A POEM UPON THE Late Victory OVER THE French Fleet at Sea.
ASSIST me
Chlio with a lofty Strain
To sing the Conquest of the purple Main,
With Carcasses of flaming Vessels spread,
And all its Waves, with drown'd
Aegyptians, Red;
Inspire my Breast with such a furious Heat,
As that with which we did their Navy beat:
Which
Neptune's Kingdom with it's Ruines fills
After the Guns, we'll stab them with our Quills;
One Death shall not secure them, they shall sink
Like the
Sepia, in Satyrick Ink;
For the
French Sun hath in the Ocean set
Out of those Depths he never up shall get,
It's Glory is extinguish'd in the Streams,
And past resource We've quench'd his haughty Beams:
A Genuine
English Courage they have try'd,
And we in blood have all their Lillies dy'd;
The Guardian Angel of our
British Land,
The most Illustrious of that shining Band,
A bright Commission did from Heaven receive,
And with a low Obeisance took his leave;
With Wings of joyful speed away he flew,
That this decisive Combat he might view;
Was carry'd in a Vehicle of Light
And there he stood the Arbiter of the Fight:
He in a rapturous Exclamation cry'd,
And yet he was not partial to his side,
Valour true
English Spirits ne're forsakes
If. the contested Globe was now the Stakes,
Undoubted Victory to them should fall,
And so be Masters of the rivall'd Ball.
Until this time they never fairly fought,
But all their sordid Victories they bought;
For
Spanish Towns with
Louis D'ors they treat
They can't corrupt, nor beat an
English Fleet;
Smarting with real wounds they dearly feel
That Gold is not so prevalent as Steel;
This time we as an
Epoche will date
In which they were so bold to tempt their fate,
We taught the callow Novices to flie,
And now they do rebel against the Sky,
The Methods of our Fights they understood
At the Expence of our dear Neighbour's Blood;
'Tis we reform'd the Genius of
France
Crusted all o're with Ease and Ignorance,
'Tis we the raw Pretenders up did train
When they scarce knew to Sail upon the Main;
But those we did instruct, we now can kill,
We made them Valiant against their will,
Or else they had continu'd Cowards still;
In Triumph we will
Io Paeans sing
Now we have made them worth the Conquering;
Tho' once their fulsom Mercuries did boast,
That they pursu'd us flying to our Coast;
Yet we did then in Policy retire
That we might Charge them now with brisker fire;
These Intermissions did our Courage whet
That we a keener Appetite might get;
Forbidden Objects do provoke our Lust
Now the Ragoust goes down with smarter gust,
But the next Summer them we never saw;
They at safe distance did themselves withdraw;
In vain the trembling Fugitives we seek,
They sail'd
Incognito, skulk'd in every Creek.
Of
Lapland their Ally they hir'd a Wind,
So to transport them we could never find;
When we attack'd they always did recoile
Like to Olympick Wrestlers daub'd with Oil,
As idle Truants dread the Master's stripe,
These supple Gamesters did elude our gripe;
But now we them encompass'd in the List,
And Hundreds perish'd by a single Fist;
In frightful Colours now the Battel draw
Which all the World before us never saw;
Antiquity did ne're such News receive,
And Ages after us will scarce believe;
It only will their admiration raise,
Like to a Legend in King
Arthur's days.
Petty Encounters were the antient Fights,
Like to the Pagantry of vulgar Sights:
Grapling they one another then did charge
And made the Sea a Continent of Barge.
Xerxes who swell'd till he was grown so great,
And yet
Themistocles did him defeat.
Though the Historian on his Hero doates,
His Navy was a Set of Fisher-boats.
The
Romans often on the Waves did fight,
Great was their Courage, but their Vessels slight;
They had not Tires in which the Canon roars,
But all the Noise they made was with their Oars.
Their Storms were only an
Etesian Breeze,
The Ships, describ'd by wise
Thucydides,
Were like low Houses upon narrow Lanes,
They in
Feluccas fought and weak
Tartanes;
A little Tempest would their Hulks devour,
And
Archimedes Engines had the Power
With curious Art to hoist the floating Tree,
And throw their Mariners into the Sea.
The mighty Forests now begin to move
Fear in the Deep, and wonder from above,
Astonishment doth all the Regions fill,
Stop'd once again almost the Sun stood still,
Splinters and flying Limbs obscur'd his Sight,
And interposing Smoak Ecclips'd his Light.
They are the Pride and Burden of the Seas,
Are floating Islands like the
Cyclades;
They like to burning Mountains are, for thus
Flames break from
Aetna and
Vesuvius.
The horrid Noise spoils their luxurious Mirth,
And
Naples trembles with Sulphurous Earth;
And yet this Hill rich Clusters doth refine:
So we will celebrate our Joy with Wine.
Here Thunder, Lightning here we do admire,
And here do Currents run of liquid Fire,
Which in black Streams flow from the melted Juice,
Which stately Fires in
Norway do produce.
Dress'd in the Pomp of Death they gayly ride
This Fight at
Actium Empire must decide,
With the Propitious Omens of the Sky,
Augustus's Triumphs over
Anthony.
He with a Look did keep the World in awe,
T' other was rash, and dissolute, and raw:
One Fortune courted, t'other at her railes,
And fled away with
Cleopatra's Sails.
Neptune the Nymphs sent to their Chambers down
As useless Mouths from a besieged Town.
The Whales from
Greenland hither did retire,
That their spilt Oil might aggravate the Fire.
And all the Sharkes in Ambuskade did lie,
As keen-maw'd Vultures o're Campagns do fly.
They both rapacious prey upon the Slain,
Those on the Earth, these slaughter'd on the Main.
The dreadful Combat pleasantly begins,
With
English Trumpets and
French Violins,
Their ancient Custom they cannot forget,
He first will practice o're a
Minuet;
A murd'ring Bullet in his Loins he feels,
And now firm Land he wishes for his Heels.
The
Spartans Harp's into their Battels brought,
But they a rougher Discipline were taught.
Orpheus did not entice, but did provoke,
With his melodious Strains our sturdy Oak,
Altho he play'd so exquisitely well,
A full Broad-side did send him down to Hell.
Now with a louder Musick they are tore
From the kind
Dolphin Succour did implore,
Who once
Arion did transport to Shore.
These empty Fops are of the Sea the Scum,
From whence their Mother
Venus once did come.
You don't with Men, you do with Spunges fight,
They swim like Pumices they are so light.
Now the brave
Russel doth advance with Speed,
That by his side the tatter'd Ships may bleed,
A Name that's worthy of so great a Deed:
Russel! the very Word a Nation saves,
Belov'd at Land, and dreaded on the Waves;
Russel! the greatest Man that e're was born,
He by the bloudy Ax from us was torn,
You
Sir, defend the Land he did adorn.
Pardon thy Admirer then, thou mighty Shade,
Who an untimely Sacrifice wast made,
If I some Tears a Tribute to thee pay,
Never was Joy unmixt from some allay.
Salt as the Brine let all my Sorrows flow,
In which was struck this decretory Blow.
Thy Noble Blood did for such Vengeance call
When Hecatombs did on the Altar fall,
And now a Vagabond is that cruel
Cain,
By whose contrivance thy best self was slain,
Whose Praise doth exercise all grateful Tongues,
But this brave Admiral hath reveng'd thy Wrongs.
For when the
French expir'd, he thus did boast,
Sink down a Victim to great
Russel's Ghost.
The valiant
Shovel doth like Lightning fly,
And like a Shuttle weaves their Destiny.
He on both sides their tawdry Ships doth spoil,
Doth Charge, and fights it fair upon the Foil:
Just so the
Rhosne that runs into the
Iemane by
Geneva.
Lake
The sluggish Waters turbulent doth make,
The Stream doth very furiously divide,
And passeth thro' it with a rapid Tide.
Shovel this just Encomium still commends,
The roughest Enemy, and best of Friends,
He daring is, and fierce aboard a Fleet,
Every where else you him obliging meet;
He with an affable Deportment treats,
Even the Antagonist his Courage beates,
The Trembling Quarry, for this Eagle fled
Fit to succeed great
Narborough in his Bed.
One thought by Marriage to possess great Sense,
And wed with
Tully's Wife his Eloquence;
He, nip'd with others Feathers hath not flown.
He had a stock of Courage of his own.
Carter and
Hastings in the Fight are dead;
Yet pale and speechless them they still do dread.
They both look terrible within their Urns,
Although the Sun is setting, yet it burns.
With Whinings we lament the vulgar Rout,
But a brave Souldier's buried with a Shout;
For he hath loud congratulating Crys.
The same with which an Hero fights he die;
But they a Posthumus Honor both shall have;
Laurel shall be triumphant on their Grave.
As once it did bring forth from
Virgil's Tomb,
And they in Death are Conquerours become;
Bellona's Minion
Ashby doth survive,
Spight of malignant Fame He is alive,
He is discolour'd, Slaughter doth him sta in
He treads on shatter'd Sculls, is daub'd with Brain,
If any can be found in Men so vain.
Then
Delaval hath got immortal Fame,
His Courage
English is, tho
French his Name,
He is our own, such a prodigious Worth,
Like a rough Tempest issu'd from the North,
As the Great
Albemarl did once before,
He came from thence our Kingdom to restore,
Altho it is an harsh and barren Ground,
Yet with tough Minerals it doth abound:
His Name with Terror thro' their Countrey flies,
And Nurses with it still their Childrens Crys,
As that of
Talbot once their Land did tame,
When with two Syllables he overcame;
He with a Blast of air, their Cities took,
He with a Sound, as
Caesar with a Look,
And then of Mariners the lowest Crew,
Loud Strains of Praise are to their Courage due;
Such Merit for strict Gratitude doth call,
The Genius of the Nation thanks you all,
You to their Shores the Runaways did chase
By Tracts of Blood you did the Miscreants trace
Who now were swifter than the scaly Race.
Them in their proper Element you did out-do,
They could not fly so fast as you pursue.
Your Acts to After-ages shall be told,
And their Recital shall make Cowards bold.
Mothers your brave Atchievements shall repeat,
And by your Models make their Children great,
To Schemes of War the hardy Infant trains,
Stout by your Blood transfus'd into their Veins;
Widows their husbands Deaths do not bewail,
Their Eyes are dry, they scorn the puling Veil,
Hearing their Fate, they all transported cry'd,
They did their Duty, for their Country di'd,
We yield to that as the much fairer Bride.
If I the other Chieftains now should tell,
This Poem would like to their Ocean swell,
VVhich they perplext into a Bloody Storm,
The Scene where they these Actions did perform.
Like
Alexander's Army they were seen,
All things undaunted were, and nothing mean;
They all were carried upon Eagles wings,
Their Soldiers, Generals, their Heroes, Kings.
The eager Citizen listens to the Ground,
He hears, and is transported with the Sound.
All the dead thumps distinctly doth repeat,
And with each Stroak a Legion we defeat.
The Countrey-man forsook his painful Plow,
And every one is a
Dictator now.
For their Descent they eagerly do watch,
VVith weapons which their Fury first doth snatch,
None of them are afraid, they all did laugh,
And with their Flailes would make them flie like Chaff;
Unto the Shore they cheerfully did run,
The home-spun
Baucis was an
Amazon.
Nay every Infant was an
Hercules,
And in their Cradles would these Serpents seize.
Fame with the News did to their Court advance,
And spoil'd the Measures of an hopeful Dance,
A most unwelcome Message them did greet,
One Tongue did baffle forty pair of Feet;
For Flamboys to retire they all did call,
In Indignation they broke up the Ball.
Louis his gloting Eyes around did roll
And darted thro those Ports his guilty Soul.
A sudden Palsie seiz'd upon each Joynt,
And from his swelling Neck he tore his Point,
Hot Rhemes of anger both his Cheeks did scal'd,
Pluck'd off his hair, and like his
Monks was bald.
Morbleus and
Jernies were but common Sport,
Oathes only for the Lacquies of the Court.
He sent unto the
Academies Mint.
For those who never yet appear'd in Print,
He made them too refine upon the Theme.
That in more hellish Strains he might blaspheme.
For in worse Execrations he doth deal,
Then Vilanies vomit out upon the VVeel.
Baptist's Composures all the Artists play,
But they the raging Flame cannot allay.
If but a
Valet thro' the Chamber runs,
He stamps and cries it is the Noise of Guns.
A whisper gives him a convulsive throw,
A Rat behind the
Hangings is a Foe.
He thinks each Cloud to be a thundring Smoak,
He hates his
Druids for the sake of Oak.
Surer than Oracles our Canon spoke;
An horrid Silence with such tidings suits,
As in his Brothers Courts they all are Mutes,
Each one by Nods anothers Sense divines.
They speak with Fingers and converse by Signs.
Lewis incens'd and overthrown like
Saul,
Now for his trusty Confidents doth bawl.
Authors are travesti'd by smart
Scarron,
And Nature hath Burlesqu'd his
The VVidow of Scarron.
Maintenon,
VVith spite and wrinkles is an
Endor Witch,
Uglier than
Hecuba when turn'd a Bitch.
For he hath laid aside the Lions Skin,
Only with Distaffs he is fit to spin.
Like the fond
Hercules with his
Omphale
Lewis was near so valiant as he;
He never him was like in bearing Arms,
Only in Luxury and VVomens Charms,
To
Harlay send a Messenger away,
And let him be disturb'd tho deep at Play.
A most lascivious, crafty, cruel Man,
Both like the King and Metropolitan:
Let him depute a suffragan Antick
Whilst he his Master's wounds doth softly lick,
With spiritual Opium let him give him rest,
And whisper in his Ears a smutty Jest;
But he in vain his drolling Hours doth waste
All his Buffoonry now hath lost its taste,
On Ships he in the Arras now doth fall,
Makes it a rase Campagne, a naked Wall,
And bids them sink the Yatchts in the Canal;
We with his Navy have sunk all his Hopes,
He can't endure the sight of Masts and Ropes:
Two painted Vessels do that Nation fit,
A greater Fleet we never will permit.
Go bid the Medalists their Tools with-hold
Lay an Embargo upon all the Gold,
Contract this wicked, prodigal Expence,
Raise all the Arrear-ban for the Shoars defence;
We with tough Iron have brought down their price,
And down-right blows have spoil'd the quaint Device:
Go with their Salt the Plats of Laurel sow
Those Honours don't become a
French Man's brow,
It is a Priviledge we will ne're allow;
Tho' 'twas
Apollo's Grove, ne're stint your hand
But let the mournful Ewe and Cypress stand:
The Monarch's reason with his force is fled,
Tye down the foaming Tyrant in his Bed,
Him like another
Chilperick let them shave
Immur'd within a Cloister let him rave;
But never let him on the Throne appear
But shut him up with his belov'd Valiere;
Now that his Glory a short Race hath run
A Royal Fryar with an holy Nun,
An Ulcer on one half of him did prey,
Let a Relapse the other eat away.
Our Treasures once were most supinely kept
When he that should have been the Dragon, slept;
In Royal Ermines was a guady Moth
Us fretted, and consum'd himself with sloth:
A suddain Repartee was all his Sense,
And his good Nature was his Negligence.
With
Nero's Fate he did complaining Die,
He neither had a Friend nor Enemy:
When his health should decline we always fear'd
Dread of a Successor his Reign endear'd;
Talk'd wittily, did very seldom think,
Was very condescending in his drink;
And then he had a soft relenting Heart
Easily wounded, but with
Cupid's Dart:
Nothing to
Martia ever did deny,
Weapons against himself he did supply,
With his own hands her craving stomach fed
Guest at his Meals, and favourite of his Bed,
And for whose sake the Ax with Patriots bled:
She at the Price of Provinces always laught,
And dissolv'd Pearls drank for her Morning's draught:
All pardon'd Murthers did a Tribute pay
Abus'd his Body, did his Soul betray,
He unconcern'd could view the Widows Eyes,
Deaf as an Adder to the Orphans cries,
With cruel Rapine empty'd all their Bags,
For which Posterity will be in Rags:
Objects of pity now they're sunk so low;
This was the Livery he did bestow,
Oppress'd with Wine, and sleep he still did snore,
And then the Harpies did devour our store;
But when they came a second Theft to take
They found another Guardian broad awake;
Their danger past retrieve they then did see,
He with a flaming Sword did guard the Tree;
He is obliging, valiant and just
All did submit to him, or they must
His Armor never did contract a rust.
Still in that shining Equipage was bright,
Always in Counsel is, or in a Fight,
Acts those dispatches which his States-men write.
His Souldiers like to
Tortoises do dwell
In the Inclosures of an harden'd Shell.
Proof against all assaults their breasts are try'd,
Are not so slow altho' so fortify'd.
But
Louis now is infamously poor,
Sends to solicite Succours at each door;
His suppliant Ministers do crowd the Gate
Beg to relieve him they would Coin their Plate:
As once with us, the zealous Matrons bring
Marks of their Sex, the Thimble and the Ring.
Now to protect him from all kind of harm,
Their Thimbles against the Needle will not arm;
The Pledge of plighted troth with joy she pays,
And in that Circle she a War will raise:
Chloe no longer glittering Jewels wears,
But for his sake depopulates her Ears;
Nay with her shining Lockets she will part
Plac'd by her Lover on the panting heart:
Thus they contribute all their wealthy Store
To make the golden Calf they do adore;
The Spirit of his Counsels all is fled
Now
Lovoy is deceas'd, and
Colbert dead,
Both to his base designs did aptly sute,
One to raise Money, t'other t' execute:
Now the discarded Minister
Pompone
Doth with mean shifts prop up his tott'ring Throne;
Grown old in wickedness doth play his feats
And multiplies his offices and cheats.
In
France a Vein of universal Pride
Doth into lesser Tyrannies sub-divide:
So that the haughty Kingdom doth appear
Like to a barbarous Amphitheatre,
VVhere Gladiators on each other fall,
An the great Vulgar tramples on the small;
And he's an huffing
Tyrant over all.
Its parallel an
Algier Captain meets,
Where low ones are o're-topt by higher Streets
By gradual Ascents it doth arise,
And looking up doth tire your curious Eyes,
They two do in an equal Posture stand,
They Pirates are by Sea, and he by Land.
The
Gibelines with Sadness are cast down,
Now their expected Fleet is overthrown.
They tear our Bowels with a Vipers rage,
Pests of the Land, and Scandals of the Age;
Not half so honest as a Suburb Stews,
Then they Cabal, and scatter factious News,
These Ideots do against themselves conspire,
Like
Indian Wives they leap into the Fire.
On us these Contradictions cannot pass,
They love the Church, yet would bring in the Mass,
That Mischiefs like
Pandora's Box contains
Racks, Gibbets, Faggots, and the least are Chains;
Such Tortures Heathen Emperors had amaz'd,
And
London by their Hands again had blaz'd,
For
Popery this Censure hath incur'd,
That it is cruel, impious, and absurd;
The Priest doth like a Mounteback shew his Tricks,
He shakes his beades, and hugs the Crucifix,
With mimick Gestures, doth extort a Tear,
His Preaching is not worth one Soul a Year.
Like a
Jackcall he preys upon the Dead,
And forceth Legacies from a dying Bed.
Money for every Wickedness atones;
They tax and lay an Impost upon Groans.
The Rich are by their Pasport upwards sent,
But he that's Poor, is still impenitent.
Madmen and Ideots for Coin they Saint,
Fall down to Images, and worship Paint;
They Heaven command with an imperious Nod,
They mumble o're the Bread, and 'tis a God.
And once they say a
Jew with envious Heat,
Did with a
Poniard stab into the Wheat,
Rous'd with the Blow, an Infant started up,
Bled from the Wound profusely in the Cup.
So Huntsmen think they have a Hare in view,
And do with eager Cries her Flight pursue.
But when Sagacious
Jouler comes so near,
To seize her hinder Legs and pluck to tear,
Comidia is Couchant in the Thorn,
And by their half-spent Mouths a Witch is torn,
All their
Carthusians do with Darkness dwell,
It is the Antepast and Type of Hell,
Nothing's more damn'd than
Fryers in a Cell.
They live a part, and only once a Week,
They have a Dispensation to speak.
The Women have an Order of St.
Clare,
Their Heads are muffled, but their Feet are bare,
But first she like a pompous Bride is drest,
Then of her gaudy Plumes they her divest;
Each Statue then they do with Garlands crown,
She shines with all the Jewels of the Town,
Her thus attir'd, they to the Altar bring,
Her Lovers sigh, but all the Quire doth sing,
Then as a Malefactor first is strip'd,
Before he by the Officer is whipt,
The
Nuns unclothe her to the very Skin,
Rifle each Knot, and pluck out every Pin;
Then she looks mournfully in dismal Black,
Beades in her Hand, and Scourges on her Back;
So she's thrown over to the Sister-hood,
And spends her wretched Life in Tears and Blood.
Sweeter Enjoyments all our Ladies taste,
And they without Constraint can all be chast;
Without the Veil they can Religious be,
The best bred humour still is very free.
The Priests should out of all the World be hist,
The Pope doth them as standing Legions list;
All that they practise are Intreagues and Lies,
They are on Families and Kingdom Spies.
The
Jesuits cursed Maxims do instill,
They teach the Art to poison and to kill,
Then of Confession they have the task,
Make Women lewd by Questions that they ask,
Judges of Conscience these rank Lechers sit,
And first they hear the Sin, and then commit;
With new Conceits of Lust they daily teem,
Are sinful waking, and of Lust they dream.
And once a devilish, sacrilegious
Monk,
Like an
Italian raving when he's drunk.
With heavenly Vision thought himself inspir'd
With adust Choler, but was only fir'd,
He said that to the Virgin he was joyn'd,
Who did bring forth the Saviour of Mankind,
Thus was transported with a frantick Zeal,
And did these holy Galantries reveal,
The Father is assisted to his Chair,
Looks like a Coment with his staring Hair
And here the drivelling Votaries repair,
They bow their Necks, and do his Gout adore,
A piece of doating, ignorant fourscore.
They think it next unto Seraphick Bliss,
If they the Slipper suffer'd are to kiss.
Into the
Camera they pay their Fees,
Have in return, Pardons and Jubilees.
They on all sorts of Crimes do lay a Tax,
You must lay down for Parchment and for Wax.
The Church of
Rome is all hung round with toys,
Fit to please women, and unthinking boys.
When in that busie Scene of things you range
And to be furnish'd walk in the
Exchange;
Variety of Merchandise there lies,
And you are deafn'd with the Sellers Crys,
Pulvilio, Snush, Essence of
Oranges.
So you from that Communion reap this Fruit,
They to all tempers do their Order suit;
To Debauches, the Bigot and the Fop,
And for all Wares it is a Pedlars Shop,
This is that tinsel, gawdy, changling thing,
Which the hot-headed
Gibeline here would bring.
Yet of our Joy, in Policy partakes
They should be glad for their own wretched sakes.
For had there been a sinister Event,
A furious Mob had been their Punishment.
The stubborn'st Spirits Mutiny confounds,
Acteon like, they had been torn by Hounds.
When the invited Enemy invades,
We'll under hatches put our Renegades.
These thirsty Horse-leeches shall have their fill,
Let them begin the Combat when they will;
Who their Religion and their Country sell,
But we'll take Care our Slaves shall not rebell,
So the
Tlaxallans did with
Cortez joyn,
And against
Montezeuma did combine;
Those that they first oblig'd they did provoke,
And all were brought under the
Spaniard's Yoke.
Their Treachery then too late they did implore,
Were kill'd by Guns, nay by their Dogs were tore.
The Women in the Quarrel do advance,
Just so they side with Heroes in
Romance;
Though in his Cause they should like Furies fight,
Their Bodkins he with Poniards will requite;
His weighty Favours will on them bestow,
For to that Sex he a Revenge doth owe.
FINIS.