The Complaint of poetry, for the death of Liberality.
1
WEep heuens now, for you haue lost your light,
Ye Sun and Moone, be are witnes of my mone
the cleere is turnd to clouds, the daie to night,
And all my hope, and all my ioie is gone:
bountie is dead, the cause of my annoie:
bountie is dead and with her dide my ioie.
2
O who can comfort my afflicted soule?
Or adde some end to my increasing sorrowes?
VVho can deliuer me from endlesse dole?
VVhich from my hart eternall torment borrowes.)
VVhen bountie liu'd, J bore the bell awaie,
VVhen bountie dide, my credite did decaie.
3
J neuer then, did write on verse in vaine;
Nor euer went my Poems vnregarded:
Then did each Noble breast, me intertaine,
And for my labours J was well rewarded,
But now good wordes, are stept in Bounties place,
Thinking thereby, her glorie to disgrace.
4
But who can liue with words, in these hard times?
(Although they came from Jupiter himselfe?)
Or who can take such Paiment, for his Rimes;
(When nothing now, is so esteem'd as Pelfe)
T is not Good words, that can a man maintaine;
Words are but winde; and wind is all but vaine.
5
Where is Mecoenas, Learnings noble Patron?
(That Maroes Muse, with Bountie so did cherish?)
Or faire Zenobia, that worthy Matron?
(Whose name, for Learnings loue, shal neuer perish)
What tho their Bodies, lie full low in graue,
Their fame the world; their souls the heauens haue.
6
Vile Auaricia, how hast thou inchaunted
The Noble minds, of great and mighty Men?
Or what infernall fury late hath haunted
Their niggard purses? (to the learned pen)
Was it Augustus wealth, or noble minde,
That euerlasting fame, to him assinde.
7
If wealth? Why Croesus was more rich then he;
(Yet Croesus glorie, with his life did end)
It was his Noble minde, that moued mee
To write his praise, and eke his Acts commend
Who ere had heard, of Alexanders fame,
If Quintus Curtius had not pend the same?
8
Then sith by me, their deeds haue beene declared,
(Which else had perisht with their liues decay)
Who to augment their glories, haue not spared
to crowne their browes, with neuer-fading Bay;
What art deserues such liberality,
As doth the peerlesse art of Poetrie?
9
But Liberalitie is dead and gone:
And Auarice Vsurps true bounties seat.
F
[...] her it is I make this
endlesse mone,
[...]ose prayses worth no pen
can well repeat)
Sweet Liberality adiew for euer,
For Poetrie againe shall see thee neuer.
10
Neuer againe, shall J thy presence see:
Neuer againe, shall I thy bountie tast,
Neuer againe, shall J accepted be:
Neuer againe, shall I be so embrac't.
Neuer againe, shall J the bad recall:
Neuer againe, shall I belou'd of all.
11
Thou wast the Nurse, whose Bounty gaue me sucke,
Thou wast the Sun, whose beames did lend me light:
Thou wast the tree, whose fruit J still did plucke:
thou wast the Patron, to maintaine my right
through thee J liu'd; on thee I did relie;
[...]a thee J ioy'd: and now
for thee I die.
12
What man, hath lately lost a faithfull friend?
Or Husband, is depriued of his Wife?
But doth his after-daies in dolour spend?
(Leading a loathsome, discontented life?
Dearer then friend, or wife haue I forgone?
then maruell not although I make such mone.
13
Faire Philomela, cease thy sad complaint;
And lend thine eares, vnto my dolefull Dittie:
(Whose soule with sorrow, now begins to faint,
And yet J cannot moue mens hartes to pittie:)
thy woes are light, compared vnto mine:
You watrie Nimphes, to me your plaints resigne.
14
and thou Melpomene, (the Muse of Death)
that neuer sing'st, but in a dolefull straine;
Sith cruell Destinie hath stopt her breath,
(Who whil'st she liu'd, was Vertues Soueraigne)
Leaue He
[...]on, (whose
Bankes so pleasant be
and beare a part of sorrow now with mee.
15
the trees (for sorrow) shead their fading Leaues,
And weepe out gum, in stead of other teares;
Comfort nor ioy, no Creature now conceiues,
to chirp and sing, each little bird forbears.
the sillie Sheepe, hangs down her drooping head,
and all because, that bounty she is dead.
16
the greater that I feele my griefe to be,
the lesser able, am J to expresse it;
Such is the Nature of extremity,
the heart it som-thing eases, to confesse it.
therefore Jle wake my muse, amidst her sleeping,
and what I want with words, supplie with weeping.
17
Weepe still mine eies, a Riuer full of tears,
to drowne my Sorrow in, that so molests me;
and rid my head of cares: my thoughts of fears:
Exiling sweet Content, that so detests me.
But ah (alas) my teares are almost dun.
and yet my griefe, it is but new begun.
18
Euen as the Sunne, when as it leaues our sight,
Doth shine with those Antipodes, beneath vs:
Lending the other world her glorious light,
And dismall Darknesse, onely doeth bequeath vs:
Euen so sweet Bountie, seeming dead to me,
Liues now to none, but smooth-Tongd Flatterie.
19
O Adulation, Canker-worme of Truth;
The flattering Glasse of Pride, and Self-conceit,
(Making olde wrinkled Age, appeare like youth)
Dissimulations Maske, and follies Beate.
Pitty it is, that thou art so rewarded,
Whilst Truth and Honestie, goe vnregarded.
20
O that Nobility, itselfe should staine,
In being bountifull, to such vile Creatures,
Who, when they flatter most, then most they faine:
Knowing what humour best, will fit there Natures.
What man so mad, that knowes himselfe but poore.
And will beleeue that he hath riches store,
21
Vpon a time the craftie Foxe did flatter
The foolish pie (whose mouth was full of meat)
The Pye beleeuing him, began to chatter,
And sing for ioy, (not hauing list to eate)
And whil'st the foolish Pye, her meate let fall,
The craftie Foxe, did runne a waie with all.
22
Terence describeth vnder Gnatoes name,
The right conditions of a Parasyte:
(And with such Eloquence, sets forth the same,
As doeth the learned Reader much delight)
Shewing, that such a Sicophant as Gnato,
Js more esteem'd, then twentie such as Plato.
23
Bountie looke back, vpon thy goods mispent:
And thinke how ill, thou hast bestowd thy mony:
Consider not their words, but their intent:
Their harts are gal, although their toongs be hony:
They speake not as they think, but all is fained,
And onely to th'intent to be maintained.
24
And herein happie, I areade the poore;
No flattering Spaniels, fawne on them for meate:
The reason is, because the Countrey Boore
Hath little inough for himselfe to eate:
No man will flatter him, except himselfe:
And why? because he hath no store of wealth.
25
But sure it is not Liberality
That doth reward these fawning smel-feasts so:
Jt is the vice of Prodigalitie,
That doth the the banks of Bountie ouerflo.
Bountie is dead, yea so it needs must be,
Or if aliue, yet is she dead to me.
26
Therefore as one, whose friend is latelie dead,
J will bewaile the death of my late friend,
Vpon whose tomb ten thousand teares ile shed,
Till drearie Death, of me shall make an end:
Or if she want a Toomb, to her desart,
On then, ile bury her within my hart.
27
But (Bounty) if thou loue a Tombe of stone,
Oh then seeke out, a hard and stonie hart,
For were mine so, yet would it melt with mone,
And all because that J with thee must part.
Then if a stonie hart must thee interr,
Goe finde a Step-dame, or a Vsurer.
28
And sith there dies no Wight, of great account,
But hath an Epitaph compos'd by mee,
Bounty, that did all other far surmount,
Vpon her Tombe, this Epitaph shall be:
Here lies the Wight, that Learning did maintaine,
And at the last, by Auarice was slaine.
29
Vile Auarice, why hast thou kild my Deare?
And robd the world, of such a worthy Treasure,
In whom no spark of goodnesse doth appeare,
So greedie is thy mind, without all measure.
Thy death, from Death did merit to release her,
The Murtherers deseru'd to die, not Caesar.
30
The Merchants wife; and Tender-harted Mother:
That leaues her Loue; whose Sonneis prest for war:
(Resting the one; as woefull as the other)
Hopes yet at length, when euded is the iarre;
To see her Husband; see her Son againe:
"wer it not then for Hope, the hart were slaine.
31
But I, whose hope is turned to despaire,
Nere looke to see my dearest Deare againe;
Then Pleasure sit thou downe, in Sorrowes Chaire,
And for a while thy wonted Mirth refraine.
Bounty is dead, that whylome was my Treasure:
Bounty is dead, my ioy and onely pleasure.
32
If Pythias death, of Damon were bewailed;
Or Pillades did rue, Orestes end:
If Hercules, for Hylas losse were quailed:
Or Theseus, for Pyrithous Teares did spend:
then doe J mourne for Bounty, being dead:
Who liuing, was my hand, my hart, my head.
33
My hand, to helpe me, in my greatest need:
My hart, to comfort me, in my distresse:
My head, whom only J obeyd, indeed:
If she were such, how can my griefe be lesse?
Perhaps my words, may perce the parcae's eares:
Jf not with words, Jle moue them with my teares.
34
But ah (alas) my Teares are spent in vaine,
(For she is dead, and J am left aliue)
Teares cannot call, sweet Bountie back againe:
Then why doe I, against Fate and Fortune striue?
And for her death, thus weep lament and crie,
Sith euerie mortall wight, is borne to die.
35
But as the wofull mother doeth lament,
Her tender babe with cruell Death opprest:
Whose life was spotlesse, pure, and innocent,
(And therefore sure, it soule is gone to rest)
So Bountie, which her selfe did vpright keepe,
Yet for her losse, loue cannot chuse but weepe.
36
The losse of her, is losse to manie a one:
The losse of her, is losse vnto the poore;
And therefore not a losse, to me alone,
But vnto such, as goe from Doore to Doore.
Her losse, is losse vnto the fatherlesse:
And vnto all, that are in great distresse.
37
The maimed Souldier, comming from the war:
The woefull wight, whose house was lately burnd:
the sillie soule: the wofull trauelar:
And all, whom Fortune at her feet hath spurnd:
Lament the losse of Liberalitie:
"Its ease, to haue in griefe some Companie.
38
the Wife of Hector (sad Andromache)
Did not bewaile, her husbands death alone:
But (sith he was the troians onely stey)
the wiues of troy (for him) made aequall mone.
Shee, shead the teares of Loue; and they of pitty:
She, for her deare dead Lord; they, for their Citty.
39
Nor is the Death of Liberalitie,
(Although my griefe be greater than the rest)
Onely lamented and bewaild of me;
(And yet of me, she was beloued best)
But, sith she was so bountifull to all,
She is lamented, both of great and small.
40
O that my Teares could moue the powres diuine.
That Bounty might be called from the dead:
As Pitty pierc'd the hart of Proserpine:
Who moued with the Teares Admetus shed)
Did send him backe againe, his louing Wife;
Who lost her owne, to saue her husbands life.
41
Jmpartiall Parcae, will no prayrs moue you?
Can Creatures so diuine, haue stonie harts?
Haplesse are they, whose hap it is to proue you,
For you respect no Creatures good Desarts.
O Atropos, (the crueldst of the three)
Why hast thou tane, my faithfull friend from me?
42
But ah, she cannot (or she will not) heare me,
Or if she doo, yet may not she repent her:
then com (sweet death) O why dost thou for bear me
Aye me! thy Dart is blunt, it will not enter.
Oh now J know the cause, and reason why;
I am immortall, and
I cannot die.
43
So Cytherae a would haue dide, but could not;
When faire Adonis by her side lay slaine:
So I desire the Sisters, what J should not;
For why (alas) J wish for Death in vaine;
Death is their seruant, and obeys their will;
And if they bid him spare, he cannot kill.
44
Oh would I were, as other Creatures are;
Then would I die, and so my griefe were ended:
But Death (against my will) my life doeth spare;
(So little with the fates I am befrended)
Sith, when J would, thou doost my sute denie,
Vile Tyrant, when thou wilt I will not die.
45
And Bounty, though her body thou hast slaine,
Yet shall her memorie remaine for euer:
For euer, shall her memorie remaine;
Whereof no spitefull Fortune can bereaue her.
Then Sorrow cease, and wipe thy weeping eie;
For Fame shall liue, when al the world shal die.