brightness and its noise Confounds them e're his Arm war's Thunder-bolt ' destroys VII Glittering in glorious Arms he shines from far Like the fifth Heav'ns ascendant Star Whose very aspect gives success in War Whose influential pow'r decides And over fatal fields presides Just like the Moon 's o're-raging Tydes Till by conjunction deadlier grown By its confederate force some mighty State 's o'rethrown VIII To William's Vertue stiff Rebellion yields In Aghrim's purple Fields William when at the Boyne he fought The Shannon and the Suc to pass his fierce Battalions taught His bravery kindled in their breasts the fire Which does to glory by great acts aspire And on to Aghrim hurried them unknowing to retire IX Should fear in wretched man prevail Who could condemn it in a thing so frail The Universe has not a creature Which the condition of its nature Subjects to more internal accidents Or outward casual events The least of which has often pow'r To antedate his fatal hour William not only subject is to those High pow'r vast worth him ev'ry hour expose To the perfidiousness strength of all his Gallic foes Domestic Villains who surround him too In his Destruction wish the World t' undo Yet see him in this dangerous state Dauntless as Gods secur'd by Fate X. The numerous Squadrons of his foes Th' accursed troublers of the Worlds repose He with heroic rage defies Surveying them his sparkling eyes With Godlike transports rowl And his brave Warriers second his great Soul And tho retrench'd old wary Bouteville lyes Each for the onset cryes He wise in fury keeps them back Conduct profound defers the wish'd attack Thus often when some desperate offence Does Heav'ns almighty pow'r incense Its vengeance it delays expecting fatal times By high fore-knowledge pre-ordain'd to punish mighty crimes XI When William the predestin'd hour T' o'rethrow that formidable pow'r Struck by the dire alarum comes Struck by loud Cannon and tempestuous Drums When Gods the bus'ness of the World forego To be spectators of the fierce debate Pleas'd to behold the Sanguinary show The tragic play of Fortune and of Fate In that great hour that wondrous hour controul thy noble fire Which does to bright eternal Fame too furiously aspire Ah! let not the transporting Rage The Christian World's sole hope too dangerously engage On thee depend thy Country and thy Friends On thee the dreadful day and vast event depends XII Think on the Boyne on that great action think Where can that man who thinks not on 't be found That action thro both Indies does reâ—ound And as the golden Ganges makes the wretched Boyne renown'd Think how expos'd thou mad'â—t its banks the brink Of ruine into which we all were like to sink Its banks more famous for the threatned blow Than for the signal overthrow Canst thou one cursed moment there forget Europe remembers it with horrour yet Tho on those banks victorious Troops you led And half the Rebels were already fled Yet when the fatal shot approach'd thy sacred head But Schomberg destiny atton'd Fair Liberty shriek'd out â— aloud aloud Religion groan'd How did they on their Champions danger look Ev'n England's genius was with terror struck And of the whole Conâ—ederate pow'r the guardian Angel shook XIII Manage thy Royal Life by Heav'n design'd T' ensure Great Britain and Mankind Thy safety for their own all necessary find Had Heav'n thy death made necessary too Does not thy former conduct shew That thou woud'st ravish'd with thy glorious doom Do for the World what Curtius did for Rome XIV Ye Brittish Muses celebrate his fame Where can you find a nobler theme T' illustrate yours or Britain's name In valour soveraign and in sense supream He 's over all his Subjects found His Subjects thro the World renown'd For lofty Spirit and for Thought profound To him your Britain owes That nothing but the sound of War she knows Ev'ry where else death and destruction reign Our happy Isle does Peace within retain Defended by a double guard its Monarch the Main Vpon our Victory at Sea I Sing the Naval Fight whose Triumph Fame More loudly than our Cannon shall proclaim Which with Heroick Force burst Europe's Chain And made fair Britain Empress of the Main O Britain's mighty Genius who wer 't by Who with new Warmth didst thy brave Sons supply And drive the Gallic Daemon trembling thro' the Sky My Breast with that immortal Fury fire Which did thy Godlike Combatants inspire Bold as their Fight and happy be my Song As fierce as great as sounding and as strong Then might my Verse be heard on ev'ry Shoar And in its sound Express the thundring Cannons roar Now whilst their Line th' impatient English form On comes proâ—d Tourvile ratling like a Storm Sent by some Devil to dissolve in vain The two vast Empires of the Land and Main Whose transitory Rage the Globe annoys And to disturb Mankind it self destroys With deafning Shouts the English rend the Skies Whilst Victory hov'ring o're their Pendants flies The Lust of Empire and the Lust of Praise Does vulgar Meâ— to God-like Courage raise All bravely bent the last Extreams to try And Conquer or magnanimously Dye Now the Fleets joyn and with their horrid shocks Make England's Shores resound and Gallia's Rocks Ship against Ship with dire Encounter knocks The more Resistance the brave English meet They their Broadsides more furiously repeat As th' Elm which of its Arms the Ax bereaves New strength and vigor from its Wounds receives Their Rage by loss of Blood is kindled more And with their Guns like Hurricanes they roar Like Hurricanes the knotted Oak they tear Scourge the vext Ocean and torment the Air. Whilst Earth Air Sea in wild Confusion hurl'd With universal Wreck and Chaos threat the World Such would the Noise be should this mighty All Crush'd and confounded into Atoms fall Bullets amain unseen by mortal Eye Fly in whole Legions thro' the darkned Sky And kill and wound like Parthians as they fly Here a Granada falls and blazing burns Whilst pale as Death th' amaz'd Spectator turns And now it bursts and with a mortal sound Deals horrible Destruction all around There a red Bullet from our Cannon blown Into a First-Rate's Powder-Room is thrown Tost by a Whirlwind of tempestuous Fire A thousand Wretches in the Air expire Howling an impious Colony they go At once transported to the World below There a Chain'd Shot with whirling Rage deprives More than one Ship of Entrails Limbs and Lives Death who set out with it does lagging stay Or limps behind it panting in its way And now from the Britannia in a Crowd Huge Bolts with Fury rend their nitrous Cloud Not mighty Iove's could pass more fierce or loud When brandish'd by the God in dust they laid Those Sons of Earth who durst his Heav'n invade Enceladus on Ossa Pelion casts When lo all Three th' avenging Thunder blasts And the Britannia like Destruction hurl'd On the Invaders of
be truss'd Tore all their Ears and his own Throat Mean while the Wether and the Goat Two very quiet harmless wretches Astonish'd at Don Porker's screiches Wonder'd from whence should come his fear For they perceiv'd no danger near Then says the Carter what a Murrain Ails thee what makes thre keep this stir in Such civil company as thou' rt in Do thy two Comrades make this din What a meek person is that Wether And how demure the Goat has either Open'd his mouth once no I warrant They are both wiser They are errant Dolts says the Pig both stark stone blind Could they but see like me the Wind Sheeps-head would set up such a larum As would were twenty Wolves here scare 'um And that grave Booby with the Beard Would further than my self be heard For Talgol's wheeson scraping whittle Will soon convert them both to victual They 're lean you 'll say and I 'm mistaken But how shall I' man save my Bacon Whom Wastcoateer has made a Fat Pig For some Cits ravenous Spouse with Brat big 'T is for her maw I 'm grown this Squab bit May the Jade choak with the first gobbet Thus did the Pig his point maintain With subtile argument but vain Nor griefs nor fears change fates decrees Then he 's most wise who least foresees Moral IN vain by foresight we would mischiefs shun What Fate has once determin'd must be done The present with a dauntless mind enjoy What wretched Fool would his own bliss destroy Who lives in apprehension urges Fate Too soon 't will come and he 'll repent too late Better to hope for what we most desire Than vainly into future ills inquire Yet Man perhaps unjustly we accuse Who ne're inquires but when he can't refuse For as when Fate would undiscover'd lye What it designs no Mortal can descry So when it pleases to be understood Mankind cannot be ignorant if it wou'd Vrg'd on by Destiny we headlong go Forc'd to seek that which most we fear to know But ah how curst is he whom that decree Which makes his doom obliges to foresee The Second Epistle of the first Book of Horace To a Friend WHilst Philosophic studies you persue My acquaintance here with Homer I renew Who rules of moral Life to man prescribes Beyond the Stoic or Platonic Tribes Why this is my opinion hear That part which the protracted war relates Between the Grecian and Barbarian States Instructively of the commotions sings Of empty crowds and their resembling Kings By voting to restore the beauteous Prize Peace to restore at once Antenor tries Paris to be compell'd to happiness denies Nestor makes haste the difference to compose Which in the General and Achilles rose Whose injur'd Love in both strange fury breeds Whilst for the madness of their Kings the Grecian Army bleeds Sedition Malice Lust and Rage destroy The Grecian Camp and Garrison of Troy But how far Wisdom joyn'd with Virtue goes That pattern of them both Vlysses shows He thro strange Climes with different customs tost After h' had taken Troy himself had almost lost Suff'ring he sail'd the boundless Ocean o're And up against all Storms of Fate he bore Whilst for himself and Friends he did a safe return explore Why should I here Circaean Cups rehearse Or Syrens singing in harmonious Verse Those Cups if with his greedy Friends h' had drunk Down to a Brute transform'd with them h' had sunk Young Fops who sleep till noon then dress till night And make that Life their vanity and delight These are Penelope's Suitors Raskals born Only to plague the Fair and consume Corn. Cyphers who stand for nought alone design'd But to compleat the number of Mankind Villains to cut mens Throats their Beds forsake And wilt not thou to save thy self awake 'T is better now to try preventive arts E're noxious Humors seize the nobler parts Then stay till their contagious influence force The wretched Patient on too late a course Now rouse by Night watch o're th' instructive Page For Love or Envy Discontent or Rage Unless this useful gentler way you take The rest you ' indulge will soon by Tortures break Why when malignant Rheums thy sight obscure Art thou impatient to dispatch the Cure Yet like a stupid Wretch delayst to find A cure for cares that overcast thy mind Dare to tread Wisdoms paths set forth apace He who sets forth has finish'd half the race Who till the letts of Life are past defers That happy minute like the Peasant errs Who stands expecting by the Rivers side Till running waters leave the Channel dry'd Which from an unexhausted source eternally's supplyd Vainly thou spend'st too great a part of Life In getting an Estate or a â—ine Wise. With greedy toil thou ploughst vast Forests o're Let him who has enough expect no more When the Great man lyes languishing in State Not all his Pomp and Plenty can abate That Feavor which perhaps they might create Nor Gold nor Jewels anxious cares expel T' enjoy all these the Owner must be well He whom Ambition fires or Dangers fright In Fortunes favors takes no more delight Than men grown impotent in Women's find So Lutes the Deaf so Beauty charms the Blind Th' infected Vessel â—aints th' infusion too Contemn all joys which greater griefs persue The Miser wants the more the more h' acquires Hear this and bounds prefix to your desires Not witty Cruelty by Revenge reâ—in'd In old Sicilian Tyrants e're design'd Tortures that vex'd the Limbs as Envy wracks the Mind Temperate rising Fury whilst y' have pow'r Who give 't a loose oft curse that Fatal hour 'T is a short madness your desire restrain That that betimes confine betimes enchain Which must b' a Slave or absolutely reign Th' unmanag'd Colt the skilful Rider tames And forms him to the course or to the battle frames Since first they flesh'd and enter'd the young Hound His ratling tongue makes Hills and Dales resound Now now these wholsome precepts of the Muse Into your young untainted breast infuse Th' unseason'd Cask will long retain the scent Of the rich Wines which in it first ferment Thus my sweet Friend in whom I most delight To keep my pace in Vertues ways I' invite But if you outrun or lag I give you o're I 'le neither wait for those behind nor urge on those before FABLE Of the Aunt and the Grashopper THe Grashopper the merriest Creature That ever was produc'd by Nature Whilst Summer lasted ev'ry day Did nought but eat and sing and play When Winter came and Heav'n look'd lowring And Boreas thro the World ran scowring Grashopper saw her pleasure past Her banquet 's gone and she must fast Nature wh ' had serv'd had ta'n away She now can neither sing nor play Nothing that 's edible is at home No not a Fly a Mite an Atome Then she to neighbour Aunt does trudge A little sneaking Country drudge Gossip I come t' implore thy ' assistance And borrow something
MISCELLANIES IN PROSE and VERSE By Mr. DENNIS IMPRIMATUR EDMUND BOHUN Novemb. 17. 1692. MISCELLANIES IN Uerse and Prose Interdum speciosa locis recteque morata Fabula nullius Veneris sine pondere arte Valdius oblectat populum meliusque moratur Quam versus inopes rerum nugaeque canorae Horat. de art Poetica By Mr. DENNIS LONDON Printed for Iames Knapton at the Crown in St. Paul's Church-Yard MDCXCIII TO THE Right Honourable c. My Lord I Presume to Dedicate the following Trifles to you which if you were one who judg'd by the Volume would yet have more the appearance of Trifles Let them be what they will they are the most valuable things that I have to offer and the Obligations which I have to your Lordship are so extraordinary that to endeavour to make no return would be down right Ingratitude Your Lordship will be inclin'd to think me bold to excess when you hear me boasting of Favours receiv'd from you tho perhaps you have never so much as heard of me Yet I desire leave to repeat it the Obligations which I have to you are altogether Extraordinary For it is owing to your Lordship that I have pass'd some moments of a melancholy Life with inexpressible pleasure For as reading has always been my chief diversion your Lordships admirable Writings have been able to give me joy in spight of ill Fate Your happy and commanding Genius never fail'd to controule my evil weaker one and seem'd still to cry out to it Whilst I am by he must not be unhappy Nor have I only the obligation to your Lordship of your own incomparable Writings but of most of the productions of the best Writers of our Age. 'T is from your Generous Approbation that they have deriv'd that spirit which renders their Works Immortal For when ever a Man who is so truely great as your Lordship shall vouchsafe to look with a favourable aspect on Poetry it will not fail to flourish tho all the Stars look malignantly Ev'n I My Lord who am no Poet have notwithstanding found that the desire of pleasing so accomplish'd a Iudge has more than once inspir'd me with that noble warmth which Heaven and Nature deny'd me When Heaven sent Mecoenas into the World to be first Minister to the Common-wealth of Rome and of Learning then arose Virgil and Horace and the rest of those extraordinary Men whose very single Names are grown to be entire and glorious Panegyricks When several Ages after him Cardinal Richlieu was establish'd in France in his double Capacity the Muses were invited to pass the Mountains and breath the sweetness of the Gallick Air. After Mecoenas and Cardinal Richlieu your Lordship will stand eternally recorded by Fame as the last in succession of that Illustrious Triumvirate and it will always stand recorded together by the same everlasting Register That in your Lordship's time England had more good Poets than it could boast from the Conquest to Yoâ— before By animating and exciting the very best of which you will for ever oblige all those who are to receive Delight and Instruction from them Thus is your goodness grown so diffusive that its influence extends to thousands whom you never heard of Titus was the Delight and Ioy of mankind but your Lordship is and for ever will be so You have found out a better way than either Mecoenas or Richlieu to oblige not only the present Age but ev'n remotest Posterity For if we cherish Mecoenas his Memory tho we know that he endeavour'd at the same time to polish and enslave the World if the Memory of Richlieu be dear to us tho at the same time that he treated the Muses magnificently he laid the cursed design of Europe's Captivity with what blessings must not we mention your Lordship when we consider that we owe at once our Delight and our Safety to you For at the very time that you are the Delight and Ioy of your Age and Ornament of your Country at the very time that you exalt the Honour of England by your own admirable Writings and the Labours of those Excellent Men whom your authentick applause inspires at the same time by giving wholesome Counsels to our August Monarch you become instrumental in the defence of our Liberties and the general security of the Christian World Mecoenas and Richlieu protected the Muses but their Protection was partly at least political and necessary for the gaining or softning some unruly Spirits who would have been else too turbulent for the New Yoak But your Lordship's Patronage proceeds from no sinister end no unjust design on our Liberties but purely from the greatness of your noble Mind and a Godlike principle of inbred Beneficence Thus My Lord have I been guilty of a fault which is common to all the most supportable Dedications For I have hitherto told the Publick nothing concerning you but what I learnt from the Publick before There is no Man but knows that of all the Nobility your Lordship has been always the most true and most candid Friend to the Muses Whilst others are imploy'd in finding their faults it is your prerogative to pardon them and approve their Beauties This is what is known to every one But every one does not know that to find faults requires but common Sense but to discern rare Beauties requires a rare Genius Thus if your Lordship will pardon so poetical a Similitude when one of the glories of the fairer Sex one who was fram'd and design'd by Providence to bless some Man who is greatly good and give an earnest of Heaven below to him when such a one is at any time seen amongst us the vulgar Spectators those Criticks in Beauty are busie in censuring some Mole or some Blemish or some inconsiderable Irregularity which Nature industriously perhaps contriv'd with intention to set off her great Masterpiece But when a Man who has a Soul that in creating was form'd to be mov'd by Beauty that is a beautiful Soul when he contemplates her he gazes admires and loves in a Moment then follow transporting impatient wishes to return that happiness he receives from the lovely Object Your Lordship could never be the Muses best Friend if you were not the Man who understood them best If you had not heighth of Genius and largeness of Soul to comprehend all their Excellencies If you did not sensibly feel their elevation of thought with all its warmth its force and its delicacy which you could never fully discern if you did not throughly understand their Tongues if you had not skill to judge of its finest Grace its Vigour its Purity its judicious Boldness its comprehensive Energy and all its glorious attractive ornaments Your Lordship could never be compleatly skill'd in those ornaments if you had not a piercing and a delicate Eye and Eye that can readily judge betwixt tawdry Trimming and proper that can discern betwixt gay and curious Colours and can distinguish vaingawdy Pageantry from pompous
its floating World By her they with their moving Mountains fell Like vast Typhaeus flaming sent to Hell Great Russel does their Admirals assail With Thunder Lightning and with Iron Hail That desperate sight t' have seen one would have sworn Vulcanian Islands from their Seats were torn That Strombolo afloat did thundring rush And the inferiour Isles With inextinguishable Fury crush O would that Fury animate my Verse That God-like Rage which is both wise and fierce That Rage which in the Fight inspir'd thy Breast Then might thy Praise be gloriously exprest Thy Noble Acts in equal Numbers shown Which thou mightst then Triumphant Russel own But who could e're command celestial Fire The God does whom and when he lists inspire Now down he rushes and my Breast he shakes And now to Heav'n his towring Flight he takes Then e're he leaves me and my Blood grows cold The Battels vast Event in haste be told The French at last of treacherous Aid deceiv'd By loudest Storms would gladly be reliev'd Their Ships which in magnificent Array But just before did their proud Flags display And seem'd with War and Destiny to play Now from our Rage despoil'd of Rigging Tow Or Burn or up into the Air they blow Thus a large Row of Oaks does long remain The Ornament and Shelter of the Plain With their aspiring Heads they reach the Sky Their huge extended Arms the Winds defy The Tempest â—ees their strength sighs passes by When Iove concern'd that they so high aspire Amongst them sends his own revenging Fire Which does with dismal Havock on them fall Burns some and tears up some but rends them all From their dead Trunks their mangled Arms are torn And from their Heads their scatter'd Glories born Upon the Heath they blasted stand and bare And those whom once they shelter'd now they scare Wish for the Kings Safety in the Summers Expedition of 1692. YE Pow'rs who watch o're sublunary Things Ye guardian Pow'rs of Empires and of Kings Angels and Genii of Empyreal kind Who Christendom so near destruction find Each trembling for the Crown to his high charge assign'd Now leave your Posts to WILLIAM all repair Him guard alone guard him with all your Care Whilst He by your Protection stands secure His Conduct and His Brav'ry will the Christian World ensure To Flavia who fear'd she was too kind AH Flavia still be gentle let not fear That makes all others mild make thee severe How canst thou be too kind who dost but use That Freedom which I die if you refuse There are who think by Frowns Mankind to fire As if Deformity could Love inspire There are who by their Coldness think t' enflamâ— Or Partâ—ian-like by flying hope to tame Others affect intolerable State And think that Pomp becomes a Conqueror's Fate But they who conquer in Love's beauteous Field Must if they would pursue their Victory yield Minds from each others motions take their bent In Love Joy Rage and even in Hate consent The Angry urge us and the Fearful fright The Sad disturb us and the Gay delight The Proud and Scornful our Aversion prove As all the Tender our Affections move 'T is true indeed some monstrous Fops are found Whom God did sure of the worst Dirt compound Who Homage pay to Pride and fierce Disdain The wretched Subjects of a Tyrant's Reign Just as enervate Eastern Climes obey Th' imperious Dictates of Despotic Sway. Let arbitrary Power mean Souls enslave The Sov'reign must be good who rules the Brave The Monarch of my Heart can't prove too kind None e're too much oblig'd a gen'rous Mind Too kind thou canst not be on the blest Night When Heav'n it self procures for our Delight When wanton on the Wings of Love I flee To roul and revel in full Joys and Thee When o're thy panting Breasts dissolv'd I lie And burn and bleed and sigh and groan and die And by that Death at Happiness arrive At perfect Bliss which none enjoys alive Ev'n by that Bliss which thus transports my Mind Then when thuo grant'st me all thou canst not prove too kind For full Fruition will but raise Desire As Heav'n possest exalts the Zealots fire And ev'ry Rapture but improve my Love As earthly Charity 's refin'd above There mighty Love amidst ambrosial Plains With uncontroul'd and boundless Empire reigns AEtherial Minds eternally enjoy Still plunge themselves in Bliss and never cloy Their mental Eyes upon each other fix Then greedily they rush and totally they mix Then by delightful turns flie off and gaze Then lose themselves again in Love's mysterious maze Unite their Sustances conâ—ound their Pow'rs And ev'ry Virtue knit as we must ours Like theirs my Flavia shall our Joys endure Like generous Wines the older the more pure Or Nectar from devouring time secure They through eternal Life eternal Day Mingling their Souls pursue their am'rous Play VVhen we our bodies mingle for Delight Were we both doom'd to an eternal Night Through that with thee I hourly could expire Nor light the joy of Life nor Life would I desire The Tenth Ode of the Second Book of Horace I. IF you thro Life's uncertain Tyde Your self dear Friend would safely guide Do not the boundless Main explore Where Boreas rages unconfin'd Nor to get underneath the Wind Venture the Rocks too near the Shore II. The man stands equally exempt From dangerous envy and contempt Who loves the middle golden state He neither sordidly doth lye In dust nor stands exalted nigh Some ghastly precipice of Fate III. Tempests the lofty Cedar rend And on the ground its trunk extend Whilst safe the humbler Plants are found The Tow'r which insolently shrowds Its stately head amongst the Clouds Its fall does into Atoms pound IV. At Heads of Gyant Hills which rise With horrid Brows t' affront the Skies Iove the impetuous Thunder whirls The hillocks it flies grumbling o're But raving mad with hideous roar Confusion on the Alps it hurls V. He hopes when Fortune proves adverse He when she 's kind fears a reverse Whom sacred wisdom doth direct Since Iove so oft makes Tempests rise Whose Fury shakes his native Skies Can man a settled state expect VI. But if the gods prove angry now They 'll one day with unclouded brow Dart joys into thy Soul again Those gods as wretched were as we If they should always angry be And always hear their Slaves complain VII By bearing bravely the worst state Shew thou deserv'st a better fate But if the wind comes fair about Why then suspect the flattering gale When it seems merriest reef your Sail And for the Sands look sharply out FABLE in Burlesque The Pig the Goat and the Sheep A Goat a Fat Pig and a Wether To Fair in Tumbril jogg'd together They were not thus to Smithfield jumbled To see how Iacob danc'd or tumbled No story tells us that the Carter Went with design all three to barter The Pig scream'd out as he were just By Talgol going to
me Is it a wretched Collection of Poetry successful rather by a happy temerity and a dexterous imitation of the Ancients than by the beauty of its thoughts or the richness of its expressions Is it a translation that falls so far short of the great Master-pieces with which you every day supply us and in the which you so gloriously revive Thuâ—ydidis Xenophon Tacitus and all the rest of the renown'd Heroes of the most learnâ—d Antiquity No Gentlemen you are too well acquainted with the just value of things to recompence at a rate so high such low Productions as mine and to offer me voluntarily upon so slight a foundation an Honour which 〈◊〉 knowledge of my want of Merit has discourag'd me still from demanding What can be the reason then which in my behalf has so happily influenc'd you upon this occasion I begin to make some discovery of it and I dare engage that I shall not make you blush in exposing it The goodness which the greatest Prince in the World has shown in employing me together with one of the first of your illustrious Writers to make one Collection of the infinite number of his Immortal Actions the permission which he has given me to do this has supply'd all my defects with you Yes Gentlemen what ever just reasons ought to have excluded me for ever from your Academy you believed that you could not with justice suffer that a man who is destin'd to speak of such mighty things should be depriv'd of the utility of your Lessons or instructed in any other School than in yours And by this you have clearly shown that when it is to serve your August Protector whatever consideration might otherwise restrain you your Zeal will not suffer you to cast your eyes upon any thing but the interest of your Master's Glory Yet suffer me Gentlemen to undeceive you if you believe that that great Prince at the time when he granted that favour to me believ'd that he should meet within me a Writer who was able to sustain in the least by the Beauty of Style or by the magnificent Pomp of Expression the Grandeur of his Exploits No Gentlemen it belongs to you and to Pens like yours to shew the World such Master-pieces and he never conceiv'd so advantageous a thought of me But as every thing that he has done in his Reign is Wonderful is Prodigious he did not think it would be amiss that in the midst of so many renown'd Writers who with emulation describe his Actions in all their Splendour and with all the Ornaments of the sublimest Eloquence a man without artifice and accus'd rather of too much sincerity than of flattery should contribute by his labour and by his advice to set to show in a proper light and in all the simplicity of the most natural Style the truth of those Actions which being of themselves so little probable have rather need to be faithfully related than to be strongly exaggerated And indeed Gentlemen when Poets and Orators and Historians who are sometimes as daring as Poets or Orators shall come to display upon so happy a Subject all the bold strokes of their Art all their force of Expression when they shall say of Lewis the Great more justly than was said of a famous Captain of old that he alone has atchiev'd more Exploits than other Princes have read that he alone has taken more Towns than other Monarchs have wish'd to take When they shall assure us that there is no Potentate upon the face of the Earth no not the most Ambitious who in the secret prayers that he puts up to Heaven dares presume to Petition for so much Glory for so much Prosperity as Heaven has freely grated this Prince When they shall write that his Conduct is Mistress of Events That Fortune dares not contradict his designs When they shall paint him at the Head of his Armies marching with Gigantick Strides over great Rivers and highest Mountains thundâ—ring down Ramparts rending hard Rocks and tearing into ten thousand pieces every thing that resists his impetuous Shock These expressions will doubtless appear great rich noble adapted to the lofty Subject but at the same time that the World shall wonder at them it will not think it self oblig'd to believe them and the Truth may be easily disown'd or mistaken under the disguise of it pompous ornaments But when Writers without artifice and who are contented faithfully to relate things and with all the simplicity of Witnesses who depose rather than of Historians who make a Narration shall rightly set forth all that has pass'd in France ever since the famous Peace of the Pyrenees all that the King has done in his Dominions to re-establish Order Discipline Law when they shall reckon up all the Provinces which he has added to his Kingdoms in succeeding Wars all the Advantages all the Victories which he has gain'd of his Enemies Holland Germany Spain all Europe too feeble all against him alone a War that has been always fruitful in prosperity and a more glorious Peace When Pens that are sincere I say and a great deal more careful to write the Truth than to make others admire them shall rightly articulate all these Actions dispos'd in their order of time and attended with their real circumstances who is it that can then dissent from them I do not say of our Neighbours I do not say of our Allies I say of our mortal Enemies And tho' they shou'd be unwilling to acknowledge the truth of them will not their diminishâ—d Forces their States confin'd within stricter Bounds their complaints their â—ealousies their furies their very invectives in spight of themselves convince them Can they deny that in the very year in which I am speaking this Prince being resolv'd to constrain them all to accept of a Peace which he had offer'd them for the good of Christendom did all at once and that at a time when they had publishâ—d that he was intirely exhausted of Men and Money that he did then I say all at once in the Low Countries cause to start up as â—twere out of the ground two mighty Armies each of them consisting of Forty Thousand Men and that he provided for them abundant subsistance there notwithstanding the scarcity of Forrage and the excessive drought of the Season Can they deny that whilst with one of these Armies he causâ—d his Lieutenants to Besiege Luxembourgh himself with the other keeping as it were block'd all the Towns of Brabant and Hamault That he did by this most admirable Conduct or rather by a kind of Enchantment like that of the Head so renown'd in the antient Fables whose aspect transform'd the beholders to Stones render the Spaniards unmov'd spectators of the taking of that important place in the which they had reposâ—d their utmost refuge That by a no less admirable effect of the same prodigious Enchantment that obstinate Enemy to his Glory that industrious contriver of Wars and Confederacies who