Page:Poems upon Several Occasions.djvu/104

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Poems upon several Occasions.

As high as Heav'n, as wide as Seas and Land,
As ancient as the World, is our Command.
It might suffice that I pronounce it mine,
And right or wrong he shou'd his Claim resign.
Mars and Alcides would this Plea allow,
Beauty was ever absolute till now.
Not Bears nor Tygers sure so savage are
As these ill-manner'd Monsters of the Bar.
Loud Rumour has proclaim'd a Nymph divine,
Whose matchless Form, to counter-ballance mine,
By dint of Beauty shall extort your Grace:
Let her appear, this Rival, Face to Face,
Let Eyes to Eyes oppos'd this Strife decide;
Now when I lighten let her Beams by try'd.
Was't a vain Promise, and a Gown-Man's Lie?
Or stands she here, unmark'd, when I am by?
So Heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elis round
Another Jupiter was said to sound;
On brazen Floors, the Royal Actor tries
To Ape the Thunder rattling in the Skies;
A brandish'd Torch, with emulating Blaze,
Affects the forky Light'ning's pointed Rays?
Thus born aloft, triumphantly he rode
Thro' Crowds of Worshippers, and acts of God.
The Sire Omnipotent prepares the Brand
By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent Hand,
Then flaming hurls it hissing from above,
And in the vast Abyss confounds the mimick Jove.

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