}

XLII.
Long let this growing æra bless his sway;
And let our sons his present rule obey :
On his sure virtue long let earth rely,
And late let the imperial eagle fly,
Tơ bear the Hero through his father's sky,
To Leda's twins, or he whose glorious speed
On foot prevaild, or he who tam’d the steed;
To Hercules, at length absolv'd by fate
From earthly toil, and above envy great ;
To Virgil's theme, bright Cytherea's son,
Sire of the Latian and the British throne :

To all the radiant names above,
Rever'd by men, and dear to Jove;

Late, Janus, let the Nassau-star
New-born, in riling majefty appear,

To triumph over vanquish'd night, And guide the prosperous mariner With everlasting beams of friendly light.

The REMEDY worse than the DISEASE.

I SENT for Ratcliffe; was fo ill,

That other Doctors gave me over:
He felt my pulte, prescrib'd his pill,

And I was likely to recover.

But, when the wit began to wheeze,

And wine had warm’d the Politician,
Cur'd yesterday of my disease,

I dy'd last night of my Physician.

AN

Inscribed to the Memory of
The Honourable Colonel GEORGE VILLIERS,

Drowned in the River PIAVA, 1703.
In Imitation of HORACE, 1 Od. xxviii.

“ Te maris & terræ numeroque carentis arenæ
“ Menforem cohibent, Archyta, &c."

SAY

AY, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend

(Since fleeting life thus suddenly must end);
Say, what did all thy busy hopes avail,
That anxious thou from pole to pole didst sail,
Ere on thy chin the springing beard began
To spread a doubtful down, and promise man?
What profited thy thoughts, and toils, and cares,
In vigour more confirm’d, and riper years,
To wake, ere morning dawn, to loud alarms,
And march till clofe of night in heavy arms;
To scorn the summer's suns and winter's snows,
And search through every clime thy country's foes ;
That thou might'st Fortune to thy side engage;
That gentle Peace might quell Bellona’s rage ;
And Aona's bounty crown her soldier's hoary age?

In vain we think that free-willd man has power
To hasten or protract th' appointed hour.

Our

}

N 4

:

Our term of life depends not on our deed :
Before our birth our funeral was decreed.
Nor aw'd by foresight, nor misled by chance,
Imperious Death directs his ebon lance ;
Peoples great Henry's tombs, and leads up Holben's

dance.
Alike must every state and every age
Sustain the univerfal tyrant's rage :
For neither Williain's power, nor Mary's charms,
Could or repel or pacify his arms.
Young Churchill fell, as life began to bloom ;
And Bradford's trembling age expects the tomb :
Wisdom and eloquence in vain would plead
One moment's respite for the learned head :
Judges of writings and of men have dy'd ;
Mæcenas, Sackville, Socrates, and Hyde :
And in their various turns the fons must tread
Those gloomy journies which their fires have led.

The ancient Sage, who did so long maintain,
That bodies dic, but fouls return again,
With all the births and deaths he had in store,
Went out Pythagoras, and came no more.
And modern Afgyll, whose capricious thought
Is yet with stores of wilder notions fraught,
Too foon convinc'd, thall yield that fleeting breatlig
Which play'd so idly with the darts of death.

Some from the stranded vefsel force their way;
Fearful of fate, they meet it in the sea :
Some, who escape the fury of the wave,
Sicken on earth, and ink into a grave :

}

In journies or at home, in war or peace,
By hardships many, many fall by ease.
Each changing season does its poifon bring;
Rheums chill the winter, agues blast the spring :
Wet, dry, cold, hot, at the appointed hour,
All act subfervient to the tyrant's power :
And, when obedient Nature knows his will,
A fly, a grape-stone, or a hair, can kill.

For restless Proferpine for ever treads
In paths unseen, o'er our devoted heads ;
And on the spacious land, and liquid main,
Spreads Now disease, or darts affli&tive pain :
Variety of deaths confirm her endless reign.

On curst Piava's banks the Goddefs stood,
Shew'd her dire warrant to the rising flood;
When what I long muft love, and long must móurn,
With fatal speed was urging his return;
In his dear country, to disperfe his care,
And arm himself by rest for future war ;
To chide his anxious friends officious fears,
And promise to their joys his elder years :

Oh! destin'd head! and oh! fevere decree! Nor native country thou, nor friend, shalt fee; Nor war hast thou to wage; nor year to come : Impending death is thine, and instant doom.

Hark! the imperious Goddess is obey'd : Winds murmur; snows descend ; and waters spreado. Oh! kinsman, friend-Oh! vain are all the cries of human voice, ftrong Destiny replies :

Weed,

Weep, you on earth ; for he shall Neep below:
Thence none return, and thither all must go.

Whoe'er thou art, whom choice or business leads
To this fad river, or the neighbouring meads ;
If thou may'it happen on the dreary shores
To find the object which this verse deplores,
Cleanse the pale corpse with a religious hand
From the polluting weed and common sand;
Lay the dead Hero graceful in a grave
(The only honour he can now receive),
And fragrant mould upon his body throw,
And plant the warrior-laurel o'er his brow :
Light lie the earth, and flourish green the bough.

So may just Heaven secure thy future life From foreign dangers and domestic strife ! And, when th’ infernal judge's dismal power From the dark urn shall throw thy destin'd hour ; When, yielding to the sentence, breathless thou And pale shalt lie, as what thou buriest now; May some kind friend the piteous object see, And equal rites perform to that which once was thee !

}

Ꮲ Ꭱ 0 Ꮮ 0 G U E
Spoken at Court before the QUEEN,
On her MAJESTY's Birth-Day, 1704.

SHINE forth, ye planets, with distinguish'd light,

As when ye hallow'd first this happy night :
Again transmit your friendly beams to earth,
As when Britannia joy'd for Anna's birth.

And