LONDON'S INDEX OR Some Reflections ON THE New built MONUMENT  
— Comitetur Punica Chartam  
Spongia—  Mart. 

WHat strange Idea can present!  
How Mysterious Providence  
To Mortals doth its gift dispense!  
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 Beholder's eyes?  
Which scarce  
Can reach that height, which doth overtop the Universe.  
See it surveys the City as its charge,  
And seems to scorn  
Flames, which lie 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 strait doth come,  
Bathed 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 Celestial 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 designed:  
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' Egyptian Pyramids shrink in their heads,  
And wish themselves laid in their Founder's Beds;  
Such Buildings more become a Child,  
Nought but a heap of stones compiled:  
There's far more bravery  
In the laborious House of an Industrious Bee;  
The years in which they builded were,  
Require more wonder than their art or care.  
But why such richness spent  
About the fire's Monument?  
Can 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 ruled 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 judgements boast?  
Or is't Heavens second Covenant here below.  
An Arrow to the watery Bow?  
See how bright Iris hovers over 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 Winter's Hail, or Snow,  
'Tis water when't comes here,  
And doth commence its Iceness from a lower Sphere.  
From this we may the City see  
At large, and in Epitome.  
When Airy Gods in silent nights shall rove,  
This they will choose  
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' is 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 own their height to SHELDON's name.  
Here's Pelion and Ossa too:  
Typhon had laid a Siege, with less ado,  
To Heaven and scaled the Sky,  
Durst he have ventured 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 f●●●  
Foreign Invasions, to molest us here:  
This when our Enemies shall see,  
They'll yield, it doth portend a destiny,  
A Comet ominous,  
Ruin t' our Foes, but heal  
In this bright Star Astrologers may find,  
Being at the top.  
Without a Telescope,  
How all the City is inclined.   

6.  
'Tis London's Standard, and proclaim  
victory o'er the fiercest fla●●  
True it doth represent  
The greatest Judgements ever Heaven sent:  
Brewer's Copper and a heap of flames,  
Too dreadful in their very names,  
Yet victors show  
The dangers which they once did undergo  
Which being o'er  
They proudly Rear their Banners in the enemy  
We need no Pageantt  
Such shadows as surp●●●●  
The People's eye●  
In this we see.  
A Lord Mayor's Show app●●●  
Stately and rich enough for all the year.  
Our Brightness doth Peru outbrave  
And the Atlantic Se● 〈…〉  
Whilst this refl 〈…〉  
Seems all her Jewels to neglect:  
When she their emulation seeks to save,  
From the cursed fate of N 〈…〉  
Which Fate long since had they not und 〈…〉  
This, like Medusa's head, had turned them into 〈◊〉   

7.  
The widowed Greenland curses this ou 〈…〉  
For now we hid 〈…〉  
Her half years Sun and 〈…〉  
Her coldness in the Mantle of a shady Clou● 〈…〉  
Why should I ban Praxiteles?  
Mausolus' Tomb wa● 〈…〉  
And might become a greater Princes Grav●  
But yet all this  
Compared with our 〈…〉  
Seems like its under Rivulet to Nile:  
It must be so,  
The place a greater difference doth show  
And what can be too 〈…〉  
For such a room of S 〈…〉  
Since we may justly 〈…〉  
London, built so nigh Heaven, is Chamber of th● 〈…〉    

〈…〉 in the Year 1676