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ON THE DEATH OF AN INFANT. Oh no! for something in thy face did shine Above mortality, that show'd thou waft divine.

VI.

Refolve me then, oh Soul most furely bleft,
(If fo it be that thou these plaints doft hear).
Tell me bright Spirit where'er thou hoverest,
Whether above that high first-moving sphere,
Or in th' Elysian fields (if fuch there were)

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Oh fay me true, if thou wert mortal wight, And why from us so quickly thou didft take thy flight.

VII.

Wert thou fome ftar which from the ruin'd roof
Of flak'd Olympus by mifchance didst 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 theeny Heav'n, and thou fome Goddess fled
Amongst us here below to hide thy nectar'd head?

VIII..

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Or wert thou that just Maid who once before
Forfook the hated earth, O tell me footh,
And cam'st again to vifit us once more?.

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Or wert thou that sweet smiling Youth?

Or that crown'd matron fage white-robed Truth?
Or any other of that heav'nly brood

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Let down in cloudy throne to do the world fome good?

IX.

Or wert thou of the golden-winged hoft,
Who having clad thyself in human weed,
To earth from thy prefixed feat didft poft,
And after short abode fly back with speed,
As if to fhow 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?

X.

But oh why didst thou not stay here below

To bless 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 deferved fmart?

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But thou canst heft perform that office where thou art,

XI.

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 haft fent,
And render him with patience what he lent!
This if thou do, he will an offspring give,

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That till the world's laft end fhall make thy name to live.

II. Anno

II.

Anno Ætatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise in the college, part Latin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thus began *.

H

AIL native Language, that by finews weak

Didst move my first endevoring tongue to speak, And mad'st 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 afk, That now I use 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'ft not be ambitious to be first, Believe me I have thither packt the worst : And, if it happen as I did forecast,

The daintieft dishes fhall be ferv'd up laft.

I

pray thee then deny me not thy aid

For this fame small neglect that I have made:
But hafte thee strait to do me once a pleasure,
And from thy wardrobe bring thy chiefest treasure,
Not thofe new fangled toys, and trimming flight,
Which takes our late fantastics with delight,

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* These verses were made in 1627, that being the 19th year of the author's age; and they were not in the edition of 1645, but were first added in the edition of 1673.

But

But cull those richest robes, and gay'st attire
Which deepest spirits and choiceft wits defire:
I have fome naked thoughts that rove about,
And loudly knock to have their passage out;
And weary of their place do only stay
Till thou haft deck'd them in thy best array;
That so they may without suspect or fears
Fly swiftly to this fair assembly's ears ;.
Yet I had rather, if I were to chufe,
Thy service in fome graver subject use,

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Such as may make thee fearch 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

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How he before the thunderous throne doth lie,

Listening to what unshorn Apollo fings

To th' touch of golden wires, while Hebe brings
Immortal nectar to her kingly fire:

Then paffing through the spheres of watchful fire, 40
And mifty regions of wide air next under
And hills of fnow and lofts of piled thunder,

May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,
In Heav'n's defiance mustering all his waves;
Then fing of fecret things that came to pass
When beldam Nature in her cradle was;
And last of kings and queens and heroes old,
Such as the wife Demodocus once told
In folemn fongs at king Alcinoüs' feast,
While fad Ulyffes' foul and all the rest

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Are held with his melodious harmony

In willing chains and sweet captivity.

But fie, my wandering Muse, how thou doft stray!
Expectance calls thee now another way,

Thou know'ft it must be now thy only bent
To keep in compafs of thy predicament:
Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,
That to the next I may refign my room.

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Then Ens is represented as father of the Predicaments his ten fons, whereof the eldest stood for Substance with his canons, which Ens, thus fpeaking, explains.

GOOD luck befriend thee, Son; for at thy birth
The faery ladies danc'd upon the hearth;

Thy drousy nurse hath sworn she did them spie
Come tripping to the room where thou didst lie,
And fweetly finging round about thy bed
Strow all their bleffings on thy fleeping head.

She heard them give thee this, that thou shouldst still
From eyes
of mortals walk invifible:

Yet there is something that doth force my fear,
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 profpective glafs
Forefaw what future days should bring to pass;
Your fon, faid fhe, (nor can you it prevent)
Shall fubject be to many an Accident.

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O'er

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