Claia. But when night comes and she must goe To Bed, deare Nimphes, what must we doe?
Mertilla. In the Posset must be brought
And Poynts be from the Bridegroome caught.
Cloris. In Maskes, in Dances and delight,
And reare Banquets spend the night;
Then about the Roome we ramble,
Scatter Nuts and for them scramble,
Over Stooles and Tables tumble,
Never thinke of noyse nor rumble.
From "Noahs Floud," 1630.
ND now the Beasts are walking from the wood,
As well of Ravine as that chew the Cud;
The King of Beasts his fury doth suppresse
And to the Arke leades downe the Lionnesse ;
The Bull for his beloved mate doth low
And to the Arke brings on the faire ey'd Cow;
The stately Courser for his Mare doth nay
And t'wards the new Arke guideth her the way;
The wreath'd-horn'd Ram his safety doth pursue,
And to the Arke ushers the gentle Ewe;
The brisly Boare who with his snowt up plow'd
The spacious Plaines, and with his grunting lowd
Rais'd rattling Ecchoes all the Woods about,
Leaves his dark Den and, having sented out
Noahs new-built Arke, in with his Sow doth come
And stye themselves up in a little roome;
The Hart with his deare Hind; the Buck and Doe,
Leaving their wildnesse, bring the tripping Roe
Along with them; and from the Mountaine steepe
The clambring Goat and Cony, us'd to keepe
Amongst the Cleeves, together get, and they
To this great Arke find out the ready way;
Th'unweildy Elke, whose skin is of much proofe,
Throngs with the rest t'attaine this wooden roofe;
The Unicorne leaves off his pride, and closse
There sets him downe by the Rhinoceros;
The Elephant there comming to imbarque
And, as he softly getteth up the Ark,
Feeling by his great weight his body sunck,
Holds by his huge Tooth and his nervy Trunck;
The crooke-backt Camel climing to the deck
Drawes up himselfe with his long sinewy neck;
The spotted Panther, whose delicious scent
Oft causeth beasts his harbor to frequent,
But having got them once into his power
Sucketh their blood and doth their flesh devoure,
His cruelty hath quickly cast aside
And waxing courteous doth become their guide,
And brings into this universall Shop
The Ounce, the Tigar and the Antilop.
By the grim Woolfe the poore Sheepe safely lay,
And was his care which lately was his pray;
The Asse upon the Lyon leant his head,
And to the Cat the Mouse for succour fled;
The silly Hare doth cast aside her feare
And formes her selfe fast by the ugly Beare,
At whom the watchfull Dog did never barke
When he espyde him clambring up the Arke.
The Fox, got in, his subtilties hath left,
And as ashamed of his former theft
Sadly sits there, as though he did repent,
And in the Arke became an innocent.
The fine-furd Ermin, Martern, and the Cat
That voydeth Civet there together sat
By the shrewd Muncky, Babian and the Ape,
With the Hienna, much their like in shape,
Which by their kinde are ever doing ill,
Yet in the Arke sit civilly and still.
The skipping Squerrill of the Forrest free,
That leaps so nimbly betwixt tree and tree
It selfe into the Arke then nimbly cast
As twere a Ship-boy come to clime the Mast,
The Porcupine into the Arke doth make,
Nor his sharpe quils though angry once doth shake;
The sharpe-fang'd Beaver, whose wyde gaping Jaw
Cutteth downe Plants as it were with a Saw,
Whose body poysed wayeth such a masse
As though his Bowels were of Lead or Brasse,
His cruell Chops, though breathlesse, he doth close
As with the rest into the Arke he goes.
Th'uneven-leg'd Badger (whose eye-pleasing skin
The Case to many a curious thing hath bin
Since that great flood) his fortresses forsakes
Wrought in the earth, and, though but halting, makes
Up to the Arke: the Otter then that keepes
In the wild Rivers, in their Bancks and Sleeps,
And feeds on fish which under water still
He with his keld feet and keene teeth doth kill,
The other two into the Arke doth follow
Though his ill shape doth cause him but to wallow,
The Tortoyse and the Hedghog both so slow,
As in their motion scarse discern'd to goe,
Good footmen growne, contrary to their kinde,
Lest from the rest they should be left behinde ;
The rooting Mole, as to foretell the flood,
Comes out of th'earth and clambers up the wood;
The little Dormouse leaves her leaden sleepe
And with the Mole up to the Arke doth creepe,
With many others which were common then,
Their kind decayd but now unknowne to men:
For there was none that Adam ere did name
But to the Arke from every quarter came,
By two and two, the male and female beast,
From th' swift to th' slowest, from greatest to the least;
And as within the strong pale of a Parke
So were they altogether in the Arke.
And as our God the Beasts had given in charge
To take the Arke, themselves so to imbardge
He bids the Fowle. The Eagle in his flight,
Cleaving the thin Ayre, on the deck doth light,
Nor are his eyes so piercing to controule
His lowly subjects the farre lesser Fowle
But the Almighty, who all Creatures fram'd
And them by Adam in the Garden nam'd,
Had given courage fast by him to sit,
Nor at his sharpe sight are amaz'd one whit.
The Swanne by his great maker taught this good
T'avoyd the fury of the falling flood,
His Boat-like breast, his wings rais'd for his sayle,
And Ore-like feet him nothing to avayle
Against the Raine which likely was to fall
(Each drop so great that, like a ponderous Mall,
Might sinke him under water and might drowne
Him in the Deluge) with the Crane comes downe,
Whose voice the Trumpet is that throw the Ayre
Doth summon all the other to repayre
To the new Arke: when with his mooned traine
The strutting Peacock, yawling 'gainst the raine,
Flutters into the Arke, by his shrill cry
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