mille anni*, and impartial reasoning will tell us there is as much due to the memory of Mr. Waller as to the most celebrated names of Antiquity.

But, to wave the dispute now of what ought to have been done, I can affure the reader what would have been, had this edition been delayed. The following Poems were got abroad, and in a great many hands: it were vain to expect that, among so many admirers of Mr. Waller, they should not meet with one fond enough to publish them. They might have staid, indeed, 'till by frequent transcriptions they had been corrupted extremely, and jumbled together with things of another kind; but then they would have found their way into the world: fo it was thought a greater piece of kindness to the Author to put them out whilft they continue genuine and unnix'd, and fuch as he himself, were he alive, might own.

*Alluding to that verse in Juvenal,

Et uni cedit Homero

Propter mille annos

And yields to Homer on no other score,
Than that he liv'd a thousand years before.

Sat. 7.

Mr. C. Dryden.

Eij

TO THE RIGHT HON. THE

LADY MARGARET-CAVENDISH HARLEY.

LET others boaft the Nine Aonian maids,
Infpiring ftreams, and fweet refounding shades,
Where Phoebus heard the rival bards rehearse,
And bad the laurels learn the lofty verfe:
In vain! nor Pabus nor the boasted Nine
Inflame the raptur'd foul with rays divine:
None but the fair infufe the facred fire,
And love with vocal art informs the lyre.

15

When Waller, kindling with celestial rage, View'd the bright Harley of that wond'ring age, 10 His pleafing pain he taught the lute to breathe; The Graces fung, and wove his myrtle wreath. In youth, of patrimonial wealth poffeft, The praise of science faintly warm'd his breast; But, fir'd to fame by Sidney's rofy smile, Swift o'er the laureate realm he urg'd his toil. His Mufe, by Nature form'd to please the fair, Or fing of heroes with majestick air, To melting ftrains attun'd her voice, and ftrove To waken all the tender pow'rs of love: More fweetly foft her awful beauty fhone, Than Juno grac'd with Cytherea's zone. As angels love, congenial fouls unite Their radiance, and refine each other's light:

20

The florid and fublime, the grave and
gay,
From Waller's beams imbibe a purer ray;
Illumin'd thence in equal lays to bound
Their copious sense, and harmonize the found;
With varied notes the curious ear to please,
And turn a nervous thought with artful ease.
Maker and model of melodious verfe!
Accept these votive honours at thy hearfe.
While I with filial awe attempt thy praise,
Infuse thy genius, and my fancy raise!

25

30

So, warbling o'er his urn, the woodland choirs
To Orpheus pay the song his shade inspires.

35

In Waller's fame, O fairest Harley! view
What verdant palms fhall owe their birth to you;
To you what deathless charms are thence decreed,
In Sachariffa's fate vouchsafe to read.

Secure beneath the wing of withering Time,
Her beauties flourish in ambrofial prime:
Still kindling rapture, fee! fhe moves in state;
Gods, nymphs, and heroes, on her triumph wait.
Nor think the lover's praife of love's delight,
In pureft minds may stain the virgin-white :
How bright and chaste the poet and his theme!
So Cynthia fhines on Arethufa's ftream.
A fainted virtue to the spheres may fing

40

45

Those strains that ravish'd here the Martyr-king.50
Plenteous of native wit, in letter'd ease
Politely form'd, to profit and to please,

To Fame whate'er was due he gave to Fame,
And what he could not praise forgot to name:
Thus Eden's rofe without a thorn display'd
Her bloom, and in a fragrant blufh decay'd.
Such foul-attracting airs were sung of old,
When blifsful years in golden circles roll'd:
Pure from deceit, devoid of fear and strife,
While love was all the penfive care of life,

55

60

The fwains in green retreats, with flowrets crown'd, Taught the young groves their paffion to refound: Fancy purfu'd the paths where Beauty led,

65

To please the living, or deplore the dead:
While to their warbled wo the rocks reply'd,
The rills remurmur'd, and the zephyrs figh'd;
From death redeem'd by verse, the vanish'd fair
Breath'd in a flow'r, or fparkled in a star.
Bright as the ftars, and fragrant as the flow'rs,
Where Spring refides in foft Elysian bow'rs;
While thefe the bow'rs adorn, and they the sphere,
Will Sachariffa's charms in fong appear.

Yet, in the prefent age, her radiant name
Muft take a dimmer interval of fame:
When you to full meridian luftre rife,
With Morton's fhape and Gloriana's eyes,
With Carlifle's wit, her gefture, and her mien,
And, like feraphick Rich, with zeal ferene ;
In fweet affemblage all their graces join'd

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73

To language, mode, and manners, more refin'd! 80

85

That angel-frame, with chaste attraction gay,
Mild as the dove-ey'd Morn awakes the May,
Of noblest youths will reign the publick care,
Their joy, their with, their wonder and despair.
Far-beaming thence what bright ideas flow!
The filter-arts with fudden rapture glow:
Her fitian tints the Painter nymph refumes;
The convafs warm with rofeate beauty blooms:
Infpir'd with life by fculpture's happy toil,
The marble breathes, and foftens with your fmile;
Proud to receive the form, by Fate defign'd
The fairest model of the fairest kind.

But hear, O hear the Mufe's heav'nly voice!
The waving woods and echoing vales rejoice:
Attend, ye Gales! to Margaretta's praise,
And all ye lift'ning Loves record the lays!
So Philomela charms th' Idalian grove,
When Venus, in the glowing orb of love,
O'er ocean, earth, and air, extends her reign,
The first, the brighteft, of the starry train.

What fav'rite youth aflign the Fates to rise,
In bridal pomp to lead the blooming prize?
Whether his father's garter'd shield sustains
Trophies achiev'd on Gallia's viny plains,
Or fmiling Peace a mingled wreath displays,
The patriot's olive, and the poet's bays:
Adorn, ye Fates! the fav'rite youth affign'd
With each ennobling grace of form and mind:

95

ICO

105