The Harp of Erin Containing the Poetical Works of the Late Thomas Dermody. In Two Volumes |
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ON HISTORY. |
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ON HISTORY.
Bright on the page of hist'ry beams each star,Rever'd in peace, or terrible in war;
The statesman hire to latest ages lives,
And the sweet poet with his Muse survives;
Still thunders one to the admiring crowd,
While flows his speech in the dumb volume loud;
Still silent senates pause on every stroke,
And letters speak what once the hero spoke:
The other's verse each manly bosom charms,
Represses, vigorates, enchants, and charms;
The measured modes majestically glow,
And pity weeps o'er scenes of stored woe.
How sweet, to share the fight, unhurt, unharm'd,
Start to the field with force ideal arm'd;
Mark hot-brain'd Charles the regal banner wave,
Or unknown hand implant his lowly grave?
A Fred'rick, view, in martial strictness firm,
Turn the quick rank, or place the dauntless turm;
A William, snatch deep danger's highest wreath,
And brave the iron front of fiercest death;
A Raleigh write, a godlike Newton rise,
Potent, to pierce the myst'ry of the skies!
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And scornful vice triumph o'er Dryden dead;
A meek usurper quit the royal stage,
A Cromwell conquer, and a Cromwell rage;
A Mary's hand unjuster sway resign,
And great Eliza distant realms combine;
Smile at the struggles of this puny globe,
And turn from greatness and its ermine robe:
O'er sorrows true, the past shed a fresh tear,
And feel for turbulence you cannot fear.
Hist'ry then, fond memorial of our life,
Receptacle of quiet, mirth, or strife;
World in epitome! contracted plan,
The work of God transferring to a man!
E'en we, when all our troublous storms are o'er,
Shall view the light again, and live once more;
Knowles's and Hollinshead's new tales devise,
And Humes, and Robertsons, and Henrys rise.
| The Harp of Erin | |