CHAPTER XII.

When all the elements of mortal life
Were placed in the mansion of their skin,
Each having daily motion to be rife,
Clos'd in that body which doth close them in,
God sent his Holy Spirit unto man,
Which did begin when first the world began:

So that the body, which was king of all,
Is subject unto that which now is king,
Which chasteneth those whom mischief doth exhale,

CHAPTER XI.

What he could have a heart, what heart a thought,
What thought a tongue, what tongue a show of fears,
Having his ship ballass'd with such a fraught,
Which calms the ever-weeping ocean's tears,
Which prospers every enterprise of war,
And leads their fortune by good fortune's star?

A pilot on the seas, guide on the land,
Through uncouth, desolate, untrodden way,
Through wilderness of woe, which in woes stand,

CHAPTER X.

Correction follows love, love follows hate,
For love in hate is hate in too much love;
So chastisement is preservation's mate,
Instructing and preserving those we prove:
So wisdom first corrects, then favoureth,
But fortune favours first, then wavereth.

First, the first father of this earthly world,
First man, first father call'd for after-time,
Unfashioned and like a heap was hurl'd,

CHAPTER IX.

O God of fathers, Lord of heaven and earth,
Mercy's true sovereign, pity's portraiture,
King of all kings, a birth surpassing birth,
A life immortal, essence ever pure,
Which with a breath ascending from thy thought,
Hast made the heavens of earth, the earth of nought!

Thou which hast made mortality for man,
Beginning life to make an end of woe,
Ending in him what in himself began,

CHAPTER VIII.

Who is the empress of the world's confine,
The monarchess of the four-corner'd earth,
The princess of the seas, life without fine,
Commixer of delight with sorrow's mirth?
What sovereign is she which ever reigns,
Which queen-like governs all, yet none constrains?

Wisdom; O fly, my spirit, with that word!
Wisdom; O lodge, my spirit, in that name!
Fly, soul, unto the mansion of her lord,

CHAPTER VII.

What am I? man; O what is man? O nought!
What, am I nought? yes; what? sin and debate:
Three vices all in one, of one life bought:
Man am I not; what then? I am man's hate:
Yes, man I am; man, because mortal, dead;
Mortality my guide, by mischief led.

Man, because like to man, man, because born;
In birth no man, a child, child, because weak;
Weak, because weaken'd by ill-fortune's scorn;

CHAPTER VI.

After this conflict between God and man,
Remorse took harbour in God's angry breast;
Astraea to be pitiful began,
All heavenly powers to lie in mercy's rest;
Forthwith the voice of God did redescend,
And his Astraea warn'd all to amend.

To you I speak, quoth she; hear, learn, and mark,
You that be kings, judges, and potentates,
Give ear, I say; wisdom, your strongest ark,

CHAPTER V.

As these two slumbers have two contraries,
One slumber in the face, one in the mind;
So their two casements two varieties,
One unto heaven, and one to hell combin'd:
The face is flattery, and her mansion hell;
The mind is just, this doth in heaven dwell.

The face, heaving her heavy eyelids up
From forth the chamber of eternal night,
Sees virtue hold plenty's replenish'd cup,

CHAPTER IV.

If happiness may harbour in content,
If life in love, if love in better life,
Then unto many happiness is lent,
And long-departed joy might then be rife:
Some happy if they live, some if they die,
Happy in life, happy in tragedy.

Content is happiness because content;
Bareness and barrenness is virtue's grace,
Bare because wealth to poverty is bent,
Barren in that it scorns ill-fortune's place;

CHAPTER III .

But every cloud cannot hide Phaebus' face,
Nor shut the casement of his living flame;
Nor is there every soul which wanteth grace,
Nor every heart seduc'd with mischief's name:
Life cannot live without corruption,
World cannot be without destruction.

Nor is the body all corrupt, or world
Bent wholly unto wickedness' assault;
The adder is not always seen uncurl'd,
Nor every soul found guilty in one fault;