Than did his temple in the fea of time,

Our nation's glory, and our nation's crime.
When first the Monarch † of this happy isle,
Mov'd with the ruin of fo brave a pile,
The work of cost and piety begun,
To be accomplish'd by his glorious fon,
Who all that came within the ample thought
Of his wife fire has to perfection brought;
He, like Amphion, makes those quarries leap
Into fair figures from a confus'd heap;
For in his art of regiment is found

A pow'r like that of harmony in found.

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Thofe antique minftrels furewere Charles-like kings, Cities their lutes, and fubjects' hearts their strings, 16 On which with so divine a hand they strook, Confent of motion from their breath they took: So all our minds with his confpire to grace The Gentiles' great apoftle, and deface Thofe ftate-obfcuring fhades, that like a chain Seem'd to confine and fetter him again; Which the glad faint fhakes off at his command, As once the viper from his facred hand :

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So joys the aged oak, when we divide

The creeping ivy from his injur'd fide.

Ambition rather would affect the fame

Of fome new structure, to have borne her name.
Two diftant virtues in one act we find,
The modesty and greatnefs of his mind;

† King James I.

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Which not content to be above the rage,
And injury of all-impairing age,

In its own worth fecure, doth higher climb,
And things half swallow'd from the jaws of time
Reduce; an earnest of his grand defign,

To frame no new church, but the old refine;

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Which fpoufe-like,may with comelygrace command,
More than by force of argument or hand.
For doubtful reason few can apprehend,
And war brings ruin where it should amend;
But beauty, with a bloodless conqueft, finds
A welcome fov'reignty in rudest minds.

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Not ought which Sheba's wond'ring queen beheld
Amongst the works of Solomon, excell'd
His fhips and building; emblems of a heart
Large both in magnanimity and art.

While the propitious heav'ns this work attend,
Long wanted fhowers they forget to send;
As if they meant to make it understood
Of more importance than our vital food.
The fun which rifeth to falute the quire

Already finish'd, fetting fhall admire
How private bounty could fo far extend:
The King built all, but Charles the western end.
So proud a fabrick to devotion giv'n,

At once it threatens and obliges heav'n!

Laomedon, that had the gods in pay,

Neptune, with him that rules the facred day †. † Apollo.

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Could no fuch ftructure raise: Troy wall'd fo high,
Th'Atrides might as well have forc'd the sky.

Glad, tho' amazed, are our neighbour kings,
To fee fuch pow'r employ'd in peaceful things:
They lift not urge it to the dreadful field;
The task is easier to destroy than build.

-----Sic gratia regum
Pieriis tentata modis,---

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64

HOR.

V.

OF THE QUEEN.

THE lark, that fhuns on lofty boughs to build
Her humble neft, lies filent in the field;
But if (the promise of a cloudless day)

Aurora fmiling bids her rife and play,

Then ftrait the shews 't was not for want of voice, 5
Or pow'r to climb, fhe made fo low a choice;
Singing the mounts; her airy wings are stretch'd
Tow'rds heav'n,as if from heav'n her note fhe fetch'd.
So we, retiring from the bufy throng,

Ufe to restrain th' ambition of our fong;
But fince the light which now informs our age
Breaks from the court, indulgent to her rage,
Thither my Mufe, like bold Prometheus, flies,
To light her torch at Gloriana's eyes.

Thofe fov'reign beams which heal thewounded foul, And all our cares, but once beheld, control!

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There the poor lover, that has long endur'd

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Some proud nymph's fcorn, of his fond paffion cur'd, Fares like the man who first upon the ground A glow-worm spy'd, fuppofing he had found A moving diamond, a breathing stone; For life it had, and like thofe jewels fhone; He held it dear, 'till by the fpringing day Inform'd, he threw the worthlefs worm away. She faves the lover, as we gangrenes stay, By cutting hope, like a lopp'd limb, away: This makes her bleeding patients to accuse High Heav'n, and these expostulations use : "Could Nature then no private woman grace, "Whom we might dare to love, with such a face, 30 "Such a complexion, and fo radiant eyes, "Such lovely motion, and such sharp replies? "Beyond our reach, and yet within our fight, "What envious pow'r has plac'd this glorious light?"

Thus in a starry night fond children cry

For the rich spangles that adorn the sky,
Which, tho' they shine for ever fixed there,
With light and influence relieve us here.
All her affections are to one inclin'd;
Her bounty and compaffion to mankind;
To whom, while fhe fo far extends her grace,
She makes but good the promise of her face:
For Mercy has, could Mercy's felf be seen,
No sweeter look than this propitious queen.

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Such guard and comfort the diftreffed find

From her large pow'r, and from her larger mind, That whom ill Fate would ruin it prefers,

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For all the miferable are made her's.

So the fair tree whereon the eagle builds,

Poor sheepfromtempefts, and their fhepherds,fhields:
The royal bird poffeffes all the boughs,
But fhade and fhelter to the flock allows.
Joy of our age, and safety of the next;
For which fo oft' thy fertile womb is vext;
Nobly contented, for the publick good,
To waste thy fpirits and diffuse thy blood,
What vaft hopes may these islands entertain,
Where monarchs, thus defcended, are to reign?
Led by commanders of fo fair a line,
Our feas no longer fhall our pow'r confine.

A brave romance who would exactly frame,
First brings his knight from some immortal dame,
And then a weapon and a flaming shield,
Bright as his mother's eyes he makes him wield.
None might' the mother of Achilles be,
By the fair pearl and glory of the feat:

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The man to whom great Maro gives fuch fame t,
From the high bed of heav'nly Venus came;
And our next Charles, whom all the stars defign
Like wonders to accomplish, springs from thine. 70