An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661)Evelyn, John
History
An Apologie for the Royal Party (1659); and A Panegyric to Charles the Second (1661)
Evelyn, John
Charles II, King of England, 1630-1685 -- Early works to 1800; Great Britain -- Politics and government -- 1649-1660 -- Pamphlets
Your Majesty must needs remember, nor is the sound yet out of your sacred
ears, when the houses of this your August Metropolis were covered with the
loud and cheerful spectators, because the earth was too narrow to contain
them; the wayes and the trees were filled with the shouting of your
people, LONG LIVE KING _CHARLES_ THE _II._ _tamque aequaliter ab omnibus ex
adventu tuo laetitia percepta est, quam omnibus venisti_. For when the wise
Arbiter of things began to look down upon us, all things conspir'd to make
us happy; our Deliverance by your Majesty as by another _Moses_, leading
us out of that _AEgyptian_ bondage; or by a nearer resemblance that of the
_Babylonish_ captivity, if not yet farr greater; since God did there only
turne the heart of a Prince to let a nation go: Here, the hearts of a
whole Nation, to invite a banish'd Prince to come, when no other visible
power interpos'd. Let others boast then of their miracles; we can produce
such, as no age, no people under heaven can shew; God moving the hearts of
his most implacable Enemies in a moment as it were, and those who had been
before inhumanely thirsty after your blood, now ready to sacrifice their
own for your safety; _Digna res memoratu! ibat sub ducibus vexillisque
Regiis, hostis aliquando Regius, & signa contra quae steterat sequebatur_.
But I suffer [HW: surfeit] with too much Plenty, and what eloquence is
able to expresse the triumph of that your never to be forgotten Entry,
unlesse it be the renewing of it this day? For then were we as those who
dream, and can yet hardly be perswaded, that we are truly awake: _Dies
ille aeternis seculis monumentisque mandandus_, A day never to be forgotten
in all our Generations, but to be consecrated to posterity, transmitted to
future Ages, and inserted into Monuments more lasting then Brasse. Away
then with these Woodden and temporary Arches, to be taken down by the
People at pleasure; erect Marble ones, lasting as the Pyramids, and
immovable as the mountains themselves, and when they fail, let the memory
of it still remain engraven in our Hearts, Books, Records, _novissimo haud
peritura die_.
And yet not this altogether, because we have received a Prince, but such a
Prince, whose state and fortune in all this blessed change, we so much
admire not, as his mind; For that is truly felicity, not to possesse
great things, but to be thought worthy of them: And indeed Great Sir,
necessity constrains me, and the laws of _Panegyric_, to verifie it in
your Praises, by running over at least those other Appellations, which
both your vertue has given to your Majesty, and your Fortune acquir'd. For
he is really no King who possesses not (like you) a Kingly mind, be his
other advantages what they may: If the Republick belong then to _Caesar_,
_Caesar_ belongs much more to the Republick; and of this you have given
proof.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account