[Page 284]

At seeing
* John Williams was consecrated bishop of Lincoln, November 11. 1621. was translated to York December 4. 1641. and died March 25. 1649. and was buried at Landegay near Bangor.
Archbishop WILLIAMS'S Monument in CARNARVONSHIRE.

1 IN that remote and solitary place,
2 Which the seas wash, and circling hills embrace,
3 Where those lone walls amid the groves arise,
4 All that remains of thee, fam'd Williams, lies.
5 Thither, sequester'd shade, creation's nook,
6 The wand'ring Muse her pensive journey took,
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7 Curious to trace the statesman to his home,
8 And moralize at leisure o'er his tomb:
9 She came not, with the pilgrim, tears to shed,
10 Mutter a vow, or trifle with a bead,
11 But such a sadness did her thoughts employ,
12 As lives within the neighbourhood of joy.
13 Reflecting much upon the mighty shade,
14 His glories, and his miseries, she said:
15 "How poor the lot of the once-honour'd dead!
16 Perhaps the dust is Williams, that we tread.
17 The learn'd, ambitious, politic, and great,
18 Statesman, and prelate, this alas! thy fate.
19 Cou'd not thy Lincoln yield her pastor room,
20 Cou'd not thy York supply thee with a tomb?
21 Was it for this thy losty genius soar'd,
22 Caress'd by monarchs and by crowds ador'd?
23 For this, thy hand o'er rivals cou'd prevail,
24 Grasping by turns the crosier and the
b He was made lord keeper of the great seal July 20. 1621.
seal?
25 Who dar'd on Laud's meredian pow'r to frown,
26 And on aspiring Buckingham look down.
27 This thy gay morn, but ere the day decline
28 Clouds gather, and adversity is thine.
29 Doom'd to behold thy country's fierce alarms,
30 What had thy trembling age to do with arms?
31 Thy lands dragoon'd, thy palaces in dust,
32 Why was thy life protracted to be curst?
33 Thy king in chains, thyself by lawless might
34 Strip't of all pow'r, and exil'd from thy right.
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35 Awhile the venerable hero stood,
36 And stemm'd with quiv'ring limbs the boist'rous flood;
37 At length, o'er-match'd by injuries and time,
38 Stole from the world and sought his native clime.
39 Cambria for him with moans her region fills:
40 She wept his downfal from a thousand hills:
41 Tender embrac'd her prelate tho' undone,
42 Stretch'd out her mother-rocks to hide her son:
43 Search'd, while alive, each vale for his repast,
44 And, when he died, receiv'd him in her breast.
45 Envied Ambition! what are all thy schemes,
46 But waking misery, or pleasing dreams,
47 Sliding and tottering on the heights of state!
48 The subject of this verse declares thy fate.
49 Great as he was, you see how small the gain,
50 A burial so obscure, a Muse so mean.

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Title (in Source Edition): At seeing Archbishop WILLIAMS'S Monument in CARNARVONSHIRE.
Author: Sneyd Davies
Themes: Wales; religion; death
Genres: heroic couplet; elegy
References: DMI 23435

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Dodsley, Robert, 1703-1764. A Collection of Poems in Six Volumes. By Several Hands. Vol. VI. London: printed by J. Hughs, for R. and J. Dodsley, 1763 [1st ed. 1758], pp. 284-286. 6v.: music; 8⁰. (ESTC T131163; OTA K104099.006) (Page images digitized by the Eighteenth-Century Poetry Archive from a copy in the archive's library.)

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The text has been typographically modernized, but without any silent modernization of spelling, capitalization, or punctuation. The source of the text is given and all editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. Based on the electronic text originally produced by the TCP project, this ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.