Several Occasions.
53
Trees that aloft with proudest Honours rise,
Shoot hell-ward, and thence flourish to the Skies.
Shoot hell-ward, and thence flourish to the Skies.
O happier thou, my Friend, with Ease content,
Blest with the Conscience of a Life well spent!
Nor wou'dst be great; but guide thy gather'd Sails,
Safe by the Shore, nor tempt the rougher Gales;
For sure of all that feel the Wounds of Fate,
None are compleatly wretched but the Great;
Superiour Woes, superiour Stations bring,
A Peasant sleeps, while Cares awake a King:
Who reigns, must suffer! Crowns with Gems inlaid
At once adorn, and load the Royal Head:
Change but the Scene, and Kings in Dust decay,
Swept from the Earth, the Pageants of a Day;
There no Distinctions on the Dead await,
But pompous Graves, and Rottenness in State;
Blest with the Conscience of a Life well spent!
Nor wou'dst be great; but guide thy gather'd Sails,
Safe by the Shore, nor tempt the rougher Gales;
For sure of all that feel the Wounds of Fate,
None are compleatly wretched but the Great;
Superiour Woes, superiour Stations bring,
A Peasant sleeps, while Cares awake a King:
Who reigns, must suffer! Crowns with Gems inlaid
At once adorn, and load the Royal Head:
Change but the Scene, and Kings in Dust decay,
Swept from the Earth, the Pageants of a Day;
There no Distinctions on the Dead await,
But pompous Graves, and Rottenness in State;
Such
