TO THE MEMORY OF THE MOST RENOWNED DU-VALL: A Pindarick Ode.
By the Author of Hudibras.
LONDON: Printed for H. Brome, at the Gun in St. Paul's Church-yard, at the West-end. 1671.
Where is to be had, The Memoires of Monsieur Du-Vall; containing the History of his Life and Death: with his last Speech and Epitaph.
TO THE MEMORY Of the most Renowned DU-VALL: A Pindarick Ode.
I.
'TIS true, to complement the dead,
Is as impertinent and vain
As 'twas of old to call them back again;
Or like the Tartars give them Wives,
[Page 2] With setlement for after-lives.
For all that can be done, or said,
Though e're so noble, great, and good,
By them is neither heard nor understood.
All our fine sleights and tricks of Art,
First to create, and then adore desert;
And those Romances which we frame,
To raise our selves, not them a name;
In vain are stuft with ranting flatteries,
And such as if they knevv they vvould despise.
For as those times the golden Age vve call,
In vvhich there vvas no Gold at all:
So vve plant glory and renovvn,
Where it vvas ne're deserv'd nor knovvn;
But to vvorse purpose many times
To flourish o're nefarious Crimes;
And cheat the vvorld that never seems to mind
Hovv good or bad men dye, but vvhat they leave behind.
II.
And yet the brave Du-Vall, vvhose name
Can never be vvorn out by fame,
That liv'd and dy'd, to leave behind
A great example to mankind;
That fell a publick Sacrifice
From ruine to preserve those fevv,
Who though born false, may be made true;
And teach the vvorld to be more just and vvise;
Ought not like vulgar ashes rest
Unmention'd in his silent Chest;
Not for his ovvn but publick interest.
He like a pious man some years before
Th' arrival of his fatal hour,
Made every day he had to live,
To his last minute a preparative.
Taught the vvild Arabs on the road
To act in a more gentle mode;
[Page 4] Take prizes more obligingly, than those
Who never had been bred Filous:
And hovv to hang in a more graceful fashion
Than e're vvas knovvn before to the dull English Nation.
III.
In France the staple of nevv Modes
Where Garbs and Meenes are currant goods,
That serves the ruder Northern Nations,
With methods of address and treat,
Prescribes nevv Garnitures and Fashions;
And hovv to drink, and hovv to eat,
No out-of-fashion'd Wine or Meat;
To understand Cravats and Plumes,
And the most modish from the old Perfumes;
To knovv the Age and Pedigrees
Of Points of Flanders, or Venice:
Cast their Nativities, and to a day,
Foretel hovv long they'l hold, and vvhen decay.
[Page 5] T' affect the purest negligences,
In Gestures, Gates, and Meenes,
And speak by Repartee-Rotins,
Out of the most authentick of Romances:
And to demonstrate vvith substantial reason,
What Ribbands all the year are in or out of season.
IV.
In this great Academy of mankind
He had his Birth and Education,
Where all men are s'ingeniously enclin'd
They understand by imitation;
Improve untaught before they are avvare,
As if they suckt their breeding from the Air.
That naturally does dispence
To all a deep and solid confidence:
A virtue of that precious use,
That he vvhom bounteous Heaven endues
But vvith a moderate share of it,
[Page 6] Can vvant no Worth, Abilities, or Wit.
In all the deep Hermetick Arts,
(For so of late the Learned call
All tricks if strange and mystical)
He had improv'd his natural parts;
And vvith his Magick Rod could sound,
Where hidden treasure may be found.
He like a Lord o'th' Mannor seiz'd upon
Whatever happened in his vvay,
As lavvful Weft and stray:
And after by the custom kept it as his ovvn.
V.
From the first Rudiments he grevv
To noble Feats, and try'd his force,
Upon vvhole Troops of Foot and Horse,
Whom he as bravely did subdue:
Declar'd all Caravans that go,
Upon the Kings High-vvay the foe:
[Page 7] Made many desperate attaques
Upon itinerant Brigades
Of all Professions, Rancks, and Trades;
On Carriers Loads, and Pedlars Packs:
Made them lay dovvn their Arms and yield;
And to the smallest piece restore
All that by cheating they had gain'd before;
And after plunder'd all the baggage of the Field.
In every bold affair of War,
He had the chief command and led them on:
For no man is judg'd fit to have the care
Of others lives, until h'has made it knovvn,
Hovv much he doth despise and scorn his ovvn.
VI.
Whole Provinces 'tvvixt Sun and Sun
Have by his Conquering Svvord been vvon;
And mighty sums of money laid
For ransom upon every man;
[Page 8] And Hostages deliver'd till 'tvvas paid.
The Excise and Chimney-Publican,
The Jevv-Forestaller and Inhancer,
To him for all their Crimes did ansvver:
He vanquish'd the most fierce, and fell
Of all his foes, the Constable;
That oft had beat his Quarters up,
And routed him and all his Troop.
He took the dreadful Lawyers Fees,
That in his ovvn allovv'd High-vvay
Does feats of Arms as great as his:
And vvhen th' encounter in it vvin the day,
Safe in his Garrison the Court,
Where meaner Criminals are sentenc'd for't:
To this stern foe he oft gave quarter,
But as the Scotch-man did to a Tartar,
That he in time to come
Might in return from him receive his fatal doom.
VII.
He would have starv'd this mighty Tovvn,
And brought its haughty spirit dovvn;
Have cut it off from all Relief,
And like a vvise and valiant Thief,
Made many a fierce assault
Upon all Ammunition Carts;
And those that bring up Cheese and Mault,
Or Bacon from remoter parts:
No Convoy e're so strong vvith food,
Durst venture on the desperate Road;
He made the undaunted Waggoners obey,
And the fierce Higlers Contribution pay:
The savage Butcher, and stout Drover,
Durst not to him their feeble Troops discover.
And if he had but kept the Field,
In time had made the City yield;
For great Tovvns (like to Crocadiles) are found
I'th' belly aptest to receive a vvound.
VIII.
But vvhen the fatal hour arriv'd,
In vvhich his Stars began to frovvn,
And had in close Cabals contriv'd
To pull him from his height of glory dovvn;
And he by numerous foes opprest,
Was in the inchanted Dungeon cast;
Secur'd vvith mighty Guards,
Lest he by force or stratagem
Might prove too cunning for their Chains and them,
And break through all their Locks, and Bolts, and Wards;
Had both his legs by Charms committed
To one anothers charge;
That neither might be set at large,
And all their fury and revenge out-vvitted.
As Jevvels of high value are
Kept under lock vvith greater care,
Then those of meaner rates:
So he was in Stone-walls, and ponderous Chains, and iron Grates,
IX.
Thither came Ladies from all parts,
To offer up close prisoners hearts;
Which he received as tribute due,
And made them yield up love and honour too:
But in [...]ore brave Heroick ways
Than e're were practis'd yet in Plays;
For those tvvo spightful foes, vvho never meet
But full of hot contests and piques
About punctilio's and meer tricks;
Did all their quarrels to his doom submit
And far more generous and free,
In contemplation only of him agree,
Both fully satisfied: the one
With those fresh Laurels he had vvon,
And all the brave renovvned feats
He had perform'd in Arms;
The other vvith his person and his Charms:
[Page 12] For just as Larks are catch'd in Nets,
By gazing on a piece of glass;
So vvhile the Ladies vievv'd his brighter eyes
And smoother polish'd face,
Their gentle hearts, alas, vvere taken by surprize.
X.
Never did bold Knight to relieve
Distressed Dames, such dreadful feats atchieve,
As feeble Damsels for his sake,
Wou'd have been proud to undertake,
And bravely ambitious to redeem
The vvorlds loss and their ovvn,
Strove vvho should have the honour to lay dovvn
And change a life vvith him.
But finding all their hopes in vain,
To move his fixt determin'd fate
They life it self began to hate;
And all the vvorld besides disdain
[Page 13] Made loud appeals and moans
To less hard-hearted Grates and Stones;
Came svvell'd in sighs and drovvn'd in tears,
To yield themselves his fellovv-sufferers:
And follovv'd him like Prisoners of War
Chain'd to the lofty Wheels of his Triumphant Carr.
FINIS.