Favour the innocent, reprefs the bold;
And, while they flourish, make an age of gold.
Bred in the camp, fam'd for his valour young;
At fea fuccefsful, vigorous, and strong;
His fleet, his army, and his mighty mind,
Efteem and reverence through the world do find.
A Prince, with fuch advantages as thefe,
Where he perfuades not, may command a peace.
Britain declaring for the juster side,
The most ambitious will forget their pride:
They that complain will their endeavours cease,
Advis'd by him, inclin'd to present peace;
Join to the Turk's destruction; and then bring
All their pretences to so just a King.
If the fuccefsful troublers of mankind,
With laurel crown'd, fo great applaufe do find;
Shall the vex'd world less honour yield to those
That stop their progress, and their rage oppose?
Next to that power which does the ocean awe,
Is, to fet bounds, and give ambition law.
The British Monarch fhall the glory have,
That famous Greece remains no longer flave:
That source of art, and cultivated thought!
Which they to Rome, and Romans hither, brought.
The banish'd Mufes fhall no longer mourn;
But may with Liberty to Greece return :
Though flaves (like birds that fing not in a cage)
They loft their genius and poetic rage;
Homers again, and Pindars, may be found;
And his great actions with their numbers crown'd.
The Turk's vaft empire does united stand :
Chriftians, divided under the command
Of jarring princes, would be foon undone,
Did not this Hero make their intereft one:
Peace to embrace, ruin the common foe,
Exalt the Cross, and lay the Crescent low.
Thus may the Gospel to the rifing fun
Be fpread, and flourish where it first begun:
And this great day (so justly honour'd here!)
Known to the east, and celebrated there.
"Hæc ego longævus cecini tibi, maxime regum!
"Aufus & ipfe manu juvenum tentare laborem."
When he prefented this Book to her ROYAL
MADAM! I here present you with the rage,
And with the Beauties, of a former age:
Wishing you may with as great pleasure view
This, as we take in gazing upon you.
Thus we writ then: your brighter eyes inspire
A nobler flame, and raise our genius higher.
While we your wit and early knowledge fear,
To our productions we become fevere:
Your matchless beauty gives our fancy wing;
Your judgment makes us careful how we fing.
04
Lines not compos'd, as heretofore, in haste,
Polish'd like marble, shall like marble last:
And make you through as many ages shine,
As Taffo has the Heroes of your line.
Though other names our wary writers ufe,
You are the subject of the British Muse:
Dilating mifchief to yourfelf unknown,
Men write, and die, of wounds they dare not own.
So the bright fun burns all our grafs away,
While it means nothing but to give us day.
Thefe VERSE S were writ in the TA S S o of her ROYAL HIGHNESS.
ASSO knew how the fairer fex to grace;
But in no one durft all perfection place:
In her alone that owns this book, is feen
Clorinda's fpirit, and her lofty mien ;
Sophronia's piety, Erminia's truth,
Armida's charms, her beauty, and her youth.
Our Princess here, as in a glafs, does dress
Her well-taught mind; and every grace express,
More to our wonder than Rinaldo fought:
The Hero's race excels the Poet's thought.
NGENIOUS Higgons never fought
To hide the candour of her thought;
And now her cloaths are loft, we find
The nymph as naked as her mind:
Like Eve while yet she was untaught
To hide herself or know a fault.
For a fnatch'd ribbon fhe would frown,
But cares too little for her gown;
It makes her laugh, and all her grief
Is left it should undo the thief.
Already fhe begins to stretch
Her wit, to fave the guilty wretch:
And fays, fhe was of goods bereft
By her own bounty, not by theft.
She thought not fit to keep her cloaths
Till they were eaten up with moths;
But made a nobler use of store,
To clothe the naked and the poor.
Should all that do approve the fair,
Her lofs contribute to repair,
Of London fhe would have the fate,
And rife (undone) in greater state;
In points, and hoods, and Indian gown,
As glorious as the new-built town.
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