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But the bright orb that bleffes all above,
The facred fire, the real fon of Jove,
Rules not his actions by capricious will;
Nor by ungovern'd power declines to ill :
Fix'd by just laws, he goes for ever right:
Man knows his course, and thence adores his light.
XLI.

O Janus! would intreated Fate conspire

Το grant what Britain's wishes could require;
Above, that Sun fhould cease his way to go,

Ere William cease to rule, and blefs below:
But a relentless Destiny

Urges all that e'er was born:

Snatch'd from her arms, Britannia once must mourn

The Demi-God; the earthly half must die.

Yet if our incenfe can your wrath remove;

;

If human prayers avail on minds above
Exert, great God! thy intereft in the sky,
Gain each kind Power, each guardian Deity;
That, conquer'd by the public vow,
They bear the dismal mischief far away!
O! long as utmost nature may allow,
Let them retard the threaten'd day!
Still be our mafter's life thy happy care:
Still let his bleffings with his years increase:
To his laborious youth, confum'd in war,
Add lafting age, adorn'd and crown'd with peace:
Let twifted olives bind thofe laurels faft,

Whofe verdure muft for ever laft!

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XLII.

Long let this growing æra bless his sway;
And let our fons his prefent rule obey :
On his fure virtue long let earth rely,
And late let the imperial eagle fly,

To bear the Hero through his father's fky,
To Leda's twins, or he whose glorious speed
On foot prevail'd, 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 fon,
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 Naffau-ftar
New-born, in rifing majefty appear,

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

I

The REMEDY worse than the DISEASE.

SENT for Ratcliffe; was fo ill,

That other Doctors gave me over:
He felt my pulfe, 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 laft night of my Phyfician.

AN

ANO DE

Infcribed to the Memory of

The Honourable Colonel GEORGE VILLIERS, Drowned in the River PIAVA, 1703.

In Imitation of HORACE, I Od. xxviii.

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

AY, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend

SA

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(Since fleeting life thus fuddenly must end);
Say, what did all thy busy hopes avail,
That anxious thou from pole to pole didst fail,
Ere on thy chin the fpringing beard began
To fpread 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 close of night in heavy arms ;
To fcorn the fummer's funs and winter's fnows,
And fearch through every clime thy country's foes;
That thou might'st Fortune to thy fide engage;
That gentle Peace might quell Bellona's rage;
And Anna's bounty crown her foldier's hoary age?
In vain we think that free-will'd man has power
To haften or protract th' appointed hour.
N 4

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Our

Our term of life depends not on our deed :
Before our birth our funeral was decreed.
Nor aw'd by forefight, nor misled by chance,
Imperious Death directs his ebon lance;

Peoples great Henry's tombs, and leads up Holben's

dance.

Alike muft every state and every age

Suftain the univerfal tyrant's rage:

For neither William'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 :
Wifdom and eloquence in vain would plead
One moment's refpite 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 fo 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, whofe capricious thought
Is yet with ftores of wilder notions fraught,
Too foon convinc'd, shall yield ́that fleeting breath,
Which play'd fo idly with the darts of death.
Some from the ftranded veffel force their way;
Fearful of fate, they meet it in the fea:
Some, who efcape the fury of the wave,
Sicken on earth, and fink into a grave:

In journies or at home, in war or peace,
By hardships many, many fall by eafe.
Each changing feafon does its poifon bring;
Rheums chill the winter, agues blast the spring:
Wet, dry, cold, hot, at the appointed hour,
All act fubfervient to the tyrant's power:
And, when obedient Nature knows his will,
A fly, a grape-ftone, or a hair, can kill.
For reftlefs Proferpine for ever treads
In paths unfeen, o'er our devoted heads;
And on the spacious land, and liquid main,
Spreads flow difeafe, or darts afflictive pain :
Variety of deaths confirm her endless reign.

On curft Piava's banks the Goddefs ftood,
Shew'd her dire warrant to the rifing flood;
When what I long muft love, and long muft mourn,

With fatal fpeed was urging his return;
In his dear country, to difperfe his care,
And arm himself by rest for future war;
To chide his anxious friends officious fears,
And promife to their joys his elder years:

Oh! deftin'd head! and oh! fevere decree!
Nor native country thou, nor friend, fhalt fee;
Nor war haft thou to wage; nor year to come :
Impending death is thine, and inftant doom.

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Hark! the imperious Goddess is obey'd: Winds murmur; fnows defcend; and waters spread.Oh! kinfman, friend-Oh! vain are all the cries Of human voice, ftrong Deftiny replies::

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