Yet was she not profuse; but feared to waste,
  And wisely managed, that the stock might last;
  That all might be supplied, and she not grieve,
  When crowds appear’d, she had not to relieve: 
  Which to prevent, she still increased her store;
  Laid up, and spared, that she might give the more. 70
  So Pharaoh, or some greater king than he,
  Provided for the seventh necessity: 
  Taught from above his magazines to frame,
  That famine was prevented ere it came. 
  Thus Heaven, though all-sufficient, shows a thrift
  In His economy, and bounds His gift: 
  Creating, for our day, one single light;
  And his reflection, too, supplies the night. 
  Perhaps a thousand other worlds, that lie
  Remote from us, and latent in the sky, 80
  Are lighten’d by his beams, and kindly nursed;
  Of which our earthly dunghill is the worst.

    Now, as all virtues keep the middle line,
  Yet somewhat more to one extreme incline,
  Such was her soul; abhorring avarice,
  Bounteous, but almost bounteous to a vice: 
  Had she given more, it had profusion been,
  And turn’d the excess of goodness into sin.

    These virtues raised her fabric to the sky;
  For that, which is next heaven, is Charity. 90
  But, as high turrets, for their airy steep,
  Require foundations in proportion deep;
  And lofty cedars as far upward shoot,
  As to the nether heavens they drive the root: 
  So low did her secure foundation lie,
  She was not humble, but Humility. 
  Scarcely she knew that she was great, or fair,
  Or wise, beyond what other women are;
  Or, which is better, knew, but never durst compare: 
  For to be conscious of what all admire, 100
  And not be vain, advances virtue higher. 
  But still she found, or rather thought she found,
  Her own worth wanting, others’ to abound;
  Ascribed above their due to every one—­
  Unjust and scanty to herself alone.

    Such her devotion was, as might give rules
  Of speculation to disputing schools,
  And teach us equally the scales to hold
  Betwixt the two extremes of hot and cold;
  That pious heat may moderately prevail, 110
  And we be warm’d, but not be scorch’d with zeal: 
  Business might shorten, not disturb, her prayer;
  Heaven had the best, if not the greater share. 
  An active life long orisons forbids;
  Yet still she pray’d, for still she pray’d by deeds.

    Her every day was Sabbath; only free
  From hours of prayer, for hours of charity: 
  Such as the Jews from servile toil released;
  Where works of mercy were a part of rest;
  Such as blest angels exercise above, 120
  Varied with sacred hymns and acts of love: