1
Scholar, Commander, Traveller commixt;
Schools, Camps , and Courts raise Fame , & make it fixt.
Your Fame and Feet have Alps and Oceans past:
Fam'd Feet ! which Art can't raise, nor Envie blast.
2
Beaumont and Fletcher coyn'd a golden Way ,
T'expresse, suspend, and passionate a Play .
Nimble and pleasant are all Motions there,
For two Intelligences rul'd the Spheare.
3
Both Sock and Buskin sunk with Them, and then
Davenant and Denham buoy'd them up agen.
Beyond these Pillars some think nothing is:
Great B RITAIN'S Wit stands in a Precipice.
4
But, Sir, as though H EAV'NS Straits discover'd were,
By Science of your Card, U NKNOWNS appear:
Sail then with Prince of Wits , illustrious Dunne ,
Who rapt Earth round with Love , and was its Sun .
5
But your first Love was pure: Whose ev'ry Dresse
Is inter-tissu'd Wit and Holinesse ;
And mends upon Itself; whose Streams (that meet
With Sands and Herberts) grow more deep, more sweet.
6
I, wing'd with Joy, to th' P RAELIBATION fly;
Thence view I Errours Tragie-comedie :
With T HEOPHIL from Fear to Faith I rise,
The mystick Bridge , 'twixt Hell and Paradise .
7
Hell scap't seems double Heav'n : R ENEW'D , with Bands
Of Pray'rs, Vows, Tears , with Eyes, and Knees, and Hands,
I see her cope with H EAV'N , and H EAV'N does thence,
As in the Baptist's Dayes, feel Violence .
8
But her ecstatick S ONGS OF Love , declare,
To Jedidiah , Shee's apparent Heir .
Be those then next, the S ONG OF S ONGS . Love stiles
Her Fourth , The Second Book of C ANTICLES .
9
But with what dreadfull, yet delightful tones
She sings when G LORIFY'D . Then, stinglesse Drones
Are Death and Hell: Joyes crescent then's encreast,
To fullest Lustre, at her B RIDAL F EAST .
10
Sixth, Sev'nth , and Eighth such Banquets frame would make
W ISDOM turn Cormorant ; my Spirits shake
I th' Reading . Soul of Joy! thy ravishing Sp'rite
Draws bedrid Mindes to longing Appetite.
11
Fame , write with Gold on Diamond Pages; treat
Upon the G LORIES of a Work so great.
Be't then enacted that all Graces dwell
In Thee T HEOPH'LA , Virtues Chronicle :
12
Who jemm'st it in J ERUSALEM Aboue,
Where all is G RACE and G LORY , L IGHT and Love .
To That U NPARALLEL , This comes so near,
That, 'tis a glimpse of H EAV'N to read thee here.
13
O, blest Ambition! Speculations high
Enchariot Thee, Elijah -like, to the Skie!
What State worth Envy, like thy sweet Abode ,
That overtops the World , and mounts to GOD?
14
Walkt through your Eden Stanza's, you invite
Our ravisht Souls to recre'ate with Delight,
In Bow'r of compt Discourse: Great Verse, but Prose
Such, none but our Great M ASTER could compose.
15
For Bulk, an easie Folio is this All;
Yet we a Volume may each Canto call,
For solid Matter : where we should consult
On Paragraphs , mark what does thence result:
16
For, every Period's of D EVOTION Proof,
And each Resolve is of concern'd Behoof.
Peruse, Examine, Censure; ├┤h', how bright
Does shine R ELIGION , checquer'd with Delight!
17
Diffusive Soul! your Spirit was soaring, when
This Manna dew'd from your inspired Pen.
Such melting Passions of a Soul divine,
Could They be cast in any Mould but Thine ?
18
Wonder arrests our Thought; That you alone
In such combustions , wherein Thousands grone,
(And when some Sparkles of the publick Flame
Seiz'd on your private State , and scorcht the same)
19
Could warble Thus. Steer Ships each Pilot may
In Calms ; But Whoso can in Stormie day,
May justly domineer. But what may daunt
Him, who, like Mermaids , thus in Storms can chaunt?
Grace crowns the Suff'ring, Glory the Triumphing S aint .
Scholar, Commander, Traveller commixt;
Schools, Camps , and Courts raise Fame , & make it fixt.
Your Fame and Feet have Alps and Oceans past:
Fam'd Feet ! which Art can't raise, nor Envie blast.
2
Beaumont and Fletcher coyn'd a golden Way ,
T'expresse, suspend, and passionate a Play .
Nimble and pleasant are all Motions there,
For two Intelligences rul'd the Spheare.
3
Both Sock and Buskin sunk with Them, and then
Davenant and Denham buoy'd them up agen.
Beyond these Pillars some think nothing is:
Great B RITAIN'S Wit stands in a Precipice.
4
But, Sir, as though H EAV'NS Straits discover'd were,
By Science of your Card, U NKNOWNS appear:
Sail then with Prince of Wits , illustrious Dunne ,
Who rapt Earth round with Love , and was its Sun .
5
But your first Love was pure: Whose ev'ry Dresse
Is inter-tissu'd Wit and Holinesse ;
And mends upon Itself; whose Streams (that meet
With Sands and Herberts) grow more deep, more sweet.
6
I, wing'd with Joy, to th' P RAELIBATION fly;
Thence view I Errours Tragie-comedie :
With T HEOPHIL from Fear to Faith I rise,
The mystick Bridge , 'twixt Hell and Paradise .
7
Hell scap't seems double Heav'n : R ENEW'D , with Bands
Of Pray'rs, Vows, Tears , with Eyes, and Knees, and Hands,
I see her cope with H EAV'N , and H EAV'N does thence,
As in the Baptist's Dayes, feel Violence .
8
But her ecstatick S ONGS OF Love , declare,
To Jedidiah , Shee's apparent Heir .
Be those then next, the S ONG OF S ONGS . Love stiles
Her Fourth , The Second Book of C ANTICLES .
9
But with what dreadfull, yet delightful tones
She sings when G LORIFY'D . Then, stinglesse Drones
Are Death and Hell: Joyes crescent then's encreast,
To fullest Lustre, at her B RIDAL F EAST .
10
Sixth, Sev'nth , and Eighth such Banquets frame would make
W ISDOM turn Cormorant ; my Spirits shake
I th' Reading . Soul of Joy! thy ravishing Sp'rite
Draws bedrid Mindes to longing Appetite.
11
Fame , write with Gold on Diamond Pages; treat
Upon the G LORIES of a Work so great.
Be't then enacted that all Graces dwell
In Thee T HEOPH'LA , Virtues Chronicle :
12
Who jemm'st it in J ERUSALEM Aboue,
Where all is G RACE and G LORY , L IGHT and Love .
To That U NPARALLEL , This comes so near,
That, 'tis a glimpse of H EAV'N to read thee here.
13
O, blest Ambition! Speculations high
Enchariot Thee, Elijah -like, to the Skie!
What State worth Envy, like thy sweet Abode ,
That overtops the World , and mounts to GOD?
14
Walkt through your Eden Stanza's, you invite
Our ravisht Souls to recre'ate with Delight,
In Bow'r of compt Discourse: Great Verse, but Prose
Such, none but our Great M ASTER could compose.
15
For Bulk, an easie Folio is this All;
Yet we a Volume may each Canto call,
For solid Matter : where we should consult
On Paragraphs , mark what does thence result:
16
For, every Period's of D EVOTION Proof,
And each Resolve is of concern'd Behoof.
Peruse, Examine, Censure; ├┤h', how bright
Does shine R ELIGION , checquer'd with Delight!
17
Diffusive Soul! your Spirit was soaring, when
This Manna dew'd from your inspired Pen.
Such melting Passions of a Soul divine,
Could They be cast in any Mould but Thine ?
18
Wonder arrests our Thought; That you alone
In such combustions , wherein Thousands grone,
(And when some Sparkles of the publick Flame
Seiz'd on your private State , and scorcht the same)
19
Could warble Thus. Steer Ships each Pilot may
In Calms ; But Whoso can in Stormie day,
May justly domineer. But what may daunt
Him, who, like Mermaids , thus in Storms can chaunt?
Grace crowns the Suff'ring, Glory the Triumphing S aint .