20

I see recoil his sable steeds,

That bore him swift to salvage deeds,
Thy tender melting eyes they own;
O maid, for all thy love to Britain shown,

Where Justice bars her iron tower,

To thee we build a roseate bower; Thou, thou shalt rule our queen, and share our

95

ODE TO LIBERTY.

STROPHE.

Who shall awake the Spartan fife,

And call in solemn sounds to life,
The youths, whose locks divinely spreading,

Like vernal hyacinths in sullen hue,
At once the breath of fear and virtue shedding, 5

Applauding Freedom loved of old to view ?
What new Alcæus, fancy-blest,
Shall sing the sword, in myrtles drest,

Alluding to that beautiful fragment of Alcæus :

Εν μύρτου κλαδί το ξίφος φορήσω,
Ωσπερ Αρμόδιος κ’ Αριστογείτων,
Οτε τον τύραννον κτανέτην,
Ισονόμους τ' Αθήνας εποιησάτην.
Φιλταθ’ Αρμόδι ου τι που τέθνηκας,
Νήσοις δ' εν μακάρων σε φασίν είναι,
Ινα περ ποδώκης Αχιλεύς,
Τυδέιδην τε φασιν Διομήδεα.
Εν μύρτου κλαδί το ξίφος φορήσω,
Ωσπερ Αρμόδιος κ' Αριστογείτων,
Οτ' Αθηναίης εν θυσίαις
Ανδρα τύραννον Ιππαρχον έκαιγέτην.
Αεί σφών κλέος έσσεται κατ' αίαν,
Φίλταθ’ Αρμόδιε, κ' Αριστόγειτων,
Οτι τον τύραννον κτάνετον,
Ισονόμους τ' Αθήνας εποιήσατον

15

At Wisdom's shrine awhile its flame concealing, (What place so fit to seal a deed renown'd?) 10

Till she her brightest lightnings round revealing, It leap'd in glory forth, and dealt her prompted

wound ! O goddess, in that feeling hour, When most its sounds would court thy ears,

Let not my shell's misguided powerk

E’er draw thy sad, thy mindful tears.
No, Freedom, no, I will not tell
How Rome, before thy weeping face,
With heaviest sound, a giant-statue, fell,
Push'd by a wild and artless race
From off its wide ambitious base,
When Time his northern sons of spoil awoke,

And all the blended work of strength and grace,

With many a rude repeated stroke, And many a barbarous yell, to thousand fragments

broke.

20

EPODE.

Yet, even where'er the least appear'd,
The admiring world thy hand revered ;
Still 'midst the scatter'd states around,
Some remnants of her strength were found ;
They saw, by what escaped the storm,
How wondrous rose her perfect form;

30

k Mή μη ταύτα λέγωμες, α δάκρυον ήγαγε Δηοϊ.

Callimach. "Ύμνος εις Δήμητρα.

35

40

How in the great, the labour'd whole,
Each mighty master pour'd his soul !
For sunny Florence, seat of art,
Beneath her vines preserved a part,
Till they, whom Science loved to name,
(O who could fear it?) quench'd her flame.
And lo, an humbler relic laid
In jealous Pisa's olive shade!
See small Marino TM joins the theme,
Though least, not last in thy esteem:
Strike, louder strike the ennobling strings
To those," whose merchant sons were kings;
To him, who, deck'd with pearly pride,
In Adria weds his green-hair'd bride ;
Hail, port of glory, wealth, and pleasure,
Ne'er let me change this Lydian measure :
Nor e'er her former pride relate,
To sad Liguria's P bleeding state.
Ah no! more pleased thy haunts I seek,
On wild Helvetia'sq mountains bleak :
(Where, when the favour'd of thy choice,
The daring archer heard thy voice;
Forth from his eyrie roused in dread,
The ravening eagle northward fled :)

Or dwell in willow'd meads more near,
With those to whom thy stork' is dear :
Those whom the rod of Alva bruised,
Whose crown a British queen refused !
The magic works, thou feel'st the strains,
One holier name alone remains;
The perfect spell shall then avail,
Hail, nymph, adored by Britain, hail !

00

65

ANTISTROPHE.
Beyond the measure vast of thought,
The works the wizzard time has wrought!

The Gaul, 'tis held of antique story,
Saw Britain linked to his now adverse strand,

No sea between, nor cliff sublime and hoary, He pass'd with unwet feet through all our land.

To the blown Baltic then, they say,
The wild waves found another

way,

70

"The Dutch, amongst whom there are very severe penalties for those who are convicted of killing this bird. They are kept tame in almost all their towns, and particularly at the Hague, of the arms of which they make a part. The common people of Holland are said to entertain a superstitious sentiment, that if the whole species of them should be come extinct, they should lose their liberties.

s Queen Elizabeth.

+ This tradition is mentioned by several of our old historians. Some naturalists too have endeavoured to support the probability of the fact by arguments drawn from the correspondent disposition of the two opposite coasts. I do not remember that any poetical use has been hitherto made of it.