That live at loopholes, and consume their breath On match or pipes, and sometimes peep at death; No, it were sin to number these with thee, But that--thus pois'd--our loss we better see. The fair and open valour was thy shield, And thy known station, the defying field. Yet these in thee I would not virtues call, But that this age must know that thou hadst all. Those richer graces that adorn'd thy mind Like stars of the first magnitude, so shin'd, That if oppos'd unto these lesser lights All we can say is this, they were fair nights. Thy piety and learning did unite, And though with sev'ral beams made up one light, And such thy judgment was, that I dare swear Whole councils might as soon and synods err. But all these now are out! and as some star Hurl'd in diurnal motions from far, And seen to droop at night, is vainly said To fall and find an occidental bed, Though in that other world what we judge West Proves elevation, and a new, fresh East; So though our weaker sense denies us sight, And bodies cannot trace the spirit's flight, We know those graces to be still in thee, But wing'd above us to eternity. Since then--thus flown--thou art so much refin'd That we can only reach thee with the mind, I will not in this dark and narrow glass Let thy scant shadow for perfections pass, But leave thee to be read more high, more quaint, In thy own blood a soldier and a saint. ----_Salve aeternum mihi maxime Palla!_ _Aeternumque vale!_---- TO MY LEARNED FRIEND, MR. T. POWELL, UPON HIS TRANSLATION OF MALVEZZI'S CHRISTIAN POLITICIAN.