f

Laft Night, when Sleep my heavy Eyes had clos'd,
To all her Rage methought I stood expos'd;
Wild were her Looks, a poison'd Cup the brought,
And proudly offer'd me the fatal Draught;
The destin'd Bowl I took, with trembling Hands,
Compell'd to execute her fierce Commands.
This dismal Omen aggravates my Fears,
Before me still the furious Queen appears.

Lady JANE GRAY to Lord GUILFORD DUDLEY, who were separated from each other by Imprisonment.

7ITH Anguish that no Force of Words can

W

tell, In these sad Lines I take my last farewel.. Could I with less Reluctance part from thee, Approaching Death had no Surprize for me; That folemn Prospect should my Thoughts employ, And banish every tender Scene of Joy : But thou dost still return upon my Soul, What Force the soft Temptation can controul? I meet thee still refistless in thy Charms, Sigh on thy Breast, and languish in thy Arms. O Guilford, 'tis no wretched Love of Life, That fills my Thoughts with this uneasy Strife; The flattering Blandishments of youthful Years, A promis'd Kingdom, nor my Country's Tears; For thee alone I'd live, for thee alone I took the fatal Proffer of a Crown. No fond Ambition stain'd my guiltless Mind, Inspir'd with Passions of a gentler kind; With thee I would have chose some calm Retreat, Far from the dull Formalities of State;

How

How careless, how ferene my fleeting Hours
Had past in shady Walks, and fragrant Bowers,
Pleas'd with the Murmurs of a smooth Cascade,
Or near fome Chrystal Fountain, while it play'd,
Upon its flow'ry Verge, with thee reclin'd,
My Voice I to the melting Lute had join'd,
And footh'd thy Soul with gentle Strains of Love,
Answer'd by all the Musick of the Grove.
To Men, to Angels, be my Soul unveil'd,
Nor any Part of Heavenly Truth conceal'd;
The glorious Cause that animates my Breaft,
My Lips with holy Triumph shall attest; -
Atteft it with my last expiring Breath,
And smile on all the folemn Pomp of Death.
O Guilford keep thy facred Truth unstain'd,
And half my Immortality is gain'd.
Ye Virgin Saints, that in your early Bloom
From cruel Tyrants met a fatal Doom,
That dy'd the Honour of the Chriftian Faith,
And boldly trod the same illustrious Path,
To animate the youthful Sufferer's Breast,
Appear in all your Heavenly Glories dreft;
Shew him your sparkling Crowns, the bright Re-

ward

For such distinguish'd Constancy prepar'd;
Open your rofy Bowers, your blissful Seats,
Your Gardens of Delight, your soft Retreats,
Where Gentle Gales ambrofial Odours blow,
And Springs of Joy in endless Currents flow;
With smiling Visions recreate his Soul,

And ev'ry doubting anxious Thought controul.

:

Lord

Lord GUILFORD DUDLEY, to Lady
JANE GRAY.

MAY

AY every watchful Angel guard thy Life,
My lovely Princess, and my charming Wife.

For thee I importune the Skies with Prayers,
And waste the tedious Hours in gloomy Cares.
Were I from all the World but thee confin'd,
I'd call my Stars propitious still, and kind;
Those Prison Walls should prove a safe Retreat,
From all the restless Factions of the Great..
Sink, curst Ambition, to thy Native Hell;
And with thy kindred Fiends for ever dwell.
Were I, my Fair, again possest of thee,
What Toys were Kingdoms and their Crowns to

me?

Inglorious in some blisful Shades I'd prove,
The filent Joys of unmolested Love.
Why was thy Birth deriv'd from ancient Kings ?
Our Mis'ry from this fatal Greatness springs:
Indulgent Love a gentler Lot defign'd,

Nor form'd for publick Cares thy guiltless Mind,
Thy Thoughts were all employ'd on softer Themes,
Tender and innocent as Infants Dreams;;
And yet but Heaven the Title disallows,
A Crown, methought, look'd glorious on thy

Brows;

In every Look, in every graceful Mien,
The brightest Rays of Majesty were seen.
Imperial Beauty sparkled in thy Eyes,
I gaz'd with Extasy and new Surprise;
A thousand Times I press'd thy lovely Hand,
And cry'd 'twas form'd a Sceptre to command.
But these gay Scenes for ever take their flight,
Like some fantastick Vision of the Night.

O could

O could my Death the angry Queen appeafe,
Could that alone a raging Faction please,
Unterrify'd I'd meet the publick Storm,
And challenge Death in every dreadful Form.
But O, what Horrors rife!-thy tender Life!
What would I speak? my lov'd, my beauteous

Wife:

What Counsel can thy wretched Husband give?
On any Terms I fain would have thee live.
O Death, where is thy boasted Conquest now?
Where are the Frowns and Terrors of thy brow ?
Thou haft an Angel's heavenly Form and Air,
Pleasures and Graces in thy Train appear;
Ten Thousand kind transporting Scenes arife,
O come, my Fair, they call us to the Skies:
Beauties, like thee, in Nature's early Pride,
Undaunted for their facred Faith have dy'd :
With theirs, with all th' illustrious Names of old,
The British Glory, thine shall be enroll'd.

1

Q. Who was the first Martyr in Queen Mary's Reign.

A. Mr. John Rodgers; he was Minister of St. Sepulchres Church in London, and was burnt in Smithfield, February 14th, 1554. His Wife with nine small Children, and one at her Breaft, followed him to the Stake, with which forrowful Sight he was not in the least daunted, but with wonderful Patience and Refignation dy'd courageously for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Q. Which were the ten general Perfecutions fo famously known in the Primitive Church ?

A. The first was under Nero, (that bloody Perfecutor and Enemy to Mankind, who ript up his Mother's Belly to fee the Place of his Conception) in the 67th Year of Christ. The second was under Domitian, in the Year 96. The third under Trajan in 100. The fourth under Marcus Antonius, in 167. The

The fifth under Severus, in 195. The fixth under Maximinianus, in 237. The seventh under Decius, in 250. The eighth under Valerianus, in 259. The ninth under Aurelianus in 278. The 10th under Dioclesian, in 293. Yet notwithstanding these cruel Persecutions, wherein, as one of the Fathers writeth, there were murdered five thousand every Day in the Year, excepting only the first Day of January; Yet were they like Chamomile, the more they were trod on, the thicker they grew, and the Blood of the Martyrs proved to be the Seed of the Church.

Q. What Paffion is the most prevailing over the Nature of Men?

A. Fear; of which we read that it hath in one Night turned the very Hairs of the Head from black to white. But most memorable is that Example of one, who being pretended to let Blood to Death, and being blinded, and his Arms tied faft, fome about him saying, how bravely be bleeds on this Arm! how gallantly on that! though they did nothing to him, yet unbinding him, they found him quite dead with a panick Fear. Two Schoolboys daily passed by a Cobler, who used to cry out, which of you has been whipt To-day. They to be even with him agreed, one to fire a Pistol, and the other with a Squirt to squirt Blood the fame Instant at him, which they did so dextrously and took to their Heels, that, with the Noise of the Pistol, and Blood on his Breast, he dropt down dead in his Stall; the Neighbours drew him out and stript him, but could find no Wound.

Q. What Day was that, that the like never was before, nor never shall be hereafter ?

A. When Joshua prayed in the midst of the Battle, so that the Sun haftened not towards his Western Period so long, that, as Justin Martyr writeth, it made the Day thirty-fix Hours long. And fome write