Classic Poem

No w, for the Hart fraile life first intertaines,
And is the last part that from it departes,
(Without which, dull were reason , dead the braines )
It's taken for the part which powre impartes
To Wit and Will , whereby they play their partes;
So as it's held the Mirrour of the minde
For, when the Minde vnto her selfe converts,
The Hart is interposd, where shee doth finde
Her feature fowle, or faire, cleere-eied, or blinde.

Then, for the Hart is such a powreful thing ,
My hart desires to touch it feelingly:
And, for the Hart doth paine or pleasure bring,
The paine is pleasure , when Head properlie
Makes hand discribe the Harte's hart handsomly
Earst Man's internal partes we did devide
Into three Wombes , the Braines , the Brest , & Belly
About the Braines (before) our skill we tride,
And now by it the Brest must be discride.

Which is the Shoppe of al the Instruments
Wherewith the vitall Vertue operates;
The Hart , the Lunges , with al Life's incidents
In region of the Brest , doe hold their States,
Whose Bulke them Bulwarkes from what ruynates:
The Midriff parteth them from partes that feede
(Which the third Wombe , (the Belly ) circulates)
It being a Muscle made for Nature's neede,
Assisting in the Breathing Acte and Deede.

And next, there is a Tunicle , or Skin ,
That over-spreads the Concaue of the Brest ,
Much like a Spider's webbe , subtile, and thin;
Wherout two others grow to part the rest,
Because two places should be breath-possest:
So that, if one (being hurt) could not respire
The other might one halfe retaine (at least)
To keepe Life's breath (at point to part) intire,
And blowe the sparkes that kindle vitall fire .

These Felmes (like to a Nett with fruite repleat)
Together hold what ere the Brest doth bound,
They line the Ribbes , that when the Lunges doe beate
They might performe their office whole and sound,
Without being bone -bruiz'd which might them confound.
So likewise in a Caule the Hart's inclos'd,
lCall'd Pericardion , being Ovall round,
Or like a Flame for forme and so dispos'd,
To shew that vitall fire is there repos'd .

There, in the Hart's the fountaine whence doth flow
Naturall heate , and by the Artires sends
It al abroade to make the Members grow,
And keepe them growne, in plight to doe their ends .
And though each Instrument of breath attends
And serves the Voice , yet were they chiefely made
For the Harte's vse, (that Life's-fire comprehends)
That by their service that fire might not vade,
Which vnkinde coldnesse else might overlade.

Wherfore the Lunges ( breath's -forge) is preordain'd
First to receaue the Aire that cooles the Hart .
Who doe prepare it (being intertain'd)
And so prepared, doe the same impart
(As Nature wills) to that Life -giving part
The Lunges therfore, are Spungy, soft, & light
That Aire might enter, and from them depart,
Which guard the Hart (on left side and the right)
From bordring Bmes that else annoy it might.

Which hath a double motion; One, when it
It selfe dilates, the other, it restraines.
When it goes out, in goes Aire requisit:
And when it shrinketh in , then out it straines
All smoky Excrements procuring paines
This motion's kinde, proceeding from its kinde
(Not as the Muscles moved by the Braines )
For which it hath fitt filaments assign'd,
Wherby it selfe, it selfe may turne & wynd.

This double motion hath two double vses,
(A two fold vse whereof we mention'd haue)
The next to draw in bloud , and then, by Sluces
To send it to the Lunges , for foode they craue
At the Hart's hands, sith they the Hart doe saue
Thus gratefully they kindnesse interchange,
To teach vs how we should our selves behaue:
For when we disagree, it is as strange
As Hart and Lunges should cease to make this change.

Thus, this subordinate Lord of Manne's life
(The Hart ) resides in his wel-fenced fort ,
And though with it al vitall force be rife,
And members keepes from being al-amort,
Yet should it die, if their helps were cut short
Hence Kings may learne, that though they Monarchize
Yet doe they, whom they rule, maintaine their port,
Which should induce them not to tyranize,
But, like good Hartes, life's -pow'r to exercize.

The flesh whereof is firmer, then the flesh
Of all the parts the Body hath besides:
So, Kinges should be most firme, for, being nesh,
Their Subiects might be wounded through their sids
Such be the People stil as be their Guides
The Hart with Passion , passion may each part
Which Ioy or Sorrowe with the Hart abides:
So, Kinges their praise and People may subvert,
If Passion over-rule their ruling Art.

And in the Bulke it is so situate
As that its Base is Center of the Brest ,
The end whereof (where greatnesse doth abate)
Leanes to the left -side more then al the rest;
(So Kings , where they from Right decline, are least)
Yet leanes the Hart so, for two causes great;
One, that the Brest -bone should it not infest,
The other, that it should the left-side heate,
Sith on the right the Liver doth that feate.

And though the Harte's left part more heavy bee
Because it 's hard and greater then the right,
Yet Nature hath so ballanc'd it, that shee
Makes it to hange (by admirable sleight)
As if the both sides were of equal weight:
For in the left part (heaviest) shee putts
The vitall spirit , of its nature light;
And in the right part (lightest) loe, shee shutts
The waightie Bloud , wherwith that part shee glutts.

Lo thus the Highest holy vpright hand
By even counterpoise hath hang'd the Heart
In the Brest's Center, (like as th' Earth doth stand
In Center of the Heau'ns ) by matchlesse Art:
Hence we may learne the duty of this part ,
Which should be vpright in Affects , and will
And never from the rules of Vertue start
To right hand, or to left, for good or Ill ,
But come life or come death , be vpright stil.

This part likewise hath two Concavities ,
On left side one, the other on the right:
And for this vse, are these capacities ;
The right receaves the bloud (be'ng boild aright)
That from the Liver runnes, to give it might
To feede the Lunges , and vitall spirits breede
Bred of pur'st bloud in the left Concaue dight,
Like sweate that from the right one doth proceede,
Which sweate with vitall Spirits it doth feede.

That is the furnace , wherein still doth flame
The vitall Sp'rit , resplendent quicke, and cleere,
Like the celestiall Nature for the same
Both heate , and life to all the whole doth beare;
This Primum mobile that All doth steere:
These concaues thus are made commodiously;
But now (alas) most harts all hollow are,
That Bloud and Spirits therein confused lie,
So as no Art can one from other spie.

In this left concaue where the Hart doth trie
His chiefest skill, the vitall sp'rits to make,
There is the roote of that great Artery
From whom the Artires their beginning take:
Which neere the Hart doth so it selfe forsake,
That part ascends, and part thereof descends
To carrie vitall fire to parts that lacke;
These are the pipes whereby the kinde Hart sends
His cordiall comfortes to th' extreamest ends

And, for the Veines and Artires neede each other
And that their succors should be neere at hand,
They meete, and (for the most part) goe togither,
Thereby to vigorize the vitall Band
Which the Hart's vertue wholy doth command:
For, th Artires being lincked with the Vaines ,
Lend Aire and Spirit , least their bloud should stand;
And from the Veines some bloud each artire draines
Which to disperse, the vitall spirit constraines.

Betweene the Hart and Lunges the like is seene
(As erst was said) to learne vs mutuall loue ,
For, certaine Pipes doe passe these parts betweene,
By which, each other's kindnesse they doe proue:
The hart from his right side doth bloud remoue
Vnto the Lunges by the Arteriall Veine ,
The Lunges through veyny- artire, aire doth shoue
Vnto the hart , it to refresh againe,
Whose side sinister doth it entertaine.

The hart (besides) hath many members more,
Which are distinguisht by Anatomists :
The right , and left side hath a little dore ,
And many a pipe so small therein subsists,
That scarse man's eie can see how each exists;
Yet all haue vse; for, when the hart doth seeke
Such bloud as without which no hart consists,
The meanes wherewith it drawes it, should not break,
But that the strong therein might helpe the weake

And, that the Aire might enter in thereby
More mildly, and for Nature , more concinne
Therefore, the hart doth not immediately
Draw from the Mouth the aire it draweth in,
But through those passages it first doth rin
Lest be'ng too cold t'would coole the hart too much;
For all extreames , saue extreame good , are sinne,
And Nature Vertue in the Meane doth couch,
Shewing, that our desires should still be such.

That God , whose powre no power can resist,
Resists all power's that are too violent,
And ever doth the moderate assist;
From whose hand (only) comes the Thunder-dent
To plague the prowde , and wound th' incontinent
For, should his Creatures ' powre b'immoderate,
Then should not his owne bee so eminent:
So, if they it affect, he them doth hate ,
And with a thundring vengeance ends their date.

Thus having sleightly toucht this tender part ,
(Touching his substance, proper place, and frame)
It now remaines that we doe proue our Arte
Touching another motion of the same,
Belonging to our soule's affections lame,
Lam'd by our Flesh too lustie , yet too fraile .
Too lustie in desire of its owne shame,
But fraile in that wherein it should prevaile,
Yet when it's weak'st, the Soule doth most assaile.

It not suffiz'd that nere-suffized Loue
That al things made, to make Man only Bee ,
But to Be well , as wel some men doe proue,
Who though of Beeing , they desirous be,
Yet not being wel , they end ill , sith they see
Their being Well , and Being disagree:
Then Being , was not Mann's creation's end,
But to be happy in a high degree:
And therfore al men al their forces bend,
T' inioy that Good , that Beeing doth commend.

Which good desire of Good , in Man is knitt
To a detesting of the contrary;
But, for that sinne hood-wincks Man's Eie of Witt
He gropes for Good , but feeles the Evill by:
From this desire of Good , th' affections flie;
Which with their motion swift draw that desire
Heere, there, and where soere they please to hy,
In pursute of that Good which they require,
To which (though base they bee) they would aspire.

Yet they were good , & kindly lov'd their like;
But they are ill, and loue Ill seeming good;
Yet they by Nature's instinct Ill dislike;
And yet by nature evil is their moode ,
Basely obaying the sinne -soiled Blood
At first they were Truthe's other selfe, for friends;
Yet now by them shee's too too much with-stoode
Adhering to her foe while shee pretends
To blesse the Sense , though to accursed endes .

The motiues of the Soule these motions are,
Whose other names are called the Affects :
By foll'wing good , and flying ill , they ARE ;
Consisting so of these two good Effects ,
Though Syn their sense with error oft infects:
Some vsher Iudgment , some on her attend,
The later , take or leaue as shee directs;
The Former , naturally cannot offend,
For they desire but Nature to defend.

As when the Body ( Nature to suffize)
Desires to eate, or drinke, (as neede requires)
Or when good happe or ill doth it surprize
Then Ioy or sorrow moueth our desire ;
These stil fore-run our Iudgment , & conspire
With Nature , to vsurpe her highest Throne
For nature runneth on, or doth retire,
As shee is mov'd by iudgment of her owne
And so doe these that Nature wait vpon

But those Affects that follow Iudgment's Traine
Wait hard as long as Hart is wel dispos'd;
Then lasts the League betweene the Hart & Braine ,
For, al their iarres by Reason are compos'd:
But when the Hart against the Brain's oppos'd,
(Which oft proceeds of too much pampering)
Out flie th' Affections that were erst repos'd,
And from their neckes the Raines of Reason fling,
Impatient of slow Iudgment's tarrying.

Yet true it is that Hart cannot be mov'd,
Ere Iudgment doomes what's good or badd for it;
Then Harte's desires by her must be approv'd.
Or els the Hart cannot desire a whit:
For what she holds vnmeet, it thinks vnfitt
But for the motions of the Minde are free,
And neede not stay, as it is requisit,
So before Iudgment doe they seeme to Bee ,
Although they follow her as bond and free

But though th' Affections cannot moue at all
If Iudgment wing them not and make them flee.
Yet sound advice (which heere we Iudgment call)
May be at rest when they too busy bee,
Mov'd by the iudgment of the Fantazee ;
This Iudgment's blinde, yet is it most men's Guide ,
And no lesse rash, yet ruleth each degree;
This makes th' Affects from Right's straight Pathes to slide,
For Fantazy doth fancie waies too wide

This skipp-braine Fancy , moves these easie Movers
To loue what ere hath but a glimpse of good ,
Then straight she makes them (like vnconstant lovers )
To change their Loues , as she doth change her moode ,
Which swimmeth with the current of the Bloud ;
For as the body's well or ill compos'd,
(Which followes oft the nature of its foode)
So Fancy and these Fondlings are dispos'd,
Though in the Soule , and Minde they be inclos'd
And yet the body's but the Instrument
Whereon the soule doth play what she doth please;
But if the stringes thereof doe not concent,
The harmony doth but the soule displease;
Then tune the body Soule , or playing cease:
And when a String is out, straight put it in
With Phisicke's helpe, which Passion may appease
By humbling that which hath too lowd a dyn,
And put the Parts on a Soule -pleasing Pyn

These Partes though many, yet of three consist,
That's, Humors , Elements , and Qualities ;
Which three , doe of fow'r partes , a part subsist,
For from Earth, Water, Aire, and Fire doth rise
All that the Heav'nly Cope doth circulize;
These are the Elements from whom proceede
The Humors with their foresaid qualities;
For, Bloud, Flegme, Choller, Melancholy breede
Hott, Cold, Moist, Dry , a fowr-fold vital Seede

An Element is the most simple part
Whereof a thing is made, and in its wracke
Is last resolved; And in Phisick's Art
There are but two , which two of those doe lack
That al the Elemental bodies make:
These two , are tearmed Simples , & Compounds
The first is borne on Speculation's back;
The last , is bredd by Practize , which confounds
Two or moe Simples in each other's bounds.

The Elements of Nature's famelies
Produce the Elemental's temprament
Which is a mixture of the Qualities
Or composition of each Element :
(As these doe bend, so are their bodies bent)
Which we Complexion cal; wherof are two,
Well, and ill tempred; And the Aliment
That feeds the Body , herein much can doe,
For that can make & marre Complexion too.

Well-tempred , is an equal counterpoise
Of th' Elements fore-mention'd qualities ,
Whereof ther's but one thing of Nature's choise
Wherein shee made the mixture thus precise:
(As Galen's tract of Tempers testifies:)
Which, of each hand , is the interior skin :
And hence we may thus fitly moralize;
That Nature to the Hand so good hath bin,
That it might temper what the Mouth takes in.

Ill tempred's that where some one Element
Hath more dominion then it ought to haue;
For they rule ill that haue more regiment
Then nature, wisdome, right , or reason gaue:
So doth this Element it selfe behaue:
Yet each ill temper doth not so exceede;
As that it spils what better tempers saue;
For some surpasse the temperate in deede,
In some small ods, whereof no harmes succeede.

Fiue waies the Bodie's temperature is knowne,
By Constitution , Operation , Clime ,
Coulor , and Age , by these the same is showne,
As Dials by an Index shew the time.
The Body fat is cold , for fat doth clime
By cold degrees; and that, full-flesht is hot,
For heate proceedes from bloud , as doth my rime
From braines , where no heate were, if bloud were not,
And bee'ing too cold they would my sense besot.

By Operation too, the temper's found,
For when a creature , ( Man , Beast , Hearbe , or Plant )
Doth that which they by right of kinde are bound,
Then no good temprature those bodies want:
The Clyme in shewing this is nothing skant;
For South-ward, Men are cruell, moody, madd,
Hot, blacke, leane leapers, lustfull, vsd to vant,
Yet wise in action, sober, fearefull, sad,
If good, most good, if bad exceeding bad.

The Northen Nations are more moist, and cold,
Lesse wicked and deceiptful, faithfull, iust,
More ample, strong, couragious, martiall, bold
And, for their bloud is colder lesse they lust:
Then cold bloud being thicke, it follow must
They are lesse witty, and more barberous;
And for they inwardly are more adust,
They meate and drinke devoure as ravenous
The panch and pot esteeming precious.

Yet are they most laborious, loving Artes ,
Whose soules are in their fingers (as it 's sed;)
For, all our best hand-workes come from those parts
As from the hotter Climes , workes of the hed :
And those that twixt the South , and North are bred
(As France and Italy , Spaine , and the like)
Of hot and cold , are ev'nly tempered;
Therefore they are not made so apt to strike;
But warre with Wisdome , rather then the Pike .

The coulor likewise shewes the temprament ,
For Sanguin's red ; and yellow's Cholericke ;
The Melancholy is to blacknesse bent:
The white or whitish, is the Phlegmaticke :
The white , and blacke , are cold and rhewmaticke:
The Red , and yellow , hot by course of kinde ;
To this consents each skilfull Empericke ,
Who by experience of their practise finde
That coulor shewes the temper , notes the minde

The Sanguin's frolicke, free, ingenious,
Couragious, kinde, to women over-kinde;
True Iovialists by nature generous;
And hot and humid they are by their kinde:
The Chollericke is hasty, and inclinde
To Envie , pride , and prodigalitie ,
As Herc'les -hardy, though with anger blinde;
And in its temper it is hot and drie,
Which is the cause it is so angery.

The Phlegmaticke are idle, sleepie, dull,
Whose temper's cold and moist ; which drownes the wit :
The Melancholy's mestiue; and too full
Of fearefull thoughts, and cares vnrequisit;
Who loue (as loathing men ) alone to sit:
In temper cold and drie too like the dust ,
(Dust of the earth , ere God life-breathed it,
Wherehence we came, and wherevnto we must)
Which flies (as fearefull) from a little Gust .

These are the humors , whereof Man consists,
Which is a substaunce thin to which our foode
The Stomacke's heate by nature first disgests
And hath dominion chiefly in our bloode ;
These like the Elements moue in their moode:
For bloud is hot, and humid, like the aire :
Flegm's cold, and moist, in Water's likelyhood:
Then Melancholy's like Earth , cold and dry'r:
And hot, and drie is Choler , like the Fire .

And, that the meates to humors should be chang'd
They must be thrice concocted thorowly:
First, in the Stomacke they are interchang'd
And made that Chyle wherein potentially
The Humors ( Chaos -like) at first doe lie:
Next, in the Liver the Masse Sanguiner
Of Chyle composed is, successiuely:
The third, and last 's through al the bodie , where
Humors are made, that Meate and Chyle first were.

These raigne by turnes, vntill their tearmes be done:
Bloud , in the spring from three till nine each Morne
Choler , from thence, till three in th' after noone
In sommer -season: Then Flegme in his turne
From thence till nine at night doth rule the sterne
In Autumne : then sad Melancholy thence
Till three next Morne , when Winter doth returne:
Thus in their turnes they haue preheminence,
Till Time turne vs, and them with vs from hence.

And as these humors haue their turnes in time
So rule the Planets in like consequence:
For, by the Moone is governed our Prime
That's hot and moist , but the preheminence
The moisture hath; So our Adolescence
Is swaid by Wit -infusing Mercury
Being hot and moist , yet doth more heate dispense,
Which tunes the voice's Organes erst too hy,
Making them speake with more profundity.

Then youth (our third age) Loue's Queene , Venus swaies
Bee'ng hot and dry , but yet more hot, then drie;
In this we Wantons play, in Venus' plaies
And offer Incense to a rowling eie :
Bright Sal (the gloriou'st Planet in the sky )
Doth rule our Manhoode which is temperate:
Hee Author is of grace and gravity ,
Of haplesse life this is the happi'st state,
Which they hold long'st that are most moderate.

And lastly old age being cold , and dry ,
By al-wise Iupiter is governed,
Author of Councell , Craft , and Policy .
Which Age againe in two's distinguished,
The first yonge old age may be Christened:
The last Decrepit is, and so is call'd;
Which Saturn rules with Scepter of dul lead
This Age to Life like Death , is stil enthrall'd,
Thus in our life the Planetts are enstall'd.

And to these Ages , dates precize we giue,
As Child-hood from our Birth till thirteene yeares:
Adolescence , from thence to twenty fiue:
And youth from thence til fiue & thirty weares;
From whence, til fiftie Manne's -estate apperes:
And to the rest old-age we doe assigne;
But one his yeares then other better beares,
As time their temprature doth enterteigne,
Therefore the temprature should age designe.

For al men cold & dry are old though yonge,
Some yong at sixtie , some at forty old
In growing old the youthful Sanguin's longe,
For it doth store of heate , and moisture hold:
The Melancholy , being dry and cold ,
Is aged soone: So women more then men
Soone meete with age , which makes some be so bold
(As vnder Coulor that they are wo-men )
To keepe off Age till they be yong agen.

The Aire we breath doth beare an Ore herein,
And being subtil moves the simple Minde ,
For, never yet was foole a Florentine ,
(As by the wise hath well observed byn)
So subtill is the Aire hee draweth in:
The influences of malignant Starres ,
Vales Caves , Stanckes , Moores and Lakes that never ryn,
Carion , and filth , all such the Aier marres,
Which killes the Corpes , and Witt's Carreir barres.

From Regions , Winds & standing of the place
Where we abide, come the Aire's qualities;
Vnder the Poles (the Sun nere showing face
But as a stranger ) the Aire so doth freeze
That whosoever breathes it, starving dies:
And in the Torrid Zone it is so hott
That flesh and Bloud (like flaming fire ) it fries,
And with a Cole -blacke beautie it doth blott.
Curling the Haires vpon a wyry knott.

The winds , though Aire yet Aire do turne & wind;
Which Passions of the Aire , our sp'rits affect;
These by the Nose and Mouth a waie doe find
To Braines , and Hart , and there their kindes effect,
And as they are, make them, in some respect:
For, where the Windes be cold and violent,
(As where rough Boreas doth his Throne erect)
There are the People stronge and turbulent,
Rending the Sterne of civill government .

The situation of the place likewise
The Aire therein doth wel or ill dispose;
If to the Sea , or Southerne winde it lies,
It 's humid, putrifactiue, & too close:
So fares it in fatt grounds ( Slouthe's chiefe repose)
The Sandy grounds doe make it hott and dry :
As cold , and moist it is, that Fennes inclose
But cleere & piercing on the Mountaines hy;
Thus Place with Aire doth chang our quality.

Of no lesse vertue are our Alements
Which Winde , & Aire , vnto our sp'rits prepare,
Who are conformed to those Condimentes ;
Then fine they be, if most fine be our fare :
The Goodnesse , Quality , and Time of yeare ,
Vse , Order Appetite , and Quantity;
The Howre and Age , these nyne require our care
If we desire to liue heere healthfully,
And make the Soule aboue her soule to fly.

The soone-concocted Cates good iuyce affoording
And but few excrements , are those alone
That make the mind to boord, when Bodi's boording,
If temp'ratly the stomacke take each one:
These in the Braines base witts doe oft enthrone:
For, these the Mouth prepareth for the Maw ,
Where be'ng concocted, to the Liver runne;
From whence, a sanguine tincture they doe draw,
Then to the Soule's Courts hie by Nature's lawe.

The Hart's the lower house, the head the hie;
(The Roomes whereof we did discribe whil-ere)
Where once appearing they are wing'd to fly,
And in their flight the Soule and Body steere
With motion such as both Caelestiall were:
What mervell is it then, though Geese some be
For want of Capons that would Cocks appeare
( Cocks of the Game ) and chaunt melodiouslee,
If with their kinde, their Commons did agree

How subtill doth a simple cupp of Wine
Make the Soule's faculties , and their effects?
It makes their divine natures more divine,
And with a world of loy the Hart affects
Which Sorrow though in panges of Death reiects:
Hence comes it that some Captaines doe carrowse
When they must Combate with contrary Sects ,
To heate the cold bloud and the spirits rowse
And so make Courage , most couragious

But here (as erst was saide) some over drinke,
While they desire in fight to over-doe;
On nought but wounds , & bloud they speake, & think
While Healthes goe round & braines goe rounder too;
Wyne -making Bloud to Wine & Bloud them wooe
But Nequid nimis , is the List wherein
Courage should combate, and the Barre whereto
Valor should venter what is more is sinne ,
Which by the wise and Valiant damn'd hath bin

Drincke hath three offices. The first assists
Concoction , for in it is boil'd the meate
The next , to mixe the foode the first disgests:
The Last , to bring it to the Liver's heate,
There to be made redd-hott, & apt to fleete:
Now when the Current is too violent,
It beares awaie (vntimely) small , and greate
So crossing Nature in her kinde intent,
She back retires not knowing what she ment

Then meate must soak, not in the Stomacke swimme
If Nature duely we desire to please;
For, when the Stomack's full aboue the brimme
Tyde tarries none, how ere it may disease
And Nature drowne in those vnruly Seas
Breath most corrupt, behaviour more then most,
And Mind much more then most, is made by these;
Then how corrupt are they that of it boast?
So much corrupt, they may infect an Hoast

It 's said of one, that did help to behead
The mounting Monastries that deckt this land
That he (at last) lost his all-wittie Head
For words he spake, to which he could not stand
Nor stand to speake, Wine having vpperhand:
Who vs'd (as Fame reports) his wits t' refine
To let them often rest at Wine's commande;
But wit abused, by abuse of Wine
Abusd One that forc'd Law to force his fine.

Now as a moderation in these things
With Iudgement's choise in their varieties,
To Soule , and Body, health and glorie brings;
So both are bound to temp'rate exercise
For helping them to vse their faculties:
For without health the same were hindered,
And health from hence as from an helpe doth rise;
For holesome labour breakes those humors head
By which the enemies of health are led.

It helpes the heate that helpeth all the parts ,
The Spirits it quickens, and puts ope the pores
Whereby each loathsome excrement departs
As at so many straight wide-open dores .
Our limbes it strengthens and our breath restores:
The morning walkes to the intestines send
The first digestion's filth (which kinde abhorres)
And makes the second's to the bladder wend,
So labour lets our sicknesse , so, our end

All travell tendes to rest , and rest to ease ,
Then must the bodie travell to this end
The Spirit's travell hath respect to these;
For idle Spirits that actiue Sp'rit offend
That for such ease a world of woe doth send:
Yet naught was made that was not made to rest;
But nought was made to rest vntill the end
For Heau'n Earth, Man Beast, Fish, Fowle , & the rest
Doe travell, in fine to be rest-possest.

Yet Nature hath ordained a repose
Which we call rest for Man which rest is slecpe,
The cause whereof from the Braines cheefly floes
When mounting vapors in their moisture steepe
Doe humors' wax, and in the Nerves doe creepe;
And so their conducts close, which shuts the eies
Then rests the corpes in death-like darknesse deepe,
And Spirits animal Rest doth surprise:
So, are they said to rest vntill they rise.

This makes the head so heavy after meate,
The fumes ascending make the head descend;
For they like hammers on the braines doe beate,
Til they haue hammerd humors in the end,
The weight whereof doth cause the head to bend:
Yet sober sleepes, in place , and season fit
Doe comfort Nature , and her hurts amend;
The Spirits it quickens, and awakes the wit ,
For hart must sleepe, when the head wanteth it.

Dead sleepe, Deathe's other name and Image true,
Doth quiet Passion , calme Griefe, Time deceiue;
Who pay'ng the debt that is to Nature due
(Like death ) in quittance thereof doth receiue
Supply of powres , that her of powre bereaue:
So sleepe her foes ' wants friendly doth supply,
And in her wombe doth wakefull thoughts conceiue,
Making the Minde beyond it selfe to spie,
For, doubtless Dreames haue some divinitie.

For, as the influence of Heaven's leames
Frames diverse formes in matter corporall:
So of like influence visions and Dreames
Are printed in the powre fantasticall;
The which power being instrumental,
By Heav'n disposd to bring forth some effect,
Hath greatest vigor in our sleepe's extreames;
For when our mindes doe corporall cares neglect
That influence doth freely them affect,
And so our Dreames oft future haps proiect

Watching oremuch, oremuch doth Nature wrong
It blunts the braines , and sense debilitates;
Dulleth the Spirits , breedes crudities among;
Makes the head heavie, Body it abates,
And kindely heate it cooles, or dissipates:
Yet thorny cares , or stings of ceaslesse Smart ,
May keepe out sleepe without the senses' Gates,
(By pricking them as it were, to the hart )
Till vitall Sp'rits from senses quite depart

Those Chieftaines , on whose cares depend the crowns
(The waighty crownes , on their as waighty cares )
Of mighty Monarches , and their owne renownes
Two burdens which in one who ever beares,
Must night, and day, vse hands, legs, eies , and eares
These watch, yea sleeping wake, for in their sleepes
The point on which their harts are fixt, appeares,
And through their closed eies , their mind's eie peeps,
To looke to that which them from slumber keepes.

Their sleepes are short, but were they short, & sweet
Nature would longer sweetly life support:
But in their sleepes with wakfull thoughts they meete;
That make their sleepes vnsweet, and yet as short;
Which must perforce make Nature all amort:
Yet as they were all Minde , and Body none,
That had noe feeling of the Bodie's hurt,
That Minde (all mind) though Corpes the while doth grone
Makes flesh all hardnesse brooke, as it were Stone .

Such force hath worldly glory (though but vaine)
To make men, for her love, themselues to hate,
Who for desire of her, their strength doe straine
Farre, farre aboue the pitch of mortall state,
And paine in sense, to sense doe captivate:
Though pains wake sense, yet sense doth waking sleep,
Dreaming on Glory in the lapp of Fate .
So paine from sense , doth paine with pleasure keepe,
While sense is mounting Honor's Mountaine steepe.

Where Glory sitts enthron'd (Caelestial Dame )
Surrounded with a Ring of Diadems ,
With face (whose beaming-beautie seemes to flame)
Darting in smiling wise those blissefull beames
On those that for her loue brooke all extreames
What Sense hath sense being so beheavened,
And carried from it selfe on pleasure's Streames?
But as entranc'd with ioy, it must seeme deade,
And feele no paine in Minde or Body bredd.

If then Vaine-glorie's loue shall so subdue
The sense to sense that feeling all annoy,
It 's arm'd to brooke the same by glorie's view,
And the more griefe is felt, the greater ioy ,
(Yea though the grife the sense doth quight destroy)
What shall the loue of Glory infinite
Make sense endure, if sense her powers imploie
To apprehend it, as it's requisite?
Such love should hold the paines of Hell too light

When vnconceaved Ioy dilates the Hart
To th' vtmost reach of his capacitie,
When sense no leasure hath to thinke on smart
Being so busied with felicity
That soule , and sense are ravished thereby;
What marvell then though fire doth comfort such,
(Although with quenchlesse flames their flesh it fry)
Sith that much pain their ioy makes more then much
And paine that sense can feele, no sense can touch

This made a woodden Sawe sweete to the flesh
Wherewith it sundred was in savage wise:
This makes the burning Grediorne flesh refresh
That on the same in hellish manner fries,
This makes paine pleasure , and Hell Paradise
Then give me, o good giver of all good ,
An Hart that may ore paine thus signiorize,
For thy deere love ; then with my deerest blood
Ile wash the Earth , and make more Saints to budd

When Stones (as thicke as haile ) from hellish hands
Battr'd that blessed Proto -Martyre's braine,
The sight he saw his senses so commands,
That, as the Stones did fal the sense to paine,
It deem'd that Grace on it did pleasure raine:
And that deere blood , like worthlesse water shedd,
Did make the springing Church to sprout amaine;
For that no sooner was this Martyr dead
But many (as from him) came in his steede.
And that the Elements doe loose their force
(That by such losse their Lord might lovers win)
It wel appeares; for, did he not divorce
The heate from fire , which his deere Saints were in?
Some too wel knew that this perform'd hath bin:
For out it flew and brent their enemies ,
And where it first began, it did begin
The powre thereof with powre to exercise,
To shew his powre, that loth'd their sacrifice