His inoffenfive tongue, from flander free,
From Flattery's vice, or blasted Calumny ;
Knew all the fprings that fecret passions move,
Raife admiration, or infpire with love.
Sententious and inftructive his discourse,
He urg'd his reasons with refiftless force.
A lively eloquence adorn'd his thought,
And happy turns of wit occurr'd unsought:
Expreffive words his flowing sense convey'd,
Juft were his thoughts, and powerful to perfuade.
But, goddefs, now a nobler fcene furvey,
Expand thy wings, thy brightest charms display!
What various beauties here distract thy fight!
What virtues that furmount thy towering flight!
As nameless stars, that form the galaxy,
With undiftinguish'd luftre gild the sky;
So fhone the graces that adorn'd his mind,
And with concenter'd rays their beauties join'd :
Whofe lucid numbers but repel thy fight,
And, thus united, form one glorious orb of light.
His riper years to wisdom he apply'd,
Each path pursued, and every conquest try'd :
Wisdom, the darling attribute alone,
By which th' Almighty 's more distinctly known :
And, when contracted to a narrow span,
Becomes the nobleft faculty of man.
Through books he trac'd her in the pleasing chace, Ranfack'd their stores, and still maintain'd his pace. 2:0 With crowds, and bufy men, he strove to find The flying fair, the object of his mind :
Through specious arts, through all their vain disguise, He faw, diftinguish'd, and obtain'd the prize.
His mind, with each superior talent fraught,
For councils form'd his enterprizing thought:
Quick of dispatch, discreet in every trust,
Rigidly honeft, and feverely juft.
Though kindness in his generous bofom reign'd,
The dignity of power he still maintain'd:
None e'er difcharg'd affairs with more addrefs,
Serv'd better public pofts, or fought them lefs.
His conftancy appear'd in every state,
Fix'd and unmov'd as the decrees of fate :
No fluctuating doubts his mind distress'd,
Nor fhook the strong foundations of his breast.
His refolution bore him ftill above
The rafh effects of enmity or love :
Firm on the bafis of himself he stood,
Of right tenacious, permanent in good.
Hence flow'd a courage unallay'd with fear,
A mind undaunted, and a confcience clear:
With innocence and virtue for a guide,
Successfully he ftem'd th' impetuous tide.
Intrepid thus he revolutions bore,
Nor deviated from paths he trod before:
The power of fortune still difdain'd to own,
Nor courted fmiles, nor funk beneath her frown.
He ferv'd his country, with regards above
he common views of mercenary love :
His paffion fuch, if not extended more,
As pious Romans to their Latium bore.
No fpecious kindness popularly feign'd,
By intereft rais'd, or with ambition ftain'd:
The tender piety his actions show'd,
From duty fprung, from fond affection flow'd.
Untainted with the ftain of either vice,
Of lavish waste, or grasping avarice :
Nor fqander'd wealth, nor with a fordid breaft
Condemn'd to hoards the treasures he poffefs'd.
His hofpitable roof, with plenty ftor'd,
Enjoy'd the bleffings of a fmiling board:
Heaven, that had bless'd him with a large increase,
Gave him a foul deferving to poffefs.
The father's loyalty defcended down,
Endear'd by fufferings, to his rival fon.
As Hannibal pursued the Roman state,
With double portions of his father's hate :
Such fix'd averfion in his bofom fprung,
And arm'd his foul against our factions, young;
A murder'd prince, and flaughter'd parent's fate,
On the rebellious race entail'd his hate :
Firm to the crown his duty he retain'd,
And o'er his heart his rightful monarch reign'd.
View beauties yet of a fublimer kind,
The heavenly off-fpring of a pious mind:
Charms that from innocence and virtue flow,
That to religion all their fplendor owe;
Where no obfcuring spots their luftre hide,
By crimes untainted, undeform'd with pride,
Blefs'd Charity, the pure etherial ray,
That heaven itself does to our breasts convey;
In larger portions to his bofom came,
And o'er his foul diffus'd a stronger flame.
In him the wretched always found relief,
Patron of want, redresser of their grief :
To him th' afflicted never sued in vain,
He felt their miferies, and eas'd their pain,
In midst of plenty free from sensual vice,
Nor more indulg'd than nature would suffice;
The calm and equal temper of his foul
Did every guilty appetite control;
Within their womb the vicious feeds suppress'd,
And strangled forming paffions in his breast.
The Church in him enjoy'd a faithful fon,
Whose duty with his early years begun
A virtuous life his juft obedience show'd,
And from religion his affection flow'd;
Long application fix'd his heart fecure,
He fearch'd her doctrines, and he found them pure. 300
The liturgy employ'd his daily care,
His public worship, and his private prayer :
To all its rites conformity he paid,
The fervice lov'd, and difcipline obey'd.
Such strong devotion, fuch celeftial fire,
Inflam'd his heart, and did his breaft infpire:
As if religion had engross'd the whole,
And heaven remain'd the object of his foul.
Defcend, my Mufe; here ftop thy pleafing flight,
For mournful profpects, gloomy fhades of night.
Attend the last expiring scene of life,
A painful conflict, and unequal strife;
Where Nature languishes beneath the weight
Of racking torments, and approaching fate.
With matchless patience, and undaunted mind,
He bore his anguish, and his soul refign'd :
As he the glorious profpect kept in view,
And our old world rejected for the new.
The bounteous heavens their fruitful bleffings fhed, And chafte Lucina crown'd his nuptial bed :
From whence a fair and numerous off-fpring came,
The happy husband of a matchless dame,
Endear'd by virtues, and unblemish'd fame :
No guilty paffion ever claim'd a part,
The confort of his bed engrofs'd his heart.
As two fair tapers burn with equal flame,
Their heat proportion'd, and their light the fame :
And though by flow degrees they both decline,
Both to the laft with the fame luftre fhine:
Such equal flames infpir'd the happy pair,
Mutual their paffions, and the fame their care:
Though years expir'd, and youth confum'd away,
Their fond affections never felt decay.
As when the fun our hemifphere refigns,
He leaves us light, and by reflection shines :
And when the gloomy interval is o'er,
He rifes bright and glorious as before.
|