University of Virginia Library

One Briton yet asserts that aweful name,
One Patriot yet supports the glorious theme!
Amidst Corruption's flood still spotless seen,
A heart still faithful, and a hand still clean.
Assist him, Seraphs, stoop from heav'n ye few
That once were Patriots, once were firm and true
To Britain's cause, ye kindred Spirits glow,
Descend, and shield him in this storm below;
Your shelt'ring wings around his virtue spread,
Inspire his heart, and crown with wreaths his head;
With gleams of Heav'n's pure light his soul array,
And all the glories of the Just display
Full in his sight; parental Heroes smile;
His virtue aid—O snatch from fate this Isle;
Point out the paths you trod, the arms you bore,
Bid Truth return, and ancient worth restore;
Let Britain lift once more her laurel'd head
Above the waves, and strike the world with dread.

Thou, Pitt, this verse with patient soul attend,
Her buckler, sword, her guardian, and her friend;
Whose stedfast heart no virtuous toil can tire,
Whose tongue is touch'd with Heav'n's resistless fire,
In Heav'ns own injur'd cause supreme to shine
With dazzling force, with splendors all divine.
Thou Man belov'd! thy country's boast and choice,
To whom afflicted millions lift their voice,
Thou last remaining champion of the state,
On thee Integrity and Wisdom wait,
Still lift thy dreaded arm, still, still pursue
The monstrous Python, and his pois'nous crew;
Repeat each righteous blow, repeat each wound,
And bring the bloated Hydra to the ground:
Lo earth, and sea, and heav'n shall then rejoice,
In one triumphant Pæan lift their voice.
The marks of gratitude, ye Britons, pay,
And strew with thankful wreaths the Patriot's way;
Let breathing brass, let feeling stone confess,
Whilst arches bend, and story'd piles express
To ages yet unborn the glorious Man,
His falling country's prop, whose godlike plan
On curs'd Corruption trod, on Faction fell,
Who drives th'infernal monsters back to hell,
Spurning their gilded bait—who strikes down Fraud,
At home our bosom pest, our bane abroad,
That sap'd the vitals of our sinking pow'r,
When hungry Vengeance urg'd the rip'ning hour:
Then stood forth Pitt, unaided and alone,
The People's friend, yet faithful to the Throne;
Trampling on British bribes with Roman scorn,
Another Tully for his country born,
To counterwork each villain's dark designs,
For Britain too may dread her Catilines:
He comes exulting in a heart sincere,
A tongue that strikes Corruption's soul with fear;
An arm still ready to redress the cause
Of Majesty oppress'd, or injur'd Laws;
Like Cecil bold in Virtue's sacred might,
Like Hampden glorious, when restrain'd by right,
Like Faulkland fervid for his country's good,
No pride provokes, no faction fires his blood;
For Britain's lasting weal his wishes glow,
His Patriot heart see pant, his blood see flow:
Embrace him, Britain, to thy bosom press
One Patriot Son, long, long that Son possess.
O quickly come, thou Genius that sustains
Of Britain's ancient worth the small remains,
O quickly come, and kindle up those fires
With Freedom's breath that warm'd our godlike sires;
The bless'd occasion snatch, perhaps the last,
And round your liberties a rampart cast,
That shall, like Nature's laws, remain entire,
Till Virtue darkens and the stars expire;
Th'immortal task begin; see Virtue rise,
And lift her glorious flag to Britain's eyes;
Leaning on Pitt her dreaded sword she draws,
Whilst angels trumpet wide th'eternal cause:
See panting millions to her standard crowd;
See Truth assert, see Faith proclaim aloud
The grand behest—from heav'n the sound is spread
(Whilst crush'd Integrity uprears her head.)
Britons, be honest to yourselves, be just,
In this unblemished man repose your trust;
Pitt the firm phalanx forms with manly pride,
Integrity his shield, and Truth his guide;
See, see each venal pest before him fly,
Shrink from his voice, and shudder at his eye;
Such heav'n-fraught powers appal the guilty soul,
Where vengeance lightens, and where thunders roll;
Dreadful he marches on, and void of fear,
With Fortitude his front, with Worth his rear;
With every virtue see his soul supply'd,
With Loyalty, with Honour near his side;
Auxiliars worthy of a cause design'd
To rescue Nature's right in human kind:
From venal leprosy to purge the land,
And all the taints of foul Corruption's hand;
To push the barrier back that Freedom braves,
To mark the bounds of subjects, not of slaves;
To call up British honesty once more,
And ev'ry virtue to its reign restore.

Ye Britons join with heart, with voice unite,
'Tis Wisdom calls you forth, and native Right;
Let future deeds your present crimes efface,
Your fleets and armies that bring back disgrace,
Council's o'erthrown by Caution's ghastly dreams,
Orders rejected, unattempted schemes:
O blot—for ever blot the hateful page,
Quick cancel, Time, the ignominious age
From out thy records—See, a train appears!
Of British worthies, and of glorious years!
See Time (by Virtue led) o'er Albion smile,
Returning Justice bless once more the isle;
Exulting Commerce issuing from the main,
And Britain's thunder shake the poles again:
See Truth ascend her adamantine throne,
Despotic Truth, eternal, and alone;
Parent of Wisdom, whose unbounded sway
The Virtues bend to and the Worlds obey;
Great queen of harmony, whence order springs,
Whose moral scepter rules the hearts of kings,
Before thy throne with Concord's emblems grac'd,
See all the Virtues in their order plac'd:
Hail, sacred Truth, O stretch thy ancient reign
O'er Britain's kindred isle, call back again
Her golden age of plenty, pow'r and wealth,
Her honour, temperance, fortitude and health,
Her justice, courage, conquest and renown,
Let tyrants start, and tremble at her frown,
New brace her arm, her trident's strength restore,
Hark! hark! her thunder shakes yon hostile shore;
Around the globe her dreaded flag display,
Let ocean's utmost bounds her flag obey;
Her crimson cross invincible let fly
Above the waves, triumphant in the sky.
'Tis done; see direful Fraud, see Discord bound,
See hell-born Faction gasping on the ground,
See bloated Luxury with famish'd jaws,
See curs'd Corruption with her gilded claws,
See pois'nous Perfidy with patriot air,
See venal Villainy, see mad Despair,
A ghastly groupe! in fell confusion lie
Beneath thy aweful frown, O Truth, and die.

The caverns yawn, the rocky bars give way,
See Genius burst her bands, and spring to day,
Spurning the cave, accurs'd Corruption's cell,
Where Envy broods, where venal vapours dwell,
Thy bane, O Truth; see, see, she joyful soars,
She drinks th'etherial ray, she high explores
Her native heav'n, by Virtue's hand set free
She gains new strength, her piercing eye shall see
With tenfold force where Wisdom's secrets lie
Beneath th'abyss, above the starry sky;
Through Nature's works her mimic hand shall play
Where Freedom prompts, where Virtue points the way:
Ambition there to blameless heights shall rise,
There guiltless Glory gain th'immortal prize;
See Sculpture rear her life-creating hand,
See thinking stone on story'd basis stand;
There classic piles attract the wond'ring ken,
Here Genius dips the pencil and the pen;
In kindred lights with friendly ray shall shine
A Mason's muse, a Hayman's groupe divine,
Unrival'd lov'd; see Hogarth's fancy reign
In Butler's rich, unborrow'd matchless vein;
Through blissful scenes the raptur'd mind shall rove,
New Popes shall sing, new Lamberts paint the grove:
Did Phidias there indent the magic steel?
Did Roubiliac instruct the rocks to feel?
A Hudson's teint, by beauty's beam refin'd,
Shall through th'expansive features call the mind;
Nature and Art their utmost pow'r shall shew,
And Shakespears yet unborn, and Garricks glow.
The Arts exult at Virtue's great command
With Taste, with Liberty in either hand;
Triumphant Britain smiles, near, near each side
See native Honesty, see native Pride,
With Grecian worth, with Roman bent to vye,
Fame at her heart, and Glory in her eye,
With ancient Rome in her Mæcenas' days,
When Judgment gave, when Genius wore the bays;
With both shall Britain now maintain the strife,
To lift up nature and to polish life.
Be hence thy high concern, be hence thy care,
From Gallia's haughty brow provok'd to tear
The rival wreaths; a twofold empire gain,
Science at land, and conquest on the main.
By both Minervas crown'd, O Britain, shine,
Let learning still, let conquest still be thine;
Let courage, taste, and truth thy sons adorn,
Let Bacons yet, let Marlboroughs yet unborn,
For arts and arms above mankind rever'd,
By Europe honour'd, and by Europe fear'd,
Expand the circles of thy vast renown;
Let Pitt, let Virtue wear the immortal crown.