Abbildungen der Seite
PDF
EPUB

Armies, and fleets, which kept you out fo long,
Own'd their great Sov'reign, and redress'd his wrong.
When strait the people, by no force compell'd,
Nor longer from their inclination held,

Break forth at once, like powder set on fire;
And, with a noble rage, their KING require.
So th' injur'd fea, which from her wonted course,
To gain fome acres, avarice did force,
If the new banks, neglected once, decay,
No longer will from her old channel stay;
Raging, the late-got land fhe overflows,
And all that's built upon't to ruin goes.

Offenders now, the chiefeft, do begin
To ftrive for grace, and expiate their fin:
All winds blow fair, that did the world imbroil;
Your vipers treacle yield, and fcorpions oil.

If then fuch praise the MACEDONIAN got,
For having rudely cut the GORDIAN knot;
What glory's due to him, that could divide
Such ravell'd int'refts? has the knot unty'd,
And without ftroke so smooth a paffage made,
Where craft, and malice, fuch impeachments laid?
But while we praise you, you ascribe it all
To his high hand, which threw the untouch'd wall
Of self-demolish'd JERICHO fo low:
His Angel 'twas that did before you go;

Tam'd favage hearts, and made affection yield,
Like ears of corn when wind falutes the field.
Thus, patience crown'd, like JoB's, your trouble ends,
Having your foes to pardon, and your friends:
For, tho' your courage were fo firm a rock,
What private virtue could indure the fhock?

*Alexander.

Like

Like your Great Mafter, you the storm withstood, And pity'd those who love with frailty fhew'd.

Rude INDIAN S, tort'ring all the royal race,
Him with the throne, and dear-bought fceptre grace,
That fuffers beft: what region could be found,
Where your heroic head had not been crown'd?
The next experience of your mighty mind,
Is, how you combat Fortune now fhe's kind:
And this way too you are victorious found;
She flatters with the fame fuccefs fhe frown'd.
While, to your self severe, to others kind,
With pow'r unbounded, and a will confin'd,
Of this vaft empire you poffefs the care,
The fofter parts fall to the people's fhare.
Safety, and equal government, are things
Which fubjects make as happy as their Kings.
Faith, law, and piety, (that banish'd train!)
Justice and truth, with you return again:
The city's trade, and country's eafy life,
Once more shall flourish, without fraud, or ftrife.
Your reign no less affures the ploughman's peace,
Than the warm fun advances his increase;
And does the shepherds as fecurely keep
From all their fears, as they preferve their sheep.
But above all, the Mufe-infpired train
Triumph, and raife their drooping heads again:
Kind heav'n at once has, in your person, sent
Their facred judge, their guard, and argument.

Nec magis expreffi vultus per abenea figna,
Quàm per vatis opus mores, animique, virorum
Clarorum apparent 米米米米

Horat.

On St. JAMES'S PARK, as lately improv'd by his MAJESTY.

F the firft Paradife there's nothing found,
Plants fet by heav'n are vanish'd, and the ground;
Yet the description lafts: who knows the fate
Of lines that fhall this Paradife relate?
Instead of rivers rowling by the fide
Of EDEN's garden, here flows-in the tide:
The fea, which always ferv'd his empire, now
Pays tribute to our Prince's pleasure too.
Of famous cities we the founders know;
But rivers, old as feas to which they go,
Are nature's bounty: 'tis of more renown
To make a river, than to build a town.

For future fhade, young trees upon the banks
Of the new ftream appear in even ranks:
The voice of ORPHEUS, or AMPHION's hand,
In better order could not make them ftand.
May they increase as fast, and spread their boughs,
As the high fame of their great owner grows!
May he live long enough, to fee them all
Dark fhadows caft, and as his palace tall!
Methinks I fee the love that shall be made,
The lovers walking in that am'rous shade:
The Gallants dancing by the river fide;
They bathe in fummer, and in winter flide.
Methinks I hear the mufick in the boats,
And the loud ECHO which returns the Notes:
While over-head a flock of new-fprung fowl
Hangs in the air, and does the fun controul,

Dark'ning

Dark'ning the sky: they hover o'er, and fhrowd
The wanton failers with a feather'd cloud.
Beneath, a fhole of filver fifhes glides,
And plays about the gilded barges' fides:
The Ladies, angling in the chrystal lake,
Feaft on the waters with the prey they take:
At once victorious with their lines, and eyes,
They make the fifhes, and the men, their prize.
A thousand CUPIDS on the billows ride,
And Sea-Nymphs enter with the fwelling tide:
From THETIS fent as fpies, to make report,
And tell the wonders of her Sov'reign's Court.
All that can, living, feed the greedy eye,
Or dead, the palate, here you may descry:
The choiceft things that furnifh'd NOAH's ark,
Or PETER'S fheet, inhabiting this Park:
All with a border of rich fruit-trees crown'd,
Whose loaded branches hide the lofty mound.
Such various ways the fpacious alleys lead,
My doubtful Muse knows not what path to tread.
Yonder, the harvest of cold months laid up,
Gives a fresh coolness to the royal cup:
There ice, like chryftal firm, and never loft,
Tempers hot July with December's froft;
Winter's dark prifon, whence he cannot fly,
Tho' the warm fpring, his enemy, draws nigh.
Strange! that extremes should thus preferve the fnow,
High on the ALP s, or in deep caves below.

Here, a well-polish'd Mall gives us the joy,
To fee our Prince his matchlefs force imploy:
His manly posture, and his graceful mein,
Vigor, and youth, in all his motions feen

His

His shape fo lovely, and his limbs so strong,
Confirm our hopes we shall obey him long.
No fooner has he touch'd the flying ball,
But 'tis already more than half the Mall:
And fuch a fury from his arm has got,
As from a fmoaking culverin 'twere shot.

Near this my Muse, what most delights her, sees A living gallery of aged trees:

Bold fons of earth, that thrust their arms fo high,
As if once more they would invade the sky.
In fuch green palaces the firft Kings reign'd,
Slept in their shades, and Angels entertain'd :
With fuch old counsellors they did advise,
And, by frequenting facred groves, grew wife.
Free from th' impediments of light, and noise,
Man thus retir'd, his nobler thoughts imploys.
Here CHARLES contrives the ord'ring of his ftates,
Here he refolves his neighb'ring Princes' fates:
What nation shall have peace, where war be made,
Determin'd is in this oraculous fhade;

The world, from INDIA to the frozen north,
Concern'd in what this folitude brings forth.
His fancy objects from his view receives ;
The profpect thought, and contemplation, gives.
That feat of empire here falutes his eye,
To which three kingdoms do themselves apply;
The structure by a* Prelate rais'd, WHITE-HALL,
Built with the fortune of ROM E's Capitol:
Both, dif-proportion'd to the present state
Of their proud founders, were approv'd by Fate.

*Cardinal Wolfey.

From

« ZurückWeiter »