MacLean, Gerald, editor. The Return of the King : An Anthology of English Poems Commemorating the Restoration
of Charles II / edited by Gerald MacLean
Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library
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J. G. B.
Royall Poems
[undated: early May]
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Harvard unicum inscribed "Harvard College Library / In Memory of / Lionel De Jersey Harvard / Class of 1915" dated Dec. 29, 1925.
Date: Internal evidence for dating is inconclusive, but the title and verses addressed to Charles asking him to "Come" suggest early May.
The publisher, Ralph Wood, also published works by Flecknoe,
What is the relation between the author of these verses and the final allusion to Henry Vaughan?
Royal Poems
On the KINGS most Excellent Majesties happy
Return to His Kingdomes.
COme Noble Phoebus and in our Horizon
Shine, 'tis long since, that in confusion
We darkly grop'd, for want of thee, the Skye
Is now clear'd by the Heavens Deity
5: Of opposing Clouds, and now our greatest Jove
With Mercury expect, that thou shouldest move
With thy resplendant Rayes, to irradiate
Our long-afflicted and distressed State:
Come; We expect thee long, with hearty groans,
10: We can no longer brook vain Phaetons.
Now all Malignant starrs are dimn'd save some few
Ill bodying Comets, and a little Crew
Of the Galazia's starrs, all which away
Shall soon hence fall, by vertue of thy Ray;
15: Then, I pray hither, now, And properate,
Being invited by the course of Fate.
Anagramma
In Principeu Brittannorum Carolus Stuartus, id est. Ar-
thur, Laus, Custos.
ORex, ecce tuo quae funt sub nomine clausa,
Arthur, Laus, Custos, quae meliora, precor
Arthur es ut patriam reaimas, adjuncteq; laus est
Quod tu Brittannis fis decus omne tuis,
5: Costos es quod Regna tuo tutabere Nutu
Quam fanstum fato nomen hoc omen habet,
Id cinco quid flas O Princeps fortis Eremo,
Patres te invitant et bona fata, ven.
[line in Greek]
10: Vatem hunc prehibeto optimam qui bene conjicis Euripid.
On the Lord MONCK Generalissimo of all His Majesties Forces.
I Et much fam'd Egypt and the Eastern Coast
Give o're hereafter proudly for to boast
Of their Noble Pini, their Ptolemyes,
Their Warlike Joabs and stout Machabees;
5: For now England to us brave Monck hath bred,
Who doth surpass each man that ere did tread
O're conquered Foes, for sure, no Age did see
The like for Valour and State-policie;
For as in Field he never did retreat,
10: So by his wit he now doth such a feat,
That ne're was known, yet setling without Blood
Three Great Nations, that in confusion stood:
All after Ages will confess with awe,
That ne're so stout a Politician saw;
15: Wit and Valour in him have made their seat,
Both conjoyned for to make him great:
Nor is he onely Politick and Wise,
But also Pious; for his Noble Eyes
Look on the Widdowes Cause and the Orphans all,
20: That were long wrong'd; by this brave General
Are considered; for which, he shall be
The greatest starr, save Phoebus in the Skye;
And this admire in him 'bove each Conqu'ring man,
That after all Conquest, himself he Conquer can.
25: Fortius est quise, quam qui fortissima vincit menia.
An Elegie on the Murther of His Gracious Majesty Charles the first, January the 30th. 1648. Quid fine Pectore Corpus
Calum fine sole, regnum fine rege.
O What is this? How is bright Phoebus gone,
Our Joy and Glory from our Horizon?
He, He by whom, we were made most splendant,
With splendour bright, full and aboundant
5: See, by thy fall; now all the World is grown
To a disordered Chaos and Confusion,
Wuithout Head or Tail; all in Obscurity
Are involved, none knowing where to stay,
Nor what way to move, some Retrograde
10: Like Cancer goe, others away do fade:
Those greatest starrs, are grown exorbitant,
Crossing each other; nor is here extant.
And order, now, or rule, but in this State
Each as high as other doth (O! strange Fate)
15: His own will, nay, here after Phoebus loss,
[line in Greek]
Thus by the enormous, and excentrique
Course of the Galaxia starrs, our politique
State is turn'd unto the Cyclops mode,
20: But at this let none admire abroad;
For this Land bread Monsters, to whom in ire
Breathed from their mouths against us fatal fire:
O Heavens high, how long shall these thus deal;
And make such havock of the Commonweal?
On the Regicides.
'TWas strange, 'twas strange, and could nothing suffice
These Canibals but that they must surprise
The Head it self, and it amputate
With such unnatural and deadly hate.
5: Was't not enough for your safe Guts, for food
To such of some Prime members Noble Blood:
No, no, these Hell-hounds must chop off the Head,
That on each part they may at once be fed,
O greedy Guts, O Gormandizng crew
10: Of ne're-fill'd Appetites, behold and view
This Tragick Act, shall you hot Burning Coals
Escape? believe there are no lurking holes
That can-defend you from the Noble hand
That shortly comes here from bold Neptunes sand:
15: Make hast to flie, O! Lap-Wings, this my best advice,
From the Eagles force, or else submit most wife,
On the Tribe of Fortune, the RUMP of the
Long-Parliament.
COme well-vers'd Augurs and Astrologers,
That by Beast Entrals, and the rolling Spheares
Do seek for new Portents, run here and see
A strange, fatall, and monstrous prodigie:
5: For now 'gainst Nature, O sad Destiny,
All is hurled most preposterously;
The World is turn'd upside down, the Head now
Is become Tail, the Tail to Head doth grow;
The Worlds scum, Earths sons of Nativity,
10: (Then Nile's head more obscure) are raised on high
The Nobles now depressed, every Slave
Sprung from the Dung-hill doth the Heavens braive;
The Shrubs and Underwoods on high are grown,
The tall Elms and great Cedars tumbled down:
15: Now the Taylor is made of a bouncing Dux,
The Countrey Idiot as an Orthodox
Though no Clerk, is unto the Pulpit gone,
And for Pence and Groats doth blaterate theron:
Nay, the poor Foot-Boy is become a Knight,
20: Thus, thus, our Pedes is made an Eques right.
O absurd accidents, saddle henceforth the ass,
Dephalerate the Horse, seeing it came thus to pass:
Oh, What grief of greifs is't for to see
A Plebeian Crew o're men of Majesty
25: To domineer, it is intollerable
To see Batts and Owls rule thus or'e an Eagle
And glorious Birds; I am all on fire,
Not all the Thames can quench my raging ire;
Give strength to us, give strength, O Heavens high,
30: To rid our selves from such a slavery,
O Tribe of Fortune, whose turn did evene
To walk a while proudly on Fortunes Scene:
Your turn comes now, and you with all be brought
On the same Stage, shag-ragg'd us you ought.
In Verba Caroli Regis dum suit Hispaniae in illud
Nasonis: Nunc notus adversa praelia fronte gerat.
IPse notum contra, oppositum pugnare videbas,
Quondam temporibus Naso Poeta tuis:
40: O Utinan contra oppunens nunc robore mecum
Hic notus adversa prelia fronte gerat.
Nota quod notus a Nasone pro vento qui persiabatur noto figurate sumebatur, ab
Authore sumitur natus pro populo qui in Nota habitant eadem figura, Centimens pro Contento.
Henry Vaughan, Cambro Britt.
FINIS.
Part V. Arrival and Progress in England, 25-31 May 1660