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An ODE. Presented to the KING, on his Majesty's Arrival in Holland, AFTER The QUEEN's Death. 1695.

Quis desiderio sit pudor aut modus Tam cari capitis? præcipe lugubres Cantus, Melpomene.
I.
1 At Mary's Tomb, (sad, sacred Place!)
2 The Virtues shall their Vigils keep:
3 And every Muse, and every Grace
4 In solemn State shall ever weep.
II.
5 The future, pious, mournful Fair,
6 Oft as the rolling Years return,
7 With Fragrant Wreaths, and flowing Hair,
8 Shall visit Her distinguish'd Urn.
III.
9 For Her the Wise and Great shall mourn;
10 When late Records her Deeds repeat:
11 Ages to come, and Men unborn
12 Shall bless her Name, and sigh her Fate.
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IV.
13 Fair Albion shall, with faithful Trust,
14 Her holy Queen's sad Reliques guard;
15 'Till Heav'n awakes the precious Dust,
16 And gives the Saint her full Reward.
V.
17 But let the King dismiss his Woes,
18 Reflecting on his fair Renown;
19 And take the Cypress from his Brows,
20 To put his wonted Lawrels on.
VI.
21 If prest by Grief our Monarch stoops;
22 In vain the British Lions roar:
23 If He, whose Hand sustain'd them, droops;
24 The Belgic Darts will wound no more.
VII.
25 Embattl'd Princes wait the Chief,
26 Whose Voice should rule, whose Arm should lead;
27 And, in kind Murmurs, chide That Grief,
28 Which hinders Europe being freed.
VIII.
29 The great Example They demand,
30 Who still to Conquest led the Way;
31 Wishing Him present to Command,
32 As They stand ready to Obey.
IX.
33 They seek That Joy, which us'd to glow,
34 Expanded on the Hero's Face;
35 When the thick Squadrons prest the Foe,
36 And William led the glorious Chace.
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X.
37 To give the mourning Nations Joy,
38 Restore Them Thy auspicious Light,
39 Great Sun: with radiant Beams destroy
40 Those Clouds, which keep Thee from our Sight.
XI.
41 Let Thy sublime Meridian Course
42 For Mary's setting Rays attone:
43 Our Lustre, with redoubl'd Force,
44 Must now proceed from Thee alone.
XII.
45 See, Pious King, with diff'rent Strife
46 Thy struggling Albion's Bosom torn:
47 So much She fears for William's Life,
48 That Mary's Fate She dare not mourn.
XIII.
49 Her Beauty, in thy softer Half
50 Bury'd and lost, She ought to grieve:
51 But let her Strength in Thee be safe:
52 And let Her weep; but let Her live.
XIV.
53 Thou, Guardian Angel, save the Land
54 From thy own Grief, her fiercest Foe;
55 Lest Britain, rescu'd by Thy Hand,
56 Should bend and sink beneath Thy Woe.
XV.
57 Her former Triumphs all are vain,
58 Unless new Trophies still be sought;
59 And hoary Majesty sustain
60 The Battels, which Thy Youth has fought.
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XVI.
61 Where now is all That fearful Love,
62 Which made Her hate the War's Alarms?
63 That soft Excess, with which She strove
64 To keep her Hero in her Arms?
XVII.
65 While still She chid the coming Spring,
66 Which call'd Him o'er His subject Seas:
67 While, for the Safety of the King,
68 She wish'd the Victor's Glory less.
XVIII.
69 'Tis chang'd: 'tis gone: sad Britain now
70 Hastens her Lord to Foreign Wars:
71 Happy! if Toils may break His Woe;
72 Or Danger may divert His Cares.
XIX.
73 In Martial Din She drowns her Sighs,
74 Lest He the rising Grief should hear:
75 She pulls her Helmet o'er her Eyes,
76 Lest He should see the falling Tear.
XX.
77 Go, mighty Prince, let France be taught,
78 How constant Minds by Grief are try'd;
79 How great the Land, that wept and fought,
80 When William led, and Mary dy'd.
XXI.
81 Fierce in the Battel make it known,
82 Where Death with all his Darts is seen,
83 That He can touch Thy Heart with None,
84 But That which struck the Beauteous Queen.
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XXII.
85 Belgia indulg'd her open Grief,
86 While yet her Master was not near;
87 With sullen Pride refus'd Relief,
88 And sat Obdurate in Despair.
XXIII.
89 As Waters from her Sluces, flow'd
90 Unbounded Sorrow from her Eyes:
91 To Earth her bended Front She bow'd,
92 And sent her Wailings to the Skies.
XXIV.
93 But when her anxious Lord return'd;
94 Rais'd is her Head; her Eyes are dry'd:
95 She smiles, as William ne'er had mourn'd:
96 She looks, as Mary ne'er had dy'd.
XXV.
97 That Freedom which all Sorrows claim,
98 She does for Thy Content resign:
99 Her Piety itself would blame;
100 If Her Regrets should waken Thine.
XXVI.
101 To cure Thy Woe, She shews Thy Fame;
102 Lest the great Mourner should forget,
103 That all the Race, whence Orange came,
104 Made Virtue triumph over Fate.
XXVII.
105 William His Country's Cause could fight,
106 And with His Blood Her Freedom seal:
107 Maurice and Henry guard that Right,
108 For which Their pious Parents fell.
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XXVIII.
109 How Heroes rise, how Patriots set,
110 Thy Father's Bloom and Death may tell:
111 Excelling Others These were Great:
112 Thou, greater still, must These excell.
XXIX.
113 The last fair Instance Thou must give,
114 Whence Nassau's Virtue can be try'd;
115 And shew the World, that Thou can'st live
116 Intrepid, as Thy Consort dy'd.
XXX.
117 Thy Virtue, whose resistless Force
118 No dire Event could ever stay,
119 Must carry on it's destin'd Course;
120 Tho' Death and Envy stop the Way.
XXXI.
121 For Britain's Sake, for Belgia's, live:
122 Pierc'd by Their Grief forget Thy own:
123 New Toils endure; new Conquest give;
124 And bring Them Ease, tho' Thou hast None.
XXXII.
125 Vanquish again; tho' She be gone,
126 Whose Garland crown'd the Victor's Hair:
127 And Reign; tho' She has left the Throne,
128 Who made Thy Glory worth Thy Care.
XXXIII.
129 Fair Britain never yet before
130 Breath'd to her King a useless Pray'r:
131 Fond Belgia never did implore,
132 While William turn'd averse His Ear.
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XXXIV.
133 But should the weeping Hero now
134 Relentless to Their Wishes prove;
135 Should He recall, with pleasing Woe,
136 The Object of his Grief and Love;
XXXV.
137 Her Face with thousand Beauties blest,
138 Her Mind with thousand Virtues stor'd,
139 Her Pow'r with boundless Joy confest,
140 Her Person only not ador'd:
XXXVI.
141 Yet ought his Sorrow to be checkt;
142 Yet ought his Passions to abate:
143 If the great Mourner would reflect,
144 Her Glory in her Death compleat.
XXXVII.
145 She was instructed to command,
146 Great King, by long obeying Thee:
147 Her Scepter, guided by Thy Hand,
148 Preserv'd the Isles, and Rul'd the Sea.
XXXVIII.
149 But oh! 'twas little, that her Life
150 O'er Earth and Water bears thy Fame:
151 In Death, 'twas worthy William's Wife,
152 Amidst the Stars to fix his Name.
XXXIX.
153 Beyond where Matter moves, or Place
154 Receives it's Forms, Thy Virtues rowl:
155 From Mary's Glory, Angels trace
156 The Beauty of her Part'ner's Soul.
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XL.
157 Wise Fate, which does it's Heav'n decree
158 To Heroes, when They yield their Breath,
159 Hastens Thy Triumph. Half of Thee
160 Is Deify'd before thy Death.
XLI.
161 Alone to thy Renown 'tis giv'n,
162 Unbounded thro' all Worlds to go:
163 While She great Saint rejoices Heav'n;
164 And Thou sustain'st the Orb below.

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Title (in Source Edition): An ODE. Presented to the KING, on his Majesty's Arrival in Holland, AFTER The QUEEN's Death. 1695.
Author: Matthew Prior
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Genres: ode; 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. 43-50. [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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Typography, spelling, capitalization, and punctuation have been cautiously modernized. The source of the text is given and all significant editorial interventions have been recorded in textual notes. This ECPA text has been edited to conform to the recommendations found in Level 5 of the Best Practices for TEI in Libraries version 4.0.0.

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