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VIRO, FAVORE REGIO, ET MERITIS SUIS HONORATISSIMO, AMPLISSIMOQUE DOMINO, EDVARDO HIDE, Equiti Aurato, summo Angliae & optato Oxoniae Cancellario, necnon Serenissimo Regi CAROLO IIdo. à secretioribus Conciliis, &c.
CARMEN GRATƲLATORIƲM.
Erige depressam Victrix Academia cristam,
Dii Tutelares rem Tibi nuper agunt:
Venit Io extorris (praeclarior ostracismo)
Anchora quassatâ deficiente rati:
Regibus ante omnes, Patri, Natoque fidelis
Dextera; captivo deliciae populo:
Virtutisque supremus apex: hunc Anglia primùm
Suscipit in gremium, jam capit Oxonium.
Herculeus labor! at languens Ecclesia poscit,
Inque Tuas gestit tradere sacra manus:
Durius incumbens humeris onus utile Nobis
Expulsos revocas, restituisque Deos.
Cos Musis, cui terra minax, pelagusque pepercit
Annue, dans votis vela secunda meis:
Nutriat admissos (sit anus licèt) ubere pleno
Casta parens olim, nunc tibi filiola.
Enumerans Mecaenates sis ipse patronus
Liber, ut excellens Bibliotheca crepat:
Legis-latores auge, jurisque peritos,
Authores nullo codice deficiant:
Redde antiqua, & eris Nobis Tu Stator Apollo;
(Jupiter hoc famam nomine nactus erat.)
Vt cum serus obis post Te monumenta relinquens
Sumptibus hic cedant Seldeniana Tuis.
Erect thy Crest, Tryumphant OXFORD, see
The Tutelary Gods take care of Thee,
And call One home from banishment to steer
Thy shipwreck'd Barque, and be thy Mariner:
One thou maist trust, whose faith two Kings have prov'd,
Hence the delight of all, and most belov'd:
Whose stock of Vertues made Him first in power
Or'e England, now Our wish'd-for CHANCELLOR.
Go on, Great Hero, let the Church confesse
Thine is a Thirteenth Work for Hercules:
Yours is the Burthen, Ours the Gaine by odds,
That hast restor'd to Us Our exil'd Gods.
Thou by whose beams Our Muses thrive, for Whom
Land-tumults cease, and th' Sea forgets to foame,
Hear Our requests, May OXFORD sprout and grow,
(OXFORD, Your Mother once, Your Daughter now)
Live Our Mecaenas, pile on Books to th' height,
Untill Sir Thomas Bodley groan with weight:
Make LAW amends for its too long disgrace,
Be there no Idiom wanting to this Place:
Let Statutes rule, Restorer be to Us,
(Jove gain'd his lasting Name and Honour thus)
That when You shall (late may it be) go hence,
You may out-vie great Seldens Monuments.
Robert Whitehall, Fellow of Merton College.