XI
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hen thou the mother of so sweet a childHer false imagin'd loss cease to lament,And wisely learn to curb thy sorrows wild;Think what a present thou to God hast sent,And render him with patience what he lent;This if thou do he will an off-spring give,That till the worlds last-end shall make thy name to live. Anno Aetatis 19. At a Vacation Exercise in the Colledge, partLatin, part English. The Latin speeches ended, the English thusbegan. HAIL native Language, that by sinews weakDidst move my first endeavouring tongue to speak,And mad'st imperfect words with childish tripps,Half unpronounc't, slide through my infant-lipps,Driving dum silence from the portal dore,Where he had mutely sate two years before:Here I salute thee and thy pardon ask,That now I use thee in my latter task:Small loss it is that thence can come unto thee,I know my tongue but little Grace can do thee: 10Thou needst not be ambitious to be first,Believe me I have thither packt the worst:And, if it happen as I did forecast,The daintiest dishes shall be serv'd up last.I pray thee then deny me not thy aideFor this same small neglect that I have made:But haste thee strait to do me once a Pleasure,And from thy wardrope bring thy chiefest treasure;Not those new fangled toys, and triming slightWhich takes our late fantasticks with delight, 20But cull those richest Robes, and gay'st attireWhich deepest Spirits, and choicest Wits desire:I have some naked thoughts that rove aboutAnd loudly knock to have their passage out;And wearie of their place do only stayTill thou hast deck't them in thy best aray;That so they may without suspect or fearsFly swiftly to this fair Assembly's ears;Yet I had rather if I were to chuse,Thy service in some graver subject use, 30Such as may make thee search thy coffers roundBefore thou cloath my fancy in fit sound:Such where the deep transported mind may soareAbove the wheeling poles, and at Heav'ns doreLook in, and see each blissful DeitieHow he before the thunderous throne doth lie,Listening to what unshorn Apollo singsTo th'touch of golden wires, while Hebe bringsImmortal Nectar to her Kingly Sire:Then passing through the Spherse of watchful fire, 40And mistie Regions of wide air next under,And hills of Snow and lofts of piled Thunder,May tell at length how green-ey'd Neptune raves,In Heav'ns defiance mustering all his waves;Then sing of secret things that came to passWhen Beldam Nature in her cradle was;And last of Kings and Queens and Hero's old,Such as the wise Demodocus once toldIn solemn Songs at King Alcinous feast,While sad Ulisses soul and all the rest 50Are held with his melodious harmonieIn willing chains and sweet captivitie.But fie my wandring Muse how thou dost stray!Expectance calls thee now another way,Thou know'st it must be now thy only bentTo keep in compass of thy Predicament:Then quick about thy purpos'd business come,That to the next I may resign my Roome Then Ens is represented as Father of the Predicaments his tenSons, whereof the Eldest stood for Substance with his Canons,which Ens thus speaking, explains. Good luck befriend thee Son; for at thy birthThe Faiery Ladies daunc't upon the hearth; 60Thy drowsie Nurse hath sworn she did them spieCome tripping to the Room where thou didst lie;And sweetly singing round about thy BedStrew all their blessings on thy sleeping Head.She heard them give thee this, that thou should'st stillFrom eyes of mortals walk invisible,Yet there is something that doth force my fear,For once it was my dismal hap to hearA Sybil old, bow-bent with crooked age,That far events full wisely could presage,And in Times long and dark Prospective GlassFore-saw what future dayes should bring to pass,Your Son, said she, (nor can you it prevent)Shall subject be to many an Accident.O're all his Brethren he shall Reign as King,Yet every one shall make him underling,And those that cannot live from him asunderUngratefully shall strive to keep him under,In worth and excellence he shall out-go them,Yet being above them, he shall be below them; 80From others he shall stand in need of nothing,Yet on his Brothers shall depend for Cloathing.To find a Foe it shall not be his hap,And peace shall lull him in her flowry lap;Yet shall he live in strife, and at his doreDevouring war shall never cease to roare;Yea it shall be his natural propertyTo harbour those that are at enmity.What power, what force, what mighty spell, if notYour learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot? 90 The next Quantity and Quality, spake in Prose, then Relationwas call'd by his Name. Rivers arise; whether thou be the Son,Of utmost Tweed, or Oose, or gulphie Dun,Or Trent, who like some earth-born Giant spreadsHis thirty Armes along the indented Meads,Or sullen Mole that runneth underneath,Or Severn swift, guilty of Maidens death,Or Rockie Avon, or of Sedgie Lee,Or Coaly Tine, or antient hallowed Dee,Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythians Name,Or Medway smooth, or Royal Towred Thame. 100
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