All-winning mild to each of lowly state; To equals free, unfervile to the great;

40

Greatness you honour, when by worth acquir'd;
Worth is by worth in every rank admir'd.
Greatness you fcorn, when titles infult speak;
Proud to vain pride, to honour'd meeknefs meek.
That worthlefs blifs, which others court, you fly; 45
That worthy woe, they fhun, attracts your eye.
But fhall the Mufe refound alone your praife?
No-let the public friend exalt her lays!

O trace that friend with me!-he's yours!-he's

mine!—

The world's beneficent behold him shine!

Is wealth his sphere? If riches, like a tide,
From either India pour their golden pride;
Rich in good works, him others wants employ;
He gives the widow's heart to fing for joy.
To orphans, prifoners, fhall his bounty flow;
The weeping family of want and woe.

Is knowledge his? Benevolently great,
In leifure active, and in care fedate ;
What aid, his little wealth perchance denies,
In each hard inftance his advice fupplies.
With modeft truth he fets the wandering right,
And gives religion pure, primæval light;
In love diffusive, as in light refin'd,
The liberal emblem of his Maker's mind.

50

55

60

Is power his orb? He then, like power divine, 65 On all, though with a varied ray, will fine.

Ere

70

75

Ere power was his, the man, he once carefs'd,
Meets the fame faithful finile, and mutual breaft:
But afks his friend fome dignity of state;
His friend, unequal to th'incumbent weight?
Afks it a ftranger, one whom parts inspire
With all a people's welfare would require?
His choice admits no paufe; his gift will prove
All private, well abforb'd in public love.
He fhields his country, when for aid fhe calls;
Or, should she fail, with her he greatly falls:
But, as proud Rome, with guilty conqueft crown'd,
Spread flavery, death and defolation round,
Should e'er his country, for dominion's prize,
Against the fons of men a faction rife,
Glory in hers, is in his eye difgrace;
The friend of truth; the friend of human race.
Thus to no one, no fect, no clime confin'd,
His boundless love embraces all mankind;
And all their virtues in his life are known;

80

85

And all their joys and forrows are his own.
Thefe are the lights, where itands that friend con-

feft;

This, this the fpirit, which informs thy breast. Through fortune's cloud thy genuine worth can fhine; What would't thou not, were wealth and greatness

thine?

90

AN

A N

EPIS

MR.

AUTHOR

N

T 0

T LE

JOHN DYER,

In Answer to his from the Country †.

OW various birds in melting concert fing,

And hail the beauty of the opening spring: Now to thy dreams the nightingale complains, Till the lark wakes thee with her cheerful trains; Wakes, in thy verfe and friendship ever kind, Melodious comfort to my jarring mind.

5

Oh could my foul through repths of knowledge fee, Could I read nature and mankind like thee, Ifhould o'ercome, or bear the fhocks of fate, And e'en draw envy to the humbleft state. Thou canst raise honour from each ill event, From shocks gain vigour, and from want content. Think not light poetry my life's chief care! The Mufe's manfion is, at beft, but air; But, if more solid works my meaning forms, Th' unfinish'd ftructures fall by fortune's ftorms. Oft have I faid we falfely thofe accufe, Whofe god-like fouls life's middle state refuse. Self-love, 1 cry'd, there feeks ignoble reft;

15

Care fleeps not calm, when millions wake unbleft; 20

M

† See Dyer's Poems.

Mean

Mean let me fhrink, or spread sweet shade o'er all, Low as the fhrub, or as the cedar tall!

'Twas vain! 'twas wild-I fought the middle state, And found the good, and found the truly great.

Though verfe can never give my foul her aim; 25 Though action only claims fubftantial fame; Though fate denies what my proad wants require, Yet grant me, heaven, by knowledge to aspire: Thus to enquiry let me prompt the mind; Thus clear dimm'd truth, and bid her blefs mankind; 30 From the pierc'd orphan thus draw shafts of grief, Arm want with patience, and teach wealth relief! To ferve lov'd liberty infpire my breath! Or, if my life be useless, grant me death; For he, who useless is in life furvey'd, Burthens that world, his duty bids him aid.

Say, what have honours to allure the mind, Which he gains most, who least has ferv'd mankind? Titles, when worn by fools, I dare despise;

35

Yet they claim homage, when they crown the wife. 40 When high diftinction marks deferving heirs,

Defert ftill dignifies the mark it wears.

But, who to birth alone would honours owe?
Honours, if true, from feeds of merit grow.
Thofe trees, with fweeteft chaims, invite our eyes, 45
Which, from our own engraftment, fruitful rife.
Still we love beft what we with labour gain,
As the child's dearer for the mother's pain.
The Great I would not envy nor deride;
Nor stoop to fwell a vain Superior's pride;

50 Nor

Nor view an Equal's hope with jealous eyes;
Nor crush the wretch beneath who wailing lies.
My fympathizing breast his grief can feel,
And my eye weep the wound I cannot heal.
Ne'er among friendships let me fow debate,
Nor by another's fall advance my state;
Nor mifufe wit against an abfent friend :
Let me the virtues of a foe defend!

55

In wealth and want true minds preferve their weight; Meek, though exalted; though difgrac'd, elate; 60 Generous and grateful, wrong'd or help'd, they live; Grateful to serve, and generous to forgive.

;

65

This may they learn, who clofe thy life attend Which, dear in memory, ftill inftructs thy friend. Though cruel distance bars my groffer eye, My foul, clear-fighted, draws thy virtue nigh; Through her deep woe that quickening comfort gleams, And lights up Fortitude with Friendship's beams.

VER SE

OCCASIONED BY THE

S

VICE-PRINCIPAL of St MARY-HALL, OXFORD, Being prefented by the Honourable Mrs. KNIGHT, to the Living of GOSFIELD in ESSEX.

HILE by mean arts and meaner patrons rife

WH

Priefts, whom the learned and the good defpife; This fees fair Knight, in whose transcendent mind, Are wisdom, purity, and truth enfhrin'd.