Make gentlemen, and that yonr high degree I's much difparag'd to be match'd with me; Know this, my lord, nobility of blood Is but a glittering and fallacious good: The nobleman is he whofe noble mind
Is fill'd with inborn worth, unborrow'd from his kind. The king of heaven was in a manger laid; And took his earth but from an humble maid; Then what can birth, or mortal men, bestow? Since floods no higher than their fountains flow.. We, who for name and empty honour strive, Our true nobility from him derive.
Your ancestors, who puff your mind with pride,. And vaft eftates to mighty titles ty'd,
Did not your honour, but their own, advance; For virtue comes not by inheritance.
If tralineate from you father's mind, What are you elfe but of a bastard-kind?
Do, as your great progenitors have done, And by their virtues prove yourself their fon. No father can infufe or wit or grace;
A mother comes acrofs, and mars the race. A grandfire or a grandame taints the blood; And feldom three defcents continue good.. Were virtue by descent, a noble name Could never villanize his father's fame: But, as the first, the last of all the line Would like the fun even in defcending shine; Take fire, and bear it to the darkest house, Betwixt king Arthur's court and Caucasus ;
If you depart, the flame shall still remain, And the bright blaze enlighten all the plain : Nor, till the fuel perish, can decay,
By nature form'd on things combustible to prey. Such is not man, who, mixing better seed With worfe, begets a bafe degenerate breed : The bad corrupts the good, and leaves behind No trace of all the great begetter's mind. The father finks within his fon, we fee, And often rifes in the third degree;
If better luck a better mother give,
Chance gave us being, and by chance we live. Such as our atoms were, even fuch are we, Or call it chance, or ftrong neceffity:
Thus loaded with dead weight, the will is free. And thus it needs muft be: for feed conjoin'd Lets into nature's work th' imperfect kind; But fire, th' enlivener of the general frame, Is one, its operation ftill the fame.
Its principle is in itself while ours
Works, as confederates war, with mingled powers;
Or man or woman, which foever fails:
[And, oft, the vigour of the worse prevails.
Æther with fulphur blended alters hue, And cafts a dufky gleam of Sodom blue. Thus, in a brute, their ancient honour ends, And the fair mermaid in a fish defcends: The line is gone; no longer duke or earl; But, by himself degraded, turns a churl.
Nobility of blood is but renown
Of thy great fathers by their virtue known,
And a long trail of light, to thee defcending down. If in thy fmoke it ends, their glories fhine; But infamy and villanage are thine. Then what I faid before is plainly fhow'd, The true nobility proceeds from God: Nor left us by inheritance, but given By bounty of our ftars, and grace of heaven. Thus from a captive Servius Tullius rofe, Whom for his virtues the firft Romans chofe: Fabricius from their walls repcll'd the foe, Whofe noble hands had exercis'd the plough. From hence, my lord and love, I thus conclude, That though my homely ancestors were rude, Mean as I am, yet I may have the grace To make you father of a generous race: And noble then am I, when I begin, In virtue cloath'd, to caft the rags of fin. If poverty be my upbraided crime,
And you believe in Heaven, there was a time When He, the great controller of our fate, Deign'd to be man, and liv'd in low eftate: Which he who had the world at his difpofe, If poverty were vice, would never choose. Philofophers have faid, and poets fing, That a glad poverty 's an honest thing. Content is wealth, the riches of the mind; And happy he who can that treasure find..
But the bafe mifer starves amidst his store,
Broods on his gold, and, griping still at more, Sits fadly pining, and believes he 's poor. The ragged beggar, though he want relief, Has not to lofe, and fings before the thief. Want is a bitter and a hateful good, Because its virtues are not understood: Yet many things, impoffible to thought, Have been by need to full perfection brought : The daring of the foul proceeds from thence, Sharpness of wit, and active diligence; Prudence at once, and fortitude, it gives, And, if in patience taken, mends our lives; For even that indigence, that brings me low, Makes me myself, and Him above, to know. A good which none would challenge, few would choofe, A fair poffeffion, which mankind refuse.
If we from wealth to poverty defcend,
Want gives to know the flatterer from the friend. If I am old and ugly, well for you,
No lewd adulterer will my love pursue; Nor jealousy, the bane of marry'd life, Shall haunt
you for a wither'd homely wife; For age and ugliness, as all agree,
Are the best guards of female chastity.
Yet fince I fee your mind is worldly bent,
I'll do my best to further your content. And therefore of two gifts in my dispose,
Think ere you speak, I grant you leave to choose;
Would you I fhould be ftill deform'd and old, Naufeous to touch, and loathfome to behold; On this condition to remain for life
A careful, tender, and obedient wife, In all I can contribute to your eafe,
And not in deed, or word, or thought, displease? Or would you rather havé me young and fair, And take the chance that happens to your share? Temptations are in beauty, and in youth, And how can you depend upon my truth ? Now weigh the danger with the doubtful blifs, And thank yourself if aught fhould fall amifs.
Sore figh'd the knight, who this long fermon heard At length, confidering all, his heart hè chear'd; And thus reply'd: My lady and my wife,
To your wife conduct I refign my life: Choose you for me, for well you understand The future good and ill, on either hand: But if an humble husband may request, Provide, and order all things for the beft; Your's be the care to profit, and to please : And let your fubject servant take his ease.
Then thus in peace, quoth the, concludes the ftrife, Since I am turn'd the husband, you the wife:
The matrimonial victory is mine,
Which, having fairly gain'd, I will refign; Forgive if I have said or done amifs, And feal the bargain with a friendly kiss: 1 promis'd you but one content to share, But now I will become both good and fair,
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