Then his air was too proud, and his features amifs,
As if being a traitor had alter'd his phiz :

So the rabble of Rome, whofe favour ne'er fettles,
Melt down their Sejanus to pots and brass kettles.

An EPISTLE to CHARLES MONTAGUE, Efq; afterwards Earl of HALIFAX.

On his Majesty's Voyage to HOLLAND.

SIR,

SINCE you oft invite me to renew

Art I've either loft, or never knew,

Pleas'd my paft follies kindly to commend,
And fondly lose the critick in the friend;
Though my warm youth untimely be decay'd,
From grave to dull infenfibly betray'd,
I'll contradict the humour of the times,
Inclin'd to business, and averse to rhymes,
And, to obey the man I love, in spite
Of the world's genius and my own, I'll write.
But think not that I vainly do aspire

To rival what I only would admire,

The heat and beauty of your manly thought,
And force like that with which your hero fought;
Like Samfon's riddle is that powerful song,
Sweet as the honey, as the lion strong;

The colours there fo artfully are laid,

They fear no luftre, and they want no fhade;
But shall of writing a juft model give,

While Boyne fhall flow, and William's glory live.

Yet fince his every act may well infufe Some happy rapture in the humbleft Mufe, Though mine despairs to reach the wondrous height,' She prunes her pinions, eager of the flight;

When William's deeds, and rescued Europe's joy
Do every tongue and every pen employ,

'Tis to think treafon fure, to fhew no zeal,
And not to write, is almoft to rebel.

Let Albion then forgive her meanest son,
Who would continue what her best begun;
Who, leaving conquefts and the pomp of war,
Would fing the pious King's divided care;
How eagerly he flew, when Europe's fate
Did for the feed of future actions wait;

And how two nations did with transport boast,
Which was belov'd, and lov'd the victor moft:
How joyful Belgia gratefully prepar'd
Trophies and vows for her returning lord;
How the fair ifle with rival paffion ftrove,
How by her forrow the exprefs'd her love,

When he withdrew from what his arm had freed,
And how the blefs'd his way, yet figh'd, and said:
Is it decreed my hero ne'er fhall reft,

Ne'er be of me, and I of him poffefs'd?
Scarce had I met his virtue with my throne,
By right, by merit, and by arms his own,
But Ireland's freedom, and the war's alarms,
Call'd him from me and his Maria's charms.

O ge

Prayer-books, patch-boxes, fermon-notes, and paint,
At once t' improve the finner and the faint.
Farewel, friend Moll: expect no more from me;
But if you would a full description see,
You'll find her fomewhere in the Litany,
With Pride, Vain-glory, and Hypocrify.

O N

ORPHEUS

AND

SIGNORA FRANCISCA MARGARITA.

HAIL, tuneful pair! fay, by what wondrous charms,

One'fcap'd from hell, and one from Greber's arms? When the foft Thracian touch'd the trembling ftrings, The winds were hush'd, and curl'd their airy wings : And when the tawny Tuscan rais'd her ftrain, Rooke furls his fails, and dozes on the main. Treaties unfinish'd in the office fleep, And Shovel yawns for orders on the deep. Thus equal charms and equal conquests claim To him high woods and bending timber came, To her fhrub Hedges, and tall Nottingham.

}

CON

c o N 1 NTENTS

O F

HALIFAX'S POEMS.

On the Death of his moft Sacred Majefty King Charles

Page 215

II. Ode on the Marriage of the Princefs Anne and Prince George of Denmark

220

224

The Man of Honour; occafioned by a Postscript of
Penn's Letter
An Epiftle to Charles Earl of Dorset, occafioned by
his Majesty's Victory in Ireland
Written at Althrop, in a blank Leaf of Waller's
Poems, upon feeing Vandyke's Picture of the old
Lady Sunderland

229

237

Verfes written for the Toasting Glasses of the Kit-Cat Club, 1703

On the Countefs Dowager of ****

ibid.

239

On Orpheus and Signora Francifca Margarita

240

R

POEMS