Or, if they happen, learn true honour here.
Ask of this age's faith and loyalty,
Which, to preserve them, Heaven confined in thee.
Few subjects could a king like thine deserve;
And fewer such a king so well could serve.
Blest king, blest subject, whose exalted state
By sufferings rose, and gave the law to fate!
Such souls are rare, but mighty patterns given
To earth, and meant for ornaments to heaven.

* * * * *

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 40: Winchester, a staunch royalist, besieged two years in his
castle of Basing, died in 1674.]

* * * * *




SONGS, ODES, AND A MASQUE

I.

THE FAIR STRANGER.[41]

A SONG.