University of Virginia Library

My heart its noblest Theme has found;
O Thou, with regal splendor crown'd,
To Thee the grateful strains belong,
Thy Worth shall bid my willing tongue,
Quick as the pen of readiest art,
The dictates of my soul impart.
Hail, fairer than the Sons of Men!
Grace on thy lips and Beauty reign,
That speak thee honour'd from above,
And blest with God's eternal Love.
Hail, Thou whom Nations own their Lord!
Gird on thy thigh the glitt'ring sword;
By Mercy, Truth, and Justice led,
Ride glorious on, thy conquests spread:
Thy stubborn foes, a guilty race,
Thy hand with faithful search shall trace,
Mark, as their crimes for vengeance call,
And teach thy terrors where to fall:
While, edg'd with wrath, thy ev'ry dart
Shall pierce some proud Opposer's heart,
Assert the cause of Judah's King,
And dip in impious blood its wing.
Through ages lasts, great God, thy Throne,
Thy Scepter Justice calls her own,
And (for thy heart his Law pursues,
And guilt with fix'd abhorrence views,)
Thy God, the God who rules the skies,
Has o'er thine Equals bid thee rise,
And, pleas'd, the oil of gladness shed
In large profusion on thy head.
Myrrh, Aloes, Cassia, to the sense
Their all-reviving sweets dispense,
While, recent from the iv'ry cell,
Their mingled odours round thee dwell.
Their Daughters mightiest Kings behold
Amid thy Virgin Train inroll'd;
And, seated on thy right, the Queen
In fairest robes array'd is seen,
That stiff with gold, in Ophir's mine
Matur'd, with fadeless lustre shine.
Hear, Daughter, and attentive weigh
The precepts of the Heav'n-taught Lay.
Within thy thought retain no more
Thy Father's house, and native shore:
So shall the King delighted see
Thy spotless Form; and O, be He,
That Lord whom Heav'n's high Hosts revere,
Thy only Love, thy only Fear.

Imperial Tyre, that, thron'd on high,
O'er subject seas extends her eye,
Her Gifts, O Prince, shall bring to Thee,
And suppliant Nobles stoop the knee.
The Virgin (Offspring of a King,)
Whom now thy happy Choice we sing,
(Herself with each perfection blest)
E'er Thee she greets, the various vest
Assumes; where 'mid th' inwoven gold
A thousand colours we behold,
That, kindled by the beams of day,
The needle's utmost art display.
By eminence of beauty known
Amidst her fair Associates, on
She moves, and joys with Them to tread
The paths that to thy presence lead.
No more the Patriarchs of thy line
In Time's long records chief shall shine;
Thy greater Sons, to Empire born,
Its future annals shall adorn,
Thy Pow'r to Them deriv'd display,
And stretch through Earth their boundless sway.
That Earth, while thus to Thee I raise
A lasting Monument of praise,
With thankful voice shall join the strain,
And own the Blessings of thy Reign.