University of Virginia Library

ON THE MUCH LAMENTED DEATH of the Valiant MAJOR WILLIAM COCKBURN, Who died at Stonie-flet, June 6. 1683.

A Funeral ELEGIE.

This world's a boyling gulph of greefs & fears,
The Rendevouz of anxious sighs and tears:
This worm of five foot long, this moving span,
Compos'd of sin, and dirt, we call a man,
Is the tost passenger; what tho the ga'le
Be strong, or weak, the Ship is still a Sail;
Whither the Passengers do stand, or lie,
She keeps a straight course to eternitie.
And who so can the longest passage boast,
At last th'Eternal Haven salute he must.
A pregnant, (tho a pensive) proofe is here
To make this truth as with sun beams appear.
Here the undantoun'd COCKBURN full of years
That ne'er gave place to ignominious fears,
Who like the Roman Scevola hath stood
Bathing in flamm's his hands, his feet in blood,
Who in the storms of Warr, by day and night,
Could never flee from any thing but flight,
(Till now unconquer'd) yet at last he must
Lay down his valour in a bed of dust:
But with a deathless and renowned name,
Happy in Fortune, Familie, and Fame.
He was no carking dunghill miser, yet
God blest him with a plentiful Estate:
From which, as from an overflowing store,
He blest the backes and bellies of the poor.
And with an active, and sagacious care,
He knew both when to spend, and when to spare.
By prayer, and praise, at morning and at even
With pious fervencie addrest to Heaven,
His house a Sacrid Temple did become:
A Souldier in the Camp, a Priest at home.
So one may be (tho rare) as Scriptures note,
At once both a Centurion, and devote.
A Souldier and devote, with Loyalty,
Conormist too, and each in high degree,
In this age when its considered well
Appear at least next to a miracle.
A Father, and an Husband past compare,
None knew, which greatest was his love, or care.
[illeg.]aly as I hear'd Friends and Strangers tell
His Spouse and Children made the parallel:
To whom he hes left five unspotted Plants,
To fill the Nation with such blessed Saints,
The pledges of his fruitful love, and bed;
Happy be he that might such darlings wed.
To him that brings not an unworthy flamm',
Kind may they be, as Heaven hes been to them;
In them he lives, to them he did bequeath
His vertues as a legacie at death.
And every one but some fantastick snake
Will love the off-spring for their Fathers sake.

His EPITAPH.

Here lyes an honest heart, a valiant hand,
Knew both how to obey, and to command,
A loving Father, and an Husband kind,
A Souldier both in body, and in mind;
So stout that to the pale beholders wonder
He durst encounter the amazing thunder.
And did the Honour of the Scots advance,
By prowess both through Germany, and France;
His valour and his Loyalty was seen,
Against the Rebels at the Rullzion Green.
He Hector and Ulysses both in one,
Knew to match valour with discretion.
In point of Honour when his spleen did rise,
He quell'd his foes by lightning from his eyes.
His martial frown it could at once controul,
And cure the Lethargie of a cowards Soul.
Nor did his worth alone consist in warrs,
In him Minerva joyned was with Mars,
He owed a breast to which it did appeare,
Valour and vertue native Tennants were;
Yea vertue sway'd her Scepter there, for both
He fear, and baseness equally did loath.
And in his Heart, which was a Sign of Grace,
God, and the Church, and King had chiefest place.
As King and Church did gratefully regard him;
So God hath call'd him home now to reward him.
Therefore let's modestly bewail our crosse
Heavens gain, and his can never be our losse.
Optima quæque dies, miseris mortalibus ævi
Prima fugit: subeunt morbi, tristisque senectus,
Et labor, & duræ rapit inclementia mortis.