The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys Late Minister Plenipotentiary from the United States of America to the Court of Madrid |
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 | The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys |  |
On broad Potowmac's bank then spring to birth,
Thou seat of empire and delight of earth!
Of Washington assume the glorious name,
Immortal pledge of union and of fame!
Hail site sublime! unconscious of thy doom,
Thou future city burst the shapeless gloom,
From long oblivion wake—unrivall'd rise—
And spread thy destin'd beauties to the skies!
Through rows of goodly trees with umbrage fair,
And streams, whose freshness cools the summer air;
From where the Tiber's tide thy margin laves,
To where Potowmac rolls his sea-like waves,
I see thy spacious streets their walks extend,
The domes rise beauteous and the arches bend—
I see thy portals proud, adorn'd with art,
Where thronging nations enter and depart—
Where lifts the Capitol its golden spires,
I see Columbia's delegated sires
Intent on high debate—awful!—serene!—
Nor Greece nor Rome beheld an equal scene.
Where the first magistrate of freemen dwells,
In simple state the noble pile excels.
Nor less those courts a deep attention draw,
Where rest enshrin'd, as oracles of law,
The judges of the land—thence right shall reign,
Nor they the sword of justice bear in vain.
There stands thy fountain, science! early plann'd
To pour a flood of blessings round the land—
Since him who tastes thy salutary wave,
No force or fraud can make in mind a slave.
Thou seat of empire and delight of earth!
Of Washington assume the glorious name,
Immortal pledge of union and of fame!
Hail site sublime! unconscious of thy doom,
Thou future city burst the shapeless gloom,
From long oblivion wake—unrivall'd rise—
And spread thy destin'd beauties to the skies!
Through rows of goodly trees with umbrage fair,
And streams, whose freshness cools the summer air;
From where the Tiber's tide thy margin laves,
To where Potowmac rolls his sea-like waves,
I see thy spacious streets their walks extend,
The domes rise beauteous and the arches bend—
I see thy portals proud, adorn'd with art,
Where thronging nations enter and depart—
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I see Columbia's delegated sires
Intent on high debate—awful!—serene!—
Nor Greece nor Rome beheld an equal scene.
Where the first magistrate of freemen dwells,
In simple state the noble pile excels.
Nor less those courts a deep attention draw,
Where rest enshrin'd, as oracles of law,
The judges of the land—thence right shall reign,
Nor they the sword of justice bear in vain.
There stands thy fountain, science! early plann'd
To pour a flood of blessings round the land—
Since him who tastes thy salutary wave,
No force or fraud can make in mind a slave.
| The miscellaneous works of David Humphreys | |