AN Heroick Poem ON THE CORONATION OF THE High and Mighty MONARCH, JAMES II.
King of England, &c.
—Caesar
Imperium Oceano, Famam qui terminet Astris.
By E. SETTLE.
LONDON, Printed by J. L. for Benjamin Needham, in Duck-Lane, MDCLXXXV.
AN Heroick Poem ON THE CORONATION OF King JAMES II.
LET our joyn'd shouts their solemn Duties pay,
For 'tis Britannia's sacred Nuptial Day.
The Royal Bridegroom puts the Diadem on,
And Weds a Kingdom when he wears a Crown:
Whilst our loud transports, the great Rites Proclaim;
Our Bone-fires all for Bridal Torches Flame:
And all the joys our ravish'd Souls inspire,
Make but one universal Hymeneal Quire.
Nor are Three Kingdoms all th' Attendant Train,
T' inaugurate, Great JAMES, thy prosperous Raign:
For see Blest CHARLES his Guardian Angels there,
A God-like Rival Host, the Ceremony share.
Their Tutelary Powers surround Thy Throne,
And His Disbanded Wonders list Thy own:
Whose ushering Glories in the Front appear;
They lead the Van, and we bring up the Rear.
Hail, blest Britannia! happiest Envyed Bride!
Behold the great Imperial Gordian Ty'd.
Honor and Triumph, all Divinely bright,
Unbounded Charms, Ineffable Delight,
All in one summ to Thy vast Portion fall;
One Coronation Vow has Seal'd them all.
[Page 2] Vows of that Binding Force, that Wondrous Power,
Shall make soft Peace thy Everlasting Dower,
And all Heavens choicest Darling Blessings shower.
He vows and makes it Fate, (Great JAMES, for Thee,
To plight Thy Faith, for God is to Decree.)
Act but THY Part, Britannia, keep but Thou
Thy Wishes Chast, and thy sworn Duty True,
And enjoy all that tenderest Love can grant,
And hold thy Faithful Lord in Bonds of Adamant.
Revel in all the Scenes of endless Bliss,
The Sweets of an unbounded Paradise.
No flaming Sword shall bar thy Eden Gate,
If no false Serpent tempt thee to thy Fate,
Nor thy own Fall does thy own Ruine date.
No, fair Britannia; prize thy Wealth but well,
And make Thy Treasure Inexhaustible.
To give Thee Bliss Divine, from JAMES his Throne,
Is the Great Work of Heaven's kind Hand alone;
To make that Bliss Immortal, is Thy own.
Safety and Peace shall in his Sun-beams play,
Whilst He's the God of our long Halcyon-Day.
Great JAMES, reserved by Providence to out-do
His Pious Sire, and Glorious Brother too;
Beneath the Foot-stool of his Throne shall tread,
Our long Enchanting Fatal Sorc'ry dead.
His single Scepter shall that Period gain,
Unreach'd by all his great Fore-father's Raign.
The Painted Dangers and Fictitious Fears,
The Tub-Cant of almost a Hundred Years:
That long portentous Phantom hush'd and still'd,
The dreaded Lyon, even with Sampson's Honey fill'd,
All this the great pacifick JAMES shall do;
All this our whole converted World shall view,
Bless the great Author, and th' Auspicious Day,
And blush their Follies and their Shame away.
Imposture now with all her ranc'rous Rage,
For ever hist from off the British Stage,
Reason and Truth shall our seal'd Eyes unblind,
Not one poor Titus-Proselyte left behind.
So when th' Almighty Hebrew Child was Born,
Immaculate TRUTH began her glorious Morn:
[Page 5] Whilst the old Fiend, the Pagan Oracle,
Was silenced down to his own Native Hell.
Our World, Great Reconciling JAMES, in Thee
And thy blest Reign, shall equal Glories see:
The Croaking Imp of Jealousie and Fear,
That more than Hell-born Popular Prince o'th' Air,
Shall all his false Prophetick Dreams give o're,
And his Infernal Trump shall sound no more:
Whilst FAITH unshaken, Mercy infinite,
Justice immoveable, unbyast Right,
Honour untainted, all the dazling Train
Of Min'istring Graces to his wondrous Reign,
Shall with that Bright stupendious Glory come,
Shall strike the Bold Phanatick Divel dumb.
'Mongst the Triumphant Crowds that Celebrate
This great Days splendid Coronation State;
His shining Pomp, and the more radiant Gems,
His Vertues, that out-shine his Diadems;
Th' Harmonious Notes reach even Heaven's Echo'ing Towers,
Welcom'd by all Great JAMES his Kindred Powers.
The very Rubyes in the MARTYR's Crown,
Even a new glittering sparkling Fire put on:
Whilst His Transported Great Immortal SIRE,
Such vast Paternal Extasies inspire;
Till Foremost in the whole Seraphick Quire,
He leads a solemn Hallelujah round,
To Consecrate his best-loved Off-spring Crown'd;
A Son whose Hand shall crush the Serpents Head,
That stung the Royal Murdred Father Dead.
With no less Joy his Heaven-Crown'd BROTHER sings,
The Best of Subjects, now the Best of Kings.
His Matchless Loyalty, Ever-burning Love,
BROTHER and FRIEND, still sacred Names above,
With that Ascending Fragrant Incense fly,
As reach his Hallow'd Throne, and perfume all the Sky.
Well He remembers in that fatal Hour,
When weeping England saw her CHARLES no more,
How the Great JAMES like Great Elisha stood,
With Hands up-lift, and Sorrows streaming Flood!
With rended Garments, and a trickling shower
Of melting Tears, he wailed the parting Hour!
[Page 6] Till from above behold the opening Sky,
The Fiery Steeds and Flaming Chariot fly:
Here a whole bursting, drowning, Deluge fell,
Such were the Eyes that took their last Farewel.
In vain he cryes, alas! in vain he calls;
Grasping the Wondrous Mantle as it falls;
With Divine Transmigrating Glories fired;
Fill'd with the Mounting God, with the WHOLE CHARLES inspired
This he remembers, and for Joys yet more
Sublime, He turns Heavens sacred Volume o're;
Reads what the Book of Fate for JAMES writes down,
And Blesses, as he Reads, the Head, and Crown;
Whilst his own Race, like the great Moses, run,
Union and Concord but by CHARLES begun;
That God-like Joshuah fills his Royal Seat,
Who his unfinish'd Wonders shall compleat.
Yet not the spacious Empyraean Round,
Cou'd this prodigious Days vast Glory bound;
Even Envies Court the Loud-tongu'd Raptures shake,
Descending down to the Infernal Lake.
For Heav'ns Best Joys, Hell's bitterest Torments make.
Amongst the Mighty Potentates below,
Alarm'd, and stagger'd, at this dreadful Blow;
The Noble Peer felt the most killing Wound,
Strook even with new Damnation at the sound:
His hissing Snakes all their whole Poisons pour,
Rage, Anguish, Gall, Death, Horror, Fury; more
Than his Tap run in fifty Years before.
Amongst the gnashing Teeth, and wringing Hands,
Lo! Burnet's great Reforming Pupil stands:
Whilst the Great JAMES his Coronation Fame,
With that uncommon Blast of Thunder came;
His burning Veins with hotter Torments glow
Than at the Pangs of Ketches trebble blow.
Nay, even the half-relenting Essex there,
Some sounds of Discontent could scarce forbear:
The murmuring Accents he began to try;
But his Throat gaped, and half the Breath went by.
The universal grief went round so fast,
As to a solemn General Mourning past.
[Page 7] Even Sabler Shades hung round the dismal Cell;
(If possible to add new Blacks to Hell.)
But the most hideous Figure of Despair,
Was to behold a wither'd Beldam there;
The GOOD OLD CAUSE, the dying Sidney's Saint,
And Proserpine's long Bosom Confident.
Whilst for a Garb, to suit her doleful Tears,
All hanging o're her gloomy Brow, she wears
(Grief's darkest Dress, her ever deepest Cloud,)
A tatter'd Veil, made of Noll's Tyburn Shrowd.
In her Right Hand an old scrawl'd List she held,
With full-mouth'd, keenest Execrations fill'd,
To pay off Pagan Popery's old Scores,
Call'd all a thousand Scarlet Babel Whores;
Because at Worc'ster the Apostate fell,
And Commenc'd Antichrist at Boscobel.
Over her Head, for this Days Sorrows fit,
Was the unfortunate EXCLUSION Writ:
Large the Memorial Characters were made;
For 'twas Exclusion HELL's Foundation laid.
GOD to Exclude was Lucifer's first Guilt,
For which sole Crime this Burning Jayl was built.
Damnation form'd to pay Exclusion's Hire;
Exclusion the first spark that ligh't Hell Fire.
Thus Seated and Arrayed, her Flesh all rent,
She gave her most ungovern'd Wailings vent.
With louder Howls than even her Funeral cryes,
At her dear Ignoramus Obsequies.
Her wild Distractions with full Torrents flow,
And all Idea's crowd to heighten Woe.
The very Fire does but new Torments make,
For the remember'd curst Newmarket sake:
And every Brimstone Flash call's a new Groan,
For the defeated Rumbold Musquetoon.
Amidst each bellowing Pang, and crying Yell,
As the salt Brine down her hag'd Furrows fell;
In vain, with a torn Handkercher, once dip'd
In Royal Gore, her Blooshot Eyes she wip'd.
But leave, my wearied Muse, this humble Flight:
From these Republick Owles, and Bats of Night,
[Page 8] Visit the Region of Great JAMES once more,
Where the proud Royal mounting Eagles soare.
But for new Beams of brighter Glories still,
Not JOVE himself the Mighty Scene can fill.
Behold the Great Imperial JUNO Crown'd,
With all her beauteous Constellation round:
The Sovereign Goddess so divinely Fair,
That even adoring Angels worship there:
Such Myriads of Attracting Graces Reign,
As half unpeople Heav'n to fill Her Train.
There MONARCHY, with all her pow'rful Darts
Sits Crown'd to captive Souls; here BEAUTY, Hearts.
To make an universal Triumph shine,
It is but just their equal Powers should joyn,
The Great and Fair in One Imperial Robe:
CAESAR and BEAUTY ever share the Globe;
Between 'em both their Conquering Lightning hurl'd,
The equal Masters of the vanquish'd World.
This Ravishing Scene all Loyal dazled Eyes
Shall smiling see, whilst bursting Treason dyes;
Whilst our poor sculking little wou'd-be-King
Dwindles to that lost despicable thing,
As shall even Dangerfield with Envy view,
The Princelier Perkin Warbeck of the Two.
FINIS.