Category: PART I

¹
When heat and moisture join² with equal merit,
They get a body³ thin of air, or spirit,
Which is a smoke or steam begot from both.
If Mother Moisture⁴ rule, ’tis full of sloth,
But if the⁵ Father Fire predominates,                       5
Then it is active, quick, and elevates.
This airy child is sometimes good or bad
According to the nourishment it had.

The Earth, we find, is very cold and dry,
And must therefore have fire and water nigh
To wash and bathe, then dry herself without,
Else she would useless be, without all doubt.

¹

How can we think winds come from th’Earth² below,
When from the sky they³ down upon us blow?
If they came⁴ from the Earth, they must ascend,⁵
And back again their strength against it bend.⁶
They cannot freely blow, lest⁷ Earth were made                     5
Like to a bowling-green, and⁸ level laid.
But there are rocks, and hills, and mountains great
Which stop their ways and make them soon retreat.
Then sure it is, the sun draws vapor out
And makes⁹ it thin, then blows it all¹⁰ about.                            10
By¹¹ heat condensed, it turneth¹² into rain,
And by its weight falls to the Earth again.
Thus moisture and the sun do cause the winds,
And not the crudities in hollow mines.¹³

Who knows, but thunders are great winds which lie
Within the middle vault above the sky?
Which wind¹ the sun on² moisture cold begot,
When he was³ in his region Cancer hot.
This child⁴ is thin and subtle, made by heat;                    5
Its voice is strong⁵ and makes a noise that’s great.
Its thinness makes it agile, agile strong,
And⁶ by its force doth drive the clouds along.
And when the clouds do meet, they each do strike,
Flashing out fire, as do flints⁷ the like.                              10
Thus in the summer thunder’s caused by wind,
For vapor drawn up⁸ high no way can find⁹
To pass; in winter time,¹⁰ when clouds¹¹ are loose,
Then doth the wind on Earth keep rendezvous.

 

As water rarified doth make¹ winds blow,
So winds when rarified² do colder grow.
For if they thin are³ rarified, then they
Do further blow, and spread out every way.
So cold they are, and sharp as needle points,⁴                          5
For by the thinness breaks and disunites,⁵
Into such⁶ atoms fall, sharp figures be,⁷
Which porous bodies pierce, if we could⁸ see.
Yet some will think, if air were parted so
The winds could not have such strong force to blow.             10
’Tis true, if atoms all were blunt and flat,⁹
Or round like rings, they could not pierce, but pat.¹⁰
But by dividing, they so sharp do grow,¹¹
That¹² through all porous bodies they do go.¹³
But when the winds are soft, they intermix,                             15
As water doth, and in one body fix.
They rather¹⁴ wave than blow as fans are spread,
Which ladies use to cool their cheeks when red,
Or like as water drops that disunite¹⁵
Feel harder than when mixed they¹⁶ on us light,                     20
Unless such streams upon our heads do¹⁷ run,
As we a shelter seek, the wet to shun.
But when a drop congealèd is with cold,
As hailstones are, then it more strength¹⁸ doth hold.
For¹⁹ flakes of snow may have more quantity                          25
Than hailstones, yet not have more²⁰ force thereby.
They fall so soft that they scarce²¹ strike our touch;
Hailstones we feel and know their weight too much.
But figures that are flat are dull and slow,
Make weak impressions²² wheresoe’er they go.                      30
For let ten times the quantity of steel
Be beaten thin,²³ no hurt by that you’ll feel.
But if that one will take a needle small,
Whose point is sharp, and prick²⁴ the flesh withal,
Straight it shall hurt, and put the flesh to pain,                        35
Which greater strength doth not of what is²⁵ plain.
For though²⁶ you press it hard against the skin,
’T may²⁷ heavy feel, but cannot²⁸ enter in.
And so²⁹ the wind that’s thin and³⁰ rarified
May press³¹ us down, but never³² pierce the side.                   40
Or take a blade that’s flat, though strong and great,
And with great strength upon one’s head it³³ beat:
You’ll break the skull, but not knock out his³⁴ brains,
Which arrows sharp soon do, and with less pains.
Thus what is small is subtler and more³⁵ quick,                       45
For all small points³⁶ in porous bodies stick.
Winds broken small to atoms, when they³⁷ blow,
Are colder much than when they³⁸ streaming flow,
For all which knit³⁹ and united close⁴⁰
Much stronger are, and give⁴¹ the harder blows.                     50
This shows what’s closest in itself⁴² to be,
Although an atom in⁴³ its small degree.
Take quantity, for quantity alike,
Union⁴⁴ more than mixture hard shall strike.

We find that i’th’East Indies¹ stars there be,
Which we in our horizon ne’er did² see;
Yet we do take great pains in glasses clear
To see what stars do in the sky appear.
But yet the more we search, the less we know,                  5
Because we find our work doth endless grow.
For who knows, but those stars³ we see by night
Are suns which to some other worlds give light?
But could our outward senses pace the sky,
As well as can⁴ imaginations high,⁵                                     10
If we were there, we might as little⁶ know
As those which stay, and never up do⁷ go.
Then let no⁸ man in fruitless pains life spend:
The most we know is, Nature death will send.

Sometimes we find it hot, and sometimes cold,
Yet equal in degrees the sun¹ doth hold.
And in a winter’s day more heat have² found
Than summer, when the sun should parch the ground.
For if this³ heat doth make him gallop fast,                         5
’T must⁴ ever equal be, or stay his haste.
If so, then seas which send up vapor may⁵
His fiery courage cool in the midway.⁶
Besides, the middle region, which is cold
And full of ice, will of his strength take hold.                     10
Then ’tis not heat that makes him run so fast,
But running fast doth heat upon Earth⁷ cast,
And Earth sends vapors cold to quench his heat,⁸
Which break his strength, and make⁹ his beams so weak.

The sun doth not to the Earth’s center¹ go;
He cannot shoot his beams so deep and low.
For a thick wall will break² his arrows small,³
So that his heat can do no hurt at all.⁴
And Earth hath arms so thick, to keep out all                  5
His fiery darts which he on her lets fall.

 

¹
As heat about the heart always² keeps nigh,
So doth a fire about the³ center lie.
This heat disperses⁴ through the body round,
And when that heat is not,⁵ no life is found.
So this heat⁶ makes all things to bud⁷ and bear,                  5
Although the sun’s hot beams do ne’er come there.
Yet doth the sun nourish all things⁸ without,
Though⁹ fire within the Earth gives life, no doubt.
Thus¹⁰ heat within begets with child the Earth,
And heat without is midwife to her birth.                           10

¹
Although² the Earth to all gives form and feature,
Yet is the sun the³ nurse to every creature.
For none could live unless the sun give⁴ heat,
Which is to them as nourishing as⁵ meat.
Just as⁶ a child is⁷ got and born of man,                         5
It must be fed, or ’twill soon die again.