CH

OICE,

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After the Manner of Mr. Pomfret,

By Dr. CHURCH.

F youthful fancy might its choice purfue,
And act as natural reason prompts it to

If inclination could dispose our state,
And human will might govern future fate;
Remote from grandeur, I'd be humbly wife,
And all the glitter of a court despise :
Unfkill'd the proud, or vicious to commend,
To cringe to infolence, or fools attend;
Within myfelf contented and secure,
Above what mean ambition can endure :
Nor yet so anxious to obtain a name,
To bleed for honour in the fields of fame;
Empty parade, is all that heroes know,
Unless fair Virtue hovers in the show.

But in these walls, where Heav'n has fix'd my stay, One half of life, I'd wish to breath away :

The fall and winter of each future year.
I'd humbly hope to spend contented here;
Vol. VI. 24.

'Mid the fierce ravage of a wintry storm,
Kind friends to cheer me, moderate wine to warm;

Securely happy we'd delude the day,
And smile the seasons chearfully away.

No needless show my modest dome should claim,
Neat and genteel without, within the fame;
Decently furnish'd to content and please,
Sufficient for neceffity, and ease;
Vain is the pomp of prodigal expence,
Frugality denotes the man of sense;
My doors the needy stranger should befriend,
And hofpitality my board attend;
With frugal plenty be my table spread,
Thofe, and those only whom I love be fed :
The meek and indigent my banquet share,
Who love the master, and approve the fare;
Thy mellow vintage Lisbon! should abound,
Pouring a mirthful inspiration round;
While laughing Bacchus bathes within the bowl,
Love, mirth, and friendship swallow up the foul.

I'd have few friends, and those by nature true, Sacred to friendship, and to virtue too; Tho' but to few an intimate profest, I'd be no foe, nor useless to the rest: Each friend belov'd requires a friendly care, His griefs, dejections, and his fate to share; For this my choice should be to bounds confin'd, Nor with a burst of paflion flood mankind.

Above

Above the rest, one dear selected friend,
Kind to advise, and cautious to offend;
To malice, envy, and to pride unknown,
Nor apt to censure foibles, but his own;
Firm in religion, in his morals just,
Wise in difcerning, and advising beft;
Learn'd without pedantry, in temper kind,
Soft in his manners, happy in his mind ;
Is there in whom, these social virtues blend,
The Muse lifps Pollio, and she calls him friend:
To him, when flush'd with transport I'd repair,
His faithful bosom should my folace share;
To him I'd fly when forrows prove too great,
To him discover all the stings of fate :
His focial foul, should all my pangs allay,
Tune every nerve, and charm my griefs away.
O, now I wish to join the friendly throng,
Elude the hours, and harmonize the fong;
Each generous foul still fedulous to please,
With calm good temper, and with mutual ease;
Glad to receive and give, the keen reply,
Nor approbation to the jest deny,

But at a decent hour with focial heart,
In love, and humour should my friends depart :
Then to my study, eager I'd repair,
And feast my mind with new refreshment there ;
There plung'd in thought, my active mind should tread.
Through all the labours of the learned dead;

Homer, great parent of heroic ftrains,

Virgil, whose genius was improv'd with pains
Horace, in whom the wit and courtier join'd,
Ovid, the tender, amorous, and refin'd;
Keen Juvenal, whose all-correcting page,
Lash'd daring vice, and sham'd an impious age:
Expreffive Lucan who politely sung
With hum'rous Martial tickling as he stung,
Elaborate Terence, studious where he smil'd,
Familiar Plautus, regularly wild;
With frequent vifit these I would furvey,
And read, and meditate the hours away.

Nor thefe alone, should on my shelves recline,
But awful Pope ! majerically shine,
Unequal'd Bard! Who dust thy praise engage?
Not yet grown reverend with the ruft of age;
Sure Heav'n alone thy art unrival'd taught,
To think fo well, fo well express the thought;
What villain hears thee, but regrets the smart
And tears the lurking demon from his heart?
Virtue attends thee, with the bet applaufe
Confcious defert! great victor in her caufe,
She faithful to thy worth, thy name shall grace,
Beyond all period, and beyond all space:

Go, shine a feraph and thy notes prolong

For angels only merit fuch a fong!

Hail Britain's genius, Milton! deathless name!

Bleft with a full fatiety of fame !

Who

Who durft attempt impertinence of praise?
Or fap infiduous thy eternal bays?
For greater fong, or more exalted fame,
Exceeds humanity to make, or claim.
These to peruse, I'd oft forget to dine,
And fuck reflection from each mighty line,
Next Addifon's great labours should be join'd
Prais'd by all tongues and known to all mankind;

With Lyttleton the tender, and correct,

;

And copious Dryden, glorious in defect;
Nor would I leave, the great and pious Young,

Divinely fired, and fublime in fong.

Next would I add the unaffected Gay,

:

And gentle Waller, with his flowing lay;
Last nature-limning Thomson should appear,
Who link'd eternity within his year.

These for diversion, with the comic throng,
Should raise my fancy, and improve my fong;
Extend my view, 'till opening vifions roll,
And all Piæria bursts upon my foul.

But to inform the mind, and mend the heart,
Great Tillotfon, and Butler, light impart;
Sagacious Newton, with all science blest,
And Locke, who always thought and reason'd best.
But lo! for real worth, and true defert,
Exhauftless science, and extenfive art,.
Boerhaave fuperior stands; in whom we find.
The other faviour of diseas'd mankind

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Whofe

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