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VISIONS

OF

THE WORLDS VANITIE.

I.

ONE day, whiles that my daylie cares did

fleepe,

My fpirit, fhaking off her earthly prison,
Began to enter into meditation deepe

Of things exceeding reach of common reafon;
Such as this age, in which all good is geafon, s
And all that humble is, and meane debaced,
Hath brought forth in her laft declining feason,
Griefe of good mindes, to fee goodneffe dif-
graced!

On which when as my thought was throghly placed,

Unto my eyes strange showes prefented were, 10 Picturing that, which I in minde embraced, That yet thofe fights empaffion me full nere. Such as they were (faire Ladie!) take in worth, That when time ferves may bring things better forth.

1. 5.

note, F. Q. vi. iv. 37. TODD.

geafon,] Rare. See the

I. 13. faire Ladie!] See alfo the conclufion of the Vifions of Petrarch. Thefe were dedicated probably to the fame Lady; to whofe name, however, we have

II.

In fummers day, when Phoebus fairly fhone, 15
I faw a Bull as white as driven fnowe,
With gilden hornes embowed like the moone,
In a fresh flowring meadow lying lowe:
Up to his eares the verdant graffe did growe,
And the gay floures did offer to be eaten ;
But he with fatnes fo did overflowe,

20

That he all wallowed in the weedes downe beaten,

Ne car'd with them his daintie lips to fweeten: Till that a Brize, a fcorned little creature, 10 Through his faire hide his angrie fting did threaten,, ta

£25

And vext fo fore, that all his goodly feature And all his plenteous pafture nought him pleafed :

So by the fmall the great is soft difeafed.

III.

Befide the fruitfull fhore of muddie Nile,
Upon a funnie banke outstretched lay,

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no other guide than the circumftance of thefe Visions immediately following, in the edition of 1591, the Muiopotmos, which is dedicated to Lady Carey; and of no feparate title to the Visions. TODD.

II. 3.

this word, F. Q. i. ix. 19. TODD.

II. 10.

embowed] See the notes on

a Brize,] A gad or horfe-fly. Cotgrave

writes it the "brizze or gadbee," See Shakipeare's Troil, and Cr. A. i. S. iii..

"The herd hath more annoyance by the brize,
"Than by the tiger." TODD..

In monftrous length, a mightie Crocodile, That, cram'd with guiltles blood and greedie pray

Of wretched people travailing that way,
Thought all things leffe than his difdainfull pride.
I faw a little Bird, cal'd Tedula,

The leaft of thoufands which on earth abide,
That forft this hideous beast to open wide
The greifly gates of his devouring hell,
And let him feede, as Nature did provide,

Upon

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his iawes, that with blacke venime fwell. Why then should greatest things the leaft difdaine,

41

Sith that fo fmall fo mightie can constraine?

IV.

The kingly bird, that beares Ioves thunder-clap, One day did fcorne the simple scarabee,

Proud of his highest service, and good hap, 45 That made all other foules his thralls to bee: The filly Flie, that no redreffe did fee,

Tedula,] I fuppofe he

III. 7. means the little bird Trochila; which, Gefner informs us, is a fmall fea-bird that picks her meat out of the teeth of the crocodile, which, being thus eased, never molefts her. Barnabie Rich, condemning the covetous and their fupporters, makes the following allufion to this bird, Faults and nothing but Faults, 1606, fol. 11. b. "And how many haue we that be of the Trochiles kinde, that doe cleanse the iawes of these devouring Serpents that eate vp the meanes that the poore haue to live by, &c." TODD.

IV. 2.
Lat. fcarabæus. TODD.

fcarabee,] Beetle.

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Spide where the Eagle built his towring neft,
And, kindling fire within the hollow tree,
Burnt up his yong ones, and himselfe distrest; 50
Ne fuffred him in anie place to rest,

But drove in Ioves owne lap his egs to lay;
Where gathering also filth him to infest,
Forft with the filth his egs to fling away:
For which when as the foule was wroth, faid

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Iove, "Lo! how the least the greatest may reprove."

V.

Toward the fea turning my troubled eye,
I faw the filh (if filh I may it cleepe)
That makes the fea before his face to flye,
And with his flaggie finnes doth feeme to sweepe
The fomie waves out of the dreadfull deep, 61
The huge Leviathan, dame Natures wonder,
Making his sport, that manie makes to weep:
A Sword-fifh fmall him from the reft did funder,
That, in his throat him pricking foftly under, 65
His wide abyffe him forced forth to spewe,
That all the fea did roare like heavens thunder,

dame Natures wonder,
Compare the Pfalmift's defcrip-
"There go the fhips; and there
haft made to take his pastime

V. 6. The huge Leviathan, Making his fport,] tion of the fea, Pf. civ. 26. is that Leviathan, whom thou therein." TODD.

V. 8. A Sword-fifh fmall &c.] This fifh has a long blade of an horny fubftance proceeding from his upper jaw, with which he kills his prey. See the Catalogue of Fishes, at the end of Oppian's Halieuticks, tranflated by Jones, Oxf. 8vo. 1722, p. 226. TODD.

And all the waves were ftain'd with filthie hewe. Hereby I learned have not to defpife Whatever thing feemes fmall in common

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An hideous Dragon, dreadfull to behold, Whose backe was arm'd against the dint of fpeare

With fhields of braffe that fhone like burnisht

golde,

And forkhed fting that death in it did beare, Strove with a Spider his unequall peare ;

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And bad defiance to his enemie.
The fubtill vermin, creeping closely neare,
Did in his drinke fhed poyfon privilie;
Which, through his entrailes fpredding diversly,
Made him to fwell, that nigh his bowells brust, 80
And him enforft to yeeld the victorie,
That did fo much in his owne greatneffe trust.
O, how great vainneffe is it then to scorne
The weake, that hath the strong so oft forlorne!

VII.

High on a hill a goodly Cedar grewe,
Of wondrous length, and ftreight proportion,
That farre abroad her daintie odours threwe;
Mongft all the daughters of proud Libanon,

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VI. 10. bruft,] Spenfer's accustomed mode of spelling burst, agreeably to the practice of our old writers. See the note on bruft, F. Q. iii. i. 48. Some modern editions read burst, TODD.

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