Our Anceſtors had merited in vain,
If our new ſteps did not their old maintain:
But as our Modern Virtue ſtands as high,
The preſent Worthies do the paſt ſupply;
A certain Pledge, our Name ſhall never dy.
And now with Juſt regard let's view the Fair,
Beauty can make no Breach of Union here;
Th' Equalities agree on either hand,
The Ladies no equivalent demand;
Nor will their Virtue be exhauſted here,
But ſtill the Sex their juſt Proportions bear:
Bleſt Mixture, equally Devout and Gay,
For Virtue only can both ſmile and pray.
No Scale of calculated Right will ly
Betwixt the Quantity and Quality;
England indeed the larger Roll may claim,
And Engliſh Beauty will preſerve her Name;
But theſe the Merit equally divide,
Have all their Beauty, only want their Pride.
And now to Wonders turn your liſtning Ear,
Viſit the Commonwealth of Learning here;
See how Apollo's Nurſ'ry thrives, and how
Wit blooms in ſpight of Climat, Storms and Snow;
The Muſes all laborious and ſevere,
