Original - Duke Divinity School

Let Joy, or Ease, let Affluence, or Content,
And the gay Conscience of a Life well spent,
Calm every Thought, inspirit every Grace,
Glow in thy Heart, and smile upon thy Face: 179
Till Death unfelt that tender Frame destroy,
In some soft Dream, or Extasy of Joy,
Consign Thee to the Sabbath of the Tomb,
And wake to Raptures in a Life to come!
The Happy Life: In Imitation of Marial 180
Parson, these things in thy possessing,
Are better than the Bishop’s Blessing.
A Wife that makes conserves; a Steed
That carries double when there’s Need:
October, store, and best Virginia,
Tithe-Pig, and mortuary Guinea: …
A large Concordance, bound long since:
Sermons to Charles the First, when Prince;
A Chronicle of ancient standing;
A Chrysostom—to smooth thy band in.
The Polyglott—three parts—my text,
Howbeit—likewise—now to my next,
Lo here the Septuagint—and Paul,
To sum the whole—the Close of all.
He that has these, may pass his Life,
Drink with the Squire, and kiss his Wife;
On Sundays preach, and eat his fill;
And fast on Fridays—if he will;
Toast Church and Queen, explain the News,
Talk with Church-Wardens about Pews,
Pray heartily for some new Gift,
And shake his head at Doctor Swift.
179Wesley omits here, and in Arminian Magazine: “Let Day improve on Day, and Year on Year, / Without a
Pain, a Trouble, or a Fear.”
180Alexander Pope, “The Happy Life of a Country Parson: In Imitation of Martial,” Pope & Swift,
Miscellanies, 3:43.
107