3477 Gibbons Elegiac Poem to the Memory of the Rev. Isaac Watts THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES FREDERIC THOMAS BLANCHARD ENDOWMENT FUND A N ELEGIAC POEM, TO THE MEMORY OF THE WATTS, D. D. Who departed this Life November 25, 1748, in the 75th Year of his Age. By r HO MAS GIBBONS. Qjis d'fiderio fit pudor, aut modus Tarn chart capitis ? Pr wraps The univerfal Ball, how Nature's Band Afimder burfls, and Time himfelf expires. Or, diving down to Hell's unbottom'd Gulph, 4 In [ 7 ] In correfpondent Sounds thy Song defcrib'd That wafteful World of Vengeance, where no Glimpfe Of Light appears, but from the horrid Gleams Of ever-burning Sulphur, where the Worm OfConfcience gnaws in agonizing Pains, And wild Defpair inflames the tort'ring Rage ; Defpair, whofe Trump, refounding o'er the Deep, Thunders immortal Pangs, and quenchlefs Fires. But now thy Lyre to milder Notes was ftrung, And in the lilly'd Vale by limpid Springs, While feather'd Innocents withheld their Lays, And Eccho anfwer'd from her mofly Cave, It warbled high of FRIEND SHIP'S pleafing Pow'r To fmooth the rufled Plume of weary Life, Shed a foft Radiance o'er the Brow of Care, And with its gentle Balm aflvvage our Woes. GUNSTON andHARTOpp then were all thy Theme, GUNSTON andHARTOpp Souls of kindred Mould, And in whofe free Converfe ten thoufand Joys Spontaneous flow'd on the enraptur'd Mind, Bed [ 8 ] Befl Foretafte of the Amity of Heav'n.- Or elfe thy MUSE, with mournful Sables clad, And Eyes faft-ftreaming with redundant Tears; Follow'd fome Child of Virtue to the Tomb, Redeem'd his Honours from the Grafp of Death, And gave them to th' eternal Rolls of FAME , So * ABNEY'S Name in thine illuftrious Page, Engrav'd in golden Characters, mall fhine Beyond the Wafte of Age, and livid Blight Of Raven -plum'd Oblivion, and poffefs A glorious Immortality with THINE; But ftill fublimer Themes remain behind Of heav'nly Import, and eternal Weight : The GRACES and the VIRTUES all Divine^ O WATTS, that in the Manfion of thy Soul, Maintain'd their radiant Court, and o'er thy Life Full and unclouded their Effulgence threw, Who {hall unfold ? " 'Tis my appointed Tafk, RAPHAEL replies, as from a filver Cloud (A Cloud that pour'd its Fragrance like the Morn, * See his Elegiac Ode at the Death of Sir Thomas Abney in his Mifcellanies in Profe and Verfe. When t 9 ] When o'er the Mead her waving Luftre fpreads, And wakes the breathing Blooms of Fruits and Flowers) His Splendors broke on my aftonim'd View. " I was the Guardian Angel of the Saint " That crowns thy Numbers, from his natal Day ** 'Till Death's o'er whelming Shadow clos'd his " Sight. " I watch'd him in the various Tracts of Life,