 | Poems on several occasions |  |
617
III.—MERCY: AN ODE.
I
Of cruel Power let others dream,And charge the great with doing wrong:
Their Mercy, an unusual theme,
Is here the subject of my song.
II
When Anne and Britain's glory died,They scorn'd the cost of idle show,
Of mourning guards and velvet's pride,
Of peers and pageantry of woe;
III
Designing more than royal state,—That all who dared their mistress love,
Impeach'd, might follow her in fate,
And bear her company above.
IV
When first their monarch treads our shore,The court its mildness soon declares,—
By stopping Ormond at the door,
Instead of throwing him down-stairs!
V
Rewards to steady friends to give,Impartial o'er the realm they range;
That fees good Cowper might receive,
And bless the universal change.
618
VI
Since Charles restored, none such appearsIn any single life-time seen;
Nay, count to make up seven years
The glorious Revolution in.
VII
Harley, who never knew to yield,Who gave the Brunswick race their power,
From rage of listed mobs they shield,
And safely lodge him in the Tower:
VIII
Though ne'er to try him they intend,But mourn he should in durance stay;
Nor thousands would refuse to spend,
To bear his charge—to fly away.
IX
The senate, who a golden store,Unask'd, had pour'd on Brunswick's throne,
Nor met, nor were dissolved, before
The sovereign took his offer'd crown;
X
Lest they, perhaps, the pompous dayHad graced, and George's medals shared;
Lest interest might have seem'd to sway,
When virtue was its own reward.
Cætera desunt.
| Poems on several occasions | |