One fquadron of our winged caftles fent,
O'erthrew their fort, and all their navy rent:
For not content the dangers to increase,
And act the part of tempests in the feas,
Like hungry wolves, thofe pirate from our shore 25 While flocks of fheep, and ravish'd cattle bore. Safely they might on other nations prey,
Fools to provoke the Sov'reign of the fea!
Mad Cacus fo, whom like ill fate persuades,
The herd of fair Alcmena's feed invades,
Who for revenge, and mortals' glad relief,
Sack'd the dark cave, and crufh'd that horrid thief.
Morocco's monarch, wondering at this fact,
Save that his prefence his affairs exact,
Had come in perfon to have feen and known
The injur'd world's revenger and his own.
Hither he fends the chief among his peers,
Who in his bark proportion'd prefents bears;
To the renown'd for piety and force,
Poor captives manumis'd, and matchlefs horse.
UPON HIS MAJESTY'S
REPAIRING OF 31. PAUL'S.
THAT fhipwreck'd vessel which th' Apoftle bore, Scarce fuffer'd more upon Melita's shore,
Than did his temple in the fea of time,
Our nation's glory, and our nation's crime.
When first the Monarch † of this happy isle,
Mov'd with the ruin of fo brave a pile,
The work of cost and piety begun,
To be accomplish'd by his glorious fon,
Who all that came within the ample thought
Of his wife fire has to perfection brought;
He, like Amphion, makes those quarries leap
Into fair figures from a confus'd heap;
For in his art of regiment is found
A pow'r like that of harmony in sound.
Thofe antique minstrelssurewereCharles-like kings, Cities their lutes, and fubjects' hearts their strings, 16 On which with fo divine a hand they ftrook, Confent of motion from their breath they took: So all our minds with his confpire to grace The Gentiles' great apostle, and deface Those flate-obfcuring fhades, that like a chain Seem'd to confine and fetter him again; Which the glad faint fhakes off at his command, As once the viper from his facred hand :
So joys the aged oak, when we divide
The creeping ivy from his injur'd fide.
Ambition rather would affect the fame
Of fome new structure, to have borne her name.
'Two diftant virtues in one act we find,
The modefty and greatness of his mind;
Which not content to be above the rage,
And injury of all-impairing age,
In its own worth fecure, doth higher climb,
And things half swallow'd from the jaws of time
Reduce; an earneft of his grand defign,
To frame no new church, but the old refine;
Which fpoufe-like,may with comelygrace command, More than by force of argument or hand.
For doubtful reafon few can apprehend,
And war brings ruin where it fhould amend ;
But beauty, with a bloodlefs conqueft, finds.
A welcome fov'reignty in rudeft minds.
Not ought which Sheba's wond'ring queen beheld
Amongst the works of Solomon, excell'd
His fhips and building; emblems of a heart
Large both in magnanimity and art.
While the propitious heav'ns this work attend,
Long wanted fhowers they forget to fend;
As if they meant to make it understood
Of more importance than our vital food.
The fun which rifeth to falute the quire
Already finish'd, fetting fhall admire
How private bounty could fo far extend:
The King built all, but Charles the western end.
So proud a fabrick to devotion givin,
At once it threatens and obliges heav'n!
Laomedon, that had the gods in pay,
Neptune, with him that rules the facred day †. † Apolle.
Could no fuch structure raise: Troy wall'd fo high,
Th'Atrides might as well have forc'd the fky.
Glad, tho' amazed, are our neighbour kings,
To see fuch pow'r employ'd in peaceful things:
They lift not urge it to the dreadful field;
The task is easier to destroy than build.
Sic gratia regum
Pieriis tentata modis.--
THE lark, that fhuns on lofty boughs to build
Her humble neft, lies filent in the field;
But if (the promise of a cloudless day)
Aurora fmiling bids her rife and play,
Then ftrait the thews 't was not for want of voice, 5
Or pow'r to climb, fhe made fo low a choice;
Singing the mounts; her airy wings are stretch'd
Tow'rds heav'n,as if from heav'n her note fhe fetch'd.
So we, retiring from the busy throng,
Ufe to reftrain th' ambition of our fong;
But fince the light which now in forms our age
Breaks from the court, indulgent to her rage,
Thither my Mufe, like bold Prometheus, flies,
To light her torch at Gloriana's eyes.
Those fov'reign beams which heal thewounded foul, And all our cares, but once beheld, control!
There the poor lover, that has long endur'd
Some proud nymph's fcorn, of his fond paffion cur'd,
Fares like the man who first upon the ground
A glow-worm fpy'd, fuppofing he had found
A moving diamond, a breathing stone;
For life it had, and like thofe jewels fhone;
He held it dear, 'till by the springing day
Inform'd, he threw the worthless worm away.
She faves the lover, as we gangrenes stay,
By cutting hope, like a lopp'd limb, away:
This makes her bleeding patients to accuse
High Heav'n, and these expoftulations use:
"Could Nature then no private woman grace,
"Whom we might dare to love, with fuch a face, 30
"Such a complexion, and fo radiant eyes,
"Such lovely motion, and such sharp replies?
"Beyond our reach, and yet within our fight,
"What envious pow'r has plac'd this glorious light?"
Thus in a starry night fond children cry
For the rich spangles that adorn the sky,
Which, tho' they fhine for ever fixed there,
With light and influence relieve us here.
All her affections are to one inclin'd;
Her bounty and compaffion to mankind;
To whom, while she so far extends her grace,
She makes but good the promise of her face:
For Mercy has, could Mercy's felf be seen,
No fweeter look than this propitious queen.
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