Rome rhym'd to death being a collection of choice poems, in two parts
Rochester, John Wilmot, Earl of, 1647-1680., Wild, Robert, 1609-1679.
Page 126
Upon Nothing.
NOthing thou Elder Brother, Eve to shade,
Thou had'st a being e're the World was mad•
Well fixt alone, of ending not afraid.
E're Time and Place were, Time and Place were no•
When primitive Nothing, Something strait begot,
Then all proceeded from the great united What!
Something, the General Attribute of all,
Sever'd from Thee its sole Original,
Into thy boundless Self must undistinguisht fall.
Yet Something, did thy Nothing Power comman•
And from thy Fruitful Emptinesses Hand
Snatch Men, Beasts, Birds, Fire, Water, Air, and La••
Matter, the wicked'st Off spring of thy Race,
By Form assisted, flew from thy Embrace,
And Rebel Life obscur'd thy Reverend Face.
With Form and matter, Time and Place did joy•
Body, thy Foe, with these did Leagues combine,
To spoil thy Peaceful Reign, and Ruin all they Lin•
But Turn-Coat Time assists the Foe in vain,
And bribed by Thee, destroys their short Lived Reig•
And to thy hungry Womb drives back the Slaves aga••
Thy Mysteries are hid from Laick Eyes,
And the Divine alone by Warrant pries
Into thy bosome, where thy Truth in private lies.
Page 127Yet this of Thee, the Wife may truly say,
Thou from the Virtuous, nothing takes away;
And to be part of Thee, the Wicked wisely Pray.
Great Negative! how vainly would the Wise
Enquire, Design, Distinguish, Teach, Devise,
Did'st not thou stand to point their blind Philosophies.
Is, or is not, the two great Ends of Fate,
Of True or False, the Subject of debate,
That perfects or destroys designs of State.
When they have wrackt the Politicians breast,
Within thy bosome most securely Rest,
Reduc'd to Thee are least, tho safe and best.
But Nothing, why doth Something still permit,
That sacred Monarchs should at Council set
With Persons thought, at best, for Nothing sit?
Whilst weighty Something, modestly abstains
From Princes Courts, and from the States-mans brains,
And nothing there like stately Nothing Reigns.
Nothing, that dwells with Fools, in grave disguise,
For whom they Rever'd Forms and Shapes devise,
Lawn Sleeves, and Furrs, and Gowns, when they look Wife.
French Truth, Dutch Prowess, British Policy,
Hybernian Learning, Scoth Civility,
Spaniards Dispatch, Danes Wit are seen in Thee.
