Me _Elphin_ now his Bard may justly boast
Who long of old amid the Fire-wing'd Host:
Once _Merlin_ was I call'd, well known to Fame,
Whom future Kings shall _Taliessin_ name.
Wo to the Wretch who Wealth by Rapine gains,
And wo to him who Fasts and Pray'rs refrains;
Wo to the Shepherds who their Flocks betray,
And will not drive the _Ravish_ Wolves away.

[3] _Olli sedaro rescondit corde Latinus._ Virg.

[4] _Mr._ Dryden's _Riddle, in his Preface to_ Virgil.

[5] _This was observ'd before Mr._ Le Clerc _was born. Vide_ Song of the
Well, _Num._ 21. 17.

[Hebrew text]

_Vide_ Psal. 80, & 81. _Where some Verses have Treble, where Quadruple
Rhimes, four in one Verse._

[6] Ode 1. [Greek: indecipherable]

[7] _Vide_ Collier's _Reflexions on_ Moarning Bride, _and_ Garth's
_Dispensary_.

[8] _I know some have affirm'd that_ Moses's _Song in the_ 14_th of_
Exodus _was writ in Hexameters, but I can't perceive any such thing in
it, any more than in the_ 90_th_ Psalm, _or the Book of_ Job, _which seem
to be written about the same time with it. The Song of the_ Well, _in_
Numbers, _pag._ 15. _is clearly an_ Ode _of unequal Measures_.

[Illustration: _THE_
LIFE
_of_
Christ.

An Heroic Poem.

_In Ten BOOKS
with sixty Copper Plates._

London:
_Printed for Charles Harper, & Benj. Motte._]

THE
LIFE
OF OUR
Blessed Lord & Saviour
JESUS CHRIST.

AN
HEROIC POEM:
DEDICATED TO
Her Most Sacred MAJESTY.

_In Ten Books._

ATTEMPTED BY
_SAMUEL WESLEY_, M.A.
Chaplain to the most Honourable JOHN Lord Marquess of _Normanby_,
and Rector of _Epwerth_ in the County of _Lincoln_.

Each Book Illustrated by necessary Notes, explaining all the more
difficult Matters in the whole History: Also a Prefatory Discourse
concerning Heroic Poetry.

_The Second Edition, revised by the Author, and improved with the
addition of a large Map of the_ HOLY-LAND, _and a table of the
principal matters._

With Sixty Copper-Plates, by the celebrated Hand of _W. Faithorn_.

_LONDON_:
Printed for _Charles Harper_, at the _Flower-de-Luce_ over against St.
_Dunstan_'s Church, and are to be Sold by him, and _Roger Clavel_ at the
_Peacock_ against _Fetter-Lane_, both in _Fleetstreet_, 1697.

THE PREFACE, Being an ESSAY on HEROIC POETRY

A Just Heroic Poem is so vast an Undertaking, requires so much both of Art
and Genius for its Management, and carries such Difficulty in the Model of
the Whole, an