Virtue, the noble Caufe for which you're made!
Improperly we meafure Life by Breath;
Thofe do not truly live who merit Death.

Step. Juv.
Our Life is fhort, but to extend that Span
To vaft Eternity, is Virtue's Work. Shak. Troil, & Cref.
He lives in Fame that dies in Virtue's Caufe.
(Shak. Tit. Andron.

How vain is Virtue, which directs out Ways
Thro' certain Dangers to uncertain Praife!
Barreu and airy Name! Thee Fortune flies,
With thy lean Train, the pious and the wise.
Heav'n takes thee at thy Word, without Regard,
And lets thee poorly be thy own Reward.
The World is made for the bold impious Man,
Who ftops at nothing, feizes all he can;
Juftice to Merit does weak Aid afford,

She trufts her Ballance, and neglects her Sword :
Virtue is nice to take what's not her own,
And while fhe long confults, the Prize is gone.

Dryd.

(Dryd. Auren. But few are Virtuous when Reward's away. For who would Virtue for her felf regard, Or wed, without the Portion of Reward?

Would'ft thou to Honours and Preferments climb ? Be bold in Mifchief, dare fome mighty Crime; Which Dangers, Death, or Banifhment deferves, For Virtue is but dryly prais'd and starves : Great Men to great Crimes owe their Plate imboss'd,' Fair Palaces, and Furniture of Colt,

And high Commands: A fneaking Sin is loft.

(Dryd Juv.

Hence with this peevish Virtue, 'tis a Cheat, And they who taught it first were Hypocrites.

(Otw. Orph.

Torment of Mind ! O feeble Virtue, hence:

I blow thee from the Palace to the Cottage,
To build in Hearts of Hinds; bless their rude Hands
With thy lean Recompence of endless Labour:

For

For me, fince I have burft th ungrateful Chain,
That held me to thee like a flackled Slave,
I will enjoy whate'er the Gods have giv'n,
And surfeit on the Beauty of Semandra.

Lee. Mithrid.

If when a Crown and Mistress are in Place, Virtue intrudes with her lean holy Face, Virtue's then mine, and I not Virtue's Foe: Why does the come where the has nought to do? Let her with Anch'rets, not with Lovers lye, Statesmen and they keep better Company,

(Dryd. Conq. of Gran. Virtue and Vice are never in one Soul; A Man is wholly wife, or wholly is a Fool.

How ftrange a Riddle Virtue is!

They never miss it, who poffefs it not;

(Dryd. Perf."

And they who have it, ever find a Want. Roch. Valen. Virtue, the more it is expos'd,

Like pureft Linnen, laid in open Air,

Will bleach the more,. and whiten to the View.

Then Firgo, faireft Star, exerts her Light,
And kind firea, Patronefs of Right,

Her Refuge Heav'n, when fear'd by brutal Rage,
She Aed the bloody World, and Iron Age;
Faft by her Side, obferve the Spike difpenfe
Her friendly Beams, and thine in Innocence ;
Not Jove himself a purer Flame bestows,
Or on the Womb with kinder Luftre glows;
Then shall kind Virgo blefs thy promis'd Breed,
And cherish fafe the vegetative Seed,
Harmonious Shapes and Airs ferenely mild,
And Looks of Love fhall beautify the Child.

UNIVERSE.

(Sewell's Call.

This wide Machine the Universe regard,
With how much Skill is each Apartment rear'd?

T 6

The

The Sun a Globe of Fire, a glowing Mass,
Hotter than melting Flint, or fluid Glafs,
Of this our System holds the middle Place.
Mercurius, nearest to the central Sun,
Does in an oval Orbit circling run :
But rarely is the Object of our Sight,

In folar Glory funk, and more prevailing Light.
Venus the next, whose lovely Beams adorn
As well the dewy Eve, as op'ning Morn,
Does her fair Orb in beauteous Order turn.
The Globe Terreftial next, with flanting Poles,
And all its pond'rous Load unweary'd rolls.
Then we behold bright planetary Jove,

Sublime in Air, thro' his wide Province move;
Four fecond Planers his Dominions own,

And round him turn, as round the Earth the Moon.
Saturn revolving in the highest Sphere,
With ling'ring Labour finishes his Year.

Yet is the mighty Syftem, which contains
So many Worlds, fuch vast Etherial Plains,
But one of Thoufands, which compofe the whole,
Perhaps as Glorious, and of Worlds as full.

}

The Stars, which grace the high Expansion bright,
By their own Beams, and unprecarious Light,
Tho' fome near Neighbours feem, and some display
United Luftre in the Milky Way,

At a vast Distance from each other lye,
Sever'd by fpacious Voids of livid Sky.
All thefe illuftrious Worlds, and many more,
Which by the Tube Aftronomers explore;
And Millions which the Glafs can ne'er defcry,
Loft in the Wilds of vaft Immenfity,

Are Suns, are Centres, whofe Superior fway,
Planets of various Magnitude obey.

USURPER.

}

Black, Creat,

A Sceptre fnatch'd with an unruly Hand, Must be as boist'rously maintain'd as gain'd ?

And

And he that ftands upon a flipp'ry Place,
Makes nice of no vile Hold to stay him up.

(Shak. K. Johm.

He who by Force a Scepter does obtain, Shews he can govern that which he could gain. Right comes of Course, whate'er he was before, Murder and Ufurpation are no more.

Dare to be great without a guilty Crown, View it, and lay the bright Temptation down. 'Tis bafe to feize on all because you may ; That's Empire, that which I can give away : There's Joy, when to wide Will you Laws prefcribe, When you bid Fortune carry back her Bribe, A Joy which none but greatest Minds can taste, A Fame which will to endlefs Ages laft. Dryd. Auren. And few Ufurpers to the Shades defcend, By a dry Death, or with a quiet End.

Unhappy State of fuch as wear a Crown; Fortune does feldom lay them gently down.

VULCAN.

Dryd. Juv.

How.

Who has not heard how the great Thund'ring God]
One heav'nly Holiday had gor his Load,
And, warm with Nectar, reeling to his Reft,
Unfeasonably his Confort Juno press'd ?
From that Embrace the Monfter Vulcan sprung,
Who his own Father from Olympus Alung :
So dead his Features, and fo foul his Face,
The Gods deny'd him at their Feast a Place;
So foon rejected where he once apply'd,
That homely Pallas scorn'd to be his Bride;
And tauntingly bid him Dame Venus treat,
Who might his ill-fhap'd Mafs in Wedlock meet,
Not from her Choice, but more abundant Heat:
She too abhors him, and promifcuous lyes,
With Gods and Men of ev'ry Sort and Size;
And Plants, for all the facred Marriage Vows,
Many fair Antlers on his ugly Brows.

Sewell's Call

WANT.

WANT.

Want is a bitter and a hateful Good,
Because its Virtues are not understood:
Yet many Things, impoffible to Thought,
Have been by Need to full Perfection brought.
The Daring of the Soul proceeds from thence,
Sharpness of Wit, and active Diligence.
Prudence at once and Fortitude it gives,
And, if in Patience taken, mends our Lives:
For ev❜n that Indigence that brings me low,
Makes me my self, and him above to know.

A Good which none would challenge, few would chufe,
A fair Poffeffion, which Mankind refuse.

If we from Wealth to Poverty defcend,

Want gives to know the Flatt'rer from the Friend.

(Dryd. Wife of Bath's Tale, Want is the Scorn of ev'ry wealthy Fool, And Wit in Rags is turn'd to Ridicule.

Famine is in thy Cheeks,

Need and Oppreflion staring in thy Looks,
Contempt and Beggary hang upon thy Back.

Dryd, Juv.

(Shak. Rom. Jul.

Oh! we must change the Scene,

In which the pass'd Delights of Love were tafted:
The Poor fleep little; we must learn to watch
Our Labours late, and early ev'ry Morning;
'Midst Winter Frofts, fparingly clad and fed,
Rife to our Toils, and drudge away the Day.
Oh Belvidera!

Want, worldly Want, the hungry meagre Fiend
Is at our Heels, and chafes us in View.

Canft thou bear Cold and Hunger? Can thefe Linibs,
Fram'd for the tender Offices of Love,

Endure the bitter Gripes of fmarting Poverty?
When in a Bed of Straw we shrink together,

And the bleak Winds fhall whistle round our Heads,
Wilt thou then talk to me thus ?

Thus hull my Cares, and fhelter me with Love?

Oh !