Who studying peace, and shunning civil rage,
Enjoy'd his youth, and now enjoys his age;
All who deserve his love, he makes his own;
And, to be lov'd himself, needs only to be known.
Just, good, and wise, contending neighbours

come,

10

From your award to wait their final doom;
And, foes before, return in friendship home.
Without their cost, you terminate the cause;
And save the expense of long litigious laws:
Where suits are travers'd; and so little won,
That he who conquers is but last undone :
Such are not your decrees; but so design'd,
The sanction leaves a lasting peace behind:
Like your own soul, serene ; a pattern of your mind.
Promoting concord, and composing strife,

15

20

Lord of yourself, uncumber'd with a wife ;
Where, for a year, a month, perhaps a night,
Long penitence succeeds a short delight:
Minds are so hardly match'd, that e'en the first,
Though pair'd by Heaven, in Paradise were curs'd.
For man and woman, though in one they grow,
Yet, first or last, return again to two.

He to God's image, she to his was made;

25

So, farther from the fount the stream at random

stray'd.

How could he stand, when, put to double pain, He must a weaker than himself sustain !

Each might have stood perhaps; but each alone; Two wrestlers help to pull each other down.

30

Not that my verse would blemish all the fair; But yet if some be bad, 'tis wisdom to beware; And better shun the bait than struggle in the snare. Thus have you shunn'd, and shun the married state, Trusting as little as you can to fate.

35

No porter guards the passage of your door, T'admit the wealthy, and exclude the poor; For God, who gave the riches, gave the heart, To sanctify the whole, by giving part; Heaven, who foresaw the will, the means has

wrought,

And to the second son a blessing brought;

The first-begotten had his father's share :
But you, like Jacob, are Rebecca's heir.

40

45

So may your stores and fruitful fields increase; And ever be you bless'd, who live to bless. As Ceres sow'd, where'er her chariot flew ; As heaven in deserts rain'd the bread of dew; So free to many, to relations most,

You feed with manna your own Israel host.

With crowds attended of your ancient race, 50 You seek the champain sports, or sylvan chase: With well breath'd beagles you surround the wood, E'en then industrious of the common good: And often have you brought the wily fox To suffer for the firstlings of the flocks; Chas'd even amid the folds; and made to bleed, Like felons, where they did the murderous deed. This fiery game your active youth maintain'd, Not yet by years extinguish'd, though restrain'd:

55

You season still with sports your serious hours:
For
age but tastes of pleasures, youth devours.
The hare in pastures or in plains is found,
Emblem of human life, who runs the round;
And after all his wandering ways are done,
His circle fills, and ends where he begun,
Just as the setting meets the rising sun.

65

Thus princes ease their cares; but happier he Who seeks not pleasure through necessity, Than such as once on slippery thrones were plac'd; And chasing, sigh to think themselves are chas'd. So liv'd our sires, ere doctors learn'd to kill, And multiplied with theirs the weekly bill. The first physicians by debauch were made: Excess began, and sloth sustains the trade, Pity the generous kind their cares bestow To search forbidden truths; (a sin to know:) To which if human science could attain, The doom of death, pronounc'd by God, were vain. In vain the leech would interpose delay;

75

80

Fate fastens first, and vindicates the prey.
What help from art's endeavours can we have?
Gibbons but guesses, nor is sure to save:
But Maurus sweeps whole parishes, and peoples

every grave;

V. 82. Gibbons but guesses, nor is sure to save:

But Maurus sweeps whole parishes, &c.]

Dr. Gibbons was a physician at this time justly in high esteem. By Maurus is meant Sir Richard Blackmore, physician to King William, and author of many epic poems. Milbourn was a nonjuring minister. D.

And no more mercy to mankind will use,
Than when he robb'd and murder'd Maro's muse.
Wouldst thou be soon dispatch'd, and perish whole,
Trust Maurus with thy life, and Milbourn with
thy soul.

90

By chase our long-liv'd fathers earn'd their food; Toil strung the nerves, and purified the blood: But we their sons, a pamper'd race of men, Are dwindled down to threescore years and ten. Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, Than fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise for cure on exercise depend; God never made his work for man to mend.

95

The tree of knowledge, once in Eden plac'd, Was easy found, but was forbid the taste: O, had our grandsire walk'd without his wife, He first had sought the better plant of life! Now both are lost: yet, wandering in the dark, Physicians, for the tree, have found the bark: They, lab'ring for relief of human kind, With sharpen'd sight some remedies may find; The apothecary train is wholly blind. From files a random recipe they take, And many deaths of one prescription make. Garth, generous as his muse, prescribes and gives; The shopman sells; and by destruction lives: Ungrateful tribe! who, like the viper's brood, From medicine issuing, suck their mother's blood! Let these obey; and let the learn'd prescribe; That men may die, without a double bribe:

105

115

Let them, but under their superiors, kill;
When doctors first have sign'd the bloody bill;
He scapes the best, who, nature to repair,
Draws physic from the fields, in draughts of vital air.
You hoard not health, for your own private use;
But on the public spend the rich produce.
When, often urg'd, unwilling to be great,
Your country calls you from your lov'd retreat, 120
And sends to senates, charg'd with common care,
Which none more shuns : and none can better bear:
Where could they find another form'd so fit,
To poise, with solid sense, a sprightly wit?
Were these both wanting, as they both abound, 125
Where could so firm integrity be found?
Well born, and wealthy, wanting no support,
You steer betwixt the country and the court:
Nor gratify whate'er the great desire,

135

Nor grudging give what public needs require. 130
Part must be left, a fund when foes invade;
And part employ'd to roll the watʼry trade:
E'en Canaan's happy land, when worn with toil,
Requir'd a sabbath year to mend the meager soil.
Good senators (and such as you) so give,
That kings may be supplied, the people thrive.
And he, when want requires, is truly wise,
Who slights not foreign aids, nor overbuys;
But on our native strength, in time of need, relies
Munster was bought, we boast not the success;
Who fights for gain, for greater makes his peace.
Our foes, compell'd by need, have peace embrac'd