AN ODE UPON THE GLORIOUS and SUCCESSFUL EXPEDITION Of His HIGHNESS the Prince of Orange, &c.
I.
THe little Poets of the Town
Could scarce of late,
A Ballad or a plain Song make;
Their
Wits were frozen, and their
Hearts were down.
With such light Country Airs,
As use to entertain the harmless Crowd,
And help to lighten ordinary cares:
Such as the merry Milk-maid sings unto her Cow;
Or such wherewith the Country Swain
Does use to enter
[...]ain
Old
Bayard at the Plow.
II.
That was no time for
Verse, the
Furies reign'd,
Hell was let loose, and Joy was driven from men:
But now the
Goblins flee, old
Cerberus is chain'd;
And now the Muses and the Graces reign agen:
Now every Muse that could but creep before,
Is fit to mount and soar;
Now I my self could mount and sing:
Methinks I could an
Ode or
Iliad make,
This year
December is the Muses
Spring.
It should an Iliad be, for why
Achilles and his
Myrmidons are come:
They shake the mighty Walls of
Rome;
Rome, that of old was call'd
New Troy.
[Page 3] That mighty man, with Princes of renown,
In
Ten years time is said to take the Town;
But this Immortal
Heroe has outdone
All former times in Expedition;
In half ten
Weeks he gain'd (and may he long enjoy)
A City far more worth than ten such Towns as
Troy.
III.
Gain'd did I say? It was an
Easie gain;
England was glad to
lose herself to
Him,
Who came her Laws and Just Rights to maintain,
And her enslaved people to redeem.
Of all the Sons of
Mars, sure this is
He
That must to
War a Reputation bring;
That shews it is not what tis said to be,
But a good-natur'd useful thing.
Sure such a Conquest never was before,
That made the
Conquered rejoice more than the Conqueror.
IV.
England if ever, here might see
A truly
loving Enemy;
[Page 4] Who by relieving the opprest,
And helping the distrest,
Has realliz'd the old
Knight Errantry.
No Seas, no Storms,
No frowns, no scorns,
His Zeal and Resolution could abate.
Land and Sea
Monsters nothing were to
him,
He was resolv'd he would redeem
The poor opprest at any Rate.
His Prowess and his Chivalry
Among the
Great his Name enrols;
But his kind Zeal and Charity
Exalts his Name above the Sky:
By this he conquers
Souls.
V.
This was the sweet and powerful Art
Whereby he did the people win;
He took them gently by the
Heart,
And made them bend to
Heavens design.
They presently with ready mind,
Their Towns, themselves and their affairs,
Into his Princely hand resign'd;
Resolving that his Fortune should be theirs.
[Page 4] Love conquer'd all, towards him their Zeal and their Affections burn'd,
And even the hardy men of
Steel to him their
Magnet turn'd.
VI.
First
Cornbury seem'd to mistake his way;
That Brave and Noble Soul:
He would not fight against his God for pay:
At which the Fiends below began to howl.
'Twas he led up the
Dance,
And shew'd the others what they ought to do;
Which made all shake from
England o're to
France,
And broke their measures like to Threds of Tow.
Down go the
Trinkets, and down fall
The Images and House of
Baal;
To
Baal they cry aloud, and to their
Goddess call,
But neither would regard, nor hear nor help at all.
The Vermin flee; the Shavelings hast away;
As Evil
Spirits are said to do at break of day.
VII.
O blest Deliverance! O blessed Prince!
Secret
Reserve of Providence,
[Page 5] To save three sinking Kingdoms from the bloody doom
And Tyranny of Hell and
Rome.
Our
Moses and our
David too;
Whose Sling and Stone,
(For 'twas not much more in Comparison)
Directed by the
Almighty's hand,
Has made the
Gyants fall and sav'd our Land.
O had we
Davids Harp and
Moses Song,
And hearts accordingly to sing
The praises of th'
Eternal King,
Who his beloved Deputy sent hither,
Of his Almighty Love
Once more to prove
If we can happy be and good together.
VIII.
My Verse may not unthankfully forget
With honour and respect to treat
The Gallantry of Noble
Devonshire,
And Valiant
De la Mere,
And many another Noble
Peer,
Who, with true
English honour, did agree
To venture all, rather than not to free
Their Country and themselves from Slavery.
[Page 6] Nor may we silently pass by,
The Sacred
Seven,
Those
Stars of Heaven;
VVho with undaunted light
Did check, and over-rule the Darkness of our
Night;
Let Heaven reward their Zeal and Piety.
The rest we name not; their Names entred are
In
Fame's indelible perpetual
Register.
IX.
Yet Muse forget not to insert a line
Of her, whose Princely name will make thy Verses shine▪
She like some Glorious
Star,
Whose Influences Secret are,
Do's light and Life Dispense from far;
And Sure must help to govern
this, it was so sweet a War▪
Or rather like the Sun
(For yet she thinks not that her day is come:)
That does it's Benefits disclose,
To all the World, and knows not what it does:
In her, and in her Royal Sisters Veins,
The Royal Matyrs Blood runs
pure, free from the Fathers Stains;
In them the Virtues and the Graces all
Enjoy their
Crown Imperial.
[Page 7] Such exemplary Piety,
And such unshaken Constancy,
An Earnest is,
Of future and of greater bliss.
And
Britain still may hope, in them
Some footsteps of the
Golden Age may yet appear agen.
Then, if propitious Heaven permit, my Muse may mount it higher,
Mean while into some private Grove she hastens to retire.
FINIS.