Poems upon Several Occasions/69
of a Cause between her Grace the
Dutchess of Grafton and the Lord
Chief Justice.
THE Princes sate. Beauty and Law contend:
The Queen of Love will her own Cause defend.
Secure she looks, as certain none can see
Such Beauty plead, and not her Captive be.
What need of Words with such commanding Eyes!
Must I then speak? O Heav'ns! the Charmer cries;
O barbarous Clime, where Beauty borrows Aid
From Eloquence, to charm, or to persuade!
Will Discord never leave with envious Care
To raise Debate? but Discord governs here:
To Juno, Pallas, Wisdom, Fame, and Power,
Long since preferr'd, what Tryal needs there more?
Confest to Sight, three Goddesses descend
On Ida's Hill, and for a Prize contend,
Nobly they bid, and lavishly pursue
A Gift, that only cou'd be Beauty's Due:
Honours and Wealth the generous Judge denies,
And gives the Triumph to the brightest Eyes.
Such Precedents are numberless: we draw
Our Right from Custom: Custom is a Law,
As high as Heav'n, as wide as Seas and Land,
As ancient as the World, is our Command.
It might suffice that I pronounce it mine,
And right or wrong he shou'd his Claim resign.
Mars and Alcides would this Plea allow,
Beauty was ever absolute till now.
Not Bears nor Tygers sure so savage are
As these ill-manner'd Monsters of the Bar.
Loud Rumour has proclaim'd a Nymph divine,
Whose matchless Form, to counter-ballance mine,
By dint of Beauty shall extort your Grace:
Let her appear, this Rival, Face to Face,
Let Eyes to Eyes oppos'd this Strife decide;
Now when I lighten let her Beams by try'd.
Was't a vain Promise, and a Gown-Man's Lie?
Or stands she here, unmark'd, when I am by?
So Heav'n was mock'd, and once all Elis round
Another Jupiter was said to sound;
On brazen Floors, the Royal Actor tries
To Ape the Thunder rattling in the Skies;
A brandish'd Torch, with emulating Blaze,
Affects the forky Light'ning's pointed Rays?
Thus born aloft, triumphantly he rode
Thro' Crowds of Worshippers, and acts of God.
The Sire Omnipotent prepares the Brand
By Vulcan wrought, and arms his potent Hand,
Then flaming hurls it hissing from above,
And in the vast Abyss confounds the mimick Jove.
Presumptuous wretch! with Mortal Art to dare
Immortal Power, and brave the Thunderer.
Cassiopè, preferring with Disdain
Her Daughter to the Nereïds, they complain:
The Daughter, for the Mother's guilty Scorn,
Is doom'd to be devour'd; the Mother's born
Above the Clouds, where by immortal Light
Reverst she shines, expos'd to human Sight,
And to a shameful Posture is confin'd,
As an eternal Terror to Mankind.
Did thus the Gods such private Nymphs protect,
What Vengeance might the Queen of Love expect?
But grant such arbitrary Pleas are vain,
Wav'd let them be: Meer Justice shall obtain:
Who to a Husband better can succeed,
Than his lov'd Wife, the Partner of his Bed?
Or to a Father's Right lay stronger Claim,
Than the dear Youth in whom survives his Name?
Behold that Youth, consider whence he springs,
And in his Royal Veins respect your King's;
Immortal Jove upon a Mortal She
Begat his Sire; Second from Jove is he.
Well did the Father blindly fight your Cause,
Following the Cry of Liberty and Laws,
If by those Laws, for which he lost his Life,
You spoil ungratefully the Son and Wife.
What need I more; 'Twere Treason to dispute:
The Grant was Royal: that decides the Suit:
Shall vulgar Laws Imperial Power constrain?
Kings, and the Gods, can never act in vain.
She finish'd here, the Queen of ev'ry Grace,
Disdain vermillioning her heav'nly Face;
Our Hearts take Fire, and all in Tumult rise,
And one Wish sparkles in a thousand Eyes.
O might some Champion finish these Debates,
My Sword shou'd end, what now my Muse relates.
Up rose the Judge, on each Side bending low,
A crafty Smile accompanies the Bow,
Ulysses-like, a gentle Pause he makes,
Then, raising by Degrees his Voice, he speaks.
In you, my Lords, who judge, and all that hear,
Methinks I read your Wishes for the Fair,
Nor can I wonder; even I contend
With secret Pain, unwilling to offend;
Unhappy, thus oblig'd to a Defence
That may displease such Heav'nly Excellence.
Might we the Laws on any Terms abuse,
So bright an Influence were the best Excuse.
Let Niobe's just Doom, the vile Disgrace
Of the Propetides polluted Race,
Let Death, or Shame, or Lunacy, surprise
Who dare to match the Lustre of her Eyes:
Aloud the fairest of the Sex complain
Of Captives lost, and Love's invok'd in vain.
At her Appearance all their Brightness ends,
Those Stars of Beauty set, when she ascends.
Where Love presides, still may she bear the Prize,
But rigid Law has neither Ears nor Eyes;
Charms to which Mars and Hercules wou'd bow,
Minos and Rhadamanthus disavow:
Justice, by nothing biass'd or enclin'd,
Deaf to Perswasion, to Temptation blind,
Determines without Favour, and the Laws
O'erlook the Parties, to decide the Cause.
What then avails it that a beardless Boy
Took a rash Fancy for a Female Toy?
Th' insulted Argives with a numerous Host
Pursue Revenge, and seek the Dardan Coast;
Tho' the Gods built, and tho' the Gods defend,
Those lofty Towers the hostile Greeks ascend,
Nor leave they 'till the Town in Ashes lies,
And all the Race of Royal Priam dies.
The Queen of Paphos mixing in the Fray,
Rallies the Troops, and urges on the Day,
In Person in the foremost Rank she stands,
Provokes the Charge, directs, assists, commands;
Stern Diomed, advancing high in Air
His feather'd Jav'lin, strikes the heav'nly Fair,
The vaulted Skies with her loud Shrieks resound,
And high Olympus trembles at the Wound.
In Causes just, shou'd all the Gods oppose,
'Twere honest to dispute: So Cato chose.
Dismiss that Plea, and what shall Blood avail?
If Beauty is deny'd, shall Birth prevail?
Blood, and high Deeds in distant Ages done,
Are our Fore-fathers Merit, not our own.
Might none a just Possession be allow'd,
But who cou'd bring Desert, or boast of Blood,
What Numbers, even here, might be condemn'd?
Strip'd and despoil'd of all, revil'd, contemn'd?
Take a just View, how many may remark
Who's now a Lord, his Grandsire was a Clerk:
Then O beware, nor do these Robes despise,
But honour that, from whence your Honours rise.
How dear to Britain are her darling Laws!
What Blood has she not lavish'd in their Cause?
Kings are like common Slaves to Slaughter led,
Or wander thro' the World to beg their Bread.
Such fatal Precedents might awe the Throne
From lawless Grants: Who give what's not their own,
The Gift is void: 'Twere a cheap way to clear
The Crown Accounts, by robbing from the Bar!
That Power which takes from me, may force from you:
To your own Interests—You were ever true:
Consider that: I plead but your own Cause:
Give Sentence then, protect, maintain the Laws.
He spoke. The Princes differ and divide,
Some follow Law, and some with Beauty side.
So once th' Apostate Angels brav'd the Pow'r
Whom they were wont to worship and implore:
Like impious is their Rage, who have in chace
A new Omnipotence in Grafton's Face.
Bold Rochester, undaunted, just, and wise,
Asserts the Goddess with the charming Eyes:
Beauty her Orders, like th' Almighty, sends,
And Rochester, like Michaël, cleaves the Fiends:
And O may Beauty never want Reward
For thee, her noble Champion and her Guard!
Beauty triumphs, and Law submitting lyes,
The Tyrant tam'd, aloud for Mercy cries:
Conquest can never fail in radiant Grafton's Eyes.
