Poems on several occasions | ||
109
ADDRESS TO THE THAMES.
O Thames! thy clear majestic stream
Shall ever flow my raptur'd theme;
Not because Augusta's pride
Builds her greatness on thy tide,
Courted by worlds in other oceans found:
Not because proud Cliefden laves
His pendent beeches in thy waves;
Not because thy limpid rills
Reflect on Hampton's towers, or Richmond's hills;
Or Cooper's mountain, by the Muses crown'd,
Or catch the blaze from Windsor's beaming star,
Sacred to patriot chiefs, the boast of peace and war.
Shall ever flow my raptur'd theme;
Not because Augusta's pride
Builds her greatness on thy tide,
Courted by worlds in other oceans found:
Not because proud Cliefden laves
His pendent beeches in thy waves;
Not because thy limpid rills
Reflect on Hampton's towers, or Richmond's hills;
110
Or catch the blaze from Windsor's beaming star,
Sacred to patriot chiefs, the boast of peace and war.
Nor yet because thy current loves
The haunt of Academic groves;
And still with ling'ring fond delay
Through Egham's vales delights to stray,
Once scene of Freedom's claims, heroic cares:
But hail thee, Thames! while o'er thy meads
Eliza with Louisa leads
Each winning grace of Love and Youth,
Ingenuous forms, fair Candour and fair Truth:
Oh! fan their evening walk with mildest airs;
So Gallic spoils shall crowd thy wealthy side,
And Commerce swell her stores with each revolving tide.
The haunt of Academic groves;
And still with ling'ring fond delay
Through Egham's vales delights to stray,
Once scene of Freedom's claims, heroic cares:
But hail thee, Thames! while o'er thy meads
Eliza with Louisa leads
Each winning grace of Love and Youth,
Ingenuous forms, fair Candour and fair Truth:
Oh! fan their evening walk with mildest airs;
So Gallic spoils shall crowd thy wealthy side,
And Commerce swell her stores with each revolving tide.
Poems on several occasions | ||