"Efcap'd the chance of war, and fraud of foes, "Wilt thou to warring waves thy facred life expofe; "Why am I thus divided by the fea,

"From all the world, and all the world in thee? "Could fighs and tears the rage of tempests bind, 55 “With tears I'd bribe the seas, with fighs the wind : Soft-fighing gales thy canvas should inspire;

65

"But hence, ye boisterous ftorms! far hence retire "To inland woods; there your mad powers appease, "And fcour the dufty plains, or ftrip the foreft trees; 60 "Or lodg'd in hollow rocks profoundly fleep, "And reft from the loud labours of the deep! "Why fhould I fear?- -If heroes be the care "Of heaven above, and heaven inclines to prayer, "Thou fail'ft fecure; my fons with lifted eyes, "And pious vows, for thee have gain'd the skies. "Come then, my much-lov'd lord! No more th' alarms "Of wasteful war require thee from my arms. "Thy fword gives plenteous peace; but without thee, "Peace has no charms, and plenty 's poverty : "At length enjoy, for whom you've fought, the queen "Of islands, bright, majestic, and ferene! "Unveil'd from clouds, which did her form disguise, "And hid a thousand beauties from thy eyes. "A thousand treasures unfurvey'd invite "Their lord to various fcenes of new delight. "Come fee the dower I brought! My fpacious downs, "My numerous counties, and my ancient towns; "Landfkips of rifing mountains, fhaggy woods, "Green vallies, fmiling meadows, filver floods,

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75

80

"And

One shooting beam, like lightning doubly bright,
Darts on the middle main its ftreaming light.
Lo! WILLIAM's guardian angel there deicends;
To Neptune's court his heavenly meffage tends:
In arms celestial, how he shines afar,

Like Pallas marching to th' awaken'd war !
His left hand gripes a fpacious orb of shield,
With thousand intercepted dangers fill'd,
And deaths of various kind; his right displays

140

A temper'd blade, that spreads a formidable blaze. 145
He ftrikes the waves; th' obfequious waves obey,
And, opening in a gulph, disclose the downward way.
O Mufe! by thee conducted down, I dare
The fecrets of the watery world declare ;
For nothing scapes thy view; to thee 'tis given,
To range the space of earth, and feas, and heaven,
Defcry a thousand forms, conceal'd from fight,
And in immortal verfe to give the visions light.

A rock there lies, in depth of fea profound;
About its clefts, rich beds of pearl abound,
Where sportful nature, covering her retreat
With flowing waters, holds her fecret feat
In woods of coral, intricate she strays,
And wreathes the fhells of fish a thousand ways,
And animates the spawn of all her finny race. 160
Th' unnumber'd species of the fertile tide,
In fhoals, around their mighty mother, glide.
From out the rock's wide cavern's deep below,
The rushing ocean rifes to its flow i

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155

And,

And, ebbing, here retires; within its fides,
In roomy caves the god of fea resides.
Pillars unhewn, of living stone, bear high
His vaulted courts; in ftorms the billows fly
O'er th' echoing roof, like thunder through the
skies,

And warn the ruler of the floods to rise,
And check the raving winds, and the swoln
waves chaftife.

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170

Rich fpoils, by plundering tempefts hither borne,
An universe of wealth, the palace-rooms adorn.
Before its entrance, broken wrecks are seen
In heaps deform'd, a melancholy scene.
But far within, upon a moffy throne,
With washy ooze and famphire overgrown,
The fea-green king his forky fceptre rears;
Awful his afpect, numerous are his years.
A pearly crown circles his brows divine ;

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180

His beard and dewy hair fhed trickling drops of brine.
The river-gods, his numerous progeny,

On beds of rushes round their parent lie.

Here Danube and the Rhine; Nile's fecret fource
Dwells here conceal'd; hence Tiber takes his course; 185
Hence rapid Rhodanus his current pours ;

And, iffuing from his urn, majestic Padus roars ;
And Alpheus feeks, with filent pace, the lov'd Sici-
lian fhores.

But, chief in honour, Neptune's darling fon,

The beauteous Thames lies nearest to his throne. 190

Nor

Nor thou, fair Boyne! falt pafs unmention'd by,
Already fung in strains that ne'er fhall die.

Thefe, and a thousand more, whofe winding trains
Seck various lands, the wealthy fire maintains;
Each day, the fluid portions he divides,

195

And fills their craving urns with fresh-recruited tides. But not alike; for oft his partial care

Beftows on fome a disproportion'd fhare;

200

From whence their swelling currents, o'er-fupply'd,
Through delug'd fields in noify triumph ride.
The God was just preparing to renew
His daily task, when fudden in his view

Appear'd the guardian power, all dazzling-bright;
And, entering, flafh'd the caves with beamy light.
Boyne, Rhine, the Sambre, on their banks had feen 205
The glorious form, and knew his martial mien;
In throngs th' admiring Nereids round him prefs'd,
And Tritons croud to view the heavenly guest.
Then thus, advancing, he his will explains,
"O mighty fovereign of the liquid plains!
"Hafte, to the furface of the deep repair,
"This folemn day requires thy presence there,
"To rule the ftorms, the rifing waves restrain,

210

And shake thy fceptre o'er the govern'd main. By breathing gales on thy dominions driven 285 "To thee, three kingdoms hopes in charge are given,

The glory of the world, and beft-belov'd of heaven. "Behold him figur'd here!”—He said, and held, Refulgent to his view, the guardian. fhield.

On

225

On the rich mould, inwrought with skill divine, 201
Great WILLIAM's wars in fplendid sculpture shine.
Here, how his faving power was first display'd,
And Holland refcued by his youthful aid;
When, kindling in his foul, the martial flame
Broke fiercely out, preluding future fame,
And round, the frontiers dealt avenging fire;
Swift from the hot pursuit the blasted foes retire.
Then battles, fieges, camps are gray'd afar,
And the long progrefs of the dreadful war.
Above the reft, Seneffe's immortal fight,
In larger figures offer'd to the fight,

230

With martial terror charms, and gives a fierce delight. Here the confederate troops are forc'd to yield, Driven by unequal numbers through the field :

With his bright fword, young NASSAU there withstands Their flight; with prayers and blows he urges his commands,

240'

Upbraids their fainting force, and boldly throws
Himself the first amidst the wondering foes.
What dare not men, by fuch a general led?
Rallying with fhouts, their Hero at their head,
Fir'd with new rage, afham'd they once did fly,
Refolv'd t' o'ercome, or refolute to die,
Through trampled heaps of flain they rush to victory.
Earth trembles at the charge; Death, Blood, and Prey,
Infatiate riot all the murderous day;

Nor night it felf their fury can allay;

Till the pale moon, that fickens at the fight,

245

Retires behind a cloud, to blind the bloody fight.