Well-feafon'd mirth, and wifdom unfevere,
An equal temper, and a heart fincere ;
Gifts that alone from Nature's bounty flow,
Which fortune may display, but not bestow;
For wealth but fets the picture more in fight,
And brings the beauties or the faults to light.
How true th' efteem, that's founded in defert !
How pleafing is the tribute of the heart!
Here willing duty ne'er was paid in vain,
And ev'n dependence cannot feel its chain,
Yet whom he thus fets free fhe clofer binds,
(Affection is the chain of grateful minds)
And, doubly bleffing her adopted care,
Makes them her virtues with her fortune share,
Leads by example, and by kindness guards,
And raises firft the merit fhe rewards.
Oft too abroad fhe cafts a friendly eye,
As fhe would help to every need supply.
The poor near her almost their cares forget,
Their want but ferves as hunger to their meat;
For, fince her foul 's ally'd to human kind,
Not to her house alone her ftore 's confin'd,
But paffing on, its own full banks o'erflows,
Enlarg'd, and deals forth plenty as it goes.
Through fome fair garden thus a river leads
It's watery wealth, and first th' inclosure feeds,
Vifits each plant, and every flower supplies;
Or, taught in fportive fountains to arife,
Cafts fprinkled fhowers o'er every figur'd green;
Or in canals walks round the beauteous fcene,
Yet ftops not there, but its free course maintains,.
And spread's gay verdure through th' adjacent plains;
The labouring hinds with pleasure fee it flow,
And bless thofe ftreams by which their pastures grow.
O generous ufe of power! O virtuous pride! Ne'er may the means be to fuch fouls deny'd, Executors of Heaven's all-bounteous will, Who well the great Firft-giver's ends fulfil, Who, from fuperior heights still looking down On glittering heaps, which scarce they think their own, Defpife the empty fhow of ufelefs ftate,
And only would by doing good be great!
Now paufe a while, my Mufe, and then renew The pleafing taik, and take a second view!
A train of virtues yet undrawn appear;
Here juft Oeconomy, ftri&t Prudence there;
Near Liberality they ever ftand;
This guides her judgment, that directs her hand.
By thefe, fee wild Profusion chac'd away,
And wanton Luxury,, like birds of prey.
Whilst meek Humility, with charms serene, Forbids. vain Pomp t' approach the hallow'd feene;. Yet through her veil the more attracts the fight, And on her fifter-virtues cafts a light.
But wherefore starts the Painter-Mufe, and why, The piece unfinish'd, throws the pencil by?
Methinks, (the fays), Humility I hear,
With gentle voice reproving, cry-Forbear!
Forbear, rafh Mufe! nor longer now commend,
Left whom thou would'ft defcribe, thou fhould'ft offend,
And in her breaft a painful glowing raise,
Who, confcious of the merit, fhuns the praife.
"Me vero primum dulces ante omnia Mufæ
Accipiant, cœlique vias & fidera monftrent."
ADVERTISEMENT.
may be proper to acquaint the reader that the following poem was begun on the model of a Latin ode of Cafimire, intitled E REBUS HUMANIS EXCESSUS, from which it is plain that COWLEY likewife took the first hint of his ode called the ECSTASY. The former part therefore is chiefly an imitation of that ode, though with confiderable variations, and the addition of the whole fecond
ftanza, except the first three lines: but the plan itfelf feeming capable of a farther improvement, the latter part, which attempts a short view of the heavens according to the modern philofophy, is entirely original, and not founded on any thing in the Latin author.
LEAVE Mortality's low sphere.
Ye winds and clouds, come lift me high,
And on your airy pinions bear
Swift through the regions of the sky.
What lofty mountains downward fly!
And lo, how wide a space of air
Extends new prospects to my eye!
The gilded fanes, reflecting light,
And royal palaces, as bright,
(The rich abodes
Of heavenly and of earthly gods)
Retire apace; whole cities too
Decrease beneath my rifing view.
And now far off the rolling globe appears;
Its fcatter'd nations I furvey,
And all the mass of earth and fea;
Oh object well deserving tears!
Capricious ftate of things below,
That, changeful from their birth, no fix'd duration
Here new-built towns, afpiring high,
Afcend, with lofty turrets crown'd;
There others fall, and mouldering lie,
Obfcure, or only by their ruins found.
Palmyra's far-extended waste I spy,
(Once Tadmor, ancient in renown)
Her marble heaps, by the wild Arab shown,
Still load with useless pomp the ground.
But where is lordly Babylon? where now
Lifts The to Heaven her giant brow?
Where does the wealth of Nineveh abound?
Or where's the pride of Africk's 'shore?
Is Rome's great rival then no more?
In Rome herself behold th' extremes of fate,
Her ancient greatness funk, her modern boasted state! See her luxurious palaces arise
With broken arches mix'd between!
And here what fplendid domes poffefs the skies!
And there old temples, open to the day,
Their walls o'ergrown with moss display;
And columns, awful in decay,
Rear up their roof-less heads to form the various scene.
III.
Around the space of earth I turn my eye ;
But where's the region free from woe?
Where shall the Muse one little spot descry
The feat of happiness below?
Here Peace would all its joys dispense,
The vines and olives unmolested grow,
But lo! a purple pestilence
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