[Page 285]

To Mr. HARLEY.

Wounded by Guiscard. 1711.

ab ipso Ducit opes animumque ferro. Hor.
I.
1 In one great Now, Superior to an Age,
2 The full Extremes of Nature's Force We find:
3 How Heav'nly Virtue can exalt; or Rage
4 Infernal, how degrade the Human Mind.
II.
5 While the fierce Monk does at his Tryal stand;
6 He chews Revenge, abjuring his Offence:
7 Guile in his Tongue, and Murther in his Hand,
8 He stabs his Judge, to prove his Innocence.
III.
9 The guilty Stroke and Torture of the Steel
10 Infix'd, our dauntless Briton scarce perceives:
11 The Wounds His Countrey from His Death must feel,
12 The Patriot views; for those alone He grieves.
IV.
13 The barb'rous Rage that durst attempt Thy Life,
14 Harley, great Counsellor, extends Thy Fame:
15 And the sharp Point of cruel Guiscard's Knife,
16 In Brass and Marble carves Thy deathless Name.
V.
17 Faithful Assertor of Thy Country's Cause,
18 Britain with Tears shall bath Thy glorious Wound:
19 She for thy Safety shall enlarge Her Laws;
20 And in Her Statutes shall Thy Worth be found.
[Page 286]
VI.
21 Yet 'midst Her Sighs She Triumphs, on the Hand
22 Reflecting, that diffus'd the Publick Woe;
23 A Stranger to her Altars, and her Land:
24 No Son of Her's could meditate this Blow.
VII.
25 Mean Time Thy Pain is gracious Anna's Care:
26 Our Queen, our Saint, with sacrificing Breath
27 Softens Thy Anguish: In Her pow'rful Pray'r
28 She pleads Thy Service, and forbids Thy Death.
VIII.
29 Great as Thou art, Thou canst demand no more,
30 O Breast bewail'd by Earth, preserv'd by Heav'n!
31 No higher can aspiring Virtue soar:
32 Enough to Thee of Grief, and Fame is giv'n.

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Title (in Source Edition): To Mr. HARLEY. Wounded by Guiscard. 1711.
Author: Matthew Prior
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Genres: address

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Prior, Matthew, 1664-1721. Poems on Several Occasions [English poems only]. London: Printed for JACOB TONSON at Shakespear's-Head over against Katharine-Street in the Strand, and JOHN BARBER upon Lambeth-Hill. MDCCXVIII., 1718, pp. 285-286. [42],506,[6]p.: ill.; 2°. (ESTC T075639) (Page images digitized from a copy in the Bodleian Library [H 6.8 Art.].)

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