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 crois ftars deny'd us Charles' bed,
Whom our first flames and virgin love did wed.
For his long absence church and state did groan;
Madness the pulpit, faction seiz'd the throne:
Experienc'd age in deep defpair was loft,
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 themfelves 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 fcarlet gown,
Like fanguine dye, to elephants was fhewn.
Thus when the bold 4 Typhoeus fcal'd the fky,
And forc'd great Jove from his own heav'n to fly,
3 We figh'd to hear 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 state but that of England fhould be restored to cafe. 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 refto ation of our king, for which all ranks of people groaned; and we feemed as it were abandoned by providence. 4 See the giants war in the first book of Ovid's Metamorphofes.
(What king, what crown from trcafon'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 enjoy,
As winds at fea, that ufe it to deftroy:
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 himfelt 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 cftate,
His manly courage overcame his fate.
His wounds he took, like Romans on his breaft,
Which by his virtue were with laurels dreft.
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 destiny proves kind,
With full-fpread fails to run before the wind!
But thofe that 'gainft ftiff gales laveering go,
Must be at once refolv'd and skilful too.
He would not, like foft Otho, hope prevent,
But ftay'd and suffer'd fortune to repent.
Thefe virtues Galba in a ftranger fought,
And Piso to adopted empire brought.
How fhall I then my doubtful thoughts exprefs,
That muft his fufferings both regret and blefs?
For when his early valour Heav'n had croft;
And all at Worc'fter but the honour loft;
Forc'd into exile from his rightful throne,
He made all countries where he came his own 3
And viewing monarchs' fecret arts of sway,
A royal factor for his kingdoms lay.
Thus banish'd David spent abroad his time,
When to be God's anointed was his crime;
And when reftor'd, made his proud neighbours rue
Those choice remarks he from his travels drew.
Nor is he only by afflictions fhown
To conquer others realms, but rule his own :
Recovering hardly what he loft before,
His right endears it much; his purchase more.
Inur'd to fuffer ere he came to reign,
No rafh procedure will his actions ftain:
To business ripen'd by digeftive thought,
His future rule is into method brought:
As they, who firft proportion understand,
With easy practice reach a master's hand.
Well might the ancient poets then confer
On night the honoured name of Counseller,
Since ftruck with rays of profperous fortune blind,
We light alone in dark afflictions find.
In fuch adverfities to fcepters train'd,
The name of Great his famous 5 grandfire gain'd:
Who yet a king alone in name and right,
With hunger, cold, and angry Jove did fight;
Shock'd by a cov'nanting league's vaft pow'rs,
As holy and as catholic as ours:
'Till fortune's fruitless fpite had made it known,
Her blows not fhook but riveted his throne.
Some lazy ages, loft in fleep and ease,
No action leave' to busy chronicles:
Such, whofe fupine felicity but makes
In ftory chasms, in epocha mistakes;
5 Charles II, was grandfon by the mother's fide to Henry the IV th of France.
O'er whom Time gently shakes his wings of down,
'Till with his filent fickle they are mown.
Such is not Charles' too too active age,
Which, govern'd by the wild diftemper'd rage
Of fome black ftar infecting all the flies,
Made him at his own coft like Adam wife.
Tremble ye nations, which fecure before,
Laugh'd at thofe arms that 'gainst ourselves we bore;
Rouz'd by the lath of his own stubborn tail,
Our lion now will foreign foes affail.
With 6 alga who the facred altar firews?
To all the fea gods Charles an off'ring owes :
A bull to thee, Portunus, fhall be flain,
A lamb to you, ye tempefts of the main :
For those loud ftorms that did against him roar,
Have caft his fhipwreck'd veffel on the fhore.
Yet as wife artists mix their colours fo,
That by degrees they from each other go;
Black fteals unheeded from the neighb'ring white,
Without offending the well-cozen'd fight:
So on us ftole our bleffed change; while we
Th' effect did feel, but fcarce the manner fee.
Frofts that conftrain the ground, and birth deny
To flow'rs that in its womb expecting lie,
Do feldom their ufurping pow'r withdraw,
But raging floods purfac their hafty thaw.
Our thaw was mild, the cold not chas'd away,
But loft in kindly heat of lengthned day.
Heaven would no bargain for its bleffings drive,
But what we could not pay for, freely give.
The Prince of peace would like himself confer
A gift unhop'd, without the price of war:
6 Thefe lines refer to the ceremonics ufed by fuch heathens as ef caped from shipwreck, to which the king's variety of fortune is compared. Aga marina, or fea weed, was firewed about the altar, and à lamb facrificed to the winds.
Yet, as he knew his bleffing's worth, took care,
That we fhould know it by repeated pray'r;
Which ftorm'd the skies, and ravish'd Charles from thence,
As heav'n itfelf is took by violence.
Booth's 7 forward valour only ferv'd to fhow,
He durft that duty pay we all did owe:
Th' attempt was fair; but heav'n's prefixed hour
Not come: fo like the watchful traveller
That by the moon's mistaken light did rise,
Lay down again, and clos'd his weary eyes.
'Twas Monk, whom Providence defign'd to loofe
Those real bonds falfe freedom did impose.
The bleffed faints, that watch'd this turning fcene,
Did from their stars with joyful wonder lean,
To fee fmall clues draw vafteft weights along,
Not in their bulk but in their order strong.
Thus pencils can by one flight touch restore
Smiles to that changed face that wept before.
With eafe fuch fond chimaeras we pursue,
As fancy frames for fancy to fubdue:
But when ourselves to action we betake,
It fhuns the mint like gold that chemifts make,
How hard was then his task! at once to be
What in the body natural we fee?
Man's architect diftin&tly did ordain
The charge of mufcles, nerves, and of the brain,
Through viewlefs conduits fpirits to difpenfe;
The fprings of motion from the feat of fenfe.
"Twas not the hafty product of a day,
But the well-ripen'd fruit of wife delay.
He, like a patient angler, ere he ftrook,
Would let him play a while upon the hook.
Sir George Booth in 1659 affembled a large body of men for the King's fervice in Chefhire, and encountering with general Lambert near Norwich, was entirely routed, and most of the principal perfons made prifoners.
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