The Turk's vaft empire does united stand:
Chriftians, divided under the command
Of jarring princes, would be foon undone,
Did not this Hero make their interest one :
Peace to embrace, ruin the common foe,'
Exalt the Crofs, and lay the Crescent low.
Thus may the Gospel to the rifing fun
Be fpread, and flourish where it first begun :
And this great day (fo justly honour'd here!)
Known to the east, and celebrated there.
"Hæc ego longævus cecini tibi, maxime regum!.
Aufus & ipfe manu juvenum tentare laborem."
When he prefented this Book to her ROYAL HIGHNESS.
MADAM! I here prefent you with the rage,
And with the Beauties, of a former age:
Wishing you may with as great pleasure view"
This, as we take in gazing upon you.
Thus we writ then: your brighter eyes inspire
A nobler flame, and raise our genius higher.
While we your wit and early knowledge fear,
To our productions we become fevere:
Your matchless beauty gives our fancy wing;
Your judgment makes us careful how we fing.
Lines not compos'd, as heretofore, in haste,
Polish'd like marble, fhall like marble last :
And make you through as many ages fhine,
As Taffo has the Heroes of your line.
Though other names our wary writers ufe,
You are the fubject of the British Muse:
Dilating mischief to yourself unknown,
Men write, and die, of wounds they darè not own.
So the bright fun burns all our grafs away,
While it means nothing but to give us day.
Thefe VERSES were writ in the TASSO of her
ROYAL HIGHNESS.
ASSO knew how the fairer fex to grace;
But in no one durft all perfection place:
In her alone that owns this book, is feen
Clorinda's fpirit, and her lofty mien ;
Sophronja's piety, Erminia's truth,
Armida's charms, her beauty, and her youth.
Our Princess here, as in a glafs, does dress
Her well-taught mind; and every grace exprefs,
More to our wonder than Rinaldo fought :
The Hero's race excels the Poet's thought.
NGENIOUS Higgons never fought
To hide the candour of her thought;
And now her cloaths are loft, we find
The nymph as naked as her mind :
Like Eve while yet she was untaught
To hide herself or know a fault.
For a fnatch'd ribbon fhe would frown,
But cares too little for her gown;
It makes her laugh, and all her grief
Is left it fhould undo the thief.
Already fhe begins to stretch
Her wit, to fave the guilty wretch:
And fays, fhe was of goods bereft
By her own bounty, not by theft.
She thought not fit to keep her cloaths
Till they were eaten up with moths;
But made a nobler use of store,
To clothe the naked and the poor.
Should all that do approve the fair,
Her lofs contribute to repair,
Of London fhe would have the fate,
And rife (undone) in greater state;
In points, and hoods, and Indian gown,
As glorious as the new-built town.
"Floriferis ut apes in faltibus omnia libant; Sic nos Scripturæ depascimur aurea dicta; "Aurea! perpetuâ femper dignissima vitâ ! "Nam Divinus Amor cùm cæpit vociferari, Diffugiunt animi terrores. **” LUCRET. Lib. iii.
"Exul eram, requiefque mihi, non fama, petita eft, "Mens intenta fuis ne foret ufque malis: * * "Namque ubi mota calent saerâ mea pectora Musâ, "Altior humano spiritus ille malo est."
OVID. de Trift. Lib. iv. El. 1.
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