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or once, O heaven, unfold thy adamantine book;And let his wondering senate see,If not thy firm immutable decree,At least the second page of strong contingency,Such as consists with wills, originally free.Let them with glad amazement lookOn what their happiness may be;Let them not still be obstinately blind,Still to divert the good thou hast designed,Or, with malignant penury,To starve the royal virtues of his mind.Faith is a Christian's and a subject's test;Oh give them to believe, and they are surely blest.They do; and with a distant view I seeThe amended vows of English loyalty;And all beyond that object, there appearsThe long retinue of a prosperous reign,A series of successful years,In orderly array, a martial, manly train.[60]Behold e'en the remoter shores,A conquering navy proudly spread;The British cannon formidably roars,While, starting from his oozy bed,The asserted Ocean rears his reverend head,To view and recognize his ancient lord again;And, with a willing hand, restoresThe fasces of the main. FOOTNOTES: [Footnote 43: Note 1.] [Footnote 44: Alluding to the fable of Hercules supporting the heavenlysphere when Atlas was fatigued.] [Footnote 45: A very ill-timed sarcasm on those, who petitioned Charlesto call his parliament. See p. 311.] [Footnote 46: 2 Kings, chap. xx.] [Footnote 47: Note II.] [Footnote 48: Note III.] [Footnote 49: An _eagre_ is a tide swelling above another tide, whichI have myself observed in the river Trent.--DRYDEN. This species ofcombat between the current and the tide is well known on the Severn;and, so far back as the days of William of Malmesbury, was called the_Higre_. Unhappy is the vessel, says that ancient historian, on whomits force falls laterally. _De Gestis Pontificum_, Lib. IV.--Draytondescribes the same river, ----With whose tumultuous waves,Shut up in narrower bounds, the Higre wildly raves,And frights the straggling flocks the neighbouring shores to fly.Afar as from the main it comes with hideous cry;And on the angry front the curled foam doth bring,The billows 'gainst the bank when fiercely it doth fling,Hurls up the scaly ooze, and makes the scaly broodLeap madding to the land affrighted from the flood;O'erturns the toiling barch whose steersman does not launch,And thrust the furrowing beak into her ravening paunch. _Poly-Albion_, Song VII.] [Footnote 50: To engage upon _liking_, (an image rather too familiarfor the occasion,) is to take a temporary trial of a service, orbusiness, with licence to quit it at pleasure.] [Footnote 51: Note IV.] [Footnote 52: Note V.] [Footnote 53: Alluding to the Duke's banishment to Flanders. See noteon "Absalom and Achitophel," Vol. IX. p. 384.] [Footnote 54: The testament of king David, by which he bequeathed tohis son the charge of executing vengeance on those enemies whom he hadspared during his life, has been much canvassed by divines. I indulgemyself in a tribute to a most venerable character, when I state, thatthe most ingenious discourses I ever heard from the pulpit, were uponthis and other parts of David's conduct, in a series of lectures bythe late Reverend Dr John Erskine, one of the ministers of the OldGreyfriars church in Edinburgh.] [Footnote 55: King Charles' first parliament, from passing the Act ofIndemnity, and taking other measures to drown all angry recollection ofthe civil wars, was called the Healing Parliament.] [Footnote 56: A similar line occurs in the _Annus Mirabilis_, St. 160: Beyond the year, and out of heaven's high-way.
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