In merit make him great as great in blood;
Great without pride, and amiably good:
His breast the guardian ark of heav'nborn law,
To strike a faithlefs age with conscious awe :
In choice of friends by manly reason sway'd;
Not fear'd, but honour'd, and with love obey'd.
In courts and camps, in council and retreat,
Wife, brave, and ftudious to fupport the state;
With candour firm, without ambition bold,
No deed difcolour'd with the guilt of gold;
That Heav'n may judge the choicest bleffings due,
And give the various good compris'd in you.
HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE]
ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST. ANDERO.
Now had his Highness bid farewell to Spain,
And reach'd the sphere of his own pow'r, the main :
With British bounty in his fhip he feasts
Th' Hefperian princes, his amazed guests,
To find that watʼry wilderness exceed
The entertainment of their great Madrid.
Healths to both kings, attended with the roar
Of cannons, echo'd from th' affrighted fhore,
With loud refemblance of his thunder,
prove
Bacchus the feed of cloud-compelling Jove;
While to his harp divine Arion fings
The loves and conquefts of our Albion kings.
Of the Fourth Edward was his noble song, Fierce, goodly, valiant, beautiful, and young: He rent the crown from vanquish'd Henry's head, 15 Rais'd the White Rofe, and trampled on the Red: Till Love, triumphing o'er the victor's pride, Brought Mars and Warwick to the conquer'd fide:
Neglected Warwick (whose bold hand, like Fate,
Gives and refumes the fceptre of our state)
Woos for his master; and with double shame,
Himself deluded, mocks the princely dame,
The Lady Bona whom juft anger burns,
And foreign war with civil rage returns.
Ah! Spare your fwords, where beauty is to blame; 25
Love gave th' affront, and must repair the fame :
When France shall boast of her, whofe conqu`ring eyes
Have made the best of English hearts their prize;
Have pow'r to alter the decrees of Fate,
And change again the counfels of our state.
What the prophetick Mufe intends, alone
To him that feels the fecret wound is known.
With the sweet found of this harmonious lay,
About the keel delighted dolphins play,
Too fure a fign of fea's ensuing rage,
Which must anon this royal troop engage;
To whom foft fleep feems more secure and sweet,
Within the town commanded by our fleet.
These mighty peers plac'd in the gilded barge,
Proud with the burden of fo brave a charge,
With painted oars the youths begin to sweep
Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep;
Which foon becomes the feat of fudden war
Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar.
As when a fort of lufty shepherds try
Their force at football, care of victory
Makes them falute fo rudely breafl to breast,
That their encounter feems too rough for jeft;
They ply their feet, and still the restless ball,
Tofs'd to and fro, is urged by them all :
So fares the doubtful barge 'twixt tide and winds,
And like effect of their contention finds.
Yet the bold Britons ftill fecurely row'd;
Charles and his virtue was their facred load;
Than which a greater pledge Heav'n could not give,
That the good boat this tempeft fhould outlive. 56
But ftorms increase, and now no hope of grace
Among them fhines, fave in the Prince's face;
The rest refign their courage, fkill, and fight,
To danger, horrour, and unwelcome night.
The gentle veffel, (wont with itate and pride
On the smooth back of filver Thames to ride)
Wanders aftonish'd in the angry main,
As l'itan's car did, while the golden rein
Fill'd the young hand of his advent'rous fon *,
When the whole world an equal hazard run
To this of ours, the light of whofe defire
Waves threaten now, as that was fcar'd by fire.
Th' impatient Sea grows impotent and raves,
That, Night affifting, his impetuous waves
Should find refiftance from fo light a thing;
Thefe furges ruin, those our safety bring.
Th' oppreffed veffel doth the charge abide,
Only because affail'd on ev'ry fide:
So men with rage and paffion fet on fire,
Trembling for hafte, impeach their mad defire.
The pale Iberians had expir'd with fear,
But that their wonder did divert their care,
To fee the Prince with danger mov'd no more
Than with the pleasures of their court before:
Godlike his courage feem'd, whom nor delight
Could foften, nor the face of Death affright.
Next to the pow'r of making tempests cease,
Was in that storm to have fo calm a peace.
Great Maro could no greater tempeft feign,
When the loud winds ufurping on the main
For angry Juno, labour'd to destroy
The hated reliques of confounded Troy :
His bold Æneas, on like billows toft
In a tall fhip, and all his country loft,
Diffolves with fear; and both his hands upheld,
Proclaims them happy whom the Greeks had quell'¿ In honourable fight: our hero, fet
In a small shallop, Fortune in his debt,
So near a hope of crowns and fceptres, more 'T'han ever Priam, when he flourish'd wore;
His loins yet full of ungot princes, all
His glory in the bud, lets nothing fall
That argues fear: if any thought annoys
The gallant youth, 't is love's untafted joys,
And dear remembrance of that fatal glance,
For which he lately pawn'd his heart in France;
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