One fhooting beam, like lightning doubly bright,
Darts on the middle main its streaming light.
Lo! WILLIAM's guardian angel there defcends;
To Neptune's court his heavenly message tends :
In arms celestial, how he shines afar,
Like Pallas marching to th' awaken'd war!
His left hand gripes a spacious orb of shield,
With thousand intercepted dangers fill'd,
And deaths of various kind; his right difplays
A temper'd blade, that fpreads 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,
Defery a thousand forms, conceal'd from fight,
And in immortal verse 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 fhe strays,
And wreathes the fhells of fish a thousand ways,
And animates the spawn of all her finny race. 160
Th' unnumber'd fpecies 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;
And, ebbing, here retires; within its fides,
In roomy caves the god of fea refides.
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 rife,
And check the raving winds, and the fwoln
waves chaftife.
Rich spoils, by plundering tempefts hither borne,
An univerfe 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 wahy ooze and famphire overgrown,
The fea-green king his forky fceptre rears;
Awful his afpect, numerous are his
A pearly crown circles his brows divine;
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 hores.
But, chief in honour, Neptune's darling fon,
The beauteous Thames lies nearest to his throne. 190
Nor thou, fair Boyne! fhalt pass unmention'd by,
Already fung in ftrains that ne'er fhall die.
Thefe, and a thoufand more, whofe winding trains
Seek various lands, the wealthy fire maintains;
Each day, the fluid portions he divides,
And fills their craving urns with fresh-recruited tides.
But not alike; for oft his partial care
Beftows on fome a disproportion'd share;
From whence their fwelling 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 seen 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 prefence there,
To rule the ftorms, the rifing waves reftrain,
"And shake thy fceptre o'er the govern'd main.
By breathing gales on thy dominions driven
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 faid, and held,
Refulgent to his view, the guardian shield.
On the rich mould, inwrought with skill divine, 220
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 blafted foes retire.
Then battles, fieges, camps are grav'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,
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,
Upbraids their fainting force, and boldly throws
Himself the firft 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 rufh 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,
Retires behind a cloud, to blind the bloody fight.
Again, the shield in favage profpect shows
An ancient abbey, which rough woods inclofe; 250
And precipices vaft abruptly rife,
Where, safe encamp'd, proud Luxemburgh defies
All open violence, or close surprize.
But fee! a fecond Hannibal from far,
Up the steep height, conducts th' entangled war. 255
Brave Offory, attended with the pride
Of English valour, charges by his fide.
Inclos'd they fight; the forefts shine around
With flashing fires; the thunder'd hills rebound,
And the fhock'd country, wide beneath, rebel-
Forc'd from their holds, at length they speed their flight; Rich tents, and ftores of war, the victor's toils requite. Then peace enfues; and, in a shining train,
The friendly chiefs affemble on the plain.
An ardent zeal the Gallic general warms
To fee the youth, that kindled fuch alarms;
Wondering he views; fecure the foldiers prefs
Round their late dread, and the glad treaty blefs.
Next, on the broad circumference is wrought
The nine years war for lov'd Britannia fought; 270
The cause the fame : fair Liberty betray'd,
And banish'd Justice, fly to him for aid.
Here failing fhips are drawn, the crowded strand,
And heaven's avenger haftening to the land.
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