 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
467
On his Grace the Duke of Marlborough Going for Holland, March 1707. In Imitation of the third Ode of the first Book of Horace.
Cæsarem Vehis.
Thrice happy Barque, to whom is giv'nThe Pride of Earth, and Favorite of Heav'n:
Thy every Guardian God implore,
And waft th'important Charge to Belgia's Shore;
Where Councils yet suspended, wait
Britannia's last Resolves, and Europe's Fate.
So may the Winds with constant Gales
Fulfil thy Purpose and inspire thy Sails;
Nereids and Nymphs attend thy side,
Thy glitt'ring Stern protect, and gilded Pride.
Bold was the Man, and bravely good,
That tempted first the Sea's impetuous Flood,
Heard the Waves roar, the Tempests blow,
And sought in Foreign Climes the distant Foe:
That made his Country's Glory known,
And for the publick Weal despis'd his own.
Auspicious Isle, in vain design'd,
By jealous Fate, a Stranger to Mankind,
Since uncontroul'd thy Of-spring reign,
And sport and triumph on the harmless Main!
To manly Souls, resolv'd like theirs,
No Task has Danger, or no Danger Fears.
468
Daringly Great, and fortunately Bold,
Climbing th'Imperial Seat, combine
To sift the baffled Claim of Right Divine;
And to the World Instruction gave,
Distinguishing the Subject from the Slave.
Then lawless Pow'r receiv'd its Doom,
And Liberty reviv'd with Native Bloom.
Tho Nature, frugally inclin'd,
Has all her Gifts to narrow Bounds confin'd;
What will not Art and Pains supply?
O'er Waves forbad in winged Tow'rs we fly,
And with Herculean Toil advance,
To shock the Pow'r of Hell, the Pride of France.
Nor Heav'n it self is uningag'd,
In Wars for Freedom, and for ANNA wag'd;
Rouz'd by her pious, just Alarms,
Behold! th'avengeful Thunderer in Arms,
Surveys the Field with Slaughter spread,
And points his Churchill at the Tyrant's Head.
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