ON THE LORD GENERAL FAIRFAX AT THE SIEGE OF COLCHESTER
(1648)
FAIRFAX, whose name in arms through Europe rings,Filling each mouth with envy or with praise,And all her jealous monarchs with amaze,And rumours loud that daunt remotest kings,Thy firm unshaken virtue ever brings
Victory home, though new rebellions raise
Their Hydra heads, and the false North displays
Her broken league to imp their serpent wings.
O yet a nobler task awaits thy hand
(For what can war but endless war still breed?)
Till truth and right from violence be freed,And public faith cleared from the shameful brand
Of public fraud. In vain doth Valour bleed,While Avarice and Rapine share the land.