But the bright orb that blesses 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 courfe, and thence adores his light.
XLI.

O Janus! would intreated Fate confpire

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

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

Urges all that e'er was born:

Snatch'd from her arms, Britannia once muft 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 master'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 twisted olives bind thofe laurels faft,

Whofe verdure muft for ever last!

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 sky,
To Leda's twins, or he whose glorious speed
On foot prevail'd, or he who tam'd the steed;
To Hercules, at length abfolv'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.

The REMEDY worse than the DISEASE.

ISENT for Ratcliffe; was fo ill,

That other Doctors gave me over:
He felt my pulfe, prefcrib'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."

SA

AY, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend
(Since fleeting life thus fuddenly muft end);
Say, what did all thy bufy hopes avail,
That anxious thou from pole to pole didst fail,
Ere on thy chin the springing beard began
To spread 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'ft 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.

Our term of life depends not on our deed :
Before our birth our funeral was decreed.
Nor aw'd by forefight, nor mifled by chance,
Imperious Death directs his ebon lance;
Peoples great Henry's tombs, and leads

dance.

Alike muft every ftate and every age Suftain the univerfal tyrant's rage:

up

Holben's

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 :
Wisdom 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

Thofe gloomy journies which their fires have led.

Is

yet

The ancient Sage, who did so long maintain, That bodies die, but fouls return again, With all the births and deaths he had in ftore, Went out Pythagoras, and came no more. And modern Afgyll, whofe capricious thought with stores of wilder notions fraught, Too foon convinc'd, fhall 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:

3

In

In journies or at home, in war or peace,
By hardships many, many fall by ease.
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 restlefs Proferpine for ever treads
In paths unseen, o'er our devoted heads ;
And on the fpacious 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 must love, and long must mourn,

With fatal speed 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, shalt see;
Nor war haft thou to wage; nor year to come :
Impending death is thine, and inftant doom.
Hark! the imperious Goddess is obey'd:
Winds murmur; fnows defcend; and waters fpread.
Oh! kinfman, friend-Oh! vain are all the cries
Of human voice, ftrong Destiny replies:

}

Weed,