VERSES Humbly presented to the KING At His Arrival in HOLLAND, After the DISCOVERY Of the late horrid CONSPIRACY Against His most Sacred Person.
By Mr. PRIOR.
Serus in coelum redeas, diuque
Laetus intersis populo Quirini,
Neve te nostris vitiis iniquum
Ocyor aura
Tollat, hic magnos potius triumphos
Hic ames dici pater atque Princeps,
Neu sinas Gallos equitare inultos
Te duce, CAESAR.
Hor. ad Augustum.
LONDON, Printed for Jacob Tonson, at the Judge's Head, near the Inner-Temple-Gate in Fleetstreet, 1696.
VERSES Humbly presented to the KING At His Arrival in HOLLAND: After the DISCOVERY Of the late horrid CONSPIRACY Against His most Sacred Person.
YE careful Angels whom eternal Fate
Ordains on Earth and humane Acts to wait;
Who turn with secret Power this restless Ball;
And bid determin'd Empires rise and fall:
Your sacred Aid religious Princes own
When first they merit, then ascend the Throne:
But Tyrants dread you, lest your just Decree
Transfer the Power, and set the People free.
See rescu'd BRITAIN, at your Altars bow,
And hear her hymns your happy care avow.
[Page] That yet her Axes and her Rods support
Her Judges hand, and grace her awful Court,
Where Law with all her pompous terrour stands
To wrest the Dagger from the Traitours hands,
Where rigid Justice reads the fatal Word,
Poises the Ballance first, then draws the Sword.
To your blest guidance She her safety owns,
That she can sep'rate Parricides from Sons,
And boldly give those Criminals their doom,
Who would, like Nero, rip their Parents womb:
That, Death and Hell disarm'd, She lives and reigns,
Her freedom Kept by Him who broke her chains.
And thou, blest Guardian, destin'd to defend
That Sacred Life on which all ours depend:
Thou sure, whose charge of old was Israel's Court,
When sent from Heav'n great David's strong support,
Thy arm unseen eluded cruel Saul,
And struck the useless Javelin to the Wall.
Thy later care o'er WILLIAM'S Temples held
On Boyn's propitious Banks the heav'nly Shield,
When EUROPE pale betwixt two Armies stood,
And trembling BRITAIN doubted to be good,
Till Miracles did WILLIAM'S right declare,
And Cannons mark't whom they were bid to spare▪
Still, blessed Angel, be thy care the same,
Be WILLIAM'S Life untouch'd as is his Fame:
[Page] Let Him own Thine as BRITAIN owns his Hand;
And save the King, as He has sav'd the Land.
VVe Angels forms in pious Monarchs view,
We reverence WILLIAM, for He acts like You;
Like You commission'd to chastize and bless,
He must avenge the World, and give it Peace.
Our Prayers are heard, new Miracles are shown,
The Powers that rescu'd will preserve the Throne:
The Hero dear to Earth, by Heav'n belov'd,
By troubles must be vex't, by dangers prov'd;
His Foes must contribute to make Him great,
And fix his Glory sure on their defeat.
So tho' with sudden rage the Tempest comes,
Tho' the Winds roar, and tho' the Water foams,
Fair BRITAIN on the angry Sea looks down,
And smiling sees Her Rebel Subject frown;
Heav'n in assaulting Her confirms her power,
The Waves but whiten Her triumphant Shore;
In vain they would advance, in vain retreat,
Broken they dash and perish at Her feet.
'Tis done, once more thro' BRITAIN's joyful Sea
Her glorious Monarch plows his Prosp'rous way,
Arm'd with those Fleets who have in thunder said
To distant VVorlds, whose Empire they obey'd:
[Page] He lands, and sees united Nations stand,
Their parts of Glory dealt by His command,
Their glowing Brests with fresh Ideas fir'd,
How WILLIAM conquer'd, and how FRANCE retir'd,
VVhen fixt as Fate he stood in Namurs Field,
Till Rocks and Floods and Fire were taught to yield,
Till Flanders freed the Hero's arm confest,
But trembled for the Courage which she blest.
He comes; pale GALLIA dreads his Arms a-far,
And bent on Parricide refuses VVar,
But 'well she knows his Vengeance n'er will tread
Those Paths of horrour which her guilt has led.
The Trumpets Sounds shall tell the arming Foe
VVhen WILLIAM meditates the noble Blow,
Before the foremost Troops in open fight
The Hero's arm shall prove the Monarchs right.
'Tis done, and EUROPE freed must own his hand,
Whilst THAMES shall flow, or BRITAINS Empire stand.