Poems on Affairs of State

Great Soul of Nature, Source of all our Joys,
Monarch of th'Universe, whose genial Rays,
Of Motion and of Life the only Spring,
Entitle Thee, with Justice, to be King

411

Of all that lives, breathes, or moves here below,
Since from thy Heat and Light all theirs do flow:
How well thou'rt made the Emblem and Device
Of that Celestial Nymph, whose glorious Rise
Ennobles this blest Day, chasing our Night,
Doubling the Glory of thy Sacred Light!
How lately we in Darkness were involv'd!
Our British World ready to be dissolv'd;
Our Laws, our Liberty did gasping lie,
And we for Help in vain did sigh and cry:
When all our Patriots loudly did proclaim
Help and Deliverance from no other Name
They could expect than this blest Princess, when
She was desir'd by all good English-men,
More than the rising of her Planet was
By all those Persians, who at once did gaze
To see that Sight, which who could first behold
Was to be circled in th'Imperial Gold.

When we had suffer'd long enough to know
The Value of that Good Heav'n would bestow;
Within our Hemisphere this Star appear'd,
And put an end to all the Ills we fear'd.
Preceded by her Morning-Star, and led,
(The worthy Partner of her Throne and Bed)
Our Glorious Sun on our Horizon rose,
Scatter'd all Mists, satisfy'd all, but those
Whose Deeds had made them hate the Light, whose Crimes
Sought the Confusion of the darkest Times.
At first the Blessing seem'd beyond Belief:
All wish'd and pray'd for't; few could Credit give.
But when we saw Heav'n meant in truth to lend
Assistance to us, and by her to send:

412

When she descended on our happy Isle,
(A certain Gage of Providence's Smile)
When we beheld her mounted on the Throne,
Expressing all those Graces which alone
In her concentred, set her far before
The Heroines so vaunted heretofore:
When she and her great Consort did receive
The greatest Present mortal Men can give;
And at their Feet the Nation's Wisdom laid
That Crown, which scarce their Labours fully paid:
With what Transports of Joy, upon her Face,
We all admiring saw that charming Grace
To her peculiar? where her Piety
And Modesty plainly appear'd to vie
With Love to sinking England, whose Demand
Of Help and Succour from her Royal Hand,
Determin'd her that vacant Seat to fill,
Assigned unto her by Heaven's Will;
Pronounc'd by th'best Explainer of God's Choice,
And surest Evidence, the People's Voice.
Blest Contest! where the Terms, Country and Wife,
Strove with her Love to him that gave her Life!
And more blest Vict'ry, where Love to Mankind
Triumph'd o'er all things in her vertuous Mind!

Nor did the Progress any way allay
Our Hopes so rais'd by what we saw that Day.
The Order introduc'd in every part
Where she concern'd her self, the happy Art
So little practised in former Reigns,
Of making use of all her Courtiers Chains
For Cords to draw them to adorn her Court,
By all that's vertuous and of good Report,
Shew'd us how great a Blessing Heaven intends
For those to whom it such a Princess sends.
No Scandal, no Offence within her Walls:
Under her Care and Conduct all that falls
Admits no Blemish, all things are secure
Under her vig'lant Eye, and all things pure.

413

Her Virgin's Chastity no Guard requires,
Their tender Souls acquainted with no Fires,
But with that Ardour which does them inflame
To honour their great Mistress, and her Fame
Still to advance, teach what by daily Use
Such Precepts and Example can produce:
Their Wants her bounteous Hand so well supplies,
Their Wishes she so fully satisfies;
Should Jove from Heav'n come in a Golden Shower,
He'd find no Danae within that Bower.

Is any Sick, Distressed, Lame, or Poor?
Their natural Resort is to her Door.
Where Limbs, and Health, and Succour they all find,
So like her Saviour's is her pious Mind;
So universally she casts her Eyes
On all that need her Help; it does suffice,
To be in Misery, to have a right
To her Protection, and her helping Might.
Her Piety looses the Captive's Chains;
From offer'd Thanks her Modesty refrains.
So affable, so courteous, that her Mouth
The Law of Kindness gives. From North to South
No Character like hers you'll ever see,
Such Sweetness mixt with so much Majesty:
To that degree, that Envy's worst Effort
Ne'er feign'd in her Faults of another sort,
But only this (ridiculous Device!)
That she too good, too condescending is.
An English Fault, which in her Royal Mind,
With English Virtues happily conjoin'd,
Such as good Nature, and good Temper are,
Do all produce in her a Character
So great as, if compared, will pull down
All those of other Heads that wear a Crown.
Th' Exactness of her Judgment's understood
By those whose Fortune makes them have the good
To stand before her, and those Accents hear,
Those charming Accents, those Decisions clear,

414

Abounding in good Sense, and Judgment sound,
When she thinks fit false Notions to confound.

But above all, her Piety prevails,
That Crown of Virtues, that which never fails,
That which will make her happy, when the Law
Of frail Mortality shall her withdraw
From all our longing Eyes, and shall unite
Her precious Substance to that Globe of Light,
Which I her Greatness to adumbrate use,
Loth to her Merit Justice to refuse.
Who ever knew her fail an Exercise
Of Piety? Who ever saw her Eyes
Wander, or any other Action prove
Want of Devotion, or Defect of Love?
And yet her greatest Heat of Zeal none saw,
Or ever could observe from her to draw
Those superstitious Cringes, which such Fools
Are wont to use, that Priests have made their Tools.
Her Sovereign Judgment shews her how to take
The Temper just, what difference to make
Between a solid Piety, and that
Which Bigots counterfeit, a spurious Brat,
Not got 'twixt Heaven and a virtuous Soul,
Nor made our vicious Passions to controul;
But of base Fear and corrupt Policy,
The nauseous Fruit, and Nurse of Tyranny.
She knows in such divided Times as these,
Like a true Nursing-Mother, how to please
Her wrangling Children; and when those did come
To bid their long'd-for Princess welcome home,
Who in some lesser things dissent from those
Our Laws the Pulpits to supply have chose;
Far from insulting, or despising such,
Who came her Golden Scepter's Top to touch,
That under her a Life from Force secure
They now might lead, in her Protection sure,
To them she stretch'd the evil-charming Rod,
And did encourage them to serve their God,

415

And to acquit their Conscience. Then (said she)
It is my Wish, and shall my Bus'ness be
To end Dissent in Church (as well as State)
And all your bleeding Wounds consolidate.
From Cyrus nor from Artaxerxes' Throne
More pleasing Oracles the Jews had none.
And when her peaceful Lips had thus dispell'd
Those venerable Persons Fears, and quell'd
Their Apprehensions, she did not disdain
To ask their Prayers for her happy Reign.
Heaven hear those Prayers, and plentifully shed
A Shower of Blessings on her Royal Head,
Such as its choicest Fav'rites do partake,
And for her own, and her dear Country's sake,
Lengthen the Course of her Prosperity;
And rather than our Hopes with her should die,
Take from our Years to add unto her Days
Too happy Victims! Fate above all Praise!

Her Virtues Politick come next in view:
The Difficulty here's not to say true,
But 'tis to say enough. If strong Desire
To save her Country from the raging Fire
Which had almost devour'd it; if Success
Obtain'd by this new Esther's warm Address;
If Days consum'd in Prayers, and Nights in Tears,
That we might be deliver'd from our Fears;
If utmost Hazards run upon the Main,
And more than this, if yielding to constrain
Her pious Inclinations for our sake,
Can on our grateful Hearts th'Impression make
Such Actions call for; if her Modesty
And Self-denial can but make us see,

416

How she our Peace prefers before her Power,
And what new Debts we owe to her each hour,
To some degree at least, we may pretend
Our matchless Queen's Deserts to comprehend.

In the last Century, when this our Land
Submitted to a Virgin-Queen's Command,
And when our Ancestors by her were sav'd
From Popery, and kept from being inslav'd,
How did they all conspire to raise her Fame?
How dear to after-times will be her Name?
And yet to those who estimate things right,
To those (I say) whose penetrating Sight
Enables them to judg of the Degrees
Of Virtue, which accordingly they prize,
It will appear our Modern Heroine
Beyond Elizabeth as far does shine,
As her bright Luminary does outvie
The pale-fac'd Cynthia's conquer'd Deity.
'Tis true, she once gave back a Subsidy
Unto her People, and so made them see
She ask'd their Treasure for no other end,
But that with it she might their Rights defend;
And when Necessity did not require
The Purse-strings should be open'd, her Desire
Was rather them her Treasurers to see,
Than she the Fleecer of the Flock should be:
Richer in their Affections than their Gold,
A Heritage not to be bought or sold.
This was a great Example, I agree;
Elizabeth approv'd her self to be
Fit for a Place in that Ring where the Names
Of Princes good must eternize their Fames.
But when there's Names enow to fill each Place,
MARY's the Jewel that the Ring must grace:
She, not content a Subsidy to give,
For England's Good; that by which she must live,

417

Her whole Subsistence rather chose to lose ,
Than give pretence to any to suppose
An Interest distinct from him whose Star
Has blest him by uniting him with her,
Or rather than the least pretext afford
To the Opposers of their blest Accord.
To good Advice Elizabeth gave ear;
For Counsellors she singled such as were
Friends to the Nation's Int'rest, not for show;
But by their help to be directed so,
That she might feed the People for their Good,
Not Poison ministring instead of Food.
She rul'd by Law, nor thought it a Disgrace
Our Laws and Reason in a higher place
To set, than that Parasites use to give
To what they call Royal Prerogative.

MARY, not only willing to have Bounds
Fixt to that Torrent which all things confounds;
Not willing only to be ty'd by Law,
And govern so as all our Hearts to draw,
Tho crown'd and recogniz'd by full Consent,
Tho on her Head the sacred Oil was spent;
Altho a Sovereign and a Regnant Queen,
Yet this great Princess, that it might be seen
How she despis'd her Greatness in compare
With those whose Welfare was her chiefest Care,
Surpassed Henry's Daughter more alone
Than she had pass'd all that before had gone.
For she, to manifest what Love she bare
Unto the English Nation, and what care
She took that Union strict to entertain,
Which makes a happy Land, and glorious Reign;

418

And then at once her deep Respect to show
To him whom Hymen's Bands had join'd her to,
Suspending the Effect of Heaven's Call,
Did quite sit by, not governing at all.
And tho we all Allegiance to her swore,
Our Laws and Coin her Name and Image wore,
Love to her Husband, and her Native Land,
Made her contented nothing to command.
'Twere easy by this Parallel drove on,
To shew how much this Queen has that out-done.
And if her dawning Light produce such things,
What shall we think her Noon-day Lustre brings?
Those that would know what future Times contain,
Take a fore-taste of her auspicious Reign,
Be told what Conquests she's to make abroad,
(Our Christian Semiramis) what Road
To Glory's Temple must her Chariot lead,
Have nothing else to do but only read
What Foreign Bards of this Great Queen do sing ,
Renewing under her th'Eternal Spring
Which made the Beauty of the Golden Age,
And fills each Poet's Heart-enchanting Page.
They shew who shall to her dread Scepter bow,
What Laurels flourish on her Sacred Brow,
And what a croud of Blessings do attend
Those People who upon her Laws depend.

419

But there's no need at all of Foreign Praise
The Glory of this Peerless Queen to raise,
Did not we see prostrate before her fall
Those Subjects of her own who heard the Call
Of Heaven from another World, and came
To her, that they might abdicate their Name ,
Henceforth their Country MARYLAND to call,
A thing agreed upon by Great and Small?
And 'tis no wonder, since that pow'rful Charm
Must fill their Country, and their Foes disarm.
That Clemency, that Goodness which did shine
When she receiv'd their Homage, that divine,
That noble Air of Greatness which appear'd,
And made her lov'd at once no less than fear'd;
Had they still Savages or Rebels been,
Would have reduc'd them under such a Queen.

Thus her great Deeds, from my Poetick Vein,
Lead me to write the Annals of her Reign:
But that's a Work must crown with lasting praise
The Livys and the Camdens of our Days.
This flying Leaf containing, without Art,
The Sentiments of a submissive Heart
With admiration struck, and Joy to find
Such radiant Virtues in a Monarch's Mind,
(Where nothing is but naked Fact laid down,
By none contested, and to few unknown)
Shall end with Wishes, such as flow from Men,
Whose fraudless Souls are painted by their Pen.

May this bright Day, when Heaven made to this Land
The choicest Present of its liberal Hand,
Be multiply'd so often, still abound
With fresh Successes; may it still be crown'd
At home with Palms and Olives, and from Climes
Remote with Trophies deck'd so many times,

420

Till thou (Great Queen) thy Ancestors in years
Exceed'st as much as does thy Virtue theirs.
And when thy Crown, transform'd into a Star,
Shall equal shine with Berenice's Hair,
May still this lower Orb thy Glory fill,
Thy Praises echo from the forked Hill:
And may thy Birth an Epoch settled be,
By those who write our English History;
An Epoch more illustrious than those
Of Nabonassar, and of him who chose
Hope for his Portion, knew the worth of Praise,
Gave all away, only reserv'd the Bays,
And Envy bore to Thetis' Valiant Boy
More for his Homer than his War with Troy.
Thou art a Queen by God and Man design'd:
Choice with Succession's in thy Person join'd.
The Patriarchal Right and Genarchy
With Institution do in thee agree.
Thou hast both Law and Nature on thy side,
And that by which we most of all are ty'd,
Is that we judg thee, by all we have seen,
A Natural and a Platonick Queen.
May Heav'n and Men by joint Consent maintain
The Product of them both, thy glorious Reign.
And since the Will of thy Great Spouse so well
Is seconded by both the Houses Zeal,
Who now do call thee to exert that Power
Which latent in thee did reside before;
May all thy Subjects Thee as well obey
As he that celebrates this happy Day:
May'st thou with such Applause ascend the Throne,
So exercise the Government alone;
That when again Victorious he shall come
From Lands ne'er conquer'd by the Antient Rome,

421

That Diadem he still may brighter find
Which does (Great Queen) thy, Sacred Temples bind,
And more resplendent far than when the Charms
Of Martial Glory drew him from thine Arms.
In Silks and Shades let other Queens express
Virtues which thou so fully dost possess .
Let others shew, by working Beasts and Men,
How far the Needle does out-do the Pen .
Let neighb'ring Monarchs pass their precious Hours
In viewing Medals, and in planting Flowers.
Let them with wild Chimera's fill their Brains,
Employ the Poet's and the Painter's Pains,
Imaginary Conquests to declare,
For forc'd Conversions Monuments to rear;
And let their Brain-sick Fancy them persuade
Gods are made by Le Brun and La Feuillade.
Do thou thy Mind and Thoughts (Princess) apply
To rule thy Kingdoms all with Equity
(These are thy Arts) of Peace to give the Rule,
To spare the Humble, and the Proud controul.
And since thy lovely Sex, so full of Charms,
Has been to us so happy; in our Arms
Planted the Lillies, since it did unite
In lasting Bands the Red Rose and the White;
May'st thou reconquer Lands, for which the Sword
Unto the Distaff could no help afford:
New Agincourts and Cressys may'st thou gain,
To shew the Salique Law was made in vain.
And may'st thou by a nobler Union far
Than that which joined York and Lancaster,
Fix in thy Subjects Hearts such Harmony,
That they again may never disagree.

422

And last of all (to draw unto a Close
Upon a Subject which no Limits knows)
May this great Festival reserved be
For Births of numerous Heroes, which from Thee
May spring, in these our Days, to represent
The Williams, Maurices, Colignys, sent
From Heav'n, oppressed Nations to relieve;
Heroes, whose glorious Actions may revive
The Brave Plantagenets and Tudors Sage,
And the Great Bourbons of our Father's Age:
Whose Glory to the highest pitch may rise,
The Seas their Empire bound, their Fame the Skies.

See Burnet's Papers, and others, which were filled with Discourses of the Hopes we had in the Succession of the Princess of Orange.

See her printed Answer to Dr. Bates's Speech, made in the Name and Presence of a great Number of Nonconformist Ministers.

When the Parliament would have given her a distinct Maintenance, and she declar'd she would have nothing but from the King.

See a Magnificent Panegyrick written lately for the King, and sent to him by a Learned Man in Swisserland, named Holtzhalbius, heretofore a Regent in the College at Orange. In this Poem, speaking of the Parliament's presenting the Crown to their present Majesties; he has these Verses, to shew the admiration the World has of the Queen's Virtue, and other great Qualities:

Conveniunt Regni Proceres, faustisq; Triumphis
Wilhelmi applaudunt Magni, revocantq; MARIAM,
E Batavis Sponsam, Regnis tantóq; Marito
Dignam quæ reliquas mirandæ lumine formæ,
Diviniq; animi præclaris dotibus omnes
Præcellit Nymphas, ut stellas Luna minores.

See the Address presented to the Queen at Kensington, by the Deputys of New-England.

Plato says, there are some, who, by the Excellency of their Endowments, are Kings by Nature. So that a Platonick Prince is one who is worthy to be such. This is a Notion much insisted on by Col. Sidney, in his Answer to Filmer.

Mary Queen of Scots, who wrought a Suit of Hangings for a Chamber at Hardwick, where all the Virtues are represented by Symbolical Figures.

Catherine de Medicis, who spent many Years in working some Beds, now in the French King's Garde-meuble.

University of Virginia Library

The Rising Sun:

Or, Verses upon the Queen's Birth-Day. Celebrated Apr. 30. M.DC.XC.