And multitudes of virtues pafs'd along ;
Each preffing foremost in the mighty throng,
Ambitious to be feen, and then make room
For greater multitudes that were to come. 285
Yet unemploy'd no minute flip'd away;
Moments were precious in fo fhort a stay.
The hafte of heaven to have her was fo great,
That fome were fingle acts, though each com-
pleat;

But

every

290

act ftood ready to repeat. Her fellow-faints with bufy care will look For her bleft name in fate's eternal book; And, pleas'd to be outdone, with joy will fee Numberlefs virtues, endless charity: But more will wonder at fo fhort an age, To find a blank beyond the thirtieth page: And with a pious fear begin to doubt The piece imperfect, and the rest torn out. But 'twas her Saviour's time; and, could there be A copy near the original, 'twas fhe.

295

300

As precious gums are not for lafting fire, They but perfume the temple, and expire: So was the foon exhal'd, and vanth'd hence ; A fhort fweet odour, of a vaft expence. She vanish'd, we can fcarcely fay the dy'd; s05 For but a now did heaven and earth divide : She pafs'd ferenely with a fingle breath; This moment perfect health, the next was

death:

One figh did her eternal blifs affure ;

So little penance needs, when fouls are almoft

pure.

310

As gentle dreams our waking thoughts pur

fue;

Or, one dream pafs'd, we flide into a new ;
So close they follow, fuch wild order keep,
We think ourselves awake, and are asleep:
So foftly death fucceeded life in her:
She did but dream of heaven, and fhe was
there.

315

No pains fhe fuffer'd, nor expir'd with noise; Her foul was whisper'd out with God's ftill

voice;

320

As an old friend is beckon'd to a feast,
And treated like a long-familiar gueft.
He took her as he found, but found her fo,
As one in hourly readiness to go:
E'en on that day, in all her trim prepar'd ;
As early notice fhe from heaven had heard,
And fome defcending courier from above
Had given her timely warning to remove;
Or counfell'd her to drefs the nuptial room,
For on that night the bridegroom was to

come.

325

Ver. 325. defcending courier] The original edition by a laughable errour of the prefs-defcending courtier.

TODD.

He kept his hour,. and found her where fhe

lay

Cloth'd all in white, the livery of the day: 330 Scarce had the finn'd in thought, or word, or

act;

Unless omiffions were to pass for fact:

That hardly death a confequence could draw, To make her liable to nature's law.

And, that the dy'd, we only have to show 335 The mortal part of her she left below:

The reft, fo fmooth, fo fuddenly she went, Look'd like translation through the firmament,

Or, like the fiery car on the third errand fent.

O happy foul! if thou canft view from high, 340
Where thou art all intelligence, all eye,

If looking up to God, or down to us,
Thou find❜ft that any way be pervious,
Survey the ruins of thy house, and fee
Thy widow'd, and thy orphan family :
Look on thy tender pledges left behind ;
And, if thou canft a vacant minute find

345

Ver. 341. Where thou art all intelligence, all eye,] Dryden perhaps had in memory his master's description of fpirits, Par. L. B. vi. 350.

"All heart they live, all head, all eye, all ear,
"All intellect, all fenfe

TODD.

From heavenly joys, that interval afford
To thy fad children, and thy mourning lord.
See how they grieve, mistaken in their love, 350
And fhed a beam of comfort from above;
Give them, as much as mortal eyes can bear,
A tranfient view of thy full glories there ;
That they with moderate forrow may fuftain
And mollify their loffes in thy gain.
Or elfe divide the grief; for fuch thou wert,
That should not all relations bear a part,
It were enough to break a single heart.

355

360

Let this fuffice: nor thou, great faint, refuse This humble tribute of no vulgar mufe: Who, not by cares, or wants, or age depreft, Stems a wild deluge with a dauntless breast ; And dares to fing thy praises in a clime Where vice triumphs, and virtue is a crime; Where e'en to draw the picture of thy mind, Is fatire on the moft of human kind: Take it, while yet 'tis praife; before my rage, Unfafely juft, break loofe on this bad age; So bad, that thou thyself hadft no defence From vice, but barely by departing hence. 370 Be what, and where thou art: to wish thy place,

366

Were, in the beft, prefumption more than grace.

Thy relics, (fuch thy works of mercy are)

Have, in this poem, been my holy care..

As earth thy body keeps, thy foul the fky, 375'
So fhall this verse preserve thy memory;
For thou shalt make it live, because it fings,
of thee.

Ver. 277. For thou shalt make] Our author owned he did not know the perfon on whom he wrote this long panegyric. This must be his excufe for the coldness and infipidity of the piece. Dr. J. WARTON.