CHARITY; a Paraphrafe on the Thirteenth Chapter of the First Epiftle to the Corinthians.
ID fweeter Sounds adorn my flowing Tongue,
Had I all Knowledge Humane and Divine,
That Thought can reach, or Science can define;
And had I Pow'r to give that Knowledge Birth,
In all the Speeches of the babling Earth:
Did Shadrack's Zeal my glowing Breast inspire,
To weary Tortures and rejoice in Fire:
Or had I Faith like that which Ifrael faw,
When Mofes gave them Miracles and Law:
Yet, Gracious Charity, indulgent Gueft,
Were not thy Paw'r exerted in my Breast,
Thofe Speeches would fend up unheeded Pray'r:
That fcorn of Life wou'd be but wild Despair:
A Tymbal's found were better than my Voice,
My Faith were Form, my Eloquence mere Noise.
Charity, Decent, Modeft, Eafie, Kind,
Softens the High, and rears the Abje& Mind;
Knows with juft Reins and gentle Hand to guide,
Betwixt vile Shame and arbitrary Pride.
Not foon provok'd, the easily forgives,
And much the fuffers, as the much believes.
Soft Peace fhe brings where ever she arrives,
She builds our Quiet, as the forms our Lives,
Lays the rough Paths of peevish Nature ev'n,
And opens in each Heart a little Heav'n.
Each other Gift which God on Man bestows,
Its proper Bounds and due Reftriction knows;
To one fixt Purpofe dedicates its Pow'r,
And finishing its Act, exifts no more.
Thus, in Obedience to what Heav'n decrees,
Knowledge hall fail, and Prophecy fhall cease;
But lafting Charity's more ample fway,
Nor bound by Time, nor fubject to decay,
In happy Triumph fhall for ever five,
And endless Good diffuse, and endless Praise receive,
As thro' the Artist's intervening Glass,
Our Eye obferves the diftant Planets pafs,
A little we discover, but allow
That more remains unfeen than Art can show;
So whilft our Mind its Knowledge wou'd improve,
(Its feeble Eye intent on things above)
High as we may we lift our Reason up,
By Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope.
Yet are we able only to furvey
Dawnings of Beams and Promises of Day;
Heav'n's fuller Effluence mocks our dazl'd Sight,
Too great its Swiftnefs, and too strong its Light.
But foon the Mediate Clouds fhall be difpell'd,
The Sun fhall foon be Face to Face beheld,
With all his Robes, with all his Glory on,
Seated. Sublime on his Meridian Throne.
Then conftant Faith and holy Hope fhall die,
One loft in Certainty, and one in Joy:
Whilft thou, more happy Pow'r, fair Charity,
Triumphant Sifter, greateft of the Three,
Thy Office and thy Nature ftill the fame,
Lafting thy Lamp, and unconsum'd thy Flame
Shalt ftill furvive-----
Shalt ftand before the Hoft of Heav'n confeft,
For ever bleffing, and for ever bleft.
To Henry Higden, Efq; On his Translation of the 10th Satyr of Juvenal.
THE Grecian Wits, who Satyr first began,
Were pleasant Pafquins on the Life of Man;
At mighty Villains, who the State oppreft,
They durft not Rail, perhaps they lafh'd at leaft,
And turn'd them out of Office with a Jeft.
No Fool could peep abroad, but ready ftand
The Drolls to clap a Bauble in his Hand:
Wife Legiflators never yet could draw
A Fop within the Reach of Common Law;
For Pofture, Dress, Grimace and Affectation,
Tho' Foes to Sense, are harmless to the Nation.
Our laft Redress is dint of Verse to try;
And Satyr is our Court of Chancery.
This way took Horace to reform an Age
Not bad enough to need an Author's Rage:
But yours, who liv'd in more degenerate Times,
Was forc'd to faften deep, and worry Crimes.
Yet you, my Friend, have temper'd him so well,
You make him smile in fpight of all his Zeal:
An Art peculiar to your felf alone,
To join the Virtues of two Stiles in one.
Oh! were your Author's Principle receiv'd,
Half of the lab'ring World would be reliev'd:
For not to wifh is not to be deceiv'd.
Revenge wou'd into Charity be chang'd,
Because it cofts too dear to be reveng'd:
It costs our Quiet and Content of Mind,
And when 'tis compass'd leaves a Sting behind.
Suppose I had the better End o' th' Staff,
Why should I help th' ill-natur'd World to laugh? 'Tis all alike to them who get the Day;
They love the Spight and Mischief of the Fray.
No; I have cur'd my felf of that Difeafe;
Nor will I be provok'd, but when I please:
But let me half that Cure to you restore;
You gave the Salve, I laid it to the Sore.
Our kind Relief againft a Rainy Day
Beyond a Tavern, or a tedious Play,
We take your Book, and laugh our Spleen away.
If all your Tribe, (too ftudious of Debate)
Would ceafe false Hopes and Titles to create,
Led by the Rare Example you begun,
Clients would fail, and Lawyers be undone.
Adriani Morientis ad Animam.
A Nimula, vagula, blandula,
Hofpes, Comefque Corporis,
Qua nunc abibis in loca,
Pallidula rigida, nudula?,
Nec ut les, dabis joca.
By Monfieur Fontenelle.
Mut en vas done, ma Fille, & Dieu fcache où tu vas;
A petite Ame, ma Mignonne,
Tu pars feulette, nüe & tremblotante, helas!
Que deviendra ton humeur folichonne ?
Que deviendront tant de jolis ebats ?
Thy hum'rous Vein, thy pleafing Folly,
Lyes interrupted and forgot;
And penfive, wav'ring, melancholy,
Thou dread'ft and hop'ft thou know'ft not what,
To a Child of Quality of Five Years old, the Author fuppos'd Forty.
Knights, and Squires, the numerous Band
That wear the Fair Mifs Mary's Fetters,
Were fummon'd by her high Command,
To fhow their Paffion by their Letters.
My Pen amongst the reft I took,
Leaft thofe bright Eyes that cannot read, Shou'd dart their kindling Fires, and look The Pow'r they have to be obey'd.
Nor Quality, nor Reputation,
Forbid me yet my Flame to teff,
Dear Five Years old befriends my Paffion,
And I may Write 'till the can Spell.
For while the makes her Silk-worms Beds,
With all the tender things I fwear,
Whilst all the Houfe my Paffion reads,
In Papers round her Baby's Hair :
She may receive and own my Flame.
For tho' the ftrictest Prudes fhou'd know it,
She'll pafs for a moft virtuous Dame,
And I for an unhappy Poet.
Then too, alas, when the fhall tear
The Lines fome younger Rival fends, She'll give me leave to Write, I fear, And we shall still continue Friends.
For as our diff'rent Ages move,
'Tis fo ordain'd, wou'd Fate but mend it.y..
That I shall be past making Love,
When the begins to comprehend it.
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