LXII. Edmond Graile

OLD Iaacob, and his sons also,

Were pinch’d with penurie,

Wherefore hee charged them to goe

And food in Egypt buy.

They went with griefe, and bought in feare,

Not dreaming of their brother;

Nor did he countenance them beare

More kind then any other:

Till when they came to him againe,

Affection was so great,

He could no longer it containe

Within his breast for heate.

With weeping eye and joyfull tongue

Hee then did plainely tell

Hee was their brother Ioseph, whom

To Egypt they did sell.

The joy of either was so much

That neither now could beare it;

Their sobbing passion was such

That Pharaoh’s house did heare it;

Who, understanding what they were,

Commanded presently,

With charets, horse, and furniture,

For Iaacob they should hie.

So hee, with all his family,

Came thither out of hand,

And, welcomed most louingly,

Were plac’d in Goshen land.

In Goshen land did Iaacob see

The fulnesse of his dayes,

And in his Sonne’s prosperitie

His fill of earthly ioyes:

But solemnly before his death

Hee blest his sonnes each one;

And Ioseph eke gaue vp the breath

Ere many yeeres were gone.

Now when these fathers both were dead,

And still their seed did grow,

There rose a Pharaoh in his stead,

That did not Ioseph know.

Hee, tyrant-like, with heavy hand

Of bondage prest them downe,

And gaue the midwiues strait command

The males to kill or drowne.