Miscellaneous poems with some remarks on the death of King Charles the II, and the happy succession of King James the II, in a poem to the magistracy of England / by John Whitehall.

To the HONOURABLE Sir CHRISTOPHER BUCKLE, Knt. One of His Majesty's Justices of the Peace for the County of SƲSSEX.

SIR,

I Durst not have presum'd to have prefix'd so great a Name to such mean Poems, had I not well experi∣enc'd the easiness of Your Nature, and known it a far greater difficulty to me to err, than to You not to forgive. Should I attempt (an impossibility) to write Your Encomiums, I should hazard the second loss of Your Favour, since I am certain that You are so far from courting publick Respect and Fame, that Your greatest Ambition is to live and die in silence. But that will not, cannot be, for your Virtues (more

powerfully than the Sun) dart their Beams even thro' the thickest Cloud, and Your very Name is a compendious Chronicle of Honour. There are but few Men who have not their One particular Virtue, but fewer (like You) have All. In One we find a Meek Nature, in Another Valour, in a Third and Fourth Learning and Loyalty; but in You they are all conspicuous: And it were less necessary than difficult to distinguish which Virtue is the most eminent. You need no greater Heraulds of Your Glory than these; however You have other Blessings (indeed vast and real Bles∣sings) Your happy Off-spring, who ho∣nour their Extraction, and are living Monuments of their Religious Parents. How then an You lie hid? You, whom even he late best and greatest Mo∣narch of the Earth, did so far observe,

as to point You our to no less a Dig∣nity than the Guardianship of those two dearest Darlings of his Soul, Reli∣gion and Peace. Happy King, brest with so tender a Servant; happy Servant, under so gracious a Monarch: A Mo∣narch, whose Graces, as they were still the Praise, Wonder, and Admi∣ration of the general World, so of You in particular. Neither did You less imitate than admire them, and most especially his Mercy; which encou∣rages me to present these Poems to Your Worship, begging both Your Acceptance and Patronage, under which I shall be able to withstand the sharpest Censure of the impar∣tial Critick. How happy should I be, if they (like You) would weigh the disadvantages of my Learning! I cannot (like the Prophet) thrive so

well with Pulse and Water, as Prince∣ly Poets do with delicious Libraries 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. I neither expect so much, nor wish it. No, my greatest hope is, That You would vouchase me the acceptance of these Trifles, and the utmost extent of my Ambi∣tion is to acknowledge my self

Your Honours most humble Servant, John Whitehall.