Ordain'd, whom every province fhould obey;
How far each monarch should extend his sway;'
Taught them how clemency made power rever'd;
And that the prince belov'd was truly fear'd.
Firm by his fide unfpotted Honour stood,
Pleas'd to confefs him not fo great as good :
His head with brighter beams fair Virtue deck'd,
Than those which all his numerous crowns reflect;
Establish'd Freedom clapp'd her joyful wings;
Proclaim'd the first of men, and best of kings..
XVI.
Whither would the Muse afpire
With Pindar's rage, without his fire;
Pardon me, Janus, 'twas a fault,
Created by too great a thought:
Mindlefs of the God and day,
I from thy altars, Janus, ftray,
From thee, and from myself, borne far away.
The fiery Pegasus difdains
To mind the rider's voice, or hear the reins:
When glorious fields and opening camps he views,
He runs with an unbounded loofe :
Hardly the Mufe can fit the headstrong horse;
Nor would fhe, if fhe could, check his impetuous force;
With the glad noife the cliffs and vallies ring,
While fhe through earth and air purfues the king.
She now beholds him on the Belgic fhore;
Whilft Britain's tears his ready help implore,
Diffembling for her fake his rifing cares,
And with wife filence pondering vengeful wars,
She through the raging ocean now
Views him advancing his aufpicious prow;
Combating adverfe winds and winter feas,
Sighing the moments that defer our ease;
Daring to weild the scepter's dangerous weight,
And taking the command, to fave the state;
Though, ere the doubtful gift can be fecur'd,
New wars must be fuftain'd, new wounds endur'd.
XVIII.
Through rough Ierne's camps fhe founds alarms,
And kingdoms yet to be redeem'd by arms;
In the dank marfhes finds her glorious theme ;
And plunges after him through Boyne's fierce ftream.
She bids the Nereids run with trembling haste,
To tell old Ocean how the Hero past.
The God rebukes their fear, and owns the praife
Worthy that arm, whofe empire he obeys.
Back to his Albion fhe delights to bring
The humbleft victor, and the kindest king.
Albion with open triumph would receive
Her Hero, nor obtains his leave:
Firm he rejects the altars fhe would raise;
And thanks the zeal, while he declines the praife.
Again the follows him through Belgia's land,
And countries often fav'd by William's hand;
Hears joyful nations blefs thofe happy toils,
Which freed the people, but return'd the fpoils.
In various views fhe tries her conftant theme;
Finds him in councils, and in arms the fame;
When certain to o'ercome, inclin❜d to fave,
Tardy to vengeance, and with mercy brave.
XX.
Sudden another fcene employs her fight
She fets her Hero in another light;
Paints his great mind fuperior to fuccess,
Declining conquest, to establish peace :
She brings Aftrea down to earth again ;
And Quiet, brooding o'er his future reign.
XXI.
Then with unweary wing the Goddefs foars
Eaft, over Danube and Propontis' shores ;
Where jarring empires, ready to engage,
Retard their armies, and fufpend their rage;
Till William's word, like that of Fate, declares,
If they fhall study peace, or lengthen wars.
How facred his renown for equal laws,
To whom the world defers its common cause !
How fair his friendships, and his leagues how juft,
Whom every nation courts, whom all religions truft!
XXII.
From the Mæotis to the Northern fea,
The Goddess wings her defperate way; Sees the young Mufcovite, the mighty head, Whose fovereign terror forty nations dread, Inamour'd with a greater monarch's praise, And paffing half the earth to his embrace :
She in his rule beholds his Volga's force,
O'er precipices with impetuous fway
Breaking, and, as he rolls his rapid course,
Drowning, or bearing down, whatever meets his way.
But her own king the likens to his Thames,
With gentle course devolving fruitful streams;
Serene yet strong, majestic yet sedate,
Swift without violence, without terror great.
Each ardent nymph the rifing current craves ;
Each fhepherd's prayer. retards the parting waves;
The vales along the bank their sweets disclose;
Fresh flowers for ever rise; and fruitful harvest grows...
XXIII.
Yet whither would th' adventurous Goddefs go?
Sees the not clouds, and earth, and main, below?
Minds the the dangers of the Lycian coast,
And fields, where mad Bellerophon was lost
Or is her towering flight reclaim'd
By feas from Icarus's downfall nam'd?
Vain is the call, and useless the advice:
To wife perfuafion deaf, and human cries,
Yet upward fhe inceffant flies;
Refolv'd to reach the high empyrean sphere,
And tell great Jove, fhe fings his image here;
To ask for William an Olympic crown,
To Chromius' strength, and Theron's speed unknown:
Till, loft in trackless fields of fhining day,
Unable to difcern the way,
Which Naffau's virtue only could explore,
Untouch'd, unknown, to any Muse before;
She, from the noble precipices thrown,
Comes rushing with uncommon ruin down.
Glorious attempt unhappy fate!
The fong too daring, and the theme too great!.
Yet rather thus fhe wills to die,
Than in continued annals live, to fing
A fecond hero, or a vulgar king;
And with ignoble fafety fly
In fight of earth, along a middle sky.
To Janus', altars, and the numerous throng
That round his myftic temple prefs,
For William's life and Albion's peace,
Ambitious Mufe, reduce the roving fong.
Janus, caft thy forward eye
Future, into great Rhea's pregnant womb;
Where young ideas brooding lie,
And tender images of things to come :
Till, by thy high commands releas'd,
Till, by thy hand in proper atoms dress'd,
In decent order they advance to light;
Yet then too swiftly fleet by human fight;
And meditate too foon their everlasting flight.
XXV.
Nor beaks of ships in naval triumph borne,
Nor ftandards from the hoftile ramparts torn,
-Nor trophies brought from battles won,
Nor oaken wreath, nor mural crown,
|
