To the Reverend

Mr. JOHN SHOWER,

On the Death of his Daughter

Mrs. AN NE WARNER.

Reverend and dear Sir;

OW

H great foever was my Senfe of your Lofs, yet I

did not think myself fit to offer any Lines of Comfort: your own Meditations can furnish you with many a delightful Truth in the midst of fo heavy a Sorrow; for the Covenant of Grace has Brightness enough in it to gild the moft gloomy Providence; and to that fweet Covenant your Soul is no Stranger. My own Thoughts were much impreft with the Tydings of your Daughter's Death; and tho' I made many a Reflection on the Vanity of Mankind in its beft Eftate, yet I must acknowledge that my Temper leads me most to the pleasant Scenes of Heaven, and that future World of Blefjedness. When I recollect the Memory of my Friends that are dead, I frequently rove into the World of Spirits, and fearch them out there: Thus I endeavoured to trace Mrs. Warner; and thefe Thoughts crouding faft upon me, I fet them down for my own Entertainment. The Verfe breaks off abruptly, because I had no Defign to write a finish'd Elegy; and befides,, when I was fallen upon the dark Side of Death, I had no mind to tarry there. If the Lines I have writien be fo happy as to entertain you a little, and divert your Grief, the Time spent in compofing them shall not be reckoned among my loft Hours, and the Review will be more pleafing to

Decemb. 22,

1707.

SIR,

Your affectionate humble Servant.

An Elegiac Thought on Mrs. ANNE WARNER, who died of the Small-Pox, Decemb. 18, 1707. at one of the Clock in the Morning; a few Days after the Birth and Death of ber firft Child.

A

WAKE, my Muse, range the wide World of Souls, And feek VERNERA fled; With upward Aim Direct thy Wing; for she was born from Heaven, Fulfill'd her Vifit, and return'd on high.

The Midnight Watch of Angels that patrole
The British Sky, have notic'd her Afcent
Near the Meridian Star; pursue the Track
To the bright Confines of immortal Day
And Paradife her Home. Say, my Urania,
(For nothing scapes thy Search, nor can'ft thou mifs
So fair a Spirit) fay, beneath what Shade
Of Amarant, or chearful Ever-green
She fits, recounting to her Kindred-Minds
Angelic or Humane, her mortal Toil

And Travels thro' this howling Wilderness :
By what divine Protections she efcap'd

Thofe deadly Snares when Youth and Satan leagu'd
In Combination to affail her Virtue;

(Snares fet to murder Souls) but Heav'n fecur'd
The Favourite Nymph, and taught her Victory.

Or

The young

Or does she feek, or has the found her Babe
Amongst the Infant-Nation of the Bleft,
And clafp'd it to her Soul, to fatiate there
Maternal Paffion, and abfolve
The unfulfill'd Embrace? Thrice happy Child!
That faw the Light, and turn'd its Eyes afide
From our dim Regions to th' Eternal Sun,
And led the Parent's Way to Glory! There
Thou art for ever hers, with Powers enlarg'd
For Love reciprocal and sweet Converse.

Behold her Ancestors (a pious Race)
Rang'd in fair Order, at her Sight rejoice
And fing her Welcome. She along their Seats
Gliding falutes them all with Honours due
Such as are paid in Heaven: And last she finds
A Mansion fashion'd of distinguish'd Light,
But vacant: This (with fure Prefage she cries)
Awaits my Father; when will he arrive?
How long, alas, how long! (Then calls her Mate)
Die, thou dear Partner of my mortal cares,

Die, and partake my Blifs; we are for ever One.

Ah me! where roves my Fancy! What kind Dreams Croud with sweet Violence on my waking Mind! Perhaps Illufions all! Inform me, Muse,

Chufes fhe rather to retire apart

To recollect her diffipated Powers,

And call her Thoughts her own: fo lately freed
From Earth's vain Scenes, gay Vifits, Gratulations,
From Hymen's hurrying and tumultuous Joys,

And

And Fears and Pangs, fierce Pangs that wrought her

Death.

Tell me on what fublimer Theme she dwells

In Contemplation, with unerring Clue
Infinite Truth purfuing. (When, my Soul,
O when shall thy Release from cumb'rous Flesh
Pafs the Great Seal of Heaven? What happy Hour
Shall give thy Thoughts a Loofe to foar and trace
The Intellectual World? Divine Delight!
VERNERA's lov'd Employ !) Perhaps the fings
To fome new golden Harp th' Almighty Deeds,
The Names, the Honours of her Saviour.God,
His Crofs, his Grave, his Victory, and his Crown:
Oh could I imitate th' exalted Notes,
And mortal Ears could bear them!

Or lies fhe now before th' Eternal Throne
Proftrate in humble Form, with deep Devotion
O'erwhelm'd, and Self-Abasement at the Sight
Of the uncover'd Godhead Face to Face ?
Seraphic Crowns pay homage at his Feet,
And Hers amongst them, not of dimmer Oar,
Nor fet with meaner Gems: But vain Ambition,
And Emulation vain, and fond Conceit,

And Pride for ever banish'd flies the Place,
Curft Pride, the Drefs of Hell. Tell me, Urania,
How her Joys heighten, and her golden Hours
Circle in Love. O ftamp upon my Soul
Some blissful Image of the fair Deceas'd

To call my Paffions and my Eyes afide

From the dear breathlefs Clay, diftreffing Sight!
I look and mourn and gaze with greedy View

Of

Of melancholy Fondness: Tears bedewing
That Form fo late defir'd, fo late belov'd,
Now loathfome and unlovely. Base Disease,
That leagu'd with Nature's sharpest Pains, and fpoil'd
So sweet a Structure! The impoisoning Taint
O'erfpreads the Building wrought with Skill divine,
And ruins the rich Temple to the Duft!

Was this the Countenance, where the World admir'd
Features of Wit and Virtue? This the Face
Where Love triumph'd? and Beauty on these Cheeks,
As on a Throne, beneath her radiant Eyes
Was feated to Advantage; mild, ferene,
Reflecting rofy Light? So fits the Sun

(Fair Eye of Heaven!) upon a Crimson Cloud
Near the Horizon, and with gentle Ray
Smiles lovely round the Sky, till rifing Fogs,
Portending Night, with foul and heavy Wing
Involve the golden Star, and fink him down
Oppreft with Darkness.-

On the Death of an Aged and Honoured Relative, Mrs. M.W. July 13, 1693.

I

I.

Know the Kindred Mind. 'Tis fhe, 'tis fhe;"
Among the heav'nly Forms I fee

The Kindred-Mind from fleshly Bondage free;
O how unlike the Thing was lately seen
Groaning and panting on the Bed,

With ghastly Air, and languish'd Head,
Life on this Side, there the Dead,

While the delaying Flesh lay fhivering between!