Cupid turned volunteer In a series of prints, designed by Her Royal Highness the Princess Elizabeth; and Engraved by W. N. Gardiner: With poetical illustrations by Thomas Park |
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 | Cupid turned volunteer |  |
TO
HER ROYAL HIGHNESS
THE PRINCESS AUGUSTA,
THIS WORK,
REPRESENTING
CUPID TURNED VOLUNTEER,
IS,
WITH HER HIGHNESS'S PERMISSION,
MOST RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED,
BY
HER MOST DUTIFUL SERVANT,
EDWARD HARDING.
1
CUPID SUPPLICATES PALLAS TO LET HIM BECOME A VOLUNTEER.
Rous'd by the threat which rouses allTo arm in Albion's patriot cause,
The vaunting threat of frantic Gaul,
That she will pare the lion's paws,
And with her locust-band despoil
Britain—the heav'n-protected isle!
Thus rous'd, e'en Love, the archer-boy
Who wings Idalian-temper'd darts
Which, while they wound, give wounds of joy,
And only pierce to rivet hearts;
Love drops the bandage from his brow,
That he may face this threatful foe;
He spurns at every boyish fear,
And the sage Goddess of the Gorgon shield
Implores, to let him try to wield
The weapons of a British Volunteer!
2
RELINQUISHES HIS BOW AND ARROWS, AND DEPOSITS THEM WITHIN THE BRITISH STANDARD.
Fair Pallas smiled upon his prayer:—Who could such orisons forbid?
Not Venus' self, had she been there,
Not Venus' self her son had chid
When he Love's symbols threw aside,
His gold-tipt arrows, Paphian bow,
And argent quiver sought to hide
Within the standard Britons show,
To mark the sister-union which combines
England and Scotia, while Ierne twines
Her verdant shamrock in the royal field,
Where from the same stem grows
The purple thistle with the crimson rose,
And, all conjoining, scorn to yield,
To the drear nightshade of delirious France,
The land which all have prov'd their true inheritance.
3
ASSUMES HIS FIRELOCK.
Ere yet with earth's sulphurean veinsCombustion blent the nitrous spar,
Some prosing reader may here pause to remark, that charcoal, though not adverted to, is as essential an ingredient in the composition of gunpowder, as sulphur or saltpetre; but such reader will require to be informed, that poetry has long had license to substitute a part for the whole; which rendered it even unnecessary to employ the learned Roger Bacon's device, who denoted the word charcoal by an anagram.—Vid. Biog. Brit. Vol. I. p. 431.
Ere chemic art o'er lurid plains
Diffus'd the fateful flash of war,
And with a bold impiety
(Like his, the fabled king of yore
Who mimic'd Jove's artillery)
Made all th' ethereal concave roar;
Then did the spear or dart its vengeance shower,
And strength alone gave wider grasp to power:
But since the molten tube convey'd
The ball which quick arrests the breath,
Sooner is learn'd the soldier's trade
To poise the armory of death:—
Love seizes, hence, the light fusee,
Lifts it with triumph o'er his head,
And moving on with martial tread,
Shouts—England, George, and Victory!
4
ADVANCES TO THE ALTAR OF LOYALTY.
Now burns his breast with resolute desireTo fight for Britain's scepter'd Sire;
And, as he views the altar's reddening glow,
Thus do indignant feelings flow:—
What, shall the sons of Freedom's isle
Crouch tamely to a tyrant-yoke?
Shall the true offspring of the soil,
The seedlings of the elm and oak,
Be forc'd from their hereditary place
By pert exotics of the tulip race?
Forbid it all that earth or heav'n may move,
Forbid it honour, glory, virtue, love!
Let not a plunder-thirsting crew
Who never felt my influence bland,
Who never gentle pity knew,
Spread desolation o'er a land
Which still hath own'd compassion's lenient sway,
Since at great Edward's feet subjected Gallia lay.
5
TAKES THE OATH OF ALLEGIANCE.
With pleas'd exultance down he flingsThe plumed casque, the belted mail,
His loyal panoply—and springs
To catch the incense-wafting gale,
While, with uplifted hand and eye,
He thus to Britain's Chief vows firm fidelity:—
I, who have sworn by Venus' doves,
By Dian's crescent, Juno's car,
By all the Graces, all the Loves,
Now invocate the God of war!
And to that Monarch fealty swear
Whom thrice a nation's filial zeal
Won to its deprecative prayer,
The parent of the public weal,
The King whose bright example throws
A living radiance round the throne,
Which with resplendent lustre shows—
That he who reigns o'er hearts must reign by love alone!
6
SURVEYS THE TARGET.
But passive fervour is not allThe champions of their country need:—
How to direct the fated ball
With steady and effective heed;
In serried phalanx to advance
Against a death-devoted band,
To level well the couching lance
The shock of legions to withstand;
By veteran arts of practis'd skill
That valour may its force increase,
To daunt the menacers of ill,
To foil the murderers of peace,
Are tasks of still superior claim:—
Hence tow'rd the target's circled lines
Young Love his quicken'd step inclines,
And tries to fire with no erratic aim.
7
HITS THE CENTRE OF THE TARGET.
Right through the mark his bullet flies:So may it speed 'gainst all who dare
Th' invader's ruffian-hazard share,
To snatch a felon-prize!
So shall it speed, if freedom's race
Be to their king and country true;
And each deluded Gaul shall rue
The day he felt the fraterniz'd embrace,
The bitter hour he was enforc'd away
From her who clasp'd him with connubial arms,
From all domestic life's endearing charms,
And, a sad conscript, looking fiercely gay,
Compell'd, as vassal to a despot lord,
To bleed for him his soul abhorr'd,—
Whelm'd by defeat in a reproachful grave,
Or train'd by conquest to be more a slave.
8
PRESENTING COLOURS BEFORE THE KING.
How nobler far the gallant Briton's part,Whom every generous ardour fires,
Commingling head, and hand, and heart,
To shield the heritage of valorous sires
From miscreant-warriors, who with native gore
Would deeply dye our sea-wash'd shore;
And o'er the victims of their ruthless rage,
Unmov'd by sex or age,
Rush on to pillage, like a bandit-horde,
Th' ensanguin'd agents of a blood-stain'd lord!
Yet, while avenging justice stems the blow,
Let Courage mercy show,
Where mild Humanity the sceptre guides
And sky-born Charity abides,
With all the Christian Graces in her train;
So may ye blameless reign
O'er ocean's depths, and unstain'd banners bring,
Such as Love now presents with reverence to your King!
9
CUPID EXERCISING HIS DRUM, HAVING PLACED HIS BANNER IN SAFETY.
This thought was soothing: Love grew pleas'd,His flag he furl'd, his drum he seiz'd,
And on it pour'd a nervous peal,
While his lip spoke what every breast must feel:—
'Tis not coercion's iron chain
Will bind the British freeman's heart,
'Tis not compulsive ire can gain
The palm of honour from desert;
A willing duty proudly flows
From impulse of th' unfetter'd mind,
A firm protection firmer grows
From patriot bravery, self-combin'd:
Such is the trench by England thrown
Around the Sovereign she reveres,
And such the safeguard France must own
Has taught her, by some sapient fears,
That voluntary Force hath charmed power
To curb Ambition's march, in Passion's maddening hour.
10
THE DOVE BRINGS BACK HIS ARROWS, WITH AN OLIVE BRANCH.
So may it serve, if Heaven's high will decree,To save us from the cost of victory;
From lavish cost of consecrated blood,
Of those who for their Country's good
Brave hardship, peril, death,
That they may leave, with nature's parting breath,
This land of heroes to its rightful heirs,
By rapine undefil'd, unaw'd by slavish fears!
And, as the messenger of Love,
Cythera's snowy dove,
Brings to the youthful arbiter of hearts
An olive chaplet with his myrtle darts,
So may Time's circling wing
The halcyon concord bring
Beneath its wafture—while each peace-clad plain
With grateful plenty teems,
To Ceres yields its tributary grain,
To bright Pomona its nectareous streams.
11
CUPID DEPOSITS HIS BANNER IN THE TEMPLE OF MINERVA.
Love leaps with rapture at the joyous sound—The fane of Pallas hears his footsteps bound,
For there Augusta's flag triumphantly he bears;
But ere again at amorous hearts,
He points his dove-plum'd darts,
Thus warmly breathe his patriotic prayers:—
Goddess! renown'd for wisdom as for war,
Be Albion's manly race your darling care;
And let that sea-green band which Neptune wove,
Stubbs, a strenuous opposer of Queen Elizabeth's projected match with the Duke of Anjou, thus strikingly expressed himself in a tract entitled, The Discoveringe of a Gapinge Gulphe, &c. 1579.—“The best brydle that we can have to keepe in proude France are the naturally brydeling bands of the sea, wherewith God hath compassed us about; and the surest gyrths which hold us in our saddle, are the peace and good order of our land.”—For a farther account of this tract and the author, vide Nugæ Antiquæ, Vol. I. edit. 1804.
To swathe in infancy his favourite isle,
Be still its bloodless girdle, and pure love
Draw from approving Heav'n a skyey smile!
So through each nereid's pearly cave,
While echo floats upon the listening wave,
Still may resound that charter'd strain
Which hails Britannia, Empress of the Main!
Still may her sons be fam'd through every clime
For deeds of spotless faith, and dauntless soul sublime!
| Cupid turned volunteer | |