Katherine Philips. Arion on a Dolphin, To his Majesty at his passage into England.

Katherine Philips

Arion on a Dolphin, To his
Majesty at his passage
into England.

WHOM does this stately navy bring?
O! 'tis Great Britain's glorious King.
Convey him then, ye Winds and Seas,
Swift as Desire and calm as Peace.
In your respect let him survey
What all his other subjects pay;
And prophesy to them again
The splendid smoothness of his reign.
Charles and his mighty hopes you bear:
A greater now than Caesar's here;
Whose veins a richer purple boast
Then ever hero's yet engrost;
Sprung from a Father so august,
He triumphs in his very dust.
In him two miracles we view,
His virtue and his safety too:
For when compell'd by traitors' crimes
To breathe and bow in forein climes,
Expos'd to all the rigid fate
That does on wither'd greatness wait.
Plots against life and conscience laid,
By foes pursu'd, by friends betray'd;
Then Heaven, his secret potent friend,
Did him from drugs and stabs defend;
And, what's more yet, kept him upright
'Midst flattering hope and bloody fight.
Cromwell his own Right never gain'd,
Defender of the Faith remain'd,
For which his predecessors fought
And writ, but none so dearly bought.
Never was Prince so much besieged,
At home provok'd, abroad obliged;
Nor ever man resisted thus,
No not great Athanasius.
No help of friends could, or foes' spite,
To fierce invasion him invite.
Revenge to him no pleasure is,
He spar'd their blood who gap'd for his;
Blush'd any hands the English Crown
Should fasten on him but their own.
As Peace and Freedom with him went,
With him they came from banishment,
That he might his dominions win,
He with himself did first begin;
And, that best victory obtained,
His kingdom quickly he regain'd.
Th' illustrious suff'rings of this Prince
Did all reduce, and all convince.
He only liv'd with such success,
That the whole world would fight with less.
Assistant Kings could but subdue
Those Foes which he can pardon too.
He thinks no Slaughter-trophies good,
Nor laurels dipt in subjects' blood;
But with a sweet resistless art
Disarms the hand, and wins the heart;
And like a God doth rescue those
Who did themselves and him oppose.
Go, wondrous Prince, adorn that Throne
Which birth and merit make your own;
And in your mercy brighter shine
Than in the glories of your line;
Find love at home, and abroad fear,
And veneration everywhere.
Th' united world will you allow
Their Chief, to whom the English bow;
And Monarchs shall to yours resort,
As Sheba's Queen to Judah's Court;
Returning thence constrainèd more
To wonder, envy, and adore.
Discovered Rome will hate your crown,
But she shall tremble at your frown.
For England shall (rul'd and restor'd by You)
The suppliant world protect, or else subdue.

Source:
Philips, Katherine. Poems, 1678.
in Minor Poets of the Caroline Period.
George Saintsbury, ed.
Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1905. 508-9.

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