TO HER GRACE THE

DUTCHESS OF ORMOND,

WITH

THE FOLLOWING POEM

OP

PALAMON AND ARCITE.

MADAM,

THE bard who first adorn'd our native tongue, Tun'd to his British lyre this ancient fong: Which Homer might without a blush rehearse, And leaves a doubtful palm in Virgil's verfe: He match'd their beauties, where they most excel;

Of love fung better, and of arms as well.

5

piece

Dr. Johnson juftly cenfures this Dedication as a where his original fondness of remote conceits feems to have revived." JOHN WARTON. Ver. 4. And leaves a doubtful palm in Virgil's verfe:] dubiam facientia carmina palmam.

Juv. JOHN WARTON.

Vouchfafe, illuftrious Ormond, to behold What power the charms of beauty had of old;

Nor wonder if fuch deeds of arms were done, Infpir'd by two fair eyes, that sparkled like 'your own.

If Chaucer by the best idea wrought, And poets can divine each other's thought, The faireft nymph before his eyes he fet ; And then the fairest was Plantagenet ;

10

Who three contending princes made her

prize,

eyes:

And rul'd the rival nations with her
Who left immortal trophies of her fame,
And to the nobleft order gave the name.

Like her, of equal kindred to the throne,
You keep her conquefts, and extend

own:

16

your

20

As when the ftars, in their etherial race,
At length have roll'd around the liquid fpace,
At certain periods they resume their place,
From the fame point of heaven their courfe
advance,

And move in measures of their former dance; 25
Thus, after length of ages, fhe returns,

Reftor'd in you, and the fame place adorns ;
Or

you perform her office in the sphere, Born of her blood, and make a new Platonic

year.

O true Plantagenet, O race divine,
(For beauty ftill is fatal to the line)
Had Chaucer liv'd that angel-face to view,
Sure he had drawn his Emily from you;

30

Or had you liv'd to judge the doubtful right, Your noble Palamon had been the knight; 35 And conquering Thefeus from his fide had fent Your generous lord, to guide the Theban go

vernment.

Time shall accomplish that; and I shall see
A Palamon in him, in you an Emily.
Already have the fates your path prepar'd, 40
And fure prefage your future fway declar'd:
When weftward, like the fun, you took your

way,

And from benighted Britain bore the day,
Blue Triton
gave the fignal from the shore,
The ready Nereids heard, and fwam before 45
To smooth the seas; a foft Etefian gale
But juft infpir'd, and gently fwell'd the fail;
Portunus took his turn, whofe ample hand
Heav'd up his lighten'd keel, and funk the
fand,

And fteer'd the facred veffel fafe to land. 50

Ver. 31.

· fatal to the line,] Deftined or given by JOHN WARTON.

the Fates.-A peculiar fenfe.

Ver. 48. Portunus took his turn, whose ample hand]
Et pater ipfe manu magnâ Portunus euntem
Impulit.

ΤΟΣ. 131.

Eneid. v. 1. 241.

JOHN WARTON.

E

55

The land, if not restrain'd, had met your way,
Projected out a neck, and jutted to the fea.
Hibernia, proftrate at your feet, ador'd,
In you, the pledge of her expected lord;
Due to her ifle; a venerable name;
His father and his grandfire known to fame ;
Aw'd by that houfe, accuftom'd to command,
The fturdy kerns in due fubjection stand;
Nor bear the reins in any foreign hand.
At your approach, they crowded to the port; 60
And scarcely landed, you create a court :
As Ormond's harbinger, to you they run;
For Venus is the promife of the sun.
The wafte of civil wars, their towns destroy'd,
Pales unhonour'd, Ceres unemploy'd,
Were all forgot; and one triumphant day
Wip'd all the tears of three campaigns away.
Blood, rapines, maffacres, were cheaply bought,
So mighty recompence your beauty brought.
As when the dove returning bore the mark 70
Of earth reftor'd to the long-lab'ring ark,
The relics of mankind, fecure of rest,
Ope'd every window to receive the guest,
And the fair bearer of the meffage blefs'd;
So, when you came, with loud repeated cries,
The nation took an omen from your eyes, 76
And God advanc'd his rainbow in the skies,

65

Ver. 70. As when the dove] He had before used this fimile, in Threnodia Auguftalis, I believe. JOHN WARTON.

To fign inviolable peace reftor'd;

The faints, with folemn fhouts, proclaim'd the new accord.

When at your fecond coming you appear, (For I foretel that millenary year)

80

The sharpen'd fhare fhall vex the foil no more,
But earth unbidden fhall produce her store;
The land fhall laugh, the circling ocean fmile,
And Heaven's indulgence blefs the holy ifle. 85
Heaven from all ages has referv'd for you
That happy clime, which venom never knew;
Or if it had been there, your eyes alone
Have power to chafe all poifon but their own.

Now in this interval, which fate has caft 90
Betwixt your future glories, and your past,
This paufe of power, 'tis Ireland's hour to

mourn;

While England celebrates your fafe return,
By which you feem the feafons to command,

And bring our fummers back to their forfaken

land.

The vanquish'd ifle our leifure muft attend, Till the fair bleffing we vouchfafe to fend; Nor can we fpare you long, tho' often we may lend.

95

The dove was twice employ'd abroad, before The world was dry'd, and she return'd no more.

Ver. 82. The Sharpen'd share &c.] He could not avoid an imitation of Virgil's Pollio. JOHN WARTON.