Claraphil and Clarinda in a forrest of fancies. By Tho: Jordan |
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On the hononored Services of the most worthy
Col. Rokeby, under the Command of Monsieur
Gashion the French General
against the Spanish Forces.
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 | Claraphil and Clarinda |  |
On the hononored Services of the most worthy Col. Rokeby, under the Command of Monsieur Gashion the French General against the Spanish Forces.
Anno 1646, & 1647
Sir, since in Ages past, Verses have beenThe Balm to Valour, and preserved green,
The Acts of antique Heroes, such as made
The Reader ravish'd with the Royall Trade
Whom Fate and Dis-affection made their Foes,
I hope my maimed Muse (late troden down
By the red fury of Rhamnusa's frown)
May re-erect her drooping head, and be
A Tomb to Royal Rokeby's Memory,
Whose Acts do want a Homer to reherse,
Being fitter for a Volume, than a Verse:
Witness the wise Entrenchment that was made
Before Courtrey, Where the ingenious Spade
Furrow'd the fiery Field, and did engage
The slow-pac'd fury of Spain's subtlest Rage);
VVhich soon approach'd in a relieving Power,
Flesh'd with four Thousand Men, whose fatal hour
Rokeby commanded, whose Magnetique Sword
Drew bloud at any distance, and whose VVord
Gave life to all the Cavalry, in brief,
He forced their Retreat, and kill'd their Chief;
This is not all, nor must his faithfull Fame
Content it self with such a single Flame,
Mardyke looks big, a Fort that did impart
The Labyrinths of Mathematique Art,
VVhose well-man'd Bastions might Defiance give
To all the VVorld, and (unsupported) live
Upon their thrifty Store, 'till Rokeby's Men
Made a fierce On-set, and into their Den
Shot so much fire, that all within it, say,
The French Compounded with the Latter Day:
Next Dunkirk, (which so many years hath been
The Trap of Flanders) strait was taken in
Attempted nought too early, or too late:
Labassay (next to this) the French oblige
With the hot Complement of a close Siege:
Lans being then re-taken, there was slain
A Man whose worth out-weigh'd the Crown of Spain,
Royall Gashion, whose Name the Army wou'd
Rather than Tears, enbalm with Spanish bloud
Which shall not cease to run 'till all are made
The Subject of a Charnell-house and Spade;
Untill which time, my due Devotion sires,
That (He who now is Subject of my Muse)
The noble Rokeby, may (undaunted) stand
The fixed glory of his Native Land,
Till honor'd Age conclude his Life, and then
I wish his Worth may meet some better Pen.
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