The First Week: The Fifth Day

THE ARGUMENT.

Fish in the Sea, Fowls in the Aire abound:
The Forms of all things in the Waters found:
The various Manners of Sea-Citizens,
Whose constant Friendship far exceedeth Mens:
Arions strange escape: The Fowls attend
On th' only Phoenix, to her end-less end:
Their kindes, their customs, and their plumes variety;
Som presidents of Prudence, som of Piety:
The gratefull Aegle, burning in the Fláme
With her dead Mistress, the fair Sestian Dáme.

LAtónian Lamps, conducting divers ways,
About the World, successiue Nights and Days;
Parents of winged Time, haste, haste your Carrs,
And passing swiftly both th' opposed Barrs
Of East and West, by your returning Ray,
Th' imperfect World make elder, by a Day.
Yee Fish, that brightly in Heav'ns Baldrik shine,
If you would see the Waters waving brine
Abound with Fishes, pray Hyperion
T'abandon soon his liquid Mansion;
If he expect, in his prefixt Career,
To hoast with you a Month in every Yeer.

And thou, eternall Father, at whose wink
The wrathfull Ocean's swelling pride doth sink,
And stubborn storms of bellowing Windes be dumb,
Their wide mouthes stopt, and their wilde pinions num;
Great Soverain of the Seas, whose books can draw
A man aliue from the Whales monstrous maw,
Provide me (Lord) of Steers-man, Star, and Boat,
That through the vast Seas I may safely float:
Or rather teach me dyue, that I may view
Deep vnder water all the Scaly crew;
And dropping wet, when I return to land
Laden with spoils, extoll thy mighty hand.

IN VAIN had God stor'd Heav'n with glistring studs,
The Plain with grain, the Mountain tops with woods,
Sever'd the Aire from Fire, the Earth from Water,
Had he not soon peopled this large Theatre
With living Creatures: Therefore he began
(This-Day) to quicken in the Ocean,
In standing Pools, and in the straggling Riuers
(Whose folding Channell fertill Champain severs)
So many Fishes of so many features,
That in the Waters one may see all Creatures;
And all that in this All is to be found;
As if the World within the Deeps were drown'd.

Seas haue (as wel as Skies) Sun, Moon, and Stars:
(As well as Aire) Swallows, and Rooks, and Stares:
(As well as Earth) Vines, Roses, Nettles, Millions,
Pinks, Gilliflowrs, Mushroms, and many millions
Of other Plants (more rare and strange then these)
As very Fishes living in the Seas:
And also Rams, Calfs, Horses, Hares, and Hogs,
Wolves, Lions, Vrchins, Elephants, and Dogs,
Yea Men and Mayds: and (which I more admire)
The Mytred Bishop, and the Cowled Fryer:
Wherof, examples (but a few yeers since)
Were showen the Norways, and Polonian Prince.

You divine wits of elder Dayes, from whom
The deep Inuention of rare Works hath com,
Took you not pattern of your chiefest Tools
Out of the Lap of Thetis, Lakes, and Pools?
Which partly in the Waues, part on the edges
Of craggy Rocks, among the ragged sedges,
Bring-forth abundance of Pins, Pincers, Spoaks,
Pikes, Percers, Needles, Mallets, Pipes, and Yoaks,
Owers, sayls, and swords, saws, wedges, Razors, Rammers,
Plumes, Cornets, Kniues, Wheels, Vices, Horns, & Hammers.
And, as if Neptune, and fair Panopé,
Palae•on, Triton, and Leucothoé,
Kept publik Roules, there is the Calamary;
Who ready Pen-knife, Pen and Ink doth cary.

As a rare Painter draws (for pleasure) heer
A sweet Adonis, a foul Satyre there:
Heer a huge Cyclop, there a Pigmè Elf;
Somtimes, no less busying his skilfull self,
Vpon som vgly Monster (seldom seen)
Then on the Picture of fair Beauties Queen:
Even so the Lord, that, in his Work's variety,
We might the more admire his powerfull Dëity;
And that we might discern by differing features
The various kindes of the vast Oceans creatures;
Forming this mighty Frame, he every Kinde
With diuers and peculiar Signet sign'd.
Som haue their heads groveling betwixt their feet
(As th' inky Cuttles, and the Many-feet):
Som in their breast (as Crabs): som head-less are,
Foot-less, and finn-les (as the bane-full Hare,
And heat-full Oyster) in a heap confus'd,
Their parts vnparted, in themselues diffus'd.

The Tyrian Marchant, or the Portuguez
Can hardly build one Ship of many Trees:
But of one Tortoise, when he list to float,
Th' Arabian Fisher-man can make a Boat:
And one such Shell, him in the stead doth stand
Of Hulk at Sea, and of a House on land.

Shall I omit the monstrous Whirl-about,
Which in the Sea another Sea doth spout,
Where-with huge Vessels (if they happen nigh)
Are over-whelm'd and funken sodainly?

Shall I omit the Tunnies, that durst meet
Th' Eöan Monarchs neuer daunted Fleet,
And beard more brauely his victorious powrs
Then the Defendants of the Tyrian Towrs;
Or Porus, conquered on the Indian Coast;
Or great Darius, that three Battails lost?
When on the Surges I perceiue, from far,
Th' Ork Whirl-pool, Whale, or huffing Physeter,
Me thinks I see the wandring Ile again
(Ortygian Delos) floating on the Main.
And when in Combat these fell Monsters cross,
Meseems som Tempest all the Sea doth toss.
Our fear-less Saylers, in far Voyages
(More led by Gain's hope then their Compasses)
On th' Indian shoare, haue somtime noted som
Whose bodies couered two broad Acres room:
And in the South-Seas they haue also seen
Som like high-topped and huge-armed Treen;
And other-som whose monstrous backs did bear
Two mighty wheels with whirling spokes, that were
Much like the winged and wide spreading sayls
Of any Winde-mill turn'd with merry gales.

But God (who Nature in her nature holdes)
Not onely cast them inso sundry moldes:
But gaue them manners much more differing,
As well our wits as our weak eyes to bring
In admiration; that men euermore,
Praysing his Works, might prayse their Maker more.
Som loue fresh Waters, som the salt desire,
Som from the Sea vse yeerly to retire
To the next Rivers, at their own contenting,
So both the Waters with free Trade frequenting;
Having (like Lords) two Houses of receipt:
For Winter th' one, th' other for Sommers heat.

As Citizens, in som intestine braul,
Long cooped vp within their Castle wall;
So soon as Peace is made, and Siedge remov'd,
Forsake a while their Town so strong approv'd;
And, tir'd with toyl, by leashes and by payrs,
Crowned with Garlands, go to take the ayrs:
So, dainty Salmons, Ch•uins thunder-scar'd,
Feast-famous Sturgeons, Lampreys speckle-starr'd,
In the Spring Season the rough Seas for sake,
And in the Rivers thousand pleasures take:
And yet the plenty of delitious foods,
Their pleasant Lodging in the crystall floods,
The fragrant sents of flowry banks about,
Cannot their Countreys tender loue wipe out
Of their remembrance; but they needs will home,
In th' irefull Ocean to go seek their Tomb:
Lik• English Gallants, that in Youth doo go
To visit Rhine, Sein, Ister, Arn, and Po;
Where though their Sense be dandled, Days and Nights,
In sweetest choise of changeable Delights.
They neuer can forget their Mother-Soyl,
But hourly Home their hearts and eyes recoyle,
Long languishing with an extream Desire
To see the smoak of their deer Natiue Fier.

One (like a Pirat) only liues of prizes,
That in the Deep he desperatly surprises:
Another haunts the shoar, to feed on foam:
Another round about the Rocks doth roam,
Nibbling on Weeds: another, hating thieuing,
Eats nought at all, of liquor only liuing;
For, the •alt humor of his Element
Serues him (alone) for perfect nourishment.

Som loue the clear streams of swift tumbling Torrents
Which through the rocks straining their struggling currents
Break Banks and Bridges; and doo neuer stop,
Till thirsty Sommer com to drink them vp:
Som almost alwayes pudder in the mud
Of sleepy Pools, and neuer brook the flood
Of Crystall streams, that in continuall motion
Bend toward the bosom of their Mother Ocean:
As the most part of the Words Peers, prefer
••oyls before Rest, and place their Peace in War:
And som again (of a far differing humour)
Holde Rest so deer, that but the only •umour
Of War far off, affrights them at the first;
And wanting Peace, they count their States accurst.

O watry Citizens, what Vmpeer bounded
Your liquid Liuings? O! what Monarch mounded
With walls your City? What severest Law
Keeps your huge Armies in so certain aw,
That you encroach not on the neighbouring Borders
Of your swim-brethren? as (against all Orders)
Men dayly practice, ioyning Land to Land,
House vnto House, Sea to Sea, Strand to Strand,
Mountain to Mountain, and (most-most insaci'ble)
World vnto World, if they could work it possible.
And you (wise Fishes) that for recreation,
Or for your seeds securer propagation,
Doo somtimes shift your ordinary Dwelling;
What learned Chaldè (skill'd in Fortune-telling)
What cunning Prophet your fit Time doth showe?
What Herralds Trumpet summons you to go?
What Guide conducteth, Day and Night, your Legions
Through path-l••s paths in vnacquainted Regions?
What Captain stout? what Loadston, Steel, and Star,
Measures your course in your Adventures far?
Surely, the same that made you first of Nought,
Who in your Nature som Idéas wrought
Of good and Euill; to the end that we,
Following the Good, might from the Euill flee.

Th' adulterous Sargus doth not onely change
Wiues every day, in the deep streams; but (strange)
As if the honey of Sea-loues delights
Could not suffice his ranging appetites,
Courting the Shee-Goats on the grassie shoar,
Would horn their Husbands that had horns before.
Contrary to the constant Cantharus,
Who, ever faithfull to his deerest Spouse
In Nuptiall Duties spending all his life,
Loues never none but his own onely wife.
But, for her Loue, the Mullet hath no Peer;
For, if the Fisher haue surpriz'd her Pheer,
As mad with wo to shoar she followeth,
Prest to consort him both in life and death:
As yerst those famous, louing Thracian Dames
That leapt aliue into the funeral flames
Of their dead Husbands; who deceast and gon,
Those loyall Wiues hated to liue alone.

O! who can heer sufficiently admire
That Gaping Fish whose glistering eyes aspire
Still toward Heav'n? as if beneath the skies
He found no Obiect worthy of his eyes.
As the Wood-pecker, his long tongue doth lill
Out of the clov'n-pipe of his horny bill,
To catch the Emmets; when, beguil'd with-all,
The busie swarms vpon it creep and crawl:
Th' Vrano-scope, so, hid in mud, doth put
Out of his gullet a long limber gut,
Most like vnto a little Worm (at sight)
Wher-at est-soons many small Fishes bite;
Which ther-with all this Angler swallows straight,
Alwayes self, armed with hook line, and bait.

The suttle Smell-strong-Many-foot, that •ain
A dainty feast of Oister-flesh would gain,
Swims softly down, and to him slily slips,
Wedging with stone his yet wide-yawning lips,
Least else (before that he haue had his pray)
The Oyster, closing, clip his limbs away,
And (where he thought t'haue ioy'd his victories)
Himself becom vnto his prize a prize.

The Cramp-fish, knowing that shee harboureth
A plague-full humour, a fell banefull breath,
A secret Poppy, and a sense-less Winter,
Benumming all that dare too-neer h•r venter.
Pours forth her poyson, and her chilling Ice
On the next Fishes; charm'd so in a t•ic•,
That shee not onely stayes them in the Deep,
But stuns their sense, and •ul• them fast a sleep;
And then (at fill) she with their flesh is fed;
Whose frozen limbs (stil liuing) seem but dead.
'Tis this Torpedo, that when she hath took
Into her throat the sharp deceitfull hook,
Doth not as other Fish, that wrench and wriggle
When they be prickt, and plunge, and striue, and struggle;
And by their stir, thinking to scape the Angle,
Faster and faster on the hooke doo tangle:
But, wily, clasping close the Fishing Line,
Sodainly spews into the Silver Brine
Her secret-spreading, sodain-speeding bane;
Which, vp the Line, and all along the Cane,
Creeps to the hand of th' Angler; who with-all
Benumm'd and sens-less, sodainly lets fall
His hurtfull pole, and his more hatefull prize:
Becomn like one that (as in bed he lies)
Seems in his sleep to see som gastly Ghost;
In a cold sweat, shaking, and swelt almost,
He cals his wife for ayd, his friends, his folks,
But his stuft stomack his weak clamour •hoaks:
Then would he strike at that he doth behold;
But sleep and fear his feeble hands doo hold:
Then would he run away; but, as he strives,
Hee feels his feet fetterd with heauy Gyues.

But, if the Scolopendra haue suckt-in
The sowr-sweet morsell with the barbed Pin,
She hath as rare a trick to rid her from-it:
For instantly, she all her guts doth vomit;
And, having clear'd them from the danger, then
She fair and softly sups them in again,
So that not one of them within her womb
Changeth his Office or his wonted room.

The thriuing Amia (neer Abydos breeding)
And suttle Sea-Fox (in Steeds-loue exceeding)
Without so vent ring their dear life and lyning,
Can from the Worm-clasp compass their vntwining:
For, sucking-in more of the twisted hair,
Aboue the hook they it in sunder shear;
So that their foe, who for a Fish did look
Lifts vp a bareline, robd of bait and hooke.

But timerous Barbels will not taste the bit,
Till with their tails they haue vnhooked it:
And all the baits the Fisher can deuise
Cannot beguile their wary iealousies.

Euen so almost, the many spotted Cuttle
Wel-neer insnared, yet escapeth suttle;
For, when she sees her self within the Net,
And no way left but one, from thence to get,
She sodainly a certain Ink dothspew,
Which dies the Waters of a sable hew;
That, dazling so the Fishers greedy sight,
She through the Clouds of the black Waters night,
Might scape with honour the black streams of Styx,
Wherof already, almost lost, she licks.

And, as a Prisoner, (of som great transgression,
Conuict by Witness and his owne Confession)
Kept in dark Durance full of noysom breath,
Expecting nothing but the Day of Death;
Spies euery corner, and pries round about
To finde som weake place where he may get out:
The delicate, cud-chewing Golden-Eye,
Kept in a Weyre, the widest space doth spy,
And thrusting-in his tail, makes th' Osiars gape
With his oft flapping, and doth so escape:
But, if his fellow finde him thus b•••ed,
He lends his tail to the Imprisoned;
That thereby holding fast with gentle law,
Him from his Durance, he may friendly draw.
Or, (if before that he were captiuate)
He see him hooked on the biting bait,
Hasting to help, he leapeth at the line,
And with his teeth snaps-off the hairy twine.

You stony hearts, within whose stubborn Centre
Could neuer touch of sacred friendship enter,
Look on these Seas my Songs haue calmed thus.
Heer's many a Damon, many a Th•se•s.
The gilden Sparlings, when cold Winters blast
Begins to threat, themselues together cast,
In heaps like balls, and heating mutually,
Liue; that alone, of the keen Cold would die.
Those small white Fish to Venus consecrated,
Though without Venus ayd they be created
Of th' Ocean scum; seeing themselues a pray
Expos'd in euery Water-Rouers way,
Swarming by thousands, with so many a fold
Combine themselues, that their ioint strength doth hold
Against the greediest of the Sea-thieues sallies;
Yea, and to stay the course of swiftest Gallies.

As a great Carrak, cumbred and opprest
With her selfs-burthen, wends not East and West,
Star-bood and Lar-boord, with so quick Careers,
As a small Fregat, or swift Pinnass steers;
And as a large and mighty limbed Steed,
Either of Friseland, or of German breed,
Can neuer manage half so readily,
As Spanish Iennet, or light Barbarie:
So the huge Whale hath not so nimble motion,
As smaller Fishes that frequent the Ocean;
But somtimes rudely' gainst a Rock he brushes,
Or in som roaring Straight he blindly rushes,
And scarce could liue a Twelue-month to an end,
But for the little Musculus (his friend)
A little Fish that swimming still before,
Directs him safe from Rock, from shelf and shoar:
Much like a Childe that louing leads about
His aged Father when his eyes be out;
Still wasting him through euery way so right,
That rest of eyes he seems not rest of sight.

Waues-Mother Thetis, though thine arms embrace
The World about, within thine ample space,
A firmer League of friendship is not seen
Then is the Pearl-fish and the Prawn betweene;
Both haue but one repast, both but one Palace,
But one delight, one death, one sorrow, and one solace:
That, lodgeth this; and this remunerates
His Land-lords kindnes with all needfull Cates.
For, while the Pearl-Fish gaping wide doth glister,
Much Fry (allur'd with the bright siluerlustre
Of her rich Casket) flocks into the Nacre;
Then with a prick the Prawn a sign doth mak-her
That instantly her shining shell she close
(Because the Prey worthy the pain he knowes):
Which gladly done, she ev'nly shareth-out
The Prey betwixt her, and her faithfull scout.

And so the Sponge-Spye, warily awakes
The Sponges dull sense, when repast it takes.

But O! what stile can worthily declare
(O! Galley-Fish, and thou Fish-Mariner,
Thou Boat-Crab, and Sea-Vrchin) your dexteritie
In Saylers Art, for safeness and celeritie?
If Iaffa Marchants, now Comburgers seem
With Portingalls, and Portingalls with them:
If Worlds of Wealth, born vnder other Sky,
Seem born in Ours: if without wings we fly
From North to South, and from the East to West,
Through hundred sundry way-less waies addrest:
If (to be brief) this World's rich compass round,
Seem as a Common, without hedge or mound,
Where (at his choice) each may him freely store
With rarest fruits; You may we thank therefore.
For, whether Typhis, or that Pride of Greece
That sayl'd to Colchos for the Golden-Fleece,
Or Belus Son, first builded floating bowr•,
To mate the Windes, Storms, and the Waters Stowrs;
What e'r he were, he surely learn'd of you
The Art of Rowing and of Sayling too.

Heer would I cease, saue that this humorous song,
The Hermite-Fish compels me to prolong.
A man of might that builds him a Defence
'Gainst Weathers rigour and Warr's insolence,
First dearly buies (for, What good is good-cheap?)
Both the rich Matter and rare Workmanship:
But, without buying Timber, Lime, and stone,
Or hiring men to build his Mansion,
Or borrowing House, or paying Rent therfore,
He lodgeth safe: for, finding on the shoar
Som handsom shell, whose Natiue Lord, of late
Was dispossessed by the Doom of Fate;
Therein he enters, and he takes possession
Of th' empty Harbour, by the free concession
Of Natures Law; who Goods that Owner want
Alwaies allots to the first Occupant.
In this new Cace, or in this Cradle (rather)
He spends his Youth: then, growing both together
In age and Wit, he gets a wider Cell
Wherin at Sea his later Daies to dwell.

But Clio, wherefore art thou teadious
In numbering Neptunes busie Burgers thus?
If in his Works thou wilt admire the worth
Of the Seas Soverain, bring but only forth
One little Fish, whose admirable Story
Sufficeth sole to shewe his might and glory.
Let all the Windes in one Winde gather them,
And (seconded with Neptunes strongest stream)
Let all at once, blowe all their stiffest gales
A-stern a Galley vnder all her sails;
Let her be holpen with a hundred Owers,
Each lively handled by fiue lusty Rowers:
The Remora, fixing her feeble horn
Into the tempest-beaten Vessels stern,
Stayes her stone-still: while all her stout Consorts
Sail thence at pleasure to their wished Ports.
Then loose they all the sheats, but to no boot:
For, the charm'd Vessell bougeth not a foot;
No more then if then if three fadom vnder ground,
A score of Anchors held her fastly bound:
No more then doth an Oak, that in the Wood
Hath thousand Tempests (thousand times) with stood,
Spreading as many massy roots belowe,
As mighty arms aboue the ground do growe.
O Stop-ship say, say how thou canst oppose
Thy self alone against so many foes?
O! tell vs where thou doo'st thine Anchors hide,
Whence thou resistest Sayls, Owers, Wind, and Tide.
How on the so dain canst thou curb so short
A Ship whom all the Elements transport?
Whence is thine Engin and thy secret force
That frustrates Engins, and all force doth force?

I had (in Harbour) heav'd mine Anchor o're,
And ev'n already set one foot a-shoar;
When lo, the Dolphin, beating .gainst the bank,
'Gan mine obliuion moodily mis-thank:
Peace Princely Swimmer, sacred Fish, content-thee;
For, for thy praise, th' end of this Song I meant-thee.
Braue Admirall of the broad briny Regions,
Triumphant Tamer of the scaly Legions,
Who liuing, ever liv'st (for neuer sleep,
Deaths liuely Image in thy eyes doth creep)
Louer of Ships, of Men, of Melody,
Thou vp and down through the moyst World doest ply
Swift as a shaft; whose Salt thou louest so,
That lacking that, thy life thou doest forgo:
Thou (gentle Fish) wert th' happy Boat, of yore
Which safely brought th' Amiclean Harp a-shoar.

Arion, match-less for his Musiks skill,
Among the Latines hauing gain'd his fill
Of gold and glory, and exceeding fain
To re-salute his learned Greece again;
Vnwares, imbarks him in a Pyrates ship:
Who loath to let so good a Booty slip.
Soon waighes his Anchors, packs on all his fail,
And Windes conspiring with a prosperous gale,
His winged Fregat made so speedy-sight;
Tarentum Towers were quickly out of fight;
And all, saue Skies, and Seas, on euery side;
Where, th' onely Compass is the Pylots guide.
The Saylours then (whom many times we finde
Falser then Seas, and fiercer then the Winde)
Fall straight to strip him, ryfling (at their pleasure)
In euery corner to finde out his treasure:
And, hauing found it, all with one accord
Hoist th' Owner vp, to heaue him ouer-boord.
Who weeping said, O Nereus noble issue,
Not, to restore my little gold, I wish you:
For, my chief Treasure in my Musick lyes
(And all Apollo's sacred Pupils, prize
The holy Virgins of Parnassus so,
That vnder-foot all worldly wealth they throwe.)
No (braue Triumphers ouer Winde and Waue,
Who in both Worlds your habitation haue,
Who both Heav'ns Hooks in your aduentures view)
'Tis not for That, with broken sighes I sue:
I but beseech you, offer no impieties
Vnto a person deer vnto the Deities.
So may Messenian Sirens, for your sake,
Be euer mute when you your voyage make,
And Tritons Trumpet th' angry Surges swage,
When (iustly) Neptune shall against you rage.
But if (alas!) cannot this obtain
(As my faint eye reads in your frowns too plain)
Suffer, at least, to my sad dying voice,
My dolefull fingers to consort their noise:
That so, the Sea-Nimphs (rapt in admiration
Of my diuine, sweet, sacred lamentation)
Dragging my corps to shoar, with weeping showrs
May deaw the same, and it entoomb in flowrs.
Then play (said they) and giue vs both together,
Treasure and pleasure by thy comming hither.

His sweetest strokes then sad Arion lent
Th' inchanting sinnews of his Instrument:
Wherewith he charm'd the raging Ocean so,
That crook tooth'd Lampreys and the Congers rowe
Friendly together, and their natiue hate
The Pike and Mullet (for the time) forgate,
And Lobstars floated fear-less all the while
Among the Polyps, prone to theft and guile.

But among all the Fishes that did throng
To daunce the Measures of his Mournfull song,
There was a Dolphin did the best accord
His nimble Motions to the trembling Chord:
Who gently sliding neer the Pinnass side,
Seem'd to inuite him on his back to ride.
By this time, twice the Saylours had essayd
To heaue him o're; yet twice himself he staied:
And now the third time stroue they him to cast;
Yet by the shrowds the third time held he fast:
But lastly, seeing Pyrats past remorse,
And him too-feeble to withstand their force,
The trembling Dolphins shoulders he bestrid;
Who on the Oceans azure surges slid,
So, that far-off (his charge so cheered him)
One would haue thought him rather fly, then swim:
Yet fears he euery shelf and euery Surge
(Not for himself, but for his tender charge)
And, sloaping swiftly ouerthwart those Seas
(Not for his owne but for his Riders ease)
Makes double haste to finde som happy strand,
Where his sweet Phoebus he may safely land.
Mean-while, Arion, with his Musick rare,
Paies his deer Pylot his delighfull fare.
And heauing eyes to Hea'vn (the Hav'n of Pity)
To his sweet Harp he tunes this sacred Ditty;

O thou Almightie! who Mankinde to wrack,
Of thousand Seas, didst whilom one Sea make,
And yet didst saue, from th' vniuersall Doom,
One sacred Houshold, that in time to com
(From Age to Age) should sing thy glorious praise;
Look down (O Lord) from thy supernall rayes;
Look, look, (alas!) vpon a wretched man,
Half Toomb'd already in the Ocean:
O! bee my Steers-man, and vouch safe to guide
The stern-les Boat, and bit-less Horse I ride;
So that, escaping Windes and Waters wrath,
I once again may tread my natiue path:
And hence-forth, heer with solemn vowes I sacre
Vnto thy glory (O my God and Maker)
For this great fauour's high Memoriall,
My heart, and Art, my voyce, hand, Harp, and all.

Here-with, the Seas their roaring rage refrain,
The Clowdy Welkin waxed cleer again,
And all the Windes did so dainly conuert
Their mouths to ears, to hear his wondrous Art.
The Dolphin then, discrying Land (at last)
Storms with himself, for hauing made such haste,
And wisht Laconia thousand Leagues from thence,
T' haue ioy'd the while his Musiks excellence.
But, 'fore his own delight, preferring far
Th' vnhoped safety of the Minstrell rare,
Sets him a shoar, and (which most strange may seem)
Where life he took, there life restoreth him.

But now (deer Muse) with Ionas lets vs hie
From the Whales belly; and from ieopardy
Of stormfull Seas, of wreakfull Rocks and Sand,
Com, com (my Darling) let vs haste to Land.

While busie, poaring downward in the Deep,
I sing of Fishes (that there Quarter keep)
See how the Fowls are from my fancy fled,
And their high prayses quight out of my head:
Their flight out-flies me; and my Muse almost
The better half of this bright Day hath lost.
But, cheer ye, Birds: your shadows (as ye pass)
Seeming to flutter on the Waters face,
Make me remember, by their nimble turns,
Both what my duty, and your due concerns.

But first I pray (for meed of all my toyl
In bringing you into this HAPPIE ILE)
Vouch safe to waken with your various Notes
The sense-less senses of those drowsie Sots,
Whose eye-lids laden with a waight of Lead
Shall fall a-sleep the while these Rymes are read.
But, if they could not close their wakefull eyes
Among the Water's silent Colonies;
How can they sleep among the Birds, whose sound
Through Heav'n and Earth and Ocean doth redound?

The Heav'nly Phoenix first began to frame
The Earthly Phoenix, and adorn'd the same
With such a plume, that Pboebus, circuiting
Prom Fez to Cairo, sees no fairer thing:
Such form, such fethers, and such Fate he gaue-her,
That fruitfull Nature breedeth nothing braver:
Two sparkling eyes; vpon her crown, a crest
Of starry Sprigs (more splendent then the rest)
A golden doun about her dainty neck,
Her brest deep purple, and a scarlet back,
Her wings and train of fethers (mixed fine)
Of orient azure and incarnadine.
He did appoint her Fate to be her Pheer,
And Deaths cold kisses to restore her heer
Her life again, which neuer shall expire
Vntill (as shee) the World consume in fire.
For, hauing passed vnder diuers Climes,
A thousand Winters, and a thousand Primes;
Worn-out with yeers, wishing her end-less end,
To shining flames she doth her life commend:
Dies to reviue, and goes into her Graue
To rise again more beautifull and braue.
Perched therfore, vpon a branch of Palm,
With Incense, Cassia, Spiknard, Myrrh, and Balm,
By break of Day shee builds (in narrow room)
Her Vrn, her nest her Cradle, and her Toomb:
Where, while she sits all gladly-sad expecting
Som flame (against her fragrant heap reflecting)
To burn her sacred bones to seed-full cinders
(Wherein, her age but not her life, she renders)
The Phrygian Skinker, with his lauish Ewer,
Drowns not the Fields with shower after showr;
The shivering Coach-man with his Icy Snowe
Dares not the Forrests of Phoenicia strowe:
Auster presumes not Libyan shoars to pass
With his moist wings: and gray-beard Boreas
(As the most boistrous and rebellious slaue)
Is prisoned close in th' Hyper-Borean Caue:
For, Nature now propitious to her End,
To her living Death a helping hand doth lend:
And stopping all those Mouths, doth mildely sted
Her funeralls, her fruitfull birth, and bed:
And Sol himself, glauncing his golden eyes
On th' odoriferous Couch wherein she lies,
Kindles the spice, and by degrees consumes
Th' immortall Phoenix, both her flesh and plumes.
But instantly, out of her ashes springs
A Worm, an Egg then, then a bird with wings,
Iust like the first (rather the same indeed)
Which (re-ingendred of it'sselfly seed)
By noblely dying a new Date begins,
And where she loseth, there her life she wins:
End-less by'r End, eternall by her Toomb;
While, by a prosperous Death, she doth becom
(Among the cinders of her sacred Fire)
Her own selfs Heir, Nurse, Nurseling, Dam, and Sire:
Teaching vs all, in Adam heer to dy,
That we in Christ may liue eternally.

The Phoenix, cutting th' vnfrequented Air,
Forth-with is followed by a thousand pair
Of wings, in th' instant by th' Almighty wrought,
With divers Size, Colour, and Motion fraught.

The sent-strong Swallow sweepeth to and fro,
As swift as shafts fly from a Turkish Bowe,
When (vse and Art and strength confedered)
The skilfull Archer draws them to the head:
Flying she sings, and singing seeketh where
She more with cunning, then with cost, may rear
Her round-front Palace in a place secure,
Whose Plot may serue in rarest Arch'tecture:
Her little beak she loads with brittle straws,
Her wings with Water, and with Earth her claws,
Whereof she Morter makes, and there-with-all
Aptly she builds her semi-circle Wall.

The pretty Lark, climbing the Welkin cleer,
Chaunts with a cheer, Heer, peer-I neer my Deer;
Then stooping thence (seeming her fall to rew)
Adieu (she sayth) adieu, deer Deer, adieu.

The Spink, the Linot, and the Gold-Finch fill
All the fresh Aire with their sweet warbles shrill.

But all This's nothing to the Nightingale,
Breathing, so sweetly from a brest so small,
So many Tunes, whose Harmony excells
Our Voice, our Violls, and all Musick els.
Good Lord! how oft in a green Oken Grove,
In the cool shadow haue I stood, and strove
To marry mine immortall Layes to theirs,
Rapt with delight of their delicious A•ers?
And (yet) methinks, in a thick thorn I hear
A Nightingale to warble sweetly-cleer:
One while she bears the Base, anon the Tenor,
Anon the Trebble, then the Counter-Tenor:
Then, all at once; (as it were) chalenging
The rarest voyces with her self to sing:
Thence thirty steps, amid the leafie Sprayes,
Another Nightingale repeats her Layes,
Iust Note for Note, and adds som Strain atlast,
That she had conned all the Winter past:
The first replyes, and descants there-vpon;
With divine warbles of Division,
Redoubling Quavers; And so (turn by turn).
Alternatly they sing away the Morn:
So that the Conquest in this curious strife
•oth often cost the one her voice and life:
Then, the glad Victor all the rest admire,
And after count her Mistress of the Quire,
At break of Day, in a Delicious song
She sets the Gam-vt to a hundred young:
And, when as, fit for higher Tunes she sees-them,
Then learnedly she harder Lessons gives-them;
Which, strain by strain, they studiously recite,
And follow all their Mistress Rules aright.

The Colchian Pheasant, and the Partridge rare,
The lustfull Sparrow, and the fruitfull Stare,
The chattering Pye, the chastest Turtle-Doue,
The grizel Quoist, the Thrush (that Grapes doth love)
The little Gnat-snap (worthy Princes Boords)
And the green Parrat, fainer of our words,
Wait on the Phoenix, and admire her tunes,
And gaze themselues in her blew-golden plumes.

The ravening Kite, whose train doth well supply
A Rudders place; the Falcon mounting high,
The Marlin, Lanar, and the gentle-Tercell,
Th' Ospray, and Saker, with a nimble sarcell
Follow the Phoenix, from the Clouds (almost)
At once discovering many an vnknow'n Coast.

In the swift Rank of these fell Rovers, flies
The Indian Griffin with the glistring eyes,
Beak Eagle-like, back sable, sanguin brest,
White (Swan-like) wings, fiercetalons, alwaies prest
For bloody battails; for, with these he tears
Boars, Lions, Horses, Tigres, Bulls, and Bears:
With th•se, our Grandams fruitfull panch he pulls,
Whence many an Ingot of pure Gold he culls,
To floor his proud nest, builded strong and steep
On a high Rock, better his thefts to keep:
With these, he guards against an Army bold
The hollow Mines where first he findeth Gold;
As wroth, that men vpon his right should rove,
Or theevish hands vsurp his Tresor-troue.

O! ever may'st thou fight so (valiant Foul)
For this dire bane of our seduced soule;
And (with thee) may the Dardan Ants, so ward
The Gold committed to their carefull Guard,
That hence-forth hope-less, mans frail mind may rest-her
From seeking that, which doth it's Masters master:
O odious poyson! for the which we dive
To Pluto's dark Den: for the which we rive
Our Mother Earth; and, not contented with
Th' abundant gifts she outward offereth,
With sacrilegious Tools we rudely rend-her,
And ransak deeply in her bosom tender,
While vnder ground wee live in hourly fear
When the frail Mines shall over-whelm vs there:
For which, beyond rich Taproban, we roule
Through thousand Seas to seek another Pole;
And, maugre Windes and Waters enmity,
We every Day new vnknow'n Worlds descry:
For which (alas!) the brother sels his brother,
The Sire his Son, the Son his Sire and Mother,
The Man his Wife, the Wife her wedded Pheer,
The Friend his Friend: O! what not sell wee heer,
Sithence to satiat our Gold-thirsty gall,
We sell our selues, our very soules and all?

Neer these, the Crowe his greedy wings displayes,
The long-liv'd Rauen, th' infamous Bird that layes
His bastard Egges within the nests of other,
To have them hatcht by an vnkindely Mother:
The Skritch-Owl, vs'd in falling Towrs to lodge,
Th' vnlucky Night-Raven, and thou lasie Madge
That fearing light, still seekest where to hide,
The hate and scorn of all the Birds beside.

But (gentle Muse) tell me what Fowls are those
That but even-now from flaggy Fenns arose?
'Tis th' hungry Hearn, the greedy Cormorant,
The Coot and Curlew, which the Moors doo haunt,
The nimble Teal, the Mallard strong in flight,
The Di-dapper, the Plover and the Snight:
The silver Swan, that dying singeth best,
And the Kings-Fisher, which so builds her nest
By the Sea-side in midst of Winter Season,
That man (in whom shines the bright Lamp of Reason)
Cannot devise, with all the withe ha's,
Her little building how to raise or raze:
So long as there her quiet Couch she keeps,
Sicilian Sea exceeding calmly sleeps;
For, Aeolus, fearing to drown her brood,
Keeps home the while, and troubles not the Flood.
The Pirat (dwelling alwayes in his Bark)
In's Calender her building Dayes doth mark:
And the rich Marchant resolutely venters,
So soon as th' Halcyon in her brood-bed enters.
Mean-while, the Langa, skimming (as it were)
The Oceans surface, seeketh every where
The hugy Whale; where slipping-in (by Art)
In his vast mouth, shee feeds vpon his hart.

NEW-SPAIN's Cucuio, in his forhead brings
Two burning Lamps, two vnderneath his wings:
Whose shining Rayes serue oft in darkest night,
Th' Imbroderer's hand in royall Works to light:
Th' ingenious Turner, with a wakefull eye,
To polish fair his purest Ivory:
Th' Vsurer, to count his glistring treasures:
The learned Scribe to limn his golden measures.

But note we now, towards the rich Moluques,
Those passing strange and wondrous (birds) Mamuques
(Wond'rous indeed, if Sea, or Earth, or. Sky,
Saw ever wonder, swim, or goe, or fly)
None knowes their nest, none knowes the dam that breeds them:
Food-less they liue; for, th' Airealonely feeds them:
Wing-less they fly; and yet their flight extends,
Till with their flight, their vnknow'n lives-date ends.

The Stork, still eying her deer Thessalie,
The Pelican consorteth cheerfully:
Prayse-worthy Payer; which pure examples yield
Of faithfull Father, and officious Childe.
Th' one quites (in time) her Parents love exceeding,
From whom she had her birth and tender breeding;
Not onely brooding vnder her warm brest
Their age-chill'd bodies bed-rid in the nest;
Nor only bearing them vpon her back
Through th' empty Aire, when their own wings they lack;
But also, sparing (This let Children note)
Her daintiest food from her own hungry throat,
To feed at home her feeble Parents, held
From forraging, with heavy Gyves of Eld.

The other, kindly, for her tender Brood
Tears her own bowells, trilleth-out her blood
To heal her young, and in a wondroussort
Vnto her Children doth her life transport:
For, finding them by som fell Serpent slain,
She rents her brest, and doth vpon them rain
Her vitall humour; whence recouering heat,
They by her death, another life do get:
A Type of Christ, who, sin-thrall'd man to free,
Became a Captive; and on shamefull Tree
(Self-guiltless) shed his blood, by's wounds to save-vs,
And salue the wounds th' old Serpent firstly gave-vs:
And so became, of meer immortall, mortall;
Therby to make, frail mortall Man, immortall.

Thus doo'st thou print (O Parent of this All)
In every brest of brutest Animall
A kinde Instinct, which makes them dread no less
Their Childrens danger, then their own decease;
That so, each Kinde may last immortally,
Though th' Indiuiduum pass successively.
So fights a Lion, not for glory (then)
But for his Deer Whelps taken from his Den
By Hunters fell: He fiercely roareth out,
He wounds, he kills; amid the thickest rout,
He rushes-in dread-less of Spears, and Darts,
Swords, shafts, & staves though hurt in thousand parts;
And, brave-resolved, till his last breath lack
Never gives-over, nor an inch gives-back:
Wrath salves his wounds: and lastly (to conclude)
When, over-layd with might and Multitude,
He needs must dy; dying, he more bemoanes,
Then his own death his Captiue little-Ones.
So, for their young our Masty Currs will fight,
Eagerly bark, bristle their backs, and bite.
So, in the Deep, the Dog-Fish for her Fry
Lucma's throes a thousand times doth try:
For, seeing when the suttle Fisher follows-them,
Again alive into her womb shee swallows-them;
And when the perill's past, she brings them thence,
As from the Cabins of asafe defence;
And (thousandlyues to their deer Parent owing)
As sound as ever in the Seas are rowing.
So doth a Hen make of her wings a Targe
To shield her Chickens that she hath in charge:
And so, the Sparrow with her angry bill
Defends her brood from such as would them ill.

I hear the Crane (if I mistake not) cry;
Who in the Clouds forming the forked Y,
By the brave orders practiz'd vnder her,
Instructeth Souldiers in the art of War.
For, when her Troops of wandring Cranes for sake
Frost-firmed Strymon, and (in Autumn) take
Truce with the Northern Dwarfs, to seek adventure
In Southren Climats for a milder Winter;
Afront each Band a forward Captain flies,
Whose pointed Bill cuts passage through the skies;
Two skilfull Sergeants keep the Ranks aright,
And with theirvoice hasten their tardy Flight;
And when the honey of care-charming sleep
Sweetly begins through all their veins to creep,
One keeps the Watch, and ever carefull-most,
Walks many a Round about the sleeping Hoast,
Still holding in his claw a stony clod,
Whose fall may wake him if he hap to nod:
Another doth as much, athird, afourth,
Vntill, by turns, the Night be turned forth.

There, the fa•r Peacock beautifully brave,
Proud, portly-strouting, stalking, stately-grave,
Wheeling his starry Trayn, in pomp displayes
His glorious eyes to P••bus goldenrayes.
Close by his side stands the courageous Cock.
Crest-peoples King, the Peasants trusty Clock,
True Morning Watch, Aurora's Trumpeter,
The Lyons terror, true Astronomer,
Who dayly riseth when the Sun doth rise,
And when Sol setteth, then to roost he hies.

There, I perceive amid the flowry Plain
The mighty Estridge, striving oftin vain
To mount among the flying multitude
(Although with fethers, not with flight indu'd):
Whose greedy stomack steely gads digests;
Whose crisped train adorns tryumphant crests.

Thou happy Witnes of my happy Watches,
Blush not (my Book) nor think it thee dismatches,
To bear about, vpon thy paper-Tables,
Flies, Butterflies, Gnats, Bees, and all the rabbles
Of other Insects (end-less to rehearse)
Limn'd with the pencill of my various Verse;
Sith These are also His wise Workmanships,
Whose fame did never obscure Work eclipse:
And sith in These he showes vs every howr
More wondrous proofs of his Almighty powr
Then in huge Whales, or hideous Elephants,
Or whatsoever other Monster haunts
In storm-less Seas, raising a storm about,
While in the Sea another Sea they spout.
For, if olde Times admire Callicrates
For Ivory Emmets; and Mermécides
For framing of a rigged Ship, so small
That with her wings a Bee can hide it all
(Though th' Artfull fruits of all their curious pain,
Fit for novse, were but inuentions vain)
Admire we then th' All-wise Omnipotence,
Which doth within so narrow space dispence
So stiff a sting, so stout and valiant hart,
So loud a voyce, so prudent wit and Art.

For, where's the State beneath the Firmament,
That doth excell the Bees for Government?
No, no: bright Phoebus, whose eternall Race
Once every Day about the World doth pase,
Sees heer no City, that in Rites and Laws,
(For Equity) neer to their Iustice draws:
Not That, which flying from the furious Hun,
In th' Adrian. Sea another World begun.
Their well-rul'd State my soule so much admires,
That, durst I loose the Rains of my desires,
I gladly could digress from my designe,
To sing a while their sacred Discipline:
But if, of all, whose skilfull Pencils dare
To counterfait th' Almightie's Models rare,
None yet durst finish that fair Peece, wherein
Learned Apelles drew L•ues wanton Queen;
Shall I presume Hymetus Mount to climbe,
And sing the Bees prayse in mine humble rime?
Which Latian Bards inimitable Prince
Hath warbled twice about the banks of Mince?

Yet may I not that little * Worm pass-by,
Of Flyturn'd Worm, and of a Worm a Fly:
Two births, two deaths, heer Nature hath assign'd-her,
Leaving a Post-hume (dead-live) seed behinde-her,
Which soon transforms the fresh and tender leaves
Of Th•sbes pale Tree, to those slender sleaves
(On ovall clews) of soft, smooth, Silken flakes,
Which more for vs, then for her self, shee makes.
O precious fleece• which onely did adorn
The sacred loyns of Princes heertoforn:
But our proud Age, with prodigall abuse,
Hath so profan'd th' old honorable vse,
That Shifters now, who scarce haue bread to eat,
Disdain plain Silk, vnless it be beset
With one of those deer Metals, whose desire
Burns greedy soules with an immortall fire.

Though last, not least; brave Aegle, no contempt
Made me so long thy story hence exempt
(Nor LESS-E Xtold shall thy true vertues be,
For th' Eyrie's sake that owes my Muse and mee;
Whear Iov's and Iuno's stately Birds be billing.
Their azure Field with fairest Eaglets filling
(Azure they hear three Eaglets Argentine,
A Cheuron Ermin grailed Or between)
WI•t, CHieflie, RICHess, to THem all I Wish
In Earth; in Heav'n th' immortall Crown of Bliss.)
For, well I knowe, thou holdest (worthily)
That place among the Aëry flocks that fly,
As doth the Dragon or the Cocatrice
Among the bancfull Creeping companies:
The noble Lion among savage Beasts:
And gentle Dolphin 'mong the Dyving guests.
I knowe thy course; I knowe, thy constant sight
Can fixly gaze against Heav'ns greatest Light.
But, as the Phoenix on my Front doth glister,
Thou shalt the Finials of my Frame illustre.

On Thracian shoar of the same stormy stream,
Which did inherit both the bones and name
Of Phryxus Sister (and not far from thence
Whear love-blind Heros hap-less diligence,
In steed of Loves lamp, lighted Deaths cold brand,
To waft Leanders naked limbs to land)
There dwelt a Maid, as noble, and as rich,
As fair as Hero, but more chaste by much:
For, her steel brest still blunted all the Darts
Of Paphos Archer, and eschew'd his Arts.

One day, this Damsell through a Forest thick
Hunting among her Friends (that sport did seek)
Vpon a steep Rocks thorny-thrummed top
(Whear, one (almost) would fear to clamber vp)
Two tender Aeglets in a nest espies,
Which 'gainst the Sun s•te trying of their eyes;
Whose callow backs and bodies round about
With soft short quils began to bristle out;
Who yawning wide, with empty gorge did gape
For wonted fees out of their Parents rape.
Of these two Fowls the fairest vp she takes
Into her bosom, and great haste she makes
Down from the Rock, and shiuering yet for fear
Tripps home as fast as her light feet can bear:
Even as a Wolf, that hunting for a pray,
And having stoln (at last) som Lamb away;
Flies with down-hanging head, and leereth back
Whether the Mas•y doo pursue his track.

In time, this Aegle was so throughly mann'd,
That from the Quarry, to her Mistress hand
At the first call't would com; and faun vpon-her,
And bill and bow, in signe of love and honour:
On th' other side, the Maiden makes as much
Of her deer Bird; stroking with gentletouch
Her wings and train, and with a want on voice
It want only doth cherish and reioyce:
And (prety-fondling) she doth prize it higher
Then her own beauties; which all else admire.

But (as fell Fates mingle our single ioyes,
With bitter gall of infinit annoyes)
An extream Fever vext the Virgins bones
(By one disease to cause two deaths at once)
Consum'd her flesh, and wanly did displace
The Rose-mixt-Lillies in her lovely face.
Then far'd the Foul and Fairest both a-like;
Both like tormented, both like shivering sick:
So that, to note their passions, one would gather
That Lachesis spun both their lives together.
But oft the Aeagle, striving with her Fitt,
Would fly abroad to seek som dainty bitt,
For her deer Mistress. and with nimble wing,
Som Rail, or Quail, or Partridge would she bring;
Paying with food, the food receiv'd so oft,
From those fair, Ivory, Virgin-fingers soft,
During her nonage, yer she durst essay
To cleave the sky, and for herself to prey.
The Fever now with spitefull fitts had spent
The blood and marrow of this Innocent,
And Life resign'd to cruell Death her Right;
Who three dayes after doth the Eagle cite.

The fearfull Hare durst now frequent the Down;
And round about the Walles of Hero's Town,
The Tercel-gentle, and swift Falcon flew,
Dread-less of th' Aegle that so well they knew:
For shee (alas) lies on her Ladies bed,
Still-sadly mourning; though a-live, yet dead:
For, O! how should she live, sith Fatall knife
Hath cut the threed of her lives deerest life?

O're the deer Corps somtimes her wings she hovers,
Somtimes the dead brest with her brest she covers,
Somtimes her neck doth the pale neck embrace,
Somtimes she kisses the cold lips and face;
And with sad murmurs she lamenteth so,
That her strange moan augments the Parents wo.

Thrice had bright Phoebus daily Chariot run
Past the proud Pillars of Aicmaenas son,
Since the fair Virgin past the fatall Ferry
Whear (lastly) Mortals leaue their burthens weary;
And yet this doleful Bird, drown'd in her tears,
All comfort-les, Rest and Repast forbears:
So much (alas!) shee seemeth to contend,
Her life and sorrows both at once to end.

But lastly, finding all these means too-weak,
The quick dispatch, that she did wish, to wreak;
With ire and anguish both at once enraged,
Vnnaturally her proper brest she gaged,
And tears her bowells, storming bitterly
That all these deaths could yet not make her dy.
But, lo the while, about the lightsom door
Of th' hap-les house, a mournfull troop, that bore
Black on their back, and Tapers in their fists,
Tears on their cheeks, and sorrow in their brests;
Who, taking vp the sacred Load (at last)
Whose happy soule already Heav'n embra'çt;
With shrill, sad cries, march toward the fatall Pile
With solemn pase: The silly Bird, the while,
Following far-off, her bloody entrails trails,
Honoring with conuoy, two sad Funerals.
No sooner had the Ceremonious Flame
Embraç't the Body of her tender Dame,
But sodainly, distilling all with blood,
Down soust the Eagle on the blazing wood:
Nor boots the Flamine, with his sacred wand
A hundred times to beat her from her stand;
For, to the midst still of the Pyle she plies;
And, singing sweet her Ladies Obsequies,
There burns herself: and blendeth happily
Her bones with hers she lov'd so tenderly.

O happy Payr! vpon your sable Toomb,
May Mel and Manna euer showring come;
May sweetest Myrtles ever shade your Herse,
And evermore live you within my Verse.

So Morn and Euening the Fift Day conclude,
And God perceiv'd that All his Works were good.