Sir John Davies

“ God cast His eyes from Heauen on all mankinde,
And lookt if Hee one righteous man could finde;
But all were wicked, all from God were gone,
Not one did good, in all the world, not one;
Their throat an open graue, their flattering tongue
And lyinge lips, like stinge of wasps haue stung.
With bitter cursing, they their mouthes doe fill;
Their feet are swift the guiltles blood to spill;
[Pg 142] Sad, wretched mischeife, in their wayes doth lye
But for the wayes of peace they passe them by;
Noe feare of God haue they before their eyes,
Nor knowledge, while these mischeifes they devise ”

“ That Nation hath true happines and blisse,
Whose God and Lord, the Lord Jehouah is;
Downe from the highest heauen the Lord did looke,
And of all men a full suruey Hee tooke;
From Heauen aboue the Lord did cast His eye,
And all mens wayes and wanderings did espie.
[Pg 172] Hee formèd all their hearts, and understands
Their thoughts, their words, and workes of all their hands.
The greatest armies cannot saue a Kinge,
Nor strength unto a stronge man safety bringe;
His trust is vaine who trusteth in his horse,
And seekes deliuerance by soe small a force ”

“ I am lighted into the best company of the world, a company of the fairest Ladyes that euer I saw. Come Ladies try your fortunes, and if any light upon an unfortunate Blanke, let her thinke that Fortune doth but mock her in these trifles, and meanes to pleasure her in greater matters. ”

“ For God's owne hand is his support and stay;
Though I am ould, the just man or his seed
I neuer sawe forsaken or in need;
Hee doth giue daily almes, and frankly lend,
Which makes his offspringe blessèd in the end;
Shun to doe ill, bee euer doinge well,
And euermore thou shalt in safety dwell;
The Lord who loueth right, forsaketh neuer,
Those that are His, but keepeth them for euer;
His children Hee correcteth now and then,
But roots out quite the race of wicked men.
As long as Heauen shall moue and Earth shall stand,
The righteous men inherit shall the Land ”

“ The just shall rule them when the sunne doth rise,
With them their pride and beauty buried lies;
But God shall from Deathe's power my soule deliuer,
When Hee shall take it to Himselfe for euer.
Then let not feare and enuy thee surprize,
When thou seest men in wealth and honnour rise,
For to their graues they naught away shall beare,
Nor shall their glory waite vpon them there;
Yet they themselues thought happie all their dayes,
For him who helps himselfe others will praise:
As his forefathers all are gon before,
Soe shall hee die and see the light noe more. ”

“ Rich become poore, and lyons hungrie bee,
But such as feare the Lord noe want shall see.
Come then yee children, listen and giue eare,
And I will teach you this religious feare:
What man art thou that longest long to liue,
And wouldst that God to thee good dayes should giue;
Refraine thy tongue from speaking ill the while,
And from thy lipps let there proceed noe guile;
Doe that is good, decline from that is ill,
Seeke peace with God and men, and hould it still.
Upon good men God casts a gentle eye,
And bends a gentle eare unto their crye. ”

“ Their feet are caught in their owne proper synne;
Thy judgement Lord, Thou hast thereby declar'd
When wicked men in their owne workes are snar'd:
Hell is a place for impious men assign'd
And such as doe cast God out of their minde;
[Pg 137] But poore men shall not bee forgotten euer
Nor meeke mens' patience, if they doe perseuer.
Rise Lord! and let [not] [186] man aboue Thee rise
And judge the Infidel with angrie eyes:
Strike them with feare, that, though they know not Thee,
Yet they may know that mortall men they bee.
PSALM X.
Why standest Thou O Lord! ”

“ As it hath power all wandring eyes to stay:
To move dombe tongues to speake, lame hands to write,
Stayde thoughts to run, hard harts to melt a way:
Yet painters' can of this draw every line
And every wittles person that hath eyes,
Can se [e] and judg and sweare it is divine:
For in these outwarde formes all fooles are wise. ”

“ Hee shall reward mee as my deeds bee right,
And hands bee cleane: soe shall He mee requite.
Unto the good Thou wilt Thy goodnes show,
And righteous men Thy righteousnes shall know;
The pure of heart shall Thee behold most pure
But froward men Thy curses shall endure;
Them will God raise, which under pressures ly,
And proud men humble which doe looke soe high;
Hee shall sett up for mee a candle bright,
My God shall turne my darkness vnto light.
Through Thee, an host of men, I conquere shall,
And with Thy helpe transcend the highest wal ”

“ Euen from good words, which was to mee a paine:
My heart was hott: while I such doubts did cast,
The fire brake out, and thus I spake at last:
'Lord of my life reueale to mee the end,
The period showe, to which my dayes doe tend'!
My life is but the measure of a spann,
Nought as to Thee, so vaine a thinge is man:
Who dreaminge walks, and toyles for wealth in vaine,
And doth not know to whome it shall remaine. ”

“ Forgett thy father's house and Cuntry deare.
Soe shall the Kinge take pleasure in thy beautie;
Hee is thy Lord, yield Him both loue and duty.
The Tyrian virgins shall bringe guifts to thee,
And merchants rich, thy suppliants shall bee.
The daughter of the Kinge is rich without,
Her gownes embroidered all with gould about;
And yet within, shee is more glorious farr,
The jewells of her minde more precious are. ”

“ My soule with all thy powers thy Maker praise;
Forget not all His benefits to thee,
Who pardons all thy sinnes, and doth thee rayse
When thou art fal'n through any infirmitie:
Who doth thee saue from mischeifs that would kill thee,
And crowneth thee with mercies euer more.
And with the best of thinges doth feed and fill thee,
And egle-like thy youth and strength restore.
[Pg 206] When men oppressèd doe to Him appeale,
Hee righteth euery one against his foe;
Hee vnto Moses did His lawes reueale,
And vnto Jacob's eare His workes did show.
Hee is more full of grace then wee of sinne ”

“ No passion troubles her cleare vertues streame.
Yet if I would be lou'd, lou'd would I be,
Like her whose vertue in the bay is seene:
Loue to wife fades with satietie,
Where loue neuer enioyed is euer greene.
Widow. Then whats a virgin but a fruitlesse bay?
Maid. And whats a widdow but a rose-lesse bryer?
And what are wiues, but woodbinds which decay
The stately Oakes by which themselues aspire?
And what is marriage but a tedious yoke?
Widow. And whats virginitie but sweete selfe-loue?
Wife. And whats a widdow but an axell broke,
Whose one part failing, neither part can mooue? ”

“ Sir Egerton favours their Donne authorship simply because "they seem rather to partake of the conceits of Donne than of the simple vigour of Davies" but he forgot the 'Hymnes to Astræa' and 'Orchestra'; which are in the same vein. It is to be regretted that Sir Nicholas Harris Nicolas modernized the text in his reprint of the 'Rhapsody': (2 vols. crown 8vo. 1826, Pickering) : and perhaps equally so, that Mr. Collier in his careful and beautiful private one, has selected the first incomplete edition. ”

“ Hee, like a plant which by a streame doth growe,
His timely fruite shall in due season showe;
Whose leafe shall not decay but flourish euer,
And all thinges prosper which hee doth endeauour
But with th' vngodly it shall not bee soe,
But as the dust, which as the whirlewindes to and fro
Uppon the surface of the earth doth driue,
They shall a restless life and fruitles liue;
[Pg 128] Nor shall they stand vpright when they are tride,
Nor in the assembly of the just abide:
But in his way God doth the good man cherish,
When wicked men in their bad way shall perish. ”

“ And finde him when he most secure doth goe;
Thine enimies shall (when kindled is Thine ire)
As in a furnace be consumed with fire;
Their ofspringe from the Earth shall rotted bee,
Their second generation non shall see:
For against Thee and Thine their councell was,
Yet could not bringe their wicked plott to passe,
But turn'd their backes and put themselues to chase,
When Thou hadst bent Thy bowe against their face;
Bee pleased in Thine owne strength Thyselfe to raise,
Soe shall wee Lord, Thy power and mercie praise.
PSALM XXII.
My God! ”

“ How long shall this bee Lord? my soule withdraw
From these men's wrongs, and from the lyon's jaw:
Soe in Thy Church shall I my thankes proclaime,
And in our Great Assembly praise Thy name;
Let not my foes trihumph [218] on mee againe,
Nor with their mockinge eyes shew their disdaine;
They meet and parte, but peace they doe not seeke
But to supplant the peaceable and meeke;
They gape and drawe their mouthes in scornefull wise,
And cry, fie, fie, wee sawe it with our eyes.
But Thou their deed (O Lord!) dost alsoe see;
Then bee not silent soe, nor farr from mee. ”

“ And with such life they are sett forth in it
as still methinkes yt which I read I see.
But this booke's Mrs. is a liveing booke,
Which hath indeed those vertues in her mynde,
And in whose face though envey's selfe do looke,
Even envye's eye shall all those beautyes fynd.
Onely ye passions y are printed here,
In her calme thoughts can no impression make:
She will not love, nor hate, nor hope, nor feare,
Though others seeke theise passions for her sake.
So in ye sonne, some say there is no heate
though his reflecting beames doe fire begett. ”

“ Thy noble mercirs saue all liueinge thinges,
The sonnes of men creepe underneath Thy winges:
[Pg 178] With Thy great plenty they are fedd at will,
And of Thy pleasure's streame they drinke their fill;
For euen the well of life remaines with Thee,
And in Thy glorious light wee light shall see;
To them that know Thee, Lord, bee loveinge still,
And just to them whose heart intends noe ill;
Let not the foot of pride tread on my Crowne
Nor the hand of the vngodly cast mee downe:
False are the wicked in their slippery wayes,
And haue no power againe themselues to raise. ”

“ Set them in slipperie wayes, and darke withall,
And let God's Angell smite them as they fall;
For they have spred a nett and dig'd a pitt,
Euen without cause to catch my soule in it:
But in that pitt let them fall vnawares,
And bee entangled in their proper snares;
But thou my soule, whom God [215] thus guides from ill,
Rejoyce in Him, and His saluation still;
My bones shall say, Lord who is like to Thee?
Who poore weake men from their strong foe dost free:
False witnesses arose with oathes untrue,
And chargèd mee with things I neuer knew ”

“ Euen him whome God hath made a corner-stone
They haue cast downe; but what hath Hee misdone?
God in His holy temple doth remaine,
The heauen of Heauens: where Hee doth sitt and raigne.
Upon the poore He casteth downe His eye,
The sonnes of Men He doth discerne and trie;
The just and righteous men Hee doth approue,
But hateth synners which their sinnes doe loue;
On them He rayneth snares, brimstone and fire,
This is their cup, their wages, and their hire;
The righteous God loues him whose way is right,
And on the just His gracious eye doth light.
PSALM XII.
Helpe Lord! ”

“ Sonnes, which in sundry Prouinces shall raigne.
Thee Lord, will I remember, all my dayes,
And all the world shall giue Thee endlesse praise.
PSALM XLVI.
God is our hope and strength, which neuer failes;
Our present helpe, when mischeife vs assailes.
[Pg 195] Though the earth remouèd, and the mountaines were
Amid the Ocean cast, wee would not feare.
Though raginge seas a dreadfull noise doe make,
Thou [gh] floodes and tempestes [roaring,] hills doe shake,
There is a streame, which though it bee not great,
Makes glad God's Cittie, and His holy seate. ”

“ I have all this day entertayned the Sunn, which, you knowe, is a great and glorious Guest; hee's but euen now gone downe yonder hill; and now he is gone, methinks, if Cinthia her selfe would come in his place, the place that contaynde him should not be to little to receave her.
T. You say true, and I like your comparison; for the Guest that wee are to entertaine doth fill all places with her divine vertues, as the Sunn fills the World with the light of his beames. But say, poore Place, in what manner didst thou entertaine the Sunn? ”

“ O turne to mee the brightnes of Thy face,
And saue mee through Thy mercy and Thy grace;
Make not mee blush which did invoke Thy name,
But put my foes to silence and to shame;
And let the lipps bee dumbe which vtter lyes
Against the righteous in spightfull-wise.
O what blessings, dost Thou keepe in store
For them that feare and loue Thee euermore;
[Pg 169] Thou shalt protect them from the great men's pride,
And in Thy Tent from stormes of tongues them hide.
Blest bee the Lord Whose mercies manifold
Doe keepe mee safer then the strongest hold ”

“ And bound it fast in chaines of restlesse loue:
Requires it out of bondage to depart,
Yet is she sure from her it cannot moue.
Draw backe (said she) your helpeless loue from me,
Your worth requires a farre more worthy place:
Vnto your suite though I cannot agree,
Full many will it louingly embrace.
It may be so (my deere) but as the Sunne,
When it appeares doth make the starres to vanish!
[Pg 106] So when your selfe into my thoughts do runne,
All others quite out of my heart you banish.
The beames of your perfections shine so bright,
That straight-way they dispell all other light. ”