Rais'd, as ancient prophets were,

In heav'nly vision, praise, and pray'r;
Pleafing all men, hurting none,

Pleas'd and blefs'd with God alone:
Then while the gardens take my fight
With all the colours of delight;
While filver waters glide along,

To please my ear, and court my fong:
I'll lift my voice, and tune my string,
And thee, Great Source of Nature, fing.
The fun that walks his airy way,

To light the world, and give the day;
The moon that shines with borrow'd light;
The ftars that gild the gloomy night;
The feas that roll unnumber'd waves ;
The wood that spreads its fhady leaves;
The field whofe ears conceal the grain,
The yellow treasure of the plain :
All of these, and all I fee,

Should be fung, and fung by me:
They speak their Maker as they can,
But want and ask the tongue of man.

Go, fearch among your idle dreams,
Your bufy or your vain extremes ;
And find a life of equal blifs,
Or own the next begun in this.

PRIOR.

CHARITY.

A PARAPHRASE ON 1 CORINTHIANS XIIL

DID fweeter founds adorn my flowing tongue,
Than ever man pronounc'd, or angels fung:
Had I all knowledge, human and divine,
That thought can reach, or science can define;
And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth,
In all the speeches of the babbling earth:
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breast inspire,
To weary tortures, and rejoice in fire;
Or had I faith like that which Ifrael faw,
When Mofes gave them miracles and law;
Yet, gracious Charity, indulgent guest,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breast,
Those speeches would fend up unheeded pray'r,
That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair:
A cymbal's found were better than my voice;
My faith were form, my eloquence were noife.
Charity, decent, modeft, eafy, kind,

Softens the high, and rears the abject mind;
Knows with juft reins, and gentle hand to guide.
Betwixt vile fhame, and arbitrary pride:
Not foon provok'd, the eafily forgives,
And much the fuffers, as the much believes :
Soft peace the brings wherever the arrives;
She builds our quiet, as the forms our lives a

Lays the rough paths of peevith nature even,
And opens in each heart a little heaven.

Each other gift, which God on man bestows,
Its proper bounds and due reftriction knows;
To one fixt purpofe dedicates its pow'r,
And finishing its act, exifts no more.

Thus, in obedience to what Heav'n decrees,
Knowledge fall fail, and prophecy fhall cease:
But lafting Charity's more ample sway,

Nor bound by time, nor fubject to decay,

In happy triumph thall for ever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive. As through the artist's intervening glass,

Our

eye obferves the diftant planets pafs;

A little we discover; but allow

That more remains unfeen than art can fhow;

So whilft our minds its knowledge would improve (It, feeble eye intent on things above)

High as we may, we lift our reafon up,
Ey Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope:
Yet are we able only to furvey

Dawnings of beams, and promises of day.
Heav'a's fuller effluence mocks our dazzled fight;
Too great its fwiftnefs, and too ftrong its light.
But foon its mediate clouds fhall be dispell'd:

The Sun fhall foon be face to face beheld,
In all his robes, with all his glory on,
Seated fublime on his meridian throne.
Then confiant Faith and holy Hope fhall die,
One loft in certainty, and one in joy :
While thou, more happy pow'r, fair Charity,
Triumphant fifter, greatest of the three,

Thy office and thy nature ftill the fame,

Lafting thy lamp, and unconsum'd thy flame,
Shalt ftill furvive

Shalt ftand before the hoft of heav'n confeft,
For ever bleffing, and for ever bleft.

Ir

THE CONVERSATION.

A,TALE.

always has been thought difcrete,

To know the company you meet;

And fure there may be fecret danger,

In talking much before a stranger.

"Agreed-what then?" Then drink your ale; and repeat my tale.

I'll pledge you,

No matter where the scene is fixt: The perfons were but oddly mixt; When fober Damon thus began

(And Damon is a clever man:)

"I now grow old; but ftill, from youth,
"Have held for Modefty and Truth.
"The men, who by these fea-marks fteer,
"In life's great voyage never err :
"Upon this point I dare defy
"The world. I paufe for a reply."

Sir, either is a good affiftant,'

Said one who fat a little diftant:

Truth decks our fpeeches and our books;

And Modesty adorns our looks:
But farther progress we must takė:
Not only born to look and speak:

The man must act. The Stagyrite Says thus, and fays extremely right: Strict juftice is the fovereign guide, That o'er our actions should prefide: "This Queen of virtues is confeft To regulate and bind the rest. 'Thrice happy if you once can find 'Her equal balance poife your mind :'All different graces foon will enter, 'Like lines concurrent to their centre.' 'Twas thus, in fhort, these two went on, With YEA and NAY, and PRO and CON, Through many points divinely dark,. And Waterland affaulting Clarke; Till, in theology half loft,

Damon took up the Evening-Poft ;
Confounded Spain, compos'd the North,
And deep in politics held forth.

"Methinks we're in the like condition, "As at the Treaty of Partition :

"That ftoke, for all King William's care, "Begat another tedious war.

"Matthew, who knew the whole intrigue, "Ne'er much approv'd that myftic league: "In the vile Utrecht Treaty too, "Poor man! he found enough to do. "Sometimes to me he did apply;

"But down-right Dunstable was I, "And told him where they were mistaken, "And counsel'd him to fave his bacon:

"But (pafs his politics and profe)

"I never herded with his foes;