GENIUS

TIme, Fate, and Fortune have at length conspired, To give our Age the day so much desired. What all the minutes, hours, weeks, months, and years, That hang in file upon these silver hairs, Could not produce, beneath the As being the first free and natural go uernment of this Island, of ter it came to civility. Britain stroke, The Roman, Saxon, Dane, and Norman In respect they were all Conquests, and the obedi ence of the subject more inforced. yoke, This point of Time hath done. Now London rear Thy forehead high, and on it strive to wear Thy choicest gems; teach thy steep Towers to rise Higher with people: set with sparkling eyes Thy spacious windows; and in every street, Let thronging joy, love, and amazement meet. Cleave all the air with shouts, and let the cry Strike through as long, and universally, As thunder; for, thou now art blessed to see That sighed, for which thou didst begin to be. When Rather then the City should want a Founder, we choose to fol low the recei ved story of Brutus , whither fabulous, or true, and not altogether un warranted in Poetry: since it is a favour of Antiquity to few Cities, to let them know their first Authors. Beside, a learned Poet of our time, in a most elegant work of his Con. Tam. & Isis , celebrating London , hath this verse of her: Aemula maternae tollens suam lumina Troiae. Here is also and ancient rite alluded to in the building of Cities, which was, to give them their bounds with a plough, according to Virg. Aen. li. 10. In erea Aeneas urbem designate Aratro. And Isidore, lib. 15. cap. 2. Urbs vo cata ab orb, quod antiquae civitates in orbem fiebant; vel ab ur oh part aratri, quo muri designabantur, unde est illud. Optavitque locum regno & concludere sulco. BRUTUS plough first gave thee infant bounds, And I, thy GENIUS walked auspicious rounds In every Primigenius sulcus dicitur, qui in condenda novam vrbe, tauro & Vacca de signationis causam imprimitur ; Hitherto respects that of Cammed. Briȝt. 368. speaking of this City, Quicumque autem condiderit, vitali genio, constructam fuisse ipsius fortuna docuit. furrow; then did I forelook, And saw this day For so all happy days were. Plin. cap. 40. lib. 7. Nat. Hist. To which Horace alludes, lib. 1. Ode 36. Cressâ ne careat pulchra die notam. And the other Plin. epist. 11. lib. 6. Oh diem laetum, not andumque mihi candidissimo calculo. With many other in many places. Mars. lib. 8. epi. 45. lib. 9. epi. 53. lib. 10.38. lib. 11.37. Stat. lib. 4. Syl. 6. Pers. sat. 2 Catull. epig. 69. &c. marked white in The Parcae , or Fates, Martianus calls them scribas ac librarias superûm ; whereof Cloth is said to be the eldest, signifying in Latin Euo catio. CLOTHO'S book. The several Those before mentioned of the Britain, Roman, Saxon, &c. and to this Register of the fates allude those verses of Ovid. Met. 15. — Cernes illic molimine vasto. Ex are, & solido rerum tabularia ferro: Quae neque concussum coeli, neque fulminis Iram, Nec metuunt ullas tuta atque aeternam ruinas. Inuenies illis incisae adamant perenni Fata &c. — circles, both of change and sway, Within this Isle , there also figured lay: Of which the greatest, perfectest, and last Was this, whose present happiness we taste. Why keep you silence daughters? What dull peace Is this inhabits you? Shall office cease Upon th'aspect of him, to whom you owe More then you are, or can be? Shall TIME know That article, wherein your flame stood still, And not aspi'rd? Now heaven avert and ill Of that black look. Ere pause possess your breasts I wish you more of plagues: "Zeal when it rests, Leaves to be zeal. Up thou tame RIVER, wake; And from the liquid limbs this slumber shake: Thou drownest thy self in inofficious sleep; And these thy sluggish waters seem to creep, Rather than flow. Up, rise, and swell with pride Above thy banks. "Now is not every tied. Indeed, true gladness does not always speak: "Joy bred, and born but in the tongue, is weak. Yet (lest the fervor of so pure a flame As this my city bears, might loose the name, Without the apt eventing of her heat) Know greatest Iames (and no less good, than great.) In the behalf of all my virtuous sons, Whereof my The lord Mayor, who for his year, hath senior place of the rest, & for the day was chief sergeant to the king. eldest there, thy pomp foreruns, (A man without my flattering, or his pride, As worthy, as he's Above the blessing of his present office, the word had some particu lar allusion to his Name, which is Rennet , and hath (no doubt) in time been the contra ction of Be dict. blessed to be thy guide) In his graven name, and all his brothers' right, (Who thirst to drink the nectar of thy sighed) The council, commoners, and multitude; (Glad, that this day so long denied, is viewed) I tender thee the heartiest welcome, yet That ever king had to his The city which title is touched before. empires seat: Never came man, more longed for, more desired: And being come, more reverenced, loved, admired: Hear, and record it: "In a prince it is "No little virtue, to know who are his. To the prince. With Like devotions, do I stoop embrace This springing glory of thy And attribute given to great persons, sitly above other, humanity, and in frequent use with all the Greek Poets, especially Ho mere. Iliad. — . And in the same book. . godlike raze; His countries wonder, hope, love, joy and pride: How well doth he become the royal side Of this erected, and broad spreading Tree, Under whose shade, may Britain ever be. And from this branch, may thousand branches more Shoot over the main, and knit with every shore In bonds of marriage, kindred, and increase; And style this land, the As Luctatius calls Parnassus, Vmbillicum terrae. navel of their peace. This is your servants wish, your cities vow, Which still shall propagate it self, with you; And free from spurs of hope, that slow minds move: "He seeks no hire, that owes his life to love. To the queen. And here she comes that is no less a partly In this days greatness, then in my glad heart. Glory of queen's, and And empha tical speech, & well re-enfor cing her great nes; being by this match, more than ei there her bro there, father, &c. glory of your name, Whose graces do as far outspeak your fame, As fame does silence, when her trumpet rings You Daughter to Frederick seco ̄ worser king of Den mark , and Nor way , sister to Christierne the fourth now there reign king, & wife to James our Sovereign. daughter, sister, wife of several kings: Beside alliance, and the style of mother, In which one title you drown all your other. Instance, be The prince Henry From derike. that fair shoot, is gone before, Your eldest joy, and top of all your store, With Charles duke of Rothsey , and the Lady Eli zabeth. those, whose sighed to us is yet denied, But not our zeal to them, or ought beside This city can to you: For whose estate She Hope's you will be still good advocate To her best lord. So, while you mortal are, No taste of sour mortality once dare Approach your house; nor fortune greet your grace But coming on, and with a forward face. Begin our spring, and with our spring the prime, And According to Romulus his institution, who made March the first month, and consecrated it to his father, of whom it was called Martius, Varr. Fist. in Frag. Martius mensis initium ̄ anni fuit, & in Latio, & post Roman conditam, &c. And Ovid. Fast. 3. A to principi um Romano di cimus anno: Primus de patrio nomine mensis erit. Vox rata fit, &c. See Macr. lib. 1. Sat. cap. 12. and Solin. in Poly. hist. cap. 3. Quod hoc mense mercedes exoluerint magistris, quas completus annus deberi f sset &c. first account of years, of months, Some, to whom we have read this, have taken it for a Tan tologie , thinking Time enough expressed before in years , and months. For whose ignorant sakes we must confess to have taken the better partly of this travail in noting, a thing not usual, nei there affected of us, but where there is necessity, as here, to avoid their dull censures: where in years and months we alluded to that is observed in our former note: but by Time we understand the present, and that from this instant, we should begin to reckon, and make this the first, of our time. Which is also to be helped by emphasis. of time: And may these Ides as fortunate appear To thee, as they to In which he was slain in the Senate. Caesar fatal were. Be all thy thoughts born perfect, and thy Hope's In their events still crowned beyond their scopes. Let not wide heaven that secret blessing know To give, which she on thee will not bestow. Blind Fortune be thy slave; and may her store (The less thou seekest it) follow thee the more. Much more I would: but see, these brazen gates Make haste to close, as urged by thy fates; Here ends my cities office, here it breaks: Yet with my tongue, and this pure heart, she speaks A short farewell; and lower then thy feet, With fervent thanks, thy royal pains does greet. Pardon, if my abruptness breed disease; ,,He merits not t'offend, that hastes to please. All ills shall fly the light: Thy court be free No less from envy, then from flattery; All tumult, faction, and harsh discord cease, That might perturb the music of thy peace: The querulous nature shall no longer find Room for his thoughts: One pure consent of mind Shall flow in every breast, and not the air, Sun, moon, or stars shine more serenely fair. This from that loud, blessed Oracle , I sing, Who here, and first, pronounced, thee Britons king Long mayest thou live, and see me thus appear, As ominous For our more authori tie to induce her thus, See Fist. Auien. paraph. in Arat. speaking of Electra, Non numquam Oceani tamenistam surgere ab undis, In convexa poli, said seed career sororum; Atque os discretum procul edere, detestatam. Germanos que choros sobolis lachrymare ruinas, Diffusam que comas cerni, crinisque soluti Monstrari effigy, &c. a comet, from my sphere, Unto thy reign; as that All comets were not fatal, some were fortunately ominous, as this to which we allude; and wherefore we have Pliny's testi money. Nat. Histo. lib. 2 cap. 25. Comets in uno totius orbis loco colitur in templo Romae, admodum faustus Divo Augusto iudicatus ab ipso: qui incipiento eo, apparuit ludis quos faciebat Veneri Genetrici, non multò post obitum patris Caesaris, in collegio ab eo instituto. Nam que his verbis id gaudium prodidit. Iisipsis ludorum meorum diebus, sydus crinitum perseptem die in region Coeli, quae sub septentrio nibus est, conspectum. Id oriebatur circam decimam horam diei, clarumque & omnibus terris conspicuum fuit. Eo sydere significari vulgus credidit, Caesaris animam inter Deorum immortali um numina receptam: quo nomine id insigne simulacro capitis eius, quod mox in foro consecra vimus adiectum est. Haec ille in publicum, interiore gaudio sibi illum natum see que in eo nasci interpretatus est. Et siverum fatemur, salutare id terrisfuit. did auspicate So lasting glory to AUGUSTUS state.