Page:The Hind and the Panther - Dryden (1687).djvu/135

$\scriptstyle {\left.{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right\}\,}$For little Souls on little shifts rely,And coward Arts of mean Expedients try:The noble Mind will dare do any thing but lye.False Friends, (his deadliest foes,) could find no wayBut shows of honest bluntness to betray;That unsuspected plainness he believ'd,He look'd into Himself, and was deceiv'd.Some lucky Planet sure attends his Birth,Or Heav'n wou'd make a Miracle on Earth;For prosp'rous Honesty is seldom seen:To bear so dead a weight, and yet to win.It looks as Fate with Nature's Law would strive,To shew Plain dealing once an age may thrive:And, when so tough a frame she could not bend,Exceeded her Commission to befriend.

This gratefull man, as Heav'n encreas'd his Store,Gave God again, and daily fed his Poor;His House with all convenience was purvey'd;The rest he found, but rais'd the Fabrick where he pray'd;