Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, LONDON'S INDEX; OR SOME REFLECTIONS ON NEW BUILT MONUMENT, by ANONYMOUS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

LONDON'S INDEX; OR SOME REFLECTIONS ON NEW BUILT MONUMENT, by                    
First Line: What strange idea can present
Last Line: "london, built so nigh heaven, is chamber to the king"
Subject(s): "fire Monument, London;london Fire (1666);" Great Fire Of 1666


What strange Idea can present!
How Mysterious Providence
To Mortals doth its gift dispence!
When it seems t' have sent
Plagues, and Disorders, to unite
The World, and force us to delight;
How else could such a glorious Structure rise,
Wearying its Beholders eyes?
Which scarce
Can reach that height, which doth ore-top the Universe.
See it surveys the City as its charge,
And seems to scorn
Flames, which lye buried in this flaming Urn;
The City's Liberty it doth enlarge,
The Boys could never go
So high Processioning in th' Air till now.
This is the Planet, which will always tell
The City's well;
For its Ascendant, it doth London own,
Scarce one degree below the Moon.

2.

Th' amazed Phoenix thinks 'tis built her nest,
And from the Desert straight doth come,
Bath'd in Arabian Gum,
Within these flames to take Eternal rest.
Hence forth Rome's Amphitheatre must bow;
This is Carpophorus his Spear,
And seems to threaten the Coelestial Bear.
The Dog-star now
Hastens to th' South all cold with fear.
This is a Rival to the Gnossian Crown,
Which pale Cynthia longs to own.
When this the Persian did see,
He thought the Sun was risen in the West,
Some bow the knee:
Whilst each long-bearded reverend Priest
Consult the Sibyl Oracles, to find
What Heaven had design'd:
But when they see him in the East appear,
They change their wonder into fear;
Till by its borrowed light, they see
Ours is as much below the Sun, as he
To CAESAR's Deity.
Now th' East-Indians come from far,
Without a Compass, guided by this Star.

3.

Th' AEgyptian Pyramids shrink in their heads,
And wish themselves laid in their Founders Beds;
Such Buildings more become a Child,
Nought but a heap of stones compil'd:
There's far more bravery
[In] the labourious House of an Industrious Bee;
The years in which they builded were,
Require more wonder then their art or care.
But why such richness spent
About the fire's Monument?
Could it be thought in after years,
That BRUTE could ere erect
Such Buildings, as themselves protect,
And fill the Neighbouring World with fears?
No, the future Age must say,
'Twas CAESAR's Influence that rul'd the day.
Nor could the World int's Infancy
Produce such Art as here we see:
Such Streets, in former Ages, must undo
The Populus, and the Senatus too;
I'd almost said Rome's PATER PATRIAE.

4.

Say then, whence all this cost
Do we in judgments boast?
Or is't Heavens second Covenant here below,
An Arrow to the watry Bow?
See how bright Iris hovers ore the top,
And promises whilst this remains,
(On which we ground our hope)
London shall never feel such flames again.
No wind so high can ever blow,
Nor do we fear the Winters Hail, or Snow,
'Tis water when't comes here,
And doth commence its Iceness from a lower Sphaere.
From this we may the City see
At large, and in Epitome.
When Airy Gods in silent nights shall rove,
This they will chuse
To be their place of Rendezvouz,
A Colony of power and love.
The Rhodian Coloss scorns to be outvied,
Complaining to its Deity,
Would fain resolved be,
And gladly int' i[t]s first disorder slide.
All that it now can boast of, is
That it sees this.

5.

England's great Theatre beholds the frame
Their Founders being almost the same,
Both owe their height to SHELDON's name.
Here's Pelion and Ossa too:
Typhon had laid a Siege, with less ado,
To Heaven and scal'd the Sky,
Durst he have ventur'd half so high.
The Thames which underneath it trembling glides,
Fearing the River Alpheus fate,
Ebbing, and flowing in a doubtful state,
The waves for dread do one another hide.
No more we'll fear
Forrain Invasions, to molest us here:
This when our Enemies shall see,
They'l yield, it doth portend a destiny,
A Comet ominous,
Ruin t' our Foes, but health to us.
In this bright Star Astrologers may find,
Being at the top,
Without a Telescope,
How all the City is inclin'd.

6.

'Tis London's Standard, and proclaims
Vict'ry ore the fiercest flames.
True it doth represent
The greatest Judgments ever Heaven sent:
A Brewers Copper and a heap of flames,
Too dreadful in their very names,
Yet victors show
The dangers which they once did undergo,
Which be'ng o'recome
They proudly Rear their Banners in the En'mies room.
We need no Pageantry,
Such shadows as surprise,
The Peoples eyes[.]
In this we see
A Lord Mayor's Show appear
Stately and rich enough for all the year.
Our Brightness doth Peru out-brave;
And the Atlantick Sea,
Whilst this reflects,
Seems all her Jewels to neglect:
When she their emulation seeks to save,
From the curst fate of Niobe;
Which Fate long since had they not undergone,
This, like Medusa's head, had turn'd them into stone.

7.

The widdow'd Greenland curses this our pride;
For now we hide
Her half years Sun and shroud,
Her coldness in the Mantle of a shady Cloud.
Why should I ban Praxiteles?
Mausolus Tomb was brave,
And might become a greater Princes Grave:
But yet all this
Compared with our Pile,
Seems like its under Rivulet to Nile:
It must be so,
The place a greater difference doth show.
And what can be too great
For such a room of State?
Since we may justly sing:
London, built so nigh Heaven, is Chamber of the KING.





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