H.

His generous mind the fair ideas drew

Of fame and honour, which in dangers lay; Where wealth, like fruit on precipices, grew, Not to be gather'd but by birds of prey.

12.

The lofs and gain each fatally were great;
And still his fubjects call'd aloud for war:
But peaceful kings, o'er martial people fet,
Each other's poize and counterbalance are.

13.

He first furvey'd the charge with careful eyes,
Which none but mighty monarchs could maintain ş
Yet judg'd, like vapours that from limbecs rife,
It would in richer fhowers defcend again.

14.

At length refolv'd t' affert the watery ball,
He in himself did whole Armadoes bring:
Him aged feamen might their master call,
And chufe for general, were he not their King.
15.

It seems as every fhip their fovereign knows,
His awful fummons they so foon obey;
So hear the fcaly herd when Proteus blows,
And fo to pasture follow through the fea.
16.

To fee this fleet upon the ocean move,

Angels drew wide the curtains of the skies And heaven, as if there wanted lights above, For tapers made two glaring comets rife.

17.

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.

3

18. Or

18.

Or one, that bright companion of the fun,

Whofe glorious afpect feal'd our new-born King; And now a round of greater years begun,

New influence from his walks of light did bring.

19.

Victorious York did firft 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.

20.

But fince it was decreed, aufpicious King,

In Britain's right that thou fhouldft wed the main, Heav'n, as a gage, would caft fome precious thing, And therefore doom'd that 2 Lawfon fhould be slain.

21.

Lawfon 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.

22.

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

23.

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

Where thunder fpeaks the angry gods abroad.

24.

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

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

2 Sir John Lawson rear admiral of the red, killed by a ball that wounded him in the knee.

25.

Like hunted caftors, confcious of their store,

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

26.

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

27.

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

28.

Thefe fight like husbands, but like lovers those :

These fain would keep, and those more fain enjoy : And to fuch height their frantic paffion grows, That what both love, both hazard to deftroy.

29.

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

30.

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

31.

Nor wholly 3 loft we so deserv'd a prey;
For ftorms repenting part of it restor❜d:
Which as a tribute from the Baltic fea,

The British ocean fent her mighty lord.

32. Go

3 The Dutch fhips on their return home being feparated by a ftorm, the rear and vice-admirals of the Eaft India fleet, with four

men

32.

Go mortals now and vex yourselves in vain

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

33.

The fon, who twice three months on th' ocean toft,
Prepar'd to tell what he had pafs'd before,
Now fees in English ships the Holland coaft,

And parents arms, in vain, ftretch'd from the fhore. 34.

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.

35.

Such are the proud defigns of human-kind,
And so we fuffer fhipwreck every where!

Alas, what port can fuch a pilot find,

Who in the night of fate muft blindly fteer!
36.

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.

37.

Let & Munster's prelate ever be accurft,

In whom we feek the German faith in vain : Alas, that he fhould teach the English firft,

That fraud and avarice in the church could reign! 38. Happy

men of war, were taken by five English frigates. Soon after four men of war, two firehips, and thirty other merchantmen, being driven out of their course, joined our fleet instead of their own, and were all taken. These things happened in 1665.

4 The famous Beinard Vanghalen, bishop of Munfter, excited by Charles, marched twenty thousand men into the province of Uveryilel, under the dominion of the republic of Holland, where be

committed

38.

Happy, who never truft a ftranger's will,
Whose friendship's in his intereft understood I
Since money given but tempts him to be ill,
When pow'r is too remote to make him good.
39.

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

40.

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

4.

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.

42.

With France, to aid the Dutch, the Danes unite:

France as their tyrant, Denmark as their slave,
But when with one three nations join to fight,
They filently confefs that one more brave.
43.

Lewis had chas'd the English from his fhore?
But Charles the French as fubje&s does invite:
Would heaven for each fome Solomon restore,

Who, by their mercy, may decide their right,

committed great outrages, acting rather like a captain of banditti than the leader of an army. However, we must allow he had fome excufe for this conduct, when it is remembered that Charles neglected to make him the promised remittances. On which account alfo he was forced to clap up a peace, without giving us notice of his intention.

44. Were