Now, at th' appointed place and hour affign'd, With fouls refolv'd the ravishers were join'd: Three bands are form'd; the firft is fent before To favour the retreat, and guard the shore; The second at the palace-gate is plac'd, And up the lofty stairs ascend the last : A peaceful troop they seem with fhining vests, But coats of mail beneath fecure their breasts.

Dauntless they enter, Cymon at their head, And find the feaft renew'd, the table fpread: Sweet voices, mix'd with inftrumental founds, Afcend the vaulted roof, the vaulted roof rebounds. When like the harpies rufhing thro the hall The fudden troop appears, the tables fall, Their fmoaking load is on the pavement thrown; Each ravisher prepares to feize his own: The brides, invaded with a rude embrace, Shriek out for aid, confufion fills the place. Quick to redeem the prey their plighted lords Advance, the palace gleams with fhining fwords. But late is all defence, and fuccour vain; The rape is made, the ravishers remain : Two sturdy flaves were only fent before

To bear the purchas'd prize in fafety to the

shore,

The troop retires, the lovers close the rear,
With forward faces not confeffing fear:

Backward they move, but scorn their pace to mend ;
Then seek the ftairs, and with flow hafte defcend.

Fierce Pafimond, their paffage to prevent, Thrust full on Cymon's back in his descent, [bent, The blade return'd unbath'd, and to the handle Stout Cymon foon remounts, and cleft in two His rival's head with one defcending blow: And as the next in rank Ormifda ftood,

He turn'd the point; the sword inur'd to blood, Bor'd his unguarded breaft, which pour'd a purple flood.

With vow'd revenge the gathering crowd pursues, The ravishers turn head, the fight renews;

The hall is heap'd with corps; the sprinkled gore Befmears the walls, and floats the marble floor. Difpers'd at length the drunken squadron flies, The victors to their veffel bear the prize; [cries. And hear behind loud groans, and lamentable The crew with merry fhouts their anchors weigh, Then ply their oars, and brush the buxom sea, While troops of gather'd Rhodians crowd the key. What should the people do when left alone?

The

governor and government are gone. VOL. III.

Y

The public wealth to foreign parts convey'd;
Some troops disbanded, and the rest unpaid.
Rhodes is the fovereign of the sea no more;
Their fhipps unrigg'd, and spent their naval store;
They neither could defend, nor can pursue,
But grin'd their teeth, and caft a helpless view:
In vain with darts a diftant war they try,
Short, and more fhort, the miffive weapons fly.
Mean while the ravishers their crimes enjoy,
And flying fails and sweeping oars employ:
The cliffs of Rhodes in little space are loft,
Jove's ifle they feek; nor Jove denies his coaft.
In fafety landed on the Candian fhore,

With generous wines their fpirits they restore:
There Cymon with his Rhodian friend refides,
Both court, and wed at once the willing brides.
A war enfues, the Cretans own their cause,
Stiff to defend their hofpitable laws:
Both parties lose by turns; and neither wins,
Till peace propounded by a truce begins.
The kindred of the flain forgive the deed,
But a fhort exile muft for fhow precede:
The term expir'd, from Candia they remove;
And happy each, at home, enjoys his love.

*RIGHT HONOURABLE

LORD RADCLIFFE.

My LORD,

TH

titles

HESE Mifcellany Poems are by many yours. The first they claim from your acceptance of my promife to prefent them to you, before fome of them were yet in being. The reft are derived from your own merit, the exactness of your judgment in poetry, and the candour of your nature; eafy to forgive fome trivial faults when they come accompanied with countervailing beauties. But, after all, though these are your equitable claims to a dedication from other Poets, yet I must acknowledge a bribe in the cafe, which is your particular liking of my verfes. It is a vanity common to all writers, to over-value their own productions; and it is better for me to own this failing in myself, than the world to do it for me. For what other reafon have I spent my life in fo unprofitable a study? why am I grown old, in seeking fo barren a reward as fame? The fame parts and application, which have made me a poet, might have raised me to any honours of the gown, which are often given to men of as little learning and lefs honefty than myself. No government has ever been, or ever can be, wherein time-fervers and blockheads will not be

* Prefixed to the Third Volume of Dryden's Mifcellany Poems, printed in 1693.

uppermoft. The perfons are only changed, bu the fame jugglings in ftate, the fame hypocrify in religion, the fame felf-intereft, and mifmanage ment, will remain for ever. Blood and mone will be lavished in all ages, only for the prefer ment of new faces, with old confciences. There is too often a jaundice in the eyes of great men; they fee not thofe whom they raife in the fame colours with other men. All whom they affect, look golden to them; when the gilding is only in their own diftempered fight. Thefe confiderations have given me a kind of contempt for those who have risen by unworthy ways. I am not ashamed to be little, when I fee them fo infamously great; neither do I know why the name of poet should be dif honourable to me if I am truly one, as I hope I am; for I will never do any thing that fall dishonour it. The notions of morality are known to all men: none can pretend ignorance of those ideas which are in-born in mankind: and if I fee one thing, and practise the contrary," I must be difingenuous, not to acknowledge a clear truth, and bafe to act against the light of my own confcience. For the reputation of my honesty, no man can queftion it, who has any of his own for that of my poetry, it shall either ftand by its own merit; or fall for want of it. I writers are ufually the fharpest censors : for they (as the best poet and the best patron faid) when in the full perfection of decay, turn vinegar, and come again in play. Thus the corruption of a poet is the generation of a critick: I mean of a critick in the general accep