URE there are poets which did never dream Upon Parnaffus, nor did tafte the fiream Of Helicon; we therefore may fuppose
Those made not poets, but the
And as courts make not kings, but kings the court,
So where the Mufes and their train refort.
Parnaffus ftands; if I can be to thee
A poet, thou Parnaffus art to me.
Nor wonder, if(advantag'd in my flight
By taking wing from thy aufpicious height)
Through untrac'd ways and airy paths I fly,
More boundless in my fancy than my eye:
My eye, which swift as thought contracts the space
That lies between, and first falutes the place
Crown'd with that facred pile, fo vaft, fo high,
That whether 'tis a part of earth and sky
Uncertain feems, and may be thought a proud
Afpiring mountain, or defcending cloud,
Paul's, the late theme of fuch a Mufe* whofe flight
Has bravely reach'd and foar'd above thy height :
Now fhalt thou fland, tho' fword, or time, or fire,
Or zeal more fierce than they, thy fall confpire;
Secure whilft thee the best of poets fings,
Freferv'd from ruin by the belt of kings.
Under his proud furvey the city lies,
And, like a mift, beneath a hill doth rife ;
Whofe flate and wealth, the bufinefs and the crowd,
Seem at this diftance but a darker cloud;
And is, to him who rightly things effeems,
No other in effect than what it feems:
Where, with like hafte, tho' feveral ways they run,
Some to undo, and fome to be undone ;
While luxury and wealth, like war and peace,
Are each the other's ruin and increase ;
As river's loft in feas fome fecret vein
Thence reconveys, there to be loft again.
Oh happiness of sweet retir'd content!
To be at once fecure and innocent.
Windfor the next (where Mars with Venus dwells,
Beauty with ftrength) above the valley fwells
Into my eye, and doth itself prefent
With fuch an easy and unforc'd ascent
That no ftupendous precipice denies
Accefs, no horror turns away our eyes;
But fuch a rife as doth at once invite
A pleasure and a rev'rence from the fight.
Thy mighty mafter's emblem, in whose face
Sat meeknefs, heighten'd with majestic grace;
Such feems thy gentle height, made only proud
To be the basis of that pompous load,
Than which a nobler weight no mountain bears,
But Atlas only which supports the spheres.
When Nature's hand this ground did thus advance,
'Twas guided by a wifer pow'r than Chance ;
Mark'd out for fuch an ufe, as if 'twere meant
T'invite the builder, and his choice prevent.
Nor can we call it choice, when what we choose
Folly or blindnefs only could refufe.
A crown of fuch majestic tow'rs doth grace
The gods' great mother, when her heav'nly race
Do homage to her; yet fhe cannot boast,
Among that numerous and celeftial hoft,
More heroes than can Windfor; nor doth Fame's
Immortal book record more noble names.
Not to look back fo far, to whom this ifle
Owes the first glory of so brave a pile,
Whether to Cæfar, Albanact, or Brute,
The British Arthur, or the Danish Cnute,
(Though this of old no lefs conteft did move,
Than when for Homer's birth feven cities ftrove),
(Like him in birth, thou fhould't be like in fame,
As thine his fate, if mine had been his flame)
But whofoe'er it was, Nature defign'd
Firft a brave place, and then as brave a mind.
Not to recount thofe fev'ral kings, to whom
It gave a cradle, or to whom a tomb ;
But thee, great Edward, and thy greater fon*,
(The lilies which his father wore he won),
*Edward III. and the Black Prince.
And thy Bellona*, who the confort came
Not only to thy bed, but to thy fame,
She to thy triumph led one captive kingt,
And brought that fon which did the fecond bringt.
Then didft thou found that order (whether love
Or victory thy royal thoughts did move),
Each was a noble caufe, and nothing lefs
Than the defign has been the great fuccefs :
Which foreign kings and emperors efteem
The fecond honour to their diadem.
Had thy great destiny but given thee fkill
To know, as well as pow'r to act, her will;
That from thofe kings, who then thy captives were,
In after-times fhould fpring a royal pair,
Who fhould poffefs all that thy mighty pow'r,
Or thy defires more mighty, did devour;
To whom their better fate referves whate'er
The victor hopes for, or the vanquifh'd fear;
That blood which thou and thy great grandfire fhed,
And all that fince thefe filler nations bled,
Had been unfpilt, had happy Edward known
That all the blood he fpilt had been his own.
When he what patron chofe, in whom are join'd
Soldier and martyr, and his arms confin'd
* Queen Philippa. † The kings of France and Scotland
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