Nor thy refiftlefs arm the bull withstood; To the Queen upon her Majesty's birth-day, &c. Queen Catharine, Infanta of Portugal, was born on the fourteenth of November N. S. 1638. but her birthday was obferv'd in England on the twenty fifth of that month, agreeable to the old method of computa tion; on which day Mr. Waller prefented this Poem to her Majefty, foon after her recovery from a dangerous fever, Anno Dom. 1663. Etat. fuæ 58. On your pale cheek &c.] Imitated from Tafe, Book XX. E'l bel volto, e'l bel feno à la meschina Bagnò d'alcuna lagrima pietofa ; &c. And her fair face, fair bofom, he bedews With tears; tears of remorse, of ruth, of sorrow : As the pale rofe her color loft renews, With the fresh drops fall'n from the filver Morrow : So, the revives; and cheeks empurpled fhews, Moift with their own tears, and with tears they borrow. + Page 137. | Page 138. Fairfax. This This Poem concludes that edition which was printed in the year 1664: at which time Mr. Waller exprefs'd his refolution to hang up his harp, by subfcribing these two verfes from Horace, Epift. 1. lib. 1. Nunc itaque & verfus, & cætera ludicra pono ; Quid verum, atque decens curo, & rogo, & omnis in hoc fum. But, fince he foon relaps'd into Poetry, I thought it would not be very material to preferve them any longer in their usual station. This happy day two lights are feen, A glorious Saint &c.] The Queen having been born on the fame day which the Kalendar appoints for commemorating the martyrdom of St. Catharine, or Ecaterina, or Eccaterina, (for those who agree in their invocations, differ about the orthography of her name; and cannot determine whether it is of Arabic, or of Grecian extraction) it is probable that her Majesty, after the mode of the Romish communion, adopted her for her Guardian Saint. And this conjecture feems to be confirm'd by the reverse of a Medal that was stamp'd after her arrival in England, (the Reader will find a type of it annex'd, Fig. V.) where St. Catharine is exprefs'd ftanding by the fragment of a wheel; having a palm in her right hand, and a fword revers'd in her left. In thefe verfes Mr. Waller mistakes the manner of her death to have been by being broken alive upon the wheel: but, her Legend fays that the machine was fhatter'd to pieces by light'ning, as foon as it was laid upon the scaffold ; whereupon Maximin order'd her head to be fever'd from her body both which were inftantly carry'd from Alexandria to mount Sinai by Angels; near to which they are at prefent deposited in a filver fhrine: : + Page 138, fhrine: fee Thevenot's Travels, Book I. Chap. 27. But, after all their pompous accounts of this VirginSaint, fome of the Romanifts, even Baronius himself, confefs there is a visible mixture of fable in her story: for which reafon, when the Parifian Breviary was reform'd about forty years fince, the revisers thought it was not worthy to be retain'd amongst the rest of their pious Romances. * When Lords and Commons with united voice &c.] King Charles at the meeting of his first Parliament in May 1661, imparted to them his intentions to marry the Infanta of Portugal: whereupon both Houfes attended his Majefty at Whitehall to exprefs their "humble acknowledgment and thanks for the free and gracious communication of his refolutions to "marry with the Infanta of Portugal; which they "conceiv'd to be of fo high a concernment to this "nation, that they receiv'd it with great joy and fa"tisfaction; and did with all earnestness beg a bles"fing upon, and a speedy accomplishment of it: "and they could not but exprefs their own unani mous refolutions; which they were confident "would have a general influence upon the hearts of "all his fubjects. That they fhould upon all occa"fions be ready to affift his Majefty in the purfu"ance of these his intentious, againft all oppofitions "whatsoever." With like confent, and like defert, was crown'd The glorious Prince &c.] John Sobieski while he was only Grand Marshal of the Crown, and Grand General of the Kingdom, of Poland, regain'd fixty towns from the Rebel-Coffacks in Ukrania; took from the Tartars all the Palatinate of Bracklaw; defeated the Ottoman army in the famous engagement at Choczim, that lafted three days; in which action action near thirty thousand Infidels were flain. Upon the death of King Michael he was elected to fucceed him in the throne of Poland, May 19, 1674: and ftill perfifted in his victorious progress against the Turks, 'till he constrain'd them to accept of a Peace. And when they afterwards invaded the Imperial territories, and had driven the Emperor from his capital city, he march'd in person against them, and rais'd the fiege of Vienna, ‡ in the manner I have lately recited. And, to crown all his other heroic qualities, it must be remember'd, that he was a paffionate lover of letters himself, and a generous protector of learned men. He dy'd at Warsaw, Anno Dom. 1696, in the 72d year of his age: having liv'd fo long, that his fubjects forgot how much both They, and all Christendom, ow'd to his valor; and transferr'd the Crown from his fon to another competitor. It appears from the date in the title of this Poem, that Mr. Waller wrote and prefented it to the Queen, Anno Etat. 78. * Venus, her myrtle; Phoebus has his bays.] Imitated from Virgil. Ecl. 7. Formofe myrtus Veneri, fua laurea Phabo. + *That bold nation, which the way did show To the fair region, where the fun does rife.] After Bartholomew Diaz, in making his obfervations on the coast of Afric, had discover'd the Cape of good hope; Vafco de Gama, with fome other Portuguese adventurers, about the year 1497, by the encouragement of King John II. and his fucceffor Emanuel, attempted a paffage to the Eaft-Indies by doubling the Cape; which they perform'd with fuccefs: and there they open'd a vein of commerce, that yielded immense wealth to the Kings of Portugal; of which for for fome time they remain'd fole proprietors without moleftation. Of her Royal Highness, mother to the Prince Mary Princefs of Orange was the eldest daughter of King Charles I, born at St. James's Anno Dom. 1631, and contracted in the tenth year of her age to William, only fon of Frederic Henry Prince of Orange. She was a Lady whose piety, and incomparable goodnefs of nature, were not confin'd to a fruitless compaffion of the calamities of her family; but, render'd her active in promoting their interefts, and bountiful to their friends, when they wanted her fupport, and protection. After nineteen years absence, she return'd to her native country, to partake in the general joy at her Brother's Reftoration. Soon after her arrival, the House of Commons prefented her Highness with ten thousand pounds: which, tho' it might in fome measure evidence their own duty, and affection; was but a poor equivalent for only one article of her bounty; fhe having for many years appropriated one half of her annual revenue, to the fupport of the Duke of Glocefter; that he might not be influenc'd to change his religion, by accepting a penfion from the Catholic Princes: but, her foul was too noble either to balance benefits herself, or to fuffer others to reduce them to a strict computation. After she had pafs'd about three months in England, the dy'd of the fmall-pox, and was interr'd in Henry VII's Chapel, December, 31. Anno Dom. 1660. Ætat. fuæ 29. At the time of his writing this Poem Mr. Waller appears to have been in the 55th year of his age. Page 141. Like |