The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale In two volumes |
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THE INVINCIBLE ISLAND; A POEM:
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 | The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale |  |
315
THE INVINCIBLE ISLAND; A POEM:
WITH INTRODUCTORY OBSERVATIONS ON THE PRESENT WAR.
The Douglas, and the Hotspur, both together,
Are confident against the world in arms.
Shakespeare.
Are confident against the world in arms.
Shakespeare.
317
1797.
Can all the mind's fertility pourtray
Man's pride, and madness, on some future day!
France, governed long by absolute command;
Formed to convulse, but not to rule a land;
France, that hath left no path of crimes untrod;
Foe to all virtue; even at war with God!
Whom slaves, before, whom tyrants, now, we find;
(The natural progress of the human mind!)
France, (have I lived these monstrous times to see!)
France is to teach Britannia to be free!
Man's pride, and madness, on some future day!
France, governed long by absolute command;
Formed to convulse, but not to rule a land;
France, that hath left no path of crimes untrod;
Foe to all virtue; even at war with God!
Whom slaves, before, whom tyrants, now, we find;
(The natural progress of the human mind!)
France, (have I lived these monstrous times to see!)
France is to teach Britannia to be free!
318
Island of bliss! renowned for laurels won
Accept this ardent service of thy son!
While at this awfully momentous time;
Alike unparalleled in prose, and rhyme,
Others with civick wreaths crown every hour,
More blessed with wealth, or strengthened more with power;
Poets can only add a sprig of bay;
Poets can only give their zealous lay!
Oh! were my muse as warm as my desires;
Were her flame equal to my patriot fires;
Fine coruscations, darting from my page,
Haply might stimulate the generous rage
That glows in every British, free-born soul;
While Gallia threats her insolent controul!
Accept this ardent service of thy son!
While at this awfully momentous time;
Alike unparalleled in prose, and rhyme,
Others with civick wreaths crown every hour,
More blessed with wealth, or strengthened more with power;
Poets can only add a sprig of bay;
Poets can only give their zealous lay!
Oh! were my muse as warm as my desires;
Were her flame equal to my patriot fires;
Fine coruscations, darting from my page,
Haply might stimulate the generous rage
That glows in every British, free-born soul;
While Gallia threats her insolent controul!
Jealous of Liberty's, of Glory's plan,
Must we be victims to those apes of man!
Never!—All Englishmen their Shakespeare know;
To bards 'tis given in prophecy to flow;
Shakespeare, the jest of every Gallick fool;
Echoes of Ferney's superficial school;
Who think all genius by their own surpassed;
Whose verse is rhyme; whose eloquence, bombast:—
England her Shakespeare knows; but what says he?
Like brethren let our island but agree;
The dauntless Hotspur, and the Douglas, joined,
In unison of wealth; of heart; of mind;
Will win the god who drives the crimson car;
And wage against the world successful war.
Then by the gallant Scottish ghosts I swear,
Blessed with the fragrance of Elysian air;
Who rushed impetuous on the patriot's doom;
Repelling from their land ambitious Rome!
Nay (for no obstinate, mean hate, I know,
To union summoned by the common foe)
I swear by those who fell at Flodden's field;
With hearts that knew to conquer, not to yield;
And by our English ghosts; the glorious dead;
Who at famed Agincourt, and Cressy, bled;
If we obey the maxim of our seer;
A poet; prophet; politician, here;
Life's current still shall prove, in British blood,
Of valour an insuperable flood;
Still other Marlboroughs; other Wolfes shall rise;
To glad a nation's hearts; a nation's eyes;
Again their thunder, with just vengeance, hurled,
By land, shall crush the robbers of the world;
While Hawkes, and Howes; and Duncans, on the main,
Impurple Neptune's realm with Frenchmen slain:
With murmur flits each melancholy ghost;
Cursing it's dreams of treading England's coast.
Must we be victims to those apes of man!
Never!—All Englishmen their Shakespeare know;
To bards 'tis given in prophecy to flow;
Shakespeare, the jest of every Gallick fool;
Echoes of Ferney's superficial school;
Who think all genius by their own surpassed;
319
England her Shakespeare knows; but what says he?
Like brethren let our island but agree;
The dauntless Hotspur, and the Douglas, joined,
In unison of wealth; of heart; of mind;
Will win the god who drives the crimson car;
And wage against the world successful war.
Then by the gallant Scottish ghosts I swear,
Blessed with the fragrance of Elysian air;
Who rushed impetuous on the patriot's doom;
Repelling from their land ambitious Rome!
Nay (for no obstinate, mean hate, I know,
To union summoned by the common foe)
I swear by those who fell at Flodden's field;
With hearts that knew to conquer, not to yield;
And by our English ghosts; the glorious dead;
Who at famed Agincourt, and Cressy, bled;
If we obey the maxim of our seer;
A poet; prophet; politician, here;
Life's current still shall prove, in British blood,
Of valour an insuperable flood;
Still other Marlboroughs; other Wolfes shall rise;
To glad a nation's hearts; a nation's eyes;
320
By land, shall crush the robbers of the world;
While Hawkes, and Howes; and Duncans, on the main,
Impurple Neptune's realm with Frenchmen slain:
With murmur flits each melancholy ghost;
Cursing it's dreams of treading England's coast.
But while my mind approves; admires; reveres
The hand intrepid that our vessel steers;
Not with French rant; with English firmness braves
Meteors of anarchy, and faction's waves;
While I revere each patron of the state;
Let me not class too low the poet's fate.
Poets give grace, and energy to mind;
And speed the noble passions of mankind.
Pindar in Theban bosoms lighted flames,
To pant for glory at Olympia's games;
And to deserve their country's beauteous dames.
The bard, Tyrtæus, with his patriot song,
Raised from despair the listening Spartan throng;
Taught their chilled hearts with ancient heat to glow;
And drove their arms, in thunder, on the foe.
For his first pleasure of nocturnal hours,
Young Ammon, blest with ardent mental powers,
Close to his conquering sword the Iliad laid,
Invoking Homer's venerable shade:
The god-like strain he read with sleepless eyes;
And fired his soul with verse, to great emprize.
The hand intrepid that our vessel steers;
Not with French rant; with English firmness braves
Meteors of anarchy, and faction's waves;
While I revere each patron of the state;
Let me not class too low the poet's fate.
Poets give grace, and energy to mind;
And speed the noble passions of mankind.
Pindar in Theban bosoms lighted flames,
To pant for glory at Olympia's games;
And to deserve their country's beauteous dames.
The bard, Tyrtæus, with his patriot song,
Raised from despair the listening Spartan throng;
Taught their chilled hearts with ancient heat to glow;
And drove their arms, in thunder, on the foe.
321
Young Ammon, blest with ardent mental powers,
Close to his conquering sword the Iliad laid,
Invoking Homer's venerable shade:
The god-like strain he read with sleepless eyes;
And fired his soul with verse, to great emprize.
Oh! then, might Dryden's muse my numbers fire;
His easy force; his eloquence inspire;
Give all his fervour to my vigorous line;
“His long, majestick march, and energy divine ;”
Which multiplied Britannia's naval balls;
And drove them home, through Holland's oaken walls;
Or would our Pope's more cultivated muse;
Whose graceful robe floats with celestial hues;
Tune in my ravished ears his golden strain,
That urged our cannon on the pride of Spain;
By powers poetick I might, then, regain
A loyal phalanx from Sedition's train;
Those powers would clear their intellectual sight
From democratick fogs of Stygian night:—
Yes; loyal to the code of publick sway,
Praised in the sage's prose; the poet's lay;
That equal code which Montesquieu admires;
Which warms Helvetius with the purest fires.
Blest pair! while two such Frenchmen plead our cause,
How England feels her salutary laws!
Your country's glory, while she valued fame;
Now, in her Scythian state, your country's shame!
His easy force; his eloquence inspire;
Give all his fervour to my vigorous line;
“His long, majestick march, and energy divine ;”
Which multiplied Britannia's naval balls;
And drove them home, through Holland's oaken walls;
Or would our Pope's more cultivated muse;
Whose graceful robe floats with celestial hues;
Tune in my ravished ears his golden strain,
That urged our cannon on the pride of Spain;
By powers poetick I might, then, regain
A loyal phalanx from Sedition's train;
322
From democratick fogs of Stygian night:—
Yes; loyal to the code of publick sway,
Praised in the sage's prose; the poet's lay;
That equal code which Montesquieu admires;
Which warms Helvetius with the purest fires.
Blest pair! while two such Frenchmen plead our cause,
How England feels her salutary laws!
Your country's glory, while she valued fame;
Now, in her Scythian state, your country's shame!
Would but one spirit of the mighty dead
His heat benign on his admirer shed;
Would Burke, who gave us poetry in prose,
While strength of argument collateral flows:
With great suggestions fill my poorer breast;
'Twould then, with glorious agitation blest,
Congenial sense, and imagery produce,
Of private rapture, and of publick use.—
Transfuse his fervid æther to my line;
The coyness I could bear of all the Nine.
Oh! come, to man disposed for ever well;
People with Plato's forms my lonely cell;
Those forms, in eloquence by thee conveyed;
In thy mellifluous style, celestial shade!
A splendid world of poetry would show;
And with more musick teach my verse to flow;
Come, then; to letters warmly still inclined;
Enrich my fancy, and inform my mind!
His heat benign on his admirer shed;
Would Burke, who gave us poetry in prose,
While strength of argument collateral flows:
With great suggestions fill my poorer breast;
'Twould then, with glorious agitation blest,
Congenial sense, and imagery produce,
Of private rapture, and of publick use.—
Transfuse his fervid æther to my line;
The coyness I could bear of all the Nine.
Oh! come, to man disposed for ever well;
People with Plato's forms my lonely cell;
323
In thy mellifluous style, celestial shade!
A splendid world of poetry would show;
And with more musick teach my verse to flow;
Come, then; to letters warmly still inclined;
Enrich my fancy, and inform my mind!
When freed from low pursuits, our minds attend;
Each moral poet is his country's friend:
'Tis true, the precepts glide: they softly steal,
But surely, to the mass of publick weal,
The favourites of the muse, with fine controul;
With force delightful, draw the captive soul;
Suffuse all moral truth with charming grace;
And push the virtues of the human race;
Their own they push; intent on high renown,
They feel not, while the Nine their temples crown,
Envy's mean arts, nor Pride's presumptuous frown.
Each moral poet is his country's friend:
'Tis true, the precepts glide: they softly steal,
But surely, to the mass of publick weal,
The favourites of the muse, with fine controul;
With force delightful, draw the captive soul;
Suffuse all moral truth with charming grace;
And push the virtues of the human race;
Their own they push; intent on high renown,
They feel not, while the Nine their temples crown,
Envy's mean arts, nor Pride's presumptuous frown.
Would Heaven's omnipotence on me bestow
Those powers which in poetick story flow;
Which fiery souls could with it's magick tame;
And change the passions of the human frame;
Then should my country soon possess, combined,
All her dread force of matter, and of mind:
To matter, powerless to destroy, or save;
“The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave ;”
All act; all energy, by mind is given;
That emanation from the throne of heaven!
Our earth were dead; our sun; our days; our years;
Unless a God for ever wheeled the spheres;
Then let two god-like minds no longer jar;
But drive, in harmony, the storm of war!
When Eloquence's bright, resistless flood,
Shall roll, united, for your country's good;
When she shall hear you plead her urgent cause,
With ardent concord, of endangered laws;
Of property; of life; of all that's dear;
Of all that moves the smile; or draws the tear;
The force electrick shall pervade our isle;
The queen of nations shall resume her smile:—
Hear;—by the miser's vote the war supplied;
See! cowards pant to die as Burgess died!
Who can each powerful stimulus withstand;
When Robbers threaten; and when you command?
Well pleased, though prostrate, falls poetick pride;
By Oratory's pathos far outvied:—
But let my verse with stronger interest flow;—
By your exertions prostrate falls the foe!
Those powers which in poetick story flow;
324
And change the passions of the human frame;
Then should my country soon possess, combined,
All her dread force of matter, and of mind:
To matter, powerless to destroy, or save;
“The womb of Nature, and perhaps her grave ;”
All act; all energy, by mind is given;
That emanation from the throne of heaven!
Our earth were dead; our sun; our days; our years;
Unless a God for ever wheeled the spheres;
Then let two god-like minds no longer jar;
But drive, in harmony, the storm of war!
When Eloquence's bright, resistless flood,
Shall roll, united, for your country's good;
When she shall hear you plead her urgent cause,
With ardent concord, of endangered laws;
Of property; of life; of all that's dear;
Of all that moves the smile; or draws the tear;
The force electrick shall pervade our isle;
The queen of nations shall resume her smile:—
325
See! cowards pant to die as Burgess died!
Who can each powerful stimulus withstand;
When Robbers threaten; and when you command?
Well pleased, though prostrate, falls poetick pride;
By Oratory's pathos far outvied:—
But let my verse with stronger interest flow;—
By your exertions prostrate falls the foe!
Of all the talents that from heaven we share,
We find the first-rate orator's most rare.
In ancient times, two commonwealths were blest,
Each, with one genius, of these powers possessed;
The first, in Athens, lengthened Freedom's date;
Her drooping life, in a degenerate state:
The next (great victim to a tyrant's doom!)
Repelled destruction from majestick Rome!—
Two first-rate orators in Britain live;
(Such glories can her constitution give!)—
If, then, in former governments, one sage,
By Hermes fired, could vanquish hostile rage;
Sure, two such patriots may preserve our own;
Secure our senate, and protect our throne.
We find the first-rate orator's most rare.
In ancient times, two commonwealths were blest,
Each, with one genius, of these powers possessed;
The first, in Athens, lengthened Freedom's date;
Her drooping life, in a degenerate state:
The next (great victim to a tyrant's doom!)
Repelled destruction from majestick Rome!—
Two first-rate orators in Britain live;
(Such glories can her constitution give!)—
If, then, in former governments, one sage,
By Hermes fired, could vanquish hostile rage;
Sure, two such patriots may preserve our own;
Secure our senate, and protect our throne.
326
Thou orator! whose praise would speed my muse!
Her numbers polish, and expand her views;
Whose social character I love; whose fire,
Pregnant with splendid genius, I admire!
Forgive the liberal poet, who presumes
(His muse, with awe, contracts her burnished plumes!)
On ground political to move with thee;
But this great crisis bids us all be free.
Would Fox for a wild horde of Tartars plead;
Who still for freedom is prepared to bleed?
All masks those savages have Thrown away;
Have now announced themselves in open day.
Peace they despise; their trade is to annoy;
Deceit, and insult, are a Frenchman's joy!
To an old proverb Punic faith gave birth;
French faith be now the proverb, o'er the earth:
'Tis true, that faith was of notorious fame,
When all it's realms adored a monarch's name;
But then their court politely broke it's word;
Like gentlemen, whose honour is their sword:
But now the low mechanics of the land;
Those chieftains, “of exceeding good command ;”
Unmoved with shame, advance the grossest lie;
Callous to refutation's calm reply;
Or with some bold affront it's force defy:
Assume their kindred rabble's brutal airs;
And almost kick ambassadours down stairs.
Oh! cruel task, by Providence assigned,
To try a learned, polished, candid mind;
That mind opposed by artificial spheres,
To ignorance, and insolence;—its peers!
May Malmesbury deign attention to my lays;
And from no venal pen accept his praise!
Let from the scholar's mind a tribute flow;
And as a Briton take the thanks I owe.
Oft with thy father my enamoured youth
Wooed, in his groves Athenian, beauteous Truth:
And as his comment on my spirit wrought,
The Stagyrite more clearly met my thought:
The more I loved what god-like Plato taught.
While thus I reasoned with the good, and wise,
Phœbus, in June, too early left the skies!
The son is worthy to succeed the sire;
Thine is his virtue; thine his Attic fire;
Born to contrast thyself, in wayward times,
With dire abettors of all human crimes;
Born, as a British delegate, to show
How far ingenuous dignity can go;
While by the French transactions was expressed
What baseness can pollute the human breast.
Her numbers polish, and expand her views;
Whose social character I love; whose fire,
Pregnant with splendid genius, I admire!
Forgive the liberal poet, who presumes
(His muse, with awe, contracts her burnished plumes!)
On ground political to move with thee;
But this great crisis bids us all be free.
Would Fox for a wild horde of Tartars plead;
Who still for freedom is prepared to bleed?
All masks those savages have Thrown away;
Have now announced themselves in open day.
Peace they despise; their trade is to annoy;
Deceit, and insult, are a Frenchman's joy!
To an old proverb Punic faith gave birth;
French faith be now the proverb, o'er the earth:
'Tis true, that faith was of notorious fame,
When all it's realms adored a monarch's name;
But then their court politely broke it's word;
Like gentlemen, whose honour is their sword:
But now the low mechanics of the land;
Those chieftains, “of exceeding good command ;”
327
Callous to refutation's calm reply;
Or with some bold affront it's force defy:
Assume their kindred rabble's brutal airs;
And almost kick ambassadours down stairs.
Oh! cruel task, by Providence assigned,
To try a learned, polished, candid mind;
That mind opposed by artificial spheres,
To ignorance, and insolence;—its peers!
May Malmesbury deign attention to my lays;
And from no venal pen accept his praise!
Let from the scholar's mind a tribute flow;
And as a Briton take the thanks I owe.
Oft with thy father my enamoured youth
Wooed, in his groves Athenian, beauteous Truth:
And as his comment on my spirit wrought,
The Stagyrite more clearly met my thought:
The more I loved what god-like Plato taught.
328
Phœbus, in June, too early left the skies!
The son is worthy to succeed the sire;
Thine is his virtue; thine his Attic fire;
Born to contrast thyself, in wayward times,
With dire abettors of all human crimes;
Born, as a British delegate, to show
How far ingenuous dignity can go;
While by the French transactions was expressed
What baseness can pollute the human breast.
These are the pygmies, who, all-good, all-wise,
In their vain fancy, to old Romans rise;
These are the generous fathers of mankind,
Who promise that by some propitious wind,
Their Heaven-sent fleets our coasts, ere long, shall see;—
They land; they conquer; and they make us free!
Who would not laugh, this impious boast to hear;
Did not it's impious nonsense wound our ear?
Say, since your monarch's death, ye vaunting elves,
What liberty have you enjoyed, yourselves?
Now, nine long years in acting madly wrong
(Various, and dire events have made them long!)
You've passed: thus, from your revolution's date,
Crimes heaped on crimes have driven your headlong fate.
Those years what deeds of genuine glory grace?
Bombast, and blood, and rapine fill the space!
Eager, abroad, your neighbour's rights to seize;
At home, to trample on your own decrees;
Confusion on confusion you have hurled;
The Pandæmonium of our upper world!
In their vain fancy, to old Romans rise;
These are the generous fathers of mankind,
Who promise that by some propitious wind,
Their Heaven-sent fleets our coasts, ere long, shall see;—
They land; they conquer; and they make us free!
Who would not laugh, this impious boast to hear;
Did not it's impious nonsense wound our ear?
Say, since your monarch's death, ye vaunting elves,
What liberty have you enjoyed, yourselves?
Now, nine long years in acting madly wrong
(Various, and dire events have made them long!)
329
Crimes heaped on crimes have driven your headlong fate.
Those years what deeds of genuine glory grace?
Bombast, and blood, and rapine fill the space!
Eager, abroad, your neighbour's rights to seize;
At home, to trample on your own decrees;
Confusion on confusion you have hurled;
The Pandæmonium of our upper world!
Not polity's mere elements you know;
Of order ignorant; to it's bliss a foe!
Tell me:—with intellectual vision strong;
While a blind chaos whirls your state so long;—
Tell me; with tranquil study have you seen,
What Locke, what Montesquieu, what Sydney mean?
Have you the paths to the best science trod;
By which a man participates his God?
Have you implored that God to dart a beam,
To light you through the complicated theme?
That mighty theme, whose blessings, as they flow,
Cheer, and exalt our being here below;
The theme that spreads fair plenty o'er a land;
While just obedience bows to just command;
That cheers the husband's labour; charms the wife;
And throws Elysium round connubial life;
That, brought to action, fires all minds; all hearts;
Stirs all great passions; urges all fine arts;
To love of country, and to glory, wakes
The souls of Duncans, as the souls of Drakes;
Excites the bard to energetick lays;
His dearest recompence, that country's praise:
Brings matchless orators to splendid day;
Gives Pitt's, and Fox's genius, all their play!
That theme; that constitution, at this hour,
(Blest influence of her large, pervading power!)
That theme; that constitution now invites,
Intreats her Fox to plead her sacred rights;
She hopes, in the palladium of his mind,
For safety from the refuse of mankind;
Woos him his less ambition to forego;
And pour his greater on the common foe;
To grasp, in friendship, England's whole expanse;
To feel nought hostile to his peace but France;
His British brother-lion proud to join;
And add new lustre to the fearless line:
She woos him still to earn more high renown;
More vivid foliage for the patriot's crown.
Of order ignorant; to it's bliss a foe!
Tell me:—with intellectual vision strong;
While a blind chaos whirls your state so long;—
Tell me; with tranquil study have you seen,
What Locke, what Montesquieu, what Sydney mean?
Have you the paths to the best science trod;
By which a man participates his God?
Have you implored that God to dart a beam,
To light you through the complicated theme?
That mighty theme, whose blessings, as they flow,
Cheer, and exalt our being here below;
The theme that spreads fair plenty o'er a land;
While just obedience bows to just command;
330
And throws Elysium round connubial life;
That, brought to action, fires all minds; all hearts;
Stirs all great passions; urges all fine arts;
To love of country, and to glory, wakes
The souls of Duncans, as the souls of Drakes;
Excites the bard to energetick lays;
His dearest recompence, that country's praise:
Brings matchless orators to splendid day;
Gives Pitt's, and Fox's genius, all their play!
That theme; that constitution, at this hour,
(Blest influence of her large, pervading power!)
That theme; that constitution now invites,
Intreats her Fox to plead her sacred rights;
She hopes, in the palladium of his mind,
For safety from the refuse of mankind;
Woos him his less ambition to forego;
And pour his greater on the common foe;
To grasp, in friendship, England's whole expanse;
To feel nought hostile to his peace but France;
His British brother-lion proud to join;
And add new lustre to the fearless line:
She woos him still to earn more high renown;
More vivid foliage for the patriot's crown.
331
Sage policy! how powerful is it's plan!
To his last excellence it brightens man!
It's complex operations steal along;
In silence, active; in gradation strong;
For ever verging to their parent-goal;
Their god-like aim; the welfare of the whole!
To his last excellence it brightens man!
It's complex operations steal along;
In silence, active; in gradation strong;
For ever verging to their parent-goal;
Their god-like aim; the welfare of the whole!
Ye stupid atheists! moves this fine machine
In your tumultuous, sanguinary scene?
Make you it's laws your knowledge, or your care?
Murderers of all that's good, and wise, and fair!
In your tumultuous, sanguinary scene?
Make you it's laws your knowledge, or your care?
Murderers of all that's good, and wise, and fair!
Your nation with the farce of kingly power
At first you mocked; poor phantom of an hour;
No proper pressure to that King you gave,
In the state's weight;—a mere conspicuous slave!
Statesmen unparalleled through every age!
Shall all your crudities disgrace my page?
Councils; conventions; and assemblies loud;
Each, a mechanick, upstart, bawling crowd!
Directories, more grave, and famous far;
Great in their nervous arguments for war;
Let me but skim these monsters in my strains;
The shapeless progeny of moon-struck brains.
No railing, this; men of discerning eye
Blunders in all your plans at once descry!
You work on no strong base; your fabricks all,
As soon as reared, are tottering to their fall;
Soon (for no part supports; no part coheres)
They sink, and crash, and thunder round your ears.
At first you mocked; poor phantom of an hour;
No proper pressure to that King you gave,
In the state's weight;—a mere conspicuous slave!
Statesmen unparalleled through every age!
Shall all your crudities disgrace my page?
Councils; conventions; and assemblies loud;
Each, a mechanick, upstart, bawling crowd!
Directories, more grave, and famous far;
Great in their nervous arguments for war;
Let me but skim these monsters in my strains;
The shapeless progeny of moon-struck brains.
332
Blunders in all your plans at once descry!
You work on no strong base; your fabricks all,
As soon as reared, are tottering to their fall;
Soon (for no part supports; no part coheres)
They sink, and crash, and thunder round your ears.
From all the practice of your motley sway,
Your civil justice bears the palm away.
When honest lawyers, whom all tyrants hate,
Pled for their clients, doomed to lawless fate;
When by your orders; by your forms they pled;
Anticipating vengeance marked them dead;
Your justice, like your axe, a mere machine;
And both were sentenced to the guillotine!
Your civil justice bears the palm away.
When honest lawyers, whom all tyrants hate,
Pled for their clients, doomed to lawless fate;
When by your orders; by your forms they pled;
Anticipating vengeance marked them dead;
Your justice, like your axe, a mere machine;
And both were sentenced to the guillotine!
But now their genius finds a stranger mode;
Their penal statutes take a longer road.
Now, with the Deity these judges vie;
Now, with intuitive omniscient eye,
They see the traitor;—in ethereal minds,
A dull, cold process no admission finds;
Power self-derived; power self-informed commands;
And off he sails to Afric's burning sands.
This is Morocco's comprehensive plan;—
A model of the Algerine divan.
These men have promised, on some genial day,
To cheer our darkened isle with Freedom's ray;
Transcendent merit passed our own to make;
And spare our nation for their Newton's sake.
Oh! hallowed, long; oh! venerable name!
Art thou dishonoured by injurious fame!
Thy name should strike those fiends with silent awe;
Saint of Religion's; priest of Nature's law!
Yet to these wretches must we go to school,
To learn to flourish under equal rule!
Need I say more?—If more I had to say,
My English feelings would impede it's way!
Their penal statutes take a longer road.
Now, with the Deity these judges vie;
Now, with intuitive omniscient eye,
They see the traitor;—in ethereal minds,
A dull, cold process no admission finds;
Power self-derived; power self-informed commands;
And off he sails to Afric's burning sands.
333
A model of the Algerine divan.
These men have promised, on some genial day,
To cheer our darkened isle with Freedom's ray;
Transcendent merit passed our own to make;
And spare our nation for their Newton's sake.
Oh! hallowed, long; oh! venerable name!
Art thou dishonoured by injurious fame!
Thy name should strike those fiends with silent awe;
Saint of Religion's; priest of Nature's law!
Yet to these wretches must we go to school,
To learn to flourish under equal rule!
Need I say more?—If more I had to say,
My English feelings would impede it's way!
Let these incentives, Fox, have all their force;
And shape, magnanimous, by them, thy course;
Give ill-timed opposition to the wind;
And leave all party-spirit far behind.
Who would not act what millions will approve?
What gains it's author universal love?
Who would not, with ambition fraught, aspire
To conduct which the coldest hearts admire?
Think of the summit of immortal fame;
And think of each illustrious English name!
Perhaps, of Britain some departed friend,
At times; may, now, thy silent thoughts attend;
Suggest that when the brightest glory calls,
In the great soul, self-love defeated, falls;
That such a soul, clogged with no gross allay,
Wings it's direct, and elevated way!
Let Hamden's whisper prompt the generous deed;
Let Sydney's hint illumine Virtue's meed;
And let not Russel's aspect tinge thy dreams
With clouds of sorrow, but with heavenly gleams!
And shape, magnanimous, by them, thy course;
Give ill-timed opposition to the wind;
And leave all party-spirit far behind.
334
What gains it's author universal love?
Who would not, with ambition fraught, aspire
To conduct which the coldest hearts admire?
Think of the summit of immortal fame;
And think of each illustrious English name!
Perhaps, of Britain some departed friend,
At times; may, now, thy silent thoughts attend;
Suggest that when the brightest glory calls,
In the great soul, self-love defeated, falls;
That such a soul, clogged with no gross allay,
Wings it's direct, and elevated way!
Let Hamden's whisper prompt the generous deed;
Let Sydney's hint illumine Virtue's meed;
335
With clouds of sorrow, but with heavenly gleams!
By minds of no deep thought, we all have heard
A proposition hastily averred;
That as the postdiluvian race of men
Sink to the grave, at threescore years and ten;
Rise, flourish, and decay; then yield their breath;
Such is of empires, too, the life, and death:
They, in their infancy, and youth, proceed,
With every arduous; every glorious deed:
Matured, with great, and rival states, they vie:—
Commerce, and luxury spread; they droop; they die.
A proposition hastily averred;
That as the postdiluvian race of men
Sink to the grave, at threescore years and ten;
Rise, flourish, and decay; then yield their breath;
Such is of empires, too, the life, and death:
They, in their infancy, and youth, proceed,
With every arduous; every glorious deed:
Matured, with great, and rival states, they vie:—
Commerce, and luxury spread; they droop; they die.
This doctrine will not bear the test of truth;
A state may hold interminable youth;
That state, unlimited in age mature,
Against the worst events may prove secure:
Frail man is made of one compacted frame;
And soon the grave must have it's awful claim:
But empires long may ward their fatal date;
Long may succeeding lives protract their fate.
Think what depends on one illustrious life:
Think how the Theban, with his martial strife;
With all his virtues, all his talents, blessed;
Sprung, like an eagle, for his Thebes distressed;
Like Jove's own lightning, darted on his prey;
And Greece's palm imperial bore away!
But when divine Epaminondas died,
His matchless worth no equal chief supplied;
Withered, at once, was all his country's bloom;
And Thebes, and he, were buried in one tomb.
Great orators will die; great heroes bleed;
New heroes, and new orators succeed;
Apparent ruin at mankind is hurled:
Some Atlas rises, and he props the world!
So Pitts, and Foxes, strong in virtuous will,
The spheres of our best ancestors may fill;
May join the factious to their country's friends;
And as the social mass harmonious blends,
May breathe a flame impetuous through the whole;
And make a people, one, all-conquering soul.
Then, by the pressing evils of the times;
Their indolence; corruption; luxury; crimes;
Slightly the purer passion is annoyed;
By it's afflatus is the nation buoyed;
It's heat these noxious vapours clears away;
As clouds disperse before the god of day.
A state may hold interminable youth;
That state, unlimited in age mature,
Against the worst events may prove secure:
Frail man is made of one compacted frame;
And soon the grave must have it's awful claim:
But empires long may ward their fatal date;
Long may succeeding lives protract their fate.
Think what depends on one illustrious life:
Think how the Theban, with his martial strife;
336
Sprung, like an eagle, for his Thebes distressed;
Like Jove's own lightning, darted on his prey;
And Greece's palm imperial bore away!
But when divine Epaminondas died,
His matchless worth no equal chief supplied;
Withered, at once, was all his country's bloom;
And Thebes, and he, were buried in one tomb.
Great orators will die; great heroes bleed;
New heroes, and new orators succeed;
Apparent ruin at mankind is hurled:
Some Atlas rises, and he props the world!
So Pitts, and Foxes, strong in virtuous will,
The spheres of our best ancestors may fill;
May join the factious to their country's friends;
And as the social mass harmonious blends,
May breathe a flame impetuous through the whole;
And make a people, one, all-conquering soul.
Then, by the pressing evils of the times;
Their indolence; corruption; luxury; crimes;
Slightly the purer passion is annoyed;
By it's afflatus is the nation buoyed;
It's heat these noxious vapours clears away;
As clouds disperse before the god of day.
337
Thus the Creator! thus the Lord of all,
Impresses, ever, and preserves our ball;
Works plastick nature, through her varied range;
And stimulates her powers, at every change;
Bids them their acts essential still maintain;
And deluges, and earthquakes rage in vain.
Impresses, ever, and preserves our ball;
Works plastick nature, through her varied range;
And stimulates her powers, at every change;
Bids them their acts essential still maintain;
And deluges, and earthquakes rage in vain.
Mute be the croaking prophets of the day;
Creating danger; raising vain dismay,
Whene'er a speck of publick ill appears;—
French, in their hopes; or female, in their fears!
Creating danger; raising vain dismay,
Whene'er a speck of publick ill appears;—
French, in their hopes; or female, in their fears!
As on it's solid base our empire stands;
And all it's forces unimpaired commands;
Let us, if we peruse grave history's page,
To dignify this world's inferior stage,
Adopt examples from a better age.
While yet unshaken, let us learn from Rome
Of ancient fame, to spurn a servile doom;
Or should our sea-girt isle her danger share;
Her let us emulate, and spurn despair.
True to itself, the greatly conscious soul
No petty smiles, nor petty frowns controul;
When the worst ills assail, it's conflicts rise;
From firmness, and the justice of the skies,
It still anticipates complete relief,
In all the majesty of Roman grief.
And all it's forces unimpaired commands;
338
To dignify this world's inferior stage,
Adopt examples from a better age.
While yet unshaken, let us learn from Rome
Of ancient fame, to spurn a servile doom;
Or should our sea-girt isle her danger share;
Her let us emulate, and spurn despair.
True to itself, the greatly conscious soul
No petty smiles, nor petty frowns controul;
When the worst ills assail, it's conflicts rise;
From firmness, and the justice of the skies,
It still anticipates complete relief,
In all the majesty of Roman grief.
When dreadful Annibal; stupendous foe!
Fearless of Alpine heights; of Alpine snow;
Those heights had passed; he poured, along the plains,
A furious tide of war on Rome's domains!
Genius; the love of fame; of Rome the hate,
Wrought all the splendour of this hero's fate.
No bounds to glorious deeds hath heaven assigned,
When three such powerful engines move the mind.
First at Ticinum were his rapid arms
Victorious; and through Latium spread alarms;
The frighted river rolled a purple flood;
Great Po, with horrour, felt the generous blood.
Still Afric's lion the proud eagle tore,
And Trebia's stream was red with Roman gore.
Fearless of Alpine heights; of Alpine snow;
Those heights had passed; he poured, along the plains,
A furious tide of war on Rome's domains!
Genius; the love of fame; of Rome the hate,
Wrought all the splendour of this hero's fate.
No bounds to glorious deeds hath heaven assigned,
When three such powerful engines move the mind.
First at Ticinum were his rapid arms
Victorious; and through Latium spread alarms;
339
Great Po, with horrour, felt the generous blood.
Still Afric's lion the proud eagle tore,
And Trebia's stream was red with Roman gore.
Almost with filial grief the classick muse
The lake, the hills of Trasimenus views!
Patavium's glory: how, thy page divine
Makes Roman valour in misfortune shine!
Nature, with squalid mien, predicts the fray;
She sends a gloomy, dank, and weeping day;
The realms of Italy with earthquakes reel;
Which all but the contending armies feel;
Divine, and human rage, at once are hurled;
And Jove, and Annibal divide the world.
Sickly, through Nature's horrours, gleams the sun;
Carnage completes the scene which they begun.
The lake, the hills of Trasimenus views!
Patavium's glory: how, thy page divine
Makes Roman valour in misfortune shine!
Nature, with squalid mien, predicts the fray;
She sends a gloomy, dank, and weeping day;
The realms of Italy with earthquakes reel;
Which all but the contending armies feel;
Divine, and human rage, at once are hurled;
And Jove, and Annibal divide the world.
Sickly, through Nature's horrours, gleams the sun;
Carnage completes the scene which they begun.
Of common minds the fortitude is less,
As deeper swells the climax of distress;
Not so the Romans; even to Cannæ's field
Their unsubmitting spirit scorned to yield.
A heavier chain of woes can history tell?—
At Cannæ fifty thousand Romans fell!
The rapid Aufidus was near the plain;
The melancholy tidings of the slain
He rolled, in blood Patrician, to the main!
How imminent was, now, the Roman doom!
The conqueror, but an easy march from Rome!
And what a conqueror! say, can history show
So great a people matched with such a foe?
Curse on my lays, if ever they refuse
Praise to the man who shades my favourite views;
In whom the world admires the real charms
Of genius, or in letters, or in arms;
If, though conspicuous gallantry prevail,
I tell De Winter's cold, Dutch, envious tale!
But the French Corsican will France oppose,
Though wild her gasconading rhetorick flows,
With feeble modern Italy o'errun;
Nay, with his trophies even from Austria won;—
Will she oppose him to Amilcar's son?
As deeper swells the climax of distress;
Not so the Romans; even to Cannæ's field
Their unsubmitting spirit scorned to yield.
340
At Cannæ fifty thousand Romans fell!
The rapid Aufidus was near the plain;
The melancholy tidings of the slain
He rolled, in blood Patrician, to the main!
How imminent was, now, the Roman doom!
The conqueror, but an easy march from Rome!
And what a conqueror! say, can history show
So great a people matched with such a foe?
Curse on my lays, if ever they refuse
Praise to the man who shades my favourite views;
In whom the world admires the real charms
Of genius, or in letters, or in arms;
If, though conspicuous gallantry prevail,
I tell De Winter's cold, Dutch, envious tale!
But the French Corsican will France oppose,
Though wild her gasconading rhetorick flows,
With feeble modern Italy o'errun;
Nay, with his trophies even from Austria won;—
Will she oppose him to Amilcar's son?
Let me, with ardour, following glory's call,
View Rome's consummate greatness in her fall.
When from his favourites Jove awhile withdrew;
And turned to Carthage, with propitious view;
Evils oppressed; but still the Roman rose;
Humane, in triumphs, and august, in woes:
When Cannæ's field to fresh alarms gave birth;
And shook those energies that shook the earth;
When plans were offered, in a warm debate,
Unequal to the high decrees of fate;
To court renown, like sons of Rome, no more;
To breathe ignobly, on some foreign shore;
The youthful Scipio drew his flaming sword;
Worthy companion of each fiery word!
The destined saviour of his country swore
By Jove, who had protected Rome before,
That all who heard him should resist the foe;
That valour still might ward the fatal blow;
That strength, and honour were reserved for Rome,
Of long duration; of perpetual bloom:
“If one man here shrinks from his country's good,
“My vengeful blade shall seek the dastard's blood!”
His oath with patriot hearts his audience feel;
Awed less by Annibal's than Scipio's steel.
View Rome's consummate greatness in her fall.
341
And turned to Carthage, with propitious view;
Evils oppressed; but still the Roman rose;
Humane, in triumphs, and august, in woes:
When Cannæ's field to fresh alarms gave birth;
And shook those energies that shook the earth;
When plans were offered, in a warm debate,
Unequal to the high decrees of fate;
To court renown, like sons of Rome, no more;
To breathe ignobly, on some foreign shore;
The youthful Scipio drew his flaming sword;
Worthy companion of each fiery word!
The destined saviour of his country swore
By Jove, who had protected Rome before,
That all who heard him should resist the foe;
That valour still might ward the fatal blow;
That strength, and honour were reserved for Rome,
Of long duration; of perpetual bloom:
“If one man here shrinks from his country's good,
“My vengeful blade shall seek the dastard's blood!”
His oath with patriot hearts his audience feel;
Awed less by Annibal's than Scipio's steel.
342
But not alone thus acted Scipio's soul;
The same intrepid thoughts inspired the whole.
When Varro to the capital returned;
Whose valour had with warmth destructive burned;
All orders in procession met the chief;
Eager to pour into his mind relief;
Thanked him for bravely bearing Fate's harsh doom;
“For not despairing of imperial Rome!”
What was the consequence?—Rome's empire rose
On the vast ruins of her Punic foes;
Great deeds achieved; and greater still designed;
For pressure but new-springs the generous mind;
As gold by Vulcan's torture is refined.
The same intrepid thoughts inspired the whole.
When Varro to the capital returned;
Whose valour had with warmth destructive burned;
All orders in procession met the chief;
Eager to pour into his mind relief;
Thanked him for bravely bearing Fate's harsh doom;
“For not despairing of imperial Rome!”
What was the consequence?—Rome's empire rose
On the vast ruins of her Punic foes;
Great deeds achieved; and greater still designed;
For pressure but new-springs the generous mind;
As gold by Vulcan's torture is refined.
Even in the fiercest war is Britain blessed;
With no destructive ravages distressed;
Even now her sons are not compelled to cease
The sweet employments, and the joys of peace:
Environed with tranquillity, the swain
Rears the new hay; and reaps the golden grain;
Commerce with usual vigour spreads her sails;
And England's fortune sends auspicious gales;
From human bliss no sounds discordant jar,
But faction's clamour, with it's wordy war.
What most we value; property; law; life;
From all the horrours of the martial strife,
Nature, and man, alike, with us defend;
—Their generous efforts let us all befriend.
No Buonapartes in our isle shall rage;
No dreadful Punic war have we to wage;
The god of ocean ever guards our shore;
His waves, and our victorious cannon roar;
Still we possess our old internal powers;
And English wealth, and hearts, and hands are ours.
With no destructive ravages distressed;
Even now her sons are not compelled to cease
The sweet employments, and the joys of peace:
Environed with tranquillity, the swain
Rears the new hay; and reaps the golden grain;
Commerce with usual vigour spreads her sails;
And England's fortune sends auspicious gales;
343
But faction's clamour, with it's wordy war.
What most we value; property; law; life;
From all the horrours of the martial strife,
Nature, and man, alike, with us defend;
—Their generous efforts let us all befriend.
No Buonapartes in our isle shall rage;
No dreadful Punic war have we to wage;
The god of ocean ever guards our shore;
His waves, and our victorious cannon roar;
Still we possess our old internal powers;
And English wealth, and hearts, and hands are ours.
Then let each honest man dismiss his fears;
Let every timorous woman dry her tears:
And you, domestick enemies, who spread,
With souls malignant, artificial dread;
Let phantoms court you to some foreign strand;
And quit, too good for you, your native land.
Let every timorous woman dry her tears:
And you, domestick enemies, who spread,
With souls malignant, artificial dread;
Let phantoms court you to some foreign strand;
And quit, too good for you, your native land.
When France imperial dignity maintained;
When Louis' fortune, and her Colbert reigned;
When female charms, and female wit inspired;
And all that splendour with their ether fired;
Her threats; her force, if we could then disdain;
Of France degenerate shall we bear the chain?
Shall we, to English fame no longer true,
Stoop to a vile, marauding, ruffian crew?
Shall English talents their protection owe
To De la Croix; to Monge, and to Lepaux?
Shall Gallia's hireling chief these realms command;
Dissolve our senate, and divide our land?
Is any price enormous that we pay
To quell the tempest of chaotick sway?
No;—if at ease we draw not British breath;
We'll court a glorious poverty, or death
When Louis' fortune, and her Colbert reigned;
When female charms, and female wit inspired;
And all that splendour with their ether fired;
344
Of France degenerate shall we bear the chain?
Shall we, to English fame no longer true,
Stoop to a vile, marauding, ruffian crew?
Shall English talents their protection owe
To De la Croix; to Monge, and to Lepaux?
Shall Gallia's hireling chief these realms command;
Dissolve our senate, and divide our land?
Is any price enormous that we pay
To quell the tempest of chaotick sway?
No;—if at ease we draw not British breath;
We'll court a glorious poverty, or death
345
There are incentives in the roll of fate;
Which, in collision with a mighty state,
Would so strike fire;—such talents would shoot forth;
Such emulation; such exerted worth;
That were it's constitution in decline;
With all it's ancient lustre it would shine.
My country! justly every Briton's pride;
Where Freedom still is anxious to reside;
Because, constrained from other lands to flee,
She found her walls of adamant in thee!
Great patroness of man's eternal cause;
His mild religion, and his equal laws!
From distant ages Providence's care;
Parent of gallant sons, and daughters fair!
Where, in the cultivated rural scene,
Ceres and Flora wear their brightest mien!
And where, in social elegance are joined
The charms of person, and the charms of mind:
Of sage philosophers a numerous train;
Of men most powerful in poetick strain!
Should human excellence our search engage,
In recollecting down, from age to age;
While memory travels, too, from pole to pole;
The first achievements of the human soul,
Great Queen of Islands, we shall find in thee;
Divine at land, and terrible at sea!
Since Europe, now, her arbitress reveres;
And looks to thee, with mingled hopes, and fears;
Of all the deeds that British annals praise,
From virtuous Alfred's down to George's days;
When thou must act the most distinguished part;
When all thy glories press upon my heart;
When with emphatick voice thy honour calls;
Accept the verse that flows; the tear that falls!
Which, in collision with a mighty state,
Would so strike fire;—such talents would shoot forth;
Such emulation; such exerted worth;
That were it's constitution in decline;
With all it's ancient lustre it would shine.
My country! justly every Briton's pride;
Where Freedom still is anxious to reside;
Because, constrained from other lands to flee,
She found her walls of adamant in thee!
Great patroness of man's eternal cause;
His mild religion, and his equal laws!
From distant ages Providence's care;
Parent of gallant sons, and daughters fair!
Where, in the cultivated rural scene,
Ceres and Flora wear their brightest mien!
And where, in social elegance are joined
The charms of person, and the charms of mind:
Of sage philosophers a numerous train;
Of men most powerful in poetick strain!
Should human excellence our search engage,
In recollecting down, from age to age;
While memory travels, too, from pole to pole;
The first achievements of the human soul,
346
Divine at land, and terrible at sea!
Since Europe, now, her arbitress reveres;
And looks to thee, with mingled hopes, and fears;
Of all the deeds that British annals praise,
From virtuous Alfred's down to George's days;
When thou must act the most distinguished part;
When all thy glories press upon my heart;
When with emphatick voice thy honour calls;
Accept the verse that flows; the tear that falls!
Sons of the men, whom times remoter saw
Their conquering swords against oppression draw;
With hearts elate, and steady march advance,
To the pale lilies of their trembling France;
Oft taught to bleed; but never taught to fly;
Resolve, once more, to conquer, or to die!
Oh! give not peerless beauty; strongest mind,
To the declared assassins of mankind!
Make no mean peace with monsters that retain
Nought faithful; nought religious; nought humane:
Against our universe their threats are hurled;
Defend yourselves; and you defend the world!
Their conquering swords against oppression draw;
With hearts elate, and steady march advance,
To the pale lilies of their trembling France;
Oft taught to bleed; but never taught to fly;
Resolve, once more, to conquer, or to die!
Oh! give not peerless beauty; strongest mind,
To the declared assassins of mankind!
Make no mean peace with monsters that retain
Nought faithful; nought religious; nought humane:
347
Defend yourselves; and you defend the world!
Never desert the man who rules our helm;
Whom furious surges cannot overwhelm:
Resolved, while trusted with Britannia's weal,
For this, alone, to think; for this to feel;
This, the great source, and end of all his cares;
And still, intrepid, to this point he bears.
Revered example more inflames the son,
To earn such honours as his father won;
Who, haply darts a fond, paternal eye,
Sent, with a smile approving, from the sky!
Whom furious surges cannot overwhelm:
Resolved, while trusted with Britannia's weal,
For this, alone, to think; for this to feel;
This, the great source, and end of all his cares;
And still, intrepid, to this point he bears.
Revered example more inflames the son,
To earn such honours as his father won;
Who, haply darts a fond, paternal eye,
Sent, with a smile approving, from the sky!
For me; while in calm solitude I view
Thee, to thyself, on every trial, true;
To England true; I feel; or seem to feel,
Through all my frame the fine contagion steal;
I feel the natural, ardent passion rise,
To gain my country's praise; the poet's prize;
Next, kindling Fancy views the threatened storm;
Then fired by thee, a bolder wish I form;
By thy commanding genius borne along,
To act in conduct, what I praise, in song!
Thee, to thyself, on every trial, true;
To England true; I feel; or seem to feel,
Through all my frame the fine contagion steal;
I feel the natural, ardent passion rise,
To gain my country's praise; the poet's prize;
Next, kindling Fancy views the threatened storm;
Then fired by thee, a bolder wish I form;
By thy commanding genius borne along,
To act in conduct, what I praise, in song!
348
Still magnanimity and candour join;
Then surely both the properties are thine:
Let not that magnanimity refuse
The grateful verse of an ingenious muse;
“ Who shades thy” high, meridian “walk with bays;”
“No hireling, she; no prostitute to praise;”
“Through” Faction's fog “one truly great can see;”
Worthy to rouse the brave; and guide the free.
Then surely both the properties are thine:
Let not that magnanimity refuse
The grateful verse of an ingenious muse;
“ Who shades thy” high, meridian “walk with bays;”
“No hireling, she; no prostitute to praise;”
“Through” Faction's fog “one truly great can see;”
Worthy to rouse the brave; and guide the free.
O! Thou! at whose benign, all powerful call,
Up sprung, from chaos, our stupendous ball;
And who, from tumult, still, of field, or flood,
From present ill educest greater good;
Propitious, hear thy humble suppliant's prayer;
Is not thy creature his Creator's care!
Sufficient influence of thy Spirit give;
That in the little space I now can live,
Each hour I may respect; and thus atone
For all my wrongs from others; and my own!
Oh! let my common, meaner wants, be few;
My mental treasures, various, rich, and new;
Then shall my nature for itself suffice;
Perpetual flux, and reflux of supplies:
Old years in renovated youth shall roll;
Well strung my nerves of body and of soul.
Temperance my system will exalt, at home;
A wanderer, abroad I need not roam;
Of a precarious world my life the sport;
Tossed on the waves of caprice for support!
Up sprung, from chaos, our stupendous ball;
And who, from tumult, still, of field, or flood,
From present ill educest greater good;
Propitious, hear thy humble suppliant's prayer;
Is not thy creature his Creator's care!
Sufficient influence of thy Spirit give;
That in the little space I now can live,
Each hour I may respect; and thus atone
For all my wrongs from others; and my own!
Oh! let my common, meaner wants, be few;
My mental treasures, various, rich, and new;
Then shall my nature for itself suffice;
Perpetual flux, and reflux of supplies:
349
Well strung my nerves of body and of soul.
Temperance my system will exalt, at home;
A wanderer, abroad I need not roam;
Of a precarious world my life the sport;
Tossed on the waves of caprice for support!
As Independence, even unarmed with power,
Speaks, writes the truth; whatever dangers lower;
Snares to it's weal as foes in ambush lay;
And poor, pretended Friendship sneaks away;
Teach me, by virtuous discipline, to find
A comprehensive kingdom, in my mind;
There, with serene, yet with despotick reign,
To guard the small but well-improved domain!
Speaks, writes the truth; whatever dangers lower;
Snares to it's weal as foes in ambush lay;
And poor, pretended Friendship sneaks away;
Teach me, by virtuous discipline, to find
A comprehensive kingdom, in my mind;
There, with serene, yet with despotick reign,
To guard the small but well-improved domain!
Concentered, then, with more effectual force,
My faculties will hold their destined course;
Will execute their duties here below;
To all thy foes, an active, ardent foe:
But mounting above Nature's works, they'll flee
Still with the greatest energy, to Thee!
My faculties will hold their destined course;
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To all thy foes, an active, ardent foe:
But mounting above Nature's works, they'll flee
Still with the greatest energy, to Thee!
And as the raptures of the poet rise
Above the pleasures of the good, and wise;
Goodness, and wisdom, too, as he can teach
With greater emphasis than Sherlocks preach;
Let poetry still bless thy suppliant's views;—
It's beauteous images; it's vivid hues;
It's fire celestial; all-sufficient store!
Kings; emperours; none but Thou, can give us more!
And while the grosser lumps of mortals lie,
(A living death!) in Epicurus' sty;
To ruin's gloom while meteors draw the vain;
While Avarice petrifies her shivering train;
Grant me, with pure, and strong Parnassian ray,
To float, and wanton, in the blaze of day!
Above the pleasures of the good, and wise;
Goodness, and wisdom, too, as he can teach
With greater emphasis than Sherlocks preach;
Let poetry still bless thy suppliant's views;—
It's beauteous images; it's vivid hues;
It's fire celestial; all-sufficient store!
Kings; emperours; none but Thou, can give us more!
And while the grosser lumps of mortals lie,
(A living death!) in Epicurus' sty;
To ruin's gloom while meteors draw the vain;
While Avarice petrifies her shivering train;
Grant me, with pure, and strong Parnassian ray,
To float, and wanton, in the blaze of day!
In this passage I allude to the works of the late celebrated James Harris, Esq. of Salisbury; which I studied with great pleasure; and which are highly, and equally distinguished by their learning; their elegance; and their zeal for virtue.
An unfair, or superficial reasoner may tell me, that Mr. Fox has relinquished opposition to the Minister, by seceding from Parliament. To this I reply, that we may be industrious to defeat a rival in many ways besides that of immediate, personal contest;—that negative often operate more powerfully than positive hostilities;—that they should never be adopted by great minds, because they are the common warfare of the meanest;—and that as I highly respect Mr. Fox, I can never reflect on his retreat from his senatorial station, at this time, without pain.
If Charles the First was a tyrant (though I believe that he never meant to be a tyrant) we now have thousands of tyrants to oppose.
I here anticipate the cavil, and the puny triumph of democratical ignorance. So long as any state can provide the necessary supplies of war, and, at the same time, preserve it's national health and vigour; the forces of that state are unimpaired.
Their civil, are analagous to their penal laws. Buonaparte, who is a general, affects to be a statesman, too, without a particle of political knowledge; indeed, all that he writes, is in the peremptory, ostentatious, empty manner of that nation of which he has the honour to be the first lawless myrmidon. He advises his Ligurian republick to divide their state into ten military departments; each of them is to be commanded by an officer of the line: by this institution, adds the Solon of France, you will be sure of an accurate administration of justice. I hope that this Corsican Draco will never have it in his power to establish his simple, concise, and salutary code, in England.
| The Poetical Works of Percival Stockdale | |