The world did never but two women know,
Who, one by fraud, th' other by wit, did rife
To the two tops of fpiritual dignities [o],
One female pope of old, one female poet now.

L

3.

Of female poets, who had names of old,

Nothing is fhewn, but only told;

And all we hear of them perhaps may be it will Male-flattery only, and male-poetry:

Few minutes did their beauties lightning wafte,

The thunder of their voice did longer laft,

But that, too, foon was paft.

翼

The certain proofs of our Orinda's wit,ar bait d
In her own lafting characters are writ;nod wołą
And they will long my praise of them survive, 7-

Though long perhaps, too, that may live chan The trade of glory manag'd by the pen, to to Though great it be, and every where is found,. Does bring in but small profit to us men;

'Tis by the number of the sharers drown'd; brake

attendants. But, as the hiftorian tells the ftory, fhe chofe the best man in Rome for her bost; not the best woman, for her guide Whether the poet forgot himself, or purposely falfified the story for the fake of his application, I know not.

[o]-Spiritual dignities] Spiritual, in the double fenfe of witty, and religious. We had this equivoque before, in the Complaint, St. 2.

Among the Spiritual lords of peaceful fame"it was too much to entertain us with it, a fecond time.

Orinda,

Orinda, on the female coasts of fame,
Ingroffes all the goods of a poetic name.

She does no partner with her fee,

Does all the business there alone, which we
Are forc'd to carry on by a whole company.

4.

But wit's like a luxuriant vine;

Unless to virtue's prop it join,

Firm and erect towards heaven bound;

Though it with beauteous leaves and pleasant fruit be crown'd

It lies deform'd, and rotting on the ground.
Now fhame and blushes on us all,

Who our own fex fuperior call!

t

Orinda does our boasting fex out-do,
Not in wit only, but in virtue too.
She does above our best examples rife,
In hate of vice, and fcorn of vanities.
Never did fpirit of the manly make,
And dipt all o'er in learning's facred lake,
A temper more invulnerable take.

No violent paffion could an entrance find,
Into the tender goodness of her mind ;

Through walls of stone those furious bullets may
Force their impetuous way,

When her foft breaft they hit, powerlefs and dead! they lay.

5. The

5.

The fame of friendship [p] which so long had told
Of three or four illuftrious names of old,
Till hoarfe and weary with the tale she grew,
Rejoices now t' have got a new,

A new, and more furprizing ftory,

Of fair Leucafia's and Orinda's glory.
As when a prudent man does once perceive
That in fome foreign country he must live,
The language and the manners he does strive
To understand and practise here,

That he may come, no ftranger there;
So well Orinda did herself

prepare

In this much different clime for her remove
To the glad world of poetry and love...

[P] The fame of friendship] Mrs. Philips was as much famed for her friendships, as for her poetry. Dr. J. Taylor addreffed his difcourfe on the nature and offices of friendship, to this lady.

XIX. HYMN.

*

IRST-born of Chaos, who fo fair didft come
From the old Negro's darkfome womb !
Which when it faw the lovely child,

The melancholy mafs put on kind looks, and fmil'd.

2.

Thou tide of glory, which no reft doft know,
But ever ebb, and ever flow!

Thou golden shower of a true Jove!

Who does in thee defcend, and heaven to earth make

love!

3.

Hail, active nature's watchful life and health!
Her joy, her ornament, and wealth !
Hail to thy husband, heat, and thee!
Thou, the world's beauteous bride; the lufty bride-
groom, he!

[9] The moral ftrokes in this hymn amply atone for the falfe wit and quaint imagery, in which it too much abounds. It was the malady of that age to be only taken,

"With glitt'ring thoughts ftruck out at ev'ry line :"

Pope. And the abundance of Mr. Cowley's wit made it but too eafy for him to regale the vitiated taste of his readers with this fort of entertainment.

4. Say,

Say, from what golden quivers of the sky,
Do all thy winged arrows fly?

Swiftness and power by birth are thine:

From thy great fire they came, thy fire, the Word Divine.

5.

Tis, I believe, this archery to fhew,

That fo much cost in colours thou

And skill in painting doft bestow

Upon thy antient arms, the gawdy heavenly bow.

6.

Swift as light thoughts their empty carrier run,
Thy race is finish'd, when begun ;

Let a poft-angel ftart with thee [r],

And thou the goal of earth shalt reach, as soon as he,

7.

Thou, in the moon's bright chariot proud and gay, Doft thy bright wood of ftars furvey;

[r] - poft-angel ftart with thee] One of the most glarings faults in the poetry of Mr. Cowley's age was the debafing of great fentiments and images by low allufions and vulgar expreffions. What the reader looked for, was wit; and he looked no farther as if that rule of common sense had been a discovery of yesterday

"Expreffion is the drefs of thought, and still
Appears more decent, as more fuitable."
Pope, Effay on Crit. ver. 318.

VOL. 1.

I

And