As all the fair were captives to his wit,
So ſenates to his wiſdom would ſubmit.45
His voice ſo ſoft, his eloquence ſo ſtrong,
Like Cato’s was his ſpeech, like Ovid’s was his ſong.
Our Britiſh kings are rais’d above the hearſe,
Immortal made in his immortal verſe;
No more are Mars and Jove poetic themes,50
But the celeſtial Charles and juſt James:
Juno and Pallas, all the ſhining race
Of heav’nly beauties, to the Queen give place:
Clear like her brow, and graceful, was his ſong,
Great like her mind, and like her virtue ſtrong.55
Parent of gods! who doſt to gods remove,
Where art thou plac’d, and which thy ſeat above?
Waller the god of Verſe we will proclaim;
Not Phœbus now, but Waller, be his name:
Os joyful bards the ſweet ſeraphic quire60
Acknowledge thee their oracle and fire;
The ſpheres do homage, and the Muſes ſing
Waller the god of Verſe who was the king.63
ON THE QUEEN’S PICTURE,
GIVEN IN EXCHANGE FOR ANOTHER.
Of the rude Indians, artleſs and untaught,
So brighteſt jewels are with trifles bought:
Deceiv’d Ixion’s fate revers’d is ſhow’d,
Imperial Juno giv’n for a cloud.4
