Englished.
Sequitur post nubila Phoebus.
Et prodesse solent, & delecture Poetae.
Printed for M. Wright at the Kings head in the Old Bayley. 1662
Donne's SATYR. CONTAINING
- 1. A short Map of mundane Vanity
- 2. A Cabinet of Merry Conceits.
- 3. Certain pleasant Propositions, and Questions, with their merry Solutions and Answers.
Being very Useful, Pleasant, and Delightful to all; and Offensive to none.
By Jo. Donne.
London, Printed by R. W. for M. Wright, at the Kings Head in the Old-Bailey, 1662.
To the Right Worshipful, and his very good Friend, Sir Francis Edwards Baronet, and to his truly vertuous Mother, the right Worshipful Lady, Sicely Edwards of Shrewsbury, in the County of Salop, Widdow, the Author entirely wisheth the full accomplishment of their choicest desires both here, and hereafter.
AS after sickness, health; after restraint, liberty; after sorrows, solace; after pain, pleasure; after showres, sunshine; after wars, peace; and after melancholly, mirth is the more musical, sweet, acceptable, delightful, and pleasant to the full [Page] possessour and free enjoyer thereof; so in regard of the many and manifold pressures, oppressions, plunderings, exilements, imprisonments, and inutterable injuries and wrongs many millions have for these many years of late undoubtedly endured, if they were right Royalists; and wherein your Right Worshipfull Father Sir Thomas Edwards late deceased (I am confident) did not escape scotfree: I have presumed to present to your favourable Censure, A Cabinet of merry Conceits, which I penn'd at some interims of leasure for mine own private recreation then, but for yours now; wishing that you may be as pleasant in the perusing of them, as I was in the [Page] composing of them. Wherein I have pretermitted divine matters, for, non ludendum cum sanctis; remembring that the Fly playing with the candle had his wings clipt for his over boldness: nor have I intermeddled with State Affairs, for, quae supra nos, nihil ad nos; not forgetting Aesops Wolf, who prying into the Lions den, had his skin pull'd o're his ears for his presumption. Nor have I pointed at any particular persons by (Critick-like) traducing his good name; or (Cinick-like) carping at his carriage and conditions; for I never lik'd of such an one as Horace hints at,
Since this late, though long desir'd thrice happy Alteration, far beyond the expectation of humane wit, (for therein was digitus Dei, the visible power of the invisible Divine Providence perspicuously manifested to all the world) very many, and those great ones too, who though they had the cream of the former times, have clean turn'd Cat in pan, and would have all, (if it might be) they finde such sweetness in it. Indeed it was long since a remarkable Machiavilian Maxime, that qui nescit dissimulare, nescit vivere, (i. e.) who cannot [Page] dissemble cannot live; which though it were a Heathenish speech, yet was never put more in practice then in these Phanatick times; for he that cannot metamorphose his shape like Proteus, vary his hiew like the Polypus, change his colour like the Cameleon, bear two faces under a hood like Janus, comply with every Planet like Mercury, vary and change like the Moon constantly, turn with the Weathercock, adulate with Aristippus, equivocate with Synon, dissemble with Gnatho, hunt with the Hound, and hold with the Hare, carry fire in the one hand, and water in the other; and in a word, who cannot temporize at all times, with all persons, and in all [Page] places, that man knows not how to look or live in this hypocritical, perverse, and crooked Generation. I remember a Jeast, as I heard father'd upon Dr. Pearn a Cantabrigian, in the time of Hen. 8. in whose Reign there was much chopping and changing in matters of Religion, and still this Dr. temporiz'd and turn'd with them at a hairs breadth; who being a notable bone Companion, and invited to a great Feast, after dinner was ended, he very pleasantly cull'd out a Gentlewoman there to dance with him, whom after a little tracing he highly applauded for her exquisite dancing; (as indeed she merited no less) she thanking him for her undeserved [Page] commendations, retorts this jear upon him; Truly Mr. Dr. I must ingeniously confess I can dance indifferent well, but I cannot turn so well as you: whereat the whole company then present laughed very heartily. Another Gentleman in an eminent Office at Court in the same K. Henry's Reign, kept ever a correspondency with the times, let them turn how they would he weigh'd not, when as others that had a more tender conscience were displac'd and lost all; which some well observing, ask'd him how he could hold in such difficult times as those were: Pish, (quoth he) ye are all fools, ego ex salice fio, non ex quercu; I am made of [Page] the tractable and pliable Willow, and not of the inflexible and stubborn Oak. Wherein the loyal Royallists rightly resembles the Oak; for as the well-rooted Oak will not be easily overturn'd by any violent storm, or furious tempest whatsoever; so the well gounded Royallist will not be moved, much less be carried away with every whisling winde of any vain, erroneous, and false doctrine, but like Aristotles Quadratus, in utrumque paratus, come weal or woe, prosperity or povery, he continues still the same. The Oak was formerly by the Heathens dedicated to Jupiter, and so termed Jovis arbor; but we may now more properly call it, not Jovis, [Page] but Jehovae arbor, not Joves, but Jehovahs tree; for the Royall Oake, by the special Divine Providence proved a most happy Asylum, and sure succour and refuge to his most Sacred Majesty, when his innocent integrity was most eagerly pursued after by those raging and ravening, blood-seeking and blood-sucking Wolves, (palliated in fair and specious sheeps cloathing) to be utterly devoured by them. Now right Worshipful, in that I well know, that I shall have some mocking Momus, carping Zoilus, and snarling Cynick (whereof no age is free) censoriously to traduce, and despitefully to writhe and wrest the sense and meaning os some of these [Page] my harmless Lines; I tender these my pleasing pains to your Worship as my Mecaenas, to secure and shrewd them under the tutelary Patronage of your Worships protection, as under Achilles seven-fold Buckler, from the inevitable darts of calumniating tongues. In an assured Confidence whereof, I am
A SHORT MAP OF Mundane Vanity.
1. Of Mundane Vanity.
2. Of the World.
3. Of the same.
4. Another of the same.
5. Another of the same.
6. Of man the little World.
7. Of youthful Love.
8. Of Lust.
9. Of Ebriety.
10. Of Avarice.
11. Of Frugality.
12. Of Prodigality.
13. Of Gluttony.
14. Of Hypocrisie.
15. Of Astrology.
16. Of Theology, or Divinity.
17. Of the Law.
18. Of Physick.
19. Of Humane Knowledge.
20. Of Learning.
21. Of High Birth.
22. Of Beauty.
23. Of Honour.
24. Of Pleasure.
25. Of Pride.
26. Of Ambition.
27. Of Applause.
28. Of Marriage.
29. Of Riches.
30. Of Poverty.
31. Of Venery.
Of the four Ages of Man.
32. 1. Of Infancy.
33. 2. Of Youth.
34. 3. Of Manhood.
35. 4. Of Old Age.
36. Of Mans Life.
37. Another of the same, and of the brevity thereof.
38. Of Man.
39. Of Death.
For these Verses (which were sent to a Gentleman and miscarried) I lay long time in Prison in Marshal Hoptons House, the Year afore the last great Sickness in Shrewshury. Anno Dom. [...]
Place this between folio 14, & 15.
A CABINET OF Merry Conceits.
1. Of the Sun. Sit mihi Sol solus.
2. Of the Sun Tavern.
3. Of the Moon Inne or Tavern, and of the Moon in the Eclipse.
4. Of Charles Wayne.
5. Of Galaxia, via lactea, or the milky way in Heaven.
6. Of Ignis fatuus, commonly call'd, VVill of the Wisp.
7. Of certain Constellations in Heaven.
8. Of a falling Meteor.
9. Of the Shadow of the Gnomon of a Dial.
10. Of the World turn'd round.
11. A dark Riddle propos'd to blinde Homer by some Fisher-men.
12. Of a Cuckold.
13. Another of the same.
14. Of two Inns, the Kings-Head, and the Crown.
15. Of the Watch.
16. Of two fellow Travellers.
17. Of a drunken Fidler.
18. Of two great Travellers, the one Welch, and the other English.
Shentilemen,
19. Of Thieves robbing a poor House:
20. Of the Dog in the Manger.
21. Of angry Morris.
22. Of a certain uncertain Drunkard.
23. Of Marriners who cast o're Ship-board a Fryar, to whom they were confessed.
24. Of one not able Nos'd.
25. Of a long Nos'd Fellow.
26. Of a Wry-Nos'd Fellow.
27. Of a foul Gentlewoman.
28. Of an old Gown.
29. Of a lusty Lad, and a bonny Lass.
30. Of a merry Bachelor.
31. Of a bad Half-Crown.
32. Of two stealers of Hay by night.
33. Of a Neck of Muttor.
34. Of a Horse-shooe found.
35. Of a Beardless old man.
36. Of Conjugal Discord.
37. Of Wars.
38. Of one that sent a half Cheese to his Son at Oxford.
39. Of divers sorts of bad Cheese.
40. Of Wine mixt with Water.
41. Of a Watch.
42. Of Suspicion.
43. Against Astrologers.
44. Of Eschines the Poet, who calculated his own Nativity Inevitabile Fatum.
45. Of Harm watch, harm catch.
46. Of a Picture well drawn.
47. Another of the same.
48. Of a Picture ill drawn.
49. Of two remarkable Female Murtherers.
50. Of Herod and Herodias.
51. Against Wives.
[...] Another aganst against the same.
53. Of one that had a bad Wife, past comparison.
54. Against men twice married.
55. Of a Widdowers Resolve.
56. Against drinking Healths.
57. A good Resolve for Health.
58. Another of the same.
59. The dangerous Gradation of a Drunkards Cup.
60. How Roaring first came up in fashion.
61. A Jeer on a Servant.
62. A good decorum to be observ'd in drinking of Sack.
63. Of Bibulus, an incurable Drunkard.
64. Of the Signes of Bacchus and Venus.
65. Of a Girle who feigned a Rape.
66. Of Mars and Venus.
67. Of a Cuckold.
68. Of Hector dying.
69. Of Zisca dying.
70. Of a Dwarf.
71. Another of the same.
72. Of Mizaldus.
73. Of a foul Doudy.
74. Another.
75. Of a most exquisite lovely Lady.
76. Of the City of London.
77. Of a Wedding Ring.
78. Of the same. The Bride.
79. Of one who married three Wives, and never a good one.
80. Of a very light one.
81. Of lavish Largus.
82. Of ones Portraicture exquisitely drawn.
83. Of Homers Iliads.
84. Of Socrates, and his wife Zantippe.
85 Of two hot Fellows, at a cold Custard.
86. Of two Tallow Chandlers.
87. Of a Black Smith.
88. Of four sorts of our gracious King Charles the Seconds Friends.
89. Of Fucus.
90. Of the Fox sore sick, and the Lion.
91. Of coy Phillis.
92. Of two Brothers, the one careful, the other careless.
93. Of two Maid-servants falling out at a Couduit.
94. Of two Night-walkers.
95 Of a large Promiser, and slow Performer.
96. Another of the same.
97. Of the uncertainty of Life.
98. Another.
99. Of two Beggars, the one blinde, the other lame.
100. Of the same otherwise.
101. Of a Blinde and Lame man that found an Oyster on the High-way.
102. Of a Bedlam.
103. Of one who lay all night on the ground.
104. Of the Fox and the Wolf.
105. Of one staying over long for Water.
106. Of Rotundo.
107. Of Sim Simpleton.
108. Of Cardinal Bellarmine. Bellarminus; quasi, Bella, arma, minae.
109. Of one Swan a Taylor.
110. Of Oliver the Great, and Mr. Peters the Apostate.
111. Of three Oxford Scholars, and an ancient Gentleman.
112. Of two Lovers, and their Sweet-heart.
113. Of a new born Babe dying.
114. Another of the same.
115. Of an old Woman.
116. Of snuffing a Lanthorn light.
117. Of a Parisite.
118. Of a short Cloak.
119. Of Bullion Pawn.
120. Of a brown Bull.
121. Of a Thief condemned to dye.
122. Of another at point of death.
123. Of another ready to dye.
124. Of a Welch man, and an English man, who were hanged together.
125. Of a loving Wife.
126. Of a thirsty Thief.
127. Of a Welchman burn'd in the hand.
128. Of a Cut-Purse.
129. Of a long strong Thief.
130. Of one would have his Wife no longer argued between the Good man, and a Neighbour.
131. Of a Chyrurgeon Doctor, and an old Woman.
132. Of a Bear-bait.
133. Of an ungrateful Debtor.
134. Of Thraso, who sold some Lands for sumptuous Apparel.
135. Of one that escap'd Shipwrack and dyed on shore.
136. Of a Trage. Comedy, entituled, Argulus and Parthenia.
137. Of a Physician and a Gold-finder.
138. Of a Doctor and a Husbandman.
139. Of a Tenement, and a House of Office scituate next together.
140. Of Open-arces or Medlers.
141. Of a disputation between Mr. Hugh Peters, and a Countrey Bumkin.
142. Of carving up of a Woodcock.
143. Of a Dish of Samsons.
144. Of a Woddower and Widdow.
145. Of one Lowrie, who alter'd her Name to Rose.
146. Of one Bull and Heifer, yoaked together in Wedlock.
147. Of the Emperour Augustus Caesar and a Countrey Fellow.
148. Of a saucy Thief.
149. Of a Debtor dying in Prison, and buried by night.
150. Of a Cuckolds Etimology.
151. Of one Master Gun, and Goodwife Merrimouth.
152. Of certain ingenious Arts, and rare Inventions of former Ages.
Certain pleasant Propositions and Questions, with their merry Solutions and Answers.
Amen.
A merry May Song for this Year of our Lord, 1662. To a pleasant Tune.
These Books (with many others) are Printed for M. Wright, at the Kings Head in the Old Bailey.
NAtural Magick, in twenty Books, wherein is set forth all the riches and delights of the Natural Sciences, by John Baptista Porta. in fol.
The Old Couple, a Comedy, by Tho. May, Esq.
The History of Dorastus and Faunia.
The seven Wise Masters.
Caroll on Job, the ninth Volume.
Astrological Institutions, being a perfect Isagogue to the whole Art of Astrology.
17. Sermons preached at the University and at Court, by Rich. Gardiner, D. D. and Chaplain to King Charles the I.
Christ alone exalted, in fourteen Sermons by Tobias Crispe, D. D. being his first Vol.
The Plain Mans path-way to Heaven, by Arthur Dent.
Mans Master-piece, or Meditations, by Sir Peter Temple, Knight.
The Saints desire, or Divine Consolation, by Sam. Richardson.
Erasmus de copia verborum.
The English Improver improved, Or, the Survey of Husbandry surveyed, by Wa. Blithe, &c.