XVII.

Whether they unctuous exhalations are,
Fir'd by the fun, or feeming fo alone;
Or each fome more remote and flippery ftar,
Which lofes footing when to mortals fhewn.
XVIII.

Or one, that bright companion of the fun,
Whofe glorious aspect feal'd our new-born king;
And now, a round of greater years begun,
New influence from his walks of light did bring.
XIX.

Victorious York did first with fam'd fuccefs,
To his known valour make the Dutch give place :
Thus heaven our monarch's fortune did confefs,
Beginning conquest from his royal race.

XX.

But fince it was decreed, aufpicious king,

In Britain's right that thou shouldst wed the main, Heaven, as a gage, would caft some precious thing, And therefore doom'd that Lawson should be flain.

XXI.

Lawson amongst the foremost met his fate,

Whom fea-green Sirens from the rocks lament:
Thus as an offering for the Grecian state,
He firft was kill'd who firft to battle went.
XXII.

Their chief blown up in air, not waves, expir'd,
To which his pride presum'd to give the law:
The Dutch confefs'd heaven present, and retir'd,
And all was Britain the wide ocean faw.

XXIII. To

XXIII.

To nearest ports their fhatter'd fhips repair,
Where by our dreadful cannon they lay aw'd:
So reverently men quit the open air,

When thunder fpeaks the angry gods abroad.
XXIV.

And now approach'd their fleet from India fraught,
With all the riches of the rifing fun :

And precious fand from southern climates brought,
The fatal regions where the war begun.
XXV.

Like hunted caftors, confcious of their ftore,

Their way-laid wealth to Norway's coafts they bring: There firft the North's cold bofom fpices bore, And winter brooded on the eaftern fpring.

XXVI.

By the rich fcent we found our perfum'd prey,
Which, flank'd with rocks, did clofe in covert lie:
And round about their murdering cannon lay,
At once to threaten and invite the eye.
XXVII.

Fiercer than cannon, and than rocks more hard,
The English undertake th' unequal war:
Seven fhips alone, by which the port is barr'd,
Befiege the Indies, and all Denmark dare.
XXVIII.

Thefe fight like hufbands, but like lovers thofe :

Thefe fain would keep, and thofe more fain enjoy: And to fuch height their frantic paffion grows,

That what both love, both hazard to deftroy.

VOL. I.

F

XXVIII. Amidft

XXIX.

Amidst whole heaps of fpices lights a ball,
And now their odours arm'd against them fly:
Some preciously by fhatter'd porcelain fall,
And fome by aromatic splinters die.

XXX.

And though by tempefts of the prize bereft,
In heaven's inclemency fome eafe we find :
Our foes we vanquish'd by our valour left,
And only yielded to the feas and wind.
XXXI.

Nor wholly loft we so deserv'd a prey;
For ftorms repenting part of it reftor'd:
Which, as a tribute from the Baltic fea,
The British ocean fent her mighty lord.
XXXII.

Go mortals now and vex yourselves in vain

For wealth, which fo uncertainly must come : When what was brought fo far, and with fuch pain, Was only kept to lose it nearer home.

XXXIII.

The fon, who twice three months on th' ocean toft,
Prepar'd to tell what he had pafs'd before,

Now fees in English fhips the Holland coaft,

And parents arms, in vain, stretch'd from the shore. XXXIV.

This careful husband had been long away,

Whom his chafte wife and little children mourn; Who on their fingers learn'd to tell the day

On which their father promis'd to return.

5

XXXV. Such

XXXV.

Such are the proud designs of human-kind,
And fo we fuffer fhipwreck every where !
Alas, what port can fuch a pilot find,

Who in the night of fate muft blindly freer!
XXXVI.

The undistinguish'd feeds of good and ill,
Heaven in his bofom from our knowledge hides:
And draws them in contempt of human skill,
Which oft for friends mistaken foes provides.
XXXVII.

Let Munster's prelate ever be accurst,

In whom we feek the German faith in vain :
Alas, that he should teach the English first,
That fraud and avarice in the church could reign!
XXXVIII.

Happy, who never trust a stranger's will,
Whofe friendship's in his intereft understood!
Since money given but tempts him to be ill,
When power is too remote to make him good.
XXXIX.

Till now, alone the mighty nations ftrove;
The reft, at gaze, without the lifts did stand;
And threatening France, plac'd like a painted Jove,
Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand.

XL.

That eunuch guardian of rich Holland's trade,
Who envies us what he wants power t' enjoy;
Whofe noifeful valour does no foe invade,
And weak affiftance will his friends deftroy.

XLI.

Offended that we fought without his leave,
He takes this time his fecret hate to fhew:
Which Charles does with a mind fo calm receive,
As one that neither feeks nor fhuns his foe.
XLII.

With France, to aid the Dutch, the Danes unite :
France as their tyrant, Denmark as their flave.
But when with one three nations join to fight,
They filently confefs that one more brave.
XLIII.

Lewis had chas'd the English from his shore;
But Charles the French as fubjects does invite:
Would heaven for each fome Solomon reftore,
Who, by their mercy, may decide their right!
XLIV.

Were fubjects fo but only by their choice,

And not from birth did forc'd dominion take, Our prince alone would have the public voice; And all his neighbours realms would deferts make. XLV.

He without fear a dangerous war pursues,

Which without rashness he began before:
As honour made him first the danger chufe,
So ftill he makes it good on virtue's score.
XLVI.

The doubled charge his fubjects love fupplies,
Who in that bounty to themselves are kind :
So glad Egyptians fee their Nilus rife,

And in his plenty their abundance find.