Poetical Works of Edmund Waller and Sir John Denham

Of the Lady Mary, Princess of Orange

1 As once the lion honey gave,
    Out of the strong such sweetness came;
  A royal hero, no less brave,
    Produced this sweet, this lovely dame.

2 To her the prince, that did oppose
    Such mighty armies in the field,
  And Holland from prevailing foes
    Could so well free, himself does yield.

3 Not Belgia’s fleet (his high command)
    Which triumphs where the sun does rise,
  Nor all the force he leads by land,
   Could guard him from her conqu’ring eyes.

4 Orange, with youth, experience has;
    In action young, in council old;
  Orange is, what Augustus was,
    Brave, wary, provident, and bold.

5 On that fair tree which bears his name,
    Blossoms and fruit at once are found;
  In him we all admire the same,
    His flow’ry youth with wisdom crown’d!

6 Empire and freedom reconciled
    In Holland are by great Nassau;
  Like those he sprung from, just and mild,
    To willing people he gives law.

7 Thrice happy pair! so near allied
    In royal blood, and virtue too!
  Now love has you together tied,
    May none this triple knot undo!

8 The church shall be the happy place
    Where streams, which from the same source run,
  Though divers lands a while they grace,
    Unite again, and are made one.

9 A thousand thanks the nation owes
    To him that does protect us all;
  For while he thus his niece bestows,
    About our isle he builds a wall;

10 A wall! like that which Athens had,
     By th’oracle’s advice, of wood;
   Had theirs been such as Charles has made,
     That mighty state till now had stood.

[1] ‘Princess of Orange’: The Princess Mary was married to the Prince of Orange at St. James’s, in November 1677.