Affuage her pains, and Albion's fears,
For Albion's life depends on her's.
Oh then! to fave her from despair,
Lean down, and liften to her prayer.
Crown all her tortures with delight,
And call th' auspicious babe to light.
We hope from your propitious care,
All that is brave, or all that's fair.
A youth, to match his fire in arms;
Or nymph, to match her mother's charms;
A youth, who over kings shall reign,
Or nymph, whom kings fhall court in vain,
From far the royal flaves fhall come,
And wait from him or her their doom;
To each their different fuits shall move,
And pay their homage, or their love.
Ye angels, come without delay;
Britannia's genius, come away.
When the foft powers of fleep fubdue
Those eyes, that shine as bright as you ;
With scenes of blifs, tranfporting themes!
Prompt and infpire her golden dreams :
Let vifionary bleffings rise,
And swim before her closing eyes.
The fenfe of torture to fubdue,
Set Britain's happiness to view;
That fight her fpirits will fuftain,
And give her pleasure from her pain.
Ye angels, come without delay;
Britannia's genius, come away.
Come, and rejoice; th' important hour
Is paft, and all our fears are o'er;
See! every trace of anguifh flies,
While in her lap the infant lies,
Her pain by fudden joy beguil'd,
She hangs in rapture o'er the child,
Her eyes o'er every feature run,
The father's beauties and her own.
There, pleas'd her image to furvey,
She melts in tenderness away;
Smiles o'er the babe, nor fmiles in vain,
The babe returns th' aufpicious smile again,
Ye angels, come without delay ;
Britannia's genius, come away.
Turn heaven's eternal volume o'er,
And look for this diftinguish'd hour;
Confult the page of Britain's state,
Before you close the books of fate :
Then tell us what you there have seen,
What ara's from this birth begin.
What years from this bleft hour must run,
As bright and lafting as the fun.
Far from the ken of mortal fight,
Thefe fecrets are involv'd in night :
The bleffings which this birth purfue,
Are only known to heaven and you.
On the MARRIAGE of the PRINCE of ORANGE, and the PRINCESS ROYAL of ENGLAND *.
W
HEN Naffau ey'd his native coasts no more, And first difcern'd fair Albion's whitening shore; In that bleft moment, while the friendly gales Wait on his course, and ftretch the fwelling fails, The deeps divide; and, as the waves unclofe, The Genius of the British ocean rose. Loose to the wind his fea-green mantle flow'd, And in his eyes unufual pleasure glow'd. Awhile he paus'd, to mark on Naffau's face The well-known features of the godlike race; Whofe fwords were facred to the generous cause Of Truth, Religion, Liberty, and Laws : Then spoke; the winds a still attention keep, And awful filence hufh'd the murmuring deep :
"Proceed, great Prince, to our lov'd coast repair, Where Anna fhines the fairest of the Fair:
For thy diftinguish'd bed the Fates ordain
The royal Maid, whom Kings might court in vain;
The royal Maid, in whom the Graces join'd
Her mother's awful charms, and more than female mind.
The merits of thy race, the vast arrear
That Britain owes, fhall all be paid in her ;
*Originally printed in the "Epithalamia Oxonienfia. Oxonii, 1734." in the name of Mr. Spence; but now reclaimed as Mr. Pitt's on the authority of Bishop Lowth.
N.
VOL. XLII.
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In her be paid the debt for laws reftor'd,
For England fav'd by William's righteous fword.
Immortal William !-At thy facred name
My heart beats quick, and owns its ancient flame.
Still muft I call to mind the glorious day,
When through these floods the Hero plough'd his way,
To free Britannia from the Tyrant's chain,
And bid the proftrate Nations rife again.
Well-pleas'd I faw his fluttering ftreamers fly,
And the full fails that hid the distant sky.
High on the gilded ftern, majestic rode
The world's great Patriot, like a guardian God.
This trident aw'd the tumults of the fea,
And bade the winds the Hero's nod obey:
Fond of the tafk, with this officious hand
I pufh'd the facred veffel to the land;
The land of Liberty, by Rome enflav'd;
He came, he saw, he vanquish'd, and he fav'd.
O may that Hero, and thy Anna's fire
To nobleft deeds thy generous bofom fire,
And with their bright tranfmiffive virtues grace
The great defcendants of thy princely race!
Still may they all their great example draw
From her Auguftus, and thy own Nassau !
May the fair line each happy realm adorn,
Blefs future ftates, and nations yet unborn !"
On the MARRIAGE of FREDERIC PRINCE of WALES, and PRINCESS AUGUSTA of SAXE-GOTHA *.
HEN pious frauds and holy pride no more Could hold that empire which fo long they bore; From fair Germania's ftates the truth began
W
To gleam, and fhed her heavenly light on man;
To Frederic + firft, the Saxon Prince, 'twas given,
To nurse and cherish this best gift of Heaven.
Its growth, whilst young and tender, was his care,
To guard its bloffoms from th' inclement air,
And dying, "May'ft thou flourish!" was his prayer.
Again, when fair Religion now had spread
Her influence round, and rais'd her captiv'd head;
When Charles and Rome their impious forces join'd
To quench its light, and re-enflave mankind;
Another Frederic ‡ first appear'd in arms,
To guard th' endanger'd bleffing from alarms.
* Originally printed in the "Gratulatio Academiæ Oxonienfis "in Nuptias aufpicatiffimas illuftriffimorum Principum Frederici "Principis Wailiæ et Auguftæ Principiffe de Saxo-Gotha. Oxonii, "1736;" and now reftored to Mr. Pitt, on the fame unqueftionable authority as the preceding poem. N.
Frederic, Elc&tor of Saxony, the chief Protector of Luther and the Proteftant religion, died in the year 1520.
John Frederic, nephew to the former, taken prifoner by Charles V. and defpoiled of his electorate by him in 1547.
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