And measure change, but share no part of it. And still it shall without a weight increase, Like this new-year, whose motions never cease. For since the glorious course you have begun Is led by Charles, as that is by the sun,
It must both weightless and immortal prove, 155 Because the centre of it is above.
WRITTEN IN THE YEAR 1662.*
As needy gallants, in the scrivener's hands, Court the rich knaves that gripe their mortgag'd
The first fat buck of all the season's sent,
And keeper takes no fee in compliment;
The dotage of some Englishmen is such,
To fawn on those who ruin them, the Dutch.
They shall have all, rather than make a war
With those who of the same religion are,
The Straits, the Guiney-trade, the herrings too;
Nay, to keep friendship, they shall pickle you. 10
lament if this were true. But then he adds, 'He has concluded with lines of which I think not myself obliged to tell the meaning.' Dr. J. W.
* This poem is no more than a prologue a little altered, prefixed to our author's Tragedy of Amboyna. D.
Some are resolved not to find out the cheat,
But, cuckold-like, love them that do the feat.
What injuries soe'er upon us fall,
Yet still the same religion answers all.
Religion wheedled us to civil war,
Drew English blood, and Dutchmen's now would
Be gull'd no longer; for you'll find it true,
They have no more religion, faith! than you.
Interest's the god they worship in their state,
And we, I take it, have not much of that.
Well monarchies may own religion's name,
But states are atheists in their very frame.
They share a sin; and such proportions fall,
That, like a stink, 'tis nothing to them all.
Think on their rapine, falsehood, cruelty,
And that what once they were, they still would be.
To one well-born th' affront is worse and more,
When he's abus'd and baffled by a boor.
With an ill grace the Dutch their mischiefs do;
They've both ill nature and ill manners too.
Well may they boast themselves an ancient nation;
For they were bred ere manners were in fashion;
And their new commonwealth has set them free
Only from honour and civility.
Venetians do not more uncouthly ride,
Than did their lubber state mankind bestride.
Their sway became 'em with as ill a mien,
As their own paunches swell above their chin.
Yet is their empire no true growth but humour,
And only two kings' touch can cure the tumour.
As Cato, fruits of Afric did display;
Let us before our eyes their Indies lay:
All loyal English will like him conclude;
Let Cæsar live, and Carthage be subdu'd.
TO HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS
ON THE MEMORABLE VICTORY GAINED BY THE
DUKE OVER THE HOLLANDERS, JUNE 3, 1665, AND ON HER JOURNEY AFTERWARDS INTO THE NORTH.
WHEN for our sakes your hero you resign'd
To swelling seas, and every faithless wind;
releas'd his courage, and set free
A valour fatal to the enemy;
You lodg'd your country's cares within your breast, (The mansion where soft love should only rest :)
41 As Cato, &c.] Compare the Annus Mirabilis, stan. 173.
'As once old Cato in the Roman fight,
The tempting fruits of Afric did unfold.' T.
44 und Carthage] The very words and allusion by Lord Shaftesbury, in his famous speech against the Dutch.
The lady to whom our author addresses this poem was daughter to the great Earl of Clarendon. The duke of York had been some time married to her, before the affair was known either to the king his brother, or to her father. She died in March, 1671, leaving issue one son named Edgar,
And, ere our foes abroad were overcome,
The noblest conquest you had gain'd at home.
Ah, what concerns did both your souls divide!
Your honour gave us what your love denied:
And 'twas for him much easier to subdue
Those foes he fought with, than to part from you.
That glorious day, which two such navies saw,
As each unmatch'd might to the world give law.
Neptune yet doubtful whom he should obey,
Held to them both the trident of the sea:
The winds were hush'd, the waves in ranks were cast,
As awfully as when God's people past:
Those, yet uncertain on whose sails to blow,
These, where the wealth of nations ought to flow.
Then with the duke your highness rul'd the day:
While all the brave did his command obey,
The fair and pious under you did pray.
How powerful are chaste vows! the wind and tide
You brib'd to combat on the English side.
Thus to your much-lov'd lord you did convey
and three daughters, Katharine, Mary, and Ann. The two latter lived to sit on the British throne; the two former survived their mother but a short time. Bishop Burnet tells us, that she was a woman of knowledge and penetration, friendly and generous, but severe in her resentments. D.
26 your much lov'd lord] James, notwithstanding, had many mistresses. Lady Dorchester, says Lord Orford, vol. iv. p. 319, 4to. said wittily, she wondered for what James II. chose his mistresses. We are none of us handsome, and if we had wit, he has not enough to discover it. And once meeting the Duchess of Portsmouth and Lady
An unknown succour, sent the nearest way.
New vigour to his wearied arms you brought,
(So Moses was upheld while Israel fought)
While, from afar, we heard the cannon play,
Like distant thunder on a shiny day.
For absent friends we were asham'd to fear,
When we consider'd what you ventur'd there.
Ships, men, and arms, our country might restore,
But such a leader could supply no more.
With generous thoughts of conquest he did burn,
Yet fought not more to vanquish than return.
Fortune and victory he did pursue,
To bring them as his slaves to wait on you.
Thus beauty ravish'd the rewards of fame,
And the fair triumph'd when the brave o'ercame.
Then, as you meant to spread another way,
By land your conquests, far as his by sea,
Leaving our southern clime, you march'd along
The stubborn North, ten thousand Cupids strong.
Like commons the nobility resort,
In crowding heaps, to fill your moving court:
To welcome your approach the vulgar run,
Like some new envoy from the distant sun,
And country beauties by their lovers go,
Blessing themselves, and wondering at the show.
So when the new-born Phoenix first is seen,
Orkney, the favourite of King William, at the drawing-room of George I., she exclaimed, 'Good God! who would have thought that we three should have met together here!'
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