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So stands a forest tall of mountain oaks Advanc'd to mighty growth: the traveller Hears from the humble valley where he rides The hollow murmurs of the winds that blow Amidst the boughs, and at a distance sees The shady tops of trees unnumber'd rise, A stately prospect, waving in the clouds.

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Omnis in hoc uno variis discordia cessit
Ordinibus; lætatur eques, plauditque senator,
Votaque patricio certant plebeia favori.

CLAUD. DE LAUD. STILIC.

Esse aliquam in terris gentem quæ suả impensâ, suo labore ac periculo bella gerat pro libertate aliorum. Nec hoc finitimis, aut tatis hominibus, aut terris continenti junctis præstet. ne quod toto orbe terrarum injustum imperium sit, lex, potentissima sint.

propinqua viciniMaria trajiciat: et ubique jus, fas, LIV. HIST. lib. 33.

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THE

CAMPAIGN,

WHILE crowds of princes your deserts proclaim,

Proud in their number to enroll your name;
While emperors to you commit their cause,
And ANNA's praises crown the vast applause;
Accept, great leader, what the Muse recites,
That in ambitious verse attempts your fights,
Fir'd and transported with a theme so new.
Ten thousand wonders op'ning to my view
Shine forth at once; sieges and storms appear,
And wars and conquests fill th' important year,
Rivers of blood I see, and hills of slain,
An Iliad rising out of one campaign.

The haughty Gaul beheld, with tow'ring pride,
His ancient bounds enlarg'd on ev'ry side,
Pirene's lofty barriers were subdu'd,
And in the midst of his wide empire stood;
Ausonia's states, the victor to restrain,
Opposed their Alps and Appennine's in vain,
Nor found themselves, with strength of rocks immur'd,
Behind their everlasting hills secur'd;

The rising Danube its long race began,

And half its course through the new conquests ran;
Amaz'd and anxious for her sovereign's fates,
Germania trembled through a hundred states;
Great Leopold himself was seiz'd with fear;
He gaz'd around, but saw no succour near;
He gaz'd, and half abandon'd to despair
His hopes on Heav'n, and confidence in pray'r.

To Britain's queen the nations turn their eyes,
On her resolves the western world relies,
Confiding still, amidst its dire alarms,

In ANNA'S councils, and in CHURCHILL'S arms.
Thrice happy Britain, from the kingdoms rent,
To sit the guardian of the continent !

That sees her bravest son advanc'd so high,
And flourishing so near her prince's eye;
Thy fav'rites grow not up by fortune's sport,
Or from the crimes, or follies of a court;
On the firm basis of desert they rise,

From long-try'd faith, and friendship's holy ties:
Their sovereign's well-distinguish'd smiles they share,
Her ornaments in peace, her strength in war;
The nation thanks them with a public voice,

By show'rs of blessings Heav'n approves their choice;
Envy itself is dumb, in wonder lost,

And factions strive who shall applaud them most.
Soon as soft vernal breezes warm the sky,
Britannia's colours in the zephyrs fly;
Her chief already has his march begun,
Crossing the provinces himself had won,
Till the Moselle, appearing from afar,
Retards the progress of the moving war.
Delightful stream, had Nature bid her fall
In distant climes, far from the perjur'd Gaul;
But now a purchase to the sword she lies,
Her harvests for uncertain owners rise,
Each vineyard doubtful of its master grows,
And to the victor's bowl each vintage flows.
The discontented shades of slaughter'd hosts,
That wander'd on her banks, her heroes ghosts
Hop'd, when they saw Britannia's arms appear,
The vengeance due to their great deaths was near,
Our godlike leader, ere the stream he pass'd,
The mighty scheme of all his labours cast,
Forming the wondrous year within his thought;
His bosom glow'd with battles yet unfought.

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