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<DATE>2014-11-12</DATE>
<RESPSTMT>
<NAME>TCP Staff (Michigan)</NAME>
<RESP>MURP</RESP>
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<ITEM>Proofed and reviewed as part of batch B140728.pdcc.</ITEM>
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<EEBO>
<IDG S="marc" R="UM" ID="B43758">
<STC T="W">R239aA</STC>
<BIBNO T="oclc">688635903</BIBNO>
<VID>212053</VID>
</IDG>
<TEXT LANG="eng">
<BODY>
<DIV1 TYPE="ode">
<PB REF="1">
<PB REF="2">
<HEAD>On the much Lamented Death Of that Incomparable Lady <HI>The Honourable the Lady OXENDEN.</HI></HEAD>
<HEAD TYPE="sub">A Pindarique Ode.</HEAD>
<BYLINE>By Mrs. <HI>Randolph.</HI></BYLINE>
<LG>
<HEAD>I.</HEAD>
<L>AH! 'tis too much, relentle&s;s Fate!</L>
<L>No more impartial may we &s;tile thee now,</L>
<L>So nicely thou do&s;t chu&s;e thy Victims out of late,</L>
<L>Still the mo&s;t perfect &s;oone&s;t feel thy Blow.</L>
<L>His larger Circle yet the Sun</L>
<L>Has hardly twice compleatly run,</L>
<L>Since thou did&s;t on that great Example &s;eize,</L>
<L>Of Queens the wi&s;e&s;t and the be&s;t</L>
<L>That ever any Age, or any Nation, ble&s;t.</L>
<L>Could not that Glorious Royal Prize</L>
<L>Thy greedy Cruelty &s;uffice!</L>
<L>But mu&s;t thou &s;till go on, and with a &s;piteful Hand,</L>
<L>Snatch ev'ry Ornament of our unhappy Land?</L>
<L>And few they were (alas) &s;he left behind,</L>
<L>In whom her Vertues &s;ingly &s;hin'd;</L>
<L>Here they did &s;o con&s;picuou&s;ly unite,</L>
<L>And each of them &s;o eminently bright,</L>
<L>Their Lu&s;tre did too &s;oon direct thee right.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<HEAD>II.</HEAD>
<L>In vain, exceedingly in vain,</L>
<L>From thee, my Mu&s;e, I think to find Relief,</L>
<L>Thou can&s;t not help me to complain,</L>
<L>Broken and u&s;ele&s;s now is thy neglected Lyre;</L>
<L>Too little Art thou ha&s;t, and too much Grief,</L>
<L>This Theme a more exalted Strain,</L>
<L>A better Genius does require:</L>
<L>Yet ha! Should all their utmo&s;t Skill con&s;pire,</L>
<L>The &s;weete&s;t, livelie&s;t Strokes of Poetry</L>
<L>When drawn for her, how flat and dead they be!</L>
<L>Whoever would her Character endite,</L>
<L>Mu&s;t fir&s;t have learnt, like her, to think and write.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<HEAD>III.</HEAD>
<L>All Excellencies, Moral and Divine,</L>
<L>With Intellectual, did in her combine;</L>
<L>So &s;olid was her Judgment, &s;o acute her Wit,</L>
<L>So well &s;he did employ and govern it:</L>
<PB N="2" REF="3">
<L>To ev'ry u&s;eful kind of Knowledge &s;he a&s;pir'd</L>
<L>Scorn'd by tho&s;e narrow Bounds to be confin'd,</L>
<L>Which to her Sex are enviou&s;ly a&s;&s;ign'd,</L>
<L>And 'twas as ea&s;ily by her acquir'd,</L>
<L>As &s;peedily, almo&s;t, as 'twas de&s;ir'd:</L>
<L>Nature (who doubtle&s;s did fore&s;ee,</L>
<L>How &s;hort her Time was here to be)</L>
<L>So accurately did her mind contrive,</L>
<L>And did &s;uch quick perception to it give,</L>
<L>That &s;he Perfection might attain,</L>
<L>And all the Ends of Life might gain,</L>
<L>Before mo&s;t others do begin to live.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<HEAD>IV.</HEAD>
<L>Her great Endowments, which to all were known,</L>
<L>Seem'd hidden from her &s;elf alone;</L>
<L>Her Wit was cloath'd in milde&s;t Innocence,</L>
<L>Such as could neither give, nor take Offence;</L>
<L>Goodne&s;s her whole Compo&s;ure &s;eem'd to be,</L>
<L>From the lea&s;t vi&s;ible Defect 'twas free,</L>
<L>Exce&s;&s;ive only in Humility:</L>
<L>That &s;o attractively &s;he did expre&s;s,</L>
<L>With &s;uch engaging Sweetne&s;s in her whole Addre&s;s,</L>
<L>As was peculiar to her Mein,</L>
<L>In others 'tis &s;o &s;eldom &s;een,</L>
<L>'Tis hard to fit it with a Name</L>
<L>In her it always charm'd, and always was the &s;ame.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<HEAD>V.</HEAD>
<L>No Storms of Pa&s;&s;ion ever could mole&s;t</L>
<L>The happy Calmne&s;s of her Brea&s;t,</L>
<L>A proper Temple for that &s;acred Dove,</L>
<L>That does a peaceful Habitation love,</L>
<L>Religion over all her Vertues reign'd,</L>
<L>Their Lu&s;tre and Security maintain'd,</L>
<L>Not to her Clo&s;et or the Church confin'd,</L>
<L>(Tho' there with con&s;tant Fervour &s;till it &s;hin'd)</L>
<L>Nor yet unprofitably &s;pent,</L>
<L>In Theory alone, and Argument,</L>
<L>(Tho' that exactly too &s;he under&s;tood)</L>
<L>But in the nobler Task of doing good.</L>
<L>In her the ancient Chri&s;tian Charity</L>
<L>We did, but now (ala&s;s) no more &s;hall &s;ee,</L>
<L>It is too antiquated grown,</L>
<L>For Ladies in the&s;e Days to own:</L>
<L>But &s;he was form'd by Heav'n, to &s;how</L>
<L>What Nature when improv'd by Grace could do;</L>
<L>This &s;tupid &s;lothful Age to teach,</L>
<L>To what a Height Humanity might reach.</L>
</LG>
<PB N="3" REF="4">
<LG>
<HEAD>VI.</HEAD>
<L>A Soul &s;o made for tho&s;e bright Seats above,</L>
<L>From its Cele&s;tial Man&s;ion could not &s;tay,</L>
<L>Nor longer be confin'd to Mortal Clay;</L>
<L>It grew impatient to remove:</L>
<L>Tho' ne'er did Nature better yet</L>
<L>An outward Frame to &s;uch a Spirit fit;</L>
<L>As 'twill hereafter &s;hine in Robes of Light:</L>
<L>'Twas here adorn'd with almo&s;t matchle&s;s white.</L>
<L>So &s;weet an Air, &s;uch perfect Symmetry,</L>
<L>And that exact Proportion did agree,</L>
<L>With &s;uch a Soul compos'd of Harmony,</L>
<L>Could Vertue dre&s;t in Humane Shape appear,</L>
<L>Ju&s;t &s;uch a lovely Form &s;he'd chu&s;e to wear.</L>
<L>Thou &s;ooner, Mu&s;e, her Beauty &s;houd'&s;t have told</L>
<L>But that, tho' in its &s;elf 'twas great,</L>
<L>And many others it out&s;hin'd,</L>
<L>'Twas darken'd by the Lu&s;tre of her Mind:</L>
<L>As in a beauteous Picture richly &s;et,</L>
<L>With mo&s;t Attention we behold the Face,</L>
<L>And hardly mind at all the Ca&s;e,</L>
<L>Tho' edg'd with &s;park'ling Stones, enrich'd with pure&s;t Gold:</L>
<L>So whil&s;t in her bright Soul we &s;ee,</L>
<L>So fair an Impre&s;s of the Diety,</L>
<L>We &s;carce had Lei&s;ure to ob&s;erve the Shrine,</L>
<L>The Saint that dwelt there ca&s;t a Splendor more divine.</L>
</LG>
<LG>
<HEAD>VII.</HEAD>
<L>The Ble&s;t, who now Triumphant reign,</L>
<L>A &s;trict Communion don't di&s;dain</L>
<L>With us poor Militants below;</L>
<L>And certainly it was that Truth to &s;how,</L>
<L>That on that &s;olemn Day,
<NOTE PLACE="marg">All-Saints Day (96)</NOTE></L>
<L>Which to their Memory we yearly pay,</L>
<L>Her Guardian Angel &s;ummon'd her away.</L>
<L>A Pledge of that Communion &s;he was given,</L>
<L>(As fit a one as Earth could yield to Heaven)</L>
<L>And we &s;hould ill that Sympathy maintain,</L>
<L>If now whil&s;t they rejoice we &s;hould complain.</L>
<L>To thee (bright Saint) were but our Sorrows known,</L>
<L>The guilty Tribute (&s;ure) thou would'&s;t di&s;own;</L>
<L>We mu&s;t not mourn, &s;ince thou art ble&s;t,</L>
<L>However hard, extremely hard it be,</L>
<L>Our &s;tubborn Grief mu&s;t be &s;uppre&s;t,</L>
<L>Since 'tis injurious to thy Memory:</L>
<L>How muchthy Vertues we admire,</L>
<L>By Imitation will the be&s;t be &s;hown,</L>
<L>And that's a Task will all our Lives require.</L>
</LG>
<TRAILER>FINIS.</TRAILER>
</DIV1>
</BODY>
<BACK>
<DIV1 TYPE="half title">
<PB REF="5">
<P>ON THE Much Lamented Death Of that Incomparable Lady The HONOURABLE <HI>The Lady OXENDEN.</HI></P>
</DIV1>
</BACK>
</TEXT>
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