It gives them crowns, and does their ashes keep;
There made like gods, like mortals there they sleep:
Making the circle of their reign complete,
Those suns of Empire! where they rise they set.
When others fell, this standing did presage
The crown should triumph over popular rage:
Hard by that House 3 where all our ills were shaped
The' auspicious temple stood, and yet escaped.
So now on Ætna does unmelted lie,
Whence rolling flames and scatter'd cinders fly;
The distant country in the ruin shares; [spares.
What falls from heaven the burning mountain
Next that capacious Hall* he sees, the room
Where the whole nation does for justice come;
Under whose large roof flourishes the gown,
And judges grave on high tribunals frown.
Here, like the people's pastor, he does go,
His flock subjected to his view below;
On which reflecting in his mighty mind,
No private passion does indulgence find:
The pleasures of his youth suspended are,
And made a sacrifice to public care.
Here, free from court compliances, he walks,
And with himself, his best adviser, talks,
How peaceful olives may his temples shade,
For mending laws, and for restoring trade:
Or how his brows may be with laurel charged,
For nations conquer'd, and our bounds enlarged,
Of ancient prudence here he ruminates,
Of rising kingdoms and of falling states:
What ruling arts gave great Augustus fame,
And how Alcides purchased such a name.
His eyes, upon his native palace' bent,
Close by, suggest a greater argument.
His thoughts rise higher, when he does reflect
On what the world may from that star expect
Which at his birth appear'd, to let us see
Day, for his sake, could with the night agree :
A prince on whom such different lights did smile,
Born the divided world to reconcile !
Whatever Heaven, or high extracted blood,
Could promise, or foretel, he will make good;
Reform these nations, and improve them more
Than this fair Park, from what it was before.
INVASION AND DEFEAT OF THE TURKS, IN THE YEAR 1683.
THE modern Nimrod, with a safe delight
Pursuing beasts, that save themselves by flight,
Grown proud, and weary of his wonted game,
Would Christians chase, and sacrifice to fame.
A prince with eunuchs and the softer sex
Shut up so long, would warlike nations vex,
Provoke the German, and, neglecting Heaven,
Forget the truce for which his oath was given.
His Grand Visier, presuming to invest
The chief imperial city of the west',
With the first charge compell'd in haste to rise,
His treasure, tents, and cannon, left a prize:
The standard lost, and janizaries slain,
Render the hopes he gave his master vain.
The flying Turks, that bring the tidings home,
Renew the memory of his father's doom;
And his guard murmurs, that so often brings
Down from the throne their unsuccessful kings.
The trembling Sultan's forced to expiate
His own ill conduct by another's fate:
The Grand Visier, a tyrant, though a slave,
A fair example to his master gave;
He Bassas' heads, to save his own, made fly,
And now, the Sultan to preserve, must die.
The fatal bowstring was not in his thought,
When, breaking truce, he so unjustly fought;
Made the world tremble with a numerous host,
And of undoubted victory did boast.
Strangled he lies! yet seems to cry aloud,
To warn the mighty, and instruct the proud,
That of the great, neglecting to be just,
Heaven in a moment makes an heap of dust.
The Turks so low, why should the Christians lose
Such an advantage of their barbarous foes?
Neglect their present ruin to complete,
Before another Solyman they get?
Too late they would with shame, repenting, dread That numerous herd, by such a lion led:
He Rhodes and Buda from the Christians tore, Which timely union might again restore.
But, sparing Turks, as if with rage possess'd, The Christians perish, by themselves oppress'd: Cities and provinces so dearly won,
That the victorious people are undone!
What angel shall descend to reconcile
The Christian states, and end their guilty toil?
A prince more fit from Heaven we cannot ask
Than Britain's king, for such a glorious task;
His dreadful navy, and his lovely mind,
Gives him the fear and favour of mankind:
His warrant does the Christian faith defend;
On that relying, all their quarrels end.
The peace is sign'd, and Britain does obtain
What Rome had sought from her fierce sons in vain.
In battles won Fortune a part doth claim,
And soldiers have their portion in the fame :
In this successful union we find
Only the triumph of a worthy mind.
'Tis all accomplish'd by his royal word
Without unsheathing the destructive sword;
Without a tax upon his subjects laid,
Their peace disturb'd, their plenty, or their trade:
And what can they to such a Prince deny,
With whose desires the greatest kings comply?
The arts of peace are not to him unknown;
This happy way he march'd into the throne;
And we owe more to Heaven than to the sword,
The wish'd return of so benign a lord. [graced,
Charles! by old Greece with a new freedom
Above her antique heroes shall be placed.
What Theseus did, or Theban Hercules,
Holds no compare with this victorious peace;
Which on the Turks shall greater honour gain,
Than all their giants and their monsters slain :
Those are bold tales, in fabulous ages told,
This glorious act the living do behold.
OF HER MAJESTY,
ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1683.
WHAT revolutions in the world have been !
How are we changed since we first saw the Queen!
She, like the sun, does still the same appear
Bright as she was at her arrival here!
Time has commission mortals to impair,
But things celestial is obliged to spare.
May every new year find her still the same
In health and beauty, as she hither came!
When Lords and Commons, with united voice,
The' Infanta named, approved the royal choice:
First of our queens whom not the King alone,
But the whole nation, lifted to the throne.
With like consent, and like desert, was crown'd The glorious Prince' that does the Turk confound. Victorious both! his conduct wins the day; And her example chases vice away: Though louder fame attend the martial rage, 'Tis greater glory to reform the age.
COMMENDED BY HER MAJESTY.
VENUS her myrtle, Phoebus has his bays;
Tea both excels, which she vouchsafes to praise,
The best of queens, and best of herbs, we owe
To that bold nation which the way did show
To the fair region where the sun does rise,
Whose rich productions we so justly prize,
1 John Sobieski, king of Poland.
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