A PINDARIC Congratulatory Poem To the Right Honourable George, Lord Jeffreys, BARON of WEM, and LORD HIGH CHANCELLOR OF ENGLAND To the High and Mighty Monarch King JAMES the II. etc.  
By Joshua Barnes, M. A. One of the Signior Fellows of Emmanuel College in Cambridge.  
IMPRIMATUR,  
S. Blithe, Procan. Acad. Cantab. Octob. 5. 1685.  
London, Printed, and are to be sold by Walter Davis in Amen-Corner. 1685.   

A PINDARIC Congratulatory Poem To the Right Honourable George, Lord jeffreys, BARON of WEM, AND Lord High Chancellor, etc.  

Stanz. I.  
A Rise, my Muse, now take a loftier Flight,  
Toward Heaven thy daring Pinions try;  
There on the Sun fix Thou thine Eagle Sight,  
The Object's Good, altho' 'tis High;  
And He, who sits to JAMES so nigh,  
(Tho' Just He be) in Mercy must delight.  

This 
* Octob. 5.  Day all Cambridge did conspire  
To Praise those Glories, We admire:  
Be that my single Task, which pleased that learned Quire.   
This Day our Sacred Body, all convened,  
(Where Loyalty and Knowledge do preside)  
Decreed to honour Mighty Caesar's Friend,  
The Muse's Glory, and Astraea's Pride.  
To Him their humble Compliments they send,  
Tho' sorry, all their Art's too low  
The heights of his just Eminence to show;  
Much less with Equal Praise his Virtues to commend.  
Virtues, as far beyond his High Degree,  
As Him above ourselves we see,  
The Prop, whereon Justice and Law do trust,  
Raised up aloft by JAMES the Just.  
By JAMES, of whom with Pride Apollo sings,  
The best of Friends, of Brothers, and of Kings.   

II.  
Now those, (if such there still can be,  
Black Rebels in the worst degree)  
Who dare distrust, Great Prince, thy Royal Word,  
May plainly see  
(If they can e'er be wrought on to Repent)  
By this vast Instance, which thou dost afford,  
That 'tis thy firm intent,  
T' uphold the Government;  
And thenceforth acquiesce in thy Just Laws and Thee:  

Since Him, whom Factious Noise could never Awe,  
Nor Fear, nor Hope, from Rules of Justice draw,  
Since Him Thou'st made the Oracle of England's Law.   
Great Jeffreys, yet not half so Great as Good,  
How little was thy Worth once understood!  
How lay it unrevealed,  
Like a rich Gemm, in dirty Mines concealed;  
When by the Mobile so much abused!  
Or rather then, How was thy Virtue known,  
And dreaded by the Vice-empoisoned Town,  
Who Thee (as sinful Jews the Saviour once) refused!   

III.  
But CHARLES (whose Memory still shall live,  
While Pen, or Verse, a Name can give)  
Received Thee in His more propitious Arms;  
Where thy late-blessed Honour thrived amain,  
It's former Grace did quickly re-obtain,  
Encircled round with sweet endearing Charms,  
And Crowned with awful Love again.  
So looked Astraea, Reverend and Severe,  
Tho' to the wiser Gods, as Mercy, Dear.  
And thus, while in thy brighter Soul there stood  
The Heavenly Form of all, that's Just and Good.  
It's Beauty's Godlike JAMES beheld,  
(For Virtue best can Virtue's Beauties find)  
And strait with Love Divine His Bosom swelled:  
Only such perfect Forms affect so Great a Mind.  
Then to Her Seat the Goddess He restored,  
And armed Her with a Whig-confounding Sword;  
Gave Her a Champion by Her side,  
Of Conduct and of Courage tried:  
To Jeffrey's Care commended His dear Law,  
And bade him guard Her as the Soul,  
Which Monarchy itself doth actuate,  
Which only can Sedition's Powers control,  
And Faction's Fury awe,  
And render Calm a Rough tempestuous State.  
Thus was Life's sacred Tree of old  
Committed to a Guardian Angel's Care;  
Who still a flaming Sword did hold;  
Lest Rebel Adam's Race should dare  
T' invade those Blissful Limits, where  
The World's Great Monarch set his Plant of Gold.  
Thrice happy JAMES, whose First Year's Reign  
Hath brought Astraea back to Earth again!   

iv  
Surely, Great SIR, when late Posterity  
Shall hear the sound of thy Renown and Thee;  
Tho' much thine Eloquence they will admire,  
And Loyalty (by which the Good aspire)  
Tho' much thy wondrous Judgement they will praise,  
And Love to Learning (rare in these our Days)  
Tho' much thine Equity they must commend,  
Tho' much thy scorn of Hopes or Fears,  
Great Virtues purchased in few Years!  
Yet this, I'm sure, will prove  
The greatest Praise thy Glorious Soul can love,  
'Cause this doth all the others comprehend,  
When they shall say," Wise JAMES was Jeffrey 's Friend.  
And if from Gods and Kings we dare  
Pretend to Merit, when they bounteous are;  

Surely with Charms of Service Thou didst bind  
Thy Mighty Master's generous Mind,  
And as it were oblige Him to be Kind.   
Or rather, 'cause He's Just, and knew  
That Thou, Great Jeffreys, wast so too,  
He judged thee Worthy of a Monarch's Love,  
And, like a Prince, did by His bounty prove  
What high Esteem in Him thy Worth did raise:  
When meaner Souls (the scandal of our Days)  
Repay Desert only with empty Praise.   

V  
Nor do we only love Thee now  
For Mighty Caesar's sake,  
But all the Land thy Praise doth speak,  
Obliged on'ts own account, and humbly low  
To Her Deliverer's honoured Name shall bow.  
Well did thy wisely-pruning Hand  
Lop off those Suckers of the Western Land,  
That once designed to draw away  
The Vital Sap of Britain's Royal Tree,  
Whose Prosperous Strength's the only stay  
Of Government, Religion, Equity:  
On whose firm Branches Three Great Crowns do stand.  
Henceforth— (All Loyal Men,  
And Heaven and Earth sing an Amen!)  
The Root of Monarchy is fixed more sure;  
More wide the lovely Branches spread,  
And up to Heaven advance their awful Head:  
Nor can the Thunders  their hurt procure;  
Since they the thunderers Glory do secure;  
Nor shall they fear the touch of Light'ning Blast;  
'Gainst Rebel Winds and Storms they shall endure,  
And an adored Oak of Trophies, last:  
Till Jeffreys 's Fame's asleep, and Time itself be past.   
FINIS.