Classic Poem

Our Glorious Realm , o'er all the Earth renown'd ,
Once with the noblest Government was crown'd;
By which all Foreign Tyrannies were aw'd,
Easy we were at home , and Terrible abroad.
All our wise Laws of Empire were design'd,
Not for the Lust of one, but good of all Mankind ,
The great Prerogative was understood
A vast unbounded Pow'r of doing Good:
From doing Ill, by Laws it was confin'd,
If Sanctions, Pacts or Oaths cou'd Princes bind.
By Ancient Usages and Laws they sway'd,
Which both were by the choice of Subjects made.
Old Customs grew to Laws by long Consent ,
And to each Written Law of Parliament;
Freedom in Boroughs , and in Land Freehold,
Gave all, who had them, Voices, uncontroul'd:
But few new Rights were by new Laws obtain'd,
Only some ravish'd liberties regain'd.
Who had no Voices , yet alike were bound
By the Protection , which from Laws they found;
For every one in those had equal Right ,
And no great Man could injure , or affright;
Where Subjects in the Laws can claim no share,
'Twixt them and Cattel no Distinctions are.
This was the Constitution of our State ,
And true Religion flourish'd in its height:
From lying Legends , false Traditions free,
From Monkish Ignorance, Schoolmens Frippery ,
From Idols , and from Papal Tyranny .
Their Building made of Stubble , and of Hay ,
Was by our wise Reformers swept away.
Thus we enjoy'd a happy Union
Under the Great Eliza , perfect grown,
Hers and the Peoples Int'rests were thought one.
She , and the Realm , with mutual Kindness strove,
Great its Obedience , and as great her Love;
Long might such Happiness have been enjoy'd,
Had it not been b' Ambitious Priests destroy'd.
Those haughty Priests cou'd not contented be
With what remain'd from Popish Dignity ,
But wou'd their Hierarchy have greater made,
With cast off Rights the Laity th' invade,
And call in Jus Divinum to their Aid.
With that invisible Commission arm'd
Our Kings , with Sov'raign and Inherent charm'd,
With Sacred Person, Power without a Bound ,
Prerogative unlimited , no ground
Whereof is in our Constitution found.
Thus they, by Ecclesiastick Flattery ,
Turn'd Kings to Tyrants , and to Slaves the free:
These furious Fools yet Wise Divines contemn'd,
And their rash Doctrines privately condemn'd:
None dare in publick say they were unsound,
But Fines , and Pillories , and Brands were found.
For now Commissioned from above the Sky,
Kings soon were deem'd for Laws and Oaths too high;
Hotly 'twas taught, they were not bound by Oaths ,
Because no Pow'r above them to impose .
'Twas now no Kingly Office , nor a Trust ,
No Laws to Rule by but their Sov'raign Lust;
And all the Land for their Estate they own'd,
The Subjects were their Stock upon the Ground .
At length, to rivet on the Chains we wore,
Leud Knaves in Quoifs yield the Dispensing pow'r
Which never Tyrant here had claim'd before.
The Scandals of the Bar must now be found
To give the Government this mortal Wound;
Which at one Blow took all its Strength away
And down in pieces dash'd, the noble Structure lay.
Ruin and Rubbish cover'd all the Ground,
And no remains were of the buildings found.
Monsters of Roman and Hybernian Race,
With Phangs and Claws infect the wasted Place:
With one of Brittish kind , who swallow'd more
Than any other Bloody Beast of Pow'r;
Fiercely he goggled , his Jaws open'd wide ,
Louder he roar'd than all the Beasts beside.
Some like Jaccals , before him prey'd for Blood ,
And to his rav'nous Maw brought all they cou'd:
Against the Rapine of these Beasts of Prey ,
First London's Noble Prelate stood at Bay;
One fit t' attone for all the Clergies Blots,
For three vile English Bishops , and twelve Scots .
Then valiant Fairfax , and brave Hough made head,
But by these Monsters were discomfited;
And now the trembling Church began to reel,
And the effects of Non-resistance feel;
Where Jus Divinum was not on their side,
They strove to stop the fierce impetuous Tyde.
Seven suffering Heroes gave it such a Shock,
It seem'd to dash its Surges on a Rock;
But Show'rs of Locusts came with thickest Fogs,
From Tyber 's Marshes , and from Shanon 's Bogs:
Vast Clouds of Vermin hasten to their Aid,
And intercepting Light, thick Darkness made;
All clouded was our sullen Hemisphere ,
But Loe! the Glorious Orange does appear!
And by his universal Influence ,
Does to our drooping Land new Life dispense;
His Heat ferments that Lump was dead before,
Which now in every part exerts its Pow'r;
To purge it self, that it may clean become,
The Fermentation soon throws off the Scum .
And ev'ry part does tow'rds Perfection move ,
Tow'rds Strength and Soundness, Harmony and Love.
When Earth oppress'd, with Darkness overspread,
From filthy boggy Exhalations bred;
The Sun with noiseless marches of his Light,
Discusses Vapours , and dispels the Night:
With equal silence in his glorious Race,
Our noysome Fogs does the brave Orange chase;
Does all the Pow'rs of Darkness put to flight,
And the Infernal Ministers of Night;
The guilty Spirits shun th' approach of light.
When undistinguish'd in the mighty Mass ,
And in Stagnation Universal Matter was,
Huddled in heaps the diff'ring attoms lay
Quiet , and had no Laws of Motion to obey:
Th' Eternal Mover threw the ferment in,
The solid Attoms did their Course begin:
The quickning Mass moves now in ev'ry part,
And does its Plastick Faculties exert.
The jarring Attomes move into a peace,
And all Confusion and Disorders cease:
The ugly undigested Lump became
The perfect, glorious , and well order'd Frame .
Let there be Light, th' Almighty Fiat run;
No sooner 'twas pronounc'd, but it was done.
Inspir'd by Heav'n , thus the great Orange said ,
Let there be Liberty , and was obey'd.
Vast Wonders Heav'n's great Minister has brought,
From our dark Chaos, Beauteous Order brought:
H' Invaded us with Force to make us free ,
And in another's Realm could meet no Enemy .
Hail Great Assertor of the Greatest Cause ,
Man's Liberty , and the Almighty's Laws:
Heav'n greater Wonders has for Thee design'd,
Thou Glorious Deliv'rer of Mankind!