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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HUMANE REVENGE by JOSEPH BEAUMONT

First Line: WHERE DOTH THAT BEUTIE & THAT SWEETNES LIE
Last Line: NOT TRUST WITH HIM, THY SELF HOW CANST THOU TRUST?
Subject(s): GOD; PUNISHMENT; SIN;
WHERE doth that Beutie & that Sweetnes lie
Whereby
Thou charmest generous Spirits, whoe
With might & main thy busines do;
Thy monstrous buisnes, which
All other Witcheries doth farr outwitch.

2

Art Thou not stuffd with Bitterness and Gall?
Is all
Thy Trade not full of gnawing Passions,
Of Discontents, & self-vexations?
Doth not the boiling heat
Of thy fell Bosome, make thy self its meat?

3

O costly sin; what thanks to Heavn We ow,
That Thou
Inevitablie art accurst
Thy self to feel thy furie first!
Thus, in hir bringing forth,
The Vigor's punishd for that hellish birth.

4

What Riddle's this, That Man should pleased be
To see
What Tempests He can raise, & what
Harme He to others can create!
That He his Gains should cast
Up by no Rule, but what his Neighbor lost!

5

The worst of Tigres never on his Trey
Did lay
His irefull Teeth & Paws, that He
Might onely read his Butcherie:
'Twas Hunger wrought the feat,
And He did onelie Tear, that He might Eat.

6

But Thou, foule Hagg, canst doe no more then slay,
Thy Prey:
Thy Barbarisme can for its End
Nothing but Barbarisme intend:
For simple Mischeifs sake
Thou allways thy mischeivous Pains dost take.

7

But stay thine hand, revengefull Gallant, stay,
And say
Whither thy Scores with God be clear;
For yf th' ast any Recknings there,
Learn to be kinde below,
And unto Heavn that gentle Copie show.

8

Doe not by thy seveer Example force
The Course
Of heavnly Furie: doe not stop
The golden gate of Mercie up.
O doe not Thou deny
Forgivenes, whoe without it needs must dy.

9

Trust God to vindicate thy Injurie,
Since He
Monopolizeth Vengance, and
Ties it to His almighty Hand.
Or yf thy Case Thou durst
Not trust with Him, thy self how canst thou trust?



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