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While in the lustre of his glowing lines, Th' Arabian Paradise so gaily shines, With winy rivers, racy fruits, supply'd, And beauties sparkling in immortal pride, Gallants, you'll own, that a resistless fire Did justly their enamour'd breasts inspire.

While he, like his own Phocyas, snatch'd from view,
To fairer realms with ripen'd glory flew.
Humane, though witty; humble, though admir'd;
Wept by the great, the virtuous sage expir'd!
Still may the bard, beneath kind planets born,
Whom every Grace and every Muse adorn,

At first a numerous audience crown'd this play, Whose spreading fame has reach'd to foreign lands,

And kind applauses mark'd its happy way,

Receive some tribute too from British hands.

POEMS

OF

JOHN HUGHES.

THE TRIUMPH OF PEACE.

OCCASIONED BY THE PEACE OF RYSWICK,

1697.

HEAR, Britain, hear a rough unpractis'd tongue
Though rough my voice, the Muse inspires the song!
The heaven-born Muse; ev'n now she springs her
flight,

[of light.

And bears my raptur'd soul through untrac'd realms
We mount aloft, and, in our airy way,
Retiring kingdoms far beneath survey.
Amid the rest a spacious tract appears,
Obscure in view, and on its visage wears

Black hovering mists, which, thickening by degrees,
Extend a low'ring storm o'er earth and seas.
But, lo! an eastern light, arising high,
Drives the tempestuous wreck along the sky!
Then thus the Muse" Look down, my son! and see,
The bright procession of a deity!"

She spoke; the storm dispers'd; vanish'd the night;
And well-known Europe stands disclos'd to sight.
Of various states, the various bounds appear;
There wide Hispania, fruitful Gallia here;
Belgia's moist soil, conspicuous from afar,
And Flandria, long the field of a destructive war.
Germania too, with cluster'd vines o'erspread;
And lovely Albion from her watery bed,
Beauteous above the rest, rears her auspicious head.
Beneath her chalky cliffs, sea-nymphs resort,
And awful Neptune keeps his reedy court;
His darling Thames, rich presents in his hand
Of bounteous Ceres, traverses the land;
And seems a mighty snake, whose shining pride
Does through the meads in sinuous volumes glide.
Ah, charming Isle! fairest of all the main!
Too long thou dost my willing eye detain.
For see a hero on the adverse strand!

And, lo! a blooming virgin in his hand!
All hail, celestial pair!-a goddess she,

[fair,

But once such differing beauty met before,
When warrior Mars did Love's bright queen adore;
'n Love's bright queen might seem less winning
nd Mars submit to his heroic air.
At Jove himself, imperial Jove, can show
A nobler mien, or more undaunted brow,
When his strong arm, thro' Heav'n's ethereal plains,
Compels the kindled bolt, and awful rule maintains
And now embark'd they seek the British Isles.
Pleas'd with the charge, propitious Ocean smiles.
Before, old Neptune smooths the liquid way;
Obsequious Tritons on the surface play;
And sportful dolphins, with a nimble glance,
To the bright Sun their glittering scales advance.
In oozy beds profound the billows sleep,
No clamorous winds awake the silent deep;
Rebuk'd, they whisper in a gentle breeze,
And all around is universal peace.

Proceed, my Muse! The following pomp declare;
Say who, and what, the bright attendants were!
First Ceres, in her chariot seated high,
By harness'd dragons drawn along the sky;
A cornucopia fill'd her weaker hand,
Charg'd with the various offspring of the land,
Fruit, flowers, and corn; her right a sickle bore;
A yellow wreath of twisted wheat she wore.
Next father Bacchus with his tigers grac'd
The show, and, squeezing clusters as he pass'd,
Quaff'd flowing goblets of rich-flavour'd wine.
In order, last succeed the tuneful Nine;
Apollo too was there; behind him hung
His useless quiver, and his bow unstrung;
He touch'd his golden lyre, and thus he sung.
"Lead on, great William! in thy happy reign
Peace and the Muses are restor❜d again.
War, that fierce lion, long disdaining law,
Rang'd uncontrol'd, and kept the world in awe,
While trembling kingdoms crouch'd beneath his paw.
At last the reeling monster, drunk with gore,
Falls at thy feet subdu'd, and quells his roar;

Of heavenly birth confest, a more than mortal, he! Tamely to thee he bends his shaggy mane,

Victorious laurels on his brows he wears;
Th' attending fair a branching olive bears;
Slender her shape, in silver bands confin'd;
Her snowy garments loosely flow behind,

Rich with embroider'd stars, and ruffle in the wind.

And on his neck admits the long-rejected chain.
At thy protecting court, for this blest day,
Attending nations their glad thanks shall pay:
Not Belgia, and the rescued işle alone,
But Europe shall her great deliverer own.

Rome's mighty grandeur was not more confest,
When great Antonius travell'd through the east,
And crowds of monarchs did each morning wait
With early homage at his palace gate.
Haste then, bright prince! thy Britain's transport
[meet;
Haste to her arms, and make her bliss complete!
Whate'er glad news has reach'd her listening ear,
While her long-absent lord provokes her fear,
Her joys are in suspence, her pleasures unsincere.
He comes, thy hero comes! Ö beauteous Isle!
Revive thy genius with a cheerful smile!
Let thy rejoicing sons fresh palms prepare,
To grace the trophies of the finish'd war;
On high be hung the martial sword insheath'd,

The shield with ribbons dress'd, and spear with ivy
wreath'd!

Let speaking Paint in various tablets show
Past scenes of battle to the crowd below!
Round this triumphant pile, in rustic dance,
The shouting swains shall hand in hand advance;
The wealthy farmer from his toils shall cease;
The ploughman from the yoke his smoking steers
release,

And join to solemnize the festival of Peace.
No more for want of hands th' unlabour'd field,
Chok'd with rank weeds, a sickly crop shall yield:
Colm Peace returns; behold her shining train!
And fruitful Plenty is restor'd again."-
Apollo ceas'd-The Muses take the sound,
From voice to voice th' harmonious notes rebound,
And echoing lyres transmit the volant fugue around!
Meanwhile the steady bark, with prosperous gales,
Fills the large sheets of her expanded sails,
And gains th' intended port; thick on the strand,
Like swarming bees, th' assembled Britons stand,
And press to see their welcome sovereign land:
At his approach, unruly transport reigns
In every breast, and rapture fires their veins.
A general shout succeeds, as when on high
Exploded thunder rends the vaulted sky.
A short convulsion shakes the solid shore,
And rocks th' adjacent deep, unmov'd before;
Loud acclamations through the valleys ring,
While to Augusta's wall the crowd attend their king.
And now behold a finish'd temple rise,
On lofty pillars climbing to the skies!
Of bulk stupendous, its proud pile it rears,
The gradual product of successive years.
An inner gate, that folds with iron leaves,
The charm'd spectator's entering steps receives,
Where curious works in twisted stems are seen
Of branching foliage, vacuous between.
O'er this a vocal organ, mounted high
On marble columns, strikes the wondering eye;
And feeds at once two senses with delight,
Sweet to the ear, and splendid to the sight.
Marble the floor, enrich'd with native stains
Of various dye, and streak'd with azure veins.
Ev'n emulous Art with Nature seems to strive,
And the carv'd figures almost breathe and live;
The painted altar, glorious to behold,

8

Shines with delightful blue, and dazzling gold.
Here first th' illustrious three, of heavenly race,
Religion, Liberty, and Peace, embrace;

Here joyful crowds their pious thanks express,
For Peace restor'd, and Heaven's indulgence bless.
Auspicious structure! born in happy days,
Whose first employment is the noblest, praise!

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

So, when by just degrees, th' Eternal Thought
His six days labour to perfection brought,
With laws of motion first endu'd the whole,
The polish'd Spheres commenc'd their harmony;
And bade the Heavens in destin'd circles roll,
All nature in a chorus did agree,
And the World's birth-day was a jubilee.

THE

COURT OF NEPTUNE.

ON KING WILLiam's return FROM HOLLAND,

1699.

ADDRESSED TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE

CHARLES MONTAGUE, ESQ.

BEGIN, celestial Muse! a tuneful strain
Of Albion's prince conducted o'er the main;
Of courts conceal'd in waves, and Neptune's watery
Sing, from beneath, how the green deity
Rose to the sovereign of the British sea;
[reign;
To power confess'd, the triple mace resign'd,
O'er-rul'd the floods, and charg'd the rebel wind;
Secur'd his passage homeward, and restor'd,
Safe to the loveliest isle, the best-lov'd lord.

[wing.

Been fam'd in verse, and grac'd the poet's song;
The generous name of Montague has long
In verse, himself can happy wonders do,
The best of patrons, and of poets too.
Amid the skilful choir that court his car,
If he vouchsafe these ruder lays to hear,
His bright example, while to him I sing,
Shall raise my feeble flight, and mount me on the
On Albion's eastern coast, an ancient town
O'erlooks the sea, to mariners well known;
Where the swift Stourus' ends his snaky train,
And pays his watery tribute to the main:
Two fertile counties in its course divides,
Stourus, whose stream, prolific as it glides,
And rolls to seaward with a lover's pace:
There beauteous Orwell meets his fond embrace;
They mix their amorous streams, the briny tide
Receives them join'd; their crooked shores provide
A spacious bay within, for anchor'd ships to ride.
Here, on the margin of the rolling flood,
Divinely fair, like sea-born Venus, stood
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 seen;
Her stature tall, majestic is her mien.
With such a presence, through th' adoring skies
Shines the great parent of the deities;
Such towery honours on her temples rise,
When, drawn by lions, she 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 sandy shore

, Harwich.

' The river Stoure, that runs between Suffolk and Essex.

Beholds th’alternate billows fall and rise

(By turns they sink below, by turns they mount the
And must," she said-
[skies):
Then paus'd, and drew a sigh of anxious love;
"Must my dear lord this faithless ocean prove?
Escap'd the chance of war, and fraud of foes,
Wilt thou to warring waves thy sacred life expose?
Why am I thus divided by the sea

From all the world, and all the world in thee?
Could sighs and tears the rage of tempests bind,
With tears I'd bribe the seas, with sighs the wind:
Soft-sighing gales thy canvas should inspire;
But hence, ye boisterous storms! far hence retire
To inland woods; there your mad powers appease,
And scour the dusty plains, or strip the forest trees;
Or lodg'd in hollow rocks profoundly sleep,
And rest from the loud labours of the deep!
Why should I fear?—If heroes be the care
Of Heaven above, and Heaven inclines to prayer,
Thou sail'st secure; my sons 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 wasteful war require thee from my arms.
Thy sword 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 serene!
Unveil'd from clouds, which did her form disguise,
And hid a thousand beauties from thy eyes.
A thousand treasures unsurvey'd invite
Their lord to various scenes of new delight.
Come, see the dower I brought! My spacious downs,
My numerous counties, and my ancient towns;
Landscapes of rising mountains, shaggy woods,
Green valleys, smiling meadows, silver floods,
And plains with lowing herds enrich'd around,
The hills with flocks, the flocks with fleeces crown'd.
All these with native wealth thy power maintain,
And bloom with blessings of thy easy reign.
Haste, hoist thy sails! and through the foamy brine
Rush to my arms! henceforth be wholly mine;
After nine toilsome years, let slaughter cease,
And flourish now secure, in the soft arts of peace!"
She said; th' entreated winds her accents bore,
And wing'd the message to the Belgic shore.
The pious hero heard, nor could delay
To meet the lovely voice, that summon'd him away;
The lovely voice, whose soft-complaining charms
Before had call'd the succour of his arms,
Nor call'd in vain, when, fir'd with generous rage
Toppose the fury of a barbarous age,
Like Jove with awful thander in his hand,
Through storms and fleets at sea, and foes at land,
He urg'd his daring way; before his sight,
On silver wings, bright Glory took her flight,
And left, to guide his course, long shining tracks of
light!

And now once more embark'd, propitious gales
Blow fresh from shore, and fill his hollow sails.
As when the golden god, that rules the day,
Drives down his flaming chariot to the sea,
And leaves the nations here involv'd in night,
To distant regions he transports his light;
So William's rays, by turns, two nations cheer;
And when he sets to them, he rises here.

Forsaken Belgia, ere the ship withdrew,
Shed generous tears, and breath'd this soft adieu;
Since empire calls thee, and a glorious throne,
Thy people's weighty interests, and thy own;

(Though struggling love would fain persuade thy
stay)

Go where thy better fortune leads the way!
Meanwhile my loss, allow me to complain,
And wish-ah, no! that partial wish were vain.
Tho' honour'd Crete had nurs'd the thundering god,
Crete was not always blest with his abode;
Nor was it fit, that William's godlike mind,
For nations born, should be to one confin'd.
This only grant, since I must ask no more,
Revisit once again your native shore!
That hope my sorrows shall beguile; and thou
My happy rival! wilt that hope allow;
"Tis all th' enjoyment Fate has left me now.
So may'st thou, fair Britannia! ever be
Firm to thy sovereign's love, and his to thee!
While widow'd "There rising sighs repress'd
Her fainting voice, and stifled in the rest.

Now, while the bounding vessel drives before
The gusty gales, and leaves the lessening shore,
Behold the parting clouds to distance fly,
And golden glories, pouring from on high,
New dress the day, and cheer th' enlighten'd sky!
One shooting beam, like lightning doubly bright,
Darts on the middle main its streaming light.
Lo! William's guardian angel there descends;
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 displays
A temper'd blade, that spreads a formidable blaze.
He strikes the waves; th' obsequious waves obey,
And, opening in a gulph, disclose the downward way.
O Muse! by thee conducted down, I dare
The secrets of the watery world declare;
For nothing 'scapes thy view; to thee 'tis given,
To range the space of earth, and seas, and heaven,
Desery a thousand forms, conceal'd from sight,
And in immortal verse to give the visions light.

A rock there lies, in depth of sea profound,
About its clefts, rich beds of pearl abound,
Where sportful Nature, covering her retreat
With flowing waters, holds her secret seat
In woods of coral, intricate she strays,
And wreathes the shells of fish a thousand ways,
And animates the spawn of all her finny race.
Th' unnumber'd species of the fertile tide,
In shoals, around their mighty mother, glide.
From out the rock's wide cavern's deep below,
The rushing ocean rises to its flow;
And, ebbing, here retires; within its sides,
In roomy caves the god of sea resides.
Pillars unhewn, of living stone, bear high
His vaulted courts; in storms the billows fly
O'er th' echoing roof, like thunder through the skies,
And warn the ruler of the floods to rise,

And check the raving winds, and the swoln waves
chastise.

Rich spoils, by plundering tempests hither borne,
An universe 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 mossy throne,
With washy ooze and samphire overgrown,
The sea-green king his forky sceptre rears;
Awful his aspect, numerous are his years.
A pearly crown circles his brows divine;
His beard and dewy hair shed 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 secret source
Dwells here conceal'd; hence Tiber takes his course;
Hence rapid Rhodanus his current pours;
And, issuing from his urn, majestic Padus roars;
And Alpheus seeks, with silent pace, the lov'd Sici-
lian shores.

But, chief in honour, Neptune's darling son,
The beauteous Thames, lies nearest to his throne.
Nor thou, fair Boyne! shall pass unmention'd by,
Already sung in strains that ne'er shall die.

These, and a thousand more, whose winding trains
Seek various lands, the wealthy sire 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
Bestows on some a disproportion'd share;
From whence their swelling currents, o'er-supply'd,
Through delug'd fields in noisy triumph ride.

The god was just preparing to renew
His daily task, when sudden in his view
Appear'd the guardian power, all dazzling bright,
And, entering, flash'd the caves with beamy light.
Boyne, Rhine, the Sambre, on their banks had seen
The glorious form, and knew his martial mien;
In throngs th' admiring Nereids round him press'd,
And Tritons crowd to view the heavenly guest.
Then thus, advancing, he his will explains-
"O mighty sovereign of the liquid plains!
Haste, to the surface of the deep repair,
This solemn day requires thy presence there,
To rule the storms, the rising waves restrain,
And shake thy sceptre 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 best belov'd of Heaven.
Behold him figur'd here!"- -He said, and held,
Refulgent to his view, the guardian shield.
On the rich mould, inwrought with skill divine,
Great William's wars in splendid sculpture shine.
Here, how his saving power was first display'd,
And Holland rescu'd by his youthful aid;
When, kindling in his soul, the martial flame
Broke fiercely out, preluding future fame,
And round the frontiers dealt avenging fire:
Swift from the hot pursuit the blasted foes retire.
Then battles, sieges, camps are grav'd afar,
And the long progress of the dreadful war.
Above the rest, Seneffe's immortal fight,
In larger figures offer'd to the sight,
With martial terrour charins, and gives a fierce de-
Here the confed'rate troops are forc'd to yield,
Driven by unequal numbers through the field:
With his bright sword, young Nassau there with-
stands

[light.

Their flight; with prayers and blows he urges his
commands,

Upbraids their fainting force, and boldly throws
Himself the first amidst the wondering foes.
What dare not men, by such a general led?
Rallying with shouts, their hero at their head,
Fir'd with new rage, asham'd they once did fly,
Resolv'd t'o'ercome, or resolute to die,

[Prey,

Thro' trampled heaps of slain they rush to victory.
Earth trembles at the charge; Death, Blood, and
Insatiate riot all the murderous day;
Nor night itself their fury can allay;
Till the pale Moon, that sickens at the sight,
Retires behind a cloud, to blind the bloody fight.

Again, the shield in savage prospect shows
An ancient abbey', which rough woods enclose!
And precipices vast abruptly rise,

Where, safe encamp'd, proud Luxemburgh defies
All open violence, or close surprise.
But see! a second Hannibal from far,

| Up the steep height, conducts th' entangled war.
Brave Ossory, attended with the pride
Of English valour, charges by his side.
Enclos'd they fight; the forests shine around
With flashing fires; the thunder'd hills rebound,
And the shock'd country, wide beneath, rebellons
to the sound.
[flight;
Fore'd from their holds, at length they speed their
Rich tents, and stores of war, the victor's toils re-
Then peace ensues; and, in a shining train, [quite.
The friendly chiefs assemble on the plain.
An ardent zeal the Gallic general warms
To see the youth, that kindled such alarms;
Wondering he views; secure the soldiers press
Round their late dread, and the glad treaty bless

Next, on the broad circumference is wrought
The nine years' war for lov'd Britannia fought;
The cause the same: fair Liberty betray'd,
And banish'd Justice, fly to him for aid.
Here sailing ships are drawn, the crowded strand,
And Heaven's avenger hastening to the land.
Oppression, Fraud, Confusion, and Affright,
Fierce fiends, that ravag'd in the gloomy night
Of lawless Power, defeated, fly before his dazzling
So to th' eclipsing Moon, by the still side [light.
Of some lone thicket, revelling hags provide
Dire charms, that threat the sleeping neighbourhood,
And quaff, with magic mix'd, vast bowls of human
blood;

But, when the dawn reveals the purple east,
They vanish sullen from th' unfinish'd feast.
Here joyful crowds triumphant arches rear
To their deliverer's praise; glad senates there,
In splendid pomp, the regal state confer.

Hibernia's fields new triumphs then supply;
The rival kings, in arms, the fate of empire try.
See where the Boyne two warring hosts divides,
And rolls between the fight his murmuring tides!
In vain-hills, forests, streams, must all give place,
When William leads, and Victory's the chase.
Thou saw'st him, Boyne! when thy charg'd waters

bore

The swimming coursers to th' opposing shore,
And, round thy banks, thou heard'st the murdering

cannons roar.

What more than mortal bravery inspir'd
The daring troops, by his example fir'd!
[court
Thou saw'st their wondrous deeds; to Neptune's
Thy flying Waves convey'd the swift report,
And, red with slaughter, to their father show'd
Streams not their own, and a discolour'd flood.

Here, on th' ethereal mould, hurl'd from afar,
Th' exploded ball had mark'd a dinted scar.
'Twas destin'd thus; for when, all glowing red,
The angel took it from the forge, he said:
"This part be left unfated from the foe!
And, scarce escap'd, once let the Hero know,
How much to my protection he shall owe;
Yet, from the batter'd shield, the ball shall bound,
And on his arm inflict a scarlet wound."

Elsewhere, behold Namur's proud turrets rise,
Majestic to the sight, advancing to the skies!

* St. Dennis near Mous.

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