289 They have not lost their loyalty by fire; Nor is their courage or their wealth so low, 290 Not with more constancy the Jews of old, By Cyrus from rewarded exile sent, Their royal city did in dust behold, Or with more vigour to rebuild it went. 291 The utmost malice of their stars is past, And two dire comets, which have scourged the town, In their own plague and fire have breathed the last, Or dimly in their sinking sockets frown. 292 Now frequent trines the happier lights among, And high-raised Jove, from his dark prison freed, Those weights took off that on his planet hung, Will gloriously the new-laid work succeed. 293 Methinks already from this chemic flame, 294 Already labouring with a mighty fate, She shakes the rubbish from her mounting brow, And seems to have renew'd her charter's date, Which Heaven will to the death of time allow. 295 More great than human now, and more august, ! 296 Before, she like some shepherdess did show, 297 Now, like a maiden queen, she will behold, From her high turrets, hourly suitors come; The East with incense, and the West with gold, Will stand, like suppliants, to receive her doom. 298 The silver Thames, her own domestic flood, Shall bear her vessels like a sweeping train; And often wind, as of his mistress proud, With longing eyes to meet her face again. 299 The wealthy Tagus, and the wealthier Rhine, The glory of their towns no more shall boast; And Seine, that would with Belgian rivers join, Shall find her lustre stain'd, and traffic lost. 300 The venturous merchant who design'd more far, And touches on our hospitable shore, Charm'd with the splendour of this northern star, 301 Our powerful navy shall no longer meet, The wealth of France or Holland to invade ; The beauty of this town without a fleet, From all the world shall vindicate her trade. 302 And while this famed emporium we prepare, The British ocean shall such triumphs boast, That those, who now disdain our trade to share, Shall rob like pirates on our wealthy coast. 303 Already we have conquer'd half the war, And the less dangerous part is left behind: And not so great to vanquish as to find. 304 Thus to the Eastern wealth through storms we go, AN ESSAY UPON SATIRE. BY MR DRYDEN AND THE EARL OF MULGRAVE,1 1679. How dull, and how insensible a beast Is man, who yet would lord it o'er the rest! In every age the lumpish mass to move: But those were pedants, when compared with these, In charming numbers; so that as men grew And is the boldest way, if not the best, To tell men freely of their foulest faults; To laugh at their vain deeds, and vainer thoughts. 10 ''Mulgrave:' Sheffield, Duke of Buckingham. It was for this satire, the joint composition of Dryden and Sheffield, that Rochester hired bravoes to cudgel Dryden. In satire too the wise took different ways, Whilst others laugh'd and scorn'd them into shame. As men aim rightest when they shoot in jest. Beyond the loose writ libels of this age, Who, judging better, though concern'd the most, ''Armstrong:' Sir Thomas Armstrong, a notorious character of the time -hanged at Tyburn. Like her, who miss'd her name in a lampoon, Of such a wretched rabble who would write? As dull as Monmouth, rather than Sir Carr ? 1 With whom each rhyming fool keeps such a pother, In loyal libels we have often told him, To make that great false jewel shine the more; 47 60 70 ''Carr:' Sir Carr Scrope, a wit of the time.- 2 Beastly brace:' Duchess of Portsmouth and Nell Gwynn.—3 · Earnely:' Sir John Earnely, one of the lords of the treasury. -Aylesbury:' Robert, the first Earl of Aylesbury.— Danby:' Thomas, Earl of Danby, lord high-treasurer of England. |