That mortal whom a deity's favour shields,
No worldly force is able to confound;
He may fecurely walk through danger's fields;
Times and occafions are to ferve him bound.
O all preparing providence divine!
In thy large book what fecrets are enroll'd?
What fundry help doth thy great pow'r affign,
To prop the courfe which thou intend it to hold?
What mortal fenfe is able to define
Thy myflerys, thy counfels manyfold ?
It is thy wisdom ftrangely that extends
Obfcure proceedings to apparent ends.
Fight not alone with forces; providence
Directs and tutors ftrength: elfe elephants
And barbed horfes might as well prevail,
As the most fubtil ftratagems of war.
John Ford's Perkin Warbeck.
Wisdom and virtue be
The only deftinies fet for a man to follow.
The heav'nly pow'rs are to be reverenc'd,
Not fearch'd into; their mercies rather be
By humble prayers to be fought, than their
Hidden councils by curiofity.
Who is it, that will doubt
The care of heaven; or think th' immortal
Pow'rs are flow, caufe they take the priviledge
To chufe their own time, when they will fend their
Bleffings down?
Sir W. Davenant's Fair Favourite.
PRUDENCE.
She's a majestick ruler, and commands
Ev'n with the terror of her awful brow.
As in a throng, fedition being rais'd,
Th' ignoble multitude inflam'd with madness,
Firebrands and ftones fly; fury fhews them weapons:
'Till spying fome grave man, honour'd for wisdom,
They ftraight are filent, and erect their ears;
Whilst he with his fage council doth affwage
Their minds diforder, and appease their rage:
So prudence, when rebellious appetites
Have rais'd temptations, with their batteries
Affaulting reafon, then doth interpose,
And keep it fafe. Th' attempts of fenfe are weak,
If their vain forces wisdom deign to break.
Nabbs's Microcofmus,
Prudence, thou virtue of the mind, by which
We do confult of all that's good or evil,
Conducing to felicity; direct
My thoughts and actions by the rules of reafon:
Teach me contempt of all inferior vanities;
Pride, in a marble portal gilded o'er,
Affyrian carpets, chairs of ivory,
The luxury of a ftupendous houfe,
Garments perfum'd, gems valu'd not for use,
But needlefs ornament: a fumptuous table,
And all the baits of fenfe. A vulgar eye
Sees not the dangers which beneath them lie.
When he does found his happiness, forecafts
Mischiefs, that fate had never practis'd yet;
Which if they happen, if they prove too true,
They meet, not overtake him; and fo find
A fcorn, because a preparation.
Gomerfail's Lodovick Sforza, Look forward what's to come, and back what's past; Thy life will be with praife and prudence grac'd: What lofs or gain may follow, thou may'st guess; Thou then wilt be fecure of the fuccefs.
PUNISHMENT
Ye princes all, and rulers ev'ry one,
In punishment, beware of hatred's ire. Before
you fcourge, take heed; look well thereon: In wrath's ill will, if malice kindle fire,
Your hearts will burn in fuch a hot defire,
That in those flames, the fmoke fhall dim your fight,
Ye fhall forget to join your juftice right.
You should not judge, till things be well difcern'd;
Your charge is ftill to maintain upright laws:
In confcience rules ye fhould be throughly learn'd,
Where clemency bids wrath and rafhnefs paufe;
And further faith, ftrike not without a caufe:
And when ye fmite, do it for juftice fake;
Then in good part, each man your fcourge will take.
Churchyard in the Mirror for Magiftrates.
Unpunifh'd 'fcape for heinous crime fome one;
But unaveng'd in mind or body, none.
For those that were, it is not fquare to take
On thofe that are, revenge: crimes, like to lands,
Yet muft we not put the ftrong law on him;
He's lov'd of the distracted multitude,
Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes:
And where 'tis fo, th' offendor's fcourge is weigh'd,
Reck'ning it better, fince his end is meant,
And must be wrought, at once to rid it clear,
And put it to the fortune of th' event,
Than by long doing to be long in fear: When in fuch courfes of high punishment, The deed and the attempt like danger bear.
Let the fault's punishment be deriv'd from thence.
Middleton's Game at Chefs.
Sentence of death when it is mildly spoke,
Half promises life; but when your doom you mix
With fuch rough threats, what is't but twice to kill?
Heywood's Royal King.
He should not dare to kill, that dares not die ;
"Tis needy mischief, and he's bafely bent,
That dares do ill, yet fears the punishment.
W. Rowley's All's Loft by Luft.
Nor cuftom, nor example, nor vast numbers
Of fuch as do offend, make lefs the fin;
For each particular crime a ftrict account
Will be exacted; and that comfort which
The damn'd pretend, follows in mifery,
Takes nothing from their torments: ev'ry one
Muft fuffer in himself, the measure of
His wickedness.
The land wants fuch
As dare with rigour execute her laws;
Her fefter'd members must be lanc'd and tented`:
He's a bad furgeon that for pity spares
The part corrupted, 'till the gangrene spread,
And all the body perish: he that's merciful
Unto the bad, is cruel to the good,
The pillory must cure the ear's disease ;
'The ftocks the foot's offences; let the back
Bear her own fin, and her rank blood purge forth
By the phlebotomy of a whipping post:
And yet the fecret and purfe-punishment
Is held the wifer course; becaufe at once
It helps the virtuous, and corrects the vicious.
Let not the fword of juftice fleep, and ruft
Within her velvet fheath; preferve her edge,
And keep it fharp with cutting; ufe must whet her:
'Tame mercy is the breast that fuckles vice, Till Hydra-like fhe multiply her heads.
Randolph's Mufes Looking-glass.
-Think not of pardon, fir.
Rigour and mercy us'd in ftates uncertainly
And in ill times, look not like th' effects
Of virtue, but neceffity: nor will
They thank your goodness, but your fears?
2. Revenge in princes fhould be ftill imperfect;
It is then handsomest, when the king comes to
Reduce, not ruin-
1. Who puts but on the face of punishing,
And only gently cuts, but prunes rebellion;
He makes that flourish, that he wou'd destroy.
Who wou'd not be a rebel, when the hopes
Are vaft, the fears but small ?
2. Why, I wou'd not ;
Nor you, my lord, nor you, nor any here.
Fear keeps low fpirits only in, the brave
Do get above it, when they do refolve.
Such punishments in infancy of war
Make men more defp'rate; not the more yielding.
The common people are a kind of flies;
They're caught with honey, not with wormwood, fir.
Severity exafperates the ftirr'd humour;
And ftates diftempers turn into diseases.
Suckling's Brennoralt. The laws are finfully contriv'd. Justice Should weigh the prefent crime, not future Inference on deeds; but now they cheapen Blood: 'tis fpilt
To punish the example, not the guilt.
Sir W. Davenant's Just Italian.
Do not, if one but lightly thee offend,
The punishment beyond the crime extend;
Or after warning the offence forget;
So God himself our failings did remit.
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