Page:Annus Mirabilis - Dryden (1688).djvu/124

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
104
To His Sacred MAJESTY,
From those great Cares when ease your Soul unbends,
Your Pleasures are design'd to noble ends:
Born to command the Mistress of the Seas,
Your Thoughts themselves in that blue Empire please.
Hither in Summer Ev'nings you repair
To take the fraischeur of the purer Air:
Vndaunted here you ride when Winter raves,
With Cæsars heart that rose above the waves.
More I could sing but Fear my Numbers stays;
No Loyal Subject dares that Courage praise.
In stately Frigats most delight you find,
Where well-drawn Battels fire your Martial mind.
What to your Cares we owe is learnt from hence,
When ev'n your Pleasures serve for our Defence.
Beyond your Court flows in the admitted tide,
Where in new Depths the wond'ring Fishes glide:
Here in a Royal bed the waters sleep,
When tir'd at Sea within this Bay they creep.
Here the mistrustful Foul no harm suspects,
So safe are all things which our King protects.
From your lov'd Thames a Blessing yet is due,
Second alone to that it brought in you;

A