 | The rural lyre |  |
94
THE GENIUS OF ENGLAND,
On the Rock of Ages, RECOMMENDING ORDER, COMMERCE AND UNION TO THE BRITONS.
Look up to me, rebellious children!—Hear
Your father's voice, as on this rock I stand
Surrounded by the Pow'rs of Order. Who
Contemplative among you saw her form
By fine gradation rising from the gulf
Barbaric? Hold her to your hearts. What Time
Makes beautiful is dear to man: what Time
Transiently forms, none should contend for. Charms,
Strength, comeliness, the features of a god,
You give to Order, when inviolate
And sacred you preserve her. Boundless Love,
Concord, harmonious Liberty and Peace,
Too mild for vulgar souls to value, wait
Near me, invisible, at this dread hour
To bless my murm'ring children. Souls replete
With meditation, list! O bend, ye minds
Of dark and stubborn quality! Away,
Assassins, to the feast where Murder smiles
Triumphant o'er her bleeding victims! Long
Paternal anguish linger'd with my laws,
Whilst froward tempers wearied me. With you
I slept in dear affection; rose with you,
My sons, to wave your banners, fill your sail;
And sent my blooming Commerce thro' the world.
Commerce by me was blest! He grew with you.
His brothers, fairer than the tribes of Ind,
Lav'd desolated shores for you: explor'd,
Busily patient, mines tremendous;—realms
Where Liberty, Religion, and the Name
We love and fear, were strangers. Oft my son
Stray'd o'er the worlds of ice, his golden hair
Pendent with glittering rubies. On his breast
He wore my emblems: manners boldly firm
Conceal'd his heart dissolving: On his tongue,
Unvers'd in flatt'ry, Freedom, born of Law,
Sat ever, to the Pagan yielding much,
Lest charity, philanthropy, and love,
Should blush for his defect—Unfinish'd man,
Produc'd when Nature dallied with employ.
Maids taught to ride presuming waves, or snatch
Invaluable Zimbis from her bed
Transparent, lov'd my son. Mild dwarfish tribes
Mourn'd him; a ship-wreck'd stranger as he rov'd
Deep vales of Afric', gathering as he went
Fair truths of intellect, that blaze the mind,
Irradiate mem'ry, and instruct your babes,
When on the floors of Albion. From his form
Gigantic to their view the pigmy maids
Fled trembling; yet with insect skill contriv'd
Nets for his hair, rare sandals for his feet,
Canopy of light rushes, so contriv'd
By secret means, such as true friendship finds,
To consolate the awful rover.—Who,
Within my courts, beneath my throned seat,
On hills, in scientific dome or porch,
Or festive chamber, or on outstretch'd lands,
Peninsulas, hoar rocks, or mid the breast
Of peace, hails not Britannia's commerce? Sons,
This is the pow'r my rival's hate would lure
From you and me. Order, divinely fair!
Whose forehead millions of attracting stars
Adorn forever; whose wide pinions coop
Th'expanse; who, breathing through the vast profound,
Awakens life unutterable—She
Who holds the snowy burthens of the North
Lest they, impulsive, heavily destroy,
Consoles the captive near the lonely South,
Cools fiery East, and curtains dewy West
With sevenfold glory—Pale assassins dare
Attempt to calumny, malice. Envious men
Inquisitive, to draw the guiltless heart
Within their snares, would, like gaunt wolves, deface
The charms of Order. Children, misinform'd,
All you can know of God, you must behold
Through Order: ever-blessed peace and love,
Mercy, benevolence, that flame so pure,
So little understood, mild charity
Are her true attributes. When your proud souls
Shrink with remembrance of your finite state,
Nor dare compare presumptuously your God
With things on earth, let Order teach the heart
To bend obedient, wonder and adore.
Beneath her shadowing influence, Britons view
Arts, sciences; those bulwarks of your isle,
Triumphant navies, rising o'er the scene.
Minds forming swiftly, sedulous, and rare,
For Virtue's little senate—Wisdom hangs
Her sacred lamp o'er venerable heads,
Who tremble with their spirits' strength; their frames
Devoted long to unimpassion'd love,
Such as the Deity may own. Would you
Give up your sages, or forsake the tombs
Of your brave ancestors? Would you receive
Anarchy's furious and disloyal brood,
More fell than harpies or the gorgon race,
Whose glances freeze the channels of the blood?
Your father's voice, as on this rock I stand
Surrounded by the Pow'rs of Order. Who
Contemplative among you saw her form
By fine gradation rising from the gulf
Barbaric? Hold her to your hearts. What Time
Makes beautiful is dear to man: what Time
Transiently forms, none should contend for. Charms,
Strength, comeliness, the features of a god,
You give to Order, when inviolate
And sacred you preserve her. Boundless Love,
Concord, harmonious Liberty and Peace,
Too mild for vulgar souls to value, wait
95
To bless my murm'ring children. Souls replete
With meditation, list! O bend, ye minds
Of dark and stubborn quality! Away,
Assassins, to the feast where Murder smiles
Triumphant o'er her bleeding victims! Long
Paternal anguish linger'd with my laws,
Whilst froward tempers wearied me. With you
I slept in dear affection; rose with you,
My sons, to wave your banners, fill your sail;
And sent my blooming Commerce thro' the world.
Commerce by me was blest! He grew with you.
His brothers, fairer than the tribes of Ind,
Lav'd desolated shores for you: explor'd,
Busily patient, mines tremendous;—realms
Where Liberty, Religion, and the Name
We love and fear, were strangers. Oft my son
Stray'd o'er the worlds of ice, his golden hair
Pendent with glittering rubies. On his breast
He wore my emblems: manners boldly firm
Conceal'd his heart dissolving: On his tongue,
96
Sat ever, to the Pagan yielding much,
Lest charity, philanthropy, and love,
Should blush for his defect—Unfinish'd man,
Produc'd when Nature dallied with employ.
Maids taught to ride presuming waves, or snatch
Invaluable Zimbis from her bed
Transparent, lov'd my son. Mild dwarfish tribes
Mourn'd him; a ship-wreck'd stranger as he rov'd
Deep vales of Afric', gathering as he went
Fair truths of intellect, that blaze the mind,
Irradiate mem'ry, and instruct your babes,
When on the floors of Albion. From his form
Gigantic to their view the pigmy maids
Fled trembling; yet with insect skill contriv'd
Nets for his hair, rare sandals for his feet,
Canopy of light rushes, so contriv'd
97
To consolate the awful rover.—Who,
Within my courts, beneath my throned seat,
On hills, in scientific dome or porch,
Or festive chamber, or on outstretch'd lands,
Peninsulas, hoar rocks, or mid the breast
Of peace, hails not Britannia's commerce? Sons,
This is the pow'r my rival's hate would lure
From you and me. Order, divinely fair!
Whose forehead millions of attracting stars
Adorn forever; whose wide pinions coop
Th'expanse; who, breathing through the vast profound,
Awakens life unutterable—She
Who holds the snowy burthens of the North
Lest they, impulsive, heavily destroy,
Consoles the captive near the lonely South,
Cools fiery East, and curtains dewy West
With sevenfold glory—Pale assassins dare
Attempt to calumny, malice. Envious men
Inquisitive, to draw the guiltless heart
98
The charms of Order. Children, misinform'd,
All you can know of God, you must behold
Through Order: ever-blessed peace and love,
Mercy, benevolence, that flame so pure,
So little understood, mild charity
Are her true attributes. When your proud souls
Shrink with remembrance of your finite state,
Nor dare compare presumptuously your God
With things on earth, let Order teach the heart
To bend obedient, wonder and adore.
Beneath her shadowing influence, Britons view
Arts, sciences; those bulwarks of your isle,
Triumphant navies, rising o'er the scene.
Minds forming swiftly, sedulous, and rare,
For Virtue's little senate—Wisdom hangs
Her sacred lamp o'er venerable heads,
Who tremble with their spirits' strength; their frames
Devoted long to unimpassion'd love,
Such as the Deity may own. Would you
99
Of your brave ancestors? Would you receive
Anarchy's furious and disloyal brood,
More fell than harpies or the gorgon race,
Whose glances freeze the channels of the blood?
Order, for ever hail! Ages shall give
New beauty to thy precept: Art shall draw
His tints from thy instruction; wait with care
The peaceful breathing of his young design,
And Science love thee in the Mantuan shade.
New beauty to thy precept: Art shall draw
His tints from thy instruction; wait with care
The peaceful breathing of his young design,
And Science love thee in the Mantuan shade.
Women and men, my family of Britons,
Deface not Order! Guard your infant race!
Increasing loves shall pillow them, whilst you
Stand on the rocks of Albion, nor retire
Till your complaining spirits are convinc'd,
The union I commend, is liberty.
Deface not Order! Guard your infant race!
Increasing loves shall pillow them, whilst you
Stand on the rocks of Albion, nor retire
Till your complaining spirits are convinc'd,
The union I commend, is liberty.
| The rural lyre | |