INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER, For the Drawing of the POSTURE & PROGRESS OF His Ma ties Forces at Sea, Under the Command of His Highness Royal.
Together with the BATTEL & VICTORY Obtained over the Dutch, June 3. 1665.
Ut, qui vos, Imperatores vestros, & Anglorum Res gestas semper ornavit, Humanitate vestrâ levatus, potius quam acerbitate violatus esse videatur.
Cicero pro Arch. Poet.
By EDM. WALLER Esq
LONDON, Printed for Henry Herringman, at the Anchor on the Lower Walk of the New Exchange. 1666.
INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER, For the Drawing of the Posture and Progress of His Ma
ties Forces at Sea, Under the Command of HIS HIGHNESS ROYAL.
Together with The Battel and Victory obtained over the
Dutch June 3. 1665.
FIrst draw the Sea, That portion which between
The greater World, and this of ours is seen;
Here place the
British, there the
Holland Fleet,
Vast Floating Armies, both prepar'd to meet:
Draw the whole World, expecting who shall Raign,
After this Combate, o're the Conquer'd Main;
Make Heav'n concern'd, and an unusual Star
Declare th'Importance of th'approaching War:
Make the Sea shine with Gallantry, and all
The
English Youth flock to their Admiral,
[Page 4] The Valiant Duke, whose early Deeds abroad,
Such Rage in Fight, and Art in Conduct show'd;
His bright Sword now a dearer Int'rest draws,
His Brothers Glory, and His Countries Cause.
Let thy Bold Pencil, Hope, and Courage spread
Through the whole Navy, by that
Heroe led;
Make all appear, where such a Prince is by,
Resolv'd to Conquer, or resolv'd to Die:
With His Extraction, and His Glorious Mind
Make the proud Sails swell, more than with the Wind;
Preventing Cannon, Make His louder Fame
Check the
Batavians, and their Fury tame:
So hungry Wolves, though greedy of their Prey,
Stop when they find a Lion in their way.
Make Him bestride the Ocean, and Mankind
Ask His Consent, to use the Sea and Wind:
While His tall Ships in the barr'd Channel stand,
He grasps the
Indies in His Armed Hand.
Paint an East-wind, and make it blow away
Th' Excuse of
Holland for their Navies stay;
Make them look pale, and the Bold Prince to shun,
Through the cold North, and Rocky Regions run;
To find the Coast where Morning first appears,
By the dark Pole the wary
Belgian steers,
[Page 5] Confessing now, He dreads the
English, more
Then all the Dangers of a Frozen Shore,
While from our Arms security to find,
They fly so far, they leave the Day behind:
Describe their Fleet abandoning the Sea,
And all their Merchants left a wealthy Prey;
Our first Success in War, make
Bacchus Crown,
And half the Vintage of the Year our own:
The
Dutch their Wine, and all their Brandee lose,
Disarm'd of that, from which their Courage grows;
While the glad
English, to relieve their Toil,
In Healths to their great Leader drink the Spoil:
His high Command to
Africk's Coast extend,
And make the
Moors before the
English bend,
Those Barbarous Pirates willingly receive
Conditions such, as we are pleas'd to give;
Deserted by the
Dutch, let Nations know,
We can our own, and their great business do;
False Friends chastise, and common Foes restrain,
Which worse then Tempests did infest the Main.
Within those Streights make
Hollands Smyrna-Fleet
With a small Squadron of the
English meet;
Like Falcons these, those like a numerous Flock,
Of Fowl, which scatter to avoid the Shock;
There paint Confusion in a various shape
Some sink, some Yield, and flying some Escape:
Europe and
Africa from either Shore
Spectators are, and hear our Cannon roar,
While the divided World, in this, agree,
Men that fight so, deserve to Rule the Sea.
But neerer Home, thy Pencil use once more,
And place our Navy by the
Holland Shore;
The World they compass'd, while they fought with
Spain,
But here already they resign the Main:
Those greedy Mariners, out of whose way,
Diffusive Nature could no Region lay,
At home, preserv'd, from Rocks and Tempests lie,
Compell'd, like others, in their Beds to die;
Their single Towns th'
Iberian Armies press't,
We all their Provinces at once Invest,
And in a Month, Ruine their Traffique, more,
Then that long War, could in an Age before.
But who can always on the Billows ly?
The watry Wilderness yields no supply;
Spreading our Sails, to
Harwich we resort,
And meet the Beauties of the
British Court,
[Page 7] Th' Illustrious Dutchess, and her Glorious Train,
Like
Thetis with her Nymphs, adorn the Main;
The gazing Sea-gods, since the
Paphian Queen
Sprung from among them, no such sight had seen;
Charm'd with the Graces of a Troop so fair,
Those deathless Powers for us themselves declare,
Resolv'd the Aid of
Neptuno's Court to bring,
And help the Nation where such Beauties spring:
The Souldier here his wasted Store supplies,
And takes new Valour from the Ladies Eyes:
Mean while, like Bees, when stormy Winter's gone,
The
Dutch (as if the Sea were all their own)
Desert their Ports, and falling in their way
Our
Hamburgh Merchants are become their Prey;
Thus flourish they, before th' appoaching Fight,
As dying Tapers give a blazing Light.
To check their Pride, our Fleet half Victuall'd goes,
Enough to serve us, till we reach our Foes,
Who now appear, so numerous and bold,
The Action worthy of our Arms we hold;
A greater Force, then that which here we find,
Ne're press'd the Ocean, nor employ'd the Wind.
Restrain'd a while by the unwelcom Night,
Th' impatient
English scarce attend the Light;
But now the Morning, Heav'n severely clear,
To the fierce Work Indulgent does appear;
And
Phoebus lifts above the Waves his Light,
That he might see, and thus Record the Fight:
As when loud Winds from different Quarters rush,
Vast Clouds incountring, one another crush,
With swelling Sails, so, from their several Coasts,
Joyn the
Batavian, and the
British Hoasts;
For a less Prize, with less Concern and Rage,
The
Roman Fleets at
Actium did Engage;
They for the Empire of the World they knew,
These for the Old, Contend, and for the New:
At the first Shock, with Blood, and Powder stain'd,
Nor Heav'n, nor Sea, their former face retain'd;
Fury and Art produce Effects so strange,
They trouble Nature, and her Visage change:
Where burning Ships the banish'd Sun supply,
And no Light shines, but that by which Men dy,
There
YORK appears, so prodigal is he
Of Royal Blood, as ancient as the Sea,
Which down to Him, so many Ages told,
Has through the Veins of Mighty Monarchs roll'd;
The great
Achilles march'd not to the Field,
Till
Vulcan that impenetrable Shield
And Arms had wrought; yet there no Bullets flew,
But Shafts, and Darts, which the weak
Phrygians threw;
Our bolder
Heroe on the Deck does stand
Expos'd, the Bulwark of his Native Land,
Defensive Arms laid by, as useless here,
Where massie Balls the Neighbouring Rocks do tear:
Some Power unseen those Princes does protect,
Who for their Country thus themselves neglect.
Against Him first
Opdam his Squadron leads,
Proud of his late Success against the
Swedes,
Made by that Action, and his high Command,
Worthy to perish by a Princes Hand:
The tall
Batavian in a vast Ship rides,
Bearing an Army in her hollow Sides,
Yet not inclin'd the
English Ship to Board,
More on his Guns relies, then on his Sword,
From whence a fatal Volley we receiv'd,
It miss'd the Duke, but His great Heart it griev'd,
Three worthy Persons from His Side it tore,
And dy'd His Garment with their scatter'd Gore:
Happy! to whom this glorious Death arrives,
More to be valu'd than a thousand Lives!
[Page 10] On such a Theatre, as this, to dy,
For such a Cause, and such a Witness by!
Who would not thus a Sacrifice be made,
To have his Blood on such an Altar laid?
The rest about Him strook with Horrour stood,
To see their Leader cover'd or'e with Blood;
So trembl'd
Jacob, when he thought the stains
Of his Sons Coat had issu'd from his Veins:
He feels no wound, but in his troubled Thought,
Before for Honour, now Revenge He fought,
His Friends in pieces torn, the bitter News
Not brought by Fame, with His own Eyes he views;
His Mind at once reflecting on their Youth,
Their Worth, their Love, their Valour, and their Truth,
The Joys of Court, their Mothers, and their Wives
To follow Him abandon'd, and their Lives,
He storms, and Shoots; but flying Bullets now
To execute His Rage, appear too slow;
They miss, or sweep but Common Souls away,
For such a Loss,
Opdam his Life must pay:
Encouraging His Men, He gives the Word,
With fierce intent that hated Ship to Board,
And make the Guilty
Dutch, with His own Arm,
Wait on His Friends, while yet their Blood is warm:
His winged Vessel like an Eagle shows,
When through the Clouds to truss a Swan she goes;
The
Belgian Ship unmov'd, like some huge Rock
Inhabiting the Sea, expects the Shock:
From both the Fleets Mens Eyes are bent this way,
Neglecting all the Business of the day,
Bullets their Flight, and Guns their Noise suspend,
The silent Ocean does th'Event attend,
Which Leader shall the Doubtful Vict'ry bless,
And give an Earnest of the Wars Success;
When Heav'n it self for
England to declare,
Turns Ship, and Men, and Tackle into Air;
Their new Commander from his Charge is tost,
Which that young Prince had so unjustly lost,
Whose Great Progenitors with better Fate,
And better Conduct sway'd their Infant State.
His flight tow'rds Heav'n th' aspiring
Belgian took,
But fell, like
Phaeton, with Thunder strook,
From vaster hopes than his, He seem'd to fall,
That durst attempt the
British Admiral;
From her Broad-sides a ruder Flame is thrown,
Than from the fiery Chariot of the Sun;
That bears the radiant Ensigh of the Day,
And she the Flag that Governs in the Sea.
The Duke ill pleas'd that Fire should thus prevent
The work which for His brighter Sword He meant,
Anger still burning in His valiant Breast,
Goes to compleat Revenge upon the Rest;
So on the guardless Herd, their Keeper slain,
Rushes a Tyger in the
Lybian Plain.
The
Dutch accustom'd to the raging Sea,
And in black Storms the Frowns of Heav'n to see,
Never met Tempest which more urg'd their Fears,
Than that which in the Prince His Look appears;
Fierce, Goodly, Young,
Mars He resembles, when
Jove sends him down, to scourge perfidious Men,
Such as with foul Ingratitude have paid
Both those that Led, and those that gave them Aid;
Where He gives on, disposing of their Fates,
Terror and Death on His loud Cannon waits,
With which He pleads His Brothers Cause so well,
He shakes the Throne to which he does Appeal;
The Sea with Spoil His angry Bullets strow,
Widows and Orphans making as they go;
Before His Ship, Fragments of Vessels torn,
Flags, Arms, and
Belgian Carcasses are born,
And His despairing Foes to flight inclin'd,
Spread all their Canvase to invite the Wind:
[Page 13] So the rude
Boreas where he lists to blow
Makes Clouds above, and Billows fly below,
Beating the shore, and with a boysterous rage
Does Heav'n at once, and Earth and Sea ingage:
The
Dutch elsewhere, did through the watry Field
Perform enough to have made others yield;
But
English Courage growing as they fight,
In danger, noise, and slaughter takes delight,
Their bloody Task, unwearied still, they ply,
Only restrain'd by Death, or Victory:
Iron and Lead, from Earths dark Entrails torn,
Like show'rs of Hail from either side are born;
So high the Rage of wretched Mortals goes,
Hurling their Mothers Bowels at their Foes,
Ingenious to their ruine, Every Age
Improves the Arts, and Instruments of Rage;
Death-hast'ning ills Nature enough has sent,
And yet Men still a thousand more invent.
But
Bacchus now, which led the
Belgians on
So fierce at first, to favour us begun;
Brandee and Wine, their wonted Friends, at length
Render them useless, and betray their strength:
So Corn in Fields, and in the Garden Flowers,
Revive, and raise themselves with moderate Showers;
[Page 14] But over-charg'd with never-ceasing Rain,
Become too moist, and bend their heads again:
Their reeling Ships on one another fall,
Without a Foe enough to ruine all:
Of this Disorder, and the favouring Wind,
The watchful
English such Advantage find,
Ships fraught with Fire among the Heap they throw,
And up the so intangled
Belgians blow;
The Flame invades the Powder-rooms, and then
Their Guns shoot Bullets, and their Vessels Men;
The scorch't
Batavians on the Billows float,
Sent from their own to pass in
Charon's Boat.
And now our Royal Admiral, Success
With all the marks of Victory does bless;
The burning Ships, the taken, and the slain
Proclaim His Triumph o're the Conquer'd Main:
Neerer to
Holland as their hasty flight
Carries the Noise and Tumult of the Fight,
His Cannons roar, fore-runner of His Fame,
Makes their
Hague tremble, and their
Amsterdam;
The
British Thunder does their Houses rock,
And the Duke seems at every Door to knock;
His dreadful Streamer like a Comets hair
Threatning Destruction, hastens their Despair,
[Page 15] Makes them deplore their scatter'd Fleet as lost,
And fear our present Landing on their Coast.
The Trembling
Dutch th' approaching Prince behold
As Sheep a Lion leaping tow'rds their Fold;
Those Piles which serve them to repel the Main
They think too weak His Fury to restrain:
What Wonders may not
English Valour work,
Led by th' Example of Victorious
YORK?
Or what Defence against Him can they make,
Who at such distance does their Country shake?
His fatal Hand their Bulwarks will o'rethrow,
And let in both the Ocean and the Foe:
Thus cry the People, and their Land to keep,
Allow our Title to Command the Deep,
Blaming their States ill Conduct to provoke
Those Arms which freed them from the
Spanish Yoke.
Painter, excuse me, if I have a while
Forgot thy Art, and us'd another Stile;
For though you Draw Arm'd
Heroes as they fit,
The Task in Battel does the Muses fit;
They in the dark Confusion of a Fight
Discover all, instruct us how to Write,
[Page 16] And Light and Honour to Brave Actions yield,
Hid in the Smoak and Tumult of the Field.
Ages to come shall know that Leaders Toil,
And His Great Name on whom the Muses smile;
Their Dictates here let thy fam'd Pencil trace,
And this Relation with thy Colours grace.
Then Draw the Parliament, the Nobles met,
And our Great Monarch, High above Them set,
Like young
Augustus let His Image be,
Triumphing for that Victory at Sea,
Where
AEgypts Queen, and Eastern Kings o'rethrown.
Made the Possession of the World His own.
Last Draw the Commons at His Royal Feet,
Pouring out Treasure to Supply His Fleet;
They vow, with Lives and Fortunes to maintain
Their Kings Eternal Title to the Main,
And with a Present to the Duke approve
His Valour, Conduct, and His Countries Love.
To the King.
GREAT SIR, Disdain not in this Piece to Stand
Supream Commander both of Sea and Land:
Those which Inhabit the Celestial Bower,
Painters express with Emblems of their Power;
His Club
Alcides, Phoebus has his Bow,
Jove has his Thunder, and your Navy You.
But Your Great Providence no Colours here
Can Represent, nor Pencil draw that Care
Which keeps You waking, to secure our Peace,
The Nations Glory, and our Trades Increase;
You for these Ends whole days in Counsel Sit,
And the Diversions of Your Youth forget.
Small were the worth of Valour, and of Force,
If Your High Wisdom Govern'd not their Course;
You as the Soul, as the First Mover You
Vigour and Life on every Part bestow,
How to build Ships, and Dreadful Ordnance cast,
Instruct the Artists, and Reward their Haste:
So
Jove Himself, when
Typhon Heav'n does brave,
Descends to visit
Vulcan's smoaky Cave,
[Page 18] Teaching the Brawny
Cyclops how to frame
His Thunder mixt with Terrour, Wrath, and Flame.
Had the old
Greeks discover'd Your Abode,
Crete had not been the Cradle of their God,
On that small Island they had look'd with scorn,
And in
Great Britain thought the Thunderer born.
FINIS.