Tixall Poetry/To Mr Normington, at Piacenza, upon Occasion of the Overflowes of Po and Tyber

by unknown author

To

Mr Normington,

at Piacenza,

upon Occasion of The Overflowes of Po and Tyber.

 

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I.
Come let me traine my muse to soare by thy ne
        The lofty est of the Nine;
Why should not I with Tybers deluge flow
        As full as thou with Po;
     Can Alpes become Parnassus there,
        And Apenine not here?
        What if the river's king
     Raigne ore the Heleconian spring,
Can Phebus cast such partiall glances on
That urne which overwhelm'd his falling sonne?

II.
Shall you, Eridanus' new bird, out scan
        The wing of Dirces swan?
From whos full pennes deep raptures gusht of owld,
        Lyke rivers downe hill rould:
     And I (when Tiber can not keepe
        His bed) in myne here sleepe?
        Wher still my muse consumes
     Her flagging veine in downy plumes:
No, no, though hope could never raise my quill,
Feare now gives wings to clime yon neboring hill.

III.
See, see, the land turn'd an Egean sea,
        Where mountains ciclads be;
Hark, how the tyrant water foaming roares,
        Disdaining hills for shores;
     Each element his seate confounds,
        Where rivers brooke no bounds:
        Thos streames, who, lesse, could yeeld
Rich pasture to each gladsome field,
Lyfe to each iolly swaine, now greater growne,
And swolne more high, both feeld and shepard drowne.

IV.
Alas! how rare a thing is moderate
        To an unweldy state!
So one, borne to his friends and contrys good,
        That flowes in welth and blood,
     But bred to proiects, ayry milles
        On forraine winds and hills,
        Or fed ith slimy pooles
     Of gluttonous gold fishing fooles,
Swells, rages, overflowes, depopulates,
Confounds his owne, ruins his neighbors states.

V.
A senate here, by popular consent
        Thrust into government,
To curbe despotik power that might undoe,
        Is become tyrant too:
     And now braves Cesar to his face,
        And then usurpes his place,
        And puft so prowdly high
     Above the brinkes of mortality:
Even dares the Gods to reparation,
And carves new currents to religion.

VI.
An army theire, raised to protect the cause
        Of common welth and lawes,
High fed with publique tresure freely powr'd,
        And plentifully showrd;
     That, like a torrent overflown,
        Drove desolation
        Before it, now wild to see
     No more the face of enemy,
'Gainst its owne citty turnes th' ungratefull flood,
Threats a new deluge there of parents blood.

VII.
A people seated in a fayre aboad,
        Where milke and nectar flowd,
Where peace and iustice fild the cupps of blisse,
        In a perpetual kisse:
     Drunk with that ill-bestowd successe
        Of there owne happinesse,
        And pamperd bove ther hight,
     Kick downe the bankes of iust and right:
And, blindly frantike, draw a bloody streame
Of sacred purple on ther sonnes and them.

VIII.
But stay, faint Muse, thy overdaring flight,
        To this unseemely height:
Though iustly thy deare Normington not feares
        Rash Phaetons late teares,
     Whos speculation him might moove
        To the waters there above,
        And lead him up to spy
     That other Padus in the sky:
For thee ore seas to towre can get no fame,
But that of Icarus his empty name.