Poems on several choice and various subjects occasionally composed by an eminent author ; collected and published by Sergeant-Major P.F.

Touching the Vertu and Vse Of Familiar Letters.

LOve is the life of Friendship; Letters are The life of Love, the Load-stones that by rare Attraction make souls meet, and melt, and mix, As when by Fire exalted Gold we fix. They are those wing'd Postillions that can fly From the Antartic to the Artic Sky: The Heralds and swift Harbengers that move From East to West on Embassies of Love. They can the Trepiks cut, and cross the Line, And swim from Ganges to the Ithone or Rhine:

From Thames to Tagus; thence to Yy•••• And terminat their journey with the Su•• They can the Cabinets of Kings unserue, And hardest intricacies of State unclue. They can the Tartar tell what the Mogor, Or the Great Turk, doth on the Asian shore The Knez of them may know, what Pres••er Doth with his Camels in the torrid Zone. Which made the Indian Inca think, They 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Spirits who in white sheets the Air did tea••. The lucky Goose sav'd Jove's beleagred flili Once by her noise, but oftner by her Quill. It twice prevented Rome was not ore-run By the tough Vandal, and the rough-hewn 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Letters can Plots though moulded under 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Disclose, and their fell Complices confound: Witness that Fiery Pile which would have blo•••• Up to the Clouds, Prince, People, Peers, and 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Tribunals, Church and Chappel, and had drid•• The Thames, though swelling in her highest 〈◊〉〈◊〉 And parboyl'd the poor Fish, which from her 〈◊〉〈◊〉 Had been toss'd up to the adjoyning Lands. Lawyers as Vultures had soar'd up and down; Prelates like Mag-pies in the Air had flown, Had not the Eagles Letter brought to light That Subterranean horrid work of Night.

Credential Letters States and Kingdomes tie, And Monarchs knit in Ligues of Amitie; They are those Golden Links that do enchain Whole Nations, though discinded by the Main: They are the Soul of Trade; They make Com∣merce Expand it self throughout the Universe. Letters may more then History inclose, The choicest Learning both in Verse and Prose. They Knowledg can unto our souls display By a more gentle and familiar way. The highest points of State and Policy, The most severe parts of Philosophy, May be their subject, and their Themes enrich As well as privat businesses, in which Friends use to correspond, and Kindred greet, Merchants Negotiat, the whole world meet. In Seneca's rich Letters is inshrin'd What ere the ancient Sages left behind: Tully makes His the secret symptomes tell Of those Distempers which proud Rome befel, When in her highest flourish she would make Her Tyber of the Ocean homage take. Great Antonin the Emperour did gain More Glory by his Letters then his Raign, His Pen out-lasts his Pike; each Golden Li••e In his Epistles doth his name inshrine.

Aurelius by his Letters did the same, And they in chief immortallize his fame. Words vanish soon, and vapour into Air, While Letters on Record stand fresh and fair, And tell our Nephews who to us were dear, Who our choice Friends, who our Familiars were. The bashful Lover when his stammring Lips Falter, and fear some unadvised slips, May boldly court his Mistress with the Quill, And his hot passions to her brest instil: The Pen can furrow a fond Females heart, And pierce it more then Cupids feigned Dart. Letters a kind of Magic Vertu have, And like strong Philtres Human Souls inslave. Speech is the Index, Letters Idea's are Of the informing Soul: they can declare, And shew the inward man, as we behold A face reflecting in a Chrystal mould. They serve the Dead and Living; they becom•• Attorneys and Administers. In sum: Letters like Gordian Knots do Nations tie, Else all commerce and love 'twixt men 〈◊〉〈◊〉 die.