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[Page 208]
Man's Injustice towards Providence.
1 A Thriving Merchant, who no Loss sustain'd
2 In little time a mighty Fortune gain'd.
3 No Pyrate seiz'd his still returning Freight;
4 Nor foundring Vessel sunk with its own Weight
5 No Ruin enter'd through disserver'd Planks;
6 No Wreck at Sea, nor in the Publick Banks.
7 A loft he sails, above the Reach of Chance,
8 And do's in Pride, as fast as Wealth, advance.
9 His Wife too, had her Town and Country-Seat,
10 And rich in Purse, concludes her Person Great.
[Page 209]11 A Dutchess wears not so much Gold and Lace;
12 Then 'tis with Her an undisputed Case,
13 The finest Petticoat must take the Place.
14 Her Rooms, anew at ev'ry Christ'ning drest,
15 Put down the Court, and vex the City-Guest.
16 Grinning Malottos in true Ermin stare;
17 The best Japan, and clearest China Ware
18 Are but as common Delft and English Laquar there.
19 No Luxury's by either unenjoy'd,
20 Or cost withheld, tho' awkwardly employ'd.
21 How comes this Wealth? a Country Friend demands,
22 Who scarce cou'd live on Product of his Lands.
23 How is it that, when Trading is so bad
24 That some are Broke, and some with Fears run Mad,
25 You can in better State yourself maintain,
26 And your Effects still unimpair'd remain!
27 My Industry, he cries, is all the Cause;
28 Sometimes I interlope, and slight the Laws:
[Page 210]29 I wiser Measures, than my Neighbours, take,
30 And better speed, who better Bargains make.
31 I knew, the Smyrna-Fleet wou'd fall a Prey,
32 And therefore sent no Vessel out that way:
33 My busy Factors prudently I chuse,
34 And in streight Bonds their Friends and Kindred noose:
35 At Home, I to the Publick Sums advance,
36 Whilst, under-hand in Fee with hostile France,
37 I care not for your Tourvills, or Du-Barts,
38 No more than for the Rocks, and Shelves in Charts:
39 My own sufficiency creates my Gain,
40 Rais'd, and secur'd by this unfailing Brain.
41 This idle Vaunt had scarcely past his Lips,
42 When Tydings came, his ill-provided Ships
43 Some thro' the want of Skill, and some of Care,
44 Were lost, or back return'd without their Fare.
45 From bad to worse, each Day his State declin'd,
46 'Till leaving Town, and Wife, and Debts behind,
[Page 211]47 To his Acquaintance at the Rural Seat
48 He Sculks, and humbly sues for a Retreat.
49 Whence comes this Change, has Wisdom left that Head,
50 (His Friend demands) where such right Schemes were bred?
51 What Phrenzy, what Delirium mars the Scull,
52 Which fill'd the Chests, and was it self so full?
53 Here interrupting, sadly he Reply'd,
54 In Me's no Change, but Fate must all Things guide;
55 To Providence I attribute my Loss.
56 Vain-glorious Man do's thus the Praise engross,
57 When Prosp'rous Days around him spread their Beams:
58 But, if revolv'd to opposite Extreams,
59 Still his own Sence he fondly will prefer,
60 And Providence, not He, in his Affairs must Err!
About this text
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Genres:
heroic couplet
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Source edition
Winchilsea, Anne Kingsmill Finch, Countess of, 1661-1720. Miscellany poems, on several occasions: Written by the Right Honble Anne, Countess of Winchilsea. London: printed for J. B. and sold by Benj. Tooke, William Taylor, and James Round, 1713, pp. 208-211. [8],390p. ; 8⁰. (ESTC T94539; Foxon pp. 274-5; OTA K076314.000) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [Buxton 100].)
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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.
Other works by Anne Finch (née Kingsmill), countess of Winchilsea
- ADAM Pos'd. ()
- ALCIDOR. ()
- All is Vanity. ()
- The ATHEIST and the ACORN. ()
- The Battle between the Rats and the Weazles. ()
- The Brass-Pot, and Stone-Jugg. A FABLE. ()
- The CAUTIOUS LOVERS. ()
- The CHANGE. ()
- The Critick and the Writer of FABLE ()
- Cupid and Folly. Imitated from the FRENCH. ()
- The Decision of Fortune. A FABLE. ()
- Democritus and his Neighbours. Imitated from Fontaine. ()
- A Description of One of the Pieces of Tapistry at Long-Leat, made after the famous Cartons of Raphael; in which, Elymas the Sorcerer is miraculously struck Blind by St. Paul before Sergius Paulus, the Proconsul of Asia. Inscribed to the Honble HENRY THYNNE, under the Name of THEANOR. ()
- The DOG and his MASTER. ()
- The Eagle, the Sow, and the Cat. ()
- Enquiry after Peace. A Fragment. ()
- An EPISTLE from a Gentleman to Madam Deshouliers, returning Money she had lent him at Bassette, upon the first Day of their Acquaintance. Translated with Liberty from the French. ()
- An EPISTLE from Alexander to Hephaestion in his Sickness. ()
- The EQUIPAGE. Written Originally in FRENCH by L'Abbé Reigner. ()
- The EXECUTOR. ()
- Fanscomb Barn. In Imitation of MILTON. ()
- The following Lines occasion'd by the Marriage of Edward Herbert Esquire, and Mrs. Elizabeth Herbert. ()
- For the Better. Imitated from Sir Roger L'Estrange. ()
- Fragment at Tunbridge-Wells. ()
- FRAGMENT. ()
- Friendship between EPHELIA and ARDELIA. ()
- GLASS. ()
- The Hog, the Sheep, and Goat carrying to a FAIR. ()
- HOPE. ()
- The House of Socrates. ()
- The HYMN. ()
- JEALOUSY. A SONG. ()
- Jupiter and the Farmer. ()
- The King and the Shepherd. Imitated from the French. ()
- La Passion Vaincue. Done into English with Liberty. ()
- A LETTER to the same Person. ()
- LIFE's Progress. ()
- The LORD and the BRAMBLE ()
- Love, Death, and Reputation. ()
- The LYON and the GNAT. ()
- The MAN and his HORSE. ()
- The Man bitten by Fleas. ()
- MERCURY and the ELEPHANT. A Prefatory FABLE. ()
- A Miller, his Son, and their Ass. A FABLE Translated from Monsieur de la Fontaine. ()
- Moral SONG. ()
- THE Mussulman's Dream OF THE VIZIER and DERVIS. ()
- A Nocturnal Reverie. ()
- On the Death of the Honourable Mr. James Thynne, younger Son to the Right Honourable the Lord Viscount Weymouth. ()
- The Owl Describing her Young Ones. ()
- Part of the Fifth Scene in the Second Act of Athalia, a Tragedy, written in French by Monsieur Racine. ()
- A Pastoral DIALOGUE between Two Shepherdesses. ()
- The Petition for an Absolute Retreat. Inscribed to the Right Honble CATHARINE Countess of THANET, mention'd in the Poem under the Name of ARMINDA. ()
- The Philosopher, the Young Man, and his Statue. ()
- The PHOENIX. A SONG. ()
- A Pindarick Poem Upon the Hurricane in November 1703, referring to this Text in Psalm 148. ver. 8. Winds and Storms fulfilling his Word. ()
- A POEM for the Birth-day of the Right Honble the Lady CATHARINE TUFTON. Occasion'd by sight of some Verses upon that Subject for the preceding Year, compos'd by no Eminent Hand. ()
- The Poor Man's Lamb: OR, Nathan's Parable to David after the Murder of Uriah, and his Marriage with Bathsheba. Turn'd into Verse and Paraphras'd. ()
- The Prevalence of Custom. ()
- PSALM the 137th, Paraphras'd to the 7th Verse. ()
- REFORMATION. ()
- The Shepherd and the Calm. ()
- The Shepherd Piping to the Fishes. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- A SONG. ()
- The SPLEEN. A Pindarick Poem. ()
- A Tale of the Miser, and the Poet. Written about the Year 1709. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] AMINTOR, being ask'd by THIRSIS Who is the Object of his Love? speaks as follows. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] Daphne's Answer to Sylvia, declaring she should esteem all as Enemies, who should talk to her of LOVE. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] From the AMINTA of TASSO. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] From the AMINTA of TASSO. Part of the Description of the Golden Age. ()
- [Tasso, Aminta:] THIRSIS persuades AMINTOR not to despair upon the Predictions of Mopsus discov'ring him to be an Impostor. ()
- There's No To-Morrow, A FABLE imitated from Sir Roger L'Estrange. ()
- To a Friend, in Praise of the Invention of Writing Letters. ()
- To DEATH. ()
- To Edward Jenkinson, Esq a very young Gentleman, who writ a Poem on PEACE. ()
- To Mr. F. now Earl of W. Who going abroad, had desired ARDELIA to write some Verses upon whatever Subject she thought fit, against his Return in the Evening. ()
- To the NIGHTINGALE. ()
- To the Painter of an ill-drawn Picture of CLEONE, the Honorable Mrs. Thynne. ()
- The Tradesman and the Scholar. ()
- The TREE. ()
- VERSES Written under the King of Sweden's Picture. ()
- The Wit and the Beau. ()
- The Young RAT and his DAM, the COCK and the CAT. ()