LVI.

Arife, thou genuine Cicero, and declare That all these mighty ruins scatter'd wide, The fepulchres of Roman virtue were, And trophies vaft of Luxury and Pride, Those fell diseases whereof Rome erst dy'd. And do you then with vile mechanic thought Your course, ye fons of Fairy, hither guide, That ye thofe gay refinements may be taught, Which Liberty's fair lond to shame and thraldom brought?

LVII.

Let Rome thofe vaffal arts now meanly boast,
Which to her vanquish'd thralls she erst resign'd;
Ye who enjoy that freedom she has loft,

That

great prerogative of human-kind, Close to your hearts the precious jewel bind, And learn the rich poffeffion to maintain, Learn Virtue, Justice, Conftancy of Mind, Not to be mov'd by Fear or Pleasure's train; Be these your arts, ye brave, thefe only are humane.

LVIII. As

LVIII.

As he thus fpake, th' enchaunter half asham'd
Wist not what fitting answer to devise,

Als was his caitive heart well-nigh inflam'd,
By that fame knight fo virtuous, brave and wise,
That long he doubts him farther to entice.
But he was harden'd and remorseless grown,
Through practice old of villainy and vice;
So to his former wiles he turns him foon,
As in another place hereafter shall be shown.

THE

INSTITUTION

OF THE

ORDER

OF THE

GART E R. RTER.

A

DRAMATIC POE M.

By the Same.

-Lectos ex omnibus Oris

Evebis; & meritum, non quæ cunabula quæris,
Et qualis, non unde fatus: fub tefte benigno
Vivitur; egregios invitant præmia mores.

CLAUD.

HONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE.

VOL. II.

I

Dramatis Perfonæ.

EDWARD the Third, King of England, &c.
PHILIPPA, Queen of England, &c.

EDWARD, Prince of Wales.

Windfor Park, with a Prospect of the Castle.

*The order of the GARTER was inftituted on St. George's day the 23d of April 1350. King John came into England in 1357. I have taken the advantage of the licence ufually allowed to poets, of departing a little from chronology; and have poftponed for a few years the inftitution of this order, for the fake of rendering that folemnity more auguft, by introducing king John of France, who, though a prifoner, was treated both by Edward and his fon the prince of Wales with all the regard due to the quality and virtue of fo great a prince. To alleviate his captivity, Edward entertained him and the other French prifoners with diverfions of various kinds: among which a tournament he held at Windfor on the 23d of April, to folemnize the feaft of St. George, the patron of the order of the GARTER, held the chief place; and was, as Rapin tells us, the most fumptuous and magnificent that had ever been feen in England. The duke of Brabant, with feveral other fovereign princes, and an infinite number of knights of all nations, were prefent, and splendidly entertained.

THE