AUTHOR John Milton

TITLE

RHYME a b a b b c c

This is the Month, and this the happy morn
Wherin the Son of Heav'ns eternal King,
Of wedded Maid, and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For so the holy sages once did sing,
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

RHYME a b a b b c c

That glorious Form, that Light unsufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of Majesty,
Wherwith he wont at Heav'ns high Councel-Table,                      
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside; and here with us to be,
Forsook the Courts of everlasting Day,
And chose with us a darksom House of mortal Clay.

RHYME a b a b b c c

Say Heav'nly Muse, shall not thy sacred vein
Afford a present to the Infant God?
Hast thou no vers, no hymn, or solemn strein,
To welcom him to this his new abode,
Now while the Heav'n by the Suns team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approching light,                          
And all the spangled host keep watch in squadrons bright?

RHYME a b a b b c c

See how from far upon the Eastern rode
The Star-led Wisards haste with odours sweet,
O run,  prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his blessed feet;
Have thou the honour first, thy Lord to greet,
And joyn thy voice unto the Angel Quire,
From out his secret Altar toucht with hallow'd fire.

TITLE

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

IT was the Winter wilde,
While the Heav'n-born-childe,                                        
All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies;
Nature in aw to him
Had doff't her gawdy trim,
With her great Master so to sympathize:
It was no season then for her
To wanton with the Sun her lusty Paramour.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Only with speeches fair
She woo'd the gentle Air
To hide her guilty front with innocent Snow,
And on her naked shame,                                              
Pollute with sinfull blame,
The Saintly Vail of Maiden white to throw,
Confounded, that her Makers eyes
Should look so near upon her foul deformities.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

But he her fears to cease,
Sent down the meek-eyd Peace,
She crown'd with Olive green, came softly sliding
Down through the turning sphear
His ready Harbinger,
With Turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing,                        
And waving wide her mirtle wand,
She strikes a universall Peace through Sea and Land.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

No War, or Battails sound
Was heard the World around,
The idle spear and shield were high up hung;
The hooked Chariot stood
Unstain'd with hostile blood,
The Trumpet spake not to the armed throng,
And Kings sate still with awfull eye,
As if they surely knew their sovran Lord was by.                     

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

But peacefull was the night
Wherin the Prince of light
His raign of peace upon the earth began:
The Windes with wonder whist,
Smoothly the waters kist,
Whispering new joyes to the milde Ocean,
Who now hath quite forgot to rave,
While Birds of Calm sit brooding on the charmed wave.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

The Stars with deep amaze
Stand fit in steadfast gaze,                                         
Bending one way their pretious influence,
And will not take their flight,
For all the morning light,
Or Lucifer that often warned them thence;
But in their glimmering Orbs did glow,
Until their Lord himself bespake, and bid them go.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

And though the shady gloom
Had given day her room,
The Sun himself with-held his wonted speed,
And hid his head for shame,                                          
As his inferior flame,
The new enlightened world no more should need;
He saw a greater Sun appear
Then his bright Throne, or burning Axletree could bear.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

The Shepherds on the Lawn,
Or ere the point of dawn,
Sate simply chatting in a rustic row;
Full little thought they than,
That the mighty Pan
Was kindly com to live with them below;                              
Perhaps their loves, or els their sheep,
Was all that did their silly thoughts so busie keep.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

When such Musick sweet
Their hearts and ears did greet,
As never was by mortal finger strook,
Divinely-warbled voice
Answering the stringed noise,
As all their souls in blisfull rapture took:
The Air such pleasure loth to lose,
With  thousand echo's still prolongs each heav'nly close.           

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Nature that heard such  sound
Beneath  the hollow round
of Cynthia's seat the Airy region thrilling,
Now was almost won
To think her part was don
And that her raign had here its last fulfilling;
She knew such harmony alone
Could hold all Heav'n and Earth in happier union.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

At last surrounds their sight
A globe of circular light,                                          
That with long beams the shame faced night arrayed
The helmed Cherubim
And sworded Seraphim,
Are seen in glittering ranks with wings displaid,
Harping in loud and solemn quire,
With unexpressive notes to Heav'ns new-born Heir.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Such Musick (as 'tis said)
Before was never made,
But when of old the sons of morning sung,
While the Creator Great
His constellations set,                                             
And the well-ballanc't world on hinges hung,
And cast the dark foundations deep,
And bid the weltring waves their oozy channel keep.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Ring out ye Crystall sphears,
Once bless our human ears,
(If ye have power to touch our senses so)
And let your silver chime
Move in melodious time;
And let the Base of Heav'ns deep Organ blow,                        
And with your ninefold harmony
Make up full consort to th'Angelike symphony.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

For if such holy Song
Enwrap our fancy long,
Time will run back, and fetch the age of gold,
And speckl'd vanity
Will sicken soon and die,
And leprous sin will melt from earthly mould,
And Hell it self will pass away
And leave her dolorous mansions to the peering day.                 

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Yea Truth, and Justice then
Will down return to men,
Th'enameld Arras of the Rain-bow wearing,
And Mercy set between
Thron'd in Celestiall sheen,
With radiant feet the tissued clouds down stearing,
And Heav'n as at som festivall,
Will open wide the gates of her high Palace Hall.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

But wisest Fate sayes  no,
This must not yet be so,                                            
The Babe lies yet in smiling Infancy,
That on the bitter cross
Must redeem our loss;
So both himself and us to glorifie:
Yet first to those ychain'd in sleep,
The Wakeful trump of doom must thunder through the deep,

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

With such a horrid clang
As on Mount Sinai rang
While the red fire, and smouldring clouds out brake:
The aged Earth agast                                                
With terrour of that blast,
Shall from the surface to the center shake;
When at the worlds last session,
The dreadfull Judge in middle Air shall spread his throne.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

And then at last  our bliss
Full and perfect is,
But now begins; for from this happy day
Th'old Dragon under ground
In straiter limits bound,
Not half so far casts his usurped sway,                             
And wrath to see his Kingdom fail,
Swindges the scaly Horrour of his foulded tail.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

The Oracles are dumm,
No voice or hideous humm
Runs through the arched roof in words deceiving.
Apollo from his shrine
Can no more divine,
With hollow shreik the steep of Delphos leaving.
No nightly trance, or breathed spell,
Inspire's the pale-ey'd Priest from the prophetic cell.             

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

The lonely mountains o're,
And the resounding shore,
A voice of weeping heard, and loud lament;
>From haunted spring, and dale
Edg'd with poplar pale
The parting Genius is with sighing sent,
With flowre-inwov'n tresses torn
The Nimphs in twilight shade of tangled thickets mourn.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

In consecrated Earth,
And on the holy Hearth,                                             
The Lars, and Lemures moan with midnight plaint,
In Urns, and Altars round,
A drear, and dying sound
Affrights the Flamins at their service quaint;
And the chill Marble seems to sweat,
While each peculiar power forgoes his wonted seat.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

Peor, and Baalim,
Forsake their Temples dim,
With that twise-batter'd god of Palestine,
And mooned Ashtaroth,                                               
Heav'ns Queen and Mother both,
Now sits not girt with Tapers holy shine,
The Libyc Hammon shrinks his horn,
In vain the Tyrian Maids their wounded Thamuz mourn.

RHYME a a b c c b d d 

And sullen Moloch fled,
Hath left in shadows dred,
His burning Idol all of blackest hue,
In vain with Cymbals ring,
They call the grisly king,
In dismall dance about the furnace Blue;                            
And Brutish gods of Nile as fast,
lsis and Orus, and the Dog Anubis hast.

TITLE 

RHYME a b a b b c c

ERE-while of Musick, and Ethereal mirth,
Wherwith the stage of Ayr and Earth did ring,
And joyous news of heav'nly Infants birth,
My muse with Angels did divide to sing;
But headlong joy is ever on the wing,
In Wintry solstice like the shortn'd light
Soon swallow'd up in dark and long out-living night.

RHYME a b a b b c c

For now to sorrow must I tune my song,
And set my Harpe to notes of saddest wo,
Which on our dearest Lord did sease er'e long,
Dangers, and snares, and wrongs, and worse then so,                  
Which he for us did freely undergo.
Most perfect Heroe, try'd in heaviest plight
Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight.

RHYME a b a b b c c

He sov'ran Priest stooping his regall head
That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes,
Poor fleshly Tabernacle entered,
His starry front low-rooft beneath the skies;
O what a Mask was there, what a disguise!
Yet more; the stroke of death he must abide,                         
Then lies him meekly down fast by his Brethrens side.

RHYME a b a b b c c

These latter scenes confine my roving vers,
To this Horizon is my Phoebus bound,
His Godlike acts, and his temptations fierce,
And former sufferings other where are found;
Loud o're the rest Cremona's Trump doth sound;
Me softer airs befit, and softer strings
Of Lute, or Viol still, more apt for mournful things.

RHYME a b a b b c c

Befriend me night best Patroness of grief,
Over the Pole thy thickest mantle throw,                             
And work my flatterd fancy to belief,
That Heav'n and Earth are colour'd with my wo;
My sorrows are too dark for day to know:
The leaves should all be black wheron I write,
And letters where my tears have washt a wannish white.

RHYME a b a b b c c

See see the Chariot, and those rushing wheels,
That whirl'd the Prophet up at Chebar flood,
My spirit som transporting Cherub feels,
To bear me where the Towers of Salem stood,
Once glorious Towers, now sunk in guiltles blood;                    
There doth my soul in holy vision sit
In pensive trance, and anguish, and ecstatick fit.

RHYME a b a b b c c

Mine eye hath found that sad Sepulchral rock
That was the Casket of Heav'ns richest store,
And here though grief my feeble hands up-lock,
Yet on the softned Quarry would I score
My plaining vers as lively as before;
For sure so well instructed are my tears,
They would fitly fall in order'd Characters.

RHYME a b a b b c c

I thence hurried on viewles wing,                                    
Take up a weeping on the Mountains wilde,
The gentle neighbourhood of grove and spring
Would soon unboosom all their Echoes milde,
And I (for grief is easily beguild)
Might think th'infection of my sorrows bound,
Had got a race of mourners on som pregnant cloud.

TITLE 

RHYME a a *

THIS rich Marble doth enterr
The honour'd Wife of Winchester,
A Vicounts daughter, an Earls heir,
Besides what her vertues fair
Added to her noble birth,
More then she could own from Earth.
Summers three times eight save one
She had told, alas too soon,
After so short time of breath,
To house with darknes, and with death.                               
Yet had the number of her days
Bin as compleat as was her praise,
Nature and fate had had no strife
In giving limit to her life.
Her high birth, and her graces sweet,
Quickly found a lover meet;
The Virgin quire for her request
The God that sits at marriage feast;
He at their invoking came
But with a scarce-wel-lighted flame;                                 
And in his Garland as he stood,
Ye might discern a Cipress bud.
Once had the early Matrons run
To greet her of a lovely son,
And now with second hope she goes,
And calls Lucina to her throws;
But whether by mischance or blame
Atropos for Lucina came;
And with remorsles cruelty,
Spoil'd at once both fruit and tree:                                 
The haples Babe before his birth
Had burial, yet not laid in earth,
And the languisht Mothers Womb
Was not long a living Tomb.
So have I seen som tender slip
Sav'd with care from Winters nip,
The pride of her carnation train,
Pluck't up by som unheedy swain,
Who onely thought to crop the flowr
New shot up from vernall showr;                                      
But the fair blossom hangs the head
Side-ways as on a dying bed,
And those Pearls of dew she wears,
Prove to be presaging tears
Which the sad morn had let fall
On her hast'ning funerall.
Gentle Lady may thy grave
Peace and quiet ever have;
After this thy travail sore
Sweet rest sease thee evermore,                                      
That to give the world encrease,
Shortned hast thy own lives lease;
Here besides the sorrowing
That thy noble House doth bring,
Here be tears of perfect moan
Weept for thee in Helicon,
And som Flowers, and som Bays,
For thy Hears to strew the ways,
Sent thee from the banks of Came,
Devoted to thy vertuous name;                                        
Whilst thou bright Saint high sit'st in glory,
Next her much like to thee in story,
That fair Syrian Shepherdess,
Who after yeers of barrennes,
The highly favour'd Joseph bore
To him that serv'd for her before,
And at her next birth much like thee,
Through pangs fled to felicity,
Far within the boosom bright
of blazing Majesty and Light,                                        
There with thee, new welcom Saint,
Like fortunes may her soul acquaint,
With thee there clad in radiant sheen,
No Marchioness, but now a Queen.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

WHAT needs my Shakespear for his honour'd Bones,
The labour of an age in piled Stones,
Or that his hallow'd reliques should be hid
Under a Star-ypointing Pyramid?
Dear son of memory, great heir of Fame,
What need'st thou such weak witnes of thy name?
Thou in our wonder and astonishment
Hast built thy self a live-long Monument.
For whilst to th'sharne of slow-endeavouring art,
Thy easie numbers flow, and that each heart                          
Hath from the Leaves of thy unvalu'd Book,
Those Delphick lines with deep impression took,
Then thou our fancy of it self bereaving,
Dost make us Marble with too much conceaving;
And so Sepulcher'd in such pomp dost lie,
That Kings for such a Tomb would wish to die.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

HERE lies old Hobson, Death hath broke his girt,
And here alas, hath laid him in the dirt,
Or els the ways being foul, twenty to one,
He's here stuck in a slough, and overthrown.
'Twas such a shifter, that if truth were known,
Death was half glad when he had got him down;
For he had any time this ten yeers full,
Dodg'd with him, betwixt Cambridge and the Bull.
And surely, Death could never have prevail'd,
Had not his weekly cours of carriage fail'd;                         
But lately finding him so long at home,
And thinking now his journeys end was come,
And that he had tane up his latest Inne,
In the kind office of a Chamberlin
Shew'd him his room where he must lodge that night,
Pull'd off his Boots, and took away the light:
If any ask for him, it shall be sed,
Hobson has supt, and 's newly gon to bed.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

HERE lieth one who did most truly prove,
That he could never die while he could move,
So hung his destiny never to rot
While he might still jogg on, and keep his trot,
Made of sphear-metal, never to decay
Untill his revolution was at stay.
Time numbers motion, yet (without a crime
'Gainst old truth) motion number'd out his time:
And like an Engin mov'd with wheel and waight,
His principles being ceast, he ended strait.                         
Rest that gives all men life, gave him his death,
And too much breathing put him out of breath;
Nor were it contradiction to affirm
Too long vacation hastned on his term.
Meerly to drive the time away he sickn'd,
Fainted, and died, nor would with Ale be quickn'd;
Nay, quoth he, on his swooning bed out-stretch'd,
If I may not carry, sure Ile ne're be fetch'd,
But vow though the cross Doctors all stood hearers,
For one Carrier put down to make six bearers.                        
Ease was his chief disease, and to judge right,
He di'd for heavines that his Cart went light,
His leasure told him that his time was com,
And lack of load, made his life burdensom
That even to his last breath (ther be that say't)
As he were prest to death, he cry'd more waight;
But had his doings lasted as they were,
He had bin an immortall Carrier.
Obedient to the Moon he spent his date
In cours reciprocal, and had his fate                                
Linkt to the mutual flowing of the Seas,
Yet (strange to think) his wain was his increase:
His Letters are deliver'd all and gon,
Onely remains this superscription.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

Where brooding darknes spreads his jealous wings,
And the night-Raven sings;
There under Ebon shades and low-brow'd Rocks,
As ragged as thy Locks,
But com thou Goddes fair and free,
In Heav'n ycleap'd Euphrosyne,
And by men, heart-easing Mirth,
Whom lovely Venus at a birth
With two sister Graces more
To Ivy-crowned Bacchus bore;
Or whether (as som Sager sing)
The frolick Wind that breathes the Spring,
Zephir with Aurora playing,
As he met her once a Maying,                                         
There on Beds of Violets blew,
And fresh-blown Roses washt in dew,
Fill'd her with thee a daughter fair,
So bucksom, blith, and debonair.
Haste thee nymph, and bring with thee
Jest and youthful Jollity,
Quips and Cranks, and wanton Wiles,
Nods, and Becks, and Wreathed Smiles,
Such as hang on Hebe's cheek,
And love to live in dimple sleek;                                    
Sport that wrincled Care derides,
And Laughter holding both his sides.
Com, and trip it as ye go
On the light fantastick toe,
And in thy right hand lead with thee,
The Mountain Nymph, sweet Liberty;
And if I give thee honour due,
Mirth, admit me of thy crue
To live with her, and live with thee,
In unreproved pleasures free;                                        
To hear the Lark begin his flight,
And singing startle the dull night,
>From his watch-towre in the skies,
Till the dappled dawn doth rise;
Then to com in spight of sorrow,
And at my window bid good morrow,
Through the Sweet-Briar, or the Vine,
Or the twisted Eglantine.
While the Cock with lively din,
Scatters the rear of darknes thin,                                   
And to the stack, or the Barn dore,
Stoutly struts his Dames before,
Oft list'ning how the Hounds and horn
Chearly rouse the slumbring morn,
>From the side of som Hoar Hill,
Through the high wood echoing shrill.
Som time walking not unseen
By Hedge-row Elms, on Hillocks green,
Right against the Eastern gate,
Wher the great Sun begins his state,                                 
Rob'd in flames, and Amber light,
The clouds in thousand Liveries dight.
While the Plowman neer at hand,
Whistles ore the Furrow'd Land,
And the Milkmaid singeth blithe,
And the Mower whets his sithe,
And every Shepherd tells his tale
Under the Hawthorn in the dale.
Streit mine eye hath caught new pleasures
Whilst the Lantskip round it measures,                               
Russet Lawns, and Fallows Gray,
Where the nibling flocks do stray,
Mountains on whose barren brest
The labouring clouds do often rest:
Meadows trim with Daisies pide,
Shallow Brooks, and Rivers wide.
Towers, and Battlements it sees
Boosom'd high in tufted Trees,
Wher perhaps som beauty lies,
The Cynosure of neighbouring eyes.                                   
Hard by, a Cottage chimney smokes,
>From betwixt two aged Okes,
Where Corydon and Thyrsis met,
Are at their savory dinner set
Of Hearbs, and other Country Messes,
Which the neat-handed Phillis dresses;
And then in haste her Bowre she leaves,
With Thestylis to bind the Sheaves;
Or if the earlier season lead
To the tann'd Haycock in the Mead,                                   
Som times with secure delight
The up-land Hamlets will invite,
When the merry Bells ring round,
And the jocond rebecks sound
To many a youth, and many a maid,
Dancing in the Chequer'd shade;
And young and old com forth to play
On a Sunshine Holyday,
Till the live-long day-light fail,
Then to the Spicy Nut-brown Ale,                                    
With stories told of many a feat,
How Faery Mab the junkets eat,
She was pincht, and pull'd she sed,
And he by Friars Lanthorn led
Tells how the drudging Goblin swet,
To ern his Cream-bowle duly set,
When in one night, ere glimps of morn,
His shadowy Flale hath thresh'd the Corn
That ten day-labourers could not end,
Then lies him down the Lubbar Fend.                                 
And stretch'd out all the Chimney's length,
Basks at the fire his hairy strength;
And Crop-full out of dores he flings,
Ere the first Cock his Mattin rings.
Thus don the Tales, to bed they creep,
By whispering Windes soon lull'd asleep.
Towred Cities please us then,
And the busie humm of men,
Where throngs of Knights and Barons bold,
In weeds of Peace high triumphs hold,                               
With store of Ladies, whose bright eies
Rain influence, and judge the prise
Of Wit, or Arms, while both contend
To win her Grace, whom all commend.
There let Hymen oft appear
In Saffron robe, with Taper clear,
And pomp, and feast, and revelry,
With mask, and antique Pageantry,
Such sights as youthfull Poets dream
On Summer eeves by haunted stream.                                  
Then to the well-trod stage anon,
If Jonsons learned Sock be on,
Or sweetest Shakespear fancies childe,
Warble his native Wood-notes wilde,
And ever against eating Cares,
Lap me in soft Lydian Aires,
Married to immortal verse
Such as the meeting soul may pierce
In notes, with many a winding bout
Of lincked sweetnes long drawn out,                                 
With wanton heed, and giddy cunning,
The melting voice through mazes running;
Untwisting all the chains that ty
The hidden soul of harmony.
That Orpheus self may heave his head
From golden slumber on a bed
Of heapt Elysian flowres, and hear
Such streins as would have won the ear
Of Pluto, to have quite set free
His half regain'd Eurydice.                                         

TITLE

RHYME a a *

These delights, if thou canst give,
Mirth with thee, I mean to live.
And fancies fond with gaudy shapes possess,
As thick and numberless
As the gay motes that people the Sun Beams,
Or likest hovering dreams
But hail thou Goddess, sage and holy,
Hail divinest Melancholy
Whose Saintly visage is too bright
To hit the Sense of human sight;
And therefore to our weaker view,
Ore laid with black staid Wisdoms hue.
Black, but such as in esteem,
Prince Memnons sister might beseem,
Or that Starr'd Ethiope Queen that strove
To set her beauties praise above                                     
The Sea Nymphs, and their powers offended.
Yet thou art higher far descended,
Thee bright-hair'd Vesta long of yore,
To solitary Saturn bore;
His daughter she (in Saturns raign,
Such mixture was not held a stain)
Oft in glimmering Bowres, and glades
He met her, and in secret shades
Of woody Ida's inmost grove,
While yet there was no fear of Jove.                                 
Com pensive Nun, devout and pure,
Sober, stedfast, and demure,
All in a robe of darkest grain,
Flowing with majestick train,
And sable stole of Cipres Lawn,
Over thy decent shoulders drawn.
Com, but keep thy wonted state,
With eev'n step, and musing gate,
And looks commercing with the skies,
Thy rapt soul sitting in thine eyes:                                 
There held in holy passion still,
Forget thy self to Marble, till
With a sad Leaden downward cast,
Thou fix them on the earth as fast.
And joyn with thee calm Peace, and Quiet,
Spare Fast, that oft with gods doth diet,
And hears the Muses in a ring,
Ay round about Joves Altar sing.
And adde to these retired Leasure,
That in trim Gardens takes his pleasure;                             
But first, and chiefest, with thee bring,
Him that yon soars on golden wing,
Guiding the fiery-wheeled throne,
The Cherub Contemplation,
And the mute Silence hist along,
'Less Philomel will daign a Song,
In her sweetest, saddest plight,
Smoothing the rugged brow of night,
While Cynthia checks her Dragon yoke,
Gently o're th'accustom'd Oke;                                       
Sweet Bird that shunn'st the noise of folly
Most musical!, most melancholy!
Thee Chauntress oft the Woods among
I woo to hear thy eeven-Song;
And missing thee, I walk unseen
On the dry smooth-shaven Green,
To behold the wandring Moon,
Riding neer her highest noon,
Like one that had bin led astray
Through the Heav'ns wide pathles way;                                
And oft, as if her head she bow'd,
Stooping through a fleecy cloud.
Oft on a Plat of rising ground,
I hear the far-off Curfeu sound,
Over som wide-water'd shoar,
Swinging slow with sullen roar;
Or if the Ayr will not permit,
Som still removed place will fit,
Where glowing Embers through the room
Teach light to counterfeit a gloom                                   
Far from all resort of mirth,
Save the Cricket on the hearth,
Or the Belmans drowsie charm,
To bless the dores from nightly harm:
Or let my Lamp at midnight hour,
Be seen in som high lonely Towr,
Where I may oft out-watch the Bear,
With thrice great Hermes, or unsphear
The spirit of Plato to unfold
What Worlds, or what vast Regions hold                               
The immortal mind that hath forsook
Her mansion in this fleshly nook:
And of those Daemons that are found
In fire, air, flood, or under ground,
Whose power hath a true consent
With planet or with Element.
Som time let Gorgeous Tragedy
In Scepter'd Pall com sweeping by,
Presenting Thebs, or Pelops line,
Or the tale of Troy divine.                                         
Or what (though rare) of later age,
Ennobled hath the Buskind stage.
But, O sad Virgin, that thy power
Might raise Musaeus from his bower,
Or bid the soul of Orpheus sing
Such notes as warbled to the string,
Drew Iron tears down Pluto's cheek,
And made Hell grant what Love did seek.
Or call up him that left half told
The story of Cambuscan bold,                                        
Of Camball, and of Algarsife,
And who had Canace to wife,
That own'd the vertuous Ring and Glass,
And of the wondrous Hors of Brass,
On which the Tartar King did ride;
And if ought els, great Bards beside,
In sage and solemn tunes have sung,
Of Turneys and of Trophies hung;
Of Forests, and inchantments drear,
Where more is meant then meets the ear.                             
Thus night oft see me in thy pale career,
Till civil-suited Morn appeer,
Not trickt and frounc't as she was wont,
With the Attick Boy to hunt,
But Cherchef't in a comly Cloud,
While rocking Winds are Piping loud,
Or usher'd with a shower still,
When the gust hath blown his fill,
Ending on the russling Leaves,
With minute drops from off the Eaves.                               
And when the Sun begins to fling
His flaring beams, me Goddes bring
To arched walks of twilight groves,
And shadows brown that Sylvan loves
Of Pine, or monumental Oake,
Where the rude Ax with heaved stroke,
Was never heard the Nymphs to daunt,
Or fright them from their hallow'd haunt.
There in close covert by som Brook,
Where no profaner eye may look,                                     
Hide me from Day's garish eie,
While the Bee with Honied thie,
That at her flowry work doth sing,
And the Waters murmuring
With such consort as they keep,
Entice the dewy-feather'd Sleep;
And let som strange mysterious dream,
Wave at his Wings in Airy stream,
Of lively portrature display'd,
Softly on my eye-lids laid.                                         
And as I wake, sweet musick breath
Above, about, or underneath,
Sent by som spirit to mortals good,
Or th'unseen Genius of the Wood.
But let my due feet never fail,
To walk the studious Cloysters pale,
And love the high embowed Roof
With antick Pillars massy proof,
And storied Windows richly dight,
Casting a dimm religious light.                                     
There let the pealing Organ blow,
To the full voic'd Quire below,
In Service high, and Anthems cleer,
As may with sweetnes, through mine ear,
Dissolve me into extasies,
And bring all Heav'n before mine eyes.
And may at last my weary age
Find out the peacefull hermitage,
The Hairy Gown and Mossy Cell,
Where I may sit and rightly spell                                   
Of every Star that Heav'n doth shew,
And every Herb that sips the dew;
Till old  experience do attain
To somthing like prophetic strain.
These pleasures Melancholy give,
And I with thee will choose to live.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

GEN. Stay gentle Swains, for though in this disguise,
I see bright honour sparkle through your eyes,
Of famous Arcady ye are, and sprung
Of that renowned flood, so often sung,
Divine Alpheus, who by secret sluse,                                 
Stole under Seas to meet his Arethuse;
And ye the breathing Roses of the Wood,
Fair silver-buskind Nymphs as great and good,
I know this quest of yours, and free intent
Was all in honour and devotion ment
To the great Mistres of yon princely shrine,
Whom with low reverence I adore as mine,
And with all helpful service will comply
To further this nights glad solemnity;
And lead ye where ye may more neer behold                            
What shallow-searching Fame hath left untold;
Which I full oft amidst these shades alone
Have sate to wonder at, and gaze upon:
For know by lot from Jove I am the powr
Of this fair wood, and live in Oak'n bowr,
To nurse the Saplings tall, and curl the grove
With Ringlets quaint, and wanton windings wove.
And all my Plants I save from nightly ill,
Of noisom winds, and blasting vapours chill.
And from the Boughs brush off the evil dew,                          
And heal the harms of thwarting thunder blew,
Or what the cross dire-looking Planet smites,
Or hurtfull Worm with canker'd venom bites.
When Eev'ning gray doth rise, I fetch my round
Over the mount, and all this hallow'd ground,
And early ere the odorous breath of morn
Awakes the slumbring leaves, or tasseld horn
Shakes the high thicket, haste I all about,
Number my ranks, and visit every sprout
With puissant words, and murmurs made to bless,                      
But els in deep of night when drowsines
Hath lockt up mortal sense, then listen I
To the celestial Sirens harmony,
That sit upon the nine enfolded Sphears,
And sing to those that hold the vital shears,
And turn the Adamantine spindle round,
On which the fate of gods and men is wound.
Such sweet compulsion doth in musick ly,
To lull the daughters of Necessity,
And keep unsteddy Nature to her law,                                 
And the low world in measur'd motion draw
After the heavenly tune, which none can hear
Of human mould with grosse unpurged ear;
And yet such musick worthiest were to blaze
The peerles height of her immortal praise,
Whose lustre leads us, and for her most fit,
If my inferior hand or voice could hit
Inimitable sounds, yet as we go,
What ere the skill of lesser gods can show,
I will assay, her worth to celebrate,                                
And so attend ye toward her glittering state;
Where ye may all that are of noble stemm
Approach, and kiss her sacred vestures hemm.

RHYME a a *

O're the smooth enameld green
Where no print of step hath been,
Follow me as I sing,
And touch the warbled string.
Under the shady roof
Of branching Elm Star-proof,
Follow me,                                                           
I will bring you where she sits
Clad in splendor as befits
Her deity.
Such a rural Queen
All Arcadia hath not seen.

RHYME a a *

Nymphs and Shepherds dance no more
By sandy Ladons Lillied banks.
On old Lycaeus or Cyllene hoar,
Trip no more in twilight ranks,
Though Erynanth your loss deplore,                                  
A better soyl shall give ye thanks.
>From the stony Maenalus,
Bring your Flocks, and live with us,
Here ye shall have greater grace,
To serve the Lady of this place.
Though Syrinx your Pans Mistres were,
Yet Syrinx well might wait on her.
Such a rural Queen
All Arcadia hath not seen.

RHYME a a *

Listen and appear to us
In name of great Oceanus,
By the earth-shaking Neptune's mace,
And Tethys grave majestick pace,                                    
By hoary Nereus wrincled look,
And the Carpathian wisards hook,
By scaly Tritons winding shell,
And old sooth-saying Glaucus spell,
By Leucothea's lovely hands,
And her son that rules the strands,
By Thetis tinsel-slipper'd feet,
And the Songs of Sirens sweet,
By dead Parthenope's dear tomb,
And fair Ligea's golden comb,                                       
Wherwith she sits on diamond rocks
Sleeking her soft alluring locks,
By all the Nymphs that nightly dance
Upon thy streams with wily glance,
Rise, rise, and heave thy rosie head
>From thy coral-pav'n bed,
And bridle in thy headlong wave,
Till thou our summons answered have.

RHYME a a b c c b

Sab: By the rushy-fringed bank,                                     
Where grows the Willow and the Osier dank,
My sliding Chariot stayes,
Thick set with Agat, and the azurn sheen
Of Turkis blew, and Emrauld green
That in the channell strayes,

RHYME a a *

Whilst from off the waters fleet
Thus I set my printless feet
O're the Cowslips Velvet head,
That bends not as I tread,
Com Lady while Heaven lends us grace,
Let us fly this cursed place,
Lest the Sorcerer us intice                                         
With som other new device.
Not a waste, or needless sound
Till we com to holier ground,
I shall be your faithfull guide
Through this gloomy covert wide,
And not many furlongs thence
Is your Fathers residence,
Where this night are met in state
Many a friend to gratulate
His wish't presence, and beside                                     
All the Swains that there abide,
With Jiggs, and rural dance resort,
We shall catch them at their sport,
And our sudden coming there
Will double all their mirth and chere;
Com let us haste, the Stars grow high,
But night sits monarch yet in the mid sky.

RHYME a a *

Spir: Back Shepherds, back, anough your play,
Till next Sun-shine holiday,
Here be without duck or nod                                         
Other trippings to be trod
Of lighter toes, and such Court guise
As Mercury did first devise
With the mincing Dryades
On the Lawns, and on the Leas.

RHYME a a *

Noble Lord, and Lady bright,
I have brought ye new delight,
Here behold so goodly grown
Three fair branches of your own,
Heav'n hath timely tri'd their youth.                               
Their faith, their patience, and their truth
And sent them here through hard assays
With a crown of deathless Praise,
To triumph in victorious dance
O're sensual folly, and Intemperance.

RHYME a a *

Spir: To the Ocean now I fly,
And those happy climes that ly
Where day never shuts his eye,
Up in the broad fields of the sky:
There I suck the liquid ayr                                         
All amidst the Gardens fair
Of Hesperus, and his daughters three
That sing about the golden tree:
Iris there with humid bow,
Waters the odorous banks that blow
Flowers of more mingled hew
Then her purfl'd scarf can shew,
And drenches with Elysian dew
(List mortals, if your ears be true)
Beds of Hyacinth, and roses
Where young Adonis oft reposes,
Waxing well of his deep wound                                      
In slumber soft, and on the ground
Sadly sits th' Assyrian Queen;
But far above in spangled sheen
Celestial Cupid her fam'd son advanc't,
Holds his dear Psyche sweet intranc't
After her wandring labours long,
Till free consent the gods among
Make her his eternal Bride,
And from her fair unspotted side
Two blissful twins are to be born,
Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn.                                 

RHYME a a *

But now my task is smoothly don,
I can fly, or I can run
Quickly to the green earths end,
Where the bow'd welkin slow doth bend,
And from thence can soar as soon
To the corners of the Moon.
Mortals that would follow me,
Love vertue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime                                      
Higher then the Spheary chime;
Or if Vertue feeble were,
Heav'n it self would stoop to her.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

HAIL native Language, that by sinews weak
Didst move my first endeavouring tongue to speak,
And mad'st imperfect words with childish tripps,
Half unpronounc't, slide through my infant-lipps,
Driving dum silence from the portal dore,
Where he had mutely sate two years before:
Here I salute thee and thy pardon ask,
That now I use thee in my latter task:
Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee,
I know my tongue but little Grace can do thee:                       
Thou needst not be ambitious to be first,
Believe me I have thither packt the worst:
And, if it happen as I did forecast,
The daintest dishes shall be serv'd up last.
I pray thee then deny me not thy aide
For this same small neglect that I have made:
But haste thee strait to do me once a Pleasure,
And from thy wardrope bring thy chiefest treasure;
Not those new fangled toys, and triming slight
Which takes our late fantasticks with delight,                       
But cull those richest Robes, and gay'st attire
Which deepest Spirits, and choicest Wits desire:
I have some naked thoughts that rove about
And loudly knock to have their passage out;
And wearie of their place do only stay
Till thou hast deck't them in thy best aray;
That so they may without suspect or fears
Fly swiftly to this fair Assembly's ears;
Yet I had rather if I were to chuse,
Thy service in some graver subject use,                              
Such as may make thee search thy coffers round
Before thou cloath my fancy in fit sound:
Such where the deep transported mind may scare
Above the wheeling poles, and at Heav'ns dore
Look in, and see each blissful Deitie
How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Listening to what unshorn Apollo sings
To th'touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal Nectar to her Kingly Sire:
Then passing through the Spherse of watchful fire,                   
And mistie Regions of wide air next under,
And hills of Snow and lofts of piled Thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'ns defiance mustering all his waves;
Then sing of secret things that came to pass
When Beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And last of Kings and Queens and Hero's old,
Such as the wise Demodocus once told
In solemn Songs at King Alcinous feast,
While sad Ulisses soul and all the rest                              
Are held with his melodious harmonie
In willing chains and sweet captivitie.
But fie my wandring Muse how thou dost stray !
Expectance calls thee now another way,
Thou know'st it must he now thy only bent
To keep in compass of thy Predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may resign my Roome
Good luck befriend thee Son; for at thy birth
The Faiery Ladies daunc't upon the hearth;                           
Thy drowsie Nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the Room where thou didst lie;
And sweetly singing round about thy Bed
Strew all their blessings on thy sleeping Head.
She heard them give thee this, that thou should'st still
From eyes of mortals walk invisible,
Yet there is something that doth force my fear,
For once it was my dismal hap to hear
A Sybil old, bow-bent with crooked age,
That far events full wisely could presage,
And in Times long and dark Prospective Glass
Fore-saw what future dayes should bring to pass,
Your Son, said she, (nor can you it prevent)
Shall subject be to many an Accident.
O're all his Brethren he shall Reign as King,
Yet every one shall make him underling,
And those that cannot live from him asunder
Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under,
In worth and excellence he shall out-go them,
Yet being above them, he shall be below them;                        
From others he shall stand in need of nothing,
Yet on his Brothers shall depend for Cloathing.
To find a Foe it shall not be his hap,
And peace shall lull him in her flowry lap;
Yet shall he live in strife, and at his dore
Devouring war shall never cease to roare;
Yea it shall be his natural property
To harbour those that are at enmity.
What power, what force, what mighty spell, if not
Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot?                     
Rivers arise; whether thou be the Son,
Of utmost Tweed, or Oose, or gulphie Dun,
Or Trent, who like some earth-born Giant spreads
His thirty Armes along the indented Meads,
Or sullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn swift, guilty of Maidens death,
Or Rockie Avon, or of Sedgie Lee,
Or Coaly Tine, or antient hallowed Dee,
Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythians Name,
Or Medway smooth, or Royal Towred Thame.                           

TITLE 

RHYME a a *

BLESS'D is the man who hath not walk'd astray
In counsel of the wicked, and ith'way
Of sinners hath not stood, and in the seat
Of scorners hath not sate.  But in the great
Jehovahs Law is ever his delight,
And in his law he studies day and night.
He shall be as a tree which planted grows
By watry streams, and in his season knows
To yield his fruit, and his leaf shall not fall.
And what he takes in hand shall prosper all.                         
Not so the wicked, but as chaff which fann'd
The wind drives, so the wicked shall not stand
In judgment, or abide their tryal then
Nor sinners in th'assembly of just men.
For the Lord knows th'upright way of the just
And the way of bad men to ruine must.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

O JEHOVAH our Lord how wondrous great
And glorious is thy name through all the earth?
So as above the Heavens thy praise to set
Out of the tender mouths of latest bearth,

RHYME a b a b

Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings thou
Hast founded strength because of all thy foes
To stint th'enemy, and slack th'avengers brow
That bends his rage thy providence to oppose.

RHYME a b a b

When I behold thy Heavens, thy Fingers art,
The Moon and Starrs which thou so bright hast set,                   
In the pure firmament, then saith my heart,
O What is man that thou remembrest yet,

RHYME a b a b

And think'st upon him; or of man begot
That him thou visit'st and of him art found;
Scarce to be less then Gods, thou mad'st his lot,
With honour and with state thou hast him crown'd.

RHYME a b a b

O're the works of thy hand thou mad'st him Lord,
Thou hast put all under his lordly feet,
All Flocks, and Herds, by thy commanding word,
All beasts that in the field or forrest meet.                        

RHYME a b a b

Fowl of the Heavens, and Fish that through the wet
Sea-paths in shoals do slide. And know no dearth.
O Jehovah our Lord how wondrous great
And glorious is thy name through all the earth.

TITLE 

RHYME a b a b c d c d

   THOU Shepherd that dost Israel keep
    Give ear in time of need,				
    Who leadest like a flock of sheep
    Thy loved Josephs seed,
    That sitt'st between the Cherubs bright
    Between their wings out-spread
    Shine forth, and from thy cloud give light,
    And on our foes thy dread.

RHYME a b a b

   In Ephraims view and Benjamins,
    And in Manasse's sight                              
    Awake* thy strength, come, and be seen              
    To save us by thy might.

RHYME a b a b

   Turn us again, thy grace divine
    To us O God vouchsafe;
    Cause thou thy face on us to shine
    And then we shall be safe.

RHYME a b a b

   Lord God of Hosts, how long wilt thou,
    How long wilt thou declare
    Thy *smoaking wrath, and angry brow                 
    Against thy peoples praire.                         

RHYME a b a b

   Thou feed'st them with the bread of tears,
    Their bread with tears they eat,
    And mak'st them* largely drink the tears            
    Wherewith their cheeks are wet.

RHYME a b a b

   A strife thou mak'st us and a prey
    To every neighbour foe,
    Among themselves they *laugh, they *play,           
    And *flouts at us they throw.

RHYME a b a b

   Return us, and thy grace divine,
    O God of Hosts vouchsafe                            
    Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
    And then we shall be safe.

RHYME a b a b

   A Vine from Aegypt thou hast brought,
    Thy free love made it thine,
    And drov'st out Nations proud and haut
    To plant this lovely Vine.

RHYME a b a b

   Thou did'st prepare for it a place
    And root it deep and fast
    That it began to grow apace,
    And fill'd the land at last.                        

RHYME a b a b

  With her green shade that cover'd all,
    The Hills were over-spread
    Her Bows as high as Cedars tall
    Advanc'd their lofty head.

RHYME a b a b

  Her branches on the western side
    Down to the Sea she sent,
    And upward to that river wide
    Her other branches went.

RHYME a b a b

  Why hast thou laid her Hedges low
    And brok'n down her Fence,                          
    That all may pluck her, as they go,
    With rudest violence?

RHYME a b a b

  The tusked Boar out of the wood
    Up turns it by the roots,
    Wild Beasts there brouze, and make their food
    Her Grapes and tender Shoots.

RHYME a b a b

  Return now, God of Hosts, look down
    From Heav'n, thy Seat divine,
    Behold us, but without a frown,
    And visit this thy Vine.           
                 
RHYME a b a b

  Visit this Vine, which thy right hand
    Hath set, and planted long,
    And the young branch, that for thy self
    Thou hast made firm and strong.

RHYME a b a b

  But now it is consum'd with fire,
    And cut with Axes down,
    They perish at thy dreadfull ire,
    At thy rebuke and frown.

RHYME a b a b

  Upon the man of thy right hand
    Let thy good hand be laid,                          
    Upon the Son of Man, whom thou
    Strong for thyself hast made.

RHYME a b a b c d c d

  So shall we not go back from thee
    To wayes of sin and shame,
    Quick'n us thou, then gladly wee
    Shall call upon thy Name.
    Return us, and thy grace divine
    Lord God of Hosts voutsafe,
    Cause thou thy face on us to shine,
    And then we shall be safe.                          

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   To God our strength sing loud, and clear,
    Sing loud to God our King,
    To Jacobs God, that all may hear
    Loud acclamations ring.

RHYME a b a b

   Prepare a Hymn, prepare a Song
    The Timbrel hither bring
    The cheerfull Psaltry bring along
    And Harp with pleasant string.

RHYME a b a b

   Blow, as is wont, in the new Moon
    With Trumpets lofty sound,                          
    Th'appointed time, the day wheron
    Our solemn Feast comes round.

RHYME a b a b

   This was a Statute giv'n of old
    For Israel to observe
    A Law of Jacobs God, to hold
    From whence they might not swerve.

RHYME a b a b

   This he a Testimony ordain'd
    In Joseph, not to change,
    When as he pass'd through Aegypt land;
    The Tongue I heard, was strange.                    

RHYME a b a b

   From burden, and from slavish toyle
    I set his shoulder free;
    His hands from pots, and mirie soyle
    Deliver'd were by me.

RHYME a b a b c d c d

   When trouble did thee sore assaile,
    On me then didst thou call,
    And I to free thee did not faile,
    And led thee out of thrall.
    I answer'd thee in *thunder deep                 
    With clouds encompass'd round;                      
    I tri'd thee at the water steep
    Of Meriba renown'd.

RHYME a b a b

   Hear O my people, heark'n well,
    I testifie to thee
    Thou antient flock of Israel,
    If thou wilt list to mee,

RHYME a b a b

   Through out the land of thy abode
    No alien God shall be
    Nor shalt thou to a forein God
    In honour bend thy knee.                            

RHYME a b a b

  I am the Lord thy God which brought
    Thee out of Aegypt land
    Ask large enough, and I, besought,
    Will grant thy full demand.

RHYME a b a b

  And yet my people would not hear,
    Nor hearken to my voice;
    And Israel whom I lov'd so dear
    Mislik'd me for his choice.

RHYME a b a b

  Then did I leave them to their will
    And to their wandring mind;                         
    Their own conceits they follow'd still
    Their own devises blind

RHYME a b a b

  O that my people would be wise
    To serve me all their daies,
    And O that Israel would advise
    To walk my righteous waies.

RHYME a b a b

  Then would I soon bring down their foes
    That now so proudly rise,
    And turn my hand against all those
    That are their enemies.                                          

RHYME a b a b

  Who hate the Lord should then be fain
    To bow to him and bend,
    But they, His should remain,
    Their time should have no end.

RHYME a b a b

  And he would free them from the shock
    With flower of finest wheat,
    And satisfie them from the rock
    With Honey for their Meat.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   GOD in the *great *assembly stands          
    Of Kings and lordly States,
    Among the gods* on both his hands.          
    He judges and debates.

RHYME a b a b

   How long will ye *pervert the right         
    With *judgment false and wrong              
    Favouring the wicked by your might,
    Who thence grow bold and strong?

RHYME a b a b

  *Regard the *weak and fatherless             
   *Dispatch the *poor mans cause,              
    And **raise the man in deep distress
    By **just and equal Lawes.                  

RHYME a b a b

   Defend the poor and desolate,
    And rescue from the hands
    Of wicked men the low estate
    Of him that help demands.

RHYME a b a b

   They know not nor will understand,
    In darkness they walk on,
    The Earths foundations all are *mov'd       
    And *out of order gon.                      

RHYME a b a b

   I said that ye were Gods, yea all
    The Sons of God most high
   But ye shall die like men, and fall
    As other Princes die.

RHYME a b a b

   Rise God, *judge thou the earth in might,
    This wicked earth *redress,                 
    For thou art he who shalt by right
    The Nations all possess.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   BE not thou silent now at length
    O God hold not thy peace,
    Sit not thou still O God of strength
    We cry and do not cease.

RHYME a b a b

   For lo thy furious foes now *swell
    And *storm outrageously,                    
    And they that hate thee proud and fill
    Exalt their heads full hie.

RHYME a b a b

   Against thy people they *contrive           
   *Their Plots and Counsels deep,              
   *Them to ensnare they chiefly strive         
   *Whom thou dost hide and keep.               

RHYME a b a b

   Come let us cut them off say they,
    Till they no Nation be
    That Israels name for ever may
    Be lost in memory.

RHYME a b a b

   For they consult *with all their might,     
    And all as one in mind
    Themselves against thee they unite
    And in firm union bind.                     

RHYME a b a b

   The tents of Edom, and the brood
    Of scornful Ishmael,
    Moab, with them of Hagars blood
    That in the Desart dwell,

RHYME a b a b

   Gebal and Ammon there conspire,
    And hateful Amalec,
    The Philistims, and they of Tyre
    Whose bounds the sea doth check.

RHYME a b a b

   With them great Asshur also bands
    And doth confirm the knot,                  
    All these have lent their armed hands
    To aid the Sons of Lot.

TITLE 

RHYME a b a b a b a b

   Do to them as to Midian bold
    That wasted all the Coast.
    To Sisera, and as is told
    Thou didst to Jabins hoast,
    When at the brook of Kishon old
    They were repulst and slain,
  At Endor quite cut off, and rowl'd
    As dung upon the plain.                     

RHYME a b a b

  As Zeb and Oreb evil sped
    So let their Princes speed
    As Zeba, and Zalmunna bled
    So let their Princes bleed.

RHYME a b a b

  For they amidst their pride have said
    By right now shall we seize
    Gods houses, and will now invade
    Their stately Palaces.                    

RHYME a b a b

  My God, oh make them as a wheel
    No quiet let them find,                     
    Giddy and restless let them reel
    Like stubble from the wind.

RHYME a b a b

  As when an aged wood takes fire
    Which on a sudden straies,
    The greedy flame runs hier and hier
    Till all the mountains blaze,

RHYME a b a b

  So with thy whirlwind them pursue,
    And with thy tempest chase;
 *And till they *yield thee honour due,       
    Lord fill with shame their face.            

RHYME a b a b

  Asham'd and troubl'd let them be,           
    Troubl'd and sham'd for ever,
    Ever confounded, and so die
    With shame, and scape it never.

RHYME a b a b

  Then shall they know that thou whose name
    Jehova is alone,
    Art the most high, and thou the same
    O're all the earth art one.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   How lovely are thy dwellings fair!
    O Lord of Hoasts, how dear
    The pleasant Tabernacles are!
    Where thou do'st dwell so near.

RHYME a b a b

   My Soul doth long and almost die
    Thy Courts O Lord to see,
    My heart and flesh aloud do crie,
    O living God, for thee.

RHYME a b a b

   There ev'n the Sparrow freed from wrong
    Hath found a house of rest,                 
    The Swallow there, to lay her young
    Hath built her brooding nest,

RHYME a b a b

    Ev'n by thy Altars Lord of Hoasts
    They find their safe abode,
    And home they fly from round the Coasts
    Toward thee, My King, my God

RHYME a b a b

   Happy, who in thy house reside
    Where thee they ever praise,
   Happy, whose strength in thee doth bide,
    And in their hearts thy waies.              

RHYME a b a b

   They pass through Baca's thirstie Vale,
    That dry and barren ground
    As through a fruitfull watry Dale
    Where Springs and Showrs abound.

RHYME a b a b

   They journey on from strength to strength
    With joy and gladsom cheer
    Till all before our God at length
    In Sion do appear.

RHYME a b a b

   Lord God of Hoasts hear now my praier
    O Jacobs God give ear,                      
   Thou God our shield look on the face
    Of thy anointed dear.

RHYME a b a b

  For one day in thy Courts to be
    Is better, and mere blest
    Then in the joyes of Vanity,
    A thousand daies at best.

RHYME a b a b

    I in the temple of my God
    Had rather keep a dore,
    Then dwell in Tents, and rich abode
    With Sin for evermore                       

RHYME a b a b

  For God the Lord both Sun and Shield
    Gives grace and glory bright,
    No good from him shall be with-held
    Whose waies are just and right.

RHYME a b a b

  Lord God of Hoasts that raign 'st on high,
    That man is truly blest
    Who only on thee doth relie.
    And in thee only rest.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   THY Land to favour graciously
    Thou hast not Lord been slack,
    Thou hast from hard Captivity
    Returned Jacob back.

RHYME a b a b

   Th' iniquity thou didst forgive
    That wrought thy people woe,
    And all their Sin, that did thee grieve
    Hast hid where none shall know.

RHYME a b a b

   Thine anger all thou hadst remov'd,
    And calmly didst return                     
    From thy *fierce wrath which we had prov'd  
    Far worse then fire to burn.                

RHYME a b a b

   God of our saving health and peace,         
    Turn us, and us restore,
    Thine indignation cause to cease
    Toward us, and chide no more.

RHYME a b a b

   Wilt thou be angry without end,
    For ever angry thus
    Wilt thou thy frowning ire extend
    From age to age on us?                      

RHYME a b a b

   Wilt thou not * turn, and hear our voice    
    And us again * revive ,                     
    That so thy people may rejoyce
    By thee preserv'd alive.

RHYME a b a b

   Cause us to see thy goodness Lord,
    To us thy mercy shew
    Thy saving health to us afford
    And lift in us renew.

RHYME a b a b

   And now what God the Lord will speak
    I will go strait and hear,                  
    For to his people he speaks peace
    And to his Saints full dear,
 
RHYME a b a b

   To his dear Saints he will speak peace,
    But let them never more
    Return to folly, but surcease
    To trespass as before.

RHYME a b a b

   Surely to such as do him fear
    Salvation is at hand
    And glory shall ere long appear
    To dwell within our Land.                   

RHYME a b a b

  Mercy and Truth that long were miss'd
    Now joyfully are met
    Sweet Peace and Righteousness have kiss'd
    And hand in hand are set.

RHYME a b a b

  Truth from the earth like to a flowr
    Shall bud and blossom then,
    And Justice from her heavenly bowr
    Look down on mortal men.

RHYME a b a b

  The Lord will also then bestow
    Whatever thing is good                      
    Our Land shall forth in plenty throw
    Her fruits to be our food.

RHYME a b a b

  Before him Righteousness shall go
    His Royal Harbinger,
    Then * will he come, and not be slow          
    His footsteps cannot err.                     

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   THY gracious ear, O Lord, encline,
    O hear me I thee pray,
    For I am poor, and almost pine
    With need, and sad decay.

RHYME a b a b

   Preserve my soul, for *I have trod           
    Thy waies, and love the just,                
    Save thou thy servant O my God               
    Who still in thee doth trust.

RHYME a b a b

   Pity me Lord for daily thee
    I call;  O make rejoyce                     
    Thy Servants Soul; for Lord to thee
    I lift my soul and voice,

RHYME a b a b

   For thou art good, thou Lord art prone
    To pardon, thou to all
    Art full of mercy, thou alone
    To them that on thee call.

RHYME a b a b

   Unto my supplication Lord
    Give ear, and to the crie
    Of my incessant praiers afford
    Thy hearing graciously.                      

RHYME a b a b

   I in the day of my distress
    Will call on thee for aid;
    For thou wilt grant me free access
    And answer, what I pray'd.

RHYME a b a b

   Like thee among the gods is none
    O Lord, nor any works
    Of all that other Gods have done
    Like to thy glorious works.

RHYME a b a b

   The Nations all whom thou hast made
    Shall come, and all shall frame              
    To bow them low before thee Lord,
    And glorifie thy name.

RHYME a b a b

  For great thou art, and wonders great
    By thy strong hand are done,
    Thou in thy everlasting Seat
    Remainest God alone.

RHYME a b a b

  Teach me O Lord thy way most right,
    I in thy truth will hide,
    To fear thy name my heart unite
    So shall it never slide.                     

RHYME a b a b

  Thee will I praise O Lord my God
    Thee honour, and adore
    With my whole heart, and blaze abroad
    Thy name for ever more.

RHYME a b a b

  For great thy mercy is toward me,
    And thou hast free'd my Soul
    Eev'n from the lowest Hell set free
    From deepest darkness foul.

RHYME a b a b

  O God the proud against me rise
    And violent men are met                      
    To seek my life, and in their eyes
    No fear of thee have set.

RHYME a b a b

  But thou Lord art the God most mild
    Readiest thy grace to shew,
    Slow to be angry, and art stil'd
    Most mercifull, most true.

RHYME a b a b

  O turn to me thy face at length,
    And me have mercy on,
    Unto thy servant give thy strength,
    And save thy hand-maids Son.                 

RHYME a b a b

  Some sign of good to me afford,
    And let my foes then see
    And be asham'd, because thou Lord
    Do'st help and comfort me.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   AMONG the holy Mountains high
    Is his foundation fast,
    There Seated in his Sanctuary,
    His Temple there is plac't.

RHYME a b a b

   Sions fair Gates the Lord loves more
    Then all the dwellings faire
    Of Jacobs Land, though there be store,
    And all within his care.

RHYME a b a b

   City of God, most glorious things
    Of thee abroad are spoke;                    
   I mention Egypt, where proud Kings
    Did our forefathers yoke,

RHYME a b a b

    I mention Babel to my friends,
    Philistia full of scorn,
    And Tyre with Ethiops utmost ends,
    Lo this man there was born:

RHYME a b a b

   But twise that praise shall in our ear
    Be said of Sion last
    This and this man was born in her,
    High God shall fix her fast.                 

RHYME a b a b

   The Lord shall write it in a Scrowle
    That ne're shall be out-worn
    When he the Nations doth enrowle
    That this man there was born.

RHYME a b a b

   Both they who sing, and they who dance
    With sacred Songs are there,
    In thee fresh brooks, and soft streams glance
    And all my fountains clear.

TITLE

RHYME a b a b

   LORD God that dost me save and keep,
    All day to thee I cry;
    And all night long, before thee weep
    Before thee prostrate lie.

RHYME a b a b

   Into thy presence let my praier
    With sighs devout ascend
    And to my cries, that ceaseless are,
    Thine ear with favour bend.

RHYME a b a b

   For cloy'd with woes and trouble store
    Surcharg'd my Soul doth lie,                 
    My life at death's uncherful dore
    Unto the grave draws nigh.

RHYME a b a b

   Reck'n'd I am with them that pass
    Down to the dismal pit
    I am a *man, but weak alas               
    And for that name unfit.                     

RHYME a b a b

   From life discharg'd and parted quite
    Among the dead to sleep
    And like the slain in bloody fight
    That in the grave lie deep.                  

RHYME a b a b

    Whom thou rememberest no more,
    Dost never more regard,
    Them from thy hand deliver'd o're
    Deaths hideous house hath barr'd.

RHYME a b a b

   Thou in the lowest pit profound'
    Hast set me all forlorn,
    Where thickest darkness hovers round,
    In horrid deeps to mourn.

RHYME a b a b

   Thy wrath from which no shelter saves
    Full sore doth press on me;                  
   *Thou break'st upon me all thy waves,         
   *And all thy waves break me                   

RHYME a b a b

   Thou dost my friends from me estrange,
    And mak'st me odious,
    Me to them odious, for they change,
    And I here pent up thus.

RHYME a b a b

   Through sorrow, and affliction great
    Mine eye grows dim and dead,
    Lord all the day I thee entreat,
    My hands to thee I spread.                   

RHYME a b a b

  Wilt thou do wonders on the dead,
    Shall the deceas'd arise
    And praise thee from their loathsom bed
    With pale and hollow eyes ?

RHYME a b a b

  Shall they thy loving kindness tell
    On whom the grave hath hold,
    Or they who in perdition dwell
    Thy faithfulness unfold?

RHYME a b a b

  In darkness can thy mighty hand
    Or wondrous acts be known,                   
    Thy justice in the gloomy land
    Of dark oblivion?

RHYME a b a b

  But I to thee O Lord do cry
    E're yet my life be spent,
    And up to thee my praier doth hie
    Each morn, and thee prevent.

RHYME a b a b

  Why wilt thou Lord my soul forsake,
    And hide thy face from me,
  That am already bruis'd, and *shake          
    With terror sent from thee;                  

RHYME a b a b

    Bruz'd, and afflicted and so low
    As ready to expire,
    While I thy terrors undergo
    Astonish'd with thine ire.

RHYME a b a b

  Thy fierce wrath over me doth flow
    Thy threatnings cut me through.
  All day they round about me go,
    Like waves they me persue.

RHYME a b a b

  Lover and friend thou hast remov'd
    And sever'd from me far.                     
    They fly me now whom I have lov'd,
    And as in darkness are.

TITLE

RHYME a a *

WHEN I beheld the Poet blind, yet bold,
In slender Book his vast Design unfold,
Messiah Crown'd, Gods Reconcil'd Decree,
Rebelling Angels, the Forbidden Tree,
Heav'n, Hell, Earth, Chaos, All; the Argument
Held me a while misdoubting his Intent,
That he would ruine (for I saw him strong)
The sacred Truths to Fable and old Song
(So Sampson groap'd the Temples Posts in spight)
The World o'rewhelming to revenge his sight.

RHYME a a *

Yet as I read soon growing less severe,
I lik'd his Project, the success did fear;
Through that wide Field how he his way should find
O're which lame Faith leads Understanding blind;
Lest he perplex'd the things he would explain,
And what was easie he should render vain.

RHYME a a *

Or if a Work so infinite he spann'd,
Jealous I was that some less skilful hand
(Such as disquiet always what is well,
And by ill imitating would excell)
Might hence presume the whole Creations day
To change in Scenes. and show it in a Play.

RHYME a a *

Pardon me, Mighty Poet, nor despise
My causeless, yet not impious, surmise.
But I am now convinc'd, and none will dare
Within thy Labours to pretend a share,
Thou hast not miss'd one thought that could be fit,
And all that was improper dost omit:
So that no room is here for Writers left,
But to detect their Ignorance or Theft.

RHYME a a *

That Majesty which through thy Work doth Reign
Draws the Devout, deterring the Profane,
And things divine thou treatst of in such state
As them preserves, and thee, inviolate.
At once delight and horrour on us seise,
Thou singst with so much gravity and ease;

RHYME a a *

And above humane flight dost soar aloft
With Plume so strong, so equal, and so soft.
The Bird nam'd from that Paradise you sing
So never flaggs, but always keeps on Wing.

RHYME a a *

Where couldst thou words of such a compass find?
Whence furnish such a vast expence of mind?
Just Heav'n thee like Tiresias to requite
Rewards with Prophesie thy loss of sight.

RHYME a a *

Well mightst thou scorn thy Readers to allure
With tinkling Rhime, of thy own sense secure;
While the Town-Bayes writes all the while and spells,
And like a Pack-horse tires without his Bells:
Their Fancies like our Bushy-points appear,
The Poets tag them, we for fashion wear.
I too transported by the Mode offend,
And while I meant to Praise thee must Commend.
Thy Verse created like thy Theme sublime,
In Number, Weight, and Measure, needs not Rhime.

TITLE 

RHYME a b a b c d d c 

Fly envious Time till thou run out thy race
call on the lazie leaden-stepping howres
whose speed is but the heavie plummets pace
& glut thy selfe wth what thy womb devoures
Wch is no more then what is false & vaine
& meerly mortall drosse
so little is our losse
so little is thy gaine

RHYME a a *

for when as each thing bad thou hast entomb'd
& last of all thy greedie selfe consum'd                             
then long Aeternity shall greet our blisse
wth an individuall kisse
and Joy shall overtake us as a flood
when every thing yt is sincerely good
& pfectly divine
with Truth, & Peace, & Love shall ever shine
about the supreme throne
of him t' whose happy-making sight alone
when once our heav'nly-guided soule shall clime
then all this earthie grossnesse quit                                
attir'd wth starres wee shall for ever sit
Triumphing over Death, & Chance, & thee O Time.

TITLE

RHYME a b b a a b b a c d c d c d

O Nightingale, that on yon bloomy Spray
Warbl'st at eeve, when all the Woods are still,
Thou with fresh hope the Lovers heart dost fill,
While the jolly hours lead on propitious May,
Thy liquid notes that close the eye of Day,
First heard before the shallow Cuccoo's bill
Portend success in love; O if Jove's will
Have linkt that amorous power to thy soft lay,
Now timely sing, ere the rude Bird of Hate
Foretell my hopeles doom in som Grove ny:                            
As thou from yeer to yeer hast sung too late
For my relief; yet hadst no reason why,
Whether the Muse, or Love call thee his mate,
Both them I serve, and of their train am I.

