a thing That makes each Woman Man each Man a King Doth so much lose and from its height so fall That some contend to have no Soul at all 'T is either not observ'd or at the best By Passion fought withall by Sin deprest Freedom of Will God's Image is forgot And if we know it we improve it not Our Thoughts though nothing can be more our own Are still unguided very seldom known Time 'scapes our hands as Water in a Sieve We come to die e're we begin to live Truth the most sutable and noble prize Food of our Spirits yet neglected lies Errour and Shadows are our choice and we Owe our perdition to our own decree If we search Truth we make it more obscure And when it shines we can't the light endure For most men now who plod and eat and drink Have nothing less their bus'ness then to think And those few that enquire how small a share Of Truth they find how dark their Notions are That serious Evenness that calms the Breast And in a Tempest can bestow a Rest We either not attempt or else decline By ev'ry trifle snatch'd from our design Others he must in his deceits involve Who is not true unto his own Resolve We govern not our selves but loose the Reins Courting our Bondage to a thousand chains And with as many Slaveries content As there are Tyrants ready to torment We live upon a Rack extended still To one Extreme or both but always ill For since our Fortune is not understood We suffer less from bad then from the good The Sting is better drest and longer lasts As Surfeits are more dangerous then Fasts And to complete the misery to us We see Extremes are still contiguous And as we run so fast from what we hate Like Squibs on Ropes to know no middle state So outward storms strengthned by us we find Our Fortune as disordered as our Mind But that 's excus'd by this it doth its part A trech'rous World befits a trech'rous Heart All ill 's our own the outward storms we lothe Receive from us their Birth their Sting or both And that our Vanity be past a doubt 'T is one new Vanity to find it out Happy are they to whom God gives a Grave And from themselves as from his wrath doth save 'T is good not to be born but if we must The next good is soon to return to dust When th' uncag'd Soul fled to Eternity Shall rest and live and sing and love and see Here we but crawl and grapple play and cry Are first our own then others enemy But there shall be defac'd both stain and score For Time and Death and Sin shall be no more LXXI The Soul 1. HOw vain a thing is Man whose noblest part That Soul w th through the World doth come Traverses Heav'n finds out the depths of Art Yet is so ignorant at home 2. In every Brook our Mirrour we can find Reflections of our face to be But a true Optick to present our Mind We hardly get and darkly see 3. Yet in the search after our selves we run Actions and Causes we survey And when the weary Chase is almost done Then from our Quest we slip away 4. 'T is strange and sad that since we do believe We have a Soul must never die There are so few that can a Reason give How it obtains that Life or why 5. I wonder not to find those that know most Profess so much their Ignorance Since in their own Souls greatest Wits are lost And of themselves have scarce a glance 6. But somewhat sure doth here obscurely lie That above Dross would fain advance And pants and catches at Eternity As 't were its own Inheritance 7. A Soul self-mov'd which can dilate contract Pierces and judges things unseen But this gross heap of Matter cannot act Unless impulsed from within 8. Distance and Quantity to Bodies due The state of Souls cannot admit And all the Contraries which Nature knew Meet there nor hurt themselves nor it 9. God never made a Body so bright and clean Which Good and Evil could discern What these words Honesty and Honour mean The Soul alone knows how to learn 10. Aud though 't is true she is imprison'd here Yet hath she Notions of her own Which Sense doth onely jog awake and clear But cannot at the first make known 11. The Soul her own felicity hath laid And independent on the Sense Sees the weak terrours which the World invade With pity or with negligence 12. So unconcern'd she lives so much above The Rubbish of a clotty Jail That nothing doth her Energy improve So much as when those structures fail 13. She 's then a substance subtile strong and pure So immaterial and refin'd As speaks her from the Body's fate secure As wholly of a diff'rent kind 14. Religion for reward in vain would look Vertue were doom'd to misery All actions were like bubbles in a brook Were it not for Mortality 15. And as that Conquerour who Millions spent Thought it too mean to give a Mite So the World's Judge can never be content To bestow less then Infinite 16. Treason against Eternal Majesty Must have eternal Justice too And since unbounded Love did satisfie He will unbounded Mercy shew 17. It is our narrow thoughts shorten these things By their companion Flesh inclin'd Which feeling its own weakness gladly brings The same opinion to the Mind 18. We stifle our own Sun and live in Shade But where its beams do once appear They make that person of himself afraid And to his own acts most severe 19. For ways to sin close and our breasts disguise From outward search we soon may find But who can his own Soul bribe or surprise Or sin without a sting behind 20. He that commands himself is more a Prince Then he who Nations keeps in aw And those who yield to what their Souls convince Shall never need another Law LXXII Happiness NAture courts Happiness although it be Unknown as the Athenian Deity It dwells not in Man's Sense yet he supplies That want by growing fond of its disguise The false appearances of Joy deceive And seeking her unto her like we cleave For sinning Man hath scarce sense left to know Whether the Plank he grasps will hold or no. While all the business of the World is this To seek that Good which by mistake they miss And all the several Passions men express Are but for Pleasure in a diff'rent dress They hope for Happiness in being Great Or Rich or Lov'd then hug their own conceit And those which promise what they never had I' th' midst of Laughter leave the spirit sad But the Good man can find this treasure out For which in vain others do dig and doubt And hath such secret full Content within Though all abroad be storms yet he can sing His peace is made all 's quiet in that place Where Nature 's cur'd and exercis'd by Grace This inward Calm
world depriving it of Day While every Herb and Plant does droop away So when our gasping English Royalty Perceiv'd her Period was now drawing nigh She summons her whole strength to give one blow To raise her self or pull down others too Big with revenge and hope she now spake more Of terrour then in many moneths before And musters her Attendants or to save Her from or else attend her to the Grave Yet but enjoy'd the miserable fate Of setting Majesty to die in State Unhappy Kings who cannot keep a Throne Nor be so fortunate to fall alone Their weight sinks others Pompey could not fly But half the World must bear him company And captiv'd Sampson could not life conclude Unless attended with a multitude who 'd trust to Greatness now whose food is air Whose ruine sudden and whose end despair Who would presume upon his Glorious Birth Or quarrel for a spacious share of Earth That sees such Diadems become so cheap And Hero's tumble in a common heap Oh give me Vertue then which summes up all And firmly stands when Crowns and Sceptres fall XII To the noble Palaemon on his incomparable Discourse of Friendship WE had been still undone wrapt in disguise Secure not happy cunning and not wise War had been our design Interest our trade We had not dwelt in safety but in shade Hadst thou not hung out Light more welcome far Then wand'ring Sea-men think the Northern-star To shew lest we our happiness should miss 'T is plac'd in Friendship Mens and Angels bliss Friendship which had a scorn or mark been made And still had been derided or betray'd At which the great Physician still had laugh'd The Souldier stormed and the Gallant scoff'd Or worn not as a Passion but a Plot At first pretended or at least forgot Hadst thou not been our great Deliverer At first discover'd and then rescu'd her And raising what rude Malice had flung down Unveil'd her Face and then restor'd her Crown By such august an action to convince 'T is greater to support then be a Prince Oh for a Voice which big as Thunder were That all Mankind thy conq'ring truths might hear Sure the Litigious as amaz'd would stand As Fairy Knights touch'd with Cabina's Wand Drawn by thy fofter and yet stronger Charms ********** And what more honour can on thee be hurl'd Then to protect a Vertue save a World But while great Friendship thou hast copied out Thou 'st drawn thy self so well that we may doubt Which most appears thy Candour or thy Art Or we owe more unto thy Brain or Heart But this we know without thine own consent Thou ' st rais'd thy self a glorious Monument And that so lasting that all Fate forbids And will out-live Egyptian Pyramids Temples and Statues Time will eat away And Tombs like their Inhabitants decay But there Palaemon lives and so he must When Marbles crumble to forgotten dust XIII To the Right Honourable Alice Countess of Carbury on her enriching Wales with her Presence AS when the first day dawn'd Man's greedy Eye Was apt to dwell on the bright Prodigy Till he might careless of his Organ grow And so his wonder prove his danger too So when your Countrey which was deem'd to be Close-mourner in its own obscurity And in neglected Chaos so long lay Was rescu'de by your beams into a Day Like men into a sudden lustre brought We justly fear'd to gaze more then we ought 2. From hence it is you lose most of your Right Since none can pay 't nor durst doe 't if they might Perfection's misery 't is that Art and Wit While they would honour do but injure it But as the Deity slights our Expence And loves Devotion more then Eloquence So 't is our Confidence you are Divine Makes us at distance thus approach your Shrine And thus secur'd to you who need no art I that speak least my wit may speak my heart 3. Then much above all zealous injury Receive this tribute of our shades from me While your great Splendour like eternal Spring To these sad Groves such a refreshment bring That the despised Countrey may be grown And justly too the Envy of the Town That so when all Mankind at length have lost The Vertuous Grandeur which they once did boast Of you like Pilgrims they may here obtain Worth to recruit the dying world again XIV To Sir Edw. Deering the noble Silvander on his Dream and Navy personating Orinda's preferring Rosannia before Solomon's Traffick to Ophir THen am I happier then is the King My Merchandise does no such danger bring The Fleet I traffick with fears no such harms Sails in my sight and anchors in my arms Each new and unperceived grace Discovered in that mind and face Each motion smile and look from thee Brings pearls and Ophir-gold to me Thus far Sir Edw. Deering SIR To be Noble when 't was voted down To dare be Good though a whole Age should frown To live within and from that even state See all the under-world stoops to its fate To give the Law of Honour and dispence All that is handsom great and worthy thence Are things at once your practice and your end And which I dare admire but not commend But since t' oblige the World is your delight You must descend within our watch and sight For so Divinity must take disguise Lest Mortals perish with the bright surprise And thus your Muse which can enough reward All actions studied to be brave and hard And Honours gives then Kings more permanent Above the reach of Acts of Parliament May suffer an Acknowledgment from me For having thence received Eternity My thoughts with such advantage you express I hardly know them in this charming dress And had I more unkindness for my friend Then my demerits e're could apprehend Were the Fleet courted with this gale of wind I might be sure a rich return to find So when the Shepherd of his Nymph complain'd Apollo in his shape his Mistress gain'd She might have scorn'd the Swain found excuse But could not this great Oratour refuse But for Rosannia's Interest I should fear It would be hard t' obtain your pardon here But your first Goodness will I know allow That what was Beauty then is Mercy now Forgiveness is the noblest Charity And nothing can worthy your favour be For you God-like are so much your own fate That what you will accept you must create XV. To the truly-noble Mr. Henry Lawes NAture which is the vast Creation's Soul That steddy curious Agent in the whole The Art of Heaven the Order of this Frame Is onely Number in another name For as some King conqu'ring what was his own Hath choice of several Titles to his Crown So Harmony on this score now that then Yet still is all that takes and governs Men. Beauty is but Composure and we find Content is but the Accord of the Mind Friendship the Union of well-tuned Hearts Honour 's the Chorus of the noblest parts
And all the World on which we can reflect Musick to th' Ear or to the Intellect If then each man a Little World must be How many Worlds are copied out in thee Who art so richly formed so complete T' epitomize all that is Good and Great Whose Stars this brave advantage did impart Thy Nature 's as harmonious as thy Art Thou dost above the Poets praises live Who fetch from thee th' Eternity they give And as true Reason triumphs over Sense Yet is subjected to Intelligence So Poets on the lower World look down But Lawes on them his Height is all his own For like Divinity it self his Lyre Rewards the Wit it did at first inspire And thus by double right Poets allow His and their Laurel should adorn his brow Live then great Soul of Nature to asswage The savage dulness of this sullen Age. Charm us to Sense for though Experience fail And Reason too thy Numbers may prevail Then like those Ancients strike and so command All Nature to obey thy gen'rous hand None will resist but such who needs will be More stupid then a Stone a Fish a Tree Be it thy care our Age to new-create What built a World may sure repair a State XVI A Sea-voyage from Tenby to Bristoll begun Sept. 5. 1652. sent from Bristoll to Lucasia Sept. 8. 1652. Hoise up the sail cri'd they who understand No word that carries kindness for the Land Such sons of clamour that I wonder not They love the Sea whom sure some Storm begot Had he who doubted Motion these men seen Or heard their tongues he had convinced been For had our Bark mov'd half as fast as they We had not need cast anchor by the way One of the rest pretending to more wit Some small Italian spoke but murther'd it For I thanks o Saburna's Letters knew How to distinguish 'twixt the false and true But t' oppose these as mad a thing would be As 't is to contradict a Presbyt'ry 'T is Spanish though quoth I e'en what you please For him that spoke it ' tmight be Bread and Cheese So softly moves the Bark which none controuls As are the meetings of agreeing Souls And the Moon-beams did on the water play As if at Midnight 't would create a Day The amorous Wave that shar'd in such dispence Exprest at once delight and reverence Such trepidation we in Lovers spy Under th' oppression of a Mistress eye But then the Wind so high did rise and roar Some vow'd they 'd never trust the traitor more Behold the fate that all our Glories sweep Writ in the dangerous wonders of the Deep And yet behold Man's easie folly more How soon we curse what erst we did adore Sure he that first him self did thus convey Had some strong passion that he would obey The Bark wrought hard but found it was in vain To make its party good against the Main Toss'd and retreated till at last we see She must be fast if e're she should be free We gravely Anchor cast and patiently Lie prisoners to the weather's cruelty We had nor Wind nor Tide nor ought but Grief Till a kind Spring tide was our first relief Then we float merrily forgetting quite The sad confinement of the stormy night E're we had lost these thoughts we ran aground And then how vain to be secure we found Now they were all surpriz'd Well if we must Yet none shall say that dust is gone to dust But we are off now and the civil Tide Assisted us the Tempests to out-ride But what most pleas'd my mind upon the way Was the Ship 's posture when 't in Harbour lay Which so close to a rocky Grove was fixed That the Trees branches with the Tackling mixed One would have thought it was as then it stood A growing Navy or a floating Wood. But I have done at last and do confess My Voyage taught me so much tediousness In short the Heav'ns must needs propitious be Because Lucasia was concern'd in me XVII Friendship 's Mystery To my dearest Lucasia Set by Mr. Henry Lawes 1. COme my Lucasia since we see That Miracles Mens faith do move By wonders and by prodigy To the dull angry world let 's prove There 's a Religion in our Love 2. For though we were design'd t' agree That Fate no liberty destroyes But our Election is as free As Angels who with greedy choice Are yet determin'd to their joyes 3. Our hearts are doubled by the loss Here Mixture is Addition grown We both diffuse and both ingross And we whose Minds are so much one Never yet ever are alone 4. We count our own captivity Then greatest thrones more innocent 'T were banishment to be set free Since we wear fetters whose intent Not Bondage is but Ornament 5. Divided joyes are odious found And griefs united easier grow We are our selves but by rebound And all our Titles shuffled so Both Princes and both Subjects too 6. Our Hearts are mutual Victims laid While they such power in Friendship lies Are Altars Priests and Off'rings made And each Heart which thus kindly dies Grows deathless by the Sacrifice XVIII Content To my dearest Lucasia 1. COntent the false World's best-disguise The search and faction of the Wife Is so abstruse and hid in night That like that Fairy Red-cross Knight Who trech'rous Falshood for clear Truth had got Men think they have it when they have it not 2. For Courts Content would gladly own But she ne're dwelt about a Throne And to be flatter'd rich and great Are things which do Mens senses cheat But grave Experience long since this did see Ambition and Content would ne're agree 3. Some vainer would Content expect From what their bright Out-sides reflect But sure Content is more Divine Then to be digg'd from Rock or Mine And they that-know her beauties will confess She needs no lustre from a glittering dress 4. In Mirth some place her but she scorns Th' assistance of such crackling thorns Nor owes her self to such thin sprot That is so sharp and yet so short And Painters tell us they the same strokes place To make a laughing and á weeping face 5. Others there are that place Content In Liberty from Government But who his Passions do deprave Though free from shackles is a slave Content and Bondage differ onely then When we are chain'd by Vices not by Men. 6. Some think the Camp Content does know And that she sits o' th' Victor's brow But in his Laurel there is seen Often a Cypress-bow between Nor will Content herself in that place give Where Noise and Tumult and Destruction live 7. But yet the most Discreet believe The Schools this Jewel do receive And thus far 's true without dispute Knowledge is still the sweetest fruit But whil'st men-seek for Truth they lose their Peace And who heaps Knowledge Sorrow doth increase 8. But now some sullen Hermite smiles And thinks he all the World beguiles And that his Cell and Dish contain What all
my breath XXXIX To Regina Collier on her Cruelty to Philaster TRiumphant Queen of scorn how ill doth sit In all that Sweetness such injurious Wit Unjust and Cruel what can be your prize To make one heart a double Sacrifice Where such ingenuous Rigour you do shew To break his Heart you break his Image too And by a Tyranny that 's strange and new You Murther him because he Worships you No Pride can raise you or can make him start Since Love and Honour do enrich his heart Be Wise and Good lest when Fate will be just She should o'rethrow those glories in the dust Rifle your Beauties and you thus forlorn Make a cheap Victim to another's scorn And in those Fetters which you do upbraid Your self a wretched Captive may be made Redeem the poyson'd Age let it be seen There 's no such freedom as to serve a Queen But you I see are lately Round-head grown And whom you vanquish you insult upon XL. To Philaster on his Metancholy for Regina GIve over now thy tears thou vain And double Murtherer For every minute of thy pain Wounds both thy self-and her Then leave this dulness for 't is our belief Thy Queen must cure or not deserve thy Grief XLI Philoclea's parting Feb. 25. 1650. KInder then a condemned Man's Reprieve Was your dear Company that bad me live When by Rosannia's silence I had been The wretchedst Martyr any Age hath seen But as when Traytors faint upon the Rack Tormentors strive to call their Spirits back Not out of kindness to preserve their breath But to increase the Torments of their Death So was I raised to this glorious height To make my fall the more unfortunate But this I know none ever dy'd before Upon a sadder or a nobler score XLII To Rosannia now Mrs. Mountague being with her Septemb. 25. 1652. 1. AS men that are with Visions grac'd Must have all other thoughts displac'd And buy those short descents of Light With loss of Sense or Spirit 's flight 2. So since thou wert my happiness I could not hope the rate was less And thus the Vision which I gain Is short t' enjoy and hard t' attain 3. Ah then what a poor trifle's all That thing which here we Pleasure call Since what our very Souls hath cost Is hardly got and quickly lost 4. Yet is there Justice in the fate For should we dwell in blest estate Our Joyes thereby would so inflame We should forget from whence we came 5. If this so sad a doom can quit Me for the follies I commit Let no estrangement on thy part Adde a new ruine to my heart 6. When on my self I do reflect I can no smile from thee expect But if thy Kindness hath no plea Some freedom grant for Charity 7. Else the just World must needs deny Our Friendship an Eternity This Love will ne're that title hold For thine 's too hot and mine 's too cold 8. Divided Rivers lose their name And so our too-unequal flame Parted will Passion be in me And an Indifference in thee 9. Thy Absence I could easier find Provided thou wert well and kind Then such a Presence as is this Made up of snatches of my bliss 10. So when the Earth long gasps for rain If she at last some few drops gain She is more parched then at first That small recruit increas'd the thirst XLIII To my Lucasia LEt dull Philosophers inquire no more In Nature's womb or Causes strivet ' explore By what strange harmony and course of things Each body to the whole a tribute brings What secret unions secret Neighbourings make And of each other how they do partake These are but low Experiments but he That Nature's harmony intire would see Must search agreeing Souls sit down and view How sweet the mixture is how full how true By what soft touches Spirits greet and kiss And in each other can complete their bliss A wonder so sublime it will admit No rude Spectator to contemplate it The Object will refine and he that can Friendship revere must be a Noble man How much above the common rate of things Must they then be from whom this Union springs But what 's all this to me who live to be Disprover of my own Morality And he that knew my unimproved Soul Would say I meant all Friendship to controul But Bodies move in time and so must Minds And though th' attempt no easie progress finds Yet quit me not lest I should desp'rate grow And to such Friendship adde some Patience now O may good Heav'n but so much Vertue lend To make me fit to be Lucasia's Friend But I 'le forsake my self and seek a new Self in her breast that 's far more rich and true Thus the poor Bee unmark'd doth humme and fly And droan'd with age would unregarded dy Unless some curious Artist thither come Will bless the Insect with an Amber-tomb Then glorious in its funeral the Bee Gets Eminence and gets Eternity XLIV On Controversies in Religion REligion which true Policy befriends Design'd by God to serve Man's noblest ends Is by that old Deceiver's subtile play Made the chief party in its own decay And meets that Eagle's destiny whose breast Felt the same shaft which his own feathers drest For that great Enemy of Souls perceiv'd The notion of a Deity was weav'd So closely in Man's Soul to ruine that He must at once the World depopulate But as those Tyrants who their Wills pursue If they expound old Laws need make no new So he advantage takes of Nature's light And raises that to a bare useless height Or while we seek for Truth he in the Quest Mixes a Passion or an Interest To make us lose it that I know not how 'T is not our Practice but our Quarrel now And as in th' Moon 's Eclipse some Pagans thought Their barbarous Clamours her deliverance wrought So we suppose that Truth oppressed lies And needs a Rescue from our Enmities But 't is Injustice and the Mind's Disease To think of gaining Truth by losing Peace Knowledge and Love if true do still unite God's Love and Knowledge are both Infinite And though indeed Truth does delight to lie At some Remoteness from a Common Eye Yet 't is not in a Thunder or a Noise But in soft Whispers and the stiller Voice Why should we then Knowledge so rudely treat Making our weapon what was meant our meat 'T is Ignorance that makes us quarrel so The Soul that 's dark will be contracted too Chimaera's make a noise swelling and vain And soon resolve to their own smoak again But a true Light the spirit doth dilate And robs it of its proud and sullen state Makes Love admir'd because 't is understood And makes us Wise because it makes us Good 'T is to a right Prospect of things that we Owe our Uprightness and our Charity For who resists a beam when shining bright Is not a Sinner of a common height That state 's a forfeiture
Who from the top of his Prosperities Can take a fall and yet without surprize Who with the same august and even state Can entertain the best and worst of Fate Whose suffering's sweet if Honour once adorn it Who slights Revenge not that he fears but scorns it Whose Happiness in ev'ry Fortune lives For that no Fortune either takes or gives Who no unhandsome wayes can bribe his Fate Nay out of Prison marches through the Gate Who losing all his Titles and his Pelf Nay all the World can never lose himself This Person shines indeed and he that can Be Vertuous is the great Immortal man LXI A Country-life HOw Sacred and how Innocent A Country-life appears How free from Tumult Discontent From Flattery or Fears This was the first and happiest Life When man enjoy'd himself Till Pride exchanged Peace for Strife And Happiness for Pelf 'T was here the Poets were inspir'd And sang their Mysteries And while the listning World admir'd Mens Minds did civilize That Golden Age did entertain No Passion but of Love The thoughts of Ruling and of Gain Did ne're their Fancies move None then did envy Neighbour's wealth Nor Plot to wrong his bed Happy in Friendship and in Health On Roots not Beasts they fed They knew no Law nor Physick then Nature was all their Wit And if there yet remain to men Content sure this is it What Blessings doth this World afford To tempt or bribe desire For Courtship is all Fire and Sword Who would not then retire Then welcome dearest Solitude My great Felicity Though some are pleas'd to call thee rude Thou art not so but we Such as do covet only rest A Cottage will suffice Is it not brave to be possest Of Earth but to despise Opinion is the rate of things From hence our Peace doth flow I have a better Fate then Kings Because I think it so When all the stormy World doth wear How unconcern'd am I I cannot fear to tumble lower That never could be high Secure in these unenvi'd walls I think not on the State And pity no mans case that falls From his Ambition's height Silence and Innocence are safe A heart that 's nobly true At all these little Arts can laugh That do the World subdue While others Revel it in State Here I 'le contented sit And think I have as good a Fate As Wealth and Pomp admit Let some in Courtship take delight And to th' Exchange resort There Revel out a Winter's night Not making Love but Sport These never knew a noble Flame 'T is Lust Scorn or Design While Vanity playes all their Game Let Peace and Honour mine When the inviting Spring appears To Hide-Parke let them go And hasting thence be full of fears To lose Spring-Garden shew Let others nobler seek to gain In Knowledge happy Fate And others busie them in vain To study wayes of State But I resolved from within Confirmed from without In Privacy intend to spin My future Minutes out And from this Hermitage of mine I banish all wild toyes And nothing that is not Divine Shall dare to tempt my Joyes There are below but two things good Friendship and Honesty And only those alone I would Ask for Felicity In this retir'd Integrity Free from both War and noise I live not by Necessity But wholly by my Choice LXII To Mrs. Wogan my Honoured Friend on the Death of her Husband DRy up your tears there 's enough shed by you And we must pay our share of Sorrows too It is no private loss when such men fall The World 's concern'd and Grief is general But though of our Misfortune we complain To him it is injurious and vain For since we know his rich Integrity His real Sweetness and full Harmony How free his heart and house were to his Friends Whom he oblig'd without Design or Ends How universal was his Courtesie How clear a Soul how even and how high How much he scorn'd disguise or meaner Arts But with a native Honour conquer'd Hearts We must conclude he was a Treasure lent Soon weary of this sordid Tenement The Age and World deserv'd him not and he Was kindly snatch'd from future Misery We can scarce say he 's Dead but gone to rest And left a Monument in ev'ry breast For you to grieve then in this sad excess Is not to speak your Love but make it less A noble Soul no Friendship will admit But what 's Eternal and Divine as it The Soul is hid in mortal flesh we know And all its weaknesses must undergo Till by degrees it does shine forth at length And gathers Beauty Purity and Strength But never yet doth this Immortal Ray Put on full splendour till it put off Day So Infant Love is in the worthiest breast By Sense and Passion fetter'd and opprest But by degrees it grows still more refin'd And scorning clogs only concerns the Mind Now as the Soul you lov'd is here set free From its material gross capacity Your Love should follow him now he is gone And quitting Passion put Perfection on Such Love as this will its own good deny If its dear Object have Felicity And since we cannot his great Loss Reprieve Let 's not lose you in whom he still doth Live For while you are by Grief secluded thus It doth appear your Funeral to us LXIII In memory of the most justly honoured Mrs. Owen of Orielton AS when the ancient World by Reason liv'd The Asian Monarchs deaths were never griev'd Their glorious Lives made all their Subjects call Their Rites a Triumph not a Funeral So still the Good are Princes and their Fate Invites us not to weep but imitate Nature intends a progress of each stage Whereby weak Man creeps to succeeding Age Ripens him for that Change for which he 's made Where th' active Soul is in her Centre laid And since none stript of Infancy complain Cause 't is both their necessity and gain So Age and Death by slow approches come And by that just inevitable doom By which the Soul her cloggy dross once gone Puts on Perfection and resumes her own Since then we mourn a happy Soul O why Disturb we her with erring Piety Who 's so enamour'd on the beauteous Ground When with rich Autumn's livery hung round As to deny a Sickle to his Grain And not undress the teeming Earth again Fruits grow for use Mankind is born to die And both Fates have the same necessity Then grieve no more sad Relatives but learn Sigh not but profit by your just concern Reade over her Life's volume wise and good Not 'cause she must be so but 'cause she wou'd To chosen Vertue still a constant friend She saw the Times which chang'd but did not mend And as some are so civil to the Sun They 'd fix his beams and make the Earth to run So she unmov'd beheld the angry Fate Which tore a Church and overthrew a State Still durst be Good and own the noble Truth To