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EBBA 33053

National Library of Scotland - Crawford
Ballad XSLT Template
AN EPICAEDIUM
On the Death of Her most Serene Majesty
Henrietta Maria de Bourbon,
QUEEN-MOTHER of ENGLAND,
And Daughter to the late most Puissant King Henry le Grand,
King of France and Navarre, etc.
Obiit 31 August, MDCLXIX.

REader, draw near, and offer thy Divine
Sighs here, as Incense at this Sacred Shrine,
Which like some choice Regalio, keeps in trust
The Royal Reliques, and selected Dust
Of such a QUEEN, as (had Her days been spun
Out by Her Deeds) might have outliv'd the Sun,
And forc'd the Worlds great Luminary t'have
His Chaos, Clymacterick, with Her Grave.
See! how pale Europ's Princes at the news
Of Her Translation, have transform'd their hues,
The Fields disroabed of their best array,
Looking as dull, and discontent as They.
The days shrunk shorter, in their shades retire,
And Autumn seeming with the QUEEN t'expire,
Bids Night, and Nature, hang the Universe
With Black, as one Grand Hatchment o'er Her Hearse,
Since less then Publick Obsequies would be
Piacular for such a QUEEN as She:
A Queen to Kings, and Emperors ally'd:
Great HENRIES Daughter, and Blest CHARLES his Bride;
Whose Blood with Bourbons have, whole Realms ingrost,
And redeem'd more, then half the World hath lost.
Yet did the Pungent Thistle interpose
'Twixt Her French Lillies, and our English Rose,
Hail! Queen of Cares, and Crosses! to'st and hurl'd
Through all the Changes of a giddy World,
Where Thy fixt Minde maintain'd so calm a State,
As crown'd Thee conqueror of Thy Self and Fate,
Claiming the Garland, by Thy matchless Life
Of a Dear Mother, and Indulgent Wife.
And having gain'd it, meekly do'st lay down
A transient Diadem, for a fixed Crown.


With Allowance.

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