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His conquest by his piety restrain'd,

And o'er himself the last great triumph gain'd.

No longer shall their wretched zeal adore
Ideas of destructive power,

Spirits that hurt, and godheads that devour:
New incense they shall bring, new altars raise,
And fill their temples with a stranger's praise;
When the great father's character they find
Visibly stamp'd upon the hero's mind;
And own a present Deity confest,

In valour that preserv'd, and power that blest.

410

Through the large convex of the azure sky
(For thither nature casts our common eye)
Fierce meteors shoot their arbitrary light:
And comets march with lawless horror bright:
These hear no rule, no righteous order own;
Their influence dreaded as their ways unknown:
Through threaten'd lands they wild destruction
throw,

Till ardent prayer averts the public woe:
But the bright orb that blesses all above,
The sacred fire, the real son of Jove,
Rules not his actions by capricious will;
Nor by ungovern'd power declines to ill :
Fix'd by just laws he goes for ever right:
Man knows his course, and thence adores his
light.

O Janus! would intreated Fate conspire
To grant what Britain's wishes could require;

420

Above, that sun should cease his way to go,
Ere William cease to rule, and bless below:
-But a relentless destiny

Urges all that e'er was born:

430

Snatch'd from her arms, Britannia once must mourn
The demi-god the earthly half must die.
Yet if our incense can your wrath remove;
If human prayers avail on minds above
Exert, great god, thy interest in the sky;
Gain each kind Power, each guardian Deity;
That conquer'd by the public vow,
They bear the dismal mischief far away:
O! long as utmost nature may allow,

Let them retard the threaten'd day!
Still be our master's life thy happy care:
Still let his blessings with his years increase:
To his laborious youth consum'd in war,

440

Add lasting age, adorn'd and crown'd with peace:
Let twisted olive bind those laurels fast,
Whose verdure must for ever last!

Long let this growing era bless his sway:
And let our sons his present rule obey:
On his sure virtue long let earth rely:
And late let the imperial eagle fly,

To bear the hero through his father's sky,
To Leda's twins, or he whose glorious speed,
On foot prevail'd, or he who tamed the steed
To Hercules, at length absolv'd by Fate
From earthly toil, and above envy great :
To Virgil's theme, bright Cytherea's son,
Sire of the Latian, and the British throne:
To all the radiant names above,

;

450

Rever'd by men, and dear to Jove.
Late, Janus, let the Nassau-star,
New-born, in rising majesty appear,

To triumph over vanquish'd night,
And guide the prosperous mariner
With everlasting beams of friendly light.

460

AN ODE.

INSCRIBED TO THE MEMORY OF THE HONOURABLE COLONEL GEORGE VILLIERS,*

DROWNED IN THE RIVER PIAVA, IN THE COUNTRY

OF FRIULI, MDCCIII. IN IMITATION OF

HORACE, ODE 28, LIB. I.

Te maris et terræ numeroque carentis arenæ
Mensorem cohibent, Archyta, &c.

AY, dearest Villiers, poor departed friend, (Since fleeting life thus suddenly must end)

Say, what did all thy busy hopes avail, That anxious thou from pole to pole didst sail; Ere on thy chin the springing beard began

Colonel George Villiers was in the marine service. When this accident happened to him he was accompanied by William Courtenay, Esq., son of Sir William Courtenay, a captain in his regiment, and both shared the same fate. They had been out on an excursion to see the country.

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To spread a doubtful down, and promise man?
What profited thy thoughts, and toils, and cares,
In vigour more confirm'd, and riper years?
To wake ere morning dawn to loud alarms,
And march till close of night in heavy arms;
To scorn the summer suns and winter snows,
And search through every clime thy country's foes!
That thou mightst Fortune to thy side engage;
That gentle Peace might quell Bellona's rage;
And Anna's bounty crown her soldier's hoary age?
In vain we think that free-will'd man has power
To hasten or protract th' appointed hour.
Our term of life depends not on our deed:
Before our birth our funeral was decreed.
Nor aw'd by foresight, nor misled by chance,
Imperious Death directs his ebon lance;
Peoples great Henry's tombs, and leads up Hol-
bein's dance.

Alike must every state, and every age
Sustain the universal tyrant's rage:

For neither William's power, nor Mary's charms,
Could, or repel, or pacify his arms:

Young Churchill* fell, as life began to bloom:
And Bradford's + trembling age expects the tomb.
Wisdom and eloquence in vain would plead
One moment's respite for the learned head:
Judges of writings and of men have died;

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30

John Churchill, Marquis of Blandford, only son of John, Duke of Marlborough by Sarah his duchess. He died 10th March, 1702, aged 16, and was buried in King's College chapel, Cambridge.

Francis Newport, Earl of Bradford. He died 19th September, 1708.

Mæcenas, Sackville, Socrates, and Hyde:

And in their various turns the sons must tread
Those gloomy journeys which their sires have led.
The ancient sage, who did so long maintain,
That bodies die, but souls return again,

With all the births and deaths he had in store,
Went out Pythagoras, and came no more.
And modern Asgyll, whose capricious thought
Is yet with stores of wilder notions fraught,
Too soon convinc'd, shall yield that fleeting breath,
Which play'd so idly with the darts of death.

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Some from the stranded vessel force their way; Fearful of Fate, they meet it in the sea: Some who escape the fury of the wave, Sicken on earth, and sink into a grave: In journeys or at home, in war or peace, By hardships many, many fall by ease. Each changing season does its poison bring, Rheums chill the winter, agues blast the spring: 50

* John Asgyll, Esq. a lawyer of some eminence, but more remarkable for the very extraordinary publication here alluded to. He was a member of the English parliament for Bramber in Sussex. In the year 1700 he published a treatise, entitled, "An argument proving that according to the covenant of eternal life revealed in the scriptures, man may be translated hence into that eternal life without passing through death, although the human nature of Christ Himself could not be thus translated till He had passed through death." Being involved in many perplexing law

suits, and much reduced in his circumstances, the House of Commons made this pamphlet a pretence for expelling him in September, 1707. His affairs afterwards continued to grow worse, and he passed the remainder of his life in the rules of the King's Bench, or Fleet. He died within the former on the 10th of November 1738, when he was con siderably above fourscore years of age.

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