the Day behind Describe their Fleet abandoning the Sea And all their Merchants left a wealthy Prey Our first success in War make Bacchus Crown And half the Vintage of the Year our own The Dutch their Wine and all their Brandy loâ—â— Disarm'd of that from which their Courage growâ— While the glad Englsh to relieve their toil In Healths to their great Leader drink the spoil His high Command to Africks Coast extend And make the Moors before the English bend Those barbarous Pirates willingly receive Conditions such as we are pleas'd to give Deserted by the Dutch let Nations know We can our own and their great business do False Friends chastise and common Foes restrain Which worse than Tempests did infest the Main Within those Streights make Holland's Smirna Fleâ—â— With a small Squadron of the English meet Like Falcons these those like a numerous Flock Of Fowl which scatter to avoid the Shock There paint Confusion in a various shape Some sink some yield and flying some escape â—â—rope and Africa from either shore â—ectators are and hear our Cannon roar While the divided world in this agree Men that Fight so deserve to rule the Sea â—ut nearer home thy Pencil use once more 〈◊〉 place our Navy by the Holland shore The World they compass'd while they fought with 〈◊〉 here already they resign the Main Spain Those greedy Mariners out of whose way â—issusive Nature could no Region lay â—t home preserv'd from Rocks and Tempests lieâ— Compel'd like others in their Beds to die Their single Towns th' Iberian Armies prest We all their Provinces at once invest And in a Month Ruine their Traâ—â—ique more Than that long War could in an Age before But who can always on the Billows lie The watry Wilderness yields no supply Spreading our Sails to Harwich we resort And meet the Beauties of the British Court Th' Illustrious Dutchess and her Glorious Train Like Thetis with her Nymphs adorn the Main The gazing Sea-gods since the Paphian Queen Sprung from among them no such sight had seâ— Charm'd with the Graces of a Troop so fair Those deathless Powers for us themselves 〈◊〉 Resolv'd the aid of Neptune's Court to bring And help the Nation where such Beauties sprinâ— The Soldier here his wasted store supplies And takes new Valor from the Ladies Eyes Mean while like Bees when stormy Winter's gooâ— The Dutch as if the Sea were all their own Desert their Ports and falling in their way â—ur Hamburgh Merchants are become their Prey Thus flourish they before th' approaching Fight As dying Tapers give a blazing Light To check their Pride our Fleet half victual'd goes â—nough to serve us till we reach our Foes Who now appear so numerous and bold The Action worthy of our Arms we hold A greater force than that which here we find â—â—'re press'd the Ocean nor employ'd the Wind. â—estrain'd a while by the unwelcom Night â—h ' impatient English scarce attend the Light But now the Morning Heav'n severely clear â—o the flerce Work Indulgent does appear And Phoebâ—s lists above the Waves his Light That he might see and thus record the Fight As when loud winds from different quarters rush â—ast Clouds incountring one another crush With swelling Sails so from their several Coasts Join the Batavian and the British Hoasts For a less Prize with less Concern and Rage The Roman Fleets at Actium did Engage They for the Empire of the World they knew These for the Old contend and for the New At the first shock with Blood and Powder stain'd Nor Heaven nor Sea their former face retain'd Fury and Art produce Effects so strange They trouble Nature and her Visage change Where burning Ships the banish'd Sun supply And no Light shines but that by which men die There YORK appears so prodigal is he Of Royal Blood as ancient as the Sea Which down to Him so many Ages told Has through the veins of Mighty Monarchs roll'd The great Achilles march'd not to the Field Till Vulcan that impenetrable Shield And Arms had wrought yet there no Bullets flew â—ut Shafts and Darts which the weak Phâ—ygians threw Our bolder Heroe on the Deck does stand Expos'd the Bulwark of his Native Land Defensive Arms â—aid by as useless here Where massie Balls the Neighbouring Rocks do tear Some Power unseen those Princes do's proâ—â—ct Who for their Countrey thus themselves neglect Against Him first Opdam his Squadron leads Proud of his late Success against the suedis Made by that Action and his high Command Worthy to perish by a Princes Hand The tall Batavian in a vast Ship rides â—aring an Army in her hollow sides â—t not inclin'd the English Ship to board 〈…〉 than on his Sword From whence a fatal Volly we receiv'd It miss'd the Duke but His Great Heart â— griev'd Three worthy Persons from His side it tore And dy'd His Garment with their scatter'd Gore Happy to whom this glorious death arrives More to be valu'd â—han a thousand Lives On such a Theatre as this to die For such a Cause and such a Witness by Who would not thus a Sacrifice be made To have his Blood on such an Altar laid The rest about Him strook with horror stood To see their Leader cover'd oâ—re with Blood So trembl'd Iacob when he thought the stains Of his Sons Coat had issued from his veins He feels no wound but in his troubled thought Before for Honour now Revenge He fought His Friends in pieces torn the bitter News Not brought by Fame with His own Eys He views 〈◊〉 Mind at once reflecting on their Youth Their Worth their Love their Valour and their Truth The joys of Court their Mothers and their Wives To follow Him abandon'd and their Lives He storms and shoots but flying Bullets now To execute His Rage appear too slow They miss or sweep but common Souls away For such a Loss Opdam his Life must pay Encouraging His Men He gives the Word With fierce intent that hated Ship to Board And make the guilty Dutch with His own Arm Wait on His Friends while yet their Blood is warm His winged Vessel like an Eagle shows When through the Clouds to truss a Swan she goes The Belgian Ship unmov'd like some huge Rock Inhabiting the Sea expects the shock From both the Fleets Mens eyes are bent this 〈◊〉 Neglecting all the business of the day Bullets their flight and Guns their noise suspend The silent Ocean does th' event attend Which Leader shall the doubtfull vict'ry bless And give an earnest of the Wars success When Heav'n it self for England to declare Turns Ship and Men and Tackle into Air Their new Commander from his Charge is â—oâ—t Which that young Prince had so unjustly lost Whose great Progenitors with better Fate And better Conduct sway'd their Infant State His flight tow'rds Heav'n th' aspiring Belgian took But fell like Phaeton with Thunder strook From vaster hopes than his he seem'd to fall That durst attempt the British Admiral
stone I might â—ike Orpheus with my numerous moan Melt to compassion now my traitâ—â—ous song With thee conspires to do the Singer wrong While 〈◊〉 I suffer not my self to lose The memory of what augments my woes But with my own breath still foment the Fire Which flames as high as fancy can aspire This last complaint th'indulgent ears did pierce Of just Apollo President of Verse Highly concerned that the Muse should bring Damage to one whom he had taught to sing Thus he advis'd me on yoâ— aged Tree Hang up thy Lute and hye thee to the Sea That there with wonders thy diverted mind Some truce at least may with this passion find Ah cruel Nymph from whom her humble Swaiâ— Flies for relief unto the raging Main And from the Winds and Tempests do's expect A milder fate than from her cold neglect Yet there he 'll pray that the unkind may prove Blest in her choice and vows this endless Love Springs from no hope of what she can confer But from those gifts which Heav'n has heap'd on her Another HAd Sacharissa liv'd when Mortals mâ—de Choice of their Deities this Sacred shade Had held an Altar to her power that gave The Peace and Glory which these allays have Embroidred so with Flowers where she stood That it became a Garden of a Wood Her presence has such more than humane Grace That it can civilize the rudest place And beauty too and order can impart Where Nature ne'r intended it nor Art The Plants acknowledge this and her admire No less than those of old did Orpheus's Lire If she sit down with tops all towards her bow'd They round about her into Arbors crowd Or if she walk in even ranks they stand Like some well-Marshall'd and obsequious band Amphion so made stones and timber leap Into fair Figures from a confus'd heap And in the symmetry of her parts is found A power like that of harmony in sound Ye lofty Beeches tell this matchless Dame That if together ye fed all one Flame It could not equalize the hundredth part Of what her Eyes have kindled in â—y heart Go Boy and carve this passion on the Bark Of yonder Tree which stands the sacred mark Of Noble Sidneys birth when such benign Such more than-mortal making stars did shine That there they cannot but for ever prove The monument and pledge of humble Love His humble Love whose hope shall ne'r rise higher Than for a pardon that he dares admire To my Lord of Leicester NOt that thy Trees at Pens-hurst groan Oppressed with their timely load And seem to make their silent moan That their great Lord is now abroad They to delight his tast or eye Would spend themselves in fruit and dye Not that thy harmless Deer repine And think themselves unjustly slain By any other hand than thine Whose Arrows they would gladly stain No nor thy friends which hold too dear That peace with France which keeps thee there All these are less than that great cause Which now exacts your presence here Wherein there meet the divers Laws Of publick and domestick care For one bright Nymph our youth contends And on your prudent choice depends Not the bright shield of Thetis's Son For which such stern debate did rise That the Great Ajax Telamon Refus'd to live without the Prize Those Achive Peers did more engage Than she the gallants of our age That beam of Beauty which begun To warm us so when thou wert here Now scorches like the raging Sun When Syrius does first appear O fix this Flame and let despair Redeem the rest from endless care To a very young Lady WHy came I so untimely forth Into a world which wanting thee Could entertain us with no worth Or shadow of felicity That time should me so far remove From that which I was born to love Yet fairest blossom do not slight That age which you may know so soon The Rosie Morn resigns her light And milder Glory to the Noon And then what wonders shall you do Whose dawning Beauty warms us so Hope waits upon the flowry prime And Summer though it be less gay Yet is not lookt on as a time Of declination or decay For with a full hand That does bring All that was promis'd by the Spring SONG SAy lovely dream where couldst thou find Shadows to counterseit that face Colours of this â—lorious kind Come not from any mortal place 〈◊〉 Heaven it self thou sure wer't drest With that Angel-like disguise Thus deluded am I blest And see my joy with closed Eyes But ah this Image is too kind To be other than a dream Cruel Sacharissa's Mind Never put on that sweet extreme Fair dream if thou intend'st me grace Change that Heavenly face of thine Paint despis'd Love in thy face And make it to appear like mine Pale Wan and Meager let it look With a pity-moving shape Such as wander by the Brook Of Lethe or from graves escape Then to that matchless Nymph appear In whose shape thou shinest so Softly in her sleeping ear With humble words express my wo. Perhaps from Greatness State and Pride Thus surprised she may fall Sleep does disproportion hide And death resembling equals all SONG BEhold the brand of Beauty tost See how the motion does dilate the Flame Delighted Love his spoils does boast And triumph in this game Fire to no place confin'd Is both our wonder and our fear Moving the mind As Lightning hurled through the Air. High Heaven the Glory does encrease Of all her shining lamps this artful way The Sun in Figures such as these Joys with the Moon to play To the sweet strains they advance Which do result from their own spheres As this Nymphs dance Moves with the numbers which she hears On the discovery of a Ladies Painting PIgmaleons fate reverst is mine His marble Love took flesh and Bloud All that I worshipt as Divine That Beauty now 't is understood Appears to have no more of life Than that whereof he fram'd his Wife As Women yet who apprehend Some sudden cause of causeless fear Although that seeming cause take end And they behold no danger near A shaking through their Limbs they find Like leaves saluted by the wind So though the Beauty do appear No Beauty which amaz'd me so Yet from my breast I cannot tear The passion which from thence did grow Nor yet out of my fancy rase The print of that supposed face A real Beauty though too near The fond Narcissus did admire I dote on that which is no where The sign of Beauty feeds my fire No mortal Flame was e're so cruel As this which thus survives the fuel To a Lady from whom he received a Silver Pen. Madam INtending to have try'd The silver Favour which you gave In Ink the shining point I dy'd And drench'd it in the sable wave When griev'd to be so foully stain'd On you it thus to me complain'd Suppose you had deserv'd to take From her fair hand so fair a
boon Yet how deserved I to make So ill a change who ever won Immortal praise for what I wrought Instructed by her Noble thought I that expressed her commands To mighty Lords and Princely Dames Always most welcome to their hands Proud that I would record their names Must now be taught an humble stile Some meaner Beauty to beguile So I the wronged Pen to please Make it my humble thanks express Unto your Ladyship in these And now 't is forced to confess That your great self did nere indite Nor that to one more Noble write On a Brede of divers Colours woven by four Ladies TWice Twenty slender Virgin fingers twine This curious Web where all their fancies shine As Nature Them so They this shade have wrought Soft as their hands and various as their thought Not Iuno's Bird when his fair train dispread He wooes the Female to his painted bed No not the bow which so adorns the Skies So Glorious is or boasts so many dies To my Lord of Northumberland upon the death of his Lady TO this great loss a Sea of Tears is due But the whole debt not to be paid by you Charge not your self with all nor render vain Those show'rs the eyes of us your servants rain Shall grief contract the largeness of that heart In which nor fear nor anger has a part Virtue would blush if time should boast which dries Her sole child dead the tender Mothers eyes Your minds relief where reason triumphs so Over all passions that they ne'r could grow Beyond their limits in your Noble breast To harm another or impeach your rest This we observ'd delighting to obey One who did never from his great self stray Whose mild example seemed to engage Th' obsequious Seas and teach them not to rage The brave Emilius his great charge laid down The force of Rome and fate of Macedon In his lost sons did feel the cruel stroke Of changing fortune and thus highly spoke Before Romes people we did oft implore That if the Heav'ns had any bad in store For your Emilius they would pour that ill On his own house and let you flourish â—till You on the barren Seas my Lord have spent Whole Springs and Summers to the publick lent Suspended all the pleasures of your life And shortned the short joy of such a wife For which your Countrey 's more obliged then For many lives of old less-happy men You that have sacrific'd so great a part Of Youth and private bliss ought to impart Your sorrow too and give your friends a right As well in your Affliction as Delight Then with Emilian courage bear this cross Since publick persons only publick loss Ought to affect and though her form and youth Her application to your Will and Truth That Noble Sweetness and that humble State All snatch'd away by such a hasty fate Might give excuse to any common Breast With the huge weight of so just grief opprest Yet let no portion of your life be stain'd With passion but your character maintain'd To the last Act it is enough her Stone May honoured be with Superscription Of the sole Lady who had power to move The Great Northumberland to grieve and love To my Lord Admiral of his late Sickness and Recovery WIth joy like ours the Thracian youth invades Orpheus returning from th' Elizian shades Embrace the Hero and his stay emplore Make it their publick suit he would no more Desert them so and for his Spouses sake His vanisht Love tempt the Lethean Lake The Ladies too the brightest of that time Ambitious all his lofty bed to clime Their doubtful hopes with expectation feed Who shall the fair Euridice succeed Euridice for whom his num'rous moan Makes listning Trees and salvage Mountains groan Through all the Air his sounding strings dilate Sorrow like that which touch'd our hearts of lateâ— Your piing sickness and your restless pain At once the Land affecting and the Main When the glad news that you were Admiral Scarce through the Nation spread 't was fear'd by all That our Great Charles whose wisdom shines in you Would be perplexed how to chuse a new So more than private was the joy and grief That at the worst it gave our souls relief That in our age such sense of virtue liv'd They joy'd so justly and so justly griev'd Nature her fairest lights eclipsed seems Her self to suffer in those sharp extremes While not from thine alone thy blood retires But from those cheeks which all the world admires The stemm thus threatned and the sap in thee Droop all the branches of that noble Tree Their Beauty they and we our Loves suspend Nought can our wishes save thy health intend As Lillies overcharg'd with Rain they bend Their beauteous heads with high Heaven contend Fold thee within their snowy Army and cry He is too faultless and too young to die So like immortals round about thee they Siâ— that they fright approaching death away Who would not languish by so fair a train To be lamented and restor'd again Or thus with-held what hasty soul would go Though to be blest o're her Adonis so Fair Venus mourn'd and with the precious showr Of her warm tears cherisht the springing Flow'r The next support fair hope of your great name And second pillar of that Noble frame By loss of thee would no advantage have But step by step pursues thee to the grave And now relentless fate about to end The line which back ward does so far extend That antick stock which still the world supplies With bravest Spirits and with brightest Eyes Kind Phoebus interposing bid me say Such storms no more shall shake that house but they Like Neptune and his Sea-born Neece shall be The shining Glories of the Land and Sea With Courage guard and Beauty warm our age And Lovers fill with like Poetick rage Ala Malade AH lovely Amoret the care Of all that know what 's good or fair Is Heaven become our Rival too Had the rich gifts conferr'd on you So ample thence the common end Of giving Lovers to pretend Hence to this pining sickness meant To weary thee to a consent Of leaving us no power is given Thy Beauties to impair for Heaven Sollicites thee with such a care As Roses from their stalks we tear When we would still preserve them new And fresh as on the bush they grew With such a Grace you entertain And look with such contempt on pain That languishing you conquer more And wound us deeper than before So lightnings which in storms appear Scorch more than when the Skies are clear And as pale sickness does invade Your frailer part the breaches made In that fair Lodging still more clear Make the bright guest your soul appear So Nymphs o're pathless Mountains born Their light Robes by the Brambles torn From their fair Limbs exposing new And unknown Beauties to the view Of following gods increase their flame And haste to catch the flying Game Of the
dwâ—llâ— And a 〈◊〉 Conscience mingling with their Joy Thoughts of Despair do's their whole Life annoy But Love appearing all those Terrors flie We live contented and contented die They in whose breast this sacred Love has place Death as a passage to their Joy embrace Clouds and thick Vapors which obscure the day The Suns victorious Beams may chase away Those which our Life corrupt and darken Love The Nobler Star must from the Soul remove Spots are observ'd in that which bounds the year This brighter Sun moves in a boundless Sphere Of Heav'n the Joy the Glory and the Light Shines among Angels and admits no Night CANTO V. THis Iron Age so fraudulent and bold Toucht with this Love would be an Age of Gold Not as they feign'd that Oaks should Honey drop Or Land neglected bear an unsown Crop Love would make all things easy safe and cheap None for himself would either sow or reap Our ready Help and mutual Love would yield A nobler Harvest than the richest Field Famine and Dearth confin'd to certain parts Extended are by barrenness of Hearts Some pine for want where others surfeit now But then we should the use of Plenty know Love would betwixt the Rich and Needy stand And spread Heav'ns bounty with an equal hand At once the Givers and Receivers bless Encrease their Joy and make their Sufferings less Who for himself no Miracle would make Dispens'd with Nature for the Peoples sake He that long Fasting would no wonder show Made Loaves and Fishes as they eat them grow Of all his Power which boundless was above Here he us'd none but to express his Love And such a Love would make our Joy exceed Not when our own but other mouths we feed Laws would be useless which rude Nature awe Love changing Nature would prevent the Law Tygers and Lyons into Dens we thrust But milder Creatures with their freedom trust Devils are chain'd and tremble but the Spouse No force but Love nor Bond but Bounty knows Men whom we now so 〈◊〉 and dang'rous see Would Guardian Angels to each other be Such wonders can this mighty Love perform Vultures to Doves Wolves into Lambs transform Love what Isaiah prophecy'd can do Exalt the Vallies lay the Mountains low Humblethe Lofty the Dejected raise Smooth and make strait our rough and crooked ways Love strong as Death and like it levels all With that possest the great in Title fall Themselves esteem but equal to the least Whom Heav'n with that high Character has blest This Love the Centre of our Union can Alone bestow complete Repose on Man Tame his wild Appetite make inward Peace And Foreign strife among the Nations cease No Martial Trumpet should disturb our rest Nor Princes Arm thô to subdue the East Where for the Tomb â—â—o many Hero's taught By those that guided their Devotion faught Thrice Happy we could we like Ardor have To gain his Love as they to win his Grave Love as he Lov'd a Love so unconfin'd With Arms extended would embrace Mankind Self-Love would cease or be dilated when We should behold as many Selfs as Men All of one Family in Blood ally'd His precious Blood that for our Ransom dy'd CANTO VI. THô the Creation so divinely taught Prints such a lively Image in our thought That the first spark of new Created light From Chaos struck affects our present sight Yet the first Christians did esteem more blest The day of Rising than the day of Rest That ev'ry week might new occasion give To make his Triumph in their memory live Then let our Muse compose a Sacred Charm To keep his Blood among us ever warm And singing as the Blessed do above With our last breath dilate this â—lame of Love But on so vast a Subject who can find Words that may reach th' Idea's of his mind Our Language fails or if it could supply What Mortal Thought can raise it self so high Despairing here we might abandon Art And only hope to have it in our heart But though we find this Sacred Task too hard Yet the Design th'endeavor brings Reward The Contemplation does suspend our Woe And makes a Truce with all the Ills we know As Saul's afflicted Spirit from the sound Of David's Harp a present Solace found So on this Theam while we our Muse engage No Wounds are felt of Fortune or of Age On Divine Love to meditate is Peace And makes all care of meaner things to cease Amaz'd at once and comforted to find A boundless Pow'r so infinitely kind The Soul contending to that Light to flie From her dark Cell we practise how to die Imploying thus the Poet 's winged Art To reach this Love and grave it in our heart Joy so complete so solid and severe Would leave no place for meaner Pleasures there Pale they would look as Stars that must be gone When from the East the Rising Sun comes on Floriferis ut Apes in saltibus omnia libant sic nos Scripturae depascimur aurea dicta Anrea perpetuâ semper dignissima vitâ Nam Divinus Amor cum coepit vociferari Diffugiunt Animi Terrores Lucr. Exul eram requiesque mihi non Fama petita est Mens intenta suis ne foret usque malis Namque ubi mota calent Sacrâ mea Pectora Musâ Altior humano Spiritus ille malo est De Trist. OF Divine Poesie TWO CANTOS Occasioned upon sight of the 53d Chapter of Isaiah turn'd into Verse by Mrs. Wharton CANTO I. POets we prize when in their Verse we find Some great employment of a worthy mind Angels have been inquisitive to know The Secret which this Oracle does show What was to come Isaiah did declare Which she describes as if she had been there Had seen the Wounds which to the Reader 's view She draws so lively that they Bleed a new As Ivy thrives which on the Oak takes hold So with the Prophets may her lines grow old If they should die who can the World forgive Such pious Lines When wanton Sapho's live Who with his Breath his Image did inspire Expects it should foment a Nobler fire Not Love which Brutes as well as Men may know But Love like his to whom that Breath we owe. Verse so design'd on that high Subject wrote Is the Perfection of an ardent Thought The Smoke which we from burning Incense raise When we complete the Sacrifice of Praise In boundless Verse the Fancy soars too high For any Object but the Deity What Mortal can with Heav'n pretend to share In the Superlatives of Wise and Fair A meaner Subject when with these we grace A Giants habit on a Dwarf we place Sacred should be the Product of our Muse Like that sweet Oil above all private use On pain of Death forbidden to be made But when it should be on the Altar laid Verse shows a rich inestimable Vein When dropt from Heav'n 't is thither sent again Of Bounty 't is that he admits our Praise Which does