Roll'd all the treasure of the radiant East; But now no more. Than one great tyrant worse (Whose shar'd oppression lightens, as diffus'd) Each subject tearing, many tyrants rose. The least the proudest. Join'd in dark cabal, They jealous, watchful, silent, and severe, Cast o'er the whole indissoluble chains: The softer shackles of luxurious case They likewise added, to secure their sway. Thus Venice fainter shines; and commerce thus, Of toil impatient, flags the drooping sail. Bursting, besides, his ancient bounds, he took A larger circle; found another seat, Opening a thousand ports, and, charm'd with toil, Whom nothing can dismay, far other sons.
"The mountains then, clad with eternal snow, Confess'd my power. Deep as the rampant rocks, By Nature thrown insuperable round, I planted there a league of friendly states, And bade plain freedom their ambition be. There in the vale, where rural Plenty fills, [horn, From lakes and meads, and furrow'd fields, her Chief, where the Leman pure emits the Rhone, Rare to be seen! unguilty cities rise, Cities of brothers form'd: while equal life, Accorded gracious with revolving power, Maintains them free; and, in their happy streets, Nor cruel deed nor misery is known. For valour, faith, and innocence of life, Renown'd, a rough laborious people, there, Not only give the dreadful Alps to smile, And press their culture on retiring snows; But, to firm order train'd and patient war, They likewise know, beyond the nerve remiss Of mercenary force, how to defend The tasteful little their hard toil has earn'd, And the proud arm of Bourbon to defy.
Whose only terrour was a bloodless death, They wise, and dauntless, still sustain my cause. Yet there I fix'd not. Turning to the south, The whispering zephyrs sigh'd at my delay." 380 Here, with the shifted vision, burst my joy. "O the dear prospect! O majestic view! See Britain's empire! lo! the watery vast Wide-waves, diffusing the cerulean plain. And now, methinks, like clouds at distance seen, Emerging white from deeps of ether, dawn My kindred cliffs; whence, wafted in the gale, Ineffable, a secret sweetness breathes. Goddess, forgive!-My heart, surpriz'd, o'erflows With filial fondness for the land you bless." As parents to a child complacent deign Approvance, the celestial brightness smil'd; Then thus: " As o'er the wave-resounding deep, To my near reign, the happy isle, I steer'd With easy wing; behold! from surge to surge, Stalk'd the tremendous genius of the deep. Around him clouds, in mingled tempest, hung; Thick-flashing meteors crown'd his starry head; And ready thunder redden'd in his hand, Or from it stream'd comprest the gloomy cloud. 400 Where'er he look'd, the trembling waves recoil'd. He needs but strike the conscious flood, and shook From shore to shore, in agitation dire,
It works his dreadful will. To me his voice (Like that hoarse blast that round the cavern howls, Mixt with the murmurs of the falling main) Address'd, began by Fate commission'd, go, My sister-goddess now, to yon blest isle, Henceforth the partner of my rough domain, 340 All my dread walks to Britons open lie.
Ev'n, cheer'd by me, their shaggy mountains More than or Gallic or Italian plains; And sickening fancy oft, when absent long, Pines to behold their Alpine views again : The hollow-winding stream: the vale, fair spread, Ainid an amphitheatre of hills: Whence, vapour-wing'd, the sudden tempest From steep to steep ascending, the gay train 351 Of fogs, thick-roll'd into romantic shapes: The flitting cloud, against the summit dash'd; And, by the Sun illumin'd, pouring bright A gemmy shower: hung o'er amazing rocks, The mountain ash, and solemn-sounding pine: The snow-fed torrent, in white mazes tost, Down to the clear etherial lake below: And, high o'er-topping all the broken scene, The mountain fading into sky; where shines On winter winter shivering, and whose top Licks from their cloudy magazine the snows. "From these descending, as I wav'd my course O'er vast Germania, the ferocious nurse Of hardy men and hearts affronting Death, I gave some favour'd cities there to lift
Those that refulgent, or with rosy morn, Or yellow evening, flame: those that, profuse Drunk by equator-suns, severely shine; Or those that, to the poles approaching, rise In billows rolling into alps of ice.
Ev'n yet untouch'd by daring keel, be theirs The vast Pacific; that on other worlds, Their future conquest, rolls resounding tides. Long I maintain❜d inviolate my reign; Nor Alexanders me, nor Cæsars brav'd. Still, in the crook of shore, the coward sail Till now low-crept; and peddling commerce ply'd Between near-joining lands. For Britons, chief, It was reserv'd, with star-directed prow, To dare the middle-deep, and drive assur'd To distant nations through the pathless main, Chief, for their fearless hearts the glory waits, Long months from land, while the black stormy night Around them rages, on the groaning mast 360 With unshook knee to know their giddy way; 430 To sing, unquell'd, amid the lashing wave; To laugh at danger. Theirs the triumph be, By deep invention's keen pervading eye, The heart of courage, and the hand of toil, Each conquer'd ocean staining with their blood, Instead of treasure robb'd by ruffian war, Round social Earth to circle fair exchange, And bind the nations in a golden chain. To these 1 honour'd stoop. Rushing to light, A race of men behold! whose daring deeds Will in renown exalt my nameless plains O'er those of fabling Earth, as her's to mine In terrour yield. Nay, could my savage heart Such glories check, their unsubmitting soul Would all my fury brave, my tempest climb, And might in spite of me my kingdom force.'
A nobler brow, and through their swarming streets, More busy, wealthy, cheerful, and alive, In each contented face to look my soul. "Thence the loud Baltic passing, black with To wintery Scandinavia's utmost bound; There, I the manly race, the parent-hive Of the mix'd kingdoms, form'd into a state More regularly free. By keener air
Their genius purg'd, and temper'd hard by frost, Tempest and toil their nerves, the sons of those
"Of this encounter glad, my way to land I quick pursued, that from the smiling sea Receiv'd me joyous. Loud acclaims were heard; And music, more than mortal, warbling, fill'd With pleas'd astonishment the labouring hind, Who for a while th' unfinish'd furrow left, And let the listening steer forget his toil. Unseen by grosser eye, Britannia breath'd, And her aërial train, these sounds of joy, Full of old time, since first the rushing flood, 460 Urg'd by Almighty Power, this favour'd isle Turn'd flashing from the continent aside, Judented shore to shore responsive still, Its guardian she-the goddess, whose staid eye Beams the dark azure of the doubtful dawn. Her tresses, like a flood of soften'd light, Through clouds imbrown'd, in waving circles play. Warm on her cheek sits beauty's brightest rose. Of high demeanour, stately, shedding grace With every motio 1. Full her rising chest ; 470 And new ideas, from her finish'd shape, Charm'd Sculpture taking might improve her art. Such the fair guardian of an isle that boasts, Profuse as vernal blooms, the fairest dames. High-shining on the promontory's brow, Awaiting me, she stood; with hope inflam'd, By my mixt spirit burning in her sons, To firm, to polish, and exalt the state.
"The native Genii, round her, radiant smil'd. Courage, of soft deportment, aspect calm, Unboasting, suffering long, and, till provok'd, As mild and harmless as the sporting child; e But, on just reason, once his fury rous'd, No lion springs more eager to his prey: Blood is a pastime; and his heart, elate, Knows no depressing fear. That Virtue known By the relenting look, whose equal heart For others feels, as for another self: Of various name, as various objects wake, Warm into action, the kind sense within: Whether the blameless poor, the nobly maim'd, The lost to reason, the declin'd in life, The helpless young that kiss no mother's hand, And the grey second infancy of age, She gives in public families to live,
'Mid the bright groupe Sincerity his front, Diffusive, rear'd; his pure untroubled eye The fount of truth. The thoughtful Power, apart, Now, pensive, cast on Earth his fix'd regard, 520 Now, touch'd celestial, lanch'd it on the sky. The Genius he whence Britain shines supreme, The land of light, and rectitude of mind. He too the fire of fancy feeds intense, With all the train of passions thence deriv'd: Not kindling quick, a noisy transient blaze, But gradual, silent, lasting, and profound. Near him Retirement, pointing to the shade, And Independence stood: the generous pair, That simple life, the quiet-whispering grove, 530 And the still raptures of the free-born soul To cates prefer by virtue bought, not earn'd, Proudly prefer them to the servile pomps, And to the heart-embitter'd joys of slaves. Or should the latter, to the public scene Demanded, quit his sylvan friend a while; Nought can his firmness shake, nothing seduce His zeal, still active for the common-weal; Nor stormy tyrants, nor corruption's tools, Foul ministers, dark-working by the force Of secret-sapping gold. All their vile arts, Their shameful honours, their perfidious gifts, He greatly scorns; and, if he must betray His plunder'd country, or his power resign, A moment's parley were eternal shame : Illustrious into private life again,
From dirty levees he unstain'd ascends, And firm in senates stands the patriot's ground, Or draws new vigour in the peaceful shade. Aloof the bashful Virtue hover'd coy, Proving by sweet distrust distrusted worth. Rough Labour clos'd the train: and in his hand Rude, callous, sinew-swell'd, and black with toil, Came manly Indignation. Sour he seems, And more than seems, by lawful pride assail'd; Yet kind at heart, and just, and generous, there No vengeance lurks, no pale insidious gall: Ev'n in the very luxury of rage,
He softening can forgive a gallant foe;
The nerve, support, and glory of the land! 560 Nor be Religion, rational and free,
Here pass'd in silence; whose enraptur'd eye Sees Heaven with Earth connected, human things Link'd to divine: who not from servile fear, By rites for some weak tyrant incense fit, The god of Love adores, but from a heart Effusing gladness, into pleasing awe That now astonish'd swells, now in a calm Of fearless confidence that smiles serene;
500 That lives devotion, one continual hymn, And then most grateful, when Heaven's bounty most Is right enjoy'd. This ever-cheerful power O'er the rais'd circle ray'd superior day.
A sight to gladden Heaven! whether she stands Fair beckoning at the hospitable gate, And bids the stranger take repose and joy : Whether, to solace honest labour, she Rejoices those that make the land rejoice; Or whether to philosophy, and arts, (At once the basis and the finish'd pride Of government and life) she spreads her hand; Nor knows her gift profuse, nor seems to know, Doubling her bounty, that she gives at all. Justice to these her awful presence join'd, The mother of the state! No low revenge, No turbid passions in her breast ferment: Tender, serene, compassionate of vice, As the last woe that can afflict mankind. She punishment awards; yet of the good More piteous still, and of the suffering whole, Awards it firm. So fair her just decree, That, in his judging peers, each on himself Pronounces his own doom. O, happy land! Where reigns alone this justice of the free!
"I joy'd to join the Virtues whence my reign O'er Albion was to rise. Each chearing each, And, like the circling planets from the Sun, All borrowing beams from me, a heighten'd zeal Impatient fir'd us to commence our toils, Or pleasures rather. Long the pungent time Pass'd not in mutual hails; but, through the land Darting our light, we shone the fogs away. "The Virtues conquer with a single look. Such grace, such beauty, such victorious light, Live in their presence, stream in every glance, That the soul won, enamour'd, and refin'd, Grows their own image, pure ethereal flame,
Hence the foul demons, that oppose our reign, Would still from us deluded mortals wrap; Or in gross shades they drown the visual ray, Or by the fogs of prejudice, where mix Falsehood and truth confounded, foil the sense With yain refracted images of bliss. But chief around the court of flatter'd kings They roll the dusky rampart, wall o'er wall Of darkness pile, and with their thickest shade Secure the throne. No savage Alp, the den, Of wolves, and bears, and monstrous things obscene, That vex the swain, and waste the country round, Protected lies beneath a deeper cloud. Yet there we sometimes send a searching ray. 600 As, at the sacred opening of the morn, The prowling race retire; so, pierc'd severe, Before our potent blaze these demons fly, And all their works dissolve.-The whisper'd tale, That, like the fabling Nile, no founta' i knows. Fair-fac'd deceit, whose wily conscious eye Ne'er looks direct. The tongue that licks the dust, But, when it safely dares, as prompt to sting: Smooth crocodile destruction, whose fell tears Ensnare. The Janus face of courtly pride; One to superiors heaves submissive eyes, On hapless worth the other souls disdain. Cheeks that for some weak tenderness, alone, Some virtuous slip, can wear a blush. The laugh Prophane, when midnight bowls disclose the heart, At starving virtue, and at virtue's fools. Determin'd to be broke, the plighted faith: Nay more, the godless oath, that knows no ties. Soft-buzzing slander; silky moths, that eat
No more endur'd control, when, to support The last remains of empire, was recall'd The weary Roman, and the Briton lay Unnerv'd, exhausted, spiritless, and sunk. Great proof! how men enfeeble into slaves. The sword behind him flash'd; before him roar'd, Deaf to his woes, the deep. Forlorn, around He roll'd his eye, not sparkling ardent flame, As when Caractacus to battle led Silurian swains, and Boadicea taught Her raging troops the miseries of slaves.
"Then (sad relief!) from the bleak coast that The German ocean roar, deep-blooming, strong, And yellow-hair'd, the blue-ey'd Saxon came. 670 He came implor'd, but came with other aim Than to protect., For conquest and defence Suffices the same arm. With the fierce race Pour'd in a fresh invigorating stream; Blood, where unquell'd a mighty spirit glow'd. Rash war, and perilous battle their delight; And immature, and red with glorious wounds Unpeaceful death their choice; deriving thence A right to feast, and drain immortal bowls In Odin's hall; whose blazing roof resounds The genial uproar of those shades, who fall In desperate fight, or by some brave attempt; And though more polish'd times the martial creed Disown, yet still the fearless habit lives. Nor were the surly gifts of war their all. Wisdom was likewise theirs, indulgent laws, The calm gradations of art-nursing peace, And matchless orders, the deep basis still On which ascends my British reign.
An honest name. The harpy hand, and maw, 620 To the refining subtleties of slaves, Of avaricious Luxury; who makes
The throne his shelter, venal laws his fort, And, by his service, who betrays his king.
"Now turn your view, and mark from Celtic night To present grandeur how my Britain rose.
"Bold were those Britons, who, the careless sons Of Nature, roam'd the forest-bounds, at once Their verdant city, high-embowering fane, And the gay circle of their woodland wars: For by the Druid taught, that death but shifts 630 The vital scene, they that prime fear despis'd; And, prone to rush on steel, disdain'd to spare An ill-sav'd life that must again return. Erect from Nature's hand, by tyrant force, And still more tyrant custom, unsubdued, Man knows no master save creating Heaven, Or such as choice or common good ordain. This general sense, with which the nations I Promiscuous fire, in Britons burn'd intense, Of future times prophetic. Witness, Rome, Who saw'st thy Cæsar, from the naked land, Whose only forts was British hearts, repell'd, To seek Pharsalian wreaths. Witness, the toil, The blood of ages, bootless to secure, Beneath an empire's yoke, a stubborn isle, Disputed hard, and never quite subdued. [scorn'd The North remain'd untouch'd, where those who To stoop, retir'd; and, to their keen effort Yielding at last, recoil'd the Roman power. In vain, unable to sustain the shock, From sea to sea desponding legions rais'd The wall immense, and yet, on Summer's eye, While sport his lambkins round, the shepherd's gaze, Continual o'er it burst the northern storm, As often, check'd, receded; threatening hoarse A swift return. But the devouring flood
They brought an happy government along; Forin'd by that freedom, which, with secret voice, Impartial Nature teaches all her sons,
And which of old through the whole Scythian
I strong inspir'd. Monarchical their state, But prudently confin'd, and mingled wise Of each harmonious power: only, too much Imperious war into their rule infus'd, Prevail'd their general-king, and chieftain-thanes. "In many a field, by civil fury stain'd, Bled the discordant heptarchy; and long (Educing good from ill) the battle groan'd; Ere, blood-cemented, Anglo-Saxons saw Egbert and Peace on one united throne.
"No sooner dawn'd the fair disclosing calm Of brighter days, when, lo! the North anew, With stormy nations black, on England pour'd Woes the severest e'er a people felt.
The Danish raven, lur'd by annual prey, Hung o'er the land incessant. Fleet on fleet 710 Of barbarous pirates unremitting tore The miserable coast. Before them stalk'd, Far seen, the demon of devouring flame; Rapine, and murder, all with blood besmear'd, Without or ear, or eye, or feeling heart; While close behind them march'd the sallow power Of desolating famine, who delights
In grass-grown cities, and in desert fields; 650 And purple-spotted pestilence, by whom
Ev'n friendship scar'd, in sickening horrour sinks Each social sense and tenderness of life. 721 Fixing at last, the sanguinary race Spread, from the Humber's loud-resounding shore, To where the Thames devolves his gentle maze, And with superiour arm the Saxon aw'd.
But superstition first, and monkish dreams, And monk-directed cloyster-seeking kings, Had ate away his vigour, ate away His edge of courage, and depress'd the soul Of conquering freedom, which he once respir'd. Thus cruel aes pass'd; and rare appear'd White-mantled Peace, exulting o'er the vale, As when with Alfred, from the wilds she came To polic'd cities and protected plains. Thus by degrees the Saxon empire sunk, Then set entire in Hastings' bloody field.
Compendious war! (on Britain's glory bent, So Fate ordain'd) in that decisive day, The haughty Norman seiz'd at once an isle, From which, through many a century, in vain, 740 The Roman, Saxon, Dane, had toil'd and bled. Of Gothic nations this the final burst;
And, mix'd with the genius of these people all, These virtues mix'd in one exalted stream, Here the rich tide of English blood grew full. "Awhile my spirit slept; the land a while, Affrighted, droop'd beneath despotic rage. Instead of Edward's equal gentle laws, The furious victor's partial will prevail'd. All prostrate lay; and, in the secret shade, Deep-stung, but fearful, Indignation gnash'd His teeth. Of freedom, property, despoil'd, And of their bulwark, arms; with castles crush'd, With ruffians quarter'd o'er the bridled land; The shivering wretches, at the curfew sound, Dejected shrunk into their sordid beds, And, through the mournful gloom, of ancient times Mus'd sad, or dreamt of better. Ev'n to feed
A tyrant's idle sport the peasant starv'd: To the wild herd, the pasture of the tame, The cheerful hamlet, spiry town, was given, And the brown forest roughen'd wide around.
"But this so dead, so vile submission, long Endur'd not. Gathering force, my gradual flame Shook off the mountain of tyrannic sway. Unus'd to bend, impatient of control, Tyrants themselves 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,
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, [left Which generous nature breathes, and which, when By me to bondage was corrupted Rome, 800 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; By counsels weak and wicked, easy rous'd To paltry schemes of absolute command, To seek their splendour in their sure disgrace, 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
To gain new ground, first taught their rapine law. Through the charm'd whole one all-exerting soul:
The barons next a nobler league began, Both those of English and of Norman race, In one fraternal nation blended now,
The nation of the free! press'd by a band
Of patriots, ardent as the Summer's noon That looks delighted on, the tyrant see! Mark! how with feigned 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. [affirm'd "Through this and through succeeding reigns 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. "Though with the temper'd monarchy here mix'd 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.
Drawn sympathetic from his dark retreat, When wide-attracted merit round them glow'd : When counsels just, extensive, generous, firm, 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, They scorn'd to deem pre-eminence of case, To be luxurious drones, that only rob The busy hive: as in distinction, power, Indulgence, honour, and advantage, first; When they too claim'd in virtue, danger, toil, Superiour 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, 860 Confin'd their bounty, and their ardour 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 rush'd; And Cressy, Poitiers, Agincourt proclaim
"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,890 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, Which many a doating 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 horrour. The returning light, That first through Wickliff streak'd the priestly Now burst in open day. Bar'd to the blaze, [gloom, Forth from the haunts of superstition crawl'd Her motly sons, fantastic figures all; And, wide-dispers'd their useless fetid wealth In graceful labour 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! 920 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, 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 ranging 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. Meantime, peace, plenty, justice, science, arts, With softer laurels crown'd her happy reign.
"As yet uncircumscrib'd the regal power, And wild and vague prerogative remain'd, A wide voracious gulf, where swallow'd oft The helpless subject lay. This to reduce To the just limit was my great effort.
By means that evil seem to narrow man, Superior beings work their mystic will; From storm and trouble thus a settled calm, At last, effulgent, o'er Britannia smil'd.
"The gathering tempest, Heaven-commission'd, Came in the prince, who, drunk with flattery, His vain pacific counsels rul'd the world; [dreamt Though scorn'd abroad, bewilder'd in a maze Of fruitless treaties; while at home enslav'd, 960 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 Frederick pin'd, and Raleigh bled. But nothing that to these internal broils, That rancour, he began; while lawless sway He, with his slavish doctors, try'd 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 clamour kept alive. In action weak, and for the wordy war Best fitted, faint this prince pursued 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 apply'd: 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. 991 Wide mourn'd the land. Strait 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 Her unrelenting train: informers, spies, 1000 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,
And drain a thousand ways th' exhausted land.
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