XXVIII.

From this high fpring our foreign conquefts flow,
Which yet more glorious triumphs do portend;
Since their commencement to his arms they owe,
If springs as high as fountains may ascend.

He made us

XXIX.

free-men of the continent,

Whom nature did like captives treat before;
To nobler preys the English lion fent,

And taught him fift in Belgian walks to roar.
XXX.

That old unqueftion'd pirate of the land,

Proud Rome with dread the fate of Dunkirk heard; And trembling wifh'd behind more Alps to ftand, Altho' an 2 Alexander were her guard.

XXXI.

By his command we boldly cross'd the line,
And bravely fought where fouthern stars arife;
We trac'd the far-fetch'd gold unto the mine,
And that which brib'd our fathers made our prize.
XXXII.

Such was our prince; yet own'd a foul above
The higheft acts it could produce to show:
Thus poor mechanic arts in public move,
Whilft the deep fecrets beyond practice go.
XXXIII.

Nor dy'd he when his ebbing fame went less,
But when fresh laurels courted him to live:
He feem'd but to prevent fome new fuccefs,
As if above what triumphs earth could give.

1 We may be faid to have been made freemen of the continent by the taking of Dunkirk, which was wrefted from the Spaniards by the united forces of France and England, and delivered up to the latter in the beginning of 1658.

2 Alexander VII, was at this time pope.

XXXIV. His

XXXIV.

His latest victories ftill thickest came,

As, near the center, motion doth increase;
"Till he, prefs'd down by his own weighty name,
Did, like the 3 veftal, under spoils decease.
XXXV.

But firft the ocean as a tribute fent

The giant prince of all her watry herd;
And th' ifle, when her protecting genius went,
Upon his obfequies loud fighs conferr'd.

XXXVI.

No civil broils have fince his death arofe,
But faction now by habit does obey;
And wars have that refpect for his repose,
As winds for 4 halcyons, when they breed at fea.
XXXVII.

His afhes in a peaceful urn shall rest,

His name a great example ftands, to show How ftrangely high endeavours may be bleft, Where piety and valour jointly go.

3 The Sabines being at war with the Romans, found means to furprize the citadel by corrupting Tarpeia the commandant's daughter, to open to them a poftern-gate; and when they were entered, they threw their bucklers upon and fmothered her. It is faid they had confented, at her own requeft, to give her what they had upon their arms, their left arms being alfo adorned with magnificent bracelets; and thus they pretended to perform their promife.

4 The halcyon is faid to pitch its neft upon the furface of the fea, and there to hatch its young, when a continued calm prevails. Plu tarch, who afferts this story, as fact, tells us, that he has feen several of this bird's nefts, formed like boats, and curiously constructed of fifh-bones,

ASTREA

ASTRE A REDU X'.

A POEM on the happy RESTORATION' and RETURN of His Sacred Majesty CHARLES the Second, 1660.

Jam redit & virgo, redeunt Saturnia regna. VIRG.
The laft great age foretold by facred rhimes
Renews its finish'd courfe; Saturnian times
Roll round again.

NOW

OW with a general peace the world was bleft,
While ours, a world divided from the reft,

A dreadful quiet felt, and worfer far

Than arms, a fullen interval of war:

Thus when black clouds draw down the lab'ring kies,
Ere yet abroad the winged thunder flies,

An horrid ftillness firft invades the ear,
And in that filence we the tempeft fear.
Th' ambitious Swede 2, like restlefs billows toft,
On this hand gaining what on that he lost,
Though in his life he blood and ruin breath'd,
To his now guidelefs kingdom peace bequeath'd.
And heaven, that feem'd regardless of our fate,
For France and Spain did miracles create;

1 Aftrea Redux, or the Return of Juftice, may be very properly applied to the era of the king's reftoration, fince now the nation was freed from the factions that had so long distracted, and threatened her with anarchy and destruction; while law, order, and fubordination began to flow once again quietly in their antient and proper channels.

2 Charles X. named alfo Gustavus, nephew to the great Gustavus Adolphus.

Such

Such mortal quarrels to compofe in peace
As nature bred, and intereft did increase.
'We figh'd to hear the fair 3 Iberian bride
Muft grow a lily to the lily's fide,

While our cross stars deny'd us Charles' bed,
Whom our first flames and virgin love did wed.
For his long abfence church and state did groan;
Madness the pulpit, faction feiz'd the throne:
Experienc'd age in deep despair was lost,
To fee the rebel thrive, the loyal croft:
Youth that with joys had unacquainted been,
Envy'd gray hairs that once good days had seen:
We thought our fires, not with their own content,
Had ere we came to age our portion spent.
Nor could our nobles hope their bold attempt
Who ruin'd crowns would coronets exempt:
For when by their defigning leaders taught
To ftrike at pow'r which for themselves they fought,
The vulgar, gull'd into rebellion, arm'd;
Their blood to action by the prize was warm'd.
The facred purple then and fearlet gown,
Like fanguine dye, to elephants was fhewn.
Thus when the bold 4 Typhoeus fcal'd the sky,
And forc❜d great Jove from his own heav'n to fly,

3 We figh'd to bear the fair Iberian bride,

Muft grow a lily to the lily's fide, &c.

In the year 1659, Cromwell being dead, a peace was concluded between, Spain and France, in which the marriage with the Infanta of Spain, was agreed upon; and though Charles II. was there in perfon, little or no regard was paid to his intereft. The poet in this, and part of the following page laments, that almost every ftate but that of England fhould be restored to eafe. Sweden, fays he, obtained a peace by the death of her ambitious monarch. The feuds between France and Spain were miraculously terminated, and their friendship cemented by a marriage. But for our parts heaven ftill continued to deny us the restoration of our king, for which all ranks of people groaned; and we seemed as it were abandoned by providence. 4 See the giants war in the first book of Ovid's Metamorphofes.

(What

(What king, what crown from treafon's reach is free, If Jove and Heav'n can violated be ?)

The leffer gods, that fhar'd his profperous ftate.
All fuffer'd in the exil'd Thunderer's fate.
The rabble now fuch freedom did énjoy,
As winds at fea, that use it to destroy:
Blind as the Cyclop, and as wild as he,
They own'd a lawless favage liberty,
Like that our painted ancestors fo priz'd,
Ere empire's arts their breafts had civiliz'd.
How great were then our Charles' woes, who thus
Was forc'd to fuffer for himself and us!

He, tofs'd by fate, and hurry'd up and down,
Heir to his father's forrows, with his crown,
Could tafte no fweets of youth's defired age;
But found his life too true a pilgrimage.
Unconquer'd yet in that forlorn eftate,
His manly courage overcame his fate.

His wounds he took, like Romans on his breaft,
Which by his virtue were with laurels drest.
As fouls reach heav'n while yet in bodies pent,
So did he live above his banishment.

That fun, which we beheld with cozen'd eyes
Within the water, mov'd along the skies.
How eafy 'tis, when deftiny proves kind,
With full-fpread fails to run before the wind!
But thofe that 'gainst stiff gales laveering go,
Must be at once refolv'd and skilful too.
He would not, like foft Otho, hope prevent,
But stay'd and suffer'd fortune to repent.
Thefe virtues Galba in a ftranger fought,
And Pifo to adopted empire brought.
How fhall I then my doubtful thoughts exprefs,
That must his fufferings both regret and blefs ?
For when his early valour Heav'n had croft;
And all at Worc'iter but the honour loft;

Forc'd