ARMA · PACIS · FVLCRA
A PANEGYRICK ON THE LATE HONOURABLE Sir ROBERT PEAKE Knight, VICE-PRESIDENT and LEADER of the Honourable ARTILLERY COMPANY.
THis Man of Courage and Heroick worth,
And high in Knowledge, sound you Muses forth;
Sound ye with loudest voice his most Just Due's,
Who of Himself was able to infuse
Spirit into the Brain-pan of the Dullest
To cast by Prose, and write in Verse, the fullest.
We need not voice his Service in the Warrs,
And brave Atchivements, when he earn'd the Spurs
Of honour'd Knight hood, 'tis enough to speak
We sing the Praises of Renowned PEAKE:
For should we trace his Virtues thorough all
Their courses, from their first Original,
One Sheet would never hold them; for the Theam
Would be so large, as to demand a Ream.
His Care he shew'd at Basing-House was such
That after Ages cannot Praise too much:
And his true zeal to Our deceased KING,
Doth an example unexampled bring.
These were the Steps by which He first did rise,
To be observed by all Virtuous eyes;
And by degrees of Fortune did begin
To place him in the Sphere he late was in:
As Leader and Vice-President to be
O'th Company of the Artillerie
Under the Mighty Duke of YORK, whose Grace
Chose him his Second in so great a Place.
Of all Applanded, and Belov'd of those
Whose Fate it was to be his greatest Foes:
The Tongue most fault'ring, and the Eye most dim,
Did speak and find all Loyalty in Him.
Nor of his Praises is't the least, that He
So careful was to keep such Ʋnitie
Amongst his Armed Numbers, that no Noyse
Was heard amongst them, to alarm their Joyes:
Silence and Peace did shew that 'tis not Jarrs,
But Order makes men Conquerours in Warrs.
But above all, and this alone was it
Which in his Place spoke him so exquisit,
His wise Conduct; And then his all, not part
Of Knowledge in the Military Art,
Made all great Chiefs their worth in Him to see,
And Mars himself in Noble PEAKE to be.
These great perfections, and by all desir'd,
Made him by all to be so much admir'd,
That no detraction from th' impurer sort
Shall ere controle or silence this report:
But Fame shall make his Praises be enroll'd,
Not in loose papers, but bright leaves of Gold.
For Truth reports, that whatsoere is due
To Prowess, Skill, or to stour Mars his Crew,
Was sound in Him beyond all parallel;
And Fame doth know, his Knowledge did excell.
All that the Arts could promise, or th' Alarms
Of Drums and Trompets, and the Feats of Arms;
All that deep Knowledge, or Fel force could try,
Are buried now; and in his Grave do lye.
London, Printed by W. G. for Nathaniel Brook at the Angel in Gresham-Colledge, leading from Bishopsgate-street. 1667.