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 PATIENT MAN.
THE Patient Man has so much strength attain'd,
And o'er Himself so large a Conquest gain'd,
That safe from Foreign Wrongs he does remain;
They came too late to Conquer him again.
Boldly to Suffer, is his Valour's Test,
He's most Victorious when He's most opprest.
While under Mountain-Loads himself he rears,
Of more than humane Courage he appears,
And is, if rightly we his Sufferings scan,
'Bove Nature rais'd while He seems less than Man.
His Love and Charity are ever bent
To construe all things with a fair Intent.
Page 11To small and doubtful Injuries He's blind,
Gross Wrongs he'll think not done, or not design'd;
Not meant, or not to Him; if Both appear,
From Malice still his Injuries He'll clear;
He'll say Mis-information caus'd th' offence,
And when it cannot bear so mild a sense,
Call't Rash, and with the hasty Fault dispense.
Patient he is, but yet not tame or base:
He wants not Courage but abounds in Grace.
To take Revenge for Harms, as Man He dares;
Resents as Man, but as a Christian spares.
He's God's best Witness, and before the Bar
For Truths fair sake, undaunted can appear;
Hear unconcern'd the false Accuser's Voice,
Receive, and in his Unjust doom Rejoice.
A Prison is his Palace, and to Him
Pages of Honour all his Jaylors seem,
The Dungeon his Retiring Room he counts,
And to the Rack as to a Throne He mounts;
His Torturers worst Cruelty disdains,
Suffers his Own, and baffles all their Pains.
Page 12Just Pity the Beholders does inspire,
Unpitying and remorseless Foes, Admire.
His Hopes to no Discouragements can yield,
They still advance, or keep at least the Field.
Where once the Path of Kindness He has trod,
No Obstacles can make him quit the Road.
If no Impression his first Favours make,
He still redoubles till he wins the stake.
Can after Shipwrack try the Sea, and beat
At the deaf door he ne'er saw open'd yet.
Different Events alike to Him befal,
He sees the Hand of Providence in All.
When that Protects, he pays his grateful Vows,
And when it strikes, to just Correction Bows.
Can Vertue from Necessity produce,
And with strange, Art put Evil to good Use.
In Conquest does beyond the Warriour go,
The surest Friend, the latest easiest Foe:
Than others so much Happier does appear,
As He can more and worse Mis-fortunes bear.
