XXIII.

To nearest ports their fhatter'd fhips repair,
Where by our dreadful cannon they lay aw'd:
So reverently men quit the open air,

When thunder fpeaks the angry gods abroad.

XXIV.

And now approach'd their fleet from India fraught,
With all the riches of the rifing fun :

And precious fand from fouthern climates brought,
The fatal regions where the war begun.

XXV.

Like hunted caftors, confcious of their store,

Their way-laid wealth to Norway's coafts they bring: There firft the North's cold bofom fpices bore, And winter brooded on the eaftern fpring.

XXVI.

By the rich fcent we found our perfum'd prey,
Which, flank'd with rocks, did close in covert lie:
And round about their murdering cannon lay,
At once to threaten and invite the eye.
XXVII.

Fiercer than cannon, and than rocks more hard,
The English undertake th' unequal war:
Seven ships alone, by which the port is barr'd,
Befiege the Indies, and all Denmark dare.

XXVIII.

Thefe fight like husbands, but like lovers those :

These fain would keep, and those more fain enjoy: And to fuch height their frantic paffion grows,

That what both love, both hazard to destroy.

VOL. I.

F

XXVIII. Amidft

XXIX.

Amidst whole heaps of fpices lights a ball,
And now their odours arm'd against them fly:
Some preciously by fhatter'd porcelain fall,
And fome by aromatic fplinters die.

XXX.

And though by tempefts of the prize bereft,
In heaven's inclemency fome ease we find :
Our foes we vanquish'd by our valour left,
And only yielded to the feas and wind.
XXXI.

Nor wholly loft we fo deferv'd a prey;
For ftorms repenting part of it restor’d:
Which, as a tribute from the Baltic fea,
The British ocean fent her mighty lord.
XXXII.

Go mortals now and vex yourfelves in vain

For wealth, which fo uncertainly muft come : When what was brought so far, and with such pain, Was only kept to lose it nearer home.

XXXIII.

The fon, who twice three months on th' ocean toft,
Prepar'd to tell what he had pafs'd before,

Now fees in English fhips the Holland coaft,
And parents arms, in vain, ftretch'd from the shore.

XXXIV.

This careful husband had been long away,

Whom his chafte wife and little children mourn; Who on their fingers learn'd to tell the day

On which their father promis'd to return.

XXXV.

Śuch are the proud defigns of human-kind,
And fo we fuffer shipwreck every where !
Alas, what port can fuch a pilot find,

Who in the night of fate muft blindly steer!
XXXVI.

The undiftinguish'd feeds of good and ill,
Heaven in his bofom from our knowledge hides:
And draws them in contempt of human fkill,
Which oft for friends mistaken focs provides.
XXXVII.

Let Munfter's prelate ever be accurft,

In whom we feek the German faith in vain : Alas, that he fhould teach the English first,

That fraud and avarice in the church could reign!
XXXVIII.

Happy, who never truft a ftranger's will,
Whose friendship's in his intereft understood!
Since money given but tempts him to be ill,
When power is too remote to make him goed.

XXXIX.

Till now, alone the mighty nations ftrove;
The reft, at gaze, without the lifts did stand;
And threatening France, plac'd like a painted Jove,
Kept idle thunder in his lifted hand.

XL.

That eunuch guardian of rich Holland's trade,
Who envies us what he wants power t' enjoy;
Whofe noifeful valour does no foe invade,
And weak affiftance will his friends deftroy.

XLI.

Offended that we fought without his leave,
He takes this time his fecret hate to fhew:
Which Charles does with a mind fo calm receive,
As one that neither feeks nor fhuns his foe.
XLII.

With France, to aid the Dutch, the Danes unite :
France as their tyrant, Denmark as their flave.
But when with one three nations join to fight,
They filently confefs that one more brave.
XLIII.

Lewis had chas'd the English from his shore;
But Charles the French as fubjects does invite:
Would heaven for each fome Solomon restore,
Who, by their mercy, may decide their right!
XLIV.

Were fubjects fo but only by their choice,

And not from birth did forc'd dominion take,
Our prince alone would have the public voice;
And all his neighbours realms would deferts make.
XLV.

He without fear a dangerous war pursues,
Which without rashness he began before:
As honour made him first the danger chufe,
So ftill he makes it good on virtue's score.
XLVI.

The doubled charge his fubjects love fupplies,

Who in that bounty to themselves are kind :

So glad Egyptians fee their Nilus rise,

And in his plenty their abundance find.

XLVII.

With equal power he does two chiefs create,
Two fuch as each feem'd worthiest when alone;
Each able to fuftain a nation's fate,

Since both had found a greater in their own.
XLVIII.

Both great in courage, conduct, and in fame,
Yet neither envious of the other's praise ;
Their duty, faith, and intereft too the fame,
Like mighty partners equally they raise.
XLIX.

The prince long time had courted fortune's love,
But once poffefs'd did abfolutely reign:
Thus with their Amazons the heroes ftrove,

And conquer'd first those beauties they would gain. L.

The duke beheld, like Scipio, with difdain,

That Carthage, which he ruin'd, rife once more; And fhook aloft the fafces of the main,

To fright those flaves with what they felt before. LI.

Together to the watery camp they haste,

Whom matrons paffing to their children show: Infants firft vows for them to heaven are caft, And future people blefs them as they go.

LII.

With them no riotous pomp, nor Asian train,
To infect a navy with their gaudy fears;
To make flow fights, and victories but vain ;
But war feverely like itself appears.