HEROIC STANZAS

CONSECRATED

TO THE MEMORY OF

HIS HIGHNESS OLIVER,

LATE LORD PROTECTOR OF THIS COMMONWEALTH

WRITTEN AFTER THE CELEBRATING OF HIS FUNERAL.

I.
And now 'tis time; for their officious haste,

Who would before have borne him to the sky, Like eager Romans, ere all rites were past,

,
Did let too soon the sacred eagle fly.*

II.
Though our best notes are treason to his fame,

Joined with the loud applause of public voice; Since heaven, what praise we offer to his name, Hath rendered too authentic by its choice.

III.
Though in his praise no arts can liberal be,

Since they, whose muses have the highest flown, Add not to his immortal memory,

But do an act of friendship to their own:

IV.
Yet ’tis our duty, and our interest too,

Such monuments as we can build to raise ;
Lest all the world prevent what we should do,
And claim a title in him by their praise.

V.
How shall I then begin, or where conclude,

To draw a fame so truly circular?
For in a round, what order can be shewed,
Where all the parts so equal perfect are?

VI.
His grandeur he derived from heaven alone;

For he was great, ere fortune made him so: And wars, like mists that rise against the sun, Made him but greater seem, not greater grow.

VII.
No borrowed bays his temples did adorn,

But to our crown he did fresh jewels bring;
Nor was his virtue poisoned soon as born,
With the too early thoughts of being king.

VIII.
Fortune, (that easy mistress to the young, ,

But to her ancient servants coy and hard,)
Him at that age her favourites ranked among,
When she her best-loved Pompey did discard. *

IX.
He, private, marked the faults of others' sway,

And set as sea-marks for himself to shun; Not like rash monarchs, who their youth betray

By acts their age too late would wish undone.

X.
And yet dominion was not his design;

We owe that blessing, not to him, but heaven,
Which to fair acts unsought rewards did join;
Rewards, that less to him, than us, were given.

XI.
Our former chiefs, like sticklers of the war,

First sought to inflame the parties, then to poise:
The quarrel loved, but did the cause abhor;
And did not strike to hurt, but make a noise.

XII.
War, our consumption, was their gainful trade;

We inward bled, whilst they prolonged our pain;
He fought to end our fighting, and essayed
To staunch the blood, by breathing of the vein.

XIII.
Swift and resistless through the land he past,

Like that bold Greek, who did the East subdue;
And made to battles such heroic haste,
As if on wings of victory he flew.

XIV.
He fought, secure of fortune as of fame,

Till by new maps the island might be shewn;
Of conquests, which he strewed where'er he came,
Thick as the galaxy with stars is sown. I

XV.
His palms, though under weights they did not stand,

Still thrived; || no winter could his laurels fade:
Heaven, in his portrait, shewed a workman's hand,

And drew it perfect, yet without a shade.

1

XVI.
Peace was the prize of all his toil and care,

Which war had banished, and did now restore:
Bolognia's walls thus mounted in the air,
To seat themselves more surely than before. *

XVII.
Her safety rescued Ireland to him owes;

And treacherous Scotland, to no interest true,
Yet blest that fate which did his arms dispose
Her land to civilize, as to subdue. I

XVIII.
Nor was he like those stars which only shine,

When to pale mariners they storms portend;
He had his calmer influence, and his mien

Did love and majesty together blend.

XIX. 'Tis true, his countenance did imprint an awe,

And naturally all souls to his did bow;
As wands of divination downward draw,
And point to beds where sovereign gold doth grow.

XX.
When past all offerings to Feretrian Jove, §

He Mars deposed, and arms to gowns made yield; Successful councils did him soon approve,

As fit for close intrigues, as open field.

* Note VII. + Note VIII. Note IX. || Note X.

§ To which deity the Romans usually sacrificed before march. ing to war, according to an ancient institution of Romulus,

XXI.
To suppliant Holland he vouchsafed a peace,

Our once boid rival of the British main;
Now tamely glad her unjust claim to cease,
And buy our friendship with her idol, gain. *

XXII. Fame of the asserted sea, through Europe blown,

Made France and Spain ambitious of his love; Each knew that side must conquer he would own, And for him fiercely, as for empire, strove.

XXIII. No sooner was the Frenchman's cause embraced, Than the light Monsieur the grave Don out

weighed:t His fortune turned the scale where'er 'twas cast, Though Indian mines w.ge in the other laid.

XXIV.
When absent, yet we conquered in his right;

For, though some meaner artist's skill were shown,
In mingling colours, or in placing light,
Yet still the fair designment was his own.

XXV.
For, from all tempers he could service draw;

The worth of each, with its alloy, he knew;
And, as the confident of Nature, saw
How she complexions did divide and brew. I

XXVI.
Or he their single virtues did survey,

By intuition, in his own large breast;
Where all the rich ideas of them lay,
That were the rule and measure to the rest.
Note XI. + Note XII.