A paraphrase upon the psalms of David :: :: University of Virginia Library

Happy the first, and harmless dayes!
When the young World, like Children bred at home
Though froward still and troublesome,
Was by its careful Parent taught the ways
Of easy Duty, and of natural Praise.
When every cheap Delight, and every pleasant Art,
And all that Wit and Fancy could impart,
Like the first Issues of each vital thing,
Of all the stock the Pledge and King
Which the glad Owners either did redeem or bring,
Were freely given up and Consecrate,
The great Creator's Praise to Celebrate.
When the chast Numbers of the Pipe, and Voice,
And all the Instruments that Art could show,
The very Musick of the Feet, and Body too,
And whatsoever could delight
And feast the various Appetite,
Were us'd as well to Worship as Rejoyce.
And every Mask, and ev'ry Ball,
And ev'ry solemn Festival,

The publick Triumphs, and the Holy days,
The very Pastimes, and the Plays
Were legal Rites of Honour and of Praise.
Of ev'ry clean and spotless Beast
The most delicious and the best,
That Nature for man's use, or Pleasure did afford
Was at God's board;
One part was Sacrifice, and all the rest a Feast.

II.

So uncorrupted then, so chaste and White
Were all the Daughters of Delight;
But none of all the Family
So innocent, and so divinely bright
As the fair Virgin Poesy,
The earliest, and the strictest Votary;
Dwelt at the first in holy ground,
In sacred Groves, and Temples only could be found;
Still at the Altar did appear,
Brought her First-fruits, and Perfumes there;
Of all Gods Priests (and without blame
Her Office will allow the Name,
Though scarce her Sex) 'twas she alone
That offered up to God Devotion;
Did the pure Incense of the Fathers praise,
And holy Vows, to Heaven raise;
And like a faithful Vestal kept the Fire,
That did nor Day, nor Night expire.
Whoever a true Worshipper would be
Was taught his Duty first by Poesy,
Of Hemar, and of Asaph learnt the wayes
Of Penitence, and Praise,
By which Gods anger to appease, and Glory raise.

III.

This was her first Choice, and Desire,
In Gods House to retire,
In which she took her Vow, and solemnly Profest,
(And happy had she been and blest,
If she had kept the rest
As well as the least needful of the Three
Unhappy Poverty)
But in the compass of this Privacy,
She was not alwaies at her Beads, and Book,
But did her bended Thoughts with various Arts release;
Whether in Shepheards Guise with Reed, and Hook,
The Nuptial Song she do's express
Of mighty Solomon, and by his side
The comely black Egyptian Bride,
A wondrous Song, but said to be
Not for their fakes alone, but holy Mysterie.
Or else with bold, and skilfull hand
Works the known Story of the promis'd Land.
How God the People went before,
And brought them from th' Egyptian shore,
By the two Brothers brought them thence,
That is, by Power, and by Eloquence,
Two things which seldom fail
Over the mightiest Adversary to prevail,
Or when she pleases Nature draws and Wars
Pens the Heroick Acts of famous Conquerers,
And Sayings of Philosophers;
Rich are the Works of Nuns, but none so rich as Hers.

IV.

So grave and hopeful was her youth,
So dear a Friend she was to Piety and Truth,
That God himself, who did bestow
Number, and Measure to each Thing,
And in whole Nature living Poetry did show,
Of Her took care, from whom she first did spring;
And for her Guardians did assign,
The mighty Men of Valour and Renown,
Whom he had trusted first with Conquest, and a Crown,
Or did in peaceful Arts, and Wisedom shine,
All full of Vertue, and of Power divine,
He would not such a ripe, and vertuous Wit
(As Jacob would not Benjamin) commit
To any hand that was unfit,
Only to Judah did the Trust ascribe,
Judah the Royal, and the Valiant Tribe.
To you (saies God) whom by my spirit I raise
To fight my Battailes, and my Works to praise,
Wonders to perform, and see,
And publish Laws, and Mysterie,
And find out Nature, and Philosophy,
Princes, and Prophets, and the Sons of War,
To you this Charge I give, and to your Care
Commit this bright, and beauteous Heire;
Bright and beauteous is she now,
And by your Guidance may improve,
If the vain show,
And Breeding of her Sex you not allow,
And keep her but from idleness, and wanton Love.

V.

So wise a Care, one would have thought,
Might serve however to prevent the worst,
In one so well inclin'd at first,
Though by the powerfull'st Charms, and Courtship sought.
But, Oh, the treacherous Arts of Wit!
(Arts which upon the Sex too often gain)
To which even Poesy herself do's still submit,
And bear the pleasant Tyrannies of it,
Although sometimes in bitter language She complaine,
Wit was her Friend, and her Companion still,
Did chalenge, and imploy her skill,
But was so wanton, and so wild,
With every painted Thing, and every Shew beguil'd,
Did such pleasant Sports devise,
And such fantastick Resveries,
Bewitch't th' unwary Lovers Eyes.
Out of her Cell the Votaress then would go,
And loosly wandred into every Show;
Would needs herself resign
Unto the Female Government of Nine,
And the mad Inspirations of the God of Wines,
To whose wild Revels She was born,
And did his Triumphs, and his Groves adorn;
Did nor the Stage, nor the Piazza scorn;
But, like a wandring River, flow,
That visits every Land, and every City views,
But with the Travel do's th' impurer grow,
And the bright Nymph still more abuse;
She did no filthy Lust refuse,
Nor whatsoe're could come
Or from th' Excess of Greece, or Wantoness of Rome.

VI.

But all along the time of this Apostacy,
Some mighty Men arose,
Whom God in mercy chose,
These wandring Follies to oppose,
And to redeem her Fame, and native Liberty;
That fertil Land of all the rest
With Pleasure, and with Poets blest,
Where Wit, and Nature still are fresh, and green,
And Tiber's golden streams are seen,
Has to the world in every Age set forth
Some Phœnix of immortal worth,
Whose Monuments of noble Verse
Posterity shall still disperse,
Which the bold Fame of wanton Wit asswage
And expiate the Follies of the looser Stage.
Nor is the Brittish glory less,
The Brittish Poets with a ripe success
The weightest Arguments express,
Like a deep Chrystal stream,
Spread a pure spirit through the manly Theam.
One of each Sex this fruitful Age has shown,
(And fruitful had she been, if none
But that immortal Paire were known;)
Though she has many more to boast,
Cowley, and bright Orinda do adorn it most.

VII.

Cowley, and bright Orinda shall for ever live;
And you (my Friend) who with them strive
Of best and greatest Things to write
And the rich Monuments of Eastern wit revive,
Wit, that does, like the Sun, there first in sight,
Serve the Worlds profit and delight,
And, like the Sun too, with the World shall last;
Your Memory shall with theirs be plac't;
Their's, who in heav'nly verse
Do their own praise in Gods rehearse.
The sacred Harp, which lay unstrung,
Broken, and out of tune as much
As when upon the Willows once it hung,
No English hand could hit the graceful Touch,
Cowley took up, and with an artful stroke
One Lesson playd; One Lesson did provoke
Your tuneful Soul, which could no longer stay
Till it found out this only skilful way;
At length the skilful way you found,
With a true Eare judg'd the melodious sound,
And with a nimble hand run descant on the Hebrew ground.

Jam. Gardiner.