OBSEQUIES offered UP To the Dear and never-dying memory of the honourable Sir PAUL PINDAR KT.  

HEnce all unhallowed Orgies; let no tongue  
Presume to chant the Epicedium  
Of our renowned PINDAR, less he be  
The Grecian PINDAR, or as great as he.  
Nought but the Sock or Buskin can become  
Such tragic Rites; or Personate thy Tomb  
Admired PINDAR! whose Heroîck Hers  
Admit's no parallel with a slow-paced vers.  
The choir is too too narrow, and th'whole Nine  
Too few, to warble Anthems at this Shrine,  
Though they could out-weep NIOBE, and sing  
Sorrows as fluent as their Thespian Spring.   

But why do I thus, to enhance Thy prais,  
Mingle my Cypress with thy spreading bays?  
Since Thy Encomium needeth here no more  
Than Gold in Peru, or a Map on Shore.  
Let those that tract the Mysteries, and the Truth  
Of PRINCEly-Embassies, define His Youth,  
Spurred on with heat of honour through the whole  
Circle, from th' Arctic to th' Antarctic Pole;  
Whose Travel this advantage had to bring  
Riches to's country, honour to his KING.  
Nor could the heresy of that CLIME Impair  
His Pious Soul; the influence of that Aër,  
Whose venom hath killed thousands, hurt him not,  
I'th' midst of Sodom who remained a LOT.  
Let those who 're grounded in the Grand debates  
Of Kingdom's Rights, and Interests of States  
Revolv his Counsels; so maturely wise,  
They always conquered where They did advise.  
Solid, but not Severe; who could unite  
candour with Prudence, Prudence with delight-  
Most Rich, yet Humble in the richest sens;  
His mind was moderate, though his Means immense.  
Liberal, but not Profuse; he could express  
The difference twixt true bounty and Excess.  
Courteous, without exception, or self-ends:  
kind to the Stranger, Ample to his Friends:  
Pious to admiration, and Free  
Beyond all precedent, to each degree  
That craved his Alms; who was the poors' supply,  
Crutch to the Cripple, and the blind-man's eye.   

But who can write his story? 'twas so Ample,  
It might serve both our mirror and example.  
So Heavenly was each Action, and so Just  
Poised in the Scale of TRUTH, that scarce one dust  
Or atom did fall scanty, or surmount  
In the Examen of his life's account.  
No worldly cares could discompose, or cross  
His thoughts with since of lucre or of loss.  
No shocks of Fate or Fortune could control  
Or storm the Bulwark of his fase-built Soul.  
No threats could fright his loyal Temper; he  
when half the Land apostatised, stood free  
In his resolves; abhorring to divide  
Himself, or shift his Tenets with the Tide.  
He sought not in those troubled streams to swim  
Nor courted honour, which so courted Him.  
PEACE was his Aim, and End; who lived, and died  
Lulled in a Calm, when all the Earth beside  
Reeled with those storms of WAR, whose Shocks have hurled  
Realms from their centre, and unhinged the world.   

But why do I epitomise a Theme  
In this small Schedule, which deserves a Ream?  
‛ Way then with Elegies; which can't add more  
Life to His honours, than they had before.  
Nor need we ransack the Corinthian Mine,  
Or rob the Parian Quarries, to enshrine  
His memory, since thy Structure great St PAUL  
(Indebted to great PINDAR'S bounty) shall  
Perpetuate His Name, and in her Womb  
And sacred Entrails Rear Him such a Tomb  
As shall out vie proud Memphis, and surpass  
Those Mausolean Obelisks of Brass.   

Great TIME shall tell the rest; and quote His glory  
From her own Register; the well-penned story  
And Legend of whose Actions shall strike Dumb  
The Present, and amuse the Age to Com.   
P. F.