Chapter XII: Epilogue: Gentlemen, (3)

Welcome to Virtue’s fortress, strong and clear!
Thou art not only safe but glorious here;
It is a tower of brightness: such is Truth,
Whose strength and grace feel[343] a perpetual youth;
The walls are brass, the pyramids fine gold,
Which shews ’tis Safety’s and Prosperity’s hold;
Clear Conscience is lieutenant; Providence there,
Watchfulness, Wisdom, Constancy, Zeal, Care,
Are the six warders keep the watch-tower sure,
That nothing enters but what’s just and pure;
For which effect, both to affright and shame
All slothful bloods that blush to look on Fame,
An ensign of good actions each displays,
That worthy works may justly own their praise;
And which is clearliest to be understood,
Thine shines amidst thy glorious brotherhood,
Circled with arms of honour by those past,
As now with love’s arms by the present grac’d;
And how thy word[344] does thy true worth display,
_Fortunæ mater Diligentia_,
Fair Fortune’s mother, all may read and see,
Is Diligence, endeavouring industry.
See here the glory of illustrious acts,
All of thy own fraternity, whose tracts
’Tis comely to pursue, all thy life’s race,
Taking their virtues as thou hold’st their place;
Some, college-founders, temple-beautifiers,
Whose blest souls sing now in celestial quires;
Erecters some of granaries for the poor,
Though now converted to some rich men’s store,—
The more the age’s misery! some so rare
For this fam’d city’s government and care,
They kept the seat four years, with a fair name;
Some, six; but one, the miracle of fame,
Which no society or time can match,
Twenty-four years complete; he was Truth’s watch,
He went so right and even, and the hand
Of that fair motion bribe could ne’er make stand;
And as men set their watches by the sun,
Set justice but by that which he has done,
And keep it even; so, from men to men,
No magistrate need stir the work agen:[345]
It lights into a noble hand to-day,
And has past many—many more it may.

By this Tower of Virtue—his lordship being gracefully
conducted toward the new Standard—one in a cloudy,
ruinous habit, leaning upon the turret, at a trumpet’s
sounding suddenly starts and wakes, and, in amazement,
throws off his unseemly garments.

What noise is this wakes me from ruin’s womb?
Hah! bless me, Time, how brave am I become!
Fame fix’d upon my head! beneath me, round,
The figures of illustrious princes, crown’d
As well for goodness as for state by birth,
Which makes ’em true heirs both to heaven and earth!
Just six in number, and all blessèd names,
Two Henrys, Edward, Mary, Eliza, James,
That joy of honest hearts; and there behold
His honour’d substitute, whom worth makes bold
To undergo the weight of this degree,
Virtue’s fair edifice, rais’d up like me:
Why, here’s the city’s goodness, shewn in either,
To raise[346] two worthy buildings both together;
For when they made that lord’s election free,
I guess that time their charge did perfect me;
Nay, note the city’s bounty in both still;
When they restore a ruin, ’tis their will
To be so noble in their cost and care,
All blemish is forgot when they repair;
For what has been re-edified a’ late,
But lifts its head up in more glorious state;
’Tis grown a principle, ruins built agen
’Come better’d both in monuments and men;
The instance is apparent. On then, lord;
E’en at thy entrance thou’dst a great man’s word,
The noblest testimony of fair worth
That ever lord had, when he first stood forth
Presented by the city: lose not then
A praise so dear, bestow’d not on all men;
Strive to preserve this famous city’s peace,
Begun by yon first king, which does increase
Now by the last; from Henry that join’d Roses,
To James that unites kingdoms, who encloses
All in the arms of love, malic’d of none;
Our hearts find that, when neighbouring kingdoms groan;
Which in the magistrate’s duty may well move
A zealous care, in all a thankful love.

After this, for the full close of the forenoon’s
Triumph, near St. Laurence-Lane stands a mountain,
artfully raised and replenished with fine woolly
creatures; Phœbus on the top, shining in a full glory,
being circled with the Twelve Celestial Signs. Aries,
placed near the principal rays, the proper sign for
illustration, thus greets his lordship:

Bright thoughts, joy, and alacrity of heart
Bless thy great undertakings! ’tis the part
And property of Phœbus with his rays
To cheer and to illumine good men’s ways;
Eagle-ey’d actions, that dare behold
His sparkling globe depart tried all like gold;
’Tis bribery and injustice, deeds of night,
That fly the sunbeam, which makes good works bright;
Thine look upon’t undazzled; as one beam
Faces another, as we match a gem
With her refulgent fellow, from thy worth
Example sparkles as a star shoots forth.
This Mount, the type of eminence and place,
Resembles magistracy’s seat and grace;
The Sun the magistrate himself implies;
These woolly creatures, all that part which lies
Under his charge and office; not unfit,
Since kings and rulers are, in holy writ,
With shepherds parallel’d, nay, from shepherds rear’d,
And people and the flock as oft coher’d.
Now, as it is the bounty of the sun
To spread his splendours and make gladness run
Over the drooping creatures, it ought so
To be his proper virtue, that does owe
To justice his life’s flame, shot from above,
To cheer oppressèd right with looks of love;
Which nothing doubted, Truth’s reward light on you,
The beams of all clear comforts shine upon you!

The great feast ended, the whole state of the Triumph
attends upon his lordship, both to Paul’s and homeward;
and near the entrance of his lordship’s house, two parts
of the Triumph stand ready planted, viz. the Brazen
Tower and the triple-crowned Fountain of Justice, this
fountain being adorned with the lively figures of all
those graces and virtues which belong to the faithful
discharging of so high an office; as Justice, Sincerity,
Meekness, Wisdom, Providence, Equality, Industry, Truth,
Peace, Patience, Hope, Harmony, all illustrated by
proper emblems and expressions; as, Justice by a sword;
Sincerity by a lamb; Meekness by a dove; Wisdom by a
serpent; Providence by an eagle; Equality by a silvered
balance; Industry by a golden ball, on which stands a
Cupid, intimating that industry brings both wealth and
love; Truth with a fan of stars, with which she chases
away Error; Peace with a branch of laurel; Patience a
sprig of palm; Hope by a silvered anchor; Harmony by a
swan; each at night holding a bright-burning taper in
her hand, as a manifestation of purity. His lordship
being in sight, and drawing near to his entrance,
Fame, from the Brazen Tower, closes up the Triumph—
his lordship’s honourable welcome, with the noble
demonstration of his worthy fraternity’s affection—in
this concluding speech:

FAME.

I cannot better the comparison
Of thy fair brotherhood’s love than to the sun
After a great eclipse; for as the sphere
Of that celestial motion shines more clear
After the interposing part is spent,
Than to the eye before the darkness went
Over the bright orb; so their love is shewn
With a content past expectation,
A care that has been comely, and a cost
That has been decent, cheerful, which is most,
Fit for the service of so great a state,
So fam’d a city, and a magistrate
So worthy of it; all has been bestow’d
Upon thy triumph, which has clearly shew’d
The loves of thy fraternity as great
For thy first welcome to thy honour’d seat;
And happily is cost requited then,
When men grace triumphs more than triumphs men:
Diamonds will shine though set in lead; true worth
Stands always in least need of setting forth.
What makes less noise than merit? or less show
Than virtue? ’tis the undeservers owe
All to vain-glory and to rumour still,
Building their praises on the vulgar will;
All their good is without ’em, not their own;
When wise men to their virtues are best known.
Behold yon Fountain with the tripled crown,
And through a cloud the sunbeam piercing down;
So is the worthy magistrate made up;
The triple crown is Charity, Faith, and Hope,
Those three celestial sisters; the cloud too,
That’s Care, and yet you see the beam strikes through;
A care discharg’d with honour it presages,
And may it so continue to all ages!
It is thy brotherhood’s arms; how well it fits
Both thee and all that for Truth’s honour sits!
The time of rest draws near; triumph must cease;
Joy to thy heart—to all a blessèd peace!

For the frame-work of the whole Triumph, with all the
proper beauties of workmanship, the credit of that
justly appertains to the deserts of master Garret
Crismas,[347] a man excellent in his art, and faithful
in his performances.

THE TRIUMPHS OF INTEGRITY.

_The Trivmphs of Integrity. A Noble Solemnity, performed
through the City, at the sole Cost and Charges of the
Honorable Fraternity of Drapers, at the Confirmation and
Establishment of their most worthy Brother, the Right
Honorable, Martin Lumley, in the high Office of his
Maiesties Lieutenant, Lord Maior and Chancellor of the
famous City of London. Taking beginning at his Lordships
going, and perfecting it selfe after His Returne from
receiuing the Oath of Maioralty at Westminster, on the
Morrow after Simon and Judes Day, being the 29. of
October. 1623. By Tho. Middleton Gent. London, Printed
by Nicholas Okes, dwelling in Foster-Lane. 1623._ 4to.

_To the honour of him to whom the noble Fraternity of
Drapers, his worthy brothers, have consecrated their
loves in costly Triumphs, the Right Honourable_
MARTIN LUMLEY, _Lord Mayor of this renowned City_.

Thy descent worthy, fortune’s early grace,
Sprung of an ancient and most generous race,
Match’d with a virtuous lady, justly may
Challenge the honour of so great a day.

Faithfully devoted to the worthiness of you both,

THO. MIDDLETON.

THE
TRIUMPHS OF INTEGRITY;
OR,
A NOBLE SOLEMNITY THROUGH THE CITY.

Of all solemnities by which the happy inauguration of a
subject is celebrated, I find none that transcends the
state and magnificence of that pomp prepared to receive
his Majesty’s great substitute into his honourable
charge, the city of London, dignified by the title of
the King’s Chamber Royal; which, that it may now appear
no less heightened with brotherly affection, cost, art,
or invention, than some other preceding triumphs—by
which of late times the city’s honour hath been more
faithfully illustrated—this takes its fit occasion to
present itself.

And first to specify the love of his noble fraternity,
after his lordship’s return from Westminster, having
received some service upon the water by a proper and
significant masterpiece of triumph called the Imperial
Canopy, being the ancient arms of the Company, an
invention neither old nor enforced, the same glorious
and apt property,[348] accompanied with four other
triumphal pegmes,[349] are, in their convenient stages,
planted to honour his lordship’s progress through the
city: the first for the land, attending his most
wished arrival in Paul’s-Churchyard, which bears the
inscription of a Mount Royal, on which mount are placed
certain kings and great commanders, which ancient
history produces, that were originally sprung from
shepherds and humble beginnings: only the number of six
presented; some with crowns, some with gilt laurels,
holding in their hands silver sheep-hooks; viz. Viriat,
a prime commander of the Portugals—renowned amongst the
historians, especially the Romans—who, in battles of
fourteen years’ continuance, purchased many great and
honourable victories; Arsaces, king of the Parthians,
who ordained the first kingdom that ever was amongst
them, and in the reverence of this king’s name and
memory all others his successors were called Arsacides
after his name, as the Roman emperors took the name of
Cæsar for the love of great Cæsar Augustus; also Marcus
Julius Lucinus; Bohemia’s Primislaus; the emperor
Pertinax; the great victor Tamburlain, conqueror of
Syria, Armenia, Babylon, Mesopotamia, Scythia, Albania,
&c. Many honourable worthies more I could produce, by
their deserts ennobling their mean originals; but for
the better expression of the purpose in hand, a speaker
lends a voice to these following words:

_The speech in the Mount Royal._

They that with glory-inflam’d hearts desire
To see great worth deservingly aspire,
Let ’em draw near and fix a serious eye
On this triumphant Mount of Royalty;
Here they shall find fair Virtue, and her name,
From low, obscure beginnings, rais’d to fame,
Like light struck out of darkness: the mean wombs
No more eclipse brave merit than rich tombs
Make the soul happy; ’tis the life and dying
Crowns both with honour’s sacred satisfying;
And ’tis the noblest splendour upon earth
For man to add a glory to his birth,
All his life’s race with honour’d acts commix’d,
Than to be nobly born, and there stand fix’d,
As if ’twere competent virtue for whole life
To be begot a lord: ’tis virtuous strife
That makes the complete Christian, not high place,
As true submission is the state of grace:
The path to bliss lies in the humblest field;
Who ever rise[350] to heaven that never kneel’d?
Although the roof hath supernatural height,
Yet there’s no flesh can thither go upright.
All this is instanc’d only to commend
The low condition whence these kings descend.
I spare the prince of prophets[351] in this file,
And preserve him for a far holier style,
Who, being king anointed, did not scorn
To be a shepherd after: these were born
Shepherds, and rise to kings; took their ascending
From the strong hand of Virtue, never ending
Where she begins to raise, until she place
Her love-sick servants equal with her grace:
And by this day’s great honour it appears
Sh’as much prevail’d amongst the reverend years
Of these grave senators; chief of the rest,
Her favour hath reflected most and best
Upon that son whom we of honour call;
And may’t successively reflect on all!

From this Mount Royal, beautified with the glory of
deserving aspirers, descend we to the modern use of
this ancient and honourable mystery, and there we
shall find the whole livery of this most renowned and
famous city, as upon this day, at all solemn meetings
furnished by it: it clothes the honourable senators in
their highest and richest wearings, all courts of
justice, magistrates, and judges of the land.

By this time his lordship and the worthy Company being
gracefully conducted toward the Little Conduit in Cheap,
there another part of the Triumph waits his honour’s
happy approach, being a chariot artfully framed and
properly garnished; and on the conspicuous part thereof
is placed the register of all heroic acts and worthy
men, bearing the title of Sacred Memory, who, for the
greater fame of this honourable fraternity, presents the
never-dying names of many memorable and remarkable
worthies of this ancient Society, such as were the
famous for state and government: Sir Henry Fitz-Alwin,
Knight, who held the seat of magistracy in this city
twenty-four years together; he sits figured under the
person of Government: Sir John Norman, the first lord
mayor rowed in barge to Westminster with silver oars at
his own cost and charges, under the person of Honour:
the valiant Sir Francis Drake, that rich ornament to
memory, who in two years and ten months’ space did cast
a girdle about the world, under the person of Victory:
Sir Simon Eyre, who at his own cost built Leadenhall, a
granary for the poor, under the figure of Charity: Sir
Richard Champion and Sir John Milborne, under the person
of Munificence or Bounty: Sir Richard Hardell and Sir
John Poultney, the one in the seat of magistracy six
years, the other four years together, under the
figures of Justice and Piety, that Sir John being a
college-founder in the parish of St. Laurence Poultney,
by Candlewick Street; _et sic de ceteris_: this Chariot
drawn by two pelleted lions, being the proper supporters
of the Company’s arms; those two upon the lions
presenting Power and Honour, the one in a little
streamer or banneret bearing the Lord Mayor’s arms, the
other the Company’s.

_The speech in the Chariot._

I am all Memory, and methinks I see
Into the farthest time, act, quality,
As clear as if ’twere now begun agen,[352]
The natures, dispositions, and the men:
I find to goodness they all bent their powers,
Which very name makes blushing times of ours;
They heap’d up virtues long before they were old,
This age sits laughing upon heaps of gold;
We by great buildings strive to raise our names,
But they more truly wise built up their fames,
Erected fair examples, large and high,
Patterns for us to build our honours by:
For instance only, Memory relates
The noblest of all city-magistrates,
Famous Fitz-Alwin; naming him alone,
I sum up twenty-four lord mayors in one,
For he, by free election and consent,
Fill’d all those years with virtuous government:
Custom and time requiring now but one,
How ought that year to be well dwelt upon!
It should appear an abstract of that worth
Which former times in many years brought forth:
Through all the life of man this is the year
Which many wish and never can come near;
Think, and give thanks; to whom this year does come,
The greatest subject’s made in Christendom:
This is the year for whom some long prepar’d,
And others have their glorious fortune shar’d;
But serious in thanksgiving; ’tis a year
To which all virtues, like the people here,
Should throng and cleave together, for the place
Is a fit match for the whole stock of grace;
And as men gather wealth ’gainst the year comes,
So should they gather goodness with their sums;
For ’tis not shows, pomp, nor a house of state
Curiously deck’d, that makes a magistrate;
’Tis his fair, noble soul, his wisdom, care,
His upright justness to the oath he sware,
Gives him complete: when such a man to me
Spreads his arms open, there my palace be!
He’s both an honour to the day so grac’d,
And to his brotherhood’s love, that sees him plac’d;
And in his fair deportment there revives
The ancient fame of all his brothers’ lives.

After this, for the full close of the forenoon’s
triumph, near St. Laurence-Lane his lordship receives an
entertainment from an unparalleled masterpiece of art,
called the Crystal Sanctuary, styled by the name of the
Temple of Integrity, where her immaculate self, with all
her glorious and sanctimonious concomitants, sit,
transparently seen through the crystal; and more to
express the invention and the art of the engineer, as
also for motion, variety, and the content of the
spectators, this Crystal Temple is made to open in many
parts, at fit and convenient times, and upon occasion of
the speech: the columns or pillars of this Crystal
Sanctuary are gold, the battlements silver, the whole
fabric for the night-triumph adorned and beautified with
many lights, dispersing their glorious radiances on all
sides thorough the crystal.

_The speech from the Sanctuary._

Have you a mind, thick multitude, to see
A virtue near concerns magistracy,
Here on my temple throw your greedy eyes,
See me, and learn to know me, then you’re wise;
Look and look through me, I no favour crave,
Nor keep I hid the goodness you should have;
’Tis all transparent what I think or do,
And with one look your eye may pierce me through;
There’s no disguise or hypocritic veil,
Us’d by adulterous beauty set to sale,
Spread o’er my actions for respect or fear,
Only a crystal, which approves[353] me clear.
Would you desire my name? Integrity,
One that is ever what she seems to be;
So manifest, perspicuous, plain, and clear,
You may e’en see my thoughts as they sit here;
I think upon fair Equity and Truth,
And there they sit crown’d with eternal youth;
I fix my cogitations upon love,
Peace, meekness, and those thoughts come from above:
The temple of an upright magistrate
Is my fair sanctuary, throne, and state;[354]
And as I dare Detraction’s evill’st eye,
Sore at the sight of goodness, to espy
Into my ways and actions, which lie ope
To every censure, arm’d with a strong hope,—
So of your part ought nothing to be done,
But what the envious eye might look upon:
As thou art eminent, so must thy acts
Be all tralucent,[355] and leave worthy tracts
For future times to find, thy very breast
Transparent, like this place wherein I rest.
Vain doubtings! all thy days have been so clear,
Never came nobler hope to fill a year.

At the close of this speech this crystal Temple of
Integrity, with all her celestial concomitants and the
other parts of Triumph, take leave of his lordship for
that time, and rest from service till the great feast be
ended; after which the whole body of the Triumph attends
upon his honour, both towards Saint Paul’s and homeward,
his lordship accompanied with the grave and honourable
senators of the city, amongst whom the two worthy
consuls, his lordship’s grave assistants for the year,
the worshipful and generous master Ralph Freeman and
master Thomas Moulson, sheriffs and aldermen, ought not
to pass of my respect unremembered, whose bounty and
nobleness will prove best their own expressors.

Near the entrance of Wood Street, that part of Triumph
being planted to which the concluding speech hath
chiefly reference, and the rest about the Cross, I
thought fit in this place to give this its full
illustration, it being an invention both glorious
and proper to the Company, bearing the name of the
thrice-royal Canopy of State, being the honoured arms of
this fraternity, the three Imperial Crowns cast into the
form and bigness of a triumphal pageant, with cloud and
sunbeams, those beams, by enginous[356] art, made often
to mount and spread like a golden and glorious canopy
over the deified persons that are placed under it, which
are eight in number, figuring the eight Beatitudes; to
improve which[357] conceit, _Beati pacifici_, being the
king’s word or motto, is set in fair great letters near
the uppermost of the three crowns; and as in all great
edifices or buildings the king’s arms is especially
remembered, as a[n] honour to the building and builder,
in the frontispiece, so is it comely and requisite in
these matters of Triumph, framed for the inauguration of
his great substitute, the lord mayor of London, that
some remembrance of honour should reflect upon his
majesty, by whose peaceful government, under heaven, we
enjoy the solemnity.

_The speech, having reference to this Imperial Canopy,
being the Drapers’ arms._

The blessedness, peace, honour, and renown,
This kingdom does enjoy, under the crown
Worn by that royal peace-maker our king,
So oft preserv’d from dangers menacing,
Makes this arms, glorious in itself, outgo
All that antiquity could ever shew;
And thy fraternity hath striv’d t’ appear
In all their course worthy the arms they bear;
Thrice have they crown’d their goodness this one day,
With love, with care, with cost; by which they may,
By their deserts, most justly these arms claim,
Got once by worth, now trebly held by fame.
Shall I bring honour to a larger field,
And shew what royal business these arms yield?
First, the Three Crowns afford[358] a divine scope,
Set for the graces, Charity, Faith, and Hope,
Which three the only safe combiners be
Of kingdoms, crowns, and every company;
Likewise, with just propriety they may stand
For those three kingdoms, sway’d by the meek hand
Of blest James, England, Scotland, Ireland:
The Cloud that swells beneath ’em may imply
Some envious mist cast forth by heresy,
Which, through his happy reign and heaven’s blest will,
The sunbeams of the Gospel strike[359] through still;
More to assure it to succeeding men,
We have the crown of Britain’s hope agen,[360]
Illustrious Charles our prince, which all will say
Adds the chief joy and honour to this day;
And as three crowns, three fruits of brotherhood,
By which all love’s worth may be understood,
To threefold honour make[361] the royal suit,
In the king, prince, and the king’s substitute;
By th’ eight Beatitudes ye understand
The fulness of all blessings to this land,
More chiefly to this city, whose safe peace
Good angels guard, and good men’s prayers increase!
May all succeeding honour’d brothers be
With as much love brought home as thine bring[362] thee!

For all the proper adornments of art and workmanship in
so short a time, so gracefully setting forth the body of
so magnificent a Triumph, the praise comes, as a just
due, to the exquisite deservings of master Garret
Crismas,[363] whose faithful performances still take the
upper hand of his promises.

THE TRIUMPHS

OF

HEALTH AND PROSPERITY.

_The Trivmphs of Health and Prosperity. A noble Solemnity performed through the City, at the sole Cost and Charges of the Honorable Fraternity of Drapers, at the Inauguration of their most Worthy Brother, the Right Honorable, Cuthbert Hacket, Lord Major of the Famous City of London. By Tho. Middleton Gent. Imprinted at London by Nicholas Okes, dwelling in Foster lane._ MDCXXVI. 4to.

_To the honour of him to whom the noble Fraternity of Drapers, his
worthy brothers, have consecrated their loves in magnificent
Triumphs, the Right Honourable_ CUTHBERT HACKET, _Lord Mayor of the
City of London_.

The city’s choice, thy Company’s free love,
This day’s unlook’d-for Triumph, all three prove
The happiness of thy life to be most great;
Add to these justice, and thou art complete.

At your Lordship’s command,

THOMAS MIDDLETON.

THE TRIUMPHS

OF

HEALTH AND PROSPERITY.

If you should search all chronicles, histories, records,
in what language or letter soever; if the inquisitive
man should waste the dear treasure of his time and
eyesight, he shall conclude his life only with this
certainty, that there is no subject upon earth received
into the place of his government with the like state and
magnificence as is his Majesty’s great substitute into
his honourable charge, the city of London, bearing the
inscription of the Chamber Royal; which, that it may now
appear to the world no less illustrated with brotherly
affection than former triumphal times have been
partakers of, this takes delight to present itself.

And first to enter the worthy love of his honourable
Society for his lordship’s return from Westminster,
having received some service by water, by the triumphant
Chariot of Honour, the first that attends his lordship’s
most wished arrival bears the title of the Beautiful
Hill or Fragrant Garden, with flowery banks, near to
which lambs and sheep are a-grazing. This platform, so
cast into a hill, is adorned and garnished with all
variety of odoriferous flowers; on the top, arched with
an artificial and curious rainbow, which both shews the
antiquity of colours, the diversity and nobleness, and
how much the more glorious and highly to be esteemed,
they being presented in that blessed covenant of mercy,
the bow in the clouds; the work itself encompassed with
all various fruits, and bears the name of the most
pleasant garden of England, the noble city of London,
the flowers intimating the sweet odours of their virtue
and goodnesses, and the fruits of their works of justice
and charity, which have been both honourable brothers
and bounteous benefactors of this ancient fraternity,
who are presented in a device following under the types
and figures of their virtues in their life-time, which
made them famous then and memorable for ever. And since
we are yet amongst the woolly creatures, that graze on
the beauty of this beautiful platform, come we to the
modern use of this noble mystery of ancient drapery, and
we shall find the whole livery of this renowned and
famous city furnished by it; it clothes the honourable
senators in their highest and chiefest wearing, all
courts of justice, magistrates, and judges of the land.
But for the better expression of the purpose in hand, a
speaker gives life to these following words:

_The speech in the Hill where the rainbow appears._

A cloud of grief hath shower’d upon the face
Of this sad city, and usurp’d the place
Of joy and cheerfulness, wearing the form
Of a long black eclipse in a rough storm;
With showers[364] of tears this garden was o’erflown,
Till mercy was, like the blest rainbow, shewn:
Behold what figure now the city bears!
Like gems unvalued,[365] her best joys she wears,
Glad as a faithful handmaid to obey,
And wait upon the honour of this day,
Fix’d in the king’s great substitute: delight,
Triumph, and pomp, had almost lost their right:
The garden springs again; the violet-beds,
The lofty flowers, bear up their fragrant heads;
Fruit overlade their trees, barns crack with store;
And yet how much the heavens wept before,
Threatening a second mourning! Who so dull,
But must acknowledge mercy was at full
In these two mighty blessings? what’s requir’d?
That which in conscience ought to be desir’d;
Care and uprightness in the magistrate’s place,
And in all men obedience, truth, and grace.

After this, awaits his lordship’s approach a masterpiece
of triumph, called the Sanctuary of Prosperity; on the
top arch of which hangs the Golden Fleece; which raises
the worthy memory of that most famous and renowned
brother of this Company, Sir Francis Drake, who in two
years and ten months did encompass the whole world,
deserving an eminent remembrance in this Sanctuary, who
never returned to his country without the golden fleece
of honour and victory: the four fair Corinthian columns
or pillars imply the four principal virtues, Wisdom,
Justice, Fortitude, Temperance, the especial upholders
of kingdoms, cities, and honourable societies.

_The speech in the Sanctuary upon the Fleece._

If Jason, with the noble hopes of Greece,
Who did from Colchis fetch the golden fleece,
Deserve a story of immortal fame,
That both the Asias celebrate his name;
What honour, celebration, and renown,
In virtue’s right, ought justly to be shewn
To the fair memory of Sir Francis Drake,
England’s true Jason, who did boldly make
So many rare adventures, which were held
For worth unmatch’d, danger unparallel’d;
Never returning to his country’s eye
Without the golden fleece of victory!
The world’s a sea, and every magistrate
Takes a year’s voyage when he takes this state:
Nor on these seas are there less dangers found
Than those on which the bold adventurer’s bound;
For rocks, gulfs, quicksands, here is malice, spite,
Envy, detraction of all noble right;
Vessels of honour those do threaten more
Than any ruin between sea and shore.
Sail, then, by the compass of a virtuous name,
And, spite of spites, thou bring’st the fleece of fame.

Passing from this, and more to encourage the noble
endeavours of the magistrate, his lordship and the
worthy Company are[366] gracefully conducted towards the
Chariot of Honour. On the most eminent seat thereof is
Government illustrated, it being the proper virtue by
which we raise the noble memory of Sir Henry Fitz-Alwin,
who held the seat of magistracy in this city twenty-four
years together, a most renowned brother of this Company:
in like manner, the worthy Sir John Norman, [that] first
rowed in barge to Westminster with silver oars, under
the person of Munificence: Sir Simon Eyre, that built
Leadenhall, a granary for the poor, under the type of
Piety; _et sic de ceteris_: this Chariot drawn by two
golden-pelleted lions, being the proper supporters of
the Company’s arms; those two that have their seats upon
the lions presenting Power and Honour, the one in a
little streamer or banneret bearing the arms of the
present lord mayor, the other of the late, the truly
generous and worthy Sir Allen Cotton, Knight, a
bounteous and a noble housekeeper, one that hath spent
the year of his magistracy to the great honour of the
city, and by the sweetness of his disposition, and the
uprightness of his justice and government, hath raised
up a fair lasting memory to himself and his posterity
for ever; at whose happy inauguration, though triumph
was not then in season—Death’s pageants[367] being only
advanced upon the shoulders of men—his noble deservings
were not thereby any way eclipsed:

_Est virtus sibi marmor, et integritate triumphat._

_The speech of Government._

With just propriety does this city stand,
As fix’d by fate, i’ the middle of the land;
It has, as in the body, the heart’s place,
Fit for her works of piety and grace;
The head her sovereign, unto whom she sends
All duties that just service comprehends;
The eyes may be compar’d, at wisdom’s rate,
To the illustrious councillors of state,
Set in that orb of royalty, to give light
To noble actions, stars of truth and right;
The lips the reverend clergy, judges, all
That pronounce laws divine or temporal;
The arms to the defensive part of men:
So I descend unto the heart agen,[368]
The place where now you are; witness the love
True brotherhood’s cost and triumph, all which move
In this most grave solemnity; and in this
The city’s general love abstracted is:
And as the heart, in its meridian seat,
Is styl’d the fountain of the body’s heat,
The first thing receives life, the last that dies,
Those properties experience well applies
To this most loyal city, that hath been
In former ages, as in these times, seen
The fountain of affection, duty, zeal,
And taught all cities through the commonweal;
The first that receives quickening life and spirit
From the king’s grace, which still she strives t’
inherit,
And, like the heart, will be the last that dies
In any duty toward good supplies.
What can express affection’s nobler fruit,
Both to the king, and you his substitute?

At the close of this speech, this Chariot of Honour
and Sanctuary of Prosperity, with all her graceful
concomitants, and the two other parts of Triumph, take
leave of his lordship for that time, and rest from
service till the great feast at Guildhall be ended;
after which the whole fabric of the Triumph attends
upon his honour both towards St. Paul’s and homeward,
his lordship accompanied with the grave and honourable
senators of the city, amongst whom the two worthy
shrieves, his lordship’s grave assistants for the
year, the worshipful and generous master Richard Fen
and master Edward Brumfield, ought not to pass of my
respect unremembered, whose bounty and nobleness for
the year will no doubt give the best expression to
their own worthiness. Between the Cross and the
entrance of Wood Street, that part of Triumph being
planted—being the Fragrant Garden of England with the
Rainbow—to which the concluding speech hath chiefly
reference, there takes its farewell of his lordship,
accompanied with the Fountain of Virtue, being the
fourth part of the Triumph.

_The last speech._

Mercy’s fair object, the celestial bow,
As in the morning it began to shew,
It closes up this great triumphal day,
And by example shews the year the way,
Which if power worthily and rightly spend,
It must with mercy both begin and end.
It is a year that crowns the life of man,
Brings him to peace with honour, and what can
Be more desir’d? ’tis virtue’s harvest-time,
When gravity and judgment’s in their prime:
To speak more happily, ’tis a time given
To treasure up good actions fit for heaven.
To a brotherhood of honour thou art fixt,
That has stood long fair in just virtue’s eye;
For within twelve years’ space thou art the sixt
That has been lord mayor of this Company.
This is no usual grace: being now the last,
Close the work nobly up, that what is past,
And known to be good in the former five,
May in thy present care be kept alive:
Then is thy brotherhood for their love and cost
Requited amply, but thy own soul most.
Health and a happy peace fill all thy days!
When thy year ends, may then begin thy praise!

For the fabric or structure of the whole Triumph, in so
short a time so gracefully performed, the commendation
of that the industry of master Garret Crismas[369] may
justly challenge; a man not only excellent in his art,
but faithful in his undertakings.

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

PARAPHRASED.

_The Wisdome of Solomon Paraphrased. Written by Thomas
Middleton. A Jove surgit opus. Printed at London by
Valentine Sems, dwelling on Adling hil at the signe of
the white Swanne. 1597._ 4to.

_To the Right Honourable and my very good Lord, Robert
Devereux, Earl of Essex and Ewe, Viscount of
Hereford, Lord Ferrers of Chartley, Bourchier, and
Louvaine, Master of Her Majesty’s Horse and
Ordnance, Knight of the Honourable Order of the
Garter, and one of Her Majesty’s Most Honourable
Privy Council._

The summer’s harvest, right honourable, is long since
reaped, and now it is sowing-time again: behold, I
have scattered a few seeds upon the young ground of
unskilfulness; if it bear fruit, my labour is well
bestowed; but if it be barren, I shall have less joy to
set more. The husbandman observes the courses of the
moon, I the forces of your favour; he desireth sunshine,
I cheerful countenance, which once obtained, my harvest
of joy will soon be ripened. My seeds as yet lodge in
the bosom of the earth, like infants upon the lap of a
favourite, wanting the budding spring-time of their
growth, not knowing the east of their glory, the west of
their quietness, the south of their summer, the north of
their winter; but if the beams of your aspects lighten
the small moiety of a smaller implanting, I shall have
an every-day harvest, a fruition of content, a branch of
felicity.

Your Honour’s addicted in all observance,

THOMAS MIDDLETON.

TO THE GENTLEMEN-READERS.

----------

GENTLEMEN,—I give you the surveyance of my new-bought
ground, and will only stand unto your verdicts. I fear
me that the acres of my field pass the ankers of my
seed; if wanting seed, then I hope it will not be too
much seeded. This is my bare excuse; but, trust me, had
my wit been sufficient to maintain the freedom of my
will, then both should have been answerable to your
wishes; yet, nevertheless, think of it as a willing,
though not a fulfilling moiety. But what mean I? While I
thus argue, Momus and Zoïlus, those two ravens, devour
my seed, because I lack a scarecrow; indeed, so I may
have less than I have, when such foul-gutted ravens
swallow up my portion: if you gape for stuffing, hie
you to dead carrion carcasses, and make them your
ordinaries. I beseech you, gentlemen, let me have your
aid; and as you have seen the first practice of my
husbandry in sowing, so let me have your helping hands
unto my reaping.

Yours, devoted in friendship,
THOMAS MIDDLETON.

THE WISDOM OF SOLOMON

PARAPHRASED.

----------

CHAP. I.

Wisdom, elixir of the purest life, VER. 1
Hath taught her lesson to judicial views,
To those that judge a cause and end a strife,
Which sit[370] in judgment’s seat and justice use;
A lesson worthy of divinest care,
Quintessence of a true divinest fear:

Unwilling that exordium should retain
Her life-infusing speech, doth thus begin:
You, quoth she, that give remedy or pain,
Love justice, for injustice is a sin;
Give unto God his due, his reverend style,
And rather use simplicity than guile.

For him that guides the radiant eye of day, 2
Sitting in his star-chamber of the sky,
The horizons and hemispheres obey,
And winds, the fillers of vacuity;
Much less should man tempt God, when all obey,
But rather be a guide, and lead the way.

For tempting argues but a sin’s attempt,
Temptation is to sin associate;
So doing, thou from God art clean exempt,
Whose love is never plac’d in his love’s hate:
He will be found not of a tempting mind,
But found of those which he doth faithful find.

Temptation rather separates from God, 3
Converting goodness from the thing it was,
Heaping the indignation of his rod
To bruise our bodies like a brittle glass;
For wicked thoughts have still a wicked end,
In making God our foe, which was our friend.

They muster up revenge, encamp our hate,
Undoing what before they meant to do,
Stirring up anger and unlucky fate,
Making the earth their friend, the heaven their foe:
But when heaven’s guide makes manifest his power,
The earth their friends doth them like foes devour.

O foolish men, to war against your bliss! 4
O hateful hearts, where wisdom never reign’d!
O wicked thoughts, which ever thought amiss!
What have you reap’d? what pleasure have you gain’d?
A fruit in show, a pleasure to decay,
This have you got by keeping folly’s way.

For wisdom’s harvest is with folly nipt,
And with the winter of your vice’s frost,
Her fruit all scatter’d, her implanting ript,
Her name decayèd, her fruition lost:
Nor can she prosper in a plot of vice,
Gaining no summer’s warmth, but winter’s ice.

Thou barren earth, where virtues never bud; 5
The fruitless womb, where never fruits abide;
And thou dry-wither’d sap, which bears no good
But the dishonour of thy proud heart’s pride:
A seat of all deceit,—deceit deceiv’d,
Thy bliss a woe, thy woe of bliss bereav’d!

This place of night hath left no place for day,
Here never shines the sun of discipline,
But mischief clad in sable night’s array,
Thought’s apparition—evil angel’s sign;
These reign enhousèd with their mother night,
To cloud the day of clearest wisdom’s light.

O you that practise to be chief in sin, 6
Love’s hate, hate’s friend, friend’s foe, foe’s
follower,
What do you gain? what merit do you win,
To be blaspheming vice’s practiser?
Your gain is wisdom’s everlasting hate,
Your merit grief, your grief your life’s debate.

Thou canst not hide thy thought—God made thy thought,
Let this thy caveat be for thinking ill;
Thou know’st that Christ thy living freedom bought,
To live on earth according to his will:
God being thy creator, Christ thy bliss,
Why dost thou err? why dost thou do amiss?

He is both judge and witness of thy deeds, 7
He knows the volume which thy heart contains;
Christ skips thy faults, only thy virtue reads,
Redeeming thee from all thy vice’s pains:
O happy crown of mortal man’s content,
Sent for our joy, our joy in being sent!

Then sham’st thou not to err, to sin, to stray,
To come to composition with thy vice,
With new-purg’d feet to tread the oldest way,
Leading new sense unto thy old device?
Thy shame might flow in thy sin-flowing face,
Rather than ebb to make an ebb of grace.

For he which rules the orb of heaven and earth, 8
And the inequal course of every star,
Did know man’s thoughts and secrets at his birth,
Whether inclin’d to peace or discord’s jar:
He knows what man will be ere he be man,
And all his deeds in his life’s living span.

Then ’tis impossible that earth can hide
Unrighteous actions from a righteous God,
For he can see their feet in sin that slide,
And those that lodge in righteousness’ abode;
He will extend his mercy on the good,
His wrath on those in whom no virtues bud.

Many there be, that, after trespass done, 9
Will seek a covert for to hide their shame,
And range about the earth, thinking to shun
God’s heavy wrath and meritorious[371] blame;
They, thinking to fly sin, run into sin,
And think to end when they do new begin.

God made the earth, the earth denies their suit,
Nor can they harbour in the centre’s womb;
God knows their thoughts, although their tongues be
mute,
And hears the sounds from forth their bodies’ tomb:
Sounds? ah! no sounds, but man himself he hears,
Too true a voice of man’s most falsest fears.

O see destruction hovering o’er thy head, 10
Mantling herself in wickedness’ array!
Hoping to make thy body as her bed,
Thy vice her nutriment, thy soul her prey:
Thou hast forsaken him that was thy guide,
And see what follows to assuage thy pride!

Thy roaring vice’s noise hath cloy’d his ears,
Like foaming waves they have o’erwhelm’d thy joy;
Thy murmuring,[372] which thy whole body bears,
Hath bred thy wail, thy wail thy life’s annoy:
Unhappy thoughts, to make a soul’s decay,
Unhappy soul, in suffering thoughts to sway!

Then sith[373] the height of man’s felicity 11
Is plung’d within the puddle of misdeeds,
And wades amongst discredit’s infamy,
Blasting the merit of his virtues’ seeds;
Beware of murmuring,—the chiefest ill,
From whence all sin, all vice, all pains distil.

O heavy doom proceeding from a tongue,
Heavy-light tongue—tongue to thy own decay,
In virtue weak, in wickedness too strong,
To mischief prone, from goodness gone astray;
Hammer to forge misdeeds, to temper lies,
Selling thy life to death, thy soul to cries!

Must death needs pay the ransom of thy sin 12
With the dead carcass of descending spirit?
Wilt thou of force be snarèd in his gin,
And place thy error in destruction’s merit?
Life, seek not for thy death; death comes unsought,
Buying the life which not long since was bought.

Death and destruction never need[374] a call,
They are attendants on life’s pilgrimage,
And life to them is as their playing ball,
Grounded upon destruction’s anchorage;
Seek not for that which unsought will betide,
Ne’er wants destruction a provoking guide.

Will you needs act your own destruction? 13
Will you needs harbour your own overthrow?
Or will you cause your own eversion,
Beginning with despair, ending with woe?
Then dye your hearts in tyranny’s array,
To make acquittance of destruction’s pay.

What do you meditate but on your death?
What do you practise but your living fall?
Who of you all have any virtue’s breath,
But ready armèd at a mischief’s call?
God is not pleasèd at your vices’ savour,
But you best pleasèd when you lose his favour.

He made not death to be your conqueror, 14
But you to conquer over death and hell;
Nor you to be destruction’s servitor,
Enhousèd there where majesty should dwell:
God made man to obey at his behest,
And man to be obey’d of every beast.

He made not death to be our labour’s hire,
But we ourselves made death through our desert;
Here never was the kingdom of hell-fire,
Before the brand was kindled in man’s heart:
Now man defieth God, all creatures man,
Vice flourisheth, and virtue lieth wan.

O fruitful tree, whose root is always green, 15
Whose blossoms ever bud, whose fruits increase,
Whose top celestial virtue’s seat hath been,
Defended by the sovereignty of peace!
This tree is righteousness; O happy tree,
Immortalisèd by thine own decree!

O hateful plant, whose root is always dry,
Whose blossoms never bud, whose fruits decrease,
On whom sits the infernal deity,
To take possession of so foul a lease!
This plant is vice; O too unhappy plant,
Ever to die, and never fill death’s want!

Accursèd in thy growth, dead in thy root, 16
Canker’d with sin, shaken with every wind,
Whose top doth nothing differ from the foot,
Mischief the sap, and wickedness the rind;
So the ungodly, like this wither’d tree,
Is slack in doing good, in ill too free.

Like this their wicked growth, too fast, too slow;
Too fast in sloth, too slow in virtue’s haste;
They think their vice a friend when ’tis a foe,
In good, in wickedness, too slow, too fast:
And as this tree decays, so do they all,
Each one copartner of the other’s fall.

CHAP. II.

Indeed they do presage what will betide, 1
With the misgiving verdict of misdeeds;
They know a fall will follow after pride,
And in so foul a heart grow[375] many weeds:
Our life is short, quoth they; no, ’tis too long,
Lengthen’d with evil thoughts and evil tongue.

A life must needs be short to them that dies,
For life once dead in sin doth weakly live;
These die in sin, and mask in death’s disguise,
And never think that death new life can give;
They say, life dead can never live again:
O thoughts, O words, O deeds, fond,[376] foolish, vain!

Vild[377] life, to harbour where such death abodes, 2
Abodes worse than are thoughts, thoughts worse than
words,
Words half as ill as deeds, deeds sorrow’s odes,
Odes ill enchanters of too ill records!
Thoughts, words, and deeds, conjoinèd in one song
May cause an echo from destruction’s tongue.

Quoth they, ’tis chance whether we live or die,
Born or abortive, be or never be;
We worship Fortune, she’s our deity;
If she denies, no vital breath have we:
Here are we placèd in this orb of death,
This breath once gone, we never look for breath.

Between both life and death, both hope and fear, 3
Between our joy and grief, bliss and despair,
We here possess the fruit of what is here,
Born ever for to die, and die death’s heir:
Our heritage is death annex’d to life,
Our portion death, our death an endless strife.

What is our life, but our life’s tragedy,
Extinguish’d in a momentary time?
And life to murder life is cruelty,
Unripely withering in a flowery prime;
An[378] urn of ashes pleasing but the shows,
Once dry, the toiling spirit wandering goes.

Like as the traces of appearing clouds 4
Give[379] way when Titan re-salutes the sea,
With new-chang’d flames gilding the ocean’s floods,
Kissing the cabinet where Thetis lay:
So fares our life, when death doth give the wound,
Our life is led by death, a captive bound.

When Sol bestrides his golden mountain’s top,
Lightening heaven’s tapers with his living fire,
All gloomy powers have their diurnal stop,
And never gain[380] the darkness they desire;
So perisheth our name when we are dead,
Ourselves ne’er call’d to mind, our deeds ne’er read.

What is the time we have? what be our days? 5
No time, but shadow of what time should be,
Days in the place of hours, which never stays,
Beguiling sight of that which sight should see:
As soon as they begin, they have their fine;
Ne’er wax, still wane, ne’er stay, but still decline.

Life may be call’d the shadow of effect,
Because the cloud of death doth shadow it;
Nor can our life approaching death reject,
They both in one for our election sit;
Death follows life in every degree,
But life to follow death you never see.

Come we, whose old decrepit age doth halt, 6
Like limping winter, in our winter, sin;
Faulty we know we are—tush, what’s a fault?
A shadow’d vision of destruction’s gin;
Our life begun with vice, so let it end,
It is a servile labour to amend.

We joy’d in sin, and let our joys renew;
We joy’d in vice, and let our joys remain;
To present pleasures future hopes ensue,
And joy once lost, let us fetch back again:
Although our age can lend no youthful pace,
Yet let our minds follow our youthful race.

What though old age lies, heavy on our back, 7
Anatomy of an age-crookèd clime,
Let mind perform that which our bodies lack,
And change old age into a youthful time:
Two heavy things are more than one can bear;
Black may the garments be, the body clear.

Decaying things be needful of repair—
Trees eaten out with years must needs decline;
Nature in time with foul doth cloud her fair,
Begirting youthful days with age’s twine:
We live; and while we live, come let us joy;
To think of after-life, ’tis but a toy.

We know God made us in a living form, 8
But we’ll unmake, and make ourselves again;
Unmake that which is made, like winter’s storm,
Make unmade things to aggravate our pain:
God was our maker, and he made us good,
But our descent springs from another blood.

He made us for to live, we mean to die;
He made the heaven our seat, we make the earth;
Each fashion makes a contrariety,
God truest God, man falsest from his birth:
Quoth they, this earth shall be our chiefest heaven,
Our sin the anchor, and our vice the haven.

Let heaven in earth, and earth in heaven consist, 9
This earth is heaven, this heaven is earthly heaven;
Repugnant earth repugnant heaven resist,
We joy in earth, of other joys bereaven:
This is the paradise of our delight;
Here let us live, and die in heaven’s spite.

Here let the monuments of wanton sports
Be seated in a wantonness’ disguise;
Clos’d in the circuit of venereal forts,
To feed the long-starv’d sight of amour’s eyes;
Be this the chronicle of our content,
How we did sport on earth, still sport was spent.

But in the glory of the brightest day, 10
Heaven’s smoothest brow sometime is furrowèd,
And clouds usurp the clime in dim array,
Darkening the light which heaven had borrowèd;
So in this earthly heaven we daily see
That grief is placèd where delight should be.

Here live[381] the righteous, bane unto their lives,
O, sound from forth the hollow cave of woe!
Here live[381] age-crookèd fathers, widow’d wives—
Poor, and yet rich in fortune’s overthrow:
Let them not live; let us increase their want,
Make barren their desire, augment their scant.

Our law is correspondent to our doom, 11
Our law to doom, is dooming law’s offence;
Each one agreeth in the other’s room,
To punish that which strives and wants defence:
This, cedar-like, doth make the shrub to bend,
When shrubs do[382] waste their force but to contend.