FIRST APPEARANCE AT THE DUKE'S THEATRE,
RETURN FROM SCOTLAND, 1682.
IN thofe cold regions which no fummers chear,
Where brooding darkness covers half the year,
To hollow caves the fhivering natives go;
Bears range abroad, and hunt in tracks of
fnow :
But when the tedious twilight wears away,
And ftars grow paler at the approach of day,
The longing crowds to frozen mountains run;
Happy who first can see the glimmering fun :
The furly favage offspring difappear,
And curfe the bright fucceffor of the year.
Yet, though rough bears in covert feek de-
White foxes stay, with feeming innocence: That crafty kind with day-light can dispense.
Still we are throng'd fo full with Reynard's
That loyal fubjects fcarce can find a place: 15
Thus modeft truth is caft behind the croud:
Truth fpeaks too low; Hypocrify too loud.
Let them be firft to flatter in fuccefs;
Duty can stay, but guilt has need to press.
Once, when true zeal the fons of God did call,
To make their folemn fhew at heaven's White-
hall, The fawning devil appear'd among the reft, And made as good a courtier as the best. The friends of Job, who rail'd at him before, Came cap in hand when he had three times
Yet late repentance may, perhaps, be true;
Kings can forgive, if rebels can but fue:
A tyrant's power in rigor is expreft ;
The father yearns in the true prince's breaft.
We grant, an o'ergrown Whig no grace can
But most are babes, that know not they offend.
The croud to restlefs motion ftill inclin'd,
Are clouds, that tack according to the wind.
Driven by their chiefs they ftorms of hailftones
pour;
Then mourn, and foften to a filent shower. 35
O welcome to this much-offending land,
The prince that brings forgiveness in his hand!
Thus angels on glad meffages appear:
Their firft falute commands us not to fear:
Thus Heaven, that could constrain us to
obey,
(With reverence if we might prefume to fay) Seems to relax the rights of fovereign fway : Permits to man the choice of good and ill, And makes us happy by our own free-will.
SPOKEN TO THE KING AND THE QUEEN AT THEIR
COMING TO THE HOUSE.
WHEN firft the ark was landed on the shore, And Heaven had vow'd to curfe the ground
When tops of hills the longing patriarch faw, And the new scene of earth began to draw; The dove was fent to view the waves decrease, And first brought back to man the pledge of
'Tis needless to apply, when those appear,
Who bring the olive, and who plant it here.
We have before our eyes the royal dove,
Still innocent, as harbinger of love :
The ark is open'd to difmifs the train,
And people with a better race the plain.
Tell me, ye powers, why fhould vain man purfue,
With endless toil, each object that is new, 14
And for the feeming fubftance leave the true?
Why should he quit for hopes his certain good,
And loath the manna of his daily food?
Must England still the scene of changes be,
Toft and tempeftuous, like our ambient fea?
Muft ftill our weather and our wills agree? 20)
Without our blood our liberties we have:
Who that is free would fight to be a slave?
Or, what can wars to after-times affure,
Of which our prefent age is not fecure?
All that our monarch would for us ordain, 25
Is but to enjoy the bleffings of his reign.
Our land's an Eden, and the main's our fence,
While we preserve our state of innocence :
That loft, then beafts their brutal force em-
ploy,
And firft their lord, and then themselves de-
ftroy.
What civil broils have coft, we know too well;
Oh! let it be enough that once we fell!
And every heart confpire, and every tongue,
Still to have fuch a king, and this king long.
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