Poems written by A. Cowley.

The 34 Chapter of the Prophet Isaiah.

1.

1 AWake, and with attention hear, Thou drowsie World, for it concerns thee near; Awake, I say, and listen well, To what from God, I, his loud Prophet, tell. Bid both the Poles suppress their stormy noise, And bid the roaring Sea contain his voyce. Be still thou Sea, be still thou Air and Earth, 2 Still, as old Chaos, before Motions birth, A dreadful Host of Iudgements is gone out; In strength and number more Then ere was rais'd by God before, To scourge the Rebel World, and march it round about.

2.

1 I see the Sword of God brandisht above; And from it streams a dismal ray; 2 I see the Scabbard cast away. How red anon with Slaughter will it prove! How will it sweat and reek in blood! 3 How will the Scarlet Glutton be oregorged with his food! And devour all the mighty Feast! Nothing soon but Bones will rest. God does a solemn Sacrifice prepare; 4 But not of Oxen, nor of Rams, Not of Kids, nor of their Dams, Not of Heifers, nor of Lams. The Altar all the Land, and all Men in't the Victims are, Since wicked Mens more guilty blood to spare, The Beasts so long have sacrificed bin, Since Men their Birthright forfeit still by Sin, 5 'Tis fit at last Beasts their Revenge should have, And Sacrificed Men their better Brethren save.

3.

So will they fall, so will they flee; Such will the Creatures wilde distraction bee, When at the final Doom, Nature and Time shall both be Slain, Shall struggle with Deaths pangs in vain, And the whole world their Funeral Pile become. tagJump to section The wide-stretcht Scrowl of Heaven, which wee, 1 Immortal as the Deity think, 2 With all the beauteous Characters that in it

With such deep Sense by Gods own Hand were writ, Whose Eloquence though we understand not, we admire, Shall crackle, and the parts together shrink 3 Like Parchment in a fire. 4 Th'exhausted Sun to th'Moon no more shall lend; But truly then headlong into the Sea descend. The glittering Host, now in such fair array, So proud, so well appointed, and so gay, Like fearful Troops in some strong Ambush ta'ne, 5 Shall some fly routed, and some fall slaine, 6 Thick as ripe Fruit, or yellow Leaves in Autumn fall, With such a violent Storm as blows down Tree and all.

4.

And Thou, O cursed Land, Which wilt not see the Precipice where thou dost stand, Though thou standst just upon the brink; Thou of this poysoned Bowl the bitter Dregs shalt drink: Thy Rivers and thy Lakes shall so With humane blood oreflow. That they shall fetch the slaughter'd corps away, Which in the fields around unburied lay, And rob the Beasts and Birds to give the Fish their prey. The rotting corps shall so infect the aire; Beget such Plagues, and putrid Venomes there, That by thine own Dead shall be slain, All thy few Living that remain. 1 As one who buys, Surveys a ground, So the Destroying Angel measures it around. So careful and so strict he is, Lest any Nook or Corner he should miss. He walks about the perishing Nation, Ruine behind him stalks and empty Desolation.

5.

1 Then shall the Market and the Pleading-place Be choakt with Brambles and oregrown with grass. The Serpents through thy Streets shall rowl, And in thy lower rooms the Wolves shall howl, 2 And thy gilt Chambers lodge the Raven and the Owl, And all the wing'd Ill-Omens of the aire, Though no new-Ills can be fore-boded there. The Lyon then shall to the Leopard say, Brother Leopard come away; Behold a Land which God has giv'en us in prey! Behold a Land from whence we see Mankinde expulst, His and Our common Enemie! 3 The Brother Leopard shakes himself, and does not stay.

6. tagJump to section

2 The glutted Vulturs shall expect in vain New Armies to be slain. Shall finde at last the business done, Leave their consumed Quarters, and be gone. 3 Th'unburied Ghosts shall sadly moan, The Satyrs laugh to hear them groan. The Evil Spirits that delight To dance and revel in the Mask of Night, The Moon and Stars, their sole Spectators shall affright. And if of lost Mankind Ought happen to be left behind, If any Reliques but remain, They in the Dens shall lurk, Beasts in the Palaces shall raign.

NOTES.

1:

1. COme near ye Nations to hear, * 1.1 Terra & plenitudo ejus, and hearken ye people, let the Earth hear, and all that is therein; the world, and all things that come forth of it. 2. For the Indignation of the Lord is upon all Nations, and his fury upon all their Armies; he hath utterly destroyed them, he hath delivered them to the slaughter.

The manner of the Prophets writing, especially of Isaiah, seems to me very like that of Pindar; they pass from one thing to another with almost Invisible connexions, and are full of words and expressions of the highest and boldest flights of Poetry, as may be seen in this Chapter. Where there are as extraordinary Figures as can be found in any Poet whatsoever; and the connexion is so difficult, that I am forced to adde a little, and leave out a great deal to make it seem Sense to us, who are not used to that elevated way of expression. The Commentators differ, and some would have it to be a Prediction of the destruction of Iudea, as Hugo, Lyran, and others; the rest understand it as a Prophesie of the Day of Iudgement. The design of it to me seems to be this, first to denounce great desolations and ruines to all Countreys, and then to do it more particularly to Iudaea, as which was to suffer a greater measure of them then the rest of the world; as it has done, I think, much more then any other Land under the Sun; and to illustrate these confusions by the similitude of them to those of the last Day, though in the Text there be no Transition from the subject to the similitude; for the old fashion of writing, was like Disputing in Enthymemes, where half is left out to be supplyed by the Hearer: ours is like Syllogisms, where all that is meant is express.

2. For as soon as Motion began, it ceased to be Chaos, this being all Confusion, but Na∣tural Motion is regular: I think I have read it somewhere called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. The Scripture says, And darkness was upon the face of the earth, and the spirit of God moved upon the waters. So that the first Motion, was that of the Spirit of God upon Chaos, to which suc∣ceeded the Motion in Chaos. And God said (that is, the Motion of the Spirit of God, for it is a Procession of his will to an outward Effect) let there be light, and there was light (that is, the first Motion of Chaos.)

2.

1. Ver. 5. For my sword shall be bathed in heaven, behold it shall come down upon Idumea, and upon the people of my curse to Iudgement. 6. The sword of God is filled with blood, it s made fat with fatness, and with the blood of Lambs, and Goats, with the fat of the Kidneys of Rams; for the Lord has a Sacri∣fice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the Land of Idumea. Quoniam inebriatus est in coelo gladius meus, & sup. populum interfectiones meae ad judicium. Incrassatus est adipe.

I have left out the seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth Verses; in which, where the Prophet says Vnicorns and Bulls, I take that to be a Metaphor onely of Great Tyrants, and men of the mightiest power; the Horn signifying that in Hebrew, and other Languages too; as Horace, Addet cornua pauperi, &c.

And the year of recompences for the controversie of Sion, Annus retributionis judicii Sion. This makes Vatabl. Montan. Sanchez, and divers other interpret, Iudicium Sionis, the Iudge∣ment which God shall exercise against the Idumaeans in revenge of Sion; but I take it rather to be, This is the year when Sion shall be judged for her Iudgement; that is, for the con∣demnation and execution of her Messias, who likewise foretels the same things; as Isaiah, concerning the destruction of Ierusalem, and even in the same manner, part of the threat∣nings seeming to belong particularly to Ierusalem, and part being onely applicable to the Day of Iudgement. Observe this remarkable conformity in the 24 of Matthew.

2. As not intending to put it up again, or to be ever reconciled; in which sense it was said, as I take it, to the great Duke of Guise, that he who draws his sword against his Prince, should fling away the Scabbard.

3. For the Text says, it is made drunk with blood, and made fat with flesh. Like the rich Glutton in the Gospel, who is described to be cloath'd with Purple.

4. The Text seems to say quite contrary to this, It shall be made fat with fatness, and with the blood of Lambs and Goats, and kidney of Rams, &c. But the names of Beasts in that place must necessarily be understood, as put for Men; all sorts of Men. Cornel. à Lap. says, that by Lambs are signified the Common People; by Goats, the Captains and Princes; by Rams, the Magistrates. But these two last interpretations of Goats and Rams, seem very slight and forced; the meaning is, that all sorts of men shall be sacrificed to Gods justice, as Lambs, Goats, and Rams were wont to be. It may be askt, Why Idumaea and Bozra (the Metropolis of it) are here particularly mentioned? Is it not with allusion to the Names? for Idumaea (or Edom) signifies Red, a Countrey that shall be red with bloodshed; and Bozra signi∣fies a Strong fortified Place. So that in the 108. Psalm, v. 10. where we read, Who will bring me into the Strong City; the Hebrew is, Who will bring me into Bozra? From which word too by a Metathesis of the Letters, some derive Byrsa, the strong Castle of Carthage, which was founded by the Phaenicians, and therefore it is more likely the Castle should have a Phaenician (which Language is said to have been little different from the Hebrew) then a Graecian name, to wit, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, an Hide, because Dido is reported to have bought of Iarbas as much ground as could be compast with an Oxes hide, which cut into very narrow thongs, took up the whole space where she built the Castle. Virg.

Mercati{que} solum facti de nomine Byrsam,Taurino quantum possent circumdare tergo.

Wherefore under the name of Bozra, the Prophet threatens all strong Places, and more especially of Iudaea, which God will make an Edom, or red, or bloody Countrey.

5. Though Beasts were first created in time, yet because Man was first and chiefly designed, and they onely in order to him, the right of Primogeniture belongs to him; and therefore all Beasts at first obeyed and feared him. We need not be angry, or ashamed to have them called our Brethren; for they are literally so, having the same Creator or Father; and the Scripture gives us a much worse kindred; I have said to Corruption, thou art my Father; and to the worm, thou art my mother and my sister. Iob 17. v. 14.

3.

descriptionOpen pageVerse 4. And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved,* and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroull, and all their Host shall fall down as the leaf falleth from the vine, and as a falling fig from the Fig-tree. * Et complicabuntur sicut Liber Coeli, &c. D. Thomas Hug. and divers others, in∣terpret this to be an Hyperbolical expression of the calamities of those times; which shall be so great, that men shall think the world at an end, and shall be so distracted, that the heavens shall seem to be rolled together, and the stars to fall. But, methinks, it is more naturally taken for a real description of the end of the world, but by way of a Similitude, to illustrate the confusions that are foretold.

1. The vulgar opinion, and that of Aristotle, and most Philosophers, hath always been, that the Heavens are Immutable and Incorruptible, nay, even Immaterial; in which, though experience it self of visible Mutations in them (as: the production and extinction two years after of the New-star in Cassiopaeâ 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 might sufficiently by natural reason convince them, yet some men are so given up even to the most reprobate senses of Aristotle, that not so much as the Divine Authority can draw them from it; as in this point Suarez, and many others, are so far from the opinion of the Heavens being now Corruptible and Mutable, that they will allow them to be changed onely Accidentally (as they call it) and not Substantially at the last Day. Of which Maldon. upon S. Matth. says well, That he had rather believe Christ who affirms it, then Aristotle who denies it.

2. The Stars may well be termed Characters or Letters, where the Heavens are called a Scroul, or Book, in which perhaps Mens fortunes, Gods Glory is certainly written; and in this sense the Psalmist speaks, The heavens shall declare his righteousness. Origen cites a Book of great authority in his days, called Narratio Ioseph, in which Iacob says to his Sons, Legi•• in tabulis coeli quaecun{que} contingent vobis & filiis vestris.

3. The Text is, rolled up like a Scroul, or rather Book; for the ancient Books were not like ours, divided into leaves; but made of sheets, of skins, or parchment, and rolled upon a Cilinder, after the fashion of our Maps. So that when they had read them, they

rolled them up again, as God will the Heavens, when he has done with them. But I thought that this comparison of Parchment that shrivels up in the fire does more represent the vio∣lence of their destruction, which is to be by burning.

4. He supplies now the Moon and Stars that shine by reflection from him, but then shall want light for himself. In those days the Sun shall be darkned, and the Moon shall not give her light. Mat. 24. Where I take Her to have an Emphasis; even her own little Light: for I believe the Moon and Stars not to be totally opaque and dark bodies.

Truly, is Emphatical; for according to the fables, whensoever he sets, he descends into the Sea, but now he really does so; that is, he will be mingled with the Sea and Earth, and all other things that must then be dissolved: And the Heathens had both this opinion of the end of the world, and fell almost into the same expressions. As Lucan.

Mistis Sidera sideribus concurrent, Ignea pontumAstra petent—

St. Matthew and Mark, And the stars of heaven shall fall; and here, Their host shall fall down &c. Sen. ad Marc. Sidera sideribus incurrent, & omni flagrante materiá, uno igne, quicquid nunc ex disposito lucet, ardebit. And one might cast up a pedantical heap of authorities to the same purpose.

5. It is, I hope, needless to admonish any tolerable Reader, that it was not negligence or ignorance of Number, that produced this Stumbling Verse, no more then the other before, And truly then headlong into the Sea descend. And several others in my book of the like kind.

6. That of the wind is added to the Text here, but taken out of another just like it in the Revelations, Chap. 6. v. 13. And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig-tree casteth her untimely figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And there follows too the similitude of the Scroll.

4.

1. Verse 11. And he shall stretch out upon it the Line of confusion, and the Stones of Emptiness. The Latine very differently, Et extendetur super eam mensura, ut redigatur ad nihil, & perpendi∣culum in desolationem. The Metaphor is, that as a Carpenter draws a Line to mark exactly the space that he is to build, so God does here, to mark that which he is to destroy.

Our Translation follows Vatabl. Extendet super eam regulam inanitatis, & lapides vacuitatis. Which stones of emptiness may have two interpretations, either making the Stones, Termini, that is Bound-stones of Desolation, as if he should say, This is the land of Desolation, and I have set these bounds and limits to circumscribe it. Or else he says, the Stones of Emptiness, is an effect of Desolation; for when a ground is uncultivated and abandoned, it grows stony. According to the vulgar Latine Translation it is very like another Text of Isaiah, Ch. 28. v. 17. Iudgement also will I lay to the Line, and righteousness to the Plummet. Which is no more in plain language, then, I will be exact in Iudgement and Righteousness. There is a much harder Text with the same Metaphor in 2 Sam. 8. Ch. 2. Verse. And he smote Moab, and mea∣sured them with a Line, casting them down to the ground, even with two lines measured he to put to Death, and with one full Line to keep alive; And so the Moabites became Davids servants, and brought gifts, Which some interpret, that he put two parts of them to the sword, and saved the third, who became his servants. And that he did this, not by a just account, or pol∣ling of them (for the number was too great) but by measuring out the Land into three parts, and destroying two of them, 2 King. 21. 13. I will stretch over Ierusalem the Line of Sa∣maria, and the Plummet of the House of Abab, and I will wipe Ierusalem as a man wipeth a dish wiping and turning it upside down. The Latine, Pondus domus Achab: and instead of a dish▪ uses a more noble Metaphor of a Table-book. Delebo Ierusalem sicut deleri solent Tabula, & delens ver∣tam. & ducam crebrius stilum super faciem ejus.

5.

1. Verse 11. The Cormorant and the Bittern shall possess it, the Owl and the Raven shall dwell in it. V. 15. And thorns shall come up in her Palaces, and Brambles in the fortresses thereof; and it shall be an habitation for Dragons, and a Court for Owls.

Et possidebunt illam Onocrotalus & Ericius, Ibis & Corvus habitabunt in eâ, V. 13. Et ori∣entur in domibus ejus spinae & urticae, & paliurus in munitionibus ejus, & erit cubile Draco∣num & pascua struthionum. The Cormorant is called Onocrotalus, from 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 an Ass, and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Noise▪ because it makes a noise like the braying of an Ass. I know not whether we are in the right, who translate it a Bittern, or the Latin, which calls it Ericius, an Hedge∣hog. Ericius among the Classick Authors, signifies an Instrument of war, made with iron pikes, like Palissadees sticking out of it. Some think a Percullis, from the similitude of which, Echinus was in the time of corrupted Latine, called Ericius. Ibis is a Bird like a Stork most known in Egypt, and worshipt there, because it kills multitudes of Serpents, which would else infest the Countrey. We erroneously translate it Owl, for mention of Owls is made afterwards. I do nor use the same names of Beasts and Birds exactly which the Prophet does; nor is that material; for the meaning onely is, that the Land shall be possest by Beasts instead of Men.

2.

Of Birds from which the Ancients took auguries: Some were called Oscines, from whose voyces they drew their divinations, and other Praepetes, from their manner of flight, Crows, Swallows, Kites, Owls, and such like, were counted inauspicious Birds; and others (as Vulturs) in some cases portended good, and in others evil.

3. Though the Lyon might call any Beast Brother, yet it may more properly the Leopard; for the Leopard is begot of a Lyoness, and a hee-Panther, which is called Pardus.

6.

descriptionOpen pageVerse 14. The wilde beasts of the Desert shall also meet with the wilde beasts of the Islands, and the Satyre shall cry to his fellow; the Skrichowl shall also rest there, and finde for her self a place of rest. V. 15. There shal the great Owl make her nest, and lay, and nest, and gather under her shadow; There shall the Vulturs also be gathered every one with her Mate. V. 14. Et occurrent Daemonia Onocentauris, & Pilosus clamabit alter ad alterum; Ibi cubavit Lamia, & invenit sibi requiem. V. 15. Ibi habuit foveam Ericius, & enutrivit catulos, & circumfodit, & fovit in umbrâ ejus; illuc congregari sunt Milvi, alter ad alterum.

Here is a great difference between the two Translations; and it appears, methinks, that none perfectly understood the Hebrew, neither in this nor many other places. From whence they give the fabulous Greek names, as those of Satyrs, Lamiae, Onocentaurs, Vnicorns, Dra∣gons, Orion, Pleiades, and the like, to several Hebrew words, whose true signification was lost; which is no wonder, for even in the Greek and Latine we have much ado to translate all the names of Birds, Beasts, Fishes, and Herbs, &c. and I am afraid we are often mistaken in them. So the Septuag. in Iob 42. v. 14. translate the name of Iobs third Daughter, The Horn of Amalthaea, alluding to a Graecian fable born long after Iobs time. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, which the Latine Cornu stibii, the Horn of Antimony, perhaps because Antimony is accounted by some the Mother of Metals. We (I know not why) name her Kerenhappuch, not according to the signification, but the word of the Hebrew. It seems by the Greek, that Iobs three Daughters names signified Sweetness; Light, or Beauty; Plenty, or Fruitfulness. So in the 15 of Iudith it is translated; Nec filii Titan percusserunt eum: when the meaning is, They were not the sons of Gyants that slew him, but, &c. Not great strong men, but a weak woman.

2. The Latine says Milvi: which Translation is best I know not, nor does it import. The Vultures from their devouring of dead Bodies, were called 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, Living Tombs. They are said to assemble themselves together by a natural Divinatory Instinct in the places where any great slaughters are to be made; which Tradition arises, because they use to follow Armies; not as foreseeing the day of Battel, but because even in the marches of Armies there are always a great many men, horses, and other beasts, that fall here and there by the way. Iob has the like description of the Eagle, Ch. 39. 1. 30. And where the slain are, there is she.

3. The English mentions onely Satyrs, the Latin besides that (for Pilosi, are the same) Daemonia, and Lamiae, Hobgoblings. The Hebrew is said to signifie Nocturnum spectrum, An appearance of something in the Night. From whence the Chald. Transl•• it An Owl, the English a Skrichowl. Whether there be any such creatures in Nature as Satyrs, &c. I will not determine. S. Antony seeking S. Paul the Hermite is reported by Athanasius to have met with a Monster half Man, and Beast, which he drove away with the sign of the Cross; and S. Hierom in the Life of the Hermite, says that such a kinde of Monster was in his time brought to Alexandria. Pliny testifies, that he himself saw an Hippocentaur, the body of which was preserved in honey, and brought to 〈◊◊〉〈◊◊〉 but I am sorry he does not de∣scribe the form of it, Lib. 7. Cap. 3.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Isa ch: 34. v. 1.