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A36620
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Eleonora a panegyrical poem dedicated to the memory of the late Countess of Abingdon / written by Mr. Dryden.
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Dryden, John, 1631-1700.
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1692
(1692)
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Wing D2270; ESTC R1595
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9,547
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33
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but never durst compare For to be consc'ious of what all admire And not be vain advances Vertue high'r But still she found or rather thought she found Her own worth wanting others to abound Ascrib'd above their due to ev'ry one Unjust and scanty to her self alone Such her Devotion was as might give rules Of Speculation to disputing Schools And teach us equally the Scales to hold Betwixt the two Extremes of hot and cold That pious heat may mod'rately prevail And we be warm'd but not be scorch'd with zeal Business might shorten not disturb her Pray'r Heav'n had the best if not the greater share An Active life long Oraisons forbids Yet still she pray'd for still she pâ—ay'd by deeds Her ev'ry day was Sabbath Only free From hours of Pray'r for hours of Charity Such as the Jews from servile toil releast Where works of Mercy were a part of rest Such as blest Angels exercise above Vary'd with Sacred Hymns and Acts of Love Such Sabbaths as that one she now enjoys Ev'n that perpetual one which she employs For such vicissitudes in Heav'n there are In Praise alternate and alternate Pray'r All this she practis'd here that when she sprung Amidst the Quires at the first sight she sung Sung and was sung her self in Angels Lays For praising her they did her Maker praise All Offices of Heav'n so well she knew Before she came that nothing there was new And she was so familiarly receiv'd As one returning not as one arriv'd Muse down again precipitate thy flight For how can Mortal Eyes sustain Immortal Light But as the Sun in Water we can bear Yet not the Sun but his Reflection there So let us view her here in what she was And take her Image in this watry Glass Yet look not ev'ry Lineament to see Some will be cast in shades and some will be So lamely drawn you scarcely know 't is she For where such various Vertues we recite 'T is like the Milky-Way all over bright But sown so thick with Stars 't is undistinguish'd Light Her Vertue not her Vertues let us call For one Heroick comprehends 'em all One as a Constellation is but one Though 't is a Train of Stars that rolling on Rise in their turn and in the Zodiack run Ever in Motion now 't is Faith ascends Now Hope now Charity that upward tends And downvvards vvith diffusive Good descends As in Perfumes compos'd with Art and Cost 'T is hard to say what Scent is uppermost Nor this part Musk or Civet can we call Or Amber but a rich Result of all So she was all a Sweet whose ev'ry part In due proportion mix'd proclaim'd the Maker's Art No single Virtue we cou'd most commend Whether the Wife the Mother or the Friend For she was all in that supreme degree That as no one prevail'd so all was she The sev'ral parts lay hidden in the Piece Th' Occasion but exerted that or this A Wife as tender and as true withall As the first Woman was before her fall Made for the Man of whom she was a part Made to attract his Eyes and keep his Heart A second Eve but by no Crime accurst As beautcous not as brittle as the first Had she been first still Paradise had bin And Death had found no entrance by her sin So she not only had preserv'd from ill Her Sex and ours but liv'd their Pattern still Love and Obedience to her Lord she bore She much obey'd him but she lov'd him more Not aw'd to Duty by superior sway But taught by his Indulgence to obey Thus we love God as Author of our good So Subjects love just Kings or so they shou'd Nor was it with Ingratitude return'd In equal Fires the blissful Couple burn'd One Joy possess'd 'em both and in one Grief they mourn'd His Passion still improv'd he lov'd so fast As if he fear'd each day wou'd be her last Too true a Propher to foresee the Fate That shou'd so soon divide their happy State When he to Heav'n entirely must restore That Love that Heart where he went halves before Yet as the Soul is all in ev'ry part So God and He might each have all her Heart So had her Children too for Charity Was not more fruitful or more kind than she Each under other by degrees they grew A goodly Perspective of distant view Anchises look'd not with so pleas'd a Face In numb'ring o'er his future Roman Race And Marshalling the Heroes of his name As in their Order next to light they came Nor Cybele with half so kind an Eye Survey'd her Sons and Daughters of the Skie Proud shall I say of her immortal Fruit As far as Pride with Heav'enly Minds may suit Her pious love excell'd to all she bore New Objects only multiply'd it more And as the Chosen found the perly Grain As much as ev'ry Vessel cou'd contain As in the Blissfull Vision each shall share As much of Glory as his Soul can bear So did she love and so dispence her Care Her eldest thus by consequence was best As longer cultivated than the rest The Babe had all that Infant care beguiles And early knew his Mother in her smiles But when dilated Organs let in day To the young Soul and gave it room to play At his first aptness the Maternal Love Those Rudiments of Reason did improve The tender Age was pliant to command Like Wax it yielded to the forming hand True to th' Artificer the labour'd Mind With ease was pious generous just and kind Soft for Impression from the first prepar'd Till Vertue with long exercise grew hard With ev'ry Act confirm'd and made at last So durable as not to be effac'd It turn'd to Habit and from Vices free Goodness resolv'd into Necessity Thus fix'd she Virtue 's Image that 's her own Till the whole Mother in the Children shone For that was their Perfection she was such They never cou'd express her Mind too much So unexhausted her Perfections were That for more Children she had more to spare For Souls unborn whom her untimely death Depriv'd of Bodies and of mortal breath And cou'd they take th'Impressions of her Mind Enough still left to sanctifie her Kind Then wonder not to see this Soul extend The bounds and seek some other self a Friend As swelling Seas to gentle Rivers glide To seek repose and empty out the Tyde So this full Soul in narrow limits pent Unable to contain her sought a vent To issue out and in some friendly breast Discharge her Treasures and securely rest T'unbosom all the secrets of her Heart Take good advice but better to impart For 't is the bliss of Friendship 's holy state To mix their Minds and to communicate Though Bodies cannot Souls can penetrate Fixt to her choice inviolably true And wisely chusing for she chose but few Some she must have but in no one cou'd find A Tally fitted for so large a Mind The Souls of Friends like
Kings in Progress are Still in their own though from the Pallace far Thus her Friend's Heart her Country Dwelling was A sweet Retirement to a courser place Where Pomp and Ceremonies enter'd not Where Greatness was shut out and Buis'ness well forgot This is th' imperfect draught but short as far As the true height and bigness of a Star Exceeds the Measures of th' Astronomer She shines above we know but in what place How near the Throne and Heav'ns Imperial Face By our weak Opticks is but vainly ghest Distance and Altitude conceal the rest Tho all these rare Endowments of the Mind Were in a narrow space of life confin'd The Figure was with full Perfection crown'd Though not so large an Orb as truly round As when in glory through the publick place The Spoils of conquer'd Nations were to pass And but one Day for Tiumph was allow'd The Consul was constrain'd his Pomp to crowd And so the swift Procession hurry'd on That all though not distinctly might be shown So in the straiten'd bounds of life confin'd She gave but glimpses of her glorious Mind And multitudes of Vertues pass'd along Each pressing foremost in the mighty throng Ambitious to be seen and then make room For greater Multitudes that were to come Yet unemploy'd no Minute slipt away Moments were precious in so short a stay The haste of Heav'n to have her was so great That some were single Acts though each compleat But ev'ry Act stood ready to repeat Her fellow Saints with busie care will look For her blest Name in Fate 's eternal Book And pleas'd to be outdone with joy will see Numberless Vertues endless Charity But more will wonder at so short an Age To find a Blank beyond the thirti'th Page And with a pious fear begin to doubt The Piece imperfect and the rest torn out But 't was her Saviour's time and cou'd there be A Copy near th' Original 't was she As precious Gums are not for lasting fire They but perfume the Temple and expire So was she soon exhal'd and vanish'd hence A short sweet Odour of a vast expence She vanish'd we can scarcely say she dy'd For but a Now did Heav'n and Earth divide She pass'd serenely with a single breath This Moment perfect health the next was death One sigh did her eternal Bliss assure So little Penance needs when Souls are almost pure As gentle Dreams our waking Thoughts pursue Or one Dream pass'd we slide into a new So close they follow such wild Order keep We think our selves awake and are asleep So softly death succeeded life in her She did but dream of Heav'n and she was there No Pains she suffer'd nor expir'd with Noise Her Soul was whisper'd out with God's still Voice As an old Friend is beckon'd to a Feast And treated like a long familiar Guest He took her as he found but found her so As one in hourly readiness to go Ev'n on that day in all her Trim prepar'd As early notice she from Heav'n had heard And some descending Courtier from above Had giv'n her timely warning to remove Or counsell'd her to dress the nuptial Room For on that Night the Bridegroom was to come He kept his hour and found her where she lay Cloath'd all in white the Liv'ry of the Day Scarce had she sinn'd in thought or word or act Unless Omissions were to pass for fact That hardly Death a Consequence cou'd draw To make her liable to Nature's Law And that she dy'd we only have to show The mortal part of her she left below The rest so smooth so suddenly she went Look'd like Translation through the Firmament Or like the fiery Carr on the third Errand sent O happy Soul if thou canst view from high Where thou art all Intelligence all Eye If looking up to God or down to us Thou find'st that any way be pervious Survey the ruines of thy House and see Thy widow'd and thy Orphan Family Look on thy tender Pledges left behind And if thou canst a vacant Minute find From Heav'nly Joys that Interval afford To thy sad Children and thy mourning Lord. See how they grieve mistaken in their love And shed a beam of Comfort from above Give 'em as much as mortal Eyes can bear A transient view of thy full glories there That they with mod'rate sorrow may sustain And mollifie their Losses in thy Gain Or else divide the grief for such thou wert That shou'd not all Relations bear a part It were enough to break a single heart Let this suffice Nor thou great Saint refuse This humble Tribute of no vulgar Muse Who not by Cares or Wants or Age deprest Stems a wild Deluge with a dauntless brest And dares to sing thy Praises in a Clime Where Vice triumphs and Vertue is a Crime Where ev'n to draw the Picture of thy Mind Is Satyr on the most of Humane Kind Take it while yet 't is Praise before my rage Unsafely just break loose on this bad Age So bad that thou thy self had'st no defence From Vice but barely by departing hence Be what and where thou art To wish thy place Were in the best Presumption more than grace Thy Reliques such thy Works of Mercy are Have in this Poem been my holy care As Earth thy Body keeps thy Soul the Sky So shall this Verse preserve thy Memory For thou shalt make it live because it sings of thee FINIS The ducti 〈…〉 〈…〉 Of her prudent Management Of her 〈…〉 ility Of her Piety Of her various Vertues Of her Câ—â—jugal Viâ—tues Of her 〈◊〉 to her Câ—â—â—dren 〈…〉 〈…〉 〈…〉 Her prepa-redness to dye She dy'd on Whitsunday night Apostrophe to her Soul Epiphonema or close of the Poem