LENVOY to the Author by William Segar
Garter, Principall King of Armes.
KInde Friend, and fellow, since it is your will,
I should my verdict give of this your skill;
I say, our Art was never so displai'd;
Better composd, nor Groundworke truer laid,
to raise a Fabricke to your lasting name.
Your painefull study, Curious search, and care,
In turning over Bookes, both knowne, and rare;
Your great Expences, and your little Gaines,
To countervaile a Guerdon for your paines,
doth make your Merit, to exceed your Fame.
But let me tell you, this will be the harme,
In Arming others, you Yourselfe disarme;
Our Art is now Anatomized so,
As who knowes not, what we our selves doe knowe?
Our Corne in others Mill is ill apaid.
Bees sucke the Flowres, others eat their Hony,
Poore digge the Mines, Richmen have the mony;
Sheepe beare the fleece, others weare the Wooll,
And some plant Vines, and some the Grapes doe pull,
Sic vos non vobis, may to us be said.
We blazon Armes, and some esteeme them not,
Wee write of Honour, others doe it blot;
We uphold Honour, others plucke us downe,
Burying themselves in base Oblivion:
Such are th'effects of our defective Age.
Peevish Precisenesse, loves no Heraldry,
Crosses in Armes, they hold Idolatry:
All Funerals pompe, and Honour but a vaunt,
Made Honour onely by the Honorant;
shortly, no difference twixt the Lord, and Page.
Honours, Recusants doe so multiply,
As Armes, the Ensignes of Nobility,
Must be laid downe; they are too glorious,
Vaine, idle shewes, and superstitious:
Plebeian basenesse doth them so esteeme.
Degrees in blood, the steps of pride, and scorne,
All Adams children, none are Gentle borne:
Degrees of state, titles of Ceremony;
Brethren in Christ, greatnesse is Tyranny:
O impure Purity, that so doth deeme.
Well gentle Guillims, you have done your part,
I would Reward might follow your desart,
As Shadowes follow bodies in the Sunne:
Shadowes (alas) are not substantiall,
Shadowes, and rewards, prove nothing at all,
for being both pursude away they runne.
John St. George to the Author.
Though Indian Ants, that scrape in Mines of Gold,
Dare not for Treasure make exchange with death,
Yet braver mindes for honour dare be bold,
Couragiously to sacrifice their breath;
A precious Gem is Honour, Guillims then,
Whose Badge is Armes, the subject of thy pen:
Which as a Diamond when thou didst find,
Rude, and uncut, to bring the same to shape,
And Lustre fit, thy Purse, thy Pen, thy Minde,
Did all conspire, this Worke to undertake:
Which now perform'd, let Goldsmiths judge the price,
Till Æsops Cocke and Indian Ants be wise:
And though thy Guerdon seeme not worth a mite
To such base Prisers, deeme it not the lesse,
For higher spirits will judge thereof aright:
And they at last too late will all confesse,
That Gold and earthly pleasures doe bewitch,
But Grace and Honour onely makes men Rich.
J O H N St. G E O R G E.
To his neerest and dearest kinseman, JOHN
GUILLIM, Pursevant of Armes,
THO.GUILLIM
wisheth his owne best wishes.
THis large Display of thy Mysterious Art
Each where displaies such Lustre, Labour, Learning,
To every one that can with due discerning
Survey thy Volume over everypart;
As there is none, Noble or Gentle heart,
(And onely such this subject is concerning)
That can deny thee (thine owne vertues earning)
The praise and prise of thy divine desert.
If any Criticks Currishly repining,
Barke at thy Light, their fury is thy foile,
For, more we praise such Lamps so publicke shining,
And ever pray they never faile of Oile.
So fare thou (Cosen) for this worke of thine,
Which with thy name shall now eternize mine.
To my worthy Friend Master GVVILLIM
on his present worke.
AS in a curious Lant-schape, oft we see
Nature, so follow'd as wee thinke it's shee,
Trees, Rivers, Hils, Towers, Valleis, Country farmes
Higher or lower plac'd; so heere are Armes.
Of which the severall Blazons, Rancks, and Rites,
Now first explain'd by their due shades and lights,
In perfect Method wrought with Precepts, Lawes,
Examples, and distinctions, for each cause,
Guillims elaborate hand hath with such spright,
Inform'd as every part hath life and light.
But when the whole together I behold,
So Faire, so Rich, so Even, so Manifold,
Of all the Bookes, we say, ere borne with us,
Not one can boast a nobler Genius.
A N T H O N I E G I B S O N.
To my deservedly beloved and worthy Friend
and Countriman Mr. John Guillim, touching
his display of the Honourable Art
of A R M O R Y.
THy Name, thy Countrey, and thy matchlesse Art
Incites my Muse to raise her Armes of pow'r,
With praises to lay open thy desert,
To make it all-devouring Time devoure.
But (oh) a small Reward it is to get,
But Fame, too Cheape, for that which cost so deere,
As Time, and Paines, and Cost; and all three, great:
Yet that's the most, the most doe looke for heere.
Thou hast reduc'd an Art (much like our Law)
Unmethodiz'd, to such a Method now,
That the whole Art, that was before but raw,
Is made most ripe in Rules the same to know:
Heere, all the Termes by which the Art is knowne,
And the least Particle of each least Part,
Are so Anatomized, and strictly showne,
That All may see the Soule of all this Art.
Heere, all the Bearings, both of Beasts and Birds,
Of Fish, Flies, Flowers, Stone, and each minerall,
Of Planets, Starres, and all, that All affords,
Are made by Art, appeare most naturall.
So that this Worke, did ransacke Heaven and Earth,
Yea Natures bulke it selfe, or all that is
In Nature hid, before this Booke had birth,
To shew this Art by them, and them by this:
Then, Natures Secretary we may stile
Thy Searching Spirit, or else we justly may,
Plinius Secundus call thee; sith (the while,
Rare Herald) thou dost Natures Armes display;
So that we cannot hold him Generous,
(If squard by Rules of Generosity,)
That will not have this Booke (composed thus)
To understand Himselfe, and It thereby.
For, heere by Armes (as sometimes Ships at Sea)
Is scene how Houses grapple, but for Peace;
Yet (being joined) distinguisht so they be,
That we may see them (severall) peece by peece.
For, the whole Body to these Armes thou hast,
So cleerely purg'd from sad Obscurity,
That now this Art in F R O N T may well be plac'd
Of Arts that shine in Perspicuity.
And if before, the same seem'd most abstruse;
Now, hast thou (for W A L E S glory, and thine owne
Rare B R I T A I N E) made it facill for our use,
Sith unconfusedly the same is showne:
Then, all that honour Armes must honour Thee,
That hast made Armes from all confusion Free.
J O H N D A V I E S
of Hereford.
To his worthy and well-deserving Friend,
Mr.J Guillim.
FAine would I praise thee as thy worth requires;
But (ah) I cannot, sith my power decaies:
I want the Muses aide, and sacred Fires
To offer up my love unto thy praise:
For, thou, by Armes, as heere doth well appeare,
Deserv'st more praise then Papers Armes can beare.
John Speed.
In Authoreum, Gulielmi Belcheri
Eulogium.
ARmorum primus Winkynthewordeus artem,
Protulit, & ternis linguis lustravit eandem:
Accedit Leighus: concordat perbenè Boswell,
Armorioque suo veri dignatur Honoris,
Clarorum Clypeis & Cristis ornat: eamque
Pulchrè Nobilitat, Generis Blazonia, Ferni:
Armorium proprium docuit Wirleius & usum.
At tua præ reliquis, Guillime, hinc gloria crescit,
Quòd tu cuncta simul, reliqui quæ singula præstas,
Et quæ confusè riliqui, facis ordine primus.
Hinc tibi laus, inter laudatos, prima manebit,
Nobiliumque choro; (reliquos contemne) placebis.
G. B.
