Refolve me then, oh foul most purely blest,
(If fo it be that thou thefe plaints dost hear)
Tell me, bright fpirit, where e'er thou hoverest,
Whether above that high firft-moving fphere,
Or in the Elyfian fields (if fuch there were)
O fay me true, if thou wert mortal wight,
And why from us fo quickly thou didst take thy flight.
Wert thou fome ftar which from the ruin'd roof
Of fhak'd Olympus by mifcbance didft fall;
Which careful Jove in nature's true behoof
Took up, and in fit place did reinstall ?
Or did of late earth's fons befiege the wall
Of fheenie heav'n, and thou fome goddefs fled
Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head.
VIII.
Or wert thou that juft maid who once before
Forfook the hated earth, O tell me footh,
And cam'ft again to vifit us once more?
Or wert thou that fweet fmiling youth?
Or that crown'd matron fage white-robed Truth!
Or any other of that heav'nly brood
Let down in cloudy throne to do the world fome good?
IX.
Or wert thou of the golden-winged hoft,
Who having clad thyfelf in human weed,
To earth from thy prefixed feat didft poft,
And after short abode fly back with fpeed,
As if to fhew what creatures heav'n doth breed,
Thereby to fet the hearts of men on fire
To fcorn the fordid world, and unto heav'n afpire.
But oh why didft thou not ftay here below
To blefs us with thy heav'n-lov'd innocence,
To flake his wrath whom fin hath made our foe,
To turn fwift-rufhing black perdition hence,
Or drive away the flaughtering peftilence,
To ftand 'twixt us and our deserved smart?
But thou canst best perform that office where thou art,
Then thou the mother of fo fweet a child
Her falfe imagin'd lofs cease to lament,
And wifely learn to curb thy forrows wild;
Think what a present thou to God hast sent,
And render him with patience what he lent:
This if thou do, he will an off-fpring give,
That till the world's last end shall make thy name to live.
Anne Aetatis 19. At a Vacation excrcife in the College, part Latin, part English. The Latin Speeches ended, the English thus began.
HAIL native language, that by linews weak
Didft move my firft endeavouring tongue to speak, And mad'ft imperfect words with childish trips, Half unpronounc'd flide through my infant-lips, Driving dumb filence from the portal door, Where he had mutely fat two years before: Here I falute thee, and thy pardon ask, That now I ufe thee in my latter task : Small lofs it is that thence can come unto thee, I know my tongue but little grace can do thee: Thou need'st not be ambitious to be first, Believe me I have hither packt the worst : And, if it happen as I did forecast,
The daintiest dishes fhall be ferv'd up laft; thee then deny me not thy aid
For this fame fmall neglect that I have made :
But hafte thee straight to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,
Not thofe new-fangled toys, and trimmings flight,
Which take our late fantastics with delight;
But cull thofe richest robes, and gay'st attire,
Which deepest spirits and choiceft wits desire:
Q
I have fome naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their paffage out;
And weary of their place do only stay
Till thou haft deck'd them in thy best array;
That fo they may without fufpect or fears
Fly fwiftly to this fair affembly's ears:
Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,
Thy service in fome graver subject use,
Such as may make thee search thy coffers round,
Before thou clothe my fancy in fit found:
Such where the deep tranfported mind may foar
Above the wheeling poles, and at heav'n's door
Look in, and fee each blissful Deity
How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,
Liftening to what unfhorn Apollo fings
To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly Sire:
Then paffing through the fphears of watchful fire, A
And milty regions of wide air next under, noqon Holl
And hills of fnow and lofts of piled thunder,
May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves
In heav'n's defiance muftering all his waves;
Then fing of fecret things that came to pafs
When beldam nature in her cradle
t
was;
And last of kings and queens and heroes old, weak I
Such as the wife Demodocus once told some oth
In folemn fongs at King Alcinous feast, di un gelloff
While fad Ulyffes foul and all the rest
Are held with his melodious harmony
In willing chains and fweet captivity.
But fy, my wandring Mufe, how thou doft ftray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,
Thou know'ft it must be now thy only bent om but
To keep in compafs of thy predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may refign my room.
Then Ens is reprefented as Father of the Prædicaments his ten Sons, whereof the Eldeft ftood for Subftance with his Canons, which Ens, thus Speaking, explains.
GOOD luck befriend thee, fon; for at thy birth
The fairy ladies danc'd upon the hearth;
Thy drowsy nurse hath sworn she did them spy
Come tripping to the room where thou didst ly;
And fweetly finging round about thy bed,
Strew all their bleflings on thy fleeping head.
She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldft ftill
From eyes of mortals 'walk invisible :
Yet there is fomething that doth force my
For once it was my difmal hap to hear
A Sibyl old, bow-bent with crooked age,
That far events full wifely could prefage,
And in time's long and dark prospective glass
Forefaw what future days fhould bring to pafs;
Your fon, faid he, (nor can you it prevent)
Shall fubject be to many an accident.
O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king,.
Yet every one shall make him underling;
And thofe that cannot live from him asunder,
Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under:
In worth and excellence he fhall out-go them,
Yet being above them, he fhall be below them;
From others he shall stand in need of nothing,
Yet on his brothers fhall depend for clothing.
To find a foe it fhall not be his hap,
And peace fhall lull him in her flow'ry lap:
Yet fhall he live in strife, and at his door
Devouring war fhall never cease to roar:
Yea it fhall be his natural property a ogół sw
To harbour those that are at enmity.
What pow'r, what force, what mighty fpell, if not
Your learned hands, can loofe his gordian knot?
The next Quantity and Quality Spake in Profe, then Relation was called by his name.
RIVERS arife; whether thou be the for
Of utmost Tweed, or Oofe, or gulphy Dun,
Or Trent, who like fome earth-born giant fpreads
His thirty arms along the indented meads,
Or fullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn fwift, guilty of maidens death,
Or rocky Avon, or of fedgy Lee,
Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallow'd Dee,
Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythians name,
Or Medway fmooth, or royal towred Thame.
The rest was Profe.
ERE while of mufic, and ethereal mirth,
Wherewith the stage of air and earth did ring, And joyous news of heav'nly infant's birth, My Mufe with angels did divide to fing; But headlong joy is ever on the wing,
In wintry folftice like the fhortn'd light,
Soon fwallow'd up in dark and long out-living night.
For now to forrow muft I tune my fong,
And fet my harp to notes of faddeft wo,
Which on our dearest Lord did feize ere long,
Dangers, and fnares, and wrongs, and worse than fo,
Which he for us did freely undergo.
Moft perfect Heroe, try'd in heaviest plight
Of labours huge and hard, too hard for human wight."
He fov'reign prieft ftooping his regal head g
That dropt with odorous oil down his fair eyes,
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