an element more merciless than they. But fearless they pursue, nor can the flood quench their dire thirst: alas! they thirst for blood. So t'wards a ship the oar-finn'd gallies ply, which wanting sea to ride, or wind to fly, stands but to fall reveng'd on those that dare tempt the last fury of extreme despair. So fares the stag; among th' enraged hounds repels their force, and wounds returns for wounds: and as a hero, whom his baser foes in troops surround, now these assails, now those, tho' prodigal of life, disdains to die by common hands; but if he can descry some nobler foe approach, to him he calls, and begs his fate, and then contented falls. So when the King a mortal shaft lets fly from his unerring hand, then glad to die, proud of the wound, to it resigns his blood, and stains the crystal with a purple flood. This a more innocent and happy chase than when of old, but in the self-same place, fair Liberty pursu'd †, and meant a prey to lawless power, here turn'd, and stood at bay; when in that remedy all hope was plac'd which was, or should have been at least, the last. Here was that Charter seal'd wherein the crown all marks of arbitrary power lays down; tyrant and slave, those names of hate and fear, the happier style of king and subject bear: happy when both to the same centre move, when kings give liberty and subjects love. Therefore not long in force this Charter stood; wanting that seal, it must be seal'd in blood. The subjects arm'd, the more their princes gave, +Runny-mead, where the Magna Charta was first sealed. th' advantage only took the more to crave; till kings, by giving, give themselves away, and ev'n that power that should deny betray. "Who gives constrain'd, but his own fear reviles, not thank'd, but scorn'd; nor are they gifts, but spoils." Thus kings, by grasping more than they could hold, first made their subjects by oppression bold; and popular sway, by forcing kings to give more than was fit for subjects to receive, ran to the same extremes; and one excess made both, by striving to be greater, less. When a calm river, rais'd with sudden rains, or snows dissolv'd, o'erflows th' adjoining plains, the husbandmen with high-rais'd banks secure their greedy hopes, and this he can endure; but if with bays and dams they strive to force his channel to a new or narrow course, no longer then within his banks he dwells, first to a torrent, then a deluge, swells; stronger and fiercer by restraint, he roars, and knows no bound, but makes his pow'r his shores FRIENDSHIP AND SINGLE LIFE. Love! in what poison is thy dart What subtle witchcraft man constrains to change his pleasure into pains, ! and all his freedom into chains? 2 May not a prison, or a grave, like wedlock, honour's title have? that word makes free-born man a slave. How happy he that loves not lives! him neither hope nor fear deceives to Fortune who no hostage gives. How unconcern'd in things to come! if here uneasy, finds at Rome, at Paris, or Madrid, his home. : Secure from low and private ends, his life, his zeal, his wealth attends his prince, his country, and his friends. Danger and honour are his joy; but a fond wife or wanton boy may all those gen'rous thoughts destroy. Then he lays by the public care, thinks of providing for an heir; learns how to get, and how to spare. Nor sire, nor foe, nor fate, nor night, the Trojan hero did affright, who bravely twice renew'd the fight: tho' still his foes in number grew, thicker their darts and arrows flew, yet left alone no fear he knew. But Death in all her forms appears from ev'ry thing he sees and hears for whom he leads and whom he bears.* His father and son. Love, making all things else his foes, like a fierce torrent overflows whatever doth his course oppose. This was the cause, the poets sung, thy mother from the sea was sprung; but they were mad to make thee young. Her father, not her son art thou; from our desires our actions grow; and from the cause th' effect must flow. Love is as old as place or time; 't was he the fatal tree did climb, grandsire of father Adam's crime. Well may'st thou keep this world in awe; religion, wisdom, honour, law, the tyrant in his triumph draw. 'T is he commands the powers above; To him doth his feign'd mother yield; He clips Hope's wings, whose airy bliss. much higher than fruition is, but less than nothing, if it miss. When matches love alone projects,' whilst those conjunctions prove the best Tho' Sol❜mon with a thousand wives they with their friends their beds did share, secure t'adopt a hopeful heir. Love drowsy days and stormy nights Well-chosen friendship, the most noble The wolf, the lion, and the bear, |