POEMS

UPON

Several Occafions.

COOPER'S HILL.

VRE there are Poets which did.

never dream

Upon Parnaffus, nor did taste the

Stream

Of Helicon; we therefore may sup

pofe

Thofe made not Poets, but the Poets those.

And as Courts make not Kings, but Kings the Court, So where the Mufes and their Train resort,

B

Parnaffus ftands; if I can be to thee
A Poet, thou Parnaffus art to me.
Nor wonder, if (advantag'd in my flight,
By taking wing from thy auspicious height)
Through untrac'd Ways and airy Paths I flie,
More boundless in my Fancy than my Eye:
My Eye, which fwift as Thought contracts the space
That lies between, and firft falutes the Place
Crown'd with that facred Pile, fo vaft, fo high,
That whether 'tis a part of Earth, or Sky,
Uncertain feems, and may be thought a proud
Afpiring Mountain, or defcending Cloud,
Paul's, the late Theme of fuch a Mufe whofe flight
Has bravely reach'd and foar'd above thy height:
Now fhalt thou stand, tho' Sword, or Time, or Fire,
Or Zeal more fierce than they, thy Fall confpire,
Secure, whilft thee the best of Poets fings,
Preferv'd from Ruin by the best of Kings.
Under his proud furvey the City lies,
And like a Mift beneath a Hill doth rife.;
Whofe State andWealth, the Business and the Crowd>
Seems at this distance but a darker Cloud:
And is to him who rightly things esteems,
No other in effect than what it feems:

Where, with like hafte, tho' fev'ral ways, they run,
Some to undo, and fome to be undone;
While Luxury, and Wealth, like War and Peace,
Are each the others ruin, and increase;
As Rivers loft in Seas, fome fecret Vein
Thence reconveys, there to be loft again,
*Mr. Waller.

Oh Happiness of fweet retir'd Content!

To be at once Secure, and Innocent.

Windfor the next (where Mars with Venus dwells,
Beauty with Strength) above the Valley fwells
Into my Eye, and doth it felf present

With fuch an eafie and unforc❜d Ascent,
That no ftupendous Precipice denies
Accefs, no horror turns away our Eyes:
But fuch a Rife, as doth at once invite
A pleasure, and a reverence from the fight.
Thy mighty Mafter's Emblem, in whofe Face

Sate Meeknefs, heighten'd with Majestick Grace s
Such feems thy gentle height, made only proud
To be the basis of that pompous load,

Than which, a nobler weight no Mountain bears,
But Atlas only which supports the Sphears.
When Nature's hand this ground did thus advance,
'Twas guided by a wifer Pow'r than Chance;
Mark'd out for fuch an ufe, as if 'twere meant
T' invite the Builder, and his choice prevent.
Nor can we call it choice, when what we chufe,
Folly or Blindnefs only cou'd refuse.
A Crown of fuch Majestick Tow'rs does grace
The Gods great Mother, when her heav'nly Race
Do Homage to her, yet he cannot boast
Among that num'rous, and Celestial Hoft,
More Heroes than can Windsor, nor doth Fame's
Immortal Book record more noble Names.
Not to look back fo far, to whom this e
Owes the first Glory of fo brave a Pile,

1

Whether to Cafar, Albanait, or Brute,
The British Arthur, or the Danish Knute,
(Tho' this of old no less Contest did move,
Than when for Homer's Birth fev'n Cities ftrove)
(Like him in Birth, thou should't be like in Fame,
As thine his Fate, if mine had been his Flame)
But whofoe'er it was, Nature defign'd

Firft a brave Place, and then as brave a Mind.
Not to recount those fev'ral Kings, to whom
It gave a Cradle, or to whom a Tomb;

*

But thee, great Edward, and thy greater Son,
(The Lillies which his Father wore, he won)
And thy Bellona, who the Confort came
Not only to thy Bed, but to thy Fame,
She to thy Triumph led one Captive † King,
And brought that Son, which did the second bring.
Then didst thou found that Order (whether Love
Or Victory thy Royal Thoughts did move)
Each was a noble caufe, and nothing lefs
Than the defign, has been the great fuccefs:
Which foreign Kings, and Emperors esteem
The fecond Honour to their Diadem.
Had thy great Deftiny but giv'n thee skill
To know, as well as pow'r to act her will,
That from thofe Kings, who then thy Captives were,
In after-times fhould fpring a Royal Pair
Who fhould poffefs all that thy mighty Pow'r,
Or thy Defires more mighty, did devour:

* Edward III. and the Black-Prince.

Queen Philippa. !

↑ The Kings of France and

Scotland,

To whom their better Fate referves what-c'er
The Victor hopes for, or the Vanquisht fear;
That Blood, which thou and thy great Grandfire shed,"
And all that fince thefe fifter Nations bled,
Had been unfpilt, had happy Edward known
That all the Blood he spilt, had been his own.
When he that Patron chofe, in whom are join'd
Soldier and Martyr, and his Arms confin'd
Within the Azure Circle, he did feem

But to foretell, and prophefie of him,
Who to his Realms that Azure round hath join'd,
Which Nature for their bound at first defign'd.
That bound, which to the World's extreameft ends,
Endless it felf, its liquid Arms extends.
Nor doth he need those Emblems which we paint,
But is himself the Soldier and the Saint.
Here should my Wonder dwell, and here my Praife,
But my fixt thoughts my wandring Eye betrays,
Viewing a neighb'ring Hill, whofe top of late
A Chappel crown'd, till in the Common Fate
Th' adjoining Abby fell: (may no fuch Storm
Fall on our times, where ruin must reform.)
Tell me, my Muse, what monftrous dire Offence,
What Crime could any Christian King incenfe
To fuch a Rage? Wast Luxury, or Luft?
Was he fo Temperate, fo Chaft, so Juft?

Were these their Crimes? They were his own much

more: 1

But Wealth is Crime enough to him that's poor,

B