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O'er all his brethren he shall reign as king,
Yet every one shall make him underling,
And those that cannot live from him asunder
Ungratefully shall strive to keep him under,
In worth and excellence he fhall out-go them,
Yet, being above them, he fhall be below them;
From others he shall stand in need of nothing,
Yet on his brothers fhall depend for clothing.
To find a foe it shall not be his hap,

And peace fhall lull him in her flowery lap;
Yet fhall he live in flrife, and at his door
Devouring war shall never cease to roar :
Yea it fhall be his natural property
To harbour thofe that are at enmity.

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What power, what force, what mighty fpell, if not Your learned hands, can loose this Gordian knot? 90

The next Quantity and Quality spake in profe, then
Relation was call'd by his name.

RIVERS arife; whether thou be the fon
Of utmost Tweed, or Oofe, or gulphy Dun,
Or Trent, who like fome earth-born giant spreads
His thirty arms along th' indented meads,
Or fullen Mole that runneth underneath,
Or Severn swift, guilty of maidens' death,
Or rocky Avon, or of fedgy Lee,
Or coaly Tine, or ancient hallow'd Dee,

Or Humber loud that keeps the Scythian's name,
Or Medway smooth, or royal towred Thame.

[The reft was profe.]

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III. On

III.

On the MORNING of CHRIST'S NATIVITY, Compos'd 1629.

I.

HIS is the month, and this the happy morn,

Of wedded Maid and Virgin Mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring;
For fo the holy fages once did fing,

That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.

II.

That glorious form, that light unfufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of majesty,
Wherewith he wont at Heav'n's high council-table
To fit the midst of Trinal Unity,

He laid afide; and here with us to be,

Forfook the courts of everlasting day,

And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.

III.

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Say heav'nly Muse, shall not thy facred vein
Afford a prefent to the Infant God?
Hast thou no verse, no hymn, or folemn ftrain,
To welcome him to this his new abode,
Now while the Heav'n by the fun's team untrod,
Hath took no print of the approaching light,
And all the spangled hoft keep watch in fquadrons

bright?

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IV. See

IV.

See how from far upon the eastern road
The ftar-led wifards hafte with odors fweet:
O run, prevent them with thy humble ode,
And lay it lowly at his bleffed feet;
Have thou the honor first, thy Lord to greet,
And join thy voice unto the Angel quire,
From out his fecret altar touch'd with hallow'd fire.

THE

IT was the winter wild,

HYMN.

I.

While the Heav'n-born child

All meanly wrapt in the rude manger lies; Nature in awe to him

Had dofft her gawdy trim,

With her great Master so to sympathize:

It was no feafon then for her

To wanton with the fun her lufty paramour.

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II.

Only with speeches fair

She woo's the gentle air

To hide her guilty front with innocent fnow, And on her naked shame,

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Pollute with finful blame,

The faintly veil of maiden white to throw, Confounded, that her Maker's eyes

Should look fo near upon her foul deformities.

III. But

But he her fears to cease,

III.

Sent down the meek-ey'd Peace;

She, crown'd with olive green, came foftly sliding Down through the turning sphere

His ready harbinger,

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With turtle wing the amorous clouds dividing, 50 And waving wide her myrtle wand,

She ftrikes an univerfal peace through fea and land,

No war, or battel's found

IV.

Was heard the world around:

The idle spear and shield were high up hung,

The hooked chariot stood,

Unftain'd with hostile blood,

The trumpet fpake not to the armed throng,

And kings fat ftill with awful eye,

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As if they surely knew their sovran. Lord was by. 6

V.

But peaceful was the night,..

Wherein the Prince of light

His reign of peace upon the earth began: The winds with wonder whist

Smoothly the waters kist,

Whispering new joys to the mild ocean,

Who now hath quite forgot to rave,

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While birds of calm fit brooding on the charmed wave.

VOL. XII.

G

VI. The

VI.

The ftars with deep amaze

Stand fix'd in ftedfast gaze,

Bending one way their precious influence, And will not take their flight,

For all the morning light,

Or Lucifer that often warn'd them thence;

But in their glimmering orbs did glow,

Until their Lord himself bespake and bid them go.

VII.

And though the shady gloom

Had given day her room,

The fun himself withheld his wonted speed, And hid his head for shame,

As his inferior flame

The new inlighten'd world no more should need; He faw a greater fun appear

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Than his bright throne, or burning axletree, could

bear.

VIII.

The shepherds on the lawn,

Or e'er the point of dawn,

Sat fimply chatting in a ruftic row;

Full little thought they then,

That the mighty Pan

Was kindly come to live with them below;

Perhaps their loves, or else their sheep,

Was all that did their filly thoughts fo bufy keep.

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IX. When

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