No More Learning

Once more, great queen, thy darling strive to

save,
Snatch him again from scandal and the grave ;
Present to's thoughts his long-scorned parlia-
ment,
The basis of his throne and government
In his deaf ears sound his dead father's name :
Perhaps that spell may 's erring soul reclaim :
Who knows what good effects from thence may

spring ?
Tis godlike good to save a falling king.

BRITANNIA.

Raleigh, no more, for long in vain I've tried
The Stuart from the tyrant to divide ;
As easily learned virtuosos may
With the dog's blood his gentle kind convey
Into the wolf^ and make him guardian turn
To the bleating flock, by him so lately torn :
If this imperial juice once taint )ii$ blood,
*Tis by no potent antidote withstood.
Tyrants, like lep'rous kings, for public weal
Should be immured, lest the contagion steal
Over the whole. The elect of* the Jessean

line
To this firm law their sceptre did resign ;
And shall this base tyrannic brood invade
Eternal laws, by God for mankind made?



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206 THE POEMS

To the serene Venetian state I'll go,
From her sage mouth famed principles to know ;
With her the prudence of the ancients read,
To teach my people in their steps to tread ;
By their great pattern such a state I'll frame,
Shall eternize a glorious lasting name.
Till then, my Raleigh, teach our noble youth
To love sobriety, and holy truth ;
Watch and preside over their tender age.
Lest court corruption should their souls engage ;
Teach them how arts, and arms, in thy young

days.
Employed our youth, — ^not taverns, stews, and

plays ;
Tell them the generous scorn their race does owe
To flattery, pimping, and a gaudy show ;
Teach them to scorn the Carwells, Portsmouths,

Nells,

The Clevelands, O ns, Berties, Lauderdales :

Poppasa, Tigelline, and Arteria's name.
All yield to these in lewdness, lust, and fame.
Make them admire the Talbots, Sydneys, Veres,
Drake, Cavendish, Blake, men void of slavish

fears.
True sons of glory, pillars of the state,
On whose famed deeds all tongues and writers

wait
When with fierce ardour their bright souls do

bum,
Back to my dearest country I'll return.



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OF MARVELL. 207

Tarquin's just judge, and Caesar's equal peers,
With them Til bring to dry my people's tears ;
Publicola with healing hands shall pour
Balm in their wounds, and shall their life restore ;
Greek arts, and Roman arms, in her conjoined,
Shall England raise, relieve oppressed mankind.
As Jove's great son the infested globe did free
From noxious monsters, hell-born tyranny, . .
So shall my England, in a holy war.
In triumph lead chained tyrants from afar ;
Her true Crusada shall at last pull down
The Turkish crescent, and the Persian sun.
Freed by thy labours, fortunate, blest isle,
The earth shall rest, the heaven shall on thee

smile ;
And this kind secret for reward shall give.
No poisoned tyrants on thy earth shall live.



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208 THE POEMS



INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER, ABOUT
THE DUTCH WARS, 16C7.

After two sittings,* now our Lady State,
To end her picture, does the third time wait ;
But ere thou fallest to work, first, Painter, see,
Is it too slight grown or too hard for thee ?
Canst thou paint without colours ? Then 'tis right :
For so we too without a fleet can fight.
Or canst thou daub a sign -post, and that ill ?
'Twill suit our great debauch, and little skill.
Or hast thou marked how antic masters limn
The alley-roof with snuff of candle dim.
Sketching in shady smoke prodigious tools ?
'Twill serve this race of drunkards, pimps, and

fools.
But if to match our crimes thy skill presumes,
As the Indians draw our luxury in plumes.