Vouchsafe to hear, whilft briefly I relate
Great Henry's flame, and Rofamonda's fate,
Pierc'd to the foul by her resistless eyes,
Lo! at her feet the scepter'd vaffal lies,
Now big with hopes, now tortur'd with despair,
Nor toils, nor pleasures, can divert his care.
Her voice, her look, ten thousand wounds impart,
And fix the pleafing image in his heart;
Such as (if Fame has drawn the picture true,
Her native luftre fung, nor added new)

Might tempt the thund'rer from his blefs'd abode,
To court that beauty which himself bestow'd.
Features fo wrought not Venus' felf displays,
When drefs'd by youthful pens in vocal lays;
Not equal charms in all the Graces join,
And only Sunderland is more divine.
Thus fatally adorn'd, the hapless fair
Receives his fuit, and liftens to his
prayer;
Fond of her ruin, pleas'd to be undone,
She
reaps
the conqueft that her eyes had won.
Tho' tongues obfcure, at humble distance plac'd,
May cenfure joys which they despair to taste;
Whene'er th' attack is made, all jointly own
What bright temptations sparkle from a throne:
Could love no entrance find, ambition can,
They clafp the monarch who defpife the man;
Beyond his boldest wish the hero blefs'd,
Riots in joys too great to be express'd;
N 2

And

And now, with caution, does the means pursue,
As they are great, to make them lasting too.
'Mid fhades obfcure, remote from vulgar eye,
An artful edifice is rear'd on high, .

Through which inextricable windings run,
Loft in themselves, and end where they begun.
Mæander thus, as ancient stories feign,
In curling channels wander'd o'er the plain;
Oft by himself o'ertook, himself survey'd,
And backward turning, to his fountain ftray'd.
Nor much unlike to thefe are mazes found,
By loit'ring hinds imprinted on the ground;
Who, when releas'd by fome diftinguish'd day,
Lead ruddy damsels forth to rural play;
And on the flow'ry vale, or mountain's brow,
The yielding glebe in wanton furrows plow.
Ye Sylvan Nymphs, who with a pleasing pride,
O'er fhady groves, and fecret vows prefide,
On this myfterious pile with care attend,
Protect the mistress, and the prince befriend :
With both confpire to blind the wary dame,
And fcreen th' important tale from babbling Fame.
Ah faithlefs guards! in vain with od❜rous smoke
We feaft your altars, and your aid invoke ;
When nuptial debts are now no longer paid,
More ways than one the rover is betray'd:
Affected paffion does no more fuffice,
And aukward kindness proves a weak disguise.

Woman,

Woman, by nature arm'd against deceit,
With indignation fmiles upon the cheat;
Looks down with fcorn, and only burns to know
Th' uncertain author of her certain woe.

As a fierce lioness of Lybian race,

Struck by the hunter's hand, with furious pace
Strides o'er the sands, and red with recent gore
Yells out her pain, and makes the forest roar :
So raves the queen incens'd; and loudly tells
The restless grief that in her bosfom dwells,
For her lov'd lord from her embraces fled,
Her flighted beauty, and her widow'd bed.

What dire effects her kindled fury wrought,
Whether by pointed fteel, or poifon'd draught,
Th' unguarded rival fell, forbear to afk,

Th' unwilling Mufe declines the mournful task,
Recoils with anguish, wounded to the foul,
Feels ev'ry ftab, and drinks th' invenom❜d bowl.
Thee, beauteous fair, Love made a pris'ner here,
But great Eliza's doom was more fevere;
By hate implacable to fhades confin'd,
Where ftill the native grandeur of her mind.
Clear and unfully'd fhone, with radiant grace
Gilding the dusky horrors of the place.

down,

No nobler gifts can heav'n itself pour
Than to deserve, and to despise a crown.
In fome dark room, for pompous forrow made,
Methinks I fee the royal virgin laid;

N 3

With

With anxious thoughts employ'd on former times,
Their various fate, their glory, and their crimes;

Th' ill-boding place a just concernment gives,
Since Elinora in Maria lives.

Maria

but forgotten be her name,

In long oblivion loft, o'erlook'd by fame.

Do thou, O Albion, from remembrance chace
Thy perfecuted fons, thy martyr'd race :

And freed at length by ANNA's milder ray,
From furious zeal, and arbitrary sway,

Enjoy the prefent, or the future scene,

With promis'd bleflings fraught, without one cloud ferenc.
Stop, goddefs, ftop, recall thy daring flight,

I cannot, muft not tempt the wond'rous height.
Themes so exalted, with proportion'd wing,
Let Addison, let Garth, let Congreve fing ;
Whilft lift'ning nations crowd the vocal lyre,
Foretaste their blifs, and languifh with defire.

To thee thy fong, thy province is affign'd,
And what should foremost stand, is yet behind.
Silenc'd be all antiquity could boast,

And let old Woodstock in the new be loft.
No more her Edwards, or her Henrys please ;
Their spoils of war, or monuments of peace :
By CHURCHILL's hand fo largely is out-done,
What either prince has built, and both have won.

With admiration ftruck, we gaze around,

The fancy entertain, the fenfe confound:

And

And whilft our eyes o'er the foundation roam,
Prefage the wonders of the finish'd dome.
Thus did our hero's early dawn display
Th' aufpicious beams of his advancing day.
We, who in humble cells, and learn'd retreat,
Are ftrangers to the fplendor of the great,
On barren cliffs of fpeculation thrown,
Of all befides unknowing, and unknown,
Pronounce our fabrics juft in ev'ry part,
And scorn the poor attempts of modern art ;
(Proud of his cottage fo exults the fwain,
Who loves the foreft, and admires the plain,)
'Till here convinc'd, unwillingly we find
Our Wickhams, and our Wainfleets, left behind;
Far as the molehill by the mountain's brow,
Or fhrubs by cedars, in whofe fhade they grow.
Rife, glorious pile, the princefs bids thee rife,
And claim thy title to her kindred skies:
Where the prefides all must be nobly great,
All must be regular, and all compleat;
No other hand the mighty work requires,
Art may inform, but she alone infpires.

When lab'ring Tyrians, with united toil,
Advanc'd their Carthage on the deftin'd foil,
So fate their queen, and look'd aufpicious down,
Herself the Genius of the rifing town.

Thrice happy he, to whom the task fhall fall,
To grace with shining images the wall;