Edward Farr, ed. Select Poetry of the Reign of Queen Elizabeth. 1845.
Jacob Going down into EgyptLXII. Edmond Graile
O
Were pinch’d with penurie,
Wherefore hee charged them to goe
And food in Egypt buy.
Not dreaming of their brother;
Nor did he countenance them beare
More kind then any other:
Affection was so great,
He could no longer it containe
Within his breast for heate.
Hee then did plainely tell
Hee was their brother Ioseph, whom
To Egypt they did sell.
That neither now could beare it;
Their sobbing passion was such
That Pharaoh’s house did heare it;
Commanded presently,
With charets, horse, and furniture,
For Iaacob they should hie.
Came thither out of hand,
And, welcomed most louingly,
Were plac’d in Goshen land.
The fulnesse of his dayes,
And in his Sonne’s prosperitie
His fill of earthly ioyes:
Hee blest his sonnes each one;
And Ioseph eke gaue vp the breath
Ere many yeeres were gone.
And still their seed did grow,
There rose a Pharaoh in his stead,
That did not Ioseph know.
Of bondage prest them downe,
And gaue the midwiues strait command
The males to kill or drowne.