University of Virginia Library

On the Earl of Castlemain's Embassy to Rome in King James II. Reign.

Let Mighty Cæsar not disdain to view
These Emblems of his Power and Goodness too.
A short Essay, but fraught with Cæsar's Fame,
And shews how distant Courts esteem his Name.
Here may'st thou see thy wondrous Fortune trac'd;
With Sufferings first, and then with Empire grac'd:
Long toss'd with Storms on Faction's swelling Tide,
Thy Conduct and thy Constancy was try'd;
As Heaven design'd thy Vertue to proclaim,
And shew the Crown deserv'd before it came.
Troy's Hero thus, when Troy could stand no more,
Urg'd by the Fates to leave his native Shore,
With restless Toil on Land and Seas was toss'd,
E'er he arriv'd the fair Lavinian Coast.

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Thus Maro did his mighty Hero feign,
Augustus claim'd the Character in vain,
Which Britain's Cæsar only can sustain.
Permit, dread Sir, my Muse, tho mean, to own
A Truth to Albion and to Europe known:
You are what Virgil feign'd his Prince to be,
Your Valour such, and such your Piety.
Now Theseus Deeds we can receive for true,
And Hercules was but a Type of you:
He made the fierce Lernean Monster bleed.
From Hydra Faction you have Albion freed.
The paths of Glory trod, and Dangers past,
Just Heaven allows a peaceful Throne at last:
At home to shew th'Indulgence of a God,
And send your peaceful Ministers abroad.
While Palmer hastens to the Roman Court,
(And fraught with Worth that Honour to support)
His glorious Train and passing Pomp to view,
(A Pomp that ev'n to Rome it self was new)
Each Age, each Sex the Latian Turrets fill'd,
Each Age and Sex in Tears of Joy distill'd:
While Wonder them to Statues did convert;
And those e'en seem'd, that were the works of Art,
Emblems and Figures of such Life and Force,
As wanting Speech, did to the Eye discourse,
And shew, what was despair'd in Ages past,
An universal Language found at last.