Some in their strains up to the fountain ran,
From whence, this ftream of virtue first began:
Others chofe heroes of a later date,
And fung the founder of the neighbouring state;
How daringly he tyranny withstood,
And feal'd his country's freedom with his blood;
Then to the two illuftrious + brethren came,
The glorious rivals of their father's fame;
And to the youth, whofe pregnant hopes out-ran
The fteps of time, and early fhew'd the man ;
For whofe alliance monarchs did contend,
And gave a daughter to fecure a friend,
But as by Nature's law the Phoenix dies,
That from its urn a nobler bird may rife,
So fate ordain'd the § parent foon should set,
To make the glories of his heir compleat.
At William's name each fill'd his vocal fhell,
And on the happy found rejoic'd to dwell:
Some fung his birth, and how difcerning fate
Sav'd infant virtue against powerful hate;
Of poisonous fnakes by young Alcides quell'd,
And palms that fpread the more, the more with-held.
Some fung Seneffe, and early wonders done
By the bold youth, himself a war alone;
And how his firmer courage did oppofe
His country's foreign and intestine foes ;
The lion he, who held their arrows clofe.
+ Maurice and Henry.
§ James II.
Others fung Perfeus, and the injur❜d maid,
Redeem'd by the wing'd warrior's timely aid;
Or in myfterious numbers did unfold
Sad modern truths wrapt up in tales of old;
How Saturn, flufh'd with arbitrary power,
Defign'd his lawful iffue to devour ;
But Jove, referv'd for better fate, withstood
The black contrivance of the doating god;
With arms he came, his guilty father fled,
'T was Italy secur❜d his frighted head,
And by his flight refign'd his empty throne
And triple empire to his worthier fon.
Then in one note their artful force they join,
Eager to reach the victor and the Boyne;
How on the wondering bank the hero ftood,
Lavishly bold and defperately good;
Till fate, defigning to convince the brave
That they can dare no more than Heaven can fave,
Let death approach, and yet withheld the sting,
Wounded the man, diftinguishing the King.
They had enlarg'd, but found the strain too strong, And in foft notes allay'd the bolder fong: Flow, gentle Boyne, they cry'd, and round thy bed For ever may victorious wreaths be spread ; No more may travellers defire to know Where Simoïs and Granicus did flow; Nor Rubicon, a poor forgotten stream, Be or the foldier's rant, or poet's theme: All waters fhall unite their fame in thee, Loft in thy waves, as those are in the fea.
They breath'd afresh, unwilling to give o'er,
And begg'd thick mifts long to conceal the shore :
Smooth was the liquid plain; the fleeping wind,
More to the fea, than to it's master kind,
Detain'd a treasure, which we value more
Than all the deep e'er hid, or waters bore.
But he, with a fuperior genius born,
Treats chance with infolence, and death with scorn :
Darkness and ice in vain obftruct his way,
Holland is near, and nature must obey;
Charg'd with our hopes the boat fecurely rode,
For Cæfar and his fortune were the load.
With eager tranfport Belgia met her fon,
Yet trembling for the danger he had run;
Till, certain of her joy, fhe bow'd her head,
Confefs'd her Lord, blefs'd his return, and said:
If paffion by long abfence does improve,
And makes that rapture, which before was love;
Think on my old, my intermitted bliss,
And by my former pleasure measure this:
Nor by these feeble pillars which I raise,
Unequal to fuftain the hero's praise;
Too faint the colours, and too mean the art,
To represent your glories, or my heart:
These humble emblems are defign'd to show,
Not how we would reward, but what we owe.
Here from your childhood take a fhort review,
How Holland's happiness advanc'd with you;
How her ftout veffel did in triumph ride,
And mock'd her storms, while Orange was her guide.
What fince has been our fate---I need not say,
Ill fuiting with the bleffings of the day,
Our better fortune with our Prince was gone,
Conqueft was only there where he led on.
Like the Palladium, wherefoe'er you go,
You turn all death and danger on the foe.
In you we but too fadly understood
How angels have their spheres of doing good;
Elfe the fame foul which did our troops poffefs,
And crown'd their daring courage with fuccess,
Had taught our fleet to triumph o'er the main,
And Fleurus had been still a guiltless plain.
What pity 'tis, ye Gods! an arm and mind
Like yours fhould be to time and place confin'd!
But thy return fhall fix our kinder fate,
For thee our councils, thee our armies wait;
Difcording Princes fhall with thee combine,
And center all their interefts in thine;
Proud of thy friendship, shall forego their sway
As Rome her great Dictator did obey;
And all united make a Gordian knot,
Which neither craft fhall loofe, nor force fhall cut.
THE youth whofe fortune the vast globe obey'd,
Finding his royal enemy betray'd,
And in his chariot by ‡ vile hands opprefs'd,
With noble pity and juft rage poffefs'd,
Wept at his fall from so sublime a state,
And by the traitor's death reveng’d the fate
Of majesty profan'd---fo acted too
The generous Cæfar, when the Roman knew
A coward King had treacherously flain,
**Whom scarce he foil'd on the Pharfalian plain :
The doom of his fam'd rival he bemoan'd,
And the bafe author of the crime dethron'd.
Such were the virtuous maxims of the great,
Free from the fervile arts of barbarous hate:
They knew no foe but in the open field, ·
And to their caufe and to the gods appeal'd.
So William acts---and if his rivals dare
Difpute his reign by arms, he 'll meet them there,
Where Jove, as once on Ida, holds the scale,
And lets the good, the juft, and brave, prevail.
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