295 More great than human now and more August 8, 296 Before, she like some shepherdess did show 297 Now like a maiden queen she will behold 298 The silver Thames, her own domestic flood, 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 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, 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. 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 |