To the Reverend

INS,

Dr. WILKIN

Warden of Wadham College in Oxford.

SIR,

EEING you are pleased to think fit that thefe Papers fhould come into the Public, which were at firft defigned to live only in a Desk, or fome private Friend's Hands; I humbly take the Boldness to commit them to the Security which your Name and Protection will give them with the most knowing Part of the World. There are two things especially in which they stand in need of your Defence: One is, That they fall fo infinitely below the full and lofty Genius of that excellent Poet, who made this way of Writing free of our Nation: The other, That they are so little proportioned and equal to the Renown of that Prince, on whom VOL. II.

they

they were written. Such great Actions and Lives deferving rather to be the Subjects of the nobleft Pens and divine Fancies, than of fuch small Beginners and weak Eflayers in Poetry as myself. Against these dangerous Prejudices, there remains no other Shield, than the univerfal Efteem and Authority which your Judgment and Approbation carries with it. The Right you have to them, Sir, is not only on the Account of the Relation you had to this great Person, nor of the general Favour which all Arts receive from you; but more particularly by reason of that Obligation and Zeal with which I am bound to dedicate myself to your Service: For having been a long time the Object of your Care and Indulgence towards the Advantage of my Studies and Fortune, having been moulded, as it were, by your own Hands, and formed under your Government, not to intitle you to any thing which my Meannefs produces, would not only be Injuftice, but Sacrilege: So that if there be any thing here tolerably faid, which deferves Pardon, it is yours, Sir, as well as he, who is,

Your most devated,

and obliged Servant,

THO. SPRAT.

To the happy MEMORY of the late】

LORD PROTECTOR.

'T

I.

IS true, great Name, thou art fecure
From the Forgetfulness and Rage
Of Death, or Envy, or devouring Age;
Thou canft the Force and Teeth of Time
endure:

Thy Fame, like Men, the elder it doth grow,

Will of itself turn whiter too,

"Without what needlefs Art can do ;

Will live beyond thy Breath, beyond thy Hearfe,
Tho' it were never heard or fung in Verfe.
Without our Help, thy Memory is fafe;
They only want an Epitaph,

That do remain alone

Alive in an Infcription,

Remembred only on the Brafs, or Marble-ftone, "Tis all in vain what we can do:

All our Rofes and Perfumes

Will but officious Folly show,

And pious Nothings to fuch mighty Tombs,
All our Incenfe, Gums and Balm,
Are but unneceffary Duties here:
The Poets may their Spices fpare,

Their coftly Numbers, and their tuneful Feet:
That need not be imbalm'd, which of itself is fweet.

II.

We know to praise thee is a dangerous Proof
Of our Obedience and our Love:

For when the Sun and Fire meet,
The one's extinguish'd quite;
And yet the other never is more bright.
So they that write of thee, and join
Their feeble Names with thine;

Their weaker Sparks with thy illuftrious Light,
Will lose themselves in that ambitious Thought;
And yet no Fame to thee from hence be brought.
We know, blefs'd Spirit, thy mighty Name
Wants no Addition of another's Beam;

It's for our Pens too high, and full of Theme:
The Mufes are made great by thee, not thou by them,
Thy Fame's eternal Lamp will live,

And in thy facred Urn furvive,

Without the Food of Oil, which we can give. 'Tis true; but yet our Duty calls our Songs; Duty commands our Tongues:

Tho' thou want not our Praises, we

Are not excus'd for what we owe to thee;
For fo Men from Religion are not freed,
But from the Altars Clouds muft rife,
Tho' Heaven itself doth nothing need,
And tho' the Gods don't want an earthly Sacrifice.

III

Great Life of Wonders, whofe each Year

Full of new Miracles did appear!

Whose every Month might be
Alone a Chronicle, or History!

Others great Actions are

But thinly fcatter'd here and there

At best, but all one fingle Star;
But thine the Milky-way,

All one continued Light, of undiftinguish'd Day;

They