ON MRS.

HIGGON S.

INGENIOUS Higgons never fought

To hide the candour of her thought;
And now her cloaths are loft, we find
The nymph as naked as her mind :
Like Eve while yet she was untaught
To hide herself or know a fault.
For a snatch'd ribbon she would frown,
But cares too little for her gown ;
It makes her laugh, and all her grief
Is left it fhould undo the thief.
Already the begins to stretch

Her wit, to fave the guilty wretch:
And fays, fhe was of goods bereft
By her own bounty, not by theft.
She thought not fit to keep her cloaths
Till they were eaten up with moths;
But made a nobler ufe of ftore,
To clothe the naked and the poor.
Should all that do approve the fair,
Her lofs contribute to repair,
Of London the would have the fate,
And rife (undone) in greater state;
In points, and hoods, and Indian gown,'
As glorious as the new-built town.

OF

OF

DIVINE LOVE.

Α

POE M

IN SIX CANTO S.

"Floriferis ut apes in faltibus omnia libant; Sic nos Scripturæ depafcimur aurea dicta; "Aurea! perpetuâ femper digniffima vitâ ! "Nam Divinus Amor cùm cæpit vociferari, Diffugiunt animi terrores. **" LUCRET. Lib. iii.

Exul eram, requiefque mihi, non fama, petita eft, "Mens intenta fuis ne foret ufque malis: ** "Namque ubi mota calent facrâ mea pectora Musâ, "Altior humano fpiritus ille malo eft."

OVID. de Trift. Lib. iv. El. 1.

I. Afferting the authority of the Scripture, in which this Love is revealed.

II. The preference and Love of God to man in the Creation.

III. The fame Love more amply declared in our Redemption.

IV. How neceffary this Love is to reform mankind, and how excellent in itself.

V. Shewing how happy the world would be, if this Love were univerfally embraced.

VI. Of preferving this Love in our memory; and how ufeful the contemplation thereof is.

T

CANTO I

HE Grecian Mufe has all their Gods furviv'd, Nor Jove at us, nor Phœbus, is ar.iv'd; Frail Deities! which first the Poets made, And then invok'd, to give their fancies aid. Yet, if they ftill divert us with their rage, What may be hop'd for in a better age; When, not from Helicon's imagin'd fpring, But Sacred Writ, we borrow what we úng? This with the fabric of the world begun, Elder than light, and shall out-laft the fun. Before this oracle, like Dagon, all The falfe pretenders, Delphos, Anamon, fall: Long fince defpis'd and filent, they afford Honour and triumph to th' eternal Word.

As late philofophy our globe has grac'd,
And rolling earth among the planets plac'd:
So has this Book entitled us to heaven;

And rules, to guide us to that mansion, given:
Tells the conditions how our peace was made;
And is our pledge for the Great Author's aid.
His power in nature's ample book we find;
But the lefs volume does exprefs his mind.

This light unknown, bold Epicurus taught,
That his bleft Gods vouchfafe us not a thought:
But unconcern'd let all below them flide,

As fortune does, or human wifdom, guide.

3

Religion