Of pois'nous fnakes by young Alcides quell'd,
And palms that spread the more, the more with-held.
Some fung Seneffe, and early wonders done
By the bold youth, himself a war alone;
And how his firmer courage did oppose
His country's foreign and intestine foes;
The lion he, who held their arrows close.
Others fung Perfeus, and the injur'd maid,
Redeem'd by the wing'd warrior's timely aid;
Or in myfterious numbers did unfold
Sad, modern truths wrapt up in tales of old;
How Saturn, flufh'd with arbitrary power,
Defign'd his lawful iffue to devour ;
But Jove, referv'd for better fate, withstood
The black contrivance of the doating god;
With arms he came, his guilty father fled,
'Twas Italy fecur'd his frighted head,
And by his flight refign'd his empty throne,
And triple empire to his worthier fon.
Then in one note their artful force they join,
Eager to reach the victor and the Boyne.
How on the wondring bank the hero stood,
Lavishly bold and desperately good;
Till fate, defigning to convince the brave
That they can dare no more than heav'n can save,
Let death approach, and yet with-held the fting,
Wounded the man, diftinguishing the king.
They had enlarg'd, but found the ftrain too ftrong,
And in foft notes allay'd the bolder fong:
Flow, gentle Boyne, they cry'd, and round thy bed
For ever may victorious wreaths be spread;
No more may travellers defire to know
Where Simois and Granicus did flow;
Nor Rubicon, a poor forgotten ftream,
Be or the foldier's rant, or poet's theme:
All waters fhall unite their fame in thee,
Loft in thy waves as thofe are in the fea.
They breath'd afresh, unwilling to give o'er
And begg'd thick mifts long to conceal the fhore:
Smooth was the liquid plain; the fleeping wind,
More to the fea, than to its mafter kind,
Detain'd a treasure, which we value more
Than all the deep e'er hid, or waters bore.
But he, with a fuperior genius born,
Treats chance with infolence, and death with scorn:
Darkness and ice in vain obftruct his way,
Holland is near, and nature must obey;
Charg'd with our hopes the boat fecurely rode,
For Cæfar and his fortune were the load.
With eager tranfport Belgia met her fon,
Yet trembling for the danger he had run;
Till certain of her joy, the bow'd her head,
Confefs'd her lord, blefs'd his return, and faid:
If paffion by long abfence does improve,
And makes that rapture, which before was love;
Think on my old, my intermitted bliss,
And by my former pleafure measure this:
Nor by these feeble pillars which I raise,
Unequal to fuftain the hero's praise;
Too faint the colours, and too mean the art,
To represent your glories, or my heart:
Thefe humble emblems are defign'd to show,
Not how we wou'd reward, but what we owe.
Here from your childhood take a fhort review,
How Holland's happiness advanc'd with you;.
How her ftout veffel did in triumph ride,
And mock'd her forms, while Orange was her guide.
What fince has been our fate
Ill fuiting with the bleffings of the day,
Our better fortune with our prince was gone,
Conqueft was only there where he led on.
Like the Palladium, wherefoe'er you go,
You turn all death and danger on the foe.
In you we but too fadly understood
How angels have their spheres of doing good;
Elfe the fame foul which did our troops poffefs,
And crown'd their daring courage with success,
Had taught our fleet to triumph o'er the main,
And Fleurus had been ftill a guiltless plain.
What pity 'tis, ye gods! an arm and mind
Like yours, fhou'd be to time and place confin'd?
But thy return fhall fix our kinder fate,
For thee our councils, thee our armies wait;
Discording princes fhall with thee combine,
And center all their interefts in thine;
Proud of thy friendship, fhalt forego their fway
As Rome her great dictator did obey;
And all united make a Gordian knot,
Which neither craft fhall loofe, nor force fhall cut.
On the late horrid Confpiracy.
HE * youth whose fortune the vast globe obey'd,
Finding his royal enemy betray'd,
And in his chariot by || vile hands opprefs'd,
With noble pity, and just rage poffefs'd,
Wept at his fall from fo fublime a state,
And by the traytor's death reveng'd the fate
* Alexander. Darius. Boffus:
Of majefty profan'dfo acted too
The gen'rous Cæfar, when the Roman knew
A** coward king had treacherously flain,
++ Whom scarce he foil'd on the Pharsalian plain :
The doom of his fam'd rival he bemoan'd,
And the base author of the crime dethron'd.
Such were the virtuous maxims of the great,
Free from the fervile arts of barb'rous hate :
They knew no foe, but in the open field,
And to their caufe, and to the gods appeal'd.
So WILLIAM acts and if his rivals dare
Difpute his reign by arms, he'll meet 'em there
Where Jove, as once on Ida, holds the scale,
And lets the good, the juft, and brave prevail.
To the Earl of CARLISLE, upon the Death of his Son before LuxEMBURGH.
E's gone! and was it then by your decree,
Ye envious pow'rs, that we fhould only fee
This copy of your own divinity?
Or thought ye it furpaffing human ftate,
To have a bleffing lafting as 'twas great?
Your cruel skill you better ne'er had shown,
Since you fo foon defign'd him all your own.
Such foft'ring favours to the damn'd are giv'n,
When, to encrease their hell, you show 'em heav'n.
Was it too godlike, he fhou'd long inherit 32
At once his father's, and his uncle's fpirit?
Yet as much beauty, and as calm a breast
As the mild dame, whose teeming womb he bleft.
H' had all the favours providence cou'd give,
Except its own prerogative to live; -
Referv'd in pleasures, and in dangers bold,
Youthful in action, and in prudence old;
His humble greatness, and submissive state,
Made his life full of wonder, as his fate;
One, who to all the heights of learning bred,
Read books, and men, and practis'd what he read.
Round the wide globe scarce did the bufie fun
With greater hafte, and greater luftre run.
True gallantry and grandeur he descry'd,
From the French fopperies, and German Pride.
And like th' induftrious bee, where-e'er he flew,
Gather'd the fweets which on fweet bloffoms grew.
Babel's confused speeches on his tongue,
With a fweet harmony and concord hung.
More countries then for Homer did contest,
Do strive who moft were by his presence bleft.
Nor did his wisdom damp his martial fire,
Minerva both her portions did infpire,
Ufe of the warlike bow, and peaceful lyre.
So Cæfar doubly triumph'd when he wrote,
Showing like wit, as valour when he fought.
If God, as Plato taught, example takes
From his own works, and fouls by patterns makes,
Much of himself in him he did unfold,
And caft them in his darling Sidney's mold,
Of too refin'd a fubftance to be old,
Both did alike difdain an hero's
Shou'd come like an inheritance by age.
Ambitiously did both confpire to twist.
Bays with the ivy, which their temples kist:
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