295

More great than human now and more August 8,
New deified she from her fires does rise:
Her widening streets on new foundations trust,
And, opening, into larger parts she flies.

296

Before, she like some shepherdess did show
Who sate to bathe her by a river's side,
Not answering to her fame, but rude and low,
Nor taught the beauteous arts of modern pride.

297

Now like a maiden queen she will behold
From her high turrets hourly suitors come;
The East with incense and the West with gold
Will stand like suppliants to receive her doom.

298

The silver Thames, her own domestic flood,
Shall bear her vessels like a sweeping train,
And often wind, as of his mistress proud,
With longing eyes to meet her face again.

299

The wealthy Tagus and the wealthier Rhine The glory of their towns no more shall boast, And Seine, that would with Belgian rivers join, Shall find her lustre stained and traffic lost.

300

The venturous merchant who designed more far And touches on our hospitable shore,

Charmed with the splendour of this northern star, Shall here unlade him and depart no more.

301

Our powerful navy shall no longer meet

The wealth of France or Holland to invade;

The beauty of this town without a fleet
From all the world shall vindicate her trade.

8 Augusta, the old name of London.

G

302

And while this famed emporium we prepare,

The British ocean shall such triumphs boast, That those who now disdain our trade to share Shall rob like pirates on our wealthy coast.

303

Already we have conquered half the war,
And the less dangerous part is left behind;
Our trouble now is but to make them dare
And not so great to vanquish as to find.

304

Thus to the Eastern wealth through storms we go, But now, the Cape once doubled, fear no more; A constant trade-wind will securely blow

And gently lay us on the spicy shore.

ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL.

A POEM.

'Si propius stes

Te capiat magis.'

[HORACE, Ars Poet. 361.]

TO THE READER.

'Tis not my intention to make an apology for my poem: some will think it needs no excuse, and others will receive none. The design, I am sure, is honest; but he who draws his pen for one party must expect to make enemies of the other. For wit and fool are consequents of Whig and Tory; 5 and every man is a knave or an ass to the contrary side. There's a treasury of merits in the Fanatic church as well as in the Papist, and a pennyworth to be had of saintship, honesty, and poetry, for the lewd, the factious, and the blockheads; but the longest chapter in Deuteronomy has not 10 curses enough for an Anti-Bromingham. My comfort is, their manifest prejudice to my cause will render their judgment of less authority against me. Yet if a poem have a genius, it will force its own reception in the world; for there is a sweetness in good verse, which tickles even while it hurts; 15 and no man can be heartily angry with him who pleases him against his will. The commendation of adversaries is the greatest triumph of a writer, because it never comes unless extorted. But I can be satisfied on more easy terms: if I happen to please the more moderate sort, I shall be sure 20 of an honest party and, in all probability, of the best judges; for the least concerned are commonly the least corrupt. And I confess I have laid in for those, by rebating the satire, where justice would allow it, from carrying too sharp an edge. They who can criticize so weakly as to imagine I have 25 done my worst, may be convinced at their own cost that I can write severely with more ease than I can gently. I have but laughed at some men's follies, when I could have declaimed against their vices; and other men's virtues I have commended as freely as I have taxed their crimes. And now, 30 if you are a malicious reader, I expect you should return