Chapter II: Another Dedication of a Gift-Copy (in Ms.) in the Possession of (1)

HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF NORTHUMBERLAND, AT ALNWICK CASTLE.[62]

[Footnote 62: On this MS. of Nosce Teipsum see our Preface. G.]

_To the right noble, valorous, and learned Prince Henry, Earle of Northumberland_:

The strongest and the noblest argument
To proue the soule immortall, rests in this:
That in no mortall thing it finds content,
But seekes an object that æternall is.

If any soule hath this immortall signe,
(As every soule doth show it, more or lesse),
It is your spirit, heröick and diuine;
Which this true noate most liuely doth expresse;

For being a prince, and hauing princely blood,
The noblest of all Europe in your vaines;
Having youth, wealth, pleasure, and every good,
Which all the world doth seek, with endlesse paynes.

Yet can you never fixe y^{r} thoughts on these,
These cannot with your heavenly mind agree;
These momentary objects cannot please,
Your wingèd spirit, which more aloft doth flee.

It only longs to learne and know the truth,
The truth of every thing, which never dies;
The nectar which præserves the soule in youth;
The manna which doth minds immortalize.

These noble studdies, more ennoble you,
And bring more honor to your race and name
Than Hotspur's fier, which did the Scots subdew,
Then Brabant's scion, or great Charles his name.

Then to what spirit shall I these noates commend,
But unto that which doth them best expresse;
Who will to them more kind protection lend,
Then Hee which did protect me in distresse?

_Of Humane Knowledge._

Why did my parents send me to the Schooles,
That I with knowledge might enrich my mind?
Since the _desire to know_ first made men fools,
And did corrupt the root of all mankind:

For when God's hand had written in the hearts
Of the first Parents, all the rules of good,
So that their skill infusde did passe all arts
That euer were, before, or since the Flood;

And when their reason's eye was sharpe and cleere,
And (as an eagle can behold the sunne)
Could haue approcht th' Eternall Light as neere,
As the intellectuall angels could haue done:

Euen then to them the _Spirit of Lyes_ suggests
That they were blind, because they saw not ill;
And breathes into their incorrupted brests
A curious _wish_, which did corrupt their _will_.

For that same ill they straight desir'd to know;
Which ill, being nought but a defect of good,
In[63] all God's works the Diuell could not show
While Man their lord in his perfection stood.

So that themselues were first to doe the ill,
Ere they thereof the knowledge could attaine;
Like him that knew not poison's power to kill,
Vntill (by tasting it) himselfe was slaine.

Euen so by tasting of that fruite forbid,
Where they sought _knowledge_, they did _error_ find;
Ill they desir'd to know, and ill they did;
And to giue _Passion_ eyes, made _Reason_ blind.

For then their minds did first in Passion see
Those wretched shapes of _Miserie_ and _Woe_,
Of _Nakednesse_, of _Shame_, of _Pouertie_,
Which then their owne experience made them know.

But then grew _Reason_ darke, that _she_ no more,
Could the faire formes of _Good[64]_ and _Truth_ discern;
_Battes_ they became, that _eagles_ were before:
And this they got by their _desire_ to _learne_.

But we their wretched of-spring, what doe we?
Doe not we still taste of the fruit forbid
Whiles with fond[65] fruitlesse curiositie,
In bookes prophane we seeke for knowledge hid?

What is this _knowledge_ but the sky-stolne fire,
For which the _thiefe[66]_ still chain'd in ice doth sit?
And which the poore rude _Satyre_ did admire,
And needs would kisse but burnt his lips with it.[67]

What is it? but the cloud of emptie raine,
Which when _Ioue's_ guest imbrac't, hee monsters got?[68]
Or the false _payles_[69] which oft being fild with paine[70],
Receiv'd the water, but retain'd it not!

[Footnote 63: Misprinted 'and' in 1st edition and in 1608. G.]

[Footnote 64: 'God' in 1st edition. G.]

[Footnote 65: Foolish. G.]

[Footnote 66: In 1st edition 'Thief' is misprinted 'shie' and Bp. Hacket writes here: 'Prometheus stole fire: qui in tulit in terram malum.' G.]

[Footnote 67: Fable in Æsop [Babrius]. G.]

[Footnote 68: Ixion. G.]

[Footnote 69: Danaides. G.]

[Footnote 70: Painstaking. G.]

Shortly, what is it but the firie coach
Which the _Youth_ sought, and sought his death withal?[71]
Or the _boye's_ wings, which when he did approch
The _sunne's_ hot beames, did melt and let him fall?[72]

And yet alas, when all our lamps are burnd,
Our bodyes wasted, and our spirits spent;
When we haue all the learnèd _Volumes_ turn'd,
Which yeeld mens wits both help and ornament:

What can we know? or what can we discerne?
When _Error_ chokes the windowes of the minde,
The diuers formes of things, how can we learne,
That haue been euer from our birth-day blind?[73]

When _Reasone's_ lampe, which (like the _sunne_ in skie)
Throughout _Man's_ little world her beames did spread;
Is now become a sparkle, which doth lie
Vnder the ashes, halfe extinct, and dead:

How can we hope, that through the eye and eare,
This dying sparkle, in this cloudy place,
Can recollect these beames of knowledge cleere,
Which were infus'd in the first minds by grace?

So might the heire whose father hath in play
Wasted a thousand pound of ancient rent;
By painefull earning of a[74] groate a day,
Hope to restore the patrimony spent.

[Footnote 71: Phaethon. Hacket.]

[Footnote 72: Icarus. Hacket.]

[Footnote 73: Anima tanquam tabula, Aris[totle]. Hacket.]

[Footnote 74: 'One' in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.]

The wits that diu'd most deepe and soar'd most hie
Seeking Man's pow'rs, haue found his weaknesse such:
"Skill comes so slow, and life so fast doth flie,
"We learne so little and forget so much.

For this the wisest of all morall[75] men
Said, '_He knew nought, but that he nought did know_';
And the great mocking-Master mockt not then,
When he said, '_Truth was buried deepe[76] below_.'

For how may we to others' things attaine,
When none of vs his owne soule vnderstands?
For which the Diuell mockes our curious braine,
When, '_Know thy selfe_' his oracle commands.[77]

[Footnote 75: 'Mortal' in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.]

[Footnote 76: Misprinted 'here' but corrected in the errata of 1622 edition, as above, from 1599 and 1608 editions. G.]

[Footnote 77: Oraculum Appollinis [f]uit Diabolicum. Hacket.]

For why should wee the busie Soule beleeue,
When boldly she concludes of that and this;
When of her selfe she can no iudgement giue,
Nor how, nor whence, nor where, nor what she is?

All things without, which round about we see,
We seeke to knowe, and how therewith to doe;
But that whereby we _reason, liue and be_,
Within our selues, we strangers are thereto.

We seeke to know the mouing of each spheare,
And the strange cause of th' ebs and flouds of _Nile_;
But of that clocke within our breasts we beare,
The subtill motions we forget the while.

We that acquaint our selues with euery[78] _Zoane_
And passe both _Tropikes_ and behold the _Poles_,
When we come home, are to our selues vnknown,
And vnacquainted still with our owne _Soules_.

We study _Speech_ but others we perswade;
We _leech-craft_ learne, but others cure with it;
We interpret _lawes_, which other men haue made,
But reade not those which in our hearts are writ.

Is it[79] because the minde is like the eye,
Through which it gathers knowledge by degrees--
Whose rayes reflect not, but spread outwardly:
Not seeing it selfe when other things it sees?

[Footnote 78: Thomas Davies, as before, misprints 'each' G.]

[Footnote 79: Misprinted 'It is': corrected by H... G.]

No, doubtlesse; for the mind can backward cast
Vpon her selfe, her vnderstanding light;
But she is so corrupt, and so defac't,
As her owne image doth her selfe affright.

As in the fable of the Lady faire,
Which for her lust was turnd into a cow;[80]
When thirstie to a streame she did repaire,
And saw her selfe transform'd she wist not how:

At first she startles, then she stands amaz'd,
At last with terror she from thence doth flye;
And loathes the watry glasse wherein she gaz'd,
And shunnes it still, though she for thirst doe die:

Euen so _Man's Soule_ which did God's image beare,
And was at first faire, good, and spotlesse pure;
Since with her _sinnes_ her beauties blotted were,
Doth of all sights her owne sight least endure:

For euen at first reflection she espies,
Such strange _chimeraes_, and such monsters there;
Such toyes, such _antikes_, and such vanities,
As she retires, and shrinkes for shame and feare.

[Footnote 80: Io. G.]

And as the man loues least at home to bee,
That hath a sluttish house haunted with _spirits_;[81]
So she impatient her owne faults to see,
Turnes from her selfe and in strange things delites.

For this few _know themselues_: for merchants broke
View their estate with discontent and paine;
And _seas_ are troubled, when they doe reuoke
Their flowing waues into themselues againe.

And while the face of outward things we find,
Pleasing and faire, agreeable and sweet;
These things transport, and carry out the mind,
That with her selfe her selfe[82] can neuer meet.

Yet if _Affliction_ once her warres begin,
And threat the feebler _Sense_ with sword and fire;
The _Minde_ contracts her selfe and shrinketh in,
And to her selfe she gladly doth retire:

As _Spiders_ toucht, seek their webs inmost part;
As _bees_ in stormes vnto their hiues returne;
As bloud in danger gathers to the heart;
As men seek towns, when foes the country burn.

If ought can teach vs ought, _Afflictions_ lookes,
(Making vs looke[83] into our selues so neere,)
Teach vs to _know our selues_ beyond all bookes,
Or all the learned Schooles that euer were.

This _mistresse_ lately pluckt me by the eare,
And many a golden lesson hath me taught;
Hath made my _Senses_ quicke, and Reason cleare,
Reform'd my Will and rectifide my Thought.

So doe the _winds_ and _thunders_ cleanse the ayre;
So working lees[84] settle and purge the wine;
So lop't and prunèd trees doe flourish faire;
So doth the fire the drossie gold refine.

Neither _Minerua_ nor the learnèd Muse,
Nor rules of _Art_, not _precepts_ of the wise;
Could in my braine those beames of skill infuse,
As but the glance of this _Dame's_ angry eyes.

She within _lists_[85] my ranging minde hath brought,
That now beyond my selfe I list[86] not goe;
My selfe am _center_ of my circling thought,
Onely _my selfe_ I studie, learne, and know.

I know my bodie's of so fraile a kind,
As force without, feauers within can kill;
I know the heauenly nature of my minde,
But 'tis corrupted both in wit and will:

I know my _Soule_ hath power to know all things,
Yet is she blinde and ignorant in all;
I know I am one of Nature's little kings,
Yet to the least and vilest things am thrall.

I know my life's a paine and but a span,
I know my _Sense_ is mockt with euery thing:
And to conclude, I know my selfe a MAN,
Which is a _proud_, and yet a _wretched_ thing.

[Footnote 81: In 1599 and 1608 more accurately 'sprites'. G.]

[Footnote 82: Davies and Southey substitute 'the mind'. G.]

[Footnote 83: Davies and Southey, as before, mis-substitute 'pry.' G.]

[Footnote 84: An overlooked misprint here is 'seas': found in all the author's own editions, and repeated until now, _e.g._ by Thomas Davies and Southey, as before. G.]

[Footnote 85: Bounds: as in Race-courses. G.]

[Footnote 86: Thoms Davies, as before, mis-reads 'will'. G.]

OF THE SOULE OF MAN AND THE IMMORTALITE THEREOF.

_The lights of heau'n_ (which are the World's fair eies)
Looke downe into the World, the World to see;
And as they turne, or wander in the skies,
Suruey all things that on this _Center_ bee.

And yet the _lights_ which in my _towre_ do shine,
Mine _eyes_ which view all obiects, nigh and farre;
Looke not into this little world of mine,
Nor see my face, wherein they fixèd are.

Since _Nature_ failes vs in no needfull thing,
Why want I meanes my inward selfe to see?
Which sight the knowledg of my self might bring,
Which to true wisdome is the first degree.

That _Power_ which gaue me eyes the World to view,
To see my selfe infus'd an _inward light_;
Whereby my _Soule_, as by a mirror true,
Of her owne forme may take a perfect sight,

But as the sharpest _eye_ discerneth nought,
Except the _sunne_-beames in the ayre doe shine;
So the best _Soule_[87] with her reflecting thought,
Sees not her selfe without some light diuine.

_O Light_ which mak'st the light, which makes the day!
Which setst the eye without, and mind within;
'Lighten my spirit with one cleare heauenly ray,
Which now to view it selfe doth first begin.

For her true forme how can my sparke discerne?
Which dimme by _nature_, _Art_ did neuer cleare;
When the great wits, of whom all skill we learn,
Are ignorant both _what_ shee is, and _where_.

One thinks the _Soule_ is _aire_; another, _fire_;
Another _blood_, diffus'd about the heart;
Another saith, the _elements_ conspire,
And to her _essence_ each doth giue a part.

_Musicians_ thinke our _Soules_ are _harmonies_,
_Phisicians_ hold that they _complexions_ bee;
_Epicures_ make them swarmes of _atomies_,
Which doe by chance into our bodies flee.

Some thinke one generall _Soule_ fils euery braine,
As the bright _sunne_ sheds light in euery starre;
And others thinke the name of _Soule_ is vaine,
And that we onely _well-mixt_ bodies are.

In judgement of her _substance_ thus they vary;
And thus they vary in iudgement of her _seat_;
For some her chaire vp to the braine doe carry,
Some thrust it downe into the _stomackes_ heat.

Some place it in the root of life, the _heart_;
Some in the _liuer_[88], fountaine of the veines;
Some say, _Shee is all in all, and all in part_:
Some say, She is not containd but all containes.

Thus these great clerks their little wisdome show,
While with their doctrines they at _hazard_ play,
Tossing their light opinions to and fro,
To mocke the _lewd_, as learn'd in this as they.

For no craz'd braine could euer yet propound,
Touching the _Soule_, so vaine and fond a thought,
But some among these masters haue been found,
Which in their _Schooles_ the self-same thing haue taught.

_God onely wise_, to punish pride of wit,
Among men's wits hath this confusion wrought,
As the proud _towre_ whose points the clouds did hit,
By tongues' confusion was to ruine brought.

But _Thou_ which didst _Man's soule_ of nothing make,
And when to nothing it was fallen agen,
"To make it new, the forme of man didst take,
"And _God_ with _God_, becam'st a _Man_ with men.

Thou, that hast fashioned twice this _Soule_ of ours,
So that she is by double title Thine;
Thou onely knowest her nature and her pow'rs,
Her subtill forme Thou onely canst define.

To iudge her selfe she must her selfe transcend,
As greater circles comprehend the lesse;
But she wants power, her owne powers to extend,
As fettered men can not their strength expresse.

But Thou bright Morning Star, Thou rising _Sunne_,
Which in these later times hast brought to light
Those mysteries, that since the world begun,
Lay hid in darknesse, and eternall night:

Thou (_like the sunne_) dost with indifferent ray,
Into the _palace_ and the _cottage_ shine,
And shew'st the _soule_ both to the clerke and lay[89],
By the cleare _lampe_ of Thy _Oracle_ diuine.

[Footnote 87: 'Sense' in 1st edn. G.]

[Footnote 88: Davies and Southey misprint egregiously 'river.' G.]

[Footnote 89: Laymen. G.]

This Lampe through all the regions of my braine,
Where my _soule_ sits, doth spread such beames of grace,
As now, me thinks, I do distinguish plain,
Each subtill line of her immortall face.

WHAT THE SOULE IS.

_The soule a substance_, and a _spirit_ is,
Which _God_ Himselfe doth in the body make;
Which makes the _Man_: for euery man from this,
The _nature_ of a _Man_, and _name_ doth take.

And though this[1] spirit be to the body knit,
As an apt meane her powers to exercise;
Which are _life_, _motion_, _sense_, and _will_, and _wit_,
Yet she _suruiues_, although the body _dies_.

THAT THE SOULE IS A THING SUBSISTING BY IT SELFE WITHOUT THE BODY.

_She is a substance_, and a reall thing,
Which hath it selfe an actuall working might;
Which neither from the Senses' power doth spring,
Nor from the bodie's humors, tempred right.

She is a _vine_, which doth no propping need,
To make her spread her selfe or spring vpright;
She is a _starre_, whose beames doe not proceed
From any _sunne_, but from a _natiue_ light.

For when she sorts things _present_ with things _past_,
And thereby things to _come_ doth oft foresee;
When she doth _doubt_ at first, and _chuse_ at last,
These acts her owne, without her body bee.

When of the deaw,[90] which the _eye_ and _eare_ doe take
From flowers abroad, and bring into the braine,
She doth within both waxe and hony make:
This worke is her's, this is her proper paine.[91]

When she from sundry acts, one skill doth draw,
Gathering from diuers fights one art[92] of warre,
From many cases like, one rule of Law;
These her collections, not the _Senses_ are.

[Footnote 90: Dew: and so spelled also by the Fletchers and other contemporaries. G.]

[Footnote 91: Painstaking. G.]

[Footnote 92: Misprinted 'act' in the 1st edn. G.]

When in th' effects she doth the causes know,
And seeing the stream, thinks wher the spring doth rise;
And seeing the branch, conceiues the root below;
These things she views without the bodie's eyes.

When she, without a _Pegasus_, doth flie
Swifter then lightning's fire from _East_ to _West_,
About the _Center_ and aboue the _skie_,
She trauels then, although the body rest.

When all her works she formeth first within,
Proportions them, and sees their perfect end,
Ere she in act does anie part begin;
What instruments doth then the body lend?

When without hands she doth thus[93] _castles_ build,
Sees without eyes, and without feet doth runne;
When she digests the world, yet is not fil'd:
By her owne power these miracles are done.

[Footnote 93: In 1st edition 'she thus doth.' G.]

When she defines, argues, diuides, compounds,
Considers _vertue_, _vice_, and _generall things_,
And marrying diuers principles and grounds,
Out of their match a true conclusion brings.

These actions in her closet all alone,
(Retir'd within her selfe) she doth fulfill;
Vse of her bodie's organs she hath none,
When she doth vse the powers of Wit and Will.

Yet in the bodie's prison so she lies,
As through the bodie's windowes she must looke,
Her diuers powers of _sense_ to exercise,
By gath'ring notes out of the _World's_ great book.

Nor can her selfe discourse or iudge of ought,
But what the _Sense_ collects and home doth bring;
And yet the power of her discoursing thought,
From these collections, is a diuers thing.

For though our eyes can nought but colours see,
Yet colours giue them not their powre of sight;
So, though these fruits of _Sense_ her obiects bee,
Yet she discernes them by her proper light.

The workman on his stuffe his skill doth show,
And yet the stuffe giues not the man his skill;
_Kings_ their affaires do by their seruants know,
But order them by their owne royall will.

So, though this cunning mistresse and this queene,
Doth, as her instrument, the _Senses_ vse,
To know all things that are _felt_, _heard_, or _seene_,
Yet she her selfe doth onely _iudge_ and _chuse_:

Euen as our great wise _Empresse_[94] that now raignes
By _soueraigne_ title ouer sundry Lands;
Borrowes in meane affaires her _subiects_ paines,
Sees by their eyes, and writeth by their hands;

But things of waight and consequence indeed,
Her selfe doth in her chamber them debate;
Where all her Counsellers she doth exceed
As farre in iudgement, as she doth in State.

Or as the man whom she doth now aduance,[95]
Vpon her gracious _mercy-seat_ to sit;
Doth common things, of course and circumstance,
To the reports of common men commit:

[Footnote 94: Q. Eliz[abeth]. H. [Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'a prudent emperor.' G.]]

[Footnote 95: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'whom princes do.' Ellesmere. See sonnet addressed to him among 'Minor poems.' G.]

But when the cause it selfe must be decreed,
Himselfe in person, in his proper Court,
To graue and solemne hearing doth proceed,
Of euery proofe and euery by-report.

Then, like God's angell he pronounceth right,
And milke and hony from his tongue doth flow;
Happie are they that still are in his sight,
To reape the wisedome which his lips doe sow.

Right so the _Soule_, which is a lady free,
And doth the iustice of her _State_ maintaine;
Because the senses ready seruants be,
Attending nigh about her Court, the braine:

By them the formes of outward things she learnes,
For they returne into the fantasie,
What euer each of them abroad discernes,
And there inrole it for the Minde to see.

But when she sits to iudge the good and ill,
And to discerne betwixt the false and true;
She is not guided by the _Senses'_ skill,
But doth each thing in her owne mirrour view.

Then she the _Senses_ checks, which oft do erre,
And euen against their false reports decrees;
And oft she doth condemne what they preferre,
For with a power aboue the _Sense_, she sees.

Therefore no _Sense_ the precious ioyes conceiues,
Which in her priuate contemplations bee;
For then the rauish't spirit the _Senses_ leaues,
Hath her owne powers, and proper actions free.

Her harmonies are sweet, and full of skill,
When on the Bodie's instrument she playes;
But the proportions of the _wit_ and _will_,
Those sweete accords, are euen the angel's layes.

These tunes of _Reason_ are _Amphion's_ lyre,
Wherewith he did the _Thebane_ citie found;
These are the notes wherewith the heauenly _quire_,
The praise of Him which made[96] the heauen doth sound.

[Footnote 96: 'Spreads' in 1st edn. G.]

Then her _selfe-being nature_ shines in this,
That she performes her noblest works alone;
"The _worke_, the touch-stone of the _nature_ is,
"And by their operations, things are knowne.

THAT THE SOULE IS MORE THEN A PERFECTION OR REFLECTION OF THE SENSE.

_Are they not sencelesse_ then, that thinke the Soule
Nought but a fine perfection of the _Sense_;
Or of the formes which _fancie_ doth enroule,
A _quicke resulting_, and a _consequence_?

What is it then that doth the _Sense_ accuse,
Both of _false judgements_, and _fond appetites_?
What makes vs do what _Sense_ doth most refuse?
Which oft in torment of the _Sense_ delights?

_Sense_ thinkes the _planets_, _spheares_ not much asunder;
What tels vs then their distance is so farre?
_Sense_ thinks the lightning borne before the thunder;
What tels vs then they both together are?

When men seem crows far off vpon a towre,
_Sense_ saith, th'are crows; what makes vs think them men?
When we in _agues_, thinke all sweete things sowre,
What makes vs know our tongue's false iudgement then?

What power was that, whereby _Medea_ saw,
And well approu'd, and prais'd the better course,
When her rebellious _Sense_ did so withdraw
Her feeble powers, as she pursu'd the worse?[97]

Did _Sense_ perswade _Vlisses_ not to heare
The mermaid's songs, which so his men did please;
As they were all perswaded, through the eare
To quit the ship, and leape into the _seas_?

Could any power of _Sense_ the _Romane_ moue,
To burn his own right hand with courage stout?[98]
Could _Sense_ make _Marius_ sit vnbound, and proue
The cruell lancing of the knotty gout?[99]

Doubtlesse in _Man_ there is a _nature_ found,
Beside the _Senses_, and aboue them farre;
"Though most men being in sensuall pleasures drownd,
"It seemes their _Soules_ but in their _Senses_ are.

If we had nought but _Sense_, then onely they
Should haue sound minds, which haue their _Senses_ sound;
But _Wisdome_ growes, when _Senses_ doe decay,
And _Folly_ most in quickest _Sense_ is found.

If we had nought but _Sense_, each liuing wight,
Which we call _brute_, would be more sharp then we;
As hauing _Sense's apprehensiue might_,
In a more cleere, and excellent degree.

But they doe want that _quicke discoursing power_,
Which doth in vs the erring _Sense_ correct;
Therefore the _bee_ did sucke the painted flower,
And _birds_, of grapes, the cunning shadow, peckt.[100]

_Sense_ outsides knows; the Soule throgh al things sees;
_Sense_, _circumstance_; she, doth the _substance_ view;
_Sense_ sees the barke, but she, the life of trees;
_Sense_ heares the sounds, but she, the concords true.

But why doe I the _Soule_ and _Sense_ diuide?
When _Sense_ is but a power, which she extends;
Which being in diuers parts diuersifide,
The diuers formes of obiects apprehends?

This power spreds outward, but the root doth grow
In th' inward _Soule_, which onely doth perceiue;
For th' _eyes_ and _eares_ no more their obiects know,
Then glasses know what faces they receiue.

For if we chance to fixe our thoughts elsewhere,
Although our eyes be ope, we cannot see;
And if one power did not both see and heare,
Our sights and sounds would alwayes double be.

Then is the _Soule_ a nature, which containes
The powre of _Sense_, within a greater power
Which doth imploy and vse the _Senses_ paines,
But sits and rules within her priuate bower.

[Footnote 97: Meliora proboq ... iora ... sequor ... Sen'a. H. [Rather Ovid vii. 20.

... Video meliora, proboque
Deteriora sequor'

Pathetically quoted by BYRON in his remarkable Letter to JOHN SHEPPARD. G.]]

[Footnote 98: The allusion is to Mutius Scaevola, who was taken in an attempt to assassinate Porsena, and thrust his hand into the fire to prove his fortitude: Livy II. 12. G.]

[Footnote 99: The story is told by Plutarch in his Life of Marius c. VI. 415. G.]

[Footnote 100: Pliny XXXV. 36 § 3: told of a picture of Zeuxis, as that of the horse neighing is of another by Apelles (_ib_ § 17.) G.]

THAT THE SOULE IS MORE THEN THE TEMPERATURE[101] OF THE HUMORS OF THE BODY.

_If shee doth then_ the subtill _Sense_ excell,
How gross are they that drown her in the blood!
Or in the bodie's humors tempred well,
As if in them such high perfection stood?

As if most skill in that _Musician_ were,
Which had the best, and best tun'd instrument;
As if the pensill neate[102] and colours cleare,
Had power to make the Painter excellent.

Why doth not beautie then refine the wit?
And good complexion rectifie the will?
Why doth not health bring wisdom still with it?
Why doth not sicknesse make men bruitish still?

Who can in _memory_, or _wit_, or _will_,
Or _ayre_, or _fire_, or _earth_, or _water_ finde?
What alchymist can draw, with all his skil,
The _quintessence_ of these, out of the mind?

If th' _elements_ which haue nor _life_, nor _sense_,
Can breed in vs so great a powre as this;
Why giue they not themselues like excellence,
Or other things wherein their mixture is?

If she were but the Bodie's qualitie
Then would she be with it _sicke_, _maim'd_ and _blind_;
But we perceiue where these priuations be
A _healthy_, _perfect_, and _sharpe-sighted_ mind.

If she the bodie's nature did pertake,
Her strength would with the bodie's strength decay;
But when the bodie's strongest sinewes slake,
Then is the _Soule_ most actiue, quicke and gay.

If she were but the bodie's accident,
And her sole _being_ did in it subsist;
As _white in snow_; she might her selfe absent,
And in the bodie's substance not be mist.

But _it_ on _her_, not _shee_ on _it_ depends;
For _shee_ the body doth sustaine and cherish;
Such secret powers of life to it she lends,
That when they faile, then doth the body perish.

Since then the _Soule works by her selfe alone,
Springs not from Sense, nor humors, well agreeing_;
Her nature is peculiar, and her owne:
She is a _substance_, and a _perfect being_.

[Footnote 101: Misprinted 'temparature.' G.]

[Footnote 102: Clean, pure. G.]

THAT THE SOULE IS A SPIRIT.

But though this substance be the root of _Sense_,
_Sense_ knowes her not, which doth but _bodies_ know;
_Shee is a spirit_, and heauenly influence,
Which from the fountaine of God's Spirit doth flow.

Shee is a Spirit, yet not like _ayre_, or _winde_,
Nor like the _spirits_ about the _heart_ or _braine_;
Nor like those spirits which alchymists do find,
When they in euery thing seeke gold in _vaine_.

For shee all _natures_ vnder heauen doth passe;
Being like those spirits, which God's bright face do see;
Or like _Himselfe_, Whose _image_ once she was,
Though now (alas!) she scarce His _shadow_ bee.

Yet of the _formes_, she holds the first degree,
That are to grosse materiall bodies knit;
Yet shee her selfe is _bodilesse_ and free;
And though confin'd, is almost infinite.

THAT IT CANNOT BE A BODY.

Were she a _body_ how could she remaine
Within this body, which is lesse then she?
Or how could she the world's great shape contain,
And in our narrow brests containèd bee?

All _bodies_ are confin'd within some place,
But _she_ all place within her selfe confines;
All _bodies_ haue their measure, and their space,
But who can draw the _Soule's_ dimensiue lines?

No _body_ can at once two formes admit,
Except the one the other doe deface;
But in the _soule_ ten thousand formes do sit,
And none intrudes into her neighbour's place.

All _bodies_ are with other bodies fild,
But she receiues both heauen and earth together;
Nor are their formes by rash incounter spild,
For there they stand, and neither toucheth either.

Nor can her wide imbracements fillèd bee;
For they that most, and greatest things embrace,
Inlarge thereby their minds' capacitie,
As streames inlarg'd, inlarge the channel's space.[103]

_All things receiu'd, doe such proportion take,
As those things haue, wherein they are receiu'd_:
So little glasses little faces make,
And narrow webs on narrow frames be weau'd;

Then what vast body must we make the _mind_
Wherin are men, beasts, trees, towns, seas, and lands;
And yet each thing a proper place doth find,
And each thing in the true proportion stands?

Doubtlesse this could not bee, but that she turnes
Bodies to spirits, by _sublimation_ strange;
As fire conuerts to fire the things it burnes
As we our meats into our nature change.

From their grosse _matter_ she abstracts the _formes_,
And drawes a kind of _quintessence_ from things;
Which to her proper nature she transformes,
To bear them light on her celestiall wings:

This doth she, when, from things _particular_,
She doth abstract the _universall kinds_;
Which bodilesse and immateriall are,
And can be lodg'd but onely in our minds:

And thus from diuers _accidents_ and _acts_,
Which doe within her obseruation fall,
She goddesses, and powers diuine, abstracts:
As _Nature_, _Fortune_, and the _Vertues_ all.

Againe, how can she seuerall _bodies_ know,
If in her selfe a _bodie's_ forme she beare?
How can a mirror sundry faces show,
If from all shapes and formes it be not cleare?

Nor could we by our eyes all colours learne,
Except our eyes were of all colours voide;
Nor sundry tastes can any tongue discerne,
Which is with grosse and bitter humors cloide.

Nor may a man of _passions_ iudge aright,
Except his minde bee from all passions free;
Nor can a _Iudge_ his office well acquite,
If he possest of either partie bee.

If lastly, this quicke power a body were,
Were it as swift as is[104] the _winde_ or _fire_;
(Whose atomies doe th' one down side-waies beare,
And make the other in _pyramids_ aspire:)

Her nimble body yet in time must moue,
And not in instants through all places slide;
But she is nigh, and farre, beneath, aboue,
In point of time, which thought cannot deuide:

She is sent as soone to _China_ as to _Spaine_,
And thence returnes, as soone as shee is sent;
She measures with one time, and with one paine,
An ell of silke, and heauen's wide spreading tent.

As then the _Soule_ a substance hath alone,
Besides the Body in which she is confin'd;
So hath she not a _body_ of her owne,
But is a _spirit_, and _immateriall minde_.

[Footnote 103:

'Time but the impression stronger makes
As streams their channels deeper wear.'

BURNS: to Mary in Heaven.]

[Footnote 104: Southey misprints 'in.' G.]

THAT THE SOULE IS CREATED IMMEDIATELY BY GOD.

_Since body and soule_ haue such diuersities,
Well might we muse, how first their match began;
But that we learne, that He that spread the skies,
And fixt the Earth, first form'd the _soule_ in man.

This true _Prometheus_ first made Man of earth,
And shed in him a beame of heauenly fire;
Now in their mother's wombs before their birth,
Doth in all sonnes of men their _soules_ inspire.

And as _Minerua_ is in fables said,
From _Ioue_, without a mother to proceed;
So our true _Ioue_, without a mother's ay'd,
Doth daily millions of _Mineruas_ breed.

ERRONIOUS OPINIONS OF THE CREATION OF SOULES.

Then neither from eternitie before,
Nor from the time when _Time's_ first point begun;
Made He all _souls_: which now He keepes in store,
Some in the moone, and others in the sunne:

Nor in a _secret cloyster_ doth Hee keepe
These virgin-spirits, vntill their marriage-day;
Nor locks them vp in chambers, where they sleep,
Till they awake, within these beds of clay.

Nor did He first a certaine number make,
Infusing part in _beasts_, and part in _men_,
And, as vnwilling further paines to take,
Would make no more then those He framèd then.

So that the widow _Soule_ her _body_ dying,
Vnto the next-borne _body_ married was;
And so by often changing and supplying,
Mens' _soules_ to beasts, and beasts to men did passe.

(These thoughts are fond; for since the bodies borne
Be more in number farre then those that dye;
Thousands must be abortiue, and forlorne,
Ere others' deaths to them their _soules_ supply.)

But as _God's handmaid_, _Nature_, doth create
Bodies in time distinct, and order due;[105]
So God giues _soules_ the like successiue date,
Which _Himselfe_ makes, in bodies formèd new:

Which _Him selfe_ makes, of no materiall thing;
For vnto angels He no power hath giuen,
Either to forme the shape, or stuffe to bring
From _ayre_ or _fire_, or _substance of the heauen_.

Nor He in this doth _Nature's_ seruice vse;
For though from bodies, she can bodies bring,
Yet could she neuer soules from Soules _traduce_,
As fire from fire, or light from light doth spring.

OBJECTION:--THAT THE SOULE IS EXTRADUCE.

Alas! that some, that were great lights of old,
And in their hands the _lampe_ of God did beare;[106]
Some reuerend Fathers did this error hold,
Hauing their eyes dim'd with religious feare!

For when (say they) by Rule of Faith we find,
That euery _soule_ vnto her _body_ knit,
Brings from the mother's wombe, the _sinne of kind_,
The roote of all the ill she doth commit.

How can we say that God the _Soule_ doth make,
But we must make Him author of her sinne?
Then from man's soule she doth beginning take,
Since in man's soule corruption did begin.

For if God make her, first He makes her ill,
(Which God forbid our thoghts should yeeld vnto!)
Or makes the body her faire forme to spill,[107]
Which, of it selfe it had no power to doe.

Not _Adam's body_ but his _soule_ did sinne
And so her selfe vnto corruption brought;
But the poore _soule_ corrupted is within,
Ere shee had sinn'd, either in act, or thought:

And yet we see in her such powres diuine,
As we could gladly thinke, _from God she came_;
Faine would we make Him Author of the wine,
If for the dregs we could some other blame.

[Footnote 105: Misprinted in 1608 and 1622 edition 'other:' correctly, as above, in 1599 edition. G.]

[Footnote 106: Holy Scriptures. G.]

[Footnote 107: = Spoil. G.]

THE ANSWERE TO THE OBIECTION.

_Thus these_ good men with holy zeale were blind,
When on the other part the truth did shine;
Whereof we doe cleare demonstrations find,
By light of _Nature_, and by light _Diuine_

None are so grosse as to contend for this,
That soules from bodies may traducèd bee;
Betweene whose natures no proportion is,
When roote and branch in nature still agree.

But many subtill wits haue iustifi'd,
That _soules_ from _soules_ spiritually may spring;
Which (if the nature of the _soule_ be tri'd)
Will euen in Nature proue as grosse a thing.

REASONS DRAWNE FROM NATURE.

For all things made, are either made of nought,
Or made of stuffe that ready made doth stand;
Of nought no creature euer formèd ought,
For that is proper to th' Almightie's hand.

If then the _soule_ another _soule_ doe make,
Because her power is kept within a bound,
Shee must some former stuffe or _matter_ take;
But in the soule there is no _matter_ found.

Then if her heauenly Forme doe not agree
With any _matter_ which the world containes;
Then she of nothing must created bee,
And to _create_, to God alone pertaines.

Againe, if _soules_ doe other _soules_ beget,
'Tis by themselues, or by the bodie's power;
If by themselues, what doth their working let,
But they might _soules_ engender euery houre?

If by the body, how can _wit_ and _will_
Ioyne with the body onely in this act?
Sith[108] when they doe their other works fulfill,
They from the body doe themselues _abstract_?

Againe, if _soules_ of _soules_ begotten were,
Into each other they should change and moue;
And _change_ and _motion still corruption_ beare;
How shall we then the _soule_ immortall proue?

If lastly, _soules_ doe[109] generation vse,
Then should they spread incorruptible seed;
What then becomes of that which they doe lose,
When th' acts of generation doe not speed?

And though the _soule_ could cast spirituall seed,
Yet _would_ she not, because she _neuer dies_;
For mortall things desire their _like_ to breed,
That so they may their kind immortalize.

Therefore the angels, sonnes of God are nam'd,
And marry not, nor are in marriage giuen;
Their spirits and ours are of one _substance_ fram'd,
And haue one Father, euen the _Lord of heauen_:

Who would at first, that in each other thing,
The _earth_ and _water_ liuing _soules_ should breed;
But that _man's soule_ whom He would make their king,
Should from Himselfe immediatly proceed.

And when He took the _woman_ from _man's_ side,
Doubtlesse Himselfe inspir'd her _soule_ alone;
For 'tis not said, He did _man's soule_ diuide,
But took _flesh of his flesh, bone of his bone_.

Lastly, God being made Man for man's owne sake,
And being like Man in all, except in sin,
His body from the _virgin's_ wombe did take;
But all agree, _God form'd His soule within_.

Then is the _soule_ from God; so _Pagans_ say,
Which saw by _Nature's_ light her heauenly kind;
Naming her _kin to God, and God's bright ray_,
A citizen of Heauen to Earth confined.

But now, I feele, they plucke me by the eare
Whom my young _Muse_ so boldly termèd blind;
And craue more heauenly light, that cloud to clear,
Which makes them think God doth not make the mind.

[Footnote 108: Here and elsewhere, the 1622 edn. alters 'since' of the 1599 and 1608 edns. to the earlier form 'sith': on which see Wright's Bible Word-Book. _s.v._ G.]

[Footnote 109: In 1599 and 1608 edns., 'did.' G.]

REASONS DRAWNE FROM DIUINITY.

God doubtlesse makes her, and doth make her good,
And graffes her in the body, there to spring;
Which, though it be corrupted, flesh and blood
Can no way to the _Soule_ corruption bring:

And yet this _Soule_ (made good by God at first,[110]
And not corrupted by the bodie's ill)
Euen in the wombe is sinfull, and accurst,
Ere shee can _iudge_ by _wit_ or _chuse_ by _will_.[111]

[Footnote 110: By an unhappy oversight, the whole of this stanza is dropped out of 1697 edition: and thence, by Davies, and generally. G.]

[Footnote 111: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'ill.' G.]

Yet is not God the Author of her sinne
Though Author of her _being_, and _being there_;
And if we dare to iudge our _Iudge_ herein,[112]
He can condemne vs, and Himselfe can cleare.

[Footnote 112: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'Maker's will.' G.]

First, God from infinite eternitie
_Decreed_, what _hath beene_, _is_, or _shall bee_ done;
And was resolu'd, that euery man should bee,
And in his turne, his race of life should run:

And so did purpose all the _soules_ to make,
That euer _have beene_ made, or _euer shall_;
And that their _being_ they should onely take
In humane bodies, or not _bee_ at all.

Was it then fit that such a weake euent
(_W[e]aknesse it selfe_,--the sinne and fall of Man)
His counsel's execution should preuent,
Decreed and fixt before the World began?

Or that one _penall law_ by _Adam_ broke,
Should make God breake His owne _eternall Law_;
The setled order of the World reuoke,
And change all forms of things, which He foresaw?

Could _Eue's_ weake hand, extended to the tree,
In sunder rend that _adamantine chaine_,
Whose golden links, _effects_ and causes be,
And which to God's owne chair doth fixt remaine.[113]

O could we see, how cause from cause doth spring!
How mutually they linkt and folded are!
And heare how oft one disagreeing string
The harmony doth rather make then marre?

And view at once, how _death_ by _sinne_ is brought,
And how from _death_, a better _life_ doth rise,
How this God's _iustice_, and His _mercy_ tought:
We this decree would praise, as right and wise.

But we that measure times by first and last,
The sight of things successiuely, doe take;
When God on all at once His view doth cast,
And of all times doth but one _instant_ make.

All in _Himselfe_ as in a _glasse_ Hee sees,
For _from Him, by Him, through Him, all things bee_:
His sight is not discoursiue, by degrees,
But seeing the whole, each single part doth see.[114]

[Footnote 113: Homer, Iliad, VIII. 19: and _cf._ Tennyson ('Morte d' Arthur,' p. 200: edition 1848.)

'For so the whole round world is every way

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.' G.]

[Footnote 114: It is noticeable that the supreme Divine and Thinker of America--Jonathan Edwards--accepts this symbol of the 'Tree,' and works it out marvellously in his great treatise on 'Original Sin.' G.]

He lookes on _Adam_, as a _root_, or _well_,
And on his heires, as _branches_, and as _streames_;
He sees _all_ men as _one_ Man, though they dwell
In sundry cities, and in sundry realmes:

And as the _roote_ and _branch_ are but one _tree_,
And _well_ and _streame_ doe but one _riuer_ make;
So, if the _root_ and _well_ corrupted bee,
The _streame_ and _branch_ the same corruption take:

So, when the root and fountaine of Mankind
Did draw corruption, and God's curse, by sin;
This was a charge that all his heires did bind,
And all his offspring grew corrupt therein.

And as when the hand doth strike, the Man offends,
(For _part from whole, Law seuers not in this_)
So _Adam's_ sinne to the whole kind extends;
For all their natures are but part of his.

Therefore this _sinne of kind_, not personall,
But reall and hereditary was;
The guilt whereof, and punishment to all,
By course of Nature, and of Law doth passe.

For as that easie Law was giuen to all,
To ancestor and heire, to first and last;
So was the first transgression generall,
And all did plucke the fruit and all did tast.

Of this we find some foot-steps in our Law,
Which doth her root from God and Nature take;
Ten thousand men she doth together draw,
And of them all, one Corporation make:

Yet these, and their successors, are but one,
And if they gaine or lose their liberties;
They harme, or profit not themselues alone,
But such as in succeeding times shall rise.

And so the ancestor, and all his heires,
Though they in number passe the stars of heauen,
Are still but one; his forfeitures are theirs,
And vnto them are his aduancements giuen:

His ciuill acts doe binde and bar them all;
And as from _Adam_, all corruption take,
So, if the father's crime be _capitall_
In all the _bloud_, Law doth _corruption_ make.

Is it then iust with vs, to dis-inherit
The vnborn nephewes for the father's fault?
And to aduance againe for one man's merit,
A thousand heires, that have deservèd nought?

And is not God's decree as iust as ours,
If He, for _Adam's_ sinne, his sonnes depriue,
Of all those natiue vertues, and those powers,
Which He to him, and to his race did giue?

For what is this contagious sinne of kinde
But a priuation of that grace within?
And of that great rich dowry of the minde
Which all had had, but for the first man's sin?

If then a man, on light conditions gaine
A great estate, to him and his, for euer;
If wilfully he forfeit it againe
Who doth bemone his heire or blame the giuer?

So, though God make the _Soule_ good, rich and faire,
Yet when her forme is to the body knit,
Which makes the Man, which man is _Adam's heire_
Iustly forth-with He takes His grace from it:

And then the soule being first from nothing brought,
When God's grace failes her, doth to nothing fall;
And this _declining pronenesse unto nought_,
Is euen that sinne that we are borne withall.

Yet not alone the first good qualities,
Which in the first _soule_ were, depriuèd are;
But in their place the contrary doe rise,
And reall spots[115] of sinne her beauty marre.

Nor is it strange, that Adam's ill desart
Should be transferd vnto his guilty Race;
When Christ His grace and iustice doth impart
To men vniust, and such as haue no grace.

Lastly, the _Soule_ were better so to bee
Borne slaue to sinne, then not to be at all;
Since (if she do belieue) One sets her free,
That makes her mount the higher for her fall.

_Yet this_ the curious wits will not content;
They yet will know (sith[116] God foresaw this ill)
Why His high Prouidence did not preuent
The declination of the first man's will.

If by His Word He had the current staid
Of _Adam's_ will, which was by nature free;
It had bene one, as if His Word had said,
I will henceforth that _Man no man shall bee_.

For what is Man without a moouing mind,
Which hath a iudging _wit_, and chusing _will_?
Now, if God's power should her election bind,
Her motions then would cease and stand all still.

And why did God in man this _soule_ infuse,
But that he should his Maker _know_ and _loue_?
Now, if _loue_ be compeld and cannot chuse,
How can it gratefull or thankeworthy proue?

Loue must free-hearted be, and voluntary,
And not enchanted, or by Fate constraind;
Nor like that loue, which did _Ulisses_ carry,
To _Circe's_ ile, with mighty charmes enchaind.

Besides, were we vnchangeable in _will_,
And of a _wit_ that nothing could mis-deeme;
Equall to God, Whose wisedome shineth still,
And neuer erres, we might our selues esteeme.

So that if Man would be vnuariable,
He must be God, or like a rock or tree;
For euen the perfect Angels were not stable,
But had a fall more desperate then wee.

Then let vs praise that Power, which makes vs be
_Men_ as we are, and rest contented so;
And knowing Man's fall was curiositie,
Admire God's counsels, which we cannot know.

And let vs know that God the Maker is
Of all the _Soules_, in all the men that be:
Yet their corruption is no fault of His,
But the first man's that broke God's first decree.

[Footnote 115: Misprinted in 1622 'sports:' 'spots' from 1599, 1602 and 1608. G.]

[Footnote 116: 'Since,' as before in 1599 and 1608 editions. G.]

WHY THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY.

_This substance_, and this _spirit of God's owne making_,
Is in the body plact, and planted heere;
"That both of God, and of the world partaking,
"Of all that is, Man might the image beare.

Then other things, which mindlesse bodies be;
Last, He made Man, th' _horizon_ 'twixt both kinds,
In whom we doe the World's abridgement see.[117]

Besides, this World below did need _one wight_,
Which might thereof distinguish euery part;
Make vse thereof, and take therein delight,
And order things with industry and art:

Which also God might in His works admire,
And here beneath, yeeld Him both praier and praise;
As there, aboue, the holy angels quire
Doth spread His glory[118] with spirituall layes.

Lastly, the bruite, unreasonable wights,
Did want a _visible king_ on[119] them to raigne:
And God, Himselfe thus to the World vnites,
That so the World might endlesse blisse obtaine.

[Footnote 117: One of Heylin's numerous books is called '_Microcosmus_:' a little Description of the great World. Oxon: 1st edn., 1622. The word is met with in other old title-pages and in theological (Puritan) writings. G.]

IN WHAT MANNER THE SOULE IS UNITED TO THE BODY.

"But how shall we this _union_ well expresse?
Nought ties the _soule_; her subtiltie is such
She moues the bodie, which she doth possesse,
Yet no part toucheth, but by _Vertue's_ touch.

Then dwels shee not therein as in a tent,
Nor as a pilot in his ship doth sit;
Nor as the spider in his[120] web is pent;
Nor as the waxe retaines the print in it;

Nor as a vessell water doth containe;
Nor as one liquor in another shed;
Nor as the heat doth in the fire remaine;
Nor as a voice throughout the ayre is spread:

But as the faire and cheerfull _Morning light_,
Doth here and there her siluer beames impart,
And in an instant doth herselfe vnite
To the transparent ayre, in all, and part:

Still resting whole, when blowes th' ayre diuide;
Abiding pure, when th' ayre is most corrupted;
Throughout the ayre, her beams dispersing wide,
And when the ayre is tost, not interrupted:

So doth the piercing _Soule_ the body fill,
Being all in all, and all in part diffus'd;
Indiuisible, incorruptible[121] still,
Not forc't, encountred, troubled or confus'd.

And as the _sunne_ aboue, the light doth bring,
Though we behold it in the ayre below;
So from th' Eternall Light the _Soule_ doth spring,
Though in the body she her powers doe show.

[Footnote 118: Davies and Southey, as before, insert 'forth' here. G.]

[Footnote 119: Davies and Southey, as before, substitute 'o'er:' but 'on' is the Poet's own word here and elsewhere. G.]

[Footnote 120: In 1599 and 1608 editions, 'her.' G.]

[Footnote 121: In 1598 and 1608 editions, 'vncorruptible.' G.]

HOW THE SOUL DOTH EXERCISE HER POWERS IN THE BODY.

_But as_ the[122] world's _sunne_ doth effects beget,
Diuers, in diuers places euery day;
Here _Autumnes_ temperature, there _Summer's_ heat,
Here flowry _Spring-tide_, and there _Winter_ gray:

Eere _Euen_, there _Morne_, here _Noone_, there _Day_, there _Night_;
Melts wax, dries clay, mak[e]s flowrs, som quick,[123] som dead;
Makes the _More_ black, and th' _Europ[oe]an_ white,
Th' _American_ tawny, and th' _East-Indian_ red:

So in our little World: this _soule_ of ours,
Being onely one, and to one body tyed,
Doth vse, on diuers obiects diuers powers,
And so are her effects diuersified.

THE VEGETATIUE OR QUICKENING POWER.

_Her quick'ning_ power in euery lining part,
Doth as a nurse, or as a mother serue;
And doth employ her _oeconomicke art_,
And busie care, her houshold to preserue

Here she _attracts_, and there she doth _retaine_,
There she _decocts_, and doth the food prepare;
There she _distributes_ it to euery vaine,
There she _expels_ what she may fitly spare.

This power to _Martha_ may comparèd be,[124]
Which busie was, the _houshold-things_ to doe;
Or to a _Dryas_, liuing in a tree:[125]
For euen to trees this power is proper too.

And though the Soule may not this power extend
Out of the body, but still vse it there;
She hath a power which she abroad doth send,
Which views and searcheth all things euery where.

[Footnote 122: 'This' in 1599 edition. G.]

[Footnote 123: Living. G.]

THE POWER OF SENSE.

_This power is Sense_, which from abroad doth bring[126]
The _colour_, _taste_, and _touch_, and _sent_,[127] and _sound_;
The _quantitie_, and _shape_ of euery thing
Within th' Earth's center, or Heauen's circle found.

This power, in parts made fit, fit obiects takes,
Yet not the things, but forms of things receiues;
As when a seale in waxe impression makes,
The print therein, but not it selfe it leaues.

And though things sensible be numberlesse,
But onely fiue the _Senses'_ organs be;
And in those fiue, all things their formes expresse,
Which we can _touch_, _taste_, _feele_, or _heare_, or _see_.