Did thus the gods ſuch private nymphs reſpect;
What vengeance might the queen of Love expect!60
“But grant ſuch arbitrary pleas are vain,
Wav’d let them be; mere juſtice ſhall obtain.
Who to a huſband juſtlier can ſucceed
Than the ſoft partner of his nuptial bed?
Or to a father’s right lay ſtronger claim65
Than the dear youth in whom ſurvives his name?
Behold that youth, conſider whence he ſprings,
And in his royal veins reſpect your kings;
Immortal Jove upon a mortal ſhe
Begat his ſire; ſecond from Jove is he.70
“Well did the father blindly fight your cauſe,
Following the cry—of Liberty and Laws,
Is by thoſe laws, for which he loſt his life,[1]
You ſpoil ungratefully the ſon and wiſe.
“What need I more? ’t is treaſon to diſpute:75
The grant was royal; that decides the ſuit.
Shall vulgar laws imperial pow’r conſtrain?
Kings and the gods can never act in vain.”
She finiſh’d here, the queen of ev’ry grace!
Diſdain vermilioning her heav’nly face:80
Our hearts take fire, and all in tumult riſe,
And one wish ſparkles in a thouſand eyes.
O might ſome champion finiſh theſe debates,
My ſword ſhould end what now my pen relates!
- ↑ The Duke of Grafton, ſlain at the ſiege of Corke in Ireland about the beginning of the Revolution.
