Beniamine Johnson:

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I nowe thinke love is rather deafe then blynde

   or els it could not bee

                             that shee

Whom I adore so much should so sleight mee

    shoulde slight mee

    And cast my suite behinde

I’me sure my Languidge to her is as sweete

And all my closes meete

In numbers of as suttle feete

As makes th^e yongest hee

Thatt sits in shadowe of Appolloes tree

O but my consci^{^o}us feares that flye, my thoughts betweene

my prompt mee, Ix ^{^ that} shee hath seene

My numbers of graye hayres

Tould six and forty yeares

Read so much = wast, as shee cannot embrace

My Mountayne Belly, & my Rockey face

And all these through her eye have stopt her eares

To M^r Ben: Johnson in his Jorney

by M^r Craven

______________________________________

When wise, and learninge are so hardly sett

That from their needfull meanes they must be bard

unless by going harde th^ey mayntnance gett

Well maye Ben: Johnson say th^e world goes hard

_______________________________________

This was M^r Ben: Johnsons Answer of

th^e suddayne

_______________________________________

It may Ben Johnson slander so his feete

For when th^e profitt with th^e payne doth meete

Although th^e gate were hard th^e gayne is sweete.

Ben: Jonson: ~

O Ζέυς κατείδε χρουιος έις τάς διφθεράς:

‘Tis a Record in heaven, you that were

Her Children, and Grand=children, reed it heere!

Transmitt it to your Nephewes, Freinds, Allies,

Tenants, and Servants, have they harts, and eyes

To veiw the truth and owne it, doe but looke

with pause upon it; make this page your booke:

Your booke? your Volume! Nay, the state, and story!

Code, Digests, Pandects of all fæmale glory!

Diphthera Louis :~

Shee was the light (w[i]^th out reflexe

upon herselfe) to all her sexe!

The best of Woemen! her whole life

was the example of a wife!

Or of a parent! or a freind!

All Circles had their spring and end

In her! and what could perfect bee,

Or w[i]^thout angles, it was shee!

All that was solid, in the name

Of vertue, pretious in the frame:

Or else Magnetique in the force,

Or sweet, or various, in the course!

What was proportion, or could bee

By warrant call’d iust Symetry,

In number, measure, or degree

Of weight, or fashion, it was shee.

Her soule possest her fleshes state

In faire freehould, not an Inmate:

And when the flesh, here, shut up day,

Fames heate upon the grave did stay;

And howrely brooding ore the same,

Keeps warme the spice of her good name,

untill the dust retorned bee

Into a Phœnix, which xx is shee ./

__________________________

For this did Katherine, Ladie Ogle, die

To gaine the Crowne of im[m]ortalitye,

Ӕternities great charter; which became

Her right, by gift, and purchase of the Lambe:

Seal’d and deliver’d to her, in the sight

Of Angells, and all witnesses of Light,

Both Saints, and Martyrs, by her Loved Lord

And this a coppie is of the Record ./

Dr. Andrewes :~

[18 lines of script deleted and unreadable]

Though Ister have put downe the Rhene,

And from his chanel thrust him cleane:

Though Prage againe repayre her losses,

And Idol-berge doth set up crosses.

yet wee a change shall shortlye feele,

When English Smiths worke Spanish steele.

Then Tage a Nimphe shall send xx Thames,

The Eagle then shall be in flames.

Then Rhene shall reigne, and Boёme burne

And Neccar shall to Nectar turne ./

D^r. Doone

The Mother in the Hungry Grave doth lay,

    unto the fire these Martyres I betraye

Good soules, for you give life to everye thinge

    Good Angells, for good Messages you bringe

Destin’d you might have bin to such a One,

    As would have lov’d, and worshipt you alone.

One which would suffer hungar, nakednesse,

    yea death, ere he would make your Number lesse.

But I am guilty of your sad decay.

    May your few fellowes longer with me stay.

But oh thou wretched finder, whom I hate

    So much, that I almost pittye thy state.

Gold being the heavyest mettall amongst all,

    May my most heavye Curse upon thee fall;

Here fetterd, manacl’d, and hang’d in chaynes

    First mayst thou bee, then chayn’d in hellish paynes

Or bee x with forraine gold, brib’d to betraye

    Thy Country, and fayle both of that, and thy pay.

May the next thinge, thou stoopst to reach, contayne

    Poyson, whose nimble fume rose the moyst brayne.

Or libells, or some interdicted thinge

    Which negligentlye kept, thy ruine bringe.

Lust breed diseases rott Thee, and dwell with thee

    Itchye desire, And no Abilitee.

May all the hurt, which ever Gold hath wrought,

    All mischiefes, which all Deville ever thought.

Want after plentye; Poore & Gowty Age,

    The Plagues of Travillers, love, & Mariage,

Afflict thee, and at thy lifes latest moment,

    May thy swolne sinnes themselves to thee present.

But I forgive; Repent then honest man.

    Gold is restorative: Restore it than.

Of yf with it, thou beest loth to depart,

    Because tis Cordyall, would sweare at they hart.

Eleave:~

Come; Madame, come, All rest my Powers defye,

untill I labor, I in labor lye.

The foe oft tymes, haveing the foe in sight

Is tyr’d with standing, though they never fight.

Of with that girdle, like heavens zone glystering,

But a farr fairer world encompassing.

Unpin that spangled Brest plate; which you weare

That the Eyes of busy fooles may be stopt there.

unlace your selfe: for that harmonious chyme,

Tells mee from you, that now ‘tis your bed tyme.

D^r. Doone :~

Of with that un happy buske; whom I envy,

That still can bee, and still can stand so nigh.

your gowne’s going of, such beauteous state reveales,

As when from flowrye meades, th’hills shadowe steales.

Of with your wirye Coronett, and showe

The Hairye Diademe, which on you doth growe.

Of with those shooes, and then softly tred,

In this loves hallowed temple; This soft bed.

In such white robes, heavens Angells us’d to bee

Receav’d by men: Thou Angell bringst with thee,

A heaven like Mahometts Paradice: And though

Ill spiritts walke in white; we easylye Knowe,

By this these Angells from an evill sp^{^r}ight.

They sett our Hayres, but x these the flesh upright.

Licence my roveing hand, and lett them goe,

Behind, beefore, above, betweene, belowe.

Oh my America, my new found land.

My kingdome, safe lyest when with one man man’d.

My myne of Pretious stones; my Empiree.

Howe blest am I in this discovering thee;

To enter into these bandes, is to be free.

Then where my hand is sett, my seale shalbe.

Full Nakednes, all ioyes are due to Thee;

As soules unbodyed, bodyes uncloth’d must bee.

To tast whole ioyes. Gems which you women use,

Are as Atlantaes balls cast in mens viewes.

That when a fooles eye lighteth on a Gem.

His Earthlye soule may covett theyres not them.

Like pictures, or like bookes gay Covering made

For lay men, are all woemen thus arrayde.

Themselves are mistique Bookes, which only wee,

Whom theyre imputed grace will dignifye

Must bee revealed. Then since I may knowe,

As liberallye, as to a Midwife showe

Thy selfe; Cast all, yea this white linnen hence;

There is no Pennance, much lesse Innocence.

To teach thee, I am naked first: why than,

What needst thou have more covering then a man.

Eleave:~

Fond woman which wouldst have thy husband dye,

And yet complayn’st of his greate Jealosye,

If swolne with Poyson, he lay in his last bed,

Hys bodye with a sere barke covered,

Drawinge his breath, as thicke, & short as can

The nimblest crocheting Musition.

Doctor Doone:~

The Apparition:

When by thy skorne, Ô murdres, I am dead,

    And that thou thinckst thee free,

From all sollicitation, from mee

Then shall my Ghost come to my bed,

And thee fayn’d vestall in worse Armes shall see,

Then thy sicke Taper will beginne to wincke,

And he whose Thou art then, Beeing tyred before,

Will, if Thou stirre, or pinch to make hym, Thincke

    Thou callst for more;

And in false sleepe, will from thee shrincke,

Thou poore aspen wretch neglected then,

Both in a Cold quicksilver sweate wilt lye

    A veryer Ghost then I.

What I will say, I will not tell thee nowe.

least that preserve Thee; And since my love ys spent,

I had rather, Thou should’st paynefully repent,

Then by thy threatnings rest still Innocent.

Sonn:

Hee is starke madd, who ever says

That he hath bin in love, an hower

yett not that love so soone decayes,

But that it can ten in lesse space devoure,

Who will beleave mee, If I sweare,

That I have had the plague a yeare?

Who would not laugh at mee, if I should say,

I sawe a flash of pouder burne a Day?

Ah what a Trifle is a Hart,

yf once into loves hands yt come?

All other griefes allowe a part

To other Griefes, and aske themselves but some,

They come to us, but us love drawes;

He swallowes, us, and never chawes;

By him as by chaind shott, whole ranckes doe dye,

He is the tyran Pike, our Harte the frye,

yf t’weare not soe, what w[oul]^d beecome

Of my hart when I first sawe thee?

I brought a hart into the Roome,

But from the Roome, I carryed none w[i]^th mee.

Yf it had gone to thee, I knowe

Myne would have taught thy hart to showe

More Pitty to mee, but love, Alas,

At one first blowe, did shiver yt as Glas.

D^r: Doone :~

yett Nothing can to Nothing fall:

Nor any Place bee empty quite;

Therfore, I thincke my brest hath all

Those Peeces still, though they bee not unite,

And nowe as broken glasses showe,

A hundred lesser faces, so,

My raggs of Hart can like, wish, and adore,

But after one such love, can love noe more ./

Stand still, and I will reade to Thee,

A lecture, love, in loves Phylosophee,

   Those three houres, w[hi]^ch wee have spent

In walking here, two shadowes went

   A long w[i]^th us, w[hi]^ch wee ourselves produc’d.

But now the sunne is iust above our heads

   Wee doe those shadowes tread.

And, to brave clearenes, all thinges are reduc’d,

   So whyles our Infant love did growe,

Disguisis did, and shadowes flowe

   From us, and our Care; But now tis not soe.

That love, hath not attain’d the least degree,

   W[hi]^ch ys still diligent, least others see.

Except our love at this Noone stay

Wee shall newe shadowes make the other way,

   As they first weare made to blind

Others, these w[hi]^ch come behind

   Will worke upon our selves, and blinde our Eyes.

If once Love faynte, and westwardlye declyne.

   To mee, Thou falsely thyne

And, I to thee, myne Actions shall disguise,

   The morning shadowes weare away,

But these growe longer all the Day;

   But, oh, loves day ys short, yf love decay:

Love is a Growinge, or full Constant light,

And his first Minute after Noone ys Night.

A valediction:~

As virtuous men passe mildlye away,

   And whisper to theyre selves to goe,

And some of theyre sad freindes doe say

   The breath goes now, and some say noe

D^r: Doone :~

So lett us melt, and make no noyse,

   No teare floudes, nor sigh tempests move,

T’weare Prophenation of our ioyes

   To tell the layetie our love,

Moveinge of th’Earth brings harmes, and feares,

   Men recken what it did, and ment,

But trepidations of the spheares:

   Though greater farr is innocent.

Dull Sublunarye lovers love.

   (whose soule ys sence) cannot admitt

Absence, because it doth remove,

   Those thinges w[hi]^ch Elemented yt.

But wee by a love so much refin’d,

   Thet our selves knowe nor what it is,

Interassured of the minde

   Carelesse, Eyes, lypps, and hands to misse.

Our two, soules, therefore w[hi]^ch are One,

   Though I must goe, endure not yett,

A Breach, but an Expansion

   Like Gold to Ayerye thinnes beate.

If they be two, they are two soe

   As stiffe twin Compasses are two.

Thy soule, the fixt foote, makes noe showe,

   To move, but doth, if the other doe.

And though yt in the Center sitt

   yett when the other far doth rome,

It leanes, and hearkens after it

   And growes erect, as it comes home.

Such wilt Thou bee to mee, who must

   Like th’other foote obliquelye runne,

Thy firmnes makes my Circle Just,

   And makes me End, where I begunne ./

I wonder, by my troth, what thou and I

Did, till wee ley’d, weare wee noe weaned, till then?

But suck’d on Countrey Pleasures childishly?

Or snorted wee in the seaven sleepers den?

‘Twas so, but this All pleasures fancyes bee?

If ever Ange, beautye I did see,

W[hi]^ch I desir’d and gott, t’was but a Dreame of Thee.

D^r: Doone :~

And nowe, Good Morrowe, to our wakeing soules,

W[hi]^ch watch not one another out of Feare,

For love, All love of other sights controules;

And makes one little roome, an every where,

Lett sea discoverers to new worldes have gon,

Lett Mapps to Others, worlds on worldes have showne

Lett us possesse one world, each hath one, and is One ./

My face in thyne Eye thyne in myne appeares,

And true playne harts doe in the faces rest

Where can we fynde two better Hemispheres

W[i]^thout sharpe North, w[i]^thout declyning west,

What ever dyes, was not mixt equallye

If our two loves be one, or thou and I

Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none cac [sic] dye.

Song:~

Goe, and catch a falling starr,

   Gett w[i]^th chylde a Mandracke roote

Tell me where all past yeares are,

   Or who cleft the Devills foote,

Teach mee to heare Mermaydes singing,

   Or to keepe of Envies stringing,

        And finde

           what winde;

Serves to advance an honest mynde:

If thou beest borne to strange sights

   Things Invisible see,

Ride ten thouzand dayes, and nights,

   Till age snowe white hayres on Thee,

Thou, when thou retornest, wilt tell mee

All strange wonders that befell thee,

         And sweare,

               Noe wheare

Lives a woman true, and fayre.

If thou fyndst One, lett mee knowe

   Such a Pilgrimage weare sweete,

Yett doe not, I would not goe

   Though at next doore, wee might meete,

Though she weare true, when you mett her

And last, till you write your letter,

       Yett shee

           Will bee

False, ere I come, to two, or three ./

Doctor Doone :~

The Flea :~

Marke but this Flea, and marke in this

   Howe little, that w[hi]^ch thou denyest mee ys,

It sucks mee first, and now suckes thee

And in this flea, our two ^{^ bloods} mingled bee,

Thou knows’t that this cannot bee sayd,

A sinne, nore shame, nor losse, of Maydenhead,

   yett this enioyes, before yt woe,

And pamperd swells with one blood made of two

And this Alas, is more then wee would doe ./

Oh stay, three lives in One flea spare,

When wee allmost, yea more then Marryed are:

   This Flea is you, and I, and thys

Our Maryage bedd, and Marryage Temple ys,

Though Parents grudge, and you w’are mett,

   And cloystred in these liveing walls of Jett,

Though use make you apt to kill mee

Lett not to that selfe Murder added bee,

And Sacriledge, Three sinnes, in killing Three ./

Cruell and sodayne, hast thou since

Purpled thy Nayle, in blood of Innocence?

   Wherein could thys Flea guiltye bee,

Except in that drop w[hi]^ch it suckt from thee?

yett thou tryumphst, and sayest that thou

Fyndst not thy selfe, nor mee the weaker now,

   Tis true; Thou learne howe false feares bee.

Just so much honor, when thou yieldst to mee

Will wast, as thys Fleas death tooke lyfe from thee.

The Curse.

Who ever guesses, Thinckes, or dreames he knowes

Who is my Mistres, wither by thys Curse ./

   His only, and only his purse

   May some dull hart to love dispose;

And she yeild then to All that are his foes,

May he be scorn’d by One, whom all else scorne,

Forsweare to others, what to her he hath sworne,

W[i]^th feare of missing, shame of getting torne;

Madnes his sorrowe, Gowt his Grays may hee

Make, by but thinckinge, who hath made him such,

   And may hee feele no touch

   Of Conscience, but of fame, And bee,

D^r: Doone :~

Anguish’d, not that ‘twas sinne, but that ‘twas shee,

In Earelye and long scarcenes may bee rott

For land w[hi]ch had bin his, if he had nott

Hymselfe incestuouslye an heyre begett.

May he dreame Treason, and beleeve that hee

Ment to performe yt, and confesse, & Dye,

   And not Record tell why,

   His sonnes w[hi]^ch none of his may bee.

Inherritt nothing, but his Infamye.

Or may so long Parasytes have feel’d

That he would fayne bee theyres, whom he hath bredd,

And at the last bee circumcis’d for bread ./

The venim of all stepdames, Gamsters Gall,

What Tyrannes, and theyre subiects interwish,

   What Plants, Myne, beasts, Fowle, Fishe

Can Contribute, All ill w[hi]^ch All

Prophetts, or Poetts spade, And all w[hi]^ch shall

Be annexed in Schedules unto this by mee,

Fall on that Man, for yf it bee a shee;

Nature before hand, hath out cursed mee ./

The Extasye

When like a Pillowe on a Bed,

   A Pregnant bancke swel’d up, to rest

The violetts reclyning head,

   Satt wee two, One Anothers best,

   Our handes weare firmelye cimented,

   W[i]^th a fast balme, w[hi]^ch thence did spring,

Our Eye beames twisted, and did thredd

   Our Eyes, upon one double stringe ./

So to intergraft our handes, as yett

   Was all the meanes to make us one;

And Pictures on our Eyes to gett

   Was all our Propagation ./

As twixt to equall Armyes Fate

   Suspends uncertayne victoree,

Our soules, w[hi]^ch to advance they’re state,

   Were gon out, hangs twixt her, and mee ./

D^r Doone :~

To God in his sterne wrath, why threatens hee?

But who am I, that dare dispute with Thee?

   Oh God; oh of thyne only worthye blood

   And my teares make a heavenlye leathean flood,

And drowne in it my sinnes blacke memorye;

   That thou remember them, some clayme as debt,

   I thinck yt mercye, if thou will forgett.

6.

Death be not Proud, though some have called Thee

   Mightye, & dreadfull, for thou art not soe,

   For those whom thou thinckst thou dost overthrowe

Dye not, Poore death, nor yett canst thou kill mee

From sleepe rest, & sleepe, w[hi]^ch but thy Pictures bee

   Much pleasure, then from thee much most flowe,

   And soonest our best men, w[i]^th Thee doe goe;

Rest of theyre bones, & soules deliverye,

Thou art slave to Fate, Chance, Kings, & desperate men,

   And dost w[i]^th Poyson, warr, & sicknes dwell,

   And Poppy, or Charmes can make us sleepe as well,

And better then thy stroake; why swellst thou then?

   One short sleepe past, wee wake Eternallye,

   And death shall be no more, Death thou shalt Dye ./

7.

Spitt in my face you Jewes, & peirce my side,

   Buffett, & scoffe scourge & crucifye mee,

   For I have sin’d, and sin’d & only hee

Who could doe none Iniquitye, hath dyed,

Butt by my Death cannott be satisfyed.

   My synnes, w[hi]^ch passe the Jewes Iniquitye

   They kil’d once an Inglorious man, but I,

Crucifye hym daylye, beeing now Gloryfyed.

Oh lett me then his strange love still admire,

   Kings pardon, but he bore our Punishment,

And Jacob came cloth’d in vile harsh attyre,

   But to supplant, & w[i]^th gainfull intent

God cloth’d hymselfe in vile mans flesh, th[a]^t so

He might bee weake enough to suffer woe ./

8.

Why are wee by all Creatures wayted on?

   Why doe the Prodigall Ellements supplye

   Lyfe, & foode to wee; Being more pure then I!

Symple and farder from Corruption,

Why brookst thou Ignorant horse subiection

   Why dost thou Bull, & bore so seely lye

   Dissemble weaknes, & by one Mans stroake dye;

Whose whole kind, you might swallowe, & feed upon;

Weaker I am, who woe ys me, & worse then you.