45. He without fear a dangerous war pursues, Which without rashness he began before: As honour made him firft the danger choofe, So ftill he makes it good on virtue's fcore. 180 46. The doubled charge his fubjects' love supplies, Who, in that bounty, to themselves are kind: So glad Egyptians fee their Nilus rife, And in his plenty their abundance find. 47*. With equal pow'r he does two chiefs create, 185 Two fuch as each feem'd worthieft when alone; Each able to fuftain a nation's fate, Since both had found a greater in their own. 48. Both great in courage, conduct, and in fame, Yet neither envious of the other's praife; 190 Their duty, faith, and int'rest too the fame, Like mighty partners equally they raise. 49. The prince long time had courted fortune's love, But once poffefs'd did abfolutely reign: Thus with their Amazons the heroes ftrove, 195 And conquer'd firft those beauties they would gain. * Prince Rupert and Duke of Albemarle, fent to fea. Orig. cd. 50. The duke beheld, like Scipio, with difdain, That Carthage, which he ruin'd, rife once more; And fhook aloft the fafces of the main, To fright those slaves with what they felt be fore. 51. Together to the wat'ry camp they haste, 200 Whom matrons paffing to their children fhew: Infants' firft vows for them to heav'n are cast, And future people bless them as they go. 52. With them no riotous pomp, nor Asian train, 53. 206 Diffufive of themselves, where'er they pafs, They make that warmth in others they expect; Their valour works like bodies on a glass, And does its image on their men project. 1 211 Ver. 204. future people] Examina infantium futurufque populus. Plin. Jun. in Pan. ad Traj. Orig. ed. Ver. 205. With them no riotous pomp,] Dryden follows his great mafter, Milton, in making riotous only two fyllables.Again, in ft. 59, elephant is contracted in like manner. Other examples of this kind occur. TODD. 54*. Our fleet divides, and ftraight the Dutch ap pear, In number, and a fam'd commander, bold: The narrow feas can fcarce their navy bear, 215 Or crowded veffels can their foldiers hold. 55. The Duke, lefs numerous, but in courage more, 56. Both furl their fails, and ftrip them for the fight; Their folded fheets difmifs the ufelefs air: Th'Elean plains could boast no nobler fight, When ftruggling champions did their bodies. bare. 57. Born each by other in a diftant line, 225 The fea-built forts in dreadful order move: So vaft the noise, as if not fleets did join, But lands unfix'd, and floating nations ftrove. 58. Now pafs'd, on either fide they nimbly tack; Both strive to intercept and guide the wind: * Duke of Albemarle's battle, firft day. Orig. ed. Ver. 223. Th' Elean, &c.] Where the Olympic games were celebrated. Orig. ed. Ver. 228. lands unfix'd,] From Virgil: And, in its eye, more clofely they come back, To finish all the deaths they left behind. 59. 232 On high-rais'd decks the haughty Belgians ride, Beneath whofe fhade our humble frigates go: Such port the elephant bears, and fo defy'd 235 By the rhinoceros her unequal foe. 60. And as the built, fo different is the fight; Their mounting shot is on our fails defign'd: Deep in their hulls our deadly bullets light, And through the yielding planks a paffage find. 61. 240 Our dreaded admiral from far they threat, Whose batter'd rigging their whole war re ceives: All bare, like fome old oak which tempefts beat, He ftands, and fees below his fcatter'd leaves. Ver. 236. By the rhinoceros, &c.] The enmity between the elephant and rhinoceros is thus defcribed in Franzius's Hiftoria Animalium, &c. 12mo. Amft. 1665, p. 93.—“ Naturale eft odium inter Elephantum et Rhinocerotem, ita ut invicem certent, et quidem in ipfa pugna rhinoceros unicè dat operam, ut alvum Elephanti tanquam partem molliorem petat, ficut etiam tandem vincit Elephantum, contra quem fuo cornu, quod in nari habet, audaciffimè pugnat. Tergum etiam habet fcutulatum, et quafi variis clypeis munitum, unde etiam æftimari poteft fortitudo hujus beftia. Hæc bellua paulò humilior eft Elephanto, fi altitudidinem Spectes, &c." Thus we fee the propriety of Dryden's fimile-her unequal foe, &c. TODD. Ver. 243. All bare, like fome old oak which tempefts beat, Heftands, and fees below his fcatter'd leaves.] 62. Heroes of old, when wounded, fhelter fought; But he, who meets all danger with disdain, 246 Ev'n in their face his fhip to anchor brought, And fteeple-high ftood propt upon the main. 63. At this excefs of courage, all amaz'd, The foremost of his foes awhile withdraw: 250 With fuch refpect in enter'd Rome they gaz'd, Who on high chairs the god-like fathers faw. 64. And now, as where Patroclus' body lay, Here Trojan chiefs advanc'd, and there the Greek; 254 Ours o'er the Duke their pious wings display, And theirs the nobleft spoils of Britain feek. This is Virgil's fimile comprefs'd, Lib. 4. 441. Ac velut annofo validam cùm robore quercum JOHN WARTON. Ver. 255. Ours o'er the Duke] Waller wrote a long poem on the victory obtained over the Dutch by the Duke of York, June 3, 1665, in imitation of a poem of Francefco Bufenello, addreffed to Pietro Liberi, inftructing him to paint the famous feafight between the Turks and Venetians, near the Dardanelles, in the year 1656. The Duke of York urged the neceffity of this war, not only becaufe, as well as his brother, he hated the Dutch, but also because he wished for an opportunity of fignali zing him as an Admiral, as he well understood fea-affairs. Clarendon and Southampton conftantly oppofed this war. The Dutch admiral's ship blew up juft as he was clofely engaged. Dr. J. WARTON. |