While ease and pleasure make the nations fmile,
And heav'n and ANNA blefs Britannia's ifle.

Well fends our Queen her mitred BRISTOL forth,
For early counfels fam'd, and long-try'd worth,
Who, thirty rolling years, had oft with-held
The Suede and Saxon from the dufty field;
Compleatly form'd, to heal the Christian wounds,
To name the kings, and give each kingdom bounds;
The face of ravag'd nature to repair,

By leagues to foften earth, and heav'n by pray'r;
To gain by love, where rage and flaughter fail,
And make the crofier o'er the fword prevail.

So when great Mofes, with JEHOVAH's wand,
Had scatter'd plagues o'er stubborn Pharaoh's land,
Now spread an hoft of locufts round the shore,
Now turn'd Nile's fatt'ning ftreams to putrid gore ;
Plenty and gladness mark'd the priest of God,
And fudden almonds fhot from Aaron's rod.

O thou, from whom these bounteous bleffings flow,
To whom, as chief, the hopes of peace we owe,
(For next to thee, the man whom kings contend
To ftile companion, and to make their friend,
Great STRAFFORD, rich in every courtly grace,
With joyful pride accepts the fecond place,)
From Britain's ifle, and Ifis' facred spring,

One hour, oh! liften while the Mufes fing.

Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford, joint Plenipotentiary with Bishop Robinfon. He died in the year 1739.

Though minifters of mighty monarchs wait,
With beating hearts, to learn their masters' fate,
One hour forbear to speak thy Queen's commands,
Nor think the world, thy charge, neglected ftands;
The blissful profpects, in my verfe difplay'd,
May lure the ftubborn, the deceiv'd perfuade;
Ev'n thou to peace fhalt fpeedier urge the way,
And more be haften'd by this short delay.

The haughty Gaul, in ten campaigns o'erthrown,
Now ceas'd to think the Western world his own.
Oft had he mourn'd his boafting leaders bound,
And his proud bulwarks fmoaking on the ground;
In vain with pow'rs renew'd he fill'd the plain,
'Made tim'rous vows, and brib'd the faints in vain ;
As oft his legions did the fight decline,

Lurk'd in the trench, and skulk'd behind the line.
Before his eyes the fancy'd javelin gleams;
At feafts he starts, and feems dethron'd in dreams;
On glory past reflects with fecret pain,

On mines exhaufted, and on millions flain.

To Britain's Queen the fcepter'd fuppliant bends,

To her his crowns and infant race commends;

Who grieves her fame with christian blood to buy,
Nor asks for glory at a price fo high.

At her decree the war fufpended stands,
And Britain's heroes hold their lifted hands:
Their open brows no threat'ning frowns difguife,
But gentler paffions fparkle in their eyes.

The

The Gauls, who never in their courts could find
Such temper'd fire with manly beauty join'd,
Doubt if they're thofe, whom dreadful to the view
In forms fo fierce their fearful fancies drew,
At whofe dire names ten thousand widows prefs'd
Their helpless orphans clinging to the breast,
In filent rapture each his foe furveys,

They vow firm friendship, and give mutual praise.
Brave minds, howe'er at war, are fecret friends,
Their gen'rous difcord with the battle ends;
In peace they wonder whence diffention rofe,
And ask how fouls fo like could e'er be foes.

Methinks I hear more friendly fhouts rebound,
And social clarions mix their sprightly found;
The British flags are furl'd, her troops difband,
And scatter'd armies feek their native land.
The hardy veteran, proud of many a scar,
The manly charms and honours of the war,
Who hop'd to share his friend's illustrious doom,
And in the battle find a foldier's tomb,
Leans on his fpear to take his farewel view,

And fighing bids the glorious camp adieu.

Ye generous fair, receive the brave with fmiles, O'erpay their fleepless nights, and crown their toils; Soft beauty is the gallant foldier's due,

For you they conquer, and they bleed for you.

In vain proud Gaul with boaftful Spain confpires,
When English valour English beauty fires;

The nations dread your eyes, and kings defpair
Of chiefs fo brave, 'till they have nymphs fo fair.

See the fond wife, in tears of transport drown'd,
Hugs her rough lord, and weeps o'er every wound;
Hangs on the lips, that fields of blood relate,
And fmiles or trembles, at his various fate.
Near the full bowl, he draws the fancied line,
And marks feign'd trenches in the flowing wine,
Then fets th' invefted fort before her eyes,
And mines that whirl'd battalions to the fkies ;
His little lift'ning progeny turn pale,

And beg again to hear the dreadful tale.

Such dire atchievements fings the bard that tells
Of palfrey'd dames, bold knights, and magic fpells;
Where whole brigades one champion's arms o'erthrow,
And cleave a giant at a random blow;

Slay paynims vile, that force the fair; and tame
The goblin's fury, and the dragon's flame.

Our eager youth to diftant nations run,

To vifit fields their valiant fathers won;

From Flandria's fhore their country's fame they trace,

'Till far Germania fhews her blafted face.

Th' exulting Briton afks his mournful guide,
Where his hard fate the loft Bavaria try'd ;

d

Where Stepney grav'd the ftone to ANNA's fame:

He points to Blenheim, once a vulgar name;

Here

• George Stepney, Efq; a gentleman, who although much celebrated by his contemporaries for poetical genius, is at prefent more known as a Statesman

e

Here fled the Houfhold, there did Tallard yield,
Here Marlb'rough turn'd the fortune of the field; i
On thofe steep banks, near Danube's raging flood
The Gauls thrice ftarted back, and trembling food
When, Churchill's arm perceiv'd, they flood not long.
But plung'd amidst the waves, a defp'rate throng;
Crowds whelm'd on crowds dafh'd wide the watry bed,
And drove the current to its diftant head.

As when by Raphael's, or by Kneller's hands,
A warlike courfer on the canvass stands,
Such as on Landen bleeding Ormond f bore,
Or fet young Ammon on the Granic fhore;
If chance a gen'rous steed the work behold,
He fnorts, he neighs, he champs the foamy gold:
So, Hocftet feen, tumultuous paffions roll,

And hints of glory fire the Briton's foul;

a Statefman than a Poet. He was born at Westminster, in the year 1663, and, having become intimately acquainted with Charles Montague, afterwards Earl of Halifax, at Trinity College, Cambridge, through his means procured himself the appointment of ambafador to several foreign courts, where he acquitted himself with great ability and fuccefs. He died at Chelfea in the year 1707, and was buried in Weftminster Abbey.

At the battle of Blenheim, the marfhal Tallard was taken prifoner by the Duke of Marlborough, and, with twenty-fix other officers of diftinction, brought to England, where he continued in confinement a confiderable time.

f At the battle of Landen, the Duke of Ormond was taken prisoner, and exchanged for the Duke of Berwick.