Thou only, Foster, has the pleasing art,
At once to please the ear and mend the heart!
"Lawrence, with clear and solid judgment speaks,
And on the sober mind impression makes,
The sacred truths with justness he explains,
And he from ev'ry hearer praise obtains."
Of the author of these lines I can give no information. He evidently belonged to the Anti-Calvinistic party. His name does not appear to have been known to Mr. Walter Wilson, the historian of the "Dissenting Churches" of London, although he quotes a portion of them. But they were probably composed between 1728 and 1738. In the former year, Dr. James Foster's London popularity arose, on the occasion of his undertaking the evening lecture at the Old Jewry. In the year 1738, Mr. Robert Bragge, one of the subjects of the poem, died. Of this gentleman the story is told (and to it the poem evidently alludes), that he was employed no less than four months in developing the mysteries of Joseph's coat, from Genesis, xxxvii. 3.: "And he made him a coat of many colours." In reply to the sarcasm on Mr. Bragge, Mr. Walter Wilson states (Hist. and Ant. of Diss. ch. i. p. 247.) that the following stanza was composed:—
"The unwearied Bragge, with zeal, in moving strains,
Unfolds the mysteries Scripture-Book contains;
Marks every truth, of error shows the cause,