THE LIFE OF THAT Incomparable PRINCESS, MARY, OUR LATE Sovereign Lady, Of ever Blessed Memory. Who departed this Life, at her Royal Palace at Kensington, the 28 th' of December, 1694.  
LONDON, Printed for Daniel Dring, at the Harrow in Fleetstreet, at the Corner of Chancery Lane, 1695.   

TO THE Right Honourable THE COUNTESS OF DERBY.  
Madam,  
AS the Memory of so dear a Royal Mistress, Your own more particular, and the Worlds no less Universal Loss, is that most sacred Amulet that You wear nearest your heart; so every Portrait of that divine Original, tho' never so faint an Essay, carries some pretention to your Ladyships favourable Acceptance.  
I confess, indeed the weakness and unworthiness of my own attempting Hand in so bold an Undertaking: And to excuse my Blushes, could only wish that the World would as easily pardon the Intrusion of so poor a Pen, into the hallowed Memoirs of that Most Excellent Princess' LIFE; as her Funeral State will do the poorest melting Eye and bending Knee that shall approach there: 'Tis but the same Attractions that must inspire all Pens to be her Historians, as it makes all Knees her Homagers.  
But not to make my own want of Deserts a bar to your Ladyship's good Graces, towards this duteous Offering I make You, I must only remind You, That Medals are stamped in Copper as well as Gold, whilst the Royal Effigies both values and illustrates, at once, the meaness of the Lineaments that draw it, and the Courseness of the Metal that bears it: And therefore 'tis from that Merit alone that I presume to make your Ladyship this Presentation; whilst my endeavours however short of performance, in delineating the unexampled Virtues of that more than Royal that Heavenly Life, the great Theme before me, may in some measure be a venial Fault, for all Hands must be ambitious to strew Flowers upon that Grave.  
But whilst so large a portion of those Royal Smiles, that have so kindly and so warmly shined on her most Darling Favourite, the Countess of DERBY, have so justly entitled You to this Dedication, I need not look back either to your Illustrious Descent or Alliance, those great Names of Ormond and Derby, to blazon the Worth of so truly Honourable a Patroness: Your Ladyship has those later Records, the fair Plumes to enrich your Coronet: For 'tis sufficient the World is too sensible, That it must be some extraordinary Merit only could lodge You so near that Royal Bosom, a Hand that ever weighed where she chose; whilst nothing less than a very near Affinity to her own Exalted Virtues, could recommend or Qualify for her Favourite.  
And Madam, your Ladyship thus cherished, and thus advanced to no less an Honour than that of the dearest Cabinet Confident of the fair Majesty of Britain, a Renown that must give your Ladyship so lasting a Name, as shall live with Hers: This single Glory of itself alone, is not only a Panegyric to your Fame, but likewise entitles it to a Chronicle.  
But Madam, as glorious a Record as so fair a Theme must furnish You; however 'tis but a very melancholy One: For in recounting those envied Blessings You possessed in so many Royal Smiles and Embraces, I am the unhappy Remembrancer of those You have lost: A Loss so irreparable, and withal so heavy, as cannot receive even that common Consolation of Sorrow, viz. That to have Companions in Misery, is some Ease to the Pain of it. On the contrary, not all the Thousand Sharers with You can lessen this infinite Affliction. Thus whilst I endeavour to twine your Laurels, I wreath your Cypress too; for in telling You, That You once was the Dearest of Minions, I only publish You the deepest of Mourners.  
I shall therefore quit this melancholy Subject, being  
Madam, Your Ladyship's Most humble and most dutiful Servant,   

THE LIFE OF THAT Incomparable PRINCESS, MARY, OUR LATE Sovereign Lady, etc.  
A White-Hall-Scaffold, and a Royal Martyrdom, with all the dreadful Effects of that hideous and unnatural Regicide, hung so louring over the English Heads, that all the Horrors and Calamities of a Twelve Years Anarchy and Confusion, were but too justly our succeeding Portion. Here the whole Royalty of England groaned under a total Eclipse, whilst so many upstart Changes of Government, all like the Births of Nile, every Year new Monsters, so polluted and defiled the Throne, that under their Barbarous Usurpation all Honour, Honesty and Conscience seemed to have wholly abandoned and forsaken us, excepting this one single surviving Justice, viz. That Vipers bred Vipers, Stings for their own Hearts; and Traitors betrayed Traitors, the natural, and indeed only honest Gratitude of Villainy.  
After this long melancholy Face of Affairs, whether the Divine Justice had satisfied itself with that short Twelve Years Scourge, or rather it's more gracious Mercy withheld the pouring any farther Vials upon us; so it pleased the Almighty Providence, that by a Revolution wholly made up of Wonders, and by a Hand entirely his own, the Royal Exiles were re-called; whilst the whole echoing Nation strewed the Palms and Olaves, and tuned the Hosannah's for their Reception, whilst such a Glut of popular Transport and Extacy attended their glorious Restauration, that Triumphal Arches were but faint Monuments of those Joys that rose higher than Pinnacles and Pyramids.  
The Royal Brothers, the Illustrious Remains of the Great Martyr, the now happy, though late Darlings of Providence, had all the Homage that Hearts or Knees could yield them, whilst our whole industrious and even studied Loyalty, by a kind of common Rivalship and Emulation, who should kneel longest, or bend lowest, could not pay fast enough our new and cheerful Tenders of Zeal and Veneration, towards making (if possible) some part of a Reparation for our old shameful Arrears. In fine, All Things shined and dazzled round us; so heartily did the Fair and Smiling SIXTY endeavour the Atonement of the Black and Rueful FORTY EIGHT. 'Tis true, the Universal Joy was seon after clouded by the Death of Henry Duke of Gloucester, who, a short Sharer of his Brother's Triumphs, and the People's Love, made his much lamented Transit to Immortality on the 13th of September, 1660.  
After the most splendid and dazzling Entry, and no less magnificent Coronation of King Charles the Second; the public Satisfaction, not wholly founded in the present Felicities and Blessings they enjoyed, had yet farther Vows to offer up to Heaven; viz. For a fair Race of Heirs from this Illustrious Royal Stock, that glorious Succession that might fill the Throne for ever, and bless even latest Posterity, as the entire Consummation of the whole English Happiness.  
But in all our Desires of this last Satisfaction, the unfortunate Barrenness of His Majesty's Royal Consort, our now Gracious Queen Dowager, in a short Time shut out our Expectation, and rendered our Prayers succeness on that side: Insomuch that the whole Nation's Hope's were now entirely centred in the more fruitful, and so more happy Second Royal Line, the Lineage of His Royal Highness the Duke of York.  
Accordingly, on the 30th of April, in the Year 1662. Providence was pleased to bless this longing Nation with the Auspicious Birth of a young Princess, MARY, our present sacred Theme, His Royal Highness' Firstborn; the Father's Joy, and the ample Reward of a Mother's grateful Pain. This Illustrious Cradle, and Sacred Nursery, in very few Years after, (the not long Life of her Royal Mother,) was enriched by the fair Increase of three Royal Brothers, Dukes of Cambridge and Kendal, and two more Sisters, Anne and Henrietta. But of all this Royal Progeny, the Great Dispenser thought fit, by a too hasty Call of the others too early Setting Infancy, to leave us the only Pledges of smiling Heaven in the two Princely Sisters, Mary and Anne.  
She was Born at the Royal Palace of St. James', at Westminster: At her Baptism she had for Godfather, Prince Rupert, and her Godmothers were the Duchess of Buckingham and Duchess of Ormond.  
And now to commence the History of her Life, from her first Seal of Christianity: Her Godfathers and Godmothers stood very easy Guarantees for their fair Charge, whilst their Vows and Promises made for her at the Font were so early answered and performed on her Part, that even her first Dawn of Reason and Discretion were enlightened with all the most forward Beams of Heaven. The Divine Instructions, even in her budding Infancy, were received with so sensible an Affection and Delight, that the Principles of Religion were never planted in a more fruitful, or more hopeful Soil.  
As her Years and her Virtues grew up together, and every Heavenly Grace, her ever improving Ornaments, shined daily brighter and brighter; the Almighty Justice, to have her whole universal▪ Perfections equally matched, took Care that the Casket should be no ways unworthy of the rich and ample Treasure it held. For, without the least Shadow of Flattery, such lovely Sweetness, an Air so entirely charming, and a Form made up of every Thing that both to the Poet and Painter might sit for an Original, were so wholly her own, that never more personal Advantages appeared, than in this young and truly beautiful Princess.  
To all these, she had a Wit so lively, and so penetrating, and consequently a Conversation entirely grateful to those who had the Honour to enjoy it: For, withal, she had that natural Goodness, Condescension and Affability, (Graces that Wit is not always accompanied with) which opened that Freedom to an ingenious Conversation; as if she resolved to bless where she favoured, not satisfied to be the Mistress so many Excellencies, only for a distant Admiration.  
But as if all these admirable Qualifications were not enough to complete a Masterpiece; for one yet finishing-stroke more, she had all the Addition of Education to embellish her natural Accomplishments. She carried the Glory as well at the Ball and the Masque, as in the Presence and the Drawing-Room; and she was that absolute Mistress of the French Tongue, that her French Tutor, the famous Peter de Lain gives her this Character, That she had all those excellent Endowments, which not only himself, but all that had been honoured with any instrumental share in her Princely Education, had so fortunately found in her, to the preventing both of their Endeavours and Expectations. That Aptitude of Nature, quickness of Apprehension, Faithfulness of Memory, and obliging Readiness to comply with whatever good instructions were set before her, that these, and a thousand more were certainly Born and Bred up with her, and now arrived to that height of Perfection she had attained. And all this fair Character so far from false Incense and Flattery; that in the most sacred Truth, her Highness was the most Accomplished, not only of Princesses, but of her Sex; and among all those Epithets of Great, of Beautiful, or Witty; above that August Air, that Majestic Presence, which inspired us at the first sight with the highest Sense of Respect and Veneration: She possessed, and that in a most eminent Degree, a Virtue, which she valued so much the more, as that it out-shined and transcended all the rest.  
Having arrived at the Age of about Fifteen, with all this fair Train of Attendants waiting her thither, with all Eyes upon her, and indeed all Knees before her; her Attractions had still a larger Influence, and more spacious Field than three narrow Kingdoms only could afford her, whilst the Fame alone of such transcendent Merits, were sufficient to inspire a warmer Devotion in Foreign Princely Homagers, than that of her humbler Vassals at home.  
Of these, the Illustrious WILLIAM, Prince of Orange, our now Gracious Sovereign, resolved to be her boldest Addressor; for having Communicated his Intentions to Sir William Temple, his Majesty of Great Britain's then Ambassador at the Hague, whom the Prince so far honoured, as to make him a Counsellor and Confident in this Affair, the Prince was so frank as to express his whole Sentiments of Marriage in this kind, viz. That the greatest Thing he considered, were the Person and Disposition of the young Lady: For though it would not pass in the World, for a Prince to seem concerned in those Particulars; yet for himself, without Affectation, he declared, that he was so; and in such a degeee, that no Circumstances of Fortune or Interest could Engage him, without those of the Person, especially those of Humour and Dispositions. That he might perhaps be not very easy for a Wife to live with; he was sure he should not be so to such Wives, as were generally in the Courts of this Age. That if he should meet with one to give him Trouble at Home, 'twas what he should not be able to bear, who was like to have enough Abroad in the Course of his Life: And that after the man●●r ●e was resolved to live with a Wife, which should be the best he could, he would have one that he thought likely to live well with him, which he thought chiefly depended upon their Disposition and Education.  
Here we see the rich Cabinet of a fair Soul unlocked; and whilst the Prince publishes so worthy, so generous, and glorious a Declaration, of what a faithful and good Husband he intended to make himself, and consequently what equal and suitable Returns he expected from a Wife; 'twas from his entire Satisfaction that all those great, and indeed only honourable, Ends of Marriage would be fully answered in the Person of the Princess; that of the whole Choice of Europe, (for several Offers in Germany had already been made him) he had sixth his Thoughts only on the Daughter of England, the fair Mark of his Ambition, where he was confident the highest Expectation of all the forementioned Qualifications of a Wife would be amply gratified.  
In his prosecution of so honourable a Design, as the Prince proposed to himself some higher Felicities than in the generality of Marriages of Princes, so he resolved likewise not to follow the general Practices of Courting by Envoys and Proxies, too common on such Occasions; but, if I may so say, to be his own Ambassador on this Subject, and make his own personal Addresses to the Princess. And accordingly, having smoothed his Way by some Letters to beg Leave to visit England, upon their favourable Answer received, he prepared to set forth accordingly.  
Upon the Prince's intended Voyage for England, eighteen Deputies, with the Pensionary Fagel at the head of them, in the Name of the Nobles, and the respective Towns of Holland, Complemented his Highness with their Wishes of his good Voyage, as all the Members of the States of Holland did the like; and the next Morning, when his Highness took Leave of the State's General, he received the Compliments of the several Colleges by formal Deputations, and of all the foreign Ministers there, and then Embarked on the Yatches and Men of War that attended him in the Maese, accompanied by many Persons of Quality, and Gentlemen of Note, to the number of above Forty.  
On the Morrow being Tuesday, the 9th. of October, 1677. His Highness, with all this honourable Attendance, the King and Duke at that time being at Newmarket, whither his Highness and his Retinue, in his Majesty's Coaches arrived about Seven in the Evening, was received by his Majesty with all the Marks of Tenderness and Affection. On the Thursday following, the Prince, and all the Persons of Quality that came over with him, were honoured with his Majesty's and his Royal Highness' Company to my Lord Chamberlan's House at Euston, where they were nobly Entertained, and lay that Night, and the next Morning returned to Newmarket; and on Saturday, with the King, and the whole Court, his Highness came to Whitehall.  
But not to dwell upon Ceremony and State, the Caresses and Reception he met here, let it suffice, that his Highness having not only proved a successful Lover in his own personal Addresses to the Princess, but likewise a prevailing Orator with his Majesty, the Royal Assent was obtained, and accordingly his Majesty was pleased, on the 24th. of October, to declare to the Lords of his Privy Council, (whom he had caused to meet extraordinary for that purpose) that his Majesty had concluded a Marriage between her Highness the Lady Mary, and his Highness the Prince of Orange; upon which their Lordships, about Three in the Afternoon, went in a Body, to make their Compliments to her Highness, and afterwards to the Prince. The News of which being spread in the Town, was followed at night with Bonfires, Ringing of Bells, and all the other Demonstrations of Joy. And the same Day the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of London, went to preform their humble Congratulations, by the Mouth of their Recorder, to his Majesty, and his Royal Highness, and afterwards to the Princess and Prince on so happy an Occasion.  
On the 29th. of October following, their Majesties, accompanied with his Royal Highness, their Highnesses the Lady Mary, and the Lady Anne, and his Highness the Prince of Orange, attended by a great many of the principal Nobility, and other Persons of Quality, having been pleased, upon the humble Invitation of the City, to honour them with their Presence, first at the Show in Cheapside, (it being that Day, the Entrance of Sir Francis Chaplin to the Mayoralty) where placed in a Balcony under a Canopy of State, at the House of Sir Edward Waldo (upon whom his Majesty was then pleased to confer the Honour of Knighthood) and afterwards at the Guild-hall at Dinner, where the Entertainment was very Noble and Magnificent, his Majesty being highly pleased with those great Demonstrations of Duty and Affection, with which the City received the Honour of this Royal Presence at this Day's Solemnity.  
This Declaration of the Princess' Marriage was so gratefully, and indeed so Universally received, that particularly in Scotland, his Grace the Duke of Lauderdale, Lord Precedent of his Majesty's most Honourable Privy Council of that Kingdom, appointed a Meeting of such of the Lords of the Council as were in and near the City of Edinburgh, (having in the mean time given Notice thereof to the Magistrates) to acquaint them with it, to the end such Resolutions as the shortness of the time would permit might be taken, for expressing their extraordinary Joy on this happy Occasion; and having at their Meeting ordered a Congratulatory Letter to be prepared to be sent to his Majesty, on the 30th. of October at Four in the Afternoon, his Grace accompanied by the Lords of the Council, and the rest of the Nobility then in Town, came from the Palace in their Coaches to the chief Gate of the City, where they were met by the Lord Provost and Bailiffs in their Scarlet Robes, and the Town Council in their Gowns, with the Sword and Mace carried before them, followed by a Guard of Partisans, through which (with Trumpets sounding and Drums beating) they walked all on Foot to the Cross hung with Tapestry (whereupon was placed an Arbour hung with many hundreds of Oranges) which his Grace and the Lord Provost ascending, with as many of the Nobility as it could hold, (the rest of the Magistrates, with the other persons of Quality, placing themselves upon a Stage erected before the Cross for that purpose) they drank the Good Healths of their Highnesses the Prince and Princess, next of their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess, than the Queen's, and last of all his Majesty's Health, during which the Cannon played from the Castle, all the Conduits upon the Cross ran Wine in great abundance, and many Voiders of Sweetmeats were thrown among the people, who were filled with a general Joy since they first heard they happy News, which then was expressed by their loud and frequent Acclamations. After which, the Bonfires being kindled, and the Bells ringing, his Grace and the Nobility retired to their Lodgings, leaving the Magistrates, who at Eight of the Clock at Night went down to the great Bonfire that was in the outward Court of the Palace, where his Grace, and many of the Nobility that were to sup with him, met them, and drank the Healths again. And were the next Day invited to Dine with his Grace in an Apartment of the Palace, where with the Nobility and Ladies, the Clergy, the Judges, and all the Gentlemen of Quality, they were splendidly entertained by His Grace.  
To complete the mutual Felicities of this happy Royal Pair, on Sunday the 4th of November their Marriage was privately solemnised at St. James', by the Bishop of London, in the presence of His Majesty, Their Royal Highnesses, and some of the chiefest of the Nobility. It was remarkable, that when the Bishop came to these Words of Form, Who gives this Woman? That His Majesty answered, I do. Upon which, Their Majesties, Their Royal Highnesses, and Their Highnesses received the Compliments and Congratulations of the Ambassadors of the State's General of the United Provinces, and of the other Foreign Ministers residing in the Court. And the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen the next Morning made likewise their dutiful Congratulations.  
'Twas the 5th of November before the News of His Majesty's Intentions of the Marriage arrived at Dublin: And the First of December before the Consummation was published there; which filled the Place with that extraordinary Joy, that on Monday the Third of December, His Grace the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of that Kingdom, and all the Nobility and Gentry in Town, met in great Splendour at the Play, where there passed a general Invitation of all the Company to spend that Evening at the Castle. And whilst the Streets were every where filled with Bonfires, the Bells ringing, and all the Great Guns of the City firing round; at the Castle was a very splendid Ball, and in the Long Gallery a magnificent Banquet prepared for the whole Company; who parted not till Two a Clock in the Morning.  
The Prince and Princess were now preparing for their Departure for Holland; during their whole Stay in England having been highly caressed by the whole Court and Kingdom. The Prince had the particular Honour to stand Partner with His Majesty, as Godfathers, together with the Lady Isabel, represented by her Governess the Lady Villers, to a young Brother; Her Royal Highness, on the 7th of November, being brought to Bed of a young Prince▪ Christened by the Bishop of Durham, by the Name of Charles.  
On the 19th of November, about Nine in the Morning, Their Highnesses parted from White-Hall, in order to their Embarking on the Yatchts appointed to transport them for Holland; His Majesty and His Royal Highness being pleased to accompany them as far as Erith, where Their Highnesses went on Board; but being several Days detained by contrary Winds, they arrived not in Holland till the 29th.  
I shall here beg my Reader's Pardon for this short Digression from our History, by reciting an ingenious Poem, by Nat. Lee, on this memorable Occasion.  


To the Prince and Princess of Orange, upon their Marriage.  
HAil, happy Warrior! hail! whose Arms have won  
The fairest jewel in the English Crown.  
Happy in famous Dangers in the Field,  
Happy in Courts which brightest Beauties yield.  
Oh Prince! whose Soul is known so justly great,  
As if that Heaven took Leisure to create;  
First, the rich Oar refined, then did allay,  
Stamped thee his own, not shuffted thee away.  
With wonder thus we all thy temper prize,  
Not but th'u'rt bold and brave, as thou ar●t wise.  
Like the cool English, who approach their Fate  
With 〈◊〉 and gravely first with Death debate.  
They kindle slowly, but when once on fire,  
Burn on, and in the blaze of Fame expire.   

Hail Princess! hail! thou fairest of thy Kind!  
Thou shape of Angels, with an Angel's Mind!  
Whose Virtues shine, but so as to be born,  
Clear as the Sun, and gentle as the Morn.  
Whose brighter Eyes like lambent Glories move,  
And every Glance moves like a Dart of Love.  
How well, O Prince, how nobly hast thou fought,  
Since to thy Arms the Fates such Beauty brought.  
Methinks I hear thee in thy Nuptial Bed,  
When o'er the Royal Maid thy Arms were spread.   

Enough, kind Heaven, well was my Sword employed,  
Since all the Bliss Earth holds shall be enjoyed.  
Pains I remember now with vast delight,  
Well have I braved the thundering French in fight,  
My Hazards now are Gains, and if my Blood  
In Battle mix and raise the vulgar Flood,  
Her Tears (for sure she'll be so good to mourn)  
Like Balm, shall heal the Wounds when I return.   

But hark, 'tis rumoured that this happy Pair  
Must go; the Prince for Holland does declare,  
Called to the Business of Important War.  
Go then, if thy Departure be agreed;  
Your Friends must weep, your Enemies shall bleed.   

And if in Poet's Minds, those vaster Souls,  
Where all at once the vast Creation rolls,  
To whom the Warrior is as much obliged,  
As to Relievers Towns that are besieged.  
(For Death would to their Acts an end afford,  
Did not Immortal Verse outdo the Sword)  
If aught of Prophesy their Souls inspire,  
And if their fury gives a solid Fire,  
Soft shall the Waftage be, the Seas and Wind,  
Calm as the Prince, and as the Princess kind.  
The World, why should not Dreams of Poets take  
As well as Prophets who but Dream awake?  
I saw them launch, the Prince the Princess bore,  
While the sad Court stood crowding on the Shoar,  
The Prince still bowing on the Deck did stand,  
And held his weeping Princess by the hand.  
Which waving oft, she bid them all farewell,  
And wept as if she would the Ocean swell.   

Farewell! thou best of Fathers, best of Friends!  
While the moved Duke, with a heaved Sigh commends,  
To Heaven the Care; in Tears his Eyes would swim,  
But Manly Virtue binds them to the brim.  
Farewell (she cried) my Sister, thou dear part.  
Thou sweetest half, of my divided Heart.  
To whom I all my Secrets did unfold,  
Dear Casket! who did all my Treasures hold,  
My little Love! her Sighs she did renew,  
Once more (oh Heavens) a long and last adieu!  
Part▪ must I ever lose those pretty Charms?  
Then swoons, and sinks into the Prince's Arms.  
The Court beheld, and wept.   

Straight from their Griefs the pompo●● Navy fled  
So fast, as if our Sighs increased their speed.  
When of a sudden, from the Reedy Court,  
The Tritons all with their grieved God resort;  
In Troops upon the wand'ring Waves they glide,  
And round their lifted Lord in Triumph ride.  
At their first Call the singing Mermaids come,  
While the crowned Dolphins lash the silver Foam.   

Thus waited, the glad Prince beheld from far  
The Belgic Shoar, and heard the sound of War.  
Some Hand unseen heavens Azure Curtains dr●w,  
To make a mighty Triumph Great and New▪  
A thousand golden Heads peeped forth to ●iew  
Cries, Shouts, and clapping Hands, all Ecstasy,  
An hundred Cannons thundered to the Sky:  
The Thunder answering did my Dream destroy,  
And waked me from the Visionary joy..    
It was with great Satisfaction, that having with so much impatience expected the Arrival of their Highnesses, that the News was received at the Hague, that their Highnesses who sailed before in his Majesty's Yatchts from Margate, attended by several English, as well as Dutch Men of War, were safely landed at a Village called Terihyde, the Ice hindering their Entrance into the Maese, and from thence went directly to Honslaerdyke, whither the State's General immediately sent their Hoff Meester the Sieur Dinter, to Compliment their Highnesses, and to know of them when it would be seasonable to repeat the same in a formal Manner, by a solemn Deputation out of their Body, as well from the Council of State, as the other supreme Colleges.  
On Monday the 14th. of December, their Highnesses made their Public Entry into the Hague, with more than ordinary Magnificence. For besides that the Twelve Companies of Burghers were in Arms, drawn up under their distinct Ensigns, the Bridge of the Hague was adorned with green Garlands, under which were written these Words, 
UXORI ET BATAVIS VIVAT NASSOVIUS HECTOR,  
AURIACO ET PATRIAE VIVAT BRITANNICA PRINCEPS.   
Thus rendered in English.  
Live sacred Worthy, blest in that rich Bed,  
At once thy MARY and thy Belgia wed.  
And long long live thy fair Britannic Bride,  
Her Orange, and her Country's equal pride▪  
Having past the Bridge, they were met by four and twenty Virgins, that walked two by two on each side their Highness' Coach, singing and strewing green Herbs all the way. When their Highnesses came before the Town-House, they passed through a Triumphal Arch adorned with Foliage and Grotesco Work, with the Arms of both their Highnesses, and over them two Hands clapped together with this Motto, 
AURIACI HIS THALAMIS BATAVIS DOS REGIA PAX EST.   
Thus rendered in English.  
What Halcyon Airs this Royal Hymen sings!  
The Olive-branch of Peace her Dower she brings.  
From whence crossing over the Marketplace into the Hoogstraet, another Triumphal Arch stood ready to receive them, with these Words, 
INGREDERE AUSPICIIS BATAVIS FOELICIBUS AULAM.   
Thus rendered in English.  
To the Batavian Court with Heaven's best smile,  
Approach fair Guest, and blest this happy Pile.  
In the Evening they were entertained with a preparation of Fire-Works, in which were represented several Figures, as that of a Drake, a Lion, a St. George on Horse back, Fountains, Pyramids, Flower-Pots, Castles, Triumphal Chariots, and jupiter and Mars as descending out of the Air, etc. And in all the Streets were a great number of pitch Barrels, provided for the several lofty piles of Bonfires prepared for the Solemnity of the Day, which ended in Rejoicing and Feasting, and all other Testimonies of the Universal Joy. The next day the Heer Van Ghent, the Heer Werchendam, the Here Steesn, the Heer Odyke, the Here Kenswoude, the Heer Bootsma, and others, Complemented their Highnesses in the Name of the State's General, which Compliment was soon after performed by the States in Body.  
This Marriage thus concluded to universal Satisfaction of the Kingdom, 'tis worth our Consideration to examine the chief Movements in an Affair of this Importance. Of all the Court Solicitors in the Prince's behalf, the then Lord Treasurer, his Grace the now Duke of Leeds, was one of the chief and most prevailing Orators. That worthy Patriot, possibly one of the fairest Phosphers to our present Rising Sun; was ever an indefatigable Zealot for the English true Interest and Honour, and the Protestant Religion; and consequently amongst his many memorable Services, must not a little glory in being instrumental in so auspicious an Alliance. To this the King's particular Esteem and Respects for the Person of the Prince, not a little contributed; when, as Sir William Temple tells us in his Memoirs, his Majesty was pleased to express his Opinion of the Prince in these Words. I never yet was deceived in judging of a Man's Honesty by his Looks, (of which he gave some Examples) and if I am not deceived in the Prince's face, he is the honestest Man in the World, and therefore I will trust him: He shall have her, etc. But in truth, above all other Arguments, the then growing Jealousies of the Parliament carried the Cause: For at that time 'twas highly adviseable for hushing the Quiet of the Nation, that the Eldest-Daughter of the Crown should sleep in Protestant Arms. Whilst in reality the Concession was rather more for the People's, than the Prince's Gratification: A Concession, in which the King possibly acted with a Resolution more than ordinary, as being contrary to the General Conduct and Measures of that Reign, as where neither the Duke nor the French Ambassador were called to the Consult; the first being much surprised when he received the King's Command for his Concurrence and Consent in the Matter, and the latter not a little disgusted, as not knowing how he should Answer it to his Master, That an Affair of that Importance should pass without his Communication, much less Advice, in a Court where nothing before had done so, for many Years.  
But for a more particular Inquiry into her Father's Inclination in the Business of this Match, I shall only quote Mr. Secretary Coleman's long Letter to Father La Chaise, the French King's Confessor, where he tells him, That to propose the Lady Mary, Eldest Daughter to his Royal Highness, in a Match for the Prince of Orange, was not only without the Consent, but against the good Liking of his Royal Highness, insomuch that they must Excuse him with this Distinction: That the said Lady was not to be l●●ked upon as the Duke's Daughter, but as the Kings, and a Child of the State, and so the Duke's Consent not to be much considered in the Disposal of her, but the Interest only of State.  
Nay, this Marriage of the Duke's Daughter, and the Protestant Prince of Orange, was a Matter of that Weight and Moment, as wanted no less than an Excusatory Epistle sent as far as Rome. His Royal Highness (as the Secretary tells us in another of his papers) having sent a Letter to the Pope on that Subject, which he tells us was delivered, and that the Pope remained satisfied, that the Duke was in no Fault. But whatever Apology was wanting on this Occasion, how uneasy a Guest soever his Royal Highness had been, at this unrelisht Marriage Feast, nevertheless I may justly say, how strong soever his own private Aversion might be, yet still even himself was so far highly Instrumental towards the making this Alliance, that his own Conduct contracted the Necessity of it, and that Necessity in reality was the strongest Hinge it moved on.  
Upon this Match of the presumptive Heiress of England with the Prince of Orange, ever, even from his Infancy, so jealous and vigorous a Zealot for the Common Interest of Christendom, in opposition to the then formidable Growth and too aspiring Ambition of France, the Expectations of Europe had now, in all Reason and probability, the very fair Hopes of some speedy Alteration of Councils, and change of Measures, towards the Dissolving, or at least slackening, the too strong, and I may say too fatal, I am certain, too inglorious Links and Ties of England and France; of having I say, at least some leading Influence towards awakening the Lethargy of the Crown of England, which with so long, and no less shameful Easiness (to give it no harder a Name) 
Hinc illae Lachrymae—  had hitherto in every point, so highly contributed to the whole Grandeur of that encroaching Monarch, as to lend a Helping-hand even to the very Foundation of it. All this might reasonably have been expected from this Marriage, had Providence thought us worthy of such Blessings, at least at that Season, whatever later Blessings it had in store for us.  
On the contrary, notwithstanding the forementioned Magnificent Reception of the Prince and Princess by the whole States of Holland, so Welcomed and Caressed, even to a Torrent of Joys amongst them; nevertheless there wanted not those Engines of France, who in a very few Months after so turned the Tide, as to poison the whole Universal Faith of Holland with those Jealoasies of the Prince's Match, viz. That the Prince instead of bringing the English Court over to His and Their Interest by his Alliance, had on the contrary, himself been lured and drawn into the English Interest and Party by it; nay, and not only so, but through his own private Ambition and the English Encouragement, had upon the Foundation of this Match, form some aspiring Designs, even upon Holland itself. Insomuch, that instead of their former Hopes of having strengthened the Prince's Arm in their Cause by this Alliance, it was the general popular Fear, that they had rather lost a Champion by it, than gained one.  
Whilst the injured Prince's Glory was shaded by all those false and villainous Imputations, it was at this time, and partly through these Jeaulousies, that the Peace at Nim●gu●n was shuffled together, so dishonourable to England, and so pernicious to the Confederacy. Insomuch, that this Match of the Princess, that was thought to have given so great a Blow to France, was by Dint of Conduct and Management turned wholly to the French Advantage. Thus far indeed this Match was for the French Advantage; the Destined Hour was not yet come for the Prince of Orange to stand up the Champion of Christendom; the overruling Providence had not yet signed him that Commission, being reserved perhaps for a later Execution; at a Season, when the greater danger and difficulty of the performance shall heighten the Glory.  
But now to open the new Scene of her Life, her Entry into the Marriage State: Here we have so Dazzling a prospect before us, so vast a Subject both for Praises and Admiration, that her very Enemies (if such Goodness could have any) must join in her Panegyrics upon that Theme: For as 'tis in this Field only, that the Fair Sex have their Laurels to gather, so never were richer Bridal Chapplets worn than on that ●row; whilst between those only Pillars of Nuptial Happiness, Resignation and Endearment, the three great Matrimonial Vows to Love, Honour and Obey, were engraved in that Tables she wore next her heart; not (as too often) the Right Ceremony of a Bridal Morning, but the constant Exercise of a Life, her whole Life but one long (to our sorrow too short) Nuptial Day: Those three Divine Graces that shined through her whole Deportment and Conduct, I might say, with equal Lustre; unless that (like the three Theological Virtues, Faith, Hope and Charity,) the last were the Greatest. For to pay her Memory this sacred Right, she was that Tenderness, that Gentleness, that Sweetness, that entire Submission and Obedience; that though she had all the Royalty of such high Veins, the Majesty of such a lovely Personage, and the Birthright to three fair Diadems; yet instead of the least Wedlock Insult or Elevation, from Beauty, Honours or Dignities, or any thing the World calls Great and Fair; on the contrary, they were only so many brighter Plumes to enrich and furnish out the Household Dove.  
But this we must the less wonder at: For to give exalted Virtue its due, Love is the fairest Offspring, where 'tis the Child of Piety: For if there be Eloquence or Harmony in all the Caresses of Faith and Affection, 'tis undoubtedly there where they flow from that Heart and that Tongue that is touched with an Altar Cole. For true Religion and Virtue, not only pull down so many Blessings from Heaven, as their own fair Reward, upon the honourable Bed of Marriage, but likewise bring that ample Dower of Blessings of their own along with them, by enlightening the Soul to the performance of the whole Duties of Marriage, which crown the whole Felicities of it: Love may join Hands and Hearts, but it is Heaven alone that truly ties them.  
Nor was the Princess enriched only with all the Gifts of Heavenly Grace, to make her the best of Wives; but likewise all the Gifts of Nature too, to make her such; whilst the freer Gaiety of her Temper, and Fluence of Conversation, in conjunction with the more Reservedness of the Prince, so enlivened their Society, and cheered their Embraces, as to make them the Lovingest, and thereby the happiest Pair in the World. In fine, to sum her whole Character upon this spacious Subject: The famous Examples of Antiquity, such as a Portia, or a Camilla, those old Roman Precedents of the highest Nuptial Fidelity, came so far short of the more dazzling perfections here; by so much, as that above that rigid Feminine Honour, their only shining Guides, here was that infinite Addition of all the brighter Luminaries of Christianity, a more beauteous and more sacred Constellation, for her leading Lights.  
'Tis thus we find her in her narrower Palace at the Hague, with her little English Court about her, either melting in Complacence and Tenderness to her ever loved Lord, when at home with her; or else wafting her no less melting Sighs, Tears and Prayers after him, when exposed to remoter Toils and Hazards abroad: For in truth, the Prince was never facing of Dangers, or pushing for Glory, but the Princess was as ardently wrestling of Heaven for his preservation.  
When after the toil of a Campaign, and the fatigues of the Field, the prevalence of her own prayers, and the Justice of his own Cause, as the good Genii that still hovered round him, had brought him back to her Arms again, she flew with all the wings of Love to receive him; ever the forwardest of the whole Congratulating Train to meet him; and so inexpressible her Joys and Endearments that welcomed him, that still she had new work for a bended Knee, those yet new Vows to offer up, that her Thanks to Heaven for his Protection were as important a part of her tenderest Devotion, as the Prayers to implore it.  
Though her chief Residence and principal Court in Holland was at the Hague, yet she had several other Palaces, the Hereditary Princely Seats of the House of Orange, as at Honsla●rdyke, Loo, Dieren, Hoosdyke, etc. much in the nature of our Kensington, Windsor, Hampton-Court, or any other of the Royal Palaces here in England; all which she made use of, dividing the Favour of her Royal Presence amongst them, at particular Seasons, for her Country Retirement and Recreation.  
But in all these places, her whole Entertainment was, in a manner, only under her own Roof. For notwithstanding her natural Goodness, she had all the Condescension and Courteous Disposition imaginable, yet still she owed so much to her own High Birth, that as she lived in a Republic, there wanted that high Quality amongst them, worthy a Princess particular Intimacy and Familiarity: insomuch that out of an indispensible point of State, she could neither make Visits abroad nor Confidants; so that, as I said before, her whole Conversation was altogether at home.  
But whilst the narrowness of her Court, almost to a Recluseness and Solitude took from her so great a part of that Grandeur, State and Homage, the usual Attendance of Royal Veins, and which so many transcendent Excellencies of the Princess so highly merited; nevertheless it afforded her those particular Advantages, that repaid that unregretted Loss. For, to her Glory, the Closet and Altar had so much the more of her Company, as the Throne had the less. The less of the Hurry▪ and Pomps of Life, it gave her so much the fairer Occasion (an Occasion always embraced) of more closely following the great Original of her own Name, viz. In choosing the better part.  
However, as much Restrained or Reserved as her own princely Character obliged her to live there, yet still her extraordinary Civility and Caress to the Burgher-Master's Ladies, or any of the more eminent Grandees of State, upon any occasions of Compliment, Visit or Address made to her, gained her that Veneration and Esteem amongst them, that it is almost incredible to imagine, how entirely she carried the Hearts of the whole United Provinces. The visible Charms in her Person, and no less in her Carriage, with her exalted Piety, equally visible to the whole Eyes of the World, were those Attractions that all joined together to dazzle and astonish, such as obliged them to pay her the most Cordial LOVE, HONOUR and RESPECTS.  
Besides for one Contentment still, which extracted a particular sweetness from this Recluser sort of Life, she was too passionate a Lover of her Dear LORD, even for that single Consideration alone, to affect a more noisy or more popular Court. Her Worldly Delights were wholly circled in his Embraces: A Prince so worthy of the most tender conjugal Affection, as being adorned with so many surpassing Virtues to attract and secure that Affection: Of whom a great Minister of State, and one who had been long acquainted with his excellent Endowments gives this noble Character.  
A PRINCE, who joined to the great Qualities of his Royal Blood, possesses all the popular Virtues of his Country: Silent and Thoughtful: Given to Hear and Inquire: Of a Sound and Steady Understanding: Much Firmness in what he once Resolves, or once Denies: Great. Industry and Application to his Business: Little to his Pleasure: Piery in the Religion of his Country, but with Charity to others: Temperance unusual to his Youth, and to the Climate: Frugal in the common Management of his Fortune, and yet Magnificent upon Occasion: Of a great Spirit and Heart, aspiring to the Glory of Military Actions; with strong Ambition to grow Great, but rather by the Service than the Servitude of his Country. In short, a Prince of many Virtues, without any appearing Mixture of Vice.  
But though the Princess in her Holland Court, had not those high qualified Guests at Home to Welcome: However she had sometimes the happiness of more Illustrious Royal Visitants, that came a little farther Abroad to honour her Court: For on Tuesday, the First of October, 1678. Her Royal Highness the Duchess of York, and the Princess Anne began a Journey from Whitehall to the Hague, to visit the Princess of Orange: A Visit so extraordinary grateful to her, that she received them with all the highest Marks of Respect and Affection, and with all the Entertainment suitable. Particularly the Transports of Caresses and Endearments between the two Princely Sisters was inexpressible: But the Felicity the Princess enjoyed was no lasting Blessing, for they made but a short stay there, whilst the parting of the two Princesses, was little less than a divorce between them; so fond and tender a Love and Friendship had linked their Hearts.  
Not long after, Providence was pleased to send her another Royal, though then unexpected, Visitant more. For in February, 1678/9. at that time, when the prophetic Fears of England, from the Duke's suspected Inclinations and Adherence to the Romish Faith and Interest (for hitherto they were only suspicions) had made that Ferment in the English Blood, that the Nation's pulse beat high; his protecting Royal Brother his constant Shield against the Assault of Fortune, had sent him over, with his Duchess and Family, to the Hague; in hopes, that Distance and Absence, the common Cure of Jealousy might at least have wrought that Medicinal Operation, as, in some measure, to allay the Ferment, and cool the then too threatening Heats against him. But whatever this Expedient might work towards the End desired, the Duke found an extraordinary and affectionate Reception from the true filial Duty of the Princess, and a very hospitable Roof from the generous Prince, whilst the Princess melted into all the tenderest Condolance and Pity on the mournful Occasion of his Visit there. 'Tis true, the Belgian Populace gave him but a colder Welcome; and, to say truth, afforded him very little more Civility, than the Herd does the wounded Deer: An ungrateful Remembrance of the too long and too warm Zeal of the Crown of England, for the Interest of theirs, and the common. Enemy, the French; together with an unhappy Surmise and Reflection that a great part of the Malignancy of that reigning English Disease was influenced, by his Royal Highness' Sway and Steerage at the English Helm: Those unlucky Suggestions shrunk them into those languid and faint Embraces to this Royal Guest amongst them, though so nearly related to their darling Princess, that the Duke not insensible of his poor Welcome in so unsociable a Climate, removed his Court a little further, to Brussels.  
Now for one further Observation upon this happy Marriage, if it were not a sort of Superstition, from the concurrence of any eminent Actions, or Accidents, done or befallen on such ticular Days, to ground any Omens, or Presages of Fortune from any such fou●●l●tion; otherwise I should propo●●●●t to the Curious, as a thing stra●●●●y remarkable, That the Prince of Orange's Wedding-Day, being the Fourth of November, was likewise his Birthday too; and not only so, but also the Birthday of his own Mother, the Princess Royal, Mary, the Daughte●● to King Charles the First, Nay, if be ●ot too nice a Critiscime to add any further Remarks of this kind, 'twas on the Fourth of November too that afterwards, in his Expedition for England, he approached the English Coast, as the Assertor of our Common Liberties. 'Tis true, he set not foot on English Ground till the Day following: However that may give us a Matter of Observation, as Curious as the other, viz. That on the Fifth of November, a Day so famous in the English Annals, and possibly as infamous in some other remoter Chronicles, that England Dates her Deliverance from Popery, Twice from the same DAY.  
As this Course of her Life in her Court abroad (being indeed all little else but one unvaried Scene) affords us but little Matter of particular Memoirs worthy a peculiar Relation; there happened nothing of Importance or Weight, at least such as might make any Change in the Face of her Court, till the Death of her Royal Uncle, King Charles the Second. Here amongst all the Sighs and Tears paid to that expiring Prince, none certainly could be a truer or heartier Mourner than the Princess of Orange. 'Tis true, his lamented Death advanced the Princess so much the nearer to a Crown. But so far were her Thoughts from pluming herself with that gay Trifle added to her Scutcheon, that on the contrary, not only her natural and passionate Tenderness for so near, so great, and so honoured a Relation, but likewise those for the Religion and Liberties of her Country, infinitely outweighed all private Considerations, if it were possible for her diminutive Ambition to have any such: For Empire and Sovereignty weighed but light in her Balance.  
But as we have endeavoured to play the Divine Historian, in recounting the inimitable Virtues and Piety of this most excellent Lady; so we find her not only so zealous a Professor, but ranked also in that higher Class, the Champions of Religion too; witness her several Letters from Holland to her ever-darling Sister the Princess Ann of Denmark; in which, to copy from her Grand-father's Original, I may truly say she drew her own Eicon Basilice, whilst out of some little Fears of that too dangerous Influence, 
Regis ad Exemplum,  together with the prevailing Paternal Authority of a than Crowned Head, she acted that truly Christian GAMALIEL, in those strennous and laboured Arguments in Defence of the Church of England against the Errors of Rome, for her Royal Highness' Confirmation, as were wholly beyond the common Capacity of her Sex. 'Tis true, 'twas all a Work of Supererrogation, as being addressed to the Princess Anne, the Mistress of that settled Resolution, and those steady Grounds of Faith, as wholly unshaken as her own. Nevertheless, 'twas an innocent Tenderness of Affection, and Warmth of Zeal on the right side; and her ingenious Prosecution of so noble a Theme must stand no little Monument of her Glory.  
But as mine is too unhallowed a ●●n for so Divine a Theme as such transcendent Piety, and true Zeal for the Church of England, I shall borrow her fairer Character from a more deserving Historian, the Reverend Dr. Lake, her Royal Highness' sometimes Chaplain; whilst in his Preface to his Officium Eucharisticum, a Present truly worthy so sacred a Hand as the Princess', he justly tells the World, That She is become her own Theatre; every Scene of her Life is so generally known, (whilst the World is a Spectator to applaud and admire her) that it were even an unpardonable Arrogance, either to think of adding any thing to her Highness' Luster, or to believe he need open his Reader's Eyes. The Gravity and Sweetness of her Mien, the Affability of all her Comportments; the Virtue, Innocence and Goodness of her Life; her resolved Constancy in adhering to the Religion of our Church; her frequent and devout Retirements into her Closet; her unwearied Attendance at her Chapel and Altar, are sufficiently obvious; that the bare Knowledge of her Highness has been enough to render her beloved, with the most profound Respect. And that he's encouraged to tell her, that these Endowments will ever more import and stead her than any external or worldly ones, wherewith too she is abundantly provided. The Celsitude of her Descent only enrolls her Name in the Catalogue of the Great, is secular and transitory, calculated for this World; but it is her Grace and Virtue that writes it in the Book of Life. Beauty is fading, Grandeur is fugitive, the Wreaths of Civil Honour are withering; but her Godliness is a Crown that shall not fade away, gloriously set off with a diffusive Charity, a great Humility, and an exemplary Devotion.  
But to return to our History: As we left that sleeping Prince (the much lamented Charles the Second) in his Tomb, and find his Brother in the Throne: When after the first fair Dawn of this new Reign (a Morning that smiled so kind and promising, even to the dispelling almost all our past Frights) the growing Day soon clouded, and our whole Hemisphere began to lowr: When Religion and Zeal (not to be too long on so unpleasing a Subject) had superseded all other Obligations of Trust, Faith, Vows, Honour, and every thing that ought to be binding or sacred; and all the fatal Consequences were but too visible; insomuch that our Religion and Liberties bore but a Melancholy Face under the black Storms above them: 'Twas then when the reviving and increasing Terrors of the Nation from their impending Calamities, called and invited over the Prince of Orange for his relieving Hand, etc.  
To describe the Prince's glorious Entry into England, so late and so fresh in all Memories, were a needless Repetition. Let it suffice that He wore the two Tablets of the Law engraven upon his Sword, RELIGION and RIGHTS, a Sword that, with so potent a Commission, and such a Cause, even unsheathed, carried all before it, whilst the Gates of Castles, Towns, Garrisons, etc. without either Siege or Blockcade, unlocked to the very Name of ORANGE.  
The poor unhappy King seeing his whole Power thus dropped from him, (all the too dismal Effects of his own misguided Counsels) and thereby his long flattered Hopes for ever defeated; whether through Blushes or Fears, or both, (I will not determine) abandoned his deserted Crown and Kingdom; by which Vacancy of the Throne, so large a Jewel as the English Diadem, being returned into their own Hands, the Gratitude of the Nation was pleased to bestow it on the Prince and Princess of Orange, made Copartners in the Sovereignty, the Administration lodged in the Prince; and all with those universal Transports of Joy, as want not so poor a Trumpet as mine to sound them.  
I remember a short but very emphatical Line on His Majesty's Accession to the Crown, not unworthy my Repetition on this glorious Occasion.  
NON RAPIT IMPERIUM VISUS TVA, SED RECIPIT.  
Which shall thus speak English: 
A Crown unsought thou foundst; th●t Gem was given  
By grateful Man, and by rewarding Heaven.   
And now to complete the whole Nation's impatient Desires, there wanted only the Presence of her Royal Highness, who accordingly upon a solemn Invitation of the Estates embarked for England, attended by a Squadron of English and Dutch Men of War, and arrived safely at Whitehall on the 12 th' of February 1688. to the inexpressible Joy of the People, having been also saluted all the way her Yatch passed, by the Forts and Ships in the Road, as also by the Tower-Guns. The same Day she received the Compliments of the whole Nobility; and the next Day Their Titles were proclaimed, only with all the Customary Formality of Proclamations of that kind, viz. That the Gates at Temple-Bar were shut, where the Lord-Mayor, Aldermen, Recorder and Sheriffs attended, till the Heralds at Arms came to the Gates, and there informed the occasion of their coming, before they were opened for their Admission into the City.  
On the 11 th' of April following was celebrated their happy Coronation; which added that fairer Glory to the Triumphs of the Day, as the Nation had conceived those fairer and more than common Hopes from the Illustrious Royal Pair that then received the Crown. And to conclude the Ceremony by the universal Satisfaction that finished it, I can only say, if Excess be a Fault, there wanted even a General Pardon for the Joys of that Day.  
And here in Relation to her Majesty's share of Glory, I must now remark, as an everlasting Trophy to her never-dying Honour, a Record that shall keep her Memory fragrant to the end of the World: That not only our Altars, the whole Church of England owes its Supporters and Bulwarks to Her; his now Majesty's double Alliance (through her Marriage) to the Crown of Great Britain, being the greatest Invitation and Encouragement to the People of England to call him over for their Deliverer: But likewise 'twas this Royal Conjunction in our Ascendant that has taken up the Balance of Christendom, which the Un-British Effeminacy, Coldness and Negligence of the foregoing Reigns had so weakly, so poorly, and so unkindly let fall. The before so long Titular, and only Titular Blazon in the Royal Scutcheon of Arbiter of Europe, is now become (and that a Work I may say so far of her own fair Creation) a true and massy Jewel in the English Crown, whilst her propitious Marriage alone has lent this happy Kingdom that Hand and that Heart, that dare put in Execution what his Predecessors made only a Faint and Shadow; has crowned us that Sovereign Prince, who in the Head of an Army dares speak true English again, true Royal English. A Prince, whose public Benefits and Obligations to Mankind have reconciled those almost incompatible Names, the Protestant Deliverer, and yet at the same time the Romish Darling; whilst his indefatigable and active Services in Relief of the common Distresses of Christendom, have made even the most rigid Royal Sons of the Vatican Mother both love, embrace and honour him.  
The next Year after their Majesty's Coronation, his Majesty's Personal Appearance being required in Ireland for the Reduction of that Kingdom to his Obedience, (a Work that appeared too difficult for any other Conduct but his own) the Parliament by a Statute made for that purpose, settled the Royal Administration in the Queen, to hold for such time during his Majesty's Absence. By virtue of this Act, whenever his Majesty's leading Sword in the common Cause of Christendom has been called abroad, and thereby the Regency devolved into the Queen's Hand; as all those times of his Majesty's Absence were ever at that active Season of the Year, as required the most vigorous and most vigilant Councils of England; so the Royal Helm, though steered by a Female Hand, was never better guided▪ or more firmly, by the most Manly Royal Pilot. I may truly say, that as she was a second Elizabeth in the Church, so she was no less in the Council-Chamber.  
But as highly qualified as she was for Exercise of Sovereign Power; how she affected it, I shall refer my Reader to the Reverend Dean of St. Paul's his more eminent Authority, where in the Enumeration of her several other Virtues, he is pleased to leave us this Record of her.  
She was the Glory of her Sex, and an Ornament to the Crown she wore, made truly Great by Nature, Birth and Education. She had a large and capacious Mind, a quick and lively Apprehension, and a piercing and solid judgement; she had a Strength and Firmness of Mind beyond her Sex, and such a Dexterity in managing the greatest Affairs, as would have become the greatest and most experienced Ministers. Never was there greater Skill in Government with less Fondness for it, which she could take up and lay down with the same Equality of Mind: Tho, I doubt, I must unsay that, for she was always grieved at the occasion of taking the Government, and as glad to resign it.  
Never was Majesty better tempered with Easiness and Sweetness; She knew how to be familiar without making herself cheap; and to condescend without Meanness: She had all the Greatness of Majesty, with all the Virtues of Conversation, and knew very well what became her Table, and what became her Council-Board, etc.  
In short, her greatest and most implacable Enemies (for Virtue itself will meet with Enemies in the World) had no other fault to charge her with, but her Throne; which is the only thing for which most Princes are valuable. She ascended the Throne indeed before she desired it, but was thrust into it, not by an hasty Ambition, but to save a sinking Church and Kingdom: And I hope England will always have Reason to say, That an empty Throne could never have been filled with a nobler Pair.  
As the height of her Birth, and the depth of her Conduct and Capacity, so every ways suited to her Place and Character (her little Ambition of Power only excepted) had so signally enriched her for a Sovereign Head: And to all this the bountiful Riches of Nature in so many Personal Accomplishments, had marked her out as well for the leading Court-Star too; yet either of these Claims and Prerogatives were so little her Concern, that the only Study of her Life was that Exemplary Piety, as should render her the leading Virtue that shined there. For so free was she from the least Pride and Vanity, those too common Taints both of Greatness and Beauty; that if it were possible for her to glory in any of her illustrious Perfections or Acquisitions, it was not in the Beauties of her fair Eyes, or the Glories of her exalted Station, but those of her more exalted Mind: so far was she from being transported or delighted with what her Crown or her Glass reflected her, that on the contrary, she only looked upward for the Lustre to adorn her, and inward for the Mirror to please her.  
And although three Diadems were a very alluring Birthright, a fair Portion of Worldly Felicity, yet she had still a higher Ambition: The Crown she aspired to was enriched with far brighter Lustre than that of Pearls and Diamonds; and so little was she elevated with her first, that she waited only for her later and dearer Coronation.  
But not only to survey her in this higher Sphere of Piety and Religion, but descend from her Communication with Heaven, to her Converse with Man, and describe her Morals as well as Divinity: She was the kindest and most constant Patroness to her Friends. And to keep up no less to the great Christian Maxim of returning Good for Evil; so she was a Protectress even to her Enemies, whilst many a just Blow from too many deserving Heads has been shielded off by her interposing Mercy.  
Then for another of her shining Virtues, she was Charitable (if that Doctrine might hold in our Church) even to Merit. And as so many hundred poor Widows are now provided for mourning Attendants at her Funeral; so in her Life-time she has made many more hundreds of them smile at her Gate, than those are now ordered to mourn at her Hearse; when so many Mouths have been fed, and Backs clothed by her Majesty's Royal Bounty. And whilst so many living Monuments of her Honour shall ever sing her Praises; so the cheerful and thankful Prayers of the Poor are of all, the loudest Trumpets of Fame; for their Sound reaches Heaven, and makes the sweetest and most grateful Music there.  
Take her in all Capacities, she was a Wife so tender, that all her Sex might take Pattern from: A Princess so gracious, that all Mankind could do no less than reverence: A Mistress so obliging, that even the poorest of her Menials could not but dote upon her: And a Companion so cheerful, (where ever she vouchsafed her Friendship and Conversation) that made all Harmony wherever she spoke; every thing smiled round her, Heaven only excepted, when it so early snatched her away. Yet pardon that Expression, Heaven smiled not less on her, in advancing her to that brighter Crown of Glory she so long aspired to, and was so well prepared for; but on us, when we were thought unworthy the longer Blessings of such a Princess.  
To all her more Princely Perfections, those superior Ornaments, (for we have still new Subject of her Praises, in a yet lower Class of Virtues) she thought it no Disgrace to wear the humbler Feminine Badge even of common Domestic Housewifery, whilst that Hand that graced a Royal Sceptre, condescended to the poor Needle; as if she resolved to make her Life a Pattern to Womankind, as well to the Cottage as the Court; and by this particular Humility, to shame the Idleness of the highest and proudest, as well as lead and encourage it from so Royal an Example, even the lowest and the meanest.  
And now to descend to the humblest, and at least the most neglected part of her Life, her Diversions, the Hours she rarely stole from Books or Devotion. The Theatres have sometimes (but very rarely) prevailed, and that by Dint of Address and Supplication, for the Honour of her Royal Presence. The Muses (for whom both her Person and her Life were the fairest Scene) have now and then obtained the Grace of her Royal Encouragement.  
And besides the several Balls and Masks at Court upon the Anniverssaries of her Coronation, or those of her own or his Majesty's Birth-days, her Majesty was twice publicly entertained by the City of London; the first was on the 29 th' of October, in 1689, being the Festival Day of Sir Thomas Pilkington's Instalment into his Mayoralty; and the second on the same Day in the Year 1692, the like Festival Triumph at Sir john Fleet's Accession to the Chair.  
At the first of these Invitations from the City, their Majesties, with both the High Courts of Parliament (then sitting) with all the Chief Ministers of State, Foreign Ministers, their Majesty's Privy-Council, the Judges, Ladies of the Court, etc. besides the Pageantry of the Day, were treated at a splendid and magnificent Dinner at Guildhall. At the second Entertainment there was much the like Splendour and Magnificence repeated, excepting that the Parliament not then sitting, that part of their Honourable Guests were wanting. Both which were attended with the universal Shouts and Acclamations of the People, in Gratitude for the Honour the City, and the Satisfaction they themselves received from their Majesty's Royal Presence there; both through their Entry into the City, and also their Return to Whitehall. I shall only recite some part of the Solemnity.  
Upon the Hastings at the upper End of the Hall (where, under a Royal Canopy of State, the Table for their Majesties was seated) being erected a stately Structure, supported with noble Columns and Pilasters of Egyptian Marble, the Base and Capitals of Gold, bearing a large Etableture of Silver, with Banners, Trophies, Escutcheons, Statues, all suitable to the Grandeur of the Royal Guests, and the Solemnity of their Reception; upon a large Shield was excellently painted the Poetical Story of Perseus and Andromeda, with this Inscription; 
HUC VOLAT, HOC FUGAT, HANC SOLVENS CUPIENTE POTITUR:   
Thus Englished, 
Hither he flew, this Monster he destroyed,  
And his dear Care the grateful Nymph enjoyed.   
Under their Majesty's Effigies was written this Motto, 
FIDEI STATORES:   
Thus Paraphrased, 
T'our Faith's Defenders, let our Homage bow:  
Those Titular Names are solid Glories now.   
Round the two middle Columns were enwreathed these words, 

REX & REGINA BEATI.   

Our LION and our ROSE, the Great and Fair;  
Live ever happy this Imperial Pair.    
In a long Scroll under their Majesty's Arms was inscribed, 

IMPERIUM OCEANO FAMAM NON TERMINET ASTRIS.   

Let the wide Ocean his Dominion bound;  
But his loud Fame beyond the Stars resound.    
On a large Target, on which was painted the memorable Naval Victory gained over the French Fleet at La Hogue, was under written, 

EXTINCTO SOLE, VICTA INVINCIBILI.   

When Power meets Pride, thus Insolence subdued;  
Their Sun extinct, Invincible subdued.    
On another piece of Triumph was this Inscription; 

NASSOVIAE NIL NON EFFICIENT MANUS.   

What Glories are for NASSAU's Arms decreed,  
His own Steel Pen shall write, and Ages read.    
But now to come to the most mournful part of our History.  
On Thursday the 20 th' of December, her Majesty felt an Indisposition, which at first she did not think of moment enough for Application to her Physicians.  
The Day following her Illness increasing, the worthy Dr. Millington, and Dr. Ratcliff were called; and upon the growing Danger, Dr. Brown, Dr. Cox, Dr. Gibbons, Dr. Robinson, and Dr. Cole, and some other learned Gentlemen were added to the Consult of Physicians.  
On Saturday the Symptoms of the Small Pox appeared.  
At the same time for her Ghostly Physicians, the most Reverend the Bishop of Canterbury, the Right Reverend the Bishops of Worcester, Ely, Sarum, and Bath and Wells, paid her their Religious Attendance.  
These worthy Prelates, the ever most delightful Society of her Life, are now the mournful Assistants to conduct her out of it. And though 'tis easily to be imagined what a more melancholy, though Christian, Office they undertook in this last duteous Service to their most gracious Royal Mistress, their best of Friends and Patronesses: Yet as afflicted as they were at the too visible Face of that King of Terrors, DEATH, that so imminently threatened that Sacred Life; however, on the other side, they could not but be as extraordinary pleased to find her so well and so richly prepared to receive him.  
His Grace of Canterbury, who was the most constant Attendant even to her last Breath, was one day asked by her Majesty, What her Physician's Opinion of her was? To which his Grace ingeniously replying to this Effect, that they despaired of her Recovery: Her Majesty, wholly unstartled, with her natural Sweetness, was pleased to answer in these words, 
God be praised, I am provided.   
That constant Tranquillity and Composure of Mind attended her through her whole Sickness, (her Preparation for Eternity being not the Work of her Deathbed) that all along she expressed a perfect Resignation to the Pleasure of Heaven; and seemed to have nothing in this World, that she should be concerned to part from but her dear Lord, to whom, amongst many other affectionate and tender Expressions, she was pleased to utter this kind and most passionate Wish, viz.  That his Subjects might all love him as she had done. 
His Majesty during her whole Sickness, was that pious and constant Mourner over her, and such his extraordinary Tenderness and Fondness, that no Persuasions could draw him a moment from her, whilst he lay upon a Camp-Bed all the while by her in the same Room.  
The Day before her Death she joined in Communion with the Reverend Bishops, and took her Viaticum for Eternity, the Blessed Sacrament.  
In fine; her Religious Deportment through her whole Sickness was such, that her Reverend and pious Heavenly Guides found occasion to learn more than instruct; insomuch that the Bishop of Canterbury was heard to say, That when it pleased God to call him, he prayed that he might be found so well prepared to die.  
During her whole Sickness no Endeavours were wanting, if possible, to save so precious a Life; but as Human Art and Care cannot fence against the Will and Pleasure of Heaven, both the Physicians Industry, and the Nation's Prayers were wholly successless: for on Friday the 28 th' of December, about One in the Morning, her attending Divines resigned their Charge to her ministering Angels, at which time she breathed out her Soul into the Arms of Heaven.  
It was observable, that not the least Pang of Death was seen in her Face, whilst she breathed her last, as if she had rather seemed to have lain down to sleep, than die.  
If our Christian Creed will allow us that Latitude of Faith, as to give Credit and Reputation to Omens and Propheticks, as the Presages or Forerunners to the Deaths of Royal Heads, we have some very signal Occurrences that either happened before, or about the time of the Queen's Departure, worthy some particular Observation.  
For instance:  
First; His Majesty upon his going in his Royal Robes to the House of Lords for signing the two last Acts, viz. for the continuance of Tonnage and Poundage, and the frequent Session of Parliaments, his George was so missing as not possible to be found, insomuch that he was forced to borrow that of the Lord Chamberlain, the Earl of Dorset's, to wear on that occasion.  
Upon the Queen's first Indisposition, the great and eldest Lion in the Tower, who had been about twenty Years there, commonly called King Charles the Second Lion, sickened with her, and died the Wednesday Night after Christmas-Day, about Midnight, 48 Hours before her Majesty; which affords us so much the more matter of Curiosity, as that the like happened at the Death of King Charles the Second, when another of those Royal Beasts much in the like manner made the same Exit with that Prince.  
From Bristol we have a certain Account that a Keeper of Sir john Smith's Park shot an Eagle flying some very few days before the Queen's Death, being a Bird of that extraordinary Size, that her extended Wings reached three Yards wanting two Inches; and what adds to the Surprise and Wonder of this Relation, is, That the very same Keeper likewise shot another Eagle of very large Dimension in the Duke of Bolton's Park three days before King Charles the Second his Death.  
I dare not attempt the describing the Royal Sorrows, those of the afflicted King at this staggering Shock. But as the Painter of old drew the Mourning Agamemnon vailed, the Royal Face of Grief being above his Pencil's Reach: So not daring to venture on so bold a Theme, I shall only presume to say, Tho the Queen was so well prepared for her Death, his Majesty was not prepared for it. And although she left the World without the least expiring Pangs, by dying even in Smiles; his Majesty, a mournful Spectator, stood by in little less than Convulsions to behold her.  
The public Addresses of Condolance which the two Houses of Parliament have since presented to his Majesty on so deplorable a Subject, in which they were truly the Nation's Representatives, (for they spoke but the universal Voice of Sorrow) have amply testified the sensible Loss of so excellent a Princess. Nor has the City been wanting in the like melancholy Duty, having likewise resolved the immediate erecting their Majesty's Statues in their Royal Exchange.  
I shall only remark upon this National Calamity. The Learned affirm, that as in the loss of an Eye the kind concentring optic Nerves unite and convey their double force to the other remaining Light: so may we live to see the same verified in the Royal surviving Luminary of these Kingdoms. And let it be no less the Nation's particular Care and Duty to be tender of that great surviving Light, because 'tis our ALL.  
The Solemnities of her intended Funeral (in which both Houses of Parliament resolve to make a part of the Mourning Cavalcade) are such as,  
The Body to lie in State in her Majesty's Bedchamber at Whitehall, all hung with Purple Velvet, etc. the several Ladies of the best Quality the attending Mourners there, etc. the Bed of State, and the Ornaments of Plumes, Banners, etc. the several other State-Rooms in Whitehall likewise hung in Mourning, and their Majesty's Household Servants planted there as Mourners, etc.  
From thence the whole intended Funeral March, where His Majesty's Household Servants, all the Judges, Sergeants at Law, Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City, but above all, both Houses of Parliament are to attend the Corpse drawn by eight Horses in an open Chariot with a black Velvet Canopy, etc. from Whitehall to Henry the Seventh's Chapel. The stately Pyramid of prodigious height designed to be erected in the middle of Westminster-Abbey to repose the Body in during the Funeral Sermon, etc. with infinite more Splendour than I can pretend to recount or describe, will be all performed with that Grandeur and Magnificence, suitable to the passionate and highest Affection the Nation paid to so truly matchless a Princess.  
Nor will the public Mournings for so lamented a Sovereign Head, be confined only to three Kingdoms. The States of Holland, no less sensible of this common Loss, have resolved to express their universal Afflictions for their dear Princely Mistress in an extraordinary manner; when besides their going into a general Mourning, Orders are given, that through all the Provinces, the Bells of every Church shall toll three times every Day for the space of an Hour, and this to be continued six Weeks.  
But in all the wet Eyes and sad Hearts on this deplorable Occasion, I shall only add one farther Set of no less passionate, though a lower degree of Mourners: And those are the infinite Number of her poor Pensioners, and other Objects of her Royal Charity, amongst whom, to her never-dying Honour, she distributed near 30000 l. per Annum, all out of her own Revenue. These, though the poorest Mourners, will yet be the richest Tears, whilst the occasion that sheds them must more than embalm her Memory.  
To conclude, I shall endeavour to sum up our Loss by the Pen of the Reverend Dr. Wake.  If a Queen so virtuous, that her very Example was enough to convert a Libertine, and to reform an Age: So Courteous and so Affable, as to be the Wonder and Delight of All that knew Her: So great a Lover of her Country, and the Interests of it, as to be willing to hazard what, next her Conscience, she the most valued, her good Name, and good Opinion in the World, for the Preservation of them: So firm and constant in her Mind, as not to have ever known, no not in Death itself, what it was to fear: So happy in Business, as to astonish rather than satisfy, those who were the best versed in it. I say, that to have been deprived of such a Queen as this, and that at such an Age, when our Expectations were at the highest from her, be a Loss above the power of Words to express, than such is our Loss: The Greatness of which we are so far from being able sufficiently to declare, that we cannot yet make an Estimate of it. 
I shall only add, Though the Great WILLIAM, through the Blessing of Heaven, lives to preserve us the LION, Supporter of the English Scutcheon; yet in the Person of our Deceased Queen, I may truly affirm, we have lost the Royal ROSE of England.   

Threnodium Britannicum, TO THE Sacred Memory Of that Most Excellent PRINCESS; MARY the Second, etc.  

THE Great Inexorable seals his Ears,  
Deaf to our Cries, unmelted by our Tears.  
Th' irrevocable posting Mandate flies,  
Torn from Three Kingdoms grasping Arms, She dies.   

Amongst his furroughed Cheeks and Heads of Snow,  
Knees that even bend half way to meet the Blow;  
Had not the Tyrant Work enough for Graves  
In all that Legion of his Hoary Slaves!  
But all this Pride of Youth, the flowery Bloom  
Of thousand thousand Sweets (too partial Doom!)  
So fair our Hopes, so bright our Midday Sun,  
Has her whole finished Race of Glory run.   

Oh thou Eternal Foe 
* The Small Pox.  of Beauty, Thou  
Who to the smooth soft Cheek, and lovely Brow,  
With all the sharpest Teeth of Malice steeled,  
Ploughest up the Lily and the Rosy Field;  
Was't not enough, enough thy Spite conspires,  
Against that Fair Form to arm thy spotted Fires!  
Against her Life! Her precious Life t'invade,  
What Tyranny have those dread Ruins played?  
Hadst thou a keener Shaft, or Bloodier Dart,  
Levelled at sweet MARIA's tender Heart;  
Then all the louder Bolts of Fate before,  
Against her dear loved LORD durst ever pour!  
Wars Thunder, and the Cannon's fiery Breath,  
And Balls of Iron wrapped in Smoak and Death,  
Aw'd and ashamed that Life forbore to spill;  
There Bullets grazed; but here thy Rage must kill.   

But now to sum the Tears this Blow must cost,  
And weigh the shining Mass that we have lost:  
Virtues so infinite! to what vast ' count  
Must that rich Caskets numbered Treasures mount!  
Each Spark of Heaven which that fair Soul arrayed,  
By Pens unreached, and Pencils undisplayed!  
For, O, so thick the clustered Glories lay,  
Thy Constellation was the Milky Way.   

Such vast Attractions to our dazzled view  
That Duty, and uncommon Homage drew:  
The bended Knees that almost blocked her way,  
And all the prostrate Hearts before her lay,  
Warmed with such Charms that Veneration felt,  
Till they mistook the QVEEN, and to the SAINT they knelt.   

Too excellently Good, Heaven's unkind Call,  
In thy bright flaming Chariot snatched thee ALL:  
Thou hadst, alas! no spirited Mantle fall.  
Yet thousands, who thy Virtues shall admire,  
(What can such Piety less than inspire!)  
Conversions by such leading Wonders wrought,  
All Pupils by that fair GAMALIEL taught,  
Their following Steps, dear Angel Guide, 'tis true,  
Shall thy bright Track of Endless Light pursue:  
But never, never reach thy swifter Pace,  
But lag far short of thy prodigious Race.   

When so much Piety in Dust lies down,  
Mourn equally the Mitre and the Crown.  
Sceptres and broken Crosiers on each Hand,  
At once the Moses Rod and Aaron's Wand.   

In such unmatched Perfections we possessed  
The PHOENIX only, not the Phoenix Nest;  
Of that Divine Original bereft,  
The envying heavens have no kind Copy left.  
From that fair Tree of Life, no science shoot;  
No living Branches from that dying Root.   

Had Providence vouchsafed us but an Heir,  
From the rich Veins of that Imperial Pair;  
Some lovely Stamp from thy own Angel-Mould,  
As might those transmigrated Virtues hold;  
Tho not our Grief, yet our Despair to save,  
And make the Cradle even defeat the Grave,  
Then fair Britannia's Sighs, a Work once done,  
Had hoped t' have seen their finished Circle run:  
But this dire Loss brings an Entail of Woe,  
And even Posterity shall wail this Blow.   

To ward the Shock this fatal Stroke has given;  
O that 'twere possible to have bribed Heaven,  
Either t'have lengthened out thy smiling Reign,  
Or else have shortened our too kill Pain.  
Longer t' enjoy, or not so long deplore,  
We loved Thee less, or had deserved Thee more!   

But have Death's gloomy Shades, a long long Night,  
Shut from our Eyes that ever setting Light!  
Set, did I say! no, when such Beauty dies  
The Grave is but th' Eclipse to those fair Eyes.  
The interposing Dust, that Earthy Screen,  
Has only veiled our lovely Albion Queen.  
And when the last Great Trump shall sound so loud,  
To ease those labouring Lights, and burst their Cloud:  
When those fair Twins, their darkening Earth remove,  
They'll smile in endless Joys, and endless Love.  
Her fair Seraphic MIND already crowned,  
Waiting and longing moves her Starry Round,  
Till the dear sleeping Half she left behind,  
Those bright Coheirs of Deathless Glory joined,  
(Her finished Rites) a larger Wreath Divine  
The consummated Saints rich Brow shall twine.   

But now if any of the Nine, so bold,  
(For the whole Scene of Fate must all unfold)  
Dares draw the Curtains of the dying Fair,  
And tell the World the mournful Story there:  
Here if disordered Sighs, a broken Start,  
The Fears and Tremble of an aching Heart;  
If these sad Objects thou expectest to have,  
The common Terrors of th' approaching Grave,  
Thou must look round her for that sight alone;  
Thou'lt read 'em in All Faces but Her own.  
But there, there all Celestial Harmony,  
That cheerful Air, so all in tune to die,  
Tired with the empty Dross she leaves behind,  
And rapt up in the Joys she goes to find,  
Not the expecting Bride more sweetly lies.  
Thou'lt find her half in Heaven before she dies.  
Those lovely Graces sure were all at strife  
To make her Death as charming as her Life.   

But when (the fatal Minute come) too weak  
Her yielding Heart's last Strings of Life must break;  
So calm her Brow, that easy parting Breath,  
No ruffling Pang unsmooths that Face of Death:  
Thus hushed in Smiles laid down to endless Rest,  
Her dying Bed a perfect Haltion Nest.  
Her Looks like her fair Soul serene appear;  
Peace sent to Peace is all Death's Business here.  
Death sure with his own Shaft ne'er pierced that Heart;  
But borrowed from soft Love his Golden Dart.  
Thus lulled to Rest thy peaceful Requiem take:  
But when thou goest to sleep, Thou bidst Us wake.  
Those fair sealed Eyes meet their long sweet Repose,  
Whilst ours, alas, are too brim full to close.   

From this sad Scene, my Muse, turn thy wet Eyes  
To a new Prospect, her Great Exequys;  
The Funeral Pomp must her last Rites conclude,  
The Public Debt of Grief and Gratitude.   

Here the fair Britain's CORONETS, and You  
Her Great Five Hundred, all the Sons of Woe,  
Those Representing Heads in Night and Shade  
March, her whole Albion in one Cavalcade.   

And thou RICH HEARSE with all thy Glories spread,  
To bear the Fair Remains of this GREAT DEAD;  
Drive heavily thy sable Chariot, strong  
Thy rolling Wheels; for, O, thou drag'st along  
Three wailing Nations, whilst thy Passage lies,  
Through thousand bleeding Hearts, and drowning Eyes.   

And thou proud Minster, thou, who not alone  
Beholdest her Setting, once her Rising-Sun:  
Saw'st the Rich Drops, and circling wreath of Gold,  
Those shining, but now shaded Brows enfold.  
To crown the State her Funeral Pomp shall bear,  
Call down thy Patron, thy Great Peter there▪  
By his own Hand th' unfolded Portal spread,  
For the Reception of this Royal Dead,  
Beyond this last dear Charge he has no more;  
His Brighter Gates he had opened her before.   

And thou Illustrious Pyramid shalt stand,  
Erected by Britannia's pious Hand,  
T' enrich the proud Magnificence of Woe,  
And hold the hallowed Sweets that sleep below,  
If made of melting Marble-mould thou be  
join in her Tears, and weep as well as she.   

And thou seventh Henry's ever sacred Pile  
Where Royal Heads from Empire's Care and Toil,  
In their last Resting-bed of Dust lay down  
The Load of Power, and Burden of a Crown:  
To this Imperial welcomed Guest unfold  
Thy Gates of Brass, or burnish them with Gold.  
Round thy gay Roof a thousand Lamps shall burn  
All funeral Tapers to this Royal Urn:  
join all your Lights to grace a Pomp so fair;  
Her own all blazing Fame the brightest there.  
Odours and burning Sweets our Senses feast,  
The richest Compounds of her spicy Nest;  
Whilst Aromatic smoking Clouds around,  
With their rich falling Dew scent all the hallowed Ground,  
And to all these her sweeter Memory.  
With that ascending Fragrance mount so high:  
Those but her Tomb, but this perfume the vaulted Sky.   

And proud Augusta, in thy Royal Byrse,  
Pay thy last Rites to dear MARIA's Hearse;  
The Royal Pair, by some Apelles hand,  
In monumental Sceptered Marble stand.  
WILLIAM and MARY thy great Tutelar Powers,  
The Guardians of thy Walls, and Genii of thy towers,  
Let those rich Shrines no common Homage share:  
Thou hold'st thy Troynovant's Palladium there.   

And you once Royal 
* Her Majesty's Terras Garden at the Privy-Stairs.  Plants, her little Grove,  
'twixt heavens and William's dear divided Love,  
Her contemplating Walk, close by whose side.  
Did the pleased Thames his silver Currents glide;  
Proud that his swelling Tide so high could rise  
To be the Mirror to those Smiling Eyes;  
Break all your Urns; root up your flowery Beds,  
No verdant Greene's, where those, now drooping heads  
The Pink and Rose, and sweeter Jas'mine grew,  
Plant the sad Cypress, and the rueful Yew.   

And thou great Viceroy of the float- Thrones  
The Watery God, and all thy Triton Sons,  
Who, scarce seven circling Planets of the Year,  
That glorious Yesterday in our bright Sphere,  
Borest thy proud Mistress o'er her Vassal Main  
The Waves her dancing, those her singing Train,  
Now break your vocal Shells those Trumps-Marine,  
And drown your Eyes in more than Ocean Brine.  
Bid the commissioned Seas our Loss deplore,  
And waft our Sighs to the World's utmost Shoar.   

If this sad face the Public Sorrow bears,  
What are her Royal Closet-Mourner's Tears.  
Those deluged Eyes for his dear darling Queen,  
That more than dismal Scene— But be't unseen.  
No opening, no unhallowed hand dare draw  
The widowed Curtains of her Loved NASSAU.  
Despair, Death, Horror! Oh, be strong great Heart,  
Thou'st now to play thy mightiest Hero's part.  
Yes, Great Nassau, the Parting-Call was given:  
(Too dire Divorce!) Thy happier Rival Heaven  
TO its own Embrace has snatch that darling Fair,  
Translated to Immortal Spousals there.   

But must this narrow Isle the Sorrows bound,  
Only to move the sad Britannic round.  
Albion is here a Mourner, but in chief;  
Hers is a whole Confed'racy of Grief.  
All the fair Austrian Eagles hang their Wings,  
Nay the whole Europe her sad Tribute brings.   

But in the Hecatombs paid to that Urn,  
What Incense must the mourning Belgia burn.  
To what vast Height thy flowing Sorrows swell,  
A whole long Lent 
* Their Bells ordered to Tole six Weeks together.  for thy sad Funeral Knell.  
Beneath this Struck thy fainting Courage stoops,  
The Belgic with the British LION droops.   

But when such dazzling Excellence must die,  
What's all our empty Funeral Pageantry?  
Can unbraced Drums, or broken Trumpets sound,  
And dusty Standards trailed upon the ground,  
Thy Rites perform! No, thy rich Hearse t' attend  
To mourn such PIETY, Temple Veils shall rend.  
Even widowed Altars shall thy Loss bemoan,  
And untuned Spheres thy Funeral Dirges groan.   

Albion to pay, what here her Sorrows owe,  
Her Tears must, like her Ocean, round her flow.  
Her ever opened Founts must pour those streams  
Of Grief for Thee, like her own flowing Thames;  
To the vast Deep the sliding Currents born,  
And wasted back in swelling Tides return.   

Nor Albion's Tears alone, even Albion's Foes:  
The very Lilies droop for such a ROSE.  
The Viper's Tooth unedged to hurt that Fair,  
Even gallic spite has lost its Poison there.   

Well, if th' empov'risht World must yield to Fate,  
Thy Loss too early, but deplored too late.  
Go then to the Bright Region of the Blessed,  
Yes mount fair Saint, but come no Stranger-Guest.  
The Heaven-crowned Heads their Royal-partner meet,  
And Angel-Trains the welcomed Angel greet.  
To the Seraphick-Songs thou add'st no more,  
Thy Life was tuned to that High Choir before.   
FINIS.