Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

Was it for this the fun's whole luftre fail'd, And fudden midnight o'er the noon prevail'd! For this did heav'n display to mortal eyes

Aërial knights and combats in the skies!

Was it for this Northumbrian streams look'd red,
And Thames driv'n backward fhow'd his fecret bed!
Falfe auguries! th' infulting victors fcorn!
Ev'n our own prodigies against us turn!
O portents conftru'd on our fide in vain!
Let never Tory truft eclipse again!

Run clear, ye fountains! be at peace, ye fkies!
And, Thames, henceforth to thy green borders rife!
To Rome then must the royal wand'rer go,
And fall a fuppliant at the papal toe?

His life in floth inglorious must he wear,

One half in luxury, and one in pray'r?

His mind perhaps at length, debauch'd with eafe,
The proffer'd purple and the hat may please.
Shall he, whofe ancient patriarchal race
To mighty Nimrod in one line we trace,
In folemn conclave fit, devoid of thought,
And poll for points of faith his trufty vote!
Be fummon'd to his ftall in time of need,
And with his casting suffrage fix a creed !

[blocks in formation]

Shall he in robes on stated days appear,

And English heretics curfe once a year!

Garnet and Faux fhall he with pray'rs invoke,

And beg that Smithfield piles once more may smoak ! Forbid it heav'n! my foul, to fury wrought,

Turns almost Hanoverian at the thought.

From James and Rome I feel my heart decline,
And fear, O Brunswick, 'twill be wholly thine
Yet still his share thy rival will contest,

And still the double claim divides my breast:
The fate of James with pitying eyes I view,
And wifh my homage were not Brunswick's due;
To James my paffions and my weakness guide,
But reafon sways me to the victor's fide.
Though griev'd I speak it, let the truth appear;
(You know my language, and my heart, fincere.)
In vain did falfhood his fair fame disgrace;
What force had falfhood, when he show'd his face!
In vain to war our boastful clans were led ;

Heaps driven on heaps, in the dire fhock they fled:
France fhuns his wrath, nor raises to our shame
A fecond Dunkirk in another name:

In Britain's funds their wealth all Europe throws,
And up the Thames the world's abundance flows:

Spite of feign'd fears, and artificial cries,
The pious town fees fifty churches rise :
The hero triumphs as his worth is known,
And fits more firmly on his shaken throne.

Το my fad thought no beam of hope appears
Through the long profpect of fucceeding years;
The son, aspiring to his father's fame,
Shows all his fire: another and the fame.
He bleft in lovely Carolina's arms,

To future ages propagates her charms:
With pain and joy at ftrife, I often trace
The mingled parents in each daughter's face;
Half fick❜ning at the fight, too well I spie
The father's spirit through the mother's eye:
In vain new thoughts of rage I entertain,

[ocr errors]

And ftrive to hate their innocence in vain.

O princess! happy by thy foes confefs'd!
Bleft in thy husband! in thy children bleft!
As they from thee, from them new beauties born,
While Europe lafts, fhall Europe's thrones adorn.
Transplanted to each court, in times to come,
Thy fmile celeftial and un-fading bloom

Great Auftria's fons with fofter lines fhall grace,
And smooth the frowns of Bourbon's haughty race.

VOL. I.

F

The

The fair defcendents of thy facred bed
Wide-branching o'er the western world shall spread,
Like the fam'd Banian tree, whose pliant shoot
To earthward bending of itself takes root,

'Till like their mother plant, ten thousand stand
In verdant arches on the fertile land;

Beneath her fhade the tawny Indians rove,

Or hunt at large through the wide echoing grove.
O thou, to whom these mournful lines I fend,
My promis'd husband, and my dearest friend;
Since heav'n appoints this favour'd race to reign,
And blood has drench'd the Scottish fields in vain ;
Must I be wretched, and thy flight partake?
Or wilt not thou, for thy lov'd Chloe's fake,
Tir'd out at length, fubmit to Fate's decree ?
If not to Brunswick, O return to me!
Proftrate before the victor's mercy bend :

What spares whole thousands, may to thee extend.
Should blinded friends thy doubtful conduct blame,
Great Brunswick's virtues will fecure thy fame:
Say, these invite thee to approach his throne,
And own the monarch heav'n vouchsafes to own.
The world, convinc'd, thy reasons will approve;
Say this to Them; but fwear to Me 'twas love.

THE

[merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][ocr errors][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]

WH

To make the name of ANNA live,

By future people to be fung,

The labour of each grateful tongue?
Can faithful registers, or rhyme,

In charming eloquence, or sprightly wit,
The wonders of her reign tranfmit

To th' unborn children of fucceeding time?

Can painters' oil, or statuaries' art,

Eternity to her impart ?

No! titled ftatues are but empty things,

Infcrib'd to royal vanity,

[blocks in formation]
« ПредишнаНапред »