POETICS.
JOSEPH.
WITH many children was the Patriarch bleſt,
Yet Joſeph he preferr'd before the reſt:
To tend his flock was all the youth's employ;
To ſerve his God and Sire his only joy:
Jacob of his lov'd confort now depriv'd,
Beheld her graces in the ſon reviv'd;
And all the love he had to Rachel gone,
Was by degrees transferr'd unto her ſon.
A ſilken veſt, that caſt a various ſhade,
He fondly to the boy a preſent made:
Here vivid ſcarlet ſtrove with lively green,
The purple, blended with the white, was ſeen,
And azure ſpots were interſpers'd between.
This gaudy robe (the baſis of his woe,
The ſource from which his future ſorrows flow)
Kindled his elder brethren's wakeful pride:
(When envy mounts, affection will ſubſide)
Their dawning hate in vain to hide they ſtrove,
Each look too plain confeſs'd expiring love.
