and Bosses,  
With Steeds to which the same belonging been 〈◊〉  
Some of Arabia next to Palestine,  
Some Freezlanders, some Turquish, some of Spain,  
Both Barbaris and Neap●…litane?   

60  
Why note I thousands that their times misspend,  
Only devising pleasures new for her?  
Those that the Hawks, or those the Horses tend?  
Or else the Dog's T●…oy, Hector, Ringwod, Pirr?  
Or those by Music that delight con●…err,  
By toys, by pastimes, and by flatteries;  
By songs, by scenes, by jests and ●…ooleries?   

61  
All these thus briefly noted as we could,  
Unseen into the Gardens straight we go,  
Where curious Labyrinths we next behold,  
And Mermaids, from whose breasts fresh streams still flow;  
And Flowers with colours more than Iris Bow;  
Then Beasts, and Fowls, and Fruits each where she spies▪  
Brought from each land t'adorn this Paradise.   

62  
Where Arbours green of huge straight standing brothers,  
With thick woven boughs, keep from the Sun's clear rays,  
And human eyes, the joys of amorous Lovers;  
Whero far-fet Choristers do sing the praise  
Of powerful Venus in their warbling Lays,  
In under-groves, by Art so well designed,  
That feet, nor eyes, forbidden passage find.   

63  
Much more there was, which then we overpast,  
By reason of some noise raised at the Gate,  
To know the cause whereof, we went in haste,  
And ●…ound 〈◊〉 there in woeful state:  
For while she here redress did impetrate,  
Proud Oppulence tore off the other piece  
Of her poor cloak, and left her without fleece.   

64  
But not content with this, because she sought  
And sued redress, and justice at her door,  
She kicked her down, treading her underfoot;  
And while Pe●…ia mercy did implore,  
Fierce Oppulentia still incensed the more,  
And crossing the known truths which she did say,  
Did what she could to take her life away.   

65  
But whilst they strove thus, from a Saffron cloud  
Came nimble Mercury with speedy wing,  
Like Lightning that prevents the clamours loud,  
But slow reporter of his swift coming,  
Who brought this message from the Heavenly King;  
And beckoning silence both to great and small,  
Delivered it with wonder of us all.   

66  
Mortal (quoth he) from Him, whose powerful hands  
Sustains the fabric of the World's wide Frame;  
From Him that Thunder and swift Fire commands,  
Th'e●…heriall Regions, and the darker Reign;  
〈◊〉 Him that unto 〈◊〉 calls again  
Deprived habits, am I huher sent,  
T'impart to thee his will and high intent.   

67  
To thee (quoth he) that seekest to tyrannise  
o'er poor Pen●…a, making Will seem Right,  
And not so much to 〈◊〉 thine avarice,  
As thy revenge and proud disdainful spite;  
That tak'st her goods, and treadest her underfeetes,  
〈◊〉 thyself ●… alone in Heavens high grace,  
And her thy slave, an abject poor and base.   

68  
Fond Mortal, I am sent to let thee know,  
That thou 〈◊〉 thyself, to think that Iou●…  
Doth with his Children, as you Mortals do,  
Which show most bountio still, where most you love;  
For he the quite contrary doth approve:  
And knowing how abundance spoils your minds,  
Content sometimes, for greatest wealth assigns.   

69  
And know, he sends Penia to the war  
Empty of luggage 'gainst her mighty foes,  
For her more safety; and all theirs that are  
Found valiant to sustain these Cannon blows:  
For who in war's 〈◊〉 by the luggage go,  
Are most part common soldiers? but the brave  
That are to ●…ight, nought but their Armours have.   

70  
His creatures are you both, and both are free,  
Framed for his glory, with one price redeemed;  
Both for your states even equal debtors be,  
Although of you much otherwise esteemed:  
For Heaven's best blessings are 〈◊〉 men misdeemed.  
But for her wrongs which here thou dost impose,  
Heaven writes their weight in everlasting woes.   

71  
Know therefore thou deceiver, that hast lulled  
The World asleep with thine enchanting wiles,  
And so from her (like Dallilab) hast pulled  
Her strength and wisdom by thy cunning guiles,  
Leaving nought else but shame to her the while,  
Confusion, weakness, blind security,  
In pampered pride, and beastly Luxury.   

72  
I must denounce that as thou wert exiled  
Long since from stately Babylon, the Queen  
Of Cities, and from the Chaldean field,  
Where Cer●…s all her plenties did unteeme;  
And from the fruitfuli land of Palestine,  
Where nothing now of ancient glory rests;  
Her soil turned sands, inhabitants turned beasts.   

73  
So shalt thou for thy wickedness here wrought,  
Especially for thine oppressions,  
Because by thee justice is bought and sold,  
And the world tortured with thy strange transgressions;  
Be banished hence, except the heavenly sessions  
Prevent the time: but for Penia she  
Shall to thy wrongs no more now subject be.   

74  
A Virgin, and a Royal Queen there is,  
Beyond the Western Ocean's ●…urthest bound,  
Who many a stately kingdom doth possess,  
Which doth with all things good and fair abound,  
With high felicity and honour crowned;  
Nothing but one she wants, the cheerful light:  
For blind she is, and wrapped in clouds of night.   

75  
Many fair sisters hath she, that obtain  
The best of Nature's gifts; Hesperia  
And fair Valencia, proud Iberia's fame,  
Peloponesus, rich Anatolia,  
Brave Persia, and silken robbed Media.  
All which for ample dowries, and rich things,  
Have been the Brides of C●…sars and great Kings.   

78  
For some of these vaunt of their wool, some silk,  
Others great portions have in Corn and Wine;  
Some of them have fat Herds, Honey and Milk;  
Some have the fruitful Olive, some rich Mine:  
The meanest doth with some fair portion shine:  
But their wise Parent amply doth requite  
With all their gifts, our Virgins want of sight.   

79  
The lofty Ceaders of Mount Libanon;  
The Oily woods in rocky Norway sold,  
(Where nimble Herds in grounds much fatter run)  
The Silks of China, Furs of Russia cold,  
And Wines of Gaseoyne, her fair breasts do hold:  
The Oils of Piedmont, half the Drugs and Dyes,  
That the whole world contains, in her lap lies.   

80  
Unto this Queen must I Penia bear,  
Who with some certain words which she must say,  
And with her tongue her darkened eyes must clear,  
Which good this Virgin amply will repay;  
For which let every faithful Britain pray.  
This said, the winged God snatched her thence, & vanished;  
I waked, and from my soul all sad thoughts banished.    

Malum & finis Rerum: OR, SIN AND VIRTUE.  

1  
MIne eyes are dim, my tongue with sorrow cleaveth,  
My hands they shake, my knees together smite,  
My soul doth faint, my flesh with horror freezeth,  
My heart it pants, my hairs they stand upright,  
When I in hand do take my pen to write  
The things which did to me in sleep appear,  
Which needs I must disclose, though much I fear.   

2  
When sil●…nt Night had covered with her cloak  
The face of Earth, and every thing sought rest,  
Save harmful beasts, which Nature doth provoke  
To pray on weaker things; my Soul oppressed  
With heavy thoughts, which banished from my breast  
All pleasing and delightful fantasies,  
This Vision thus appeared before mine eyes.   

3  
A naked Damsel first appeared (whose skin  
With bleeding wounds ennammeld, yet did show  
The hidden beauties that had dwelled therein)  
She fled from one that gave her many a blow  
With sevenfold Whip, whose cause and selves to know  
Sore did I long, and with that thought oppressed,  
The wronged Wight this speech to me addressed.   

4  
Mortal (quoth she) I see thou pitiest sore  
My wrongs; but make the case thine own,  
And ●…rust not this fals●… Siren, cunning whore,  
Who bred in Heaven, & thence to earth thrown down,  
As to her prison, here attempts to crown  
Herself on Earth, si●…ce Heaven she cannot win,  
And robs my name, that's Virtue, but is Sin.   

5  
Trust not her painted brow, her blandishment;  
Her beauties but a vizor paisted on,  
A cunning bait to catch th'improvident;  
She's under it an Ethiopian:  
And though she smooths her wrinkles all she can,  
she's filthy, cruel: Tigers far more kind;  
They feed on foes, but she devours her friend.   

6  
Under her Silk and Purple bravery,  
Unpartial eyes shall find with perfect sight,  
Her members spotted with rank leprosy;  
Her fingers armed with Harpies claws for fight  
And rapine; cloven beastlike both her feet;  
A Dragon's tail which venomed foins 〈◊〉  
At her fond lovers, in their dear embraces.   

7  
And tho in pomp she travel through the world,  
And most adore her, and her glittering train;  
Yet are both they, and she, feared and abhorred,  
By those, whose perfect sight desernes the same:  
Therefore for thine instruction will I name  
Briefly her equipage, that thou mayst see  
Both what herself and her attendants be.   

8  
First, must I show her Chariot and attire,  
Wherein she makes her progress with her train  
From East to West, The Seat is foul Desire;  
The Wheels whereon it moves, are ●…ordid Gain,  
Self- Love and Vnbehefe, and Pleasures vain;  
Her Coachman Beelzebub, or Abbaddon;  
Her Mates, Megara, Allecto, Tisiphene.   

9  
Her jades tha●… drew her on, Disdain they be,  
Pride, Envy, Wrath, Revenge, Ambition,  
And lastly, Fear and Curiosity:  
Deceit and Lies her Lackeys by her run,  
Still ready for all errands. After whom  
Come her Attendants, 〈◊〉 and Dissidence,  
Confusion and tormenting Conscience.   

10  
Folly's her page, which still keeps Reason tie:  
Hypocrisie's her Chaplain, who still thrives,  
While true Zeal pines. Her Beadles, Ease Lust; Pride,  
These from her Gates Repentance far off drives,  
From whence I Virtue poor these wounds derive.  
Lastly, thou feast her brood that followeth,  
Her Issue, Famine, Sickness, War and Death.   

11  
This said, four Altars than she pointed me,  
All smoking hot with Incense on the same:  
The first to Ambition and to Cruelty;  
Ignorance and Idolatry retain  
The second place; the third of these did flame  
To Auarize and to Oppression: last  
To Luxury and Just the fourth was placed.   

The Altar to AMBITION and CRV●…LTIE.  

12  
And while these things she spoke, me thought appeared  
A horrid train of fierce and bloody Wights:  
Flame coloured Robes they wore, with Crimson sme●…rd;  
Their dreadful looks even yet my heart affrights.  
Quoth she, all these joyed once in dismal ●…ights,  
And to their ends to tract a bloody way,  
Which thus to sin her first oblations pay.   

13  
But to avoid prolixity (quoth she)  
And to make up a just account with time,  
Thy patience and mine own lost liberty  
I wish thee note, 'tis no intent of mine  
Each several story here for to design  
And prosecute, but only such as be  
By chance most ●…buious unto mine eye.   

14  
Why should I point thee out accursed Cain?  
Orth ' Hairy Hunter with his sinew bow?  
Or those on whom just joseph did complain?  
That frantic faithless King why should I show?  
Or (1) He that made the children's blood stream through  
judea's streets? with ' son of (2) Gedeon?  
Or that same 〈◊〉 cruel Absalon?   

15  
Behold Bu●…iris, Egypt's cruel King,  
That fed with human flesh his Horses full.  
Three cruel (3) 〈◊〉 him following.  
(4) Numulisinthis then the Thracian Trull:  
Then Phalleris with's dreadful brazen Bull.  
Lo (5) Pontus King, and (6) Occhus false of oath,  
Black Hannibal, and (7) Iuguri●… here be both.   

16  
Next these, observe the Purple Persian there  
With Royal tire, (8) 〈◊〉 is his name;  
How strange a sacrifice the wretch doth bear,  
To offer cruelties unhallowed flame.  
With him (9) Astyages, and Zerxes came▪  
This millions slew, to achieve his proud desire;  
That cooked the children for their woeful Sire.   

17  
Lo, Tulli●…, King Ser●…ius graceless heir,  
Who weary of her long-lived Sires delay,  
Slew him, perhaps t'anticipate a year,  
Perhaps a month, perhaps not a full day:  
But not con●…ent to take his life away,  
Most ignominiously she caused her Horse;  
That drew her Chariot, trample on his corpse:   

18  
She showed me then two (11) Romans and two greeks,  
That with their happy regal states displeased,  
Halde by Ambition into stra●…ge dislikes,  
Made the world sick, and in their time diseased  
Charen with two much labour, yet appeased,  
Nor satisfied a jot their vain desires,  
Tho shedding seas of blood to quench those 〈◊〉,   

19  
Then (as they came in sight) she did me show  
Sylla, with purple face and fiery eyes,  
The plague of Pontus, and Rome's overthrow,  
By first inducing those sad tragodies.  
And M●…rrius feared of friends and enemies.  
Then (12) Cai●…s vile, that wished the world to slay;  
And (13) he that slew's Mother Agrippina.   

20  
Another (14) ●…rew she showed me the●… that seemed  
To be ●…ome Kingly Romans by their weed,  
But tyrants were, or monsters righter deemed,  
Begot of tiger's brood, or Dragon's seed,  
So many innocents they caused to bleed;  
Of whom some offered Arms, some Feet, Legs, thighs,  
Some Ears, some Noses, others Tongues and eyes.   

21  
And (15) one of these she showed me 'mongst the rest  
A Ro●…aine Prince. (if true my Author tell)  
Offering a heart with 〈◊〉 five impressed,  
Which jesus made, if 〈◊〉 they did spell:  
But surely in the Tyrant's heart was Hell,  
With dying life, and living death who vexed  
Those worthy souls to virtue so conext.   

22  
Next these came one in (26) Polish weed attired,  
Whom Rats and Mice had bare anatomized:  
Then of my fair his story I required,  
Who said, 'twas one that sometimes Royalizde  
In P●…lish Throne; by Poison that surprised  
His Uncle's lives, whose flesh by Heaven's just doom  
Turned into Rats, the Caitiff to consume.   

23  
Next him came one that sacrificed to th'Ghost  
Of's angry Sire, the cruel (17) Amurath▪  
Then he that offered up that woeful Host,  
Of Noble Grecian blood, fierce (18) Mahumeth.  
Next him Valachia's Prince that put to death  
So many thousand subjects several ways,  
As did great Tyrant Mahumet amaze.   

24  
In the last rank of these she showed me more,  
Three cruel Princes foul with Patricide:  
A Turk▪ a (misnamed) Christian, and a Moor.  
The first, most cruel (20) ●…elim, full of pride,  
Who in a cup his aged Sires death did hide:  
Friends, Brothers, Nephews killed. and th'whole world fired,  
Like Phaeton; and last by fire expired.   

25  
The second (21) Adolphe, Duke of Gelder's height,  
Who from his seat his aged Parent drew,  
And him imprisoned in most loathsome plight,  
Thinking to tirehim out by means mis-due,  
Whom into like extremes Heaven justly threw:  
And as from's Sire he banished pace and rest,  
So he a captive lived and died distressed.   

26  
The third of these was (2●…) Amidas, the Prince  
Of Tunis, who against his Si●…e did rise,  
Tho being chiefly crusted for defence,  
During his absence, 'gainst his enemies:  
Absent he takes his Crown, present his Eyes.  
But as his Regal Sire he robbed of sight,  
Just Heaven by sickness did himself benight.   

27  
After all these she showed me other three,  
Of whom the first an English habit wore:  
Wan were his Cheeks, black Locks, a down cast eye,  
And Camels back; his name I sought her sore  
To kno●… but she denied, bade ask no more.  
A thousand slaves there followed after him  
With bloody bowls, where heads and hearts did swim   

28  
Next after whom a warlike Gaul there came,  
Which in his hand a bloody brand did wave:  
The robes he wore were scarlet died in grain,  
And he himself like colour seemed to have,  
Who in so many millions blood did lave.  
And as he wet all France with bloody showers,  
So heaven at length his blood from each part pours   

29  
The third and last of all, whose native ill  
And vice transcends the vice of all the rest,  
As far as Atlas doth the humblest Hill,  
Or Sylons' carry Tower, Galwayes small beast:  
With whom worst Kings compared, seem good and blessed;  
The (23) Russian Tyrant, Russia's shame, whose breath  
Did wither all things, in whose name was death.   

30  
His pleasures were not like to other men's;  
Sweet sounds the sternest hearts sad'st souls rejoice:  
But Music never pleased his hellish sense.  
He never laughed but at some dying voice;  
Tears, sighs, sobs, groans to him were heavenly joys,  
Who very seldom relished well his meat,  
But when with blood and death he seasoned it.   

31  
If any ravished virgin did lament,  
Or honoured Lady forced unto his will,  
Or seemed their friends or parents discontent,  
Tothth' stewes they went; or (not content to kill)  
He hung them o'er their parent's table, till  
Their friends (with their dead savour well-nigh slain)  
By tears and bribes got leave to bury them.   

32  
When people from the Temples used to come,  
He used to lose his Bears at them in spor●…▪  
Delighting much to see them seal the throng;  
With which bad pastime many perished for't.  
No mercy did his anger ere consort,  
Which 〈◊〉 Kindred's; but, increased to rage,  
Entombed whole Cities, sparing sex nor age.   

33  
His ministers of mirth, his dearest friends,  
His Wives, his Whores, his Children were not sure;  
The most of these he brought t'vntimely ends;  
The instruments even of his lusts impure;  
The Hangmen from this Hangman's not secure:  
The Bears and Tyg●…rs in their own Whelps joy▪  
He worse than they, his own Son did destroy.   

34  
The wondrous writing on Balthashar●… wall  
Seems small, compared with what to him was sent,  
To whom from Heaven a letter down did fall  
In Marble-writ, whose sculpture sure was meant  
To him that lived, and died impenitent.  
And as he fatal was while he had breath,  
So did his ste●…ch in death give others death.    

2. The Altar to IGNORANCE and IDOLATRY.  

35  
These and their ceremonies scarce were past,  
When in there came another hideous crew,  
Which to the second Altar went in haste,  
And on the same their several Incense threw:  
Most of them differing both in speech, in hue,  
In face and habit, being several Nations,  
And some in new, and some in antic fashions.   

36  
Then here my kind Interpreter I prayed  
T'enstruct me of this second company:  
Who kindly granted my request, and said,  
All these brought Incense to Idolatry  
From every Coast and Region far and nigh,  
Both old and new. But since so many live,  
She meant of both but short accounts to give▪   

37  
She showed me first upon this Altar placed,  
The Idols worshipped by each several Nation,  
Whereby jehovahs' worship is defaced,  
And Stocks and Stones cut after differing fashion,  
Men, Beasts, Fish, Foul●… by vain imagination  
Are deified; yea, Satan visibly,  
Not plealde alone with types invisibly▪   

38  
She named (24) th' Egyptians, leaders of the rest,  
Seeking for I●…is and 〈◊〉 lost,  
And for their sacred Bull but late disseast,  
Lamenting sore, meaning to be at cost  
With's Obsequies: for even those things that most  
Harmed them, they worshipped; th' Asp, the Dragons fell;  
Both Birds and Beasts within their Phanes did dwell.   

39  
Th' jehuewmon, and the (25) Crocodile they fed,  
And feeding, with great humbleness adored;  
And Beetles (blinded Beetles they indeed,  
That so the death of Dogs and Cats deplored)  
(Whose strange zeal that from (26) Onions aid implored)  
Methought now having found Osiris ran,  
And sacrificed thereto a (26) red haired man.   

40  
The Romans here sought out their rural Pan,  
jove, Saturn, Hercules, Mars, Liber, Play,  
Mercury, and two-fronted Lanus them;  
Pallas and juno, Ve●…us and Flora,  
With their blessed Mother Berecinthya,  
Chance, Vesta, Victory, and Pr●…ayus,  
With thousands such, to number frivolus.   

41  
She showed me then th'old (27) Ethi●…pions  
Which Hammon sought, and those oraculous trees;  
(a) Diana then served by th'▪ Ephesians,  
And Eckrons, (28) Baalzebub, God of Flies;  
(29) Sydonians, busy with the mysteries  
Of their dear Sheep god, Astert: (30) Tirians  
Bowing to Apollo; and to 〈◊〉▪ Syrians.   

42  
Then those adored the Sun, the fond (31) Phoenicians,  
Here in great numbers sought their loved (32) stone  
(So much enriched, and served by several Nations)  
Which was Piramedall formed like a con●….  
And here the men of (33) Carras made great moan  
To Luna, to whose Temple those overcome  
By their cursed wives, with offerings used to run.   

43  
Next these came such whom amorous fire●… did move  
By pairs to seek the shades, and burbling streams,  
And sacred beauties of the (34) 〈◊〉 Grove  
Where Cypress boughs forbid th'enamoured beams  
Of glorious Phoebus, in his hottest gleams  
To kiss their Mother-e●…rth, or to discover  
The secret joy▪ of any melting lover,   

44  
Th●… (35) Persians here adored their holy Fire:  
The Laodiceans to Minerva paid  
(According as her cruel Rites require)  
Yearly oblation of a spotless Maid.  
divers there were likewise, that offerings laid  
To Dago●… th'▪ Siren of the philistines.  
But here from these she passed to nearer times.   

45  
And showed me first the vain (36) Tartarians,  
Offering unto their felten Dei●…ie  
Mares▪ milk and Flesh, Next them the (37) Chy●…ians,  
And (§) 〈◊〉, people of great policy,  
Yet in Religion full of vanity,  
And who (as'ts easiest always to do evil  
Through Ignorance) give worship to the Devil.   

46  
Next these came (38) Peguans as wise as they,  
That Incensed Idol. Devils of strange shape;  
As do●…h Camba●…a to, and Bengala.  
The (39) 〈◊〉 here fought out their Ape,  
And those of 〈◊〉, and along to th' Cape  
Comorin, of Narsinga, Calicut,  
That how to an Ape's Tooth, and do worship to't.   

47  
Then showed she diverse did Idolatrize  
Tooth, Sun and Moon, the Moors of Angola,  
And Congo; some to Serpents, some to Trees.  
Cannibals of 〈◊〉, Zanfara,  
Then showed she me the Witches of Medra,  
Which worship Devils, and do offer them  
Loved sacrifice of human bodies slain,   

48  
She passed not byth' tawny (40) Tenustitans,  
That millions to their Vitzlipu●…zly slew:  
Seconded by th'as fond Perwians,  
Who did their 〈◊〉 all bedew  
With blood of slaughtered men. But let me view  
Bra●…illians serving A●…gnan and's (41) Maracca:  
〈◊〉 offering theirs Blood and Tobacca.   

49  
The next that unto me she did display,  
Of Turkey pilgrims seemed a 〈◊〉,  
Passi●…g the Desar●…s of Arabia,  
Who seemed as if to Meccha now they came,  
Their Prophet's grave (and th'house of 〈◊〉)  
These at this A●…tar sought mongir other things  
His Tomb thereon to pay their offerings.   

50  
Next these came some that ●…rought a world of trash,  
〈◊〉, Rel●…k; hol●… Crucifixes, Coffers,  
Gold, jewels, 〈◊〉 and pu●…e Ciptian brass,  
Vow, Prayers, Tears, to wood and stone, vain offers  
To gods that canno: help, the wrongs worms proffers:  
A dull 〈◊〉 that senseless 〈◊〉 adores,  
More gross than theirs that active sprights implores.   

51  
After all these I fortuned to 〈◊〉  
An Idol 'mongst the rest of fearful form:  
Like human face it had, but ne'cr an 〈◊〉,  
To see; upon the brow a mighty, horn▪  
Elephants ears, yet use did none return:  
An eare-wide mouth, with Boar like fangs beset,  
Andth ' P●…rples tongue, as sharp as needles where.   

52  
A janus face it had, a morions hew,  
Two wings, and many coloured plumes she wore,  
The upper parts did Giants members show,  
And arms, whose finger●… griffins talents bore,  
But Pigmies legs it had, so small therefore,  
That much ado they had to make it stand,  
For still it tumbled down on every hand.   

53  
Those that did worship this, brought waters sweet,  
Thinking to wash it fair: but all in vain,  
In vain they strove to make their Ethiope white,  
Pure waters were polluted by the same;  
I craved my Fair to let me know their name:  
But she unwilling was to grant me this,  
Only she called their Idol 
a Dokesis, Opine●….  Dokesis.   

54  
All these past on, amongst them diverse were  
Whom I had seen, and diverse other to  
I never knew: whom this my Virgin-faire  
For brevity omitted me to show:  
But all with humble reverence did go  
Tothth' second Altar, and did lowly lower,  
While they thereon did their libations pour.    

3. The Altar of AVARICE and OPRESSIO●….  

55  
Which done, they straightway vanished out of sight,  
And the third rank appeared of Suppliants then;  
All which were such whom Gold did most delight,  
And gain atchie●…'d byth' harms of other men.  
She showed me diverse Princes mixed with them,  
Although for brevity she only named  
Some few, whom this base vulgar vice distayned.   

56  
She showed me Pharoe and's extorted wealth,  
Extracted from the p●…ore oppressed jew:  
And Lydian Crasus with his loved polfe:  
(a) And Ptolemy whom Cypress sometime knew.  
Then the (42) ●…icillian 〈◊〉 did she show,  
And th' (43) Neapolitan of later time,  
That caused his subjects for to keep his Swine.   

57  
And after them she let me next behold  
A stately train of petty Princes then,  
And Lordlings fair attired in Silk and Gold,  
Which save their Robes▪ did Polish fashion seem;  
I should have sworn I most of them had seen:  
But I confess that I no such do know,  
And this confession to mine errors owe.   

58  
With stately pace me thought these 〈◊〉 Peers  
And fierce regard, went up to sacrifice  
Chargers of Sweat, and pearly Peasan●…s Tears,  
(So oft transformed by Magic Auatice  
Into those orient ones of smaller price)  
They offered shows of Bark and Ackorne bread,  
And skulls of men, which hard hearts famished.   

59  
A thousand Lawyers here did sacrisize.  
Who offered up Demutres, and long delays,  
〈◊〉, Stops, Injunctions, References,  
And Prohibitions, that the cause betrays  
Of the poor Client, and the Kernel lays  
At their own doors, restoring these the shell,  
Of whom had Tophet th'ill, the world were well.   

60  
She showed me then another gowned crew,  
And Cypress Garlands did their brows impale;  
They seemed like mourners by their sable hue,  
Yet massy che●…ts they seemed to t●…g and hale;  
Upon their shoulders bore they bills of sa●…e,  
Mortgages, Noverints, rich jewels, Stones;  
But all their offerings were of dead men's bones.    

4. The Altar to LUST and LUXURIE.  

61  
To the last Altar then (whereon were plac'●…  
To Bacchus and to Venus Deitius,  
Two Images, w●…th curious cunning graced)  
Came the fourth rank thereto to sacrifice,  
Which did with Songs and Musich iovialize,  
And rosy Chaplets did their ●…aires entwine,  
Their colours youthful wear, White, Red & Greene.   

62  
There 〈◊〉 〈◊〉  
She showed me, and that justful Pa●…ipha.  
The wife of 〈◊〉 did not 〈◊〉;  
Nor youthful 〈◊〉, and fair Mellena;  
Nor Troyalus, and wanton Cressida,  
〈◊〉, jays, Flora, and Manilius  
She showed, and 〈◊〉, and Demetrius.   

63  
Po●…peia there she showed, and Clodius;  
She showed me (44) Sy●…eus and Messalina.  
Then Cleopatra and Antonius,  
And many others of much later time,  
And nearer home: all which to Vinus shri●…e,  
Besides Sighs, Sonnets, Tears, and Libyan Gold,  
Offered a Milk-white Goat, twice eight years old.   

64  
She noted then (45) three singled from the rest,  
Whose countenance showed their sad soul's discontent;  
Lovers they seemed; yet seemed their minds ●…ossest  
With deeper woes, than Cupid's languishment:  
These three from three pure souls those jewels rend;  
Which gained, with loss of lives they did repay,  
And Crowns, which here on Venus' shrine they lay:   

65  
Ten thousand more there were, whose stories she  
For brevity abridged; yet three or four  
She noted, patterns of strange Luxury,  
Pe●…sians and Chaldeans, but past o'er  
All of them, save Balthaser, who did pour  
Full Chalices to 〈◊〉 holy Flame,  
As erst he did amongst his cups being slain.   

66  
There named she Geta th'Emperor, whose me●…t  
After no common guise to's table came,  
But ranked by letters of the Alphabet.  
There named she Esope the Tragedian,  
Who offered up a dish unseen till than,  
All the sweet singing Bir●…a that Rom●… did hold,  
To grace his Feast, at dearest prizes sold.   

67  
She left not out Dennis Hetaclemt;  
jovian, and Septimius Severus,  
Who died with drinking, both were not forgot;  
Nor yet that Sorcerer Tiberius:  
All which to 〈◊〉 most imperious  
Did offer Flagons, and with w●…eathes of Vine,  
Adorned the Temples of his honoured shrine.   

68  
The 
a Heliogabalus.  Priest of 〈◊〉 than she showed me there,  
All naked, in his chariot drawn along,  
By naked women (as he did appear  
Sometime in Rome amidst the lustful throng)  
Where Gammeds' and Sirens sweetly sung)  
And a rare dish of minst meat offered  
Of Pe●…liens tongues, and Coxcombs sinely 〈◊〉.   

69  
She showed me then the Emperor Maximine,  
A Thrac●…an Shepherd by original,  
Who did by all the stairs of Fortune climb  
Unto the throne and seat Imperial.)  
(But as she rai●…de him, so she wrought his fall)  
A full crammed Glutton so 〈◊〉 fed with cheer,  
That two strong men were plac's his paunch to bear,   

70  
divers there were of later times, that seemed  
Amongst the rest▪ she noted only two,  
The first, at first, great 〈◊〉 I deemed;  
But better viewed by ●… picture, straight I know;  
He softly paced, but sore did puff and blow:  
He drank to Bacchus and with all his heart  
Presented Venus with his secret part.   

71  
Next him came Muleasses, that 〈◊〉'd  
His dishes with so rare and costly Swee●…es,  
That one three little birds there were consumed  
An hundreth Crowns▪ Next these came diverse Knights  
And Princely Dames assisting at these Rit●…s,  
And millions of each bank, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 she  
Cut off, through th'entrance of 〈◊〉 company.   

72  
Much was I moved with what I erst had 〈◊〉,  
My heart it vented sighe●…, mine eyes 〈◊〉,  
Recording things which so long passed had ●…een,  
But now alas renewed my gr●…efes and fears,  
Seeing a world of Clergic men by th'ears,  
Striving and struggling who s●…ould first begin  
To kill the greatest Hecatombs to sin.   

73  
Fowl work they made, and many a bloody stream  
Forth from their broken head did trickle down:  
Sore tugged they at a triple Diadem,  
And for the same was many a cloven crown,  
Their Croysiers cracked, and Mitres overthrown:  
Such stir there was, as any man might well▪  
Think only bred in Babylon or Hell.   

74  
In most disordered sort along they went,  
Amongst themselves each striving first to be.  
With single sacrifices not content,  
Each of them did to every Altar fly  
With equal zeal, and like Humilive;  
Out stripping far (if all she told me true)  
The vildest Pagan●… either old or new.   

75  
Then quoth my Fair, Convert then thine eyes, and find  
In these the complete ill of all the rest,  
And vice accomplish in so high a kind,  
That Nero here would Cruelty detest,  
Maximine think his Avarice were blost,  
Mad Anthonine would Luxury deride,  
Messalme would hate lust, Po●…pea pride.   

76  
Lo first comes he that drew the putrid Corpse  
Of's predecessor from his Marble Urn,  
And in a Synod (void of all remorse)  
First, placed him in Saint Peter's Chair in scorn,  
Did him with Robes pontifical adorn;  
Degrades him; then from's hands three fingers cuts;  
Lastly, with's corpse pure tybur's waves polluteth.  
Platina, de formoso, in vita Stephani sexti.   
He that desires satisfaction for these ensuing Stories, may be truly informed of their truth from these Authors; Platina de vitis pontificum, Onuphrius, Petrarche, Guiccardine, eminent men in their times, and all employed in great places under Popes.  

77  
Then john the twelfth, a monster vile behold,  
To hunting more addicted then to prayer  
(When tend it for venerean tilts he could:)  
The Lateran he made a brothel fair;  
Saint Peter's golden Chalices the ware.  
He, Healths to Pluto drunk; and for his pain,  
By him i'th'act of lust impure was slain.   

78  
I would not load thy membrie too sore,  
(Quoth she) 'mongst many will I name but two  
Dammed Sorcerers, that League's accursed swore,  
And did in woods and secret places bow,  
And sacrifice th'infernali powers unto,  
Contracting most dear bargains, to obtain  
A short, disquiet, aye repented reign.   

79  
The first lo there is 
a Platina speaks of this to the full. in vi●…a Silvester secundi.  Silvester by name,  
Whose bargain was, that he on earth should stay  
So long, till to jerusalem he came,  
A further journey than he meant to stray.  
But going to the Church, so called, to pray,  
His Feind●… appears: the Church's name he craves:  
Which known, he droops dies. Thus false Fiends deceives.   

80  
That other Benedict the ninth we call,  
So far indeed from what his name imports,  
That to obtain the cursed Roman Pall,  
And that with women he might freely sport,  
Sealed covenants written with his own blood for▪ t.  
And whilst he once his wicked homage made,  
His Master killed him, and his own debts paid.   

81  
There goes another no less liberal,  
Another Benedict, a blessed one:  
Of Priestly gifts and grace spiritual,  
A man of equal note with those best known,  
Who ravished Nuns and Virgins, pitied none:  
A da●…ned Atheist blind with ●…ust and pride,  
The soul to be immortal he denied.   

82  
That Hildebrand lo here, that Hellish brand,  
The sour of tedition, murder, strife,  
Before whose Gate an Emperor did stand  
Barefoore three days, attending with his wife;  
Yet still he sought to rid him of his life:  
Not pleased, although his Crown upon his knee  
He offered him, with base servility.   

83  
Then showed she him that did Pope john benight,  
Imprisoned, and in prison caused him pine.  
Then he that crowned the Emperor with his feet,  
That dogged incaelestiall Calestine.  
Then Alexander Pope far less divine  
Than Pagan Alexander, Persia's god,  
Who under's feet Great Caesars never trod.   

84  
Next these, a Wretch that murdered two Popes goes.  
Calixtus then that Gregory displaced,  
Making him pass in manner dolorous  
Through Rome, where erst he had been highly graced;  
Upon a Camel lean, and badly paced,  
Trapped with raw Goats hides, then to prisne confined him,  
Where with Petre an charity he pined him.   

85  
Lo Balthasar that Balthasar excelled,  
Poisoning his Predecessor, to acquire  
Saint Peter's Chair; whoth'holy Relics selled,  
To feed the fuel of his Paphian fire;  
For rapes of Nuns, and forty virtues higher,  
And Atheism, was at Constance last deposed,  
And in strong Manheyms' walls he died enclosed.   

86  
Next him observe Ae●…eas Siluius,  
That made old Rome a new stage of delight;  
Learned, but 〈◊〉 and luxurious.  
Next whom comes 
a This Peter Barbo was so great an enemy of Learning, and so great a lover of Ignorance: that he did usually upbraid the learned with the name of Heretics; and st●…cktly prohibited any to name the word Academy; and forbade the Romans to suffer their children to be taught any further, then to write and read. out of Platina and others; cited by that excellent Duplessis.  Peter Barbo into sight,  
Whose soul lived here in a Cimmerian night.  
And (though his rich stones dimmed the Moon) died poor,  
Consuming all on's Bastard and his Whore.   

87  
There others go, whom lust and beauty hent  
To highest place. Then 
b Agrippa de vanitate seientiar●…m, cap. 6●… de lenoniu  Sixtus lo (quoth she)  
That Brothels built t'increase Saint 〈◊〉 rent,  
And with his friends dispensed for Sodomy  
Three months the year, june, August, july:  
And he that sometime did 
c This was one whose name the Author for some respect conceals, who feasted all the Nobility of avignon with one dish, and this it was: In the belly of an Ox was placed the body of a Dear in whose body again was placed by most 〈◊〉 Geometric skill, all sorts of most 〈◊〉 Fowl, moving by devices and Engines several ways in such sort, that they might be just roasted with the Beef, to the great admiration of the beholders▪ Platina. lib de honesta voluptate.  Auignion feast  
Most prodigally, yet but one dish dressed.   

88  
Then 
1 Guiccardine l. 6. and Machiavelli de principe, cap 18.  Borgia behold well nigh the last,  
Whose avarice I do not mean to touch,  
('Slight vice for virtues ofttimes here hath past)  
But devilish Arts and lust in him were such,  
That to corrive with sons, he thought not much  
In's daughter's bed: so mixed he many a cup  
Of death for's friends, and last himself did sup.   

89  
Then after these she let me see that julius,  
That Peter's Keys in tybur's waves did throw;  
And Paul's kee●…e Sword than took in hand most furious,  
When he before Mirandula did go;  
Wherewith he made whole streams of blood to flow.  
Then Leo last, an Atheist worst of all  
Who did the Gospel but a Fable call.   

90  
These Clergy men brought vessels full of blood,  
And poisoned bowls, they offered cruelty:  
Then Teeth, Bones, Hair, old Relics, rotten Wood  
And Idols more their Nile to Idolatry.  
To Avarice a world of souls. To Luxury,  
Delicious Cates, Wine, Silk and costly Stones▪  
To Venus then, ten thousand little ones.   

91  
Here-with me thought the Altars fiercely blazed,  
The flame●… the●… erst as●…rnded much more high,  
The smoke ten thousand pitchy turr●…ts raised,  
And so transcended 'bove the Starry sky,  
Piercing the nostrils of Ioues Majesty:  
Whereat a●…azde, my hairs upright they run,  
〈◊〉 grew dim, and tongue grew stiff and dumb.   

92  
For strait me thought the earth began to quake,  
The water murmured, and the air did sigh,  
The levy Groves seemed sadder sounds to make  
The O●…en groaned, and Horses snorted high:  
All rebels to their Masters, ●…eeling nigh  
This end of things; and all in heart request  
Great God to right their wrongs, and give them 〈◊〉.   

93  
The Sun and Moon then straight me thought grew dim,  
The Stars from heaven they fell, and lost their light;  
And all the world seemed now returned again  
To her first Chaos, and eternal night.  
Then were my fears and hopes, in doubtful ●…ight,  
When strait me thought this voice came fr●… above;  
Is this the fruit of Heaven's long care and love?   

94  
The Earth cries out, that man her gifts abuseth.  
The Sea (whose bending back ●…e 〈◊〉 for ga●…ne)  
That bloody streams he in her waves infuseth,  
And doth co●…rupt her spawn with bodies slain.  
The Air that it's polluted doth complain.  
The Fire cries ou●…, he doth so oft enrage it,  
That Cities melt, and Floods can not assuage it.   

95  
The Towre-bearer, and proud courageous 〈◊〉  
Cry out, he forceth them against their will,  
T'assail with a●…med fides, and barbest crest  
The lives of men to murder and to kill.  
The Lions roar, that erst were taught to fill  
Themselves on Men; whom hunger only forceth  
To feed on those, Ioues fatal brand endorceth.   

96  
The weeping Woods of hapless Arabye,  
The sweets which for delight and health he framed,  
Even these complaine, and do for vengeance cry,  
Because so oft on Idol shrines they flamed,  
And by his lusts impure have been defamed.  
The powerful Herbs, which flying breath recall,  
Made by themselves Death's Agents in their fall.   

97  
The Beasts, Fowl, Fish and Fruit of various kind,  
Ordained for health, for pleasure, and for use,  
The hidden treasures to the earth assigned;  
All these likewise do witness his abuse,  
With which he truth and justice doth traduce;  
With which he surfe●…s, while his br●…thren ●…ine,  
And in his heart denies the power divine.   

98  
The Saints lament that Heaven he still reproacheth,  
The Angels grieve at his ing●…atitude.  
The Devils cry out, that he on them encroeheth,  
And now begins to teach them to be lewd?  
Therefore jehovah doth in 〈◊〉 conclude,  
〈◊〉 all's accomplish●…, was decreed before,  
The World shall end, and Time shall be no more.   

99  
Here-with the fires th' etherial tracts retains  
The hidden sparkles, both in Wood and 〈◊〉,  
The Sulphur lurking in earth's secret veyne●…  
Burst forth (me thought) and all conucend in one,  
Men, Beasts, Trees, Houses for to feed upon:  
This fiery Sergeant in an hour did 〈◊〉  
Of many hundred years the 〈◊〉 to i'll.   

100  
Then gasped earth's marble jaws; her hungry 〈◊〉  
It opened wide, though now no more to take,  
But to restore the surfeits of her youth:  
Each Goal a free deliverance to make;  
The Sea restored her Dead, each Stream and Lake,  
And all the earth with new▪ born limbs it trembled,  
While souls and bodies themselves reassembled,   

101  
The Kings and Princes they did sore lament,  
Wishing the earth would open and swallow them.  
The gallant Dames that lived incontinent,  
For whose dear sakes so many erst was slain,  
With horror here confounded, and with shame;  
They wailed, they wept, they wished to change their stat●…  
With meanest slaves, or beasts they fed on late.   

102  
But all in vain they wished what cannot be:  
The Trumpet sounds, and they must all appear:  
They see the angry judge sitting on high;  
Beneath them Hell, the object of their fear:  
No pleaders need they neither witness here,  
Three Books of Conscience, Passion, Life lies open,  
Then cease the good to fear, the bad to hope.   

103  
The sen●…ence past, the blessed souls rejoice:  
The wicked gnashed their teeth, 'gainst Heaven blaspheming;  
The Devil's howled, and made a fearful noise,  
And all the poison of their malice teeming  
On 〈◊〉 mortals (hopeless of redeeming)  
In burning cars, & chaine●… towards Hell them hailed,  
Fron wh●…ce, me thought, these words mine eare●… assailed.   

104 Vox gehenna.  
Oh cursed you, that why lest ye erst had time,  
No counsels bettered, nor examples moved,  
To keep the statutes, and the laws divine,  
But still your blinded sense your banes approved;  
Tho Christ for sinners suffered whom he loved:  
We but for one offence are hither driven,  
You're lost for want of faith, whose sins were given.   

105  
With flaming forks therefore we'll toss and turn ye,  
In Stygian streams to Crystal will we freeze ye;  
In Phleg●…ton then will we thaw, then burn ye;  
Our comfort is, we're sure we cannot lose ye.  
Death grazeth on ye, but he ever flies ye.  
Here shall ye freeze with fear, & burn with anguish,  
And pine with famine, and in dark fires languish.   

106  
You Tigers which did thirst for bloody streams,  
And tears of others, here shall drink your own.  
You Moles, whose eyes were dazed with Golden beams,  
Ye shall have store, great measure shall be shown,  
With Ladles down your throats it shall be thrown.  
You lustful Goats, that joyed in amorou●… gracoes,  
You shall be glutted here with our embraces.   

107  
You angry Dogs, here shall you 〈◊〉 your fill.  
You ravenous Wolves, here shall ye eat your dung.  
You envious Dragons to, that died to kill,  
That hated still the good, the wise and strong,  
Yourselves unapt for any thing but wrong,  
Here shall ye feed on Aspecks; and your head  
With Snaky tresses shall be covered.   

108 Poena sensus.  
You Eyes that heretosore could not endure  
To look upon the ●…ores of Lazarus,  
But highly feasted were with things impure,  
With costly Pictures, and lascivious,  
With Gown●…s, with Gauds, with fashions rare and vicious,  
With Masks, with Shows; here sh●…ll ye nothing see  
But Serpents, flying Fir●…s, and ugly We.   

109  
You, you whose noses still ●…o close were penned,  
In passing by the poor and needy wight,  
For whom from Ganges Odours rich were sent,  
And nothing was thought costly, that was meet,  
To cover Nature's faults, or to delight.  
You, you that Chimneys were for Indian smoke,  
With pitchy Clouds and Brimstone shall ye choke.   

110  
You ears that erst were deaf unto the poor,  
Whom flatteries, or gain, or charming sound  
Of Music only pleased, you shall no more  
Hear names of Honour, Grace, of Wit profound,  
Valour or Beauty; here all things resound,  
And echo horror, groans of wretched Ghosts,  
Oaths, Blasphemies, and Yells of us your Hosts.   

111  
You, you for whom the Virgin's fingers spun  
The silks of Naples, and proud Genoa,  
For whom were brought soft Sables from the Donne,  
And costly Ermines from Rhezania;  
Who pined the poor that you might feast and play.  
You, you whose curious touch no Down could please,  
Here burning beds of Iron is your ease.   

112  
You curious mouths that nought but sweets could taste,  
Whose great excess did grudge the poor a share,  
Which on your paunches millions erst did waste,  
And had so many thousands still to care,  
Only to bring you dishes, strange and rare,  
Here Ostrich-like shall swallow in your rage,  
Toads, 〈◊〉, or Stones, your hungers to assuage.   

113 Poena damni.  
Then damned souls, conceive what you have lost,  
How fair a City, what a Mansion,  
Provided for ye at another's cost;  
Enriched with b●…auty and perf●…ction,  
Where 〈◊〉 cares, disease, or want is none,  
But all with glory, and with wisdom shine,  
Sustained and cherished by that love divine.   

114  
On earth while erst you lived, you deemed the loss  
Of Pa●…ents favour was no little pain;  
The loss of Kingdoms an exceeding cross;  
But most to lose the light, and to remain  
In dungeon dark: This loss doth all contain  
I he loss of God, wh●…se b●…undlesse power divine  
Doth not your plagues in times or terms confine.   

115  
Although ye could like Esau melt to tears;  
Restore like judas your accursed gain;  
Like Ahab mourn in sack cloth (many years)  
Although you here could chatter like the Crane,  
Send forth as shrill shrieks as the Pelican:  
Tho ye could weep whole Seas for every sin,  
They're all but lost, no mercy can ye w●…nn   

116  
But here me thought I felt a sudden joy  
Run through my flesh, and wing my ravished spirit,  
Feeling myself exempt from this annoy,  
Full of celestial thoughts, and rare delight,  
Amongst the Quires of heavenly Singers sweet.  
With which high joys, I think, my soul had scaped  
From forth her prison, if I had not wak●….    

(1) Herod surnamed the Great (though valiant, cruel) put to death Mariam his wife (a woman both chaste and beautiful;) then his own sons Alexander and Aristobulus, the children of Bethlem, his false son Antipater, the most of his friends: and lastly (lest he should want tears at his end) gave order for the kill of a great number, shut up in the Hippodrome. joseph. Antiq.  
(2) Abimelech, the base son of Gedeon slew threescore and nine of his brethren to usurp. josephus, pag. 117.  
(3) Ptolomeus Philopater slew father, mother, and wife. Ptolomeus Phiscon married his own sister Cleopatra, sometime the wife of their brother, the King deceased, whom after he cast off, and married her Daughter, his Niece; and fearing the people should set up his eldest son against him, he kills him. Whereupon they pull 〈◊〉 his images; which he, interpreting as don●… in favour of his sister, kills also his 〈◊〉 that he had by her, sending his hands and feet in a chest as a present to her the day of his birth. justine, lib. 38. Ptolomeus Ceraunos, the brother of Lysimachus King of Macedon, having rescued Queen Arsinoe, hi●… own sister, from Antigonus, who slew her husband, and besieged her in the City Cassandria, affecting the Kingdom, made suit to his sister for marriage (having no other means to get the possession of her, and her children;) but his intentions being suspected by her, he swears by the Altars and the Gods, that he meant to make her son King. Overcome, she yields, marries him, invites him to her City; which he having seized, presently causes her children to be slain, even in the lap of their sorrowful mother, and exiles herself. justin. lib. 24.  
(4) Numulesinthis caused the parents feed upon their children. Valerius Maximus, lib. 9 cap. 2.  
(5) Mithridates slew seventy thousand Roman Merchants in one day in time of peace. Plutarch.  
(6) Occhus, called Darius, having bound himself by oath not to kill any of the conspiracy of the Magis by Sword, Poison, Famine, or any force, devised a mor●… cruel way for them, and (as he thought) without infringing his oath: he fills a great deep room with Ashes up to the top, and over the same upon a rafter places these men, giving them good cheer, wherewith being brought into a dead sleep, they fall into this pit-sall. Val. Max. Ctesias (saith Ochus) used his brother Secundianus so: but this Ochus was long after Darius, the son of Histaspis, that suppressed the Magi.  
(7) jugurth, the son of Masthanaball, the Base son of Masinissa, was brought up by his Uncle Micipsa, the lawful son of the said Masinissa, King of Numidia, who at his death made him co-heir with his own sons, Adherball and Hiemp●…all, hoping by that means to tie him by merit, which was already bound by Blood and Kindred, to be a stay and defend●…r of his children in their minority: but jugurth more cruel than the very Lions (which acknowledge benefits) after his Uncle's death kills Hiempsal, wars upon Adherball, and at length makes him also away: but enjoys the Kingdom not long, the people of Rome punishing his great impieties both with loss of Kingdom and life. Sallust.  
(8) Cambyses having sent Prexaspes (one of his dearest and most trusty Friends) from Memphis into Persia, to make away his brother Smerdis. At his return again, after the execution, demands what they say, and what opinion they had of him in Persia. Prexaspes replies; All well, only they thought he loved Wine more than stood with his health. With these words the Tyrant enraged, causes Prexaspes son to stand as a mark for him to shoot at, and at the first shot clove his heart, as before he said he would do) to teach Prexaspes (who friendly admonished him of his excess) that he was not drunk. Whereupon Croesus the Lydian admonishes him; he offers to shoot at him to. He made war so long in Ethiopia, till his men through famine 〈◊〉 up one another, tything themselves by lots. Another part of his Army sent to destroy the Temple of Ammon were all lost, and overwhelmed with Sand, none returning to bring news what Mummey their fellow's 〈◊〉. Herodotus in his Thalia, page 234, 235, and 236. Seneca saith, he caused all the people's noses of Syria to be cut off. 〈◊〉. de Ira. 3. c. 20  
(9) Astyages being premonished in a dream of the translation of his Kingdom to the Persians, by means of Cyrus his young Nephew, gave command to Herpagus, one of his friends, to make away the Child. But Herpagus abhorring so great cruelty, used means to preserve him a long time secretly; till at last the King coming to knowledge of his life & safety, ●…aused Herpagus for neglecting hi●… command, to eat the flesh of his own son at a supper. Herodotus Clyo. pag. 84.  
(11) Caesar, Pompey, Alexander, Pyrrhus, whose only sin of Ambition was the death of many millions, nothing being able to satisfy an insatible mind: one digs for another world, another seeks it in the Deserts of India: all of them like wild and savage beasts, enemies of human society, being broke loose, run about killing and destroying others, till they lose themselves.  
(12) Caius was said to be grieved, because in his time there fell no Earthquakes, Famines, nor Pestilences, to destroy the world. He wished the people of Rome had but one head, that he might strike it off at one blow. Seneca de Ira.  
(13) Nero caus●…d his Mother Agrippina to be put to death, having first attempted it diverse ways in vain. Tacitus  
(14) These were the Persecutors of the Church: Nero, Domitian, Marcus Antonius Verus, Se●…erus, Maximine, Decius, Valerian, Au●…elian, Dioclesian, and Maximilian. Eusebiu●… and the Centuries.  
(15) In Legend. Aur. it is said, that holy Ignatius being persuaded to renounce Christ, made answer, That he could not, his Name was written upon his Heart. Whereupon the Tyrant caused him to be opened, and found the word JESUS written therein in Golden Letters.  
(16) King Poppeyle having slain his two Uncles most cruelly, is persecuted of Mice and Rats by the hand of God, and he and his Queen forced to fly into a Tower, situated in the water: but thither they followed him, and at last devoured him and her, no means being able to hinder God's decree. These Rats seemed to come forth from the Tombs and very Graves of his dead Uncles. This man's usual Oath was still, That if I do such, or such a thing, may the Rats eat me: and so at length they did. The place is called Rats-Tower to this day. Hist. Poloniae.  
(17) Amurath sacrificed at on●… time six hundred Soldiers (that yielded upon faith and honest conditions) to the Ghost of his dead father. Calcondillius in Hist. de Imperii Graeci lapsu in Lerius.  
(18) Mahumet having won Constantinople, gave himself to Feasts and Banquets; in which for greater pomp he put to cruel deaths the most of the Grecian Nobility: he cut off the head of Trene, his fairest and best beloved Paramour with his own hand, as the only remedy for his intemperate love. There happened to him a strange warning for his cruelty: for having caused five hundred Cap●…iues to be slain, and their bodies dismembered, and thrown about) there came an Ox rooting and lowing, and with his Horns gathered together the pi●…ces of a Venetians body there amongst the rest: which being told to Mahumet, he again commands the same body to be dispersed. But the Ox again diligently seeks out the same pieces, and lays them together: wherewith Mahumet being much moved, caused the dead to be buried, and gives the Ox an allowance during life. Lerius out of Chalcondilus.  
(19) Wladus, Prince of Moldavia, had a great Vale in his Country full of Gibbets, Wheels, and other engines, whereupon there hung thirty or forty thousand of his own subjects put to death by him in three years: With which fearful spectacle Mahumet the great Tyrant being amazed, became after more gentle, spying the greatness of his own faults in another, which he could not see before in himsslfe. Knowles.  
(20) Selym, the youngest of Baiazet's sons, by the favour of the Ianizar●…es aspired to the Empire, disceptred his old Father Bajazet, and caused him to be poisoned; slew his Brothers and Ne●…; put the most of his dearest Friends and Servants to death: and lastly, after his victories in the East, and the conquest of Egypt, intending great wars against the Christians, is by the hand of God stricken with a Canker, or Wildfire in his reynes that eat him up. Paulus jovius, tome 1. l. 14, and tome 2. l. 19  
(21) This Adolph weary of expecting his Father's death, took the Duk●…dome from him, led him five Dutch mile barefoot in a cold night, and imprisoned him in a dark and deep Dungeo●… eight months in most lamentable manner: but being at length compelled to bring him forth, and to give an account thereof to the Duke of Burgoyne, he only objects, that his Father had been Duke 44 years, therefore now high time for him to come to his Birthright. The Duke of Burgoyne at last orders the young man (being his Kinsman) to stand as Duke, and only one small City to remain to his Father, with some six hundred Florence's the year during life. But Adolph flatly refused to grant him this small exhibition, but would hau●… him exiled the Country; protesting, that rather than he would condescend to those terms, he would throw his Father into a well; and himself after. Soon after the Duke of Burgoyne takes him Prisoner, where he was despitefully handled all his life, and his F●…ther dying, disinherited him, making the Duke of Burgoyne his Heir; After whose death young Adolph is taken out of prison by the Ganthoyse, and is slain at the siege of Tourney. Phil. Comminees. l. 4. c. 1.  
(22) Amidas being left Governor of Tunis by his father Muleasses (whilst he sought aid amongst the Christian Princes against Barbarussa) seizes the Kingdom for himself, and at his father's return puts out his eyes, to disable him for government, and forceth him to end his days in misery as a banished man: he lost his own eyes to with diseases, and enjoyed his Kingdom not long. Knowles.  
(23) john Basilides late Emperor of Russia did infini●…ely exceed all the Tyrants and monsters of Nature that ever were. His rapines, his lusts, his murther●… cannot be numbered. It was usual with him for one man's offence to extirp whole Families and Cities, and many times without any occasion. When the wars ceased, and that he wanted captives to exercise himself upon, then did he kill and massacre his Friends, his Lords, his Councillors, his Citizens; burning, hanging, dr●…wning thousands of guiltless and innocent people. He would look on and see his Guard def●…owre thousands of his women Captives, and then cut them in pieces. Ambassadors were not safe with him; no more were his Friends and Companions: if any man won of him in play, he would fall into passion, and sometimes cut off their Noses and Ears. If for fear they suffered him to win, than he would straight cause them to be beaten as dull and sluggish Dolts. Now if any sought (by refusing to play) to avoid these two extremes, those he would gre●…uously handle, and perchance put to death, as contemners of his Majesty. Upon some reproachful speeches (given by an honest Matron) unto one of his whores, he took a purpose to murder all the women of. Muscho, and had done it, before the instant request of his own women. Of diverse Cities that he pnnished, he put all the inhabitants down through certain holes, made through the Ice, into the rivers, and so drowned them. The warnings he had from heaven were notable. Upon a Christmas day, which was fair and clear, came a sudden lightning from heaven, that burned his stately Palace of Sloboda, with much treasure and rich stuff in the same. Soon after, near the town of Nale, there fell a strange thing; three men and three women going forth to gather sticks in the adjoining wood, late towards evening, there came this voice into their ears (without any known Author) Fly Muschovians; with which amazed, they would have fled towards the Town, when in the instant a mighty marble stone fell down from the heavens (sent with a great clap of thunder) into the Snow, and seemed to be settled there in such manner, as if not thrown by violence, but placed there by an artificial handiwork. In this Stone were written diverse lines in a strange and unknown character. The three men were slain at the fall of the stone; the women with great amazement ran home, and showed what had happened. The news comes to Basilides; he repairs to the place, demands of the Metropolitan what the words did import: he in great perplexity replies; he knows not. Calling then certain captives (which had a great opinion of learning) he requires of them the exposition of this inscription: they fearing to be silent, told him, that these signs did pertain to himself, and did concern his People and Empire. Hereupon he causes his Guard to break the Stone all in pieces, and in stead of penitence goes home, and prepares for the Polonian war. He died very lamentably of an Ulcer in his privy parts, so loathsome and stinking, that the smell of it poisoned diverse. He had upon his deathbed some trances, wherein it seems he had some taste of the infernal ●…orments. His life and death are written at large by Paulus Oderbornius, a German Divine, in three Books, dedicate to Henry julius, Duke of Brunswick. His body was not from the day of his death to be found in any place, but was supposed to be conveyed away by the Devil, not content with his soul only. Ibidem. He lived in Queen Elizabeth's time.  
(24) The Egyptians did worship some things generally, as of beasts, their Apis or Ox, the Dog the Cat: of Fowl, the Hawk and the Ibis: of Fish, the Lepidotus and the Oxirinchus: beside these, they had particular worships. They of Arsinoe to the Crocodile. They of the City of Hercules did worship the Ichnewmon. The Cinopolitani a Dog. The Licopolitani a Wolf. The Leontopolitani a Lion. The Mendesii worshipped a Goat. The Athribitae a blind Mouse. They of Abidon worshipped Osiris (whom Herodotus page the 150, calls▪ Bacchus. They of Hermonthis jupiter, and an Ox, and Orus, which Herodotus calls Apollo, pag. 199) and others other things. Strabo Geography, lib. 17. The Bubasti honoured Diana. The Citizens of Busiris, Isis (which the greeks call Demeter, that is Ceres. The City of Say worshipped Minerva. The Helipolitanes the Sun. They of Buris, Latona. The Papremians, Mars. Herodotus Euterpe, pag. 158.  
(25) Strabo saith, he saw a Crocodile in a Lake in the Shire of Arsinoe, near to the Temple, upon which the Priests tended with great religion and fed him, one holding open his chaps, and an other pouring in certain Rost-meates and sweet Wine, and that having filled his belly, he retired straight into the Lake, till he were called again by some new Guest, coming with new Oblations. Ex Strabone, lib. 17.  
(26) Porrum & cepe nefas violare ac frangere morsu. et Paulo post.  
Carnibus humanis vesci licet. Iwen. Satyra 15. linea. 9  
(27) This Deity of jupiter Hammon was worshipped in the likeness of a Ram. Herodotus Euterpe, pag. 151. Here it was that Alexander was premonished of his death, with the circumstances both of time, place, and the manner, as after they befell. Quintus Curtius lib. 4. and in Alexander's own Epistle to Arestotle, and Iust. l. 11. It seems their jupiter was something mutable and humorous for his shape, as men are now adays for their fashions: for Herodotus describeth him like a Ram: and Quintus Curtius, lib. 4. saith; Id quod pro Deo colitur non eandem effigiem habebat quam vulgo diis accommodaverunt artifices. Sed, umbilico maxime similis est habitus, smaragdo etiemmis coagmentatus.  
(a) Dianae templum Chersiphron fabricatus est. Sed cum Herostratus quidam id incend●…o consumpsisset aliud prestantius construxerunt mulierum ornamentis. Strabo, Geogr. lib. 14.  
(28) Baalzebub was worshipped in the likeness of a Flie. Purch.  
(29) The Sydonians worshipped juno in the likeness of a Sheep.  
(30) Quintus Curtius in oppugnatione. Alexandri.  
(31) The Phoenicians had a stately Temple dedicated to the Sun, of which Anthonine, Emperor of Rome, was in his private fortunes the High Priest, and therefore surnamed Heliogabalus, or Priest of the Sun. Herodian, lib. 5.  
(32) This Temple had in it a stone, which had thereon the figure of the Sun. Ibid.  
(33) The men of Carras that overcame their wives, used to sacrifice to god Lunus in the Temple of the Moon: but if their wives had the better, they offered unto Luna to appease her displeasure. Herodian, lib. 3.  
(34) This place was some five mile from Antioch, a Grove of mighty Cypresses, ten miles in compass, where stood the Temple and Oracle of Apollo Daphneus. Here julian the Apostate desiring answer, the Devil would not speak●…, because the bones of Babillus the Martyr lay so near him. Socrates, lib. 3. cap. 16. In this place of delight, and Paradise of profane pleasure, the Antiochian youths, and amorous Gallants used to pay their vows to the Nymph Daphne: the burbling streams, calm winds, and flowre-be spotted earth, conspiring with the opacity and retiredness of the place, to make the Votaries of Diana, worship Daphne. Strabo. Geogr. pag. 510. lib. 15.  
(35) The Persians did principally honour the Fire, counting it a God: they worshipped the Sun and Moon, Venus, the Winds and the water, into which it was not lawful to spit, to piss, or to, cast any dead thing, Strabo, lib. 15. Herodotus. lib. 1. pag. 90. lib. 3. pag. 226.  
(36) The Tartarians beyond Volga, that belong to the Great Cham; and the Crym Tartars which inhabit on this side Volga (which Herodotus calls Scythia, and them Scythes;) though these profess Mahumet, yet have they in their houses Idols and Puppets of Fel●…, which they offer to▪ Doctor Fletcher and W. de Rubruquis in Hacluyt.  
(37) The Chynoys have Idols in their houses, and Images if the devil with Serpentine locks, and as ill-favoured looks as he hath hear; a triple Crown upon his head, great teeth standing out from his mouth, and an ugly face upon his belly: him for fear they worship, saying, that God is good, and will do no man harm. They paint the Devil in their ships, and in any storm him they invocate, sometime working by lots, sometime by writing, which way he never fails to answer them, as appears in the Discourse of Chinay. Chap. 15. where the Spanish Friars (to their no small terr●…r) heard him talking to the Chynois in the same Ship.  
(§) The Iapons have a strange kind of shrift, the Devil once a year playing the Confessor: he puts his Penitent into a pair of Weigh-Scales, hung up upon a high Spire or Piremed, from whence if he confess not truly, he breaks his neck. Acosta. lib. 5. cap. 25.  
(38) The Devil is highly worshipped in Pegue, to whom they erect a stately Altar, adorned with variety of Flowers and Meats to fee and feed him, that he should not hurt them. Hist. India. pag. 321.  
(39) Cidambaran is the mother-city of these Pagan Rites. Here in the Temple of Perimall they worship an Ape called Haynemant: the tooth of this Ape was kept for a great rellick in Zeylan, till the Portugals, Ann. 15▪ 54, ransacking the Island, took this away amongst many better things. Linschot saith, the Indian Kings sent presently to the Viceroy, and offered seven hu●…dred thousand ducats for it: but he burned it before their Ambassadors eyes, and threw the ashes into the Sea. Notwithstanding, the Banian of Cambaia persuaded the Indian Kings, that he by miracle had preserved it, having been invistbly present, and that he had changed the said tooth, putting another very like it in stead thereof. So this was again received as the true one, and believed by their mopping devotion. Linfc. pag. 81. The Mallabars are all extreme Idosaters to the Devil, and have all their Temples full of his pictures, and Idols most fearful to behold. They have a certain Coin called Pagodes, stamped with his Picture. They offer themselves to voluntary death in honour of their Idols, thinking it meritorius so to perish. Linsc. pag. 82. & 69.  
(40) The Mexicans or Tenustitans had in the midst of Mexico, a stately Temple, the stones of the walls all wrought in artificial knots of Snakes (so like is that old Serpent still to himself.) Here they sacrificed to their Idol Devil's men without number, taken in the wars, whose flesh they did (after the ceremonies ended) make merry with, The Spaniards beheld from metazuma's Palace seventy of their own men thus sacrificed, amongst whom, one after his heart was drawn out; cried aloud, Knights, they have slain me. Within the penetrals of this Temple, and as it were, their Sanctum Sanctorum, the Spaniards found the walls daubed with humane blood two inches thick. About the Courts of this Temple upon certain ranks of trees ran many ranks of poles from one to another, whereon their hung all the Scalps of those which had been sacrificed. This Temple was consumed by fire from Heaven, which seemed to burst forth from the very walls and stones; so that no water could quench it. Vitziliputzli was their chief Idol. joseph. Acosta. l. 5. cap. 13. & 22. & lib. 7. cap. 23. The Perwians were no less cruel, sacrificing children to their Idols, of whom Verachocha was chief. Acosta. l. 5. cap. 19  
(41) This Maracca is a kind of Gourd, the meat finely picked out, then dried and filled with Stones or Millet it makes a great noise, this is their Music they Dance by, this is their Oracle, from whence their Aignan (the Devil) consults with them: to this they offer offerings of Meat. At certain set times they use to meet to perform their dancing ceremonies, in which they sing certain Songs, and cry, Sabbath, Sabbath; lifting up their hands on high like the Israelites, and as they were commanded. Deuteronomie 12. 6, 7. Yet for all this observance, their good Master the Devil did use to beat them, kill them by hundreds, when he thought his worship was neglected. The pictures of their Fights, Dances, Entertainments, Ceremonies, Burials, is with an ample Discourse thereon to be seen in Lerius his Hist. of Brasile, to whom I commend those that desire to know their fashions; and to jeronimus Be●…zo, his Nova novi orbis Historia.  
(a) Ptolomey King of Cypress having heaped up great wealth by base means, overcome by his Enemy, flies to the Sea, there intending to bury himself and his treasure together (in Neptune's watery, but inviolable Sepulchers) having for that end bored all his ships through in the keel: but taking compassion that so much wealth should be lost, he altars his purpose, and carries back again to land, the future reward of his own destruction, Valerius Maximus, lib. 9 cap. 5.  
(42) Dennis, the elder Tyrant of Syracuse, was a marvelous oppressor of his people; whom when he had brought so low, that he could draw no more from them, he devices (upon a great Dearth that had continued by the space of two or three years) to persuade the people to contribute towards the building of a new Temple to the Goddess Ceres, to appease her displeasure, and for that end draws all the women's Chains and jewels of the Country from them, which amounted to diverse millions, and yet no Temple built for all that. After a while (the earth yielding her due increase, and the women (after their wont manner) desiring their accustomed adornments, but fearing least the old Fox should again play them the like trick, they petitioned, that it might be lawful for them to wear their rings and jewels again, as they had formerly done; which after some niceness was granted them, upon condition that every one of them should first offer up to the Goddess Ceres, the price and value of such jewels as they intended to wear; the old Tyrant making by this one stratag●…m a double profit.  
(43) Ferdinand King of Naples, that died at Charles the eight his entrance into Italy, compelled his subjects to feed his Swine. He would buy up all the Oil and Grain in the Country before it were ripe, and sell it again very dear at unreasonable prices. Whatsoever was fair and good in the Kingdom he would extort it by one means or other, and sold all things both Temporal and Ecclesiastical to his best Chapmen. He sold the Bishopric of Taranto for twelve thousand ducats to a jew for his son, who he said was a Christian. He gave Abbeys to Falconers, with charge to keep him a certain number of Hawks at their own charge. P. Comminees, l. 7. c. 11. Guicc. 1.  
(44) This Syleus was the most beautiful young Gentleman of all Rome, whom Massaline no less solemnly, then publicly married, even in the life of her Husband Claudius the Emperor, who being advertised of her disorders, had scarcely the stomach to put them to death, if his servants had not for his credit urged the same. Tacitus annal lib, 11. cap. 9 10. 11.  
(45) These three were Tarquin the proud, who lost his Kingdom (as Livy relates) for the rape of Lucrece: And Roderick, last King of the Goths in Spain, who by occasion of the Rape of County julians' daughter (which thereupon fled and brought in the Moors and Arabians) lost both his Kingdom and life, being overthrown (notwithstanding his unmatchable valour) in a Battle of eight days long, Ann. 750. near to Xeres, upon the River of Bedalack. History of Spain: The third was Floris (fifth of that name) Prince of Holland, Zealand, and Frizeland, who imprisoned a Knight of his Court, one Gerard van Nelson, and cut off his brother's head: but being better informed of the equity of his cause, after a years imprisonment, gives him liberty, with offers of diverse favours, and a certain cast-Concubine of his in marriage: which the Knight refusing with these speeches; That he was not so base to put his Feet in his old shoes: and the Earl therewith offended, replied, But you shall. Which words the Knight forgetting, shortly after marries a fair Lady. Whereupon (the Earl still mindful of his former displeasure) took occasion to send the Gentleman from home upon an Embassage, and himself in the mean time goes to the Knight's house, and ravishes his Lady. Which the Knight understanding at his return, in revenge laid an ambush for the Earl, and slew him. History of the Netherlands, pag. 67.    
FINIS.