Whose kindness sent what does their malice seem 125 130 135 140 145 150 Like this New-year, whose motions never cease; For since the glorious course you have begun It must both weightless and immortal prove, 155 Show is an intransitive verb, and means appear, and is constantly so used in Dryden; as among several instances in "Annus Mirabilis :" "Like swans in long array his vessels show."--Stan. 66. Otherwise, the passage would read more pleasantly, if there were no stop after shows and the verb had an active meaning. There is a resemblance in this passage to Denham's description of Windsor in "Cooper's Hill:" "Windsor the next above the valley swells VERSES TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS, ON THE MEMORABLE VICTORY GAINED BY THE DUKE AGAINST THE HOLLANDERS, JUNE 3, 1665, AND ON HER JOURNEY AFTERWARDS INTO THE NORTH.* MADAM, WHEN for our sakes your hero you resigned To swelling seas and every faithless wind, You lodged your country's cares within your breast, And, ere our foes abroad were overcome, The winds were hushed, the waves in ranks were cast Those yet uncertain on whose sails to blow, These where the wealth of nations ought to flow. 20 Then with the Duke your Highness ruled the day; While all the brave did his command obey, The fair and pious under you did pray. How powerful are chaste vows! the wind and tide 25 ⚫ These verses, addressed to the Duchess of York (the Duke of York's first wife, Anne, daughter of the Lord Chancellor Clarendon, and written towards the end of 1665, were probably not published before their appearance in the Preface to "Annus Mirabilis." See p. 42. The journey into the North of England was with the Duke of York in August and September 1665. This poem reappeared in 1704 in the fifth volume of the "Poetical Miscellanies," afterwards named "Miscellany Poems," being the first volume of the series published after Dryden's death. ↑ War had been declared against the Dutch in February 1665. The Duke of York, who was Lord High Admiral, took the command of the fleet, and went to sea in the beginning of May On the 3rd of June he engaged with the Dutch fleet off the coast of Suffolk, near Lowestoft, and obtained a decided victory, showing great bravery in the battle. 1 Scott has observed that sea, which in Dryden's poetry almost always rhymes with words like obey, way see line 43), &c. was probably pronounced suitably to such rhymes. Thus to your much-loved lord you did convey 30 35 To bring them as his slaves to wait on you: Thus beauty ravished the rewards of fame And the fair triumphed when the brave o'ercame. 40 Leaving our southern clime, you marched along The stubborn North, ten thousand Cupids strong. + 45 In crowding heaps to fill your moving court: 50 Blessing themselves and wondering at the show. And while she makes her progress through the East, From every grove her numerous train's increast; 55 And round him the pleased audience clap their wings. * When Joshua fought with Amalek, Exodus xvii. 11-13. "And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword." Dryden uses the same illustration in "Britannia Rediviva," line 296. The battle of June 3 was off the coast of Suffolk, near Lowestoft. A letter from the Earl of Arlington, Secretary of State, to the Lord Mayor, in the State Paper Office, giving the official news of the victory, mentions "the King having been in expectation ever since the guns were heard." (Mrs. Green's Calendar of State Papers, 1664-5, p. 408.) Dryden refers in the opening of his "Essay of Dramatic Poesy" to "that memorable day, in the first summer of the late war, when our navy engaged the Dutch," and says: "The noise of the cannon from both navies reached our ears about the city, so that, all men being alarmed with it and in a dreadful suspense of the event which they knew was then deciding, every one went following the sound as his fancy led him." The Duke of York was not permitted to go to sea again after his victory of June; the fleet was left under command of the Earl of Sandwich. In August the Duke was sent by the King into Yorkshire, there being fears of a rising in the north. His valour at sea and victory had made him very popular, and he and the Duchess were received throughout the journey with great honours. D ANNUS MIRABILIS: THE YEAR OF WONDERS, 1666. AN HISTORICAL POEM; CONTAINING THE PROGRESS AND VARIOUS SUCCESSES OF OUR NAVAL WAR WITH HOLLAND UNDER THE CONDUCT OF HIS HIGHNESS PRINCE RUPERT AND HIS GRACE THE DUKE OF ALBEMARLE, AND DESCRIBING THE FIRE OF LONDON. "Multum interest res poscat, an homines latius imperare velint." Trajan Imperator ad Plin. PLIN. Epist. x. 33. "Urbs antiqua ruit, multos dominata per annos.”—Virg. Æn. ii. 363. |