THE VISION:
Stanza I.
WHEN
Fate its utmost
Cruelty had shown,
And the illustrious CHARLES was now no more,
Th' Illustrious CHARLES, as Universally
deplor'd
As heretofore
ador'd,
Had chang'd his
Earthly for a
Heav'nly Throne,
And left the World, in
all, but
Sorrow, Poor;
Tir'd with the
fatal Day's oppresive Grief,
And weary of my hateful Breath,
In welcome
Sleep my
Senses sought
Relief,
Not for the
small repose it brought,
But that it represented to my thought
The
lov'd Resemblance, and
desir'd Approach of
Death.
II.
Gently the sweet
Enchantment o're me stole,
From part to part insensibly it crept,
And ceas'd not Charming 'till my
Sorrows slept:
It was so complaisant and kind,
That while my
Body lay
confin'd,
It gave
Enlargement to my wand'ring
Soul.
The joyful
Captive, now set free,
With active wings expatiates through the Air,
Resolv'd, because it sound the freedom rare,
To improve the
Blessing of its
Liberty,
'Till almost wearied with its nimble flight,
The sad
Complaints of a soft
Mournful Voice
Its
presence did invite,
Who where it heard the doleful noise,
With eager Motion hast'ned to alight.
III.
Behold a
Grove, whose
Melancholy shade
Appear'd for
Sorrow's last
retirement made,
Where in confus'd disorder grew,
Bidding Defiance to the Sun's bright Eye,
The
Mournful Cypress and
Unlucky Yew;
So closely interwov'n they were,
His Mid-day Beams were Strangers there,
Nor, durst into its dismal Secrets pry.
Here, in the
darkest of the
Solitude,
My Soul, which fearless did intrude,
Saw on the Margin of a Murm'ring Brook,
By a faint light almost expir'd,
An
Awful
Church of
England.
MATRON, Mournfully
retir'd:
Decent and
Grave, yet
Glorious was her dress,
And did an
humble Grandeur well express:
Severe, but yet
inviting was her Look,
And though
Antiquity dwelt in her Face,
It heightned, not impair'd, her
Virgin Grace,
And made the
Modern Beauties justly give her place.
IV.
Extended on the damp unwholsom Ground she lay,
And in her Right-hand held a
The Bible.
Sacred Book,Into whose
Mystick Leaves none were
forbid to look,
Since all from
thence to
Life must learn the way.
On her Left-hand she rais'd her drooping Head,
Whence a
decaying Glory seem'd to fly,
A new fall'n
Crown too lay neglected by,
And wither'd Garlands round about were spread.
On her soft Body lay a
The Cross.
Pond'rous Load,Once, for her sake, the
Burthen of her
GOD,
On which, in
Bloody Lines were writ,
(Such Lines as did the
Tragick Scene befit)
Alas! my Love is Crucify'd!
For me he carry'd This, for me on This he dy'd!
Brimful of
Tears an Urn before her stood,
Which th' unexhausted Fountains of her Eyes,
Forbore not to maintain with
fresh Supplies;
Resolv'd, if those shou'd fail, to make them good,
(Grand Evidence of
Grief!) with her
last drop of
Blood.
V.
Surpris'd with Terror at the Mournful Scene,
And wond'ring
what cou'd cause such
Mighty Grief,
So beyond prospect of
relief,
So hard for me to guess what it cou'd
mean:
At last its Jayl th'
Imprison'd Passion broke,
And like a mighty Wind
Struggling i' th' Caverns where 'twas long confin'd,
Her teeming
Breast with strong
Convulsions shook,
'Till at her
Lips it forc'd a vent,
And in
sad Rhet'rick made her thus lament.
VI.
Unhappy and Disconsolate!
What hope has wretch'd EUSEBIA to
survive,
When
all of which she cou'd desire to
live,
The
grand supporter for her
State,
Glorious as
Good, and
Pious too as
Great,
The
God-like CHARLES is snatch'd away by
Fate!
Mourn, mourn, my Sons, and bow your Miter'd heads,
Since
He, alas! is fall'n who rais'd them High;
Now put on more than your own
Sable weeds,
For Him who Cloth'd you in the purest Reds,
In Robes of Scarlet of the Richest Dye;
For
Him by whose
kind Influence you grew,
Your Neighbours
Envy, and their
Admiration too.
Ev'n with the
Sev'n-Hill'd City you might vye,
And all the
Roaring of her
Bulls defie,
As well as all the
Croaking of the hoarse
Geneva fry,
While He, the Great
Defender of your Faith was by.
He in your
Dangers interpos'd
With Numbers of your Foes inclos'd;
And when the Nations sins had injur'd Heav'n,
Between its Vengeance and their Souls he stood;
Their shelter is all dang'rous Times and Things,
The best of
Christians as the best of
Kings:
By him such
Blessings to his Realms were given;
He seem'd
Created for his Peoples
good.
VII.
Here of fresh Tears an Inundation rose,
And by strong sighs driv'n fiercely on,
Did her Articulate Voice oppose,
And only in broken Accents gave her leave to moan.
The Sympathizing Brook began to swell,
And from the Trees a baneful moisture fell,
And all around was heard a dismal groan,
Which seem'd aloud to utter
Desolation.
VIII.
When, lo! a strange unusal Light broke in,
And chang'd the dreadful Scene;
The hideous Lamentation ceas'd,
Charm'd with an harmonious sound,
And Light and Musick fill'd the place around,
And in the height of strange, confusion pleas'd.
When from a Cloud of Incense seem'd t' alight
A Glorious Form, beyond conception bright,
Who rais'd the dying
MATRON from the ground,
And with a Starry wreath her Sacred Temples Crown'd;
Next her
Exuberant sorrow
chid,
Which she with blushes strove to hide;
While the
Divine Commissioner from on high,
Deliver'd his important Embassy.
IX.
" Darling of Heav'n, thy God's immediate care,
" This causeless grief forbear,
" And my Almighty Message hear.
" As I with Legions of my fellows went,
" For we by Heaven's Command were sent,
" On the Illustrious
CHARLES's Soul to wait,
" While from his antient Monarchy below,
" (Pleas'd with the Orders we obey'd)
" The Sacred Guest in Triumph we convey'd
" To a sublimer State,
" Which shall no end, no alteration know:
" Th' ALMIGHTY'S Voice struck my attentive ear,
" That Voice which Angels cannot hear;
" But strait they blush with shame, and tremble all with fear.
X.
Thou, who, when first for
Man's Salvation,
My great
concern was shown,
Wer't sent to make the
blest Contrivance known,
And to the Virgin brought'st the
wond'rous News,
Which
lofty Reason proudly did refuse,
And any
Faith but
Hers wou'd scruple to believe;
Yet she with humble Credence did receive:
Hence to that world another
Errand make,
That world unfit such
Blessings to partake,
But for my Dear
ANOINTED's, and
EUSEBIA's sake.
Go, wipe the Tears from my
EUSEBIA's Eyes,
Say, 'tis my pleasure she shou'd
weep no more,
Tell her what
Mercies I have yet in store,
Tell her she
wrongs me with her crys,
Has she not try'd my
Love; my
Bounty heretofore;
And can she think me now
Unkind or
Poor.
Tho' for
Mysterious reasons of my Heav'nly State,
I've call'd my
CHARLES, my Great
Vicegerent home,
From the dissatisfi'd repining
Crowd,
Who ne're the
Blessing understood,
Nor valu'd 'till
too late,
To fix him on a
Loftier Throne,
Becoming more his
Goodness and my
Own;
I've plac'd
another in his room,
His
Murder'd FATHER's Second
SON,
Who, as the
First for
Ages past has done,
Must Bless the
World for
Ages yet to
come.
XI.
The Mighty
JAMES is he,
The Mighty
JAMES ordain'd for
Monarchy!
(Not the vain
Idol of the Factious Crowd,
That base allay to
CHARLES's Royal Blood)
But One on every
side deriv'd from
Majesty:
As the Fourth
Henry Great, as the sam'd
Martyr Good.
Peaceful as the
first Monarch of his
Name.
But not
Ignobly Tame;
For great Exploits in
Arms admir'd and fear'd,
And still
belov'd where most
rever'd;
His
Equal fills not any Mortal Throne,
For never, 'till in Him, were known
Such
Courage and such
Conduct met in One.
How did he make ungrateful
France repent
The
rudeness of their
Complement,
When he, who nobly Acted on their side,
(To gratify a bold Usurper's Pride)
Was to their Enemies assistance sent?
How has he made the
Belgick Lion roar,
And driv'n him back to that Rebellious shore,
To learn
Submission and
encroach no more?
How fearless and unmov'd he stood,
Besmear'd all o're with Blood,
His Life less valu'd than his
Country's good!
But that, for
greater benefits design'd,
Was our
Almighty care,
In which his people were to find
A large reserve of
Blessings yet behind;
Nor shall
EUSEBIA want a lib'ral share;
To him she does as
ami'ble appear,
And is, as to his
Famous Predecessors,
dear.
He does her
grief with God-like
Pity see,
And knows, and will reward her
Loyalty.
He knows,
Who, when the Jaucy Crowd
Grew insolent and low'd,
Unmov'd, the Tempest's boyst'rous Rage withstood,
And for his
Right did faithfully contend;
That Right which now will
Theirs defend,
That Right on which their
hopes, on which their
joys depend.
Thus spoke Th'
Angelick Vision, and withdrew,
Chear'd with its words EUSEBIA pleasant grew,
The Count'nance of the Place was
alter'd too,
And my glad
Soul in haste back to its
Body flew;
For
Life was
acceptable now.
FINIS.