them to a lady, and accordingly I affected the softness of expreffion, and the fmoothness of meafure, rather than the heighth of thought; and in what I did endeavour, it is no vanity to fay I have fucceeded. I deteft arrogance; but there is fome difference betwixt that and a juft defence. But I will not farther bribe your candour, or the reader's. I leave them to fpeak for me; and, if they can, to make out that character, not pretending to a greater, which I have given them.

To her Royal Highnefs the DUTCHESS, on the memorable Victory gained by the DUKE against the Hollanders, June the 3. 1665. And on her Journey afterwards into the North.

MADAM,

W

HEN, 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, ere our foes abroad were overcome,
The nobleft conquest you had gain'd at home.
Ah, what concerns did both your fouls divide!
Your honour gave us what your love deny'd:

And 'twas for him much easier to fubdue
Thofe foes he fought with, than 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 hufn'd, the waves in ranks were caft,
As awfully as when God's people past:

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.

How powerful are chafte vows! the wind and tide
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,
(So Mofes was upheld while Ifrael fought)
While, from afar, we heard the cannon play,
Like diftant thunder on a fhiny day.

For abfent friends we were afham'd to fear,
When we confider'd 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 conquest he did burn,
Yet fought not more to vanquish than return.
Fortune and Victory he did purfue,

To bring them as his 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 fpread another way
By land your conquests, far as his by fea,

}

Leaving our Southern clime, you march'd along
The stubborn North, ten thousand Cupids strong.
Like commons the nobility refort,

In crowding heaps to fill your moving court:
To welcome your approach the vulgar run,
Like fome new envoy from the diftant fun,
And country-beauties by their lovers go,
Bleffing themfelves, and wond'ring at the how.
So when the new-born Phoenix first is feen,
Her feather'd fubjects all adore their queen;
And while the makes her progrefs through the east,
From ev'ry grove her num'rous train's increaft:
Each poet of the air her glory fings,

And round him the pleas'd audience clap their wings.

And now, Sir, 'tis time I fhould relieve you from the tedious length of this account. You have better and more profitable employment for your hours, and I wrong the public to detain you longer. In conclufion, I must leave my poem to you with all its faults, which I hope to find fewer in the printing by your emendations. I know you are not of the number of thofe of whom the younger Pliny speaks; "Nec funt

66

66

parum multi, qui carpere amicos fuos judicium vo

cant:" I am rather too fecure of you on that fide. Your candor in pardoning my errors may make you more remifs in correcting them; if you will not withal confider that they come into the world with your approbation, and through your hands. I beg from you the greatest favour you can confer upon an abfent perfon, fince I repofe upon your management what is

dearest to me, my fame and reputation; and therefore I hope it will stir you up to make my poem fairer by many of your blots; if not, you know the story of the gamefter, who married the rich man's daughter, and, when her father denied the portion, chriften'd all the children by his firname, that if, in conclufion, they must beg, they should do fo by one name, as well as by the other. But fince the reproach of my faults will light on you, 'tis but reason I should do you that juftice to the readers, to let them know, that, if there be any thing tolerable in this poem, they owe the argument to your choice, the writing to your encouragement, the correction to your judgment, and the care of it to your friendship, to which he must ever acknowledge himself to owe all things, who is,

ANNUS MIRABILIS:

THE

YEAR OF WONDERS,

M, DC, LXVI.

I.

IN thriving arts long time had Holland grown,
Crouching at home, and cruel when abroad :
Scarce leaving us the means to claim our own;
Our king they courted, and our merchants aw'd.
H.

Trade, which, like blood, should circularly flow,
Stopp'd in their channels, found its freedom loft:
Thither the wealth of all the world did go,

And feem'd but fhipwreck'd on fo bafe a coaft.

III.

For them alone the heavens had kindly heat,
* In caftorn quarries ripening precious dew:
For them the Idumaean balm did fweat,

And in hot Ceylon fpicy forefts grew.

* In eaftern quarries, &c.] Precious stones at first are dew, condenfed and hardened by the warmth of the fun, or fubterranean fires.