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And had I pow'r to give that knowledge birth,
In all the speeches of the babbling earth:
Did Shadrach's zeal my glowing breaft infpire,
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 gueft,
Were not thy pow'r exerted in my breast;
Thofe fpeeches would fend up unheeded pray'r
That fcorn of life would be but wild defpair :
A tymbal'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 just reins, and gentle hand to guide,
Betwixt vile fhame, and arbitrary pride.
Not foon provok'd, fhe eafily forgives;
And much the fuffers, as fhe much believes.
Soft peace the brings where-ever the arrives:
She builds our quiet, as fhe forms our lives:
Lays the rough paths of peevish nature ev'n:
And opens in each heart a little Heav'n.

Each other gift, which God on man beftows,
Its proper bounds, and due reftriction knows;
To one fix'd purpofe dedicates its pow'r ;.
And finishing its act, exifts no more.
Thus, in obedience to what Heav'n decrees,
Knowledge fhall fail, and prophecy shall cease:
But lafting Charity's more ample sway,
Nor bound by time, nor fubject to decay,
In happy triumph fhall for ever live,

And endless good diffuse, and endless praise receive.

As thro' the artist's interveening glass, Our eye obferves the diftant planets pafs;

A little we difcover; but allow,

That more remains unseen, than art can show:
So whilft our mind its knowledge would improve
(Its feeble eye intent on things above)
High as we may, we lift our reafon up,
By Faith directed, and confirm'd by Hope:
Yet are we able only to furvey

Dawnings of beams, and promises of day.
Heav'n's fuller effluence mocks our dazzled fight
Too great its swiftnefs, and too ftreng its light.
But foon the mediate clouds fhall be dispell'd:
The fun shall foon be face to face beheld,
In all his robes, with all his glory on,
Seated fublime on his meridian throne.

Then conftant Faith, and holy Hope fhall die,
One loft in certainty, and one in joy:
Whilft 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 unconfum'd thy flame,
Shalt ftill furvive--

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

in ESSEX.

Engraven on a COLUMN in the Church of HALSTEAD The fpire of which, burnt down by lightning, was rebuilt at the expence of Mr. SAMUEL FISKE, 1717..

VIEW not this fpire by measure giv'n

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To buildings rais'd by common hands: That fabric rifes high as heav'n,

Whofe bafis on devotion ftands.

While yet we draw this vital breath,
We can our Faith and Hope declare :
But Charity beyond our death

Will ever in our works appear.

Bleft be he call'd among good men,

Who to his God this column rais'd: Though lightning ftrike the dome again; The man, who built it, fhall be prais'd.

Yet fpires and towers in duft fhall lie,
The weak efforts of human pains;
And Faith, and Hope themselves fhall die;
While deathless Charity remains.

Written in MONTAIGNE's Essays, given to the Duke of SHREWSBURY in FRANCE, after the Peace 1713.

ICTATE, O mighty judge, what thou haft feen
Of cities, and of courts, of books and men;

And deign to let thy fervant hold the pen.

Through ages thus I may prefume to live;
And from the tranfcript of thy profe receive,
What my own fhort-kv'd verfe can never give.

Thus fhall fair Britain with a gracious fmile-
Accept the work; and the inftructed ifle,
For more than treaties made, shall blefs my toil.

Nor longer hence the Gallic ftyle preferr'd, Wisdom in English Idiom shall be heard;

While Talbot tells the world, where Montaigne err'd

AN EPISTLE,

Defiring the QUEEN's Picture. Written at Paris, 1714, but left unfinished, by the fudden news of her MAJESTY's Death.

THE train of equipage and pomp of state,

TH

The shining fide-board, and the burnish'd plate

Let other minifters, great Anne, require;
And partial fall thy gift to their defire.
To the fair portrait of my fov'reign dame,.
To that alone, eternal be my claim.

My bright defender, and my dread delight,
If ever I found favour in thy fight;
If all the pains that for thy Britain's fake
My past has took, or future life may take,
Be grateful to my Queen permit my pray❜r,
And with this gift reward my total care.
Will thy indulgent hand, fair faint, allow
The boon? and will thy ear accept the vow?

That in despite of age, of impious flame,
And eating time, thy picture like thy fame
Entire may laft; that as their eyes furvey
The femblant fhade, men yet unborn may fay,
Thus great, thus gracious look'd Britannia's Queen;
Her brow thus fmooth, her look was thus ferene ;
When to a low, but to a loyal hand

The mighty emprefs gave her high command,
That he to hostile camps, and kings should hafte,
To speak her vengeance, as their danger, paft;
To fay, the wills detefted wars to cease;

She checks her conqueft, for her subject's ease;
And bids the world attend her terms of peace.

}

Thee, gracious Anne, thee prefent I adore,
Thee, Queen of Peace-If time and fate have power
Higher to raise the glories of thy reign;

In words fublimer, and a nobler ftrain,
May future bards the mighty theme rehearse,
Here, Stator Jove, and Phoebus king of verse,
The votive tablet I fufpend ****.*

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