Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1 - Results found: 31
'Tis the Fate of Princes, that no knowledge
Comes pure to them, but passing through the eyes
And ears of other men, it takes a tincture
From every channel; and still bears a relish
Of Flattery or private ends.
By Abdall,
in The Sophy (1.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f. 33r
Those Kings whom envy or the Peoples murmur
Deters from their own purposes, deserve not,
Nor know not their own greatness;
The peoples murmur, 'tis a sulphurous vapour
Breath'd from the bowels of the basest earth;
And it may soil & blast things near itself:
But e're it reach the region Kings are plac'd in,
It vanishes to air.
By Abbas, King of Persia,
in The Sophy (3.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f. 34r
Poor Princes, how are they misled!
While they whose sacred office ‘tis to bring
Kings to obey their God, and men their King;
By those misterious links to fix and tye
Them to the footstool of the Deity;
Ev’n by these men, Religion, that should be
The curb, is made the spur to Tyranny.
They with their double key of conscience bind
The Subjects souls, & leave Kings unconfin’d;
While their poor vassals sacrifice their blouds
T’Ambition, and to Avarice, their goods:
Blind with Devotion. They themselves esteem.
Made for themselves, & all the world for them;
While heav’ns great Law, giv'n for their guide appears
Just or unjust, but as it waits on theirs:
Us'd but to give the eccho of their words,
Pow'r lo their wills; & edges to their swords.
To varnish all their errors, & secure
The ills they act, and all the world endure.
Thus by their arts Kings are the world while they
Religion, as their Mistress, seem t' obey;
Yet as their slave command her: while they seem
To rise to Heav’n, they make Heav’n stoop to them.
By Abdall,
in The Sophy (4.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f. 35r
Nor is this all, where feign'd devotion bends
The highest things to serve the lowest ends:
For if the many headed beast hath broke
Or shaken from his neck the royal yoke,
With pop'lar rage, Religion doth conspire,
Flows into that, and swells the torrent higher;
Then pow'rs first pedigree from force derives,
And calls to mind the old prerogatives
Of free-born man; and with a fancy eye
Searches the heart and soul of Majesty:
Then to a strict account, & censure brings
The actions, errors, & the end of Kings;
Treads on authority, & sacred Laws;
Yet all for God & his pretended cause,
Acting such things for him, which he in them
And which themselves in others will condemn,
And thus engag’d nor safely can retire,
Nor safely stand, but blindly bold aspire,
Forcing their hopes ev'n through despair, to climb
To new attempts; disdain the present time, The Sophy. Denham.
Grow from disdain to threats,from threats to arms;
While they (though sons of peace) still sound th' Alarms:
Thus whether Kings or people seek extreams
Still conscience and religion are the Theams:
And whatsoever change the State invades
The pulpit either forces, or perswades,
Others may give the fuell, or the fire;
But they the breath, that makes the flame, inspire.
By Morat,
in The Sophy (4.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f. 35r
O happiness of poverty! That rests
Securely on a bed of living turf,
While we with waking cares, & restless thoughts,
Lye tumbling on our bed of down, courting the blessing
Of a short minutes slumber, which the Plough-man
Shakes from him, as a ransom'd slave his fetters
By Mirza, Prince of Persia,
in The Sophy (5.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f.38r
Morpheus the humble God, that dwells
In Cottages and smoaky Cells
Hates gilded roofs, and beds of down
And though he fears no Princes frown
Flies from the circle of the crown
Come, I say, thou pow'rfull God,
And thy ledden rod
Dipt the Lethean Lake,
O're his wakefull temples shake,
Lest he should sleep & never wake.
Nature (alas) why art thou so
Obliged to thy greatest Foe?
Sleep that is thy best repast,
Yet of death it bears a taste,
And both are the same thing at last.
By Mirza, Prince of Persia,
in The Sophy (5.1),
John Denham
in Folger MS V.a.226 vol. 1, f.38r