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The Works of the Reverend and Learned Isaac Watts, D. D.

Containing, besides his Sermons, and Essays on miscellaneous subjects, several additional pieces, Selected from his Manuscripts by the Rev. Dr. Jennings, and the Rev. Dr. Doddridge, in 1753: to which are prefixed, memoirs of the life of the author, compiled by the Rev. George Burder. In six volumes
Watts, Isaac (1674-1748)

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VOL. IV.
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HORÆ LYRICÆ.
  
ON READING DR. WATTS'S POEMS SACRED TO PIETY AND DEVOTION.
  
TO DR. WATTS, On his Poems sacred to Devotion.
  
TO DR. WATTS, On reading his Horæ Lyricæ.
  
TO DR. WATTS, On his Divine Poems.
  
TO DR. WATTS, On the Fifth Edition of his Horæ Lyricæ.
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BOOK I. SACRED TO DEVOTION AND PIETY.
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BOOK II. SACRED TO VIRTUE, HONOUR AND FRIENDSHIP.
  
TO HER MAJESTY.
  
PALINODIA.
  
TO JOHN LOCKE, ESQ.
  
TO JOHN SHUTE, ESQ. (NOW LORD BARRINGTON.)
  
TO MR. WILLIAM NOKES.
  
TO NATHANIEL GOULD, ESQ. (NOW SIR NATHANIEL GOULD.)
  
TO DR. THOMAS GIBSON.
  
False Greatness.
  
TO SARISSA.
  
TO MR. T. BRADBURY.
  
Strict Religion very rare.
  
TO MR. C. AND S. FLEETWOOD.
  
TO WILLIAM BLACKBOURN, ESQ.
  
True Monarchy.
  
True Courage.
  
TO THE MUCH HONOURED MR. THOMAS ROWE, THE DIRECTOR OF MY YOUTHFUL STUDIES.
  
TO THE REV. MR. BENONI ROWE.
  
TO THE REV. MR. JOHN HOWE.
  
The Disappointment and Relief.
  
The Hero's School of Morality.
  
Freedom.
  
On Mr. Locke's Annotations upon several Parts of the New Testament, left behind him at his Death.
  
True Riches.
  
The Adventurous Muse.
  
TO MR. NICHOLAS CLARK.
  
The Afflictions of a Friend.
  
The Reverse; or, the Comforts of a Friend.
  
TO THE RIGHT HON. JOHN LORD CUTS, At the Siege of Namur.
  
Burning several Poems of Ovid, Martial, Oldham, Dryden, &c.
  
TO MRS. B. BENDISH.
  
Few Happy Matches.
  
TO DAVID POLHILL, ESQ.
  
The celebrated Victory of the Poles over Osman, the Turkish Emperor, in the Dacian Battle.
  
The Indian Philosopher.
  
The happy Man.
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TO DAVID POLHILL, ESQ.
  
To the Discontented and Unquiet.
  
TO JOHN HARTOPP, ESQ. (NOW SIR JOHN HARTOPP, BART.)
  
TO THOMAS GUNSTON, ESQ.
  
TO JOHN HARTOPP, ESQ. (NOW SIR JOHN HARTOPP, BART.)
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TO MITIO, MY FRIEND.
  
ON THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, Just after Mr. Dryden. 1700.
  
AN EPIGRAM OF MARTIAL TO CIRINUS.
  
TO MRS. SINGER. (NOW MRS. ROWE.)
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BOOK III. SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE DEAD.
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RELIQUIÆ JUVENILES.
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REMNANTS OF TIME EMPLOYED, IN PROSE AND VERSE;

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Freedom.

1697.

I.

Tempt me no more. My soul can ne'er comport
With the gay slaveries of a court:
I've an aversion to those charms,
And hug dear Liberty in both mine arms.
Go, vassal-souls, go, cringe and wait,
And dance attendance at Honorio's gate,
Then run in troops before him to compose his state;
Move as he moves: And when he loiters, stand;
You're but the shadows of a man.
Bend when he speaks; and kiss the ground:
Go, catch th'impertinence of sound:
Adore the follies of the great;
Wait till he smiles: But lo, the idol frown'd
And drove them to their fate.

II.

Thus base-born minds: But as for me,
I can and will be free:
Like a strong mountain, or some stately tree,
My soul grows firm upright,
469

And as I stand, and as I go,
It keeps my body so;
No, I can never part with my creation right.
Let slaves and asses stoop and bow,
I cannot make this iron knee
Bend to a meaner pow'r than that which form'd it free.

III.

Thus my bold harp profusely play'd
Pindarical; then on a branchy shade
I hung my harp aloft, myself beneath it laid.
Nature, that listen'd to my strain,
Resum'd the theme, and acted it again.
Sudden rose a whirling wind
Swelling like Honorio proud,
Around the straws and feathers crowd,
Types of a slavish mind;
Upwards the stormy forces rise,
The dust flies up and climbs the skies,
And as the tempest fell th'obedient vapours sunk:
Again it roars with bellowing sound,
The meaner plants that grew around,
The willow, and the asp, trembled and kiss'd the ground:
Hard by there stood the iron trunk
Of an old oak, and all the storms defy'd;
In vain the winds their forces try'd,
In vain they roar'd; the iron oak
Bow'd only to the heav'nly thunder's stroke.
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