Characters of vertue and vice described in the persons of the wise-man, the valiant man ... attempted in verse from a treatise of the reverend Joseph Hall, late lord bishop of Exeter
Tate, Nahum, 1652-1715., Hall, Joseph, 1574-1656. Characters of vertues and vices.
THE ENVIOUS.
THE Envious feeds upon his Neighbours Ills,
And no Disease, but others Wellfare, feels.
God's Benefits perversly does destroy;
With Company no Blessing can enjoy.
Wou'd rather have Superiours in Distress,
Than Equals in a common Happiness.
He's an ill Prizer of his Neighbour's store,
And yet, his own computing, He errs more:
On neither the just Value will bestow,
For, That he rates too High, and This too Low.
He asks in what Repute his Equals Live;
About his Betters more Inquisitive.
If just Report his Envious search defeat,
In closer Terms his Question He'll repeat.
Page 31And when his spight can fasten on no Flaw,
His Snakes turn back his own rank Heart to gnaw.
With God he quarrels, if his Neighbour's Field
With better Tillage, fairer Grain does yield.
For one Chance-Blight he murmurs and inveys,
For Ten Successive Crops no Thanks repays.
Whom openly He dares not to traduce,
With Short or Over-praise He will abuse.
Allows his Rival all things but his Right,
And most in Commendation shews his Spight.
If Courteous his Competitor appear,
He's then Inveigling, Crafty, Popular.
If Bountiful, a Faction is design'd,
To which with Bribes he does his Clients bind.
And if in War his Rival has success,
He's so much more a dang'rous Man in Peace.
By Industry in Wealth, or Power grown strong,
He's hoarding up of means for future wrong.
Thus does the Envious Man distort and force
True Worth, and turn each Vertue to a Curse.
In his Religion Policy still lurks,
And by Submission his Ambition works.
No Law, that had the Publick Good enclos'd,
Can pass, because by Him not first Propos'd.
Not his own Int'rest for that time he weighs,
But Suffers, to defraud Another's Praise.
If Evil of his Rival, Fame report,
He cryes she's Partial, and of Truth comes short.
Page 32What Prejudice relates, as being worst,
In his Recital He still mentions first:
Knowing that gentler Truth too slowly treads,
And that the first ill Rumour farthest spreads.
He'll stab i' th' Dark, and then with pitying Voice
Bemoan the Fate that makes his Heart Rejoice.
Of his ill Deeds his Nature is the Cause,
The Good He Acts is only for Applause.
And that which cannot to his share befal
To do, He still takes Care no other shall.
Of his Best Skill He just enough will show,
To let the World perceive what He does know;
His Med'cine's Sov'raign Use he will reveal,
The Art to make't, does ev'n in Death Conceal;
Pleas'd that he can a Prize from Mankind steal.
God's Blessings, if beside Himself they fall,
His Curses prove, and make Him burst with Gall.
Yet after All there's none can grudge the Elf
His Diet, for the Miscreant eats Himself.
To turn a Devil He waits but his Life's End,
Till then a Carcase quicken'd by a Fiend.
FINIS.
