AN Heroick POEM UPON THE KING.
IF the Disturbers of the World can raise
Themselves a Name, and loud Admirers find;
What is, or ought to be those Princes praise,
That awe th' Oppressors, and relieve Mankind?
The French Dominion still increas'd by wrong,
To a prodigious height at last is grown;
As if Heav'n suffer'd it t' obtain so long,
To be by NASSAW'S Conduct overthrown.
In whose first years th' expecting World could see
Rare Wisdom with undaunted Courage meet;
Like young Augustus, promising to be
What since we've found him, ev'ry thing that's Great.
Descended from a truly Glorious Race;
His Ancestors the Pow'r of Austria broke:
Now France usurps, and takes the Tyrant's place,
His Arm delivers Europe from the Yoke.
The Far-designing Lewis soon betray'd
His fear of this, and with deserv'd Success,
That most Injurious War with Holland made,
In hopes the rising Hero to oppress.
Whose solid Virtue fenc'd against the Blow,
And Courage to the Holland State restor'd:
The French ('tis now resolv'd) the weight shall know,
Of the Young General's revenging Sword.
Towns that were forc'd the Invaders to obey,
(Before Illustrious William undertook
The near expiring Commonwealth to sway)
Now with the last Confusion They forsook.
As once by Hercules a Serpent's head
Was bruis'd when touch'd by his yet tender hand;
So the French Hope of conquering lay dead,
When the Young Prince exerted his Command.
But fierce Ambition will not be at rest,
Tho here 'tis stopt from its intended Course,
'Twill, as it can, some other place infest,
And rage till 'tis agen repell'd by force.
Flanders by violent Incursions laid
In heaps of Ruin, yet was unsubdu'd:
His Highness ever came with pow'rful Aid,
And hither the destroying French pursu'd.
Seneff, I must with Admiration name,
Where Conde's Glory an Affront receiv'd;
And Mons of equal everlasting Fame,
With Slaughter of the routed French reliev'd.
At length all Nations for a Peace declare,
And now 'twas hop'd that Europe's broils might cease;
But France is not so dangerous in War,
As by her black Contrivances in Peace.
Strasburgh and Luxemburgh's surpriz'd, or bought;
The Swiss by Forts to Lewis Slaves are made;
His Allies to besiege Vienna brought,
And Christendom to Infidels betray'd.
In England by Intrigues, as King, he reign'd;
Our wretched Government it self destroy'd:
We find a Foreign Interest maintain'd
By Men in all Affairs of State employ'd.
The Prince contending in his Pious Breast,
Long our Deliv'rance by entreaty sought,
(If his high Virtue may be so exprest)
He bore, till Patience was almost a fault.
Till Horror and Destruction were at hand;
Our Forts to Irish Garisons betray'd;
Till Priests like Locusts overspread the Land;
Till Jesuits Privy-Counsellors were made.
Who longing the Occasion to improve,
Meant England shou'd by Civil Rage be torn;
But the Almighty Ruling Power above
Laughs on the Wise Achitophels with scorn.
Whilst with a most Auspicious Wind and Tide,
The Great Redeemer to our Island sails,
The Partisans of France prepare to hide,
And England's Cause to England's Wish prevails.
Caesar first came, and then subdu'd his Foes;
His Highness Conquer'd faster than he came;
A Mighty Royal Army to oppose,
He sent before THE TERROR OF HIS NAME.
Too pow'rful for resistance or delay;
No signs of War are horrid to our sight;
But as the Glorious Planet of the Day,
Without Disturbance gives the Globe its light,
Our HERO so ascends the English Throne,
Approv'd by Gracious Heav'ns peculiar Choice;
Choice by the whole Consent of Nations known,
The Lords, the Commons, and the Peoples Voice.
Who now regain their Ancient Freedoms lost,
And all their sense of Gratitude express;
Men that against Crown'd Heads pretended most
On this occasion their mistake confess.
Were Vane to live again, no more he wou'd
His Notion of a Commonwealth maintain;
Cromwell himself wou'd yield to Publick Good,
And own Great WILLIAM only fit to Reign.
At England's Union Lewis is aggriev'd;
With hate and fierce intent of War he burns;
At Scotland strikes, and having there receiv'd
A sharp Repulse, his Force to Ireland turns.
For all Designs can Lewis want pretence?
He puts Religion to that only use;
He's Ireland's Friend, her Safety, her Defence;
Her State to perfect Quiet he'll reduce.
'Tis sure, where nothing is alive to take
This, or that Party, Faction needs must cease;
Wherever Tyrants Desolation make,
Their Mischief they applaud, and call it Peace.
This Lewis meant, to this his pow'r employ'd;
Ireland throughout with dying Cries is fill'd:
Men with a Cruel Pleasure are destroy'd,
And Ravish'd Women with their Infants kill'd.
The KING was mov'd, and with disdainful hast
This Insolent Barbarity restrain'd;
Of English Rage he made its Actors tast,
And Ever Glorious Victory obtain'd.
As to this day, we mention with delight,
What England's Foes in former Wars have lost;
What Numbers of the French were put to Flight;
What Fleets of Spaniards wreckt upon our Coast.
Our Children speaking of the present State,
Shall say, What Conduct by the KING was shown;
How Ireland by his Hand was snatcht from Fate;
And Armies strongly posted, overthrown.
Nor are his Glories here or there confin'd,
But in all Parts alike their Lustre keep;
His Arm's extended on the Seas and Wind;
His Laurels root and flourish in the deep.
Let the French King his Enterprise repent;
The proud Inscription on his Royal Sun
Is to the Bottom with Derision sent,
And a Deciding Day by England won.
No Artifice cou'd hide what Lewis lost;
'Twas seen by Flames, by sound of Cannon known;
A dreadful Sound that Eccho'd from his Coast,
And shook the Fearful Monarch on his Throne.
What Eloquence can just description make
Of English Valour us'd to burn and board!
'Twas rouz'd to see that France should undertake
To Cope with England's KING, the Ocean's LORD.
Lepanto's fight the Christians safety brought,
And well restrain'd the growing Turkish Pride;
Let Lewis learn from this, his giddy Thought
Of Empire in the West to lay aside.
The World indeed shall feel Great WILLIAM's Sway,
And distant Climates know his pow'rful Hand;
Both Indies with their Riches shall obey;
He that Commands the Sea Commands the Land.
Whilst France distrustful of her shatter'd Fleet,
Can only the Algiers of Europe be;
Careful our Royal Navy not to meet,
But with her Pyracies t'infest the Sea.
In vain by Lewis some Revenge is sought,
Vast Armies like an over-whelming Flood
Are now to Miserable Flanders brought,
And Flanders is agen the Scene of Blood.
What Blood has Landen's Fierce Engagement cost?
Where all the most amazing things were done!
Lewis of such a Victory may boast
As Ruin'd Pyrrhus, from the Romans won.
The French, a Force not equal came to find;
But this was only by the KING suppli'd,
Who still heheld with an unshaken Mind,
Contending Troops, and Death on every side.
The Almighty here our highest Praise shall claim,
To Guard the KING, whose Fate had Europe's been;
Heav'ns Pow'r is always in it self the same;
But thus more clearly to the World is seen.
Sure the Great Lewis may be now content
His eager Thirst of Glory to restain;
His Fame to after Ages shall be sent,
It shall to Immortality attain,
For Persecutions his Renown shall last;
For secret Practices that fear the light,
For breaking Leagues, for laying Countries wast;
Yet never once appearing in a Fight.
Whilst WILLIAM's Godlike Character shall be
Oppos'd to all that men in Lewis find;
To set the Nations from his Rapine free;
To quell the Beast that preys upon Mankind.
Cou'd Lewis see with what auspicious Joy
And Minds of Constancy Our Commons meet,
When voting against France Our Arms t' employ
They pour out Millions at our Monarch's feet.
Despairing Lewis wou'd in spight confess,
These Men that hold their Liberty so fast,
Deserve their Dear-lov'd Blessing to possess,
And will (no doubt) be English to their last.
Shou'd Heav'n (which Heav'n forbid) our choice require,
A conquer'd Nation, or No more to be;
This Favour then, from Heav'n We shou'd desire,
To sink our Ancient Island in the Sea.
Let Slaves, like Slaves, for fear Allegiance pay,
Let Lewis by Dragoons his Subjects awe;
The Free-born English willingly obey
A KING that Governs, and is Great by Law.
Here our Desires are fixt, our Wishes rest,
Sure now the Effect of England's Pray'rs is seen;
The people in their KING entirely Blest;
The KING in Them; both in the Charming QUEEN.
THE Charming QUEEN, the Lustre of her Court,
THE Charming QUEEN, whose Goodness unconfin'd,
And Noble Zeal the Injur'd to support,
Shows a true Picture of Her HERO's mind.
Who with this Fair Companion of his Throne
The honour of his Kingdome shall maintain;
And over Vice succesfully go on,
To use the Pow'r of this Illustrious Reign.
When Kings like Kings, and God's Vicegerents, act;
When they by their Examples Virtue grace,
Virtue with all their Subjects finds Respect;
And Vice, with Shame confounded, gives her place.
Most of those Men that are for Heroes fam'd,
To trace their Lives with an impartial care,
For some ill Actions may perhaps be blam'd;
Some Stain presents their Memories less fair.
Either their Youth in Luxury was drown'd,
Or nothing cou'd their Rage to Reason bring;
Or nothing cou'd their wild Ambition bound;
But ev'ry Vertue's equal in THE KING.
Let me the Macedonian's mighty mind,
And Caesar's Clemency together take,
They may perhaps, to Cato's Justice join'd,
And Scipio's Temperance, One WILLIAM make.
My Gen'rous Muse that long has silent been,
That never wou'd to Flattery descend,
Never to praise successful Vice begin;
Engag'd in Virtue's Cause would never end.
But all the Wars, and deep Affairs of State,
In which Great WILLIAM had a Glorious Part;
Exactly and with Judgment to relate
Requires the World's both Industry and Art.
The willing Nations many shall afford,
A Work so vast, so noble to pursue,
Whose Pens the greatest Wonders must record,
To give THIS HERO of the Age his due.
FINIS.