The genial uproar of thofe fhades who fall In defperate fight, or by fome brave attempt; And thro' more polifh'd times the martial creed Difown, yet fill the fearless habit lives. Nor were the furly gifts of war their all : Wifdom was likewife theirs, indulgent Laws, The calm gradations of art-nurfing Peace, And matchlefs Orders, the deep bafis ftill On which afcends My British reign. Untam'd To the refining fubtelties of flaves, They brought an happy government along, Form'd by that Freedom which, with secret voice, Impartial Nature teaches all her fons, And which of old thro' the whole Scythian mafs. I ftrong infpir'd. Monarchical their ftate, But prudently confin'd, and mingled wife Of each harmonious power, only too much Imperious War into their rule infus'd, Prevail'd the General-king, and Chieftain-thanes. In many a field, by civil fury ftain'd, Bled the difcordant Heptarchy, and long (Educing good from ill) the battle groan'd, Ere, blood-cemented, Anglo-Saxons faw Egbert and Peace on one united throne.
No fooner dawn'd the fair-difclofing calm 705 Of brighter days, when, lo! the North anew, With formy nations black, on England pour'd Woes the feverest e'er a people felt. The Danish Raven, lur'd by annual prey, Hung o'er the land inceffant. Fleet on fleet 710 Of barbarous pirates unremitting tore The miferable coaft. Before them fltalk'd, Far feen, the Demon of devouring Flame, Rapine and Murder, all with blood befmear'd, Without or ear, or eye, or feeling heart; While close behind them march'd the fallow Power Of defolating Famine, who delights In grafs-growing cities, and in defert fields; And purple-fpotted Peftilence, by whom E'en friendship fear'd, in fickening horror finks Each focial fenfe and tenderness of life. Fixing at lait, the finginary race Spread from the Humber's loud-refounding fhore, To where the Thames devolves his gentle maze, And with fuperior arm the Saxon aw'd. But fuperftition first, and Monkifh dreams, And Monk-directed cloifter-feeking kings, Had ate away his vigour, ate away His edge of courage, and deprefs'd the foul Of conquering Freedom, which he once refpir'd. Thus cruel ages pafs'd, and rare appear'd White-mantled Peace, exulting o'er the vale, As when, with lfred, from the wilds fhe came To polic'd cities and protected plains. Thus by degrees the Saxon Empire funk, Then fet entire in Haflings' bloody field. Compendious war! (on Britain's glory bent, So Fate ordain'd; in that decifive day The haughty Norman feiz'd at once an Ifle, For which thro' many a century, in vain, She Roman, Saxon, Dane, had toil'd and bled. Of Gothic nations this the final burst;
And, mix'd the genius of thefe people all,
Their virtues mix'd in one exalted stream,
A while My fpirit flept; the land a while, Affrighted, droop'd beneath defpotic rage. Inftead of Edward's equal gentle laws, The furious viclor's partial will prevail'd. All prorate lay; and in the secret shade, Deep ftung, but fearful, Indignation gnash'd His teeth. Of freedom, property, defpoil'd, And of their bulwark, arms; with cales crush'd, With ruffians quarter'd o'er the bridled land, The fhivering wretches, at the curfeu found, 755 Dejected fhrunk into their fordid beds, And thro' the mournful gloom of ancient times Mus'd fad, or dreamt of better. E'en to feed A tyrant's idle fport the peasant starv'd: To the wild herd the patture of the tame, The cheerful hamlet, fpiry town, was given, And the brown foreft roughened wide around.
But this fo dead, fo vile fubmiffion, long Endur'd not. Gathering force, My gradul flame Shook off the mountain of tyrannic fway. 765 Unus'd to bend, impatient of controul, Tyrants themfelves the common tyrant check'd. The Church, by kings intractable and fierce, Deny'd her portion of the plunder'd state, Or tempted by the timorous and weak, To gain new ground, fir taught their rapine law. The Barons next a nobler league began; Both thofe of English and of Norman race, In one fraternal nation blended now, Of patriots, ardent as the fummer's noon, The nation of the Free! prefs'd by a band 775 That looks delighted on, the tyrant fee! Mark! how with feign'd alacrity he bears His strong reluctance down, his dark revenge, And gives the Charter by which life, indeed, 780 Becomes of price, a glory to be man.
Thro' this aud thro' fucceeding reigns affirm'd Thefe long-contefted rights, the wholesome winds Of Oppofition hence began to blow, And often fince have left the country life. Before their breath Corruption s infect-blights, The darkening clouds of evil council, fly; Or fhould they founding fwell, a putrid court, A peftilential miniftry, they purge, And ventilated ftates renew their bloom.
Tho' with the temper'd monarchy here mix'd Ariftocratic fway, the people ftill, Flatter'd by this or that, as interest lean'd, No full protection knew. For Me referv'd, And for my Commons, was that glorious turn, They crown'd my first attempt, in fenates rofe The fort of Freedom! Slow, till then alone, Had work'd that general Liberty, that foul Which generous Nature breathes, and which, when left
By Me to bondage was corrupted Rome, I thro' the Northern nations wide diffus d: Hence many a people, fierce with Freedom, rufh'd
Erom the rude iron regions of the North, To Lybian deferts, fwarm protruding swarm, And pour'd new fpirits thro' a flavish world. 805 Yet o'er thefe Gothic ftates the king and chiefs Retain'd the high prerogative of war,
Here the rich tide of English blood grew full. 745 | And with enormous property engross d
The mingled power. But on Britannia's fhore, Now prefent, I to raife My reign began By raifing the democracy, the third And broadeft bulwark of the guarded state. Then was the foll, the perfect plan difclos'd Of Britain's match'efs Conftitution, mixt
Of mutual checking and fupporting powers, 815 King, Lords, and Commons; nor the name of Free
Deferving while the Vaffal many droop'd: For fince the moment of the whole they form, So, as deprefs'd as 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 faves, Proudly regardless of their peoples' plaints, And poorly paffive of infulting foes; Double, not prudent; obftinate, not firm; Their mercy fear, neceffity their faith; Inkead of generous fire, prefumptuous, hot; Rafh to refolve, and flothful to perform; Tyrants at once, and flaves; imperious, mean; To To want rapacious joining fhameful wafte, By counfels weak and wicked, easy rous'd To paltry fchemes of abfolute command, To ferk their fplendour in the'r fure difgrace, And in a broken ruin'd people wealth; When fuch o'ercaft the ftate, no bond of love, No heart, no foul, no unity, no nerve, Combin'd the loofe disjointed public, loft To fame abroad, to happiness at home.
But when an Edward and an Henry breath'd Thro' the charm'd whole one all-exerting foul, Drawn fympathetic from his dark retreat, When wide attracted Merit round them glow'd; When counfels juft, extenfive, generous, firm, Amid the maze of ftate, determin'd kept Some ruling point in view; when, on the ftock Of public good and glory grafted, fpread Their palms, their laurels; or, if thence they ftray'd,
Swift to return, and patient of restraint; When regal ftate, pre-eminence of place, They fcorn'd to deem pre-eminence of eafe, To be luxurious drones, that only rob The bufy hive, as in diftinction, power, Indulgence, honour, and advantage, firft; When they, too, claim'd in virtue, danger, toil, Superior rank, with equal hand prepar'd To guard the fubject and to quell the foe; When fuch with Me their vital influence fhed, No mutter'd grievance, hopeless figh, was heard; No fout diftrutt thro' wary fenates ran, Confin'd their bounty, and their ar our quench'd; On aid, unquestion'd, liberal aid was given ;. Safe in their conduct, by their valour fir d,
Fond where they led victorious armies rufh'd;
And Crefly, Foiteurs, Agincourt proclaim What kings, fupported by almighty Love, And people, fir'd with Liberty, can do. Be veil'd the favage reigns, when kindred rage The numerous once Plantagenet devour'd, A race to vengeance vow'd and when, oppreis'd By private feuds, almoft extinguifh'd lay
My quivering flame: but in the next, behold!A cautious tyrant lend it oil anew.
Proud, dark, fufpicious, brooding o'er his gold As how to fix his throne he jealous caft His crafty views around, pierc'd with a ray, Which on his timid mind I darted full, He mark'd the Barons of exceffive fway, At pleasure making and unmaking kings; And hence, to crush thefe petty tyrants, plann'd 881 A law that let them, by the filent wafte Of luxury, their landed wealth diffufc, And with that wealth their implicated power. By foft degrees a mighty change enfu'd, E'en working to this day. With ftreams deduc'd From thefe diminifh'd floods the country fail'd a As when, impetuous from the fnow-heap'd Alps, To vernal funs relenting, pours the Rhine; While undivided, oft' with wafteful sweep, He foams along; but thro' Batavian meads, 890 Branch'd into fair canais, indulgent flows, Waters a thousand fields; and culture, trade, Towns, meadows, gliding fhips, and villas mix'd, A rich, a wondrous landscape, rifes round. His furious fon the foul-enflaving chain, Which many a doting venerable age
Had link hy link ftrong-twifted round the land, Shook off. No longer could be borne a power, From Heaven pretended, to deceive, to void Each folemn tie, to plunder without bounds, 900 To curb the generous foul, to fool mankind! And, wild at laft, to plunge into a fea Of blood and horror. he returning light, That first thro' Wickliff ftreak'd the priestly gloom,
Now burst in open day. Barr'd to the blaze, Forth from the haunts of Superftition crawl'd; Her motly fons, fantaftic figures all, And, wide difpers'd, their ufeless fetid wealth In graceful labour bloom'd, and fruits of peace. Trade join'd to thefe, on every fea difplay'd A daring canvas, pour'd with every tide -915 A golden flood. From other worlds were roll'd The guilty glittering ftores, whofe fatal charms By, the plain Indian happily defpis'd
Yet work'd his woe; and to the blissful groves, Where Nature liv'd herfelf among her fons, 916 And Innocence and Joy for ever dwelt, Drew rage unknown to Pagan climes before, The worst the zeal-inflam'd Barbarian drew. Be no fuch horrid commerce, Britain! thine, 920 But want for want, with mutual aid, supply. The Commons, thus enrich'd, and powerful
Against the Barons weigh'd. Eliza then, Amid thefe doubtful motions, fteady gave The beam to fix. She! like the Secret Eye 925 That never clofes on a guarded world,
So fought, fo mark'd, fo feiz'd the public good, That, felf-fupported, without one ally, She aw'd her inward, quell'd her circling foes, Infpir'd by Me, beneath her fheltering arm, 930 In fpite of raging univerfal fway, And raging feas reprefs'd, the Belgic ftates, My bulwark on the continent, arofe, Matchlefs in all the fpirit of her days!
With confidence unbounded, fearless love Elate, her fervent peopl waited gay, Chearful demanded the long-threatened Fleet, And dash'd the pride of Spain around their ifle. Nor ceas'd the British thunder here to rage: The deep, reclaim'd, obey'd its awful call; In fire and fmoak Iberian ports involv'd, The trembling foc e'en to the centre shook Of their new conquer'd world, and feuiking ftole Ey veering winds, their Indian treasure home. Mean time, peace, plenty, justice, fcience, arts, With fofter laurels crown'd her happy reign. 946 As yet uncircumfcrib'd the regal power, And wild and vague Prerogative remain'd, A wide voracious gulf, where fwallow'd oft' The helpless fubject lay. This to reduce To the juft limit was My great effort.
His vain pacific counfels rul'd the world; Tho' fcorn'd abroad, bewilder'd in a maze Of fruitless treaties, while at home enflav'd, 960 And by a worthlefs crew infatiate, drain'd, He lost his peoples' confidence and love: Irreparable lofs! whence crowns become An anxious burden. Years inglorious prefs'd; Triumphant Spain the vengeful draught enjoy'd; Abandon'd Frederick pin'd, and Raleigh bled: But nothing that to these internal broils. That rancour, he began; that lawiefs Sway He, with his flavish Doctors, try'd to rear, On meatphyfic, on enchanted ground, And all the many quibbles of the fchools! As if for one, and fometimes for the worft, Heaven had mankind in vengeance only made. Vain the pretence! not fo the dire effect, The fierce, the foolish, difcord thence deriv'd, That tears the country ftill, by party-rage And minifterial clamour kept alive. In action weak, and for the wordy war Bell fitted, faint this prince purfu'd his claim : Content to teach the fubject-herd how great, How facred he! how defpicable they!
Th' illegal impofition follow'd harsh, With execration given, or ruthless (queez'd From an infulted people, by a band Of the worst ruffians, thofe of tyrant power. Oppreffion walk'd at large, and pour d abroad Her unrelenting train, informers, fpies, Bloodhounds, that sturdy Freedom to the grove Purfue; projectors of aggrieving fchenics, Commerce to load for unprotected feas, To fell the ftarving many to the few, And drain a thoufand ways th' exhaufted land. E'en from that place whence healing peace should flow,
Of faithful Love, and with the flattery pleas'd Of falfe defigning Guilt, the fountain he Of publie Wisdom and of Juftice fhut. Wide mourn'd the land. Straight to the voted
aid, Free, cordial, large, of never failing fource,
In deep emotion huri'd, nor Greece, nor Rone, Indignant bursting from a tyrant's chain, While, full of Me, each agitated foul Strung every nerve, and flam'd in every eye, 1025 Had e'er beheld fuch light and heat combin'd! Such heads and hearts! fuch dreadful zeal, led on By calm majestic wifdom, taught its courie What nuifance to devour; fuch wifdom fir'd With unabating zeal, and aim'd fincere To clear the weedy ftate, reftore the laws, And for the future to fecure their fway.
This, then, the purpose of My mildeft fons: But man is blind. A nation once inflanı'd (Chief should the breath of factions Fury blow, With the wild rage of mad enthufiaft fwell'd) Not eafy cools again. From breast to breast, From eye to eye, the kindling paffions mix In heighten'd blaze, and, ever wife and juft, High Heaven to gracious ends directs the form, Thus in one conflagration Britain wrapt, 1041 And by Confufion's lawless fons despoil'd, Kings, Lords, and Commons, thundering to the ground,
Succeffive, rufh'd.-Lo! from their afhes rofe, Gay-beaming radient youth, the Phoenix-ftate.
The grievous yoke of vaffalage, the yoke 1046 Of private life, ay by thofe flames diffolv'd, And from the wafteful, the luxurious king, Was purchas'd that which taught the young to bend.
Stronger reftor'd, the Commons tax'd the whole, And built on that eternal rock their power. 1951 The crown, of its hereditary wealth Defpoil'd, on Scnates more dependant grew.
And they more frequent, more affur'd. Yet liv'd, And in full vigour ipread that better root, 1055 The paffive doctrines, by their patrons first Oppos'd ferocious, when they touch themselves.
This wild delufive cant, the rafh cabal Of hungry courtiers, ravenous for prey, The bigot, retlefs in a double chain To bind a-new the land, the conftant need Of finding faithlefs means, of fhifting forms, And flattering fenates to fupply his waste; These tore fome moments from the careless Prince, And in his breaft awak'd the kindred plan. ro65 By dangerous foftnefs long he min'd his way; By fubtle arts, diffimulation deep; By sharing what Corruption fhower'd profufe; By breathing wide the gay licentious plague, And pleafing manners, fitted to deceive.
At laft fubfided the delirious joy, On whofe high billow, from the faintly reign, The nation drove too far. A penfiou'd king, Against his country brib'd by Gallic gold, The port pernicious fold, the Scylla fince, And fell Charybdis, of the British feas; Freedom attack'd abroad, with furer blow To cut it off at home; the Saviour League Of Europe broke; the progrefs c'en advanc'd Of universal Sway, which to reduce Such feas of blood and treasure Britain cost; The millions by a generous people given, Or fquander'd vile, or to corrupt, difgrace, And awe the land with forces not their own, Employ'd; the darling Church herself betray'd: All thefe, broad glaring, op'd the general eye, And wak'd My fpirit, the refitting foul,
Mild was, at firft, and half-afham'd, the check, Of fenates, hook from the fantastic dream Of abfolute fubmillion, tenets vile! Which flaves would bluth to own, and which reduc'd
To fave Britannia, lo my darling fon, Than hero more! the patriot of mankind! Immortal Naffu came. I huh'd the deep, By demons rous'd, and bade the lifted winds, Still fhifting as behov'd, with various breath, 1120 Waft the Deliverer to the longing thore See! wide alive, the foaming channel bright With fwelling fails, and all the pride of War. Delightful view when Juttiče draws the fword: And mark! diffufing ardent foul around, 1123 And fweep contempt of death, My ftreaming flag, Kept down the glad acclaim, and filent joy'd E'en adverse navies blefs'd the binding gale,
To practice, always honeft Nature fhock... Not e'en the mafk remov'd, and the fierce front 'Of Tyranny disclos'd, nor trampled laws, Nor feiz d each badge of Freedom thro' the land, Nor Sidney bleeding for th' unpublifh'd page, Nor on the bench avow'd Corruption plac'd, 1097 And murderous Rage itfelf, in Jefferies' form, Nor endless acts or abitrary power, Cruel and falfe, could raife the public arm. 1160 Ditruftful, fcatter'd, of combining chiefs Devoid, and dreading blind rapacious War, The patient Public turns not, till impel'd To the near verge of ruin. Hence I rous'd The bigot king, and hurry'd lated on His measures immature. But chief his zeal, Our flaming Rome herself, portentous fear'd The troubled nation: Mary's horrid days To tancy bleeding rofe, and the dire glare Of Smithfield lighten'd in its eyes anew. Yet filence reign'd. Each on anothers fcowl'd Rueful amazement, preffing down his rage; As, muftering vengeance, the deep thunder frowns,
Awfully till, waiting the high command To fpring. Straight from his country, Europe fav'd,'
Arriv'd, the pomp, and not the wafte of arms, His progrefs mark'd. The faint oppofing host For once, in yielding their best victory found, 1131 And by defertion prov'd exalted faith; While his, the bloodlefs conqueft of the heart, Shouts without groan, and triumph without war.
Then dawn'd the period deftin'd to confine The furge of wild Prerogative, to raise A mound reftraining its imperious rage, And bid the raving deep no farther flow; Nor were, without that fence, the fwallow'd ftate Better than Belgian plains without their dykes, Sustaining weighty feas. This, often fav'd 1147. By more than human hand, the Public faw, And feiz'd the white-wing'd moment. Pleas'd go yield
Deltructive power, a wife heroic prince
E'en lent his aid.-Thrice happy! did they know Their happiness, Britannia's bounded kings. 146 What tho' not theirs the boaft, in dungeon glooms To plunge bold Freedom? or to chearlefs wilds To drive him from the cordial face of friends? Or fierce to ftrike him at the midnight hour, By mandate blind, not Juftice, that delights To dare the keeneft eye of open day? What tho' no glory to controul the laws, And make injurious will their only rule,- They deem it? what tho', tools of wanton power, Peftiferous armies fwarm not at their call? 1156 What tho' they give not a relentless crew Of Civil Furies proud Oppreffion's fangs? To tear at pleasure the dejected land, With ftarving Labour pampering idle Wafte? To clothe the naked, feed the hungry, wipe The guiltless tear from lone Affliction's eye! To raife hid Merit, fet the alluring light Of Virtue high to view; to nourish arts, Direct the thunder of an injur'd state, Make a whole glorious people fing for joy, Blefs human kind, and thro' the downward depth Of future times to spread that better fun Which lights up British fouls: for deeds like thefe The dazzing fair career unbounded lies While (fill fuperior blifs!) the dark abrupt Is kindly barr'd, the precipice of ill. Oh! luxury divine! Oh! poor to this, Ye giddy glories of defpotic 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 fwells immenfe o'er many-peopled earth,
And like it free, My fabric ftands complete, The Palace of the Laws to the four heavens, 1180 Four gates impartial thrown, unceafing crowds, With kings themselves the hearty peasant mix'd, Pour urgent in; and tho' to different ranks Refponfive place belongs, yet equal spreads The shelt'ring roof o'er all; while Plenty flows, And glad Contentment echoes round the whole. Ye Floods! defcend; ye winds! confirming, blow; Nor outward tempeft, nor corrofive time, Nought but the felon undermining hand
Of dark Corruption, can its frame diffolve, 1190 And lay the toil of ages into duft.
THE Author addreffes the Goddess of Liberty; marking the happinets and grandeur of Great Britain, as arifing from her influence, to ver. 88. She refumes her difcourfe, and points out the chief virtues which are neceffary to maintain her establishment there, to ver. 374. Recommends, as its laft ornament and finithing, Sciences, fine Arts, and public Works. The encouragement of thefe urg'd from the example of France, though under a defpotic government, to ver. 549. The whole concludes with a profpect of future times, given by the Goddess of Lierty; this defcribed by the Author, as it paffes in Vision before him.
Hintere pit amint in tiny prefence bleft. "Thou guardian of mankind! whence 1pring, alone,
ERE interpofing, as the goddess paus'd,
"All human grandeur, happiness, and fame: "For Toil, by the protected, feels no pain; "The poor man's lot with milk and honey flows; And, gilded with thy rays, e'en death looks gay. "Let other lands the potent bleflings boaft "Of more exalting fuus: let Afia's woods, "Untended, yield the vegetable fleece; "And let the little infect artil form, "On higher life intent, its filken tomb : "Let wondering rocks, in radiant birth, difclofe "The various tinctur'd children of the Sun "From the prone beam let more delicious fruits "A flavour drink, that in one piercing tafte 15 "Bids each combine; let Gallic vineyards burft "With floods of joy; with mild balfamic juice "The Tufcan olive: let Arabia breathe "Her fpicy gales, her vital gums diftil:
Turbid with gold, let fouthern rivers flow, "And orient floods draw-loft o'er pearls, their
"Let Afric vaunt her treasures: let Peru
"Deep in her bowels her own ruin breed "The yellow traitor, that her blifs betray'd; 25 Unequall'd blifs! and to unequall'd rage! "Yet nor the gorgeous Laft, nor golden South, "Nor, in full prime, that new-discover'd world,
"Where flames the falling day in wealth and praife,
"Shall with Britannia vie, while, Goddefs! the "Derives her praife from Thee, her matchlefs charms.
"Her hearty fruits the hand of Freedom own; "And, warm with culture, her thick clust'ring fields
"Prolific teen. Eternal verdure crowns "Her meads; her gardens fmile eternal spring: "She gives the hunter-horfe, unquell'd by toil, "Ardent, to rush into the rapid chase:
She, whitening o'er her downs, diffusive, pours "Unnumber'd flocks: fhe weaves the fleecy robe "That wraps the nations: fhe to lufty droves 40 "The richest pasture spreads; and her's deep
"All ocean is her own, and every land "To whom her ruling thunder ocean bears. 65 She, too, the mineral feeds: th' obedient lead, "The warlike iron, nor the peaceful lefs, "Forming of life art-civiliz'd the bend; "And that the Tyrian merchant fought of old, "Not dreaming then of Britain's brighter fame. "She rears to Freedom an undaunted race: "Compatriot zealous, hofpitable, kind, "Her's the warm Cambrian: her's the lofty Seot, "To hardship tam'd, active in arts and arms, "Fir'd with a reflefs an impatient flame, 75 "That leads him raptur'd where Ambition calls: "And English Merit her's, where meet, com
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