Poems on Several Occasions :: :: University of Virginia Library

O Born conspicuous in your Sphere
To move, and shine, and far and near
To shed your Influence round!
Of each ingenuous Art possess'd,
With every useful Talent bless'd,
With every Virtue crown'd.

For ever in some worthy Aim,
Your Care exerted still the same,

Its generous Ardour shows;
And yet, if hap'ly for a while,
Unbending from your glorious Toil,
You snatch a short Repose;

Say, does not the Retirement please?
The sweet still Life, the learned Ease,
The Solitude serene:
Where ev'ry Charm of Nature meets
In Wotton's elegant Retreats
And rich romantic Scene?

For me, I own, I ever lov'd
Far, far from Courts and Crowds remov'd,
The calm unenvied State,
And, Sir, the utmost of my View,
(Thanks to all-gracious Heav'n and you)
Is now my happy Fate.

Not that my Hours I idly spend
Whilst my Parochial Charge I tend,
Nor run they on in vain,
Or social Converse when I chuse,
Or turn my books, or court my Muse
To tune the sprightly Strain.

As these alternately engage,
I solace my declining Age,
And cast Old Care aside:
And hence such harmless Pleasures flow
As the great World can never know
With all its Pomp and Pride.

Blest is the Man without Offence,
From the plain Paths of Innocence,
That never went Astray;

And the next blest is he who mourns
His Errors, and repenting turns
Back to the sacred Way.

But Oh! 'tis Bliss beyond compare,
Such solid Joys as yours to share,
Recalling still to Mind
An active Life from first to last,
In one perpetual Labour past
To benefit Mankind.

The late Sir John Evelyn, of Wotton, in the County of Surry, Bart. presented the Author with the only Church Preferment he ever enjoyed; viz. the Livings of Wotton, and Abinger, in Surry.