in passing to His Coronation.
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Could not produce, beneath the (a) Britain stroke,
The Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman (b) Yoke,
This Point of Time hath done. Now London, rear
Thy Forehead high, and on it strive to wear
Thy choicest Gems; teach thy steep Towrs to rise
Higher with People: set with sparkling Eyes
Thy spacious Windows; and in every street,
Let thronging Joy, Love, and Amazement meet.
Cleave all the Air with shouts, and let the Cry
Strike through as long, and universally,
As Thunder; for, now thou art blist to see
That sight, for which thou didst begin to be.
When (c) Brutus plough first gave thee Infant bounds,
And I, thy Genius walkt auspicious rounds
In every (d) Furrow; then did I forelook,
And saw this day (e) markt white in (f) Clotho's Book.
The several (g) Circles, both of change and sway,
Within this Isle, there also figur'd lay:
Of which the greatest, perfectest, and last
Was this, whose present happiness we taste.
Why keep you silence, Daughters? What dull peace
Is this inhabits you? Shall office cease
Upon th' aspect of him, to whom you owe
More than you are, or can be? Shall Time know
That Article, wherein your flame stood still,
And not aspir'd? Now Heaven avert an Ill
Of that black look. E're pause possess your Breasts
I wish you more of Plagues: "Zeal when it rests,
Leaves to be Zeal. Up thou tame River, wake;
And from thy liquid limbs this slumber shake:
Thou drown'st thy self in inofficious sleep;
And these thy sluggish Waters seem to creep,
Rather than flow. Up, rise, and swell with Pride
Above thy Banks. "Now is not every Tide.
(a) As being the first free and natural Government of this Island,
after it came to Civility. (b) In respect they were all Conquests, and
the Obedience of the Subject more enforced. (c) Rather than the
City should want a Founder, we chuse to follow the received Story of
Brute, whether fabulous, or true, and not altogether unwarranted in
Poetry: since it is a favour of Antiquity to few Cities, to let them
know their first Authors. Besides, a learned Poet of our time, in a
most elegant Work of his Con. Tam. & Isis, celebrating London, hath
this Verse of her: Æmula maternæ tollens sua lumina Trojæ. Here
is also an ancient Rite alluded to in the building of Cities, which was,
to give them their Bounds with a Plough, according to Virg. Æn.
lib. 10. Interea Æneas urbem designat Aratro. And Isidore, lib. 15.
cap. 2. Urbs vocata ab orbe, quod antiquæ civitates in orbem fiebant;
vel ab urbo parte aratri, quo muri designabantur, unde est illud. Opta-
vitque locum regno & concludere sulco. (d) Primigenius sulcus dicitur,
qui in condenda nova urbe, tauro & vaccâ designationis causa imprimi-
tur; Hitherto respects that of Camd. Brit. 368. speaking of this
City, Quicunque autem condiderit, vitali genio constructam fuisse ipsius
fortuna docuit. (e) For all so happy days were. Plin. cap. 40. lib. 7.
Nat. Hist. To which Horace alludes, lib. 1. Ode 36. Cressâ ne ca-
reat pulchra dies notâ. And the other, Plin. epist. 11. lib. 6. O diem
lætum, notandumque mihi candidissimo calculo. With many other in
many places. Mart. lib. 8. epist. 45. lib. 9. epist. 53. lib. 10. 38. lib.
11. 37. Stat. lib. 4. Sy. 6. Pers. Sat. 2. Catull. Epig. 69. &c. (f) The
Parcæ, or Fates, Martianus calls them scribas ac librarias superûm;
whereof Clotho is said to be the eldest, signifying in Latine Evocatio.
(g) Those beforementioned of the Britain, Roman, Saxon, &c. and
to this Register of the Fates allude those Verses of Ovid, Met.15. —
Cernes illic molimine vasto, Ex ære, & solido rerum tabularia ferro:
Quæ neque concussum cœli, neque fulminis Iram, Nec metuunt ullas tuta
atque æterna ruinas. Invenies illis incisa adamante perenni Fata, &c.
T A M E S I S.
O what vain end should I contend to show
My weaker powers, when Seas of pomp o'reflow
The Cities Face: and cover all the shore
With Sands more rich than (a) Tagus wealthy Ore?
When in the flood of Joy, that comes with him,
He drowns the World; yet makes it live and swim,
And spring with gladness: not my Fishes here,
Though they be dumb, but do express the cheer
(a) A River dividing Spain and Portugal, and by the consent of
Poets stil'd Aurifer.
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Of these bright streams. No less may (b) these, and I
Boast our delights, albe't we silent lie.
(b) Understanding Euphrosyne, Sebasis, Prothumia, &c.
G E N I U S.
Ndeed, true Gladness doth not always speak:
"Joy bred, and born but in the tongue, is weak.
Yet (lest the fervor of so pure a flame
As this my City bears, might lose the name,
Without the apt eventing of her heat)
Know greatest J A M E S (and no less good, than great,)
In the behalf of all my vertuous Sons,
Whereof my (a) eldest there, thy Pomp foreruns,
(A Man without my flattering, or his Pride,
As worthy, as he's (b) blest to be thy Guide)
In his grave name, and all his Brethrens right,
(Who thirst to drink the Nectar of thy sight)
The Council, Commoners, and Multitude;
(Glad, that this Day so long deny'd, is view'd)
I tender thee the heartiest Welcome, yet
That ever King had to his (c) Empire's Seat:
Never came Man, more long'd for, more desir'd:
And being come, more reverenc'd, lov'd, admir'd:
Hear, and record it: "In a Prince it is
"No little Vertue, to know who are his.
(d) With like Devotions, do I stoop t'embrace
This springing glory of thy (e) god-like race;
His Countries Wonder, Hope, Love, Joy and Pride:
How well doth he become the Royal side
Of this erected, and broad spreading Tree,
Under whose shade, may Britain ever be.
And from this Branch, may thousand Branches more
Shoot o're the Main, and knit with ev'ry Shore
In Bonds of Marriage, Kinred, and Increase;
And stile this Land, the (f) Navil of their Peace;
This is your Servants wish, your Cities vow,
Which still shall propagate itself, with you;
And free from spurs of hope, that slow minds move:
"He seeks no hire, that owes his Life to Love.
(g) And here she comes that is no less a part
In this days greatness, than in my glad heart.
Glory of Queens, and (h) glory of your Name,
Whose Graces do as far out-speak your Fame,
As Fame doth silence, when her Trumpet rings
You (i) Daughter, Sister, Wife of several Kings:
Besides Allyance, and the stile of Mother,
In which one Title you drown all your other.
Instance, be (k) that fair shoot, is gone before,
Your eldest Joy, and top of all your store,
With (l) those, whose sight to us is yet deny'd,
But not our Zeal to them, or ought beside
This City can to you: For whose Estate
She hopes you will be still good Advocate
To her best Lord. So, whil'st you mortal are,
No taste of sowr Mortality once dare
Approach your House; nor Fortune greet your Grace,
But coming on, and with a forward Face.
(a) The Lord Mayor, who for his Year, hath senior place of the
rest, and for the day was chief Serjeant to the King. (b) Above the
blessing of his present Office, the word had some particular allusion
to his Name, which is Benet, and hath (no doubt) in time been the
contraction of Benedict. (c) The City, which Title is toucht before.
(d) To the Prince. (e) An Attribute given to great persons, fitly
above other humanity, and in frequent use with all the Greek Poets,
especially Homer. Iliad. a. — dioV 'AcilleuV. And in the same Book.
— cai antiqeon Polufhmon. (f) As Luctatius calls Parnassus, Umbilicum
terræ. (g) To the Queen. (h) An emphatical Speech, and well re-
enforcing her greatness; being by this match, more than either her
Brother, Father, &c. (i) Daughter to Frederick second King of
Denmark, and Norway, Sister to Christierne the Fourth now there
Reigning, and Wife to James our Sovereign. (k) The Prince
Henry Frederick. (l) Charles Duke of Rothsey, and the Lady
Elizabeth.
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