Their reeling ships on one another fall,
Without a foe, enough to ruin all.
Of this disorder, and the favouring wind,
The watchful English such advantage find,
Ships fraught with fire among the heap they throw,
And up the so-entangled Belgians blow.
The flame invades the powder-rooms, and then
Their guns shoot bullets, and their vessels men.
The scorch'd Batavians on the billows float,
Sent from their own, to pass in Charon's boat.
And now our Royal Admiral success
(With all the marks of victory) does bless :
The burning ships, the taken, and the slain,
Proclaim his triumph o'er the conquer'd main.
Nearer to Holland as their hasty flight
Carries the noise and tumult of the fight,
His cannons' roar, forerunner of his fame,
Makes their Hague tremble, and their Amsterdam:
The British thunder does their houses rock,
And the Duke seems at every door to knock.
His dreadful streamer (like a comet's hair,
Threatening destruction) hastens their despair;
Makes them deplore their scatter'd fleet as lost,
And fear our present landing on their coast.
The trembling Dutch the' approaching Prince be-
As sheep a lion leaping towards their fold: [hold
Those piles which serve them to repel the main,
They think too weak his fury to restrain.
'What wonders may not English valour work,
Led by the' example of victorious York?
Or what defence against him can they make,
Who at such distance does their country shake?
His fatal hand their bulwarks will o'erthrow,
And let in both the ocean and the foe.'
Thus cry the people ;—and, their land to keep,
Allow our title to command the deep;
Blaming their States' ill conduct, to provoke
Those armswhich freed them from the Spanish yoke.
Painter! excuse me, if I have a while
Forgot thy art, and used another style;
For though you draw arm'd heroes as they sit,
The task in battle does the Muses fit:
They in the dark confusion of a fight
Discover all, instruct us how to write;
And light and honour to brave actions yield,
Hid in the smoke and tumult of the field.
Ages to come shall know that leader's toil,
And his great name on whom the Muses smile:
Their dictates here let thy famed pencil trace,
And this relation with thy colours grace.
Then draw the Parliament, the nobles met, And our Great Monarch+ high above them set: Like young Augustus let his image be, Triumphing for that victory at sea,
Where Egypt's Queen', and Eastern Kings o'erthrown,
Made the possession of the world his own.
Last draw the Commons at his royal feet,
Pouring out treasure to supply his fleet:
They vow with lives and fortunes to maintain
Their King's eternal title to the main :
And with a present to the Duke, approve
His valour, conduct, and his country's love.
WHEN HE WAS AT SEA.
WHILST I was free I wrote with high conceit, And love and beauty raised above their height; Love, that bereaves us both of brain and heart, Sorrow and silence doth at once impart.
What hand at once can wield a sword and write? Or battle paint, engaged in the fight?
Who will describe a storm must not be there: Passion writes well, neither in love nor fear. Why on the naked boy have poets then Feathers and wings bestow'd, that wants a pen?
RUIN OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE:
HIS MAJESTY KING JAMES II. ON HIS BIRTH-DAY.
SINCE James the Second graced the British throne,
Truce, well observed, has been infringed by none:
Christians to him their present union owe,
And late success against the common foe;
While neighbouring princes, loth to urge their fate,
Court his assistance, and suspend their hate:
So angry bulls the combat do forbear,
When from the wood a lion does appear.
This happy day peace to our island sent,
As now he gives it to the Continent.
A prince more fit for such a glorious task
Than England's King, from Heaven we cannot ask:
He (great and good!) proportion'd to the work,
Their ill-drawn swords shall turn against the Turk.
Such kings, like stars with influence unconfined,
Shine with aspéct propitious to mankind;
Favour the innocent, repress the bold,
And, while they flourish, make an age of gold.
Bred in the camp, famed for his valour young;
At sea successful, vigorous, and strong;
His fleet, his army, and his mighty mind,
Esteem and reverence through the world do find.
A prince with such advantages as these,
Where he persuades not, may command a peace.
Britain declaring for the juster side,
The most ambitious will forget their pride:
They that complain will their endeavours cease,
Advised by him, inclined to present peace,
Join to the Turk's destruction, and then bring
All their pretences to so just a king.
If the successful troublers of mankind, With laurel crown'd, so great applause do find, Shall the vex'd world less honour yield to those That stop their progress, and their rage oppose ? Next to that power which does the ocean awe, Is to set bounds, and give ambition law.
The British Monarch shall the glory have, That famous Greece remains no longer slave ; That source of art and cultivated thought! Which they to Rome, and Romans hither brought. The banish'd Muses shall no longer mourn, But may with liberty to Greece return:
Though slaves, (like birds that sing not in a cage)
They lost their genius and poetic rage:
Homers again, and Pindars, may be found,
And his great actions with their numbers crown'd.
The Turk's vast empire does united stand;
Christians, divided under the command
Of jarring princes, would be soon undone,
Did not this hero make their interest one;
Peace to embrace, ruin the common foe,
Exalt the Cross, and lay the Crescent low.
Thus may the Gospel to the rising sun
Be spread, and flourish where it first begun;
And this great day, (so justly honour'd here!)
Known to the East, and celebrated there.
"Hæc ego longævus cecini tibi, maxime regum!
Ausus et ipse manu juvenum tentare laborem."
WERE WRIT IN THE TASSO OF HER ROYAL
HIGHNESS.
TASSO knew how the fairer sex to grace,
But in no one durst all perfection place.
In her alone that owns this book is seen
Clorinda's spirit, and her lofty mien,
Sophronia's piety, Erminia's truth,
Armida's charms, her beauty, and her youth.
Our Princess here, as in a glass, does dress
Her well-taught mind, and every grace express.
More to our wonder than Rinaldo fought,
The hero's race excels the poet's thought.
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