Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham Part 21

[1] 'Year 1683': see History.

[2] 'Peace is signed': the Peace of Nimeguen.

A PRESAGE OF THE RUIN OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE; PRESENTED TO HIS MAJESTY KING JAMES II. ON HIS BIRTHDAY.

Since James the Second graced the British throne, Truce, well observed, has been infring'd by none; Christians to him their present union owe, And late success against the common foe; While neighb'ring princes, both to urge their fate, Court his a.s.sistance, 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. 10 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, s.h.i.+ne with aspect 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; 20 His fleet, his array, and his mighty mind, Esteem and rev'rence 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. 30

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. .h.i.ther brought. 40

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 int'rest one; 50 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 began; And this great day, (so justly honour'd here!) Known to the East, and celebrated there.

Haec ego longaevus cecini tibi, maxime regum!

Ausus et ipse manu juvenum tentare laborem.--VIRG.

EPISTLES.

TO THE KING, ON HIS NAVY.

Where'er thy navy spreads her canvas wings, Homage to thee, and peace to all she brings; The French and Spaniard, when thy flags appear, Forget their hatred, and consent to fear.

So Jove from Ida did both hosts survey, And when he pleased to thunder, part the fray.

s.h.i.+ps heretofore in seas like fishes sped, The mightiest still upon the smallest fed; Thou on the deep imposest n.o.bler laws, And by that justice hast removed the cause 10 Of those rude tempests, which for rapine sent, Too oft, alas! involved the innocent.

Now shall the ocean, as thy Thames, be free From both those fates, of storms and piracy.

But we most happy, who can fear no force But winged troops, or Pegasean horse.

'Tis not so hard for greedy foes to spoil Another nation, as to touch our soil.

Should Nature's self invade the world again, And o'er the centre spread the liquid main, 20 Thy power were safe, and her destructive hand Would but enlarge the bounds of thy command; Thy dreadful fleet would style thee lord of all, And ride in triumph o'er the drowned ball; Those towers of oak o'er fertile plains might go, And visit mountains where they once did grow.

The world's Restorer once could not endure That finish'd Babel should those men secure, Whose pride design'd that fabric to have stood Above the reach of any second flood; 30 To thee, his chosen, more indulgent, he Dares trust such power with so much piety.

TO MR HENRY LAWES,[1] WHO HAD THEN NEWLY SET A SONG OF MINE IN THE YEAR 1635.

Verse makes heroic virtue live; But you can life to verses give.

As when in open air we blow, The breath, though strain'd, sounds flat and low; But if a trumpet take the blast, It lifts it high, and makes it last: So in your airs our numbers dress'd, Make a shrill sally from the breast Of nymphs, who, singing what we penn'd, Our pa.s.sions to themselves commend; 10 While love, victorious with thy art, Governs at once their voice and heart.

You by the help of tune and time, Can make that song that was but rhyme.

Noy[2] pleading, no man doubts the cause; Or questions verses set by Lawes.

As a church window, thick with paint, Lets in a light but dim and faint; So others, with division, hide The light of sense, the poet's pride: 20 But you alone may proudly boast That not a syllable is lost; The writer's and the setter's skill At once the ravish'd ears do fill.

Let those which only warble long, And gargle in their throats a song, Content themselves with Ut, Re, Mi:[3]

Let words, and sense, be set by thee.

[1] 'Lawes': an eminent musical composer, who composed the music for Milton's Comus.

[2] 'Noy': Attorney-General to Charles I., had died in 1635. By a poetical licence Waller represents him still pleading.

[3] 'Ut, Re, Mi': Lawes opposed the Italian music.

THE COUNTRY TO MY LADY CARLISLE.[1]

1 Madam, of all the sacred Muse inspired, Orpheus alone could with the woods comply; Their rude inhabitants his song admired, And Nature's self, in those that could not lie: Your beauty next our solitude invades, And warms us, s.h.i.+ning through the thickest shades.

2 Nor ought the tribute, which the wond'ring Court Pays your fair eyes, prevail with you to scorn The answer and consent to that report Which, echo-like, the country does return: Mirrors are taught to flatter, but our springs Present th'impartial images of things.

3 A rural judge disposed of beauty's prize; A simple shepherd was preferr'd to Jove; Down to the mountains from the partial skies, Came Juno, Pallas, and the Queen of Love, To plead for that which was so justly given To the bright Carlisle of the court of heaven.

4 Carlisle! a name which all our woods are taught, Loud as their Amaryllis, to resound; Carlisle! a name which on the bark is wrought Of every tree that's worthy of the wound.

From Phoebus' rage our shadows and our streams May guard us better than from Carlisle's beams.

[1] 'Lady Carlisle': the Lady Lucy Percy, daughter of the Earl of Northumberland, married against her father's wishes to the Earl of Carlisle. She was a wit and _intriguante_.

TO PHYLLIS.