Majesty has revived; and been yet so prudent in reforming, that even those
which your Enemies made upon good deliberation, you permit to stand,
shewing your self rather to have been displeased with the Authours, then
the Things.
As to Discipline (after the sacrifice due for that innocent blood of your
glorious Father) you are not only careful to reject vice your self; but
are severe to discountenance it in others; and that yet so sweetly, as you
seem rather to perswade then compell; and to cure without a corrosive.
The Army is disbanded, and the Navy paid off without Tumult; because you
are trusted without suspicion, and are more secure in the publick love and
affection of your people then in men of Iron, the locks and Bars of
Tyrants Palaces: And truely Sir, there is no protection to innocency,
which is a fort inexpugnable: In vain therefore do Princes confide in any
other; for Armes invite Armes, Terrour, suspition. To this only do you
trust, and the few which you maintain about your person, is rather for
state, then fear. _Quid enim istis opus est, quum firmissimo sis muro
Civici amoris obtectus?_ Here is then the firm Keeper of our Liberties
indeed, whom the Armies love for His own sake, and whom no servile
flattery adores; but a simple, and sincere devotion; and verily such a
Prince as Your Majesty, deserves to have friends, Prompt, steady and
faithful; such as You have, and which Virtue rather then Fortune procures.
Of this I obtest the fidelity of Your own inviolable Party, distinguished
formerly by the invidious name of _Cavalier_, though significant and
glorious; but I provoke the World to produce me an example of parallel
Loyaltie: What Prince under heaven, after so many losses, and all
imaginable calamities, can boast of such a party? The _Grecians_ forsook
their Leaders upon every sleight disaster; the very _Romans_ were not
steady of old, but followed the fortune of the Common Victor. The _German_
and the _French_ will happily stick to their Prince in distresse, as far
as the Plate, the Tapistry, or some such superfluous moveable may abide
the pawn; But where shall we find a Subject that hath persisted like Your
Majesties, to the losse of Libertie, Estate, and life it self, when yet
all seem'd to be determin'd against them; so as even their enemies were at
last vanquish'd with their constancy, and their very Tormentors wearied
with their insuperable Patience; nor can they in all that tract of Time,
hardly brag of having made one signal _Proselyte_ in twenty Years that
this difference continu'd; and that because the obedience of your
Majesties Subjects, is engraffed into their Religion and Institution, as
well as into the adoration of Your Virtues.
I would not therefore that Your Name should be painted upon Banners, or
Carved in stone, _sed Monumentis æternæ laudis_; and Your Majesty did well
foresee, and consult it, when you furnish'd a Subject for our
_Panegyrics_, and our Histories, which should outlast those frail
materials. The Statues of _Cæsar_, _Brutus_ and _Camillus_ were set up
indeed because they chased their enemies from the Walls of a proud Citie;
You have done it from a whole Kingdom; not (as they) by blood and
slaughter, but by your prudence and Counsels: Nor is it lightly to be
passed over, that your Majesty was preserved in that _Royal Oak_, to whom
a Civical Crown should so justly become due.
But I now arrive to the _Lawes_ you have made, and the excellent things
which your Majestie hath done since you came amongst Your people. Truely,
there is hardly an hour to be reckoned wherein your Majesty has not done
some signal benefit. I have already touch'd a few of them, as what
concern'd the most, I would I could say the best; for you have oblig'd
your very Enemies, You have bought them; since never was there, till now,
so prodigious a summe paid, a summe hardly in Nature, to verifie a Word
only; and which the zeal of Your good Subjects (had you taken the
advantage of the fervour which I but now mentioned, at Your wonderful
Reception) might easily have absolv'd You of; had You paid them in kind,
and as they were wont to keep faith with your Majestie. I provoke the
World again to furnish an instance of a like generositie, unlesse he climb
up to heaven for it. How black then must that ingratitude needs appear,
which should after all this, dare to rebell; Or, for the future once
murmur at Your Government? Since it was no necessity that compell'd You,
but an excesse of your good nature, and your charitie.
Your Majestie has abolished the _Court of Wards_; I cannot say we have
freed ourselves in desiring it, if it were possible to hope for so
indulgent a Father as Your Majestie is to Your Countrie, in those who
shall succeed You.
The _Compositions_ You have likewise eased us of, if that could be
esteem'd a burthen, to serve so excellent a Prince, who receives nothing
of his Subjects but what he returnes again in the Noblest and worthiest
Hospitality, that any Potentate in earth can produce; Thus what the Rivers
pay to the Ocean, it returns again in showers to replenish them. But Your
Majestie would dissipate even the very shadows, which give us umbrage; and
rather part with your own just right, then those few of your Subjects
which it concern'd, should think themselves aggreiv'd, though by a mistake
even of their duty.
[SN: _His Majesties Declaration._] But I should first have mention'd your
settlement of the _Church_, and Your bringing back the Ark of God: Your
Majesties wise composure of our Frailties, and tendernesse as well in the
Religious as the Secular; whilst yet You continue fervent to maintain what
is decent, and what is setled by Law. But what language is capable to
expresse this Article? Let those who wait at the Altar, and to which you
have restor'd the daily sacrifice, supply the defect of this period, and
celebrate your piety.
Nor has yet Your zeal to the Church, lessen'd that which is due to the
Common-wealth; witnesse your industry in erecting a _Counsel of Trade_, by
which alone you have sufficiently verified that expression of your
Majesties in your Declaration from _Breda_, That You would propose some
useful things for the publick emolument of the Nation, which should render
it opulent, splendid and flourishing; making good your pretence to the
universall Soveraignty by Your Princely care, as well as by your birth and
undoubted Title.
You have Restor'd, Adorn'd, and Repair'd our Courts of Judicature,
turning the Shambles where your Subjects were lately butcher'd, into a
Tribunal, where they may now expect due Justice; and have furnish'd the
Supreame seat there with a _Chancelour_ of antient candor, rare
experience; just, prudent, learned and faithfull; in summe, one, whose
merits beget universal esteem, and is amongst the greatest indications of
your Majesties skill in persons, as well as in their Talents and
perfections to serve you. Thus you have gratified the long robe, so as now
again,
_Te propter colimus leges, animosque ferarum
Exuimus_----And there is hope we may again be civiliz'd.
For you are (we hear) publishing _Sumptuary Lawes_ to represse the
wantonness and excess of Apparel, as you have already testifi'd your
abhorrency of _Duelling_, that infamous and dishonourable gallantry: In
fine, you have establish'd so many excellent constitutions, that you seem
to leave nothing for us to desire, or your Successor to add either in the
_Ethicall_ or _Politicall_.
----_Similem quæ pertulit ætas
Consilio, vel Marte virum?_----
O happy _Greece_ for Eloquence, that hast celebrated the fortune of thy
_Heroes_ trifling Adventures! who shall set forth and immortalize the
glory of our illustrious Prince, and advance Great _CHARLES_ to the skies?
You had Poets indeed that sung the fate of an unfortunate Lady, the theft
of a simple fleece; what wouldst thou have done, had the glorious Actions
of such a King been spread before thee, who has not robbed with Armies,
depopulated Cities, or violated the Rights of Hospitality; but restor'd a
broken Nation, repair'd a ruin'd Church, reform'd, and re-establish'd our
ancient Laws; in summe, who has at once render'd us perfectly happy? What
then have we to do with _Augustus_, or _Titus_, with _Trajan_, _Hadrian_,
_Antoninus_, _Theodosius_ or even _Constantine_ himself? There is not in
any, there is not in all these Subjects more worthy of praise, and to
which your Majesty; O best of Princes, ought at all to render.
We are told _Periculosæ rem aleæ esse, de iis scribere quibus sis
obstrictus_; because it is so difficult to observe a mediocrity, where our
affections are engaged: But your Majesty is as secure from flattery, as
your Virtues are above its reach; and to write thus of ill Princes, were
both a shame and a punishment: For this the _Senate_ condemn'd the History
of _Cremutius_ to the flames; and _Spartianus_ told _Dioclesian_ boldly,
how hard it would be to write their Commentaries, except it were to record
their Impudence, Murthers, Injustice, and the (for most part) fatal
periods of Tyrants; which if any esteem a glory, you envy not, whilst your
Majesty is resolv'd to secure your own by your virtue and your Justice; so
as no age to come shall possibly find an æmulator, or produce an equall.
----_Fuerint aliis hæc forte decora,
Nulla potest Laus esse tibi quæ crimina purget._
But I shall never have done with your obligations of the publick; and the
measure which is assign'd me, would be too narrow but to mention briefly
those your private and interiour perfections which crown your Majesties
Person, and dazle our eyes more then the bright purple which this day
invests you. To give instance in some; you are an excellent Master to your
Domesticks. Their Lives, Conversations and Merits as well as Names, and
Faces, are known to your Majesty as the Companions of _Cæsar_ were: Honour
is safe under your Banner, and the Court so well regulated, that there is
no need of _Censors_ to inspect Mens Manners; _vita principis pro censura
est_. He who knowes that every body eyes, speaks and writes of him, cannot
in prudence, or think, or act things unworthy and abject: You Sir direct
all your objects and motions so, as may recommend you to posterity; and
even burn with desires of immortality, so as Histories may relate the
Truth without fear or adulation.
How happy then those Servants of yours, whose fidelity and Industry is
known to your Majesty, not from the interpretation and reports of others,
but your own experience! So as you Reward as well with Judgment, as
Bounty; and verily that is true Beneficence to place your Recompense as
well equally as freely: Most other Virtues are competent to the rest of
Men; Beneficence only to a Prince, as his most Essential property, and the
noblest ingredient of his _Elogy_. Hence that great Saint, as well as
Courtier and Prelate has directed, _Si quis Principem laudare vellet,
nihil illi adeo decorum adscriberet quam Magnificentiam_; [SN: _S.
Chrysost._] and _Criticks_ observe, that where the wise King _Solomon_
sayes, _Multi colunt personam Principis_, the _Hebrew_ version reads it,
_personam Benefici_, as importing both; and in that of his Who was greater
then _Solomon_, _Qui dominantur eorum Benefici vocantur_, the _Chaldy_
turnes, _Principes vocantur_, as if by a convertible figure, He could not
be a Prince who were not Beneficent; nor he that is truly Beneficent,
unworthy of that Title. I remember 'tis somewhere said of _Saul_ that he
Reign'd but two years; because he was so long it seems good to his people,
and reigned in their hearts; For as the Sun himself should not be the Sun,
if he did not shine; no more should a Prince be worthy of his dignity, if
he unjustly Ecclips'd his influence, or abused his Magnificency. But as we
said, this virtue is added to your Majesties also; who know so well to
adjust its Definition by your constant practice, rendering it (as indeed
it ought) productive of your will for glorious and honest ends only; But I
now proceed with the rest.
There is such a Majesty in your Countenance, such Lenity in your Eyes,
gravity in your speech, as that for your gracefull presence that may be
truly affirm'd of you what was once appli'd to a great Prince resembling
you, _Jam firmitas, Jam proceritas corporis, jam honor Capitis & dignitas
oris, ad hoc ætatis indeflexa maturitas, nonne longe lateque principem
ostentant?_ since even all these assemble in your Majesties personage; Nor
has fortune chang'd you after all your Travels and Adventures abroad; but
brought you back to us not so much as tinged in the percolations through
which you have been forc'd to run, like the Fountain _Arethusa_ through
the River _Alpheus_ without commixture of their waters. None having more
constantly retained his vertue then your Majesty, nor guarded it with more
caution.
And now in all this height of glory, you receive all Men with so much
humility, that the difference of your change seems to be only this; that
you are now beloved of more, and love more, treating every man, as if
every man were your proper care, and as becomes the Father of so great a
Family; Sometimes you are pleased to lay more aside the beams of Majesty,
that you may descend to do mutual offices of Friendship; as considering
that these Virtues were not concredited to you by God, for your self only,
but for others also: In short, you are so perfect a Prince, that those who
come after you, will fear to be compared to you, _Experti quam sit
onerosum succedere bono Principi_; since to possess your Virtues, they
must support your sufferings; nor can every head know how to sustain the
weight of such a Crown as yours, where the thornes have so long perplext
the Lillies and the Roses of it.
I might here mention Your Heroic and masculine Spirit in dangers, and yet
Your foresight of them; Your tenderness to compassionate, Your Constancie
in suffering, Your Modestie in Prosperitie, Equalitie in Adversitie, and
that sweetness of access which attracts both love and veneration from all
that converse with You; but these have already adorn'd your Character by
that excellent Hand who did lately describe it. [SN: _Col. Tuke._]
You are frequent at Councels, Patient in hearing, pertinent in answering,
judicious in Determining, and so skilfull in the several Languages, that
You many times transact by Your self, what others do by Interpreters;
affecting rather expedition in Your affairs, then insignificant State,
which these acquired parts of Your Majesties do yet augment so much the
more.
You are curious of brave and Laudable things; You love shipping,
Buildings, Gardens (having exceeded _Cyrus_ already in Your Plantations)
Piscinas, Statues, Pictures, Intaglias, Music: You have already amass'd
very many rare collections of all kinds, and there is nothing worthy and
great which can escape Your research.
Nor must I here forget the honour You have done our _Society_ at _Greshham
Colledge_ by Your curious enquiries about the _Load-Stone_, and other
particulars which concern _Philosophy_; since it is not to be doubted but
that{8} so Magnanimous a Prince, will still proceed to encourage that
Illustrious Assembly; and which will celebrate and eternize Your memory to
the future Ages, beyond Your Majesties Predecessors, and indeed all the
Monarchs on the Earth, when for You is reserv'd the being Founder of some
thing that may improve practical and Experimental knowledg, beyond all
that has been hitherto attempted, for the Augmentation of Science, and
universal good of Man-kind, and which alone will consummate Your Fame and
render it immortal.
What shall I superadd to all these? That You rise early, that You are
alwaies employ'd, that You love Hunting, Riding, swimming, manly Robust
and Princely Exercises, not so much for delight, as health and relaxation.
_Et vitæ pars nulla perit._
O best Idea of Princes, sit to me yet one moment, that I may add this last
touch to Your fair Table; nor wonder that I should attempt so bold an
enterprise; since he that would take the height of _Olympus_, must stand
below in the plain: Subjects can best describe their Princes Virtues;
Princes best know their Subjects, and therefore most fit to rule them. And
long may You live to rule us great Sir. We wish that all you do, or may
do, be propitious to you, to us, to the public; or in a word, to your
_M_ajesty alone, in which both we and the public are mutually concern'd.
Time was (and too long alas it was!) that what was fortunate to the
Tyrant, was unhappy to your Subjects: now they are common to both and
reciprocal; nor can we more be happy without you, then you without us; and
truly all Princes have known, that they are seldom beloved of God, who are
hated of their People; nor can they be long secure. _Vox Populi, vox Dei
est._ But you have seen the Effects of our Prayers against an Usurper;
hear now, O Heaven our Vowes for a just Prince. Not for peace, not for
Riches, not Honours, or new conquests do we supplicate; but for all these
in one, The Safety of _CHARLES_. You alone snatch'd him out of those cruel
hands, now preserve him from them: Render him fortunate to us, to our
Children, succeeding Generations give him a late Successor, and when You
do it, let it be such a one as himself.
Let your Majestie now proceed in his Triumph, and hear the Acclamations of
his people; what can they more expresse who are ready to pave the very
streets with their bodies, in testimonie of their zeal? behold all about
You, the Gratulating old Fathers, the exulting Youths, the glad mothers;
And why should it not be so? Here's no goods publicated, none restrain'd
or mulcted of their Libertie, none diminish'd of dignitie, none molested,
or exil'd; all are again return'd into{9} their houses, Relations and
Properties, and which is yet more then all, to their antient
innocencie{10} and mutual charitie.
If the _Philosopher_ in the _Ethicks_ enquiring whether the felicity of
the sun, do any whit concern the happinesse of the defunct progenitor,
after much reasoning have determin'd that the honour only which his son
acquires by worthie and great actions, does certainly refresh his Ghost:
What a day of Jubilee, is this then to Your blessed Father! Not the odor
of those flowers did so recreate the dead _Archemorus_ which the _Nymphs_
were yearly wont to strow upon his watry Sepulcher, as this daies
Inauguration of Yours, does even seem to revive the Ashes of that sacred
_Martyr_.
Should some one from the clouds that had looked down on the sad face of
things, when our Temples lay in dust, our Palaces in desolation, and the
Altars demolished; when these Citie Gates were dashed to pieces, Gibbets
and Executions erected in every Street, and all things turned into
universal silence and solitude, behold now the change of this daies
glorious scean; that we see the Churches in repair, the sacred Assemblies
open'd, our Cities re-edified, the Markets full of People, our Palaces
richly furnished, and the Streets proud with the burden of their Triumphal
Arches, and the shouts of a rejoycing multitude: How would he wonder and
stand amaz'd, at the Prodigie, and leap down from his lofty station,
though already so near to heaven, to joyne with us in earth, participate
of our felicitie, and ravish'd with the Ecstasie, cry out aloud now with
Us.
Set open the Temple-Gates, let the Prisoners go free, the Altars smoak
perfumes, bring forth the Pretious things, strow the Waies with Flowers,
let the Fountains run Wine, Crown the Gobblets, bring Chapplets of Palmes
and Lawrells, the Bells ring, the Trumpets sound, the Cannon roar, O happy
Descent, and strange Reverse! I have seen{11} E_nglands_ Restorer, Great
_CHARLES the II._ RETURN'D, REVENG'D, BELOV'D, CROWN'D, RE-ESTABLISH'D.
_Terrasque Astræa Revisit._
And O that it were now in my power to speak some great thing, worthy this
great day; I should put all the flowers of _Orators_ and Raptures of
_Poets_ into one lofty & high Expression, and yet not Reach what I would
say to Your Majestie: For never since there was a Citie, or Kingdom, did a
Day appear more glorious to _England_, never since it was a Nation, and in
which there either was, or ought to be so universal a Jubilation: Not that
Your Triumphal Charriots do drag the miserable Captives, but are
accompanied by freed Citizens; perfidie is now vanquished, popular fury
chayn'd, crueltie tam'd, luxury restrained, these lie under the spondells
of Your Wheeles, where Empire, Faith, Love, and Justice Ride Triumphant,
and nothing can be added to Your _M_a_j_esties glory but its perpetuitie.
But whence, alas! should I have this confidence, after so many _Elogies_
and _Panegyricks_ of great and Eloquent men, who consecrate the memorie of
this daies happinesse; and (were the subject, like that of all other
things) would have left me nothing more to add, unless he who was
sometimes wont to employ his pen for Your _M_ajestie being absent, should
now be silent that you are present, and inflame me with a kind of new
Enthusiasme: I find myself then compell'd out of a grateful sense of my
dutie for the publick benefit, and if your _M_ajestie forbid not, or
withdraw your influence, who shall hinder, that even my slender voice
should not strive to be heard, in such an universall{12} consort, wherein
everybody has a part, every one a share?
Permit me therefore (O best of Kings) to present, and lay these my vowes
at your sacred feet, to exsult, and to Rejoyce with the Rest of your Loyal
Subjects; not as I desire, but as I am able, and as I would do it to God,
and as he best loves it,
_Sentiendo copiosius, quam loquendo._
_DIXI._
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library: University of California
THE AUGUSTAN REPRINT SOCIETY
_General Editors_
H. RICHARD ARCHER
William Andrews Clark Memorial Library
R. C. BOYS
University of Michigan
E. N. HOOKER
University of California, Los Angeles
JOHN LOFTIS
University of California, Los Angeles
The society exists to make available inexpensive reprints (usually
facsimile reproductions) of rare seventeenth and eighteenth century works.
The editorial policy of the Society continues unchanged. As in the past,
the editors welcome suggestions concerning publications.
All correspondence concerning subscriptions in the United States and
Canada should be addressed to the William Andrews Clark Memorial Library,
2205 West Adams Blvd., Los Angeles 18, California. Correspondence
concerning editorial matters may be addressed to any of the general
editors. Membership fee continues $2.50 per year. British and European
subscribers should address B. H. Blackwell, Broad Street, Oxford, England.
Publications for the fifth year [1950-1951]
(_At least six items, most of them from the following list, will be
reprinted._)
FRANCES REYNOLDS (?): _An Enquiry Concerning the Principles of
Taste, and of the Origin of Our Ideas of Beauty, &c._ (1785). Introduction
by James L. Clifford.
THOMAS BAKER: _The Fine Lady's Airs_ (1709). Introduction by John
Harrington Smith.
DANIEL DEFOE: _Vindication of the Press_ (1718). Introduction by
Otho Clinton Williams.
JOHN EVELYN: _An Apologie for the Royal Party_ (1659); _A
Panegyric to Charles the Second_ (1661). Introduction by Geoffrey Keynes.
CHARLES MACKLIN: _Man of the World_ (1781). Introduction by
Dougald MacMillan.
_Prefaces to Fiction_. Selected and with an Introduction by Benjamin
Boyce.
THOMAS SPRAT: _Poems._
SIR WILLIAM PETTY: _The Advice of W. P. to Mr. Samuel Hartlib for
the Advancement of some particular Parts of Learning_ (1648).
THOMAS GRAY: _An Elegy Wrote in a Country Church Yard_ (1751).
(Facsimile of first edition and of portions of Gray's manuscripts of the
poem).
* * * * *
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