University of Virginia Library

AN EPODE.

Written about the End of the Year 1756.

[Now domes and obelisks o'erspread the plain]

Now domes and obelisks o'erspread the plain,
Where laughing Ceres us'd to reign;
Lands, that of old repaid their owner's care,
Are now trim walks, and gay parterre.
Hills sink to vallies, vallies swell to hills,
Rocks gush with artificial rills.
Vain petulance of wealth! this gaudy scene,
What boots it, if unquiet spleen
Breeds new desires; and squeamish appetite
Loaths what was yesterday's delight?
Better the hardy Swiss, who tills the soil,
Lives on his little, earn'd by toil;
There fair equality, proportion'd wealth,
Preserve the commonweal in health;
The farmer there beholds in lands his own
Flocks feeding, and plantations grown.
Laws and example there controul intrigue,
No stain pollutes the marriage league,
No portion'd wives presume to domineer,
Virtue is all their portion there.
Is there, who seeks a patriot's honest fame,
Bold faction let him dare to tame,
And madd'ning licence; acts, like these, shall raise
A monument to latest days.
But vain the task to blame degen'rate times,
If timid justice wink on crimes;
Enormities unpunish'd gather force
Grown by example things of course.
Morals, that give authority to law,
No longer hold the land in awe.
But great and small alike pay rites divine,
At Belial's or at Mammon's shrine.
There offer all the charities of life,
The niece, the sister, and the wife.
Inhuman sacrifice! Go then, and bawl
For Freedom; she disdains thy call.
Freedom he loves not, who enslav'd within
Thinks poverty the greatest sin.
On virtue only freedom is bestow'd,
None win or woe her, but the good.
Simplicity of manners, frugal taste,
To what new climate are ye chas'd?
Instead of these—but oh! my Muse, forbear,
And let our foes the rest declare.
Tell it, with triumph, France, who best can tell,
What arts you tried, what magic spell,
Thus to transform, and into apes debase
A gallant once, and manly race;
Those, who your arms for ages have withstood,
Are by your fopperies subdued.
Oh, too severe revenge for all the slain,
Whose blood once fatten'd Cressy's plain;
Go, now secure, go, scatter wide and far,
O'er nations more than hostile war;
Till one by one a prey to force or fraud,
Grow patient of the Gallic rod.
Yet though the black'ning storm in full career
Rolls nearer on, and still more near,
Britain unactive sees the spreading waste,
Content to be devour'd the last;
In utmost need, not daring to defend
Her best, her last remaining friend:
Who asks, but to restore her ancient might,
And teach her veterans, how to fight.
Rouse, Britons, rouse, where Europe's loud alarms,
Where Glory calls, to arms, to arms.
Inspir'd by Him, whose wond'rous deeds contain
An Iliad within one campaign.
Her menac'd isle can Britain hope to save
By troops in war untried, though brave?
In foreign realms first purchase fair renown,
So shall you best protect your own.
Hard lesson! say, ye Knights of Arthur's, say,
Who would exchange ease, pleasure, play,
For toil, for hunger; and in perils share
With Him, whose very sport is war?
Not so of old—in fam'd Eliza's days
Each candidate for martial praise
Return'd instructed from the Belgic school,
How to obey, and how to rule;
No toil, no danger, could their efforts quell;
Witness the field where Sidney fell,
Alike in counsel, and in arms supreme,
Sidney the Muses darling theme,
Himself a Muse;—oh! had propitious fate
Giv'n to thy years a riper date,
Frederick's exploits, which now with lustre shine
Superior, had but equall'd thine.
Whom shall we find to rival Sidney's fame,
And reassert our ancient claim?
Ah! hope not drooping vigour to restore
By laws, the cordial of an hour;
Let Education, Britain, be thy care,
The long neglected soil prepare
For future harvests, now a thorny wood
Untill'd, uncultur'd, unsubdued:
The stinging nettle, the dull nightshade's pow'r,
Each weed that counterfeits a flow'r,
The teasing burr, the creeper sure to wound
The tree that raised it from the ground,
Pluck up betimes; eradicate the growth
Of faction, foppery, and sloth,
And treacherous ambition; these replace
With virtues of a generous race:
Calm courage, industry, and modest truth,
Plant in the breast of easy youth;
So shall maturer age the laws revere,
And morals do the work of fear.