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Show ?2 T 0 E M S. So Infant Love is in the worthieft breaft; By Senfe and Pafiion fetter'd and oppreft But by degrees it grows ftill more refin'd, And fcorning clogs, only concerns the mind. N o w as the Soul you lov'd is here fet free From its material grofs capacity 5 Your love fhould follow him now he is gone, And quitting Pafiion, put Perfection on. Such Love as this will its o w n good deny, If its dear Object have Felicity. And fince w e cannot his great I ofs reprieve, Let's not lofe you in w h o m he ftill doth Live. For while you are by Grief fecluded thus, It doth appear your Funeral to us. In memory of the mofl juflty Honoured, Mrs. O w e n of Orielton. AS when the ancient World by Reafon liv'd9 The Afian Monarchs deaths were never griev'd; Their glorious I ives made all their Subjects call Their Rites a Triumph, not a Funeral: So ftill the Good are Princes, and their Fate Invites us not to weep but imitate. Nature intends a progrefs of each ftage Whereby weak M a n creeps to fucceecling Age, Ripens him for that Change for which he's made, Where th' active Soul is in her Centre ftaid. And fince none ftript of Infancy complain, 'Caufe 'tis both their neceffity and gain : So Age and Death by flow approaches come, And by that juft inevitable doom By which the Soul (her cloggy drofs once gone) Puts on Perfection, and relumes her own. Since then we mourn a happy oul, O why Difturb we her with erring Piety ? Who's fo enamour'd on the beauteous Ground, W h e n with rich Autumn's livery hung round, <P 0 E M S. cr As to deny a Sickle to his Grain, And not undrefs the teeming Earth again •?• Fruits grow for ufe, Mankind is born to die ;• And both Fates have the fame neceffity. Then grieve no more, fad Relatives, but learn > Sigh not, but Profit by your juft concern. Read over her L ife s volume : wife and good, Not 'caufe fhe .muft be fo, but 'caufe fhe'wou'd. T o chofen Virtue ftill a conftant friend, She faw the Times which chang'd, but did not mend. And as fome are fo civil to the Sun, They'd fix his beams, and make the Earth to run: So fhe unmov'd beheld the angry Fate Which tore a Church, and overthrew a State : Still durft be Good, and o w n the noble Truth, T o crown her Age which had adorn'd her Youth. Great without Pride, a Soul which ftill could be Humble and high, full of calm Majefty. She kept true ftate within, and could not buy Her Satisfaction with her Charity. Fortune or Birth ne'er rais'd her Mind, which flood, Not on her being rich, but doing good. Oblig'd the World, but yet would fcorn to be Paid with requitals, Thanks or Vanity. H o w oft .did fhe what all the World adore, Make the Poor happy wit*- ^ler ufeful ftore ? So general was her Bounty/ that fhe gave Equality to all before the Grave. By feveral means fhe different perfons ty'd, W h o by her Goodnefs onely were ally d< Her Virtue was her Temper, not her Fit 5 Fear'd nothing but the Crimes which fome commit; Scorn'd thofe dark Arts which pafs for Wifdom now, Nor to a mean ignoble thing could bow. And her vaft Prudence had no other end, But to forgive a Foe, endear a Friend : T o ufe, but flight, the World; and fixt above, Shine down in beams of Piety and Love, Why |
