Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham - Edmund Waller

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Hither he sends the chief among his peers,

       Who in his bark proportion'd presents bears,

       To the renown'd for piety and force,

       Poor captives manumised, and matchless horse.[2] 40

      [1] 'Sallè': Sallè, a town of Fez, given to piracy, was taken and

       destroyed in 1632 by the army of the Emperor of Morocco, assisted by

       some English vessels.

       [2] 'Horse': the Emperor of Morocco, in gratitude to Charles, sent him a

       present of Barbary horses, and three hundred manumitted Christian

       slaves.—

       Table of Contents

      That shipwreck'd vessel which th'Apostle bore,

       Scarce suffer'd more upon Melita's shore,

       Than did his temple in the sea of time,

       Our nation's glory, and our nation's crime.

       When the first monarch[2] of this happy isle,

       Moved with the ruin of so brave a pile,

       This work of cost and piety begun,

       To be accomplish'd by his glorious son,

       Who all that came within the ample thought

       Of his wise sire has to perfection brought; 10

       He, like Amphion, makes those quarries leap

       Into fair figures from a confused heap;

       For in his art of regiment is found

       A power like that of harmony in sound.

      Those antique minstrels, sure, were Charles-like kings,

       Cities their lutes, and subjects' hearts their strings,

       On which with so divine a hand they strook,

       Consent of motion from their breath they took:

       So all our minds with his conspire to grace

       The Gentiles' great Apostle, and deface 20

       Those state-obscuring sheds, that like a chain

       Seem'd to confine and fetter him again;

       Which the glad saint shakes off at his command,

       As once the viper from his sacred hand:

       So joys the aged oak, when we divide

       The creeping ivy from his injured side.

      Ambition rather would affect the fame

       Of some new structure, to have borne her name.

       Two distant virtues in one act we find,

       The modesty and greatness of his mind; 30

       Which, not content to be above the rage,

       And injury of all-impairing age,

       In its own worth secure, doth higher climb,

       And things half swallow'd from the jaws of Time

      Reduce; an earnest of his grand design,

       To frame no new church, but the old refine;

       Which, spouse-like, may with comely grace command,

       More than by force of argument or hand.

       For doubtful reason few can apprehend,

       And war brings ruin where it should amend; 40

       But beauty, with a bloodless conquest finds

       A welcome sovereignty in rudest minds.

      Not aught which Sheba's wond'ring queen beheld

       Amongst the works of Solomon, excell'd

       His ships and building; emblems of a heart

       Large both in magnanimity and art.

      While the propitious heavens this work attend,

       Long-wanted showers they forget to send;

       As if they meant to make it understood

       Of more importance than our vital food. 50

      The sun, which riseth to salute the quire

       Already finished, setting shall admire

       How private bounty could so far extend:

       The King built all, but Charles the western end.[3]

       So proud a fabric to devotion given,

       At once it threatens and obliges Heaven!

      Laomedon, that had the gods in pay,

       Neptune, with him that rules the sacred day,[4]

       Could no such structure raise: Troy wall'd so high,

       Th' Atrides might as well have forced the sky. 60

      Glad, though amazed, are our neighbour kings,

       To see such power employ'd in peaceful things;

       They list not urge it to the dreadful field;

       The task is easier to destroy than build.

      … Sic gratia regum

       Pieriis tentam modis … —HORACE.

      [1] 'St. Paul's': these repairs commenced in the spring of 1633. [2] 'Monarch': King James I. [3] 'Western end': the western end, built at Charles' own expense, consisted of a splendid portico, built by Inigo Jones. [4] 'Sacred day': Apollo.

       Table of Contents

      When from black clouds no part of sky is clear,

       But just so much as lets the sun appear,

       Heaven then would seem thy image, and reflect

       Those sable vestments, and that bright aspect.

       A spark of virtue by the deepest shade

       Of sad adversity is fairer made;

       Nor less advantage doth thy beauty get,

       A Venus rising from a sea of jet!

       Such was th'appearance of new-formed light,

       While yet it struggled with eternal night. 10

       Then mourn no more, lest thou admit increase

       Of glory by thy noble lord's decease.

       We find not that the laughter-loving dame[2]

       Mourn'd for Anchises; 'twas enough she came

       To grace the mortal with her deathless bed,

       And that his living eyes such beauty fed;

       Had she been there, untimely joy, through all

       Men's hearts diffused, had marr'd the funeral.

       Those eyes were made to banish grief: as well

       Bright Phoebus might affect in shades to dwell, 20

       As they to put on sorrow: nothing stands,

       But power to grieve, exempt from thy commands.

       If thou lament, thou must do so alone;

       Grief in thy presence can lay hold on none.

       Yet still persist the memory to love

       Of that great Mercury of our mighty Jove,

       Who, by the power of his enchanting tongue,

       Swords from the hands of threat'ning monarchs wrung.

      

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