in,
And all his messengers of peace have slain:
And now the hour of his revenge is come,
Thy weeks are finish'd, and thy slumb'ring doom,
Which long has laid in the divine decree,
Is now arous'd from his dull lethargy;
His army's rais'd, and his commission seal'd,
His order's given, and cannot be repeal'd:
And now thy people, temple, altars all
Must in one total dissolution fall.
Heav'n will in sad procession walk the round,
And level all thy buildings with the ground.
And from the soil enrich'd with human blood,
Shall grass spring up, where palaces have stood,
Where beasts shall seed; and a revenge obtain
For all the thousands at thy altars slain.
And this once blessed house, where Angels came
To bathe their airy wings in holy flame,
Like a swift vision or a flash of light,
All wrapt in fire shall vanish in thy sight;
And thrown aside amongst the common store,
Sink down in time's abyss, and rise no more.

* * * * *

CHARLES SACKVILLE, Earl of DORSET,

Eldest son of Richard earl of Dorset, born the 24th of January 1637, was
one of the most accomplished gentlemen of the age in which he lived,
which was esteemed one of the most courtly ever known in our nation;
when, as Pope expresses it,

The soldiers ap'd the gallantries of France,
And ev'ry flow'ry courtier writ romance.

Immediately after the restoration, he was chosen member of parliament
for East-Grimstead, and distinguished himself while he was in the
House of Commons. The sprightliness of his wit, and a most exceeding
good-nature, recommended him very early to the favour of Charles the
IId, and those of the greatest distinction in the court; but his mind
being more turned to books, and polite conversation, than public
business, he totally declined the latter, tho' as bishop Burnet[1] says,
the king courted him as a favorite. Prior in his dedication of his
poems, observes, that when the honour and safety of his country demanded
his assistance, he readily entered into the most active parts of life;
and underwent the dangers with a constancy of mind, which shewed he had
not only read the rules of philosophy, but understood the practice of
them. He went a volunteer under his royal highness the duke of York in
the first Dutch war, 1665, when the Dutch admiral Opdam was blown up,
and about thirty capital ships taken and destroyed; and his composing
a song before the engagement, c