Poems written by A. Cowley.

To Mr. Hobs.

1.

VAst Bodies of Philosophie I oft have seen, and read, But all are Bodies Dead, Or Bodies by Art fashioned; I never yet the Living Soul could see, But in thy Books and Thee. 'Tis onely God can know Whether the fair Idea thou dost show Agree intirely with his own or no: This I dare boldly tell, Till so like Truth 'twill serve our turn as well. Iust, as in Nature thy Proportions be, As full of Concord their Varietie, As firm the parts upon their Centre rest, And all so Solid are that they at least As much as Nature, Emptiness detest.

2.

1 Long did the mighty Stagirite retain The Vniversal Intellectual reign, 2 Saw his own Countreys short-liv'ed Leopard slain; 3 The stronger Roman-Eagle did out-fly, Oftner renewed his Age, and saw that Dy. 4 Mecha it self, in spight of Mahumet possest, And chas'ed by a wilde Deluge from the East, His Monarchy new planted in the West. But as in time each great imperial race, Degenerates, and gives some new one place: So did this noble Empire wast, Sunk by degrees from glories past, And in the Schoolmens hands it perisht quite at last. Then nought but Words it grew, And those all Barb'arous too. It perisht, and it vanisht there, The Life and Soul breath'd out, became but empty Air.

3.

The Fields which answer'd well the Ancients Plow, Spent and out-worn return no Harvest now, In barren Age wilde and unglorious lie, And boast of past Fertilitie, The poor relief of Present Povertie.

Food and Fruit we now must want Unless new Lands we plant. We break up Tombs with Sacrilegious bands; Old Rubbish we remove; To walk in Ruines, like vain Ghosts, we love, 1 And with fond Divining Wands We search among the Dead For Treasures Buried, Whilst still the Liberal Earth does hold So many Virgin Mines of undiscover'ed Gold.

4.

1 The Baltique, Euxin, and the Caspian, And slender-limb'ed Mediterranean, Seem narrow Creeks to Thee, and onely fit For the poor wretched Fisher-Boats of Wit. Thy nobler Vessel the vast Ocean tries, And nothing sees but Seas and Skies, Till unknown Regions it descries, Thou great Columbus of the Golden Lands of new Philosophies. Thy task was harder much then his, For thy learn'd America is Not onely found out first by Thee, And rudely left to Future Industrie, But thy Eloquence and thy Wit, Has planted, peopled, built, and civiliz'd it.

5.

I little thought before, (Nor being my own self so poor Could comprehend so vast a store) 1 That all the Wardrobe of rich Eloquence, Could have afforded half enuff, Of bright, of new, and lasting stuff, To cloath the mighty Limbs of thy Gigantique Sence. 2 Thy solid Reason like the shield from heaven To the Trojan Heroe given, Too strong to take a mark from any mortal dart, Yet shines with Gold and Gems in every part, And Wonders on it grave'd by the learn'd hand of Art, A shield that gives delight Even to the enemies sight, Then when they're sure to lose the Gombate by't.

6.

Nor can the Snow which now cold Age does shed Upon thy reverend Head,

Quench or allay the noble Fires within, But all which thou hast bin, And all that Youth can be thou'rt yet, So fully still dost Thou Enjoy the Manhood, and the Bloom of Wit, And all the Natural Heat, but not the Feaver too. So Contraries on Aetna's top conspire, Here hoary Frosts, and by them breaks out Fire. A secure peace the faithful Neighbors keep, Th'emboldned Snow next to the Flame does sleep. And if we weigh, like Thee, Nature, and Causes, we shall see That thus it needs must bee, To things Immortal Time can do no wrong, 1 And that which never is to Dye, forever must be Young.

NOTES.

2.

1. ARistotle; So called from the Town of Stagira, where he was born, situated near the Bay of Strimon in Matedonia.

2. Outlasted the Graecian Empire, which in the Visions of Daniel, is represented by a Leopard, with four wings upon the back, and four Heads, Chap. 7. v. 6.

3. Was received even beyond the bounds of the Roman Empire, and out-lived it.

4. For Aristotles philosophy was in great esteem among the Arabians or Saracens, wit∣ness those many excellent Books upon him, or according to his principles, written by Averroes, Avicenna, Avempace, and divers others. In spight of Mahumet: because his Law, being adapted to the barbarous humor of those people he had first to deal withal, and aiming onely at greatness of Empire by the sword, forbids all the studies of Learning; which (nevertheless) flourished admirably under the Saracen Monarchy, and continued so, till it was extinguisht with that Empire, by the Inundation of the Turks, and other Nati∣ons. Mecha, is the Town in Arabia where Mahumet was born.

2.

1. Virgula Divina; or a Divining Wand is a two-forked branch of an Hazel-tree, which is used for the finding out either of Veins, or hidden Treasures of Gold or Silver; and being carryed about, bends downwards (or rather is said to do so) when it comes to the place where they lye.

4.

1. All the Navigation of the Ancients was in these Seas: they seldom ventured into the Ocean; and when they did, did onely Littus leger••, coast about near the shore.

5.

1. The meaning is, that his Notions are so New, and so Great, that I did not think it had been possible to have found out words to express them clearly; as no Wardrobe can furnish Cloaths to fit a Body taller and bigger then ever any was before for the Cloathes were made according to some Measure that then was.

2. See the excellent description of this Shield, made by Vulcan at the request of Venus, for her Son Aeneas, at the end of the 8 Book of Aen.

—Et ••lypei non enarrabile textum,

Whereon was graven all the Roman History; and withal, it was so strong, that in the ••2 B. when Turnus strook with all his force (which was not small you may be sure in a Poetical Hero)

—Corpore totoAliè sublatum consurgit Turnus in ensem.

Insomuch, that it frighted all Aeneas his friends.

(Exclament Troes trepidi{que} Latini)

Instead of piercing through these arms,

Perfidus ensisFrangitur, in medio{que} ardentem deserit ictu,Ni fuga subsidio subeat.

Which is just the case of mens arguing against Solid, and that is, Divine Reason; for when their argumentation is broken, they are forced to save themselves by flight, that is, by eva∣sions, and seeking still new ground; and this Sword did Turnus good service upon the rest of the Trojans.

Isq, diu, dum terga dabant palantia TeucriSuffecit, postquam arma Dei ad Vulcania ventum est.Mortalis Mucr•• glaciet cum fusilis ictuDissiluit.

It broke like a piece of Ice, when it met with the Arms of Vulcan.

6.

1. The Description of the Neighborhood of Fire and Snow upon Aetna (but not the ap∣plication of it) is imitated out of Claud. L. 1. De Raptu Pros.

Sed quamvis nimio servens exuberet aestu,Scit nivibus servare fidem, pariter{que} faviliaDurescit glacies, tanti secuta vaporiaArcano defensa gelu, fumo{que} fideliLambit contiguit innoxia flamma pristinas:

Where, methinks, is somewhat of that which Seneca objects to Ovid. Nescivit quod bené cessit relinquere. When he met with a Phrase that pleased him, he could not finde in his heart to quit, or ever to have done with it. Tacinus has the like expression of Mount Libanus, Pra∣cipuum montium Libanum, mirum dictu, tantos inter ardores opacum, fid••m{que} rivibus. Shady among such great heats, and faithful to the Snow; which is too Poetical for the Prose even of a Romance, much more of an Historian. Sil. Italic. of Aene. L. 14.

Summo cana jugo cohibet (mirabile dictu)Vicinam flammis glaciem, aeterno{que} rigoreArdentes horrent scopuli, stat vertice celsiCollis hyems, calid••{que} nivem regit 〈◊〉〈◊〉 favill••.

See likewise Seneca, Epist. 79.