Such drowfie fedentary Souls have they
Who could to Patriarchal Years live on
Fix'd to Hereditary Clay,
And know no Climate but their own:
Contracted to their narrow Sphere
Reft before Knowledge they prefer,
And of this Globe wherein they dwell
No more than of the Heavenly Orbs can tell.
As if by Nature plac❜d below
Not on this Earth to dwell, but to take root and grow.
III.
Dull Souls, why did great Nature take fuch care
To write in fuch a fplendid Character;
If Man the only thing below
That can pretend her hand to know
Her fair-writ Volume does defpife,
And tho defign'd for Wisdom won't be wife?
Th' Almighty gets no Praife from this dull kind,
The Sun was never worship'd by the Blind.
Such Ignorance can ne're Devotion raife,
They will want Wisdom and their Maker Praife.
They only can this Tribute duely yield
Whofe active Spirits range abroad,
Who traverle o're all Nature's field
And view the great Magnificence of God.
They fee the hidden wealth of Nature's fiore
Fall down, and Learnedly adore;
But they most juftly yet this Tribute pay
Who don't Contemplate only, but display,
Comment on Nature's Text, and to the fenfe
Expofe her latent Excellence,
Who like the Sun, not only travel o're
The World, but give it light that others may adore.
In th' Head of thefe Heroic Few
Our Learned Author here appears in view,
Whose searching Genius like Lamp of Day
Does the Earth's Furniture difplay,
Nor fuffers to lye bury'd and unknown
Nature's rich Talent or his own.
Drake and Columbus do in thee revive,
And we from thy Research as much receive.
Thou art as great as they, for 'tis all one
New Worlds to find, or nicely to defcribe the known.
VI.
On Mighty Hero, our whole Ifle furvey,
Advance thy Standard, conquer all the way.
Let nothing but the Sea controul
The Progrefs of thy active Soul.
Act like a pious Courteous Ghost,
And to Mankind retrieve what's loft.
With thy victorious charitable hand
Point out the hidden Treasures of our Land.
Envy or Ignorance do what they will,
Thou haft a Bleffing from the Mufes Hill.
Great be thy Spirit as thy Works divine,
Shew thou thy Maker's Praife, we Poets will fing thine.
Hen Corydon had loft his Liberty
And felt the Tyrants heavy chain;
He fwore, could he but once get free,
He'd never, no, he'd never love again.
But stay dull Shepherd, if you quench your fire,
Too dear you will buy your Liberty:
Let not fuch vigorous heats expire,
I'll teach thee how to love, and yet be free.
Take bright Urania to thy Amorous Breaft,
To her thy flaming Heart refign;
Void not the room, but change the guest, And let thy Senfual Love commence Divine.
The Swain obey'd, and when he once had known
This foretaste of the Joys above,
He vow'd, tho he might be his own,
Yet he would ever, yes, he'd ever love.
JEll, 'twas a hard Decree of Fate,
My Soul, to Clip thy pinions fo,
To make thee leave thy pure Ethereal State,
And breath the Vapours of this Sphere below,
Where he that can pretend to have
Moft Freedom, 's till his body's Slave.
JI.
Was e're a Subftance fo divine
With fuch an unlike Confort joyn'd ?
Did ever things fo wide, fo clote combine
As maffy Clods and Sun-beams, Earth and Mind ?
When yet two Souls can ne're agree
In Friendship, but by parity.
Unequal match! what wilt thou do,
My Soul, to raile thy Plumes again?
How wilt thou this grofs Vehicle fubdue,
And thy first Blifs, firft Purity obtain? --
Thy Confort how wilt thou refine,
And be again all ore Divine?:
IV.
Fix on the Sovereign Fair thy Eye,
And kindle in thy Breaft a flame;
Wind up thy Paffions to a pitch so high
Till they melt down, and rarify thy frame.
Like the great Propher then aipire,
Thy Chariot will like his, be Fire.
Tell me, what wondrous Charms are these
With which thou doft torment and please,
I grieve to be thy Slave, yet would not Freedom gain.
No Tyranny like thine we know,
That half fo cruel e'er appear'd,
And yet thou'rt lov'd as well as fear'd,
Perhaps the only Tyrant that is fo.
Long have I been thy Votary,
Thou'it led me out to Woods and Groves,
Made'ft me defpife all other Loves,
And give up all my Paffions, all my Soul to thee.
Thee for my firft Companion did I chufe,
Firft, even before my darling Muse;
And yet I know of thee no more
Than those who never did thy Shrine adore.
III.
Thou'rt Myftery and Riddle all,
Like thofe thou infpireft, thou lov't to be
In Darkness and Obscurity.
Even learned Athens thee an unknown God might call.
Strange Contraries in thee combine,
Both Hell and Heaven in thee meet,
Thou greatest bitter, greatest sweet,
No Pain is like thy Pain, no Pleafure too like thine.
IV.
'Tis the grave Doctrin of the Schools
That Contraries can never be
Confiftent in th' high'ft Degree,
But thou must stand exempt from their dull narrowRules. And yet 'tis faid the brightest Mind
Is that which is by thee refin'd,
See here a greater Mystery,
Thou mak'ft us wife, yet ruin'ft our Philofophy.
NOT that it is not made my Fare
To ftand upon the dangerous heights of State,
Nor that I cannot be poffeft
Of th' hidden Treafures of the East,
Nor that I cannot bathe in Pleasures fpring,
And rifle all the fweets which Nature's Gardens bring
Do I repine, my Destiny,
I can all thefe defpife as well as you deny.
It fhall not difcompofe my Mind
Though not one Star above to me prove kind.
Their influence may fway the Sea,
But make not the leaft change in me.
They neither can afflict my ftate, nor blefs,
Their greatest gifts are fmall, and my defires are less.
My Veffel bears but little fail,
What need I then a full and fwelling gale?
And yet I'm difcontented too,
Perhaps y' afpiring Souls as much as you;
We both in equal trouble live,
But for much different Caufes grieve;
You, that these guilded Joys you can't obtain;
And I, because I know they're empty all and vain.
You ftill perfue in hopes to find,
I ftand and dare not flatter on my Mind.
This Tree of Knowledge is, I fee,
Still fatal to poor Man's felicity.
That which yields others great repaft,
Can't please my now enlighten'd talle.
Before, tho I could nothing folid find,
Yet ftill with fpecious Profpects I could please my mind. Now all the fartheft I can fee
Is one perpetual Round of Vanity.
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