Thou all the flying Pleasures doft restore,
Which but for thee, bleft Memory, were no more
For we no fooner grafp fome frail Delight,
But ready for its everlafting Flight,
'Ere we can call the hafty Blifs our own,
If not retain'd by thee, it is for ever gone.

Thou, to the kind fuccefsful Lover's Heart,
A thousand melting Raptures doft impart ;
When yet, more lovely than herself and kind,
Thou bring'ft his fancy'd Mistress to his Mind;
The flatt'ring Image wears a livelier Grace,
A fofter Mien, and more enticing Face.
Thou from the flying Minutes doft retrieve
The Joys Clarinda's Wit and Beauty give:
Thofe Joys which we had once poffefs'd in vain,
Did not the dear Remembrance ftill remain:
Methinks he speaks, and all my Soul infpires,
Brightens each Thought, and gives my Mufe new
Fires:

Tis fhe who lends my daring Fancy Wings,
Softens my Lyre, and tunes its warbling Strings..
Thou only to the guilty art fevere,

Who the Review of their paft Actions fear;
But to the innocent and virtuous Mind
Art fill propitious, fmiling ftill, and kind:
To thee we all thefe charming Pleasures owe,
The Pleafures which from gen'rous Actions
flow,

They're ftill the nobleft we poffefs below.

Q. Who was he that kept his Language and, Religion pure at the Confusion of Babel

A. Heber, the Father of Abraham; who, when the rest of the World fell to Idolatry, relapfed not from the Truth, abhorring the Impiety of Nimrod and his Followers, who fought to raise their Tower to Heaven; but could not effect it, being confounded with Diverfities of Languages. fent among them, as Du Bartas faith.

Bring

Bring me, quoth he, a Trowel; quickly, quick. One brings him up a Hammer. Hew this Brick, Another bids him: Then they cleave a Tree. Make faft this Rope; and then they let it flee. One would have Ñails; and him a Spade they give :

Another asks a Saw, and gets a Sieve.

One calls for Planks, another Mortar lacks :
They bring the first a Stone, the last an Ax..
Thus crossly croft, they prate and rail in vain :
What one hath made, the other fpoil'd again.
This made them leave their Work, and, like mad

Fools,

Scatter their Stuff, and tumble down their Tools:

Gen. xi. 7, 8, 9. Let us go down, and there confound their Language, that they may not underfland one another's Speech. So the Lord fcattered them abroad from thence, upon the Face of all the Earth: And they left off to build the City, therefore is the Name of it called Babel, because the Lord did there confound the Language of all the Earth.

Q. Were there no other Books mentioned in the Old Teftament, but those we have now printed?

A. Yes, there were Books of Iddo and Gad, the Seers; befides, Solomon wrote three thousand Parables, and five thousand Songs; with a Book of the Nature of all Herbs, Trees and Plants, from the Cedar to the Hyffop on the Wall: Samuel, alfo, wrote a Book of the Office and Inftitution of a King: Befides thefe, there were Chronicles of the Kings of Judah and Ifrael, all which were supposed to be loft in the Babylonish Cap

tivity.

Q. Why did Men live longer before the Flood than fince?

A. Before the Deluge the Planets were mor gloricas

E 5

glorions in their Natures, and fent better Influences into human Bodies; there were not fo many Meteors, Comets, and Eclipfes feen; from which innumerable Defects and Difeafes do proceed: The Earth was more fruitful, wholesome, and powerful in her Herbs, Plants, and Vegeta bles, and their Effects and Virtues better known, which ever fince the Flood, that wafted away her Fatnefs, have loft much of their Operation and Virtue, in these weak and fickly Seasons of our Times. Lastly, they were more continent in their Lives, more fatisfied in their Defires, which, fince Gluttony and her new Art of Cookery, have kill'd more than either the Plague, Famine, or Sword.

Happy is the Man that eats for Hunger, and drinks for Thirst; that lives according to Nature, and by Reason, not by Example; that provides for Ufe and Neceffity, and not for Oftentation and Superfluity. Sobriety is that which will fesure you from all Diftempers, and make Life pleasant to you; for the Harvest of Diseases doth arife from the Seeds of Intemperance. If Mankind would attend human Nature, without gaping after Superfluities, a Cook would be found as needlefs as a Soldier in Time of Peace. We may have Neceffaries upon very eafy Terms, whereas we put our felves to great Pains for Excefs. We heap Dinners upon Suppers, and Suppers upon Dinners without Intermiffion. It cofts us more to be miferable, than would make us perfectly happy. Prov. xxiii, 20, 21. Be not amongst WineBibbers, amongft riotous Eaters of Fleft; for the Drunkard and the Glutton shall come to Poverty. Q. Who was he that had the most honourable Burial of all Men?

A. Mofes buried by the very Hand of God him elf, because he would have his Sepulchre altogether unknown to Man; left with the Admi

ration

ration of fo great a Prophet, the Children of Ifrael fhould idolatrously go a Pilgrimage to his Tomb: Yet fhortly after, from thence tranflated to Heaven, as appears from Jude 9. Michael, the Archangel, when contending with the Devil, be difputed about the Body of Mofes.

In what Place did the Ancients use to bury. their Dead?

A. Former Ages would not permit any Corpfe to be buried within the Walls of their Cities: Thus we read that Abraham bought a Field, wherein to bury his Dead; and we find in the viith of Luke, that the Widow of Naim's Son was carried out to be buried: This we find to be used among the Athenians, Corinthians, and others of the Grecians. Among the Romans, it was the Cuftom to burn the Bodies of their Dead within their Cities; but in Time this Custom was prohibited, and their dead Bodies were first burned in the Campus Martius, and then covered in fundry Places of the Field. The frequent Urns, or fepulchral Stones, digged. up amongst them in England, are fufficient Teftimonies of this Affertion;. befides, the chief Reason why the rich Men in Rome would not yield to a Law for dividing the Roman Poffeffions equally among the People, was, because they thought it an irreligious thing, that the Monuments of their Forefathers fhould be fold uato others. The firft that is registered to have. been buried within the Walls was Trajanus the Emperor; afterwards it was granted as an Honour to fuch as had deferved well of the publick; but afterwards, when the Chriftian Religion prevail'd over Heathenifm, Church-yards were, confecrated, and the Liberty of burying within the Walls was alike granted to all.

Q. In what Place are Strangers buried that travel to Jerufalem ?

A. In Aceldema, or the Field of Blood; a

Place

Place of fmall Compafs, the Earth whereof is of fo eating a Nature, that the Carcafe laid therein is. confum'd in the Space of forty-eight Hours. The fame is reported of St. Innocent's Church at Tanais.

Q. Wherein are the Bodies of the Rich and Poor alike?

A. In the Grave; which made Diogenes, when fearching in a Charnel-house, fay, that he could find no Difference between the Skull of King Philip, and that of another Man.

The PROUD MAN'S DREAM.

Dreamt that bury'd with my Fellow-Clay,

I Clofe by a common Beggar's Side I lay

And as fo mean an Object shock'd my Pride, 'Thus, like a Corpfe of Confequence, I cry'd, "Scoundrel, be gone, and henceforth touch me 66 not,

More Manners learn, and at a Distance rot." How! Scoundrel," with a haughtier Tone cry'd he,

Proud Lump of Earth, I fcorn thy Words, and

"thee;

Here all are equal, now thy Cafe is mine, "This is my rotting Place, and that is thine."

Q. Who is the fwifteft Runner, and greedieft Devourer of all others?

A. Death; for he rides, with them that ride; goes a Foot, with them that go on foot; fwims, with them that fwim; wars, with them that war: He eats up the Eaters, and drinks up the Drinkers, as the Poet writes.

In