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Poems on Several Occasions

by Samuel Wesley. The Second Edition, with Additions
 
 

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Epilogue to one of Terence's Plays, acted at the first Annual Meeting of Westminster Scholars.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


305

Epilogue to one of Terence's Plays, acted at the first Annual Meeting of Westminster Scholars.

'Tis done, here ends the Business of the Day,
The Prose, the Verse, the Dinner, and the Play.
Now let us joyful own th' unusual grace
From You the Sons and Patrons of the place.
And You who duteous to Eliza's Fame
Thus make the Welfare of her School your aim,
Ardent her glorious footsteps to pursue,
Go on, to follow Her is worthy You.
Here She design'd for ever should remain
The fairest Model of her matchless Reign.
Consummate Skill our Foundress here has shown,
Scarce greater in her Arms or on her Throne.
Th' important Scheme to draw her Council tries,
Which She compleats, the wisest of the wise.
With deepest Thought our little State they plan,
To form the Scholar and to build the Man;
To prove how Truth and Policy agree,
How public Good and private Piety.
Inur'd to Hardship hence, and practic'd young
To tame the Passions and to curb the Tongue,
Through just Degrees we due submission pay,
And rise to rule, experienc'd to obey.
No one requires but what before he gave
Nor leaps into a Tyrant from a Slave:

306

This ev'n in Numa's breast might wonder raise,
This old Lycurgus might with envy praise.
Establish'd thus we've stood the Storms of Fate,
The various Changes of the Greater State.
What though decay'd this outward Structure falls
The School stands firm in You her living Walls
These mouldering Stones alone your Bounty claim,
Not all Mankind can mend our inward Frame,
 

They were then solliciting Contributions to finish the new Dormitory.