The South Fish
The Southern Fish: fishers on every shore, and pearl divers.
[p. 70] When the South Fish doth leave the Floods, and riseTo Airy Seats, and swims in Liquid Skies;Those that are born in every Shore shall layTheir Lines and Hooks, and catch the hanging Prey;No Fish in their own Shells shall safely liveBy Nature fortify'd, whilst these can dive,All shall be dar'd; and they immerst shall roveThro' Depths, despair'd, and lost to those above;Till with their dancing Prey they mount again;So small is the reward of all this Pain!Or Fish for Pearls, for Avarice cheats the MindBy valuing Things not for their Worth, but Kind.Vile Shells, which Nature midst the Floods hath laid,Asham'd of the mean work that she hath made;When drawn up hither equal Provinces;Nor can the Land now bear the Riches of the Seas:Such are the Tempers, and Success that waitsOn these Stars Influence, and compleats their Fates.Or free from danger they incline to gainBy Merchandise, what others get by Pain.
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The text is Thomas Creech's 1697 verse translation, checked word by word between three scans of the same type (the 1697 printing, the 1700 printing and a third copy). The long s is printed as s; every other spelling is Creech's. Pages are cited as the 1697 printing numbers them. The portrait is William Marshall’s engraving of Lilly from the front of the 1659 printing (Wellcome Library, public domain).