[Page 123]

TO Nathanael Gould Esq

Lawful Ambition.

1704.
I.
1 'TIS not by Splendor, or by State,
2 Majestick Mien, or lofty Gate
3 My Muse takes Measure of a King:
4 If Wealth or Height or Bulk will do,
5 She calls each Mountain of Peru
6 A more Exalted thing.
7 Frown on me, Friend, if e're I boast
8 O're Fellow Minds, enslav'd in Clay,
9 Or swell when I shall have ingross't
10 A larger Heap of Shining Dust,
11 And wear a bigger Load of Earth than they.
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12 Let the vain World Salute me loud,
13 My Thoughts look inward, and forget
14 The Sounding Names of High and Great,
15 The Flatteries of the Crowd.
II.
16 When GOVLD commands His Ships to run
17 And Search the Traffick of the Sea,
18 His Fleet o'retakes the falling Day,
19 And bears the Western Mines away,
20 Or Richer Spices from the Rising Sun:
21 While the glad Tenants of the Shoar
22 Shout and pronounce him Senator,
23 Yet still the Man's the same:
24 For well the Happy Merchant knows
25 The Soul with Treasure never grows,
26 Nor swells with airy Fame.
III.
27 But trust me GOULD, 'tis lawful Pride
28 To rise above the mean Controul
29 Of Flesh and Sence to which we're ty'd;
30 This is Ambition that becomes a Soul.
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31 We steer our Course up thro' the Skies,
32 Farewel this Barren Land:
33 We ken the Heavenly Shoar with longing Eyes,
34 There the dear Wealth of Spirits lies,
35 And beckoning Angels stand.

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Title (in Source Edition): TO Nathanael Gould Esq
Author: Isaac Watts
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Genres: address; ode

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Watts, Isaac, 1674-1748. Horæ lyricæ: Poems, chiefly of the lyric kind. In two books. ... By I. Watts. London: Printed by S. and D. Bridge, for John Lawrence at the Sign of the Angel in the Poultrey. MDCCVI., 1706, pp. 123-125. [20],267,[1]p.; 8⁰. (ESTC T82397; OTA K067329.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Princeton Theological Seminary Library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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