We fear'd (and almost touch'd the black degree
Of inftant expectation)

That the three dreadful angels we,

Of famine, fword, and plague, should here establish'd fee (God's great triumvirate of defolation !)

To scourge and to deftroy the finful nation.
Juftly might Heaven Protectors fuch as thofe,
And fuch Committees for their Safety, impofe
Upon a land which fcarcely better chose.

We fear'd that the Fanatic war,

Which men against God's houses did declare,
Would from th' Almighty enemy bring down
A fure deftruction on our own.

We read th' inftructive hiftories which tell
Of all those endless mifchiefs that befel

The facred town which God had lov'd fo well,
After that fatal curfe had once been faid,

}

"His blood be upon ours and on our children's head." We know, though there a greater blood was spilt, 'Twas fcarcely done with greater guilt.

We know thofe miferies did befal

Whilft they rebell'd against that Prince, whom all
The rest of mankind did the love and joy of mankind

call.

Already was the shaken nation

Into a wild and deform'd chaos brought,

And it was hating on (we thought)

Even to the laft of ills- annihilation :
When, in the midst of this confused night,
Lo! the bleft Spirit mov'd, and there was light ;;

For, in the glorious General's previous ray,
We faw a new-created day :

We by it faw, though yet in mists it shone,
The beauteous work of Order moving on.
Where are the men who bragg'd that God did bless,
And with the marks of good fuccefs

Sign his allowance of their wickedness ?

Vain men! who thought the Divine Power to find
In the fierce thunder and the violent wind:

God came not till the ftorm was paft;

In the ftill voice of Peace he came at laft!
The cruel bufinefs of deftruction

May by the claws of the great fiend be done;

Here, here we fee th' Almighty's hand indeed Both by the beauty of the work we fee 't, and by the speed.

He who had feen the noble British heir,
Even in that ill, disadvantageous light

With which misfortune ftrives t' abuse our fight-
He who had seen him in his cloud fo bright-
He who had seen the double pair

Of brothers, heavenly good! and fifters, heavenly fair !—
Might have perceiv'd, methinks, with ease

(But wicked men fee only what they please) That God had no intent t' extinguish quite

The pious king's eclipfed right.

He who had feen how by the Power Divine
All the young branches of this royal line
Did in their fire, without confuming, shine-

}

How

How through a rough Red-fea they had been led,
By wonders guarded, and by wonders fed-
How many years of trouble and distress
They 'd wander'd in their fatal wilderness,
And yet did never murmur or repine ;-

Might, methinks, plainly understand,
That, after all these conquer'd trials past,
Th' Almighty mercy would at last
Conduct them with a ftrong unerring hand
To their own Promis'd Land:

For all the glories of the earth

Ought to be entail'd by right of birth;
And all Heaven's bleffings to come down
Upon his race, to whom alone was given
The double royalty of earth and heaven;
Who crown'd the kingly with the martyrs' crown.

The martyrs' blood was faid of old to be

The feed from whence the Church did grow. The royal blood which dying Charles did fow Becomes no less the feed of royalty :

'Twas in difhonour fown;

We find it now in glory grown,

The grave could but the drofs of it devour; "'Twas fown in weakness, and 'tis rais'd in power."

We now the question well decided fee,

Which eastern Wits did once contest,

At the great Monarch's feast,

"Of all on earth what things the strongest be?"

And

Confider man's whole life, and you'll confefs
The fharp ingredient of fome bad fuccefs

Is that which gives the tafte to all his happiness.
But the true method of felicity

Is, when the worst

Of human life is plac'd the first,
And when the child's correction proves to be
The cause of perfecting the man :
Let our weak days lead up the van;
Let the brave Second and Triarian band
Firm against all-impreffion stand:
The first we may defeated fee;

The virtue and the force of these are fure of victory.

Such are the years, great Charles! which now we fee Begin their glorious march with thee:

Long may their march to heaven, and still triumphant, be!

Now thou art gotten once before,
Ill-fortune never fhall o'er-take thee more.
To fee 't again, and pleasure in it find,
Caft a disdainful look behind;

Things which offend when present, and affright,
In memory well-painted move delight.

Enjoy then all thy' afflictions now

Thy royal father's came at last ;
Thy martyrdom 's already past:
And different crowns to both ye owe.
No gold did e'er the kingly temples bind,

Than thine more try'd and more refin'd.

As

As a choice medal for Heaven's treasury

God did stamp first upon one fide of thee
The image of his suffering humanity :

On th' other fide, turn'd now to fight, does fhine
The glorious image of his power divine!

So, when the wisest poets feek

In all their livelieft colours to fet forth
A picture of heroic worth

(The pious Trojan or the prudent Greek);
They chufe fome comely prince of heavenly birth
(No proud gigantic fon of earth,

Who ftrives t' ufurp the Gods' forbidden feat);
They feed him not with nectar, and the meat
That cannot without joy be eat;

}

But, in the cold of want, and storms of adverse chance
They harden his young virtue by degrees :
The beauteous drop first into ice does freeze
And into folid crystal next advance.
His murder'd friends and kindred he does fee,
And from his flaming country flee :

Much is he toft at fea, and much at land;
Does long the force of angry gods withstand:
He does long troubles and long wars sustain,
Ere he his fatal birth-right gain.
With no lefs time or labour can
Destiny build up such a man,
Who's with fufficient virtue fill'd
His ruin'd country to rebuild.

Nor