DE LIBRO CVM MVTV-
aretur Impresso; Domi à pueris
frustatim lacerato; et post reddito
Manuscripto.
Doctissimo Amicissimoque v.
D. D. Andrews.
_Parturiunt madido quae nixu praela, recepta,
Sed quae scripta manu, sunt veneranda magis.
Qui liber in pluteos, blattis cinerique relictos,
Si modo sit praeli sanguine tinctus, abit;
Accedat calamo scriptus, reverenter habetur, 5
Involat et veterum scrinia summa Patrum.
Dicat Apollo modum; Pueros infundere libro
Nempe vetustatem canitiemque novo.
Nil mirum, medico pueros de semine natos,
Haec nova fata libra posse dedisse novo. 10
Si veterem faciunt pueri, qui nuperus, Annon
Ipse Pater Iuvenem me dabit arte senem?
Hei miseris senibus! nos vertit dura senectus
Omnes in pueros, neminem at in Iuvenem.
Hoc tibi servasti praestandum, Antique Dierum, 15
Quo viso, et vivit, et juvenescit Adam.
Interea, infirmae fallamus taedia vitae,
Libris, et Coelorum aemulâ amicitiâ.
Hos inter, qui a te mihi redditus iste libellus,
Non mihi tam charus, tam meus, ante fuit._ 20
<Epigramma>
_Transiit in Sequanam Moenus; Victoris in aedes;
Et Francofurtum, te revehente, meat._
[DE LIBRO &c. _1635-69_ _among certain prose letters in Latin
and English_
_Title_:--mutuaretur Impresso;] mutuaretur, Impresso,
_1635-69_
frustatim] frustratim _1635-69_
lacerato;] lacerato, _1635-69_]
[2 _manu, sunt_] _manu sunt, 1635-69_]
[4 _abit;_] _abit, 1635-69_]
[<Epigramma> _Ed_: _in old edd. these lines are 3 and 4 of
above poem_. _See note_]
[1 _aedes_;] _aedes, 1635-69_]
Amicissimo, & meritissimo BEN. JONSON.
In Vulponem.
_Qvod arte ausus es hic tuâ, Poeta,
Si auderent hominum Deique juris
Consulti, veteres sequi aemularierque,
O omnes saperemus ad salutem.
His sed sunt veteres araneosi; 5
Tam nemo veterum est sequutor, ut tu
Illos quod sequeris novator audis.
Fac tamen quod agis; tuique primâ
Libri canitie induantur horâ:
Nam chartis pueritia est neganda, 10
Nascanturque senes, oportet, illi
Libri, queis dare vis perennitatem.
Priscis, ingenium facit, laborque
Te parem; hos superes, ut et futuros,
Ex nostrâ vitiositate sumas, 15
Quâ priscos superamus, et futuros._
[Amicissimo _&c._ _in sheets added 1650: prefixed originally
to Quarto edition of Jonson's Volpone. 1607, later to Folio
edition of The Workes of Beniamin Jonson. 1616., when In
Vulponem was added: in both signed I.D._]
[11 Nascanturque _1607_: Nascunturque _1616_, _1650-69_]
To M^r _George Herbert_, with one of my
Seal(s), of the Anchor and Christ.
_Qvi prius assuetus Serpentum fasce Tabellas
Signare, (haec nostrae symbola parva Domus)
Adscitus domui Domini, patrioque relicto
Stemmate, nanciscor stemmata jure nova.
Hinc mihi Crux primo quae fronti impressa lavacro, 5
Finibus extensis, anchora facta patet.
Anchorae in effigiem Crux tandem desinit ipsam,
Anchora fit tandem Crux tolerata diu.
Hoc tamen ut fiat, Christo vegetatur ab ipso
Crux, et ab Affixo, est Anchora facta, Iesu. 10
Nec Natalitiis penitus serpentibus orbor,
Non ita dat Deus, ut auferat ante data.
Quâ sapiens, Dos est; Quâ terram lambit et ambit,
Pestis; At in nostra fit Medicina Cruce,
Serpens; fixa Cruci si sit Natura; Crucique 15
A fixo, nobis, Gratia tota fluat.
Omnia cum Crux sint, Crux Anchora facta, sigillum
Non tam dicendum hoc quam Catechismus erit.
Mitto nec exigua, exiguâ sub imagine, dona,
Pignora amicitiae, et munera; Vota, preces. 20
Plura tibi accumulet, sanctus cognominis, Ille
Regia qui flavo Dona sigillat Equo._
[To M^r George Herbert _&c._ _1650-69_, _in sheets added 1650:
two and a half lines in Walton's Life of Donne (1658): for
Herbert's reply see note Title:_--sent him with one _Walton_
(1670) Seal, _1650-69:_ Seales _Walton_]
[1 fasce] falce _Walton_]
[5 _fronti_] _fronte 1650-69_]
[17 _facta,_] _fixa,_ _1650-69_]
[19 Mitto] Mitto, _1650-69_]
A Sheafe of Snakes used heretofore to be
My Seal, The Crest of our poore Family.
Adopted in Gods Family, and so
Our old Coat lost, unto new armes I go.
The Crosse (my seal at Baptism) spred below, 5
Does, by that form, into an Anchor grow.
Crosses grow Anchors; Bear, as thou shouldst do
Thy Crosse, and that Crosse grows an Anchor too.
But he that makes our Crosses Anchors thus,
Is Christ, who there is crucifi'd for us. 10
Yet may I, with this, my first Serpents hold,
God gives new blessings, and yet leaves the old;
The Serpent, may, as wise, my pattern be;
My poison, as he feeds on dust, that's me.
And as he rounds the Earth to murder sure, 15
My death he is, but on the Crosse, my cure.
Crucifie nature then, and then implore
All Grace from him, crucified there before;
When all is Crosse, and that Crosse Anchor grown,
This Seal's a Catechism, not a Seal alone. 20
Under that little Seal great gifts I send,
<Wishes,> and prayers, pawns, and fruits of a friend.
And may that Saint which rides in our great Seal,
To you, who bear his name, great bounties deal.
[A sheafe _&c._] _1650-69 and in Walton's_ Life of Donne
(1658), _in all of which and in all subsequent editions except
Grolier the first two lines are printed as a title, Walton
bracketing them_:--
A sheafe of Snakes used heretofore to be
_my Seal, The Crest of our poore Family_.
]
[4 Our ... unto] My ... into _Walton_]
[5 at] in _Walton_]
[11 with this I may _Walton_]
[15 to murder sure,] to murder, sure _Walton_]
[16 He is my death; _Walton_]
[22 Wishes, _Ed_: Works, _1650-69_: Both works _Walton_: Lat.
_vota_]
[23-4
Oh may that Saint that rides on our great Seal,
To you that bear his name large bounty deal.
_Walton_.
]
Translated out of _Gazæus_, _Vota Amico facta_. _fol._ 160.
God grant thee thine own wish, and grant thee mine,
Thou, who dost, best friend, in best things outshine;
May thy soul, ever chearfull, nere know cares,
Nor thy life, ever lively, know gray haires.
Nor thy hand, ever open, know base holds, 5
Nor thy purse, ever plump, know pleits, or folds.
Nor thy tongue, ever true, know a false thing,
Nor thy word, ever mild, know quarrelling.
Nor thy works, ever equall, know disguise,
Nor thy fame, ever pure, know contumelies. 10
Nor thy prayers, know low objects, still Divine;
God grant thee thine own wish, and grant thee mine.
Translated _&c._] _1650-69_, _in sheets added 1650_: _for
original see note_]