Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

Promoting concord, and compofing ftrife,
Lord of yourself, uncumber'd with a wife;
Where, for a year, a month, perhaps a night,
Long penitence fucceeds a fhort delight:
Minds are fo hardly match'd, that ev'n the first,
Tho' pair'd by heaven, in Paradife were curs'd.
For man and woman, tho' in one they grow,
Yet, firft or laft, return again to two.

[ocr errors]

He to God's image, fhe to his was made;

143

So farther from the fount the ftream at random stray'd. How could he ftand, when, put to double pain,

He must a weaker than himself fuftain!

Each might have stood perhaps; but each alone;
Two wrestlers help to pull each other down.

Not that my verfe would blemish all the fair;
But yet if fome be bad, 'tis wisdom to beware;
And better fhun the bait, than struggle in the fnare.
Thus have you fhunn'd, and shun the marry'd state,
Trufting as little as you can to fate.

No porter guards the paffage of your door, T'admit the wealthy, and exclude the poor; For God, who gave the riches, gave the heart, To fanctify the whole, by giving part;

Heaven, who forefaw the will, the means has wrought,
And to the fecond fon a bleffing brought;

The first-begotten had his father's fhare:
But you, like Jacob, are 2 Rebecca's heir.

So may your stores, and fruitful fields increafe;
And ever be you blefs'd, who live to bless.
As Ceres fow'd, where-e'er her chariot flew;
As heaven in deferts rain'd the bread of dew;
So free to many, to relations most,

You feed with manna your own Ifrael hoft.

With crowds attended of your ancient race, You seek the champion fports, or fylvan chace: 2 By these lines it appears, he inherited his mother's fortune.

With well-breath'd beagles you furround the wood,
Ev'n then, industrious of the common good:
And often have you brought the wily fox
To fuffer for the firftlings of the flocks;

Chas'd ev'n amid the folds; and made to bleed,
Like felons, where they did the murd'rous deed.
This fiery game your active youth maintain'd;
Not yet by years extinguifh'd, tho' reftrain'd:
You feason fill with sports your serious hours:
For age but taftes of pleasures, youth devours.
The hare in paftures or in plains is found,
Emblem of human life, who rans the round;
And, after all his wand'ring ways are done,
His circle fills, and ends where he begun,
Jaft as the fetting meets the rifing fun.

Thus princes eafe their cares; but happier he,
Who feeks not pleasure thro' neceffity,

}

Than fuch as once on flipp'ry thrones were plac'd ;
And chafing, figh to think themselves are chas'd.
So liv'd our fires, ere doctors learn'd to kill,
And multiply'd with theirs the weekly bill.
The first phyficians by debauch were made :
Excess began, and floth fuftains the trade,
Pity the gen'rous kind their cares bestow
To search forbidden truths: (a fin to know :)
To which if human fcience could attain,
The doom of death, pronounc'd by God, were vain.
In vain the leech would interpofe delay;

Fate fastens first, and vindicates the prey.
What help from art's endeavours can we have?
Gibbons 3 but gueffes, nor is fure to fave:

}

But 4 Maurus fweeps whole parishes, and peoples ev'ry grave;

3 Dr. Gibbons was a phyfician in high esteem.

4 Maurus is Sir Richard Blackmore, phyfician to king William.

And

And no more mercy to mankind will use,

Than when he robb'd and murder'd Maro's muse.
Would't thou be foon difpatch'd, and perish whole,
Trust Maurus with thy life, and 5 Milbourn with thy foul.
By chace our long-liv'd fathers earn'd their food;
Toil ftrung the nerves, and purify'd the blood:
But we their fons, à pamper'd race of men,
Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten.
Better to hunt in fields for health unbought,
Than fee the doctor for a naufeous draught.
The wife, for cure, on exercise depend ;
God never made his work for man to mend.

The tree of knowledge, once in Eden plac'd,
Was eafy found, but was forbid the taste :'
O, had our grandfire walk'd without his wife,
He firft had fought the better plant of life!
Now both are loft: yet, wand'ring in the dark,
Phyficians, for the tree, have found the bark:
They, lab'ring for relief of human kind,
With sharpen'd fight fome remedies may find;
Th' apothecary-train is wholly blind.
From files a random recipe they take,
And many deaths of one prefcription make.
Garth, gen'rous as his mufe, prescribes and gives;
The shopman fells; and by deftruction lives :
Ungrateful tribe! who, like the viper's brood,
From med'cine iffuing, fuck their mother's blood!
Let thefe obey; and let the learn'd prescribe;
That men may die, without a double bribe:
Let them, but under their fuperiors, kill;
When doctors first have fign'd the bloody bill:
He fcapes the beft, who nature to repair,

}

Draws phyfic from the fields, in draughts of vital air. You hoard not health, for your own private ufe;

But on the public fpend the rich produce.

5 Milbourne was a nonjuring parfon.

VOL. II.

[blocks in formation]

When, often urg'd, unwilling to be great,

Your country calls from you

your

lov'd retreat,

And fends to fenates, charg'd with common care,
Which none more fhuns; and none can better bear:
Where could they find another form'd so fit,
To poife, with solid sense, a sprightly wit!
Where these both wanting, as they both abound,
Where could fo firm integrity be found?
Well born, and wealthy, wanting no fupport,
You fteer betwixt the country and the court:
Nor gratify whate'er the great defire,

Nor grudging give, what public needs require.
Part must be left, a fund when foes invade;
And part employ'd to roll the watry trade:
Ev'n Canaan's happy land, when worn with toil,
Requir'd a fabbath-year to mend the meagre foil.
Good fenators (and fuch as you) so give,
That kings may be supply'd, the people thrive.
And he, when want requires, is truly wife,
Who flights not foreign aids, nor over-buys;
But on our native ftrength, in time of need, relies.
Munster was bought, we boast not the fuccefs;
Who fights for gain, for greater makes his peace.
Our foes, compell'd by need, have peace embrac'd:
The peace both parties want, is like to laft:
Which if fecure, fecurely we may trade;

Or, not fecure, should never have been made.
Safe in ourselves, while on ourselves we ftand,
The fea is ours, and that defends the land.
Be, then, the naval stores the nation's care,
New fhips to build, and batter'd to repair.

Obferve the war, in ev'ry annual course;
What has been done, was done with British force:
Namur 6 fubdu'd, is England's palm alone;
The reft befieg'd; but we constrain'd the town:

6 In 1695, king William took Namur, after a fiege of one month.

We

We faw th' event that follow'd ́our fuccefs;
France, tho' pretending arms, purfu'd the peace;
Oblig'd, by one fole 7 treaty, to restore
What twenty years of war had won before.
Enough for Europe has our Albion fought:
Let us enjoy the peace our blood has bought.
When once the Perfian king was put to flight,
The weary Macedons refus'd to fight:
Themselves their own mortality confefs'd;
And left the fon of Jove, to quarrel for the reft.
Ev'n victors are by victories undone;

Thus Hannibal, with foreign laurels won,

To Carthage was recall'd, too late to keep his own.
While fore of battle, while our wounds are green,
Why should we tempt the doubtful dye agen?
In wars renew'd, uncertain of fuccefs ;
Sure of a share, as umpires of the peace.

A patriot both the king and country ferves:
Prerogative, and privilege, preferves:
Of each our laws the certain limit show;
One must not ebb, nor t'other overflow:
Betwixt the prince and parliament we ftand;
The barriers of the ftate on either hand:

May neither overflow, for then they drown the land.
When both are full, they feed our blefs'd abode ;
Like those that water'd once the paradife of God.
Some overpoife of fway, by turns, they fhare;
In peace the people, and the prince in war:
Confuls of mod'rate power in calms were made;
When the Gauls came, one fole dictator fway'd.
Patriots, in peace, affert the people's right;
With noble ftubbornefs refifting might:
No lawless mandates from the court receive,
Nor lend by force, but in a body give.

7 The treaty of Ryfwick concluded in September 1697.

[blocks in formation]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »