Her virtue, not her virtues let us call;
For one heroic comprehends them all :
One, as a conftellation is but one,
Though 'tis a train of ftars, that, rolling on,
Rife in their turn, and in the zodiac run:
Ever in motion; now 'tis faith afcends,
Now hope, now charity, that upward tends,
And downwards with diffusive good descends.
As in perfumes compos'd with art and cost,
'Tis hard to fay what fcent is uppermost ;
Nor this part mulk or civet can we call,
Or amber, but a rich refult of all;
So fhe was all a fweet, whofe every part,
In due proportion mix'd, proclaim'd the Maker's art.
No fingle virtue we could moft commend,
Whether the wife, the mother, or the friend;
For fhe was all, in that fupreme degree,
That as no one prevail'd, fo all was she.
The feveral parts lay hidden in the piece;
Th' occafion but exerted that, or this.
A wife as tender, and as true withal,
As the first woman was before her fall:
Made for the man, of whom he was a part;
Made, to attract his eyes, and keep his heart.
A fecond Eve, but by no crime accurst;
As beauteous, not as brittle as the firft.
Had the been firft, ftill Paradife had been,
And death had found no entrance by her fin.
So fhe not only had preferv'd from ill
Her fex and ours, but liv'd their pattern still.
Love and obedience to her lord the bore;
She much obey'd him, but she lov'd him more a
Not aw'd to duty by fuperior fway,
But taught by his indulgence to obey.
Thus we love God, as author of our good;
So fubjects love just kings, or so they should.
Nor was it with ingratitude return'd;
In equal fires the blissful couple burn'd;
One joy poffefs'd them both, and in one grief they mourn'd.
His paffion ftill improv'd; he lov'd so fast,
As if he fear'd each day would be her laft.
Too true a prophet to forefee the fate
That should fo foon divide their happy state :
When he to heaven entirely must restore
That love, that heart, where he went halves before.
Yet as the foul is all in every part,
So God and he might each have all her heart.
So had her children too; for charity
Was not more fruitful, or more kind than fhe
Each under other by degrees they grew ;
A goodly perfpective of diftant view.
Anchifes look'd not with fo pleas'd a face,
In numbering o'er his future Roman race,
And marshaling the heroes of his name,
As, in their order, next, to light they came..
Nor Cybele, with half so kind an eye,
Survey'd her fons an! daughters of the sky;
Proud, fhall I fay, of her immortal fruit
As far as pride with heavenly minds may fuit.
Her pious love excell'd to all she bore;
New objects only multiply'd it more.
And as the chofen found the pearly grain
As much as every vessel could contain ;
As in the blissful vifion each shall share
As much of glory as his foul can bear;
So did the love, and fo difpenfe her care.
Her eldeft thus, by confequence, was best,
As longer cultivated than the reft.
The babe had all that infant care beguiles,
And early knew his mother in her fmiles :
But when dilated organs let in day
To the young foul, and gave it room to play,
At his firft aptness, the maternal love
Thofe rudiments of reafon did improve :
The tender age was pliant to command;
Like wax it yielded to the forming hand:
True to th' artificer, the labour'd mind
With ease was pious, generous, just, and kind
Soft for impreffion, from the first prepar'd,
Till virtue with long exercife grew
With every act confirm'd, and made at last
So durable as not to be effac'd,
It turn'd to habit; and, from vices free,
Goodness refolv'd into neceffity.
Thus fix'd the virtue's image, that's her own,
Till the whole mother in the children fhone;
For that was their perfection: fhe was fuch,
They never could exprefs her mind too much.
So unexhausted her perfections were,
That, for more children, she had more to spare;
For fouls unborn, whom her untimely death
Depriv'd of bodies, and of mortal breath;
And (could they take th' impreffions of her mind)
Enough still left to fanctify her kind.
Then wonder not to fee this foul extend
The bounds, and seek fome other felf, a friend:
As fwelling feas to gentle rivers glide,
To feek repose, and empty out the tide;
So this full foul, in narrow limits pent,
Unable to contain her, fought a vent,
To iffue out, and in fome friendly breast
Discharge her treafures, and fecurely rest:
T'unbofom all the fecrets of her heart,
Take good advice, but better to impart.
For 'tis the blifs of friendship's holy state,
To mix their minds, and to communicate;
Though bodies cannot, fouls can penetrate :
Fixt to her choice, inviolably true,
And wifely choofing, for the chofe but few.
Some she must have; but in no one could find
A tally fitted for fo large a mind.
The fouls of friends like kings in progress are;
Still in their own, though from the palace far :
Thus her friend's heart her country dwelling was,
A fweet retirement to a coarfer place;
Where pomp and ceremomies enter'd not,
Where greatness was shut out, and business well forgot..
This is th' imperfect draught; but short as far
As the true height and bigness of a star
Exceeds the measures of th' aftronomer.
She shines above, we know; but in what place,
How near the throne, and heaven's imperial face,
By our weak optics is but vainly gueft;
Distance and altitude conceal the rest.
Though all these rare endowments of the mind
Were in a narrow space of life confin'd,
The figure was with full perfection crown'd;
Though not fo large an orb, as truly round.
As when in glory, through the public place,
The fpoils of conquer'd nations were to país,
And but one day for triumph was allow'd,
The conful was conftrain'd his pomp to crowd;
And fo the swift proceffion hurry'd on,
That all, though not distinctly, might be shown :
So in the ftraiten'd bounds of life confin'd,
She gave but glimpses of her glorious mind :
And multitudes of virtues pafs'd along;
Each preffing foremoft in the mighty throng,
Ambitious to be feen, and then make room
For greater multitudes that were to come.
Yet unemploy'd no minute flipt away;
Moments were precious in fo fhort a stay.
The hafte of heaven to have her was fo great,
That some were single a&s, though each compleat;
But every act food ready to repeat.
Her fellow-faints with bufy care will look
For her bleft name in fate's eternal book;
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