And both abandon'd to the common foe,
How near to ruin did my glories go!
Nothing remain'd t'adorn this princely place,
Which cov'tous hands could take, or rude deface.
In all my rooms and galleries I found
The richest figures torn, and all around
Difmember'd ftatues of great heroes lay;
Such Nafeby's field feem'd on the fatal day.
And me, when nought for robbery was left,
'They starv'd to death; the gasping walls were cleft,
The pillars funk, the roofs above me wept,
No fign of fpring, or joy, my garden kept;
Nothing was feen which could content the eye,
Till dead the impious tyrant here did lie.
See how my face is chang'd, and what I am, Since my true Mistress, and now foundress, came! It does not fill her bounty to restore
Me as I was (nor was I fmall) before:
She imitates the kindness to her shown;
She does, like Heav'n, (which the dejected throne At once reftores, fixes, and higher rears)
Strengthen, enlarge, exalt, what she repairs.
And now I dare, (tho' proud I must not be,
Whilft my great Mistress 1 fo humble fee
In all her various glories) now I dare
Ev'n with the proudest palaces compare:
My beauty and convenience will (I'm sure)
So just a boaft with modefty endure;
And all must to me yield when I shall tell
How I am plac'd, and who does in me dwell.
Before my gate a street's broad channel goes,
Which still with waves of crowding people flows,
And ev ry day there passes by my side,
Up to its western reach, the London tide,
The spring-tides of the term: my front looks down
On all the pride and bus'ness of the Town:
My other front, (for as in kings we see
The livelieft image of the Deity,
We in their houses should Heav'n's likeness find,
Where nothing can be faid to be behind)
My other fair and more majestic face,
(Who can the fair to more advantage place?)
For ever gazes on itself below,
In the best mirror that the world can fhow.
And here, behold, in a long bending row,
How two joint cities make one glorious bow;
The midft, the nobleft place, poffefs'd by me,
Beft to be seen by all, and all o'erfee.
Which foe'er I turn my joyful eye,
Here the great Court, there the rich Town, I spy;
On either fide dwells Safety and Delight,
Wealth on the left, and Pow'r upon the right.
T' affure yet my defence, on either hand,
Like mighty forts, in equal distance stand
Two of the best and statelieft piles which e'er
Man's lib'ral piety of old did rear,
Where the two princes of th' apostles' band,
My neighbours and my guards, watch and command.
My warlike guard of ships, which farther lie, 61
Might be my object too, were not the eye
Stopp'd by the houses of that wondrous street,
Which rides o'er the broad river like a fleet.
The stream's eternal siege they fix'd abide,
And the fwoln stream's auxiliary tide,
Tho' both their ruin with joint pow'r confpire,
Both to outbrave, they nothing dread but fire.
And here my Thames, tho' it more gentle be
Than any flood, fo ftrengthen'd by the fea,
Finding by art his natʼral forces broke,
And bearing, captive-like, the arched yoke,
Does roar, and foam, and rage, at the difgrace,
But recomposes straight, and calms his face,
Is into rev'rence and fubmiffion strook,
As foon as from afar he does but look
Tow'rds the White Palace, where that king does reign
Who lays his laws and bridges o'er the main.
Amidst these louder honours of my seat,
And two vaft cities, troublesomely great,
In a large various plain, the country, too,
Opens her gentler bleffings to my view;
In me the active and the quiet mind,
By different ways, equal content may find.
If any prouder virtuofo's fenfe
At that part of my prospect take offence,
By which the meaner cabanes are defcry'd
Of my.imperial river's humbler fide,
If they call that a blemish, let them know
God, and my godlike Miftrefs, think not fo;
For the diftrefs'd and the afflicted lie
Most in their care, and always in their eye.
And thou, fair River! who still pay'st to me
Juft homage, in thy paffage to the fea,
Take here this one instruction as thou goest:
When thy mix'd waves shall vifit ev'ry coast,
When round the world their voyage they shall make,
And back to thee some fecret channels take,
Ask them what nobler fight they e'er did meet,
Except thy mighty Master's fov'reign fleet,
Which now triumphant o'er the main does ride,
The terror of all lands, the ocean's pride.
From hence his kingdoms, happy now at last!
(Happy, if wife by their misfortunes paft)
From hence may omens take of that fuccefs
Which both their future wars and peace shall blefs :
The peaceful mother on mild Thames does build,
With her fons' fabrics the rough sea is fill'd.
WELCOME, great Sir! with all the joy that's due To the return of Peace and you:
Two greatest bleffings which this age can know ;
For that to thee, for thee to Heav'n, we owe.
Others by war their conquests gain,
You, like a god, your ends obtain,
Who, when rude Chaos for his help did call,
Spoke but the word, and fweetly order'd all.
II.
This happy concord in no blood is writ,
None can grudge Heav'n full thanks for it.
No mothers here lament their children's fate;
And like the peace, but think it comes too late.
No widows hear the jocund bells,
And take them for their husbands' knells.
No drop of blood is fpilt, which might be said
To mark our joyful holyday with red.
'Twas only Heav'n could work this wondrous thing, And only work't by fuch a king.
Again the Northern hinds may fing and plow,
And fear no harm but from the weather now.
Again may tradesmen love their pain,
By knowing now for whom they gain.
The armour now may be hung up to fight,
And only in their halls the children fright.
The gain of Civil wars will not allow
Bay to the conqu'ror's brow.
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