A Metrical History of England Or, Recollections, in Rhyme, Of some of the most prominent Features in our National Chronology, from the Landing of Julius Caesar to the Commencement of the Regency, in 1812. In Two Volumes ... By Thomas Dibdin |
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| 11. | PART THE ELEVENTH.
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 | A Metrical History of England |  |
11. PART THE ELEVENTH.
From the Revolution in 1688, to the Accession of the House of Brunswick.
CONTENTS.
William and Mary.—Battle of the Boyne.—Bill of Rights.— Queen Anne.—Victories of the Duke of Marlborough.— Whigs and Tories.—Union of the Kingdoms of England and Scotland.—Accession of the House of Brunswick.
“And with him bright Maria join'd.”
Addison.
“That she can sep'rate parricides from sons;
“That, impious rage disarm'd, she lives and reigns,
“Her freedom kept by him who broke her chains.”
Prior.
“And listen, each with emulous glory fir'd,
“How William conquer'd, and how France retir'd;
“How Providence o'er William's temples held,
“On Boyne's propitious banks, the heav'nly shield;
“How Belgia, freed, the hero's arm confest,
“But trembled for the courage which she blest.
“Behold the soldier plead the monarch's right,
“Heading his troops, and foremost in the fight.”
Vide Prior.
“How beautiful her shape, how bright her eyes;
“When her great Lord to foreign wars was gone,
“And left his Mary here to rule alone,
“With how serene a brow, how void of fear,
“When storms arose, did she the vessel steer!
“And when the raging of the waves did cease,
“How gentle was her sway in times of peace:
“Like heav'n, she took no pleasure to destroy,
“With grief she punish'd, and she sav'd with joy.”
Pomfret.
“Of him her thousand ears shall hear triumphant lays;
“Of him her tongues shall talk, on him her eyes shall gaze.”
Congreve.
“Immortal Nassau came; I hush'd the deep
“By dæmons rous'd, and bade the listed wings
“Waft the deliverer to the shore;
“Then dawn'd the period destin'd to confine
“The surge of wild prerogative; to raise
“A mound restraining its imperious rage.”
Thomson.
WILLIAM and MARY.
A joyous nation hail the royal pair!He, brave as merciful, she, good as fair;
From ev'ry slavish apprehension freed,
No more Opinion fears in chains to bleed:
Nor, at the mercy of a legal brute,
Endure the thumbscrew or tormenting boot;
To honest joys each patriot's harp is strung,
And thus some bard convivial might have sung,
Had he, like me, the inspiring air to chuse,
Which echoes the Anacreontic Muse
Of Morris, fittest wight on social earth,
With classic wreath to crown the hour of mirth;
How devilish glad my bookseller would be!
AIR.
TO “ANACREON IN HEAVEN.”
A few sons of Freedom preferr'd a petition,
That he their deliv'rer and sov'reign wou'd be;
When this answer arrived, without let or condition:
By your laws to abide,
Shall be my first pride,
While I lend you my name and my consort's beside,
With the Sham'rock, the Thistle, and Rose, to entwine
Sweet emblems of Union round Liberty's shrine.
When Judge Jefferies pretended to give himself airs;
If those traitors are suffered their scheme to pursue,
Myself and some more may sneak down the back stairs.
Can proceed with his work,
To shoot, stab, and strangle folks, just like a Turk,
If William and Mary are suffered to twine
The emblems of Union round Liberty's shrine.
We must sound a retreat in return, I'm afraid;
Each brow-beating Big Wig, like me, must be dumb,
And pack'd Juries pack off in defection of trade.
But tho' we withdraw,
Yet Mister Nassau
May dread the whole force of an Action at Law;
Prerogative's vengeance shall teach him to twine
His emblems of Union round Liberty's shrine.
And vow'd with King William he'd cheerfully join;
Too long, said the Prelate, a bigotted crew
Have ruled, to Old England's disaster and mine.
In peace, tho' he fights,
Will redress our sad wrongs with a good Bill of Rights;
With the Laurel, the Olive, and Myrtle he'll twine
The emblems of Union round Liberty's shrine.
Since you and your colleagues committed those crimes
Which sullied your master, caused thousands to bleed,
And call'd for an Orange to cool those hot times;
Like his mind we suppose,
His Majesty's nose
Truly Roman, his creed tho' is tout antre chose,
As you'll find when he gloriously comes to entwine
The emblems of Union with Liberty's shrine.
Went off 'ere its sting it had pow'r to display;
Our fifth of November will ne'er be forgot,
When freedom her ensign unfurl'd in Torbay;
“Nolumus mutari,”
Our laws ne'er shall vary,
Cried Britons, when welcoming William and Mary,
Who landed the Olive and Myrtle to twine,
With emblems of Union round Liberty's shrine.
And long may Britannia with gratitude own,
The views of her enemies ne'er were so crost,
As when William and Mary ascended the throne.
May the throne long endure,
And it's virtues ensure
That union which only these realms can secure,
While the Sham'rock, the Rose, and the Thistle, entwine,
Peace, Commerce, and Plenty, round Liberty's shrine.
The system of assassination was a very favorite one in James's Reign. Bishop Burnet, if the Author of this Rhyming History understands his principles from reading his Memoirs of his times, seems to have acted with manly and pious sincerity with respect to his religious tenets; for which, although he left a country, where he refused dishonorable preferment, with the King's permission, he was legally, or rather illegally proceeded against. And when the States of Holland, where he married and was naturalized, refused to give him up, his life was threatened, and agents employed to take it; of which, among other friendly and authentic notices, he received the following, from Captain Barter, a gentleman of unquestioned honor and reputation, whose father was at that time Steward to the Duke of Ormond:
Hague, 14th March, 1688.“Dear Sir,
“Though I have no acquaintance with you, yet the esteem I have for your character, and the benefit I have received by your works, obliges me to tell you the proceedings against you in England. I happened the other day to go into the Secretary's Office, where I saw an order for three thousand pounds, to be paid the person that shall destroy you. I could hardly believe my eyes that I saw the paper, it seemed so strange to me. This I communicated in private to my Lord Ossory, who told me it was true, for he had it from Prince George. My Lord desired me to be private in the thing 'till I came to Holland, and then, if I pleased, to tell you of it: Sir, I am your friend, and my advice to you is, to take an especial care of yourself, for no doubt but that great sum will meet with a mercenary hand. Sir, you shall never want a friend where I am.”
Seeks Ireland with a well appointed host;
And fulminating proclamations ring,
With mingled clang of arms round Erin's coast.
When William, leaving to his Consort's care
Which well she husbanded, the regal sway,
Hastens the perils of the war to share.
With cautious tactic for the fight provide;
Here Berwick's Duke on James's quarry stands,
Tyrconnel there leads bold Hibernian bands;
And Hamilton, whose bearing more were prized,
But that his honor, falsely compromised,
Was pledged for William with the foe to treat,
While friendship's sacred garb concealed deceit,
Lauzan and Hocquencourt, in proud array,
Their Gallic and Helvetian ranks display;
A chosen squadron cautious James protects,
Who from a distant hill the war directs.
Opposing, see brave William's banner fly,
In all the hope of coming victory;
Nassau beneath, from rank to rank imparts
The fire of valour to his soldiers hearts.
Such mark'd escape from slaughter found,
That foes, who what they wish believe,
And France (her subjects to deceive,)
With gay illumination blazing round,
And cannons far proclaiming sound,
Gave note of what had not yet taken place:
Nor yet reformed th' equivocating race!
When Wellington her titled marshals bleeds,
Their court gazettes describe what's done
In terms reversed, and chronicle great deeds,
Not of the victors, but of those who run.
With warmth their own each patriot breast inspire;
There gallant Ormond's fearless lads advance;
They met, and Boyne's discolour'd wave
Of many a bleeding corse becomes the grave.
Little delights the Muse to dwell,
With circumstance, on how they fell;
Nor wields she a terrific pen,
Each cloven helm to cleave again;
Nor owns her wing such rapid flight,
As wheel with whirl of faulchion bright;
Nor in their lightning path she traces
Death's leaden envoys to their places;
Suffice to say that William won the field,
Suffice to say that James, compell'd to yield,
To shelt'ring Gaul renews his rapid flight
And abdicates a second time his right.
A pause you'll kindly grant us here,
While Schomberg's memory claims a tear;
Modest in council, dreadful in affray,
His death had almost given James the day.
And well he proved his demi-British worth,
Princely his rank, intrepid, skilful, bold,
In age a youth, in sage experience old;
With him five hundred ting'd the reddening flood;
For James near thrice that number shed their blood!
Louis, pretending to assist King James,
Lights up of civil wars again the flames;
Fruitless his efforts, William's star presides,
And each attempt against his crown derides.
When England in her turn the war declares,
For foreign scenes of strife the King prepares;
Plots, still detected, would his life assail,
By worthless means fore-doom'd by fate to fail.
Frequent campaigns the hero's worth proclaim,
Britain and Belgia echo with his name,
And France reluctantly admits his fame.
Yet fortune unalloy'd is not decreed,
Man can, on earth, but partially succeed;
His Mary gains an everlasting crown:
Beam'd not the flatterers tear in Britain's eye,
When Heaven's fiat doom'd the Queen to die.
Genuine the sorrow felt by high and low,
Most genuine his who keenest felt the blow;
Call'd to the field again by Gallic foes,
In war the widow'd King beguiled his woes.
Namur, impregnable esteem'd 'till now,
Before the British standard deigns to bow;
More plots detected, their projector shames,
And history blushes to suppose King James,
Who threats another trial of his right,
Almost—embarks—and then declines it quite!
France sues; Nassau from his paternal seat,
At Berwick arbitrates the peace they greet;
France, faithless to her treaties, seizes Spain,
A trick of late she tried, but tried in vain;
The gauntlet iron war accepts again,
Waves his red plume and joyous seeks the plain!
Robs of a brilliant jewel England's throne;
Unites in realms above the royal pair,
For Kings, who bless mankind, find certain blessing there.
Kilmore, Coleraine, Inniskilling, Londonderry, &c. &c. were beseiged by one or both parties, and desperately contested.
General Hamilton had been accredited from King William to make proposals to the Earl of Tyrconnel; he betrayed his trust, and joined him. He behaved most gallantly in the field, and was wounded. When taken prisoner, and brought before the King, he was asked whether he thought the Irish would make any further resistance; he answered, “Upon my honor I believe they will, for they have still a good body of horse.” William, eying him significantly, replied, “Your honor! Your honor!” and turned away. He afterwards ordered his wounds to be taken care of. Burnet, Field of Mars, &c.
William had part of his clothes, and the flesh of his shoulder, carried away the night before the battle, while in a reconnoisance. This was observed on the opposite side of the river by James's Army; the death of William proclaimed with loud shouts; the news sent off to France; and Paris was actually illuminated on the occasion. Field of Mars, &c.
Duke Schomberg, when General Hamilton, at the front of King James, had nearly routed a wing of King William's army, put himself at the head of a corps of French Protestants; and, pointing to the enemy, said, “Gentlemen, these are your persecutors.” He then led them with an impetuosity which turned the fortune of the day in that quarter, though himself slain in the contest. His death was the more lamented, as he had parted from the Council of War rather hurt at the rejection of his advice with respect to the disposition of the field, in points where he was afterwards judged to have been correct.
He was descended of a noble family in the Palatinate, his mother was an English woman, daughter of Lord Dudley; he had served in Holland, England, France, Portugal, and Brandenburgh; he obtained the dignities of Mareschal in France, Grandee in Portugal, Generalissimo in Prussia, and Duke in England.
December 28th, 1694, of the small-pox. Solid piety, uncommon goodness, great sweetness of temper, majesty, an air of grandeur untinctured with pride or affectation, and the sincerest affection for her husband, are said to have characterised this excellent Princess.
HOUSE of STUART.
“One stem the Thistle and the Rose shall bear;
“The Thistle's lasting grace, thou, O my Rose, shall be,
“The warlike Thistle's arm a sure defence to thee.”
Rowe.
“Adorns the list of never-dying fame;
“No fairer soul was ever form'd above;
“None e'er was more the grateful nation's love,
“Nor lov'd the nation more.”
Parnell.
“Let distant climes and furthest nations know
“What ye from Thames and Danube have been taught,
“How Anne commanded, and how Marlbro' fought.”
Prior.
“In piety supreme as in command;
“Famed for victorious arms and generous aid,
“Young Austria's refuge, and fierce Bourbon's dread.
Lansdown.
ANNE.
“That well deserv'd the utmost praise;
“For greatness, birth, and justice famed,
“And every virtue could be named.”
And thus on many a lyric wing
Her praises soar; while, to speak her due,
Who most commended, said most true.
The Queen and Commons, after stout debate,
Resolve to second; hence that blazing star,
Ruling of each campaign the fate,
Bright Marlbro' rose, whose very name
Half won the day where'er it came;
Victorious still his banners flew,
And on his helm spontaneous laurels grew;
Imperial sov'reigns woo'd his worth,
And graced the chief of British birth
With principality; while Churchill's brow
By Anne with ducal circle bound,
Bade Envy's self submissive bow,
And hail desert with genuine honor crown'd.
At Donawert and Ramilies
He thrash'd the French with skill and ease;
At Oud'nard and Malplaquet beat 'em,
At Blenheim bravely did defeat 'em,
And in each place he chanced to meet 'em.
His presence still the foe appal'd,
While grateful friends shall long revere,
Churchill to patriot memory dear.
So in our days, Rodrigo's chief,
Ordain'd for sinking Spain's relief,
For Britain's joy and Erin's fame,
Born to acquire a Marlbro's name;
Or by Iberian Dukedom praised,
Or Lusitanian honors raised;
Great Torres Vedras thy paternal throne,
Attaches honor to thy name alone,
And proudly calls a Wellin ton it's own!
“And lay aw' yer disputes aside;
“What nonsense 'tis for folk to chide,
“For what's been done before 'em,
“Let Whig and Tory aye agree,”
But Whig and Tory, friends, d'ye see,
Wou'd not agree, and fierce began
Their quarrels in the reign of Anne,
They surely were a sort of Ins and Outs;
(Whate'er their designations may denote,
Remember, reader, I'm no party minion).
Tories for strict episcopacy vote,
The Whigs for greater freedom of opinion:
And it was said, in prose, by Doctor Swift,
(Who had been known to give each side a lift,)
Of Church and State who dearest deems
Should carefully avoid extremes;
Nor, for the former's sake, engage
With Whiggish violence or rage;
Nor less, for State's well-founded glory,
Avoid the overweening Tory.
Their party jars perplexed the Queen;
Who still most equitably tried
An honest course 'twixt either side.
North and South Britain now become one land,
And Union join each Scotch and English hand.
Hail Caledonia! sister true,
Long may thine Abercrombies, good as brave,
Long may thy Duncans teach that foe to sue
Who envious of Erin, us, and you,
France tries, without effect, the war to bring
To Albion's guarded shores; the gallant Byng
Puts the Pretender's fleet to rapid flight,
And James the Third deserts his self-named right.
Our sov'reign's consort, pays great nature's debt,
The heaviest sorrow of a well-spent reign,
Was Anne's keen, unaffected, deep regret.
And Guiscard, now, a Gallic wight, engages
To snatch by dire assasination
Great Harley's life; due execration
Attends his well-prevented plan,
And, victim of his treason, falls the man.
Anxious that Discord's voice should cease,
The Queen attends to proffei'd peace;
Churchill dissents, and, strange to say,
Stripp'd of his honours in a day,
His country's glory, and her friend,
Beholds adversity, with years advance,
And, strangely doom'd to fade away
With most unmerited neglect,
By those deserted he could once protect,
In imbecility awaits his end!
And peace we idlers always think is best;
Anne's ministers, to their disgrace,
With ill-bred warmth, before her face,
Assail each other.—Pens of old
Say, grief that parties shou'd prevail;
'Ere yet her years were fully told,
Shorten'd her being, and, of course, my tale.
Two sons, four daughters, prematurely died;
And Brunswick's Line our hope and pride,
(Long may it flourish good and great!)
Succeeded to the vacant state.
No reign than Anne's in war more justly crown'd,
No reign for learning justly more renown'd;
Elizabeth, a Shakespeare own'd:
Charles could a Milton boast;
But Anne saw Newton high enthroned,
Amid the heavenly host!
Had Newton only graced her reign:
But names like Burnett, Tilloston,
With Atterbury, Clarendon,
Swift, Addison, and Bolingbroke,
With Boyle, might envy well provoke.
And tho' succeeding monarchs knew
Their worth, yet at this time they grew,
Nurtured by freedom as by taste,
While, no less vigorous than chaste,
Each Muse finds ev'ry succeeding age
Proud to admire and imitate her page!
| A Metrical History of England | |