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 †,
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 behoved 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, he more than Roman senate. There a flame Broke out, that clear'd, consum'd, renew'd the land.

n deep emotion hurl'd, nor Greece, nor Rome, ndignant bursting from a tyrant's chain, Vhile, full of me, each agitated soul trung every nerve, and flam'd in every eye, lad e'er beheld such light and heat combin'd! uch 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 'o clear the weedy state, restore the laws, nd for the future to secure their sway. "This then the purpose of my mildest sons. ut man is blind. A nation once inflam'd Chief, should the breath of factious fury blow, With the wild rage of mad enthusiast swell'd) ot easy cools again. From breast to breast, rom eye to eye, the kindling passions mix

heighten'd blaze; and, ever wise and just, igh Heaven to gracious ends directs the storm. hus, in one conflagration Britain wrapt, nd by confusion's lawless sons despoil'd, [ground, ing, lords, and commons, thundering to the Accessive, rush'd-Lo! from their ashes rose, ay-beaming radiant youth, the phoenix-state. § "The grievous yoke of vassalage, the yoke f private life, lay by those flames dissolv'd; nd, from the wasteful, the luxurious king ||, Tas purchas'd that which taught the young to bend.¶

ronger restor❜d, the commons tax'd the whole,
nd built on that eternal rock their power.
he crown, of its hereditary wealth
espoil'd, on senates more dependent grew,
nd the y more frequent, more assur'd.
nd in full vigour spread that bitter root,
e passive doctrines, by their patrons first

Ship -money.

+ Mon opolies.

Yet liv'd,

The raging high-church sermons of these nes, inspiring at once a spirit of slavish submison to the court, and of bitter persecution against ose whom they call Church and State Puritans, At the Restoration.

Charles II.

Court of wards.

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 saviour 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.

[reduc'd

"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, 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

land;

For Sidney bleeding for the unpublish'd page;
Nor on the bench avow'd corruption plac'd,
And murderous rage itself, in Jefferies' 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,
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,
Awefully still, waiting the high command

To spring. Straight from his country Europe sav'd,

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 flavour 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: And orient floods draw soft, o'er pearls, their maze. 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 seats, 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:

* Tin.

And English merit hers; where meet, combin'd,
Whate'er high fancy, sound judicious thought,
An ample generous heart, undrooping soul,
And firm tenacious valour 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,
Beam'd more than human; and her aweful voice,
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 kingdoin 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

[gift,

Of slaves self-barter'd? Virtue! without thee,
There is no ruling eye, no nerve, in states;
War has no vigour, 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
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

Secure his little kingdom. Nor can those
Whom fortune heaps, without these virtues, reach
That truce with pain, that animated ease,
That self-enjoyment springing from within;
That Independence, active, or retir'd,
Which make the soundest bliss of man below:
But, lost beneath the rubbish of their means,
And drain'd by wants to nature all unknown,
A wandering, tasteless, gaily wretched train,
Though rich, are beggars, and though noble, slaves.
"Lo! damn'd to wealth, at what a gross ex-
pense

They purchase disappointment, pain, and shame,
Instead of hearty hospitable cheer.

See how the hall with brutal riot flows;
While in the foaming flood, fermenting, steep'd,
The country maddens into party-rage.

Mark! those disgraceful piles of wood and stone; Those parks and gardens, where, his haunts betrimm'd,

See! the full board

And Nature by presumptuous art oppress'd,
The woodland genius mourns.
That streams disgust, and bowls that give no joy:
No truth invited there, to feed the mind;
Nor wit, the wine rejoicing reason quaffs.
Hark! how the dome with insolence resounds,
With those retain'd by vanity to scare
Repose and friends. To tyrant fashion mark
The costly worship paid, to the broad gaze
Of fools. From still delusive day to day,
Led an eternal round of lying hope,
See! self-abandon'd, how they roam adrift,
Dash'd o'er the town, a miserable wreck !
Then to adorn some warbling eunuch turn'd,
With Midas' ears they crowd; or to the buzz
Of masquerade unblushing; or, to show
Their scorn of Nature, at the tragic scene
They mirthful sit, or prove the comic true.
But, chief, behold! around the rattling board,
The civil robbers rang'd; and ev'n the fair,
The tender fair, each sweetness laid aside,
As fierce for plunder as all-licens'd troops
In some sack'd city. Thus dissolv'd their wealth,
Without one generous luxury dissolv'd,
Or quarter'd on it many a needless want,
At the throng'd levee bends the venal tribe :
With fair but faithless smiles each varnish'd o'er,
Each smooth as those that mutually deceive,
And for their falsehood each despising each;
Till shook their patron by the wintery winds,
Wide flies the wither'd shower, and leaves him bare.
O, far superior Afric's sable sons,

By merchant pilfer'd, to these willing slaves!
And, rich, as unsqueez'd favourite, to them,
Is he who can his virtue boast alone!

"Britons! be firm!-nor let corruption sly
Twine round your heart indissoluble chains!
The steel of Brutus burst the grosser bonds
By Cæsar cast o'er Rome; but still remain'd
The soft enchanting fetters of the mind,
And other Cæsars rose. Determin'd, hold
Your independence! for, that once destroy'd,
Unfounded, freedom is a morning dream,
That flits aërial from the spreading eye.
"Forbid it, Heaven! that ever I need urge
Integrity in office on my sons!

Inculcate common honour - not to rob
And whom?
The gracious, the confiding hand,
That lavishly rewards; the toiling poor,
Whose cup with many a bitter drop is mixt;

The guardian public; every face they see,
And every friend; nay, in effect, themselves.
As in familiar life, the villain's fate
Admits no cure; so, when a desperate age
At this arrives, I the devoted race
Indignant spurn, and hopeless soar away.

"But, ah, too little known to modern times!
Be not the noblest passion past unsung;
That ray peculiar from unbounded love
Effus'd, which kindles the heroic soul:
Devotion to the public. Glorious flame!
Celestial ardour! in what unknown worlds,
Profusely scatter'd through the blue immense,
Hast thou been blessing myriads, since in Rome,
Old virtuous Rome, so many deathless names
From thee their lustre drew? since, taught by thee,
Their poverty put splendour to the blush,
Pain grew luxurious, and ev'n death delight?
O, wilt thou ne'er, in thy long period, look,
With blaze direct, on this my last retreat?

"'Tis not enough, from self right understood Reflected, that thy rays inflame the heart: Though Virtue not disdains appeals to self, Dreads not the trial: all her joys are true, Nor is there any real joy save hers. Far less the tepid, the declaiming race, Foes to corruption, to its wages friends, Or those whom private passions for awhile, Beneath my standard list, can they suffice To raise and fix the glory of my reign? "An active flood of universal love Must swell the breast. First, in effusion wide, The restless spirit roves creation round, And seizes every being: stronger then It tends to life, whate'er the kindred search Of bliss allies: then, more collected still, It urges human-kind: a passion grown, At last, the central parent-public calls Its utmost effort forth, awakes each sense, The comely, grand, and tender. Without this, This aweful pant, shook from sublimer powers Than those of self, this heaven-infus'd delight, This moral gravitation, rushing prone To press the public good, my system soon, Traverse, to several selfish centres drawn, Will reel to ruin: while for ever shut Stand the bright portals of desponding Fame.

"From sordid self shoot up no shining deeds,
None of those ancient lights, that gladden Earth,
Give grace to being, and arouse the brave
To just ambition, virtue's quickening fire!
Life tedious grows, an idly-bustling round,
Fill'd up with actions animal and mean,
A dull gazette! Th' impatient reader scorns
The poor historic page; till kindly comes
Oblivion, and redeems a people's shame.
Not so the times, when emulation-stung,
Greece shone in genius, science, and in arts,
And Rome in virtues dreadful to be told!
To live was glory then! and charm'd mankind
Through the deep periods of devolving time,
Those, raptur'd, copy! these, astonish'd, read.

"True, a corrupted state, with every vice
And every meanness foul, this passion damps
Who can, unshock'd, behold the cruel eye?
The pale inveigling smile? the ruffian front?
The wretch abandon'd to relentless self,
Equally vile if miser or profuse?
Powers not of God, assiduous to corrupt?
The fell deputed tyrant, who devours