by John Dryden
Close by, their fire-ships, like Jackals, appear,
Who on their Lions for the Prey attend.
83
Silent in smoke of Cannons they come on
(Such Vapours once did fiery Cacus hide.) 330
In these the height of pleas’d Revenge is shewn,
Who burn contented by anothers side.
84
Sometimes from fighting Squadrons of each Fleet,
(Deceiv’d themselves, or to preserve some Friend,)
Two grappling Ætna’s on the Ocean meet, 335
And English Fires with Belgian Flames contend.
85
Now, at each tack, our little Fleet grows less;
And, like maim’d Fowl, swim lagging on the Main;
Their greater loss their Numbers scarce confess,
While they lose cheaper than the English gain. 340
86
Have you not seen, when, whistled from the Fist,
Some Falcon stoops at what her Eye design’d,
And, with her eagerness, the quarry miss’d,
Streight flies at check, and clips it down the Wind?
87
The dastard Crow that to the Wood made wing, 345
And sees the Groves no shelter can afford,
With her loud Kaws her Craven kind does bring,
Who, safe in numbers, cuff the noble Bird.
88
Among the Dutch thus Albemarl did fare:
He could not conquer, and disdain’d to flie; 350
Past hope of safety, ’twas his latest care,
Like falling Cæsar, decently to die.
89
Yet Pity did his manly Spirit move,
To see those perish who so well had fought;
And, generously, with his despair he strove, 355
Resolv’d to live till he their safety wrought.
90
Let other Muses write his prosp’rous fate,
Of conquer’d Nations tell, and Kings restor’d:
But mine shall sing of his eclips’d estate,
Which, like the Sun’s, more wonders does afford. 360
91
He drew his mighty Frigats all before,
On which the Foe his fruitless Force employes:
His weak ones deep into his Reer he bore
Remote from Guns, as Sick-men from the noise.
92
His fiery Canon did their passage guide, 365
And following Smoke obscur’d them from the Foe:
Thus Israel, safe from the Egyptian’s pride,
By flaming Pillars, and by Clouds did go.
93
Elsewhere the Belgian force we did defeat,
But here our Courages did theirs subdue: 370
So Xenophon once led that fam’d Retreat,
Which first the Asian Empire overthrew.
94
The Foe approach’d, and one, for his bold Sin,
Was sunk, (as he that touch’d the Ark was slain:)
The wild Waves master’d him and suck’d him in, 375
And smiling Eddies dimpled on the Main.
95
This seen, the rest at awful distance stood;
As if they had been there as Servants set,
To stay, or to go on, as he thought good,
And not persue, but wait on his Retreat. 380
96
So Lybian Huntsmen on some Sandy plain,
From shady coverts rouz’d, the Lion chace:
The Kingly beast roars out with loud disdain,
And slowly moves, unknowing to give place.
97
But if some one approach to dare his Force, 385
He swings his Tail, and swiftly turns him round:
With one Paw seizes on his trembling Horse,
And with the other tears him to the ground.
98
Amidst these Toils succeeds the balmy night;
Now hissing waters the quench’d Guns restore; 390
And weary waves, withdrawing from the Fight,
Lie lull’d and panting on the silent Shore.
99
The Moon shone clear on the becalmed floud,
Where, while her beams like glittering silver play,
Upon the Deck our careful General stood, 395
And deeply mus’d on the succeeding day.
100
That happy Sun, said he, will rise again,
Who twice victorious did our Navy see:
And I alone must view him rise in vain,
Without one ray of all his Star for me. 400
101
Yet like an English Gen’ral will I die,
And all the Ocean make my spatious grave:
Women and Cowards on the Land may lie,
The Sea’s a Tomb that’s proper for the Brave.
102
Restless he pass’d the remnants of the Night, 405
Till the fresh Air proclaim’d the Morning nigh:
And burning Ships, the Martyrs of the Fight,
With paler fires beheld the Eastern sky.
103
But now, his Stores of Ammunition spent,
His naked Valour is his only guard; 410
Rare Thunders are from his dumb Cannon sent,
And solitary Guns are scarcely heard.
104
Thus far had Fortune pow’r, here forc’d to stay,
Nor longer durst with Virtue be at strife:
This, as a Ransom, Albemarl did pay 415
For all the Glories of so great a Life.
105
For now brave Rupert from afar appears,
Whose waving Streamers the glad General knows:
With full-spread Sails his eager Navy steers,
And every Ship in swift proportion grows. 420
106
The anxious Prince had heard the Cannon long,
And from that length of time dire Omens drew
Of English over-match’d, and Dutch too strong,
Who never fought three days but to persue.
107
Then, as an eagle, (who, with pious care, 425
Was beating widely on the wing for prey,)
To her now silent Eiry does repair,
And finds her callow Infants forc’d away.
108
Stung with her Love, she stoops upon the Plain,
The broken Air loud whistling as she flies: 430
She stops, and listens, and shoots forth again,
And guides her Pinions by her Young ones cries.
109
With such kind passion hasts the Prince to fight,
And spreads his flying Canvass to the sound;
Him, whom no danger, were he there could fright, 435
Now, absent, every little noise can wound.
110
As in a drought the thirsty Creatures cry,
And gape upon the gather’d Clouds for Rain;
And first the Martlet meets it in the Sky,
And, with wet wings, joys all the feather’d Train. 440
111
With such glad hearts did our despairing Men
Salute the appearance of the Princes Fleet;
And each ambitiously would claim the Ken,
That with first eyes did distant safety meet.
112
The Dutch, who came like greedy Hinds before, 445
To reap the harvest their ripe Ears did yield;
Now look like those, when rowling Thunders roar,
And sheets of Lightning blast the standing Field.
113
Full in the Princes Passage, hills of Sand
And dang’rous Flats in secret Ambush lay, 450
Where the false tides skim o’er the cover’d Land,
And Sea-men with dissembled Depths betray.
114
The wily Dutch, who, like fall’n-Angels, fear’d
This new Messia’s coming, there did wait,
To tempt his Courage with so fair a Bait.
115
But he, unmov’d, contemns their idle threat,
Secure of fame when e’re he please to fight:
His cold Experience tempers all his heat,
And inbred worth doth boasting Valour slight. 460
116
Heroick Virtue did his Actions guide,
And he the substance not th’ appearance chose:
To rescue one such Friend he took more pride,
Than to destroy whole Thousands of such Foes.
117
But when approach’d, in strict Embraces bound, 465
Rupert and Albemarl together grow:
He joys to have his Friend in safety found,
Which he to none but to that Friend would owe.
118
The chearful Soldiers, with new stores suppli’d,
Now long to execute their spleenful Will; 470
And, in revenge for those three days they tri’d,
Wish one, like Joshuah’s, when the Sun stood still.
119
Thus re-inforc’d, against the adverse Fleet,
Still doubling ours, brave Rupert leads the way;
With the first blushes of the Morn they meet, 475
And bring night back upon the new-born day.
120
His presence soon blows up the kindling Fight
And his loud Guns speak thick like angry men:
It seem’d as Slaughter had been breath’d all night,
And Death new pointed his dull Dart agen. 480
121
The Dutch too well his mighty Conduct knew,
And matchless Courage since the former Fight!
Whose Navy like a stiff-stretch’d cord did show,
Till he bore in, and bent them into flight.
122
The wind he shares, while half their Fleet offends 485
His open side, and high above him shews,
Upon the rest at pleasure he descends,
And, doubly harm’d, he double harms bestows.
123
Behind, the Gen’ral mends his weary Pace,
And sullenly to his Revenge he sails: 490
So glides some trodden Serpent on the Grass,
And long behind his wounded Volume trails.
124
Th’ increasing Sound is born to either shore,
And for their stakes the throwing Nations fear:
Their Passion, double with the Cannons roar, 495
And with warm wishes each Man combats there.
125
Pli’d thick and close as when the Fight begun,
Their huge unwieldy Navy wasts away;
So sicken waning Moons too near the Sun,
And blunt their Crescents on the edge of day. 500
126
And now reduc’d on equal terms to fight,
Their Ships like wasted Patrimonies show;
Where the thin scatt’ring Trees admit the light,
And shun each others Shadows as they grow.
127
The warlike Prince had sever’d from the rest 505
Two giant Ships, the pride of all the Main;
Which, with his one, so vigorously he press’d,
And flew so home they could not rise again.
128
Already batter’d, by his Lee they lay,
In vain upon the passing Winds they call: 510
The passing Winds through their torn Canvass play,
And flagging Sails on heartless Sailors fall.
129
Their open’d sides receive a gloomy light,
Dreadful as day let in to shades below:
Without, grim death rides bare-fac’d in their sight, 515
And urges ent’ring billows as they flow.
130
When one dire shot, the last they could supply,
Close by the board the Prince’s Main-mast bore:
All three now, helpless, by each other lie,
And this offends not, and those fear no more. 520
131
So have I seen some fearful Hare maintain
A Course, till tir’d before the Dog she lay,
Who, stretch’d behind her, pants upon the Plain,
Past pow’r to kill as she to get away.
132
With his loll’d tongue he faintly licks his Prey, 525
His warm breath blows her flix up as she lies;
She, trembling, creeps upon the ground away,
And looks back to him with beseeching eyes.
133
The Prince unjustly does his Stars accuse,
Which hinder’d him to push his Fortune on; 530
For what they to his Courage did refuse,
By mortal Valour never must be done.
134
This lucky hour the wise Batavian takes,
And warns his tatter’d Fleet to follow home:
Proud to have so got off with equal stakes, 535
Where ’twas a Triumph not to be o’re-come.
135
The General’s force, as kept alive by fight,
Now, not oppos’d, no longer can persue:
Lasting till Heav’n had done his courage right;
When he had conquer’d he his Weakness knew. 540
136
He casts a Frown on the departing Foe,
And sighs to see him quit the watry Field:
His stern fix’d eyes no satisfaction shew,
For all the glories which the Fight did yield.
137
Though, as when Fiends did Miracles avow, 545
He stands confess’d e’en by the boastful Dutch,
He only does his Conquest disavow,
And thinks too little what they found too much.
138
Return’d, he with the Fleet resolv’d to stay;
No tender thoughts of Home his heart divide; 550
Domestick Joys and Cares he puts away;
For Realms are households which the Great must guide.
139
As those who unripe veins in Mines explore,
On the rich bed again the warm Turf lay,
Till time digests the yet imperfect Ore, 555
And know it will be Gold another day:
140
So looks our Monarch on this early Fight,
Th’ essay and rudiments of great Success,
Which all-maturing time must bring to Light,
While he, like Heav’n, does each days labour bless. 560
141
Heav’n ended not the first or second day,
Yet each was perfect to the work design’d:
God and Kings work, when they their work survey,
And passive aptness in all Subjects find.
142
In burden’d Vessels first, with speedy care, 565
His plenteous Stores do season’d Timber send
Thither the brawny Carpenters repair,
And as the Surgeons of maim’d Ships attend.
143
With Cord and Canvass from rich Hamburgh sent,
His Navies molted wings he imps once more; 570
Tall Norway Fir, their Masts in Battel spent,
And English Oak sprung Leaks and Planks restore.
144
All hands employ’d the Royal work grows warm:
Like labouring Bees on a long Summers day,
Some sound the Trumpet for the rest to swarm, 575
And some on bells of tasted Lillies play.
145
With glewy wax some new Foundations lay
Of Virgin-combs, which from the Roof are hung:
Some arm’d within doors, upon Duty stay
Or tend the Sick, or educate the Young. 580
146
So here some pick out Bullets from the side,
So
me drive old Okum through each Seam and Rift:
Their left-hand does the Calking-iron guide,
The ratling Mallet with the right they lift.
147
With boiling Pitch another near at hand, 585
(From friendly Sweden brought) the seams instops:
Which well paid o’r, the salt-Sea waves with-stand,
And shake them from the rising Beak in drops.
148
Some the gall’d Ropes with dawby Marling bind,
Or sear-cloth Masts with strong Tarpawling coats: 590
To try new Shrouds one mounts into the wind,
And one, below, their Ease or Stifness notes.
149
Our careful Monarch stands in Person by,
His new-cast Cannons Firmness to explore:
The strength of big-corn’d Powder loves to try, 595
And Ball and Cartrage sorts for every bore.
150
Each day brings fresh supplies of Arms and Men,
And Ships which all last Winter were abroad:
And such as fitted since the Fight had been,
Or new from Stocks were fall’n into Road. 600
151
The goodly London in her gallant Trim,
(The Phœnix daughter of the vanish’d old:)
Like a rich Bride does to the Ocean swim,
And on her shadow rides in Floating-gold.
152
Her Flag aloft spread ruffling to the Wind, 605
And sanguine Streamers seem the Floud to fire:
The Weaver charm’d with what his Loom design’d,
Goes on to Sea, and knows not to retire.
153
With roomy Decks, her Guns of mighty strength,
Whose low-laid Mouths each mounting Billow laves: 610
Deep in her Draught, and warlike in her Length,
She seems a Sea-wasp flying on the Waves.
154
This martial Present, piously design’d,
The Loyal City give their best-lov’d King:
And with a Bounty ample as the wind, 615
Built, fitted and maintain’d to aid him bring.
155
By viewing Nature, Nature’s Hand-maid Art
Makes mighty things from small beginnings grow:
Thus Fishes first to Shipping did impart,
Their Tail the Rudder, and their Head the Prow. 620
156
Some Log, perhaps, upon the waters swam,
An useless drift, which rudely cut within,
And, hollow’d, first a floating Trough became
And cross some Riv’let Passage did begin.
157
In shipping such as this, the Irish Kern, 625
And untaught Indian, on the Stream did glide:
Ere sharp-keel’d Boats to stem the Floud did learn,
Or fin-like Oars did spread from either side.
158
Add but a sail, and Saturn so appear’d,
When from lost Empire he to Exile went, 630
And with the Golden age to Tyber steer’d,