TO THE

LORD CHANCELLOR HYDE*.

PRESENTED ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1662.

MY LORD,

WHILE flattering crouds officiously appear, To give themselves, not you, an happy year;

Edward Earl of Clarendon, to whom this poem is addreffed, having followed the fortune of the king, was appointed fecretary of state at Bruges, and conftituted lord high-chancellor of England on the demife of Sir Richard Lane. He was confirmed in this laft poft at the Restoration, when he was alfo chofen chancellor of the university of Oxford, in the room of the Duke of Somerfet, and created Baron Hindon, Vifcount Cornbury, and Earl of Clarendon.

He was too honeft for a court; his plain dealing and integrity ruined him; the king, abandoned to pleature, was impatient of admonition, and Hyde was not fparing of it: this paved the way for his difgrace. He was profecuted with great acrimony by the Earl of Bristol, who impeached him in the Houfe of Peers. Finding his party too weak to fupport him, he retired to Rouen, where he died in 1674. He is faid to have been concerned in felling Dunkirk to the French. He was an able lawyer, a great ftatefman, and an elegant writer. DERRICK.

Ver. 1. While flattering crouds] Few pieces of biography are fo interefting as the life of Lord Clarendon, written by himself, and published from his original manufcripts by the university of Oxford. In which is given, with openuefs and frankuefs, an ac count of his early habits and ftudies, and intimacy with the greatest men of that age, whofe characters he has drawn with a

And by the greatness of their presents prove How much they hope, but not how well they love;

mafterly hand. He foon became eminent both at the bar and in parliament. And entering into the king's fervice at the commencement of the civil wars, foon rose to such a degree in his favour and friendship, that the king entrusted him to draw up feveral very important ftate papers, published in the king's own name, and fuppofed to be his own productions. He followed Charles II. into exile, fhared all his fortunes, and continued his faithful adviser till the Restoration. Burnet, who did not love him, fays, he used to give his advice in too magifterial a man. ner and it is certain that Charles II. had always for him more veneration than affection. As he never degraded himself by flattering the Duchefs of Portsmouth, and fhewed a marked contempt of the debauched parafites that furrounded his master, they employed every poffible method of wit and ridicule, to depretiate him in the eyes of his mafter, who, when Buckingham imitated the gait and air, and folemn step of the Chancellor, had the weakness to join in the laugh. But what chiefly alienated the King's regard for him, and in truth provoked a deep indignation, was, that Clarendon engaged the Duke of Richmond to marry the beautiful Mrs. Stuart, with whom the king was violently in love. So that when the Sectarists, the Catholics, and even fome difappointed Royalifts, all joined in enmity to Clarendon, and laid to his charge all the misfortunes that had befallen the kingdom, the bad payment of the feamen, the fale of Dunkirk, the difgrace at Chatham, and an unfuccefsful war; the king, with matchlefs ingratitude, gave up into the hands of his enemies his old, able, and faithful Counsellor, who was immediately impeached by both houfes of parliament. He therefore thought proper to retire to France, where he lived privately for fix years, and wrote his hiftory of the civil wars; a work, which, no withstanding fome (perhaps pardonable) partialities, will for ever be read with attention and applaufe; and is in truth compofed with a dignity, majefty, and strength of style, rarely to be found in modern hiftory. The praifes of twenty fuch poets as Dryden could not have conferred fuch lafting honour on Lord Clarendon, as thofe words of the virtuous Earl of Southampton, at the Council Board: "This man," faid he, "is a true Pro-> teftant, and an honeft Englishman; and while he enjoys power, we are fecure of our laws, liberties, and religion.-I dread the confequences of his removal." Dr. J. WARTON.

The Mufes, who your early courtship boast, 5 Though now your flames are with their beauty

loft,

10

Yet watch their time, that, if you have forgot
They were your miftreffes, 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 rise;
From their own order chofe, in whofe high

ftate,

15

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,

19

The helpless gods their burning shrines forfook;

Ver. 20. The helpless gods &c.] I will here offer part of Merrick's obfervation on a paflage in his tranflation of Tryphiodorus, p. 102.-" We learn from Efchylus (Ezra izì ☺ńß. v. 223.) that it was a common opinion among the ancients, that the tutelary gods of every city withdrew from it when it was going to be taken. The fcholiaft on Æfchylus farther informs us, that Sophocles wrote a play called oanópos, in which the gods of the Trojans were introduced retiring from the city, and carrying their images with them. What Tryphiodorus feigns of Apollo's quitting Troy, juft before its deftruction, is related by Virgil concerning the other deities of the Trojans, Æn. ii. 351. Exceffere omnes, adytis arifque relictis, Diî, quibus imperium hoc fteterat.

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, 25
While you dispense the laws, and guide the state.
The nation's foul, our monarch, does difpenfe,
Through you, to us his vital influence;
You are the channel, where thofe fpirits flow,
And work them higher, as to us they go.

30

In open prospect 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 heav'n can find. So well your virtues do with his That, though your orbs of different greatness

be,

agree,

35

40

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 emptinefs had come between.
Well may he then to you his cares impart,
And share his burden where he shares his heart.

And Petronius Arbiter fays,

Peritura Troja perdidit primùm deos. Nor is this fiction to be found in the poets only, preferved in fome of the ancient hiftorians."

note.

but is likewife See the whole

Todd.

47

In you his fleep ftill wakes; his pleasures find
Their share of bufinefs in your laboring mind.
So when the weary fun his place refigns,
He leaves his light, and by reflection shines.
Juftice, that fits and frowns where public laws
Exclude foft mercy from a private cause, 50
In your tribunal most herself does please;
There only smiles because the lives at ease;
And, like young David, finds her strength the

more,

When difincumber'd from thofe arms fhe wore.
Heaven would our royal master should exceed
Moft in that virtue, which we moft did need; 56
And his mild father (who too late did find
All mercy vain but what with pow'r was join'd)
His fatal goodness left to fitter times,
Not to increase, but to abfolve, our crimes: 60
But when the heir of this vaft treasure knew
How large a legacy was left to you,
(Too great for any fubject to retain)
He wifely tyed it to the crown again :

Yet, paffing through your hands, it gathers

more,

65

As ftreams, through mines, bear tincture of

their ore.

Ver. 48. He leaves his light, and by reflection fhines.] The fame fentiment is repeated in the Annus Mirabilis, ft. 253.

"His beams he to his royal brother lent,
"And fo fhone ftill in his reflective light."

TODD.

Ver. 66. As freams, through mines, bear tincture of their ore.]