 | Poems on several occasions |  |
UPON BISHOP ATTERBURY'S BIRTH-DAY.
I
What morn with more auspicious ray.Or lovelier dawning ever shined?
Be blest the memorable day
Which gave thee, father, to mankind!
In each hard trial fully shown
Good, wise, and great as Clarendon.
432
II
Tempests and storms in vain attack;In vain thy foes their arts employ:
Nought thy well-grounded faith can shake,
Thine exemplary zeal destroy.
Nor storms nor tempests can avail:
The rock 'tis built on cannot fail.
III
Thee nor the' opposing world could fright,Nor humblest fraud or fawning bend,
To shrink from aiding injured right,
To cease the helpless to befriend.
Nor mitres rich, nor exile near,
Could bribe to hope, or sink to fear.
IV
Superior to the ills you feel,Triumphant sufferer, well you know
To scorn the instruments that deal,
To' adore the Hand that aims, the blow;
Like Job, with patience to resign:
O might his latter end be thine!
V
Mean-season, live! Nor barbarous foesNor exile grievous to sustain,
Nor prospect of thy country's woes,
Nor tortures of afflicting pain,
Force thee to mourn thy longer stay,
Nor cause thee to regret to-day!
433
VI
No; let the statesman, human fiend!The ruffian base, in murder old,
The vile betrayer of his friend,
The seller of his God for gold,
The false, the traitor, the forsworn,
Bewail the day that they were born!
VII
Enjoy the peace they cannot find,No more than they can take away.
Thy happy birth with equal mind
View calmly as thy dying day;
That second birth-day, happier far,
Which clears thee at the last great bar!
| Poems on several occasions | |