Now our fad ruins are remov'd from fight,
The feafon too comes fraught with new delight:
Time feems not now beneath his years to stoop,
Nor do his wings with fickly feathers droop :
Soft western winds waft o'er the gaudy fpring,
And open'd fcenes of flowers and blossoms bring,
To grace this happy day, while you appear,
Not king of us alone, but of the year.
All eyes you draw, and with the eyes the heart:
Of your own pomp yourself the greatest part:
Loud fhouts the nation's happiness proclaim,
And heaven this day is feafted with your name.
Your cavalcade the fair fpectators view,
From their high standings, yet look up to you.
From your brave train each fingles out a prey,
And longs to date a conqueft from your day.
Now charg'd with bleflings while you feek repofe,
Officious flumbers hafte your eyes to close;
And glorious dreams stand ready to reftore
The pleafing fhapes of all you faw before.
Next to the facred temple you are led,
Where waits a crown for your more facred
head:
How justly from the church that crown is due,
Preferv'd from ruin, and reftor'd by you!
The grateful choir their harmony employ,
Not to make greater, but more folemn joy.
Wrapt foft and warm your name is fent on high,
As flames do on the wings of incenfe fly:
Mufic herself is loft, in vain she brings
Her choiceft notes to praife the best of kings:
Her melting strains in you a tomb have found,
And lie like bees in their own fweetnefs drown'd.
He that brought peace, all difcord could atone,
His name is mufic of itself alone.
Now while the facred oil anoints your head,
And fragrant fcents, begun from you, are spread
Through the large dome; the people's joyful
found,
Sent back, is still preferv'd in hallow'd ground;
Which in one blefling mix'd defcends on you;
As heighten'd fpirits fall in richer dew.
Not that our wishes do increase your store,
Full of yourself you can admit no more:
We add not to your glory, but employ
Our time, like angels, in expreffing joy.
Nor is it duty, or our hopes alone,
Create that joy, but full fruition:
We know thofe bleffings which we must poffefs,
And judge of future by past happiness.
No promife can oblige a prince fo much
Still to be good, as long to have been fuch,
A noble emulation heats your breast,
And your own fame now robs you of your reft.
Good actions till must be maintain'd with good,
As bodies nourish'd with refembling food.
You have already quench'd fedition's brand;
And zeal, which burnt it, only warms the land.
The jealous fects, that dare not truft their cause
So far from their own will as to the laws,
You for their umpire and their fynod take,
And their appeal alone to Cæfar make.
Kind heaven fo rare a temper did provide,
That guilt repenting might in it confide.
Among our crimes oblivion may be fet:
But 'tis our king's perfection to forget.
Virtues unknown to these rough northern climes
From milder heavens you bring without their
Your calmnefs does no after-ftorms provide,
Nor feeming patience mortal anger hide.
When empire firft from families did (pring,
Then every father govern'd as a king:
Imperial power with your paternal fway. [bends,
But you, that are a fovereign prince, allay
From thofe great cares when cafe your foul un-
Your pleafures are design'd to noble ends?
Born to command the mistress of the feas, [pleafe.
Hither in fummer evenings you repair
Your thoughts themselves in that blue empire
To taste the fraicheur of the purer air:
Undaunted here you ride, when winter raves,
With Cæfar's heart that rofe above the waves.
More I could fing, but fear my numbers stays;
No loyal fubject dares that courage praise.
In ftately frigates most delight you find,
Where well-drawn battles fire your martial mind,
What to your cares we owe, is learnt from hence,
When ev'n your pleasures serve for our defence.
Beyond your court flows in th' admitted tide,
Where in new depths the wondering fishes glide :
Here in a royal bed the waters fleep;
When, tir'd at fea, within this bay they creep.
Here the miftrustful fowl no harm fufpects,
From your lov'd Thames a bleffing yet is due,
So fafe are all things which our king protects.
Second alone to that it brought in you;
A queen, near whofe chafte womb, ordain'd by
The fouls of kings unborn for bodies wait.
It was your love before made difcord cease:
Your love is deftin'd to your country's peace.
Both Indies, rivals in your bed, provide
With gold or jewels to adorn your bride.
This to a mighty king presents rich ore,
While that with incenfe does a god implore.
Two kingdoms wait your doom, and, as you
This must receive a crown, or that must lose.
Thus from your royal oak, like Jove's of old,
Are anfwers fought, and deftinies foretold :
Propitious oracles are begg'd with vows,
And crowns that grow upon the facred boughs.
Your fubje&s, while you weigh the nation's fate,
Sufpend to both their doubtful love or hate:
Choose only, fir, that fo they may poffefs
With their own peace their children's happiness.
TO THE LORD CHANCELLOR HYDE,
PRESENTED ON NEW-YEAR's DAY, 1662.
WHILE flattering crouds officiously appear
To give themselves, not you, an happy year;
And by the greatness of their prefents prove
How much they hope, but not how well they love;
The Mufes, who your early courtship boast,
Though now your flames are with their beauty loft,
Yet watch their time, that, if you have forgot
They were your mistresses, the world may not:
Decay'd by time and wars, they only prove
Their former beauty by your former love;
And now prefent, as ancient ladies do,
That courted long, at length are forc'd to woo.
For ftill they look on you with fuch kind eyes,
As thofe that fee the church's fovereign rife;
From their own order chofe, in whofe high state,
They think themselves the fecond choice of fate.
When our great monarch into exile went,
Wit and religion fuffer'd banishment.
Thus once, when Troy was wrap'd in fire and fmoke,
The helpless gods their burning fhrines forfook;
They with the vanquish'd prince and party go,
And leave their temples empty to the foe.
At length the Mufes ftand, reftor'd again
To that great charge which nature did ordain ;
And their lov'd Druids feem reviv'd by fate,
While you difpenfe the laws, and guide the ftate.
The nation's foul, our monarch, does difpenfe,
Through you, to us, his vital influence;
You are the channel, where those spirits flow,
And work them higher, as to us they go.
In open profpect nothing bounds our eye,
Until the earth feems join'd unto the sky;
So in this hemifphere our utmost view
Is only bounded by our king and you;
Our fight is limited where you are join'd,
And beyond that no farther heaven can find.
So well your virtues do with his agree,
That, though your orbs of different greatness be,
Yet both are for each other's ufe difpos'd,
His to inclofe, and yours to be inclos'd.
Nor could another in your room have been,
Except an emptiness had come between.
Well may he then to you his cares impart,
And fhare his burden where he shares his heart,
In you his fleep ftill wakes; his pleasures find
Their share of business in your labouring mind.
So when the weary fun his place refigns,
He leaves his light, and by reflection fhines.
Juftice, that fits and frowns where public laws
Exclude foft mercy from a private cause,
In your tribunal most herself does please ;
There only fmiles becaufe fhe lives at cafe;
And, like young David, finds her ftrength the
When difincumber'd from thefe arms fhe wore.
Heaven would our royal mafter fhould exceed
Most in that virtue, which we most did need ;
And his mild father (who too late did find
All mercy vain but what with pwer was join'd)
His fatal goodness left to fitter times,
Not to increase, but to abfolve our crimes :
But when the heir of this vaft treasure knew
How large a legacy was left to you
(Too great for any object to retain),
He wifely ty'd it to the crown again :
Yet, paffing through your hands, it gathers more,
As ftreams, through mines, bear tincture of their
While empiric politicians ufe deceit,
Hide what they give, and cure but by a cheat;
You boldly fhew that skill which they pretend,
And work by means as noble as your end:
Which fhould you veil, we might unwind the clue,
As men do nature, till we came to you.
And as the Indies were not found, before
Those rich perfumes, which, from the happy fhore,
The winds upon their balmy wings convey'd,
Whofe guilty fweetness firft their world betray'd;
So by your counfels we are brought to view
A rich and undiscover'd world in you.
By you our monarch does that fame affure,
Which kings must have, or cannot live fecure
For profperous princes gain their fubjects heart,
Who love that praise in which themfelves have
By you he fits those subjects to obey
As heaven's eternal monarch does convey
His power unfeen, and man to his designs,
By his bright minifters the ftars, inclines.
Our fetting fun, from his declining feat,
Shot beams of kindness on you, not of heat:
And, when his love was bounded in a few,
That were unhappy that they might be true,
Made you the favourite of his last fad times,
That is a fufferer in his fubjects crimes:
Thus those first favours you receiv'd, were fent,
Like heaven's rewards in earthly punishment.
Yet fortune, conscious of your destiny,
Ev'n then took care to lay you softly by ;
And wrap'd your fate among her precious things,
Kept fresh to be unfolded with your king's.
Shewn all at once you dazzled fo our eyes,
As new-born Pallas did the gods furprize :
When, fpringing forth from Jove's new-clofing
wound,
She ftruck the warlike fpear into the ground:
Which fprouting leaves did fuddenly inclose,
And peaceful olives fhaded as they rofe.
How ftrangely active are the arts of peace,
Whofe reftlefs motions lefs than wars do cease!
Peace is not freed from labour but from noise;
And war more force, but not more pains em-
ploys :
Such is the mighty fwiftnefs of your mind,
That, like the earth, it leaves our sense behind,
While you so smoothly turn and rowl our sphere,
That rapid motion does but reit appear.
For, as in nature's fwiftnefs, with the throng
Of flying orbs while ours is borne along,
All feems at reft to the deluded eye,
Mov'd by the foul of the fame harmony,
So, carried on by your unwearied care,
We rest in peace, and yet in motion fhare.
From which the happy never must be free;
Let envy then those crimes within you fee,
Envy, that does with mifery refide,
The joy and the revenge of ruin'd pride.
Think it not hard, at fo cheap a rate
You can fecure the conftancy of fate,
Whole kindness fent what does their malice feem,
By leffer ills the greater to redeem.
Nor can we this weak fhower a tempest call,
But drops of heat, that in the fun-fhine fall.
You have already wearied fortune fo,
She cannot farther be your friend or foe;
But fits all breathlefs, and admires to feel
A fate fo weighty, that it stops her wheel.
In all things elfe above our humble fate,
But, like fome mountain in those happy isles,
Your equal mind yet fwells not into state,
Where in perpetual spring young nature smiles,
Your greatness fhews: no horror to affright,
Sometimes the hill fubmits itself a while
But trees for fhade, and flowers to court the fight:
In fmail descents, which do its height beguile;
And fometimes mounts, but so as billows play,
Whose rife not hinders, but makes fhort our
way.
Your brow, which does no fear of thunder know,
Sees rowling tempests vainly beat below;
Of love and friendship writ in former years.
And, like Olympus' top, th' impression wears
Yet, unimpair'd with labours, or with time,
Your age but seems to a new youth to climb.
And measure change, but share no part of it.
Thus heavenly bodies do our time beget,
And still it fhall without a weight increase,
Like this new year, whofe motions never ceafe.
For fince the glorious course you have begun
Is led by Charles, as that is by the fun,
It must both weightless and immortal prove,
Because the centre of it is above.
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1662.
As needy gallants, in the scrivener's hands,
Court the rich knaves that gripe their mortgag'd
The first fat buck of all the feafon's fent, [lands;
And keeper takes no fee in compliment;
The dotage of fome Englishmen is such,
To fawn on those who ruin them, the Dutch.
They fhall have all, rather than make a war
With those who of the fame religion are.
The Straits, the Guinea-trade, the herrings too;
Nay, to keep friendship, they fhall pickle you.
Some are refolv'd not to find out the cheat,
But, cuckold-like, love them that do the feat.
What injuries foe'er upon us fall,
Yet fill the fame religion anfwers all.
Religion wheedled us to civil war,
Drew English blood, and Dutchman's now would
Be gull'd no longer for you'll find it true [fpare.
They have no more religion, faith! than you.
Intereft's the god they worship in their state,
And we, I take it, have not much of that.
Well monarchies may own religion's name,
But ftates are athiefts in their very frame.
They share a fin; and fuch proportions fall,
That, like a stink, 'tis nothing to them all.
[be.
Think on their rapine, falsehood, cruelty,
And that what once they were, they still would
To one well-born the affront in worse and more,
When he's abus'd and baffled by a boor.
With an ill grace the Dutch their mischiefs do,
They've both ill nature and ill manners too.
Well may they boast themselves an aucient nation;
For they were bred e'er manners were in fashion:
And their new commonwealth has fet them free
Only from honour and civility.
Venetians do not more uncouthly ride,
Than did their lubber state mankind beftride.
Their fway became them with as ill a mien,
As their own paunches fwell above their chin.
Yet is their empire no true growth but humour,
And only two kings' touch can cure the tumour.
As Cato fruits of Afric difplay;
Let us before our eyes their Indies lay:
All loyal English will like him conclude;
Let Cæfar live, and Carthage be fubdew'd,
MEMORABLE VICTORY GAINED BY THE DUKE OVER THE HOLLANDERS, JUNE 3. 1665,
AND ON HER JOURNEY AFTERWARDS INTO THE NORTH,
WHEN, for our fakes, your hero you refign'd,
To fwelling feas, and every faithlefs wind;
When you releas'd his courage, and fet free
A valour fatal to the enemy;
You lodg'd your country's cares within your breast
(The mansion where foft love fhould only reft):
And, e'er our foes abroad were overcome,
The nobleft conqueft you had gain'd at home.
Ah, what concerns did both your fouls divide!
Your honour gave us what your love denied:
And 'twas for him much easier to fubdue
Thofe foes he fought with, then to part from you.
That glorious day, which two fuch navies faw,
As each unmatch'd might to the world give law.
Neptune, yet doubtful whom he should obey,
Held to them both the trident of the fea :
The winds were hush'd, the waves in ranks were
As awfully as when God's people past : [caft,
Thofe, yet uncertain on whofe fails to blow,
Thefe, where the wealth of nations ought to flow,
Then with the Duke your Highness rul'd the ́
day:
While all the brave did his command obey,
The fair and pious under you did pray.
While, from afar, we heard the cannon play,
Like diftant thunder on a fhiny day.
For abfent friends we are afham'd to fear,
When we confider what you ventur'd there.
Ships, men, and arms, our country might restore
But fuch a leader could fupply no more.
With generous thoughts of conqueft he did burn
Yet fought not more to vanquish than return.
Fortune and victory he did purfue,
To bring them as the flaves to wait on you.
Thus beauty ravish'd the rewards of fame,
And the fair triumph'd when the brave o'ercame,
Then, as you meant to spread another way
By land your conquefts, far as his by sea,
Leaving our fouthern clime, you march'd along
The stubborn North, ten thousand Cupids ftrong.
Like commons the nobility to resort,
In crowding heaps, to fill your moving court:
To welcome your approach the vulgar run,
Like fome new envoy from the distant fun,
And country beauties by their lovers go,
Bleffing themfelves, and wondering at the fhow.
So when the new-born Phoenix first is seen,
Her feather'd fubjects all adorn their queen,
How powerful are chafte vows the wind and tide | And while she makes her progrefs through the
You brib'd to combat on the English fide.
Thus to your much lov'd lord you did convey An unknown fuccour, fent the nearest way. New vigour to his wearied arms you brought, (Eo Moles was upheld while Ifrael fought)
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