"The wealthy farmer from his toils fhall cease;
"The ploughman from the yoke his smoking steers
"release,

"And join to folemnize the festival of peace.

"No more for want of hands th' unlabour'd field, "Choak'd with rank weeds, a fickly crop fhall yield: 110 "Calm peace returns; behold her fhining train! "And fruitful plenty is reftor'd again.”— Apollo ceas'd.The Mufes take the found, From voice to voice th' harmonious notes rebound, And echoing lyres tranfinit the volant fugue around!

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Mean while the steady bark, with profperous gales, Fills the large fheets of her expanded fails, And gains th’intended port; thick on the strand, Like fwarming bees, th' affembled Britons ftand, And prefs to fee their welcome fovereign land: 120 At his approach, unruly transport reigns In every breast, and rapture fires their veins. A general fhout fucceeds, as when on high Exploded thunder rends the vaulted sky. A fort convulfion fhakes the folid fhore, And rocks th' adjacent deep, unmov'd before; Loud acclamations through the valleys ring, While to Augufta's wall the croud attend their king. And now behold * a finish'd temple rise,

On lofty pillars climbing to the fkies!

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Of

*The choir of St. Paul's was firft opened on the day of thanksgiving for the peace.

Of bulk ftupendous, its proud pile it rears,
The gradual product of fucceffive years.
An inner gate, that folds with iron leaves,
The charm'd fpectator's entering fteps receives,
Where curious works in twisted ftems are seen
Of branching foliage, vacuous between.
O'er this a vocal organ, mounted high

On marble columns, ftrikes the wondering eye;
And feeds at once two fenfes with delight,
Sweet to the ear, and splendid to the fight.
Marble the floor, enrich'd with native stains
Of various dye, and streak'd with azure veins.
Ev'n emulous art with nature feems to strive,
And the carv'd figures almost breathe and live;
The painted altar, glorious to behold,
Shines with delightful blue, and dazzling gold.
Here first th' illuftrious three, of heavenly race,
Religion, Liberty, and Peace, embrace;
Here joyful crouds their pious thanks exprefs,
For Peace reftor'd, and heaven's indulgence blefs
Aufpicious structure! born in happy days,
Whofe first employment is the noblest, praise !
So, when by juft degrees th' eternal Thought
His fix days labour to perfection brought,
With laws of motion first endued the whole,
And bade the heavens in deftin'd circles roll,

The polish'd spheres commenc'd their harmony;
All nature in a chorus did agree,

And the world's birth-day was a jubilee.

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THE

THE COURT OF NEPTUNE. ON KING WILLIAM'S RETURN FROM HOLLAND, 1699.

ADDRESSED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

CHARLES MONTAGUE, ESQ. BEGIN, celeftial Muse! a tuneful strain

Of Albion's prince conducted o'er the main ; Of courts conceal'd in waves, and Neptune's watery

reign;

Sing, from beneath, how the green deity

Rofe to the fovereign of the British sea;
To power confefs'd, the triple mace refign'd,
O'er-rul'd the floods, and charg'd the rebel wind;
Secur'd his paffage homeward, and restor'd,
Safe to the loveliest ifle, the best lov'd lord.

The generous name of MONTAGUE has long
Been fam'd in verse, and grac'd the poet's fong;
In verfe, himself can hippy wonders do,
The best of patrons, and of poets too.
Amid the skillful choir that court his ear,

If he vouchfafe thefe ruder lays to hear,
His bright example, while to him I fing,

Shall raife my feeble flight, and mount me on the wing.
On Albion's Eaftern coaft, an * ancient town
O'erlooks the fea, to mariners well known;
Where the fwift † Stourus ends his fnaky train,
his watery tribute to the main :

And pays

*Harwich.

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Stourus,

+ The River Stoure, that runs between Suffolk and Effex.

Stourus, whose stream, prolific as it glides,
Two fertile counties in its courfe divides,
And rolls to feaward with a lover's pace :
'There beauteous Orwell meets his fond embrace; 25
They mix their amorous ftreams, the briny tide
Receives them join'd; their crooked fhores provide
A spacious bay within, for anchor'd ships to ride.
Here, on the margin of the rolling flood,
Divinely fair, like fea-born Venus, ftood
Britannia's genius, in a robe array'd

Of broider'd arms, and heraldry display'd:
A crown of cities charg'd her graceful brows ;
In waving curls her hair luxuriant flows;
Celestial glories in her eyes are feen;

Her ftature tall, majestic is her miɛn.

With fuch a pr. fence, through th' adoring skies
Shines the great parent of the deities;

૩૦

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Such towery honours on her temples rife,
When, drawn by lions, fhe proceeds in state;
Trains of attendant-gods around her chariot wait
The mother-goddess, with superior grace,
Surveys, and numbers o'er her bright immortal race.
While thus the lovely Genius hovers o'er
The water's brink, and from the fandy shore
Beholds th' alternate billows fall and rife

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(By turns they fink below, by turns they mount the fkies) :

"And muft, fhe faid

"Then paus'd, and drew a sigh of anxious love; "Muft my dear lord this faithless ocean prove ;

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"Efcap'd

"Efcap'd the chance of war, and fraud of foes, "Wilt thou to warring waves thy facred life expofe; "Why am I thus divided by the fea,

"From all the world, and all the world in thee?

"Could fighs and tears the rage of tempests bind, 55 "With tears I'd bribe the feas, with fighs the wind:

Soft-fighing gales thy canvas fhould infpire;

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"But hence, ye boiflerous ftorms! far hence retire "To inland woods; there your mad powers appease, "And fcour the dufty plains, or ftrip the foreft trees; 60 "Or lodg'd in hollow rocks profoundly fleep, "And reft from the loud labours of the deep! "Why fhould I fear?If heroes be the care "Of heaven above, and heaven inclines to prayer, "Thou fail'ft fecure; my fons with lifted eyes, "And pious vows, for thee have gain'd the skies. "Come then, my much-lov'd lord! No more th' alarms "Of wafteful war require thee from my arms. "Thy fword gives plenteous peace; but without thee, "Peace has no charms, and plenty 's poverty: "At length enjoy, for whom you've fought, the queen "Of islands, bright, majestic, and ferene! "Unveil'd from clouds, which did her form difguife, "And hid a thoufand beauties from thy eyes. "A thousand treasures unfurvey'd invite "Their lord to various fcenes of new delight. "Come fee the dower I brought! My fpacious downs, "My numerous counties, and my ancient towns;

Landskips of rifing mountains, fhaggy woods, "Green vallies, fimiling meadows, filver floods,

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"And