Poems upon Several Occasions By the Reverend Mr. John Pomfret. The Sixth Edition, Corrected. With some Account Of his Life and Writings. To which are added, His Remains |
An Inscription for the Monument of Diana Countess of Oxford and Elgin. |
Poems upon Several Occasions | ||
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An Inscription for the Monument of Diana Countess of Oxford and Elgin.
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And added Lustre to its antient Fame:
Round her the Virtues of the Cecils shone,
But with inferior Brightness to her own;
Which she refin'd to that sublime Degree,
The greatest Mortal cou'd not greater be.
Each Stage of Life peculiar Splendor had;
Her tender Years with Innocence were clad,
Maturer grown, whate'er was brave and good
In the Retinue of her Virtues stood:
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She crown'd her Life with a propitious Death;
That no Occasion might be wanting here
To make her Virtues fam'd, or Joys sincere.
Two noble Lords her Genial Bed possest,
A Wife to both, the dearest, and the best.
Oxford submitted in one Year to Fate,
For whom her Passion was exceeding great.
To Elgin, full six Lustra were assign'd,
And him she lov'd with so intense a Mind,
That living, like a Father she obey'd,
Dying, as to a Son, left all she had.
When a Step-Mother, she soon soar'd above
The common Height, ev'n of Maternal Love.
She did her num'rous Family command
With such a tender Care, so wise a Hand,
She seem'd no otherwise a Mistress there
Than God-like Souls in Human Bodies are.
But when to all she had Example show'd,
How to be Great, and Humble, Chaste and Good,
Her Soul for Earth too excellent, too high,
Flew to its Peers, the Princes of the Sky.
Poems upon Several Occasions | ||