ON THE

BIRTH OF THE PRINCE OF WALES.

JAM non vulgares, Ifis, molire triumphos,
Auguftos Ifis nunquam tacitura Stuartos.
Tu quoties crebris cumulâfti altaria donis
Multa rogans numen, cui vincta jugalia curæ !
At jam votivam Superis fufpende tabellam;
Sunt rata vota tibi, fævique oblita doloris
Amplexa parvi gaudet Regina Jacobi,
Languentes dudum prifcus vigor afflat ocelos,
Infans et caræ fufpenfus in ofcula Matris
Numine jam fpirat blando, vifumque tenellum
Mifcet parva quidem, fed vivida Patris imago,
O etiam patrio vivat celebratus honore,
Vivat canitie terris venerandus eâdem !
Omen habet certè superâ quod vescitur aurâ
Tum primum, lætos æftas cum pandat honores,
Omnia cum vireant, cum formofiflimus annus,
Et Vos felicis optatâ prole Parentes !

Quos nunc Parca piis refpexit mota querelis:
En veftræ valuère preces; victrixque Deorum
Fata movet pietas, quamvis nolentia flecti :
Proles chara datur fenio, inconceffa juventæ.
Si citiùs foboles nullo miranda daretur
Prodigio, fanctis vix digna Parentibus effet :
O quæ vita dabit, cui dat miracula partus?

I, Princeps, olim patrios imitare triumphos,
Et femper magni veftigia Patris adora:
Hic primâ nondum indutus lanugine malas
Invictis orbem per totum inclaruit armis.
Illius ad tonitru Batavi tremuêre; Jacobum
Agnovit dominum fummiflis navita velis.
Te quoque Belga tremat, metuat rediviva Jacobi
Fulmina, cujus adhuc miferè confervat hiantes
Ore cicatrices, vaftæ et monumenta ruinæ.
Subjectus famulas Nereus Tibi porrigat undas;
Ipfe tuo da jura mari.

Cumque pater tandem divis miscebitur ipse
Divus (at ô tardè facra ducite ftamina, Parca,)
Affere tu noftri jus immortale Monarchæ;,
Tu rege fubjectum patriis virtutibus orbem.

From the "Strenae Natalitiae Academiae Oxonienfis in celfiffimum Principem. Oxonil, e Theatro Sheldoniano. An. Dom, 1688."

ON

THE INAUGURATION

OF

KING WILLIAM AND QUEEN MARY*.
MAURITII ingentis celfo de fanguine natum,
Mauritioque parem, folenni difere verfu
Te, Gulielmi, juvat: nuncô mihi pectora flammâ
Divinâ caleant, nunc me furor excitet idem,
Qui Te, ingens heros, bello tot adire labores
Infligat, mediofque ardentem impellit in hoftes.

Te tenero latè jactabat fama sub ævo :
Cæpifti, quà finis erat; maturaque virtus
Edidit ante diem fructus, tardèque fequentes
Annos præcurrit longè, et poft terga reliquit.
Jam Te, jam videor flagrantes cernere vultus,
Dum primas ducis fervens in prælia turmas:
Jam cerno oppofitas acies, quanto impete præceps
Tela per et gladios raperis; quo fulmine belli
Adverfum frangis cuneum, et media agmina

mifces.

Num ferus invadit Belgas Turennius heros,
Invictis femper clarus Turennius armis,
Et, quacunque ruit, ferro bacchatur et igni?
Tu primo vernans jucundæ flore juventæ
Congrederis, ducente Deo, Deus ipfe Batavis.
Congrederis; non Te Gallorum immania terrent
Agmina, non magni Turrennius agminis inftar.
Heu quas tum ferro ftrages, quæ funera latè
Edideris, quantofque viros demiferis orco!
Sic cum congeftos ftruxêre ad fidera montes
Terrigenæ fratres, fuperos detrudere cœlo
Aggreffi, pofito tum plectro intonfus Apollo
Armatà fumpfit fatalia fpicula dextrâ :
Tunc audax ruit in bellum, et furit acer in armis,
Et Martem, atque ipfas longè anteit fulminis alas.
Extremos ô quàm vellem memorare labores!
Quàm vellem fævi fuperata pericula ponti!
Triftefque illorum exequias, quos obruit æquor
Cui meritò nunc jura dabis: quam flebile fatum
Immeritos, canere; at jan jam fub pondere tanto
Deficio, heroemque fequor non paflibus æquis.

66

+ From the "Vota Oxonienia pro ferenifümis Gulihelmo Rege et Maria Regina M. Britanniae, &c. nuncupata. "Oxonii, c. Theatro Sheldoniana, An. Dein. 1959."

Sed feffo memoranda dies, quâ regna Britannûm
Debita quá lacros fceptri regalis honores
Accipies, cingefque aureo diademate frontem.
Anglos fervafti; da jura volentibus Anglis.
Sic gravis Alcides humeris ingentibus olim
Fulcivit patrium, quem mox poffedit, Olympum.

ON

THE RETURN

KING WILLIAM FROM IRELAND.

After the Battle of the Boyne".

O INGENS Heros! O tot defuncte periclis!
Ergo iterum victor noftris allaberis oris?
Atque os belligerum, torvumque in prælia numen
Exuis, et blanda componis regna quiete?
Ergo iterum placidâ moderaris voce Senatum ?
Oraque divinum fpirant jam mitia lumen?
Non fic cum trepidos ageres violentus Hibernos;
Cum bello exultans fremeres, enfemque rotares
Immani gyro, rubris bacchatus in arvis
Invitus (neque enim crudcles edere ftrages
Te juvat, aut animis Ditem fatiare Tuorum.)
Sic olim amplexus Semeles petiiffe Tonantem
Fama eft, terribilem nigranti fuimine et igni:
Maluit hic caris accumbere mitior ulnis,
Inque fuam invitum trahit infcia Nympha ruinam.

Tu tamen, & toties Wilhelmi aflucta triumphis
Calliope, ô nunquam Heroum non grata labori,
Wilhelmi immenfos iterum enumerare triumphos
Incipe, et in notas iterum te attollere laudes.
Ut requiem, fædæque ingloria ta dia pacis
Exofus, rurfufque ardens in Martia caítra,
Sanguineafque acies, fulgenteique ære catervas,
In bellum ruit, atque iterum fe mifit in arma.
Gallus enim fævit, miferofque cruentus Hibernos
Servitio premit, et viciâ dominatur lerne.
Hinc Furce, Tormenta, Cruces, tractaque Catene
Horrendum ftrident: iterumque refurgere credas
Macquirum 1quallentem, atque Anglo fanguine
fœdum,

Exultantem in mane, et vaftâ clade fuperbum.
O gens lethifero nequicquam exempta veneno!
Fruftra Bufo tuis, et Aranea cefht ab oris,.
Dum pecus Ignati invifum, fœdique cuculli,
Et Monachi fanctè protenfo abdomine tardi
Vipeream infpirant animam, inficiuntque veneno.
Affurgit tandem Schon bergus, et emicat armis,
Oui juga captivo excutiat lervilia collo :
Sed iruftra fecuro hoitis nunimine valli
Aut latet, aut errat vagus, eluditque fequentem.
Augendis reftat Gulielna Celta triumphis;
Vindiciis femper Gunn 1 fata refervant
Et vincla eripere, et manibus divellere nodos.
Sic fruftra Atrides, truftra Telamomus heros,
Ad Trojam frufta pugnarunt mille caring,

* From the "Academiae Oxorienfis Gratulatio pro exoptato ferenifi mi regis Cunelmi ex hiberna recízu, Caquiat, & Theatro Suciech.bo. Ammo LOLI, 1090.”

Nec nifi Achilleâ funduntur Fergama destri.
Ergo, Boanda, tuis fplendet Gulielmus in arva,
Magna Boanda, ipfi famá haud ceffura Melez
Ut major graditur bello, ut jam gaudia in igno
Scintillant oculis, et toto pectore tervent!
Quantum olli jubar affulget, quæ gratia fronti
Purpurei metuenda, et non inamabilis herrer
Sic cum dimiffum fertur per nubila fulmen,
Et juvat, et nimiâ perftringit lumina flammi.
Ut volat, ut longè primus rapidum infilet alve
Turbine quo præceps cun&tantem tendit in hofe
Dum vaftas ftrages et multa cadavera pafim
Amnis purpureo latè devolvit in alveo:
Dum pergenti obftat moles immenfa fuorum,
Et torpet mifto concretum fanguine flumen.
Pergit atrox Heros; fruftra olli tempora circam
Spicula mille canunt, luduntque in vertice flamaz
Fruftra haftatæ acies obftant, firn æque phalange
Fruftra acres Celta: furit Ille, atque impe
hoftes

Et fugat, et fternit, totoque agit agmina carps.
Verfus retro hoftis trepidè fugit, inque paluces,
Torpentefque lacus cæno, horrendolque recim
Dumorum; et Cæci prodeft injuria cali.

Attamen ô, non fic faufto movet alite bell Schombergus; non fic nobis favet alca Mart Occidit heu! Schombergus iniqui crimine cak; Non illum vernans circum fua tempora laurus Confervat, non arcet inevitabile fuimen. At nunc ad cœlum fugit, et pede fidera calcat, Speciat et Heroes, ipfe et fpectandus ab illis. Hunc dicet veniens ætas, ferique nepotes, Et quicunque Anglum audierint rugire Leesem Cœpit enim rugire, et jamjam ad mœnia vicha Caletana fremit trux, Dunkirkun que repolc Crefleas iterum lauros magnique tropaa Henrici repetit: media Lodoicus in auli Jamdudumi tremit, et Gulielmi ad nomina palet

SINCE our Ifis filently deplores

The Bard who fpread her fame to diftant theres:
Since nobler pens their mournful lays fufpend,
My honeft zeal, if not my verfe, commend,
Forgive the poet, and approve the friend.
Your care had long his fleeting life rettrain'd,
One table fed you, and one bed contain'd;
For his dear fake long reftlefs nights you bore,
While rattling coughs his heaving veffels tore;
Much was his pain, but your affliction mort.
Oh! had no fummons from the noify gown
Call'd thee, unwilling, to the naufecus town,
Thy love had o'er the dull difcafe prevai'd,
Thy mirth had cur'd where baffled phylic fail;
But fince the will of Heaven his fate decreed,
To thy kind care my worthiels lines fucceed;

= Fruitless our hopes, though pious our essays,
Yours to preferve a friend, and mine to praise.
Oh! might I paint him in Miltonian verse,
With ftrains like those he fung on Glo'fter's herfe;
But with the meaner tribe I'm forc'd to chime,
And, wanting ftrength to rise, defcend to rhyme.
With other fire his glorious Blenheim shines,
And all the battle thunders in his lines:
His nervous verfe great Boileau's strength tran-
fcends,

And France to Philips, as to Churchill, bends.

Oh! various bard, you all our powers control,
You now disturb, and now divert the foul:
Milton and Butler in thy mufe combine;
Above the last thy manly beauties shine;
For, as I've feen, when rival wits contend,
One gaily charge, one gravely wife defend;
This on quick turns and points in vain relies,
This with a look demure, and steady eyes,
With dry rebukes, or fneering praife, replies.
So thy grave lines extort a juster smile,
Reach Butler's fancy, but furpass his style;
He speaks Scarron's low phrase in humble strains,
In thee the folemn air of great Cervantes reigns.

What founding lines his abject themes exprefs!
What shining words the pompous fhilling dress!
There, there my cell, immortal made, outvies
The frailer piles which o'er its ruins rise.
In her best light the Comic Mufe appears,
When she, with borrow'd pride, the buskin wears.
So when nurfe Nokes, to act young Ammon
tries,

With fhambling legs, long chin, and foolish eyes, With dangling hands he strokes th' imperial robe, And, with a cuckold's air, commands the globe; The pomp and found the whole buffoon display'd, * And Ammon's fon more mirth than Gomez made Forgive, dear fhade, the scene my folly draws; Thy ftrains divert the grief thy afhes caufe: When Orpheus fings, the ghofts no more conplain,

But, in his lulling music, lose their pain:
So charm the fallies of thy Georgic Muse,
So calm our forrows, and our joys infuse:
Here rural notes a gentle mirth infpire,
Here lofty lines the kindling reader fire;
Like that fair tree you praife, the poem charms,
Cools like the fruit, or like the juice it warms.
Bleft clime, which Vaga's fruitful streams im-
prove,

}

Etruria's envy, and her Cofmo's love;
Redstreak he quaffs beneath the Chiant vine,
Gives Tufcan yearly for thy Scudmore's wine,
And ev'n his Taffo would exchange for thine.
Rife, rife, Rofcommon, see the Blenheim Mufe
The dull constraint of monkish rhyme refufe;
Sec, o'er the Alps his towering pinions foar,
Where never English poet reach'd before:
See mighty Colmo's counsellor and friend,
By turns on Cofmo and the Bard attend;
Rich in the coins and bufts of ancient Rome,
In him he brings a nobler treasure home;
In them he views her gods, and domes defign'd;
In him the foul of Rome, and Virgil's mighty
mind;

To him for cafe retires from toils of state,
Not half so proud to govern, as translate.
Our Spenser, firft by Pisan poets taught,
To us their tales, their ftyle, and numbers
brought.

To follow ours, now Tufcan bards defcend,
From Philips borrow, though to Spenfer lend,
Like Philips too the yoke of rhyme difdain;
They first on English bards impos'd the chain,
Firft by an English bard from rhyme their free-
dom gain.

Tyrannic rhyme, that cramps to equal chime The gay, the foft, the florid, and fublime : Some fay this chain the doubtful sense decides, Confines the fancy, and the judgment guides: I'm fure in needlefs bonds it poetsties, Procruftes like, the ax or wheel applics, To lop the mangled sense, or stretch it into size: At best a crutch, that lifts the weak along, Supports the feeble, but retards the ftrong; And the chance thoughts, when govern'd by the clofe,

Oft rise to fustain, or descend to profe.

Your judgment, Philips, rul'd with steady sway,
You us'd no curbing rhyme, the Muse to stay,
To stop her fury, or direct her way.
Thee on the wing thy uncheck'd vigor bore,
To wanton freely, or fecurely foar.

So the stretch'd cord the fhackle-dancer tries,
As prone to fall, as impotent to rife:
When freed he moves, the sturdy cable bends,
He mounts with pleasure, and fecure defcends;
Now dropping feems to ftrike the diftant ground,
Now high in air his quivering feet rebound.

Rail on, ye triflers, who to Will's repair For new lampoons, fresh cant, or modish air; Rail on at Milton's fon, who wifely bold Rejects new phrases, and resumes the old : Thus Chaucer lives in younger Spenfer's ftrains, In Maro's page reviving Ennius reigns; The ancient words the Majefty complete, And make the poem venerably great: So when the queen in royal habit's dreft, Old myftic emblems grace th' imperial vest, And in Eliza's robes all Anna stands confeft.

A haughty bard, to fame by volumes rais'd, At Dick's, and Batfon's, and through Smithfield, prais'd,

Cries out aloud- -Bold Oxford bard, forbear
With rugged numbers to torment my ear;
Yet not like thee the heavy critic foars,
But paints in fuftian, or in turn deplores;
With Bunyan's ftyle profanes heroic fongs,
To the tenth page lean homilies prolongs;
For far-fetch'd rhymes makes puzzled angele
ftrain,

And in low profe dull Lucifer complain:
His envious Mufe, by native dulness curst,
Damns the best poems, and contrives the work,

Beyond his praife or blame thy works prevail Complete where Dryden and thy Milton fail; Great Milton's wing on lower themes fubfides, And Dryden oft in rhyme his weakness hides; You ne'er with jingling words deceive the car, And yet, on humble fubjects, great appear.

Thrice happy youth, whom noble Ifis crowns! Whom Blackmore cenfures, and Godolphin owns: So on the tuneful Margarita's tongue

The liftening nymphs and ravish'd heroes hung: But cits and fops the heaven-born mufic blame, And bawl, and hils, and damn her into fame: Like her fweet voice, is thy harmonious fong, As high, as fweet, as easy, and as strong.

Oh! had relenting Heaven prolong'd his days, The towering bard had fung in nobler lays, How the last trumpet wakes the lazy dead, How faints aloft the cross triumphant spread, How opening Heavens their happy regions shew, [glow, And yawning gulphs with flaming vengeance And faints rejoice above, and finners howl below:

Well might he fing the day he could not fear,
And paint the glories he was fure to wear.

Oh beft of friends, will ne'er the filent urn
To our just vows the hapless youth return?
Must he no more divert the tedious day?
Nor fparkling thoughts in antique words convey?
No more to harmlefs irony defcend,
To noify fools a grave attention lend,
Nor merry tales with learn'd quotations blend?,
No more in falfe pathetic phrase complain
Of Delia's wit, her charms, and her difdain?
Who now fhall godlike Anna's fame diffuse?
Muft the, when moft fhe merits, want a Muse?
Who now our Twyfden's glorious fate fhall tell;
How lov'd he liv'd, and how deplor'd he fell?
How, while the troubled elements around,
Earth, water, air, the ftunning din refound,

Candid to all, but to himself fevere,
In humour pliant, as in life auftere.
A wife content his even foul fecur'd,
By want not fhaken, nor by wealth allur'd:
To all fincere, though earnest to commend,
Could praise a rival, or condemn a friend.
To him old Greece and Rome were fully known,
Their tongues, their fpirits, and their styles his

own;

Pleas'd the leaft fteps of famous men to view, Our authors' works, and lives, and fouls, he knew, Paid to the learn'd and great the same esteem, The one his pattern, and the one his theme: With equal judgment his capacious mind Warm Pindar's rage, and Euclid's reafon join'd Judicious phyfic's noble art to gain

All drugs and plants explor'd, alas, in vain! The drugs and plants their drooping mater fail'd,

Nor goodness now, nor learning aught avail'd; Yet to the bard his Churchill's foul they gave, And made him fcorn the life they could t fave:

Elfe could he bear unmov'd, the fatal guet, The weight that all his fainting limbs oppref, The coughs that struggled from his way breaft?

Could he unmov'd approaching death suftain?
Its flow advances, and its racking pain?
Could he ferene his weeping friends furvey,
In his last hours his eafy wit difplay,
Like the rich fruit he fings, delicious in decay?)
Once on thy friends look down, lamed
fhade,

rides,

While every shot is levell'd at his fides?
How, while the fainting Dutch remotely fire,
And the fam'd Eugene's iron troops retire,
In the first front, amidst a flaughter'd pile,
High on the mound he dy'd near great Argyll.
Whom shall I find unbiafs'd in difpute,
Eager to learn, unwilling to confute?
To whom the labours of my foul disclose,
Reveal my pleasure, or discharge my woes?
Oh! in that heavenly youth for ever ends
The best of fons, of brothers, and of friends.
He facred Friendship's strictest laws obey'd,
Yet more by Confcience than by Friendship
fway'd;

Against himself his gratitude maintain'd,
By favours paft, not future profpects gain'd;
Not nicely choofing, though by all defir'd,
Though learn'd, not vain, and humble, though!
admir'd;

Some thy lov'd duft in Parian itones eithrine,
Others immortal epitaphs defign,
With wit, and ftrength, that only yields to thine,
Ev'n I, though flow to touch the painful firing,
Awake from flumber, and attempt to fing.
Thee, Philips, thee despairing Vaga mourns,
And gentle Ifis foft complaints returns;
Dormer laments amidst the war's alarms,
And Cecil weeps in beauteous Tufton's arms:
Thee, on the Po, kind Somerset deplores,
And ev'n that charming scene his grief reftores:
He to thy lofs each mournful air applies,
Mindful of thee on huge Taburnus lies,
But moft at Virgil's tomb his fwelling fortow

CHARLETTUS PERCIVALLO SUO.

RA dum nondum fonuit fecunda,
: puer nigras tepefecit undas,
er ad notos calamus labores

Sponte recurrit.

d priùs noftris potiúfve chartis am? Cuinam vigil ante noctem depulfam redeunte Scriptor

Mitto falutem ?

neis chartis, bone Percivalle,
è dignus; tibi pectus implet
minor noftro novitatis ardor;

Tu quoque Scriptor.
lit rumor (mihi multa defert
or) in fylvis modo te dediffe

us prædam, mediumque belli im-
pune ftetiffe.

us num vivit adhuc Caballus
? lerneis potiora Gazis,
tua vitâ Tibi chariora,

Scripta fuperfunt?

egis noftras, relegifque chartas?
neam laudas generofitatem?
1 meis verbis, mea nefcientem,
Mane falutas.

Securus, quid agit Senatus
Caput ftertit grave Lambethanum,
Comes Guildford, quid habent novorum
Dawksque Dyerque.

leus, quondam tuus, è popinis
jam vifit, lacrimansque narrat,
molit fucos, fubito peremptum
Funere Rixon.

t (avertat Deus inquit omen) tem notæ periisse Mitra; at immerfam prope limen urbis Flumine cymbam.

t

at portis meus Hintot aftat,

ius Pricket redit, avocat me

in, et fcribendæ aliò requirunt Mille tabellæ.

POCOCKIUS,

cæde tellus luxuriat Ducum, n Pococks barbiton exigis, anéfque Mufam faftuofam Sollici ant pretiofiores. virentum prorurat agmina ra Thracum, donáque Phillidi gat puellas, heu decoris Virginibus nimis invidenti. uda Virtus, te Fidei pius rferendæ, fan&taque Veritas rfaxa, per pontum, per hoftes Præcipitant Afia mifertum:

Cohors catenis quà pia ftridulis
Gemunt onufti, vel fude trans finum
Lucantur actâ, pendulíve

Sanguineis trepidant in uncis.
Sentis ut edunt fibila, ut ardui
Micant dracones, tigris ut horridos
Intorquet ungues, ejulátque

In madido crocodilus antro Vides lacunæ fulphure lividos Ardere fluctus, quà ftetit impiæ Moles Gomorrhæ mox procellâ

Haufta rubrâ, pluviífque flammis:

Quòd ifta tellus fi fimiles tibi
Si fortè denos nutrierat Viros,
Adhuc ftetiffet, nec vibrato
Dextra Dei tonuiffet igne.