Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry (1700) and the Essay on Heroic Poetry (second edition, 1697) by Samuel Wesley
page 43 of 85 (50%)
page 43 of 85 (50%)
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These lent at once NASSAW and ENGLAND Aid,
And bright MARIA to our _Shores_ convey'd: Her, all their _Pow'r_ and all their _Charms_ they gave, To _govern_ what her _Heroe_ came to _save_. Nor _Envy_ this, who in her noisome Cell By _Traitors_ in their swift _Descent to Hell_, Her rising _Glories_ heard, then with a _Groan_ She crawl'd before her _Sov'reign's_ direful _Throne_: A _Pile of Sculls_ the odious _Fantom_ bore, With _Bones_ half-naked mixt, and dropping putrid _Gore_; 860 There thus--Shall _Heav'n_ defraud us of our _Reign_, And BRITAIN, only BRITAIN break her _Chain_? What can we there, while more than _mortal Grace_ Forbids our _Entrance_, and secures the _Place_? Awhile I _gaz'd_ and _viewed_ her as I _fled_, When first she came, till half my _Snakes_ were dead; And had I tarry'd longer near her _Throne_, Had soon some base _insipid Vertue_ grown: So fast the wide _progressive Ills_ increase, } If longer unoppos'd our _Power_ will cease; } 870 The base degenerate World _dissolve_ to Peace; } Our boasted _Empire_ there will soon be o'er, And _Mortals_ tremble at our _Arms_ no more. She said, her _Tidings_ all the _Court_ affright, And doubled _Horror_ fill'd the _Realms of Night_: Till out foul _Lewdness_ leap'd, and shook the Place. } The _fulsom'st Fiend_ of all th' _infernal Race_; } A crusted _Leprosie_ deform'd her _Face_; } With half a _bloodshot_ Eye the _Fury_ glar'd, Yet when for _Mischief_ she above prepar'd, 880 |
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