Let grim Bellona haunt the lawless plain,
Where Tartar clans, and grifly Coffacks reign;
Let the steel'd Turk be deaf to matrons' cries,
See virgins ravish'd with relentless eyes;
To death grey heads and smiling infants doom,
Nor spare the promise of the pregnant womb;
O'er wafted kingdoms fpread his wide command,
The favage lord of an unpeopled land.
Her guiltless glory just Britannia draws
From pure religion, and impartial laws,
To Europe's wounds a mother's aid she brings,
And holds in equal scales the rival kings:
Her gen'rous fons in choicest gifts abound,
Alike in arms, alike in arts renown'd.
As when sweet Venus (fo the fable fings)
Awak'd by Nereids, from the Ocean springs;
With fmiles fhe fees the threat'ning billows rife,
Spreads fmooth the furge, and clears the louring skies;
Light, o'er the deep, with flutt'ring Cupids crown'd,
The pearly couch and filver turtles bound;
Her treffes fhed ambrofial odours round.
Amidft the world of waves fo ftands ferene
Britannia's ifle, the Ocean's ftately queen;
In vain the nations have confpir'd her fall,
Her trench the fea, and fleets her floating wall;
Defenceless barks, her pow'rful navy near,
Have only waves and hurricanes to fear.
What bold invader, or what land opprefs'd
Hath not her anger quell'd, her aid redress'd?
Say, where have e'er her union-croffes fail'd,
But much her arms, her justice more prevail❜d ?
Her labours are to plead th' Almighty's cause,
Her pride to teach th' untam'd barbarian laws :
Who conquers, wins by brutal ftrength the prize;
But 'tis a godlike work to civilize.
Have we forgot how from great Ruffia's throne,
The king, whose pow'r half Europe's regions own,
Whofe fcepter waving, with one fhout rush forth
In fwarms the harness'd millions of the north;
Through realms of ice purfu'd his tedious way,
To court our friendship, and our fame furvey!
Hence the rich prize of useful arts he bore,
And round his empire spread the learned store,
(T' adorn old realms is more than new to raise,
His country's parent is a monarch's praife.)
His bands now march in just array to war,
And Cafpian gulphs unusual navies bear;
With Runic lays Smolensko's forests ring,
And wond'ring Volga hears the mufes fing.
Did not the painted kings of India greet
Our Queen, and lay their fcepters at her feet?
Chiefs who full bowls of hoftile blood had quaff'd,
Fam'd for the javelin, and invenom'd shaft ;
Whofe haughty brows made favages adore,
Nor bow'd to lefs than ftars, or fun before:
Her pitying smile accepts their fuppliant claim,
And adds four monarchs to the Chriftian name.
Bleft ufe of pow'r! O virtuous pride in kings!
And like his bounty, whence dominion fprings!
Which o'er new worlds make heaven's indulgence shine,
And ranges myriads under laws divine!
Well bought with all that those sweet regions hold,
With groves of fpices, and with mines of gold.
Fearless our merchant now pursues his gain,
And roams fecurely o'er the boundless main.
Now o'er his head the polar bear he spies,
And freezing fpangles of the Lapland skies;
Now fwells his canvas to the fultry line,
With glitt❜ring spoils where Indian grottoes shine.;
Where fumes of incenfe glad the southern seas,
And wafted citron scents the balmy breeze.
Here nearer funs prepare the rip'ning gem,
To grace great ANNE's imperial diadem;
And here the ore, whofe melted mass shall yield
On faithful coins each memorable field;
Which mix'd with medals of immortal Rome,
May clear difputes, and teach the times to come.
In circling beams fhall godlike ANNA glow,
And Churchill's fword hang o'er the proftrate foe;
In comely wounds fhall bleeding worthies stand,
Webb's firm plattoon, and Lumly's faithful band!
Bold Mordaunt in Iberian trophies drefs'd,
And Campbell's dragon on his dauntless breast;
Great Ormond's deeds on Vigo's spoils enroll'd,
And Guifcard's knife on Harley's Chili gold.
And if the mufe. O Bristol, might decree,
Here Granville noted by the lyre should be,
The lyre for Granville, and the cross for thee.
Such are the honours grateful Briton pays,
So patriots merit, and fo monarchs praise.
O'er distant times fuch records fhall prevail,
When English numbers, antiquated, fail:
A trifling song the muse can only yield,
And footh her foldiers panting from the field;
To sweet retirements see them safe convey'd,
And raise their battles in the rural fhade.
From fields of death to Woodstock's peaceful glooms
(The poet's haunt) Britannia's hero comes-
Begin, my mufe, and foftly touch the ftring:
Here Henry lov'd; and Chaucer learn'd to fing.
Hail fabled grotto! hail Elysian foil!
Thou fairest spot of fair Britannia's isle!
Where kings of old conceal'd forgot the throne,
And beauty was content to fhine unknown;
Where love and war by turns pavilions rear,
And Henry's bow'rs near Blenheim's dome appear;
The weary'd champion lull in soft alcoves,
The nobleft boaft of thy romantick groves.
Oft, if the mufe prefage, fhall he be seen
By Rofamonda fleeting o'er the green,
In dreams be hail'd by heroes' mighty fhades,
And hear old Chaucer warble through the glades;
O'er the fam'd echoing vaults his name fhall bound,
And hill to hill reflect the favourite found.
Here, here at least thy love for arms give o'er,
Nor, one world conquer'd, fondly wish for more.
Vice of great fouls alone! O thirst of fame!
The mufe admires it, while fhe ftrives to blame;
Thy toils be now to chace the bounding deer,
Or view the courfers ftretch in wild career;
This lovely scene shall footh thy foul to reft,
And wear each dreadful image from thy breast ;
With pleasure, by thy conquefts fhalt thou fee
Thy Queen triumphant, and all Europe free;
No cares henceforth fhall thy repose destroy,
But what thou giv'ft the world, thyself enjoy.
Sweet folitude! when life's gay hours are past,
Howe'er we range, in thee we fix at last ;
Tofs'd through tempeftuous feas (the voyage o'er)
Pale we look back, and bless the friendly fhore.
Our own strict judges, our past life we scan,
And ask if glory hath enlarg'd the span;
If bright the profpect, we the grave defy,
Truft future ages, and contented die.
When strangers from far-distant climes shall come,
To view the pomp of this triumphant dome ;
Where rear'd aloft diffembled trophies stand,
And breathing labours of the fculptor's hand,
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