"The wealthy farmer from his toils shall cease, "The ploughman from the yoke his smoking steers re

lease,

"And join to solemnize the festival of Peace.

"No more for want of hands th' unlabour'd field, "Choak'd with rank weeds, a sickly crop shall yield: "Calm Peace returns; behold her shining train! "And fruitful plenty is restor'd again."--Apollo ceas'd---The Muses take the sound,

120

From voice to voice th' harmonious notes rebound,
And echoing lyres transmit the volant fugue around. 115
Meanwhile the steady bark, with prosp'rous gales,
Fills the large sheets of her expanded sails,
And gains th' intended port. Thick on the strand,
Like swarming bees th' assembled Britons stand,
And press to see their welcome sov'reign land.
At his approach unruly transport reigns
In every breast, and rapture fires their veins :
A gen'ral shout succeeds, as when on high
Exploded thunder rends the vaulted sky:
A short convulsion shakes the solid shore,
And rocks th' adjacent deep, unmov'd before;
Loud acclamations through the vallies ring,
While to Augusta's wall the crowd attend their king.
-And now behold a finish'd temple rise*,

On lofty pillars climbing to the skies!

125

130

* The choir of St. Paul's was first opened on the

day of thanksgiving for the peace.

Of bulk stupendous, its proud pile it rears,
The gradual product of successive years.
An inner gate, that folds with iron leaves,
The charm'd spectators' ent'ring steps receives,
Where curious works in twisted stems are seen
Of branching foliage, vacuous between.
O'er this a vocal organ, mounted high
On marble columns strike the wond'ring eye,
And feeds at once two senses with delight,
Sweet to the ear and splendid to the sight:
Marble the floor, enrich'd with native stains
Of various dye, and streak'd with azure veins.
Ev'n emulous Art with Nature seems to strive,
And the carv'd figures almost breathe and live:
The painted altar, glorious to behold,

135

140

145.

Shines with delightful blue and dazzling gold.
Here first th' illustrious three, of heav'nly race,
Religion, Liberty, and Peace, embrace;
Here joyful crowds their pious. thanks express,

For Peace restor'd, and Heav'n's indulgence bless. 150
Auspicious Structure! born in happy days,
Whose first employment is the noblest, praise!
So when by just degrees th' Eternal Thought
His six days' labour to perfection brought,
With laws of motion first endued the whole,

155

And bade the heav'ns in destin'd circles roll,

The polish'd spheres commenc'd their harmony,

Alt nature in a chorus did agree,

And the world's birth-day was a jubilee.

159

ON KING WILLIAM's

RETURN FROM HOLLAND, 1699.

Addressed to the Right Hon.

CHARLES MONTAGUE, ESQ.

BEGIN, celestial Muse! a tuneful strain

Of Albion's prince conducted o'er the main ;
Of Courts conceal'd in waves, and Neptune's wat'ry

reign:

Sing from beneath, how the green deity

Rose to the sov'reign of the British sea;

To pow'r confess'd the triple mace resign'd,

5

O'er-rul'd the floods, and charg'd the rebel wind;
Setur'd his passage homeward, and restor❜d,
Safe to the loveliest Isle the best-lov'd lord.

The gen'rous name of Montagu has long
Been fam'd in verse, and grac'd the poet's song:
In verse himself can happy wonders do,

The best of patrons and of poets too.
Amid the skilful choir that court his ear,
If he vouchsafe these ruder lays to hear,
His bright example, while to him I sing,

10

45

Shall raise my feeble flight, and mount me on the wing.

On Albion's eastern coast, an ancient town *

O'erlooks the sea, to mariners well known,

* Harwich.

Where the swift Stourus* ends his snaky train,
And pays his wat'ry tribute to the main :
Stourus, whose stream, prolific as it glides,
Two fertile counties in its course divides,
And rolls to seaward with a lover's pace:
There beauteous Orwell meets his fond embrace;
They mix their am'rous streams, the briny tide
Receives them join'd; their crooked shores provide
A spacious bay within for anchor'd ships to ride.
Here, on the margin of the rolling flood,
Divinely fair! like sea-born Venus, stood
Britannia's Genius, in a robe array'd

Of broider'd arms, and heraldry display'd:
A crown of cities charg'd her graceful brows;
In waving curls her hair luxuriant flows;
Celestial glories in her eyes are seen;
Her stature tall, majestic is her mien.
With such a presence thro' th' adoring skies
Shines the great Parent of the deities;
Such tow'ry honours on her temples rise
When, drawn by lions, she proceeds in state;

20

25

30

35

40

Trains of attendant gods around her chariot wait;

The mother-goddess, with superior grace,

Surveys and numbers o'er her bright immortal race.
While thus the lovely Genius hovers o'er

The water's brink, and from the sandy shore

45

*The river Stoure, that runs between Suffolk and Essex.

Beholds th' alternate billows fall and rise,

(By turns they sink below, by turns they mount the "And must," she said-----

[skies)

50

Then paus'd, and drew a sigh of anxious love; "Must my dear lord this faithless ocean prove? "Escap'd the chance of war and fraud of foes, "Wilt thou to warring waves thy sacred life expose? "Why am I thus divided by the sea,

"From all the world, and all the world in thee? "Could sighs and tears the rage of tempests bind, 55 With tears I'd bribe the seas, with sighs the wind: Soft-sighing gales thy canvas should inspire.

66

"But hence, ye boist'rous storms! far hence retire "To inland woods; there your mad pow'rs appease, "And scour the dusty plains, or strip the forest trees; "Or lodg'd in hollow rocks, profoundly sleep,

61

"And rest from the loud labours of the deep! "Why should I fear?---If heroes be the care

"Of Heav'n above, and Heav'n inclines to pray'r, "Thou sail'st secure ; my sons with lifted eyes

65

And pious vows for thee have gain'd the skies. "Come, then, my much-lov'd lord! No more th'alarms "Of wasteful war require thee from my arms.

Thy sword gives plenteous peace; but without thee "Peace has no charms, and plenty's poverty.

70

At length enjoy, for whom you'ave fought, the queen "Of islands, bright, majestic, and serene ! "Unveil'd from clouds which did her form disguise, "And hid a thousand beauties from thy eyes.