Poems on Several Occasions With Imitations from Horace, Ovid, Martial, Theocritus, Bachylides, Anacreon, &c. To which is prefix'd A Discourse on Criticism, and the Liberty of Writing. In a letter to a Friend. By Samuel Cobb ... The Third Edition. To which is added, Poems on the Duke of Marlborough, Prince Eugene, the Electoral Prince of Hannover, with other Poems. Never before Printed |
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To His MAJESTY.
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 | Poems on Several Occasions |  |
1
To His MAJESTY.
In imitation of Horace. Ode 15th. Lib. 4.
Phœbus volentem prœlia me loqui
Victas & Urbes, &c.
Victas & Urbes, &c.
[I.]
I tun'd the Lute, and strait begunTo play of Wars and Battles won:
Of Sieges and Heroic Things;
Of routed Armies, vanquish'd Kings:
Till Phœbus, to reprove my Care,
With haste did to my Song repair,
And check'd the trembling Strings.
2
Beyond thy peaceful, humble strain;
Nor tempt with slender Sails the Dangers of the Main.
II.
What Age, O William, ever equall'd Thine?By Thee the World is happy made,
Whether it fly for refuge to thy shade,
Or seek the blessings of thy glorious shine.
The Healthy Farmer walks around
Th' extended Acres of his Ground
With pleasure and delight to see
The Hills with yellow plenty crown'd,
And blesses Heav'n and Thee.
Under Thy clam auspicious Reign
The careful Merchant dreads no more
French Malice, but securely ploughs the Main
To farthest China, or the Western shore.
3
Uncurls it's rough tempestuous Brow.
Now every Face begins to shine,
And every Heart where Anger dwelt,
Does now into Compassion melt,
Taught Gentleness by Thine.
III.
Nassovian Heroe! under TheeAll, but Licentiousness, is free.
Profaneness, and the spreading Train
Of numerous Vices, you restrain;
You curb th' Excesses of the Land
By your Example and Command,
And call back Ancient Arts again.
Arts, which, in hardy Edgar's days,
Advanc'd the losty British Name,
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O'er the Virginian and the German Seas.
Till, under Thee, Imperial England's Fame
Is to remotest shores and Islands spread
From the Sun's Rising to his Western Bed.
IV.
No Civil Discord shall createDivisions, and embroil the State,
No Jars in Europe shall prevail,
While the Britannick Cæsar holds the Scale,
And moderates her Fate.
No Wrath, nor Hatred shall appear,
Which forms the Gun, and points the Spear.
To which unhappy Nations owe
Their Enmity and Overthrow.
Great Arbitrator of the World, NASSAW!
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Thy stablish'd Articles of Peace,
Or disobey thy Law?
The Turkish and Venetian Power,
With those who dwell nigh Danow's sounding Shore,
Or Russian Moscow, or the German Rhine,
Thy Friendship court, Thy Aid implore
To carry on some Great Design:
And for a Peace, or for a Truce,
Thy prudent Mediation chuse,
And in Confederacy joyn.
V.
For thy important Reign, and length of YearsAll Temples eccho with our Prayers.
For Thee the comely British Dame
Sollicits Heav'n with lifted Eyes,
For Thee her tender hopes implores the Skies,
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While We above a common flight will soar,
And in loud numbers tell,
Numbers unheard of and unknown before,
Who for their Countries Cause, like Grafton fell,
Or bled, like Talmarsh, on the Gallick shore.
Thus will we sing, thus shall our measures flow,
Joyn'd with the skilful Harmony of BLOW.
Thus o'er a Glass of Generous Wine,
From the Burgundian fetch'd, or Florentine,
In never-dying Verse we'll trace
The Glories of the British Race,
And sing each God-like Hero's Acts, from Brutus down to Thine.
| Poems on Several Occasions | |