And gives the charter, by which life indeed Becomes of price, a glory to be man.
By counsels weak and wicked, easy rous'd To paltry schemes of absolute command,
Through this and through succeeding reigns To seek their splendor in their sure disgrace, affirm'd
These long-contested rights, the wholesome winds
Of opposition* hence began to blow, And often since have lent the country life. Before their breath corruption's insect blights, The darkening clouds of evil counsel, fly;
Or, should they sounding swell, a putrid court, A pestilential ministry, they purge, And ventilated states renew their bloom.
And in a broken ruin'd people wealth: When such o'ercast the state, no bond of love, No heart, no soul, no unity, no nerve, Combin'd the loose disjointed public, lost To fame abroad, to happiness at home.
But when an Edward and an Henry* breath'd Through the charm'd whole one all-exerting soul: Drawn sympathetic from his dark retreat, When wide-attracted merit round them glow'd:
"Though with the temper'd monarchy here mix'd When counsels just, extensive, generous, firm, Aristocratic sway, the people still,
Flatter'd by this or that, as interest lean'd, No full perfection knew. For me reserv'd, And for my commons, was that glorious turn. They crown'd my first attempt,† in senates rose, The fort of freedom! slow till then, alone, Had work'd that general liberty, that soul, Which generous Nature breathes, and which, when By me to bondage was corrupted Rome,
Amid the maze of state, determin'd kept Some ruling point in view: when, on the stock Of public good and glory grafted, spread Their palms, their laurels; or, if thence they stray'd Swift to return, and patient of restraint: When legal state, pre-eminence of place, [left They scorn'd to deem pre-eminence of ease, To be luxurious drones, that only rob The busy hive: as in distinction, power, Indulgence, honor, and advantage, first; When they too claim'd in virtue, danger, toil, Superior rank; with equal hand, prepar'd To guard the subject, and to quell the foe: When such with me their vital influence shed, No mutter'd grievance, hopeless sigh, was heard ; No foul distrust through wary senates ran, Confin'd their bounty, and their ardor quench'd: On aid, unquestion'd, liberal aid was given: Safe in their conduct, by their valor fir'd, Fond where they led victorious armies rush'd; And Cressy, Poitiers, Agincourt proclaim What kings supported by almighty love, And people fir'd with liberty, can do.
I through the northern nations wide diffus'd. Hence many a people, fierce with freedom, rush'd From the rude iron regions of the North, To Libyan deserts, swarm protruding swarm, And pour'd new spirit through a slavish world. Yet, o'er these Gothic states, the king and chiefs Retain'd the high prerogative of war, And with enormous property engross'd The mingled power. But on Britannia's shore Now present, I to raise my reign began By raising the democracy, the third disclos'd And broadest bulwark of the guarded state. Then was the full, the perfect plan disclos'd Of Britain's matchless constitution, mixt
Of mutual checking and supporting powers, King, lords, and commons; nor the name of free Deserving, while the vassal-many droop'd: For since the moment of the whole they form, So, as depress'd or rais'd, the balance they Of public welfare and of glory cast. Mark from this period the continual proof.
When kings of narrow genius, minion-rid, Neglecting faithful worth for fawning slaves; Proudly regardless of their people's plaints, And poorly passive of insulting foes; Double, not prudent, obstinate, not firm, Their mercy fear, necessity their faith; Instead of generous fire, presumptuous, hot, Rash to resolve, and slothful to perform; Tyrants at once, and slaves, imperious, mean, To want rapacious joining shameful waste;
The league formed by the barons, during the reign of John, in the year 1213, was the first confederacy made in Engiand in defence of the nation's interest against the king.
†The Commons are generally thought to have been first represented in parliament towards the end of Henry the Third's reign. To a parliament called in the year 1264, each county was ordered to send four knights, as representatives of their respective shires; and to a parlia ment called in the year following, each county was or dered to send, as their representatives, two knights, and each city and borough as many citizens and burgesses. Till then, history makes no mention of them; whence a very strong argument may be drawn, to fix the original of the House of Commons to that era.
"Be veil'd the savage reigns, when kindred rage The numerous once Plantagenets devour'd, A race to vengeance vow'd! and when, oppress'd By private feuds, almost extinguish'd lay My quivering flame. But, in the next, behold! A cautious tyranty lent it oil anew.
Proud, dark, suspicious, brooding o'er his gold As how to fix his throne he jealous cast His crafty views around; pierc'd with a ray, Which on his timid mind I darted full, He mark'd the barons of excessive sway, At pleasure making and unmaking kings;|| And hence, to crush these petty tyrants, plann'd A law, that let them, by the silent waste Of luxury, their landed wealth diffuse, And with that wealth their implicated power. By soft degrees a mighty change ensued, Ev'n working to this day. With streams, deduc'd From these diminish'd floods, the country smil'd. As when impetuous from the snow-heap'd Alps, To vernal suns relenting, pours the Rhine; While undivided, oft, with wasteful sweep, He foams along; but, through Batavian meads,
Branch'd into fair canals, indulgent flows; Waters a thousand fields; and culture, trade, Towns, meadows, gliding ships, and villas mix'd, A rich, a wondrous landscape rises round.
His furious son* the soul-enslaving chain,t Which many a doting venerable age
Had link by link strong-twisted round the land, Shook off. No longer could be borne a power, From Heaven pretended, to deceive, to void Each solemn tie, to plunder without bounds, To curb the generous soul, to fool mankind; And, wild at last, to plunge into a sea Of blood, and horror. The returning light, That first through Wickliff streak'd the priestly gloom,
Now burst in open day. Bar'd to the blaze, Forth from the haunts of superstition crawl'd Her motley sons, fantastic figures all; And, wide-dispers'd, their useless fetid wealth In graceful labor bloom'd, and fruits of peace.
"Trade, join'd to these, on every sea display'd A daring canvas, pour'd with every tide A golden flood. From other worlds were roll'd The guilty glittering stores, whose fatal charms, By the plain Indian happily despis'd,
Yet work'd his woe; and to the blissful groves, Where Nature liv'd herself among her sons, And innocence and joy for ever dwelt, Drew rage unknown to Pagan climes before, The worst the zeal-inflam'd barbarian drew. Be no such horrid commerce, Britain, thine! But want for want, with mutual aid, supply.
The commons thus enrich'd, and powerful grown, Against the barons weigh'd. Eliza then, Amid these doubtful motions, steady, gave The beam to fix. She! like the secret eye That never closes on a guarded world, So sought, so mark'd, so seiz'd the public good, That self-supported, without one ally, She aw'd her inward, quell'd her circling foes. Inspir'd by me, beneath her sheltering arm, In spite of raging universal sway,¶ And raging seas repress'd, the Belgic states, My bulwark on the Continent, arose. Matchless in all the spirit of her days! With confidence, unbounded, fearless love Elate, her fervent people waited gay, Cheerful demanded the long-threaten'd fleet,** And dash'd the pride of Spain around their isle. Nor ceas'd the British thunder here to rage: The deep, reclaim'd, obey'd its awful call; In fire and smoke Iberian ports involv'd, The trembling foe ev'n to the centre shook Of their new-conquer'd world, and skulking stole By veering winds their Indian treasure home.
Came in the prince,* who, drunk with flattery, dreamt, His vain pacific counsels rul'd the world; Though scorn'd abroad, bewilder'd in a maze Of fruitless treaties; while at home enslav'd, And by a worthless crew insatiate drain'd, He lost his people's confidence and love; Irreparable loss! whence crowns become An anxious burden. Years inglorious pass'd: Triumphant Spain the vengeful draught enjoy'd Abandon'd Frederickt pin'd, and Raleigh bled. But nothing that to these internal broils, That rancor, he began; while lawless sway He, with his slavish doctors, tried to rear On metaphysic, on enchanted ground,‡ And all the mazy quibbles of the schools: As if for one, and sometimes for the worst, Heaven had mankind in vengeance only made. Vain the pretence! not so the dire effect, The fierce, the foolish discord thence deriv'd.§ That tears the country still, by party-rage And ministerial clamor kept alive.
In action weak, and for the wordy war Best fitted, faint this prince pursu'd his claim: Content to teach the subject herd, how great, How sacred he! how despicable they!
But his unyielding son|| these doctrines drank, With all a bigot's rage (who never damps By reasoning his fire;) and what they taught Warm and tenacious, into practice push'd. Senates, in vain, their kind restraint applied: The more they struggled to support the laws, His justice-dreading ministers the more Drove him beyond their bounds. Tir'd with the check
Of faithful love, and with the flattery pleas'd Of false designing guilt, the fountain he
Of public wisdom and of justice shut.¶
Wide mourn'd the land. Straight to the voted aid Free, cordial, large, of never-failing source, Th' illegal imposition follow'd harsh, With execration given, or ruthless squeez'd From an insulted people, by a band
Of the worst ruffians, those of tyrant power. Oppression walk'd at large, and pour'd abroad
† Elector Palatine, and who had been chosen King of Bohemia, but was stript of all his dominions and digni ties by the Emperor Ferdinand, while James the First his father-in-law, being amused from time to time, en deavored to mediate a peace.
The monstrous, and till then unheard-of docrines of divine indefeasible hereditary right, passive obedience,
&c. Rapin says, that after proper measures had been taken, the enemy was expected with uncommon alacrity.
§ The parties of Whig and Tory. Charles I.
Her unrelenting train: informers, spies, Blood-hounds, that sturdy freedom to the grove Pursue; projectors of aggrieving schemes Commerce to load for unprotected seas,* To sell the starving many to the few,t And drain a thousand ways th' exhausted land. Ev'n from that healing place, whence peace should flow,
And gospel truth, inhuman bigots shed Their poison round; and on the venal bench, Instead of justice, party held the scale, And violence the sword. Afflicted years, Too patient, felt at last their vengeance full. Mid the low murmurs of submissive fear And mingled rage, my Hampden rais'd his voice, And to the laws appeal'd; the laws no more In judgment sate, behov'd some other ear. When instant from the keen resentive North, By long oppression by religion rous'd, The guardian army came. Beneath its wing Was called, though meant to furnish hostile aid, The more than Roman senate. There a flame Broke out, that clear'd, consum'd, renew'd the land. In deep emotion hurl'd, nor Greece, nor Rome, Indignant bursting from a tyrant's chain, While, full of me, each agitated soul Strung every nerve, and flam'd in every eye, Had e'er beheld such light and heat combin'd! Such heads and hearts! such dreadful zeal, led on By calm majestic wisdom, taught its course What nuisance to devour; such wisdom fir'd With unabating zeal, and aim'd sincere To clear the weedy state, restore the laws, And for the future to secure their sway.
"This then the purpose of my mildest sons. But man is blind. A nation once inflam'd (Chief, should the breath of factious fury blow With the wild rage of mad enthusiasts swell'd) Not easy cools again. From breast to breast, From eye to eye, the kindling passions mix In heighten'd blaze; and, ever wise and just, High Heaven to gracious ends directs the storm. Thus, in one conflagration Britain wrapt, And by confusion's lawless sons despoil'd, King, lords, and commons, thundering to the ground, Successive rush'd-Lo! from their ashes rose, Gay-beaming radiant youth, the Phoenix-state.
"The grievous yoke of vassalage, the yoke Of private life, lay by those flames dissolv'd; And, from the wasteful, the luxurious king,|| Was purchas'd that which taught the young bend.¶
Stronger restor'd, the commons tax'd the whole, And built on that eternal rock their power. The crown, of its hereditary wealth Despoil'd, on senates more dependent grew, And they more frequent, more assur'd. Yet liv'd, And in full vigor spread that bitter root, The passive doctrines, by their patrons first Oppos'd ferocious, when they touch themselves.
This wild delusive cant; the rash cabal Of hungry courtiers, ravenous for prey; The bigot, restless in a double chain To bind anew the land; the constant need Of finding faithless means, of shifting forms, And flattering senates, to supply his waste; These tore some moments from the careless prince, And in his breast awak'd the kindred plan. By dangerous softness long he min'd his way; By subtle arts, dissimulation deep; By sharing what corruption shower'd, profuse; By breathing wide the gay licentious plague, And pleasing manners, fitted to deceive.
"At last subsided the delirious joy, On whose high billow, from the saintly reign The nation drove too far. A pension'd king, Against his country brib'd by Gallic gold; The port* pernicious sold, the Scylla since, And fell Charybdis of the British seas; Freedom attack'd abroad,† with surer blow To cut it off at home; the savior league Of Europe broke; the progress ev'n advanc'd Of universal sway, which to reduce Such seas of blood and treasure Britain cost; The millions, by a generous people given, Or squander'd vile, or to corrupt, disgrace, And awe the land with forces not their own,|| Employ'd; the darling church herself betray'd; All these, broad-glaring, op'd the general eye, And wak'd my spirit, the resisting soul.
"Mild was, at first, and half asham'd, the check Of senates, shook from the fantastic dream Of absolute submission, tenets vile!
Which slaves would blush to own, and which, reduc'd To practice, always honest Nature shock.
Not ev'n the mask remov'd, and the fierce front Of tyranny disclos'd; nor trampled laws; Nor seiz'd each badge of freedom through the
Nor Sidney bleeding for the unpublish'd page; Nor on the bench avow'd corruption plac'd, And murderous rage itself, in Jeffries' form; Nor endless acts of arbitrary power, Cruel and false, could raise the public arm. Distrustful, scatter'd, of combining chiefs Devoid, and dreading blind rapacious war, The patient public turns not, till impell'd To the near verge of ruin. Hence I rous'd The bigot king,** and hurried fated on His measures immature. But chief his zeal, to Out-flaming Rome herself, portentous scar'd The troubled nation: Mary's horrid days To fancy bleeding rose, and the dire glare Of Smithfield lighten'd in his eyes anew. Yet silence reign'd. Each on another scowl'd Rueful amazement, pressing down his rage: As, mustering vengeance, the deep thunder frowns, Awfully still, waiting the high command
The raging high-church sermons of these times, inspiring at once a spirit of slavish submission to the court, and of bitter persecution against those whom they call Church and State Puritans.
§ At the Restoration.
[Charles II.
¶ Court of wards.
To spring. Straight from his country, Europe sav'd,
†The war, in conjunction with France, against the Dutch.
The triple alliance.
§ Under Lewis XIV.
A standing army, raised without the consent of par liament.
The charters of corporations. ** James II.
To save Britannia, lo! my darling son, Than hero more, the patriot of mankind! Immortal Nassau came. I hush'd the deep, By demons rous'd, and bade the listed winds,** Still shifting, as behov'd, with various breath, Waft the deliverer to the longing shore.
See! wide alive, the foaming Channelt bright With swelling sails, and all the pride of war. Delightful view! when Justice draws the sword: And, mark! diffusing ardent soul around,
With starving labor pampering idle waste. To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, wipe The guiltless tear from lone affliction's eye; To raise hid merit, set th' alluring light Of virtue high to view; to nourish arts, Direct the thunder of an injur'd state, Make a whole glorious people sing for joy, Bless human-kind, and through the downward depth Of future times to spread that better sun Which lights up British soul: for deeds like these, The dazzling fair career unbounded lies; While (still superior bliss!) the dark abrupt Is kindly barr'd, the precipice of ill. Oh, luxury divine! Oh, poor to this, Ye giddy glories of despotic thrones! By this, by this indeed, is imag'd Heaven, By boundless good, without the power of ill And now behold! exalted as the cope That swells immense o'er many-peopled earth. And like it free, my fabric stands complete, The Palace of the Laws. To the four Heavens Four gates impartial thrown, unceasing crowds, With kings themselves the hearty peasant mix'à Pour urgent in. And though to different ranks Responsive place belongs, yet equal spreads The sheltering roof o'er all; while plenty flows, And glad contentment echoes round the whole. Pleas'd to Ye floods, descend! ye winds, confirming, blow! Nor outward tempest, nor corrosive time, Nought but the felon undermining hand Of dark corruption, can its frame dissolve, And lay the toil of ages in the dust."
And sweet contempt of death, my streaming flag.‡ Ev'n adverse navies bless'd the binding gale, Kept down the glad acclaim, and silent joy'd. Arriv'd, the pomp, and not the waste of arms His progress mark'd. The faint opposing host || For once, in yielding, their best victory found, And by desertion prov'd exalted faith; While his the bloodless conquest of the heart, Shouts without groan, and triumph without war. Then dawn'd the period destin'd to confine The surge of wild prerogative, to raise A mound restraining its imperious rage, And bid the raving deep no farther flow. Nor were, without that fence, the swallow'd state Better than Belgian plains without their dykes, Sustaining weighty seas. This, often sav'd By more than human hand, the public saw, And seiz'd the white-wing'd moment.
Destructive power,¶ a wise heroic prince** Ev'n lent his aid. Thrice happy! did they know Their happiness, Britannia's bounded kings. What though not theirs the boast, in dungeon glooms To plunge bold freedom; or, to cheerless wilds, To drive him from the cordial face of friend; Or fierce to strike him at the midnight hour, By mandate blind, not justice, that delights To dare the keenest eye of open day. What though no glory to control the laws, And make injurious will their only rule, They deem it! what though, tools of wanton power, Pestiferous armies swarm not at their call! What though they give not a relentless crew Of civil furies, proud oppression's fangs! To tear at pleasure the dejected land,
*The Prince of Orange, in his passage to England, though his fleet had been at first dispersed by a storm, was afterwards extremely favored by several changes of wind.
Rapin, in his History of England. "The third of November the fleet entered the Channel, and lay between Calais and Dover, to stay for the ships that were behind. Here the Prince called a council of war. It is not easy to imagine what a glorious show the fleet made. Five or six hundred ships in so narrow a channel, and both the English and French shores covered with numberless spectators, are no common sight. For my part, who was then on board the fleet, I own it struck me extremely."
The Prince placed himself in the main body, carrying a flag with English colors, and their highnesses' arms surrounded with this motto: "The Protestant Religion and the Liberties of England:" and underneath the motto of the House of Nassau, Je Maintiendrai, I will maintain.--Rapin.
The author addresses the goddess of Liberty, marking the happiness and grandeur of Great Britain, as arising from her influence. She resumes her discourse, and points out the chief virtues which are necessary to maintain her establishment there. Recommends, as its last ornament and finishing, sciences, fine arts, and public works. The encouragement of these urged from the example of France, though under a despotic government. The whole concludes with a prospect of future times, given by the goddess of Liberty: this described by the author, as it passes in vision before him.
HERE interposing, as the goddess paus'd!— "Oh, blest Britannia! in thy presence blest, Thou guardian of mankind! whence spring, alone, All human grandeur, happiness, and fame: For toil, by thee protected, feels no pain; The poor man's lot with milk and honey flows; And, gilded with thy rays, ev'n death looks gay. Let other lands the potent blessings boast Of more exalting suns. Let Asia's woods,
| Untended, yield the vegetable fleece:
And let the little insect-artist form, On higher life intent, its silken tomb. Let wondering rocks, in radiant birth, disclose The various-tinctur'd children of the Sun. From the prone beam let more delicious fruits A flavor drink, that in one piercing taste Bids each combine. Let Gallic vineyards burst With floods of joy; with mild balsamic juice The Tuscan olive. Let Arabia breathe
Her spicy gales, her vital gums distil.
Turbid with gold let southern rivers flow:
Whate'er high fancy, sound judicious thought, An ample generous heart, undrooping soul, And firm tenacious valor, can bestow. Great nurse of fruits, of flocks, of commerce, she! Great nurse of men! By thee, O goddess, taught, Her old renown I trace, disclose her source Of wealth, of grandeur, and to Britons sing A strain the Muses never touch'd before
"But how shall this thy mighty kingdom stand? On what unyielding base? how finish'd shine?" At this her eye, collecting all its fire,
And orient floods draw soft, o'er pearls, their maze. Beam'd more than human; and her awful voice,
Let Afric vaunt her treasures; let Peru Deep in her bowels her own ruin breed, The yellow traitor that her bliss betray'd,— Unequall'd bliss!—and to unequall'd rage! Yet nor the gorgeous East, nor golden South, Nor, in full prime, that new-discover'd world, Where flames the falling day, in wealth and praise, Shall with Britannia vie, while, goddess, she Derives her praise from thee, her matchless charms, Her hearty fruits the hand of freedom own, And, warm with culture, her thick-clustering fields Prolific teem. Eternal verdure crowns Her meads; her gardens smile eternal spring. She gives the hunter-horse, unquell'd by toil, Ardent, to rush into the rapid chase: She, whitening o'er her downs, diffusive, pours Unnumber'd flocks: she weaves the fleecy robe, That wraps the nations: she to lusty droves The richest pasture spreads; and, hers, deep-wave Autumnal seas of pleasing plenty round. These her delights: and by no baneful herb, No darting tiger, no grim lion's glare, No fierce-descending wolf, no serpent roll'd In spires immense progressive o'er the land, Disturb'd. Enlivening these, add cities, full Of wealth, of trade, of cheerful toiling crowds; Add thriving towns; add villages and farms, Innumerous sow'd along the lively vale, Where bold unrivall'd peasants happy dwell: Add ancient sects, with venerable oaks Embosom'd high, while kindred floods below Wind through the mead; and those of modern hand, More pompous, add, that splendid shine afar. Need I her limpid lakes, her rivers name, Where swarm the finny race? Thee, chief, O Thames!
On whose each tide, glad with returning sails, Flows in the mingled harvest of mankind? And thee, thou Severn, whose prodigious swell, And waves, resounding, imitate the main? Why need I name her deep capacious ports, That point around the world? and why her seas? All ocean is her own, and every land To whom her ruling thunder ocean bears. She too the mineral feeds: th' obedient lead, The warlike iron, nor the peaceful less, Forming of life art-civiliz'd the bond; And what the Tyrian merchant sought of old,* Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame. She rears to freedom an undaunted race: Compatriot, zealous, hospitable, kind, Hers the warm Cambrian: hers the lofty Scot, To hardship tam'd, active in arts and arms, Fir'd with a restless, an impatient flame, That leads him raptur'd where ambition calls: And English merit hers; where meet, combin'd,
Majestic, thus she rais'd-"To Britons bear This closing strain, and with intenser note Loud let it sound in their awaken'd ear.
On virtue can alone my kingdom stand. On public virtue, every virtue join'd. For, lost this social cement of mankind, The greatest empires, by scarce-felt degrees, Will moulder soft away, till, tottering loose, They prone at last to total ruin rush. Unblest by virtue, government a league Becomes, a circling junto of the great, To rob by law; religion mild a yoke To tame the stooping soul, a trick of state To mask their rapine, and to share the prey. What are without it senates, save a face Of consultation deep and reason free, While the determin'd voice and heart are sold? What boasted freedom, save a sounding name? And what election, but a market vile
Of slaves self-barter'd? Virtue! without thee, There is no ruling eye, no nerve, in states; War has no vigor, and no safety peace: Ev'n justice warps to party, laws oppress, Wide through the land their weak protection fails, First broke the balance, and then scorn'd the sword Thus nations sink, society dissolves:
Rapine and guile and violence break loose, Everting life, and turning love to gall; Man hates the face of man, and Indian woods And Libya's hissing sands to him are tame. "By those three virtues be the frame sustain'd Of British Freedom: independent life; Integrity in office; and, o'er all
Supreme, a passion for the common-weal.
"Hail! Independence, hail! Heaven's next best gift,
To that of life and an immortal soul! The life of life! that to the banquet high, And sober meal, gives taste; to the bow'd roof Fair-dream'd repose, and to the cottage charms. Of public freedom, hail, thou secret source! Whose streams, from every quarter confluent, form My better Nile, that nurses human life. By rills from thee deduc'd, irriguous, fed, The private field looks gay, with Nature's wealth Abundant flows, and blooms with each delight That Nature craves. Its happy master there, The only freeman, walks his pleasing round: Sweet-featur'd Peace attending; fearless Truth; Firm Resolution; Goodness, blessing all That can rejoice; Contentment, surest friend; And, still fresh stores from Nature's book deriv'd, Philosophy, companion ever new.
These cheer his rural, and sustain or fire, When into action call'd, his busy hours. Meantime true judging moderate desires, Economy and taste, combin'd, direct
His clear affairs, and from debauching fiends
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