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Drake and his fhip could not have wish'd from Fate

A more bleft ftation, or more blest estate;

For lo! a feat of endless reft is given
To her in Oxford, and to him in heaven.

PROLOGUE

To the CUTTER OF COLMAN STREET.

A

S,

when the midland fea is no where clear

From dreadful fleets of Tunis and ArgierWhich coast about, to all they meet with foes, And upon which nought can be got but blows— The merchant-fhips fo much their paffage doubt, That, though full-freighted, none dares venture out, And trade decays, and fcarcity enfues:

Juft fo the timorous wits of late refuse,

Though laded, to put forth upon the stage,
Affrighted by the criticks of this age.

It is a party numerous, watchful, bold;

They can from nought, which fails in fight, with-hold; Nor do their cheap, though mortal, thunder spare; They shoot, alas! with wind-guns charg'd with air. But yet, gentlemen-criticks of Argier,

For your own interest I'd advise here,

ye

To let this little forlorn-hope go by

Safe and untouch'd, "That must not be" (you'll cry.) If ye be wife, it muft; I'll tell you why.

There are seven, eight, nine-stay-there are behind Ten plays at least, which wait but for a wind,

And

And the glad news that we the enemy mifs ;
And thofe are all your own, if you spare this.
Some are but new trimm'd up, others quite new;
Some by known shipwrights built, and others too
By that great author made, whoe'er he be,
That styles himself "Perfon of Quality;"
All thefe, if we miscarry here to-day,
Will rather till they rot in th' harbour stay;
Nay, they will back again, though they were come
Ev'n to their laft fafe road, the tyring-room.
Therefore again I fay, if you be wife,

Let this for once pass free; let it fuffice
That we, your fovereign power here to avow,
Thus humbly, ere we pass, strike fail to you.

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STAY, gentlemen; what I have said was all
But forc'd fubmiffion, which I now recall.
Ye 're all but pirates now again; for here
Does the true fovereign of the seas appear,
The fovereign of these narrow seas of wit;
"Tis his own Thames; he knows and governs it.
"Tis his dominion and domain; as he
Pleafes, 'tis either fhut to us, or free.
Not only, if his paffport we obtain,
We, fear no little rovers of the main;
But, if our Neptune his calm visage show,
No wave fhall dare to rife or wind to blow.

END OF THE SEVENTH VOLUME.

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56

Conftantia to Philetus

The Song

THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF PYRAMUS
AND THISBE

To the Right Worshipful, my very loving Master
Mr. Lambert Ofbolston, Chief School-Master
of Weftminfter School

Pyramus and Thibe

The Song

Epitaph

ibid.

57

61

- 65

SYLVA: OR DIVERS COPIES OF VERSES

MADE UPON SUNDRY OCCASIONS.

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An Elegy on the Death of the Right Honourable
Dudley Lord Carleton, Viscount Dorchester,
late Principal Secretary of State

74

An Elegy on the death of my loving friend and
coufin Mr. Richard Clarke, Gent. late of Lin-
coln's-Inn

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75

A Dream

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