125

130

A bull to thee, Portunus, shall be slain,
A lamb to you, ye tempests of the main :
For those loud storms that did against him roar,
Have cast his shipwreck'd vessel on the shore.
Yet as wise artists mix their colour so,
That by degrees they from each other go:
Black steals unheeded from the neighb'ring white,
Without offending the well-cozen'd sight:
So on us stole our blessed change; while we
The effect did feel, but scarce the manner see.
Frosts that constrain the ground, and birth deny
To flowers that in its womb expecting lie,
Do seldom their usurping power withdraw,
But raging floods pursue their hasty thaw.
Our thaw was mild, the cold not chased away,
But lost in kindly heat of lengthen'd day.
Heaven would no bargain for its blessings drive,
But what we could not pay for, freely give.
The Prince of Peace would like himself confer
A gift unhoped, without the price of war:
Yet, as he knew his blessing's worth, took care
That we should know it by repeated prayer;
Which storm'd the skies, and ravish'd Charles
from thence,

135

140

Ver. 145. Booth's forward valour, &c.] In 1659, Sir George Booth assembled a considerable body of men for the king's service in Cheshire, and possessed himself of Chester, Chick Castle, and several other places, being joined by the Earl of Derby, Lord Kilmurray, Sir Thomas Middleton, MajorGeneral Egerton, with other loyal gentlemen, who encountering with Lambert, general of the parliament's forces, were entirely routed at Winnington Bridge, near Northwich, in Cheshire, and most of the principal people made prisoners. DERRICK.

Ver. 151. 'Twas Monk, &c.] General George Monk had the command of the parliament's army in Scotland at the death of Cromwell, whose son Richard he caused to be proclaimed Protector, in compliance with their order. He shortly afterwards marched with his forces towards London, where he managed matters so well as to bring about the restoration of the king, without the least bloodshed; for which good service he honoured him with the order of the Garter, created him Duke of Albemarle, &c. &c., on account of his being descended on the mother's side from Richard Beauchamp, Earl of Albemarle and Warwick.

In 1666 he was united with the Duke of York, in command of the fleet that was sent against the Dutch. A dropsy carried him out of the world on the 3rd day of January, 1679, aged seventy-one years. His air was majestic, his countenance grave; he was equal in his proceedings; solid, and intrepid in his conduct. He kept the army under strict discipline, and set a noble example of virtue to his soldiers, being an enemy to drunkenness, blasphemy, and incontinence. DERRICK.

The indefatigable perseverance, the impenetrable secrecy, the art of seizing the proper moment for action, enabled Monck to bring about the important event of the Restoration. He would not trust his own brother with his design, when Sir R. Grenville came to consult him on the subject. Not that any abilities alone could possibly have given him success, if the whole nation, tired and disgusted with the absurdities and the tyrannies of their rulers, had not been ripe for a change, and united in a wish to recal the heir to the crown; so that Monck in reality, according to Mr. Walpole, only furnished a hand to the heart of the nation. Yet this general must have been a man of greater talents than are usually supposed. After his death, a thin folio volume was published, entitled, "Observations on Military and Political Affairs," written by the Most Honourable

The blessed saints that watch'd this turning scene,
Did from their stars with joyful wonder lean,
To see small clues draw vastest weights along, 155
Not in their bulk but in their order strong.
Thus pencils can by one slight touch restore
Smiles to that changed face that wept before.
With ease such fond chimæras we pursue,
As fancy frames for fancy to subdue:
But when ourselves to action we betake,

It shuns the mint like gold that chemists make.
How hard was then his task! at once to be
What in the body natural we see !
Man's architect distinctly did ordain

160

165

170

The charge of muscles, nerves, and of the brain,
Through viewless conduits spirits to dispense;
The springs of motion from the seat of sense.
'Twas not the hasty product of a day,
But the well-ripen'd fruit of wise delay.
He, like a patient angler, ere he strook,
Would let him play a while upon the hook.
Our healthful food the stomach labours thus,
At first embracing what it straight doth crush.
Wise leeches will not vain receipts obtrude,
While growing pains pronounce the humours
crude:

175

191

While to excess on martyrs' tombs they drink.
And as devouter Turks first warn their souls
To part, before they taste forbidden bowls:
So these, when their black crimes they went about,
First timely charm'd their useless conscience out.
Religion's name against itself was made;
The shadow served the substance to invade :
Like zealous missions, they did care pretend
Of souls in show, but made the gold their end.
Th' incensed powers beheld with scorn from high
An heaven so far distant from the sky,
Which durst, with horses' hoofs that beat the
ground,

196

George Duke of Albemarle. He married a blacksmith's daughter, a woman of strong sense, who governed her husband as Sarah Duchess of Marlborough did the Duke, and who is said to have been instrumental in promoting the Restoration. Dr. Johnson says, this passage down to verse 178, contains a cluster of thoughts unallied to each other, not to be elsewhere easily found. DR. J. WARTON.

Ver. 186. While to excess on martyrs' tombs, &c.] This passage seems to allude to the extravagancies that are often committed by the vulgar Roman Catholics upon their pilgrimaging to the tombs of saints, where, after having performed the stated devotions, they too often launch into the most blameable excesses, as if they imagined they had now fully expiated their former offences, and were at liberty to begin a new reckoning. DERRICK.

Ver. 187. And as devouter Turks, &c.] The Khoran having prohibited the use of wine, when a Turk has a mind to indulge himself with the juice of the grape, he warns his soul to retire to some safe corner of his body, where it may be secured from the contamination, and consequently not liable to the punishment. DERRICK.

205

210

Thus Sforza, cursed with a too fertile brain,
Lost by his wiles the power his wit did gain.
Henceforth their fougue must spend at lesser rate,
Than in its flames to wrap a nation's fate.
Suffer'd to live, they are like Helots set,
A virtuous shame within us to beget.
For by example most we sinn'd before,
And glass-like clearness mix'd with frailty bore.
But since reform'd by what we did amiss,
We by our sufferings learn to prize our bliss:
Like early lovers, whose unpractised hearts
Were long the may-game of malicious arts,
When once they find their jealousies were vain,
With double heat renew their fires again.
'Twas this produced the joy that hurried o'er 215
Such swarms of English to the neighb'ring shore,
To fetch that prize, by which Batavia made
So rich amends for our impoverish'd trade.
Oh had you seen from Schevelin's barren shore,
(Crowded with troops, and barren now no more,)
Afflicted Holland to his farewell bring
True sorrow, Holland to regret a king!
While waiting him his royal fleet did ride,
And willing winds to their low'rd sails denied.
The wav'ring streamers, flags, and standart out,
The merry seamen's rude but cheerful shout;
And last the cannons' voice that shook the skies,
And, as it fares in sudden ecstasies,
At once bereft us both of ears and eyes.
The Naseby, now no longer England's shame, 230
But better to be lost in Charles his name,
(Like some unequal bride in nobler sheets)
Receives her lord: the joyful London meets
The princely York, himself alone a freight;
The Swift-sure groans beneath great Gloster's

weight:

220

225

235

Ver. 205. they are like Helots, &c.] The Spartans, to deter their youth from intemperance, exposed their slaves, whom they called Helots, intoxicated with liquor, as public objects of derision. They were called Helots from Helos, a Laconian town, which being taken by the Spartans, they made all the inhabitants prisoners of war, and reduced them to the condition of slaves. DERRICK.

Ver. 207. For by example most we sinn'd before,

And glass-like clearness mix'd with frailty bore.] This is another conceit too curious to be omitted without censure. Johnson, Life of Dryden.

JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 215.] To Dryden's flattery to Charles II. restored, we may apply the words of Tacitus :-" Lætantis, ut fermé ad nova imperia, ut gratiam viresque apud novum principem pararet."-Tacit. iii. JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 224. And willing winds to their low'rd sails denied.] Original edition. TODD.

Ver. 225.

Ver. 231.

flags, and standart out,] Original edition. TODD. Charles his name,] Original edition. TODD. Ver. 235. The Swift-sure groans beneath great Gloster's weight:] From Virgil:

"simul accipit alveo
Ingentem Eneam, gemuit sub pondere cymba
Sutilis."-Eneid. vi. 412.
JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 242. The winds that never moderation knew,
Afraid to blow too much, too faintly blew:
Or, out of breath with joy, could not enlarge
Their straiten'd lungs, or conscious of their charge.]

How far he was yet from thinking it necessary to found
his sentiments on nature, appears from the extravagance of |
his fictions and hyperboles.-Johnson. JOHN WARTON.
Ver. 244. Or, out of breath] Can Dryden have written so
contemptible a line? Dr. J. WARTON.

Ver. 246. The British Amphitrite, smooth and clear,
In richer azure never did appear;]

Here he has his eye on his favourite Virgil, Æneid. lib. viii. line 86.

"Thybris eâ fluvium, quam longa est, nocte tumentem
Leniit, et tacità refluens ita substitit undâ,
Mitis ut in motem stagni placidæque paludis
Sterneret æquor aquis, remo ut luctamen abesset."
JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 250. And welcome now,] "Charles might have been restored on any terms, or under any limitations. Instead of this, he came in almost without conditions. He obtained the most unlimited confidence, before he had taken one step to deserve it; and he lived to acquire as absolute an authority as his unhappy father had ever possessed-he lived to govern without Parliaments. To point out particularly what might have been, or ought to have been done on this occasion, might be an invidious task, and would far exceed the limits of this discourse. But most certainly our ancestors should not have been content with less than was actually obtained in a later period; should have attempted, at least, to prevent a return of the calamities they had suffered; and to form an establishment, which might secure them in the most effectual manner, both from tyranny and faction. By neglecting to obtain this security, the men who placed Charles on the throne, exposed both church and state to the utmost danger. The returning monarch, void of every religious and every moral principle, was ready to sacrifice the ate of Europe to the caprice or the cunning of a mistress; and studied to subvert the liberties of his people, not from any reputable principle of ambition or honour, but that he might, without difficulty, and without opposition, employ the hands and purses of his loving subjects in ministering to his royal pleasures. It was not indeed long before his subjects were awakened from their dream of happiness. but it had like to have been too late. Never was the whole machinery of opposition put in motion with more art and address, and (to say the truth) with less restraint from principles of justice and honour. Yet all this was found too little. Charles, though obliged to give way for a time, was able at last to surmount the utmost efforts of his enemies; and had either his life been prolonged, or had his successor trodden in the same steps, the liberties of Britain were no more."

No apology shall be made for the length of this passage, so pregnant with solid sense and knowledge of the true constitution of Great Britain, which is taken from the discourses of a man far above the narrow views of any party; of an enlarged mind and manly spirit, enriched with a variety of solid learning, which he always imparted in a style pure and energetic. Need I name Dr. Balguy? Dr. J. WARTOS. Ver. 252. It is no longer motion cheats your view,

As you meet it, the land approacheth you. The land returns, and, in the white it wears, The marks of penitence and sorrow bears.] "I know not whether this fancy, however little be its value, was not borrowed. A French poet read to Malherbe some verses, in which he represents France as rising ont of its place to receive the King. Though this,' said Malherbe, 'was in my time, I do not remember it.'"-Johnson. JOHN WARTON.

260

By that same mildness, which your father's crown
Before did ravish, shall secure your own.
Not tied to rules of policy, you find,
Revenge less sweet than a forgiving mind.
Thus, when the Almighty would to Moses give
A sight of all he could behold and live;
A voice before his entry did proclaim
Long-suffering, goodness, mercy, in his name.
Your power to justice doth submit your cause,
Your goodness only is above the laws;
Whose rigid letter, while pronounced by you,
So winds that tempests brew,

265

Is softer made.
When through Arabian groves they take their
flight,

Made wanton with rich odours, lose their spite.
And as those lees, that trouble it, refine

270

275

The agitated soul of generous wine:
So tears of joy, for your returning, spilt,
Work out, and expiate our former guilt.
Methinks I see those crowds on Dover's strand,
Who, in their haste to welcome you to land,
Choked up the beach with their still growing store,
And made a wilder torrent on the shore:
While, spurr'd with eager thoughts of past de-
light,

Those, who had seen you, court a second sight;
Preventing still your steps, and making haste
To meet you often, whereso'er you pass'd.

180

Ver. 281. Those, who had seen you,] Among the many characters drawn of this prince, that given us by the Duke of Buckingham, who knew him well, seems to be drawn with accuracy and spirit, with a few sprinklings of partiality.

"His understanding was quick and lively in little things, and sometimes would soar high enough in great ones, but unable to keep it up with any long attention or application. Witty in all sorts of conversation, and telling a story so well, that not out of flattery, but for the pleasure of hearing it, we used to seem ignorant of what he had repeated to us ten times before, as a good comedy will bear the being seen often. Of a wonderful mixture, losing all his time, and, till of late, setting his whole heart on the fair sex; yet neither angry with rivals, nor in the least nice as to the being beloved; and while he sacrificed all things to his mistresses, he would use to grudge and be uneasy at their losing a little of it again at play, though never so necessary for their diversion; nor would he venture five pounds at tennis to those servants, who might obtain as many thousands, either before he came thither, or as soon as he left off. Not false to his word, but full of dissimulation, and very adroit at it; yet no man easier to be imposed on, for his great dexterity was in cozening himself, by gaining a little one way, while it cost him ten times as much another; and by caressing those persons most who had deluded him the oftenest, and yet the quickest in the world at spying such a ridicule in another. Familiar, easy, and good-natured, but for great offences severe and inflexible; also in one week's absence quite forgetting those servants to whose faces he could scarcely deny anything. In the midst of all his remissness, so industrious and indefatigable on some particular occasions, that no man would either toil longer, or be able to manage it better. He was so liberal as to ruin his affairs by it; for want in a King of England turns things just upside down, and exposes a prince to his people's mercy. It did yet worse in him, for it forced him also to depend on his great neighbour of France. He had so natural an aversion to all formality, that with as much wit as most kings ever had, and with as majestic a mien, yet he could not on premeditation act the part of a King for a moment, either at Parliament or Council, either in words or gestures, which carried him into the other extreme, more inconvenient of the two, of letting all distinction and ceremony fall to the ground as useless and foppish. His temper, both of body and mind, was admirable; which made him an easy generous lover, a civil obliging husband, a friendly brother, an indulgent father, and a good-natured master. If he had been as solicitous about improving the faculties of his mind, as he was in the management of his bodily health, though, alas! the one proved unable to make his life long, the other had not failed to have made it famous." Dr. J. WARTON.

290

295

How shall I speak of that triumphant day,
When you renew'd th' expiring pomp of May ! 285
(A month that owns an interest in your name:
You and the flowers are its peculiar claim.)
That star that at your birth shone out so bright,
It stain'd the duller sun's meridian light,
Did once again its potent fires renew,
Guiding our eyes to find and worship you.
And now Time's whiter series is begun,
Which in soft centuries shall smoothly run:
Those clouds, that overcast your morn, shall fly,
Dispell'd to farthest corners of the sky.
Our nation with united interest blest,
Not now content to poize, shall sway the rest.
Abroad your empire shall no limits know,
But, like the sea, in boundless circles flow.
Your much-loved fleet shall, with a wide command,
Besiege the petty monarchs of the land:
And as old Time his offspring swallow'd down,
Our ocean in its depths all seas shall drown.
Their wealthy trade from pirates' rapine free,
Our merchants shall no more adventurers be: 305
Nor in the farthest east those dangers fear,
Which humble Holland must dissemble here.
Spain to your gift alone her Indies owes;
For what the powerful takes not he bestows:
And France, that did an exile's presence fear,
May justly apprehend you still too near.

301

310

At home the hateful names of parties cease, And factious souls are wearied into peace. The discontented now are only they, Whose crimes before did your just cause betray: Of those your edicts some reclaim from sins, But most your life and blest example wins. Oh happy prince, whom Heaven hath taught the

way

316

Ver. 317. rick's edition,

example wins.] Original edition. In Derexample win. TODD.

Ver. 320. Oh happy age !] But these days of felicity and joy lasted not long. Discontents arose, and many writers against the Court appeared. Among the rest was a man of a great fund of wit and learning, of a severe and sarcastic turn, and of irreproachable life and conversation. This man was Andrew Marvel, who wrote equally well in prose and in verse. Swift has done justice to his Rehearsal transposed, from which in truth Swift borrowed largely. His satires in verse were numerous, particularly, To the King, Nostradamus's Prophecy, Clarendon's House-Warming, Royal Resolutions, Dialogue between two Horses, Oceana and Britannia. Though he certainly cannot, as a poet, be in general compared with Dryden, particularly in point of numbers, which are harsh and rough, yet in all these pieces, strong thinking, and strong painting, and capital strokes of satire, appear. The story of his refusing a pension, offered him in a polite manner by Lord Danby, who waited on him in person, is well known. If he was grossly abused by Parker in his Latin commentaries, yet amends were made him by an elegant compliment in his Ode to Independency. Indeed it was honour enough to Marvel to be joint Latin Secretary with Milton, and to be his confidential friend. Marvel certainly wrote those fine six Latin lines addressed to Christina, Queen of Sweden, printed in the second volume of Milton. DR. J. WARTON.

I think that Milton, and not Marvel, wrote the verses to Christina. Nor am I singular in this opinion. See the note on the lines in the sixth volume of the edition of Milton, published in 1801, and in the seventh of that in 1809. TODD.

TO HIS SACRED MAJESTY.

A PANEGYRIC ON HIS CORONATION.

6

IN that wild deluge where the world was drown'd,
When life and sin one common tomb had found,
The first small prospect of a rising hill
With various notes of joy the ark did fill:
Yet when that flood in its own depths was drown'd,
It left behind it false and slippery ground;
And the more solemn pomp was still deferr'd,
Till new-born nature in fresh looks appear'd.
Thus, royal sir, to see you landed here,
Was cause enough of triumph for a year:
Nor would your care those glorious joys repeat,
Till they at once might be secure and great:
Till your kind beams, by their continued stay,
Had warm'd the ground, and call'd the damps

away.

10

14

Such vapours, while your powerful influence dries,
Then soonest vanish when they highest rise.
Had greater haste these sacred rites prepared,
Some guilty months had in your triumphs shared :
But this untainted year is all your own;
Your glories may without our crimes be shown.
We had not yet exhausted all our store,
When you refresh'd our joys by adding more:
As heaven, of old, dispensed celestial dew,
You gave us manna, and still give us new.

21

25

31

Now our sad ruins are removed from sight, The season too comes fraught with new delight: Time seems not now beneath his years to stoop, Nor do his wings with sickly feathers droop: Soft western winds waft o'er the gaudy spring, And open'd scenes of flowers and blossoms bring, To grace this happy day, while you appear, Not king of us alone, but of the year. All eyes you draw, and with the eyes the heart: Of your own pomp yourself the greatest part: Loud shouts the nation's happiness proclaim, And heaven this day is feasted with your name. Your cavalcade the fair spectators view, From their high standings, yet look up to you. From your brave train each singles out a prey, And longs to date a conquest from your day. Now charged with blessings while; you seek Officious slumbers haste your eyes to close;

35

40

repose,

Ver. 1. In that wild deluge where the world was drown'd,] His poem on the Coronation has a more uniform tenor of thought, says the great Johnson. It is in truth an uninterrupted series of flattery.

Flumina tum lactis, tum flumina nectaris ibant. JOHN WARTON. Ver. 34. Thomas, Lord Fairfax, wrote a copy of verses on the horse upon which Charles II. rode at his Coronation, bred and presented by him to the King, notwithstanding Fairfax's former conduct. Dr. J. WARTON.

repose,

Ver.41. Now charged with blessings while you seek &c.] "As many odoriferons bodies are observed to diffuse perfumes from year to year, without sensible diminution of their bulk or weight; he appears never to have impoverished his mint of flattery by his expenses, however lavish. He had all the forms of excellence, intellectual and moral, combined in his mind, with endless variation; and when he had scattered on the hero of the day the golden shower of wit and virtue, he had ready for him, whom he wished to court on the morrow, new wit and virtue of another stamp. Of this kind of meanness he never seems to decline the practice, or lament the necessity: he considers the great as entitled to encomiastic homage, and brings praise rather as a tribute than a gift, more de

45

And glorious dreams stand ready to restore
The pleasing shapes of all you saw before.
Next to the sacred temple you are led,
Where waits a crown for your more sacred head:
How justly from the Church that crown is due,
Preserved from ruin, and restored by you!
The grateful choir their harmony employ,
Not to make greater, but more solemn joy.
Wrapt soft and warm your name is sent on high,
As flames do on the wings of incense fly:
Music herself is lost, in vain she brings

Her choicest notes to praise the best of kings:
Her melting strains in you a tomb have found,
And lie like bees in their own sweetness drown'd.
He that brought peace, all discord could atone,
His name is music of itself alone.

50

59

Now, while the sacred oil anoints your head,
And fragrant scents, begun from you, are spread
Through the large dome; the people's joyful sound,
Sent back, is still preserved in hallow'd ground;
Which, in one blessing mix'd, descends on you;
As heighten'd spirits fall in richer dew.
Not that our wishes do increase your store,
Full of yourself, you can admit no more;
We add not to your glory, but employ
Our time, like angels, in expressing joy.
Nor is it duty, or our hopes alone,
Create that joy, but full fruition:

70

We know those blessings, which we must possess, And judge of future by past happiness.

No promise can oblige a prince so much

75

Still to be good, as long to have been such.
A noble emulation heats your breast,
And your own fame now robs you of
your rest.
Good actions still must be maintain'd with good,
As bodies nourish'd with resembling food.
You have already quench'd sedition's brand;
And zeal, which burnt it, only warms the land. 8o
The jealous sects, that dare not trust their cause,
So far from their own will as to the laws,
You for their umpire and their synod take,
And their appeal alone to Cæsar make.
Kind Heaven so rare a temper did provide,
That guilt, repenting, might in it confide.
Among our crimes oblivion may be set;
But 'tis our king's perfection to forget.
Virtues unknown to these rough northern climes
From milder heavens you bring without their
crimes.

105

Hither in summer evenings you repair
To taste the fraicheur of the purer air:
Undaunted here you ride, when winter raves,
With Cæsar's heart that rose above the waves.
More I could sing, but fear my numbers stays;
No loyal subject dares that courage praise.
In stately frigates most delight you find,
Where well-drawn battles fire your martial mind.
What to your cares we owe, is learnt from hence,
When even your pleasures serve for our defence.
Beyond your court flows in th' admitted tide,
Where in new depths the wondering fishes glide:
Here in a royal bed the waters sleep;
When, tired at sea, within this bay they creep.
Here the mistrustful fowl no harm suspects,
So safe are all things which our king protects.
From your loved Thames a blessing yet is due,
Second alone to that it brought in you;
A queen, near whose chaste womb, ordain'd by
fate,

111

115

120

125

The souls of kings unborn for bodies wait.
It was your love before made discord cease:
Your love is destined to your country's peace.
Both Indies, rivals in your bed, provide
With gold or jewels to adorn your bride.
This to a mighty king presents rich ore,
While that with incense does a god implore.
Two kingdoms wait your doom, and, as you choose,
This must receive a crown, or that must lose.
Thus, from your royal oak, like Jove's of old,
Are answers sought, and destinies foretold:
Propitious oracles are begg'd with vows,
And crowns that grow upon the sacred boughs.
Your subjects, while you weigh the nation's fate,
Suspend to both their doubtful love or hate :
Choose only, sir, that so they may possess,
With their own peace their children's happiness.

130

135

Ver. 102. To taste the fraicheur of the purer air:] "Dryden had a vanity unworthy of his abilities; to shew, as may be suspected, the rank of the company with whom he lived, by the use of French words, which had then crept into conversation; such as fraicheur for coolness, fougue for turbulence, and a few more, none of which the language has incorporated or retained. They continue only where they stood first, perpetual warnings to future innovators." -Johnson's Life of Dryden. JOHN WARTON.

Ver. 104. With Casar's heart that rose, &c.] Cæsar, when in some danger on board ship, observing the mariners affrighted, bade them remember they carried Cæsar and his fortune. DEKrick.

Ver. 136.

their children's] What effect this poem might have on the public mind we know not; but the effect of another poem, the incomparable Hudibras, was deep, universal, and lasting. This work is original in our language, though the idea is evidently taken from Don Quixote. The wit of Butler is inexhaustible, and more new images are brought together than are to be found in any language. A want of events and action is the only blemish to be discerned. No writer has displayed such a fund of various learning, nor applied it with such dexterity. The measure, though blamed by Dryden, is exactly suited to the subject. It will remain an eternal disgrace to Charles II. not to have rewarded amply this singular genius, so useful to his cause and government. Satire Menippée, published in France, 1597, had a similar effect in that country. The president Henault, one of the most curious and accurate of all their writers, informs us, p. 388, 4to, that Le Roi, canon of Rouen, was the sole author of the Catholicon. Passerat and Rapin composed the verse part; M. Gillot composed the harangue of the Cardinal Legate; P. Pithou that of M. d'Aubrai; and Rapin that of the Archbishop of Lyons. "Perhaps," says Henault, "the Satire Menippée was not of less use to Henry IV. than the battle of Ivri. Ridicule has more force than we can well imagine." Dr. J. WARTON.

The

ΤΟ

THE LORD CHANCELLOR HYDE.* PRESENTED ON NEW YEAR'S DAY, 1662.

MY LORD,

WHILE flattering crowds officiously appear,

To give themselves, not you, an happy year;
And by the greatness of their presents prove
How much they hope, but not how well they
love;

Edward Earl of Clarendon, to whom this poem is addressed, having followed the fortune of the King, was appointed Secretary of State at Bruges, and constituted Lord High Chancellor of England on the demise of Sir Richard Lane. He was confirmed in this last post at the Restoration, when he was also chosen Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in the room of the Duke of Somerset, and created Baron Hindon, Viscount Cornbury, and Earl of Clarendon. He was too honest for a court; his plain dealing and integrity ruined him. The King, abandoned to pleasure, was impatient of admonition, and Hyde was not sparing of it: this paved the way for his disgrace. He was prosecuted with great acrimony by the Earl of Bristol, who impeached him in the House of Peers. Finding his party too weak to support him, he retired to Rouen, where he died in 1674. He is said to have been concerned in selling Dunkirk to the French. He was an able lawyer, a great statesman, and an elegant writer. DERRICK.

Ver. 1. While flattering crowds] Few pieces of biography are so interesting as the life of Lord Clarendon, written by himself, and published from his original manuscripts by the University of Oxford. In which is given, with openness and frankness, an account of his early habits and studies, and intimacy with the greatest men of that age, whose characters he has drawn with a masterly hand. He soon became eminent both at the bar and in Parliament; and entering into the King's service at the commencement of the civil wars, soon rose to such a degree in his favour and friendship, that the King entrusted him to draw up several very important state papers, published in the King's own name, and supposed to be his own productions. He followed Charles II. into exile, shared all his fortunes, and continued his faithful adviser till the Restoration. Burnet, who did not love him, says he used to give his advice in too magisterial a manner; and it is certain that Charles II. had always for him more veneration than affection. As he never degraded himself by flattering the Duchess of Portsmouth, and showed a marked contempt of the debauched parasites that surrounded his master, they employed every possible method of wit and ridicule to depreciate him in the eyes of his master, who, when Buckingham imitated the gait and air, and solemn step of the Chancellor, had the weakness to join in the langh. But what chiefly alienated the King's regard for him, and in truth provoked a deep indignation, was, that Clarendon engaged the Duke of Richmond to marry the beautiful Mrs. Stuart, with whom the King was violently in love. So that when the Sectarists, the Catholics, and even some disappointed Royalists, all joined in enmity to Clarendon, and laid to his charge all the misfortunes that had befallen the kingdom-the bad payment of the seamen, the sale of Dunkirk, the disgrace at Chatham, and an unsuccessful war-the King, with matchless ingratitude, gave up into the hands of his enemies his old, able, and faithful counsellor, who was immediately impeached by both Houses of Parliament. He therefore thought proper to retire to France, where he lived privately for six years, and wrote his History of the Civil Wars; a work which, notwithstanding some (perhaps pardonable) partialities, will for ever be read with attention and applause; and is in truth composed with a dignity, majesty, and strength of style, rarely to be found in modern history. The praises of twenty such poets as Dryden could not have conferred such lasting honour on Lord Clarendon as those words of the virtuous Earl of Southampton, at the Council Board: "This man," said he, "is a true Protestant, and an honest Englishman and while he enjoys power, we are secure of our laws, liberties, and religion." I dread the consequences of his removal." Dr. J. WARTON.