Had you some ages past, this race of glory
Run, with amazement we should read your story;
But living virtue, all achievements past,
Meets envy still to grapple with at last.
This Cæsar found; and that ungrateful age,
With losing him, went back to blood and rage:
Mistaken Brutus thought to break their yoke,
But cut the bond of union with that stroke.
That sun once set, a thousand meaner stars
Gave a dim light to violence and wars;
To such a tempest as now threatens all,
Did not your mighty arm prevent the fall.
If Rome's great senate could not wield that sword,
Which of the conquer'd world had made them lord,
What hope had ours, while yet their power was new,
To rule victorious armies, but by you?
You! that had taught them to subdue their foes,
Could order teach, and their high spirits compose;
To every duty could their minds engage,
Provoke their courage, and command their rage.
So when a lion shakes his dreadful mane,
And angry grows, if he that first took pain
To tame his youth approach the haughty beast,
He bends to him, but frights away the rest.
As the vex'd world, to find repose, at last
Itself into Augustus' arms did cast;
So England now does, with like toil oppress'd,
Her weary head upon your bosom rest.
Then let the Muses, with such notes as these,
Instruct us what belongs unto our peace.
Your battles they hereafter shall indite,
And draw the image of our Mars in fight;
Tell of towns storm'd, of armies overrun,
And mighty kingdoms by your conduct won;
How, while you thunder'd, clouds of dust did choke
Contending troops, and seas lay hid in smoke.
Illustrious acts high raptures do infuse,
And every conqueror creates a Muse.
Here, in low strains your milder deeds we sing;
But there, my lord! we'll bays and olive bring
To crown your head; while you in triumph ride
O'er vanquish'd nations, and the sea beside ;
While all your neighbour-princes unto you,
Like Joseph's sheaves, pay reverence, and bow.
UPON HIS MAJESTY'S HAPPY RETURN.
THE rising sun complies with our weak sight,
First gilds the clouds, then shows his globe of light
At such a distance from our eyes, as though
He knew what harm his hasty beams would do.
But your full majesty at once breaks forth
In the meridian of your reign. Your worth,
Your youth, and all the splendour of your state,
(Wrapp'd up, till now, in clouds of adverse fate!)
With such a flood of light invade our eyes,
And our spread hearts with so great joy surprise,
That if your grace incline that we should live,
You must not, Sir! too hastily forgive.
Our guilt preserves us from the' excess of joy,
Which scatters spirits, and would life destroy.
All are obnoxious! and this faulty land,
Like fainting Esther, does before you stand,
Watching your sceptre. The revolted sea
Trembles to think she did your foes obey.
Great Britain, like blind Polypheme, of late,
In a wild rage became the scorn and hate
Of her proud neighbours, who began to think
She with the weight of her own force would sink.
But you are come, and all their hopes are vain ;
This giant Isle has got her eye again.
Now she might spare the ocean, and oppose
Your conduct to the fiercest of her foes.
Naked, the Graces guarded you from all
Dangers abroad, and now your thunder shall.
Princes that saw you, different passions prove;
For now they dread the object of their love,
Nor without envy can behold his height,
Whose conversation was their late delight.
So Semele, contented with the
rape Of Jove, disguised in a mortal shape,
When she beheld his hands with lightning fill'd,
And his bright rays, was with amazement kill'd.
And though it be our sorrow and our crime
To have accepted life so long a time
Without you here, yet does this absence gain
No small advantage to your present reign:
For having view'd the persons and the things,
The councils, state, and strength of Europe's kings,
You know your work; ambition to restrain,
And set them bounds, as Heaven does to the main.
We have you now with ruling wisdom fraught,
Not such as books, but such as practice taught:
So the lost sun, while least by us enjoy'd,
Is the whole night for our concern employ'd;
He ripens spices, fruits, and precious gums,
Which from remotest regions hither comes.
This seat of yours (from the' other world removed) Had Archimedes known, he might have proved His engine's force fix'd here. Your power and skill Make the world's motion wait upon your will.
Much-suffering Monarch! the first English-born That has the crown of these three nations worn! How has your patience, with the barbarous rage Of your own soil, contended half an age! Till (your tried virtue and your sacred word, At last preventing your unwilling sword) Armies and fleets which kept you out so long, Own'd their great Sovereign, and redress'd his
When straight the people, by no force compell'd,
Nor longer from their inclination held,
Break forth at once, like powder set on fire,
And, with a noble rage, their King require.
So the' injured sea, which from her wonted course,
To gain some acres, avarice did force,
If the new banks, neglected once, decay,
No longer will from her old channel stay ;
Raging, the late got land she overflows,
And all that's built upon 't to ruin goes.
Offenders now, the chiefest, do begin
To strive for grace, and expiate their sin.
All winds blow fair, that did the world embroil,
Your vipers treacle yield, and scorpions oil.
If then such praise the Macedonian' got, For having rudely cut the Gordian knot, What glory's due to him that could divide Such ravell'd interests? has the knot untied, And without stroke so smooth a passage made, Where Craft and Malice such impeachments laid?
But while we praise you, you ascribe it all To His high hand which threw the untouch'd wall Of self-demolish'd Jericho so low:
His angel 'twas that did before you go,
Tamed savage hearts, and made affections yield, Like ears of corn when wind salutes the field. Thus, patience crown'd, like Job's, your trouble ends,
Having your foes to pardon and your friends: For though your courage were so firm a rock, What private virtue could endure the shock? Like your Great Master, you the storm withstood And pitied those who love with frailty show'd.
Rude Indians, torturing all the royal race, Him with the throne and dear-bought sceptre grace That suffers best. What region could be found, Where your heroic head had not been crown'd? The next experience of your mighty mind Is, how you combat fortune, now she's kind. And this way, too, you are victorious found; She flatters with the same success she frown'd. While to yourself severe, to others kind, With power unbounded and a will confined, Of this vast empire you possess the care, The softer parts fall to the people's share. Safety and equal government are things Which subjects make as happy as their kings. Faith, Law, and Piety, (that banish'd train !) Justice and Truth, with you return again. The City's trade, and Country's easy life, Once more shall flourish without fraud or strife. Your reign no less assures the ploughman's peace, Than the warm sun advances his increase; And does the shepherds as securely keep, From all their fears, as they preserve their sheep.
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