The Bracelet

Not that in colour it was like thy haire,For Armelets of that thou maist let me weare:Nor that thy hand it oft embrac'd and kist,For so it had that good, which oft I mist:Nor for that silly old moralitie,That as these linkes were knit, our love should bee:Mourne I that I thy seavenfold chaine have lost;Nor for the luck sake; but the bitter cost.O, shall twelve righteous Angels, which as yetNo leaven of vile soder did admit;Nor yet by any way have straid or goneFrom the first state of their Creation;Angels, which heaven commanded to provideAll things to me, and be my faithfull guide;To gaine new friends, t'appease great enemies;To comfort my soule, when I lie or rise;Shall these twelve innocents, by thy severeSentence (dread judge) my sins great burden beare?Shall they be damn'd, and in the furnace throwne,And punisht for offences not their owne?They save not me, they doe not ease my paines,When in that hell they'are burnt and tyed in chains.Were they but Crownes of France, I cared not,For, most of these, their naturall Countreys rotI think possesseth, they come here to us,So pale, so lame, so leane, so ruinous;And howsoe'r French Kings most Christian be,Their Crownes are circumcis'd most Iewishly.Or were they Spanish Stamps, still travelling,That are become as Catholique as their King,Those unlickt beare-whelps, unfil'd pistoletsThat (more than Canon shot) availes or lets;Which negligently left unrounded, lookeLike many angled figures, in the bookeOf some great Conjurer that would enforceNature, as these doe justice, from her course;Which, as the soule quickens head, feet and heart,As streames, like veines, run through th'earth's every part,Visit all Countries, and have slily madeGorgeous France, ruin'd, ragged and decay'd;Scotland, which knew no State, proud in one day:And mangled seventeen-headed Belgia.Or were it such gold as that wherewithallAlmighty Chymiques from each minerall,Having by subtle fire a soule out-pull'd;Are dirtely and desperately gull'd:I would not spit to quench the fire they'are in,For, they are guilty of much hainous Sin.But, shall my harmlesse angels perish? ShallI lose my guard, my ease, my food, my all?Much hope which they should nourish will be dead,Much of my able youth, and lustyheadWill vanish; if thou love let them alone,For thou wilt love me lesse when they are gone;And be content that some lowd squeaking CryerWell-pleas'd with one leane thred-bare groat, for hire,May like a devill roare through every street;And gall the finders conscience, if they meet.Or let mee creepe to some dread Conjurer,That with phantastique scheames fils full much paper;Which hath divided heaven in tenements,And with whores, theeves, and murderers stuft his rents,So full, that though hee passe them all in sinne,He leaves himselfe no roome to enter in.But if, when all his art and time is spent,Hee say 'twill ne'r be found; yet be content;Receive from him that doome ungrudgingly,Because he is the mouth of destiny.Thou say'st (alas) the gold doth still remaine,Though it be chang'd, and put into a chaine;So in the first falne angels, resteth stillWisdome and knowledge; but,'tis turn'd to ill:As these should doe good works; and should provideNecessities; but now must nurse thy pride.And they are still bad angels; Mine are none;For, forme gives being, and their forme is gone:Pitty these Angels; yet their dignitiesPasse Vertues, Powers, and Principalities.But, thou art resolute; Thy will be done!Yet with such anguish, as her onely sonneThe Mother in the hungry grave doth lay,Vnto the fire these Martyrs I betray.Good soules, (for you give life to every thing)Good Angels, (for good messages you bring)Destin'd you might have beene to such an one,As would have lov'd and worship'd you alone:One that would suffer hunger, nakednesse,Yea death, ere he would make your number lesse.But, I am guilty of your sad decay;May your few fellowes longer with me stay.But ô thou wretched finder whom I hateSo, that I almost pitty thy estate:Gold being the heaviest metal amongst all,May my most heavy curse upon thee fall:Here fetter'd, manacled, and hang'd in chains,First mayst thou bee; then chaind to hellish paines;Or be with forraine gold brib'd to betrayThy Countrey, and faile both of that and thy pay.May the next thing thou stoop'st to reach, containePoyson, whose nimble fume rot thy moist braine;Or libels, or some interdicted thing,Which negligently kept, thy ruine bring.Lust-bred diseases rot thee; and dwell with theeItching desire, and no abilitie.May all the evils that gold ever wrought;All mischiefes that all devils ever thought;Want after plenty; poore and gouty age;The plagues of travellers; love; marriageAfflict thee, and at thy lives last moment,May thy swolne sinnes themselves to thee present.But, I forgive; repent thee honest man:Gold is Restorative, restore it then:But if from it thou beest loath to depart,Because 'tis cordiall, would twere at thy heart.