HIS MAJESTY [BEING PRINCE]
ESCAPED IN THE ROAD AT ST. ANDERO.
Now had his Highness bid farewell to Spain,
And reach'd the sphere of his own pow'r, the main :
With British bounty in his fhip he feasts
Th' Hefperian princes, his amazed guests,
To find that wat'ry wilderness exceed
The entertainment of their great Madrid.
Healths to both kings, attended with the roar
Of cannons, echo'd from th' affrighted fhore,
With loud refemblance of his thunder, prove
Bacchus the feed of cloud-compelling Jove;
While to his harp divine rion fings
The loves and conquefts of our vibion kings.
Of the Fourth Edward was his noble fong,
Fierce, goodly, valiant, beautiful, and young:
He rent the crown from vanquifh'd Henry's head, 15
Rais'd the White Rofe, and trampled on the Red:
Till Love triumphing o'er the victor's pride,
Brought Mars and Warwick to the conquer'd fide:
Neglected Warwick (whofe bold hand, like Fate,
Gives and refumes the fceptre of our state)
Woos for his master; and with double shame,
Himself deluded, mocks the princely dame,
The Lady Bona whom just anger burns,
And foreign war with civil rage returns.
Ah! fpare your fwords, where beauty is to blame; 25
Love gave th' affront, and must repair the fame:
When France shall boast of her, whose conquʼring eyes
Have made the best of English hearts their prize;
Have pow'r to alter the decrees of Fate,
And change again the counfels of our state.
What the prophetick Muse intends, alone
To him that feels the fecret wound is known.
With the sweet found of this harmonious lay,
About the keel delighted dolphins play,
Too fure a fign of fea's enfuing rage,
Which muft anon this royal troop engage;
To whom foft fleep feems more fecure and sweet,
Within the town commanded by our fleet.
These mighty peers plac'd in the gilded barge, Proud with the burden of fo brave a charge, With painted oars the youths begin to fweep Neptune's smooth face, and cleave the yielding deep; Which foon becomes the feat of sudden war Between the wind and tide that fiercely jar. As when a fort of lufty shepherds try Their force at football, care of victory
Makes them falute fo rudely breafl to breast,
That their encounter seems too rough for jest;
They ply their feet, and still the restless ball,
Tofs'd to and fro, is urged by them all:
So fares the doubtful barge 'twixt tide and winds,
And like effect of their contention finds.
Yet the bold Britons ftill fecurely row'd;
Charles and his virtue was their facred load;
Than which a greater pledge Heav'n could not give,
That the good boat this tempest should outlive.
But ftorms increase, and now no hope of grace
Among them fhines, fave in the Prince's face;
The rest refign their courage, skill, and fight,
To danger, horrour, and unwelcome night.
The gentle veffel, (wont with state and pride
On the smooth back of filver Thames to ride)
Wanders astonish'd in the angry main,
As Titan's car did, while the golden rein
Fill'd the young hand of his advent'rous fon*,
When the whole world an equal hazard run
To this of ours, the light of whofe defire
Waves threaten now, as that was fear'd by fire.
Th' impatient Sea grows impotent and raves,
That, Night affifting, his impetuous waves
Should find refiftance from fo light a thing;
Thefe furges ruin, those our safety bring.
Th' oppreffed veffel doth the charge abide,
Only because affail'd on ev'ry side:
So men with rage and paffion set on fire,
Trembling for hafte, impeach their mad defire.
The pale Iberians had expir'd with fear,
But that their wonder did divert their care,
To fee the Prince with danger mov'd no more
Than with the pleafures of their court before:
Godlike his courage feem'd, whom nor delight
Could foften, nor the face of Death affright.
Next to the pow'r of making tempefts ceafe,
Was in that ftorm to have fo calm a peace.
Great Maro could no greater tempest seign,
When the loud winds ufurping on the main
For angry Juno, labour'd to deftroy
The hated reliques of confounded Troy:
His bold Æneas, on like billows toft
In a tall fhip, and all his country lost,
Diffolves with fear; and both his hands upheld,
Proclaims them happy whom the Greeks had quell'd In honourable fight our hero, fet
In a small shallop, Fortune in his debt,
So near a hope of crowns and fceptres, more
Than ever Priam, when he flourish'd wore;
His loins yet full of ungot princes, all
His glory in the bud, lets nothing fall
That argues fear: if any thought annoys
The gallant youth, 't is love's untafted joys,
And dear remembrance of that fatal glance,
For which he lately pawn'd his heart in France;
Where he had seen a brighter nymph than she *
That fprung out of his prefent foe, the fea.
That noble ardour, more than mortal fire,
The conquer'd ocean could not make expire ;
Nor angry Thetis raife her waves above
Th' heroick Prince's courage or his love:
'Twas indignation, and not fear he felt,
The shrine should perish where that image dwelt. 110
Ah, Love forbid! the nobleft of thy train
Should not furvive to let her know his pain;
Who nor his peril minding nor his flame,
Is entertain'd with fome lefs ferious game,
Among the bright nymphs of the Gallick court, 115
All highly born, obfequious to her fport:
They rofes feem, which in their early pride
But half reveal, and half their beauties hide;
She the glad morning, which her beams does throw
Upon their fmiling leaves, and gilds them fo;
Like bright Aurora whofe refulgent ray
Foretels the fervour of enfuing day,
And warns the fhepherd with his flocks retreat
To leafy fhadows from the threaten'd heat.
From Cupid's ftring of many fhafts, that fled 125 Wing'd with those plumes which noble Fame had fhed, As thro' the wond'ring world the flew, and told Of his adventures, haughty, brave, and bold;
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