The Poetical Works of Addison; Gay's Fables; and Somerville's Chase · Chapter 24To Sir Godfrey Kneller[14] on His Picture of the King.[15
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Kneller, with silence and surprise We see Britannia's monarch rise, A godlike form, by thee displayed In all the force of light and shade; And, awed by thy delusive hand, As in the presence-chamber stand. The magic of thy art calls forth His secret soul and hidden worth, His probity and mildness shows, His care of friends and scorn of foes: _10 In every stroke, in every line, Does some exalted virtue shine, And Albion's happiness we trace Through all the features of his face. Oh may I live to hail the day, When the glad nation shall survey Their sovereign, through his wide command, Passing in progress o'er the land! Each heart shall bend, and every voice In loud applauding shouts rejoice, _20 Whilst all his gracious aspect praise, And crowds grow loyal as they gaze. This image on the medal placed, With its bright round of titles graced, And stamped on British coins, shall live, To richest ores the value give, Or, wrought within the curious mould, Shape and adorn the running gold. To bear this form, the genial sun Has daily, since his course begun, _30 Rejoiced the metal to refine, And ripened the Peruvian mine. Thou, Kneller, long with noble pride, The foremost of thy art, hast vied With nature in a generous strife, And touched the canvas into life. Thy pencil has, by monarchs sought, From reign to reign in ermine wrought, And, in their robes of state arrayed, The kings of half an age displayed. _40 Here swarthy Charles appears, and there His brother with dejected air: Triumphant Nassau here we find, And with him bright Maria joined; There Anna, great as when she sent Her armies through the continent, Ere yet her hero was disgraced: Oh may famed Brunswick be the last, (Though heaven should with my wish agree, And long preserve thy art in thee,) _50 The last, the happiest British king, Whom thou shalt paint, or I shall sing! Wise Phidias, thus his skill to prove, Through many a god advanced to Jove, And taught the polished rocks to shine With airs and lineaments divine; Till Greece, amazed, and half afraid, The assembled deities surveyed. Great Pan, who wont to chase the fair, And loved the spreading oak, was there; _60 Old Saturn too, with up-cast eyes, Beheld his abdicated skies; And mighty Mars, for war renowned, In adamantine armour frowned; By him the childless goddess rose, Minerva, studious to compose Her twisted threads; the web she strung, And o'er a loom of marble hung: Thetis, the troubled ocean's queen. Matched with a mortal, next was seen, _70 Reclining on a funeral urn, Her short-lived darling son to mourn. The last was he, whose thunder slew The Titan race, a rebel crew, That, from a hundred hills allied In impious leagues, their king defied. This wonder of the sculptor's hand Produced, his art was at a stand: For who would hope new fame to raise, Or risk his well-established praise, _80 That, his high genius to approve, Had drawn a GEORGE, or carved a Jove!