Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham Part 5

OF

EDMUND WALLER

WALLER'S POETICAL WORKS.

MISCELLANEOUS POEMS.

OF THE DANGER HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE] ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST ANDERO.[1]

Now bad his Highness bid farewell to Spain, And reach'd the sphere of his own power--the main; With British bounty in his s.h.i.+p he feasts Th' Hesperian princes, his amazed guests, To find that watery wilderness exceed The entertainment of their great Madrid.

Healths to both kings, attended with the roar Of cannons, echo'd from th'affrighted sh.o.r.e, With loud resemblance of his thunder, prove Bacchus the seed of cloud-compelling Jove; 10 While to his harp divine Arion sings[2]

The loves and conquests of our Albion kings.

Of the Fourth Edward was his n.o.ble song, Fierce, goodly, valiant, beautiful, and young; He rent the crown from vanquish'd Henry's head, Raised the White Rose, and trampled on the Red; Till love, triumphing o'er the victor's pride, Brought Mars and Warwick to the conquer'd side: Neglected Warwick (whose bold hand, like Fate, Gives and resumes the sceptre of our state) 20 Woos for his master; and with double shame, Himself deluded, mocks the princely dame, The Lady Bona, whom just anger burns, And foreign war with civil rage returns.

Ah! spare your swords, where beauty is to blame; Love gave th'affront, and must repair the same; When France shall boast of her, whose conqu'ring eyes Have made the best of English hearts their prize; Have power to alter the decrees of Fate, And change again the counsels of our state. 30 What the prophetic Muse intends, alone To him that feels the secret wound is known.

With the sweet sound of this harmonious lay, About the keel delighted dolphins play, Too sure a sign of sea's ensuing rage, Which must anon this royal troop engage; To whom soft sleep seems more secure and sweet, Within the town commanded by our fleet.

These mighty peers placed in the gilded barge, Proud with the burden of so brave a charge, 40 With painted oars the youths begin to sweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep; Which soon becomes the seat of sudden war Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar.

As when a sort[3] of l.u.s.ty shepherds try Their force at football, care of victory Makes them salute so rudely breast to breast, 47 That their encounter seems too rough for jest; They ply their feet, and still the restless ball, Toss'd to and fro, is urged by them all: So fares the doubtful barge 'twixt tide and winds, And like effect of their contention finds.

Yet the bold Britons still securely row'd; Charles and his virtue was their sacred load; Than which a greater pledge Heaven could not give, That the good boat this tempest should outlive.

But storms increase, and now no hope of grace Among them s.h.i.+nes, save in the Prince's face; The rest resign their courage, skill, and sight, To danger, horror, and unwelcome night. 60 The gentle vessel (wont with state and pride On the smooth back of silver Thames to ride) Wanders astonish'd in the angry main, As t.i.tan's car did, while the golden rein Fill'd the young hand of his adventurous son,[4]

When the whole world an equal hazard run To this of ours, the light of whose desire Waves threaten now, as that was scared by fire.

Th' impatient sea grows impotent, and raves, That, night a.s.sisting, his impetuous waves 70 Should find resistance from so light a thing; These surges ruin, those our safety bring.

Th' oppress'd vessel doth the charge abide, Only because a.s.sail'd on every side; So men with rage and pa.s.sion set on fire, Trembling for haste, impeach their mad desire.

The pale Iberians had expired with fear, But that their wonder did divert their care, To see the Prince with danger moved no more Than with the pleasures of their court before; 80 G.o.dlike his courage seem'd, whom nor delight Could soften, nor the face of death affright.

Next to the power of making tempests cease, Was in that storm to have so calm a peace.

Great Maro could no greater tempest feign, When the loud winds usurping on the main, For angry Juno labour'd to destroy The hated relics of confounded Troy; His bold Aeneas, on like billows toss'd In a tall s.h.i.+p, and all his country lost, 90 Dissolves with fear; and both his hands upheld, Proclaims them happy whom the Greeks had quell'd In honourable fight; our hero, set In a small shallop, Fortune in his debt, So near a hope of crowns and sceptres, more Than ever Priam, when he flourish'd, wore; His loins yet full of ungot princes, all His glory in the bud, lets nothing fall That argues fear; if any thought annoys The gallant youth, 'tis love's untasted joys, 100 And dear remembrance of that fatal glance, For which he lately p.a.w.n'd his heart[5] in France; Where he had seen a brighter nymph than she[6]

That sprung out of his present foe, the sea.

That n.o.ble ardour, more than mortal fire, The conquer'd ocean could not make expire; Nor angry Thetis raise her waves above Th' heroic Prince's courage or his love; 'Twas indignation, and not fear he felt, The shrine should perish where that image dwelt.

Ah, Love forbid! the n.o.blest of thy train 111 Should not survive to let her know his pain; Who nor his peril minding, nor his flame, Is entertain'd with some less serious game, Among the bright nymphs of the Gallic court, All highly born, obsequious to her sport; They roses seem, which in their early pride But half reveal, and half their beauties hide; She the glad morning, which her beams does throw Upon their smiling leaves, and gilds them so; 120 Like bright Aurora, whose refulgent ray Foretells the fervour of ensuing day, And warns the shepherd with his flocks retreat To leafy shadows from the threaten'd heat.

From Cupid's string, of many shafts that fled Wing'd with those plumes which n.o.ble Fame had shed, As through the wond'ring world she flew, and told Of his adventures, haughty, brave, and bold, Some had already touch'd the royal maid, But Love's first summons seldom are obey'd; 130 Light was the wound, the Prince's care unknown, She might not, would not, yet reveal her own.

His glorious name had so possess'd her ears, That with delight those antique tales she hears Of Jason, Theseus, and such worthies old, As with his story best resemblance hold.

And now she views, as on the wall it hung, What old Musaeus so divinely sung; Which art with life and love did so inspire, That she discerns and favours that desire, 140 Which there provokes th'advent'rous youth to swim, And in Leander's danger pities him; Whose not new love alone, but fortune, seeks To frame his story like that amorous Greek's.

For from the stern of some good s.h.i.+p appears A friendly light, which moderates their fears; New courage from reviving hope they take, And climbing o'er the waves that taper make, On which the hope of all their lives depends, As his on that fair Hero's hand extends. 150 The s.h.i.+p at anchor, like a fixed rock, Breaks the proud billows which her large sides knock; Whose rage restrained, foaming higher swells, And from her port the weary barge repels, Threat'ning to make her, forced out again, Repeat the dangers of the troubled main.

Twice was the cable hurl'd in vain; the Fates Would not be moved for our sister states; For England is the third successful throw, And then the genius of that land they know, 160 Whose prince must be (as their own books devise) Lord of the scene where now his danger lies.

Well sung the Roman bard, 'All human things Of dearest value hang on slender strings.'

Oh, see the then sole hope, and, in design Of Heaven, our joy, supported by a line!

Which for that instant was Heaven's care above The chain that's fixed to the throne of Jove, On which the fabric of our world depends; One link dissolved, the whole creation ends. 170

[1] 'St. Andero': St. Andrews. He had newly abandoned his suit for the Infanta.-- [2] 'Arion sings': Alluding to the deliverance of Charles I., on his return from Spain, from a violent storm in the Bay of Biscay, October 1623.

[3] 'Sort': a company.

[4] 'Adventurous son': Phaeton.

[5] Henrietta, afterwards Queen.

[6] Venus.

OF HIS MAJESTY'S RECEIVING THE NEWS OF THE DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM'S

So earnest with thy G.o.d! can no new care, No sense of danger, interrupt thy prayer?

The sacred wrestler, till a blessing given, Quits not his hold, but halting conquers Heaven; Nor was the stream of thy devotion stopp'd, When from the body such a limb was lopp'd, As to thy present state was no less maim, Though thy wise choice has since repair'd the same.

Bold Homer durst not so great virtue feign In his best pattern:[2] of Patroclus slain, 10 With such amazement as weak mothers use, And frantic gesture, he receives the news.

Yet fell his darling by th'impartial chance Of war, imposed by royal Hector's lance; Thine, in full peace, and by a vulgar hand Torn from thy bosom, left his high command.

The famous painter[3] could allow no place For private sorrow in a prince's face: Yet, that his piece might not exceed belief, He cast a veil upon supposed grief. 20 'Twas want of such a precedent as this Made the old heathen frame their G.o.ds amiss.

Their Phoebus should not act a fonder part For the fair boy,[4] than he did for his heart; Nor blame for Hyacinthus' fate his own, That kept from him wish'd death, hadst thou been known.

He that with thine shall weigh good David's deeds, Shall find his pa.s.sion, nor his love, exceeds: 28 He cursed the mountains where his brave friend died, But let false Ziba with his heir divide; Where thy immortal love to thy bless'd friends, Like that of Heaven, upon their seed descends.

Such huge extremes inhabit thy great mind, G.o.dlike, unmoved, and yet, like woman, kind!

Which of the ancient poets had not brought Our Charles's pedigree from Heaven, and taught How some bright dame, compress'd by mighty Jove, Produced this mix'd Divinity and Love?

[1] 'Buckingham's death': Buckingham was murdered by Felton at Portsmouth, on the 23d of August 1628, while equipping a fleet for the relief of Roch.e.l.le. Lord Lindsey succeeded him. The king was at prayers when the news arrived, and had the resolution to disguise his emotion till they were over.

[2] 'Pattern': Achilles.

[3] 'Painter': Timanthes in his picture of Iphigenia.

[4] 'Fair boy': Cyparissus.

ON THE TAKING OF SALLe.[1]

Of Jason, Theseus, and such worthies old, Light seem the tales antiquity has told; Such beasts and monsters as their force oppress'd, Some places only, and some times, infest.

Salle, that scorn'd all power and laws of men, Goods with their owners hurrying to their den, And future ages threat'ning with a rude And savage race, successively renew'd; Their king despising with rebellious pride, And foes profess'd to all the world beside; 10 This pest of mankind gives our hero fame, And through the obliged world dilates his name.

The prophet once to cruel Agag said, 'As thy fierce sword has mothers childless made, So shall the sword make thine;' and with that word He hew'd the man in pieces with his sword.

Just Charles like measure has return'd to these 17 Whose Pagan hands had stain'd the troubled seas; With s.h.i.+ps they made the spoiled merchant mourn; With s.h.i.+ps their city and themselves are torn.

One squadron of our winged castles sent, O'erthrew their fort, and all their navy rent; For, not content the dangers to increase, And act the part of tempests in the seas, Like hungry wolves, those pirates from our sh.o.r.e Whole flocks of sheep, and ravish'd cattle bore.

Safely they might on other nations prey-- Fools to provoke the sovereign of the sea!

Mad Cacus so, whom like ill fate persuades, The herd of fair Alcmena's seed invades, 30 Who for revenge, and mortals' glad relief, Sack'd the dark cave and crush'd that horrid thief.

Morocco's monarch, wond'ring at this fact, Save that his presence his affairs exact, Had come in person to have seen and known The injured world's revenger and his own.

Hither he sends the chief among his peers, Who in his bark proportion'd presents bears, To the renown'd for piety and force, Poor captives manumised, and matchless horse.[2] 40

[1] 'Salle': Salle, a town of Fez, given to piracy, was taken and destroyed in 1632 by the army of the Emperor of Morocco, a.s.sisted by some English vessels.

[2] 'Horse': the Emperor of Morocco, in grat.i.tude to Charles, sent him a present of Barbary horses, and three hundred manumitted Christian slaves.--