XX.
PATRIOTISM.
And Thou, environ'd with thy zone of waves,
Nursling of waters! whom old Ocean laves
As though He loved to hear his billow-roar
Champion the rocks which sentinel thy shore;
Intrepid Isle! whose amaranthine bays
Bloom in the light of Heaven's approving gaze;
Defender of the Faith in Christendom's great heart!
Well may we proudly think on this day what Thou art,
And, pond'ring o'er th' imperishable past,
See Glory's halo round thy hist'ry cast!
Let Patriots boast of thine and thee,
Of Commerce, Arms, and Chivalry,
Of princely homes, of palace-halls,
Of Culture, and whate'er recals
How lofty Will can dare, and lion-heart can do,
When Trafalgar became an ocean-Waterloo:
'Tis right to let such feeling reign,
And when dead Ages breathe again,
O'er the harp-string of the soul
Like a lyric rapture roll.
And their proud boast is purer still
If Thou thy mission-work fulfil,
As dauntless champion of the Truth to stand
And brighten Europe like a beacon-land,
By teaching tyrants who would crush the mind,
'Tis sacrilege!—for God is there enshrined.
Thus sacred law and liberty unite
A Prince's sceptre with the People's right,
And in the thunder of a bold-voiced Press
Nations can utter forth their nobleness,
Who find in scripture, when it frees the soul,
A Magna Charta which sublimes the whole!
THE PEOPLE.
Yet bounds the heart with patriotic bliss
Through all excitements of a morn like this,
To think, how nobly have the People proved
They well can honour whom they wisely loved!
For while they paid to peerless Wellington
A homage Alexander never won,
The lofty and the low, our peasants and our peers
Have met and mingled here, unchill'd by frowns or fears,
In this metropolis of varied Man
Where Nature musters every type she can;
And yet, no impious Wrong hath once profaned
The sabbath-peace of sentiment which reign'd;
But all was just, magnanimous, sincere;
And, heralded by many a votive tear,
The sun went down with no recorded crime
And left the British character sublime!
