Gold uncoin'd Had been unuseful nor with glory shin'd This stamp'd my Innocency in the Ore Which was as much but not so bright before Till an Alembick wakes and outward draws The strength of Sweets lies sleeping in their Cause So this gave me an opportunity To feed upon my own Integrity And though their Judgment I must still disclaim Who can nor give nor take away a fame Yet I 'le appeal unto the knowing few Who dare be just and rip his heart to you XXXI To Antenor on a Paper of mine which J. Jones threatens to publish to prejudice him MUst then my Crimes become his Scandal too Why sure the Devil hath not much to doe The weakness of the other Charge is clear When such a trifle must bring up the Rear But this is mad design for who before Lost his Repute upon anothers score My Love and Life I must confess are thine But not my Errours they are only mine And if my Faults must be for thine allow'd It will be hard to dissipate the Cloud For Eve's Rebellion did not Adam blast Untill himself forbidden Fruit did taste 'T is possible this Magazine of Hell ' Whose name would turn a Virge into a spell Whose mischief is congenial to his life May yet enjoy an honourable Wife Nor let his ill be reckoned as her blame Nor yet my Follies blast Antenor's name But if those lines a Punishment could call Lasting and great as this dark Lanthorn's gall Alone I 'd court the Torments with content To testifie that thou art Innocent So if my Ink through malice prov'd a stain My Bloud should justly wash it off again But since that Mint of slander could invent To make so dull a Ryme his Instrument Let Verse revenge the quarrel But he 's worse Then wishes and below a Poet's curse And more then this Wit knows not how to give Let him be still himself and let him live XXXII To the truly Noble Mrs. Anne Owen on my first Approches Madam AS in a Triumph Conquerors admit Their meanest Captives to attend on it Who though unworthy have the power confest And justifi'd the yielding of the rest So when the busie World in hope t' excuse Their own surprize your Conquest do peruse And find my name they will be apt to say Your charms were blinded or else thrown away There is no honour got in gaining me Who am a prize not worth your Victory But this will clear you that 't is general The worst applaud what is admir'd by all But I have Plots in 't for the way to be Secure of fame to all Posterity Is to obtain the honour I pursue To tell the World I was subdu'd by you And since in you all wonders common are Your Votaries may in your Vertues share While you by noble Magick worth impart She that can Conquer can reclaim a heart Of this Creation I shall not despair Since for your own sake it concerns your care For 't is more honour that the world should know You made a noble Soul then found it so XXXIII Rosannia shadowed whilest Mrs. Mary Awbrey IF any could my dear Rosannia hate They onely should her Character relate Truth shines so bright there that an enemy Would be a better Oratour then I. Love stifles Language and I must confess I had said more if I had loved less Yet the most critical who that Face see Will ne're suspect a partiality Others by time and by degrees persuade But her first look doth every heart invade She hath a Face so eminently bright Would make a Lover of an Anchorite A Face whose conquest mixt with modesty Are both completed in Divinity Not her least glance but sets them all on fire And checks them if they would too much aspire Such is the Magick of her Looks the same Beam doth both kindle and refine our flame If she doth smile no Painter e're would take Another Rule when he would merry make And to her splendour Heaven hath allow'd That not a posture can her Beauty cloud For if she frown none but would phansie then Justice descended here to punish Men. Her common looks I know not how to call Any one Grace they are compos'd of all And if we Mortals could the doctrine reach Her Eyes have language and her Looks do teach Such is her whole frame Heaven does afford Her not to be desir'd but still ador'd But as in Palaces the outmost worst Rooms entertain our wonder at the first But once within the Presence-chamber door We do despise whate're we saw before So when you with her Mind acquaintance get You 'l hardly think upon the Cabinet Her Soul that Ray shot from the Deity Doth still preserve its native purity Which Earth can neither threaten or allure Nor by false joyes defile it or obscure Such Innocence within her heart doth dwell Angels themselves do onely parallel And should her whole Sex to dissembling fall Her own Integrity redeems them all Transparent clear and will no words admit And all Comparisons but slubber it More gently soft then is an Evening-shower And in that sweetness there is coucht a Power Which scorning pride doth think it very hard If Modesty should need so mean a Guard Her Honour is protected by her Eyes As the old Flaming Sword kept Paradise Such Constancy of temper truth and law Guides all her actions that the World may draw From her own self the noblest Precedent Of the most safe wife vertuous Government She courts Retirement is herself alone Above a Theatre and beyond a Throne So rich a Soul none can say properly She hath but is each noble Quality And as the highest Element is clear From all the Tempests which disturb the Air So she above the World and its rude noise Within a Storm a quiet Calm enjoys She scorns the sullen trifles of the Time But things transcendent do her thoughts sublime Unlike those Gallants which take far less care To have their Souls then make their Bodies fair Who sick with too much leisure time do pass With these two books Pride and a Looking-glass Plot to surprize Mens hearts their pow'r to try And call that Love which is mere Vanity But she although the greatest Murtherer For ev'ry glance commits a Massacre Yet glories not that slaves her power confess But wishes that her Monarchy were less And if she love it is not thrown away As many doe onely to spend the day But her 's is serious and enough alone To make all Love become Religion Yea to her Friendship she so faithful is That 't is her onely blot and prejudice For Envy's self could never errour see Within that Soul ' bating her love to me Now as I must confess the name of Friend To her that all the World doth comprehend Is a most wild Ambition so for me To draw her picture is flat Lunacy Oh! I must think the rest for who can write Or into words confine what 's Infinite XXXIV To the Queen of Inconstancy
Who from the top of his Prosperities Can take a fall and yet without surprize Who with the same august and even state Can entertain the best and worst of Fate Whose suffering's sweet if Honour once adorn it Who slights Revenge not that he fears but scorns it Whose Happiness in ev'ry Fortune lives For that no Fortune either takes or gives Who no unhandsome wayes can bribe his Fate Nay out of Prison marches through the Gate Who losing all his Titles and his Pelf Nay all the World can never lose himself This Person shines indeed and he that can Be Vertuous is the great Immortal man LXI A Country-life HOw Sacred and how Innocent A Country-life appears How free from Tumult Discontent From Flattery or Fears This was the first and happiest Life When man enjoy'd himself Till Pride exchanged Peace for Strife And Happiness for Pelf 'T was here the Poets were inspir'd And sang their Mysteries And while the listning World admir'd Mens Minds did civilize That Golden Age did entertain No Passion but of Love The thoughts of Ruling and of Gain Did ne're their Fancies move None then did envy Neighbour's wealth Nor Plot to wrong his bed Happy in Friendship and in Health On Roots not Beasts they fed They knew no Law nor Physick then Nature was all their Wit And if there yet remain to men Content sure this is it What Blessings doth this World afford To tempt or bribe desire For Courtship is all Fire and Sword Who would not then retire Then welcome dearest Solitude My great Felicity Though some are pleas'd to call thee rude Thou art not so but we Such as do covet only rest A Cottage will suffice Is it not brave to be possest Of Earth but to despise Opinion is the rate of things From hence our Peace doth flow I have a better Fate then Kings Because I think it so When all the stormy World doth wear How unconcern'd am I I cannot fear to tumble lower That never could be high Secure in these unenvi'd walls I think not on the State And pity no mans case that falls From his Ambition's height Silence and Innocence are safe A heart that 's nobly true At all these little Arts can laugh That do the World subdue While others Revel it in State Here I 'le contented sit And think I have as good a Fate As Wealth and Pomp admit Let some in Courtship take delight And to th' Exchange resort There Revel out a Winter's night Not making Love but Sport These never knew a noble Flame 'T is Lust Scorn or Design While Vanity playes all their Game Let Peace and Honour mine When the inviting Spring appears To Hide-Parke let them go And hasting thence be full of fears To lose Spring-Garden shew Let others nobler seek to gain In Knowledge happy Fate And others busie them in vain To study wayes of State But I resolved from within Confirmed from without In Privacy intend to spin My future Minutes out And from this Hermitage of mine I banish all wild toyes And nothing that is not Divine Shall dare to tempt my Joyes There are below but two things good Friendship and Honesty And only those alone I would Ask for Felicity In this retir'd Integrity Free from both War and noise I live not by Necessity But wholly by my Choice LXII To Mrs. Wogan my Honoured Friend on the Death of her Husband DRy up your tears there 's enough shed by you And we must pay our share of Sorrows too It is no private loss when such men fall The World 's concern'd and Grief is general But though of our Misfortune we complain To him it is injurious and vain For since we know his rich Integrity His real Sweetness and full Harmony How free his heart and house were to his Friends Whom he oblig'd without Design or Ends How universal was his Courtesie How clear a Soul how even and how high How much he scorn'd disguise or meaner Arts But with a native Honour conquer'd Hearts We must conclude he was a Treasure lent Soon weary of this sordid Tenement The Age and World deserv'd him not and he Was kindly snatch'd from future Misery We can scarce say he 's Dead but gone to rest And left a Monument in ev'ry breast For you to grieve then in this sad excess Is not to speak your Love but make it less A noble Soul no Friendship will admit But what 's Eternal and Divine as it The Soul is hid in mortal flesh we know And all its weaknesses must undergo Till by degrees it does shine forth at length And gathers Beauty Purity and Strength But never yet doth this Immortal Ray Put on full splendour till it put off Day So Infant Love is in the worthiest breast By Sense and Passion fetter'd and opprest But by degrees it grows still more refin'd And scorning clogs only concerns the Mind Now as the Soul you lov'd is here set free From its material gross capacity Your Love should follow him now he is gone And quitting Passion put Perfection on Such Love as this will its own good deny If its dear Object have Felicity And since we cannot his great Loss Reprieve Let 's not lose you in whom he still doth Live For while you are by Grief secluded thus It doth appear your Funeral to us LXIII In memory of the most justly honoured Mrs. Owen of Orielton AS when the ancient World by Reason liv'd The Asian Monarchs deaths were never griev'd Their glorious Lives made all their Subjects call Their Rites a Triumph not a Funeral So still the Good are Princes and their Fate Invites us not to weep but imitate Nature intends a progress of each stage Whereby weak Man creeps to succeeding Age Ripens him for that Change for which he 's made Where th' active Soul is in her Centre laid And since none stript of Infancy complain Cause 't is both their necessity and gain So Age and Death by slow approches come And by that just inevitable doom By which the Soul her cloggy dross once gone Puts on Perfection and resumes her own Since then we mourn a happy Soul O why Disturb we her with erring Piety Who 's so enamour'd on the beauteous Ground When with rich Autumn's livery hung round As to deny a Sickle to his Grain And not undress the teeming Earth again Fruits grow for use Mankind is born to die And both Fates have the same necessity Then grieve no more sad Relatives but learn Sigh not but profit by your just concern Reade over her Life's volume wise and good Not 'cause she must be so but 'cause she wou'd To chosen Vertue still a constant friend She saw the Times which chang'd but did not mend And as some are so civil to the Sun They 'd fix his beams and make the Earth to run So she unmov'd beheld the angry Fate Which tore a Church and overthrew a State Still durst be Good and own the noble Truth To
mankind wish for in vain But yet his Pleasure 's follow'd with a Groan For man was never born to be alone 8. Content her-self best comprehends Borwixt-two souls and they two friends Whose either joyes in both are fixed And multiply'd by being mixed Whose minds and interests are still the same Their Griefs when once imparted lose their name 10. These far remov'd from all bold noise And what is worse all hollow joyes Who never had a mean design Whose flame is serious and divine And calm and even must contented be For they 've both Union and Society 11. Then my Lucasia we have Whatever Love can give or crave With scorn or pity can survey The Trifles which the most betray With innocence and perfect friendship fired By Vertue joyn'd and by our Choice retired 12. Whose Mirrours are the crystal Brooks Or else each others Hearts and Looks Who cannot wish for other things Then Privacy and Friendship brings Whose thoughts and persons chang'd and mixt are one Enjoy Content or else the World hath none XIX A Dialogue of Absence 'twixt Lucasia and Orinda Set by Mr. Hen. Lawes Luc. SAy my Orinda why so sad Orin Absence frō thee doth tear my heart Which since with thine it union had Each parting splits Luc. And can we part Orin Our Bodies must Luc. But never we Our Souls without the help of Sense By wayes more noble and more free Can meet and hold intelligence Orin And yet those Souls when first they met Lookt out at windows through the Eyes Luc. But soon did such acquaintance get Not Fate nor Time can them surprize Orin Absence will rob us of that bliss To which this Friendship title brings Love's fruits and joyes are made by this Useless as Crowns to captiv'd Kings Luc. Friendship 's a Science and we know There Contemplation's most employ'd Orin Religion's so but practick too And both by niceties destroy'd Luc. But who ne're parts can never meet And so that happiness were lost Orin Thus Pain and Death are sadly sweet Since Health and Heav'n such price must cost Chorus But we shall come where no rude hand shall sever And there wee 'l meet and part no more for ever XX. To my dear Sister Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial WE will not like those men our offerings pay Who crown the cup then think they crown the day We make no garlands nor an altar build Which help not Joy but Ostentation yield Where mirth is justly grounded these wild toyes ********** 2. But these shall be my great Solemnities Orinda's wishes for Cassandra's bliss May her Content be as unmix'd and pure As my Affection and like that endure And that strong Happiness may she still find Not owing to her Fortune but her Mind 3. May her Content and Duty be the same And may she know no Grief but in the name May his and her Pleasure and Love be so Involv'd and growing that we may not know Who most Affection or most Peace engrost Whose Love is strongest or whose Bliss is most 4. May nothing accidental e're appear But what shall with new bonds their Souls endear And may they count the hours as they pass By their own Joys and not by Sun or Glass While every day like this may sacred prove To Friendship Gratitude and strictest Love XXI To Mr. Henry Vaughan Silurist on his Poems HAd I ador'd the multitude and thence Got an antipathy to Wit and Sense And hugg'd that fate in hope the World would grant 'T was good affection to be ignorant Yet the least Ray of thy bright fancy seen I had converted or excuseless been For each Birth of thy Muse to after-times Shall expiate for all this Age's crimes First shines thy Amoret twice crown'd by thee Once by thy Love next by thy Poetry Where thou the best of Unions dost dispence Truth cloth'd in Wit and Love in Innocence So that the muddiest Lovers may learn here No Fountains can be sweet that are not clear There Juvenal reviv'd by thee declares How flat man's Joys are and how mean his Cares And generally upbraids the World that they Should such a value for their Ruine pay But when thy sacred Muse diverts her Quill The Landskip to design of Leon's hill As nothing else was worthy her or thee So we admire almost t' Idolatry What Savage breast would not be rap'd to find Such Jewels in such Cabinets enshrin'd Thou fill'd with Joys too great to see or count Descend'st from thence like Moses from the Mount And with a candid yet unquestion daw Restor'st the Golden Age when Verse was Law Instructing us thou who secur'st thy fame That nothing can disturb it but my name Nay I have hopes that standing so near thine 'T will lose its dress and by degrees refine Live till the disabused World consent All Truths of Use or Strength or Ornament Are with such Harmony by thee display'd As the whole World was first by Number made And from the charming Rigour thy Muse brings Learn there 's no pleasure but in serious things XXII A retir'd Friendship to Ardelia COme my Ardelia to this Bower Where kindly mingling Souls awhile Let 's innocently spend an hour And at all ferious follies smile 2. Here is no quarrelling for Crowns Nor fear of changes in our Fate No trembling at the great ones frowns Nor any slavery of State 3. Here 's no disguise nor treachery Nor any deep conceal'd design From Bloud and Plots this place is free And calm as are those looks of thine 4. Here let us sit and bless our Stars Who did such happy qulet give As that remov'd from noise of Wars In one anothers hearts we live 5. Why should we entertain a fear Love cares not how the World is turn'd If crouds of dangers should appear Yet Friendship can be unconcern'd 6. We wear about us such a charm No horrour can be our offence For mischief's self can doe no harm To Friendship or to Innocence 7. Let 's mark how soon Apollo's beams Command the flocks to quit their meat And not entreat the neighbouring Springs To quench their thirst but cool their heat 8. In such a scorching Age as this Who would not ever seek a shade Deserve their Happiness to miss As having their own peace betray'd 9. But we of one anothers mind Assur'd the boisterous World disdain With quiet Souls and unconfin'd Enjoy what Princes wish in vain XXIII To Mrs. Mary Carne when Philaster courted her Madam AS some great Conqueror who knows no bounds But hunting Honour in a thousand wounds Pursues his rage and thinks that Triumph cheap That 's but attended with the common heap Till his more happy fortune doth afford Some Royal Captive that deserv'd his sword And onely now is of his Laurel proud Thinking his dang'rous valour well bestow'd But then retreats and spending hate no more Thinks Mercy now what Courage was before As Cowardise in fight so equally He doth abhor a bloudy Victory So Madam though your Beauty were
Flame Fate dares not move And courting Death to be our friend Our Lives together too shall end 10. A Dew shall dwell upon our Tomb Of such a quality That fighting Armies thither come Shall reconciled be We 'l ask no Epitaph but say ORINDA and ROSANNIA LIV. To my dearest Antenor on his Parting THough it be just to grieve when I must part With him that is the Guardian of my Heart Yet by an happy change the loss of mine Is with advantage paid in having thine And I by that dear Guest instructed find Absence can doe no hurt to Souls combin'd As we were born to love brought to agree By the impressions of Divine Decree So when united nearer we became It did not weaken but increase our Flame Unlike to those who distant joys admire But slight them when possest of their desire Each of our Souls did in its temper fit And in the other's Mould so fashion'd it That now our Inclinations both are grown Like to our Interests and Persons one And Souls whom such an Union fortifies Passion can ne're destroy nor Fate surprize Now as in Watches though we do not know When the Hand moves we find it still doth go So I by secret Sympathy inclin'd Will absent meet and underst and thy mind And thou at thy return shalt find thy Heart Still safe with all the love thou didst impart For though that treasure I have ne're deserv'd It shall with strong Religion be preserv'd And besides this thou shalt in me survey Thy self reflected while thou art away For what some forward Arts do undertake The Images of absent Friends to make And represent their actions in a Glass Friendship it self can onely bring to pass That Magick which both Fate and Time beguiles And in a moment runs a thousand miles So in my Breast thy Picture drawn shall be My Guide Life Object Friend and Destiny And none shal know though they imploy their wit Which is the right Antenor thou or it LV. Engraven on Mr. Collier's Tomb-stone at Bedlington HEre what remains of him doth lie Who was the World's Epitome Religion's Darling Merchants Glory Mens true Delight and Vertue 's Story Who though a Prisoner to the Grave A glorious Freedom once shall have Till when no Monument is fit But what 's beyond our love and wit LVI On the little Regina Collier on the same Tomb-stone VErtue 's Blossom Beautie 's Bud The Pride of all that 's fair and good By Death's fierce hand was snatched hence In her state of Innocence Who by it this advantage gains Her wages got without her pains LVII Friendship LEt the dull brutish World that know not Love Continue Hereticks and disapprove That noble Flame but the refined know 'T is all the Heaven we have here below Nature subsists by Love and they do tie Things to their Causes but by Sympathy Love chains the different Elements in one Great Harmony link'd to the Heav'nly Throne And as on Earth so the blest Quire above Of Saints and Angels are maintain'd by Love That is their Business and Felicity And will be so to all Eternity That is the Ocean our Affections here Are but streams borrow'd from the Fountain there And 't is the noblest Argument to prove A Beauteous mind that it knows how to Love Those kind Impressions which Fate can't controul Are Heaven's mintage on a worthy Soul For Love is all the Arts Epitome And is the Sum of all Divinity He 's worse then Beast that cannot Love and yet It is not bought for Money Pains or Wit For no change or design can Spirits move But the Eternal destiny of Love And when two Souls are chang'd and mixed so It is what they and none but they can doe This this is Friendship that abstracted flame Which groveling Mortals know not how to name All Love is sacred and the Marriage-tie Hath much of Honour and Divinity But Lust Design or some unworthy ends May mingle there which are despis'd by Friends Passion hath violent extreams and thus All oppositions are contiguous So when the end is serv'd their Love will bate If Friendship make it not more fortunate Friendship that Love's Elixir that pure fire Which burns the clearer 'cause it burns the higher For Love like earthly fires which will decay If the material fuel be away Is with offensive smoke accompanied And by resistance only is supplied But Friendship like the fiery Element With its own Heat and Nourishment content Where neither hurt nor smoke nor noise is made Scorns the assistance of a forein aid Friendship like Heraldry is hereby known Richest when plainest bravest when alone Calm as a Virgin and more Innocent Then sleeping Doves are and as much content As Saints in Visions quiet as the Night But clear and open as the Summer's light United more then Spirits Faculties Higher in thoughts then are the Eagle's eyes Free as first Agents are true Friends and kind As but their selves selves I can no likeness find LVIII The Enquiry 1. IF we no old Historian's name Authentick will admit But think all said of Friendship 's fame But Poetry or Wit Yet what 's rever'd by Minds so pure Must be a bright Idea sure 2. But as our Immortality By inward sense we find Judging that if it could not be It would not be design'd So here how could such Copies fall If there were no Original 3. But if Truth be in ancient Song Or Story we believe If the inspir'd and greater Throng Have scorned to deceive There have been Hearts whose Friendship gave Them thoughts at once both soft and grave 4. Among that consecrated Crew Some more Seraphick shade Lend me a favourable Clew Now mists my eyes invade Why having fill'd the World with fame Left you so little of your flame 5. Why is 't so difficult to see Two Bodies and one Mind And why are those who else agree So difficulty kind Hath Nature such fantastick art That she can vary every Heart 6. Why are the bands of Friendship tied With so remiss a knot That by the most it is defied And by the most forgot Why do we step with so light sense From Friendship to Indifference 7. If Friendship Sympathy impart Why this ill-shuffled game That Heart can never meet with Heart Or Flame encounter Flame What does this Cruelty create Is 't the Intrigue of Love or Fate 8. Had Friendship ne're been known to Men The Ghost at last confest The World had then a stranger been To all that Heav'n possest But could it all be here acquir'd Not Heav'n it self would be desir'd LIX To my Lucasia in defence of declared Friendship 1. O My Lucasia let us speak our Love And think not that impertinent can be Which to us both doth such assurance prove And whence we find how justly we agree 2. Before we knew the treasures of our Love Our noble aims our joys did entertain And shall enjoyment nothing then improve 'T were best for us then to begin again
Imprimatur Nov. 25. 1663. Roger L'Estrange POEMS By the Incomparable Mrs. K. P. LONDON Printed by J. G. for Rich. Marriott at his Shop under S. Dunstans Church in Fleet-street 1664. To the most excellently accomplish'd Mrs. K. P. upon her Poems 1. WE allow'd your Beauty and we did submit To all the tyrannies of it Ah cruel Sex will you depose us too in Wit Orinda does in that too reign Does Man behind her in proud triumph draw And cancel great Apollo's Salick Law We our old Title plead in vain Man may be Head but Woman 's now our Brain Worse then Love's fire-arms heretofore In Beauty's camp it was not known Too many arms besides the Conquerour bore 'T was the great Cannon we brought down T assault the stubborn Town Orinda first did a bold sally make Our strongest quarter take And so successful prov'd that she Turn'd upon Love himself his own Artillery 2. Women as if the Body were the whole Did that and not the Soul Transmit to their posterity If in it something they conceiv'd Th' abortive Issue never liv'd 'T were shame and pity Orinda if in thee A Sp'rit so rich so noble and so high Should unmanur'd or barren lie But thou industriously hast sow'd and till'd The fair and fruitful Field And 't is a strange increase that it doth yield As when the happy Gods above Meet all together at a F east A secret joy unspeakably does move In their great Mother Semele's contented breast With no less pleasure thou methinks shouldst see Thus thy no less immortal Progeny And in their Birth thou no one touch do st find Of th' ancient C urse to Woman-kind Thou bring ' st not forth with pain It neither travel is nor labour of thy Brain So easily they from thee come And there is so much room I' th' unexhausted and unfathom'd womb That like the Holland Countess thou might ' st bear A Child for ev'ry day of all the fertile year 3. Thou dost my wonder would ' st my envy raise If to be prais'd I lov'd more then to praise Where-e're I see an excellence I must admire to see thy well-knit Sense Thy Numbers gentle and thy Passions high These as thy Forehead smooth those sparkling as thy Eye 'T is solid and 't is manly all Or rather 't is Angelical For as in Angels we Do in thy Verses see Both improv'd Sexes eminently meet They are then Man more strong and more then Woman sweet 4. They talk of Nine I know not who Female Chimaera's that o're Poets reign I ne're could find that Fancy true But have invok'd them oft I 'me sure in vain They talk of Sappho but alas the shame I' th' manners soil the lustre of her fame Orinda's inward Vertue is so bright That like a Lantern's fair enclosed light It through the Paper shines where she doth write Honour and Friendship and the gen'rous scorn Of things for which we were not born Things which of custom by a fond disease Like that of Girles our vicious stomachs please Are the instructive subjects of her Pen. And as the Roman Victory Taught our rude Land arts and civility At once she takes enslaves and governs Men. 5. But Rome with all her arts could ne're inspire A Female Breast with such a fire The warlike Amazonian Train Which in Elysium now do peaceful reign And Wit 's wild Empire before Arms prefer Find ' twill be settled in their Sex by her Merlin the Prophet and sure he 'l not lie In such an awful Company Does Prophecies of learn'd Orinda show What he had darkly spoke so long ago Even Boadicla's's angry Ghost Forgets her own misfortune and disgrace And to her injur'd Daughters now does boast That Rome's o'recome at last by a Woman of her race Abraham Cowley To the Incomparable Mrs. K. P. Author of these Poems Madam THe Beauty of your Lines is 't not so clear You need no Foil to make 't the more appear She that 's Superlative although alone Consider'd gains not by Comparison And yet whate're hath hitherto been writ By others tends to magnifie your Wit What 's said of Origen When he did well Interpret Texts no man did him excell When ill no man did e're go so awry We may t' your Sex though not to you apply For now we 've seen from a Feminine Quill Poetry good as e're was and as ill H. A. THE TABLE Poem 1 UPon the double Murther of K. Charles I. in answer to a libellous copy of Rimes made by Vavasor Powell Page 1 2 On the numerous access of the English to wait upon the King in Flanders 3 3 Arion to a Dolphin on His Majesty's passage into England 5 4 On the fair weather just at Coronation 9 5 To the Queen's Majesty on her arrival at Portsmouth May 14. 1662. 10 6 To the Queen-mother's Majesty Jan. 1. 1660 1. 13 7 Upon the Princess Royal her return into England 16 8 On the death of the illustrious Duke of Gloucester 18 9 To her Royal Highness the Duchess of York on her commanding me to send her some things that I had written 22 10 On the death of the Queen of Bohemia 24 11 On the 3 of September 1651. 27 12 To the noble Palaemon on his incomparable discourse of Friendship 29 13 To the right Honourable Alice Countess of Carbury on her enriching Wales with her presence 31 14 To Sir Edw. Deering the noble Silvander on his Dream and Navy personating Orinda's preferring Rosania before Solomon's traffick to Ophir 34 15 To the truly-noble Mr. Henry Lawes 37 16 A Sea-voyage from Tenby to Bristoll begun Sept. 5 1652. sent from Bristoll to Lucasia Sept. 8. 1652. 39 17 Friendship 's Mystery to my dearest Lucasia Set by Mr. Henry Lawes 43 18 Content to my dearest Lucasia 45 19 A Dialogue of Absence 'twixt Lucasia and Orinda Set by Mr. Henry Lawes 50 20 To my dear Sister Mrs. C. P. on her Nuptial 52 21 To Mr. Henry Vaughan Silurist on his Poems 54 22 A retir'd Friendship to Ardelia 56 23 To Mrs. Mary Carne when Philaster courted her 59 24 To Mr. J. B. the noble Cratander upon a Composition of his which he was not willing to own publickly 62 25 Lucasia 64 26 Wiston Vault 68 27 Friendship in Embleme or the Seal To my dearest Lucasia 70 28 In memory of T. P. who died at Action May 24. 1660. at 12. and ½ of age 75 29 In memory of that excellent person Mrs. Mary Lloyd of Bodidrist in Denbigh-shire who died Nov. 13. 1656. after she came thither from Pembroke-shire 81 30 To the truly-competent judge of Honour Lucasia upon a scandalous Libel made by J. Jones 87 31 To Antenor on a Paper of mine which J. Jones threatens to publish to prejudice him 91 32 To the truly-noble Mrs. Anne Owen on my first approches 93 33 Rosania shadowed whilest Mrs. Mary Awbrey 94 34 To the Queen of Inconstancy Regina Collier in Antwerp 100 35 To the excellent
pursued A Wit so strong that who would it define Will need one ten times more acute then mine Yet rul'd so that its Vigour manag'd thus Becomes at once graceful and generous Whose Honour has so delicate a Sense Who alwayes pardon never give offence Who needing nothing yet to all are kind Who have so large a Heart so rich a Mind Whose Friendship still 's of the obliging side And yet so free from tyranny and Pride Who do in love like Jonathan descend And strip your self to cloath your happy friend Whose kindness and whose modesty is such T' expect so little and deserve so much Who have such candid worth such dear concern Where we so much may love and so much learn Whose very wonder though it fills and shines It never to an ill excess declines But all are found so sweetly opposite As are in Titian's Pieces Shade and Light That he that would your great Description try Though he write well would be as lost as I Who of injurious Zele convicted stand To draw you with so bold and bad a hand But that like other Glories I presume You will enlighten where you might consume XLVI Parting with Lucasia Jan. 13. 1657. A Song 1. WEll we will doe that rigid thing Which makes Spectators think we part Though Absence hath for none a sting But those who keep each others heart 2. And when our Sense is dispossest Our labouring Souls will heave and pant And grasp for one anothers breast Since they their Conveyances want 3. Nay we have felt the tedious smart Of absent Friendship and do know That when we die we can but part And who knows what we shall doe now 4. Yet I must go we will submit And so our own Disposers be For while we noblier suffer it We triumph o're Necessity 5. By this we shall be truly great If having other things o'recome To make our victory complete We can be Conquerors at home 6. Nay then to meet we may conclude And all Obstructions overthrow Since we our Passion have subdu'd Which is the strongest thing I know XLVII Against Pleasure Set by Dr. Coleman 1. THere 's no such thing as Pleasure 'T is all a perfect Cheat Which does but shine and disappear Whose Charm is but Deceit The empty bribe of yielding Souls Which first betrays and then controuls 2. 'T is true it looks at distance fair But if we do approch The fruit of Sodom will impair And perish at a touch It being then in phancy less And we expect more then possess 3. For by our Pleasures we are cloy'd And so Desire is done Or else like Rivers they make wide The Channel where they run And either way true bliss destroys Making Us narrow or our Joys 4. We covet Pleasure easily But it not so possess For many things must make it be But one way makes it less Nay were our state as we could chuse it 'T would be consum'd for fear to lose it 5. What art thou then thou winged Air More swift then winged Fame Whos 's next successour is Despair And its attendant Shame Th' Experience-Prince then reason had Who said of Pleasure It is mad XLVIII Out of Mr. More 's Cop. Conf. THrice happy he whose Name is writ above Who doeth good though gaining infamy Requiteth evil turns with hearty love And cares not what befalls him outwardly Whose worth is in himself and onely bliss In his pure Conscience which doth nought amiss Who placeth pleasure in his purged Soul And Vertuous Life his treasure does esteem Who can his Passions master and controul And that true Lordly Manliness doth deem Who from this World himself hath dearly quit Counts nought his own but what lives in his sp'rit So when his Spirit from this vain World shall flit It bears all with it whatsoe're was dear Unto it self passing an easie Fit As kindly Corn ripened comes out of th' Ear. Careless of what all idle men will say He takes his own and calmly goes his way Eternal Reason Glorious Majesty Compar'd to whom what can be said to be Whose Attributes are Thee who art alone Cause of all various things and yet but One Whose Essence can no more be search'd by Man Then Heav'n thy Throne be grasped with a Span. Yet if this great Creation was design'd To several ends fitted for every kind Sure Man the World's Epitome must be Form'd to the best that is to study thee And as our Dignity 't is Duty too Which is summ'd up in this to know and doo These comely rowes of Creatures spell thy Name Whereby we grope to find from whence they came By thy own Change of Causes brought to think There must be one then find that highest Link Thus all created Excellence we see Is a resemblance saint and dark of thee Such shadows are produc'd by the Moon-beams Of Trees or Houses in the running streams Yet by Impressions born with us we find How good great just thou art how unconfin'd Here we are swallow'd up and daily dwell Safely adoring what we cannot tell All we know is thou art supremely good And dost delight to be so understood A spicy Mountain on the Universe On which thy richest Odours do disperse But as the Sea to fill a Vessel heaves More greedily then any Cask receives Besieging round to find some gap in it Which will a new Infusion admit So dost thou covet that thou mayst dispence Upon the empty World thy Influence Lov'st to disburse thy self in kindness Thus The King of Kings waits to be gracious On this account O God enlarge my heart To entertain what thou wouldst fain impart Nor let that Soul by several titles thine And most capacious form'd for things Divine So nobly meant that when it most doth miss 'T is in mistaken pantings after Bliss Degrade it self in sordid things delight Or by prophaner mixtures lose its right Oh! that with fixt unbroken thoughts it may Admire the light which does obscure the day And since 't is Angels work it hath to doe May its composure be like Angels too When shall these clogs of Sense and Fancy break That I may hear the God within me speak When with a silent and retired art Shall I with all this empty hurry part To the Still Voice above my Soul advance My light and joy 's plac'd in his Countenance By whose dispence my Soul to such frame brought Maytame each trech'rous fix each scat'ringthought With such distinctions all things here behold And so to separate each dross from gold That nothing my free Soul may satisfie But t' imitate enjoy and study thee XLIX To Mrs. M. A. upon Absence Set by Mr. Hen. Lawes 1. T Is now since I began to die Four Moneths and more yet gasping live Wrapp'd up in sorrow do I lie Hoping yet doubting a Reptieve Adam from Paradise expell'd Just such a wretched being held 2. 'T is not thy Love I fear to lose That will in spight of absence hold But 't is the benefit
and use Is lost as in imprison'd Gold Which though the Sum be ne're so great Enriches nothing but conceit 3. What angry Star then governs me That I must feel a double smart Prisoner to fate as well as thee Kept from thy face link'd to thy heart Because my Love all love excells Must my Grief have no Parallels 4. Sapless and dead as Winter here I now remain and all I see Copies of my wild state appear But I am their Epitome Love me no more for I am grown Too dead and dull for thee to own L. L' Amitie To Mrs. Mary Awbrey SOul of my Soul my joy my crown my Friend A name which all the rest doth comprehend How happy are we now whose Souls are grown By an incomparable mixture one Whose well-acquainted Minds are now as near As Love or Vows or Friendship can endear I have no thought but what 's to thee reveal'd Nor thou desire that is from me conceal'd Thy Heart locks up my Secrets richly set And my Breast is thy private Cabinet Thou shed'st no tear but what my moisture lent And if I sigh it is thy breath is spent United thus what Horrour can appear Worthy our Sorrow Anger or our Fear Let the dull World alone to talk and fight And with their vast Ambitions Nature fright Let them despise so Innocent a flame While Envy Pride and Faction play their game But we by Love sublim'd so high shall rise To pity Kings and Conquerours despise Since we that Sacred Union have engrost Which they and all the sullen World have lost LI. In Memory of Mr. Cartwright STay Prince of Phancie stay we are not fit To welcome or admire thy Raptures yet Such horrid Ignorance benights the Times That Wit and Honour are become our Crimes But when those happy Pow'rs which guard thy dust To us and to thy Mem'ry shall be just And by a flame from thy blest Genius lent Rescue us from our dull Imprisonment Unsequester our Fancies and create A Worth that may upon thy Glories wait We then shall understand thee and descry The splendour of restored Poetry Till when let no bold hand profane thy shrine 'T is high Wit-Treason to debase thy coin LII Mr. Francis Finch the Excellent Palaemon THis is confest Presumption for had I All that rich stock of Ingenuity Which I could wish for this yet would it be Palaemon's blot a pious Injury But as no Votaries are scorn'd when they The meanest Victim in Religion pay Not that the Pow'r they worship needs a gume But that they speak their thanks for all with some So though the most contemptible of all That do themselves Palaemon's Servants call I know that Zele is more then Sacrifice For God did not the Widow's Mite despise And that Palaemon hath Divinity And Mercy in its highest property He that doth such transcendent Merit own Must have imperfect Offerings or none He 's one rich Lustre which doth Rayes dispence As Knowledge will when set in Innocence For Learning did select his noble breast Where in her native Majesty to rest Free from the Tyranny and Pride of Schools Who have confin'd her to Pedantick Rules And that gentiler Errour which doth take Offence at Learning for her Habit 's sake Palaemon hath redeem'd her who may be Esteem'd himself an University And yet so much a Gentleman that he Needs not though he enjoys a Pedigree Sure he was built and sent to let us know What man completed could both be and doe Freedom from Vice is in him Nature's part Without the help of Discipline or Art He 's his own Happiness and his own Law Whereby he keeps Passion and Fate in awe Nor was this wrought in him by Time and Growth His Genius had anticipated both Had all men been Palaemons Pride had ne're Taught one man Tyranny the other Fear Ambition had been full as Monstrous then As this ill World doth render Worthy men Had men his Spirit they would soon forbear Groveling for dirt and quarrelling for air Were his harmonious Soul diffus'd in all We should believe that men did never fall It is Palaemon's Soul that hath engrost Th' ingenuous candour that the World hath lost Whose own Mind seats him quiet safe and high Above the reach of Time or Destiny 'T was he that rescu'd gasping Friendship when The Bell toll'd for her Funeral with men 'T was he that made Friends more then Lovers burn And then made Love to sacred Friendship turn 'T was he turn'd Honour inward set her free From Titles and from Popularity Now fix'd to Vertue she begs Praise of none But 's Witness'd and Rewarded both at home And in his breast this Honour 's so enshrin'd As the old Law was in the Ark confin'd To which Posterity shall all consent And less dispute then Acts of Parliament He 's our Original by whom we see How much we fail and what we ought to be But why do I to Copy him pretend My Rymes but libel whom they would commend 'T is true but none can reach what 's set too high And though I miss I 've noble Company For the most happy language must confess It doth obscure Palaemon not express LIII To Mrs. M. A. at parting 1. I Have examin'd and do find Of all that favour me There 's none I grieve to leave behind But onely onely thee To part with thee I needs must die Could Parting separate thee and I. 2. But neither Chance nor Complement Did element our Love 'T was sacred Sympathy was lent Us from the Quire above That Friendship Fortune did create Still fears a wound from Time or Fate 3. Our chang'd and mingled Souls are grown To such acquaintance now That if each would assume their own Alas we know not how We have each other so engrost That each is in the Union lost 4. And thus we can no Absence know Nor shall we be confin'd Our active Souls will daily go To learn each others mind Nay should we never meet to Sense Our Souls would hold Intelligence 5. Inspired with a Flame Divine I scorn to court a stay For from that noble Soul of thine I ne're can be away But I shall weep when thou dost grieve Nor can I die whil'st thou dost live 6. By my own temper I shall guess At thy felicity And onely like thy happiness Because it pleaseth thee Our hearts at any time will tell If thou or I be sick or well 7. All Honour sure I must pretend All that is Good or Great She that would be Rosannia's Friend Must be at least complete If I have any bravery 'T is 'cause I have so much of thee 8. Thy Leiger Soul in me shall lie And all thy thoughts reveal Then back again with mine shall flie And thence to me shall steal Thus still to one another tend Such is the sacred name of Friend 9. Thus our twin-souls in one shall grow And teach the World new Love Redeem the Age and Sex and shew A
crown her Age which had adorn'd her Youth Great without Pride a Soul which still could be Humble and high full of calm Majesty She kept true state within and could not buy Her Satisfaction with her Charity Fortune or Birth ne're rais'd her Mind which stood Not on her being rich but doing good Oblig'd the World but yet would scorn to be Paid with Requitals Thanks or Vanity How oft did she what all the World adore Make the Poor happy with her useful store So general was her Bounty that she gave Equality to all before the Grave By several means she different persons ty'd Who by her Goodness onely were ally'd Her Vertue was her Temper not her Fit Fear'd nothing but the Crimes which some commit Scorn'd those dark Arts which pass for Wisdom now Nor to a mean ignoble thing could bow And her vast Prudence had no other end But to forgive a Foe endear a Friend To use but slight the World and fixt above Shine down in beams of Piety and Love Why should we then by poor and just complaint Prove envious Sinners 'cause she is a Saint Close then the Monument let not a Tear That may prophane her Ashes now appear For her best Obsequies are that we be Prudent and Good Noble and Sweet as she LXIV A Friend 1. LOve Nature's Plot this great Creation's Soul The Being and the Harmony of things Doth still preserve and propagate the whole From whence Mans Happiness Safety springs The earliest whitest blessedst Times did draw From her alone their universal Law 2. Friendship 's an Abstract of this noble Flame 'T is Love refin'd and purg'd from all its dross The next to Angels Love if not the same As strong in passion is though not so gross It antedates a glad Eternity And is an Heaven in Epitome 3. Nobler then Kindred or then Marriage-band Because more free Wedlock-felicity It self doth onely by this Union stand And turns to Friendship or to Misery Force or Design Matches to pass may bring But Friendship doth from Love and Honour spring 4. If Souls no Sexes have for Men t' exclude Women from Friendship 's vast capacity Is a Design injurious or rude Onely maintain'd by partial tyranny Love is allow'd to us and Innocence And noblest Friendships do proceed from thence 5. The chiefest thing in Friends is Sympathy There is a Secret that doth Friendship guide Which makes two Souls before they know agree Who by a thousand mixtures are ally'd And chang'd and lost so that it is not known Within which breast doth now reside their own 6. Essential Honour must be in a Friend Not such as every breath fans to and fro But born within is its own judge and end And dares not sin though sure that none should know Where Friendship 's spoke Honesty 's understood For none can be a Friend that is not Good 7. Friendship doth carry more then common trust And Treachery is here the greatest sin Secrets deposed then none ever must Presume to open but who put them in They that in one Chest lay up all their stock Had need be sure that none can pick the Lock 8. A breast too open Friendship does not love For that the others Trust will not conceal Nor one too much reserv'd can it approve It s own Condition this will not reveal We empty Passions for a double end To be refresh'd and guarded by a Friend 9. Wisdom and Knowledge Friendship does require The first for Counsel this for Company And though not mainly yet we may desire For complaisance and Ingenuity Though ev'ry thing may love yet 't is a Rule He cannot be a Friend that is a Fool. 10. Discretion uses Parts and best knows how And Patience will all Qualities commend That serves a need best but this doth allow The Weaknesses and Passions of a Friend We are not yet come to the Quire above Who cannot Pardon here can never Love 11. Thick Waters shew no Images of things Friends are each others Mirrours and should be Clearer then Crystal or the Mountain Springs And free from Clouds Design or Flattery For vulgar Souls no part of Friendship share Poets and Friends are born to what they are 12. Friends should observe chide each others Faults To be severe then is most just and kind Nothing can 'scape their search who know the thoughts This they should give and take with equal Mind For Friendship when this Freedom is deny'd Is like a Painter when his hands are ty'd 13. A Friend should find out each Necessity And then unask'd reliev't at any rate It is not Friendship but Formality To be desir'd for Kindness keeps no state Of Friends he doth the Benefactour prove That gives his Friend a means t' express his Love 14. Absence doth not from Friendship 's right excuse They who preserve each others heart and fame Parting can ne're divide it may diffuse As Liquors which asunder are the same Though Presence help'd them at the first to greet Their Souls know now without those aids to meet 15. Constant and Solid whom no storms can shake Nor death unfix a right Friend ought to be And if condemned to survive doth make No second choice but Grief and Memory But Friendship 's best Fate is when it can spend A Life a Fortune all to serve a Friend LXV L'Accord du Bien 1. ORder by which all things are made And this great World's foundation laid Is nothing else but Harmony Where different parts are brought t' agree 2. As Empires are still best maintain'd Those ways which first their Greatness gain'd So in this universal Frame What made and keeps it is the same 3. Thus all things unto peace do tend Even Discords have it for their end The cause why Elements do fight Is but their Instinct to Unite 4. Musick could never please the Sense But by United excellence The sweetest Note which Numbers know If struck alone would tedious grow 5. Man the whole World's Epitome Is by creation Harmony 'T was Sin first quarrel'd in his breast Then made him angry with the rest 6. But Goodness keeps that Unity And loves its own society So well that seldom it is known One real Worth to dwell alone 7. And hence it is we Friendship call Not by one Vertue 's name but all Nor is it when bad things agree Thought Union but Conspiracy 8. Nature and Grace such enemies That when one fell t'other did rise Are now by Mercy even set As Stars in Constellations met 9. If Nature were it self a sin Her Author God had guilty been But Man by sin contracting stain Shall purg'd from that be clear again 10. To prove that Nature's excellent Even Sin it self's an argument Therefore we Nature's stain deplore Because it self was pure before 11. And Grace destroys not but refines Unveils our Reason then it shines Restores what was deprest by sin The fainting beam of God within 12. The main spring Judgment rectify'd Will all the lesser Motions guide To
a thing That makes each Woman Man each Man a King Doth so much lose and from its height so fall That some contend to have no Soul at all 'T is either not observ'd or at the best By Passion fought withall by Sin deprest Freedom of Will God's Image is forgot And if we know it we improve it not Our Thoughts though nothing can be more our own Are still unguided very seldom known Time 'scapes our hands as Water in a Sieve We come to die e're we begin to live Truth the most sutable and noble prize Food of our Spirits yet neglected lies Errour and Shadows are our choice and we Owe our perdition to our own decree If we search Truth we make it more obscure And when it shines we can't the light endure For most men now who plod and eat and drink Have nothing less their bus'ness then to think And those few that enquire how small a share Of Truth they find how dark their Notions are That serious Evenness that calms the Breast And in a Tempest can bestow a Rest We either not attempt or else decline By ev'ry trifle snatch'd from our design Others he must in his deceits involve Who is not true unto his own Resolve We govern not our selves but loose the Reins Courting our Bondage to a thousand chains And with as many Slaveries content As there are Tyrants ready to torment We live upon a Rack extended still To one Extreme or both but always ill For since our Fortune is not understood We suffer less from bad then from the good The Sting is better drest and longer lasts As Surfeits are more dangerous then Fasts And to complete the misery to us We see Extremes are still contiguous And as we run so fast from what we hate Like Squibs on Ropes to know no middle state So outward storms strengthned by us we find Our Fortune as disordered as our Mind But that 's excus'd by this it doth its part A trech'rous World befits a trech'rous Heart All ill 's our own the outward storms we lothe Receive from us their Birth their Sting or both And that our Vanity be past a doubt 'T is one new Vanity to find it out Happy are they to whom God gives a Grave And from themselves as from his wrath doth save 'T is good not to be born but if we must The next good is soon to return to dust When th' uncag'd Soul fled to Eternity Shall rest and live and sing and love and see Here we but crawl and grapple play and cry Are first our own then others enemy But there shall be defac'd both stain and score For Time and Death and Sin shall be no more LXXI The Soul 1. HOw vain a thing is Man whose noblest part That Soul w th through the World doth come Traverses Heav'n finds out the depths of Art Yet is so ignorant at home 2. In every Brook our Mirrour we can find Reflections of our face to be But a true Optick to present our Mind We hardly get and darkly see 3. Yet in the search after our selves we run Actions and Causes we survey And when the weary Chase is almost done Then from our Quest we slip away 4. 'T is strange and sad that since we do believe We have a Soul must never die There are so few that can a Reason give How it obtains that Life or why 5. I wonder not to find those that know most Profess so much their Ignorance Since in their own Souls greatest Wits are lost And of themselves have scarce a glance 6. But somewhat sure doth here obscurely lie That above Dross would fain advance And pants and catches at Eternity As 't were its own Inheritance 7. A Soul self-mov'd which can dilate contract Pierces and judges things unseen But this gross heap of Matter cannot act Unless impulsed from within 8. Distance and Quantity to Bodies due The state of Souls cannot admit And all the Contraries which Nature knew Meet there nor hurt themselves nor it 9. God never made a Body so bright and clean Which Good and Evil could discern What these words Honesty and Honour mean The Soul alone knows how to learn 10. Aud though 't is true she is imprison'd here Yet hath she Notions of her own Which Sense doth onely jog awake and clear But cannot at the first make known 11. The Soul her own felicity hath laid And independent on the Sense Sees the weak terrours which the World invade With pity or with negligence 12. So unconcern'd she lives so much above The Rubbish of a clotty Jail That nothing doth her Energy improve So much as when those structures fail 13. She 's then a substance subtile strong and pure So immaterial and refin'd As speaks her from the Body's fate secure As wholly of a diff'rent kind 14. Religion for reward in vain would look Vertue were doom'd to misery All actions were like bubbles in a brook Were it not for Mortality 15. And as that Conquerour who Millions spent Thought it too mean to give a Mite So the World's Judge can never be content To bestow less then Infinite 16. Treason against Eternal Majesty Must have eternal Justice too And since unbounded Love did satisfie He will unbounded Mercy shew 17. It is our narrow thoughts shorten these things By their companion Flesh inclin'd Which feeling its own weakness gladly brings The same opinion to the Mind 18. We stifle our own Sun and live in Shade But where its beams do once appear They make that person of himself afraid And to his own acts most severe 19. For ways to sin close and our breasts disguise From outward search we soon may find But who can his own Soul bribe or surprise Or sin without a sting behind 20. He that commands himself is more a Prince Then he who Nations keeps in aw And those who yield to what their Souls convince Shall never need another Law LXXII Happiness NAture courts Happiness although it be Unknown as the Athenian Deity It dwells not in Man's Sense yet he supplies That want by growing fond of its disguise The false appearances of Joy deceive And seeking her unto her like we cleave For sinning Man hath scarce sense left to know Whether the Plank he grasps will hold or no. While all the business of the World is this To seek that Good which by mistake they miss And all the several Passions men express Are but for Pleasure in a diff'rent dress They hope for Happiness in being Great Or Rich or Lov'd then hug their own conceit And those which promise what they never had I' th' midst of Laughter leave the spirit sad But the Good man can find this treasure out For which in vain others do dig and doubt And hath such secret full Content within Though all abroad be storms yet he can sing His peace is made all 's quiet in that place Where Nature 's cur'd and exercis'd by Grace This inward Calm