 | Poems on Affairs of State |  |
Answer to a Poem intitled, A Panegyrick, written in the Year 1691/2,
and printed in the second Volume of State-Poems, Pag. 401.
Hail happy William! thou art truly Great:
The Cause? 'Tis Virtue justify'd by Fate.
For Thee the Parents and their Children sing;
Without Desert thou art no Favourite King.
For Thee the Patriot will maintain the Laws,
For Thee just Judges will decide the Cause.
Prelates thou'st made cannot the Church betray;
Thy Soldiers fight for Principle, not Pay.
By Thee the Freeman's fix'd in his Freehold,
Misers may spend, or else increase their Gold.
By Thee the Merchant multiplies his Store,
By Thee the Tradesman is content, not poor.
For Thee the Senate useless Laws suspends,
And good ones makes for thine and England's Ends.
The chief Design of all their well-weigh'd Votes,
Is to invent new Ways, new Means, to damn new Plots.
Thine and thy People's Credit join'd, must pass;
But that, and Mony, not without thy Face.
Slav'ry and Oppression thou maintain'st no more,
Than Wealth and Liberty the Kings before.
For thee 'gainst Tyranny they all declare,
And only for old England like the War.
Why should this Wonder then so wondrous seem,
When all that's good and kind thou'lt do for them?
The Cause? 'Tis Virtue justify'd by Fate.
For Thee the Parents and their Children sing;
Without Desert thou art no Favourite King.
For Thee the Patriot will maintain the Laws,
For Thee just Judges will decide the Cause.
Prelates thou'st made cannot the Church betray;
Thy Soldiers fight for Principle, not Pay.
By Thee the Freeman's fix'd in his Freehold,
Misers may spend, or else increase their Gold.
By Thee the Merchant multiplies his Store,
By Thee the Tradesman is content, not poor.
For Thee the Senate useless Laws suspends,
And good ones makes for thine and England's Ends.
The chief Design of all their well-weigh'd Votes,
Is to invent new Ways, new Means, to damn new Plots.
Thine and thy People's Credit join'd, must pass;
But that, and Mony, not without thy Face.
Slav'ry and Oppression thou maintain'st no more,
Than Wealth and Liberty the Kings before.
For thee 'gainst Tyranny they all declare,
And only for old England like the War.
Why should this Wonder then so wondrous seem,
When all that's good and kind thou'lt do for them?
307
Rebels and Witches ne'er sign'd William's Rolls:
Those that oppose his Reign, must damn their Souls.
Those that oppose his Reign, must damn their Souls.
| Poems on Affairs of State | |