Did I not know my humble verse must be.
But ill-proportion'd to the height of thee,
Thou and the world fhould fee

How much my Muse, the foe of flattery,
Does make true praise her labour and defign
An Iliad or an Eneid fhould be thine.

And ill fhould we deserve this happy day,
If no acknowledgements we pay

To you, great patriots of the two.

Moft truly Other Houses now;

Who have redeem'd from hatred and from thame

A Parliament's once venerable name;

And now the title of a House restore,

To that which was but Slaughter-houfe before.
If my advice, ye worthies! might be ta'en,
Within those reverend places,

Which now your living presence graces,
Your marble-statues always fhould remain,
To keep alive ufeful
your
memory,

And to your fucceffors th' example be

Of truth, religion, reafon, loyalty:

For, though a firmly-fettled peace

May shortly make your public labours cease,
The grateful nation will with joy confent
That in this sense you should be said,

(Though yet the name founds with fome dread) To be the Long, the Endless, Parliament.

ON

ON THE QUEEN'S REPAIRING

SOMERSET HOUSE.

WHEN God (the caufe to me and men unknown)

Forfook the royal houses, and his own,

And both abandon'd to the common foe;

How near to ruin did my glories go!

Nothing remain'd t' adorn this princely place

Which covetous hands could take, or rude deface.
In all my rooms and galleries I found
The richest figures torn, and all around
Difmember'd ftatues of great heroes lay;
Such Nafeby's field feem'd on the fatal day!
And me, when nought for robbery was left,
They ftarv'd to death: the gasping walls were cleft,
The pillars funk, the roofs above me wept,
No fign of fpring, or joy, my garden kept;
Nothing was feen which could content the eye,
Till dead the impious tyrant here did lie.

See how my face is chang'd! and what I am
Since my true miftrefs, and now foundrefs, came t
It does not fill her bounty to restore

Me as I was (nor was I fmall before) :

She imitates the kindnefs to her shown;

She does, like Heaven (which the dejected throne
At once reftores, fixes, and higher rears)
Strengthen, enlarge, exalt, what the repairs.
Oz

And

And now I dare (though proud I must not be,
Whilst my great mistress I so humble see
In all her various glories) now I dare
Ev'n with the proudest palaces compare.
My beauty and convenience will, I 'm sure,
So just a boast with modesty endure ;
And all must to me yield, when I shall tell
How I am plac'd, and who does in me dwell.
Before my gate a street's broad channel goes,
Which still with waves of crowding people flows.j
And every day there paffes by my fide,

Up to its western reach, the London tide,

The spring-tides of the term: my front looks down
On all the pride and business of the town;
My other front (for, as in kings we fee
The livelieft image of the Deity,

We in their houses fhould heaven's likeness find,
Where nothing can be faid to be Behind)
My other fair and more majestic face

(Who can the fair to more advantage place?)
For ever gazes on itself below,

In the best mirror that the world can fhow.
And here behold, in a long bending row,
How two joint-cities make one glorious bow!
The midft, the nobleft place, poffefs'd by me,
Beft to be seen by all, and all o'er-fee!
Which way foe'er I turn my joyful eye,
Here the great court, there the rich town, I fpy;
On either fide dwells fafety and delight;
Wealth on the left, and power upon the right.

T' affure

T' affure yet my defence, on either hand,
Like mighty forts, in equal distance ftand
Two of the best and stateliest piles which e'er
Man's liberal piety of old did rear ;

Where the two princes of th' Apostles' band,

My neighbours and my guards, watch and command."
My warlike guard of fhips, which farther lie,
Might be my object too, were not the eye
Stopt by the houses of that wondrous street
Which rides o'er the broad river like a fleet..
The ftream's eternal fiege they fixt abide,
And the swoln ftream's auxiliary tide,

Though both their ruin with joint power confpire;,
Both to out-braye, they nothing dread but fire.
And here my Thames, though it more gentle be
Than any flood fo ftrengthen'd by the fea,
Finding by art his natural forces broke,
And bearing, captive-like, the arched yoke,
Does roar, and foam, and rage, at the disgrace,
But recomposes strait, and calms his face;
Is into reverence and fubmiffion strook,

As foon as from afar he does but look

Tow'rds the white palace, where that king does reign
Who lays his laws and bridges o'er the main.
Amidst thefe louder honours of my feat,
And two vaft cities, troublesomely great,
In a large various plain the country too
Opens her gentler bleffings to my view:
In me the active and the quiet mind,
By different ways, equal content may find.
0/3.

If

If any prouder virtuoso's sense

At that part of my prospect take offence,
By which the meaner cabbins are descry'd,
Of my imperial river's humbler fide—
If they call that a blemish-let them know,
God, and my godlike mistress, think not fo;
For the diftrefs'd and the afflicted lie

Most in their care, and always in their eye.

And thou, fair river! who ftill pay'st to me Just homage, in thy paffage to the fea, Take here this one inftruction as thou go'stWhen thy mixt waves fhall vifit every coast; When round the world their voyage they fhall make, And back to thee fome fecret channels take; Afk them what nobler fight they e'er did meet, Except thy mighty mafter's fovereign fleet, Which now triumphant o'er the main does ride, The terror of all lands, the ocean's pride. From hence his kingdoms, happy now at last, (Happy, if wife by their misfortunes paft!) From hence may omens take of that fuccefs Which both their future wars and peace fhall bless. The peaceful mother on mild Thames does build ; With her fon's fabricks the rough fea is fill'd.

THE