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Epistle to a Friend Concerning Poetry (1700) and the Essay on Heroic Poetry (second edition, 1697) by Samuel Wesley
page 43 of 85 (50%)
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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