AN ELEGY Upon the Most Ingenious Mr. HENRY CARE, Who Departed this Life on the Eighth Day of August, 1688. and in the Two and Fortieth YEAR of his AGE.
HOw! The Great CARE Deceas'd! And not one Verse
Dropt by some Muse on his Lamented Hearse!
It cannot be: All must his Praises tell,
That did both Write, and Live, and Die so well.
That maugre Laws and Levites durst be good,
And in most Crooked Times, most Upright stood:
Whom all the Tory's Curses could not draw
From an Adherance unto what he saw
Would the True Interest of his Countrey be,
Which is, A well-Established Liberty
In Things Religious; that none may have Pow'r
His Neighbour for his Conscience to Devour.
For when of late, the Church-men with high hand,
Did persecute Dissenters through the Land,
And on pretence of their Lowd Penal Laws,
Made them a Prey to the Devouring Jaws
Of Villanous Informers, who were then
The Kings best Subjects stil'd, by those Hot Men:
CARE Saw, and Griev'd to see what work they made:
And to Divert them by his Pen Essay'd:
And did to Peaceful Counsels them incline,
(But this, Alas! was Cross to their Design;
Which was for the Dissenters Ruine laid,
From which no Arguments could them perswade)
For his Discerning Soul did then fore-see
Those Violences soon would fatal be
Unto Themselves, and Gall and Wormwood bring,
When once they were consider'd by the King:
This He Remonstrated; but all in vain:
Dissenters then no Favour could obtain.
But when Great JAMES into his Royal thought
The Sufferings of Dissenting Subjects brought;
And to the great Rejoycing of the Nation
Did Publish His most Gracious Declaration
For Liberty of Conscience, and set free
Dissenters from the Church-mens Tyranny:
Then CARE did in Heroiek Numbers sing
Praises to GOD, and Thanks unto the King:
This was the Joyful Epocha! From hence
He saw Great Britains Glory would commence:
'Twas this he saw that would the Kingdom Crown
With Wealth and Honour, Riches and Renown.
And therefore when the Nations Restless Foes
So great a Blessing did in Print oppose,
He thought himself obliged to declare
How Vain and Groundless their Pretences were:
And that such might have nothing left to say,
He also Publish'd his DRACONICA.
And always, as Occasion did him Urge,
He unto Persecutors prov'd a Scourge:
This he himself affirm'd to be his Station:
But O! so great a Blessing to the Nation
Is snatch'd from hence, even in his prime of Years,
And left all Good men for his Loss in Tears:
His Loss indeed is National we see,
And as his Loss is, should Our Mourning be:
Well may we drein whole Rivers from our Eyes,
For we his Matchless Worth could never prize!
But Tears alas cann't bring him back; His Gain
Does prove our Loss; and we now Sigh in vain,
And tho Vile men have oft Reproach'd him here,
He did not them nor their Reproaches fear:
Nor did their Threats their hop'd-for issue find:
He did his Duty, not his Danger mind.
And maugre all their Scoffs that him deride,
A Protestant he Liv'd, and such he Dy'd.
And tho This Age unto his Worth be blind,
Yet will his Writings such Acceptance find
With After-Ages, that his Name will be
Admir'd and Honour'd by Posterity.
But words don't need his Praises to relate,
For his own Works do praise him in the Gate.
By them it is his Worth is best Exprest—
Grief stops my Pen, and I must weep the rest.
His EPITAPH.
UNSder these Clods that Body lies,
Whose Soul now soars above the Skies;
Yet will they both Ʋnite again,
And in Eternal Bliss remain,
But Reader, when thou do'st but know
Who 'twas that did this Body owe,
'Twill cause thee weep e'er thou'rt aware,
Here lies the most Ingenious HENRY CARE.
Who was (to render him his Due)
To GOD, his King, and to his Countrey True.
Here lies (let Carpers all say what they can)
A Loyal Subject, and an Honest Man.
With Allowance.
London: Printed by George Larkin, at the Two Swans without Bishopsgate.